Disclaimers, etc, see part one.
Authors' Notes: This is set part way through an AU season two. So the last episode that actually happened is School Hard, when Spike attacks the Parent Teacher evening.
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They arrived blinking in the daylight-filled outer hall. The vast room was bustling with people in robes, occasionally in pants and shirt, and very many goblins. Buffy followed Giles as he walked slowly over to a counter.
The goblin called them over and Buffy stood half a step behind Giles as he discussed vaults and keys with their bank teller. The transaction ended and the goblin handed over another ornate key to Giles.
They stopped at the bottom of the steps and Giles turned to Buffy.
"Where would you like to go shopping?" Giles asked. "Do you want some new clothes for school? And robes, of course."
Buffy shook her head absently. "No, I have all the clothes I need for slaying, other than that I don't see a point."
Giles just stared at Buffy. This was probably the first time in human history a teenage girl turned down limitless shopping. Everywhere parents were dreaming of such a possibility, and Giles would quite happily empty his entire vault for it to stop.
"Is there a weapons shop here, Giles?" Buffy asked, scanning the brightly coloured shops and shoppers. "I'd like to be carrying something more substantial than a stake."
Giles sighed. Buffy hadn't recovered enough to even accept a funded clothes shopping trip. But he knew where they could find the shops they needed. He led Buffy through the throngs of people outside 'Quality Quidditch Supplies' and what looked like a joke shop.
"Where we're going is not the best part of town," Giles said. "Keep a close watch, try not to hurt anyone. Oh, and that crossbow we had in the Library is worth about fifteen Galleons. And your axe about five."
The laneway they entered was contrastingly dark and empty. Not all the shops were open and not all the shoppers were human. Past a dingy little shop called 'Borgin and Burkes' there were two shops, side by side with matching blood red curtains; 'Mister Goodle's Bloody Books' and 'Wrought and Blooded'. Giles stopped and Buffy stood next to him.
"I can come in with you and help you look through what they've got," Giles offered.
Buffy shook her head. "I appreciate the thought, but I'll just wait for you there. I know you want to get to the book shop."
She seemed to smile slightly at the familiar thought of the Watcher and the books. Giles hid his excitement and relief, busying himself by taking a handful of little trunks out of his pocket. He threw them at the ground and they appeared as full sized trunks floating about five centimetres off the ground. Buffy took a step back and automatically reached for the inner pocket of the leather jacket, and her stake.
She blinked at the five floating boxes.
"Do I get one for my weapons, Giles, or are you going to buy that many books?"
Giles smiled, appreciating the return of something resembling Buffy humour.
"I'll take three," Giles said, thinking. "And you can have two."
He counted out the trunks and they divided themselves between him and Buffy. Buffy nodded her acceptance of the arrangement and marched into the weapons shop with the trunks trailing her. Giles hoped he'd find the shopkeeper well when he returned.
The inside of the shop was no better lit then the street outside. But the metal gleamed dully. It was laid out like a hardware store, with rows of similar weapons hanging side by side on back boards.
The shopkeeper behind the counter was a man who looked like he could easily use the weapons in his shop. His hair was tied backed with what looked like a whip and his small eyes were constantly looking over the merchandise. He smiled as Buffy entered. Either he thought she was pretty, or that she would know nothing about his business; in other words, a sucker.
Buffy wandered along the aisles, stopping occasionally to take a weapon down to check the balance and put it back. By the second row the weapons were becoming more serious. Buffy passed several long swords and two foils. At the end there was a stand of throwing knives.
The store attendant popped up beside her, holding a sword.
"This sword is one of my best items, just the thing for our more discerning customers." He leered at her slightly. "I'll even let you have it for ten Galleons, which is well below my usual price. What do you say?" He handed Buffy the sword.
Buffy lightly held the sword in her left hand, ignoring the fanciful ornamentation. She peered down its line, bounced it on the tip of her fingers and turned on the man in disgust.
"You are either inept or you are trying to cheat me. This sword is not balanced; the decorations interfere with the manoeuvrability. At most it is worth three galleons, four if it had an edge that could cut more than paper, and then only if the gold in the inlay is real. Now for the rest of my shopping trip, you will not talk to me unless I need information about what I am examining. If I catch you trying to pawn off second rate equipment on me at an inflated price I will seriously hurt you. I intend to spend a lot of money, so I advise you don't get in my way."
The storekeeper, who hadn't given his name, took the sword and backed away, cringing. Buffy turned her back to examine the knives on the back wall. There were several different collections ranging in weight and length. One series of five names sat in their places on the board under a sign which said "Feathered, feather weight throwing knives. For deadly speed and accuracy." Further descriptions claimed that the knives were enchanted so that at a certain throwing speed or distance each blade would sprout tiny wings to help it maintain balance.
