Harry Potter and the Vampire Slayer
The Forbidden Forest
Chapter Eleven
by: Miss Witch
Rated PG
Summary: The title pretty much sums it up.
Disclaimer: I know nothing, I own nothing. Blah, blah, blah. Don't sue!
Spoilers: This takes place before Season 4 of Buffy, and after -Goblet of Fire
Distribution: If you've had my permission before, knock yourself out. If you don't have my permission, you've just to ask.
Feedback: Want more? Then ya gotta feed the beast!!
Buffy moved stealthily down the dark hallway. Ahead of her, Mrs. Norris, the caretaker's cat paused and looked around suspiciously. Buffy froze in her tracks as the cat glanced in her direction. She knew if she was caught out of bed after hours, she'd be in serious trouble. Giles had told her that there was only so much leeway she'd be given, and he wasn't sure what the consequences of her after-hours activities would be.
Buffy smiled dreamily as she thought of Giles.
Giles had been true to his word about moving their relationship along slowly. Since the day they walked to Hogsmeade, they had not progressed very far passed the holding hands and kissing stage. Buffy found his insistence of moving slowly sweet, but frustrating. Giles seemed so sure that Buffy would suddenly wake up one morning and decide a romantic relationship between them was a huge mistake.
Mrs. Norris padded silently down the hallway, continuing on her rounds. Buffy decided against following her. There was only so much satisfaction one could get from shadowing Filch's cat.
Silently, Buffy moved down another corridor, avoiding the ghosts that hovered here and there. Finally, she made her way back to the Gryffindor entrance. The fat lady in the portrait was snoring softly and Buffy had to poke the picture to wake her up.
"Password?" the pink lady grunted, starting awake.
"Jack o' lantern." Buffy hissed, before the picture could fully wake. The portrait swung open, and Buffy scrambled through the entranceway.
The common room was empty, as it usually was whenever Buffy returned from patrol. The fire was banked and the coals glowed red. Poking the embers, Buffy brought the fire back to life and added another log. She dug out her backpack from behind one of the stuffed chairs and settled down at one of the tables by the fireplace.
Folding her feet under her, Buffy opened her book and started reading. Sleep was a long way off, and Buffy figured she might as well put the time to good use.
"Giles, I'm worried about Buffy." Willow said. Giles looked up from the papers he was grading.
"Is something wrong?" he asked in concern. Willow pulled a chair close to his desk and sat down. Leaning forward, Willow rested her elbows on her knees.
"She's not sleeping, Giles." Willow said. "Last night, I woke up in the middle of the night, and she wasn't in bed."
"Could she have been in the common room?" Giles asked. Willow shook her head.
"I checked. The common room was empty." Willow inched her chair closer to the desk and lowered her voice. "Giles, I know Buffy's patrolling at night." she confided. "I've been awake a couple times when she's left the room."
Giles leaned back in his chair. Taking off his glasses, he pinched the bridge of his nose.
"I know. She's restless. By coming to Hogwarts, Buffy was essentially forced into retirement. But she's still the Slayer." he told Willow.
"What are we going to do, Giles?" Willow asked. Giles shrugged.
"I'm not quite sure." he admitted. Seeing the worry still etched on Willow's face, Giles leaned forward and took her hands in his. "I promise, Willow. We'll figure something out." Willow nodded, her eyes full of trust.
"Thanks Giles." she said, standing. She moved toward the door. Willow paused, her hand on the doorknob. "And Giles, thanks for getting Xander the broom. We might even win the match this weekend."
"I should hope so." Giles laughed as she left the classroom.
Giles was about to return to grading papers when he heard heavy footsteps outside of the room. The door opened and Hagrid stood in the doorway.
"Hagrid!" Giles exclaimed, standing and holding out his hand out. Hagrid took Giles' hand, dwarfing it in his large one. "What can I do for you?" Giles asked, gesturing at the chair Willow had just vacated.
"Rupert," Hagrid said, gently settling himself into the chair. "I've got a bit of a favor to ask of ya." The chair creaked under Hagrid as he shifted uneasily. "Actually, it's a favor of you and your Slayer."
