AN: I WASN'T GOING TO WRITE ANY MORE UNTIL I GOT BACK FROM FLORIDA IN AUGUST, BUT I SAW ALL THE REVIEWS AND I GOT THIS HAPPY FEELING. IT MIGHT HAVE SOMETHING TO DO WITH THE FACT THAT I HAD TO SUFFER THROUGH DINNER WITH MY GRANDPARENTS FOR THE SECOND TIME IN FOUR DAYS. AFTER SUCH TORMENT I AM MUCH MORE EASILY PERSUADABLE.

DISCLAIMER: ERM IF I OWNED THIS THEN I WOULD HAVE TO BE TWO PEOPLE AT ONCE, THEREFORE I DO NOT OWN IT AND THE AMOUNT OF PROFIT I GET FOR THIS STORY IS SWEET NOTHING.

RATING: PG-13, MAYBE R LATER ON, AS SOON AS I GET RID OF THAT PESKY CURSE.

Chapter Twelve

The time passed quickly during the first few days. They all settled into a new routine. Angel attended all the classes he could inside the building and searched through the library every evening, always hunting for anything that might help with his curse. There had been a few incidences where clues were given out that Angel was more than he seemed, but mostly he became a normal part of the school again. The Quidditch trials were coming up that weekend and they had been scheduled for after sunset so that Angel could give his opinion of the prospective seekers.

Giles spent all his time doing whatever it is that librarians do for fun. He read countless books from the library and mastered the art of wizarding chess. He seemed a lot happier now and had taken to wearing a strange amulet around his neck. Sometimes he seemed to be somewhere else entirely and it could take him a while to return from wherever it was he went then. He redeveloped his friendship with Angel and the two could often be found going over books together or discussing matters of history in low voices.

Willow pushed herself to do the most, as she always did. She pushed herself to the limits in all her classes and rapidly proved to be a witch of remarkable talent. She kept up her studies into wiccan magic even as she flung herself into this new magic. She took to this new brand of enchantment as a vampire takes to blood. She proved to be a mistress of all the subjects she studied and began to take more electives. She also pushed her limits in her normal studies. Every evening she was constantly at her books, if not working on their normal work then doing extra credit and researching colleges. She read every book on werewolves that she could find in an attempt to help Oz and was anxious to explore the bookshop in Hogsmeade. Also she assisted with the research into Angel's curse. She went over books with the vampire and was working on translating the curse in an attempt to discover more about the conditions of the perfect happiness.

Cordelia was also very comfortable in the new lifestyle. After the first few days she had stopped wearing robes to class. She had yet to show any magical talent, but was skilled enough in potions to merit compliments from Snape. When she had free time she could often be found in the dungeons working on potions with the potions master. That was when she wasn't testing the quality of the closets around Hogwarts with Xander.

Xander had developed an interesting skill when he had arrived at Hogwarts. Whether it was a normal development, or whether it was the excess magic in the environment encouraging a latent talent, Xander now had the ability to immediately tell whether or not someone was lying. On some occasions this gift proved very useful and highly disturbing on others, which shall not be mentioned as to not corrupt the reader's innocent ears. At prompting from both Cordelia and Willow, he was applying himself more in his usual studies and his grades were improving.

Oz was just the same as he had always been. However, he was showing remarkable ability in the Care of Magical Creatures classes he and the others attended without Angel. This was possibly due to his status as a werewolf, however his gift with magical creatures was remarkable. He was doing his schoolwork to the usual high standard and was assisting Willow in translating Angel's curse.

Buffy was happy in her new role as a teacher. She was finding herself thinking about teaching even when she was not. And she analysed her students' progress closely, determining which ones really needed help and which ones were simply not applying themselves and which ones had real talent. When she was not planning lessons or doing her own schoolwork, she was with Angel, searching constantly for an answer to the curse.

It was three days since they had first arrived at Hogwarts and Buffy had yet to teach her friends since that first day. That afternoon was to be the second time she taught the fifth year Gryffindors and Slytherins and she was looking forward to it. In the previous class she had asked all the students to wear comfortable clothing for moving around in and she hoped that they had taken her words to heart.

When Angel and her other friends arrived at the classroom that afternoon, she was relieved to see that they were all wearing jogging pants and loose t-shirts. Well, Angel was wearing leather pants and a black silk shirt, but she wasn't going to complain about that either. As they approached, she could hear Xander speaking,

"- swear that old bat's crazy."

Angel nodded,

"Yeah, Tralawny always was nutty."

The others laughed and Angel continued,

"However, she reminds me in some twisted way of Dru'."

Willow laughed,

"Yeah, it must be the thing with the visions."

Angel shrugged,

"But Dru's visions were actually real, whereas Tralawny a huge fraud. From what Dumbledore told me she has only had two real visions."

They stopped by her then and Buffy smiled at them. She turned to Angel and asked in a saccharine voice,

"Hard day at the office, dear?"

Angel snorted slightly,

"Apparently I'm going to die."

Buffy quirked an eyebrow,

"What?"

