Chapter 19

"I wanted to see how you were getting along," Dumbledore said, as he closed the door behind him. "I hope your room is comfortable?"

 "Yeah, it's perfect, thank you," Angel replied.

 "You are of course welcome to use the training room I provided for Buffy," Dumbledore informed him. "It is on the fifth floor, third door on the left. The password is 'slayer.' There is a variety of equipment and weapons in there, let me know if you need anything else. Do not feel you are confined to this room during the evenings. You cannot reveal your identity to anyone, though of course the staff know who you are, but you are not a prisoner."
 "Thanks," Angel said again.
 "I passed Harry, Ron and Hermione on the way here," Dumbledore said with a small smile. "Mr Weasley looked frankly scared out of his wits. Now that you are at Hogwarts, I give you the same task: to look out for Harry and protect him in anyway you can. You know how important he is, and how he needs time to become a man before he faces his destiny. At all costs we cannot let him not have that chance. If anything happens to him, we are lost." Angel and Buffy nodded gravely.
 "I trust you," Dumbledore said simply. "I took an interest in the two of you a long time ago, just as I did Harry. I think the future will work out for all of you." He smiled swiftly before continuing. "There is just one other thing I need to ask you about, Hagrid has informed me that there have been a few creatures found dead in the forest, with their blood drained. It is not unusual for vampires to inhabit the forest, but of course it is inconvenient."

 "We'll go down there this evening," Buffy promised. "I could do with the workout." Dumbledore smiled again, and left them alone.

That evening, Buffy and Angel made their way to the training room. Unfortunately for them, they passed a group of Gryffindors going up the staircase to the fourth floor, Neville, Seamus, Dean, lavender and Parvati among them. They goggled at Angle and Buffy, but Buffy looked straight ahead and pretended nothing was wrong.
 "Oops," she said after they were out of earshot. "Dumbledore probably didn't mean for that to happen." They grinned sheepishly at each other and continued.
When they reached the room, Buffy selected two stakes from the pile, which Ron, Harry and Hermione had helped her sharpen, and the crossbow. Angel took the axe and a stake for himself. All kitted out, they pushed the door of the room, to go down to the Forbidden Forest. Pushing it open, it nearly hit Harry, Ron and Hermione.

 "What are you guys doing here?" Buffy said, her brow furrowing. "We're going to patrol."

 "We just wondered what was going on," Ron said, looking sideways at the others. "Lavender and Parvati and the others came in saying something about you and a stranger wandering the halls, and we wanted to know what was up."
 "Vamps in the forest," Buffy said explanatorily. "Dumbledore said we had to go dust them."

 "Can we come?" Harry asked hopefully.
 "Big no!" Buffy exclaimed. "Dumbledore said we had to protect you; Angel's been enlisted too, and taking you into the forest into a nest of vampires is not protecting you."

  "We'd be really quiet," Harry wheedled and Ron and Hermione looked at her pleadingly.

 "We might even be able to help," Hermione put in helpfully. "You know, do spells or something. Only Harry's seen you slay before, and we want to see you in action." Buffy and Angel looked at each other.
 "Okay," Angel said finally. "But if we say leave, then no playing the hero and staying; you have to leave. And stay behind us. Grab a stake from the room and one of the crosses, and get your wands out." Hermione, Ron and Harry broke out into identical grins and took stakes from the large pile and a large wooden cross. The five headed down to the forest.

 "Keep silent," Buffy said seriously, on the outskirts of the forest. "We don't know the territory, or what else is living in there, so I need to be able to hear everything. And stay with us."

 She went ahead, followed by Harry, then Hermione, then Ron, and behind them all, Angel. Harry, Ron and Hermione lit their wand tips, and they stealthily crept in.

Buffy led the way, seemingly knowing where she was headed, though the others could not see any noticeable tracks. Once or twice she stopped them dead to listen, and Angel came forward to smell the air and also look at the ground for signs of creatures.
 Harry, Ron and Hermione began to notice an odour in the air, the odour of rotting flesh. All three of them covered their noses with their hands, but Buffy and Angel did no such thing. Gradually they approached a clump of bushes and carefully and quietly parted them. In a clearing in front of them was the nest of vampires, and it was clear the smell was coming from a pile of rotting animal carcasses that lay on the edge.
 "There's one…two…three," Buffy said counting. "There are seven all together. Think we can handle it?"

 "What do you think?" Angel said impassively.

 "Let's do it," Ron whispered excitedly. Once again, Buffy and Angel exchanged glances and then Buffy nodded her jaw set.
 She stood up and walked out from the bushed, and Angle held out his arm to stop the others following her. At her emergence, the vampires looked up.
 "We have a little problem," Buffy said, smiling at them while they watched her hungrily. "See this is my turf now, so you're going to have to go. I've moved in and frankly, I just don't like you guys. I think it's the smell. Or maybe it's the whole you-want-to-suck-my-blood thing. I don't know."

 "Slayer," one of the vampires growled. Buffy looked taken aback.
 "You've heard of me?" she said surprised. "You hear that honey, I'm famous" she called to Angel and he walked out from the bushed, followed by Ron, Hermione and Harry.

The vampires attacked on their emergence. Three headed for Buffy, and she took them all one, taking one out with her cross bow right away and then moving into hand to hand combat with the other two. Two attacked Angel, and he swung his sword, beheading one and then moving onto the second. The final one advanced on Harry, Ron and Hermione. Ron held up the stake and it growled at them. The backed away slowly, until Ron tripped and fell sprawled over a tree root. The cross flew from his hand. The vampire grinned wickedly, and advanced on them, Ron pulled himself up and before the vampire could attack, Harry yelled 'impedimenta' and the vampire froze. After a few seconds, it was released from this. 'Petrificus Totalus' Ron yelled and the arms and legs of the vampire snapped to its sides and locked there, much to its surprise. The stepped forward gingerly and it snapped at them from its rigid position on the floor. Hermione raised her wand and murmured 'Stupefy' and the vampire was stunned.
 "What is it we're supposed to do?" Ron asked, not wanting to move too close to the vampire. Harry looked over at Buffy, just in time to see her plunge her stake into one of the vampire's hearts, causing it to turn to dust.  He pulled out his stake, looked at it doubtfully.

 "Here goes," he said and plunged it into its chest. Nothing happened.
 "I think you missed the heart," Hermione said, matter-of-factly. She pulled out the stake, looked at the vampire for a moment, and then plunged the stake in again, slightly to the right this time. Instantly, it turned to dust and crumbled onto the forest floor. They nodded, satisfied. Looking around, they saw that Angle and Buffy had just banded together to kill the last vampire, a particularly beefy one. Together, they moved as a team, aware of the other, yet still moving to attack the vampire. Angel staked the vampire and they turned away, anxiously coming to check on the others.

 "Are you guys okay?" Angel asked, concerned. The three grinned broadly.
 "We staked one," Harry said, gesturing to a pile of dust on the ground. "I did the impedimenta jinx, Ron did the full body lock jinx and Hermione stunned it, then staked it."
 "It was bloody brilliant!" Ron said, his eyes shining.