"You want me to go where?" Buffy demanded, her voice rising in disbelief. Giles stilled the punching bag with both hands before it hit him. Willow, Xander and Oz looked up from where they were studying at a table in the corner of the training room.
"Hagrid said that there's a monster or something in the Forbidden Forest." Giles told her. Buffy put her taped hands on her hips.
"Giles, it's called the Forbidden Forest." she pointed out. "Of course there are monsters in there." Giles rolled his eyes in exasperation.
"A monster that isn't supposed to be there." he clarified in exasperation. Buffy resumed her pummeling of the punching bag.
"So I get to go out looking for it?" she asked.
"You're dropping your shoulder." Giles informed her. "And you are the Slayer." he pointed out. "This does fall under your job description." Buffy jumped backwards and gave a roundhouse kick to the bag.
"Nuh-uh. Vampire Slayer." she said.
"Alright then, how about this? You're bored out of your mind with the lack of physical exertion and this will certainly alleviate that." Giles said. Buffy bounced on the balls of her feet.
"Fine." she grumbled. "I'll do it." Picking up a towel, she wiped the sweat from her face. She grinned while it hid her face. [Yes!] she thought. [A hunt.]
Giles hid a smile as Buffy toweled herself off. He could all but touch the excitement radiating from Buffy at the thought of going out patrolling. As unfortunate as an unwanted monster in the forest was, it was possibly exactly what Buffy needed.
"So what's the deal, Giles?" Xander asked, setting aside his Charms textbook. "A big bad beastie is threatening Hogwarts?"
"Hardly, Xander." Giles replied drolly. "Hagrid said that something has entered the forest that shouldn't be there. He's tried tracking it's path of destruction, but hasn't been able to catch sight of it."
"Not exactly a stealthy man, our man Hagrid." Oz offered. Giles nodded in agreement.
"You're probably right." Giles looked over at Buffy, who'd flopped into a chair, towel around her neck, sneakered feet propped on the table. "Whatever it is, Hagrid is concerned that it may frighten some of the more dangerous creatures out of the forest and onto the school grounds."
"It's never a good thing when scary things get scared." Willow said, shuddering delicately. Oz rubbed her shoulders comfortingly as he looked up at Giles.
"So, an old fashioned group patrol?" he asked. Giles shook his head.
"The forest is extremely dangerous." he said. "I think tonight it'll just be Buffy and myself."
"Oh, reconnaissance mission." Buffy said in mock excitement. "Yay!"
"Lots of Watcher-Slayer bonding." Willow pointed out. Buffy slid a glance toward Giles, who seemed to be blushing just a bit.
"There is that." Buffy agreed.
"As long as it's not Watcher-Slayer bondage." Xander interjected, shuddering. "I don't even want to think about that." Buffy and Willow grinned at each other as Giles blushed even more. Willow, of course, knew all about the events that transpired during the walk to Hogsmeade. And Buffy wouldn't have been a bit surprised if Oz had noticed the change in her relationship with Giles. But Xander remained his usual clueless self, blissfully unaware of the impact of his comment.
"Yes, well…" Giles cleared his throat, his gaze fixed firmly on the table. "I thought we'd patrol after dinner." Buffy shrugged, dropping her feet to the floor and standing.
"Works for me." she said, moving past Giles. In the split second that her body blocked Giles' from the gang's view, Buffy slid her hand along Giles' stomach. She could feel his muscles tense underneath her fingers. She smiled suggestively up at him. "I'll meet you here after dinner. I'm gonna hit the showers."
"Make sure you dress warmly, Buffy." Giles called after her. "It'll be cold out there." He was surprised at how normal his voice sounded. The slightest touch from Buffy had the ability to throw him off kilter, which was probably her intention. Giles smiled to himself. [Two can play at that game.] he thought.
"You can't be serious." Ron said, looking up from his Divination homework. "You're going into the Forbidden Forest voluntarily?" A look of horror spread across his face at the thought. Buffy nodded as she paged furiously through her Potions book, looking for a potion that would neutralize the effects of a love potion.
