Chapter 4
Trust
A/N: There's a long description of the Ravenclaw Common Room, you don't have to read it, but I suggest you do. In case your curious, ego, egotistic, egotistical, and egoist are my words of the month.
"Ow!" Dawn tripped on her way to her dorm room. After that angry meeting with Harry she was walking a little to quickly and stubbed her toe on her way to the statue that was the doorway to the Ravenclaw dormitory.
Dawn sighed as she entered the Common Room. She always loved it here. Although she had never seen any other Common Rooms, she had heard about them from other students, and was convinced that this one was the best.
If anything it was symmetrical. The room was a long rectangle. On the short sides were the two fireplaces, and the long walls were lined with bookshelves that were filled from top to bottom with books on any subject you could think of. The shelves only stopped for the doorway into the Common Room, and the stairs up to the dormitories. Directly in the middle of the room was a long rectangle table that spread from by the door to between the two staircases. On either side of the table there were comfy armchairs, and soft couches.
The ceiling was bewitched to look like the sky, but not like in the Great Hall. The sky was always perfectly blue, and had white fluffy clouds. Every now and then you could see ravens flying overhead. When Dawn first saw the sky she first decided that she would like to marry a wizard, so he could do that to a room or two in their house.
Slowly she hade her way to the fireplace with a book on centaurs and curled up before beginning to read. It wasn't long before she was interrupted. The interruption, however, was not unpleasant, it was by a few girls that were in her dorm. Two of them were trainees like her, but the other two were Aurors.
"Hey," Kelsey, a trainee started, "Can you give us the scoop on Harry Potter? That boy is so fine."
"Well, he's a total flirt. We were in training together. I swear, that boy must have dated every girl there." Anna answered.
"Even you?" Dawn asked raising her eyebrows.
She nodded. "Even me."
Heather, the other Auror spoke. "But, it's not like he's a player. He never dates more than one at once, just a ladies man."
"Why? Any of you interested in him?" Anna asked raising her eyebrows.
Kelsey nodded without a second thought. Victoria, a shy girl that reminded Dawn of what Tara used to be like blushed. But Dawn replied with speech. "Are you guys serious? He is so self-centered."
"You just think that because he threatened you the first day here." Kelsey replied jokingly.
Dawn shook her head grinning. "I think that because it's true."
"At least we aren't all buddy-buddy with Draco Malfoy. If anyone has ego problems, it's him."
Dawn and Kelsey liked to do this sometimes, just argue for the fun of it. "Please. He is totally modest."
"Yeah, a rich spoiled brat who gets everything he wants is modest. You've got to be kidding me."
Dawn smiled again. "Rich? Yes. Spoiled? No. He doesn't get everything he wants. But Potter, little fame boy, is such an egoist."
Kelsey suddenly burst out laughing.
Dawn frowned. "What?"
"Girl, you are trying so hard not to like him." Kelsey said between giggles. The rest of them laughed, and Dawn smiled before excusing herself to go to bed.
She wasn't mad at Kelsey for what she had said. She was mad at herself because for a moment, she thought Kelsey was right.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Giles spoke as soon as he entered the north tower. "I have come to ask you about-"
But Professor Trelawney interrupted him "I know what you have come to ask me about. Sit. And I will tell you what I have seen about the key, and Harry Potter."
"That is not what I need to ask you about." Giles was still annoyed from being interrupted. "Our Wicca's know there is a Slayer currently residing near North St. Catchpole. Do you know who it is?"
"I will not speak of that. You will learn in good time. About the key-"
"Her name is Dawn."
"Dawn, then. I have been foreseeing terrible things." She closed her eyes and got a concentrated look on her face. "I see the fire of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. It engulfs the world. all will die but those who surrender to him and live as his slaves. There is blood. Too much blood. And death. There is no longer place for the body's they through them in piles miles high. And the grim! The grim is everywhere." There was a pause as if to build the tension in the room. "Unless..."
"Unless what?" Giles asked his impatience growing.
"Unless this Dawn, and Mr. Potter can learn to unite. He will kill Voldemort if she is by his side. Otherwise, Potter will die, and your Dawn will never be happy again."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Harry was having a bad day. He hated the summer. It was always hot, and the robes defiantly didn't help. Nothing helped.
He was bored all the time. Hermione was around enough, but lots of the time she was out in some sort of mysterious bathroom breaks that took about a half an hour. Malfoy's comments were getting worse, and for some reason even he couldn't comprehend, he was being nice to Dawn. This was all to strange.
It was mid morning at Hogwarts, they had just finished Binn's class, and they were waiting for Mr. Giles to start his exercises with the class. However, he was running late, which Dawn was saying to a group of her giggly friends that this was very abnormal.
Suddenly all the girl's attentions switched from what they were talking about to a red-head that had just walked out of the castle, or rather two red-heads, but they only cared about one. Harry assumed they cared about the male.
"Oi! Ron!" Harry called out and hurried over to his friend. "Ginny," he said when he was a little closer. "What are you too doing here?"
"Well, I'm here to discuss Warfare Strategy with Dumbledore," Ron said puffing out his chest slightly. He liked being that sort of important person. "And Ginny is assisting Professor Snape."
