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Harry and Draco knelt beside Buffy’s fallen body, Harry cradling her in his arms. Draco frantically pushed his fingers onto a pulse point on her neck, frantically trying to determine whether his first true friend was alive or not. Dumbledore and Giles hovered, feeling completely helpless, a feeling that was becoming all too familiar for both of them.

Draco pressed harder, his fingers demanding Buffy’s pulse to make itself known. He was holding in a breath, tears welling in his eyes, blurring his vision.

Giles knelt on the other side of Buffy and gently removed Draco’s hand, replacing it with his own, desperate for the same answers that Draco had been seeking. He felt the tiniest of flutters beneath his fingers. He nearly whooped with joy, but composed himself. He bent down and pressed his ear to her chest, hearing the faintest of heartbeats.

He ran his hand over her face and felt her breathing, albeit incredibly slowly and with great difficulty.

“She’s alive,” he announced, the relief in his voice made known to all of them.

Harry, Draco and Dumbledore let out breaths that none of them were aware they’d been holding.

“We should get her to the hospital wing,” Dumbledore said, his voice thick with emotion.

Giles nodded and Dumbledore conjured a stretcher beneath the fallen girl, the stretcher levitating at waist height.

“Will she be okay?” Draco asked.

Neither of the Professors knew how to answer that question. “We shall see Mr Malfoy,” Dumbledore replied. “We shall see.”

Dumbledore placed a full body bind on Voldemort, not willing to risk the chance of him still being alive. With Buffy alive, Dumbledore wasn’t certain whether the Killing Curse had worked on the Dark Lord. And Dumbledore wasn’t willing to find out for certain. There was, however, a tangible sense of safety in the air that made Dumbledore believe that the Wizard was truly dead.

Buffy was taken to the Hospital Wing, Madam Pomfrey becoming frantic when she heard what had happened to the unconscious girl.

“She survived the Killing Curse?”

Draco and Harry were hovering nearby and Draco couldn’t help but comment. “Guess that’s just something else you’ve got in common, eh Potter?”

Harry didn’t reply, but he knew what Draco was trying to do. He was trying to make light of an extremely deadly situation to make himself feel better. It was the only time that Harry had seen the Slytherin boy so vulnerable.

“How are we going to fix her?” Harry asked, looking towards Dumbledore, the man who knew absolutely everything about everything.

The Professors quiet answer, however, startled him greatly. “I’m not sure.”

Dumbledore saw the surprise and shock in Harry’s eyes and knew why the boy was so shattered. “This has only ever happened once before,” Dumbledore said. “No one besides you has ever lived through the Killing Curse.”

Draco was afraid to ask. “How did she live through the Killing Curse?”

No one had an answer. Giles smoothed back a strand of hair from Buffy’s face and the answer hit him with an almost physical presence.

“She’s been researching spells for months,” Giles said quietly as though afraid to raise his voice for fear of waking Buffy. “Protection spells and barriers, she’s been looking them up night and day for months. Ever since Christmas.”

“I didn’t see her perform anything like that,” Harry said, remembering very clearly everything that had just happened in the last few minutes. “We would have seen her, heard her putting up a barrier.”

“Maybe she put it up before she apparated back into Hogwarts,” Draco suggested.

The group murmured their agreement before Giles shook his head.

“She took the full brunt of the Cruciatus Curse. It had to have been after that,” he said. His eyes lit up with excitement as he remembered the second last thing he had seen Buffy do before collapsing. She’d been mumbling.

“What?” Harry asked, seeing the excitement in Giles’ eyes.

“She cast a spell about three seconds before killing Voldemort. She mumbled it, but it still worked. It was a Wiccan barrier, stronger than any that we could produce with wands. The magic she drew on came from the earth, not from herself. That’s why she was able to live through it,” Giles explained.

“But if it’s so strong, why is she unconscious?” Harry asked, slightly angry at everything that had happened.

Giles didn’t have an answer for that one. Dumbledore stepped forward with his own theory.

“Exhaustion Mr Potter,” the Headmaster explained. “The protection spell would have taken almost everything out of her, and then to cast a very dark, very advanced spell whilst holding onto a pure magical barrier, after being hit by the Cruciatus Curse would have taken tremendous effort.”

