Chapter 14

The rest of the week flew by and Saturday was upon the school in no time at all. That morning found Buffy up and alert nearly two hours before she had to meet Quentin, dressed in her school uniform. She wished she had something else to wear, but Dumbledore hadn't thought about that and Buffy really didn't want to ask. Her Head of House had been more than kind, and she didn't want to take advantage of his kindness.

"Good morning Buffy," Augusta greeted as she came down from the seventh year girls' dorms, Minerva on tow. She looked Buffy up and down, taking in her appearance. "I thought you were going to Hogsmeade with Quentin today?"

"I am going to Hogsmeade with Quentin today," Buffy replied.

"Well, why are you wearing your uniform?" Augusta asked, curious.

"I don't really have anything else to wear. I kind of packed up in a hurry when I got invited here and I only got a chance to get the essentials," Buffy replied. While that wasn't exactly the truth, she didn't thing a pair of trousers, a loose blouse and a pair of boots would be acceptable in a conservative boarding school in 1943. Not only that, she hadn't seen her clothes since that fateful day the house elves took her clothes and left the horrid uniform behind.

"Well, that's not going to do at all," Augusta said with a "tsk"-ing noise. "What time are you supposed to be meeting Quentin?"

"Ten-thirty in the Entrance Hall," Buffy replied.

"That gives us just over two hours to get you presentable," Augusta said. "Come in Buffy, we're going to go and raid my closet. There is no way I'm letting you go on a date wearing your school uniform."

"It's not a date…" Buffy tried to protest, but the other girls were already talking excitedly about what they were going to dress Buffy in, like she was some oversized Barbie doll. Had Barbie been invented in 1943? Buffy thought as Minerva and Augusta chattered over her.

"Buffy can borrow one of my sweaters or a blouse if we can't find something in August's closet," Minerva said. "I'd offer a skirt or a dress, but they'd probably be too long for you."

"Yeah, yeah, remind me that I'm vertically challenged," Buffy said with a sigh, but she was rather pleased. It seemed like a very long time since she could raid a friend's closet for clothes. No offence to Willow, seeing as she was one of Buffy's best friends, but the girl had no fashion sense. It could have partially been Mrs. Rosenberg's fault. If she ever got back to her own time, she vowed to take Willow shopping.

"Come on now, we don't have much time," Augusta said as she herded Buffy back up the stairs. "Maybe we could get some makeup on you or something, you're looking a little pale."

"Hate to break it to ya August, but we're all a little pale," Buffy reminded her with a grin. "Kind of comes with being in the land of no sun. I really miss California some days."

"You're the one with the abnormal weather," Augusta said with a sniff. "You can actually tell one season from another 'round these parts. Now, what are we going to put you in? I think Gryffindor red might be a good idea."

"Ooh, I have the perfect sweater, then," Minerva said as she headed to her trunk. Buffy surveyed the room; it looked a lot like hers, photographs of actors plastered on the walls, the errant piece of clothing here or there. She didn't recognize any of the actors, and she thought some of the fashions were horrible, but it was a typical teenage girls' room.

"Now, let's get you all dolled up," said Minerva, as she and Augusta advanced on her with clothing, styling implements and cosmetics.

Buffy surveyed her reflection in the full length mirror that hung on the seventh year girls' dormitory door and tried very hard not to wrinkle her nose at what she was wearing. It wasn't bad, per se, just wasn't what she would ever choose on her own. The basic black pleated skirt she had borrowed from Augusta was pleated and fell well below the knee. The red turtleneck sweater was soft and warm; maybe, coupled with her cloak, she wouldn't freeze her ass off in the village. The girls had wanted to curl her hair, but lacking the time to set it in rollers and the fact that Buffy wasn't going to let either of them near her hair with their wands, they had to settle with pinning it back at the sides and letting the rest of her hair flow around her shoulders. Her makeup was simple, powder, a little blush and bright red lipstick. The shoes were something Buffy could tolerate; plain black pumps. She was a little worried that she'd end up looking taller than Quentin – the guy was shorter than most she'd met, only a couple of inches taller than herself when she was in flats.

