Day 3 - Not What He Expected
Title: Not What He Expected
Author: Grundy
Fandom: Harry Potter
Rating: FR13
Word Count: 1380
Disclaimer: Buffy belongs to Joss. All things Harry Potter are JK Rowling's. I just like to play in their sandboxes.
Draco tried not to show emotion as he followed his possibly not so Muggle half-sister through the streets of Sunnydale to the house she’d told him was a safe place to talk. He’d been deeply nervous about the idea of walking around on a Hellmouth without any sort of protective enchantments, but Buffy had insisted.
“You’re not walking around with the mojo like that, it attracts too much attention,” she told him firmly. Seeing him open his mouth, she’d added, “It’s not negotiable. You’re the one who wants to talk. You came to me. You want to talk to me, we do this my way. Otherwise, you can follow the yellow brick road right back to wherever it was you came from.”
Draco had closed his mouth. Then, reviewing what she’d just said, he blinked in confusion.
“Mojo? You’re aware of magic?”
The amusement on her face went up several notches.
“You wanted to talk somwhere not in public. Make yourself normal…”
She abruptly looked him up and down.
“Well, as normal as you get, anyway. Is this what they wear in Tweedland these days?”
“I don’t know about Tweedland, but it’s what the fashionable wizard wears in London,” he ground out.
Draco was getting used to being off-balance and slightly confused dealing with his sister. Though he rarely understood exactly what she was saying, he was fairly sure he was getting the gist of her comments. Pulling his wand, he muttered a quick ‘finite incantatum’ to cancel all the spells and charms he’d place on himself. When he felt the soothing traces of magic drain away, he felt almost naked.
Buffy, on the other hand, looked relieved.
“Good. I’ll give you the benefit of assuming you meant well, but around here, walking around like that is a bad idea. Draws too much attention. Come on, Giles’ house is this way.”
“Who is this Giles?” Draco asked. “That has nothing to do with what I wanted to talk to you about, I’m just curious.”
Buffy glanced at him, suspicion and confusion warring on her face.
“Um, you do know who I am, right?” she asked.
“Buffy Anne Summers, as far as I know,” Draco replied. “Although if you’re not, I’ll be terribly sorry to have bothered you, but honestly somewhat relieved. Talking to you makes my head spin.”
Now she looked puzzled.
“Right, explanations can wait until Giles’. Luckily, that’s only one more block.”
They walked the pavement in silence. Draco was sure they were both puzzled. Buffy’s comments indicated a knowledge of both magic and the Hellmouth, neither of which Muggles were supposed to know about. She also seemed to think that he’d be looking for her for some other reason.
When they reached the place she’d indicated as belonging to Giles, whoever he might be, he was surprised to see that she only knocked perfunctorily on the door before walking in. She apparently trusted him to follow, so he did despite his feeling that it was not quite good manners to do so. He saw a flicker of something like relief on her face as he crossed the threshold.
“Giles!” she called.
An older man appeared from the kitchen, holding a book in one hand and a pot of tea in the other. Draco could almost have kissed him. Tea was the only thing that was normal about this situation.
To his surprise, the older man’s eyes narrowed as he spotted him.
“Buffy, who is your guest?” Giles asked in a tense voice.
“Not sure,” she chirped, seating herself on a table instead of the sofa. “He was following me, and said he needed to talk to me. That’s as far as we got, since he wanted to talk somewhere more private.”
Giles raised an eyebrow.
“Young man, before you say another word, I would advise you to be careful. I take any threat to my Slayer very seriously.”
Draco’s eyes bugged.
“Wow, Giles, way to keep things covert,” Buffy said. “I’m going with he didn’t know about the Slayer thing until you opened your mouth. You want to sit down?”
Her last comment was directed at Draco, who gratefully sank into an armchair. He did his best to gather his thoughts, which had been scattered all to hell by dealing with the whirlwind that was his sister. His sister the Slayer. Merlin’s pants!
“My name is Draco Malfoy,” he began, only to break off to take defensive action as a wand he hadn’t expected was drawn on him so fast he never even saw it coming.
Buffy leapt to her feet to stand between them- though not, Draco noted with some approval, turning her back on him, the unknown quantity.
“Whoa! Let’s all behave ourselves! Giles! What’s the what? Why are you pointing whatever you’re pointing at Draco? He hasn’t even done anything yet!”
“It is a wand, Buffy. As for why, I know of the Malfoy family. Unfortunately. Do you remember I told you of the days when I was involved in some unsavory things?”
His sister nodded cautiously, still standing between Draco and Giles, her hands outstretched to keep them apart. Draco was fairly sure he knew where this was going.
