CharmedChick- I'm glad you liked my road map analogy, I based it off of what Buffy said to Angel in Forever from season five. I'm also glad I got the 'happy medium'. That's exactly what I was going for, the first time I wrote it, he was way too mushy.

And of course thanks to brigurl who has reviewed, like, every chapter.

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Chapter 17 – Planning and Sharing

When the pair eventually arrived at the house, they were slightly surprised to find the entire Scooby gang, including Spike, Faith and Anya, assembled in the living room. Dawn also noticed many suitcases in the dining room which meant the gang was already to move in.

"You guys, get in here and sit down, we don't have a lot of time." Buffy said as soon as the two of them walked in the door. They did what she told them to do. "Alright, here's how it's gonna work. For now, there is nothing I can do about your father. He doesn't know you're here, so for now, you should be alright. And with all of us around, if he comes looking for you he'll wish he didn't. From now on, any letters you get from your father you should give to us. For now, he doesn't know where Hogwarts is, but if he finds out, we need to know about it." Draco nodded.

"I just got a letter from him yesterday. He was telling me what Voldemort is up to. He said he is looking for the Key. I did some research and I found out what the Key is." He said as he handed Buffy some papers with the information he found about the Key. The Scoobies did their best not to react to this news.

"Thanks Draco. We'll start looking in to this." Buffy told him then turned to Dawn. "Dawn, once we get back to Hogwarts I don't want you leaving." Dawn was about to protest but Buffy kept her silent with a look. Dawn just crossed her arms and slumped back into the couch her and Draco were sitting on. There was a few seconds of silence, then Dawn spoke up.

"Buffy, why did you have us over here just to tell us that?" Dawn asked.

"One reason, I didn't want Harry, Ron and Hermione seeing this meeting. And the other thing is we need to fill Draco in on some stuff." Buffy said. Dawn shot Buffy a look, but Buffy ignored her and directed her attention to Draco. "See the reason we can help you, and have helped people in the past is because, I'm a Slayer." Buffy said. Draco was a little stunned. He was about to question her when Faith spoke up.

"You forgettin' someone here B?" She asked.

"Faith's a Slayer too." Buffy told Draco. There was a moment of silence before Draco spoke.

"Even if the Slayer did exists, there would not be two of them." He said as if this this proved that they were making this up.

"That was the intent. But there is a loophole." Buffy explained. "When one Slayer dies the next one is called, but if one Slayer dies and is brought back to life, then there are two Slayers." Buffy said hoping he believed her. Draco looked at the group, then at Dawn who nodded.

"Which one of you died?" He asked. Buffy raised her hand.

"Drowned. But Xander brought me back with CPR." Buffy said. She was not going to bring up last year's death, she still wasn't completely over it. Draco nodded then turned to the group.

"So what are all of you." He asked the group. Spike started.

"You all ready know what I am. Oh, and by the way mate, you still owe me five galleons." Spike said with a smirk. Anya went next.

"I'm an ex-Vengeance Demon." Anya said proudly.

"Ex?!" Xander asked.

"Yes, Xander ex. D'Hoffryn took my powers away. He said I went soft. Are you happy now?" Anya asked annoyed. Xander didn't know what to say, so he just didn't say anything. Buffy brought everyone's attention over to Willow.

"Willow is a very powerful Wicca." Buffy said. "And Giles here, is my Watcher."

"What about you?" Draco asked Xander.

"Oh, I am a carpenter." Xander said, Draco just gave one nod.

"Well, we should get moving I wanna get to Hogwarts before I have vampires to worry about. Wills, can you shrink the suitcases?" Buffy asked turning to her friend.

"Sure." Willow said. Then she went over and shrunk the suitcases with a wave of her hand. Then picked them up and stuck them in her purse.

"We should head out." Buffy said to the others. Everyone got up and headed out the door.

"Buffy?" Spike said. "I'm gonna wait here till dark."

"How did you get here in the first place?" Buffy asked.

"I don't want to talk about it." He responded. Buffy told him he could wait, with a smirk on her face.

