Disclaimer: Own nothing. All things Harry Potter belong to the delightful JK Rowling & all things Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Angel are owned by King Joss, including the poem used. Free Fallin' is by the Rolling Stones… I think. Guns N' Roses did a better version though (as usual) and anyway the point is I don't own the song.
A.N: Honest to God shocking with my updates lately, I know. I apologise, life has been so much in the way that I've just wanted to scream, quit my job, throw my phone in the bin, drop out of uni and shun my family. I have the next chapter and half of one after that written and all other chapters strongly planned, so it's just a matter of finding the elusive typey-time now.
ANNOUNCEMENT: There are five more chapters to come after this one, taking the total of 'real' chapters in this story to forty. The end is nigh, peoples! And it's been quite a ride…
I love you all, your support has been a lifeline lately XX00
"On with the show, this is it…"
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
Free Fallin'
"Surprise, baby."
"It's beautiful," Dawn murmured, looking at the new silver bracelet Sirius had just fastened about her wrist with appreciation. "Thank you. Um, what's the occasion?"
Grinning, Sirius tugged her close up against him. "The occasion is me showing you how much I love you."
"That's not fair, I wasn't warned about this occasion," Dawn mock-pouted. "I love you too, and now I have nothing to give you."
He brushed his lips against her ear before placing a soft, sensual kiss on her neck. "You have plenty to give me," he said under his breath, as if the two of them were sharing some great secret he didn't want the world to overhear.
Dawn felt her whole face and neck flushing. She and Sirius had been trying so hard not to let passion run away with them, but they both knew they were ultimately fighting a losing battle. And funnily enough, neither was really apprehensive about their impending defeat.
"Dawn! Will you come and give me a hand with this?"
She could feel Sirius' annoyance as he tensed up and pulled away, and couldn't help feeling a bit annoyed herself. If ever Buffy caught them in a moment of intimacy, she was sure to interrupt, usually to demand Dawn's help with some obscure text or another.
With Sirius trailing behind her like a faithful watchdog, Dawn made her way over to the table Buffy had claimed and looked at the books the Slayer had gathered.
"We read all of those months ago, Buffy," she sighed.
Buffy shrugged. "You might've missed something. Come on, you were always whining I never let you help out. We can spend some time together, you know, start to make up for the eight months I believed my kid sister was dead."
"I'm not a kid," Dawn grumbled, but she pulled out a chair and dropped into it anyway. Much to Buffy's chagrin, Sirius followed suit and no amount of her 'you're so not welcome in this bonding experience' glaring was making him move.
Barely five minutes later, out of the corner of her eye Dawn caught Sirius putting his book down and scribbling on a bit of parchment. Soon enough, the words were appearing on the leaf of parchment closest to her.
'Don't tell me you're actually re-reading the books you already know are useless, Summers.'
She smirked, and on the pretence of recording possible relevant information, began to reply.
'Of course not, Padfoot, darling. This one just has pretty pictures of swirly portals to look at. Besides, it's not like Buffy was wrong about the whole time-spending thing, and there's only an hour until dinner.'
'Guess you're right, Kitten, dearest. In the interests of the time-spending thing, then, did you want to not go to dinner tomorrow night? We can have our date another time, you know, if it's easier for you.'
'You're standing me up? How dare you?' The look of over-exaggerated outrage on Dawn's face was so comical that Sirius had to bite his tongue.
'I'd never stand you up, baby. I just figured it was important for you to spend time with your sister.'
'And it's important for me to spend time with my boyfriend. We made a date and I don't intend to break it, so you'd better have your butt down here at seven o'clock tomorrow night, or else. Got it, buster?'
'Yes ma'am. I'd hate for you to have to punish me. Or would I?'
Dawn sputtered so loudly when she read Sirius' response that Buffy looked up sharply. She hastily turned her sputtering into coughing, Sirius simply shrugged at Buffy and thumped Dawn on the back a couple of times.
"You ok, Dawnie?" Buffy asked when Dawn, though red-faced, had regained some composure.
"Uh-huh. Went down the wrong way."
"What did?"
"The air," Dawn mumbled lamely.
"Right. Got to watch out for that."
Sirius chuckled and Buffy found herself tossing a half-smile in his direction. As much as she wanted to hate him, the only real fault Buffy could find with Dawn's boyfriend was that he was Dawn's boyfriend.
Dawn giggled as she noticed the look. "Fine. Pick on me then, see if I care."
Just then, the portrait swung open and two figures stumbled in, their loud laughter filling the whole Common Room.
"… So the whole dungeon is trashed, everyone's covered in Merlin only knows what, the Professor's going mental at us and there's Dawn and Bella still trying to rip each other to shreds!" James crowed, tears of mirth rolling down his cheeks.
"Bloody hell. All that over one snarky comment?" Spike gasped with laughter, eternally grateful that oxygen was not a requirement for vampires. If he had to breathe in amongst all that laughing, he probably would have passed out three stories ago.
"I haven't even got to the best bit yet," James promised, as the pair joined Dawn, Sirius and Buffy's table without pausing in their conversation long enough to acknowledge anyone. "Bella's all like 'You think you can take me?' and Dawn's just, 'You're damn straight, bitch,' and she grabs Bella and starts slamming her into the ground like she's gone put her right through the floor. Took both me and Padfoot to haul her off, then Moony had to give us a hand holding her back."
"Bloody hell," Spike said again.
"James," Dawn groaned. Of course she was delighted that Spike and James had taken to each other so well, but she wished her brother wasn't so quick to dole out the tales of Dawn's most embarrassing moments, the Hogwarts chapter.
"Yeah, Kitten?" James grinned.
She gave him a pointed look. "We've been through this."
