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Chapter Seventeen
Kicking Ass The rest of the week past in a blur for Dawn because all she could think about was her first quidditch game against Hufflepuff that upcoming Saturday. Her stomach twisted into knots every time she started to think about it. She began to wonder why she even wanted to play in the first place. Duh, you feigned interest in it for Harry’s sake then actually fell in love with the game, she reminded herself as she joined her teammates who were waiting to be announced. Harry must have sensed her nervousness cause he crossed to her and enveloped her in a hug. “Relax. Just do what you’ve done in practice and you’ll be fine.” “Easy for you to say, all you have to worry about is that stupid gold ball,” she said sarcastically into his shoulder. He chuckled and gave her a final squeeze before releasing her. “Seriously, we’re going to kick their ass.” “Harry!” “Sorry Gin,” he said, with a look that said he was anything but. “There’s no way we can lose, their team is very inexperienced. Not to mention they don’t have a secret weapon like we do.” “What is our weapon?” Harry turned to Dawn in surprise. “It’s you and Ginny.” “Huh? Run that one by me again.” He looked at her in wonder and then at Ginny. They had no clue exactly how good they were. “I haven’t even seen professionals as good as the two of you. You’re unstoppable.” Dawn gave him a look that clearly said whatever and was about to respond when they heard Emma Dobbs announce them. They quickly mounted their brooms and took to the sky. Dawn was actually feeling a bit better after her brief conversation with Harry. In the stands Draco was even more nervous than Dawn was. He knew that people got hurt playing the game and he couldn’t bare the thought of anything happening to her. The fact that she had been surrounded by danger since she was created and that she fought demons and vampires never crossed his mind. All he knew was that the bludgers would be out there, whirling around her, waiting for their chance to strike. On the other side of the field, in the professor’s stand, the scooby gang was eagerly awaiting the start of the game. This was to be the first game of the season and they were anxious to see it played. They had only seen the mock game that they had played during try-outs. Buffy and Spike rose to their feet to cheer when they saw Dawn fly by. Buffy was so happy to see her sister enjoying something of a normal life. True she was playing a wizard’s game on a flying broom, but it was something that wasn’t terribly wrought with danger. Yes, she could get hurt, but at least demons weren’t trying to kill her. At least there were moments that Dawn could forget about all of that and just be a kid, she had grown up way too fast for Buffy’s liking. “Remember that the snitch is worth a hundred fifty points!” The announcer Emma Dobbs was saying. “Madam Hooch has released the bludgers! The quaffle is tossed and caught by Gryffindor’s chaser Seamus Finnigan. He heads toward the Hufflepuff goal and OH! He swerves to miss a bludger and drops the quaffle! Luckily Talan Stottlemire catches it and tosses it to Ron Weasley who throws it at the goal! Owen Cauldwell blocks!” Draco watched with fascination. His angel was flying like a bat out of hell. Dawn and Ginny were flying in perfect synchronization, yet saying not a word to each other. Their connection was actually kind of eerie and he began to fear to face them on the field when their houses were to play each other. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t remove his eyes from her. She showed no fear on the field, and no mercy. He winced as Anthony Goldstein, Hufflepuff’s seeker, barely ducked a bludger that Dawn had sent in his direction. Buffy sat on the edge of her seat watching the action unfolding in front of her. Even during her brief time as a cheerleader at Hemery high, she had never enjoyed a sports event like this. Of course, she could be a little biased seeing as how her sister was playing this one. Spike grinned at her when they rose to cheer for Ron, who had scored the first goal for Gryffindor. “Well luv, what do you think of our little game now?” “This is absolutely fabulous! I’ll admit I was still a little worried about Dawn, but I can understand why she likes to play. It’s actually a really exciting game.” “Would you mind sitting down so the rest of us can see?” Came a rude and condescending voice behind them. Before Buffy could retort, Anya spoke up, “Listen hawk-nose, why don’t you find an orgasm friend and lighten up?” Snape’s eyes widen and his face turned purple with rage. “Listen young lady.” “I’m not young! I’m over a thousand years old and you would do well to remember that! Now shut up and stop ruining everyone’s fun. If you can’t see, stand or move!” “How dare you speak to me in such a manner?” He cried, rising to his feet. “Cause you can’t do anything to me!” “Want to make a bet, little girl!” That was the last straw. Anya morphed into her demon face and Xander stepped between them. “Hey guys, remember the game? You know support the students? Yay students?” Anya