Contents

To The Death It Comes.

First Year Of Trauma

Advanced Learning Problems.

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

The Quidditch Match, A Snippet

A Collection Of Snippets

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To The Death It Comes.

Notes: S4 of Buffy, afterwards. And book four of HP (any probs with cannon are explained in the story, just wait). Notes After Re-beta: Noticed that I messed up birth years when we did the rebeta. So, um, Xander is actually three years older than Ron, Harry, and Hermione, and one year older than the twins. Sorry 'bout that but a sixteen year old Xander doing all this would be rather difficult. Rating: R, at the most Thanks to Kaiya, my beta and the one who gave me this idea on a bus ride back from Wallyworld.

Giles opened the special delivery packet, sitting down hard as the first sentence hit him.

Dear Rupert,

This is to inform you that you've been called back to active duty for us due to a very peculiar case we've recently run across. As your whole group will be needed we've sent with this letter the appropriate documents to get them into the country with you. On the next page is the contact report a young Watcher filed two days before we sent this. Your due haste is required. We will see you within two days of your receiving this.

Council Leader, Mysteries Division,

Thomas.

Giles shook his head and checked the names on the tickets, grimacing when he saw who was included. He picked up his phone as he searched for the contact report, one eyebrow going up and the phone dropping from his fingers as he read further. He picked the phone back up and started to dial everyone who needed to be here by tonight.

***

Giles looked at the crowd in his apartment. Anyone who might have ever helped Buffy was here in this room, except for Oz. All of Angel's cohorts, even young Cordelia, had rushed up to see what this was about. Buffy and the rest of the scoobies were watching the LA crew with interest, trying to figure out how they got along since they had started bickering moments after stepping through his door. He cleared his throat, stopping the present argument, and drawing everyone's attention. "I've been summoned back to England to deal with a problem." A few of the younger children hissed. "As have all of you." He stood up and looked at Buffy, Angel, and Spike. "It seems, and we've gotten this first hand from a contact report, that one of the younger Watchers was following Druscilla around a rural part of England when they came across something quite wondrous." He coughed. "A school of wizards and an enchanted forest."

Xander was the first to have his mouth fall open. "They exist?" he asked finally.

"Yes, apparently they do. When the ... inhabitants of the school found out what Druscilla was, they had her locked up and asked the Watcher, just a young boy really, to call someone to act as our liaison. The Watchers have chosen us as their liaison."

Buffy raised a hand. "Why all of us?"

"Because it seems that we're part of a vision that someone there had. Spike and Angel are going to deal with Druscilla while I deal with the liaison duties. The rest of you will be there for people to look at and to ask questions of as they've never seen anything like most of you before."

Anya snorted. "I have no doubt. Where'd they end up?"

"A place called Hogwarts I believe it was," Giles said, picking up the report to read it again. "Yes, here it is. Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry."

Anya looked confused, looking at Angel. "I thought that was a myth."

Wesley looked really upset. "I know someone who went there," he mumbled. "They really shouldn't have, but they needed to go, if only to fulfill their destiny." He looked at Giles. "We're all included?"

"Yes," he said with a faint smile. "Your involvement with Lily was noted in your file, that's why you're coming along. The witches are coming along to be checked out and to look at their system. Buffy is along because they decided that maybe they should look at what the muggles, that's their name for the normals in the world, do to fight the supernatural." He looked at Xander. "You've been asked along as well, they didn't give me a specific reason. While we're there, Anya, the Watcher's Council would like to speak to you about what you were saying the other night, about the Slayer which you helped before." She nodded eagerly. "Does anyone have any problems?"

Gunn coughed. "Yeah, I do. I have commitments I've got to meet in LA."

"We'll get them filled temporarily," Angel told him. "I'll need you as a backup with Druscilla. Neither Spike or myself think very clearly about her."

Spike snorted. "It's hard to think about a chit that you made insane," he reminded his sire. He ducked the slap Buffy tried to land. "Ha," he crowed.

"Shut up," Buffy groaned. "Do we really have to take him too?"

"Yes," Giles said firmly. "Cordelia, you're the only one who wasn't really invited to the school, but I've managed to gain you access to the Watchers library as I know that Angel's been desperately looking for something. Is that alright?" She sighed but nodded. "Good, that means that you'll get to go to plays also. The Council is most interested in the group as it was formed, and you'll probably be feted so they can pump you for information about the group's dynamics." She looked a little happier. "If there's time left over, you can always come join us at the school." He took off his glasses to clean them. "Also, that will give us someone on the outside to monitor us in case something happens."

"Is that really necessary?" Anya asked. "From the rumors I've heard, they're very nice and honest."

"Maybe, but it's always best to be safe," Giles reminded her. She shrugged. "Good. Anything else?" Doyle raised his hand. "Yes, you were invited," he said with a smile for the revived man. A botched spell to bring back a demon lord to rule the town had brought this demon from the Powers - the demons raising him had not been happy at all, but Buffy had shown them the error of their ways. "The people at the school especially wanted to talk to you as they've never seen anything like you before." He looked around the room. "Apparently these people deal with magical beings, but almost nothing of the paranormal. We're there to be ambassadors for our cause and to obtain information while the vampires deal with Druscilla, who's apparently been having a few of her visions." He coughed lightly. "It could be worse of course, this should mostly be a pleasant experience."

Anya smiled. "What are you going to do about the clothes situation? They wear robes."

Giles shook his head. "Just pack something decent. Jeans will be fine, but also include some dress clothes if you have them. Xander, your suit's still in my closet, I'll give it to you before we leave tomorrow evening."

"Tomorrow?" Buffy asked. "That's not much time."

"We can do that," Xander told him, giving him a trusting look. "We've had to organize more in less time, a day to pack clothes isn't anything very major." He stood up. "Anything else?"

"Yes, Xander, I do want you to go look at their enchanted forest for me if possible so please bring clothing appropriate to do something of that nature." The young man nodded. "That's all. Oh, Willow, you're to bring all your spell books with you."

She shrugged. "Okay. I'll gather them together. The information ones or the real spell books? 'Cause I've got about twenty now."

"Then bring a good selection to give them both sides," he said with a smile. "Buffy, pack real clothes, none of that backless stuff that you tend to wear. We want them to think that we're upstanding citizens and very good fighters of evil, not that we wear little clothes and party all the time." She grimaced but nodded and left, bringing Willow and Tara with her. Xander and Anya followed after them, going to pack.

Giles looked at the LA crew. "I know this is short notice, but it's got to be done, Angel. The Council has arranged to give us a plane that has shielding so you won't burn up that first day. I'm sure they can rig something up while you're there, as they have for your childe." Angel nodded. "Good. Are there any problems?"

"What should I bring?" Cordelia asked. "You mentioned the theater?"

"There's a possibility, yes," Giles agreed. "Bring what you would to go visit relatives you've never seen before and possibly one or two good outfits for an evening's outing."

"I'll help you," Angel told her, looking at his people. "All right?" Everyone nodded. "Where are we meeting you?"

"We'll come pick you up at the hotel and travel from there," Giles told him. "I have the tickets and everything for all of you, including passports. For whatever reason, the Council had them in storage. Some of the pictures are a bit old, but still acceptable." He smiled. "Thank you." They got up and left, leaving just Spike, who was staring at him. "What?" he asked tiredly.

"They really wanted me?"

"Yes, they do," Giles said, sitting down in his favorite chair, "with one condition. You are not to ask them about the chip in your head." The vampire scowled. "The Council wants to have a look at it, a..and you, before you get it removed." Spike sighed and sunk a little into the couch. "As for anything else, I think I'll use you as an example of your kind as Angel's not typical of most vampires. Would that be all right?" Spike looked happier and nodded. "Good. Go pack whatever clothes you have. With any luck, you'll be able to get some more while we're there." He stood up and looked around the room, deciding which books to bring. "Spike," he said when the vampire hadn't moved. "Now?"

"What about our feedin'?" he asked.

"You can bring some packets for the plane. The Council assured me that you'll be taken care of on that level." He smiled. "They've even offered to treat you to some human at some point during the trip if you behave yourself."

Spike looked a little happier as he left, but he still wasn't convinced.

Giles shrugged off his own ill feelings and went back to figuring out what he was going to be taking.

***

Giles stepped out of the carriage that had picked them up at the train station, which had been like no other train station he'd ever been in, smiling at the astonished looks everyone was giving the castle. "Well, it looks like we're here," he said confidently, trying to ignore his panicked feelings. This was nothing like he had imagined it, but he couldn't go back now. He was here as an emissary and he had to at least appear to be calm. He smiled as a figure straight out of a myth came down the stairs to meet them. The little old man with a long beard and a pointed hat stopped in front of him. "Rupert Giles," he said, holding out his hand.

"Ah. We are expecting all of you then," he said with a smile and a nod. He looked down the line of people. "Very well. Who's here to take care of the vampiress?" Spike and Angel stepped forward, making him look them over. "A wise choice. Which of you is her daddy? She's been singing for you all day."

Angel grimaced. "That would be me," he admitted. "May we go deal with her now?"

"Of course." He waved a hand and a woman walked out of the entryway. "This is Professor McGonagall, she'll lead you down to where she's being held." He watched as they left and turned back to the group. "They were thorough," he said finally.

Buffy coughed. "Sorry, but where my Watcher goes, I go." She fluffed out the bottom of her braid. "I'm Buffy." She held out her hand, getting it shook. "This is Willow and Xander," she said, pointing at them. "She's a witch, he's Giles' helper. I'm the Slayer, this is Wesley, Gunn, and Doyle, who you said you wanted to meet."

He looked a little stunned and looked at Rupert. "My, you do have a job, don't you," he said with a bit of humor in his voice. "Let's get you settled." He walked them up the stairs and into the massive foyer. "This is Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Welcome to it's halls. Peeves!" he yelled as a bowling ball came bumping down a set of stairs off to their right.

Xander caught the ball and looked at it. "Hey, Giles, they've got ghosts," he said, handing it over to the Headmaster. "How many do you have?"

"Peeves is a poltergeist and have you ever run into any before?" he asked the boy.

"One," Xander admitted. "Willow made it manifest so she could try and help it pass on. It didn't work too well," he admitted.

The old man looked at Giles. "Who teaches these children?"

"They do, while I try and limit their experiences to what they can handle," he said conversationally. "I don't think that we have institutions like this on the other side of the pond." He smiled at the Headmaster. "You are the one that offered the invitation, correct?"

"Oh, yes, I forgot. Albus Dumbledore," he said, shaking his hand. "I am the Headmaster of this insanity. Please excuse us, but your friends finding us put us out a little bit. Apparently the vampire girl kept on at the Watcher chap until he saw the actual school, breaking the illusion for him. We're not supposed to be found accidentally."

"Yeah, neither was Willow's diary," Xander said, smirking at his friend.

Willow hit him on the shoulder. "You went looking for it," she accused.

"Did not."

"Children," Giles sighed, rolling his eyes. He looked at Dumbledore again. "You'll have to excuse them, it's been a hectic few days, getting time off work and all that." He glared at Xander, who looked a little contrite. "Settle down, or I'll make you go sleep in the field."

"Eww," Buffy complained, kicking Xander in the shin. "Don't mess this up."

"I'm not," he complained, getting away from both of them. "I was having fun."

Dumbledore smirked. "I think I know who to put him in with. Come, let's go to the feast. I'm sure everyone's waiting anxiously for you to show up." He led the way down a long hallway and into a great room, going up to the raised table and turning to look at everyone. "Students," he said and every little noise in the room stopped. "Our guests have arrived. These are muggles, but they represent an interesting part of the muggle world and they're here to exchange information with us. I want you to welcome them. Your Prefects will be talking to you about who will be getting a new roommate tonight." He smiled at their guests. "Sit, please. Have dinner with us."

Xander headed for a group of redheads, Willow and Tara in tow. He looked at the empty seats that appeared. "Um, can we join you?" he asked hesitantly. One of the redheads, apparently a twin, waved a hand with a smile. "Thanks." He sat down, letting Willow and Tara get their own seats. "I'm Xander, this is Willow, and Tara," he said pointing them out.

"You're the witches then," a young girl across from them said.

Willow smiled. "Yeah, but we don't have anything like this where we come from." She looked around the room. "This is really nice."

The girl smiled. "I'm Hermione. This is Ron, Fred, George, and Percy Weasley, and this is Harry Potter," she said, watching their faces for a reaction.

"Hey, how's it going," Xander said, leaning over to shake everyone's hand. He sat down again. "So, what do you guys study here? I mean, besides spells and stuff."

"Potions," Ron said glumly.

"And Transfiguration," Hermione said, looking a little confused. "You've never heard of Harry?" The young boy identified as Harry blushed. "What?" she asked when Ron kicked her. "I thought everyone had."

"Nope, not at all," Willow said. "What did he do?"

"He defeated someone very bad," Ron said quietly.

"Oh," she said, waving a hand, "Buffy does that all the time. I've lost count of how many really scary demons we've taken out in the last four years or so." She looked at Xander. "How many of them were major so far?"

"Maybe something like fifty with a bunch of annoying ones thrown in for good luck," he shot back. "Tara, you okay?" he asked. She nodded, staring at her plate.

Willow patted her girlfriend's hand. "It's okay, they're good people," she reminded her lover. "Really."

Hermione looked down at the shy young woman. "Are you a witch too?" she asked.

Tara nodded. "Y..yes. Willow's te...teaching me." She didn't brush the hair that got into her face back. "This is..is really nice."

"It is, but you can get lost really easily," Hermione said, trying to get her to talk. "Maybe you'll be in my room. Then we could talk all night and I could learn about your type of magic." She heard Percy cough. "Are they already assigned?" she asked, her face falling. No one was quite sure why the former Prefect had come back after graduating, but it was as if nothing had changed in the time he had been gone. Maybe he would let the reason slip soon, but she doubted it; Percy was not a Wizard who shared much of himself, especially not the things to do with his job.

"Yes, to a private room down the hall from yours," he said with a faint smile. "They're together and they need the space." He saw Willow's blush. "We spelled the door to know where to put everyone once you walked through it." He glanced at the blonde walking over. "Who's that?"

"Yo, Buffy, what's up?" Xander asked, pointing at an empty chair across from him. "What's wrong?"

"Those Slytherin guys are just slimy," she complained as she sat down. She smiled at Tara, then at Willow. "I'm going to be in the Hufflepuff House. You?"

"They're all in Gryffindor," Percy told her. He pointed at a table. "That's where your house is and the girl with the red robe on will be your roommate." She sighed and got up, going over there. Within a few minutes, they were laughing together.

"Hey, the spell worked," Xander said in admiration. He looked at Willow. "Maybe you should learn that one. Then I wouldn't have Spike camping at my house."

She smiled and patted him on the arm. "I'm sure he'll move back to his crypt soon enough," she soothed.

"Crypt?" Fred asked.

Xander nodded. "Yeah, he's a vampire. He's chipped so he can't hurt anyone for real, but that's what he is." He sighed. "He's a pain too. Don't let him get you into a discussion about music, you'll lose. He had *no* taste for greatness."

Fred smiled at Percy. "He's in our room, isn't he?" he asked his older brother, who consulted a list that had appeared beside him then nodded. "Cool!" He looked the boy over. "Are you here to teach or to learn?"

"I'm here to help Giles and he wanted me to go down into the forest and catalog for him." He shrugged. "I'm probably going to get my list tonight."

Willow snorted. "Giles was making it out on the way over but we'll get it at breakfast." She gasped as the food appeared on the plates before them. "Wow, *that's* a spell I want to learn."

"They have a cleaning one too," Hermione offered. "I'm sure living on your own must be a drag. All the cleaning."

Willow nodded. "Yeah, the dorms suck that way." The girl gave her a confused look. "We're in college, except for Xander. He's a construction worker."

"Oh." She smiled at them. "My parents are dentists."

Tara smiled shyly at that. "Then you're like us?"

"More or less," she said, launching off into a lecture on the different classifications of students at Hogwarts.

Xander felt his eyes cross after a few minutes and tucked into his food, glancing over at Fred and George, who were whispering to each other. George caught him staring and winked, grinning at him. They both nodded and started to eat, ignoring their older brother, who was glaring at them.

"No funny stuff from you two, or I'll tell mother after I write you up," Percy warned.

"Yay," Fred muttered, his mouth full.

"We'll be *good*," George added. He looked at Xander. "We were going to tell him all about Hogwarts tonight."

Percy continued to glare at them. "As long as that's all you do," he said finally. He started to eat also, looking at his youngest brother. "Ron, eat," he ordered.

Ron took a bite, still staring at Tara.

Hermione leaned over and whispered in his ear and he turned bright red, suddenly more interested in his food. Willow mouthed 'thank you' at her and she nodded. "We can compare notes later. I want to know about what you've done and I've got all the pertinent history books in my room."

"We brought some of our own," Willow said enthusiastically. "We can trade for a few days."

Tara patted her on the arm. "I'm sure she'll need to sleep sometime," she said quietly. "So will you if we're to learn anything."

Willow smiled at her. "Don't worry, I'm going to *love* this assignment," she said happily. She looked at the empty spot beside Hermione and nodded at it. "Can I move over there and talk to you?" The young girl nodded enthusiastically and pulled the chair out for her.

Xander watched as Willow started on her favorite past time, learning. He gave Tara a sympathetic look. "You should have seen her when she first discovered she could levitate a pencil," he said wryly. "She didn't see the rest of us for *weeks*, she was buried too far into her books."

Tara gave him a gentle smile. "Thanks." She shifted over to sit next to him, smiling at the young redheaded boy sitting next to her girlfriend's new friend. "I'm Tara," she said, smiling at him.

"He's Ron," Hermione said between bites. "You two would work well together. You're both really shy."

Both of them blushed.

Xander shook his head and looked up at the head table where Giles was sitting, giving him a grin and a nod toward Willow. He got an answering smile in return so he went back to eating. He would find out what the twins were up to later.

***

Angel and Spike looked at the woman lying on the bed in the small cage, grimacing at her swimming hand motions. "Dru," Angel said quietly, bringing her out of whatever part of her mind she was in. "Why are you here?" he asked her.

"They told me to come," she said with a radiant smile. "That we all had to come because these people are naughty and bad." She licked her lips. "I told them that that was a good thing but he didn't believe me."

Spike groaned and leaned his head against the bars. "Dru, who is 'he'?" he asked tiredly.

"The Dark Lord. He sent a messenger. He tasted *delicious*, daddy," she cooed, getting up to come rest against the bars. "Can't I have a hug?" she pouted.

"No, Dru, you've been a bad girl and you can't have a hug," Angel said firmly. "Tell me what the messenger said."

"No," she said sullenly. "You're not being nice. I don't have to tell you, he said I didn't."

A throat cleared behind them and Spike grimaced at Angel. "Let me. Princess, tell me what the nice man said before you ate him," he purred, reaching in and touching her cheek. "I want to know."

"You really do?" she asked and he nodded. She leaned closer and blew a kiss at him. "I can't tell you at all. You like those funny people, the ones that can hurt us."

"Dru, by tomorrow this whole school will know how to hurt us," Angel sighed, losing his patience even faster than usual. "Now tell me what he said!"

She laughed and went back to lying on the bed, staring up at the cold stones above her. "You'll find out," she promised in her sing-song voice.

Angel looked at Spike, who nodded and left. Spike had the better relationship with Giles and his team and Angel could usually get Dru to make sense after a few hours. "Dru," he purred, leaning against the bars. "You have to tell Daddy everything. Spike's gone now."

She laughed but didn't tell him anything.

***

Spike followed the sounds of humans talking, walking into the great hall. Everyone stopped to look at him but he walked up to Giles, hopping up onto the stage to talk to him in private.

"Oh, dear," Giles sighed, slumping a little.

The Headmaster stood up and joined them so Spike told him what little he knew. The old man shook his head and nodded the teachers over, talking to them. A few of them left quickly, going to do their own thing for a few minutes. Dumbledore faced the eagerly waiting students. "Tonight, we party," he announced, getting cheers. "Tomorrow, you go back to your regular schedule, with our guests occasionally tagging along with you." A lesser cheer, especially by the teachers. "Tonight though, you will be going directly back up to your houses since we teachers have much to talk about with our guests." He waved a hand and the dessert course appeared. "Eat up," he encouraged. He sat down, bringing Giles with him. "I don't like to worry them too much," he said carefully. "Can she be used as bait?"

"It depends on what his plan is," Giles said thoughtfully. "Were I him, I'd use her as a location or as a source of entry into the school. Can you block him from entering?"

"He's a former student," Professor Flitwick, the tiny Charms teacher, sighed. "We can't do a thing about him."

Giles nodded. "Then my group will be at the ready. We have no problem with battling dark forces, we've been doing it now for almost five years together." He looked over at Spike, who looked very unhappy. "What?" he asked warily.

"If I were him, I'd be using her. She's a minion to him," Spike told him calmly.

"Are you going to help her?" Professor Snape, the Potions teacher, asked coldly.

"He has a chip that prevents him from harming humans," Giles told him smoothly. "And Angel has a soul."

"What about that other one?" Snape demanded. "He's not human."

"No, he's a seer," Dumbledore said quietly, aware that everyone was watching them while they ate. "Besides, we don't know about his kind. Wouldn't you like to see how his kind should be classified?"

Snape snorted but he started to eat again.

Dumbledore smiled at Giles. "That's an excellent idea. I'm all for learning new things and for sharing knowledge." He glanced around the room, stopping at the young man talking with the Weasley twins. "Who's that one again?"

Giles looked at where he was almost pointing. "That's Xander. Why?"

"Those twins could get him into a lot of trouble," Dumbledore warned. "They're our resident pranksters."

"Ah." Giles smiled. "Xander could use a little lightening up right now. Things have gotten very serious in his life recently. His girlfriend is with our Watcher's Council."

"Ah," Snape said, turning to look at them. "What do they want you to learn from here?"

"Mostly they want to know what's going on. For my own personal use, and for the use of Watcher's after myself that have need of it, I'd like to learn all I could." He smiled at the man. "I assure you, the Watchers are hide-bound idiots over some things but no one's ever accused them of letting information get out into the public."

Dumbledore laughed. "Yes, we have groups like that among us. Professor Snape, wouldn't you like to lead your house up in a few minutes?" Snape nodded sullenly. "Good. Then you can meet us in the big lecture hall in an hour." He looked at Giles. "Would that be enough time for your group to get it's things together and carry them down there?"

"If we knew where they were, certainly. We're used to mobilizing at a moment's notice." He smiled at Xander, who was laughing so hard he was about to fall over, and Tara, who was trying hard not to laugh. "The few times we've had any warning the plans still didn't come until almost the last minute. It seems to work better for us in some ways." He pointed at the boy with the odd scar. "Who's that? He keeps giving Buffy long looks."

"That's Harry Potter," Snape said coldly. "Resident famous person."

"Oh, really?" Giles asked. "What did he do?"

"He stopped our greatest enemy as an infant," Dumbledore said quietly. "The same one that's trying to come back now."

"Ah. Maybe he and Buffy should get together and share stories. I'm sure he might like to hear about her escapades and lack of finesse some days."

"Maybe," Dumbledore agreed. "We'll figure that out tomorrow." He waved a hand to clear the tables and plates since it looked like most of the students were done eating, nodding at the Prefects to lead their houses back, watching as Snape left with his house because their Prefect had a broken leg and was in the infirmary. "One hour," he said, standing up. "Your things are all up in your rooms and the Prefects are ready to lead you down to the lecture hall." He walked out, followed by most of the students.

Giles looked at the one person who was waiting on him. "Spike, I have no idea where we're supposed to go," he admitted. A student popped back in and waved at them. "Ah, maybe we should follow him." They trooped out of the hall and followed the student up to the teacher's quarters.

***

Giles came out of the meeting with a keen sense of dread and a sharp biting of his interest. He smiled at the few teachers walking him out. "When should I show up to work on that class?" he asked.

"Tomorrow would be fine," the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher said, nodding at his fellow students. "I think we'd like to know about your versions of demons for a while. It would keep them from being bored with the things that we've already been over."

"That would be fine. I'm sure I can arrange for Spike and Angel to come in and give a few of the lectures also. They're both intimately familiar with the darker side of the paranormal." He smiled as Snape walked out. He had impressed the dark, brooding teacher, but the man still didn't like him. "Would it be all right for Willow to sit in on one of your classes tomorrow? Maybe with one of the first years?"

"Sure," he grumbled, going down the hall to his dungeon. "Whatever."

Giles smiled as the rest of the teachers filed out around Willow. "I've arranged for you to attend one of the Potions lessons," he told his student. "Do be good."

"I will," she sighed, rolling her eyes. "Giles, you know I'm not going to blow up the school. I'm not Xander."

"Yes, well, remember to be on your best behavior and all that." He smiled at the Headmaster as he walked out. "Could you please point me in the direction of my room so I might go sleep and prepare for my lesson tomorrow?" he asked politely.

"Of course." He nodded at Flitwick. "I think you're going to bed soon," he offered.

"Of course," Professor Flitwick said happily, leading Giles away, talking quickly. "We've never had a demon hunter here before. Do you really go and destroy them all?"

"Only the ones who deserve it," Giles said as they started up a back staircase. "How do you keep from getting lost?"

"Memorization," Flitwick laughed. "After the first few months, you pretty well know your way around." He opened a door. "I think you're down there somewhere." He waved and walked away, going to his own room.

Giles walked down the short hall, looking at the doors. Three doors, three possibilities. He tapped lightly on one, hoping Spike was in it, but the vampire stuck his head out from across the hall. "Which one am I in again?" he asked.

Spike pointed. "That one. Have a good go at 'em?"

"It went very well," Giles said with a smile. "The three of us are even going to be teaching a few classes in the paranormal."

"Three?" Spike asked. "You, Red, and who?"

"You, Angel, and I," Giles told him. "It's all set up, but you won't have to worry for a few days. I'll set you up rather well and you can tell them about what you are and some of the demons you've run into." He saw the uneasy look. "Think of it as storytelling, Spike. You get to tell a bunch of youngsters about all that you've done over the years."

Spike pulled his head back in and slammed his door.

"Get over it," he called. "You know more than the rest of us put together about some of the demon branches." He walked into his room, smiling at the bags lying on the bed. He pulled out his journal and a few pads of paper, making notes on what he wanted to teach to the young children tomorrow.

***

Xander walked into his room and whistled. "Wow," he said, nodding. "These are killer."

"Especially on your back," Fred said as he climbed onto his own bed. He pointed at the empty one. "That one's yours." He watched as Xander unpacked everything and sat down, looking at them. "So, what do you do?"

"I work construction and I help Buffy."

"Besides that," George said as he walked in. "What fun things do you do?"

"Well, let's see. I have a girlfriend who embarrasses me very often. I have a job that pays really well, but I'm usually too tired to do anything anymore." He shrugged. "I haven't had time to skateboard or anything recently."

"Skateboard?" Fred asked.

"What's that?" George seconded.

Xander pulled a book out of his pile of things, tossing it over. "I thought you guys might not know about that stuff, I wasn't sure what they taught you British kids, so I brought the icon of Americana to you." He grinned and came over to help them look at it. "That's a skateboard," he said, pointing at the picture on the cover. "And that's a walkman. Don't you guys have those?"

"Muggles have those," Fred muttered, taking the Sears Wish Book to look through. "How old is this?" he asked.

"A few years. They stopped putting them out about ten years ago, but most everything's up to date, except for the gaming systems."

"Gaming?" George asked, looking interested. "What sort of games?"

"Those would be video games," Xander said, pointing at the old system. "It's an update of what that is."

"What's a video game?" Fred asked, looking up at him. "Is it a sport of some sort?"

"Only to helpless teenagers," Xander said with a smile. He sat down on Fred's bed. "We American's don't play sports like you guys do. We don't do soccer or cricket." Both boys still looked confused. "You guys don't do that? Giles said that you did."

"Oh, those are *muggle* games," George said, shaking his confusion off. "No wonder. Man, our dad would *love* to talk to you for a few days," he said happily. "He's really into the whole muggle thing, especially plugs and batteries."

Xander smiled. "I can do that if he comes up here. Giles didn't say that we would get to go anywhere."

"You've got to go to the village," Fred protested. "It'll be educational."

"Hey, talk to the Giles-type person. I'm only here because of him." The twins looked at each other and smiled. "And if I get into trouble the first night, I'm dead," he reminded them. "Let's wait until the second night for that, okay guys?" he pleaded.

"Sure." Fred looked at the catalog. "Can we send this to our dad?" Xander nodded. "Cool. We'll post it tomorrow." He looked at his brother. "We've got practice tomorrow afternoon," he reminded him.

"Yeah, we do," George said, smiling suddenly. "Hey, Xander, how would you like to watch our sport, the wizard spot?" Xander nodded. "Good. Be outside on the Quidditch field tomorrow after classes."

"What's Quidditch?" Xander asked as he walked back over to his bed. "Is that like soccer?"

"No, it's played with brooms," Fred told him, grinning wildly. "We'll show you tomorrow. You'd better get to sleep, before Percy comes in and checks on you."

"Yeah, he's a bit uptight," George agreed.

"Always," they said together, then laughed.

Xander smiled. "It's nice to have someone that cares, guys, really it is." He closed the curtains around his bed, crowing. "There's a night light in here," he said happily.

Fred and George looked at each other, silently communicating, then they nodded and went back to their respective beds, the catalog safely hidden away from Percy's prying eyes.

***

Xander looked at the brooms the twins were holding, giving them a confused look. He had slept through breakfast that morning so this was the first time he was seeing them all day, and he really needed a pick me up after listening to Giles lecture all day. "How do you play a sport with those? The swishy part is really thin and stiff."

Fred grinned and waved him over. "Come on, I'll show you. George, lets see if it works for muggles." He climbed onto his broomstick and kicked off, making Xander's mouth fall open. "This is how we play with them," he said proudly.

Xander looked at the broomstick that was being held out. "Doesn't that take magic? Because I don't have any." He looked at George, hope shining from his eyes.

"We're not sure," George admitted. "Not too many muggleborn kids' parents have ever wanted to try and broom. Get on, it'll be okay. We've got the safety features turned on."

Xander carefully climbed onto the broom and did what Fred had done, jerking as the broom lifted off. "I'm flying!" he cheered, making the broom loop around and get higher. He took off on a trip around the school.

Giles looked out his classroom's window just as Xander went flying by yelling 'Wheeeeeeeee!'. He groaned and closed the shades. "That was something I didn't want to see," he told the class, who laughed. "Please, don't encourage that one," he told them. A few of the kids were still laughing and he frowned at them, making them stop. "Now then, where were we? Oh, yes, the classification system." He turned back to the board and went back to writing out the chart. "For the slime-producing ones, we give them a group unto themselves, but divide into the types of slime they produce. Anesthetic, poisonous, normal, harmless, and gooey. And yes, before you ask, that is a real classification. Someone a very long time ago thought that up." He smiled and a few of the students laughed.

Xander floated over to where a few people were gathered around George and Fred. "How do I land?" he asked sheepishly.

"Easy, you just push the nose down," Fred said, floating beside him. "Let's go now, before Madam Hooch catches you, okay?" He landed and Xander watched him, doing the exact same things, only with a rougher landing. "Hey, it was better than my first," Fred told his brother.

George took his broomstick back as the Quidditch referee and flying teacher, Madam Hooch, came out, grinning at her. "It worked," he said as she opened her mouth.

She looked at Xander, who was giving her an embarrassed, sheepish look. "Good. Go sit down," she instructed gently. "I'll let the Weasleys take you up again later." She watched as he walked over to the stands, turning to glare at the two beaters. "What would have happened if he had gotten hurt?" she scolded. "Five points each from your house."

Fred scowled back. "He wasn't going to crash, I was right behind him," he protested. "We don't deserve points off. Besides, we're supposed to be teaching them while we learn things ourselves."

Madam Hooch shook her head. "Don't do it again," she said weakly.

George looked at Fred in amazement. That was the first time they'd ever been able to argue themselves out of a penalty. He climbed on his broomstick and lifted off, going up to join the rest of his team. Except Harry, who was carefully examining his broomstick. "Come on, Harry, we need to practice," George called down.

Fred followed Harry up. Something funny was going on, and the strangers showing up was just part of it. But everyone knew that if you followed Harry around for long enough, you'd be in the middle of it. Just look at their brother, Ron. Harry got him into loads of trouble. It was a good thing their mother hadn't heard of it, she really liked Harry and none of the rest of the family wanted to see her go after him for endangering Ron. So the twins kept an eye on him, hoping to get into some of the trouble themselves.

***

Xander looked across the table in the great hall as Giles walked past, giving him a big grin. The older man shook his head as he continued up to the teacher's table. Then he looked at his friends, leaning closer. "Can I do that again?" he asked them.

George smiled. "Sure. We've been given permission to give you flying lessons."

"Oh, flying lessons?" Willow asked as she sat down. "Was that you that took a trip around the school? I heard a few teachers talking about it in the library." She smiled at her best friend. "Was it fun?"

"Very," he said, grinning at her. "I got to go around the school and I didn't even crash when I landed," he said happily.

She picked up a spoonful of potatoes and put them onto her plate. "I guess we're not having a feast tonight," she said, looking down at the plates. "Does the cleaning spell still work?"

"Yup," Fred told her, starting on his own meal. "Xander, eat a lot. We've got to do some stuff tonight and you get to come along."

"Cool," he said, piling his plate high. He started in on the meat, digging into the food with gusto.

Willow looked at the twins, giving them a hard look. "What sort of trouble are you getting him into?" she asked them.

"Us?" George asked.

"Trouble?" Fred put in.

She nodded. "That's what I thought. Don't let Giles hear about it," she cautioned her friend. She smiled as Tara and the twins' brother Ron walked in together, patting the empty seat beside her. "How was your day?" she asked happily. "I spent most of it in the library."

"I know," Tara said, patting her on the hand. "Ron took me on a tour of the school."

"Cool," Xander said between bites. "I got to fly," he said with a smirk.

Tara giggled. "So I heard. Someone thought it was a first year taking a joyride." She looked down at the twins. "Watch out for Giles, he's really a parent to him."

George nodded solemnly. "We'll do our best to avoid him," he told her.

Xander giggled. "Yup, we sure will." He scraped his plate clean and went for seconds.

Fred blinked a few times and looked at his brother. "He has a bottomless pit."

"Maybe he's a cousin," George suggested.

Xander snorted. "Nothing like that ever happens on our Hellmouth, at least not to me." He shrugged at the incredulous looks. "What? All I get is possessed and jumped. And occasionally beaten up but I've been working on that," he said quickly.

The twins looked at Willow. "You live on a gateway?" they asked together.

"Yup, it's under what used to be our high school." She smiled at Xander. "He blew it up to save us all from the mayor, who turned out to be a big snake-looking demon who wanted to eat us all, while Buffy fought him."

"Nothing happens to you?" Fred asked dryly.

"Hey, all I get to do is fight," Xander said with another shrug. "That's not exciting."

"It is at first," Tara reminded him quietly. "Then it gets kinda routine."

"True," Willow agreed, smiling at her girlfriend. "After the fifth or sixth staking, it's all kinda the same."

"A tinkling whoosh of dust," Xander added on. He looked around. "Speaking of walking dust, where's Spike and Angel?"

"Trying to get Dru to talk to them again," Tara said matter-of-factly. "I saw Gunn in the hallway and he told me he was going to try and make her uninsane with them."

"Cool," Xander said, drawing the word out. "Hey, Wills. These guys have got a dad that really likes us-guy type of stuff. Did you bring a catalog or something like that with you? All I could find was an old Wish Book from Sears."

She smiled. "Sure. I brought a few of my journals to read on the flight. They've got some ads," she offered to the twins. "You could copy them and send them to him."

"Copy?" Fred asked, shuddering. "That's a punishment."

"Um, as in xeroxing?" Xander asked. Both twins shook their heads. "Oh. Okay." He shrugged. "Never mind." He looked at Willow, who shrugged.

"Sorry, I can't magically xerox anything. I haven't found a spell for that yet."

"You really can do magic?" George asked her. She nodded. "Where's your wand?" he asked suspiciously.

Willow giggled. "We don't use wands." She looked at the ones they held out. "Wow, you guys use *wands*," she said, reaching out to touch one. "May I?" George nodded, holding his still so she could touch it. "Wow." She looked at Tara. "Why can't we use wands?"

"Because we do magic with our wills," Tara told her, giving them all a smile. "We do more with herbs and words, and candles, than anything else."

"I guess that's why you guys are here," Fred said, looking down at his plate. "Do you think they'll start offering classes in what they do?"

"No," George said. "Probably not. The Ministry of Magic would never approve of it." He looked at Tara. "Are you a good Witch?"

She smiled. "I try to be," she said. He looked confused. "Oh, you m...meant good as in good, not as in *good*. Yeah, I'm okay. Willow's more powerful though. She's teaching me."

Willow gave her a brilliant smile. "You're very powerful, Tara, you just need some more practice. After all, I've been doing it longer than you have."

"And for different reasons," Xander pointed out, dropping his fork onto his empty plate. "You learn a lot harder and faster when it's your life that's in jeopardy," he reminded Willow's girlfriend. "You haven't had the same stress that Willow did to learn, so you're going at your own pace. In a few years, you'll catch up to her."

Tara reached over to touch the back of his hand. "Thank you, Xander."

"Welcome, but it's the truth." He looked at his roommates. "Hurry up, I want to go fly again."

George shook his head. "You guys are *strange*," he told his new friend.

Xander grinned his best shiteating grin. "Thank you," he said proudly. "Did you hear that, Will, we're strange."

She nodded. "Good for you," she said, starting on her own dinner. "Tara, eat," she asked quietly. "Please?"

"Sure," she said, taking some of the vegetables for herself. "You too," she reminded her girlfriend.

They shared a secretive smile then started to eat.

The twins looked at each other before going back to their dinners. Something was going on here and they wanted first crack at it this time.

***

Xander looked up as he heard footsteps approaching, smiling at the dog that bounded up to him. He got bowled over by it, laughing as the dog licked and jumped on him.

"Fang!" the big man said sharply, then stopped to look at the playing. He looked at the twins coming out too, pointing at the boy on the ground. "Do you know him?"

"He's one of the visitors, Hagrid," Fred said, watching Xander and the boarhound play. "Does he do that with everyone?" he asked quietly.

"He usually growls at me," George sniffed, watching the two of them play. "You think he still wants to go flying?"

Xander pushed the dog off and stood up. "Of course I do," he said with a confident smile. "Dogs like me." He smiled at the big man. "Thanks for letting me play with him, it's been a while since I had a dog to play with."

Hagrid nodded, watching them go. He looked down at his dog, who was panting up at him, still looking like he wanted to play. "If we get the grounds secure, we'll play a nice game of fetch, all right?" The dog wagged it's tail and bounded off again, following the trio.

Hagrid lumbered after them, calling his dog.

***

Xander looped around the teacher on the field then landed, whooping. "That was fun!" he shouted up at George, who had been tailing him this round.

"Get off there!" Professor Snape ordered, trying to take the broom from him.

"We were told to let him," Fred called, jogging over to take his broomstick back. "We were told he could have flying lessons, Madam Hooch said that he was a natural at it."

"Fifteen points off Gryffindor," Snape said coldly. "You're not supposed to be out here practicing and you're not supposed to be letting the *muggles* play with the magic items."

"Hey!" Xander said, looking him over. "Who are you to punish them when another teacher told them I could do this?" He walked around in front of him. "Get over yourself already," he said in an equally cold tone of voice. "You can't tell me what to do and unless you can make Giles appear suddenly and *he* overrules the flying teacher, or the Headmaster overrules the flying teacher, then I'm allowed to do that." He looked him over again. "You're not that much, I've fought bigger and badder than you and won." He looked at Fred. "I'm going to go back inside, the air out here has suddenly gotten tainted. Meet you in the room?"

"Sure," Fred said, stunned. He just nodded as Xander walked away, turning to look at his brother as he landed beside him. "He's *strange*," he repeated.

"Definitely," George agreed. He nodded at the castle. "Maybe we should go inside." Fred nodded and they ran for the castle, their broomsticks bobbing on their shoulders.

Snape finally closed his mouth and seethed. No one had the right to speak to him like that, especially when he didn't understand part of it. He stormed up to the castle to find the boy's guardian. Something had to be done to stop the boy before he did something dangerous and got killed.

Giles smiled at the teacher sitting across from him, sipping his tea. "Xander does have a mind of his own, but he's generally very careful. He hasn't had an accident since he tripped on his last patrol and fell into an open grave." He took another sip. "If the flying teacher said he could go around a bit, I don't see the harm in it. Actually, I'm surprised that a broom would work for him. He's not got a touch of magic around him."

Snape swallowed the last of his tea and put the cup aside. "I can get his permission removed," he warned.

"Then I suggest you do so. It's good to see Xander so carefree again, he's gotten to be such a serious child this last year." He glanced at his watch, which was lying on the desk. "Was there something else you were concerned about? Perhaps Willow's performance in your class today?"

"No, she did fine," he ground out, standing up. "I'll see the Madam Hooch about removing his permission. He could get into a lot of trouble that way."

"Yes, he could, but Xander's very good at getting himself out of trouble," Giles told him calmly. "The boy's actually a trouble magnet, but he does find a way out of it every time."

"So far," Snape replied as he walked out.

Giles smiled. "Oh, I believe the boy's got some time left before the trouble catches up with him." He poured himself some more tea, looking at the little creature that appeared beside him. "Hello, what are you then?" he asked.

"I's is a House Elf," he said, nodding. "You's be wanting more tea?"

"If you wouldn't mind, maybe a half pot more or so," he said kindly. "Do you get a tip?"

The House Elf looked embarrassed. "No, sir, no House Elf gets paid, sir. This House Elf is not Dobby sir, oh no." He disappeared as quickly and quietly as he had come in, taking the pot with him.

Giles went back to preparing for his next class. He was rather enjoying teaching.

***

Xander looked up as the twins joined him at the table for breakfast, giving them a smile. "Hey, guys, how was your dreams? Mine were *great*," he said as he took another bite of eggs.

Fred looked at him. "Are you *sure* you're a muggle?" he asked finally. "We had nice, normal dreams last night. Ones about opening a joke shop of our own."

"Speak for yourself, I had dreams of winning the Quidditch cup again this year," George said as he sat down. "What did you dream of, Xander?"

"Flying, but without the broom." He grinned. "I had big, glossy wings and everything."

"That's nice," Fred said as he picked up his morning tea and pumpkin juice. He looked up as the owls flew in, holding his arm out for the one heading towards them. "Harry's is back," he noted. "He's not up yet, Hedwig. Give him a few minutes."

The owl cooed at him and hopped over to Xander, talking to him next. She hopped up against his chest, nudging him hard. She hooted as she was scratched on the head, then stole a bite of his sausage before hopping over to Harry, who had just walked into the room.

Willow looked at him, frowning. "When did you start to attract owls? Usually it's just dogs."

Xander shrugged. "I don't know. Was that normal behavior?" He looked at all the owls in the room, his mouth falling open as he tried to count them all. "Wow. Why are they here? Is this normal owl stuff too?"

"Nothing about this is normal," Harry said, sitting down and taking his letter from around her leg. "Thank you, Hedwig. Would you like some of my breakfast?" He dished up some of the things that she liked, watching as she ate. He shook his head when his owl turned to hoot at Xander before flying off to get a proper breakfast. "What was that about?"

"We're not sure," George said, taking their owl's letter and letting it go free too. He handed it off to his younger brother Ron, who was just sitting down. "Xander, I think we need to take you to see Dumbledore."

"He's not in trouble is he?" Willow asked, glaring at Xander. "What did you do this time?"

"He hasn't done anything," Fred said quickly, standing up and motioning Xander to do the same. "I think we've got a puzzle and we need Dumbledore's permission to figure it out." He winked at her. "We're champion puzzle solvers." George nodded quickly, agreeing with his brother was the fastest way to get this settled.

Xander followed Fred up to the main table, smiling at Giles. "They think it's strange that dogs like me," he said with a shrug.

"As do I, Xander," Giles reminded him. "I've never seen anyone who attracted animals like you do."

Fred looked at Dumbledore. "Hedwig went directly to him for attention, sir, and so did Hagrid's dog, Fang, last night."

Dumbledore smiled in a confused sort of way. "Really?" He looked at Xander, then nodded. "I'll talk to him later, after breakfast."

Fred smiled. "Thank you. I'll show him up." He escaped before his legitimate hookey time was canceled, dragging Xander back to the table. "We're bringing him to the boss after breakfast," he told his brothers, including Percy who had just joined them.

"Why? What has he done now?" Percy asked, looking at Xander. "It's a good thing you don't belong in a house, you would have lost it many points last night when you mouthed off to Professor Snape."

"Hey, I was allowed to go flying, what's-her-name said so," Xander defended. "He had no right to tell me I couldn't when the person over that told me I could. Same as he had no right to pick on the twins because I was doing something I was allowed to do."

"You're going to have to excuse Xander," Willow said calmly, shooting him a look. "Sometimes he goes into overprotective mode." She looked at her friend. "Stop it, they're brothers."

"Yay," Xander said snidely. "If I had a brother, I'd expect him to stick up for me, not to snipe at me before I had coffee."

Willow pushed a cup over to him. "Here, drink, it's still caffeine." She looked at Percy, who was looking hurt and shocked. "He was possessed, it's part of that, but he's always had that reaction. Whenever he gets friends, he tends to protect them from everyone, even their families during squabbles." She looked around him at the twins. "You two okay down there?"

George nodded. "We're fine." He looked at Xander. "That's it, man, you've got to be figured out. There's no *way* you're a muggle."

Ron handed over the letter he had been reading. "Dad said thanks," he told Percy, who was staring at him. "Xander sent him a catalog of muggle stuff."

"Oh." Percy blinked a few times. "Yes, I guess Dad would be over the moon about it." He looked at Xander again. "Are you sure you're fully human? I've never met a human that had such a strong protection reaction for someone they've just met." He looked at Willow. "You said he's had this for as long as you've known him?"

"Yup, he was protecting me and our friend Jesse by the end of the day we met him. He's always been like that, it's just worse in the mornings before he gets a little caffeine in him since he got possessed."

Everyone at the table watched as another owl flew across the room from the table it had been delivering a message to and stopped in front of Xander, hooting at him to get some attention too. Xander smiled down at the little bird and carefully stroked down it's back, then scratched around it's neck. "There, how's that?" he asked the bird, who flapped it's wings a few times. "Would you like a treat?" he asked, holding up a bite of sausage, which was taken from his fingers as delicately as the razor sharp beak could. "Off you go," he said, lifting him up and pushing him into the air. "Have a good day," he called after it, waving at the owl.

Willow closed her eyes and shook her head. "I'm never going to understand that," she mumbled, sipping some of the juice in the glass next to her plate. "Eww, what is this?"

"Pumpkin juice," Percy said, looking from his brothers to Xander and back. "He has a meeting when?" he asked quietly.

"After breakfast. Dumbledore said we could bring him."

"Good, George. Ready a report for him of these strange occurrences so he can make a determination." He saw the look Xander was giving him. "I'm sorry, but puzzles such as this tend to make the students nervous," he said quietly. "With all that's been going on around here, not many of us are convinced that having outsiders in to learn from us is the most rational of ideas. Even ones who have fought the dark before." He stopped as Buffy came over and punched Xander on the arm.

"What's up with you and the owl?" she asked. "You never did that at home."

"I don't know," he sighed. "They wanted some attention."

Harry looked at Ron. "Maybe he could calm down Pidgwidgeon."

Ron snorted. "Nothing calms her down."

***

Xander looked around the cluttered office, grinning at all the things he could see. He saw an old hat sitting on a stool and got up to look at it closer, almost reaching out to touch it as the door opened. "Sorry," he said nervously. "I wasn't going to hurt it."

Albus Dumbledore smiled and pointed at the chair. "I know. You're not from the dark, no matter how many students are worried about you." He sat down behind his desk, watching the young man look around the room again. "What in here draws you?" he asked quietly; he didn't want to break the curiosity, he wanted to learn what was behind this strangeness everyone had noticed.

"The hat," Xander said, pointing at it. "And something up on the bookshelf," he said, pointing at the one behind the desk. "I don't know which book it is."

"And what would you like to do with the hat?" the Headmaster asked.

"I'd like to put it on. I think it's neat looking, even if it does look like it needs a little bit of work."

Dumbledore smiled and nodded. "Go ahead. That's our Sorting Hat, it tells you which house you'd be in."

Xander grinned as he jumped up to grab the hat, putting it on his head.

//Hello,// the hat said. //I know it's not time. Are you a late admission?//

"No, I'm a visitor. The Headmaster said I could put you on. How do you talk?"

The hat laughed. //That's my magic.// It went silent as it considered it's wearer. //I can't place you in a house. Mostly, I'd put you in Gryffindor, but you don't have the right sort of spark to be here.//

Xander took off the hat, looking disappointed. "It wouldn't put me anywhere," he said as he handed it off.

He watched as the old man stuck the hat over his face for a second and mumbled something, then it went on his head. After a few minutes, the hat came off and went back to it's normal stool. "Well, that's interesting," Dumbldore said, getting up to look at the books on the shelves. "Which one is drawing you?"

"I don't think it's a book," Xander admitted. "It's something on this side of the shelf," he said, pointing at a grouping of little vials. "I think it's one of those."

Dumbledore pulled down the set of vials, putting them out on the desk. "Which one is it, Xander?" he asked gently.

Xander looked at each one, touching a few of them. Then he got up and walked over to the shelves, looking at it. He pulled down a slim book that had been hiding behind it, handing it over. "I think it's that one."

Dumbledore smiled. "That would explain a lot," he said with a laugh. He waved a hand at the chair. "You don't possess magic," he told the boy, "but somewhere in your past was a being of magical nature." He laughed at the confused look he was getting. "Maybe you should read that book. It might shed some light on why animals like you so much."

Xander shrugged. "Maybe, but will it explain why I got possessed by a hyena?"

Dumbledore cleared his throat. "I'm afraid not." He blinked a few times. "You really are like the twins, aren't you?" he said with a smile. He nodded at the door. "Your boss is looking for you, he wants you to go down into the forest. I'll have Hagrid go with you."

"Can the twins come?" Xander asked happily.

"If they want to," Dumbledore hesitated. "Most students aren't happy to go down into the forest, Xander. It's a dangerous place."

Xander snorted. "Dangerous place was in my high school. Besides, animals love me," he said with a grin as he got up and walked out, going to find Giles.

Dumbledore groaned. "I thought that was a legend," he said, closing his eyes for a few minutes. He shook himself and got up, going back to his real work. Fighting Voldemort.

***

Xander hopped up onto Giles' temporary desk between classes, giving him an innocent look. "What's up with the whole gryphon mythology thing that's been going on around here?" he asked innocently.

Giles looked at him, then at the book in his hands, then back at the boy. "Tell me they didn't find one in your family's background as a servant or comrade in arms," he begged.

"A little more personal than that I think," Xander said, opening the book to the section he had just been reading. "See, they've got this great old hat called the Sorting Hat. It sorts the kids into their various houses." He pulled a foot up under him and looked out the window. "Well, I got to try it on and it told me that I wasn't able to be sorted because I wasn't totally human, so it would have a little bit of trouble and it'd need to think about it for a few days." He shrugged at the look he could see out of the corner of his eye. "That was the only other thing in the Headmaster's office that attracted my total attention, so he's letting me borrow it."

Giles groaned and closed the book, not wanting to read any farther. "It would explain a lot if you were," he admitted, handing the book back. "What are you going to do with this knowledge?"

"Not a thing," Xander said, looking at him as the students started to file into the classroom. "You?"

Giles smiled and patted him on the arm. "I have no intention of doing anything with this knowledge, Xander. It's not my business to do so." The young man nodded and slid off the desk. "You are going to classify some of the creatures tonight, aren't you?"

Xander nodded, rolling his eyes. "Sure, Giles, whatever you want. You know that." He walked out, sliding past a disgusted looking group of students.

"Sit," Giles ordered, checking his watch. "We'll never get through today's lesson if we don't get started immediately." He turned to look at the notes he had written on the board earlier, switching which map he had pulled down so he could uncover this group's outline for the class. "This is today's subject, take it down however you want it." He looked at the young boy still standing in the doorway. "Sit or have points taken off your house," Giles said calmly, staring at him.

The blond boy snorted but he sat down.

"Good, let's get onto the paranormal classification of spiritual entities. I understand that you all happen to have a House Ghost, as well as Peeves." He lit a candle in a circle he had drawn on the desk, not allowing the students to see exactly what it looked like. "Peeves, I summon you," he intoned, calling the spirit down to the small circle to trap it there.

Peeves appeared, looking panicked. "You can't do this to me!" he protested, trying to get free.

"I can and I have," Giles told him, watching him beat on the invisible walls. "As you can see, there are other ways of dealing with spirit entities than just talking to them." He looked at the Headmaster, who was walking in. "I hope you don't mind, I'll release him in a few moments."

"Get a promise of good behavior from him," one student suggested, and most of the rest of them nodded.

Giles smiled at them all. "This is part of the lecture. You have to understand that the spirit will be true to it's nature, most usually the one it had in life."

"You mean he was like Fred and George Weasley in life?" the blond boy asked in horror, looking over at Ron. "Is he a relative?" he asked snidely. "Should we find a way to send him home to your house. I'm sure you could fit one more under your thatched, over-crowded roof."

"Actually," Giles said, glaring at the boy as he overrode his next comment, "I've checked out Peeves real identity with his help. He used to be an accountant with a wicked sense of humor. He used to work for your Ministry and he was always playing jokes on his fellow coworkers." He blew out the candle and cut an opening into the circle holding the spirit. "Thank you, Peeves," he said, bowing to the spirit, who looked stunned before it faded out. "Spirits are like any other creatures, they deserve respect for what they are and their abilities. Even if they do drive you mad," he said with a faint smile.

Dumbledore sat down at a free seat, listening to the lecture. "We have similar spells," he told Giles. "But ours are mostly something of a 'freeze' or 'paralyze' nature."

"Ah, but our version of magic is much more personal to us. When I do a work of magic, I have to be totally prepared for the outcome and the power expenditure. I don't have an insulating force between myself and the magic that I'm using." He nodded at a student's wand. "As I was never taught to use one of those, I have to rely on what my body can produce and how well I've learned to channel it."

"Which is much harder?" Hermione suggested.

Giles gave her a bright smile. "Indeed. Where it takes you a matter of weeks to work your first spell, it can take someone like me years before we're ready to do more than work on the hypotheticals. Unless you're someone like Willow, who found it one day and discovered that she had a natural talent for the working." She nodded and bent to take a note. "Now then, who can tell me why you should respect a spirit?" Hermione raised her hand. "Dear, give the others a chance to reason this one out. It's an important lesson on the path to adulthood and they should all have it too." She nodded, not looking the least embarrassed.

Ron slowly raised his hand. "Because respecting it is a lot easier when you're trying to get it to pass on?" he guessed.

Giles beamed at him. "Brilliant, and correct in part. Can you think of another reason?"

Ron shook his head but a female student in the front raised her hand. "Because everything deserves respect until you've seen that it's proved otherwise?" she asked.

"Yes, that's the other reason," Giles said. "Good. Five points for both of you." He looked around the room, seeing only a few confused faces. "You see, if you respect everything then you'll never be surprised by what's going on," he explained to them. "Part of respecting an object is knowing what it is. In the case of magic-users everywhere, knowledge is power, and respecting what you're learning about is the only way to truly gain the right sort of knowledge." All but a few of the Slytherins were nodding. "Those that don't respect things and try to figure them out will be doomed to be eaten by them," he told them, looking directly at the blond boy that had been giving Ron so much grief. Ron reminded him of Willow when he had first met her, and he wanted to protect the boy from this sort of teasing. "Lack of respect and lack of knowledge are the two things that will certainly land you ill, blasted, or killed by a spell or a creature."

Dumbledore laughed lightly. "Too true," he admitted, smiling at his temporary teacher. "Magic can be very dangerous if you don't respect the powers that you hold and when you're not taught fully how to harness and use it properly." He looked around the room. "Think about this, he does all his magic without a wand and without having been to a school like this. What sort of will and respect must he have for the power?"

Hermione raised her hand. "Don't we have people like him within our wizard community? Ones who don't use wands and are more independent of the process?"

"Yes, Ms. Granger, there are, but they're very few and far between, not to mention short lived. They're not very accepted, but they do happen sometimes." He looked at the teacher again. "Are you going to teach them about the other forms of magic that you've seen?"

"Yes," Giles said with a brilliant smile, "I was going to do that next week before we left. Or at least the day before we left, to give them a better understanding of what the rest of the world holds for them."

"Good," Dumbledore said, getting comfortable. "How did you trap Peeves?"

"We have a few ways of trapping spirits," Giles said, pointing out the first part of his notes. "This one...."

***

Xander tapped on Hagrid's door, giving him a bright grin. "Giles told me I have to go down into the forest tonight to take pictures of some of the animals," he told him. "I was told to come ask you to take me." He bent down, patting the massive head that had just run into his hand. "Hey, Fang," he said happily, scratching the dog's ears. "How are you today?"

The dog barked and ran out to bounce around some.

"Go play with him," Hagrid said roughly, leaning against the door frame. "Neither of ya will get anything done otherwise."

Xander beamed and went to play with the big dog.

Hagrid shook his head. "I don't know what's gotten into Fang," he sighed. He watched as his now exhausted dog walked into his cabin to take a nap, stepping out to help the boy up from where he was lying in the grass. "Sorry, he can be a bit energetic."

"You kidding, he was fun!" Xander said happily, accepting the help up. "It's been a while since I had a dog to play with and my apartment won't let me have one." He shrugged. "Can you take me into the forest tonight? I got my camera specially spelled so it'll work and I promise I won't take pictures of anything that you say I can't."

"Sure," Hagrid said, patting him on the head, smooshing him a little. "After dark okay with you?"

"Yup," Xander said, grinning. "That means I can go find the twins and talk to them about something." He waved and jogged back up to the castle.

Hagrid shook his head. "I've never seen that sort of energy," he sighed, going in to finish his lunch. He sat down and drank from the beaker next to his plate.

***

Xander ran into his bedroom and found Fred sitting on his bed. "Hey, don't you have class?" Fred frowned. "What's wrong?"

"My mother's coming up. She really wants to meet you." He handed off the letter. "It came by special owl post an hour ago. We've got to change, I was just lazing about." He looked Xander over, seeing the grim expression. "Don't worry, she'll love you."

"Maybe, but I just found out something today that's *way* weird." He sat down on the bed beside his friend. "I found out that there's a gryphon in my family history."

Fred's mouth fell open.

"That would explain a lot," Percy said from the doorway, smiling at him. "Mother won't care though. She's not like that."

"I'm not sure I'm not," Xander admitted, looking at Fred again. "This is really weird to me."

"To us too," Fred said as he stood up, giving him a shrug. "But it would explain your loyalty and your attraction to animals."

"And his ability on the broomstick," Percy put in. "Come on, she's downstairs waiting on us. Father's here too."

Xander checked himself out then looked up. "Should I change?"

"No, you don't smell so it's fine," Fred said, tugging on his arm to make the older man stand so they could go.

***

Mrs. Weasley smiled as the last of her children walked in, looking the young man with them over. "My, you almost could be one of my sister's children," she said, giving them all hugs. "Boys, we've got some wonderful news that we have to tell you." They all sat down, looking at her. "Xander, right?" He nodded, giving her a smile. "Well, I guess if you're like the twins at all, this will be good for you to hear also." She looked at her husband, who reached out and took her hand. "We're getting a bigger house," she said proudly.

"Actually, we're getting the house added onto," their father said, smiling at them. "We thought it'd be better for when you older kids came home with friends." He smiled at his troublesome twins. "Is this the one that sent me the catalog?"

Xander grinned. "Yup. Did you like it?"

"I loved it, my boy. It was fascinating how much the muggles can create to amuse themselves."

"Mostly to amuse their children," Giles said as he walked in. "Rupert Giles, Xander's caregiver on this trip," he introduced himself, shaking their hands. "Xander, just a moment please. Did you arrange your trip tonight?"

"Sure. Hagrid said he'd take me and I got to wear out Fang playing too."

"Good." He handed over a book. "I found this in the library, it's an elongated version of the myth you were looking into." He nodded at them. "Excuse me, I must get back to my classes. They're studying Spike right now and there's no telling what he's telling them." He left quickly.

"Was that the magic worker who's here to exchange information with us?" Mr. Weasley asked Xander.

"Yup, him, Willow, and Tara are all here as fellow magic users. I'm here as gopher boy; I fetch, carry, and catalog. Buffy's being looked at as an interesting specimen later today, and so is Doyle."

Mr. Weasley laughed lightly. "My, what an interesting exercise to be in on." He looked at the family gathered around him. "I'm getting a bonus for working with the school on this, children, that's why the twins and a few others of you are have been asked to show the muggles around."

Fred snorted. "Dad, we got given Xander because we're a *lot* alike."

"And he's killer on a broom," George put in. "Ron's got the younger witch, Tara because they're a lot alike. Dumbledore spread it out that way."

"Yeah, Hermione got that one witch, they're definitely alike," Ron said good-naturedly. "I never expected to meet anyone that liked studying as much as she does."

"Willow's good on the computer too," Xander told him. "Besides, it's a connection for her. Willow was feeling a little lost around all you guys when she's got such different skills." He looked at the parents. "Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, I promise I won't get your twins in trouble," he said with his best innocent look.

Mr. Weasley burst out laughing. "Yes, I see now why you were put in with them." He looked at the boys. "Do try and keep him out of trouble," he told them, still laughing.

"Dad, he's just got another thing," Fred said, getting up to talk to him, pulling him over into a corner to do so. Mr. Weasley looked impressed. "Do we have any books on that?"

"Just the small mythology book," he said thoughtfully, looking at the boy. "It would explain a lot though. Percy told me you were loyal to a fault." He walked back over. "I can make some discrete inquiries at work if you'd like," he said, then he looked at his sons. "That does bring up an interesting point. They were the pranksters of all the magical creatures."

"Who are?" Ron asked, looking at Xander.

"I'll tell you later," Percy told him. "When Xander's ready to let it be known."

George looked at Xander. "I dressed too fast, didn't I," he asked glumly.

Xander leaned over and whispered in his ear, earning laughter. "Yeah, so it all kinda makes sense, huh?" he said with a grin.

George nodded. "Dad, you've got the Children's Book of Magical Animals at home, that might be more appropriate right now."

"True," Mr. Weasley said, smiling at his other twin. "And it does explain so much. We used to tease you two about that, didn't we?"

George nodded. "Yeah, you did." He smiled at his mother, who was looking curious. "Remember when he used to tease me about being partially...." Her face lit up and she smiled. "Xander's actually like that."

She came over and hugged him. "No wonder you get along so well with those two," she told him, patting him on the head as she stepped back. "How long are you going to be here, dear?"

"Just for a few weeks I think." Xander looked outside, seeing Anya walking down the hall. "Excuse me, my girlfriend just showed up." He hopped up and jogged after her, stopping her in the hall. "Giles is in class, what's up?"

She looked him over. "You look very well." She laid a hand on the side of his face. "The Watchers have made me see how wrong it was of me to corrupt you with stories of what I've done in the past so we can't be together anymore because I shouldn't hurt you with it. I'm going back home tonight and I'll get all of my things out of your apartment, including a t-shirt I've wanted of yours for a few months now. I've been told it's customary for a woman to take something of her ex-boyfriend's with her when she leaves him."

"Huh?" he asked, holding her still. "You're breaking up with me because a bunch of people who don't like Giles told to you to?"

"Yes, because if I stay, I'll just corrupt you and turn you violent towards other men." She smiled brilliantly. "I knew it was true, it made a lot of sense. So we're through for your own good." She kissed him on the nose. "I've got to go find Giles, I've got a message for him."

Xander waved a kid who was coming down the hall over. "Can you take her to Giles' classroom please? She's got a message for him."

"Sure," he said happily, his round face giving her an adoring look. "Are you one of the other witches?"

"No, I'm a former Vengeance Demon," she said conversationally, following him down the hall. "I used to punish men because of how badly they treat women."

Xander shook his head to clear it and turned to find Mrs. Weasley standing there. "Sorry, but that was one of the strangest relationships I've ever been in."

She gave him a hug. "It's all right, dear. I know how hard breaking up can be." She led him back into the classroom they were using for the family meeting. "His girlfriend just broke up with him," she told George. "Maybe you three should have some fun tonight."

"Mom," Fred whined. "He's got to go into the forest tonight."

"Oh." She looked impressed. "They're sending you down there?"

"Giles and Dumbledore have agreed that they'd like to know what's down there, so I get to start the classification process." He blinked a few times. "That was just strange," he said.

"What's wrong?" Mr. Weasley asked, looking over from where he was talking to Ron about his schoolwork.

"His girlfriend just broke up with him," Mrs. Weasley said.

"Oh, poor boy, but it's probably for the best. You obviously weren't well suited to be together." He smiled. "Besides, you're young, much too young to be dating someone exclusively yet. You've got to give yourself time to learn the world."

George gave Xander a dry look. "Welcome to the family." He held out a hand. "I'm sure we'll be rooming together sometime in the future during a holiday."

Xander shook it. "Cool, man, but I live in America."

George shrugged. "Maybe we'll come visit you then."

"One never knows where a Weasley will show up," Percy said with his own sense of dry humor. "Father, he lives on a ...what did you call it?"

"A hellmouth."

"Oh, dear," Mr. Weasley said, coming over to look at him. "Are you all right? I've heard those can be bad places to live." He stepped back. "That's where I've heard about girls like your friend. They're around to stop the problems of places like that."

"And bad demons," Xander added. "I fight with her, all of us that are here have or do in some way. Well, some of them do the same thing in LA with Angel, but it's mostly the same job. How did you hear about us?"

"A mythology book of all places," he said happily. "I should go inform Dumbledore of this. Do you know where he is?"

"In his office," Fred said. "I saw him going back up there on my way down."

"Thank you." Mr. Weasley walked out, hurrying to go share this new piece of information.

Mrs. Weasley shook her head. "Don't encourage him, boys, he needs to slow down a bit. Work's been very hectic with that muggle and the demon finding the school."

"Hey, the Watchers called Giles out of exile to come over here and talk to them. It's been a lot of long days all the way around."

She smiled and laughed. "I'm sure. What is he doing?"

"He's teaching demon classification and types. Basically what he does with us at home before we have to go stomp on someone."

"Ah." She nodded. "That does make sense. And the witches?"

"They're taking in a few classes and talking about what they do," Percy said. "And one of them has latched onto Hermione for an information exchange."

"Yes, she would be the person to do that." She smiled at her oldest child still in school. "Have you made any plans yet, dear?"

"Yes, mother, and I've done all the paperwork also." He looked at Xander, then back at his mother. "Maybe we should try and get Charlie to come see him."

"Why?" Xander asked. "Does he know something about this?"

"No, but he deals with dragons."

"There really are dragons?" Xander asked Fred, who was on his other side now.

Fred nodded. "Yes, and they've all got bad tempers from what I understand."

Ron coughed and looked out the door, then leaned over. "Hagrid had one," he told his brothers. "That's why we got caught out of our beds that night."

George's mouth fell open. "Hagrid had a dragon? And you didn't tell us?"

"We couldn't," he said with a shrug. "But we sent it to Charlie."

"Ah, that would explain it," Dumbledore said as he walked in. "I thought it was Hagrid's beast you were protecting." He smiled at Xander. "Unlike some, who just like to play with them."

"Fang's fun," Xander said innocently, grinning at the Headmaster. "What can I say, I like dogs."

Dumbledore chuckled. "I guess you do." He looked down at the book then took it and handed over another. "Your mentor was right, that's got a better version of the myth, but this one's got the history," he said.

Xander looked down at it then opened it and started flipping through it. "Wow," he said, stopping to look at a picture. "I always thought they were bigger."

"That's a baby," George pointed out. "How would the mechanics of that work anyway?"

"Magic," Dumbledore said with a grin of his own. He looked at everyone in the room. "So, she's the Slayer? The one in that book?"

"Most likely," Xander said, glancing up. "I'd have to see the book to know, but otherwise probably."

Dumbledore nodded. "That would explain a lot," he told Mr. Weasley. "We had no idea about what their part of the spectrum was like. I've been getting Hermione's notes each night to read over and they do a lot more than we expected. There's whole realms of beings that we don't cover."

"What did Spike tell you," Xander asked. "'Cause he's not usually on our side and all that."

"He hasn't. He was just regaling the students with a story about turning a poor girl."

Mrs. Weasley shuddered. "Really?"

"They were the older students, I'm sure," her husband soothed.

"Shoot, why can't we get that lecture," George said. "Ours have been more of the different types and what kills them and why they act like they do."

"Spike and Angel both get to teach classes," Dumbledore said kindly. "I'm sure you'll get to hear all about the gruesome nature of their existence."

"Or the Initiative," Xander noted, looking up again. "Spike likes to go on rants about them sometimes because they put the chip in his head."

Dumbledore smiled. "Yes, I heard," he said dryly. Xander grinned at him. "Why aren't you taking classes, young man?"

"Because I suck at school," Xander told him. "That's why I work construction."

"Ah." Dumbledore looked at the elder Weasleys. "He's a most interesting boy. He took right to flying."

Mrs. Weasley looked at her twins. "No doubt at someone's insistence," she said, staring Fred down.

"But he's a natural at it." George clapped Xander on the back. "He took a nice long ride around the school and everything, mum."

"As long as you were careful with him. I doubt he's come into anything he might get from his heritage yet."

"Probably not," Dumbledore agreed, "but being here might bring that out."

Xander looked at him in confusion. "Huh?"

"Being in a magical atmosphere might bring out that heritage a little more," Mr. Weasley explained. "That's why the boys told us."

"That would explain him sticking up for them at breakfast the other morning," Percy sniffed. "Against me of all people."

"I'm sure it was just a reflex," his mother assured him.

"He was lecturing Xander about mouthing off to Snape," Fred said. "Xander got into his face when Professor Snape yelled at him for flying."

"Even though I was allowed," Xander added. "He had no right to yell at you two for watching me while I was doing an allowed activity, teacher or not a teacher. That's just wrong."

"Probably," Mrs. Weasley said, nodding. "But you still should be more subtle in your insults, dear. It's much harder for anyone to say anything back."

"Okay," Xander said, grinning at her. "I'll try."

"Good." She patted him on the head. "Boys, we'll be sending care packages later this week."

Ron groaned, "Not another sweater," and put his head down on the desk.

"No, dear," she sighed, "no sweaters this time." She rolled her eyes. "Really, Ron, the sweaters aren't that bad."

"He's just at that awkward stage," Xander told her. "The one where everything seems off because you're trying to find yourself."

Her face brightened up. "I hadn't considered that. The other boys never really went through that hard of a transition that way." She looked at her youngest son. "Dear, I understand fully. Would you like me to change the color of the sweater this year? Maybe a nice blue instead?"

Ron looked up, a lot happier. "Maybe," he said, giving her a smile. "Or can I have a new student robe instead? All of mine are getting too small."

"Of course," she said, coming over to kiss him on the cheek. "I had no idea that you were having such a drawn-out adulthood discovery time." She gave him a hug. "We'll figure it out over the holidays, all right? We'll come up this year."

"Okay," Ron said happily, smiling at his brothers. "I really don't mind the sweaters," he told his mother, "just the color."

"Of course, dear," she said, still smiling at him. She looked at her lone daughter, who had been hiding in a corner. "Dear, are you feeling any stirrings that way?" She blushed but shook her head. "All right, when you do, you write immediately because there's plenty of things we'll need to talk about as girls." Her daughter's blush got brighter. "Xander, that was an excellent bit of noticing. Do you have many siblings?"

"Nope, I'm an only child, but I had to watch Willow go through it." He grinned. "She had everything all planned out and then she became an adult and it all fell apart on her."

Mrs. Weasley laughed. "I remember that feeling. Ginny, just remember, anytime you need to talk to someone about this sort of thing that I'm here, dear." She looked at her husband. "Did you have any more business up here?"

"I wanted to stop in Hogsmeade on the way home," Mr. Weasley told her.

"Of course," she said with a smile. "We'll eat lunch there." She smiled at her children. "Be good. We'll be in touch next week." She waved and left, her arm wrapped in her husband's.

Percy looked at Xander. "Well done," he said, looking impressed. He looked down at Ron. "That means that you won't be complaining for a while, right?"

"It's hard being younger," Fred pointed out. "You used to hate Charlie and Bill for what they did too." He looked down at Ron. "At least you're not being compared to us," he said happily.

Ron started to laugh. "No, I'm not," he agreed, smiling at Xander. "Thanks, that was decent." He looked at the Headmaster, just realizing he was still there when the old man stood up. "Oh, sir. I guess I'd better get back to class." He and Ginny got up and ran back to their classes.

Fred and George looked at Xander. "We like you," George started.

"But we're not going into the forest with you," Fred finished.

"That would be a suitable punishment for what you two did last month," Percy pointed out.

"No, I'm giving them to Giles to help him prepare his last lecture, complete with show and tell," Dumbledore said, smiling at them. "I'm sure they'll be able to help Xander quite a lot without going into the forest." He laughed and left, leaving them alone.

"This is a great book," Xander said, going back to reading. He stood up. "I'm going to go back upstairs and read for a while. Have fun in classes, guys." He walked out, stuck in the book. It just seemed so alive to him.

Percy looked at his twin brothers. "Go back to class," he told them as he stood up.

The twins got up and headed back to their class, which was outside right now.

Percy shook his head. "This is an interesting twist," he agreed, going back to his own class.

***

Xander looked up as Willow bounced over to sit next to him at the table, giving her a hug. "I just found out some amazing stuff," he said, handing over the book he had been reading.

Willow read the first few pages, smiling up at him. "This sounds a lot like you," she said thoughtfully. "Are you saying what I think you're saying?"

"There was one in my past." Xander beamed at her. "Everyone says it explains a lot."

"It does," Willow agreed, handing him the book. "Can I go into the forest with you tonight?"

"It's supposed to be dangerous, Will," Xander reminded her.

"You're going into the forest?" Hermione said as she sat down. "Why?"

"Because someone wanted to know what was in there officially."

"Then why didn't they ask Hagrid?" she asked reasonably.

"Because Giles didn't know who to ask so he told Xander," Willow explained. "He gets a lot of that sort of assignment." She put a hand on his. "I heard about Anya. I was in Giles' class when she came in and told everyone." He grimaced. "You okay?"

"Yeah, it's probably for the better. Oh," he said, changing the subject to get happier again, "I got to meet the twins' parents, who are *way* cooler than either of ours."

She looked impressed. "Cool. Were you on your best behavior?"

"Our mother adopted him," Ron said as he sat down, smiling at Xander, then at Willow. "He even got my mother to change the color of my sweater this year."

"Ron," Hermione sighed.

"What? I don't like orange."

"None of us do," Fred said as he sat down, followed by George. "So, how was your reading?"

"It really does explain a lot," Xander said with a grin. "Including why the dogs and owls like me." He pushed the book over. "You can read it if you want, I finished it."

"No thanks," Fred said, pushing it back. "We try to avoid doing things like research."

"Why?" Willow asked. "Research is fun and informative."

"And lifesaving," Tara said as she sat down, smiling at Xander. "Are you all right?"

"Yup, very okay. Let me guess, you ran into the Anya person too?"

"Yup," she said, nodding. "So did Buffy. Who slapped her for it."

"Ooh," Willow said, wincing. "That wasn't nice."

"That's what Buffy said," Tara told her.

Xander snickered. "Maybe things will be back to normal at home for her. The Council must have put some pretty heavy pressure on her to make her change her mind."

Willow snorted. "Yeah, you could say she's a little stubborn," she agreed, patting Xander's hand before starting to dish herself up some supper, and helpfully filling Tara's plate for her too.

Tara looked behind Willow's back at Xander and rolled her eyes, getting a smile in return. "Is Buffy going with you?" she asked him.

"No, she's got a meeting tonight with some minister or another. She and Wesley are going to show off."

"Ah." Willow nodded. "He's better at that."

"Yeah," Tara agreed, "he can translate Buffy tactfully into British."

Xander snickered. "True," he agreed, reaching over to shove her lightly. "So bad," he laughed.

"I didn't think she's that bad," Percy said quietly from where he had been sitting and studying some notes. "She's a bit set in her ways and loud, but she seems like a nice enough girl."

"Don't let her hear you call her a girl," Xander warned. "She's really not into that." Percy looked at him in confusion. "Trust me on this, *never* call Buffy a girl."

Willow nodded, her eyes round. "Really, *really* never call her a girl. She hates it."

Percy blinked a few times then nodded. "All right. I won't. Thank you for the warning, Xander and Willow. Did the book answer a lot of questions?"

"Everything except the main 'how did it happen' one," he agreed, smiling at the Prefect. Willow looked at him. "Will, it's in my *family*," he told her.

She shuddered. "I *so* didn't need to know that." She dished up some more potatoes then she hit him on the arm. "Don't give me mental buggers like that," she complained. "I'll be stuck thinking about that all night."

Hermione looked at her. "I have a book that might take that image out of your head. It's a history of our most famous wizards and witches."

"Okay," Willow said happily. "That'd be cool. Most of ours are just legends and myths and things." She started to eat, leaning slightly against her girlfriend's side.

Tara leaned into her a little more, letting her apologize for ignoring her.

Xander dug into his dinner, eating faster than normal. He finished and stood up, taking his book with him. "I've got to go change and finish packing my pack," he said before leaving.

"He seems a bit too happy to go into the forest," Percy complained.

"He'll get fixed when he walks into it," George reminded him.

"True," Percy said, his mood brightening a little. "The forest isn't what he'll expect at all."

"Are there dwarves in there?" Tara asked. Everyone at the table within hearing distance looked at her. "One of our fairytales is a story about a girl who runs away from a wicked step-mother and finds dwarves living in the forest. She shelters with them until she's poisoned then the dwarves help her find her dashing prince," she explained quietly.

Percy shook his head to clear the image. "You muggles do certainly come up with some of the most outrageous explanations for things," he said, smiling at her. "It's a fairy tale, you say?"

"Yes, I heard Snow White when I was younger also," Hermione said, looking around the twins and Ron to look at him. "It's a really old fairy tale, it comes out of Germany."

"Oh." He smiled at her. "Do you have a book of them too?"

"At home. They're children stories."

"Now that the Church cleaned them up," Willow noted. "In their original form, they never could have been for children. They had all sorts of icky stuff in them that it's better not to say in front of younger children."

Hermione looked interested. "Really? Are original copies available?"

"I'm not sure," Willow said. "I found an old book of Giles' that had them in there."

"Was that before Hansel and Gretel came to town?" Tara asked.

"During," Willow told her. "We had to find the original story to figure out how to banish them." She smiled at her girlfriend. "You are so lucky you weren't in town then. You might have ended up on the pole next to me."

"I'm sure you would have saved me too," Tara told her, giving her a shy smile.

"Yup," Willow said firmly. "I would have saved you too."

"Your lives are never dull, are they?" Fred asked. "Xander got to blow up his school and you got to take place in persecutions." He looked at Percy. "Is all of America like that?"

"Not that I'm aware of," Percy told him. "From what I've heard it's like a looser version of England. I'm sure it's tied to their gateway somehow."

Willow nodded. "Usually," she agreed. "Everything comes back to the Hellmouth somehow."

Tara nodded. "Really, it does." She looked at her girlfriend. "How does Spike relate back to it?"

"All the demons are drawn to the Hellmouth so the Initiative was sent there because of the concentration. The town keeps drawing Spike back too, so they had a run in."

"Oh." She nodded. "That makes sense."

Percy shook his head. "I'm just glad I don't have to work with your Ministry of Magic."

"I'm not sure we have one," Willow told him. "Our government's not quite like yours."

"I'm sure you do," Percy told her. "I think every country has some sort of Council over it at least, someone to set standards and the like. Your type may not be recognized by them, that may be why you haven't noticed."

"Maybe," Tara agreed, touching Willow's hand to keep her out of the argument. She gave her a look then started to eat. "Thank you," she said quietly.

"Welcome. I like feeding you," Willow said with a smile, going back to her own food.

***

Willow looked over at Giles. "Percy raised a point I wanted to debate," she told him. They were all sitting around, except for Buffy, Wesley, and Xander, talking about what they had learned so far. "Do you think we have some sort of Ministry of Magic?" He shrugged. "If we do, why haven't they done anything about the Hellmouth?"

Giles looked startled. "I'm not sure, but it does seem like they would have," he agreed. "I'll ask the Headmaster tomorrow when I see him. If we don't, I'm almost certain Canada does in some form or another."

"Maybe Britain's extends to them," Angel suggested. "It does seem like they'd have to have known about the Hellmouth if there was one though."

"Maybe we can get in touch with the Canadians and have them block the opening for good," Tara suggested. "With our help of course," she said at Giles' frown.

"I'd hope we got that solved after that last time," Giles said stiffly. "I really don't want to have to close that blasted hole again."

Angel relaxed. "I'm sure it's fixed permanently," he said, trying to sooth the ruffled feathers. "Dru still isn't giving up a game plan."

"Maybe she's not in on it," Gunn suggested. "I hate to say it, but Spike has a point. Whoever this Dark Lord is, he's using her as a minion and a messenger. He probably didn't expect for her to live this long."

"Maybe," Doyle agreed, looking at the tapestries on the walls. "Giles, are you going into the seein' part of the lecture?"

"I think I'll have time," Giles agreed, giving him a smile. "Did you want to come talk about yours?"

"No," he said, shaking his head emphatically. "I doubt that they'd understand the sort of pain they cause."

"Possibly, but you might talk to the teacher that does that here," Willow suggested. "That have a whole speciality on seeing."

"Maybe," Doyle agreed. "I tried, she's a bit flighty." He grinned. "More like a bat actually."

"She's had a few visions," Giles pointed out, "otherwise she wouldn't be teaching divination."

"Point," Doyle agreed, "but I can't talk to her, she's not all there."

Giles smiled. "Yes, but can that really be said of any of us in this room?"

Doyle shrugged. "I'd like to think so."

"Me too," Gunn agreed.

"We all have problems, but not all of us seem to be lacking in the reality department," Willow protested.

"I yield the point," Giles said with great humor. "How was everyone's lectures today?"

"Professor Snape thinks that I'm using my 'unique and odd magic', his words, to do well in his classes." Willow shrugged. "I haven't been, it's just really easy to mix the potions when you're used to it."

"Yes, it would be," Giles agreed. "You've had a few good years of practice at that already. Is he allowing you to sit in on the older classes?"

"I did that today and I did learn a new ingredient and how to smoosh it up," she said proudly. "Bat testicles."

Gunn and Angel both looked a little paler than usual. "That's nice," Angel said.

Spike laughed. "Gonna work your way up to human ones, chit?" he asked her.

Willow gave him a faint smile. "I haven't seen a spell that called for them yet, Spike. Are you offering yours when I do?"

His smirk fell away. "Oh, you're too cruel tonight," he told her, then he started to laugh. "Good one."

Tara patted Willow on the knee. "Maybe you should take some Midol," she whispered.

Willow nodded and got up to go take some medicine.

Giles smiled at her. "Thank you, dear. That might have been a nasty argument. Spike, how was your part of the class today?"

"Interestin'," he said jovially. "I got to tell the kids about makin' one o'us."

"Spike," Angel warned.

"What? That's what they asked me about." Spike looked at Giles. "Did you ever find out what the chaps at your home said to the demon chit?"

"No, but I'm sure we'll straighten all that out when we get home." He looked at Angel. "Anya did bring a message for you from Cordelia. She said she's found it and faxed it back home, along with a list of books she thought you might like to find a copy of."

Angel nodded. "Good. Is she having fun?"

"More fun than she would be here," he agreed with a smile. "She's going to London tomorrow to stay there for a few days."

Angel nodded. "It's a good thing that you called and told me to get her tickets. Maybe she'll find something to do in London. It's a large city."

"Museums," Tara offered.

"There's plenty of plays," Gunn reminded him. "I'm sure she's going to be soaking up the culture." He looked at Spike, who looked uncomfortable. "What's wrong with you?"

"Just a thought about the Princess." He looked at Giles. "If she's a harbinger, are we fighting beside these kids?"

Giles looked grim. "It may well be up to us to turn the tide in their favor. We do have skills that they're not prepared for and can't guard against. Tara, did you and Willow bring the offensive spell books with you?"

"She copied a bunch of them into a binder," Tara assured him, "but we've got them memorized by now."

"Good," he said, looking at Angel and Spike. "Are you two willing to help?"

"Sure," Angel said, nodding. "I have no desire to see this school being overrun by the dark. Doyle had a vision before we came so we snuck a few favorite weapons over, including some stakes."

Giles looked at Doyle. "Right after you called," he said, glancing around the room. "It was a fight, a big one, mostly in the front halls and outside. And there was somethin' strange going on with Xander too."

"He's got a gryphon in his family history," Tara told them all.

"Really?" Doyle asked. "I thought those were just myths."

"They have dragons here," Tara told him with a shy smile. "The groundskeeper had one."

"Oh, hell, no," Gunn sighed. "Are we going to have to fight one of those?"

"Probably not," Professor McGonagall said as she walked in and closed the door behind her. "As far as we know, you might not have to fight too many of your own kinds of demons, but our source of information has been very slow in getting back to us." She sat down next to Tara. "You actually brought offensive spells with you?"

"One never knows when one has to fight," Giles reminded her. "I had no idea what we were getting into so I planned for every contingency."

"A wise plan," she agreed. "You'd be willing to fight beside us when and if the attack comes?"

"If we're still here, you have my word on it," Giles told her, holding out a hand. "And actually, I might like to stay close by for a bit to study some with you. It's fascinating how the two branches of magic have split off."

"Giles, you wouldn't *believe* how fussy that guy was," Buffy said as she walked in. She saw all the bothered looks and sighed. "Who do we have to fight this time and how do I kill it?"

"It's mostly a matter of magic," Wesley said, patting her on the back as he walked past her. "I'm sure you'll be more in a guarding capacity this time."

"Hey, I always get to be on the front line," Buffy complained. "Even against bad things like Ethan."

"This would be a bit different," Giles reminded her gently. "We'll figure out the battle plans when and if we need them. How did it go?" he asked Wesley.

"I toned down her complaints as I translated it for the Minister." He sat down beside Gunn. "Are we sure that we'll have to? Doyle's vision notwithstanding."

"Nothing's certain yet," Professor McGonagall said as she stood up. "Thank you, I know it isn't your fight, but this may be just what we needed to turn the tide this time." She left the room.

"Tara," Giles said, "there's a project I have for you and Willow. I'll need to discuss it with you tomorrow. It involves a young boy and his Godparent."

She nodded. "Sure. I only have transfiguration tomorrow." She looked around. "Do you think Xander's okay in that forest? I've heard horror stories all day about what's out there."

"I'm sure he's fine," Wesley told her. "Xander has this incredible knack of getting out of whatever trouble finds him." He looked at Giles. "Did you hear the rumors about him? That he's gryphon-born?"

"It's in his family's lineage," Angel told him. "A long time ago."

"Well, that would certainly explain a few things," Wesley said, looking at his boss. "Especially about that boy and trouble."

"Hey!" Spike complained. "Gryphons were mischievous, not demon magnets." Tara threw a pillow at him. "They weren't."

"I'm sure it would explain that somehow," Giles said calmly. "Maybe he's resonating on a frequency that attracts some of the demons." He shrugged. "We'll figure that out eventually. He has a book I'll be reading later."

"He offered it to Willow," Tara told him. "He's finished it."

"Then I'll read it tomorrow during classes," he said, giving her a smile. "Has anyone approached either of you about your training?"

"There's been questions of what we're learning and how," she admitted, "but nothing else." She gave him a happy look. "Giles, didn't the Council give us a spending allowance? There's supposed to be a magical village a few miles away."

"Yes, I know," he said with a smile. "We're all taking a trip to it in a few days when the students are allowed to go."

"Cool," Gunn said. "There's this stuff I want to try, a kid was explaining it to me. Every Flavor Beans?"

Giles shuddered. "Those I've heard of. One of my students was snacking between classes and got a dung flavored one."

"I guess it's literal," Angel told him. "Be careful, okay?"

"Sure," Gunn said, smiling at him. "Aren't I always?"

Angel nodded. "Still, be careful." He looked at Giles. "What about us?"

"I'd be happy to get you something from there," he offered. "Or I'm sure you could leave some night and go down there. Just warn a teacher first so they can call down there. The village is very protective of itself."

Angel nodded. "We will." He looked at his childe. "You coming with me?"

"Yeah, maybe a prezzie would loosen Dru's tongue a bit." He stood up. "Now?"

"Sure," Angel said, following him out of the room.

"So, what's to be had down there and how much can we spend?" Buffy asked.

***

Xander looked at the big man walking beside him. "You know about a lot of animals, right, Hagrid?" he asked as they walked down toward the forest.

The big man nodded. "Yup, know lots about lots of 'em. Why?"

"What are gryphons like?"

Hagrid stopped and looked at him. "They're extinct. Do you think you're going to find one in the forest?"

"No, there's supposed to be one way back when in my family," Xander told him. "I thought you'd know some more stuff than the book did. All it said was that they were loyal and playful." He shrugged. "Sorry if I'm bugging you."

"That's okay," Hagrid said, looking down at him. "Yeah, they're that, but playful is a bit mild. They're the jesters of the magical creatures. Always playin' pranks and such. But, ya go near a nest and you'd better pray," he said, starting to walk again. "They were considered the king of beasts back when they were around. There's really one?"

"That's what the Sorting Hat told the Headmaster," he said quietly. "Would that explain why demons like me?"

Hagrid laughed, a great booming sound. "Sure. They attracted the oddest lot of creatures to them when they were around."

"Odd women too?" Xander asked.

"Almost always," Hagrid agreed, clapping him on the back. "What's your woman like?"

"She dumped me today," Xander said with a slight shrug. "She's a former Vengeance demon turned human. I was helping her become more human, but she never quite fit in."

"Yeah, I know the sort," he sighed. They walked into the first line of trees and Hagrid looked down at the boy beside him. "You sure you want to do this? It's not a fun place to be."

"Not really, but it's my job. After all, they could have asked you but I guess no one thought about asking the person who deals with all this stuff." He grinned. "So, lead on. What should I note and see, and what shouldn't I see?"

Hagrid smiled. He liked this boy. "There's a lot in here that's never been mentioned that it'd be okay to note, but there's a few things that we'd like to see never get out." Xander nodded. "And if you see a centaur, ignore it."

"Okay," Xander said, following him through the thickening trees. "This is really great. There's not many places like this in the US anymore. It's kinda commercial to cut down the forests right now." He took a picture of an odd bird that flew past them. "Just yell if I break a rule."

"Sure." Hagrid led the way deeper into the forest, stopping to let Xander take some pictures of some of the things he pointed out. "So, if there's a gryphon in your line, are you playful?"

"Mostly," Xander said with a grin. "I'm always accused of not being serious enough, unless I'm fighting, then I'm always serious."

"That would be the gyphon way," Hagrid agreed. "They were always supposed to have been playful."

"Good playful or bad playful?"

Hagrid chuckled. "I guess that'd depend of if they liked you or not," he noted. "I've heard them called the 'great fluffy troublemakers', and I've heard them called 'jesters'." He looked down at the boy. "You gonna have a go at your girl again when you get back?"

Xander shook his head, taking a picture of a plant. "Probably not." He stopped to change film in the enchanted camera, stuffing the old roll into one of the pouches in his pack. "We were okay together, but we never did anything but get together, ya know?"

Hagrid shook his head. "Not really."

"Oh. Sorry. Anyway, it was like we were chained to my apartment. She never wanted to *do* anything but watch tv and stuff."

"Must be nice to have someone to talk to though," Hagrid said.

Xander snorted. "Sure, but we never did that. The closest we got to talking was her telling me about how she used to punish men when she had been a demon." He pointed at a suspicious plant. "Is that something I should note?"

"Sure. That's a new on one me too."

Xander took a few pictures of the plant, then shook his head as he heard a howl. "Man, that sounds familiar," he sighed. "I miss Oz."

"What's an Oz?" Hagrid asked. "A dog?"

"No, a werewolf I knew. He left a few months back, he had to so he could get himself straightened out."

"We've had a few of those here," Hagrid mentioned. "Even a student once. Good boy that one, usually anyway."

Xander smiled. "You would have liked Oz. He was always so quiet. He was always thinking, but he was also a musician. Life got in his way though and he had to leave." He snapped a picture of a tree next to Hagrid. "Why is that one blue?" he asked.

Hagrid patted the trunk of the tree. "It's got injured when it was little, some of the boys spread some magical ink into it's roots and made it spread. Now it's a blue sapling." He smiled at the boy. "How do you feel in the woods?"

"I'm kinda torn. I'm feeling like this is home in some ways, but in others I'm feeling really closed in." Hagrid looked at him funny. "I was possessed by a hyena spirit a few years back," he explained.

"Oh. That would explain it then," he agreed, leading the way to the path he took when he had to come out here and check on the forest. "Over here is where we found your friend's friend and that demon girl," he told Xander, pointing at a stone. "She was jus' sitting there, waitin' on us."

"You don't know Dru," he said with a faint smile. "She's very not right in the head. The stars talk to her and things," he explained.

"Hey! We've got people here that do that too!"

"No, I'm not talking about her visions and stuff, I'm talking about her normal times. They sing to her and tell her stories."

Hagrid shook his head. "So she's a seer in addition to being insane?" Xander nodded. "That must have been fun for her sire."

"He's the one that made her insane," Xander said with a shrug. "That was before Angel got his soul. Now he's just broody."

Hagrid snorted. "I've seen his lot before," he told the boy. "Thinks too much of what he's done and who he used to be."

"Yup, but that's how he keeps his soul."

"Which I guess would be good," Hagrid said.

"Yup. Last time he lost it, he killed Willow's fish and tried to suck the world into Hell. He was the only one who went." Xander leaned closer to the rock, taking pictures of the carvings on them. "Have these always been here?" he asked.

Hagrid got down to look, frowning at them. "She defaced the stone," he muttered. "No respect at all."

"Nope, she's not highly into that." Xander stopped as he heard a slithering noise. "Um, what was that and is it dangerous?"

"Yes, and you really don't want to know."

"Okay then," Xander agreed, putting the camera in his pack. "Where to next?"

"Next, let's go visit the spiders. They're friends'o mine."

"Okay, as long as I don't get tangled up in a web. That's *way* too close to a praying mantis for me."

"They're totally different," Hagrid argued.

"Not when you have a bug woman try to eat you," Xander told him.

Hagrid stopped and looked at him. "It tried to eat you?"

"Yeah, it changed shape into this really beautiful woman, who was pretending to be a teacher. Me and another guy almost got used as mates." He grimaced. "Which really sucked."

"I don't doubt. I can go see the spiders alone if you want," Hagrid offered.

"No, that's okay. Just as long as I don't get tangled up in a web I'll be fine." He followed the big man further into the forest, stopping to take a picture of the carvings on a tree. "Did she do this too?" he called out to his guide, who was a few feet away.

Hagrid came back and looked at it, tipping his head to the side since the writing was written sideways. "No, looks like your friends the Weasleys have been down here again."

"That's not their style," Xander complained. "They wouldn't hurt the tree for fun."

"No, they wouldn't," Hagrid said, tracing a few of the scribbled words. "It's almost legible. Did you take a picture of it?" Xander nodded. "Take another for me, okay?"

Xander took a few more pictures and walked around the tree to make sure there wasn't anything on the other side. "Hey, there's a door here," he exclaimed. Hagrid came around and looked at it, shaking his head as he opened it. Inside was a few little bottles, a little table, and a little man drinking from the little bottles. "Whoa," Xander said, stepping back. "Forgive us, we didn't know this tree was inhabited."

The little man laughed. "No problem, boyo, it's a new retreat o'ours." He smiled at Hagrid. "You be the groundskeeper then?" he asked.

He nodded. "Yeah, I'm Hagrid. I live in the shack down a ways from the school. If you need anything, just come yell. My Fang'll tell me you're there if I don't hear you." He nodded again and closed the door. "That makes the markings all right I guess."

"Markings," the little man said, opening the doors. "Someone wrote on my tree?"

"Yeah, on the other side," Xander told him. "Sideways." He held a hand out. "I'll carry you around if you want." The little man crawled into his hand and Xander went around to show him. "Hey, the words changed," he complained.

The little man ran his hand around the bark. "It's a simple spell. A warning to the centaurs and like." He flew off the offered hand, smiling at the two men. "Thank ye for the company."

"You're welcome, have a nice day," Xander said, waving at him. "He was kinda nice," he told Hagrid. "What was he?"

"He's a Leprechaun. We don't see their like here often." He looked around. "Fang!" he called. "Where'd he get to?"

"Last time I saw him was at the rock," Xander told him, looking around. "Hey, Fang, want to play fetch?" he called. The dog came bounding out of the underbrush with someone on it's back. "I think he found the tree first," he told Hagrid, smiling down at the dog as he scratched his ears. "Um, hi, ma'am," he said, nodding politely at her. "Did you miss the tree?"

She snorted. "I have no quarrel with that man," she told him. "Can I borrow ye dog?" she asked Hagrid. "I heard ya tell him who ye were."

"Sure. As long as you treat him well and he's home around the same time we are," Hagrid told her, bowing to her. "Have fun, Fang, and guard her well."

Xander gave him one last pat and they walked on. "That was kinda neat," he said finally.

"You were nice to them, I thought Americans weren't so nice."

"Some of us aren't, but Giles always told us to respect something that you don't know about. At the least, it'll be less inclined to eat you and at the most it may become an ally at a critical moment."

"Ah, he's a good one then." He slapped the boy on the back. "You should always respect everything around you, you never know when it's not what it appears."

"We don't get that much of that at home." He stopped to think, tipping his head up. "No, just demons and vampires mostly. Anything that's pretending to be something else at home usually is something bad." He looked at Hagrid. "That's not true for everything, right?"

"Nah," he said with a smile. "Plenty in the world ain't what it appears to be. Take animagus for example. They can change forms."

"Wow. That's a neat trick," Xander said softly. "Do you think...."

"If it were possible, it'd have been the first or second generation, not now," Hagrid said, making it sound like he was sorry. "There's not many of your kind in the world anymore, Xander. You'd best be careful who knows. Even around here, there's people who'd be better off not knowin'."

Xander nodded. "Only the gang, a few of the teachers, and the Weasley's, and Hermione, know."

"That's good, then Harry'd know and it's safe with him too. Generally, any that don't like Harry, keep away from 'em." Xander looked confused. "Trust me, those that don't like Harry won't help ya at all. They're *his* people."

"Oh. Is that the same *he* that might be invading in a few days?" Xander asked.

Hagrid nodded. "Yeah, it is. How you gonna fight him?"

"I'm not, I'm a defender, same as always," Xander told him, looking up at him. "Don't worry, Hagrid, I've faced down worse and won. We *always* win, one way or another."

Hagrid nodded. "Good ta know." He led the way farther into the forest, getting a little ahead of the boy.

Xander stopped to take a picture of a plant he didn't recognize, and looked around. "Hagrid?" he called. He blinked a few times when there wasn't an answer. "Okay. Not funny," he called again. There still wasn't any answer. "Fang!" he yelled at the top of his lungs. The dog came running up to him, panting hard. "Hey, boy," he said, getting down to scratch the big, black dog's head. "How are you?" he asked, giving him a hug. He noticed the little woman still riding on his back. "Sorry, but Hagrid seems to have left me."

She snorted. "We know the gamekeeper, boy, that wasn't him." She climbed off the dog's back, waving a hand at him. "Nothing is as it appears in this forest."

Xander nodded. "I'll take that to heart. May I take Fang with me?"

She nodded. "As long as you tell Harry he said hi."

"Can do," he said, giving her a smile. "Thanks. Um, do you know which way?" She pointed to her right. "Thanks. Come on, Fang." He walked that way, the dog close beside him. When Xander finally made it out of the woods, he found Wesley and a small boy standing there. "Hey, you're Harry, right?" he said, holding out a hand. "The little woman who was riding Fang here said to tell you he said hi." He looked but the dog was gone. "Hey!"

Wesley shook his head. "The dog ran off to the lake."

"That wasn't Fang," Harry said quietly, looking up at the older men. "That was my Godfather. We've got to go see Dumbledore."

"Yeah, we probably should. Hagrid left me in the forest."

Wesley nodded. "Doyle saw, that's why we're here." He nodded back at the castle. "You ready to go?"

"Let me check something first," Xander said, taking off his pack to check on the rolls of film he'd already taken, putting the new one in with it and slipping a clean roll into the camera. "Okay, let's go," he said, zipping it up. They walked up to the castle together, Harry very on edge. Dumbledore and McGonagall met them at the great doorway, and Xander frowned at them. "Something was seriously wrong with Hagrid," he told them. "He tried to leave me in the forest."

"And the dog he was with wasn't Fang," Harry told the Headmaster. "It was a big, black dog, like the one's that's been in the village."

Dumbledore nodded. "Good work, both of you. Do you have the film?"

Xander nodded. "Yeah, is there somewhere I can develop it? I know how, someone taught me last year."

Professor McGonagall shook her head. "We don't need to do it that way." She took his camera and walked off.

Xander shrugged off his pack and headed for the stairs. "Okay, I'm going to bed. Harry, Wes?" he called.

"Coming," Wesley called, following him, making sure Harry was in front of him. They walked into the common room to find all the Weasleys and Hermione waiting on them. "That was definitely odd," he told Giles, who was coming down the stairs with their group.

"I know," Giles told him. "Xander, did anything happen out there?"

"Yeah, a few things."

Harry walked over to Ron, looking at him. "They're enchanted," he said, reaching for his wand but not pulling it.

"We know," Giles said grimly. "We found them earlier. It appears that Professor McGonagall was also." He rubbed his forehead. "I hate to say it, but we've got to do something sooner than we thought. Tell me what you ran into out there."

"We ran into two little people, the rock Druscilla defaced, and a few odd plants. Why?"

"Because any of those might be a clue," Doyle said quietly. "What did the rock say?"

"If you can get me somewhere to develop film, I'll show you," Xander told him.

Doyle nodded. "I brought stuff with me, just a touch but it might be enough." He led the way back to Xander's bathroom, where everything was set up. "Was that Giles?" he asked quietly. "He was actin' funny."

"No, but I made double pictures of everything," Xander told him, equally as quiet. He looked around the bathroom. "No chemicals?"

"No, but we can send stuff to Cordy."

"True," Xander said, smiling. "And I know just the owl to do it too." He walked out, finding Giles and Harry in his room. "Harry, can I borrow your owl? I need to get one specific chemical here to do this and Doyle didn't bring it."

"Hedwig can't carry a lot," he told the older boy.

"She doesn't need to," he said confidently, giving him a smile. "Take me to her?"

"Sure, she came to my room a few minutes ago with Pigwidgeon." He led the way to his room, stopping to close the door before Ron's tiny owl could get out. He looked at Xander. "Where are you sending her?"

"London, to a friend of ours. She can get the chemical the fastest." He tied the little bag he had been storing film in around Hedwig's neck, bending down to look in her eyes. "Can you find a muggle for me?" he asked, pulling out his wallet to show her a picture. "This is her and she's in London." Hedwig hooted and bobbed a few times. She flapped her wings, twisting her neck around. "Okay, let me put this behind your wings." He retied the bag, using the straps attached to the Crown Royale bag to form a harness that wouldn't interfere with her wings. "There we go, how's that?" he asked as he opened the window. "Take off," he told her, watching as she flew off, as did Ron's owl with the note Harry had tied to it. "Home?" he asked him.

"Home," Harry agreed. He looked at the door he had bolted. "This isn't good," he noted quietly.

"I know. Can you find Willow and Tara?"

"They're with Professor Snape, I think," he said, glancing around the room. He closed the windows before Neville could complain about the breeze. "Why?"

"Because we need her and we need Angel and Spike. And we need them now, Harry." Harry nodded and pulled a cloak out of his trunk, putting it on and disappearing. Xander walked out the opening door, making it seem like he had opened it, and ran into Doyle, who looked grim. "It's gone."

"What is?" Giles asked. "Where's the film?"

"Gone to be developed. Cordy's got it," he told him, looking into his eyes. "You used to say that there was a counter to every spell, Giles. You'd better find one soon." He walked away, but allowed himself to be herded down to the common room. He looked at the family standing around. "At least make them comfortable," he complained. "Make them sit or whatever."

"Sure," Buffy said, looking up from her magazine. "Sit," she ordered.

Xander sighed. "Why did I think it was you," he told her. "What weakness was it this time, Buffy?"

"Who, this muggle?" she said, standing up. "She's very easily enchanted." She looked him over. "As you should be." A wand appeared in her hand and started to wave, but a spark of Buffy tried to regain control, fighting over moving the wand.

"No, let him," he said calmly. "It won't work." The wand waved and he felt a wave of heat flow across him. He shook his head a few times then smiled. "See." He stood up. "Gee, I guess someone forgot to tell you, it's really hard to spell me with the protections Willow's been putting on me." He looked at the portrait that was the doorway into the house as it opened, letting in the House's teacher. "Hey, Prof. Are you okay or not?" he asked. She waved her wand and another wave of heat went across him, more heat this time. He shook it off, but it took longer. He checked his watch. "Ten minutes. I'm impressed," he told her.

Giles cleared his throat. "I told you it wouldn't work," he told Buffy.

"Yay." She sent a bolt of energy at him. "Shut up." She looked at Xander again, walking around him. "Hmm, very well protected for a muggle. And not a magic that I recognize either." She stopped as the portrait opened again, this time admitting the two witches and Harry. "Well, what have we here?" she asked, looking them over. "Ah, I see who put the enchantments on him. No wonder the broom worked for him."

"Wrong again," Xander said, turning and catching her in a headlock, kicking her in the back of the knees to bring her to the floor. He let Willow handle everyone else. "Get Giles!" he called out when the fireplace poker went flying over his head. "Just knock them out. It's a possession of some sort."

Tara squealed and pulled a piece of chalk out of her pocket and grabbed a candle, going to start doing glyphs on the walls.

"What are you doing?" Xander called, working on suffocating Buffy long enough to knock her out.

"Doing what Giles did with Peeves," Tara called, finishing the last one. She lit her candle and joined hands with Willow chanting something in a language he had never heard before. Everyone in the room went limp and pretty streams of smoke drifted out of them, gathering in the middle of the room.

"Who are you?" Willow called out. "Tell me or I'll destroy you."

The spirit laughed. "Not even one such as yourself can destroy me," it hissed, sounding kinda male. "I have what you need. Not even that owl can get past my guardians."

"We'll see," Xander said, letting Buffy go. He walked over to Willow and Tara, taking Tara's hand. "You can drain energy off me," he told her. "Willow's had to do it before."

"Just suck at him like a straw," Willow whispered.

Tara closed her eyes and concentrated, pulling some of Xander's energy within her and sharing it with her girlfriend. The spirit quit laughing and looked at Xander. "No, you leave *after* you tell us," Tara told him, her voice and manner changing to more of Xander's.

The spirit shrieked and tried to get out but another spirit joined it in the circle, fighting it.

"Way to go, Peeves," Willow shouted, sending their friendly poltergeist some of her energy. "Beat him up, he's nothin' but a bully."

Peeves looked shocked for an instant but went back to fighting the other spirit pretty quickly. Soon, there was only one spirit and Peeves was grinning. "Thanks," he said, smiling at Willow. "You aren't bad, for firsties." He disappeared as soon as the spell was broken.

"Wow," Hermione said from her position on the floor. "That was..." She looked around. "Was that Peeves helping?"

"Yeah. Giles was the first one who asked him his name," Xander said with a shrug. "He likes Giles."

"And Spike," Willow told him. "Spike laughed at one of his jokes earlier today."

"Ah." Xander thought about it. "Yeah, I guess those two would get along." He looked at Tara, who had flopped into a chair. "You okay? You kinda went all 'me' back there."

She looked up at him. "I am never doing that again," she said, showing that she still had a little bit of him in her.

Xander grinned at her. "Oh, come on, why not?" he whined. "I'm a nice guy. Fun and everything."

Willow smacked him on the arm. "Mine, get your own witch." She bent down to check on Tara, then looked at the rest of the group. She made her way around to each of them, smiling at Ron since he looked the most shaken. "It's all right. Possession happens sometimes." She stood up, making Giles her last stop. "You normal again?" she asked him. He gave her a pained look. "Good. Go see Dru." She looked at Xander again. "I'm going to figure out which protection it was that saved him."

Xander grinned. "Don't worry about it, I doubt you'd be able to put it on everyone." He nodded at the portrait hole. "I'm not sure the Headmaster's free or not."

"He is," Professor McGonagall said quietly, looking up at him. "I'm sure he was just pretending. He made too many slips." She stood up. "He's right about something though. Putting that sort of protection on everyone would be too tiring for you."

Willow nodded. "I know." She looked at Xander. "Did you get anything in the woods?"

"Lots, including pictures of the stone that Druscilla defaced." He glanced at the teacher. "That wasn't Hagrid that took me into the woods, and Harry said the dog wasn't Fang."

"Was it the same dog that got you last time?" George asked tiredly.

Xander thought back then nodded. "Yeah, it was." He walked over to where his friends were relaxing. "Why don't you guys go to bed and rest. Being possessed takes a lot out of a guy." He stood up as the door opened again and Professor Snape and Angel walked in. "Hey, Cordy's got our pictures."

Angel sighed. "Good work. Dru just gave up part of the plan." He looked around the room. "Are they clean?"

"We just de-possessed them," Willow said, flopping down into a chair to rest. "One of my protections on Xander kept it from working on him."

"It worked for about ten minutes," he corrected, "but I fought it off." He looked at Angel again. "I got pictures of the rock she scribbled on in the package too."

"Good," he said, smiling. "What else?"

"Um, two leprechauns, the tree hiding place of one. Some odd plants. Even a blue tree." He looked at Professor Snape, who looked stunned. "What? That's what I was sent out there to do."

"Who guided you out of the forest?" Snape asked.

"The dog we thought was Fang."

Snape looked at Harry. "It's him, isn't it," he said coldly.

Harry nodded. "Yes, he's here to help us."

"Are you *sure* of that?"

"If he hadn't been, then why would he have led me out of the woods in time to come back here and stop this?" Xander asked reasonably. He looked at Willow, who nodded. "I've got an idea. I know that there's something going on here and we'd like to provide a further spell once this is done. A truth spell." Snape gasped. "One in which there's no hope of getting past. She's used it on me and I couldn't even fudge about simple things like what color my underwear was."

Snape nodded. "We have a potion like that. Where is the Hagrid impersonator?"

"He walked off and left me," Xander said. "Can the spell and the liquid work together?"

"Yes," Willow said. "It'll work on anyone, even someone who's accused of something. As a matter of fact, it'll even work on Dru."

Angel smiled. "Let's do it," he said, helping her up. "This was just a playful salvo in the battle. He was testing us."

"Yeah, and he found a few open people," Xander pointed out. "How are we protecting the kids?"

"Easy," Dumbledore said as he walked in with a fidgeting man behind him. "We don't allow the fight into the school. Please do that truth work on the vampiress," he told Snape. "Figure out how to manage your potion with it, we might need it later if there's a trial to be held." Snape nodded and walked away. Dumbledore looked at Xander. "Well, you're a very resourceful man," he said finally, giving him a smile. "I got an owl from Hagrid almost an hour ago. Seems he was called to someone he know's side to help her." He looked around the room. "Did someone tell their parents?"

"I did," Harry said. "I sent Pidge to them."

"Good," Dumbledore said, giving him a smile. "You're going home with them."

"No," Xander said firmly. "That'll move the attack to their house. They've already been used once, that makes them more open for it. Trust me, it does," he said at the fidgeting man's opening mouth. "I've been there. Willow had to over-protect me to make sure it wouldn't happen again." He looked at the boys. "I think that moving some of them somewhere safer for the night might be best, the attack can't be long coming if they sent this sort of opening move."

Giles cleared his throat. "No, it's not far off. I do remember that much. I had one of the more senior spirits in me, as did Buffy." He looked down at his charge, then at Xander. "You did a good job knocking her out."

"Thanks. When?"

"Not tomorrow, but soon afterwards. Dumbledore has a point, Xander, they're going to be in danger here."

"They're going to be in more danger there," Xander pointed out. "There we can't ward them against this sort of stuff."

"True," McGonagall sighed as she stood up. "Professor Dumbledore, I request that I be put with the Weasleys when they're put up for their own good. I won't be of any use in the fight but I can be a hindrance."

Dumbledore nodded. "Of course." He looked at Giles. "Can your three ward a room?"

Giles thought about it then nodded. "Definitely. Between the three of us, we can put shields on a room that will be nearly impenetrable."

"Plus we'll have Buffy in there," Xander pointed out.

"True," Giles said with a smile. "And you."

"No. I'll take a position between them. A last resort position if I have to."

"Good," Dumbledore said. "You'll be at the front door with a few of your friends and the teachers. How long before the pictures get back?"

"Depends on how fast Hedwig finds her and if Cordy can find an all night photo development place."

"Where is she anyway?"

"London. Anya said so." Xander looked at him. "You should have known that." He looked at Angel. "You too." He saw the illusions come off and grabbed a stake from Buffy's belt, tossing it at what had looked like Angel. He grabbed a wooden table and faced off with what had been Giles before, looking him over. "Never send a minion to do a Master's job."

"That's right," Spike said from the doorway, after firing off a crossbow bolt into the minion's chest. He looked at the boy. "Cordy won't be in London until tomorrow."

"Hedwig can find her by other means. Even if she's told to go to London, if her target's not there, then she won't go there," Harry said tiredly. "I'm going to bed. Ron?" Ron nodded and followed him, and shortly afterward so did most of the Weasleys.

Xander looked at Spike. "Where were you?"

"In town." He shrugged. "The pouf's downstairs talking to his girl and so's Giles." He put the crossbow on his shoulder. "So?"

"We plan," Xander said, waving him in. "Come in, Spike."

Spike stepped through and looked around. "This is nice, gotta get me somethin' like this at home."

"Most crypts don't have fireplaces," Xander sighed, sitting down on the now empty couch. He looked at Percy, who was still sitting there. "What's up?" he asked. "You okay?"

"I was asked by the Ministry to come back and pretend to be my old self." He swallowed hard, looking at the boy. "You did a good job, much better than I could have."

"My first fight, I almost dogged out too," Xander said, patting him on the arm. "Don't worry about it."

"I like my desk," Percy declared as he stood up. "Professor Dumbledore, with your permission, may I go back to my former job?"

"Of course," Dumbledore said kindly. He looked at the fidgeting man beside him. "If Minister Fudge agrees."

"He does," Minister Fudge said, looking at the witch collapsed into a chair. "I think that's why we use wands."

"Yeah, but you can't do what she did with a wand," Xander told him. "Spike, can you give me an hour for a nap before we plan?"

"Sure," he said happily. "Just gonna sit here and enjoy the fire."

"Cool," Xander said through his yawn, closing his eyes. He fell asleep quickly, joining Tara in the land of Nap.

Giles shook his head as he walked in, looking at the vampire. "He's to be at the door, Spike. You with him."

"Good," Spike said. "I doubt I'd be able to go outside in the daylight."

Giles smiled. "Good. I'm going to bed also. You'll protect the house tonight." He got flipped off. "Thank you." He walked out, past the two wizards, who followed to ask him questions.

Spike relaxed into the comfortable but worn chair. "Yeah, this is the life," he sighed, smiling at the room.

***

Xander looked at the battle plans that had been drawn up, frowning at the weak spot he could see. "Um, Giles?" he asked, pointing out the obvious gap.

"We don't have anyone to go there," Giles told him. "It's against a wall with few windows and classes won't be being held in there."

"What about magical defenses?" he asked. "Man eating plants or something."

"I've asked Professor Dubmledor for help of that nature and he said he'd try and get us something. Most of the teachers will be busy keeping the students away from the school. Including Professor Snape I'm afraid."

"It's probably better that he's not here," Willow reminded Giles. "It seems like he's got a past with this sort of stuff." She looked at the plans. "Which witch am I?" Giles pointed out the double dots. "Tara and I?" Giles nodded. "Okay." She looked over the plan. "That leaves this area open, I can't get a spell off there," she said, pointing at the same area Xander had. She tracked across the map. "How about putting us here?" she asked, pointing at a spot that would put them between the two areas. "I could see both sides and we can cast where we can see."

Giles nodded.

Xander coughed. "Then you need to move a wizard closer to the water," Xander pointed out. He tapped a dot and it moved over to where he wanted it to; he really liked this magical battle map which had been found in the library. "That'll give us better magical coverage." He tapped a few of the archers around the doorway, spreading them out. "How about that for a night assault?"

"That would be best," Giles agreed, giving him a smile. "You still have memories from the soldier, don't you?"

"No," Xander told him, "I've done this before." He looked up, seeing the confusion on his face. Everyone knew something was controlling Giles, but they also knew he was harmless to their side, so they were letting the whatever stay for now. He looked at Spike, who was sleeping in the corner. "I want Spike beside me and Angel in front of us," he decided, moving the dots around. "Spike and I are both endgame fighters, that's what we do best." Giles nodded and so did Spike, who woke up partially. "You're with me, Blondie."

"'Kay," Spike said. "Pouf's in front?"

"Yeah, Angel's in front of us and we're in the foyer. Even during a night attack." Spike nodded, he understood why. Xander looked at Willow. "If it comes down to a night attack, I want you to find a comfy spot and produce light," he said.

She nodded. "I can do that, at least a little bit. The teachers with wands can do that too."

"I want them shooting at the people. Even if you two switch off, one of you produces light and the other fires off spells." Willow nodded again. "Good. Any questions?"

"What about this?" Willow said, tracing a small underground pathway.

"I asked the twins, who said it was blocked off. Is their room ready in case it's a night attack?"

"All ready," Willow assured him, giving him a smile. "I warded that room for everything I could, even down to spider attacks."

"Good. Has Buffy calmed down yet and accepted it?"

"Yeah, as of breakfast she was down to minor griping but she understood why."

Xander rolled up the map. "Good." He looked up as Professor McGonagall walked into the classroom they were using to plan in. "Hey, how you feelin'?"

"Fine," she said with a bright smile. "Are the plans done?"

"Yeah. We'll give the teachers their assignments as they run out. Willow?"

"On it, Generale," she said, rolling the 'r'. She saluted him and took the map, going to tell the teachers where they would be with Snape, their liaison. Dumbledore was in too many meetings to be part of this right now.

Xander looked at the few people still in the room. "I'd go rest people, even if the fight isn't until tomorrow." He glanced at Doyle, who nodded. "Good. I'm ordering a nap." He clapped his hands and everyone started for their rooms but Professor McGonagall. "What's up?" he asked, hopping up to sit on the table.

"Have you really done this before?" she asked quietly.

"I fought during an Ascension," he told her. "Buffy's job was to get the demon into place while I blew it up. I also got the other students into place to help her." He got comfortable. "Even that wasn't the first time we've had an organized fight. The better organized your fights are when it's a major evil, the more people come out of it alive." She nodded, looking somber. "I did my best to minimize everyone's exposure while giving them the best advantage for firing. Your teachers will be okay," he assured her. "No one should die during the fight. Getting hurt is something else though." She nodded again. "Okay enough?"

"Much," she said, giving him a little smile. "I'm going with the children tomorrow during the daytime excursion."

"Hey, have fun. Giles promised we could go this weekend." He slid off the table and grinned at her. "The boys have been telling me all sorts of stuff about Hogsmeade and I can't wait." He patted her on the arm as he walked past, going to take his own advice and catch a nap. He walked into his room and stopped when he saw the owls sitting there. He undid both their packages and fed them both some of the treats he had gotten off Harry. "Harry's in his room," he told Hedwig, opening the door. "Harry, visitor," he called. She flew out as Harry stuck his head out of his room. Xander left his door open, going to sit at the desk and pet Pidwidgeon. "Hey, little one. Did you have a nice trip home?" He took that note to read, smiling at the curses on it. "I know," he said. He fed her a treat. "Can you go back?" he asked.

"Let her rest," Ron said from the doorway. "We can use one of the post owls in the tower." He walked in and petted his owl. "My parents didn't send a Howler?"

"No, they sent a message full of cursing and promises to come up and get you tomorrow," he said, handing it over. He wrote out another note and rolled it up, handing it to Ron. "Put it with whatever you guys decide to send home, but get it out soon so they know to go to Hogsmeade and wait for you."

Ron nodded. "Thanks." He blushed faintly. "Xander, thanks. For last night and all that. It was kind of creepy."

Xander smiled. "Ron, I've been there. Mine was a hyena." Ron's mouth hung open. "Yeah. So don't worry about it. Go send your mother your love."

Ron nodded and left, walking past his brothers in the doorway. "Should I tell Mom anything?" he asked them.

"We just sent her a note," Fred said, taking the one Ron held out. "You really told them?" he asked Xander. "She'll never let you come home with us now."

George snorted. "You're kidding, right?" he asked, taking the note to read. "She's got a feast already planned for whenever we can pull him home with us." He smiled at his brother. "Don't worry about us or Ginny. We just sent something to her. Percy's already gone too."

Ron nodded. "Okay. I'll go get one from Harry and Hermione then." He walked back to his room and got a note from Harry, then went to go find his other friend.

George and Fred walked in and closed the door. "Xander, we're helping," Fred declared.

Xander turned to look at them, giving them a smile. "Of course you are. You're helping guard Buffy, your brother and sister, and the Professor, who's majorly upset about all this." George frowned at him. "Guys, I don't think they're going to try another possession trick, but we need you safe."

"Tough," George said. "We're helping."

"Okay." Xander pulled out a secondary map of the school, one with the classrooms marked on it. "You guys will be here," he said, pointing at the rooms. "Whatever you guys can hit out the windows are fair game." The twins nodded. "Personally, I think something's going to be coming through the forest, but that's just me." He looked up, seeing the understanding in their eyes. "Whatever you do, don't beat Buffy up too hard. She's had a bit too many problems recently." They all nodded. "Good. Everyone else is napping and we're still on for this weekend for Hogsmeade. Do something while I look at these pictures." He opened the packet from Cordelia, smiling at the note. "Um, can one of you guys go find Wes and give him this packet?" he asked, holding it up with the note. "That's their copy."

Fred took it and went to go find the shy British muggle.

George leaned over, looking at the pictures Xander had spread out on the desk. "What's that?" he asked, pointing at a picture of a tree.

"That and this one," he said, picking it up, "were the ones I really wanted to look at. Most of the rest just need to be checked for anything really strange and then they can go to Dumbledore." He picked up his tiny magnifying glass, then took the one his helper handed over. "Thanks, man. Those dime store ones can get really fuzzy." He examined the writing, searching through the remaining pictures for the blow up Cordelia had promised him. He found one but not the other.

Fred came back in, smiling. "Did you know vampires snore?"

"Only Spike," Xander muttered. "And he does it really loudly." He looked up, smiling at the picture Fred was holding out. "Oh, man, you're a dream." He looked over it carefully, reading the small writing. "Oh, yeah, this is priceless," he said, smiling coldly. He got up and left everything but one picture there, going down to talk with their one link to the dark side.

***

Wesley looked at the pictures that had just been delivered and swore, getting up to show them to Angel and Giles, who were playing chess. "We've got a few problems," he said, meeting Doyle in the hall. "Druscilla knows more than she let on." He walked into Giles' room, tossing the pictures down in front of Angel. "She knew."

Angel picked up the pictures, shaking his head. "She's always been a seer." He looked at Doyle, who shook his head. "Did Cordy send anything else?"

"A note," Wesley said, going back for it. He came back into the room and found Xander standing there with a magnifying glass to check one of the pictures. "What's wrong?"

"This tree changed between pictures," Xander said, showing it to him. "The first one had a warning about the forest and the denizens rising up to fight for the school. This one has something else entirely." He smiled. "I'm going down to talk to Dru, give me ten minutes." He left them alone.

Wesley looked at the photo again, then at Angel, who shook his head. "Do you think someone's helping us this much?" he asked.

"Yeah, I do," Angel said after thinking about it. "I think someone planned this from before Dru was sent here." He got up, checking his watch. "I'll go down." He left their room, going down to watch Xander from the shadows. After all, Dru was his childe.

***

Xander smiled at the vampiress locked in the cage, moving closer to the bars. "Druscilla," he called, waking her up. "Hi, will you talk to me?" She got up and came over, rubbing down his stubbly cheek. "I found your rock," he told her.

She smiled. "The Dark Lord has no idea whom he's dealing with," she said in her usual sing- song manner. "I'm not his toy. I'm my daddy's toy." She smiled at him, slowly letting her feeding face come out. "I could be your toy," she offered.

"No thanks," he said, stepping away from her, getting a small cut on his cheek. "Dru," he sighed. "I'd like to let you out, but you know so much more than you're letting on." She smiled at that. "And I can't let you out if you don't tell me all of it. That's what your daddy told me." She hummed an old song. "Dru, focus," he said, his voice slipping into a command tone. She looked at him, her eyes going wide. "Focus on me," he said, stepping closer again. "I need to know what's going on in that head of yours, Dru, and I need to know what the plan is."

She laughed. "Of course you do," she said, smiling at him. "But I want a taste first. I'm oh so hungry," she purred, coming closer again. She ran her finger over the shallow cut then licked it. "You taste nice," she told him.

Xander nodded. "I know. I'll let you have a little more if you tell me everything you know about the attack."

She backed away from the bars. "Why should I do that?" she asked. "Just a taste isn't that much of an incentive."

"It's that or a stake," he told her.

"The cow sort?" she asked.

He shrugged, smiling at her. "Maybe."

She laughed. "No it's not, the stones tell me it's not." She moved closer again. "I'll whisper it in your ear," she offered. "Daddy's just come down."

Xander leaned his head against the bars, one hand on the stake in his belt. She leaned in and whispered in his ear, then bit it, making him yelp. She laughed and backed away. "That wasn't nice, Dru," Xander told her. "I want the truth, is that it? Because that's not what your stone says."

"That's not my stone," she told him, giving him a smile. "I do so love these games."

Xander snorted. "Games? Dru, if I don't get a straight answer, they're going to be finding your dust in a few hundred years, right where you're standing now."

She frowned at him. "That's not nice," she pouted.

"Who said I was nice?"

"But you are, you're a nice kitten," she said, flowing back over to whisper in his ear again. "I promise not to nibble until I'm through," she said when his ear wasn't pressed close enough.

Xander pushed his head back against the cage and smiled at everything she was telling him. "Okay," he said, letting her bite his ear again. He pulled back after a moment of her sucking hard on his earlobe. "Enough?" he asked her.

