Disclaimer: I own nothing here from either Harry or Buffy, they belong to JK Rowling and Joss Whedon. The song 'My Own Worst Enemy' is by Llt... or, something, but it still isn't mine, ok?

A/N: Pitiful update, and too long a wait, I know. I apologise. I really didn't want to do this, which is why it's such a crappy story arc, but I couldn't have it too easy for them now, could I? Also, I wrote this in snatches and moments during my exams, so I'm just proud it doesn't digress into Medieval love magic essays, or the impact of Julius Caesar's reign at some point... I promise I'll try to make the story better over the next few chapters, I've got all sorts of characters I wanna play with here. Finally managed to come up with songs for the previous chapters, will list them at the bottom of this chapter.

My favourite people- reviewers. Thankyou, you all rule, keep the feedback coming and I'll keep the fic coming! I really do appreciate all the wonderful reviews I've got for this story, I wish I could spend all day replying, but it's 1:30AM, I've just come home from work (on a friggin courtesy bus no less!) and my brain is beginning to be not functional. But I do love you all, I swear!

Sonofgloin: I know, I'm a tease. He'll get there one day, don't you worry. mwah

RoseWill

Eleclya111

Kat

Shadowing Tears: Thanks for the reviews. Um, I have a stupid question- what does I.M.S stand for? [embarrassed face]

tals: LOL thanks for the reviews. I don't mind if you stalk, so long as you keep reviewing!! Gancomer

Mademoiselle Morte

Lunawolf

Charlotte

Botticelli'sVenus

Summer Scythe

Rachel

Gigglygurl

Sunfire

Immortal: Sorry bout the language thing, I'm Aussie and I'm not too sure on the Brit-speak! Oh well, I try.

Beldaran: We'll see what my fates have in store for dear Regulus...

OrionTheHunter: Really love that name!

Eyexcandy: Please don't kill me! It'll be ok, you just gotta have faith!

Kody: I whole-heartedly urge you to skip school on a regular basis just to read my fic. It's all about your priorities. Not really, I'd feel guilty if you flunked coz of me!

Stacca: Please no howlers!! And I make things easy in the beginning coz I'm too damn lazy to make my characters work to get my story up & running. It's a fault and I'm proud to admit it! LOL

Christa: Still intrigued by these ideas of yours. Really would love to see something!

Harmoni9: Sirius knows a Gunners song (sigh, I love Guns N' Roses) coz I'm a cheat, I've got them all up with muggle knowledge so I can do things like have them running around lingerie stores in London and sneaking into clubs etc. Creative licence is a beautiful thing!

And of course the cruelunusual gang!

CHAPTER EIGHT
My Own Worst Enemy

James trudged sleepily into the Common Room, which was littered with bodies lazing about during the late Saturday morning. He caught sight of Dawn sitting alone and quiet in one corner. A book lay open on her lap, but she wasn't reading. Instead she was staring off into space with a dreamy look about her and one hand kept drifting up to lightly touch one corner of her mouth. Grinning, James wandered over and plucked her book off her lap so he could plop down on her. Dawn grunted under the sudden added weight as her book was dropped carelessly on the floor.

"This seat taken?" James quipped.

Dawn just shook her head, bemused. "Good morning, James."

James waited until he'd shifted himself into a slightly more comfortable position, his elbow resting against the back of the chair, before speaking again. "Good morning, Sunshine. What are you thinking about? You were a million miles away a minute ago."

Dawn shrugged underneath him, avoiding his gaze. "Nothing, really."

"Not buying it, Kitten. Spill," James ordered.

With a sigh, Dawn glanced up at him. "It really wasn't anything, James. I was just thinking about this dream I had last night."

"What kind of dream?" James wiggled his eyebrows suggestively.

Dawn blushed. "Just- a dream, ok?" she muttered.

A pair of hazel eyes lit up behind round glasses, and James grinned broadly. "It was sexy stuff, wasn't it? C'mon, tell me!" he said loudly.

Dawn's face was burning. With James' oh-so-tactless statement, every pair of eyes in the Common Room had zeroed in on the pair, sprawled in a compromising position in the corner.

