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.
Notes 2: Thanks to everyone who has read and reviewed. I appreciate this so much. It is what is inspiring me to keep going. I am listening to what you are saying – Dawn’s Key powers will be playing a part in future chapters. But now, read on and enjoy.

There was silence in the riverside apartment for a moment and then everyone spoke at once.

“What did you do?”

“Is he OK?”

“Are you OK?”

“What are you doing here?”

Dawn looked at Draco who had asked her this. He looked older. There were circles under his eyes, a look of tiredness on his face but most of all he looked incredibly angry.

“What am I doing here?” she asked “What are you doing here?”

“You’re supposed to be in LA. You’re supposed to be safe. You’re not supposed to be here.” Draco dropped to his knees beside his unconscious father and stared up at Willow who was now kneeling opposite him. She flipped Lucius Malfoy on his back, checked his pulse and then looked back at Giles.

“He’ll be OK. I just knocked him out.”

Giles was already on the phone, dialling a number from memory. The worry on his face was obvious and when someone answered the other end, he spoke rapidly, telling whoever it was to come and find them immediately.

Draco and Dawn were still staring at each other.

A thousand thoughts were flying through Dawn’s mind, not least of which were, God he’s still gorgeous. Especially when he’s angry. She noticed that the hair which had been short when she had known him had now grown out and fell around his shoulders. He and his father were wearing muggle clothes, she recognised the jeans and t-shirt he had worn in LA, with the leather jacket over the top. Lucius was dressed in a smart black suit which was now very crumpled as he lay on the floor, his eyes closed, breathing steadily.

She longed to go to him, hug him and tell him she was so sorry for shouting, she hadn’t understood but she did now. She had made a mistake and wanted to take it back. But she couldn’t find the words. She couldn’t speak to this boy who was so angry with her.

He was shouting at them, telling them they shouldn’t be here, they shouldn’t have endangered themselves by coming here. What were they going to do? His father would wake up soon and then the trouble would really start. How were they going to get out of this one? How stupid was Giles to bring Dawn and Willow here? Voldemort had been informed that a new power had entered London which was why he and his father were there – they were tracking it. As soon as Draco had seen Dawn he said he had realised that Giles would be there and probably the others.

“It’s just us,” insisted Willow “just us three.”

Draco turned on her “They know you’re here. They can feel your power.”

“They couldn’t” Willow said “I’ve masked our auras. They wouldn’t be able to track the power.”

“Not track it – just feel it.” Draco sighed, running a hand through his white hair, “They know you’re here. And now this – it’s only a matter of time.”

“Draco, do calm down, we can fix this easily. I’ve got a friend coming to help us sort this out. We’ll simply perform an obliviate curse, give your father some new memories so he won’t realise what’s happened, dump you and your father somewhere and then get out of the country.”

Giles suddenly realised something. Draco had said that Voldemort had been told there was a new power. There was no way that he could know Voldemort knew this unless….. Giles’ blood ran cold. He stared questioningly at Draco who answered his gaze by sliding his jacket off and revealing the mark on his arm. Giles turned the arm over, sliding his fingers over the mark and felt a shudder go through him. Dawn stared at it and then at him in horror.

“You did it” she breathed “you really did it.”

Draco snatched his arm back and put the jacket back on, covering it up.

”It’s none of your business. You made it perfectly clear how you felt about it.”

“Draco, please..”

“This isn’t the time for this” Giles interrupted them, seeing another full scale argument in the making.

There was a quiet knock on the door which made them all flinch and Giles opened the door cautiously to reveal a tall lanky looking man standing outside.

“I could have used my key” he said in lazy aristocratic tones “but I thought, in the circumstances, it would be more polite to knock.”

Ethan Rayne stepped over the prone figure of Lucius, taking good care to kick him hard as he did so. He regarded Giles for a moment before shaking hands with him, handing him an envelope as he did so.

“Well, well Miss Rosenberg, haven’t we grown up?” he teased the red head who simply smiled at him sweetly.

“Hi Ethan, it’s nice to see you too.”

“I see Slayer Junior is here” Ethan noted Dawn’s presence with a smile. He had always liked her. He glanced round the apartment. “No big sis though? Don’t really fancy getting punched by her. She has a bit of an addiction to violence, don’t you agree?”

“It’s just the three of us Ethan” Giles said “You know Lucius and this, of course…”

“Well you have to be Draco” Ethan drawled taking in the blonde haired boy. “So you’re Luscious Lucius’ offspring?”

Draco glared at him and then at Giles. “Who is this?”

“Draco Malfoy, this is Ethan Rayne.” Giles turned back to Ethan. “I appreciate you coming so fast.”

The other man shrugged elegantly “How could I refuse a chance to help you?” he said sarcastically “Of course, you did threaten me with violence. I must bring out the Ripper in you.”

“He’ll be brought out again if you don’t sort this out” Giles said calmly, the threat posed as politely as an enquiry about the weather.

Draco lost the thread of the conversation, discussion of someone called Ripper, the obliviate spell they would use on his father, the new memories and then their escape. Of course, just in case, Giles, Dawn and Willow would re-locate to another house until it was time for their flights. Instead, his gaze moved to Dawn who was listening anxiously to the plans for their immediate future.

