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Chapter Fifteen
Changing Dawn felt a wrenching in her heart as she watched Draco flee the room. She had been so busy with her own thoughts of Spike that she hadn’t even thought about what this could mean to the blond Slytherin. Buffy rose to follow him, but Spike stopped her. “This is my mess, luv. Let me talk to him.” “Are you sure? He’s not exactly happy with you.” “I know, but for the same reason I should be the one to straighten this out.” Spike said, pleading with his eyes. After a moment, Buffy nodded her head in assent. Spike easily followed Draco’s scent through the corridors of Hogwarts. He tracked him to a room in a rarely used section of the school. The room was small and had two windows overlooking the forest. The vampire stood in the doorway and watched his many times removed nephew looking out one of the windows. By the layering of scents in the room, it appeared that Draco came here often, more than likely to be alone. Spike saw the defeated stance of his nephew and inwardly cursed himself for being the cause of it. The kid was right, he knew what he was going through and had treated him no better than Buffy had treated him. At that moment, Spike swore to himself that he would change his attitude towards his relative. He wanted to make sure the boy had the same opportunities that he had had. Walking slowly to the other window, he sighed. “What the fuck do you want?” Asked a harsh voice beside him. “To talk.” Draco snorted. “Why now? You never seemed to want to before.” “To help you understand.” “Yeah? Well, what if I don’t want to?” “Too bad.” They stood there in stony silence staring out of their respective windows. “You really are an asshole, you know that?” Draco said suddenly, breaking the silence. “Been told that before.” They lapsed into silence again. Draco’s thoughts reeled in his head. Was this the ancestor that woman was talking about in his dream? He did seem to know what it was like to be a member of a family, but not really a part of it. “So why didn’t you tell me?” Draco asked tersely. “I’m not sure. I had spent over a hundred years burying my human past that I may have resented you for reminding me about it. I instantly placed you on the same level as my father and brothers.” “A year ago you would have been right,” Draco said after a moment. “What changed?” Spike asked, curious to know what had deterred the young Slytherin from his previous path. “The attack on the school last year. The death eaters had killed future members of their order. I suddenly realized that it wasn’t the kind of life I wanted.” Draco trailed off. Spike stood there in silent understanding. Sometimes those flash of insight change your entire outlook on the world. Even when they come in dreams, he thought ruefully. “That still doesn’t explain why you didn’t tell me.” Draco said, referring to Spike’s earlier statement. “You can’t change overnight; it’s a long, hard process. You were something of a shit at the beginning of the school year and I had heard stories from Harry...” “Potter! Of course. Everyone believes the git! He knows all and all must bow before his perfection!” Draco cried, pacing the room and waving his arms for emphasis. S pike couldn’t help but chuckle at his outburst. “He does have that effect on some people doesn’t he?” Draco snorted and simply flipped him off. He slowed his pacing and resumed his spot at the window. “So why are you talking to me now?” The younger Malfoy asked after a few moments. “Dawn.” Draco looked over at him quickly with a small amount of fear in his eyes. Did he know about his obsession with her? Or did she pity him so much that she had sent him there to talk to him? “Dawn?” “Yeah, she seems to trust you and she has good instincts when it comes to people. If she is giving you a chance, then so should I.” Spike paused for a moment, remembering how easily she had accepted him all those years ago. “It would be an insult to her if I didn’t treat you the way she had treated me.” “What do you mean?” “She was the first one to see that I was changing and accepted it at face value. She befriended me.” Draco turned his attention back out the window. “Then of course you took a risk when you attacked the demon sneaking up behind her. You could have just left her, but you didn’t.” “I wouldn’t let anything happen to her.” Draco said so quietly that even with his vampiric hearing, Spike had to strain to hear. For a brief moment Spike saw red. Another boy chasing after his ‘Bit, but he calmed himself. “So why did you change?” Draco asked suddenly. “You didn’t explain that.” “Actually, in the beginning it was forced on me. A secret military group called the Initiative captured me and placed a chip in my head that prevented me from harming human beings.” Draco’s eyes widened, “How did you survive without the blood?” “The scoobies took me in and fed me pig’s blood provided I gave them information about the military installation. Buffy refused to stake me cause I couldn’t defend myself. Bloody humiliating.” A smirk crossed Draco’s face as he realized how much guts it had to take to go to your mortal enemy for help. But it quickly left as he realized he did something of the same thing by going to Dumbledore and receiving training next to a bunch of Gryffindors. Spike wisely kept his own smirk off his face as he watched the emotions floating across the kid’s eyes. “Then about a year later, had this dream that scared the shit out of me.” Draco looked at him sharply. “I realized that I was in love with the slayer. After that, everything I did was for her approval. She died and I continued on fighting evil, but no longer for her, but for the ‘Bit. Then eventually