Thanks to the oh-so-persuasive Saxifrage I'm posting the next chapter tonight. This is the last one I have written for now, and I have to 'read' three books this week for my schools Graduation Project that no one takes seriously. I'm hoping to be done them by Wednesday with help from Sparknotes, so maybe I'll get another chapter up by Friday, before I got to the shore for the weekend. Thanks again to Saxifrage for reviewing
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Chapter 21- Friends

Harry heard the portrait hole open and so did the others. He was not surprised to see Dawn step through, however what did surprise him was the person who entered with her. The person whose hand she was holding. It was Malfoy. Harry was feeling both very angry and very shocked. Ron seemed to be sticking with very angry, while Hermione just sat in silence, her expression was unreadable. Dawn was the first to speak.

"Hey Guys!" She said in a cheerful yet uncertain voice. Out of the Gryffindor Trio, Harry was the first to speak.

"Dawn," he said try to be calm, "what are you doing with him?"

"Buffy's gonna explain." She said as she led Draco past the other three and onto the loveseat that next to the sofa, facing the entrance. Then she poisoned herself so that she was closest to the sofa and Draco was closest to the fire. Buffy then realized that she better start explaining things fast before the kids killed each other.

"For starters, one thing you all need to understand is that we are all on the same side." She started, but Ron interrupted her.

"We are not all-"

"Yes we are." Buffy as calmly as she could before continuing. "Now, I get that you guys have a history, but what we have to do is bigger then any little rivalry you may have. So get over it, because I seriously don't have time to deal with it." Everyone sat in silence while Buffy paused to glare at them. "All you need to know is that Draco is on our side. If he wants to tell you his story he can, but that's not up to me. Right now, we have a bigger problem.

"Draco's father I going up to the school to see Dumbledore. If don't know what he wants with the headmaster and honestly, that's not my number one concern, because when he gets to where he thinks Hogwarts is Dumbledore won't be there. Then he will know something's up. We can't let that happen." Buffy stopped. The kids, three of whom still looked very angry, all understood what she meant.

"What are we suppose to do about it?" Draco asked.

"At the moment all I have is an idea. I have a meeting with Dumbledore in little bit. I want to discuss this with him before we do anything else. We have two days to cover this up before your father heads to Hogwarts. I want the all of you to meet back here tomorrow morning before classes start. Right now, I have a meeting with Dumbledore." Buffy said before heading to the portrait hole and exiting the tower. That's when all hell broke lose.

"What are you doing here Malfoy?" Harry spat.

"That's none of your business, Potter." Draco retorted in a very Malfoy like way.

"It is too my business if your going to run and tell everything you just heard to Voldemort!" Harry snapped back. Ron was just about to get involved when Dawn silenced all of them.

"Could you guys just chill for, like, five seconds?!" Dawn asked exasperatedly. Everyone did as they were told, and the Gryffindor Trio were slightly surprised when Draco did not turn around and make a snide remark toward Dawn.

"Dawn, why are you-" Ron started, but Dawn cut him off.

"Not now, Ron." Hermione had yet to speak on the subject. She had been too busy marveling at the fact that Dawn seemed to be friendly with Malfoy.

"I don't care what you think of each other. Whether you understand it or not you will work together." Dawn said, mimicking something very similar to what Buffy had said earlier. Hermione finally spoke up.

"Do you have any idea what you asking us to do?" She said quietly. "You're asking us to work with the enemy."

"Draco is not the enemy." Dawn said somewhat defensively. "We're all on the same side here."

"No we're not Dawn! Why are you defending him?!" Harry, who was now standing, asked angrily. At that point, Draco had had enough of being talked about like he wasn't in the room. He got up crossed to the door and left the tower. Dawn rounded on the others, but she took a different approach to getting her point across.

"The past few years, I've pretty much been a brat. I held grudges and was a very unforgiving person. Then this year someone that had left Sunnydale a few years ago, someone that I hated, came back a very different person then when she left. Now, I'm still not sure I forgive her, but we need a little Faith in this fight. Another person we need just left this room because of the three of you." Dawn was pacing in front of the fireplace as she spoke and Harry had returned to their seats on the couch.

"I can't believe that you would be so stupid as to give up the help of a person who has access to as much information as Draco does, especially you Hermione." Hermione opened her mouth to defend herself, but Dawn kept talking. "Now, I don't know how I expected this meeting to go, but I expected better then that. I mean I thought you guys wanted to beat Voldemort, but I guess I got the wrong impression." Dawn finally fell silent.

"You don't know him Dawn." Harry said as gently had he could while trying to control the anger that was boiling inside of him.

"No. I don't." Dawn said matter-of-factly. "But apparently neither do you." With that Dawn turned on her heal and left the tower leaving the others to stare after her in a stunned silence.

Dawn headed back toward the east wing of the castle for the second time that day. When she reached the now familiar door, Dawn didn't even bother to knock. When she entered the room Draco turned around sharply, from his place on the floor in front of the fireplace, to look at her with a surprised expression on his face.

"What like you're surprised to see me?" She said still standing in the doorway.

"Not to be rude or anything, but I would kind of like to be alone." Draco said.

Dawn turned around and shut the door before saying, "If you wanted to be alone, you would have gone someplace that wasn't here. You had to know I'd come looking for you." Draco stayed silent and turned his attention back to the fire. Dawn then walked around the couch and sat down neatly next to Draco. Dawn looking at Draco and Draco looking into the fire.

"Ya know, there are three things in life that people love to stare at. A rippling stream, a zamboni going round and round, and a fire in a fireplace." Dawn said, now looking at the fire too.

"A zam-what?" Draco asked turning to look at her, but Dawn just smiled and shook her head.

"Never mind." There was another quiet moment before Draco spoke up.

"Why is it every time I leave a room angry you come after me?"

"It's not because Buffy sent me." She said reading his mind.

"That's not what-"

"Yes it was." She said cutting him off. She knew he was trying to tell her that he had not been thinking that, but Dawn was very good at reading people.

"Then why?"

"Couple of reasons. One being, I'm the only who know where you run off to. If I don't come after you no one will. The other is more because of something someone told me a very long time ago."

"And what's that?" He asked, only because he new she wanted him to ask.

"If you have only one good friend, then you're a very lucky person." Dawn said trying to stress the importance of these words.

"We're not friends." Draco said softly, yet simply.

"No, we're not." Dawn agreed. "We don't know nearly enough about each other to be considered friends, but I'm willing to learn. You game?" She asked with a small grin. Draco returned the grin and nodded in response. Once again, Dawn Summers managed to amaze him.
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Aw, Dawn finally grew up.

Well, that's all I have for today. I'm going to try to get the next chapter up by Friday, but as I'm thinking about it, it's probably going to be kinda long because I have to cover what Buffy is thinking, What the Gryffindor Trio are thinking and what Dawn and Draco are thinking as well as Buffy's meeting with Dumbledore. And I still have to do my stupid Graduation project. If I don't get it up by Friday, hopefully by Monday.