AN: Can it be? Can it ibe/i? Is this the fabled chapter ten where we see some Buffy/Draco action and Harry and Pansy show up?

It is, and if you people would actually read my author notes, you would know that instead of making my eye twitch with asking me. I don't write these things for my own amusement. Just as the people who still review asking me to update soon make me want to slap them down and read the bit that I say I update every Tuesday night/Wednesday morning.

That being said, this is the official half-way point. The fic is halfway done chapter wise, but content wise, well. We're just getting started.

Since next week is Thanksgiving, there is a good chance chapter eleven will be posted Sunday or Monday, or even early Tuesday. Thanksgiving is a big deal to me, mostly because I'm the one who cooks the damn dinner. It takes me about eight to nine hours preparing, and I get up around six am on Thursday to actually put things in the oven. I even take off work on Wednesday to cook. That being said, posting this will not be at the front of my mind. If I forget, I'm sorry. I have beta approval (smooches Jacy) to post the next chapter early, so who knows.

Anyhoo, enjoy chapter ten, and don't hate me too much when you get done reading.

………………………..

Buffy was still seething mad when she slammed the door and headed straight up to her bedroom. Dawn was spending the night at a friend's house, so Tonks was able to bunk in her room again. When she got to the top of the stairs, a figure came out of her mother's old room.

"Willow, you didn't have to wait up for me."

Her friend gave her a sheepish smile. "I didn't. I heard the door slam so I thought it was you. I just wanted to check, you know, in case some big bad decided to sound like an angry slayer coming up the stairs."

Buffy sighed and tried to loosen her muscles. "I hope I didn't wake everyone up. I need to get some clean clothes from my bedroom. You don't think Draco's awake, do you?"

Willow shrugged. "I know he said Tonks sleeps like the dead, so you probably didn't wake her up. Just don't kill him if he is awake."

"I won't." Buffy turned to her room and eyed the closed door. "I'm going to grab my stuff and take a shower. Go back to sleep and I'll be in there when I'm done. Hopefully I won't wake you up when I'm through."

"Trust me, I'll be out like a light, which doesn't make sense because a light is bright." Willow's babble was broken up by a wide yawn. "G'night, Buffy."

The slayer waited until Willow went back into the bedroom before she made her way to her own door. The possibility of a blow-up was high. She took a steadying breath and slowly pushed open the door. The lamp on her bedside table was on, and to her surprise, Draco was sitting on the bed, fully dressed. It looked like he hadn't even pulled down the covers.

"Have you stayed up all night?" Buffy asked incredulously as she closed the door. Not even waiting for an answer, she marched over to her dresser to pull out pajamas she could put on after her shower.

"I have, actually," Draco replied. He didn't move from his spot on the bed, instead settled on watching her move about her room. "I wanted to talk to you."

"I have nothing to say to you." Buffy grabbed a towel from the inside of her closet and started to go back to the hallway. She stopped when Draco laughed.

"That's a flat out lie. You're dying to bitch at me for the stunt I pulled tonight, when it was actually purely research on my part. You think I did it just for the hell of it."

Buffy spun around and glared at Draco. "Yes, I do. I think you used the excuse of getting Willow out of the house so that you could get off on being violated by a human-sized leech!"

Draco's eyebrows shot up. There was a story there. The passion and fire she felt was not stemmed by personal conviction, but by hurt. This situation had happened before, and judging by the set of her jaw and the slight shaking of her shoulders, the person who had done this was close to her.

"Who was it?"

Buffy blinked. "What? The leech? I don't know; it was a random vampire."

"No, who did that to you? Who chose the vampire over you?"

She had to consciously remember to breathe before she became dizzy. Had someone told him about Riley? "What?" she asked softly before marching forward towards the bed. "Who told you? Was it Willow? Did she tell you?"

The fact that it bothered her so much told Draco it was a personal issue. She was far too angry to think about it now, though. He could feel the hate pouring off her skin, not for the person who betrayed her but for the vampires who had stolen this special someone.

"Go take your shower, think about it, and then if you want to talk, I'll be here and stay up. If not, go into the other bedroom and forget I ever asked. I won't mention it again and I won't ask anyone for details."