"Sorry. It's just, we ran into Bella the hag in the halls. She was being her usual pleasant self, so I couldn't resist reminding her of the worm bile incident and Spike wanted to know what that was all about," he explained. "There was no harm in it, Marauder's Honour."
"Ok," Dawn relented. "Just remember my shreds of dignity are numbered, I can't afford to lose all that many."
James looked affronted. "Would I ever embarrass you?"
Dawn arched an eyebrow. "Lingerie store."
"Oh yeah!" James immediately perked up, turned to Spike and opened his mouth to explain. One murderous look from Dawn later, he'd clamped right back up again. "Never mind."
Dawn nodded in satisfaction at that response. Buffy shook her head and started refocusing her attention on her book, the only person at the table still remotely interested in research. After a few moments of quiet, James glanced at Sirius, who was holding Dawn's hand but still trying his best to avoid Spike's attention.
"Where are Remus and Peter? I haven't seen them all afternoon."
"Upstairs," Sirius said. "Moony's tutoring Wormtail in Ancient Runes. Apparently Peter's having a bit of trouble putting his final assignment together."
"Well, I'll go round them up for dinner. Peter would be too crushed to think about any of this homework nonsense if he thought we'd gone down to a meal without him," James joked. He jogged away up the boys' staircase.
Dawn frowned at Sirius. "Rem is helping Peter with Ancient Runes?"
"Yeah."
"But Remus doesn't take Ancient Runes."
"Best not to think too much about it, baby."
Dawn giggled and laid her head against Sirius' shoulder. Spike growled and turned pointedly away from the display, only to find himself faced with the most challenging of Dawn's friends, holding a musty old book in her arms and smiling demurely at him. The way this girl stared at him, like she was analysing his every movement, was deeply off-putting, even if it was just a tad flattering.
"Hello, William," Lily said sweetly.
"Hey there, Lil' Red, what's happ… Half a mo'. Why'd you just call me William?"
Instantly, the sweet smile was gone, lost in a scarily relentless gaze. "Why did you answer?" Lily retorted. "You're William the Bloody, aren't you?"
"No! No, ma'am, I'm just an old friend of Buffy's here… Ah, bugger it. I'm your guy. How'd you figure me out, Lil' Red?" Spike asked, mercifully dropping his terrible accent at last.
"It wasn't that difficult. Your accent was fishy, for one thing," Lily pointed out with a raised eyebrow. "You barely eat when you come to meals in the Great Hall, you don't make any sound when you walk, you make casual references to railroad spikes, and you look just like your picture."
At that, Lily dropped the large tome she'd been holding onto the table and as soon as Spike had read the title, 'Vampyr', she was flipping carefully through the brittle leaves of parchment. She stopped mid-way through, and Spike was able to see a moving picture of himself labelled as one of the world's most dangerous vampires and the last remaining member of the Order of Aurelius.
A slow smile was curving itself onto Spike's lips. "So now you know I'm the Big Bad, luv. And you're not afraid of me, are you?"
He took a step closer. Lily swallowed and forced herself to hold her ground despite the newfound nerves fluttering in her stomach.
"N-no. Dawn said you weren't dangerous," she said, her voice strangely hoarse.
Spike took another step closer, his smile deepening into a wicked grin. He leaned close to whisper in Lily's ear.
"Dawn exaggerates."
Lily blushed deeply.
Dawn couldn't wipe the grin from her face as she descended the girls' stairs on Friday evening for her date with Sirius. She needed a night away from everyone, and there was no one she would rather share her solitude with. Buffy and Remus were holed up deep in Buffy and Spike's Common Room, having a long discussion about all the werewolves Buffy had come across and how they got on with their lives with their condition. James, Peter and Lily were all at the Library, and Spike had taken refuge in exploring the Forbidden Forest, one of the few places he'd learned Lily could not follow him into.
Sirius, as usual, was waiting for Dawn at the foot of the stairs, looking as handsome as ever in his dragon hide jacket. His eyes lit up in appreciation as he took in Dawn's tight fitting red singlet top and black skirt.
"Hello, gorgeous," he murmured and Dawn smiled.
"Right back at ya."
They went up to the seventh floor, where Sirius transformed the Room of Requirement to suit his vision. The door swung open before them and the couple found themselves in a restaurant designed just for two. There was a single waitress on standby, Dawn laughed in delight at the sight of Locky standing at attention with a napkin folded over her tiny House-Elf arm.
"Welcome, Mistress Dawn," Locky said, pulling Dawn's chair out for her. She nodded at Sirius. "Sir Padfoot."
When they were both seated, Locky pulled a couple of menus seemingly from thin air and opened them up for Dawn and Sirius. Dawn had to bite her lip- she just wanted to hug the little House-Elf for being so adorable.
"Something to drink?"
"Champagne, please, Locky," Sirius grinned. He looked at Dawn, who had an apprehensive look on her face. "Just one, I promise. After all, we're worth it."
"We are," Dawn agreed, smiling.
Locky expertly poured two long champagne flutes full of the bubbling liquid, took their orders, and promptly disappeared. Dawn assumed she'd popped back to the Kitchens for their meals. She let her eyes wander around the room in appreciation. It really was like their own little restaurant, down to the fish tank that ran the full length of one wall, the fire in the hearth, the guitar music heating the mood and the little dance floor.
Sirius picked up his glass, Dawn followed suit and they clinked them together in a silent toast. After taking the smallest sip of the alcohol, Dawn put hers back down. Sirius chuckled.
"It's ok. We can get pumpkin juice or butterbeer after this if you want."
"I just don't want a repeat of Dawn's adventures with the Firewhiskey," she said sheepishly. "Not tonight."
