Worlds Wrought & Ruined
Chapter 5: Femmes Fatale
Spoilers: Buffy Season 7; Angel Season 4; Harry Potter, Books 1 thru 5
Disclaimer: Buffy the Vampire Slayer and all associated characters, settings, etc., belong to Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy, UPN, etc. Harry Potter and all associated characters, setting, props, etc., belong to J.K. Rowling, Scholastic Inc., etc. No copyright infringement is intended.
Thanks to my brilliant Beta Lady Lestrange. Lady L Rocks!
More thanks to my fellows at The_Seers_Truth group for reading.
And Radia, Lady Lestrange, Usakura, Benjis VIP, Eloe, Silverfox1, Trillium, Astria, & angelsou – thanks for all reviewing – it is definitely sisshauss. Responses to reviews are at the end.
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Chapter 5
Femmes Fatale
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Time: ~18:00 GMT
Location: Abandoned Hallway, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry
Scotland UK
~@~@~@~
Ginny was beyond frustrated and not in the mood to deal with the irritating Slytherin after dealing with three stubborn Gryffindors. She turned to face him slowly and asked sarcastically, "What—do you get off on me hexing you or are you developing some Gryffindor bad habits?"
"Bad habits?" Draco Malfoy asked.
"Yes, going out of your way to find trouble."
"You think that you—a Weasley—are trouble for me—a Malfoy?"
She smirked at him, cocking her head to the side. "A Malfoy I have repeatedly hexed—"
He backed her into the wall as they were talking and had suddenly pressed a forearm across her neck while also grabbing her wrist of the hand holding her wand. He smirked down at her.
"What was that you were saying, little girl?"
"Bastard! Let me go or—"
"Or what?" he leaned down to whisper in her ear. "No one is here to rescue you," he taunted, pressing harder against her.
She ground her teeth and let out a growl. "Rescue? From the school bully—ha!"
"Well, I have you pinned…" She grinned at this and Draco faltered, scowling, "What are you smiling about?"
"Mal-ferret," his scowl deepened at the name, "you forget I have 6 older brothers."
He tightened his grip on her wand and said warily, "Yes—so—"
Her right hand twisted around in his grip, jerked her hand free through his thumb and grabbed his wrist. With her left hand, she grabbed the robe at his shoulder as she moved closer to him. She hooked her right leg around his left with a bent knee and snapped her leg straight. Simultaneously, she pushed hard with her left hand, pulled with her right and let go. Unprepared for a physical attack, his head whacked the floor when he fell.
Ginny moved her leg back to the right leg, standing straight, and immediately had her wand trained on him as he looked up at her, sneering, a hand cradling the back of his head.
"See, no rescue needed Malfoy. Your move."
He held both hands out in front of him, signaling he meant no harm with his movements. She didn't move her wand as he stood up and dusted his robes off, straightening them. Then his wand was out too, pointing straight at Ginny's head. She showed a moment of surprise and then narrowed her eyes at him, giving him a small grin.
"Very nice move—pulling out your wand while straightening your robes—I will have to remember that. So what's next, do we hex each other into oblivion? Remember, you came after me."
"True," he smirked and then, just as fast as his wand had appeared, it was gone, tucked back into his robes. Ginny narrowed her eyes even further, but lowered her wand and instead crossed her arms across her chest with her wand still in hand. She shifted her weight and tilted her head towards him in a silent challenge.
He chuckled at her, "As fun as terrorizing you always is, amazingly, it is not the reason I followed you."
"Well then, what is it you want Malfoy?"
"There are so many answers to that question, what do I want…" he gave her a grin reminiscent of a shark, keeping his eyes fastened on her as he circled her, stopping when she spoke.
She scowled, "What do you want from me, tonight?"
"Now—what makes you think I want something—maybe I just want to enjoy your delightful company," Draco said as his grin widened.
Ginny snorted, raising an eyebrow at him as she leaned against the wall, one leg bent with the foot flat on the wall, ready to push off the wall. "Then you do get off on me hexing you," she smirked cheekily and raised both eyebrows, "Kinky."