Buffy looked at the blades. They seemed perfectly normal, albeit with small etched feathers near the hilt. She looked back down at the two trunks which were trailing her and shrugged. She picked up one of the knives and held in carefully in her hand. It felt nice and it was balanced well for being weighted towards the hilt.
The shopkeeper appeared at her elbow again, with the sword.
"There is a throwing range along the back wall if you would to the try the knives. They are the finest–"
He stopped his selling spiel at a single glance from Buffy. But she nodded her thanks as she collected a second knife and walked towards the back wall. The range was only short with thick padding on the wall at one end, enough to ensure the blades wouldn't be damaged. She launched one knife through the air. It barely touched the padding before stopping and hitting the floor. The shopkeeper smirked.
The second blade was thrown so fast it had barely left Buffy's hand before tiny wings appeared on its side and the blade embedded itself in the padding.
"Cute," Buffy said. "I'll take the whole set."
She turned a slight smile on the shopkeeper who swallowed nervously.
Buffy made her way across the wall of knives, testing weight, sharpness and balance, the shopkeeper trailing nervously behind. By the time she had reached the end of the wall Buffy had accumulated six stiletto style blades in a variety of materials and lengths, along with scabbards; some well balanced throwing knives, sans wings; and several heavy bladed daggers, some with serrations, curved edges or hooks. Buffy's eyes took on a dull gleam when she spied in the corner a selection of throwing stars and naked blades.
Throwing stars would be very useful to carry around every day. Although they wouldn't kill anything nasty, and certainly weren't any good for rescuing people from vampires, they could be hidden easily. Hadn't Giles said something about robes?
There was one set of several mat finished stars in three sizes. They were well balanced and she could get six for two galleons. They went in the trunks with the other weapons she was going to buy and Buffy stepped along the next aisle, to examine the axes. She'd been quite fond of the heavy half bladed axe, and there were several weapons here that might be able to replace it.
She was testing the edge of a heavier half moon blade when a figure loomed behind her. Thinking it was the shopkeeper Buffy swung the blade at him. He caught the handle half a moment before she was going to pull it up. It wasn't the shopkeeper.
The tall, pale, man sneered at her. Dressed in black he reminded her vaguely of the vampire, Spike, who had attacked the school. But he wasn't as interesting, and the menace she could feel from him was cold, rather than hot.
"You need to be careful with heavy blades, little girl," he said.
Buffy stared at him, dumbfounded. The shopkeeper had been an idiot. But Buffy had never met someone this evil who had dismissed her so easily. The man hadn't dismissed her entirely yet. He ran his eyes over her appearance, and in anyone else it would have been considered perving.
"And a Muggle girl at that," he almost spat. "What's happened to your shop, Connelly, that you've let Muggles handle the weapons?"
"She knows what she's on about," came the shopkeeper's voice from the end of the shop. He was still avoiding Buffy, it seemed. She smiled, sweetly.
"You've insulted me twice, now, sir, and I don't even know your name," Buffy said, in coquettish voice. She felt a faint surge of adrenaline as she saw him struggle with the urge to strangle her. Angel had always loved it when people underestimated her. The thrill was drowned way a wave a grief. Only her anger at this creep kept her from collapsing on the floor.
"Lucius Malfoy," he said. He obvious though that the name would have some effect on her.
Buffy shrugged, and held out her hand. "Buffy Summers," she said.
Malfoy's impeccable English upper-class breeding held and he took her hand.
Buffy didn't grip as hard as she could, but Malfoy flinched. She pulled him close.
"See, being polite is not so hard now. I'm not in a good mood today, but I think you should leave me alone even when I am."
Malfoy pulled his hand out of Buffy's gripped and turned on his heel to march back down the aisle. His black cloak and robes swirled behind him. Buffy snorted at the overly dramatic gesture and turned back to the blade. She ran her hand along a couple more, keeping half an ear on the two men at the counter.
She froze when she heard another sneer from Malfoy, "Giles, long time, no see."
"A pleasure, as always, Malfoy," Giles said, blandly.
Buffy walked quietly to the end of the aisle and watched them carefully.
"You've returned to civilisation, from wherever it was you were banished to. I'm surprised they let you back, have you even got a wand now?"
"I heard you got much more than that by the time you finished school, Malfoy. But it is nice to see you found the counter curse to my hex. Narcy almost vomited. How is your old girlfriend?"
"She is my wife," Malfoy said, harshly. "And you? Married a Muggle, how very 'progressive' of you."
