FicWad

Chapter 6.
Harry, Ron and Buffy talked until the sun started going down and Buffy volunteered to walk the boys back to their hotel. Her Slayer senses told her there was a vampire somewhere nearby, but she didn’t want to leave them wandering the town alone to get attacked by something. They were Harry and Ron after all. They could find trouble if you tied their hands together, shut them in a room and surrounded them with aurors.
“Hello Potter,” the voice was somewhat familiar.
‘Yup, there’s trouble. Right on time.’
The park was pretty empty by now. Most Sunnydale residents made a point of being away from such places by nightfall although they were never quite sure why. This meant that the three of them were completely alone. If you didn’t count the six robed figures standing in a rough semi-circle between them and the gate.
“Death Eaters,” Harry snarled drawing his wand.
“You did us a favour by leaving when you did Potter.” The cultured drawl of Lucius Malfoy came from behind one of the masks. “We never could have taken you from under the nose of that muggle loving fool and our Master so wishes to see you again.”
Buffy was weighing up the odds of this fight. Six against three. Difficult, but not impossible provided Harry and Ron could hold their own. Of course she didn’t have her wand, but since when did she let something like that stop her.
“I see Voldemort decided you were worth breaking open Azkaban for Malfoy, though I can’t see why. Last time we met you and eleven of your friends were defeated by five teenagers,” Harry said scathingly.
“Yes, I shall have to repay you for that,” Malfoy said sneeringly. “The Dark Lord didn’t say you had to be intact.”
“Oh joy. The part of the fight where we amuse each other with our witty repartee. Just this once can we skip it?” Buffy asked contemptuously. “Although I do wanna hear that story later.”
“And who is this Mr Potter? Your girlfriend perhaps? Would you like to see her die first? Come along quietly and I’ll make sure she feels no pain.”
Apparently Malfoy didn’t recognise her. Not surprising really. The few times they had been in the same room together over the years he hadn’t paid much attention to her. She was probably beneath his notice as a muggle born and without her trademark bushy hair she knew she looked different.
“Leave her alone,” Ron said bravely trying to step in front of her, but Buffy just pushed him back.
“I’m hurt Mr Malfoy,” she said sweetly. “I thought I was unforgettable. Your son and I used to be such good friends. He used to call me mudblood and that one time I slapped him around the face.” She sighed. “Those were the days.”
In three strides Malfoy was right in front of her. He grabbed one arm and pulled her to him. Buffy fought the Slayer in her down, but every muscle in her body tensed, ready for a fight. She was aware of Harry and Ron yelling for him to let her go.
He was holding that nasty cane of his in his free hand and he brought it around to lightly caress her face. “Is it really the mudblood Granger?” he asked in a near whisper. “I heard you had gone missing. My dear you have grown up well.”
“Ew! Sleazebag!” She shook her arm free to break his grip, then in one fluid motion grabbed his cane in both hands and brought it down over her knee. It snapped easily and she swung it upwards catching Malfoy in the face with the snake end. As the cane broke Buffy thought she could feel something almost seeping out of it.
With a cry he turned his back on her, ripping the mask off and throwing it to one side. Out of the corner of her eye Buffy could see her friends gazing at her with their mouths hanging open. She smiled. She hadn’t even used Slayer strength or speed.
“Kill them!” Malfoy yelled angrily, “except for Potter. The Master wants that pleasure for himself.”
Buffy felt somewhat satisfied to see the blood on his cheek. Not as deep as it could’ve been, the mask had probably taken some of the impact.
“Let me have the girl,” one of the figures hissed. He lowered his hood to reveal the contorted face of a vampire. “She looks tasty.”
“Can you handle the vampire?” Harry murmured coming out of his shock.
“Yeah. Think you can deal with the rest ‘til I get back?”
“Yes I think that would be a fitting punishment,” Malfoy sneered at Buffy.
“Get back from where?” Harry whispered.
The vampire bagan to move towards her.
