This chapter has been redone. Enjoy.

I do not own Harry potter or buffy the vampire slayer

"thinking"

"writing"

Chapter 10

Harry stomach growled as he watched Xander finish the last bit of his hot chocolate. He blushed as Xander turned to him. He stomach rumbled again and Xander grinned and stood up from the couch. He held his hand out to Harry and helped the other boy up. Harry trailed behind Xander as they entered the kitchen.

Xander looked through the fridge for something quick to eat for his hungry guest. He was about to grab a slice of leftover pepperoni pizza when he felt Harry's hand on his shoulder. He turned back to the other boy and noticed that he had his white board with him.

"I'm a vegetarian."

Great, Xander could deal with that. He nodded at Harry and then tried to find something edible in his fridge. He had not gone grocery shopping in about two weeks so his fridge was cleared out of fresh fruits and vegetables. He browsed through the cabinets and bit his lip. Every instant meal contained some kind of meat in it. Anya did most of the cooking because Xander plus stove equals hazardous concoction. He felt Harry touch his shoulder again and looked back at the other boy. Harry looked kind of nervous and he retracted his hand from Xander's shoulder quickly. He pointed behind Xander.

Xander turned and looked back into the cabinet.

"Oh yay spaghetti sauce." Xander loved spaghetti, but he wasn't sure how to make it. He motioned for the white board and Harry handed it to him.

"I can't cook."

Harry smiled at Xander's embarrassment before taking the board back.

"I can."

Xander looked excited and sort of bounced on his toes for a moment before getting down anything he thought Harry would need for the spaghetti.

Xander hovered over Harry as he made the spaghetti. He watched carefully, he had never really seen anyone cook anything before. Anya would always kick him out of the kitchen because he couldn't sit still and his parents just cooked straight out of the freezer i.e. frozen TV dinners. The girls didn't really cook often and Xander wasn't interested in baking so he didn't watch Willow. He wasn't sure if Giles could cook or not.

Harry was amused and confused by Xander's attention. No one had ever been interested in watching him cook before. His relatives only wanted the end product and his friends at Hogwarts didn't know Harry could cook at all. It was quite fun being in the kitchen with someone else and he wondered if Xander would like to learn how to cook. Maybe he would ask him when they got their voices back. He had Xander set the table and the boy did so eagerly. Harry chuckled silently.

After making their plates the only thing that could be heard was the scraping of forks on their plates and slurps from Xander. Xander would look up and grin at Harry causing him to blush. He had never seen someone show such appreciation to food he cooked before.

Harry ate as much as he could before his stomach began to protest. His meals had been smaller since leaving Hogwarts and as far as he could remember this was the first time he had eaten in about two days. He put the rest of his food in the fridge and watched Xander shoot him a concerned look. He waved it off before heading back into the living room.

Not long after he left Xander joined him and turned on the TV. They ended up watching a cartoon show about a cowardly dog doing very brave things to save his masters. Harry thought it was rather amusing.

With a full stomach and a feeling of content Harry soon fell asleep.

-A few hours later-

Harry woke up slowly. He was warm, very much so, comfortable, and he felt safe. Safe, a word that rarely made its appearance in Harry's vocabulary.

Snuggling into this strange warmth Harry opened his eyes and greeted an unfamiliar room. Sitting up quickly, he heard a grunt and strong arms drew him back into a very warm, very sculpted and a very male chest. Harry turned into the arms slowly and blushed as he came face to face with Xander.

The brown haired boy was still sleeping and seemed to be holding Harry as hostage. When the arms around him tightened slightly and Xander came forward to nuzzle his head Harry decided he didn't mind at all. He wasn't sure when he would be in such close proximity to his yummy again so he sat still and let Xander cling to him.

Unfortunately, not long after Harry woke up Xander did as well. Xander eyes blinked slowly and he sleepily extracted his arms from around Harry. When his eyes focused he gave Harry a sheepish grin. Harry gave an inaudible very manly giggle and smiled at Xander telling him it was okay.

The both sat up from their entangled position on the couch and wondered why in the hell they were awake so damn late. It was late at night from what Harry could see and the apartment was darkened. Xander suddenly stiffened at his side, sitting up quickly. He stood and grabbed a stake he had hidden under the couch. Harry stood warily and wondered what was wrong. He soon found his answer as a ghastly figure turned the corner smiling creepily.

"Rupert has really bad drawing skills." Was the only thought Harry had managed before grabbing Xander's arm and pulling him out of the room. They managed to dodge the creature by pure luck and ran out of the apartment. They sprinted out of the apartment building knowing it wasn't safe.

"How the bloody hell did they get in there?" Harry ran besides Xander following the other male. "That girl! Xander's ex maybe not ex-girlfriend must have forgotten to lock the door. Well damn."

Harry was soon growing tired and was glad when the Sunnydale College was in sight. He had not fully recovered from his aunt's care and he had not slept long enough in order to recharge. Xander looked behind them to see if there were any more creatures and he slowed down a bit allowing Harry to catch his breath. Harry looked at him gratefully.

They soon entered an area that Harry was unfamiliar with. It didn't take him long to figure out where they were, the college dorms.