"Oh bugger off!" James hollered over his shoulder, and the room miraculously sprang back to life in a swirl of conversation. Unfortunately for Dawn, James had not forgotten their own topic of conversation. He bounced up and down on Dawn's legs mercilessly until finally she caved and admitted it was kind of a sexy dream. Just a little sexy.

"Well?" James prompted.

Dawn bit her lip. "If I tell you, do you swear you won't tell anyone? Not even the other guys?" she whispered.

James nodded.

"Marauder's honour?"

"Hang on," James shifted around on her lap until his left butt cheek was lifted off his seat enough for him to put his hand on it. "I solemnly swear that I won't tell anyone about your sexy dream," he said earnestly.

"Ok," Dawn sighed, and James leaned in a little to catch her whispers. "I kinda had this dream last night where Sirius kissed me," she confided, thinking back to it. It hadn't been long after she'd fallen asleep in his arms, the sound of his voice echoing through her head as he sang, as he said her name... then the softest, most sensual touch of his lips just to one corner of her mouth. Dawn had sworn she could almost taste him, if she didn't know better she's swear it had been real.

James had to swallow the laugh bubbling up within him. If only he hadn't given his word on Marauder's honour that he wouldn't tell Sirius- the look on Dawn's face would give him all the encouragement he needed. "Well that's not too bad, really. In fact, I bet Padfoot would really enjoy hearing all about your sexy dream, I expect he'd hope you have loads more of them."

Dawn's eyes widened. "You're not going to tell him, are you James? You promised," she panicked, forgetting she was supposed to be whispering.

"Tell who what?" a new voice asked.

Dawn bit back a whimper as she and James looked up at Sirius, Remus and Peter, all with raised eyebrows at James' comfortable position, still on Dawn's lap.

"N- Nothing," Dawn stammered.

James looked down at her with mock seriousness. "Come on, Kitten. You didn't really think we'd be able to keep this one between ourselves, did you? It's time to come clean."

Dawn's head was shaking slowly, her eyes beginning to well with mortified tears. James winked swiftly at her before suddenly turning to Peter. "Wormtail, Dawn and I each stole one of your Honeydukes chocolate bars this morning," he hung his head as if in shame.

Dawn had to fight to keep her relief from showing too obviously. "I'm sorry Peter. I couldn't resist."

Peter blinked, getting the feeling he was missing something here. "That's ok. I can get more," he said.

Dawn smiled brightly at James, looping an arm about his waist to express her gratitude discreetly. Sirius stomped on his jealousy of James' current position and turned to Remus and Peter. "What do we think, guys? Stacks on?"

James and Dawn did not have time to scramble to safety. The other boys pounced on them, ending up in a wrestling pile of limbs as the chair toppled over, sending them all crashing to the floor. The five rolled across the floor knocking a group of third years from their seats in the process. Since they were already amongst it and had little chance of escape, the third years decided to join the impromptu free-for-all. Things deteriorated rapidly from there as more and more Gryffindors found themselves being wrestled to the floor whether they liked it or not.

Dawn dived out of the path of two humungous seventh years, vaguely recognising one as Frank Longbottom, the Head Boy, and scrambled to her feet by the portrait hole. A moment later, Sirius and James popped up either side of her. The trio watched the melee they'd created in near disbelief.

"It's like watching the snowball effect in action," said James in awe.

"Either that or having front row seats for the Royal Rumble... bald, beer-drinking Texans aside," Dawn agreed.

"Huh?"

Dawn frowned. "'Huh' what?"

"How many bald, beer-drinking Texans are we talking, here?" Sirius asked.

"Just the one," Dawn clarified, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "Stone Cold Steve Austin, hello? You know, as in the wrestler. Austin 3:16 says I just whooped your ass and all that?"

Sirius looked to James for help. James shrugged. Dawn sighed. "Never mind."

Remus and Peter materialised beside them then, both looking a little worse for wear. "Let's get out of here," Remus suggested, ducking a stray shoe that had been sent flying across the Common Room like a missile.

They scrambled out into the hallway, sparing an innocent shrug each for the fat lady as she demanded to know what all that racket was inside the Common Room.

"We should go sit outside to eat," James said. "Soon it'll be too cold to."