Buffy was taking deep breaths and didn't take her eyes from Draco's. She could tell he was very curious, but was being honest at the same time. Without saying a word, she spun on her heel and left the room.

As she entered the bathroom and put her clothes on the counter, she looked in the mirror. Tonight had disturbed her more than she cared to admit. She thought she was over the hurt Riley had done to her. It had been over a year ago. He was married and happy, and they had put the past behind them. But that didn't stop her from still feeling the devastation that had washed over her the moment Spike motioned her through that door.

After turning on the shower, she stripped and observed a fresh bruise on her rib cage that extended to her back. Her anger made her vulnerable sometimes, and tonight had been no exception. A demon had gotten in a lucky shot while she was pummeling another one and sent her into a tree. She would be sore for a few days.

The shower felt nice, and the scalding water washed away the grime that came from being tossed about in a graveyard. As she washed out her hair, Buffy's thoughts turned to Draco. He claimed he knew what he was doing, but Riley probably would have said the same thing.

She finished the shower and dried off, changing into her pajamas. She delayed going into her bedroom by extending her nightly routine. After she had exfoliated her skin for the tenth time, Buffy sighed. Draco said she could just not even go into the bedroom, but deep down she knew that wasn't an option. They were going to have to talk about this.

Hoping that Draco had fallen asleep was probably useless. He didn't need sleep and she didn't think she'd ever seen him asleep the entire time he'd stayed in her house. Pushing open the door to her bedroom, her shoulders sagged when she saw that Draco was still up and reading a book.

He was lounging on her bed like he belonged there, propped on his side and reading the pages intently. When she entered, he looked up, but there was no change on his face; he was studying her like he had been studying the words of the book.

"You decided we can talk about this," he said.

"I did. I want to clear up anything you might be thinking." For the first time she had gotten back from patrol, the Draco she was familiar with emerged when he smirked.

"And what, pray tell, am I thinking?"

Buffy just crossed her arms defensively. "I have a problem with humans being voluntarily bitten by vampires," she said, completely dodging his question. "And before you ask, yes, it's because I know someone who went to a vampire whore to be bitten."

Draco sat back on the bed. "Who was it? And why did they go?"

She wasn't comfortable telling him about her love life, but she had an urge to get it through Draco's head that what he had done was dangerous.

"His name was Riley. He was a demon hunter and we had a relationship for a while. Two years ago, Dracula came to town and—"

"Bullshit," Draco interrupted with a grin. When Buffy did not nothing but raise an eyebrow, the grin disappeared and was replaced with a shocked look. "You've got to be kidding. iThe/i Dracula? The one from the books and cinema?"

"Yes, now don't interrupt. He…" Buffy took a deep breath and turned her head away from Draco. Her eyes fell on the window she had left cracked to let in cooler air that night—the same window Dracula was able to come in through, completely disregarding the invite-only rule that applied to all other vampires. "He got in the house using his mist-y abilities or whatever, and got into my bedroom."

This time it was Draco's eyebrow that shot up. "Are you trying to tell me he seduced you?"

"No!" Buffy immediately defended herself. "Well, not seduce as in we got to know each other in the Biblical sense of the word, but…" She finally just gave up. "He put me under his thrall. He bit me."

Draco was still very skeptical. "A vampire bit iyou/i. How are you not dead?"

"It was a taste. He didn't want to kill me."

"You walked away from a vampire bite. That's impressive."

"Three," Buffy corrected quietly.

He blinked. "Three? You've been bitten three times? By whom?" Buffy paused, and Draco winced. "That was incredibly crass of me. I realize that's personal. You don't have to tell me."

"The first was a vampire called the Master," she began. There was no turning back now. Buffy decided to make herself comfortable and finally went to sit on the bed next to Draco. She put her back to the door to fully face him. There was no teasing on his face, and so she knew that he would keep her secrets. "It was written in a prophecy that the Slayer's blood would free him from his underground prison. I went and he drained me nearly dry. I fell into water and I drowned because I was unable to pull myself out. Xander gave me CPR and saved me. I was sixteen."

Draco felt a large amount of respect for Buffy. He also had the thought that she and Potter would probably get along too well. Both had a hero complex and both were faced with death too often.

