Hi guys

I'm soooo sorry! I cant believe I haven't updated since February! And I have to confess I don't have much more written, but I do have a bit- here's a decent length chapter for you, even if it is largely complied of fluff!

This update is actually all thanks to 'goincrzy', who gave me a major guilt trip via review earlier today!!

So here ya go- I cant promise that there'll be anything more particularly soon, but as always I do intend to finish this eventually!

Thanks for sticking with me, and enjoy…

Chapter 49

Later on, the group split a little, people trying out their gifts or snuggling with their respective beaus. Blaise sat in a corner with a book, a long fluffy scarf she'd been given by Dawn wrapped around her neck despite the warmth of the common room fire.

"Hey… Blaise?" Harry said tentatively, approaching the Slytherin girl.

"Yeah?" She replied, looking up.

"I just wanted to say… sorry. For before… I've been rude… unfairly…"

She snorted a laugh.

"Forget it- we both know that the sitch here is…" She looked over to where Draco and Ron were playing chess, and shook her head, "Pretty weird."

Harry chuckled,

"It really is. But still- I didn't mean to be mean."

"Its fine." Blaise told him. He nodded to her book,

"What you reading?"

"Oh, Northern Lights." She grinned, "Yet again."

"I think I read those at some stage… Dawn forced them on me."

Blaise laughed,

"Yeah, she mentioned liking them."

"But isn't he…"

"No, he's a wizard." Blaise cut him off with a grin.

"Serious?" Harry raised his eyebrows in surprise, "Huh- I didn't know."

"Well duh."

Harry looked awkward. "What?" Blaise asked.

"Well… I, ah… I, well… here." He passed her a bar of Honeyduke's chocolate, and grinned at her shocked expression.

"You… you got this for me?"

"Well… to be honest I got a few spares cos I had this awful feeling I'd forget people… and then I was gonna keep it… but… well, I thought…" He trailed off, feeling very pathetic. Blaise chuckled, and before she could even consider it properly, she stretched up and kissed him on the cheek.

"Thanks." She said. Harry swallowed,

"No, erm…. No problem." He managed to say. She grinned,

"I got you these." She said, passing him a packet of Zonko's new trick sweets. "I wasn't sure whether to… well… y'know." Harry took it, smiling,

"Thanks." He said, wondering whether he should return her gesture… but the moment passed, and he knew it would seem weird now. He forced his smile wider, and looked around, "Er… you wannna… play chess?"

Blaise rolled her eyes and chuckled, but nodded,

"Sure, why not?"

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"So… Good Christmas?" Charlie asked. Faith nodded, smiling,

"Definitely a good Christmas." She replied. They were sitting at the top of one of the towers, Faith leaning back against Charlie while he had his arms about her waist.

"Best Christmas?" he asked with a grin.

"Easily." She answered truthfully. "The last real Christmas I had, I spent Christmas Eve with Buffy's mom, mom-sitting cos Angel went coo-coo."

"Angel?"

"Buffy's ex… long story." She sighed, "It did snow though, for the first time in Sunnydale history."

They were quiet for a minute or two, just looking up at the clear, starry sky. Then Charlie asked quietly,

"Are you happy here?"

Faith hesitated, but not because she wasn't sure. The truth was that the pause was due to her own realisation, and shock, that she knew the answer right away.

"Yes." She said, "I am." She snuggled up to him, and he held her tighter. They both smiled.

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"Slayer?" Spike called out to the solitary figure by the lake.

"What do you want, Spike?" Buffy replied tiredly.

"To know why you're standing outside in the freezing cold, on your own, on Christmas night." He said, walking right up to her side.

"Because I wanted to be alone." She told him.

"No you don't." He said, utterly sure of himself. She gave him a disbelieving look, and he smirked. "You don't want to be alone Buffy. You want to want to be alone, but you cant."

"Spike…"

"No, no, I know we're done, Buffy- I'm not deluded- I'm not looking for no rough and tumble in the snow… I just hate seeing you like this."

Buffy sighed,

"Faith and Charlie are up on one of the towers. Ron and Hermione, and Dawn and Draco are having a sorta couples' chess match…" She laughed hollowly, "Anya and Xander are talking, Wills and Tara… Even Harry and Blaise are hanging together. Fred and George are off somewhere… I have no one to be with, ergo I'm alone."

"You have me." He said quietly, though he anticipated a furious reaction. Instead, Buffy turned a little, and whispered,

"I know. An' I'm grateful…"

"But?"

"But I can't have you anymore. I cant, Spike… I'm sorry."

"It's ok, Love. I've…" he chuckled, "I've accepted that." He wrapped his arms around her from behind, and felt her stiffen. But Buffy knew he wasn't trying to force anything, he was just being there for her, just as she needed, just being a friend, so she soon relaxed back against him, and they stood there, together, at the lakeside.