Remus immediately volunteered to go to the Kitchens for food, and Dawn set off with him, promising to meet the others out under the beech tree. Remus tickled the pear and a minute later he and Dawn were surrounded by chattering House-Elves.

"Sir Moony has come! Sir Moony has come with Mistress Dawn!" they squealed. "So good it is for us House-Elves to be seeing Sir Moony and Mistress Dawn! We is so happy they is coming here, what may we being them?"

Dawn smiled. "Hi guys. If it's not too much trouble, could you make up a picnic basket for us, please?"

The House-Elves scrambled all over themselves to prepare a picnic basket overfilled with sandwiches, cakes and pumpkin juice, and a few minutes later Remus was hefting it into his grip. With one final grin at the House-Elves, they left the Kitchens and wandered up to the Entrance Hall, before stepping out into the pale, early October sunlight.

They were crossing the grass, heading towards the tree and chattering aimlessly, until Remus' smile froze on his face. He stopped dead in his tracks, and Dawn had gone on for a few seconds more before she realised she was suddenly alone. She stopped and turned, a puzzled sort of smile on her face.

"Rem? What's wrong?"

Remus was shaking his head and muttering to himself, his smile long since faded and his gaze fixed ahead. "Bloody hell, not again."

Dawn's own smile faltered. She turned and followed Remus' line of vision... right to James, Sirius and Peter. Peter was practically bouncing up and down on the spot in excitement as he watched James and Sirius closing in on a lone, dark-haired boy hunched over a book on the grass. Dawn knew it didn't exactly take a specialised Gringotts curse-breaker to figure out who that boy was...

"Snape," she whispered.

James' voice, usually so light and full of warm humour, rang out cold and hard across the Hogwarts grounds. "Oi- Snivellus? Sitting with all your friends again?"

Snape shot to his feet, wand in hand. Sirius laughed, but it was a horrible, cruel sound, almost unrecognisable to Dawn from that usual rich chuckle, or the deep, bark-like sounds.

"Jumpy little snake, aren't you?" Sirius sneered. "Don't know why you even bother, it's not like you've ever managed to get the best of us and it's not like you ever will."

James chuckled, he let Snape get his wand raised to about chest height before he flicked his own almost lazily. "Expelliarmus!"

A few people scattered across the lawn had looked up as James' spell sent Snape's wand flying, most of them abandoned whatever they were doing to come and watch. Snape scowled, his face twisting horribly with malice as he glared at James, who merely flashed him a cocky grin. Snape moved towards his fallen wand, but before he could take more than two steps, Sirius had taken aim and hit Snape with a jellylegs curse. Peter started cheering as the Slytherin wobbled back and forth on his unsteady legs.

Dawn gasped in horror. What on earth did those boys think they were doing? To make matters worse, many of the students gathered around had started to laugh, which only seemed to encourage James and Sirius. Dawn watched Snape tottering about for some time, expecting with each passing second that her friends would perform the counter-curse, hand Snape his wand back, clap him on the shoulder and explain that it was all just a bad joke which had gone on a bit too long. But neither of them seemed remotely close to ending their game.

"I'll get you," Snape whispered icily.

James snorted. "Not with those legs, you won't."

"Hmm," Sirius mused. "How about with these ones?"

Dawn felt her heart skip a beat as Sirius finally muttered the counter-curse and freed Snape, but her relief was short-lived. Her stomach clenched painfully when she watched the boy she secretly (or not-so- secretly) adored replace the jellylegs curse on Snape with a leglocker. She turned to Remus, her eyes wide with an unrecognisable look. A frown line had creased his forehead deeply, but he had bitten his lip and was remaining silent.

"Remus," she whispered urgently. "Do something."

Blinking as if confused, Remus turned to stare at Dawn. "What?"

"You're a Prefect, aren't you supposed to stop things like this?"

The young werewolf cast his gaze downward. Those boys were the first, and besides Dawn, the best, most loyal and only friends he had. He knew this was wrong, he knew he should put a stop to it. And he wanted to, he really did, but... "I can't."

"You won't... You're not going to help?" Dawn realised, a little of her horror extending to Remus now. Remus cringed in shame, but refused to answer.