"No, but it'll do." She smiled at the shadow Angel was hiding in. "He's such a naughty daddy, don't let him out of your sight. There's no telling what he'll do if you do." She smiled and laid back down on her bed, going back to singing to her new friends, the stones.

Xander nodded up the stairs, letting Angel follow him. She was good. He went to find Spike, there had been a cryptic comment in there and if anyone knew Dru-speak, it was Spike.

***

Spike looked at the modified plans, smiling at them. "Does anyone know yet?" he asked.

"No, not yet." Xander frowned and moved a dot, then moved it back. "We still have a weak spot," he grumbled.

"Too true, but we've got it covered from above," Spike noted, tapping the archer's position, where Gunn and Wesley would be.

"They're just too fragile of a line," Xander said sullenly. He looked up at Spike. "I don't want anyone to die, Spike, a bunch of kids are counting on it."

"Then count on a bunch of those same brats to get involved. Hell, whelp, they're all wizards and such. They'll fight if they have to."

"Which isn't healthy for a kid to do," Xander reminded him. "Kids who have to fight too young end up wrong as adults." He sat down in a nearby chair, looking at the map. "If we only had one more really good wizard, I'd be happy."

"What about that Harry boy?" Spike asked. "You know he's gonna be there."

"I know. Same as I know the Weasleys will be." He frowned. "Same as I know a few of the Slytherin kids will be there and not on our side." He looked at his co-conspirator. "We don't have enough troops."

"Can I help with that?" Harry asked from the doorway. Xander waved him in. "I've fought him before."

"I know," Xander told him calmly. "I was told." He patted the boy on the shoulder. "You've done more than your share of fighting, Harry. We don't want to risk you."

"So give Hermione and I a hidden spot. Ron won't be there." His face looked harder than his years should have allowed. "I won't let him be hurt this time."

Xander nodded. "It's always hardest when they come along because they like you and then get hurt." He looked at the plan. "I don't want you there, but if you happen to show up, I want you here," he said, tapping a dot. "And I want Hermione here," he said, tapping another one, both on either side of the main doorway. "It's going to be an early evening attack, so I want you to produce some light, some fireworks, something like that. I know you know some curses, but use them in self-defense to get into the castle during the fallback."

Harry thought about it then nodded. "All right. I won't attack."

"Good." Xander gave him a smile. "Go eat and rest. It'll be tomorrow, during supper."

Harry sighed. "Right after we're all back and sated from running through the village. Did you plan that part?"

"We weren't sure if it was going to be a daytime attack or not, so yeah, I did." He smiled. "Go and relax during the day, Harry, you're going to need it later. If you're tense before the fight starts, then you get too tired during it and you end up making fatal mistakes."

Harry smiled. "I realize that now. All right. I'll tell Hermione and Fred. George will be making sure Ginny and Ron are safe."

"Good. I don't want to risk them either." He looked the boy over. "What we really need is at least one more experienced wizard at the rear of the attack," he told him seriously. "And I mean one that's experienced in fighting."

"I might know someone," Harry admitted then he turned and ran from the room.

Spike smiled at him. "Useful, that knowledge was."

"Yeah, it was, but I think we've got this planned too tightly. There's always a loophole and I don't know what it might be."

"Unless he's gonna possess all the kids, I don't know what it could be," Spike told him.

Xander sat up straight. "How much magic would it take to stir up trouble in the great hall?"

"Not much," Spike noted. "Why? You think he's gonna provoke a fight?"

"Which the teachers would have to stop," Xander pointed out.

Spike sat down hard. "Yeah, that might be it." He shook himself. "Can we counteract that?"

"Yeah, maybe," Xander said thoughtfully. "Go tell Willow and Hermione about that thought, let them start working on it." Spike nodded and got up, leaving the mostly dark room for the mostly dark hallways. "That would be a great play, especially with those Slytherin kids," he muttered, getting up to see how he could counteract a charge coming from behind.

***

George looked up from watching his brother and sister sleep the sleep of the heavily drugged, giving Xander a hard look. "Are you sure this was necessary?"

"What would happen to Harry and your parents if Ron got hurt this time?" Xander asked as he walked in. He was dressed in his favorite patrol outfit, black jeans and a tight enough t-shirt with a utility belt around his waist. "I promised your parents that at least Ron would be safe this time." He patted him on the shoulder. "Go hide them, George, and go with them."

"No," he said firmly, standing up. "I'm in this fight. Voldemort tried to take me over, it's personal now."

Xander shook his head and squeezed George's hand. "Never make it personal, George, you don't survive the fight that way." The young man winced. "Anger is a great weapon but it's one that's used on you, not one that you use on someone else. Unless you go into a blind rage and destroy everything in sight, including yourself. Got me?" George nodded, swallowing hard. "Think of it as defending. You're protecting your brother and sister. You're protecting your school and your twin. You're protecting everything that you believe is right, but you can't be more than pissed about it."

George nodded. "Thanks, Xander."

"Any time. Hide them now, George, and then get ready." He gave the hand another squeeze then left to check on Willow, who was finishing up the last rune in the calm and quiet spell for the great hall. "We set?" he asked as he walked up behind them.

"Almost, one last line," Willow said, drawing it. Inside, the voices went from a happy pitch to a somber, mellow, and calm pitch almost instantly. "That should restrict all fighting to low key verbal assaults," she said as she stood up. She looked him over. "This is going to be bad, isn't it?"

"Possibly, but not as bad as graduation. Here we're actually on top, your sort of magic isn't well known." He tweaked her nose. "Go get ready and take up your position. The kids are hidden." He walked away, going to find Spike. He was chain smoking in the foyer and pacing. "It could be worse," he said as he walked up to the nervous vampire. "Some of them aren't human."

"True," Spike mumbled, looking up at him. "What about those that are?"

"Spike, he's got creatures with him and humans that have given up on their humanity. Try to take at least them out."

Spike nodded, crushing his last cigarette under his boot. "All right. I'll do my best."

"Good. If you can't do it, then fall back and guard the hallway. I'll take over the front duties." Spike nodded again and handed him his crossbow and quivers. "Cool. Thanks. Where did you get the money to get weapons?"

"They were waiting for us," Spike said with a shrug and a smile.

"As long as they're not stolen and we won't have to deal with the magic police," Xander sighed, going to take up his spot. He could see most of the rest of everyone in position, including Willow, who was just walking around the castle. Everyone looked so casual and relaxed. That was good. As long as they were taking this seriously. He straightened up as he heard hooves coming up the driveway, squinting out into the faint light. "Spike, is that a horse?"

"No, it's not," Spike said, raising his crossbow. "Want me to hit it?"

"No, I'm betting it's a messenger. Let Dumbledore handle that one. Remember, hit on the arms, the wand arms." He smiled at the great room behind him. "At least no one can just appear in here," he told himself. "That's blocked, which is of the good." He watched as the messenger said something to the Headmaster, not getting off his deer. When he didn't get the answer he wanted, he threw something down and rode off, back into the forest. Where screaming was soon heard.

Xander checked with Spike, who nodded, then walked out to talk to the Headmaster. "An 'I'm giving you an hour to let us have it' message?" he asked jovially.

Dumbledore smiled. "Something like that," he agreed. "Lemondrop?" he asked, making one appear.

Xander shook his head. "I'm no good in a fight if I'm hyper." He looked over at Giles. "Who is that in him?"

"That's a little help that's not supposed to be here." He looked at Xander again. "I will hold you and your witch to the promise of that truth spell."

"Cool by me. I'll be more than happy to help someone get free or get caught." He shrugged and jogged back to his post just as a few riders came out of the woods. Xander turned around and looked at them, then ran for his position, not wanting to be caught outside during the opening salvo. Just as he dove inside, a massive wail went up around the building and all the ghosts floated out to help too. "Go over to the west side," Xander called to Peeves. "Harass them."

Peeves smiled and went to do what he did best, cackling the whole way.

Xander winced as he heard various curses floating out from the hidden wizards. Then he heard Willow's voice off to his right. "Gee, isn't that handy," she complained. "So much easier than chanting spells and playing with herbs." Xander almost laughed, it sounded like she was pouting. "Maybe we should try and learn their ways, Tara. It's got to be easier than what we do."

Xander didn't hear Tara's reply, he was too busy firing at a deer that was running his way.

Spike fired at a few of the boggles that were being sent their way, cheering as he saw the ghosts stop a few by floating through them. He let one get close enough to look them in the eyes then fired at it, bringing it down right in front of him. "Mind if I have a snack later?" he called out to Xander, who was switching quivers.

"Spike, we win this and I'll personally let you take a pint off me."

Spike chuckled, going back to his beating back the bad guys. "This isn't so bad," he called over, then smiled at the groan.

"Never say that," Xander complained.

Willow heard Xander and Spike's banter and smiled at her girlfriend, sending a zap of power at any wizard they caught trying to cast something. It was an effective but annoying approach. "Want to?" she asked.

"Willow, we'll be too tired later," Tara cautioned.

"If we do it right, there won't need to be a later," Willow reminded her.

"Let's keep doing this for now," Tara said, zapping another one that was raising a wand, knocking it from her hand.

Willow kissed her girlfriend on the cheek. "Okay, I like your way. Go for the wands," she called out to their people, getting the wizards hidden around them to switch tactics.

Xander cursed as his string broke, tossing the now useless weapon behind him. "I really wish I had magic," he cursed, glaring at the tall figure on the horse behind the new troops of wizards. "How many more can he pull out?"

"Kids are comin'," Spike said quietly.

Xander got out of their way, watching what the six kids would do. All of them Slytherins. He watched as one of them stepped out but the door slammed and pushed him back in. "You can't go out," Xander told them. "It's not your time to fight yet. Save it until you won't die on your first casting." He glared at the blond boy that stepped out in front. "Malfoy, get your ass back to your house or I'm going to beat it for you."

"I'm a minor," he sneered. "You can't do that and not go to jail. That's the muggle law."

"Who said you're going to tell anyone," Spike asked, coming up behind him. He grabbed the boy and spun him around, cold-cocking him, knocking him out. "The one problem with evil, most of us can't fight worth a damn," he muttered, going over to a window that opened to continue firing out. "Xander, get the door open and shove those brats somewhere."

Xander grabbed a few of them and shoved them in a nearby closet, locking them in. The rest were grabbed and taken into an empty classroom against the outer wall and locked in there. He came out and looked at the unconscious boy, shaking his head. "Where do I put him?" he asked Spike.

"Out on the lawn for all I care," Spike noted, firing another arrow. "Give me yours, I'm about to go out."

Xander handed over his quiver and picked up the boy, going to put him in the closet with his friends. "Here, have him and keep quiet or I'm finding duct tape," he warned as he locked them in again. He walked out and opened the door, staring up at the man standing there. "Hey, Spike, look it's a *bad* guy!" He pulled out an obsidian knife he had found in Dumbledore's office earlier in the day and held it at the ready. "You get in through me."

"And me," Hermione said, standing up. "Xander, the rest of the wizards are all stunned."

"Okay. Theirs?"

"Are gone too," Harry said as he too stood up. "Voldemort, you're uglier than you used to be. Did your body not suit you this time?" he sneered.

"Kid's good," Spike said in appreciation, looking up at the dark wizard. "Xander, kill the squirt. He's not worth this teasing. It's a waste of genius."

Voldemort looked at the vampire then dismissed him. "I have no use for you," he sneered, starting to get down.

"Gee, feeling's mutual," Xander said coldly, stabbing the horse he was riding in the shoulder, making it buck and throw him off. "Harry, can you unfreeze the wizards?"

"Not without getting them all free," Hermione said, looking at the still battlefield. "What about your friends?"

"Coming," Willow panted, appearing. "Sorry, Tara got buried." She looked at the horse, then at it's rider. "Poor horse," she said, glaring at Xander. "You had to hurt it?"

"It's between muscle groupings and it's easily healed," he complained. "Don't give me that look, stomp the asshole."

Willow grinned. "Of course I will," she said, holding out a hand at the trapped wizard, the one with the now broken wand. "Metamorphose rubberi," she said harshly. There was a shimmer and the figure started to change but his own magic came out and tried to stop it. "Well, shoot," she said, stomping her foot. "Screw this. Distende evoluso," she yelled, putting all her power behind it.

The wizard started to shift but again, his magic defeated her.

"Try somethin' smaller," Spike said as the other wizards started to wake up. "Round two," he called out, running out to get into the fray with the wizards.

Xander shrugged. "Just light him up."

She smiled. "Illuminate!" she yelled, pointing at him. Suddenly, the wizard on the ground became very bright. Very, very bright. She giggled and dodged his weak attempt to hit her. "Yay," she said, "you can't harm me. You tried and you *lost*!"

"Morte," he hissed, pointing his finger at her.

Willow stiffened but then she relaxed after a minute. "Hey, that felt good," she told Xander, giving him a grin. "I'm going to have to remember that spell for when I'm having an alone moment."

Xander groaned. "Willow, take him away." He picked up Spike's crossbow and fired at two wizards who were pointing their wands at her, shooting them in the thigh.

"Why the thigh?" Willow asked.

"Too painful to cast?"

"Not in this type of magic," Willow told him. "Get the wands, that's their source and forming tool. Sorta like my candle and herb set in one."

Xander nodded and aimed at the wands, hitting one and making its owner drop and point it at the other person. He watched as it went off, shooting a rocket of power at the other wizard, who now had a very large hole in his stomach. "Whoa," he said in appreciation. "Think they'd show me that? It'd be killer for dusting vamps."

Willow shrugged. "Not a clue." She dragged the bad wizard away, taking him over to Dumbledore. "I think I broke him," she said as she dropped the crying wizard in front of him. "I'm going to check on Tara, unless you need me?"

He shook his head, giving her a smile. "Take her up to the infirmary. It's better to get the flow started now so we don't clog it up later." He looked down at his enemy, then at the young girl running toward him with his obsidian knife. "Ms. Granger, I did not give you permission to get that from my office," he told her gently.

"Xander had it," she explained. "Here, I think you need it more. That's not Voldemort. Harry said so."

"I know," Dumbledore sighed. "I have known. This is his first emissary." He cut the string of beads holding the illusions on 'Voldemort' and the troops. Down the field, Spike howled in pain. "Well, that does have an out clause," he said happily. He looked down at his former student. "Wormtail," he said in greeting.

"My Lord will save me," he called. "Retreat to fight again!" he called out. A few of the wizards heard him and left, apparating to another location. The rest saw what was going on and ran away. Peter smiled cruelly. "You can't even prove I'm me," he told him.

"Oh, I get it now," Willow said. "You want me to truth spell *him*!"

Dumbledore smiled at her. "Him and someone else. We'll do that tonight." He whistled, bringing an owl down to him. He pulled a note out and sent it with her, watching the snowy white owl fly away.

"You took Hedwig?" Hermione said. "How? She won't listen to me."

"She likes me," Dumbledore said with a shrug. "Come get this," he called out to Snape. He walked away, sure that the two girls had the bad wizard well in hand for a few minutes. He walked over to where Spike was standing. "Your thoughts are very interesting my friend," he said as he walked past him to where Xander was sitting on the steps drinking a glass of water. "Are you all right?"

"Yup and I've got six students locked up for you."

Dumbledore nodded. "I know." He patted him on the head as he walked past. "If you had magic, I'd admit you as an adult student," he called after him. He smiled at the soft swear. "We'll see what we can find for you," he called as he walked up to his office and the nervous Minister of Magic sitting behind his desk. "We caught Peter."

"What?" Cornelius Fudge shouted, jumping up. "He's dead!"

"He's not dead, he's who did what you accused another person of. We can prove it, if you're willing to listen and call a trial together."

"How?" he asked warily.

"The new witches have a truth spell. Along with our own truth serum, we can get it all out and he won't be able to hide anything. Not even the color of his underwear." His eyes twinkled and he smiled. "Call a trial together."

"I'm the Minister. I'll call the dementors."

"You do and I'll see that you're taken out of your job," Dumbledore said quietly. "Because I can prove what I'm saying. He turned and left the room, going down to find Harry. He found him right where he expected him to be, beside Hermione checking to see if she was injured in any way. "Harry, we need him now," he said quietly. "We can prove he didn't do it now." Harry looked up at him and nodded. "Will he allow it?"

"He will," Harry said, standing up. "He's down at Hagrid's house."

"That's fine. Go tell him and we'll be up here waiting on the trial." He nodded at Hermione. "Go with him," he told her. She nodded and jogged after him.

Xander looked up from where he was still sitting. "How many got hurt?"

"A few, mostly spell related. Except for that nice girl, Tara. Some stones from the castle fell on their position and she's got a slight concussion I think." He patted the boy on the shoulder. "On your way home, I'm going to make sure you can stop in Diagon Alley. There's some things down there which might be able to help you." He smiled at Giles, the real one, as he walked up. "Where's your spirit helper?"

"Gone back to where he had been." He smiled down at Xander. "You did an excellent job."

"Cool. How did Ethan take you over?"

Giles smirked. "I'm not going to tell you, dear boy, but I will say this much. Sometimes it pays to form strong bonds." He smiled at the Headmaster. "I would like to arrange to stay and study here if I may."

"I'll see what I can do," Dumbledore said. "But I thought you were staying until we could find a full time Paranormal teacher."

"Wow," Xander said, holding out a hand. "Good job, Giles. Want us to watch your place for you?"

Giles shook his head. "I'll find a new one once I get back." He smiled. "And I will be back."

"You're telling Buffy, right?" Xander asked warily. "I'm not even wanting to go near that one."

Giles chuckled. "Of course. Right after I take you all to Hogsmeade and she's full of Chocolate Frogs." He walked past them, going up to help in the infirmary.

Dumbledore smiled at Xander. "He'll be back. Give him a year or so." He stood up as an official car, only used by top members of the Ministry, floated down with another high member of the Ministry of Magic. "Are you here to hear the truth?" he asked.

"Yes, Albus, I am. I want to hear about this truth spell first."

"Willow could put you under it," Xander offered. "It's not that hard."

He looked at the boy. "He's not a wizard," he said harshly.

"He organized tonight's event," Dumbledore said with a shrug. "Our new Paranormal teacher brought him over."

This new man frowned but followed the Headmaster inside the school, shutting the door behind them.

Xander finished off his water and looked around at his troops, smiling at Spike. "Hey, how's the head?" he asked.

"Better. Bloody illusions."

"It's all a state of mind," Xander quipped, getting up to go inside. "I'm hungry, wanna go eat with me?"

"Sure," Spike said, following him into the school.

***

Albus smiled at the group, looking around the room. "Today," he said, once the students were all quiet. "We lose a few new friends to their own lives." A few kids, namely the Weasleys, booed. "Now, now," he said gently, "you'll be seeing them again soon, boys." He smiled at the twins. "Tonight, we also celebrate a travesty of justice being reversed and the real culprit being caught and given life in Azkaban." A few of the students cheered at that, namely the Weasleys and their friends. He laughed lightly. "It's good to know that you have your priorities straight. Now, raise your glasses of juice in toast to our new friends, some of who we will be seeing very soon."

The students all stood and raised their glasses to the people who had helped them defend their schools, cheering for them.

Dumbledore cleared his throat. "As for why we have a few seats open, it saddens me to say that a few of you were found wanting to go out and join the attack on the school. Those ones have been sent home and are hereby expelled from this school of wizardry." There was a loud gasp. "Yes, truly, it bothers me too," he said, smiling at the young blond woman who had just been pinched by Ron, trying hard not to laugh. "As for them, we will from now on consider them former students." He put his glass down. "I won't lie to you this time either, children. It was close out there, and this may not be the last fight, but we will do our best to protect you and everyone who is with us at the time. Thanks to our new friends, we now have some warning of when evil is coming for us. Also thanks to them, we have a way of defending ourselves and a plan in place to quiet the hall when it gets too noisy." There was a loud booing at that, but it was in good humor since it was followed by laughter. "I hereby do proclaim tonight to be a feast in honor of our friends and a new holiday for Hogwarts. The day we defeated our first open attack!" He sat down to the clapping, looking at his teachers. He stood back up. "One more thing, when you think about next year's classes, we have added on a new temporary position. Mr. Giles has agreed to stay and teach the Paranormal to any who want it." He sat back down, watching as the students all talked to each other.

Willow smiled at Tara and took her hand to hold. "I'm happy, are you?" she asked as the food appeared on their plates.

"Yep," Tara said, giving Willow her brightest smile. "But I want to see if there's a school like this at home. I'd like to know and maybe petition to get in."

Willow grinned. "Me too." They looked at Xander. "What about you?" they asked.

"Me?" he asked, looking at the girls across from him. "I go home and go back to work, and at night, I go patrol or go find good books about gryphons." He shrugged. "That's my life. But I do hope that you find a school like that. We'll be waiting on you two and Giles to get back."

Willow blew him a kiss. "Thanks, Xander."

"Welcome, you know that. Silly girls," he told them. "This is what friends do." He grinned at them then looked at the twins, who looked really sad. "Hey, you two can always come visit me," he offered.

George smiled at him. "Just you wait, Xander Harris. I'm sure that something's going to be coming to visit you." He winked and looked at Fred.

"And it'll probably be our parents," Fred said, giving him a smile of his own.

"I'd better stock up on catalogs then," Xander joked. The twins laughed and patted him on the shoulders. "Just as long as I get a letter every now and again and I'm invited to graduation."

"We don't really do that here," Fred told him.

"We do," George said, "but it's not really an invite everyone to it the way you Americans do it." He saw the confused look. "I asked Tara."

"Oh." Xander nodded and shrugged at the same time. "Yeah, ours are more of a picture taking time." He looked over at Tara, who was blushing, then at Willow, who was looking smug. "Keep it up, girls, and I'll make you sit next to Angel on the way back."

Willow shook her head. "Uh-uh. I'm sitting next to Tara, who's sitting next to Wesley so we can get some sleep. You can sit next to snore boy and broody."

Xander shook his head. "I'll be as far away from the noise as I can get while I'm reading." He looked at the twins again. "I will be getting letters, right? And I'll figure out a way to get one to you too."

"Send it to Hogsmeade," Willow suggested. "Care of the twins and the school."

"True, if the post office delivers there," Xander reminded her.

"We'll figure it out and owl you," Fred told him, giving him a hug. "Are you sure you have to go tomorrow?"

"Yup, otherwise I lose my job and then my apartment." He gave them both hugs. "We'll stay in touch guys, and I promise you can come over and visit me sometimes. I'll even clean my apartment before you come."

George laughed. "All right then, we'll plan for this summer sometime. Dad should be able to figure out how to get us on a plane."

"Oh, that's easy," Willow said, giving him a smile. "You'll have to change to Pounds though. I doubt they take Wizard money."

"Will, I'm betting that there's some sort of wizardly travel agency somewhere around London." She shrugged. "They'll come visit all of us. And they can bring Ron to woo Buffy."

Willow snickered, hiding it behind her hand so Buffy wouldn't catch it. "I think they make a great couple," Tara said.

Xander nodded. "Me too. Maybe he'll make her settle down a little bit."

"Maybe he'll make her wear real clothes," Giles said as he walked up to them. He smiled at his children. "I have some news for you all. Tomorrow, you'll be taken to Diagon Alley with the Weasleys." They all looked confused. "It's the wizards shopping area," he explained, handing over a large bag. "This is your reward for catching one of the major players in Voldemort's prior reign of terror." He patted Xander on the back. "Split it with the rest and spend it wisely. Trust the Weasleys to help you pick out any books that you might need." He smiled at the girls. "And make sure he gets a good owl so he can write to the Weasleys. Mr. Weasley was adamant that he be allowed to do that much."

"Sure," Xander said, still shocked. "How will an owl get over here? It's a really long way."

"Maybe they have better birds than owls," Willow offered. "We'll look." She looked back up at Giles. "Can I get more spellbooks?"

"As long as you're careful," he sighed, shaking his head. "Not that it will do you much good. You won't have a wand to work with."

"Ollivander's Wand Shop is in Diagon," Ron told him. "They could get a wand if they're allowed."

"Not yet, Ron," Willow told him. "We're not ready for that yet. Maybe after some more learning." She smiled at Xander. "Can I use your bird to talk to Hermione?"

"Sure," he said, pushing the bag over to her. "Hold that for me, okay?" Willow nodded and put it in her lap. "Thanks, I don't want to drop it everywhere." He looked back up at Giles. "We're all set for tomorrow?"

"Day after," Giles told him. "Tomorrow, you shop. The day after, you go home. After you find Cordelia." He smiled and gave them all hugs. "Be good while I'm gone. I will be back in another year or so and I'll expect to find the town not only standing but also flourishing and all of you doing the same."

Xander grinned. "Sure, I'll keep Buffy in line." He looked down at the Slayer, who was giving him a frown. "What?" he asked innocently.

Buffy glared at Giles. "Are you sure you want to stay here for a year? It's going to be boring. No crisis, no problems. Nothing major happening."

"Which is it's brightest selling point," Giles told her, giving her an extra hug. "Be good, dear, I'll be home soon enough." He walked away, going back to the teacher's table.

Xander looked at the bag in Willow's lap. "We'll spend it together, but I'll make sure you two have a good book allowance."

She grinned. "I think there's enough in here to manage that." She looked up at the teacher's table, smiling at the man now sitting next to Giles. The new Defense Against the Dark Art's teacher, Harry's Godparent. "Maybe this has a happy ending for all of us," she suggested.

Xander shrugged and went back to eating. He was going to miss the school, but if he kept thinking about it, he was going to cry. Which he refused to do in front of his friends, old or new.

***

Xander woke up at the insistence of the shove he was being given, frowning at the person shoving him. "Will, this is a guy's room," he told her sleepily, rolling onto his back. "Is it time?"

"Yeah, it's time," she said, sitting on the edge of his bed. "Why did you want up so late? We leave in another hour or so."

"Because I hate saying goodbye," he told her, climbing out of the bed to go shower and get ready. He came back and she wasn't in his room, but his bags were packed and an outfit was lying on his bed. He shrugged, it was a Willow thing to do, so he put it on. He checked to make sure everything was in there, then carried the two bags down to the foyer. He met the Weasleys there, giving them hugs and smiles. He turned to look at the twins, who were both grinning. "Guys, I really don't want to go," he told them.

"They're going with us," Willow said cheerfully. She picked up his bags to carry them out to the carriage. "I've got the reward money in my purse," she called back.

"It fit in there?" he asked.

She stuck her head back in. "Yeah, it did. I brought a bigger one." She disappeared again. "Come on, Xander."

Xander shrugged and walked out with the twins on either side of him. "Guys, you make the best honor guard," he joked.

George punched him on the arm. "Someone has to protect poor Percy from you." He got in first, then Xander sat next to him, then Fred and Ron got in. The door of their carriage closed and it followed the other two down the driveway. "We've got large cloaks for the two vampires."

"Good. What about Dru?"

"She's being kept until a decision can be made," Ron told him. "Dumbledore passed that on to us this morning to tell you." He handed over a bag. "He said you'd need breakfast," he said with a grin.

Xander chuckled and pulled out the food. "Guys, I hate goodbyes," he told them.

"Good, because you're not getting rid of us yet," Fred said cheerfully.

Ron leaned over. "Dad's gotten a temporary appointment to the Canadian Ministry. We learned that last year," he said at the frown. "All us kids get to stay here for the school term, but then we get to go see him during our break." He grinned. "Mom's got to stay at home though because the Ministry is only allowing him a one room apartment."

"I guess your parents are going to be very long letter writers soon."

George snorted. "Mom said this'll be the first time the house has been completely clean in almost a decade."

Xander laughed. "I bet. How do you all fit?"

"We share rooms," Ron said, shaking his head. "I get my own, it's in the attic, right next to the ghoul."

"Percy's getting ready to move out," Fred reminded him. "He's got an apartment in town so he doesn't have to commute so often."

"True," Ron said, cheering up a little. "Maybe I can have his room."

"Maybe she'll give it to Harry," George told him.

Ron shook his head, grinning. "Harry's going to live with his Godfather, who's getting a house down the road from us."

Fred and George laughed. "Good job," they told Xander, both of them punching him on the arm.

"Owww," he said, rubbing his arms. "Guys, don't beat me, I tickle."

George laughed and gave him a hug. "Good." He leaned back as they stopped next to the train. "It's really funny to see the Express with only one car," he said, climbing out first. He helped Ron and Xander out, leaving his twin to follow them to the train.

Willow waved from the doorway, nodding. "They changed the decor," she said happily.

"Someone took her perky pills," Xander muttered as he got onto the train, sitting down next to a very heavily cloaked Spike for a minute. "You gonna be okay on the ride in?" he asked.

"Sure." Spike pushed him. "Now go away. Your buds and you need to spend some more time together."

Xander got up and finished stuffing his breakfast into his mouth as he walked down to where the Weasleys were all sitting. "Hey, had to check on Spike."

"Is he okay?" Willow asked from the seat across the aisle.

"Yup, gruff and needing a nap." He looked around. "Where's Angel?"

"He and Dru...." She blushed. "Um, he and Dru took off this morning. We didn't want to tell you until we were away from Hogwarts. Buffy and you might go hunt him down and drag him back."

"Hey, if he wants to go get some with his childe, then that's his business. How's his crew taking it?"

"They're not coming back with us either," Tara said. "They're going to stay in London for a few weeks to do something for the Council." She shrugged at his surprised look. "We found out this morning, but I don't think anyone told Buffy."

"Does anyone know where Angel is?" Buffy called as she got on the train. "I have Doyle, but no Angel."

Xander stood up and waved her down to them. "Yeah, we do, and it's not a happy moment." He looked at Doyle. "You're taking Giles' place, huh," he said flatly.

"For his tenure, yeah," he said with a grin. "Don't worry, I'll be nice to ya all." He sat down across from Willow, looking at Buffy. "They've been called on by the Council. They'll be in London for about a month yet." She glared at him. "Sit. The Powers decreed it. Not even you can argue with them."

Buffy sat down and pouted at Willow. "You knew," she accused.

"We knew but Xander didn't. Someone thought he might get upset." She smiled at her. "They'll be back."

"Minus Cordelia," Doyle mumbled. "She's in a play."

"Wow." Buffy looked at Xander. "First you took on a wizard who dealt death to a lot of people and then we got Doyle. This has been a strange trip."

"Yes, but we're getting souvenirs," Xander told her calmly, reaching over to pat her hand. "Why isn't the train going?" he asked Fred.

"Because we're waiting on someone," he said lightly. He smiled as Wesley got on. "Here he is. Did you sleep in?"

"No, Rupert kept me, giving me an enormous list of instructions for the care of his children." He sat down beside Buffy on the bench. "Dear, not only have you gotten Doyle to help you, but you've got me as a temporary Watcher again. Would that suit you?"

"I guess," she said sullenly. She jumped as the train started to move. "Okay, it really was waiting on you."

"Yeah, it was," Willow said, grinning at her. "It won't be so bad. And it's only for a year," she reminded her friend.

"Yeah, and I can go tell Mom all about this," Buffy sighed, relaxing into her seat. "Wes, no offense, but move. I'm crowded."

He smiled as he stood up. "Of course. I'm going to go sit with Spike." He walked out of their end compartment and went back to the small sleeper that Spike had chosen.

Ron looked at Buffy. "I'm not sure how you'll explain all this to your mother," he told her. "Would she understand? Hermione can't tell her parents about it at all because they get confused."

"My mom's used to the strange now. She's way into my life as the Slayer." She smiled at him. "So, you going to come down and visit with your brothers? I'll show you my Hellmouth."

"Sure," he said happily. "If Mom lets me." He grinned at her, nodding down the hall. "Want to get a separate compartment so we can talk?"

"Sure," she said, standing up. "I doubt these guys want to hear about what I want to look for down this alley place." She followed him down to one of the spare compartments.

Willow shook her head once the door was closed. "I don't believe it."

"They'll make a good match when they both grow up," Xander said with a smile.

Willow snorted. "True," she agreed, laughing and leaning against Tara's side.

Tara looked at Xander, smiling at him. "Don't encourage her."

Xander grinned back. "Why not? She's at her best like this." He looked at the twins. "So, what's down this alley?"

"Lots of stuff," Fred said.

"Unfortunately, our mother never lets us go near most of it," George sighed. "I'm sure we'll be able to see more of it if *you* wanted to go, Xander."

Xander smiled at them. "Sure, I'm all for exploring."

***

Xander looked around the alley as the group walked through the archway, smiling at Willow. "It's just such a you place," he told her, giving her a hug.

"My witch," Tara said calmly. "Get your own."

Xander chuckled. "She said the same thing." He looked at the twins, who were watching them. "What's first, guys?"

"Well, how about the bird?" Willow suggested.

"We'll have to carry it," Xander pointed out.

"We can go pick it out and pay for it," Tara suggested. "Then we can pick it up on the way out."

Xander thought for a moment, glancing at the twins, who nodded, then nodded himself. "Okay. Lead on, Ron."

Ron laughed and led the way to a food stall where his mother and father were sitting. He leaned down and kissed his mother's cheek. "We're getting Xander a bird," he told her.

His father got up and gave all his boys a hug, including Xander. Then he turned to look at the two girls, Buffy had already disappeared with Doyle and her part of the money. "Who are these two gorgeous women, sons?"

"This is Willow and Tara," Ron said, making the introductions. "Buffy's somewhere with Doyle and Wesley is keeping them both out of trouble."

He shook his head. "I'd better go find them before someone figures out that they're muggles." He walked off, heading for the nearest clothing stall.

Willow smiled and shook Mrs. Weasley's hand. "Hi. I'm really glad that you're taking Xander under your wing. He could use a really good mom sometimes. Especially if you can nag him about pizza not being a breakfast food."

"Hey, I only had ten minutes to get to the site. What else was I going to eat?" He shrugged it off. "Would you like to help us shop for a communal bird?"

Mrs. Weasley paid the check then got up, walking them down to the Eeylops Owl Emporium.

Xander looked at all the birds flying around the store. Big birds, shiny birds, loud birds. Little tiny birds like Pidge. He looked at the store keeper, who was giving the twins an interested look. "Hi, I need a bird and I live in California. In the United States?"

The shop owner looked at him, then at Mrs. Weasley who nodded. "He does," she agreed. "He helps out that new Paranormal teacher at Hogwarts so he'll need a good bird for correspondence."

The owner looked around his store and whistled, bringing down a song bird. "This one could probably get from New York to here in about a week," he said. "We got it in yesterday by mistake, just flew in the door."

"I live on the other coast," Xander said apologetically. "And I'm thinking I'm going to be doing a lot of letter writing to Canada sometime in the future too."

The owner nodded. "You got your own place or do you have understanding parents?"

"I've got my own place, but it has a quiet hour clause in my lease."

"Okay then. You'll need a quiet, fast, long distance bird, of which most are myths. Except for this one," he said, holding out his arm and making a clicking noise. An iridescent bird flew down and landed on his arm, looking at the grouping. "They're very smart, usually very quiet, though they do sing, and they're pretty clean. This one was left to me by a wizard who recently died, he wanted him to find a good owner." He looked Xander over. "The bird decided it's owner."

"What do I feed it?" Xander asked.

"This one likes fruits. Mostly things like seeded fruits. Seems to love those watermelons you Americans eat so much of."

Xander looked at Willow, who nodded. "Can I hold her?"

"Sure. It's a him."

Xander grinned. "Okay, it's a him." He held out his arm and the bird sniffed it then jumped over. He put his beak into the boy's face and stared into his eyes for a second then started to sing.

"I think he likes you," the store owner said, smiling at Mrs. Weasley. "He's good to go for a lot of miles too."

"Is there some sort of care book on his type of bird?" Willow asked.

"Not really, but I can write one up for you if you'd wait."

"Actually, we were going to purchase the bird and come back for him in a little while. I've got some stuff I've still got to get," Xander said, giving him a smile. "Would that be okay?"

"As long as you don't forget him, he'll be fine," the shopkeeper said with an appraising look. "You're not a wizard, are ya?"

"Nope," Xander said, putting the bird down. "You're going to take some getting used to," he said, patting him on the head. "You're pretty though. And you're nice."

"And he likes you," Willow pointed out, "which is always of the good."

"Very of the good," Xander agreed.

"Say, are you the boy that was just at Hogwarts? Found that bad wizard and all?"

Xander blushed. "Yeah, I am."

The shopkeeper laughed. "Well, bless me. I thought the day Harry Potter came in was a good one. Now here you are, gettin' a phoenix." He smiled at Mrs. Weasley. "Arthur is showing around the others then?"

"He's trying to keep Buffy out of trouble," Willow confided with a smile. "Would a bird do good on our coast for short messages?"

"He can do those too," the shopkeeper said. "He's good for all sorts of traffic. And they're hardy birds, regenerating every year."

Xander smiled at Willow. "Pay the man so we can go get the rest of our stuff."

Willow opened her purse and took out the reward money. "How much?"

"Eighty galleons," he said. "He's a fine phoenix, he is. Even used, he's a fine bird. What're you gonna name him?"

"I think we'll figure that out on the way home," Xander told him. "But he does have the prettiest eyes."

"We'll figure it out on the way home," Tara said as she took the purse to hold. It was her turn after all. "Maybe a mythological name since they're not supposed to exist and all."

"Ah, muggles," the shopkeeper sighed. "They've managed to ignore a lot of the good things in life."

"Actually, we're witches of another sort," Willow told him. "That's why we were invited to Hogwarts with our mentor and teacher." He looked interested. "We do it with candles, herbs, and our wills instead of wands, which is something that's hardly ever seen today I guess."

He nodded. "You don't hear about too many like you these days," he agreed. "You," he said, tapping the bird on the head, "will be picked up in about an hour so let's go find you a cage."

The bird gave Xander one last longing look then hopped up onto the storekeeper's shoulder to be taken and caged.

"Make it a big one," Xander called as he followed Willow out the door. "Okay. We need to get you two to the bookstore and the twins wanted to show me something." A handful of the gold coins were handed to him. "Thanks, mom," he said sarcastically.

"That's so you don't spend it all on sweets," she complained. "A hyper you with a new bird on the plane will be heck." She and Tara walked away, taking Mrs. Weasley with them.

Fred looked at the handful of gold coins and whistled. "That's really a lot. You can stock up on chocolate forever," he noted. He looked at the bookstore. "You sure? They might have something on gryphons."

"Willow will ask," he said with a shrug. "That's how she is." He grinned. "Okay, now where?"

"This way," George said, heading for a snack shop. "I want a chocolate frog."

"They aren't...real frogs, right?" Xander asked as he followed them.

The twins gave him a dirty look. "Eww," Fred said, having picked it up from Xander the night of the battle.

"Okay, just checking. It's always good to check where I come from." He swallowed his mouthful of saliva as he looked around the candystore. "Wow. What can I get with this much?" he asked.

"About half the store," the man behind the counter said with a smile. "Let me guess, you're new?"

"He's just come from Hogwarts, he was part of the party that went up there to learn," Fred told him. "Unfortunately, none of us had been able to get to Hogsmeade recently so we didn't have any wizard snacks."

"Ah. Then he'll be wanting a sample case?"

George pointed at the biggest one. "That one, with only a few of the Bertie Botts All Flavor Beans. We don't want to scare him off."

The shopkeeper laughed and took down the big box, going to fill it. "Will he want chocolate?"

"Yes, he likes chocolate a lot, it's his personal God," Xander called out. He smiled at the twins. "You guys are *so* great. Where are we going after this?"

"Well, mom's going to be taking Ron to the robe shop probably. We could go there and get you a real set of robes to remember your trip to Hogwarts by," George offered. "Or we could go visit Ollivander's and see if he's got a wand for you."

"How much are wands?" Xander asked.

"Much less than your phoenix," Fred told him. "Mine was about five galleons."

"Mine was about five and a half," George admitted. "For some reason, mine had a strange core." He shrugged. "It's up to you."

"But I'm not magical like that," Xander told them.

"He's not one of the witches?" the shopkeeper asked as he brought the mostly full box up to the front. "Why not?"

"He's gryphon lineage," Fred said proudly. "Way back when."

"Ah, that'd explain it then. How much of this do you want to be frogs since you don't want that many beans?"

"Give him a lot," George said with a grin. "If he doesn't like them, there's three women and a vampire in his party. And if none of them like them, well, I guess we're going to have frogs for the rest of the term," he said happily.

The shopkeeper snorted. "You boys," he said, rolling his eyes. He plucked a good sized handful of chocolate frogs out of the case and stuffed them into the box, gauging what would fit and what wouldn't. He added a few more and then put the top on. "Six galleons," he said, handing it over.

"Those are the gold ones," Fred said helpfully.

Xander counted them out with a grin. "Will I be able to get them past customs?"

"Same as you would the bird. If they don't see it, who's gonna know," the shopkeeper said with a shrug. "They tend to ignore things that were bought here in the alley. No matter which country they're from."

Xander nodded. "Thanks." He let Fred carry the box as they walked outside. "Can we have a frog in a minute?"

"Sure," George said, pointing at the fussy blonde woman walking toward them. "Maybe we should go find Mom in the robe store."

"She's probably still in Flourish and Blotts," Fred reminded him. "Willow likes books."

"Whatcha got?" Buffy asked as she walked up to them.

"Stuff for later," he told her, smacking her hand when it reached for his treat. "Willow's in the book store. Oh, and I've got a phoenix to send messages with," he told Mr. Weasley. "It was the only one that could get here from our home without keeling over. It was in the owl store because its old owner died."

Mr. Weasley smiled. "I'm sure it was a good choice, Xander. They're very picky about who owns them, so you must be rated very highly in its book." He looked around. "Boys, did your mother take Willow and Tara?"

"And Ron," Fred agreed. "To look for books."

"Xander," Willow said happily, running over to give him a hug, big bags bouncing in her hands. "We found you *two* books. One's a mythology book and one's a book on gryphons." She smiled at Buffy. "How was your shopping?"

"Doyle found weapons," Buffy said happily. "I got a new one and it's pretty. Wanna see?"

"She bought an enchanted sword," Mr. Weasley told his wife, who rolled her eyes. "Maybe she'll be able to handle it," he said.

"Hopefully. If not, it can always be taken by her from someone in your new position," she said. She smiled at the size of the test box Xander had gotten. "Boys, did you remember to warn him about the Every Flavor Beans?"

"Yes, ma'am," Xander told her, giving her a grin. "I have a lot of chocolate frogs instead." He checked the alley again. "Now where?"

"Now, I say that we go get your bird," Willow said, checking her watch. "It's been half an hour."

"Okay," Xander agreed happily. "Then what?"

"Then, we can get robes and visit Ollivander's," Tara suggested. "We do wear them to work in too," she told Mr. Weasley, who was looking confused. "Ours just have to be special."

"All natural and handmade to work the best," Willow agreed. "Which can be a pain if you can't sew."

"We can do that," Xander agreed. He looked down a connecting alley but Mr. Weasley pulled him away before he could go down there. "What?"

"That's not for you," he said kindly. "We don't allow the boys down there either."

"That's Knockturn Alley," George explained. "Home of bad wizards and icky things."

Ron shuddered. "Harry ended up down there one day. He said he saw floating skulls and things."

"Definitely not of my taste," Xander decided. He saw the disappointed looks. "Who wants a floating skull?"

Fred nodded. "True, but there's supposed to be a lot more down there too."

"Not for any of you," Mrs. Weasley said harshly. "The only reason we go down there is for slug repellent."

Xander gave her a 'sorry' look. "I didn't want to get the boys in trouble."

She patted him on the side of the face. "You just didn't know, dear. Don't worry about it." She waved a hand at Madam Malkin's robe shop, which was across the street from the Owl Emporium. "I'll help Xander get his phoenix while you let them all get new robes," she told her husband. He led everyone in there and explained what was going on, letting Willow explain what they needed specifically.

Xander walked over to go get his bird, smiling as he came flying out and landed on his shoulder. "Hey, you," he said, petting him on the head. "Shouldn't you be caged?"

"Yes, but he doesn't like it," the shopkeeper said, handing Mrs. Weasley the cage he had selected. "It's the biggest we got. But you can't put him into a muggle cage, your customs people will notice him. Let him fly free until you're almost there then cage him, but let him out as soon as you can afterwards."

"Okay," Xander agreed, walking out with his bird on his shoulder. "Let's go see what sort of trouble Aunty Willow and Aunty Tara have gotten into." He walked across the street, people stopping to look at his bird, but he didn't notice it. He saw Willow looking at the racks, then backed away from Buffy as she came running over. "No touching. He's had a long, hard day and we need to rest."

"Okay. Can I pet him later?"

"As long as you're nice to him."

Willow held a robe up for him to look at. "For Tara?" she asked when she saw his head shake.

"Nope. Get her a pretty one and get yourself a pretty one too. You both deserve it after what you did day before yesterday."

She shrugged and went back to looking. "None of the pretty ones are in my size."

"What about the dark blue one?" Mr. Weasley asked. "We tend to wear that color a lot in our family."

Willow held it up, looking at how big it was. "I'm not going to grow anymore," she told him. "Otherwise, it's good."

"They could probably hem it," Tara said quietly, two robes folded over her arm.

"Oh, I like those," Willow said. Tara pointed at the rack she had been browsing, watching as she ran over.

Tara picked up the dark blue one and added it to her pile. "I like her in baggy clothes," she told them when they all looked at her.

Willow squealed and came back with a pink one, a skin-tone one, and a baby blue one. "I like these and they're in my size," she said happily.

Tara patted her on the arm. "Let's get these and then we'll go see what else we can get."

Doyle handed over the money. "You should be savin' that," he told them. "Maybe you'll be back someday."

"There is Gringotts," Mr. Weasley agreed. "It's the wizard bank, but it's only got an office here."

Doyle shrugged. "Like I said, they may be back some day." He smiled at Xander, who was staring at him, tapping his forehead slightly.

Xander nodded. "Yeah, you two don't splurge too much. We'll save some of this. After all, ten thousand little gold coins won't go that far."

Willow waved him off. "We've got plenty," she told him. "Quit worrying."

Tara smiled at him. "He who paid eighty little gold coins for his bird shouldn't complain about us spending ten."

"True," Xander admitted, "but we can all use him."

Tara smiled. "Okay." She took the package with their robes in it with a shy smile. "Thanks."

"Ron, we're leaving," Mrs. Weasley called. He came jogging out with a robe in his hands. "Dear, did you like that color?"

"Maybe a nice green," Mr. Weasley suggested.

"I like paisley," Ron complained. "It's very different."

"Yup, it is," George agreed, smiling at him. "Very, very different."

"Some might even say odd," Fred added. "But that shade of tan might look good on you."

"The gold," Xander told him. "With your shade of red, it might go really well. So would that deep blood red and that sapphire blue that's in the pattern." He shrugged when everyone stared at him. "He's got almost the same shade hair as Willow and those are colors she looks good in. That and about any shade of green, pink, or baby blue." He shifted his phoenix to his other shoulder. "Thanks," he said, reaching up to scratch his bird's chest ruff.

"That's a pretty bird," the girl behind the register said. "You must be either very powerful or very lucky."

"Lucky," Xander said with a grin. He looked at the new robes Ron was holding up. "Get the green or the gold one," he suggested.

His mother looked at them then nodded. "Get whichever one you like most, Ron," she said with a smile. "That bonus is coming in very helpful right now."

Ron looked at the tags and showed them to his mother since one had a mark down sticker on it.

"Then get both, son," Mr. Weasley said. "That's less than my next one will be."

"Maybe we should get you one now since they're having a sale, Dad," Ron suggested.

"I probably should," Mr. Weasley agreed. "But all of mine are broken in just right."

"With frayed hems," his wife said gently. "Dear, go get a few new ones. Ron's right. This is a sale and we need them right now. You too, boys."

George handed the box of sweets off to Willow and went to search for his next formal robe, Fred right behind him.

Mrs. Weasley walked over and smiled at Xander. "You're very good at that."

"Hey, I had to put up with Willow going 'does this look good with my hair'," he said in falsetto, "for almost eight years before she gave up on fashion." Willow blushed. "I know my redheads."

Mrs. Weasley gave him a hug. "Good job, my boy." She looked at the ones her sons were holding onto. "Fred, that's much too short for you. Go find one in the right size. You too, George."

They measured their robes against them then shrugged and went to get them in the right size. "We didn't know we'd grown," Fred complained.

"Your school robes are too tight in the arms," Buffy called after them. She jogged after them to help. After all, she was the queen of shopping.

Xander leaned against a counter and relaxed, enjoying the weight on his shoulder for now, and enjoying watching his friends look for new clothes.

"What about you?" the salesgirl asked. "Don't you need a robe?"

"He doesn't do magic," Willow told her. "He's got magic surrounding him but he can't touch it."

The salesgirl looked really sad. "I'm sorry. That's got to be rough."

"Sometimes," Xander agreed. He gave her a slight smile. "But that also means I don't have to pay for a lot of spell components."

She nodded. "Which can be expensive."

Willow looked startled. "That's what I wanted to do."

"No," Tara told her. "Giles said you couldn't go into the herb shop without him."

Willow shrugged it off. "Oh well, I'll go once we get home." She looked at what the boys were carrying up, smiling at the small blue one. "For Ginny?"

Fred nodded. "Yeah, she'll need one within the next year and this one's going to be too big on her even then." He showed it to his mother, who nodded. "Dad picked it out." He held up his own, which she approved of too.

George held his up. "I wanted something unconventional," he said to ease the growing look.

"Go for the dark purple then," his mother sighed. "Really, George, that's a girl's robe." She watched as he jogged back and picked out another one, smiling at this one. "That one I like," she told him, putting it on the counter. "Are you almost done?" she asked her husband.

He came back with five new robes, holding up a sixth one. "I'm not sure if I like this one or not," he told her, showing off the radical new cut of the robe.

"I'm not sure either," she said, taking the first five. "Try it on."

He slipped out of his old robe and tried this one on, but shook his head. "No, I don't like how this feels," he said, taking it back off. "Just those five then. I'll have to learn the Canadian way of dress and I'm not sure if they wear robes to work or not."

Mrs. Weasley dug into her purse and came up with money for all of their new robes, taking the carefully wrapped package. "There, anything else, dears?" she asked.

"Just one thing," Xander said, giving her a hug. "I like you. You're nice." He smiled at her. "You can have one of my chocolate frogs if you want."

She laughed lightly. "I may take you up on that. Come on, boys. We've all got rooms at the pub tonight."

"We still have to find Cordy," Buffy reminded Wesley.

"I have an idea I know where she is," Doyle told her. "Besides, it's not like she's coming back with us this time." He took the package of sweets. "Come on. Let's get all this stuff back."

"Oh, can I at least go look in the window at the wand shop?" Willow asked.

Mr. and Mrs. Weasley shared a look. "I don't think it would hurt," she said.

Doyle pulled them aside and said something very quietly. They both smiled and nodded. "Not this time, dear," Mr. Weasley said. "Next time you come up, you can go wand shopping." He led the way back into the alley, looking around. "Did Ginny need anything?"

"I got her a new book," Mrs. Weasley said with a blush. "I found it quite informative."

"Mom," Ron said, blushing.

"Sorry, Ron." She patted him on the head. "Come on, let's go back to the pub. If we have to, we can always come back later." She led the way, everyone following her.

Xander stopped at a fruit vendor to get his phoenix something to eat for the night, then hurried to catch up.

"Professor Dumbledore has a phoenix," Ron said conversationally. "Her name's Fawkes."

"Cool," Xander said, putting an arm around the boy's shoulders. "He's really heavy."

Ron grinned. "That's because you're not used to him yet. Give it a few weeks, you'll start to miss his weight." He accepted the phoenix onto his shoulder with a grunt. "Yeah, he's a little heavy," he agreed, still smiling. "What are you going to name him?"

"I think we're going to have a long talk on the eternal plane ride home tomorrow and he'll tell me his name," Xander told him with a smile. "I like to get to know a pet before I name them."

"That's very reasonable," Willow agreed. "We waited on naming Miss Kitty Fantastico."

"We're still waiting on what to name her," Tara reminded her. "We need to pick her up from the kennel tomorrow too."

"Yup, we do," Willow said with a grin. "I miss my kitty. She's such a nice back warmer when I'm trying to sleep."

"She likes to stalk you too," Tara reminded her. "It was kinda weird to go to the bathroom and not be serenaded with panicked calls."

Willow nodded. "Yeah, it was. But it was nice too."

"Yeah, it was," Tara said, touching Willow's hand with hers.

Mr. and Mrs. Weasley smiled at each other. "Girls, it's acceptable here," he told them.

Willow stopped and kissed Tara, hard. "I've been wanting that since we got up," she said happily, going through the archway into the alley behind the pub.

Tara had to shake herself but she followed her girlfriend.

Xander reached up to make sure his phoenix wouldn't bump his head as he walked through.

***

Xander looked embarrassed as he looked around the first class lounge, praying that his friends were really not paying any attention to him. "Guys, I'm going to miss you," he told them, giving them both hugs. "Fred, George, I'm *really* going to miss you both. It's been like having a real... really big family this last week and few days." He glanced around again. "And I don't want to leave but I have to."

George clapped him on the upper arm. "Don't worry about it, we've adopted you. You're an honorary Weasley now. You can't escape us."

Fred nodded, grinning. "Yup. The first time we've got to go visit dad, expect us to pop down and see you too. Oh, and send us pictures of your apartment so we can apparate when we're allowed to."

Xander grinned back. "As long as you two don't appear before I've had my coffee," he told them. He winced as his flight was called. "I gotta go guys. I'll send ... him when I get back and name him." He gave them both another hug then picked up his bags and ran for the door after his friends."

Fred looked at George. "How long do you think before he'll realize he left the cage and the box of treats?"

"The cage? Almost immediately." He pointed at where Xander was running back to get the cage. They watched as he opened the treat box and left a pile of stuff on the seats, then laughed at his outrageous wink, going to pick up their share of the treats.

Xander settled into his seat, his phoenix in the seat beside him. He stared out the window, watching the twins leaving the terminal. He felt really sad, he liked them. He liked being an honorary Weasley. If he had his way, he'd jump off this plane right now and go back with them.

"They're going back to school, you couldn't go," Doyle said, sitting down in the seat on the other side of the bird. "You'll see them again soon enough," he reminded the young man.

Xander looked at him. "Yeah, but I want it to be now," he complained. "I felt like I had really good friends, ones that laughed at my jokes and things."

Doyle nodded. "Finding what should have been your family can be like that," he told him. "Don't worry, you'll be seeing them again soon enough."

"A vision?" Xander asked.

Doyle nodded. "At the same time as I saw the other thing happenin'." He got up and went back to his seat.

Xander put the top of the cage down over top of his sleeping phoenix so the stewardess would quit staring at him, then went back to watching out the window. His stomach churned when he saw George and Fred making funny faces against the glass, making one of his own against the small window as the plane pulled away from the gate. He waved until he couldn't see them anymore, staring at the airport as the plane took off.

EPILOGUE: That Summer.

Willow squeaked as she opened the letter she had received, getting up to jump up and down. "I get to go back!" she shouted finally.

Doyle looked up at her and nodded. "I know," he said with a smile. "The both of you. Do you know where your money's at?"

"Yeah, I do," Tara said breathlessly. "Willow, we get to take classes while we teach," she said, showing her letter off.

Willow hugged everyone in the room, except Xander because his phoenix was sleeping in his lap. "Oh, I need Murphy," she said. "We've got to send a message back."

"He's ready to flame out," Xander told her. "Call Mr. Weasley in Canada and share the good news. He'll tell his wife, who'll make sure it gets back to Giles."

She nodded and grabbed the phone, dialing the number taped beside the phone. "Hi, Mr. Weasley. No, guess what? Tara and I got asked to teach at Hogwarts! We get to teach our kind of magic!" She squealed lightly. "Yeah, it's so cool!" She shook her head, looking at the tired looking phoenix. "No, Murphy's about ready to flame up and we had to share the news." She grinned. "Yeah, we're all happy. We get to take classes too."

Doyle took the phone from her. "Hi, Mr. Weasley. No, he's fine, just babying his phoenix. It's his first flame up after all." He smiled. "I'll tell him that if you can tell your wife for us." He laughed and hung up. "He said he'd do one better. He has to be there for the twin's graduation next week and he'll personally tell them that you're honored and that you'll take it."

"They're graduating?" Xander asked, looking up. "I thought they had another year."

"Nope, seems they're done already." Doyle went back to his book. "So, what're you going to do this summer, Xander?"

"Sulk?" he guessed.

"Nope," Buffy said, looking at him. "We've got some massive patrolling to do so you and Murphy get to help me."

"Buff, get Spike to help you. Murphy won't be able to go on patrol for another few weeks." He continued to stoke the lackluster feathers. "I hope this is normal," he said quietly.

"It is," Willow told him. "I found that book you were looking for and it said that this was supposed to be happening. He might even be running a fever for a few days before he flames out."

"How do we know the bird's a he?" Buffy asked. "I think Murphy's a female all the time."

"We won't know unless Murphy starts to lay eggs," Xander told her. "There's no other way to tell." He kissed Murphy's head and set him down on the pillow next to his chair, getting up to get a drink. "What else was there to do today?"

"Not much," Doyle noted. "Just a report on last night."

Xander gave Willow and Tara hugs. "Then I'm going to take Murphy home." He nodded at Doyle and gathered up his bird, carrying him out the door.

"He *really* likes his bird," Buffy complained.

Willow shook her head. "Hey, that bird likes to hunt with you and it saved your life a few weeks ago."

Buffy nodded. "I know, but Xander's not usually that into animals."

Tara smiled. "It's all part of his heritage coming out. Gryphons are birds," she explained when Buffy stared at her.

Buffy shrugged it off and got comfortable. "As long as it stays a good bird, I'll like it and let it come with me."

Willow looked at Doyle and they shared an eye roll. "Tara, we have to figure out what else we'll need, besides a wand." She took out the list and looked it over. "I think we can do that," she said after reading it.

Tara nodded. "Just a few things to pick up. We can handle that."

***

Xander opened his door at the rapid knocking, smiling at the man on the other side. "Mr. Weasley?" he asked.

"Yup." He walked in and set something down on the carpet next to the door. "Step back." He and Xander stepped back, and promptly fell over the arm of the couch, landing on his back.

"We're home!" Fred said as he and his brother appeared.

Xander hopped up and gave them hugs. "Yes!" he said happily, turning to grin at Mr. Weasley, whom he gave a hug to also. "Thank you, this was a great surprise."

"We know," George said, putting an arm around Xander's shoulders. "And we're here for a while."

"Yup, Dad's got to go out of town on business so we get to come haunt your apartment while we try to get our joke shop started."

Mr. Weasley cleared his throat and pulled out a letter. "There was one other thing," he said, smiling at his sons, who took the letter and ripped it open.

"We got it!" Fred shouted, hugging everyone, including the cage. "Xander, what happened to Murphy?"

"He's about to flame out." He came over and looked at his bird, reaching in to touch him on the beak. "The cage is comforting to him right now so we're on a waiting vigil."

"I'm sure it'll be over soon." Mr. Weasley laid something down on the table then hugged all of his boys. "I'll see you in a *week*," he told them, getting nods. "Good. Xander, I'll see you then too." He apparated out of the apartment.

"Gee, guys, if I had had some warning, you might have beds," Xander said, looking around at the meager, old furnishings of his small apartment. "You guys can take the bed and I'll sleep on the couch."

"Why?" George asked, going into the bedroom and closing the door. He came back a few minutes later and flopped down. "It's your turn," he told his brother, who was trying to cheer Murphy up.

Fred walked into the bedroom and shrieked, "George, not plaid!" He waved his wand as he muttered something, completing the spell to change the bedroom into something larger that would fit them all. He walked out and smacked his brother across the head. "That wasn't nice."

"I liked it," George complained.

Xander shook his head and walked in there, then screamed like a girl. "Guys!"

The twins grinned at each other then turned to look at him. "Yes?" they asked.

"It's great," Xander said, grinning. He noticed the silver paper sitting on his coffeetable and went over to open it, eyes going very wide. "Guys," he said, waving it. "Guys!"

Fred took the letter and smiled at George, who stole it from him.

"Hey, cool," George said. Xander looked at him. "I've been studying American from your TV shows this last week. The Canadian Ministry is much more into the muggle world than ours is." He reached over to give Xander a hug. "Way to go," he said. "We'll be down in Hogsmeade."

Xander grinned, laying the letter out on the table, showing it off to the world.

Xander Harris, you are invited to take up a teaching position at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry under the newly formed Paranormal Experiences track. Please let us know immediately if you will take this position.

"Dad said you would," Fred told him with a grin. "The letter's just a formality."

"Cool," Xander said, still staring at the letter. He squeaked as Murphy fell apart, getting up to look at his poor bird.

"Take the top of the cage off," George warned.

Xander undid the top of the cage and put it aside, staring at the ashes. He saw a little movement and looked hopeful, smiling as his bird exploded out of the ashes and flew up, screaming it's resurrection. "Hey, Murphy," he said, bringing him down to pet. "How are you?" he asked, stroking down the gray feathers starting to show gold, scarlet, and dark purple highlights.

"Hey, Fawkes isn't that color," George said, getting up to look at it. "Harry saw him flame up and he said it was just scarlet and gold." He touched the purple feathers, accepting the face rubbing against his shoulder. "Yes, we love you, Murphy," he said with a smile.

Fred relaxed on the couch, watching his brother work his charm on another creature.

First Year Of Trauma

Authors Notes: The same as last story, the birth years are still messed up (otherwise you'd have a seventeen year old Xander teach seventeen year old kids, which doesn't really work all that well). Also, I screwed with another bit of Buffy cannon, with the alti-verse Cordy went to. We agreed that it sounded better this way when he tells the kids, so consider it an embellishment in his story to his students please.

Xander finished writing out the note and tied it to the phoenix's leg, scratching him on the head. "Go find the nice guy at Hogwarts with the other phoenix," he whispered, sending him up into the air. He found a bench and sat down, mentally checking through everything he had had to buy for his most recent job. Robes, check, both black and more formal ones. Cloaks, check, one dark one for sneaking around at night, one more formal one, and one that was a present from Willow and Tara, who had managed to make it onto the train. It wasn't fair, he should have still been able to get onto the train even though he didn't have magic. He was supposed to be going back to Hogwarts. He needed to get there; the twins, his best friends in the whole world, were expecting him. He checked behind him, watching Buffy nap on the seat. She had stayed with him when he couldn't get through the gateway, wanting to see how he got there.

"Xander Harris, please come to ...."

Xander jumped up when he heard his name called over the intercom, nudging Buffy. "Come on, I think they got my note."

"Already? You just sent it," she complained. The Watchers Council had decided to pull her out of Sunnydale, it was stable enough for now, so she had flown over with him. "Maybe they've found your missing bag," she said dryly, following him and his luggage cart to the security station. "Yup, they found your bag."

"Thank you," Xander said, taking the small bag. "Where was it?"

"The bathroom," the officer said, giving him a smile. "Which train are you waiting on?"

"I missed mine," he said glumly. "I called the people who I'm supposed to meet and they're coming here to pick me up."

The guard nodded. "It happens." He looked Buffy over. "You?"

"She flew over with me. She's got a train in a few hours," Xander said quickly. "Can I wait over by track 10?"

"Sure." He nodded at the map. "Need some help?"

"No, but that's where her train's supposed to come in and where the one I missed was supposed to be." He grinned. "Besides, I can find that again." He carefully tucked the small bag down into his biggest suitcase, letting Buffy help him turn it around. "Thank you." He walked away, taking her with him.

"Chill," Buffy told him. "It's all good. They'll come pick you up. Or Fred and George will."

"Oh, man, I hope Murphy didn't go to them instead."

"If so, they've got an owl that'll go up to the school," Buffy reminded him. "Relax. It'll be okay. I'll provide the Council with a good training example for the future girls and you'll go help Giles teach the stuff we used to do."

"But what'll I teach?" Xander asked. "Giles is *so* much better at that."

"Hey, you can teach a lot of stuff, including the lessons in fighting, combining it with the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher."

"Point," Xander agreed, calming down. "I hope I don't screw this up. I might like to teach, if I could handle standing up in front of a lot of people."

"What'll you be teaching?" an older man asked as he walked up to them.

"I'm teaching younger kids about mythology," Xander told him. "Over here I guess high school and junior high are put together. I'll be teaching at a private school, mythology."

"Oh." He smiled, pulling out a badge, showing it to them. "Come with me please?"

"No," Buffy said, looking at the badge. "I have a train to catch in two hours."

"We'll just go to the security office," the officer said, pointing at a small hallway. "Come along."

"Why?" Xander asked as he got up to follow him. "We're normal people. This is my first teaching gig." He let Buffy drag the cart this time, stomping along behind the guy. "What?" he asked finally.

"Relax," the officer warned them. "This is just routine. May I see your baggage?"

"It was already checked," Buffy told him. "By the guys at Customs and by the guys here." He glared at her so she handed over her two bags. "Here, be an asshole. Ask me if I care. I got invited over here to work with a private foundation."

"The same one that he'll be teaching for?" the officer asked.

"No," she snorted. "The people I'll be working with are up near Stonehenge. That big rock thingy?" she said when he didn't look impressed. She pulled out her tickets and the contact card the Council had sent her if she had any trouble. "Here, check for yourself," she told him.

He looked at the card, then carefully searched her bags. "What's this?" he asked, pulling out her stake.

"I'm into Dracula movies but I have horrible nightmares," Buffy said quickly. "I hang it beside my bed."

"Oh." He tossed it back inside. "Young people like yourselves hanging around and babbling are usually trouble." He glared at Xander. "Your bags please?"

"It's already been done once," Xander told him. "It's bad enough I had to put my bird into my friend's cage for the night." The officer didn't budge. "Hey, you search through it, you repack it," he told him, sitting down in a chair. "Go for it." He crossed his arms, glaring at the cop as he looked through his things. "Feel better?" he asked when he was done. He repacked the cart, letting Buffy balance her bags however. "Can we go now? I may have missed my train, but someone *is* coming to pick me up."

"Fine," the officer said. "Snotty kids."

Xander snorted. "You've obviously misjudged my age and how much I care what you think." He turned, letting Buffy get the cart again. Once they were heading back to their track and bench, he glared up at the wall he was supposed to have walked through. "Why did my day have to start like this?"

"Because Fate decided you needed the stress?" Buffy suggested, flopping down on an empty bench. "Come sit. We can wait here. Maybe they'll leave us alone now." She patted herself down and got up, jogging back to the little room to reclaim her ticket and card.

Xander shook his head, relaxing. He was going to have some time to wait.

***

Xander stepped into the school, giving Giles a sheepish look. "The wall wouldn't let me through," he told his mentor.

"Yes, we figured you might have a problem," Giles said, giving him a hug. "Did Buffy get on all right?"

"Yup, she left about the same time I did." He looked over Giles' shoulder, smiling at the Headmaster, who had his phoenix. "Hi. Did Murphy come right to you?"

"No, but I was down in Hogsmeade. I figured he wouldn't have come to me." He handed the bird back. "How was your trip?"

"Must faster than the plane ride, Professor Dumbledore," he said respectfully. "Did I miss the Sorting Ceremony?"

The Headmaster laughed. "The students haven't arrived yet. The train is much slower than the Ministry cars." He waved a hand. "Come in, let's get you settled. Did you manage to get into Diagon?"

"Yup. I walked right into the pub and asked the bartender, showing him my letter. He just smiled and told me I had stolen it, so I punched him and let Murphy beat him up for me. He opened the gateway."

"Good, good," Dumbledore said, walking away. "Let the house elves get the baggage," he called. "Come along, we'll talk about your curriculum."

"Yeah, I've been wondering about that," Xander said, jogging to catch up to him. "What am I going to teach?"

"You'll be teaching the beginning classes I started last year, while Willow and Tara will teach magic, and I'll be doing the advanced studies for both your classes," Giles told him, catching up to them. "Why did you get a dark cloak?" he asked as Xander took it off.

"So I can sneak out at night and go down to the joke shop without getting in trouble," Xander told him, giving him a grin.

Giles patted him on the shoulder. "You're a teacher now, you don't have to sneak about."

"Yes, he does," the Headmaster told them, opening the door up to his office. "It sets a bad precedent when teachers sneak out in the first week." He waved them up, smiling at the teacher walking down the hall. "I'll be just a moment," he said, heading over to shake Professor Lupin's hand. "How are you?" he asked.

"Much better." He craned his neck. "You're sure about this?"

"Yes, we need them here, even if the boy isn't a natural born teacher, he's very good at defense." Dumbledore smiled at the man walking in behind him. "And Sirius, how good to see you again too."

"Good to be back, sir," Sirius Black said, shaking his hand. "You're sure you want to buck the Ministry and expand the Defense Against the Dark Arts program?"

"Yes, I believe we'll soon need it," Dumbledore said cryptically. "Come, the two Paranormal teachers are waiting in my office." They all walked up together, Dumbledore smiling at Xander, who was leaning down to talk to his phoenix. "Fawkes doesn't usually like other phoenixes or their owners, but he seems to like your Murphy."

"How do you tell if they're females or males?" Xander asked.

"Females lay eggs," Dumbledore told him. "Fawkes is a female. As far as I know, there's no other way."

"Um, will we have a problem then?" Xander asked.

"Not necessarily, and if we do, I'm sure we'll be able to figure out visitation arrangements." He sat down behind his desk. "You do realize that this is an unusual occurrence?" he asked them all. Xander and Giles nodded. "Good. I think we'll need to beef up our defensive classes. That means that you, Xander, will be working with everyone else in this room." He held up a hand to forestall the opening mouth. "Yes, I know, you're not the most knowledgeable, but you've got enough to teach the beginning classes once Mr. Giles gives you his notes. I think you'll do fine, so you will."

"Will it be mine or Xander's classes that will be crossing over with the Defense teachers?" Giles asked, nodding to the other two teachers.

"I think it'll probably be a bit of both, but for right now, we'll plan on just more advanced classes learning that way. Xander, are you all right?"

"I'm kinda in shock," Xander admitted. "I've never taught before. I was the guy Giles aimed at an enemy after telling me how to kill it and got told 'go kill it'." He gave a weak smile to the other teachers. "I think I'm going to freak tomorrow in front of the students."

"Not everyone's comfortable teaching," Sirius told him. "I'm not very comfortable with it, but I can do the physical parts, which is what I'll be doing. Can we split up his classes that way, Professor?"

"I don't see why not, as long as Xander has the necessary materials to do so."

"I think I should. Do we have the weapons I had shipped?" Xander asked Giles.

"Yes, I did get them, and my books also. Thank you for that."

"Hey, anytime, G-man."

"G-man?" Professor Lupin asked.

"Yup, it's a pet name," Xander said, giving him a real grin. "It irritates him."

"Yes, it does," Giles said, glaring at him. "Do try to be serious, Xander. You're a teacher now."

"Seriousness isn't a requisite," Dumbledore corrected. "Often, a light heart conceals a deeper personality." He looked at Xander. "Though, I would appreciate it if none of the new Weasley models end up in the classes."

"I'll try," Xander agreed.

"Good." Dumbledore stood up. "Was there anything else?"

"Rooms?" Xander asked. "So I can sneak down into town." He looked hopeful.

"You can go see them tomorrow," Giles sighed. "Let me give you your materials tonight and go over them with you."

"Oh, let him go," Lupin sighed. "He'll be fine. I promise. I know the Weasleys, they're all in town right now."

"Cool," Xander breathed. "May I? If I'm back by dinner?"

"Yes, go," Dumbledore said tolerantly. "Just get the notes first."

"Yes, sir," Xander said, giving Giles a hopeful look.

"Fine. You've got a room down the hall from mine." He shook his head as he led the way out. "Xander," he said as they started up the main staircase, "I had hoped that you'd take this assignment seriously, not use it as a chance to act like a teenager."

"I'm not," Xander protested. "I miss my friends. Surely you've done that before."

Giles stopped and stared at him. "Yes, Xander, I do miss people, all the time, but I don't go running off as soon as I get near them."

"No, you get to have things like vacations. I've gotten to see the twins for a whole week, Giles. I'd like to see my friends. It's not like I've ever shirked any other duty, and I'm not going to start this time." He started walking again, trying to stay calm.

"Go left," Giles called after him, thinking about what he had said as he walked. "Xander," he said, stopping him from going any father once they reached the landing outside the teacher's quarters, "are you feeling more than friendship toward one of them? The twins and you were very close."

"I..." Xander swallowed. "I'm not having this discussion," he said firmly. "We're friends."

Giles laid a hand on his arm. "They're not that much younger and I doubt you'd get them hurt."

"Not the issue," Xander said warmly. "Room?"

"This way," Giles sighed, leading him through their doorway. "This is yours, I think," he said, tapping on the door.

"Next one down on the left," a female voice called. Professor McGonagall stuck her head out. "Oh, hello, Xander. Welcome back. Did you have a nice trip?"

"I couldn't get onto the train," he said with a shrug. "The Ministry people brought me up."

"I thought we might have to make special arrangements." She walked out, looking his outfit over. "You'll need to change before tonight. Did you have a problem getting robes?"

"Nope," Xander said, giving her a smile. "Which room is mine?"

"Last room on the left. Giles is across the hall from you." She smiled at him. "Have you worked out which area you're both working on?"

"Yes, we have. Professor Dumbledore was most helpful in that matter," Giles told her, giving her a wan smile. "Xander's about to run down to the village to visit the twins."

"Do change first, time always runs away around here," she advised. "And wear a robe. It's more acceptable." She patted him on the side of the face. "It's nice to have some new blood around here." She walked away, heading downstairs.

Xander looked at Giles, then at his room. He walked down, checking the door. "Locked," he grumbled, bending down to look at the lock. He blew in it, just like George had taught him, and repeated the silly phrase, unlocking it. "There we go." He walked in and shut the door.

Giles took a deep, calming breath as he headed for his own room. "I hope he takes this seriously," he muttered, closing his own door.

Xander opened his bags, taking out one of his black robes and a more formal set of clothes. He probably should make a good impression tonight. He tossed the tie back down with a smile and hurried to get dressed. It was only a few hours until dark and he had a little hike ahead of him.

***

Xander slid into his seat at the high table as the students started to file in, smiling at Lupin, whom he was sitting beside. "The Weasleys all said hi," he told him quietly. "Has Giles thrown a fit yet?"

"No, only looking at his watch." He looked over the young man's clothes. "Not very practical for the more physical aspects of the job."

"I've got plenty of clothes for that," Xander told him. "I thought I'd make a good impression tonight." He smoothed down the hair Mrs. Weasley had ruffled before he left them. "Okay enough?"

"You were fine before," McGonagall told him, coming down to shake his hand. "Don't let Giles get to you, it's nerves on his part too." She looked over his clothes. "Very nice choice. How were the twins?"

"Good." He grinned. "They've got the stock out now and are almost ready to open. They're planning on doing the grand opening the first weekend the students are allowed down there." She chuckled. "Yeah, it seemed like a good idea to me too. Oh, and Ginny is coming up from the town. Ron's on the train but she had to stop and pick up something down there."

"Ah. I know what that was. I'll have a discussion with her tonight."

"She's *real* shy about that stuff," Xander warned her.

"I know. I have a talk with all the girls every year," she sighed. "And the girls from Slytherin too as Professor Snape doesn't like to handle that himself." Her eyes started to twinkle. "Did you really bring a full leather outfit? I overheard the House Elves gossiping."

"Yup. I fully expected I'd need it to fight something. I bought it this summer and I *like* it." His grin got brighter. "George helped me pick it out."

"Then I'm sure you'll find plenty of times to wear it around here. As long as your robes cover it, I don't see a problem." She winked at him before going back out of the hall.

"Did Giles leave you the notes?" Lupin asked.

"Yup. They were on my bed when I went up there to toss my cloak in my room. I've got the basic 'this goes in this group and this is how you kill it' notes."

"Intersperse it with stories," he advised. "If you can tell the kids how you, personally, killed something like that then it'll go over easier."

"And don't make them write outrageous papers, but give them a little homework every week," Dumbledore said as he joined them up at the table. "Have a nice walk?"

"Very," Xander said. "I met Madam Hooch in town, she said I could borrow a broom next time."

"Good, good," he said, taking his seat. "And you have the notes?"

"Yup, and I'll go over them tonight to see where I'll need to make some changes for the more physical lessons." Dumbledore smiled at that. "That's okay, right?"

"It's *your* class," Dumbledore reminded him. He smiled at Professor McGonagall as she walked up with the new first years. "I think we're in for a treat tonight. A new class."

"And Potter," Snape sighed, catching sight of him.

"He's a good boy," Xander countered, looking down at him. "He'd be a lot nicer if you were. He's a great kid."

"I'm sure," Professor Snape said dryly. "I don't cater to egos though."

"So don't," Xander agreed. "He doesn't seem to have too much of one. More of a repressed hero complex in the making, along with wondering why it's got to be him."

"I see." Professor Snape looked down at the tables, not wanting to be caught staring. "We'll see what this year brings."

"It will bring a new year of Quidditch," Dumbledore told them both. "A new House Cup winner, a new set of classes, and a new group of first years." He smiled as they were led in. "Ah, the Sorting Ceremony." He looked at Xander. "I did finally get an answer from your trying it on. It said it'd probably put you in Gryffindor, just because of the symbolism."

Xander snickered. "Thanks, Prof. That's great." He looked attentive at the cough and the glare from McGonagall. "Sorry."

She shook her head. "When I call your name, come up and sit down, I'll put the hat on your head and you will be sorted into your houses." She unrolled her scroll of names, which was longer than usual.

Xander leaned back, stuffed full from the feast. He watched as the students were led out, smiling as the other teachers got up and left to go prepare for the next morning's classes. He smiled as Ron walked up to the dias, forcing himself to get up and walk down to join him. "Hey, saw your parents. They said I was to give you lots of homework and make you sweat your grades this year."

Ron groaned. "They would. Was Ginny in town?"

"Yeah, your parents said she'd be up tonight. They needed to spend some time with her." He ruffled the red hair. "Go up to your dorm. I've got to go plan how to be evil to my first years tomorrow."

"I thought you were going to be teaching us."

"I have no idea yet," Xander admitted. "Anyway, go up to your room. I'll see you in the morning." They walked out together, Ron running to catch up with his housemates. Xander looked around then started to get a silly grin. "I'm a teacher," he said, jogging up the stairs to his room. He opened his door, looking down at the small book that had appeared on his bed. "Hey, what's this?" he asked, flipping it open. "Eww!" He tossed it aside and looked out into the hall, only seeing McGonagall. "Did you see anyone come into my room?"

"No, why?" she asked, her door open.

He grabbed the book and walked out, handing it to her. "That was on my bed."

"I see." She casually flipped through it then handed it back. "Keep it, maybe someone will step forward and you'll be able to use it against them."

"Yeah, maybe," Xander said, frowning down at it. "But it's hateful."

"Yes, it is," she said gently. "There's even people like that among us, Xander."

"Yeah, I guess it's a natural thing to fear what you don't know." He tossed the book back toward his room. "Do we have the schedules yet? I don't even know where I'm supposed to be teaching."

"We've got a meeting before breakfast and I'll help you with that myself." She smiled at him. "Anything else?"

"How much wiggle room do I have?"

"With the studies?" He nodded. "Quite a lot. You're the teacher."

Xander thought then nodded. "Okay. Thanks." He headed back into his room, kicking the book in front of him so it'd land under the bed. "I'm the teacher, huh," he said, picking up the Giles' missive and looking through it. "Well, this is counter-intuitive. Let's just rearrange this." He started sorting the neat, but copious notes out, settling in to set up his first semester of study.

***

Xander looked around his room, smiling at the nice line of desks and the clean chalkboard. "Wow. All mine," he told himself, starting to hunt for chalk. Willow and Tara found him first. "Hey," he said, grinning at them. "I'm a teacher."

"Yup, you're a teacher," Willow agreed. "Us too. We're down the hall, over top of Snape's classes." She looked around. "But we have a *much* smaller room."

"You guys tag-team teach?" Xander asked.

"Yup," Willow said, taking Tara's hand. "They even gave us a nice room together. Miss Kitty is very happy with it."

"Yeah, Murphy kinda likes my room too," he said, looking around the desk again. "Chalk?"

"Second drawer," Tara told him, pointing. "Are you nervous?" she asked quietly.

"Scared stiff that I'll freeze," Xander admitted. "You two?"

"Very," Willow agreed, squeezing Tara's hand. "But I know she'll save me, the same as I will her."

"Yeah, well, if you hear lots of laughter, come save me, 'kay?" He finally found the chalk and picked up his notes. "I've only got ten between breakfast and first lessons."

Willow sighed. "Us too. But we have classes most of the afternoon."

"Do you get to fly?" Tara asked.

"Yup, Madam Hooch said I could borrow a broomstick." He wiggled his eyebrows. "Want to go flying with me this afternoon?"

"My witch," Willow reminded him. "If she goes flying, it'll be with me." They both blushed when they heard what she had said. "Never mind. Going to breakfast now."

"I'll be there in a few," Xander said, making a quick outline of notes on the clean board. When he was done, he grabbed his robe and walked out, heading for the great hall and food. He really could use some food.

***

Xander faced down his first class, who were all looking at him. "Um, okay, truth here guys." Most of them nodded. "You're my *first* class, as in ever. So if I freeze or drift off topic, just call me on it without getting mean. If you get mean, I get nasty and give papers. Agreeable?" Everyone nodded. "Good." He raised the map over the first set of notes, then quickly switched it. "Sorry, needed this one first." He stepped out of the way. "This is for the rest of the week," he said as they all started to write. "Give yourself plenty of room."

"Sir?" one of the male students in the back row, a Hufflepuff, raised his hand. "Is this going to become more of a detailed outline?"

"Yup. Giles thinks this is a weeks worth of classes. I say it's two or three."

"We only have class with you three days a week," another Hufflepuff reminded him.

"I meant hours," Xander told her, giving her a smile. "Personally, I hated sitting where you are now." He hopped up onto to the desk, sitting in front of them. "I really never learned anything in a lecture class. I'd like to think that you'll learn something from me, but I'll understand if you cram and only pass the tests." He looked around the room. "Not that Giles should hear me say that, but I'm being practical." He pointed at the first line of the outline. "Categories. I'm going to teach you the basic categories of the muggle version of the paranormal. Some of these things you may be getting in other classes under different names. Some things I'm going to veer away from my notes and give you a better picture of them. And for some things, we'll just slip through them as quickly as possible because I don't like those groups. Any questions so far?" One girl raised her hand. "Yes?"

"Will this be on the test?"

He chuckled. "You never know; for that matter, I never know until I make it. But asking that question usually means that it will be." He gave her a brighter smile. "Anyone else?" No one raised their hands so he moved onto the next point. "Okay, I'm going to break this down into big categories with littler ones later on. The first big category is earth, or plane, bound, versus hell bound demons. Two distinct categories, but with some overlap." He slid off the desk, going to put up the second map and show the better outline. "This is where we're headed today." He gave them a few moments to scribble that down. "Got it?" One boy shook his head. "Okay, hurry up. You've got a minute." He timed it then started into his lecture. "Plane bound, or earthly demons, are ones that are born here, are locked here, and/or will cause the most damage here. This is where they belong. Now, I put the word plane in there because there is more than one plane of existence and reality. I've lived through a spot of alternate reality myself, so I know that it's true. That's where the first side-trip comes in," he said, pointing at the notation in the outline. "Whenever you see this, it means there's something outside of the basic categories that you'll need to know. This time, it's about alternate realities and planes. Ready?" he asked when everyone started to write again. Everyone nodded this time. "Good. Okay, let me give you an example. I landed in an alternate plane due to a wish by a Vengeance Demon, and a former girlfriend."

"Sir, weren't those one and the same?" the girl from earlier asked. "My older sister said that your ex-girlfriend showed up last year and told everyone about being a vengeance demon. She was quite impressed by some of her tortures."

"Not at the time, that's a later story," he told her. "Don't worry, you'll get to hear about that too." He cleared his throat. "Anyway, my former girlfriend, who was very upset with me for what I had done, made a stupid wish to a vengeance demon. Said demon made the wish came true, and created a whole new alternate reality. One in which I, and your later teacher Willow, were demons ourselves."

"What kind?" was called out from the back.

"Vampires. We were both vampires," Xander said quietly. He hopped back up onto the desk, facing his class. "An alternate reality is formed when a certain event, or a string of events, is changed from this plane."

"Sir, isn't that assuming that we're not an alternate plane ourselves?" another girl asked.

Xander looked at her. "Are you related to Hermione?" She shook her head. "Meet her if you can, I think you two'd get along pretty well. And yes, I am assuming that. From everything that I've been taught, it's harder to make an alternate reality off a plane that's already an alternate reality. Too many variables or something like that. Anyway," he sighed. "It can happen. We also know that there are other planes of existence. There's planes where only demons live. There's planes where humans have fallen through. There's even planes where the two have learned to live together peacefully, negating the need for a Slayer." He blinked a few times when his students started to look clueless. "What? Too fast?"

"What's a Slayer?" the one girl asked.

"The Slayer is a muggle who's born to fight the demons and vampires of the world," he explained. "Giles was what was called a Watcher, someone who trained Slayers."

"Do they do this indiscriminately?" the girl asked.

"Not the one I worked with. She tended to take a 'wait and see if it's eating someone' attitude as she got older and figured out there were too many demons in the world and she had to be picky about it. Others haven't been. Their job is to keep down the demon population. There's one at all times, except for now, where there's two thanks to modern medicine."

"But does she just outright kill them, without a trial or anything?"

"We'll get into that later," Xander told her. "Not everything needs a trial." He shifted to look only at her and figured he should probably do this now; it was never too early to burst the fantasy bubbles the kids were growing about how romantic and nice this was. "If you came across a vampire eating someone, what would you do?"

"Stake it," she said promptly.

"Without a trial?" he asked, turning her question back on her. She slumped a little bit. "That's why it's her job. She's chosen to do the hard duty and to take the grief and stress over it. Not everything in life is sweet and innocent."

"Or fair," a boy popped up.

"Or fair," Xander agreed. "Some demons hunt people, so the demons get hunted. You'll find that life really is like a big wheel, and the spokes hurt when you get caught on one." He smiled around the room. "Enough gloom. We need to get through this stuff." He pointed back at the board. "Let's move on, 'kay?" Everyone nodded. "Any questions about alternate realities or planes on the general level?"

"Aren't there people who believe that alternate realities exist without any help?" the philosophical girl asked.

"Yes, there are," he agreed. "That's for a later year, when you can argue about it with Giles. I'm just here to teach the basics. He gets all the harder questions." She nodded, looking a little happier. "Okay. Anyway, plane bound demons are usually stuck on their plane of origin. Meaning, if it was born or hatched there, it stays there. There are portals and ways around it, but I've heard it's not too pleasant for the weaker demons." He got up and started to pace again, going back into his planned lecture.

***

Xander snuck out to watch the first years in their flying lessons. It was his free period and he *really* wanted to be up there with them.

"Get in line, Harris," Madam Hooch said, giving him a stern look. "You're late."

"Sorry, ma'am," he said sheepishly, taking his spot beside the empty broom.

"Good. Now hold your hand over the broom and say up."

Xander held his hand out. "Up," he said. The broom didn't move. He frowned. "Up?" It wiggled. "Please?" he asked. It came up a little bit. He caught the teacher giving him a look. "Up," he said firmly, and the broom dropped back to the ground. "I think I need a self-starting model," he told her.

She snickered a little and waved his broom up. "Try it now," she said quietly.

"Is he a muggle?" a student asked, glaring at him.

"No, I'm not. I'm a teacher," Xander told him. "Paranormal Classifications and Defense."

"Crap," he heard another student whisper. "We've got him after this."

"Hey, if I get up in the air today, you guys'll have a very happy class."

"Go ahead," Madam Hooch told him, waving a hand at him. "Just get onto it and go take a turn around the field." She watched as he climbed on and the broom suddenly started. "I have no idea why you can't start one yourself," she muttered, going to help another student that couldn't get his broom to come up either.

Xander took a few turns around the field, relaxing. He had no idea that teaching was so hard. He felt responsible for these kids. If they ran into a demon he had taught them and didn't kill it right, it'd be his fault. He forced himself to relax as much as he could, then floated down. "Thank you," he called, landing and hopping off, handing the broom off to the teacher. "I've got to go back to my room now."

She smiled at him, watching as he ran off. "That's one of the new teachers," she told the class. "A very good one from what I've heard. Covered a lot of material but he made it fun." She watched her kids float a foot off the ground, nodding one girl lower. "Down please," she said firmly. "A foot. This is about control, not showing off."

***

Xander faced off his last class and was very glad his day was five minutes away from being over. "So, any questions?" he asked, starting to erase the board. He heard a panicked grunt and stopped. "Didn't get it all down?"

"No," Hermione said, looking up at him. "This is really all there is to this?" She had opted to take his class along with Professor Giles' class, ,just to get it all. Giles had pre-sorted his classes into those who needed the beginning class, which was being taught by Xander, and those who had gotten enough information in his first classes last year She was also taking Tara and Willow's class, just to see the differences.

"For now," he agreed. "Later, probably with Giles, you'll be getting a lot more information and types. I'm here to teach you the archetypes and get you to start thinking. If you ran into a demon with horns, no tail, and really sickening breath, by the time you get out of our classes, you should be able to tell me that it's a Brasthenson demon and shouldn't even be on this plane. Or that if it is here, to look for the nearest concentration of virgins and protect them. Okay?" She nodded. "Any other questions?"

"So, you're setting us up for later lessons?" Harry asked.

"Very. Later, once we've covered this, we're going to be joining with the Defense Against the Dark Arts program and working on your skills over there. These two subjects weave together and you've got to become proficient in both areas to be really good in either." Everyone nodded. "Good, dismissed a few minutes early. Hermione, a word?" he asked as everyone started to file out. "Why did you take this?"

"Because it's been a necessity in my life," she told him honestly. "And if Voldemort really comes back, we'll all have to have it, especially those of us who help Harry."

"Good." He nodded. "Can I get you to give me a little help?" he asked quietly, making sure the room was clear. They bent their heads together, talking quietly.

***

Xander walked down to Hagrid's cabin, going to meet the man he hadn't had a chance to last time. They'd found out that the Hagrid he had met was under polyjuice potion and a spy. He tapped lightly, smiling at the real Fang. "Hey, boy," he said, letting the dog sniff his hand. "Not going to jump me?"

Hagrid chuckled. "No, he's not feelin' that well. Come in." He opened the door further, smiling down at the muggle. "What brings you down here?"

"I'd like to learn more about the forest," Xander told him, staying honest. "There's some incredible things down there."

"Do ya wanna kill them?" Hagrid asked.

"Not if they're not dangerous to me at that moment. If they're dangerous over all, I wouldn't mind learning how to do it in the general sense. I wouldn't ever hurt a creature that didn't attack me or someone else."

"Good enough," Hagrid agreed. "I'll send ya a note the next time I gotta go down there. Welcome to Hogwarts," he said, holding out a hand.

"Thanks," Xander said, giving him a smile and shaking it. "I met this person the last time I was here that was pretending to be you, and his dog, who liked to jump all over me. Can I come play with Fang when he's feeling better?"

"Sure. He could probably use someone to roll around with." Hagrid pounded the boy on the back, but Xander had braced for it. "Good man," he laughed.

"Thanks." Xander bent down to scratch Fang's ears again. "I'll be back in a few days to come play with you," he promised the dog. He smiled and walked out. "Thanks, Hagrid," he called as he started for the school. It was dinner time.

Hagrid looked down at his dog, who was whining to follow. "No, you'll get to play soon enough. He likes you." He shut his door, going back to his solitary dinner.

***

Xander looked up as his room's door was tapped on. "Come in?" he called. Sirius Black opened it and stepped in, shutting it behind him. "Hey," Xander said, hiding his present studies. "What's up?"

"I was wondering if your classes were nearly ready to start some cross training?"

"Well," Xander said, picking up the sheet he had written out his schedule on. "We're almost done with the first major group of demons and we'll have a test early next week." He looked up. "I can start it right after that."

Sirius smiled. "That's about when I figured on starting. A few of your first years are in my first year classes and they've said you're about ready to move on again." He pointed at the chair. "May I?" Xander nodded. "How are you finding teaching?"

"It's a lot easier than I thought, but it's so very hard in some other ways," Xander told him. "I started to worry about the kids when they get out of here."

"As long as you gave them the information, then they'll have it," Sirius told him. "If they forget it, then it's their own problem and nothing you can help."

"Had that thought?"

"Oh, yes," Sirius said with a smile. "It's something most of us around here have to push back every now and then." He looked at the dresser beside him, frowning at the book lying on it. "Where did you get that?" he asked coolly.

"I found it on my bed that first night," Xander told him. "It's really sickening, but I'm keeping it to see if I can flush out who sent it."

"That's good," Sirius said, calming down again. "Did you know Lupin was a...."

"Werewolf?" Xander asked, nodding. "Yeah, I've known another. I wonder if he and Oz know each other. Oz, a friend of ours, went off to find control after he tore another were up for touching his girlfriend."

"Oh." Sirius shifted. "Did you have to deal with him?"

"No, he was good. He locked himself up every month. He never got free except for during that incident. Even then, he never ate anyone. Which is much better than I can say about myself when I was possessed that first time." He shifted uncomfortably.

"*You* ate someone?" Sirius asked.

"No, I ate the pig with the rest of the pack. *They* went and ate a guy." Sirius shuddered. "We were possessed at the time. Hyenas are like that. We terrorized everyone around us."

Sirius snorted. "I bet. Who gets to go into the other magic system?"

"Giles does," Xander said, going with the change of subject. "I get to give them the 'respect it all' lecture. He dips into the other form of magic in his lectures." Xander looked at the short stack of things he still had to go through. "What am I going to do for the rest of the year?" he asked.

Sirius snickered. "You'll have to take that up with Rupert." He stood up. "If you have any problems, come get us."

"Does Lupin lock himself up?"

"No, he leaves the school during these times and heads to Hogsmeade to be safe. We've had this set up since he was a student here."

"As long as he's safe," Xander said calmly. "I wouldn't tell Giles, he can get a bit....uptight about making sure people are safe."

"I've heard," Sirius said, patting him on the head. "You're a good man, Xander. Relax about it. We've got it covered." He left the room, closing the door behind him.

"Okay, the two worlds do overlap." Xander pulled out his new wand and his book, studying what he might need to know one day.

***

Xander stood in front of his class, the class after their very first test, and smiled. "Guys, I'm impressed, and not only with myself," he told them, getting some laughter. "You guys did very good overall. There were a few questions that were kinda vague on purpose, to make sure you were listening in class, and you even got those." He smile slipped some. "Unfortunately, you guys mostly missed two that should have been in your notes." He patted the piles of parchment. "Will someone come pass these back out please?" Two kids came up and halved the pile, handing them out while Xander took up his usual perch on his desk. "Let's go over what you guys missed," he told them. "First, questions?"

"What's this thing with the dark mask?" a boy in the back row asked. "I don't remember it."

"I do now," a girl in the front groaned. "He's right, it was in our notes." She flipped through her notes, coming across it. "A beady eyed, dark masked creature that peers at you in the nights."

"I didn't get that," the boy complained. He looked at the students around him's papers. "They got it wrong too," he noted. "You should give us credit for that. It's obviously a teacher mistake if the whole class got it wrong."

"Ah, but I told you about that," Xander told him. "It was a minor thing that I mentioned, but people do have it in their notes. How many of you remember it now?" he asked. Nearly everyone raised their hands. "How many of you didn't have it in your notes?" Only three people raised their hands, all Slytherins. "Gee, guys, looks like you should take better notes. Thankfully, this test is only a tenth of your grade." He smiled again. "The other question I despaired about because it was badly written, but I couldn't figure out how to write it any other way, not even with some help." He frowned at Hermione, who had also missed it. "Even you didn't get that one. Did you realize it once you got out of here?"

She nodded. "I did. As soon as I saw it in my notes. It was one of the little things that you added into the graphs because it was similar but not quite part of that group." She looked behind her. "It was that 'cousin' thing he was talking about." The whole class groaned and checked their papers.

"Good. Will we remember this for the final?"

"We're having a comprehensive final?" one boy asked.

"Ask the question again and you will," Xander agreed happily. He hated that kid. "If I do do that, it'll come from the tests you'll be taking now. I'll give you the rest of the class to copy down any notes you want from these tests because I want them back. Next time, come prepared to go outside."

"Can we go early if we get done early?" Neville asked hopefully.

"Sure. Just be quiet and respectful. The other teachers are still having normal classes." He clapped his hands. "Like I said, overall you guys did great. There were only two non-passing grades, and another one that I was unhappy with." He smiled at his group. "You guys did great, be happy with yourselves. You're getting the material and are handling it pretty well." He slid off the desk and walked out into the hall, leaning against the cool stone wall. "I'm so good," he told himself happily. He smiled at Giles, who was walking towards him. "Good news," he said happily. "There were only three grades I wasn't happy with."

Giles patted him on the shoulder. "Good. I heard that you're taking the children to cross train next class period?"

"Yeah," Xander said, glancing back into the classroom. "What did you want me to teach after I got done with this stuff?"

Giles groaned. "Xander, that pile was to last you all year," he said gently.

"Gee, but I got through the first classification table already." He held up a finger and stuck his head back into the classroom. "Guys, when you get done, come hand us your tests and go be quiet somewhere." He came back out. "You can even look over them if you'd like. Make sure I covered it all."

"Yes, I think I should," Giles said, smiling at Hermione. "May I also take your notes to look over?" he asked her. "I had planned for Xander to take most of the year to teach what I gave him."

She handed over the pile of notes. "Sure. Those aren't all of them, just from the lectures that I had problems with on the test. I'll get the rest and bring them to you tonight at supper." She handed Xander her test. "I think he's covering it very well. We've learned a lot but it's been pretty easy so far." She smiled at Xander. "Your lesson tonight?"

"Sure, after supper in this classroom," he told her.

"Okay." She walked off, quickly followed by Ron and Harry, who ran out and tossed over their tests to catch up to her.

Xander handed over the tests, watching as Giles read them. "The two she missed most everyone missed but realized what they were today." Giles grunted, going in to collect the rest of the tests. Xander shook his head, starting to worry about how much trouble he was in. He started to fidget, wanting everyone to get finished so he could go up and send Murphy into Hogsmeade to get some reassurance. His friends were good for that. And this weekend, he'd get to see them again. As soon as the last student left, he hurried up to his room and his phoenix.

***

Giles tapped on Xander's door, walking in at the grunt. "I've got to admit, after talking with Ron, you've covered all the material to my satisfaction." He handed back the tests, watching as they were stuffed into a drawer. "Xander, I'm sorry if I've seemed harsh on you."

Xander glared up at him. "Giles, you all but told me that I was doing everything wrong. That's not harsh, that's mean."

"I'm sorry," Giles said, closing the door behind himself and coming in to look at the boy. "I didn't mean to be so down on you. I never expected you to move through the material so fast. You're not a natural teacher."

"So you thought I couldn't tell funny stories and give out information?"

"No," Giles said firmly, "I knew you could do that, I had doubts that the students were learning any of it." He gave his former student a smile. "I'm very happy with how you've been doing, proud even," he said at the relenting frown. "I'll trust you to come to me from now on if you need anything."

"I'll need more material," Xander told him. "Even if we spend half of the classes in with Sirius, I'm still going to be out of material in the next month."

"I'll see what we have in the rest of the notebook," he said, faintly sounding shocked. "How are the twins?" he asked, desperate to not be mad at. He didn't like it when Xander treated him coldly, he liked the boy, he was like his son.

"They're fine," Xander told him. "Fred said I should mine your bed with stink bombs." He raised one eyebrow. "Will you trust me now?"

"Definitely," Giles agreed, giving him a smile. "I realize you're much better than I thought. We'll figure out what we're teaching for the rest of the year together. All right?"

"Are you going into the other form of magic? Sirius asked me and I told him that was your area."

"Why, yes, I was. I can easily stretch that into a few weeks, the different classifications and the types of magic that are used throughout the world. I'll check with the girls to see what they've covered in that area. Thank you. Would you like the 'other' category?"

"Sure. Or even that one and one other big one would be good," Xander told him.

"I'll see what I can pull out of the binder," Giles agreed, giving him a brighter smile. "Very well done, Xander. I'm very proud of you." He walked out, leaving Xander alone to finish grading the other classes tests.

Giles' scream of outrage made him smile and lock his door. It wasn't stinkbombs, but shaving creme bombs were still of the good and just as funny.

***

Xander looked down the high table, frowning at McGonagall. "Where's Sirius and Lupin? We're supposed to be running joint classes today."

"Professor Lupin had a few problems last night," she said gently. "Nothing of concern," she said quickly when she heard his groan. "More of a medical concern. They're both up in the infirmary. Professor Lupin doesn't like to stay up there alone."

"Oh. What about their classes?"

"They're getting free study periods," she told him.

"Oh." He thought then started to nod slowly. "I have something I can do instead. We'll still be going outside." She nodded. "It's time to put the things we've learned to use. My first years will have to help me set it up." He grinned and stood up. "I'll be back in a few, maybe," he said, grabbing a pastry anyway. He was hungry and this was going to be a long day outside for them. For some reason, England got cold in October. Maybe he'd have to find one of those House Elves and ask them to bring out a pot of tea for each class. He shrugged his thoughts off as he ran up to his room to get the necessary materials for his next class. He had enough boxes and pictures up there to do that. And if not, he could always improvise and try to draw some of the monsters.

Xander faced off with his second class, who had remembered their cloaks and scarves. "Good. This is the exercise." One of the girls raised her hands. "Professors Lupin and Black aren't feeling well so there's been a slight change of plans," he told her. "Today, we're going to have a practical pop quiz of the physical nature." He pointed at the boxes tacked to the ground around them. "You'll be broken into groups of...." he did a quick head count, "three," he announced. "Each group will take a box, you will figure out how to kill the monster and/or demon pictured in there. You will rotate to the *left*," he told them. "One group will always be free to get warm," he pointed at the tea cart with the large pot of tea being kept warm. "Count off!"

"Sir?" one girl asked. "Huh?"

"Okay, never heard that one?" she shook her head. "Wow. You guys never did that in gym classes? Huh. Okay, each person, in turn, says a number. You're one," he told her, pointing at the boy behind her. "Two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. Repeat!" he ordered, watching as the kids caught on. Soon he had his eight groups, group number two being the one that drew the tea pot position first from his hat. "You've got five minutes with each," he told them, starting for the group that had just cheered. "Put the thing that you think will kill or hurt that creature from the group of items around it in the box and close the lid. And no cheating!" he called to one of the all-Slytherin groups, who had been looking around. He stopped at the farthest group. "Calm down, you got this right on the test," he told the girl who was starting to shake. She gave him a smile and pointed at the stake. "I'm not going to tell you. This is a group decision. Put it in the box if you think it's right." She looked at her classmates, who nodded, so she put the stake into the box and closed the lid. "What else might have hurt it?" he asked.

"Um, the metal thing," the second girl said quickly. "It's killed with silver." She took the stake out and put the butter knife into the box. "Like that?"

"Very good. Remember, you're a team and you have five minutes in each box." He walked to the next group, checking on them. "I'd drink that tea," he called. "It's going to be a long time before you get back to it." He watched as the students next to the tea pot all poured themselves mugs of tea and started to drink it. "And take the mugs with you, but make sure they all end up back on the trolley," he told them as he nodded at the next group. He made it to the third box, and the group that were looking petrified. "What's wrong?" he asked.

"I don't remember what anything looks like," one of the boys said. "She said it's a vampire but I know it's not."

"Well, what do vampires look like? You remember their characteristics, tell me if that's it."

"Um, it's not pale, it's green," the girl with them said. "So, not a vampire?"

"Very good reasoning. The blush might also have tipped you off. When you don't have much blood in your body, you can't really do that." He patted the boy on the shoulder. "So, what was green that we covered in the class?"

"This is hard," he complained.

"I know. It's meant to be. Just think, I could have asked one of the more magical teachers to make this seem like a dark alley at night and you'd have to do this more realistically, like you will once you graduate." He walked on to the next box, smiling down at the Slytherin guys. "What did you think this was?" he asked.

"We think it's a vampire," the lead boy, the loud one in the class, told him.

"It's furry," Xander pointed out delicately. "Vampires aren't usually furry. You've got a minute left, correct it or get it wrong." He walked in, going to check on his other groups. When time was up, he walked around to each, writing down which person was in each group and which groups had gotten their first box right. "Good, guys, switch to the box on your *left*. Tea people, refill your mugs if you need to and take them with you." He pulled his cloak tighter around himself, smiling at the girl who raised her hand. "Yes, Mary?"

"I'm cold, sir, may I please go back to the classroom and get my gloves?"

"Sure. Hurry up. Tell your group your idea first."

She leaned over and whispered to them then ran inside, stopping when Professor Snape frowned at her. "Sorry, Professor, I need my gloves."

"Who has you outside today?" he asked.

"Professor Harris, we're doing a physical exercise. With tea," she added at his frown. "I need my gloves. The wind's picking up." She ran into the classroom and grabbed her gloves, and the other three sets she found, taking them back out. She found Professor Snape looking down at the boxes. "I found some other gloves inside," she said, waving them. Their owners got up and grabbed them from her and she went back to her group, nodding at their choice. "Good job," she told them. "We get tea next."

Xander smiled at Professor Snape as he walked out, with a great frown aimed at him. "How many times have you ended up needing to do things outside in winter?" he suggested. "I've made sure the kids can stay warm. I even warned them the last class time. I was supposed to have a joint exercise with Lupin and Black." He checked his watch. "Time, let's see who got it right." He grabbed his clipboard and nodded. "Want to come with me?" He walked to the box on the right, they were always fastest. "Good." He stopped at the second group, frowning down at the little vial of water in the box. "Okay, what did you think it was?" he asked.

"A Bezoar?" one of the students suggested.

"Which is killed or hurt most by what?" Xander asked.

"Um, holy water?" she suggested. He shook his head. "Did we get the classification right?"

"Right group, wrong demon," he agreed. "Half for that. That's a wood sensitive one if it helps."

"Oh, I know what it is," one of the girls said, looking down at it. "The number of horns should have told us."

"Very good," Xander agreed, moving onto the Slytherin guys. "Okay," he said, staring down at their box. "That's a vampire," he told them. "Silver doesn't hurt them, they tend to laugh at it actually." He looked at Professor Snape. "I think maybe these three need some study habits lessons. Do you guys do that here?"

"No, but I'm sure we'll be having a discussion," Snape told them. They all looked terrified and nodded. "Good. This is the whole exercise?"

"No, they switch off," Xander said, moving onto the fifth box. "Good, guys," he said, marking it down. He finished his group and checked his watch. "Switch," he called. He watched as the tea group, who had refilled their mugs, ran to their next box.

Professor Snape frowned at the boys who got to lounge around the tea pot. "That's not a challenge."

"No, but I didn't have enough boxes so they get to drink tea for the next five minutes. It also means that everyone gets a chance at tea to stay warm." Xander walked over at the raised hand. "Yup?" he asked, squatting down to look at the defaced picture. "Huh, gonna take points off those guys. Can you tell what it is?" She shook her head and he handed her some tape from his cloak pocket. "Fix it and you'll get this one right." He stood up and glared at the group around the tea pot. "Five points off for defacing one of the pictures," he said as he walked back over to them. "Each."

Professor Snape looked impressed. "You're a hard teacher."

"Actually, I made a deal with the kids," Xander told him, leaning against the outer wall of the school. "They didn't screw with me and I wouldn't assign them extra homework." He checked his watch again. "One minute and then I need to make a note of homework," he called. "Everyone can have tea then." He nodded at the round. "Want to help again?"

"No. Thank you." Professor Snape pulled his cloak tighter around him. "I think I'll go back down to my rooms. I need to prepare for Mr. Longbottom's class. He'll be blowing up the lab this time."

"Let him work with Ron," Xander told him. "Ron complained that he's in the corner anyway."

"So is Longbottom," Snape said coolly. "Trust me, I always put the troublemakers over in that corner, that way the explosions are minimized." He looked down at his students. "We will be talking tonight. Report to me after your last class." He walked back toward the door.

"Time," Xander called, heading over to check their boxes, smiling when everyone got it right. "Good, guys. Now then, for homework tonight I want you guys to write out the exercises that we're doing today and give me reasons why you think each one is what it is."

"For instance?" a boy asked.

"For instance, you thought that one picture was a Bezoar. I want to know why you thought that way and why you know you were wrong, and how you'd fix both problems." He nodded. "Good? Next boxes after everyone has a mug." Xander watched as his students hurried back to their next task, more than ready to get on with this.

***

Xander looked up as Dumbledore joined his class of sixth years, smiling at him. "Hi. The wind's stopped." He nodded at the groups. "They're doing very well today. Only a few mixups."

"Good." Dumbledore smiled at the pot of warm tea. "You're doing a good job. What did Snape want?"

"He ran into one of my students, who had gone in to get her gloves. He came out to see what I was doing. Apparently he never expected this sort of thing from me." He shrugged lightly. "I think this is a really good training device. We've had a few problems with the kids mixing up demons in the same class, except for a few Slytherin guys this morning." He held out the clipboard. "Want to check the scores?"

"No. It looks like fun," Dumbledore said, smiling at the students. "Do you have time to call them in?"

"Yup, we're half through and I give everyone a tea break at the half-way point." He checked his watch. "I've got to go start checking them. Want to walk with me?"

"All right." Xander walked over to the girl that looked really confused. "Calm down," he told her. "What's wrong?"

"I don't remember which group it goes into," she told him.

"Well, start with the bigger picture. Which class is it?"

"Humanoid."

"And is it plane or hell bound?"

"Um," she looked at it. "Plane, earth specifically," she said, then she picked up the silver butter knife and put it into the box.

"Good job," he said, patting her on the head. He marked her off. This class was smaller so there was one person to a box. He headed to Hermione next, knowing she had it done already. "How did Neville do in Potions?" he asked her.

"No explosion," she said with a smile. "Professor Snape took five points off me for not helping him." She turned her smile on Dumbledore. "Professor Snape thinks that I helped him but I didn't. Neville and I studied that spell for a long time last night."

"I'll shall have to congratulate him then," Dumbledore told her. "Very nice work, Ms. Granger."

"Yup, just right. Go to the pot. We'll do the homework thing and tea break next." He checked his watch. "Time," he called, watching as one last kid tossed in something and closed the lid. He shook his head when the boy looked at him. "Sorry, Ron. That wasn't what you thought it was." He went to the rest of the groups, then went back to join them at the pot. "All right. Your homework, the same as everyone else's, is to go over this exercise on paper. Tell me what each box was, and if you got it wrong why you thought it was what it was. Tell me what you should have put in there and why you put what you did in the box. Got it?" Everyone nodded. "Good, grab some tea and go back to your next box." He smiled at the Headmaster, after getting out of the way. "I think it's been a productive day."

"I'd say. This was a very good idea," Dumbledore agreed. "Fun yet very easy and reinforcing of what you've taught them. Good job, Xander. By the way, Professor Lupin said you were on for their next class and Madam Hooch said that she wanted to see you during your free period, that the students in her flying class wanted to see you out there doing drills with them. It seems it gave them greater confidence."

Xander nodded. "Okay. I won't have a class after this so I'll pick up at the end and head over there." He preened under the positive attention, just like his bird did. He had to send a note to the village tonight. He watched as Dumbledore walked back in, still smiling even though he was so cold he was nearly numb.

***

Xander stepped into the joke shop, smiling at the guys behind the counter. "Hi," he said, walking over to give them both hugs. "I'm cold," he said happily. "And Ron can't tell a werewolf from a vampire."

Fred laughed. "You'd think he'd be able to after seeing Lupin change." He tugged Xander into the back room, sitting him down and pouring him a mug of butterbeer that they had gotten earlier. "Here, drink." He sat down across from him. "How was your joint classes?"

"Didn't happen today. Lupin had probs last night." Xander took a sip and hummed in appreciation. "This is good." He looked at George, who was ringing someone up. "So, how's business?"

"Good," Fred told him, giving him a smile. "Did you use stink bombs?"

"Shaving creme ones."

"Eww," George said. "Sticky nasty stuff. Congratulations," he said happily. "Need some more?"

"Nah. But I will need something for classes later this month." He leaned over and bumped into Fred, who had leaned in at the same time. He pulled back quickly, touching his lips. "Um, sorry 'bout that."

"It's okay," Fred told him, standing up. "It's all good here in town." He wiggled his eyebrows. "What mean and nasty things are you going to be doing with the kids this time?"

"The older kids are going to be going through an inside maze where Lupin has set up some minor creatures. I was thinking about adding some fog based ones to it. He thought it'd be cool and he can get some, but no fog."

"Ah, fog we can give you," George said, switching places with his brother. He leaned in and gave Xander a kiss. "It's only fair, Fred got one," he said impishly at the shocked look.

Xander shook his head. "Guys, I'm pretty sure I like women."

"So do we," Fred agreed from his place in front of the register. "When do the kids get to come down?"

"Tomorrow."

"Yes," Fred sighed. "A big take on our first real day."

"Hopefully," George agreed. "How was the test?"

"Good. I put pictures in boxes and laid things to kill the monster in front of it. Except a few Slytherin guys this morning, it went okay. Ron wasn't used to working on his own like that so he got a little flustered. Ginny did excellent in helping me today. She was very good at tracking down a House Elf to get us tea for each class and mugs for everyone."

"Yeah, she'll make a wonderful wife," George sighed. "Nothing special?"

"Only really cold wind, and Professor Snape coming out to look over my shoulder. Oh, and Dumbledore said I was doing very good," he said proudly.

"Good," George said, giving him a hug. "Want to try something new out? We're not sure if it'll work on the muggle born."

"Is it going to hurt?" Xander asked, getting up and following him into the lab. He picked up the little purple grape-cluster looking piece of candy. "What is this?"

"Um, anger candy," George said, taking it from him. "Something we don't want to make any more of." He handed over a piece of candy that looked like a gumball. "Suck on this, but don't bite it," he warned.

Xander put it into his mouth and sucked on it, laughing when his reflection in a nearby mirror showed him turning blue. "Wow," he said, spitting it out. "I'd say it works. Any side effects?"

"Yeah, it lasts for three days if you bite, two hours if you suck," Fred called in. "It's Lupin."

"I'm coming," Xander said, stuffing the ball into his pocket. He could find a use for that. He smiled at the other teacher. "Feeling better?"

Professor Lupin gave him a look but shook himself before he could laugh. "Much. I managed to hurt myself running around my enclosure last night," he said, giving Xander a smile. "Did you include a werewolf in there?"

"And a silver butter knife," Xander agreed. "Not all of you lock yourselves up, but all of you can be injured but not killed."

"Point," Lupin agreed after a few seconds thought. "Are you going to teach them that?"

"In our mutual classes," Xander agreed firmly. "I'd rather see the kids trying to drive it off then have them feel guilty over killing something. One girl asked me if the Slayer killed without giving the demons a trial."

Lupin smiled. "Good. I like that attitude. Driving things off is usually a lot more healthy

anyway."

"Yup, you get to walk away," Xander agreed wryly. "Fighting leads to bruises and head injuries from hitting walls."

George shook his head. "Only where you come from. We never get that close."

"What happens when you lose your wand in the fight?" Xander asked. George looked at Fred. "Yeah, so I'd rather teach the kids the practical and mundane ways to drive things off if they need to in addition to letting Lupin and Black teach them how to do it magically."

"Which is very practical," Fred agreed. "You've really thought about this, haven't you?"

"No, I've really lived this," Xander told him. "This used to be my life." He smiled suddenly. "Now, though, my life is very odd." He pulled out his wand. "No one else knows I have one of these," he told them. "Well, except McGonagall and Dumbledore, she caught me practicing and told him. Anyway, Hermione has been helping me. I can do little things," he said proudly.

"Good," Lupin told him. "What was Madam Hooch talking about? She said you had problems with broomsticks."

"Only getting them to come up," Xander said dryly. "I can fly on one, but I can't get it to do the whole 'up' thing that she taught the first day."

"None of us use that anyway," George told him. "Put that away," he said, noticing who was walking towards the shop. He looked over and it had disappeared. "How are your witches doing?"

"Better than I am," Xander told him. "But I have gone through everything Giles has give me so far. I'm actually intruding on his next year's classes and he's figuring out what to teach them."

"Maybe we'll realign it so you'll teach the defense parts and he'll teach classification," Lupin suggested.

"Other way around. I cover the material better and he knows how to kill everything," Xander told him. "I'm going to have to find new sources of demons to put into the grouping. Minister Fudge," he said when the man finally walked in. "Just down from the school?"

"No, just on a small trip up here," he said pleasantly. He looked around the store. "You seem to be doing very well," he told the twins. "Harris, how are your classes?"

"Good. I did an exercise with the kids today that showed that most everyone had actually learned what was on their first test."

"Yes, I heard something about that from another teacher. Outside, today?"

"With a large cart of tea," Xander agreed. "I had told them to be prepared to go outside today anyway. It was okay, except the class where the wind picked up."

"I see. So they were warm?"

"Yup and I let them in early to finish warming up. Almost everyone was fine with just their gloves and the tea though."

"All right then." He smiled at the twins again. "I was wondering if you had anything that might liven up a party I'm throwing tonight."

"Of course, Minister," George said, leading him over to a locked case. "These are the line of party favors we've created so far. The snappers contain lights instead of presents so you can create your own light show. The round things float in drinks and give off screams and fog."

Minister Fudge laughed. "Good. I'll take ten of each. I'll give them out tonight as favors." He handed over some coins to Fred, who had come over with the key. "Looking forward to Hogwart's first weekend in town?"

"Definitely," Fred agreed.

"It's our Grand Opening," George agreed. "And the other joke shop has been very good about accepting the competition."

"Good," Minister Fudge said, taking his small bag. "Harris, Lupin," he said, nodding at them both. "I expect I'll see you later tonight."

"Probably," Xander agreed, waving. He waited until the door closed. "I hate that man, he's such a slimeball."

"He's a politician," George reminded him. "He's supposed to be that way."

"Yeah, well, he's not getting it on the nice meter from me," Xander told him, turning to look at the case. "Screams and fog? You never told me about that one. Great Halloween gag."

"Yup," Fred said, giving him a smile. "We've already heard about that."

"And done something along those lines," George agreed. He looked over Xander's robe. "Did you take the color ball?" He got a happy nod. "Just remember to use it subtly. Otherwise someone'll freak and we'll get into trouble."

"Why would you get into trouble for something that I found somewhere else?" Xander asked, making George frown. "I meant if I got into trouble," he explained.

"Oh. Good." He and Fred shared a smile.

Fred shook his head. "It's not necessary. Things like that still bring in business." He winked at his twin. "When did you guys need the fog?"

"I was thinking that those fog creators would be good for the maze exercise," Lupin told him. "Just the right atmosphere for the class since it's going to be around Halloween anyway."

"Cool," Xander said. "I like that idea. Did you want to sit down tonight and work out everything?"

"Sure. Sirius will probably join us."

"Hey, all good with me," Xander told him. He checked his watch. "We've only got an hour until dinner," he told the twins, coming over to give them hugs. "I'm glad you're happy, but I'd better get back. I'll send Murphy down tomorrow." He grinned at George. "I've got to work on my illusions, which I seem to be pretty good at."

"That's what gryphons were good at," Lupin agreed, waving at the boys as he followed Xander out. "Did you broom down?"

"Yup," Xander said, pointing at his broom. "You?"

"No, I took the tunnel," he said cryptically. "I'll see you at dinner." He watched the young man go, wondering how much trouble certain people were going to be in when they went against him. He shook himself, heading for the Shrieking Shack so he could go home. There was now another entrance to the tunnel and he wanted to try it out.

***

Xander looked down the table of teachers, giving Willow a grin. He knew she'd run into some problems recently, a few of the students accusing her of not being a real witch and the like. Nothing like he had run into, but still annoying. That's why Dumbledore had called this meeting. And while he was listening to the Headmaster, he was also planning how to get even with the teachers who were pissing him off. After all, it was part of his nature.

He pretty well knew who it was. Snape was leading the group.

"And I'd like to finish by saying a nice word about our new teachers, who have had to put up with a lot of uncertainty this year," Dumbledore said, drawing Xander's attention back to the meeting.

He smiled at the older man. "It's okay, I'm dealing pretty well. Most of my students haven't said anything to me *directly*, but if I find the guys who changed the lock spell on my door I'm going to get them."

Dumbledore frowned at him. "Now, Xander...."

"No. I wasn't able to take care of Murphy for a whole day. Birds have to eat every day, they don't store fat the way cats do. It could have seriously hurt him." He gave the Headmaster a reassuring smile. "I promise not to do anything *bad* to them, just make them wish that their detentions with me were running *much* faster."

Dumbledore hummed. "I can see that. Please don't do more than scare them." Xander nodded his agreement. "Is Murphy all right?"

"Mostly. He needed to be held that next day. He didn't want to leave my side at all. He still doesn't want to be left alone in my room so I've been bringing him with me to class."

"So they attacked your bird too?" Willow asked.

"No, they said something to him. He's acting like he did when Buffy snarked on him that time."

Willow nodded. "I'll find you some pomegranates."

"Thanks, Will." Xander looked up at Dumbledore again. "I promise, I won't hurt them, but the next person who touches Murphy's going to wish they'd been straight and come at me instead."

"I agree that something should be done," Dumbledore agreed, "but you can't be too hard on the students."

"Oh, really?" Xander asked, looking at Snape. "I'm sure we can strike a happy medium. I'll tell you what I'll do before I do it."

"Thank you. I'd like the chance to approve of any punishments beyond the ordinary." Dumbledore looked at Giles. "What you did, while very entertaining, was not wholly appropriate for errant students."

"What did you do?" Tara asked quietly.

"I gave one rabbit ears for an hour," Giles said dryly. "I figured them having bigger ears might mean that they'd listen for a change."

"Let me take over your class for a few days," Xander said quickly. "It might solve some of the problems."

Giles blinked a few times. "All right. We'll figure out where we're each at tonight."

"No, let Willow and Tara handle mine, you go handle theirs."

Dumbledore smiled at him. "That's a very good idea. What do you have planned?"

"I think a fresh set of eyes might solve a few of the problems. And maybe, just maybe, I'll run his class through a training exercise. He can run Willow and Tara's through a minor but tiring spell casting. Willow and Tara can keep my classes, which are mostly all right, in line."

"That sounds reasonable. Showing them that what you do isn't that easy is an appropriate way of countering these recent attacks." He looked down at Xander. "I've heard that you received a most unkind present the night you got here."

"Yeah, I got a book all about how people who were different shouldn't be considered people. Including people like me."

"Ah, I see," Dumbledore said. "Do you still have it?"

"It's sitting on my dresser. I wasn't going to take any hints from it about how I should be turned into my heritage's shape and torn wing from limb," he said dryly.

"Also very good," Dumbledore agreed. "If you wouldn't mind, I'd like that book."

"Sure. I'm tired of watching it to see if it mutates and tries to attack me at night." Dumbledore nodded. "Also, Willow, my class, they're doing the usual ethics lectures. Get Tara to do it so you don't get screechy."

"I don't," Willow protested.

"You do," Giles interrupted. "I've seen you do it when another student asked you if you shouldn't wait to catch the vampire instead." He patted her hand. "Relax and let Tara handle most of that section." He smiled at Xander. "You're going to make my next classes very hard, aren't you?"

"Hey, they're getting the information, I'm sure you can find something else to teach them. You keep saying that this only scratches the surface. Do the unusual cases and the 'other' category of problems that we run into."

"I think I might have to," Giles said good naturedly.

Dumbledore smiled at them both. "The Ministry has requested that we continue this track of learning, thinking that it might be very useful in the future for the students." He looked at Snape. "How are the students in your classes?"

"Longbottom and Potter's group have formed some sort of alliance and are cheating somehow," he sniffed. "Longbottom hasn't blown up the dungeon yet this term."

"Maybe he's finally getting the hang of it," McGonagall noted. "He's been taking a lot of time after classes to study with Hermione Granger. I think that the extra studying is paying off."

"Maybe," Snape agreed dryly. "But I doubt it. He couldn't ever mix a potion right before."

"Yes, well, sometimes students will surprise you," Dumbledore reminded him. "I've noticed how serious Mr. Longbottom has become in the last few months. He's been studying with Ms. Granger you say?"

"Yes, Headmaster."

"I see. Maybe they'll give him some more confidence. The boy could certainly use it." Everyone nodded. "Are there any other problem students?"

"I have one," Willow noted. "One of the Slytherin guys that's been wrecking Xander's class is in mine also. Unfortunately, Tara had to give him detention the other day because he decided to take someone's toad and tried to kill it by skinning it. I was ready to skin him but she caught me and fixed him first."

Dumbledore groaned. "I had hoped that he would calm down. I shall talk to the boy tonight. Anyone else?"

"Potter's planning something again," Snape told him.

"Not," Xander countered. "Ron's planning something for Harry's next birthday. Hermione's planning something for the holidays, which will make everyone wince probably, and Harry's just kinda in the middle of it."

"He's been too quiet recently."

"Harry's not quiet when he's in trouble," Dumbledore noted. "What is Ms. Granger planning for the holidays?"

"Some sort of celebration," Willow told him. "That's all we know. It's for the three of them since they're all staying."

"We might not be staying," Sirius noted.

"Oh, please," Tara begged. "She'll be heartbroken. She's been studying some very interesting spells to make it really cheerful."

McGonagall sighed. "I think I'll stay this holiday, Professor Dumbledore. I'd like to see my house lit up that way." The new teachers, all but Giles, snickered. "Yes, I'll definitely stay this year."

Dumbledore nodded complacently. "You'll be welcome, as always." He looked around the table. "Was there anything else to discuss?"

"One thing," Willow said, looking down at Xander. "Are you going to do that night thing in the forest again sometime soon?" He nodded. "Can you please look for some certain herbs for me? I can't find them in the greenhouse and they're mostly foresty stuff."

"Sure. Give me a list that I can give to Hagrid," Xander agreed.

"Thanks."

"Would you be willing to get me samples also?" the herbology teacher asked. "There's been a type of moss I've been looking for."

"Sure. If Hagrid can help me find it, I'll gladly get samples."

"Thank you," she said, nodding at Willow. "I'll take a little bit of your samples and work on growing some for you."

"Thanks," Willow told her. "Can we go eat now?"

"Yes, it's about that time," Dumbledore agreed, standing up. "Thank you for this meeting."

"Welcome," everyone said, filing out to go eat.

Dumbledore stopped Xander, giving him a penetrating look. "Please, keep the damage down," he said quietly. "I know your nature's calling out to you and telling you to destroy them, but we can't afford to lose anyone."

