Thanks to all the reviewers, especially those who've kept reading and reviewing from the first story:
TTrunks: Now here's a name I recognise! Thanks for continuing to R&R.
Lucky Shamrock: Wow- lots of reading! I've been thinking of going back and improving the Witches Watcher so the beginning isn't quite so poor. You're right, I'm not very good at thoughts and emotion- I really should work on it! Thanks for R&R.
Matt: Hey Matt! Thanks for the review!
Mist: Killing Bill was definitely mean, but it did have to be done! Thanks for R&R
Fan o' Buffy: It's only 8 months late! Sorry! Thanks for R&R
Willow Tree Pixie: I'm glad you think so! Thanks for R&R.
CHAPTER TWO: CALM
When Wesley went into his office, he was greeted by the sight of one Dawn Summers talking very quickly into his phone.
"…and I totally forgot his birthday... I know, I ordered his present months ago so it would have arrived in time but he didn't gat a card or a visit or anything. Do you think he'll forgive me?" There was a long pause as whoever was on the other end of the line suggested something. "What all of us? That's a great idea! Thanks Hermione, you're the best!"
"Did you know that Wolfram and Hart's phone bill has nearly doubled with all the transatlantic phone calls you've been making?" Wesley said as she put the phone down.
Dawn snorted. "It's not like they can't afford it. Besides, it was an emergency!"
"Sounded like it." Wes said dryly.
Dawn rolled her eyes and turned back to the script she was supposed to be translating. But although it may have looked like she was working, Dawn was actually planning the perfect outfit to wear for her evening out the next day.
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"It's a good thing we have slayer metabolism or we'd get really fat." Flick commented as she tied the tops of a black bin liner together ready to be collected. The bin bag itself contained no fewer than three Ben 'n Jerry's containers, two bars of Galaxy as well as several empty Honeydukes boxes- and that's just what the three slayers had accumulated over the past three days!
Jade grinned as she came down the stairs. "What? You saying we couldn't kick monster ass if we weighed thirty stone?"
"Maybe- we do rock." Flick said boastfully.
"Damn straight!" The slightly younger slayer laughed, but her mood turned sober when she remembered why she had come down stairs to talk to their unofficial leader. "Skye's still sleeping."
"It's to be expected, she's in recovery." Flick said as she finished her task with the rubbish.
There was silence for a moment as Jaden thought how to best phrase her next comment. "It's taking her longer now."
Flick sighed and sat down on one of the kitchen stools. Skylar's seemingly declining health had been worrying her for a while and it seemed her fears were being confirmed by Jaden's concern. "I know."
Pause.
"She's been injured three times in a week, and we're not just talking little bruises." Felicity said quietly.
"What should we do?" Jade asked, subconsciously trusting her friend to make the decision for all of them.
But Flick didn't want the responsibility. At first it was okay, flattering even, when the less experienced slayers looked to her for leadership and advice. But this was one decision she didn't want to make.
The way Flick saw it, they had two choices. One; pull Skye out of battle against her wishes. They'd tried to persuade her to take a few days off when she'd first got injured, but Skylar had let them know in no uncertain terms that she would not 'sit on the sidelines'. The second option was to let her keep going on patrol and keep an eye on her. As Flick pondered over the possibilities of the latter option, she became dimly aware of someone calling her name.
"Flick?...Felicity!"
"What?" She half snapped, but Jaden didn't notice.
"I said what do we do?"
"I heard you the first time. How do you expect me to know what to do? I'm the muscle not the watcher, it's not my job." Flick vented.
Jaden, who had recoiled at her friend's outburst, tentatively pointed to the phone. "Should we phone Dawn then?"
"Sure. Why not." Flick said with a casualness that made Jaden slightly uneasy. "You do it."
"Umm okay." The younger slayer said as she dialled the familiar number. A voice she didn't recognise answered the phone. "Err hi. Is Dawn there? It's Jade…Jaden Mormon, from England…Oh okay, can you tell her I called? Thanks."
"What'd she say?"
"She's gone out."
Flick snorted. "Typical. She phones every night for weeks and then when we actually need her to call, she doesn't."
"So what should we-" Jaden cut herself off quickly remembering her team mates earlier reaction when she'd asked what they should do next. "So, where do you think Dawn's gone?"
