Title: Rebellion
Author: Wildecate
Email: wildecate@hotmail.com
Summary: Draco Malfoy rebels.
Notes: Set post BTVS S7 and post ATS S4 and definitely post OOTP.
Disclaimer: None of the characters are mine.

Xander stepped back from the whiteboard. It was divided up into columns and each of the Scoobies’ names at the top of each column. Down the side of the whiteboard was another list of names but a much less popular list, vampires, various sorts of demons, warlocks, whatever nasties they were coming across. Out of pure boredom they had started counting them, rating each other on the kills, giving marks for style, ease of kill and implement.

Buffy and Faith naturally led the board, Buffy ahead on vampires, Faith who had managed to bag herself a demon nest had pushed her score up a couple of nights ago. Angel, who rarely came out with them now, was third and Kennedy was next, with Gunn running her a close fifth. The rest of them were lagging behind although Xander noticed that someone’s scores had taken a major leap over the last month.

“Hey Dawnie, you’re beginning to give Kennedy a run for her money” he commented as he clicked the lid back on the purple marker pen.

She looked up from where she was sitting polishing what had become her favourite weapon. It was a sword, made in light steel. The hilt was shaped to fit a small hand, perfect for Dawn, and she had learned to use to deadly advantage. It was with this that she was cutting her way through the demon population of Los Angeles.

Dawn attended school in LA now, just down the road from the Hyperion. She blended in quietly, studying hard for her exams, filling her days with schoolwork and her nights with fighting. They had all settled in now comfortably, the rest of the Scoobies getting jobs with Wolfram and Hart in their various departments, but still patrolling every night. But not Dawn. She didn’t patrol. She hunted. Less and less did she need someone to watch her back and more and more they could rely on her to hold her own in a fight. Which would account for her rising scores.

Xander was concerned about Dawn although he would never have said so to her face. Along with skill with a weapon she had also developed a fairly hard punch and Xander didn’t particularly want to be on the other end of her fist. He reminded himself to have a quiet word with Giles. Giles would then have a word with Buffy and Buffy would have a word with Dawn. Hopefully.

Dawn smiled in quiet satisfaction as she noted that her scores had risen. In the fighting she could easily forget him. The adrenaline that raced through her blotted out his face and each demon that fell beneath her was another minute through the day.

She knew the others were noticing the change in her and were worrying about her but she carried on regardless, not really caring what they thought of her.

And so the days passed by. The days turned into weeks, the weeks into months and Draco Malfoy began to recede in her memory. No longer did his name cause her heart to miss a beat, her breath to catch in her throat, her eyes to well up with tears. Now she just smiled a little when she thought of him. Her attempt to shut him out of her life by occupying every second of her day failed but she came to terms with the ache that he had caused and became accustomed to it. As a result of her intensive hard work she passed her exams with flying colours and, as a treat, Giles suggested a trip.

”Where?” she asked excitedly “Florida? Miami? New York?”

Giles smiled at her “No”

She frowned “Where then?”

“I was thinking a little further afield” and when her expression did not clear, he clarified “England. London.”

Dawn was silent.

“I thought you’d be pleased. I’m going back to London – I need to meet with the new Council members and since you’ve done so well I thought you deserved the treat.”

She stared at him mutely and he frowned at her.

“Don’t you want to go?” he asked in concern.

“Yeah, course I want to” Dawn threw herself at him, hugging him so hard he couldn’t breathe.

“Good” he wrapped his arms round the girl who had become a daughter to him. It was the happiest he had seen her look in a long time.

“Is Buffy OK with this?” Dawn asked, releasing him from her death grip.

“Who do you think Ok’d it?”

Her sister’s voice came from behind her and Dawn turned, and jumped at her, smothering her with kisses.

“You’re wonderful, thank you so much”

Buffy disentangled herself from Dawn, smoothing down her mussed up hair. “You’re completely welcome” she laughed.

Dawn bounced away from her and as Faith came out of Wes’ office she was grabbed by Dawn and swung round with a yippee before being released as Dawn ran into the office to tell Wes.

