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.
Reviews always welcome!
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CHAPTER 26:
ANOTHER INVITATION
"Hermione's looking at us," Buffy observed.
"Kinda noticed," Willow affirmed. She had never thought breakfast could be so nerve-wracking.
"Think we're going to have some explaining to do after this?"
"Looks that way," Willow agreed.
"Library after breakfast?"
"Works for me."
"Besides, I want to wait for the mail. Just in case Giles wrote anything back."
"You know, you only wrote it last night … even magic owls probably take a little while to get to California."
A cacophony of fluttering wings and owl hoots above them announced the arrival of the morning mail.
"Well, let's find out," Buffy said, clearing a space in front of her just in case.
Willow nodded absently, her mind still occupied by what she was going to say to Hermione. She did not intend to start out her relationship with Harry by hurting one of his best friends, but she also didn't want to give away so much about herself. It would be interesting to see how much the Gryffindor prodigy had learned since the previous evening.
Suddenly, however, Buffy unmistakably brightened beside her, and Willow turned to watch a large, regal great horned owl glide into the chamber just as the flock of owls was beginning to thin. There was something almost imperial about the owl, the way the other birds around it gave it a wide berth and took special pains to get out of its way as it approached.
"Is that whose I think it is?" Willow asked.
"It … is," Buffy answered softly.
The owl glided straight to the open space that Buffy had cleared, and inclined its head as if to thank her for not forcing it to tiptoe around as it landed. There was a single letter attached to its leg, and Buffy reached out to untie it. She gave the owl two entire sausage links before it left.
"Been a while, hasn't it?" Willow asked.
"Yeah," Buffy answered absently. Willow gave her friend a probing look. They hadn't talked about Draco much lately. Apparently his absence was affecting Buffy more than she had let on, especially considering how the two of them had parted.
Buffy slipped the letter into her robe. "I'll open it later," she said quietly. "Just in case … just in case it's news I don't want to hear."
"Right," Willow empathized. His last letter had largely been just a polite note to say that he would be longer than expected, but had included the hint of an invitation to his house. She wouldn't want to open that in front of the rest of the hall. On the other hand, she wouldn't want to wait to open it, either.
"Library?" she offered.
"Library," Buffy answered quickly.
They hurried from the hall as quickly as they could make their excuses.
Hermione was right behind them.
"I think we're going to have to talk to her," Willow noted as they ascended the stairs away from the Great Hall.
"Looks that way," Buffy agreed.
"You think she knows what we are? What's to come?" Willow asked.
Buffy smiled. "She hasn't even begun."
They made their way to the library and occupied a sheltered alcove out of sight and earshot of anyone else. Fortunately, the only other person in the library was Madame Pince, the librarian, and she stayed at the desk, far to the opposite side of the library from them. Hermione arrived only moments later.
"Hi," the Gryffindor girl said perfunctorily. Willow took a good look into her eyes. The girl had definitely found something.
"You don't have a nothing face. You have a something face," Buffy began lightly.
"Mm-hmm," Hermione agreed. She somehow managed to hum with a tone that said 'you are so busted.'
"So … what's the what?" Buffy asked.
Hermione let out a breath, then another, then another. Then she smiled, and she shook her head resignedly as she took a seat beside Willow. "I wish I could tell you," she said. "But I got tired right about the time I found out that you died. That looked like a good stopping point."
"It is for most people," Buffy agreed lightly. "Which time?"
"Which time what?"
"Which time that I died?" Buffy clarified.
Hermione's eyes widened. "There's been more than one?"
"What, you thought that Hogwarts was the only place where crazy things happened?"
"Well, no, but dying twice isn't something that happens to even most crazy people."
"Oh, no," Willow added brightly. "But if you die twice and have to sing about it, then you know you've really gone crazy."
"I didn't find anything about singing."
"Really?" Buffy asked, giving a disappointed pout. "I thought that was one of my more popular episodes."
