Sorry it's been a while, but I said it would be. Thanx soo much for all your reviews.
This is pretty much the most up to date bit I've got. That's why its taking a long time to update, I'm having to write each chapter between posts, and I have loadsa work right now. So don't give up on me!! It IS still coming!
Plus, of course, im working on my new cross over, and I have plans for another, (with Lord of the rings, would ya believe!?) So thanks for ideas for that, its coming along, but I'm not gonna post it yet, and the lotr one will be quite a while in coming if it happens at all.
I also want to say thanks to any of you who are the ones that have reviewed my other Faith stories, including 'have Faith' I hadn't intended to continue it, as I only wrote it when I was getting worried that they wouldn't bring Faith back at the end of season 7! I never even thought it was very good, but hey, you guys seem to like it, so I may try taking it further.
Oh, and I guess I HAVE to mention a certain person who would never bug me about updating (note the major sarcasm!!). I'm working as quick as I can on 'that one' as I already said, but it's gonna slow child of the key down, so you can't bug me about both of those AND the lotr's one, cos well, then my head might just go and explode, and ya don't want that, do you!? I think I may actually not print out the first bit of 'that one', just to bug YOU! Mwahahahahahahahaha…. Huh-hum… yes…
Argh, there we go, all done. Nice long chappie for ya now. Enjoy.
Chapter 41Dawn awoke on Saturday morning to excited squealing.
"Wha's goin' on?" She asked groggily, rubbing her eyes and yawning.
"Merlin Dawn, you would sleep all day if you had the chance, wouldn't you!?" laughed Lavendar.
"It snowed over night!" Pavarti said in answer to the question.
"No way!" Dawn cried, the grogginess gone. She ran to the window with the others, and gasped. The Hogwarts grounds were covered in a thick layer of snow. "Wow… we never get snow in Sunny Dale… cept that time a few years ago… we were in the middle of a damn heat wave, and suddenly it was like a blizzard!"
"That was pretty freaky." Agreed a voice from behind her. Dawn spun to see Faith grinning widely.
"What the heck are you doing in here!?" Dawn demanded.
"Coming to see if you guys were ever gonna come to breakfast." She replied, pointing to Dawn and Hermione. "Everyone else is down there already. I mean, jeez Dawn, you sleep as much as Xander!"
"I do not!" Dawn snapped.
"Come on- shopping!" Faith said enthusiastically. Dawn raised an eyebrow.
"You so don't seem like the 'woohoo, shopping' type." Hermione said.
"Ok, Hermione, cept for the other night, do you realise how long it's been since I've gone out?" Faith said seriously. Dawn giggled, dressed unbelievably quickly, and took Faith's hand,
"Come on- we'll leave you guys be- see ya in a mo, 'Mione." She dragged Faith out, and they chatted about Hogsmeade all the way down. Dawn couldn't believe how lively and cheerful Faith was being. Had Charlie really had this much of an effect on her? Faith was acting like… well, like a teenage girl. Part of Dawn wanted to laugh; the rest of her was just sighing in relief that even if Faith had refused to confide in her, she had opened up to someone- the change was almost palpable. When they got to the entrance hall, Dawn was tackled by Draco, who spun her around and kissed her deeply. Faith raised her eyebrows,
"Whoa… there is a line, dude!" She exclaimed. Dawn grinned at her, and Draco removed himself from his girlfriend, but Faith recognised the glint in his eye. She shook her head. "Come on- food."
An hour later Faith, Dawn, Draco, Harry, Hermione and the Weasley's were on their way down to Hogsmeade. Hermione, Dawn and Ginny were teasing Faith about Charlie, but subtle enough that the boys didn't understand a word of it.
"So you were back doin' what you're really good at last night then?" Dawn said with a cheeky smile. Faith elbowed her.
"Why don't we talk about what you and Draco were doing out?" Faith suggested. Dawn shut up very quickly, but Harry and the Weasley's looked at the couple in question. Faith grinned.
"Touché." Dawn murmured. She hooked her arm through Draco's, and he whispered in her ear. She giggled. Everyone except Hermione and Ginny rolled their eyes.
"Dawnie, come on, we're nearly there." Hermione cried. She grabbed her friend's hand and dragged her away from Draco, skipping towards the town.
