Chapter 10
"Where did that pompous ass with the bowler hat go?" Faith demanded angrily. The look in her eyes promised a number of painful experiences for Fudge when she got her hands on him.
"He must have snuck out sometime during the fight," Professor McGonagall replied.
"Don't worry," Rina Falore chipped in. "Once I publish my article tomorrow, there won't be anyone in the world who doesn't think he's a totally incompetent minister – not to mention corrupt as well."
"You don't write like that Skeeter woman, do you?" Hermoine asked suspiciously.
Rina snorted. "Rita Skeeter is a disgrace to the world of free press," she said vehemently. "The press is supposed to distribute information to the public and allow them to make their own conclusions, not make information up as well as influence their thinking."
Harry nodded, satisfied. "That's what I wanted to hear," he said. "Be sure to owl me a copy of the Prophet tomorrow. I'll be looking forward to seeing how you managed to burn Fudge at the stake."
"I'll owl everyone here a copy of the Daily Prophet," Rina promised. "But right now, I'd better get back to the office before my editor has something else planned for the front page tomorrow."
"I'll go with you," Angel said.
Everyone turned to him, startled that he actually broke out of his moodiness to say something.
"What for?" Harry asked, puzzled.
"To protect her from Fudge," Faith answered for Angel.
"Fudge is probably apparating himself to another continent by now," Ron spoke up. "Why do you still need to protect her?"
"This is the time when he's the most dangerous," Buffy replied for them this time. "After the article Rina writes is published, Fudge can't do anything. But before the article is published, he still has a chance to salvage the situation. He'll be willing to go to great lengths to ensure that the article is never published."
"How do you know so much about these things?" Hermoine asked curiously.
"Experience," Willow answered wryly. "A vampire is most dangerous if he's desperate and cornered. That's because he has nothing to lose. Fudge is in a similar position right now. Once that article gets out, he would lose everything. To prevent that from happening, he's going to pull out everything he has in his arsenal."
"It shouldn't be too difficult to stop him," Angel said. "Judging by his intelligence level, he would wait until Miss Falore is alone in some deserted place and then kill her. Unless I've greatly underestimated him or misread him somehow, the more subtle forms of intimidation and assassination are way beyond his intellectual capabilities."
"You've been observing humans for the past two centuries," Anya said carelessly. "I've been observing them for much longer and I agree with you. He's going to be direct and go for Rina."
"In that case, why don't we set a trap for him?" Faith suggested.
"Exactly what I was thinking," Buffy agreed. "Rina's gonna have to be the bait."
"Who's gonna be on the stakeout?" Dawn asked.
"Buffy, Angel, Tara and myself," Willow responded quickly, before anyone else could speak.
"Hey, what about me," Faith asked, annoyed. "It was my idea."
"Sorry Faith," Willow said apologetically. "But someone needs to take care of the wizard people."
Through a private mind link, Willow was sending Faith another message. 'Can't you see I'm trying to get Buffy and Angel together? They don't need an audience.'
'Ahhhhh, I see,' Faith replied silently in the same fashion, hiding her smirk.
Rina Falore was having her dinner at a fancy restaurant. Buffy, Angel, Willow and Tara managed to get a table at an inconspicuous corner of the restaurant. All day, Willow and Tara had been trying to push Buffy and Angel together but their persistence had only just managed to get the two to start talking to each other.
"So Buffy, how've you been," Angel asked hesitantly.
"Just peachy," Buffy said, equally hesitantly. "So, how's LA?"
"Oh, the usual. Crime, demons, vampires, nothing extraordinary so far."
"You know you've just jinxed yourself," Buffy replied, loosening up just a little.
"I can handle a few curses and jinxes," Angel replied, his dark mood lifting slightly.
'Finally,' Willow thought privately to Tara. 'they're making progress.'
'It sure took long enough,' Tara replied in the same manner.
"But there's one curse that you've never been able to escape, right?" Buffy said without thinking.
Angel's mood darkened again.
'Oh crap,' Willow and Tara thought at the same time.
Buffy knew she had made a faux pas immediately after she had said it. Hastily, she tried to take back her words. "I mean, uh..."
