Chapter 13

Three weeks had passed since Buffy had started classes. Three weeks of constant tutoring, with only one day of structured teaching off per week. In those three weeks, Buffy had discovered that she had a knack for Transfiguration and Potions, surprisingly enough, and did abysmally at Charms. She needed the least help in Defence Against the Dark Arts, although she didn't let on to keep her new friends from getting too suspicious. Divination had proved useful, to a point, as she was getting pretty good at interpreting her dreams. The only day she had off from tutoring was on Sunday, and that was mostly because that was when the Gryffindor Quidditch team practiced, and all of her friends were either on the team, or would come down to the Quidditch pitch to watch the team run drills. Buffy would follow, bundled up in as much winter wear as she could find, and toted a text book with her so that she could keep up with her studying, trying not to think how pleased Giles and Willow would have been if they knew how hard she was working to keep her grades up.

The one tutoring session she really, truly looked forward to was her extra Potions lessons, oddly enough. As soon as she and Tom entered that room, the houses were forgotten, and they were Tom and Buffy, two sixth years studying potions together. Buffy's "spidey-sense" still went a little haywire around him, but she had noticed the feeling intensifying when she was around stronger witches and wizards. It was the same when she was with Dumbledore and, to a lesser degree, Minerva. The rest of the people she spent time with kept her senses at a low buzz at all times, and Buffy blamed it on the magic all around the school. She figured that if she stuck around long enough, she'd be able to differentiate between the different feelings she got.

"Hey Tom?" Buffy asked, chewing on her lip nervously. It was yet another Potions tutoring session; that particular evening, they were working on the assignment given in class the previous day. After the success of Buffy's potion on the first tutoring session, Tom had decided that some nights he would set a lower level potion for Buffy to brew, but most nights they would just work on their Potions homework together. "Can I ask you a question?"

"You've just done so, but I suppose I could allow one or two more," Tom replied with a smirk.

"You said that you wanted to get to know me," Buffy began, hoping that her words didn't sound too strange. "Why?"

"Well, who wouldn't?" Tom replied. "I mean, it's not every day a new student that isn't a first year starts at Hogwarts. The fact that you arrived in the middle of term makes it all the more intriguing. Haven't you noticed the attention you've been getting?"

"Um, no?" Buffy replied. She had no idea what he was talking about. She'd spent so much time studying and spending time with her small, central group that she didn't really have much interaction with other houses or years outside of classes, except for her tutors. Tom, of course, was covering Potions, and Felicia, the Hufflepuff she had sat with on her first day of Divination, helped her out when she could with various Divination topics. One-on-one, the girl was very sweet and a very good teacher, explaining the concepts and techniques in plain terms that seemed to be lost on Madam Trelawney.

"You honestly haven't noticed the attention?" Tom asked, astonished.

"When you have your nose in a book as much as I do, you tend not to notice anything else," Buffy replied with a small sniff.

"With the amount of reading you do, I'm surprised you haven't been mistaken for a Ravenclaw yet," Tom retorted with a smirk.

"I'm just doing enough to that I can keep up!" Buffy exclaimed. "If I'd gotten a quote-unquote proper magical education, I wouldn't need to do all of this reading or have a crack team of tutors trying to shove as much information as possible into my head. Thank God I don't need a lot of sleep, otherwise I'd be acting like a zombie or something."

"And I'm very thankful that you need all of this help," Tom replied. Buffy just arched an eyebrow. "What? If you didn't need tutoring, I wouldn't have been asked to help you. This means that I wouldn't have been able to get to know you, which also means that I would not have come to the conclusion that not all Gryffindors are mindless idiots. The fact that I get to share my vast knowledge in Potions is just a bonus."

"You shouldn't paint us all with the same brush," Buffy said with a huff.

"I said not all!" Tom defended himself. "There's one or two I can put up with for more than five minutes before I want to hex them."

