Chapter Six - Calm Before the Storm

Dawn sat in the park nervously tapping her foot. She was sitting on one of the park benches, carefully averting her eyes from the swings behind her, where she and Ron had spent many a night alone, necking shamelessly like the teenagers they were.

Dawn sighed and checked her watch - 8:15. She had 45 minutes to get to work. Then again, so did Hermione, and she was the one who was late.

"C'mon 'Mione"

As if answering her thoughts, Hermione came walking through the park's gates. She also averted her gaze away from the playground, for quite the same reasons as Dawn.

Dawn looked up and bit her lip as Hermione sat down. An awkward period of silence passed between them, during which Dawn played with the edge of her jacket and Hermione just looked up at the sky watching the clouds pass.

At length, Hermione spoke. "I'm not sure where to start with this, so I'll just begin by telling you the truth. Dawn - I consider you one of my closest friends. I've never seen Ron as happy as he is when he's with you, and knowing that he trusted you with his heart mad me trust you fully. But, then, seeing you with Harry...I don't know how to react to that. I understand it was a mutual agreement and mind you, I'm not pinning this all on you, but - you didn't have to kiss him. Whether he kissed you or you kissed him, it didn't have to happen. But it did. And I don't know if I can ever fully trust you again"

Dawn looked up from the ground. "I know. And - I'm sorry. I can't change what happened. I wish more then anything that I could take it back. But I can't"

"There's one thing I have to ask you" Hermione said, taking a breath. She paused, before asking, "Do you love him?"

Dawn was silent for a few moments, as if really contemplating the question. She shook her head. "Honestly - I don't know. I mean, I won't lie to you, I have - feelings for him, but love him? Maybe, but nowhere near as much as I love Ron. The feelings I have for Harry barely brush the surface. Ron - there's a completeness there that I could never have with Harry, a completeness he could only share with," Dawn looked at Hermione, "you"

Hermione nodded. "You have to tell me where to go with this. Do you want me to talk to Ron?"

"No" Dawn said, a little too quickly. "No. I - I need a little while to figure out what I'm going to say to him exactly" She stood up and knew that Hermione would follow. They both had to get to work. They started walking. "What about Harry? Do you want me to talk to him?"

"No. I'm going to talk to him after the dinner tonight"

Dawn put a hand over her mouth. "Shit! I completely forgot about that! Buffy is going to kill me!"

Hermione shook her head. "I don't know how you could forget considering afterwards we're all going to stay in Hogsmeade and you have to room with Ron"

Dawn groaned. "Perfect. Just perfect. I have to pack, and I'll have a half hour to get changed and do just that. Great" Dawn pulled open the doors to the WIL building and held it for Hermione. "Why do I get the feeling that this is going to be a complete disaster?"

Hermione shrugged, walking off in the opposite direction towards her office. "The same reason I do. It's instinct Dawn" She saw Ron ahead of her and ran to catch up with him, calling back, "I'll see you later!"

Dawn shook her head and opened the door to her office, effectively slamming the doorknob straight into Harry.

"Oh my god! Harry - I didn't see you! I'm - god, I'm sorry!"

Harry held an arm over his stomach. "Don't worry about it, I've had worse"

"This is true"

Harry smirked and threw a file onto her desk. "Sirius needs you to sign and date those"

"What are they?" She asked, opening the file.

"Information about incidents regarding the Copycat. He wants to make sure all of his agents get it, so we all have to sign after we read it. You and Hermione are the only ones who haven't gotten it yet"

Dawn nodded, already reading the file, her eyes skimming over the dates.

October 21 - No further evidence found concerning the death of Samantha Finn. Conclusions are being made as to whether or not this was a planned attack, or if it was a case of wrong-place-wrong-time. Evidence shows that her husband was not with her.

"Wait a second" Dawn said.

"What?" Harry asked.

Dawn pointed to the article. "Evidence shows that her husband was NOT with her. Riley told me that he WAS with her, and that it was her lack of magical knowledge that got her killed, but resulted in his surviving"

"Maybe he just wasn't near her, so whoever did the investigations thinks that he wasn't there at all"

"Maybe" Dawn said, quietly reading the rest of the report, knowing in her gut that something wasn't right. She finished reading the second to last report concerning the fire at Harry, Hermione, and Ron's house when she turned the page to the last one, and let out a gasp of surprise.

"What?" Harry asked, looking over her shoulder. Dawn sat down in the chair, still staring at the report and the accompanying article from the Daily Prophet.

"Dawn, what? It's just another attack, nothing concerning - "

"I know him" Dawn said quietly.

"You what?"

Dawn looked up from the paper. "I know him - the guy who was killed. I - I know him. So does Giles"

Harry skimmed the article. "Ethan Rayne killed last night in an alleged Death Eater attack - how does Giles know this guy?"

"They were - friends back in their school days. Harry, this is bad. Ethan Rayne was one of the most skilled - I don't know what else to call him - wizards when it came to the Dark Arts. He could fight off almost anything, and came after my sister more then once. If he was killed - this is bad Harry"

"What do you want to do then?"

Dawn shook her head and leaned back into the chair. "I don't know. Write to Giles is a definite but beyond that - hope that nobody else I know ends up dead"

She rolled her shoulders and grabbed a pen, signing the file with her name and the date - October 24th.

She sighed and handed the file back to Harry. Harry shook his head, and Dawn could read his thoughts - 'You couldn't bring this to her for me?'

Her blank face said it all. 'No.'