“Don’t worry.” Then she said so everyone could hear her, “you’re going to let him eat me?Are you crazy?” She did her best to make her voice sound high pitched and scared, putting a terrified look on her face. Then she turned and ran. After a second the vampire took off after her.
She knew she had to take this fight to a more suitable location if she wanted to keep her secret. She could live with Harry and Ron finding out, but didn’t want the Death Eaters reporting back to Voldemort to tell him about how little Hermione Granger had single handedly slain a vampire.
Behind her she could hear the sounds of curses being thrown and prayed that her boys could handle it, but the moment she burst through the trees it was all muffles except for the sounds of running feet and her own harried breathing.
Finally she stopped, sure she couldn’t be seen from the gates and turned to face the vampire. He stumbled to a halt with a confused expression. Clearly he hadn’t expected this.
“Are you tired already? I’ve barely worked up an appetite.”
“You vampires can’t resist a damsel in distress can you? Well that’s not me. My mother always taught me to stand and fight my demons.”
“Is that right?” the vampire sounded delighted. “I’m a demon. Are you going to fight me?”
“If you insist.” Buffy had dropped her bag back by the Death Eaters so didn’t have a stake, but she still held the pieces of Malfoy’s cane in her left hane. Moving quickly she lunged at her new opponent hoping for an easy staking, but he dodged away.
They circled each other, the vampire seemed confident so she doubted he knew she was the Slayer. He came at her swiftly, but she spun out of the way, kicking him in the chest, ducked a blow from his fist and followed it up with a punch of her own.
They both backed off a few steps and circled again, the vampire seemed warier now. “You are strong,” he said, “but I am stronger.”
This time he dived for her legs. She tried to sidestep him, but he caught her ankle and she went down.With a flip she was back on her feet and jumping as he tried to sweep her legs out from under her. As he stood she delivered a hard blow to his face and tried to follow it up with another, but he caught her right hand in his left and squeezed hard. With his free hand he reached into his cloak and pulled out a knife.
Buffy could feel the bones in her right hand grinding together and wasn’t particularly happy about the knife either so she kicked out and up, trying to knock it from his hand, even as he raised it above his head to strike, but he held on.
She pivoted under his arm as though they were dancing and he lost his grip on her hand. Getting in close she staked him with the cane. Even as he burst into ashes he brought the knife down on her arm.
“Hey” I liked this sweater,” Buffy fumed. “Why is it that all my favourite clothes get shredded, gunged or all bloody thanks to the forces of darkness? Vampires are so evil!”
She turned back to where she has left the boys, flexing her hand. Nothing was broken, but she was gonna get one hell of a bruise.
“What the...” Buffy had reached the treeline, but there were no Death Eaters in sight. However there were a fair number of brightly dressed individuals milling about. She could see Ron’s red hair and Harry’s messy mop from here. They were talking to someone with spiky pink hair. Tonks. The Order was here.
Buffy sighed. There was no point hiding. Harry and Ron had probably already told them that she was here. As she approached she could here Mad-Eye Moody- a grisly haired auror with a wooden leg and magical eye talking to the infamous Professor Albus Dumbledore, the most powerful wizard alive.
“Potter and Weasley say they’re sure it was Granger. They say she took off with a vampire on her heels and ran into the woods.”
“Then we should search for her. Even if the boys are mistaken we should make certain she is alright.”
“If she’s dead we should stake her, make sure she never rises as a vampire.”
“Let us hope that it doesn’t come to that,” Dumbledore said heavily.
“It won’t,” Buffy said, coming up to them. “I’m here.”
“Hermione!” Ron yelled running up with Harry on his heels. “Are you ok?”
“I’m fine.”
“The Order showed up at about the same time you and that vampire got to the trees,” Harry told her. “The Death Eaters apparated away not long after. We wanted to come and find you, but they wouldn’t let us.”
“Don’t worry. I took care of him,” Buffy said quietly.
“How?” Moody asked suspisciously. “Weasley said you ran away and it followed. What did you do?”