"Two years later, Angel was poisoned. Angel was—"

"I know who he is," Draco said softly. "Giles told me a bit about him. Just the basics; you don't need to explain further." He knew what a sore subject Angel was to her and didn't want to approach it in depth. She was being very open and Draco knew that talk of her first lover would just make her close up.

Buffy nodded, grateful that she wouldn't have to go in depth about him. "He was poisoned, and slayer blood was the only cure. I let him bite me to save himself. I knew that he would stop in time. Obviously, he did. And then came Dracula, which brought on the trouble with Riley."

Draco stayed silent and waited for her to continue. Just as he had told her some dark secrets of his past a few days ago, she was sharing now.

"Riley found out that I had been bitten. He thought I let Dracula bite me, which I didn't." Buffy looked up with panic. Did Draco think she had let Dracula bite her? Riley hadn't understood what being under the thrall entailed. "The thrall—I was powerless to stop it."

"I know. I've been under a variant of a vampire's thrall. It's called the Imperious curse. If you're under it, you feel like you're floating on air. There's a voice that commands you to do something, and everything will be fine if you obey the voice. There's no reason to disobey."

She breathed a sigh of relief. He did understand. "Well, Riley was feeling reckless. He was ex-military, and I think he just needed a rush. He thought that I enjoyed getting bitten, and so he found a nest of vampires who only drink from willing victims. I walked in on him with a vampire draped across his lap latched onto his arm."

It was quiet in the room. "And you thought that I was feeling reckless and wanted a vampire bite?" Draco grinned at her and reached to the bedside table, where a piece of paper was folded to hide the contents.

"This is a letter from a premiere potions master in England asking me to take the Ashwinder eggs to see if they affect vampires when ingested. He sent over the eggs along with some guidelines on how to handle them, as if I couldn't remember, and I've already made up a detailed report to send back to him. Putting it in my blood with holy water and being bitten was the only way I could think of to test it out. I had planned on going on my own, but I figured having two witches and a vampire slayer as back-up was a good plan."

Buffy read the letter. It was very formal in a loopy script, but what Draco told her was true. "I'm sorry I overreacted. I just, I thought of Riley and I kind of lost it." Draco took back the letter and smiled at her.

"So… sorry. How's your neck?" As soon as she asked the question, her brow furrowed. She could clearly see the marks on his neck, but they were faded scars like hers, not fresh puncture wounds like they should have been. "What the hell?"

Draco smirked and tilted his head so she could see his neck easier. "Healing charm. I'm pants at them, but I don't mind the scar. It doesn't hurt and if I really need to, I can just charm the skin to look flawless. Mind if I see your battle scars?"

Buffy had leaned forward to look at his neck but leaned back, taking a deep breath. She pulled aside her hair and angled her hair so he could get a better look.

He moved closer to her to view the scars on her neck. There were clearly three different puncture sites, but they were very close together. "Do you want me to conceal them? It's a simple charm that Willow can keep up easily after I leave."

She shook her head. "I think it'd be too weird looking in the mirror and not seeing them. They're a part of me. I don't want to cover them."

There was an easy silence between the two of them. Buffy stood with a sigh. "It's late. I should probably get to bed."

"Stay."

She looked down in surprise. "What?"

"Willow's probably asleep. She's been doing magical exercises before bed, and those plus the cloaking she did tonight wore her out. Let her sleep in. It's probably time you got your own bed back anyway."

Buffy was still staring at Draco in shock. "Are you going to take the floor or the couch or something?"

He snorted. "I don't think so. Sofas are terrible for sleeping on and the floor is too hard. I can be an adult and stay on this side of the bed."

It wasn't him she was worried about. It was iher/i. But backing out would just make him suspicious and so that's how she found herself under the covers on the right side of her bed, trying not to fall off. Draco was on top of the covers lounged on the opposite side. Buffy tried to relax and release the tension in her muscles, but it was difficult.

Draco could feel the tension in her muscles from the other side of the bed. She wasn't going to fall asleep unless she relaxed. "Any other scar stories you have?" he asked.

Buffy turned over to look at Draco curiously. "Seriously? You want to trade horror stories? You realize I'm a walking bruise, right?" She started to turn over all the way but winced when her body weight rested on her bruised ribs. "Like right now. Ow."

He sat up with a concerned expression. "Were you injured tonight? Let me see."