The rest of the holiday passed relatively uneventfully. Hermione and Dawn had caught on to Blaise's attraction to a certain seeker, and constantly did everything they could to force the two into awkward situations, which were apparently gold in terms of relationship catalysts. ("Xander said so." Dawn explained.) Buffy finally backed off from Draco, now understanding that the boy really did love Dawn- he would never hurt her intentionally. Buffy was still awestruck at the blossoming relationship between Faith and Charlie- she had truly never seen Faith so happy, or so genuine; it seemed that maybe she had found someone who could deal with her past, and love her all the same, someone she could trust no matter what.

Though everyone knew how unlikely it was to last, things around Hogwarts seemed to have settled a bit, and as the new term approached, everyone had high hopes for an abduction-free future.

When school started again, Dawn had expected Buffy and the others to leave, but no mention was made of it and, at least for the moment, the gang seemed happy to stick around. Buffy even decided to sit in on some lessons to see what it was like, and went with Dawn to her first defence against the dark arts lesson of the term, much to Wesley's delight. However, he wasn't quite as happy when she kept making disbelieving comments about creatures, or suddenly saying,

"What bull!" While looking in Dawn's textbook. Eventually, Wesley just stopped, and said,

"Right. Revision lesson. Who can tell me of a way to dispose of a vampire?"

Buffy perked right up. Pavarti's hand shot up,

"A stake through the heart." She declared.

"Sunlight." Said someone else.

"Beheading."

Dawn and the group, including Draco and Blaise, who had moved to their side of the room, sat back and listened, grinning, and waiting for all the boasting Buffy really wanted to do to burst out.

"Anything else?" Wesley asked with a smile that said he was waiting just like them.

"Holy water hurts them." Someone said weakly.

"It kills them too if you get 'em to drink it." Buffy said quickly. The class turned as one to look at her. "Well it does." She said pouting.

"Pencil's are good as make shift stakes too." Dawn added grinning.

"Yup." Buffy agreed. "And if there are bones left after, smash them up, otherwise? Mucho badness." Most of the class was gaping. Buffy smiled sheepishly at Wes, "Sorry." She said.

"Not a problem." Wesley replied. "You see class, Miss Summers here is something of an expert on vampires…"

"Is she a slayer too?" Someone blurted out. Buffy looked annoyed, but nodded when Wes looked her way for permission.

"Yes. Buffy Summers is a slayer."

"Wicked!" Someone cried, but others were frowning.

"That's not possible." Pansy Parkinson snapped.

"Why not?" Wesley asked.

"Because there can only be one slayer. Another only comes when the current slayer dies." She looked scathingly at Hermione, "Everyone knows that."

"So?" Buffy said, doing the dumb blonde routine. "I'm not seeing how that means there can't be two."

"Because once you've died, you're not really gonna be a very effective slayer, are you?" Pansy said. Buffy pouted,

"Well that's not very nice." She looked at Dawn, "I'm still ok, aren't I?" Dawn just grinned.

"You… died?" Pansy said, a little less sure of herself now.

"Yup." Buffy replied brightly, "Twice."

"They knock her down, but she gets up again, they ain't never gonna keep her down…" Dawn sang under her breath, causing the group of friends to burst into peals of laughter.

"But…" Pansy was spluttering, along with many others in the class. "How can you have died… and still… y'know, be here."

"Unless you're a vampire!" Someone cried.

"Or a zombie!"

Buffy rolled her eyes,

"Neither, thanks very much." She replied. She sighed deeply, as if explaining was such a chore. "First time, I got drowned, so I was technically dead for a few minutes before my friend, Xander revived me." ('oh..' a few people murmured) "Then… well second time I was properly dead, for like three months… but my friends did a spell, and resurrected me."

"Ew." Pavarti commented, and several people laughed.

"Not that funny when it's you." Buffy murmured.

"Anybody have any other questions?" Wesley said quickly. Dawn smiled gratefully at him as she too had sensed the bad-topic-i-ness of the conversation.

"What's the hardest fight you ever had?" Dean asked enthusiastically.

"Most difficult?" Buffy said thoughtfully, "I dunno… there's several contestants…"

"Ok, so… like, the biggest." He clarified.

"Biggest bad guy?" Buffy smiled, "That's gotta be the mayor if ya mean physical size."

"The mayor?"

"The mayor of the town where we live. He had this whole evil, I wanna be a demon thing. He did all these rituals and things which basically culminated in him turning into a pure demon- this huge great snake thing." The whole class was listening with rapt attention- even the Slytherins had forgotten to be scathing. "We found out that he planned to do this on my Graduation day- how rude!? Basically meaning that our whole class plus their parents would be there for him to snack on. So we got our entire year group to fight. They all had weapons concealed under their robes, and when the ascension began, and there was an eclipse- so the mayor's vampires were out in force- I yelled 'Now!' and they all threw of their robes- very cool. We had flame throwers, and archers- the vamps didn't know what had hit 'em… but the other thing we'd found out was that the last time one of these snaky demons appeared, it was a lava flow that finally killed him. So we filled the school library with explosives the students now had looks of either disbelieve or awed respect and I had to bait the mayor into following me. I legged it through the school with the snake chasing me, and straight through the library, and I jumped out of the window. As soon as I was out, Giles set of the explosives, and the whole school went up, taking the mayor with it." She grinned excitedly at the students, while Wesley looked a little worried. Buffy then caught up with him… "Oh, but erm, very, very extreme circumstance. No one should ever ever try that, cos… messy… and, erm… dangerous… and maybe not the best story to have told a bunch of school kids…" She grinned sheepishly at Wesley. The class was gaping, open mouthed, apart, of course, from those who already knew all about Buffy and slaying, who were instead grinning widely or trying not to keel over from laughing.

