Chapter 24

Hagrid took her to his cabin at the edge of the forest, getting her out of the cold as fast as he could. He deposited her in a chair at his table before tending to the fire and put a kettle on to boil. Buffy blinked, wiping the tears from her eyes as she took in her surroundings. It was a small, one-room cabin with a table and four chairs dominating most of the kitchen area, a bed on one side of the room, a chest of drawers next to the door and a fireplace across from the door.

"So, you don't life at the castle?" Buffy asked, looking around.

"No. Dumbledore thought it'd be easier if I lived out there," Hagrid replied. "I don' mind. I like the quiet. Now, why don' yeh tell me why yeh were outside, all alone, in this cold?"

"Got into a bit of a fight and outside seemed to be the best place for me to go," Buffy replied with a shrug. "I just needed to get away, you know?"

"Aye, I do," Hagrid replied with a nod, plonking down two mugs onto the table and filling them with hot water before dropping a teabag into each. "How do yeh take yer tea, Miss Summers?"

"Cream and sugar," Buffy replied. "And didn't I tell you to call me Buffy?"

"Yeh might have," Hagrid replied as he slid one of the large mugs across the table. "Now, do yeh want to tell me about what's botherin' yeh? Might not be able to help, but I'm good at listenin'."

"Well, a lot of things have been going on the last couple of weeks and tonight was just the last straw," Buffy replied with a sigh. She started telling Hagrid about the last couple of weeks – her discussion with Ursula, getting back together with Tom, the sneaking around, the fight with Quentin. Everything. Hagrid was the first person she had told about the Ursula thing; she thought that if she ignored it, it might go away. the last thing she wanted was confirmation that Ursula's ramblings were true. Her friends hadn't given her any indication that they shared Ursula's point of view, so Buffy took that as a good thing.

"Well, yeh see, there's this thing about Ursula Brown," Hagrid said, taking a sip of his tea. "She got no problems with people if they stay in their boxes. Yeh can do what yeh want in that box, but try to move to another one and she'll be all over tha'. She was like tha' when I started at Hogwarts."

"Did you try to make friends with the purebloods, too?" Buffy asked, arching an eyebrow at him.

"No, no, nothin' like that," Hagrid replied, averting his gaze. "She got on me because I had the guts to even come to Hogwarts. Apparently, people like shouldn' learn magic."

"And what are people like you?" Buffy asked. Now that she was alone with Hagrid, she realized that her senses buzzed differently than when she was around fully human witches and wizards. what kind of creature could Hagrid be?

"Depends. Are yeh goin' to slay me if I tell yeh?" Hagrid asked, his eyes shifty.

"I haven't made with the stabby with the pointy objects yet," Buffy replied with a shrug. "Unless you're a vampire or an evil demon, I don't see any slayage in your future."

"Yeh see, I'm not entirely human," Hagrid began, twisting his hands in his lap. "Me mum was a giant."

"Giants exist?" Buffy asked, her eyes wide. She supposed that it was entirely possible; after all, vampires, demons, witches, wizards and all sorts of other creatures existed. Why couldn't giants?

"Yeh aren' going to stop bein' friends with me?" Hagrid asked, apprehensive.

"Why would I?" Buffy shot back, curious.

"Giants have a history of bein' violent," Hagrid said. "Aren' yeh scared of me flyin' off the handle at yeh or somethin'?"

"Are you violent?" Buffy asked. Hagrid shook his head. "Then I'm not worried. Besides, I think I could handle you. Supernatural speed and strength, remember?"

"Yeh, I suppose so," Hagrid said, a cautious smile gracing his face. Due to his size, it was easy to forget that he was only fourteen years old.

"Besides, it's kind of like werewolves, right?" Buffy asked.

"Know many werewolves, do yeh?" Hagrid asked, arching an eyebrow at her.

"No, just the one," Buffy replied. "His name is Oz. He was dating my best friend when I left, and I hope they're still together. He's a great guy and loves Willow to bits. Figuratively, not literally."

"Tha' makes me feel a bit better," Hagrid said with a relieved sigh. "Now, abou' your problem. I'm not goin' to pretend I know everythin' about your issues, because I don't. But tha' doesn't sound like the Quentin I know."

