Eleven: Deadly Dating

It had been one week now since Dawn and Draco had shared that one embarrassing never to be repeated kiss. Although it hadn't been discussed they both felt that they needed to get out there and start dating, and coincidentally they both had dates that Friday night. Funnily enough they had both been asked out rather than had to do any asking, and their dates were going to be picking them up.

Draco's Date was called Abigail. She attended the local high school and had taken her car to Derek's Garage a few days ago. She had been quite enamoured by the young mechanic who she met there, and she had come back the morning before to ask if he was free. Draco's nationality showed somewhat in that he had never actually seen a girl in her cheerleading uniform, not this close up anyway. Abigail was attractive enough anyway, but in that uniform he couldn't refuse when she asked if he wanted to go out one night.

Dawn's date actually lived in the same building as they did. She had seen him around a few times, said polite hello's, but had only really spoken to him when he came to the café where she worked and recognised her. They had chatted a little and then when her shift was over he had walked her home. Then he had asked if she wanted to go for dinner with him. He was a few years older than her, old enough that Buffy definitely would have had something to say about it, but Buffy was not around, so she had accepted.

And that was why she and Draco were both spending so long getting ready that night.

"Dray!" she whined, dragging out the nickname. "It's my turn in the bathroom" she could never quite understand how a guy could spend that long in the bathroom.

"I'm done" he said finally coming out. "Do I look alright?" he was wearing smart jeans and a plain black T shirt. He looked good and they were only going bowling, but he was still nervous, as this was his first muggle date, in fact, he'd only ever dated Pansy Parkinson, and as he'd told Dawn, she tended to just follow him round like a lovesick puppy and agree with everything he said. And she never ever wore short skirts like the one Abigail had been wearing as part of that cheerleading uniform. The one thing he was grateful for was that Dawn had taken pity on him and taken him bowling the night before to introduce him to the activity he'd never done before. She covered all the basics of snacks, shoes and throwing the ball so it actually hit a few pins.

He was ready earlier than he needed to be so he found himself sitting flicking through some TV channels, paying attention to none of them for a while. When Dawn finally came out of the bathroom he was impressed. She had curled her hair so that it was not its usual poker straight, but instead fell in waves down her back. She was wearing a midnight blue dress that fell just above her knees, making her look older and more sophisticated than he was used to. She was wearing matching high heels and carrying a small clutch purse. He was aware that his friend was looking extremely attractive, but he only felt the protective urge to threaten her date with a shovel if he acted inappropriately with her.

"So how do I look?" she asked doing a little spin.

"Alright I suppose" he shrugged nonchalantly. She threw the nearest object she could find at him, which happened to be at his jacket as he laughed. "You look great Dawn; I'm going to have to threaten your date. How is they do it in your family? Something about getting beaten to death with a shovel?"

"Don't!" she groaned. "I ran away from them remember!"

A knock at the door had Dawn running back to the bathroom to double check her hair. He laughed at her antics as he went to answer it, hoping it would be her date arriving first so he could have a stab at the shovel speech. It wasn't however. He opened the door to find Abigail standing there in high heeled boots, tight jeans and a top that left a gap of a few inches above her low cut jeans and was tight on her chest. "You look great" he told her, wondering why he had ever thought wizard clothing was better than muggle. Robes were definitely no match for painted on jeans and bare flesh showing.

"Thanks" she said smiling brightly. "So are you ready to go?" She was picking him up simply because he didn't have a car of his own.

"Sure" he replied. He picked up his jacket, called out a goodbye to Dawn who was still fussing with her hair, then headed out of the apartment with Abigail.

--

Dawn did not have to wait long before her date arrived. She smiled Sam was tall dark and handsome, and he was taking her out to an expensive restaurant. She idly thought how she would finally have a story to rival the ones her workmate Bridget was always telling about handsome men whisking her away on numerous dates.

After telling her how lovely she looked Sam led her down to the front of the building where he hailed a taxi.

"Don't you have a car?" she asked, sure Draco had been lusting after his car at some point, due to his new car obsession.

"Yeah, but the thing only starts when it wants to" he replied. "And apparently today isn't one of those days"

She wasn't really bothered, so she settled back in the taxi and allowed him to take her to the restaurant.