"Thank you for that, Buffy." Wes said stiffly.

"Lighten up, Wes." Dawn said, "It's not like we'd be able to blow up Hogwarts if we tried." More gaping, as most of the students didn't know how well Dawn knew Wesley, and were shocked at her familiar attitude. Dawn rolled her eyes, shaking her head.

"Mouths up." Buffy said cheerily, closing the nearest Slytherin's mouth with a finger. The boy went immediately crimson, but everyone snapped out of it.

"So…" Wesley began, clearing his throat. "If anyone needs expert knowledge on vampires or demons, you know who to ask. Now back to the lesson, without interruptions, please."

Buffy grinned sweetly again.

"Show off." Faith teased.

"I'm not! I just…"

"You were showing off." Dawn agreed.

"I wasn't! I was just giving my opinion on some of the stuff they wrote in that book- it's so totally inaccurate." Buffy said in her own defence.

"Show off." Xander repeated, gaining his intended laughs.

"You woulda done the same!" Buffy snapped to Faith.

"I would not."

"Na- she was more dramatic about it." Dawn said with a grin.

"Huh?" Buffy asked.

"She revealed her demon knowledge by fighting a polgara while riding a thestral- very cool."

Buffy scowled, Faith grinned, and Charlie put his arm around her, saying,

"I've heard that story so many times- I wish I coulda seen it!"

"Bet it wasn't that impressive." Buffy murmured, causing them all to fall about laughing.

A couple of weeks into term, Harry found himself feeling distanced from his friends. Though they had heard nothing from Voldemort, he felt the tension in the air- he knew that sooner or later something would happen, something would click, and he would once again be plunged into the deep end of danger and terror. He knew, somehow, that in the end it would be him that had to face Voldemort. He didn't know whether it was just a feeling within him that after all Voldemort had done to him he needed pay back, or whether it was fated- they would continually be thrown violently together until only one got back up. All he knew was that it would eventually happen- and no one else could understand that.

"Potter?" Blaise asked, frowning as she sat down opposite him. He looked up from his essay briefly,

"Oh. Zabini."

"You ok?" she asked, vaguely amused. He frowned,

"Yeah. Why wouldn't I be?"

"You tell me. You're sitting in the library on your own… I was under the impression you only came here when Hermione dragged you by you hair, kicking and screaming."

He smirked sarcastically,

"Oh aren't you funny." He said without humour.

"Seriously. What's wrong- you look… down."

He raised one eyebrow.

"That's cos the parchment is on the table and I'm not a house-elf. I have to look down."

"Ha. Ha. Ha." She said dryly. Harry sighed, dropping his quill on the table.

"It's really nothing." He said. "I just feel… I dunno… it's like I can feel that sometime soon… all this shit is gonna drop right on us."

"All this… you mean the Voldemort stuff?" She asked, puzzled. Harry hadn't even considered that she knew very little of their exploits. He couldn't believe he hadn't even considered that she didn't know everything. He sighed again,

"Yeah. The… hang on. You said his name!"

"Uh-huh. My dad always said that fear of a name only increases the fear of the perso…" Blaise froze, realising she too had slipped up.

"Your parents…" Harry began, "They're not like most Slytherin parents, are they?"

"No." Blaise said quietly, carefully inspecting a knot in the wood of the tabletop. "They…" She glanced around, "They let people believe they are… but they're on Dumbledore's side really. They seem pathetic enough that Voldemort doesn't consider them a threat, doesn't even imagine that they would have the guts to dobb on him…"

"That's pretty brave." Harry observed.

"Or pretty stupid." She shot back bitterly.

"It'll be ok." Harry said, reaching out unconsciously to rest a comforting hand on her forearm. "This'll all be over soon enough."

"Will it?" She asked, "I really don't know, Harry. Even when he was hit with the curse that deflected off of you, he didn't die!"

"There must be a reason." Harry said, "And we'll find it, and we'll stop him."

"We? You honestly believe you can do a thing in this, Potter?"

"I don't think I have a choice- he keeps coming after me."

"All the rumours then… they're true?"

"Erm…"

"About Quirrel, The Chamber of Secrets, Sirius Black…. And… and about last year, after the tournament…"

"Yeah." Harry said tiredly, "I mean, I don't know exactly what you've heard, but…" He looked over at her, their eyes meeting. Part of Harry couldn't believe he was even considering telling her the whole lot, but he quashed it, looking fairly into her eyes, judging whether he really could trust her. She knew what he was doing, and he took so long that her expression began to fall into sorrow, almost betrayal… "Ok, I guess I'll have to start at the beginning…" Harry began suddenly. Blaise beamed.

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Don't know that I have any right to ask, but please review!! (hehe, maybe it'll inspire me to get a bit more done, huh?)