Disclaimer: I don't own anything!
A/N: Thank you SO much for your reviews! Anyways, so I had 4 people rooting for the Harry/Faith pairing. Which is pretty interesting… you know, that would actually be fun to write. Plus, Faith is one of my favorite characters, so she'll definitely be in this story…hehehe…so, for official pairings:
Pairings: Buffy/ Draco, Faith/ Harry
Sorry for the Willow/Harry supporters, I just like Willow being gay more…although I can't think of a suitable pair for her…anyways, I hope you guys enjoy this chapter!
Chapter Eight: Steel and Ice
Standing up to their word, the two wizards appeared at the Slayer's doorstep early the following morning. Buffy, who was getting ready for work (something she had completely forgotten about, the night before) ushered the two Brits inside the house, hastily offering them coffee in the kitchen.
Dawn, who was eating breakfast, eyed their guests happily. It wasn't everyday that a girl like her had a gorgeous scenery while eating cold cereal. The Potential Slayers had long since departed for the Magic Box, courtesy of Giles. He suggested that they help him and Willow with the research.
Several minutes later, Xander arrived to pick them up. The two wizards, not too keen on doing any research (Giles had called earlier to ask if they wanted to help) decided to tag along to Sunnydale High and accompany the Slayer with her 'guidance counseling'.
"Buffy!" Dawn screamed at the top of her lungs, causing the three men to wince. Her sister had disappeared upstairs to hurriedly get dressed, and was taking too long in doing so. "I'm going to be late!"
The blonde Slayer bounded down the stairs carrying a nasty-looking sword.
"That's a nice piece you got there, Slayer." Draco said, eyeing the weapon appreciatively.
"Thanks," Buffy said. "I'm bringing this to Wood. Figured he'd like it. He has a thing for swords and stuff."
"Wait – you're bring that to school?" Dawn asked incredulously. "You're a guidance counselor, Buffy. People are not going to go to you for advice when they see you with that. Plus, you're totally going to ruin my reputation. It was bad enough that I screamed my head off in class after I saw that freaking ghost."
"Don't swear!" Buffy scolded, before letting Dawn's words sink in. With a sigh she placed the sword on top of the kitchen counter. "You're right. I'll show it to him later."
"Who's Wood?" Harry asked curiously. He was reminded of Oliver Wood – a fellow Gryffindor who used to be Quidditch captain and Keeper for the team. He missed those times.
"You'll meet him later," Buffy said, grabbing her beige leather jacket and shrugging it on. "Let's go."
"I thought you'd never say that," Xander said with a sigh.
…
"So this is where all the kiddies go to school." Draco said. It was more of an observation than a question as the three of them made their way through the now-empty corridors. The bell had rung five minutes ago, and Dawn had vanished into one of the classrooms.
He looked around in mild fascination. It was a far cry from the enormous, magical castle that was Hogwarts. And although both schools emanated with magic, there was a slight difference. Hogwarts was practically radiating with Light magic. The kind of magic that gave you a warm, fuzzy feeling in the pit of your stomach.
Sunnydale High, on the other hand, simply screamed darkness. Which wasn't so surprising considering that just below it was the entrance to the Hellmouth.
Buffy led them to the Principal's Office where a tall African-American man was polishing a dagger. This must be Wood. "Morning Buffy," he greeted her.
"Hey Wood," she grinned. "These are my friends: Draco Malfoy and Harry Potter. Their wizards."
"Wizards?" Wood echoed in surprise. "Well now, that's new." He smiled warmly at them. "Hey. My name's Robin. I'm a – freelancer, so to speak." He carefully placed his dagger onto its spot on the wall where various weapons hung. He then pressed a button on the wall, and wooden doors from either side slid close, covering everything. To anyone who knew nothing about it, would plainly think that it was billboard of sorts. Numerous papers were posted on top with colorful pins.
"So what's up, Wood?" Buffy asked. "Anything suspicious happening lately?"
"I don't know," Wood said, deep in thought. "I haven't checked the basement for a few days….but the janitor said he heard some unusual sounds down there, yesterday. I convinced him that it was just rats." He shook his head. "Care to see what's going on down there?"
"You guys up to it?" Buffy asked them.
Draco shrugged. "Better than watching you give advice to troubled teenagers, I suppose."
Harry and Wood burst out laughing. All of them were answered by the infamous Slayer-death-glare. "Alright, alright. That's enough. Let's go." Harry said.
…
The minute Buffy stepped into the basement, she knew something was wrong. The back of her neck prickled with warning. It was something she called her Spidey-sense. Wood flicked on the lights, and the whole room became dimly lit. Leading the way, Buffy brought them to the storage room.
She shook her head in denial the second she laid eyes upon the center of the room. The ground had been dug up, and the Seal of Danzalthar was clearly visible. Buffy looked away from the enormous round-shaped steel disc. Well, it looked like a disc to her, anyway. A disc emblazoned with numerous symbols that none of them could understand.
"How did this happen?" she whispered, mostly to herself.
"Caleb, no doubt." Harry said, his eyes stuck on the Seal. He couldn't take his eyes off of it. Just like he couldn't take his eyes off of the Dark Mark those years ago when it had lit up the sky during the Quidditch World Cup finals.
"Guess this explains the sounds the janitor heard," Wood said dryly. He turned to Buffy, his brown eyes dark with foreboding and slight fear. "You don't think – you don't think this Caleb guy is going to try to open up the Hellmouth, do you?"
