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Buffy dressed quickly, this time not making Spike turn his back and smiling when he was unsure about how much he should watch her. He took to busying himself with his own dressing, taking more time than needed to put on a t-shirt and his boots. He looked away, like a naughty boy caught, every time that Buffy watched him watching her.

They ventured downstairs together and entered the living room where everyone was gathered. Under the Christmas tree, that Buffy hadn’t even noticed the night before, was a large assortment of presents. “Like magic.” Buffy repeated the words of the morning with a big smile on her face. She looked around the room at her gathered friends who were her family, her sister, the young wizards, and Spike.

Everyone was looking at the gifts under the tree. All the teenagers were obviously itching to get their hands on their own. “What are you guys waiting for? That looks like an invitation to me.” It took all of thirty seconds for there to be Christmas wrapping paper everywhere.

Buffy sat on the couch watching the happy chaos with a smile on her face. Even with the strange invasion of Hogwarts, she felt light and happy. Something she didn’t very often get the opportunity to feel. Spike sat beside her and she intertwined their fingers. She caught the looks of Xander and Giles, but they didn’t say anything to her.

All of the Weasley children, plus Harry and Hermione had received Weasley sweaters and were wearing them. They were playing with all sorts of bits and bobs and eating candy they had received. Dawn was delighted over books that Buffy and Spike had picked out for her from Hogsmeade and was enraptured by the moving pictures in them.

All of the Scoobies loved their gifts from the wizarding world, and promised not to show them to people who weren’t ‘in the know’. Giles especially liked the book he received where he merely had to whisper what he wanted to read about to the spine of the book and the words appeared on the pages. It did, of course, have its limitations, but Giles was speechless nonetheless.

Buffy eventually got down to opening her own presents from the Scoobies, Giles, and her sister.

“Spike, this is for you.” Dawn had plopped down next to him on the couch and placed a box in his hands. Spike looked from the box to Dawn, a small smile on his face.

“Thanks, Li’l Bit, but you didn’t have to get me anything.” Dawn rolled her eyes.

“But I did anyway, so open it.” Spike smiled at the teenager and unwrapped his gift. Under the wrapping was an unassuming white rectangular box, like a jewelry box. Spike lifted the lid off of it. It was a ring with a green stone set into it. “Sorta looks like a ring I used to have.” Spike told her.

“Yeah. I remember. A ring with a special sort of stone, right?” Spike looked at Dawn when she said this. There was something in the sound of her voice. Spike looked at the ring more closely. It was a dead ringer, but it couldn’t be. “It is, Spike.” Dawn told him.

“But how did you get it, Bit?” Spike’s voice was awed, he couldn’t believe that she trusted him so implicitly. That she would give him something so amazing. Dawn, a big grin on her face, shrugged her shoulders.

“I did have a bit of help.” She admitted. Spike followed his gaze to where Giles, Willow, Anya, Tara, and Xander were watching him.

“But…you lot hate me.” Spike said. “A lot. Guts and all. And besides, I thought the poofter destroyed this thing.”

“Well, you sort of did this self sacrifice thing that made us see you in different light.” Xander said, like it was nothing.

“Yeah, saving the life of not just one but two someones that we love, and not to mention the world as we know it. Sort of made us like you a lot more.” Willow added.
“
And I never hated you, Spike.” Tara said in her gentle way.

“Me either.” Anya voiced.

“And when I asked about it, even Giles was willing to hit the books. As it turns out, that guy made more than just one special ring. It’s just that they were identical twins, so no one ever really suspected that more than one existed.”

Buffy took the ring from the box and put it on Spike’s finger.

“Giles is sort of a genius though, when it comes to research, and he figured it out somehow.” Spike looked at Giles, a man of the Council, someone he never thought would give him any amount of trust.

“Merry Christmas, Spike.” intoned his fellow Brit.

“You deserve it, Spike.” Buffy whispered before hugging him. Spike, half in a daze, wrapped his arms around Buffy as well.

“I feel like there is something here that we don’t understand.” Everyone turned and looked at Fred.

“At all.” George agreed.

“And I feel like we are the only ones who aren’t understanding.” Ginny was looking, not at Spike and Buffy, but at Harry, Ron, and Hermione. Hermione’s eyes widened immediately and Ron’s ears turned as red as Ginny had ever seen them. Harry was the only one who was managing to look politely abashed at the accusation. Fred and George surveyed the others as well.

“I think you’re right, Gin.” George said as he and his twin narrowed their eyes at the accused. “There’s something that everyone isn’t telling us.”

Spike sighed and rolled his eyes.

“Looks like it’s story time.”





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