"Love makes you do the wacky," Buffy muttered.

"He's in love with yeh?" Hagrid asked. "How do yeh know?"

"He said he had feelings for me, a while ago," Buffy replied with a sigh. "I told him that I wasn't interested, but he's just not getting it."

"It prob'ly doesn't help that yer datin' his nemesis," Hagrid murmured.

"If I had any control over the chemistry and feelings and stuff, I'd turn it off," Buffy replied. "And it's not like we made out in front of him. We kept it a secret!"

"That don' matter," Hagrid said with a shake of his head. "Are yeh goin' to talk to him?"

"Not if I can help it," Buffy replied. "It still stings."

"Can' say I didn' try," Hagrid said with a shrug. "As for Riddle, 'e's a hors of a different color entirely. He'll do anything to keep wha' he likes around. He got me expelled."

"He what?" Buffy exclaimed. "How?"

"Las' year, there was this monster skulkin' around, attacking students, petrifyin' them. One girl died. Riddle knew I was keepin' a baby acromantula in the dungeons and he told Dippet. Said it was the monster attackin' the students," Hagrid replied. "I was able to get Aragog out, but they expelled me. Dumbledore kept me on as groundskeeper. Great man, Dumbledore."

"So did, er, Aragog do it?" Buffy asked, wondering what kind of creature this Aragog was.

"No! He'd never hurt anyone! And anyone who knows anythin' about creatures knows that acromantulas don't petrify their prey," Hagrid replied with a vehement shake of his head.

"Do you know what did?" Buffy asked.

"No," Hagrid replied. "Aragog knows, but he won' tell me. Somethin' big."

"I've got a lot to think about," Buffy said, finishing off her tea, which she had been sipping all though the evening.

"D'you want me to walk yeh back to the castle?" Hagrid asked, his cheeks going pink.

"Sure, I'd like that," Buffy replied with a smile. Hagrid took her mug and set it on the counter before turning to the chest of drawers by the door.

"It's a little chilly ou' there," he said, extracting a mass of black fabric from one of the drawers. "Here, its' my old school cloak. It doesn't fit my anymore. I know it won' fit you, but it'll be better than going out there with nothin'."

"Thank you," Buffy said, slipping into the cloak. As predicted, Buffy was swimming in the fabric, but it was thick and warm. All she needed to do was make sure she didn't trip over the hem and fall on her face.

"Ready to go?" Hagrid asked.

"As I'll ever be," Buffy replied. "Let's get this over with."

The two friends left the small cabin and headed up to the castle. It wasn't near curfew yet, so there was little chance she'd get detention on her way up to the Gryffindor common room. During their visit, the temperature had dropped even further, and Buffy was very glad for the cloak that Hagrid had loaned her. It was a quiet walk up to the castle and before long they were standing just inside the castle doors. Buffy moved to take off the cloak and give it back, but Hagrid stopped her.

"Keep it," he said, patting her on the shoulder. "All it's doin' is collectin' moths if it stays with me. At least you might get some use out of it."

"Thank you, Buffy said thankfully, wrapping the cloak around herself. "Well, thanks for everything. Good night."

"Any time, my door is always open to yeh," Hagrid said with a grin. "Give Quentin a cuff around the head for me, will yeh?"

"I'll think about it," Buffy replied with a small smile, tears springing to her eyes again. "'Night."

Buffy turned and headed up to Gryffindor Tower, thankfully not meeting anyone on her way. She supposed that everyone was trying to avoid the chilly corridors if at all possible, and she couldn't really blame them. She finally reached toe portrait of the Fat Lady and, after giving he the password, stumbled into the common room.

"Where have you been?" Terrence asked as soon as she had righted herself, having tripped on the hem of Hagrid's over-large cloak.

"Went for a walk," Buffy replied with a shrug before digging herself out of the cloak and flinging it onto the back of a chair. She looked around, trying and failing to find a particular familiar face. "Have you seen Quentin?"