Harry sighed, frustrated, and walked out of the room, leaving Dawn alone to ponder why, out of all the people in the world, whoever this Copycat was had targeted Ethan Rayne.

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

"So everyone's meeting us in Hogsmeade for the dinner?" Buffy asked Angel, shuffling some papers around.

"Yup. Willow and Xander will be at the Diner already holding the tables. There's some way that they can help us apparate there since we don't know how"

"Damn that pesky Muggle-ness" Buffy sighed. "What kind of name for a wizard's diner is Margarita's? I would expect it to be The Flying Broomstick or something like that"

"Maybe the owner's name is Margarita" Angel offered.

"Maybe. Where the hell is that list?"

"Buffy relax. It's not like we don't know who's coming. It's all close friends"

"Did you ever hear back from Cordelia? - Ah, here it is"

"Yeah. She and Wesley are coming in by six. Dawn is going to meet them near the high school. Gunn is staying back in LA so that Fred isn't alone. He seemed pretty upset that he had to make sure everything runs smoothly while everyone else is 'getting drunk'" Angel smiled wryly.

"There will be no getting drunk of any kind, thank you kindly. Unless it's me getting drunk so I don't have to deal with the lovely love triangle anymore"

Angel laughed. "You're still upset by that, huh?"

Buffy laughed. "Afraid so. I mean, it's obvious they're in love with each other" Buffy shoved all of the papers back into a folder. "This is going to blow up in their faces, and they don't even know it"

"Let's just hope it happens before the wedding so they can get back to making up already. If I have to deal with Ron moping around again, I might punch him instead of the desk"

The phone started to ring and Buffy went into the kitchen to pick it up.

"Maybe it'll knock some sense into him - Hello?"

"Hello, Buffy?" Giles' voice sounded urgent over the phone.

"Giles! Hi! This couldn't wait another two and a half hours?" Her face darkened. "You are coming tonight aren't you?"

Giles smiled. "Yes, of course. This is a different matter completely, and I didn't want to tell you in front of everyone else"

"That warrants an 'uh oh'- I'm putting you on speakerphone by the way" Buffy pushed the speakerphone button so that Angel could hear and hung the phone back up.

"I'm - I'm not sure if it does, but, I'll get to the point. Buffy, do you remember Ethan Rayne?"

Angel let out a low growl.

"You mean the 'let's turn everyone into their Halloween costumes, set a hell demon on the slayer, and turn my watcher into a demon so that said slayer almost kills him so that I can enjoy chaos' guy? Yeah, I remember him. Why?" Buffy gave Angel a face. "He's not back in town is he?"

"No. Actually - he's dead"

"Ethan's dead?" Angel asked. "How?"

"Death Eaters, actually. He was attacked while at the holding facility that the Initiative had him in and he was killed"

"Why would he be killed? And how could the Death Eaters get in there? I mean, sure magic, but there's tons of guards at the place, some who, now that I think back on it, probably know a little magic themselves. They couldn't have gotten in without some kind of - " Buffy was cut off.

"Inside help?" Giles offered. "Yes, I'm well aware of that. The WIL is at a loss - they don't know whether or not this was a targeted attack and if it was, why, of all the prisoners, he was targeted. They don't know what type of a person Ethan i- well, was. Dumbledore actually asked me to speak with you about giving some information to Sirius"

"Like?" Buffy asked.

"Anything and everything you know about Ethan. They have information about the Initiative from - "

"Riley" Angel said, looking thoughtful, but glaring nonetheless.

"Yes, Riley. Buffy, please, given the circumstances - "

"Be careful? Yes, I know Giles. I will be" She sighed. "When I see Sirius tonight, I'll ask him when he would want to speak with me. In the meantime, I have to go finish packing for the hotel"

"Yes, and I have to go return Willow's cell phone to her"

Buffy laughed.

"What's so funny?" Giles asked.

"Nothing. Just the vision of the man who hates computers using a cell phone is pretty amusing"

Giles glared. "On that note, I will see you in a few hours"

"Okay" Buffy said through giggles.

Giles sighed and rolled his eyes. "Goodbye Buffy"

He hung up the phone, smiling. "Still the same old Buffy"

Buffy hung up and spun around, just to be met by a kiss from Angel. She fell into it and was pulled right back when she tried to pull away.

"Angel," she said, as he placed kisses along her neck and shoulder, "I have to finish packing" She was breathless. "We have - "

"Two hours" He said huskily near her ear, smiling as he saw the shivers that went down her spine. "Plenty of time to have some fun"

Buffy smiled and pulled his lips back to hers, hoping that Dawn didn't intend on coming home early.

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

Dawn got out of the car and saw that Cordelia was already waiting.

"Dawnie!" Dawn was met by a very forceful hug from Cordelia.

"Hey Cordy. Hey Wes" She waved at him from over Cordelia's shoulder. How's everything?"

"Good" Cordelia pulled away, her face serious. "And you?"

"Ah, so Angel spoke with you"

"Actually, I did," Wesley said, walking to Dawn's car. "I just told her everything that he said"

Dawn sighed. "Everything is like it was yesterday, only a day later. Nothing new has happened. Harry and Hermione are going to talk tonight"

"And you and Ron?" Wesley asked.

"I have no idea" She smiled. "But enough about me. What's going on between you two?"

"That is a conversation that we will have when Wesley is not in the car"

"Thank you not so very much Cordelia"

"Don't mention it"

Dawn laughed. "Ah, Sunnydale as it used to be. I can't wait for the big family reunion," she said aloud, though the thought of the dinner and the nights ahead alone in the same room as Ron were making her stomach clench and her head spin.