reverted to her human form, but not before issuing her final threat, “Remember that I’m a vengeance demon, and I have lots of friends before insulting me again.” Snape just stared at her with a thoughtful expression on his face, but didn’t say anything. When the scoobies returned their attention back to the game they discovered that Gryffindor had scored again making it twenty to nothing. Dawn caught the subtle signal that Ginny gave her. While Dawn immediately saw an idea, the crowd saw nothing but Ginny flicking her braid around. It was a system the girls had set up early in practice; not even Harry knew what their signals were. Dawn had gotten the idea from watching baseball games; she just made theirs subtler so nobody else would catch on to what they were doing. This way they could stay in constant communication without wearing their voices out by shouting across the field, or even letting the other team know what their plans were. Unfortunately, their plan didn’t work and one of the Hufflepuff chasers got by them and scored. “Damn!” “Dawn!” “Sorry Ginny.” Dawn said with a grin At that moment Harry and Anthony saw the snitch and they took off after it. Ginny looked at Dawn, who nodded, and they took off on opposite sides of the field. Ginny concentrated on keeping the Hufflepuff chasers away from the quaffle, while Dawn turned her attention on Anthony. Dawn saw a bludger flying high and she took off after it. She kept Hufflepuff’s seeker in sight as she timed her hit. She arrived at a spot a few seconds before the bludger, which gave her time to calculate the trajectory. She swung and watched the bludger hit the back of Anthony’s broom knocking him off course and allowing Harry to catch the snitch. “Harry Potter has caught the snitch! Gryffindor wins!” Emma called. *********** The following Monday Ron and Hermione were in wicca class working on a simple shield spell. That is, Hermione was working while Ron watched in fascination. He watched her chest slowly rise and fall as she centered herself, then scrunched up her nose in concentration. Merlin, she is beautiful. The redhead decided then that he could easily live out the rest of his life just watching the beauty before him. Not like you’d ever get the chance to though, he reminded himself. Hermione opened her eyes and said, “Contego.” A spark fizzled in front of her. “I don’t understand why this isn’t working!” “Maybe you’re trying too hard ‘Mione.” “Really? I’d like to see you do better.” “Fine. Contego.” A hazy field appeared around him and he jumped slightly. “Holy shit!” “Ronald Weasley!” Hermione said warningly. Tara walked over and gently tested his shield. “Very nice Ron. You’re the first one to be able to do this spell today.” Ron’s eyes widened. “You mean none of the girls have done this?” “Nope. How many times did it take you to do this?” He dropped his eyes and sheepishly said, “Once.” Tara looked momentarily startled, then she raised an eyebrow and asked, “Ron, how many times did it take you to do the other spells correctly?” “Only once or twice.” “Are you sure?” “Yeah. Why?” “No reason. Can you take the shield down?” “Sure, dissuo.” The haze disappeared and Tara continued to look at him with a thoughtful expression. “What?” Ron asked after a few moments. Tara’s stare was beginning to make him uncomfortable. “Nothing. You two continue practicing.” She said, then went over to Willow. Ron turned to Hermione, “What was that all about?” Hermione was also looking at him in mild surprise. “Have the spells in this class have really been that easy for you?” “Yeah, you haven’t had any problems until now either though.” “Actually I have. I have to concentrate really hard to get them to work and it usually takes me the whole class to get a spell to work. You barely focus and yet they work immediately for you.” “I told you, you’re trying too hard. This stuff is actually pretty easy.” Hermione didn’t get a chance to respond cause Willow and Tara chose that moment to approach them. Willow turned to Hermione, “Hermione, try raising a shield please.” The brunette looked at her for a moment, then closed her eyes and concentrated. She calmed herself then tried to pull the magicks in. She opened her eyes and said, “Contego.” The air around her shimmered for a moment then fizzled out. Willow then turned to Ron. “Your turn.” Ron just shrugged his shoulders and said, “Contego.” Instantly the haze surrounded him again. Willow probed the shield cautiously, and then with some force. “Ok Ron, take it down.” With confusion written all over his face he said, “Dissuo.” Once again the shield disappeared. Willow studied Ron carefully as she asked, “Ron what are you thinking when you cast a spell?” “Not much really. I know what it is suppose to be doing, I say it, then it happens.” He said with bewilderment. “More importantly, what do you feel?” “I just feel something build then release.” “How does that make you feel?” “Why are you asking him all of these questions?” Hermione asked suddenly. Willow ignored her, “How does the power make you feel?” “I don’t know, never really thought about it. Why?” Tara and Willow looked at each other. ~Should we say anything?