This was another fun chapter to write.. fun, but hard. It's longer too, because the last chapter was quite short. It's a darker chapter, no doubt about it, but it's really what the story is about. And we're bringing one of the "fanged" over for a while. Actually, just this chapter... but you'll see why.
I've done enough talking.
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Chapter 19
The Die is Cast
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It was eight days since Buffy had made her oath to protect Ginny. The trap had finally been set, but the key was still en route. Buffy found this rather tiresome, but knew that the shorter the waiting period, the longer.
Outside, the soggy fields gave way as the four Quidditch teams were out in full practice again. To calm her already jangled nerves, not to mention keep an eye on both her sister and the Weasley girl, Buffy took it upon herself to supervise the practices. As she sat there one afternoon, watching Gryffindor's team practice, she smiled.
The day before, she'd called off homework in her classes. Then she gave a second announcement that was eagerly cheered on. Their finals, with the exception of the fifth and seventh years, who would be taking their tests, would be practical. And after hearing about Professor Lupin's obstacle course idea from the excited sixth years, Buffy knew exactly what she wanted to do.
Up in the stands, in the sunlight, Buffy felt warm and alive, even with the bludgers swishing overhead, whizzing sinisterly as they skittered back into the field of play.
Next to her, a figure suddenly stirred. Buffy sat up and recognized Willow climbing the steps, looking exhausted. "I should have changed into that blasted cat," Willow panted, sitting down.
"Wil, what is it?" Buffy asked, shielding her eyes from the sun.
"The package has been delivered," Willow said in a low voice. "It was delivered through the tunnel under the school, but at least it arrived in one piece."
"Good," said Buffy, turning her attention back to the pitch, where the team was getting together in triumph. "Do you think they have a chance in hell to beat Slytherin next week?"
Willow grinned. "Have you seen how on they've been?"
"Yeah, yeah," Buffy muttered as she wrapped a scarf around her neck. Although the sun was out and bright and the snow had melted away didn't mean that the air wasn't crisp and cold. It didn't bother the Quidditch players, for some odd reason.
Buffy and Willow made their way back into the Castle and toward the Headmaster's office when Professor Snape met them on their way.
"Your package has been brought down to the dungeons," he said, his lip curling slightly, distaste etching in every line of his face.
Buffy checked her watch. Sunset was a mere hour away. "Wil," she said quietly.
Willow reached over and took Buffy's arm. "Let's go."
"You don't have to do this," Buffy said as the two descended.
"What kind of best friend would I be if I didn't?" Willow asked, mock hurt in her voice.
They continued talking until a large clank sounded from down the long, dark hall. "Willow?"
"Lumos," Willow whispered, watching as the wandtip lit up and she waved it around, trying to get her bearings. "Dungeons, right."
They continued walking.
Finally, they reached a large door, with heavy bars set diagonally. With a sharp kick, Buffy managed to undo the lock. As the broken iron shards fell aside, she pushed the door open and stepped into the darkness, pulling out her own wand. "Lumos."
A face stared at them from the corner. "Is this any way to treat your bloody guests?"
Buffy could hardly believe her eyes as the figure stepped forward. "Spike."
Willow's eyes widened in amazement as Spike came to a stop just in front of Buffy. "I've seen a lot of things I don't believe, love," he said, turning away. "Many are just fables." Then, with the force of a hurricane behind him, he turned and punched the Slayer across the side of the head.
Buffy gasped as she reeled sideways, catching herself on a wall. "Spike? What the hell are you doing?"
He stepped back, putting up his hands to protect his face in case she decided to retaliate. To his relief, she didn't, but she wasn't exactly relaxing around him either. She folded her arms once she attained that all of her facial features were still in the right place.
"I've been waiting to bloody see you for months," he said, walking slowly around her. "Ever since we danced that night."
"We danced on the phone?" she asked, her eyebrows arching slightly as she turned to him. "Do you have any idea---?"
"The prophecy," Spike replied in his voice of dead calm. "Angel told me you needed the one that would fulfill the prophecy... except that there are two of us that can become human, and we both need to win an epic battle to do it. But mister tall-dark-and-brooding hasn't exactly won any brownie points in the whole destroy-a-city competition. At least, not yet." Spike frowned as he lifted the amulet from his neck and settled it back into the hands of the trembling Slayer.
"You didn't have to bring it back," she said, glancing up. He was surprised to see tears in her eyes.
"I did it once, I can do it again," he replied.