A little ways across the grass, James had got bored watching Snape try to hop towards his wand and freed him of the leglocker curse. The crowd let out a collective groan of disappointment that had Dawn visibly flinching. Sirius and James laughed at the antics of their audience.

"Don't worry, we've got a new one to test out for you," James called. He flicked his wand. "Depantsius!"

Almost instantly, the old trousers Snape wore were magically yanked down around his ankles, leaving the boy in a pair of ratty old underpants. Dawn's eyes welled with tears as the laughter of James, Sirius and Peter rose high above the rest of the crowd. She was starting to feel physically sick, her hand flew up to cover her mouth when Sirius sent an 'Impedimenta' at Snape, restraining him from redressing himself.

Sirius turned to James. "You know, Prongs, for once I can't decide what about old Snivellus needs washing most- his hair, or those pants."

James sniggered loudly. "I'm sure we can work something out, Padfoot mate."

James stalked towards Snape, his eyes fixed squarely on his target, his face alive with enjoyment. Beside him, Sirius was grinning in anticipation. The images of all the evil things Dawn had ever seen or heard of flashed through her mind. Of all the vampires, demons, evil worshippers and Hellgoddesses she'd ever known, the behaviour of James and Sirius was reminding her of one in particular. The only one who could terrify her with a simple look...

"Stop it!" she shrieked as a torrent of icy water came crashing down over the still-impeded Snape, drenching him completely.

Several people stopped cheering, surprised by the distressed voice. Everyone turned to see Dawn standing not too far from the scene, her wide, horrified eyes brimming with tears, a couple flowing over to spill down to the hand still pressed to her mouth. Noticing that she and Remus had returned for the first time, James and Sirius simply brushed right by the shivering, humiliated Snape and went straight to Dawn. Peter trailed behind, his face still pink from his laughter.

"Kitten? What's the matter?" Sirius asked, reaching a hand out to her.

Dawn jumped back out of his reach, finally prying her hand from her mouth. "Don't touch me," she said quietly. Sirius blinked. She hadn't had any problems with him touching her last night. Before any of them could speak again, Dawn had turned and fled, sprinting towards the castle steps for all she was worth.

"Dawn!?" James shouted after her, perplexed, but she did not stop. They watched her until she was out of sight and then James shrugged. "I really don't get her sometimes. We'll check on her later."

Remus frowned at him. Most of the crowd had dispersed once it became apparent that the Gryffindors had tired of their game, and the Impedimenta charm had finally worn off Snape. He'd managed to pull his sodden pants back up, and had retrieved his wand. For a moment it seemed that the Slytherin would fire a curse at James' back, but then Sirius was watching him with such a steely glare that Snape had no choice but to lower his wand. He trudged back towards the castle, his feet making wet, squelching noises in his shoes.

James was watching the look of mild disapproval crossing Remus' face. "What?"

Remus arched an eyebrow. "Do you really need me to spell it out for you?"

"What'd you get to eat?" James asked, hastily changing the subject. Remus sighed.

It was a little over and hour later when the Marauders dropped the picnic basket back at the Kitchens and returned to their Common Room. They clambered through the portrait hole and looked up just in time to see a familiar head of long, brown hair trying to sneak up the girls' staircase.

"Dawn?" Sirius called out, stopping her in her tracks.

Dawn cringed but didn't turn around. She heard the boys come up behind her. A hand brushed softly down her arm, trying to get her attention. Dawn spun around sharply ignoring the slightly hurt look in Sirius' eyes as he was forced to pull his hand away from her. She folded her arms over her chest and glared expectantly at them, her eyebrows raised and her jaw set.

"Ok, I guess you're pretty mad at us, then?" James offered after a moment of tense silence. "I'm not quite sure why, but."

Remus made a pained face. Of all the stupid things James could have said, that was probably the worst. Sure enough, a look of pure disbelief was settling over Dawn's face, and the anger was mounting in her voice when she finally managed to speak.

"You don't know why?" she almost growled. "You make a public display of practically torturing Snape, and you can't see why that would upset me!?"

