Chapter8:

Harry ran into the Gryffindor common room straight into the boy's dormitory. Dawn saw and wondered what was going on. Hermione and Ron were right behind Harry. Hermione had to stop at the entrance, because girls were not allowed in. Dawn walked to Hermione.

"Mione, don't tell me the class was that bad, that Harry is hiding in his room." Dawn asked as a joke.

"No, the class was highly educational. The Slytherins are going to benefit greatly from it." Hermione replied absently.

"Good for them. Than why did Harry run up to his room." Dawn asked curious.

This got Hermione's full attention. She turned to Dawn. "I don't know. Before Buffy left, she told us she was going in the Forbidden Forest with Hagrid. Right after Harry left, Ron and I ran after him. I know Harry is going to do something stupid." Dawn could clearly hear the worry in Hermione voice.

Harry and Ron returned quickly and left the common room with Hermione and Dawn right behind them. They Stopped outside of the Gryffindor's Tower. Harry was hiding something under his coat.

"You're going after Buffy." Dawn told Harry straight into his face.

Harry was dumbstruck, but Ron wasn't. "Yeah and I'm going with him. Are you going to rat us out?"

"You two aren't going any where without me to keep you out of trouble." Hermione told the boys.

Dawn laughed. "Forget about it. She'll find out. Especially if you all three go even with your invisible cloak." Dawn set them straight.

"You know about the invisible cloak?" Harry asked.

"Albus told Buffy, so that she doesn't accidentally kills you." Dawn put a finger on Harry's chest. "You better be careful around her. She won't survive it, if she kills you." Dawn gave him a very stern look to make her point.

Harry nodded.

"What do you mean she will find out?" Hermione wondered

"One, she already fought an invisible girl once. Second, she's going out there hunting. That means all her senses are on high alert. You three she would hear coming a mile away like stampede of elephants." Dawn explained.

Harry made a decision. "I'm going alone. No arguing. I have no time for arguing or I'll miss them leaving." Nobody was arguing with him.

Dawn turned to Ron. "I bet you five bucks. He gets caught."

"Deal." Ron and Dawn shook hands. "Eh, what is a buck?"

"Muggle money." Hermione answered. She turned to Harry. "Be carefully. I also want to see the Professor in action, but don't become a part of the action." She took Harry's hand and squeezed it a little. Harry smiled. "You better go. I hear Fred and George arguing."

"Okay." Harry put the invisible cloak on at the same time the twins came around the corner.

"Hey guys. What are you doing here?" "They are probably waiting for us." The twins grinned.

Hermione answered them. "We were just going in. The password is 'Honey fly'." The portal opened and Hermione entered into the common room.

"I'll always wait for you guys." Dawn went red after she understood that what she just said could have been misinterpreted. She quickly followed Hermione in. The boys were laughing and went after her.

Buffy was in Hagrid's cabin drinking some tea. They were making plans about how to search the Forest. He offered her also some rock cookies, but she was smart enough to pass. She was thinking about asking Molly Weasley to give him some cooking tips. Molly had to be a good cook with such a big family.

"So we can't do a zigzag pattern?" Buffy asked Hagrid.

"Nah, tha For'st has ter many groun' bush's ter move freely an' there ar' tha moors." Hagrid answered her back.

"Oh yeah, we should avoid the moors. They would ruin my shoes." Buffy smiled at him. "Plus we might sink in them."

"We don't hav' ter go in tha moors. Tha creaturelik' it high an' dry." Hagrid reassured her.

"Good, we go north and after an hour we split and meet at the clearing with the big oak." Buffy looked at Hagrid for approval.

"Good plan." Hagrid agreed. "I hav' follow'd 'is eatin' pat'ern an' he should be feedin' again tonight'."

Buffy put down her cup and stood up. "Lets go, we are burning moonlight." Hagrid looked at her confused. "Never mind. Duncan would have understood it." Buffy stood up, and grabbed her big axe she had sharpened earlier. She hid it in her duster. She picked Hagrid crossbow and threw it at Hagrid. It was a big crossbow but it looked small in Hagrid hands. Buffy opened the door and left the cabin. Hagrid was right behind her picking up his quiver.

