A/N: Hey guys! I know you all probably hate me for not updating since last summer.
All I can say is not only did I not have any time, but my muse also took a serious vacation. But its back (for now) so here's the next chapter (I think it's the longest I've written so far). Also, just so you know we're going to pretend that there is no time difference between California and England because I'm too lazy to figure it out.

Also, sorry about the spacing I had all the paragraphs indented, but when I uploaded it, the indentations went away.

Chapter 25 – Final Preparations

"Can I go too?" Dawn asked, hopefully. Harry felt the anger rising inside him. The only thing that confused Harry more then Dawns desire to help Malfoy was Malfoy's response to Dawn's question.

"I don't think that's such a good idea." Draco said. Why wouldn't Malfoy think that was a good idea? Harry asked himself. Surly Malfoy would want Dawn to come with him. That would make it very easy for him to turn her over to Voldemort, but then Malfoy doesn't know Dawn is the Key, or does he? Dawn tried to argue, but Malfoy would have none of it, causing Dawn to fall silent for the remainder of the meeting.

Harry knew that the Scooby gang had come to trust Malfoy, but what surprised him the most was the confidence they seemed to have in him. Everyone from Buffy to Faith seemed to be sure that Malfoy could pull off the plan that they had just laid out before him. Harry felt sure that the entire group was setting themselves up for disappointment.

When it seemed as if the meeting was over, Dawn said good night to the Scoobies and headed to the Gryffindor common room without saying a word to Draco. As Harry was spying on Dawn, he exited to portrait hole behind her. This left Draco alone with the Scoobies in the common room. Draco wanted more then anything to go after her, but he knew once she left the tower it was not safe for them to be seen together. Not wanting to return to Slytherin so early Draco sat with the Scoobies for a while. He was so nervous about what he was going to have to do that he was not even taking in the fun, lighthearted conversation that was going on around him. Faith seemed to notice this. The Scoobies slowly made their way to their rooms, and eventually Draco and Faith were the only two people left. Thinking he had overstayed his welcome Draco got up and headed for the door.

"Why don't you stick around for a while?" Faith said with a very small smile.

"Okay." Draco said as he sat back down.

"Listen kid, I know you're nervous, and I'm probably not the best person to be giving advice, but I'm gonna give it a shot anyway." Faiths slid to the edge of her chair as she said this.

"What sort of advice?" Draco asked uncertainly.

"I know what it's like to make the wrong choice. I've made a hell of a lot of them actually."

"What did you do?" Draco asked. Dawn had not given him Faith's full story. Faith then launched into the story about the time she had killed Deputy Mayor Finch, Professor Wirth, and others. Draco was shocked at this revelation, but understood why the Scoobies were so open to people changing.

"You don't want to be apart of any group that order's a person's death." Faith told him. "It's quite a feeling, feeling a world of possibilities snuffed out by your own two hands. Killing Finch was an accident. Looking back it's Wirth's death that eats at me the most, and you know why?" Draco nodded his head. "Because Finch was an accident, but Wirth wasn't. I went after him with the intent to kill. It was a cold-blooded, straight-up murder." Faith paused to let Draco absorb what she had just told him. Draco knew a lot of Death Eaters and none of them had ever talked about murder like this. He had always heard the casual, non-chalet murder conversations. Faith was giving him a completely different perspective.

"You made the right choice kid, getting out of it. Those people clearly think they're killing for someone who will give them something. I did. But every night I still see the faces of all the people I killed, and I know I will for the rest of my life. You're too young to for that. You've got a long life ahead of you Draco, don't screw it up now." Draco nodded deep in thought about what Faith had just told him. Faith then changed the topic of conversation.

"So, what's with you and the littlest Summers?" She asked.

"What?" Draco asked caught off guard. "Nothing." He had said all of this a little too quickly. Faith smiled.

"Here's the deal. I've never been close to a guy, well, not emotionally anyway, but you sounded an awful lot like Angel talking to Buffy back there, and if you don't know that story already you're not going to hear it from me." She said before he could ask.

"Now Dawn may not be real happy with me right now. It probably has to do with the fact that last time I saw her I tried to kill her mom in front of her, but I am not going to stand by and let you hurt her." Draco nodded knowing full well that Faith was threatening him. Faith then adopted a bright, up-beat voice. "Look on the bright side. If you do hurt her, I'll be the least of you're problems. Draco thought about this and realized she was right. He would have the entire Scooby gang to deal with, but if he ever did do anything to hurt her, he would expect nothing less.