"How does she have that much energy at this time on a Saturday morning?" Ron asked yawning.
"Beats me." Said Faith, almost skipping herself, while inside wondering why she was so excited about going shopping with a bunch of teenagers. Of course it was nothing to do with the redhead walking next to her. Harry chuckled at Faith's response. Draco was fighting an internal war- he was walking along with five Weasleys, Potter and a slayer. The latter wasn't such a problem, except that he was getting the feeling she would rip his arms off if he ever came close to hurting Dawn, but the others, he desperately wanted to hate- they were everything he'd been bought up to despise… yet another part of him was yelling, you idiot, stop being so stupid-you're dating a Gryffindor!! Unsurprisingly, this didn't help.
Meanwhile, Dawn was getting her first glimpse of Hogsmeade. Much like in Diagon alley, there were witches and wizards everywhere, dressed in robes of all colours and the shops were all full of witchy looking supplies.
"Cool." Dawn squeaked.
"Here, I'll show you Zonkos- it's incredible!" They headed into the joke shop, just as the others reached the town.
"Hm, its nicer in the day." Faith commented.
"Yeah- I'll show you around." Charlie said.
"Na, that's ok, I'll…" Faith began, autopilot taking over. But Charlie caught her arm as she made to leave, spinning her round towards him.
"Now now, none of that." He said with a grin. He kissed her, and Faith just thanked whoever was listening that the 'kids' had all run off to various shops. She grinned up at him.
"Sorry, habit." They fell into step next to each other, neither knowing that their faces showed pink as their heart beats raced at the mere presence of the other so close by.
(wow, corny. *grins*)
That evening the group crowded into Faith's room after dinner, chatting and discussing Hogsmeade. The boys had final noticed, after spending most of the day with her, that Faith was a whole lot more amiable than they had thought. Not one of them (except Charlie) could have said why she was so much happier, but they all felt strangely relieved. Neville and Luna Lovegood, an odd girl Ginny had befriended had joined them during the day, and both accompanied them in the evening. Harry was glad to notice how different Neville was from the boy he had met so many years ago. He had originally been terrified of Faith, partly simply because she was a slayer, and more so due the rumours that had spread through the school, but even he was laughing with her now. Luna was just fascinated by her, and Dawn too. Dawn kept getting the feeling that the younger girl saw more in her than people. There was just a way she kept looking at her, sort of sad, as if she knew how Dawn had suffered, and the kind of things she'd seen. To be truthful, it freaked Dawn out more than a little.
Fred Weasley, joking away as usual, looked at Faith more often than most. In his eyes, she was the most beautiful creature in the world; but he knew she would never be his. He had always known that, but it didn't stop the tightening of his throat every time she laughed, or the urge to sing every time she smiled at him. He knew for certain his twin would never let him live it down if he found out how bad he'd got it. He wondered now what had produced the change in her attitude. What had changed recently, other than Charlie coming, he could think of nothing. It was then that he noticed who Faith was sitting beside. Then that he remembered how the other girls had been whispering and giggling with Faith all day; and the blushing, and that they'd fought together a few nights ago. Someone said something, and Charlie laughed, obviously joking about Faith. She poked him in the belly, and he caught her hand. They both laughed, wrestling back and forth playfully. How had he not seen this before? The change was Charlie. His brother. Fred felt anger swell within him. How could Charlie do that? Why would he just rub it in his face like that? It was almost half an hour before he remembered Charlie didn't know he even liked her. Fred cursed himself and his idiocy. He never had any sort of chance with Faith, and now she was happy. Doesn't mean I can't be jealous though. He thought with a laugh at himself.
At about ten, Luna said to Faith,
"Excuse me, but there seems to be an owl at your window." Faith frowned,
"Huh?"
"An owl." Dawn repeated, standing up, "Hey! It's owly. How the hell is he back already?" She opened the window, letting the owl in, and holding out he arm. 'Owly' perched on her wrist, and hooted happily as she took the envelope from his beak. Dawn sat back down, passing the owl to Ginny, who loved the small animal.
"It from B?" Faith asked. Dawn nodded- it had to be, it was a muggle envelope. She opened it, and read through quickly:
Heya Dawnie,
I just got your letter. I can't believe this poor thing doesn't have a name yet! The others all say hi. I'm not gonna write much, cos I'm gonna see you sooner than you might think.