"He's out patrolling with Minerva," Terrence said as Buffy flopped into a chair nearby. "Is everything all right?"

"Yeah, why?" Buffy asked, hoping Terrence wouldn't pick up on the fact that she was lying. Everything was certainly not all right, and there wasn't really any way she could think of to fix it. Well, besides dumping Tom, but that wouldn't really solve anything. Quentin had still said all of those hurtful things, and even if he had said them in the heat of the moment she wondered how many of the things he actually did dislike about her.

"You're acting… wonky, I guess," Terrence replied with a shrug.

"How so?" Buffy asked, quirking an eyebrow at him. Out of all of her new friends, Terrence had always seemed, to her, to be the least observant than the rest of them. She had expected this kind of conversation with Minerva or Augusta, but definitely not Terrence.

"I can't really explain it. I'm a male, I'm not good at explaining these things," Terrence replied, raising his hands helplessly. "You're just… off today. Tell me what's wrong."

"Quentin and I got into a fight," Buffy replied with a sigh. She had hoped that she would be able to avoid all of this and just pass Quentin awkwardly in the hallways. While she was sure her friends would notice it, in five months it would be a distant memory anyway.

"Oh yeah?" Terrence asked. "Over what?"

"I've been seeing someone and he wasn't… particularly happy about it," Buffy replied. "Part of me wants to think he only said what he said because he was mad and love makes you do the wacky, but I'm not sure. You don't think I'm a social climbing whore who butchers the English language, do you?"

"No," Terrence replied, his brow furrowed. "Who said that? Why would someone say that?"

"Well, Ursula said the social climbing thing – something about rising above my station," Buffy replied with a roll of her eyes, as if she found it ridiculous, although it really did bother her. She just hoped that the other girl wasn't right about it. "Abraxas Malfoy said something about me being a hoebag and Quentin agreed with it and tacked on the English thing."

"That doesn't sound like him at all," Terrence said, stroking his chin as the portrait hole opened, admitting Minerva and Quentin into the common room.

"Yeah, that's what Hagrid said," Buffy replied with a sigh.

"Look, wait right here. I'm going to go talk to him," Terrence said, getting up. "Something weird is going on here."

He went and marched up to Quentin and practically dragged him to one of the more deserted corners of the common room. Buffy wanted to watch, but someone sitting down next to her brought her attention back to her area.

"What's going on over there?" Minerva asked, jerking her chin in the direction of Quentin and Terrence.

"Quentin and I got into a fight earlier today and Terrence is trying to figure out what's going on," Buffy replied. Both girls watched the boys in the corner; it looked like stern words and hand gestures were the only things being exchanged, for which Buffy was thankful. While she wouldn't have been able to stop any spells if they went flying, a fistfight would end up with people getting hurt if she got involved.

The discussion didn't last long before Quentin threw up his hands and stalked up to his room. Buffy could hear a door upstairs slam as Terrence walked across the common room to where Buffy and Minerva were seated.

"Well, that didn't go as well as I thought it would," Terrence said as he flopped down on the couch next to Minerva. "You could have told me you were seeing a Slytherin."

"You're seeing a Slytherin?" Minerva asked, staring at Buffy incredulously. "Why do I have this feeling I missed something?"

"Our little Miss Summers here is seeing a Slytherin, one Mr. Tom Riddle," Terrence said.

"Oh, you can't be serious," Minerva said, narrowing her eyes at Terrence before turning her attention to Buffy. "Oh please, tell me it's not true, that this is an early and rather bad April Fool's joke."

Buffy sighed. There wasn't really any point in denying it. Quentin didn't lie about this kind of stuff, and before long the rest of the school would know. To be honest, Buffy was surprised the entire school didn't know already; secrets didn't stay secrets for long around Hogwarts, as her arrival had been kept a secret for mere days before it had gotten around the school.

"What would you say if I told you that were true?" Buffy asked cautiously. She braced herself, ready for the yelling and the kicking out and general hurting of the feelings.

"Well, I'd probably haul you off to the hospital wing to get you checked out," Terrence replied. "Body switching, polyjuice, madness… just to cover all of our bases. If you checked out fine, I'd still probably call you a nutter. No self-respecting Gryffindor would be caught dead with a Slytherin unless they absolutely had to."