Angel smirked,

"Well, we just had divination and the teacher's a complete nutty fraud. Every lesson she predicts that I'm going to die. Me and Ron made up loads of false predictions last year and got 'A's for our colourful descriptions of our deaths."

Buffy laughed and then sobered up,

"How are things going with your other friends, Angel?"

Angel shrugged,

"I'm not really friends with them any more."

Buffy frowned,

"Angel, they care about you."

He shook his head,

"No, they care a lot about Harry Potter. Harry died on July 31st when he went back in time and became Liam. Then Liam died when Darla turned him and he became Angelus. Then Angelus died when I got my soul and became Angel. Their friend is dead."

Buffy sighed,

"Angel, they were your best friends for four years, that has to count for something."

Angel sighed and shook his head,

"Four years may be a long time when you're fifteen. But when you've seen over two-hundred and fifty years in this world and another five hundred in another, then it's not so long. The boy they knew died lifetimes ago."

Buffy scowled,

"What about Sirius? What about your godfather? Angel, he fucking loves you, are you going to tell him to stop loving you because you've changed?"

Angel shook his head,

"No, I'm not…"

"Then don't give up on your friends. They were your best friends when you were growing up. Best friends doesn't end because people change. Best friends is forever."

Angel smiled slightly,

"Forever, that's the whole point."

Buffy stared at him for a moment and then continued,

"They still care about you Angel. And if Harry Potter were truly dead, we wouldn't be here today. Part of you still loves and cares for these people and that's what truly matters."

Angel sighed,

"It's just difficult, Buffy. I can barely remember so much of this. Half of it's more like a dream than a memory."

"You're not Harry Potter any more, but he's still a part of who you are. Part of being friends with someone is accepting how your friends change. And if you want, we can always leave."

"No, never. I must destroy Voldemort."

At that moment, Ron and Hermione came racing up the corridor. They had obviously met up after they had finished their previous classes and had run to be early to this one. Buffy smiled at them and gestured all seven of them to wait outside as she went in to finish getting ready.

When the entire class was outside the room, Buffy stuck her head out of the door and said,

"Okay, class is beginning in precisely twenty seconds. Anyone not inside by then will be made to listen to Spike's awful poetry."

Angel laughed as he entered the room with the others,

"How'd you know how bad Will's poems were?"

Buffy snorted,

"I mooched around the mansion a lot. He left a few copies behind."

The room was set up differently today. The furniture was placed more as the furniture in a ordinary classroom would be set up, with rows of desks in front of the teacher's desk. Angel saw that Ron and Hermione had grabbed three seats at the back of the room and went over to sit with them.

When he was sitting, Buffy began to talk,

"I know this is a physical defence class, but before we begin this particular unit of defence, you're going to have to know more about the creatures you will be fighting. Therefore, we will be spending the next few lessons talking about and making detailed notes on these creatures."

Buffy was still talking,

"I hope you all have a pen and paper with you."

Angel reached into his bag and brought out a fresh black, ring-bound jotter and an ink-pen. He opened the jotter to a fresh page and waited. Buffy turned and wrote on the board in large letters:

VAMPIRES

She then turned back to the class.

"Okay, for the next few weeks we will be studying vampires. We will do two main sections; how to spot a vamp and how to dust a vamp. First things first, what is a vampire?"

Loads of hands shot up into the air, Hermione's included. Buffy smiled and pointed to Hermione,

"Yes, Miss Granger?"

"A vampire is a nocturnal re-animated corpse that has to drink blood to survive."

"Wrong. Any other answers?"

Hermione seemed stunned, she was never told she was wrong in class, as she was nearly always right. Angel decided to save time and put his own hand into the air, Buffy chuckled,

"Ah, the expert speaks. Ok, Angel. Tell me what a vampire is."

Angel grimaced,

"A vampire is a corpse into which a demon enters after the soul has left the body for the aether. It is capable of carrying out all bodily functions, such as eating, sleeping, sexual activity etc. However none of these are necessary for a vampire. All a vampire needs to survive is blood. It does not necessarily have to be human blood, but vampires only drink the blood of animals in the direst emergencies. It is almost heretic to live solely off the blood of animals. A vampire has no soul, no conscience, however, it has all the memories of the person its demon inhabits. This makes it a dangerous opponent in mental battles."

"Excellent Angel, everyone paraphrase that somehow. Now, Angel, how is a vampire made?"

Angel groaned.

"What is this, pick on me day or something? Ask Harris."

Buffy smirked,

"Ah, Mr Potter. Answer the question otherwise it's detention with me for a week for you."

Angel smirked right back at her,

"Again with the making Xander answer the question."

Buffy rolled her eyes at him,

"Pervert. Anyway, you know more than Xander does."

Cordelia smiled,

"Ain't that the truth?"

Xander cried in mock hurt,

"Hey. Respect the guy who fetches the doughnuts."

Willow smirked,

"Unless he forgets or falls asleep, that is."

Xander winced,

"Hey, I already said I was sorry about that. How many times do I need to say it?"