"There's something in there that shouldn't be." she said absently, marking a passage with her finger as she copied the information.
"Well, of course there is. It's the bloody Forbidden Forest. That's why it's forbidden." Ron insisted.
"Ron…" Harry started. Ron ignored him, leaning towards Buffy.
"Do you have any idea the things that are in there?" he asked. "They'd make your hair stand on end. Giant spiders, flying cars, a giant three-headed dog named Fluffy, probably some blast-ended skrewts…" Ron ticked each item off on his fingers as he listed him. Buffy reached over and stopped him, even as Xander shuddered.
"Giant spiders?" Xander whispered to Willow. "Now I'm really glad we're not going."
"Ron, I think Buffy can handle herself." Hermione interjected. "She is the Slayer, you know."
"Fine. Don't blame me if you're eaten by Aragog." Ron muttered, returning to his homework. Hermione huffed, annoyed. She muttered something about 'cowardly boys' as she paged through her book.
Buffy barely paid attention to the conversation around her. Snape had assigned a two parchment essay on how to recognize that one was under the effects of a randomly assigned potion. Buffy had ended up with love potions, and she had a sneaking suspicion that it was hardly a random assignment.
In fact, Buffy was almost positive that Snape knew that there was something going on with her and Giles. She supposed he thought he was being clever. However, as she was not only over the age of consent in both the United States and the United Kingdom, and only making a "special guest appearance" at Hogwarts, Buffy couldn't imagine that Snape could actually do any lasting harm.
But all that was irrelevant right now. What mattered was that the essay was due tomorrow, and she'd left it until the last minute. Giles would be here any moment to start patrol and she wasn't anywhere near done.
As if conjured by her panic, Giles appeared in the entrance way, crossbow in hand.
"Buffy, are you ready?" he asked, buttoning up his heavy winter jacket. Still scribbling furiously, Buffy shook her head.
"Nope. I've still got a parchment to fill on the signs of having taken a love potion and how to counteract it." she said, never looking up.
"Buffy, we need to go now if we want a decent chance to catch whatever this is." Giles said, determinedly. Buffy glanced up at him briefly, then returned her attention to her essay.
"Just an hour, Giles." she said. "I should be done by then."
"We don't have an hour, Buffy" Giles told her, impatience creeping into his voice. He wondered why she'd waited so long to work on this assignment, and then remembered that is was Buffy. "Can't you finish it when we get back?" Buffy shook her head, flipping pages back and forth, writing furiously all the while. Giles sighed, took off his glasses and pinched the bridge of his nose.
"Buffy." he said, a note of steel in his voice. "Bring the damn essay and let's go." Buffy's head snapped up and she stared at him.
Everyone at the table was silent, watching the exchange between Watcher and Slayer.
"Fine." Buffy said, tossing down her quill and slamming her book shut. "But I don't want to hear how I'm not putting in my full effort when I get a crappy grade." she muttered angrily. Giles sighed as he watched her stomp up the stairs to her dorm. Buffy was still muttering to herself when she came back down, bundled up in her heavy jacket, the bright red and yellow Gryffindor scarf trailing behind her. "I won't be to blame if I don't get a good grade. Oh, no, we couldn't wait an hour to finish my essay." Buffy snatched up the essay, her quill and a bottle of ink, shoving them all in her pockets.
Harry and Ron watched this in awe. They couldn't imagine talking to Professor Giles that way. Ron waited anxiously for Giles to yell at Buffy or at least turn her into a toad. Instead, Giles merely watched Buffy stomp around with an amused, if slightly exasperated, look on his face.
The Scoobies paid no attention to the exchange. They'd barely looked up during the argument. In fact, the minute Buffy had shut her book, Willow had snatched it up and was now leafing through it.
"Shouldn't we say something?" Harry whispered. Xander, who'd been gazing longingly at Katie Bell, jumped at his voice.
"What? Who?" he asked. Following, Harry's gaze, Xander looked over just as Buffy stopped in front of Giles and was poking him in the chest as she spoke.