~ Tara asked. ~Better to start now while we can give him guidance.~ Willow replied. ~He could be more powerful than you. You never caught on this quickly in the beginning.~ ~I know, that’s what worries me.~ Willow turned her attention back to Ron and Hermione. “Ron, could you come see Tara and I later tonight?” “Yeah, why?” “We’ll talk about it then.” “Alright, I’ll be here after my training with Buffy.” ************ Draco couldn’t stop staring at Dawn that night while they were stretching. He still couldn’t believe that this frail looking angel before him was hiding a vicious quidditch player inside. He knew she was tough from his observations and that fight with the demons, but she seemed so calculating and ruthless on the playing field. “What?” Dawn said, interrupting his thoughts. “Huh?” “You’re staring, why?” “You were amazing during the game Saturday.” Dawn blinked. That wasn’t what she was expecting to come out of his mouth. Some sort of snide remark about her and Harry, but not that. “Thanks,” she said hesitantly. “No really. You and the Weasley girl were amazing.” “Her name is Ginny.” “Huh?” “Draco, how can you ever expect people to be nice to you if you’re not nice back?” “Huh?” Dawn rolled her eyes. “They would stop calling you Malfoy if you stopped calling them by their last names.” “Why would I stop?” “Never mind.” Draco now stared at her in confusion. He had always referred to the others by their last name and vice versa. It was just the way of life, kind of like Spike’s nicknames for everybody. Spike entered the room, crossed to them and knelt down next to them. “The two of you will serve another night of detention with Buffy and I on Friday.” “What are we doing?” Dawn asked. “Patrolling.” “Again! Are you nuts?” “Relax Blondie. No vamp nest this time, just a simple routine patrol. We won’t even go very far into the forest, just enough so you guys can get some practice fighting demons.” “Yeah, like cleaning out the nest was suppose to be simple.” Draco bit out. “We saw how that turned out.” Spike shot a scalding look at Draco. “Listen Draco, I know things have been hard for you. But since you are now our responsibility you just have to learn that fighting for your life is almost an everyday occurrence. We would rather be there for you in the beginning so you can start getting adjusted to it. As a matter of fact, you guys will start patrolling with us every Friday for the rest of the year.” Draco opened his mouth to reply when he heard Dawn cough. He looked at her and she sent him a signal to stop before things got worse. “Fine.” Draco said grudgingly. He had no doubt that Spike could make things even worse. ********* Ron anxiously entered the wiccan classroom. His eyes fell on Willow and Tara at the front of the room and he nervously approached them. Willow gave him an easy smile, “Go ahead and sit down Ron.” He quickly took a seat and looked expectantly at them. “Ron we want you to know that you’re not in trouble, we just wanted to talk to you about some things privately.” Tara began. “You see, Ron. You’re showing some amazing abilities for someone who just started studying. You seem to have an aptitude for wicca.” Willow continued “Huh?” “This comes easy and naturally. Not only that, you’re pretty strong for a novice. What we would like to do is give you some extra training so you can understand and more easily harness your power.” “So that the black magic won’t corrupt me like it did you?” Willow winced and Ron was immediately apologetic, “Yes, like me.” “You think this will help?” Tara stepped in and said, “Yes. I was taught the guidelines and slowly immersed into by my mother and it helped me resist any temptation.” Ron began to get apprehensive. He was suddenly told that he had a natural talent for wicca, which could easily corrupt. From the looks on Willow and Tara’s faces it seemed that he was also pretty strong. What if their extra teaching wouldn’t help and he still went evil. Did he even want to continue his training? He could just drop this class and go back to divination or even take demonology with Harry and Dawn. Tara saw Ron’s indecision crossing his face and placed her hand on his. “This is entirely up to you and you don’t have to decide right now. Just know that once you’ve started it’s hard to not use it. And you’re powerful enough that it may leak out at strange moments like if you’re scared or angry.” He just looked at her with wide eyes. Willow smiled again, “Why don’t you go back to your room and think about it? Don’t be afraid to ask your friends what they think, that’s what they’re there for.” Ron just numbly nodded and left the room. “You think he’ll let us help?” Tara asked nervously. “I hope so. He’s a smart kid, not to mention Hermione will probably send him to us first thing in the morning. She’s very protective of him.” “Not just protective,” Tara said mysteriously. “So you’ve seen it too?” “Of course, her aura screams out her love for him as his does hers.” Willow laughed, “Think they’ve admitted it yet?” “To themselves? Maybe. To each other? Definitely no.” Previous Chapter The Slayer... Menu Next Chapter |