"I'm not going to watch you die," she said, her voice more forceful this time. "Not again."
"I'm the only one who can wear this."
"Not anymore," Buffy objected quietly, handing the amulet to Willow.
"The amulet... this was the package?" Willow asked.
"It gives the strength and the power it needs to, to a Champion," Buffy explained. "It was already worn by a real hero. Now it's time the amulet goes into the hands of another..."
"You're talking about a sixteen-year-old male-Dawn!" Spike exclaimed.
"Did Giles tell you to come over and nag?" Buffy asked, for the first time feeling slightly annoyed. "It's different when it works around people with magic. This amulet is what it'll take for Harry Potter to slay Voldemort. And it's key function is to protect Azkaban. Willow?"
"I can sense it's power," she said, her eyes closed, the amulet floating midair as Willow ran her hand slightly above it. "It'll work."
Buffy turned back to Spike. "Thank you."
His eyes narrowed slightly when he noticed how anxious she was. He moved closer, placing his hands on her shoulders. She didn't object. Before she knew what was happening, he pulled her into a bone-crushing hug. As her arms tightened around him, she poured the guilt, the anxiety and the tension through her arms and into his. From his cold body against hers, she could feel his strength, stimulating and soothing.
Finally, she stepped away. "I'd better go," said Spike, turning to leave.
"What? Why?" Buffy gasped, trying to take his hand, but he pulled it away.
"We've got lots of important things to do now," Spike said as he turned back toward the grate leading into the tunnels. "Angel sends his love."
"That's what this is all about, isn't it?" Buffy demanded angrily. "You're jealous. He's jealous. You're all a bunch of morons, you know this, right?"
Spike paused and half-turned toward her, the shadow of his familiar smirk lighting up his face. "Doesn't make me love you any less." He turned and ducked inside. "I'll be back. We all will."
Buffy watched as he left, Willow standing behind her, amulet in hand.
"Well, that was interesting," Willow muttered.
- - - - -
Ginny had just entered the Great Hall when she noticed more eyes on her than normal. Trying to avoid their curious stares, she sat down with the rest of the Gryffindor fifth years and spooned herself some dinner.
If she was really honest with herself, it wasn't the stares or whispering that was bugging her. It was the silent treatment. Ron was treating her like she was some royalty, and Hermione was always there with Ron to walk her to class.
Something had to be up. If only Ginny could confide in Harry. But that even seemed impossible.
No matter how much she loved him, no matter how far she'd go to win his heart, it seemed as though he had made up his mind in the matter. Why risk something that would end so soon, and tragic?
Because sometimes there is something worth risking, Ginny thought bitterly as she stabbed at a boiled potato.
It was because Harry had made the decision. What Ginny thought obviously didn't matter. And it certainly didn't make it any less painful to watch as Parvati Patil sat on Harry's right side, where Ginny knew she should have been standing herself.
It was so hard to hate someone that she barely knew, and even harder to watch those same emerald eyes sparkle whenever they turned to the dark, round eyes of Parvati...
"No," Ginny muttered, throwing down her fork and staring at the table.
It wasn't worth it. She was not going to just sit here and play nice while the rest of the females in this school had dibs on him. There was no way in Hell she was going to watch as Harry fell for someone else. He had said he really, really cared about her. It sounded a lot like love to her.
After deciding once and for all that even though she was being treated as though she were either a broken glass or else a ticking time bomb, Ginny knew one thing for certain: she was going to get Harry back.
A few seats down, Ron sat eating, a textbook propped in front of him while Hermione made little huffing noises next to him as she checked his Charms homework. "What do you think?"
"Not bad," she finally said, rolling it up neatly and returning it to his bookbag. Once she reached inside, her fingers grasped a cold book. "What's this?"
Ron finally snapped back to attention. "It's nothing... really," he said, trying to grab the bag from her, but she was too quick and pulled out the homework diary from the year before. "Really, it's nothing," he muttered, the tips of his ears turning red.
"You kept this?" Hermione asked, her fingers brushing the few specks of dust away.
"It was a gift," Ron muttered, suddenly finding himself very interested in his steak-and-kidney pie.
"It was a homework diary," Hermione replied in disbelief.
"Well," Ron said at last, setting his fork down and gently removing the book from her hands. "It came from you. With your heart..." He was turning even redder now. "On it," he finally muttered, before shoving the diary back into the bag.
On his left, his vision obscured by the bag, Hermione's watering eyes were watching him in wonder.