"Come Fang. Come, boy." The big boarhound followed Hagrid outside. Hagrid closed the door behind them. The three of them walked into the Forbidden Forrest, after awhile Buffy noticed, that they were being followed. She wasn't too worried. It was a natural occurrence for her. Every time she entered the Forest something was following her. Most of them were harmless creatures that found her interesting. The first time she almost killed a wood elf with one of her arrows. Her spider-sense didn't tingle much, so it didn't bother her much, but she kept an eye out for it.

Nothing interesting happened, when they reached the place where they would split up. They saw no sign of the creature or his leftovers. Hagrid took the highroad with Fang and Buffy took the low road.

Buffy could still feel something following her. They never followed her that long without her at least seeing what was following her. But she still didn't worry that much. She was enjoying the stroll through the forest. It was like a stroll through the cemeteries in Sunnydale, but without the vampires and demons. That didn't mean that there was no danger. On the contrary there were a lot of creepy crawlers, but most of them didn't feel evil. And most of them had enough brains to stay away from her. The first time she had troubles with Hagrid's spiders was also the last. So it didn't bother her that this creature was eating the spiders.

She was the first one, who arrived at the clearing. She removed her axe from her duster and sat down against the oak tree with her knees up. She balanced the axe on her knees. She put all senses on high. She still could sense something at the edge of the clearing. It was observing her. It was at the same spot as, where she entered the clearing.

She still couldn't see it and there was enough moonlight for even a normal person to see. Something was picking at her brain. She knew what it was that followed her, but somehow she was looking at it wrong.

Before she could recall something significant, she was distracted by a sound to her left. The grip she had on the axe increased a little. She carefully stood up with the support of tree trunk. She kept the axe hanging next to her ready for action. The branches separated and something came out of it. It was a white horse, no a unicorn.

Buffy's tension left her body and she smiled. She didn't move. She didn't want to scare the unicorn off. The unicorn moved toward her without any hesitation. It carefully nudged her with its head.

She petted it on the neck with her left hand and scratched it behind the ear. "Hi, Uni." The unicorn liked it and nudged her again. "How are you, big fellow? You should be careful tonight. There is a big bad out in the forest." The unicorn looked her in the eyes. "I hope you don't expect me to keep your safe. You're a big boy." The unicorn nudged her again."What do you want? Just so you know, I left my unicorn/English dictionary at home." The unicorn got skittish and bumped into Buffy and almost knocked her off her feet before rushing into the tree lines.

Buffy was immediately on alert. Something must have scared the unicorn. She felt a little air pressure from above. She went down in a dive, finished it with a roll and back on her feet. Something big swooped over her. It landed a few yards away from her. It had big wings. I turned around and Buffy could see it in its full glory.

"Oh my god!"

Harry stood at the edge of the clearing and he couldn't believe what he saw. Buffy was petting a unicorn. It is a rarity that a unicorn showed itself to any human, but Buffy just stood there and did nothing and it came to her.

Without warning the unicorn rushed off and almost knocked Buffy down. Buffy stood still for a moment and then dived to the ground executing a perfect roll. Something swooped down and missed her by a few inches and landed close to her.

It was a bloody dragon! A very big dragon. It didn't resemble Hagrid's baby dragon. It had broad shoulders, a very thick neck and a bighead. His teeth were long as short swords and the claws at the end of his feet were like daggers. The wingspan of the dragon was enormous.

"Oh my god." Came out of Buffy's mouth and at that moment the dragon attacked her.

Harry had his wand out, but couldn't think straight to come up with a decent spell or curse. The dragon's head went for Buffy, but she jumped out of its path and she hit it in the head with her axe. It didn't do much damage, because of the thick hide and Buffy didn't get a good shot. The dragon retaliated in anger and hit her with its wing and she flew with a bone crashing crash against the oak tree.

Harry wanted to yell.

"No." Hagrid came from behind the dragon shot an arrow in the dragon's back. But it didn't do much damage. He threw his cross bow on the ground and grabbed its tail so it wouldn't advance toward Buffy. Hagrid couldn't find any foothold and was swung from the left to the right. Hagrid had to let go and flew through the air and made a big smack when he landed.

Harry was confused who to help first, Hagrid or Buffy. He then heard a noise from Buffy's direction. It was impossible what he saw; Buffy was holding a small tree of 15 feet tall and about 6 inches thick like a bat.