"I feel so loved when I spend time with you," Buffy deadpanned as she gathered up her books.

"Where are you going?" Tom asked as he watched Buffy pick up her things. "Curfew's not for another hour yet, and I thought you wanted to go over the whys and whatfors of the Polyjuice Potion again."

"It's going to have to wait until next time, Tommy-boy, because Minerva promised to have one last look over my Transfiguration essay before I hand it in tomorrow."

"Until next time then, Miss Summers?" Tom asked.

"Of course, Mr. Riddle," Buffy replied with a small half smile. She checked her bag one last time, making sure everything where it should be before she slung it onto her shoulder.

"Are you sure you don't want me to walk you to your dorm?" Tom asked as he stood, gathering his things as well. "It's my night to patrol, so it can be on my way if I choose to patrol in that general area."

"I've made it safely back before, I'm sure I can do it again," Buffy replied with a slight roll of her eyes. "And I've been getting pretty good with the hexes, so if anyone gives me any trouble, I'll hit 'em with a leg locker curse before running away."

"Well, if you're sure," Tom said, his voice uncertain.

"Yes, I'm sure," Buffy said confidently with a smile. "See you next week."

"Yes, next week," Tom agreed, and Buffy turned and left the room, practically skipping as she went.

It was odd, really. She and Tom seemed to get along great, and Buffy gathered from nearly everyone she spoke to that Slytherins and Gryffindors did not get along. Ever. Even after students left Hogwarts, the house prejudices still stood, especially during the first few years after graduation. Her opinion of the House system was decreasing by the day, not that it was high to begin with.

It was also the reason why she kept her affiliation with Tom a semi-secret. While her friends knew she was being tutored by Tom, they didn't know about the almost-not-quite-but-maybe friendship that was beginning to form. She knew what her friends thought of him, although they didn't really discuss Slytherins most days. She was certain that she would be questioned within an inch of her life if they found out that she was willingly associating with a Slytherin, and she really didn't want to deal with the why's and the how's. Not yet.

Buffy hadn't gotten far from the work room before she felt something was off. She'd walked this corridor before, both with her friends and on her own, and until now she had felt perfectly safe. However, this evening was different. There was something that was making her skin crawl, and it was in such a way that she knew it wasn't just the general hum under her skin from the amount of magic in the area.

Cautiously, Buffy advanced down the corridor, the feeling intensifying as she went. She stopped in front of the door, the hum under her skin intensifying tenfold as she did so. Part of her, the Slayer part of her, was telling her to go in, investigate and slay, because something that made her skin crawl like that couldn't be of the good. The other part, the human part, the one that wanted to freak out about vampires, was telling her to run away as fast as she could.

It's obvious what side won.

Pushing the door open, Buffy was faced with a pitch dark room. Hearing something banging around in the corner, she took her wand out and went to investigate.

"Lumos," she whispered, glad for the handy little light spell. In the corner of the room was a storage cupboard. It was rocking and there were banging noises coming from it, as if someone or something had been locked inside and was trying desperately trying to get out. Reaching out, Buffy moved to open the door, only to have it pushed open before she could touch the doorknob. A tall, striking figure stepped out of the cupboard. Buffy started at his feet, taking in the designer shoes, dress pants, expensive shirt and leather jacket, before her eyes finally made it to the figure's face. What she saw there made her gasp in surprise.

"A-Angel?" she stammered, staring at him in disbelief. "Why? How?"

"It's me Buffy, I'm here," the person wearing Angel's face said. He moved to hug her. "I'm back, I'm safe."

"What are you doing here?" Buffy asked, her voice small as she took a step back. This couldn't be real, this wasn't real. She'd been thrown back in time, and while she now knew that portal travel through time was entirely possible, if unstable, the odds were stacked against Angel ending up in the exact same place, at the exact same time period she was in.

Something was definitely wiggy here.

"I came back," Angel replied simply. "I fought hell beasts and torture for years to come back to tell you something."

