AN: I'MMMMMMM BACK. HERE IS CHAPTER FOURTEEN FOR ALL YOU ANXIOUS PEOPLE WHO'VE BEEN READING MY STORY. IF ANYONE'S INTERESTED, I HAD A GREAT TIME IN THE SUNSHINE STATE AND PICKED UP MANY NEW BOOKS AND GRAPHIC NOVELS, SOME OF WHICH CAN'T BE BOUGHT IN ENGLAND, THE LAND OF THE BORING. LOOKING FORWARD TO MY BIRTHDAY ON THE 20TH AUGUST. NOT LOOKING FORWARD TO GOING BACK TO SCHOOL ON THE NINTH SEPTEMBER. ON A BETTER NOTE, MY BROTHER GOES BACK ON THE 31ST OF AUGUST, WHICH MAKES ME FEEL MUCH BETTER. WENT TO SEE CATWOMAN, BUT CAN'T GO AND SEE IT AGAIN UNTIL THE TWELTH, 'CAUSE, LIKE ALL GOOD THINGS, IT ISN'T OUT IN ENGLAND YET. ENOUGH FROM ME, CHAPTER FOURTEEN HERE FOR ALL THOSE THAT HAVE BEEN WAITING. TRUST ME, SO HAVE I. I WENT INTO WITHDRAWEL BY THE BEGINNING OF THE SECOND WEEK. OH, AND IF I GET OVER A HUNDRED REVIEWS BY THE END OF THE WEEK, I'LL GET RID OF ANGEL'S CURSE BY MY BIRTHDAY. THAT'S A PROMISE.

DISCLAIMER: DON'T' OWN IT. HAVE A BANK BALANCE OF $70 AND A SEVENTEEN YEAR OLD BROTHER. IF YOU SUE ME, I KEEP THE FIRST AND YOU GET THE LATTER.

RATING: PG-13, MAYBE R LATER ON. THAT DEPENDS ON WHETHER I FIX THE CURSE OR NOT AND THAT DEPENDS ON HOW MANY REVIEWS I GET.

YOU MAY BE GUESSING A GENERAL THEME. LET ME SPELL IT OUT FOR YOU FOLKS:

IF YOU WANT MORE ANGEL SMOOCHIES AND BUFFY/ANGEL CUTENESS, THEN I WANT OVER A HUNDRED REVIEWS.

IN OTHER WORDS:

WANT MORE: SAY MORE.

SIMPLE HUH?

THAT REALLY IS THE END OF THIS AUTHOR'S NOTE. HERE IS THE FOURTEENTH CHAPTER FOR ALL YOU WHO HAVE BEEN WAITING.

Chapter Fourteen

Draco Malfoy lay elegantly draped on a black leather sofa in the Slytherin common room. In his aristocratic fingers he held two sheets of parchment. The first piece was a letter from his father, the second the reply he'd written during history of magic, while all the other Slytherins were either sleeping of plotting.

He read over his father's letter one more time, still unsure of the final purpose of the letter. It read thus:

Son,

I have received reports from my connections that Harry Potter has returned to Hogwarts and the wizarding world in the company of the slayer and some of her friends. Due to the vagueness of the report I received I am ordering you to compile for our master all the information that you know. This information will be vital to the Cause and should be passed on to me as soon as you have compiled it properly. Most important is data on the Potter boy and the Slayer, but information on her friends would also be valuable.

Your Father

Lucius Malfoy esquire

Draco knew exactly what the letter meant on the surface. Crabbe and Goyle had told their fathers that Potter was at Hogwarts with the slayer and co. Crabbe and Goyle senior would have then passed that news on to his father, who would use the information to gain more power with Lord Voldemort. However, Crabbe and Goyle senior were just as stupid as their thuggish sons were. Draco's father was asking him to take his first step into the Dark Lord's service.

