Chapter 6: It's all In the Blood.

"You need my blood?" asked Lex with smile on his face. "What? Not even a good morning, my dear son, how do you feel on this lovely sun-shining day? Would you like some breakfast? Perhaps some donuts, before I suck out your blood like a good vamp wanna-be?"

"Lex! Stop being a brat and get your arse over here, this potion is really difficult to make and I don't want to do it a second time!" said Severus, his face showing some light irritation.

Lex made his way to his father and the bright, glassy jade bowl, where a silver liquid was fuming, smelling like mint and honey with a touch of sugary vanilla. Kissing Dawn's cheek on the way by and smiling happily to Spike, he saw the two snakes curled happily around their necks and a feeling of rightness invaded him, just for a second. He took the knife his father was giving him and cut his wrist lightly, before looking to Severus.

"How many drops?"

"Three!" said Severus. He watched Lex put three drops into the liquid, before he took a glass vial of blood from one of his pockets and put three drops in the same liquid which began to boil before projecting an image of Dawn, Lex, and surprisingly, Joyce Summers, in the purple mist above the bowl.

"Ooookay Dad, can I have an explanation of the light show? Now?"

"Yes Lex, take a seat and I'll explain, but before that I need Miss Summers to-"

"Dawn," interrupted the young teenager.

"What was that?"

"You're Xander's father, so I think you can call me Dawn. Miss Summers makes me feel like I'm at school. Which I am, technically."

"Well! Dawn, I need you to tell to me how the monks created you."

"The official theory is, that they took Buffy's DNA and ... made me. That's what Willow and Giles thought, and since they're the brains of the Scoobies, we all thought it was the right explanation. Why?"

Severus lost himself in his thoughts for a moment, and Spike took the opportunity to observe the man. He reminded him of a friend he had before Angelus turned him, a friend who had the same last name, strange? Angus Salazar Snape, had been his best friend at Hogwarts. As a vampire, he had never thought he would see this school again, before he died that is, in a turning to ash sort of way this time. From what he had seen, there were very few changes since the last time he had been here, since he had been William Aconite Malfoy.

He hadn't used his wand or even attempted the beginning of a spell in all his time with Angelus or Drusilla from fear that they discover that he, being a wizard, was partially immune to his demon and that, like every wizard who had been turned before him, he had retained his soul. William had never fit in with his own family before that, him not wanting to be a dark wizard, but being forced to. Tradition and the pride of the Malfoy's name dictated that the entire family would be dark. So, when Dru had turned him, he played his part and with Angelus' special training and torturing/raping 'fun' sessions, he created his big bad personality and mastered it, feeling part of a family for the first time, in a crazy kind way, never thinking twice about his past life.

Until one day, in the halls of Sunnydale High, his grand-sire had given him the most beautiful pair of chocolaty brown eyes attached to the gorgeous body of a dark haired boy, who smelt of sunshine and innocence. For the first time, since his turning, his soul had taken control of his demon wanting to hold the precious gift in his arms until the end of time. But, Angelus had tricked him once again and made sure that the eyes would only contain hatred and distrust for him. He helped the slayer send Angelus to hell, making sure that the eyes would be safe. When Dru finally decided to leave him, he had wanted to scream with joy! He had packed all he needed with a flick of his wand and apparated to the Hellmouth faster than you could say 'Quidditch', eager to see the eyes once again, using magic since no one was there to see it.

Only, he had met up with the Initiative first. They had tortured him, but they also gave him a pretext to go and get help from the Scoobies, and his eyes. By doing that, they had put in place all the pieces for the events, which followed. Xander had chosen another ex-demon as his mate, before Spike even had the chance to try to make him see that they were made for each other So, he tried to forget him, because only the happiness of the eyes mattered. He had focused on the next person strong enough to be his mate, the Slayer!

Talk about a mistake. It was only the look Xander gave him after his attempted rape on Buffy, that had woken him up, making him understand that for the last months he had let the demon take full control of his life. He could have harmed his precious eyes, in his heartbroken pain. That's why he ran to Africa, for the demon shaman to anchor his soul, caging his demon forever. After that, he returned to Sunnydale, taking the long road of mistrust with the Scoobies, wanting desperately to see Xander trust him again. He had almost lost hope after closing the Hellmouth, when Xander had left. But, a letter to a teenage girl had made his entire world swing with a rush of happiness. Xan had literally trusted him with his most precious possession. And, like every time Spike remembered that moment, he could feel a warm-fuzzy sensation blossoming inside his unbeating heart, and it made him seek Xander's eyes.

