DISCLAIMER: The characters aren't mine. I'm borrowing them from the esteemed Joss Whedon and J.K. Rawling.
SPOILERS/BACKGROUND: Everything from BtVS Season 1 to Season 6, AtS Seasons 1 to 3, and Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.
THANKS to everyone who wished me good luck on the LSAT's; hope your charms were effective! I'm going to start moving responses to specific reviews to the end of chapters, since they take up a lot of space at the beginning.
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CHAPTER 12:
A BIRD'S EYE VIEW
Buffy remained in the Great Hall for a while after Willow left. For one thing, she hadn't gotten much of a chance to eat, between getting to dinner late, Harry leaving early, and Buffy being forced to go after him. Having skipped lunch, she was starving, and studying seemed to tire her a lot more than it did Willow. In addition, with Willow gone, she was able to pay a bit more attention to the other people in the hall without ignoring her friend.
She spotted Draco giving her a quizzical look. She also noticed an empty seat next to him at the head of the table. Having nothing else to do, and knowing nobody else in Slytherin she'd rather talk to with Willow gone, she decided to bite the bullet and not care whether or not she looked like she was playing politics. She picked up her plate and moved down the table towards him.
"Mind if I sit here?" she asked.
He looked at her, surprised, but there was a smile on his face. "Not at all," he said. He even got up to hold her seat for her, bringing a smile to Buffy's lips. Competitive, perhaps, but at least he was a gentleman.
"Thanks," she said as she took the seat.
"So what brings you down to chat with us mortals?" another Slytherin, a girl catty-corner across the table from Buffy asked. There was some scattered, mirthless laughter at that.
Draco shot the girl a disapproving glare. "Now, now, Bulstrode," he said softly. "Play nicely."
"Not sure," Buffy admitted. "Mostly just got kinda lonely down my way."
"That's a good point," Draco said, noting Willow's absence. "Where did your friend go?" Buffy guessed he was just pretending to have just noticed she was gone; she doubted much slipped past Draco's silver eyes.
Buffy shrugged. "Not sure. Maybe cooking up another surprise for Peeves." Smiles and scattered laughter greeted that.
"Not happy being called the Defenestratrix, eh?" Draco laughed. "It could be worse."
Buffy wrinkled her nose. It was the first time she had heard anyone say that. She wasn't sure it could get much worse. It sounded like a really bad comic book villain.
"You almost finished?" Buffy asked.
"Well, dinner," Draco said, nodding at his plate, which had just a few stuffed mushrooms left on it, and his cup of pumpkin juice, which was nearly empty. "I was sort of planning on staying for dessert. If you haven't had the kiwi tarts with strawberry cream yet, they're truly not to be missed."
"Tempting," Buffy answered. "But I seem to remember someone promising to show me a thing or two about flying two days ago. I was kinda hoping I could convince him to make good on it."
Draco gave her a questioning look, as though trying to figure out if she were serious or not. Eventually, his smile brightened, and he shrugged nonchalantly. "Why not?" he said. "They'll have kiwi tarts again. Everyone," he said with a curt nod to the others to excuse himself.
Draco and Buffy left the hall and began the climb to Slytherin Tower. Buffy noticed that once they were out of the Great Hall, Draco's posture relaxed and he seemed to pay less attention to his features and voice than he did at the head of the table.
"I honestly don't know what I'm going to be able to teach you," he said, once they were on the stairs and away from prying eyes, save for those of the pictures on the walls. "From the look of things yesterday and this morning, you ought to be the one teaching, not learning."
Buffy shrugged. "Oh well. We'll see. If there's nothing to teach, we could always just fly around together. Do you like being up in the air?"
For the first time, she seemed to have said something that got completely past his emotional barrier. A distant, misty look entered his eyes, and when he looked at her, it was the first time she had seen such an unguarded expression on his face. "I do," he said. "I have no idea how I look when I'm flying, but the way you looked earlier this morning, that's how I feel when I'm up in the air. Unless I'm playing against Potter," he added as an afterthought, but the words didn't have their normal sting. "And even then, it's the biggest adrenaline rush in the world, until the git nabs the snitch."
