Heya guys, you may not believe this but I'm back!! And I've finished Child of the Key!!! There are two more chapters after this one… I just hope that its not a let down after all this time!! I have just started my second year at university and we just got internet in our house. I suddenly got an urge to write for the first time in ages and voila: this is the result. So yeh, I hope you like…

Chapter 50- Calm before the storm

"All around you… what did you do?" Blaise gasped. They were in the courtyard at lunchtime a few days later- Harry had been slowly recounting their adventures of the past few years- he even told her about Sirius, though not too many details ("you understand? Its just too dangerous, for him and you…") and Harry had reached the events in the graveyard last summer.

"I didn't do much- I just tried to disarm him, at the same time that he yelled Ava…"

"Don't say it!" she cried, caught up in the moment. He grinned, pulling out his wand and pointing it at the empty space opposite him.

"So I tried to disarm him, and the two spells hit each other, linking into a string of golden light. We were lifted off the ground, and moved outside the circle of deatheaters, as the light broke off into tiny strands, forming a dome around us. There were these beads of light between our wands, and somehow I knew I couldn't let them reach mine." He gripped his wand with both hands, dramatically glaring at nothing, then grinning at Blaise. "So I forced them back the other way, until they hit his wand!"

"And?" She squealed excitedly.

"Oh Harry Harry Harry, trying to seduce girls with the fated hero act again?" Ron said, startling Harry out of his little show with a petrified expression. Ron, Hermione, Dawn and Draco cracked up, as they walked out into the courtyard and Blaise grinned, blushing slightly.

"I was just… I…"

"Chill out mate." Ron chuckled, patting him on the back. The group settled on the stone benches, Dawn and Hermione each sitting on their boyfriends' lap despite the ample space. Harry and Blaise were suddenly awkward, each sitting at opposite ends of their bench.

"So- did you get to the me being a big ball of energy bit?" Dawn asked very openly. Blaise looked confused, while the others gaped- she had been so worried about speaking of it before. She shrugged, "Apparently not- probably best saved for a more private place anyway- don't want the big-V finding out now do we?"

"The Big V?" Hermione asked, shaking her head, "You spend way too much time with Faith."

"So basically you guys have a whole lotta shit, huh?" Blaise summarised with an amused grin. The others shrugged and nodded,

"You could say." Harry chuckled.

"Wish my life was that interesting." She sighed.

"No you don't." The other five replied in immediate unison, causing her to laugh.

"Ok, ok, point taken!"

"Shouldn't we be getting to potions?" Hermione said with a grimace.

"Yeah." The others agreed unenthusiastically, "What torture do you reckon Snape has planned this time?" Ron added.

"It could be quite cool actually." Dawn said, gaining bewildered looks from all of them, but she rolled her eyes and forged on, "It's meant to be on potions of transfiguration… y'know like polyjuice and stuff?"

"Wicked, we can bunk then, we made that in second year!" Ron exclaimed happily. Hermione elbowed him,

"No we can't." She scolded, "There are far more complex ones, we're not missing this."

"Besides, Snape would so notice and give us all detention for the rest of our lives if we did." Dawn said .

"Ugh, you're right." Harry agreed, dragging himself up off the seat. The group reluctantly headed inside, moaning all the way.

By the evening they were ready to collapse, curling up in armchairs before the common room fire.

"So… you and Blaise?" Hermione asked Harry with a wry grin. Dawn perked up immediately, grinning from ear to ear. Harry looked positively petrified.

"Me and… huh? What? No! No, of course not… why would you think…"
"Chill out, Harry." Dawn laughed. "I think it's cute."

"I don't know what you're talking about." Harry said slowly.

"Ok." Hermione said, still grinning.

"Fine." Dawn agreed. Ron and Harry exchanged worried looks.

Not far away, in Faith's room, she and Charlie sat together on her sofa, Faith's head rested on his chest. Neither had spoken for a while as they were both deep in thought, but it was becoming clear to Charlie that something was troubling the woman in his arms. He kissed the top of her head,

"You ok?" He asked. She smiled, huddling closer to him,

"Yeah." She sighed, "I'm good."

"Something getting at you?" He changed angle. She screwed up her face in thought,

"Sorta." She admitted. After a pause, she continued, "I think maybe the shits about to hit the fan."