Speaking of which, they were looking at him with something like a melange of hunger, desire and………love? For one moment their eyes were glued together, not wanting to let go of the instant and the "warm fuzzy" feelings they could see shining for them in the other's glance. Finally it was Lex who let his gaze drop, a promising smile on his lips for the startled vamp, and a question for his confused father.

"Dad? Do you plan on explaining your little potion drama now or sometime next year?"

"Hm, what did you just say, Lex?" asked Severus finally escaping his train of thought.

"Explain. Now! Please."

"Oh, yes! Well, last night after Poppy took some of Dawn's blood, she magically scanned it and discovered something strange. So, she asked me if I could make another test this morning."

"She's fine, though. Right, Dad? She's not sick? Please tell me she's not sick?" interrupted Lex, his eyes searching Dawn for some kind of visible sign of a malady.

"No, Lex, she's perfectly fine, now stop interrupting me," said Severus with a gentle smile for his worried son. "So, this morning I made the potion we just used, it's a DNA test potion, and the fact that your face appeared with Dawn's left absolutely no doubt that Dawn is your biological daughter! My theory, after reflection, is that if the monks had only taken Buffy's blood, they would have made a clone, and besides that, Dawn has no slayer marker in her DNA. If Buffy had been your mother, Dawn, you would have had them. The important point is that they still needed Buffy to protect the key. So instead, they chose to use the DNA of the closest relative she had, her mother. I assume that it was her face in the mist with yours. They also needed a father to make a new being. They must have chosen the most powerful male around the slayer. You being a pureblood wizard, Lex, made you the perfect choice. Now, we need to change that young girl's last name and you need to complete some papers to make it official and I'll have a granddaughter! We also need to integrate her into Hogwarts as a student and I'll need to make a Tempus Retardâre potion, so we can make the time pass more slowly for us. We need to teach her almost everything, so she can be ready and at the same level the seven year student are. I think that I'm going to make the potion so the time will be six times slower, we still have fifteen days until the beginning of terms, that would leave us with three months. Maybe I could also make some Cogère potion for helping her concentrate, hummmmm, a Memoria potion so she can retain the knowledge after the first reading, and Celeriter Studére to make her learn the practical stuff faster. Yes, ... yes, it's possible!" continued Severus, still planning the next weeks, totally lost to the rest of the world. "WAIT! Wait a minute Dad, she………she's my daughter?" Lex was looking at Dawn, who was looking at him too, her eyes full of hope.

"Yes, I've just told you that, Lex!" responded Severus with a tint of fondness for his son, who was now bouncing around the room. He took Dawn in his arms dragging her in a mad snoopy dance, repeating 'I'm your Daddy, my little Dawnie, I'm your Daddy and you're my sweet little Dawnie, mine, mine, mine, MINE!' again and again and again. After a moment, Dawn began to sing with him and Spike was grinning like a fool. It took another thirty minutes for everyone to calm dawn and for Lex to realise something else his father had said.

"Buffy isn't her mother, Joyce is?" asked Lex with a gentle smile, he looked at Dawn a long moment and said, " I can see her in you,…………did you know I had a crush on her for the longest time. She knew it, but she never laughed at me. She was a wonderful woman, very kind and gentle, who always took care of me when I needed it. I'm honoured to share a child with her." With that, some tears found their way down Dawn's cheeks, and she put her head on Spike's shoulder, after she took her place on his lap. "Dawn, Would you like to take my name, since I'm your father? And would you consider calling me Dad, maybe? But only if you want too?" asked Lex hesitantly, hope shining in his eyes.

"Dad, I would love to be a Snape and call you Dad, Dad!" said Dawn with a big smile.

"So it's settled, I'll contact the ministry and make someone come out to fill the papers. Since Buffy isn't your mother, it's going to simplify the custody paper. Lex being your father, he has more rights to have custody of you, than your half-sister does. We also need you to have British nationality and fill out your registration into the school and, like I said earlier, I need to make a Tempus retardâre potion. So, MY grand-daughter will learn the first six years, in the next two weeks, if she's going to have to pass her Owls before the beginning of term." Severus began to plan.

"Isn't that potion illegal, Dad?"

"Only if someone knows you made it, but nobody will know, because none of us are going to talk about it. Am I clear?" asked Severus sending a distinct glare of warning to the others.

