AN: HERE IS CHAPTER THIRTEEN. THANKS TO ALL WHO HAVE REVIEWED ME, BUT THIS MUST REALLY BE MY LAST UPDATE UNTIL AUGUST. WILL TRY TO HAVE THE NEXT CHAPTER UP BY THE FIFTH OF AUGUST, BUT I CAN'T MAKE ANY PROMISES. GOD, I HAVEN'T EVEN LEFT YET AND I'M ALLREADY GOING INTO WITHDRAWEL FROM FANFICTION.
DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN IT AND I NEVER WILL UNLESS MY PLANS FOR WORLD DOMINATION ARE SUCCESSFUL
RATING: PG-13, MAYBE R LATER FOR LANGUAGE, VIOLENCE AND SEXUAL REFERENCES. UNDER THIRTEENS DON'T READ THIS IF YOUR PARENTS CAN SEE THE COMPUTER.
Chapter Thirteen
There was silence in the large classroom after Buffy asked this question. Angel sighed as he answered unhappily,
"I have found quite a lot on Gypsy magic, but mostly history, nothing that will really help us.
Most gypsy magic is related to Divination and potions."
Willow sighed,
"I have been working on translating the copy of the curse Ms Calendar left us, but the linguistic style is highly archaic and the language complicated."
Cordelia, Oz and Xander shrugged, indicating that their efforts into finding a solution had been as effective as those of the vampire and the wiccan. Buffy visibly wilted, she had hoped that their arrival at Hogwarts would provide an instant answer. She knew realistically that this was an unreasonable hope, but she had wished it to be so nonetheless.
She shook herself, she knew the answer had to be somewhere, all they had to do was wait and keep on searching until they found it. Buffy had seen the main Hogwarts library, a collection of books that extensive had to contain one containing the answers that they were looking for. It just had to. Buffy looked at Angel and her heart clenched. After she had sent him to hell, she had tried to move on. But she couldn't.
Buffy knew that she would never be able to have another man. Not after Angel. It had been so perfect that night. Despite everything that had been happening before and everything that had happened afterwards, Buffy knew that, if she had the choice, she would never take that night back.
That night had been so beautiful. Buffy could remember every minute, from when she walked into the Bronze, or rather, fell through the window, until she went to sleep, wrapped in Angel's arms. She remembered the feeling of being wrapped in his red silk sheets.
Their love had only been strengthened by what was happening around them. They had made love as if the world were going to end, as if it were their last night alive. Buffy had memorised every inch of Angel's body, committing it to memory for eternity.
And then she had woken alone. Angel had made love to her and she woke alone in his large bed. The months that followed had been torment, from Angelus' return to the apartment and his tormenting words, to the months after she had sent him to hell. That summer had been the worst period in her entire life.
Part of her had been taken from her that night at the mansion. Without Angel, without even the familiar menace of Angelus, she had been incomplete. Every night her dreams had been full of him and every night her dreams turned to nightmares.
Then she had returned to Sunnydale. Returned to distant friends and a mother in denial. Returned to a grieving watcher and a constantly oblivious world. And returned to a Sunnydale without Angel. Without the dark shadow of the vampire she loved. A Sunnydale with another slayer.
Every night she had patrolled, both with and without Faith, every tomb-stone was marred by her memories of Angel. She couldn't go to the Restfield cemetery without remembering the passionate kisses she had shared with Angel while the Gorch brothers watched from the shadows. She couldn't train with Giles or Faith without wishing that Angel was there, without thinking about how much easier it was for her to train with Angel.
And then there had been Scott. He had been nice. He was the kind of boy Buffy would have willingly dated before she met Angel. He was funny and kind and gentle and he was just the kind of boy girls were supposed to fall for. He was decent and generous and modest. But he wasn't Angel. She hadn't been able to kiss him without instinctively reaching up higher. She couldn't look into his eyes without seeing chocolate brown orbs full of sorrow instead of innocent blue eyes.
He had offered her a claddagh ring. He had known so little about it, seen it only as a sign of friendship. He could not have known what the claddagh ring Angel had given to her had meant to her. He had done it only to be nice and Buffy did not want to hurt him. She had tried to accept that her Angel would not be coming back. She had tried to move on, she had tried to begin something new with Scott. And she had thought that she might have begun to be happy with him.
But it felt like betrayal. Every time she kissed Scott her heart ached for the one she had lost. She had ached for cool and experienced lips and hands quenching the fires within her. She had ached for Angel's constant and familiar presence. She had ached for Angel's half-smile and knowing that for a moment she had been able to ease his suffering. Every night she had ached for Angel to be there for her to talk to, to just hold her while she cried.
