Freakazoid High

Part 3.

An hour later and things were going swimmingly. Dawn, Connor, Harry and Ron had retired to Dawn's bedroom while they awaited the return of the others and were swapping tales of their adventures amid much hoots of disbelief and catcalling from each other.

"No way! In a box?"

Connor nodded. "Uh-huh. Took him right out into sea and heaved him overboard."

Ron grinned. "Remind me never to piss you off."

Harry choked on his soda and ducked Dawn's playful swipe as the coke dripped onto her bed cover. "And you died?"

Dawn scowled at the brown mark on her previously immaculate white cover. "Yup. Which is what you'll be doing if you don't get that cleared up."

Ron smirked. "Nah, not Harry. He's the boy-who-lived, you can't kill him. What would the Daily Prophet write about then?"

Harry scowled at his friend. "Oh ha ha." With a swift kick Ron was sent flying off the bed and crashing onto the floor. "Maybe they could start on their second favourite subject....you!"

Dawn snagged a handful of the pretzels that Connor had swiped from the kitchen and laughed as Ron flushed an unhappy red. "It's not my fault. Bloody Rita sodding Skeeter."

He climbed off the floor and back onto the bed as Harry explained to their two new friends. "After we got Hermione home, a reporter from the wizarding world that we've had run ins with before managed to sneak into the Merlin Memorial Hospital and get to Ron while he was still under a spell to control the pain from his little scratches..." He laughed as Ron took a swing at him. "And little Ronnikins here gave her a full exclusive on everything we'd been up to on our trip and the next morning we woke up to the headline 'Ron Weasley: Saviour of the Saviour of the World!' with a lovely picture of the hero himself unconscious on a hospital bed, wearing nothing but his underpants!"

Ron finally managed to get Harry in a headlock and silence his howling friend. "Yeah, yeah, very funny." He rubbed his knuckles briskly over Harry's hair, ignoring the yell of pain. "Thanks to bloody Rita Skeeter I couldn't even get home these holidays so I've had to stay at Hogwarts with the-boy-no-one-wants here."

Harry popped up again. "And don't forget all those people from 'Teenwitch', 'WizardingWow!' and 'PlayWitch' that want you to pose in those pants again!" He snorted with laughter. "'Cept 'PlayWitch', they just wanted some tasteful shots of the hero of the hour with a just broom and a wand."

Ron glared at his helplessly laughing friend as Dawn and Connor tried to hold back the giggles. "I'll stick that broom and wand somewhere in a minute..."

They all turned as Dawn's bedroom door opened and Willow stuck her head in. "Grub's up. Come and get it while it still looks kinda dead."

The door shut again and Harry turned to Dawn uncertainly. "That was a joke, right?"

Dawn shrugged and allowed Connor to pull her off the bed and into his arms for a quick kiss. "Hmm? Oh, yeah, sure." She walked to the door with Connor and then turned to grin back at the two boys following her. "But just in case, grab a stake from the jar in the hall. We did mention Anya's also a demon right? She's a little...inventive, when it comes to cooking."

*************************************

Thanks to Professor Dumbledore the Summers dining table had been extended a little to accommodate the wealth of extra diners sitting down to lunch. Dawn and the other teenagers bagged one end of the table and began to dig enthusiastically into the plates of steaming lasagna, garlic bread and salad. Ron and Harry eyed theirs uncertainly at first and then after cautious prodding with their forks, attacked the steaming plateful with abandon.

Buffy helped herself to a generous slice of lasagna and said in an undertone to Spike. "So, she looks ok, right?"

Spike glanced down the table at Dawn happily chatting to Harry as she shoveled a fork load of pasta and meat into her mouth, and winced as she continued to chew as she talked. "Yeah, she looks ok." He sipped his mug of blood and placed his hand over hers. "If she wants to go, Slayer, then we should let 'er." He looked at Dumbledore briefly as he explained to a fascinated Anya the concept of house elves and cooking. "I think this bloke's ok. He'll look after 'er."

Buffy nodded and pushed the pasta round her plate. "I guess. I just can't help feeling that we're being hasty about all this. There must be something we can do to keep her safe here."

Angel looked round from where he sat on her left hand side. "I don't think there is. I had Fred get on the computer last night as soon as Giles called us. From what she was able to pull up on this Voldemort he's a real bad ass." His eyes flicked down to Connor and he said in a lower tone, "I don't think we stand a chance if we stand and fight now. Maybe with a few months research..." His voice trailed off, making it clear that he was uneasy about their chances even then.

Buffy sighed. "I know. I just wish there was something we could do. I don't like the idea of her being so far away, especially after what happened last month..."