"Yo, batter up." Buffy took a swing and hit the dragon hard. It fell on his back, but recovered quickly.

Buffy went to Hagrid, who had recovered from the fall.

Buffy shoved the tree in Hagrid's hands. "Keep him busy."Hagrid was shocked at Buffy's strength, but did what Buffy told him to do and distracted the dragon by sticking the treetop into its face.

Buffy removed a big hammer from her duster and waited for her moment. She saw her opening and ran under the tree and surprised the dragon with a swing from under, right in the chin. The dragon's head went upwards and on the way down she hit it in the right side of its head. Before the dragon could recover, she hit it in the same spot again. She moved with its head and hit him twice more. The dragon went down, dazed.

Buffy threw her hammer to Hagrid. Who caught it and dropped it to the ground. He had trouble picking it up with two hands. Buffy removed a sword from her duster for the killing blow.

Buffy held her sword high ready to thrust it into the creature's eye. It looked at her and in the second she looked into its eyes, she saw mixed emotions. What she didn't see was hate or rage. The sword went down and missed the head by an inch.

She left the sword in the ground and took a few steps back. She stood in front of Hagrid and little to the left. She reached out with her hand and Hagrid gave her the troll-hammer back with two hands, while she easily held it with one. She let the hammer rest on one shoulder. The dragon had recover from the blows she handed out. It roared into the night sky and lower it's head inches away from Buffy and was breathing on her.

Buffy gave the dragon a light tap on the nose. "Quit the attitude. Lizard-breath." Its breath wasn't one of the finest aromas. The dragon took a step back. "That is a good boy. Stay away form the castle and the lake. If you don't want to get into any troubles." The Dragon put its head on the ground in submissive gesture toward Buffy.

"Now go and stay out of trouble." Buffy pointed over the tree tops. The dragon took quickly to the sky and disappeared into the night. Buffy turned to Hagrid. "It seems the creature is a dragon."

Hagrid looked confused. He seemed to have forgotten the dragon already. Which was a big thing if you put in the equation that he loved dragons. "Yerar' strong'r than me."

"Yeah. You want to know why?" Buffy asked and Hagrid nodded.

"Wait a second. I hate to repeat myself." She turned to the forest edge. "Harry! Get your butt in motion and march it right over here!" There was a moment of silence. "Don't make me come after you!"

Harry's bodiless head drifted over to Buffy. He looked very ashamed and embarrassed. Hagrid was the one who spoke. "Harry, what ar' yedoin' her'?"

"Hey, Hagrid, Buffy." Harry's voice was very intimated.

"Professor Summers." Buffy corrected him.

Oh, yeah. Harry knew now, that he was in trouble. He had enough signs. Her face, her voice and last but not least 'Professor Summers'. "Sorry, Professor Summers."

"Oh, you're sorry." Buffy was waving the troll hammer in Harry's face dangerous close to his face. Hagrid took a step back, but Harry was too afraid to make a move. Buffy saw what she was doing and dropped the troll hammer.

"You sorry for what? Disobeying Albus? Following me? Putting your self in danger? Did I forget something?" Buffy was emphasizing on the last question.

Harry could almost see the steam escaping from Buffy. "I don't think so."

" 'I don't think so', what?" Buffy had her hands on her hips. Harry was an inch bigger, but he felt like a dwarf standing in front of her.

"I don't think so, Professor Summers." Harry was shrinking physically.

"You saw the dragon. You probably were safe from him under your invisible cloak." Buffy yanked the cloak from Harry's shoulder. "Most flying predators rely on sight for hunting. The predators on the ground rely mostly on noses and ears." Buffy poked him in the chest. "Do you understand in what kind of danger you put yourself in?"

It finally sunk into Harry, that the cloak wouldn't protect him from true predators who hunt in night.

"You were lucky, you were close enough to me. Most predators around here have brains enough to stay out of my way." Buffy voice softened a little."Your life is dangerous enough without seeking it out." Buffy touched the lightning scar on his forehead. Harry shrunk under her touch.

He looked ashamed and ready to burst into tears. "I'm sorry, I didn't think."

"This 'not thinking' can get you in an early grave." Buffy showed more concern.

"I know, but I just wanted to see you fight."

"Well it seems you got your wish." Buffy gave him a faint smile.