"Very pretty," said Augusta, patting Buffy's hair down a little as she flitted around, making sure she looked perfect. "You're going to knock his socks off."

"You guys keep acting like this is a date," Buffy said. "It's not a date."

"What do you mean, it's not a date?" Augusta asked, curious.

"I mean, it's not a date," Buffy replied. "It's just two friends hanging out and wandering around town. I used to do that all the time with Xander."

"Maybe she doesn't believe it's a date because she has her eye one someone else," Minerva said, a little slyly.

"Oh, please don't tell me you have your eye on that snake, Riddle," Augusta said, sounding slightly disappointed. "Quentin's so much better for you, and anyone with eyes can see he adores you."

"He does not," Buffy said quickly.

"Oh please, he follows you around like a little lost puppy some days," Minerva said. "It's adorable."

"He's showing me around and helping me with my homework. You know, the stuff friends do for each other," Buffy replied. "Besides, he knows I just got out of a really bad relationship and I'm not ready to be anything other than friends with anyone."

"Well, if you're sure," Augusta said, uncertainly.

"Yeah, I'm sure," Buffy replied, smoothing her hands down her skirt. "Let's do this thing."

"Why must you make it sound like a chore?" Minerva asked as they gathered their things in preparation to head down to the Entrance Hall.

"Because you guys have me all freaked out," Buffy replied, getting a little nervous. "You with all of your 'this is a date'. Talk. Ugh, if Quentin hadn't asked me I wouldn't even be going."

"Well, just be glad that he did ask you," Augusta said. "You've spent far too much time cooped up in this castle, studying. Even people with crazy studying schedules need to get out and about once in a while. Case in point, Minerva."

"Oh shush you," Minerva said, although there was a hint of a small smile on her face. "We should probably get going. We're going to be late if we dilly-dally here much longer."

"Oh let the boys wait, it won't kill them," Augusta said with a scoff. "Besides, as girls we can be fashionably late."

With that, the trio left the dormitory, only stopping long enough for Buffy to grab her cloak from her room. They strolled along, arm in arm, through the castle, oblivious to the stares they were getting. It wasn't long before they reached the Entrance Hall. There were many students milling about, but their focus was drawn to two young men approaching them.

"August, Min, how are you this morning? And who's your new friend here?" Terrence asked, making a huge show of looking Buffy up and down when he reached them, winking at her covertly. "Buffy, is that you? My, my, you do clean up nicely. Quentin's a lucky man today. If I didn't have August here, I'd snap you up in a second."

"And if I didn't know you were a shameless, horrible flirt before we started courting, I would drop you like a hot stone," Augusta snapped, but she was smiling as she took Terrence's arm. "Are you sure you don't want to join us, Minerva? We don't have any concrete plans or anything."

"No August, it's fine," Minerva said with a wave of her hand. "I have some errands to run today. Picking up Christmas presents and all of that. And that goes for you as well, Quentin. You and Buffy have fun. Alone. I'll meet you all at the Three Broomsticks this afternoon."

With that, Minerva turned and took her leave, making sure that Dumbledore crossed her name off on the list before she left the castle completely, off to run her errands, as she said.

"We'll be off, then," said Terrence. "Have fun, you two! See you at the Broomsticks later."

"Yeah, see you later," said Quentin as the two seventh years turned and left. He turned to Buffy "You look really nice today, Buffy."

"Thank you," Buffy replied, ducking her head and blushing a little. Her suspicions about the shoes had been correct; she was taller than him while wearing them, although only slightly. "Shall we?"

"We shall," Quentin said, offering his arm to her. Buffy took it, tucking her hand into the crook of his arm as he led them out of the castle. Dumbledore checked off their names on his list as they passed by, bidding them good day as he did so.

"He seems rather interested in your progress here," Quentin said, almost casually, as he led them to one of the carriages that would take them to the village. "More than the average Gryffindor student, almost."

