Buffy didn't realize her friends had wandered off until she finished the book and looked up to ask for the next one.
Oh, well I guess they found something better to do.
She looked around, noticing that it had gotten dark and there were a lot more people in the store now.
How long have I been reading?
She turned to look at the clock on the wall behind her.
Whoa! It's only 9:30? I finished a book in three hours! Points for me, I'm Reader-Girl.
She sat for a moment, trying to decide whether or not she should seek out her friends. That was how Angel found her, staring off into space. He hesitated, not wanting to make a scene in front of all these people. Fred pushed him towards her chair before trotting off to find her cohorts. Angel sighed, gathered his courage, and walked forward. He reached out and put his hand on her shoulder.
Buffy froze. Before she even turned to see who was behind her, she knew. She always knew when he was there.
"Angel, what are you doing here?"
Angel froze. He should have known she would know he was there.
"Buffy, we need to talk. I don't want to make a scene, so if this is going to turn out to be a shouting match, can we take a walk?"
"I think that we'd better go outside."
Angel's heart sank.
I knew this would be hard.
"Okay, lead the way."
Buffy stood up, feeling like she was in a dream, and walked out the front door, past the line of people and down the street. Angel followed her, not wanting to talk until they were far enough away from the store.
Oh my God! What am I going to do? I told Willow that all I needed was a chance to talk to him, but I can't! I can't explain everything! What am I going to do? Okay, all right. I'm just going to have to suck it up and tell him how I feel.
After a few moments of awkward silence, Angel spoke.
"Buffy, I want you to know that I didn't plan this. Fred and Willow wanted to get us together. Something about us needing to talk. I understand if you don't want to. We can just tell them that everything is okay and put on a happy face for our friends."
Buffy looked at him with a pained expression.
"Angel, I… I don't know how to say this. After you… I just…"
Buffy took a deep breath and told him what was in her heart.
"When you were in Sunnydale, I told you that I didn't know if I was supposed to have a relationship work and a whole bunch of other stupid things. I didn't mean them then, and I don't mean them now. You have to understand that I needed you to be ready to fight if I failed and I had only had about two hours of sleep. I couldn't think of any other way to get you to leave. I don't know how you feel, but I am still very much in love with you and I am so sorry for what I said a month ago. I don't need to find myself, I was never lost. Can you ever forgive me?"
Angel stared at her for a moment trying to discern if she was telling the truth or not. Buffy looked back with intense eyes that clearly showed she meant every word. He didn't speak, he just pulled her into his arms and kissed her, as he had so many times before. Everything she needed to know was in that kiss, and for the first time in almost two years, she was completely at ease with the world.
After a while, Angel released her.
"Does that answer your question?"
Buffy nodded and began to cry. He wrapped his arms around her and kissed the top of her head.
"It's okay, everything is going to be okay now."
"I know."
They stood there for a while on the sidewalk, ignoring the looks they got from curious bystanders.
"I suppose we must go back and appease our friends. Fred said something about a picture." Angel released her and wiped her tears from her cheeks. She smiled up at him.
"Well that explains why Willow was so adamant about me coming dressed up. They get you too?"
"No, well, sort of. I've at least read the books."
"Really? Then maybe you can answer my question. I was about to go ask Willow when you appeared. Why do only some of the pictures talk?"
"What do you mean?"
"Well, like, Harry and all them can have conversations with the Fat Lady outside Gryffindor House, but he doesn't talk to the pictures of his parents. Why?"
Angel frowned at her for a moment before answering. "I honestly don't know. To tell you the truth, I've never thought of that before."
"Oh."
"Speaking of Harry's parents, I'm gonna take a shot in the dark and guess that you don't know what Fred and Willow did."
"No, what?"
"You know you're dressed as Lily, right?"
"Yeah."
"Well..." Angel gestured at his outfit and watched her expression change as it dawned on her who he was.
"You're James."
"Yeah, they're funny, huh?"
"I think it's cute."
"Somehow, I knew you would."
Angel wrapped his arm around her shoulders and they walked back to the store.
******
Willow had seen Buffy and Angel leave, but she wasn't concerned. She knew there was a lot for them to talk about. She turned back to the heated debate Wesley and Giles were having over some British thing in the Harry Potter books. It was rather amusing to see Dumbledore and Ron Weasley fighting over. The others were watching as well and the noise was beginning to draw a crowd. After a few more moments, Faith moved to break up their argument.
"Hey, old guys, chill out. This is supposed to be fun."
The two of them stopped fighting once they realized how many small children were around. Wesley looked rather offended by her comment, but wisely said nothing. Xander jumped in and brought up some obscure thought he had on the real identity of the Fat Lady in the picture guarding the Gryffindor Common Room, and they all began discussing other things.
Angel and Buffy took their time in walking back, so when they did return, everyone had bonded. Willow explained the plot to get everyone together. She then suggested they get their picture taken. Moving as a group, they received stares from everyone they passed. The photographer was a little taken aback when ten adults appeared in costume to have a group picture taken.
"I've never had a group this big before. Do you want help with posing or not?"
"No, I think we've got it, sir," Willow took control and directed everyone to his or her place.
"Okay, you guys will be entry number 12 in the photo look-alike contest. And everyone smile and say Phoenix!"