"I'm not going to *kill* anyone," Xander said with a cold grin, "but humiliating them isn't out of the question, is it?"

"No, not at all," Dumbledore agreed, letting him go. He was almost looking forward to this, on some little level that he almost dreaded to touch in himself.

***

Xander looked out over the Halloween party, smiling at Ron, who was possibly the loudest child in the whole hall. He looked down the table at Professor Snape, who was glaring at the same table. "Relax, it's a holiday," he said, tossing down one of the Weasley's Time Toppers, their snappers. "Have fun," he told him.

Snape pulled open the popper, gasping at the lights that flew out and danced around. "Where did you get this?" he demanded.

"The twins."

"Oh, their Time Toppers," Dumbledore said, smiling at the lights. "Do you have any more?"

"A few," Xander agreed, reaching into his robe and handing them over. "Here you go. They said there was some way to design a whole light show with them, but they didn't share that secret with me."

Dumbledore popped open the next one, watching as the new lights took the place of the old ones. "My, those are fun," he said, handing them down the table. "Do it together," he instructed.

Together the table popped their snappers, and the light show made even Ron quiet down and watch.

"I like those," Dumbledore said, laughing at the lights. "What else did you bring?"

"Um," Xander said, digging around in his pockets. He bypassed the color changing candy and brought out one of the extra smoke bombs they hadn't needed for the maze tomorrow. "I've got one of these. It's a scream." He handed over another, little wrapped candy. "These make your tongue grow." He dug around again for show, coming up with the piece of candy. "And they gave me this. It's candy," he said when Dumbledore looked at him. "You can share it if you want. Just don't bite it, they said it might be a little sour."

"Give me that," Snape said. "It's probably safer than the smoke maker."

"Fog," Xander corrected, watching as Professor Snape sucked on the candy, starting to giggle when peach stripes appeared on his forehead. He fell out of his chair when he heard the crunch.

Willow pointed at him and started to giggle. "Xander!" Tara yelled, reaching over to smack him.

"That's a pleasant shade," Dumbledore said, staring at Snape's new peach colored skin. Snape got up and ran out of the hall, heading up to the infirmary. Dumbledore looked down at Xander. "That wasn't nice," he noted, but he was trying very hard to not laugh himself.

"Turned me blue," Xander gasped.

"Must be wearing off with age," Willow said, taking the fog maker and dropping it into their bowl of punch. "Can you drink after this?" she asked.

"They said you could, but it's been in my pocket."

"'Kay," she said, watching as the fog rolled out of the punch bowl and down off the dias, giggling as the screams started in the fog. "Way cool," she agreed.

Professor McGonagall ran out of the hall, trying to keep her laughter inside.

"Wicked!" Ron shouted in the suddenly quiet hall, getting up to play in the fog. "My brothers did this?"

Willow nodded. "Yup, your brothers did this."

Everyone in the hall started to chatter about going down there to see what else they had.

"A most auspicious bit of advertising," Dumbledore said, helping Xander back into his chair. "How long will he be off colored?"

"A week," Xander said meekly. "I told him not to bite into it."

Dumbledore patted him on the shoulder. "Touche," he whispered.

"Xander," Giles sighed. "He's not that bad."

"He's an insufferable guy to some very nice students," Willow countered. "Someone should stick up for the Neville's of the world."

"He'll retaliate," Sirius warned.

Willow chuckled. "Really?" she asked.

He laughed. "Oh, this is even more fun than when we were children." He looked down at Harry, his Godson, trying to pull Ron out of the fog. "Oh, let him play, Harry. He's had too much sugar for his own good."

"He ate hypercandy," Tara told him. "We saw him stuffing himself full of it today in town."

"Yes, we noticed," Dumbledore said.

McGonagall rejoined them, more in control of herself now.

***

Xander looked up as an owl tapped on his classroom window, not stopping his lecture to answer it. He took the note, giving the owl a piece of dried fruit from his pocket, and looked down at it, but it didn't fly away. He smiled at the class. "Give me a sec, okay?" he asked, unfolding the note and reading it. He snickered and wrote on the bottom of the note, putting it back into the owl's pouch, along with a coin. "Thank you," he whispered, lifting it up and sending it back into the air. "All right, where was I?" he asked.

"Reaming us good for not doing any homework last night," Ron said helpfully.

"I was?" Xander asked, giving him a smile. "Me, who never did a bit of homework if he could get away with it?" Everyone nodded. "Huh, guess that means I want better for you than I had before I got here. Do you guys have things like fast food?"

Harry raised his hand. "They have taverns, but nothing like McDonalds."

"Makes it a little harder then. Let's just put it this way, imagine yourselves working in the local tavern forever. You're the one who cleans up after everybody. You clean up the spilled food, the spilled beer, and the puke, every night for the rest of your lives. All because you didn't do your homework."

"I'm sure that won't happen to some of us," Hermione sniffed.

"No, you're right. But you did your homework." Xander looked around the class. "Remember when I first took over this class and I said not to screw with me?" The students all nodded, looking pathetic. "Guys, I've seen kittens make that look better. My phoenix, Murphy, does pitiful better." He clapped his hand and gave them his brightest smile. "Since almost none of you did your homework, then you can do it tonight and add tonight's homework on top of it, and I will be taking it up tomorrow. And," he paused, "I'm assigning a paper. It will be on one thing that you think you cannot respect as an independent entity and why you'd better rethink your position." Hermione raised her hand. "Yes?"

"Does that mean that you want us to rationalize why we're being arses?"

He nodded. "Yup, sounds like it," he agreed. "Your paper will be due in one week and I'll expect the demon or entity to be a *real* one." That got a second, even deader groan. "Good. Now, who at least did the reading and can tell me what is one creature you always want to respect because they're trapped in their own forms." He gave Hermione a look. "Anyone but you, who did the homework, dear. Let them suffer for a few minutes." A Hufflepuff girl in the back raised her hand. "Yes?"

"Werewolves?" she suggested. "They had no choice in their curse so are technically trapped."

"Good," Xander said, nodding. "Five points. You obviously thought about that answer. Do you feel pity for weres or do you feel respect for them?"

"Both," she said honestly. "And I'm very glad it's not me."

"That's not nice," Harry noted.

"No, it's human," Xander told him. "Having had a friend that got bitten in high school, I can tell you every month he locked himself up, I was very glad it wasn't me. It's all part of being human, Harry. Why do you respect them though, Harry?"

"Because they didn't have a choice," he said, getting a little huffy. "They didn't choose to be routinely discriminated against by everyone, even by muggles."

"Muggles don't believe in them," Xander pointed out, "but you're right. They didn't choose this. They got bitten on the butt by Fate and now they have to live with it. Can you see why people would pity them?"

Harry nodded, slumping in on himself. "I can," he agreed. He put his head down on the desk.

"Good, that means that you're able to see it from everyone else's point of view. That's all part of growing up." He reached down and patted Harry on the back of the head. "You have to overcome the pity to firmly get the respect in place." He looked back at the rest of the class. "Do you understand why I had to make this point?" Everyone but one girl nodded and she was staring off into space. "Melissa?" he called.

Hermione turned around in her seat. "Melissa?" she asked.

Xander tapped her on the head. "Me teacher, you student. You get minus five." She pouted. "Deal with it. Life is a big set of stairs of power. Teachers are higher than students." He walked up to her, tapping on her desk, and when he didn't get an answer, squatting down beside her. "Melissa?" She finally looked at him, her eyes full of tears. "What's wrong?"

"It's all too much," she whispered.

"Crap, I've seen this before." He stood up, helping her up. "Hermione, finish the lecture, Harry and Ron make sure her stuff gets back to the Prefect for her House." He led her from the room, taking her up to the infirmary. "Hi," he called as soon as he walked in. He didn't get an answer so he sat her on the bed, making her look at him. "Is it emotions or thoughts?" he asked quietly, trying to keep his own thoughts to himself.

"Feelings," she told him, giving the nurse behind him a hopeful look. "Can you make it stop?"

"She's suddenly started to pick up on others' feelings," Xander said, turning to look at her. "She froze in the middle of class because we were in the middle of a charged discussion."

Madam Pomfrey nodded. "I've seen it before in the muggle-born children." She pushed the girl down. "We'll let her rest up here, where it's quiet."

Xander looked down at her. "Giles knows something about shielding that stuff. Buffy went telepathic and he tried to get her to put one up."

"I'll talk with him later," she told him. "It's all right, you can leave her here. She's safe."

"She's very calming," the girl agreed.

Xander nodded. "Okay. I'm going to go relieve the class of Hermione's lecture. Call on us if you need us," he told her, heading back down to the classroom. He stepped in and looked at his watch. "Released," he said when Hermione took a breath. He got out of the way of the running students. "Sorry," he told her, giving her a little shrug. "I'm going to go see Giles. Be right back." He jogged down the hall, heading down to Willow and Tara's classroom, sliding in. "I found an empath," he told his former mentor. "She spazzed in class while we were doing the respect lecture."

"Did you remove her from the classroom?" Snape asked.

"Yeah, she's in the infirmary." He looked at Giles. "She's gotta have some shields."

"I'll go up and see her after this lesson," Giles agreed . "Which one?"

"Melissa, the Hufflepuff girl with the big red streak in her blonde hair."

"All right. I had suspected something was up with her before," Giles told him.

Xander looked at Snape, a growing suspicion. "She's not going to be expelled is she?"

"No," Professor Snape said, standing up. "It's not a very common occurrence, but it's seen among the muggle-born sometimes. We do accept those like her here."

Xander relaxed. "Good." He looked at Giles. "She said the nurse was calming but maybe some tea?"

"I'll handle it," Giles told him. "I've done it before. Even when Buffy went telepathic for a bit, I did manage to handle it."

Xander nodded and headed back to his classroom.

"That boy interferes too much," Snape complained.

"It's because he gives a damn," Giles told him. "Xander has always given too much of a damn about those that needed protection." He gave the other teacher a smile. "Now, was there anything else?"

"No, I think that should be about it," Snape told him, going back to his own classroom.

Giles frowned at his back. "He didn't know about the attacks?" he asked himself. He checked his watch and smiled. It was his free period. "I'll go up and talk to her now, I think." He pulled out his office drawer and grabbed the little tin of tea. "Yes, a nice cup of tea and some gentle discussion should help the poor girl." He headed up to the infirmary.

***

Xander looked up as his door was knocked on. "It's open," he called, putting down the book he was reading. "Yes, Professor Snape?"

"I want to know why you hate me so much," he said as he closed the door. "I've done nothing to you, and while you're annoying and interfering, I have no animosity towards you."

"You mean like that book that appeared in my room?" Xander asked, sitting up.

"I didn't put it here. I've known about Lupin since we were both students here." He glanced around the room then focused on him again. "Where's your bird?"

"With the twins right now." Xander stood up. "You didn't send me that book? Not at all?"

"I have nothing against people like yourself. What you are isn't any of my concern, though it's very obvious what you are." He sniffed. "I wouldn't have sent you that book. If I wanted to work against you, I would have done it openly."

Xander considered it. "Good enough. Then you have nothing to fear from me." He looked him over. "I turned blue," he offered.

Snape sniffed again. "Yes, they told me that when I went down to demand a cure." He glared at the boy. "If I do find out it was one of my students, I will hand them over. There's no reason for such animosity. It's very far back in your past."

"True," Xander agreed, "doesn't mean that it doesn't happen. I'm not the only one who got the book."

"I've heard," Snape said grimly. "I will search my students. You will not act against me again?"

Xander grinned. "Not unless you piss me off."

Snape snorted and walked out, shutting the door gently.

Xander laid back down on his bed, considering this new twist. Who had sent him that book and who was trying to piss him off that badly?

***

Xander looked across the basement room at the students. All of the paranormal classes had joined together for this exercise. Even Willow and Tara had sent their students. Close to a hundred students, all needing to get through this maze. "All right," he called, getting their attention. He checked with Professor Lupin, who nodded. "We're going to break you down into small groups because there's so many of you."

"Three or less," Lupin said quietly.

"We'll be doing this in pairs." He stopped and considered the maze. "Anyone in my upper classes, step out, you're doing this individually." That almost halved the group. "Groups of two, spaced about a minute apart. That means you won't be able to hear the person in front of you, but you also won't run into them and hurt them." He took a deep breath. "Break into your houses. We're going to go mixed groups this time. My students, take Professor Lupin and start through the maze." They headed off, moving to the entry point. He waited until they had started then started to pull out students one by one. "Good. Now, one Slytherin, one Hufflepuff. One Hufflepuff, One Ravenclaw. One Ravenclaw, one Gryffindor. One Slytherin, one Ravenclaw. One Hufflepuff, one Gryffindor. One Slytherin, One Gryffindor, not you three," he said as he excluded one of the Slytherins who stepped forward. "We don't want you to try and kill each other in there." He continued to pull out groups, sending them to wait in line. "And no switching," he called, not looking but knowing someone had already. "If I find out that you switched, you have to go through the maze by yourself." Xander jumped when he heard the scream, turning to look at the maze. "What was that?" he asked Lupin.

"One of the fear creatures," he said lightly. "It turns into what you fear most. You have to defeat it. I have Sirius standing there in case they need something."

"Thanks." He gave the other teacher a smile and turned back to the remaining students. Five of them. "Okay, you four break up. Melissa, how are you feeling?" he asked her, pulling her a little way away.

"I'll be okay," she said bravely. "I can go through by myself."

"Okay, you go last. We'll hold you back so more of the kids are out of the maze." He gave her a bright smile. "I think you've handled all this really well so far. If you need anything, feel free to come to Giles or myself, okay?" She nodded. "Good. Go get into line." He watched her go, turning to find Lupin standing beside him. "She's going through by herself. Give her an extra minute of lag time," he said quietly.

"Sure." Lupin looked over the group. "I've even made sure the problem students don't have the ability to scare the people coming after them."

"If they try, I flunk them," Xander said simply. "Even Professor Snape has agreed they've gotten out of hand. He's asked to have their conduct reported to him weekly."

"I have a few things I'd like to include in there," Lupin said simply.

"We talk on Thursday."

"All right, I'll give you a list." He smiled at the teacher walking over to join them. "Madam Hooch. Come to try the practical test?"

"No," she said, giving them a smile. "I have no desire to work that hard on anything right now." She looked Xander over. "When were you getting a broom of your own?"

"When I can find Willow and get some of the reward money out of her," Xander told her. "I've been talking to the twins about what I should buy. They said a used Nimbus would be okay."

"It should be," she agreed. "I was asking because I know of someone who's wanting to sell their old model broom and buy a newer one."

"A student or teacher?" Lupin asked.

"Student, which is why I'm doing this." She looked at Xander. "I have the broom if you'd like to try it out tonight."

"Sure," Xander agreed. "I'll come to the field after the tests." She smiled and headed back to her fields. "Wow. Where did you stick Willow?"

"Near this end, but you'll have to walk through the maze to get there," he warned. "I'd wait." He glanced around to make sure they couldn't be overheard. "How did you get a wand? You don't have magic like we do."

"I have a little," Xander told him. "Very, very little." He smiled. "I made a deal with the guy at Olivanders. He said he could fit me with one, but he needed core materials. Murphy sacrificed three feathers to him."

"Ah," Lupin said, nodding. "How are your studies going?"

"I'm very good at illusions and lock spells. Nothing else. Were gryphons thieves?"

"Sometimes," Dumbledore said as he walked up to them. "If I may ask, who's been teaching you?"

"Hermione," Xander said quietly.

"Ah, a good choice. Only illusions and locks?"

"So far. I can almost levitate, but not quite. I seem to be missing something."

"It's probably for the best," Dumbledore said, patting him on the arm. "How are they doing?"

Xander checked his watch. "The first group should be coming out in a few."

"Good, good." He smiled at the group of students waiting to be put through the maze. "You broke up the houses?"

"And the troublemakers," Lupin said gently. "Professor, we've got to do something about that one Slytherin kid. I swear he's trying to become the next you-know-who."

"I've talked with his father and his uncle, to no use," Dumbledore sighed. "How is Professor Snape handling it?"

"Every week, I report to him," Xander told him. "It means he comes up with new things to try." He looked at the Headmaster. "If I was being me, I'd do something really nasty to them while they were in the maze and scare the crap out of them, but I don't think that'd be appreciated?" he made it a question.

"No, it wouldn't be appropriate," Dumbledore said firmly. "There are other ways to skin a student, especially the bad ones," he said quietly. "I'll have a talk with Professor Snape myself, see if he can find something to do with the boy. He wouldn't want another Voldemort either." He walked away, heading to where a few more teachers had wandered down to watch the exercise progress. "I need to talk to you about that one boy," he told Snape quietly. "Even Lupin agrees that the boy's gone bad."

"He has," Snape agreed quietly, stepping away from the other teachers. "I've warned him and punished him with all the strength that I dare, if I push any harder, he'll try to retaliate."

"Yes, I've thought of that." Dumbledore looked toward the maze as another scream came out of it. "I'd say that someone put a fear creature in there."

"Lupin did." Snape looked at the teachers again. "I have a great fear that these classes have given the boy more of an idea on how to ruin some of us."

"I know," Dumbledore said quietly. "But even if we didn't have them, he'd already know. His father's step-sister is a Watcher like Rupert was. She's adopted and all that."

"Oh, dear God," Snape sighed. "He already knew?"

"Most likely. Which is why we're giving such importance to this. If he succeeds, the coming students will need to know how to counter him. I don't want to have another mass killing of Wizards."

"Me either. I'll gladly work with Rupert's witches if you want."

"I think they've got a pretty good idea of your area already. How are they doing in the advanced classes?"

"Both of them are doing very well. Willow is doing much better than Tara of course, but that's experience showing itself. Rupert himself sat in on a class and he did fairly well, not up to my standards but passing nonetheless."

"Good," Dumbledore said. "And Harris?"

"I'm worried about him," Snape admitted. "He's not a Wizard. He's got some very odd gifts, but he won't be able to protect himself."

"You'd be surprised how much a nasty temperament and survival skills can make up for true gifts. Moody was the same way when he was younger."

"Yes, but he did eventually learn to use his wand to do more than create pretty lights in the air," Snape reminded him.

"Xander's got some things up his sleeve if he needs them," Dumbledore told him. He looked around the small room as he heard wings, lifting his arm up so his phoenix could land on him. "What's wrong, Fawkes?" he asked her. She squawked at him. "Ah, Murphy has mating on his mind." He smiled at the students. "Xander, please call Murphy, he's chasing Fawkes again."

"Murphy!" Xander called, sounding frustrated. "Come down now. You have to ask Professor Dumbledore's permission before you pounce on his phoenix." That got some laughter but his bird came down and landed on his head. "Thanks," he whispered, reaching up to scratch his bird's stomach. "Just behave. I'm sure you'll go have a nice mating flight later. I'll even talk to her daddy for you. Just behave for a few more hours." His bird looked down at him and nibbled on his fingers. "Thanks." He reached into his pocket and got out a piece of dried banana, which Murphy loved as a treat. "Here you go, boy. Nibble to your heart's content, just don't crap down my back." He handed it up, smiling at the happy humming he received in thanks.

Dumbledore walked closer, but kept the birds apart. "Did you want them to mate?"

"I was going to leave that up to you. Yours is the one who'd have to worry about her reputation," he said, grinning. "I'd even let you figure out who got the babies."

"Hmm," Dumbledore said, but he was smiling. "I suppose I'll think about that this afternoon." He looked up at Murphy, who was giving him a pitiful look. "How did you teach him to do that?" he asked.

He looked up. "Pitiful starving kitten look?" Xander asked. He got a nod. "He came already equipped with it. That's why he runs rings around me most of the time." He grinned again. "But if they do get it on, they'll be pretty babies."

"Very true," Dumbledore agreed lightly. "I'll consider it this afternoon. Though, I have a feeling my Fawkes has been flirting a little bit."

"Nope, Murphy's a big, strong guy who's ready to chase down what he wants. He kinda reminds me of an uncle who was a cop and like that." He reached up to scratch at the soft stomach feathers again. "But we'll be good, won't we?" he told his phoenix.

Murphy trilled and lunged at Fawkes, who flew out of reach just in time. Their chase led them out of the basement and up the stairs.

"Oh, no," Xander sighed, shaking his hanging head.

Dumbledore laughed. "It seems they've worked it out for themselves after all. We'll talk about all eggs that might come from this match." He walked away, going to see if he could find the love birds.

Lupin started to laugh. "Well, it's an interesting thing. I wonder if they flew out by the magical creatures classroom."

"Probably not. Murphy hates the cold. He refused to go see the twins last night."

"You're sure it was the cold?" Lupin asked, still smiling. He waved the first couple of students coming out of the maze over, patting both of them because they looked so pale. "Go rest," he told them, pointing at a bench he had brought down for this very purpose. "You finished, be thankful."

"That was hard," one of Xander's students complained to him.

"Welcome to the real world," he told her dryly. "People have done this for years without magic. Be thankful you have some."

The female nodded. "I realize that. I'm never going to laugh again. If you did that without magic, I'm in awe of you, Professor Harris."

"Yeah, where did you find two vampires?" a boy asked.

"Two?" Xander asked. "I only got one and I had Willow spell it so it couldn't eat any of you." He frowned at the maze. "Two?" he asked Lupin, who had set it up that morning before breakfast.

"There was only one when I set it up," Lupin said with a shrug. "Willow?" he called. "Call out to Sirius, ask him to check out the *two* vampires?"

"Okay," floated out of the maze.

"Huh," Xander said, watching as more of the kids walked out. "What did these guys look like?"

"One was really pasty and nasty looking," a boy said, grimacing. "I hope I look better when I'm dead."

"He's a fledgling. He's not supposed to be following fashion," Xander told him. "He's too young. What about the other?"

"Nice woman, talked a lot liked Professor Trellwany, the Divinations teacher, when she gave me a reading on my future," he offered. "Long dark hair, very nice dress."

"Dru," Xander sighed. He looked at the maze. "Willow, I think it's Dru!" he called out.

"Dirt!" she called back. There was a pause and then. "She's coming. She was found and is being drug out by a few students."

"Thanks." Xander walked over to the end of the maze, peering back inside. "Man, it's dark in there."

"Tell me about it," Willow said, sticking her head out. "The twins did a good job with the fog stuff. It's still screaming." She smiled as she felt something tug on her shirt. "Give me a few." Her head disappeared then reappeared a moment later, and Dru was pushed into his arms. "She tried to bite Tara," she said with a frown.

"But she's a purrfect kitten," Druscilla purred. "She'd make such a pretty little dolly."

"That's nice," Xander said, grabbing her and pushing her against the nearest wall. "Why are you here, Dru? You're not welcome here."

"I need my Spike," she told him in her best little girl voice. "I miss my Spikey."

"He's still in Sunnydale."

"No he's not," she said with a smile. "He's in London. He's whole again and my dark hero is back."

"Whatever," Xander said, pulling her away from the wall.

"He's not here for you but he's been given a calling," she told him, singing it to him actually. "He's here for the bad boys. He's taking over Daddy's place, only over here where he's more comfortable." She smiled at the Professors walking over to them. "Hello. You don't look like a pretty lunch," she told Snape, running a fingernail across his neck. "But you'll do." She vamped out and lunged at him but her keeper held her too tightly. "Oh, shoot," she pouted. "I just wanted a pretty luncheon. Daddy said I could have one."

"Your Daddy's bad again?" Xander asked.

"No, but he used to promise me we could have pretty picnic luncheons. Some very pretty ones we had for a few years, and the stars were so happy with us." She smiled at Xander. "You wouldn't make a very good luncheon. You're not nice anymore."

"I never was," Xander told her dryly. "I think we need to put her back in the cage," he told Snape. "If she's here, there's a reason for it."

"But the stars told me I had to come here to pick up my dark love," she purred, turning to look at Xander, leaning in to lick down the side of his face. "Tasty kitten," she sighed. "But not for me."

"Nope, not for you," he agreed. "Why did the stars send you, Dru?"

"They said Spike was here," she told him, "and that he needed me again. He was going to take care of me." Her eyes brightened. "Do you think he's come back? My dark love?"

"No, I don't think so," Xander told her, shaking her lightly. "What else did they say?"

"That, since you were a gift to my dark love, that I should protect you like I did his other precious gifts." She smiled at him. "They said I was to keep you safe, but that I couldn't eat you, only Spike could do that because Daddy gave you to him."

"Uh-huh. He's not of the owning variety," Xander noted, handing her off. "Watch her, she's slicker than new dress shoes." He watched as the vampiress was walked off. "Oh, man," he sighed once she was gone. "This really sucks. Murphy!" He heard a pleased squeak above him and looked up. "Fawkes, I need Murphy for the rest of the day. Can I have him back now?" She trilled at him. "No, huh? Well, as soon as you get done with him, I need him to go see Spike." A red, purple, and gold head peered down from the rafters. "Yes, the guy who fed you those flowers. He's in London." Murphy flew down and landed on his arm. "Anyone got paper?" he called. A paper was handed to him, and a quill already dipped in ink. He wrote out a quick note and put it in Murphy's pouch. "Here, take this to the Spike and come right back with his message and I'll have Willow create some fruit for you tonight. All right?" His phoenix sang at him so he kissed him on the side of the head. "Go," he said, launching his bird up. "And no stopping or Fawkes won't like it." Murphy made his displeasure known by letting loose his bowels as he flew away. "Eww." He turned around, looking at the other teachers. "Someone that understands her should probably go talk to her sometime soon."

Professor McGonagall frowned at him. "You really should learn to ask first."

"Nah," he said with a grin, "if Dru's here, then we've got problems. She always brings problems. And she snuck into the school this time," he reminded her. "She could have eaten a few of the students by now."

She blanched. "I see. Why don't we stake her?"

"Before we find out why she's here?" he asked. "Would you rather be in the dark?"

She shook her head. "I'll go tell the Headmaster," she said, hurrying up the stairs, narrowly missing the mess.

Xander turned back to see a few more of his students coming out together. "Didn't I say to do that alone?" he called.

"We're waiting at the end to compare notes," a female Hufflepuff called back. "I promise, we're not cheating."

"Uh-huh," he said, pointing at the bench. "Sit. No sharing notes with the kids that have to go through it." He looked over at the line, seeing it was just the one girl. "Melissa?" he called. She shook herself and stepped into the maze, starting her half-hour test.

***

Dumbledore looked at the nice woman inside the cage, giving her a comforting smile. "How are you today, Druscilla?" he asked.

"Fine," she sang. "I like this place."

"Yes, so we can tell," Snape said from against the opposite wall, where he was waiting with a stake. "Why did you come?"

"To save my Spikey. He's going to be called and he'll need me to help him," she told him. "Just like before, when he was in the chair for being naughty."

"Did your...daddy put him there?" Dumbledore asked.

She laughed. "No, the bad Slayer did. She made a church fall on him." She danced around the cage. "I miss my Spikey," she sang. "He of the fair hair and blue eyes.

"Enough!" Xander said as he walked in. "You're singing off key and it's giving me a headache." She pouted at him. "Keep it up, I know your Daddy's number."

"Oh, poo," she said, sitting down on the small bed. "You're no fun, even if you are a kitten."

"Why does she keep calling you that?" Snape asked.

"Because, to get her Spike, her Daddy once tried to give me to Spike as a diversion. She thinks Spike owns me now and she thinks he's going to give me to her as her new kitten/playtoy. Not gonna happen," he told her. "There's enough people here who'd play with me better than you."

She glared at him. "I take good care of my kittens."

"I'm sure they end up all nice and dead," Xander agreed.

"Of course. They're best that way." She smiled at him. "Is Spikey coming? I heard you send your pretty birdie out. May I play with it?"

"Nope." He glared at her. "My Murphy. You touch him and I stake you myself." He leaned closer to the cage. "And I'll have *fun* doing it," he warned her.

"Poo, you're no fun," she told him. She smiled at the Headmaster. "I could use someone like you," she told him. "My army needs a good wizard, especially one that I can put knots in his beard."

Xander put a hand on Dumbledore's arm. "She's screwing with your mind," he said quietly. "She wants the world to be as insane as she is." He glared at her. "Dru, if you had an army, then Buffy would have taken care of it already. I've called her you know."

"You didn't," she accused. "You're lying, just like Daddy does."

"No, he isn't," Snape said, catching on. "He's not lying, I heard him." She caught his gaze and they locked stares. Eventually he had to pull away before he walked in there and offered himself to her.

"Come along then," a familiar male voice said from the top of the stairs. "Dru, baby," he said as he skipped down them. "Why did you come back? They told you they'd stake you next time."

"I need the kitten for the army, and I wanted to help you," she said, walking over to him. She ran a hand down Spike's cold cheek. "You came? Then he'll get you."

"I don't doubt it," Xander said dryly. "Murphy?"

"Is upstairs, gawking at a chit like him." Spike grinned at him. "I got called. They even *fed* me."

"Good job," Xander said, patting him on the arm. "She's swearing that she's got an army that you're going to be called by a dark force. She said she's here to save you. Scared the crap outta some of my students."

"I didn't touch them," she pouted. "The voices said I couldn't or you'd be even more mean." She smiled suddenly. "I like mean, would you please?"

Xander groaned and stepped away from the cage, leaning next to Snape. "Welcome to my usual nightmare," he said quietly. "I hate her."

Snape looked down at him. "How could you not?"

"I started to like Spike while he was helping us, but I could never get Dru."

"Yes, well, being kept by her might not be as much fun as she thinks it would be," he said dryly, looking at the Headmaster. "I've never experienced evil like that one, and I've seen the darker side of wizardry."

"Dru's not our most evil, she's just insane, complete with visions," Xander told him, looking up with a faint grin. "There's more evil vampires. And more insane ones. She's a little above average."

Snape shuddered and walked up the stairs, heading up to get away from them.

"Professor," Xander said quietly. "Get away from the cage please. She's hungry and more than willing to turn you."

Dumbledore backed away, coming over to lean next to him. "Do you think she's right about him?" he asked quietly.

"She *knows* Spike. She turned him. She raised him, and he took care of her for over a century. If there's something wrong or going to happen to Spike, she knows." He looked toward the doorway as he heard running feet. "It's okay," he told whomever was coming. "She's safely chained.

"I have no doubt of that," Giles said as he appeared on the stairs, Willow right behind him. "What's going on now?"

"She said she's got an army and she's here to protect Spike from being called by a darker power," Dumbledore told him. He looked at Willow. "Can you make her harmless, like the one in the maze?"

"No!" Spike said firmly. "S'not fair to any of us to do that."

"It's a spell, and it's only for here on the school property," Willow told him, walking over to get a hug. "You became a good guy," she taunted.

"Yeah, but I can eat you now too," he growled.

She giggled and threw some powder on Dru, saying two words. "Okay, she's harmless to humans while we're here." She glanced at Xander, she wasn't sure the protection would be extended to him. He grinned at her. Spike grabbed her. "Do it and end up harmless too," she warned. "I'm not the little witch I used to be."

"True, you've advanced very far," Dumbledore said, giving her a smile. These children needed some self-confidence and someone giving them praise. It was like they'd never gotten any in their life. "Druscilla, you're now dependant on us feeding you," he told her. "We won't release you until we get straight answers."

"I'm here to save my poor dark hero," she said, reaching out to run a hand down Spike's face. "He's going to be called to a darker force's side and I can't have that. He's supposed to lead my army with me."

"What army, luv?" he asked her.

She smiled brilliantly at him. "The one I made. They were all very sweet and nasty little boys who needed to be punished."

Xander groaned. "She's made a legion."

"We always wanted a family," Spike told him, smiling at his sire and lover. "Dru, baby, no one can touch me now."

"Yes they can," Willow told him. Everyone looked at her.

"Just because you work for the powers doesn't mean that you're invincible, Spike," Giles answered. "Quite the opposite in fact. You're working against your nature." He rubbed a hand across his forehead. "We need to send them somewhere safer."

"Somewhere far away?" Dumbledore suggested.

"Not even sending us home like naughty children will stop this," Dru told him. "Are you sure you won't join? Your beard would make pretty tangles once I'm done with it."

"No, thank you," he told her, smiling at her. "I have enough troubles here without worrying about knots in my beard."

"You're no fun either," she told him, turning her attention back to Spike. "He will come for you too, love." She ran a hand across his face again. "I can't protect you this time. Not even the kitten can."

Xander looked at Dumbledore. "Why do I think that means we've got another fight on our hands?"

He patted the boy on the shoulder. "There's always a struggle going on. It's nice to have some warning though."

"Indeed," Giles said dryly. He looked at Spike and Dru. "If no one needs me, I'll get back to my shielding lessons with Melissa."

"I'll go with you. I'd like to talk to her," Dumbledore said, following him up the stairs.

Willow looked at Xander. "Turns?"

"Sure. I'll take first shift. Come get me before supper. Did everyone pass?"

"Yup," she said, smiling. "Even the Slytherin idiot. He actually staked the fledgling." She walked out, leaving him alone to watch the couple.

Xander settled himself on the floor for a long watch.

***

Spike looked at the boy, frowning at him. "Why do you care?" he asked. They were walking into the nearby village to go see the boy's friends.

"Because I've been teaching fighting all year so far," Xander told him quietly. "I don't want my students to have to face up to this until they're older. They should have a better chance at a normal life than I did."

"They're wizards," Spike pointed out.

"Exactly. That's their normal life. I'd like to see the kids wait until they're adults to kill anything, even a vamp." He laid a hand on Spike's arm, stopping him. "I'm sorry about Dru, Spike. I had no idea she was going to stake herself."

"Me either," he sighed, patting himself down for a light. "Got a light?" Xander snapped his fingers and his cigarette lit. "Handy trick that," he said in appreciation.

"The school uses candles for light," Xander said self-consciously. "It's one of the few things I've mastered." They started walking again. "So, the army?"

"She built a legion, like you thought," Spike agreed. "Got to go find them now. Might even take a few minions from the lot."

"Be careful that you don't become the new general," Xander pointed out.

"Yeah, forgot about that." Spike stopped to look back at the school. "Felt someone up there. Someone badder'n me."

"That's because we've got a student who wants to be that bad," Xander said quietly. "We've been trying to change him but it's not working very well so far."

"Won't. He's like that." Spike took a deep drag. "What now?"

"Now, you go back to London and I go visit my friends, giving them the warning. They've got a way to get a backward warning to Buffy. She's with the Watchers." He started walking again. "Coming?" he asked when he didn't hear Spike.

"Yeah," Spike said, following along. "The boy?"

"Isn't your concern. Stop the army before Buffy gets killed doing it," Xander told him. "There's not a lot we can do against an army but we can deal with the kid before he turns someone to his side."

"Got it," Spike said. "Thought you'd be flying by now."

"I do," Xander told him. "I spend lots of time flying. I can't fly double though."

"Ah. Makes sense I guess." Spike took one last drag and put his cigarette out under his boot. "So, you fancy one of the twins?"

"Spike," Xander said, his voice holding a warning. The vampire just smiled. "I don't know," Xander admitted. "I have no idea what I'm doing right now." He smiled when he saw the light coming towards them. "I have no doubt that either that person will stake you or it's one of the twins."

"That Fred one didn't like me much," Spike reminded him. "Might be both."

"Good point," Fred said as he got nearer. "We heard. You okay?"

"Very okay," Xander said, giving him a smile. "This is where I leave you, Spike. Have a good trip."

"Yup," Spike sighed, heading off into the town to hit the railroad tracks. There was a human settlement a few miles down the track.

"How did you hear already?" Xander asked, moving closer to Fred.

"Easy. Ron told us. Sent Pidge down to us." He looked around. "Are you sure it's safe?"

"I removed the last vampire and it got staked earlier today by the bad kid." Xander shrugged. "Dru offed herself in the cage. Her army's another matter."

"Gonna send Murphy?"

"To the Watcher's Council?" Xander asked. "I doubt I'd get him back. Besides, he's just knocked up Fawkes."

"Knocked up? Why did he wake her up?"

"Um, Americanism," Xander told him, giving him a smile. "They've been mating most of the day. The Magical Creatures class got quite a show earlier. They had to come inside and chase after the couple, but it was apparently interesting."

"Oh, she's stuffed up. Good on Murphy." He looked around again. "Are you supposed to be out?"

"Yeah, I'm okay. I told Dumbledore I was going to escort Spike to town and make sure he left. Willow sent a compulsion with us. He's going."

"And this army?"

"From what she said, it's not around here. I doubt you could hide a legion of minions in Hogsmeade."

"Point," Fred admitted. "George has the sniffles so he sent me." He handed over a package. "Said that was to go right to you. Said it was for the bad kid?"

"Oh, hey," Xander said, putting it into his pocket. "Thanks. Tell him I'll put it to good use." He hugged his friend. "Be safe on your walk. I have a feeling we've got a strategy meeting tonight with the remaining scoobies."

"Scoobies?"

"Yeah, that was what we called ourselves when we helped Buffy." He winked. "Later, Fred, I'll send Murphy down with some of Giles' tea tomorrow for George." He turned and ran back towards the school, not knowing why but he had to get back there now. He ran in the front door, stopping when he saw the teachers staring at him. "What?" he panted. "Spike's gone."

"Good," Snape said, looking him over. "Did you escort him all the way back to town?"

"No, Fred met us just outside of town. Spike headed down the railroad tracks to the nearest human town." He looked at Willow, who smiled. "It worked. He didn't even brood about Dru."

"Good," she said firmly. "I didn't want to hurt him, just make him go away."

Snape looked between them. "We've got to talk," he said, drawing Xander a little way away. "Dumbledore's come down sick since this afternoon."

"Crap," Xander muttered. "She touched me too."

"We found one scratch on him," McGonagal said as she walked over. "But it was on his arm. Did she touch him there?"

"Not that I remember," Xander said. "He left right after Professor Snape. He was on the wall beside me by then." He thought back then shook his head. "No, I don't have a clue. She didn't scratch him, or touch him on the arm that I know of."

"Then we've got a very large problem," McGonagal told him. "If it wasn't her, then the poison had to be administered some other way." She looked at him. "He left when?"

"He went with Giles to look at Melissa." He looked around at the gathered teachers. "Giles?"

"Is sick too," Willow said lightly. "He's not as sick though."

"Oh, someone's going to pay then," Xander told her. "Can you tell what type of poison?"

"Non-magical," Snape said. "Of either kind. We've already checked for that. And we've talked to Melissa, who started screaming for us to come find them."

Xander thought about it. "Have we checked Melissa?"

"She's been sedated," McGonagall noted.

"Which means I was the last one that saw them healthy. Me, Willow, Spike, and Dru." Willow nodded. "Okay. But I didn't do anything. I'd never hurt Giles, he's like my father. And I *like* Professor Dumbledore. He's like a grandfather sort of guy."

McGonagall nodded. "We know. We're more interested in stopping you from doing as your ... nature dictates, Xander."

"Ah, got the point now." He smiled at her. "I'll make you the same deal I made the Prof. If I do anything, you'll know first."

She nodded. "That's acceptable to me." She looked at the teachers. "The rest of us have been checked. As that vampiress also touched you, we'll need to check you over also."

"Okay," Xander said. "Hold on, I've got the latest prezzie from the twins in my pocket." He handed it over to Willow. "Can you please send George some tea? He wasn't feeling great, that's why Fred met me. Oh, and they've heard she was up here. Ron sent Pidge down to warn them that I was probably going to be late or wouldn't be able to go."

"That's fine, Xander," McGonagal said, walking him up to the infirmary, Willow following behind them. "What's in that anyway?"

"I get to try a lot of the practical jokes," Xander told him. "I don't know what's in there." He accepted the package as he sat on the examination table, opening it while they waited on the nurse. "Huh, more of the color changing candy." He put it aside, pulling out the grape-cluster candy. "Anger candy." He put it aside too. "And the rest of the dangerous stuff?" he said when he got to the note at the bottom. He read it quickly and handed it, and everything in the package over to her. "Here, they needed you or the Prof to have it," he said quietly.

"Why?" Willow asked, trying to get a peek at the note.

"Someone broke into the store last night," he told her. "They sent me all the dangerous stuff." He took out the single snapper, nodding her out of the way, opening it. He smiled at the words that appeared. "That was so nice," he sighed.

"Love spell," Willow said, looking at Xander.

"Not quite," Snape told her. "Not a true love spell, just one to see if it was love or not." He took the remains of the snapper and put it into the package, helping close it up. "These should be put somewhere safe."

"Yes, they should," McGonagal noted. "I'll hide them myself tonight." She smiled as the nurse walked in. "How are they?"

"They seem to be asleep," she said, looking at Xander. "Out of the cloak please."

"Sure," he said, stripping it off. He held his arms out, letting her check under his shirt. "She only touched my face."

She peered up at it, waving her wand across it. "I don't see any spells or residue." She looked up at the fading lights. "That's a quaint charm."

"The twins sent it with their most dangerous stuff," Willow said helpfully. "They got broken into." She covered her mouth. "You don't think," she asked, looking at Xander.

"I'll fly down later and check on him myself," Xander said, catching her thought. Not well enough to come out after having the store broken into? One which they lived above? Hopefully a coincidence.

"I'll arrange for a broomstick," McGonagall said lightly.

"I have one now," he told her. "Madam Hooch found one that a student was wanting to sell. Oh, Willow, I need ten gold."

"Sure," she said. "I'll go get it and find her." She looked at the older teachers, who nodded, so she left.

"Where's Tara?" Xander asked once she was gone. "She should be beside Willow."

"She's another that got affected," Snape told him. "Another reason to check you."

"She wasn't down there," he said. "Not at all. We didn't run into Tara."

The nurse frowned. "So it's aimed at your group."

Xander frowned. "Oh, I have an idea." He looked at McGonagall. "I think it might be the same person who sent the book."

"He wouldn't attack Dumbledore, not openly," Snape pointed out.

"Why not? And this isn't an open attack. You can't trace this back to him, right?" Snape frowned. "Then it's not an open attack." He smiled suddenly. "I have a theory. What if there's not *one* bad person, but this is a contest?"

"Where did that come from?" the nurse asked.

"Not a clue," he admitted. "The thought just came to me. But, if I'm right, then we could probably find some escalation. Not everything that's been done could have been done by one person. Who has enough knowledge to make Dumbledore ill? And who knew enough about gryphons to know what would piss me off the most?"

"Both can be found," Snape pointed out.

"Yes, but evil is *lazy*," Xander reminded him. "Why research when you can get the information easier? Frankly, the only people that I know of that research are Hermione and one of the new girls in my first years class."

"So, you're saying that we should be able to monitor who is spending a lot of time in the library?" McGonagall asked.

"Yeah, maybe," he said. "That'd be a flunky though. Hermione does the research for Ron and Harry because she's better at it."

"But if this was evil, they could very well be getting someone else to do it for them," Snape agreed thoughtfully. "Yes, were I evil and powerful enough to do this, I wouldn't spend my time in a library either. It'd be stupid of me of course, but as he said, that's the nature of evil." He looked at McGonagall. "All of that should be in the restricted section."

A feminine cough came from behind them. Everyone turned to look at Hermione. "No it's not. There's a big book of curses and illnesses, but it's in history format. There's a book on magical creatures and their temperaments, Xander's had it out before." He nodded. "There's been a girl down there studying both of them in the last few weeks, but I don't think she's voluntarily part of this." She looked at Xander. "Pidge just came back and George said for you to not come down tonight. He knew you'd try but he's not beaten up. He's got a cold from putting up the trees outside." She smiled at him. "And Murphy's hiding in Harry's room, soaking up all the fruit we can conjure for him."

Xander gave her a smile. "Thanks, Hermione. Question, if you had to pick students who scared you, who would they be?"

"Easy. The girl in the library. I think she's playing with things she shouldn't be yet."

"A lot like you?" McGonagall asked.

"Yes, but without the reason," Hermione said. "I had good reason to get into some of the things I did. She's not fighting an evil wizard." She shrugged. "There's a few kids in Slytherin that scare me to death, but I have to say this is above them. I also have to say that the boy you're probably thinking about isn't in this. He'll be the one who *stops* this when he takes control." She looked at Snape. "He wants his cousin's spot in the hierarchy."

"Who's his cousin?" Xander asked.

"Malfoy," Snape said lightly. "You really think he wants leadership?"

"Yes, I do," she told him. "Letting the first years do this and complaining to him about it, or accusing him of it, might force him to take more of an active role in the leadership."

"Which would put him back in the middle," McGonagall told her.

"Not necessarily." Xander looked at her. "Have you heard of the muggle Mafia?" She nodded. "Well, where Mafia leaders live, where their houses are, there's no crime in that neighborhood. They don't tolerate it. I think Hermione's making that same point." He looked at her and she nodded.

"Exactly. He wants it, give him the power over the others. He's not the most wealthy the way Draco was, but he's definitely one of the most powerful."

"And by him cleaning it up, it saves us a lot of stress," McGonagall said, smiling at her student. "An excellent idea, if we could prove it."

"Ask him," she snorted. "Why would he lie about something like this? He and Draco both have open invitations to Drumstrang. Why would he want to share his power with his cousin though? Here he can be ring leader and live the high life. There, he'd be another transfer and be on the bottom of the pond."

"Can you suggest it to him?" Xander asked. "It'd look wrong for us to do it."

She blushed. "I already did," she admitted quietly. "He was not pleased to hear what the other kids were doing. I made it seem like I was gossiping with Ron and he overheard us. He actually stopped us to ask what I was talking about." She smiled at Xander. "I think we'll have a solution sooner instead of later."

"But only to one problem," McGonagall told her. "We still have the present illnesses."

"He's fine," the nurse announced. "Probably could use some food, but otherwise fine." She smiled at Hermione. "Which book was the history one? This sounded familiar when I first saw them."

"I'll go get it," she said, but the nurse walked out with her.

"My, isn't she the manipulative one," Snape told McGonagall.

"Yup, that's what the people with the real power do," Xander said as he slipped off the table and grabbed his cloak. "You notice, she got everyone to basically do what she wanted and to approve of what she'd already done?" He smiled at McGonagall. "I'm going to go find a House Elf and get supper in my room. Unless you need me further?"

"No, go ahead and eat," she said kindly. "We'll know where to find you. Are you up to teaching both classes?"

"Sure. Not a big." He waved and walked out, heading back to his room to think about everything, especially that snapper.

***

Xander walked into his next morning's joined class in his favorite leather outfit and a cloak. "Everyone ready to go outside?" he asked. The kids all stared at him in shock. "Yes?"

"Sir, did someone turn you?" she asked. "You told us some vampires had a rather large fondness for leather."

"No, this is my hunting outfit, I need to do laundry." He looked around the room. "Good, all you who owe me papers drop them on the desk before you leave and head out to the flying field. Professor Lupin was nice enough to find us something that flies and Madam Hooch is willing to help us learn how to go after it." He watched as the class filed out, noting who didn't turn in a paper, including Hermione. "Paper?" he asked her.

"Ron has all of ours," she told him. "Harry and I left them on the table and he said he picked them up. Isn't he here?" she asked.

He shook his head. "No, and I don't believe you'd mislay homework either." He patted her on the head. "You're a good kid, Hermione, but I know stronger people. Don't try to manipulate me, you'll end up with a really nasty practical for finals." He walked away, leaving her there to consider that. She was old enough to be learning how to use her powers, both political and mental, but she wasn't going to use it on him. He didn't play that way, not since Willow had tried it. He walked out and handed Madam Hooch the money he owed her for the broom, taking it with a smile. "Okay, where's Professor Lupin?" he called. Everyone pointed up. "All yours."

"Ms. Granger?" he asked.

"Is running and getting the paper she owes me because it seems she forgot it in her room." Xander got onto his new broom and joined the other teacher in the air, giving him a smile. "She tried it, you were right."

"A taste of power and all that." He held up a sack. "In here is today's challenge. You are to *catch* it," he told them. "You will not damage it's wings or the class will flunk. You will not kill it or the class will flunk and you will be sorry," he announced. "Everyone who does not have a broom, grab one from Madam Hooch."

"What is it?" Xander asked.

"It's a lot like a fairy, but it's very nasty. Tends to bite and the like," he said with a smile. "Very fast and frustrating." He looked at the class as it slowly drifted up to where they sat. "You have all practiced your net spell, correct?" he asked. Everyone nodded. "Good, that's how you will catch this." He opened the bag and a few little shining creatures flew out. "Go!" he yelled, watching as everyone took off after the various creatures. He laughed when someone yelled about being bitten. "Part of respecting a creature is knowing about it," he called to the boy.

"We never covered these," he whined. A few people nodded.

"Oh, a Glittering," Hermione said as she flew up to join them. She handed Xander a roll of parchment. "Here you are, sir," she said, nodding at him. "What's the exercise?"

"Catch it without hurting or killing it," Xander told her. She nodded and took off. "Think she's been using her brains to barter for power?" he suggested lightly.

"She's in the year where status becomes too important," Lupin told him. "Her personal abilities, her status in her house and her class, and her scores are now some of the things that will give her power. She might even be looking for a powerful relationship to hook herself into."

"She might as well be dating Ron," Xander noted. "Not much power there."

"Not much *wealth* there. Mr. Weasley has a semi-influential position in the Ministry of Magic. Some of the older brothers are climbing the ladder of success in their chosen fields."

"Yeah, but it's not a *power* relationship," Xander told him. "She could get just as much from dating Neville. Or from just being best friends with Harry." He turned to watch a few of the students zip past, still trying to get a net around the Glittering. "If she wants real power, she'll have to make a play for one of the power players behind the scenes. She'll never be the obvious power."

"But the power behind the power, she'll be excellent at," Lupin agreed. "There was a rumor of her dating a Champion Quidditch player."

"Still not a power player," Xander told him. "If she wants that sort of power, it'll have to come from an old family. A well respected family because of who she is, but an old family."

"Which brings us back to Harry," Lupin noted.

"Nope, not even," Xander said, grinning at him. "He'd never go for breaking up the trio."

"Together, they are formidable," Lupin agreed. "Brains, destiny, and strategy."

"Only if they can work together," Xander noted. "But you'll never have to worry about them going bad." He giggled as one of the kids caught one and held it up by the leg, without having used a net spell. "Very good, Harry," he called. "Five extra points."

Harry let it go, after letting Lupin check it out. "Good, now use a net spell," he chastised gently. "That's what the exercise was about."

"Yes, Professor," Harry said, flying off after the creature again.

By the end of the class, only six students had caught the Glitterings. Most everyone had at least had fun and gotten out their frustrations by flying after them. And there had only been two accidents needing medical attention, when the kids had collided while trying to catch the same creature. All in all, a productive morning to wear the students out and get them ready for the harder stuff that was coming.

***

Xander looked up as his door opened without a knock, frowning at the boy standing there. "Hermione's becoming a manipulative quim," Ron said in greeting, slamming the door. "Harry doesn't even see it."

"She's realizing that brains can equal power if you use them right," Xander countered. "Everyone has to come to the realization of how much and what sort of power they wield in the world. She's recently come to realize that she's got some, if she wants to use it." He shrugged. "It happens. She'll either get tired of it or she'll figure out that using it means that she loses it." He smiled. "Any notes from your brothers?" George had sent him a long note about a hard day at the shop. Not that he believed it....

"No, not a one," he said, sitting down on the foot of the bed. "I was thinking about asking if I could work down there during break."

"I don't think child labor laws would cover that," Xander said thoughtfully.

"Yeah, but I could go help them during our trips down to the village," Ron pointed out.

"Sure you can, I'll ask them when I sneak down there tomorrow if you want." Ron nodded, looking happier. "Buying her gifts won't help that."

"I know. I just wanted some money of my own." He smiled at Xander. "Do you still have any of the reward money left?"

"About half of it," Xander admitted. "Not that I get any of it, but yeah."

"Don't teachers get paid?"

"About thirty gold a month," Xander told him. "Because we get free room and board we don't get paid that much."

"Beats not havin' any," Ron sighed. "My allowance hasn't even went up this year."

"Maybe your parents have been too busy to deal with that." Xander nudged him with his foot. "Next time you get them alone, or semi-alone and in a dealing-with-the-kids-mode, negotiate with them over that stuff."

"Negotiate?" Ron asked.

"Yeah, start out reasonably. 'Mom, Dad, I'm sixteen now, and I've been thinking about a few things. Things like my allowance, which hasn't changed since I was ten.'"

"Eleven," Ron corrected.

"Eleven then," Xander said with a smile. "I think I'm ready for more responsibility and with it more perks. With the older boys gone, I know you need more help during the holidays that I'm here. I'd be willing to take on a *few* extra chores, for some consideration in the area of my allowance.'"

Ron got up and grabbed a piece of parchment and a pen, writing that down. "Brilliant," he said, giving his favorite teacher a smile. "You're going to sneak down to the village tomorrow?"

"Yeah. Already got it covered and everything. I'll ask them for you. Anything else you needed?"

"What sort of power do I have?" Ron asked.

"That's for you to figure out," Xander said gently. "It's one of the things that you do on the way to adulthood. Most people usually call it finding your strengths and path in life."

"Oh." Ron grinned again. "Thanks, Xander. Gotta go back to my room." He opened the door and ran out, heading back to his house.

Xander got up and closed his door, then grabbed his wand to do some more practice. George was so going to be in trouble if he was lying about not being injured in the break-in. Of course, the people who had hurt him were going to be in even worse shape by the time he was done. He grinned and opened the book he had been writing down his spells in, practicing a few of them.

***

Xander stepped in through the broken door of the joke shop, looking at the glass on the floor critically. "Well, gee," he said as he headed for the back, "looks like someone didn't like the door." He stopped when he saw Fred, and his black eye. "Want to give me a clue where to aim myself at?"

Fred frowned. "We didn't want you to know," he sighed. "George is upstairs."

"That's what I figured. Hermione and Ron are coming down tomorrow to help you clean up."

"Why? We've got to close." Fred handed over the note that had come through the glass door wrapped around a brick. "Even the repairing spell isn't working."

"Then you use something else," Xander said, going for the bookshelf with the spellbooks. He pulled down one and handed it over. "Try this," he suggested, handing over the book, opened to the force field spell. "It should at least help some."

George came down the stairs, frowning at his friend. "Relax, Xander, we're dealing."

"What are you doing out of bed!" Fred demanded.

"He's going to come up to the school with me," Xander said calmly, " and get some medical attention."

"We've already had his ribs looked at," Fred told him. Xander just nodded and walked over, checking them for himself. "See, just bruised."

"Wrong, broken. One's out of place." Xander stepped back. "Your choice. You can go up there yourself on my broom or I can knock you out and drag you with me."

George hugged him. "This is why we didn't want to worry you."

Xander snorted. "This isn't the biggest of worries, I know you'll be fine as soon as you get taken care of. Worry is wondering when Giles and Dumbledore are going to wake up." Both of the twins looked at him. "Oh, and Ron wants to know if he can work down here on his days off. He's starting to realize he's broke."

Fred snorted, then started to laugh. "This just can't get much better," he said finally. "The only better thing would be if the parents showed up."

"Ginny wrote them yesterday," Xander told him. "She got worried. Expect an owl."

"Oh, man," George sighed. "We're so dead."

"No, you are so going to go get those checked out by the only medical person in this whole area, who is up at the school. You're going to let me help you pick all this up and sort everything out. You're going to let me help you fix this, and then you're going to...." He stopped and put a hand over his mouth. "Never mind, just leave it to there, 'kay?"

"I'm going to what?" George asked, his eyes twinkling. "Kiss you for all this when it's over?"

"Not going there," Xander told him.

"Uh-huh, knew it," Fred said, going back into the back room. "Tea, Xander?"

"In a little while," Xander said, looking at George again. "Are you going or am I knocking you out?" he asked quietly.

"If I can have a kiss, I'll go," George teased.

Xander shrugged. "Maybe once you're better."

George frowned at him. "Why are you fighting this?"

"Because where I come from, it's not that acceptable."

"Oh." George nodded. "I can see that. We've heard muggles aren't that accepting of alternate ideas."

"Some aren't," Xander agreed. "I'd like to think I am, but I'm having a hard time lying right now."

"Deal," George agreed. "Whenever you're ready, you'll come to us, and I'll go up to the school on my broom. How's that?"

"Good deal," Xander agreed, helping him down the rest of the stairs. "Is there even a doctor around here?"

"No, there was a nurse passing through town and she came over to check him out," Fred said as he came out of the back room. "Broom's in the front closet."

"That's what I like about flying brooms. They store so much easier than a car," Xander quipped, grabbing some of the glass and picking it up. "Trash can?" Fred pointed. "At least you have a carpenter handy," he noted as he continued to pick up the mess.

"Forgot you'd done that," Fred agreed, finishing his tea and helping him pick up. "You really think that we can do this?"

"Yup. Because whomever did this just violated their own safety." He grinned, leaning closer to whisper to the good twin. George would go along with it, Fred would usually take some convincing.

***

Xander smiled as he walked into the school, getting met by Madam Pomfrey. "Did I do wrong sending him up here?" he asked innocently.

"No, we do emergency medical for the town too. When did that happen?"

"Few days ago," Xander admitted. "Fred said a nurse looked at him and said his ribs were only bruised."

She snorted. "I've got him on the mend, he'll be able to go home tonight hopefully."

"Any word on Giles and the Prof?" Xander asked as he took off his cloak and wrapped it around the handle of his broom.

"They both moved while someone was talking to them," she reported. "Tara woke up earlier."

"Ah, I was wondering where Willow was." He grinned at her. "Gotta go, pranks to plan, revenge to deal out." He hopped up the main staircase, heading up to his room.

She glared at his back. "Oh, really?" she asked, heading for Professor McGonagall's classroom. She really needed to hear about this.

Professor McGonagall pursed her lips in agitation. "Really?" she asked.

"I think we'll find out how true to his nature he can be," the nurse agreed. "This is not going to be pretty."

"True, but it's sure to be interesting," she said dryly, then she smiled. "Is George all right?"

"He's healing. He should be perfectly fine. What did you want me to do about this."

"Stock up on bandages," she sighed, getting up and heading up to talk to the young teacher. She found him in Gryffindor's common room. "How did you get in?" she asked him.

"Lock spell. The fat lady was really not nice to me." He grinned up at her. "Ron's on his way down. I wanted to give him the news myself. He's getting Ginny."

"Thank you. I don't like giving bad news to students." She smiled at Ron and Harry as they walked in. "No Ginny?"

"She had to put on a shirt," Harry said as he sat across from Xander. "How can we help the store?"

"Besides going and spending a lot of money so they can pay for repairs?" Xander asked. Ron opened his mouth "Ginny, come sit," he ordered, pointing at a chair. She sat down, giving him a petrified look. "The twins are fine," he assured them. "I made George get some attention for his ribs. The store is trashed though," he told them. He looked at the young girl. "Good job of getting the 'rents into this. I'm sure they'll be up this weekend too." He looked at Ron. "I need to find a way to help them rebuild. Want to help?"

"Sure," Ron said quickly. "They had some extra wood if I remember right."

"This is the second attack," Xander said dryly, handing over the note to him. "Harry, are you going to town this time?" The boy nodded. "Want to get everyone to buy stuff at the store? The guys really could use the funds. And stop by Willow on the way out, tell her what I told you. I think she can help a little with this too."

Harry nodded and stood up, after patting Ginny on the shoulder. "It'll be all right," he told her. "Xander wouldn't lie if they were really hurt."

"Broken ribs," Xander told him. "One black eye. Wounded prides and hearts."

"I'll kill them," Ron said, stealing the note from Harry to read it. "Who did this?"

"Got an idea about that," Xander said carefully. "Well, I've got it narrowed down to two actually. Other than that, it's all good. We'll get the store fixed up this time. If I have to, I'll pay you for your help if the guys can't." He looked over his shoulder as the door opened, admitting Willow. "Hey. He's fine."

"I saw," she said, giving him a hug. She took the note Ron held out, reading it and getting her 'someone's going to pay for this' scowl. "What are we doing?"

"We are spending money to give them some money to fix things with," Xander told her. "You've got the money though."

"We can talk to the other Gryffindor's and ask them to buy from the twins too," Ginny suggested. "They were from this house, they should do that much."

"I'll talk with them myself tonight," McGonagall said lightly. "I think we'll need to check and make sure no students had anything to do with this."

Xander looked up at Willow. "Did you get that funny trunk I found at the auction?" he asked her. She nodded. "Good. Can I have it back tonight? There was something in there that I wanted to give to them."

"Okay," she agreed, looking clueless. "What was it?"

"It was a carpenter's trunk. The guy who made it was a Wizard like the ones here, but he put things like a door in there. They really could use a door right about now."

Willow nodded. "I'll go get it out from under our bed and drag it down to your room tonight." She hugged him. "Tara woke up."

"I heard," he said, giving her a squeeze. "Is she okay?"

"She doesn't remember any of it," she said with a light pout. "We can't find out who did it because she doesn't remember what happened that day at all."

"It's okay," Xander told her, pulling her around to sit in his lap so he could give her a real hug.

"Taken witch," she squeaked, getting up. "Bad Xander!" she scolded, but she was smiling. "I'll go get that trunk." She hurried out of the common room, heading back to the safety of her own room. Xander was in a strange mood and she wasn't sure she wanted to be around him right then.

Xander looked at the remaining group. "Anything else that needed to be set up?"

"They're gonna be pissed," Ron warned. "They don't want charity."

"Which is why a bunch of you guys are going to go in there and lighten their inventory," Xander told him with a smile.

"Which isn't charity, it's support from their house," Harry said, smiling at Ron. "And us helping would be..."

"Family helping each other out," Xander finished for him. "They can't get pissed at you two for helping them fix stuff, the same as they can't be upset with me about it. After all, I'm a carpenter," he said, sucking in a deep breath and posing with his chest out for a moment, getting a laugh. "See, not a bad at all," he told them. "But we can't tell them about this, okay?"

Ron and Harry both nodded, and Ginny just gave him an adoring look. "Okay," she agreed. "May I go?" she asked McGonagall.

"Your parents signed a release form," she agreed. "You may go."

"Thank you." She hugged the head of her house and then ran up to her room.

"And you two, I'll expect your minds to be on your work tomorrow," McGonagall said as she stood up. "Xander?"

"Food," he agreed, standing up. "Later," he said, waving at them as they walked out together. "Any change in Dumbledore's status?" he asked her as they walked down the stairs.

"No, not yet," she said sadly. "I think he needed the rest, that's what's taking him so long to wake up."

"After running this insanity for so many years, I'd need a rest too," he told her, giving her a smile. "Can I convince you to buy some treats too, Professor?"

She laughed. "You might. I had thought of it anyway, for my niece you know, but now I'm more sure about it now. It will drive her mother batty." She smiled as they walked into the Great Hall, going up to the main table so they could start the dinner.

Xander continued to plan how he was going to get back at those horrible people who had hurt his friends.

***

Fred looked up in shock as the bell over top of the temporary door rang, getting up to help Xander drag the trunk through the door. "What's this?"

"Tools and stuff. I bought it at an auction, the guy who owned it had been a Wizard too." He pulled out the set of keys. "Here, open them," he panted. "Couldn't carry that on the broom."

"You didn't have to," Fred complained. "We had tools."

"I need professional tools, not a bent hammer and a shoe," he said, smiling at the disgruntled man. "Ron's on his way down to help too. He demanded."

"Good," George said from the back room. "What's that?"

"He found it at an auction," Fred told him. "It belonged to a carpenter wizard."

"Must have built houses," George said, coming over to look down at the various compartments. "Hey, a door," he said in delight. "We needed one of those."

"Which is why I brought that down," Xander told him. "The third compartment has some tools. I can sand down the door if it's too big, or whatever if it's too small." He stood up, looking down at where they were looking. "Oh, hey, what's that?" he asked, reaching down to pick up the piece of fabric. "An invisibility cloak," he said, after draping George in it and he disappeared. "Nice."

"I know who this belonged too," Fred crowed. "There's all sorts of rumors about this wizard who used to build houses, and then come back to peep at the new owners."

George frowned. "Wasn't he peeping at the kids?"

Fred shrugged. "Who cares, it was bought at an auction, not from the guy's family."

"That is a consideration," Mr. Weasley said as he walked in. "Oh, dear," he sighed as he looked at the remaining mess. "Who did this?"

"Xander had the note." Fred looked at him.

"Ron had it last I knew. I told them you were okay."

"Good, thank you," Mr. Weasley told him. "Now, what happened?"

"Competition," Xander told him. "Unfair, but localized."

Mr. Weasley frowned. "I see. What's this?"

"Something I bought at an auction. I was going to give them the trunk for Christmas, if I ever got it all cleaned out."

"It's got a door in it," Fred said, showing his father the door.

"Good, you need one," Mrs. Weasley said as she walked through the temporary door. "Did that belong to that horrid peeper?"

"Probably," George told her. "Does it matter?"

"Not at the moment," Fred told her. "We can always say that we got it as a present."

"True," George agreed. He looked at Xander. "Are you willing to help us, Mr. Carpenter?"

"Of course," Xander agreed lightly. "Your other kids are on their way down," Xander told Mrs. Weasley. "I got out early."

"Is there any break in the horrible thing that happened to Professor Dumbledore?" she asked.

"Tara's woken up but her memories of that day are gone," he told her. "She doesn't have any idea what happened. Everyone else is still asleep as of when I left." He pointed at the trunk. "Shall we?"

"Yes, we should," Mr. Weasley said, getting down to help the boys pull the door out. "This might actually fit."

Xander looked at it. "Just a little too wide and a little too short. But who knows, maybe there's another door in there. The thing looks bottomless."

The doorbell jingled again and Professor McGonagall walked in, smiling at everyone. "Where did that come from?" she asked, pointing at the door.

"An auction of the estate of that carpenter wizard who used to peep at people," Xander told her. "Or at least we think so."

She laughed. "Only you, Xander," she said, giving him a bright smile. "Boys, I need something for my ten year old niece's Christmas present, something to drive her mother batty. She's quite into the outdoors and animals if that helps."

"She's a wizard?" Fred asked, standing up and leading her back to their back room.

"Why yes, she's to start school next year."

Xander got down and started pulling out stuff. "And hey, what will I need with most of this," he said happily. "Anything we can't use, we've got to get rid of. I'm not carrying this heavy thing back up to the school."

Mr. Weasley patted him on the head, knowing what he was doing and appreciating it.

***

Fred collapsed, looking around the newly recreated store. "Wow," he said finally. He looked at his twin, who was counting money. "Did they really clean us out?"

"Yes," George told him. "That was very sweet of Ginny, to get everyone in the House to come down and buy from us." He looked at his brother.

"Xander," they said together, then started to laugh.

"He's a sweetie," Fred told his brother, "but he needs subtly."

"Too true," George agreed, calming down. "We'll be up all night making more stock."

"We could open a little late tomorrow," Fred suggested. "Or start out slow and make it through the day. That might thrill some of the local kids. We used to stand and watch the joke shop make things."

"We'll see," George told him, stretching. "I haven't been this tired since we did this the first time." He looked at the door, smiling at the improvised top portion that Xander had connected to it. "He is rather sweet."

"Yup, love can be like that," Fred said as he forced himself to stand up. "Are we going to put out that new trick we thought up?"

"Is the original still here?" George countered. "I thought I saw Xander raiding our workroom."

Fred walked into their workroom and spotted the small bag and the note sitting on the table. "Need this, thanks, even paid for it this time, and so will they," he read out loud. "He's going to do something stupid," he called.

George's laughter floated in from the other room. "Really?" He walked in and looked down at the note. "Really?" he repeated, opening the bag and pouring out the gold coins. A large handful of them. "He must think we mark things up outrageously."

"We'll put it toward the other stuff we've given him to try out up at the school?" Fred suggested.

"No, he's our best tester of jokes. We'll put it on a tab for him. Or I'll go have a discussion with him later this week and make him take the extra back." He pushed aside three coins. "That much he owed us?"

"Nah," Fred said, pushing over another five. "That many is how many he owed us."

"Heavy markup, but I guess he deserves it for not asking," George agreed, putting the six remaining coins into the pouch. He felt something else in there and pulled out another note, smiling at it. "He is sweet," he said, handing it over.

Fred read the note suggesting that the guys put the extra into a fund for kids who needed to play jokes but couldn't afford them or their parents were too uptight. "Well," he said finally. "He's a sweetie." He took the money and went to put it away in the safe. They could give their friend hugs and yell at him the next time he came to town.

***

Xander wound the last turn of wire around the pin and nodded at Sirius, who was helping him test this out. They stepped away and Xander flipped the switch. Nothing happened for thirty seconds then all hell broke loose. Fireworks shot up. Smoke poured out of the small canister. The canister started to scream and shake. And then the contents bubbled up and melted the whole thing. A puddle of goo was left.

"Hmm," Sirius said, watching the puddle evaporate. "Pretty neat."

"Thanks." Xander grinned at him. "All I needed was a few props from the twins and it's all going well." He looked at the other two canisters he had made, nodding. It was time. "So," he said casually. "Anyone gloating yet?"

"Oh, yes," Sirius said, smiling at him. "The other joke shop was laughing it up during the reconstruction. Even said something mean about the new door." Xander frowned at that. "I think it's a pretty neat idea myself. And you say it'll open?"

"Yeah, I made it so if they needed to, they could open the top portion too." Xander shrugged. "It's a good thing when you have someone as big as Hagrid around. Why make him stoop down?"

"Good idea," Sirius said, patting him on the back. "Any idea what Hermione is planning for the holidays?"

"Nope, ask Willow. She's been helping her." He grinned. "Anything else I can do today?"

"No, it's Sunday," he said smoothly. "But I want to hear about this."

"I'm sure you will," Xander said, picking up the other two canisters and carrying them inside.

***

McGonagall spit her juice across the table, continuing to read the article that had caught her attention. "Xander!" she said sharply.

"What?" he asked, swallowing his bite of breakfast quickly. "What? I've been good."

She handed over the paper. "That," she said sharply.

He read it then handed it back. "Yeah, and? Wasn't me. I've been here the whole time."

She frowned at him. "Can you swear to me that you had nothing to do with this?"

He took back the paper and reread it. "Nope, it's my design," he told her, handing it back again. "But I didn't plant it." He took another bite, looking very innocent.

She frowned at him but dropped the subject. That way wasn't very subtle. She'd catch him at it. She continued to read the Daily Prophet, smiling at the nice horoscope she had for the day.

***

Xander smiled and petted his bird, who had decided he wanted to come to class again today. "Good boy," he cooed. "Such a good boy." One of the students shushed him. "Sorry," he said, grinning at Harry. He continued to pet his bird, feeding him pieces of dried banana. He accepted the tests as they came in, noticing how many of them had left a certain question blank. "Freeze," he told Harry and Ron, holding up their tests. "Wanna finish answering it?"

"No," Ron said, pulling Harry with him.

Xander looked at the question; totally fair and perfectly worded. He frowned at the other papers but most of them had answered the question. He decided to run that question past someone else that night. He wrote out a note, including the question in question and put it in his pocket for later. He looked up as someone tapped on the doorframe, nodding at the teacher standing there. He put Murphy down and walked out into the hallway. "What's up, Prof Lupin?" he asked quietly. "And can I have you look over a question?" he asked.

"Sure," he said, taking the slip of paper. "It's a werewolf, right?" he asked, handing it back. Xander nodded. "How many got it wrong?"

"Harry got it wrong," Xander said. "He and Ron refused to answer it. There's been a few others on there too."

"Ah. You promised you would give the scaring it away lecture."

"I've given the short version twice," Xander told him. "I can give a longer version if you want me to."

Lupin nodded. "Please. I've had a student threaten me recently."

"Oh, really?" Xander asked. Lupin nodded. "Which one?"

"One of the Ravenclaw girls, which shocked me." He turned and leaned against the wall. "I have no idea what she was trying to do."

"Is she flunking?" Xander asked. Lupin nodded. "Um, Tanya or something?" he asked. Lupin looked at him and nodded again. "She's flunking in here too. Her and two of the Slytherin guys." He frowned into the classroom. "No cheating," he called, going in to take the papers. "Detention and fifteen points off each. Get out." He slapped the papers down onto his desk, watching as the three students left his classroom. He walked out and grabbed the girl hissing at Professor Lupin, making her cry out from the grip on her arm. "You will not threaten another teacher," he said coldly. "You will not do it in my class, you will not do it outside my class. You will show the respect due to each teacher or I will start procedures to have you tossed out." He let her go. "Go back to your house and tell your Prefect I want to see them." She walked off in a huff.

"Not wise," Lupin said quietly.

"Very wise," Xander countered. "I'm not known for being nice." He looked at the older teacher. "I made a deal with the kids. They don't screw with me and I don't make their lives hell. I count that as screwing with me."

Lupin patted him on the shoulder. "Thank you. I'm going to have a talk with McGonagall tonight. Please, give the long version of that lecture next class."

"Definitely," Xander agreed. "Good luck."

"Thanks." Lupin walked off, heading for the pro-tem Headmistress' office.

Xander leaned against the wall and glared at the one across from him. "Oh, you will not like what I can do," he whispered. He walked back in, going to pet his baby, Murphy. They had to check on Fawkes tonight and see whether or not she had clutched yet. He had time to get to that girl.

***

Tanya, the girl who had pissed Xander off, walked into his classroom and promptly got frozen. "Good," Xander told Hermione. "Now, you will listen to this, all of you," he said, nodding at Hermione to freeze everyone else. "There have been reports of students threatening teachers," he said coldly, "using what I have taught you. This will stop." He slammed his hand down on the table, startling both phoenixes. "Sorry, guys," he said, petting them both. "We will have a *long* discussion today about what it means to fight evil, and why your best defense is actually to scare the demon/monster/whatever off." He took a deep breath and nodded at Hermione again, watching as everyone unfroze. "Sit down!" he yelled. "Sit and shut up!" Everyone scrambled for their seats, staring at him in shock. "Now then," he said, broadcasting quite clearly into the hallway. "We will set down rules for safe conduct, something I should have done before. Students, such as yourselves, are helpless and weak. Your powers are not at full strength. Your minds are not at full capacity. Your spirits are high and you've got not a *clue* what you're doing with what little you've learned." He leaned forward, putting his hands on the desk to brace him. "You are not capable of fighting off *anything* more than a nightmare. Even if you were adults, most of you couldn't fight off anything because you'd freeze. The purpose of these classes is to teach you how not to freeze and how to scare off the things attacking you. Part of *respect* is learning about what you're trying to get rid of." He looked around the class again. "Apparently, that's gone over all of your heads. I'll drive this point home a little better. You now have a two roll paper due on why you respect *every*thing, even whatever you're fighting. In addition, there will be a new practical test as soon as you get back from the holidays. I'm personally expecting a student to at least pass out, and I'm expecting to have to save at least one of you. As *someone* has decided to use their knowledge for the ill of all of you, you will *all* suffer." He looked around again. "Until you can prove to me that you deserve this knowledge and have learned the cardinal rule of fighting evil, which is *RESPECT*, you will all be held in check. You," he said, pointing at Tanya. "What is the cardinal rule of fighting evil?"

"To get it before it gets you?" she suggested dryly.

"If that's your opinion, then you're already dead," he told her coldly. "Getting it before it gets you," he mimicked. "That means that you're willing to give up your life to stop it from getting you. Are you?" She glared at him. "Are you? I asked you a question. Answer it or lose fifty points."

"No, I'm not," she said, standing up. "I refuse to stay here for this."

"You will *sit down*!" he ordered. "If you walk out of this classroom, I will make you sorry." She sat down again. "Good. Now then, who in this class is willing to give up their lives to stop something evil?" He noticed everyone was looking at the dynamic three. "Besides them," he noted dryly but still coldly. "They've proven they have the point of the cardinal rule of fighting evil. Who else knows it?"

One boy in the back, the Slytherin boy they'd been having so many problems with, stood up. "I understand what it means, Professor Harris," he said quietly. "I even understand why it's necessary, but Tanya does have a point."

"Yup, she has a point. It's called getting dead. If you attack something, then it will fight back, even if it's peaceful." The boy looked a little stunned. "Didn't think about that? Every creature or demon I've taught you has a very strong survival instinct. If you try and attack it, it will fight back. Nothing in this world will lay down and let you kill it unless it's got a serious problem." He pointed at the chair. "Unless you have another comment, sit."

The boy sat. "Yes, sir."

"Understanding that everything natural and unnatural has a survival instinct and will kill you if you attack it first is part of respect. It's part of knowing and knowledge is the real power in life." He looked across his class again. "Have we got the point now?" he asked coldly. Everyone nodded, some looking a little stunned. "Good. I'll expect your papers on the first class back, before I decide if the practical is going to be potentially something more than you can handle, since some of you are that overconfident." He glared around the room again. "I have went up against over sixty of the creatures I taught you and never *once* was I not scared, but I realized that what I knew about it was how I was going to fight it. I realized that being overconfident was what had gotten a lot of people, including a lot of Slayers, killed at a very young age. One as young as *nine*. And if they're born for it, what do you think you're going to do?" He stepped back. "Get out of my sight, write your papers, and come back prepared to write one a week until I'm no longer pissed."

The class walked out, giving him sideways looks as they slid past him, hoping he wouldn't reach out and catch them.

Xander took a deep breath to calm himself down. "Kids like that die," he told himself. "It was necessary so they doesn't die over the next five years." He took another breath then picked up both phoenixes and put them on his shoulders, grabbed his broom and cloak, and headed out into the day to go for a short fly.

***

"He said what?" McGonagall asked sharply. She looked at Hermione. "What was your part in this mess?"

"He had me freeze the whole class once everyone was in for a few seconds, just long enough to tell us that he was going to give us a loud lecture," she admitted. She looked miserable. "I'm sorry, Professor, but there was something very off about him."

McGonagall nodded. "Yes, I'm aware of it." She stood up. "Thank you. Do you know where he is?"

"Out with the phoenixes," she told her. "Flying."

"I'll go see him. Go to your next class." Professor McGonagall waited until she was alone to smile. "Good," she said quietly. "Maybe it will teach those children enough to stay alive." She grabbed her cloak and went out to talk to him. Freezing the students was not an acceptable way to start off a lecture, nor was threatening their lives. She smiled when the boy landed beside her, both phoenixes landing on his shoulders. "Xander," she said calmly. "You shouldn't have frozen them."

"I didn't want to, but it was necessary," he told her, leaning against his vibrating broom. "The kids have been trying to sneak out lately."

"I know," she said calmly. "But the thing with the practical exam?"

"Hey, all I said was that I expected at least one to pass out and to save at least one person. In that class, that's a practicality. Sirius had to save three of them during the maze exercise." He shrugged a little, not wanting to bother the birds. "As for me being mean to them, I think it was warranted. One of the girls threatened Professor Lupin."

McGonagall sighed. "He told me." She looked at Fawkes. "She doesn't look good."

"She's ready to clutch and doesn't want to without her father. I was going to have Hagrid help me set up a nest in the infirmary tonight."

"Good idea," she praised. "Do be more careful how you yell at the students in the future," she told him. "I don't want to have to reprimand you officially."

He nodded. "Okay. I had Willow record it magically if you want to review it." She nodded. "She's in her classes right now, but she set it up to start at the beginning of the spell."

"All right. Thank you." She walked closer, reaching up to scratch Fawkes' chest. "I think you should think about putting up the nest sooner."

"Cool," he agreed, handing her over. "Keep her for a few while I go get Hagrid. He's got everything we'll need." He flew off, heading down to find the Groundskeeper. "Hagrid?" he called as he landed in front of the cabin. "Hagrid, Fawkes is ready to lay eggs."

"Is she?" he asked as he walked around the side of the hut. "I'll bring up the nesting material," he said happily. "How'd it go?"

"I went off on the class," Xander admitted. "I'm being reviewed to make sure I didn't overstep my authority." He grinned. "I'll meet you up there." He took off again, Murphy following him.

Hagrid shook his head at the energy the boy had as he went to get the nesting material.

Xander checked the nest again as he put Fawkes into it, sitting down to scratch her on the head. "Hey, girl," he said calmly. "I know you wanted your daddy to be awake, but he's right beside you. I know you'll make them both wake up and you'll be safe up here. I'll even leave Murphy if you want." She sang at him as she dug herself into the hay. "You like that?" he asked her, giving her a smile. "We've even got Hagrid getting you some mice for the young if you want." She chirped at him again, burying herself into her nest. "Okay. I'm going to be across the room and Murphy will be hanging around all the time," he told her as she disappeared into the large box. He got up and walked over to where Giles was lying on his bed, so still under the tucked-in blankets. "Hey, G-man," he said quietly, touching his hand. "I know it's been a while since I've been in, but I've had a lot to do. Students to terrorize and all that." He laughed sourly. "You wouldn't believe how bad things have gotten since this spell happened. Or whatever it was." He picked up the dry hand, holding it so he could squeeze it. "I've sent a letter to Buffy, lying the whole time, about how you were fine but too busy to write yourself. She sent back a picture of herself. I put it beside your bed," he told him, looking at the small picture. "Pidge was really pleased that he found her. He got major treats that night." He felt a small flutter of the hand, nothing unusual. "So, how's it going in there? Good dreams? No dreams? Ethan dreams?" Another flutter. "If you'd wake up, I'd even get you something nice for Christmas instead of the thing that I planned on getting you," he offered. He looked down when the hand gripped his, smiling. He looked at the other bed, Dumbledore had shifted too. "Wow," he whispered. "THEY'RE WAKING UP!" he yelled, bringing the nurse running. "Giles squeezed my hand and Dumbledore shifted."

She checked them each, shooing him out into the hall while she did so. Finally, she let him back in. "They're a little closer," she agreed, giving him a smile. "Very good catch. This is the second step closer to coming back that they've done this month." She tucked in the blankets again. "What's in the box of hay?" she asked.

"Fawkes, she's nesting. She refused to lay any eggs unless she was near her daddy."

"Oh, all right then. Will you be coming up to take care of her?"

"Hagrid and I are splitting it. He's getting her the meat she needs to do this and I'll be doing the daily care stuff. We even put in a removable tray for wastes," he said proudly.

"Birds can't control that," she reminded him.

"I know, but it's in a convenient spot if she doesn't want to soil her nest." He looked over to see a slim beak poking out of the hay. "It's all right, sweetheart," he cooed, going over to pat the top of the hay she had arranged around herself. "Your daddy will wake up before your babies hatch and he'll be so proud of you."

The nurse smiled at him. "You're very good with them." She checked on them again, her smile getting a little brighter. "This might be the day," she noted. "Both of their heartbeats are still coming up." She hurried away to summon the people who needed to be here.

Xander sat down beside the nest and waited, congratulating her on each egg, even after everyone arrived.

Snape finally snapped at him. "Do you have to make that noise?" he asked.

"Yes," Xander told him. "Phoenixes are very interactive birds. She needs the love and attention right now more than ever. That's part of what makes them so special." He glared at the older man. "Don't even think about kicking us out. She won't lay without him and it'll kill her if she doesn't lay soon."

"Fine," Snape sighed, going to stand as far away from him as possible in the small room.

McGonagall looked down into the box. "How many has she laid?"

"Six. Four flourescent, two plain colored. I'm wondering what the difference is but I'm not going to get up until she decides to send me away."

"A noble sentiment," the quiet voice on the bed said. Dumbledore rolled onto his side and looked down at the nest. "Hagrid helped build it?" he asked. Xander nodded. "Six eggs? How long has she been laying?"

"A little over an hour," Xander said respectfully. "She refused to do it anywhere that you weren't."

"Good, good," he said, rolling back onto his back and smiling at the teachers. "You all look wretched," he told them.

"It's nearly Christmas," McGonagall told him. "You've worried us all sick."

He patted her on the hand. "It's all right. If it's nearly the holidays most students will be gone soon."

"Three days," Snape said, sounding relieved.

"I've been asleep that long?" Dumbledore asked. Everyone nodded. "Why?"

"All we know is that there was some sort of drug or poison in your system," McGonagall said lightly. "We never figured out what it was or how it was given, but it appears to have worked it's way out of everyone's system now."

"Giles isn't awake yet," Xander noted.

"I'm sorry," McGonagall said automatically. "I'm sure it will be soon though."

"Hopefully," the nurse said, smiling at them all. "And hopefully you'll be able to go to your own room tomorrow, Professor. After a very thorough examination."

"I hope I pass," he said lightly.

Xander stood up and gave him a hug. "I'm sure you'll ace it. I'm going to go get her some food. Yell if Giles wakes up." He walked out, heading down to the kitchens. Fawke's daddy was awake, he could go for a bit.

"He's an odd boy," Snape declared.

"Yes, but he's a decent one," McGonagall noted. "Even if he was very harsh with his students today." Lupin sighed. "I already knew," she told him. "Even if I hadn't heard the tapes of his lecture myself."

Snape snorted. "I heard the whole thing, I was down the hall working with the witches. Most harsh with the students."

"Why was he harsh?" Dumbledore asked.

"A few of the students have decided to threaten the teachers," McGonagall told him, patting him on the hand. Dumbledore looked at Lupin. "Among others," she agreed. "Xander took offense at it and gave them a very loud, very stern lecture. We've discussed it already."

Dumbledore smiled. "It sounds like you've got it well in hand." He looked at the nurse. "When did I get drugged, or poisoned?"

"Do you remember a vampire showing up?" Lupin asked.

Dumbledore thought then nodded. "Yes, I do. Both of them actually. Why?"

"It was that day. The girl who also got poisoned didn't have any memories of that day when she woke up."

"That was after her second waking," the nurse told him. "I couldn't keep her awake when she first came to."

"Is she all right?"

"She's fine, Professor," the nurse said. "No memories of those days, but otherwise fine."

"Good, good," he said, yawning. "I would like to sleep again also."

"First, can you remember being scratched or fed anything unusual," Snape asked quickly. "We need to know."

"Well, one of the House Elves fed us some wonderful tea. I had a cookie from them also." He thought back. "No, I don't remember anything. Who else was targeted?"

"Rupert and Tara," McGonagall told him. "She's been awake and we're waiting on Rupert."

"All right. Tell me what happened when I wake up," he ordered, rolling onto his side. He noticed the curtain being closed around him, but he was nearly asleep.

***

Xander looked down at the man lying on the bed, sighing again. "Giles, why won't you wake up? What's the kick that'll make you come back to us?" He looked down at his bird, then shook his head. "I don't want to do that. It's too big of a risk." He looked at the man on the bed again. Giles heart had slowed back down earlier that evening. The nurse was starting to give him hints that she thought he wouldn't wake up. But he shouldn't expose the school.

He finally decided he needed to do something so he got up and grabbed some paper and a quill, dipping it in ink to write out the note he knew would motivate the one person that could get into Giles' mind, as proven the first time they'd been at the school. He clicked at Murphy, who had been asleep. "I know you don't want to go," he told him, easing the message into the pouch, "but I need you to go and do this. Otherwise, your grandfather will not wake up." He kissed his phoenix on the head. This was a big risk. The sorcerer might not listen to the note. He might try to trap his bird. He might laugh it all off as a joke. But it had to be done. He walked Murphy over to the window and opened it, holding him out. "I need you to go find the bad man," he told Murphy. "The one in Grandfather's picture." Murphy cooed at him. "Yes, him. I think he's in London, but I'm not sure. Hurry back," he said, launching his bird into the air and watching him fly away as he closed the window. He turned to find the nurse standing behind him. "I only know of one person that can get into Giles' mind," he told her.

"I understand. Don't put the school at risk though."

"I didn't. I didn't say a thing about the school or even what was going on. Just that Ethan needed to check on Giles' mind. I'm hoping that whatever's going on that he'll see it and be able to send him back up."

She gave him a hug. "I'm sure it will work itself out." She walked out, going back to check on the students in her care.

***

Ethan Rayne looked up at the heavens and swore, "I will never work for the Powers again, no matter how flashy their package is, no matter what the enticement is, no matter what." He started to close his flat's window, but he saw a bright bird heading for it. His mouth started to open and he started to babble the word 'no' but the bird kept coming. It landed on his windowsill and looked expectantly at him, puffing out its chest and the leather pouch on it. He carefully reached inside and took out the letter. "Whatever I have is yours," he told the magnificent bird, watching as it flew in and nibbled at his fruit basket. He opened the small note, reading the words on it. "You've decided to test me already?" he asked, looking up again. "I won't do it." He looked down at the note again, noticing the sort of paper it was on, the sort of ink it was on, and his resolve crumbled. He looked at the bird. "Tell them I'll try," he told him, holding out an arm. The bird flew out the open window and into the night, heading for home presumably.

Ethan closed the window and went to get his working equipment. He had to do something about this. It wasn't often that he was begged to help anyone, much less Rupert Giles.

***

Giles moaned and started to thrash around, bringing the nurse and Xander to his side instantly. He started to mumble and moan, but he didn't open his eyes. Until he sat straight up and screamed. He looked around, then glared at Xander. "Why did you make him do that!" he demanded.

"Because you've been asleep for over a month," Xander said quietly, staying calm. "You were drugged or poisoned, we're not sure which, and you haven't woken up since the day we did the maze." He checked on the birds, both of who were looking up at them. "I had to do something," he rationalized. "You might never have woken up."

"But to call Ethan," Giles sighed. "Xander, that was dangerous."

Xander walked out of the infirmary, going to his room.

Murphy hopped up onto the bed and cooed at his third-favorite person, getting head scratches. He nodded at his nest, wanting to show off his new chicks.

"Yes, that's very nice, Murphy," Giles said, petting the bird. "Would you please go tell your father I want to see him, to apologize?" he amended when the nurse glared at him. Murphy took off, going to bother his father until he came back. He needed his human to watch over his chicks and mate.

Giles allowed himself to be laid back on the bed, looking up at the nurse. "I've been out for a month?"

"Closer to two really. The winter holidays start in two days." She brushed some of his hair back, checking his temperature. "Well, you seem fine." She glared down at him. "He's come up every day, even forgoing flying some days to see you. He did what he had to do. You weren't going to be waking up if he hadn't." She stepped back. "Maybe you ought to try to be nicer to the boy. He risked quite a lot to send off that note. Including Murphy." She walked away, hearing footsteps in the hall. "Professor Snape," she said lightly. "What brings you up here?" He showed off his cut finger. "We'll get that fixed right up," she told him cheerfully. "He's awake now. Whomever the boy sent the note to did it."

"Does he remember anything?" Snape asked, looking into the recovery room.

"I haven't asked him." She led the way into the room. "We have to ask you, do you remember being scratched by anyone or fed anything strange on the day you fell ill?" she asked him.

"No, I don't," Giles said, reopening his eyes. "I'm sorry. If he comes back and I'm asleep, please tell him?"

"I will, but it'd be best coming from you." She frowned. "Not a thing out of the ordinary?"

"No. Druscilla didn't scratch me. I had nothing to eat that day. What did the medical tests find?"

"A drug we couldn't trace," she said, looking him over. "None of you have remembered anything after you've slept the second time."

"I doubt I'll be sleeping anytime in the near future," Giles told her. "I had the most horrid vision while I was under."

"The whole time?" Snape asked.

"No, that's what woke me up. Xander sent a note off to someone who knows me well enough to get into my head, and this person sent me horrible visions about all my students dying."

Snape nodded. "That'd do it for me too." He held up his finger. "We'll be back. Remember what you can, we need to know." Giles nodded so he walked away.

Murphy flew back in, making sad noises. "Couldn't find him?" Giles asked. The bird curled up on his chest. "I'm sure he's just sulking in his room. He'll let you in later." He yawned. "He still loves you, Murphy." The petting he was doing lulled him back into sleep.

Xander snuck in a few hours later and picked up his bird, cuddling it close. "I still love you," he whispered, "I needed some time alone but I still love and want you." He walked his bird back up to his room, going to bed for the night with Murphy above him on the headboard.

***

Xander walked into his last class before the break and smiled thinly at the group. "Does anyone have anything they need clarified?" he asked. No one said anything. "This would be the time to do so. Otherwise, you're free to go." The students all walked out, not looking happy in the least.

One of them, the Slytherin boy that had given him so much trouble at the beginning, stopped at the desk. "Sir, we're sorry we've disappointed you so. We had no idea that some of us had gotten so out of hand."

Xander sat down in his chair, looking up at the boy. "That's good that you realize that now."

"The whole class wanted to apologize for what Tanya did to Professor Lupin. We've all come down on her, and we didn't want to disappoint you."

"If you've learned the lesson, you haven't disappointed me," Xander said calmly. "If you didn't, then you have."

"It's that simple?" the boy asked.

"It is now," Xander told him. "I'm not going to get up a lot of hope for you guys, not any more. I came into this thinking that I would be teaching you guys things that would save you when you ran into something in an alleyway at night. Now I'm starting to see how much of this is something to use against other people." He looked out his window. "I can only hope that some of you got the real point of the lecture, Bradley. No matter how many Tanya's there are in the world, there's got to be someone who gets the point. Hopefully two for every one of her, but I'm not that optimistic anymore."

Bradley nodded and walked off, leaving the teacher alone with his thoughts, and him with his.

Xander got up and cleaned off his chalkboard, realizing he wouldn't have to do it again for another three weeks. He gave it a little smile and walked out, heading up to the teacher's section to go check on the phoenixes. Murphy hadn't wanted to leave Fawkes alone after the move so he had stayed in Dumbledore's room. He knocked on the door. "Coming to check on the birds," he called as he walked in.

"Good," Dumbledore said from his couch. "They're quite fussy right now."

"You messed up the carefully shifted nest," Xander said with a smile. "She's very picky about each piece of hay and how it should stick out." He bent down to look inside, mouth open when he saw how many eggs were in there. "She's got ten now," he told the Headmaster. "Six of which are shiny."

"Not a good average," Dumbledore sighed as he got up to come look for himself. "Well, it's her first real clutch, I'll give her credit for that much," he said, after getting up. "I'd move them closer to the fire, but I'm afraid of an ember coming out and wiping them all out." He sat down again. "How are you today?" he asked

"I'm kinda not real happy," Xander admitted.

"Would some time off this holiday help? Teachers are allowed to leave for the holidays."

"Nope," Xander said, curling up beside the nest to pet the bird inside it. "It's not going to help. I've lost my optimism." He pulled his hand back when he got nipped. "Sorry," he told her, switching to Murphy, who was lying beside the nest guarding his mate. "I used to feel like I was making some sort of difference, that what I was teaching was going to save someone."

"And because they used the knowledge to torment someone else, you've lost that hope?" Dumbledore asked. Xander nodded. "I can see that. Most teachers have to go through that sometime. A good teacher doesn't let it defeat them though." He handed over a letter. "This made it to us this morning, I'm not sure what your friend was doing with an owl."

Xander opened the letter, smiling at the familiar handwriting. "She's in over her head," he told Dumbledore, folding it back up. "I should probably go help her after all." He looked at Murphy. "You won't come with me, will you?" His bird hissed at him. "Didn't think so." He stood up. "With your leave, I'll go help her."

"Just be careful who sees you flying," Dumbledore said patiently. "I'll take good care of them both."

"Thanks." He gave the older man a smile and went to pack a small bag. Maybe some hard fighting would cheer him up again.

***

Giles walked into the dining hall, looking at the small number of people still there. "Did Xander leave to go see the twins?" he asked as he sat down.

"No, the young girl, Buffy? She needed some help and he went to help her," Dumbledore said casually. He had heard the fight that night, and he knew what part of the boy's apathy was, but not how to cure it. "He'll be back in a few weeks."

"Has Murphy gone?"

"No, Murphy has decided he's staying close to the nest, even when Fawkes screeches at him and sends him across the room because she's tired of him staring at her." He handed down a bowl of potatoes. "You two really should have a talk when he gets back. He's most disheartened about what one of his students has done."

"More than one," McGonagall noted. "There's the whole group of them. Though, Hermione's idea has worked wonderfully. That one boy, Bradley, has taken over the reins as we hoped and is reeling them in even now. I think we'll be able to count on him to keep that one girl in control from now on."

"Tanya?" Giles asked. She nodded. "Yes, I felt something was about to go very wrong with her. What did she do?"

"She threatened a teacher," Dumbledore said calmly, looking down at Professor Lupin. "Are you all right? She didn't actually hurt you?"

"No. She had a little silver dagger and stuck it into my desk, right next to my hand." He shuddered. "Then she gave me this look and warned me not to flunk her again."

Giles patted him on the arm. "I'm sure Xander has tried to straighten her out also."

"We nearly reprimanded him for it," McGonagall said. "He's been most harsh with the class since then. Threatened them with a practical exam that would make at least one pass out."

"The maze did that," Sirius noted.

"Which is why he didn't step over the line," she told him. "He has assigned extra homework. I believe that class has a paper due the day they come back. Two parchments if I remember right." Everyone hissed. "And he's promised that they'll have one a week,"

"He's lost faith in the students," Dumbledore told them all. "He came in thinking that he was going to be able to give them good information, and realized he was teaching a bunch of petty teenagers."

McGonagall sighed. "I remember when I came to that realization. I nearly quit teaching."

"You don't think he will," Giles said quietly.

"He promised me he'd come back after the holidays," Dumbledore told him. "I'm sure he will."

"One of his students apologized to him," Lupin told him. "Willow overheard it and told me. She said what he told the boy was enough to make her violently ill. Or violent, she wasn't sure which." He picked up a roll and buttered it. "He told the boy he'd lost his optimism."

"Oh, dear," Giles sighed. He stood up. "Do we know where he is?"

"Fighting beside that girl of yours," McGonagall told him. "Somewhere in the north. He has a map of the local wizard shops up there. We're expecting an owl full of anxiety about his phoenix."

Giles sat down again. "I'll never catch him then."

"Probably not," she agreed. "He flew up there this morning." She passed him the meat tray. "Eat, you'll need your strength. The twins will be looking for him."

"He stopped in to see them," Dumbledore said with a smile. "They sent me an owl card. Their parents will be up just before the beginning of school to see everyone."

"I hope he's back by then," Sirius noted. "He'd hate to have missed them."

"I'm sure he will," Giles said firmly. "He's very good at fighting what he needs to." He looked at the contents of his plate then pushed himself back. "Excuse me, but I think I need some more rest." He got up and walked off.

Dumbledore looked not very happy with himself.

"He'll have to apologize to the boy eventually," Snape told them all. "If the boy comes back."

"He'll come back," McGonagall told him sharply. "I've seen that boy fight and plan."

"Yes, but this is totally different."

"Yes, this was his life before he came," she told him. He looked stunned. "That's what he used to do every night. I'm sure he'll come back this time also. That man once said that Xander had an extraordinary gift of getting himself out of trouble."

***

Xander walked into the school, two days late, limping, arm in a make-shift sling, and still ready to go rip his class a new one. He headed up to the office, nodding at the birds as his launched himself at him. "Hey, Murphy, I could have used you out there," he whispered, hugging and cuddling his bird the best he could. "I missed you too," he said, finally letting him go and putting him on the back of the chair he flopped down in. "Would you please go get Dumbledore?" he begged. "I'm not moving, I promise." His phoenix flew off, heading down to find his mate's father. His human looked bad. Xander allowed himself to relax for the first time in nearly three weeks, and promptly lost consciousness. He missed Professor Dumbledore running up the stairs to see him, and he missed Giles running up and trying to hold him. He even missed his baby crying on one of his worst wounds, closing it for him. Phoenix tears had healing properties that he wouldn't be able to appreciate for days.

By the time he woke up he was in the infirmary and most of his aches were dulled at least. He blinked a few times as the images around him settled on one instead of four or so. "Giles," he said, reaching up to touch him. "She's fine."

"I wasn't worried about her, I was more worried about you," he said, giving the boy a fond smile. "Xander, I have to apologize. I'm an ass and I shouldn't have yelled at you for getting Ethan to help me."

Xander patted him on the face. "It's the drugs, they're very good," he said, then he closed his eyes again.

Giles sighed and sat down beside the bed. "I'll have to tell you again, when you're not in pain." He picked up the boy's chart and looked through it, thoughtfully examining all the wounds he had. "Madam Pomfrey?" he called. "May I take this? I think I need to drive a point home to our combined classes."

"I'll make you a copy of the pertinent injuries," she said, taking it from him.

"All of them if you wouldn't mind," he corrected. "I think it's time they learned a little more about what life was really like when you fight evil on a daily basis. Has he mumbled anything about the fights?"

"No, but that strange girl did send us another owl, warning us Xander had fought and was injured." She handed over the letter. "The Headmaster thought you might like to see that."

Giles read it, shaking his head. "Will she never learn," he sighed, getting up. "I'll be back in a moment. I need to find a copy of a human body to illustrate my point."

"No, just read them," she said, waving her wand and copying the document before her. She handed it over. "Read it to them. Don't tell them anything else."

He nodded and headed down to the classroom. He smiled as he walked in, nodding Hermione back to her desk. "Thank you, dear," he told her. "Ten points for you for babysitting." He stood up in front of the class and read the list before him. "Arm, broken in four different places, two of them compound, one of the simple, one of them a shatter. Head injury, minor damage done to the side of the head, but nothing serious. Broken ribs," he said, forcing himself to stay calm. "Fourteen breaks in six ribs. Ligature marks, old and partially healed, on wrists. Shoulder strain, probably from the same cause as the ligature marks. Ankle, dislocated. Back, sprained, three small muscle tears. Neck, severely sprained, no permanent damage done, but will need some time to heal fully. Jaw, bone bruises in five places. Pelvic bone, three bruises. Both arms, bruises from hard objects. Chest and abdominal area, multiple bruises too close together to count. Back, multiple bruises on lower half, looks like boot marks on one, too close together to count. Foot, broken metatarsal bone." He put down the paper, not willing to read the last part. "That was your teacher's status when he finally got here," he said quietly, getting a gasp. "He got here two days late because he was fighting beside the Slayer, because she needed him." He looked around the room, noticing the pale faces. "This wasn't meant to scare you off, it was meant to be a warning. Even Xander, who has the greatest respect for his enemies, managed to get that hurt during his time off." He cleared his throat. "I have heard of what happened while I was asleep, and I must say it was better that you got him than me, as I probably would have harmed you physically." He stared around again. "This is why he moves you so hard and why his exercises are so very real. This is the reason that Professors Lupin and Black's cross training is so important to us. Xander was probably only fighting vampires. Vampires are stronger and faster than the average human, which Xander is, and yet he still fights. This is why those piddling little papers are not enough from you." He leaned against the edge of the desk. "While Xander is in recovery, some of those injuries can't be magiced away by the way, I will be your instructor. I've been in the same situation he was faced with. I didn't come home walking like he did though." There was a small gasp from one girl. "Yes, he came in walking and passed out in Professor Dumbledore's office while waiting to report back here to you ungrateful lot." He stood up again. "I will not tolerate the disrespect levels that he did. If you think he worked you hard, you have no idea what the rest of this year will contain. You will have a practical examination every two weeks. Most of them will be more like the maze than like your first one, which I heartily approved of at the time. Unfortunately, you've proven to me that you're immune to the lesser methods of teaching and will need everything I've ever learned from training the Slayer." A boy in the back raised his hand. "Yes?"

"Is Professor Harris all right, sir? Those injuries sounded very serious."

"Those that could be healed have been. The rest will take time." He smiled at the boy. "It does me good to hear that some of you do care about your fellow man, it's a rare occurrence these days." He looked at the doorway, where Dumbledore was standing. "I know I won't make you into the man he is in just half a year, but for those of you who are coming back and plan to pursue a career in stopping the dark arts, then I will mold you into Xander's image." He looked at his watch. "Next class, we will be setting out the rules for our time together. The class after that, expect your first practical." He patted the desk. "Put your papers here and leave."

The kids all filed out, putting their papers down and leaving quietly, not able to look at each other.

"I don't think that was necessary," Dumbledore said as he walked in. "The children were getting a very good idea from Xander about the harsh realities of life. We'd like them to remain innocent for a while longer."

"These were all fifth and sixth years," Giles reminded him. "It's time they realized how very rough the outside world is. This will also cement anyone's career options quite firmly."

"Yes, but we'd like some of them to do that job too," Dumbledore reminded him. "It's not all bruises and broken legs."

"No, it's not. It's long hours waiting on those injuries, waiting to see which one of your friends will fall next and wondering how long it will be before it's you. It's a lot of training that doesn't ever seem to fit the situation and improvising a solution. It's a lot of making sure you don't make mistakes because you won't have the time to correct them."

"You still do," Dumbledore pointed out. "He's not dead."

"No, he's not. He just told me that he was hallucinating though." He sat on the desk. "I have no idea why I said what I did that night."

"Maybe you ought to tell him that," Dumbledore said gently, coming in and closing the door. "Rupert, you're right about one thing, that boy is the most loyal and stubborn creature on this planet. If I had any idea the sort of trouble he'd get into, I never would have given him the note from the girl." He looked at the empty seats. "You and Xander are some of the best teachers we have. I'd hate to lose you, but if you want to leave, you can. I'm sure Willow and Tara can fill in while you go check on her."

"I have no need to check on her, she's surrounded by people like me," Giles told him. "I'll send her an owl later." He looked over. "I don't think he'll take my apology."

"You might try again, once he's not hallucinating and passing back out," Dumbledore said lightly. "I'm sure he'd like to hear it when he's sane and whole again."

"Yes, but will he be either?" Giles picked up the form and handed it over. "I'm not sure who it was, but apparently Xander went to talk to them."

Dumbledore read the whole report then handed it back. "It happens, Rupert. We both know that. Being captured is often the same as being killed. The boy knew that."

"Yes, but his sense of trust beat him this time," Giles reminded him. "That same damnable trust that would make him forgive me."

"Even when you don't deserve it?" Dumbledore asked. Giles nodded, still staring at the paper. He walked in and sat beside his teacher. "You do deserve it, the same as the boy didn't deserve the yelling that night, and mostly for the same reason. He's like a son to you, Rupert, and the sooner you explain that to him, the sooner you'll both feel better." He patted his teacher on the shoulder. "I do believe Murphy wants to go visit his father. Would you sit with him? He hates the infirmary now."

"Of course," Giles said automatically. "Have you notified the twins? I'm sure one of them would be most interested in coming up to see him."

"I've told them he's back and that he's in bad shape. They'll probably be up anytime now." He smiled. "Murphy's probably already up there. Please go sit with him."

"Yes, I think I will," Giles said, handing over the report. "Please, destroy that." He walked away.

Dumbledore said a word and incinerated the paper. No one should know what else was on there.

***

George walked into the infirmary, smiling at the bird and man curled up together on the bed. "Hey," he said, then realized Giles had woken up too. "Sorry."

"It's all right," Giles said, giving him a weak smile. "I'll go get some tea. Have a good visit." He got up, letting the young man have his chair.

George sat down beside the bed and reached out to touch Xander's shaking hand. "Hi. Dumbledore said you were in pretty bad shape." Xander nodded. "Don't want to talk about it?" Xander shook his head. "Just the whole quiet and be nice visit?" Xander shrugged, and winced. "Who did this to you?" he asked.

"Old friend," Xander mumbled. He grabbed George's hand before he could move, giving it a squeeze. "I hurt," he whispered.

"I'm sure you do," George said, giving him a smile. "From the way you're holding Murphy, I'd say you're in a lot of pain. Should I go get someone?" Xander shook his head. "There's no need to be brave."

"I hallucinate," Xander told him. "Giles apologized to me."

"For what?"

"For being an ass," Giles said as he walked in, holding a tray of tea cups. "I meant it you know. I shouldn't have yelled at you that night." He handed over the cup of tea the nurse had given him. "Here we are, your next dosage of medication and then I'll be out of your way again." He watched as Xander drank the foul brew, then handed over another of the cups to George. "Here you are also. Would you like me to take Murphy up to the nest?" Xander nodded and let go of his bird, watching as it uncurled. "Murphy, come, we'll go check on your chicks." The phoenix hissed at him and curled up closer to Xander's side. "I promise, right there and then you can come back. I'm sure your mate wants to hear about this also." Reluctantly, Murphy waddled over to him and up onto his arm. "Thank you. We'll be back in a few." He and the bird walked out, leaving them alone again.

"That was strange," George agreed. "My father would never outright say he was sorry to me about yelling like he probably did." He squeezed Xander's hand. "Are you all right otherwise?"

Xander shrugged. He saw the hurt look. "Not really," he admitted. "Sprained muscles and bone bruises can't be healed by magic. The nurse said I could leave in a few days."

"Good, then we'll expect you to come down for a cup of tea and some sympathy."

"No sympathy," Xander said quickly, keeping him from moving again. "Not going. Please?"

"All right, I won't leave," he agreed, settling back in.

"Sorry."

"About what?" George asked. "You're in a hospital bed, you've got horrible injuries, and you're sorry for something?"

"Christmas card in my pack," Xander offered.

George leaned in. "You didn't have to get me a card, Xander. We like you anyway." He saw the begging look so went to empty out the pack and search for the card. He found it under the treasured leather outfit, which was looking a little shredded. "Dear God, what did you run into?"

"Old friend," Xander repeated.

"You were friends with a rotating saw?"

Xander snickered. "Ow," he complained, rubbing across his ribs.

George smiled at him and sat down, reading the card. He looked over at his friend and smiled. "If you insist," he said, kissing him on the tip of the nose. "How did that feel?"

"Didn't hurt," Xander said in amazement. "Only place, but it didn't."

"Good. See, I'm good for you."

"Yup, you're the original good," Xander said, reaching out to him again as he fell asleep.

George sat there, resisting the urge to pick up the chart and read it. Whatever he needed to know, Xander would tell him. When Giles came back, without Murphy, he looked up at the older man. "Who did he run into?" Giles shrugged. "All he would tell me was that it was an old friend."

"I've sent Buffy a letter, asking her what happened. As she's sent one to us warning us that he was coming, I hope that she'll be able to answer this one as well." He sat on the edge of the bed, looking the boy over. "George, I've been bad to him. I have no excuse other than I was ill at the time, but that's not really a good one is it." He glanced at the boy again. "I really did mean my apology."

"I know you did," George told him. "So did he." He stood up but the hand clutched him tighter.

"Stay," Giles offered. "I've got to go check on Willow and Tara anyway. They haven't been up to see him yet and that's very odd."

"It's still the class day," George reminded him. "I'm sure they'll be up as soon as they can." He got comfortable again. "Could you find my brother and ask him to send a message to Fred, telling him that I'm going to be here for a while longer?"

"Of course." Giles walked out, heading down to see if he could find Ron, or Ginny. Either one would do. He found both of them with Willow and Tara in the library. "Ron, your brother George wanted you to send a message to Fred saying he was going to be here for a while." Ron nodded and got up, heading up to go find his owl. "Willow, Xander's been awake."

"We heard," she said, looking up. "We were waiting for you to go make it all right. I didn't need the angst overload."

Giles frowned. "I've apologized to the boy." He leaned over. "All he said was that this was an old friend, the one who hurt him so badly."

"Can't be Spike," Tara said quietly. "We saw him during break."

"He was in town," Willow agreed, looking at her lover. "Do you think he knew?"

"Possibly," Tara agreed. "He was negotiating for a crossbow." She looked back at Giles. "Do we need to do anything?"

"As long as Buffy answers me fairly quickly, probably not. I'm supposing that the Watchers have it well in hand."

"That many injuries and it's well in hand?" Willow asked.

"Buffy was well enough to send a note," he countered.

"That probably means it was Angel," Willow said with a grimace. "Why else would Xander run off like that."

"Because he felt he needed to," Giles said tiredly. "That was my fault also."

"No, it was both of yours," Tara told him. "You should admit that you see him like a son. It might help some of this." She smiled at Willow. "We're getting to help take care of the chicks once they hatch," she said proudly.

"That's why we're in here instead of up bothering him and Fred," Ginny told him.

"It's George, dear," he said, giving her a fond smile. "Fred's still in town."

"Oh. I thought he liked Fred," she said, looking at the older women.

"He might," Willow said with a shrug. "Xander's not been in the sharing mood over his relationship." She looked at Giles. "Why are you hovering?"

"Because I need a place to be," he said coolly. "I even went down and yelled at the joint classes again."

"Feel better?" Snape asked as he rounded a corner. "Do you have the book on baby phoenixes?" Willow handed him the one she had been reading. "You get to help too?"

"I think Dumbledore thinks that he's going to need all the help he can get," Willow said dryly. "Baby chicks are very dependant and demanding. They have to be fed every hour."

"I had no idea," Snape sighed as he joined them at the table. "How's the boy?"

"Better, he's been awake and mostly aware," Giles told him. He sat down across from them. "Can I help in the research?"

"If you want," Snape said, passing the book over. "Nice job by the way, the lecture to the students. There's an air vent down into my office." All three girls looked at him. "It was very disturbing but very real, just like Harris likes to give them."

"What did you do, Giles," Willow asked.

"I gave them an overview of Xander's injuries and told them I wasn't going to be as soft. That I had every intention of each of them being able to fight the dark like Xander has."

"Oh, man," Willow sighed. "I'm staying *far* away from that fight."

"What?"

"He won't like that," Tara told him. "He hates to be sick and weak around people. He hides when he only has a cold."

"I gave them the major injuries," Giles defended. "Standard ones, all of them."

"Ligature marks are standard?" Snape asked. "I thought the idea was to stay away from the creatures so you can fight them or drive them off."

"Old friend huh," Willow said, looking at Tara. "That narrows it down. Spike was with us. What about Angel?"

"I hate to say it, but Oz?" Tara asked. Willow looked sad. "If he were turned," she amended.

Willow nodded. "It could be. Or Buffy herself."

Ron walked back in. "George said that he keeps saying the name ..." He shook his head, "I don't remember. But George keeps hearing it."

"I'll go up and check on him," Willow said, getting up and heading up to listen to Xander. "Hi," she said quietly. "Ron didn't remember the name he keeps saying," she whispered.

"He keeps saying Wesley," George told her. "He also was worrying about his classes."

"Giles was a butt and told them about his major injuries to scare them," she admitted. "I think maybe they're broken now. I'm going to take over those duties while he takes my classes."

George smiled. "I'm sure you'll do very well keeping them in line." He shifted a little and the hand on his tightened. "Is he usually this injured?"

She shook her head. "We've all been injured but none of us this badly." She smoothed the sheets over the warm body. "At least he came home." She checked his wrists, humming to herself. "They didn't turn him."

"No, they didn't," George said, sounding a little relieved. "Did someone owl Fred?"

"Ron did. I'm sure he'll be up here tonight to give you some time off."

"Maybe," George sighed, moving his chair closer. "Xander, who did this to you?" he whispered. "Willow's here and wants to make it better."

"Gotta talk to Wesley," Xander repeated.

"Then we'll talk to Wesley," Willow agreed. "Was he the old friend?" Xander shifted uncomfortably. "Xander, was it Buffy?"

"No!" he shouted, sitting up and grabbing his chest. "Ow!"

"Shh," she said, sitting beside him to hug him. "I know it hurts." He buried his face in her shoulder. "I want to know who I have to go kick," she said quietly. Xander lifted his head and looked at her. "You keep saying Wesley, that you have to talk to him, did he do this?" She ran her fingers over his swollen jaw. "Just nod, Xander. As much as you can anyway."

Xander shook his head. "He's the new knight," he mumbled. He looked over at George and held out his arms. "Hug too?"

"Of course," George said, getting up to hug him also. "Tell her who did this, Xander. Let her help me beat them up."

"Vampires," he said lightly.

Willow pinched him. "Which one, silly? We had no doubt it was vampires." She helped George cuddle him between them. "Old friend?" He nodded. "One of the scoobies?" He hesitated but nodded again. "Oz?" she asked, her heart breaking. He shook his head frantically, grabbing his neck. "Calm down," she whispered, rubbing her warm fingers across his sore neck. "Not Oz, but was he there and helping?" Xander nodded. "Good. Who else was part of the group?" she asked herself.

"Cordy," he whispered. "And she went after Buffy when Oz got me free."

"Crap," Willow sighed. "It's okay. Wesley was there?" He nodded. "Good. Then I won't worry about it. Oz and Wesley may have been quiet, but they can both kick ass when they need to. Wesley can even stake Buffy if Oz can't." He squeezed her hand. "See, it'll be okay." She kissed him on the cheek. "I'll go tell Giles and Tara, he's sent an owl back to Buffy to ask what happened."

Xander snorted. "She'll eat it."

"Did she know you were captured?" He sighed. "Oh, man, tell me she didn't," Willow told him. He shrugged lightly. Not even the pain killers were killing the pain in his neck and back.

"What did she do?" George asked.

"She sent Xander out to get captured to keep Cordelia's attention while she worked on the army. Is it Dru's army?" He gave her a pitiful look. "All right. I think Spike was going up there to help too," she said semi-cheerfully.

Xander snorted. "Fun."

"Yup, for him. You know how much he likes to beat up demons. Maybe he'll even save Buffy from herself." She gave him a light hug. "Giles needs to know, did you accept his apology?" Xander nodded once. "Good, because he went down and reamed your class again. He told them about your injuries." Xander sighed. "Only the big ones," she told him. "He was trying to scare them into realizing this isn't a game. I think everyone that's heard about it has already yelled, if that helps," she offered.

He looked at her. "Slap him for me, just once," he asked.

"Sure." She slid off the bed. "We're all down looking over the care of baby chicks books so we can help when the chicks are hatched."

"Hagrid?" Xander asked.

"Yup, he's got one too," she said happily. She winked at George. "I'm going to leave you two alone," she said, forcing him back onto the bed, technically on top of George. "You rest," she told him. "I'll be down in the library and Murphy should be trilling up the hallway any time now." She slid back onto the floor and headed out of the infirmary. She had spent too much time there.

"So that's what you meant by an old friend," George said quickly. "I started to worry."

"Cordy's an ex," Xander mumbled, rubbing his jaw. "I hurt," he complained.

"Madam Pomfrey?" George called. She walked in and looked at him. "He said he still hurts. Willow was just up here asking him questions."

"All those visitors are not allowing him to rest," she complained. "And if you move," she warned George, "he'll never rest. I'll have them bring up supper for you," she said with a smile, heading off to get the poor boy some drugs. He obviously needed some rest.

George stroked through the dark hair. "I'm here, I'll protect you from the rampaging students," he said quietly. Xander laughed, but he closed his eyes.

***

Dumbledore walked into the infirmary, doing his nightly check, and smiled when he found George wrapped tightly around Xander's obviously sore body. He pulled the blankets up over them both and walked out as quietly as he could. He'd send an owl to Fred.

***

Xander woke up as he heard someone walking up to the bed, giving the student standing there a small wave. "What?" he whispered.

"Sir, we all made you some cards," Bradley said, setting them on the tray at the end of the bed. "We want you to know that we want you to get better and that we understand now." He smiled at George. "Your brother did a good job of yelling at us all after Professor Giles let us go think. Even Hermione was impressed with Ron." He touched Xander's foot gently. "Get better, sir. We want you to come kill us in the exercises." He slid back out, heading down to breakfast.

"Wow," George said. "You've really made an impact on those kids." He kissed Xander on the tip of the nose. "Will you be all right long enough for me to go borrow your shower? I must smell."

"Sure. You can even bum clothes," he offered.

"Thanks," George said, sliding out of the bed and standing beside him. "I'll be back as soon as I can. You rest a little more, okay?" Xander nodded and blew a kiss. "Thanks." He grinned and headed out of the infirmary. He saw Professor McGonagall in the hallway and stopped her. "Where's Xander's room? He said I could borrow his bathroom and clothes."

"He's awake?"

"Has been a few times, but he's still very loopy from the pain, even to the point of asking for affection," he said as he followed her. "Accepted an apology from Giles. Got some information to Willow. One of his students came in and told him they'd rather have him come kill them in training than Giles."

McGonagall smiled. "I'm sure. Does he know that Giles told them about his injuries?" She saw the nod and shook her head. "Those two will have to have another fight then."

"I doubt it," George said, smiling at the familiar territory. "I remember these stairs."

"You've only been gone a year," she reminded him, nearly teasing. "How's he doing otherwise?"

"All right, though I think it being his ex-girlfriend that did this to him is wearing him more than anything else."

She stopped him. "His ex-girlfriend?"

"Yeah, that's what he told Willow. Someone named Cordelia?" She shook her head. "Willow said she was part of the original group. That and someone named Oz and Wesley were going to stop her, that Buffy might have been turned." He turned and punched a wall. "Willow picked up on the fact that Buffy sent him in as a diversion."

"I see," she said calmly. "Come, we'll get you cleaned up for the day. Have you sent a message to your brother?"

"Yeah, I sent one yesterday afternoon."

"Good. I'll send him another one," she said, opening the door to the teacher's wing. "Here we are," she said, pointing at Xander's door. "That's his and he shares the bathroom with the room next to him. You should be able to find everything. I'll have breakfast sent up to the infirmary for both of you." She left him there, heading back down to give Dumbledore the good news. They could all use some.

George bent down and blew into the lock, repeating a little phrase to unlock it. He walked in and shut the door, looking over the homey furniture in appreciation.

***

Xander looked up as someone walked toward him. "Fred?" he asked.

Fred sat beside him, giving him a hug. "Of course. I closed the shop for the day, putting (up) a note that there was a medical emergency in the family." He looked at the pile of cards. "Want to read any of those?"

"No. I still can't see straight," he admitted. He curled up on his side, looking at his best friend. "You guys are great."

"Thanks," Fred said, giving him a smile. "What still hurts?"

"Neck, back, jaw," he told him. "Little aches otherwise."

Fred whistled. "They really roughed you up, Xander. Do you need us to go get them for you?" The boy on the bed shook his head. "You're sure?"

"Yup. It's handled," he said with a weak smile. "The guys who got me out did it." He tried to sit up. "I'm supposed to be sending a message to Oz," he whispered.

"I can do that for you," Fred offered. "I'll write it down and send an owl."

"I've sent one that way already," Giles said as he walked in. He looked at Xander for a minute then grabbed him for a hug, letting him go when he grunted in pain. "I'm glad you're all right," he told the boy. "Willow told me off good for you." He helped the boy lay back down in a comfortable position. "She also told me what you told her. Wesley was handling it?"

"And Oz. Oz got me out and put me on my broom," Xander said quietly. "Need to tell him I'm okay."

"I'd send Murphy but he's being very attentive. It seems the eggs are growing now."

"It'll be almost six months before they're all hatched," Willow said as she walked in. "We just got the owl you sent back. Oz got the note, he wrote this for you," she said, handing it to Xander. She hit Giles on the arm. "He told me to give that to you if you were still here."

Xander snickered as he opened the message, looking at the careful, small writing. "They're okay, it's handled," he sighed, handing it off. "Buffy got free."

"I'm sure she'll be taken care of," Willow said optimistically. She read the message and went pale. Her view of handled and Xander's must be very different. "Spike's probably heading that way," she announced. "He was buying weapons over the holidays." Giles snatched the message and read it, giving Willow a hard look when she tried to get it back. He went totally pale and sat down. "Madam Pomfrey!" Willow yelled. They all watched as Giles was fussed over. Then she looked down at Xander, who had fallen asleep. "Take good care of him," she told Fred, squeezing his shoulder. "I'm going to go run his class into the ground." She walked out, heading down to take care of the necessary things.

Fred looked down at the boy on the bed. "You have some very strange but loyal friends, future brother-in-law." He leaned back in the chair, getting comfortable for his vigil.

***

George walked in and smiled at his twin. "How's he doing?" he asked as he grabbed an extra chair and pulled it over.

"Not great," Fred told him quietly. "He's got a problem with his vision."

"How bad?"

"He lied about being able to read. Willow caught it." He handed over the note. "He said that was handled."

"Oh, no," George said, reading the short note. "Is anyone going to help them?"

"Willow and Tara snuck out earlier to go up there. They didn't tell him or Giles. Giles snuck out a few hours later."

"Knew they'd go," Xander mumbled. "Ow." He rubbed his sore jaw lightly. "Being hurt sucks." He opened his eyes and blinked a few times. "Tell me it's both of you," he begged.

"It is," George told him, giving him a reassuring smile. "Are you still having problems seeing?" Xander nodded, putting his head back down on the pillow. "Is this something you've reported?"

"I told her, she said it should come back to normal soon," Xander mumbled. "Hug?" he asked pitifully, holding up an arm.

"Of course," the twins said together, getting up to hold him.

The nurse walked in and smiled at them both. "Now, boys, he needs his rest."

"He moves and wakes up," Fred told her.

"We did all right last night," George told her. "He didn't wake up hardly at all while I was holding him."

"See, there's the solution then," she said cheerfully. "If I can check you over, then you could even go rest in your room tonight."

"Still can't see," Xander said, relaxing his death grip on the other two. "Still really fuzzy."

"Do you still have the dark around the edges?" He nodded carefully. "Hmm." She checked him over, spending a long time on his eyes. "One more night in here I think," she told him. "Just to make sure that your head injury's better." She pushed him back down onto the pillows. "You must rest, Xander, or you'll never get better." She smiled at the twins. "Have one of them hold you and the other read to you or something." She pulled the curtain around the bed and walked off, giving them all the privacy they would need.

Fred coughed lightly. "You'll hold and I'll read?" he suggested to his twin. George nodded so Fred picked up a book someone had thoughtfully left on the bedside table. "The Hobbit? What's that?"

"A muggle work," Xander said through a yawn. "Ow."

"Did you need some more medicine?" Fred asked.

"No, just a statement of fact. I have bone bruises on my jaw." He yawned again. "My muscles will eventually stop aching and so will my jaw and ribs."

"I'm sorry your holiday went so badly," George told him, settling in to help Xander rest. "Go ahead, Fred, read it. It can't be that bad."

"It's a classic," Xander offered. "Decent book."

"All right, we'll try this," Fred agreed, opening the cover. "What's it about?"

"A quest. A really long trip." Xander grinned. "You'll have to read it to find out."

Fred looked up at him. "Keep it up and I'll call our mum to come fuss over you." Xander's grin got brighter.

"We should probably owl her and tell her that he's all right anyway," George noted. "She was worried when he didn't show up at Christmas."

"Sorry," Xander told him. "Did you show Fred the card?"

"You stopped and bought us a card?" Fred asked.

"On the way up. Buffy didn't sound that desperate." He tried to shrug but he was being held too tightly. "I got one for the both of you."

"I left yours in his bag," George told his brother. "Mine was rather sweet."

"I'll look for it in a few moments," Fred said, turning to the first page. "Frodo? What sort of name is that?"

"The guy was British," Xander told him. "Great imagination."

"Just read. This is making me curious."

The curtain was tapped on and Dumbledore walked in. "Ah, good, you're both here. Your parents are downstairs. They saw the note about the medical emergency and knew one of you had gotten into trouble. Should I send them up?" he asked Xander.

"Sure," he said lightly. "Do I still look that bad?"

"No, you're looking much better," Dumbledore told him, giving him a bright smile. He looked at the book. "What's that? Never seen that one before."

