Chapter Eight – Caught in a Moment

People everywhere how could I be sure

Is it you that I have been looking for

What would it take for me to be comfortable

With you, with me you're the chosen one

What if I missed you

You got caught in the sun

What if I did something

Never to be enough

You are there for me this I hope and pray

You will wait for me, I wont be too late

-- "Caught in a Moment" – Course of Nature

~*~*~*~*~*~*

Buffy walked back up the stairs to a silent group waiting for her reaction. A tear. A laugh. A smile. A frown. Anything.

What they received was a glare, directed towards Giles, and Willow couldn’t help but smirk, while Cordelia mumbled, "I told you so," which received a laugh from Xander that he disguised as a sudden coughing fit.

"Is everything okay?" Oz asked.

Buffy nodded. "I guess" She looked down and then back up at Giles. "I – I don’t know what to do here. I mean – I want to stay with him, but that would be neglecting my responsibilities at Hogwarts – "

"Buffy"

"And I wouldn’t want to do that because that would be proving you right, and that is something that I just don’t want to do right now – "

"Buffy"

"But he’s home, and he needs me, and God knows I need him – "

"Buffy!" Giles said a little louder, trying desperately to pull her out of her rant.

It worked. Buffy looked up at him, hoping he had some sort of answer. Angry or not, he was still her watcher.

And more of a father then she’d ever had, though she would never admit that aloud.

"My suggestion would be to write to Dumbledore. Tell him that you are going to be staying for a week or so, let Faith take over your classes until you return. And then we can decide what to do from there"

Buffy nodded. "Okay, but um – do you have an owl?"

*~*~*Hogwarts*~*~*

The class of Gryffindor and Slytherin Seventh Years were shocked to walk into their Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom and see, not Professor Summers, but Faith at the head of the class. She said a quick hello to Draco and waited for everyone to be seated before she started.

"Where’s Buffy?" Neville asked, voicing everyone’s curiosity.

"Buffy had a bit of an emergency – well, a lot of an emergency to take care of back home. She should be back within the next two or three weeks" She paused and added, "Hopefully"

"Home? But – doesn’t she live in the states?" Ron asked.

"Sunnydale, California to be exact. Home of sun, beaches, and the hell- I mean, a hell of a lot of gorgeous guys, um, any other questions before we get started? And no, I cannot tell you what the emergency is. It’s private. All I can tell you is that a friend of hers is in trouble, and she is the only one who can help him"

Hermione eyed her suspiciously. She knew there was more going on then Faith was letting them know, so she just nodded.

"Good. Now, I received a letter from Buffy regarding the lesson plan for the weeks she’s away. She wants to put her lesson on werewolves on hold and begin with famous vampires, one in particular – Angelus, the Scourge of Europe"

Draco smiled at this. He had been hoping for this lesson, and knowing it was a touchy subject with his professor made it worth the wait.

"Now, I have some books here that are all about our boy Angel" She showed the class the three books she had in her hands before throwing them behind her. "But we’re not going to be using those. There are specifics that Buffy outlined, and she wants me to tell you everything that she knows, and believe me, that’s more then the books could ever tell you. Any questions before we begin?"

Hermione raised her hand, before asking. "I read in our book that Angelus once worked alongside a slayer in California. In fact, it was the same town you said Buffy was from. Is this true?"

Faith scratched her arm nervously. Damn this girl catches on quick. "Yes, this is true, and I will be getting to that – but not today. Today we will be learning about his sire, Darla. And those of you who decided to research the Order of Aurelius better listen closely, because that is discussed as well"

Faith perched herself on the desk. She had the lesson plan completely outlined with exactly what she wanted the kids to know and how she wanted them to find out.

Ending with Faith revealing that Angel came to Sunnydale to work alongside a slayer whose name is Buffy Summers.

She didn’t know why Buffy wanted to reveal this all of a sudden, nor did she really care. She hated this whole secret identity thing, and was glad to be done with it.

Faith leaned back on her hands and began exactly as Buffy had told her to – with Angel’s own words.

"There's moments in your life that make you, that set the course of who you're gonna be. Sometimes they're little, subtle moments. Sometimes... they're not. I’ll show you what I mean.

"1753. Galway, Ireland. A man named Liam O’Connor comes out of a bar, drunk out of his mind, when he sees a woman, who to him will be nothing more then a good time, although if he were really paying attention, he would have been wondering what a noblewoman was doing in a dark alley, alone. It is this woman – Darla as he would soon learn – that changes his life – or unlife, depending on how you want to look at it – forever…"

*~*~*Sunnydale, California*~*~*

"Buffy?"