"Well, we've all learned that lesson the hard way in our lives. You weren't half as bad as me and James last summer," Sirius admitted. "I've never seen Mr P so close to blowing a fuse before, except when he was yelling at Fudge."
"Um, who is Fudge, and why was my Dad yelling at him?" Dawn frowned.
"Nobody told you?" Sirius asked, mildly surprised. "Fudge works at the Ministry of Magic. Bit of a pompous git if you ask me. When you got kidnapped, the Aurors were trying to start looking for you and he kept holding them up, worried more about public opinion than finding you safely. Mr P got really snappy at him."
"I never heard about that," Dawn said quietly. "I just got a hundred 'don't you ever do that again, you had us worried sick' lectures. As if I'd gone out and got kidnapped just for the fun of it."
"Naturally," Sirius joked, lightening the mood.
Locky returned with dinner, and all the while they ate they played teasing games with their eyes and their feet slid against each other's under the table. Dawn smiled, her toe sneaking a little ways up the leg of Sirius' pants.
"Dance with me."
Sirius stood and extended a hand to Dawn. They floated over to the dance floor, where Dawn pressed her body close to Sirius, allowing him to rock her back and forth to the beat. Their eyes closed, they let the music wash over them, guiding their movements until Sirius felt a timid tug at the hem of his jacket. He looked down into a set of pained tennis-ball eyes.
"Yes, Locky?"
"Sir Padfoot… Locky is dreadfully sorry, but Locky is supposed to be helping in the Laundry tonight. Locky is not wanting to be leaving Sir Padfoot and Mistress Dawn without anything, but Locky is also not wanting to be late," she babbled.
"That's fine Locky. You've done plenty for us tonight, we don't want to keep you from your work. You go, and thanks for all your help," Sirius assured her.
"You're amazing, Locky," Dawn chimed in.
With tears welling in her eyes, Locky shook her head. "Mistress Dawn and Sir Padfoot is both too good to Locky. Locky is so sorry to be leaving them that Locky is leaving ice-cream and pumpkin juice for them to be enjoying." The House-Elf pointed at the table, where two bowls of ice-cream and two pewter goblets were waiting, then disappeared for the final time that evening.
Sirius grinned. "What do you say?"
Dawn pretended to be thinking it over. "Um… I want some ice-cream."
They went back to the table to sit down for dessert. After a few mouthfuls, however, Sirius put his spoon down and stared hard at Dawn.
"Are we going too fast?"
"What's the matter, baby?" Dawn asked with concern. "Are you still full from dinner?"
"No," Sirius said, his hands flailing a little as he searched for the words to explain his feelings. "Us. I'm on fire just thinking about you, and I know you're the same with me. I can feel it when we touch. I can't figure out how the idea of the two of us could be wrong anymore, so how are we supposed to know when it's right? How are we supposed to figure this out, Dawn?"
Dawn had kept her eyes downcast throughout Sirius' confused venting, but she finally raised them to look at him. Her face was impassive. "Well, I still think we'll just know instinctively when it's the right time. It'll be right when we can't not be touching each other anymore."
They both fell silent and looked back into their bowls. Then, not two seconds later, they'd looked up and locked smouldering gazes. In a series of fluid movements, everything had been knocked from the surface of the table and Dawn had launched herself up onto the tabletop to get at Sirius. He met her half-way, their mouths moulding together as he pushed her down onto her back and began to tear at her clothes.
A jolt of pleasure hit the lower regions of Sirius' stomach when he realised Dawn was being just as rough and demanding as he was, his clothes had been discarded almost as quickly as hers had been. He'd never been so desperate for someone before, the little scream of pleasure Dawn let out as they came together was more intoxicating than an entire bottle of champagne could be but Sirius didn't pause to allow time for thought, his concentration was completely caught in the two bodies fusing and writhing together.
Even tumbling to the floor at some point didn't slow them down, Sirius barely even registered the difference until he and Dawn were both satisfied and his lust-hazed vision had begun to clear. He looked down at Dawn still laying beneath him, sweaty, messy and beautiful, and she smiled weakly. She pushed his hair back out of his face while she caught her breath.
"Wow…" she panted.
"Yeah," Sirius grunted.
"Well, now that all that mind-blowing lust is out of the way… Make love to me."
Sirius pressed a kiss to her lips, then moved down. He started at her feet and kissed his way back up Dawn's body, determined to make love to her like they'd never made it before. He moved slowly, touching her gently and pausing in his tracks often to accommodate her movements while she touched him. Dawn surrendered herself to the long-missed feelings swelling within her and vaguely thought she didn't care if the world ended tomorrow. As long as she had tonight, she was happy. It was several hours later before they fell asleep together.
Sirius shifted comfortably on the soft rug that had spring up beneath the pair of them at some point during the night. It was still dark when he slightly cracked open his eyes and Dawn was half draped across him, her arm wrapped around his waist and her head pillowed against his shoulder. The tablecloth had been tucked in around their lower halves as makeshift bedding in their exhaustion.
Out of the corner of his eye, Sirius noticed something move in the shadows. He tense, and, hoping the intruder hadn't realised he was awake, began to reach for his wand as discreetly as possible.
"Wand not going to help you out of this one, mate," said a rich voice, deepened with a hint of a growl. "Caught you red handed."
"Spike," Sirius hissed as the vampire melted into view.
"Didn't I tell you what I'd do to any bastard who dared put his grubby hands on my Nibblet?" Spike asked before taking a final drag of his cigarette and grinding it out on the floor.
"Get out of here," Sirius said, keeping his voice low. He really didn't want Dawn to wake up in the middle of this. "What my girlfriend and I do together has got nothing to do with you, you hear me?"