"It's supposed to be a muggle classic work of literature," Fred told him, handing it over. "Xander said it was about a quest."

"Willow left it. Every time I've been really sick she's pulled that out and started to read to me. We've never gotten through it yet." He yawned again. "Sorry if I fall asleep," he murmured, his eyes starting to get heavy.

"I'll go down and meet the parents," Fred said, standing up. "You two stay here." He followed Dumbledore down the stairs. "Does his behavior seem odd to you?"

"Yes, but he is ill. It's natural to want comfort when you're that sick. He did nearly die from what we can tell. He's got an amazing constitution. Here you are," he said as he walked into his office. "One son."

"Mum, dad," Fred said, hugging them both. "It's Xander, not us."

"We figured as much," Mr. Weasley told him dryly. "We asked your neighbors and they hadn't heard so much as an explosion recently." He looked his son over. "You look well."

"We're doing really well. The kids really liked our stuff after Ron had the whole house buy something from us before the holidays." He smiled at his mother. "He's fine. He's been awake. Rather pained but he's awake."

"Good," she said, standing up to touch him on the arm. "How did this happen?"

"He went to fight with that one girl, didn't he?" Mr. Weasley asked.

Fred nodded. "Yes, and then he was used as bait because the vampiress was his ex-girlfriend."

"I met her," Mr. Weasley said, frowning.

"Not that one, another one," Fred told him, leading the way out of the office and up to the infirmary. "From back when they were in high school." He let his parents walk in first, staying back to watch their reactions. Xander might look better and most of his bruises were gone, but that didn't help any of the swelling go down. "He passed out in the Headmaster's office," he told his mother.

"He had broken bones," George told her. "I'd give you a hug," he said with a smile, "but he's been having nightmares. Every time he moves he wakes up." Xander proved his point by shifting and then grunting in pain, reaching down to rub his sore foot.

"Hi," he said, opening his eyes. "It's not that bad," he said when they remained quiet.

"You're lucky you didn't die, running off like that," Mrs. Weasley said, leaning down to carefully hug him. "Did you win?"

"I got sent home from the front lines. You'll have to ask Willow when she gets back," he said, shifting onto his back some, and pinning George to the bed. "Sorry," he said, moving to let him get up. "I didn't mean to make you my permanent body pillow."

"There's worse things to be," Mr. Weasley said lightly. "Did we meet this girl while she was here?"

"No, Cordy never came to the school. I think she's done for now though." He frowned at the window. "Willow should have already been up there and be on her way back."

"I'm sure they're fine too," George said quickly. The boy worried about his friends.

"And even if they're not, there'll be someone else to help you the next time," Mr. Weasely said firmly. "We will not have any of our children running off and leaving the others alone."

"But, dad," George said quickly.

"Thanks, dad," Xander said with a weak smile. "I'm doing better. I get to go rest in my room tomorrow night."

"Xander, you spent three days unconscious in here already," Fred told him. "We were owled when you first reappeared, Dumbledore wanted to know if we'd come up and sit beside your bed and try to make you wake up." He touched the warm hand gently. "Promise us that you won't go alone next time."

"I promise," Xander said, looking at them, then at George. "Want to go flying later?"

"No, not until you're better," the nurse said as she bustled in, right up to the bed. "Why are you awake, young man?"

"We'll leave in a moment," Mr. Weasley told her. "We just wanted to check on our boys since we hadn't heard from them in a bit."

"Harry wrote you didn't he?" George asked.

Mrs. Weasely nodded. "Yes, dear, he did. He was most nice about telling us all the latest gossip. He even said that Ron yelled at his classmates for what they'd been doing."

"So has everyone else," Snape said as he walked in. "Here you are," he said, handing over the ball of feathers he had been holding. "He flew downstairs and started to shriek at the top of his lungs like he couldn't find the way out." He watched as the bird, who had balled itself up, uncurled and chirped at his father. "Are you going to let your classes go with Black tomorrow?"

"He's in no shape to teach yet," the nurse chastised. "Even if he does get to go back to his room, he's going to stay in there for about a week. I'm sure everyone else can work with his class."

"We've been cross-training," Xander told Professor Snape. "I think they'll do fine. They both know what I wanted to cover this time."

"All right then. I'll expect no more of your students to come to my class with a bloody nose then." He looked at the nurse. "Did that girl get up here?"

"No, but their youngest son did," the nurse said wryly, pointing at the Weasleys. "Ron bloodied her nose and broke a finger."

"Oh, dear," Mrs. Weasley sighed. "Why would he hit a girl?"

"Tanya?" Xander asked Snape. He nodded. "What did she do this time?"

"She apparently tried to attack Professor Black over her grades."

"Good on Ron," Fred said firmly. "He's become quite a good manager from what I hear."

"He's doing really well in my classes, when he's not flustered because he's working alone," Xander told everyone. "He does best in a group, or in a pair."

"Have you been keeping him with Harry?" Mr. Weasley asked, sitting on the edge of the bed. "I know those two work well together."

"Actually, there's a Slytehrin girl, who's said very loudly on many occasions that she was missorted, who he works well with. They seem to compliment each other. She makes an excellent fourth when it's the usual three, and together they seem to be able to beat nearly anything. Even Hermione likes her."

"My," Mrs. Weasley said, smiling at him. "You seem to have your class well in hand."

"All except for a few troublemakers," Snape said quietly. "We've all had problems from this girl. She wants power and she's not careful how she gets it."

"Is she in your house?" George asked.

"Ravenclaw. She's quite studious, but very mean tempered." He pulled his robes tighter around himself. "I'll go back to my lessons. Is he all right?"

"He's fine. Someone probably said something mean to him. He's got a very fragile ego," Xander told him, giving him a weak smile. "Thank you for bringing him to me."

"You're welcome." Professor Snape walked away. "He was causing a ruckus anyway."

Xander cooed at Murphy, calming him down again. "What happened?" he asked. "Did someone say nasty things to you?"

"Someone should go check the nest," George pointed out. "Willow said he's not left the area for a bit now."

"I'm sure someone's already done that, son," Mr. Weasley said, patting him on the shoulder. "How many in the clutch?"

"Eleven that we know of, but Professor Dumbledore thinks Fawkes hid at least one. We've got six shiny ones and five normal egg-color ones. We're not sure what that means."

"I'm sure they'll all be fine," George told him, pulling Xander close again. "Why don't you two nap," he said as he slid out of the bed, "and I'll go check on the nest? Let Fred read to you?"

"Sure," Xander said, giving him a grateful look. "Thanks, George."

"I've always wanted to see a phoenix egg," he said cheerfully. He led his parents out of the infirmary, after they gave him hugs and kisses, and down the main stairs. "I'm not sure why he's allowing so much attention," he said quietly. "That worries me."

"I'm sure it's all about how ill he is," his mother said.

"Yes, but what about when he's better?"

"Well, then I'm sure you'll be able to yell at him and make him feel bad enough to get over it," his father offered. "Either that or he's made a decision to allow you closer, George."

"Maybe," George said, thinking about that. "He does seem changed."

"But it's a good change," his mother told him as they walked into the library. "The nest's in here?"

"Ron probably is and he's been working on the nesting project," George explained.

"Yes, we moved it," a male voice called. Harry appeared around one of the bookcases. "We're back here by the stove." He led them back. "How is he?"

"Better. The nurse said he'd be able to go up to his room and rest tomorrow, hopefully. There's still the problem with his sight, but otherwise he's healing."

"What problem with his sight?" Mr. Weasley asked.

"He's got a dark area around the edge and he's seeing multiples," Hermione said, smiling up at them. "I was taking Ron up earlier when I overheard the nurse giving Professor Dumbledore an update. Did you come to see the nest?"

"Yes, dear," Mrs. Weasley said, getting down to look inside. "Hello, dear, may we have a peek at the chicks?" The other phoenix shifted, showing off the edges of a few shells. "Are they all right?" Fawkes squealed and squeaked at her. "That's good, dear. Your mate's upstairs again if you need him." She got out of the way, letting everyone else get a look. "They are rather pretty."

"According to one of the chick-care books," Hermione told her, "phoenixes were almost wiped out because people used to want their shells and feathers for decoration."

"Thankfully, a few smart ones hid their nests and now the species is only mildly in danger," Ron agreed. "Mum, I'm sorry about the fight."

"That's not why we're here," she said, giving him a hug. "Did she deserve it?"

"And more," Harry agreed. "That girl went after Professor Lupin." He looked upset. "That's what started this whole mess off."

"What mess?" Mr. Weasley asked, standing up after looking at the eggs. "Very pretty, Fawkes. Congratulations." She squeaked at him. "You'll make an excellent mother." He looked down at Harry. "What happened to Murphy?"

"Another of the problem students came and tried to disturb the nest," McGonagall said as she walked up to them. "Are they all right?"

"Fawkes is eagerly showing off her young," Harry reported. "Murphy's around somewhere."

"He's upstairs. He headed down to Professor Snape's classroom and started to scream at him," George told her. "Professor Snape brought him up to Xander."

"That's good then," McGonagall said, smiling at the group. "How's he doing?"

"Better," George told her. "He still has problems but he'll probably be released tomorrow to go rest in his room."

"Even better," she said happily. She handed over a small wrapped package. "Here, for him. It was sent by owl before Christmas."

"All right. I'll give it to him when he wakes up." George tucked it into his shirt. "I'm sure he'll be fine."

"I'm sure also," McGonagall said. "After all, he came back." She smiled at Ron. "Are you having a free period, Mr. Weasley?"

"Yes, ma'am. The nurse said I wasn't supposed to write this class because of my finger." He showed it to her. "She said it needed time to completely heal."

"Next time, watch for shields," she reminded him. "We've decided not to take points off you for the incident earlier. The teachers mostly think that you did what was necessary to stop that girl from getting hurt."

"Oh, no, ma'am, I did it so Professor Black wouldn't be hurt," he told her. "He didn't have his wand on him."

"I know." She smiled at the brightly colored head that was peeking out of the nest. "Your father will be down later," she told the bird. "I'll leave you to talk to your children," she told the Weasleys then left them alone.

"My, things are quite different this year," Mrs. Weasley said, looking at her son. "I'm proud of you," she told him, kissing him on the cheek.

***

Xander allowed himself to be led to his room, his sight still wasn't back to right and he was having problems with things like stairs. He flopped onto his bed, watching the bright colored blur land above him on the headboard. "Back again?" he teased, reaching up to scratch the soft feathers. Well, the usually soft feathers. "What's wrong, Murphy? You don't feel right." He sat up carefully and checked the feathers he had been feeling. "Oh, you're shedding," he said as a few of them came off in his hand. "Not good, Murph." He got cooed at. "What?"

"They should probably be lining the nest," Hermione said from the doorway. "How do you feel?" she asked as she walked in and closed the door.

"Better," he admitted. "They found a way to make the bruises hurt less." He handed over the feathers. "Here, put these down in the nest for him."

"Of course." She tucked them into a pocket and sat at his desk. "Xander, we're all very worried about your vision. How will you teach if you can't see."

"It's getting better," he told her, sounding almost defensive. "The dark ring's gone. Everything's still really fuzzy though."

"Maybe you should get your eyes examined. Many of us do wear glasses you know."

"I know," he said, pulling Murphy down to groom him some more. "It's getting better."

"All right." She shifted some. "When do you think you'll be able to come back?"

"Not this week, but I'll at least be able to go watch next week."

"Good," she said cheerfully. "The class really does need to see you again. They're all miserable. Even Professors Lupin and Black are miserable."

"Why?"

"Because we are," she said reasonably. "We're all very greatly moping and ready to kill a few of the other students." She leaned closer. "Even Harry almost went after one. That one girl, Becca, the one that's their studious one. He nearly cursed her yesterday when she started mouthing off to Lupin."

"Hmm," Xander said, continuing to pet his bird. "I'll be down again in a few days," he told her. "And Hermione, did they bring up my bag?"

"The House Elves confiscated it last night," she told him, standing up. "They'll bring it back tonight. Why?"

"Because I can't feel my wand under my pillow and I know I didn't pack it."

Hermione looked around the bed and frowned. "I don't see it either. Shall I ask someone?"

"No, I'll do that," Xander told her. "Thanks. Don't worry about people like Becca, Tanya, and Anthony. They'll get what they deserve from someone, preferably someone who won't get detention over it." She gave him a hug and left. "So, Murphy," he said, putting another handful of feathers down beside him. "Shouldn't you be giving those to your woman and not me, old guy?"

Murphy nipped Xander on the nose and then sang at him, making him feel better, and sleepy. He was in charge of his father now and *no* one was going to bother him that he didn't like.

***

McGonagall smiled as Xander walked into the Great Hall, stopping some of the conversation. She helped him to his chair, giving him a fond pat on the arm. "How are you tonight, Xander?"

"Better, but I think someone was in my room while I was gone," he said with a little shrug. It still hurt to move too much.

"What makes you think that?"

"Well, you know that piece of *wood* I was working with?" She frowned but nodded. "I can't find it and I didn't bring it with me."

"Oh, no," she sighed. "All right, we'll deal with that problem if it comes up." She patted him on the hand again. "How are you feeling really?"

"My sight's still a little off, really fuzzy mostly, but otherwise I'm not as sore. I plan on going and scaring my students personally tomorrow by standing there while they do their exercise."

"Maybe give them a few new war stories?" Dumbledore asked as he joined them. "How are you this evening?"

"Better," Xander told him. "Did Murphy go give all those feathers to her?"

"No, but the House Elves did gather them off your bed and bring them to me so I did," Dumbledore said, giving him a fond look. "Are you ready to return to classes?"

"Partially," Xander admitted. "I'm not ready to do anything more physical than lecture. I think I'm going to go bug Giles for more stuff. I heard him moving around in his room earlier."

"He's not back yet," McGonagall said.

"But someone was in there you say?" Dumbledore asked. "You're sure?"

"Yeah, pretty sure. Someone slammed his closet door, which makes my door rattle."

"Oh, my," he said. He looked at McGonagall. "Have there been any other strange occurrences on your floor?"

"Just the missing piece of wood I was *working* with," Xander told him. "I can't find it anywhere. Hermione even looked when she came up to gossip last night."

"I see." Dumbledore looked across the students. "All right, we'll see what can be found. Murphy is back at the nest, which is up in my room again. We felt safer with it up there instead of moving it around all the time. Fawkes was getting quite upset each time we moved it." He smiled as their female couple walked in. "Hello, girls, back already?"

"Yes, sir," Willow said, grinning at Xander, "and I have to report that the situation is fully handled now. There's no more threat from anything that needed fixing still." She walked up onto the table and hugged her best friend ever. "Oz said to give you that because you lived. And this," she said, pulling a piece of paper out of her pocket and stuffing it into his. "Look at that later." He nodded, giving her a smile, but she could see that he wasn't focusing on her. "Still off?"

"Still off," he agreed. "Just fuzzy though. Less double images and more of one really fuzzy one."

"Good," she said happily, sitting next to him, Tara siting next to her. "That means that you're getting better."

"Better is good," Tara said, giving him a smile too. "At least you're out of the infirmary."

"Too true," Xander told her, reaching over to touch her too. "You're really okay?"

"I'm fine," she agreed. "We're both glad you're better." She touched his hand too, joining theirs with Willow's. "Giles will be back in a few hours. He needed to talk to Wesley."

"Good," Dumbledore said firmly. "It's high time he got back to normal and started his teaching again." Everyone looked at him. "It's the only way we'll ever get through this year."

"I've already covered everything Giles wanted me to cover," Xander told him.

"I know," the Headmaster told him. "That doesn't mean everyone else has though." He looked out the window, frowning. "I'll be back, please excuse me," he said, getting up and walking out.

Willow looked out the window. "Cars," she said grimly. "Probably not good news."

"It will be fine," McGonagall said complacently. "Professor Dumbledore can take care of whatever comes our way. Xander, did George give you the present?"

"Yup, but I haven't opened it yet. What did the card say?"

"It said 'this one should fit you better. Bring it back if it doesn't'," she told him.

"Okay. Should I go do that now?"

"Maybe," Willow said, letting go of his hand and helping him up. "Need help upstairs?"

"No, I've memorized the way."

"The stairs were changing when we came in," Willow told him.

"Okay, you can help me then." He took her arm, letting her lead him up to his room. She was right, the stairs had changed themselves again. He sat down at his desk, opening the nicely wrapped present carefully. Inside the small box was a wand. "Oak?" he asked, swishing it around. A trail of sparkles followed his hand.

Someone tapped on the door. "Xander, I think we need to speak to you," Dumbledore said.

Xander smiled at Willow. "Coming," he called. He grabbed one of his more formal robes and put it on instead of the black one he was wearing, sliding the wand into his pocket. "I'll be back," he promised her. "Yes, Headmaster?" he asked as he opened the door. "Oh, more people," he said, grimacing. "Is there something wrong? I was just reminded to come up and open the late present I got." He smiled at Willow's back as she slid out between them and went back to the Great Hall. "Did you need to see me officially about what happened while I was fighting?"

"No, boy, we have other things to talk to you about," one of the three men in the hallway said. "Come with us."

Xander closed his door behind him and followed them down, gripping the railings of the stairs tightly so he wouldn't fall. "Yes?" he asked once they were locked in a classroom. "And for the record, who are you?"

"These are two of the top people in the Ministry, Xander," Dumbledore said calmly, "and Becca's father."

"Oh, I know her. She's been helping the bad kids this term." Her father snorted. "Maybe you should ask your daughter about attacking two of the other teachers."

"We're not here for that right now," one of the Ministry people said. "We were informed that you were doing magic with a wand, boy."

"I have a name," Xander said calmly. "And yes, I can do a little." He heard a scratching and pitiful noise and walked carefully back to the door, letting his phoenix in. "Hey, Murphy. Did Fawkes send you away again?" His bird nuzzled his neck and chirped at Dumbledore. "As you can see," he said as he closed the door, "I'm not a normal muggle." He looked at Dumbledore. "You can tell them if you want."

"Xander is gryphon born," Dumbledore told them all.

"Which means he's violent," Becca's father shouted. "I've heard about some of the things he's said to my daughter."

"Your daughter aided another student in trying to attack Professor Lupin over her grades," Xander told him. "And I only yelled at them so far. What she and her little group have done is inexcusable. Not only to me and I'm not the only one who yelled at them."

"Harris, we'd like to test you if we may," one of the Ministry men said reasonably.

"I can do a *little* magic," Xander told him. "Mostly of the illusionary and lock picking sort."

"Which is perfectly in line with his heritage," Dumbledore said proudly. "Xander, was that a wand in the box?"

"Yup, which is a very good thing considering someone stole my other one." He looked in the direction of Becca's father. "Would you like to go search her things for me?"

"We'll be doing a full-scale search tonight," Dumbledore said quietly. "Can you see well enough to guide yourself?"

"I can try," Xander said, pulling the new wand out of his pocket. "Only opened this one tonight," he explained.

"What's wrong with his vision?" Becca's father demanded.

"I went to help a friend over the holiday break," Xander told him. "I've been fighting with the Slayer ever since tenth grade, so about six years now." He lost his smile. "Over the break, she had to take on a small vampire army, a legion actually. I was the bait because the new leader was an ex-girlfriend of mine."

"He's only out of the infirmary and should still be resting," Dumbledore told them all.

"You're *that* boy?" the first Ministry man asked hotly. "And you let him teach students?"

"I teach in the Defense Against Dark Arts, Paranormal Side, sir. My students are the best trained there are, with a few exceptions. They've faced down their fears in a foggy maze, where nothing could honestly hurt them, and came out of it. They'll all live if they encounter anything that I've taught them, or that Professors Lupin, Black, or Giles have taught them."

"He's one of the most engaging teachers we have," a female voice said from the doorway. "Professor, sir, there's an owl here for you and Professor McGonagall said I should come get you."

"Thank you," he said kindly. "I'll be back in a moment. Xander, do sit before you fall over." He walked out.

"Stacy, right?" Xander asked. She nodded, looking excited. "I do believe these men might want to know what you've been studying in my classes."

"Well," she said, coming in and shutting the door. "I'm only a second year so I didn't have to go through the maze, I heard him mention that," she said with a light blush. "I did have to participate in the other practical exercises, which ran from identification to actually facing something down." She bounced a little. "He's got a good way of getting information across. I'm not a great student, but I'm passing his classes with flying colors. He's even helped Professor Lupin to teach his class. We're cross-training right now."

"I had no idea these two were so intertwined," the second Ministry man said thoughtfully. "Can you run and get your notes?"

"Sir, that's about sixty parchments, just from Professor Harris' class, most of which are at the bottom of my trunk because I was cleaning my part of the room." She blushed again. "You could try asking Ms. Granger. She's very well organized and would probably be able to get them all right away."

"She's put them in a binder," Xander told her. "Very organized. If you want, she can go and get Hermione."

"No, that's not necessary," the second Ministry man said, pointing at the desk. "Wouldn't you rather sit?"

"I'd rather stand and face my enemies," Xander said calmly. "Now, about this test? Stacy, go back to dinner," he told her. She left quickly, shutting the door. "What can I do for you? I haven't had much time to study, just a few weeks out of the whole term so far."

"Do an illusion," the first Ministry man said. He watched as Xander said the quiet incantation, but nothing happened. "Try it again," he said patiently.

Xander focused on the wand, noticing it starting to feel warm in his hand. His bird cooed at him, trying to keep him calm. He started the movement again, focusing totally on it.

"I must object," Madam Pomfrey said as she walked in. "Professor Harris should still be in bed, not having to ...." She broke off when she saw the very real vision of a bookcase where Xander had stood. "Well, that's good," she said finally.

The first Ministry man walked around him, looking the illusion over. "You said he's to be in bed?"

"He's *supposed* to be in bed," she said firmly. "He's still recovering from a head injury and multiple other injuries. Stop it now, Xander, or you'll end up on the floor again." The bookcase disappeared and Xander stood there, sweating and swaying. "That's enough," she said, taking hold of him. "Sit, right this instant." She sat him behind the desk, checking him over. "Where did Professor Dumbledore go?"

"He got an emergency owl," the second Ministry official said, looking at his cohort. "Well, I'd say he's got a gift at least."

"Not much of one," Xander admitted. "More than anything, I depend on my physical fighting skills. That's what I've been using my whole life." He looked up at the nurse. "Could you please go get his daughter for him? I'm sure he'd like to talk to her."

"Professor Dumbledore said not to," Professor McGonagall said from the doorway. "Are you all right?"

"He's got the skills in line with his heritage," the first Ministry official told her. "We have no doubt of that now."

"Is that a problem?" Xander asked.

"Gryphons were known for their violent tendencies," Becca's father sniffed. "He shouldn't be allowed to teach."

"They're more known for being practical jokers," Xander said dryly. "The only time they got violent was when someone harmed their circle, what they considered their friends and family." He shrugged. "I'll admit to liking to prank people, and I'm getting better at it. I can also say that I haven't gotten violent yet. Cold, cruel, and rough on the students when they screwed up so royally, but not violent. A Weasley got violent," he said with good humor. "Punched one of your daughter's friends very hard, but he was protecting a teacher that was wandless."

Becca's father glared at him. "How would you know?" he asked coldly.

"Because we've told him about it," McGonagall said calmly. "Does he need to go back to the infirmary?"

"No, he should be fine after eating something," the nurse told her. "Would you mind?"

"No, not at all," McGonagall said, tapping her wand on the desk and creating a plate of sandwiches. "I hope ham is acceptable?"

"It's great," Xander said, giving her a hug, and nearly knocking the plate off the desk. "Thank you."

"You're welcome; eat, Xander. You'll need your strength if you're going to go surprise people tomorrow." She frowned at the Ministry officials. "Should I make something for you also?" she offered.

"No, thank you. We ate before we came." The second one smiled at her. "Professor Harris has leveled a complaint against a few of the students, attacking teachers?"

"We have taken this matter up a few times," McGonagall agreed. "We've done what we can, but most of them are power-hungry and are very vicious in their attacks. The one on Professor Black, where one of the Weasley boys helped the teacher, was an unprovoked one. He had just given out tests on the field before an exercise and turned his back. She growled at him and said he shouldn't have flunked her, and went for him. She got a bloodied nose for her troubles." She smiled down at Xander. "His methods are rather unusual, but while the students were doing well and not trying to do such things as attacking teachers, he was very good to them. As soon as the attacks started, he started giving extra homework papers, became a bit more cold to the students, and decided that the upperclassmen needed to know more about what it was like to fight the darkside all the time." She looked back at them. "Since he was injured, his students have mostly been very well behaved again, except for those few. Even one of the Slytherin boys that had been giving everyone problems at the beginning of school stopped misbehaving where he could be caught and reprimanded."

Becca's father glared at her. "Are you saying my daughter's power-hungry?"

"Not really."

"See, he's lying!"

"But she's the strength behind the power. She's their knowledge source." She sat on the edge of the desk. "Eat, Xander, before you have to go back up to the infirmary and I have to call Arthur to come lecture you."

"Why would you call Mr. Weasley instead of Mrs. Weasley?" Xander asked, blindly searching for a sandwich and picking it up. He looked up at the nurse and motioned her down, whispering in her ear. "And I'm not going back up there," he told her when she stepped back. "Murphy hates it." He reached up and scratched his sleeping bird's chest. "Can you do something about his shedding?"

"I'll have Hagrid look at him tomorrow," the nurse said, giving him a frustrated look. "After this, you go *right* to bed, young man."

"Yes, ma'am," he said meekly.

McGonagall snorted. "I see you've decided to behave."

"No, the single spell set him back a few days progress," the nurse said, glaring at the Ministry officials. "You should have waited."

"We had no idea he was recently injured," the first Ministry official said, pulling something out of his pocket. "We received this in a letter recently, with a note saying that she had proof that a muggle was using magic."

"I'm not the average muggle," Xander said between bites. "This is really good, thanks."

"You're welcome," McGonagall said, patting him on the head. "Was there anything else you needed to talk to him about?"

"Just to ask if he's done any research on the subject," the second Ministry official noted.

"I've done all I can," Xander told him, putting down the last piece of his dinner. "Every book I could find I've read through."

"I was talking about talking to one, young man," he said gently.

"Some gryphons still exist?" Xander asked excitedly.

"A few," the first official said grudgingly. "Three or so but they're all very old. They won't usually talk to any humans."

"But I might be able to get an audience?" Xander asked.

"I'm not sure, but you could try," the first official agreed. "You'd probably have better luck than most anyone." He smiled as Dumbledore walked back in. "I think we've solved this to our satisfaction."

"Wait, where are they?" Xander asked.

"In a portal in Stonehenge," Dumbledore told him. "I was going to give you a map at the end of the year and let you go search them out." He looked at the Ministry officials. "It's all settled?"

"Yes, we consider him a proper teacher," the second one said. "No worse than a light ability wizard or witch really." He pointed at the wand. "We've returned that also."

"Good," Dumbledore said pleasantly. "May I ask, which one of the students you're about to see sent it to you?" He looked at Becca's father. "Did she say she had stolen it in her note to you?"

"What? My daughter does not do these things," he fumed. "You obviously have something against my daughter. I should withdraw her."

"She's up in my office awaiting the search of her room," Dumbledore said. "Would you like to come up and wait also?" He smiled at the nurse. "Get him back to bed. Oh, and Xander, Giles crashed your broom in town. He'll be up tomorrow."

"Shoot," Xander sighed. "I wanted to go flying soon."

"He can operate a broom?" the second Ministry official asked.

"Very well," Dumbledore agreed. "He can't start one but once he's on it, it'll go very well. With some training and practice, he might make a passable Quidditch player." He saw his fellow teacher's shocked look. "If we started a team for the teachers, my dear Professor McGonagall." He led everyone that needed to go up to his office, leaving Xander with the nurse and his dinner.

"Finish this bit, Xander, and I'll help you up to your room." She watched as he quickly ate the last two bites and helped him up, grabbing the second wand to take with them. "I'm amazed Murphy can stay on you like that."

"I'm amazed you haven't seen the blood yet," Xander said dryly. "He's got his talons inches into my shoulder."

"I'll look at it once you're upstairs, dear. Really, you young men are always getting hurt."

He laughed. "I suppose so," he agreed.

***

"I guess I'm a little late for class," Xander said as he walked into their practice room. He smiled at his students' shocked look. "What? You expected me to not come in ever again?"

"But...but you're supposed to be on bed rest," Harry told him.

"I know. I'm just observing today," he told them. "And handing out these." He pulled a pile of papers out of the bag he wore. "Giles was good enough to help Tara grade these for you." A few students hurried forward and grabbed the papers, handing them back to their owners for him. "Thank you, guys." He leaned against Lupin's warm side. "Hi. By the way, the grudge is over with." Everyone cheered. "And you still have to pass this practical and everything else we send your way."

"We'll do our best," Ron told him. "Did you get to see the twins?" he asked as he walked closer. "They've added a few new things to the store."

"No, I haven't gotten a chance to see much," Xander told him. "I'm back to fuzzy vision again so I'm not allowed to go flying, even if I had a new broomstick." He sighed. "I've really got to get Giles trained on one of those things. It's a very good weapon when you're fighting, staying above their heads."

Ron smiled up at him. "Just wait 'til you see it. George took this canister thing from you and they've figured out how to mass market them as a revenge toy," he said proudly.

"Seems fair," Xander told him, "I used their stuff to build it and I took plenty of their stuff to try out. Did they take them both?"

"No. George said he left you one, but that he disarmed it, whatever that means."

"It means he took the wires off," Professor Black said as he walked over to them. "Are we still doing this?"

"Yup, and I'm going to stand here and watch like the good boy I pretend to be," Xander said sweetly. All the students laughed and lined up for the exercise, which was an identification one. "I'm so happy," he told Ron and the other teachers, wiping a fake tear out of his eye. "They're all growing up so *fast*."

Everyone laughed and Ron went back to take his place in line.

Advanced Learning Problems.

Part 1

Xander looked up as his classroom door was knocked on. "Enter!" He went back to looking at the lists of sixth years who had signed up to talk to him. They had to decide how to narrow down their focuses next year, what classes to take to push them toward their intended careers. He had a few that were going to be in a special class in the Defense Against the Dark Arts program, and some that were going to be spending more time with Giles. And then there were the ones that he was going to encourage to pick other specialities because they weren't really suited to fighting the dark side. They had enough information if they needed it, but weren't going to be doing it as a career. He looked over as the door opened. "Hey, Ron. Come sit." He moved his feet off the chair. "Figured out anything yet?"

Ron shrugged. "Not really. Hermione suggested that I take the special research class that Professor Giles is giving." He glanced around. "What about your seventh years?"

"Well, we're doing a battle class. Physical fighting and dueling will be covered." Xander smiled at him. "Interested?"

Ron smiled slightly. "Is that a subtle way of suggesting that I take it?"

"Um, yeah," Xander told him. He leaned closer. "I know it's not going to be your life, but it's something that you're good at. And let's face it, you're already a target because you're best friends with Harry." He sat back. "Actually, I had Professor Lupin hold a few seats back for you three because I expected you to be in there," he admitted.

Ron grinned. "Sure. Beats potions any day." He stood up. "What did you guys do when it was time to figure this stuff out?"

"My high school had guidance counselors that tried to get you into different things and we had a career fair." Ron looked clueless. "A bunch of companies come in and put up booths so you can get information on what they do. You can interview right then and everything."

"Oh. That's cool." He grinned. "So, yours, research, and what?"

Xander shrugged. "What do you like to do? Besides fly?" he added with a grin.

"I don't know." Ron sat down again. "I want to do *something* but I refuse to work for the Ministry. I'd rather eat slugs again." Xander nodded. "I like what Charlie and Bill do, but I don't think it's me. Their stories put me to sleep."

Xander leaned closer. "The reason for the research class was so you could do some in-depth research about an area that you like, something that will make you happy enough to do it for a long time. Use it to look up various careers." He sat back. "How about a broom-maker?"

"That would be wicked," Ron breathed. "Building and testing would be absolutely wicked." He gave his teacher a brilliant smile. "Think I could?"

"I think you could probably do it really well, all you have to do is find out about it. Make that your first paper in research, or over the summer write them a letter and ask them. Most companies will respond to those."

"Cool." He hopped up. "Thanks, Xander. I'll sign up for the battle class." He closed the door.

Xander smiled. "One down." He went back to making notations on his list of students, who he wanted and who he wanted to pass over to Giles, and who he wanted to go away.

***

Harry Potter walked into Xander's classroom, stopping when he saw the other teachers sitting in there. "Am I interrupting?"

"Nope." Xander pointed at the chair. "We were just talking about you. Tara found something interesting."

Tara looked at Harry. "Did you know that the national Quidditch team holds a camp twice a year? One's this summer." She handed over the forms she had been handed by someone watching the last game.

Willow grinned. "We know you'd like nothing better than to spend your whole life on a broom, so we thought you might like to take advantage of this camp and see if they'll give you your odds of playing for a pro team."

Harry looked shocked. "You think I can really go?"

"I think they're probably expecting you to go," Xander told him. "Teams do this sort of stuff so they can recruit or pass aside people that they want without spending a lot of time away from the team."

"It's also a nicer way of sending some less qualified players away without hurting their feelings because they realize that they can't keep up with the team," Tara pointed out.

"Look at this as a way of finding out if you're good enough to play for them," Xander advised. "Tell them that you want an honest opinion of your skills and if you're capable of playing on that level. I bet the coaches would welcome a straight-forward kid instead of one who's got dreams of the World Cup and being the MVP."

Harry smiled and tucked the papers carefully into his bag. "Thanks, guys, that was great of you." He stood up. "Am I supposed to take the battle class?" Everyone nodded. "Because you think I'm going to need it?" Everyone nodded again. "All right. I'll sign up for that." He left them alone.

Xander looked over at his friends. "That went well," he said, then he chuckled. "Think he'll make it?"

"Maybe. He plays well from what the guy watching in the stands said," Tara told him. The scout had watched Harry very closely at his last game, then had handed her the camp forms before leaving.

Lupin leaned into the classroom. "Xander, did you tell Harry and Ron that they had to take the class?"

"No, I suggested strongly."

"We're going to be full with a few more students."

Xander frowned. "I thought we agreed to add three chairs for them."

"We did, but Giles has sent sixteen kids through today. I'm going to have to start weeding soon."

Xander sighed. "Then we'll interview each one as to why," he suggested. "If we have to, we can add another section or something." He shrugged. "Teaching twenty-six is no different than thirteen."

Lupin smiled. "If you say so. Have you worked out the curriculum?" Xander nodded. "Even better. Dumbledore was looking for it."

"I put it on his desk yesterday," Willow told him. "Along with Giles' advanced class stuff and the one for the research class."

Lupin beamed. "Thank you, dear." He left them alone.

Willow looked down at Xander; she was sitting on one of the desks. "You're sure that's such a good idea?"

"With the bad guys at the door? Yup, very sure." He stood up. "I've only got two more kids and I don't think they're coming to me."

"Hermione went to Giles," Tara offered.

"Hey, then I'm really almost done. I've got a Malfoy to talk to next." He grimaced. "Wish me in one piece and all that good stuff." He gathered his things and walked out, heading to the Great Hall, which was where most of the Slytherins were gathered. Professor Snape had them in there to discuss what was going to happen next year and allow teachers unfettered access to them. He smiled at Snape as he walked in, nodding at the table. He got a nod in return. There were other teachers talking to students up and down the table so he probably wasn't the only one who didn't get them in the office. "Malfoy," he said as he sat across from him, shocking the students around them. "What? It's not like he came to me, Giles, Tara, or Willow, so I came to him." He smiled. "Go away." They shifted farther away. "You got put on my sign-up sheet," he said quietly. The boy had been readmitted last month without any official notice given to the teachers, he just seemed to show up one day. When everyone asked Dumbledore, he said he had his reasons and that they were important. So the boy had come back, but he had been a little bit different, a little more introspective, even a little nicer - though his mouth still got him in trouble. Being on probation until he graduated had apparently done something to ease the fighting between him and Harry's group, but not much.

Malfoy grimaced. "I don't know why I did that."

"Hey, that's cool. I had to check." He frowned at a student coming to sit next to them, making her sit farther down the table. "Did you need to talk?" He turned back to look at the boy.

Malfoy was almost sneering, but it didn't quite reach his eyes. "My father would kill me if he found out that I was taking your classes and was doing well in them."

"Point," Xander agreed, "but there's always something to learn, whichever side you're on." He stood up. "I'm gonna head out to fly. If you wanted to talk about the battles class, I'd be willing to tell you about it."

"Are you really teaching dueling?" a girl nearby asked. It was the one who worked well with Ron, Melissa.

Xander looked down at her and nodded. "Yup, sure am. Along with the more physical aspects of fighting. It's another multiple-teacher class. You'll get me, Lupin, Black, and Giles. Also, if you're not sure what you want to do when you graduate, Professor Giles is running a research class. No limit on the subject, but about two long papers a term. I'm recommending that to anyone who isn't quite sure of what they want to do."

She nodded. "Thank you, Professor. I'll think about that. My mother wants me to follow her, but it would probably be an easy class."

Xander smiled. "With Professor Giles grading the papers? You'll actually have to do the research, but it's self-paced so you can do it on a weekend if you know what you're doing." He looked down at Malfoy. "I would recommend you for the battle class, no matter which side you end up on. You're a decent fighter, and we all accept the fact that there's going to be at least one person in there who'll the others will be fighting against."

"So I'm your token bad boy?" he smirked.

Xander grinned. "No, that's me. You get to be the junior one." He waved at Snape and walked out. Black grabbed him and pulled him into an empty classroom. "What?"

"You talked Malfoy into taking it?"

Xander frowned. "The kid's got talent, and he's got skill, but I don't think he's got the stomach to do what everyone says his daddy does," he explained quietly. He stepped closer. "He's a prick, but I feel something in him. He might not become what his daddy wants."

"No, he might want to stay out of it," Malfoy said from the doorway. He closed the door. "I heard." He looked at Black. "He's right. My father's stories sicken me. I don't think I could ever *kill* anyone. Harm them," he said with a small smirk, "but never torture physically."

Black stared down at the kid. "Your father will have you killed if you don't join him."

Xander laid a hand on Black's arm. "There's always a cost to any decision. Figuring out whether or not you're willing to pay it is the biggest part of the process." Black looked at him. "There's been plenty of times I regretted my decision to help Buffy, but I couldn't back out. The price for that has been kinda high, but I figured I was willing to pay it to feel safer." He looked at Malfoy. "You've got to decide which turn your path is heading down. Are you going to be your father's clone or are you going to be something else?"

"It's that simple?"

Black nodded. "For now. There're harder ones later on." He smiled grimly. "You could even decide that you like He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named's ideas, but aren't willing to participate. That'll make you a target, but not as big of one as it would if you became an Auror."

"It's up to you to decide where you draw the line of pain," Xander told him. "That'll decide your career options." He looked at Black. "Why don't you guys do a career fair thingy?"

"Huh?"

"It's a muggle thing for seniors in high school. Businesses come in and talk to the students about what they do. They recruit and hire for after school, and get prospects if they need college graduates."

"Oh." Black shuddered. "That would not only be noisy, but chaotic. It would probably drive Dumbledore down into the dungeons to hide with Snape."

Malfoy smiled. "It's a good idea, especially for those who don't have a clue."

"Or a destiny," Xander agreed with a smile. "So, can we count you in? Without the smart-asses you usually bring with you?"

"You mean me and just me?" Both teachers nodded. "We'll see." Someone knocked on the door. "What?" he called imperiously.

"Quidditch practice," one of the beaters for the Slytherin team said as he poked his head in. He saw the two teachers and swallowed. "Is he in trouble?"

Black shook his head. "No, just talking to him about a class we'll be holding together."

"Warning him that if he took it, then he'd be taking it alone," Xander finished. "No followers, no kiss-asses, nothing like that."

The other boy choked. "Um, okay." He looked at Malfoy. "You coming?"

"In a moment." The door closed. He looked at the teachers. "You didn't say anything. Why?"

Xander chuckled. "Because I remember being your age and how important my rep was to everyone else." He patted the boy on the arm. "Decide by tomorrow. There're very few seats left." He and Black left him alone.

Malfoy scowled. He didn't like what they had said, but it was something to think about. He went to owl his father then headed for his last practice of the year. One more year of this and he would be free. His own man. Which was a slightly depressing, yet exhilarating thought.

***

Draco got back an answer the next morning.

//I received your message last night, and while it shocked me terribly, I do believe that it is a *useful* class to take if you so wish. I will not disagree with you on it, but I will be watching your behavior.//

A simple message for a complex decision. He looked up at the head table, frowning when he saw Professor Harris was missing. Not that he didn't occasionally miss breakfast, but Dumbledore was missing too. He stood up and walked up to where Professor Lupin was sitting. "Professor, is there still room open in your advanced class?" he asked quietly.

Lupin, who had been filled in last night by Black, nodded as he put down his fork. "There're two seats open for Slytherins. We figured you and that one who Ron works with would both be taking it." McGonagall looked at him in shock. "You're welcome to take it if you want."

Malfoy decided quickly and nodded. "Yes, please add my name. I know that Melissa would appreciate hearing that you wanted her, she's presently in a snit trying to decide." He looked at the empty chairs. "Was there a problem with the chicks?"

Lupin smiled. "No, the Headmaster thought he saw a crack this morning so he and Professor Harris are looking them over with Hagrid. We may have chicks by the end of the day." He picked back up his fork. "Was there anything else?"

Malfoy shook his head and walked back to his seat, settling back down to eat breakfast. One of the girls down a few seats stared at him. "What?" he snapped.

"You went and talked to *him*?"

Malfoy smiled coldly at her. "Yes, I did. I decided to take Professor Harris up on his challenge to do well in his advanced class." A few of the other Slytherins looked at him in shock. "It's a perfectly decent class. Learning how to duel better would only be to my advantage." He picked up his juice glass and took a sip. "Was there anything else?"

The girl swallowed. "Without your *friends*?"

Malfoy nodded. "That was the condition they set on it. There are only so many seats in the class for Slytherins so we have to individually prove ourselves. My father was not unpleased that I'm taking it." She went back to her breakfast.

Xander strode in, smiling around at everybody. "We have a chick!" he announced. The students all broke out in cheers. "Now we only have nine more to go!" That got a few laughs.

"What is it?" Willow called above the din.

"Boy, we think." He hopped up onto the stage to sit in his usual spot. "He's kinda slimy right now. Fawkes kicked me out."

"She just wanted her daddy," she soothed, patting his arm. "Any more cracks?"

"No."

"The books said it could take a few days for them all to hatch," Tara offered. Willow nodded in agreement.

Professor Snape walked up to them and took his seat. "What was it?" he asked as he picked some food out for himself.

"We think it's a boy. Nine more to go," Xander sighed. Snape looked at him. "It's kinda frustrating. I wanna know now."

Snape nodded. "Patience is something that someone your age has yet to acquire usually." He stared down Xander, making sure he knew it wasn't a taunt. He didn't want pranked again. The color changing candy hadn't been the worst, but he was still hearing about it in the halls. Xander grinned at him, showing that he wasn't pissed. "Is Dumbledore sitting up there with them?"

"And Hagrid. He's got this neat warming pad thing going on so Murphy can help take care of it too. Fawkes won't let him near the nest, but she'll let him take care of the new baby."

Snape barely smiled. "Fascinating." He took a bite of toast, looking down at his table. The students had all shifted away from Draco and were talking to each other, a very un-Slytherin thing to be doing - gossiping. "What happened?"

Lupin leaned closer. "Malfoy is taking the advanced class from us," he said quietly.

Snape nodded. "Most wise of him. It can only be a help to him." He looked at Xander. "Your doing?" Xander nodded. "I hadn't thought he did it on his own."

"He signed up to talk to me," Xander told him. Snape stared at him. "That's why I showed up. He didn't come to me."

Snape sighed. "Very well. Has he talked to his father?"

"He was clutching a letter when he asked permission to take it," Lupin told him. "I'm assuming his father knows."

"Good. That should cut down on some headaches." Snape nodded at the boy, who came over slowly. "Is this your wish?" he asked him.

Draco nodded. "Yes, sir. It can only help me."

Snape nodded. "Then I'll have your schedule done within an hour of leaving here. Come get it then." He finished his toast, clearly dismissing the student. Malfoy gathered his things and left the hall.

McGonagall looked over at them. "How many of yours are going to late registers, Professor Snape? We may need to make allowances if there's too many. Most of the advanced classes are nearly full."

He shook his head. "I gave my students a deadline of this afternoon. They should all manage it on time." He looked down at the Gryffindor table. "Yours?"

She smiled. "Only one or two I think. Though a few said that they needed to talk to you still." He nodded. "Later then?"

"I'll head down to my classroom after this." He looked over to where Xander was staring at them. "What?" he asked calmly.

"Just wondering what it would be like to actually take classes from you," he quipped, starting his breakfast.

"Difficult," Snape told him. "Very difficult and demanding. I am an exacting teacher."

"Cool. Thought so. You seem to have this whole 'dom' thing going." McGonagall snorted into her juice. "Sorry," he offered with a grin. "Oh, I gotta find a new broom so I'm leaving for a few hours this afternoon to go to the twins. My list is finished."

"Good," McGonagall told him, giving him a smile. "Say hello to the twins for me. I'm sure you'll have fun."

"Yup. Um, when do we get paid?"

She laughed. "It's upstairs in Dumbledore's safe. You only had to ask for it."

He shrugged. "I thought we got paid at the end of the year. Besides, I didn't really need it." He looked at Willow. "I shouldn't need anything from the reward money either."

She smiled. "Good. 'Cause it's going into the bank the next time we're near London."

Tara nodded. "We need to keep some of it for the summer."

He pouted at them. "But I'm traveling this summer. Dumbledore and those Ministry guys told me where some gryphons were so I'm going to go visit." Tara squealed and gave him a hug. "Thanks."

Willow smacked him on the arm. "Fine, leave us alone with Giles all summer."

"Hey, you could go back to Sunnydale," he reminded her. "Go check on the Hellmouth, go stake a vamp. Go shopping with Buffy if she goes back like she planned to." She giggled. "I'll catch up with you a week before school starts?"

"Deal," Willow said firmly. "We'll meet at the twins' store." She nodded at Tara, who nodded back.

Xander ate quickly, noticing that McGonagall was almost done. He followed her out of the Great Hall. "Can I get you to get me my paycheck?"

She patted him on the shoulder. "Only the Headmaster can do that. I'm sure he'll know that you need it." She headed for her classroom. "Go see if another has hatched yet."

He hurried up to the room where the phoenixes were staying, tapping gently on the door. "Is it safe?" he asked as he opened it. Fawkes shrieked at him so he quickly backed out again.

Dumbledore came out a minute later. "Sorry about that, she seems to be a bit peckish." His eyes twinkled. "I'll give you your pay later. I'll leave it on your bed?"

Xander nodded. "That's cool. I'm going to go broom shopping with George and Fred."

Dumbledore smiled at his obvious enthusiasm. "Remember to get something for long journeys. It's a few hours back to Stonehenge." He looked at the door. "We have a second crack, but no emergence yet."

Xander shrugged. "It'll happen when it does, as Professor Snape reminded me this morning."

Dumbledore laughed. "Indeed, it will. Did Harry sign up for your class?"

"And Ron and Hermione too. And Draco Malfoy."

"Hmm." Dumbledore smiled. "Good luck with the broom shopping. Will you be back tonight?" Xander nodded. "Then I look forward to seeing it." He headed back in, making sure that his phoenix didn't see Xander. She was really upset with him for whatever reason.

Xander headed down to his room, grabbing his cloak, then went down to work in his classroom on the final exams. A written one of all things.

***

Giles stopped Willow from leaving for her classroom, pulling her into a little nook in the hall behind the dias. "Willow, that's his reward money," he said quietly. She opened her mouth. "They gave it to him because it was his plan that captured that Pettigrew fellow. I ordered him to share it with you, not for you to keep it from him."

"But...but we helped," she protested.

"Yes, you did," he agreed with a smile, "and about a tenth of that was your reward for doing the truth spell, but it is *his* money, Willow, and you can't keep it from him." He patted her on the shoulder and walked away.

She pouted, crossing her arms over her chest. It wasn't fair, she had done just as much work, if not more, than Xander did during the battle. She shook herself and went back into the Great Hall, it was easier than wandering through the back hallways to get to her classroom. She decided not to tell Tara, it wasn't *that* important. Xander apparently didn't know and he hadn't complained about her keeping track of it yet. Yes, she would continue to keep track of it, she was better with money than Xander was. He wouldn't need it anyway, not with his summer plans.

***

Xander happily bounced into Quality Quidditch Supplies, following George to the racks. Both twins were in a very serious mood today, brooms were not to be joked about according to Fred. "Are these really expensive?" he asked quietly when he didn't see a price tag anywhere.

George looked at him. "All brooms are expensive, but necessary." He pointed at the one at eye level. "That's the basic model, good for daily traffic."

A female cleared their voice from behind them. "Getting him his first one?"

Xander grinned at her. "My second. My mentor crashed my first." He leaned closer to George. "He's making sure I'm getting something practical."

"Do you play Quidditch?" she asked, looking him over. "You have the body for it. Maybe a chaser?"

George shook his head, hopefully where Xander couldn't see it. "No, he doesn't."

"But I could learn," Xander put in. George groaned so he looked at him. "You don't think I could play?"

"No, I think you could, but I think it'd be wise to wait more than a year and a half after learning how to fly. You don't fly that often right now, Xander." Xander pouted at him. "Besides, you're kind of reckless," he said quietly. "You'd probably hit the dirt a few times, and as much as I enjoyed our talks in the infirmary after Christmas, I'd like not to do it again anytime soon."

Xander beamed at him. "Okay. But you'll have to teach me sometime."

"That's fine. Fred can do it," George told him.

Fred walked in and frowned at them. "I can do what?"

"Teach me how to play," Xander told him with a grin.

Fred gave him an appraising look. "If we could keep you focused on the game and not rolling around, you probably could play well enough." He pointed at the broom in the window. "When did that one come out?"

"Last week," she said happily. "A great broom, but not very fast. Good for family travel."

"I'm going to be traveling this summer and I'm a light user," Xander told her.

She pointed at the broom George had pointed out. "That's probably your best bet then." She measured him visually again. "But you're a bit big for that model." She frowned.

"Do you have any of the model two years ago?" George suggested. "They were sturdy enough for someone his size."

She shrugged. "I don't know. Let's go look." She led them to a small, dark corner. Tucked away was a rack of brooms and a tangle of them stuffed in a box. "These are all our used ones. I don't know exactly what's in there. The manager handles all that stuff."

Xander got down to look in the box first. He had a feeling. He went through some pretty scarce and bent brooms before finding one tucked back against the wall. No, that wasn't it. He handed it off to Fred, who was looking above him. He found the one he had been looking for, but it looked a little worse for the wear. He pulled it out and showed it off. "How about this one?"

George held it up to look at in better light, frowning when he saw how the tail stuck out. He looked at the brand-name, Nimbus, and his eyes widened. "Whoever did this should be shot," he said, passing it to Fred. He then took the broom Fred had been holding and looked it over, then tossed it back. "Not even suitable for flying anymore."

Fred looked at the broom, then shrugged and handed it back to Xander. "Try it?" he suggested.

"Can I?"

The saleswoman nodded. "We have a special area in the back. Right this way." She took the broom to look at. "A Nimbus, in there?"

"A recent Nimbus in there," George corrected. "In really bad shape." He watched as Xander climbed onto it, frowning when it wouldn't start. "What's wrong?"

"It feels wrong," Xander told him. He climbed off and looked it over, then pulled something off the handle, handing it to the saleswoman. "Splinters," he explained, then tried it again. The broom went up and hovered, but it wouldn't go very far off the ground.

"That's partially this room," she said quickly. "Usually you can go about a foot higher."

Xander started to ease it down and the broom did something funny. As soon as he tilted it down, it moved up. He frowned and tried again, but he went higher. He tried to turn left and it went right. "Wow, it's a wonky one," he said happily.

"Xander, land," George called. He walked over and looked at the broom. "I think it's been enchanted."

"But I like it," Xander told him. "It fits my personality," he explained when everyone looked at him strangely.

"It does," Fred agreed with a smile. "But it's still dangerous."

Xander's smile turned a little naughty. "Only if you don't know that it does that."

George laughed. "Very true." He handed it back to the saleswoman. "Any idea if the spell can be taken off?"

She examined it carefully in the bright light, then shrugged. "I don't know. I can't even tell that there's a spell on it." She handed it back. "I'll give it to you at half the sticker price because of the defect."

Xander looked at the small sticker, going a little pale. "Brooms are *really* expensive," he complained.

George snickered but patted him on the back. "We can go look at the others if you like."

"But this one drew me to it," he complained.

Fred took the broom and looked it over. He took care of both their brooms when there was something seriously wrong with them. "The spell's not a spell. Someone did the original wrong." He looked at the sticker. "That's still outrageous for a used and wonky broom," he told the saleswoman. He looked at Xander. "You can get one a single generation used for that price."

Xander looked at George, who sighed and handed him the broom. "At least look for something more useable," he suggested, leading Xander back to the used section. They met another man there, but he was searching through the upper shelves.

The saleswoman smiled at them all. "The higher you go, the more pricey they are." Xander looked at her. "What?"

"Then the new ones must cost more than a house," he told her. She shrugged.

"It's all right," George said quietly. "Let's look." He pulled out a few more of the used brooms to look at, showing them to Xander. Finally, he found one that he liked. He handed it over with a smile. "The generation before Harry's," he told him. "A Firebolt."

Xander took it back to the room and got onto it, but it shuddered fiercely as it started to rise. "Um, I think not," he said as he landed. The broom spat. "How rude!"

George snickered and Fred turned so he couldn't be seen laughing. The saleswoman gave him a smile. "Well, you wanted used."

Xander handed that one back and went out to look for himself. He found one on the uppermost shelf and pulled it down, nearly braining Fred with the one next to it. He looked that one over, then gave it to the twins. They examined it in fine detail, then smiled and nodded in unison. He went back and tried it, not only getting up but getting up fast. He zoomed around the room for a few minutes, then landed, smiling at them. "I like this one."

"So, which one will it be?"

Xander climbed off and looked at the sticker. And winced. It was almost as much as his whole paycheck for the year. He looked at her and she shook her head. "You're sure you can't come down any?"

"You'd have to talk to the manager and he's out today."

The other man looked at the sticker on his and winced. "These are rather high."

She looked at his, having stickered it this morning. "That's not right." She took it into the back room and came out with the correct sticker. "Someone switched them." She took Xander's broom and went back to look at that sticker, coming back shaking her head. "That one's the right price, I'm sorry."

"How much?" George asked, nearly afraid to from the expression on Xander's face.

"One seventy," Xander told him.

"Ridiculous," Fred snorted. "For that?" He looked at her. She shrugged. "Where is the manager?"

"Somewhere else," she told him. "I don't keep track of him when he's not here."

"Is there anyway to call and check on the price?" George asked. "I didn't spend that much on my new broom."

She looked at him. "Where did you buy it?"

"Here."

She smiled. "Really? That's good to hear." She looked at Xander. "I really can't mark it down any, sir."

"Professor," Xander corrected. She stared at him. "I teach at Hogwarts." She continued to stare at him.

"He does," Fred said tiredly. "Paranormal classifications."

"And the fighting class next year," Xander told him. George looked at him. "With the others," he sighed. "Not alone."

"Thank you," George said, looking up slightly. He couldn't see Xander teaching twenty kids how to fight without ending up getting hurt again. He was tired of Xander being hurt. He was much less fun when he was sore.

Xander snorted. "I'm a good teacher. I even helped that one Slytherin kid pass when he got desperate because his father was going to kill him. Possibly literally."

The saleswoman laughed. "What house were you sorted into?"

He shook his head. "I wasn't. Didn't go there myself." He looked her over. "You didn't notice the accent saying I was American?"

She rolled her eyes. "I was trying to ignore it." She pointed at the broom. "Please hurry up with your decision. We close in an hour." She walked back out into the main store.

"Guys?" Xander asked.

Fred shook his head. "You can find one at a better price."

George smiled. "You could even borrow Fred's if you're careful." Fred glared at him. "No?"

"No. If you want, he can borrow yours."

George frowned at him. "Xander's very careful."

"I saw him playing with Murphy last week," Fred told him. "He nearly scraped the ground twice." George winced. "That's not counting the time he nearly crashed into a pitch or the one where he lost control."

"I didn't lose control," Xander argued. "Murphy was starting to fly off so I did something to get his attention. Fawkes thought it was wonderful."

George shook his head. "He can't find another one before he leaves," he reminded his brother. "There's only three days left." He looked at Xander. "Why did you wait this long?"

"Because I thought we got paid at the end of the year."

"Reward money?"

"Willow," Xander said simply, that explained it all. Both twins nodded, then shook their heads. "How much was the wonky one again?"

"No, Xander," George told him. "I won't allow you to buy a damaged broom. No matter how fun it seems to you." He frowned at his friend. Xander sighed and nodded, slumping a little. So he walked over and hugged him, enjoying not getting pushed away. "We can't fix that spell, it has to be done at the company, and they're not nice about it usually."

"This sucks," Xander told them.

"Well, the sign did say 'under new management'," Fred reminded them. "Get it, your trip shouldn't cost that much."

George leaned over to whisper in his brother's ear. "That only leaves him ten galleons for the entire summer."

Fred shrugged. "It can't be helped." He looked at the dejected Xander. "We'll talk to Willow if you want," he offered. "Make her see reason."

Xander shook his head. "No, it won't help any." He walked out and put the broom on the counter. "Fine, I'll take it, but I want to protest this price," he said grimly. He paid her most of his yearly salary and took the broom outside. He looked down at the sticker, then glared back at her. She came running out, followed by George. "It changed," he told her, pointing at the sticker.

She shrugged. "I don't know why."

Fred glared at her, matched by George. "You fiddled with it," he accused. She backed away from them.

"Our father works in the Ministry," George told her. "He will be investigating."

"Here now, what's going on?" a deep voice said from behind them. He smiled at Xander, noticing his robes. "Professor?" he asked. Xander nodded. "Of what, sir?"

"Paranormal classifications and fighting," Xander told him. "Are you something like a cop?" The man nodded so he showed him the sticker on his broom. "That changed from one seventy as soon as I stepped outside."

The man took the broom back inside then stepped outside again. "You're right, it did." He glared at the saleswoman. "I'd fix it," he told her. "He's gryphon-born." He handed the broom back with a smile. "Please don't hurt her. The new owner of the place probably did it. I'm sure they'll be out of business soon enough." He clapped Xander on the back. "You know, son, if I had any way of proving what you did to the joke shop at Hogsmeade, you'd be in trouble right now."

"I didn't do anything," Xander told him with his best innocent look. "Why would I need to do something to the other joke shop?" The cop gave a pointed look at the twins and Xander shrugged. "It's not my fault if something of theirs started to bother them," he explained. "I didn't have anything to do with that."

"And I suppose you don't know anything about the supposed haunting either?" the cop asked amiably. Xander shook his head. "Hmm. Just watch yourself. Or you'll be in very deep trouble, Professor." He tipped his hat to the twins. "My boy loved what you did to that chocolate frog to make him turn green. Cheered all day about being green actually." He walked on as soon as the saleswoman came back out with part of Xander's money.

"Here," she said coldly. "Take it and go."

Xander look at her, then took his money. "I didn't say a thing," he told her calmly. "And I wasn't going to do more than report it. I can make plenty of people miserable just by making sure the law is upheld." He walked away, heading for the opening to the alley.

"Freak!" she yelled after him. Xander flipped her off.

George and Fred hurried to catch up to him, stopping him. "Why did the ministry official say that?" Fred asked.

Xander shrugged. "I don't know. I didn't have a thing to do with that haunting." George punched him on the arm. "Not a clue, guys. He was probably trying to warn her about trouble if she screwed me." He sighed. "It's happened a few times. Ignore it, I am." He put his broom over his shoulder. "Want to go back or did you guys need something?"

"Actually, I needed a book," Fred told him. "Wait here." He jogged back to Flourish and Blotts, going to get the book he had on order.

Xander leaned against the wall, looking at one of his best friends. "It doesn't make a difference, right?"

George punched him on the arm again. "We've known almost as long as you have and it hasn't yet. She's just a bigot, the same as every other one who doesn't like someone because of their heritage." He leaned a little against Xander's side. "Want to go for a fly when you get back?" he asked quietly. "Just a casual fly around?"

"Sure," Xander said, starting to look happier. He noticed someone coming toward them and nudged George. "Stand up," he whispered. The other man stood up and looked around, glaring at the man staring at them. "What?" Xander asked. "You try buying a broom from the crooked shop. I'm tired." The man hurried on.

Fred came back carrying a small wrapped parcel and watched the people stare at his brother and friend. It was time to go. Now he understood why some wizards and witches preferred not to come here unless it was necessary. Diagon used to be such a free place, but maybe it was because they had been children back then. He took Xander's other side, and his broom, and walked them to the public floo fireplaces. Back to the shop they went, which was being manned by Ginny for some reason. "Why are you here?" Fred asked when he got out.

"Mom said so," she said, pointing upstairs. "She's making your beds for you." She smiled at Xander and his new broom. "Is that it?"

Xander let her see it. "It is. Still really expensive." He was still frowning when Mrs. Weasley walked down the stairs. "Hi, mom," he said, waving, leaning against the counter.

She walked over and gave him a hug. "What happened?" she asked.

"Broom shopping and the new owners in Diagon are thieves," George told her. "Wanted a hundred-seventy galleons for that."

Mrs. Weasley took the broom to look over. She didn't know much about them, but she had learned some in the Quidditch-crazy household. "It looks fine."

"It's three years old, mum," Fred told her. She hissed.

George frowned even more. "Then we got outside and the sticker changed to a hundred."

"That's ridiculous," Ginny complained. "A broom that old can't be worth more than sixty."

"That's about what we expected to pay too," Fred told her, ruffling her hair. "When did you cut the mop?"

"Padma helped me. It's almost like Professor Maclay's," she said happily. "Do you think it's cute?" She fluffed it back out.

George tipped his head to the left and Fred to the right, then they shook their head. "Too short," they said together.

"You're nearly bald," George added.

"How do you expect to get a boyfriend that we can bug the crap out of with hair that short?" Fred told her.

Xander chuckled. "I think it's very cute. But you'd look better if the ends curled a little bit." He smiled at his friends. "Short hair is in according to the fashion magazines. Even the one Willow had for witches said so."

"What were you doing reading fashion magazines?" Ginny asked him, looking stunned. He was that cool?

He noogied her. "I was looking for a present for Willow's birthday. It had all the ads she had 'ooh'ed over for the last few weeks."

"What did you get her?"

"Nothing yet," Xander told her. He looked at Mrs. Weasley. "Can I borrow her when I have to buy it?"

"Of course," she said tolerantly. No one would be hurting her daughter with him around. She smiled at him. "Did you hear? They suspect you did something in retaliation for the horrible things that happened to the boys."

"Mum, he denied it when one of the Ministry officials asked him," George told her. "He especially denied the haunting."

Mr. Weasley walked down the stairs. "That's good to know," he said with fond affection. "I'd hate to have to turn him in." He patted Xander on the back. "Subtly, my boy, subtly," he told him quietly. He walked over to his wife and kissed her on the cheek. "When are you leaving, Xander?"

"Three days," Ginny told him. "The same day we travel back."

George laughed. "Tired of school already?"

She looked at him and nodded. "Yup, it's summer, time to play." Both twins cracked up at that pronouncement.

Xander leaned on the counter and enjoyed the light-hearted banter.

***

Xander flew up to the inn marked on his map and landed behind it, he had noticed a few cars in the front. He walked in and smiled at the woman standing behind the small desk. "How much for a week?" he asked.

She frowned at him, and his broom. "Are you here to bother those grumpy critters?" she asked in a Southern American accent.

He chuckled. "Grumpy critters? I've never heard them called that before. That's cute." He put his knapsack on the desk. "I guess I am. I was told I could come up here and bother them until they made me go away."

She snorted. "Three galleon, five sickles a week," she told him.

He counted out two week's worth, noticing how little was left after he had bought food for the trip. But he handed it over. "Just two until I can owl home."

She nodded and signed him in, letting him sign the register. She frowned at the name, then at him. "Weren't you the one in the Daily Prophet? Said you wrecked that one store?"

Xander shrugged. "I don't read it. I know I'm *accused* of something, but I didn't do anything. Do you have a copy of the paper with that article?" She nodded and handed it over, letting him read it. "Huh. Gonna have to straighten that out."

"You should write them," she suggested, handing him a key. "Upstairs. All the way on this end. Looks out on the ruins." She smiled at him. "I'll bring up dinner later."

"Is it extra?" She nodded. "Then don't worry about it, I brought food." He took his broom and his bag up to his room, settling in to think. Someone had accused him of destroying the twins' store? How stupid were they. He unpacked as much as he dared and walked back down to use the owls he had seen off to the side. Hopefully the girls weren't gone yet. He missed Murphy, but he was stuck helping with the chicks. Fawkes wouldn't let him out of her sight until they could fly. While he was down there, he decided to send a note to the twins, seeing if he had actually done something to the store. He hadn't thought he had, but....

***

Xander walked up to the portal and smiled at the kid standing there. He couldn't be sure if the kid was a guardian or a tourist. "Hey," he said, being nice.

"Dude, you are so far from home," the kid said.

Xander frowned. "I didn't know there were Valley surfers in England."

The kid laughed. "We didn't think you'd want to hear more British," he told him, changing to a more local accent. He looked Xander over, obviously staring at his stomach and nether regions. Then back at his face. "Just because you're born part of us doesn't mean you get an audience."

Xander smiled. "No, but I can prove I'm good enough to." He took out his wand and charmed the kid, making his illusion drop for a few minutes. The Minister that had given him the map had left instructions to do this if he ran into a guardian. It would prove what he was and how strong he was.

"Yeah, okay, that was nice," the kid said, looking around. "But kinda risky."

Xander frowned at him. "I got told that the portal covered everything," he argued.

"Oh, let him through already," a cranky voice said from inside the portal. The portal was between the columns of a pair of uprights but you couldn't see anything other than the landscape. Suddenly it changed, showing him a dark cave. "Get in here, boy."

Xander stepped in and felt his wand be removed. "Hey, that's mine," he told him.

"We're just looking." The gryphon that had taken it, which was nearly behind him on his left, passed it off to the next one, who was in front of Xander. "Phoenix, very nice."

"My own phoenix," Xander told him, trying to stay calm. The book had underestimated these guy's height by quite a lot. The one in front of him looked to be nearly ten feet tall. Then he felt the tingle of magic go across him. "Don't," he warned. The gryphons all laughed, all three of them. "Hey, I didn't come here to be messed with, just to learn something." He crossed his arms. "I didn't come to interrupt your cozy lifestyle, or even to inconvenience you, but I'd like to know what I'm supposed to do about this horrible urge to get back at the people who said I destroyed my best friends' joke shop."

The gryphons leaned close to each other and Xander's wand was handed back to him. "Leave," the one in front of him said.

Xander shrugged. "Okay, your loss." He turned, but the portal was closed. He turned to look at them again. "Wanna fix that?"

"Why don't you?" the third gryphon, this one a female, suggested snidely.

"Gee, how about because I've known about this magic shit for just about a year and a half and I'm not that great at it yet?" he replied in the same tone of voice. He didn't know why, but they were pissing him off. He could feel the energy building inside him, just aching to get out and cause trouble for them. "All I know is that I came to Hogwarts, found out what I was, and then things started to happen when I didn't want them to." He threw up his hands in frustration. "I don't know what to do with this and I have not a *clue* how I supposedly destroyed their store." He tried to keep it in, he really did, but the energy started to leak out around him, changing things. First, it was a few feathers. Then the ceiling turned fushia. The gryphons looked at him, wondering what else was going to happen. It was a deep pond. The wall behind him seemed to melt, but the portal still didn't open. Xander fell to his knees, trying to control the explosion he could feel coming, but there wasn't any use. It came out as a very bright light and suddenly the gryphons were squawking in disbelief. Their coats had changed some hideous colors. Xander panted and looked up at them, and then it happened. He laughed. He found himself outside, staring at the little kid, his wand lying beside him on the dirt. "Sorry," he told it. "I couldn't control it. I told you I needed help."

The boy grimaced. "Come back tomorrow and we'll talk with you then, once you're reasonable."

Xander shrugged. "I'm always this way. That's why I'm up here." He stood up and grabbed his wand, tucking it away before walking off. The inn had a good shower and he felt nasty right then. There was a note waiting for him, telling him that everything was fine at the shop and it was just a misunderstanding. He smiled as he stripped off and went to bathe. That was good to know.

***

George looked around the mess they had yet to get to. "It was a magical frustration bomb, correct?" he asked his father, who had realized what was going on. He had tried to calm Xander down, but he was still so uncontrolled.

"Yes, son, that's exactly what this was." He swept some broken glass toward the large pile near the trashcan. "I'm sure he'll be more controlled when he comes back. That's why we sent him up there." He gave him a reassuring smile. Frankly, Xander scared him sometimes. There was a reason why the gryphon-born were feared, it's because they did this sort of thing when they weren't trained. That's why so many of them never made it past the age of five. "He'll be fine."

Fred walked down the stairs, the bandage on his face puffy over the stitches he had needed. "I want to know how the Daily Prophet found out," he said grimly.

Ron walked in with a few boxes, putting them on a clean chair. About the only thing that escaped the magical bombing. "Your next shipments are here," he said happily. He looked around at the mess. "Much nicer."

George picked up a piece of wood and tossed it at his younger brother. "Did you tell anyone?" Ron shook his head. "Then who did?"

"Fudge," their father said quietly. All three boys glared at him. "I saw him in town the night before. He's always been against Xander teaching," he reminded them. Minister Fudge had tried to get Xander thrown out of Hogwarts on more than one occasion, but everyone had kept it very quiet. They weren't sure how strong Xander was, and if the store was any indication it might have killed him without Xander being anywhere near him. His wife had told George already, and sworn him to secrecy, because she worried about the relationship he was in. It took a lot to calm her down, most notably it was the knowledge that Xander would never knowingly harm someone he considered family, so they were all safe. Or at least they would be once that boy learned some control. He briefly wondered how the Hellmouth had changed Xander's powers and if that was why he was so strong, but it wasn't something he liked to dwell on. He had spent a week examining the Hellmouth after everyone had left, making sure it was closed and the like. He never wanted to touch something that evil again. If it had warped Xander he would try and help the boy, even though he didn't want him anywhere near his home. He looked at George, who had turned and punched a wall. "He'll get his," he reminded them.

Fred snorted. "Yeah, we'll just tell Xander."

"No!" Arthur Weasley said quickly. "No, you mustn't. Think about what that will do to the boy."

Fred looked at his father, then grimaced. "You're scared of him," he accused. "Xander's very nice and not at all like this usually."

"Yeah, this was frustration at the idiots who took over the Quidditch shop," Ron added. "He'd never hurt us." He looked at his brother George. "If you like him, then I'm all for it. He's a great teacher. Suggested I think about working for a broom-maker."

George smiled. "That would be wicked cool," he agreed. "You're good enough to test and you know what a real player needs."

Fred clapped him on the back, putting a time delayed exploding dot on his back. "We've got Nimbus' address in the back somewhere if you wanted it," he offered. "They wrote us about doing a retirement party for them next month." He looked around and then at his partner. "Are we up for it?"

"I already said yes," George said with a shrug. "We'll just have to make a lot of party favors over the next few days." He grabbed his broom, the sweeping one, and started on the floor again. "Maybe a carpet," he suggested, tired of this cleaning.

Fred looked down. "I like the wood." He noticed all the scratches, then nodded. "Carpet's great until we can afford to refinish it."

Ron grinned at them. "I can help if you want."

"Ron, you're coming home for part of the summer," his father told him.

Ron snorted. "No, I'm not. They said I could come help them this summer, get a feel for working and the like." He crossed arms and glared at his father. "I'm not going to get into trouble. Even Harry's coming here after camp."

"He got in?" Fred asked excitedly. Ron nodded, smiling again. "Wonderful."

"It is," Arthur reminded them. "They only take ten players a camp. There's three seekers this time from what I heard." He finished moving his pile. "Boys, I *like* Xander, but I do admit to being a bit uneasy around him," he admitted, not looking directly at them. "I'd like him a lot more if he had more control. Your mother nearly fainted when the explosion went off." He looked at his sons. "I'm all for whatever you're building with him, but I do wish you would wait until he was more controlled and even-tempered."

"He's not dangerous, father," George said firmly. He tossed aside his broom and headed for the workroom, which hadn't been touched at all. He laughed suddenly. "It wasn't what we thought," he called. Fred carefully walked that way, stopping when he saw the piles of things neatly stacked on the table. "He's a closet neat-freak," he said happily.

His father smiled. At least it hadn't destroyed everything. Now if only he could do something about the Daily Prophet before Xander did something to them. Or Minister Fudge before he got hurt.

Ron's shirt exploded, making everyone laugh, and the mood in the damaged shop eased back into one of fun and merriment.

***

Xander looked up as an owl joined him up in the forest, holding out a hand for the letter it carried. Inside there were a few coins and a long, stern letter from Willow about learning to live inside a budget. He grimaced, but he'd write her some other day. He let the owl go, after paying it with the knut he was carrying around in case it showed up, and went back to the inn to pay for another two weeks. It was all she had sent him.

***

Draco Malfoy looked across the dining room table at his father. His father was studying him intensely. "Did I do something wrong?" he asked, looking down at the piece of roll he was buttering.

"No, just thinking about your future, boy." He looked over his son again, seeming to be calm. "Are you excited about this class?"

"Learning how to duel in a fight will probably help me greatly," Draco reminded him. "Professor Harris is going to make sure that the class is as realistic as he can make it, he's like that." He put the roll into his mouth before he could say anything else. He respected Harris. The man had lived through some incredible things and stayed sane. He might not like the man much, his temperament was a bit loud, but he did respect the man. It was odd, he respected him, but he didn't fear him, not really. That was something he wasn't used to. Most of the people he respected he also feared, people like his father.

His mother glanced at him. "I hope that he's being careful with you students. I hear he's extreme in his methods. Almost hurt some people last year from what we heard."

Draco shook his head. "No, he threatened to because some of the students were right gits, but he didn't harm any of us. Made a few people piss themselves."

"Draco," his father said warningly.

"Sorry, but the practical exercises were very strenuous and taxing. A few of the Ravenclaws passed out, as did one of the Slytherin females. Professor Harris likes to keep everything very real and he proved to us that it's not a pleasant job fighting certain creatures." He picked up his fork and stabbed a piece of steak. "Between the four professors in his track, and the other two in the normal Defense classes, we're not being babied or coddled." He stuffed his mouth again.

His father nodded, but continued to watch him. Draco would have to prove himself soon, and he wasn't sure his son wouldn't be leaving the family the hard way. Draco seemed...softer somehow.

***

It was his last day there and Xander was feeling kind of upset. He didn't want to leave, he knew he had a lot more to learn from these magnificent, if grouchy, beasts. He was carrying his pack and his broom, but set them aside as soon as he stepped through the portal.

"What's that?" the female asked him, pointing a wing at the bag. "Leaving?"

"I can't afford to stay," he said with a shrug. "My salary only went so far and my broom was so expensive that it upset me."

The gryphons glared at him. "Why didn't you tell us that?"

Xander glared back. "Because I was taught not to inconvenience anyone whom I'm visiting," he retorted. "I wasn't about to come in here the first day and beg for shelter and food." He calmed himself down, like they had shown him. "So I've got to go today."

"You're staying," the gryphon on the left told him, sounding very firm. "We have the space," he said before Xander could open his mouth.

"Besides," the female put in, "we could use the company and you could use the intense training." She leaned down and sniffed at him. "That smells bad," she told him.

"I ran into a stink bug outside," he explained. "It hit me and exploded in grossness." He wiped at his shirt again. "I'll wash it tonight."

She snorted. "You'll wash it now, young man. Don't make me spank you." One of his eyebrows raised.

"Oh, for heaven's sake, don't you know how to do that either?" the gryphon in the middle asked in frustration when the boy looked clueless.

"Um, no. As proven, I can open locks, do illusions, and get really upset, but no one's taught me anything else."

"Then we will rectify that," the gryphon on the left said sternly. "Though I agree, take off that shirt. We're not afraid of bare chests around here until you learn how to clean things." The portal snapped shut, snapping a twig off the end of Xander's broom. "We'll teach you how to fix that also," he said with as much of a smirk as a beak would allow him.

***

Harry bounded into the joke shop, looking around at the new paint. "Did someone do it again?" he asked loudly, sounding pissed.

George looked over at him, putting down his book. Damn Xander for hooking him on this Tolkien muggle. "How did camp go?"

Harry smiled. "I got told I need some intense training, but that I'm very good." He walked over and hopped up onto a counter, which George shoved him off of. He was pointed at another one, one that wasn't glass. So he hopped up there instead. "They had us doing a 'catch the snitch in this amount of time' exercise to see if we could work under pressure. I officially got five out of six, but I caught it the sixth time as time was called. The coach was really very nice, he even told my Uncle Vernon that I had quite a lot of potential if I could do some intense training." George raised an eyebrow. "Remus *suggested* that the polite thing would be to tell them that I was in London for a spell and invite them to lunch or something. The git took the polite notice that I was in town and showed up to bother me. Said all sorts of nasty things to coach, which made him compliment me even more." He smiled as Fred walked out of the back. "I might have a spot next year," he said happily. "I'll have to go through camp again, but they said I'm looking very good."

"Congratulations," Fred told him. "Don't touch me, I'm covered in spider floss." George looked at him. "Those canisters explode too easily."

"Then I'll adjust the pressure," George agreed. He gave Fred a look and glanced at Harry, but Fred shook his head. "I'll go do that then. You go clean up."

"C'mon," Fred told him. "Ron's upstairs working on the homework he forgot about until last night." He led the way up, kicking on his brother's door. "Harry's here," he yelled as he headed for the bathroom.

Ron opened the door and pulled Harry inside, telling him everything. They would have to help Professor Harris if he needed it. No matter what his father had said.

***

Xander walked onto the main street of Hogsmeade and smiled at the hominess the place exuded. It was good to be home and out of that cave. He waved at Ginny when he saw her, smiling when she waved back and started for him. In front of him, a door opened and two familiar people walked out onto the street from the robe shop.

"Dear Heavens, they let them walk around unattended," the elder Malfoy said snidely, just loud enough to be heard. He caught sight of the Weasley women and gasped like he was shocked. "You know, they make spells to clear up such horrible problems on a face," he said. "Maybe an invisibility spell would be enough. Really, to allow such things out in public."

"Malfoy," he said, stopping to look at the younger one. "Did you get the owl with your summer instructions?" he asked, ignoring the father. It would only be painful for the other man if he didn't and he had promised the gryphons he would try and control his temper. Losing it within minutes would not look good.

"Why would you be sending him an owl?" the older one asked coldly.

"Because he's teaching my fighting class, father," Draco reminded quietly. He looked at Xander and nodded. "I did. I can make the lifting requirements easily and I've already got the clothes you suggested."

"Well, I suppose that makes *sense*, him teaching a fighting class," the elder said. "*His* kind are violent."

Xander smiled. "Good." He looked at the father and his smile fell away. "Did you want to say something to me about what a distant relative did?" he asked coldly.

"Xander, please," Mrs. Weasley told him, trying to get him to calm down. He was going to destroy the town over that vicious man. Maybe it would destroy Malfoy too, but it wasn't worth it.

Malfoy senior laughed. "Boy, I'm stronger than you. You should never pick on someone stronger than you."

Xander snickered. "Are you really? And you can brace yourself against different forms of magic too, I bet." He pulled his wand quickly, so quickly that the elder Malfoy didn't get his out at all. He pointed it at the hooked nose and said four simple words. "Verbeeld hom, dink, leef (In Afrikaans: Imagine, Think, Be (alive)). Then he cackled and grabbed Ginny to swing around. He grinned at Mrs. Weasley. "I have control now," he told her smugly. "They were really great." He held up a bracelet, which made her smile. "They even gave me this, to drain some of it."

Malfoy senior sneered at him. "You didn't do anything with those strange words, boy."

"You wait, we'll see," Xander said smugly. He picked up his two bags and let Ginny get his broom. "Malfoy Junior, class the first day, come prepared to sweat." He nodded at them and left, going to the shop.

"Xander, really," Mrs. Weasley hissed. "You can't do such things."

He leaned closer to her. "Relax. What I did was...." He whispered it in her ear, making her cackle. "And yeah, this drains the extra energy." They walked into the shop and he stopped to frown. Then he walked into the back and slammed the lab door. "So, I *didn't* break anything?" he asked sweetly.

George shrugged. "We didn't want you to worry." Xander opened his mouth so he took the direct approach and pulled him closer, shutting him up the old-fashioned way.

"I'm jealous," Fred noted dryly, continuing to tinker with a small thing in his hand. "Are you fixed?" Xander held out his bracelet, but was unable to break the kiss. Fred touched it, then nodded. "It's a drain."

George pulled back, panting hard. "Really?"

Xander frowned at him and nodded. "Really. It's to siphon off the extra energy. They said the Hellmouth warped my energy somehow sideways and it made me want to get even with people. Even more so than normal." He smirked. "I just ran into the Malfoys." He looked at Fred, then at George. "You know, I heard some very interesting things, including something about a certain pompous asshole wanting to see me burned at the stake."

Fred nodded. "Yup. Fudge is an asshole." He looked at his brother. "Did you hear anything about a burning stake?"

George nodded. "In one version of the rant, yeah." He looked up at Xander. "Don't worry about it, Dumbledore sicced Murphy on him. Oh, the chicks are fine." He smiled. "Aren't you going to protest?"

"Yup, but I can do that in private." He shrugged and nodded at the door. "Ginny and your mom are here."

"Cool." The twins put down their new toys and went out to talk with their mother and sister.

Xander looked at Ginny and smiled. "I promise, if I'm still here when you're a seventh year, I'm going to get you into the advanced class, just so you can beat up George." She giggled.

"Xander," Mrs. Weasley said, but she was smiling too. "Boys, did you hear? He found a lot of control this summer."

"And a siphon," Xander told her. He looked out the window at the Malfoys, one of which was staring at the nose of the other. He burst out laughing, making everyone else look at them too.

George leaned closer to his sister. "What did he do?" His mother whispered it in his ear, making him fall to the ground laughing, rolling around and clutching his sides.

"Oh, tell," Fred complained. Xander leaned over and told him. Fred soon joined his brother.

"Hermione?" Xander yelled. "I brought you books to help me learn!" Footsteps came running from above them and soon she was down there, staring oddly at the twins. "The second bag," he told her with a grin. "I've got all year to learn them all. You get to help," he said proudly.

She laughed and tugged on the bags, finding the one with books easily. She saw a unraveled piece of yarn in the other and opened it, glaring at him. "You broke the sweater?"

"No, the person trying to kill Fredericka tore the sweater. I tried to fix it," he said, looking at Mrs. Weasley, giving her his version of Murphy's starving and kicked kitten look. She patted him on the arm. "I'll fix it once I find the spell. It's in the burgundy leather book somewhere."

She smiled at him. "It's not important. As long as you're all right." She watched in confusion as he pulled off his shirt and turned around, and what she saw made her gasp. "Xander, that's a horrible scar! It must have been deep!"

He looked back at her. "It was much worse last week," he told her. "It's healed now. But that's why the sweater got a little shredded. We were flying and they jumped us." He smiled as Mr. Weasley walked in, showing him the scar too. "Not nice people," he explained. "I really didn't like the whole waking up in the hay cart and them telling me 'Dumbledore had told them to tie me up' thing, but they're regretting it. Did you know that the Ministry had a Dangerous Magical Creatures unit that sticks up for guys like me?"

Mr. Weasley gave the boy a hug, after he noticed the bracelet. "Does it have a charm?"

Xander nodded as he put back on his shirt. "It can only be taken off by someone who doesn't know what it does." He fingered the loose weave of red stones and silver. "It drains some of the more dangerous impulses that I get. Apparently the Hellmouth turned my usual tendencies sideways and I get mean." He smiled. "So, were you the one who slapped Fudge? Cause I wanna hug the man who did."

Arthur blushed. "Yes, I did. He had no right to say such things about you."

Xander leaned closer. "Let him. He'll get his," he said quietly. "Fredericka was not pleased. She's planning a little...visit of her own to the Ministry next week sometime. Just to tour and stuff. She's their ambassador after all." He looked down at the twins. "By the way, the broom sucks. It shed a third of the twigs on the ride back."

Fred nodded. "That's a hazard of a used broom." He stood up, helping his brother off the floor too. "Dad, did you see the elder Malfoy?" He nodded, starting to frown. "What was on his nose?"

"Just a bump." His wife snorted. "Xander," he sighed. "You really can't piss him off."

"Holy Merlin, there's a spell in here to halve things." Hermione looked up. "Like to take an apple and make it two without disturbing the elemental structure." She looked at Xander. "Do you think I could study them too?"

Xander walked over and took the book, closing it. "I was told I was allowed to have only people that I trusted absolutely help me learn those spells, Hermione. They can't get out into the regular wizardly population. The last time one did, it was used to close the portal to the gryphon colony, which almost killed them all." She nodded, biting her lip. "If you can promise that they're not getting away from you, without you *dying* to try and save them, then you can learn them for your own use."

She smiled and nodded. "I'll consider that tonight. Are the books charmed to erase my memory?" He nodded, grinning at her. "And they'll come get me if I let one slip?"

"No, they're going to make me come get you if you let one slip," he told her. She frowned, nearly pouting. "That was the deal for me continuing to learn gryphon magic." He looked out the window as the younger Malfoy ran past. "Gee, wonder what happened to him," he mused. He noticed the young man laughing hysterically against a pretty blonde woman. "Is that his mom?"

Hermione looked out then nodded. "Narcissa Malfoy." She looked up at him. "Is there anything really useful in there?"

"Gryphons were nothing if not creative, mischievous, and practical. There's a spell in here to build a house." She snickered. "There's also a spell in there to decreate something. It has seven pages of warnings in front of it, and a possible backlash that could very well destroy the building you're standing in." She nodded, looking rapt. "The only way I'm letting you anywhere near that spell is if Voldemort himself is standing on the doorstep of Hogwarts and we're all going to die." She nodded, smiling at him.

Malfoy junior walked into the store and slammed the door, then burst out laughing again. "Penis," he gasped.

Everyone laughed with him, some of them rolling on the floor again.

Ron came down the stairs and saw the people laughing, then looked at Xander. "Yours?" he asked smugly.

"My original spell. This is the fallout from the hilarity. It'll take at least another hour to finish growing."

"He put a small version of whatever Draco's father was thinking on his nose," Ginny gasped. "Penis."

"Ginny!" her father shouted. He looked at Xander, then started laughing . "A large one?"

Malfoy held his fingers about three inches apart. "And growing." He caught his breath and turned to look at Xander. "My mother would like to talk to you," he said formally, still smiling.

"As soon as you have control of yourself," he agreed. The kid was seventeen after all, things like a penis on the nose were supposed to make him break down, even if he was who he was. He followed his student out onto the street and to his mother, who was not looking pleased. But maybe that was her usual look. "I'm sorry if it bothers you," he told her. "But it will go away just as soon as he apologizes to Ginny Weasley for the mean comments he said about her."

She glared up at him. "I don't think it's any of your business, boy."

Xander leaned down. "That's Professor Harris, Mrs. Malfoy, and it is my business. The Weasleys are my adopted family and I'd hate to see anything happen to them." He stood back up and looked at the son. "Tell him I said an honest apology or it could become permanent. It's written into the spell." He smiled and walked away whistling. Just before he could step in the door, he was accosted by his bird. "Murphy?" he asked happily, cuddling his bird close. "How are you, big guy? And the chicks?" Murphy trilled up at him, singing happily. "Yes, we'll go up there very soon and see them." He walked into the store, smiling at Professor Dumbledore. "It'll take an *honest* apology to fix it," he told him, nearly smirking. "No one calls anyone as pretty as Ginny ugly and gets away with it."

Dumbledore laughed. "Good job, my boy." He scratched Murphy's head. "He's missed you terribly this summer. I'm glad to see you back." He picked up the wrist with the bracelet and looked it over. "The usual charm?"

"Yes, and I'd appreciate it not going around the school," Xander said seriously. Dumbledore looked at him, turning serious. "What if something happens? My skills still aren't understood by most wizards and they can't guard against what they don't understand."

Dumbledore nodded. "I can see the sense. I'll keep some people out of the loop in that case." He smiled at him. "I can't let you run loose though, Xander. You know that." He looked out the window as Narcissa and Draco walked past. "Especially not after that show."

"He said I should use an invisibility spell to cover my hideousness," Ginny said indignantly. "I am not hideous."

"No, you're not," her father agreed. "But you can't act against the Malfoys or they'll come after you," he said reasonably.

Xander cleared his throat and checked the door. "There might be a problem with that scenario."

Dumbledore nodded. "Draco's not as bloodthirsty as his father, Arthur. He won't last as a death eater and he knows it." He looked at Xander. "Coupled with this humiliation, we might not hear from Lucius all year." He clapped his hands. "Are you coming up tonight?"

Xander nodded. "Yup. Gotta see the chicks." Murphy warbled. "See?"

Dumbledore smiled. "Of course. Fawkes has quite calmed down recently. She didn't even snarl at a picture of you yesterday." He tipped his hat. "Boys, about that request, please make it fun." He smiled and left them alone.

"Xander," Arthur said.

"Mr. Weasley, trust me here. They won't be coming after Ginny. Or the boys. Or even you two. 'Cause if they do, Malfoy senior knows that I'm going to retaliate. I doubt he wants bitten on the ass twice."

"Language," Mrs. Weasley said primly.

He smiled. "I'm an adult, I can swear," he assured her. "Besides, it's an americanism." He winked at George. "Want to fly me up to the school so I can yell at you in private?"

George grinned and went to grab his broom. "Be back in a few," he called as he followed Xander out the door. Murphy went up into the sky and Xander put on his bags. "You really minded?"

Xander looked at him. "George, I'm not sure I'm ready for anything like that," he told him, wincing when he saw the hurt look. "Hey, I had girlfriends up until I got here," he reminded him lightly. "Now everything's different. No more normal guy, no more women, a big huge song bird who likes to chew on my hair." Murphy squawked at him. "Yeah, you, hair eater. I caught you last time." Murphy flew off singing. "So yeah, this is really odd." He touched his friend on the hand as they took off. "But I kinda like odd, I'm just not used to it."

George shrugged. "Fine. I'll be more subtle in the future."

"Well, not going for my fillings would be nice," Xander said with a naughty grin. "But a kiss now and then to get me used to them wouldn't be so bad." George smiled at him. "And I could probably still use a hug every now and then because Willow's not giving me them anymore." He shrugged off the unhappy thought. George floated closer and gave him a hug. "Thanks," he told him, then he moved away because they were heading for a tree. "Gotta watch that stuff, this broom steers like a tank." He swooped down onto the quidditch field. "So, when are you two gonna teach me this?"

"Next summer," George told him with a smile. "When you have time to learn." He followed Xander to the door of the school and they both landed. "You're sure?"

"Yup, Fredericka yelled at me for two weeks about you," Xander admitted with a grin. "She told me that the only thing that I really needed was a good mate and children, but that could come separately." He smiled at the shocked look. "They're real blunt. They invited you up by the way."

"Really?" Professor Snape said as he opened the door. "I take it your trip went well?"

"Yup." Xander leaned closer to George and kissed him gently. "I like this sorta stuff," he said against his lips. "Slow, even, gentle. It makes up for the bad women who wanted it fast and hard." He climbed off his broom and smiled. "Two days?"

"Sure," George said, slightly stunned. He flew off, thinking about what he had learned. He and Professor Rosenberg were going to have a discussion first and then he was going to be doing some research through Hermione. He landed in front of the shop and saw Willow coming down the street. "You missed him," he called, then he grabbed her and took off again to go have a private conversation, something he couldn't do around his family.

Tara walked into the joke shop and smiled. "George is acting strange," she told them with a happy look. "He just kidnaped Willow."

Fred snorted. "Probably wanted to talk to her about Xander." He waved her in. "Come in, see the new stuff." She took his arm and toured the new contents. She liked jokes, just not enough to be mean with them.

Arthur looked at Molly, who swatted his arm. "Behave. He's a good boy," she told him. "He could have been eaten but he did it for George." She walked over to talk to Hermione and Ron, who were looking at a potion's book that had been on the counter. "What's that?" she asked.

"Mine, mum," Fred called before anyone could get into trouble. The potions in the book were a bit...extreme and he doubted she would appreciate his younger siblings reading it.

***

Xander tapped on the potion's classroom door. "Snape?" he called. The other teacher walked out of the back room. "Got something to talk to you about." He closed the door and locked it then headed back into the office with the two books he held. He sat down on the motioned-to chair, giving the older man a tight smile. "You know what gryphon magic consists of, right?"

Severus Snape sat down in his usual chair. "Mostly chaos energy harnessed to your wills."

Xander sighed in relief. "Cool." He held out the books. "These are my potions books." The other man looked shocked but took them to look over the outsides. "I'm allowed to show them to only a few people, and only those who can swear on their *lives* that none of the spells will make it into the mainstream." Snape looked at him. "Seriously, they've been used against us before; we're kinda not immune to the affects of our own magic." Snape nodded for him to go on. "If you can *promise* me that they're not going to get out of your hands, and that no one will see them ever, even after you die, then I'm allowed to let you look at them." He looked down at his hands. "And I'd kinda like you to look at the healing potions anyway, because I'm nothing if not damagable." He looked back up.

Snape cleared his throat and put the books on his desk. "It's strange that you would come to me with this."

Xander grinned. "Actually, it makes a lot of sense. Dumbledore trusts you implicitly. Madam Pomfrey has you mix all the potions that she has stored. Besides, I know that you know the dangers of heavy magic getting into the mainstream. If you think about it, you know better than anybody how to protect some of these books."

Snape smiled slightly. "And the curse on the books?"

"To erase your memory if you don't copy whatever spell down if you're not one of us. But by copying it down, you have to swear that you'll destroy it and all your memories of it before it can be taken from you." He sighed. "Or else I've been told I have to kill you if it gets out."

Snape leaned back, looking calm, but feeling a little uncomfortable. Yes, he knew the danger of such 'heavy' magic getting out, just thinking about what Voldemort would do if he got hold of any of it made his sick. "Just the healing potions?"

Xander grimaced. "Fredericka said that there's some really useful potions in there, but it can't get out into the general public. So, unless you can find a way to hide it and all, or can get around that problem, then probably yeah."

Snape nodded. "I'll accept that challenge." He pointed at the boy's bracelet. "I know what that is."

"Crap. Dumbledore said you were going to be one of the ones he didn't tell." Xander fiddled with the slim silver band. Snape had raised an eyebrow so he elaborated. "It can only be taken off by someone who doesn't know what it is."

"Ah." Snape patted the books. "I will lock them away for you. Are you going to attempt to learn from them?"

Xander shook his head quickly. "Potions? Maybe, but I suck at measuring anything." He stood up. "You should see me trying to cook. I know I probably should, but I've got some bigger priorities first while we're both still here." He grinned. "As long as they're safe. Hermione is the only other person who has access to them, but I was going to tell Ron about one of them." Snape nodded. "Thanks, man. And please, healing potion, just in case? Oh," he snapped his fingers. "Fredericka said that all potions, unless otherwise noted, were made for full gryphon strength, or first generation halflings." Snape looked thoughtful. "So you might want to consider that if you work with anything." He checked his watch. "Dinner. Coming?"

"In a few moments. As soon as I lock these safely away." He watched as the dynamic and energetic young professor jogged from his office and classroom. How did that boy have so much energy? He had never been that energetic. He stood up, carefully flipping open the first very old book to scan the table of contents. There was a whole section on healing potions. Good. It would give him something to do this first term while he terrorized his students. He locked the books in a drawer only he had the password to. They should be safe enough in there. He checked his robes, then went to dinner. A most interesting project the young boy had given him, truly interesting.

***

George gathered up everything he needed, putting it all into his old school bag. "I'm going for a fly," he called.

Ron stuck his head out of the back room. "For how long? Mum and Dad are going to take us to Diagon in a while."

George shrugged, but he was smiling. "Xander and I are going for a causal fly. Let Fred watch the shop."

"I'm going with them," Fred called. "We still need those spell components."

"Damn."

"George, language!" his mother yelled from upstairs. There was no way she could have heard him. Must have been parental telepathy.

"I'll try to be back," George promised. "If not, put up the out to lunch sign." He grabbed his broom and headed outside, taking off for the school.

Molly Weasley walked down the stairs, smiling at her youngest son. "Xander?"

Ron nodded. "Xander promised they could go for a short fly today."

"That's nice," she said with a smile. "Your father used to do the same thing with me during the spring at school. We had some wonderful picnics after classes." She hugged her daughter as she walked down the stairs. "Are you ready?"

"Yup, two more years and I'm free," Ginny said happily.

Ron snorted. "Just wait. Next year, the only thing on your mind will be 'what am I going to do now'." He grimaced. "Still no letter from Nimbus?"

"Not as of this morning," his mother assured him. "Your father checked quite thoroughly." They had apparated home last night to spend some time alone. She smiled. "Everyone got their lists?"

"Yeah," Ron said, waving his. "Where would I get things to sweat in?"

"What?" Fred asked, coming out from the back room. He looked at the list. "Sweat pants?"

"Or other suitable clothes to do physical exercise in," Ron read. "Mum?"

She shrugged. "We'll ask at the robe shop. I hear you're having a ball this year." She pulled a container of floo out of her purse.

"Mum, we've got plenty," Fred told her, pointing at the Egyptian pot hanging next to the fireplace. Their brother Bill had sent it as a 'store warming' present. So far, it had only cracked once in all the destruction.

She tucked her supply of floo powder away again and smiled at him. "All right, let's go, children." They all grabbed some powder and started leaving.

After they were gone, Harry snuck downstairs and turned the sign back over. He had supposedly went back to Sirius last night, but Sirius had a horrible cold and had suggested that he stay here for a bit longer. Ron had been happy to share with him for another night. He'd go to Diagon later that day, after everyone got back.

***

George landed in front of the school, surprised when he didn't see Xander waiting on him. He opened the front door and strode in, looking up at all the paintings lining the walls. He had never really stopped to look at them before.

"Sorry," Xander called as he jogged down the stairs. He had his broom over his shoulder. "I was trying to glue a few twigs back in.

George took the broom to look at, grimacing when he saw the little creature in there. "That's why," he snorted, pulling out the imp after a struggle. "Got a jar?"

Xander looked at the empty fingers. "Why?" George nodded at it. "But there's nothing there."

Minerva McGonagall walked down the stairs with a mason jar. "Gryphons can't see imps," she told them. She put the nasty little bugger into the jar and sealed it tight. "I thought I had seen the nasty little creature earlier. I'll see that Professor Lupin receives this."

George smiled. "Or unicorns," he added. He looked at Xander, who looked confused. "It's a protection for both species. Unicorns and gryphons had a long war way back when and so they did a mutual spell so they can't see each other."

"Unfortunately, the imp community heard about it and did their own spell, which only works on gryphons," McGonagall said, smiling at her student. "I wouldn't have thought that you listened in Care of Magical Creatures at all."

George shrugged. "I did some research." He tugged on Xander's jacket. "C'mon. Let's go for our casual fly." He grabbed his bag and headed for the door.

Xander waved, following him. "Does that mean that I can replace the twigs that have fallen out?"

"Maybe," George told him. "You'd have to ask Fred that question. He does the major repairs on ours. I do all the polishing and small care problems." He walked outside and smiled at Hagrid when he saw him walking, waving at him. "Nice man."

"Yup, he likes me a lot." Xander mounted his broom. "Where are we going?"

"I thought farther up the rail line. There's a few muggle settlements but we can avoid them easily." He watched as Xander took off. That broom was nasty. He hoped he was never reduced to something that bad. He took off and followed him up into the air. "So, tell. How was your trip?"

Xander smiled at him. "I got to fly almost every day." He turned away from the school. "That way?"

"Sure." They flew slowly, just enjoying being up in the air and being together. "Only flying?"

"I got to learn how to chase the really fast guys." Xander shifted, coming a little closer. "They said you had to teach me Quidditch so we could go play with them. Reynaldo loves the game." He grinned. "There was some not so fun stuff, like some of the lessons. I suck majorly at making anything potiony because my measurements are always off. The cleaning spells were handy though." He drifted a little way away again. "After I got kicked out of the inn, I spent the rest of the summer in their cave."

"You got kicked out of the inn?"

"Yup, salary didn't stretch far enough," Xander admitted with a grimace. "I went to say goodbye and they demanded that I stay with them for more training. It was kinda fun, but I don't think I could live in a cave full time."

"How many were there?"

"Three adults that I worked with, but there were more hidden in the colony that I didn't go near. They were all really big guys." Xander grimaced. "That book lied. No one said that adult gryphons were ten feet tall. And fast!" He shivered, having hit a cold patch in the air. "It was mostly okay."

"How did you get the scar?"

Xander looked at him. "You don't want to know." George gave him a look so he caved in with a sigh. "Some villagers or something came after Fredericka while we were flying one day. I helped her beat them back, but one of them cut me with something and I was knocked out. When I woke up, I was in the back of a hay cart going somewhere." He shrugged lightly. "The guy driving told me that Dumbledore had sent him to protect me, and that the reason I was bound was because I was thrashing while I had been out." He shifted a little farther away again. "Anyway, I worked on getting free as we went, and lo-and-behold we ended up in the middle of a field with a bonfire." He shuddered. "I got free as they were carrying me and got a few of them. Before anything else happened, Reynaldo appeared and kicked their asses. He took me back to the cave to tend my back, but it took a while. Whatever the asshole cut me with had some sort of mild poison on it. So I spent about a week with a horrible pain in my back and a headache." He looked over, noticing the furious look. "Hey, I'm okay," he said, floating closer again. "They didn't get me and the Ministry guys that came to get them were really neat. They cursed them up and down with words I don't even know." He smiled. "I'm okay, really. You saw the scar."

"Yes, I did, and I don't want to think about how you got it now that I know."

Xander gave him a patient look. "You demanded."

"Point," George conceded. He let it go, for now. His father was going to be getting an owl later. He was sure that wasn't all there was to the story. He reached over and took Xander's hand. "Anything interesting happen beside that? Something funny?"

Xander grinned at him. "I found out that I have to do a little bit of mischief every day or it starts to build up and not even the siphon will take care of it. I get all cranky and get headaches or an upset stomach. I found out that gryphons used to build stuff, pretty little boxes and stuff like that. Oh, and I found out that I attract the strange and wacky because of my nature. I really am a demon magnet it seems."

George smiled. He remembered their week on the hellmouth and the vampires continually cruising by the apartment building's door very vividly. "Can you mask it?"

"Yup. Got that lesson down very well. I, um, kinda drew every vampire and plant demon within sixty miles to Stonehenge." He looked embarrassed. "They looked at me like I was some kind of oddity. So I got that lesson very quickly."

George snickered. "Well of course you're odd, you're American." He flew off.

"Hey!" Xander said, going after him. He saw his friend land in a field so followed him down. "Problems with the broom?"

"Lunch." He unpacked his bag, showing off the goodies he had brought. Xander continued to stare at him. "You don't like?" he asked hesitantly.

Xander sat down next to him. "So this was one big seduction attempt?"

George nudged. "No, this is a picnic. Though I'm not beyond some seduction. If you want it that is." He smiled. "Eat?"

"Sure, I can do that," Xander assured him, picking up a piece of meat. "Did your mom cook?"

George shook his head. "I got Ginny to do it. She's decent enough. It's not poisonous."

Xander took a bite and hummed in appreciation. This was really good. George started to eat too. "Tell me what it's like growing up in a normal household," he suggested between bites.

George looked at him. "You consider my family normal?"

Xander nodded. "Much more so than mine."

George shifted a little closer, telling him everything about having family.

***

Fredericka, the oldest female gryphon in England and the ambassador for their community, landed in the courtyard of the Ministry of Magic. She looked around at the humans who came running, leaning down to get into one's face. "We will be talking," she told Minister Fudge. She smiled at the person she was there to see. "We will talk first though," she told the witch in charge of magical creatures and strange magic. She wrapped a wing around the two people, giving them a gryphon-smile. "Yes, we will be talking."

The witch smiled up at her. "We heard about Professor Harris. How is he?"

"He's better. Still deficient in many areas, but we sent teaching manuals with him. We knew that someone at the wonderful Hogwarts would help him finish his studies." Fredericka looked at Fudge again. "You, on the other hand, have just pissed off every single type of magical creature. Word has spread about that *incident* this summer and none of the other communities are pleased."

Fudge paled and swallowed. "I didn't instigate it."

The witch looked at him. "No, you just told them where they were and how to get them."

"Silence," Fudge demanded. "You do not question me."

"Oh, plenty of witches and wizards are questioning you," she told him. She scratched the separation of animal parts on Fredericka's neck. "I would like to hear more about his training. It sounds useful." She walked the gryphon into her building. It was built to hold special creatures like the gryphons.

Minister Fudge scrambled back into his office and shut the door. He sent an inter-office owl to Arthur Weasley and to his son Percy. They would stand up for him or find themselves staying in their present positions. The one from Percy came back with a polite reply about arranging a special dinner in honor of the ambassador and how Percy would handle most of the details personally, missing the point entirely - probably on purpose. The one from the elder Weasley came back with what sounded like a quietly worded scold for pissing the ambassador off, and that he looked forward to talking to her about Xander. Fudge sent more owls out to his supporters, but most of them weren't going to take on a gryphon for him, especially not when this was about a gryphon-born muggle.

Downstairs, Percy walked over to his father's office. "Apparently I'm arranging a dinner for the ambassador. Do you have the book on gryphon protocol, father?" Arthur handed it over with a smile. "Thank you." He glanced at it. "I take it that George is serious about Xander?" Arthur nodded. "Then I'll have to avail myself of some research. I don't want to mess up."

"Xander's not like that," Arthur assured him. "He's said that he considers us his family."

Percy snorted. "That won't keep him from pranking me like the twins do, father. It's almost inevitable." He walked back to his office, mentally arranging the people to call and in what order to call them in order to put the dinner together.

***

Xander walked into the castle, frowning when he saw Mr. Weasley standing there scowling at him. "What? We had lunch," he said quickly. "I didn't do anything wrong today. Got the headache to prove it."

Mr. Weasley pulled him aside. "Xander, there were a few things that weren't covered and it's been brought to my attention." He pulled his wand behind the boy's back. "The first being that any uncontrolled moments you have can override the siphon you're wearing. That means no lust or other strong emotions." He swished the wand in the air. "It could be quite disastrous for those around you if you were to become uncontrolled." Xander looked up and him and nodded. "That's why I have to do this. I'm sorry." He said something and pointed his wand at Xander's chest.

Xander woke up staring at the ceiling of the main hall, Madam Pomfrey looking down at him. "How did I get down here?"

"Someone hexed you," she told him, helping him stand up. "How do you feel?"

Xander smiled at her. "Like I'm going to go have a talk with Arthur." He looked around. "No one else knows?" She shook her head. "How long was I out?"

"Just a few moments. He flooed home. We passed each other in the staff room."

"Good." Xander strolled out to the herbology greenhouses, smiling at Professor Sprout. "Got something thorny, but pretty?" he asked. "Maybe something very unusual?"

She giggled. "For George?" All the teachers thought they were so cute together.

"No, for his father." He smiled sweetly. "I think it's time I announced my intentions."

She giggled as she went over to where the flowers were, picking him a small handful of thorny, viney purple flowers. "How's that?"

He looked them over. "What are they for?" He looked up. "I'm not depriving you of anything, right?"

She shook her head. "No, those are for headaches but we have plenty of it."

"Perfect," he purred, going to go see his future father-in-law. He had used the floo network before so he was confident as he went to the Burrow. "Oh, daddy," he called. Arthur looked up in shock so Xander gave him the flowers. "Memory charms don't work on us, dad. And yeah, I know about the whole lust thing, but I decided to take it slow with George because I'm very unfamiliar with everything and so it doesn't remind me of being attacked by psycho women." He sat down next to him, putting an arm around his shoulder, staring at the fire in front of them. "I promise I won't hurt George. Or anyone else in the family or anyone that the family considers family." He looked at the older man, who was nearly in tears. "I know you're trying to protect them, but it won't happen. I don't hurt those I'm with. What I am won't change that. It made me revengeful, but nothing else." He let him go and stood up. "With that said, I expect to see you soon 'cause George makes me happier than even flying." He turned and pulled the extra floo powder out of his pocket, tossing it into the fire. Just before he stepped in. "I'm not telling George," he told him, then he went back to school.

Standing in the teacher's lounge, Dumbledore smiled at him. "Good trip?" he asked.

Xander shrugged. "Necessary one." He brushed himself off. "You knew?"

Dumbledore nodded. "And I know why as well. It's a parent's natural reaction."

"Which is why I'm not holding it against him or telling anyone. I expect you to not tell either. It would kill George to know his father was doing this sorta stuff." He frowned, looking around the empty room. "I'm all set for the year. Giles and I worked out the problems that we had last year, so everything's ready."

"Good," Dumbledore said happily. "It's good to see everything in working order." He clapped the young man on the back. "You've far exceeded my expectations, Xander. Not only are you fairly decent at getting yourself out of trouble, but you're a very good teacher. Much more interesting than some of us were." He pointed outside. "Why don't you go curse a tree or something? Get rid of that headache."

Xander nodded. "I probably should, but I'm too tired. I'll do it tonight after supper. Maybe make some fireworks or something." He smiled. "Thanks for helping me out this summer."

"My boy, I didn't send them," Dumbledore told him, looking like he was telling the truth. He walked away. "I'll have someone knock on your door for dinner, Xander. Try and cure the headache before the students get here in a week."

Xander frowned. "Then who sent the Ministry up?" He shrugged it off and walked up to his room. He really wanted a nap. His head was killing him. He wondered what had ultimately appeared on Malfoy's nose; the spell usually took two hours to finish growing. He'd have to ask his son when he got in. He curled up next to Murphy, using him as a comfort snuggle.

Murphy cooed at him. He had missed his daddy. Next time he would have to go with him. His daddy always got into such trouble when he was alone. One of the phoenixes up there had told him what had went on and if he ever saw those humans they would not be happy to meet him!

***

Xander twitched his robes as he walked into the main hall for the first day feast. He stopped in front of Malfoy and smiled at him. "What did it turn out to be?"

"A foot," he said with a faint smile. "About six inches long, toes pointed toward him. The toes wiggle and everything. The penis-looking thing was actually the ankle."

Xander grinned. "Cool. Your first class is Wednesday and you'll have something waiting on you tonight. Use it to bring down your gear." He continued to walk, stopping to talk to a few of his other students in the advanced battling class. He walked up onto the dias, sitting down in his seat with a nod for his fellow teachers.

"Xander, why did you need more money?" Willow asked him. She hadn't seen him since he had come back. She and Tara had been closeted with Giles about what spells they were teaching this year. They hadn't had as much overlap as Xander and Giles did, but it was good to get it all settled.

"Because everything I needed to get, including the broom, left me with enough money for two weeks at the inn," he told her. "That's what I wrote you."

"Yeah, I got that, but your broom shouldn't have been that much."

"The new owners at Quality Quidditch jacked prices," he said with a little shrug. "No big. I'm broke but it's okay again." He looked at her. "I did try and live within the budget."

Tara patted his hand, reaching behind Willow to do it. "It's okay. The Daily Prophet said they just changed owners again. Maybe it'll be fixed." She smiled at him. "Are you okay? I heard you got cut really bad."

"It itches and I'm still kinda queasy from the poison on it, but I'm fine." Snape looked over at him from the other end of the table. "I got given the antidote," he told him. "Don't worry."

"I'll be checking on that later." He stood up and walked over to them. "I've begun that project you challenged me to. It shouldn't be too long before we have something workable."

Xander smiled up at him. "Thanks, man. That's really nice of you."

Snape snorted. "I'm doing it to further my skills and my art, not because I'm nice, Harris." He pointed at him. "Did they say what it was?"

Xander nodded. "Not that I remember the name, but they said they owled Madam Pomfrey so she'd have it on record. They gave me the antidote once they figured out that the whatever was poisoned."

"Yes, but if you're still queasy after a month, then they obviously didn't make it correctly. It was probably a dunderhead I had a few years back." He went back to his seat. "I'll check on that for you later."

Xander shrugged. "Okay. Thanks." He looked at his best friends and shrugged again. "He's being nice."

"He's engaged with the new project," Giles said as he sat down. "Were you going to show them to me also?"

Xander looked at him. "Depends. Are you willing to give up your life it they get out?"

Giles chuckled. "I see. They put a restriction on it." He patted Xander on the shoulder. "I understand. If you need any help, feel free to come to me. I happen to know something about chaos magic after all."

Dubmbledore walked up to the table. "Yes, I've heard of your past," he said with a smile. "I'm sure Professor Harris is good enough to finish his education and not let those spells out." He took his seat. "I'm also sure that he'll come to us if he needs help. It's the way he is." He smiled at Xander. "Correct?"

"Absolutely," Xander agreed. He looked at Giles. "Really would hate to have to kill you," he told him.

Giles patted him again. "I understand, I wouldn't want you to have to harm me either." He smiled. "Have you worn it out for the day?"

"I'm okay. Just a little itching to get out. I'll go play a trick on something later. Maybe go prank Peeves, he seems to like it."

"You have to wear it out?" Tara asked, looking interested. She leaned past Willow. "How often?"

"Daily. I have to do something mischievous; not necessarily bad, but funny. As long as I use some of the energy every day it doesn't build up and there won't be any more frustration bombs." He looked over as Ron and Harry walked in, followed by Hermione and Ginny. He waved at them and got happy smiles in return. Ron's father hadn't done anything to them after all. Good.

Professor Dumbldore stood up. "Before the first years come in, I have something I'd like to announce." The hall got quiet. "There will be *two* balls this year," he told them, and the hall erupted in discussion. "There will be a Yule ball, but a ball just after the end of school also appeared on the calendar. It will take place two days after final exams, and a few days before you leave." Some students cheered. "The Yule ball will be open to only those third year and above, so please do not ask anyone from the first year class to attend as they're usually uncomfortable when they're brought. The other one will be open to all students. Formal robes are necessary so you might want to include that in your first owls to your parents." He sat back down.

"It appeared?" Snape asked.

Dumbledore nodded. "Indeed. I was examining the calendar earlier this summer. The words appeared, just wrote themselves."

Xander noticed everyone was looking at him. "Wasn't me, guys, this happened before I got back."

Dumbledore nodded. "It did indeed," he agreed. "Professor Harris' innate gifts had nothing to do with this occurrence. Though he still has to attend. It will be mandatory for all instructors to attend this time."

"Eww," Xander told him. "I hated school dances."

Willow punched him on the thigh, she was sitting next to him and none of the students could see her do it. "Now you'll get to be one of the grumpy chaperones who'll break the snogging up."

Xander sighed. "If I have to. Can you pay me right before Christmas so I can go get a formal robe?"

Dumbledore smiled and nodded. "Of course. Will you be getting your broom fixed at the same time?"

Xander shrugged. "It depends on how much they want to do it. It cost me a hundred to buy." A few of the teachers hissed. "Yeah, so fixing it is probably going to be pretty nasty too. It all depends on my finances at the time. How much were the fancy robes?"

"About the same as the normal ones you wear," Madam Hooch told him as she shifted in her seat. "I can look at your broom for you if you want."

"Sure. The little imp that was in my twiggy end loosened a bunch of them so I'm about a third short right now." He saw the wince. "It still flies."

"But probably not correctly."

Xander grinned. "I nearly got the one that went opposite of commands, but George refused to let me buy it." The flying teacher chuckled, shaking her head.

Everyone got quiet as Professor McGonagall walked in with the first years, just a few this year. Not even thirty. A very small class.

***

Xander looked at his advanced class, counting heads. "Ron?" he called. Ron came out of the office area of the training room. "Thanks." He stood in front of the group. "Okay, let's get down to it." He smiled at them. "This is a training class, it is a physical class. Please, if you can't handle it, tell us and we'll work on getting you somewhere more appropriate." He looked around but no one said anything. "Now that that's out of the way, there's a few other things you need to know. Since this is a physical class, you're going to be changing clothes for it." A few mouths opened. "Hence the curtains and screens behind me." He pointed at each one. "Girls on my left, boys on my right. Pull the curtain around so there won't be any problems." He smiled. "I should also tell you that both the curtains and the screens have been spelled to prevent members of the opposite sex into that area." A few of the kids snickered. He shrugged. "Willow did the spell, get her for it." He started to pace. "In this class, you will do some physical training, mostly with Giles and myself. You will also learn how to handle a realistic duel." He saw a mouth open and shook his head. "Not those nice things where you bow and announce yourself, the real ones. Ones where your target is moving, running, and/or trying to get away from you. Since you can't really use many spells in here without harming everyone, we've had some fake wands made up. You'll leave your wands in your lockers and pick up a fake one every class period." Melissa, the Slytherin that worked with Ron and protested quite often about her placement, raised her hand. "Yup?"

"Sir, will we always have to change?"

He shook his head. "Nope, but you guys have got to realize you wear muggle clothes under your robes. I want you able to do the activities without something binding or hindering you, then once you have that down we'll do them with the robes on. Those days, you don't have to change but you're going to be sweating a lot in here. We'll also figure out a way to do a 'whatever clothes are at hand' lesson so you learn how to fight in whatever you're wearing." She nodded. "Any other questions so far?"

Malfoy raised a hand. "Professor Harris, I wasn't sure what constituted clothing for physical activities."

"That's why you were supposed to bring them today, so I can check them out with you." He smiled. "I realized that you particularly might have trouble telling what is and isn't workout clothes, what with never seeing muggle fashions before. For those of you who have clothes you're sure you can workout in, that's great. Those of you who aren't sure, check with me once I'm done with this and we'll talk." Malfoy nodded.

Ron raised his hand. "Sir, you did mean those really loose clothes, right?"

Xander grinned. "Hey, if you want baggy clothes, that's all you. Oh, and the uber-tight spandex look? Wear a shirt over it, ladies. We don't want a distraction lesson yet. That comes later." They tittered. "You think I'm kidding?" He raised an eyebrow. "The American army teaches its best fighters to fight naked. I'm not going to do that to you because I don't want to hear about it from your parents, but I will be teaching you how to fight even when you're distracted." That got a few nods. "What else was there?" he asked himself, looking at the other teachers, who had told him to do this part. "Guys?"

"Condition," Giles told him.

"Oh, yeah." Xander grinned at them again. "Unfortunately, because of what I am, I have to play some sort of prank, or something like it, every day to wear out some of my energy. That may mean that you guys are going to get hit more often than the third years, who cry if you prank them." That got a light laugh. "So I'm sorry in advance if you get embarrassed or teased because of it."

"Sir, is the class shortened because of the changing requirements? Is that why this is a double-length class?" the second of three girls in the class asked.

Xander nodded. "You'll have ten minutes to get here and get changed. I'll give you twenty at the end of class in case you guys figure out how to take a shower without flooding the rest of us or so you can run upstairs and catch a real shower before dinner." That got some laughter. "Seriously, guys, I expect you to sweat and I expect us to sweat right along with you. You're going to smell, that's why we put this right before dinner." He stepped away from them. "Each one of you pick a locker and put your name on it. You'll get a lock which only you and the teachers will have the combination for. Since I sent you all bags to put the clothes in, I also expect them to be *washed* every little once in a while."

"Eww, as you usually say," Malfoy muttered.

"Have one of us tell you about muggle gym class," Xander said with a smirk. "People have left their gym clothes all year long and never washed them. If I can smell you, you're getting wet." Everyone burst out laughing. "Okay, I think that does it. Go ahead and pick a locker, change clothes, and grab a fake wand. Oh, hold it. There will be no picking on other students in here." He looked at Ron, who looked away, then at Draco, who also looked away. "If I find you picking on another student, I now have spells that will embarrass you for months on end and *I'll* enjoy it. Now you can go." He walked over to the teachers, watching as the curtains were pulled around the locker areas on either side of the doorway, blocking out any peeking. Malfoy and a couple of other kids walked over with their clothes, which Xander examined. He only had to make two corrections, a pair of pants that Malfoy had brought and the sports bras as tops Melissa had brought. "Hermione," he called. She stuck her head out of the curtained off area. "Get with Melissa about shirts to workout in tonight so her mom can get her some." The student nodded and pulled her head back, making sure the curtain was closed. Xander looked back at the office area. "Why couldn't we have used that area?"

"Much more work to separate out sides," Giles told him.

"Plus, we'd have to have a monitor," Lupin added. He nodded at where Ron and Harry had already emerged. "What's first?"

"Physical fitness tests," Giles said firmly.

"Like the presidential ones we used to have to go through in school?" Xander asked.

Giles smiled and nodded. "Very similar. I might skip the rope climbing and the situps, but basically the same principle." He walked over to the boys who were already done changing. "Let's drag out mats, gentlemen. We'll be needing them today." They helped him drag over a few of the mats Giles had gotten for the class; no one was sure how the equipment got here, but he had gotten them some great stuff. Maybe it was Watcher surplus. "Five minutes," Giles yelled. More students trickled out of the changing areas. "The last one of you please make sure the curtains are closed." The last straggler jogged out and sat on the mats like everyone else. "Today, we're going to test your physical capabilities. I'm going to measure how many of each exercise you can do in a matter of time. We'll use this to judge what sort of stamina building activities we'll be engaging in." Everyone nodded. "Good, break off into pairs with the person on your left." He smiled when he saw Ron move so he was next to someone other than Draco. "That's fine. One of you get down into a pushup position. Xander, please come demonstrate."

Xander walked over and got down, showing them how to do a pushup. "Girls can do an alternate one," and he did the girl's pushup. "Either one for the girls."

Ron looked wary. "Can the guys do those instead?"

Xander smiled and shook his head. "Not a chance, Ron. You're a man now, do it the manly way." He stood up. "Ready?" One of each pair assumed the position. "The one not doing it counts. Silently," he added as an afterthought.

"Begin," Giles said, clicking his stopwatch.

***

Ron walked out of the battle class rubbing his neck. "That was hard," he complained to Hermione.

She nodded. "Definitely, but it's important. Can you imagine getting into a fight and having to run for more than a few feet while casting?" He shuddered. "Well, that's what we're here for." She smiled when she saw Draco groaning and leaning against a cool wall. "A hot bath cures that," she called back. He glared at her. "Just being helpful." She helped Ron up to their dorm, smiling at him. "Hot bath," she suggested. "Or a hot shower. It'll take those aches right out. My father said so and he used to jog and workout all the time." She disappeared into the girls' quarters.

Ron went up to his bed and flopped down, falling asleep almost instantly.

Neville snuck into the room a few minutes later, smiling at Ron as he covered him up. "Glad I'm not in there," he said with a smile. He grabbed the book he had come in here for and turned to leave, running into Harry. "Ron's asleep."

"I'm for the showers," Harry told him. He headed that way, knowing he would feel better once he was clean. Professor Harris hadn't been joking when he said they were going to sweat.

Over in the Slytherin boys' quarters, Draco learned the easy way that Hermione had been right. "Oh," he groaned as he stood under the hard spray. "Yes."

One of the other boys looked in on him. "You all right in there?"

Draco looked back at him. "Professor Giles tried to kill us making us do exercises like muggles." The other kid snorted. "I ache."

"We've got some rub in the Quidditch kit, if you want," he offered. Draco nodded and went back to enjoying the heat on his tired muscles. If this class was going to be like this the whole year, he might end up dropping it in favor of Herbology. At least there he wouldn't feel like he had been beaten. He felt someone come up behind him and stiffened, but small, soft hands worked something into his back. "Thank you," he told whomever it was. He didn't care, it felt too good to care. "I'm never doing another pushup again."

The girl laughed. "You could always drop it."

Draco nodded. "I know." He let her continue with what she had been doing. It was all good to him. No one would care that she was in there, or what she was doing. For that matter, he didn't care as long as he felt better afterward.

***

Xander looked out at his class, his head throbbing. Giles had suggested that he go and try and burn some energy, but this wasn't one of those headaches. This was a nice, normal, muggle headache from hell. Hangovers be damned, these were worse. He leaned against the wall, watching the kids learn how to duel in a real-life situation. Lupin and Black were being very realistic when they described having to get other wizards in a battle. It was good for the kids, they had all agreed on this approach. Next, the kids would be using their actual wands to fire lights at moving targets. He just hoped he could be sitting somewhere away from the target. He slid down the wall, holding his head. The class across the hall had just burst out into applause. Great.

"Xander," Giles said quietly, touching him on the top of the head.

"Ow."

"Sorry." He squatted down, looking at the boy. "Are you sure this isn't a power headache?" Xander glared at him, his eyes bloodshot, but moist. "Maybe you should go to the infirmary then and get a cure."

"I'm fine," Xander hissed as he stood up. "It's just a headache."

"Go take something for it," Lupin yelled from across the room. "You'll feel better."

Xander shuddered at the noise and headed out into the hall. They were right next to the dungeons so the hallway was cooler than the classroom. He leaned his head against the wall and closed his eyes. This was helping, some stupid potion wouldn't.

Someone cleared their throat. "Professor, are you all right?" the female student, who sounded like a third year in his classifications class, asked. He shook his head. "Head hurting, sir?" He nodded. "Why don't you go take something for it?"

"Because it doesn't work. The air is helping, don't worry about it. Go to class," he told her, not opening his eyes. He was left alone for almost half-an-hour before anyone else decided to talk to him. "What?" he asked when whomever had stopped in front of him didn't say anything. "I'm not asleep."

"No, you're in pain," Snape told him.

Xander opened his eyes. "Headaches happen." He looked at the vial being put into his hand. "W'as this?"

"One of the potions from the book, half-strength. It should cure it better than the one in the infirmary." He went back to work. The gossip from his classroom had been quite interesting, unlike most third years' conversations.

Xander held the potion up to look at it, then shrugged and uncorked it. He swallowed it as quickly as he could. "Eww, needs flavoring," he called after Snape, getting a cruel laugh. Hey, it was working! He started to feel pretty good actually. Then he yawned as he walked back into the classroom. He put the vial aside and sat on the piled mats, and soon was taking a nap.

The three teachers looked at him, then each other. "Volunteers to get Professor Harris upstairs?" Giles asked. Ron raised his hand. "He's asleep."