Faith came over to Buffy and Giles “What the hell was that about?”

“She’s happy” Buffy said.

“I can tell she’s happy. Who gave her a happy?” Faith asked.

“Giles did”

Faith swung round to face Giles “Wow G-man. Isn’t she a little young for you?”

Giles rolled his eyes “Do get your mind out of the gutter” he caught Buffy sniggering to herself “that goes for both of you. Honestly.”

“You thought you’d taught us better” the girls chorused, knowing what he was about to say.

“Dawn is coming to England with me when I go for a visit in three weeks. I’m meeting the Council members to update them on our position here and to find out how they are progressing in tracking down the Slayers who were activated by Willow.”

“Is that wise? Weren’t you kicked out of England?” Faith asked “I don’t want you getting caught by whoever it was you’re hiding from.”

“I’ll be fine. I’ve no intention of meeting up with any of those old friends.”

Faith looked over to Wes’ office as Dawn’s happy laughter floated out the door and then back at Giles.

“I hate to be the party pooper here. Didn’t that Draco guy come from England?”

“Contrary to popular belief, Faith, there are more than ten people in the United Kingdom. The likelihood of them bumping into each other low, in the extreme.”

“Good. Chances are she’d give him a black eye he wouldn’t forget in a hurry.” Faith, never one for beating about the bush, spoke forthrightly. There was something else going on here. Giles wasn’t even remotely good at lying and she would lay good money that he was lying now. “Giles, what’s going on?”

He looked at her in surprise “What on earth makes you think that there is something going on?”

“Because, great though it is you’re taking Dawn to England with you as a reward for doing well, there’s something else going on here. Why don’t you just buy her a car or something?” Faith thought momentarily about Dawn behind the wheel of a car and amended what she had said. “OK, not a car. But why a trip to England?”

Buffy eyed Giles for a moment. Faith was right. There was something else going on.

“Giles?” Buffy questionned.

He sighed. “Am I really that transparent?”

“Only to us” Faith answered. “So come on, spill it.”

Giles sighed “Not here. My room, later on. I don’t want Dawn to know about this.”

Buffy groaned “I knew it. I knew there had to be something else to this trip. Why can’t anything ever be easy?”

Buffy and Faith waited expectantly in Giles’ room that night and he entered, looking unsurprised when he saw them sitting on his bed. He had hoped to have a little longer before this particular problem reared its head but better to deal with it now than later, he thought to himself.

“You both know, to an extent, about my background, my childhood. I told you, after Draco left, how I attended the school that Draco is at now. It’s called Hogwarts.”

“Dumb name for a school” Faith commented but stopped when Giles glared at her. “Sorry. Just saying.”

“There is an evil growing in England, just as before. It would be about 18 or 19 years ago now, when you were just children and Dawn just a baby. A wizard, his name is V.. Voldemort, very bad. Unbelievably so. He was the terror of the wizarding world, fear and chaos reined. But he was defeated. He attempted to curse a child and the curse rebounded on to him and we all thought it had killed him. Instead, it badly weakened him. The years passed and people began to grow complascent. They forgot what evil was. So when Voldemort re-surfaced some years ago, immensely weak but with a core of evil within him that had sustained him. He first came after Harry Potter, the child whom he had originally tried to kill. Harry, somehow, managed to defeat him. Slowly, but surely Voldemort has come back to power.”

Buffy and Faith had sat quietly through Giles’s talk, taking in every single word. He stopped at this point. He rubbed the back of his neck and looked at the two Slayers sitting on the bed, open mouthed.

“Voldemort’s followers, they’re called Death Eaters. Draco’s father Lucius is one of them. One of the worst actually. The whole point about Draco coming here was to have some time away from his family and from the school. He wasn’t sure how life should go for him once he left Hogwarts.”

“He could have stayed here” Faith said “He was a mean fighter, plus y’know. A hottie.”