"Just know that my grade rests on your shoulders." she was telling him, emphasizing each word with a poke.
"Oh that?" Xander asked. "Nah, that's pretty normal." he assured Harry. "The Buffster rants and raves, Giles stares at her silently, she runs out of steam and pretty much does what he wanted her to do in the first place." Xander gave Harry a wry grin. "It's a finely tuned system." Xander leaned closer to Harry. "Do you think Katie would go out with me?"
Harry stole a glance over at the girl in question. Now that Xander wasn't watching her, she was watching him. Harry grinned at Xander.
"I think she'd say yes." he said, tongue in cheek. "You should ask her to go to Hogsmeade with you or something." Harry encouraged. Xander looked a bit panic-stricken.
"Ask her, as in 'ask her'?" Xander stuttered. He threw a wild glance at Katie. "She's human right? Not a bug, mummy princess, a former demon or anything, is she?"
Ron's gaze swiveled from watching Buffy argue with Giles to Xander.
"Are you mental?" he asked Xander. Without waiting for an answer, he turned to Harry. "Our lives are officially not weird." he said. Harry nodded in agreement.
"Are you quite finished?" Harry heard Giles ask Buffy. Buffy crossed her arms over her chest and gave one final grumble before nodding. "Good, can we go now?"
Much to Harry's amazement, Buffy gave Professor Giles a beaming smile and all but danced out of the common room. Professor Giles rolled his eyes and followed her out. Harry looked around the table to see if Xander or the others noticed, but they were all absorbed in their homework. Shaking his head in wonder, Harry went back to work.
Buffy and Giles left the castle and tramped across the lawn towards the Forbidden Forest. Buffy inhaled deeply, filling her lungs with the cold night air.
"Everything is so different here." she said suddenly. "I can't believe you ever wanted to leave England." Giles gave her a curious look.
"To be completely honest, Buffy, I didn't want to leave. But I was assigned to an active Slayer. There wasn't much choice in the matter." he said. Buffy dropped her gaze and stared at the ground as she walked.
"I'm sorry." she said quietly. Giles looked at her sharply. Even in the dark, he could see the sadness on her face.
"Whatever for?" he asked. Buffy glanced up at him, then back at the ground. Understanding dawned on Giles. Grabbing Buffy's arm, he forced her to stop.
"It's not your fault, Buffy." he said sincerely. "Leaving England was a choice I made when I accepted my destiny to become a Watcher." Giles caressed Buffy's cheek. "Besides, knowing you has been worth any price." he said softly. Buffy looked up at him hopefully, her eyes bright with unshed tears.
"Really?" she whispered. "Are you sure?" Not caring that they were still within sight of the castle, Giles leaned down and gently pressed his lips to Buffy's. Buffy curled her fingers in the lapel of his jacket, holding him close to her.
"Better?" he asked, moving away a few minutes later. Buffy nodded, resting her cheek on his jacket. "Good, because we still have an unknown creature in the forest to track." Buffy giggled.
"You better watch out," she laughed, snuggling against him. "or you're going to turn my head with all this romantic small talk." Giles held Buffy close for a moment, silently wishing that their lives were different. Finally, he moved away from Buffy.
"Speaking of romance, I believe we have an essay to finish." he said lightly. Buffy recognized that Giles was trying to lift the mood, and twining her fingers through his, she followed his lead.
"Love potions." she grumbled, as they started through the forest again. "Topics were supposed to be randomly assigned, but he had that evil gleam in his eye when he gave me mine." Buffy told Giles. "And does he ever wash his hair?" she demanded suddenly. Giles chuckled.
"You'll have to excuse me if I decide not to wonder about Snape's personal hygiene." he said to Buffy, drawing closer to the forest's edge. "And you're correct, it's unlikely that you were assigned love potions by accident." Giles confirmed.
"He knows about us, doesn't he?" Buffy asked. Giles shook his head.
"I don't think so. I think he knows how I feel about you though." he said. Buffy rolled her eyes.
