Chapter Fourteen - Pranks, Fights Gone

"He did WHAT?!"

Dawn stared at her sister. Buffy Summers, HER Buffy Summers, had been stared down and LOST? That just wasn't possible.

"This isn't happening. We NEED a Muggle Defense teacher" Ron said angrily.

"You still have Faith" Dawn wrinkled her nose.

"I saw that!" Faith called. Dawn rolled her eyes.

"Look, it's Christmas Eve. Don't worry about me not having my job. The castle is going to be empty in a few hours. What do you say we all camp out in the Common Room? Big slumber party on the professors - snacks and all"

"Aren't you a little old for sleepovers?"

"Twenty-one is not old, thank you very much Hermione"

"You're not twenty-one yet" Dawn said.

"Yes, and with the grace of God, I can skip my birthday and go straight to the day after"

Dawn gave Buffy a wry smile.

"C'mon Hermione. We're the only ones in the WHOLE dormitory. Please?" Harry gave her puppy eyes again.

Hermione sighed, defeated. "Oh, alright. Sleepover, here I come"

Harry put his arm around her and kissed her cheek. Hermione blushed as Ron made gagging noises behind Harry's back. Dawn giggled and only giggled more as Ron began tickling her. Buffy glanced up at Angel, as if to ask "Were we really that bad?"

"YES" Willow, Giles, Xander, and Faith answered.

Buffy and Angel glared as they laughed.

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

"This has to be the weirdest slumber party I've ever been to" Buffy said, smiling.

"Oh, and why is that?"

"Angel, come on. You couldn't have asked for a weirder group of people if you had walked into Demons-R-Us and given them a list"

Angel arched an eyebrow.

"Look - two slayers, an ex-vampire, a watcher, a mass of mystical energy, two Wiccans, an ex-vengeance demon, a guy who's been possessed by hyena spirits, and three wizards in training. Are you sure we're not still in Sunnydale?"

"I already told you Toto, we're not in Kansas anymore"

"Thank you Dorothy. Now shut up" Buffy said to Faith, throwing a pillow at her. Faith threw it back.

"Oh bother"

"Why the sudden Pooh reference, G?" Xander asked.

"The two slayers seem to have started a pillow fight"

Xander smiled maliciously and whispered something to Angel. Angel smiled evilly and whispered the same thing to Ron. Ron grinned.

The three of them stood, and Xander suddenly announced -

"PILLOW FIGHT!!!"

The room burst into fits of laughter and feathers as Ron and Harry ganged up on Buffy.

Dawn, who saw Ron attacking her sister, grabbed Hermione's arm and they, in turn, tried to get their boyfriends to back off.

Ten minutes later, the fight was boys versus girls, and the guys were winning.

Buffy, knowing they were defeated, looked at Giles, and said, "We surrender! We surrender! Now, GET THE OLD GUY!"

Every one of them charged Giles, Buffy and Xander in the lead. Giles fell off his chair in a mass of pillows. The rest of them fell to the floor laughing hysterically. Buffy gave Xander a high five.

"OK," Buffy said, trying to catch her breath, "Enough...pillows...for tonight" She burst into another fit of giggles as Giles haphazardly stood up and adjusted his clothing and lopsided glasses. He glared in the most Ripper-like way he could manage.

"I HATE you all"

They all laughed even harder.

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

Buffy woke up the next morning pleasantly curled up in Angel's arms. They fell asleep on the floor next to the fire. He looked over at Dawn and couldn't help but smile. Ron's arm was draped over her side. She was nuzzled into his chest.

Buffy knew as soon as she saw her - Her little sister was in love.

Buffy felt Angel kiss the top of her head. "Morning sunshine" She said brightly.

"Morning"

Buffy sat up carefully and wrapped the blanket around her shoulders. Angel twined his hands in hers and noticed she wasn't wearing her engagement ring.

"You're going to have to tell them some time"

Buffy sighed. " I know. I just wanted it to be our little secret for a while. I'll tell them today" She kissed him. "I promise" She kept kissing him as she slipped the ring from a chain around her neck onto her finger.

"Yuck - People, I just woke up. This is SO not something I want to - " Dawn stopped when she saw the ring on Buffy's finger. "Oh my god. Is that an engagement ring?"

"Yeah"

"Oh my - OH MY GOD!" Dawn squealed as she hugged her sister. "Merry Christmas - since when?"

"Halloween"

"And you never told me?"

"I was a bit busy worrying about prophecies and keeping my job"

"Doesn't matter - Willow! Xander! Wake up!"

"Huh, wha, huh? Where's the fire?" Xander asked, rubbing his eyes.

"Buffy and Angel are getting MARRIED!"

"WHAT?!" He yelled.

"Oh my gosh - Buffy!" Willow squealed as she gave Buffy a hug.

In about five minutes, the rest of the room was roused and congratulation Buffy and Angel.

"OK, enough congratulating me and Dead boy over here - Ah!" She screeched as Angel poked her. "Let's get to the presents!"

Dawn tapped Ron on the shoulder and as he spun around, she kissed him.

"Mmm, Harry Christmas to you too"

Dawn smiled and handed him a long, narrow box. "This is for you. It's from the three of us. We all chipped in to get it for you. I knew how much you wanted it - Harry told me. I just wanted this to be special"

Ron opened the box, already knowing what it was - a Firebolt 007, the newest (and most expensive), model.