He scowled, turning away from her in frustration and taking
a few steps, saying, "Little girl—I in no way enjoy having those—" he faced her
again, waving one hand near his head, "Bat-things—circling my head, so disavow
yourself of that notion immediately." He smiled tightly, "Maybe I enjoy your
stimulating conversational skills."
Her smile widened, "Well, yes, I can see how you might. So, what 'stimulating conversation' would you like to engage? Presently, I seem to be available."
"No need for sarcasm—after all, it is the wit for a feeble mind—Weasley." The humor left his voice, "I want to talk about Potions class and Potter."
"Harry isn't in my class—sorry to disappoint," she smiled cheekily.
"Not your Potions class, little girl—Potter's class." he said irritably.
She shrugged her shoulders carelessly, "What about it?"
"What happened to Potter?"
"I don't know."
"No?" he asked aggressively, obviously not believing her. She shook her head again. He stalked up to her, wand in hand, grabbed her upper arm in a bruising grip and put the tip of his wand under her nose. He ground out angrily, "Don't lie to me girl," shaking her arm for emphasis.
She looked him directly in the eyes, her face empty of all humor. "I'm not. I have no idea what you are talking about. So something happened in Potions to Harry—interesting—that could explain some errant behavior." He dropped the point of his wand from her face. Instantly, she jerked her arm from his grasp and batted his arm away angrily.
Then, using the blunt end of her wand, she poked him in the chest, emphasizing her next words, "But—I—Don't—Know—What—You—Are—Talking—About. Understand?"
He took one step back, challenging her, glaring, "Then what was that commotion at dinner?" she opened her mouth to answer but he kept talking, "And don't you dare say 'What commotion?' or 'I don't know' because I saw you in the thick of it."
She smirked, eyes twinkling, "Me, a Gryffindor, lying—the thought never crossed my mind." It was his turn to snort in disbelief. "At dinner I stopped them from taking off and doing something extremely stupid. That's all," she said, shrugging her shoulders casually, never taking her eyes from the Slytherin.
The retort was out of his mouth before she finished. "Like running off to the Department of Mysteries?" Draco said amused, enjoying the irony.
She responded sharply, "That is not something you want to be talking about Malfoy."
His grinned nastily and took a small step towards her, asking, "Touchy subject?" With a malicious glint in his eyes, he added innocently, "Something—serious?"
She closed the space between them and snarled up at him, "Yes it is, especially for you—it wasn't my father there, leading the Death Eaters, trying to kill school children his son's age."
He jerked back as if hit by a physical blow, "He wasn't—they weren't trying to kill anyone—"
"Oh, so the threat to finish off the Longbottom family by killing Neville was a jest on your father's part." She took another step forward, as far as Draco had stepped back and her face twisted in more anger, "Not Kill—well they did!"
"He wasn't leading them," he protested weaker than before, taking another step back.
She spoke as she took another step forward, "He was! He spoke first—made the demands—ordered the Death Eaters about, each by name!" He opened his mouth to make another protest and she grabbed his chin, growling, "And don't EVEN tell me that it wasn't him—I know his voice and he was in charge."
She let go of his chin, still seeing disbelief in his face, and reigned in her anger to use reasoning instead. She challenged him, "Do you have so little faith in your father to think that he would let someone else lead?"
He raised his chin haughtily, looking down his nose are her and said, "A Malfoy does not follow."
Ginny took a small step back, slipping her wand discretely into her robes, and perched her hands on her hips. "Oh? Really—not even Voldemort?"
He flinched at the name but did not back down and stated certainly, "Imperius—"
She leaned forward, "Bull-shit! Your Devil of a Father is too strong to be so well controlled by Imperius for such a long period of time." Then she grabbed his robes and pulled him toward her, determined to make her point. "And no one was there to use Imperius to make him give me that damned diary!!"
He pulled away, immediately defending his father, "He wouldn't—" and then he stopped, puzzled, what was the little girl talking about? "What diary?"
Ginny's eyes widened in alarm, shit—why had she said that! "Nothing," she said frantically, her eyes darting back and forth, increasing Draco's interest. New topic—something to distract him—"At dinner, Harry wanted to follow Professor Lupin to wherever Professor McGonagall was so frantic to take him, pulling him out of the Great Hall. You did see them leave?"