"How d'you mean?"

Faith shook her head,

"I dunno… everything just feels a little… off. My spidy sense is tingling."

"Spidy sense?"

"Muggle thing." Faith chuckled. "And plus… doesn't it seem strange to you that Buffy and the gang have stayed? They said before that they have their own problems back in Sunny D… so why stick around?"

"Unless Buffy feels it too." Charlie said softly, understanding. Faith shifted slightly to look up at him, and nodded slowly,

"Exactly."

"Harry feels it, I think." Charlie added, "Ron says he's spending a lot more time alone, kinda… withdrawn."

"Well there you go then." Faith sighed, "But I just wish we knew what was gonna happen!"

"We'll find out with plenty of time." Charlie assured her.

"And if we don't?" She asked… but Charlie didn't have an answer for that.

Still weeks past without event. Harry spent still more time apart from the others, though more and more frequently Blaise would find excuse to be with him in this time, and this somehow warmed the worried teen. As Easter approached, another terrifying event loomed closer, one that sent Hermione into hyperdrive- the start of their OWLS. Dawn was absolutely positive that if it weren't for Ron, Hermione would have just burnt up in anxiety. The Easter holidays were barely existent- they all stayed at school, and were forced into a strict timetable of revision Hermione had set out. Buffy and the scoobies still stayed, and more and more people began to realise that it was strange that noone even suggested they should be back on the hellmouth. Even Dumbledore never suggested them leaving.

"B." Faith said by way of greeting when Buffy entered her room on the night before the start of the summer term. Faith laid down her book, and looked over at the other slayer, who had just settled on a sofa.

"You feel it too, right?" Buffy said softly. Faith nodded,

"Of course."

"How long do you reckon we have?" Buffy asked. Faith shrugged,

"A few weeks I guess… but it could be less… either way, I'm thinking prevention might be way easier than dealing with the fight this time round."

Buffy gaped for a moment- of course this was what she had been thinking, but for Faith to say it? Faith smirked, knowing what Buffy was thinking, "It's gonna be bad B… really bad. I'm not dumb- I like a good fight, but this time…" She shook her head, "Well… I'm not crazy." They shared a small chuckle at that, and Buffy came out of it nodding,

"Good… I agree. We need to work out what Voldemort is planning, and get in there first."

"Which is gonna be harder said than done."

"I know." Buffy sighed. "I know."

Blaise crept into the library. It was late, and the vast room was dark, silent and creepy. There were minutes until curfew and she really didn't want to be caught out of bed… but there was someone else she didn't want to be caught either. She went straight to the furthest corner of the library where she knew he would be curled up with some book. Sure enough, when she reached the last row, there was the glow of wand light visible at the end.

"Harry?" She called out in a half whisper as she started down. "…Harry?" She repeated when he didn't reply. Swallowing nervously, Blaise reached for her own wand, "Lumos." She murmured, and held the wand aloft to light the end of the row. And there was Harry, his feet up on the next seat, a huge book on his lap, his wand hand laying limply across the pages, and his head lolling as he softly snored. Blaise smiled with relief, and crouched down beside him, shaking him gently, "Harry." She said more firmly, "Wake up Harry." She shook him a little harder and he suddenly woke with a start, his eyes going wide, and his wand aiming at Blaise as his other hand grabbed her wrist. "Harry it's me!" She cried in shock. He gaped at her a moment, before slowly releasing her, breathing shakily,

"Blaise… I… sorry… I was… kinda having a bad dream… I didn't hurt you did I?"

Blaise shook her head,

"No." she sighed. "Harry… you need to get some rest, some real rest…"

"I am." Harry said dismissively, slamming the book shut as he made to get up, avoiding her eyes.

"Harry!" Blaise said with exasperation, grabbing the book off him, "'Advanced defences and jinxes for those in mortal peril'" She read off the title, raising her eyebrows at him, "The best bloody defence you could have right now is to talk to people, Harry… you cant keep shutting yourself out like this… people are worried about you!!"

"Keep out of it Blaise, you don't know what you're talking about." Harry snapped before he'd even considered the words. He immediately regretted them- the look of horror on her face felt like a knife in his gut. She dropped the book and turned stiffly away. "Oh bollocks… Blaise… Blaise wait!" He leapt up and caught her arm, spinning her round, only to find her wand an inch from his nose,

"Get your hand off me, Potter." She snarled.

