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A/N: And as I promised to my reviewers…here's the next chapter! I know I should've posted this several days ago, but I had trouble logging in.
Chapter Seven: In Which Their Worlds Collide
"We're here." Harry said, glancing at his two companions. The girl – Taylor had been silent during their trip from Sunnydale Memorial Park to Revello Drive. She was obviously still shaken over everything that had happened minutes ago. She wasn't a Slayer, after all. She was just a Potential, and Harry doubted that she had that much experience, nor did he think that she had encountered any dark creatures before.
"Well, what the bloody hell are you waiting for, Potter?" Draco asked, impatiently. "Go ahead and knock!"
Harry glared at him before reluctantly knocking on the door three times. Footsteps sounded from the other side, and seconds later, it opened to reveal an elderly man wearing glasses and tweed. He stared at them with a mix of complete astonishment and suspicion. It was almost as if he recognized them – or one of us. Harry thought, following the man's gaze as they lingered slightly on Draco.
The blonde, however, took no notice of it. "Sorry to bother you at such a late hour," Draco said, sounding anything but sorry. (Must be a Malfoy thing.) "But I imagine that this is the house of the Slayer?"
Although the tension did not decrease from the man's face, he confirmed their assumptions without hesitation, speaking in an English accent that did not surprise the Auror all that much. The Watchers Council – or should he say, former Watchers Council? Was located in London, after all.
"Yes, yes. She is one of the Potentials, I presume?" he gestured towards Taylor who nervously nodded. "And you are…her Watcher?" he did not quite believe this.
"No," Draco answered for them. Impatience was laced in his voice. Honestly, Malfoys were not patient people at all. Maybe that was why they were so irritable to deal with at times. Harry noticed crossly.
"I believe you haven't introduced yourselves, yet."
"I'm Draco Malfoy," the blonde answered. There was shift in the man's expression the minute he heard his name. "This is Harry Potter and we happened to stumble upon this girl several minutes ago in the graveyard. She was being chased by a horde of robed creatures." He informed him bluntly. "She told us that she needed to go to the Slayer's house. So, here we are."
"The Bringers," the man whispered to himself. "However did you fend them off?"
"Maybe later," Draco said abruptly.
"Oh, of course. I'm Rupert Giles, by the way. The Slayer's Watcher. Perhaps the three of you should come in, first. And we shall," he paused. "Discuss this." He opened the door, ushering them in. He smiled warmly at Taylor. "Three of your fellow Potentials are already here, it would be best if you join them."
Giles led them into a living room filled with people. They were conversing in grave voices. But they quieted almost immediately when they saw their visitors.
"Draco?" The blonde girl standing in the center of room stated in shock.
Harry stared at his partner. "You know her?"
Silver-gray eyes widened almost imperceptibly. "Buffy Summers. You're the Slayer." Draco said, in realization. "From all the women I had ran into in Sunnydale, you were the last person that I would've expected to be the Slayer."
Buffy scowled. "What's that supposed to mean?"
Draco smirked. "Well, you don't exactly look like a Slayer, now do you? Short, blonde, and skinny?"
Harry noticed several of Buffy's friends hide their laughter, and so he decided to intervene before things could get violent. "Shut it, Malfoy." Harry said rolling his eyes. Then he turned to look at Buffy – the Slayer. "Sorry about that, you see, Malfoy has a thing for annoying the hell out of people."
Ignoring Draco's death glare, Buffy smiled at Harry. "Thank you, and you are?"
"I'm Harry Potter, and this is Taylor. She's a Potential." Taylor smiled timidly. She seemed to have calmed down in the presence of more people and light and less creatures and darkness.
"Are you her Watcher?" Buffy asked, disbelievingly. "You seem a little young for a Watcher."
"That's because I'm not," Harry said, tired of being mistaken for a Watcher. "Draco and I are – wizards."
"Wizards?" the redhead said excitedly. "That is so neat! I'm a Wicca!"
Wicca? The wizards exchanged a doubtful glance. They had learned about Wiccas and Wiccan magic in their Defense of the Dark Arts class back in Hogwarts. Wiccan magic was wandless magic that was pretty much very powerful – and dangerous. It involved rituals and ceremonies that were mostly rooted in darkness. Practicing Wiccan magic could easily pull you into the dark side. It was generally a form of black magic. One of the many in the area of the Dark Arts.
Draco was quite familiar with it, actually.
"You don't happen to have attended Hogwarts, now have you?" Giles asked.
Surprised, both of them nodded. "We have, why?"
Giles shook his head as Buffy and her friends stared at him in astonishment. "That's not important. Anyway, may I ask what you are doing here? In Sunnydale? Because I really don't think that you're here on vacation."
"We're here on an assignment," Draco explained. "The Ministry of Magic sent us to bring a wizard by the name of Caleb Marcus into custody." Ignoring their confused looks, he continued. "You see I'm a demon hunter, and Potter here is what we would call an Auror. Which, as you Muggles would probably call it, a police of sorts."
From every single person in the room, Giles seemed to be the only person to understand what they were saying. And that only ignited Harry's curiosity.