Five years ago, Draco Malfoy would have jumped at this chance to gain favour in the eyes of their lord. But now things were different. People were going to die, some already had, a boy from his school was dead. Draco Malfoy had had no problem with Cedric Diggory. He had been an intelligent handsome Hufflepuff, good at Quidditch and always fair, even to Slytherins, who were considered pariahs to the other houses. And he had died for merely being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Lucius Malfoy had taken great pleasure in describing the Dark Lord's resurrection to his son in extreme detail. Draco had been sickened by the entire affair. He had heard of the entire happening, from when his father had been summoned to the cemetary until Potter had used to TriWizard cup to return with Cedric's body to the school. He had heard about how Voldemort had used all three unforgivable curses on the boy. He had heard how the boy had not screamed, despite the pain. How he had thrown off the Imperius curse with little effort at all. And how he had blocked the unblockable Avada Kedavra with his wand. And he had heard how the ghostly figures of Potter's parents had appeared.

Draco couldn't imagine what that must have been like for the boy. No matter what Potter had become, he had been a fourteen year old boy then, barely into puberty. He knew Potter had no memory of his parents. To see them like that must have been unbearable. He had been disgusted by the drawn-out nature of the duel, when Voldemort could have killed the boy quickly. He had been disgusted by the snivelling cowardice of the Death Eaters, the way they had all bent to kiss the hem of Voldemort's robes. How his father had got down in the mud to kiss the robes of a half-blood. How his father had recounted the tale like it had been an honour to get down on his knees to kiss the robes of a sadistic murderer.

Five years ago, Draco Malfoy would have also seen this as an honour. But until Hogwarts, the only people he had met were other Voldemort supporting purebloods and their children, most of the adults having been Death Eaters. He had grown up thinking the cause was the right thing to do. He had not thought to question his father and had known no other way of thinking,

Then Draco had met Harry Potter. He had wanted to impress the boy, become friends with him, for the Potters were an ancient and noble line, even if James Potter had married a muggle-born. He had also wished to be friends with the famous Harry Potter. He had introduced himself, taking pried in his heritage and held out his hand while Crabbe and Goyle stood behind him like the bodyguards they were.

But Potter had been in the carriage with Weasley and become friends with the other boy. He had sneered at Draco's hand and told him that he could make his own decisions. He had turned down an offer of friendship from the Malfoy heir because of a train journey of honest non-pretentious conversation from a boy whose family was constantly treading the thin line of poverty. Draco had not understood. He had been raised to believe that Malfoys had everything and Weasleys had nothing. Yet, this Weasley had gotten the thing he had wanted. It made no sense to him.

Then he had wondered if, maybe, his father had been wrong. That his bloodline did no immediately entitle him to have everything he wanted. But he had still wanted to impress his father and had been sorted into Slytherin as he had been told to. He had been told that Slytherin was the best house. But the rest of the school shunned the Slytherins. Nobody in Slytherin trusted anybody else and, despite the sorting hat's song, there were no 'real friends' amongst the serpents.

Over the years, he had stopped trusting what his father had told him. He made his own decisions and his own judgements. But he could not act upon them. He was well aware that Crabbe and Goyle were spying on him, reporting his every action and word to his father. And Draco Malfoy was terrified of his father. So he kept up appearances, played Potter's childhood rival with all the skill of a Malfoy and a Slytherin.

He now had no desire to become one of Voldemort's servants. But he was not stupid. He knew a war was coming. He would have to choose a side now or his heritage would force him onto a side he had no wish to be part of. He was a Malfoy and could not be neutral, but his conscience would not allow him to fight for Voldemort.

There was only one thing he could do in response to this. He could not sit on the fence any longer. He would have to go to Dumbledore. He would have to explain everything. Crabbe and Goyle were still in dinner as he had told them he was writing to his father and did not wish to be disturbed. He folded both parchments and placed them into a pocket of his robes. He then rose from the sofa and went to find Professor Snape, who was, if not a friend, an ally and would show him to the headmaster's office and then leave him there.

He was lucky. He found Professor Snape in his dungeon classroom, marking essays. He knocked smartly on the door. Professor Snape was irritated at being annoyed and snapped,

"Come in and close the door, Mr Malfoy."

Draco did so and Snape looked up at him in aggravation.

"Well, what is it? I've got a lot to mark."

Draco hoped his voice didn't tremble as he spoke,

"Professor, I have to see Professor Dumbledore immediately. I have had a letter that will be of importance to him. I don't know where his office is and I was hoping that you could tell me how to get there."

