Hi everyone! Hmm, I wrote the wrong date on the last update. I meant to say March 14 instead of the 7th, I only just realized this, and I'm really sorry. My spring break is nearly over and I didn't write as much as I thought I would. However, I already have half of the next chapter written so it will be up next Sunday.

Review Responses:
I hope I don't miss anybody cause of that weird thing at ff.net where I wasn't receiving review alerts, or able to read them from the sight. It was kind of freaky. So if I miss you, thank you anyway!

SPASH Panther, John, Boticelli's Venus, Pandoras Box1, thank you guys so much for your review!

Village-Mystic, Thank you for your reviews for both this and it's prequel. I've had quite a few people say that they wanted more Xander, but I honestly have trouble writing him - mainly cause I don't really care for his character much, but he is still part of the group so I try to put him in a bit.

Mija, I went back and checked in my books and Aragorn did have Anduril, he refers to it specifically when they arrive at Rohan. I know in the movie he didn't get it until near the end so maybe that's where you got mixed up.

As always, my reviewers just kick ass!

A/N: Like I've said before, I'm not finished with ME yet. They start coming back into play, hopefully at the end of the next chapter. If not then, they are definitely in the one after that.

A/N2: I just have to do this. You guys should really check out harmoni9 story, Keep Me Safe. It's really good!

Also, thanks to my beta PuNKyCoWGiRL!

Alright, I'll shut up now and let you read this chapter that is a week late.

Chapter Eight

Reaching Out

Ron hummed lightly as he walked through the corridors. He was on his way to his first private wicca lesson of the year. He had missed the two wiccas that he thought of as his own sisters. His mind made an intuitive leap, in a sense they were. Wiccas tended to think of themselves as a sisterhood, and as a wicca practitioner he was a member. Only, he wasn't a sister, he was a brother.

Since wicca magic was undetectable by the ministry, he had been able to practice all summer. Ron never went further than what they had taught him, but he had wanted to keep in practice.

Willow and Tara were waiting for him when he walked into the room. "Hi," he said as he sat down.

"Are you ready?" Willow asked.

"Yeah, do you want to do a review?" He asked.

"No, we want to start something new," Willow said.

Tara sat down across from him. ~It will be difficult, but we think you can handle it.~

Ron started slightly. He swore he hadn't seen Tara's lips move when she had said that. "How did you do that?"
~That's what we're going to teach you.~ Came Willow's voice inside his head.

"I thought only Dawn, Ma-Draco, and Buffy could do that."
Willow smiled. "They're not the only ones. Their connection is just different than ours."

"What do you mean?" Ron asked as he shifted slightly in his chair.

"Their connection is not merely to hear each other's thoughts. It's also a way to show their destiny together and Dawn can pull from their power at times to complete her magics with the portals."
"Ok. I guess that makes some sense," Ron said slowly. "But how are you able to do it?"

Tara smiled. "Our way is a bit different. We can only scan the top layer of thought. We can't dig to discover someone's darkest secrets. It's just a way for us to communicate."
"Why didn't you teach me this last year? It could have come in real handy."
"You weren't ready last year," Willow explained. "This is tricky stuff. It's going to take you a while to master it."
Ron sat there thoughtfully for a few moments. "Will I be able to do this with everyone?"

"No," Tara answered gently. "This will only work with people you're close to. You'll be able to do it with us for sure because we're more sensitive to it and you've been around our magicks enough that you know how they feel. And since you're such good friends with Harry and Hermione you'll probably be able to talk to them. But we're not sure about everyone else; they may take more effort."
The redheaded Gryffindor scrunched up his face. "Do you think we could pull magic this way?"
"Not that we've heard of," Willow answered.

"Could I look into it?" Willow and Tara looked at him as if he'd grown a second head. "What?"

"You're volunteering to do research?"

"I've got a thought in my head, and maybe... I don't want to say anything until I've had a chance to look into it."
Willow studied him for a moment before saying. "Sure. I'm not going to stop you from learning. Just be careful with what you read. We can even give you suggestions on where to start."

"That would be great."
~Are you ready to begin?~ Tara asked.

************

The next night Dawn sat in the same classroom waiting for Willow and Tara to arrive. She really didn't understand the need for this meeting. She practiced her elven magicks enough that she really didn't need the extra sessions. Especially since her abilities, at times, almost seemed endless, although some of her attempts did leave her a bit worn out. Not to mention her talks with Galadriel had helped immensely.

So she was a little confused as to why Willow and Tara wanted to meet with her. All that they would tell her is that they wanted her to try something new.

She didn't have to wait too long for the wiccas to show up. "Hey Dawnie," Willow said as they entered.

"What's this thing you want me to try out?" Dawn asked as the two wiccas sat in front of her.