"Blaise… I'm sorry… I didn't…" He released her arm, sighing deeply, "I'm sorry… I've been a pratt lately… but you cant understand what I'm going through…"

"So tell me then!" She cried, dropping her wand arm. It was only now that Harry realised that there were tears in her eyes.

"I… I can't…" He said in frustration, "I cant explain it… I don't know what it is… I just know its bad, and I don't know if I can stop it! And people are gonna get hurt, and…" He was babbling. Majorly babbling.

"Whoa… Harry!" Blaise cried, reaching out automatically, just wrapping her arms around him and hugging him as tight as she could. He held her back, pressing his face into her hair and breathing erratically, "It's ok…" She said, "It'll be ok…" She stroked his hair and kept reassuring him… she didn't know what else she could do. Eventually he pulled back slightly,

"I'm sorry." He murmured.

"It's ok." She replied, stroking her hand down his hair once more as they pulled out of the hug. She then found that she was looking right into his brilliant green eyes, only inches from them, her hands left frozen on his shoulders. For a long moment neither of them moved… until Harry found that his hand was moving, coming up to touch her cheek tentatively, the gentlest of contacts. Then they were both taking a slight step forward, and Harry swallowed nervously, his other hand finding Blaise's waist and pulling her closer. There was a moment's pause as their hearts both raced, and their breath mingled... and then their lips met. The kiss was deep and sweet, and Harry felt as if all the troubles of recent weeks had evaporated the second her lips touched his. Blaise draped her arms around his neck as they kissed and she felt her heart soar. Part of her had always been afraid that she was imagining what she felt between Harry and herself, and finally that part was put to rest.

Harry didn't know how long it had been when they separated... all he knew was that it was well after curfew… and that he really didn't care.

"I guess we'd better be getting back…" Blaise said in a shaky whisper. Harry nodded,

"I have my invisibility cloak… I'll walk you."

"You don't have to…" Blaise said, but it wasn't very convincing. Harry smiled,

"I'll walk you." He repeated.

They strolled through the darkened school, hand in hand, while each other hand held the cloak around them. They reached the Slytherin common room without any trouble, and Blaise slipped out from under the cloak.

"Thank you." She whispered, and they kissed again, until Blaise giggled. Harry pulled back, a little put out,

"What?" He exclaimed.

"It's just weird…" she said, "I can't see you!"

"Oh!" Harry laughed, "Sorry…" And he pulled her close to him, wrapping the cloak around her again so that they were both invisible to the outside world but they could see each other. She giggled again, and they kissed once more. Finally they separated, and she grinned at him in the darkness,

"See you tomorrow." She whispered. "Good night."

"Good night." He replied. She gave him one last peck, and then turned away, knowing that if they stayed there any longer they were bound to be caught. Harry waited until she was in, grinning when she flashed one last look back at the apparently empty corridor before the door closed. Harry then hurried back towards Gryffindor tower, narrowly missing bumping right into Filch, and resisting the urge to kick his mangy cat. By the time he reached the fifth year boys dorm, Harry realised it was nearly two o'clock in the morning. He crept in as quietly as he could, but just as he reached his bed, he heard a muffled voice from behind Ron's curtains,

"Harry? That you?"

"Yeah, it's me." Harry replied. The next second, Ron's head was sticking out from behind the curtains,

"Where the hell have you been, mate!?

"Library." Harry said truthfully, "I, um… I fell asleep." Which was also not really a lie. Ron shook his head in disbelief… he was worried about his friend these days. But to his surprise, Harry went on… "Ron…" He whispered, "I'm sorry I've been such a wanker recently. I've been having trouble dealing with stuff, and I've kinda been avoiding… well… people really."

Ron smirked, with no idea at all what had inspired this admittance, but thankful for it, what ever it was.

"No worries mate… just remember that we're your friends… we are here for you, y'know?"

Harry nodded,

"Yeah, I know. Thanks."

"No problem. Now lemme get some sleep!"

Harry nodded, holding back a laugh for fear of waking the other boys. He climbed into bed, and fell asleep with ease for the first time in many weeks.