Professor Snape rose from his chair, all aggravation gone from his face,

"This letter is from your father, correct?"

Draco nodded. Snape stared at him for a long time, as if deciding whether or not he could be trusted. After a while, Snape spoke,

"Your father is asking you to spy for the Dark Lord?"

Draco nodded and Snape continued,

"And you are offering to become a double agent for Dumbledore?"

Draco shook his head and explained,

"I want nothing to do with the murderer. I do not wish to be responsible for the death of more innocents and, as a child, I will not be able to gather much useful information for Professor Dumbledore and his allies."

Snape stared at him again. Then, he slowly rolled up his sleeve, to reveal to glaring face of the dark mark on his arm. Draco didn't flinch at the sight of it, he had seen his father's many times. Then Snape rolled up the sleeve of his other arm. There was a golden phoenix emblazoned on the skin. Draco stared at it in amazement and reached out to touch it. Satisfied, Snape spoke,

"This is the mark of the order of the phoenix. It is based on intention magic. If it would have endangered me for you to see this, then it would have been invisible to you and no amount of magic could have revealed it. Come, I will take you to Dumbledore at once."

Snape strode out of his office, having rolled down both his sleeves as he spoke. Draco followed after him quickly.

Albus Dumbledore sat in his office, absentmindedly stroking the feathers of his phoenix, Fawkes, as he read a report on the mood at the ministry from the auror Kinsley Shacklebot. The news was the same as always, the ministry was denying Voldemort's return and Lucius Malfoy was spending a great deal of time in the minister's private office. However, Kinsley also reported that most of the Aurors believed Dumbledore and Harry Potter. That, at least, was good news. If they had the Aurors on their side, then it would only be a matter of time before other members of the ministry started coming around to the cause.

Harry Potter presented another problem. It was only a matter of time before his true identity became public knowledge. Dumbledore didn't know what the reaction would be, but he was absolutely certain that it would not be a good one. A fool could tell that, but what Voldemort would do in response to this news was harder to divine.

He was disrupted from his reverie by a solid knock on his door. He felt professor Snape's presence outside the door through Leglimency, therefore, he left the report out on his desk as he replied for them to come in.

Severus Snape swooped into the office like the over-grown bat he resembled. Behind him, Draco Malfoy walked in more sedately. Albus gave the head of Slytherin house a strange look before he spoke,

"Professor Snape, I trust there is not a problem?"

Snape scowled, his favourite facial expression as well as his most common. Dumbledore fleetingly wondered who had risked the potions master's ire this time. Then the greasy-haired professor spoke, his voice icy.

"Mr Malfoy has something important to discuss with you."

Dumbledore turned his gaze onto the Malfoy heir, wondering idly what could be so important that the platinum haired prefect felt the need to talk to him.

"How may I help you, Mr Malfoy?"

Draco looked decidedly uncomfortable. He pulled a folded sheet of parchment out of the pocket of his robes and handed it to the headmaster. Dumbledore unfolded the letter and scanned the few short lines. The twinkle was gone from his eyes as he looked up at the two standing in front of him.

"Thank you for showing me this, Mr Malfoy. However, it would be advisable if we continued this discussion with Mr Potter and Miss Summers and her friends present. If you gentlemen would follow me I will go and inform them of the situation."

Draco nodded silently, he had not said a word since he had left Professor Snape's office five minutes ago. Professor Dumbledore rose from his chair with considerable and remarkable speed and grace for such an old man and walked out of the office, his embroidered robes swirling behind him. Professor Snape swept out after him and Draco shrugged before following the two professors to his fate.

As they walked down an endless maze of corridors, Draco began trying to guess which portrait would conceal the entrance to the quarters of the slayer and her companions. He noticed that they were getting closer to the Slytherin common room and found something entertaining about the Gryffindor golden boy rooming so near to the evil Slytherin snakes.

They turned down onto a narrow corridor lined with portraits that Draco had assumed only led to a small broom closet. The corridor was long and, as they neared the end, Draco heard raised voices coming from behind one of the portraits.