Buffy blinked. "Can you please repeat that?"
"No." Draco said with a smirk, earning a scowl from the blonde.
"What's a Ministry of Magic? And what's a Muggle?" a tall brunette guy said, bewildered. "Again with the 'huh'."
Giles sighed. "The Ministry of Magic is the wizarding world's government, so to speak. And a Muggle is a term for people with no magic in their blood."
"I guess that's me then," the guy said with a shrug. "Normal average guy, with an un-normal, un-average life."
"Shut up, Xander." Buffy said.
"I am wounded!" Xander said placing a hand on his heart. Harry laughed.
"How do you know so much about this, anyway?" Buffy asked Giles.
Giles rubbed his temples. "I used to have a friend who was a wizard."
"Whatever," Buffy said rolling her eyes. "Your social life isn't exactly what we had in mind for a topic. We should talk about the First and ask these guys what their so-called assignment is. They might actually be of help to us. Anyways," she smiled brightly at the two of them. "I'm Buffy by the way. I'm the Slayer. Draco and I met – or should I say crashed into each other? At the airport. Can you say, coincidence?"
Draco smirked.
She half-turned around and pointed at each person in the room, giving them names. "That's Dawn, she's my sister. That's Xander, Anya – she's a vengeance demon, Vi, Amanda, and Kennedy are Potentials. And that's Willow."
"Pleasure," Draco drawled. Harry could only stare at Anya – the demon. It was surprising how the Slayer could be friends with a demon. A vengeance demon, at that.
"Great, now that we're all acquainted, let's give everyone a rundown on the First. Giles?" Buffy prompted, before motioning to Draco and Harry to take a seat. They obliged gratefully, seating themselves on two vacant chairs near the Slayer.
Giles, who had been lost in thought, look properly startled. "Oh yes. Right." He browsed through the pages of a dusty, ancient-looking book, and wiped his glasses clean before starting off. "The First Evil or the original evil was the one that came before anything else. Before the demons, before the vampires – it was basically the one who introduced evil to the world."
Harry could not suppress the shiver that ran down his spine. If Voldemort had been bad…the First would probably be a thousand times worse.
"The First's plan is to kill off all the future Slayers and their Watchers, then annihilate the current ones, leaving nothing to fight the coming evil."
"So that's pretty much the Bringers' job. Killing off the Potentials, and probably me as well." Buffy realized. Harry had to hand it to her. She was as calm and collected as can be, leaving him to wonder just how much darkness the young woman had faced before. As what Harry had learned, Slayers were Called at a pretty young age. So Buffy had been fighting vampires and demons since she was fifteen or sixteen. Just like him.
It was strange how much they had in common.
"And as what we have discovered from these two gentlemen here," Giles said. "This wizard – Caleb, is the one behind all of this: the destruction of the Watchers' Council as well as the Bringers' hunt for the Potentials."
"That's. Just. Great." Buffy said sighing. Although her face was devoid of any emotion, those hazel-brown eyes of her, betrayed her sadness. "Another Apocalypse. Another big battle." She shook her head and buried it in her hands.
The rest could only watch her in silence, their thoughts wandering to the not-so-bright futures that awaited them.
…
After their little meeting, Buffy called it a night and sent all the Potentials and her younger sister (much to Dawn's protests) to bed. They'll continue on with the research the next day. And Buffy was eager to start training the would-be Slayers. It was vital for them to learn how to defend themselves as soon as possible.
"I think we'd better head on home, as well." Harry said, running a hand through his tousled jet-black hair. Buffy briefly noticed a scar on the center of his forehead. It was bizarrely-shaped. Almost like a bolt of lightning.
"Do you have a place to stay? Coz' you guys are more than welcome to spend the night here, if you want." Buffy suggested with a shrug. "We've got plenty of room."
Draco arched an eyebrow. "Stay with a bunch of hormonal teenage girls? I don't think so."
Buffy rolled her eyes. "Whatever. But you'd better get your asses back here first thing tomorrow morning. Because the last time I checked, you guys hadn't finished your 'assignment' yet."
"No problem," Harry said with a warm smile. Buffy nodded and escorted them to the front door. "It was nice meeting you, Buffy."
"Same here," she smiled.
"Hey! What about me?" Draco asked, faking an injured look.
Buffy cocked an eyebrow. "I already had the pleasure of meeting you, Dragon-boy."
"Unfortunately, so have I." Harry said with a grimace.
Draco glared at him. "I wasn't talking to you, Potter."
Turning to Buffy, he graced her with one of those grins that made her stomach flutter, and much to her surprise, he took her hand and placed a kiss on top of it. "Sweet dreams, pet." He smirked at her flushed face before leaving Revello Drive with his highly-amused partner.
…
A/N: So, you guys can probably guess the pairing for this story? wink, wink! Of course, I'm still thinking to whom I should pair Harry with…suggestions? Just no Dawn/Harry please. That's just --- wrong. And just a little reminder: Harry and Draco are Buffy's age.
Review! Please! I crave it!