Willow smiled and Oz almost cracked an expression,

"We know you've apologised, it's just such a moral high."

Buffy rolled her eyes at their antics,

"Willow, Cordelia, Angel stop picking on Xander, no matter how easy it is, we must not prey on the weak, Angel, answer the question otherwise you have to be polite to Xander for an entire week."

Angel scowled but answered the question,

"A vampire is turned when another vampire drains the person of all their blood and then feeds them their blood. The vampire who turns the other vampire is called the new vampire's sire."

Buffy sighed,

"Thank-you Angel, that didn't hurt at all, now did it?"

He mock grimaced,

"Well, maybe just a little."

She stuck out her tongue at him,

"Very mature, you're supposed to be the eldest person in the room, act like it for once."

He smirked,

"Ja mein Fuhrer."

Buffy scowled and turned to face the rest of the room,

"Right, that's it. Which one of you gave him the happy pills?"

The others in the classroom exchanged looks, completely confused by the interaction. Buffy scowled and turned back to her lover,

"Right. That's it. You have to behave for the entirety of the rest of the class otherwise you're rooming with Xander."

Angel would have paled if that were possible and Xander didn't look that pleased either. Buffy nodded and then asked,

"Okay, now the clowns have been sedated. How would you spot a vampire in public?"

Loads of hands shot up into the air and Buffy picked one at random,

"Yes, Mr Malfoy?"

Malfoy smirked and answered,

"Well, they have demonic faces and fangs. That's a bit of a give away."

Buffy nodded,

"Yes, but vampires are capable of hiding their true demonic visage behind the face of the human whose body they inhabit. Therefore, they often hide their faces right up until the moment they begin to feed. By then, of course, it's too late."

Malfoy seemed disappointed that he had not been absolutely correct. Buffy continued.

"There are other ways of identifying a vampire before it shows its demonic visage. Anyone have any ideas of how to spot a vampire before they show their game-face?"

A few hands went into the air and Buffy pointed to one,

"Mr Longbottom?"

Neville quivered with excitement and nervousness at being asked to answer and stuttered as he replied,

"Well, they might have dirt on their clothes from digging out of their graves."

Buffy smiled,

"Yes, very good. Most of the elder clans hold to the tradition of waiting for a fledgling to rise from their own grave. These young vampires are known as fledglings. However, after some time after they rise, a vampire will change their clothes and clean up. This makes it hard to use this to identify a vampire by the condition of their clothes. However, there are other ways to identify a vampire through their clothes, any ideas about how that might work? Miss Brown?"

Lavender giggled at having been asked to answer the question and blushed pink as she answered,

"Well, a vampire is like from the time they were, like, made. So they wear really bad old fashions."

Buffy nodded,

"Yes, that can work. However, it can be inaccurate. There is no fool proof way of identifying a vampire, although there are signs. A vampire won't show up in a mirror, but they tend to avoid them. An old vampire will be very pale and some ancient vampires are physically deformed. For example, the vampire Kakistos had cloven horns and other signs even when he was not wearing his game face. And the Master looked like an overgrown fruit bat. However, vampires as old as these normally have minions to do their public dirty work. There are some signs by the way they talk and act but these are again inaccurate methods."

Seamus asked the question they were all thinking,

"Then, how do you identify vampires?"

Buffy smiled at him and the entire male population of the room melted into a puddle on the floor.

"Well, I use the methods I described above, but I have another advantage. The slayer has advanced senses. I can sense vampires and other non-human creatures when they're near. It gives me an advantage."

Seamus nodded. Then Buffy turned back to the class,

"Okay, I'm setting you all an assignment. I want an essay on any one famous vampire of your choice. This is to be handed in at the end of next week and is to be no longer than two thousand words at most. Use any resources that you want, but don't go overboard. The essay is to include a brief synopsis of the vampires life before they were turned and a description of their movements up until the present day. You can also include details such as the clan they belonged to, the name and a brief history of their sire and anything you want to use."

The students groaned as they wrote down the assignment. Angel snorted as he tried to decide who he would write about. It might be seen to be a little egotistical to write about himself and he didn't want to disturb the other students by an in-depth account of what Angelus did when he was being the Scourge of Europe. Maybe he could write about Spike and be really rude about the cocky blonde. It wasn't that he hated Spike, it was more that he detested him with a passion. Yes, he would be rude about Spike to make himself feel better.

The class ended soon after that and Angel waited behind with the others from Sunnydale to talk to Buffy. She packed up her things and then turned to them, smiling,

"Will you be okay to do the essay, Angel?"

Angel nodded and Buffy sighed in relief.

"That's good, 'cos I was really worried about that. But I had to make the others do it 'cos they need to know more about vampires before I can teach them how to fight them. The only way they can learn more about vamps in general is to study one vampire in detail. So that's okay."

Angel smiled and kissed Buffy gently on the cheek. She smiled up at him ran her hands through his short hair.

"Love you."

Angel almost sobbed, remembering the first time they had said this,

"Love you too."

Then Buffy remembered what she wanted to know,

"Have you been making any progress in your research into the curse?"

TBC