&*&*& A/N

yeah I know, I know. I'm ridiculously late at updating. I'm kinda caught up in my other fic right now – sorry! But, that doesn't eman you can stop reviewing. It makes me very sad that on one site I have had over 1000 hits, and not many reviews at all. Shame on you! If I got even a fraction of that number of reviews, I would be so scared I'd update immediately.

C'mon! Review. I DARE YOU.

On with the story!

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"No, really. I get it," Buffy laughed. Malfoy looked at her, raising an eyebrow suspiciously. "Or, okay, maybe not." She groaned and slumped in her library chair, thumping her head on the desk and burying her face in the heavy book.

"Look, it's really not that hard. If the rune has a second horizontal stripe when in a third person casting, it becomes future tense."

Buffy tilted her head to the side, opening one eye a crack. "Hey, that makes a new kind of sense, where it doesn't. Why didn't I just do Muggle Studies?" She wailed. "I was brought up a muggle! Easy as pie. And, pie? I kick ass at eating too. Why can't that be a class?"

Malfoy looked torn between being disgusted and amused. "That's pathetic and you know it."

Buffy looked up hopefully. "You mean it's a class?"

Malfoy closed his eyes, bored with her antics. "We have NEWTs very soon. Could you please focus? I never thought Slayers were such airheads," he zinged.

"Well, ya learn something new everyday, doncha, peroxide?" Malfoy looked properly chastised and looked around, seeing Faith standing behind him. "And, oh yeah." She poked him hard with her wand. "You just watch it about slayers. No way am I an airhead. Brunette, remember?"

Malfoy's eyes narrowed, pulling her towards him. "You're not an airhead," he said easily, ignoring the jibe about his and Buffy's hair colour. He pulled her into a chair and kissed her forehead. "You know I never meant to insult you."

Faith grinned, and leaned forward to bite his bottom lip. "Isn't that just lucky?"

Buffy gave them both a healthy poke in the ribs to separate them. "Help me, please!" she whined. "I'm gonna fail." She moaned some more and collected her books, heading for the door.

"Where you goin', B?" Faith called across the room, poking out her tongue under Madam Pince's glare.

"Great Hall," she answered in a depressed voice. "I'm gonna see Harry. Maybe he can make Runes easier. He does speak like a trillion languages – oh, and it's dinner time." She brightened considerably after that last comment. Food was always a plus.

Malfoy grabbed the rest of his books, and waited for a while until Faith had finished borrowing out a tome on sacrificial weapons. A few eyebrows were raised at that, but the three Slytherins continued on to the Great Hall.

Once they arrived, Buffy automatically scanned the room for Harry's familiar dark head and bright green eyes. She noted that he was sitting over at the Gryffindor table. She smiled at him and waved. He grinned back and blew her a kiss. Giggling, she sat down next to Faith.

"Yo, B," the brunette said. "How come your boytoy's still sitting with the lions? I thought he had a falling out with his friends."

Buffy nodded. "He did. He said some pretty mean things to Granger, and now I hear Weasley's pretty pissed at him too. See how they're at separate ends of the table?"

Faith nodded.

"Yeah, well he's still friends with everyone else. They don't believe that he said those things or was in on the prank we pulled."

Faith shook her head with a smile. "Nasty. Fun." They both laughed very loudly, and were silenced by a cold glare from Snape. Buffy blushed and looked along the head table. She saw Dumbledore whisper something to Professor McGonnogal, who was looking impatient. Buffy shrugged mentally and continued with her meal: lasagne and fresh pumpkin juice.

After ten minutes or so, a small brown school owl flew in from a door behind the head table, and perched on Professor McGonnogal's shoulder. It hooted softly in her ear, and took off again. The old woman made a nod in the Headmaster's direction, and stood, excusing herself from the table, trying her hardest not to upset the pitchers of pumpkin juice. She walked to the other end of the table and tapped Professor Wilkins on the shoulder.

Wilkins looked up with a smile. Buffy smiled a bit too when she saw – his enthusiasm was plain infectious. Fortunately, he was down near the Slytherin end of the table. He had told his seventh-year Defence class that he was hoping, by that arrangement, to cheer up Snape. He had also mentioned something about basic cleanliness and the hair, which Buffy had to wholeheartedly agree with. After a quick word with the Transfiguration Professor, he exited the room with a chuckle through the small door that the owl had come through.

Professor Dumbledore stood. The hall slowly fell silent, only drabbles of conversations left. He cast his gaze around the Hall, his gaze lingering on Harry, Malfoy, and then really slowing on Faith and Buffy. He seemed to grow taller almost when he looked on the two girls, and his eyes hardened, shining a colder blue. Buffy suppressed a shudder.