Buffy laughed. "You're talking about Quidditch, right?"
Draco nodded. "Best game there is, even on a bad day."
"I was more thinking about just flying."
"I know," he said. "And I meant that, too, though I haven't flown for pleasure in a long time."
"Then this should be good for you."
The reached Slytherin tower, split up to get their brooms, and met again atop the roof. Buffy grinned when she saw Draco holding his own Nimbus 2001.
"I like your taste in brooms," she said.
"Really?" he deadpanned.
Buffy shot him a wink and took off. Draco followed a moment later. In a matter of minutes, they were high above the school, higher even than Buffy had gone that morning. Draco was visibly impressed by Buffy's control of the broom—and complete lack of any nervousness from being so high in the air—on only her second day flying.
"Is that the Quidditch pitch?" Buffy asked, pointing at the arena beside the school, far below. It was barely the size of an egg from their height.
"It is indeed," Draco affirmed.
"Kinda guessed."
"And … that's Potty and Weasel out there on it!" Draco spat, noting two tiny specks, smaller than fleas, darting around near one of the goal rings.
"How can you tell?" Buffy asked, squinting. Her eyes were much better than most and she couldn't make out any details at that distance.
"I can't, I just know," Draco answered. "There's no one else that would be out there by themselves at this hour in the summer, anyway."
"Well, come on, leave them alone," Buffy called, before Draco got it into his head to do anything rash. She didn't want him to do anything that might spoil the flight, and she was already feeling that same rush that she had gotten that morning. Having Draco along certainly didn't hurt, she decided.
Draco looked at her as though she had read his mind. It looked as though several different answers fought on the tip of his tongue, before he finally gave up and gave her his most innocent smile. "My intentions are completely innocent," he said loftily.
Buffy gave him a wicked grin. "What a shame," she said, suddenly breaking off at an angle and veering away from him. She had time to see a shocked expression begin to spread across his face just before she had to turn away. He recovered quickly, however, and was on her tail a moment later. Buffy hid another grin. This was the best fun she'd had flying yet.
They swooped around the castle grounds; Buffy led them as far away from the castle as possible, though she had been this far away that morning and people had still recognized her. It was just the principle of the thing, however; she didn't want to be rubbing anything in anyone's face or acting like she was conspicuously showing off. Eventually, she stopped, gazing downward and realizing that if she went any farther, she'd be over the Dark Forest. She wasn't sure if going over the forest was as off-limits as going into it, but she wasn't about to find out. The grounds were big enough, anyway.
Draco pulled alongside her. "Tired already?" he asked.
Buffy gave him a look of mock-disapproval. "You wish," she said. "But I have a feeling we shouldn't be going any farther." She pointed downward. "Just in case there are any eyes on us at the castle," she added, in case he got it into his head to try showing off by flying out over the forest.
Draco looked down and realized what she was saying. "I see," he said. "I've never really paid much attention, and I've never gotten in trouble, so I doubt anything would come of it … but you're right, there's probably a lot more risk of someone watching the two of us than just one. Especially because you're so new."
Buffy nodded. "So why don't you show me around?"
"Excuse me?"
"Tell me what I'm seeing. Give me a bird's-eye tour of the castle."
Draco weighed the idea over in his mind, then nodded. "Fair enough," he said. "If you can deal with the sarcastic editorial comments."
"I'll manage," Buffy laughed.
Draco grinned. "Well, you obviously know about the forest. That large hut right there at the edge is that great oaf Hagrid's. He's the gamekeeper, and he's got some fancy title of Keeper of Keys and Grounds or some such nonsense—"
"I know who he is," Buffy said.