“I call it my ‘scared little girl’ act. People tend to underestimate me. I let them think they’re right. I run, they catch me and they’re dust before they even realise I have a stake.” So it wasn’t the whole truth, but it was close enough.
“You’ve fought vampires before?” Dumbledore asked her. More Order members were approaching as they spoke.
“In this town? How can you not?” Buffy shrugged.
“Ah, of course. The Hellmouth.”
“Yeah, that.”
“How do we know she’s really Granger?” Moody demanded. “She could just be saying that to get close to Potter.”
“She really is Hermione,” Harry insisted. “We found her. We can show you the paperwork back at school.”
“I might take you up on that lad, but paperwork can be faked. We should have some veritaserum brewed up and question her,” Moody said gruffly.
“Now Alastor there is a much simpler way to determine her identity,” Dumbledore intervened. “Miss Granger, if that is indeed who you are, could you please answer me one question. In your first year Professor Hagrid had a rather special pet. What was it’s name?”
“That depends.” Buffy saw Moody smirk at that, sure she didn’t know the answer. “Did you mean Norbert the dragon or Fluffy the three headed dog?” Buffy smiled innocently.
Dumbledore twinkled at her. “Very good Miss Granger. It is a pleasure to see you again.”
“Wotcher Hermione,” Tonks grinned at her.
“Where are they?” a new voice shrieked.
Ron’s face paled. “oh, no. Mum.”
“Ron! Harry!” Mrs Weasley was there and pulling them both into fierce hugs. “You had me so worried.” She straightened up then. “You just left! No note! You could have been killed! Whatever possessed you to...”
“Mum,” Ron said loudly, cutting Mrs Weasley’s rant short. “We found Hermione.” His ears had gone bright red, a sure sign of embarrassment.
“Hermione? Where?” Her eyes scanned the crowd.
Buffy stepped forward bracing herself. “I’m here Mrs Weasley.”
“Oh! Hermione!” Buffy felt herself being dragged into a tight embrace. The Slayer part of her that was still coming down from the fight wanted to push her away, but Buffy resisted. “I thought Death Eaters had taken you. Praise Merlin that you’re alright. And... Hermione, dear, you’re bleeding.” Mrs Weasley began pulling on her sleeve, trying to get a closer look at the wound on her arm.
“I’m fine, Mrs Weasley, really.”
“Now don’t be silly, dear. Let me look.”
“No,” Buffy shrugged her off. “It’s just a scratch. Nothing to worry about.” It was fairly deep, but she didn’t want anyone worrying about a wound that would be mostly healed by morning. You had to love the perks of being a Slayer sometimes. She was fairly sure that her hand was completely bruised by now, but didn’t want to look and draw attention to it.
“You kids did well,” Moody admitted grudgingly. “Could stand to use more power in your curses. Whoever hit Malfoy with that cutting hex barely grazed him.”
“It was a bit more than a graze Mad-Eye,” Tonks said cheerfully. “He was bleeding everywhere.”
“That wasn’t a hex,” Ron said proudly. “Hermione did that. He grabbed her and WHAM! Smacked him round the face with his own stick, right after she snapped it in two with her bare hands. It was bloody brilliant!”
“Ronald!” Mrs Weasley snapped and began to chastise him.
Moody chuckled. “I would have liked to see that. Don’t suppose those are the pieces you’ve got there?”
Buffy had forgotten she was still holding them, probably because that hand was in a fair bit of pain. She nodded and handed them to him.
Moody grinned, looking somewhat scary with his heavily scarred face. He eagerly took the two halves of the cane. “Lucius took this everywhere he went. I always wanted to get my hands on it. It’s probably got all sorts of enchantments on it.”
Buffy nodded unconvinced. If it had been enchanted she was sure she’d have felt it. Since becoming the Slayer she’d had a sixth sense for anything magical, though ususally she had to be pretty close to feel it. Then she remembered the feeling she’d gotten when the cane had snapped. Maybe there was spells on it.
“Oh and Granger, get that hand looked at.”