He advanced on Buffy, causing her to take steps back until she couldn't back up any more, having bumped into the wall. Angel closed the distance between them, leaning down to whisper in her ear.

"You're going to pay dearly for sending me to hell," he hissed in her ear before she felt his face shift into its demonic visage. She didn't have time to react when a pair of fangs viciously tore into her jugular. Buffy did the first thing she could think of.

She screamed.

She could feel the blood draining from her neck as she struggled, but she was unable to throw Angel off. He was bigger, he was stronger, and he had the advantage of having her pressed against the wall. However, Buffy was still a fighter and she fought tooth and nail to get the vicious vampire off of her. One great shove and Angel was off of her, stumbling a little. It was enough for Buffy to get in a powerful kick, her Mary Jane-clad foot colliding with his chest with such force that Angel went flying across the room, colliding with the storage cupboard. As he recovered, Buffy could hear the sounds of running footsteps in the corridor.

As Angel advanced on her, his mouth and chin covered in gore, someone burst into the room, wand blazing. Both Buffy and Angel were distracted as Tom burst in, his wand at the ready. Buffy was certain that Tom would end up as dessert, but the oddest thing happened when Angel focused his gaze on Tom, standing in the doorway.

Angel's face contorted as if it were in pain before his form blurred, reforming into a cloaked and hooded figure.

"Riddikulus!" Tom said, pointing his wand at the creature. Before the creature could do anything, it flew around the room like a balloon expelling air before it collided with the inside of the cupboard, the door slamming shut behind it. Tom crossed the room and turned the latch, making sure the cupboard was locked tight before he turned to Buffy.

"Are you all right?" he asked as Buffy place a hand on her throat where "Angel" had bitten her. No pain, no blood. Nothing there, except for the old scar from the Master. Odd.

"Yeah, I think I'll be okay. Just a little shaken up," Buffy replied, rubbing the area where she had been bitten. It had felt so real. "What was that thing?"

"A boggart," Tom replied, sheathing his wand in his sleeve. "Mostly harmless. They manifest into something a person fears the most, although it's defeated by laughter. The trick is to turn them into something that can make you laugh by using the spell and thinking of something amusing."

"Yeah, I don't think I could think of anything amusing about my boggart," Buffy said, continuing to rub her throat.

"Have you been injured?" Tom asked, concerned. "Boggarts aren't supposed to be able to cause physical harm, just fear."

"No, it just seemed so real. Brought up some old, unpleasant memories," Buffy replied as she removed her hand from her throat. The collar of her shirt had been opened slightly, revealing an expanse of smooth, creamy skin marred by a nasty, violent-looking scar.

"Where did you get that injury?" Tom asked, coming closer. He brushed her hair out of the way to get a closer look, but she flinched back, tightening her tie so that her collar rested where it should, covering up the scar.

"It's not something I want to talk about," Buffy replied quietly. She made a mental note to make sure that her shirts were done up all the way all the time, lest she get more questions. She didn't have to deal with the questions in Sunnydale; most people didn't get close enough to see her scars, and the ones that did knew the story behind them.

"Fair enough, but one day you're going to reveal all of your secrets to me," Tom said confidently. "I can guarantee it."

"I highly doubt it," Buffy said with a roll of her eyes. What was it with people actively wanting to know her secrets? Keeping her secret identity a, you know, secret was going to be far harder than she thought. She just hoped that they wouldn't be sticking their noses into her past too much. She could probably handle them finding out about the fact that she was the Slayer, but she knew she wouldn't be able to handle them finding out about the fact that she wasn't supposed to exist for nearly another forty years.

"Now will you let me walk you to your dormitory?" Tom asked with an arched eyebrow. "I'm not going to offer again. Next time you get attacked, I might not be around to save your sorry arse."

"You're acting like my sorry ass needed saving," Buffy replied with a scoff. "I had it handled."