"Right. Well, he was the Care of Magical Creatures teacher until last year, but I think he's retired now. Doesn't seem to understand how dangerous some fairly large magical animals can be. Probably because they aren't, to him. He's allowed in the Dark Forest whenever he wants, and nothing ever seems to bother him. Weasley swears he's friends with a spider the size of a lorry in there; I'd be suspicious, coming from a Weasley, but Hagrid has a way with big animals."
"I see." Buffy didn't feel like getting in a conversation about Hagrid or the Weasleys. "What's that?" she asked, pointing at an enormous tree in the middle of one of Hogwarts' lower courtyards.
"That's the Whomping Willow. Emphasis on the Whomping."
They circled further around the school. Draco pointed out the lake, which was fairly obvious, as well as the boathouses on both sides, and the train station on the far side as well. Those were fairly obvious as well, but Buffy also noticed that the tracks ran past the station in both directions.
"Where does the train go to from here? Past Hogwarts, I mean?" she asked.
"You really want to see?" he asked.
"Well, sort of, but I'd be happy if you just told me."
"I'd rather just show you," he said. "If you've got the guts to come this high." He suddenly angled his broom steeply skyward, and began climbing even higher.
Buffy followed him a moment later. She was wearing her robes, and the evening was warmer than the early morning when she had last been flying, so the cold of the upper air didn't faze her this time. Nonetheless, the breeze was even stiffer this high in the air, and her hair whipped out of its ponytail and streamed outward in the breeze. They were almost to the cloud ceiling when Draco stopped and hovered. Buffy caught up a moment later.
"Shame the clouds are here," he said. "The view's even better a couple thousand feet further up, but this isn't half bad."
As if in partial answer, the clouds far to their west parted, letting the sun shine through, just beginning to turn the faintest shade of pink as sunset approached. The land to either side of them seemed to stretch on forever in all directions, a checkerboard of green and maize broken by the occasional meandering blue ribbon of a river or black line of a highway. She thought she could just make out the far western coast of England on the western horizon.
"Wow," she breathed.
"I've never been up here on a broom, either," Draco admitted.
Buffy looked at him. "Then how did you know what the view was?"
Draco shrugged uncomfortably. "My father had a flying carriage. We used to come here to watch the Quidditch matches when I was younger. We saw just about every Slytherin game from the time I was five until I started at Hogwarts. The games were great … that was during the six-year span the Baron was telling you about when Slytherin was winning at everything … but the approach into Hogwarts was worth the trip in itself, though."
"I can imagine," Buffy said, slowly turning her broom sideways in midair to get a complete view of the landscape in all directions.
"And there's your answer," Draco added.
"My answer?"
"To where the train goes, past Hogwarts. See that little village there? You can't see it from Hogwarts because of the hills, but it isn't that far off from the school."
Buffy was just able to make out the train tracks, and followed them to where Draco was pointing. "Oh, yes, I see it."
"That's Hogsmeade," he said. "The only all-wizarding village in England. Great place. Students in third year and up generally get to go once a month, unless they're in trouble or hurt or something."
"During the summers, too?"
"Sure," Draco said, "next one's the second-last weekend in June. Two weeks from Saturday."
"What's so special about it?"
"Lots of shops, restaurants, places to hang out, that kind of thing—sightseeing for all the younger Mudbloods, too, since there's no place like it in the Muggle world."
Buffy let that pass. "Something to look forward to, anyway."
Draco nodded. "It is indeed. Anyway, want me to show you the rest of the castle?"
Buffy turned her broom earthward in answer, spiraling down slowly to get used to the higher pressure and temperature lower down. Draco spiraled alongside. "How high up were we?" she asked as they began to get back down to where they had been flying before.
"Not sure. Five, six thousand feet maybe?"
Buffy let out a low whistle.
"The castle's at least a thousand feet above the lake, and we were a long way above the castle," Draco added. Buffy nodded. He wasn't kidding.