"Crystal clear, Daddy!" assured Lex with a grin.

"LEX!"

"Yes, Dad?" said Lex with an innocent expression, trying to look like a little angel who had fallen from heaven accidentally. Hey, let's get real, Lucifer was a fallen angel, too.

"Forget it, I'll take care of the papers, you'll take Dawn to Diagon Alley to fetch what she needs for now and for school later. You need to buy her a wand too, and if your vampire is going to live with us, you need to buy him a new wardrobe. Something more appropriate than this, something like your own robes, and ask Olivander if he can open tonight. We need to see if he can use a wand."

"That's not going to be necessary; I have my own wand with me, thank you very much," interrupted Spike with a perfect upper class British accent.

"And can you tell me why you have a wand, mister ………Spike?" inquired Severus with some distrust in his voice.

"Because I was a wizard before I was turned, and actually, it's mister Malfoy, if you please. William Aconite Malfoy. If I'm not mistaken, I used to go to this school with your great-grand-father, Angus." Answered Spike with a little smile, looking at the others and laughing lightly at their stunned expressions. "Bloody hell, shut your gobs, you all, or are you catchin' flies then?"

"You're that Malfoy? I've read about you in Grady Angus's diary. You were the one who dindn't want to be a dark wizard. You were his best friend?" asked Severus calmly, "he thought that you had died."

"In a way, I had di... am dead." Spike closed his eyes a moment and let out a sigh before looking at them once again, "You want some explanations, I suppose?"

"Yes, Wil, we'd like that," said Lex with a tender smile and a gentle kiss on the distressed vampire's cheek. "But, we will do that tonight, after diner. For the moment, we need to do what was planned and it's still daylight outside. You need to go rest some more, you were really in bad shape last night."

With those last words, Lex took Dawn to the fireplace and they flooed away. Severus looked at Spike for a moment.

"How good are you at Defence Against the Dark Arts?" he asked with a smirk.

"I'm a bleedin' god at it, I am! I have some bloody internal experience being a vamp and all! Why?" answered Spike with an equal smirk.

"Because this school needs a qualified teacher for a change, and I think that Lex wants his family around him. If you agree I'll talk with the headmaster later, I don't think that he's found anyone yet."

"Ok, let's do it. Me a bleedin' teacher, I'm going to make those bloody Gryffindors nutser than Dru after that time miss Edith told her to fuck off, and go shag a bloody slimy demon thingy! That was something to see mate, took her two fucking weeks to get ride of all the green goo. Never wanted to kiss that sodin' doll more than that day, made me laugh for the next two years, each time I r'membered it. Hell, she was pissed, never spoke to the doll for more than six months!" and Spike was once again laughing his ass of.

"Go, play with the Gryffs all you want. But, let me tell you, it is going to be a lot of work! And please, could you drop the act when you're in the school. It's not necessary here and frankly it grates on my nerves," said an irritated Severus. "Oh, and William, I think you love my son, if I've correctly read the looks you send him." Spike just made a little nod. "If you hurt him, you better find a deep hole in nowhere land, because I'll find you and make you suffer dearly, understood?" asked Severus with a sugary-sweet, innocent voice, looking Spike right in the eyes.

"Does that mean that I have your consent to court your son, sir?"

"You have it, but I want a wedding proposal in good form before the end of the year," answered Severus with a dark sparkle in his eyes and light amusement in his voice. "A Malfoy, he could have done much worse." With that, he took his leave, stopping a moment at the door to say one last thing, "I'll make you a potion to cure your 'allergy' to the sun, it should be ready tomorrow night. If you're going to teach here, you'll need to be capable to walk in the sun."

"Thank you, for the sun and the consent," said Spike, seeing that his life had just taken a better turn for the first time in a while. Somehow, today had become the beginning of his new life, and the eyes of his beautiful Xanpet, no; Lexpet had held some beautiful promises. Severus was in is lab now, so Spike took of in the direction of Lex's room, curled up on the bed with Sanguis, dreaming of the moment he could finally hold his mate.

Sometime later, Severus came in the room to check on him and ask some questions. He found the vampire sleeping; an innocent smile on his face. No dreams would disturb him until he woke up.

In the terrarium, the dark grey snake awoke up and made his way to his new master, the dark wizard of the family, the one who smelled like potions.

Tempus Retardâre : Slowing time

Cogère : Concentration

Memoria : Memory

Celeriter studére : Learning fast