Chapter 17
Buffy approached Angel and hugged him tightly as soon as they were alone.
"This is so odd," she murmured, not letting go
of him. "I never thought in a million years that I'd be touching you again."
"Lucky me," Angel said sincerely, stroking
her glossy blonde hair. The room that
they stood in was sparsely decorated, with a wooden bench in the corner, next
to the one window with a raggedy curtain, and dingy stone walls lit by fiery
torches. Together they curled up on the bench, gazing out across the grounds,
which were moonlit and silvery.
"How am I here?" Angel said quietly. "I
mean how am I at Hogwarts, but also how I am on earth again?"
"Where were you?" Buffy said, sitting up
and facing him.
"Hell," Angel said wincing. "Somewhere
dark and painful. But then I'm on earth again."
"I bet Dumbledore has some idea," Buffy said
confidently, "He seems to know about everything."
"How do you know Dumbledore?" Angel
asked, stroking her hair again.
"After all that stuff with the Acathla,
I left Sunnydale," Buffy began slowly. "I told my mom what I was and she threw
me out, and after I did what I had to, I left. Worked in L.A for a while,
waitressing, until Dumbledore came to find me. He took me back to Hogwarts, for
some healing time. While I'm here, I've got to look out for Harry, since he's
the Chosen One and all that jazz."
"But I don't understand why is Harry Potter in
danger?" Angel said, bemused. "I mean apart from disgruntled death eaters."
"Okay, I am totally weirded out as to
how you know all this." Buffy said, kissing him quickly. "But anyway, Voldemort
came back two years ago, and wants to kill Harry."
"Voldemort is back?" Angel said. He whistled. "Bet that's caused some problems."
"Hence me being here," Buffy finished. "How do you know all of this?"
"I have been around for a long time, nearly 300 years," Angel explained with a small smile. "Darla told me about the magic world, and I took an interest in it. Had a run in with Dumbledore, when I didn't have my soul. He came off better, and then when I got my soul, he introduced me to Whistler. Plus, Spike, Darla and Drusilla were death eaters for a while, but they got tired of the regime, decided to quit. Wasn't much Voldemort could do, he couldn't kill them."
"I can't believe
we didn't know about this," Buffy said reflectively, "I mean Giles knew, of
course, but the rest of us were completely behind on the whole thing." She
snuggled into his arms, which he tightened around her. "But I've been going to
school here, even doing a little magic." There was a short silence.
"What happened after well you know, I
lost my soul?" Angel said quietly. Buffy looked at him, and then looked away.
"What do you remember?" she said in a strained
voice.
"I remember that I …killed Miss Calendar.
And I remember Drusilla and Spike."
"Well, you tortured Giles, to work out how to
open the Acathla." Buffy muttered. "And Drusilla killed Kendra, and Willow was hurt, but she and Giles are
okay now. You nearly ended the world. And you told me…you told me that I wasn't
good, that I had a lot to learn about men." Angel hugged her close.
"I'm so sorry," he whispered. "I wish I
could take it all back. The curse was about happiness, when we were together,
that was the best feeling I've ever had. Guess that's where we went wrong."
Buffy looked up at him.
"I'm sorry too," she said softly. "I'm
sorry I sent you to hell."
"You did what you had to," he said
gently. "That's what being the slayer is all about."
"Too right," Whistler agreed as he entered the room.
Harry
dragged his bags through the portrait hole. The common room was practically
empty, except for Hermione and Ron who were seated in front of the fire. Harry
coughed a little and they turned.
"Harry!" Hermione exclaimed, jumping up.
"You're home? Did you have a good time? Did you see any vampires? What were
Buffy's friends like?" Harry took a step back and dropped all his bags.
"Give him a second," Ron said. "He's
only just got back. Where's Buffy?"
Harry followed them to the sofa they had been sitting on and settled back,
enjoying the warmth of the fire.
"You'll never guess who we ran into in Sunnydale?" harry said in a low voice, just in case anyone was listening. Ron and Hermione listened raptly. "Angel." Their expressions were suitably awed.
"Buffy's 300 year old, vampire boyfriend who
she killed last year?" Ron said, shocked. He and Hermione knew what Buffy had
done, and that it was part of the reason she was at Hogwarts, but they didn't
know what it had done to Buffy like Harry did.
"But how can he be back?" Hermione
sputtered. "It's just not possible."
"Well, apparently it is," Harry said grimly.
"Anyway Dumbledore sent him to dungeons."
"He's here?" Hermione exclaimed.
"Dumbledore allowed an evil vampire into Hogwarts? Is he mad?"
"Well, he's supposed to have his soul back," Harry said doubtfully. "And he knew Dumbledore, something about whistling, I don't know. But it was an interesting visit."
"What are you doing here?" Buffy demanded, getting up from the bench.
"You did it kid," said Whistler, coming further into the room and closing the dungeon door. "You really did it."
"No thanks to you," Buffy shot back. "All that cryptic about 'the sword isn't enough.' It did just fine thanks."
"Yeah it did," he admitted. "But it was more
than that. You'll understand some day." Buffy rolled her eyes.
"Hey Angel," Whistler called, pulling a
bar of chocolate out of his pocket and opening it. "You did good too, became
someone to be counted and all that."
"I'm guessing you have some idea why I'm
back," Angel said impassively.
"I'm guessing I do," Whistler replied. "Look,
here's the deal kids. I told Buffy that the Powers That Be didn't intend for
you to be together." Angel looked at Buffy and she shrugged.
"Well that's still true," he continued.
"It wasn't meant to be. But hey, it all worked out fine and dandy in the end
right? So the Powers That Be, or my big bosses as I call them, decided to give
you a little gift. Your honey back to you again." Buffy narrowed her eyes.
"They felt like giving me a gift?" Buffy
said. "Like a 'hey, thanks for the saving the world, have a fruit basket' kind
of gift? Please."
"Okay so there's this other part too,"
Whistler admitted. "But I don't know what you're complaining about. You got
what you wanted."
"What other part?" Angel asked quickly.
"Well, I think we got it right this
time, after the whole Acathla mix-up," Whistler began. "Boy did that leave some
red faces. You're going to help in this war against Voldemort, both of you are
going to help. Say hey to Albus for me, and thank him for that fruit cake he
sent me." He made to leave, but Buffy spoke before he could.
"How do you know Dumbledore, what's his part with Angel and in all of this?" Buffy asked him.
"You can't expect a guy as powerful as Dumbledore not to know the people upstairs," Whistler said enigmatically. He gave them a little wave, and then departed.