"All right, where were we … guess we're going to start circling inside. In there in that courtyard is Professor Sprout's gardens and greenhouses. She's head of Hufflepuff. Never liked Herbology, or Sprout, really, but she's great for Hogwarts—grows probably a couple thousand galleons' worth of rare herbs every year, and all the money goes to the school."
"Nice of her," Buffy said.
"Not likely," Draco grinned. "Hufflepuffs aren't Gryffindors. Sprout wouldn't do all that for just pride and honor. The stuff grown at the school has to go to the school because students help grow it, but the stuff Sprout grows on her own at home sells for a fortune because of her rep as Hogwarts' Herbology professor and head of Hufflepuff. Snape complains about her all the time because she won't give him a discount selling ingredients for potions, but he pays up anyway—her stuff's the best."
"You think Snape would give a discount in her position?"
Draco's grin was predatory. "Not a chance."
They circled around the castle some more. "There's Gryffindor Tower," Draco pointed out. "And Slytherin. The bulges down lower on the wall right beneath them are the Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw dorms."
They were coming around to the Quidditch pitch again. "Looks like Harry and Ron have quit," Buffy noted, seeing the hoops unoccupied. A moment later, she noticed Ron flying away on his broomstick. They were close enough to recognize people again.
"Calling it in early, it looks like," Draco said, his voice emotionless. "They can't be tired. Wonder where Potty is?"
"Try to behave," Buffy said.
"I am," he answered. Buffy rolled her eyes.
"Oh well, moving on," Draco continued. "That's the astronomy tower, the highest point in the castle. Great place to hang out during the day, too, because it's got the best view, except for flying, and it's only needed for classes after dark."
"Cool."
"Through those big windows there is Dumbledore's office. Or at least, I think so. I've heard the stairs to his office can move around, even though they do have a standard place where they usually are. The windows always seem to be in the same place, though. I don't think I'll ever figure that one out."
"Don't look at me for help," Buffy said with a laugh. It did sound like something she imagined Dumbledore's office doing, however.
"All right, those two lower towers are the old Divination Tower—not sure if we're going to use it now that the teacher's a centaur—and the one on the far side of the keep's the Owlery. And … hey!"
Buffy looked, and her breath caught. There was a broom flying towards the Owlery, from the direction of the Quidditch pitch. Draco and Buffy had just flown out from behind the keep, so unless anyone on the broom turned around, they would have no idea that the two of them were in the area. There were clearly two people on the broom, and Buffy recognized Harry's flying style and the crop of red hair streaming out behind the passenger seated behind him. She bit her lip. If she had somehow ended up riding on a broom with him, things had to have gone better than Buffy had even hoped for her friend.
"That's Potty," Draco mouthed. "And is that Weasley's little sister? Doesn't look right … that hair … NO …"
He turned an incredulous look in Buffy's direction, and another one back towards the pair, that had nearly reached the Owlery roof. With a snarl, he spun away at breakneck speed, back behind the keep where neither Harry nor Willow could see them when they landed. Buffy cursed, then followed a moment later.
As soon as Draco was out of view, he darted low and around the side of the castle, then banked steeply upwards and swooped down onto the roof of Slytherin Tower. Buffy was right behind him.
Draco was poised by the stairs leading down off the roof, but made no move to descend them. He also deliberately avoided looking at Buffy, staring off into the sunset.
"Tell me truly," he said slowly, with forced patience. "That I did not just see what I think I just saw."
"And what is it you think you just saw?" Buffy asked, her own forced patience the mirror image of his. She couldn't believe he was reacting this way.
"Your friend, a Slytherin that I invited to sit at the head of our table, riding on the back of Harry Potter's broom."
"Well, I'd tell you you didn't see that, but I'd be lying, and unlike most Slytherins, apparently, that's not my style."
He stiffened, but he did not turn around, so it was impossible to read the expression on his face.
"Then tell me truly," he continued, "what is going on between the two of them."