"Dawn, did you ever test the range of your connection with Buffy and Draco?"
"No. I tried connecting to Draco once when we weren't in the same room, but I couldn't."

"When was that?" Tara asked.

"When we couldn't find him that weekend he got the fake dark mark."
Willow's face lit with understanding. "He was probably under a magically induced sleep. That could have prevented you from reaching him."
"Oh, never thought of that," Dawn said in slight surprise. "You want me to try this out now, I'm guessin'."

"I suppose you could start later, but now would be good," the redhead said with a laugh.

Dawn closed her eyes and concentrated. She knew that Draco and Buffy would be in the extra training sessions so she cast her thoughts in that direction. The brunette gasped softly as she felt Draco's familiar presence. ~Hi, honey!~ She could feel him jump in surprise.

~Where are you?~ He asked, looking around.

~The wicca training room.~

~That's on the other side of the castle. How are you doing this?~

~They wanted me to test our reach. Apparently I can reach you anywhere in the castle.~

Draco smiled as he felt her joy flow through him. ~Have you tried this with Buffy?~

~What is she doing?~

~At the moment, she's just standing and watching.~

~Ok, hold on for a sec.~ A moment later she was connected with Buffy, too. ~Well that's just neat.~

~Have you told Willow and Tara?~ Buffy asked.

~Uh, no. Maybe I should do that.~

While Dawn was still connected to them, Buffy and Draco could feel her pull away slightly to talk to somebody else.

~They want me to try something else with Draco.~ Dawn said after a moment. ~So, I'm going to leave you Buffy.~

~Alright. I'll keep Draco out of the sparring until you're done.~

~Thanks! Ok, Draco. Hold on again until Willow explains this better.~ He waited patiently until she returned. ~What I'm going to do may feel kind of funny, I think. But just relax and trust me.~

~I'm trusting away.~ Draco said a bit nervously, not sure of what she was talking about. Then he felt Dawn's presence surround him and gently set his conscious off to the side. He couldn't control his body, but was still able to see.

~Oh my god! That is so freaking cool!~ She squealed.

~What? What'd you do?~

~I'm seeing through your eyes.~

~Huh?~

~I can see Buffy and Spike and Neville and everybody.~

~Prove it.~ Draco said, not fully sure if he believed her.

~Blaise just knocked Seamus on his butt.~

~Doesn't work. You don't have to see through my eyes to know that. She's always doing that.~

~Ok, how's this? Neville just hit Ron in the head.~ Dawn said triumphantly.

~Fine, you can see. Could we reverse this so I can see through your eyes?~

~I don't know. Let me ask.~ Dawn said and he felt her gently relinquish control back to him. ~They think you can, I just need to walk you through it.~ Dawn said excitedly.

He followed Dawn's instructions and before long he was looking at Willow and Tara. "Wicked," he said through Dawn's lips.

"Draco?" Willow hesitantly asked.

"It's me. This is pretty wicked."
Willow laughed. "Ok, let her go. There's a few more things we want to talk to Dawn about."

The Slytherin withdrew. ~They want to talk to you. Can I go back to sparring?~

~Yeah. It's cool that I can talk to you whenever I want to.~ She could feel him smile.

~It is.~ Then her presence left him entirely.

"Now what?" Dawn asked when she was fully back in the room with Willow and Tara.

"We're going to teach you how to communicate with everyone telepathically." Willow said cheerily.

"But I already tried that remember? Back when you first learned that I could do this with Draco and Buffy."
"Yes, but that was trying to do it with your connection. We're going to teach you the way we do it."
"Oh, ok."
*********

A week later, Padma Patil and Lavender Brown showed up to the extra training session while Dawn, Draco, and Blaise were stretching.

"Hi," Dawn said with a small smile as the two girls looked nervously around the room.

"Are we early?" Lavender asked.

"Just a little bit, but we always come early to stretch," Dawn explained.

"Guessin' you're here for some extra training," Draco said with a slight smirk.

Padma nodded. "I don't want what happened to Parvati last year to happen to me."
"Same here," Lavender said.

Dawn nodded in understanding Parvati Patil was one of the few students who had died in last year's attack on the school.

"My mom almost didn't let me come back to school this year, but I convinced her otherwise. I promised her that would make sure that nothing would happen to me," Padma said softly.

"That's impressive," Dawn said. "A couple of years ago I'm not sure if I would have been able to convince Buffy if something like that had happened. Heck, Buffy was nervous when they rebuilt Sunnydale High."

"Why?" Lavender asked.

Dawn shrugged. "Maybe because she had to blow up the last one because the mayor turned into a giant snake demon during graduation." They all looked at her with wide eyes. "Looong story."
Buffy and Spike walked into the classroom. "Glad to see you guys could make it," Buffy said. "We'll start when the others get here, but until then you can stretch."

************

The following Monday morning, Ron, Harry, and Dawn were discussing quidditch during breakfast.