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Hermione Granger stood in Little Whinging Park next to the lake waiting for her friends. It was Dawn's birthday, which coincidentally fell just two days after Harry's, and Ron, Harry, Dawn and herself were going to go to a muggle club as they were all now eighteen.
She looked at her watch again. Ron and Dawn were late, they were planning to surprise Harry and fetch him from Privet Drive…hopefully. Hermione heard a crack to her side and looked round to see Ron also looking around.
"Ron!" She rushed forward and hugged her friend slightly awkwardly. "You look good." She said warmly, surveying his muggle clothes.
"Thanks, so do you." They fell into a silence. "Oh bugger this!" Ron leant forward and kissed Hermione gently on the lips. He closed his eyes and prepared for the slap. Although Hermione and he had been going out at Hogwarts, the letters they had sent over the summer had been short and awkward. Neither of them had ever had any sort of real relationship before and they didn't know how to cope with the long distance thing.
Ron opened his eyes when the slap didn't come and saw Hermione beaming up at him, but before they could say anything, they were interrupted by a scream shortly followed by a splash. It appeared that Dawn had not been totally accurate in her apparating and had fallen twenty feet or so into the lake.
Hermione tried not to laugh as Dawn clambered out of the water, her outfit clinging to her body more than it usually would, but Ron didn't even bother trying. He was practically rolling about on the floor and clutching his sides. Dawn growled in frustration when she realised that it was not only her clothes that had suffered, but also her make-up.
Hermione took pity on her friend and pulled out her wand. A moment later no-one could have known that Dawn had taken an impromptu swim in Little Whinging Lake.
"Right;" Dawn said, happy now that she was all pretty again, "let's go get my boyfriend!"
Hermione rolled her eyes, grabbed Ron's hand and followed Dawn out of the park and into Privet Drive.
"Wow; Stepford Wives, much?" Dawn commented on the identical, perfectly groomed houses and gardens.
"What?"
"Muggle movie reference, Ron." Hermione explained to her befuddled boyfriend.
A minute later they were standing outside Harry's door. Ron looked up to Harry's window; "Harry!" He said in a loud whisper.
"What's he doing?" Dawn asked Hermione.
"Harry told you about his 'family', right? Well, they probably wouldn't let him come out if they knew."
"Okay; but how would they stop him?" Dawn said practically.
"Well, we can't use magic on muggles…" Ron said doubtfully.
"So? I've still got my key magic and regular old muggle force."
"We can't beat them up!" Hermione said aghast.
"Why not? They let their son hurt Harry." Hermione glared at the mystic-artefact-turned-human. Dawn sighed reluctantly. "Okay, fine. I won't lay a finger on them."
Hermione eyed the slayer's sister somewhat doubtfully, but didn't stop her when she knocked on the Dursley's door. Vernon answered it and glared down at the three eighteen year olds in front of him.
"Hi; is Harry there?" Dawn asked sweetly.
The purple man growled a no and went to slam the door, but a magical force stopped him. "Y-you're not allowed to do magic around us."
Dawn shrugged. "Different magic, different laws. Now are you going to let us in?" He didn't budge. "Okay then." Dawn flicked her hand and the door flew open, sending Vernon flying back with the force.
"Dawn!"
"Relax Hermione; I haven't laid a finger on him." Dawn grinned and Hermione knew she was beaten…not that she minded that much; after all, it was the Dursley's.
The commotion brought Harry to the stairs. "Dawn? Ron? Hermione? What are you doing here?"
"Oh, just visiting." Hermione said lamely while Ron just opted for a "Hey mate."
"You coming?" Dawn asked.
"Where?"
"Out, of course."
"You leave this house and you'll never come back, boy." Vernon growled.
"Ooh! You can stay with me in LA!" Dawn offered excitedly.
"Are you sure?" Harry asked, barely daring to hope.
"Yea- there's loads of room…as long as you don't mind staying at an evil law firm."
Harry grinned widely. "Not at all."
Vernon watched the whole debacle open mouthed. "He's not going anywhere."
"Watch me."
And he did. He watched as the 'magic using freak' gave the boy a kiss and then he ran upstairs and returned with a tiny chest which Harry fit in his pocket. And he watched as they let that ruddy owl out and told it to go to LA. And then he watched as they all walked out the sorry looking door.