Sirius and James shared an uncomfortable look. This was the first time in five years at Hogwarts that anyone, let alone one of their friends, had actually spoken out against the way they treated Snape. Lily Evans aside, of course. They boys turned back to the girl before them, each trying his best to look innocent and harmless.

"Come on Dawnie," Sirius cajoled. "Don't be upset with us. It was just a bit of fun."

"Fun?" Dawn repeated, her face screwing up as if in pain. "That's the part that scares me most- you had fun," she whispered. She stared up at them a moment, then shook her head sadly before continuing. "I've seen some horrible things in my life, you all know that. But at least with most of it I could understand why. Vampires, demons, Mom's evil robot boyfriend Ted, they all attacked for a purpose, they hurt people as a means to an end- feeding, possession, power, ritual sacrifice to destroy the world..."

James frowned, not liking what he was hearing at all. He and Sirius had just been having a little fun with Snivellus, as usual, and here Dawn was looking all horrified and talking about some of the most evil creatures in existence. But Dawn was not even close to finished.

"You've all seen my boggart, you all know that the one creature I'm most terrified of is Angelus. And do you wanna know why that is? It's because I don't understand him. He didn't want to kill people just to feed, he just wanted to torment people because he enjoyed it... just like you enjoyed tormenting Snape today," she concluded, shaking her head in disgust.

Sirius' stomach plummeted down around his knees. He had not just heard the girl he had a crush on (and Sirius Black did not get crushes) tell him saw the most terrifying demon she knew of when she looked at him. Had he? He tried again to reach out to Dawn, to get her to calm down and see that it wasn't so bad, but she wasn't having any of it.

"Dawnie..."

"Just leave me alone," she rushed out. And then she was gone, leaving four confused and upset boys in her wake.


Dawn sat on her bed, scrunched into a little ball as she played with Newman. The little teacup was mountaineering over the fingers of one hand while the others hastily wiped the tears from her cheeks.

Not a moment too soon, as the door swung open and Lily strode into the dorms and deposited an armload of books on her bedside table. The redhead had been intent on ignoring Dawn, as had been the unspoken agreement between the two girls since their falling out over James, but then Lily actually caught a glimpse of Dawn. One look at Dawn's melancholy face. Her eyes rimmed just a little red to betray recent tears, and Lily softened. She drifted quietly over to Dawn's bedside, but Dawn didn't even blink. Lily bit her lip, wondering where to go from here.

"You're really keeping that teacup as a pet?"

Dawn glanced up at Lily, searching the Prefect for any signs of contempt or hostility, but she was actually offering a shy, almost nervous smile.

"Well I suppose you don't have to feed him like you would a cat. And he certainly doesn't make as much mess as an owl," Lily continued, still trying her shy smile.

Catching on, Dawn just nodded her head. "And even if I leave him for hours on end, he never gets very far."

"He'd never get past the stairs anyway."

"Well if he tries there's always the Reparo charm."

"Save you a fortune on vet bills, and he's quiet too."

"No fleas, either."

Lily giggled at that, and Dawn managed a weak smile. She shifted to better face Lily, who had tentatively perched on the edge of the bed. A moment of strangeness passed between the pair before Lily spoke again.

"Dawn, are you alright?" she asked, her emerald green eyes warm with concern.

Dawn shrugged non-committaly. No, she wasn't alright, she'd just told her best (and almost only) friends they disgusted her no end, but she couldn't tell that to Lily of all people. Dawn was so not in the mood for I-told-you-so's.

"Look, Dawn," Lily persisted. "I know that we haven't exactly been the best of friends, but it would be really great if we could get along. Potter aside and all."

A genuine smile crept onto the brunette's face. "I'd like that."

"Great. Are you sure you don't want to talk?"

Dawn shook her head. "I really don't want to talk about it. But Lily?... Thanks."

Lily grinned as she hopped off Dawn's bed. "Don't mention it. You want to go see what Isabel's up to?"

"Sure," Dawn slid off her bed and deposited Newman in the home she'd made for him at the bottom of her cupboard.