even for the damn scoobies, but don’t tell them that or I’ll never hear the end of it.” Draco’s smirk returned to his face. “You changed for a girl?” “Not just any girl, the slayer. Then of course for the Nibblet, she’s like a daughter to me.” Spike said, giving Draco a pointed look. Draco swallowed, so maybe he does know that I care about her. He racked his brain to come up with another subject. “And the rest just accepted you after Buffy died?” Acknowledging the change of topic with a rueful chuckle, Spike said, “No, not really. They tolerated me mostly. Although Glinda seemed to like me a little.” “Glinda?” “Tara. They originally thought that I was fighting beside them to get to Buffy. But since I had stayed and helped even after she had died, it showed them how wrong that theory was. But they still kept their distance and treated me as an outsider.” “What changed? I mean they seem to accept you now.” “Remember, I said change was a long process. Buffy and I had a brief relationship after she got back, but she was essentially using me. I knew, but didn’t care cause it meant that I was able to hold her. She broke it off and then demon-girl got stood up at the altar by the whelp and then next thing I knew I had a one-night stand with Anya.” “Demon-girl?” “Anya.” “She’s a demon?” “You didn’t know that?” Spike asked with some surprise. “NO! Another thing you guys were hiding from me!” Draco yelled angrily. “The only ones who seem to tell me anything are Buffy and Dawn. You people fuckin’ suck!” “We didn’t mean to hide it. She told her demonology classes, I just figured you would have heard about it that way.” Draco looked slightly abashed, “Oh.” “Yeah, oh.” “Anything else I should know about the group?” “Let’s see.... Giles was expelled from Hogwarts his final year.” “For what?” “Raising some demon, I think. I’m not exactly sure, you’d have to ask him. Umm, Willow tried to end the world.” Draco’s jaw dropped. “I know you’re kidding.” “Nope, can ask her yourself.” “Merlin! And they had problems accepting you?” “Yeah, cause I wasn’t human.” “Anya isn’t!” “Actually, for a while she was. She was originally a human who was scorned and she cast a vengeance spell and was turned into a demon.” “For casting a spell?” “It was a little more complicated than that. She was offered the chance by another demon and she took it. After a thousand years her talisman of power was destroyed by the scoobies and she was turned human. She returned to her vengeance demon status after the whelp stood her up.” “I can see why she did, the stupid git.” “After my one night stand I left and wandered for a while until a short, horribly dressed demon approached me in New Orleans...” “Whistler?” Spike looked at his nephew sharply, “How do you know Whistler?” “Came to me in a dream the other night, after the incident in the forest.” “Yeah, and what did he say?” “That I could be someone who could be counted.” Spike stared at him for a few moments. So this was the one the little demon had referred to. He inwardly sighed; things were never easy were they? He knew that the PTB’s had a twisted sense of humor, but this was too much. Draco began to squirm under Spike’s stare. “What?” The vampire shook himself out of his thoughts and continued his story. “So the annoying demon took me to a demon doctor who removed my chip under the condition that I would continue my work for the PTB and to help another who would stray from the path others would set for him. He said that they would be a kindred soul. I didn’t realize just how much of one until just now.” The young Malfoy gave him a quizzical look. Spike rolled his eyes. “You.” Draco’s eyes narrowed dangerously and his shoulders tensed up. “So you knew you were suppose to help me and yet you didn’t?!” With no small amount of exasperation, Spike said, “If you would listen you would have heard that I said I just figured it out.” The Slytherin’s shoulders relaxed. “Oh.” Spike silently marveled at the sheer idiocy of youth today. They seemed to only concentrate on what they wanted to hear and not what was actually being said. Maybe that’s why he was so good at reading people cause he truly listened and saw. Although that did seem to fail him when it came to Draco. How could he have missed that? “Spike?” “Huh?” “I said that according to Whistler you already worked for the PTB, when did that happen?” “Apparently when I started helping the slayer. She is their instrument and by working with her and I also became a warrior for the light.” “Did she know this?” “At the time no. However, she had somehow found out about it by the time I got back to Sunnydale after my operation. She accepted me without question. Although the scoobies placed some protests early on, they eventually included me into the group. I’ve really only been a solid ‘member’ for less than a year.” “Did you ever ask her why she accepted you?” “Yeah. All she said was that she had realized that she did love me and that was all that mattered. I was no dummy, and I didn’t question her about it again.” Draco didn’t say anything and just stared thoughtfully out the window. He had received so much information that night that his head was beginning to swim. It was hard to sort everything out so that it made any sort of sense. Spike must have sensed Draco’s inner chaos cause he asked, “Any more questions for tonight?” Draco turned to look his ‘great‘ uncle in the eye, “Just one, is it worth it?” Returning the look with absolute conviction he placed a hand on Draco‘s shoulder and said, “Yes.” Hope welled up in Draco’s gray eyes and he returned his gaze to the forest. Spike’s face carried a small smile as he exited the room. Previous Chapter The Slayer... Menu Next Chapter |