Petunia entered the house not five minutes after they had gone. "Where's the boy dear, he needs to get started on Dudley's dinner."
Vernon, doing a very good impression of a gold fish, opened and closed his mouth a few times before saying. "He's gone." Then it appeared to really sink in and he jumped up in delight. "He's gone! HE'S GONE!"
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"ID." The bouncer ordered for the hundredth time that night.
The four teens handed over their identification and were accepted into the club. Ron and Harry looked around in amazement. They had never seen a muggle night club before and the Three Broomsticks doesn't really compare to the flashing lights and blaring music of 'The Event: 5'.
The group ordered drinks, but soon found themselves on the dance floor (After Ron and Harry saw how badly various other people were dancing, they followed their girlfriends willingly onto the dance floor).
"Are you having fun?" Dawn shouted to Harry over the music.
Harry nodded. "Beats a night at home with the Dursley's!"
The group proceeded to dance the night away. They were having so much fun that they didn't realise someone was watching them from the shadows.
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"Dawn!" Harry tried to shout over the music, but it was too loud. Instead he tapped his girlfriends shoulder and mimicked the universal getting a drink motion. Dawn nodded and followed him over to the bar; but they didn't get that far.
As they were walking, a door marked 'Staff Only' swung open and Harry and Dawn were pulled through. Harry was greeted by a sight that he thought, and hoped, he'd never see again; Crabbe and Goyle.
The two goons had lowered themselves to wearing muggle clothing, but they had kept it black like the death eater robes.
"You will pay for destroying our master, Potter. You'll come with us now." Crabbe, or possibly Goyle, hissed.
Harry was astonished. "You spoke!" He gasped. "I've never heard either of you speak before, unless grunting counts, does grunting count?"
"Nope." Dawn confirmed, trying not to laugh at the lost looking minions.
One of them, not the one who had spoken before, managed to pull himself together. "You killed the Dark Lord- you deserve to die!"
"I deserve to die for that? What did I deserve to die for before? You know, all those times Voldemort tried to kill me."
"You dare speak his name."
"He's dead! Gone! Caput! And yet you're still afraid of him."
The wannabe-evil duo decided that it was time for this to end and raised their wands, apparently forgetting their run in with the DA whom Harry had tutored. Three seconds later Crabbe and Goyle were looking confused as Harry held their wands grinning madly.
"Pertrificus Totalus!" Both goons fell to the floor and Harry grabbed Dawn's arm. "Come on- there may be more, we've got to get out of here."
Dawn followed him to get Ron and Hermione and they all left quickly.
"We should probably all go home…even though it sounds like that was the lamest attempted kidnap ever." Hermione said once they were outside and she had finished fussing over Harry.
"Yeah." Harry sighed. "I better go crawling back to the Dursley's."
"No way! I said you could stay with me in LA and I meant it." Dawn protested.
"But what about my protection wards and spells?"
"What about it? Voldemort's gone! Besides, you'll have two good vampires and their powerful law firm looking out for you. Besides; I'll look after you."
"I bet you will." Ron muttered, which got him a slap round the head from Hermione who had overheard.
"Are you sure? Really sure?"
"Really, really, really sure. It'll be fun!" Dawn hugged her boyfriend.
"How are you going to get there?" Hermione: always the voice of reason.
"Ooh! I could apperate us!"
"NO!" Ron and Hermione protested in unison. "We'd like to have Harry back at the end of the holidays."
"She can't be that bad!"
"Oh, she is- Dawn, show him your wrist."
Dawn reluctantly twisted her wrist round…completely around, as in three-hundred-and-sixty degrees around.
Harry gasped. "How'd you do that?"
Dawn offered him a smile. "Um, nasty apperating accident? It's not that big of a deal- I had this friend who was double jointed and could twist his thumb around."
"Merlin knows how she got her licence!" Ron said.
"Easily!" Dawn proclaimed. "I took it in Cleveland and I just had to get to the shopping mall and back! I'd had lots of practice at getting there…lots of practice!"
"Back to the point- how am I going to get to LA?"
"I can open a portal. What Buffy doesn't know, can't hurt me."