~@~
What was the little girl talking about? "What diary?" And when in this conversation did he loose control?
The girl's eyes widened and she tried to quickly push it aside and distract him. What had spooked her?
Absently taking in the little girl's question, Draco's mind was frantically trying to process everything from the Department of Mysteries to his father leading the Death Eaters to Imperius to a diary to the werewolf leaving dinner. His head felt like it was spinning—how did they get from Imperius to a diary to dinner? She's trying to distract you—she suddenly changed—when? Imperius to a diary, then, then—she panicked and started babbling about dinner. And she had just asked him a question—what—see them leave? "Yes—out the side door, but why—?"
She pressed on, "Didn't you notice anyone else missing from dinner?"
A moment to digest and then picturing the tables, scanning, then moving to the Head Table—there and comprehension. "Snape and Dumbledore. McGonagall came in to get the Werewolf and—someone else—the Giant." He focused on her eyes and narrowed his own, "All to aid the Headmaster."
She shrugged and quickly looked away, "Maybe."
"And the Golden Trio wanted to know why and intended to follow." He took his hand and turned her face until she was looking at his face, holding her head there. "That's what you stopped them from doing. Why?"
She didn't say anything, just tried to jerk her head away but he held it in place.
Not to be deterred he asked the question again, "You said you stopped them from doing something extremely stupid."
"Yes."
"What did you stop them from doing—was it following
McGonagall?"
She kept her mouth closed, still staring at him. "Weasley—" he growled.
She cut him off, "Why should I tell you—what's in it for me?"
Draco's eyes widened—a Weasley asking that. His eyes narrowed in suspicion—but this was the little girl, not her oafish brother. The little girl who could out duel him half the time and had that nasty specialty she so loved to use. What was it called—those bogey flying things—ah, yes, the Bat-Bogey Hex. "What do you want?"
"Hmmm," she mumbled and seemed to start thinking, chewing on her bottom lip. Her eyes were moving back and forth, likely evaluating her options—the pros & cons. Then she fashioned her eyes on him. Guess she decided. "Well, you want information from me, right?"
He nodded warily.
"Then I want information from you in exchange."
"About what?" he asked warily.
She grinned broadly. "Your Potions class – you have me intrigued now."
Draco scowled at her, eyes narrowing suspiciously, and demanded, "Why do you want to know?"
"That is none of your business," she said sharply, pointing a finger in his face – almost scolding him. Then she crossed her arms over her chest and settled a glare at him, "I didn't ask you why you want to know about dinner – so what makes you think I would tell you why?"
He gave her an innocent look and drawled, "Simply curious as to why you are asking me instead of the Golden Trio? The Weasel is your brother."
She stared at him, brown eyes locked with grey, calculating, and then broke the stare, "Maybe I want to know the truth," he raised an eyebrow at her and his smile widened. She smugly continued, "Which I know you'll tell me or I won't tell you the truth." She pursed her lips and stared right into his eyes, her brown eyes darkening solemnly, and said, "I hate having the truth kept from me or receiving the edited version for 'my own good.'"
She gripped her hands into fists and muttered, "They all seem to forget that I, too, have grown up and, amazingly, my brain has also seems to have matured. I am capable of independent thought from my brothers, my family, my house."
Ginny paused and gave Malfoy a piercing look before continuing, "Of course you, the Malfoy heir, a clone of his father and expected to follow blindly in his footsteps, wouldn't understand the urge to exercise independent thinking." She ended by giving him a cheeky grin.
He scowled darkly at her, and growled, "Bloody bint."
Playfully, she dug a little father into him, playing with fire, "Ah, your hive-mind can't comprehend that beyond it being an insult?" That garnered the reaction she was looking for.
He slammed his hand into the stone wall next to Ginny's head, not trying to hurt her she realized, simply physically loosing the pent up anger, and glared down at her, saying sharply, "Little girl—I understand perfectly, but some of us do not have a choice. And maybe I like it."
She tilted her head to the side thoughtfully and said softly, "He's in Azkaban."