Harry showed a grin on his face. "I never saw somebody move like that." His expression changed. "You're the Slayer. You lied to us."

Buffy was offended. "What is it with you guys? First Malfoy calls me a liar and now you. Is it tattooed on my forehead and don't change the conversation. I'm still mad at you." Buffy looked angry with him.

Harry got enough angry to dare to ask her. "You're the Slayer, aren't you?"

"Buffy is he righ', yer reall' tha Slayer?" Hagrid looked at her with wide-open eyes.

Buffy nodded. "Yeah, that's me the Chosen One with the bad night job. No pay, no insurance, no benefits, hardly any recognition. But at least my figure is nice and slim and I don't have to watch my line. I love my Slayer's metabolic. Don't have one ounce of fat."

"I always want'd ter meet a slayer." Hagrid was very excited."And now I hav' a slayer as a fri'nd."

"Hold the horses, Hagrid. I'm not one of your pet monsters." Buffy was warning Hagrid to behave. Hagrid looked a little embarrassed and Harry laughed at the idea off Buffy being Hagrid's pet.

That got Buffy's attention back on Harry. "I hope you understand how stupid and dangerous this stupid move was of yours."

Harry looked down. "I'm sorry, Professor Summers."

Buffy fell sorry for him. "Good. Why don't you pick up my sword and we can go home." Buffy bent down to pick the troll hammer up and looked around while putting it away. Hagrid was picking his crossbow up. "Hagrid, do you see my axe somewhere? I lost it when the dragon's wing hit me."

Hagrid looked around and then shook is head. Out some bushes Fang appeared with his waging tail first dragging something out of the bushes. It was her axe.

"Good dog. Come here." Buffy was calling the dog to her. Fang had some trouble balancing the axe in his mouth. Buffy took the axe from him and petted his head. He jumped up and licked her face. If she were a normal girl she would have been crushed by his weight. "Stop that."

Buffy pushed him away and Hagrid smiled at her. She put the axe away. Harry was trying to keep a blank face while holding the sword with the point down in her direction. Buffy took the sword and cleaned the dirt form it with a cloth before it disappeared in her duster. She gave him a glare.

"I'm still angry at you. You better not smile in my present for at least two days and don't worry, the punishment, I still have to come up with, will stop you from laughing."

Harry picked his invisible cloak that Buffy dropped when Fang licked her to avoid her glare. Buffy took it away form him to have a better look at it. She was looking interested at it. She put it on and Buffy was gone. "Wicked cool."

Harry could hear the excitement in Buffy's voice and smiled."What did I say about smiling in my present even if you can't see me?" She added quickly.

Harry's smile disappeared fast and he didn't have to see Buffy's face to know the look she was giving him. Buffy removed the cloak, folded it up and put it away in her duster.

"I'm confiscating it." Horror was showing on Harry's face. Buffy saw. "It would be appropriate punishment, if I just keep it forever. But Albus thinks you need it to survive. You are lucky I agree with him. I'll give it to Albus for safekeeping." Harry's face lighten up a little bit. "Don't expect it back soon."

The four of them, counting the dog, walked back to the castle. They were quiet for a while. "So Buffy all tho' Slayer stori's, they wer' all about yer?" Hagrid asked.

"Yeh, but some were about Kendra and Faith. Those were the other two slayers."

Harry thought about it and then figured out something. "That you worked with two slayers wasn't a lie, but I thought there can be only one slayer." Harry was confused.

Buffy laughed. "We are more alike then you think. I also break rules now and then."

Harry showed a little smile, but quickly remembered the 'no smile' rule. "How come there are two," He looked at Buffy for confirmation. "Slayers."

"The answer is very simple, Mr. Potter." Buffy went in her teacher's mode. Harry was thinking hard, but his brain didn't want to work properly. He would have figured it out after awhile, especially if he remembered the 'Death door' bit she told Hermione. "I died, Mr. Potter."

Hagrid and Harry stopped in there tracks. Buffy was a few steps in front of them, before she noticed. She turned and smiled at them.

"You looking good for a corpse." Harry spitted out.

"Harry!" Hagrid yelled at him.

"It's okay Hagrid." Buffy smiled at Harry, who had to try very hard not to smile back. "I died, more specific drowned. Xander, a friend of my used CPR." Hagrid looked confused. "It is a muggle medical technique to save people, when they drown. I was dead a few minutes. Hence two slayers."