Spike's face morphed, his forehead becoming horribly wrinkled over feral yellow eyes, fangs growing until they were protruding from his mouth. "Get your sodding pants on and keep them on. Then get out of my way, I want Dawn dressed and I'm getting her out of here and if I ever catch you like this again, you'll find out exactly what I did to earn my name."
"I don't give a damn what you say," Sirius snapped, his voice heating a little. He was about to continue when he felt Dawn shift against him and sigh slightly.
"What time is it?" she murmured, eyes closed.
Sirius shot a warning glare at Spike and brought a hand up to brush Dawn's hair back, conveniently hiding the third in the room from view should Dawn decide to open her eyes.
"It's very late, baby. Go back to sleep," he whispered.
"Will you still love me when I'm old and tired, and fat from having too many kids?" Dawn wondered aloud, somewhere in between the conscious world and a dream.
"Yes, and I'll still think you're beautiful, too," Sirius said.
He kissed the top of her head, for a moment having completely forgotten that he had an audience. One with whom he'd been arguing only moments before. "Sleep now."
"Love you," Dawn mumbled, and seconds later her breathing had deepened and evened out.
When Sirius remembered Spike was there and looked back at the vampire, ready to argue again if necessary, he was surprised to find he'd returned to his human visage. His blue eyes had been softened considerably by the exchange he'd just witnessed as they fixed on Dawn's sleeping face. Slowly, he shifted his gaze back to Sirius, nodded slightly, and then left them alone.
Remus fell into step beside Dawn as she headed towards the Great Hall for a late lunch on Saturday afternoon. He couldn't help but smirk at the little bounce in her step, and the way she was humming absently to herself.
"You know, Dawn, if you wanted a night off from studying you could've just said so. No need to distract me with some big discussion with your sister while you sneak out," he commented casually.
Dawn snorted and squeezed his arm. "If I needed anyone distracted last night, it was Buffy. It's hard to explain to a hit first and ask questions later Slayer that her baby sister isn't such a baby anymore."
"Or that someone else is calling her baby," Remus countered.
"Yeah. I just thought it would be good if you and Buffy could talk, you know, clear the air. And it worked, didn't it? I bet you're way more comfortable around her now, not looking at her as if she might drive a silver stake through your heart any second," Dawn gloated.
"Good point. Thanks, Kitten. And of course the fact that everybody was nicely out of the way while you and Sirius went on a date that I know he at least didn't return from until after breakfast this morning was just a pleasant side effect."
"Hey, I'm a Marauder too, you know."
"That you most certainly are."
Chuckling, the two friends descended a staircase to one of the lower landings. They heard an impatient voice growing louder with each passing moment and frowned as they happened upon the scene. Peter was staring, dumbstruck, his mouth opening and closing like a fish out of water at a young blond woman who was waving a bag full of fresh shrimp around as she ranted.
"Freakin' backwards dimension, give me wrong directions! D'Hoffryn is going to kill me if I miss any summonses while I'm here…"
Remus looked between Peter and the possibly unstable woman with concern, but Dawn looked highly amused. Her eyebrows had risen in two sharp arches and her lips were pressed tightly together, barely containing a storm of giggles.
"Honestly, I pick up some shrimp from the crappiest world ever of nothing but shrimp since I get stuck in a teleporting jam there anyway, then it takes two damn hours to get through customs in my shortcut through the world without shrimp, and now I'm in God knows what world and I can't find out because the only person here is a friggin mute!"
At this point, the woman began to shake Peter furiously out of sheer frustration.
"Whoa!" Remus said, leaping forwards and pulling Peter back out of her clutches. The woman stopped and stared, seemingly pleased to find someone who was not apparently mute at last, but Dawn drew her attention from the boys with a pointed cough.
"Are you done?"
"Dawn…?"
Dawn smiled and waved. "Hi Anya."
Anya looked back at Dawn, a huge smile lighting up her face. "This is one of those times where squealing and hugging are appropriate, isn't it?"
"Uh-huh."
"Oh yay. Hold these," she ordered, shoving her bag of shrimp into a beyond flustered Peter's hands.
A moment later, she and Dawn were both squealing loudly, hugging, and jumping up and down. Remus looked at Peter and shrugged. Peter absent-mindedly pulled a shrimp from the bag and began to peel it.
"You've grown all up," Anya chattered happily. "And here we all just figured you were dead, and we were all sad for a while. But then we got over it, and if we had known you were on another living plane I so would've visited you the second I got my Vengeance Demon powers back. Say, don't you just wish Xander's penis would shrivel up and disappear?"
"Uh… I haven't introduced you to my friends!" Dawn said, practically yelling in a vain attempt to erase the last mental image Anya had just conjured. "This is Remus, he's my best friend, and that's Peter. He's not mute, you probably just startled him if you teleported in right on top of him."
"Hi, Anya," Remus smiled while Peter, his mouth full of shrimp, went a little pink and waved.
Anya smiled back. "Ok, you can have those shrimp but only because I scared you by teleporting like that. I don't even really like them, and you look like you like all food."
"Thanks," Peter said, smiling at last and reaching into the bag again.
They continued on to the Great Hall as an expanded group, this time searching for Buffy and Spike as well as a meal. On the way Anya was filling Dawn in on all that had occurred in Sunnydale since Willow had send Buffy and Spike on their interdimensional voyage.
"Well Xander talked Willow out of ending the world, but by then the Magic Box had been completely ruined. And I've got to wait three months –three months!- for the insurance claim to go through. How am I supposed to make money now? Vengeance Demon isn't a well-paying gig, you know. D'Hoffryn wouldn't even give me benefits when I came back. Cheap bastard," she muttered.
"Anya!" Dawn interrupted. "What happened to Willow?"