Five minutes later, they each had a Polaroid in a tagboard Harry Potter frame and wandered outside. They sat down on the lawn, keeping a look out for party crashers and discussing their adventures. Naturally, Jasmine and The First were brought up. One thing lead to another, and soon everyone was arguing about which one was worse. All of a sudden, both Buffy and Angel were on their feet and headed toward the back of the store.
“Something’s not right,” Faith said, almost to herself, as she followed them.
"I was thinking something else," Andrew muttered. Xander leaned over and smacked the back of his head before chasing after his friends, with everyone else following quickly behind them.
******
Behind the bookstore, Buffy and Angel had discarded their cloaks and were concentrating on taking out the vampires before they attracted too much attention or hurt anyone. Faith hurtled around the corner, shedding her robe as she ran. The alley became a flurry of kicks, punches and flying stakes. The three dispatched the undead in mere seconds, so when everyone else appeared, they were dusting themselves off and fixing their clothes.
Angel picked up their discarded cloaks and helped Buffy put hers back on. It was nearing 11:30, so they went back into the store. Since they had gotten there so early, Willow was number 24. When she told the manager handing out tickets that she needed so many copies of the book, he had looked as if he wanted to cry. The customer service guy got up on the service desk and began talking over the PA system.
"Attention everyone! By Barnes and Noble time, it is now 11:30 p.m. You have 30 minutes left. It is now time to announce the winners of the various contests we had tonight. First up, the winners of the Golden Snitch game. There are exactly 1,457 Snitches in the case. Our third place winner with a guess of 1,490, Bob Iman. Bob? Please come up here and talk to Vicki. Wave Vicki!
It took Bob five minutes to work his way through the crowd and to the service desk.
"Okay, everybody. The fire department has just informed me that this tiled area in the center of the store needs to stay clear at all times. I need you all to back up off the tile. This will make things go a lot quicker. Okay, that's it. Thank you. Now, our second place winner with a guess of 1,445, Sally Furton. Sally, come on down and see Vicki for your prize."
Sally got to Vicki with relative ease, making the process of calling winners go much faster.
"And our grand prize winner with a guess of 1,455, Todd Hew. Todd, Vicki has your prize too."
Todd walked toward Vicki and collected his prize.
"All right ladies and gents. The time is now 11:39 p.m. We're going to move right along to the Trivia Contest."
As the manager continued to talk, Giles formulated a plan.
"Is there ever a time where you don't formulate a plan?" Wesley teased.
"Yes, there are plenty of times."
"Really, like when?"
"I'd rather not say. Now, I think that it would be prudent for two people to purchase the books while the rest of us wait outside. That way, there are eight less people in here, and we can prevent any attacks on those leaving the store. I think that Willow and Fred should stay here."
"That's fine with me. I wouldn't be much use out there anyway." Angel gave Fred a sharp look, and she quickly corrected herself.
"That is, I wouldn't be as useful as some of the others would be. So it's settled, Willow and I will get the books and you'll all wait outside."
"Agreed."
"Congratulations to the Trivia Contest Winners. And, now we're going to move on to the costume contest. In third place, number 4, Kenny Steele as Harry Potter. Kenny, Trisha has your prize at the front of the store. Right up there little guy. Wave Trisha! Okay, in second place, number 17 Krista McMahon as Hermione Granger. Krista, just head up there to get your prize. Finally, our grand prizewinner in the costume contest is, number 12, whoa! There are ten of them."
The manager, as well as everyone else in the store, located them in the crowd.
"Hey guys, I'm not gonna read your names, but please send someone up there to get your prize. Now, it's 11:55 p.m. Here's the deal: We're going to call numbers in groups of 20, so please listen for your number. If your group has more than two, please only send one person to get your books. The aisle must stay clear at all times, otherwise I have to stop until it clears again. Okay, everyone in place? Yes. Okay, bring out the books."
As the store employees wheeled out cases of the book, Buffy, Angel and their friends moved out the front door. They sat down on the lawn again, out of the way, but near enough to keep everyone safe. Twelve minutes after midnight, Willow and Fred appeared, each carrying an armload of books. They passed out the copies of The Order of the Phoenix, and Willow handed Buffy the first four books as well. Willow and Fred began reading at a feverish pace, almost as if they were racing each other. Buffy leaned against Angel and began to read The Chamber of Secrets . She hadn't even finished a page when she noticed Giles stifling a yawn.
"Hey, you guys know that you can leave, right? I mean, I think that I should stay, but you can all go home."
Buffy smiled up at Angel as he quickly agreed to stay with her.
"I'll chaperone."
Everyone looked at Faith.
"What? I was just kidding."
"Never mind. Where are you all staying? Since there's no more Sunnydale." Angel looked down at Buffy as he spoke.
"Well, we were in a hotel, but um, well… yeah…"
"Okay, you're staying with us."
It was quickly decided that everyone but Buffy, Angel and Faith would head back to their newly acquired Wolfram and Hart offices; Gunn, Andrew and Fred in one car, Wesley, Xander, Willow and Giles in another. Once the store was closed, Angel, Buffy and Faith would do a sweep of the area and then head back as well. Before she left, Willow took Buffy aside.
"Be careful, Buff."
"Yeah. I don't really think anything is going to happen since there are so many people, but you never know. We'll see you later, OK? And Willow, thanks. For everything."
"No problem. You deserve anything I can give you. I mean..."
"I know what you mean. Still, thanks. Now get out of here and go read."
"Thanks! Bye.”
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