The three fell silent again as they each remembered the desperate hours when they thought Dawn had been lost to them forever after getting staked by an ex-lover of Buffy's.

Dawn snorted at the end of the table having caught Buffy's last remark. "Hello? Welcome to my life. How many times have I had to watch you die now? You owe me." She nudged Harry companionably. "She's died three times that we know of. It's getting embarrassing."

Ron and Harry's heads swivelled round to gape at the squirming Buffy. "Three times? Bloody hell!"

Buffy scowled at Ron's awed exclamation. "It's not like I did it on purpose. The drowning thing hardly counted, the tower thing saved the world and the getting shot thing was a total accident."

Dawn smiled gently at Willow as they both remembered the loss of Tara and then gave the witch a broad wink. "I'm just saying, you'd think with all the times you've up and died on me you'd cut me a little slack on the one time I did it." She grinned at Cordelia. "Although I get the feeling that people from Sunnydale aren't gonna find it as easy to die as they used to. The Powers are getting pretty p/o'd with us showing up in the spiritual realms, then turning round and heading back home again."

Cordelia looked longingly at the garlic bread and then regretfully decided that she'd rather have smoochies with her dead hunk of a lover than him whining for the next few days that she was burning his mouth every time she kissed him. She looked up at Dawn and returned the grin. "Ain't that the truth. You know, sweetie, you could think about making a little retreat for the Scoobs once you get your powers down. Y'know, somewhere we can kick back and relax the next time we kick the bucket. Just somewhere to hang while we figure out whether we have to come on back or not."

Dawn looked at Cordelia thoughtfully. "Hey, that's not a bad idea." She flicked a wicked look at Buffy. "And I could get one of those cool revolving doors fitted, save you some time, Buff."

Anya leapt enthusiastically into the breach. "Or one of those giant rubber bands that the fluffy cartoon desert dog uses when he's trying to catch that annoying honking bird."

Xander threw back his head and laughed. "Slingshot Slayer! I like that."

Giles scowled at all of them. "Ahem. As entertaining as this is, perhaps we could get back to more important matters rather than giving Dawn silly ideas that could destroy the dimensional balance."

"You really need to lighten up, Giles." Cordelia gave the watcher a disapproving look and bit down on a tomato, resolutely ignoring the garlic bread that now seemed to be waving it's tushie seductively at her and calling her name like a stinky little siren.

Willow, peacemaker extraordinaire, jumped in hastily. "So, when do you want the kids to be ready? I mean there's plane tickets and books and all kinds of stuff we need to get them." She bounced slightly on her chair as she thought of all the academic shopping to be done, earning an exasperated look from all her friends.

"You are such a geek." Xander ruffled her hair affectionately, ignoring the outraged pout from his oldest friend.

Dumbledore smiled. "I'm afraid their school supplies are rather specialized, you won't be able to procure them locally." He popped a bit of garlic bread into his mouth with a beatific smile and chewed happily for a moment before continuing, "I have brought a device with me that will make travel much easier as well. In fact, all they need are some funds and we can leave as soon as they have packed a few personal effects."

Connor blinked. "You mean today?" He looked at Dawn and saw she looked as stunned as he did. "I thought we'd have a few days."

Dumbledore shook his head. "Oh no, indeed. The school term starts in two days and you need quite a few pieces of equipment. I rather thought we'd be off after we've finished this splendid lunch."

Buffy dropped her fork onto her plate with a clatter. "But...but...it's too soon. What about the schools they're at now? They'll have to be told. There's transfer papers to take care of and Dawn's under state supervision, I have to inform them." She looked wildly at Spike and saw him staring in disbelief at Dumbledore.

Dawn gripped Connor's hand. "My friends. I have to say goodbye to my friends. And Connor has people in LA."

Connor looked confused for a minute and then realized that he'd never actually got around to telling Dawn that he had no friends in LA aside from his father's crew. And he was pretty much wearing what he owned.

Giles leaned forwards and divided his attention between the two stunned sets of parents. "The council will take care of all that. As far as any authorities will know, Dawn and Connor have both transferred out of state, in Dawn's case to complete her final school year under the supervision of her father." He pushed the nearly empty plate of garlic bread aside and Cordelia's nose twitched like a rabbit's as the succulent pieces of bread began to call her name again. Giles continued regardless. "They will do some traditional lessons at Hogwarts under certain carefully selected tutors and then they will sit their finals either here or in England, depending on how long it takes us to neutralize this new threat." He smiled at Buffy. "Whatever happens, their education will not suffer I promise you."