Dawn spent the rest of the day with Lily and Isabel, and sat with them for dinner in the Great Hall that evening. Isabel and Lily exchanged a look, but said nothing as the Marauders walked by and Dawn pointedly looked away, refusing to acknowledge their existence. Dawn just sighed and picked absently at her food, the jumble of thoughts in her head causing it to ache. She spent that night, and all of Sunday huddled in a secluded corner of wither the Common Room or the Library, poring over the research that Professor Dumbledore had given her earlier that week. When she slid into the seat next to Lily Monday morning for Transfiguration, she looked as if she hadn't slept at all.

Her mind was on Sunnydale the entire time the class was changing rabbits into cats, resulting in her black cat having a pair of extraordinarily large, almost vampiric fangs. Lily and Isabel were both trying (and failing) to cover their snickering at the unfortunate animal.

"Could be worse- I could've given him horns," Dawn huffed.

When the end of the lesson finally rolled around, Dawn took off for the Divination Tower at break-neck speed. At breakfast it had occurred to her that neither Lily or Isabel took Divination, so she'd need to get there quick enough to find a seat as far away from James and Sirius as possible.

"Good day to you all," Professor Damus' voice drifted from a shadowy corner of the room, and a moment later the woman herself emerged. "The fates have indicated it is time for us to take a new approach to the noble study of Divination, my dears," she announced.

Dawn heard the two loud snorts coming from somewhere behind her, and knew exactly who had made the sounds but stared determinedly at the Professor. Every time she happened to catch sight of either Sirius or James in the last couple of days, she felt the sudden urge to burst into tears.

Glaring at the two boys who dared to make light of her words, Damus finally continued. "And so today we begin the exciting process of deciphering the symbols of our tealeaves! If everyone would please come and collect a cup we may soon begin."

Dawn slid out of her seat and made her way with the rest of the class down to take a cup of tea, fighting the urge to roll her eyes as she did so. Tealeaves sounded way more ridiculous than Tara's palmistry or tarot readings. She was so distracted by the thoughts of Tara making a much better Divination teacher than Professor "Death-Stains-You-Miss-Summers" Damus that her hand closed around the same teacup that another hand had just latched onto. A hand Dawn knew all too well, one with a touch sending shivers down her spine even as she stood there. Her eyes widened as they flew up towards the pleading, puppy-dog gaze.

"You take it," Sirius offered, hoping to soften the uncharacteristic hardness in those blue eyes.

"It's fine," Dawn said shortly, quickly picking up a different cup and scurrying back to her seat.

She drank her tea as quickly as possible until only the soggy leaves remained in the base of her cup. She looked at the shape and raised an eyebrow. A stake. It was a little squiggly, perhaps, but it was, to Dawn, most definitely a stake. It looked just like Mr Pointy. Dawn sighed, she really did have Sunnydale on the brain. Professor Damus drifted over to her.

"Oh my dear, a wedge. A division between you and those you held dear, signifying that you are doomed to wander the world alone," the Professor whispered eerily.

Dawn glared and fought the urge to hurl her cup at Damus.


The monotone of Professor Binns droned on and on, heedless of the many snores of his students that made his words impossible to decipher. James, Sirius and Peter were among those snoring the loudest, Remus was half-heartedly scribbling a few notes down. Isabel seemed to be playing hangman with the other two Gryffindor girls, Candice and Michelle, and even Lily could not force herself to pay attention to the lesson. She stared absently out the window, her chin resting on her hand and her eyelids drooping.

Only Dawn was paying any considerable form of attention, she sat diligently recording every boring thing Binns said about the great Giant wars. Well, everything she could make out amongst all the snoring. She paused a moment to read over what she'd already taken down and froze. There were words scrawled across the parchment in her handwriting that she didn't remember actually writing.

Remus spared a glance at Dawn, worried by the look on her face. She looked completely baffled, staring at her parchment as if she couldn't believe the words she was reading. Slowly, Remus leaned over as discreetly as he could and read the words over Dawn's shoulder.

I must be something so horrible to cause so much pain, and evil.

The young lycanthrope sucked in air sharply as he looked at the statement. What in the name of Merlin was she on about? It took a few minutes of harder thought than anyone had ever attempted during a History of Magic lesson to figure out what it really was. Dawn's focus must be so fixed on Sunnydale that it was taking physical manifestations once more. Remus sighed, hoping Dumbledore's research contained something useful for Dawn, something to put her mind at ease.