Anya gave her a look that suggested Willow's almost ending the world was nowhere near as important as her financial status and huffed. "Giles took her to England to fast-track her recovery, he wants her to be able to control her magic enough to bring Buffy and maybe Spike back. Better her than me, stuck in amongst all those British weirdos living on their blood sausage and their pea soup. What the hell is blood sausage, anyway?"
Remus and Peter stopped dead in their tracks, staring at Anya with a mix of offence and disbelief. Dawn just waved a hand at them to indicate there was no use being offended. Anya was just Anya.
"Uh, Ahn? You're in Britain, sweetie. Land of the weirdos."
"Hey!" Remus protested.
Dawn hugged him. "I don't mean it in a bad way, Rem, honest. It's just Sunnydale-speak."
"And we're the weirdos?" Remus grumbled to Peter, though he grinned and squeezed Dawn back affectionately.
Anya raised her eyebrows. "You two aren't having sex, are you?"
Peter choked on a shrimp. Remus turned beet red.
"No," Dawn replied, as if it was a perfectly normal questions for one of her sister's circle of friends whom she hadn't seen for months to ask. "I'm not having sex with Remus."
"Well, good," Anya said decisively. "You're too little for sex."
"Am not!" Dawn burst out before she could stop herself. Remus shot her a 'now you've done it' look.
"What?" Anya screeched. "You're having sex? But you're just a kid. Who is this guy? Haven't I taught you anything of the evilness of males? Or has overexposure to lesbianism at such a young age turned you into one of them? Because that didn't end too well for Willow and Tara- Tara got dead and Willow got evil. And I miss Tara and her little smile, and the way she'd change the subject to get away from the fact that everyone thought I'd just said something wrong and nobody wanted to tell me."
Dawn huffed, half exasperated, half stung by the mention of Tara. Every time she thought of the Wicca she tended to feel a pain in her chest that had nothing to do with the bullet she'd felt Tara take. She'd almost forgotten how hard it was to have a humiliation-free conversation with Anya, but Remus was starting to smile and Peter seemed to be in awe of her.
"No, Anya, I am not a lesbian," she promised.
Anya shrugged. "Not that there's anything wrong with that. Orgasms are orgasms. But if this guy hurts you, you know I can make his bowels explode don't you? Speaking of, don't you just wish Xander's bowels would explode?"
"No I don't," Dawn said softly. "We're here."
They walked into the Great Hall and spotted Spike and Buffy at the Gryffindor table, sitting with the fifth years whether they particularly liked them or not. Buffy raised her eyebrows in mild surprise as Anya dropped into the seat next to her and reached for a chicken leg.
"Didn't expect to see you here," the Slayer commented.
"I always said I knew way more about alternate realities than Giles," Anya replied around a mouthful of food. "All that teleporting has made me starving."
The Marauders and Lily exchanged a look. The way these people so casually adapted to interdimensional pop-ins was a little disconcerting.
"So, just dropping in to say hi?" Buffy said wryly.
"Yes. That, and I've got a message for you; Stay put," Anya recited, as if she was reading from a cue card planted in her mind. "Willow and Giles know where you are, and they're working on getting Willow to gain enough control over her magic to bring you back. Shouldn't be long now, only a week or so."
"Finally," Buffy breathed.
"A week?" The knife Dawn had been using to butter her roll dropped onto her plate with a dead clank. Sirius, Buffy, James, Spike, Remus, Lily and Peter were all staring hard at her, trying to read her wide blue eyes for clues.
Anya didn't seem to notice the tension in the air. "Yeah, a week. So nobody get too comfortable, ok? Anyway, I've got to get back before D'Hoffryn figures out I'm using my powers to take a little vacation on the job, but I'll be back when I can. I suppose I'll say hi to everyone back home for you. Bye!"
Before anyone could register the fact that Anya had stopped speaking, she'd teleported away, like a cyclone leaving chaos in her wake.
"So now you've met Anya too," Dawn said in a would-be casual voice, though her fingers betrayed her by nervously fiddling with the bracelet Sirius had given her.
Buffy forced a bright smile for her sister. "You know, you've got a lot of stuff in your dorm, Dawnie," she said gently. "Maybe you should think about beginning to pack soon."
"Not that I'm advocating studying or anything that crazy," James interrupted loudly, "but with OWLs only three weeks away, I think you've got more important things to worry about, Kitten."
Sirius, meanwhile, had looped a possessive arm about Dawn's waist as if he physically was not going to let her go. Remus opened his mouth to intervene, but to his surprise it was Spike who called for the cease-fire.
"Leave it, already," he said evenly. "It's the Bit's decision."
Dawn shot him a look full of surprised gratitude, but Buffy and James were both glaring stonily at him. The look on Buffy's face suggested that as Dawn's older sister, any decision about it should be hers, while the gleam in James' eye demanded to know why there was even a decision to be made at all.
"So what's this, then?" Spike asked, gesturing to the large X magically carved into the stone wall midway between the Great Hall and the Potions dungeon.
James snorted. "That's where me and Padfoot marked the spot to commemorate the day Dawn walloped Snivellus for not keeping his greasy mouth shut."
"Got more of her sister in her than she realises, that one."
"I don't bloody think so," James grumbled, really not wanting to consider the possibility of any similarities between the girl he loved so much as part of his family, and the woman determined to take her away.
"That's because you can't see anything of Buffy beyond the fact that she wants to separate you from your sister," Spike replied, all-too aware of the real feelings colouring James' view of the situation.
James scowled. "Whatever."
"So what's going on between you and Lil' Red then?" Spike asked, changing the subject but not striking one any more suited to James' tastes. "A bloke would have to be blind and stupid to miss the tension between the two of you."
"She hates me," James groused, scuffling his feet against the stones. "Thinks I'm nothing but an arrogant prat and nothing I can say will change her mind about me."