"Not mine," said Willow, breathing a sigh of relief. Hermione looked at her askance, and Willow clarified, "my singing was really off key. I'm sure the critics would have really panned it if anyone had been watching."
"Aw, you weren't so bad," Buffy comforted her.
"Yes I was. I couldn't carry a tune in a bucket."
"Anyway," Hermione continued, obviously a trifle surprised at how they were reacting to her revelations, "there's also the little matter of your ages."
"We do age well, don't we?" Willow asked, primping her hair coyly.
"Hey, we could do cosmetics commercials!" Buffy's eyes lit up.
"Or modeling!" Willow added.
"Mmm, yes, Willow, I see you in black lingerie in FHM someday," Buffy laughed.
"I don't really think I'd go that far …"
"Guys!"
"'People,' Hermione, 'people,'" Buffy reminded her.
"Whatever."
"Nicholas Flamel made us a kind of youth potion so we could blend in better," Willow explained.
Hermione's eyes widened.
"You don't believe me?"
"No, I believe you; I just can't believe it."
"Well said," Buffy complimented her. "I don't really get it myself half the time."
"If you get it half the time, you're doing better than me," Willow said frankly.
"Well, we'll figure it out next time we have, oh, six hundred years to kill."
"You're on."
"All right, all right," Hermione said exasperatedly. "Oh, and something else I found out that you might have heard before: In every generation there is a chosen one. She alone will stand against the …"
"Gyaack!" Buffy said before Hermione had finished speaking. "Please! I've been hearing that week in and week out for it seems like forever now."
"Giles does it better," Willow observed sagely.
"Grr," Buffy and Hermione said simultaneously, albeit for completely different reasons.
"Oh, and it's 'a' Slayer now, not 'the,'" Buffy clarified. "There's two of us now."
Hermione's eyes narrowed again. "That wasn't in any of the books."
"There are books about me?" Buffy said, her eyes widening, and a smile spreading across her face. "Will, check it out, there're books about me!"
"Maybe you'll even get a TV series someday," Willow quipped.
Buffy wrinkled her nose. "Like my schedule isn't hectic enough already," she countered.
"Touché," Willow admitted.
Buffy turned back to Hermione. "After I died the first time, another Slayer was called. Then I got brought back, but the other one wasn't Un-Called. Then she got killed, and another one got called."
"Unfortunately," Willow added.
"Yeah, that one's rotting in federal prison right about now, something like twenty-five-to-life. Murder, kidnapping, assault and battery, torture, general evilness. Actually, no, wait! They let her out when I had to come here. Guess she's probably living in my house now."
"Oh, splendid." Hermione rolled her eyes to the ceiling.
"Isn't it, though?" Buffy's voice was sugary.
"So why are you at Hogwarts?" Hermione pressed.
"Learning."
Hermione's eyes narrowed, her mind racing. "Yes, I thought about that last night, too. Learning. Learning Occlumency, which probably means learning about something that's both very dangerous and very difficult to control."
"Yeah, but I don't start that until the fall," Willow said.
"Mm-hmm," Buffy chimed in. "This summer it's just Flaming Floods and Thunder Arrows."
"Maybe the Meteorus if we're up to it," Willow added.
"Oh, that's much better," Hermione said. "But I wasn't talking about your magic. I was talking about something outside. Harry uses it to block Voldemort's attacks on his mind. At least, he's supposed to."
"I think I'm supposed to use it to block … well, the kind of thing that happened to me when the dementors showed up at Diagon Alley."
"So that was you?" Hermione made it much more a statement than a question, and Willow nodded.
"And why didn't you stay at the Atlantis?"
"Um … the waiter was rude?"
"This isn't France."
"Lost my appetite?"
"Willow."
"I fainted. Harry moved me somehow. I woke up at Ron's brothers' shop. I don't know how I got there."
"Right. Yes. Well." Hermione threw her head back and stared at the ceiling for a few seconds. She looked back at them a moment later. "And why all the cover-ups? Why do they not want it public that you're here?"