"You better get some sleep, we've got a long day tomorrow. Be here at seven and I'll have Dawn here. She didn't seem too happy with you earlier." With that Faith headed up the staircase that led to the Scooby rooms. Draco headed off to Slytherin tower in a slightly better mood knowing that he would get to talk to Dawn before he left.

Dawn walked briskly back to her room after the meeting. How dare Draco Malfoy talk to her like that! After all she had done for him. Her thoughts were interrupted however, by the sound of quiet footsteps behind her. She turned around, but found no one standing behind her.

"I know someone's there." She said annoyed. Harry, who was standing a few feet from her under his invisibility cloak, knew he had been caught. He pulled the cloak off and Dawn's face immediately reddened with anger.

"Are you following me, Harry?" Harry was getting ready to answer, but Dawn did not give him the chance. "Were you spying on me?"

"I just wanted to know what was going on." Harry said.

"So you decided the best way to do that would be to spy on me?"

"Well how else would I find out? I doubt Malfoy would have told me." He said also getting angry. "You seemed okay letting him in on your secret."

"Harry I am not doing this tonight." Dawn was now as angry with Harry as she was with Draco. Before Harry could say anything else Dawn turned and walked away so quickly that it took Harry a few seconds to realize she was gone.

Dawn had just got to her room when an owl tapped on her window. She opened the window to allow the owl to enter the room. She removed the scroll from the owl's leg and it quickly exited the room. Dawn then opened the letter the owl had brought her.

Dawn,

I know you're not happy with Draco right now, but please meet him in our common room at seven tomorrow morning. I'm not sure if you noticed it or not, be he really likes you, Dawnie. I can tell he's really upset that you're angry with him so please, just come talk to him. It will make tomorrow go a lot smoother if he knows you're not mad at him.

It wasn't signed so Dawn just figured it was from Buffy. It part that surprised Dawn the most was the fact that Draco liked her. Dawn was suddenly filled with a very happy feeling when she realized that she liked him too. Dawn was still angry with him, but sleep came easily to her knowing that she would have the next morning to talk to him.

Draco entered the Scooby common room, and was surprised to find it empty, with the exception on a breakfast tray that was sitting in the middle of the room. Draco sat down on the couch, his stomach in knots, waiting for Dawn to arrive. He felt like he had been waiting ages, but in reality it was only five minutes, when the portrait hole swung open and Dawn walked through. He stood up when she entered, unsure of what to say. Dawn didn't say anything either she simply crossed to a chair and sat down in it.

"I didn't think you were coming." Draco said

"I seriously considered not coming." Dawn said. However, this was not true. There was no way she could not come, but she didn't want him to know that.

"Well, I'm glad you did." Draco said. There was a moment where neither one of them did anything but look at the floor. "Look about what happened yesterday-"

"What part?" Dawn interrupted. "The part where you acted like my sister, or the part where you treated me like I was two years old. Then again, I guess those are both the same thing aren't they?"

"I didn't mean to do either of those things, I just didn't want you to get hurt. In case you haven't heard my father was never incredibly fond of muggleborns."

"I know, but I can take care of myself. I can not continuously be protected from the world." Dawn said, telling Draco what she had told Buffy in June.

"Look, I'd just rather know you're here safe." Dawn shot him a look telling him she would be fine. "I know you'd be okay, alright? But I would still worry about you. You're the only person I have in this. If I lost you I don't know what I'd do." Draco wasn't even aware of what he was saying. The words just kept coming out of his mouth. He figured they must be true. Dawn was silent, but she had a look of understanding on her face. "Would you just stay here?" He asked softly. "For me?"

Dawn got up from her chair and Draco did the same. She crossed to where he was standing and gave him a hug. It took Draco a moment to realize what had just happened, but after a slight delay he returned the hug. After a moment in each other's arms Dawn spoke.

"I'll stay." She whispered. Draco hugged her tighter and whispered his thanks. After another minute they broke apart. "I'll be in your 'fortress of solitude when you get back." Draco nodded, completely missing the superman reference. Dawn grabbed a muffin off of the breakfast tray, wished Draco luck and then headed out. Only a few moments after Dawn left Faith appeared on the spiral stair case that lead to the Scooby's bedrooms.