Dawn cut her eyes to Connor and muttered. "Well, that's a relief." He ginned at her dry tone and then looked at Angel as his father spoke up quietly.

"So, they're leaving today?" He looked at Connor for a moment and his eyes showed briefly his pain at losing his precious son again.

Connor blinked at the love and pain radiating from his father and then gave Angel a slow, sweet smile. "But this time, you know I'll be back."

Cordelia took her love's hand and firmly turned her back on the increasingly lascivious garlic bread. "Yes, we do." She squeezed Angel's hand firmly. "You're going to have a blast."

Dawn slipped her hand into Connor's under the table and felt some of her tension ease slightly as he stroked his thumb over her skin. She smiled at Buffy bravely and then at Spike. "We'll be fine. We'll miss you guys, but this is definitely the right thing to do."

Spike nodded shortly and then looked at Professor Dumbledore sharply. "They'll be in separate bits of the school after lights out, right?"

************************************

It was just past three in the afternoon when Dawn and Connor stood in Dawn's front room and prepared to say goodbye to their families for what might have been forever for all they knew. Dawn had packed a small suitcase containing underwear and a few favourite articles of clothing and it stood ready at her feet. A small backpack hung over her shoulder with a diary, a picture of the Scoobs and the essential hardware that no Scoob travelled without. Stakes, holy water, a small collapsible crossbow and two spare crucifixes to go with the one that hung around her neck.

Unbeknownst to Spike there was also a packet of condoms that Willow had slipped her earlier. Dawn's eyes flicked to the witch who gave her a broad wink and exchanged smug looks with Anya. Dawn still reeling from the fact that two of her unofficial guardians had basically given her the green light in seducing Connor, gave them an unsteady smile and swallowed nervously as she thought of the book that Anya had slipped into her hands when Willow's back had turned. After a quick glance through it the book had been tossed in the bottom of the suitcase and the lid slammed firmly down, she was positive that not even Buffy and Spike could manage some of the positions depicted and they were among some of the most flexible people she knew.

She watched as Connor was hugged by his mother and father, who slipped him what looked to be a considerable roll of cash. The boy stood tall in a fitted leather jacket, battered jeans and his usual washed out t-shirt. A hastily purchased backpack stood on the floor next to him filled with new underwear and a change of clothes that Cordelia had instructed him to wash on occasion not just throw on the floor to rot in a steaming heap.

Dawn gave a watery smile as one by one Xander and the others hugged her tightly and whispered words of love and encouragement. She clung tightly to Willow as the witch snuffled into her hair and then she was enfolded in Giles' warm embrace. "Take care of them, ok?"

The older man nodded, slightly choked up himself. "I will, I promise."

Dawn raised herself to kiss him affectionately on the cheek. "Good. Because if I hear Buffy's died again before I get that rubber band fitted I'm gonna be pissed."

Giles laughed and brushed an affectionate hand over her cheek. "You have my word, no dying of any kind will be permitted."

He stepped back as Spike nudged him out of the way and enveloped Dawn in a fierce hug. "You write everyday, y'hear me, Nibblet? Don't you let any o' them bloody magical misfits give you a hard time." He pulled back and stared into her eyes with a twisted grin. "You tell ol' Spike if any of 'em get outta hand and I'll be over quick smart to drain 'em and snap their pansy little arses into bits."

Ron and Harry looked slightly green at his vicious statement, but Dawn's eyes flowed over despite her best intentions and she flung her arms around his neck to hold him tightly. "I love you too, Spike." She pushed her face into the curve of his neck and whispered, "I'm going to miss you so much."

Spike clung to her for a moment and then pulled her arms from around his neck and turned her into Buffy's embrace. His face worked for a moment and then he turned to stare casually out the window fighting for control. Xander snatched a handful of tissues from a box on the table and held them out, wincing in disgust when Spike threw him a poisonous look and wiped his face and nose on the sleeve of his t-shirt. "Ewww!"

Spike growled. "Just be thankful I ain't blowin' me nose on you, Harris."

Buffy held Dawn softly to her and whispered, "You know why I agreed to this, right? I don't want you to go but..." Her breath hitched slightly. "Oh god, Dawnie, I can't watch you die again."

Dawn sniffed and hung on to her sister tightly. "I know, it's ok." She stepped back and gave a wry grin. "Now you know how I feel every time you go out the door." Tears trickled from her eyes as she kissed Buffy's cheek and said unsteadily, "Just promise me, the minute this guy gets dusted you'll bring us home."

Buffy leaned gratefully against Spike's chest as he slipped unsteady arms around her. "I promise. The ashes won't even have time to touch the floor."