"Then two of us should do it," Ron replied, nudging Harry. Harry winced; he was so sore, but he went over to help. It was the least he could do, plus he'd get out of this torture. Between them, they picked up the professor and carried him up to the infirmary with many grunts and stops for breathing. Ron smiled at Madam Pomfrey as she walked out to see who was coming in. "He took something for his headache," he told her, swinging the professor up onto the nearest bed. "And he needs to lose some weight."

Harry snickered. "He's just big boned."

Ron snorted. "Bet me. He's heavy!" He smiled at the nurse. "We're going to go back to class." She nodded, letting them leave while she settled Xander more comfortably in the bed.

"What did they do to you this time?" she said with a frown. She smelled his breath. "That was a headache cure?" She decided to talk to Professor Snape, he would probably know what it was by smell. By the time he got up there, Xander was snoring and occasionally lifting a hand to bat something in his sleep. He looked like a puppy having dreams about chasing something.

Professor Snape looked down at the boy on the bed. "I made it half-strength," he told the nurse. She scowled at him. "It's from one of his gryphon books."

"Oh." She smiled. "Is there anything in there to help cure rashes?" Snape frowned and shook his head. "Pity, because you're starting to get one." She touched the side of his neck. "Oh, dear, chickenpox."

He sighed. "I'll go make the potion myself," he told her. "Tell me when he wakes up so I can judge the strength for future potions." He left her alone, going to make a large batch of potion for itching and pustules. He hated muggle diseases, this one more than most. He remembered McGonagall getting it a few years back. She had nearly torn up her arms because of it. Well, he would not scratch and he would be smart enough to take the potion right away. He consciously removed the hand scratching his neck. He would not scratch.

***

Xander woke up with a yawn, and looked around. He saw the white and frowned. "How long was I out?" he called.

"Two days," Giles told him, looking up from his reports. "Had us a bit worried, but now that we know to make the gryphon potions less than quarter strength it should be fine." He stood up. "Are you ready for class?"

"Can I get a shower and a clothing change first?" he asked. "And maybe some coffee and a pastry?"

Giles laughed. "Of course. I'll teach your classifications class next period. Come down once you're awake." He got up. "I've got the preliminary reports from the advanced class. Quite a range of skills." He left the report on the foot of the bed before leaving the infirmary.

Xander blinked at the reports. "I think I need glasses," he sighed, putting his head back down. One of his arms went over his eyes.

"I can recommend a very nice optician," Madam Pomfrey told him as she walked over to him. "Now up you get. Go shower and whatnot."

He forced himself to stand up and head back to his room. He didn't see Murphy so apparently his bird was sucking up attention with the chicks again. At least someone had taken care of him. He headed directly for the shower. He really needed one; he smelled.

***

Dumbledore looked up as his door was tapped on, admitting the new student. He smiled as he stood up to shake her hand. "Melody, how good to see you again," he said pleasantly. She took the seat across from him. "I've received your records from Beaubaxtons. Let's test you to see where you get to go."

She smiled. "Thanks," she said in a soft Brooklyn, New York accent tainted with a hint of French accenting. "I didn't think this place was this big from what the other girls said."

He laughed. "Yes, they seemed a bit shocked themselves when they were here a few years back." He nodded at her wand. "Are you ready?" She nodded. "Good. Change that chair you're sitting on into an animal."

She stood up and faced it, considering the chair. She knew what type of animal she transfigured it into was as much of a test as her ability to do it was. She had been a year ahead in transfigurations at her last school so she had to make it look good. She decided on a baby elephant since that would change form, color, size, and texture, and waved her wand.

***

Dumbledore walked into the Great Hall with the new student, causing some of them to stand up and look at her. "Yes, we have a transfer from Beaubaxtons," he said pleasantly, standing in front of the instructor's table. "This is Melody. Her mother is British and just transferred back from France. Her father is an American and she spent most of her life with him since her mother traveled, in case you wondered about the accent." He smiled at Xander. "I'm sure you will both get along very well in your demonic activity class."

Melody looked at the teacher and her heart stopped for a second. He was gorgeous. His body was like heaven to her. It was calling out to her. The hand on her shoulder kept her from going to him, but she would get the chance later. She was in his classifications class. She smiled at him and licked her lips. He shook his head and took a sip of something pale blue. "What's his name?" she asked the man holding her still.

"That's Professor Harris." He leaned closer to her. "Yes, he is like you, but he's very muchly taken, my dear. Do be careful." He smiled at the Gryffindor table. "The sorting hat put her into your house, please make her feel welcome." He pushed her gently toward the table and Harry. He knew he could trust that trio to keep her from harassing Xander too badly.

Melody took a seat near them, smiling at the students around her. "This is wicked cool," she told them, examining the plates. "The girls never said anything about this stuff."

Harry blinked a few times. Her accent was different from any of the Americans he had ever heard speak and was rather difficult to understand if you didn't listen closely. "Where in America are you from?" he asked her.

"New York City." She smiled at the redheaded girl who sat next to the other redhead. "Related?"

Ron nodded. "This is my sister, Ginny, and I'm Ron. That's Harry and Hermione." He pointed at them. Someone from across the room whistled, making him turn to look at the couple kissing at the Hufflepuff table. "That's just sick. We're trying to eat here!" he yelled at them. "Go find a closet!"

Melody laughed. "Oh, honey, that's nothin' compared ta what I saw in my dorm." Hermione and Ginny looked at her in shock. "None'a you do that here?" Both women shook their heads. "Damn, I guess France is more liberal." She shrugged. "Usually there's at least one couple in every dorm section experimentin' with whatever's at hand. It's the being put together all the time thing from what they said. Wicked experimentation."

Hermione cleared her throat. "We're not exactly like that here," she explained carefully. "Here, our houses are like our families. It'd be like doing that with your brothers or sisters."

Melody shrugged. "That's cool. Got any clue where I could pick up a good spot of trouble or two?" She grinned. "Or three maybe, I'm not picky about my trouble." Harry coughed.

"Don't worry, trouble seems to come here," Ginny told her. "We draw it."

Ron snorted. "George said it's Xander's fault." A few of the students around them laughed. "So, what's your area?" Ron asked her.

"Transfigurations. I'm a year ahead and going strong. Yours?"

"Apparently it's my advanced dark arts classes," he said easily. "Professor Giles actually gave me a compliment this week."

Hermione smiled at him. "I heard. It was very nice work, Ron." She dished up some of the potatoes that appeared in front of her and passed them on. "So, Melody, what year are you?"

"Fifth."

"Ah."

Ron looked at Hermione. "Why did you turn down being Prefect and Head Girl?" he asked her. "I've been wondering that for over a year now and keep forgetting to ask."

She smiled and looked down at her plate. "Because I wanted to concentrate on my schoolwork instead of monitoring others' behavior. It's easier this way, and I can take more challenging classes." She glanced at Harry. "Besides, with some of our activities, it would be rather difficult to be the Head Girl or a Prefect."

Harry patted her on the back. "Don't worry, we know you're the one they asked first." He looked at Ron, who shrugged and grabbed the meat platter. "Did you need help with your dueling?" he asked her.

Hermione smiled at him. "I could use some help. I was dreadfully slow last class." She took the meat from Ron. "Thank you." She handed it off to Melody. "Eat up. There's plenty here."

"You guys learn how to duel?" she asked, taking some of the meat for herself.

"It's part of the advanced dark arts class," Ron told her. "That and learning how to fight physically. We've even got to start jogging." He shuddered. "I would almost rather kiss Fang." Harry and Hermione laughed. "Who runs for fun?"

"It's not supposed to be fun, it's exercise," Harry told him. "Muggles do it sometimes."

Hermione nodded. "My father used to jog until his knee gave out on him."

"Wow, you guys are really into the whole fighting thing, huh?" Melody said, dishing herself up some peas, but no one else around her took any. "My gain," she said as she grabbed some more.

"Professor Giles is very strict about our conditioning," Ron told her, starting to eat. "He all but ordered us to lay off the sweets."

"Students," Dumbledore said, standing up. "A quick announcement. Professor McGonagall has reminded me that this is the first Hogsmeade weekend. Please make sure she has your permission forms." He sat down again.

Ron smiled. "Wicked, we can go see the joke shop. George swore that he laid down the carpet correctly."

"This time?" Ginny asked with a bright grin. "Do you think Xander would teach me how to punch someone?"

"Who's been bothering you?" Ron asked hotly. "Tell me who it is and they're toast."

She patted him on the hand. "Just in case, big brother." She smiled at a boy farther down the table. "Just in case." Ron wrapped an arm around her neck and noogied her. "Hey! Watch the hair!" She pulled away from him, slapping at him. "Meanie! I was going to ask someone to the ball."

"It's not for months, Ginny," Harry reminded her.

"Yay, that means I don't have to worry about it. Or make someone's mistakes," she said, smirking at Ron.

"Good point," Hermione agreed. "I would have appreciated it." Harry and Ron both looked embarrassed. "Not again," she sighed. "I thought we got this settled."

"I think I'm asking Melissa," Ron told her. She scowled at him. "What? She laughs at my jokes. You don't."

She kicked him under the table. "Fine, ask a Slytherin to the dance. See if I care."

Harry grabbed her before she could get up and flounce off. "Would you go with me then?" he asked her, giving her a cute, yet helpless smile. "I'm fairly lost in social settings, but we could have fun."

She sighed. "Fine, I'll go with you," she told him, glaring at Ron, who quickly looked away. "You really like her?"

"She's nice," Ron defended. "Not great like you, or anything close to being a friend, but she's nice. And she did laugh at my joke in research." She slumped a little. "Sorry, Hermione, but I didn't think you'd want to go with me."

She shook her head. "Guys, I hate to be the one to burst your bubble, but I'm a girl too, not just a friend." She grabbed some bread and made a sandwich of her meal, heading up to her room to sulk.

Ginny clapped. "Way to go." Ron glared at her. "What? She's right, you see her as a friend, not as a girl. You didn't even notice when she trimmed her hair." She pulled a plate of sweet potatoes over and dug into them. "Maybe you should actually take a good look at her the next time you're together wearing skimpy clothes."

"Ginny," Ron groaned. "She wears the same sort of thing I do."

"Which are surprisingly comfortable," Harry put in, desperate to change the topic.

Ginny nodded. "I noticed. Mom sent one of your shirts to me by accident, Harry." She smiled at him. "It makes an excellent sleep shirt. Just yell if you ever want it back."

Ron laughed. "Had a few shirts disappear that way. Never have gotten my Cannons jumper back."

She smirked at him. "It's right beside his," she told him. "Comfy, stretched out, and well-worn. If you did the laundry, you could steal big shirts too."

Harry smiled. "She's got you there, Ron."

"But I only want *my* clothes," he said in frustration. "That was my favorite shirt."

"And now it's mine," Ginny told him, still smirking. "That's the whole point of hand-me-downs." She looked at Melody. "Are you an only child?"

She nodded, but was smiling. "Practically. My next youngest is nine years younger."

"Bet that's wonderful," Ron said, shooting his sister a glare. "I'm surrounded by them."

Melody laughed. "Some days it's nice, some day's it's really annoying because I'm supposed to act my age, but also able to play with him. Which can suck because he's one of those argumentative ones." She dug into her veggies. "What about you, Harry?"

"Um, no, I live with my Godfather. No close relatives." And he enjoyed every minute of living with the now cleared Sirius. It was so much better than the Dursleys.

She looked at him, then reached over to lift up his bangs. "Huh. Cool. Just don't let him come near me or I'll kick his ass." She shrugged and went back to eating.

"You can't take on *him*," Ron hissed. "He's powerful."

She smiled at him. "No one in this school can guard against some of my magic." She looked up at Xander, who was staring at her, and grinned at him, licking her lips.

Ron caught on. "You're like him?" She nodded, looking smug. "That's wicked."

Ginny suddenly burst out laughing. "Their magic getting together to cause trouble," she explained when they looked at her.

Ron snickered. "True. I can just see Xander's wacky magic joining with yours to make some people's life hell."

"Ron!" Ginny scolded. "Don't swear. You're setting a bad influence for me and I'll never get a date to either dance."

He patted her on the head. "Don't worry, no one wants to take you anyway. You're short and your hair's messy." She shrieked and hit him again, making him laugh. "You hit like a girl."

"I *am* a girl," she told him, gathering up her things and leaving them alone. "I'm telling Bill."

Ron waved at her. "Go ahead, tell him I said hi," he called after her.

Harry shook his head. "Don't pick on her. She's your only sister."

"Yup, sisters can make life a living hell," Melody told him with an innocent smile. "Gotta side with the shrimp on that."

Harry gave Xander a look. Melody was insane. Ron's future was looking rather grim if he continued to play with Melody. Hopefully he would be able to keep her calmed down so she didn't get him too.

Xander shrugged back.

"Wonderful," Harry muttered.

***

Xander looked across his classification's class the next morning, frowning when he saw the new girl sitting in the front row. "Melody, please go sit in the back, beside Ron. This seat's taken." She pouted but went back there. "Um, Ron, hate to bring this up, but didn't you already pass this class?" he asked as he wrote the outline on the board.

"You told us we could come sit in on your class whenever we needed to get away," he said with a grin. "You're presently stopping a beating."

Xander smiled. "Okay. We'll talk after class." He heard the bell and counted heads, frowning. "Where're the Hufflepuffs?" he asked.

"They had Sprout before this," a Gryffindor male told him, preening when Xander smiled at him.

This third year class was very needy for praise and attention; he only taught from third years on and they always seemed to need the attention. Being thirteen and fourteen sucked, but they were old enough to learn some of the more *different* things in the world. Teaching first years last year had gotten him many owls of protest from parents who wanted their children to remain innocent for a bit longer. "If they're not here soon, I'll go look for them while you guys take notes." He finished his outline and turned back around. "So, where's Kyle, Magdalin, and Merry?" Everyone pointed at the hall. He walked over and peeked out, blushing as soon as he caught them. He wasn't ready to handle this! Older kids maybe, but not this. "Tara?" he yelled. She stuck her head out of their classroom down the hall and he nodded at the threesome. "I think they need to talk to you about hallway behavior." He pulled back in and shut the door. A few of the students giggled. "It's okay, whatever's okay with them, just not in the hallway." He crossed his arms, checking his watch. "I'm going to go look for the missing students. You guys copy down the outline and be quiet." He walked out, running into the lecture on tact and finding a dark corner, giving Tara a funny look for what she was saying.

"It's better than the middle of the hallway," she told him.

"Then have them sit with someone and discuss this," Xander suggested. "They're thirteen." He jogged out to the front door, looking outside. He saw a few students trudging his way, and one of them was even his. "Guys, problems?" he asked, getting out of their way. They were covered in mud.

"Professor Harris? Can we please skip your class to go take a shower?" his student asked. "We're filthy. That guy who keeps bragging about how he hunts with his father over-watered the garden."

Xander looked them over. "Where's the rest of your class?"

"Pulling weeds," the lone male in the group said with a grimace.

Xander waved a hand. "Go take a quick shower and show up to your classes. I'm going to go check on everyone else." He turned, missing the panicked look.

"They're coming," his student told him quickly. "It'll be a few minutes, but they're coming."

Xander looked at her, and shook his head. "Nice try." He grabbed the back of the kids' robes and marched them to the transfiguration classroom. He stuck his head in. "Professor, a word please?" he asked politely. He handed over *all* unruly student not in Slytherin to McGonagall. She handed them to the head of their houses on occasion, but she had told him to hand them over to her first since she was the Deputy Headmaster.

She walked out and closed the door once she saw the condition of the students. "What happened now? You're a mess."

Xander nodded. "And they just tried to tell me that Professor Sprout not only kept them over, but asked to take some time to go take a shower." McGonagall nodded, looking like she expected that. "And then I saw the panicked look in her eyes." He patted the top of his Hufflepuff student's head. "She looked like she was lying. I'm still missing all the Hufflepuffs as far as I know."

"Go check on Professor Sprout, most of them should have been out there." She frowned at the students. "We will be talking tonight. Go shower." She smiled at Xander. "You did correctly. Check on your class first." She patted him on the arm and went back to her fifth years.

Xander jogged back down to his classroom, peeking inside. "I'm going outside to look for everybody. Ron, teach this section." Ron looked stunned. "You had it two years ago and got it down brilliantly, go for it." He turned and walked away, confident that Ron would at least try to give it to them. Maybe Ron would surprise him and actually get it all covered. He walked out the main door and stopped, walking back through it when he felt the force-fieldy thing wash over him. "Huh, not a great. Very odd. I'll tell someone later." He jogged over to the greenhouses, slowing when he saw the students gathered around a teacher, who was hanging upside down. "All right!" he yelled as he walked closer. His hand found his wand in his pocket and started to pull it. "Put her down, line up, and we're going inside!" A wand was pointed at him but he was faster. "Expelliarmus!" he shouted, taking their wands from them. "Freeze!" The whole class froze in place. "March!" The students marched toward the school. "Professor Sprout?" he asked, noticing that she was hanging by a rope around her feet. "I don't have a knife, are you going to be okay for a few more?"

She squeaked, her face was flushed. "Not much longer please. That one child snared me."

He grinned. "I'm going to get Hagrid, he's outside too, I saw his class on the way over." She nodded and he ran for Hagrid's class. "Hagrid!" he yelled. The professor and gameskeeper turned to look at him, frowning. "Someone set a snare and caught Sprout. She's presently hanging upside down outside of greenhouse three."

He nodded. "I'll go cut 'er down. Her students?"

"Are on a forced march up to the main hall. Oh, and there's something funny going on with the door. See if you feel it too." He ran that way, sure that most of the students would be inside by now. He found Professor Snape trying to stop them. "Freeze!" he yelled as he pointed his wand at them. He counted. "We're missing three or four."

"They're headed back this way," Snape said, glaring at him. "The Imperious curse is not to be used on students!"

"The what?"

"The method you used to get them here."

Xander shook his head. "Not even. This is one of the things I learned. It leaves their minds free, but their bodies moving. It's not a bad thing." Snape was still frowning. "Then I'll let Dumbledore yell at me," Xander told him. Snape nodded, looking sinister. "Hey, all good. They had Professor Sprout hanging by her ankles from a tree."

"Oh, dear," Dumbledore said as he walked into the main hall with the missing students. "Xander, for future reference, the freeze and march commands are to be used sparingly, but I do understand this time. Did you cut her down?"

"I told Hagrid, I didn't have a knife on me." He waved a wand, muttering the unfreeze command. The students all started to talk at once. "Shut up or I'm doing it again," he said coldly. They all shut up and looked at their feet. "Thank you." He looked at Dumbledore and Snape. "I'm going to go let Ron collapse. Did you need me?" Both teachers shook their heads. "Have fun then, McGonagall sent a few of them up to take a shower, they were really muddy." He stepped up to Dumbledore and whispered in his ear. "I let Tara handle it, I'm not up to that."

Dumbledore laughed. "I'll sent a notice around about the official policy," he assured the boy. He smiled at his back, then looked at the students. "It could have been much worse," he reminded them. He watched as Hagrid carried in Professor Sprout, walking past them. "Is she all right?"

"A bit dizzy," Hagrid told him. "What's on the door?"

"Door?" Snape walked out, and couldn't get back in. He pulled his wand and cursed, making the door part of the doorway explode, but the field didn't come down. So he tried another one, getting dust, and admittance. "That should take care of it." He pulled his students out of the group and stared them down. "We will have a discussion after the Headmaster gets done with you." He turned and went back to his class.

Dumbledore shook his head. "That was not very wise," he told the students. "Go to the Great Hall and we'll discuss this matter." He followed them, wondering how Xander had frozen them all at once. He wouldn't mind learning that spell. If he remembered right, Ms. Granger had used it so it probably wasn't a restricted spell. He sighed when he thought about how many owls he was going to be sending out in the next few hours. He needed a quill that would take dictation.

Xander walked into his class and found Ron stuttering out the major class of demon. "Relax," he told him, giving him a smile. "Sounded great, Ron. Go sit." The boy scrambled back to his seat with a sigh of relief.

A student raised her hand. "Where are the others, sir?" she asked.

Xander frowned. "They're having a talk with the Headmaster. I'm sure they'll be back by next class, which reminds me - you have a test next week." He gave them a reassuring smile. "So, plane-bound demons of the underground classes."

***

Xander grabbed Ron from dinner that night and led him down to his office, not saying anything, just keeping an arm around his shoulders. Once he was inside and the door was shut, he walked the boy into the office. "Ron, I've got something serious to talk to you about." The boy nodded, looking almost upset. "Not bad serious, but still serious." He picked up a book, one that had a lot of practical joke spells, but also had a lot of practical and creating spells. "This is a diary. It's part of the textbooks that I got this summer." Ron nodded, starting to look happier, and sat down. "It's got some spells that I think you could use, and some that I think you'd probably take a lot of joy out of being able to use." Ron smiled. "The only way I can give it to you though, is if I can get an oath that you're going to keep it safe. *No* one can read it except you. Not Harry, not Hermione, not anyone." Ron looked eager. Xander glanced at the diary, then at the boy again. "If this gets out, I'm going to have to kill you, and I'm being totally serious here. Got it?"

Ron stood up. "I understand. I asked Hermione about the books she had from you and she told me the same thing. She told me how the spells had been used to hurt a lot of your kind, and real gryphons, so I really do understand." He took the book from his favorite teacher. "How do I lock it?"

Xander pulled out his wand, then ran it from front cover to back cover as if the tip of his wand were tracing an imaginary clasp, doing it three times. "That binds it." He put his wand in the center and said "Tranque Senha Murphy (In Portugese: Lock, Pasword)." He smiled as a gold lock appeared on the book. "That's the lock, the last word is your password. To unlock it, you put the point of your wand on the lock and resay the password. You have to do both of them every time you open it. And please don't pick a word that you use every day, like Quidditch." He unlocked the book.

Ron redid the binding, then said "Tranque Senha Venus!" Xander gave him a funny look. "I like the myth. I'm seventeen, my mind goes there."

Xander chuckled. "I know. I'm not seventeen and my mind goes there." He grinned. "Just keep it safe and keep it to yourself. And please, none of them in class."

Ron laughed. "Sure. I can't show Hermione?" Xander shook his head. "Okay. That all?"

"Well, there is one thing." Xander sat on the edge of his desk. "We're going to be dueling again next week and I'm putting you with Malfoy." He raised a hand when Ron opened his mouth. "I know you hate him, and that's not why I'm doing this. You and he are the two fastest draws in the class. Not even Harry beats you guys." Ron grinned again, pleased by the compliment. "I know that you might be facing off some day, and this isn't about that ether. I just think that you two are going to be the best at this and I'm separating groups out by the best. So you, Harry, Malfoy, Hermione, and Karyn will all be in one group. Melissa and Philip will be switching back and forth, and everyone else will be in the other. Do you have any objections before I make it permanent?"

"Will we be expected to help the others?" Xander nodded. "That's wicked. I'm good enough to help others!" he said proudly, clutching the book to his chest.

"Yup, you are. You're good enough to tutor. Please leave Draco alone though. Okay? He's having a tough time wrapping his mind around the whole point of 'not totally a bad guy and not really a good guy' in this class." Ron sighed. "Sorry, but that's the requirement. I'm not asking that you be friends, but just leave him alone and quit picking on him. I've already had a discussion with him about it and he's agreed to leave you alone too."

Ron nodded. "All right," he sighed. "I'll leave 'im alone."

"Thank you." Xander stood up and gave him a hug. "Would you like it if I sent an owl to your parents telling them how good you are doing? I'm going to see who wants me to send one next month."

"Please. Mum was really worried about me taking this class."

"Cool. I'll do that later." He led the boy out of the room and locked it. "Go put that away and be happy." He watched as Ron jogged off. He walked up the owlry to send a message, running into the chicks and the parent phoenixes up there. "Hey, guys," he said happily. Fawkes squawked at him and flew down to sit on his shoulder. "Are you guys enjoying the night air?" Murphy trilled. "Cool. I'm going to send a message to George's parents." Murphy straightened up and looked interested. "You wanna go?" His bird flew down and landed on his head. "Okay. Let me write it out and you can go." He scratched Fawkes on the chest and she flew away, chattering to her chicks while he wrote out the message for the Weasleys. He attached it to Murphy's leg. "Okay, take this to George's parents. Not George, his parents." Murphy nipped him and flew out the window. Xander looked up to see twenty-two glittering eyes staring at him. "If you want, I'll fly with you tomorrow afternoon," he offered. "Or you could come down and fly around the school."

Fawkes led the way out of the room, her chicks following behind her, one lagging a little behind. That one ended up on Xander's head, mimicking his father's favorite position. He was too tired to make it back to the nest.

Xander met McGonagall and Snape in the hallway, obviously heading up to their rooms. "The chicks are ready to roam," he announced. Fawkes came flying back, scolding her son. "He got tired," he told her. "I didn't mind." The chick took off, flying beside his mother, who had slowed down to encourage him.

"I'm sure we'll be seeing them chasing the mice around the school," McGonagall said happily. "How are your classes?"

"The beginning classes are doing the usual, the test next class will show how bad some of them are." Snape snorted. "The advanced class is going very well. I just sent a note to Ron's mother about how well he was doing. He's the second fastest in the class right now, he and Draco bounce back and forth for that honor." Snape nearly smiled at that. "I was thinking about sending home progress announcements next month to their parents."

Snape shook his head. "Mr. Malfoy only wants contacted if his son is doing poorly."

Xander shrugged. "Okay. I needed to know that. I was going to take a poll of who wanted their parents to know." He leaned against the wall. "Giles and Black are handling people to come in and talk to the kids. I know we're getting an auror in after Christmas. Right now, Giles is trying to get the kids to agree to jogging."

Snape shuddered. "That's a horrible thing to do to them."

"But useful," Xander reminded him. "Some of these kids are going to end up in battles within the next few years. I'd rather that they were in shape than out of shape."

Snape sneered. "Hopefully, they'll be able to handle it. I'm sure Mr. Malfoy will *enjoy* his runs around the grounds. Good evening, professors." He walked away, leaving them there.

McGonagall smiled at Xander. "I'm sure you'll hear a great many complaints, but don't let it stop you. I've been in fights before where I was worn out from standing there." She chuckled. "I'm sure it will be quite entertaining for many people, watching them run around and sweat."

Xander winked at her. "And next year's class will know all about it," he said as he walked away, heading to his room. Her laughter followed him up to his room, as did one of the chicks. He opened the door and turned to close it and found a little hovering gold body. "Oh, hey," he said, putting out a hand so it could land. "What are you doing away from the nest." He sat down on his bed, the door still open, so he could pet the little darling. They weren't sure what sex this one was, but he thought she was a girl, a very darling little girl. He cooed at her, making her sing happily.

"Xander," Giles said as he stepped out of his room. "What is that noise?"

"One of the chicks followed me up." He nodded down at her. "She's so precious."

Giles came in and looked down at her, smiling. "My, aren't you tiny," he said, reaching down to scratch the top of her head with a finger. "Are you named yet?"

"We're doing that soon," Xander told him. He looked over at the door as Fawkes flew in. "She followed me up here." He put her on the bed so her parent could check her over. "She was very good, got some lovies." Fawkes cooed at him, then nudged the daughter, flying out after her to make sure she got back to the nest.

Giles laughed. "They're going to liven up the classes, I have no doubt of that." He smiled at Xander and left him alone.

Xander closed his door and sat down to work on his spells. He had just gotten to a fascinating group of illusion spells that he wanted to try out.

Part 2

Molly Weasley gasped when she saw the bird flying toward her back door. She opened it, letting the phoenix inside. "Oh, my," she said when she saw the colors. "Murphy?"

Arthur walked in from the living room. "That's Xander's bird?" He took the message off, smiling at the contents. "It's praise. He's not in trouble, Molly."

She sat down to read the message, smiling at the praise it contained. "That boy," she said fondly. She reached over, scratching the bird's crest. "Would you like a snack, dear? I'll write out a reply right now." Murphy leaned over and nudged her face, giving her a phoenix nuzzle. She laughed, petting the precious one fondly.

Arthur smiled and put on his hat. "At least it was good news." He grabbed some floo powder and took off for work.

Molly frowned at his back. "Something went on and you didn't tell me," she told the empty house. "You will not hurt Xander. He's meant for George." Murphy sang, agreeing with her.

***

Ron looked up as a bright and shiny object headed for the Gryffindor table, his mouth falling open as Murphy landed in front of him, holding a large package. "What's this?" he asked, taking it from the bird.

Murphy nuzzled him and flew off, going to take up residence on her daddy's head. He cooed at Dumbledore but gave his daddy ear nips.

"Did you have a good trip?" Xander asked, smiling up at the heavy weight on his head. He reached up and fed the bird a piece of his meatloaf.

Ron opened his package, smiling at the letter and the fabric that spilled out. Deep, rich blue velvet. "It's a robe," he said happily, opening the note to read it.

"Anything good?" Xander called.

"Mum said hi and thanks for the note," he called back. "Said she found the perfect robe for me, just needs something around a pocket." He laughed. "She said it'd do me good to learn how to fix it too." He looked up. "It tore while they were packing it away."

Xander grinned. "Cool. I have a spell for that. I even fixed my last sweater from your mom."

"Put it on," Harry encouraged.

"Later," Ron said with a blush. He balled it up in his lap and went back to his dinner, eating quickly.

Hermione played with her food and stared at her plate. Harry nudged her. "What's wrong?" he asked quietly.

"I'm not doing well," she confided.

Ron smiled at her. "Then we'll help. Xander said I was one of the two fastest in our class." He glanced at the Slytherin table, but Malfoy was staring down at his plate too. "We'll work on it this weekend, how's that?"

She smiled at him. "Thank you, Ron."

Harry nudged her again. "We'll both help." She finished her food and got up to go study. Harry looked at Ron. "A new robe?"

"Xander sent home a progress report for me. Mum was really pleased, but they got it last week. This was just convenient." He smiled happily. "Did you hear about how we're splitting up the class a little?" Harry shook his head. "Those of us who are moving ahead really rapidly are getting a group by ourselves to practice in, and to help the other kids when they need it."

Harry smiled. "I like that. When?" Ron shrugged. "Hopefully it'll be next class." He looked over at the Slytherin table, but Ron shook his head. "He's in our group?" Harry asked in shock.

Ron leaned closer. "Xander told me that he and I keep going back and forth over which is quicker in a duel." He glanced over and saw Malfoy watching them. "I hate to say it, but he is good at this stuff."

Harry nodded. "True. I just wish he would keep his smart mouth to himself."

"Maybe he will," Ron said. Xander may have talked to the boy, but he wasn't counting on it working all the time. "We've got to run tomorrow," he reminded his best friend. Harry shuddered. "It could be worse. We're not going at dawn. Giles did suggest that but Lupin and Black overrode him about the time."

Harry laughed. "No, we're not going before breakfast. That's a nice switch." He ate a bite of his meatloaf. "I wonder how Hermione is really doing in the class."

"I don't know. Xander won't gossip." Ron dug into his dinner, hoping to get done so he could go read some more of his new book. The spell he had tried last night had been so very wicked. Now he could have pastries whenever he wanted them.

Harry looked at him, Ron was hiding something from him, something big. He hoped that his friend would share soon.

***

Draco looked at the missive from his father and grimaced. He had to do this, so he stood up and walked up to the head table. "Professor Harris?" he asked quietly, trying hard not to disturb the sleeping chicks that had decided Xander was a roost for all of them. He laid the note out in front of his teacher, letting him read it for himself.

Xander smiled. "Not a problem. Tell him to come up for next week's class. We'll be doing duels and physical training, by group."

Draco nodded. "I doubt he's going to be impressed."

"We're doing the new light exercise." Draco smiled at that. You stood in this darkened box and had to weave around dark shapes that popped up in the way of your target, while trying to hit the target with a beam of light. He had done very well in it so far and could see the application for it. "Tell him what we're doing and invite him to participate if you want." Draco nodded. "Would you mind taking a few of these guys so I can eat?" he pleaded.

Draco carefully lifted one sleeping chick into his arms, taking it back to his seat. He noticed that Ron and Ginny both did the same, taking a chick each back with them too. Professor Harris looked very happy with them, picking up his cup of tea to give himself some caffeine for the day. Draco carefully wrote out his reply, hoping not to wake the chick as he moved, and sent it back with his father's owl.

***

Professor Snape shrieked and ducked, trying to get away from the dive-bombing creatures. "Go away!" he shouted, waving his arms.

Murphy flew down and shrieked back, scolding him for it. He called to his chicks and headed for the classrooms.

Snape stormed away to find Harris. This was ridiculous. He walked into the advanced class, frowning when he saw the exercise going on. "Your bird just tried to attack me," he said harshly.

Xander looked over at him, nodding another student over to spot the one he was helping lift weights. "The chicks taking lessons in hunting?" he asked dryly. Snape frowned. "I'll talk with Murphy tonight, but they are little and learning. I'll bring it up tonight with Dumbledore too." Snape stormed out and Xander turned back to the class. "Guys, rest," he called. He sat down in one of the comfy teacher chairs, watching Ron and Draco duel. "I said rest!" he called when they started another light duel.

Draco looked over at Ron. "My father's coming next class," he hissed.

Ron shuddered. "Wonderful. I'll warn Harry." He smiled. "Thanks for the warning. Gotcha!" He heard the second yell and shrugged it off. This time, Draco got him in the stomach. "Hey!"

Draco smiled. "All's fair in war."

"And love," Harry said as he walked over to them. "Xander's about to freeze you both."

"It'd be fine if only it were cold," Draco said as he walked away wiping sweat off his forehead.

Ron sat down on the mats they had been standing on. "His father's coming next class."

"Wonderful," Harry said dryly, sitting beside him. "Looks like you showed him."

Ron nodded. "I'm wondering if I should make him look like an incompetent git next class or let him win a few." Harry laughed and shoved him.

"Let?" Draco said as he walked back over with a glass of juice. "I win two-thirds of all the duels." He smirked at Harry. "Going to hide from my father?"

"No. I'll be doing weights. I need to build up some muscles in my arms for Quidditch practice." Draco's mouth fell open in shock. "England's coaches told me I need to train harder." He got up and strolled away, going to get himself a mug of juice too.

"Th...they're recruiting him?" Draco stuttered.

Ron grinned cruelly. "Harry got to go to a recruitment camp this summer. They said he needed this year to train, but that he might have a spot next year." He got up to get his own juice.

"Ron," Xander warned. He had heard it. "Don't rub it in."

"Yes, sir," Ron sighed.

Draco drank his juice, staring at Harry. What did Harry Potter have that he didn't?

***

Xander followed the students down into Hogsmeade, going directly to the joke shop with half of the students. Since he and Harry had gotten most of Gryffindor to buy stuff last year, and the episode at the Halloween feast, the students all flocked to see what new treats the twins had cooked up. He walked in and sat down against a wall, smiling at Fred. "Hey. Whatcha got?" he asked happily.

A few of the students who knew he was seeing George smiled at him, giving him sly looks. Even one of the Slytherin kids gave him one. They bought their fill and tromped out. Only a few treats floated out of pockets and back into their respective cases thanks to a very nice anti-theft spell.

Fred leaned on the counter after the rush was over. "George is working on something new right now. Another color-changing product." He smiled at the few remaining students who were browsing the shelves. "The color changing frogs were made last night," he told them. He saw a few get tucked into pockets and raised his wand, putting them back. "We've got anti-theft spells," he warned them. The caught student sighed and bought a few things, leaving the store. Fred looked over at Xander. "I heard you guys got a transfer."

"Yup, Melody. Gryffindor." He shuddered. "Please, never leave me alone with her." Fred frowned. "She's a *lot* like me."

"Oh. Animal attraction?" Xander nodded. "I'll keep that in mind." He stood up and rang up the student coming up to the counter. "Did you find everything?"

The girl smiled up at him, a pretty little fourth year Hufflepuff. "Can I make a suggestion?" Fred nodded. "Could you make color-changing ribbons? Like you open a gift and it changes you colors? Maybe for Christmas? My mum would love them."

Fred grinned. "I'll start working on it tonight. That's a great idea." She squealed and grabbed her package, walking out beaming at the world. The two kids who jumped her outside got zapped by Xander, and she waved as she walked on. Fred snickered. "Those two are just bullies. Bet they're smarting right now."

"Oh, they are," Xander said, getting comfortable. "So, how's it going otherwise? Any juicy gossip from your parents?"

Fred leaned on the counter again. "Well, your ambassador showed up."

***

Ron and Harry looked at the girl following them, grimacing at each other. "Never been here before?" Ron asked her.

Melody laughed. "Nope. I *love* Diagon, but I've only heard of this place." She looked at the small village. "Two joke shops?" she said in a nearly-reverent tone of voice. "Wow."

Harry chuckled. "One of them belongs to Ron's brothers. The others are slimy gits who pissed Xander off last year by picking on Ron's brothers."

Ron laughed. "Oh, you should have heard some of the names Xander called them."

"Let's go," she said, dragging them to twin's shop. "This is the one, right? It's a newer building so I assumed it was your brothers'." They stepped inside and she got a look of awe on her face.

"Hey, guys, where's Hermione?" Xander asked.

"She'll be down in a bit, wanted to do something funny to her hair," Harry told him. He walked over to the 'new' section, smiling when he saw the little silver balls. "What're these, Fred?"

Fred came over and looked down at where he was pointing. "Those are jelly balls. It's like the jelly leg curse, only for the whole body. It dissolves really quickly into anything liquid and it's kinda neat."

"Only if it wasn't tested on you," Ron put in, smiling at his friend. "Just don't put any in my soup. Had enough of that this summer." He walked over to sit next to Xander. "So, what devious plans do you have today?"

"I'm going to relax and plan the class for two weeks from now. We're hoping for rain." Ron shuddered so he patted him on the head. "You've got to get used to working in all conditions, Ron. Not all fights are indoors, with your usual comfy clothes, and bright lights." He looked over at Fred. "Ron is very good at dueling, one of the two fastest, but he's not great at the 'get around the blocking thing to hit the target' exercises."

Fred looked down at his baby brother. "I'm sure you'll learn. Think of it like hitting one of us with a spell without us knowing from the next room." He smiled at the young girl who was 'casually' walking up to Xander. He nearly laughed when he saw her glue herself to his side, and his panicked expression. "George, Ron is here!" he called. Xander shook his head, his eyes moving to her.

George walked out of the back room, frowning when he saw the girl attached to Xander's side. "Well, if it isn't the trouble making duo," he said mock-happily. "Hey, Ron, I got something new to try on you." He laughed when he saw the shudder.

"I'll be a test subject," Melody said nicely. "I *love* pranks."

"That's because you're like him," Harry told her, pointing at Xander. He caught George's eye and shook his head, rolling his eyes. George relaxed. "Were you going to get anything?"

She skipped over to the cases and grabbed a few things she wanted to try.

Ron looked over at her. "Just as long as none of it ends up in or on me," he warned her. "I know how to counter everything here and my brothers will give me worse stuff."

"Sure we will," George said dryly. Ron glared at him.

"Family is something good to work with," Xander said, starting to relax now that he could move again. He gave the twins a 'help me' look again, nodding at Melody's back.

"Hey, Harry, where's Hermione and Ginny?" George asked, leaning on the counter beside his brother. He smiled at Xander.

Xander felt the itching feeling start up again in his palms and his stomach. He was going to explode if he didn't use some of the energy. "'Scuse me," he said, hurrying out. Everyone was staring at him, he knew they were.

"Energy build up," Melody said out of the blue. "Always happens when you're in a good or lusty mood. Had a few times like that in my last dorm, really cute girl in my room and all." She carried her selection over to the counter. "Do you have anything meaner? I'd like to prank Professor Harris." She grinned evilly.

George nearly shuddered. She was after *his* Xander. Not a chance. "I think I have something in the back." He caught Fred's look and smiled innocently as he went back to get it.

Fred leaned closer. "Please don't hurt Xander. He's George's."

She laughed. "He can be his all he wants, but this *urge* is coming over me."

"It's called animal attraction," Hermione and Ginny said in unison as they walked in.

Ginny looked at Fred. "Why is Xander out there changing the colors on your broom?"

"Energy build up," Melody told her. "It happens whenever we're in lust, or really happy." She took her purchases but leaned closer to Fred. "As the older gryphons say, there's a difference between love and mating to continue the bloodline." She skipped out, going off to explore on her own.

Fred nearly whimpered. Xander was going to have trouble with her.

"That's why we brought her in here," Harry told him, looking over at him. "We've got to protect Xander." He brought over a color-changing frog. "Think you could make me one of these, only less froggy, for Christmas? I was thinking about sending something to the Dursley's this year after the visit I got this summer."

George whistled as he came out. "Meow, Harry. What form did you want it in?"

"A cake," Ron said, smiling. "Something that they'll eat but not serve to guests."

"No, they might pass it on," Harry told him. "I've seen Aunt Petunia do it before with a Christmas Bomb." He looked at the twins. "Even something that doesn't change colors would be great. With a limited working time if possible so I don't get in trouble for exposing the wizarding world."

Fred snickered. "I know just the thing, we used to do it to Percy. Works for about five minutes, then disappears without a trace." George laughed, nodding.

Xander walked back in. "Don't pick on the Percy, he's got enough problems in life." He retook his seat, after carefully checking around. "She's gone?"

"Gone to bother someone else," Harry told him with a smile. "Can we use the training room after class hours?"

Xander looked at him, then shrugged. "I'd say yes, but the exercise equipment you've been glued to really needs to have someone spotting you just in case."

"So, if he gets someone else to work out with him, it's all right then," Ron asked.

Xander nodded. "Sure, on those conditions. We lock the room so you'll have to come see us because we're using a special key." Both boys nodded.

"You've been working out?" George asked. Everyone in the store nodded. "Let's see some muscles then."

Ron and Harry both took off their robes and rolled up their shirt sleeves, showing off the developing muscles. Hermione lifted her shirt two inches so he could see her abs. Ginny blushed and wrapped her arms around her chest. Ron looked over at her strangely. "What?" she snapped. "I'm allowed to work on that part of myself!"

Ron and Fred both burst out laughing, and George pulled her over for a hug. "Of course you are," George agreed, "but if a boy looks at you, he's going to have to get through all of us to see what you've been working on." She stomped a foot, making him laugh.

"That is the curse of brothers," Xander told her.

"You don't need a boy anyway," Ron told her firmly. "You're too young for that."

"He's channeling your father again," Hermione said dryly. The twins laughed. "Ron, she's old enough to date. Seriously! Some girls in other countries are married and have children by the time they're her age." She picked out what she wanted and handed it over with some money. "These for me I think." She smiled at Fred. "Can we count on you to help us with the Melody issue?"

Fred snickered. "Sure. I'll try and keep her distracted so Xander can run for it."

Xander blushed. "I'm sure she'll get over it eventually," he sighed.

George came around and pulled Xander up, dragging him into the back room. "She'd better get over it, the little trollop." He kissed his boyfriend gently, like Xander liked. "I'll make her sorry if she doesn't." He felt Xander relax and decided a hug was in order. "Has she been bad?" he asked into Xander's hair.

"She stares," he complained. "She's in my classifications class and she constantly stares at me. She even licked her lips a few times. I lost my place in the lecture." He wrapped his arms around his friend's body. "This is the first time I ever wished I was a normal guy again."

George patted him on the back, one of his hands sliding down to touch the perky butt. "I'm sure she'll get over it." Xander's breath quickened. "Too much?"

"Another energy buildup," Xander confessed. "This sucks." He pulled back. "I don't want to have to go prank someone right this moment."

"So show me one," George suggested with a sly grin. "I can only promise to try and replicate it the normal wizard way, but it would help."

Fred stuck his head into the lab. "I got a suggestion earlier. A girl wanted us to make color-changing ribbons so she could wrap her present in them." George snickered. "Said her mother would love them." He smiled at Xander. "Ron was telling me about a great illusion you did recently. Do one of those." He closed the door firmly behind him.

Xander pulled his wand and aimed at a clear space. "Dresdelis," he whispered, picturing a half-Ron/half-monkey being for the 3-D illusion. It started to dance and sing a silly song about a lovely bunch of coconuts. George fell to the floor laughing. "Gee, just laugh," Xander said with mock-indignation. The picture changed to one of George and Xander banished it as quickly as he could.

"Hey, I liked that one," George complained. He grabbed Xander by the leg and pulled him down onto the floor, holding him tightly while he struggled. "Quit, I won't hurt you," he reminded him.

"And you did ask for cuddles," Fred said from the doorway. "Minister Fudge is here with Percy," he said in his most dry tone of voice. "Percy smiled at me, it's creepy."

Xander hopped up, helping George to stand too. "Really?" he asked with a smile.

"Looking for you," Fred added.

Xander frowned, patting down his pockets to make sure his wand was back in there. He smiled at Percy as he walked out, stopping to talk to him. "You never have to fear me," he whispered. "I figure you've had enough hell from the twins." He stepped over to Minister Fudge. "You wanted to see me?" he asked, trying to sound neutral since he couldn't act well enough to pull off pleasant.

"Why did you send her down?" he demanded. "You're actively working against me and I won't stand it, boy!"

Xander shook his head and smiled. "I didn't send Fredericka down to see you. The ambassador decided to come see you before that *incident* happened." He heard Percy gasp and looked back at him. "Heard about that?"

"Father threw quite a fit last night when he learned exactly what had happened," Percy told him.

"Do tell," Fred told him, looking at Xander. "Incident?"

Xander nodded, looking at the Minister. "*Someone* sent a group of people up there to try and kill the ambassador and myself. They got pretty close too."

Fudge glared at him. "I had nothing to do with it," he spat. "I'll have you removed."

"Go right ahead," Xander told him. "I can always go hang with them and finish my education." He smiled. "I might even get the hang of potions with a few years of Reynaldo slapping me on the head with a wing." He crossed his arms over his chest. "I had nothing to do with her coming up. She decided a few weeks before the villagers showed up she needed to talk to her liaison about finding more of us. If you had checked around, you would have learned that she sent an owl *three weeks* before that incident to set up a meeting." He stepped away. "I'm sorry if what I am bothers you, but I could care less about your personal prejudices. If you want to be a bigot, go ahead and have fun. I've always thought there was a special place in hell for people like you." He stepped back farther when he saw Melody coming that way. "I think you'd better leave before the *other* of us gets in here."

Minister Fudge's face turned purple as Melody walked in. "Who're you?" he snapped.

"Melody DuPruis," she said with a faint smile. "My mother just transferred in." She held out a hand but he refused to shake it. "Oh, you're one of *those* people," she said in a snotty voice. "Wonderful." She looked at Xander, giving him a brilliant smile. "Do you fly?" He nodded. "Would you like to take one with me?" He shook his head. "Shoot."

"You're not allowed to go off school property without permission anyway," Fred told her. "No flying without permission from the head of your house and Dumbledore."

She shrugged. "It was just an idea." She grinned up at Xander. "How about a picnic then?"

He shook his head. "I'm showing off to George and Fred." She frowned. "I'm doing illusions."

"Oh. You're not letting the magic out, are you?" He shook his head, giving her a confident smile. "Then who has your books?"

"Hermione, Snape, and I have one," Ron told her. His brothers stared at him in shock. "It's got stuff about making things like brooms. Xander's lent it to me to look at that part." He smiled at her. "I'm not letting it out either. It's locked up in my room."

She looked relieved. "Good. I'd hate to have to kill you if it got out. I'm starting to really like you." She looked at the Minister again. "Did you need help picking out a prank, sir? I'm sure that either myself or Professor Harris would be more than happy to help you."

Minister Fudge stormed out of the building.

"Good riddance," George muttered. "Xander, show Ron what you just showed me."

Xander shook his head. "Not a chance. He'd try to hit me and I'd have to beat him up. It wouldn't look very good." He looked at Ron and grinned. "But I'm sure he'll catch something like that eventually. I'll only be able to hold off so long."

"As long as it's not in front of Malfoy," Ron said wearily. "I can't stand another year of teasing."

"Do you want me to hurt him?" Melody asked with a perky tone.

Everyone shook their heads very quickly. "Not necessary," they told her, almost in unison.

"Pity," she sighed. "I can think of a few things I'd like to try with that boy." She shrugged and walked away.

Xander shuddered, cringing. "Eww. She wants to do Malfoy."

Ron mimicked him. "Gross thoughts," he complained. "I won't get that picture out of my head for days." He smacked Xander on the arm. "Thanks a lot."

"Here, try this," Fred told him, handing him a piece of candy. "Take it right outta your head."

Percy snickered when Ron's head turned into a potato. "That was brilliant," he said with a smile for his brothers. "Xander," he said, turning to look at him. "I'm sorry for what father tried." Xander shrugged. "I know he's sorry. Remember, some of us aren't like Fudge."

Xander smiled. "I know. I met some really nice Ministry guys when they came up to save us. Only one of them gave me funny looks and I'm betting that's because I was crying at the time." He reached back and scratched the scar. "This is starting to bother me again." He dug inside the pockets of his robe with his free hand. "I know I brought some," he muttered.

George thoughtfully came over to help him, coming up with the vial. "This?"

"Yeah, that," Xander said, taking it and swallowing it. He sighed when the itching started to fade. "Snape mixed it up. The poison needed a long-term antidote so I'm taking this for the next two days." He looked around the store. "Gee, his funk didn't taint anything."

Percy patted him on the shoulder as he walked past him to the fireplace. "Minister Fudge was questioned yesterday about his involvement in that incident. There are many who are not pleased with him. He brought me so I could keep you focused on not hurting him." He waved at his brothers and flooed away.

"Incident?" Fred asked.

"Villagers, fire, the usual," Xander told him.

"Ah." Fred threw something at his head. "I'm going to chain you to George so you can't get into trouble." He looked at Ron, then at George. "What image did he have going? I only saw you."

Xander took out his wand and redid the dancing Ron monkey. Ron mumbled but his lips didn't move.

***

Xander walked back into the school and directly up to Dumbledore's room. He tapped on the door. "Sir?"

"Come in, Xander." Dumbledore looked over at him. "Is this about Minister Fudge?"

Xander walked in and shut the door before any of the chicks could escape. "He accosted me in the twin's shop. I basically told him I'd see him in hell." He sat down across from the kindly old man. "Melody offered to hurt him for me."

Dumbledore smiled. "Of course she did. You're part of her flock now. She considers you a possible mate and someone's messing with that." Xander looked up in shock. "The female gryphon is much more violent than the male. Didn't you realize that?"

Xander nodded. "I knew, but she doesn't have a chance."

Dumbledore smiled kindly. "I know, and so does she, but she's got this urge to make more little partial gryhlets. It's so strong that it's probably clouding her vision." He handed Xander the chick that had been helping him read. "Here, pet her, she's needy today."

Xander sat back, petting the little baby. "What am I supposed to do about Fudge? He just threatened to have me thrown out."

Dumbledore laughed. "You'd be surprised at who's sticking up for you, my boy. Even Lucius Malfoy isn't complaining too loudly right now." He smiled and his eyes twinkled. "I heard it was a foot."

Xander grinned. "Yeah, me too. The toes even wiggle according to Draco." They shared a laugh. "So I shouldn't worry?"

"Definitely worry, but don't make it your whole life. Be on guard." Xander nodded at the wise advice. "Now then, we need to talk about names, young man. I can't keep calling them 'hey you' and 'the pretty one'." The phoenix in Xander's arms cooed at him.

"We really need to know their sex," Xander pointed out. "Otherwise we could have a Glinda the Good Witch who's male."

"Glinda? I've never heard of her."

"Oh, she's a character in a muggle work of fiction. The Wizard of Oz?"

"Hmm. I'll have to check that out. She sounds interesting." He pointed at that one. "For her you think?"

"Sure. Glinda wore a sparkly ball gown." Xander looked around the comfortable room. "Sir, can I ask a few questions? I'm thinking ahead to Christmas for treats for my kids." Dumbledore nodded. "I'd like to show them some things that I grew up on." He looked down at the baby nuzzling his chest. "I'm not breastfeeding you, don't do that," he scolded gently. He petted her to make sure she knew she was loved. "Do we have any electricity around here?"

Dumbldore laughed. "No, but I can tell you how to compensate. As it happens, we actually have a television that was left here by a muggle-born student a few years back. It has a...." He snapped his fingers. "The thing that plays those little black cassettes."

"A VCR?" Xander asked hopefully.

"That's it, a VCR. Yes, one of those; it's attached."

Xander beamed. "Cool. Can I borrow it over Christmas? I'll floo over to London and get some movies?"

"If you'd like," Dumbledore agreed. It was going to be an interesting holiday.

***

The next advanced class, Lucius Malfoy showed up, sneering at the weight equipment. "My son uses that?" he asked, pointing at it.

"He's building up his arms and legs for Quidditch," Giles told him, giving him a smile. "Draco, your father."

"I saw, two more reps," he called.

His father frowned. "Now, boy."

Draco did them both quickly then got up to walk over. "Sorry, sir, but I needed to finish them." He used his towel to wipe off his sweat. "Professor Giles, Professor Harris said my father could try some of the training equipment for dueling if he wanted."

Professor Giles smiled and pointed at the darkened corner. "Go ahead, he's walking the other group through it right now." He held out a folder. "These are Draco's scores so far. Xander pulled them when he heard you wanted to come see your son's progress."

Malfoy senior took it and looked it over. "Where does this place him?"

"Within the top four," Giles said, smiling at the boy. "He's one of the top two in physical dueling, but he has a minor problem with this exercise that he can correct quickly with some more practice. His physical conditioning is quite good. Some of his methods are rather extreme, such as baiting his opponent," he said with a frown for the boy. He looked at the father. "He's doing quite well."

"Is he second or first in dueling?"

Xander walked out of the darkened area. "It depends on the day. He and Ron Weasley are neck and neck for that honor." He slapped Draco on the neck. "Take him over. You can watch the other group and have another go. I'd like to see you get over ninety percent."

"What is that exercise?" Lucius asked with his usual sneer. He had apparently learned how to ignore the foot sticking out of his nose.

"It's dark, there's a target, and things pop up between you and the target," Xander explained. "It's to simulate a fight while running, possibly in the woods or inside a house."

"We fire light at the target, the teacher marks down when we hit it, and we're scored on the number of hits in how much time with how many obstacles," Draco finished explaining. "I'm running just at ninety percent at the moment."

His father smiled at him. "Then let's see if you can do better while I'm here." He followed his son over.

Xander leaned against Giles watching him walk over. "Think he's going to try something while the kid's in school?"

Giles looked at him. "Are you feeling protective toward him?" he asked quietly.

Xander nodded. "A little. I'd like for all the kids in here to at least hit the good side of neutral. I know it's unreasonable, but I have the feeling that Draco's father is examining him for flaws before trying to make him join the family business."

Ron walked over, having heard. "Draco's just bad," he told them quietly.

Xander shook his head. "No one's *just* bad, Ron. Humanity is a spectrum. We each fall somewhere short of the absolute ends." He smiled fondly at him. "Go duel with Hermione, she needs the practice." He nodded and walked away, dragging his friend over to the stacked mats. "So, jogging, Giles?" he asked with a grin.

"Yes. I expect you'll want to join in." Xander shuddered. "You don't run?"

"I hate running. Running leads to falling, which leads to scary things trying to beat me up." He walked away, going to help Hermione with her form. She was slumped over for some reason.

Lucius watched his son carefully as he went through the exercise. Maybe he had been wrong about him this summer. Maybe the boy wasn't too soft for the job. He certainly had the skills. He declined a chance to go through the exercise personally; it looked rather like work.

"Good job," Lupin told Draco, giving him a smile. "Ninety-two percent. Just under Harry's at ninety-five."

Draco smiled. "I was motivated." He looked back at his father. "Potter still has the highest score, but I hope to beat him by the end of this term."

Lucius led his son back toward the rest area. "Are you coming home for Christmas?"

Xander looked over at them. "I was kinda hoping he'd stay. I was going to do something special with the kids who were staying." He walked over to them. "There's a martial arts exhibition in London a few days before Christmas and I was hoping to take him. Draco has the body for it if he wanted to take up a muggle form of fighting."

"Fight without magic?" Lucius asked, looking horrified.

"Martial arts are about concentration and using your body to its fullest potential," Giles told him. "I taught some rudimentary forms to my Slayer." He smiled at Draco. "Xander is quite correct though, he does have the ability to go in that direction if he wanted. I doubt he'd be able to break bricks with his hands like some people, but it would give him an extra layer of concentration."

"Yes, but it's not magical," Lucius reminded them.

Xander shrugged. "I'm not sure that a wholly magical approach is necessary. Sometimes hitting something works better than killing it. Intimidation can be more powerful than death." He stared into the other man's eyes, telling him that he knew what Lucius stood for and what he had done.

Lucius backed away a step. "That may be true. I'll consider it." He looked at his son. "Are you coming home?"

"I'd like to stay. It's not like we have a celebration," Draco told him, not sure why he said it. His father nodded and walked away, pausing at the door.

"Boy, I'd like to talk to you about this growth," he told Xander.

"I'll have Ginny Weasley sent up to Professor Dumbledore's office so you can apologize," Xander agreed. Lucius scowled at him. "That's the only thing that will make it go away, an honest apology."

Lucius huffed and walked out.

Draco slumped. "That was close. He could have cursed you, Xander."

Xander smiled at him. "If he tries to hurt me, I'm getting him back with something so evil that even his master will laugh and be shocked." He laughed at the shocked looks. "Hey, you never mess with a gryphon or its family." He put an arm around Draco's shoulders. "So, wanna go to London to see this exhibition? It'll probably be us, Harry, Hermione, and Karyn."

Draco shook his head. "No thanks. I'd rather eat live snakes and shit their babies." He walked away to go get a drink then went back to his exercises. It was his day to do this.

Xander laughed. "I like that one, I'll have to steal it." He looked back at Giles, who was still looking shocked. "What? It was a great line." He went back to the darkened corner, going to help the students who weren't so fast.

***

Xander stood in front of the now-yearly occurrence of the maze, watching as his students passed through it. "Remember, don't actually stake the vampire unless you're last," he called when he heard the 'shit, it's a vampire' scream from inside. "Just pretend!" He looked over as he felt someone move up next to him. "Melody, get back in line," he said, going back to his grading. It was a miracle, one student had come out walking confidently and not sweating or pale, and no one had passed out yet. He thought this one had been harder but apparently he was wrong.

"Xander," she purred, "can I help you do anything?"

"You can get that hand off my arm and get back in line before you flunk," he told her coolly. She didn't move. "Now, or you flunk and lose house points." She sighed and walked away.

Professor Snape, who had been asked be down here and monitor, walked over to him. "I've never had that problem," he said, seeming to be laughing at Xander.

"It's called animal attraction," Xander told him, looking over at him. He grinned. "George is ready to skin her."

Snape gaped at him. He'd heard of that problem, it could turn out quite badly. "What are you doing to discourage her?"

"Short of hiding, I'm doing all I can. Even a repellent charm didn't work." Xander shrugged. "It sucks but she'll get over it. It's about the same as any crush." He scratched his head. "Never had one of those before outside of Willow, but it's handleable." He handed over the sheet for the Slytherin students. Most of them had went through already. "House scores?"

"How are you judging this?" Snape said as he looked them over.

"Professor Flitwick charmed a few clipboards. Whatever the teachers inside the maze put down is added to this one and I tally it at the end. I give them more points for coming out in one piece and for not breaking down crying, but no one loses points as long as they finish."

Snape nodded and handed it back. "How are they doing against the other houses?"

Xander grinned. "Second best." He looked down as the clipboard vibrated and sighed. "Well, that takes that section out."

"What happened?"

"That one Hufflepuff who hunts with his father just staked the vampire prematurely. Hold this." He gave him the clipboard and walked into the maze through the teacher's entrance, going to make an illusion vampire. He smirked as he created Angelus. A 3-D representation that would hop out and scare the crap out of the students. He whistled as he walked back out, stopping to laugh when he saw the chick sitting on top of Snape's head. He walked over and took the clipboard. "It's her daddy's favorite position," he reminded the pissed off teacher.

"Get her off me," Snape snarled. "Shoulders are acceptable, my head is not."

Xander looked up at the bird. "Move down a level, baby Glinda. He doesn't want you mess up his hair." She nipped at Snape's hair and moved down to his shoulder, giving him ear nips. "Those are phoenix kisses."

Snape rolled his eyes and went to find the chick's other grandfather. This was strange. This chick followed him everywhere. She had even sat above one of his least favorite students a few classes back and shat in his potion.

Xander giggled. He looked over at Lupin, who was outside the maze too. Lupin was resting his head against the wall and banging a fist into it while he laughed. A few of the remaining students were laughing too. "Remember not to do it to his face," he told them, looking over as someone screamed. "She okay?" he yelled.

"Your vampire just tried to bite her," Black yelled back. "She'll be fine. Just shocked."

A male who had already went through looked up at Xander. "The fledge didn't try to bite us."

Xander smiled at him. "I created an illusion vampire, giving it three responses. Bite, jump, and growl." The student laughed. "It'll be okay. It can't really bite." He checked his clipboard. "What?" he called.

"Please make this less realistic," Black yelled. "It just tried to bite me. It's annoying." Black walked out. "Besides, what vampire looks like that."

"That's Angelus," Xander told him.

"What?" Willow shrieked, exiting the maze.

"An illusion one," he told her. "Chill. It can't really bite the person."

"But...but, if you're not careful, you can pull part of the real Angelus into the illusion, like you did with the Ronmonkey last night."

Xander sighed and decreated the illusion, setting up a new one from where he stood. "There, one illusion of the former fledge." A new voice screamed, this time in real terror so they hurried in there. Xander staked the fledge standing there. "I didn't know I could do that," he muttered as he concentrated on his illusion, making sure it was really an illusion this time. "It's okay," he said as he walked out. "All fixed." He looked down at the clipboard, smiling at the note. This vampire purred when he jumped out at you? Oh, well, it would do. There were only a few more students to go.

Ron and Draco walked down the stairs arguing. "Tell him he's a slimy git!" Ron demanded.

Xander looked at Draco, then at Ron. "Why? He's not slimed at all. I can create some if you'd like, but I doubt he really needs to be slimed today."

Draco frowned at him. "Weasley thinks I was hitting on his sister. McGonagall told us to come to you before I finished beating the shit out of him."

"Language," Lupin called. "Five points off each."

"Git isn't a swear," Ron complained.

"But I figure we'll be hearing one from you soon enough, Mr. Weasley, so it was in advance."

Draco snorted. He looked back at Xander. "I don't fancy her, I was reading the sign stuck to her back."

"A likely story, you were checking out her ass," Ron snorted.

"See?" Lupin called. "Next one is five more."

Xander smiled at them. "Draco, can you promise me that you're not after his innocent, sweet little sister?"

"Certainly." Draco stepped closer. "I take care of those needs," he admitted with a faint blush and in his quietest indignant voice. "There's plenty around willing to lay down for me."

Ron's mouth fell open. "What? Where?"

Malfoy smirked. "You never got approached?"

Xander smiled at Ron. "It's girls after him for the name. They're after the Mrs." Draco nodded. "That doesn't bother you?"

"I'm not with them for a relationship," he snorted. "They know that. I make it very clear."

Ron frowned. "Fine. Remember my sister's not one of them." He stormed off.

Draco shrugged. "I really was reading the sign on her back. It was funny."

"That's fine. Stay out of his way for the next day or so." He stopped the boy from moving. "You're being careful, right? I mean, I know your father would probably shit if you had a kid, but there's other things out there."

Draco laughed. "There's spells for that too if you know where to look."

"You mean no one gives you guys sex ed talks?" Xander asked, his face starting to scrunch up.

"We tend to leave that to the parents," Lupin told him as he walked over. "You found the spell?" Draco nodded patiently, looking upset. "Good. As long as you're careful. It's an ignored situation." Draco nodded and left. "We can't teach them that, Xander, parents get really upset and scream mean things at Dumbledore. He tried to with the year before mine. Looked like a blizzard of owls the next week."

Xander shrugged. "As long as that protective spell is getting around somehow."

Lupin grinned. "Of course it is, through the girls." He checked the clipboard. "Just the three left to go through?" Xander nodded. "Then what are you doing with your afternoon off?"

"I was going to take the chicks flying if they wanted to go outside."

"There's a high wind. Madam Hooch canceled flying lessons because of it."

"Oh, well," Xander sighed. "Maybe I'll go work out downstairs." He looked over as Snape walked back down the stairs. "Glinda go back to her other grandfather?"

"No, she took off somewhere." He scowled at the students sitting around. "Are those finished?"

"Yup, was about to release them for lunch. Go." The students ran up the stairs, heading for the Great Hall.

Snape tried to stare Xander down, but the boy simply chuckled. "What that girl is doing is inappropriate. You can not take this so lightly. Not only does it look bad on the school, it sets a bad precedent for other students." He smoothed down one of his sleeves. "The next thing that will happen will be one of them coming after me."

Xander held in his laugh. That was a match he'd like to see, Melody and Snape. "I'm trying, Professor Snape. If you'd like to give it a shot, go right ahead. I'd appreciate it greatly if she never grabbed me in the halls and rubbed against me again." Snape goggled at him. "That was last night after dinner. The night before that I found a pair of obviously used panties on my bed, in my locked room." He glanced around then stepped closer. "If you'd handle this, I'd be *really* grateful. McGonagall couldn't get through to her, Dumbledore had a word with her, and neither one of them has been able to stop it."

Snape unstiffened slightly. "Fine, I'll have a word with her. Her behavior with some of my young men has been quite irresponsible."

"You mean she's only hit on the guys?" Xander asked. "She's always talking about the female fuck-buddy she left back at Beaubaxton." Snape looked shocked. "Sorry, did I offend you?"

"That's not a comfortable subject for many of us."

Xander chuckled lightly. "In America, we can do that, have a friend that we sleep with whenever it gets to be too much. It breaks up the boredom of masturbation." He walked away, going to check on the student coming out of the maze and send her to lunch.

Willow stuck her head out of the maze and shook her head. "It's not like that for all of us," she assured Snape.

"Indeed." He walked off.

Xander grinned. "Well, that was fun," he said cheerfully.

"Feel better now?" Tara asked him. Willow gaped at her. "It was obviously his wearing out of the day."

Willow shook her head and withdrew. She didn't want to go there, ever.

Xander sat down on the bench and looked back over his scores, tallying the last group as they walked through.

***

It was the middle of November and Xander was contemplating asking George to the Yule ball as he walked toward his room after dinner. He flinched when he heard a door slam somewhere behind him. Melody had been really persistent recently, so much so that he hardly went anywhere without at least one other person. He turned a corner, taking the last hall he would need to go down to reach the main entryway and the stairs up to his room. From the shadows, a dark form moved, slamming him against the opposite wall. "Help?" he yelled, trying to push the girl off him. She was stuck to his body, trying to bite or lick his neck, or something. He kept pushing at her, but she was pretty strong for a sixteen year old. "Some help here?" he called again. He heard footsteps as she slid down his body, and he continued to struggle. "Help?" he yelled.

Professor McGonagall rounded the corner at the same time as Professor Snape. She glared at the girl. "Petrificus totalis" Xander glared at her, it had gotten him instead.

Snape took the direct approach, trying to pull the girl off him while the other teacher freed Xander from the spell.

"Get her off me before I hurt her!" Xander said coldly. Hagrid and Dumbledore came from the entryway about the same time she tried to swallow him through his pants. He hit her, making him release him and was pulled away from him. "I want her fixed," he panted.

Hagrid grabbed the struggling girl, holding her still. "Take her to my office," Dumbledore said quietly. He waited until they were alone. "Are you all right, Xander?" Xander shook his head. "Will you be all right in a bit?"

Xander sighed, slumping against McGonagall. "I'll be fine. I'm really pissed though."

Dumbledore smiled. "Yes, that's what brought me." He looked the boy over. "Close your robe, Xander."

Xander looked down at himself in disgust. He wrapped his robe tighter around his body. "I want her fixed," he repeated. "Whatever's wrong, I want it stopped."

"Is there anything in your books?" Snape asked him.

Xander sighed and shook his head. "I tried looking, there's nothing. The closest thing was a spell so someone wouldn't get hurt during mating." He looked at the headmaster again. "I can't take this anymore."

"That's reasonable. Can you contact the gryphons and ask for advice?"

"If I had a private fireplace. I'm not supposed to tell anyone how to reach them."

"Use the one in the staffroom, I'll watch the door," McGonagall said, glancing at the other teachers as she walked Xander that way. "She attacked you?"

"She shoved me against the wall and tackled me," he said, rubbing his neck. "That's just ick. I need a shower, I feel dirty."

"Of course you do," she soothed. She nodded Professor Flitwick out of the staffroom and locked the door once they were alone. "Call them, I'll be over here making some tea, Xander."

Xander pulled a crown royale bag out of his pocket, tossing a handful of the contents into the fire. "Fredericka?" he called softly. No answer. "Reynaldo?" A face showed in the fire, the gryphon who had refused to tell him his name. "I really need Fredericka," he told him.

The gryphon looked him over. "Is it an emergency?"

"If you consider my sanity useful, yeah," he told him. He leaned closer. "There's another gryphon-born here and she just attacked me."

The gryphon laughed. "If that's all, I'm sure you won't hurt her."

Xander frowned. "I don't want her. I'm already taken. If she comes near me again, I'm *going* to hurt her. Very badly if I can. She just *attacked* me in the hallway."

The gryphon frowned. "Fredericka and Reynaldo are out flying. I will have them call as soon as they get back. Maybe she can fix this one. It is the mating urge."

"But I'm with a guy!" Xander hissed.

"Ah." The gryphon nodded wisely. "You are still eligible then. The mating urge will happen until you have a gryphlet of your own. Then none will touch you save your mate."

"I'm not foreseeing children," Xander noted dryly.

"Ah, but one of the most devious of us did create an accommodation spell for such instances," he said with a smirk.

Xander shook his head. "I doubt I'll be using it. Can you fix her? Make her come out of it or whatever?"

"If she was mated with intensely it could help the urges slow, but it would take a special potion to make it fully stop."

"Hey, potions we can do." The gryphon elder gave him a dry look. "Not me, there's a master maker of potions here and Melody has even gotten on his nerves."

The gryphon elder nodded. "I will talk to Fredericka when she gets back. It will be her decision. Females rule the roost." His head disappeared from the fire.

Xander sat back, looking at McGonagall. "This really sucks," he told her.

She hauled him up. "It could be worse. She could have gotten through your clothes." She gave him a short hug. "Go change clothes, Xander, then come to the Headmaster's office." She unlocked the door and let him leave, watching him jog up to his room. She shook her head. She had never seen such a thing before. She walked up to give her report.

***

Xander walked into the headmaster's office, frowning at the girl sitting in her chair, chained to it actually. "So now what?" he asked.

Dumbledore pointed at a chair. "For right now, we sit. I just got word that one of them is on their way up to look at Melody."

"At least you didn't comfort her," Xander said, glaring at her. "You will never touch me again or I'm going to get violent."

She sneered at him. "I've tasted your blood, you're mine! You'll stay my mate!"

Xander growled and balled up his fists. "Over your dead body."

"Xander," Dumbledore said quietly. "No one faults you for your anger, but please don't destroy my office with it." He smiled at the young man as he put a wall of silence around her again. "I do have a partial solution until we can get this settled." He opened the book in front of him. "Since it was reported to me that she has entered your room in the past, I'm going to give you a secure room. You'll have a picture to get past and a personal door." He looked up. "It will be temporary, but the room isn't that horrible. It does face the East tower's wall, but you don't seem to like a view anyway."

"As long as there's a window so Murphy can get out."

Dumbledore nodded. "There's actually two of them. This room is larger." He smiled. "Would that suit you?" Xander seemed to relax as he nodded. "Fine. I'll have your things moved for you tonight. And since you'll now have a sitting room, the chicks can spend the night with you." His eyes spoke of mischief. "I'm sure they'll enjoy helping you sleep as much as they did me."

Xander smiled, looking down at his hands. "It's okay. I like noise when I sleep."

"Even better. You'll be closer to the kitchens and the dungeons than not." Dumbledore looked over as Hagrid walked up his stairs. "Is she here yet?"

"Yes, sir, Professor Dumbledore, sir, there's a gryphon coming in for a landing." He smiled at Xander. "You all right there, Xander?"

"I won't kill anyone," Xander said optimistically. He stood up. "Let's go. I could use some comfort." He walked out, going to wait outside, as far away from her as possible.

Hagrid smiled at the headmaster. "I hope you don't mind, I sent for some of my advanced class to wait out of the way and see the gryphon."

"As long as she doesn't mind, I have no objections," Dumbledore said as he stood up. "Bring her please, Hagrid. I'm sure you'll be able to keep her away from poor Xander." He headed down to the front hall. He found Xander surrounded by feathers as he got his hug. He considered calling on George to come up, but thought it better that Xander tell him personally.

Little did he know that a student in Hufflepuff had seen the removal, one of Xander's students from last year. The news was already on its way around the school and down to the village. Ron had just punched a wall and broken his hand, and even Malfoy was pissed enough to move the girl off his lap.

Xander stepped away from the elder female gryphon, he had already told her all about it. She had promised to fix the girl. He watched as Melody was put in front of the female by Hagrid, biting his lip.

"Where is this potion master?" Fredericka asked. "I think we can bring her out of this heat."

"She's in heat?" Hagrid asked, looking interested. He loved creatures. He reached out then withdrew his hand. "If'n you don't mind, may I pet you a bit?"

"Hagrid, step off to the side so Professor Snape can talk with her," Dumbledore said kindly.

Fredericka stared down at Hagrid, then extended a wing. "I could use some grooming. It was a very fast flight." She looked over the potion's master, then at Xander. "You trust him?"

"He's making the healing potions," Xander said with a shrug. "He even adjusted the headache one for my depth of heritage."

Fredericka laughed. "I'm sure it will be fine then." He stepped closer and she put her beak down near his ear, telling him how to fix the girl. She pulled back. "Keep her locked in a room by herself. Even wearing it out won't help that much this time." She barked at the baby phoenix who had come out with Professor Snape. "You are adorable," she told the chick, nuzzling it. It sang at her. "Very cute." She looked down at Dumbledore, then at Xander, then back at the headmaster. She leaned down, telling him something too. He nodded and stepped away. She looked back at Hagrid. "Thank you, young one."

He laughed. "I'm not young, ma'am."

She chuckled. "Trust me, to one my age, you are very young." She patted him with a wing. "I will be up this spring, the embers have told me so. We will talk then." She bowed to Xander. "Be at ease. They will fix her." She took off, gliding away on a thermal heading home at a leisurely pace.

Xander stood up. "Can you tell me which painting is mine?" he asked politely. "I'd like a bath now."

Dumbledore smiled and nodded. "Of course." He led Xander down toward the dungeons and took a small side hallway, pointing at the painting second on the left from the dead-end of the hallway. "The password is fletching right now, but you can change it." He handed over a key. "This is for the door after it." He patted Xander on the back. "I've already had the house elves move everything down here, including the nest. Have a good bath. Please, feel free to call on me tomorrow if you want to talk."

Xander impulsively gave the older man a hug. "Thank you for not making fun of me." He opened both doors and disappeared.

Dumbledore stood there for a moment, basking in the glow. He did enjoy good hugs and didn't seem to get so many of them these days. He went back to his office, knowing that the two professors had everything in check.

Xander came out of the bath and flopped down on his new couch. It would be okay. She couldn't get to him. He heard a scratching at the window and went to go look at it, smiling when he saw the tiny owl. "Hey, Pig," he said as he opened it. A nice smelling breeze came through, but he closed the window before the chicks could get out. "No, it's not time for you to go outside yet. There's a big wind." He took the message and smiled. Ron was worried about him. He sniffled. He loved his adopted family.

***

Xander looked over as Ron and Harry walked in, followed by Draco. "Thanks for the note, Ron," he told him with a smile.

"What she did was wrong!" Ron said firmly.

"I agree," Draco said from behind them, making Harry jump. Ron gaped at him. "What? That's barbaric. No witch or wizard should ever have to force their way onto anybody," he said coldly. He looked at Xander. "I was so shocked I actually pushed someone off my lap," he said with a small smile.

Xander laughed. "Thanks, guys."

"How're you getting any?" Potter asked.

"I've never had to beg, borrow, steal, pay for, or even ask for sex, Potter, it comes to me." Draco turned and walked into the changing area.

Ron laid a hand on his arm. "They're after his money."

"Oh." Harry grimaced. "Can't be fun then." He shuddered lightly.

Another of the male students, Philip, a Ravenclaw, walked closer. "My mother told me that she'd cut mine off if I slept with a girl while I was still in school," he told them, smiling at Xander. "I believed her stories about women who did things like that and then dumped defenseless men."

Ron smiled at him. "My mum didn't say anything to me on the subject. My brothers all warned me about a certain type of girl though." He waited until Draco came out to go change, taking Harry with him.

Xander smiled at Philip. "Your mom may have been right. Just think about having a kid at your age."

Philip delicately shivered. "Please, anything but diapers," he said dramatically, then he walked over to work on his dueling.

Malfoy walked over. "What's my group doing today?"

"You're with Lupin and Black learning some very advanced fighting spells," Xander told him. Draco nodded. "Then you'll come back and help the others."

"All right. Where are they?"

"Three floors up and off to the right," Xander said dryly. Draco looked at him. "There weren't any open classrooms down here."

"Oh." He shrugged. "That's fine then. Three floors up and to the right?" Xander nodded. "Are they coming down to guide us?"

"In a few minutes. Lupin sent a note." He held up the enchanted clipboard. Ron and Harry walked out together. "You guys are going to get some advanced spells then come down here." They nodded. Xander looked at Ron's shirt. "That looks like it used to belong to Hagrid," he said with an amused smile.

"My dad had it when he was here," Ron said, flushing a little. "He said I could have it for pajamas. I need to do laundry."

"Hey, take the bag upstairs with you and wash things," Xander encouraged. "It's all good here as long as you have clothes for next class." He hit himself on the head. "And bring a spare robe next class. We're working in normal clothes."

Ron nodded. "Yes, sir." He turned as the door opened, smiling at Professor Lupin. "Are we yours today?"

Lupin nodded. "For the next hour."

Xander whistled. "All those in Harry's group meet by the door, you're going upstairs for an hour." Everyone except Hermione came over. "Where's the bright one?" he asked Ron.

"Infirmary. Her stomach hurts again."

"Happens about every three weeks or so," Harry noted, looking at Ron.

Xander coughed to hide the laugh. "I'll talk to her later," he told them. "She can get the notes from you guys." He waved as they left, then broke out laughing. It wasn't really funny, but it kinda was in a way. She probably turned into uber-bitch too. Giles smacked him on the back as he walked past. "Hermione is in the infirmary."

"Poor girl, I'll have to go see her later. Is she very sick?"

"No, it's the stomach cramps that she gets about once a month." Giles stopped then shook his head. "I think we'll have to make an allowance."

"Yes, we probably shall have to. Are you going to put up a note about wearing normal clothes with robes next class?"

"Right before everyone leaves." Xander got up to go help with the weights. It was his turn to spot for the kids.

***

It was two weeks before the Yule ball and Xander still hadn't decided whether or not to ask George to it. He was waffling hard when he ran into someone. "Oh, hey," he said, stepping around Ginny. "Seen the brothers recently?"

She pulled him into an empty classroom and shut the door. "Professor Harris, can I come talk to you about stuff that I'm worried about?" she asked.

He gave her a hug. "Of course you can. Maybe you can even help me figure out if I'm supposed to ask George to the dance or not."

She giggled. "George hates dances. He only goes to make-out."

"Oh. I guess that's one decision out of the way." He let her go and stepped back. "What's up?"

"I'm having funny feelings about some things and I'm kinda worried about acting on them."

Xander grimaced. "This is about sex, isn't it?" She nodded, looking very pink. "Are you sure you want to ask me? I don't have the best track record in the girl department. Tara though, she's great at this stuff."

Ginny sighed. "I know, but I can't talk to her. She's too familiar to be a stranger and too strange to be family."

"Which is why you came to me. Okay, I'll try to help. What's on your mind?" He sat on the top of one of the student desks.

"I think I want to have sex, but I'm not sure."

He cleared his throat, trying to will away the blush he was sure he had. "Well, my rule is if you're not sure you're not ready. Of course, you can feel ready and not be ready too, but most of the time if you have to ask the question, you're not ready." He stopped when he realized he was babbling. "What's the next topic?"

"How do you know when you're ready?"

He shrugged. "My first time just kinda....happened out of the blue." He considered it. "I guess you'll know. Some sort of instinct or feeling will pop up and go 'now'. Willow told me that she was sure when it happened, but Oz had taken a lot of time to get to the same point. I'm guessing for girls it's instinctive."

"So, kinda like Melody going into heat, I'll know?" She looked confused. "What if it doesn't happen soon?"

He patted her on the head. "Honey, you're sixteen, you're not going to run out of shelf-life anytime soon." She looked even more confused. "You've got time, live a little before you get into the heaviness." He scratched his eyebrow. "Have you tried to talk to your mother yet?"

Ginny nodded. "And she said it wasn't time yet, that *she* would tell me when it was time," she said with a disgusted look. "I don't want to be a twenty-year-old virgin."

"See, that's four years for that feeling to pop up though," he said quickly. She frowned at him so he gave her another hug. "Wait a while longer, it'll happen when it does." He pulled back. "Sorry if it's not real helpful, but it's all I got."

She nodded, but she was smiling. "Okay, I can wait." She hopped down. "Are you going to ask George anyway? I'm sure he'd be really excited. He might even buy a new robe. He needs one you know."

He reached over and tugged her bangs. "How about you help me pick out mine while I figure that out?" She giggled. "Thanks. I'm hopeless when it comes to clothes." He slid off the desk. "My criteria is that I'm covered and not covered in ick or wet." He walked her back out to the hallway. "Go to dinner and I'll arrange for you to help me shop tomorrow." She walked away smiling and he sighed. "So do I ask him or not?" he muttered, continuing his trek to his room so he could wash up before dinner. He found a note and a small bag on his bed. His first term's worth of paycheck and a notice of a broom for sale from one of the other teachers. Cool.

***

George walked into the family home and stopped, noticing his mother was still around. He had tried to get her to go away for the afternoon. "Mum, can you do me a favor?" he asked. She smiled at him. "Would you help Xander find a dress robe? He's taking Ginny, but she still has horrid taste and I've seen his wardrobe."

She laughed. "Of course." She stood up and kissed him on the cheek. "You'll tell me what this is about?" He shook his head. "Yes, you will, George."

He hugged her. "Not unless Xander wants me to." He let her go. "Thanks, mum." He waited until she had left to go corner his father in the study. "Dad," he said as he walked in and shut the door. "I want to know what's going on. And I'm not taking no this time." His father opened his mouth then shook his head. "I'll know, or I'm going to have to get mum to tell me."

"She doesn't know either." He moved so he son could have the other half of the small couch. "Son, there's been quite a few incidents that you don't know about."

"Actually, I know more than you think," George told him, taking out the scroll he had gotten off Percy. His brother liked Xander for some reason and was encouraging the relationship. Percy had actually said Xander was nice, high praise from his older brother.

His father sighed as he read it. "That's almost all of it, but not quite." He handed it back. "Percy doesn't know that I tried to memory charm Xander."

"You did what?" George asked, hopping up. "How could you do this to me!"

"Son, I was trying to protect you. Xander's powers are still very dangerous, even with the drain."

George noticed he looked so sad so he sat down again. He was obviously torn up about it. "Dad, I understand you trying to protect us, but you can't do that to him. He'd never hurt us on purpose."

"And what about by accident?" Arthur looked at his son. "You remember the frustration bomb?" His son nodded. "Well, there's another few emotions that can cause it which seems more likely for someone of Xander's age. There's one for lust, one for anger, and one for grief."

"But he's learned how to deal with those," George told him. "Xander uses some of the energy up whenever he feels one coming on." He shifted closer. "Dad, you should have told me instead of acting. I'm a big boy now."

Arthur hugged him. "To me you'll always be the little boy trying to plant a garden gnome in my hat." George laughed. "I think you and Xander need to have a talk." He pulled a small scroll off his desk and handed it over. "This is something important for you both. It's a way to ground him permanently." George looked at it and blushed. "Go talk to him."

George sighed. "I would but it'll seem like I'm being girly and pushing for an invitation to the dance."

His father laughed. "Xander's not exactly the most socially correct person, he might not have decided if you'd like to go with him or not."

George grimaced. "Then I'll have to do something about that, won't I?" He stood up. "Thank you, dad, for telling me."

"I really didn't mean to hurt you. Xander knew that, he faced me down about it." George smiled. "Gave me some flowers for a headache cure."

"Bet you'll need it sooner or later," George said with a smirk as he left. He didn't see his mother, who had snuck back to listen.

She walked into the study and closed the door as soon as her son was gone. "Arthur, I did some tea leaves. He's the one for George," she said quietly, "They'll be married this spring."

He sat up. "Really?" His wife nodded. "You and your divination skills," he said with a fond smile. "I guess we'll have to be prepared then." He pulled her into his lap. "They both forgave me."

She patted his cheek. "That's good. I'd hate to see that tear the family apart." She let him hold her close, giving the comfort he craved.

***

George walked out of the fireplace and looked around. There had been people in here when he had left. He noticed the sign and went to change it around. "Fred?" he yelled. No answer. "Well, that's wonderful," he said as he went to check the register. It was missing money. So hopefully his brother had went to deposit some of it in Gringotts. He leaned on the counter, reading the binding scroll. It was quite ...thought provoking.

***

Xander walked into his room, followed by Ginny and the bags she was carrying. The robe shop in Diagon had been having a very nice sale, which was good because they'd had to put off the shopping until the day of the ball. He waved his wand and all his robes were hung up, except the one he was going to be wearing and a small package. He smiled at his helper, she had quite a lot of taste. He patted her on the top of the head. "You're so great," he told her. He handed her the package. "For tonight. I saw it and thought you'd look really cute."

She squealed and opened the brown paper, dancing around with the new robe he had picked out for her. A very pretty unshiny gold robe with black velvet trim. "Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you," she said, hugging him as hard as she could. "I'm going to go get some help with my hair." She ran out of the room, slamming the portrait behind her.

Xander sat on the bed to take off his shoes. He really needed a bath. He closed and locked the doors to the room then went to run himself a bath. He had a cast iron bathtub and a shower head in here, it was good. He had forgotten to ask George, his mind blocking out the struggle the last time he had seen his boyfriend. But that was okay, he was supposed to be a chaperone, not go off necking behind the Christmas trees. He poured some of his favorite bubbles into the rising water and climbed in. "Oh, yeah," he sighed. Even his feet quit hurting.

Outside, a cloaked person whispered a word to the portrait and pulled out a wand.

***

Ron sent off his owl to is mother and went down to the common room. He saw his sister coming in. "Go all right?" he asked, flopping down onto a couch.

She held out her robe. "Xander bought me this because I found him the *perfect* robe. So very much like him." She grinned. "And I saw George skulking about down there. I pointed at which portrait his was." She tittered.

Ron shook his head. "You and Percy both. Matchmaking."

Ginny laughed even harder. "Percy likes him because Xander promised not to prank him. Xander thinks Percy's had enough in his life already." She flopped down beside him, her robe across her lap. "What are you wearing?"

"The blue velvet mum sent with Murphy. I'll have to find something else for the one in spring."

"Borrow one," she suggested. She hopped up. "I've got to do something about my hair," she told him, hurrying up to the girls' dorms. "Hermione," she yelled while she climbed the stairs. "My hair needs more help than I'm competent to give it."

Ron shook his head. Girls, he didn't understand them at all. He was starting to think he never would.

***

Xander came out of his bathroom and found the inner door open. "I thought I closed that," he mumbled as he went to do that. He turned and nearly jumped. There was a cloak on his bed. He walked into the sitting area and stopped. His boyfriend was on the couch napping. How cute! "George?" he called from the doorway into the two-stride hallway between the door, the bedroom, and the sitting area. George snorted as he woke up, looking over at him. That's when Xander realized he was wearing only a towel and was still dripping water from his hair. "How did you get in?"

"Lock spell," he said with a grin. He stood up and walked over, brushing some of the water off Xander's shoulder. "I'm very resourceful." He stole a kiss and looked over the body he hadn't seen this much of. "If I say I appreciate this look, would you blush?" he teased.

Xander did blush. "Yeah, I think so." He saw how his boyfriend was dressed. "I'm sorry I forgot to ask you." George stole another kiss. "We can't make-out at all at the dance."

George pulled Xander into his arms, thrilling at the feeling of his damp skin. "Then I guess we should do that now." He heard a fire start behind him and pulled back. "Energy buildup?" he suggested.

Xander nodded. "I need a better ground."

"Well, dad did find something," he said, leading Xander into the bedroom. He had noticed earlier that the wooden bed rested directly against one of the outer walls of the castle and on bare stone floor. Someone had set this room up to drain excess energy back into the earth. How fortunate for him, no lust bombs to interrupt. He shoved Xander down onto the bed, taking the clothing on it and putting it aside. He considered the robe Xander was going to wear, then smiled. "Ginny's idea?" Xander nodded, he was trying to adjust his towel. "Oh, let me," George said, taking it off him. He opened his own robe, showing that he was still partially dressed. Xander started to say something. "As long as one of us is dressed, it can't go too far," he assured him, lying down next to him. Xander started to open his mouth again and George gladly took the opening as a chance to get a real kiss.

Xander wrapped himself around the warm body. This was too good. He wanted this. Didn't know what to do with it, but he wanted it very badly. To hell with his thinking and considering, or his screwy powers. He felt the excess energy slowly being leaked out of him and pulled back. "How?" he panted.

"Easy. A natural substance against something embedded in the earth will act like a funnel to the earth." George kissed him on the tip of the nose. "Elementary reactions." He let a hand wander down the firm chest. "How long do we have?"

"Until dinner."

"More than long enough." George unwound himself and stood up, taking off his shirt. "Is this all right?"

Xander nodded. "I don't have a clue what to do with it, but yeah, I like looking at it."

George snickered. "I'm sure we'll figure something out together." He reached for his pants but only took off his belt. He saw the dark brown eyes widen and teased his pants button. "Should I?"

"Only if you think we're ready to move on," Xander told him. "I'm not sure about much right now."

"Even better." George slid out of everything and back onto the bed. "I think we can make it up as we go along." He started to kiss his man again, when the worst thing happened. Someone knocked on the portrait.

"Shit," Xander sighed, grabbing his towel to go answer it. "What?" he called, looking out the eyes of the portrait to find Giles standing there. He opened the portrait but didn't let him in. "Kinda naked here," he pointed out.

Giles looked him over, noticing what else he was, hard. "Just came by to give you these," he said with a smile, handing over the last few chicks who had been out playing. "Remember, dinner's in two hours." He walked away. He had thought he'd seen a robe, but it could have been Xander's. He was sure he hadn't seen a body on the bed. He shivered. Was it cold in the hallway? He shook off his thoughts. Xander was an adult. He could make his own choices.

Xander closed and locked both portals, taking the chicks in to rest in front of the fire. He checked on the others, all napping soundly, and went back to the bedroom. He found George laid out for him, pleasingly showing every bit of himself. Xander took off his towel and dropped it, walking over to the bed. "What are we going to do with you," he said as he joined his boyfriend on the bed. "Sneaking in here and napping with the chicks." He nipped the strong shoulder. This wasn't so bad.

George pushed himself up into the warm mouth. It was good, it'd been too long since he'd touched anybody. Xander moved down his chest, missing his nipples entirely to play with his sparse chest hair. He giggled when he was tickled, rolling them over so he was on top. He tasted the warm flesh, enjoying the smell coming off him. "I like this scent," he murmured as he licked over the hard nipple. "Very nice." Xander shifted and wiggled, wanting more but not knowing how to ask without sounding like he was demanding. "Just ask, I'm reasonable right now."

"Lower," Xander ground out.

George smiled as he shifted down, teasing the hard stomach. "Here?" Xander shook his head. "Am I making you feel better?"

"Driving me crazy," Xander noted, grabbing fistfuls of sheets. "Please?"

George went further back, touching the thing that was making Xander crazy. "Nice," he said in appreciation. Not too large, but not at all small. Firm, hard, throbbing. He could feel a pulse in it. He stroked over the head, watching as Xander gasped and came off the bed. "Needed this?"

"Please?"

"Sure." He moved farther back, taking his time to learn this part of his lover. He'd never held a cock before, except for his own, but this one wasn't so different. He heard a squeak and looked back at the foot of the bed. "Shoo," he told them. "Human games."

Xander whimpered. "Please, go away," he begged. He heard Murphy warbling. "Murph, call them!" he shouted. He heard wings and hoped that they were gone. He opened his eyes, watching George study him. "Liking it?" he asked, starting to blush again.

"I must say, it is rather pleasant to look at." He smiled up at Xander. "You could do the same." Xander shrugged and nodded so he shifted around into the classic sixty-nine position. His smile got brighter when he felt the hesitant touches to his lower body. He went back to slowly stroking the hard body. All of a sudden, it deflated. "Problems?" he asked.

Xander groaned one word, "Chicks."

George looked behind himself to see all ten chicks, and Murphy, lined up on the footboard. He felt himself go soft. It would be like having sex in front of children. He looked back at Xander, who had a pillow over his head. He decided to switch around in the bed again, covering them both up with the throw. "Shouldn't you be resting or some such?" he asked.

Murphy waddled up the bed, chirping at both of them. He gave them both phoenix kisses on the chin, trying to encourage them. He liked daddy's friend.

Xander pulled the pillow off so he could pet his baby. "I know you were interested, but this is a daddy thing, not a daddy and birds thing. Take the chicks into the other room and we'll come get you in a few minutes for dinner and the dance. You can go nibble on the trees again." Murphy stretched his wings out, singing loudly. "Yeah, I was gonna make that noise too," he said dryly. Murphy took off, leading his offspring back to the other room. Xander rolled into the warm body next to him, curling up against its side. "Want to do this part of the act?"

George wrapped an arm around him. "This is fine." He shifted down some, stealing a kiss. "This is wonderful for me." Xander wrapped himself back around him, making George feel very warm. "Feeling better?"

"Liking this." He initiated the next kiss, making his boyfriend hum in appreciation. He heard something moving down near the foot of the bed and looked down. One of the unnamed chicks was sitting on the end of the blanket watching them. "No."

George smiled at the bird. Phoenixes were very emotional birds and you couldn't yell at them no matter how much you wanted to. "Maybe you should go play in the other room," he suggested. The bird cooed at him, waddling up to sit on this new person's arm. It leaned down to sniff him, then cooed in his ear. It liked the person who liked the granddad.

Xander reached over to scratch the bird gently. "Behave or I won't let you go play with Professor Sprout tomorrow." His baby bird sang. Someone knocked on the portrait. "What?" Xander yelled.

"It's me, Xander."

"Kinda tied up," Xander yelled. He saw the speculative look and shook his head. "No bondage, not going there." He looked at the door again. "Come in." The doors opened, admitting Dumbledore, who stopped with a semi-shocked look.

"Gee, I think I had that look when I saw our audience," George whispered to Xander.

"Good," Dumbledore said with a smile. "It's about time you two managed to get together." He came in to take the chick, but she dug her claws into George's side. "Come on, you, it's nearly time to go eat the trees. Don't you want groomed? Hagrid's coming." She let go and flew toward the door, looking back at him when he didn't open it immediately. He laughed, shaking his head. "There's exactly an hour until dinner, boys." He smiled at George. "I take it he forgot to ask you?"

George nodded. "His mind made him forget. He's already apologized." He stroked down Xander's shoulder. "I'll forgive him for it this time but I'd better be invited to the spring ball."

Dumbledore laughed loudly. "Good. It's good to see you two being happy." He went to gather the rest of the chicks. "Boys, please don't ....make-out visibly tonight. Dancing is fine, but do keep it decorous for the impressionable youth. There's been enough sex in this school already this year." He gathered the rest of the chicks. "Xander, you toasted a tail feather," he called as he walked out. "That one's fine though, just laying a bit too close to the fire." He closed both doors behind himself.

Xander slumped. "At least the audience is gone," George said optimistically. Murphy started to sing in the next room. "Or not." He looked around. "Bathroom?"

"Cast iron bathtub."

"Could be fun," George pointed out. He could feel the energy building up again and went with it. Murphy could entertain himself for a bit. Hopefully.

***

Xander walked into the Great Hall with a light blush, holding George's hand. "Want to eat with me or with your house?" he asked as they started up the aisle. Someone whistled and Xander turned to glare at the likely culprit, Ron. Ron shook his head. Xander looked at the second most likely prospect, but Draco was staring in shock.

"I always wanted to eat at the teacher's table, and they did add a chair for me," George told him, steering him that way. There were a few more whistles and cat calls and Xander blushed horribly. "Relax and ignore it," he whispered as they stepped up to their table. "They're children who aren't getting any and are jealous because I look good."

Xander laughed, nearly giggling. He looked over the velvet robe and nodded. "Yup, you look good."

"Xander, what is that?" Tara asked, pointing at his robe. It was shiny and glittery and blue, but not lamme. It glowed faintly in the candlelight.

"Ginny helped me pick it out," he said proudly. "Like it?"

"It's a bit shiny," McGonagall told him, smiling at George. "Quite an entrance," she said kindly. She waited until they sat down. "Did you plan on making this common knowledge?"

George leaned over to talk to her. "Xander forgot to ask me so I came up to escort him." He caught Tara's glare. "He's already apologized."

Tara giggled when she saw Xander's blush. "I bet he did." She giggled louder when Xander went darker red. "It's okay. You two are very cute together." She smiled at George. "Keep him happy, Fred, or else."

"I'm George."

"Really?" He nodded. "Cool. Even better." George smiled at her. "The or else still goes for you too."

He laughed. "I wouldn't doubt it." He looked over as Snape and Sprout walked in together. "Favorite people," he sighed. "Where's Willow?"

"Hiding. Her favorite robe had ink on it somehow. She's trying to get it out."

"Did you look for another imp?" McGonagall asked. Tara looked at her. "We've already had one this year." She smiled at Xander. "Was your broom fixable?"

"No, but I heard someone was selling theirs," Xander told her. "I'm going with Madam Hooch tomorrow to look at it."

Professor Dumbledore and Hagrid were preceded by a shimmering parade of phoenixes singing loudly in the Hall, earning quite a few 'ahs' and 'oohs'. Most of the chicks landed on Xander, cooing at George and him. Dumbledore smiled at the show. "My, I see they're happy," he said as he sat down. He looked around. "Professor Rosenberg, Professor Giles, and Professor Sinistra?"

"We think we have another imp," McGonagall told him. "They're cleaning their robes."

The missing teachers appeared and walked quickly up to the main table, taking their usual seats. "Sorry," Willow told him. "Had to remove some ink." She noticed George and smiled. "Good, it's about time." She punched Xander on the arm.

"Mine to abuse," George told her when he saw Xander wince. She blushed. "Sorry, but I'm feeling rather protective at the moment." He looked up at the face leaning down to stare into his eyes. "Yes, hello," he said, petting that one.

"Glinda, let him eat," Xander sighed. Glinda went over to perch on Professor Snape's head. He waved her away so she went over to the Gryffindor table and shat in a plate, cooing up at him. A few of the others laughed. "I think she's trying to win your approval," Xander suggested lightly. "Try praise and gentle remonstration. It works very well. Glinda, come," he called. She came flying back, landing on his held-out hand. "Good girl, but you shouldn't terrorized the students. The other grandpa loves them." Glinda looked at Dumbledore who nodded. "So go sit on Snape's shoulder and behave. We'll give you guys treats in a few minutes." She flew over, landing on Snape's shoulder. Snape sighed loudly. "She's adopted you. You might have a chick."

Snape glared at him. "Does this have to happen?"

Dumbledore shrugged. "She loves you for whatever reason. You might as well accept it, Severus."

Snape sighed again and petted the bird. "If I must." She cooed and sang in his ear, making him smile slightly.

Everyone one else watched as the plate in front of Neville was switched. Then Dumbledore stood up. "Good evening," he said happily. "This year's Yule ball will hopefully give you many memories for many years." He looked around, eyebrows going up when he saw the first year. But he didn't say anything. He clapped his hands and the food appeared. "Eat and be merry." He sat down.

A few students came up and stole some of the chicks, taking at least one per table. Three went to the Gryffindor table, and one decided to go play with the Slytherins on his own. Now Xander could eat and move more than a few inches. Under the table, Xander took George's hand to hold. This was nice.

***

As soon as the music started, George drug Xander out onto the floor. "Ginny said you hated to dance," Xander told him.

"No, I hate dancing with her," he corrected, swinging Xander around. "Just the one then you can go be serious and break up all the kids doing what I want to be doing." Xander blushed. "That's a cute look for you."

"Just as long as I don't wear it all night," Xander said quietly, moving smoothly on the crowded floor. His boyfriend pulled him closer, letting them sway to the music. Xander swallowed when he felt the hand land on his rear. "I'll get yelled at."

George smiled at him. "It's not like you'll be in real trouble. We'll be patrolling for snogging all night, best to get in some of our own." He stole a quick kiss, which got a few gasps. "Now then, Professor Harris," he said as he led him off to the side at the end of the dance. "We'll talk and watch, and maybe do that again in a bit."

Xander smiled at him. "Sure, but only if you explain it to Ron." He pointed at where George's younger brother was making his way over to them.

George sighed. "He should know the facts of life by now. Or at least tried to get some of his own." Xander pinched him. "Hey!"

"He said your mother never gave him any advice and you guys only told him watch out for evil, wicked women."

George smiled. "But evil and wicked women and men are the most fun," he said innocently.

"Guess that's why you're with him then," Ron said as he finally made it to them. "Quite a show."

"We're charging admission later," George joked. A few of the kids around them looked interested at the prospect. "Joke."

"He's known for them," Xander added. "Go hover somewhere else." The crowd moved a little farther away. Xander tugged on George's robe, pointing at Ginny. "She's so cute with what's his name."

Ron and George both frowned. "Where'd she get that one?" George asked.

"I bought her the robe," Xander told him. George looked at him. "For helping me shop."

"Oh. I'm sure she was pleased. Her other is still a bit big."

Ron closed his mouth and looked at the couple. "Did mum and dad agree to this already?"

"Yes, Ron, why?" George asked, sounding exasperated.

Ron smirked. "Because I just saw Melody."

"Crap, psycho woman returns," Xander muttered.

George patted him gently. "I'll save you from the horny women, dear." Ron snickered. "And you, don't you have a date?"

"Melissa got sick earlier and decided not to come so I'm stag." He took a step back when Melody walked up to the group. "Feeling better?" he asked her.

She smiled at him. "Yes, quite," she said, mimicking his accent. "Xander, I'm sorry for how I acted." She noticed the arm snaking around Xander's waist. "Is that how it is?" Xander nodded, smiling at George, who was just about his height, only an inch smaller. "Fine." She rolled her eyes and walked off. "That won't keep the problem from coming back though."

"Bet me," Xander called after her. "My threat still stands." She turned and faced off with him. "You now have a way to deal with that problem, please use it." She sighed and walked off. "George, get your hand off my butt, the other teachers are watching. Especially Giles."

George squeezed it. "I like it where it is. Quite a nice bum."

"I bet," Ron snickered as he walked away.

Professor Snape walked up to them, holding out the chick who had attached herself to him earlier. "She's asleep."

"Hagrid put a nest up behind the teacher's table," Xander told him. "They're all curled up together."

Professor Snape noticed the missing hand and looked at George. "Do you think that's appropriate behavior?"

Before Xander could say anything, George quipped, "Well, Professor Dumbledore did ask us not to snog on the floor, but feeling up his bum does not snogging make. That'll come later," he told him with a brilliant smile. Xander eeped. "Dear, did you need something?"

Xander shook his head and walked outside, going to hide his embarrassment in the snow.

Snape glared at George. "It's a pity that I can't take points off your house for that."

George shrugged. "Try it and see how fast Xander puts them back." He walked away, going to soothe Xander.

Snape walked off in a huff, but missed the look on Melody's face. As he stepped up onto the dias holding the teacher's table, his robes melted off his body, leaving him in a green thong and them in a puddle on the floor. A few of the students clapped a hand over their eyes, muttering about being blind.

Tara did the nice thing, getting up and handing him her pink robe. "Here, you need it more," she told him.

He snatched it and put it on. "I'll get him for this." He saw someone waving and glared down at the young girl. "That was you?"

"It slipped," she said, looking innocent. "Cute panties. Do they hiss?"

He growled, which woke up the bird. The little phoenix made soothing noises, which some found even funnier than the thong. "I'm leaving," he stated, then left by the back door.

Professor Dumbledore managed to finally blink. He glared at Melody, who continued to look innocent. "That wasn't necessary," he told her.

She smiled sweetly. "Of course it was. I don't like him." She walked away, grabbing a boy standing stunned in the middle of the dance floor and forcing him to dance with her.

"Hey, he's my date," another girl complained, trying to take him back.

Ron sighed and looked at his friends. "Xander?"

"Xander," Harry agreed, walking over to the doors leading outside. McGonagall stopped him, shaking her head. "You're sure?"

"I think we can handle this. It's best we not make him deal with her." She smiled at them. "You all look very nice." She walked away, tactfully taking Melody with her.

Outside, Xander had his face against the cold stone of the building, hiding it and hoping that the cool stone would make the blood leave it. George was standing behind him, patting him on the back. "I'll hear about that for years," he complained.

"I'm sure Snape won't be talking to you for quite a while," he said cheerfully. He pulled Xander back into his arms, holding him tightly. "It'll be fine, Xander. If he bothers you, you can get even with him."

Someone cleared their throat. "I doubt Professor Snape is going to be saying much of anything to him," Draco told him. "Melody just took his robes off him."

"Really?" George asked. Draco nodded. "Wicked. I always wondered what he wore under them and if there really was a stick under there."

"A thong." George burst out laughing and Xander turned faintly green. Malfoy looked at the pair. "Are you two really together?" Xander nodded. "And you're not going to hit on any of us?"

Xander chuckled. "No, Malfoy, I'm not going to hit on you." He patted George on the rear. "I like him and only him."

"That's a bit arrogant," Harry said as he walked out. "Thinking that everyone's out for a piece of you." He handed over two mugs of punch. "Professor Dumbledore wanted to know if you were ready to come back in yet. He's having to stop quite a few couples from snogging."

Xander took the punch, handing the other cup over to George. "Yeah, we're coming in. Thanks, Harry."

"I've seen you with him before."

"Peeping already? I thought that was a habit for dirty old men," Draco teased.

Harry growled at him and balled up his fists.

"Behave or no surprise over Christmas," Xander told them as he walked back inside. He saw the relieved smile and nodded at his boss. He drug George over there. "Sorry, but I had to go outside."

"That's fine. Please watch the punch bowl for now. I found a couple under it already." Dumbledore walked away, going to stop another couple groping on the dance floor.

"Is this some sort of lust spell?" George asked Xander quietly. Xander shrugged. "You didn't leak any magic at all?"

"Not that I've felt." He sipped his punch and spit it out. "I know where it came from though." He waved a few of the teachers over. "Is the punch supposed to taste like a potion?" He handed his cup over, nodding when the other teachers agreed. "So, is it a lust potion?" Professor Flitwick looked down at himself and smiled. "I'd say that's a yes. Do we dump it or what?"

"I'll go get the headmaster," Flitwick told him. "You keep people from drinking it." Xander stepped back to guard the punchbowl.

Xander smiled at Willow as she walked. "This table is off limits."

"To staff?"

"To everyone. We just found a potion in the punch."

She laughed. "At least it's not alcohol. Can I at least have some fruit?" He tossed her an apple. "Are you happy?"

Xander nodded. "I'm pretty sure I am." He looked at George. "Am I happy?"

"You were ecstatic earlier," George reminded him. "Until the chicks butted in."

She blushed. "That's more than I needed to know." She waved and walked away, going to talk to her girlfriend.

Ginny giggled as she strolled up to them. "Can I have some punch?"

"No you may not," George told her. "There's a lust spell in it." That got even more laughter. "Nope, no snogging for the sister." He glared at her date, who wilted.

Ginny punched him in the stomach as hard as she could, but it only made him grunt. "Be nice! I'm not having sex tonight." The few people who looked at her date saw his disappointed look. "Xander convinced me to wait until I knew the boy wasn't a complete booger."

George looked at his boyfriend, but Xander shook his head. "She asked. Your mom told her that *she'd* tell her when Ginny was ready."

George snickered. "I'm sure she did. She tried that on Percy too, seems to have worked." He looked at Ron, who was walking with some girl. "Wonder if she tried it on him."

"Probably, he hasn't gotten any," Draco said as he came over, his date stuck to his arm and simpering. "Can I get at the punch?" Xander shook his head. "No?"

"Lust spell of some sort," Xander told him. He looked at Malfoy's date, who was obviously not wearing anything under her dress robes. "I doubt you need the help though." Draco blushed. "Sorry," Xander said with a grin. He looked over as Snape stormed in, back in his own clothes again, getting out of the way of the punch bowl. "It tastes funny and we've had an outbreak of sex."

Snape picked up a glass and dipped it into the punch, bringing it up to sniff it. "Pixie potion," he grunted. He took the punch bowl with him, leaving the hall again.

"Pixie potion?" Xander asked.

George snickered. "Really corny folk-potion. He hates it because almost anyone can make it."

"It's supposed to be responsible for some of the oddest children," Ginny agreed. The males around her looked at her, looking faintly shocked, even Malfoy. "What? A girl hears things." She smiled at her brother. "So, when are you two going to become official and get married? I'll need to figure out what I'm wearing."

Xander patted her on the shoulder. "We're taking it slow, honey. I've dated psycho women in the past and I don't want to rush anything in case your brother turns into one of them."

"I'll have him wearing my clothes by spring," George told her. She giggled. Xander looked up at him. "What? You'd look smashing in my lab coat."

Draco shook his head. "I didn't need that mental picture. Thank you." He kissed the girl on his arm, then shuddered. "Still there."

Ginny poked him. "Be nice. Just because she's been with half your house doesn't mean she can take that picture from your mind." He looked down at her, smirking. "And no, I'm not offering," she told him. "I'm much too sweet for someone as tart as you." She flounced off, taking her date with her.

George and Xander leaned against each other, laughing. Draco shook his head. "That girl has a mouth on her. One of these days someone's going to take her up on her offer," he warned. He turned and ran into Ron and Harry, Hermione standing behind them. "I didn't say it would be me. She's right, she's much too *nice* for me."

"Don't do good girls?" Xander teased.

Draco smiled at him. "Why should I? There's plenty of bad ones." He walked away, shoving Ron hard on his way past.

Xander laughed harder. "My, the words from a teenager's mouth."

Ron snorted. "I bet he's just bragging. He can't get as much as he says he does."

Harry patted him on the arm. "I'm sure it's bragging too." Even though he'd heard some of the girls gushing about how good Malfoy was in the library one night.

Hermione sniffed. "Some girls will do anything for attention."

"Including know everything," Xander reminded her. She glared at him. "It's a different sort of attention, but they want it just as much as you do. They're just doing it for a different reason." He stood up. "You three go dance together. The floor's looking pretty thin of people." They trudged off, Harry taking Hermione onto the dance floor.

George walked over to his brother and said something, then came back, forcing Xander onto the floor too. "Ron's watching the table," he told him. "And yeah, there's always some girls who'll go on their backs whenever you ask. Slytherin used to allow girls to be brought in on the weekends, back when Harry's dad was here. Someone's father would send him a 'tutor' for a weekend and they'd have quite loud parties." He saw McGonagall staring at them and waved, dancing them over that way. "Ron's watching the food."

"Please move your hands at least three inches northward," she told him. She smiled as George moved his hands. "Xander, yours too please." He looked shocked, apparently he didn't realize he had been getting a good grope in, but he did move them. "Thank you, boys."

"So, do they still have parties?" Xander asked as they danced away.

"Sometimes. I heard that Draco's eighteenth is supposed to be one of them. His father's been sending word that all the boys Draco wants invited are invited up to the mansion for a party." He dipped him. "Then there's the whole 'trying to get stuffed up' point that some of the girls have."

"Yeah, I figured a lot of them were after him for his name."

"And fortune. They're one of the richest families. The two richest actually don't send their children here, they're tutored privately at their castles." George swung them back to the refreshment table as the new bowl of punch was being put out. "No potion this time?"

Ron shook his head. "Tasted it already, tastes like fruit." He smiled at Xander. "You two do look cute together. So, who gets to wear the wedding dress?"

"Ron!" George said sharply.

"Sorry." Ron blushed. "I didn't mean it to be mean."

Xander gave him a hug. "I know. Besides, wearing robes is like wearing a dress." He turned around, surveying the students. "Think about how many dresses there are in this room."

Ron snickered. "The whole wizarding world is made up of cross-dressers?"

"Only to a muggle," Xander reminded him. He let the boy go. "Go steal Hermione. Harry's apparently stepping on her feet. She keeps grimacing." Ron jogged that way, butting into the dance and swinging her off.

"Smooth," George whispered in his ear. "Now we'll get Harry though."

Xander whistled and Ginny looked up. Xander nodded at Harry and she went to commandeer him. He looked at his boyfriend. "Better?"

George smiled at him. "Much." He stole a kiss. "And that's a promise for later."

"I suppose I'm having a guest tonight then, huh?" Xander wrapped an arm around George's waist. Draco's date stormed past them, going outside. He strolled by a few minutes later. "Bored with her already?" he asked dryly.

Draco nodded. "Bloody prig. 'I want a ring'," he mimicked. "Not getting one." He turned, surveying the crowd.

"Xan, since you're in the mood to pick dance partners, give him one," George suggested, squeezing Xander's butt cheek subtly.

Xander looked around, but all the students he knew were taken. "Unless he wants to cut in on the fab threesome, I don't see anybody." Draco glared at him. "What? Don't wanna dance with Ron?"

"No. I doubt I'd be able to feel my feet afterwards." He looked over the crowd again, smiling when he saw someone unaccompanied that he knew. "I'll be back."

"Hmm, should probably rent the Terminator," Xander muttered.

"Huh?"

"It's a muggle movie. I'm going to get some movies and show them to the kids in my advanced class who're staying. Some with different fighting styles, some that I always enjoyed. Some that are just plain Christmasy." He grinned. "Dumbledore thought it was cute."

"I agree with him, you are cute," George told him. He started to kiss Xander again, but a girl made a gross face next to them. "Problems?" he asked as he got away from her.

"With as many women as there are in the room, you should be with one of them." She flounced off.

"Gee, someone needs to explain things to her," Xander said darkly. He was nudged on the other side and turned to find Giles standing there. "Yours?"

"In my advanced class. She's been a bit sheltered and probably doesn't know that there are people attracted to the same sex." He looked at George. "As long as you take good care of him I won't curse you with something so horrible even the Dark Lord would shudder," he told him with a smile.

Xander rolled his eyes. "Thanks, dad. You and Willow both."

Tara walked up to them, back in her own dress robe again, smiling at George. She whispered in his ear, making him turn very pale. "Trust me, I can do that. And if I can't, then Willow can." She tugged on Xander, getting him free of his boyfriend and out onto the dance floor. "Do you like him?"

Xander nodded. "A lot. I never even looked at boys before, but we're really close. He understands me and my funky energy problems."

She gave him a squeeze. "Good. Then I'm happy and Willow's happy, though she's going to pounce him the next trip into town and give him a lecture about the care and feeding of you." She laughed when he groaned and put his head on her shoulder. "She'll be nice about it. No rope or chains involved."

George watched Xander being taken away and looked at Giles. "You really care for him?"

"A great deal. He's a bit on the loud and obnoxious side sometimes, and he's always jumped into everything without looking, but he's a very decent young man. I feel honored to work with him and to have helped him become the man he is today." He looked over at the young man, then back at George. "Whatever curse she mentioned, I can do worse," he said pleasantly. "And do try to keep Xander calm and balanced. If he's off-balance mentally, he tends to get hurt." He poured himself some punch and left the table.

George leaned back, watching his boyfriend and his boyfriend's best friend dance. They looked cute together, but he was sure he was better for Xander. After all, Willow didn't apparently know Xander like she thought. She kept trying to change him, or to channel him, instead of giving him a clear path and letting him have some freedom. She didn't understand Xander and flying at all either. He crossed his arms, thinking about it. For a woman who had known Xander since they had been toddlers or so, she didn't seem to know much about him today. He wondered about that, but he wasn't sure what it would mean to them today. He knew Xander loved Willow like a sister, but that was all, right?

Ron coughed, breaking into his brother's thousand-yard stare. "You're in front of the punch. Sit." He poured himself some and stepped away once his brother had sat down. "Problems?" he asked, sipping gently.

"None you'd understand," George told him. Ron scowled. "There's some that I don't even understand."

"Oh, something like that." He shrugged. "It'll sort itself out. Or, if it's something that you wanted to know, ask him. That's what mum told me about making friends." He waved at Harry and got two more glasses of punch, bringing them over to his friends.

"Maybe I'll do that," George muttered. "He might tell me. Could be an excuse to cuddle too."

Willow walked up beside him, and smiled having heard that comment. "You could try asking me if he won't tell you."

George stood up and pulled her outside. "You two used to be very close, but now you're more distant and you don't seem to really get Xander on so many levels. Why?"

She blinked. "Huh?"

"Sorry I'm so blunt, but you don't really seem to get how Xander is, and what's driving him most of the time. You know everything about his childhood, but almost nothing about him now. You didn't even talk to him after you got back from the summer until that first dinner."

"How do you know that?"

He smirked. "I have my ways. I was checking up on Xander and it was mentioned," he admitted when she glared. "I'd like to know if there's something I should know about."

Willow sighed and leaned against the outer wall of the school. "There's been things that have happened since grade school, George. All relationships change over time, but we started to drift apart. It wasn't anything that was done, it was circumstance. I've tried to get close to him again." She looked inside, where Xander and Tara were laughing at something Ron had just said. "I've tried a lot to get closer." She turned back to the new boyfriend. "We grew apart when Buffy and I started college and Xander didn't. He continued to work and the only thing that held us together was the slaying duties." She sighed again. "Even that wasn't strong enough after a while, the group started to break apart. We pulled it together eventually, but we're never going to get back to the closeness we used to share." She looked at her hands. "I haven't even written Buffy in months, I doubt he's sent her anything recently, and I'm starting to wonder if we're going to split farther away." She looked up at him. "Is that what you wanted to hear?"

He shook his head. "That was part of it. I want to understand Xander. I know him how he is now, but I don't know how he got this way. Why there's this thread of caution in him. Why he's so hard-assed about giving the kids the truth of fighting."

She snorted. "Well, the last one is because all Giles ever told him was 'it's dangerous, you shouldn't do that'." She smiled sadly. "Xander found out the hard way what fighting for your life was like, the same as I did. He....jumped in and fought. I got to stay back and learn magic and fight that way. There were times when I wanted to fight right there beside him, but that wasn't for me. I couldn't handle having two broken bones a year on average, or needing an ice pack every few days. I'm not that strong."

"He's doing this so the kids won't fight if they're not cut out for this?"

She nodded. "Probably. He's also probably doing it so that the kids who are going to end up fighting are prepared for anything. It's something that Giles tried to give us, but there were plenty of times when we were fighting one demon and another type popped up. Or when the facts led to one sort of thing and it was really someone else pulling the strings." She smiled. "Xander's a very complex guy. The days when all he cared about was cartoons and his skateboard are gone. Now he's trying to make sure these kids live."

George smiled at her. "Thank you, Willow."

She stepped closer to him, patting the side of his face. "You're welcome. If you hurt him, I'm turning you into something that requires lots of chopping for a spell and casting it multiple times so it takes days before you finally die." She walked inside, leaving him alone with his thoughts.

George sat down on one of the stone benches, ignoring the cold seeping up into his rear for now. Xander wanted to make sure that he didn't lose anyone else. He really cared for these kids. Even the annoying ones. Would he have room for him?

Xander came out laughing and shut the door behind him, walking over so he could sit in George's lap. "Big think?" he asked.

George smiled at him. "Are you sure you want me?"

Xander poked him on the nose. "I wouldn't be here if I didn't." He stood up, pulling George into his arms to dance with him. They could barely hear the music, but it was enough to sway together. "What did Willow tell you?"

"I asked her why you were so distant when you used to be such good friends."

"She got too self-involved to realize I was still there."

"Oh." George rested his head against Xander's. "She said circumstances."

"That too," he agreed with a light shrug. "She went to college and her life started to revolve around that. She cut off ties with anything that wasn't college or Tara related once they got together. Buffy did the same thing when she took up with the slimy assholes killing demons for fun and giggles. Giles nearly left, Buffy died, and we pulled back together some but the glue that used to make me not sleep at night worrying about whether or not either Buffy or Willow were going to die was gone." He squeezed him. "You only had to ask."

George nodded. "I can see that." He pulled back some. "I know that you're very tight with your students, but I don't share that with you."

Xander grinned. "No, you share my nature with me, who I am outside of the classroom. And hey, I don't try to help you in the lab or the store." He moved closer, pulling George as tightly against him as he could. "If I wanted a shadow, I could have picked up your brother Ron," he whispered. "I want and need someone who understands and who'll try to give me balance when I'm lacking it. I don't need a shadow, I need a lover who understands me and what I am."

"I can do that." George gave him a squeeze on the butt. "This isn't about sex for you?"

Xander pulled back enough to grin at him. "Sex is always of the good."

George laughed. "Point. But you're looking for something more? You're not just with me because I'm funny."

"And cute."

"And cute," George agreed.

"Nope. I'm here because you can actually calm me down when I'm in a rage." He pulled them back to the bench and sat down, pulling George into his lap. "Ow, this is cold." He didn't move though. "Sex is great, but I've had that. My last girlfriend was all about that and I nearly married her, but someone stepped in to show me what my life would be like ten years down the road and it horrified me." He picked up both of George's hands to hold them, and to warm them because they were cold. "I really need someone who's there for me, not because I'm cute, or because I can fight well, or even because they're trying to find an ally. I need someone who's there for me, focused on me, and who wants me for all of what I am." He looked his boyfriend in the eyes. "Do you think you can do that?"

"That's what I started out to do," George told him; then he kissed him hard.

Someone, or actually a few someones, started to clap. There was even a wolf whistle. Xander flipped them off behind George's back. "Can't a guy get a kiss?" he yelled when he pulled back to breathe.

"Preferably not in front of the students," McGonagall said, making them jump apart. She smiled at them. "While I enjoyed it immensely, you are needed inside and it's cold out here, boys. Come get warm so you can sneak out again later."

Xander grinned at her. "Later, I'm going to take him back to my room and make him give me a backrub and teach me how to play Quidditch." He took George's hand and walked past a number of his students, who all looked like they had been caught outside too. "Come on, guys, let's go get warm so we can do more of this." The kids followed him inside.

McGonagall stole George for a moment while Xander was distracted by a third year asking him to dance. "Do be good for him," she said quietly. "He deserves it."

George smiled at her. "I'm going to try. That's what we were talking about."

"What I saw had nothing to do with discussion," she said, a twinkle in her eye as she walked away.

George looked over, smirking when he saw the height difference between Xander and his current dance partner. That was so cute. He sat down to wait on his boyfriend's return, they were going to have a long night and he needed to conserve his energy. Dumbledore walked past and gave him a bright smile, and a wink. Yes, it was going to be a very long night indeed.

***

Xander walked into the headmaster's office, giving him a bright smile. "Hi. How do I fix this so it works?" He patted the top of the tv sitting in his usual chair. He was handed a small instruction book. "And the electricity part?"

"Put your wand against the plug and say, "Lightning." Dumbledore looked the boy over. He was wearing jeans, fairly tight ones, and a t-shirt/overshirt combination. "Are you leaving for a bit?"

"I need to go get movies and popcorn." Xander flopped down into the other chair. "I'd take George but I'd be afraid I'd have to drag along his father and explain everything to him. I figured I'd do that late next year, when I can take a whole day and get us a motel room." Dumbledore laughed. "You think he'll like it?"

"I think Arthur would love it, Xander." He crossed his hands on the desk. "What else did you have planned for today?"

"Just that and taking care of the chicks. There's snow against my window and they're fascinated with watching it come down. Oh, and I got the screen installed correctly so I can open the windows for them this spring. Thank you for digging that out for me."

"It was nothing. It was actually in the way of something I needed." He glanced at the tv. "Are you going to do that in your classroom?"

"I could, but there's almost no sitting space in there, and it's starting to smell. I was going to open the door for a few days to air it out." He grinned. "And to let Harry and Ron sneak down there without having to come get the keys."

Dumbledore laughed. "Good. Harry's working hard?"

"Very hard. He's built a lot of muscles. He's in the top four, he and Ron both. Draco's right up there with them too. He's been playing Quidditch every afternoon too so he can qualify for the team next year."

"Yes, I'm sure he'll be excellent, he is here." Xander grinned, he had loved the last match he'd seen - he had cheered for all his students, which earned him many funny looks since it was Gryffindor versus Slytherin. "Any news for Weasley?"

"He finally got a letter back, and they want to interview with him this spring, after he sends them some forms and an essay sorta thing. Something like college admissions I guess." He shrugged. "Ron was dancing around about it last week. Fred didn't even prank him when he snuck down to tell them and show off the letter."

"Good." Dumbledore stood up. "Did you get your pay?" Xander nodded. "You could have it directly deposited to the bank if you wanted."

Xander shuddered. "Eww. I heard about the ride down there. I like rollercoasters, but that just sounds like my stomach's going to turn."

"I'm sure they're used to it."

"Maybe, but I'd rather have it in my hand. Just in case, ya know." Dumbledore nodded. "Did you give me a raise?"

"No, but I figured that you'd need January's pay to buy the old broom that I heard was being sold."

"I did, thanks," Xander admitted. "It flies really great. George, Madam Hooch, and I all burned the p.o.s. as soon as I paid for the new one. She said that's the right way to honor a broom with as long of a history as mine had to have had."

"Yes, she holds a funeral pyre each year for broken student brooms. Quite moving last year if I remember right." He stood up. "Did you need help getting that downstairs?"

"Nah, if I can move a recliner, I can move a little tv." Xander stood up and hefted the tv. "See, we're all good as long as I can make it down your stairs."

"Stand on the second one down and they'll go down with you," Dumbledore advised. "Behave. I don't want to hear about you encouraging a food fight or anything."

Xander grinned at him, and it wasn't a nice one. "Oh, my students will still be learning this holiday. Just one lesson, but I'm sure they'll learn it." He walked out. "Thanks, Prof. I'll see you at dinner."

Dumbledore waited until he was sure the boy was gone to burst out laughing. That boy and those children were so adorable together. It was torture in miniature scale. He was looking forward to hearing the auror's assessment when one finally got here in February.

