Chapter Ten - Lover's Walk
Buffy beamed at the shocked faces of the students.
"What? You look surprised. No wait, let me guess - somebody didn't divulge the information she discovered upon opening her diary." Hermione shrugged but smiled.
"Figured as much."
"Now's the time to ask your question Ms. Patil." Giles whispered.
"What? Oh, right. Professor Giles said you were one of the present slayers. Could you explain this to me? I thought there could only be one slayer."
"That's simple Parvati - I died." She eyed Angel and they both said, "Twice."
"You-you died? Bu-but how -"
"Very long story there. But if you'd like to hear it, I'm sure we could arrange to have a little story-telling session. From my point of view instead of my Watcher's." She slapped Giles on the back.
"Wait a second - Professor GILES is your Watcher?" Ron said with wide eyes.
"Yes, Professor Giles is my Watcher. Err, was my watcher - it's a very long, complicated story, way too long to tell in class. Why don't we meet in my classroom at eight since it's bigger and can accommodate more people, as I'm sure the other houses will want to come as well and so I don't have to answer the same questions twice."
"ALL of the classes?" Parvati asked.
"Yes Parvati, even the Slytherins." There was a collective groan.
"Sorry guys. Oh, and do me a favor. When we're together outside of class, call me Buffy. This whole 'professor' thing makes me feel old and just plain gives me the wiggins."
"Wiggins?"
"Don't even ask Ron." Buffy slapped Angel's arm as he laughed and shook her head.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Ron, Hermione, Harry, and Dawn were the first people in Buffy's classroom that night - twenty minutes early.
"Now's our chance Dawn." Hermione whispered. Dawn bit her lip and nodded.
"Chance for what?" Ron asked.
"Umm...well..." She rolled her eyes. "Oh screw it. Ron, will you go to the dance with me on Halloween?"
'I can't believe I just did that.' That wasn't the way she had intended to ask, but fate has it's warped sense if humor.
After the initial shock of the question subsided, Ron grinned. "Of course I will. But only if we make it a double date." He said, eyeing Harry.
"Oh, but with who would we go?" Dawn asked, looking at Hermione.
Harry and Hermione eyed each other.
"Harry?"
"Yeh."
"Would you go to the dance with me?"
"Yes."
They smiled at each other.
"Awe, isn't that cute." Xander said, smiling boyishly.
"Xand, leave the poor kids alone." Buffy said, stepping into the room, smiling at Dawn.
"See, I told you he'd say yes." Hermione smiled at Buffy and looked at Harry. He smiled back.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Ten minutes later, the room was bustling with activity. It was filled to the brim with seventh years from all houses, and a few sixth years. Even Malfoy showed up, to everyone's surprise.
"Quiet down guys! Find a place on the floor and sit down. Before I start I have a couple of requests. One, while we're here, we're not your professors, we're your friends, and on a first name basis - Willow, Tara, Anya, Xander, Angel, Buffy, Giles, and Faith.
"Two - If you fight, you're out. I understand that there is some major animosity between houses, two in particular. But while you're here, I ask that you keep your grudges outside. Understood?"
There was a collective yes and nodding of heads.
"Good. Are you guys sure you want to hear this? It's not all flowers and fluffy bunnies, I can assure you. If you're scared, or if you hear something you don't like, you're free to leave any time. Nobody's going to chastise you."
She glanced at Giles. "OK, let's get started."
In two hours, Buffy covered her first few months in Sunnydale, beginning with her run-in with Giles in the library, and ending with killer cheerleaders. There was a mutual glance at Angel when his name was mentioned. 'Only the beginning' he thought grimly. He noticed that Buffy was wearing the cross he had given her on their first meeting. He sighed.
At ten, Buffy cut herself off. "Alright, I'm goingt to end here. Tomorrow, we'll pick up with demon puppets, and the beginning of a love story straight out of Romeo and Juliet."
"Romeo and Juliet?" Ron asked.
"Muggle literature reference. Don't worry about it." He shrugged.
When the class cleared out, Buffy and Angel were left alone.
"I need to ask you a question." Angel said quietly.
"Fire away."
"Would you mind if - if I wasn't here when you talked about your birthday."
"My - oh." She took a breath. "No. Not at all. I understand." She leaned up and wrapped her arms around his neck. "Don't make yourself uncomfortable. If you don't want to be here, then - "
He cut her off with a kiss.
She pulled away and smiled. "I like it when you shut me up."
"Really?"
"Care to do it again?"
His answer was another kiss.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
The night of the Halloween dance, Ron paced around the Common Room
"Please sit down Ron. You're giving me a headache."
"Oh sod off Harry."