"Umm … well, I guess they just don't want too many people asking too many questions," Buffy ventured. "I have no idea. Snape told us Voldemort already knows that we're here, and who we are, and that we're a little young for … well, a little young for our ages." That had sounded better in her head.
"Hmm."
"I think they kinda wanted to take some pressure off me," Willow said. "I mean, I'm supposed to be learning here, not answering questions to cameras."
"So you start dating Harry?"
"Well, that kind of thing isn't entirely open to planning," Willow replied defensively.
Hermione fixed both of them in turn with long, hard, pointed stares. Then she leaned back again, and gave a soft, resigned laugh. The tension in Willow's limbs melted away.
"You should know that not all of the news about you online is burning and bleeding and dying," Hermione said. "Amid … well, many more numerous accounts of you burning down gymnasiums and blowing up high schools, I did find this one on the Sunnydale High School Web page." She tossed a photograph, which Willow noticed was a still photograph, not one of the moving ones in the magical world, onto the table between them. It was a photograph from their senior prom, and under it was the caption "Buffy Summers – Class Protector 1999."
Willow's eyes widened modestly, but the effect on Buffy was electric. Her eyes misted over, and she put a hand to her mouth. She reached the other hand out tentatively to take the picture. A moment later, she had to turn away for a few seconds, and spots of red had appeared around the edges of her eyes when she turned back.
"Wow," she sniffed. "I … wow … I really didn't expect to see that here."
Hermione looked like she had a witty retort to that, but somehow snatched it back from the tip of her tongue. "I also noticed that, despite all the trouble you seem to get in, the death rate in Sunnydale seems to have dropped by nearly two-thirds since you moved to Sunnydale."
Buffy smiled wanly. "I do what I can."
Hermione smiled. "I know. And Dumbledore obviously trusts you, and Harry … well, Harry really likes you, Willow."
Willow smiled, color rising in her cheeks despite the fact that Hermione had not said anything truly scandalous.
"Does he know you're twenty-one?"
Willow nodded. "I told him Wednesday night. Pretty much everything."
Hermione accepted this mutely. A moment later, she stood. "Well, I'm sure we could go on an on about this forever," she said, "but I think I've absorbed all I can in one day. And … thanks. For letting me in. I won't tell anyone. Even Ron," she added after a moment, with a skeptical look passing across her face at the thought.
"Thanks," Buffy said, clearly relieved.
"I'd trust him with my life," Hermione explained. "But not with a secret."
Willow laughed. That was a fairly blunt way of putting it, but it did seem appropriate; in fact, it seemed appropriate for a lot of Gryffindors.
"All right," Hermione said, drawing away. "Thanks. And … for what it's worth, I don't like having things kept from me … but it's good to have you here." With that, the autumn-haired Gryffindor excused herself.
"Well that sure could've gone worse," Buffy admitted.
"I'd say so," Willow agreed.
"Think she'll tell anyone?"
"I doubt it," Willow said after a moment. "But even if, I'm glad we told her. Even if she hadn't figured it all out herself."
Buffy nodded. "I'm not exactly quaking in my stylish yet affordable, er, boarding school uniform. And I noticed she found a lot more about me than you."
Willow shrugged. That made sense. Buffy was part of a mystical lineage going back to the dawn of civilization. Willow was … well, just Willow.
"So are you going to open that?" Willow asked, nodding towards the fold of Buffy's robe where she'd tucked her letter from Draco.
Buffy gave a nervous grin that said that she'd been waiting for that question, and withdrew Draco's letter. A moment later, she took an exaggerated breath and tore it open. She read it silently, blatantly ignoring Willow.
Willow grinned patiently. "So, you gonna read it or do I need to work my whole witchly mojo to get a hold of it?"
Buffy grinned so brightly that Willow knew that it was not just because of her attempt at humor. It was good news. "Ah, well, if you insist …" Buffy began magnanimously, and she began to read:
"Dear Buffy,
I know it's been a while. Things just keep coming up here, and it's my responsibility as the heir of the family to deal with them. Unfortunately, it isn't the easiest time in history to be a Malfoy. Nevertheless, I apologize. Father would never have tolerated such poor manners.