***

Xander walked into the Gryffindor main room, after having had to spell the doorway to let him in because no one answered the knock. "Ron!" he yelled. Ron came jogging down the stairs a few minutes later. "I'm going to London, muggle London. Wanna come? I can get you junk food."

Ron laughed. "No thanks, I'm trying to teach Harry a new strategy in Wizards Chess. He sucks badly at it." He glanced around. "How did you get in?"

"Gryphons are very good at picking locks," Xander said smugly. "Did you want anything?"

"Can you get my father something muggly?" he asked. "I'll pay for it and all, but I'm sure he'd love something funny and cute if it came from the muggle world."

"Can't figure out what to get him?"

Ron shook his head. "Not a clue. Used to be anything was laughed over, but he's had a hard year, what with Fudge trying to burrow into his arsehole to hide. He actually thinks my father and Percy will stand up for him against George."

Xander grinned. "Cool. Maybe I'll stop in and deliver the present. Something cute and funny?"

"Yeah, something he can look at and laugh."

"Done." He patted the kid on the shoulder. "Come down to my room tonight, we're doing muggle movies as a learning experience." Ron rolled his eyes. "These'll be okay, you'll see. You'll like what I have planned." He turned and walked out, forgetting to uncharm the doorway.

"Xander, the door," Ron yelled after him when it bounced open. He barely saw the wand flick before the door slammed in his face. He tried to open it and shook his head. "Door's stuck shut!" he called in warning as he headed back to his room. If it wasn't unstuck by lunch, they'd owl down to the headmaster, he could usually fix it. Hedwig was down getting plenty of attention, she'd do it for them.

Melody trudged down the stairs. "Fuck me!" she complained loudly.

"Eeww!" was heard from upstairs on the boys side.

She snorted and waved her wand at the door. "Open." It remained shut. "Unlock?" She pouted and stomped her foot. "That's no fair."

Hermione came down and whispered at the door, and it opened. "It's the lock sticking charm," she told her as she headed down to go to the library.

Melody glared at her back. So the girl wanted to play know-it-all with gryphon magic, huh? Well, they'd see who'd win. She stomped off, forgetting that Hermione and Ron had some of Xander's books.

***

Xander walked around London, eating his fries. He had been surprised at the exchange rate Gringotts gave him, but it was a great thing. He had a lot of money in his pocket, spelled so no one could pickpocket him, and a short list of things to get. He found the first thing he was looking for, a video store. He walked in and smiled at the person behind the counter as he walked back to look at the movies to buy. Renting would only cause problems. How would he list Hogwart's address? And these places usually needed a credit card. He spied the used bin and took his selections over there to look at them, grabbing some of his favorite Christmas specials from in there. "Yup, just so me," he said as he pulled out one last one. He found one in the comedy section that he had missed seeing and grabbed a Monty Python and a Benny Hill. Teenaged boys would appreciate it for the partial nudity if for nothing else. He carried his stack to the cashier and smiled at her again. "Hi."

"Starting a collection?" she asked as she ran the scanner over the price tags.

"Something like that," he agreed, pulling out the money to pay her. "Would you happen to know where a kitchy sort of store is? I need to get something funny and cute for my future father-in-law."

She laughed. "There's one of those *wonderful*," she said dryly, "tourist shops on the next corner. Or try about five blocks to the west. There are a bunch of little places down that way." She took his money and gave him change back. "Anything else?"

He leaned closer. "I need to find a porn shop," he said seriously.

She smirked. "Go toward the shops in the west. 'Bout half way there, there's a nice group of them. Most of the rest are farther away." She handed him his bag. "Thank you for shopping with us."

He waved and left, heading what he thought was west. But hey, the cabdriver had been nice, even if he had hiked the price a bit.

Xander found just the present for Mr. and Mrs. Weasley and bought them, then he found the porn shops. He walked in and right up to the cashier. "I need something gay that's good for first timers."

The cashier looked at him in shock. "I can't help you. I only check people out, mate."

Xander sighed. "Okay. Is there anyone here who can help me?"

One of the customers smiled at him and slowly looked over his body. "Virgin territory?"

Xander turned and smiled at him as he turned a pale pink. "And my boyfriend wants to go farther but I'd like to know what I'm getting into first. So I need a few tapes, preferably with just the basic stuff, no kinks." It was much easier to talk to strangers about this than it was people he knew.

The customer laughed. "My, I'd heard all Americans were bold, but you're just delightful." He nodded and walked over to the videos, Xander following him. He picked out three of them. "These are great. That one's het," he said, waving at it, "but it's informative. Got a good preparation scene and it's about the same. This one's a bit kinky, but it's got good views, and that's all about sucking," he finished.

Xander looked at them, then nodded. "Thanks. Anything for pleasure viewing?" Another two were handed to him. "Hey, cool," he said, reading the back of one of them. He smiled at the customer. "Thanks, man." He walked over to the other stuff, looking at the toys, the lubes, the magazines. He found some lube and some condoms that sounded pretty good and added them to his stack. And something for Percy. He checked out, walking back toward where he knew the Ministry of Magic was. It wasn't a hidden building, just a boring, ordinary one. He walked inside with his bags and stopped at the receptionist. "Arthur Weasley please?" he asked politely.

The witch put out her cigarette. "We'll need to check your packages."

"Sure. Just don't blame me if you blush." He handed them over with a smile, nearly laughing when she quickly closed the one from the sex shop. "Which floor?"

"Take the stairs to the third floor. Turn left, go to the end of the hall. Percy's up there right now."

"That's cool, I need to see him too." He waved and jogged up the stairs.

The witch touched a button on her magic-based intercom. "Weasley, visitor for both of you." She let the button go and picked up her cigarette to relight.

Xander bounded into Arthur's office, giving him a hug. "Ron said I was to come give you a Christmas prezzie from the both of us, and I've got one for you too, Percy." He sat down and dug through the bags, coming up with six bobble-head dolls and the latest catalog for a scientific company. He handed them over to Arthur, then dug out the one he had gotten for Percy. He smiled as he handed it over. "For whenever you need it," he said with a fond tone of voice.

Percy looked at the ball gag in his hand, his mouth hanging open. "Wherever would I use this?" he squeaked.

"Fred," Xander said with a nod.

Percy burst out laughing. "I say, that's a wonderful idea." He tucked it into the biggest pocket in his robes so no one would see it after he left. "Thank you." He smiled at his father, who was playing with the dolls. "Those are cute."

"They're bobble-heads. Those are the entire royal family, those in line for the throne and in the press. Very British."

Arthur smiled at him. "Tell Ron I love them. Where did you find them?" Xander handed over the top half of the receipt. "Thank you, my boy." He leaned back. "Are you coming over for Christmas dinner?"

"No, I think I'll stay at school. I've got stuff planned for the kids in my advanced class." He patted the video bag. "We're going to watch movies with different fighting styles and some really campy stuff. It's part pleasure, part work, and then I'm going to jump them and give them a workout while they're tired so they can learn that lesson and skip it later in the year."

Arthur smiled. "You're certainly taking very good care of them. Ron's owls have all said that he adores your class."

"How's Harry doing?"

"One of the top four. He's not so fast on dueling, but he's good in other things. Plus, he's taking the opportunity to build up a lot of muscles so he has a better chance of playing Quidditch after school. He and Ron work out almost every day now."

"Good," Percy said with a nod. He stood up. "I'll see you at lunch?"

"Of course," Arthur said fondly. "We'll eat in the commissary. Xander?"

Xander shook his head. "I'm for the excess of fast food. It's been *ages* since I had any." He stood up, making sure everything was tucked nicely back into his bags again. He found one last thing for Arthur and pulled it out, handing it to him. "That's from just me." He waved and walked out, heading for Diagon and the floo home.

Arthur opened the card and smiled, letting Percy read it while he felt mushy. "That boy is wonderful."

"Indeed," Percy agreed with a smile. He went back to his office. Their tea break was over. He bypassed Minister Fudge as he walked away.

Minister Fudge walked into Arthur's office and closed the door. "He gave you gifts?"

"Christmas gifts from himself and my son Ron. Ron apparently thought I needed something to make me laugh." He touched the over-sized head of one of the dolls, watching as it bobbed. "Isn't it cute?"

"Are they magical?"

"Technical."

"I see." Fudge gave the toys a dirty look, then spied something lying on the floor. He picked up the tape, looking it over. "Monty Python and the Holy Grail?"

"Xander picked up some stuff for himself," Arthur said as he took it. He tucked it into his desk drawer. "I'll send it to him today. Thank you for finding it." Minister Fudge 'humph'ed and walked out. Arthur got up to see what else the boy had dropped. He found a magazine and another video, both of which made him blush. He quickly bundled them up and went down to the post owlry. He wouldn't dare use an official owl for these, he didn't want to give Minister Fudge any more reason to come after him. He sent a quick note in thanks for the gifts to both boys with it. He watched as the owl left, sighing in relief. He hadn't wanted to know that much about his son's sex life.

***

Xander walked into the Great Hall, back in a robe again, and walked up to the table set for everybody. Four of his students had stayed. "We're doing stuff in my room tonight," he said as he sat down. "Come on down and we'll even nibble." He smiled at Dumbledore. "Thank you for taking that owl for me."

Dumbledore blushed. "I didn't think anyone else needed to know what you had bought today. You're not showing that to the students, correct?"

"No, those are for personal use. That's okay, right?"

"Of course. I'm sure it will answer many questions you have about your..." He stopped. He couldn't think of a phrase that wouldn't give away the contents or embarrass him.

"The questions I've had about what to do with George?" Xander suggested.

"Xander, you didn't buy porn?" Willow sighed, shaking her head. "You don't need that. Try it, you'll figure it out."

Tara blushed. "Willow, it's different with guys," she said quietly. "They need stuff." Willow looked at her. "You know, *stuff*?"

Willow rolled her eyes and nodded. "I know. I'm sure he got some of that too."

"As enlightening as Xander's shopping habits can be," Giles broke in, "I don't think it's an appropriate topic for dinner conversation." He sent a glare at Xander. "Please keep them away from the students."

"We wouldn't want to see them anyway," Draco told him. He smirked. "Some of us don't need tapes."

Harry glared at him. "Some of you are overblown windbags."

"Unless someone wants to kiss each other, I'd stop it," Xander told them. Both boys blushed and looked down at their plates. "Thank you for stopping the argument. Do it later." He looked at Ron, who was just blushing. "Your father enjoyed the present I got him and I got Percy to laugh."

"He laughed?"

Xander nodded. "Yup, out loud and everything." Ron looked speechless. "I'm good. Your dad got bobble-head dolls and a new catalog."

Ron looked at him. "You made Percy lighten up. You're a God." Xander leaned over and told him what he'd gotten him. Ron started to snicker and had to jump up and run out into the hall so he could collapse in laughter.

"I'm good with the prezzies," Xander said smugly. He looked at the headmaster. "The only questionable thing I got for the kids to watch was rated PG-13 and is fairly old. It's comedy and no one goes totally topless."

Dumbledore snorted. "Thank you. I'm sure they'll enjoy it, being the age that they're at." He smiled at Hermione. "I saw that one and it was quite funny if I remember right."

Xander nodded. "I always liked it." He smiled at Ron as he walked back in. "Come eat so you can finish growing."

Ron retook his place and dished himself up some food once it appeared. He eventually looked at Xander. "You are a God," he told him, smiling at him.

Xander beamed.

***

Xander sat down with his large bag of McDonalds to watch the kids study the tv. "It's a muggle thing," he reminded them.

"You see pictures on that?" Ron asked. Xander nodded, pulling out a cheeseburger to eat. "What's that?"

"Fast food." Xander handed him the bag as he stood up. "I also got bags of popcorn and chips, plus some decent generic soda." He put his wand down and started the spell to run the machine, then popped in the first tape. "Okay, this one has a few martial arts fighting styles and a really good villain, but it's got an iffy plot." He started the tape and sat down again.

"It's too small," Malfoy complained. "It's hard to see."

"Then figure out a way to project the picture."

Hermione pulled out the book she carried with her, as did Ron, and both of them came up with a spell at the same time. They even cast it together, making a large sixty inch picture float in the air. They relocked their books and put them away.

"Nice work," Harry told them. He turned the tv around so they wouldn't get distracted from the minipicture. He also turned the sound up. Then he relaxed to watch the movie. This was a treat he hadn't enjoyed very often, even when he was living as a muggle.

Draco looked over at Ron and Xander, who were nibbling, and scowled. Xander handed him the bag and he shook his head. So Xander got up and got the muchies out of the bathroom where the sodas were on ice in the bathrub. He came back and laid them out, sitting down again. Draco looked them over, then carefully picked up a can of soda and a bag of chips. The soda's popping noise made him jump, but he sipped it. "Eww," he told him.

"The second one kills the taste," Xander instructed. "This was the other part of my life as a muggle." He watched as everyone got something to nibble on and started watching the movie again. Yeah, this was great. Next was a Christmas movie, Rudolph in claymation.

***

The whole group stumbled in for lunch looking like they hadn't slept yet and smiling. Even Hermione had liked Monty Python and Benny Hill. They took their seats. Giles smiled at them. "Good morning, did you have fun last night?"

"And this morning," Ron told him. "Straight through."

Willow snickered. "Monty Python marathon?"

"Shrubbery?" Harry responded.

"NIT!"

Xander snickered.

Dumbledore laughed.

Giles and Willow shook their heads, groaning.

Tara smiled at them. "Can I join you tonight?"

"Sure. I've got a few more that I haven't shown," Xander told her. "We've got enough movies to not show a rerun one for two more nights." All three boys looked at him in awe.

Tara smiled. "Good. I miss Christmas specials." She picked up a piece of meat and handed off the platter. "How did you like the Christmas stuff?"

"It was interesting," Harry told her. "I never knew how many versions of Santa Claus there were, and that's only in America." He handed off the meat platter. He'd finished off the last cheeseburger an hour ago and wasn't ready for that sort of real food yet.

Draco looked at two of the other students. "What were those books you used last night?"

"Mine," Xander told him. "Can't give them out to anyone." Draco raised an eyebrow. "I'll have to kill whomever lets them out into the normal wizarding world."

"Oh. Never mind then." He took some of the meat and put it on his plate. "Was a good image."

"They usually are," Ron sighed, glaring at Xander. "No more Ronmonkey."

Willow grinned at him. "But I like the Ronmonkey. It's cute. What's it singing now?"

"Hakuna Mattata," Xander told her.

She giggled. "At least it's not a dirty song anymore."

"I don't sing dirty songs," Ron reminded her. "My mum would kill me."

Harry nudged him. "It could be worse, everyone could know what you're talking about."

Willow smiled at him. "Xander created this illusion that was part Ron..." Ron jumped up and covered her mouth. "Okay, I won't tell," she said when she got free.

Draco laughed meanly. "I'm sure you enjoyed seeing your ancient relatives quite a lot."

"That's it," Ron said, standing up, nearly knocking over his chair. "Duel, now."

"Boys, stop it," Xander warned. "I wasn't kidding about the kiss and make up stuff." He buttered a roll and nibbled on it. "Sit. Now." Ron and Draco both sat.

"There shall be no dueling, Mr. Weasley," Dumbledore said kindly. "And you, kindly remember you are on probation." Both boys nodded, not looking at him. "Thank you." He smiled at Xander. "Were you going to have to leave again today?"

"Not unless someone wanted me to go get more fast food."

Hermione covered her mouth. "No thank you," she said as she burped. "Last night was enough." Ron started to open his mouth so she elbowed him. "Wasn't it."

Ron nodded. "I guess."

Giles cleared his throat. "Madam Pince told me she received a shipment of books today from the Watcher's Council. They sent quite a lot of their duplicate books for the dark arts section."

"Cool. Anything like what we use as a classification manual?"

"No, but I'll finally be able to pull pictures of nearly everything so I can finish writing a textbook for the class," Giles told him. Willow nodded. "Did you want to help?"

"No, but I may want to rearrange things. You originally gave them to me in a funny order and I rearranged the groups."

"That would be fine," Giles agreed. "Since it is your class and all." He smiled. "How are they doing?"

"As of the last test I graded, I've got two flunking, three D's. Five or six average students, one that does brilliantly, and one who it depends on the phase of the moon and her temperament." He grimaced. "Someone else gets Melody next year, okay?"

Giles nodded. "I dare say she's going to be going to the other side of the classes exclusively next year. She has no desire to learn from either Willow or myself."

"Hey, even better, she thinks Lupin's neat." He looked around. "Where is she?"

"Her mother showed up today. Melody stayed yesterday because she was being picked up instead of taking the Express," Dumbledore told him. "Her mother wanted a conference and update on her progress."

"I did that for you," Willow told him. "That way you wouldn't have to be in the same room."

"Hello, all," Fred and George said as they walked in.

George gave Xander a hug. "I saw what you gave Percy, meany," he whispered to him. He smiled at Dumbledore. "I was going to snatch Xander for a long fly and Fred wanted to borrow the other three. May we?"

"After lunch," Xander corrected.

"I've got lunch for us," George told him.

Xander shrugged and stood up. "Then I'm going to go for a fly. I'll be back about dinner time and we'll start again," he told the kids. They all smiled at him. "Coolness. Lets go grab my broom and cloak."

"You finally got it polished?" George asked as they walked out.

Ron looked up at his brother. "What did you need us for?" He took a bite of food as his brother took Xander's spot.

"Inventory and as a test group." Harry paled. "Nothing serious. You can do the inventory if you want."

Ron smiled sweetly at Fred. "So, did you get to see Percy's present yet? I know you went home yesterday."

Fred shoved him. "Yes. Remind me to get Xander back for that. I woke up in it this morning."

"What did he get Percy?" Hermione asked.

"Something naughty," Ron told her.

Fred gave her a deadpan look. "A gag so he could use it on me."

Hermione blushed scarlet. "Oh, my," she squeaked. Fred laughed. She hit him on the arm. "Oh, you! What did he really get him?"

Ron nodded. "Just what he said. Xander promised Percy he wouldn't play any jokes on him."

Hermione grabbed her goblet of juice to drink from, trying to hide her blush.

"Why would he get him that?" Harry asked.

"He snores," Hermione said firmly. The gentlemen all looked at her. "That's as far as I want my mind to go, thank you."

Giles cleared his throat. "I daresay I agree." He looked at Fred. "What did your father say about his presents. Xander was practically glowing about them."

"He showed them off to everybody. They ate dinner with us even. Took your seat, Ronikins."

Ron snorted. "I'm sure dad loved them all just as much as he does me." He quickly finished his lunch. "C'mon, I'll show you our training room if you want." Fred nodded so they left the hall. They found Xander and George about fifty meters down the hall. "You need some help finding your room, Xander?" he asked. He got flipped off. He almost said something, but Snape was walking up the hall so he pulled Fred with him.

"I do not believe this is the place for that activity," Snape said as he passed them by.

"We're in our twenties," Xander complained. "We don't have self-control yet." He pulled George down to his room to show him what else he had gotten. He didn't know George could blush that brightly.

***

Xander checked his watch. 3 am. A great time to do this. He stood up and turned off the tape. "Let's go train!" he said happily. Everyone glared at him. "This is the only lesson you'll be getting during the break but it's an important one." The four students stood up and trudged out of his room, going down the hall to the training room. "Cool, let's duel you guys."

"But we're tired," Hermione told him, nearly whining.

"Which is the point," Harry sighed. He looked at Xander, starting to glare. "We have to prove that we can fight while we're tired?" Xander nodded, smiling at him. "One duel?"

"For each of you." He pointed at the dueling mats. "Go for it and we'll go finish the movies." They trudged over to the mats and climbed up, facing off with each other. He crossed his arms as he watched them listlessly raise their wands. "Guys, pretend this is real," he called.

"Dear God," Snape said from the doorway. "It's break."

Xander looked over at him. "It'll only take a few minutes. I want to see if they can fight while they're tired." He grinned as he turned back to them. "Come on. Prove the second point too."

Harry fired a light at Ron, who flinched. "Sorry," he grunted, turning to hit everyone else, getting Malfoy really hard. "I'm done," he said, sitting down.

Ron got everyone very hard, and flopped down too.

Malfoy started to growl. His stomach hurt.

Hermione stood there, thinking. Then she shot both the boys as hard as they had hit Draco. "The second point was that, while you're tired your concentration and judgement are off." She hit Draco, sending him crashing to the floor, then walked away.

Draco drew his wand and got them all, making them scream. "I just get dirty when I'm tired, that way I can get back to what I had been doing." He strolled past Xander. "The point?"

"Both of them. Let's go back to the room and finish that movie." He let the two kids walk in front of him, but waited for Harry and Ron. "Did you understand?" he asked.

Ron nodded. "I agree with the ferret this time though, and it's an odd feeling." He yawned. "I think I'll crash out on your couch," he muttered as he walked away.

"Voldemort doesn't usually attack in the middle of the night," Harry complained.

"Are you sure about that?" Xander asked him. "Why would he wait and attack when people were expecting it? Evil is not only lazy, but it counts on the fear it raises." He pulled the boy closer by putting an arm around his neck. "Showing up in the middle of the afternoon doesn't give as much fear as showing up in the middle of the night. I bet that if you asked, the Death Eaters showed up quite often in the middle of the night, or when people just got back from vacation." He walked into the open portal to his room, letting Harry come in and get the door. "Evil doesn't want to make you comfy, it wants to make you crazy with fear and ready to beg them for mercy or to join them. That's how they get their rocks off."

Malfoy nodded. "My father started telling me stories this summer. Almost every single one was done at the darkest point of the night, done in groups, and they gave the family no chance." He paled out some. "And personally, I'd like to never think about it again."

Hermione looked at him. "You don't want to follow him?"

Xander sat down. "Part of knowing people means that you understand their personalities. Draco is a leader, he likes to be the head of everything. If he joined his father, he'd be a foot soldier. Whenever someone like Voldemort," he saw the winces, "oh, get over it," he told them. "When someone like that asshole builds an army, he can't stand being questioned. Everyone has to follow orders, even those who seem to have a lot of control don't because that takes away from the big guy's power base, which makes him feel weak and helpless, which pisses him off and he kills the person who's making him feel that way." He shrugged when Draco looked shocked. "I noticed a while back that you're not a follower, you could probably never be a follower, and it's not going to suit you." He looked at the group. "That's why he's here. Not to fight Voldemort like you guys, but because he's going to become a target."

Draco stood up. "Thanks a lot, Harris."

"Sit," Harry told him as he flopped down onto the couch. "He's right. Even if you take a neutral track, supporting your father but not joining him, you're going to become a target. He's trying to make sure that you live."

"Don't know why," Ron snorted.

"Ron," Xander warned. Ron looked away. "Thank you." He smiled at Draco. "It wasn't meant as an insult. It's meant as a reality check. Besides, maybe they'll start to leave you alone if they think that you're not going to be showing up on their doorstep at about this time of night."

Draco scowled. "Still shouldn't have said anything," he muttered.

Xander shrugged. "I'd rather have their support if I were you. They knew, they just didn't put the pieces together."

"Crabbe and Goyle have been giving your back funny looks," Hermione told him. Draco stared down at her. "They did it right before they left. It looked like worry, but also contempt."

"I think there's a great wonder about where you're going to stand," Harry told him. He smiled. "Feel happy, you're getting more discussion than I am for once." He smiled. "It could be worse. No one's suggesting that you're going to become an auror."

Ron laughed. "That'd almost be worth it so we could see his father's face."

"Or Snape's," Xander added. "Sit, Draco. You're part of this group. You don't like these guys, and they don't like you, but it's all good if you're willing to deal with it like the adults you're becoming."

Draco sat back down, but he didn't lose his frown. "My father's been hinting that I'm going to have to prove myself," he admitted.

Harry sat up and looked down at him. "How?" Draco shrugged. "Well, and I say this under duress, if you don't follow your father, I'll help you anyway." He leaned back. "Movie?"

Xander turned on the movie. "There you go." He smiled at Draco. "If you need anything, I'm going to be right here. I am one of those people you can run to, no matter what you've done." He looked at Ron. "Even you guys can come running if you need it." He turned up the volume and grabbed a soda to relax. He mouthed 'sorry' when he caught Malfoy staring at him.

The boy shrugged and went back to the Christmas movie. He could devise a devious plan to get the teacher back in a few hours, when he wasn't so tired.

Part 3

Professor Dumbledore called Xander up to his office, rereading the letter he had just received by owl. Xander came trotting up the stairs, looking happy and well. "Xander, I have a very large favor to ask of you." The boy sat as he nodded, looking interested. "You know that we have a muggle studies course?" Xander nodded again. "Well, the sixth years were supposed to do their yearly weekend over break, as usual, but the teacher is rather ill at the moment."

"So you need a chaperone who understands the muggle world and Giles would probably kill twenty giggly teenagers?" he suggested.

Dumbledore burst out laughing. "Yes, exactly the reason. Would you be willing to cut part of your break short? I realize this is a rather large favor, asking you to babysit twenty-eight children for a weekend in London, but I think you could probably handle it."

Xander shrugged. "Sure, but I'll probably end up asking Mr. Weasley to come help me. It'd be a thrill for him and I wouldn't be alone." He shifted some. "Or I could offer to let some of the older students come as a way to wear out some detentions."

"Either or both would be fine," Dumbledore told him, handing over the information he had for the trip. "All you need to know is in there. Usually the children go to a play or a movie, the mall, and the zoo I believe."

Xander grinned. "But I get to show them London?"

Dumbledore held in a laugh. "With restrictions. I'd rather that they didn't visit a jail, for instance, or the homeless. The children know that they exist, but we'd rather not give them a depressing view of muggle society."

"Cool." He stood up. "Let me go find Arthur. When do I meet them?"

"Tomorrow evening at the Leaky Cauldron. You'll have rooms there for both nights."

Xander giggled. "Cool." He waved and jogged down the stairs.

Dumbledore doubled over in laughter. Those children would definitely learn something about muggles on this trip. Maybe he should suggest that Xander be included next year also. He'd wait and see what happened first. Hopefully no one would have to be bailed out of jail this year.

***

Xander flooed into the burrow just after lunch the next day, dropping his bag. "Hi, all." He smiled at Mr. Weasley. "I just got given an assignment that I think you'll *adore*," he told him with a smile.

"Tea, Xander?" Mrs. Weasley asked, pointing at the pot.

He shuddered. "No, boiled leaves taste nasty to me." He grinned at her. "I need to steal your husband actually." She giggled. "I promise I won't let him get into *too* much trouble."

Arthur smiled at him. "What did you need me to do, Xander?"

"The muggle studies teacher is sick and I got put in charge of the yearly weekend in London." Arthur's eyes lit up. "Twenty-eight wizards and witches loose in London on my own." He walked over and sat down. "We're going to go to a mall, a movie or something, and then whatever I decide on the last day, but I need an *adult* type person there with me so I don't join the kids in getting into trouble."

Arthur beamed at him. "Let me call and get some time off. This weekend?"

Xander nodded. "Tonight actually. Dumbledore just found out and asked me. I told George before I came over, taking the opportunity to embarrass him in front of his twin. We'll be back on Sunday and will be at the Leaky Cauldron the whole time. Which, if you ask me, defeats the purpose. The kids should be allowed to stay in a motel and see tv."

Percy came down the stairs and gave Xander a bright smile. "A problem with George?" he asked.

"Nope, I got handed the annual muggle studies trip."

"Oh, dear," Percy said, smiling at him. "I'm sure you'll have a handful there. Last year's students all got arrested if I remember right." He sat down and poured himself some tea. "That present of yours worked quite well. Fred has been quite absent recently, as have the pranks."

Mrs. Weasley shook her head. "I don't know how you managed to get that horrid thing on Fred, but do stop it, Percy. He's not been that bad recently."

"He turned me polka-dotted, mum. It has been that bad. I had to go to work looking like that."

"See, that's when you wear a shirt for their store and demand a fee for advertising," Xander pointed out. "They pay Ron a few sickles every time they officially test things on him."

Percy snorted. "I doubt they'd like it. This has never been an official testing." He handed over the pot. "Tea?"

"Nope, don't like the boiled leaves. They taste funny."

"Do you drink that muggle sody-pop?" Arthur asked as he walked back into the kitchen.

"Soda? Yup. All the time because I need the caffeine. And there's a nice little store just down the street from the Leaky Cauldron so I sneak down there to buy munchies." He stood up. "Are we ready?"

"Yes, I have Monday off as well, just in case. What should I pack?" He looked at Xander's outfit.

"Pack what you normally wear under your robes, that's muggle enough for everybody else." Arthur smiled and headed up to pack a small bag so Xander looked at his wife. "Trust me, I'll keep him out of trouble. We only get ten galleons each for spending money."

"That's quite a lot with the exchange rate," Percy pointed out.

"Yes, it is," Xander said happily. "More than enough for kids to run through a mall for the whole afternoon and not get into trouble." He watched as Arthur walked down the stairs holding a small bag. "All set?" Arthur nodded. "We'll be at the Leaky Cauldron if you need us," he called, going over to the fireplace. He tossed out some of his personal stash of floo powder and walked into the fire. "Leaky Cauldron," he called, disappearing with a wave.

Arthur smiled and waved at his family, apparating to there. He joined Xander in the bar portion, looking around. There was almost no one here. Xander was talking to Tom.

"What do you mean they screwed up the reservations?" he pouted.

"Sorry, Professor, but we're painting and we told Professor Dumbledore this. We've made you reservations at a muggle place closer to the mall, just to be nice and all, but I can't let you stay here."

"Really?" Arthur said happily. "We'll be staying at a muggle inn?"

"Motel or hotel?" Xander asked.

"Small motel," Tom told him. "Double rooms all, set on the same floor. They know you're a school trip misplaced by a mess up so they're happy enough." He smiled. "I didn't think it'd be too horrible for the students and all."

"No, I actually wondered why they didn't put us in one anyway." Xander sighed and looked around. "Okay, so we'll wait here for the kids, then head back to Diagon for money exchange, then head over there."

"That'll be fine," Tom told him. "Drink?"

"Butterbeer?" Xander asked hopefully. One was handed over to him. "Thanks." He walked over and sat at a small table near the fire. He wasn't sure how the kids were getting here, but he would be prepared just in case. Arthur sat down across from him. "Full immersion," he told him, holding up his mug in a salute. "The kids are going to go nuts."

Arthur laughed. "Trust me, they'll handle it quite well. That's why we only send the older students. I quite enjoyed our trip. The zoo was rather odd, but interesting."

"I think we're supposed to go there tonight," Xander said, pulling out his itinerary to look it over. "Nope, early tomorrow, then the mall and a movie before bed. Where did you want to eat dinner?"

"We could probably eat that fast food you were going on about for at least one meal."

Xander grinned. "Sure. I'm sure they'll enjoy it." He looked over as the door opened, admitting a few students. "Grab a seat," he called. One of them gave him a frown. "Sorry, he got sick. Mr. Weasley and I are taking you around London."

"Well, he was a muggle," one girl pointed out as she dragged a large suitcase into the inn. "Sorry, it's all I had."

"That's fine." Xander watched as a few more students trickled in, and another few by floo. "Does anyone have the roll?" he asked.

"I know who everyone is and three kids are missing," one girl told him.

Arthur got up and went to the London-side door, opening it to look outside. He said something to someone standing out there, coming back in with a smile. "They snuck off once their parents dropped them off. They'll be here soon."

"Cool with me," Xander told him. "Are we being followed?"

Arthur nodded, looking a little more serious. "Just in case we get into trouble, or have to erase a muggle's memory." He sat down again. "I'm sorry about that, Xander. I was only trying to protect my son."

"Hey, PPS, I understand." Arthur looked clueless. "Parental Protective Syndrome, happens to all of them at least once." Arthur smiled. "Does George know?"

"He faced me down about it. I told him and we had a small row, but he understood too." He took a sip of his drink. "How was the ball?"

"Really great," Xander said with a grin. One of the students walked over to him. "Yup?"

"Are we leaving soon?"

"We're going to the motel as soon as you're all here," Xander told him. The young wizard frowned. "Tom's painting and found us a small motel to take over for the weekend. It's closer to where we wanted to be anyway." He finished his butterbeer as the door opened again, and a witch pushed the three girls inside. "Come over here," he called, smiling at the Ministry Witch. "Are you following us?"

"Tonight," she told him. She nodded at Arthur. "Where's the teacher?"

"Sick to his stomach. Dumbledore sent me instead." Xander stood up. "Over here," he called louder. The kids all looked at him. "Thank you. Your normal teacher is sick so we're going to do this with myself and Mr. Weasley." Arthur stood up. "Since I lived the muggle life until last year and he's fascinated by them, we're probably the best people to cart you around that could be found on short notice." A few of the students pouted. "I'm going to set some ground rules, and since a few of you have had me you know how serious I am about them. The first is that you will stay together. No sneaking off." He looked at the young witches, who sighed. "You'll have plenty of time to hit the mall tomorrow afternoon, you can wait. The second one is that there will be *no* shoplifting!" He frowned at them. "I've heard horror stories about your predecessors and I'm not going there. You get arrested and we'll pick you up Sunday. That means that you'll spend whatever amount of time in a muggle jail without your wand and at the mercy of sadistic assholes who want to make that the most unpleasant time of your life so they don't have to see you again. Got me so far?" Almost all the kids nodded. "The third rule is that your wands stay hidden. Whether you tape them to your arm under your shirt, or you put them in your waistband, they're hidden. Trust me, if you need to pull it to defend yourself, you've already broken the first rule and you'll probably be living the second for a day or so." That got a few laughs. "The last rule is that we don't have anything planned for Sunday so I'm open to suggestions. Tonight we settle in, eat dinner, and I'll explain everything in your rooms to you if you need me too. Of course, I'll personally be locking all of you into your rooms so there won't be any switching or sneaking around." One boy snapped his fingers. "We're not here so you can play tickle fights with a girl, Bryant," he reminded him. The kid had teased the girl in front of him in Classifications all the time too. Maybe he should introduce him to Malfoy; Draco could probably get him laid. "Any questions?"

One witch raised her hand, the Ministry witch. "You're not staying here?"

"I'm painting," Ton called out. "Told Professor Dumbledore that, he musta forgot." He smiled at her. "Set them up in a small place down the road, already paid for it and everything with their fees."

"Cool. We'll be back in about twenty minutes," Xander told him with a smile. "Everyone line up, we're heading into Diagon to exchange your allowance." He pointed at the back entrance. "Head that way, to Gringotts." They trooped out, getting the money from Xander as they went. Xander waved and followed the kids back to the bank, which was staying open late just for them. He walked into the bank, smiling at the board that listed the amount of exchange. "Gold is down to three hundred an ounce?" he asked the goblin waiting on him.

"Fell this morning," it grunted. He handed over the money for the twenty galleons Xander had given him. "You the teacher?" Xander nodded. "We gave them enchanted bags. Can't be stolen."

"Hey, cool," Xander said with a grin. He waited until everyone was done, then led them back to the tavern. "Hey, Tom, transportation?"

"It's on the subway," he told them. "Two stops up the line. Stop's at the end of the street."

"Really?" Xander nodded, coming over to get the paper Tom was waving. "This is cool. Rogueson Academy, huh." He turned to look at the students. "Shrink your bags and put them in your pockets. Take off your robes and put them in there first," he added as an afterthought. "Traveling with a suitcase on the subway is a good way to end up without a suitcase." He watched as they all did it, helping the one girl with hers because it didn't want to shrink. "Good. Let's go. Go outside, turn to the..."

"Left," Tom supplied.

"Left and go to the red building that leads underground. We're taking the subway." The students chatted as they walked out, and Xander cast a homing beacon on the three problem children. Just in case.

Xander looked around the check-in for the motel, frowning. Not the cleanest of places. "Rogueson Academy?" he asked.

The woman behind the counter put down her cigarette and nodded him closer. "Heard you had some problems."

"Small mix up," he told her. "Painting and renovating."

"Are all of you American?"

"No, just me. I teach mythology to rich kids." He gave her his most winning smile. "Would you believe none of these kids have ever seen the inside of a mall?"

She gave him an appraising look. "Quite good for them then. Hate the bloody places myself." She handed over a book. "Sign please. I'll get your keys."

Xander signed his name and accepted the fifteen keys, giving her another smile before walking away. "Guys," he said, holding out keys. "Separate into sex pairings." A few of the kids looked stunned. "I meant same sex pairings, not ones to have sex in." Bryant sighed. "And you, you get to be in the room next to mine." He handed out keys, frowning when he saw there were an odd number of girls. "I thought we had twenty-eight."

"You do," she told him. "But one of us is in the bathroom."

"Oh. Girl?"

"Boy."

"Damn," Arthur said quietly. He frowned at her, looking around. He didn't see anyone he trusted that much. "Cots?"

"We can do that," Xander agreed. He looked at his keys. "Or we get an extra room."

"Get an extra room," Arthur suggested. "You can have it. I'll sleep with the young man, and she can have her own."

"Deal." Xander tossed the student a key, handed Arthur the last one, and went back to get another one. Finally, everyone traveled up to their rooms, all on the second floor. As soon as everyone was settled in, Xander went around to make an attendance list and show the kids what they needed to know about the rooms. Including the coin slot to make it a vibrating bed.

***

Xander looked around the mall, taking a seat on a bench. "I'm going to be right here," he told them. "If I'm not right here, I'm up in the food court." He pointed at the map of the mall. "You will *each* come check in with me *every* hour." He heard the sighs. "Trust me, it's not a bother to me, but I'm not following the girls into Victoria's Secret or Anne Summers." That got a few snickers from the boys. "And please, remember your parents' hearts. If you bring home something that inappropriate, they'll die from shock or come beat me up so all packages will be checked." He glanced at the clock beside him. "Go run!" The kids all took off.

Arthur smiled down at him. "I believe I'll go browse myself. Maybe find something for the wife." He strolled off at a more leisurely pace.

One girl came jogging back. "Professor Harris?" she asked, looking cute. "Why does that muggle have green hair?"

Xander patted the bench beside him, letting her sit. "Because he's making a statement about how he doesn't want to fit in with everyone else. That's his way of rebelling." He smiled at her. "Think about your mother before you buy any green or blue dye, and you'll probably have to bleach it because your shade of auburn is too dark for it to show up." She nodded. "And no piercings either. Spread that around please." She hopped up and headed back to the main group, which hadn't really broken up yet, they were staring at the strange people in the head shop.

Xander chuckled. Yeah, this was going to be fun. He wondered how many kids were going to go home with funny colored hair. He smiled at the kid with green hair. "Where'd you get the dye?" he asked. "I'm looking for a deep purple."

"'Bout half-way back that way," he said with a nod behind him. "Second floor. They're good."

"Thanks." Xander decided to get up and walk that way, then head to the food court. He was hungry. Chinese for lunch had been too long ago. He walked into the store and leaned on the counter. "Hi," he said with a smile. "I'm here with a school group. They're all wearing gray and black. If any of them come in here can you please remind them about dye sticking to clothes? And you might want to suggest any that need bleaching. They're kinda rich kids." The man behind the counter laughed. "And no piercings, please. Their parents will kill me. Thanks." He stood up and walked out, going to have a sundae or something. He deserved a treat. He passed by a group of girls in the lingerie store, shaking his head. As long as their mothers didn't yell at him....

***

Xander gathered everyone back at the entrance to the mall, frowning at the girls who had the purple bags from a porn store. "Didn't I ask you not to do that?" he sighed. They all blushed. "Hide them in a friend's bag for now. C'mon, we're taking taxis. Everyone here?" Arthur walked over with their straggler, so he did another head count. "Where's the blonde girl? The one with the new red streak down the front?"

"She's coming," another girl said. "She's in the bathroom." The girl in question came running. "See?"

Xander noticed a few of them were rubbing some tender spots and grinned. "Did everyone who got a new piercing get stuff to clean them with?" Everyone nodded. "Good. Let's go." He walked out, letting them climb into the cabs he had waiting. "Stuff them full," he said when a few kids were left standing around. They smooshed into his cab with him and Arthur, all but one kid who didn't have a place. One of the cabbies took pity on him and let him sit in the front. The cabs took off; Xander had already paid them and given them the destination. As soon as everyone was changed and cleaned up, they went for dinner, dragging Mr. Weasley with them. He just wanted to play with his new toys. Once they were in the salad bar, they all grouped together.

"Professor Harris, do you miss anything from your former life?" Bryant asked.

Xander nodded. "Cable."

A few of the kids snickered.

"No, seriously. I have or can get anything I need at the school. I sneak out and grab soda so I can have caffeine. I occasionally pick up some chips when I'm ready to do munchies. Everything else I already had. But I really miss cable."

"With what we saw last night, I'd miss it too," one boy said with a leer at a girl near him. She poked him on the hand with her fork.

"Guys, behave." Xander shrugged. "It's not just the stuff you guys are going to pay for on the way out, but I also miss having the shows. The things that are on every week. You get into a pattern and start to look forward to the next installment. If I could find a way to magic up a satellite dish, I'd do it."

"That would get you in a lot of trouble, young man," Arthur warned. "Not only can they trace those signals, they get quite upset when you get a signal going to somewhere odd."

Xander shrugged. "That's why I haven't done it yet." He patted his mouth dry. "So, does anyone have any ideas for tomorrow since I don't have to have you back until five?"

"What does a normal household look like?" one girl asked.

Xander got an idea, a very naughty idea. "Well, I could tell you or we could try and get someone to show you." He smiled at Arthur. "Do you remember a certain person's phone number?" Arthur looked clueless. "I believe you pick him up every year."

"Oh. Xander, no," he said, shaking his head. "They're horrid," he told him.

Xander just smiled. "Really?" Arthur frowned. "I'll be *good*. But they're right, they haven't seen the average muggle home."

"Point," Mr. Weasley said, but he still didn't look pleased. "I doubt they'd go for it. They're against us you know."

Xander's grin just got brighter. "We'll see." He looked around. "Dessert?"

"What can we get?"

"Get cheesecake, I always liked that," Xander told her. He motioned the waitress over. "We're going to have dessert too." She beamed at them, it meant a larger tip for her. "I want cheesecake. Most of these kids are used to more fancy stuff so can you help them?"

"Sure," she said, moving down to the next people. "For you?"

Arthur leaned closer. "Xander, Professor Dumbledore would never agree to that."

Xander snickered. "I'm sure she'll agree. After all, we're not telling her where we're from or anything." He winked. "Leave it up to me. I'll need something from the school, but it should be okay." He accepted his slice of cheesecake with a bright smile. "Thank you. You're so nice."

She giggled and moved down to give other kids their orders.

***

Xander walked into the Leaky Cauldron, smiling and waving at Tom. "Need the fireplace," he called. Tom waved at it so he tossed some floo powder into it and called out for Hermione. "Hey, " he said once she answered. "I need my burgundy book, the home ec one." She frowned. "Just go get it and bring it to me please. It's all okay." She disappeared and a few minutes later his book came flying out of the fireplace. "Thank you," he called, walking back out to take the trains back to the motel. He laughed cruelly. Yeah, this was going to be a great prank, George and Fred would die laughing.

***

Xander, after having made something at Dursley's factory go horribly wrong on the production floor, called Mrs. Dursley. "Hi," he said in a bright and sunny mood. "Please don't hang up, I'm not selling anything. I'm calling because my school, Rogueson Academy, was given you as a reference." She grunted for him to go on. "You see, I teach a class on the average, or slightly better than average, family and your family was named as one that would probably a good example." He smiled when he heard the interest. "No, we're in town today on a field trip and my students suggested that we drop by and see how the better than average family did things. You see, they're rather a bunch of spoiled rich children who have never even seen a stove so they're curious what they are for." He had to bite his lip when she made a scathing comment. "True, that's why I wanted to show them what a better than average household was like. And as you were mentioned to us as being much better than average as a housekeeper, wife, and mother, I thought we might drop in on you to see if you could give these poor children some insight." He clenched his fist in victory and looked at the clock. "Of course. An hour would be perfect. And you don't have to clean or anything. I'm sure the kids would be *fascinated* by that sort of thing. No, thank you, Mrs. Dursley." He hung up and broke out laughing. When he was done, he checked his clothes and stepped out into the hall. "Guys, we're traveling, be ready in a half-hour!" he called. Most of the doors opened and someone stuck their heads out. "Half an hour. We're going to visit Harry Potter's aunt." He smiled coldly and went back into his room. Harry would shit when he heard about what was going to happen to her. He hated bullies.

***

Xander stepped into the house, smiling and shaking Petunia's hand. "Thank you for allowing our class to come into your home, Mrs. Dursley." He watched as the students all walked inside, frowning when he saw a few of them were missing. "Arthur, our escappes disappeared again."

Arthur nodded, his disguise hid who he really was. "I noticed. They're on their way back." He shook Petunia's hand also. "Yes, thank you for allowing us to come in and visit." He looked at the students. "This is Petunia Dursley. She's a homemaker and wife."

"And mother," she corrected with a smile. "My Dudley goes to another school." She pointed at the kitchen. "Would you like to start in there? I was about to put on some tea." This would only help her social standing and she could show all these children how to properly take care of a home. She noticed how many of them were males. "Yours is a co-ed academy?" she asked Arthur.

"Yes, Mrs. Dursley."

"Call me Petunia," she told him.

"Thank you, Petunia. Yes, our academy is a rather small one up near the border. Very exclusive and rather hard to find, but co-educational. We even include our males in these classes, figuring that they should know the basics as well since they probably won't want to live with their parents." He sat down at the table, watching the students wander around to have a look. He noticed one in the back, and how she was staring at the broken part of a tree. "I see Henrietta has found something she enjoys," he told Xander.

"Well, her mother is a master gardener," Xander said with a shrug. He smiled and pointed back inside when Henrietta looked back at the house.

The young girl walked in, smiling at their host. "You really should paint the broken limb," she told her, taking a seat. "It'll keep bugs from invading your tree."

"Your mother gardens?"

"She happens to run a very well known herbal shop," Henrietta told her with a smile. "I've been around plants my whole life. A simple light tar and bug repellent mixture should clear up the invasion quite handily."

Petunia smiled at her. "Thank you. Maybe we'll go through the gardens in a moment." She served tea, smiling at all the students. "How have you liked your trip to London so far?" she asked them as she sat at the table.

"Quite interesting," Bryant told her, giving her a smile. "I never knew that people like the ones we saw yesterday existed."

"Yes, quite dreadful, some of those types that hang there." She smiled at the girl with purple hair. "Does your mother approve of that look?"

She shrugged. "I'll find out tomorrow," she said happily. She sipped her tea. "This is a really nice house, Mrs. Dursley. Is it just you and your son?"

"And my husband, but he had to go to work. There was a minor emergency and they can't do *anything* without him," she said proudly. She looked at Xander again. "What did you want them to see?"

"How about the normal everyday things that you take care of," Xander told her. "Vacuuming and the like?"

"That would be excellent," she agreed. "I could also show them how to cook as I was about to start on tonight's dinner. Would you like to stay?"

"Oh, no thank you. We've got to get back to the drop off point by five," Arthur told her.

"You seem familiar."

Arthur smiled. "I would have remembered if I had met you before," he covered. "You're such an engaging woman." She chuckled in what she probably thought was a light and flirting tone. "Children, please be careful around her house. We don't want to have to make more work for her after all."

"I'm sure they'll be darlings," she told him with a wink. She finished her tea. "All right then, who wants to learn about cleaning?" A few students shrugged and raised their hands. "That's fine, I should have enough for all of you." She reached under the sink and pulled out rags and polish. "Here you are, let's start you in the living room." She led them that way, stopping to grab the vacuum from the closet.

One of the girls looked at Xander, who was looking quite pleased with himself. "Cooking?" she asked.

"In a moment," Arthur assured her. "It's quite a fascinating thing to watch." He waited until their host bustled back in, taking the rest of the students to teach them how to make home made stuffing. "Xander, shall we go look at the garden?" Petunia waved at it so they walked back there. "What do you have planned?"

"Nothing big," he said innocently. Mr. Weasley glared at him. "Trust me, it won't come back." He leaned down to look at a plant, rehitching it to its stake. "There we are, all good again," he said as he stood back up. "Relax, daddy," he whispered, "I'm being good. Just like I promised." He strolled back inside, going to oversee the students in the living room. He showed the one how to plug in and turn on the vacuum, steadying her as she jumped back. "It's okay. It sucks up dirt and dust." He pointed up. "And a cobweb or three." He winked at her and moved on, helping one of the kids who was dusting.

Arthur Weasley didn't know how Xander had talked him into this, but it was with a sense of dread that he watched the boy charm the horrid woman. Though, she probably deserved whatever he did to her.

***

Petunia Dursley looked around her immaculate house. Those children had done a very good job, and had learned some important lessons that day. She jumped as something clanged in the kitchen, going to see what it was. She shrieked and climbed up onto a chair when she saw the mouse coming out of the cabinet with the pots, waving the towel that had been on her apron at it. "Shoo," she shrieked. Her husband came in the front door and gave her a funny look. "It's a mouse!" she screamed.

He grunted and went to get a trap. "We'll get it soon enough." He glanced around. "Did you clean again? I smell the polish."

"We had a lovely group of students in from one of the *exclusive* academies," she told him, allowing herself to come down now that the mouse was somewhere out of her sight. "They wanted to see what a better than average housewife was like." She straightened up. "I was recommended."

He grunted. "That's fine, as long as they didn't steal anything."

"These were very good children, wore uniforms of the finest cloths." She took the dinner out of the oven and put it on the table. "They were quite nice and very polite. I wish we had gotten Dudders into one of those places."

"He's good where he's at, not like Potter," he sneered. "Probably won't ever learn to do anything useful." He set the trap and sat down, dishing himself up some dinner. "Rich you say?"

"Very. One child was wearing a Rolex." She took the spoon and dished herself out some of her stuffing. "Imagine, giving a sixteen year old a fifty thousand dollar watch." She saw her husband's greedy expression. "Maybe they'll come back next year."

"Yes, I'll be sure to be here if they do," he agreed. "Quite good of them to show them what the above average do, quite normalizing I suppose." The trap snapped and he crowed. "There, no more problems."

"Thank you," she said, giving him a smile.

Little did she know that an imp had taken up residence in her son's bedroom and was planning on how to make her life a living hell. It had been a wonderful offer from that gryphon-born human. They usually weren't that nice, but it was a wonderful home. It only needed a little bit of renovation to be perfect. Yes, just a little bit of work.

***

Xander strolled into the Great Hall Sunday night and smiled at the professors gathered there. "All done," he said happily as he took his seat. He smiled at Harry, who had not only yelled, but had nearly choked when he found out what Xander had left in his aunt and uncle's home. Harry gave him a smug little grin in return. "I'm sure they're quite happy with themselves."

"Did anyone get arrested this year?" Snape asked.

"No, though the three that snuck off did have to get saved from someone hitting on them" Dumbledore gave him a hard look. "They snuck away and beat up on the pedophile, don't ask me. The Ministry witch following them was quite vocal about what they did, but really happy that it didn't have to be her this time. *She* made a report to their parents about the girls sneaking off." He dished himself up some chicken. "Everything else went really well. Twelve new earrings, five new nipple piercings, and a few bellybuttons. A few people with newly dyed hair. A lot of new clothes from the mall, and the three girls who snuck off went to a sex shop, but other than that, everything went according to plan."

Dumbledore gave Xander a once over. "Feeling a headache?" he asked kindly.

Xander grinned. "Not at all, why?" His smile got brighter. "I wore it out in a most satisfactory way earlier, without involving any students whatsoever." The look turned disbelieving. "You can ask them if you want."

Harry raised his hand. "He played a minor prank from what he told me. Xander, what's in that burgundy book anyway?"

"It's my home ec. book. It has all the homely sort of spells; cleaning, dusting, fixing socks, that sort of thing." He took a bite. "Why?"

"Hermione was really laughing after she tossed it to you."

Xander smiled at him. "Like all gryphon texts, it has some very useful spells. I'm sure she just found one that was quite excellent for whatever she needed. Maybe the hairdressing spell or something."

Hermione hurried in, smiling at Xander as she sat down. "Sorry we're so late." She patted her new coif, which was being held up without any pins.

"Very nice," Xander told her.

Harry nodded. "Really cute, Hermione. Did you get it from his book?"

She nodded. "It's really very interesting. There's a transfiguration spell in there too for clothes so you only need about five outfits and can fix whatever else you need."

"Which probably comes in very handy," Xander agreed.

"Indeed, it would," Dumbledore told him, his twinkling eyes back to twinkling. "I'll want to hear all about your trip later on, Xander. I'm sure you had a fascinating time."

"Yes, us too," Hermione told him. "Did they like the mall?"

"They loved the mall," Xander told her. "Though a few are probably going to be wanting a healing spell for the new holes in their bodies." She giggled. "Otherwise, it was quite educational. I sat at a table in the food court and let them run while Mr. Weasley roamed around too."

Albus coughed. "He came up and stole Ron for dinner with the twins," he told him.

"I heard he was going to. I'm sure Ron's having fun hearing about the expedition." He ate another bite of chicken. "You know, I really should learn how to cook," he noted. "For times off school and all."

"I'm sure you'll learn somehow," Snape told him. "Once you start learning potions, it should help you greatly."

"Then you're going to learn them?" Hermione asked.

Xander shrugged. "I suck at it so far, so I probably should."

"We'll start next year," Snape told him.

"Cool beans." Xander picked up the chicken leg and ate it. "Had Greek food for lunch," he explained. Everyone went back to smaller conversation groups. Dumbledore gave Xander another look, catching his eye. Xander smiled between bites. Oh, he'd probably like it too.

***

Dumbledore looked at the young man's written account of his trip, then up at the young teacher himself. "Which house did you go to for the domestic lecture?" he asked.

"The Dursleys," he said with a cruel smile. "Harry couldn't think of an appropriate gift for them."

"I see." Dumbledore smiled, thinking about everything that the boy could have done. He had heard much about that family from Arthur and Molly. "And are they... safe?"

Xander nodded. "Probably. I didn't leave anything permanent or spell-like at their house." One bushy eyebrow went up. "Oh, maybe something non-spell like and provoking, but nothing else."

Dumbledore tried very hard to control the laugh, he really did. "Really?" he asked finally.

"Well, I thought, you know, that since it's the small things that drive you nuts that they should find out." He stood up. "Is there anything else? I bought a new movie to watch."

"No, go ahead," Dumbledore told him, waiting until he was gone to really laugh. He got up and called on Arthur, who would probably have to take care of it. "I think your department should keep an eye on them," he said while laughing.

Arthur's head in the fireplace nodded. "I've already made a note to check on them later this week." He looked back. "I'm sure I'll find out about it soon enough."

"Imp!" Fred shouted, jumping up.

"Oh, dear," Arthur sighed. "I'd better go catch that. Do you think they're following someone around? However did Ron attract them." His head disappeared.

Dumbledore burst out laughing again. He knew *exactly* what Xander had done now. No doubt the Dursleys would not appreciate it, nor would they realize what was going on.

***

Xander watched the students file into the Great Hall their first night back, watching some of the Slytherin kids in particular. He felt someone walk up behind him and glanced up. "Hey, Snape." He turned to look at him. "Problems?"

"I noticed you watching some of my students," he noted quietly. "Evaluating for next year?"

Xander grinned. "Not a bit. Out of the current crop of kids, I think I'll probably get about three of them if we continue with the advanced class." He turned at the cleared throat. "Yeah, Hermione?" he asked, giving her a smile.

"They might not consider it?"

"Dumbledore told us to try it for a year and we'd see."

"Oh." She bit her lip then shook her head. "Can I come talk to you tonight?"

"Always, you know that." She nodded and went back to her seat so Xander turned to look at Snape. "Did you have a problem with me watching your kids?"

Snape leaned down. "You know something." Xander whispered something in his ear. "Oh, dear," he sighed, standing straight. "So you were evaluating?"

Xander nodded. "Hermione noticed that a few of the kids were giving him funny looks," he said quietly.

"Nit!" Ron yelled, bursting out laughing.

"Ron!" Harry complained, hitting him.

"And then I started that," Xander admitted with a grin. He noticed how many of the kids were laughing, apparently they'd seen Monty Python sometime too. He looked at Snape. "You okay with that?"

Snape nodded. "As long as you don't interfere. You have no idea what you're going up against."

Xander gave him his most wicked grin. "Are you sure about that?" Snape shook his head and walked off. Xander got comfortable, looking at all his students. He was going to have a fight on his hands tomorrow. The pre-break test had been horrible. He expected at least one wand to be pointed at him tomorrow. He looked over as the rear door opened, admitting most of the teachers. "Hey, guys," he said with a smile. "The castle didn't fall while you were gone."

McGonagall smirked. "So I heard." She took her seat. "How were your outings with the young Mr. Weasley?"

"Just fine. We got a lot of stuff talked out. We fit really well together." He noticed she blushed. "Not that way," he teased. "Mentally." He smiled at Dumbledore as he walked up from the Great Hall side of the table. "Did you need the tv back?"

"No, you can have it for a bit longer," he said genially as he took his seat. "Almost no one else will use it anyway." He smiled at the boy. "I hear that your exercise went very well." He wasn't going to even mention the imp incident in front of everyone else.

"The kids got the point. That's what I really wanted." He smiled. "And I made George laugh with it. He swore he was going to drag his father with him to come watch movies." He put his napkin on his lap, then put it back onto the table and stood up. "Guys?" All the students looked at him. "My advanced class, I need to see you all tonight." He sat back down.

Dumbledore laughed. "That was quite good. Usually I get to do that."

Xander leaned over the empty chairs between them. "I have such bad test results that I want backup in my next class for a few minutes." That got some laughter. "You think I'm kidding? I finished grading the pre-break tests for classifications and I didn't get a single passing grade. And I *know* they know this stuff because they answered it correctly in class."

"Do you think that they'll attack you?" McGonagall asked. Xander nodded. "You're serious?"

"Hell yeah. I had one that tried to get me earlier this year, plus this is the class that got Professor Sprout."

"That's fine, as long as there's no freezing of the students," Dumbledore said, giving him a gentle smile. "I can understand fully. You don't want to hurt the students."

Xander shook his head. "No, frankly, I don't, and I know I can if I lose my temper. That's why I need someone behind me. It's either some of my advanced kids or I'm bringing George to class."

"I don't think that would be appropriate," Giles said as he walked up to the table. Xander leaned back into his own space again. "Is there a problem in your class?"

"I had one whole class of classifications flunk. I got done grading them earlier and they're bad."

Giles frowned. "How did that happen? Were you using a key?"

"Giles, one kid put that a vampire lives underground and eats trees."

"Oh, dear," McGonagall sighed. "How did they all flunk?"

"If I had a clue, I'd tell you," Xander told her. "But it was that Hufflepuff/Gryffindor class. The same one that's been giving everyone problems." He glanced around. "I did have the parchment enchanted to deter cheating, but it wouldn't do that, would it?" She shook her head. "That's what I thought. And I know they got it because they answered it in class and they did well on all the practicals."

"I'm sure they're going to regret messing with you," Dumbledore assured him. "And it is quite a good idea to have someone else who will keep you calm as you yell at them." He stood up as the last student filed in. "Welcome back to your spring term. I only have a few words to say. Rollover, Spastic, Tornado." He sat down to applause. "I think I'll need some more words soon," he said with a fond smile. "I had to make those up off the top of my head."

Giles smiled at him. "I'll lend you an unabridged dictionary if you'd like, Headmaster. Over fifty thousand words." Dumbledore laughed.

"Headmaster, where's the food?" a student called.

Dumbledore frowned, noticing that his plate was empty also. He took out his wand and waved it at the plate, but nothing happened. "Oh, dear." He stood up. "Give me a moment to check on that."

Xander coughed, "Wasn't me." A few of the teachers looked at him. "Wasn't."

"I know," Dumbledore told him. "It was probably a problem in the kitchens." The food appeared in front of everyone and he sat back down with a smile. "See, all handled."

Willow and Tara came in the back door. "Sorry," they said in unison as they took their seats. "Got caught up in our reading."

"Xander?" Professor Sprout asked. He put down his fork and looked down at her. "Have you had any other problems with that particular class?"

He nodded. "A few. They're mouthy, one argues with me, and then there's Melody." She smiled. "Is she messing up your plants? If she is, I'll see if I can correct it."

She shook her head, still smiling. "No, not of that sort. Though I did have dancing plants a few classes back." Xander snickered. "How do you deal with her?"

"I ignore her because otherwise I'll lose my temper." He shifted so he was facing more toward her. "Mostly, she knows how to wear it out too so if she comes into my class all hyped up on power then she knows I'm going to have to make her leave to go do something about it." She chuckled. "I'm serious, I can feel it when she's hyped up on power, it makes me itch and my skin crawl." He glanced at Snape, then back to her. "She usually comes back after about half an hour and is fine." Usually she spent that half an hour bugging Snape, but it was good for him as long as he didn't have to deal with a hyper Melody.

Professor Sprout nodded. "It's good that it seems to help some." She picked up her fork and he turned back around.

Xander took a bite of food then the most awful shrieking started in the hallway behind them. He jumped up and walked out to find some of the chicks fighting. "Stop that!" The squawking stopped and the birds all looked at him. "Get in here," he held open the door so the birds could all fly in, especially the two parents. "Back from town?" he asked, catching Murphy for a quick hug. He let him go, launching him into the air. "Fight," he explained as he sat back down. Murphy landed on his head. "Came back?" He reached up to pet the bird, making him coo happily. He noticed most of the chicks were spread out among the students, and nearly said something when he noticed one was staring at Draco like he was God. He glanced at Snape, who was frowning, then shook his head and went back to eating. It was okay, it wasn't his idea.

McGonagall snorted when the chick on her shoulder put her head down her shirt. "No," she said, trying to remove it.

"That is not appropriate," Dumbledore said firmly. The baby bird looked at him, looking cute and innocent.

"Not working," Xander said without looking.

The bird sang but settled down on McGonagall's shoulder.

***

Xander looked at his assembled class. "I need someone to come with me to my classifications class tomorrow," he told them quietly. The kids all looked confused. "They're fucking with me and I'm going to lose my temper, but I won't do that if you guys are in there."

"The third period class?" Ron asked. Xander nodded. "I've got research."

"So do I," Draco told him. Everyone else shook their heads.

"I can excuse you," Xander offered.

"We've all got projects due," Karyl told him. "Sorry, Professor."

He shrugged. "Okay, then you can go. Boys, please come to the classroom tomorrow." They nodded. "Dismissed. Go have fun." They all trooped out. Xander leaned against the wall, hoping it would leach some of the energy out of him.

"Go wear it out," Giles said as he walked past him.

Willow and Tara waved as they walked past him. "Hi," Tara said with a smile.

He waved listlessly. Then decided he would need to go do something about the energy buildup. He walked outside into the night air and blew up a small shrub, making pretty fireworks. He felt better, but Hagrid had jumped. He gave him a small smile. "Sorry."

"Tha's okay," Hagrid told him. "Wasn't the first one 'round here." He pointed at his hut. "Wanna come play with Fang?"

"Sure." Xander followed him down. "How are your classes?"

"Had a bit of a problem with those Hufflepuffs who're pissing you off," Hagrid told him. "Killed an animal on purpose they did. No respect at all." He opened his door and his dog Fang bounded out, knocking Xander over. He sat down to watch those two play. Xander came down at least once a week to play with his Fang; all animals liked the boy because of what he was.

Xander looked over at him. "Hagrid, if I have to wear it out tomorrow, can I prank you?"

"As long as it's not harmful," Hargid said with a shrug. "Why not?" He smiled. "Think I'll laugh?"

Xander grinned. "I know it." He let Fang go, after whispering the spell at him. "Thanks, man, I needed that." The tired dog walked back inside and flopped down in front of the fire. Xander wiped the snow off his robes. "Did you need anything?"

Hagrid smiled. "Nah, I'm fine. Gonna have a bit of tea and a long night of readin'." He stood up. "You be good now."

Xander grinned naughtier. "I'm always good, Hagrid. Sometimes I'm better than others, but I'm always good." He strolled off, going to get warm and dry.

Hagrid laughed. That boy. He walked inside and shut the door.

***

Xander walked up to his classroom, noticing that Draco was already there. "Ron?"

"Inside, trying to keep Melody out of it." He followed his teacher inside, resting against the inside of the doorway. He crossed his arms over his chest, one hand grabbing his wand without showing it. "Sit," he called.

Xander grinned at him. "Do you want to spend a day teaching?"

Ron shuddered as he walked up to the front. "Please, don't do that to students, it's horrible."

"You taught?" Draco sneered.

Ron nodded. "Xander had to go find the Hufflepuffs." He mimicked Malfoy's position against the board, his own hand going to his wand.

Xander grimaced as he looked at the class. "I find myself offended at the way you guys decided to screw with me," he told them. He pointed at two students then pointed at the scrolls. "Pass them back." The students came down and grabbed them, taking them to their owners. "Now, look at your scrolls and tell me why I'm upset."

One boy stood up. "I didn't write that," he complained.

"Well, it appears you did," Xander told him. He saw one kid drawing his wand, but Ron got him with a painless light bolt. "Don't even think about trying to hex me, I fight back," he said coldly. He looked at the class again. "You know, not since one of the teachers was threatened last year have I been this upset." His helpers shuddered. "They lived through that, you're looking like it's not going to happen for your class."

One boy raised his wand and started to say 'incendio', but Draco was faster and the boy ended up petrified.

"Nice work," Xander told him. He looked around. "Anyone else?" The kids all moved away from the stiff kid. "Now then, does anyone have an explanation for why you guys did this? Because this test is one fifth of your grade and now no one's getting a decent grade." One girl started to cry. "You'll probably get a B at the highest," he told her. He crossed his arms, unconsciously mimicking the boys. "I have no idea what I'm supposed to do with you, besides flunk you all and see you again next year, because I'm not regiving this test. Also, as of this moment, the only extra credit assignment available are the ones already tossed out. I find myself not very happy with you and you're going to suffer through it like the last class did."

Ron looked outside, then burst out laughing. Draco glared at him and Ron pointed, he couldn't quit laughing. Draco walked over and looked outside, then giggled, but he clamped a hand over his mouth before anyone else could hear.

Xander glanced out the window and smiled. He waved at Hagrid, who was facing him with Fang, the white french poodle, complete with haircut. Hagrid laughed and waved back. He looked at the boys. "I had to wear it out," he told them, grinning.

Ron ran from the room, going to roll around in the hallway.

"Really, Mr. Weasley," McGonagall said as she walked in. "What happened to him?" Draco pointed and ran from the room to go hide and laugh to his heart's content. She glanced outside and smiled. "Very nice work," she told Xander. "They look very cute together." She was biting the inside of her cheek. She turned to look at the class and steeled herself. "It has come to my attention that you have flunked this test on purpose," she announced. "We will be having a discussion. The head of Hufflepuff will be here in a moment."

Xander smiled and handed over the class to her. "Have fun. I'm going to check on them." He walked out and helped Ron off the floor. "He said I could," he told him, which made Ron run off to the bathroom. He shrugged and headed to his other classroom. They had it, he wouldn't have to yell or hurt anyone. He ran into Dumbledore in the hall, and the old man was laughing. "Fang?" he asked. The headmaster nodded, still laughing. "I asked first."

"I'm sure Hagrid appreciated that." He patted the boy on the shoulder and walked on. Xander grinned and finished his stroll down to the training room. Yup, it might be a good day after all.

***

It was the end of January and everyone had settled back into the usual routine. That was stopped for one student when his father showed up. Draco was called up to the Headmaster's office and went slowly. He had a feeling he knew what this was about. He noticed his father's third foot was missing so apparently he had gritted his teeth and apologized to a Weasley. He stood at attention, looking at his father. "You requested to see me?"

Dumbledore nodded. "Your father wants to take you away for a weekend."

"I have a test on Monday," he noted.

"You can study at home," Lucius told him as he stood up. "Go pack for the weekend."

Draco looked at Dumbledore, who nodded subtly. "We'll be waiting for your return," Dumbledore told him.

Draco nodded and headed back to his dorm, his father following him. He said the password and walked up to his dorm room, going to pack a small bag. "What do I need to bring?" he asked when the door opened.

"I'll provide your clothes for Saturday night. Bring your normal clothing for the rest of the weekend," Lucius told him, looking around the room. "Crabbe and Goyle?"

"Against the other wall facing mine," Draco said absently as he packed his school books. He put one last thing in, his broom shrunken to fit. He didn't know why, but he had a very bad feeling about this. As he closed the suitcase, he realized how very right Professor Harris was about him. The man had a lot of insight. He hoped he was wrong about why his father was here. He turned to look at him. "Why am I being taken out for the weekend? My birthday isn't for another month and a half."

"Because your mother wanted to see you." Lucius noted the disbelieving look. "You're questioning me, boy?"

"No, sir, just wondering." He picked up his case. "I'm ready." He followed his father down to the floo fireplace, going home. He stepped out of the fireplace at home, frowning at the feel of the house. The air felt stale and heavy. He put his case down on the couch and turned to look at the painting over the fireplace. "When did you get the portrait redone?" he asked.

"Two weeks ago," Lucius told him. He watched his reaction, his son wasn't in the newest family portrait. "We're going to go into the dining room and talk, boy." Draco turned to look at him, looking like he usually did, insolent and bored. "You'll listen and then you'll have a chance to ask questions." He pointed the way, making his son walk in front of him. He saw his son stiffen at the extra people in the dining room, all people he knew. "We're going to be working together this weekend," he said, putting a hand on his son's shoulder. "Do you think you can handle that?"

Draco knew that saying 'no' would get him killed, or hurt very badly. "I'll try," he told him. Lucius smiled down at him so apparently it was the right answer. Inside he was trembling. He was very aware of his limits, and he knew he was trapped. What to do? What had Professor Harris said?

Sometimes you have to do something bad in a situation where you don't have a choice except living.

Or was it:

There's always a cost to any decision. Figuring out whether or not you're willing to pay it is the biggest part of the process

Draco steeled himself. He would have to act perfectly to save himself this weekend because he had no intention of becoming a foot soldier for someone else. He looked up at his father. "Did you need me for this part or may I do my homework? I have a transfiguration test Monday."

"Go grab your books. You may do it in here." Lucius smiled. "I expect you've learned some strategy from Harris."

One of the other men frowned at them. "You let him take classes from that thing?"

Draco looked at him. "He's teaching dueling and I've improved my speed quite a lot."

Lucius smiled coldly at his son. "You will respect your elders or you will regret it." He looked at his friend. "That is the only reason he is allowed near him, to enhance his already considerable skills." He pushed Draco. "Get your books."

Draco walked out of the dining room, taking a deep breath. That room stank of something and it was making his head hurt. He found his suitcase right where he had left it and opened it, putting his broom into his pocket before grabbing his books and taking them back to the dining room.

"What task is your test on?" Lucius asked him as he entered.

"I have to turn another student into an inanimate object. It was that or change an inanimate object into an animal." He sat down at his usual spot at the table, opening his transfiguration book. "I also have to write a paper about the process. Twenty-five inches."

Lucius nodded. "Good. I'll expect to see the paper by tonight." Draco nodded, flipping to the right section. Lucius turned to look at his friends. "Do we have a target yet?"

"Lord Voldemort gave us three choices, he wants all three of them gone. I've owled him that we're taking the Fidders family." He glanced at the boy, then back at his father. "Are you sure about this?"

"I'm sure. It is time he proved himself. The Dark Lord said so." Lucius took his seat to look at the map. "Where are they?"

The third man bent down and pointed at a small red circle. "We'll be here. Two other groups will be here and here."

***

Xander looked around the classroom, then over at the doorway. "Where's Malfoy?" he yelled.

"His father came for him," Hermione said quietly from beside him. He looked at her. "He'll be back Monday."

Xander sighed. "Shit." He turned and hit the wall. "Any idea who the target is?"

"We've got it handled," Dumbledore said from the doorway. He walked in and shut the door. "Xander, I know you feel like you should run to the boy's aide, but it is now his decision."

Xander looked at him. "I know what it's going to be and he's trapped."

Dumbledore smiled. "There is always help for those who ask at Hogwarts," he said quietly. He smiled at the students. "Do not say a word of this," he cautioned. "There is more at stake here than any of you realize." He looked at Xander. "Trust him to have learned what you taught him," he told him, then he left.

Xander scowled at the students. "Get changed and go."

"No," Lupin disagreed. "Everyone is getting advanced spells today. Change back into your normal clothes and come back out here." He looked at Xander. "They'll need it now," he reminded him. Xander just nodded, sitting there considering everything he could do, looking for a plan.

Giles patted him on the head. "Do you have any defensive spells?" he asked. Xander looked up at him. "I'd learn them now. It could be necessary soon." He looked over at Harry and Hermione, who were standing next to Ron, who was holding his head. "I'll deal with this. Go through your books."

Xander stood up and walked out, and found Dumbledore in the hallway. "Giles told me to bone up on my defensive spells."

Dumbledore smiled sadly at him. "It might be a good idea. I know this is hard, Xander. You care quite a lot about your students, even that one, but you cannot help him right now. If possible, he will come back to us and we will accept him no matter what has went on if he asks."

Xander relaxed. "All right. I just hope he was listening." He shifted a little bit. "Offensive or defensive?"

"Do some of both, just in case. And remember, the school is protected from some things, but flashback is not one of them." Dumbledore walked away, heading for the dungeons to tell Snape that one of his students was missing.

Xander took a deep breath and went to his room. He had one book full of fighting spells. It was thick, it was heavy, and it was full of things to do to people who were pissing you off.

***

Hermione and Ron stared at each other across the small hallway outside the Gryffindor tower. "Do you have anything?"

"I have a few things but they're more annoying than harmful."

"Distraction is an option," Hermione reminded him. "They haven't had to fight with a distraction. No one fights back."

Ron nodded, pounding his head against the wall. "But can we fight him ourselves?" He jumped as footsteps came toward them, and by silent agreement they suspended their conversation until the third year entered the house. "Can we do this if they attack the school?"

Hermione bit her lip, then shrugged. "Do you see any other option?"

Ron shook his head. "No. Do you have anything on fighting spells other than what we already have?" Hermione smiled. "Really?"

"Over the years, I've run across a lot of things and made note of them. I have them upstairs in my footlocker." She ducked into the house.

Ron squatted against the wall. This sucked badly, but he had to do something. And he couldn't tell his family because they'd get in the way. He looked at the Fat Lady's empty portrait, then sighed. He headed to the owlry and his Pig. Ginny couldn't be here. He wouldn't lose his family in this fight. He wrote a quick note to his brothers and sent Pig on his way, taking a long look down at the village. He walked back to the house and found Hermione and Harry waiting on him. "Ginny," he said simply.

Harry nodded. "She's feeling funny and doesn't know why."

"Sending her away?" Hermione asked.

Ron's face hardened. "Definitely. I'm not losing her." He grabbed the muggle notebook to look it over. "How many did you run into?"

"There's whole books down there that mention spells. A few of them I found in some of Xander's books." She held out another notebook, a three-ring binder. "In here is my research to make it applicable to regular wizards."

Harry swallowed. "They'll kill you."

"It's for a good cause," Ron told him. "Xander will understand and only wipe our memories." He found one that made him smile. "The jelly leg curse was originally one of theirs?"

Harry smiled weakly. "It makes sense." He glanced around the hallway. "We need somewhere more private."

Ron smiled. "Then we go bug Xander. He'll let us in." He took the binder and notebook, heading down to the teacher's hidden room. He tapped on the door. "It's Ron!" he called. The doors opened and Tara was standing there. "Where's Xander?"

"He's outside flying with the chicks." She let them in. "Hiding?"

"We need somewhere quiet and safe to study," Hermione told her. She saw Willow and Giles and smiled. "Getting the group back together?"

Willow nodded. "Are those Xander's?"

"Some." Hermione took the notebook of old spells. "I found a lot of nearly forgotten spells over the last seven years," she said as she handed it over.

Willow flipped through it and handed it to Giles. "You guys are too young to fight."

Ron snorted. "We've been fighting since we were eleven, the same as you did. Just because you're older doesn't make you better."

"We've also fought him before," Harry reminded them, sounding tired. "Every year there's some sort of try for me. We know he's coming again, we don't know when or how, but we know he's coming back." He sat down in Xander's usual chair. "So we're helping, whether or not you want us to. Get over it."

Willow smiled at him. "Well, you've definitely channeled Xander successfully." She watched as Giles handed back the notebook. "What do you have, Ron?" Ron shook his head. "We'll have to know."

"Not until Xander says it's all right," Ron reminded her. "I don't have the right to make that decision, only he does."

"Or possibly Melody," Hermione pointed out. The other girl had done all sorts of little things to annoy her. Everything from tangling her hair to tripping her up, drying up her ink and breaking her pens, or trying to melt her clothes off. Such childish actions only made her fight back and Melody had learned not to bother her anymore. They had an uneasy truce going and this was going to make the other gryphon-born go ballistic. She sat on the arm of Ron's chair, flipping through the notebook she held. "I think I'll start memorizing these. Ron?"

"Yeah, I'll start on these."

Everyone looked over as the door opened and Xander walked in. "Oh, hey, the whole gang," he said with a smile. "Kids, study what you have. Scoobies, they're fighting. They're good enough and I trained them. Besides, they're going to have to fight to protect Harry and themselves." He smiled. "Any other questions?"

Ron held up the binder he held. "Hermione's research."

"No." Willow opened her mouth. "No. That sort of power is very corruptive and I don't want to have to kill you too." He scowled at her. "No. Hermione, are you working on making them normal wizard spells?" She nodded. "Stop and don't do any more. They can't get out, no matter what." She nodded, straightening up. "You have the talent to control the energy to do *minor* gryphon spells, chaos spells. Don't switch them over."

She nodded. "Yes, Xander. I won't do any more."

Ron looked at him and stared down Xander. "Shove it," he told him quietly. "I'm doing what I can."

"Fine," Xander told him. "I can always wipe your memory." He smiled. "Any questions?" Giles opened his mouth. "No, you will not play with the chaos magic."

"I didn't know that gryphonic magic was *purely* chaos based," Giles told him.

"Gryphons are the ones who filter chaos magic so it can be used by people like your buddy Ethan," Xander told him. Giles opened his mouth again. "That's why we exist, Giles, because the human crossbreeds channel and filter it better than a pure gryphon does. It's also why we excel at certain things, but only a few of us are great at potions." He nudged Ron and sat down in his now-empty seat. "All right, yes, you can study in here. No, you can not live in here. And no, you can't watch tv all night. I'll want to sleep sometime." He waved a hand. "I have some munchies left from Christmas. There's a limited amount of soda. And there's a packette down the block from the Leaky Cauldron and I do have some muiggle money left." He looked around, but no one said anything. "Then pick a spot, grab a book, or go do something until later." Giles walked out. "Okay, anyone else?"

Willow stood up. "Most of our stuff is in the library. We can work in the restricted section." She looked at the kids. "You guys coming?"

"No, I like watching tv while I read," Hermione told her. Tara smiled and helped Willow out the door. "Good." Hermione looked down at Xander. "You want us to go?"

Xander pointed at the couch. "Sit, be merry, save me from uptight people who think this is just another demon." He groaned as he moved, putting his feet up. "It sucks when you plan for one thing and another happens." He looked around. "Hand me the large, dusty book." Harry tossed it to him. "Thanks, and don't ever let Giles see you do that. He used to be a librarian." He flipped it open to his prior spot, starting to read. "Hermione, move," he told her when running into her rear with his elbow got on his nerves. She moved over to join the boys. "Noise," he said, pointing at a little radio in the corner. It started playing salsa music, making him look up. "Okay," he sighed, going back to his studies.

Ron and Harry slid to the floor to rest the notebook of old spells on the coffee table.

Hermoine turned so she was laying across the couch, her book on her chest so she could read it.

Xander grinned at his own version of the Scoobies. Yeah, he liked this life.

***

Xander looked over as someone knocked on his classroom door. He stopped his lecture to go answer it. "Yeah?" he asked the man standing there.

"Mr. Harris, I'd like to talk to you." The man was an American, which was slightly unnerving. An American, here?

Xander pointed at his class. "I have to do this for another half an hour. Go find somewhere and wait." He closed the door in his face and turned to face his class again. "Where was I?"

"Morphing demons," one Slytherin told him. "Something about one that turned into a praying mantis?"

"Oh, yeah, Ms. French." He smiled. "That was really creepy." He hopped up onto the desk to sit and face them. "Okay, Ms. French was a praying mantis, a six-foot praying mantis. She's in this class of demons because she could change her shape to go find a mate, which she did when I was a sophomore." The boys all shuddered. "She was beautiful, most morphing ones are. Why be ugly if you can choose your own form?"

***

Sybil Trelwany felt that odd feeling come across her again. It wasn't often that it happened, but whenever it did, it was important. "Please leave now," she told her students, only stopping one. "Write down what I say," she told her quietly, and let it go. In her mind's eye, she could see Xander storming out. She heard every conversation, including the one where he went to bother Lucius Malfoy and get confirmation of his status because 'enemies give you their real opinions'. She saw the village down south, near his bond mates. She saw him saving the gryphons by denying the whole village knowledge because of what they had done.

After that, things got very fuzzy, but one person came through. "Travers," she muttered. She shrieked when the final image came to her. Voldemort, here. Invading. Xander too far away. She came back with a blood-curdling scream when she saw what might happen, Xander had come back at the last moment and had.... She couldn't let that happen.

Her student sat huddled on a small ottoman, quill over the parchment. She had written down the single word like she had been told to. This was strange. If this was divination, she didn't want it.

Professor Trelwany took the parchment and wrote everything that she had seen. She stood up, moving unsteadily as she walked to the ladder. "Escort me to the headmaster and then you can go," she told her student. "And do not be afraid, sometimes the sight is painful." She

allowed herself to be helped down to the rest of the castles and walked to Dumbledore's office. As soon as she was alone, she said the password and walked up. "Never have I had an experience that made me want to close my inner eye for good," she told him as she sat down.

Dumbledore took the parchment, frowning when he saw the contents. "You remembered this time?"

"It's only happened once before, Albus, you know that. This particular type of vision is very hard on the seer. It's almost never used except for the most dire circumstances."

"Which this appears to be," he agreed. He read his part in it and rewrote the speech for Xander in his mind. "I will talk to him. What about this village?"

"He'll need to fix it anyway. They're killing gryphons." She stood up. "I leave this in your hands, Albus, because mine are shaking. I am canceling my classes for the day." She walked away, still unsteady. This sort of vision was one in a million, and it had come to her. Apparently the Powers who had granted her inner sight had decided she could handle this one. She smiled at Ron. "Do not go to Nimbus, young Weasley. Go somewhere else. But if you go, go prepared to fight." She walked away.

Ron rolled his eyes. "Great, another one of the death prophecies. Just what I needed today." He walked out to Herbology. He enjoyed the quiet out there.

***

Xander walked into the library, following the pointing finger of the librarian, Madam Pince, to the small table in the back room. He plopped himself down across from the American. "What was so important that you had to interrupt my class?"

"Mr. Harris, I'm from the American aurors. We want to offer you a job."

Xander snorted. "Fat chance. I like it here, I'm needed here."

"But you're needed back in America too. You could teach our students as well. It is your country after all." Xander gave him a 'get real' look. "I do have to say that your presence here is quite odd to your fellow Americans."

Xander faked a yawn. "You're boring me. I'm no more wanted in American than I am in Diagon Alley, and for the same reason. What I am is not liked by the Americans. They're just as snobby about partial humans as the pureblood movement over here is." He waved a hand in the air. "Unless Dumbledore himself tells me I have to leave, I'm staying, and even if I have to leave, I have a standing offer to go help my relatives."

The man's face went splotchy. "We are not biased!" he hissed.

Xander stared him down, making him flinch. "Sure you're not. Did you know that we have someone here who trained in America?" The man shook his head. "I talked to her. There's no chance I'm going back."

"But...but you could protect your hellmouth."

Xander stiffened then slowly moved closer. "If you were doing your job, you'd be guarding it and we wouldn't have ever met. If you guys are so great, then you would have handled the Hellmouth yourself and not made Buffy, Willow, Giles, and myself close the damn thing three different times. As a matter of fact, if the Americans had their shit together, no one in the town would have known that there was a hellmouth, much less that the mayor became a demon during a public ceremony that held half the town. So no, I'm declining your offer with a hearty laugh and a kick in the ass if you don't get out of my face." He stood up. "Anything else?"

"We can have you removed from here," the man threatened. "Your immigration status is very cloudy. We have ways of getting you back!"

"Remove me from Britain? Only if they can find me. Which I doubt quite a lot. From the school? If Dumbledore tells me I have to leave then I will." He turned and walked away, going to talk to Dumbledore to make sure he was still welcome here. He tapped on the stone gargoyle and it opened for him. He rode the stairs up with a deep sigh. "Did you tell him to come accost me?" he asked as he walked in.

Dumbledore looked up and put down his quill. "No, Xander, I would never betray you that way. I had to allow him to offer you the position, but I trust that you turned it down." He smiled and pointed at a chair.

Xander shook his head, starting to pace as he went into babble mode. "No, I can't sit. This sucks ass. He told me he was going to have me kicked out. They want me to go train and deal with my old hellmouth, which they never cared enough to do anything about before now." He took a deep breath. "I mean, if America has wizards and witches, and aurors because that's what he said he was, then why didn't they take care of the hellmouth? Why did they force Buffy to come there? Why were Willow and Giles the only people who worked to keep it closed? And that guy was uber-creepy. Military trained from his mannerisms, too quiet to be normal. It's not even a good thing to join the American forces because then I'd be drafted and have no say about anything. Plus, I'd have to leave Murphy here because I'm not taking him anywhere near America again. The last time he was there, someone saw him and tried to capture him." He took another breath. "Why show up now? It's not right that he shows up right before a fight. Do they know there's a fight or is this another mistimed effort by the Fudgey asshole?".

"It is your country," Dumbledore interrupted. "Maybe you should give it some thought." Xander looked hurt. "I didn't mean that you should go, I happen to like you being here, but it is your country and it is something to think about. By turning this offer down, can you ever go back?"

Xander snorted. "Why would I want to go back?" He sat down. "If I want to see America again, I'll go to Canada. Plenty of us have run up there recently." He rubbed his temples. "This sucks badly."

"I agree," Dumbledore said quietly. "As to 'why now', I don't know. Yes, I do believe Minister Fudge sent word to him about you, probably even praise to make them want you more. The timing does seem rather odd, you're correct about that, it made me wonder also." He leaned back slightly. "What do you want to do?"

"I'm staying if you'll have me," Xander told him.

Dumbledore smiled. "Good. I don't think I could manage your classes myself. Besides, even the Slytherins like you, which is outstanding."

Xander relaxed. "Thanks, Albus."

Dumbledore laughed. "I didn't think you knew my first name."

Xander grinned at him. "I did, but you're like a daddy or a grandfather type person so I didn't think you'd want me to use it." He slumped. "Now what do I do? 'Cause if he's staying, I'm going to kick his ass."

Dumbledore nodded. "I know. You're necessary. Maybe if we get rid of the present threat, your job might not be as necessary, but we'll keep you around because someone needs to teach the few aurors that we'll be graduating every year." He sat up again. "Also, you'll be able to finish your education most suitably."

"So I'll be out of a job in five years?" Xander asked with a grin.

Dumbledore shook his head. "No, Xander, there will always be a need for what you teach. The need may lessen, but it will always be there. Your classes will probably drop in population in a few years, but someone will always need to fight the dark side. Even if we get rid of Voldemort, another will take his place."

Xander nodded. "Thanks, Albus." He stood up. "I'm going to go back to figuring out how to deal with the problem students. Later." He headed down the stairs, running into the auror again. "What now?" he asked tiredly.

"You're not needed," he hissed. "There's no need to teach these students how to fight physically or how to beat demons." He stomped off.

Xander shrugged off his doubts. "You're an asshole. I know I'm good." He walked down to the training room, going to wear out some aggression on the weight machines. He shouldn't be so stressed right now, it was bad for the upcoming fight, whenever it would come.

***

Draco pulled the mask down over his face. It felt odd to cover his face this way, and it was hard to see. He didn't have any peripheral vision. The robes he was wearing were tight and annoying him. Xander had taught them to fight in anything, but this chaffed and rubbed. He took a deep breath and followed his father out to the front stoop. He had figured this was as much a test for himself as it was one from his father. Could he do this? Was he cut out to be that cruel to anyone? He made sure his wand was in his hand and his miniature broom was in his pocket as he waited for his father to take hold of him to apparate them to wherever. He blinked as they left, landing hard on the new ground. It took him a moment to regain his balance, then he followed his father into the small house. He glanced around the yard, forcing himself to ignore the toys littering the front yard. They had children.

His father pointed at a doorway. "Go in there, take care of them."

Draco walked that way quietly, listening to the other people walking around the house. No one else was trying to be stealthy, they were making noise by tipping things over and throwing vases. He opened the door and stepped in, stopping when he saw the baby. Not a child, a baby. An infant. He raised his wand and took a breath. He could do this, prove to himself that he belonged in his family, but he wouldn't do it again. He could do this. He blinked as the baby shifted, pulling up a thumb to suck. He could do this. He kicked the door shut, hoping that the baby would wake up and annoy him. It was the only way he could get out of this alive. He could go back to the school tomorrow and beg for forgiveness and tell Dumbledore. He would understand. He had forgiven Snape, he could forgive him. He could do this. He stepped closer and blinked. The baby was staring at him. Bright green eyes staring up at him in shock. He raised his wand, but his hand was shaking. The baby cooed at him and smiled, and he lost it. He ran from the room, concentrating on being somewhere else. He had forgotten the broom in his pocket, but his magic understood him. He landed in front of a couch and a fireplace, sobbing. Strong arms gathered him up and held him, quieting him down. "I couldn't," he gasped. "I couldn't kill the baby."

"What's the family's name?" the man asked.

"Fidders," Draco said, looking up at the person holding him. He swallowed. Red hair. He had come to the Weasleys? He looked around and found George staring at him. "You," he said, ripping off the mask. "You've got to get to Xander."

"I'll take care of it," Arthur told him. He sat the boy down. "Your father, boy?" Draco nodded, swallowing his tears.

"Why did you go?" Fred asked.

"It was a test," Draco told him, starting to shake. "They made me go."

"The Imperius curse?" Draco shook his head. "Then why did you go?" Arthur asked.

Draco looked up at him. "Because if I didn't then I'd be the next one dead," he told him in a dead voice. "I'm dead now. My father will kill everyone to get to me."

George stood up. "Dad, go tell someone. I'll take him to the school."

Arthur looked at him. "I want you to stay out of this," he said as he grabbed his outer robes. "Draco, go to the school and find Xander. He'll protect you. We'll be up tomorrow to talk to you." He grabbed some floo powder and left, heading for the Ministry.

George hauled Draco up. "Why did you come here?" The boy looked at him. "Oh." Malfoy nodded. "Okay, can you floo back to the school?" Malfoy nodded again. "Floo back and you'll be safe." He pointed at the fireplace and gave the boy a light shove. He waited until the boy was gone before looking at his mother. "I'm...."

"Going to stay out of it," she said calmly. "You said yourself that Ron was going to be sending Ginny to you. That's your part to play." She looked at Fred. "You too. I won't be burying any of you." Both twins opened their mouths. "Ron's been trained, I've already accepted his loss. I won't be burying you or Ginny." They nodded and left, going back to the store. She stood up and went to check all the doors and windows. She checked the clock which told her where everyone was. The newest setting, shop, was showing the twins. Arthur was on traveling, but it wasn't to here. She shivered and tossed some contact powder into the fireplace, calling her older sons. They had to know.

***

Xander flew around outside on the Quidditch field. It was a nice night; the chicks were enjoying it, and it was calm. He looked down when he saw a blur moving toward the field. He floated down, frowning at the boy dressed in black. "Come on up," he told him. Draco opened his mouth. "Your broom, Malfoy?"

Malfoy patted down his pockets and came out with his broom. He enlarged it and flew up. "They tried to test me," he told him.

Xander moved closer, giving him a hug. "It's all right," he whispered. "No matter what happened, you did what you had to do." Draco broke down on his shoulder, shaking and crying. "Shh, it's okay," he soothed. "We'll go wake up Dumbledore as soon as you're calm. Not even your father can get you here." He stroked down the shaking back. "What happened?"

"He had me kill a child," Draco sobbed. Xander hissed so the boy pulled back, wiping his face off. "I couldn't do it. I apparated away because I couldn't do it."

"Hey, lots of people can't do that," Xander assured him. He clicked and whistled, bringing the chicks to him. One was missing. He looked around and found it sitting in front of the boy. "See, even they still like you." He landed and dismounted, putting an arm around the young kid's shoulders. He hated this part of the fighting. The destruction of a kid. He walked into the school, meeting Snape, Dumbledore, and Giles. And Ron, who was standing on the stairs. "They decided to test him." He handed the boy directly to Dumbledore. "He couldn't do it."

Dumbledore sighed in relief. "Then at least one child lived." He patted the boy's head. "Come on, let us go have some tea. We'll discuss your future." He looked at Xander. "Come along since the chicks are feeling protective." He glanced at Ron. "You go wait in Xander's rooms. He'll be there soon enough."

Ron walked over and stared at Malfoy. "You went to my family?" Draco nodded. "At least my mum and dad will protect you." He looked at Xander, then back at the kid. "I will too if I have to." He walked away, going to Xander's rooms.

Xander nearly smiled. Ron was such a great kid. Even though they were fighting, he would still do his duty. He walked up to the stone gargoyle and up the stairs, going to take part in this meeting. "Is he moving rooms?" he asked as he sat down.

Dumbledore smiled. "Yes, I do believe that would be a practicality."

Xander patted Draco on the arm. "It's okay."

"I'm a target now. The other Slytherins will have their parents urging them to get me. My father will kill me and I'm going to get this school destroyed," Draco told him.

Dumbledore shook his head. "No, you can't destroy the school. Not even Xander and Melody could destroy the school. The heart of a school is its students, and we've had many of those here who will help us." He looked at Xander. "What other practicalities are you considering?"

"More practice in my class and not allowing him to play Quidditch," Xander told him, thinking about it. "Besides that, I think that it should be okay. He'll be protected here, he'll just have to be careful when he's around his housemates."

"They won't attack him," Snape told him, looking and sounding his most serious. "I will talk to them about the stupidity of attacking another student." He looked at the headmaster. "Are you moving him?"

"There's a small room down by Xander's. Not as lavish as his, but a nice one nonetheless." He looked at the boy. "What happened, Draco? I need to know to protect you."

Draco swallowed. "My father took me home, showed me off to his friends. Goyle and Menderson. They went after the Fidders family. I did my homework while they planned, listening in case there was something I could use to get away from them." He swallowed and clenched his fist, but a small body interrupted it, nudging him for attention. "You want me to pet you?"

"Glinda, this isn't the time," Xander told the chick.

She hissed at him and nuzzled Draco's stomach. "It's okay," Draco told him. "She's soothing." He petted the small child. "My father apparated the both of us there. I...I saw kids toys and my throat started to close. My father sent me to go kill the child." A sob broke through. "And I couldn't do it, not even to save myself. Even though I knew that my father was going to kill me if I didn't, I couldn't fire my wand at the infant lying there." The chick squeaked so he eased up on it, starting to pet it gently again. "It opened its eyes and looked at me and I just couldn't."

"That doesn't make you bad," Xander assured him. "Your father was very stupid to give you that as a first task. He should have know better." He looked at Snape. "Is that normal?"

"No," Snape told him. "That was all Lucius. The Dark Lord probably demanded that he test the boy and Lucius gave him a task that would either get Draco killed or would give Lucius honor." He crossed his arms. "I agree, that was stupid of him."

Giles cleared his throat. "How soon should we prepare for an offensive here?"

"It won't be until spring," Xander told him. He looked at Snape. "Doing so sooner would make him face his worst enemy without much of a plan, right?"

"Why do you ask me such questions?" Snape snapped.

"Because I know you'd know," Xander reminded him. Snape opened his mouth. "Hey, other than Harry, you're information guy right now."

Snape huffed. "Fine. No, he would want to plan this out meticulously. Albus is not only his greatest enemy, but the one person he's afraid of. He'll want to make sure he has enough allies on hand to attack properly. He'll also want to make sure that he can get as many of the students as he can."

"And the longer he waits, the more complacent we become," Xander finished. Snape nodded. "Spring?"

"Most likely. Voldemort doesn't like snow." He looked at the boy. "I'll help you pack if you wish."

Draco shook his head. "Everyone should be asleep. I can do it myself."

"Why don't I have a house elf do it," Dumbledore suggested.

Draco shook his head. "I have things hidden up there. I'd rather do it myself." He stood up. "With your leave? I'd like to get out of this outfit."

"Go ahead," Dumbledore told him. He waited until they were alone. "Suggestions?"

"Find his father and stomp him flat?" Xander suggested. "Do it not in retaliation but for doing what they did tonight?"

"That would require Mr. Malfoy to testify," Snape pointed out. "I'm not sure he can do that."

"He'd be under truth serum," Dumbledore reminded him. "I'm sure it will keep him from breaking down."

Xander sighed. "The kid's torn up. He actually cried." Everyone looked at him. "And he apparated to the Weasley's, apparently going to someone safe." Giles raised an eyebrow. "I heard what Ron said so someone must have told him."

"Arthur did send a message before they went to check on the family. Draco headed there by homing in on George." He smiled. "Apparently he was looking for you, Xander."

"Which gives me the warm fuzzies but it's not taking away the urge to kill the kid's father."

"Lucius is a very powerful wizard," Giles reminded him. "I don't want you to take him on alone."

"That would be rather stupid," Dumbledore agreed. Xander slumped again. "Thank you. For now, continue with your classes. You have about a month to prepare your advanced class to face an attack. I want them ready and able, Xander. I'll talk to the auror Professor Black found and see if he'll come in sooner to evaluate those children." Xander nodded. "Rupert, I want you and your witches to have your advanced classes ready with protection spells for the students. I don't want Voldemort to walk into this school." He stopped when the door opened, waiting to see who it was.

"Hey, Harry," Xander said. "You heard?"

"No, Ron's note." He handed it over and faced off with his favorite 'uncle'. "What do I do?"

"Report if you feel *anything* from your scar. Any visions. Any sounds that don't belong. Anything." Harry nodded. "And tell Ginny Weasley to do the same. We don't know if Voldemort left a taint in her like he did on you." Harry nodded again. "Other than that, you're going to train harder."

"Yes, sir," Harry told him. "I'll do whatever I have to." He looked at Xander. "I heard Malfoy was pretty bad. Is he all right?"

"Concern for your enemy does you credit, but you'll see him tomorrow," Snape told him. The boy sighed and waved, then left them alone. "He is interfering again."

"It's as much his fight as ours," Xander reminded him. He looked up from reading. "George sent Ron a note agreeing that he was going to take Ginny and hide her with Fred if something happened, and what happened at the house. It came by chick because one of them was down there nibbling on a treat." He handed it to Dumbledore. "I didn't think the kids knew how to apparate."

"They don't, but sometimes the desire is enough for the magic to act," Dumbledore said simply. "Xander, the painting of the dogs across from yours is now Mr. Malfoy's. The password is kitchen and the key is taped to the back of the painting at the moment. Make sure he gets there."

Xander nodded. "Sure." He glanced around. "What about the family stuff?" Everyone looked confused. "Draco might have access to the family's vaults. If he does, then he could get enough money to hide himself."

"That's an excellent point. I'll take him to Gringotts tomorrow if he does," Snape told him. Xander nodded and left. "I had no idea that he dealt with practical matters."

"That was his main position in the group," Giles said with a trace of sadness. "Even when we treated him so badly, he always took care of us and the practicalities. Especially when it was something I or Buffy didn't want to deal with." He stood up. "I'll head back to my room now, unless you need me?" He got a head shake so left.

Snape looked at the headmaster. "You think he's going to come here?"

"He has before," Dumbledore reminded him. "He will again. This time, though, we have humiliated not only Voldemort, but also Lucius. They'll be working together to get that boy. Watch him carefully, Severus, this will get messy."

"Yes," he said with a grimace, "no student has the subtly to pull off an assassination. It'll be a duel in the halls or some such."

"Or a potion in his food," Dumbledore reminded him. Snape nodded and left, leaving Dumbledore to relax and plan. This was bad, it was very, very bad. He might have to send the students home early to protect them.

***

Xander waited at the bottom of the main staircase for Draco, smiling when he floated his trunk down. "Ready to go to your new room?" The boy nodded weakly, following him. "Do you have a key to the family vaults?" The boy gave him a dirty look. "Because if you did, then Snape was going to take you to get some of it out of there and to search them."

"I have one to the secondary vault but not the primary," he admitted. "My mother gave me hers and I had it copied." He walked beside his teacher. "I froze," he admitted.

"Everyone does in their first real battle. Their mind goes into overdrive, their hearts start to either pound or crawl into their throat. It's normal." He smiled at the young man. "It'll be okay. We'll do everything we can to protect you." Draco nodded. "What do you think he'll do?"

"He'll come here and demand that I be given to him probably. My father hates a complicated plot, his favorite thing is a straight-forward attack." They turned down the small hallway. "I'm with you?"

"No, you're across from me." He pointed at the painting with the dog. "Kitchen." It opened. "Change it once you're inside. I still haven't figured out how to do mine." He pointed at the key. "That's yours too." The boy opened the door and they walked in, smiling at the small, homey room. "Oh, hey, it feels like mine," Xander said happily.

"That's shielding," Draco told him. "Yours is shielded so you don't sneeze and blow up the school. This one is probably shielded so that no one can find me." He turned to look at his teacher, dropping his trunk on the bed. "I don't want pity."

Xander sat on the edge of the bed and looked at the kid. "Pity you're going to get, but not from me. I'll treat you like I do Ron, but no more, no less." Draco nodded, but he didn't look happy. "Hey, you've been adopted into the clan. Feel lucky." He stood back up. "From everyone else, expect to get some pity. That's why you're down here, so you can escape. Or you can go work out and escape. It'll last for a little while and you're going to have to live with it. It's humanity at work."

Draco sighed. "Why? Why can't they leave me alone?"

"For the same reason that you've picked on Ron since your first day?" Xander hazzarded a guess. The boy nodded. "Making sense?"

"Yeah, but expect me to blow up."

"Hey, that's expected too, Mr. Malfoy." He saw the shudder. "Be your old self for another two weeks then slowly find yourself. Whomever you turn into will be all you, all Draco, and you can forget the Malfoy part." He smiled. "Just don't make a sudden change, you'll scare people and they'll laugh." He waved at the room. "Unpack, get some rest, tomorrow will probably be one of the longest of your life." He walked out, closing both doors behind himself.

Draco looked around the room and pointed his wand at the trunk. "Placio." The clothes flew into the closet, the trinkets arranged themselves in the same order they had been upstairs. He pulled off his robes and laid down on his bed. "This is nice," he told himself. "Like at home." He rolled onto his side, wishing he had someone here just for him. He had people he could turn to, but no one that was *his* for comfort. For that matter, he probably was going to have to do without his usual compliment of willing girls too, they'd never come near him again once they heard. He closed his eyes, trying to fall asleep, hopefully without dreams.

***

Draco walked into Gringotts, frowning at the Ministry official standing there arguing about him. "Excuse me," he said quietly, startling the man. He handed over his key. "I need to get into that account." He looked at the official. "I can let you look, but it's all cash."

"Boy, I'm supposed to be freezing that."

"Then you can do it after Mr. Malfoy gets enough to survive on if he has to run," Snape said coldly, staring down the official. He remembered him, he had been an idiot in Potions - and most everything else outside of herbology. "That is beside the fact that you apparently do not have a warrant to freeze any of their accounts." He put a hand on Draco's shoulder so he couldn't do anything, and looked at the goblin. "Is there a problem?"

"We had an owl earlier saying that this account had a key stolen," the goblin told him.

Draco pulled himself up to his full almost six-feet height and stared down at him. "I am Draco Malfoy, I did not *steal* my mother's key," he said coldly. "If one was stolen, then it was not mine."

"This is a copy."

"Yay. My mother could not be bothered to travel all the way here to get an official copy made since it would take all day." Another goblin walked over and said something to the first one. "May I please go get some of my own money?"

"Yes, Mr. Malfoy, you may," the second goblin told him. "Right this way please." He took the key and walked them to the entry to the vaults, pulling him aside. "We have heard and know, you may do this once." Draco nodded. "We do understand, but it will work out. We know things that you do not." He pointed at the cart goblin. "Take them to vaults 54 and 12." He watched as all three wizards got into the cart and pulled away. It wasn't often that the goblins got involved in mortal wizard matters, but this had come from on high. The boy could do this once until he got his inheritance. He hoped the boy had a bag big enough to carry that weight. He went back to his desk, forwarding messages from the higher-ups.

Draco opened the first vault, frowning when he saw everything in there. He hadn't considered this far ahead. "How much should I get?" he asked Snape.

"Get enough to live off of for at least two years," the Ministry official told him gently. Draco glared at him. "I know why you're doing this, but it may take that long, or longer. That will give you enough time to finish your studies and have a year hiding." He craned his neck to see inside, but all that was in there was money.

Draco walked into the vault and opened the bag Snape had given him. He shoveled handfuls of coins into the bag, not caring what they were as long as the majority of them were gold. When the bag was full, it had barely dented the room, so he pulled out the bag Xander had given him, which was bigger and started to fill it too. He left it half-full so he could see what was in the other vault. He went back and filled his robe pockets too, just in case. He could barely climb into the cart because of the weight, but it made him feel better. The door kept the key, and he knew he wasn't going to be seeing the inside again anytime soon. The cart took off again, making him dizzy and sickened as it turned and twisted. They came to a large vault, one with a Hagrid-sized door. "How do I open it?" he asked.

"This one is a blood key," the goblin told him.

Snape held Draco's robe while he walked up to the door, watching as he slit his finger on a sharp point sticking out of the door itself. The door slid open and the boy walked inside.

Draco looked around the vault, frowning when he saw the contents. Some paintings. A few pieces of jewelry he had never seen. A large trunk in one corner. He walked over to it and opened it, backing away when he saw the wand lying inside on a piece of velvet. He closed it and turned around, smiling when he saw the cash and three books piled on a small table back beside the door. He walked over there, picking up the books and the coins, but put the coins back for some reason. The books were taken, as was a beautiful ring that was sparkling in the weak light. He stared to walk out, but something caught his eye. He bent down to pick it up. It was a cuff, and it felt like Xander's bracelet. He dropped it quickly and backed away. He didn't want to know how his family had acquired a gryphon's dampening bracelet. He really didn't. He glanced around again, and decided to pick up one oddly large silver coin. He'd never seen one of those before. He took it and the books back to the cart, wincing when the door slammed. He climbed into the cart and away they went. Once they had stopped, he nudged the goblin. "What's this?"

The goblin smiled. "There's only six of those still in existence. They're the old version of wizard money. Your grandmother kept that for centuries." He helped Draco and Snape out, watching as the boy carefully put on his robe. "Bags available at the counter for three knuts," he said, getting out of their way.

The Ministry official took the silver coin to look at, whistling. "That's probably worth a pretty penny, boy."

"That's why I have it," Draco told him. "These were the only books, but they're rather old to be my father's." He let the official flip through them while he paid for another bag. He took them back then glared at the man. "Are you coming up to torment me today?"

"No, son, Arthur Weasley is. He said it'd be better since you know him and all." He smiled at Snape. "Keep the boy safe. If he agrees to testify, we'd all be better off." He wandered away, going to file paperwork to have the accounts frozen. Now that the boy had taken part of it and let him look in the vaults, it was the right time. That kid pulled enough money out to last a lifetime if he was frugal, it would be fine.

***

Draco walked back into the school and followed Snape to his classroom. They walked into the private area of the classroom, Draco watching as Snape hid most of the money away, especially that special coin. "Thank you," he said quietly, glancing back at the classroom. "What period is it?"

"Go back to your room. I don't think you want to deal with classes right now." Snape watched as he walked away. That wasn't the cocky young man that had entered the school a few months back, this Draco Malfoy was definitely different, and had been since starting with Xander. Maybe he would survive this. Xander was nothing if not survival oriented and he had taken the boy under his wing. He walked out and looked down at his class, nodding at the advanced student watching it for him. "You may go," he told the substitute. She hurried away. He sat down behind the desk and considered all the options he had at the moment. Voldemort hadn't called him back. He hadn't felt a single touch to his dark mark all year long. So he was probably known about. If not, he would be called upon to take out the boy. It was the way his former leader was.

***

Draco walked into the training room and headed for a machine. "Get someone to spot you," Xander told him, not looking up from his map of the school. He winced when he heard the weights slam and looked up, then went over to spot him. "How'd it go?"

"Fine," Draco grunted. "They're freezing the accounts today."

"I thought they might, it's what the muggles do when bad guys go really bad." He smiled at the disgusted look. "The systems are the same, they branched off sometime in the past so they could specialize for uniqueness." He spotted the boy, helping him wear out his aggression on the non-judgmental weights.

"I found a cuff like your bracelet," Draco panted.

"Huh. I don't blame you for your family's history." He pulled the boy up and away from the weights. Someone was coming down the hall and he was still just a tad bit paranoid at the moment. Arthur Weasley walked in. "Hey, future dad. Need him?"

Arthur smiled at him. "Yes, I did. I need to get a statement from him and ask him some important questions." He looked at Draco. "Would you come with me?"

"You can use the office," Xander offered.

"No thank you. There's someone else here to listen in," Arthur told him, giving him a look.

"Fudge," Xander spat.

"Now, Xander."

"Oh, please, he tried to get the Americans to force me to leave here." Xander grabbed a towel from the stack and handed it to his student. "Go tell them what you know and stay away from Fudge. He'll only fuck you up." He watched as they walked away, then got down to wear out some of his own frustration. This just sucked ass. He was stuck not doing anything. He hated waiting.

Lupin and Black walked in together, talking quietly. They both jumped when the weight stack slammed down and went back up again. "Xander, calm down," Black called. "Waiting happens."

"I hate waiting," Xander snarled. He sat up as soon as the stack was back down, looking at his co-teachers. "This really sucks. It bothers me that we're not attacking, and it really bothers me that we're having to wait and let them come to us."

Black walked over. "We can't attack, Fudge won't even send an auror. Voldemort is stronger in his own domain and there's not enough of us to waste on a frontal assault. Waiting sucks, but it's necessary."

Lupin nodded. "Definitely. Why don't you go wear out some energy in a more creative way?" Xander scowled at him. "Sorry, but it might make you feel better."

Xander stood up. "No, beating something up would make me feel better. Using magic will only make it build because it's not as ingrained into me." He grabbed a towel to wipe off the sweat on the back of his neck. "I'm going to go study, yell when it's time for class." He walked away.

"Go fly," Lupin called after him. He looked at Black. "Sirius? Is he going to break? I've never seen him that uptight."

"He's an action person," Sirius reminded him. "The same as I am. Waiting like this is agitating and aggravating. It feels like we're useless and in the way. He'll get over it once we have a definite plan started." He noticed the map and went to get it. "He's started on a battle plan. He'll work through this." He smiled. "Though, we may see more of the Fang poodle." Lupin laughed.

***

Xander surveyed the ground as he flew around slowly, looking over the top of the school. He noticed a hole and frowned, making a mental note to tell someone about it. He headed out toward the lake, slowing even further when he saw another broom heading his way. He went out to meet it, smiling when he saw Fred. "Hey," he called, pulling up along side him. "What's going on?"

"Mum sent me up here to give Dad something." Fred touched the package tied to his broom. "You okay?"

"Waiting sucks."

"Ah. I'll tell George you said hi."

"Tell him to sneak back up again," Xander called after Fred as he continued on his journey. He flew toward the forest, dipping down lower to buzz by the outer ring of trees. He decided not to risk it and flew to the Quidditch field. He waved down at Madam Hooch and her first years then moved farther away. She came up to talk to him. "Just floating," he told her. "Trying to calm down."

She smiled at him. "Go past the school, away from Hogsmeade, and head for almost ten minutes. You'll come to a small field where you can scream and rage all you want."

"Thanks," he said with a smile, heading off that way. He found the small glade and landed, lifting his head to scream out his frustration.

Madam Hooch returned to her students, seeing the worried look. "It's all right, he's having a bad term," she explained. "Now, lift off and we'll play a small round of Quidditch without the snitch." They took off, all the kids who wanted to try out for their house teams.

***

Draco walked into the unused classroom and sat in a seat, frowning when he saw Fudge. "Why are you here?" he asked calmly.

"Because he wants to ask you some questions also," Arthur told him. He sat behind the desk with a quill set to take dictation. "I know you told me last night what happened, but I need to have an official record, Draco. Tell me again from the time you left the school."

Fudge frowned. "Why did he leave the school? He could have said no."

Draco sneered at him. He did agree with his father's assessment; Fudge was a useless person in an important position which was keeping anything from being done. "Have you ever tried to tell my father no?" Fudge shut up and moved away from him. "Mr. Weasley, would you please close the door? I don't want this spread around any more than necessary." Arthur got up and Draco turned to look at Fudge. "My father enjoys you in your present position because you're ineffectual. You've stayed so long because the other supporters of Voldemort wanted you there for the very reason that you don't do anything to them." Fudge was turning red. "You might want to think about retiring before that's made common knowledge."

Arthur had heard, but he let the boy have his say. He couldn't say that to his boss, but he enjoyed every minute of it.

***

Draco walked into the Great Hall for dinner that night and frowned when he saw no open spots at his table. He looked at the head table and Xander pointed at one right in front of him. He steeled himself and walked up there, taking the empty seat. He got a small smile in reward. It was only minutes before someone threw a spoon at his head. He glared at the tosser, and put it aside. Next was a roll loaded with butter. That got put down with the spoon too. Draco looked at Snape and rolled his eyes.

The next thing that got thrown was a knife and Snape stood up, coming over to lift the student out of his seat. "You will cease throwing things like some child," he hissed. "Twenty points from Slytherin and you will have detention for two weeks." He let the student go.

"But he betrayed us!" the student complained. "He should be removed from the house." The kid realized what he had said when Snape glared at him and he noticed some other students staring at him in shock.

"How is saving a life betraying anyone," Draco snarled, standing up. "No, I couldn't kill an infant. If that's what it takes to be in this house, I'll gladly be resorted. I'm sure the Gryffindors will get over it eventually." The whole table cringed. He walked closer to the student. "As for *betraying* someone, the only person I betrayed was my father. If you're wanting his favor, go for it, I'll take you out. You can defend yourself so you're a fair target." He stormed out.

Xander coughed. "Perhaps someone should send Draco some food," he suggested to Snape. "Preferably tonight before he goes and works out, which will probably make him sick."

Snape nodded and looked around, spying a house elf. "Send Mr. Malfoy some food," he snapped. The house elf squeaked and ran away to do so. He turned his attention to the students of his house. "You will leave Mr. Malfoy alone. I doubt many of you would live through what he did last night." He walked out, going to find his student.

Xander nearly smiled as Melissa, the other Slytherin in his advanced class, walked out too. She would help Draco calm down, one way or another. He heard a whistle and looked at the Gryffindor table, smiling at the happy chick eating all of Harry's dinner. "Don't let him gorge," he called. "He won't be able to fly."

Harry grimaced. "I can't yell at him."

"Gentle remonstration," Dumbledore reminded him, smiling also. "Homer, please come here," he called. The chick hissed at him. "Harry needs that more than you do. You have phoenix food back here with the rest of the chicks." The chick reared up and hissed louder, spreading its wings. "Now, Homer," he said more firmly.

"Homer," Xander snapped. The chick burrowed down into Harry's chest. "I know you love Harry, but he has to eat. You can cuddle him later, after you eat too." Homer flew over to him, so Xander petted the poor baby. "I'm sorry I yelled, but you can't eat all his dinner," he said quietly. "It's not good for you, you need to eat phoenix food, not people food." The bird lifted his head, giving him a pitiful look. "Human food is a treat, not a way of life." He scratched the tiny head ridge. "You're loved. We all love you. We'll always love you." Homer chirped and climbed up onto his shoulder, after stealing a bite of steak. "Thank you, Homer. You're a good boy."

Giles smiled at him. "You're very good with him."

Willow nodded. "I never thought you'd be a great father, but you're doing excellent with the chicks. They're all so well behaved usually."

Xander smiled. "Well, I'm not going to have kids so they're the babies. Everyone understands." He scratched the little chest, earning trills of song. "Yes, you're quite a lovely bunch of babies."

Homer allowed himself to be petted for a few minutes by the grandfather, then went to bug Harry again, this time without hogging the plate.

***

Xander shifted on his bed, staring up at the ceiling. There were too many possibilities for an attack. This time wouldn't be a straight-out attack like last time, it would be a power and fear move. There wouldn't be a real attack, they would act like this was any other Death Eater attack on a family and come in. The protection around the school would only keep them from apparating in, not from walking in. So he had to deal with that issue because Voldemort would not make it within twenty feet of the main stairs if he could help it. He flipped onto his side. How would he get lock sticking spells to the houses? Give it to the Prefect? Write it and give it to the Prefect? The Hufflepuff Precept would freeze, she was a nice girl who had never seen any horrors before. The Ravenclaw male would be okay enough, but he'd probably have to be nudged out of it. He'd give it to the Head Boy and Girl, but that'd spread them a little thinly. He'd rather have one kid in each house to give it to.

"Use your students," George said from the window. He finished climbing in and shut it, smiling down at his boyfriend. "You needed comfort?" Xander raised an arm and he walked over, laying down immediately. "What can I do to help?"

"Take my mind off it?" Xander suggested quietly. He snuggled in, nuzzling the warm chest. "My head's clogged with all these things that could go wrong and...."

George clamped Xander's lips shut. "You're worrying in advance."

"There's so many variables to what could happen though."

"Xander, stop it or I'm going home." Xander looked up at him. "I didn't come here to watch you worry, I came to make you feel better. I can't do that if you're worrying." Xander nodded and shut up, just enjoying the cuddling. "Let me up for a minute so I can get undressed and we'll cuddle, okay?" Xander reluctantly let him go and George stood beside the bed to strip. He saw the interested look and decided it was for the best. Xander would wear himself down if he worried for too long. A night free of it would be for the best. He stripped fully and laid back down, stroking over the hard stomach. "I've heard it all already," he told Xander. "And I know you'll be brilliant, just like last time. But you've got to relax and calm down so you can think."

"Make me relax?" Xander asked, nearly grinning. He wrapped his arms around George's waist, letting himself be kissed. "I could really use a clear head and some happy thoughts."

"Happy thoughts I can give you," George teased. "I can give you happy thoughts about our latest toys, or happy thoughts about the store making a profit its first year. Or even ones about..." He squeaked as Xander grabbed hold of him and started to rub. "Oh, you want those sort of happy thoughts."

"Yeah, I need this sort of happy thoughts." Xander stole a kiss. "Next time, I'll sneak down to the store and we'll keep Fred up."

George laughed. "I'm sure we will since we're in the same room and all." He made sure to cover them fully, not wanting any interruptions, just in case the chicks or Murphy was around.

***

Xander walked into the Great Hall, smiling happily. He was tired, but it was a good tired. Besides, he had some free time this afternoon, he could nap. George had refused to come to breakfast with him, but that was okay with him. They'd agreed that Xander would sneak down there Saturday to get some more cuddles. He nodded at the other teachers as he sat down.

Tara got up and came over to give him a hug. "I'm glad your planning mood was broken," she told him. "You have a letter in the office."

"From?"

"Your parent's attorney," Willow told him. She looked at him. "They died."

"Well, fuck," Xander sighed, tossing down his napkin. "Do I have to go back for anything?" Willow nodded. "Why?"

"Because you have to sign stuff," Willow reminded him. "Just like Buffy did when Joyce died." She grabbed his hand and squeezed it. "She'll ride over with you if you want. She's been asking us to visit."

Xander looked at Dumbledore. "Can I please have a week off?" Dumbledore nodded. "Thanks. Is there a wizards travel agency?" A small envelope was handed to him. "Okay, then all I need is the stuff in my room." He got free of Tara's hug. "Thanks, guys. I guess I'm going to go pack and stuff." He grabbed a pastry and walked out, heading back to his room. He decided he'd take his broom, shrunken of course, so he'd have something to do.

Dumbledore shook his head at the two girls. "He had to go. There's another task he'll have to complete before he comes back," Giles looked at him. "There's a town that's trying to destroy the gryphons. It's been seen that he helps that also."

Giles put down his napkin. "I think I'll owl Buffy."

"She'll be waiting for him in London," Willow told him. "Think he's going to floo to London?" she asked Tara.

"After going to tell George," Tara agreed. "It'd be fastest. And Buffy is in town."

"Murphy can stay in our room," Ron said as he walked up to them. "Where is Professor Harris going?"

"Home. His parents died and he has to go do paperwork," Willow told him. Ron looked really upset. "Don't. Xander wasn't that close to them. He's closer to your family than his own. He's presently gearing up for the flight from hell to get back there." She took a bite of her scone. "But if you want Murphy, I'm sure he'd love to spend the night in Gryffindor."

"Thanks." Ron walked back to the table, thinking about it. He told Harry, who told Hermione when she walked in. Who told Ginny, who later sent an owl to their parents and was overheard ranting about bad things by the rest of the people in her arithmancy class.

***

Xander walked into the joke shop, making George frown. "I didn't think it was Saturday," he noted dryly.

"Funny. I have to go home for a few days." He leaned over and stole a kiss. "My parents died."

"I'm sorry, Xander, I..." George's lips were clamped shut.

"Not a big, I like your parents more than my own." He let the lips go. "So I came down to tell you I'd be back in about a week. I'll think about you on the never ending plane ride." He stole one last kiss.

"What about Murphy?"

Xander snorted. "Not a chance I'm taking him with me. The day before we came here someone tried to capture him. I'm not going there again."

"Be safe on your hellmouth," Fred said as he walked down the stairs. He looked at the 'open' sign then at his brother. "Getting an early start today?"

"I was up," George told him with a smile.

"Yup, very up," Xander said with a naughty grin. Fred groaned. "What? We're cute together."

"Very, that's why I groaned. It's too early for cute." He looked at the fireplace as it dinged. "Dear God, who're you?" he asked Percy. His older brother was wearing something unusual, jeans, and no glasses. He recognized him, but really couldn't pass up a chance to annoy him. It was the right of younger brothers you know.

Percy glared at him. "I came to talk to Xander." He looked at the boy. "That slayer of yours is telling stories at the Leaky Cauldron. They weren't sure what a muggle was doing in there so they called the Ministry."

Xander snickered. "I'd like to see them try to remove her, especially if someone made her cranky." He picked up his bag. "Okay, I'll floo over there." He stole one last kiss then walked over to the fireplace. "Leaky Cauldron," he said as he stepped into the prepared fire. He waved as he took off. He landed in a heap; he hated the landing at the inn. As he stood up and brushed himself off, he smiled at Buffy telling someone very large about how she had beaten a demon about his size. "Yo, slayer, lighten up, you're scaring the normals," he said fondly.

She squealed and ran over to give him a hug. "Xander. Are you okay?" She pulled back to look him over, getting him out of the way of the fireplace because she heard a whoosh of an incoming traveler. "You're okay and Murphy's fine and everything?"

"Everything's fine," he agreed, pulling her over to sit down at a table. He grabbed his suitcase and checked his watch. "We really need to get to the airport."

She looked at her own watch. "Shit, we do." She stood up and grabbed his case. "This is it?" He nodded. "Passports and stuff?" He patted his pocket. "Cool, let's go. We can catch up on the ride over. Travers is giving me a vacation on our old hellmouth. He thinks I need to go take a turn over it and check it over for bigger baddies." She squealed when the witch behind her pinched her. "Hey, slayer butt, personal," she complained.

Xander winked at the barman, Tom. "She's always a little hyper when she's happy, or shopping," he told him.

"Oh, we remember," Tom told him. "Can you make her forget us?"

Xander shrugged. "I can only try," he told him, following her outside. "Buffy, you scared the witches, they thought they were being invaded by muggles looking for a cool spot to hang."

She snorted. "As if. It's dusty and nasty smelling in there from potions." She linked an arm through his. A cab pulled up in front of them. "Your spell?" He shook his head. "Shoot, I need that one." She let him get in first, then ran back inside to grab her bag, coming back to climb in too. "Airport," she told him.

"Which one?"

Xander pulled out his tickets. "Heathrow." He put them back into his pocket. "And can you go really fast? This is a quickly planned trip and I'm not good at allowing for time." The cabbie smiled and took off with a squeal of tires. "Thanks."

"Sure thing, mate. Will this be galleons or pounds?"

"Galleons," Xander sighed. "I forgot to get it switched and I don't have time."

"You can do that in America. I'm sure they got you a room and all."

Xander checked his itinerary. "Nope, no room. But maybe I can stay at the old homestead." He shrugged. "We'll figure it out somehow." He noticed Buffy was starting to wiggle and looked over at her. "How have you been?"

"Fine," she said happily. "There's this really cute pre-Watcher guy who's been making eyes at me. It's so cute, he's *shy*."

Xander laughed. "I know that feeling. George can get me to blush with just a look sometimes."

"George?" She frowned. "Like one of the twins?" He nodded, still smiling. "Um, can I say I'm happy but I don't want to think about that too much because that's a scary mental place?"

He shrugged. "Go ahead. I got stuck in the scary mental place myself a few times. Porn took care of that though." He settled himself so he was comfortable. The scenery was whizzing by. "Gee, magic cabs are really nice," Xander noted.

The cabbie laughed. "Of course we are. Best in the land, almost as nice as the Knight Bus." He slowed down as signs for the airport started to flash by. "Inside, to the left, is a little black door. Inside is a small goblin who works for Gringots. The door reads to us magical folks as Money Exchange, and to muggles as Maintenance. Go in there, it'll only take a moment." He stopped in front of the doors. "That'll be one galleon, five knuts, and a penny if you please."

Xander pulled out the money, handing it over, including a muggle penny. "You collect them?"

"Nah, I have all but a dollar's worth. This'll make sure I can change them in later." He waited until they were out to smile at the boy's back. "Well, he was nice," he said, rubbing his fingers over the fare, plus tip. Wizards were horrible tippers so he always included it in the fare. His radio squawked and he took off again, going to pick up another stranded wizard or witch.

Xander walked inside and Buffy found the door. He walked in and smiled at the little goblin. "I need to switch this to pounds, and some to dollars," he told him. "And I already know about the three percent fee."

"American?" the goblin asked, counting it out quickly.

"Yeah, it's an emergency trip."

The goblin handed him the cash equivalence, half and half, the looked at Buffy. "For you?"