"Have you tried a box of chocolates? Flowers?" Spike suggested as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.
James looked up at him in exasperation. "You're about as helpful as my mother with this stuff, mate. This is Lily Evans we're talking about here. She's far too smart to accept anything from a Marauder, she even double checks anything Dawn hands her. She'd never take anything from me, anyway."
The vampire rolled his eyes as if discussing a case of puppy love was a waste of his talents. "So write her a love letter you dolt. Poetry usually works."
"How the bloody hell am I supposed to be able to write a damn poem?"
"Bloody hell, just use this then;
My soul is wrapped in harsh repose,
Midnight descends in raven-coloured clothes,
But soft… behold! A sunlight beam
Cutting a swath of glimmering gleam.
My heart expands, 'tis grown a bulge in it
Inspired by your beauty… effulgent.
James stared in awe. How could one of the most depraved beings of all time have it in him to come up with something so… Something like that?
"How long did you work on that for?"
"At least a century, give or take," Spike smirked. "Trust me, mate, if that doesn't get you anywhere with the girl then you've got no hope."
"Well, did it work for you?"
"Er…"
Spike faltered and James frowned. Someone swept by him then, knocking pointedly into his shoulder as he went. James turned to hex the ignorant person, but stopped short, his scowl deepening as he recognised the receding figure.
"Bastard," he muttered coldly. "You'll keep."
Spike frowned. "Isn't that that Malfoy git you all hate so much?"
"Yeah," James growled.
"He's bad news, that one. Can smell the evil on him from a mile off, and it's more than the vibe of 'arrogant little tosser'," Spike said slowly, his eyes lingering on the corridor Malfoy had just disappeared down.
"You don't have to tell me. I bet he's a Death Eater already, Dumbledore would've expelled him when he had the chance. If it wasn't for what Sirius and I did, and if he wasn't a Malfoy, I reckon he probably would've been kicked out," James vented, in his anger forgetting his promise to Dawn not to divulge any more of her secrets.
Spike's eyes glittered with an almost morbid sort of interest. "What happened?"
"He almost raped Dawn."
"WHAT?"
James almost jumped out of his skin. He suddenly understood why Spike would be so menacing when he was evil. He was looking incredibly menacing now, even without being evil. He stared up into Spike's yellowed eyes, and all of a sudden Dawn's face popped into his mind. James felt sick to his stomach when he realised what he'd done.
"Nothing," he said, sounding more like Peter than himself.
In a heartbeat, he'd been lifted off his feet and pinned to the X on the wall. Spike was right in his face, all James could see was fangs.
"Tell me or I'll make you tell me," the vampire snarled.
James closed his eyes and tried not to think what Dawn would do if she found out. He didn't know if he should be more afraid of Spike's wrath or hers.
"Today," Spike snapped.
"It was months ago," James whispered. "Malfoy snatched her one afternoon when she went to the Library by herself. But Peter saw, told me and Sirius and Remus and we came after her. The sick bastard had her chained to the wall, he was hurting her but we stopped him before he could-" James' voice choked up, but he heard Spike growling still and forced himself to continue.
"Me and Padfoot beat him half to death, McGonagall said we were unlucky not to cause permanent damage but when we made Dawn tell the Professors about it all, Malfoy's Dad came storming up to the school. He tried to tell Dumbledore that Dawn had made the whole thing up to give me and Sirius an excuse to attack Malfoy and the three of us should be expelled. You've got no idea how powerful that family is, he probably could've gone to the Ministry and eventually got it done if he really wanted. But Dumbledore managed to tip me off about what was going on, so I got my Dad to come up to look after Dawn," James finished dully.
"So that's why she's got the whole 'Daddy' thing going on with him," Spike realised, allowing James' feet to find the floor again at last. "He takes care of her. Summers women all like that deep down."
"Dawn's been as good as a Potter since the day Mum and Dad set eyes on her," James swore. "We all love her like one of our own."
"Hmm," Spike said, although he was looking off in the direction Malfoy had gone again and there was a new, vengeful gleam in his eye. "I've got something to take care of."
With a sweep of his leather duster, he'd left James far behind, his senses on high alert. His nostrils flared, constantly honing in on one particular scent. It took him a while to find it, but Spike didn't mind the delay. The anticipation reminded him of the hunt, it only whetted his appetite for torture.
He finally caught up with Malfoy in a quiet corner not too far from the Library. He'd backed a blond girl who looked just as prissy as he did up against the wall and was leaning seductively close to talk to her. There was nobody else anywhere near the scene. Spike grinned. Perfect.
Moving soundlessly, he popped up behind Malfoy so quickly that the girl gasped in shock, though she recovered remarkably quickly.
"Do you mind?" she said haughtily.
Malfoy turned to stare at Spike, stepping to the side of Narcissa as he did so. Taking advantage of the increased view, Spike ignored Malfoy and let his gaze slide up and down Narcissa's body. She tensed ever so slightly and he smirked.
"I wouldn't mind at all, luv. But some other time, ay? I've got business with your boyfriend here, and if you know what's good for you you'll run along like a good little chit."
Narcissa glanced at Lucius for guidance, and when he inclined his head slightly she spun on her heel and swept regally away without another word. Spike took several long seconds to stare at Malfoy with unreadable eyes, counting the beats until he'd psyched the seventh-year out. He arched an eyebrow when Malfoy tried to swallow discreetly.
"Do I know you?" the Slytherin finally asked in a cold voice, looking down his nose at Spike.
"No. But after today you'll remember me every day for the rest of your pathetic, predictable life," Spike said, keeping his voice so controlled it could only be intimidating.