The lesson ended almost without Dawn realising, until Isabel tapped her shoulder. "Dawn? We're going to the Library now, do you want to come?"

"Sure," Dawn agreed and stuffed her parchment into her bag. "Just let me go to the bathroom first and I'll meet you there."

Dawn left for the bathroom, the strange sensation of being watched following her the entire way. Yet every time she looked over her shoulder, she could see nobody behind her. When she left the bathroom a few minutes later, the feeling of being watched returned full force. The little hairs on the back of Dawn's neck were standing on end.

"God it better not be Malfoy," she muttered to herself, whipping around but once again finding no trace of another person in the corridor.

She kept walking, only to find the person she least wanted to see appear at the other end of the hall, with no possible way to avoid him. Dawn stopped, stiffening as Lucius Malfoy's cold grey eyes fell on her and he smirked, stalking towards her like a predator closing in on its prey.

Dawn's shaking hand groped in her robes for her wand, she was slowly backing away, prepared to run if things got out of her control, but Malfoy all of a sudden stopped. The smirk was wiped from his face, his eyes narrowed dangerously, but then he simply turned and strode off down a different corridor.

It took Dawn a moment to realise that it certainly wasn't her fumbling for her wand that had scared Malfoy off, but by the time she turned around to look for her rescuers, the way appeared deserted. It didn't occur to Dawn that just because something wasn't visible, it didn't mean it wasn't there. She continued on to the Library, finding Lily and Isabel already seated at the table where Lily and Dawn had sat for their tutoring sessions. She grinned easily at them and pulled out the stack of parchment, prepared to go through the research yet again.

The three girls worked silently for a while, Dawn too distracted by the feeling of being watched to notice the pointed look passing between her two companions. Finally, Lily took a deep breath and caught Dawn's attention.

"Um, Dawn? Is and I were talking to Remus today in our Arithmancy lesson," Lily began.

Dawn's eyebrows had hit her hairline before she could school her features. "Yeah?"

Isabel gave her hand a quick pat. "Yeah, sweetie. He told us about what happened on Saturday. He mentioned you were pretty upset and that you weren't really talking to them anymore. Are you alright?"

Dawn just shrugged, avoiding the two girls' gazes.

"Personally, I think you're better off," Lily told her bracingly. "I mean, those boys are a really bad influence, especially Potter and Black. They're wild and arrogant and you're well shot of them, really."

After the million and one sweet, caring beautiful moments she'd witnessed in each of those boys in the time she'd known them, Dawn couldn't bring herself to agree with that. In fact, she vehemently disagreed and felt a stab of loyalty for her friends. "That's not even close to it, Lily. They did a horrible thing and upset me, sure, but they're not bad at heart. You don't see all the good in them so don't judge them, alright?"

Lily and Isabel blinked. Lily was about to argue when she was struck with the notion that it might, in Dawn's eyes at least, be the truth. There had to be something decent about them to inspire such loyalty, even from a friend currently not speaking to them. Except Potter. He really was just an arrogant git.

"Ok then," Lily conceded.

Dawn smiled, glad her little speech hadn't sparked another argument with the fiery redhead. "You think we should take our bags up to the dorm before dinner?" she suggested.

"Why not? I'm not getting anything done anyway," Isabel announced, snapping her book closed. The girls gathered their belongings and left the Library, watched by four pairs of unseen eyes. A group of boys followed them from the Library, but turned off into an empty classroom at the first opportunity. A swish of shimmery material revealed James, Sirius, Remus and Peter, all looking uncharacteristically pensive.

"Well that was informative," James murmured.

"Way too informative for a Library," Peter replied. The others gave him a look. "What?"

"Dolt," Sirius muttered. He'd been more than just a little short- tempered over the last couple of days, and Dawn's coldness towards him in Divination certainly hadn't done anything to improve his attitude.

Remus flashed him a look that screamed 'settle down'. "Look, at least now we know for sure that she doesn't hate us," he said bracingly.

"You didn't see the way she looked at me in Divination," Sirius retorted.

"Yeah," James chimed in. "That was some glare, I thought she must've taken lessons from Evans for that one."