"…hate Halloween."

That was the voice of the slayer. Halloween was the following week and Draco wondered why the slayer hated it. Then Potter's voice could be heard,

"Buffy, Halloween is your only night off."

Draco raised an eyebrow at that, he had thought that slaying was pretty much a 24/7 thing, with no days off or sick leave. And it seemed unlikely that Halloween would be the only day the vampire slayer could take off. He had always considered Halloween to be the Mardi Gras for all things evil and slimy. Then the slayer spoke again,

"Angel, I would just like to point out what happened last Halloween."

Then another voice spoke, Draco recognised it as that of the dark haired girl dating the veritas,

"But that wasn't really monsters, though. That was just Giles' icky evil friend from when he was into the nasty ugly demon summoning."

There was a silent pause and then the older man that Draco had sometimes heard speaking in the library spoke,

"I would just like to remind you Cordelia, that no matter how good friends Ethan and I used to be, he is nothing more than another enemy now."

There was another pause and then the slayer continued,

"And it being Halloween didn't stop Spike. He tried to kill me anyway."

Potter spoke again,

"Spike never cared much for rules in the first place. And the prerogative to kill slayers is more important than any other tradition except obeying one's sire and one's blood mate."

The Harris boy spoke,

"And thank you for that insightful comment on vampire traditions. I thought that kind of information was Giles' domain."

A beat. Then Potter continued talking as if the other boy had never spoken.

"Anyway, nothing's going to happen here. If it makes it any better. I hate Halloween too."

The slayer seemed interested and asked,

"Why?"

Potter sighed audibly,

"My parents, well, my birth parents, were murdered on Halloween. I've had this intense dislike for it ever since."

There was a long silence,

"I'm so sorry, Angel."

The voices were loud now. Professor Dumbledore stopped the three of them outside a portrait of a younger version of the new Potter. He was glaring at the angrily and dressed in Slytherin robes. There was a Head-boy badge pinned onto his immaculate robes. The portrait was dated back from the 1700s. The scowling portrait snapped at them,

"Let's see. One greasy-haired git, one senile old man and an English bastard aristocrat. What do you want?"

The portrait spoke with a visible and audible sneer, as well as a strong Irish accent. Draco stared at the headmaster, to see how he would respond to the abusive comments. Dumbledore spoke calmly,

"If you don't mind, we'd like to come in Liam."

Liam rolled his eyes, if that were even possible for a portrait.

"And I want into Anna O'Grady's pants, but she's a tight frigid bitch. If you want in, English, you'll need the password."

Draco was shocked by this comment, but Dumbledore remained unflappable,

"Harris is an idiot."

The portrait scowled and rolled to one side to reveal the entrance to the slayer's quarters. Draco followed the two professors through the entrance and into the main chamber. He was amazed by what he saw there.

The Slayer lay sprawled out on a leather couch, her head in Potter's lap, attempting to mark homework. Potter sat at the other end of the sofa, reading a muggle novel called Northanger Abbey, he was absently stroking the slayer's hair while drinking a dark liquid from a steaming coffee mug on the table.

The red-head was playing chess with the grey-haired watcher and losing badly. The boy called Oz was sitting near to Willow and was strumming on a strange object that Draco recognised as a muggle guitar. The Chase girl was lying on another sofa and reading a magazine while her boyfriend gave her a foot massage.

None of them were wearing robes. But that was not unusual, as they had all stopped wearing robes during the day after the first week. The watcher was wearing a tweed suit. Potter was wearing his now customary ensemble of black leather trousers and a black silk shirt. The slayer was wearing a similar outfit, a pair of black leather trousers and a red velvet halter neck top.

The other four were also dressed in muggle clothes. Cordelia was wearing dark blue jeans and a crimson blouse. Willow was attractively dressed in a pair of faded blue jeans and a green cashmere sweater. It was obvious that the girls had chosen their respective boyfriend's clothes. Oz was wearing khaki slacks and a black t-shirt. Xander wore faded jeans and a blue crew-neck sweater.

All of them looked up as the three entered the room. They all appeared inquiring, but Potter was the one to speak,

"How can we help you Professor Dumbledore?"