"Silly little thing like you take on a guy like that, without a wand?" Tom asked with a snort. "Please. You didn't even have your wand out! Who was he, anyway?"

"I'm not used to using my wand," Buffy replied with a pout. "Hel-lo, been a Muggle for the past seventeen years, remember? And him? Old boyfriend. Ended really badly."

"Well, shall we then?" Tom asked, holding out his arm. Buffy sighed and picked up her bag and wand where they had fallen before grabbing onto his arm.

"Let's get this over with," she replied. Tom just smirked at her and patted her hand before he led her out of the dungeons.

Both Tom and Buffy were quiet on the walk to the seventh floor. The difference between this stroll around the castle together and the last one is that there were other people in the corridors this time around. Everyone they crossed stared at them in disbelief, students and teachers alike.

"Are you sure this was a good idea?" Buffy asked Tom quietly after she caught the tenth person staring at them. "People are staring!"

"You never struck me as someone who cared what other people thought," Tom replied.

"Normally, I don't," Buffy said. "It's just… weird. I'm not used to having people just stare at me. I was pretty unnoticed at my old school unless I did something that brought attention to me."

"Well, if you're going to be seen in my company, you'd better get used to it," Tom said quietly with a smirk as they made it to the seventh floor. Buffy wasn't sure how they had gotten there so fast; Tom must have been taking a shortcut. Buffy certainly wouldn't have been able to repeat the route.

"And here is where I leave you, where no Slytherin dare enter lest he never return," Tom said, releasing her and giving a small bow. "I'll see you in class, yes?"

"Kind of hard for me to skip, seeing as I go to school where I live," Buffy replied. "See you later."

She waved slightly as Tom turned and left, making sure she saw him turn the corner before she turned to the portrait of the Fat Lady.

"It looks like someone has a young suitor," she said teasingly, a smile on her face.

"Oh shut up," Buffy said with a scowl. "Codswollop."

The Fat Lady huffed before she swung her frame open, revealing the hole in the wall that led to the common room. It was loud and crazy inside, hardly conducive for studying but Buffy was sure she could manage. If worse came to worse, she was pretty sure she could drag Minerva upstairs and they could study in her room, provided that Ursula and the rest of her room mates weren't there. Buffy still hadn't made much headway with them, not that she minded much. She had her own friends in Quentin, Minerva, Terrence, Augusta and even Tom, in his own ways, and Buffy had turned into someone who appreciated the few friends she had rather than had a bunch of hangers-on.

"All right, Buffy?"

She looked up and saw Quentin looking at her, his expression apprehensive. She grinned at him, which caused him to smile in return.

"Yeah, I'm good," Buffy replied as she skipped across the common room, flopping down onto the couch next to Quentin. "You?"

"Getting by. Riddle didn't rag on you too much, did he?" Quentin asked.

"I came back in one piece. That's all that matters," Buffy replied with a shrug.

"That's good," Quentin said. He was quiet for a moment, chewing on his bottom lip and rubbing the back of his neck with his hand. "So, there's a Hogsmeade trip coming up this weekend."

"Oh yeah, I saw the posters for that, and the sign up sheets," Buffy replied.

"Are you going?" Quentin asked.

"I haven't decided yet," Buffy replied with a sigh. Notwithstanding the fact that she didn't have a parent or guardian to sign the permission slip, she also had no money. "I don't exactly have the money to go shopping, you know? I think I might just take advantage of the common room while it's quiet, do some studying or something."

"Oh, well, okay," Quentin said, deflating a little. "I was just asking, you know, becauseIwaswonderingifyou'dgotoHogsmeadewith me."

"Come again?" Buffy asked. "I didn't catch the last part."

"I-I was wondering if you'd want to go to Hogsmeade with me," Quentin said, slower this time, his voice soft and his eyes downcast. "But since you're going to spend the day studying, don't worry about it. I'll hang out with Algie or something. Been kind of neglecting him lately."