Buffy walked over to the door where she saw Willow standing. "Hey, um – can we talk?"

"Sure – come on in"

Willow stepped in. The small guest room in Giles’ house was Buffy’s until she was ready to return to Hogwarts.

Or, rather, when Angel was ready for her to leave.

"What’s up?"

"I needed to – there’s something I’ve been meaning to talk to you about – about leaving"

Buffy nodded. She had expected this conversation from someone, and she was glad that it was Willow.

"I understand you having to bail. I can forgive that. I have to make allowances for what you're going through a-and be a grownup about it" Willow gave Buffy a slightly smug look.

Buffy smiled. "You're really enjoying this whole moral superiority thing, aren't you?"

Willow smiled back. "It's like a drug!"

"Fine! Okay. I'm the bad. I can take my lumps... for a while"

"All right. I'll stop giving you a hard time" She paused. "Runaway"

Buffy gave her a surprised look. "Will!"

Willow giggled. "I'm sorry! Quitter"

Buffy’s eyes widened. "Whiner"

"Bailer"

"Harpy"

"Delinquent"

"Tramp"

"Bad seed"

"Witch"

"Freak…"

*~*~*Hogwarts*~*~*

"Hermione, how much longer are you going to research? You’ve been in here since four! It’s after ten!"

Hermione looked over at Ron and scowled. "Unlike you, I don’t wait until the last minute to do my homework Ronald Weasly, and it’s been an absolute nightmare trying to find information on the slayer as it is. I don’t know how I’m going to write this report with the lack of information I have"

"C’mon Hermione, give it a rest for a while" Harry said, coming up behind her and putting his hands on her shoulders. "I’ll help you research tomorrow. Come see Faith with us so we can start planning the dance and so we won’t be stuck with Malfoy alone"

Hermione looked up at him. She absolutely hated it when he smiled like that. It took all of her strength for her to stay seated and not grab him and snog him senseless right then and there. Ron looked at the two of them, gave her a knowing glance, and smirked.

"Alright" She said, slamming her book shut. "I’ll go"

"Good" Harry said smiling. "Because I’m starved"

"When aren’t you starved?" This statement earned her a poke in the side. She jumped and giggled. Ron just rolled his eyes wishing they would get together and be done with it already.

"So, what are you saying then?"

Harry pulled Ron and Hermione to the side. They had stumbled on what looked like a private conversation between Professor McGonagall and Faith.

Faith sighed. "Buffy – she’s back home. With him. She’s hoping to be back in the next few weeks, but she’s not even sure if he’ll ever be back to normal"

Professor McGonagall shook her head. "Well, I hope she has luck. Send her my regards"

"Will do"

Professor McGonagall left, leaving Faith to lean against the wall sighing. Draco came out of the shadows and approached her. "Is everything alright?"

Faith snorted. "Perfect. Just perfect" She pulled Draco into her office and slammed the door.

"Do I even want to know what they’re doing in there?" Ron asked, suddenly disgusted.

Hermione shook her head. "Not particularly, no" They heard something slam against the door and Hermione gave them a look of complete and utter disgust before running the other way. Harry and Ron followed suit soon after.

*~*~*Sunnydale*~*~*

The banter session was a relief from the seriousness of being with Angel. Though in Buffy’s heart, she was relieved he was back, she still couldn’t seem to come to terms with the fact that he barely recognized anyone –

Anyone that wasn’t her.

Buffy heard Willow start talking, and she realized her friend wasn’t talking at all – she was reading aloud from "Call of the Wild," the book they had to read for English. She smiled, knowing that it was probably Willow’s kooky idea to try a study session. Considering the usually hyper-active Xander was silent and not sleeping, she supposed it was working.

"Night came on, and a full moon rose high over the trees.."

Buffy walked over to Angel and sat down, watching him asleep on the floor.

"...lighting the land till it lay bathed in ghostly day. And the strain of the primitive remained alive and active"

Buffy ran a finger down his cheek in a light caress and he seemed to move closer to her. She held his head in her lap and stroked his hair as he slept.

"Faithfulness and devotion, things born of fire and roof were his.."

Angel moved slightly, his face contorting in anguish and pain as he dreamed.

"...yet he retained his wildness and wiliness"

Buffy leaned against the wall, watching him sleep and contemplated her life –

And what she was going to do once Angel came out of this.

"And from the depths of the forest, a call still sounded"

:: Chapter Nine ::