He began to stalk forwards, leaving Malfoy with no option but to retreat until his back was against the wall. He reached for his wand, but Spike batted his hand away.
"Try anything and you're a dead man. Got it? GOT IT?" he pressed, enjoying the rush of power as he forced Malfoy to nod.
Spike smiled suddenly. "You're not used to it being this way, are you? You've never found yourself with your back against the wall, at the mercy of someone who doesn't understand the meaning of the word. Well, now it's your turn to face that fear, Lucius."
"Fear?" Malfoy sneered, as if the feeling was too far beneath him for him to even consider. "Fool, I am a Malfoy. I fear nothing, and certainly not the likes of you."
"That right, mate?" With movements too quick for the human eye to see, Spike had morphed, seized Malfoy's wrists to stop him reaching for his wand again, and forced him onto his knees.
"How 'bout now?"
Malfoy remained silent. Spike held his wrists back against the wall, the pressure not enough to hurt but still strong enough to let him know Spike could snap bones as easily as toothpicks. Malfoy ground his teeth together.
"Come on, Lucius," Spike taunted. "You've got to be tougher than that if you want to get away with chaining little girls to walls and doing all manner of nasty things to them. Or soon enough you'll find someone doing all manner of nasty things to you."
Malfoy's hold on stoicism slipped for a moment, just long enough to allow a look of revulsion to cross his face. Spike himself recoiled a little in response as he realised what the Slytherin was thinking.
"Oh please, like I'd shag the likes of you anyway. And I don't fancy having to remove the railroad spike already lodged up there anyway. No… I think it'd be more satisfying to tear you apart, piece by piece."
"You couldn't," Malfoy sneered, glaring up at Spike with as much dignity as he could spare.
"Yeah, I could," Spike whispered, his voice so soft and certain that there was no option but to believe it. "The appendages would come off first, one at a time. Slow enough for you to feel every second of the knife sawing through your bones. I'd make you watch it, too. And you want to know the best part, Lucius? I could keep you alive for months, in constant pain and bleeding just enough to have me a little snack whenever I felt a bit peckish."
"You think they would just let that happen? I have more powerful allies than you could conceive of. The Dark Lord would bring unspeakable pain on those who would dare oppose him or his followers," Malfoy retorted, his voice waspish although Spike could smell the fear he was trying to hide.
"The Dark Lord?" Spike laughed. "Bloody hell, is that all you've got? The last time I heard of some tosser calling himself a dark lord he was a giant eye with a tacky ring, and he got destroyed by a three foot six closet homosexual and his gardener. I guess that just don't intimidate me the way it should."
Malfoy glared at Spike for having the audacity to mock Lord Voldemort, and Spike growled. He hoisted Malfoy to his feet, tightening a hand about his throat and squeezing until the younger blond's face was bright red.
"You know why I'm here, and I bet you've already been threatened with all sorts of things if you ever hurt her again, haven't you? HAVEN'T YOU?"
Malfoy hastily nodded as much as Spike's grip would allow. Spike bared his fangs for effect. He moved his hand from Malfoy's throat, grabbing the front of his robes with both hands. "Well, I'm a little more proactive than that, Luci. I'm not going to tell you what I'm going to do if you ever hurt her again, I'm just going to make sure you never get the chance."
With that, Spike let out a ferocious roar and went for the jugular. Before his teeth could make contact though, a strong stench reached his nostrils and he pulled back in horror. He looked down at the wet stain spreading quickly through the front of Malfoy's pants and shifted back into human features, his face twisting in disgust. Spike tossed Malfoy away from him quickly, waiting until the humiliated Slytherin had scrambled to his feet before speaking again.
"Don't ever forget this day, Lucius."
Malfoy stormed away without a word. As he passed the Library, the doors swung open and Dawn stepped out, book bag slung over her shoulder and her long hair anchored high on her head with a spare quill. She stared in surprise at the sight of Malfoy so flustered, a little smile spread over her face when she noticed his wet patch. She watched as he disappeared as quickly as possible without breaking into a run, then turned the other way. Her smile faltered into sheer puzzlement as she joined Spike, who had been watching Malfoy flee with vindictive pleasure.
"Spike?"
Spike finally turned to Dawn, giving her one of his rare, but genuine gentle looks. "He won't ever come near you again, Nibblet."
Dawn's blood seemed to slow to a crawl in her veins. "What?"
"He'll leave you alone, won't try to hurt you again," Spike repeated.
Humiliation flooded Dawn's face. How had he…? Then it hit her.
"James," she hissed.
"He's staring at you again."
Lily sighed. "I know, Buffy. I can feel it. Just ignore it, ok, don't encourage him."
Buffy shrugged and let it drop. Dawn's friends were a little odd in their dynamics, but she supposed the Scoobies weren't exactly normal, either. The strangest part of it to Buffy, though, was the idea of Dawn having so many friends to begin with. She'd never been like that in Sunnydale. There Dawn had been quieter around people her own age, more introverted and…
'Lonely,' a voice in the back of the Slayer's head whispered, but Buffy ignored it. She brought a smile back to her face and continued to tell Lily about her days as a cheerleader before she was Called.
As Buffy relived the days of her blissful ignorance about the world, Lily let her eyes wander over to where the four male Marauders were hanging out by the window. Sure enough, a pair of hazel eyes were laying in wait to trap her own. Lily found herself holding James' gaze for a few heartbeats and as soon as she realised it, she looked away and didn't allow her eyes to wander again.
James reluctantly turned his attention back to his friends. Peter was hurriedly scribbling out some study notes, while Remus and Sirius were joking and laughing, but James didn't feel like joining in. Guilt was eating away at his insides as he thought about what he'd accidentally done to Dawn. He knew he would have to tell her, would have to somehow find a little of that Gryffindor bravery by the time she returned from the Library.