--

Draco was trying not to panic. Abigail had not mentioned that this was a group affair. Once arriving at the bowling alley they had met up with four of her friends. Two more couples. He had been prepared to just spend time with Abigail, he was not used to socialising with this many muggles, or any muggles other than Dawn really, and she knew all there was to know about him. There were so many people that if he slipped up somebody was bound to pick up on it. Dawn had told him before hand to just blame American English culture differences, but he was still nervous.

He may not have ever been to an American High School but Dawn had made him sit through enough High School movies to recognise that he was not hanging out with the geeks. One of the guys had on his letterman jacket he already knew Abigail was a cheerleader; he would guess the same of the other two girls. So on the plus side he had never even gone to high school but he was already dating a cheerleader and hanging out with the 'cool' kids.

After a while he let his guard down a bit and actually began to enjoy himself. Ok so the conversation wasn't exactly the most stimulating he'd ever had, and he wasn't the best bowler in the world, but his naturally good co-ordination meant he wasn't making an idiot of himself either, and it was only his second time. After accidentally admitting that once he covered it up with the excuse Dawn had given him saying that bowling wasn't as popular in England as it seemed to be in America.

--

Draco was not the only one having a good time. Dawn was also enjoying herself. The restaurant was nice, the food was good and the company was better. Sam was funny and charming and Dawn was trying very hard to act like the sophisticated woman she had dressed as, rather than the gushing schoolgirl with a crush that kept urging to get out. So far sophistication seemed to be winning, but there was still time.

--

It was Dawn who arrived home first. Sam walked her to the front door and for some reason she couldn't fathom she invited him in. It was a first date, and Draco would be back soon, so nothing was going to happen, but she didn't want the date to end, so she invited him in, making it perfectly clear that when she said coffee she meant nothing more than a caffeinated beverage. He smiled at that and accepted.

Despite her insistence on coffee only they did end up making out on the couch while waiting for the coffee. She smiled at him and stood up to go and pour the coffee. He grabbed her arm as she went to walk away. Then all hell broke loose.

--

Draco's date was driving him home again, after a pretty good evening. He doubted he would ever be friends with any of the people he had hung out with all night, but it hadn't been too bad. It didn't hurt that his date was that attractive either. She joked when they got back to his apartment building that as she had driven him it was only right that she should walk him to his door. So she had, and then outside the door she had kissed him and he had been more than willing to kiss back.

"You know my parent's aren't expecting me home anytime soon" she told him pointedly. He smiled as he put his key in the door and opened the door to his and Dawn's apartment. Then all hell broke loose.

--

Dawn's date's eyes were glowing red in a way that no normal human's did. At some point he'd grown three inch claws, little horns were visible on his head and he was growling in an unnatural way. All these changes had occurred as he grabbed her arm. She cursed herself for not noticing anything demonic about her before, or even suspecting that he might be mildly demonic. He lunged at her and she threw herself to the floor just as the front door opened to reveal Draco and his date in the doorway.

Dawn found herself pinned down by the demon that she didn't recognise so Draco had to grab the nearest weapon, which was an axe hidden on the sofa. He launched the axe into the thing's back which did nothing but make it turn around and face a now weaponless Draco. He backed up but Dawn picked herself off the floor and pulled out the axe and launched it again, this time through the things neck. The blood that spurted everywhere was black, but the axe got stuck halfway though the neck and somehow the damn demon was still alive. Draco had managed to find a sword stowed away somewhere and took the neck from the other side, so between them they'd managed to behead the thing and actually kill it. They both sighed in relief.

Draco turned to his own date who was staring at the body on the floor eye's wide. "Abi" he started, but didn't have a chance to say anything as she was already running away.

Dawn sighed looking at her dress in dismay as she sat down. "I was gonna return this thing tomorrow!"

Draco shut the front door then sat down next to Dawn and they both watched as the two parts of the demon's dead body seemed to melt away leaving nothing but a few black blood stains. "Do you think I can keep his car?"

--

An: so I figure at my current rate I should finish this story in about 2030, maybe 2025 if I step up the pace.