"Snape thinks he's being all devious and underhanded, huh?" They paused at the edge of the Forbidden Forest. Buffy pressed her lips together as she studied the foreboding darkness, then turned to look at Giles' profile. "Just for the record, you do actually know what's supposed to be in there, right? 'Cause I don't want to kill the wrong monster." Giles looked down and smiled.
"Yes, now let's go." he said, as he stepped into the well-worn path that wound between the trees. Buffy grabbed his arm and stepped in front of him, taking the lead. She pulled a stake from her jacket pocket as she crept down the path. She may not have known where they were going, but there was no way she was letting Giles be the first line of defense.
Almost immediately, Buffy noticed how silent the forest was. Normally, there would be crickets and bugs and other such noises. Instead, there was only the sound of their footsteps and the wind rustling the leaves. Above their heads, the tree branches grew together, only letting the occasional shaft of moonlight through. Her Slayer vision adjusted to the near blackness, and she checked over her shoulder to make sure Giles was ok.
Buffy grinned when she realized that he'd brought a flashlight with him, and was using it to illuminate the path in front of him.
"Not exactly wizard-issue." she whispered. Giles shrugged.
"It's a better weapon than my wand." he whispered back, hefting the heavy instrument as if testing it's weight. As he did, the beam of the flashlight lit up a break in the overgrown forest. "Buffy." he whispered, focusing the beam on the spot.
Turning, Buffy crept through the overgrowth, to the damaged trees.
"Whatever did this left a trail to follow." she said. Giles picked his way after her, following her down the path of destruction. "It's also really big." Buffy commented, looking up several feet above her head. Giles followed her gaze with the flashlight. By his estimations, the creature was at least seven feet tall.
"Be careful, Buffy." he cautioned. Buffy threw a look over her shoulder.
"Gee, Giles, thanks for the advice." she said sarcastically.
The snapping of branches and a loud growl echoed through the woods. Buffy whirled toward the sound. Her gaze snapped to Giles, who gave her a curt nod, sending her off and running, ducking tree limbs and hopping over stumps.
By the time Giles caught up with her, Buffy was already engaged in battle with the creature. He'd been correct in his estimation of the demon's height, but he hadn't realized how broad the creature would be. It's yellow mottled skin was broken by thick ridges on it's chest and back. Buffy grunted as she kicked at one of it's hoofed feet. The creature howled in pain, enabling Buffy to grab the curled horns on the top of it's head and flip it onto the ground.
All of Buffy's efforts seemed only to enrage the creature, rather than causing it any real pain. It floundered to it's feet and swinging wildly, knocked Buffy across the clearing into a tree.
"Ow!" Buffy yelped in pain as her head knocked against the tree trunk. "That hurt!" she yelled angrily, launching into another attack. Buffy drove it backwards with repeated kicks. The creature stumbled, but quickly regained it's balance. Giles snapped to attention as the creature swung around to face Buffy.
"Buffy! Watch out!" Giles threw himself at Buffy, knocking her to the ground just as something flew over their heads. Buffy pushed Giles off of her and sprang to her feet, but the demon had gone crashing deeper into the forest.
"What did you do that for?" she demanded, reaching down to pull Giles to his feet. Giles didn't answer. Instead, he was staring at the tree Buffy had been standing in front of moments before. Buffy twisted around to follow his gaze.
"Oh, that's just a world of ew." she muttered, wrinkling her nose in disgust. The tree was covered in a greenish-gray substance that dripped suspiciously down the trunk. "Oh, that's demon booger, isn't it?" Buffy grimaced at the sight.
Giles took off his glasses and polished them on his jacket, more to avoid looking at the tree than anything else.
"I believe so, yes." he said. Buffy swallowed hard in an attempt not to gag, and looped her arm through Giles'.
"You're officially forgiven." she said, pulling him away from the tree and back toward the path. Buffy peered into the dark forest. "Should we follow it?" Giles shook his head.
"No, it's gone deeper into the forest." he said. "Besides, I'd like to do some research so that we know what we're up against next time." Buffy bent and scooped up the flashlight Giles had dropped when he'd thrown himself at her.
"Fine with me. Does this mean that you're going to help me finish my love potion essay now?"