He jerked his head away from her gaze, taking a step back from her, and murmured, "For now." A pause and then he turned back to her, eyes hard again and asked in a business like tone, "So do we have a deal to an exchange of information: I tell you about Potions class and you tell me about the commotion at dinner."
She was still staring at him, head tilted, with damned knowing eyes that seemed to be assessing the thoughts he had just pushed aside. Then she blinked and nodded her head. When she looked back at him, the eyes were gone. "Agreed. You first—and before you ask why, it is simply because I do not trust you to tell me your information if I tell you first."
His face was blank for a moment and then he smirked, nodding once to her in acknowledgement. "Possibly. Very cunning of you, little girl—are you sure you are a Gryffindor?"
She leveled a strange, assessing look at him and said levelly, "The Weasley part of me is." The bizarre statement made him feel like she was toying with him, purposely provoking him. Why? Was she trying to distract him again?
"You have a part of you that isn't Weasley?" he joked, but she nodded seriously. Then he asked incredulously, "And this other part of you is Slytherin—I find it hard to believe that there is a single Slytherin in your family."
"There is not," she said simply, looking away.
Damn it, he hated puzzles. Frustrated, he asked, "Then how are you a part Slytherin?"
She smiled up at him coyly, and that, more than anything else, set him on edge. That smile looked like it belonged to a demon. "A Riddle," she said simply and then the smile fell. "Do we have a deal?" she asked and stuck out her hand.
End of discussion—a riddle. Great, even better than a puzzle. "Yes," he said as he nodded and took her hand, shaking it firmly. When she let go, he shook his hand slightly, trying to keep the blood flowing. The girl has a grip—probably also from her brothers.
"Now tell me about Potions class—what happened to Harry?"
He turned away from her, walking to the opposite wall, his hands behind his back. Over his shoulder, he said blandly, "Potter fell asleep in class about halfway through and Professor Snape woke him." As he reached the opposite wall, he turned sharply and casually leaned against the stone.
Ginny waited and when nothing else came, she frowned. "That's it? Then why do you think something funny happened?"
"I didn't notice when Potter fell asleep—"
She interrupted him, smiling and said sarcastically, "Actually working today?"
He growled, "Little girl…I know the last I looked at Pottehead before he nodded off, he wasn't tired at all."
"How can you tell if Harry is tired?"
"Please!" he scoffed, "I have made it my goal to harass him for 5 years—"
Ginny nodded, suddenly understanding, and finished his thought, "So you are an expert at reading his moods, his facial expressions, his body movements. It makes tormenting him so much easier when you can hit him when he is the most vulnerable."
He raised an eyebrow at her and asked suspiciously, "Are you sure that old hat didn't mis-sort you?"
She ignored him and continued explaining, "It's the same way I tease Ron—read his body language and facial expressions to determine his mood and therefore his weakness." At his disbelieving face, she said simply, "It's a sibling thing—when you grow up with somebody you learn the best way to irritate them from an early age." Then she grinned maliciously.
Draco laughed lightly and nodded, "So you understand how I can tell you that I know Potter wasn't tired."
"He gave no indication that he might fall asleep?"
"No. The next I looked at him, he was out—his head resting on his chest. That was about two seconds before Professor Snape—ah—woke him up. Then Professor Snape yelled at him, Potter stuttered a few things, rubbed his head, points were deducted and Potter was told to stay after class." Draco stopped and looked expectantly at Ginny.
"Why do you think that this was anything but normal? Sounds like Harry nodded off and Snape was his usual pleasant self."
"I told you Potter was not tired—he should not have fallen asleep. Then there is the way he acted after he was awakened—he was in pain for the remainder of class, grimacing and constantly rubbing his head."
"So, he had a headache." Ginny shrugged.
Draco stalked toward her, scowling. "Potter never just has a headache, little girl, of that I am certain. Trouble has a way of finding Potter. A headache seems to indicate that trouble has arrived."
She looked at him blankly for a moment and then smiled brilliantly. "Malfoy, I am impressed. And stop calling me little girl," she gave him a glare before continuing thoughtfully. "Did he happen to be rubbing his scar?"