"You guys ready down there?" Dawn called from the top of the stairs.
"Yes."
Harry sucked in his breath as Dawn and Hermione stepped down the stairs.
Hermione was dressed in a short, white dress that shimmered in silver and fell an inch below her mid-thigh. It clung to her in all the right places, but still flowed with her every move. She wore her hair curled and framing her face with little silver stars caught in it. She was covered from head to foot in silver glitter and wore white thong sandals on her feet. And to top it off, she had multi-colored fairy wings.
"Wow." Harry said.
"I'll say." But Ron was looking at Dawn
Dawn was wearing a long, low cut (but still modest) black dress with a slit up the right side that came up to her mid-thigh. She had her hair up in french braids with gold moons caught in them and wore the same sandals as Hermione, only in black. She was covered in gold glitter. There was red embroidery along the bottom of her dress and she had crimson wings sparkling with gold.
"You look.amazing."
"Thank you Ron. What do you think of the dark and light fairies?"
"Suddenly liking evil a lot more." Harry hit Ron and Dawn laughed.
"What do you think of OUR costumes?" Ron and Harry struck a pose and Dawn burst out into hysterical giggles.
"Very cut Ron. Very cute."
Ron and Harry dressed up as fifth century English noblemen. They got the idea from some Muggle movie they overheard Dawn and Anya talking about called "A Knight's Tale." Harry was wearing green, which only brought out his eyes even more, and Ron was wearing off-white.
Dawn thought they looked a hell of a lot better then Heath Ledger ever could. Hermione's eyes were probably bulging out of her head.
"Shall we?" Ron asked, offering Dawn his arm.
"We shall."
"Hermione."
"Harry."
She took his arm awkwardly, but eventually leaned into him, content that all was well.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Buffy had a mini-stroke when Dawn walked into the Great Hall.
"How high is that slit? What is she thinking?"
"Buffy, are you aware of how motherly you sound?" Buffy glared at the smirking Willow.
"Oh hush up." She shoved Willow playfully, who laughed.
"Are you going to go change?"
"In a few minutes. I wanted to make sure that everything was okay here."
As if on cue, someone screamed and the whole room fell silent.
Buffy and Faith glanced at each other and raced in the direction of the scream.
A small first year girl with blonde pigtails was quivering in a corner.
"I didn't do it! I swear I didn't do it!"
"It's okay sweetheart. Faith, stay here and keep an eye on her."
"Sure."
Buffy stepped into the classroom the girl was standing outside of.
"Oh my god." But it wasn't a bad 'Oh my god'
The room was empty.
Buffy walked back outside and knelt beside the girl.
"What's your name hun?"
"Moyra."
"Moyra. You're in my class right after lunch, right?"
"Y-yes."
"Oh, I like that class. The Ravenclaw first years love to give me a challenge."
Moyra smiled a little.
"Now, I need you to tell me something, ok? I need you to tell me what you saw. The room is empty now; it's all ok. Whatever it was can't hurt you. But I need to know."
"It was a vampire" she whispered.
"How many?"
"Just one. Vampires are my worst fear. I don't like vampires."
Buffy smiled. "Neither do I. Now, why doesn't Professor Morgan walk you back to your Common Room, ok?"
Moyra nodded and walked off with Faith.
By then, Buffy had realized the crowd surrounding her.
"Disappearing worst nightmares. Perfect. Has anyone else seen their worst nightmares disappear faster then a speeding bullet?"
Harry stepped forward. "This is just a guess, but - could it be a boggart."
"A what art?"
"A boggart. They like to live in small, dark, enclosed spaces and when they come in contact with people, they change into their worst fear."
"I see. Well, feel like helping me defeat one?"
"Yes." At the same time he said yes, about a dozen other people said no.
"OK then, why don't you come in with me and I'll face the boggart."
"No."
"Hermione."
"Harry."
"Can someone please explain to me why Harry can face the big, bad wolf, but not another one of the little pigs?"
"Because every time Harry faces one, it turns into a Dementor and...well...it doesn't end well." Harry glared at Hermione.
"Oh, I see. Well, then can someone else PLEASE help me out? Professor Giles? Anyone?"
"I'll go."
Buffy arched her eyebrow. "Umm - thanks Angel."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"Well, here's your dormitory Moyra. You're all safe and sound."
Moyra smiled. "Thanks." She said the password, ("Flindiferous") and turned back around to face Faith.
"You owe me one."
"Ah, but I don't." Faith said smiling. "Angel owes you one."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Angel and Buffy stepped into the empty classroom. After searching for nearly half an hour, there was still no sign of a boggart anywhere.