Dawn smiled and turned into Connor's arms. She hung on tightly as Cordy and Angel scooted to stand with the Scoobs and Harry took hold of her suitcase. Professor Dumbledore held out a carrot. "Just place your finger on here and keep it pressed firmly down."

There was a brief silence as Dawn and Connor regarded the white-haired old man and briefly reconsidered the wisdom of entrusting their lives to a man that thought it was entirely normal to travel by root vegetable and then they exchanged looks and put their fingers out to gingerly touch the slightly muddy surface.

For a moment nothing happened and then Dawn felt herself jerked forward suddenly, she heard Spike yell "DAWN!" and then she had the sensation of rushing forward whilst staying in exactly the same place.

With a sudden jolt they halted and she was thrown face first into Harry's shoulder. She gave him an apologetic smile and straightened up only to stare incredulously around herself as she realised that she was most definitely no longer in Sunnydale. Ron grinned at Connor and Dawn as they turned in a slow, stunned circle. "Welcome to Diagon Alley."

********************************

Dumbledore took them into The Leaky Cauldron to book some rooms for the night and then once their bags had been stowed away led them into the bright morning sunshine. "Well, I think Harry and Ron will be able to look after you from here. I'm afraid the time difference puts us a good few hours behind California, will you be alright?"

Dawn blinked at the nearest shop that was piled high with cauldrons of every size and colour. "What? Oh, yeah, we'll be fine. We're used to being up at all hours."

The professor nodded. "Capital. Well, stay in the alley and you'll be perfectly safe. The boys will show you where you need to go to get your money changed over and then they'll take you to pick up your school things, alright?" Dawn and Connor nodded dumbly. "Marvellous. Well, have fun and Potter, no more than two pints of butterbeer, you rascal!"

He strode off into the bustling crowd of witches and wizards thronging the narrow street and was soon lost too sight. Harry grinned at the two Americans as they stared around themselves. "Unbelievable isn't it? I first came here when I was eleven and I had no idea magic was real, much less lived with vampires and stuff." He jerked his head. "This way, don't worry, you'll soon get used to it."

Connor took Dawn's hand firmly in his and followed the two boys down the street. Everywhere he looked men and women were bustling about in long robes, going about their daily business. He was aware of stares following them as they walked but soon realized that they were directed at Ron and Harry rather then Dawn and himself in their jeans and leather jackets. It seemed Harry and Ron were aware of it also as their pace picked up considerably until they finally entered the doors of a gleaming white building at a brisk trot.

Ron wiped a hand over his glowing red face and glared around himself. "Bloody Rita Skeeter."

Harry caught the eye of a group of simpering girls, standing giggling as they eyed himself and Ron with delight. "Bloody hell." He steered Dawn and Connor over to a built up desk and resolutely tuned out the whispers and pointing fingers behind them. "Hello. We'd like to open two accounts and change some muggle money, please."

The goblin behind the desk leaned forward and peered down. "Identification."

Harry pulled his account key out of his pocket and passed it over, the goblin glared over his half moon glasses looking uncannily like Giles for a minute. "Not yours Mr. Potter. Theirs."

Harry flushed. "Oh. Right." He rocked back on his heels and looked at Ron who was busy glaring furiously at a young woman holding a copy of the Daily Prophet that featured his nearly naked body on the front and whispering frantically to her friend. Both women looked up at him and broke out into giggles. Ron's big hands clenched into tight fists. "I'm going to bloody stuff that woman's quill and stupid glasses down her throat when I catch up with her." He looked round as Harry poked him sharply in the side. "What?"

Harry tugged a hand through his already untidy hair, making it stick up at angles and giving him the air of a faintly worried hedgehog. "They need ID."

Ron directed one last glare at the two giggling women and then turned his full attention to the problem in hand. "So, show them your key, you stupid git."

Harry sighed as Dawn smothered a smirk of amusement. "Not our ID. Something for them."

Ron rolled his eyes and turned to the goblin. "They don't have any. They live in the muggle world."

The goblin looked at Dawn and Connor. "Are they going to Hogwarts?" Ron nodded. "Then they can use their acceptance letter as identification."

Ron and Harry exchanged slightly panicked looks as Harry said, "They don't have acceptance letters. Professor Dumbledore went and got them personally."

The goblin managed to convey with one twitch of his eyebrow that if Professor Dumbledore failed to provide adequate identification for his enrolling students that would ensure their smooth transition from muggle to wizards then that was hardly his affair...or problem. And he wouldn't care if it was. He leaned back in his chair and began to examine some parchment documents before him. "No identification, no money."

Ron crossed his arms over his chest. "Fantastic. Now what?"