He thought for a moment and then shook his head. "For a moment, yes, but not in particular, no. It seemed to be his temples that bothered him the most."
"Huh. That's different," Ginny muttered to herself, but Malfoy heard her and he nodded, agreeing with her.
He took a few more steps toward her and said pointedly, "Now, little girl, what did you stop the Golden Trio from doing at dinner?"
~@~
"Now, little girl, what did you stop the Golden Trio from doing at dinner?"
Ginny shook herself from her thoughts and blankly repeated his last word, "Dinner? Oh, yes, dinner. I stopped them from following Professor Lupin and Professor McGonagall."
"That's it?" Draco asked incredulously. "That is exactly what I said!"
She smirked, "Yes, you did. Now we are finished—" she started to leave but he put his hand on the wall, blocking her way.
"No, we are not finished. Tell me why you stopped them."
"Why? Why stop three students from wondering around in the dark, chasing a werewolf and half-giant? Maybe for their safety?" she said sarcastically.
"Yes, but why did they listen to you? They don't even listen to teachers."
"I told them I had a bad feeling about them going outside tonight—that it is very dangerous."
"Dangerous, why? What are you trying to stop them from seeing?"
She frowned, "Seeing? I wasn't stopping them from seeing anything—I stopped them from being killed!"
At that, Malfoy just laughed. Seeing her frown, he answered her unasked question, "Don't you think you are being a little melodramatic. Killed? Ha!" Then he muttered to himself, "Hanging out with Potter too long no doubt." She simply looked away, scowling. No one seemed to believe her.
After a long pause, Malfoy asked, "How? How do you know that it is dangerous out there tonight?"
She turned her head to look at him, still scowling, expecting to see his mocking face. Her scowl fell from her face the moment she saw that his face was anything but mocking. He was serious. Why the change? Maybe he realized that she was talking about the possibility of Harry being killed, something that did seem to occur regularly, making the possible threat of being killed nothing to laugh at. Oh, she had to answer the question. How did she know?
She shook her head, "Just a feeling—a very strong feeling."
He removed his arm from the wall, crossing both over his chest, his eyes staring at her but not seeing her, deep in thought. Ginny tried to make a move to leave, but it drew him from his thoughts. He focused on her, staring hotly into her eyes, and his arm shot out again, this time closing around her upper arm. He jerked his arm back toward him sharply and Ginny, caught unawares, stumbled forward. His eyes remained locked with his as he brought his face closer to his and said darkly and succinctly, "I do not believe you."
"Don't believe me—believe what?"
"That you had a 'bad feeling.' I think that you are covering for them—trying to waylay me from following them by feeding me this lie."
She gaped at him and then practically screamed, "You think I'm lying?!?"
"Well, I had thought Gryffs were above lying, of course we've already established that you are more Slytherin than Gryff. But we have a deal—information for information. Even Slytherins honor their word when it is given."
Struggling slightly, she tried to shake off his hand as she explained, "They did not go outside. You can go check on them now—they are on the 7th floor." His eyes lit up recognition of the place where he had helped the DA to be caught. She nodded at him, "Yes, they are in the Room there. We can go up there…"
He scowled and loosed his grip. "And we will find Potter, Weasel and Granger there, no doubt?" She gave him a sharp nod. "How do you know they are there and not outside, going against your warning?"
"They gave their word and Gryffindors also honor their word." At his still skeptical gaze, she added, somewhat sheepishly, "And I scared the hell out of them—telling them that they would probably die if they followed the teachers. Which is the truth, by the way." She pouted slightly and grumbled, "I am not being melodramatic."
Another pause and then Draco asked slowly, "There is something out there tonight? Something dangerous?" She gave another curt nod. "Dangerous for whom?"
"Anyone student that goes out there," she said gravely. A slow, knowing smirk graced his face as Ginny said this. "What are you so smug about?" she asked warily.
He jerked her arm again, but instead of trying to move her, he merely extended her arm. His hand clamped firmly around her wand hand and he produced his wand in his free hand, trained on her. "We are going to go find out," and he started pulling her along with him as he began walking.
"Find out what? What are you talking about? Unhand me!" she screeched and tried to shake off his grip.