She knew that Dumbledore still didn't trust her much, if at all. He seemed to truly hate what she had do-no, no, no. Buffy sighed mentally, frowning at herself. Buffy, you didn't kill Kendra, she told herself firmly, It was Drusilla, remember? Funny. For a moment, she almost believed herself. Although, she knew for a fact that he was learning to like both witch/slayers more and more. They weren't killing anyone, after all.

Dumbledore had cleared his throat now, and Buffy snapped back to reality as he commenced his address.

"As you all know, two Seventh-year girls in Slytherin, Millicent Bulstrode and Pansy Parkinson, left a couple of weeks ago on an exchange program to America. They are going to continue their alternate subject studies in a school in a small town called Sunnydale, which Professor Wilkins has facilitated. Just today, two girls have arrived at Hogwarts. They have both been placed in Slytherin. These girls are new to Hogwarts, so please make them feel at home."

With that, Professor Wilkins came through the door with two girls in Slytherin robes. He ushered them to the front of the hall. They were both around seventeen, one with strawberry blonde hair falling in soft waves around her peaches and cream face; the other with dark brown hair pulled back from her face and secured with a silver ornament. The second girl had fragile, bony features, and a very slender shape. Her eyes were dark and had an odd quality to them, not unlike Loony Lovegood's. The difference was, Luna from Ravenclaw looked like a scared bunny rabbit; the new girl looked like a cat.

The paler of the two seemed to be more confident. She smiled at everyone, earning some whistles from the Slytherin table and jealous looks from the boys in the other tables. Her eyes were a greeny-blue, and sparkled in her face. She looked very sweet, unlike the pug that Parkinson had been or the bulldozer that was Bulstrode.

Faith had been clapping along with everyone else before realizing that Buffy wasn't. Malfoy too looked perplexed, gazing hard at the two newcomers. Her platinum boyfriend looked confused, and Buffy was looking incredulous.

"Wow," she whispered. Along the table, Buffy heard Malfoy mutter, "Now that's just…neat."

Professor Dumbledore waited for the clapping to stop.

"I'd like to introduce Drusilla Edith and Darla Aurelius!"

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

"Look, Peaches, I don't see why we can't just go now."

Angelus surveyed Spike through hooded eyes. "Because we need to give the girls some time to get settled in at Hogwarts. They need to follow their orders, and we do too." For the meanwhile, Angelus thought to himself, his face not betraying his inner thoughts.

"Yeah? And why can't we just storm the place, cause a riot? All that magic blood, it's calling me."

Spike grinned, cracking some knuckles. He loved riots – all the mayhem, confusion, fear and loss. It was just fun.

Angelus rolled his eyes. "You almost got Dru killed in a riot, remember?" he found a long, rusty nail on the ground and picked it up. He turned it around in his hands, a slow smile starting to form on his face. Spike didn't even have to ask what he was planning to do with his new toy, he just knew it would be painful.

"Yeah, I remember," Spike spat, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "And, sorry, who killed Darla? Who staked his bleedin' sire? I forget… was it – you? Oh, that's right, you killed her to help that bloody Slayer."

The smile on Angelus' face faded. He looked up, eyes burning. "That wasn't me. Darla knew that. If it were me, I would have tortured my baby girl properly, before I staked her." A sadistic smile was creeping back as he spoke the last sentence, and he started laughing.

Spike still didn't look impressed. "I didn't believe it when Dru told me you did Darla in. That's one of the golden rules - never ever stake a sire! You're probably the one who told me that in the first place, bleedin' hypocrite."

"Yeah, well at least we don't have to worry about you hurting Dru. She's got you wrapped around her little finger. Just a pity she doesn't return your undying love-much like another girl. What was her name, Cecil-"

With a snarl, Spike launched himself at Angelus. He grabbed the larger vampire by the collar and pushed him up against a wall. "Don't you even dare, soul-boy."

Angelus looked down at Spike. "What, can't handle the fact that she likes me more? Face it, William, you're just not man enough for a girl like that."

Spike morphed into vamp mode, baring his teeth and bringing back his fist to punch. He stopped himself as he saw the Master around the corner of the door. With a nod, the ancient vampire stalked off silently.

Spike released his grandsire and waited until he was sure that the Master had gone. He turned to Angelus, still angry. Angelus was laughing again.

"Can you imagine?" the dark-haired vampire said. "The two of them, Darla and Buff, together in the school. The Master told me that Darla had to go there and make nice, try to get the slayer on our side."