She was still lovely, he thought. She still took his breath away. Dawn became aware that he was watching her and transferred her bright blue eyes from Giles to stare straight back at Draco. He could see from her expression that she was glad to see him, that she wanted to throw herself at him to hug him but she was still a little angry with him. He understood that. He was pretty angry with her too.

“Draco?” Giles’s sharp tone distracted him from Dawn.

“Yes?” he answered, looking at his godfather who was regarding him with a kind expression on his face.

“We’re going to obliviate both of you. It’s the safest way. That means you won’t remember seeing us and it means they won’t be able to get any information from you should you accidentally let anything slip.”

Draco protested to this loudly but Dawn effectively ended the argument. She took his arm and pulled him into the kitchen, shutting the door behind her.

“I had a speech all planned for this moment. I rehearsed and everything and here I am babbling away.” She dropped the smile and looked suddenly serious. “This is something you have to let us do, Draco. You chose a side, remember?”

“Dawn, I…”

She put her fingers up to his lips to quieten him, then stood on her tiptoes to kiss him. His hands came up to cup her face tenderly as he enjoyed the embrace. She stepped back, the tears streaming down her face and he looked at her uncomprehendingly.

“You chose a side. Giles told me everything. I understand why you’ve done what you’ve done” her eyes went to his arm and then back up to face him. “You did this to protect me. Now let us do this to protect you.”

“But I won’t remember you” he said unhappily.

“I will always remember you. But we can’t take this risk. There’s too much at stake here.” Dawn wept.

“You mean Willow?” Draco understood. If Voldemort knew how strong Willow was then there was no way back for them, Dumbledore and his friends who stood against Voldemort wouldn’t stand a chance against Willow.

“I’m sorry Draco.”

A knock on the door interrupted them as Willow stuck her head through and asked if they were finished. Dawn nodded and came back out to stand with Giles and Ethan. Lucius was still on the floor, his eyes shut but Draco did not even spare him a glance.

“Are we ready?” Ethan asked sarcastically and Draco glared at him.

“Glad I’ll be forgetting you” he said sharply and Ethan threw his head back and laughed.

“You and Giles’ Slayer get on well I’ll bet” he said, before sobering abruptly and telling Draco to sit on the sofa out of the way while they dealt with his father.

Willow touched Lucius Malfoy’s head with a finger, bringing him straight back to consciousness with a start. His eyes snapped open and went straight to her, staring at her with a mixture of fear and loathing. She smiled at him, a guileless smile which made her look fifteen again, Giles thought. But Willow Rosenberg was a woman now, a woman with immense power at her fingertips.

She kept her hand pressed his skull and whispered to him “Forget. Forget you ever saw us. Forget that Draco saw Dawn, that she saw him. Forget that you came here and that you saw Giles and Dawn and me. You were at the Museum today, you saw no one of importance. You left with your son to return to your house. You will report to your Master that there is nothing of importance here in London. You will search for the new power no more.”

His eyes glazed over as she spoke and when she finished he had a dull look in his eye.

“Now sleep” she said softly and his eyes closed again.

“Right” said Willow turning to Draco who was sitting on the sofa with Dawn at his side “your turn.”

Draco turned to Dawn and squeezed her hand once before Willow knelt opposite him and reached out with an apologetic smile. She repeated what she had said to his father, Dawn watching sadly as his eyes clouded over and then closed as Willow commanded him to sleep.

“You’re getting quite good at this magic lark” Ethan said to Willow who gave him a brief grin before turning to Dawn and hugging her. “I’ll get them back to their house” Ethan said “I’ll waken them in the street and apparate away, leaving them there.”

“We’ll head to Sirius’ old house” Giles said “I’ll take the girls there now and then come and meet you later. Sev said he was going to try and get free.”

“Who’s Sev?” Dawn wanted to know but Giles tapped the side of his nose mysteriously, telling her to keep her nose out of his business. She knew he would tell them later.

“I’ll get going” Ethan hauled Lucius and Draco to his feet then flicked his wand and vanished.

“Won’t he be seen?” Dawn wanted to know “Just appearing like that?”

“No. He’ll appear at the gates of their mansion, it’s set way back from the road. He won’t be seen by anyone who matters.”

“I didn’t realise Ethan was on our side now” Willow said as she followed Giles through into his bedroom.

“Ethan is many things. On our side is not one of them” Giles’ tone was wry as he opened his suitcase and began to pack it rapidly.

“Why is he helping us then? We can’t trust him.”

Giles paused in his packing. How to explain this to her? “Some things go deeper than sides, Willow. Our friendship is one of them. Ethan is not a good man. But neither is he a bad man.”

“Plus he’s scared of you” Dawn said as she stuck her head in the door making the other two laugh.

“Well there is that too.” Giles finished folding his sweaters and began to pile them into his case. “Go on you two. We need to be out of here within the hour.”

“Where is it we’re going, Giles? Sirius’ place?”

“It’s a friend’s house. He’s not around anymore but his house is another safe house, it’s not too far away.”

He pulled out the envelope Ethan had given him earlier and handed it to them. Dawn opened it and pulled out a piece of paper on which was written “The Headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix may be found at number 12, Grimmauld Place, London.” Willow and Dawn read the paper and then Giles took it from them, shredding it into tiny pieces.

”You’ll need to know that to get in” he said without further explanation. “Pack quickly now. We need to move.”