"What? No." She realized that she was sounding a lot like Dawn when she denied something and quickly changed her tone. "I heal fast. It's fine."

"You're more like Potter than I originally thought. He claims a gaping hole in his thigh is a flesh wound, and I'm sure that you would as well. Let me see," Draco said in a firm voice.

Buffy sighed. She had no doubt there were ways to make her be still while he looked at her injury, so she rolled back over and lifted her camisole top. She shivered when his cold hand touched her skin lightly. His hand skimmed over the bruise until it reached the top of her sleep pants. Slowly, he moved the fabric down to view the whole bruise. This time when she shivered, it had nothing to do with his cold skin.

Draco looked over her ribs and internally winced. The skin was purple and blue, but the edges were already gaining a yellow-green tint. "Did you get punched by a tree?"

"Got thrown into one by a demon's fist. Same concept." Buffy winced when Draco prodded the area. "Hey, just because I heal easily doesn't mean I'm immune to pain. Watch it!"

He snickered. "Stop whining. Do you want this thing healed or not?"

Buffy looked over her shoulder in alarm. "You said you weren't good at healing charms."

"Healing charms, no. This is a bit different. It's a bruise. I can do a pain-relief charm and concealment." He pulled out his wand and cast a mild pain-relief charm on the area that was bruised. What he didn't tell her was that he was an expert in different blood curses and charms. One simple charm to mend the broken capillaries plus a cast to have the blood absorb back into the veins had her skin looking just as flawless as before.

Draco couldn't resist moving his hand over her bare skin one last time before he pulled away and moved back to his side of the bed. "There. It might be a bit sore for a day, but other than that, it's good as new."

Buffy sat up quickly and looked at her healed side. "Wow. I'm impressed." It was a little sore like he'd said it would be, but the skin looked fine and it wasn't as tender.

"I've had enough bruises and scrapes in my life. The healers finally taught me a few tricks to save them time. Plus, I'm vain as hell sometimes. I think they got tired of my bitching at them when they didn't heal me correctly." He lay down on the bed and got comfortable, closing his eyes. "Night, Summers."

She had a small smile on her face as she watched him prepare to sleep. Buffy rolled back over and got comfortable herself. Tonight she would sleep well.

………………

Buffy woke with a start. It was still dark outside, and a glance at the clock showed she had only been asleep for a few hours, but that didn't stop her body from waking her up. She needed to go to the bathroom, but when she tried to sit up, she found that an arm had her pulled firmly against a warm body at her back.

After debating on whether to get up or not, Buffy decided she really had to go to the bathroom and would have to risk waking Draco up and having a potentially awkward conversation. Luckily, when she moved his arm away from her, he moved onto his stomach and stayed asleep, his arm curled under him. She quickly escaped to the bathroom, hoping he'd stay asleep.

When she came back into the room, Draco had moved again, but he was on his side facing away from her. Buffy would miss the contact, but quietly got back into bed. The summer air was stifling, and she chanced sleeping on top of the covers with Draco.

As soon as she had gotten comfortable, Draco moved swiftly. He rolled over and grabbed her arm, pulling her onto her back. Buffy looked up at Draco in shock as he settled on top of her and smirked down at her. "I hope you weren't uncomfortable earlier. I was quite cozy and hated being woken up when you moved."

Buffy was breathing erratically as she stared up at Draco. He moved aside her hair and rubbed the vampire bites scars on her neck. She could feel her pulse speed up and heat radiated from every touch of his hand. "What are you doing?"

"Testing the waters," he replied gently, his hand now running across her collarbone.

The motions were driving Buffy mad. She arched up into him and watched as his eyes closed, his breaths coming faster. "Consider them tested." Buffy reached behind his head and grabbed his neck, pulling him down into a deep, passionate kiss. One of her legs wrapped around his waist and his arm reached under her back, increasing the contact between them. They broke apart, breathing heavily, but Draco immediately started to kiss down the side of her face. As they rocked together on the bed, Buffy gasped and closed her eyes as Draco lightly bit her neck right over her marks.

When she moaned, Draco pulled back and smirked down at her. "Wouldn't you just hate to wake up right now?"