"Both slayers," Spike mused, looking at the two tied up bodies in front of him. He felt suddenly hungry. Young girl? She'd taste sweet. Football player? He'd be more meaty… "The other one got sent there too."

Angelus looked up quickly. "Two?" he asked. "I thought there was only one slayer at a- " he stopped. No, there was Kendra, he told himself. Buff killed her, that's why she was at that school in the first place. But Kendra was dead, so…

"The Jamaican slayer got replaced by this other one. Name's Faith. She's bollixed up to begin with – I don't think she'll be hard to get on our side. It'll be even easier when that other bitch is as well."

"Bollixed up?"

"A whole cabinet in the police station is dedicated to her criminal record. Bleedin' saint, she is." The blonde vampire chuckled. She sounded like she liked having fun.

"So how did Darla and Dru get in? I thought the place was guarded against vampires."

"Well, you're an inquisitive young man, now aren't you?" Spike whipped around awkwardly in surprise, but Angelus just looked up in a more fluid movement. A man had just appeared, and was giggling like a schoolboy.

"Wilkins," Angelus said smoothly.

"Evening, gentlemen. I just came back from the school." The Mayor of Sunnydale looked very chipper indeed. "Everyone's gone to bed an hour ago over there, and - " he looked out the window. "Yes, the sun's about to rise. I'm right on time." He clapped his hands together enthusiastically.

Spike looked perplexed. "You mean as soon as you can go to sleep in one place, you pretend to wake up in another?"

The Mayor looked the blonde vampire in the eye. "I am immortal, you know. I've been here for a hundred years or so."

"Oh. Right, then."

"I don't need to sleep, so when it's dark in Sunnydale I go to Hogwarts. I'm a professor there. To make my visits in each place seem like I never actually leave, I use this little trinket." The Mayor pulled a long gold chain from inside his shirt. On the chain was a tiny hourglass in a gold setting.

"What's that, then?" Spike said.

Angelus prowled forward. He took the hourglass in his hand. "Time Turner," he said calmly. "Clever."

Mayor Wilkins looked happy. "Well, I just got the girls settled in. Guess who they're sharing a dorm with?"

Spike smirked, and Angelus looked on steadily. Wilkins continued, "I put them in together with the slayers. Darla, Dru, Buffy and Faith all together! They're going to get along fine, I imagine."

"So?"

The Mayor glanced at Angelus. "What do you mean, 'so'?"

"You didn't answer my question. How the hell did they get in? I thought the place had vampire wards, and protection spells?"

Wilkins sighed with a smile. "Yes. The wards were fooled by a spell that hides the vampire 'qualities', so they seem like humans now. They both have reflections, hunger, ability to go in sunlight, everything. The spell is only temporary though, so every day they need a top up from a potion. The spell is 'Lamia Dissimulo,' and it's very effective. The only other problem is that, well, they still couldn't enter unless they were invited, so I arranged the swap. The Headmaster himself invited them both in to stay."

Angelus looked satisfied. "Will it work to get Spike and I in?"

Wilkins nodded. "Yes, I don't see why not." He was grinning excitedly.

"Good old Slytherin, eh? Between you and I, I think that even if some of the Slytherins knew you were vampires, they'd still let you in. Crafty little things, aren't they? No wonder so many of them turned out as Death Eaters."

Spike. "I can't wait to get back to school. I was in Slytherin, too."

Mayor Wilkins smiled. "I went to Durmstrang a couple of hundred years ago. That's where I learnt everything I know." He turned to Angelus.

"So how about you? Did you have fun when you were at school?"

Angelus looked thoughtful. He played with the rusty nail he still held. "Yeah, I did actually. I didn't get to finish, though. My father was away at war when I started, my mother sent me. When he came back, he pulled me out. 'Satanic child' and all that crap."

The Mayor looked sympathetic. "Oh, dear. At least you did what your father told you to do like a good son should."

"Yeah. He was really my inspiration when I was stalking Dru, driving her insane."

"Wow. I'll bet you can't wait to get back to Hogwarts, then - see Slytherin again. It'll be like going home."

Angelus paused. He looked up at Wilkins hard. "Not really," he drawled with a smirk. "But I still can't wait to go back to my old common room. That's home to me."

Wilkins frowned. "What do you mean? Is it or not?"

Angelus smirk deepened. "I'll be glad to go home, but not to Slytherin."

He threw the rusty nail at one of the bodies tied up in front of him.

"I was in Gryffindor."

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A/N who saw that one coming?? WHO??

Please review. It makes me happy and I write more.

I DOUBLE DARE you to REVIEW. Also, if you like Darla-centric stories, check out my newie, Immortals alike. It's a one-shot ficlet. Give it a try and tell me what you think.