"Oh my - Dawn, this is so expensive. How could you afford this?"

"I already told you, there were three of us. Buffy chipped in too"

"Wow, this makes my gifts look pretty shitty"

"Hey" She put a hand on his cheek and kissed him. "Don't think like that. Besides, you had to but three gifts. We only had to buy one"

Ron smiled. "Thanks"

"Hey, thanks Ron!" Harry opened up his gift and found refills for his Broomstick Cleaning Kit - he had been running low on supplies. Harry arched an eyebrow and motioned to the box on the couch.

"This is for you" He handed Dawn the box. "Not as amazing as a broomstick, but.." He bit his lip as Dawn ripped the paper. She opened the box and gasped.

"Oh wow. Ron, it's beautiful"

Inside was a gold unicorn on a black chord. There was a tiny diamond on the tip of the horn.

"Ron, it's perfect. I love it. Help me put it on" He tied the chord around her neck and she smiled. "Thank you" She kissed him again.

Harry and Hermione exchanged gifts at the same time. Hermione bought Harry a jade green phoenix pendant on a brown chord. He smiled as he put it on.

Hermione had to blink twice to makes sure she wasn't seeing things. Inside her box was a silver heart pendant with a gold vine going around it and a small emerald in the center. It was suspended on a silver chain.

"Harry - this is - how could you - "

"Don't ask. Just say thank you"

Hermione pulled him into a fierce kiss. "Thank you" She whispered.

"Any time" He said blushing.

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

The Great Hall was beautiful. Even though the feeling of astonishment Buffy had when she first walked into the Hall Christmas morning three days before had worn off, she still couldn't stop looking at the trees - gorgeous, tall pine trees glistening with gold ornaments and what looked like snow. Dawn ran over to Buffy not much unlike a little girl, bouncing up and down.

"It's snowing! It's snowing! It's snowing! It's snowing!" She said, fast and enthusiastic.

"Yes it is" Buffy said, grinning. She looked at Xander and grinned even wider. Buffy pulled Dawn over and whispered something to her. Dawn grinned mischievously. Giles noticed and shook his head.

"Hey Xand - wanna go outside?" Dawn asked.

"It's freezing!"

"Yeah, but it's snowing! C'mon - it'll be fun. We never see snow in Cali - well, except for that one time - please?"

Xander looked out the window and back to Dawn. "Fine"

Dawn jumped and clapped her hands twice. "Uh, 'Mione, C'mon, let's go get our coats" She grabbed Hermione's arm and walked away whispering, while Buffy pulled Willow and Faith aside and whispered something to them. They both smiled and called Tara and Anya over.

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

Twenty minutes and two clothing hunts later, ("Ron, have you seen my scarf?" "No, have you seen my other glove?") "those meddling kids" as Giles dubbed them, though Buffy preferred The Terrible Trio and the Gang of Scoobies, stood outside near Hagrid's hut.

"Is it me, or are the ladies up to something?" Xander asked Angel.

"Oh, they're up to something alright. Although I have no idea - " Angel stopped as he got hit in the chest with a snowball.

And the girls all disappeared.

"Do I sense a challenge?" Xander said to the air.

"Could be" Hermione answered.

"Ready - " Faith whispered.

"Aim -" Buffy whispered.

"FIRE!" Dawn screamed, and the guys were bombarded by snowballs.

It didn't take long for them to fight back. Buffy was hit in the back by a snowball thrown by Ron. Dawn saw this and pounced on him, holding his wrists to keep him pinned to the ground.

"Ooh, was this all a trick so that you could seduce me?"

"Keep dreaming Weasly" Dawn screamed as Ron rolled and pinned her under him.

"Should have seen that coming, Summers"

"Let me answer that with a kiss" Dawn kissed him and Ron was shocked to feel her tongue in his mouth. He relaxed for a second and let go of her wrists -

Dawn rolled over and off him and Ron was covered in a ton of snow falling off of Hagrid's roof, right next to Harry.

Everyone was laughing as Hermione gave Dawn a high five.

Buffy had put Angel in a similar situation. She had him pinned against a tree and a pile of snow fell off of a branch onto his head, thanks to Faith.

Tara and Anya distracted Xander while Willow pounced on his back. He fell face first into the snow.

The girls all stood in a group, laughing at their "men" on the ground.

"Do you surrender?" Buffy asked.

"Yes - now help me up" Buffy offered Xander her hand, just to be pulled down right next to him. She yelped and threw snow at him. "Jerk!"

"Oh, you know you love it"

She glared and gave him a hand as they both stood up.

"THAT'S for winning the pillow fight" Buffy said.

"Alright - now, we're even" Xander said, grinning.

Harry stood up, shaking snow out of his hair.

"Awe, poor Harry" He glared at Hermione who gave him a kiss on the cheek.

"Where's Ron?" Harry asked.

"Probably still over by Hagrid's hut" Hermione answered.

"I'll get him!" Dawn announced. She skipped over to Hagrid's hut -

And let out a shrill scream.

Hearing her, Buffy ran over.

Dawn was gone.

All that was left was a note.

Slayer,

If you want to see your sister again, I'd advise you to find her before I get her to my master. I have Potter's friend as well. If you ever want to see them again, I also highly advise you not to come looking after the Dark Lord gets a hold of them.

--Wormtail