Angel had been her equal in every way. He was a strong as her. He was a warrior for good. He knew the death Buffy had been forced to face, the death she had experienced herself. He had been a fighter she could match and her passion for him matched his passion for her. Despite everything that said they should be apart, that she should kill him, they had been in love. And she had killed him.
And he had come back. She didn't know how. All she knew was that Angel was back. She didn't have to pretend to have moved on. She didn't have to pretend she was over him. But she had been so afraid. She had been afraid that she could not help him to recover, that she would have to turn the man she loved into so many particles of dust.
No, she would find a way to end this curse. Because Angel deserved happiness. He deserved a break from all the suffering he had had in his lives. She shook herself from her reverie and turned to the others.
"Shall we go into my office and have a drink?"
The other five smiled and followed her into her office. Buffy was pleased with her office. It was a fairly small room, with a few cases of weapons and some books on vampires, but she had made it comfortable. There was a large desk where she kept her lesson plans and homework assignments. Then there were several comfortable chairs arranged in front of a fire place.
As her friends sat down, Buffy went over to a cupboard and brought out five tall bottles of Budweiser and a bottle of the Irish beer Angel had said he liked the best. She pulled the caps off with her hands and passed the drinks out, keeping one beer for herself.
The others had all pulled off their robes. Angel had stopped wearing his school uniform after the first day and now wore his black leather trousers and silk shirt as well as a long pair of trench robes he had bought in Diagon Alley. The others wore normal clothes underneath their robes. She went over to the wizarding gramophone on her desk. She had been lucky to find this as well as some copies of muggle music in a small shop on Diagon Alley. She flicked through the records until she found the one she had been looking for and placed it on the gramophone. The sounds of Guns n' Roses echoed into the quiet office.
Buffy then went over to another cupboard and brought out a bag of pretzels and a box of doughnuts. She poured some of the pretzels into a bowl and placed them on the table along with the doughnuts. She then returned to her seat and collapsed into it with a sigh. Angel turned to her,
"Hard day at the office?"
Buffy groaned,
"You have no idea. I would like to find the person who said, 'those that can't, teach', and take his arms off and stuff them down his own throat."
Xander winced,
"That's gotta hurt."
Angel nodded,
"It does."
Then he saw the strange looks the Scooby gang were giving him and continued defensively.
"When I was in the Master's court there used to be these fights. I was in one with another vampire and one of my arms got ripped off. But if you place any part of a vampire that has been removed back by that vampire, it will re-attach itself. Except for heads, of course."
Cordelia made her 'ick' face,
"Eeew, that's completely gross."
Angel shrugged in apology and then Xander asked,
"So, who was it that managed to tear your arm off then, Dead Boy?"
Angel scowled,
"Don't call me that. Anyway, it doesn't matter, I kind of dismembered him."
Xander winced,
"Oh, I take it this was the kind of dismemberment you couldn't re-member yourself afterwards?"
Angel nodded,
"Yes, it was one of the Master's other childer's childer. He was rather jealous of my position in the Master's court."
Xander nodded,
"Yeah, I can imagine Angelus having a high position in the court."
The others turned to look at him. He scowled,
"What? I can't accept that Angel and Angelus are different? I've met both versions and I have to say I prefer this one."
The others stared at Xander for a moment. It appeared that finally Xander had gotten over his ridiculous jealousy for Angel. Buffy suspected that it had something to do with his new relationship with Cordelia of all people. She was glad that Xander had finally stopped being such a dick about the vampire. She then turned back to the group and asked,
"So, leaving conversations about dismemberment aside, what are your other teachers like?"
Angel groaned,
"Professor Umbridge is a nuisance. She refuses to teach any practical magic. It's completely pointless. The others in the class are being rather stupid about it though. They keep on asking questions that she won't answer."
The others nodded in agreement and Buffy sighed,
"Well, there's not much we can do about the Umbridge cow, so, let's get ridiculously drunk and play stupid drinking games."
The others nodded in agreement and Buffy went to another cupboard and brought out a bottle of vodka and some shot glasses. She placed the shot glasses in front of each person and poured some vodka into each. She then spoke,
"Okay, I vote for 'I Never' and I'm the slayer so my word goes. Who want's to start?"
The others exchanged looks and Xander indicated that he wanted to start. He looked around and then said,
"I've never been drunk in public."
Buffy sighed and picked up her shot glass. She knocked it back and winced slightly as the alcohol burned down her throat, she saw the others looking and said,
"What? There was the frat party and I did loads of stuff when I was at Hemery."