"No," he said crisply and tightened his grip. "We are going to go see what the teachers are so keen on keeping from the students, especially if they don't want the Golden Trio to know."
"You're insane!" When she couldn't shake off his grip, she used it to her advantage, gripping his hand in return and leaned all her weight opposite his motion. This stopped any forward movement by Draco but he did not relinquish hold of her hand.
"No, I am thinking perfectly logically. You know that there is something out there, you said as much, and are trying to protect it. Did the teachers ask you to or did you overhear something and took it upon yourself to protect it?" Draco didn't try to move again, just kept his wand trained firmly on the Gryffindor.
"Fine—don't believe me—but I am telling you the truth! There is nothing out there to know or possess only pain and death."
"It must be very important to warrant 5 teachers to go missing at a time when their absence will be noticed," Draco kept speaking as if she had said nothing.
"It is Dangerous!"
"Not if I bring you. You are running interference for someone, covering for them—they won't harm you."
Ginny was becoming more frantic, pulling her arm and, volume rising, vehemently declared, "I am not covering for anybody. Whatever is out there will hurt you and me. I am not going out there—!"
Draco interrupted her by taking two large steps to close the distance between them, pushing the point of his wand up into her jaw, and growled dangerously, "Yes you are if I have to bind and levitate you the entire way—"
She raised her voice over his and finished her thought, "Neither are you!!!" Angrily, she gripped his wand hand, twisting it and banging it against her knee. Her other hand simultaneously tightened and twisted, loosening his grip. Increasing her grip with both hands, she forced him to drop his wand and then, moving lightening quick, she used the heal of her left hand to smash up into his face, kicking his chest to move him away from her as she pulled her right hand free. She knocked him clear across the hall and, with a crack he hit the wall with force and with a dull thud, fell to the ground. He didn't move.
"Well, great, now I killed the ferret."
Ginny silently wondered what was really going on outside. A cold wave of fear and foreboding went through her at the thought of going outside. She was curious, but not enough to go outside.
+++
Time: ~18:00 GMT
Location: Edge of the Forbidden Forest, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry
Scotland UK
~@~@~@~
Uncle was telling the magic people how to search for Drusilla, what to do and, mainly, what not to do. Connor was bored; he knew all of this, why couldn't they just start. The sooner they started, the sooner they could leave. He started wandering, taking in the surroundings and the forest.
"Little brother."
Connor cocked his head to the side. Did he just hear something?
"Little brother—come and play with Grand-mummy."
Yes, he had heard something. Connor started walking to the voice that was coming from the edge of the forest.
"Little brother—come and play—just for fun—you won't stay."
Little brother? He was no one's little brother, his parents were both vampires. Unless a vampire Childe of a parent thought of him as a brother. Drusilla was his father's Childe. Maybe… "Hello? Drusilla?"
"Yes—Grand-mummy is here—do not worry—I will harm no one. Tell Daddy and Uncle to some and play too."
So it was Drusilla. Why was she calling him her little brother and calling herself his grandmother? Connor reached the edge of the forest and, looking in, found her immediately. She was sitting on a fallen log, swinging her feet and playing with her skirt. She looked up, straight at him and smiled.
"So pretty—you look like her, your eyes. I miss her." Ah, his mother, Darla. Drusilla had turned his mother, so she was, in a way, also his grandmother. She tilted her head back to look at the stars. "I'm so glad that you are here—I have been waiting for ever so long. Where is Daddy?"
He furrowed his brow, thinking, Daddy referred to his father also: Angel, but figured it couldn't hurt to tell her. "Back that way," he said, pointing toward the way he came from.
"Well go get them—I promise I won't move."
He looked doubtfully at her and she laughed.
"Just yell—they will come and you can stay right here."
Hell, why not? He turned half away, keeping one eye on Drusilla, and yelled loudly, "Uncle! Father! She's over here!" He saw a slight movement and swung around, smoothly pulling out his axe, to find Drusilla still serenely staring at him, now standing only a few feet away. She seemed to be moving with the wind, swaying back and forth, humming softly and swinging something with her hand.
"What do you have in your hand?"