“What I neglected to mention was that I was not a magic user in the way that Willow is. At that time, I still belonged to the wizarding community, as did Ethan Rayne and several others involved in our circle. Lucius Malfoy was one of the other wizards, and we were far from his only fellow travelers in the Dark Arts. Our group was actually among his more benign activities. The last I heard of him, he was involved with a singularly murderous wizard who called himself Voldemort.”
“I’m not surprised to hear that,” Draco said, “but there are several things you should know. First, Voldemort has been defeated. A few weeks ago, in fact. Harry Potter killed him.”
“Delighted to hear it,” Giles replied, sounding anything but delighted. “Though I had heard similar news once before, so you’ll forgive me if I remain skeptical.”
“He’s gone for good this time, sir,” Draco replied. Mr. Giles had clearly been out of touch for some time, as he didn’t show the faintest flicker of recognition at the mention of St. Potter. “Well and truly dead, and good riddance. Also, I’m not my father. I just came to talk. As a sign of good faith…”
Draco very slowly pulled his own wand out and tossed it on the table out of easy reach.
“I don’t have another wand or any charmed object on me,” he stated. “You can check if you like.”
Buffy looked at Giles.
“This is between you two, I don’t even know what I’d be looking for,” she shrugged.
Giles’ wand dipped slightly and Draco felt sure he’d cast a silent revelio. Only when it was obvious that Draco had been telling the truth did the older man lower his wand and gesture for Buffy to sit down again.
“Very well, Mr. Malfoy. We’ll hear whatever it is you came to say.”
“I didn’t know that Buffy was the Slayer when I came here,” Draco said, wanting to make that very plain. If he’d known, he might have faltered in his plan. Dealing with Slayers carried its own risks, unless the history books at Hogwarts had been vastly mistaken. It probably also meant he was in deep trouble with the Ministry, Muggles or no. A Malfoy on a Hellmouth seeking an alliance with a Slayer would be taken the worst possible way by plenty of people.
“Then why did you come?” Buffy asked, confused. “Why else would a wizard- and Giles, we so need to talk about why I never knew about this wand stuff before- come all the way to California to talk to me? How did you even know about me?”
Giles’ expression made it clear he considered these fair questions.
“I’m not the only Malfoy in this room,” Draco said quietly. “I found out that I had a half-sister born to a Muggle mother. I started finding out all I could about both of them. And I found out you were living on the California Hellmouth. So I came to warn you that this area isn’t safe, but it seems you’re already aware.”
Author: Grundy
Fandom: Harry Potter
Rating: FR13
Word Count: 1380
Disclaimer: Buffy belongs to Joss. All things Harry Potter are JK Rowling's. I just like to play in their sandboxes.
Draco tried not to show emotion as he followed his possibly not so Muggle half-sister through the streets of Sunnydale to the house she’d told him was a safe place to talk. He’d been deeply nervous about the idea of walking around on a Hellmouth without any sort of protective enchantments, but Buffy had insisted.
“You’re not walking around with the mojo like that, it attracts too much attention,” she told him firmly. Seeing him open his mouth, she’d added, “It’s not negotiable. You’re the one who wants to talk. You came to me. You want to talk to me, we do this my way. Otherwise, you can follow the yellow brick road right back to wherever it was you came from.”
Draco had closed his mouth. Then, reviewing what she’d just said, he blinked in confusion.
“Mojo? You’re aware of magic?”
The amusement on her face went up several notches.
“You wanted to talk somwhere not in public. Make yourself normal…”
She abruptly looked him up and down.
“Well, as normal as you get, anyway. Is this what they wear in Tweedland these days?”
“I don’t know about Tweedland, but it’s what the fashionable wizard wears in London,” he ground out.
Draco was getting used to being off-balance and slightly confused dealing with his sister. Though he rarely understood exactly what she was saying, he was fairly sure he was getting the gist of her comments. Pulling his wand, he muttered a quick ‘finite incantatum’ to cancel all the spells and charms he’d place on himself. When he felt the soothing traces of magic drain away, he felt almost naked.
Buffy, on the other hand, looked relieved.
“Good. I’ll give you the benefit of assuming you meant well, but around here, walking around like that is a bad idea. Draws too much attention. Come on, Giles’ house is this way.”
“Who is this Giles?” Draco asked. “That has nothing to do with what I wanted to talk to you about, I’m just curious.”
Buffy glanced at him, suspicion and confusion warring on her face.
“Um, you do know who I am, right?” she asked.
“Buffy Anne Summers, as far as I know,” Draco replied. “Although if you’re not, I’ll be terribly sorry to have bothered you, but honestly somewhat relieved. Talking to you makes my head spin.”
Now she looked puzzled.
“Right, explanations can wait until Giles’. Luckily, that’s only one more block.”