“The reason I was going to England, the true reason I was going was to find out the true situation with Voldemort.” Giles ignored Faith and carried on explaing about his past.

“Things are going to escalate quickly. Voldemort will be making his move soon. His followers are going to be doubled when this year’s lot of students graduate from Hogwarts.”

“Why?” Buffy was confused.

”Because there will be a fair amount of students, mostly Slytherins I should think, who will be declaring their allegiance to Voldemort.” He gave a brief snort. “Draco will probably be one of them.”

“Draco?” Buffy was taken aback. “Why?”

“Because that is why he went back. To take the Dark Mark. To follow in his father’s footsteps as he was meant to do.”

“Draco’s evil?” Faith was having a hard time keeping up with this.

“Not, I suspect, by choice. I believe that when he and Dawn were stopped on their way home from Caritas, Draco had the fear of God put into him.”

“They were stopped?”

Giles explained to Faith and Buffy what had happened to Draco and Dawn on their way home from Caritas. He went through his suspicions about how Goyle and Crabbe had managed to track Draco down, purely by chance he reckoned. And when Draco had sung for Lorne he had laid himself bare and in doing so had allowed everyone who had been in Caritas that night to see who he truly was.

“So these two guys saw Dawn with Draco? Doesn’t that put her in even more danger?” Buffy asked “Cos I’m not going to let her go if it means she won’t be safe.”

“The Council can protect her. The chances of Voldemort knowing we’re in England are minute. And she deserves the holiday. We can’t live our lives afraid.”

“No, we can’t. But that doesn’t mean we should go straight into the lion’s den” Faith argued.

“I have to go. I need to meet my contact from the school. He’ll tell me what the position is. He’ll be able to tell me how much danger Dawn and the rest of us are in. If Draco was seen with Dawn then they may have followed them back here. I need to make sure.”

Buffy didn’t seem particularly thrilled with this idea and she said so. Loudly and at great length until Giles stopped her with a simple question.

“How are you going to tell Dawn that she can’t come to England?”

“I couldn’t” Buffy said eventually.

“If you couldn’t, you can’t expect me to. The girl deserves a holiday. I need to go to England. Willow can accompany us if you want. She should be able to mask our presence effectively while we are there.”

“Her spell didn’t work so well when Draco was here did it?” Faith asked.

“I think it did. I think it was pure chance Goyle and Crabbe were in Caritas that night. They were probably hanging round all the demon haunts, making new contacts for their Master. When Draco sang he allowed them to see it was him. They probably took it upon themselves to give him a kick to make sure he didn’t make any stupid decisions. Lucius isn’t stupid. Whatever story he got told about Draco being here, he must know that Draco isn’t sure about where his loyalties lie.”

Giles looked at Buffy and Faith. “I need to find out how much danger we are in, how much danger Dawn is in. If Lucius knows about Dawn and knows that Draco cares for her, he’ll use her in any way he can to force Draco to do whatever he wants.”

“OK. One week” Buffy told him “You get one week.”

“Ten days” Giles answered “Flights are already booked. I’ll check with Willow and book her a flight as well. Would that make you feel better?”

“No” Buffy answered rudely “It would make me feel better if you weren’t going at all but I guess we need to know.”

“Yes we do.”

Buffy sighed and got to her feet. She went to leave but paused at the door.

“Giles, if there’s anything else you need to tell us about your past then tell us now.”

“Buffy, my past is mine. I don’t have to tell you everything.”

“But when you don’t we always end up fighting some demon, or one of your old school mates – remember Ethan?”

“If I think you need to know something, I’ll tell you. OK?”

Faith stretched slowly and got off the bed to join Buffy by the door.

“I’m hitting the sack. I’m whacked.”

She left the room, leaving Buffy still hesitating by the door. Giles saw her uncertainty but knew he could not afford to tell her everything. Despite everything she said, she would not understand and he could not bear to see that look on her face again.

“Good night Buffy” he said, giving her a broad hint. She took it, smiling wanly and closing the door behind her.