Dru stopped humming, frowned, and looked down at her hand. She smiled and brought her eyes back up, holding out her hand to show him, "A basket." Then she went back to humming and swinging the basket. "Such a pretty axe you have. Oh, here they come."
Connor also heard the echoes of the footfalls. He hadn't thought he had wandered that far away from the others, but he hadn't been paying attention to where he was going, only following her voice. How far had he gone? He was pulled out of his thoughts by the vampire in front if him asking a surprising question.
"Why are you unhappy to be here Destroyer?"
"Why—? Because the magic people think they are better than anyone else—especially Demons!" he spat out. "They didn't want our help; I don't see why we had to come. I wanted to let you eat anyone you wanted."
She grinned at that, "How sweet."
Then he added, grumbling angrily, "And they are upsetting Uncle."
"Ah, yes, I understand that—he does not like this world." Her smile faltered slightly as she added, "Neither do I, but we no longer have a choice." Her face lost all its mirth as her voice turned serious, "A great war is coming and if we do not choose a side, it will trample us."
Well, that doesn't sound good.
She was now looking slightly over his shoulder, watching the approaching figures that Connor could hear and, with two—no—three, he could feel as supernatural. Three—interesting, and the third wasn't another vampire. As much as he wanted to turn to watch them, he couldn't turn his back on Drusilla, no matter how courteous she had been so far.
"Hello Mr. Magic man—did you hear me?"
"Yes, I did, but I don't quite understand." It was the headmaster of the damned magic school.
Dru growled out at the headmaster, "No? Or do you not want to understand?"
Connor raised his eyebrows at that—she thought the headmaster knew about this war she spoke of and he was not saying anything?
Drusilla moved her eyes to the side and smiled, "Daddy—you came." She giggled and turned in a circle, stopping with a frown, "Where is my William?"
Connor also frowned; he knew Uncle was there, maybe she just couldn't see him.
"I'm 'ere Dru, my mobility is limited," came Spike's voice from Connor's left side.
Drusilla's eyes also moved to that side of Connor and smiled, but it seemed somewhat sad. Connor wondered why. Uncle stiffly walked up behind Connor and settled directly to the boy's left, leaning heavily to the right on his brace.
"William, I was just talking to Little Brother. He is worried about you."
"Really now?" Spike glanced sideways at Connor and Connor simply shrugged his shoulders slightly. Spike chuckled and turned back to Dru, "What else were you talking to Con about Dru?"
"Con?" She frowned and then smiled, understanding, when Spike motioned to Connor. "The Destroyer. His eyes are the same as his mum's. I miss her." Her smile faded and she became worried. "But She is not happy right now; the magic men want to kill all her family. My sweet William, if we do not stop them, they will trample us."
Spike seemed to absently absorb the comment and then moved on to a more serious question, "Drusilla, have you met anyone in the forest?"
"Before you?" Drusilla asked. Connor nodded. "The big spiders—they were nice," she said airily. Connor frowned at her. "No? Then I don't know."
"Dru," Spike said slowly, stressing her name and making sure she turned to him, her entire attention on Spike. "Have you seen a man with long black hair and all black clothing? We are looking for him."
She smiled. "Him—yes, of course I saw him—a very angry young man but so self-contained—so much like my dear William—I just had to stop and talk to him. He likes to scowl a lot, just like Daddy is right now. But, dear heart, what is a Gryffin-door?"
"Something to do with the school," Spike said offhandedly. She scowled at that, but Spike continued, "Dru, where is the scowling man?"
Drusilla said certainly, nodding, "He is safe. Now My Snake will be safe, yes." She looked down at her hand that she was swinging and stilled it. She looked back at Connor as she handed the basket in her stilled hand to him, "He has no need of this anymore. Little Brother—give it to the Magic Man."
Connor took the basket and looked inside it; it was filled with plants and other things from the forest. Uncle leaned over to look at the basket and he frowned. Connor lifted an eyebrow in question at Uncle and got an affirmative response. Connor turned and handed the basket to the headmaster, asking, "Did you hear what she said?"
The headmaster nodded, his face drawn and pale, and then said hollowly, "Minerva."