"I take it that went well." She said with a smile. Draco nodded.

"Thank you." He said.

"Don't sweat it kid. Just hope you're ready for today, 'cause the gang's on their way down." Sure enough the Scoobies all came down stairs looking fairly alart and awake. They seemed to be in an in-depth conversation about the past.

"The best was Xander's praying mantis girlfriend." Willow was saying.

"Hey! Need I remind you of a certain machine called Malcolm." Xander retorted, while Buffy laughed. They all took something from the breakfast tray, then Giles brought their attention back to the task at hand.

"Can we please steer this conversation back to what we must accomplish today?" He asked exasperatedly.

"Alright." Xander said in mock sadness. "Party pooper." Which earned him a glare from Giles.

"We'll be leaving here at nine, giving us one hour to prepare everything in England." Giles said. "We also need to be sure Hogsmeade is properly enchanted." The others nodded, understanding. "I will be stationed in a room just off the entry hall of the castle. Buffy will be in Hogsmeade, should there be any problems there, and Willow will be with me tracking Lucius Malfoy. Draco, you are to stay put until Buffy comes to get you. When we are done, all of us, includeing Professor Dumbledore, will meet in the entry room with me. Any questions?" When there were none Buffy held out her hand to reveal an empty soda can.

"It's set to leave when four people are touching it. At least, that's what Dumbledore said." She said. "We ready to go?" They all nodded before reaching out and touching the can. Before they knew it they were standing in the entry hall of the original Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

"So," Willow said. "What do we do now?"

"We are going to meet Professor Dumbledore in his office." Giles replied. The group headed toward the familiar gargoyle at the base of the stairs leading to Dumbledore's office. Once they arrived in the headmaster's office, Dumbledore informed Willow of the many things that needed to be done in Hogwarts and Hogsmeade. They were also introduced to Hagrid who had spent the past couple days getting Hogwarts back to it's usual appearance.

Willow went to Hogsmeade and gave the town the appearance that there was a variety of different Hogwarts students present. Then, back at Hogwarts, she charmed the school to make it appear as if the first and second year students were in the building.

"Okay," she told the group once her tasks were done. "These are holographic images of students. They will act like real students, but should Lucius run into them, he will walk right through them."

"That shouldn't be a problem." Draco said. "My father will probably just come straight up here."

"Just in case I enchanted the map that I'm going to use to track your father so that if there is any 'student' in the way it will alert me and I will be able to move them with out him noticing."

"Nice thinking Will." Buffy commented. "You guys better go get set up." Buffy told Willow and Giles. Both gave Draco a few encouraging words and then departed.

"Mr. Malfoy," Dumbledore said. "Would you excuse Miss Summers and myself for a moment?" Draco nodded and stepped outside Dumbledore's office to wait for Buffy. Once he had shut to door Dumbledore turned his attention to Buffy.

"How is he handling this?" Dumbledore asked.

"Good." Buffy said, nodding. "Well, as good as can be expected. I think he'll be fine." Buffy said confidently.

"I think you are right." Dumbledore agreed.

"Well I better get to Hogsmeade with Draco." Buffy said.

"Good luck." Dumbledore said.

"You too, though I doubt you'll need it." Buffy then left the office.

Buffy shut the door to Dumbledore's office. "You ready?" She asked Draco. He nodded confidently, but Buffy didn't miss the nervous look in his gray eyes. "Don't worry. The hardest thing for you is going to be to keep your emotions in check. Just don't let him get to you. You'll be fine."

"I hope you're right." Draco said.

"Hey, I'm the Slayer. I'm always right. Well, most of the time. Maybe not about school stuff, but when it comes to plans like this I tend to be right." Draco was unsure whether this made him feel better or not. In the end he decided it didn't, but Buffy was right about one thing. It was going to be very hard to not let his father know what he really thought of him. Draco couldn't wait for this to be over.

Five minutes later they arrived in Hogsmeade and five minutes after that Buffy was in position at the Hogs Head, which was located near the end of the village, near where Draco was waiting to meet his father. Willow and Giles were in the room off the entry hall, and Dumbledore was in his office. Everyone was in place. Now all they could do was wait.

Once again, sorry for the lack of update. Hopefully I'll be better at it now.