When her eyes shot open, Draco wasn't on top of her. She was lying on her side, facing her bedroom wall, under the covers. As Buffy got her breathing under control, she realized it had been a dream. Draco's arm wasn't around her. She peeked over her shoulder and saw that Draco wasn't even facing her and was far on the other side of the bed. The time was different on the clock. It wasn't hot in the room; in fact, it was freezing. Battling disappointment and restlessness, she forced herself to relax and go back to sleep.

It was harder than she thought it would be.

…………….

"Oh. My. God."

Buffy groaned and tried to turn away from the annoying voice. She snuggled back into her pillow and mumbled for the noise to go away.

"Willow! Buffy and Draco are having post-sex snuggles!"

i"What?"/i

"Dawn, shut up!" Buffy groaned. She tried to open her eyes, but the sun was streaming right onto her bed. "Close the curtains and go away. I'm trying to sleep."

Suddenly, her pillow moved and she had a sinking feeling that she knew why Dawn was being very loud and screeching. Unlike when she had gone asleep earlier, Buffy was turned iinto/i Draco, and his arm was keeping her anchored there.

"Make her stop or I will, and she won't like my methods," Draco murmured, still half-asleep.

He hadn't realized the position he and Buffy were in. One of her legs was scissored in between his and her arm was thrown over his midsection. That potentially awkward conversation she had feared in her dream was coming true.

Buffy heard a gasp.

"Buffy! You denied smoochies yesterday! You liar!" Willow said with a grin.

"Oi, what's this?"

Buffy slowly pushed away from Draco, trying to ignore the fact that she had been cuddled up to the man she had been raging mad at the night before. The temptation to cover her head with a pillow and never leave the bed was high.

Draco rolled over and stretched, glaring at the sun. In the middle of the night he had woken up freezing and gotten under the covers. He kicked them off, the sun warming the room. When he turned to the doorway, his eyebrows shot up. "What's with the three of you?"

Dawn, Willow, and Tonks were in the hallway grinning.

"Don't worry. They didn't shag," Tonks said, nudging Dawn.

"What?" Draco asked, turning to Buffy. "Of course we didn't shag. We just stayed up talking after she got back from doing her rounds. Instead of waking up Willow, she stayed in here."

His cousin snorted. "He's still in his pants. That's how you know they didn't shag."

That didn't deter the Dawn, who still had a large smile on her face before she turned to Tonks.

"It's going to be iso/i cool being related to you!" she said before dashing off.

Willow laughed at the murderous expressions on Buffy and Draco's face before closing the door that Dawn had barged in on. She'd figured Buffy had just slept in her own bed, but she had no idea Draco was going to be in it with her. Dawn also hadn't followed Willow's suggestion of 'go in quietly to get your things then right back out'.

"I'm going to kill her," Draco growled out, rubbing the sleep off his face.

"Not before I do," Buffy replied, glaring at the door her sister had gone through.

It was quiet once again in the room. Buffy slowly sat up and stretched. Despite not getting much sleep and waking up in the middle of the night, she had slept well. She tensed when she felt Draco stand up.

"How's your side?"

Buffy turned to face him before the words registered in her mind. "Oh! I barely feel it." She lifted up the side of her top. The skin looked like it had before her run in with the demons. "Thanks for healing it. It would have taken a few days for it to look like it does now."

He just smirked at her and turned to the small bag of things he had brought with him. She just about had a heart attack when she saw that little black bag after Draco claimed he'd put a lot of clothes and things he'd need in it, but when he showed her it was bottomless, her mind started thinking of ways she could get her hands on a bag like that.

Her thoughts of re-arranging her closet went out the window when Draco stripped off his shirt and dug around for a new one. There were some scars along his skin from where he had been tortured at the hands of the enemy, but all it did was add character to him. Buffy momentarily pouted when the clean shirt went on.

With her view gone, she went to her own closet and grabbed the first outfit she saw, darting into the hallway to grab the bathroom. For being a male, Draco spent an abnormally long time in the bathroom.

Now that she was finally alone, perhaps she could catch her breath. As she closed her eyes, her dream swam into focus. Draco's hand rubbing at her sides, his lips caressing her skin, and his eyes when he looked down at her…

Or maybe she would be breathless until he left. She was fine with either.