They walked the pavement in silence. Draco was sure they were both puzzled. Buffy’s comments indicated a knowledge of both magic and the Hellmouth, neither of which Muggles were supposed to know about. She also seemed to think that he’d be looking for her for some other reason.
When they reached the place she’d indicated as belonging to Giles, whoever he might be, he was surprised to see that she only knocked perfunctorily on the door before walking in. She apparently trusted him to follow, so he did despite his feeling that it was not quite good manners to do so. He saw a flicker of something like relief on her face as he crossed the threshold.
“Giles!” she called.
An older man appeared from the kitchen, holding a book in one hand and a pot of tea in the other. Draco could almost have kissed him. Tea was the only thing that was normal about this situation.
To his surprise, the older man’s eyes narrowed as he spotted him.
“Buffy, who is your guest?” Giles asked in a tense voice.
“Not sure,” she chirped, seating herself on a table instead of the sofa. “He was following me, and said he needed to talk to me. That’s as far as we got, since he wanted to talk somewhere more private.”
Giles raised an eyebrow.
“Young man, before you say another word, I would advise you to be careful. I take any threat to my Slayer very seriously.”
Draco’s eyes bugged.
“Wow, Giles, way to keep things covert,” Buffy said. “I’m going with he didn’t know about the Slayer thing until you opened your mouth. You want to sit down?”
Her last comment was directed at Draco, who gratefully sank into an armchair. He did his best to gather his thoughts, which had been scattered all to hell by dealing with the whirlwind that was his sister. His sister the Slayer. Merlin’s pants!
“My name is Draco Malfoy,” he began, only to break off to take defensive action as a wand he hadn’t expected was drawn on him so fast he never even saw it coming.
Buffy leapt to her feet to stand between them- though not, Draco noted with some approval, turning her back on him, the unknown quantity.
“Whoa! Let’s all behave ourselves! Giles! What’s the what? Why are you pointing whatever you’re pointing at Draco? He hasn’t even done anything yet!”
“It is a wand, Buffy. As for why, I know of the Malfoy family. Unfortunately. Do you remember I told you of the days when I was involved in some unsavory things?”
His sister nodded cautiously, still standing between Draco and Giles, her hands outstretched to keep them apart. Draco was fairly sure he knew where this was going.
“What I neglected to mention was that I was not a magic user in the way that Willow is. At that time, I still belonged to the wizarding community, as did Ethan Rayne and several others involved in our circle. Lucius Malfoy was one of the other wizards, and we were far from his only fellow travelers in the Dark Arts. Our group was actually among his more benign activities. The last I heard of him, he was involved with a singularly murderous wizard who called himself Voldemort.”
“I’m not surprised to hear that,” Draco said, “but there are several things you should know. First, Voldemort has been defeated. A few weeks ago, in fact. Harry Potter killed him.”
“Delighted to hear it,” Giles replied, sounding anything but delighted. “Though I had heard similar news once before, so you’ll forgive me if I remain skeptical.”
“He’s gone for good this time, sir,” Draco replied. Mr. Giles had clearly been out of touch for some time, as he didn’t show the faintest flicker of recognition at the mention of St. Potter. “Well and truly dead, and good riddance. Also, I’m not my father. I just came to talk. As a sign of good faith…”
Draco very slowly pulled his own wand out and tossed it on the table out of easy reach.
“I don’t have another wand or any charmed object on me,” he stated. “You can check if you like.”
Buffy looked at Giles.
“This is between you two, I don’t even know what I’d be looking for,” she shrugged.
Giles’ wand dipped slightly and Draco felt sure he’d cast a silent revelio. Only when it was obvious that Draco had been telling the truth did the older man lower his wand and gesture for Buffy to sit down again.
“Very well, Mr. Malfoy. We’ll hear whatever it is you came to say.”
“I didn’t know that Buffy was the Slayer when I came here,” Draco said, wanting to make that very plain. If he’d known, he might have faltered in his plan. Dealing with Slayers carried its own risks, unless the history books at Hogwarts had been vastly mistaken. It probably also meant he was in deep trouble with the Ministry, Muggles or no. A Malfoy on a Hellmouth seeking an alliance with a Slayer would be taken the worst possible way by plenty of people.
“Then why did you come?” Buffy asked, confused. “Why else would a wizard- and Giles, we so need to talk about why I never knew about this wand stuff before- come all the way to California to talk to me? How did you even know about me?”
Giles’ expression made it clear he considered these fair questions.
“I’m not the only Malfoy in this room,” Draco said quietly. “I found out that I had a half-sister born to a Muggle mother. I started finding out all I could about both of them. And I found out you were living on the California Hellmouth. So I came to warn you that this area isn’t safe, but it seems you’re already aware.”