Hermione nodded. "I think that might be safer." She said wisely, earning her a glare from Dawn.
"Right, let's go!" Dawn said, already starting to open the portal. Harry looked through and saw the mid afternoon sunshine of Las Angeles. "We'll end up just behind Evil Inc."
"Evil Inc?" Hermione questioned,
"Wolfram and Hart." Dawn clarified.
Hermione looked alarmed. "Are you sure this is a good idea?"
"I'll be fine- Dawn's been there loads of times and nothings happened to her."
Hermione sighed. "Fine- but you look after him." She told Dawn seriously.
"I will, I promise."
"Right let's get out of here!" Harry said. He turned an raised his hand in a wave "I'll send Hedwig when I get there. See you soon, bye!" He followed Dawn through the portal and watched as she closed it on England.
"Okay; I just need to check that it's alright with Angel if you stay here."
"You said it would be fine!"
"Oh it will be..." Dawn assured him; "…probably. You might want to avoid Spike, though."
Harry looked alarmed. He pulled a memory from last year when Dawn had told him that Spike might kill him for dating her, but he couldn't while the world needed him to destroy Voldemort. But Voldemort was gone now… "He's gonna kill me!"
"Don't be silly Harry. Spike doesn't kill humans anymore."
Strangely enough Harry didn't find that very comforting.
"Oh and Harry, don't mention the thing with Crabbe and Goyle to Angel."
"Why not?"
"He tends to…overreact to stuff like that." Dawn said, picking her words very carefully. "It's best not to worry him, besides it's not like we can't defend ourselves against those goons." She reasoned.
"Okay, that's fair. Hey, thanks for coming tonight. It meant a lot."
Dawn smiled. "Of course I came. Always assume from now on that I'll come."
"Still, thank you."
"You're welcome. Come on, let's get this over with."
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"But Angel;" Dawn whined, "they want to kill him and you guys are supposed to stop that, remember, help the helpless."
"I don't know, Dawn."
"Please!"
Harry grinned from where he was 'accidentally overhearing' Dawn's conversation with Angel. They had arrived in LA not ten minutes ago and she had already got one of the lower members of the company to fix him up a room and was currently wearing Angel down.
"Buffy wouldn't like this." Harry heard Angel protest.
"Neither would Spike." Dawn pointed out, and it was then Harry knew they had won.
He turned away from the door and punched the air with his fist. But his celebration was short lived as Harry saw something more scary than Voldemort walking down the halls- it was Dawn's pseudo big brother, Spike.
'Bugger.'
Harry looked around for somewhere to hide, but the only thing near him was Angel's office where Dawn was still trying to persuade the vampire to let him stay.
'Double bugger.'
"Hey kid." Spike didn't really seem to take in Harry's appearance at Wolfram and Hart and Harry sighed with relief…but it was short lived.
Spike had barely got five steps away before he stopped and back tracked.
'Triple bugger.'
"Err, hi Spike." Harry tried, but that caused to anger the vampire further.
Spike growled, his eyes flashing yellow, and Harry could practically hear his brain working: 'Can't kill humans, can't kill humans…' Spike grabbed Harry and hauled him into Angel's office, none too gently.
"What's that doing here!" He yelled, pushing Harry forward with such force that the wizard fell into Angel's desk.
Dawn put on her most innocent smile. "Spike; is something wrong?"
"Of course something's bloody wrong! What is this, this, ponce, doing here!"
Angel couldn't help but grin at Spike's agitation. "He's staying at Wolfram and Hart until the end of the summer."
Dawn squeaked, but Spike wasn't so happy. "Like hell he is!"
"I have a reason to believe his life is in danger." Angel said calmly. "Well; more so than it is here…probably. Anyway, it's my office and I can do what I want!"
Dawn and Harry tried not to laugh at the two hundred year old vampire acting like a spoiled ten year old. "Thanks Angel."
"No problem; I'll get a room set up."
"Don't worry," Dawn smiled; "already taken care of."
Dawn led Harry out of the room, leaving the two vampires spluttering behind them.
"Why'd you agree to let him stay?" Spike asked once Harry and Dawn had gone.
"I have no idea." Angel admitted.
"Poofter."
"Don't call me that."
"Call you what, poofter?"
"Spike!"
"Okay, okay…poofter."
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