…………………

It had been a week and a half since Tonks had left and Buffy had her dream about Draco. After that night, she hadn't returned to her bed, instead staying in the master bedroom with Willow. The witch kept teasing her that she'd be more than happy to take Buffy's smaller bed while Draco and Buffy made better use of the master bedroom, but the slayer would just glare at her. It didn't help that Dawn was not-so-subtlety trying to throw them together, either.

Things were finally getting quiet. Draco had been communicating with his friends, Pansy and Harry, and they were due to arrive in another week. Buffy wasn't sure how she felt about that.

There was a fondness in Draco's voice when he spoke of Pansy. Giles said that they had grown up together and were very close, but she tried to keep that in perspective. It was probably the same relationship she had with Xander. Both of them were just friends and were close because of the situations they had been put in.

Willow came into the kitchen where Buffy was writing down a grocery list. Or she had been trying to. She was easily distracted these days. Especially when Draco was in the room.

"Hey! What're you doing?" Willow asked cheerfully as she went to the refrigerator.

"Making the food list. I figured I'd go ahead and get a few things so we don't all starve to death."

Willow began pushing random cartons and take-out containers out of the way. "Do you have eggs and milk on your list?"

Buffy looked down. "Yes, I do, along with sandwich meat and that pickled relish Draco likes." She made a face. He criticized the food that they ate, but some of the things he called food were strange. If it weren't for the fact that he claimed he couldn't cook to save his life, she would force him to cook them a real meal. When she had challenged him to a cook off, all he'd done was smirk and told her to 'wait for Potter'. Apparently, he could cook real food.

Willow straightened and closed the refrigerator. "Can I come with? I'm antsy today."

Always glad to have Willow with her when she went out, Buffy nodded. "Sure. Let me grab my keys and let's head out."

They both headed to the foyer. Buffy grabbed her keys and peeked into the living room where Dawn was watching television. Giles was categorizing weapons he had received in a shipment from England.

"Dawnie, I'm going to the store. Need anything else besides all the crap you put on the list?" Her sister waved her on and Buffy shrugged. If Dawn bitched that she'd missed something, she'd deal with it later. "What about you, Giles?"

Her watched looked up, his glasses slightly askew. "No, no. I'm fine. Thank you though."

As Willow opened the door, both women stopped short when they saw Xander with his hand poised to knock on the door.

"I love it when you ladies read my mind," Xander said with a grin which disappeared when both Buffy and Willow glared at him. "What?"

"Nothing, Xander. We're going to the store to get food. Want to come?" Willow asked as they walked onto the porch and shut the front door.

Xander put his arms around both Buffy and Willow's shoulders. "Of course I would. Shall I escort you lovely ladies in my chariot?" Buffy elbowed Xander in the abdomen, making him wince. "I'll take that as a no?"

"You're such a goofball," Willow said, grinning at him. He opened the door for both Buffy and Willow before running over to his side of the car. He got in, started the car and they drove off, not noticing two pairs of eyes watching from the shade of a tree across the street.

The pair waited until the car was out of sight before crossing the road to the Summers' house. They approached the door and rang the doorbell, waiting.

Giles looked up when the doorbell rang. He'd seen Buffy grab her keys, so it couldn't have been her at the door. She was more likely to come around the back anyway. He stood, wincing as his knees protested. Dawn didn't even glance at him, still glued to the television.

"No, don't worry. I'll get it," he said dryly as he made his way into the foyer.

Dawn looked up at him then. "Huh?"

Giles just rolled his eyes and motioned her back to the television. With a sigh, he opened the door, his eyes widening in surprise.

Pansy Parkinson was standing on the porch with her arm wrapped around a very uncomfortable Harry Potter's shoulders, the grin on her face letting Giles know she knew exactly how unnerved she made him.

"Hello, Rupert."

……………………

Um, so yeah. End for the chapter. Now remember, I told you guys in the author note of chapter nine that you would love and hate me for this chapter, but you promise you don't hate me too much, right? At least you're getting chapter eleven a bit early and NOT waiting a full two weeks like I originally planned. That's just cruel, right? *grins*

P.S. To those of you who leave me reviews on , if you don't leave a signed review (aka sign in to review) I can't reply to them, although most of the unsigned review questions could have been answered if people who read my notes at the beginning of the chapters. D'oh.