"We must be going to one of the girls' rooms to tell what happened." Harry wondered if they had any aspirin, his head was killing him. It throbbed in time with his heartbeat and all he wanted to do was lay down and curl into a ball.

Xander POV

Xander slowed down their pace and looked at Harry worriedly. The green eyed boy did not look like he was faring well. He was breathing heavily from the run and every few minutes or so he would press his hand to his forehead as if to hold off a headache.

"Is he sick? God, I hope not we can't deal with that right now. I hope he's just tired from the run; I can fix that given some time. Maybe we can go for runs in the morning…good cardio is the key to surviving on the Hellmouth. Well that and a handy stake." Xander dragged his eyes off of Harry as they came to Willow's door.

He banged on hoping to get them inside before drawing any unwanted attention. The door opened suddenly and instead of his beautiful redheaded, Willow, a pale smiling face leaned forward. Xander stumbled away and grabbed Harry's arm and they started running again.

"Oh god no, Wills. Please let her be okay. Let her be at Buffy's house or in Tara's room." Xander thought frantically, all around them doors were opening and the creatures were holding bleeding human hearts. He heard Harry breathing harshly and then stumble, nearly falling to the ground. His pack mate was not doing well; he needed to do something and quick.

As he turned the corner he saw one of the creepy smiling bastards trying to get inside a room. Xander sprinted up and hit the creature knocking it back and away from the door. Before it could stand again the door opened and Willow's face peaked out.

Xander grinned at his friend and she let the door open wider and beckoned him and Harry inside. Unfortunately, that was what the creature was waiting for. It swiftly stood up and pushed the door wide open and his creepy buddies appeared around the corner.

Soon they were running again, looking for somewhere safe, for another place to fortify until Buffy found and broke the box. It looked like they were out of luck.

Willow suddenly turned sharply and led the group to another building, the cafeteria. They pushed through the doors easily and Xander pushed one of the nearby tables up to it. The table wasn't anywhere near heavy enough to keep somebody out and Xander cursed. He pushed another and another until the front door was as safe as he could make it.

When he turned around he saw more doors, open windows, and generally unfucking safe places that Xander would not have enough time to block. That didn't mean he couldn't try. He went to the next easily opened exit and started blocking that one as well. Harry helped him push tables up to the back door. Once the other door was secured they started on the windows.

Harry POV

"What is it with these muggles? How the hell are we supposed to make this secure?" he inwardly complained. It was easier to complain than to panic, panicking got people killed. He could still work when he was complaining. He grunted as he helped Xander push another table up to the door. His arms ached and Harry knew he would be feeling it in the morning. His aches and pains had eased only slightly the first night he spent in Sunnydale, but now he had the feeling that he would be having a relapse the next morning. At least his headache had eased.

Harry turned and saw Tara and Willow grasp hands. Slowly a large table began to move by itself and put itself up against a window. He watched shocked. Xander looked impressed but not as surprised as Harry. Maybe they were Wicca witches like the kind that aunt Petunia was talking about. Harry didn't like this. How was he was supposed to help them if he couldn't see what they were doing.

Harry examined the witched closely, disgruntled that they seemed to give nothing away. He mentally slapped himself as he realized what he was doing wrong.

"Wizards always gave themselves away by gestures. Wiccans just don't outwardly show what they are doing with their magic. I need to look at them a different way." Concentrating on the girls, Harry willed himself to see what made these girls Wicca, how he could help them. Harry's headache came back sharply and he stumbled and sank to his knees in pain. Xander kneeled by him concerned, but Harry ignored him.

Harry wasn't sure how long it took, it seemed like hours, but he knew it had to have been only seconds or minutes. His head felt like it has split into two and then suddenly the pain was gone his eyes focused on Tara and Willow's forms again and he saw them glow. Tara was glowing a soft green and Willow white, he stared at them stunned.

"I can see their magic." he looked at them in awe before looking at the table they were moving in a painfully slow pace it was incased in a soft golden light.

Harry heard a banging on one of the windows and turned gasping. Some of the creatures had gathered outside, trying to get to them. He knew that what Willow and Tara was doing wasn't enough. The Gentlemen were spread too widely and they would get in soon from another window that the girls wouldn't be able to block in time.

"But I have magic." Even though he was damn near running on empty he should be able to help a bit. In fact, now that he was able to see their magic it should be easier for him to incorporate his own. He stood and walked over to the girls with a sure and purposeful stride that hid every feeling of fear and doubt he had.

Harry grasped Tara's hand and she looked at him sharply before turning her attention to another table. Harry tried to will his magic through the bond, but it was stubborn and did not want to listen. Taking a deep breath and closing his eyes Harry allowed himself to see his magic, to feel it.

It flared up powerful, weakened, but it was enough. Harry eyes snapped open and his magic flowed through Tara and Willow and he heard them gasp.

In seconds, every single window was blocked firmly with a table.

Darkness crept along the edges of his sight. The world seemed to move in slow motion as Harry's hand slipped out of Tara's and he fell to the ground. He smiled in triumph and the last thing he saw before the darkness overtook his vision was a pair of beautiful brown eyes.

Holy hell. You guys have no freaking idea how long I have been trying to write this chapter. It should have come about two chapters ago, but I couldn't for the life of me type it.