The Witches Watcher Chapter 10: Metaphorical Dancing, a buffy x-overs fanfic

Sorry about the lack of updates; long story short, I now have a new hard drive; bad news is that I lost all the chapters I'd already written so now I have to re-write them. I'm not entirely happy with this chap, but I wanted to get something done. Advice to readers: Always back up your work!

Thanks to all the reviewers: sofi, water naiad 13, matt, critiker, Meg cat 06, blondi gurl and tiger fan fry.

Expect the Scooby's in chapter 13 or 14, I think.

To answer the point about Willow being good: I'm screwing with the timeline. Also she never finished her rehab and I figured that like most addictions you're never cured, just in remission or whatever.

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CHAPTER 10- METAPHORICAL DANCING

"Bye Giles!" Dawn hugged her 'adopted father'. "Come back soon, oh, and please no more slayers!"

"Right; no more slayers. Just several books that, I must say, look rather interesting!"

"Uh-huh, right. Looking forward to it. Say hi to Buffy for me if you see her."

"Of course. I'll be back in a few days, take care." And with that Giles stepped into the fireplace and vanished in a swirl of green flames leaving Dawn alone in his room.

"Right. Next thing on to do list: patrolling." She muttered making her way to the room of requirement where she would meet the girls, planning as she walked.

'Hagrid mentioned something killing forest creatures the other day. In the south side, I think it was...' She was so lost in her thoughts that she wasn't looking where she was going and bumped into Harry.

"Sorry, Dawn."

"No, my fault. I was totally spacing!" Dawn grinned as Harry picked his glasses off the floor and rubbed them in a very Giles-y way.

"Err, is this yours?" Harry was holding out a small dagger with a golden handle.

"Yup, thanks."

"One question, do you always carry a weapon around?"

"It's kind of a safety blanket slash force of habit thing."

"Oh, OK...Hey Dawn, I was wondering if you'd like to-"

"Ohmigosh! I'm gonna be late for training! See you later Harry!" With that she ran off leaving a rather startled Harry in her wake.

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The slayers hadn't returned from their patrolling session. The only people left in the common room were Semus and Dean and Ron and Harry.

Ever since Ginny had started patrolling, Ron had refused to go to bed until his little sister got back. He often used this opportunity to finish the homework that he hadn't done. Most nights he was joined by Harry and they found themselves talking and not really doing much work.

Semus and Dean were finishing off a game of wizarding chess, but they too retired to bed before the slayers got back. Not long after they went to bed, Flick, Ginny and Skye entered the common room giggling.

"Hi guys!" Harry acknowledged. "How'd it go?"

This made the slayers giggle more, but Flick managed to talk. "We fought a pack of demons."

"Are you OK?" Ron asked his little sister, concerned.

"Oh, we're fine."

"Where's Dawn?" Harry asked and was answered by another round of laughter.

"Probably still yelling at Jaden!"

"Why is she yelling at Jade?"

"Well, she got a bit...over zealous fighting the demon and decapitated it even though Dawn said whatever you do, don't chop their heads off. Anyway, turns out that you really, really shouldn't behead them because you get majorly slimed. And Dawn was in the line of fire." Flick collapsed into laughter again as the portrait hole flew open.

The others surged forward to greet Dawn, who clambered in through the portrait hole, slipping slightly. She glared at everyone.

"Yeah, yeah, hi. Shower. Now. And I don't want to talk to anybody until after." Harry opened his mouth; Dawn glared him into silence, holding up a hand. "Uh uh. Later." Harry shut his mouth with a snap. "Good."

The green, slimy woman stalked off, leaving two open mouthed boys and three slayers rolling about in laughter.

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As Harry walked into the room of requirement, his eyes nearly popped out of his head. Dawn had her back to Harry and was bending over doing her warm up stretches. After a moment, he cleared his throat prompting Dawn to turn around.

"Hi Harry! Where are Ron and Hermione?" She said peeling her sweat shirt over her head to reveal a navy blue sports bra. Harry forced his eyes up to her face and tried to ignore all the blood in his body rushing to one place, and it isn't his head. The three had been taking self defence lessons from Dawn since the beginning of term. Hermione had been told that living on a hellmouth had forced Dawn into learning martial arts and that Harry thought it would be useful for him too (she still didn't know about the slaying).

"Err. They, urg, they've got a prefects meeting, they said to tell you they couldn't make it."

"Oh, OK; just us then. Are you ready for me to kick your ass?" Dawn replied, amused and pleased by Harry's reaction.

Harry sighed. "You know, you could let me win one of these days."

"Now why would I want to do that? Besides I wouldn't want you to get over confident and think you can beat me."

"Think of it more as a confidence boost." Harry said with a smirk.

'Damn, he's hot!' "How would it boost your confidence to know that I let you beat me?" Dawn countered.

"I, well, it." He sighed. "I guess I'm hitting the mats then."

"Damn straight!"

Harry laughed. 'Shall I ask her to the dance now?' He summoned all his courage. "Dawn, there was something I wanted to talk to you about."

"What?"

"Well, I was wondering if, if, if you'd consider telling Hermione about the slayer thing." He chickened out.

"Harry we've been over this."

"I know, but you know that she'll find out eventually. She's not stupid."

"I never said she was, but the less people that know the better."

"She could be a big help, researching and stuff. Please, Dawn."

'Damn those puppy dog eyes!' Dawn sighed. "OK. But I want it to go on record that it's all your idea."

"Fine, thanks!" The next thing Harry knew, he was standing with his arms around Dawn. He released her and muttered an apology.