That's all I'm gonna say- see ya soon!
Love Buffy.
Dawn frowned.
"What the hell is that supposed to mean!?" Dawn exclaimed, handing the letter to Faith. She too frowned.
"That's weird, even for Buffy." A few of the others read the letter too, and Hermione commented that it was surely impossible for the owl to have gone to and from California in a few days. Dawn was just saying that she was going to write back to ask what the heck she meant, when they heard voices outside the door.
"But that's stupid." Someone said loudly, the voice barely muffled by the portrait. "We had a door before." There was a pause while someone else said something they couldn't hear. "I don't like these pictures- if there's one in our room I'm complaining- they'll watch us have sex."
Many pairs of eyes flew wide in shock, and Dawn gasped,
"Oh my god. I'm gonna kill her."
"Was that…?" Faith said.
"Oh yeah. Oh Buffy is soo dead."
Everyone else was just confused.
"How do we get in?" yet another voice asked.
"Oh move outta the way, you big poofta."
Dawn laughed, all of them watching the door. Maya appeared in an inside picture,
"There is a large group outside." She said grinning.
"Let 'em in." Faith said. Maya nodded, disappeared, and the portrait swung upwards, causing a yelp from one of the group outside.
"Damn thing hit me!" He cried.
"God you're a ninny." Murmured the person at the front of the group now. Dawn grinned.
"Hey Spike."
He smiled, and stepped forwards, only to be thrown back.
"Bugger!" He cried, "What the hell!?"
Faith was grinning.
"Guess this place really does feel like home." She commented. Spike scowled at her as Buffy, Xander, Willow, Tara, Anya and Giles stepped around him and into the room.
"Heya Dawnie." Buffy said with a grin.
"I can't believe your didn't tell me you were coming!" Dawn cried. She leapt up and hugged her sister, then each of the others.
"Er, Hello!" Spike said irritably. They all laughed, even those of the Hogwarts group that didn't quite understand.
"What's up, Blondie?" Faith asked. The scowl got deeper. Faith chuckled. "Come in."
"Thank you." Spike snapped. He came inside, and the portrait snapped shut behind him. Dawn hugged him too, and Buffy turned to look at the group sitting on the sofas, the bed and the floor. Faith was on a large sofa, next to a very good-looking guy. They were surrounded by teenagers of various ages, most looking eager to meet the Sunnydale group.
"Hey B." Faith said, her voice a little more reserved.
"Hey F." Buffy replied. "How are you?"
"I'm good." Faith said. It hit Buffy immediately that she had not said 'five by five'. "You?"
"Yeah, Good." Buffy said nodding.
"So!" Dawn exclaimed, "How come you're here!? I only owled you a couple of days ago!"
Buffy grinned.
"Dumbledore owled a while ago, asking us all to come. We've been here a few days, staying with Giles- I told you he moved back here, right?"
"Yeah, course. But I can't believe Dumbledore didn't tell me!" Dawn raged. Buffy laughed.
"Surprise." Xander said. He looked over the group. "You gonna introduce us?" He asked. Dawn looked a little shocked, and then laughed,
"Oh, yeah… Well, you all know Faith, and Hermione, Draco and Ron. This is Harry- I don't you guys met him before. They're Fred and George, Ron's twin brothers, Ginny, his sister, Neville, Luna, oh, and that's Charlie, another of Ron's brothers." Dawn winked at Buffy. Buffy smiled, nodding to each of them, and appraising Charlie. She now saw that what Dawn had written seemed to be true- Faith was definitely happier than she'd seen her in a very long time. They were sitting very close, as if they were trying to be as close as they could without letting on to the untrained eye. Dawn introduced the SunnyDale group to those who didn't know them, and Faith told them all to find a seat if they could. Maya watched from the periphery, smiling at the now very large group, which contained two slayers, a vampire, an ex demon, two Wiccas, a watcher, and many witches and wizards, all chatting, catching up with old friends and acting like they had not a care in the world.
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Aw. Don't worry, something will actually happen soon. Yes i do realise that this is chapter 41 and we're only at Christmas. Eek. But hey, all the scoobies are here, so things should get more interesting!!