"I haven't a clue, but I haven't got a problem with it, whatever it is. In fact, at the risk of sounding conceited, I helped it along."
"Why?"
"Because she likes him, and he's a nice boy, and she's six thousand miles from home and needs something like this—and I don't know him very well, but I think they'd be really good for each other, and I don't think you know him any better than I do. I don't care how long you've known him. It doesn't sound like you've ever given him half a chance."
"It's bloody Saint Potter!"
"You know, I'm not the smartest girl in the world, but I think I know his name. Though I just call him Harry."
"I can't believe this," he said, turning and starting down the stairs.
"Draco!" Buffy snapped, her voice so suddenly cold and powerful that she surprised even herself. Draco stopped on the top step, and Buffy strode over to him, staring into his glittering silver eyes as though she could melt them with her own. They didn't budge, but for the first time since they had landed, he was looking into her eyes, and she could feel the fire behind her eyes. He might not like what she was saying, but she was absolutely sure that he was listening.
"I said you didn't know him very well. You've never given him a chance, and there's more to him than you've been letting yourself see. Don't look at me like that, I know you don't want to hear this, but you're going to! Now listen. I'd have told him the same thing about you. It doesn't sound like he's given you much better. That flight was truly fantastic, and when you aren't with your other Slytherin friends—if you call them that—or talking about 'Smarmy Saint Harry Potter, the Bloody Wanking Great Gryffindor Git,' you're a lot of fun to be around. It sounds like you're pretty good out there on the Quidditch pitch and aren't half bad in school, either. When you aren't talking about Harry, you've got better manners than anyone I went to high school with. I still want to be friends with you, honestly, even though you're acting like a complete prat at the moment.
"And let me remind you of a thing or two about Slytherins, in case you've forgotten. We're competitive, we're ambitious, and we do what we have to to get what we want. And right now, I think my friend wants to have Harry Potter as a friend. Quite possibly something more. I don't know, and I don't care. It doesn't matter. Which means I want her to have him, too. You take some quality time to think about that, before you decide how out of proportion you want to blow this."
She was about to push past him and down the stairs ahead of him, but she quickly stopped herself. She wasn't going to indignify herself that way. She stepped backwards and sprang into the air. The supernatural force in her legs, still singing from the recent flight and fueled by her anger, catapulted her above the level of Draco's head.
She was completely upside down when she got her broom between her legs and flew off, all in one fluid motion, out over the side of the tower, where she curved downward in a half-circle so she was right-side-up as she flew in her dorm room window. Draco was left, half lost in thought and half completely stunned, on the staircase. He did not move for a long time afterward.
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A/N: Ah, things never go as smoothly as we'd like, do they? My beta-reader (who's seen the next few chapters) says I take after Lisette (who's current dark masterpiece WIP "Equinoxium" is a BtVS/LotR crossover well worth the time to any fans of both universes), so I don't tend toward the warm and fuzzy so much. :-D For those of you looking for something more in the Lifetime-channel vein, if you haven't discovered DragonKatGal and her review-magnet "What You Did," I strongly recommend it (and also recommend badgering her about writing a sequel! :-P).
Eidolon Griffin, looks like you might have spoken too soon about Draco being semi-nice. Though I guess he still sort of is.
DragonStar, ShadowElfBard: Hold those thoughts … ;-)
Laura W, I'm not sure why you'd get that message, honestly, unless you are checking only minutes after I upload; FFN sends out AuthorAlerts immediately but it sometimes takes longer for the text of the chapter to get fully "settled" in their system.
COMING SOON: Chapter 13, "Parting." Buffy and Willow catch up on their days; Harry has a little conversation with Dumbledore; a sad but fond farewell at the lakeshore.
SNEAK PREVIEW:
"We had a perfectly polite discussion. Which is to say, I told him to shut up, told him what he needed to hear, and left."
"Ooh. How'd he take it?"
"Not sure yet. We'll know if I wake up tomorrow turned into a frog."
"Ouch."