"Well, why wouldn't he?" Buffy asked as she allowed Quentin to help her up, although she probably could have managed on her own. However, it was nice to be in the presence of a gentleman. "He's been almost like a pseudo guardian while I'm here, seeing as I have zero contact with my own parents."

"I suppose that's true," Quentin said as the carriage began trundling down the path leading to Hogsmeade. They were silent for the short trip, the air tinged with a slight awkwardness until they shuddered to a stop at the end of the path.

Quentin opened the carriage door and exited first, helping Buffy out of the carriage. She surveyed her surroundings; it was a cute little town with a few small shops and residences. It was no London, Paris, or even Sunnydale, but it was cute, and Buffy was certain that she would find lots of cute, one of a kind things if she went inside the shops to browse.

She was beginning to regret coming to the village now. Having all these potential things to buy with no money to do so was a bit like torture for a shopaholic.

"Where to first?" Buffy asked. Quentin was more knowledgeable and would therefore know exactly where to go. Besides, he was the one who probably had errands to run. Buffy was just along for the ride.

"Well, I was hoping to go into Honeydukes', the sweet shop," Quentin replied. "It's my favourite shop here and I always make a point of visiting when we've got a Hogsmeade weekend."

"Lead on, then," Buffy said, allowing herself to be led into the store.

The place was already crowded with Hogwarts students, mostly third and fourth years, but there were a couple of older students browsing as well. The store was filled to the brim with various candies and chocolates, all of which Buffy had never seen before. She smiled sadly when she thought of how much Xander, her junk food loving Xander, would have loved this place.

"Go on, pick something," Quentin said from her side.

"Pardon?" Buffy asked, a little surprised.

"Pick something," Quentin said. "My treat."

"Oh, no, I couldn't," Buffy replied, feeling suddenly awkward. Maybe the girls had been right. It wasn't a thought she was particularly comfortable with.

"I insist," Quentin said firmly, his tone leaving no room for arguments. "If you don't pick something, I'll pick it for you and you might end up with an Acid Pop or something equally unpleasant. So, go pick something. Think of it as a reward for working so hard."

"You're going to be the death of me," Buffy replied, but she still turned away from him and began browsing the shelves.

There were free samples galore, and Buffy tried a little bit of everything to figure out what she liked. She even tried one of the Blood Pops and realized quickly that they definitely weren't to her liking. She didn't think to ask if they were blood flavoured or made of actual blood. Ignorance was bliss, in this case. It wasn't until she had almost finished going around the room when she stumbled on the Sugar Quills display. Finding that she liked them more than any other sweets she had sampled, she grabbed a package of them and tried to find Quentin in the mass of teenagers. It wasn't difficult; even though he was shorter than most people in the shop, Buffy had spent so much time with him in the previous weeks that she was somewhat tuned into him and could find him when she needed him.

"Found something, did you?" Quentin asked with a grin as Buffy elbowed her way through the crowd to him. She held up her package of Sugar Quills. "Excellent choice, one of my favourites. I'm done as well, so as soon as I settle up we can get out of here. It's getting a little too crowded in here for my tastes."

"Totally agreeing with you there. I'll wait for you outside, okay?" Buffy said and Quentin nodded in agreement. Buffy elbowed her way through the crowd, apologizing numerous times when she stepped on people's toes. It reminded her of crazy sales at the mall, the ones where there was a line up to get into the store and an employee stood at the door and only let people in when others left.

Before long, Buffy had excited the shop, taking in a lungful of cool fall air as she stepped out. The sweet shop, while interesting, was far too crowded and stuffy for Buffy's taste, and even though it was chilly outside, the fresh air was far preferable to the interior of the shop. Buffy's peace was short-lived, however, when a voice caught her attention.

"Fancy meeting you here. Did your date abandon you or something?"

Buffy turned, not at all surprised to see Tom Riddle standing a short distance away, although she was surprised to see him standing there alone. She'd observed him these last couple of weeks, and had gotten the impression that he was quite popular with his Slytherin friends, always talking with them, snickering and smirking at things they said, although even with her Slayer hearing, she couldn't tell what was being said.