"I really think this girl was hallucinating. Probably just a little trick in Halloween - "
She cut herself off when she saw Angel standing directly behind her with a box in his hand.
The kind of box that usually has a ring in it.
"Is - is that what I think it is?" She said, breathless.
"Probably. I was never one for sappy farewells and speeches, so I'm just going to go down on one knee and say this straight out."
Angel went down on his right knee and opened the box. Inside was a silver claddagh (sp.?) ring with a diamond in the center. When she looked closely, she could see the words "Angel and Buffy Forever" written on the inside in gold.
"Buffy Anne Summers - marry me?"
Her answer was to throw her arms around his neck and kiss him, knocking both of them to the floor.
"Yes." She said in between kisses.
They sat up and he slid the ring onto her finger. She wiggled her fingers to watch it sparkle.
"You set me up didn't you?"
Angel laughed. "I definitely own Moyra one. Ten points to Ravenclaw - and Faith."
"Did everyone else know?"
"Just Giles - he sends his blessings - says we're desperately going to need them." Buffy laughed. "So, should we tell everyone?" He asked her.
"Nah. I'm curious to see if they notice the extra accessory on my left hand."
"You're evil." He said, sliding his arms around his waist as they walked out.
"Nope. I just pretend to be."
Instead of heading towards the Great Hall, they somehow ended up outside their room.
"I think we took a wrong turn back there somewhere."
"What, you're complaining?"
Buffy put her hand over his heart. "Nope. Especially not if you're thinking what I am."
They exchanged a look and leaned in for a kiss. Somewhere in between grasping for each other's clothes and trying to find the doorknob, they managed to get inside their room and lock the door.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
She knew he was angry. She just knew it. She just didn't know why.
After the scene outside of the classroom, Harry hadn't come back to the Great Hall. Nobody knew where he was, but a few people said they saw him heading towards the Astronomy tower.
So that's where Hermione headed.
And sure enough, there he was, staring out the window.
"Harry?"
No answer.
"Harry, are you mad at me?"
Silence, before, "Why did you have to bring up that whole thing with the Dementors?"
"Oh Christ Harry, is that what this is about? Your pride?"
Harry spun around. "You didn't have to bring it up 'Mione! Malfoy's finally stopped talking about me fainting, and you had to go and dredge it up again!"
"Well you're the fool who was going to go face a boggart which could very well turn into a Dementor! I was just looking out for you!"
"Looking out for me? Looking out for me?! Damnit Hermione, I can take care of myself!"
"Yeh and some bloody good job you're doing of it! Do you think I like watching you put yourself in danger? This isn't about your pride Harry! It's about - "
She never got to finish her sentence because Harry cut her off with kiss. Her eyes shot open and then shut again as she slid her arms around his neck and deepened the kiss.
When Harry finally pulled away, Hermione kept her arms wrapped around his shoulders.
"I'm sorry." They both said together.
"For what?" Still together.
"You go - "Laughter. "Go first Harry."
"I'm sorry for snapping at you. I shouldn't have."
"I'm sorry for brining up the whole Dementor thing."
"I'm sorry for kissing you."
Hermione just looked at him, shocked.
"What?"
"Harry Potter, that is one thing you never have to be sorry about."
She initiated the kiss this time. She felt his hands go under the straps of her dress and she shivered.
"Am I interrupting something?"
'Ohgodohgodohgodohgod...' Hermione thought frantically.
It was Professor McGonagall.
"Explain yourselves."
"Well, you see," she said slowly, "Harry came up here because he was mad and I followed him because I wanted to know why and then we got into a fight and - yeah."
"I see. Be that as it may, twenty points from Gryffindor for being in a place you weren't supposed to be. And next time, save it for somewhere a little more private."
They nodded.
"Get back to your Common Room."
She smirked as they walked out blushing, but still holding hands.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Buffy laid cradled in Angel's arms. Her head was nestled into the hollow of his shoulder. She slept silently.
Angel ran the back of his hand along her cheek and neck until it rested on that scar.
His scar.
The one he gave her.
Angel traced the scar with his fingertips and Buffy stirred slightly, but fell back to sleep.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Buffy awoke with Angel's hand draped lightly over her back. She nuzzled lightly into his shoulder and ran a few fingertips down his chest until they reached a somewhat large scar on his abdomen. Why had she never noticed that before?
Ignorance.
She knew it was her fault, her thrust of a sword to stop Acathala. She ran her left ring finger along the scar and sighed.
It was a night just like this one that started it all. Even though she knew he was human now, a tendril of dread crept into her mind.
Buffy prayed to any deity who would listen that Angel would still be there in the morning.
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