He had put down his book and gently slid the Slayer's head out of his lap. He rose and gestured for the three of them to sit on the third sofa. Draco sat, staring around at the attractive room. Professor Dumbledore spoke as Draco stared around at the group of people. There was no tone of judgement in Potter's voice as he spoke, no sign that they had been enemies for four years.

"Mr Malfoy has received a letter that he has shown to me. I thought it imperative that you all saw it and decided on a course of action to take in response to it."

The others in the room were paying complete attention now. The slayer sat up as the older man and Willow and Oz came to join them. Draco reached into his pocket once more and handed the letter to Potter.

Potter read the letter quickly, too quickly, despite its shortness. His face was entirely expressionless as he handed the letter to the slayer. The others read the letter and passed it back to Professor Dumbledore, who sat calmly awaiting their responses.

Draco had always prided himself on his ability to read expressions, but he could see nothing in Potter. The man's face was a blank, expressionless mask. All the emotion in his eyes was carefully guarded. The expression on the Slayer's face was pure fury, tempered by very little patience. The watcher looked concerned and cautious, the others angry but enquiring. Potter spoke, his voice flat and without inflection.

"May I enquire, Mr Malfoy, as to how you will be replying to this letter?"

Draco reached into his other robe pocket and removed his reply, which was basically a development of what he told Snape earlier. The relief on the others' faces was obvious, but Potter remained unreadable.

"You do realise that this response will put you in serious jeopardy, not only from your father, but from all those supporting Voldemort's cause?"

Draco nodded, it wasn't like he was completely clueless as to how his father would respond to this letter. He would become a persona non grata among all Voldemort supporters before he could say Quidditch. Unfortunately that included a significant proportion of Slytherin house. In defence of Slytherin, it was not that the house was essentially evil, it was just that the children of deatheaters were ordered by their parents to be in Slytherin and their influence was nothing but impressive.

"As you will no longer be safe in Slytherin, it would be advisable if you found somewhere else to stay during the term time as well as the vacation."

Draco mentally made a face. He would probably have to move in with the Gryffindorks and stay with Weasley during the summer. He wasn't prejudiced against all Gryffindors or Weasleys, he just didn't get on with some of them. Potter continued, his voice still disgustingly neutral.

"So, I would recommend if you stayed here during the term time. We can have an extra room arranged for you or you can have mine, I do not require much sleep and can therefore sleep on a couch if necessary."

Dumbledore interrupted then, his voice just as smooth as Potter's.

"That will not be necessary, Harry. It will be very simple to have another room added here for Mr Malfoy. However, the matter still remains of where he is to live during the summer. I suppose we could send him to stay in Grimmauld place. He would be secure there and it would not be much questioned."

Harry shook his head,

"I doubt that would be practical, considering the house's current function and owner. I have a very large house in Sunnydale…"

The Harris boy snorted inelegantly and muttered,

"Very large house, my arse. It's a mansion and you know it."

Potter continued as if he had never been interrupted,

"Mr Malfoy would be welcome to have a room in my house during the summer months."

The Slayer was the one to interrupt this time,

"I don't think that would be good. I mean, it's not like you have a well stocked fridge. Faith's in my room at the moment, but Malfoy could have a guest room. My mom could do with the extra mumming. She's been feeling expendable and useless since the whole slayer thing blew up."

The watcher frowned,

"That would probably be wise, but where would you go, Buffy?"

The Slayer blushed an attractive shade of crimson and glanced at Potter,

"Well, we may have found a solution by then and there was this… Ah, screw it. Angel and I are engaged. If we manage to sort out the happy problem, then we're getting married and I'm moving in with him."

There was a silence during which the watcher removed his glasses and cleaned the lenses obsessively on his coat. Dumbledore spoke then,

"That would be a most amenable solution. I'll leave you all to get better acquainted and to finalise details. Mr Malfoy, I'll arrange for your things to be moved up here. Your room is ready for you. Professor Snape and I will leave you now."

With that the two professors rose from their seats and left the room. Draco sat in silence for a moment and then spoke,

"Well, Potter. Shall I call you Harry or Angelus?"

TBC