Harry opened his mouth but before he could get a sound out, a bellow echoed round the cavernous walls of the goblin bank. "'Arry Potter! I've bin' lookin' fer yeh!"

Ron was sure if he'd have blinked he would have missed what happened next. Connor and Dawn went from looking at him and Harry as they did battle with the goblin, to bursting apart, whirling round and somehow ending up with Dawn clinging to Rubeus Hagrid's best hairy suit and holding a sharp looking dagger to his throat and Connor aiming a crossbow bolt dead between his eyes.

"Bleeding hell!" Ron stood staring as Harry shot past him with a yell and jumped in front of Connor waving his arms frantically

"No, no, no! He's a friend! Stop it!"

Connor narrowed his eyes. "Are you sure?" He peered round the frantically hopping Harry and eyed the frozen Hagrid up and down. "He didn't sound very friendly."

Harry was now engaged in trying to pull Dawn off Hagrid's shoulders. "Yes, I'm sure!" He tugged at Dawn's legs. "Will you get down!"

Connor put up his crossbow. "Ok. I think he's alright."

Dawn sniffed. "Hmm." She glared for another moment and then slithered down to stand on the floor. "Ok, but if he goes postal on us, I'm blaming you guys." She sauntered back to Connor's side casually tucking her knife back into the sheath strapped to the small of her back.

Hagrid stared in amazement at Harry and Ron and then at their two companions. "Wot are they? Did Dumbledore hire yeh some bodyguards?"

Harry was busy trying to peer up at Hagrid's throat to check for damages so Ron, with a last incredulous look at Connor and Dawn, answered, "No. They're new students, he wanted us to look after them."

Hagrid tipped his massive head to one side. "Blimey. Bit nervy aren't they?"

Harry grinned affectionately at his friend. "A bit. How are you Hagrid?"

The giant took his eyes off Dawn and Connor and beamed happily down at his two young friends. "Fine. Bin' busy with some important work for the headmaster..." He tipped his head to one side and tapped his nose with a wink. "An' I bin off to see Madame Maxime o' course." Harry and Ron grinned as Hagrid flushed a wonderful bright scarlet and continued hastily, "Just as friends like, nothin' funny goin' on."

Harry turned and waved Dawn and Connor forward. "Hagrid, this is Dawn Summers and Connor Angel. They're joining the seventh year with us. Dawn, Connor, this is Rubeus Hagrid, groundskeeper at Hogwarts."

Hagrid extended one massive hand. "Pleased t' meet yeh."

Dawn placed her much smaller hand in his and smiled briefly. "Hi. Sorry about before; we thought Harry might be in trouble."

Hagrid shook Connor's hand and smiled down at the slightly embarrassed Dawn. "Don't you worry yeh 'ead about it, miss, 'appens all the time."

He turned back to Harry. "What yer doin' ere then 'Arry? Getting' yeh stuff for school are yer?"

Harry's face clouded as he remembered why they were standing in Gringotts in the first place. "We were trying to change some muggle money over and open a couple of new accounts, but we haven't got the right identification."

Hagrid's face flushed angrily. "What? Don't they know who yeh are?" He pushed past the teenagers to thump an angry fist down under the snobbish goblin's nose. "Yeh listen 'ere you little bastard, yeh 'elp Mr. Potter 'ere do what he 'as to do or I'll feed yeh to me blast ended skrewts, so help me, I will."

The goblin rocked back slightly under the loud shout but otherwise remained unmoved. "No identification, no money."

Hagrid scowled. "Why yeh....." He raised his fist again, plainly intending to bring it down on the goblin's head when a new voice interrupted.

"Is there a problem?"

Hagrid turned his head and bent over slightly to focus on a small wrinkled head that just about came up to his knees. "An' who are you?"

"Edan Alanus, head goblin at Gringotts." The gobin looked up at Hagrid in disapproval and flicked a piece of invisible lint from his immaculate robes. "Is there a problem?"

Hagrid scowled. "Too right there's a problem. 'Arry Potter and Ron Weasley are 'ere doin' official business for Professor Dumbledore, and this little pip squeak won't let 'em do it."

Ron shut his eyes as Hagrid's voice bounced of the walls of the bank. "Oh bloody hell."

Hagrid swept on. "That's two of the bes' boys its ever been my privilege to know, an' a prefect and head boy at Hogwarts I'll 'ave yeh know, and yer little servin' git 'ere won't let 'em do their business."

Harry smothered a laugh as Ron muttered, "There's never a bloody evil wizard around when you want one is there?" Harry glanced at Dawn and Connor and found them both highly entertained by the scene Hagrid was creating. He jumped as he heard his name.