The Slayer could only look at him in silence, unable to give him any answer.
…
Sunnydale, California. The town that had a startlingly high death rate. Which wasn't much of a surprise to those who truly knew about the town's background. You see, Sunnydale, California was built on top of a Hellmouth. Which was a portal to a rotted dimension, which, when unlocked, hell would be unleashed on Earth.
Sunnydale was pretty much ground zero for all things evil and nasty.
Those were just a few of things Draco had learned about before he had been assigned the unfortunate task of capturing a wicked wizard who was planning on unleashing hell on Earth because some ancient evil told him to. Alright, so it just wasn't any ancient evil. It was the First Evil.
The one who came before everything else. Blah, blah, bloody, bloody, hell.
"Can we please do something else besides research?" Draco practically yelled. The whole table jumped at his sudden outburst. After their lingering day in school, the Slayer had dragged Harry and himself to her house, telling them that they needed to research about the Bringers, about the Seal, and basically everything about the First.
They'd been going at it for almost three hours.
"Bored much?" Dawn asked, covering her mouth to stifle a laugh.
"And I thought that I'd be free of research once I got out of England," Draco said exaggerating a huge yawn. "Research work is unbelievably tedious."
"Easy for you to say," Kennedy chimed in. "We've been researching almost the whole day."
"I suppose we could have a break…" Giles said hesitantly. He rolled his eyes when everyone at the table cheered and made beelines for the kitchen and the TV, leaving the Watcher, the two wizards, and the Slayer at the table.
"I think I'm gonna go out and patrol for a while," Buffy said stretching her arms above her. She turned to Draco and Harry. "You guys wanna come?"
"Go ahead," Giles said dismissively. "Maybe I can actually get some work down around here."
Buffy shrugged and motioned for the two boys to follow her. They went to the living room first. Dawn, Xander, and Anya were sitting on the couch watching TV. "We're going out," she said, mostly to her sister. "Behave, Dawnie."
"I'm not a kid, Buffy." Dawn stuck out her tongue at her sibling.
Harry could not resist a laugh.
They were about to exit the Summers' abode, when somebody beat them to it. It was Willow. "Hey Wills, where are you going?" Buffy asked her best friend.
The witch grinned nervously. "I just got a call from Fred. I need to go down to LA for a while."
"By yourself?" Harry asked with a frown. "Is that wise?"
"It's only seven," Willow said glancing at her watch. "I'll be there in no time. And I'll just stay the night and come back tomorrow morning."
"Promise?" Buffy asked worriedly.
"Promise." Willow grinned and pulled out a crossbow from the backpack she was carrying. "Plus, I've come prepared." The redhead said her goodbyes before darting to her car and starting the engine. The three of them standing on the porch, watched as the bright glow of her backlights finally vanished into the night.
Buffy frowned. "Did she tell me why she was going?"
Draco shook his head. "I don't think so."
Buffy sighed. "Never mind. Let's just go and stake some vamps. I'm getting kinda restless."
"Maybe I can help you with that," Draco said with an evil smirk.
Buffy flushed a light shade of pink. "Shut up, blonde-boy." She said before making her way to the cemetery in a fast pace. The two wizards struggled to catch up with her.
"Aw, come on Slayer. You know you want me." Draco taunted, his silver-gray eyes glimmering with mischief. He started to walk backwards, so that he faced Buffy. The Slayer stopped dead in her tracks. Draco did as well.
Harry, on the other hand, knew why she had stopped.
Draco did not.
Buffy leaned towards Draco, her lips almost touching his ears. And in a seductive whisper, she said: "Look behind you."
The demon hunter spun around and his eyes widened. A vampire was running towards them in full speed. Without a moment's hesitation, he pulled out his wand and yelled out a curse: "Incendio!"
With a shriek of agony, the vampire burst into flames and disappeared in a cloud of ashes.
Buffy grinned. "Impressive."
Draco licked his lips. "Not as impressive as you are."
Harry groaned and threw his hands in the air. This was going to be a long night.
…
Hidden behind the shadows of the crypts, a pair of ice-blue eyes watched this exchange in contemplative silence. It appears that the Slayer had found someone new. Strangely, this did not bother him at all. After what he did to Buffy…a brief memory of that fateful night flashed in his head, and a sensation of pain ripped at his heart…he didn't deserve her.
Not one single bit.
The vampire's gaze followed the three figures as they strolled down the graveyard, watchful and attentive of their surroundings. Spike had to hand it to the two wizards…yes he knew what they were, he could feel the magic radiate off them in vast waves…he had to hand it to the two, they knew how to handle things. It was apparent that they had some experience with dark creatures.
He could only wonder what they were doing here.
It was then that the Slayer chose to look towards his hiding place. On instinct, his mind yelled at him to duck and hide, but it was too late. She had caught his gaze. And he could no longer look away.
Her beautiful hazel eyes were filled with questions.
Again, a pang of guilt hit him straight in the heart. And without another thought, he stepped away from the crypt. Giving the Slayer and her friends a full view of him.
Spike held her gaze two seconds more before turning around and taking off.
Not knowing that she would follow him.
…
A/N: So you guys probably know about WHY Willow was going to LA…;-) Oh yes, and I promise I'll spill everything about Giles knowing about wizards and stuff, soon.
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