"Oh, I carry muggle money. I'm presently hiding among them." She smiled and took Xander's arm as she watched him pack it away. As soon as he was done, she led them out the door, making sure no one was staring at them. One guard noticed and checked the room, but all he saw was a closet. Maybe they'd been in there making out, the boy looked like he'd been kissed hard. He shrugged it off and made a note on the daily log, but made sure they got on their plane to New York without any more funniness.

***

Xander looked over at the lawyers. "Why did I come all the way here to do this?" he asked as he sat down. Buffy was out patrolling, looking for nests in the daytime. Less problems that way. He had come right here to complain. The plane ride had been close to ten hours long, plus layovers and a short interrogation by the witch at LaGuardia airport. "I couldn't have gotten a lawyer over there and played 'fax tag'?" He put his suitcase on the table and opened it, pulling out his identification and passport. "Let's get this over with, I'm leaving again tomorrow." He snapped it shut and looked at the stunned old men. "What? I had to take time off work to be here."

"These were your parents, Mr. Harris," one of them said.

Xander shrugged. "Yay. I haven't heard from them in years. I told them I was moving out when I was eighteen and they threw a party. Let's just get this over with, I've got students waiting for me to give them information."

"You teach?" the lawyer asked as he opened the folder. Xander nodded. "What subject?"

"Mythology. I teach at a small British boarding school." He took the papers, looking them over. "Some translation please?"

"That is a list of your parent's assets. If you want, we can liquidate it for you."

"For what sort of fee?" Xander asked as he read.

"It will be part of the fee paid by the estate," the lawyer assured him. "There is usually a small auction fee, somewhere around five percent." He cleared his throat. "The only thing that we were told we could not get rid of was this key." He slid it across the desk.

Xander picked up the key, looking it over. It felt magical. "Gringotts," he said with a grin, tucking it into his pocket with his broom. "Cool. I wondered if they knew about that stuff."

"According to your mother's papers, it was given to her and she was not allowed to get rid of it or horrible things would happen to the family."

Xander glanced up. "Mom always was superstitious." He found a spot for his name and signed it, handing it back. "What else?"

"You're really in such a hurry to be done with this?" the older of the two lawyers asked.

Xander leaned back in his chair. "Listen, my boyfriend's back in England. My life is back in England. I haven't even thought about this town in two years. There's nothing for me here and no one that I really want to see since Joyce Summers died. Everything I care about is over there and this is taking me away from it. The sooner I can get back to the people who comfort me, the better. Besides, I know it's taking your time and my money so I'd rather do this quickly."

The first lawyer laughed. "I understand perfectly, Mr. Harris. There's only a few more forms for you to sign." He shoved over a small stack. "We'll order the auction tonight."

"Cool, send the money to Miss Summers, she'll get it back to me." He shrugged at the surprised looks. "The post is a little funny where I'm at. She's got better access to the post office because I'm out in the middle of nowhere."

"Yes, we noticed that it took a month to get word from you."

Xander frowned at one paper, it didn't feel muggle. He set it aside to read last. He carefully read the others, signing everything but that one and the one on the bottom of the stack. He handed the first one back to the silent lawyer. "I know what that is, and I recognize that name. Not going there." He stood up and grabbed his suitcase. "Anything else?"

"Sir, we need to have you sign both of those," the lawyer told him.

Xander sneered. "I'm not signing anything over to a follower of Voldemort." The older lawyer glared at him. "Presently, I'm teaching the greatest thorn in his side." He crossed his arms. "Now then, I also will not sign any paper that has a clause about my soul. That was really dumb."

"You don't know how many people don't read legal documents carefully," the first lawyer said as he stood up. "We could make you sign it."

"Buffy's back in town and waiting on me," he said with a smirk. "Do you really want to mess with the slayer?" Both men shuddered and backed away from him. "Thank you. Now, please liquidate everything and send Ms. Summers the proceeds, unless you really want to send it to Hogwarts." He waved and walked out. He had the real treasure in his pocket. A Gringott's key from way back when. The number on it was in the low double digits. He found Buffy waiting on him outside. "Hey, no nests?"

"Not many," she said with a shrug. "You get it all done?"

"Yup, they're liquidating everything and sending it to you." He pulled her close for a hug and told her what they had tried. He caught her glare up at the window. "Just a thought you might want to send back to the guys in charge." They strolled down the street together. "Want to stay here or in LA tonight? I've still got cash."

"Let's stay in LA." She patted his pocket and felt something funny, reaching in to dig out the key. "What's this?"

"Key to a bank vault. Not muggly." He took it back and stopped to slip it on the necklace he wore. "Okay, let's go." He used the keychain remote to pop open the doors of the rental car, wincing when the alarm went off.

"Here, let me," she sighed, taking it and turning off the alarm. "You forgot how to deal with this stuff while you were gone."

Xander grinned at her. "And I'm happier that way. I'd gladly trade this for a broom any day." He slid in to drive. He still remembered how bad she was at it.

***

They had found a wizard's inn in LA out by the airport and he had placed a long and expensive - pay by the minute of course - floo call back to Hogwarts and then Gringotts London. He disappeared early the next morning, going to check out the vault. He walked into the small bank, not at all like the imposing edifice in London, and smiled at the goblin behind the information desk. "I need to get into an inherited account," he told him, pulling out the sheet of parchment he had written the information down on. "It says it's vault 23 and in this branch?"

The goblin opened the book in front of it, searching back for the vault in question. It finally found it and waved another goblin over. "We'll have to check your key," it grunted.

Xander shrugged and nodded happily. "Okay, but I have a flight this afternoon back to London and I was hoping to move everything over there."

The goblin laughed. "I doubt it." The second goblin was looked at. "Take him to the district manager."

Xander followed the second goblin, smiling at the ones they passed. It wouldn't do to piss them off, even though he knew people smiling at them unnerved them. He was led to a small office and a chair. "Hello?" he called. The goblin came out of a small door to the left. "Hi. I just inherited this key and the vault but I'm in London, at Hogwarts. Plus, I have a flight this afternoon."

The goblin took the key, holding it up to examine it. "This has been gone for a very long time." He handed it back. "Prove you're who you say you are."

Xander pulled out his wand and pointed it at the goblin. "Stick," he said with a grin, sticking the goblin to the floor. "Grow." It grew ten inches taller. "I'm not so great at undoing it," he admitted with a grin.

The goblin grunted something and got free, but didn't shrink. "Yes, you're definitely from that line," he said in disgust. "Would you please shrink me? Or at least try?" he asked at the skeptical look.

Xander concentrated. "Reparo," he said, swishing and flicking. The goblin shrunk four inches. "Sorry, man."

"That's all right, I can have it undone later," he grumbled. He led the way to the carts. "He needs into vault 23. We're moving it to the London Branch." The cart goblin nodded.

Xander whooped as they took off. He was in the mood for a roller coaster today. He was laughing as they came to a stop, it hadn't been so long of a ride. He climbed out and stuck his key in the door, getting out of the way as the door opened. He walked in and stopped. It was a nest. A complete nest. He stepped back out and looked at the goblin. "Someone hid a nest?"

The goblin shrugged. "I wouldn't know, I only drive."

Xander walked back inside and looked around. No cash, a few books, but a complete nest. "Oh, hey, a potions cauldron," he said happily, picking it up. He examined everything, then grabbed one of the books to take with him. He walked out and closed the door, taking the key with him. "Can you move that to London for me?"

"Of course, sir. We'll have the paperwork as soon as you're back upstairs."

Xander climbed in, holding the book tightly to him. It was a diary of some sort. He thought on the ride back, then signed some forms, and left California for the last time - barely remembering to pick up Buffy as they passed the motel. At the airport, a wizard stopped them and pulled them into a room. "What?" he asked tiredly.

"Are you sure you want to go back, Mr. Harris," the wizard asked. "If you do, you won't be allowed back into this country."

"You can't do that," Buffy told him.

"We can. We'll never trust him to work with us if he leaves."

Xander snickered. "I'm not working for you ever, no matter what. I'm happy and wanted where I am. I'm training Harry Potter and other students to become outstanding individuals. There's nothing that this country has that I want. Not your job, not to work with you, and not to be here anymore. I've already started my papers to become a British citizen." He picked up his book and his suitcase. "Can we go now?"

"What about you, Ms. Summers? Are you going to apply over there too?"

She shrugged. "I go where my Watchers send me," she reminded him. "Right now, I think I'm due in Belgium tomorrow." She grabbed her overnight case and followed Xander out of the small room. "What a dick," she muttered.

Xander grinned at her. "They tried to recruit me earlier this year and I told them to fuck off." A guard glared at them. "I'm being hunted by corporations," he told him. "It's like a war." The guard watched them go through security, then it was someone else's problem.

***

Hermione set up the spell, frowning at the two bored looking guys with her. "I wouldn't have asked, but it's for the best anyway," she reminded them. The last part of the infertility spell was set inside the protection circle and the circle was finished. "All right, nothing can get through it, or it'll screw up."

"Why do we have to do this again?" Ron asked her.

"Because otherwise we'll all be distracted during fights by children. You of all people should realize how much work children take."

"I was only a year old when Ginny was born," Ron pointed out. But he sighed. Hermione said the spell had to have at least three people involved and he wanted to help her with her female problems. Besides, he didn't really want children yet so five years or so free from children would be very nice. He waved when he saw the unnamed baby phoenix waddle in. "Hey, you." The baby cooed and moved closer.

"No," Harry told it. "Stay there. You can't break the circle or bad things will happen." The baby looked at him, almost looking quizzical. "We'll turn into giant mice and chase you around."

"Really," Hermione sighed.

"Well, she hates mice," Harry pointed out.

"Fine. Just keep her out there." She started the small fire between them. "Okay, I have to say some words, and toss the potion into the fire after we ingest a little bit of it. Got it?" Both boys nodded, and the phoenix threw up. "Eww."

"Are you all right?" Ron asked, looking at the pile of sick. "That doesn't look good." He started to move but Hermione stopped him. "Oh, right."

"And if you break it now, then I'll have to start all over again making the potion, which takes a month and a half." He got back into his prior position. "We'll clean it up in a minute." She squeaked at the phoenix, who had settled down to watch them. "All right, let's do this now. Shouldn't take more than a few minutes." Her nose wrinkled from the smell of the former lunch. She started the chant, slowly saying the words faster. She grabbed the cup of potion, using a finger to paint her lips with it. She handed it to Ron, nodding at him to do the same. The cup got passed to Harry, then she poured it into the fire.

"What are you doing?" Draco asked as he walked in. He grimaced when he saw the pile of stuff. "That's sickening."

"Can't break it yet," Harry called. "We'll get it."

"Shh," Hermione told him. "Breathe in the fumes."

Draco shook his head and went to get a dustpan. It was the least he could do, because then he wouldn't have to smell it any longer. He bent down to scoop up the sickening material, grazing the protective shield with the edge of the metal dustpan. He felt himself be surrounded by power and glared at the threesome. "What did you do?" he growled.

"Oh, crap," Ron sighed. "How does that change it?"

"It'll hopefully still work," Hermione told him, glaring at Draco. "You couldn't wait?"

"What are you doing anyway?"

"Infertility spell," she told him haughtily. "It'll last for ten years." She said the last word and threw a cup of water onto the fire, dousing it. "As soon as the fumes are all gone, it can come down and we'll go make sure it worked."

"Ten years?" Ron asked. That seemed a bit extreme to him.

"In ten years, you'll be twenty-eight and still young enough to chase children around," Harry soothed, playing peace maker between the two yet again. "I thought we agreed five."

Hermione shrugged. "I couldn't find the word for five. It was ten or twenty."

"Fine," Draco sighed. "What about me?"

"With any luck, you didn't bollocks it totally," Ron noted. "It could make us all super fertile."

"Not a change for you then," Draco sneered.

"Enough!" Harry shouted, breaking into the argument before it could start. "Can we tell?" he asked Hermione.

"Madam Pomfrey will be able to. I was going check and make sure anyway." The fumes finished dissipating and she broke the protection circle. "See you all up there?" she asked as she tidied up everything so no one else would know they had used the classroom.

"Yeah, I think I'd better," Ron said, following her out of the classroom. "If not, I might be able to impregnate someone just by looking at them with my luck."

She grinned and patted him on the arm. "You can't do it that way you know. There has to be a physical component."

He blushed brightly. "Hermione!"

She laughed, hurrying up the marble staircase. "Didn't your mother teach you anything about making babies?"

"I know quite enough, thank you," he told her as they walked into the infirmary. "Malfoy messed the spell," he told Madam Pomfrey.

"Can you check and see if it worked?" Hermione asked. She had talked to the nurse earlier when she had found the spell.

The nurse led them back to the office one by one, checking them to see if everything was in working order. She smiled at Hermione. "You have one ovary that's infertile and one that's very fertile," she warned. The girl sighed and rolled her eyes. "It shouldn't be too much of a problem. You should be fine." She patted her on the back and let Ron in, smiling at him. The Weasley fertility was nearly legendary. She was surprised the twins had never gotten anyone knocked up while they had been in school. She ran her wand across his nether regions and smiled at him. "Worked perfectly for you," she told him. "Ten years from now, your mother can expect a grandchild."

He slumped. "Thank you. How is she?" Madam Pomfrey shook her head. "Fine. Harry needs to be checked too."

"If he comes in, I'll gladly do so." She shooed them out and went to make notes in her daily log. She really didn't recommend that spell, but it seems to have worked well enough.

***

Xander stepped off the plane with a sigh. Home. He walked up to the custom's booth, Buffy two booths over because it had a shorter line. "I have to declare I inherited this, right?" he asked once it was his turn. He handed over the book.

The official looked it over, flipping through it. "Worth?"

Xander shrugged. "It's a family diary dating back a few hundred years. I inherited it, I haven't done anything else yet. I'm getting it appraised tomorrow."

The custom's official pulled over a special multi-copy form, filling it out. "Please have them send this to us," she said, handing him one of the copies. "We'll need to know for tax purposes." He nodded. "Anything else to declare," she checked his passport. "Mr. Harris." She frowned and checked the list off to the side. "Sir, I need you to come with us," she said, motioning a guard over. "We'll need you to talk to someone in immigration."

Xander sighed and picked up his stuff, waving at Buffy where she was standing on the other side of the barrier with a Watcher. She gave him a silly grin and a wave, then took off. He followed the guard to a little room with a chair and a desk, sitting on the chair. It was about half an hour before someone walked in. "What now?" he asked.

"Sir, we have papers on you, but you did leave," the official told him, smiling at him. "I have to know why."

"My parents died in car crash. I went back to fill out forms because they wouldn't let me do it from here. It was kind of an emergency and I didn't know I had to fill out more forms to go back for a few days." He dug out the forms he had signed from the lawyers. "This is what they gave me."

The official looked them over, nodding and humming at each one. He handed them back, then made some notes on a form in front of him. "And are you filing for citizenship, Mr. Harris?"

Xander nodded. "I've already started that paperwork. The people I work with have been helping me." It was true, Dumbledore had forwarded his paperwork to the right individuals. "You didn't get them yet?"

The official flipped through his folder. "Oh, I see we have." He smiled again. "There's been some holdup. Let me call. Be right back." He walked away.

Xander slumped in his chair. Albus had warned him that establishing a muggle identity would only cause problems. He had been right. He itched to send a message right now, but there wasn't any fireplace, or floo powder, within sight. The door opened and someone else walked in, this one carrying a wand in his pocket. "Hey." He waved listlessly. "Did I fuck up?"

The official closed the door. "No, Mr. Harris, you didn't mess up a thing. He wasn't supposed to get your case." He sat on the edge of the table. "Usually you're pacing by now."

"Twelve hour flight and four hours of layover in New York," he noted.

"Oh, I'm sorry. And the reason for your trip?" Xander handed over the paperwork. "I'm sorry," he said, sounding like he really was. He handed over some forms. "All right, we've processed your application with us and approved it," he said with a smile. "Sign the forms and you're officially one of ours."

"Does that mean that the American asshole who keeps trying to jump me and force me back can't get me?"

"It does indeed," the Minister of Immigration agreed. "I'm Armstrong Fidders." He saw the blanch. "Don't worry, I've heard how the boy came to you. I must say, to change a Malfoy that way is incredible. I'm not mad at you or him about my brother and his wife. The children are safe, you can tell the boy that." He stood up. "As for your muggle paperwork, there's been quite a holdup since you don't have an address."

"I can rent a post office box," he said. "But with where I am..."

"We've got something set up if you'd care to contribute to it. It will cost you about ten galleons a year and ...." His mouth closed as the amount was put on his desk. "I say, you're carrying that much around?"

"I had it changed back in LA at Gringotts." Xander stood up. "I'm really tired and I just wanna go home."

"Well, the floo has had a few problems recently," the Minister told him. "Many of us are trapped in town if we don't apparate." He smiled. "Go to the Leaky Cauldron and get a room. I'm sure you can contact the school from there." He took the money and walked away. "I'll have your official forms sent by owl tomorrow." He walked away.

Xander grabbed his things and walked out, going to catch a cab. Now if he knew where the Leaky Cauldron was in relation to the rest of London. He smiled, he knew where the video store was and it was only a few blocks away. He gave the cabbie the address of that, which got him a funny look. "My friend lives up the street and I'm staying with him tonight."

The cab took off, taking him one step closer to home. He paid the man and got out, having a pleasant walk for those few blocks before heading inside. "Hi, Tom," he said tiredly, leaning on the bar. "Please tell me you still have a room?"

Tom chuckled. "We always have a room, Professor Harris. The place expands you know." He handed over a key, taking the cash the boy handed him. "Wizard money?"

"Oh, yeah." Xander took the pounds back and handed him wizard money. He looked at the number. "Seventy-five?" Tom nodded. "Which way?"

"Up the stairs and to the right. You're four doors down from the guys singing sea songs."

"Cool." He yawned. "Wake me for breakfast?" He trudged up the stairs and down to his room. Sure enough, one of his neighbors was singing sea songs about mermaids and barmaids. He walked in and closed the door, then flopped down on the bed face first. He was tired. It only took seconds for him to fall asleep. Someone snuck in an hour later and took off his shoes and he never noticed Tom at all.

***

Albus Dumbledore looked up as the classroom he was in opened, admitting students. "Professor Harris is back in England, but a floo malfunction has kept him in London," he told the students. "All the other teachers are presently busy so you've got a free period. Please be quiet and go study." The students all trooped back out, talking to each other. Tomorrow Tara would be teaching this class while Xander went to fight with the gryphons. It would be another week before the boy got back, but that was fine. He looked up at the cough. "Yes, Ms. Weasley?" he asked with a tolerant smile.

"Will Professor Harris be back tomorrow?"

He shook his head. "There's another task he'll have to attend to before then. We've gotten word of another attack on a young gryphon and we're sure he's going to go handle that matter first. Is there something I can help you with?" She shook her head and blushed lightly. "I see. Maybe Ms. Granger or someone then?"

"I can't talk to her, she'd be horrified," Ginny muttered and left. "Thank you," she called back.

Albus shook his head. "Children grow up so fast these days," he sighed. "It used to be that I only saw that look on the seventh years." He wrote a note on the board for the later classes and left the classroom.

Ginny walked around the halls, frowning when she saw the girls clustered around Malfoy. You'd think that they'd be tired of him by now. He didn't look too pleased though, so maybe she could interrupt them.

"Oh, look, it's *Ron's* little sister," one girl sneered. "What's wrong, isn't your brother around to amuse you?"

"Oh, shut up, you slut," Ginny told her. She looked at Draco. "M..May I talk to you for a moment?" He shrugged. "Alone?" She walked over to a side hallway and checked it, no one was there. He followed. "I...I'm tired of being a vir..virgin and..and you're the one I want to fix it," she finished in a rush.

He blinked a few times. "That's the most unusual way of approaching that," he said with a frown. "Why me?"

She stepped closer. "Because I've heard what your usual sluts say and I figure you at least know what you're doing. I'm not after your money, or your name, just to get rid of this stigma." She blushed. "Please?"

He thought about it then slowly nodded. It was truly unusual. Most girls teased and flirted, or acted like they wanted it, this girl just came out and said it. It was refreshing, but rather odd. Did her family not teach her how to flirt and the like? "Come to my room tonight. An hour after dinner. We'll see what we can do to fix that situation." She smiled and ran off. He shook his head. That was really astounding and shocking. He spared a thought about how her brothers would react, but he'd make sure they didn't know. After all, she didn't seem like she was trying to get him into more trouble. He went back to his women, all of them having decided that him being under a death sentence wasn't worth arguing over. Of course, they had let on that they were *sure* Xander would get his father into prison, so it was clear they were still after his money. Apparently a death threat wasn't too much to risk for his name. Maybe being with Ginny would be refreshing in more ways than one.

***

Xander woke up with a groan. "What?" he called.

"Message for ya," Tom called, sliding it under the door.

Xander got up and picked up the message, opening the door to look at the innkeeper. "When did it come?"

"Few minutes ago, said it was important." Tom paused. "Owl's waitin' on a response."

Xander nodded, opening it to read. He slumped. "Send back the simple message of 'I'm coming'. Can I get something vaguely resembling coffee?"

"We've got tea," Tom offered.

Xander shuddered. "No, tea's weak." He waved a hand. "I'll be going in a few. Can I get some floo powder to send on my case and book?" He closed the door and went to shower. Two hours of sleep. Well, he'd be able to prove the point of fighting while you're tired to his students this term too. On his way out, he sent his case to the school, with a note on top about the little gryphon who had been attacked, then took his broom for a fly. After finding a Starbucks. Someone gave his broom, which he was carrying, a funny look. "New, just bought it," he explained. "It's an awkward thing to carry." He took his jumbo coffee and went to a hidden spot, putting on his invisibility cloak before taking off. A good fly up to Stonehenge with some coffee. Much better than the airlines.

***

McGonagall looked over as the fireplace 'ding'ed, frowning at the luggage. She got up to look at it and rolled her eyes. "He's went to the gryphons to fight," she told Snape, who was making himself some tea for his sniffles.

"Of course did, he owes them his sanity," Snape reminded her, pouring the tea into his mug. "Any other news?"

"Not yet," she told him. She watched as he left, then put Xander's case aside. She'd have one of his students take it to his room later. She walked out, going back to her classroom, her free period was over with. She didn't even think about owling George, he would know soon enough.

***

Xander landed in front of the inn by Stonehenge and looked around. He had been told to come here to meet someone. And someone did step out of the inn. "Travers," he grunted in annoyance. He hated the head of the Watcher's council. He had been such a prick to Buffy when he'd come to town. "Are you working with me on this?"

Travers walked closer. "I am. It's pitiful what they're doing, but we at the Watchers understand that this is important." He smiled calmly. "What can you do?"

Xander nudged his broom up. "Gee, what do you think I can do?" he asked him. He looked around, then whistled loudly when he saw a dark shape in the air. Reynaldo, the youngest of the three elders, landed beside them. "Give me a run down?" he suggested.

Reynaldo laughed. "You haven't changed." He hugged the young man with his wings, smothering him with the feathers on his chest. "What do you want to do?"

"I'm in the mood for a fight actually," Xander admitted as he pulled back. "Not only did the skanky lawyers handling my parents' estate try and get me to sign a paper saying I would pledge my allegiance to Voldemort, but another one saying I was going to sign over my soul. And then I had to go deal with the American aurors, who were playing dirty to try and make me work for them. Not to mention what happened the other night."

Travers stared the young man down. "You know better than to fight in anger."

Xander nodded. "This isn't anger, it's frustration and I'm building another frustration bomb." He landed again. "Which town? Is the chick still alive? And what level of fixing it?"

Reynaldo grinned down at him, as much as his beak would allow. "The next town up the road. As far as we know the chick is still alive. As for fixing it?" He shrugged, which looked very odd when he did it. "As long as it's fixed and I don't personally have to clean up the bodies, I don't care."

"Then can we do something like a memory spell to make them forget about you?" Travers asked.

Xander looked at him. "With a few more of us, we could shield the whole town so that no one in it knew about magical creatures."

"It was tried before, but one person remembered and forced the others to see us," Reynaldo admitted. He looked at the puny human. "A memory charm has to be done individually to work best, or be placed onto something."

"Then maybe we just needed a keystone of some sort," Xander said thoughtfully. He started to float again. "Let's go do this before they can hurt the baby." He and Reynaldo flew off, the gryphon being nice enough to give the normal human a lift by picking him up with a foot. They landed outside the village, just a few homes and two stores it looked like. The first thing they saw were some children staring at them in shock. Xander waved at them. "Go away and hide," he told them. "We've got to fight with your parents." The kids all scattered, but one.

He looked at them, his blond hair messy and windblown with a few leaves in it. "Are unicorns real?" he asked.

Xander nodded. "I've been told they are. If he's real," he pointed at Reynaldo, "then unicorns must be, huh?"

The boy nodded. "Good." He glanced at Travers, then ran after the other kids.

Xander noticed some adult males gathering in the center of the town. Not a good. He flew in and landed, there wasn't any way they were going to remember him. "I only want the gryphon baby and then we'll leave," he said calmly. All conversation stopped. "Otherwise I'm going to have to take it back and then punish someone." A few farming implements appeared from behind backs. "If that's the way you want it." He raised his wand. "Incendio!" he yelled, burning the nearest implements. He floated off the ground, pulling up a hoe to use as a longer weapon. He hit a few of the men, knocking them down, and got most everyone frozen, when a wizard came out of the closest store. He had his back turned so he didn't see him until it was too late.

"Expelliarmus!"

Xander lost his wand, but not his tool. He flew over and beat the wizard, making him scream and beg for him to stop. "If you would have let the baby go, you wouldn't be in pain!" Xander told him, taking both wands. He turned to look at the crowd. "I want the baby gryphon now!" he yelled. "Right the hell now!" A woman ran into her house and came out with a small wrapped body. Xander's heart sank as he went down, taking the small package. It wasn't a gryphon, it was a phoenix. "Not quite. See, gryphons look like my friend." He pointed at where Reynaldo was standing at the edge of the village. "This is a phoenix, which you should not have destroyed either." He flew back up as someone tried to grab him. "Now then, where's the chick? Preferably before I vent my rage on you." He saw one woman hiding a child behind her and sneered. "We're not like that," he told her. "*WE* don't hurt children, unlike some people."

"They're evil!" the woman shouted. "They have to be eradicated!"

"If they're eradicated," Xander said, talking down to her, "then your whole village dies because they're what's holding back the things that travel in the night to come and get you. Like that wolf creature that was seen last year in the area." She whitened but backed away from him. "Now then, the chick! Now!" A few people went running, bringing a small cage with a crying baby gryphon in it. He let Reynaldo deal with that while he worked on the spell to render them memory-less. Xander raised his wand, but one young man had been quietly climbing up onto a roof behind him. He jumped, bringing them both to the ground. Xander got in a few punches, but the guy had him pinned against his broom. "Get off me!" he shouted, kicking him one last time, managing to get free.

More of the villagers came over and grabbed him. "You're gonna be dead like that evil one," one woman shouted at him.

"Vile creature from Hell!"

Xander was drug away, people hitting and screaming at him.

Reynaldo looked at Travers, who had stayed hidden. "Get him out," he ordered. "I'm taking the gryphlet back to the community. I will be back soon." He lifted off, taking the cage. He didn't dare open it yet, there was no telling what sort of spells that wizard had put on it.

Travers considered the town, then smiled. Buffy was headed this way to get her next assignment, she could do it with them. It would be a wonderful test of her abilities. He pulled out his cellphone to call his people.

***

Xander looked over as his cell door opened. He was in pretty bad shape. One of his eyes was closed. His body was a mass of bruises. And they had his wand. They had cut it open to dissect it in front of him, trying to figure out what made it work. His poor wand. He really wished he had brought Murphy with him now. His bird would have stomped them for hurting him. No one would have managed to hit him for sticking up for the baby.

Buffy slid into his cell and helped him up, whispering in his ear. "Travers stunned the guard. Your broom's okay. You're going back to the community." She led him from the small tavern's back room, which substituted for the local police station, and out into the night. She got them under his invisibility cloak and handed him the wand she had found lying around. "Can you use another one?" He nodded. "Then get out of the village. I'll come after you." She slid out from under the cloak, hoping it was moving. She heard fabric rustling against the ground and figured he was following orders. A light flipped on behind her and she turned to look at the woman walking out. "You are in such deep shit," Buffy told her, punching her and knocking her down. "Do you know how hard I worked to keep this village safe in the last year? And now you do stupid shit like this." She glared at the others coming out. "You'd think, with having a few Watchers from here, that you'd know better by now."

"Get her!" a man screamed.

Travers strolled down the main street, smiling at them. "Do try, if you want to see your whole town go up in flames." The man backed off, he knew of this man. Travers and the entire Council were very well known, this was one of their hometowns. "Now then, Ms. Summers, that was very nice." He smiled at her. "What did you want to do?"

"You know that shield thingy? Can we redo it? Maybe specify that only one person get free of it and make it a kid so they'll believe?"

"Done," Xander said from the edge of the village, taking off his invisibility cloak. Behind him stood six gryphons and another human. "Buffy, come. Travers?"

"As you wish," Travers said with a faint shrug and an amused look. "Should you really do that, boy?"

"I heal." He raised the borrowed wand. "Ready?" He heard grunts of assent. Together they said a group of words in something that sounded like a cross between a groaning and a hiss, but more guttural and primal.

Travers turned to look back at the village, smiling at the one boy who had snuck over to look at the gryphons. He nudged Buffy. "Your one," he told her.

She smiled at him. "Do you like them?" The boy nodded. "Then protect them because they protect you." He smiled, showing he was missing one of his bottom teeth. He couldn't have been more than five or six. "Remember, magical beings aren't bad until they show themselves to be bad. Some of them just exist because they do." She grabbed Xander as he slumped. "Okay, enough of that." She heard one last word and looked up at the biggest creature she'd ever seen. "Are you guys going to take care of him or am I? 'Cause if I bring him back in this condition, I'll be yelled at and I'd have to do something nasty to the very nice wizards he works with."

"We will do it, Slayer," the gryphon female told her. "He is very well known to us." She picked up the body and held it gently, blowing on it. Xander woke up and blinked at her. "You can ride?"

"Where's my broom?" he slurred. "I can always ride."

"I know," the boy told him, running back into the town. He ran into the tavern and came out with the broom and the pieces of Xander's wand. "Here you go." He gave them to Buffy. "Please, keep protecting us? Monsters are scary." He looked up at the gryphon in front of him and smiled. "But you're not scary." He ran away, going back to one of the houses.

Buffy handed everything off to Travers. "So, where am I going now?"

"France. You're going to go do a small lecture at one of the other magic schools. It's warm there, pack something light." She nodded and headed for the car. He looked up at them. "Should I send his broom on?"

"We know of one who is his mate," the female told him. "We'll send them to him." She let one of the others settle Xander on her back then took off. "Gryphlet, you are such trouble," she told him as they flew off.

Travers smiled and strolled away. Amazing creatures, gryphons were. Simply amazing. He got into the car, taking Buffy back to the Watcher's headquarters so she could pack. He needed to run an errand or two in London tomorrow when he drove her into the airport.

***

Ginny nervously paced the small hallway outside Draco's doorway, hoping no one saw her. Everyone knew that Xander wasn't going to be back for a few days so she didn't have any real excuse to be down here. The door opened, making her jump. "Hi...hi," she said nervously.

He let her inside and reclosed both doors. You couldn't be too careful, though he knew she wasn't going to hurt him. He watched her fidget a little bit, then sighed. He guessed it was up to him. She really was a twittering virgin it seemed. "Why did you pick me?" he asked as he walked over to get some water for her.

She took off her robe and sat on a chair, trying to look dainty. "Because I've heard that you know what you're doing, which I figure means that you won't make it a horrible experience that will turn me off men forever."

He handed over the water. "Really?" He felt ...flattered. He sat on the edge of his bed, looking at her. "I have had some experience," he admitted. She gave him a look, which made him laugh. "All right, a lot of experience." She smiled at him. "Still, there are others."

"Yeah, but you've got a safety factor that the other boys don't," she told him. He frowned and managed to look confused. "No one would ever believe you if you bragged and my brothers would never think I'd touch you. Therefore, you're safe in the ways that count." She stood up and took off her sweater. "And you're one of those cute little bad boys who all girls go floppy and unresistant for."

He snickered. "Floppy and unresistant?"

"It sounded better than pliant and gushy," she told him, taking off her tie. "Can we do this?"

He stood up, walking over to help her undress. This was still rather odd to him. Such a forward girl was putting him off his usual balance. He had gotten her down to her panties when he heard her mutter something. "What was that?"

"Infertility spell. I got it off Melody."

He grinned, *that* he was used to. "That's not the one I usually use." He cast his usual one, just in case. Melody was known for giving out wrong information if she thought it'd be funny.

"Yeah, well, I asked around and the other girls laughed at me," she said darkly. "They all think that I'm some pure little kid."

"Ah, so that's why you're doing this."

"Well, that's kinda it," she admitted, "that and to have it over with."

"You know, there still many wizards who value virginity in a bride."

She grinned up at him. "It can be put back. Knowledge can't." That made him laugh some more and she stepped back. "So, do I still only look cute?"

He looked over her trim body. Perky breasts, trim waist. Almost no hips. Not classically beautiful but very nice. He noticed she was blushing and smiled at her. "Much nicer than some of the girls I've been with. I happen to like small breasts. Mouthfuls and all that." She giggled and blushed deeper, all the way down to her stomach. Draco decided to ease her tension some by taking off most of his clothes too. He wouldn't push her, it wasn't often that a girl actually went all the way on her first attempt; there was usually a little fear there. He would be gentle with her. Not only was she intriguing, but her brothers would kill him if he so much as scared her. He took her hand and led her to the bed, easing her down onto the soft sheet's he'd put on earlier. He'd had someone sneak out and buy him a set of silk sheets from the muggle world because he'd heard they were the best for this sort of activity. His father would have shit bricks if he had found out, but Draco enjoyed them immensely. The coolness of the silk against a young woman's skin was a delicious contrast in his mind.

Ginny tossed off her bra unselfconsciously and wrapped her arms around his shoulders, pulling him down for a kiss.

My, oh, my. Yes, quite unusual, but rather pleasant.

***

Mr. Olivander looked up as his door was opened. It wasn't time for new students and he wasn't expecting anybody. He walked out of the work room, stopping when he saw the obvious muggle. "Yes?" he asked.

Travers put the wand on the counter. "Someone decided to dissect Harris' wand. He's going to be needing it again soon. Can it be fixed?" When the old man didn't say anything, he smiled. "Don't worry, they got fixed."

"If I may ask, who are you?"

"Travers, Watcher's Council."

"Ah, I see. No wonder you managed to get in." He picked up the pieces. "They were very precise." The wand had been split at the handle's groove and then down the center of the main shaft. He checked the feather. "Not too damaged. I should be able to fix it. Where is he?"

"With the gryphons, being healed," Travers said dryly. "There was a town that had been trying to kill them, starting with their children." Ollivander started to look sick. "Oh, they still exist, just without their memories of gryphons or other magical creatures." He nodded at the wand. "I'm sure he'll be waiting on it."

"I'm sure he will too, but he had an older one that works well enough, not a perfect fit but as good as I could do without his own phoenix's feather." He examined the wood. "I'll have to recraft it, it should take me at least two weeks to carve the wand over."

"I'm sure he'll be happy to get it back whenever," Travers told him. He glanced around. "Is there any way you could get a message to Professor Giles and tell him that I'd like to see him? I would like an update of my former employee's position."

"Of course. Toss some powder into the fire and call out his name," he said, pointing at his own fire. This was most unusual. A Watcher, using their magic, willingly. "If he's near a fire, he'll answer."

"Thank you." Travers walked over and picked up some of the green powder, tossing it into the fire. "Rupert," he said. Rupert's head appeared in the fire, along with someone else's. "Ah, Rupert, good. The problem with the gryphons was taken care of. Xander was with them when it was handled. All the problems were eliminated." The other face disappeared from the fire. "Buffy's on her way to France but she wanted to know if she could come for a visit next month or so. Oh, and the town that was the problem has been stopped also."

"Dear, God," Giles said, still in shock. "They wiped them out?"

Travers shook his head. "No, merely handled the situation. Xander will tell you more when he gets back. He looked a little worse for the wear after last night's small skirmish but he might live." He stepped away, breaking the contact. "Thank you for that. I'll leave now." He nodded at the old man and left the shop.

Ollivander leaned against the counter in relief. "That didn't sound good." He walked over and picked up some floo powder of his own. Everyone knew that if it concerned magical creatures you called the Species department, unless it was Xander. Word had gotten around about that boy and the Weasleys. "Arthur Weasley," he said as he tossed the powder down. Nothing. "Percy Weasley." Percy's head appeared almost instantly. "I just had a Watcher here with Xander Harris' wand," he told him. Percy's mouth opened. "It was dissected. He said something about a gryphon problem being eliminated and the boy not looking too good."

Percy nodded. "I'll tell my father straight away and call the Species squad. They'll know what to do. Is his wand fixable? If it is, please send it on to my brother George at Hogsmeade. Xander was his." Ollivander nodded so Percy broke the connection. He stood up and swallowed. He had rather liked Xander quite a lot. He walked outside and quickly headed to the people who had helped Xander that summer. He tapped politely and walked in at the grunt. "I just got word that there was a problem last night involving Harris and the gryphons. A Watcher came in with Harris' broken wand and told him the problem had been eliminated, but that Harris was living - barely from the sound of it." Everyone in the room looked grim. "I have no idea of anything else, but it was Ollivander who called me."

The Minister of Magical Creatures stood up. "That's fine, we'll check into it. Probably had to do with that village again. We've been trying to find a way to deal with them."

"Sounds like the gryphons did," a woman said, staying seated. "Did you want help finding the Watcher?"

"Rupert was one of those," Percy told her. "I remember from when they first showed up. You might see if he was contacted." He looked around. "I should go tell my father. Could you... could you please tell us?" He hurried away. His father would be in soon and it was best this news came from him.

***

Dumbledore looked up as his office door opened unexpectedly, admitting Rupert. "What can I do for you today?"

"Xander's apparently been injured doing whatever with the gryphons. I just got word that the problem was fixed but that he wasn't feeling so well."

"Very well, I'll expect that they can use a healing potion as well as we can. I know Xander will be back soon." Giles didn't move. "Was there something else?"

"From what Travers said, it didn't sound that much like good news. He used the word eliminated. Could Xander have taken out an entire village?"

Dumbledore laughed. "No, he couldn't have. He's not like that, even when he's pissed. I've seen that boy get angry enough to kill someone, but not a group or a village. I'm sure it was an euphemism." He stood up. "Don't worry so much about the boy; you trained him very well, and he's now passing that on to others." Giles nodded, looking like he was relaxing. "I'm sure we'll get official news soon." The door opened again and Snape walked up. "You heard too?"

"Yes, Headmaster, and I wish to put these books into your safekeeping until the gryphons come to get them back. I've already instructed Ms. Granger and Mr. Weasley to do the same."

Dumbledore shook his head. "He's not dead. He's simply injured. The boy does tend to get that way quite a bit."

"His wand was broken," Snape told him.

Dumbledore nodded. "Of course it was, that would probably be the only way that the boy was that injured." He stood up. "This is Harris we're talking about, gentlemen. He may not be immortal but he is fairly indestructible." Both younger men nodded. "Now, go back to your classes. Severus, please hide those books carefully. I've heard rumors that one of them was gotten into." The teachers walked out and Dumbledore sat down, tossing some powder into the fire to call Arthur. He was probably panicking too.

***

Xander woke up to something soft trying to move him. "Hurts," he told it.

"I know, young one," Fredericka, the elder female gryphon, told him. "Drink this and it will hurt less."

"Quarter strength?" Xander asked.

"Yes, we took that into account." She let one of the humans helping them pour the liquid down the poor boy's throat. He was always getting hurt. "You rest, you can go see your mate in two days, once you're better." Xander nodded and closed his eyes.

"Is it working?" the last gryphon elder asked. She nodded, not looking at him. "We should just keep him here, it would keep the boy out of trouble."

Fredericka looked back at him. "The embers said he has to fight one more battle, then he would be safe." She laid Xander back down on the mat, moving away from him. "He had a key on him."

"Gringotts?" She nodded. "Do you think he found the family's treasure?"

"Probably. It isn't one for the local Gringott's." She glanced back. "Two more days and we can send him on his way."

"Good. Hopefully he'll be able to stay out of trouble until that last battle. When will it be?"

"He'll be helping destroy the Dark Lord this spring," she told him, walking away.

***

Fred held his brother back. "No, you can't go there and demand anything!" He looked at his mother, who had brought them the news that Xander was once again injured and being taken care of. "They'll send him back soon!"

"Sit," Molly Weasley ordered. Both twins sat. It wasn't often that they heard that tone of voice from her, but they knew to obey it. "He's fine. The gryphon ambassador has sent word that he'll be released in two days. You can go join him then." She glared at George. "You'd think that the boy got into trouble on purpose."

"I'm not so sure he doesn't," Ron said as he walked in. His mother gave him a dirty look. "I have that interview with Nimbus tomorrow," he reminded her. She smiled at him. "Thanks for the worry though. Any news on Xander? Word going around is that he's near death."

"See, I should be there," George told his family. "He needs me."

"You can go in two days when he's released," his mother told him firmly. "Make him something which will make him smile, George. I'm sure he'll need it." Molly walked over to look over Ron's outfit. "Harry's?"

"Actually, Xander's. I fit into his clothes now." He showed off one of his arm muscles. "I've been working hard on these."

She gave him a hug. "Good luck, Ron. I'm sure you'll do fine. Nimbus is supposed to be a very good company to work for." She watched as he walked out and took off on his broom, smiling at the phoenix chick following him. "Why didn't he borrow clothes from Harry?"

"Because Harry's about two inches shorter than him now," George told her. "They've both sprouted this year, mum." He sat down, appearing calm. "That's all they said?"

She reached over and pinched George's cheek. "It's good that you worry, but he's fine. They have healing potions specifically for people like Xander." She saw the glare. "You know what I mean, their own healing potions will work better than ones for strictly humans. I'm sure Hagrid has the same problem on occasion." Fred shrugged when his mother looked at him for support. She decided to change the subject. "Has anyone heard how his parents died?"

"Willow said something about a car crash. I wonder what they left him."

"Probably not a lot, his parents weren't well off," George told them. His mother nodded for him to go on. "They were also fairly cranky, mean, and didn't care much about him so I'm guessing that ...." He stopped when the door opened, admitting a ...goblin? "Can we help you?" he asked.

"Alexander Harris?"

"He's presently visiting some relatives," Mrs. Weasley told him. "Can we do something for you?"

The goblin checked his forms, then looked at the boys. "George Weasley?" George raised his hand. "Here, sign this." He handed over the form. "You're secondary holder of the keys to vault 1334." He took it back and looked it over, then handed over two keys. "One of these is for Mr. Harris. Would you please give it to him?"

"What did he put in Gringotts?" Fred asked.

"It's a transfer from our American branch in Los Angeles," the goblin told him. "Came from vault 23. Full nest and furnishings for a nesting cave." He folded the form up and put it into his bag. "When will Mr. Harris be in?"

"I can have him pop up in a few days," George told him. "He's rather ill at the moment."

The goblin nodded. "Then give him the key and tell him he has to have identification of a magical nature when he comes in next. We have his paperwork already filled out from America. Thank you for calling us here so we could conclude this transaction." He left the shop.

George looked at the keys in his hands. "A nest? Why would anyone want to store a nest in Gringotts?"

"I'm more wondering about the 'it came from America' part," Fred told him. "Didn't the Americans eradicate all magical creatures over a hundred years ago?" His mother nodded. "Then how did a gryphon store a nest in Gringotts America?"

She shrugged. "I think we'll figure that out later, boys. It's one of those mysteries, like how a goblin always knows that you're talking about it." She looked at the little brass keys. "You might want to put those up, George. You always were dreadful at losing things." She patted both of them on the cheek. "I think I'll pop down the street for a sweet. Be right back." She left them alone.

George looked at the fire. "Only if you plan on camping," Fred told him. "I'm not giving you money to go stay in an inn tonight."

"You sound like father," George told him, earning a piece of tongue ton toffee being thrown at his head. "Well, you do."

"That's because I'm worried about our profit for the year. At the rate we're going, we're only going to make about a hundred galleons or so profit."

"Xander said that ninety percent of businesses that start collapse within a year in America," George told him.

"Totally besotted," Fred muttered as he headed back into the lab. "You can go tomorrow and camp on their doorway."

George sat there and stared at the container of floo powder and the fireplace. His brother was right, but he was worried. Xander always got into such trouble.

Part 4

Ron shifted nervously. The man he was interviewing with was making him uncomfortable. So far, he had been asked about Harry and Xander, nothing about his experiences with a broom, or even why he flew down. This was starting to unnerve him. He looked up at the phoenix chick. It had followed him from Hogwarts. He was sure her parents were shrieking and calling for her desperately, but she had refused to go back. This was turning out very odd and he wasn't sure he liked the omens. Or maybe he was uncomfortable because of that run-in with Trelwany. That could be it, she had given him a death omen. He smiled as confidently as he could when the door opened and admitted another man. His smile almost fell away when he saw how he was dressed. If he had been wearing a mask, he might have been a Death Eater.

"Get up, boy," the other man said, grabbing him and hauling him to his feet. "The Dark Lord wants to hear all about your life."

"No!" Ron fought as hard as he could, kicking and straining to get away. He did get away twice, once on his own and once with the help of his phoenix, but more people came in and he was only seventeen while there were five of them. He was knocked out just after someone grabbed the phoenix by the feet, making it shriek in pain. His last thought was that he hoped it had gotten away.

***

Xander walked out of the portal and took a deep breath, then started to cough. "Car exhaust," he complained. The guardian of the gateway laughed. "Hey, it's nasty." He stepped out of the portal and right into his lover's arms. He gave him a long hug. "Careful, still sore," he said when George squeezed him. That was all. They rested together until someone nearby made a rude comment and Xander flipped them off. He stepped back with a grin. "You came to get me?"

"To escort you so you make it home, you great ruddy bugger," he said, punching him on the arm. "Had us worried sick. That Travers fellow made it seem like you were close to death."

Xander shook his head. "Just really beaten up." He nodded toward the path to the inn. "C'mon, let's fly home. You did fly, right?" George nodded. "Then we'll fly and talk on the way. I found out someone else in my family knew about the gryphon stuff. Someone saved a nest in the bank." They waited until they were out of sight to mount their brooms and take off, Xander waving at a young gryphon out for a fly. They headed for home, which was about a six hour fly. On the way, Xander told him everything, how the lawyers had tried to screw him, how he had found the nest, even some about his childhood.

Nearly an hour from home, they ran into a baby phoenix. It was struggling to fly and squawking hard. Xander flew up under it and slowly lifted, catching it gently. It gave out a hiss of pain. "I'm sorry," he told it, scratching the head ruff. The bird relaxed against him. "This is one of the Hogwarts ones." He checked it over, floating in place. "George, it's injured. Someone broke a foot." He checked for more injuries. "Tayla, where were you? Tell me who hurt you?" he asked.

She stared into his eyes, showing him the pictures of what happened. He had discovered recently that the phoenixes could do this, project images directly into your head. What he saw made him want to get violent. He smiled at his lover and handed over the bird. "Would you please take her back to the school? I'll be back in about a day."

"Not a chance," George said harshly. Xander frowned at him. "You're going to go fight again and I won't allow it. You're still injured and it's not fair. Someone else can do that sort of thing you know..."

Xander covered his mouth to stop the rant. "I know I'm still injured," he agreed calmly, "but your brother's in trouble because death eaters have him." He saw a flash coming toward them. "Murphy!" he yelled, getting its attention. It turned out to be Fawkes. She flew right to her baby and got the information from it. Xander captured her and looked her in the eyes. "Tell your daddy that we're going after Ron at Nimbus," he said quietly. "Tell him it'll take us about four more hours to get there at top speed and that we could use some help then." Fawkes squealed and tried to get free. "Now take your baby and go to your daddy." He let her go and George handed over the baby phoenix. "Take her to your daddy. She has a broken foot." Fawkes flew off, her chick hanging from her mouth. "Are you sure, George?"

George hauled off and hit him on the arm. "Shut up! Not only is this my brother, but you're mine too and you're running off again. After this whole thing with Voldemort is done, we're going to have a long talk, Mister. I will not be abandoned every time there's a fight going on." He changed directions, flying towards his brother. "Come on then."

Xander grinned and followed him. "I agree, you can yell at me," he said as he pulled even with him. "You can yell and scream all you want, but I'm still going to have to go fight sometimes."

George frowned at him. "Then let Ron do it once we get him back. I'm sure he'll be more than able to go beat someone bloody once you're done with him."

Xander smiled and wiped an imaginary tear off. "You say some of the sweetest things." He flew closer and stole a kiss. "Can we go faster? I want to rest in the tub tonight. I'm still sore." He sped up a little more, pushing his broom.

George frowned at his back. They were going to have to have a fight soon, no matter how much it would upset Xander. Maybe he'd get Dumbledore into it to back him up. Xander seemed to listen to the man when he didn't listen to anyone or anything else, not even the constraints of his own physical being. He sped up some more, following closely behind him. He understood that Xander felt he had to do this, but dear God, there had to be someone else to do this stuff.

Xander glanced back and saw the look on his lover's face. "In another year, there will be," he called back. "Ron and Harry and Hermione and Draco." He turned and grinned, then swung down to land in a large tree. George followed him down, taking a short break. "Right now, there is only me. I can't get Giles on a broom for anything. Willow and Tara won't touch it or the floo network. Backup is a little ways away and it's just us. Now, you can go back, or you can help me because I'm going to do this. Next year, when the kids have graduated, I'll let them go out and save people. Until then though, it's me."

George sighed. "I understand that, but you're still injured."

Xander kissed him deeply. "As much as I love you for pointing that out and caring about my physical state, sometimes that can't matter. I've fought with worse than a few aches and pains. This isn't a broken rib and it's not other broken parts. I can do this, but I'm not going to force you to come along."

"Well you're not getting rid of me either. This is my brother."

"Hey, all fine and good. Can you wait outside while I go in?"

"Do you even have a wand?" George asked. His boyfriend pulled one. "Where'd that one come from?"

"From the wizard I beat senseless for telling the villagers how to kill gryphons."

"Oh." George looked it over. "Unicorn?" Xander nodded. "Can you use it?"

"Not half as well as mine, it fights me." He slid it back into the holder inside his robes. "Now, let's fly and we can argue on the way about you coming in."

George stopped him from moving. "I'm coming in. I want to hit a few of those great bloody idiots who took my brother. Let me do the magic and you do most of the physical hitting." Xander nodded. "Good, then let's go." He stole a deep, thorough kiss, making Xander's knees shake. When he pulled back, he was smiling. "Coming?"

"I think that'll have to wait for later too," Xander quipped as he got onto his broom. He found as he flew off that the broom vibrated in just the right spot, making it a sooner instead of a later feeling. George grinned at him when he saw him relax and smile. "Hey, I could get used to sex on a broom," he quipped.

George reached over and pinched him. "Not at this altitude. I'd rather not fall off." He pushed his broom a little faster. "Come on. Day's wasting."

Xander followed him; his broom was older and slower, but not by much.

***

Everyone in Care of Magical Creatures looked up at the bright, loud ball of feathers flying toward them. "Oh dear," Hagrid said, reaching up to help Fawkes. "What's this then?" he asked, taking the chick from her. The baby squealed painfully. "Come on, we'll get her up to the infirmary." He carried the baby chick in at a run. Someone had hurt one of the precious ones. "One'a you go find Dumbledore," he called back. "The rest a'you do something with the skewrts." He ran up the stairs to the infirmary. "Poppy, got a case," he called as he ran in. She came running. "One'a the chicks. Broken foot I think." He put the baby bird down onto a table and scratched it gently on the stomach while it was examined.

"It is a broken foot, looks like someone grabbed it and squeezed," Madam Pomfrey said indignantly. "Who would do such a thing?"

"You can rest assured that if it was a student, they'll be getting theirs," Hagrid told her.

Dumbledore hurried in with Fawkes. "No, it wasn't a student. How is she, Poppy?"

"Broken foot and exhaustion," Madam Pomfrey told him. She smiled at the mother. "Did she go away from the school?"

"Yes, it appears so." Dumbledore looked at Hagrid. "I need you to find Minerva while I go find Black and Lupin. One of the students has been captured off grounds."

"Ron," Hagrid said sadly. The headmaster nodded. "What can I do?"

"Xander is on his way there."

"Then Ron'll be fine," Hagrid said firmly. "That boy'd die for Ron and his family." He walked out, going to do as he was told.

"I thought the Weasley boy was going to a job interview," the nurse said quietly.

"He was. That's where he was captured. It appears that someone in Nimbus supports the Dark Lord." He scratched Fawkes gently. "I'll leave her here with you after I get her to tell them what's going on." He walked away, going to find the other Defense Against The Dark Arts teachers. He ran into Mr. Malfoy first and looked at his outfit. "You're staying," he told him. The boy opened his mouth. "It is much too dangerous to let you off grounds right now. Your father may well be there."

"All the more reason to go save Ron," Draco said firmly. "Harry and Hermione are already waiting on you with Lupin and Black. We're in the training room." He led the way, opening the doors. "He's going to try and stop us."

"As shall I," Giles told them.

Hermione raised her wand. "Petrificus totalis!" He was locked up and she turned to look at the headmaster. "Where is Ron? It is our job to go for him after all. We made a pact way back in our first year, after the first time we faced Voldemort."

All the teachers looked at her. She was usually such a nice and polite girl.

Fawkes flew to Harry and looked in his eyes, showing him what she had gotten from her baby. He nodded and blinked, backing away from her. "Don't worry, Fawkes, we'll smash that one particularly hard for you." He looked at his other two teachers. "One of the bastards got Tayla, broke her foot on purpose."

Lupin frowned at them. "Harry...."

"No. We're going."

"Harry, as your godfather, I can't let you go. You're not eighteen and I can have you held at the school," Sirius Black reminded him, moving closer.

"Stop or be stopped," Hermione told him. "If we have to, we'll go by ourselves. You're not stopping us from going to help Ron."

"Besides," Draco said coldly. "Xander's fighting while injured with only George Weasley on his side. That's not very even odds. We have to go help our teacher and make sure his pretty-boy boyfriend isn't harmed." He crossed his arms. "I can get us there without you."

"Fine," Black spat. "We will be having a discussion later, young man."

"Bring it on. We've got a few minutes." Draco waved him on. Black rushed him and Draco punched him as hard as he could. It made him wince, but it made Black fall to the floor. "Is that proof enough?"

"I think that's quite enough," Dumbledore told him. "No more attacking teachers, even when they participate." He glared at the teachers, then at the students. "Fine. You will go, but you will stay in the background. If you so much as come back with a scratch, I'm going to owl your parents and let them yell at you."

Harry snorted. "Go right ahead. I'm sure I'll hear about it anyway." He patted himself down, checking for his wand. "Is everyone set?" Both students nodded. "Then let's go. Calling floo information gave me the name of a restaurant nearby that wizards use. We can go wait there." He walked out, going to the floo capable fireplace. The teachers hurried to keep up with them, not wanting to let them loose.

Dumbledore unfroze Giles and shook his head. "This is why militaries want young people," he said sadly. "They're always up for a fight."

"A little too anxious if you ask me," Giles said firmly. "Are you letting them go?"

Dumbledore smiled. "No, I'm sending aurors in. With any luck, the aurors will get there before the fight starts and keep the children out of it." He walked away. "The baby is upstairs if you wanted to check on it." He ran into Ginny Weasley in the hallways. "Ms. Weasley, how are you today?"

"Fine," she said with a smile. "I feel great actually." She skipped off.

He shook his head. Oh, for the energy of youth again.

***

Xander saw the small town that held the Nimbus factory and saw some people in robes in a few places. He landed in front of a few familiar ones, George right behind him. "Gee, you guys came to hold Ron while he's checked over?" he asked Hermione.

She pushed her ponytail back over her shoulder. "No, we came to help you hurt them. Ron is ours. It's our job. Has been since our first year." She smiled at George. "Are you going to keep him out of the fight?"

"No, but I am," an auror said as he walked up to them. He smiled at the students. "I'll be seeing you next week, but it's nice to see you young ones coming up to *watch* the process."

Harry scowled at him. "I'm going in. We promised Ron."

"That's exactly why you're staying here, kid," the auror told him, walking away. "Professor Harris," he called. "A word?" Xander dismounted and walked over, giving him an innocent look. "No cowboy antics from you or your students please. There's enough of us here to do this."

"Hey, I didn't tell them to come up, but Ron is my student and I'm going in." The man reached out and grabbed his arm, making him hiss. "Doesn't matter, I've fought with worse before." He glanced back. "If I go in, they might not."

The auror frowned at him. "They're kids."

Xander snorted. "Harry, Ron, and Hermione fought their first year and every year since. Malfoy is somewhat of a surprise, but I did encourage them to think of themselves as a team."

The auror looked back and scowled at Malfoy junior. "He came out of his protected spot for a Weasley?"

George raised a hand. "I was wondering about that too. Draco?" he called sweetly. The boy frowned at him. "Aren't you supposed to be in protective custody?"

Draco stormed over. "Weasley wouldn't have even been taken if it wasn't for me."

Xander patted him on the shoulder. "Your father would have heard that he was in the school even if you hadn't told him. Besides, this sort of news travels quickly. Another kid probably passed the news back that Ron was going off-campus. Go take the other two and sit down. Make them buy you lunch or something." He gave George a look, and his boyfriend rolled his eyes but took the kids back into the restaurant. "Now," he said, turning back to the auror. "They only sent you?"

"One auror is usually all it takes."

"Cool, then we'll back you up." Xander strolled away, the argument was over. Unless he was frozen, he was going in.

Inside the building Ron was hurting the person who had come in to feed him. They knocked him back down, but they limped out cradling a broken arm and a few new bites.

***

Harry took point as they snuck into the factory. The three of them had decided to leave the adults behind. He didn't know that the adults were right behind them, but they were going to get Ron. He checked the factory floor, no hint of a Death Eater there. He snuck up the stairs to where he could see someone dressed in a long black robe, knocking him out with a quietly whispered spell. Hermione rushed forward and pulled the guy back before he could fall off the catwalk. Draco split off to check one of the five doors, coming back to the one the guy had been guarding. He shook his head.

Harry took a deep breath and kicked in the door, startling the Death Eaters eating inside. They rushed in and stunned them, Hermione freezing them. One came out of the kitchen area and got off a small curse, but Draco got him, with a smirk no less. "Where's Ron?" Harry snarled.

The only person able to speak started to babble. He pointed at a cupboard, telling him the password to the door. When the auror came in, he peed himself. No one had told him that they would be coming, not Harry Potter leading the aurors!

Harry opened the door and rushed in, stunning the guards on the door, letting Hermione get Ron out. He covered them as they left, knowing Draco had the door. Together, they extracted their very injured friend back to the main room. He noticed the fact that there were people standing out there. "Spectators," he told Draco. He was still cold enough to do something to ensure they got out.

"Whoa," Xander said. "Not going to hurt you." He took Ron from them, looking him over. "Are you the reason that one guy is crying?" he asked. Ron nodded, spitting some blood at the guard he had beaten up. "Good. Let's go." He let Hermoine take him. "Extract yourselves," he told them. "We're coming."

"Cool," Harry told him, giving him a bright smile. He led the way out.

Draco looked at him. "We're in deep shit, aren't we?"

Xander nodded. "Probably. You know how to wait for backup and not to sneak off on your own. But the auror was really impressed with your balls." He walked out with the boy, searching for anyone who might try and get them. He nudged Draco, pointing down at someone who had their wand. Draco petrified them and they strolled out. They walked past the auror and Lupin, who had decided to wait for them. "Come yell tomorrow," he suggested, following the kids to the floo network fireplace. He took George's hand on the way in, holding it until it was their turn. When he walked out, Mr. Weasley was standing there. "Wasn't me," he told him, walking away shaking his head. "I managed to keep George out of it, but Harry went in without orders." He went up to check on the boy and the chick. He was rudely shoved onto a bed and checked over by Madam Pomfrey. "I'm okay, how're Ron and Tayla?" he asked as she probed his chest. "The kids did all the fighting."

She sighed and went to bother them.

***

Dumbledore looked at the arrogant students. "Do you know how hard it would have been to beat the Dark Lord this spring without you three?" he asked.

Harry shifted uncomfortably. "Ron is ours, sir, we had to get him."

"There was an adult there who had more experience. You always listen to those who are in charge, Harry. Hermione, I'm very upset with you."

She glared at him. "There are times when nice isn't necessary," she said formally. "Ron would have come for us."

Dumbledore sighed and Xander rolled his eyes. "Missing the point," Xander told them. "The point would be that there was someone there who was in charge, but you didn't listen to them. You guys are still at the foot soldier level and you should have listened to the more experienced members of the team. The teamwork was great between you guys, but you should have listened to the bigger dogs."

All three students slumped a little bit and sighed. This was going to be a long lecture - Xander was using American muggle references again.

***

Ron sat up and looked around. "Did someone get my broom?" he asked Madam Pomfrey. She groaned and walked away. "What? It's important to me. I know everyone is fine, it's time for personal questions."

"Young man, you are too concerned about simple things and not enough about your life," she said sternly.

He snorted. "I went to interview for a job and got captured. Not my fault they were bad." He rubbed his newly healed arm. "Can I go now?"

"No. Lay there until your father comes up and yells at you yourself."

Ron groaned and flopped back down. "He's here?"

"Yes, he's here," Mr. Weasley said from the doorway. "Be thankful it's not your mother." He walked in and sat beside his son's bed. "Son, I'm proud that you fought back, but right now, I want to take you home."

"No way," Ron told him. "There's a fight this spring and I have to be here for that." His father started to open his mouth. "Deal with it, dad, I may be becoming an auror."

Arthur grabbed his son and held him tightly. "You are my son and I will never get over it if I lose you," he whispered hoarsely.

"Dad, I'm fine. I made the bastards suffer," he told him, trying to soothe him. "They're not going to kill me anytime soon."

Arthur laughed. "My boy, I think you missed the point."

Ron grinned. "You always said that with age comes common sense."

Mr. Weasley laughed harder. It was such a good argument. His wife would kill them both, but it felt good to laugh now. "At least you're fine. Your mother's on her way up." He let Ron lay back down. "I expect you to not make her worry anymore. It upsets her horribly when she has to worry about you children. She cried almost all morning when she heard."

Ron nodded, looking like a little boy again. "I won't make mum worry. That'd be really bad of me." He looked at the nurse. "Can I get lunch?" She sighed and walked out to get him something to eat. Ron looked at his father again. "I'm seventeen, I'm supposed to be perpetually hungry, right?"

His father nodded. "I often was." He patted his son's hand. "At least you're fine. That's all that matters."

"And George didn't get to fight," Ron pointed out.

"Very true," his father agreed. "That will make her feel much better, after she slaps Xander once for letting him come."

Ron laughed. "Like he could've stopped him. George can be a stubborn sod when he wants to be."

Arthur smiled. "Yes, both twins can be quite stubborn. They get it from your mother." Ron snickered.

***

Xander walked into his room and flopped down onto his couch. His boyfriend pulled him up and led him to the bed, laying down with him to hold him. "They were good," he said. George made an assenting noise. "But they're so young."

"Now you know how I felt," Giles said from the doorway. He put a suitcase he had found in the staffroom down with a smile. "Are you healthy again?" Xander nodded. "Then I'll see you at supper?"

Xander shook his head. "We're eating in. I can't handle the loudness of the kids." He scooted back into the warm, welcoming body. "If you want to yell, do it tomorrow."

Giles nodded. "Of course." He smiled at George. "Make sure he gets a bath, water always soothes him. We'll look at the upcoming battle tomorrow." He walked out, closing both doors.

Xander flipped over and curled up on top of George's chest. "You're better than water," he said sleepily.

George smiled up at the ceiling, a very goofy smile. Xander was his and would stay his. He was better than water.

***

Xander watched as the auror ran his students through a standard test, smiling at how some of the slower students were blowing him away with some very odd tricks. Draco, Harry, and Hermione had been tested separately, and Ron was leading this new group. When the auror finally came over, he was grinning. "Good, huh?"

"Very interesting, but not quite good enough for the program." He pulled Xander aside. "Quite a few of them took a bit to choose a physical or magical approach." Xander shrugged. "That can cost lives."

"This was their first simulated battle," he told him.

The auror looked impressed. "Really?" He looked at the kids again, who were drinking juice and talking to each other. "Well, they've got the physical down, but the magic is a little weak."

Xander pointed at Lupin and Black. "That's their jobs," he told him. "And part of that would have to come from your own in-house training, right?" The auror nodded. "So?"

"So, I'd take any of them," he said honestly. "Your top three showed that they're not only resourceful, but very good as a team. I'd have to put in a note to keep them together, all four of them if possible, but they're excellent. A few of the other kids have the potential if they want it." He smiled when Harry got a little loud describing his latest trial move on the Quidditch field. "And he may not want to give up a promising career."

"Hey, Quidditch will probably exist for his lifetime, and any coach would have to know that he would leave to fight if he had to," Xander pointed out. "With his name, it's probably considered a given."

The auror nodded. "Good point." He smiled at Ron, who was bouncing and praising the other kids. "He hates working alone, doesn't he?" Xander nodded. "Then that would have to be taken into account." He looked down at his notes, then waved the other teachers over. "If you want, this spring, we can give them the official training. It usually takes four weeks. They'd be qualified, but not given jobs unless they applied."

"Good," Ron said as he walked over. "Can we have it now?"

The auror spun to look at him. "Right now?" Ron nodded. "Why?"

"Because we're expecting another attack on the school any day now," Hermione said with a frown at Ron.

"You are?" The auror turned to look at Xander, who nodded, looking a little sad. "Why?"

"Me," Draco told him. He stepped forward. "My father's already come here and demanded that I be handed over to him. Dumbledore told him no."

"But we figure that Voldemort will use this humiliation as an excuse to attack the school again," Harry told him. "Which is why we're working so hard. We're hoping to make this the last fight."

"You've got big dreams, boy," the auror told him seriously. He looked at the two wizardly professors. "What about you two?"

"It'd be fine with us. Albus has already agreed," Sirius told him.

"And hey, the nightly spell researching parties will get a little more solid," Xander told them. The four kids doing it nodded and the others started to look jealous. "Hermoine, give him a copy of the spells you found in the library," he told her. "Let him decide what to give out." She nodded, smiling slightly. She had noticed he hadn't said anything at all about gryphon spells. "I'll gladly turn your training over to the aurors for now, consider it a very long practical that you can't flunk. It won't make you an official one, but if you wanted a job with the Ministry it can't hurt."

"We'd need their parents permission," the auror pointed out. Xander shrugged. "That's fine then, let me talk to my boss and I'll be back tomorrow."

"We only have class once a week," Draco told him. "But most of us have another long free time to come in and work if you're here."

The auror looked at him, then smiled. "Let me check with my boss and your parents. Owl them for a permission slip." He walked out, going to report to his boss.

"Guys, I am blown away," Xander told them, giving them a happy smile. "Not only did you impress him, but he couldn't tell that it was most of the classes' first battle exercise." The kids broke out into discussion groups. "I think you all not only passed, but passed with flying colors. Take whatever you want of the training, but don't think that you have to fight."

Harry stepped forward. "We'll do our best," he told Xander, and all the students agreed by nodding and saying so. "And we'll be ready in case something happens."

Ron raised a hand. "Can you please not suggest Ginny for next year?" he asked, making a few kids laugh. "What? She already tries to beat me up, I don't want her to be able to."

Xander laughed. "She hasn't even hinted that she wants to take it," he assured him. "I think she's staying in transfiguration and that area." Ron grinned at him. "Any other questions?" No one said anything. "Then go owl your parents and take a shower. You guys smell." They all ran to get changed and go write their parents to tell them the great news. He noticed Draco was still standing there. "I guess you only have to shower?" he suggested.

Draco laughed, as was intended. "Yeah, I only have to shower." He nodded at the wand lying beside Xander's seat. "Where's yours?"

"The people who I had to fight to save some gryphons dissected it. I heard someone took it back to Ollivander, but I don't have it back yet." He grimaced at the wand. "That one fights me so badly. It's like a wall I have to push past."

"Unicorn?" Lupin asked as he walked over. Xander nodded. "Well, there is that old war."

"I've heard about that, but I can't find any mention of it." Xander shrugged. "Oh, well, hopefully mine will be done sometime soon." He looked over as something chirped from the door. "Hey, Glinda," he said, holding out an arm. She came in and nuzzled up to him. "What's going on?" She chirped at him. "Oh, the other granddaddy wants to see me?" She cooed then hopped over to bug Draco for a bit. "I guess I'm for Dumbledore's office then." He picked up his stuff so he could drop it off on the way up there. As soon as he walked in, he knew it was odd news. "Bad stuff?" he asked as he sat down.

"Word from immigration actually," Dumbledore told him "You're officially part of the wizarding world, but not of England. They turned you down." He handed over the forms. "They included a contest form with it."

Xander read over the legaleze then sighed. "Great. How long do I have?"

"A few days. The Minister of Immigration has had a talk with his counterpart. He's trying to fix it for you based on your ...unique status." Xander looked up. "This may be the one time that being gryphon-born will work for you, my boy. Half-giants have been admitted under special circumstances due to their heritage."

"Would my relationship with George help any?"

Dumbledore smiled. "I mentioned that to him and he seemed delighted. Apparently he knows Arthur. He got the feeling that you were getting married?" Xander blushed. "I see. Would you want to hold it here?"

"I don't know. I haven't thought that far ahead yet. All I know is that George understands me on all my levels. He understands when I'm feeling naughty, he understands when I'm really pissed and want to hurt something. He calms me down when I need to, and he can distract me when I'm worrying." He smiled more. "George is just so...perfect and right. I feel safe in his arms, like even an upcoming battle will go great because he's there and I'm going to get to come home to him, and he's not going to fight because I'm chaining him to the bed, but it's all going to be okay. I even caught myself sniffing a pillow this morning because it smelled like him."

Dumbledore laughed. If the boy had seen himself, he might have made a disgusted face at the gushing. "I'm glad you're happy, my boy. If you want, I'll allow you to hold the ceremony here. I'll even give Molly use of the house elves to help her cook. I'm sure Arthur will be bringing many Ministers with him to the ceremony."

Xander laughed nervously. "Only if you can make it short and I don't have to see the crowd."

"Stage fright is normal, Xander," he soothed. "It's something every groom and bride go through. You'll get over it and the ceremony will be wonderful. Even if you're both in wheelchairs after the upcoming fight."

Xander's face hardened. "George is taking Ginny far, far away from here. If anyone's going to be in a wheelchair, it'll be me. Which means we'll probably have to hold it here so we have a smooth path to wheel me down." He straightened up. "Even if they have to wheel my bed down the aisle, it'll happen."

"Good. Good." Dumbledore looked at the note on his desk. "What did you want to do?"

"I guess I should fill out the form to contest the decision." He stood up. "I'll give it to you tomorrow?" His boss nodded. "Thank you for helping me with this."

Albus gave him a long look. "Everyone who saw you when you first got here, and took notice of you, figured out that you fit better into this world than you did in your old one. You've taken to our ways like you were born into them. I've seen other wizards who aren't as comfortable with some of our customs as you seem to be. For that, I'm willing to help you." He smiled again. "Also so I can keep you here. I doubt we've ever had seventeen students who qualified for auror training in the same year."

"Hey, I like the little guys. I didn't think I was going to like teaching, but I think it's great. I'm comfy doing it."

"You're also very good at doing it."

Xander preened. "Thank you." He waved and took his forms back to his room. He would be sneaking down to the store later and could share the good news then.

***

Up in the Gryffindor tower, Ginny Weasley put something back into her brother's school bag. She hadn't stolen it, but she had looked inside it. She backed away before he could catch her and looked at the clock. "Ron, wanna go to dinner?" she asked.

He looked over at her, then smiled and shook his head. "No. What were you doing in my bag?"

She frowned. "I don't steal." She pouted at him.

"No, you don't usually." He checked his bag, frowning when he saw an unlocked book. "Ginny, you didn't. Tell me you didn't."

She crossed her arms. "I found it and put it back." She stomped her foot. "I respect Xander. I don't want him to kill me." She stomped off, hurt that he didn't trust her. Even though she had looked. Xander wouldn't mind, much. It was for a good cause. She went down to dinner, trying to figure out how to make the potion she had found without anyone knowing. She sat next to Melody. "Your spell didn't work," she accused quietly. Melody looked at her. "The one I asked you for, it didn't work."

She shrugged. "Sometimes it happens. Whatcha gonna do?"

Ginny shrugged. "I'm figuring that out tonight." She put food onto her plate, loading it down. "I can't go to anyone. My mum'll kill me."

Melody patted her on the back. "It could be worse. There are ways around that problem." Ginny looked upset. "No, huh?" Ginny shook her head. "Then I feel really sorry for ya, but I'll support your decision. I'm that way about it." She put more vegetables onto her plate and handed them to the other girl. "Here, you'll need 'em."

Ginny made room and put the asparagus on her plate.

Up at the head table, Tara was looking around at the auras. It was cute, all the colors swirling around in harmony, most of the time anyway. She frowned when she looked over the Gryffindor table, and one girl in particular. "Ginny Weasley, come here," she called sternly. The girl looked up. "Yes, you, now." She waited until the girl was in front of her, then grabbed her to pull her into the back hallway, making sure the door was shut firmly. "You will go to the infirmary tonight and have a checkup," she told her. Ginny opened her mouth. "You will or your house will lose twenty points."

Ginny swallowed. "If I do, then I can get kicked out of school."

"If you don't, it could kill you," Tara countered. "I will be expecting a note no later than lights out tonight." She pointed at the Great Hall. "Go eat, and make sure you have vegetables."

Ginny trudged back inside, going back to her dinner. She was so busted and in trouble now.

***

Ginny looked around the doorway to the infirmary, smiling when she saw the nurse standing there. "Professor Maclay told me I had to come up and have a checkup," she said quietly. "Can..can I close the door?"

The nurse gave her a sympathetic look. "Didn't get the spell?"

She nodded. "I had two of them."

"Oh, dear." The nurse led her back into the office and shut the door. It was always best to do this in private. After making sure that the girl was in fact pregnant, she gave her some vitamins and a few pamphlets to read over. "You know I'm going to have to tell the headmaster?" Ginny sniffled but nodded. "And you'll have to tell the young man." Ginny shook her head. "Yes, you will. It's only fair."

"No, I can't. It'll cause problems. Lots of problems." She looked down at her stomach. "Can you put it off? The telling my parents thing?"

The nurse gave her a hug. "I don't have to do that, dear, you do." She let her go. "I suggest you do it soon, Albus usually gives girls a week to do so once he hears." She stood up. "I won't tell him until tomorrow, to give you time to think about your options." Ginny nodded, looking miserable. "Why did Professor Maclay send you up here?"

Ginny shrugged. "She threatened to take off house points if I didn't come up here and bring her a note." She looked up. "Do you have to tell him?" Madam Pomfrey nodded. "Then I guess I'll find a way to tell my parents." She got the note saying she had been there and trudged back to teacher's quarters. She tapped politely at the painting, and Tara opened it so she gave her the note. "I hate you," she told her.

"And I needed to make sure that you didn't die from it," Tara told her. "You're still pretty young and that causes problems." She stepped out into the hall, looking the petite girl over. Unlike her brothers, Ginny wasn't over five-foot-six and she looked tiny. "I didn't do it to be mean, but to protect you, Ginny. There's lots of things that can happen if you're not careful and watched."

"They're going to kick me out of school," Ginny told her. "Spells can be really harmful once you're six months along."

"Then you can come back when it's over with," Tara reminded her. "You might make it to this summer, if you can come up with a good reason to get around the rules." She laid a hand on Ginny's cheek. "I really didn't do this to be mean," she told her again. "I did it because I care."

"Well, care less," Ginny said, then stormed off. She went up to her room and locked herself in the bathroom for as long as she could.

***

Xander looked over as the training room door opened. They were having a meeting with the auror to see what they could do to help. He frowned when he saw Ginny standing there, tears streaming down her face. "I think I'm going to be back much later," he said, getting up and hurrying over to her. "Come on, honey, let's go talk about it," he said soothingly, taking her back to his room. It was private and no one would dare interrupt them. "What's wrong?"

"I have to leave school," she sniffled. "A month before it ends."

He gave her a hug, letting her cry on his chest. "I'm sure I can beg your parents not to do that. You're a very good witch."

"It's school policy," she cried. "I can't get around it."

"Huh." Xander frowned, and caught a clue. "Tell me you're not pregnant." She sniffed really loudly and nodded. "Oh, crap." He pushed her back. "Have you told anyone else?"

"Professor Maclay caught it, she knows."

"She probably read your aura or something." Xander looked her over. "Why the month before school ends?"

"Because I have to leave once I start showing. Magic is dangerous after the sixth month if I get hit with a spell."

Xander considered it, it would be even more dangerous with what he knew was coming. "At least you'll probably get to do your homework," he offered. "It might not cost you any time."

"Mum's going to kill me."

"Yeah, I'd say she will," Xander agreed, but he was smiling. "Did you want me to tell her?" She shook her head fearfully. "Okay. How about Ron?"

"Can you hold him down when someone tells him?" She looked at the doorway when she heard another one slam and sighed.

"Oh, tell me the baby isn't going to be born a blond," he said. She gave him the big-eyed look. "Yeah, I think I'm going to be holding Ron down. Are you going to tell him?"

"It'll only cause problems."

"Ginny, honey, if that baby is born blond, there's going to be problems anyway. Ron's not dumb, and neither are your parents. I can help tell them, and tell Ron and the twins, but I won't tell your parents for you." He wiped her tears off. "I'll be there when you do it if you want. You can hide behind me even, but you have to tell them soon so they can help you with this." She slumped a little. "Want me to Murphy them and tell them to come for a visit?" She nodded. "Okay. Want me to tell the twins and Ron?" She nodded, a little harder. "Cool, I'll do that. You go rest and think about the important things." He stopped her from moving. "What about the father?"

She blushed. "Can you not?" Xander gave her a 'get real' look. "I guess he'll find out anyway, so you might as well. I'll just hide that day." She left the room, closing the portrait behind her.

Xander stood up and stretched, then headed up to see if Dumbledore had told her parents yet. When he got told that Albus had expected him to jump in, it made him somewhat happy. Some of his meddling was apparently okay. He walked outside, the note already written, and looked up. "Murphy!" he yelled, knowing that the birds were all outside today. He got divebombed by a chick, which made him laugh. "Good job, Glinda," he told her. "You snuck up on me, that was great." He reached up and scratched her chest where she sat on a large bush next to the door. "Very good girl." His own bird flew down and nipped the note from his hand. "Take that to George's parents, okay, big guy?" Murphy chirped and flew off. "And take a long time," Xander called after him. He heard a laugh and turned to find Dumbledore behind him. "She could probably use the extra day or so." Albus nodded. "She did tell me to tell Ron and the twins."

"Have fun tonight, but remember you have a meeting later." Dumbledore whistled and all the chicks flew to him. "Tell them I said hello and remember to ask George to the dance this time." He walked back inside with the phoenixes.

Xander went to grab his broom. It was a nice afternoon for flying.

***

In the hallways outside the training room, Ron and Draco were sniping at each other again. "You're such a stuck up prick," Draco told him. "With how you were raised you wouldn't think you'd mimic my father's manners."

"That's it," Ron said, leading the way to an abandoned hallway. "Duel, now. No lights!" He pulled his wand and started to fire, but someone caught his wrist and Draco's.

"Nope," Xander said, pointing his wand at them. "Kiss and make up." He watched as the boys fought it, but they moved closer and barely touched lips. The leapt back, spitting and wiping their mouths. "Thank you. I did not teach you that to take on another student in an act of idiocy." He frowned at them. "You both have bigger problems to worry about, and this form of wearing out the frustration is not acceptable. Take up boxing or something and do it legitimately." He frowned. "Ron, I want to see you both tonight before the meeting, right after dinner." He walked away.

Ron growled at Draco. "He won't save you."

"He won't save you either," Draco told him. "I will get you for that."

"Only if you want to do that again!" Xander yelled back. "Because next time I'm going to cast that with you both in the Great Hall in front of everybody." He walked past them a few minutes later, his broom on his shoulder. "Do we have the point, boys?" he asked them, noticing that they were still facing off. "Boys?"

Ron looked at him. "I can beat his ass if I want to. He's a Slytherin and it's tradition."

"Ha!" Draco retorted. "A Slytherin hasn't been beaten by a Gryffindor in years."

"And both of you are looking for an asswhipping from a pissed off teacher," Xander told them coldly. They looked at him in shock. "Yup, you two. You know, you're going to have to work together for at least the rest of the school year. This petty fucking argument will stop now or I'm going to stop it by doing something so nasty to you that you'll go running to Ron's parents crying." Both boys swallowed. "We don't need this shit right now, do it this summer." He walked away, sure that they got the point this time.

"Wonder what got into him?" Ron asked, staring at Xander's back.

"I don't know, but it can't be good." Draco straightened. "I heard someone crying in his room earlier. You don't think that your brother dumped him do you?"

"No, George is over the moon for him. Mum said he's making cow eyes at a picture of them together on a broom." Ron sighed and looked at his arch-nemesis. "Truce?"

"Truce. And never speak of what he made us do."

"Never," Ron heartily agreed. That had been icky. They went their separate ways, hoping to not run into Xander until he came back from his outing. Xander was usually more reasonable after he got done flying.

***

Xander strolled into the shop and grabbed Fred, dragging him up the stairs. "He's not me," George called after them.

Xander stuck his head over the railing. "I'll get to you in a minute, this is not cuddling stuff." He walked back up the stairs to the hallway. "Is anyone up here?" Fred shook his head, looking confused. "Okay, um." He rubbed his brow.

"You already have my permission to court my brother," Fred said with a grin.

Xander grinned back. "Yeah, I know, and that has meant the world to me, but this is about Ginny. She, um, asked me to tell you something, preferably before the parents know." Fred nodded slowly. "She's real upset and kinda confused right now."

"She's stuffed up," Fred gasped. Xander looked relieved and nodded. "By who?"

"Um, the baby might be a blond?" he hazarded.

Fred looked dumbfounded. His eyes closed and his mouth opened, then his head started to shake. "No, that's just wrong," he complained. He shuddered. "Eww, that's sickening."

"But, from what she said, it was consensual and wanted," Xander told him. "And I'm thinking that she probably tried to use whatever spell you guys use to protect yourselves, but it didn't work. But she asked me to tell you guys and Ron, and I offered to let her hide behind me when she tells your mother."

"Oh, I don't even want to be there," Fred told him. He clapped Xander on the shoulder. "Remember, mum likes you, no matter what she says when she hears about it." He looked down the stairs. "Do you want me to hold George for you when you tell him? He might go beat her. He had a talk with her about that stuff."

Xander smiled. "No, I think I can calm him back down. If not, then we'll have a fight and I'll kiss him stupid." He stepped closer. "She's going to have to leave the school soon."

Fred nodded. "School policy states that she has to leave once she starts showing." He blinked a few times. "Are you sure?" Xander nodded. "Damn. I'll watch the store, drag George into the lab and lock the door. Keep him from trying to destroy it if you can."

Xander nodded and turned, jogging down the stairs. He pulled on George's arm, taking him back into the lab. He locked the door and leaned against it, then gave his lover a kiss. "Ginny sent me," he told him. George opened his mouth, but motioned him to go on. "She's pregnant." George winced, waving for him to finish. "By Malfoy junior."

George opened his mouth, then turned and picked up something, throwing it as hard as he could against a wall. "I'll kill him," he said calmly.

"She didn't say that it wasn't consensual," Xander told him. "She didn't say anything at all about not wanting it." George turned to look at him. "It happened, no matter that she probably tried to protect herself or not. And she's really scared and upset. She said I could tell you two and Ron."

"Oh, holy God. She's going to have to tell mum," George whispered. He searched for a seat, finally ending up on the edge of the table. "Is she okay?"

"As far as she told me, Tara found out and sent her to the nurse. I'm guessing she's fine, but she'll also have to leave school early this year." George nodded slowly. "She was crying earlier, she's really upset about this."

George snorted. "I'd be upset too if I were stuffed up."

"Honey, if you were stuffed up, I'd be wondering how," Xander told him with a grin. George smiled at him. "So you're not going to go up there and go off on her?"

"No. I may yell, but I'll hug her afterwards. I know she was careful. We're just a prolific lot." He stood up and walked over, hugging his lover hard. "Don't get in mum's way. She'll skin you." He stole a kiss. "Told Ron yet?"

"Nope, or the father. I asked when I found out that she didn't want to tell anyone. She agreed I could hold Ron still and tell him."

"I think it may take more than that, possibly petrifying him." George reached around and unlocked the door. "We'll be up tonight after we close. You behave and be safe," he told him, stealing another kiss before opening the door. He waited until Xander was gone, then looked at his brother. "Think she told him to tell us because she didn't want to?"

"Xander is a champion meddler," Fred reminded him. "It's part of his nature to butt in. So it was either that or she's scared to tell Ron and we got included because you're making cow eyes at him." He smiled. "What did you throw?"

"The new mouth glue ball."

"Did it shatter?" George nodded. "Oh, well, we'll make another one. Are we heading up?"

"Tonight. I think she could probably use the hug. Xander said she was crying."

"I'd be crying too if I had to tell mum." They both shuddered. "Percy?"

"Dad?" Fred suggested.

"Not going there," George told him. Fred smirked at him. "I do not talk like him now. Get over it." He sat down behind the register. "He promised we could go see the nest soon. Maybe I should take him the day that she tells mum."

"I have the feeling that we're all going to be sucked into this."

"At least she won't hit Harry. One of us will escape the wrath." They chuckled together.

***

Xander opened up his door, finding Ron and Harry standing there. "Um, Harry, go do something for ten minutes, 'kay?" He pulled Ron inside and looked at him. The boy was nearly his height. He was getting so big, not at all the skinny kid he had been when they'd met. "Sit, Ron."

Ron crossed his arms. "You can't take me out of the fight, I did good while I was captured."

"It's not that and I'm not even going to go there. I want you behind me as a second line of defense, like I want the rest of you guys, but you're going to be there." He smiled sadly. "Sit, Ron. Please?" Ron sat down, giving him suspicious looks. "Ginny's ....um, how to put this."

"Ginny's what?" Ron asked, starting to look upset. "Is she okay? Did she get taken?"

"Nothing at all to do with the fight," Xander told him quickly. "Not a thing to do with Voldemort or the fighting, nothing at all."

"Then she's got to be..." Ron jumped up. "No way." Xander nodded slowly. "She's stuffed up?" The door opened and Ron scowled. "Out, Malfoy, this is family business."

Xander opened his mouth. "Draco, give us a few please," he decided. Unfortunately, Ron caught his look. He had to step between them and keep Ron from hitting him. "Close the door," he told Draco as he pulled Ron away. Damn, the kid was heavy. "It was an accident, Ron, it wasn't his fault."

"Sure it wasn't, he probably talked her into bed."

Draco closed the doors, both of them, and locked them. "No, I didn't. She came to me."

"Not the time," Xander told him.

Ron opened his mouth. "Why would she come to you!"

"So you wouldn't suspect that she wanted to have sex." Ron started to shake in anger. "Not the issue?" he guessed, knowing Ron wouldn't be this pissed over him simply sleeping with his sister. Ron looked like he was going to kill him with his fists, no magic involved. If it had just been that, he'd find himself hexed into oblivion, but not pummeled to death. "It was consensual."

Xander shook his head. "Not about that. Tell me, did you think about using certain spells?"

"She used one and I did too," Draco told him, sitting down on the chair. "We both used spells. She got hers from Melody and I used the standard one." He looked at Ron, then back at Xander. "Why would that matter?"

"She's pregnant!" Ron roared, jumping for him again.

Draco was faster and thinking. "Petrificus totalis!" He stood up and faced the stiff kid. "Listen, I tried to make sure it wouldn't happen, as did she. That wasn't my intention." Ron growled something. "I'm sorry it happened, but I didn't mean for it to. I never meant to stuff her up. Think about what a problem this'll be for me."

"For you?" Xander asked. "She's going to have to leave school a month early." He uncursed Ron. "Sit," he said quietly. "Talk. It was an accident and she's really upset."

"Why didn't she tell me herself?" Ron asked.

"Because you're a big strong guy who gets really mad," Xander reminded him. Ron hung his head. "I offered and she jumped at the chance because she's worried about telling your mom." He sat on the couch, looking at them. "You guys have got to protect her. If this gets out, the other kids are going to pick on her horribly. Not only because she is, but because of who the father is." Both boys nodded. "Can you continue your truce until after school ends?"

"I'll bloody well have to," Ron told him. "Dad's going to die when he hears about this. Mum'll start to cry and demand his head." He glared at Draco. "If my father has a heart attack, your heart is going in his place."

Draco held up a hand. "I didn't mean for it to happen, but I will step up and take responsibility." He grimaced. Ginny hadn't meant to, but she had done something that most of the other girls in the school had tried, caught him by getting pregnant. He might even have to marry her. Oh, his father would put a bounty on his head for this. "I'll do what I have to do to protect this child," he assured Ron. "A Malfoy does not run away from this responsibility." He stood up. "At least I know your sister didn't do it on purpose like most of the girls have tried to do." He looked at Xander. "I'm going to skip tonight."

"Might be a good idea. The twins are coming up to talk to Ginny." He grimaced. "She let me tell them too."

Ron looked at him. "Which one threw stuff?"

"George threw something, Fred shuddered. They both agreed that Draco's allowed to live for now." He smiled. "Go think and don't jump on Ginny. She only found out a few days ago because of Tara." Draco left the room, going across the hall to his. "Ron? You're being really quiet."

"I'm concentrating on not getting up and beating the shit outta him," he said quietly. "Because I'm going to turn him into paste."

Xander shifted over, but Ron moved away. "Okay, won't touch you. Just remember, this was an accident. It could have been much worse. Or you could have found out when your parents did."

Ron looked at him. "Thanks for that. I think someone will have to protect Ginny."

Xander shrugged. "I offered to allow her to hide behind me."

Ron shook his head. "Stay out of it. Mum'll kill you if she finds out you knew before her." He stood up. "I'm going to go think. Can I tell Harry?"

"Ask your sister. I know she wants to keep it quiet." Ron nodded and left. Xander stretched out on the couch. This was going to be a bad fight. Maybe he'd guard the door instead.

***

Molly and Arthur Weasley flooed in, smiling at the teachers in the staffroom. "We're here for an appointment," Arthur said happily.

"We've set it up down the hall," McGonagall told them. She knew exactly why they were here, as head of Ginny's house she had to know. "Your daughter's in there already." She smiled kindly as she led them down the hall to a sitting room. She opened the door and waved at Xander. He nodded but didn't move. She left him to his fate. As she walked away, she saw Ron and the twins coming up the hall. Oh, dear, someone was going to have to clean up blood. She watched as they walked in and Xander was shoved out by Ron. He sat on the floor outside the door, guarding it. As Harry walked by, he got grabbed and pulled down by Xander to wait too.

Inside the room, Ginny was wringing her hands, but her brothers were hugging her so it was going to be okay. She stepped in front of them. "Mum, dad, sit," she encouraged.

"Does this have to do with what track you're taking?" Arthur asked. Ron had looked about as nervous when he had told them he was taking an auror preparation class. He pulled his wife down onto the couch and gave her a reassuring smile.

"Not quite," she told him. The door opened and Malfoy walked in. "What are you doing here?"

"It's my right," he reminded her. They had talked last night and he had agreed when she refused to marry him, though he was going to support and see his child whenever possible. He sat down as far away from her parents as possibly.

Molly was starting to get a very bad feeling. She looked at Ron, the most volatile of her children, and her fears were confirmed. "Ginny, continue," she told her coolly.

"Mum, it was an accident," she said quickly. She felt a hand touch her shoulder and took a deep breath. "I'm pregnant and it's his." She stepped back into George quickly, before her mother could get off the couch.

"I see." Molly licked her dry mouth, looking from Malfoy to Ginny and back. "And what are we going to do about this situation?"

"I'm having it," Ginny told him. "But I refuse to marry him. I'd make a horrible Mrs. Malfoy. I have agreed that he's allowed to see it, but we haven't gotten any farther than that."

Her father stood up and pulled her into a hug. "I know you're being brave, dear, but there's more here to consider." She looked up at him, her eyes wet. "I know this is hard for you."

She nodded. "Very hard. I'll have to come home a month early."

"Which is good 'cause we were sending you away anyway about that time," Ron told her. His father looked at him. "That's when we think the fight's going to be."

His mother stood up and stared down her daughter. "I will not raise this child," she told her.

"Mum, I only need a year to finish school. If I can do that with a child, I will. If not, I'll figure it out," Ginny said bravely. "Even if I have to do it from town or something."

"No daughter of mine will be raising a child on her own," her mother snapped. Ginny flinched. "How did this happen?"

"I don't know, mum. I used a protection spell, he used a protection spell. It just happened!" she screamed. "Get over it! This is my life!"

Her mother stepped back. "If that's the way you feel..."

Fred walked over and gave her a hug. "She's upset, mum. She needs love, not yelling." She pushed him away. "Mum!"

"No. She'll do this alone!" She turned on Malfoy, who was looking pale. "Would you marry her if we force it?" He nodded.

"We won't be," Arthur told her. She glared at him. "It would only destroy Ginny further if we forced her to marry into that family!" He let his daughter go. "It was an accident, Molly. We've had those ourselves." She flushed. "I know she tried to prevent it, she's said so." Ginny nodded, safely in Ron's arms now. "We have to calm down and think about this. Her education is more important than anything."

Ginny swallowed. "I'm already signed up to talk to McGonagall about taking her advanced class if I pass everything this term. Plus, I'm set to take an advanced class with Hagrid, with Professor Sprout and Professor Snape. They're my best areas and I'm doing excellent in them." She stiffened up some. "As a matter of fact, if I had to, I could probably stay with Xander for my last year. He's been very nice while I cried on him."

"He knew?" her father asked.

Ron nodded. "She went to cry to him after Professor Maclay found her out. He told us three."

Molly ground her teeth. "Why? Did he feel I couldn't?"

"No, mum, because I wanted someone who was here to comfort me today," Ginny told her. "I couldn't take everyone yelling at me at once." She started to storm out but her mother grabbed her. "I'm going to let you talk about me without having to hear it."

"You'll sit down," her mother said calmly, "and we'll talk about this together." She pushed her daughter down next to Malfoy. "You, out of my sight." He jumped up and ran out, barely able to open the door. "Who's out there?"

"Xander probably," Ron told her.

"All of you out too." The boys all left. She sat down next to her daughter, forcing herself to stay calm. "Ginny, this is a horrible thing. You're much too young."

Ginny started to sniffle and nod. "I know."

Her father sat down next to her, giving her another hug. "We'll deal with it, we always have."

***

Fred and George leaned against the wall while Ron sat next to Xander. Harry and Hermione had joined him on the floor resting against the door. Fred looked at George and smiled, but George shook his head. Fred had been wondering if Xander could really tell them apart. He pulled Xander up and into his arms, giving him a short kiss.

"Not nice," Xander said, pulling away from him. He kissed George, then smiled. "Ha, beat you."

"I'm George," Fred told him. Xander frowned.

"Fred," Ron warned. "Don't do that to him. He's very uptight." He didn't even look at him, he knew this game.

"I'm George," George told him, pulling him in for a deeper kiss. He had just gotten done testing a pucker candy though, so Xander pulled back and licked his lips. "Can't tell?"

Xander stormed off down the hall. "I won't play that game," he called back.

"Told you so," Ron said listlessly.

Harry nudged him. "It's how they are. They even do it to your mum."

"But Xander's a bit different than mum," George pointed out, glaring at his twin. "You hurt him."

"Did not."

"Did too," Harry put in. "He's very picky about many things, and George is one of them." He looked at George. "You might want to go find him. He's bound to be upset."

"Stay out of it," Fred told him. "He's got to learn to take it too. Mum has."

"Xander's not like mum," Ron pointed out. "He hasn't lived with you for the last eighteen years of your life. Nor has he ever dated a man before, so he's very unsure of a lot of things."

"How would you know?" Hermione asked. It seemed like fair game to her. They did it to everyone else.

"Because I saw his journal," Ron told her. He stood up. "I'm going to go work out. Harry?" He nodded and followed his friend down to the training room.

George walked away, going to talk to Xander. He really had to lighten up if they were going to stay together. That was a favorite trick of theirs.

The door opened and Mrs. Weasley stuck her head out. "Where is everyone?"

"Fred and George played their usual 'I'm him' game," Hermione said as she stood up. "It upset Xander. Ron and Harry are downstairs working out."

"Oh." She frowned. "George, why didn't you go after him? He's very delicate emotionally."

"I'm Fred," Fred told her. "Daft, purely daft."

She frowned. "Now is not the time for that. Go find them and bring them here, we're having a family meeting to resolve this situation. Hermione, you and Harry should join us also, I think, since you might as well be ours." She pulled her head back and shut the door.

Hermione looked at Fred. "Gym or Xander?"

"I'll get Xander." He walked away, not noticing that she was going in the same direction for most of the trip. He tapped on the door, then knocked harder when he didn't get an answer. "Xander, mum wants to see you," he called.

The portrait opened. "He's locked himself in the bathroom," George told him. "I warned you not to upset him." Xander walked past them, leaving them there to argue. "Xander?" he called.

Fred ran after him, catching up to him. "Xander, I'm sorry." The boy looked at him. "I really am. I didn't realize how upset it would make you."

Xander stepped closer to him. "The only thing I can't joke about is my relationships. When I give myself to someone, it's with the full intent of burying myself in then and not coming up." Fred nodded. "I can joke about anything but that. So in the future, drop it." He walked away.

Fred waited for his brother. "I didn't know he was like that," he told him.

George nodded. "He's always been like that. That's why the kids like him, he adopts the whole group." He patted his brother on the back. "He'll forgive you later. He can and will because I'll make him." They walked away.

One of the teachers stuck her head out of her classroom. "They're already fighting?" she muttered, closing the door.

Xander walked into the room and sat beside Ginny, giving her a short hug. "Has the yelling stopped?"

Mr. Weasley looked at him. "I had wondered why it took Murphy so long to come inside. He sat outside all last night and sang to us."

Xander gave him a weak smile. "I told him to take a little while longer so she could figure some things out and get calmer."

"Perfectly understandable," Molly told him, reaching over to hug him when she saw how upset he was. "What happened?"

"Fred and George probably screwed with him," Ginny said. Her mother glared at her. "I'm going to be a mother, mum, I can say that word now." She patted Xander's arm. "They do it to everyone."

Xander shook his head. "It's not important, Fred knows how I feel about that now." He calmed himself down before something bad could happen. Both parents were looking at him. "It'll be okay, I'm just a little bit upset."

"As long as you're releasing it," Arthur told him.

"He's not dangerous," Molly told him firmly. They'd had this discussion again recently. Arthur was worried about what Xander would do if he got really upset because he still didn't have total control. She knew the boy would never hurt any of them. They had agreed to disagree. She pulled Xander closer so she could hold him better. "I'm sure you'll work it out tonight. You can keep them both if you want."

Ron, Harry, and Hermione walked in together. Ron smiled at Xander. "So, when's the wedding?"

"Dumbledore said we could hold it here this summer," Xander told him.

George walked in and stopped at that. "He did?"

"That would be spiffing," Fred remarked. He walked over and stood in front of Xander. "I'm sorry. If I had known that it would upset you so, I wouldn't have done it." Xander gave him a smile. "I'm forgiven?"

"Yup. If I have to be drug down the aisle on a hospital bed, you get to do that." Ron laughed. "Think I'm kidding? That's why Dumbledore suggested we have it here."

Ron came over and flopped down on the other side of Ginny, shoving her lightly. "What're we going to do with you?"

"We're going to support her and help her with her homework," Molly told him firmly. "And we'll keep the child until she finishes school. Then we'll see where she gets a job."

Arthur smiled. "We've been looking forward to grandchildren," he admitted. Molly snorted. "Well, I have. I don't have anyone to play with anymore." His wife scowled, but her eyes said she loved him.

"What about the rest of us?" George asked, blatantly sitting in Xander's lap. He was the smaller of them by an inch or so.

"Find a real seat," his mother told him.

"No. Xander's are fragile and precious and could always use a hug," George told her.

Xander shifted him until he was sitting next to him, but still cuddled up. "Parents don't like to see their kids cuddling, especially not when grandkids are being discussed."

"At least we won't have to worry about that from you," Ron noted.

Xander grinned at him. "Actually, Fredericka and Reynaldo both reminded me the last time they saw me that there is a spell for that among the gryphonic history. But I didn't think that George would look good knocked up."

"I'd look great," George complained. "I'd glow very nicely and carry rather high, but I'd look smashing preggers."

"If you do, you eat alone," Fred told him, his good humor returned. If Xander was able to joke, he was off the hook. "I'm not watching you eat gross foods while you grow too rotund to work."

"Imagine the labor," Ron snickered.

Arthur cleared his throat. "Xander, please don't get them started. They'll never stop and you'll have to do the spell to prove that it works." He smiled at the boy. "Which means we'll get publicity and be bothered for months on end."

Xander shrugged. "Okay, but if I do, can I use it on Fred so we don't have to give up cuddling?"

George contained his laughter, barely. "I think he'd look smashing stuffed up. Out to there with our child and glowing."

"Cut it out," their mother told them. "Dear, call Percy and Charlie. I know Bill's a bit too busy to be called at the moment, we'll tell him later." She smiled at Harry and Hermione. "You might as well sit, dears, you're like our own now." They sat together, making her smile. "Are you two contemplating getting together?" Both teens quickly shook their heads.

"We're friends, Mrs. Weasley," Harry told her. He glanced at Hermione. "I don't even think about her that way."

Ginny giggled. "It's true, mum. Harry and Ron both keep forgetting that she's a girl. They treat her like a boy with strange growths on the chest."

Xander looked at the kids. "That too shall end once we do the distraction lesson." Ron shuddered. "Yay, you'll get over it. How do you expect to fight if you're distracted by a set of tits bouncing."

"Xander!" Hermione complained. "You said you won't have us naked."

"I won't. I'll have you in one of Melissa's tops though." She blushed. "Don't worry, they'll be in just as revealing clothes."

Arthur, who had been talking to someone, got out of the way of the fireplace as a young man with red hair walked through. "Hello, Charlie."

"Come sit," Ron said, making room for him. "Big family meeting."

Charlie smiled at the new face. "Does this have to do with him? Are you Ginny's beau?"

"No, I'm the future father of all George's kids," Xander told him.

"Ah, you'd be Xander then." He smiled and leaned over to shake the man's hand. "Heard about you recently from a Species handler. He was quite impressed with how you jump into things." He looked at his mom. "Dad said it had to do with Ginny."

"We'll get to that when Percy gets here," his mother told him. "But for now, Xander, are you willing to marry George and keep him out of my hair?"

Xander looked at George. "I don't know, you wanna make it official or just keep taking long flights and sneaking around?"

"I think I'd rather like a wedding. I look stunning in my dress robes you know." He looked at his father. "That okay with you, dad?"

"Just fine, son. As long as Xander and you both stay out of trouble." He smiled at Xander. "I heard congratulations are in order, my boy. Something about being officially British now?"

"Only in the wizard community. The official British one is under review because I'm contesting it." He grimaced. "They say I'll know in about a month." He looked at George. "So, worst comes to worst, we'll drag my nest out of storage and go set up in the community because it's not technically in the country, being across a portal and all."

"As long as he can commute to work," Fred put in. "It'd be nice to have a room all to myself."

"You'd miss me terribly," George reminded him.

"Of course I would, I'd miss spending half the night awake because you snore."

Xander looked at Fred. "He doesn't snore." George turned bright red. "Sorry," he said with a shrug.

Ron looked over at him. "Ick," he noted. "Searching through your closet and coming up with the porn was bad enough, thank you."

"I told you to stay out of there," Xander reminded him. "You and Harry had to go exploring while you waited on me and you found a treasure."

Harry sneezed. "'Scuse me," he said before anyone could bless him. "Xander, you didn't hide it very well."

Xander gave him a dry look. "I wasn't expecting two seventeen year old hormones to go looking for my porn stash."

"Does Dumbledore know you use the tv for that?" Ron asked.

Xander nodded. "I accidentally dropped one in your dad's office the day I gave him the prezzies. Dumbledore accepted the owl and looked inside the package." Arthur turned bright red. "Yeah, he turned about that color too," Xander agreed. "But he does know and figured that I'm using it to learn what to do to George."

"What is this porn?" Charlie asked.

"Pornography is sexually explicit material," Hermione explained with a bright blush of her own. "Xander has male-to-male pornography which Harry and Ron found."

Charlie looked at his future brother in law. "Hey, if it helps. I got plenty of the real stuff while I was here."

Xander nodded. "I'm using it to teach me what to do to him."

Charlie smiled. "Good, then I won't hear a complaint from him at the next family meeting."

"You haven't heard one from this one yet," George told him.

Percy stepped out of the fire. "I've got about twenty minutes before I'm due back," he announced.

"Percy, my man, come sit," Xander told him, scooting into George's lap to give him a seat. Molly looked at him. "It was this or he'd have to sit on the floor."

"Xander, you're heavier, let me get on top," George complained. They switched place and Ginny curled up against Xander's side. "There, better," he said.

Fred looked at his mother. "You should catch them snogging in the lab sometime."

She shook her head. "No thank you. I think I've seen enough of that already." She looked at Ginny. "It's your news, dear."

"I'm pregnant," Ginny announced, squeezing herself against Xander's side.

"Oh, dear God," Percy said. He stood up to glare down at her. "You're endangering your education because you couldn't learn a simple spell? If you had asked I'm sure one of us would have given it to you."

"I used two of them!" she shouted at him. "Get over yourself." She pouted, looking down at her lap.

Charlie reached over and patted her knee. "We'll get by, a Weasley always manages to survive." He looked at his father. "Do we know the boy?"

"Malfoy," Ron told him.

"Lucius?" Charlie asked.

"Draco," Xander answered.

"Oh, no," Percy sighed. "Does he know?" Xander nodded. "No, not the boy, the father?" Xander shook his head. "That might just make him mad enough to attack the school."

"No, we're expecting that in a few weeks," Xander told him, looking perfectly serious. Arthur, Molly, and Charlie all looked at him.

"It's not a joke," Harry butted in. "It's just another attempt by *him* to destroy Dumbledore."

Arthur cleared his throat. "Do you have a plan?"

"Already in place and working," Xander told him. "Ron's in the line behind me with the rest of my advanced class." He looked at Harry. "Isn't that right?"

Hermione nodded. "I've taken the liberty of teaching one other person the lock sticking charm. Melody has assured me that she'd go lock all the houses if it became necessary."

"Good thinking," Ron told her. "It won't get out and it'll work."

Xander nodded. "Definitely great idea. I was wondering how to do that." He gave her a smile. "I should give you points for this, but we're not in class."

She laughed. "I'm sure I'll be getting some soon enough." She looked at Charlie. "You look a bit shocked."

"You're all fighting He-who-must-not-be-named?"

"Since our first year," Ron told him. Molly gasped. "What? Harry fights him and we back him up. Worked so far."

"Ron, your mother's worried, that's what they do," Xander told him. "They'll worry about you doing dangerous stuff until the day they die."

Ron shrugged. "Sorry, mum, thought you'd heard by now."

Both twins shook their heads. "We weren't going there," George told him.

Xander grinned up at him. "You're starting to sound like me."

"Am not."

"Are too," Fred put in.

"Am not!" George said warmly.

"Boys," Arthur broke in. "Yes, George, you are, and it sounds very cute with your accent, which Xander is starting to pick up from you."

"Accents are contagious?" Xander asked. "Does that mean if I kiss a Russian, I'll sound like one of them?"

"You'd better not," George said, poking him on the chest. "I'd be rather upset with you and we'd have to have another row like the one in the tree."

"Okay, I won't kiss a Russian to get their accent and we won't fight in any more trees."

Percy opened his mouth. "Dare I even ask why you were in a tree?"

Ginny giggled. "They were kissing, of course."

"And on the way to save Ron," Xander added. Percy went a little paler. "It's all right, he did quite well beating up on the guards."

"You seem like this is so very normal," Charlie said. "Why?"

"Because I started fighting with a Slayer when I was fifteen," Xander told him. "I grew up on California's hellmouth and fought on it for four years before coming over here."

"Oh." Charlie looked at his father. "Weren't you involved in some project that had a slayer?"

"That's how we met Xander," his mother told him. "The twins adopted him."

"And George stole him," Fred added with a smile for his brother.

"Which is a good thing because you'd never feed me chocolate," Xander told him.

"Boys," Arthur said. "Keep on track please. This is about Ginny and her problem."

"My problem is hungry," Ginny told him. "Is it dinner time yet?"

"Yup," Xander told her, after checking his watch. "Dinner time plus half an hour." He stood up, setting George back on his feet. "I think the house elves probably made enough if you guys want to stay."

"I wouldn't mind," Charlie said. "I'd like to talk to Ginny." She smiled at him. "What's this boy about to do?"

"I refuse to marry him," she told him. "He agreed I'd be in greater danger because of it."

"Is he going to support it any?" Percy asked.

"Yup, and he's going to come see it too," Ginny told him. "He actually wants to change a diaper, said it'd be a novel experience. Something not even his father did." She took Charlie's arm. "Come on, I'm hungry and the little creature wants fed." She walked out with him, Percy and the perpetual stomachs following.

Xander smiled at George. "You going to eat with the family or me?"

"I think I'll eat with the family and send you suggestive looks over the meal." They walked out together too.

Molly and Arthur shared a smile. It was going to be fine, her brothers would help her out if something happened to them. They went to join the students in their meal too.

***

Draco looked over as the doors opened, admitting most of the Weasley clan. He nearly swallowed his tongue when he saw four of her older brothers, figuring that his life was getting shorter all the time. He looked up as Xander walked past, relaxing when he saw the wink. Maybe he wouldn't be paste after this. He looked over and saw Percy, the nice non-fighting one, giving him a look that said he shouldn't count on it and quickly bent back over his dinner. He heard the quiet laugh and looked over to find Dumbledore smiling at him. Yup, he was dead.

Dumbledore stood up. "Welcome to the visiting family. It is nice to see so many of the Weasleys back here again. Please, enjoy our usual fare while you visit with your children." He glanced at Xander, then at the table.

"Don't," Xander told him. "I'll have to retaliate."

Dumbledore laughed. "I've since found out the meaning of the ball this spring. It will be to celebrate the union of one of our teachers to one of our illustrious alumni." The students clapped. "I'm sure Professor Harris will want all of you to celebrate his happiness at that time so please consider whether or not you will attend carefully. It will be open to all years." He sat back down to applause by the usually ignored first and second years.

Xander leaned around Tara and Willow. "How did you know that? We just decided today."

Dumbledore laughed. "I have my ways, my boy, I always have my ways." He smiled down at Draco again. "I'm sure your advanced class will be more than happy to escort you down the aisle. There should be enough of them to offset the Weasley faction at the wedding."

Xander groaned. "I'll get you for this later," he told him. He felt something off and stood up, going over to look outside. "Um, Albus, come here please," he called quietly. The headmaster walked over and looked outside also. "I think we should probably cut dinner short," he muttered.

Dumbledore nodded. "Students, attention please," he called. "Prefects, take everyone back to your houses this instant by the back ways. Lock yourselves in."

"Melody, go lock them in. Lock any stragglers into a classroom and guard them," Xander said, looking around. He was next to the Slytherin table so he grabbed one of their first years. "Do you know what this is?" he asked, touching his bracelet. She shook her head. "Then take it off for me please."

"But I'm not supposed to," she whined.

"Do it," Snape ordered, walking down to look out the window. "My house, leave now, go down through the kitchen. All of you." He watched as the girl fumbled with the clasp. "Another of you try it," he snapped. A few of the students tried but it wasn't coming off.

"Oh, shit," Xander muttered. He looked around, then saw Hagrid. "Got something to cut metal?" He jumped up onto the dias and walked over, taking the pliers from him. In an emergency, he could cut the bracelet off, but it would probably send a magical bomb. He headed for the front hall, dodging running students. He managed to get it off as the doors were blown open. Within moments the front hall was cleared of everyone not fighting. Almost none of the teachers were there, only a few of his top students in his advanced class, the rest were guarding their houses like he had told them too. Xander pulled his wand and faced off with the man in the cloak standing in the doorway. "Go away," he said calmly. Behind him, he heard protective spells start to go up, Willow and Tara's voices leading the chants. He felt the entryway be bubbled, protecting the rest of the school. "Get the Death Eaters as they come in," he told his students. He looked at Draco and saw him whiter than normal. "You work with me, kid. I don't want to make you kill your own father." Draco nodded and stiffened up as the cloaked figure stepped forward. Xander looked at him again. "Leave," he ordered in his sternest voice.

The cloaked figure laughed as he pushed back his hood. Almost everyone stepped away from the red eyed, scaly skinned man standing there. "I am Lord Voldemort. Surrender and you will not suffer."

"Fuck off," Xander told him, raising his wand. Death Eaters entered behind them, surrounding the witches. The protective barrier came down. "Fine, fuck with the school, fuck with me," he said, raising his wand. "Get them!" The advanced class fired on the Death Eaters behind them first. He could hear Hermione saying an intricate gryphon spell and hoped she got it right. The backlash could be deadly, especially when combined with his. His mind wavered for a heartbeat, trying not to cast the one most destructive spell of all time. It could destroy the school. But it would destroy *him*. Possible versus absolute destruction. "Destaro!" Xander shouted, his wand wavering a little. It fought him, but the spell came out, just not strongly enough. It caught the Death Eaters, sending them flying and killing them instantly. To Voldemort, who got the majority of the blast, it made him scream. He started to shift down, looking like he was melting.

Harry saw what was going on, saw the wand coming up, and made the hardest, yet easiest, decision of his life. He stepped forward and raised his wand. "Destaro!" he yelled. He screamed as the fire of the gryphon magic went through his body, coming out his wand and into the body in front of him. He saw a gold body floating downward and shouted. "No! Stay back!"

"Backlash!" Hermione yelled. "Down!" All the teachers dropped and most of the backlash went over them. She got some of it and she knew the others did too. Around them, the entryway exploded into shards of wood and paintings, the backlash tearing through the area like miniature saws as it tried to find a way back into the earth.

The only other one standing was Albus Dumbledore, who was stunned. Not a spell, the backlash had caught him. With it came the memories of some of the people who had died that day, the energy shattering their souls so it flowed with the chaos energy coming back toward them. He saw so many horrible things, watched so many of his former students die. He heard a scream, but couldn't pull himself far enough away to help anyone else.

Xander fell to his knees, gasping and panting. He had absorbed so much of the energy, as much as he could. He looked over to watch the last of the Death Eaters start running. "Ron, no!" he shouted when Ron started after them. "We'll get them later."

"Bet me," Ron told him. "Hermione?"

She followed him out into the night, Harry following her and Draco shaking himself free so he could go with them. They needed him. He could forget watching his father die in front of him for now, while he hunted.

Xander felt someone lift him up and struggled, but it was Giles and he had a firm grip on him. "No, flashback. Memories!" he shouted.

Minerva McGonagall rushed to the side of her leader, helping him sit down. "Albus? Albus, come back. You're scaring me."

He blinked at her. "I think I want a vacation now," he said quietly. He looked over at Xander. "I was wrong," he said as more dust fell from the ceiling. He looked around at the destruction of the front hall. "You can partially destroy a school, but it was a good thing." He allowed himself to be helped. "I'll see you upstairs, young man."

Xander nodded, then headed out into the night to help his students. He might as well use this energy flooding him for something good. Murphy flew down to him. "Find the kids," he told him. "We're hunting." Murphy flew off and he followed him, knowing his bird would watch his back.

Giles looked around at the destruction the flashback had caused. He saw a small figure hiding in a hallway and went to her. "Ginny? Ginny, wake up."

Snape turned around then went to her. He pushed Giles aside and carried her up to the infirmary. He was aware that she was pregnant. "Check your witches," he said harshly. The man had stood there, he was supposed to be a fighter and he had just stood there stupidly.

Giles checked the other witches, getting most of them moving on their own up to the infirmary. Tara had to be carried, as did one other girl who had a cut to her abdomen. Most of the other teachers had gone to check on the students in their houses, take roll and what not, but he had to do this now. He could ream Xander for doing that spell later.

***

Hermione walked into the infirmary, Ron resting against her side. "Harry's coming," she told Madam Pomfrey. "Xander's carrying him. Draco's walking and ignoring a broken ankle." She helped Ron onto a bed and fell down beside him.

Xander walked in holding the warm, limp, bleeding body and put him down on a free bed. "Draco, you too," he said, pointing at the last one.

"Sit," Madam Pomfrey told Xander, pushing him into a chair. "Are you all right?"

"I'm fine. Murphy's fine. Ron's got broken ribs, Hermione has a concussion, Draco has a broken ankle, a possibly shattered wrist, and a concussion and Harry's bleeding like a stuck pig because someone tried to make him one." She rushed to Harry's side first, healing the stomach wound. He watched as his students were tended to, only looking away when McGonagall walked in. "We got them all. The aurors joined us just as Hermione resorted to gryphon magic again. One of them hit her to make her stop." He leaned against the comforting body. "I'm sorry, I understand why there's seven pages of warning on that spell, but it's over with. He can't hurt the kids."

"Albus said as much and he forgives you. Though he did say you were spending part of the summer fixing the hall," she told him with a smile. He shuddered. "I'm sure your carpentry skills will come in quite handy."

Xander looked around the rest of the room, counting beds. "Who're they?" he asked, pointing at the end group.

"A few of the witches and Ms. Weasley." Xander stared to stand but she pushed him back down. "She didn't make it out of the hall fast enough and the backlash caught her. Severus is down mixing her a potion."

He looked up at her. "One of mine?" She nodded. "It's dangerous for humans to take it."

"We're letting you talk to her parents," McGonagall told him. "Explain this to them. They'll be up in a moment." She walked over to look down at her students. "I am shocked and amazed by what you four did tonight," she said quietly. "One hundred points for each of you." She walked away, going to give the worried parents the good news.

Arthur walked in first, pulling Xander up to hug him. "You brought him back."

Xander nodded. "I did. He's a little battered but fine." He looked into the older man's eyes. "We've got to talk about this potion." Arthur nodded. "It's dangerous, but it could work."

"How dangerous?" Charlie asked as he escorted his mother inside. "Deadly or otherwise?"

"If it's too strong, possibly. If it's too weak, it might not work at all."

Molly looked up at him. "Is this one of yours?" He nodded. "Does it work on full humans?" He nodded again. "What're the odds?"

"If Snape makes it a little bit too strong, it'll cause more damage, enhance what's already there," Xander said, sitting back down again. He was so tired. "If it's really too strong, it could kill her, but I doubt he'd make that mistake." She nodded. "If it's too weak, you might have to go through this decision again because it'll only work on part of the injuries." He glanced at the curtains. "According to the books, it's cured cancer before and kept a child dying from a brain fever from dying."

Severus Snape walked in with two steaming cups. He handed one to Xander. "Drink it all," he told him. He looked at the parents. "It is still up to you."

"Do it," Arthur told him, taking hold of his wife to comfort her. They watched as the potions master walked back to their daughter's cubicle, but he couldn't bear the waiting. "Xander, what was that spell?"

"It was a decreate spell," he said tiredly, finishing off the potion. "They won't be able to revive him this time." He blinked hard.

Madam Pomfrey came over and forced him onto the extra cot she had pulled out. "Let him sleep," she advised. She ran over when she heard choking, helping the potions master with her most injured patient. The flashback had nearly liquified the girl's organs. This potion was the only way. She monitored her, smiling when it seemed to be working. "We've got some progress," she announced.

Snape frowned. "It's not working at the right speed. I made it too weak."

"Then go make another batch," Molly told him firmly. "I won't let her die!" Snape nodded and walked off, going to do as she had requested. She took the seat beside her daughter's bed, holding her cool hand. "Ginny, dear, we're here. Mommy's here." She didn't get an answer, they had sedated her as soon as she had been brought in. She looked up at her husband. "The ends do justify the means," she told him quietly. "He won't be coming back. There will be no more assassinations of families. He stopped it."

A man in a white coat walked in. "I'm sorry to do this folks, but I'm going to have to do some memory work. Who here heard the spell?"

"Can't this wait?" Arthur snapped at the member of the Unmentionables squad. They handled anything that was this big and bad. "At least until we get the potion to fix her?"

The man smiled. "We're not working on him, Arthur." That got a faint smile. "Nor are we working on your youngest son, Hermione Granger, or Harry Potter." He pointed at the three kids. "But we will have to erase the memory of that spell. It sent shockwaves clear through to Russia from what we understand." He looked at Xander. "Such a frail body for all that energy."

"It burnt him out," Madam Pomfrey told him. "This can wait until they're out of my infirmary. Go wait in the hall, young man."

"Ma'am, we have to do this as soon as possible to the main event, otherwise we'll have to alter more memories. The more we wait, the more trauma we'll have."

Arthur pointed at Draco. "We're sure he saw his father killed."

The man nodded. "We've identified him as being one of the ones downstairs. We're not taking that memory from him unless he asks us to."

Draco shook his head. "Even if you tried to hide it from me, I doubt I'd forget it." He looked over at Xander's body. "Besides, I already knew what it was. I snuck into their notebooks and checked them out. I refuse the treatment you're offering."

"Young man, you don't have that right," Arthur told him. "Unless one of the gryphons themselves tell us not to, we have to do it to protect them."

"Then let me talk to them," Draco told him harshly. "They'll know that they can't separate the events out and that trying to hide my father being blown to bits in front of me won't work."

Arthur felt sorry for the boy. He'd never usually do it, but he walked over and put a comforting hand on the boy's arm. "Draco, I know that it hurts, and I'm sure Xander's sorry."

"But I'm not," he said. "I'm free now, I can be a real person with my own opinions. No one will ever come after me again because I'm free of all that mess. No more *Dark Lord*," he said scornfully, sounding more upset as he went on, "to try and kill me because I couldn't force myself to kill whom he wanted me to kill. No more having to spout off nonsense because my father said so. I'll be able to think for myself again!"

Arthur nodded. "That's very true, you can." He stepped back. "As soon as he's healed, take him to the gryphons personally and have them talk to him. They were always excellent at memory charms." The Unmentionable nodded and moved to the first bed with someone not on his list. Arthur went back to his daughter's side, waiting on the second dose of potion.

*** Three Weeks Later ***

Harry Potter sat in front of the Ministry Of Magic's full board. This was a closed hearing to see if any charges should be brought against him or Xander. The new Minister, Robert Asdar, was frowning down at him. The man had been an auror and understood the situation. "I did what I had to do. As taught by quite a few people, sometimes you have to do something bad in order to fight for the good," Harry told him.

"And the potential loss of life?"

Harry looked up at him with dead eyes. Since that night he hadn't been sleeping very well and he felt like he was emotionally closed off from himself. It was so bad that Hermione was wondering out loud if he should ask to be memory charmed. "What about the lives that would have been lost if Voldemort had lived and gotten to the students? I doubt, with his state of mind, that even the purest of the pure bloods would have been spared. I made my decision to save my school and my schoolmates, and I stand by it." He stood up. "I'm going to leave unless you have any more questions. I can't take being cooped up inside right now."

"Do you still want to be an auror?" Asdar asked.

Harry shook his head. "I didn't want to be one in the first place. I took the training because Voldemort had come after me every year that I had been at Hogwarts and it made sense that I learn how to protect myself and those around me. I'm glad I got the training because he's gone, but I really want to go live somewhere quiet and get away from people for a bit."

Asdar smiled at him. "I understand. I was around when the first round of killings happened and I had many days when I wanted to give up." He saw the light of hope in the boy's eyes and smiled brighter. "It does come back, Mr. Potter, just give it time. You are right, I find you not guilty of anything beyond doing what you felt was necessary." He banged his gavel. No one on the board argued with him, they all thought it had been too little praise. "Mr. Potter," he said before the boy could leave. "Let me tell you that Voldemort's remains have been hidden away from all his remaining followers, far from any human touch. Even if they could find a way to get past that particular spell, they would have a hard time finding his remains to bring him back. His old body was also removed and hidden. There is no chance any longer and you can rest easier."

Harry nodded and walked out, stepping directly into Xander's arms for a hug. He knew his teacher felt just as bad as he did, but he managed to hide it somehow. It must have been all the experiences that he had, like Asdar had said. "I'm going to the Burrow," he told him quietly. "I'll see you later." He walked away.

Xander walked into the hearing chamber, stopping when he noticed the gryphon against the back wall. He swallowed but walked forward to face his trouble. He had started the spell. He had to deal with it now. He sat down in the vacant chair and looked up at them. "You called for me?"

One of the other Ministers, the one filling in for Arthur, looked down at him. "You couldn't have chosen a different spell? One that had less possibility of casualties?" she asked.

Xander shook his head. "It was the first one that popped into my mind. I considered my second choice, freezing them and a pain spell, but I knew I wasn't stronger than a few of them. There was a greater chance of all of us standing in the way being killed and the bad guys getting to the students." He sat up straighter. "I made the hard decision because I knew what was going to happen if I didn't. I could clearly see in my head the bodies of every single student laying there mangled and mutilated if I didn't do something very drastic and very dumb." He looked back at the gryphon, one he didn't know. "I'm sorry if you're pissed, but I felt it was necessary. I've had the spell removed from my mind so I can never use it again. I'm actually blocked from saying it now." He turned back to the panel. "I'm willing to take whatever pain you give me."

Asdar looked down at him, considering him. He had Harris' complete file in front of him, as well as his file from the Watchers and the Immigration service. The boy reminded him of himself in so many ways, and it sickened him on some level that someone else had to make the choice to kill a group of people, and possibly bring down the entire school on their heads, to stop one villain. "Do you think you should be punished?" he asked.

Xander shrugged. "As has been pointed out lately and frequently in the press, I'm not always the best judge." He shifted some, taking the weight off his bruised hip. He had jumped at a loud nosie that morning and fallen out of bed. George had been nice, he'd only laughed for about twenty minutes.

Asdar leaned over, discussing with his fellow Ministers. Most of them liked Xander and felt he had done what was needed. Asdar wasn't so sure. He saw the ease in the boy's eyes and wondered about it. He finally straightened up and looked down at Xander again. "What if we told you we were banishing you from any British territory?" He saw the light die and knew what it was from. He regretted asking it now.