Buffy saw the moment when both men realised how far the insults had gone. She braced herself to watch the fight; she wasn't sure she wouldn't kill Malfoy, or injure Giles's pride. Malfoy and Giles took half a step away from each other and drew their wands. Buffy didn't think the fight would end any better for a lack of fist.
The shopkeeper agreed. He was around the counter and had a firm grip on both wands before either of them could mutter a curse.
"Mister Malfoy, it's been a pleasure doing business with you, as always. If you would kindly take you purchases with you and leave. Sir, please put away your wand and I'll consider serving you."
Malfoy pulled his arm out of Connelly's grip and swept of the shop, robes billowing behind him again. The door slammed shut behind him. Connelly turned back to Giles, who was scanning the shop. Buffy took the best axe off the wall and appeared with the trunks behind her.
"How are you?" Giles asked, softly.
Buffy gave him half a smile. He'd ask the question if he hadn't seen her in more than half an hour. She handed the axe over. It was the plainest one in the shop, but the blade was heavy and sharp and the handle was well balanced and smooth. Giles placed in on the counter and help Buffy unload the trunks. He examined each piece as he handed it up to the counter. He was impressed by both the shop's merchandise and Buffy's choices.
"Do you have any crossbows?" Buffy asked.
Connelly motioned to the room behind the counter and turned back to begin the transaction with Giles. He had learnt that the girl could look after herself. But he was still wary of the man who had almost fought with Lucius Malfoy.
The back room of the shop was small and brightly lit. There were rows of crossbows and on the side wall several ornamental and ritualistic blades. Buffy looked at the little descriptive tags on them. One was for killing Kek demons. It also had the notation 'extinct.' Buffy shrugged. Who'd want to pay for special knife that killed things that didn't exist? Still, the Kekfadlorem symbol was interesting.
Next to the Kek knife there was a proudly proclaimed Vorpal and what looked like a bronzed Frisbee. The circle with no middle was familiar. Buffy stared at it a moment before her eyes widened in recognition. She pulled it off the wall and turned it over in her hands.
"I didn't know these were real," she said. "Giles, they've got a Chakram blade."
Giles called something non committal from the main area of the shop.
"You know, from Xena? They're brilliant."
Buffy hooked the loop carefully over her shoulder.
She looked along the row of crossbows, trying to find the one that most resembled the one she had in Sunnydale. Crossbows have makers and style like Violins' do, and there was another one that was made in the same way. It was in good condition so Buffy picked it up in one hand. She was considering the idea of having two crossbows when she spied a giant rock in the far corner.
It seemed to be absorbing the light in the room, or doing something else like that. Buffy walked over to it slowly. It was only about two feet wide and three feet high, but seemed to take up more space. And it hadn't been cut smoothly.
Buffy had been staring at the colour of the rock for several seconds before she noticed either the engraving on the front or the blade embedded in the top. The blade looked incongruous, bright red and gleaming silver, wedged in the creamy coloured stone. The writing stopped her for a moment. She read the unfamiliar letters and smiled.
"It is not for you. She alone is allowed to wield it."
Buffy's grin widened when she saw the stake at the end of the weapon's handle. She placed her hand on the handle and the grin vanished. She closed her eyes. The weapon imbued her with as strange sense of acceptance, something like the calm certainty in the beginning of a fight. It didn't offer anything soft, but it was hers. She opened her eyes and carefully released the blade.
Giles was concluding the haggling over the axe when Buffy reappeared to add the Chakram blade and crossbow. He was pleased with crossbow choice; Buffy had been paying more attention to his lectures than he thought. He was intrigued by the Chakram blade.
"Oh, and I want that giant rock with the axe thing in it," Buffy said, nodding to the back room.
The shopkeeper blinked. "Ah, we can't get the scythe out, ma'am. We've tried all the spells we can think off. The Aurors even had a go at it. Really, I couldn't let you take it. It's expensive, but useless. I really only keep it as a show piece."
"What did I say about interfering in my buying choices?"
"Not to," the shopkeeper said, swallowing.
Giles chuckled lightly at the thought of what Buffy had done to the man. But he was concerned by her behaviour.
"Why do you want it?" he asked.
Buffy took his hand and dragged him to look at the rock.
"It's mine," she said, and pointed to the engraving on the front.
Giles struggled for a moment with the Greek letters spelling Latin words then he looked sideways at Buffy. She was paying attention to him so he simply agreed with her and went back to talk to the shopkeeper. They agreed to have most of the weapons sent to their room at the Leaky Cauldron. Buffy kept a couple of the plain throwing knives and the shorter sword with her. The rock and scythe were to be sent to Giles's house in Hogsmead.