"It's going to be harder fitting practices in this year," Dawn said. "Our classes seem harder, and so do the extra sessions."
"I think we have a bigger problem than that," Ron said as he took a bite of his biscuit.

"What do you mean?" Harry asked.

"Who is on our team?"

"The three of us, Ginny, Seamus, Talan, and Caleb."

"And how many of us graduate this year?"

"Over half the team," Dawn said in horror.

"I think that puts next year's team at a severe disadvantage," Ron said.

"Gees, Ron. We haven't even played one game this year and you're already worried about next year?" Harry asked in surprise.

"It's more than that," Ron stressed. "Think about it. We're not just playing for ourselves, but for our team and house. If we all disappear, Ginny is going to be left with the task of rebuilding the team next year."
Dawn studied him for a minute. "Why do I have the feeling you already have a solution to this problem?"

Ron grinned. "Not only will it help next year's team, but us, too."

"What are you thinking, mate?" Harry asked, his curiosity piqued.

"I think we should hold try-outs and fill a second house team. Then we train with them."
"Oh! And we could have scrimmage games. Kind of like a varsity and jr.-varsity teams!"

The two boys stared at Dawn in confusion.

She sighed. "In high schools in America we play a game called football. Not British football, but a different football. To us your football is soccer." Harry at least seemed to understand that part.

"Anyway, they have two teams - the varsity and jr.-varsity. Varsity is what everybody watched and is usually all upperclassmen. Jr.-varsity play games too, but they're just inexperienced. But the important thing is that they play pretend games together called scrimmages to help the younger players. This way when the upperclassmen graduate, the lower classmen can easily fill their shoes."
"See," Ron said with a pleased look on his face. "It's the perfect plan."

"It is," Harry said. "I'll talk it over with McGonagall."
***********

That Friday night, Dawn and Draco trailed behind Buffy and Spike as they patrolled the dark forest.

"Heard you guys were having quidditch try-outs," Draco said. "I thought you had all of your positions filled."
"We do."
"Then why the try-outs?"

She sighed. She knew she wouldn't be able to keep it from him for long. "Ron came up with the idea of recruiting younger players who might be on the team next year so we could play mock matches with them. Plus, to help out next year since over half the team graduates."
"We-Ron came up with that?"

"Yeah. He's actually a pretty good strategist. I think it comes from all of the wizard's chess he plays."

"Huh, not a bad idea," Draco said thoughtfully.

"So how is your team coming, Mr. Slytherin Captain?"
"Oh, I get to do what Ginny was going to have to do until you guys planned ahead for her. I lost most of my teammates due to graduation or the fact that they were death eaters."

"I'm sorry."
"It's alright. We'll still give you Gryffindors a run for your money."
They grew silent as they caught up to Buffy and Spike, who seemed to be searching for something.

~What's up?~ Dawn asked as she linked the four of them together.

~There's something up ahead.~ Buffy said. ~But we're not sure what it is yet.~

~It's not trying to hide. It's making too much noise.~ Spike said, his voice hollowy and echoy through the connection.

~Shall we get a closer look?~ Draco asked.

The four spread out and began creeping their way towards the noise. As they got closer they could hear a distinctly feminine voice calling out, "Here kitty, kitty, kitty."

~It looks like Clem.~ Buffy said. ~Except she's a girl... I think.~

~Clem's race is friendly, right?~ Dawn asked.

~Yeah, just make sure we make a lot of noise so she'll hear us coming.~ Came Spike's echoy reply.

The female demon looked like she was ready to bolt when the four of them stepped out of the bushes.

"It's ok!" Buffy said, holding her hands up. "We're not here to hurt you."
The demon looked at her funny. "You're not afraid of me?"
Dawn laughed, "No."

"I don't think I've met a human who wasn't afraid of me."

"We're not normal humans."
She looked confused. "You look human. And you kinda smell human." Then she looked at Spike. "You do know that he's a vampire, right?"

"It's alright, pigeon," Spike said. He pointed at Buffy and said, "She's the slayer."

At that statement the demon looked even more frightened. "I didn't hurt anyone slayer, honest. I don't hurt people."
"I know," the tiny blond said. "Your kind is friendly to humans. My name is Buffy." She continued as the demon relaxed. "This is Spike, Dawn, and Draco. Can we help you with anything?"
She smiled kind of sheepishly. "My name is Tilly. I seemed, well, I seem to have lost my supper."
"Oh, ok," Buffy said. "Would you like some help?"
"I'll find her. Thanks though. This happens a lot."
"That's the downside to eating something with four legs," Dawn said.

"Guess so. You guys have fun," Tilly said as she started off. She began calling, "Here kitty, kitty, kitty."
"She seemed nice," Buffy said. "Maybe we should hook her up with Clem."