They walked on. "How can you be so light about dying?" It was again Harry who broke the silence.

"Been there done that kind of thing. Plus I can't afford to dwell on it. It will put me in an early grave." She gave him a faint smile.

They walked in silence and before they left the Forbidden Forest Harry had one issue left to mention. "You probably want me to be quiet about you being the Slayer."

"That would be nice." Buffy replied

"Can I tell Ron or Hermione?" Harry almost pleaded.

"And ruin their surprise, if they found it out on their own. I don't think so." Buffy looked at him serious.

"Hermione is ah smart kid, she figur'd it out tha' Remus ehwerewolf was." Hagrid point out.

"I'm not planning to keep it a secret forever." Buffy smiled at the half giant. "I got a mole in the enemy camp."

"Dawn." Harry said outraged.

"I told her not to lie. But it will keep Hermione unbalanced and she trusts her."

"It might take her the whole year to figure it out." Harry responded.

"Nah, I think she will find it out before Halloween or at least Christmas." Buffy correct him. They were outside of Hagrid cabin. "Now goto bed and if you get caught your house might lose some points."

"Night, Hagrid." Harry turned to Buffy. "Night, Professor Summers." And he ran away as if he was flying on his broomstick.

"He is ah good boy, Buffy." Hagrid expressed to Buffy.

Buffy looked up in his small eyes. "I know, but he is young and he sometimes forget his own mortality."

"Yeah, but hi is too young ter thin' about death all tha time." Hagrid replied back. "Like ye tol' 'im he can't dwell on it."

"You are right." Buffy shook her head. "I just want him to think about death, when he does these stupid stunts." Buffy took Hagrid's arm and pointed him to the door. "How about you warm me some milk, before I go to bed and I can answer a few question you waiting to ask me."

Hagrid grinned. "Tha' sounds fair ter me." And they walked into the cabin.

It was a miracle that Harry arrived at the Gryffindor's Tower unseen. He said the password and entered. He looked at the common room and saw Dawn half lying and half sitting in one of the comfy chairs. She steered a little and opened her eyes. She smiled at him a tiredly smile and closed her eyes again.

Harry came closer to her and when he was a few yards away, she spoke drowsily. "She caught you?"

Harry didn't have to ask whom she meant. "Yeah, how did you know?"

Dawn opened her eyes quickly before closing it again. "No cloak. Plus if you throw a rock in the air, you expect it to come down."

Harry nodded in agreement. "If you trail the Slayer it's obvious you get caught."

Dawn smiled. "So she told you. Hermione is going to be so pissed at you to find it out before her. Her being smart and all."

"I figured it out after the fight. With you covering it up, it will take awhile before she finds out."

"So you aren't going to tell her?" Harry shook his head in the moment Dawn had her eyes open. "So they found the creature. What was it? A big bad demon?"

"Oh, they found the creature or more correctly the creature found her. The fight was bloody marvellous." Harry waited a few moments to get a little more attention from her. Dawn opened her eyes slightly. "It was a bloody dragon."

That got Dawn's attention. Her eyes went wide open and she sat straight up in her seat. "A dragon?" Harry nodded and grinned at her. Dawn remembered a dragon. "How did he look?"

Harry thought about it. "He looked different from the dragons I read in books. His whole body looked wider and his legs were shorter. And he looked way more dangerous. Plus he didn't seem to breath fire."

Dawn thought that she should speak to Buffy about the dragon. Harry saw her worried expression for a moment. "How did she 'slay' the dragon."

Harry face brightened up. "She didn't." And he began to tell her the account of the fight from his perspective. But he forgot about the unicorn. After he finished, they went to bed.

End Chapter 8.

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A/N: Burning Moonlight. John Wayn ( How the heck do you write his name?)

I know that Harry met a unicorn before and Vollybalhead was drinking from it. I don’t know what the unicorn blood was good for. Youth, eternal life? I based my unicorn a little on the one in the move ‘Legend’with Tom Cruise. Were only the pure and innocent can touch a unicorn..
~Angela Raises an eyebrow~...Buffy? Pure? HA, Maybe you're forgetting buffy's little problem with necrophilia.

With pure I mean the purity of the heart not the body. I'm not that dense *grin*

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