"We can tell her tonight, after dinner. OK, adopt a defensive stance..."

The next hour was spent training. Harry was surprised at how good of a teacher Dawn was. She would always make sure his footing was right and always correct his arms. Of course she always won; but he wasn't hitting the mat too much- mainly various headlocks and such.

"OK. That was good, but you need to think less. Thinking is good, but reacting is better. It only takes one blow to kill you. If you take the time to think, you're dead. Got that? OK; try again and this time, trust your instincts."

Harry ran at Dawn for about the fiftieth time that night. And once again Dawn tossed him over her shoulder and he fell on the mat. She straddled his waist and pushed the tip of a stake up to his neck.

"You're dead." Was all she said.

"Sorry. I guess I forgot to react." Harry looked up at Dawn who was still sitting over him.

Dawn couldn't tear her eyes away. She leaned forward and gave Harry a lingering kiss on his lips.

"You need to keep your centre of balance." Dawn said jumping up and offering a helping hand to Harry, who was still rather dazed.

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"Hi Hermione. Can we talk after dinner in the room of requirement?"

"Sure, what about?"

"It's kind of a secret. I'll tell you tonight."

"OK. So how did training with Harry go? What happened?" Hermione questioned seeing her friends blush.

"I might have kissed him."

Hermione cocked one eyebrow. "Might have?"

"OK, OK, I did kiss him."

"Why? What did he say?"

"I don't know why. We were getting along great then I ruined it. I didn't exactly give him the chance to say anything."

"You must know that he likes you. Any idiot can see that."

"I don't know, maybe. Anyway, you can't talk! What about you and Ron?"

"It's strictly platonic."

"If you say so. Wow! Speak of the devil and he shall appear." Dawn gestured to Ron who was approaching the pair from across the hall.

"Hi Hermione. Hi Dawn. Are you ready Herms?"

"Sure, I told Madam Pince we'd be there about now."

"OHH, do you too have a study date? Well I'd better leave you too it. Bye Ron, See ya Herms!" With that she was gone, exiting the hall with a massive grin on her face.

"What was all of that about?" Ron asked.

"I, err, It's not important. Shall we go?"

The sun was setting as the pair sat in the library and Ron couldn't stop himself thinking how pretty the sun made Hermione's hair look. It made it shimmer and look really golden. Hermione looked up, catching his eye and smiled. Ron returned the smile before looking back down at his work, making Hermione's heart flutter.

A couple of minutes later, Ron was in one of his favourite day dreams. Over the last 6 months he had found his dreams involving Hermione more and more and they were also becoming more erotic. In this one Hermione was wearing a see through, short dress that left nothing to the imagination.

"Ron? Ron?" Hermione brought him back to reality. "You've been staring into space for over 10 minutes. Come on, we've got to get to dinner."

Ron followed the object of his affections out the library, trying to ignore the way his stomach was doing back flips and the numbness in his legs.

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After dinner, Hermione entered the room of requirement to find a rather large group of people waiting for her. There was Dawn, Harry, Ron, Ginny, Flick and Robin all seated on various bean bags and chairs. They all looked up as she entered and Dawn was the first to speak.

"Hi Hermione. Have a seat; Skye's just gone to fetch Jade."

"Jade as in Jaden from Slytherin? Why does she need to be here?"

"It involves all of us."

"Do you know what all this is about?" Hermione asked Ron and Harry.

They looked at each other guiltily as Skye and Jade entered the room.

"Now will you tell me what's going on?"

"Hermione, have you ever heard of the legend of the vampire slayer?"

"Yes; one girl in each generation with the strength and skill to fight the vampires."

"Well, it's not a legend. It's real. And a few months ago the rules were changed so that more than one girl could be the slayer."

"Are you saying that you're all slayers?"

"No. I'm saying that Flick, Skye, Jade, Robin and Ginny are slayers. I'm a watcher. That's someone who-"

"I know what a watcher is. You're joking right? This is all a big joke. It has to be, it's impossible. You two knew about this? Why didn't you tell me?"

Harry and Ron cringed under their friends hurt anger. Hermione looked around. Everyone looked uncomfortable.

"Hermione, I'm sorry we didn't tell you." Dawn said. "We're not supposed to tell anyone except the families of the slayers. It's a safety precaution."

"You'd think I'd tell everyone?" Hermione looked hurt.

"Not intentionally, but you could have been forced to. Also it's safer for you not to know. You're less likely to get kidnapped or used for bait."

"We're sorry Herms." Ron put on his best puppy dog face.

Hermione sighed. How could anyone stay mad at that face? "It's OK. So how is there more than one slayer?"

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"Not exactly subtle, are they?"

"It's not one of their strong points."

Flick, Ron and Hermione had all just left the common room saying that they were all tired. When Dawn and Harry made to go to bed also, their friends very pointedly told them to stay and talk or 'whatever'.

They sat in silence for a while, but then they both spoke at once.

"Dawn, I..." "I'm sorry."

This prompted a bit of nervous laughter from the pair.

"What are you sorry for?" Harry asked.

"For that kiss in training. I shouldn't have."

"Why not?"

"Well, I mean it wasn't fair on you. I just did what I wanted to but that's not the point. I don't want it to ruin our friendship or-"

Harry silenced her with a chaste kiss to the lips. "I liked it."

"Me too. Wait, what were you going to say?"

"Dawn, will you to the dance with me."

"I'd love to."

"Thank Merlin." Harry muttered before going into another, much deeper kiss.

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Yay! They finally got together. Might take a while to update because I've got stupid AS levels. Please Review!