"You've got that formula backwards, Pete," he muttered absently.
Something whizzed past him, almost knocking his glasses from his face and before anyone could react, something that looked suspiciously like a full book bag went smashing through the window and plummeted out of sight.
The entire Common Room stopped. Within moments, everyone had looked from the broken window to the quivering form of Dawn Summers, standing in the middle of the room with tears leaking down her cheeks. Her eyes, bright with hurt and anger, were locked unforgivingly on the hazel depths of James Potter.
"You bastard!" she shrieked.
Spike vaulted through the portrait opening, but when he looked up he realised he was too late to avert the meltdown. Lily and Remus leapt to their feet, instantly in Prefect mode.
"All students up to your dorms now," Remus hollered.
One of the third year boys smirked. "And miss all this? Are you kidding?"
"Right, that's one for detention," Lily snapped. "How many more?"
Grumbling, the students all made their way upstairs. Dawn didn't even seem to notice as Lily and Remus cast quick Silencing Charms over the staircase entrances for privacy. In contrast to the blue of her eyes, her whole face had flushed a deep pink and her hair was beginning to fall out of its anchoring in messy strands.
"Dawn," James murmured, taking a few steps towards her. "Kitten, let me explain."
"Explain?" Dawn exploded. "How could you? And after I specifically asked you to keep your fat, stupid mouth shut! That was my private experience to decide if I wanted to share, who are you to just go telling whoever you want like it's the best bit of gossip you've ever come across, huh?"
"It wasn't like that," James said quickly, his eyes pleading with Dawn to calm down. "Please, Dawn."
"What's going on?" Buffy asked, her arms folded across her chest and 'I mean business' written all over her.
"Why don't you ask James?" Dawn suggested bitterly. "I'm sure he's just dying for the chance to tell someone else."
Sirius frowned. He wanted to put his arms around Dawn, but he knew better than to try and hold her while she was this upset. She needed to feel free to get it out of her system. Instead he looked expectantly at James, waiting for answers.
James' head was hung in shame. "I told Spike… About the Malfoy thing."
Remus and Sirius exchanged grimaces. Lily gasped in horror and looked at James with pure disgust. Peter chewed his lip, trying to understand.
"What Malfoy thing?"
Dawn gave him a pointed look.
"Oh."
"What is this about?" Buffy broke in angrily, hating to see her sister cry even if it did give her one up over James.
Spike shook his head. "You don't want to know, Slayer."
"The hell I don't! That's my kid sister crying, you know."
"Is it really important right now?" Spike asked, soft and pointedly, before turning to speak to Dawn. "Don't be angry with him, pet. I forced it out of him. Didn't give him much choice but to tell."
"Oh yeah? And how did you know there was anything to tell in the first place?" Dawn whipped back.
"I was angry," James burst out. "I really didn't mean to, Dawn. It was an accident!"
"An accident? Oh, that makes it ok then, does it? it was just accidental humiliation. How could you violate me like that, James?" she asked as the tears threatened to engulf her.
James' face twitched convulsively. His eyes were starting to get wet, too. "I'm sorry," he whispered.
Dawn saw red. Her fist flew out, her knuckles colliding with his nose. She felt something snap underneath her fingers, and when her hand dropped there was red flooding from her brother's nostrils. The pain was excruciating, but James didn't even allow himself the luxury of flinching.
"How am I supposed to ever be able to forgive you?" Dawn hissed.
Peter squeaked at the sight of James' blood. He pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and started dabbing at James' face. Sirius and Buffy both stepped close to Dawn to try and take one of Dawn's hands each, but Dawn jerked herself back out of reach.
"No! Don't touch me!" she yelled at them. "I've had enough. You guys are killing me. Why don't you just rip me in two and be done with it?"
"What do you mean?" Buffy asked in a guarded voice.
"This," Dawn choked, waving a hand around at all of them. "I can't win no matter what I do here. You all keep looking at me like I owe it to you to decide what you want me to decide."
Dawn's voice had dropped, but it was no closer to being calm and the tears were dripping from her face incessantly. She looked at Peter, who immediately lowered his gaze.
"Sometimes I think you can't wait to get rid of me. You keep looking at me like you want to offer to run upstairs and start packing for me."
She looked between Sirius and James, feeling her heart clench painfully inside her chest. "The two of you just want to tie me down so I physically can't leave, and…" she trailed off, her eyes fixing on the bracelet fastened around her wrist. Realisation flooded her eyes and, her fingers trembling, she took it off and handed it back to Sirius.
"If this is just a bribe to get me to stay with you, I can't accept it," she whispered.
Sirius shook his head. "Dawn, no. I would never… It's a gift, I never expected anything in return."
"Give it back to me when I can trust that," Dawn replied before turning to Buffy. "You're acting like when the time comes, you'll just throw me over your shoulder and put me through the nearest portal whether I want to go or not. You can't make that choice for me. None of you can," she said, raising her voice and looking around at all of them.
"It's my choice, get it? My choice. And the funny thing is, you're all so determined to keep me away from the others that you don't even care what I think. Not one of you, not even once, have bothered asking me what I want. You don't even care about what I want, do you? It's just all about what you want."
There were tears starting to well in Buffy's eyes as she began to process exactly how much pain the whole situation was causing Dawn. She sucked them back long enough to hold her sister's gaze.
"Well, Dawn? What do you want?"
"I want you all to leave me alone," she said, her voice breaking. "I need some time to think and time to settle down."
She turned and fled into the halls, leaving all the others in fragments in her wake.
A.N: Well? I know I've left you all hanging forever, but I still love your reviews. Review if you forgive me! I'm begging you. Anoron XX00