"Its okay, Buffy," Angel replied sadly. "You can say it. Its true anyway."
"Maybe the spell can be modified," Willow broke in suddenly.
All heads turned towards her.
Willow continued. "The crux of Angel's curse is the feeling of true happiness. If we could replace it with something else..."
"Or replace it with nothing," Tara interrupted.
Willow was startled but her expression quickly turned into a thoughtful frown. "Maybe," she said slowly, "we could replace it with a condition that can never be met."
Tara seemed to understand but Buffy and Angel were understandably confused.
"Wills, in English please," Buffy prompted.
"Well," Willow said absently, still deep in thought. "right now, the condition for Angel to lose his soul would be to experience true happiness. If that condition was replaced with another condition that couldn't be fulfilled..."
"...then the curse can never be broken," Angel finished, comprehension flooding his features.
Willow nodded. "A curse is sort of like a computer program. Right now, your program goes something like 'if you experience true happiness, you lose your soul'. If I can just replace that condition with something that can never be achieved ..."
"It's going to be tricky," Tara warned. "This particular spell has roots going right back to the beginning of time which makes it very powerful, but with enough research, I think that it can be done."
"And if it can't, then, we'll find another way," Willow promised.
Buffy and Angel looked at each other. They were thinking the same thing. To be finally free of the curse that kept them apart. It was at that moment when brightly colored smoke suddenly drifted into the restaurant from every conceivable opening.
Most of the wizards and witches were startled at the development but were willing to wait and see what was going on. Buffy, Angel, Willow and Tara were not so trusting, though, and Tara immediately cast a general protection spell on them. It was a good thing she did so since the wizards and witches in the restaurant were collapsing one by one once they took even the slightest breath of the smoke.
Alarmed now, the remaining patrons tried to conjure the smoke away but it seemed as if the smoke was immune to their magic. Soon, the entire restaurant was filled with bodies lying on the ground.
Buffy, Willow and Tara also collapsed despite Tara's protection spell. Angel alone remained unaffected since he did not breathe. Snatching a pitcher of water, he emptied the contents of the entire pitcher onto Buffy, Willow and Tara. All three of them spluttered and woke up as the ice cold water made contact with their skin and ran into their noses.
They had managed to control their coughing when the door to the restaurant opened to admit a person. The Scoobies and Angel immediately recognized Fudge. They kept silent as Fudge made his way towards Rina Falore. Grinning maniacally, he took a knife from his robes and plunged it towards Rina's heart.
The next moment, he found himself on the ground, his arm broken and Buffy and Angel looming over him.
"Well now, look who we have here," Buffy said pleasantly, but the genial tone of her voice did not match the hard look in her eyes.
"A murderer, apparently," Willow replied, walking forward, her eyes just as cold.
"You'll never be able to prove this," Fudge spat out. "No one will take the word of outsiders over the word of the Minister of Magic."
"We won't have to say anything," Tara said calmly.
"We won't?" Buffy, Angel and Willow exclaimed incredulously.
In reply, Tara simply pointed to a spot on the ceiling. Looking up, all of them saw an eyeball embedded in the ceiling.
"Eeeewww, gross," Buffy exclaimed.
"I think that's the wizard's version of a security camera," Tara said coolly, looking at Fudge.
At that, Fudge hung his head down. He knew he could never hope to win against a tamper-proof and magic-proof 'All Seeing Security Eye'. He was beaten and he knew it.
Moments later, aurors had taken Fudge away to be locked up and await questioning. The process of arresting Fudge had gone quite smoothly, in part, due to the presence of the 'All Seeing Security Eye' but also, because the auror heading this arrest happened to be Kingsley Shacklebolt.
About an hour later, all the witches and wizards had been revived and the Scoobies and Rina slipped away, unseen from the crowd. Rina was crowing about the story she had about Fudge and the fact that there was no other reporter at the scene of the arrest. She was the only one who had pictures from the scene, quotes from the aurors as well as firsthand information. The Daily Prophet was going to wipe out the competition.
After escorting Rina home where she started feverishly to write her story, the Scoobies left. However, none of them forgot the conversation they had in the restaurant. There had to be a way to break Angel's curse and Willow and Tara were going to find it.