"Well, it started out because we were forced to spend time together," Buffy muttered. "What about you, Minerva?"

"I'll admit he's not the worst of the bunch, but he's still a Slytherin," Minerva replied, chewing on her lip as she pushed her glasses up on her nose. "He's still slimy, he's still manipulative, he's still an elitist. But I suppose he could have some good qualities buried, er, very deep down."

"Would you guys disown me or call me names if this were true?" Buffy asked timidly.

"Well, no, but we wouldn't be happy about it," Terrence replied cautiously.

"We wouldn't be happy about what?" August asked as she entered, sitting on the arm of Buffy's chair.

"If Buffy were seeing a Slytherin," Minerva replied. "And not any Slytherin, but Tom Riddle."

"Well, he is a Prefect," August said diplomatically. "He can't be that bad if Professor Dippet entrusted him with the safety of the school."

"Well, there's not a lot to choose from, is there?" Terrence asked, arching an eyebrow. "I mean come on, they're Slytherins. Dirty, rotten evil Slytherins. Did you know that nearly every bad or evil wizard has come from Slytherin?"

"Just because the evil ones come from Slytherin, doesn't mean all Slytherins are evil," Buffy shot back.

"Why are you suddenly being all defensive of Slytherins?" August asked, perplexed.

"Probably because I'm seeing a Slytherin," Buffy muttered, but it was loud enough for the three seventh years to hear.

"Wait, what?" August asked, confused. "Where have I been?"

"Where have we all been," Terrence muttered to himself. "How long has this been going on, anyway?"

"Um… since New Years?" Buffy said, not entirely sure. "I mean, we got into a huge fight about a month and a half ago, but we got back together a couple of weeks ago."

"And you don't have a spell on you or anything?" August asked.

"Nope," Buffy replied, shaking her head.

"Has anyone been tampering with your food?" Minerva asked, seriously.

"Not that I'm aware," Buffy replied with a shrug. "I mean, nothing's been tasting weird or anything."

"Are you Buffy Summers, sixth year transfer student and resident of Gryffindor?" Terrence asked.

"Yes," Buffy said with a roll of her eyes. "What does this have to do with anything?"

"Well, this leaves us with one solution," Terrence said gravely.

"Oh yeah?" Buffy asked. "And what's that?"

"You're totally and completely off your rocker," Terrence replied decisively.

XOXOXO

A couple of weeks had passed since the implosion that was Quentin and Buffy. Quentin still refused to talk to her, even going so far as to change seats in Defence Against the Dark Arts and Transfiguration. Minerva, Terrence and Augusta all still believed she was crazy, but they didn't make any comments about her relationship with Tom if they could help it. Tom was as he ever was, as supportive as he could manage despite his rather stunted social graces. While he could be charming when he needed to be, he still had a habit of putting his foot in it, although those instances seemed to be happening at intervals that were fewer and farther between. She still continued many of her tutoring sessions and her training lessons with Professor Giles, which kept a rather busy schedule.

"What are your plans after Hogwarts?" Professor Giles asked one evening as Buffy was sparring with the animated dummy.

"Don't you think it's a little silly for me to be planning for the future?" Buffy asked, blocking the dummy's sword attacks with her own blade. "I mean, hello, Slayer here. Short life expectancy, remember? Need to live every day like it's your last?"

"In case you hadn't noticed, Miss Summers, you're not the only Slayer in this time anymore," Professor Giles said with a sniff. "You now have the option of leading a normal life now."

"I wasn't the only Slayer in my time, either," Buffy replied with a snort. "Did I get time off? No."

"How were there two Slayers in your time?" Professor Giles asked, perplexed.

"I died," Buffy replied. "There was a prophecy that said I was going to die on my way to defeat The Master. It happened, but only for a minute. A friend of mine brought me back with mouth-to-mouth. I got back up, dusted The Master and still had enough time to party. Go me."

"I've noticed that you've been distracted about something," Professor Giles said as she watched Buffy spar.