"I do apologize, Mr. Potter. Unfortunately there is nothing you can do, however..." The goblin swept on ignoring Hagrid's rumble of extreme disapproval. "If Mr. Hagrid here could be prevailed upon to sign for your friends' good character and identity then we can get the accounts set up forthwith."

Harry blinked. "Oh. Well, I could sign for them..."

"Unacceptable I'm afraid. The procedure requires a signature of an adult."

Harry looked helplessly at Hagrid who beamed happily. "O' course I'll sign for 'em 'Arry. Come on then, let's get started!"

He nudged the goblin still sitting behind the desk. "Oi, you, get yeh finger out." The goblin glared angrily at the giant as he loomed over him and then began to collect various parchment forms together with annoyed rattles and shakes.

Harry nodded to the head goblin as he stalked off and then grinned at Dawn and Connor. "Right then, we'd better get a move on. Still got a lot to do."

*****************************

Connor folded his arms and glared threateningly at Harry as he held out a black robe. "I am not wearing a dress." He tensed his arms, making his biceps bulge alarmingly against the tight leather covering them. His eyebrows came together as Harry took another step closer. "I.Am.Not.Wearing.A.Dress."

Harry sighed. "It's not a dress. It's a robe and everyone has to wear one at Hogwarts."

Connor stared flatly into Harry's eyes. "Not me."

Dawn choked back a snigger as Harry glared back at her boyfriend and abruptly lowered the robe with an impatient sigh. "Look, Connor..." He visibly fought for patience and then said in a reasonable tone, "Connor, we've been here forty minutes now and we still haven't picked up your uniform. You are going to Hogwarts, you need a uniform, this..." He waved the piece of black cloth with a scowl. "Is your uniform. Can you at least put it over your shoulders, just for a minute, so we can make sure that you aren't going to be tripping over the hem when you wear it at school?"

Connor raised an eyebrow. "I'm not wearing a dress."

Harry stopped short of stamping his foot but did succumb to the urge to throw the robe on the floor, ignoring the annoyed exclamation from Madame Malkin, and bellowed, "Dawn!"

Dawn hopped down from the footstool she was on and skipped over to Harry's side. She was wearing her new Hogwarts' robes over her jeans and tee shirt and brushed happily at the soft, heavy material as she beamed up at the exasperated brunette. "Yes, Harry?"

"Will you talk to that bloody, irritating idiot and tell him it's not a bloody dress?"

Dawn's grin widened as Harry's voice rose in a shout and she turned to look at the stubborn Connor. He divided his glare between Harry and his girlfriend. "I'm not wea..."

Dawn rolled her eyes and jumped up beside him on the narrow dressmaker's platform. She pressed her mouth to his and flicked her tongue teasingly against Connor's upper lip. "Yeah, yeah. I know, you're not wearing a dress." Her arms slipped around his neck and she pressed herself up against him, rubbing enticingly until his arms loosened and wound around her waist to pull her flush against him. Dawn leaned in even more and began to skip butterfly kisses along his rigid jaw and along the line of his neck.

"You know..." kiss, kiss, lick "Giles told me that in the old days..." she sucked a tiny fold of skin into her mouth and grazed her teeth lightly against it, grinning when she felt him shudder, "That a sign of a really macho guy..." kiss, kiss, lick and suck, "Was when he wore a robe all the time but still knew how to show he was all man."

Harry blinked as her pelvis tilted towards Connor slightly and rubbed against his crotch. He didn't know about the American but he was about to promise Dawn Summers just about anything as long as she came over to him and gave him the same treatment.

Connor licked suddenly dry lips and desperately tried to remember what he was so annoyed about as all the blood in his body abruptly headed south. Dawn raised herself up on her tiptoes and ran the edge of her tongue in a slow movement along the lobe of Connor's ear. "I can so see why those old guys had so much appeal to the ladies in the big dresses." Her teeth nipped lightly at his ear and then her mouth began a slow, warm path back to his mouth. "I've been watching all these guys all day, and I gotta tell you..." Her mouth nipped lightly at the corner of his. "The way those robes flow about them when they walk really gets me going." Her mouth closed over his and she pressed against him with a little moan as he pulled her in and began to savage her willing lips.

Harry was aware his mouth was hanging open as he watched the two on the pedestal but he couldn't seem to get himself together enough to close it. He blinked as Connor pulled Dawn up on her toes and wrapped one strong hand in her hair to pull her head back to give him better access to her mouth. She shivered and pressed against Connor as he took control of the kiss and left the boy who lived wondering what would happen to him if he did that to some of the girls of his acquaintance. He blinked again as one of Connor's hands snaked down Dawn's back to cup her butt and pull her more firmly against him. Harry felt his mouth begin to sag open once more. Why didn't he know any girls like Dawn?