"No, he's just inside, settling up. He'll be out in a minute," Buffy replied with a shrug. "And it's not a date."

"Pity. If I were him, I wouldn't let you out of my sight," Tom said with a rueful smile. "And it must be a date. You're all dressed up and on the arm of one of that insipid Gryffindor boy you insist on spending every waking moment with."

"The dressed up thing wasn't my fault. Minerva and August ambushed me with clothes and make-up," Buffy replied. "And how did you know I was here with Quentin, anyway? I don't remember telling you. Hell, I don't remember even speaking to you after our tutoring session earlier this week."

"News travels fast around here. You should know that by now," Tom replied with a smirk as the door to Honeydukes opened and Quentin exited, clutching his paper wrapped package to his chest.

"It's a jungle in there," Quentin said as he approached, stopping short when he saw that Buffy wasn't alone. "What are you doing here?"

"Just making sure Miss Summers here won't be spirited off into a dark alley by someone with nefarious intentions," Tom replied with a bow. "And now that you're here, I will take my leave. A pleasure, as always Buffy. You look absolutely ravishing today. McGonagall and Smith do excellent work."

Tom bowed and tipped an imaginary hat at her before turning and walking away, a jaunty little spring in his step. Buffy turned her attention to Quentin, who was glaring at him as if he wanted to set him on fire. She noticed that his right hand was twitching, hovering over the pocket of his robes where Buffy was pretty sure Quentin kept his wand.

"Look, forget him. He's just being his creepy Slytherin self," Buffy said quietly, placing a hand on his arm to calm him, hoping it would work. "Come on, show me what this place has to offer. I'm sure you know all of the best shops."

"Yeah, okay," Quentin replied, relaxing slightly. Her plan had worked, even if the result had only been temporary.

The tour of the village had taken up most of the afternoon. Quentin had ducked into a couple of shops, and while Buffy followed him in she didn't show any particular interest in anything. Thankfully, Quentin didn't offer to buy her any more presents. The Sugar Quills were more than enough in her mind. Before long, it was time to meet Augusta, Terrence and Minerva at the Three Broomsticks. They were greeted with a wave by the proprietor, a man Quentin said was named Mr. Rosmerta. The five of them commandeered a table and it was much like their mealtimes at the Gryffindor table, except they had their own table instead of being surrounded by their own housemates. As the afternoon slipped to early evening, Buffy stifled a yawn, suddenly tired.

"Excuse me. I guess everything's beginning to catch up on me," Buffy said, sounding tired. "I think I might head back pretty soon, turn in early tonight."

"Do you want me to walk you back to the castle?" Quentin asked, and Buffy nodded in agreement. They bid their good-byes to the seventh years before getting up to leave the pub, Quentin helping Buffy into her cloak before they left.

The walk to the castle was a quiet, uneventful one, longer than Buffy had expected but pleasant enough. Buffy tried not to shiver too much underneath her cloak. If Quentin noticed, he didn't say anything.

Before long they reached the castle and it seemed like no time at all had passed before they reached Gryffindor tower. They entered and flopped directly onto one of the couches in front of the fire, taking advantage of the fact that the younger students were all at dinner.

"Thank you for taking me out. I really appreciate it," Buffy said with a happy sigh as she settled into the couch. She glanced over at Quentin, who was staring at her. "What? Do I have something on my face?"

"No," Quentin replied, his gaze flicking to her lips. As he leaned in, she realized how close they were, and she recognized the universal body language for the "lean in and kiss". Thinking quickly, she turned her face so that his lips hit her cheek. He drew back, confused.

"I'm sorry, Quentin," Buffy said, her voice soft. She really did feel sorry; he was a nice guy, treated her exceptionally well considering she'd practically fallen into his life.

"It's Riddle, isn't?" Quentin asked, his eyes hard, jealousy colouring his. "Why did you agree to go out with me if you're with Riddle? Why are you with that snake, anyway?"