"Sorry about that. I didn't even know you were friends with him," Buffy said sheepishly. "I guess I've kinda taken over your life since I got here, huh?"

"It's all right, you need the help and I'm more than willing to lend a hand," Quentin said, his cheeks pinkening slightly. "Are you sure you don't want to come to Hogsmeade? It's fun, there's lots to see even if you can't buy any of it."

"Can I give you an answer tomorrow?" Buffy asked, feeling bad when his face fell even further. "I just want to go through my workload to make sure I can actually afford to take an extra day off studying. I promise I'll let you know as soon as I can."

"Okay," Quentin said, although he sounded less that convinced.

Buffy wanted to say yes outright, she really did, but couldn't, lest she find out that she didn't have permission to go to the village; she'd seen the footnote on the notice, stating that the students needed to hand in their permission slips to their head of house if they wished to go to Hogsmeade. She signed, realizing that this would warrant yet another trip to Dumbledore's office. She hadn't been there since the whole thing with Professor Giles, but she was pretty sure Dumbledore was sick of seeing her.

"Everything all right, Buffy?" Quentin asked, curious.

"Hmm?" Buffy asked absently, glancing at him.

"You just sighed," Quentin clarified. "You sounded kind of sad and I wanted to know if you were okay."

"Yeah, I'm fine, I'm good," Buffy replied with a small, reassuring smile. "Just a little homesick, that's all. It's getting better, but it's tough some days."

"Well, you know I'm here if you ever want someone to talk to," Quentin said, returning Buffy's smile with one of his own.

"Thanks for that. You're a good friend," Buffy said, reaching over and patted his shoulder. "Anyway, I'm going to go and get Minerva to look over my Transfiguration essay before I hand it in tomorrow."

"Okay, see you later then," Quentin said as Buffy got up, grabbing her bag as she did so. With one last smile and wave, Buffy turned to where Minerva was seated with Terrence and Augusta, prepared to have her essay ripped to shreds by Minerva's tiny, neat writing.

***

The next morning, Buffy was awake earlier than any civilised person ought to be. The reason for this was twofold. One, she wanted to finish off the corrections to her essay, and the only time she had to do that was first thing in the morning. She'd gotten most of it done the previous evening under Minerva's watchful eye, but there came a time when even the Slayer couldn't keep her eyes open. The other reason was that she wanted to corner Dumbledore to see if she'd be able to go to Hogsmeade that weekend. While she was quite certain that the answer would be a resounding "no", part of her hoped that, because she literally had nothing and no one except for Hogwarts and the people in it, someone in the school would act as her guardian.

Sitting in a comfy chair in the common room, Buffy finished off her essay with a flourish. Smiling to herself, she tucked the piece of parchment into her bag so that it wouldn't get crumpled. She checked the clock; seven-thirty. Grimacing, Buffy got up and headed out of the common room, hoping that Dumbledore was an early riser. Her housemates had begun to stir, some of them already making their way down to the common room, yawning and bleary-eyed. Buffy knew that Quentin would be down at any moment – she was actually surprised that he wasn't already – and she would rather avoid any inquiries from him as to why she was up so early, because for the past three weeks she had been sleeping late enough that she nearly missed breakfast most mornings.

Entering the eerily quiet corridor, Buffy made her way to Dumbledore's office. By now she knew her way to her classes and the teacher's offices, which was definitely a good thing – she hadn't been late for class since her first Care of Magical Creatures class, lest she see what other unpleasant things the teachers would pass off as detentions.

Before long, Buffy was in front of Dumbledore's office, her hand poised and ready to knock when the doorknob began to turn. Much to her surprise, the door was pulled open, revealing Dumbledore, dressed for the day, a smile on his face and a twinkle in his eye.

"Why Miss Summers, what a pleasant surprise!" he greeted her, although the twinkle in his eye told Buffy that her appearance was far from a surprise.