"Ahem. Ahem." Madame Malkin appeared in front of Harry's line of vision, a scowl marring her normally cheerful face. "Mister Potter, this is an establishment of good repute, and while I would never normally criticize you..."

Harry tore his eyes away from the oblivious couple. "What? Oh. Oh. Right. Sorry." He edged round the angry witch and moved to tug awkwardly on the hem of Dawn's robe. "Dawn." The entwined lovers ignored him except for a low moan from Connor as Dawn's hips bucked against him when he clenched her butt again. "Dawn!" Harry felt his face glow with embarrassment and he was fairly certain if they didn't knock it off soon then his hair would burst into flames from the heat of his skin. "DAWN!"

Dawn blinked as she heard her name come from far away and then looked over her shoulder as she felt another tug on her robes and saw a hot pink Harry staring up at her. "Um...yeah?"

Harry looked up at her glowing face. Her eyes were incredibly bright, but heavy lidded with lust, her lips swollen after the less than gentle attentions of Connor's mouth. She dragged her tongue over the trembling tissue of her lower lip and tried to focus. "What...um...is...um..." Harry raised an eyebrow as she sucked in a shaky breath and blinked furiously to focus on a train of thought. "What is it?"

Connor blinked as Harry gestured at the irate looking witch behind him and breathed in the scent of Dawn with a heavy dollop of both their arousals as he tried to regroup his thoughts. "Madame wants to fit the robes."

Dawn's eyes moved slowly to the proprietor and then drifted back to Harry. "Right. Ok. That should be fine." She loosened Connor's arms around her and then jumped gracefully off the pedestal. Unfortunately her concentration was still on the tingling in her lips and the pure fire that seemed to be raging in her groin, and her knees went from under her to send her toppling face forward onto the floor.

Harry scooped her up. "Are you alright?"

Dawn nodded vacantly at his anxious face. "Huh? Oh yeah. I'm fine." She cast a look over her shoulder at Connor as he stood staring with the fixed expression of a hungry lion seeing his first antelope after a dry spell. Dawn gave Harry a faintly smug look. "Fixed his wagon, huh?" Her knees continued to tremble as Connor's tongue flicked out, making him look more predatory than ever. "I need to sit down for a minute."

Harry watched her stagger off to sink unsteadily into a chair in the corner. He turned back to Connor and then blushed yet again when he caught sight of the tell tale bulge in the front of his jeans. Harry whirled in a blaze of material that surely would have had Dawn dribbling if she'd have been in any state to notice it, and grabbed Madame Malkin's arm as she bustled by him in a bundle of moral indignation. "We may need another minute here, Madame." He ignored her squawk of fury and bustled her back over to Dawn. "Dress robes. Please."

***********************************

After the three had left the robe shop and had met up with Ron, fresh from a frantic battle with an elderly witch determined to see up his robes in order to confirm that he really did look that good naked, they made their way down the street to Mr Ollivander's wand shop.

Dawn and Connor wandered ahead slightly, the screaming sexual tension between them silent now except for a slight frisson whenever they would catch one another's eye. Harry mooched along in their wake listening with half an ear to Ron as he spluttered in indignation beside him. "In the middle of the sodding queue for Merlin's sake! My bloody arms full of bloody books and some old hag with three warts and a stoat on her shoulder lifted up my robe and yanked on my bloody belt!"

Harry was still pre-occupied with the Dawn and Connor hot lovin' road show (one night only, get your ticket while you can!) and nodded vacantly. "Yeah?"

Ron shifted the heavy bags he carried that contained four complete sets of Hogwarts year seven reading requirements. "Yes! She was older than my mother!" His face blushed tomato red again. "I ended up dancing round sodding Flourish and Blotts like a dervish and getting bitten by a rogue copy of The Monster Book Of Monsters that had escaped and gone wild in the home medicine section and had hidden in the relaxant charms, doped out of its mind until I stood on its spine and it shot up my robe." He shuddered. "It could have been very nasty."

Harry nodded. "Nasty, yeah." He stopped suddenly and put his hand on Ron's arm to pull him to a halt outside a shop that advertised self-flaming lamps and fires (Get 'em while they're hot!). "Ron, do you think Dumbledore's gone a bit far this time?" He nodded at the backs of Dawn and Connor as they continued their slow walk up the street. "I mean, it's a bit risky isn't it? The son of two vampires and someone that can destroy the world as easy as she can snuff out a candle. There must have been somewhere else he could have sent them."