"Really?" Harry asked Ginny.
She nodded. "He's researching potions that counter others and needed an assistant during the research."
Ron shook his head. "I'm still surprised he took her. She breaks things at every turn."
Ginny hit him playfully on the arm. "Not every turn. Just something every other day or so. And I don't do it on purpose."
"Ginny, you knocked a door right of it's hinges when you opened it. That doesn't seem accidental."
Ginny rolled her eyes. "Whatever."
Harry suddenly noticed Dawn walking towards the group. He started for a second admiring the way she moved. He probably wouldn't have stopped if she hadn't started talking to him when she reached them.
"Hey, Harry. Can you introduce me to your friends?"
When she said friends she must have meant Ron, because he was the only one she was looking at. "Are you talking to me?" Harry asked with mock confusion. He knew perfectly well why she was talking to him. Why did the sudden knowledge that she found Ron attractive suddenly fill him with resentfulness towards Ron.
"Obviously I'm talking to you. And your being rude."
"Sorry, Dawn this is Ron Weasley and Ginny Weasley. Ginny, Ron, this is Dawn." Harry introduced quickly.
"Hi," Dawn smiled and shook both of their hands.
"So, how do you too know each other?" Ron asked.
"Well, Hermione and I are friends," Dawn said.
"Oh, Hermione, I forgot she would be here. I should go say hi to her. Anyone know where she is?"
"Check in the bathroom," Harry replied. Ginny shot him a look before going back into the castle.
Harry spoke. "Actually, we met when she was fighting with Lavender, and I had to break it up." He was hoping this would get Ron mad at her, like it did to him, but his plan backfired.
"You were fighting with Lavender! Why?"
"She just said some stuff that got to me. I still wish Harry didn't break us up, I could have kicked the crap out of her. Not to sound egotistical."
"Yeah, I've wanted to hit her a few times too. Of course I can't. A guy hitting as girl isn't aloud."
"That always upset me too. A guy can hit a guy. A girl can hit a girl. A girl can hit a guy. But when a guy hits a girl everyone gets upset. It's very sexist, especially to the girls. Like we can't defend our selves."
"I agree." Ron replied.
Just then Mr. Giles came out the door and called his trainees together to start exercises with no explanation about the delay.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
(A/N: Still Harry's Point of View)
Harry and Ron stood away from the group watching them listen intently to Mr. Giles. "So," Harry began, "Do you like Dawn?"
"I was just about to ask you the same question."
"Why would you think that?"
"I don't know. Maybe because you couldn't take your eyes of her when she was walking to us, or maybe it was because you kept on shooting me death glares when I was talking to her."
"I was not shoot-"
"You were too."
"Do you like her?" Harry asked again.
"She's nice. but I'm not looking for a relationship. She's like Hermione, way to smart to go with a guy like me. But I can see you and her together." The trainees were pairing up with the available Aurors, but they were one Auror short.
"Your imagining things." Harry said sourly, as Mr. Giles searched for another Auror to pair with Dawn.
"Am I?" Ron asked raising his eye brows, as Mr. Giles motioned over Harry to be paired with Dawn. Ron grinned.
Harry shrugged "So, maybe I like her." And Harry started toward where Dawn was standing.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"You need to learn to trust the person standing behind you. You need to learn to let go of all- Yes, Dawn?" His sentence changed upon seeing Dawn's hand raise.
"Excuse me, sir. Why is this relevant? Why do I need to trust the person standing behind me? And when will this exercise be used on the slayer?"
"We are practicing the same exercises you will use on your slayer, there for it is not important that you trust the person behind except that if you do it will be easier to fall. As for your slayer you and she will practice this in order to trust each other."
Dawn nodded understanding his answer. She had been hoping she could get out of it. That last thing she wanted to do was be forced to trust Harry, and fall into his arms. That's just pathetic.
"You may begin." Giles said smiling as the couples either conversed a few short words, or immediately fell.
"So," said Harry grinning, "Do you trust me?"
"Hell, no."
"Oh, I'm wounded," he said in a mock hurt voice.
"You expect me to trust you just like?" Dawn asked.
"No. Civility would be nice." he said shrugging.
"It's more than you deserve."
"So, since you don't trust me, not going to fall?"
"No, I'm gonna pass this class. Whether or not I get paired with a slimy bastard." She turned around and held out her arms, ready to fall.
"Well, as long as your determined. I'm ready."
Without another word she fell, fully expecting to have her body colliding with the floor to be the next thing she felt. But instead she felt Harry's arms grab her and push her back up to her feet.
"Thanks," she said barely aware that the word had escaped her lips. She all of a sudden had a desperate to feel his arms around her once more. To touch him...
But she didn't.
Giles dismissed the class for lunch. She was just about to turn to Harry, and say... something. She didn't know what she was going to say, but it wouldn't be mean like all her other comments. But it didn't matter what she said.
The minuet she turned and face him, he had brushed past her. They both walked alone all the way to lunch.
A/N: I'm re-watching 'Buffy' episodes with Dawn. Does anyone remember anything mentioned about Dawn and chess?
P.S. Just got fourth season on DVD! Yeah!