The nervous woman from earlier came forward. "What? What is it?"
"The basket Severus uses to collect his potion ingredients."
"He—he could have used another—" she stopped suddenly.
Connor was carefully watching Uncle, who was staring gravely at the basket, and Drusilla, who was instead watching the nervous woman, her head tilted slightly to the side as she watched, and probably thought on, the woman.
The Headmaster asked her, "Minerva, was this in his hands when he left for the forest?" She nodded miserably.
"He had this in the vision I saw, in the forest," Uncle added softly.
"Is it full?" she asked hesitantly.
"Yes."
"He—he would never, not willingly—full, potion—Ohhh!" The witch clasped her hands over her mouth, shaking her head, and her knees gave out. Angel caught her, kneeling next to her with his arm around her.
Drusilla was still carefully watching her, even as she fell, and cocked her head farther to the side. "Why is she so upset?" she asked Connor quietly.
Connor responded with his own question, "Drusilla, why do you have that basket? Did the man leave it or forget it?"
"He said he was done, had no more to pick. My Snake said to give it to the Magic man—that the Magic man would be worried about him. He did not say the Cat-woman would be upset." Drusilla seemed genuinely confused on why they were upset.
She turned to Spike, asking perplexed, "William, why is the Cat-woman upset? He said the Magic man would be worried, but not that the Cat-woman would be upset."
"Dru, Minerva is upset because she believes you killed their Potions Master."
"Did I?"
"The Potions Master is the dark haired man we asked you about."
"Oh," she said and then paused. "Then I did. Why is she upset?"
Connor just stared at Drusilla, horrified. She had seemed coherent, polite and even nice; it had almost made Connor forget that she was a cold-blooded killer. Almost.
Angel started to growl, but stopped when it only made the nervous woman even more nervous. Spike didn't stop; his eyes changed to yellow as he growled loudly into Drusilla's face, "Damn it Dru—did you have to kill him?!!?"
Drusilla didn't seem perturbed at all by Spike's ire and nodded, calmly saying, "Yes, I did—the stars told me I had to kill him, My Snake, or else he would die."
Her calm attitude irked Connor, wanting her to have some emotion after so casually taking a man's life. Angrily, he spat, "Drusilla, that makes no sense—killing him to keep him from dying?!"
Angel laughed hollowly at this, still holding the teacher who had been joined by another person on her other side, and said sadly, "Dru listens to the stars—does that make sense?" Angel continued grimly, "Why would you expect that anything she does would make sense?"
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To the lovely reviewers:
Radia: I agree, Spike wouldn't share about his pre-vamp days normally, but getting his soul and being insane for long lengths of time probably loosened his tongue. I could see Buffy using this opportunity to learn more about Spike, pump him for information and him telling her. Also, we don't know what they talked about those last few days. The thing is Spike trusted Buffy when no one else did and I can see him proving it to her by telling her about his human life.
Lady Lestrange: Catheryn – a Slytherin? Hmmm, maybe. But the thing with her name is her being a stuffy Watcher, just like both Giles and Wesley used to be. Xander is fond of calling Giles: G-Man just to irritate him because he knows how the watcher reacts to nick-names.
Usakura: Well, here's Spike.
Benjis VIP: Glad you are enjoying this. I hope you like this chapter. *cackles*
Eloe: Glad you like it. :)
Silverfox1: "No Draco killing? ... No Sevi killing?" errrr, well, that is to say…stay tuned.
Trillium: Here are Draco and Sevi. I know, Ron was fun, but I like writing Gin even better. Tell me what you think of her.
Astria: Unique – I always love hearing that. Hope you enjoyed this chapter too.
angelsou: I totally intend to finish. I don't think my Beta would let me do otherwise.
And be sure to read: "The Seers' Truth" Books by Lady LeStrange
A Harry Potter fifth-year epic mystery of prophecies, visions and dreams.
The prediction and Old Magic hold the key, but will they figure it out in time?
Book 1: "The Seers' Truth: A Broken Beginning"
ff.net storyid=1130559
Book 2: "The Seers' Truth: Beyond the Darkness"
ff.net storyid=1650585
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