The group was almost at Hogwarts. Draco and Dawn were in the front, and Buffy and Faith were bringing up the rear. Willow and Giles were in front of her talking about her progress and in front of them was a bickering Xander and Anya. All of the sudden Three Knights jumped out of the cemetery they were passing. Buffy and Faith leapt into action. The second Buffy had the opportunity she turned around and told Dawn and Draco to go to the school. Draco turned to leave, but he realized Dawn did not do the same. She was suddenly reliving the events that happened the last time she met the Knights, when they were cornered in an abandoned shack as well as the events after she got out of the shack. Suddenly she felt someone tug her arm. It was Draco.

"Dawn, we have to go." He said urgently. He pulled her around and they ran up to the school. Draco did not let go of Dawn's arm. He wanted to be sure she was there. When they got in to the school, Dawn tried to go right up to Gryffindor Tower, but Draco, who had still not let go of her arm, would not let her. "You don't get to just walk away after what just happened." He said. Dawn just nodded she knew he was right. Draco then led Dawn, not to the Room of Requirement, but to another part of the castle, a place where Dawn had never been.

Draco stopped outside of a small door in the east wing of the castle. Inside was a small, cozy looking room with a couch, chair and a fire going in the fireplace. It reminded Dawn of a little cottage. "I found this place the first week here, when I was walking around the castle. I don't think anyone else knows it's here. While everyone else is in their common rooms, I usually come here." He told her, and then he led her over and sat her down on the couch. "Dawn, from the look on your face out there I think there is more to those Knights then you're telling."

Dawn took a deep breath then started talking, which soon turned in to rambling. "I know a lot more then I've told you. That was mostly because at first I wasn't even sure I could trust you, and so much more has gone in the past year then I can even start to explain and those guys have been after me sure and that is all due to the Monks and then there' s also the part where I'm not even real-" Draco cut her off here.

"What do you mean you're not real? You look real to me." He said waiting for a response. Dawn took another deep breath and looked into his eyes.

"What I'm going to tell you, you can't tell anyone. No one is supposed to know okay?" Draco nodded. It meant a lot to him that she trusted him enough to tell him this. "Okay. Two years ago, this god, Glory was looking for the key. A few Monks had it. They gave it form. Made it human and sent it to the Slayer, so she could protect it, in the form of a sister." Dawn said remembering the words that Spike had read to her from Giles's journal. Draco was so shocked he couldn't put words together. "They made me from my sister." Dawn continued. "They changed all of our memories. I remember being around for sixteen years, but I really wasn't. I've only been around for two.

"The Knights of Byzantium only seem to show up when someone bad wants the Key. Their job is to destroy it. Last time the person who wanted me was Glory. She wanted the Key to return to her dimension. And she got me. There was this whole ritual where she had to bleed me to open a portal to Hell. The portal would only close when the blood stopped flowing, which was basically when I was dead and Hell would be on earth."

"So it didn't work." Draco said hoarsely.

"Yeah it did. She got me up on a really tall tower and tied me up there. Then Buffy and the Scoobies came. Giles ultimately killed Glory, and that is another story. Anyway, Glory, being a god, had followers. Spike had almost gotten me down when one of her followers pushed the tower and cut me." Dawn had tears in her eyes now as she relived the experience. Sure she had been thrown some bad times but to her this was the worst. "Buffy came up just after Glory's follower started the ritual and killed him, but it was too late. The only way to close the portal was for me to jump, but Buffy wouldn't let me. I was made from her, so our blood was the same. She jumped in the portal and it closed, but she also died." Tears were silently streaming down Dawn's face now as she thought of her sister's dead body lying on the ground. "Last year, Willow brought her back, because it was a mystical death she could do this. But Buffy was in heaven. She was happy and her friends took her away from that." Dawn fell silent. Draco did the only thing he could think of. He pulled Dawn into his arms and let her cry, until she eventually fell asleep. From this point on, he new he had to help keep her save.

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Okay, I might have over done this last Dawn/Draco part a little bit, but oh well. Please review.