Sirius scowled. "She doesn't hate us, she stands up to the Tigerlily and Isabel to defend us, but still she won't talk to m-us. I don't get women!"

"Don't worry, Padfoot," Peter squeaked. "I never get women."

Even Sirius managed to crack a smile at the way Peter's sentence came out. James was absolutely howling with laughter and Remus was patting an oblivious Peter sympathetically on the back.

"I'm sure you'll get one, one day," James smirked. "Mundungus Fletcher was always telling me last year that they don't cost as much if you import from Russia."

Remus shook his head. "Off topic."

"What was the on topic, then?" James asked.

"Dawn. And I've got an idea how we might make it up to her for being such complete jerks."

"Go Moony!" Sirius cheered, suddenly heartened. "What do we do? Buy her flowers? Chocolates? More lingerie?"

"No," Remus sighed. Sirius looked way too interested in the subject of Dawn and lingerie. "What's the one thing she wants more than anything else in the world?"

"Even I know that one. She wants to see her sister again," Peter piped up.

"So we find Buffy," James stated. "Great plan, Moony. Except for the several problems we've already encountered trying to do just that, and the fact that all the most relevant research is now in the possession of the girl who refuses to talk to us."

"Ah," said Remus in a strange voice. "But what if all those things were no longer an problem? Buffy is ours for the finding, my friends..."

A low growl escaped Sirius' throat. "Moony would you stop being so bloody mysterious and tell us what the hell we're supposed to do to get Dawn back!?"

"Oh calm down, Padfoot," Remus snapped. "It's simple, really. I can't believe we didn't think of it right off. James, your Dad is mates with the people in the Muggle Relations department of the Ministry, right?"

James nodded. His father worked in one of the highest ranking departments of the Ministry of Magic as an Auror, but he had many friends in a wide range of areas throughout the Ministry.

"Great," continued Remus. "Send him an owl, tell him you're helping a friend out with a Muggle Studies assignment, and you've got to track down a muggle from any other country in the world."

"How would that help?" Peter asked impatiently.

Sirius looked about ready to thump Peter, just for the sake of thumping something. James' hand shot out to restrain him, just in case he couldn't control his violent urges while Remus patiently spelled his plan out for Peter.

"James tells his Dad his friend is supposed to find this girl, Buffy Summers, from America, but we're stuck. We just hope to Merlin this dimension's Buffy hasn't moved out of the state and say we've tracked her as far as California, and we could really use a hand from his mates down in Muggle Relations to get an exact location."

"Oh."

James nodded. "I'll send the owl after dinner. But what do we do then? I mean, once we've located Buffy, how do we get Dawn to her, or her to Dawn? It's still the same old issues we're dealing with here," he pointed out yet again.

Remus grimaced and glanced almost apologetically at his friends. "How far d'you lot reckon you'd be willing to go to get Dawn back on side?" he tested.

"To the end of the world," Sirius replied, almost before Remus had even finished the question. James looked at his best friend out of the corner of his eye. Merlin, but wasn't Sirius smitten?

"Ok," Remus sighed. "Put your begging faces on, boys. We're going to see McGonagall."


I know, I know. It was some of my worst work yet, I reluctantly offer it for your dissection. Anoron

LIST OF PREVIOUS CHAPTER SOUNDTRACKS

Prologue: Brave New World (Richard Ashcroft)

Chapter 1: Undertow (Ivy)

Chapter 2: Silence (Delirium/Sarah McLachlan)

Chapter 3: Business (Eminem)

Chapter 4: Sick Cycle Carousel (Lifehouse)

Chapter 5: Crush (Jennifer Paige)

Chapter 6: May It Be (Enya)

Chapter 7: 3AM (Matchbox Twenty)

Chapter 8: My Own Worst Enemy (Llt)

PREVIEW (sort of...)

Chapter 9: Hang (Matchbox Twenty)
"Well I always say it'd be good to go away,
Oh but if things don't work out like we'd think
And there's nothing there to ease this ache,
And if there's nothing there to make things change,
If it's the same for you, I'll just hang."


... an old friend just might be popping up in this chapter... 3 guesses who... Anoron