“She will wake up though, right?” Draco asked.

“I don’t doubt it for a moment. Miss Summers is strong,” Dumbledore assured him. “Your cousin will be fine.”

Giles looked between the Headmaster and the Slytherin boy. “Cousin?”

Dumbledore nodded, slightly surprised that Giles hadn’t known about the familial connection that existed between Draco Malfoy and Buffy Summers.

“Buffy’s mother is Draco’s Aunt on his mothers side,” Dumbledore explained. “Who, I might add, is probably very much wishing to see her daughter now that Voldemort has finally been defeated.”

“You know where she is?” Giles asked.

Dumbledore nodded and gave a secretive smile. “She is aware of her daughter’s admission to Hogwarts. She moved to Muggle London the moment I told her that her daughter was back within the magical world. She is rather eager to meet our young Buffy.”

“I would imagine that Buffy would very much like to meet her as well,” Giles said.

Giles looked over at the prone and bound body of Voldemort, unable to believe that one man had been able to cause fear and terror to enter people’s hearts so easily.

“What are we going to do with him?” Draco asked, seeing Giles’ gaze fixed firmly on the Dark Lord.

Harry approached Voldemort’s still form with caution. He couldn’t believe that the man in front of him had killed his parents. He couldn’t believe that the man who filled his nightmares, who had destroyed his life was truly dead. He reached into his robes and pulled out his wand.

“We make sure he’s truly dead.”

Giles stepped up to him quickly, catching hold of Harry’s wrist.

“It’s over Harry,” Giles said quietly. “He’s dead.”

“You can’t be sure of that! Everyone thought he was dead last time, but he wasn’t! He came back! And it’s my fault!” Harry yelled.

The room went deathly silent. Dumbledore knew that Harry had been feeling slightly guilty about the events that had happened before Voldemort’s return, but the Headmaster hadn’t been aware that Harry blamed himself entirely for what had happened.

“How many people died this time?” Harry asked, his voice rising steadily. “How many people are dead because I couldn’t beat him?”

Dumbledore moved towards the boy, stepping slowly so as not to startle him. He placed a fatherly hand on Harry’s shoulder and wasn’t surprised when Harry jerked away from him.

“How many?!” Harry demanded.

“None,” Giles answered. “No one is dead this time. Not a single living soul. He was too fixated on Buffy to worry about killing muggles.”

“So if Buffy dies, it’s my fault,” Harry said, tears staining his cheeks. “She could die and it would be my fault. Cedric died because of me, and now Buffy’s going to die as well! My parents died to protect me! How many more people do I have to lose?”

“It wasn’t your fault.”

Harry looked up, completely startled by the soft comment. It hadn’t come from Dumbledore or Giles. Draco Malfoy looked at Harry with an open and honest face, free from the sneering smirk that Harry was so used to seeing.

“What?”

“It wasn’t your fault,” Draco repeated. “None of it was.”

Harry snorted in disgust and shook his head. “What would you know Malfoy?”

“My father is a Death-Eater,” Draco said. “You think I don’t know exactly what happened last summer? You think I didn’t get told everything that happened between you and Voldemort? I know what happened, and even from my father’s biased view-point, I know you couldn’t have done anything to change what happened.”

“If I’d be faster, more quick…”

Draco shook his head. “Nothing would have changed. You’re fifteen years old. Getting out alive was practically a miracle.”

Harry went silent, trying to think over the words he was being told. Having them being told to him by Draco Malfoy was a strange experience, but the sincere tone in his voice made Harry ponder the words all the more.

“Draco’s right Harry,” Giles said quietly. “You did what you could. No one could have done any better than you.”

Harry wiped his eyes and stepped away from Voldemort’s lifeless body. He looked to Dumbledore, the man he considered a grandfather and mentor all in one.

“You’ll make sure he can’t come back, right?” Harry asked quietly.

Dumbledore nodded and gave Harry a small smile that hid behind the wizards white beard.

“He’ll not be making any more appearances Harry,” Dumbledore assured the boy. “We’ll make sure of it.”

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