"Oh yeah?" Buffy asked as the dummy kicked her in the stomach, sending her reeling back a couple of feet. "What makes you say that?"

"Well, for one, the dummy keeps getting past your defences, and I haven't brought its difficulty level up in the last month or so," Professor Giles said, waving her wand so that the dummy would stop moving. "And another, Mr. Trimble has stopped accompanying you. Is this going to affect you when you're out in the field?"

"No," Buffy replied with a scowl. "If anything, it should make me more effective because I won't be worried about him getting in the way."

"See, this is why Potentials and Slayers shouldn't have contact with the outside world," Professor Giles said with a sigh. "Civilians are only distractions."

"Well I'm sorry, Professor, if my Watchers decided to do it differently," Buffy replied. "Since I wasn't found until I was Called, my first Watcher decided staying in school was the best idea, and my second Watcher, who tracked me down when I moved to Sunnydale, posed as my school librarian so he could be close by. It's a hell of a lot more difficult to make a fifteen year old disappear than it is to make a baby disappear."

"You weren't discovered until you were called?" Professor Giles asked, surprised.

"Nope," Buffy replied, popping the 'p'. "Explains things a bit, doesn't it?"

"Just a bit," Professor Giles said, floored a little. "You know, I think you might be ready to go out in the field again."

"I was wondering when you'd say that," Buffy said with a relieved sigh. The stress of the last couple of weeks had made her a little antsy and she really needed to go and slay some undead butt.

"I think we should leave it here for tonight," Professor Giles said as she levitated the dummy back to its place in the spelled cabinet at the back of the classroom. "We should meet in the Entrance Hall at nine o'clock on Friday night for our little field trip. I'll make sure the house elves send up something appropriate for Slaying in."

"I could probably transfigure something on my own," Buffy replied with a slight smile. Only a Watcher would call a foray into a rather dangerous forest as a "little field trip". "I've gotten pretty handy with my wand."

"Well, whatever. Do you need someone to take you back to Gryffindor Tower?" Professor Giles asked. Buffy hesitated for a moment, reaching her senses out. She felt a familiar presence just on the other side of the door.

"Nope, I think my ride's just arrived," Buffy replied with a grin. "See you later, Professor Giles."

"You'd better not be putting any more students in danger. Professor Dippet will have my head if you are," Professor Giles called after her as Buffy left, waving a hand over her shoulder to indicate that she had heard the Professor.

"How was detention?" Tom asked with an arched eyebrow as Buffy exited the classroom, closing the door behind her.

"It was detention," Buffy replied with a shrug as she reached up on her tiptoes to peck him on the lips. She knew Tom didn't believe her detention excuse and that he knew something else was going on, but Buffy wasn't going to clue him in. Even though she was certain Tom would be able to handle himself in any kind of situation, but she didn't want him there if she could help it. She'd had enough of putting Xander, Willow and Oz in danger back in Sunnydale, and she'd go it alone this time around if she could help it.

"How are you holding up?" Tom asked as he reached down and grabbed Buffy's hand, intertwining her fingers with his before they headed to the Gryffindor common room. "Are your friends still giving you trouble?"

"Well, they've stopped calling me crazy and suggesting I go to St. Mungo's," Buffy replied with a shrug. "Now they're just suggesting the hospital wing."

"Well, that's good I suppose," Tom said with a sigh. "And Quentin?"

"Stopped talking to me completely," Buffy replied, echoing Tom's sigh. "But I'm fine, really. I'll survive. I've been through worse."

"I doubt that, but I believe you'll survive," Tom said as they reached the Fat Lady. He dipped down and kissed Buffy good-bye for the night. "In fact, I think you'll thrive. I'll see you tomorrow night?"

"Rabid Fyarls couldn't keep me away," Buffy replied, stretching onto her tiptoes for one last kiss. "Good night, Tommy-boy."

"Good night, Buffy," Tom said with a small smile, turning and leaving Buffy to give the password to the Fat Lady.

XOXOXO

Chapter 24 done. Next one should be interesting. Obviously, Buffy's going to be followed into the Forest. The question is, who is it going to be? Tune in next week!

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