At the table behind, Dawn had barely pushed her fried tomatoes around on her plate before one of the Ravenclaw girls called her on it. "You feeling okay?"
"Perfect," Dawn replied in the same haunted voice she'd been using for a week and a half now.
How could anyone blame her? All she wanted to do was find a love, a first love, any love or friendship or anything. Instead, she'd found Draco.
He was a really good guy, with a really good heart, once she had broken through the layers of sarcasm and darkness. But something bothered her more than that. She had allowed her heart to get involved before she'd seen his true colors. And since she realized that she was someone he would hate, she hadn't been able to sleep or work or anything, really. Professor Vector had spoken to her after a particularly harsh Arithmancy day in which Dawn had made so many predictions for the number five that the universe should have imploded in on itself.
But Dawn really didn't have anywhere else to turn. Until the night before.
She had gone straight from Quidditch practice to her sister's suite. Knowing that Buffy was still outside with Professors Snape and Flitwick, Dawn had chanced that either Willow or Tara would be inside.
They weren't, but Faith was.
Faith claimed she was there for some sort of mission. She looked more like she was on a vacation.
But Dawn couldn't move anymore. She couldn't even breathe. After breaking into tears and collapsing did she finally open up to the one person she couldn't even trust.
Faith had had enough bad experiences with men to know when someone was about to get their heart broken.
"You have to tell him the truth, Dawn," Faith said softly. "The sooner he knows, the faster he can get over it. If he's really as wonderful as you've let on, he'll accept it. But if he's the buttery git I've heard he is, then you're doing yourself a lot of good by leaving the trash by the exit door."
Dawn swallowed the rest of her tapioca pudding. Across the Great Hall, she could see Malfoy and the rest of his gang standing up. Her heart leapt into her throat. It was now or never.
She crept quickly to the edge of the Great Hall to wait for him. As he passed, she took his arm and dragged him outside.
"Dawn, what is it?" he asked, his voice full of concern as she turned her back on him, suddenly unable to breathe, to move, to think. "Dawn?"
The moment he said her name, with a voice of such caring and compassion, she could feel every ounce of self control slipping away. "Draco... I can't do this..."
"Can't do what?" he asked, a slight note of panic in his voice. "Dawn, what is it? Is someone bothering you?"
She turned to him, a tear tricking over her chin. He looked even more alarmed. "You have given me some of the best months in my life," she said, trying to keep her voice normal, but listening as it turned high and cracked in places. "But I can't keep doing this. If you really knew what I was, you wouldn't be half this nice."
"If it's because you're American..." Draco said, reaching out to touch her.
She recoiled, her eyes full of horror. "I may be American, yes," she whispered, "but my parents were also Muggles, Draco. I know how you feel about us... and I think it's best that..."
The look on his face was enough to shatter her already broken heart. She could see the rage lighting up those pale blue eyes and the mouth, so beautiful a sight, twisting itself into a straight line. "What?" he asked, a bit more force in his voice.
"I'm not going to be with you, if you're ashamed to be with me," Dawn said, now visibly crying, her voice completely gone. "But you had a right to know the truth. If I'd known from the start how you felt---"
"You... you lead me on?" he asked. There was something else in his voice now, besides anger, besides rage. Was it hate?
"Don't hate me because I didn't know," Dawn begged half-heartedly.
"I don't," he said, his arms falling limply to his sides. "I can't... Dawn... how can you be... one of them...?"
"Just say it," she cried out as she stalked past him. "I'm a filthy little mudblood, just like Hermione Granger. That's who you've been dating the past five months. That's who I am. Now you know everything about me, yet you forgot to mention how much you despise them."
"I'm a pure-blood," Draco said, a bit of his self-confidence returning amidst the shock. "But I can't believe you would do this to me! How could you? How could you betray my trust? How could you?"
She watched, unable to cry any more tears, unable to even take a lifesaving breath, as he ran past her, back into the school, and out of her life.
- - - - -
To be continued...
Chapter 20 -- Ginny puts her own plan into motion; Voldemort springs his own trap.
Thank you reviewers for giving me such excellent insight! I never would have thought Oz meeting Lupin before, but it's definitely given me something to think about!
I really hope you enjoy this chapter... it has a mix of everything, including Spike's return and the ultimate collapse of Draco/Dawn. I know I haven't done much with their characters, but when you see the aftermath, you'll know how serious it got. And I am going to promise that Angel and Spike will return. Because I adore them both.
Until the weekend... happy reading!