Ron frowned. "What are you on about? You heard him, there's nowhere that they're going to be safe." He flexed his fingers unhappily against the twine biting into them. "You saw their families, if they don't stand a chance of protecting them if Voldemort comes for them, then what chance are they going to have hiding anywhere in our world except Hogwarts?"

Harry frowned uneasily. "I know. It's just..." An image of Connor dragging Dawn against him in Madam Malkin's popped up in his head again and he blinked slightly stupidly at Ron. "They're so different to us." He gestured helplessly and tried to explain. "I knew they would be different but..." He flushed. "They kissed while we were looking for robes."

Ron shook his head in confusion. "Yeah, so?"

Harry ran nervous hands through his unruly hair. "I mean kissed. I thought he would chew her face off at one point." Ron still looked none the wiser and Harry threw up his hands impatiently. "She was trying to persuade him to try on some robes and she started messing around with his neck and then all of a sudden he was practically pulling her hair out and there was all this weird energy and stuff." His eyes flickered uncertainly. "It was like they were animals. He was just attacking her face and she was egging him on for more."

Ron glanced at Connor and Dawn as they realized that they were alone and stood watching them from up the street. "Yeah? Blimey."

Harry nodded. "They aren't like us. I can't imagine ever grabbing a girl they way he grabbed her and not getting slung in Azkaban for it."

Ron's widened respectfully as he looked at Connor. "Really?" His look turned inward and he said slowly, "Did she like it?"

Harry thought of Dawn staggering across the shop and her dazed expression as she sank into the chair. "Yeah, I think so."

Ron's expression grew thoughtful. "Yeah?" He formed a picture of a certain bushy haired acquaintance. "Make sure you get me the next time he does it, I'd better take a look for myself."

Harry rubbed his scar worriedly. "Do you think I should mention it to Dumbledore?"

Ron gaped at the earnest look Harry wore for a moment and then reminded himself that for all intents and purposes, when it came to the real world, his friend was one of the most sheltered people he had ever met. He gave Harry a grin. "Nah, we'll leave it for now, see how it goes." He started to walk slowly up the street. "Just remember that they're muggles and they're bound to do some things differently."

They're getting a bit of a snog for a start. Unlike some wizards I could mention.

Harry looked slightly reassured. "So you don't think I should worry?"

Ron shook his head. "No."

I think if we don't get a couple of birds this year we may as well jump from the roof of Hogwarts without our broomsticks, but I don't think you should worry about the people that are actually getting laid. Bastards.

Ron gave Connor a slightly bitter grin as he drew level outside Ollivanders. "Alright?"

Connor nodded. "Yeah. Do you want a hand with those?" He reached for the bags hanging from Ron's purple hand as Dawn wandered away from the three boys and into the wand shop behind them. His fingers had just closed on the string handles when he heard her scream ring out from the shop and he spun round to sprint through the door.

Harry and Ron burst through the doorway at Connor's heels and stared in astonishment at the mound of writhing wood that Connor was hurling himself at in fury. Ron jumped forward. "What the blinking hell is going on?"

He grabbed a handful of the long wooden sticks and then realized that he was actually holding a handful of wands, he blinked and threw them behind him only to shout in surprise as they flew back to stick to the pile of wood that he now realized was the wands that normally rested peacefully on the shelves in the shop. Harry joined them. "Where's Dawn?"

Connor ripped handfuls of wands away from the quivering pile. "Under here." He cursed as the wands flew back to stick to their mates with sharp clicks. "Dawn! Dawn, can you hear me?"

A slightly muffled, "Yes!" came from somewhere under the wood and then there was a pause of a few moments before a slightly firmer, "And whatever happened this wasn't my fault! I am so not to blame for this."

Connor's shoulders sagged slightly with the relief that she sounded unhurt and then whirled round as a dry, papery voice said behind him, "Then I would very much like to know whose fault it is."

Ron and Harry turned, Harry guiltily thrusting a handful of wands behind his back as they met the unimpressed eyes of Mr Ollivander. The wands wriggled furiously in his hand and then slipped like eels through his fingers to stick lovingly back to the rest. Harry winced. "Hello, Mr. Ollivander." He looked from the empty shelves to Connor standing with his crossbow out again and pointed at the aged shopkeeper and then finally to the huge pile of wands on the floor. "I can explain."

Dawn's disgruntled voice came from behind him. "Can we explain after we lose the matchsticks of love, please? Ow!" The pile of wands jumped slightly as though they had been goosed, Dawn continued wryly, "If I stay under here much longer there's no way I'll be able to wear white on my wedding day."