"Good morning, Professor Dumbledore," Buffy greeted with a smile. "I was wondering if I could ask you something."

"You can ask me anything, child. The challenge is to ask me something I can give you an answer to," Dumbledore replied, his smile widening ever so slightly. "Is this question of a particularly private nature? Because I was just on my way down to the Great Hall for a spot of breakfast."

"We can walk and talk," Buffy confirmed and with that, they started walking in companionable silence.

"What was it you wanted to ask me?" Dumbledore asked when Buffy had been quiet for several minutes.

"Oh, right, yeah. That," Buffy replied. "Well, the thing is, there's a Hogsmeade trip this weekend. I wasn't planning on going because of the amount of work I have to catch up on, but then I got invited to go specifically by someone. I really wanted to say tes, but then I realized that I might not actually permission to go, so I said I'd get back to him, which is why I'm talking to you now."

"I see," Dumbledore said after Buffy's mammoth babble. First the books, now the babbling. I think I'm turning into a Willow clone, Buffy thought with a pang of homesickness.

"So, can I?" Buffy asked, her voice tinged with hope. "I told my friend I'd get back to him as soon as I could."

"Your situation is definitely a unique one,' Dumbledore mused. "Even the few truly orphaned children we have here have the caretakers at the orphanage to sign their permission slips. I suppose, in my capacity of your Head of House, I could give you permission to visit the village. You have been working so hard on your studies, I don't see a reason why you shouldn't be able to go to the village with your friends."

"So… is that a yes?" Buffy asked, wanting to make sure.

"It's a yes," Dumbledore clarified as they reached the Great Hall doors. "I'm certain Mr. Trimble will be very happy to hear this news."

"How did you… ?" Buffy asked, trailing off when she caught Dumbledore's knowing look and wink. She realized that she didn't want to know how Dumbledore knew. Maybe it was like that weird ability parents have of being able to know what their children are up to at all hours of the day.

"Thanks, Professor," Buffy said quietly as Dumbledore smiled one last time before heading to the staff table.

She turned her attention to the Gryffindor table, searching out the boy who was quickly becoming her best friend. She spotted him, sitting amongst the chaos of their house table, his book bag on the seat next to him so that no one would take it. Smiling slightly to herself, she tiptoed behind him and placed her mouth right next to his ear.

"Boo," she whispered. Quentin jumped, nearly falling off the bench as he looked around wildly for whoever had startled him. His gaze fell on Buffy, his eyes narrowing as he took in her smile.

"That was not funny," he grumbled, moving his bag so that she could sit down. After she did just that, he glanced at her. "You know, I thought you were going to sleep through breakfast until I asked Ursula to make sure you were awake. Imagine my surprise when I found out you were already up and out the door before most of the house was awake."

"I wanted to finish my transfiguration essay and go over my workload," Buffy replied. "So, is that invitation to Hogsmeade with you still open, or did you make plans with Algie already?"

"No, I was going to wait until I had an answer from you," Quentin replied. "So, do I have an answer from you?"

"Well, if you want to spend a full day with lil' ol' me, I'm available," Buffy replied. Quentin's face lit up just then, wide smile and bright eyes. Buffy got the odd feeling that she'd not only made his day, she'd made his year. His smile was infectious, and Buffy couldn't help but smile back. However, one thought was niggling in the back of her head as they began to make plans for Saturday.

What was she going to wear?

***

Okay, so here's chapter 13 done for your reading pleasure. It's shorter than the last couple of chapters, and for that I'm sorry. I'm also sorry this took so long, but I spend most of my work day typing on a computer. Unfortunately, the last thing I want to do when I get home is type on a computer. I do bring a notebook and pen with me so I can hand write some of the story on my lunch break and type it when I get home.

Anyway, feedback is always appreciated. Next chapter… Hogsmeade trip and a special Care of Magical Creatures project. Should be interesting!