Buffy glanced around to see that pretty much all of the Order were otherwise engaged except for Moody and Dumbledore. Mrs Weasley was alternately scolding and hugging Ron. She looked at her hand. The knuckles were slightly swollen and purple looking. “I will,” she murmured quietly, then moved off to find her stuff. With any luck she could get out of here before...
“Miss Granger. A word?” Dumbledore was beckoning her away from the group.
Buffy frowned. She knew exactly what this would be about and right now couldn’t think of a way out of it. “Yes, Professor.”
“I don’t want to hear everything tonight,” he told her seriously, “but I will want to hear the full story. I think we should meet in my office tomorrow.”
“Your office? In Hogwarts? I can’t. I can’t leave.”
“Miss Granger... Hermione. I know your parents aren’t happy with your status as a witch, but I am sure they will see sense. I will talk to them personally if necessary.”
“It’s not necessary. I’m not going back because I don’t want to. You can’t force me.”
“Unfortunately I can’t. However I cannot simply leave you here now that the Death Eaters know where you are. They will come back. Lucius Malfoy in particular will be eager to return and capture you to draw Mr Potter out and to finish what he started after you marked him here tonight. He will not have taken that well and I imagine Voldemort will have punished him severely for losing here.”
“Understatement.”
“And,” Dumbledore looked truly regretful,”he will not hesitate to attack those you love to draw you out, he takes a vindictive pleasure in such things. Even with magic you cannot protect them all the time. If you truly love them you will come back with us. I don’t believe even Lucius Malfoy will find reason to return here once word gets out that you have come back to school. Your parents can be protected much more easily closer to home.”
“They are protected.” Buffy looked at him desperately. “I don’t want to say how out here. Someone might overhear, but trust me they’re safe.” Of course what she had in mind would only work if she were far away.
‘Darn Dumbledore. He’s covered all the bases and he’s right. I can’t always protect them, but if I’m not here they’ll be safe ‘cos no one can associate them with Hermione Granger.’ “Ok. I’ll go back, but you gotta give me some time to say goodbye to some people. Get my things together, ya know?” Giles would think of something.
“Excellent. In that case...” he picked up an empty soda can, wand in hand, “Portus,” and handed it to her. “This portkey will activate at precisely 10pm tomorrow. I’m afraid I can’t give you any more time. It is simply too big a risk.”
“Ok. Tomorrow at ten.” She went to leave, but Dumbledore stopped her.
“One more thing. Locatus,” he said waving his wand at her. Buffy could feel the locator charm sink into her skin and resisted the urge to shudder. It was not a pleasant feeling.
“What the Hell? How dare you?” Buffy exploded. Every Order member was now watching them. Ron seemed to be grinning at her open defiance of an authority figure.
“Miss Granger,” Dumbledore said placatingly. “I am taking a risk in allowing you even a day to prepare yourself. It is doubtful that the Death Eaters will return in that time, but the possibility is there. I want to be able to find you if they decide to kidnap you.”
Buffy was really starting to hate Dumbledore about now. She couldn’t even yell at him because she knew from experience that he would never change his mind and all she’d accomplish would be getting the Order mad at her for being so ungrateful to the great Albus Dumbledore. “Fine,” she huffed.
“Is everyone ready to leave?” Dumbledore adressed the Order. “Mr Potter, Mr Weasley, you and I will make a slight detour to retrieve your things then we will return to Hogwarts. I’m afraid I cannot allow you to remain here. You will see Miss Granger tomorrow.”
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After the Order had left Buffy did a quick sweep of the cemetaries hoping to work out her anger. She found one or two fledglings, but nothing to really challenge her. Finally giving up she trudged over to Giles’ place hoping he’d have some brilliant plan to get her out of this. With any luck he’d have an intellectual moment and she would never have to have the worst conversation of her life with her mother.
Giles wasn’t home so she headed over to the library. Fifteen minutes later she was striding through the double doors calling, “Giles, we have a serious problem,” before she realised just how many people were there. “What’s going on?”