"It's not Riddle, it's not anyone," Buffy replied, chewing on her bottom lip. "I'm just not ready for anything more than friendship. My last relationship ended really, really badly, and I just… I can't. Not now."

"Not ever?" Quentin finished lamely. He looked a little guilty.

"I wouldn't go that far," Buffy replied. "But it's going to be a while. I'm sorry if I led you on."

"Thought I had a chance, you know?" Quentin said with a shrug.

"And you still might. Just not now," Buffy replied with an apologetic smile. "I think I'm going to head to bed. See you in the morning, I guess."

"Yeah, see you," Quentin replied, his voice soft. Buffy smiled at him one last time, patting his had before she got up and headed to her room, ascending the stairs quickly. Quentin watched her go, and it wasn't until he heard her dorm room close that he realized that Buffy had left her package of Sugar Quills on the couch.

"And then I sicced my enormous snake on the helpless third year, killing her instantly."

"Hmm?" Buffy asked, blinking. She glanced over at Tom, who was looking at her with a mix of curiosity and amusement.

"Are you all right?" he asked. "You seem a little distracted lately. You're not even paying attention to me."

"Sorry, I've just got a lot on my mind lately," Buffy replied with a sigh, rubbing her eyes as she sucked on her quill. Quentin had insisted that she take them despite the fact that things had changed between the two of them, going as far as getting one of the other girls in the dormitory to take the package up to her and leave it on the bed. They hadn't spoken much in the last few days, although they were still sitting next to each other during classes, so not all hope was lost.

"Homesick again?" Tom asked.

"Surprisingly, no," Buffy replied. She hadn't had time to be homesick, what with all of the awkwardness between herself and her best friend. "And before you ask, no, I don't want to talk about it."

"Good. I didn't want to hear about your Gryffindor melodrama anyway," Tom said with a snort.

"Don't make me hit you again," Buffy said, narrowing her eyes at him.

"Ma'am, no ma'am," Tom replied quickly, rubbing his jaw where she had slugged him so many weeks ago. "So, trouble in paradise?"

"What do you mean?" Buffy asked, turning her attention to her Potions textbook. If she thought about it, she didn't really need to go to her Potions tutoring sessions anymore, although it was so ingrained into her routine that it seemed almost wrong to stop them. Also, Buffy liked having someone to look over her essays to make sure they were right.

"You and that Trimble guy," Tom clarified. "Did you two have a little lover's spat?"

"Can't have been a lover's spat because we're not dating," Buffy replied. "Or courting, or seeing each other, or whatever you want to call it."

"And does he know that you're not seeing each other?" Tom asked.

"I thought you said you didn't want to hear about this?" Buffy retorted with a snort.

"I wouldn't have wanted to hear it if you were willing to tell me," Tom replied. "But now that I know it'll make you uncomfortable if we talk about it, I want to know what's troubling you that much more."

"You're evil," Buffy said.

"I'm a Slytherin," Tom retorted.

"Same difference," Buffy replied with a snort.

"So, what's really bothering you?" Tom asked. "You know I'll get it out of you eventually. It'll be less painful if you tell me now."

"You won't get anything out of me," Buffy replied. "You still haven't gotten any more information out of me than what I've told you."

"That's what I want you to think," Tom said, tapping the side of his nose.

"Oh yeah, and what have you learned about me?" Buffy asked, arching an eyebrow. "And what kind of sources do you have?"

"Ah, but that would be revealing my secrets," Tom replied. "Now come on, let's get that essay of yours done already. I still have to do my rounds tonight."

"I'm gonna get it out of you," Buffy said quietly as she went back to studying her parchment. "You won't know when and you won't know how, but I'll get it out of you."

"And so the tables have turned," Tom said with a chuckle as they got down to business. "And so the tables have turned."

Okay, I know this one is shorter than the last one. Sorry about that. I'm not quite sure how much I like this chapter, but it does move the story along. Things are about to get interesting, I promise. Don't know when the next instalment will come, but I'll do my best to get it out relatively soon.

Thanks for reading and hopefully reviewing. I really appreciate the feedback.