The others shrugged, Xander and Willow knew perfectly well that Buffy hadn't exactly been the model student at her old high school. Angel knew what Buffy had done before as well. Oz and Cordelia hadn't known, but they knew that Buffy had been to Vegas. The others looked around the circle to see if anyone else would drink. Angel groaned and knocked down his shot with practice ease. The others stared at him,
"When I was alive in Galway I spent most of my free time getting drunk in inns with other young heirs and getting kicked out of said inns for my behaviour. I got put in stocks once, that was not comfortable."
The others stared at him for a moment and then nodded. Nobody else drank, either they had never been that drunk or they had taken the precaution of not drinking too much in public. Cordelia thought for a moment and then said,
"I never kissed someone of the same sex."
The cheerleader then knocked back her own shot glass and looked at the others. Buffy knocked back her own shot, showing a pattern between cheerleading and kissing others of the same sex. Willow blushed mightily and then knocked back her own shot. The others stared at her, and then Xander asked,
"Who, when?"
Willow was now inventing new shades of red and Buffy decided to help her out by answering for her,
"It was me. A few months ago before Angel got his soul back. I was drunk and kinda depressed at the time."
The others stared at the two friends for a moment. Then Buffy realised it was her turn,
"I never got hit by a car."
She then tossed her own shot back. The others stared at her and shrugged. Nobody ever said the slayer had to be exactly sane. It was now Angel's turn to ask a question. The vampire thought for a moment, trying to think of something to say that wouldn't end up embarrassing him completely.
"I never cut class."
The others stared at him for a moment and the entire group knocked their shots back. Oz then said,
"I never got chained up."
The entire group groaned and tossed pretzels at the werewolf as the game continued.
The next week, the group was in the office again. This time they were doing something very different. The three couples sat in Buffy's office, going over a huge pile of essays. Buffy groaned as she began another essay,
"I thought I specifically said it was to be no longer than two thousand words."
Angel turned to her,
"How long?"
Buffy sighed,
"Five thousand words."
Angel smiled,
"Hermione?"
Buffy nodded,
"Yep, damn overachievers."
Willow scowled,
"Hey, I'm just doing some empathetic hey-age for a fellow overachiever."
Buffy scowled,
"I have here a five thousand word essay on the vampire who killed my first watcher. I'm not feeling sympathetic to overachievers right now."
Angel smiled at her then winced,
"I think we have problems. I have Malfoy's essay."
Buffy turned to him,
"So, what's the problem?"
Angel grimaced,
"He did me for his essay."
Buffy shrugged,
"Well, you are rather infamous, somebody was bound to do you for their essay."
Angel nodded,
"I know. But this is Malfoy, it's just too suspicious."
Buffy was concerned now,
"Do you think he suspects anything?"
Angel shrugged,
"I don't know, but we can't take any chances. If he does suspect my identity, then I don't know what he'll do then. Chances are that he'll tell Voldemort and then the word will get back to Spike and Dru' that I'm back and that I have my soul back."
Buffy made a face,
"And if Spike and Dru' know you're back to being with the white hats, then that won't be good."
Angel shook his head,
"I'm not worried about Spike. He'll be pleased that I won't be around any more. No, it's Dru I'm worried about. She's crazy and I can never guess what she's gonna do next."
Buffy wrapped her arms around him,
"I know you feel guilty about Drusilla, but that wasn't you. We can only do what we can to make sure that the students here are safe."
Angel nodded,
"It's just hard."
Buffy kissed him softly and chastely.
"Don't worry. Malfoy can't be sure of who you are and the only way he can be certain is if we tell him."
Angel nodded,
"Yeah, it's just a bit suspicious."
Buffy smiled at him,
"If you want to talk about suspicious, you should see this other essay I got on William the Bloody. It was very detailed and extremely rude. I wondered if you knew anything about it?"
Angel shrugged,
"I hate Spike and I'm proud of that fact. I never pretended to like roller boy. I never even liked him when I had no soul. Why couldn't I have found Dru a nice deaf, blind mute to turn into a vampire? No, she had to turn William the Bloody awful poet. And then she had to encourage him."
Buffy smiled at him,
"Yes, well I'm sure we can find him a nice therapist to deal with his issues. Or maybe a tanning clinic."
The others laughed and turned back to marking the essays, unaware of the person listening outside of the office. Draco Malfoy stood outside the door listening to every word they said.
TBC.
AN: THERE WE GO. THIS IS MY LAST UPDATE BEFORE AUGUST. MY THERAPIST SAYS I MUST PRACTICE SELF-CONTROL. SO NOTHING ELSE UNTIL AUGUST.