Your last letter was a bit of an eye-opener, if I do say so. I've been bad about writing, I know. I just had no idea what I'd say. I promise I'll try to do better in the future. However, if you'd rather do something a little better than writing, I could use some time off.
I've told Mother a lot about you, and she read about your fight with Peter in Hogsmeade. She'd love to meet you. If it's possible for you to get away from Hogwarts this weekend, we'd love it if you would like to spend some time down here.
If you want to come, just come by Floo to "Malfoy Lodge." The gates of the manor have been sealed, so you can't come straight here. I'll be up there on Saturday evening. If not … well, I'll wait for you anyway, and I'll see you when I get back to school.
--Draco
P.S. Not to sound paranoid, but it might be better if you didn't tell anyone you were coming. Information is like currency in Slytherin. You have to be careful when you give it to someone."
"Oh well, guess I already blew that last part," Buffy pouted as she finished.
"Hmm … wonder what that kind of information sells for these days?"
"Now, see, a good Slytherin would have blackmailed me here and asked what it would be worth not to have this spread around."
Willow grinned. "Sorry. I forgot."
"That's OK. I forgive you."
"Well, that's a plus."
"Man, Saturday evening. That's tomorrow night."
"Prince Malfoy doesn't like to be kept waiting," Willow replied loftily.
"I can live with that," Buffy replied with a conspiratorial grin.
Willow matched Buffy's grin. "I'm sure you can," she chuckled. "Anyway, we've still got all day today and tomorrow. Studyfest?"
Buffy lowered her head in mock disgust. "Only you could invent a word like that."
"What can I say? I'm evil," Willow smirked. She only realized what she had said a moment later, but a moment after that, she realized that it didn't bother her so much. Thinking of Harry was a universal antidote, and seeing her friend happy again helped as well. Not having to lie to Hermione was a relief, too; Willow and the Gryffindor prefect were seeing a lot of each other, and she had always hated having to dodge the younger girl's questions. The darkness of Tuesday night had receded to a distant point in her mind. It was not gone, and she remembered that there was still a rather nasty wizard out there that would love to get his hands on her, as well as what she carried in the folds of her robe, but for the first time in some time, Willow was feeling alive again.
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A/N: Felt kinda whimsical this chapter. Quotes and RL references galore! Every so often I just have to do something like this.
Thanks for all the reviews last chapter (both the quantity and quality)!
jennzabell: Thanks for the detailed review (and I'll really look forward to reading your feedback on other chapters)! My only response is that I am deliberately avoiding "mini-Spike" references for Draco; I don't see a whole lot of similarities beyond the hair and, well, being British, and it's been done to death in other BS/DM fics.
ShawThang: Remus will be back but he'll be out of commission for a while. Dementors = icky serious business. L
Philip and Silver Warrior: You are both right, Creevey is Muggle-born, that was a canon lapse on my part. I was just thinking "reporter genes." (Could he have still been half-Muggle? For some reason, I've thinking that half-Muggle is as bad as full-Muggle, as far as most Slytherins were concerned …)
ShadowElfBard: ROFL Not too stalker-ish. Just enthusiastic.
Seoid, Jillian Ryn, DragonStar, midoth: Thanks for the compliments on portraying Hermione; it's always difficult writing about really smart characters because you have to try to think like they would. Not easy.
Thanks again to everyone else who reviewed as well! Made my week!
Coming Soon: Chapter 27, "Malfoy Manor." Buffy takes a little trip to Malfoy Manor. All goes smoothly and wonderful.
Yeah, right.
:-D
Sneak Preview:
"Oh?" Buffy was instantly curious.
Draco sighed. "I believe I told you I've been kept here because of some unexpected things that came up, am I right?"
"Yeah, though you weren't much with the explanations beyond that," Buffy agreed.
Draco sighed again. "I certainly wasn't, and I hope you'll understand now that I am telling you: I think the treasury is haunted."