Xander opened his mouth. "I..I'd have to go, but I'd hate it even more than I do myself right now," he admitted. "I would hope that my boyfriend would come with me, but I'd make sure he stayed so he wouldn't lose his family." He stood up. "If that's what you want, then I'm gone."

"Sit," the Unmentionables Minister told him. "We are not going to punish you. Not for doing what was necessary. We can no more punish you than we can Harry Potter." She frowned at him. "While your actions were extreme, they were justified and we do understand them. The fact that you've taken such a harsh step on your own means that you know the risk that you took in the first place. We are aware of your past," Xander opened his mouth, "and it does offer us a lot of insight into your character. Having fought so long, you could only fight this time. I'm sure Albus Dumbledore would agree with us were he back from his vacation." She smiled at him. "Also, I would never ask someone to give up those they love to go into voluntary exile. It's a cruel and unusual punishment." She patted the file in front of her. "Your last year has been quite a read, Professor Harris. It has made me want to jump up and hit someone, and made me congratulate some of my staff in stopping some of the tragedies you were part of."

Minister Asdar looked at her. "Are you finished?" he asked politely. She nodded. "Thank you." He looked down at Xander. "My question was rhetorical because I know what you went through. I've even sat down in that same chair and faced off with my superiors because I once ended up killing a civilian to take down three Death Eaters." Xander nodded. "I will not punish you for it, or remove you from your job. Personally, the children that you trained this last year would be a credit to us if they signed on as aurors. I doubt that will happen from the top four, but we have much hope for the rest of them." He gave him a gentle smile. "Go back to your fiancé, young man. I know he's waiting on you and is very worried about what we'll do to you. Even though he has to realize that you did what was for the best."

"I hurt his baby sister. His mother won't talk to me."

The Minister filling in for Arthur smiled. "I have it on good authority that she's working on forgiving you. The baby is fine, as is Ginny, so they'll forgive you some day soon."

The Minister for Immigration cleared his throat. "Xander, I know your status with my counterpart's office is still up in the air, but I think I have something to make you feel better." He handed down some forms. "These are your official United Kingdom citizenship papers It was deemed that you have an extraordinary gift that has been put to good use for us. The man over the muggle division agreed with me when I explained to him why I was there bothering him." His winked. "Then I erased his memory of course, the same as always." Asdar looked at him. "He said he'd rather not know." Asdar rolled his eyes. "You are now officially one of us. Congratulations."

Xander smiled and put the papers into his pocket. "Thank you, Minister Fidders." He looked at Asdar. "Am I done?"

"Yes, son, you are done, though I would like to sit and compare stories with you some day. I've only staked one vampire and he was only around two hundred or so."

Xander nodded and walked out, heading for the Leaky Cauldron and Diagon. He needed to check on his wand and Murphy was sucking up the attention at the inn. He walked outside and squinted up at the sunlight. He turned to the left and walked up the street, ducking into the back alley behind the Leaky Cauldron so he could get away from people. He tapped on the trick brick with his old wand and walked inside as soon as the doorway was big enough, heading directly to Ollivanders but ignoring the people pointing and talking. "Hey," he said with a faint smile as he walked inside the shop. "Is it ready yet?"

Mr. Ollivander brought out a large wand on a velvet cushion. "I couldn't find the same size so I hope fifteen inches is good for you." He watched as the wand was picked up and swished, smiling at the harmonious colors that followed behind it. "Good, excellent. Do you still have the old one?"

Xander grimaced and handed his first wand over with the one he had stolen off that wizard. "Thank you for letting me have that one, but I never want to see it again."

"Yes, the aftereffects of the war are still felt by your kind," he agreed with a smile. "Now what are you going to do?"

"I'm going to go fix the entryway to the school, work on my marriage plans, and then hopefully collapse into my bed tonight with my phoenix and sleep for once this week." He smiled. "It would be a nice change."

Ollivander smiled. "You did what you had to do, that's what counts."

"Yeah, but it doesn't take away the image of blowing away a kid's father in front of him." He pointed at the wand. "Do I owe you anything?"

"No, your Murphy was here this morning with one of his chicks, giving me a feather from her. Glinda I believe the name tag said?"

"Oh, her. Yeah, she likes Snape and his Slytherins. I expect she'll go to Snape or Malfoy." He looked around, then stepped closer. "Is there any word on his mother?"

"The auror who took him home found his mother lying in her bed. His father had killed her days before he came for the boy," he said sadly. "The auror said he told the boy that it was probably because she had defended him, but that it looked like he hadn't tortured her first."

"That's good. Is Draco still not talking?"

Ollivander shook his head. "Not from what I hear."

"Shoot." Xander slumped a little. "I guess I'll get back to my bird and my duty to fix the hallway." He smiled. "Thank you for fixing it for me."

"My pleasure, as always." He waited until the boy was gone. "Oak, very unusual for a phoenix feather." He cleaned up a bit and went back to making more wands.

Xander steeled himself and walked into the Leaky Cauldron. It was early so he didn't expect many witches and wizards to be drinking. He nearly ran back out when someone jumped out at him.

"Surprise!" Fred yelled in his ear. "We're throwing you a pre-wedding party." He led Xander over to a table and sat him down, waving at Tom the bartender to bring them their first round of drinks. "We figured that you needed some stuff," he told his twin's lover.

"Including lightening up," Charlie agreed.

"So we're being forced to hold this party here," Percy finished.

Xander smiled at him. "Okay. I could use a party." He looked around. "Where's Harry?"

"Hermione took him to look at his new house. It's so far out in the middle of nowhere, he has to fly to get to a town," Charlie told him.

"It's about an hour's fly from the Burrow," Fred reminded him.

Xander pulled out his new wand to show it off. "They fixed it."

"That's cool," Fred said, picking it up. "How long is this thing?"

"Fifteen inches," Xander said proudly. Wand size was like dick size to a muggle, something you bragged over. He accepted his butterbeer with a close to normal smile. "Did she ever come back?"

Tom rolled his eyes. "Twice now that slayer of yours came back. I wish you'd take us from her memory."

"I did, but the enchanted sword she bought her first time in Diagon keeps bringing it back," Xander told him.

"Then you'll just have to take the sword from her," Ron said as he walked over. He plopped down next to Xander. "Harry's fine. I talked to him. He'll be back in a week, once he's had some quiet."

"With Hermione going with him?" Fred asked. "I doubt he's going to get quiet."

Ron shook his head, smiling. "She'll draw him out. He'll be ready to come back in time for the final dinner and graduation."

"And the ball," George said as he joined them. He kissed Xander on the cheek. "Are you ready for the ball, and the event coming after it?"

"With the exception of the whole marriage part," Xander admitted. "I have no idea what I'm supposed to wear or say." He sipped his butterbeer. "You know I'm horrible in that sort of social situation."

"That's why mum took over the planning," Fred said with a grin. "We're banned from bringing anything except ourselves and that we had better be wearing appropriate clothing underneath our robes."

"Mum also said she was taking your paycheck and buying us all decent robes," Ron added. "I'll finally get something that I look spiffing in."

Xander laughed and reached over to hug him. "I think you looked okay at Christmas."

"Oy! No hugging," Ron complained. "It'll look bad to the ladies." He noticed his brothers looking around. "For future reference."

Percy cleared his throat. "It has come to our attention that neither of you have picked attendants."

"I've got Ron and Fred," George told him.

"Then I guess I've got Harry, Draco, and Percy," Xander finished.

George frowned at him. "I doubt you'll get Malfoy out of his home. He's still not speaking."

"Which is why he needs to come. Besides, he'll be the one supporting Ginny's stomach when she begs to dance." Fred snickered. "The kid needs a little bit of levity. I was going to fly over tomorrow and go bug him."

"I'll do it," Ron said. Xander looked at him. "I won't fight him, just bug him. He'll have to come back for the final feast too."

"True, seniors are honored on their final feast," George agreed. "Their houses give them a great party."

Fred snickered. "Ours was quite a blast."

"Yes, it took days for the house elves to get the soot out of the wall from what I heard," Ron told him dryly. He grinned at Xander. "Are you coming to Gryffindor's party?"

"Nope, I was thinking about holding a quiet one for you guys myself. New movies and everything." Ron chuckled. "Is this stuff alcoholic?" Xander asked, looking at his drink.

"Yours is," Fred told him. "Ours is normal."

"Guys, alcohol is bad," Xander told him. He yawned and stretched, making the fire flare up so high it came out of the fireplace. "Oops," he called.

Tom frowned at him. "Keep it down, please, or go upstairs so you only destroy a room." He watched as Fred gathered up their drinks, George gathered up Xander, and gave Ron a key for a room. "That one's shielded and noise proofed. You can get loud." He smiled at the group's back. Those Weasley boys were quite something else.

Xander walked into the room and burst out laughing. "Honeymoon suite," he said happily. He walked over and jumped on the bed, making it bounce. "Wee."

"I think he's had enough alcohol," Ron said as he walked in and shut the door, locking it behind him.

"What liquor did you tell Tom to put in there?" Percy asked, taking Xander's drink to check. "Tastes normal."

"It's only got half a shot of whiskey."

George caught Xander, holding him tightly. "Tell them about whiskey, dear."

"Whisky, scotch, and other dark liquors are allergens to us," Xander said. "It makes us feel high."

"Ah." Fred let Percy keep Xander's drink and handed Xander Percy's. "Then we'll keep you away from that sort of thing." He flopped down beside the bed. "Have you two thought about your honeymoon yet?"

"I think I'll be learning how to paint," George told him.

"At least most of the paintings were able to be restored," Ron put in, sitting on the floor resting against the foot of the bed. He looked up when Xander bent down and stared at him. "Yes?"

"When are you going to write the Buffy monster? All I heard about on the trip over was that you'd forgotten to write her."

"I did it last week," Ron told him. "Not my fault she's impatient. I've had a lot on my mind." He sipped his butterbeer. "Is she coming to the wedding?"

Xander nodded. "Yup. Murph went up with an invitation last week. She sent back a squeal." He flopped backwards, landing on George. Fred and Percy both laughed at the position they ended up in. "Honey, were we snogging in front of your brothers?"

Charlie snuck in and relocked the door, stopping when he saw the couple on the bed. "Are we having an orgy then? Because if we are, I need to go downstairs and grab the young vixen who just tried to lick my throat."

Ron rolled his eyes. "Why was Melody here?" He looked at Fred. "Why don't you get her, then you could both have gryphon naughties."

Fred threw something from his pocket at his brother, making him turn purple and shake. "That's for the truly horrid suggestion."

Charlie came over and sat beside him. "Don't think you could handle her?"

"She attacked me," Xander told him. "She should be punished, not given the brother-in-law as a reward."

Charlie snickered. "I'm sure it'd be an interesting relationship."

"She doesn't even fly," Fred told him.

"And she's a slut," Ron added. "She's the only one I know who brags more about her women and men than Malfoy."

Xander giggled. "Yup, she did have some fun. I heard she spent the night in Slytherin entertaining them all. They all looked really tired the next day."

Charlie looked shocked. "Someone allowed that?"

"You try to tell her no," Fred told him.

"Well, I did have to pry her off my throat. Said red hair turned her on," he admitted.

Xander nodded. "Sounds about right." He flipped over and latched onto George's mouth.

Percy rolled his eyes. "Boys, there are others around." He got time to gasp before Xander kissed him too. He pulled away, shifting far away from his brother. "That was uncalled for," he complained. "You said you wouldn't attack me."

"I didn't prank you," Xander told him. "But you sounded like you needed a kiss." He looked at Fred. "You should find him a girl."

"We can give him to Melody," Ron suggested. "I'm sure he'd be looser after that." Percy glared at him. "What? A good shag would probably make you feel better." Fred burst out laughing, leaning against Charlie to hold himself up. Charlie tried to hold it in, but he couldn't. Ron smiled at his older brothers. "Can you blame me for suggesting it? He'll have to be looser for the wedding."

"Ron," Percy snapped. "I do not engage in meaningless sexual contact, unlike some." He glared at Charlie, who had almost every woman after his rear. "For some of us, it has to mean something."

Ron got up and opened up the door, sticking his head out. Melody smiled at him. "Want my brother Percy? He's nearly cute, very smart, and very uptight."

She shook her head. "I only date geeks who have big packages." She strolled in and looked down at Percy, who was bright red and panting in anger. "Hey, you are cute," she said, pulling him up and forcing him out of the room. "I'll return him in time for the wedding."

"Stop this instant," Percy demanded, trying to get away from her.

"Someone might want to go save him," Xander pointed out. "She's really strong and Percy will hate us." No one moved so he sighed and got up, but Ron tried to stop him. "Percy will never forgive you. Your mother will bitch me out." He walked down the hall, following the complaints. He walked into the room, glaring at the young girl. "Hand over the brother-in-law, Melody. He only likes smart and funny women."

She smiled and licked her lips. "I will if you give me a ride before you get hitched."

Xander patted his cock, which was slightly hard from playing with George. "This only goes into men, dear. I tried women and found them boring." He grabbed Percy and hauled him off the bed. "Come on, let's go pick on the Ron." He grinned. "I'll show you the Ronmonkey if you want." He walked out, shutting and locking the door with an advanced gryphon spell. He led his brother-in-law down and closed the door, locking it too. He smiled and pulled his wand, pointing it at Ron, changing him into the Ronmonkey and making him dance and sing. "Cool huh," he said as he crawled back on top of George.

"You're heavy, dear, get off."

"You didn't say that last night."

"Last night I didn't have a spring in my back," George told him. He smiled and gave up when Xander nuzzled his throat. "All right, but only this once in front of the brothers. I'm sure they've seen it enough times to ignore us."

Percy cleared his throat. He was trying hard not to laugh at Ron. It didn't work and he ended up falling over when Ron started singing about having big balls in a snarly voice. Muggle music was too funny sometimes.

Xander looked over at Percy. "They've seen it all year in 3-D images. Now you get to see the real thing."

Percy fell onto the floor laughing. It was just so funny. He'd have to tell his mother about this.

***

Xander shifted on his broom, landing in front of the large house. He put the broom against the door before knocking loudly. The door opened and a house elf looked up at him. "Hi," he said, forcing his way inside. He looked around, nodding. "Nice." He heard movement down the hall so went that way, grabbing Draco and carrying him back to the front door. He got onto his broom and took off, taking the young man with him. "You forgot to show up and you have to go to the ball tonight," he said when he got glared at. "Besides, you have to fight with Ron at the wedding, you two are the entertainment," he added with a grin. Draco groaned. "Oh, hey, was that a noise?"

Draco glared at him. "I don't feel like talking," he said quietly.

"Of course you don't, not yet, but you'll have to sometime." He smiled. "Harry's hiding in the country and so are you, but it isn't allowed for the wedding. You have to dance with Ginny and escort me down the aisle. Then you and Ron have to finish fighting to amuse the rest of us." He hovered. "Now, I can be nice and go back, letting you get your broom so we can ride back together, or I can keep going. Up to you, Draco."

"I'll get my broom," he sighed. Xander turned them around, heading back to the house. "Is tonight the feast?"

"Tonight's the ball, tomorrow's the wedding and the feast. So dress accordingly. You'll be surprised at Ginny, she's starting to show now." He landed and waited while the young man went to get his things. Draco came back out and shut the door. "Ready?" Draco nodded. "You don't look ready."

"I'm still thinking," Draco said as he mounted his broom and took off.

Xander shrugged and followed him. "It's understandable. You won't even have to talk to anyone tonight. Just dance with Ginny once please, she's been pouting because Ron won't." Draco looked at him. "Buffy showed up this morning and Ron seems to have gotten lost somewhere in her mouth," he explained with a frown. "She smiled at him so he grabbed her for a kiss. Earned some clapping and Giles hosing them both down." Draco smiled. "Ginny's all alone tonight. The rest of the brothers are guarding Percy against Melody, who thinks he'd be a great lay."

Draco Malfoy burst out laughing for the first time in nearly two months. He shook his head and pushed his broom a little faster.

Xander smiled. He had done the good thing.

***

Xander strolled into the ball on George's arm, shiny in his perfectly pressed robe that his future mother-in-law had picked out for him. A few of the students clapped, making him blush. He was going to get some tonight. He wasn't wearing anything under his robe except a butt plug and a thong, and only that because the robe rubbed against him and made him hard - and it showed. He swung George around to start the first dance, smiling down at him.

George smiled up at him. He was happy. His family was here. Ginny was fine, rotund but fine. Even Ron had quit snarling at Xander for the stunt. Of course, Ron was presently trying to crawl down Buffy's throat. "Hey, Ron," he called loudly. Ron glared at him. "What'd she have for dinner?"

Buffy smiled at him. "Your brother doesn't kiss and tell." She winked at Xander. "Looking good, Xan. Gonna wear that tomorrow?"

Xander shook his head. "Mrs. Weasley bought me something dark red for tomorrow. She said I looked better in it than the silver robe."

"Silver?" she asked.

"Well, he can't wear white," Charlie told her. A few people laughed. "Go on and kiss," Charlie called.

George looked at Xander, then leaned in to kiss him. One hand slid down the firm back to the buttocks, and squeezed. He pulled back and squeezed again, then drug Xander from the room and out into the garden to see if Xander really was naked under there. They joined together out under the moon, both of them sending their excess energy into the earth.

Draco walked over to where Ginny was sitting next to Percy and held out a hand. She smiled and took it, not saying anything because he didn't. They moved together slowly on the floor. "You look pretty," he told her. "Stunning actually."

She blushed. "Thank you. Mum said that pregnancy agrees with me." She allowed herself to be spun around. "You look handsome. Velvet suits you." He smiled a little. "Are you doing okay?" He nodded. "Are you sure? Mum and Dad said you could come stay with us for a week or so once the baby was born. Mum said you could change all the diapers you wanted."

He laughed, making the people around them smile. "We'll see." He led her back to her seat. "Juice?"

"Punch," she said. "And maybe some cheese?" She smiled cutely. He nodded, going to get it for her.

"He's not the boy I thought he was," Percy told her.

She punched him on the arm. "He's not a boy, no more than you are." She smiled as Draco came back with the requested items, making room for him on the bench. "Are you going to escort Xander tomorrow? Dad said that was the plan, but to ask you."

Draco shrugged. "He said I am."

"Cool. I'm the flower girl." She drank some of her punch, frowning when all the thin little girls seemed to come over and try to get Draco to dance. "Hussy," she hissed at one's back.

Draco put a hand on hers. "They're jealous because this state suits you so well," he said quietly. "Not only do you glow, but you're beautiful in a way they'll never be." He brushed a strand of hair away from her face. "They'll be sweaty and fat, you're stunning." She blushed and giggled. "Hurry up and we'll go again." She finished her snack and they went out to dance some more.

Percy huffed. "That boy is so obvious," he complained. Ron walked over to him. "As are you. Snogging in public."

"Shut up or I'm telling Melody that you want your knob shined." Percy looked shocked. "Yes, it came from Ron's mouth, get over it already." He took Ginny's spot.

"Dumped?"

"Buffy went to powder her nose with Hermione. Seen Harry yet?"

"He's hiding in a corner I believe," Percy said, pointing at where he could barely see Harry. "How is he? Quite a few people are wondering if he's going to be all right."

"He got accepted as second string for England," Ron told him. Percy smiled. "He's staying at home except for practice, but Hermione seems to be able to get him out of his house." Ron stood up as Buffy walked back toward him, her pink and white dress robe shimmering in the light. "'Scuse me, gotta go dance now." He hurried over, swinging her around to dance with her. She was so tiny next to him. She could wipe the floor with him, but he respected her for that.

Percy sat stiffly, watching the students flow around the room. He noticed one girl staring at him and smiled at her, hoping to discourage her. She came over and stood in front of him. "Will you dance with me, Percy Weasley?" she asked sweetly. He nodded and followed her onto the floor. She giggled when he started them moving. "I'm in Hufflepuff, my name's Kandy." She pinched him on the butt. "And I think you're very cute." She snuggled against him, putting her head on his shoulder.

Percy looked startled. Dear God, the girl was coming onto him. "What year are you?" he asked.

"I'll be a seventh year next year," she told him. "But I started a year late because I had mono." She grinned at him. "I'm almost as old as you are and I'd love to hear your most recent speech. I only got to hear the last half of it, but I agreed with all your reasoning. It sounded very well thought out. Though, I only got a little of the physics part of the speech. I was too busy staring at your eyes."

He swallowed nervously. He was trapped with a young woman who wanted him.

She gave him a squeeze. "I'm sorry if I seem so forward but my mum said I only have about three minutes to get my point across because most dances are only that long."

Percy smiled down at her. "I would gladly give you another if you'd care to continue our discussion. Are you interested in cauldron bottoms?"

She nodded. "I'm interested in standardizing all our components, except our wands of course. No one should have to suffer because of substandard equipment." She dipped him, making him squeak, which made her giggle some more. "You're funny," she told him. "I like you quite a lot."

He blushed. "Really? Most girls don't."

"Then they're just silly," she told him. "You're very interesting. You have a brain, unlike most boys." She glared at Ron, who was laughing on the other side of the dance floor. "Your brother can't even apologize when he runs you over." She looked up at him. "Good and nice boys are always better in my book." She leaned closer. "And geeks are my favorite people in the whole world because their brains turn me on." He blushed again, but they continued to dance for the rest of the night.

****

Xander nervously fidgeted with his robe. "Are you sure I look okay in this? It looks like spilled blood. Is that really the image I want to project on my wedding day?"

Ron smacked him on the back. "Calm down or I'm knocking you out, tying you up, and we're carrying you down the aisle."

"You he-man you," Harry said dryly. He fixed his collar and looked over Draco's outfit. "You ready yet?"

Draco nodded, brushing one last hair into place. "Done." He looked at Ron, one eyebrow going up. "Making a bad impression?"

"I haven't gotten to change yet." He walked into Xander's bathroom and changed his robes. He came out a few minutes later, dressed to impress a slayer. He took Xander's hand and tugged him toward the doorway. "C'mon, let's make an honest man out of you."

"After Dumbledore caught them going at it last night, I'm sure he's going to make sure of it," Harry said as he followed.

Draco laughed, remembering the old headmaster walking back in from outside, mouth open, cheeks red, not able to say anything. At least he had kept the four of them from running out to catch whatever evildoer that had shocked him so. Draco had snuck out to check the grounds and had found the naked happy couple, George on top of Xander, going at it with many moans and cries of pleasure. He had clapped, then run away before they could get him. When the couple had come back in, they were slightly rumpled but smiling.

Now Xander was dragging his feet, nervous about getting married. Murphy was waiting on them in the fixed entryway, and trilled happily as he flew down to perch on his daddy's shoulder. "You're heavy," Xander reminded him. "And rumpling my robe." Murphy bit him on the ear, drawing blood. "Ow! Fine, you can stay." He walked out, blinded by the sun. He stood there for a moment, then his eyes adjusted and he saw that everyone was right in front of him. "Oh, hey, I thought we were out by the greenhouses," he said as he walked down the aisle, led by his guards.

George smiled at him. "We thought we'd stun you and do it here," he told him. He took Xander's hand and turned toward Dumbledore, who was doing the ceremony. "We're ready," he said when it didn't start.

Ron looked around, then glared at the young woman standing at the door. He walked over and shoved Melody back inside, slamming the door in her face. "There," he said, walking back down the aisle. A few people tittered. He looked at Dumbledore. "Marry them now, before Fred has to jump in."

Fred looked at him. "Ron, don't make him do something naughty to you. I doubt Buffy would enjoy it tonight." Ron blushed and Buffy laughed. "Or not. She might be like that."

Xander cleared his throat. "Marry us now so we can go snog in private," he suggested.

Dumbledore looked down at him. "You'd better continue to do it in private from now on, young man," he said seriously. "I think I've seen plenty of you two together already." He coughed at the light laughter and opened his book. "Xander and George, we are here today to marry the both of you." He paused and looked down. "And I say it's about time." He went back to his book. "Is there anyone here who might object?"

Murphy squeaked and stared down at George, then cooed at him, hopping over to nuzzle him. He turned to look at the crowd and squawked angrily. He approved and they wouldn't get in the way!

Dumbledore chuckled. "I'd say he settled that point." He cleared his throat. "Xander, do you pledge yourself to George Weasley? If so, do it now."

Xander opened his mouth and looked at his lover. And squeaked. George laughed. "Good enough for me. I know how he feels."

"Then do the same for him," Dumbledore told him.

George looked at Xander and tried to mimic the squeak his lover had just made. The crowd laughed.

"I guess that's that. I now pronounce you married. Kiss shortly and let's go have a feast."

Xander grabbed George by the front of his robes and pulled him in for a deep, long kiss.

Buffy walked up and picked up Xander, carrying him away. "He said short. I'm hungry, let's go." She handed Xander back once she saw the funny looks she got. "What? Dumbledore said short. They weren't going to stop for a long time."

Ron came over and took her arm. "I'm sure we'll see more of it at dinner. Let's go inside and eat, shall we?"

Giles shook his head. "That girl," he sighed, following them inside.

Buffy smiled at him. "I get to retire next month," she told him. "Just in time to pick a snuggle bunny and settle down for fun and happies." She looked at Ron. "Want to try that with me? The Watchers Council is giving me a house and everything."

Ron nodded. "All right, we'll try. I'll be working at Firebolt starting this fall." He looked over and saw his father watching him. "That okay with you, dad?"

Arthur smiled. "That's fine. As long as we can reach you when the baby's born."

Buffy nudged Ron. "Don't expect any of those from me." Ron shook his head. "Good, as long as we're agreed." She followed him to his seat.

Xander giggled, leaning against George's side. "Two months," he told Arthur. "Big fight, two months, with lots of kissing to make up." He led George up to the head table, to his new permanent seat at his side. "You sit here," he said, putting George between him and Willow.

Giles sat down in his usual seat. "Where are you two planning on living?"

"We'll be splitting time between the shop and up here," Xander told him. "I'll be here Monday through Thursday nights and we'll spend the rest of the nights down in Hogsmeade."

"Sounds complicated," Willow said as she sat down with a smile for George. "Are you looking to take a job up here?"

George shuddered. "I could never teach," he told her. "I'm happy where I am."

She smiled. "That's good. Xander? Are you teaching next year?"

"He'd better be," Dumbledore told them as he walked up. "His salary is already set aside." He smiled at the crowd. "If you'll attend to me," he called. The students and guests looked at him. "Thank you. We are truly glad to have Professor Harris safely married to Mr. Weasley, and are hoping that Mr. Weasley will be able to make next year a calm school year." The students all laughed. "As always, we will miss our retiring seniors and wish them a happy life." That got some clapping. "I know you are all anxious to get on with your feast so you can finish packing. Please, eat and be merry." He sat down.

"No funny words?" Tara asked him.

Dumbledore smiled at her. "Next year, my dear."

McGonagall smiled at him. "Then you're coming back?"

"After a long vacation this summer. I believe I could use one. My last one reminded me that I hadn't taken one in many years." She nodded so he patted her on the hand. "Never fear, I will be back next year, only with a tan."

Xander chuckled. "I can just see you laying out, your beard bunned so it doesn't get in the way of your tan." He looked around everybody. "Did the entryway look good enough or do I have more work to do this summer?"

"I think it was an excellent job." Dumbledore looked at George. "Are you taking a honeymoon?"

"Fredericka demanded I bring him up there for a week. We're leaving tomorrow." Xander lifted his fork and looked at his plate. "No food?"

"I'm going to have to talk to the house elves," Dumbledore said, waving his wand at the plate. Nothing happened and he glanced down at Xander, who was nibbling on his lip. "Let it go," he told him.

Xander looked at Fang, who turned back into a dainty white poodle. The food appeared and the students who could see laughed because Fang had whined in complaint.

Hagrid looked down at him. "You look cute like that, you'll be fine."

Xander dug into his food, holding George's hand on top of the table.

***

That night, when they got together, the castle shook on it's foundations.

"Xander!" was yelled down the hallways.

"Wasn't us," George called back. "Go yell at Ron and Buffy."

McGonagall opened the door and stepped in, glaring at the naked and sweaty men. "Put the bed back against the wall, boys. You nearly brought the castle down." She glared at them until they got up and moved the bed back. "Thank you."

"It was ready to dance with happiness?" Xander suggested lightly. He got growled at. "Never mind. I'll be good now." She scared him.

"See that you do." She stomped off.

Xander hopped up and went to close and lock the doors. "Sorry about that," he said with a grin.

George motioned him back and gave him a kiss. "Just don't do it at the shop. We have exploding things." Xander looked cute. "We'll figure out our room this summer." He pulled his husband down so he could nibble on his neck, making him squeal. "I think we should get back to what we were doing. I don't want to have sex in a nest, no matter how comfy it might be."

"But it'd be fun," Xander told him. "And very safe."

"No, Xander. No sex in a nest. We'll go outside and play in the woods instead."

"Okay," Xander sighed. "We won't have sex in a nest." He sucked on a taut nipple. "Can I at least cuddle in a nest?"

"We'll see."

*** Five Months Later ***

Draco walked up to the new nursery, frowning when he smelled the nasty smell. "No wonder you're crying," he muttered, grabbing his daughter to take her downstairs and change her. "How do I do this?" he called.

Molly Weasley walked out of the kitchen. "You take the diaper off, you clean her buttocks, then you put a clean one on," she told him, watching as he followed the simple steps.

Draco got his first look at what was stinking up his daughter. "Eww," he told her. "It's green!"

"They do that, dear," Molly assured him. She handed over a washcloth. "Just clean her gently."

Draco tried to clean it up. "It's not coming off," he whined. She laughed and he gave her a hurt look. "What?"

"You can't be that gentle. Simone won't break." She went back into the kitchen, only coming back when she heard the shriek. "Draco?"

Ron came running down the stairs, his wand out. He stopped and laughed when he saw the front of his enemy's shirt. "She got you too, huh?" he teased. Draco glared at him.

"Put a diaper back on her before you get it again," Molly advised. She watched as her precious granddaughter let loose again, this time down Draco's front. "Well, I did warn you." She looked at her son. "Finish changing Simone while Draco go cleans up," she ordered, going back into the kitchen.

Draco whimpered and went to wash his chest off.

"Ferrets don't like water?" Ron teased.

"Prat," Draco snarled.

"Git," Ron shot back.

"Prancing fairy," Draco shouted.

"Bouncing ball of fur!"

"Butt fucker!"

"Me? Aren't you mixing me up with my brother, blood sucker?"

"Enough," Xander said tiredly from his place on the couch. His wand appeared over the top and the two young men were drawn toward each other slowly, and forced to kiss.

"Eurgh," Ron shouted. "Xander!"

"You knew better. Put a diaper on the baby and let me nap."

Draco quickly finished cleaning the baby and handed her to Xander, going upstairs to clean up.

Ron went back upstairs to finish dressing. He was going to continue to try and teach Buffy how to fly. She wasn't quite hopeless, but it was damn close enough to be so. He came down a few minutes later, his hair wet and his shirt unbuttoned. "Mum, I'm heading to Buffy's."

"Take her this," Molly called, handing over a bag. "That girl needs to eat more. She's nothing but skin and bones."

"I'm sure he makes her wear it off," Xander suggested.

"Prat," Ron muttered, heading out the door.

Xander giggled. "I'm not a baby carriage."

"That would be pram, dear," Molly said as she walked out, looking down at the baby. "Is she all right?"

"Smells normal again," he opinioned. He held her up but she shook her head. "You're sure?"

"No, Ginny will be up soon enough. Let her deal with it." She smiled at him. "How's your head?"

"Still hurts. I thought about making Ron polka dotted, but Buffy would try and kill me if I kept picking on him." He looked at the open window as Murphy and one of the chicks flew toward the house. "Her worshiper is coming." The chick flew in and landed on the back of the couch, cooing at the baby. "Good, you watch her until her mom gets up." He put the baby on the rug, watching as both phoenixes flew down to nestle against her. "Glinda, no nipping," he warned.

The chick hissed at him and went back to rubbing her head against the baby's stomach. It was her human, he should butt out.

Xander shrugged and reclosed his eyes. His head hurt. He needed to go prank someone. He concentrated and waved his wand lazily, sending his powers out to tease his husband. He laughed when he felt the headache leave him. Fred would find it funny at least. The George-puppy was so cute.

*** Epilogue ***

Simone Weasley stepped onto the train, waving at her parents. She found a compartment by herself, just for her and her bird. She pulled out one of her books and started reading. The train moved and she glanced out the window, but her mother had already left. She got to read for a whole ten minutes before the door opened. "I'd like to be alone," she said stiffly.

"Don't be that way," a young boy said, coming in and sitting across from her. "Holy God, that's a phoenix!"

She closed her book and looked at him, frowning. "Yes, it is. It adopted me when I was newly born. According to my mother, it was standing at the end of the bed encouraging me to come out while her grandfather was trying to get her out of the room. She's also got a fondness for Professor Snape and my father." His eyes went wide. "Who're you?"

"Ryan Rosenberg. My mother made me take the train even though I live at Hogwarts. Said something about a rite of passage or some such." He relaxed. "So, what's her name?"

"Glinda."

"After the good fairy in the Wizard of Oz?"

She smiled. "Yes. You're the first to get that."

"My mum read it to me when I was younger." Ryan looked at her book. "What'cha readin'?"

"Hogwarts, A History. My aunt gave it to me. It's her copy."

"You're a Weasley," he accused. She nodded. "Then who's your aunt? There's only one daughter from what my mum said."

"My aunt Hermione. She's an adopted aunt, my grandmother decided to adopt her." Simone curled up on her seat, nudging her phoenix, who squawked at her. "Oh, quit. We're going to see Severus tonight." Her phoenix cooed and settled back down to nap.

"I didn't think they'd let you have one of those yet. Strange animals are only for later years."

She shrugged. "I saw someone with a dog," she noted. "Besides, she's not any problem."

"So, what's your name?" he asked with a grin.

"Simone."

"Then Ron's your uncle too? He's the only one of you I've met beside George."

"And Professor Harris. He married one of my uncles. Are you taking Defense classes?" The boy nodded. "Then I'm sure we'll be seeing each other." She opened her book. "You can stay if you're quiet."

He snorted and wiggled his fingers at the bird. The chick shifted, fluffing out her feathers. He looked over as the door opened, raising an eyebrow at the blond boy standing there. "Who're you, pillock?"

"Malfoy," he said, coming in and sitting next to his half-sister. "I expected you to come sit with us."

"Your friends annoy me," she said, not looking up. He grabbed her book and she kicked him hard. "Mine." She snatched it back. "I would go sit with your friends, but they're mean to Glinda and I don't like them. They're arseholes."

"Simone!" Malfoy snapped. "Language. I'll tell father."

She snorted. "He agrees with me." She looked at her phoenix. "Want to go see the great, bloody, hemorrhoided, arseholes?" Her chick hissed. "Sorry." She smiled at him. "Though you're allowed to stay for a bit. This is Professor Rosenberg's son."

"Ryan," he said, waving. "What's your first name, Malfoy?"

"Denver. My mother said she named me after where I was conceived."

"And father hates his name," Simone finished. She smiled at Ryan. "Is Professor Maclay's son on board too?" Ryan nodded. "Why didn't you sit with him?"

"Because our mothers are fighting and we always get into it. Our father hates it when we fight so we decided long ago to avoid each other." He looked at the other boy. "Where's Denver?"

"In America. My father likes to travel. Takes off for six months at a time some years." Denver smoothed down the sleeves of his robe. "Simone, are you hoping for Slytherin?"

"I don't care," she reminded him. "Slytherin, Gryffindor, no matter where I go, someone's going to be pissed." She reopened her book. "Can you preen Glinda? She won't let me near her tail feathers."

"She might be ready to go into heat," Ryan offered. "My mother told me about the year when she was born. Matter of fact, we have a set of eggs hardening right now from the clutch after hers." Simone shrugged. "You aren't excited?"

Denver snorted. "This one used to try and impress Professor Snape by going and crapping on his least favorite student's plates. We grew up with chicks." The door opened and he sighed. "Hello, Melvin."

Melvin sat down with a bounce, smiling at them. "What's going on?" he asked.

"Nothing, Melvin," Simone told him. "How's Uncle Percy?"

"Fine. Bit torn up that I'm leaving, but otherwise fine. I'm sure he'll be popping up soon enough."

Simone looked up at him. "Is he over the loss of aunt Kandy yet?" Melvin shook his head. "At least he still has your sister."

"I caught him holding her so tightly she was complaining," Melvin told her. "I owled grandma last night to remind her I was leaving today. I'm sure dad'll go home for dinner tonight."

"And probably Uncle Xander and Ron too," Denver put in.

"You call them uncle?" Ryan asked.

"Uncle Xander pops up every now and then to make my father laugh and annoy him. Uncle Ron comes over and gives me annoying toys from Uncles George and Fred to piss my dad off. But I'm not allowed to call them uncle at school."

Simone snorted. "I doubt they'd mind as long as we're not in class." She turned the page. "Did you know that Uncle Ron is giving whichever of us Weasleys make the Quidditch team a new broom?"

"My dad gave me his old nimbus, just in case." Simone looked over at him. "He shrunk it and I can't get it back up unless I make the team." Denver shifted some. "He said that none of the modern brooms do as good as his old one. Told Uncle Ron it was his fault."

Simonr nodded. "Uncle Harry and dad have a match against each other today."

"They'll probably sit up above the crowd and talk while they search for the snitch," Denver said with a chuckle. "Last time they faced off, they did it and it confused both coaches. Until the announcer remembered that they had gone to school together and were both rather reclusive because of that battle."

Simone looked at Ryan. "Whatever you do, don't mention that battle. Don't talk about the history that Uncle Ron has with the other teachers, and don't ask him to tell you any stories. He still has nightmares and I doubt he needs to be reminded."

"Uncle Harry still never comes out of his house," Denver told her. "Aunt Hermione is the only one who can get him to come out. That and a game or a practice."

Simone sighed. "It's understandable. Uncle Harry was very badly hurt. Dad was really badly hurt. Neither one like people because happy people make them remember back before the battle. Uncle Harry told me that people make him nervous, that's why he never comes out."

"Yeah, Dad told me that people bothered him, that's why he never came out. People keep comparing him to his dad and everything and it bothers him." He smiled. "If I make Slytherin and you make Gryffindor, who do you think he'll cheer more for?"

"Me," Simone said simply. "He loves me more because I'm special." She smiled at Ryan. "Where are you hoping to go?"

"Mum wants me in Ravenclaw. Dad just wants me to put down my comic books. Professor Harris handed me a stack of them for Christmas and taught me how to get them through the mail. Dad hates them."

"And your mum?" Simone asked.

"She laughs and said it was fair for Xander to corrupt me, he had already done you lot and his own son was funny in the head." Ryan grinned. "Uncle Xander might be over Gryffindor this year. McGonagall was thinking about it since she just took over this year and can't head the house anymore."

"The problem would be that he doesn't live there full time," Simone told him.

"I guess they'll work it out." Denver looked over as the door opened, sighing in disgust. "Oh, look, it's the *old* Slytherin gang. Trying to stage a coup?" he asked dryly.

Simone snorted. "If they do, I'm telling dad."

"And who's your dad, little girl," one of the extra large boys asked.

"Draco Malfoy," she and Denver said together. They backed out of the compartment. "Bye," she called. "Bother me and I'm siccing my phoenix on you." They ran off. "Well, I can tell we're going to have problems from them." She watched as a jumpy, twitchy young girl stalked down the hall after the probable Slytherins. "Um, is that who I think it is?"

"Looks like her," Melvin said. "Her mother still stalks dad every now and then." He got up and locked the door. "Maybe she won't bother us."

Simone gave him a 'get real' look. "We'll hide behind Uncle Xander if we have to. He'll beat her ass."

"Simone!" Denver shouted.

"Oh, shut up. If you can swear, so can I. Women's liberation was a wonderful movement last century. Maybe you should read up on it." Simone flipped back open her book. "Now leave me alone or I'm telling Glinda to decorate your bed tonight."

Denver sighed. He couldn't fight with his sister. She could kick his ass. Her uncles had taught her to fight dirty and it wasn't fair. But if he complained to his father, he'd laugh. Draco Malfoy doted on all three of the girls he had with her mother. His mother was flying around somewhere and he had been adopted by Ginny too so he couldn't even complain to her. Now if only those two would get together permanently.

***

Minerva McGonagall stood up to face down her first class as headmistress. "As you all know, Albus Dumbledore retired this summer. I am Headmistress McGonagall, former head of Gryffindor." She smiled at them. "I will expect things to run as if Albus were still here." She nodded at the door as she sat down, watching the first years be brought in by Professor Sprout. She had offered when Snape had refused. She smiled when she saw both Malfoys, the Rosenberg, the Maclay, the Harris-Weasley, and the DuPuis. It was going to be nothing if not an interesting year. She looked down at Professor Harris, who was frowning at his son because his robes weren't askew. She smiled at him and shook her head. Children would be what they were. How his son had turned out like Percy Weasley she would never know. She watched as most of the family was separated into Gryffindor. Yes, he was going to have a very interesting house this year.

It had been decided that Ron Weasley would officially head Gryffindor house, but only because Professor Harris was absent too often to be of any real use. Ron had told Harris quite firmly that he was sending all the problem students to him. Harris had simply smiled and said 'okay'. She saw his glance at his house. The table was rather full already and only half of the fifty students had been placed. The next six went to Slytherin though, so it might be all right. She looked down the line, stopping at DuPuis. She hoped that girl got sorted somewhere other than Gryffindor. She sighed when the girl went to Slytherin. A good placement for her brand of mischief.

The rest of the students were sorted and she stood up. "Welcome to another year at Hogwarts. Before we begin our feast, I have a few announcements to make. The Forbidden Forest is off limits, as most of the older students can tell you....

A glittering body flew into the Great Hall from the open doorway. McGonagall started to open her mouth and ask but she knew exactly what it was. She had to hide her smile when the phoenix landed on top of Snape's head and looked down to talk to him. He growled and frowned, but one bony finger raised and petted the phoenix gently.

Yes, a very interesting year.

The Quidditch Match, A Snippet

Xander allowed himself to be led out to the quidditch pitch by McGonagall. It was the first game of the year and a few of his kids were playing. He smiled and sat down next to Hagrid, actually next to Fang, and petted the poor puppy gently. "Hi," he said happily. \

"Gonna root for Harry then?"

"I root for all my kids," Xander told him. "I don't want to play favorites."

"Then you're gonna root for both sides?" Hagrid asked.

Xander nodded. "I don't play favorites. With the exception of a favorite food, I don't pick any favorites." He accepted sloppy puppy kisses from Fang. "Yeah, you understand, don't you, big guy."

Hagrid shook his head. "You're odd."

Xander beamed. "Thank you."

McGonagall sat down on Xander's other side. "I'm sure it will all turn out fine, even though Gryffindor will win."

"Care to place a friendly wager on that?" Hagrid suggested.

She frowned and shook her head. "It wouldn't look right for me to do so."

"Besides, she already has one put in with the bookies in Hufflepuff," Xander told him.

"Xander!"

"What? I saw you put down five sickles."

Hagrid laughed. "That's how most of us do it these days. Better odds." He patted his dog's back. "He demanded the right ta come see ya."

"I'm sorry I haven't come down this week, but I've had a run of tests to grade." He clapped as both teams took to the air.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, allow me to start off the first game of the new year at Hogwarts," the announcer said. "It's a breezy fifty degrees and sunny today on the field and both teams have taken the air to warm up. Slytherin is facing a mostly new team this year, what with all but their seeker graduating last year, and Gryffindor is using last year's second string plus their most famous seeker of all time, Harry Potter!" The crowd went nuts, cheering and stomping. "And the referee releases the balls. They're off!"

Xander sat back to relax and watch the game go on. It was really exciting. They zoomed from end to end, back and forth, and he only got a little dizzy while following the chasers. His section had to duck when a bludger was sent their way by the Slytherin team, the announcer calling the foul a heartbeat before the referee did. He cheered for his students as they scored, earning quite a few looks from his fellow teachers.

"He doesn't pick favorites," Hagrid told them when Xander was glared at. He liked the boy, best to protect him from the house rivalry system.

Xander smiled back at Professor Snape. "Not having been sorted into a house, I can cheer for everybody," he reminded him sweetly. He scratched absently at his leg. Snape 'humphed' and he turned back around. "Go Harry!" he yelled as Harry tried to lose Draco, who was following him closely. The announcer said he did some sort of feint maneuver, but it wasn't anything Xander understood. Xander glanced around, looking at the students gathered around. He caught sight of Melody, who was also scratching. Apparently she could feel a build up of power too. He shook his head, consciously trying to dump some of his own energy into anything but the magic. It would be bad if he let it go. He caught Dumbledore's eye and shrugged, looking apologetic. He got a smile in return, so apparently the older man understood what was going on. He was really sorry in advance if something happened.

"'Scuse me," a deep voice said, shoving Xander and McGonagall apart so he could sit between them. "Hi."

"Fred?" Xander asked. Fred nodded. "Why did you come up?"

"Because George sprained his ankle and told me to come take his place. Popcorn?" he asked, handing over a small bag.

Xander munched, ignoring the tingling going on as the hair on the back of his neck and his back grew. "Cool!" he shouted, clapping for the latest Gryffindor goal. He had three students on Gryffindor and two on Slytherin's side. Fred looked at him. "I'm cheering for my students, not the teams," he told him.

Fred reached over and tugged on the newly grown hair. "If you say so."

"Yup, I do. I don't have a house loyalty, just student loyalty." He reached back and touched the hair. "Braid it," he told him. Fred snickered. "Really, it's probably very messy and what would George say if he saw it being so nasty and snarly." He pulled out a comb and handed it over. "Here you go. Use that."

Fred shook his head but did try to straighten some of the hair up so his friend would look cute for his twin. He cheered at the next Gryffindor goal, laughing when he saw Xander taking another bite of popcorn. That boy was going to look like a yeti by the time that bag was done if he didn't watch out.

Xander felt the itch coming back and scratched at his palms, the only unhairy spot on his hands. "How long does this last?"

"Few hours," Fred told him. "You should be fine by tonight." He finished braiding the thick neck hair and handed back the comb, plus a piece of gum. "Candy?"

Xander looked at him, then at the gum. "Color changing?"

"Would I do that to you?" Fred asked innocently. "After all, you've already tested all that, so it's old news."

Xander shrugged. "You know I'll test anything for you guys as long as it's not harmful." He chewed on the gum, turning all the hair on his body bright red. He looked down at the back of his hands. "This is cute, now I really look like one of you."

McGonagall looked over at them. "Weasley," she said sharply. "Behave or go join the house."

Fred gave her his most innocent look. "He volunteered."

Xander nodded. "I did volunteer, and hey, I'm warm now."

She shook her head and went back to the game. "Boys," she said warmly.

Xander grinned at Fred. "I am really warm."

"That's good. George wouldn't like it if you got a cold from the game." He cheered the next goal with Xander, who clapped loudly.

Apparently the announcer noticed what was going on too. "And the crowds in the teacher's box are going wild, especially the wild looking Professor Harris, who is, as usual, a walking advertisement for Weasley Wizardly Wheezes. Cute do, Prof."

"Evens," McGonagall said sharply. "The game."

"Yes, ma'am." He turned back to the game, calling out who was running with the quaffle just then.

Xander groaned as the itch started again. It really wasn't going to be funny if he didn't dump some of it soon. He sent some of it into Fang, making him roll over and beg for tummy scratches. It wasn't enough though.

Out on the field, all the quidditch robes melted like they were made of water, leaving the players in their undergarments, and one girl in her long johns. The Gryffindor beaters hit the bludgers away before they realized what was going on, but the breeze had been growing.

"Xander!" A shriek from on the field.

"It wasn't me," he told them, still itching.

"Melody!" someone else yelled.

"Hey, I'm being good!" she yelled back. She pointed at Draco and snickered. "Gee, couldn't find a jock that fit?" she howled.

He glared at her. "It's none of your business how my jock fits." He glared at Xander. "Can't you do something about this?" That's when he noticed the extra hair. "Never mind, not if I have to end up looking like that."

Xander took out his wand and ran his fingers down it, then out at the boys. They ended up in really long t-shirts, bearing flowers. His old Hawaiian shirt collection. "That's as good as I can do," he called.

Harry looked up and then took off, Draco noticing him moving a second later. They jockeyed for position, moving closer and closer to the little gold snitch. Draco tried to shove him, but it sent Harry sideways, making his broom hit Draco in the most sensitive area. He hopped up to stand on his broom and grabbed the snitch before his broom could roll, and turned in time to see Draco fall, clutching his balls. "Sorry about that," he called with a smug grin. "I got it!" he yelled. The referee didn't move. "Blow the bloody whistle already!" Slytherin had just tried to make a goal while she was stunned.

Madam Hooch shook herself and blew the whistle.

"And Gryffindor wins!" the announcer yelled. "With a brilliant bout of unselfconsciousness by the two seekers, the game was won when Harry Potter caught the snitch in that horribly loud shirt. The game concludes with the score of 160 to 120. Thank you, Hogwarts! And please, go get dressed people, it's rather windy out here."

"Evens!"

"Well, it is. Only Professor Harris and his new coat are really warm. I'd like to see the headlines for this one."

"Evens!" McGonagall said again. "Enough. Into the showers, everyone." Dumbledore looked at her. "I meant the players. They're probably quite cold."

Xander looked at her. "I don't even know that spell," he told her. "Magic is a big fluffy puppy to me, it likes to jump up and lick me and beg cutely, but I can only do what I know how to do. So it couldn't have been me." He pulled Fred up and took him back into the castle, directly to his rooms. "It wasn't me," he said, stopping to laugh. "Melody is in such trouble."

"If you say so," Fred agreed, trying not to laugh. It was just so funny. When they had finally calmed down, Fred nodded at the door. "Can I tell George that you liked it then?"

"Sure, I love the extra hair. I might go for this look again, it's very comfy." Xander curled up on his couch. "Have fun, Fred, and thanks for coming up to sit with me."

"You're welcome." He walked out, smiling at the students walking past him to head up to their dorms. He casually handed someone a bag of popcorn from his pockets. She had said she was hungry. And getting one over on a Slytherin was always good. He smirked when he saw Harry and Ron shoving each other as Harry ran up the stairs in what was obviously Ron's robe. Then Draco Malfoy ran past, scuttling to his room as quickly as the too-short shirt would allow him to. He saw him take some of the popcorn and had to bite his lip until he got outside. Then he howled in laughter.

"Something funny?" Snape asked as he walked up the front stairs of the school.

"Popcorn," Fred gasped, "jock strap." He shook himself as he pulled himself together. "Are the kids coming down tomorrow?"

"Yes, tomorrow is a weekend in town," Dumbledore told him with a smile. "Where is Professor Harris? I'm sure he'll want his shirts back.

"In his room, curled up like the bigfoot he looks like." Fred grinned and strolled away, having to wipe his eyes from the tears of laughter when he heard the howl of rage from inside the school. Sounds like someone had gotten Melody, or Draco had grown some hair. It was funny, that boy shaved everything. He ran into the shop and turned to lock the door, putting out the 'out to lunch' sign.

"I can run the store," George said from his seat, his foot propped up.

"Naked," Fred gasped, starting to laugh again.

George put aside his book. "Naked what? Or who?"

"Teams." Fred gasped for air. "Melody." He nodded. "Draco shaves."

George burst out laughing. "Really?" Fred nodded. "Who won?"

"Gryffindor by forty." Fred walked over and sat behind the counter where he could see his brother but not be seen. "Xander tested our new ever-grow popcorn." George smiled. "And the hairdye gum. Liked them both." He giggled again. "Melody apparently derobed everyone on both teams, then made a pass at Malfoy." His giggles picked up. "And he shaves everything, that boy does." George closed his eyes as his laughter started to pick up. "Xander put him and Harry in his old shirts, the loud ones. Harry got the snitch by getting Malfoy in the balls with his broom." George toppled onto the floor he was laughing so hard. "And I gave Malfoy and some other Slytherins some of the ever-grow popcorn."

"Too brilliant," George gasped. "I wanted to see that."

"Madam Hooch froze when she saw the robes melt off."

"Oh, God."

Someone pounded on the door. "Help!" Melody yelled.

George made sure he couldn't be seen by her. It served her right for going after his man. She gave up and ran on, hoping to get away from the angry students. And Fang, who was just a bit shaggier now because he had snatched some of the spilled popcorn for himself. She would have to pay penance to the Slytherins for costing them the game. "I wonder what dinner will be like tonight," he said conversationally once he had himself back under control.

"I dare say that some people will be skipping it to shave," Fred noted.

The door opened and a small female stepped inside, but it was relocked and Ginny came over to collapse near them on the floor. She burst out laughing. "She is in *so* deep," she told them. "The Slytherins are claiming vengeance against Melody. Madam Rosemerta kicked her out of the Three Broomsticks before the rampaging herd broke everything. They dragged her back to their house to shave Draco herself, convinced that she did that to him too." She reached over and swatted Fred. "That was so mean," she told him.

He grinned. "What? I didn't melt the robes." He stood up and checked outside, going to reopen the store now that the danger had passed.

A Collection Of Snippets

Note: Because someone asked about how all the kids were the same age. Oh, and the one scene was because my mind went funny places earlier when I read a commonly used line.

Snippet 1:

Xander and George walked into the Burrow, just back from their week with the gryphons. It had been a strange honeymoon. All the gryphons had either laughed at George, or wanted to see them make out. Very strange for the great fluffy pranksters. Xander flopped down onto the couch, pulling George down beside him. Mrs. Weasley had gone out, she'd left them a note, and would be back soon. Of course, she had forbidden them to touch anything in the kitchen, but that was okay. Xander had other things to nibble. He turned his head and found his husband's neck within easy nipping range.

"Xander! Someone might see us," George complained. "I've been watched enough recently."

"Tough," Xander murmured into the warm skin. "You taste nummy." His husband wiggled but didn't pull away. "You taste like warm air and me."

"That's because your lips are continually there," Bill said as he came down the stairs. He smiled at the new couple. "Having fun?"

"I've been gaped at enough," George told him, pushing Xander away. "Home for a while?"

"Vacation. My boss insisted because I haven't taken one in a while." He sat down on Xander's other side. "So, you're George's naughty husband. Do I have to warn you about treating him right?"

"No," Xander told him with a grin. "But if you do, I'll prank you so badly you'll beg the twins to get you next time."

Bill laughed. "Good. It's good to see George has someone like him." He patted Xander on the knee. "But trust me, I'll feed you to a troll if you try and hurt him." He stood up. "Mum not back yet?"

"No and she banned us from the kitchen."

"Ahh," Bill said, grinning at his brother. "I guess she didn't want you to hex it." He laughed and walked away. He knew *exactly* why they weren't allowed in the kitchen and he was going to keep them out. After all, their mother had worked for two days on that cake. He smirked at Ginny when he found her lounging in the garden tanning. "Tired already?"

"Baby started to kick," she complained. She opened her eyes and looked up at him. "The brat likes the sun."

He nodded and sat beside her on the grass, reaching over to rub her tiny stomach. "I'm sure the child will give you a new appreciation for many things." The baby kicked him. "Damn, you're strong, little witch."

Ginny snorted. "I still think it's a boy."

"I'm sure it's a girl," he argued. "She's going to be very sweet and like me quite a lot."

"At least he calms down when you're around." Ginny closed her eyes again. "Did I hear George and Xander?"

"Yup. They were snogging on the couch. I got to tease them a little."

She snickered. "It can be quite sickening," she agreed. She shifted some. "Want to carry the baby for a while for me? It's getting heavy."

"No." He stood up. "But if you're good and help me do something mean when Percy gets here, I'll give you a foot rub."

She opened her eyes again. "Throw in a backrub and I'll even pull the prank myself."

He laughed and shook his head as he walked away.

"I wasn't joking," she called after him.

Her older brother waved at her as he walked into the house. He pushed Xander out of the refrigerator and back into the living room. "No peeking. It's a surprise."

"I just needed a soda," he whined, looking pitiful. "I need my caffeine fix, otherwise I'll get grumpy and George will pout."

"Nice try." Bill handed him back to George. "Yours I believe." The fireplace dinged and his mother stepped out of it. "I kept them out of the kitchen," he told her. "Ginny's lying in the sun."

"Good." She bustled into the kitchen, but came out and handed Xander one of the sodas her husband had picked up. Xander gave her a grin. "Poor boy. Were you without caffeine the whole time?"

"No, we brought some with us," George told her dryly. "He's horrid when he hasn't had any." He opened the soda and took a drink then handed it back. "Thank you." He stood up. "I'm going to bug Ginny. How's she doing?"

"Baby's kicking. Her ankles hurt."

"All normal things for a pregnant woman," Mrs. Weasley said as she went back to the kitchen. A few minutes later, everyone could hear her demanding Ginny put her top back on.

Xander snuggled back into George's side, content now that he had a soda and his husband. His life was good. "So, what else is going on?"

"Ron's at an interview. Fred's at work and said he'd be back tonight. Dad's gonna be back in a few hours. We're all here to meet Percy's girl. What's her name?"

"Kandy."

"Someone named her Candy?"

"With a 'K'," Xander added.

Bill's nose wrinkled. "Parents can be mean." He clapped Xander on the shoulder. "You two behave and stay down here. Don't want to traumatize mum, now do we?" He grabbed his broom and went outside.

George stole a kiss. "Think we should behave?"

"Can I prank him?" Xander asked sweetly, trying to look cute and innocent.

"We know you better than that," Ginny said as she walked behind them. "Xander, can you give backrubs?"

"I give killer backrubs," he said proudly. "Would you like one?"

"Please?" she begged. "I'll be nice and make you a picnic tomorrow." She walked in and stood in front of the couple. "Please? The brat is really active and killing my back."

"Take a long hot bath," her mother called from the kitchen. She popped out. "That should help most of it."

"He likes to swim," she told her mother. "He gets *more* active."

Her mother smiled. "He'll calm down soon enough, though by then you'll have given birth and won't be sleeping for a bit." She looked down at Xander. "If you do submit to her desires, do be careful about her lower back. Doing it too hard could send her into early labor."

"Okay." Xander nodded, smiling at Ginny. "Go find some oil or something and I'll give you one down here."

"Put a towel on the couch or something, dear," Molly said as she disappeared.

"Yes, mom," Xander called after her. "Go," he told the girl, smacking her on the arm. "The more you stand and stare, the longer your back hurts." She walked as quickly as she could from the room, going to find what he had asked her for.

"She had better not get used to it," George whispered in Xander's ear. "I'm not sending you back here every day so she can have your hands on you." Xander shivered. He liked it when George got possessive. "We're going back to the shop tomorrow, right?" Xander nodded, shifting because of the hand on his thigh. "And you're going to be a good boy and test naughty stuff for me, right?" The hand moved and Xander nodded quicker, starting to pant. "Good." George withdrew his hand. Just in time because his mother walked back into the room with a plate of snacks. "Thanks, mum. Were you going to pounce Kandy tonight?"

"I should think that she's a wonderful girl. Percy deserves to have a wonderful girl."

"She's kinda shy," Xander told her. "She took Willow and Tara's class so I taught her for about three days while they were out sick. She was shy, but smart. She even dissed a few of the stupid idiots who took the class to watch Tara and Willow."

Molly Weasley laughed. "Good. Then she's what Percy needs. A smart girl who will worship him."

"Mum, Percy needs a *talk* before you let him loose on her," George reminded her. "You never did give him permission to have sex."

She blushed. "George Weasley, that's sick!"

"Hey, you told Ginny she couldn't have sex until you told her she could and look what happened," Xander agreed, sticking up for his mate. She swatted him, but she was smiling. "Maybe you should have a talk with him though," he said seriously.

She sighed. "I'll pull him aside and make sure he has all the spells and the like," she agreed. "And do be nice to Ginny, her hormones are a bit rampant at the moment."

"She's got very glowing skin," George told her. "She looks wonderful."

"Thank you," Ginny said as she walked in. She presented the bottle of oil to Xander. "I stole it from Ron's room, he won't mind too much."

Xander sniffed it, then wrinkled his nose. "No wonder Buffy smelled like that." He pointed at the floor. "There or the couch?"

"Couch." She waited until everyone was up and then carefully covered the cushions with a towel. "There," she said happily, flopping down on her stomach. She grunted and shifted some. "Sorry, kid."

Xander grinned as he knelt beside the couch. "Kids always get in the way. Think about how few snogging sessions your parents get because of you guys."

"Eww," George said dryly. His mother laughed. "It's nasty to think about you doing that," he complained.

"How did you think the rest of us got here?" Ginny asked. She smiled up at her big brother. "I'm sure if you thought back, you might have even heard my conception."

George shuddered and whimpered, much to his mother's delight. He made a face and grabbed his broom. "I'm going to bother Bill. You two do whatever." He quickly walked away, going to hide from the bad thoughts.

Molly giggled like a school girl then went back to her baking. "Thank you, the both of you."

Xander grinned at his little sister. "Nice work." He poured some of the oil out onto her back, starting up at her shoulders. "Kick me if it hurts."

"If it's really good, I'll carry your kids for you," she sighed as her back stopped hurting.

"I don't think we're going to have that problem," he told her. "I managed to stop the gryphon trying to convince George to have one, we shouldn't have any more problems with it." He moved further down, missing her bikini top's strings.

***

Fred looked over at the fireplace as it dinged and Percy stepped out. "Hello," he said quietly. "Ginny's asleep on the couch."

Percy nodded and turned to help his girlfriend out of the fireplace. He smiled at her. "You remember Fred?" he asked her.

Fred waved. "George is out back with Xander, hiding in the woods somewhere so we don't have to see them snog. Ginny's sleeping on the couch. Bill's still out for a fly. Mum's gone to get a last minute something." He stood up. "Welcome to the Burrow, watch out for Xander, he's in a mood today."

Percy smiled. "I'm sure she'll be safe from him." He nearly jumped at the explosion outside. "What was that?"

"Xander," Fred noted dryly. "Power surge. He gets them whenever they make out. I wake up every morning to a roaring fire and some sort of water boiling." He smiled at the young woman. "How are you today?"

She chuckled. "Your mother put you on your best behavior?"

Fred nodded, looking grim. "Threatened to make me watch you two snog actually. Or her and dad."

Percy made a face. "That's a rather disturbing thought."

"Ginny came up with it." Fred pointed at the garden. "Take her out there if you dare. The naked running person disappeared a few moments ago and I've got a prank to set up for dad."

Percy took Kandy's hand and led her out to the garden area. "It's best we get out of his way. There's no telling what will be exploding next." He sat her on a small seat and pulled one over to sit next to her. "Your mother was quite nice," he told her "She seemed to really like me."

"She remembers her youth and is very happy that I'm not following in her footsteps," Kandy told him with a faint grin. "She dated a muggle biker person."

"Like bicycles?"

"No, like motorcycles. Which can be quite thrilling, but she regrets most of her twenties because of him." She leaned over and kissed him on the cheek. "Relax, your mother liked me at the wedding."

"She certainly did," Molly said as she stepped out. "Your father's going to be a bit late," she told him with a smile. "I hope you don't mind if we wait dinner?"

Kandy grinned at her. "Not at all. My mother fed us a small tea to tide us over from lunch."

Molly smiled at her. "Good. I'd like to meet her one of these days. Preferably before the wedding," she added with a wink to her son.

Percy groaned and blushed. "Mum, that's getting a bit ahead of things."

Kandy patted him on the hand. "Whenever you're ready, Percy dear. I think I'd look smashing in a gown and my mother has accepted you as part of the family. She really adored you."

Percy blushed a little brighter.

***

Xander watched Percy and Kandy dance around each other and got a naughty idea. He pulled his wand under the table and pointed it at Percy. "Kiss," he muttered under his breath. Percy found himself drawn toward Kandy's mouth, unable to fight the urge anymore. He moaned as their lips connected.

Xander tried to put his wand away, but it wouldn't let go. He nudged George, who was on his left, and looked down at his wand. George kissed him lightly and took the wand from his hand.

The elders of the Weasley clan watched in fascinated horror as Percy pulled Kandy into his lap and his hands started to wander down her chest. The thump from George and Xander almost broke up the other couple, but not enough.

"Put a sheet over them," Bill suggested when Kandy's shirt went flying over his head. He was hit in the back of the head by Xander's underwear. "Both of them?" he begged.

Mr. Weasley cleared his throat and looked down at Xander. "Did you do anything?" he asked.

Xander pulled away from the mouth on his, panting. "No," he gasped, moaning when the mouth found *that* spot on his neck. He fumbled and grabbed George's wand, making them a tent to cover them.

Mrs. Weasley covered the other couple. "Well, it's certainly interesting," she said, trying to break into the heavy silence. It was broken again by a loud shriek. "Kandy?" she asked.

"A deflowering," Ginny said with a smile. "Very cool." She ate another bite of her pudding. "I think Xander made them kiss."

Mr. Weasley sighed. "I'm going to let Percy handle that himself." He pushed himself away from the table. "Shall we head outside? It's a nice night." He led the rest of the family away from the writhing couples. He winced when he heard the thump meaning a body had hit the table. "You're fixing anything that's broken," he called back.

Percy pulled the sheet off his head. "Xander, did you cause this?" he snarled.

Xander fought his way out from under their collapsed tent. "Just the kiss, Percy. You looked like you wanted it and you deserved a real kiss." He grinned. "I definitely didn't cause the deflowering on the table."

Kandy stuck her head out. "That's all right," she panted. "I've been meaning to corner him for a few hours now." She smiled at Percy. "Shall we get back to it? You're frightfully wonderful at all this." Her head disappeared and his eyes widened when he figured out where she was heading.

"Kandy," he gasped, covering them both back up.

Xander tossed the canvas back over them and pulled George away from his stomach to kiss him again. "I'm happy," he said, then he decided to make his mate just as happy as he was. George nearly purred when he felt where Xander was heading. His husband was very good at this for only knowing about it for a few months.

***

Percy found Xander reading in the garden and sat next to him. "You really didn't?"

"Only the kiss," Xander told him, looking over at him. He put aside his book and shifted to look at his buddy. "I promised, Percy," he said as he picked up one of the other man's hands. "I would never hurt you and I won't. I may give you a clue," he admitted with a grin, "but the rampant sex wasn't my fault. No lust bombs at all."

Percy withdrew his hand. "As long as you aren't manipulating me." He smiled at his friend. "So, do you like her?"

"She makes you happy and crazy. Just like George does me." Xander grinned. "I think we'll be having another wedding soon."

"Yes, we might," Percy said, looking toward the kitchen. "You really think she likes me that much?"

"Percy, she let you break her in last night on your mother's table. If she doesn't love you, I'll hurt her myself for playing with you," Xander said seriously. "Got it?" Percy smiled and relaxed. "Good. Now go get some more kissing in. I'm sure she could use some."

Percy stood up and walked into the house, going to find his girlfriend. He could definitely use a kiss, even if she couldn't. He found her reading in his room and gently closed the door behind him. His mother wouldn't approve, but then again she was shopping with Ginny. He strolled over and sat beside her, taking the book from her hands so he could kiss her senseless

"I wondered where you had gotten to," she murmured as she forced him onto his back. "I wanted to try what happened last night again, hopefully without the pain this time."

"I'm sorry it hurt you," Percy whispered. "I never meant to."

She pulled back and smiled down at him. "Dear, it always hurts the first time. Though, if it's always going to be like that, I might have to invest in a super infertility charm." He chuckled. "You would make an honest woman of me, wouldn't you?"

"Of course. There's no way I'd let you walk away from me if you got pregnant." He pulled her back down. "I'm quite against Ginny remaining single, but I can't control her life for her."

"I think they'll get together sometime," Kandy told him with a grin. "Mr. Malfoy paid her quite a bit of attention before and after the wedding."

"Maybe," he agreed, stopping all further discussion with his tongue.

***

It was the last night of Kandy's visit and Fred was tired of watching them give each other steamy looks. They were standing in the doorway watching the rain outside and an idea came to him. He raised his wand and shot it at her, stripping her of her robes.

Everyone stared. No one moved to cover the poor girl - not even Percy.

"Maybe someone should hand her a robe," George said finally, removing his gaze to look at his mate instead. Xander shrugged, it hadn't been him.

"Xander," Mrs. Weasley said.

Xander shook his head. "I still don't have that spell. That's a Melody thing. It wasn't me."

Mr. Weasley finally pulled off his robe and handed it to her. "Here you go, dear," he said with a faint smile.

Percy shook himself and helped her into it, pulling her tightly against his body. "Mother, I believe we'll be getting married soon." His mother smiled. "And Xander...."

"Wasn't me," Xander repeated.

Fred smiled and wiggled his fingers. "About time you shared, isn't it?"

Kandy glared at him. "I'm not sharing with the likes of you. Percy is more than man enough for me. I quite fall asleep after my fourth orgasm as it happens, I doubt I need any more."

Percy turned bright red and hurried her away to get her into some decent clothes.

Fred broke into giggles. "Quite right for Percy, I think. Quite odd but very pretty." His father cuffed him on the back of the head. "What?"

"That wasn't nice and you'll apologize," he said coolly. "Before she starts to think we're all perverts." He looked at Xander, who shook his head. "As for you."

"I only started the one kiss," Xander defended. "The whole scene on the table was all Percy. Who apparently happens to be quite good." He looked at his mate. "Must run in the family," he said with a grin. George blushed.

Murphy flew in the open half-door to the garden, squawking hard. "What's wrong?" Fred asked, holding out a hand so the bird could land on him. "Did someone pick on one of the chicks?" Murphy looked into his eyes, sending the message to him. "Oh, Glinda said Malfoy took off without telling anyone. She woke up and he was gone."

Xander reached over to stroke the noble head. "That's okay, big guy, we'll call him when it's time." Murphy cooed at him. "Did you have a good vacation with Fawkes' daddy?" Murphy sang happily. "Does that mean we're having more chicks?" The phoenix just looked smug.

Ginny walked down the stairs, frowning. "Mum, I'm craving those pickle things again."

"Oh, let me," George said, pulling Xander's wand and waving it at the jar on the counter. Pickles flew out and started crawling all over her, especially her scalp.

"Eww!" she shrieked, pulling them off and tossing them at her brother. "Nasty git!"

"Ginny!" her father said sharply. "I don't care if you are about to become a mother, you may not use that language in this house."

"But dad!" she whined. He scowled at her so she huffed and gathered up the dancing and crawling pickles, taking them back to her room.

George looked at Xander's wand. "That's rather powerful," he noted.

"Yes, it is," Mrs. Weasley told him. "Use your own next time, George."

Xander put his wand away, giving her a smile. "Sometimes the wand does a little bit more than you wanted it to," he explained.

"No, I wanted it to do that," George admitted.

"It was funny," Fred agreed.

"Bloody hell," Ron said as he walked in, trying to shake the water off. "It's a storm like in those books Hermione reads." He looked around and saw everyone staring at him. "What?"

"Well?" Xander asked.

"Are you gainfully employed?" Fred asked.

"Or are you going to continue to sponge off us for the privilege of being our tester?" George added.

"No, I got the job, but I won't start for another two months. I'll be starting with the crew added for Christmas." He sat down at the table and gave his mother his best begging look. "Mum, I'm starved. Is there any food left?"

"Ginny has some pickles," Fred told him.

Their mother glared at him, then smiled at Ron. "Of course there's food," she told him, coming over to give him a smile. "I'm happy for you, son. Very proud."

"As am I," Mr. Weasley agreed, giving him a smile. "We'll celebrate tomorrow, if you'd like."

"Okay," Ron said with a shrug. "Is that girl still here?"

"Yeah, she's presently on her knees in front of Percy," Fred told him. His father glared at him so Fred pointed into the living room, where he could see. "I'm serious."

Ron leaned back, trying to catch a glimpse. He nearly tipped his chair over. "Hey, Percy, bring her back here so she can congratulate me for getting a job," he yelled. "Besides, I've only seen her for a bit. Wanna get a good look at her."

Mrs. Weasley choked. "Ron!" she said sharply.

"What?"

"She was just disrobed," Fred told him. "We all got quite an eyeful."

"Rather pretty in a girlish way," George agreed. He looked at Xander, who was biting his lip. "Problems?"

"Not a bit," Xander told him. "I was remembering when I liked girls."

"I'm glad I cured you of that," George said with a smile.

"Definitely. I'm very over girls and all things girly."

"You're holding my hand while I'm in labor," Ginny called as she walked down the stairs. She stopped to stare into the living room. "Gee, I didn't know you could do that like that." She smiled at the spluttering. "Well, you *are* in the living room you know. You should expect comments like that when you snog in public." She smiled at the young woman. "I do believe I happen to like you, Kandy. You make Percy blush like a fourth year in a changing room. I think it's wonderful." She strolled into the kitchen and hit Ron on the back of the head. "What is in that oil in your room?"

He spluttered. "You didn't!" he shouted. His face turned bright red when Xander grinned at him. His sister had gotten into the oil he used when he was having a private moment.

She nodded. "It was the only oil I found and Xander gave me a backrub with it." She pouted at him. "The baby's really heavy, Ron."

He patted her on the stomach. "Don't touch it again," he told her. "I doubt you need it." His eyes widened when his hand was kicked. "What was that?"

"The brat," she sighed. "He's active again." She lifted her shirt up enough to let everyone see the ripples moving across her stomach. "See? Never calms down."

"Don't worry, in a year or so, he'll be walking," Xander said happily.

"Yes, but he won't be doing it inside me," she reminded him.

Fred smiled at her. "You do look spiffing like that," he told her. "Quite lovely and all."

She smiled at him. "I'm still not testing that wound candy." She smiled at Ron. "Would you like to rub the baby's back?"

Ron pulled his hand back quickly. "No thanks. That's a bit more than I wanted to know about the baby." He turned and grabbed his fork, stuffing his mouth as fast as he could.

Fred and George snickered, but it was Xander that reached over to rub the baby's back so it would calm down. Ginny sighed in relief and leaned against him.

Mrs. Weasley smiled at her daughter. "He has to leave tomorrow too," she reminded her.

Ginny pouted at Xander. "You're going to come back, right?"

Xander nodded. "Of course. I can't do much at the shop without Fred pouting at me and making George entertain me so I'll come bug you a lot."

Fred nodded at Ginny. "Too true. We can't market half of what he does."

"Pity," George agreed. "It would be great for business."

Xander leaned over and whispered something in George's ear, making his eyes light up. "We'll see," he told Fred with a smirk.

Fred looked at George. "Can we?"

George told him, making his twin smile and laugh. "I'd hope we could."

Mrs. Weasley frowned at them. "As long as it's decent." Both twins laughed.

Snippet 2:

George sighed as he was led up to his new room. Xander had worked hard to add another floor to the shop, giving them not only a room to themselves, but a rather large one. He blinked a few times when he saw what was standing there. "That's a nest."

Xander pulled him closer. "It's a very comfy nest. It's my nest." He smiled gently, looking like such a little boy. "Can we at least try it?"

"How did you get a nest up here?"

"I asked Percy and he helped me." Xander pushed his mate into the nest, climbing in after him. "Remember when you told me about a natural substance against something sunk into the ground?" George nodded. "Well, we set it up with its own sink. No shaking houses."

"It's soft," George admitted. "But it's still a nest, Xander."

"But I liked sleeping in the nest," Xander said with a pout. He ran his hand over the soft sheets he had bought for it. "Please? Can we at least try it?"

George sighed and gave in. He hated it when Xander pouted. "Fine, we'll try it." He stroked the sheets. "What are these made of?"

"T-shirt material. I snuck into the muggle world and bought them." He leaned his head on his mate's shoulder. "I got others too if you don't like these." He pointed at the small pile of sheets near the other side. George shifted over and felt all the different types of sheets Xander had bought. "I'll gladly spend at least half my salary to keep us in comfy sheets if you want."

George smiled at him. "I think we could settle for these and try the nest for a while." He climbed out so he could check out the rest of the room. "You bought a normal bed too?" he called.

Xander wiggled over to the edge of the nest and grinned at him. "So we can have one when you start to get tired of the nest," he agreed. "Or in case we have visitors or stuff." He shrugged at the stunned look. "I know you can't live in a nest, but it makes me happy to have it here."

"What about in the school?" George asked as he walked back over and climbed back in. He snuggled into Xander's side. It was really comfortable. "How are we nesting up at the school?"

"Same arrangement. I had help building a small nest up there. Just enough room for the two of us." Xander smiled when he noticed George was starting to fall asleep. "Want to cuddle, babe?"

George smiled sleepily and snuggled in. "Sure. I could use a nap." He closed his eyes, settling over Xander's heart. "I'll ravish you later."

"Okay, I'll be here." Xander grinned sillily as he relaxed. He started to drift off too, but let it happen. He loved sleeping in the nest.

Fred walked up into the new couple's apartment an hour later, hoping he wasn't going to catch them going at it again. He'd caught them doing that quite too often already. He stopped when he saw the large nest in the center of the room, slowly shifting closer so he could peek inside. What he saw made him smile. They were just so cute! He snuck back out, going to tell Ginny that George was going to be late for their lunch. She'd understand, hopefully.

Snippet 3:

Xander looked around the Weasley home, wondering why it was so quiet. Everyone had gotten together and decided that Ginny couldn't be left alone for this last month of her pregnancy, just in case something happened. Today was his day to sit here. He wished he had remembered to bring a book though. He caught sight of Murphy playing outside and an idea came to him. "Yeah, I can do that. Glinda! Murphy!" Both phoenixes flew inside to perch on his legs. "Guys, I need Glinda to run an errand." The baby fluffed up proudly. "And I need Murphy to guard you, because there's bad people where you're going." Murphy squeaked at his daughter. "Cool." He pulled Glinda closer, being very careful with her. "I need you to go find your favorite person." He saw the look at the fireplace. "No, not him. The blond one." Glinda cooed. "He's somewhere very far away hiding and he needs to come home. Look at me and remember so you can give him the message." She stared at him, memorizing what he was saying. "It's time for you to come home, Draco; she's only got two weeks left and you won't get to see the baby at all if you don't come home immediately. And yes, I've decided to adopt you as my own kid because I can't do it to Harry and Ron, so you're the next best thing. So come home now or I'm coming for you." He blinked and the baby backed away. "Got it?" She cooed at him. "Good. Murphy, I need you to go with her because I think Draco's in America and you know how dangerous it can be." His phoenix cooed at him. "Thank you, now you can go."

Both phoenixes flew out the garden door, going to do their assigned tasks. Murphy told his daughter all about living in America on the way. His daddy was right, America was dangerous. There were all sorts of creatures there that would hurt them.

Xander relaxed on the couch, pulling over a magazine to read. "Hey, I'm in here," he said happily. It was actually a good piece for once.

***

Draco Malfoy groaned when he heard the tapping on the window. He had run into a witch that had been a year ahead of him in Slytherin in this funny muggle American town. Denver, what a name. He made himself get up and answer the window before whatever it was broke it. He frowned and blinked a few times when he saw the golden bodies. "What are you doing here?" he mumbled. He found his way to a chair because holding even the baby was a bit much when he was standing. Glinda, who might as well be his, landed on his lap and stared into his eyes, giving him the granddaddy's message. He snorted and shook his head. "Bloody prat," he sighed.

The woman on the bed lifted her head and looked blearily at him. She'd had just a bit too much to drink last night. "Why is Dumbledore's bird here?" she asked.

"It's Harris' and one of the babies," he told her. "I have to leave for home or else I won't get to see my child." He let Glinda get up, eventually moving her off his lap when he decided he had better go to the bathroom and she wouldn't cooperate. "Sorry, but I've got to go."

"You have kids?" she called after him. She sat up, looking at the bird sitting on the end of the bed. "You're a big bugger," she told Murphy. Glinda hissed at her, making her move away from the phoenix. "Whatever."

Draco came out, smiling when he saw how the baby was treating her. He didn't particularly like her, but it was nice to have a comforting body again. "She's very protective of me, and probably of my immanent heir." Glinda cooed and stretched to nuzzle his chest. "Yes, I know you'll love the baby." He smiled at the woman on the bed. "Sorry to cut this short, but Harris rightfully reminded me that I have responsibilities back at home." He waved his wand, packing his small bag and gathering all his things. His broom flew into his hand. "See you if you come to England," he said, going out the window on his broom, his bag on the handle, both phoenixes flying beside him.

"Merlin, what a waste of talent," she sighed, laying back down again. She thought better of it and got up to go be sick. She didn't know what was wrong with her, but it was rather nasty every morning.

***

Draco walked into the Burrow, glaring at Xander. "I'm not your bloody son, you prat, you would have been three when you had me." He smacked Xander hard on the arm. "Now, have I missed anything?"

Ron glared at him. "You know, it's very early, and you look a lot like a target," he growled.

Draco smiled at him. "I'll be out of your hair soon enough, just wanted to check on Ginny and my heir."

"The heir is being funny today," Xander told him, moving a chair so he could sit down. "Ginny's been up all night. Even sleeping in the nest didn't calm it down this time."

Draco looked at him. "You're sleeping in a *nest*? Isn't that taking the heritage thing a little far?"

"It's very comfortable," Ginny said as she walked in. She smiled shyly at Draco, not having seen him since she had woken up in the hospital. "Did you have a nice vacation?"

"It wasn't as dreary as it could have been," he admitted. "Not wholly pleasant though. Ran into a former housemate, she was a year ahead of me, and we spent some time together." She burst out crying and ran away. "What did I say?"

"It's hormones," Xander said wisely. "You might go apologize for sleeping with someone while she's carrying your child."

Draco sighed and got up, following the sound of crying to a bathroom. He tapped gently before walking in. "I'm sorry," he told her, awkwardly wrapping her in his arms. "I had no idea that you would react so badly. She was just a fling," he told her finally.

She sniffled and looked up at him. "Really?" He nodded. "You're sure?"

"I'm not going to see her again. I certainly didn't go to America looking for her, I just happened to run into her and was ...needy." She snorted, but she smiled. "She was really horrible at it too, didn't do more than lay there. I almost worried that I had lost my touch."

Ginny laughed. "I'm sure you haven't. She's just had so much that she doesn't take any happiness from the act anymore." She settled herself in his arms, hugging him tightly. "Are you home for a bit?"

"For as long as you need me. I might even be able to owl before I leave next time." He shrugged when she looked at him. "It was a feeling that came over me last time; I had to get away because I felt like I was drowning."

"Perfectly understandable," Molly Weasley said from the doorway. She smiled at them. "You made good time."

"Xander sent the baby after me," Draco said with a grimace. "He's apparently adopted me against my will."

Both women laughed. "I'm sure it will all work out for the best," Mrs. Weasley told him. "Come downstairs and eat something." She walked away.

Ginny brushed off her cheeks with the edge of his shirt. "C'mon, mum's been making big breakfasts ever since Fred banished Xander from the store." She led him down to the kitchen. "Still at war?" she asked Xander.

"Yup, still at war," he sighed.

"Why are you two at war?" Ron asked. "I asked Fred and he said something about sex toys."

"Ron!" Mrs. Weasley shouted.

"We're all adults here, mum, we all know what they are."

"I showed George how to enchant one to say things in the middle of the act," Xander admitted with a grin. "Apparently he decided to use Fred's." He noticed all the blushing. "Sorry, guess that was TMI."

"Very," Draco agreed dryly.

Ron grinned at him. "I'm sure he'll forgive you sometime." He stood up. "I'm off to Buffy's. They finally gave her a small cottage and she needs me to reach the higher things for painting." He strolled away, grabbing his broom on his way out the door.

"Those two are *so* cute together," Ginny sighed.

"If you say so," Draco said. He looked at Xander. "Did you charm it to talk in their mother's voice?"

Xander grinned. "No, in his girlfriend's. They've since broken up, which is good because she only wanted part of the store and not him."

Molly gave him a hug. "I'm sure you'll sort it out soon, Xander. Eat something."

"I already did," he said, but he took one of the pieces of toast that she had put on the table. "Any pains yet?"

Ginny shook her head. "Not a one. Some discomfort, but no pains." She grunted and hissed, rubbing her back. "Plus some kicking."

Draco dropped his fork and reached over to touch her gently. He smiled when he felt the kick. "My, you're definitely a Weasley. No one in my family has good feet." He stroked her stomach gently.

Mrs. Weasley gave him a smile. It was good that he was doing that, even if it was in her kitchen. "Why don't I pack all that up and you two go sit out in the sun. The baby seems to enjoy it quite a lot." Ginny smiled at her. She knew she was being obvious, but it would make her daughter happy. She waved her wand, packing all the remaining breakfast into a small basket. She nearly laughed when Xander got up to retrieve his half-eaten piece of toast, but held it in until the children were gone.

Xander nudged her. "He'll watch over her. It'll be okay." He took another bite of the toast. "Can I do anything?"

She patted him on the arm. "Go look over that book Giles sent you. I'm sure you'll want to get it in order."

Xander grunted but went to work on it. It was due back to Giles and Willow in three days time and it was all out of place. As soon as he had settled himself on the couch, Murphy came up and nestled into his stomach to help. "Back again?" he asked, petting him slowly. "I'm sure you can go bother Giles later." He looked down at his bird. "Were you off bothering Ethan and Spike?" Murphy gave him the pitiful, starving kitten look. "Uh-huh. I should tell Giles about that, shouldn't I?" He started reading as soon as his fingers got nipped in imitation of kisses.

***

Ginny moaned and grabbed her stomach. "I think it's time!" she yelled. Her mother and Xander came running, they were the only ones at home. They waited until the pain had stopped then hustled her up to one of the spare beds, Percy's as it happened. As soon as she laid down, she had another one. "I thought this was supposed to take a while!" she complained.

Xander sat behind her head, letting her rest against his stomach and lap while he held her hands. "It is, and all those rhythmic discomforts you've been having were the prior labor. We were waiting on you," he told her with a smile. She grimaced. "Squeeze my hands when it hurts really bad. Your mother's going to strip you down and cover you with a sheet." She nodded, relaxing while they worked around her. "Now, all you have to do is push."

"Not until she's ready," Mrs. Weasley corrected. She looked around. "I'm going to call your father. Can you handle this without me for a moment?" Ginny nodded so she ran out of the room.

Ginny looked up at Xander. "Is this really going to hurt?"

"You're pushing a ten pound, twenty inch baby out of something that grows to ten centimeters. You tell me," he said dryly.

She grunted in pain. "Never mind!" she complained.

"Shh, it has to hurt some, otherwise something's wrong," he assured her. "Pain is the way nature makes sure the baby breathes when it comes out." He squeezed her hands, reminding her to use him to help control the pain. "Want me to send Murphy for Draco?"

She nodded, biting her lip. "Yeah, I think so," she said as she came down. "You can switch off then and help mum not go crazy."

"Murphy!" he called. His baby was outside somewhere, and he eventually few in the door. "Go find Draco," he told the phoenix. "Get him here however you can."

Murphy stared at Ginny for a moment, then flew off. Mrs. Weasley came jogging back in. "Did you think to time them?" Both young people shook their heads. "Is Murphy going to find Draco?" Xander nodded. "Good." She checked her daughter again. "Just a bit more I think. This is the really painful part, aside from the birth itself. You're dilating right now, dear, and it has to happen, otherwise the baby's not coming out. Trust me, I've done this before."

Ginny nodded, giving her mother a weak smile. "You still have to help me name him."

"Of course." She smiled and moved to sit on her daughter's right side. "As soon as the baby's born, we'll figure out what to call it." She stroked little circles on her daughter's stomach, trying to make her feel better. "Just a few more hours and it'll all be over with."

"Until the first feeding," Xander said with a grin.

Molly nodded. "True, and the first diaper."

"Draco gets that," Ginny said, starting to climb the pain scale again. "Oww! Mommy, make it not hurt!"

"I'll do what I can," Molly told her. "But for right now, you're going to feel some of it. The pain medicine has to finish warming first." Ginny nodded, biting her lip so hard blood came out. "None of that, young lady, you'll scar yourself." She continued the gentle stroking, hoping it was helping.

***

Murphy flew up to the Malfoy mansion, squawking loudly because there wasn't an open door. A house elf looked out a window and squeaked, running away to get the Master.

Draco walked out of the house and held up an arm, letting the big bird land on it. "What's wrong now?" he asked. Murphy stared at him, sending him the picture of Ginny laying down, in pain. "What the deuce was that?" Murphy sent it again, starting to flap his wings. "She's what? Napping and needs help?" Murphy bit him, hard, on the neck. "Oww!" He made the bird take off and glared at it. "What? I don't understand."

"Maybe she's in labor," a male voice called from inside the house. Snape walked out and looked at Murphy. "Show me," he demanded. Murphy showed him. "Harris is holding her, she's in pain. I'd say she was in labor." He handed over a small vial. "To mark the baby with," he told his student.

Draco frowned. "What do I do with it?"

"You bath him or her with it. It will protect them." He ducked as the phoenix that had helped him eat breakfast flew over his head. "And take that one with you, she'll probably want to be there as well." He smiled. "Are you going to leave her in pain with *Harris* helping her?"

Draco ran into the house to get his broom. There was no way Xander was watching his girl give birth to his child. Not graphically. He flew off, going to do what he could. By the time he landed in front of the Burrow, both phoenixes had made it back and were inside the house making a lot of noise. He walked in and glared at both of them. "Stop it, you're not helping any." He followed the scream up the stairs, ignoring anyone else who might have been in the house.

George looked at Ron, and shrugged. "Never expected that."

"Probably going to try and molest her," Ron grumbled.

Fred reached over and pinched him. "You could always go help."

Ron snorted. "I tried that, Ginny threw a book at my head." He slumped down a little more. "How long does it take to give birth?"

"Many hours," Mr. Weasley said from his easy chair. "Your birth took nearly twelve from the first pain." He looked up at his sons. "The twins were the easiest yet, they cut you two out." He went back to his paper. "It will be done with when it is. No one can rush a child into the world."

George and Fred sighed in stereo. Fred looked at the fireplace, then at his twin. "Should we?"

"No," Mr. Weasley told him. "If you leave, she'll clobber you for it."

"Fine," George sighed. He smiled at his twin. "Have you forgiven Xander yet?"

"No." Fred glared at him. "That was mean."

"She was after your money, not your body," Ron pointed out. Fred threw a pillow at his head. "She was. And she didn't laugh at your jokes either."

"Enough," Mr. Weasley sighed. "Go find something else to do."

Ginny screamed, a high-pitched wailing noise.

"Sounds like it's about time," Mr. Weasley said calmly.

Upstairs, Ginny was being supported by Draco and Xander was trying to pull Glinda off the foot of the bed. The phoenix was in the way while trying to encourage the baby to come out faster. "Glinda, you've got to move," Xander grunted. The phoenix had her talons hooked into the footboard and wouldn't let go. "If you don't move, the baby can't come out!" Glinda moved to stand beside Ginny's stomach and continued to make encouraging noises. Xander looked at Mrs. Weasley and laughed.

She smiled and sat down to check. "You're crowning," she said happily. "Push whenever you're ready."

"I don't want to push!" Ginny screamed.

Draco brushed some of her hair out of her face. "If you don't push, you'll be like this until you both die from it," he said calmly. "Now push or I'm going to have to cut him out so I can hold him."

She glared up at him. "Bastard," she hissed.

He smiled. "You say some of the *nicest* things," he teased. She relaxed. "Now, push, Weasel, before I have to turn mean and cruel." He looked at Xander. "Or else I'm going to have to go down there and pull it out."

Ginny grunted as she pushed, trying her best. Glinda picked up the encouragement, getting louder. "Shut up!" she hissed at the bird. "There's more than enough noise in here from me." Glinda cooed at her, then went back to talking to the baby.

Ginny groaned and gave one more push, and the baby's head popped out. "Finally!"

Mrs. Weasley smiled at her. "Just one more to clear the shoulders." Ginny glared at her. "Well, you can't stay like that, with the child hanging down that way." Ginny gave another push, and a second, then the shoulders came free too. "Excellent." She held the baby up. "It's a girl."

"A girl?" Ginny asked in shock. "I thought it was a boy." Her mother held the baby so she could see for herself. "But I haven't even picked a girl's name."

"Simone," Draco told her. Everyone looked at him. "I read it in a book and it stuck." He shrugged, then pointed at the phoenix. "Look," he said quietly.

Glinda had moved over to look at the baby closely, nipping her fingers and toes, then her umbilical cord was cut by the razor-sharp beak. She continued to coo at the baby, nuzzling against the slimy skin.

"I think she's picked her human," Xander told them, nodding. "It makes sense." He stood up. "I'll go tell everyone?" Ginny nodded. "Okay. You rest, we'll pamper you today." He walked out, going to get a hug from his husband and tell them the good news. "It's a girl," he said as he slid into his mate's lap. Fred pushed him off. "Huh?"

"Me," George said with a smile. It wasn't often that it happened, but it was rather cute when Xander got them mixed up - as long as he did it on his own and they didn't try to confuse him. He patted his lap and his mate slid onto it. "A girl? I thought Ginny knew it was a boy."

Xander shrugged. "She has a vagina and no penis. As far as I know, she's a girl. Unless you guys change once you're born." Mr. Weasley shook his head, but he was smiling. "Glinda picked her as her human too. Stood there the whole time trying to get the baby to come faster. She even cut the belly-button cord."

"That's just weird," Ron complained as he stood up. "Can we see her?"

"Sure. Simone's probably in a bath by now." He grinned. "She's so tiny."

"They all are," Mr. Weasley said as he stood up. "We'll just go peek in on them." He headed up the stairs with Ron and Fred.

George gave Xander a kiss. "Let me up so I can go see too, then we'll go picnic if you want." Xander beamed at him and slid off onto the couch. He watched his husband stroll up the stairs, trying to look casual, like they did this every day.

Ron was the first one down. "They're being all gushy over it," he said as he plopped down onto the couch.

"It's cute, and the first grandchild," Xander reminded him. "It'll remain cute until she wakes you all up in the middle of the night." He put his arm around Ron's shoulders. "Are you going to tell Harry or should I send Murphy?"

"I'll go. I've been meaning to check on him." Ron got free and went to grab some floo powder. "Potterville," he called as he stepped into the fire.

"Potterville?" Fred asked as he came down the stairs. "He named his house Potterville?"

"Hermione probably did," Xander told him. He grinned. "Sorry about that."

Fred patted him on the head. "Don't do it all the time, but every once in a while is fine." He went back to his former seat, looking over his shoulder as Ron came back. "Not home?"

"No, so I left a note. I expect he'll at least owl later." He came back out and replanted himself on the couch. "Are we doing anything else today?"

"Unless you want to cook," Mrs. Weasley said as she walked down the stairs. "I'd say you should help me gather things for the baby."

"Mum, we've got everything stacked in a closet," Ron pointed out. "It's all up there."

"Not that. We've got some wash to do," she told him. She laughed at the grimace. "You don't expect me to leave those sheets there, do you? With what just came out of your sister's body?"

Draco walked down the stairs and into the living room with the baby. "Ginny's getting cleaned up," he explained at Xander's look. "Besides, she likes me."

Mrs. Weasley smiled at him. "Feel thankful. She'll be screaming soon enough." She headed into the kitchen to start the water for a load of wash. She would probably be doing quite a lot of them very soon.

Snippet 4:

Giles finished putting his journals into his bag and zipped it shut. He sat down and looked around his empty room, absently picking up his letter of resignation. He couldn't take it anymore. He just couldn't. It had all started about five months back when Willow had caught Tara staring wistfully at a little baby in Diagon Alley. They had a blazing row and a long talk, then decided to come to him. Because they were going to both be pregnant at the same time, thus speeding up the start of their family. The project had seemed preposterous at the time they had come to him, but they eventually won him over. Purely on the basis of flattery it seemed. He groaned and laid back on his bed, too tired to even think about how bad it had gotten. Not even the Willow-turning-Tara-into-a-swan episode could make him open that door yet. He could hear Willow screaming at Tara down the hall and he wasn't that brave.

As soon as the screaming stopped, he gathered his bags together, shrunk them to fit into his pocket, and headed down to Dumbledore's office. He tapped politely before walking up.

"Can't take it anymore?" Albus Dumbledore asked pleasantly. He handed over a small cup filled with strong tea.

"No, frankly I can't, and I'm afraid of Willow coming after me." He took a seat and sipped at the tea, smiling when he tasted the brandy in it. "You expected me?"

"Last week," Dumbledore agreed with an all-knowing smile.

Giles grunted. "It took me a while to regain the full working of my brain once I was changed back," Giles told him. "I really can't take this anymore. If I thought it possible I'd take Tara with me, but I have no doubt what would happen if I did. Willow's become rather scary recently."

Dumbledore nodded. "I noticed. We'll miss you and you will have a spot here whenever you're ready to rejoin the wizarding world. But I do understand. Were it me, I'd be taking a long vacation somewhere that owls couldn't find me." He smiled. "Which one did you want for your job?"

Giles handed over his letter. "Tara. The higher magics come with much temptation and I'd rather not have to come rebuild the school when Willow blows it up." That got a small laugh. "Truly, if Willow continues on this path, I believe that she will become most dangerous."

Dumbledore nodded. "I believe she could be," he agreed. "I'll watch out for the both of them, and Xander of course." Giles smiled sadly. "Was there anything else you needed to do before you left?"

"No, I think I can show up at the Watcher's Council and talk to them without dying. Thank you for letting me teach here, it was a pleasant change from the normal danger in my life." He put aside the tea cup then stood up, shaking the older man's hand. "I'll write soon and tell you how I'm getting on." He nearly walked out but turned back at the last moment. "Also, if you would keep an eye on Willow in relation to Xander's reward money? She seems to be a bit possessive of it." He nodded a goodbye and walked away from the wizarding world without a look back.

Dumbledore made a note in his Hogwarts journal. He would announce the change tonight at dinner. He might even have a world with Arthur and Molly so Xander could hear the news gently.

***

Draco walked into his school, taking the opportunity to look around on his way to the library. He found a very interesting picture he hadn't seen before, stopping to watch nymphs play in the stream. He laughed when one tried to splash him, restarting his short stroll to the library and the Book of Heritage. He smiled at Irma Pince as he pulled out Simone's birth certificate, watching as she carefully put it into the book which listed everyone's children. "Weasley-Malfoy," he corrected.

She smiled at him and finished writing the entry the way it was on the birth certificate. "I have to list it exactly as it is listed here, Mr. Malfoy." She snapped the book shut and handed back the certificate. "There we are, all legal."

He nodded. "Thank you. We'll be expecting her letter in eleven years." He strolled out, smiling at Professor Snape when he saw him down the hallway. "It turned her gold for a few moments," he called.

"Better that than dead," Snape called back, continuing his trek to wherever.

Draco shook his head. That man could be quite infuriating sometimes.

Snippet 5:

Xander looked at the man sleeping in his nest with worry. George hadn't woken up in nearly two days for more than a few minutes. He had decided to drag his husband up to the school for a checkup, but George had told him no the last time he had been awake. He frowned and decided to get Fred to help him out-stubborn his husband. He stomped down the stairs, waving at a person he vaguely knew browsing in the shop. "He's still not awake."

"Have you tried waking him up?" Fred asked, ringing up a small order for a birthday party.

Xander crossed his arms, moving out of the way of the traffic to lean against a nearby wall. "I tried that yesterday, he was awake all of five minutes before crashing again."

"Have you thought about talking to the big feathered creatures?" Fred suggested, glancing over at him. The look on Xander's face made him stop and stare at him. "You're really worried."

"It's been two days," Xander pointed out. "He complained about feeling nasty for a few days before he started to sleep. This is worrying material."

"Then call the big feathered creatures and ask them if they did anything. You said yourself that he was surrounded by your type of magic." Fred went back to the order. The new Minister of Magical Creatures' son was quite fond of their tricks and had requested that they do his birthday party. "You can use the fireplace in the back room if you want."

"Yeah, maybe I will," Xander said. He walked into the back room and locked the door, he needed privacy for this. He found his little bag of special floo powder and tossed it into the fire, calling out for his personal anchor of sanity when it came to his funny powers. "Fredericka," he called softly. Her head appeared in the fire. "Did one of you decide to do something to my mate? He's surrounded with true gryphon magic and he's been sleeping constantly."

She smirked at him, which made her beak look fairly odd. "We only did what we thought was best. He'll be fine soon enough."

Well, that certainly explained it then. "Um, not to point out the obvious, but he's male," Xander reminded her. "We're not exactly built for that." She laughed. "Seriously, he's worrying me. And besides, the healer there told you not to bother him."

She stopped laughing. "How long has he slept?"

"Two days without waking up longer than a quick trip to the bathroom. He can't eat, he hasn't been able to do anything for at least a week now."

She sighed. "Bring him to us and we will look at him. We really meant no harm to your mate, only to make you happy and protected."

"Yeah, well, I have a niece for that sort of happiness," he told her. "We'll be up tonight." He stepped away then picked up a lump of metal and threw it as hard as he could at a wall. "I'll get them for this," he muttered, heading out to make George wake up. He waved at Fred as he walked past him, but didn't tell him what was going on. This was a little too much even for him. As soon as he saw George, his anger cooled. His mate was carrying his child, and even though it was hurting him, it was something so magical that not even the magic world he inhabited would believe it. He gently nudged George. "Come on, babe, we've got to go see someone."

"No we don't," George complained. "I know what's wrong with me."

"So do I and it's not going well." Xander helped him sit up. "The fact that you fell asleep two days ago is a bad thing and we'd like it to stop. So we're going to see the meddlers and get them to help you out, 'kay?" George nodded and yawned, but he stumbled toward the bathroom. "I'll be right here," Xander called, using his wand to pack a bag. As soon as his husband came out of the bathroom, he led him down to the main fireplace. He had flooed to the inn near the portal before; it wasn't so long a trip. He got George into it first and sent him on his way, then looked back at Fred. "Hopefully we'll be back tonight. If you hear screaming in panic, it's us." He tossed the powder into the fire and went on his way too. On the other side, he grabbed the sleeping George to wake him up and led him out to the portal. The guardian let them in immediately, not even stopping to chat this time. "Fix it," Xander said harshly to the elder three. They looked at him in shock, but it was the snore that got the bothered looks. "Now, before I get very pissed," he suggested in his most cold voice.

"Xander, we were only trying to help you," Fredericka reminded him. "You need a grphylet to make the flock complete."

"We've only been married four months," he reminded her. "We're not ready for that yet and we could have adopted." He ran a hand through his hair. "You're killing my mate. If you don't fix it, I'll use some of the forbidden spells to do it myself. My husband is more important than some old and semi-useless rules."

Fredericka came off her nest and picked up George. "We will look him over. You will calm down." Xander stared her down until she looked away. "Go inform his family. We will probably need one of them's help." She waddled away, taking George back into the colony.

Xander walked outside, back into Britain, and sent himself to the Burrow. He couldn't apparate because of what he was, but there was a teleportation spell. It made him nauseous, but it was worth it this time. As soon as he saw Molly, he burst into tears and clung to her.

Ginny looked over the back of the couch at him, frowning. "What happened?" she asked, trying to calm the baby down. She handed her off to Draco and got up to move Xander to a chair. "What happened?" she repeated.

"They used the spell on George and he's sick," Xander told her. He looked at Molly. "They're being cranky about it too."

"Well, they won't be doing any spells to my son," she said firmly.

"Spell?" Ginny asked.

"Oh, bloody hell no," Ron whispered. Xander looked at him and nodded. "Are they fixing it?" Xander shrugged. "Then we'll go back with you and force them to make it right." He stood up. "Come on then, I don't want to leave George with them for long. He might end up with twins."

Draco looked at him. "They didn't," he said. Ron nodded so he looked at Xander. "They did *that* spell?" Xander nodded too. "Well fuck me."

"Language," Molly reminded him. He sighed. "I agree, we should all go."

"I'm going to hurt them," Xander told everyone. "They did this without either of our permission, and it's really hurting him." He stood up. "Either they fix this or they're facing my full and complete wrath."

"We'll keep you calm too," Ron told him, patting him on the arm. "Come on, let's go chew them a new one." His mother glared at him. "Coming, mum?"

"Of course I am," she snapped. She looked at Ginny, then at the baby. "No, dear."

"Bite me. I'm going too." She smiled at Draco. "She's just recently been changed and she ate not an hour ago. Have fun." She followed her brother outside. "Where are we landing?"

"There's an inn a short distance away," Xander told her. "We can land there." He disappeared.

Ron sighed and looked around. A small picture landed in front of him on the ground. "This is where we're going," he said, placing the picture in his mind so he could apparate there. Ginny and his mother followed.

On the couch, Draco looked quite put out. Why hadn't he been allowed to go too? The fireplace dinged so he stretched out to try and see it. "They just left to tear someone a new one," he called.

Harry Potter walked into the living room. His hair was longer, his clothes actually fit, and he looked like he was perpetually tired. "Potter. Come to see my daughter?"

"Yeah, I saw Ron's note." He looked around. "Family emergency?"

"The gryphons cast a spell on George so they would have a child." He carefully handed his daughter over. "That's Simone."

"Ginny's?" Harry asked, looking down at the little girl. "You're cute," he said with a faint smile.

Draco's coldness melted toward the other man. He had suffered just as much and become even more of a recluse than Draco had. This was not the same Potter that used to give back as good as he got. "You can hold her for a bit, Ginny ran out after Ron."

Harry nodded and sat down, staring at the little creature in his arms. She cooed up at him, having learned the noise from her favorite animal. "You're adorable," he told her. "Hopefully you'll end up smart too."

Draco laughed. "You'd be surprised how smart she already is. Glinda must be teaching her things." Harry looked at him. "She adopted Simone the moment of her birth. It was rather odd to watch."

The two former enemies crossed the emotional distance due to the little bundle of wiggliness that Harry was holding. Draco couldn't be all bad if this sweetheart was his daughter, and Potter wasn't such a goody-goody anymore. Maybe they were both growing up.

***

Molly Weasley stormed into the back cave, pushing past the large feathered creatures in her way. "Where is my son?" she demanded. One gryphon bent down to look at her. "I'd tell me before I do something completely nasty to all of you."

"He is that way," the gryphon told her, pointing with a wing. He watched as the strange party, obviously related, walked toward the healers' area followed by the halfling. The halfling was stopped and the gryphon found himself danging above the ground and unable to move. "What are you doing?" he hissed.

"You're stopping me from getting to my mate, which *one of you* hurt. Deal with it." He dropped the large creature and moved on. "This is me being pissed," he said when he couldn't get to George. "Let me in or suffer." He crossed his arms, staring down the creature in front of him.

"The healers say he can't have any stress," the gryphon said, trying to sound reasonable.

"He's having stress because one of you decided to make a decision for us. I'm the cure for that stress. Now move or be moved!" The gryphon quickly got out of his way, he wasn't going to deal with Xander when he was like this. Xander walked in and sat beside George's bed, taking his hand to hold. "And?" he asked when he heard claws approaching.

"He is not well. I tried to tell them that and they wouldn't listen."

Xander looked at the healer. "Which one?"

"It was Reynaldo, he thought you needed the stability." She bowed. "We can do three things. Stabilize and hope. Abort. Or move to another, more capable, host."

"Which would be best?" Molly asked, reaching down to test her son's forehead. "He's running a fever."

"We can't give him the medicine until we know what we're doing about the child," the healer said gently. She looked at the gathered people, stopping at Ron. "You would do."

"Bloody unlikely," Ron snorted. "I'm still male."

The healer shrugged. "The baby is used to it."

Ginny snickered. "I can see you carrying it," she told him. "If you thought I whined, I'd hate to hear you go at it."

"Stop it," Xander complained. "Pick on Ron later." He glared at the healer. "And your choice would be what?"

"Moving it. It's the safest. The baby could be attached to your mate's mind as well as his body and it could hurt him greatly."

George squeezed Xander's hand. "Please, we'll do that."

Ginny nodded. "I'll volunteer."

"You're barely free from your last one," Molly argued. "You're still bleeding from having her."

Ginny rounded on her. "It's either me or Ron, mum, which would you prefer?" Her mother grimaced but didn't say anything. "Good. Then we'll transfer the baby into me and deal with it." She looked at the healer. "Can you do that?" The healer nodded. "Will there be any side effects on my own baby?"

"Your milk might dry up," she offered.

"There's muggle solutions to that," Xander said quietly. He gave Ginny a sad smile. "I'll be there for whatever you need," he assured her.

She snorted and waved a hand at him. "I've just gone through it. We still have everything on hand. Mum?"

"It's for the best," her mother agreed. She gave George a smile. "Your father's going to be over the moon about this."

"I'm not telling him," Xander told her. Molly laughed. "I really like my heads where they are." Molly laughed harder and Ron joined in. "Can we do this quickly?"

"It shouldn't take more than an hour," the healer said, waving a hand at Xander so he was knocked out. "His energy is very disturbing right now. I can't work with him being so upset."

"Send him to Percy," Molly ordered her youngest son. "Then go home and tell everyone else what's going on. We'll be here."

Ron nodded, hefting Xander with a grunt and carrying him out to the portal. He glared at the elders sitting there before walking out. As soon as they were outside, Xander woke up. "Stop," Ron told him, grabbing him before he can go back inside. "Your anger was messing with the healer's energy."

Xander went limp. "How long do I have to wait out here?"

"Go see Percy and tell him. Mum told me to tell Fred and whomever was at home." He smiled. "Let Percy tell dad." He disappeared.

Xander concentrated, sending himself to Percy. He landed behind his brother-in-law's desk so gave him a hug.

"What's wrong?" Percy asked, signing his name on a document before putting his quill down. He turned to look at his friend. "What happened?"

"They did the spell on George," Xander said quietly. Percy's mouth opened. "They're transferring the baby to Ginny and I got kicked out." He sat on the edge of the desk. "This is such a mess."

"Indeed it is," Percy agreed. "Has anyone told Father?" Xander shook his head. "Then I'll do that while you head home."

"Ron's heading there."

Percy stood up. "You won't want to be around when I tell Father, he'll start yelling." Xander nodded and disappeared. Percy sighed and called over to his father's office. "Are you in?"

"Of course," Arthur said, sounding like he was in a good mood.

"Good, wait for me." He walked out of his office, heading down the hall. He tapped gently then walked in glaring his father's secretary. "It's a family matter, go take a powder break or some such." She hurried out of the office, leaving them alone. "Father," he said as he walked into the older man's office. He closed the door. "You know about that spell? The one to *gift* Xander and George with a family?" Arthur frowned, but he nodded. "They did it to George without his permission. That's why he's been sick."

"Where is he?" Arthur asked, standing up so fast his chair tipped over. "Is he all right?"

"I just talked to Xander, who they kicked out of the caverns. They're having to transfer the baby to Ginny." His father turned pale. "Xander's torn up about it, he was nearly crying. I sent him home to wait."

Arthur nodded. "You did the right thing, though I believe I'd be sitting outside that damn portal until they told me something." He walked around his desk. "Has anyone else been told?"

"Xander said Ron had been sent home. I'd bet he's telling everyone else." He straightened up. "Are you heading there?" Arthur nodded. "Then I'll pop in on Kandy before heading home to wait with everyone else." His father nodded again so he left him alone. Fortunately, his girlfriend was very understanding. Pregnancy was doing wonderful things for her temperament.

Arthur apparated to Stonehenge, going to find the portal. He found the guardian and glared at it. "Let me in, my son's in there."

"The healer said she can't be disturbed or the child will be pushed back," it said, sounding apologetic. "The elders are having a meeting tonight to see if something should be done about this situation."

"I'd like whomever did this to explain their reasoning to me," Arthur noted coldly.

A large, graying gryphon walked out of the portal. "As do we all," she told him, giving him their version of a smile. "All is well. Your son is not fighting the transfer and all should be fine soon." Arthur gave her a small smile. "Now, where is the young one? I've been ordered to keep him calm."

"He's back at our house, if he didn't head to school to find someone to talk to," Arthur told her. "He'll be back soon." He noticed her eyes unfocused then returned to looking down at him. "Is there some news?"

"The transfer is complete. The child will be born in about ten months." She bowed to him. "Please, tell your son everything is fine. We'll be waiting on him to come tonight." She went back into the portal.

Arthur sighed in relief. "At least no one's harmed. I'd best go inform everyone." He disappeared.

***

Ron landed in the house, looking around. "Hi, Harry," he said with a grim smile. "Draco, be prepared to keep Xander from killing the colony." Draco swore quietly. "Exactly."

"What happened?" Harry asked.

"The great buggers decided to stuff up George and it made him sick. They're transferring it into Ginny right about now." He sighed. "I've got to tell Fred and everyone."

"I'll tell Bill and Charlie," Harry offered. "You go tell Fred in person." He handed Simone back to her father. "Are you helping?"

"I guess," Draco said with a shrug. "Xander insists that he's adopted me." He put the baby on the floor and looked at the phoenix napping in a chair nearby. "Watch over her." He stood up and followed Ron to the fireplace. "Want company?"

"No, hold down the fort. It's going to be a mess tonight." Ron disappeared.

Harry coughed. "I'll need the fireplace."

Draco nodded. "Let me pop home and grab something. I'll be right back." He flooed home so he could find one of his house elves. There was no way Molly was going to feel like cooking tonight.

Harry tossed some floo powder into the fire. "Bill Weasley," he called out. Bill's head appeared a minute later. "Bill, it's Harry. There's bad news." Bill's smile faded. "The gryphons decided to work a spell on George and it's not sitting well with him. They're fixing it now."

"I'll be home tonight," Bill told him. "Mum and Dad?"

"Are there with him probably. Your mother went back with Xander the first time. I'm sure someone's told your father by now." Bill nodded. "We'll be here waiting." He broke the connection and waited a moment, but Draco didn't come back through so he made the other call he needed to. "Charlie Weasley."

***

Xander came out of the fireplace and headed directly for the old man sitting on the other side of the room for a hug. Dumbledore always understood.

"It will be fine, Xander," he said quietly. "They've done the spell and it was successful." He patted the trembling back gently. "Everything will be fine. Trust me if you don't trust them anymore."

"Why would they do it in the first place?" he complained. Xander pulled his head up. "Why even *try* this, especially since one of the healers announced that George wasn't eligible for the spell."

"Because they were trying to protect you," he said quietly. "There are rogue gryphon-born around the United Kingdom and it would be quite bad for them to attack your family." Xander frowned. "They see you as someone who would work against them and someone they have to stop. The rogues won't attack a fully formed flock, but they would be willing to attack a set of mated men." Xander relaxed a little. "I've been informed, as has Melody, that the problems could become quite severe if you were attacked, so the elders acted in what they thought was good faith."

"So they tried to protect me by nearly killing my mate?" Xander asked. Dumbledore nodded. "Bullshit. Telling me would have protected the both of us. They did what they wanted to because they want more of us around."

Dumbledore smiled. "That too probably," he agreed. "But harming George was not intentional."

"No, but it might be the end of them," Xander said coolly. "They hurt my mate!" Dumbledore nodded. "You don't think I should retaliate?"

"Personally, I would wait and see what they offered in reparation," Dumbledore said with a faint smile. "They're going to figuratively bend over backwards to heal this rift. You are the strongest of your generation and level of bornness." He stood up. "I believe you're needed back at the Burrow. I'll come check on you both tomorrow."

Xander heaved himself up and gave the older man another hug. "You make a great voice of reason."

Dumbledore stopped Xander from leaving. "I don't want to level more shocks on you, but I know you haven't been told yet. Giles left." Xander sighed. "Willow and Tara's fighting drove him away. He's gone back to his Council."

Xander nodded. "I'll go there and kick his ass later. Probably after the kids are born if he doesn't show back up. Thanks." He flooed back to the Burrow, arriving just in time to hear Arthur arguing with Draco. "Enough!" he yelled. Arthur looked at him. "Has anyone heard anything yet?"

"Where were you?" Harry asked.

Xander gave him a weak smile. "I went to find a deep hole of sanity and calmness before I attacked them for it." Harry smiled, understanding perfectly. "Dad?"

"It worked, they'll be back in about an hour," Arthur told him, giving him a pat on the back. "We can go pick up everyone then."

"Are we flying?" Xander asked. Arthur shook his head. "Then how are we getting home?"

"One of the forbidden portal spells." Arthur glared at Draco. "We don't need that sort of help."

"Your wife's going to be too busy to do much more than take care of your children. The least I can do is provide dinner for everybody. I'm sorry if you don't like my house elf, but she's very well behaved."

Xander snorted. "She's floating dancing potatoes." He pointed at where the small creature was making them dance, much to the delight of the baby. He looked at Arthur. "Is this really that big of a deal? If I had one, I would have brought it over to help too. Mom's not going to want to cook."

"She likes to cook."

"Then she can put on the finishing touches," Xander told him. "It'll still be at least an hour and Draco can get rid of the house elf before she finds out." He stepped closer. "This isn't about you not having one, this is Draco trying to be nice and helpful."

Arthur quit frowning. "Fine, she can stay, but only tonight."

"That's fine," Draco told him, giving him a smile. "I hope she cooks well enough. Your wife does a great job. Much better than my mother could have done on her own."

Arthur smiled. "I'll tell her you said so when she sees the elf." He looked back at Harry, who shifted uncomfortably. "It's good to see you out of your house, Harry." He gave the boy a hug. "Are you staying for dinner?"

"Hermione said I should."

"I'll let him have part of my room," Ron said, grinning at his friend. "It'll be like old times." Harry smiled at him. "How much longer?"

"Yes, how much longer?" Fred asked as he walked inside. He pulled Xander over, looking at him. "Did you ask?" Xander shook his head. "Then why did they do it?"

"They told Dumbledore that since I'm so strong that some of the rogue of us would want to test themselves against me. Which apparently they won't do against a whole family." He shrugged. "It seemed like a flimsy excuse to me, and personally I think they did it because they thought it'd be fun."

Fred nodded. "Then I won't harm you while you sleep." He looked at his father. "Any news?"

"Just that it's complete and we can go pick them up soon enough." He shrugged when Xander looked at his watch. "There's also an inquiry of sorts tonight. We're expected to attend."

"Oh, I'm going to be there," Xander said in his scariest voice. Arthur shuddered. "I want to hear this excuse for myself."

"Yes, so do I," Charlie said as he appeared. He smiled at Xander. "Are you going to destroy them?"

"The thought is presently crossing my mind," Xander admitted. "Fucking with my mate is something I won't tolerate and they know very well that I won't tolerate it." He smiled coldly. "They know quite well what I'm able to do because they're the ones who taught me how to control the urge to destroy and maim."

"And make miserable," Harry put in. Charlie smiled at him. "Are you running your advanced class next year?"

"Yeah, but there's only about ten kids in it this time," Xander told him. He sat down on the couch, watching his niece play on the carpet. "How much longer?"

"Not very long," Arthur assured him. He smiled at Harry for trying to change the subject and lessen the tension. "How have you been?"

"Decent enough. Hermione added a library to the house. We're getting books every few days." He grimaced. "It's rather annoying that people know where I live."

"Fans haven't tracked you down yet?" Draco asked as he walked back into the living room with his daughter. He looked down at his kid, then at Xander, then handed her over. "Here, keep calm." He flopped back down, smiling at the look his former teacher was giving him. "Best get some practice in and all that."

Xander snorted, but he cradled little Simone gently to his chest. "Yeah, I guess I probably should," he admitted quietly.

Draco noticed the proud look he was getting and grimaced at the older Weasley males. "Besides, it saves me from being puked on again."

Xander chuckled. "You shook her up too much. She never does it to me." Xander cooed at the baby. "Yeah, you can come play in the nest next week, huh."

"Yes, you can come back," Fred sighed. Xander smiled at him. "I still haven't forgiven you yet, but I won't send you away. You're good for business." He crossed his arms, staring down at the baby. "I'll even let you watch her in the store in the afternoons if Ginny needs the break."

"That's very nice of you, son," Arthur told him.

"She could come stay at my house for a while," Draco offered. Arthur frowned at him. "I'm not going to harm her."

"No, but we don't trust you enough to let you take care of the baby all by yourself," Ron told him as he strolled in. "After all, you still whine about diapers." He looked at his niece, and decided not to steal her so he could have some comfort of his own. "Those house elves are fast."

"Very," Harry agreed with a faint smile. "Hermione nearly threw a fit when six of them showed up looking for a job."

"Your house isn't that big," Ron said, looking confused.

"True," Harry agreed. "But we eventually chose one out of the six. The others she suggested go see Dumbledore because they could probably always use a few more up there." He waved at the baby, who giggled at him. "She's adorable."

"She is," Draco said proudly. "Doesn't look a bit like me, but very cute all the same."

"She's got your nose," Xander told him. He looked up. "Of course, she might have more of you as she gets older."

"She'd better not pull what he did in school," Ron said darkly, glaring at Malfoy. "We'll make sure she doesn't *entertain* like you did, Malfoy."

Draco nodded. "Please. It would be most inappropriate for my daughter to have admirers like I had."

"So, how was the United States?" Fred asked, trying to change the subject. No one needed to get between those two and their constant fighting.

"Boring. Very open once you get away from the East coast. Some fairly pretty country, but rather boring if you're not into landscapes."

"Where were you?" Xander asked.

"Denver. I ran into a former housemate and we spent some time together." Xander gave him a skeptical look. "She's from a year higher. Just left her husband. Pretty but not much else to be said about her. Though, she did try to teach me how to ski."

"Snowboard or ski?" Xander asked.

"Ski. How do people stand up on those?"

"I don't know," Xander told him. "I'm a beach baby myself."

"I saw one of those. Very interesting." Ron gave him a dirty look. "Ever seen a bikini, Weasley?"

Ron grinned. "Buffy was wearing one last week while she was painting the outside of the house."

"Imagine whole beaches full of women wearing them," Xander told him. Ron's mouth opened and a small whimper emerged. "Florida?"

"Florida," Draco said happily.

"What are these bikinis?" Arthur asked. Draco pulled his wand and created a picture of one, on a girl. "That's just underwear," he said, sounding scandalized.

"It's a bathing suit," Xander told him. He looked at the suit, then shook his head, changing it. "The more 'in' version right now."

Draco started to drool at the sight of the thong bathing suit. "My, I wish I had seen one of those."

Ron's mouth was closed for him by his older brother. "They wear that to swim in?" Charlie asked. Xander nodded. "How does it stay on?"

"You're not supposed to be athletic in it, it's for looking good," Xander told him with a grin. "It's all about how good you look on the beaches these days." He canceled the illusion. "I'm kinda glad that the class we took around London didn't get to run into any of those."

Arthur nodded. "Me also. It would have created quite a scandal." He shook himself. "Don't show that to Molly, Xander. She'll shriek about floosies and improper clothing."

"Okay." Xander moved the baby away from his chest, handing her back to her daddy. "Your turn, she's hungry."

"I can't do a thing about that," Draco reminded him.

"Are there muggle ways around that?" Arthur asked.

"Formula and bottles. Or breast pumping and bottles. Either one works."

"How would they work?" Charlie asked.

"Formula comes in a can and you mix it with water for the baby. Breast pumping is something mysterious to me, but it comes from the mother directly, just saved." Xander shrugged. "You'd have to ask Tara, she's been looking into that stuff."

"Is she really pregnant?" Harry asked. Xander nodded. "Really?"

"Yup. She and Willow decided to do it together. Willow's a raving, psychotic bitch and Tara's becoming a lot like the mother Goddess. Oh, and Giles ran away."

"Oh, dear," Arthur sighed. "Was he the father?" Xander nodded. "He left them there?"

"He left Tara at the mercy of Willow."

"Oh, dear," Harry said. "Can anyone control her?" Xander shook his head. "Then what will happen?"

"Tara's got the protection," Fred told them. "McGonagall came down for a sleeping charm. Just in case." His father smiled. "If the wind is just right, you can hear the screaming. The townspeople are starting to wonder."

"Tell them that there's two pregnant people up there," Xander suggested. "Most of them will probably understand." He yawned. "Is it time yet?"

"Not quite, son," Arthur said calmly. He watched as Xander fell asleep. "I'd say they were on their way home," he said quietly. "Let's prepare George's room for him. Draco, go do Ginny's room please." He accepted his granddaughter with a nod as people went to do things. He smiled as a portal opened in the kitchen and his remaining family walked through it. "We're all here but Bill," he told his wife. He stopped Ginny to give her a hug. "Are you all right?"

"Just a bit sore," she said with a smile. She took her daughter up to her room.

George sat beside Xander on the couch and promptly got pounced by his sleeping mate. "I'm fine," he told him. "Just needing some bedrest."

"Yes, you should head up there now," his mother said firmly. She heard a banging of a pot lid and turned to look at the creature in her kitchen. "What is that?" she shrieked.

"Draco thought you'd like to have the night off to worry over the children," Arthur told her. "He brought over one of his house elves for the night." He pulled her closer. "He was trying to be nice."

"It was rather thoughtful," Fred said as he walked down the stairs. He kissed his mother's cheek. "Our room's all set up." He looked at the couple on the couch. "Can you make it up the stairs yourself?" George nodded so Fred helped get Xander off him. It was cute how Xander followed his husband up to bed. Fred snickered, joining his mother in laughter. "They are cute."

"Yes, they are," she agreed. She looked into the kitchen. "Are you sure it knows what it's doing?"

"I'm sure she cooks at his home." Arthur looked at the still-open portal. "Should I go there now?" She nodded. "Then don't wait up. Try to keep Xander calm though. He's fighting the urge to kill them all." He walked through the portal and it closed behind him.

Molly went into the kitchen to check on the house elf's progress. "Oh," she said happily. "Dinner's nearly ready?"

The house elf looked up and smiled at her. "Yous is easy to cook for, Mrs. Grandma. The master is very happy about yous food so I try to make it like yous do. Do I do right?"

Molly tasted everything, only adding a bit of salt to the potatoes. "That's very good," she told her. "Thank you."

"The Master said yous is not wanting to cook tonight so I's is doing it instead. Very bad things happened so yous is tired and needed by yous children. It is nothing." She held up a small dish of sauce. "Does yous like?"

Molly tasted that too and nearly moaned. "That's very nice. Thank you." She smiled then walked away to go check on her children. She really didn't feel like cooking and it was a rather sweet notion from the boy, though she would discourage it in the future.

***

The gryphon that landed outside the Burrow five days later expected an angry halfling, though the depth of that anger astounded her. She knew that Xander's mate was going to be fine, why was he still so pissed? It had been for a good reason. She winced when the door slammed. She waited patiently and eventually Ginny walked out with her older brother Ron. Fredericka bowed to her. "I come to check on you and offer you something in return," she said quietly.

"Xander's left for the shop," Ron told her. "My mum's not really pissed at you anymore." He crossed his arms. "Can't say the same for the rest of us."

Fredericka nodded. "I understand." She looked at Ginny. "It does suit you."

"Thank you. What did you want?"

"We are in need of someone reasonable to translate a few of our spells. The elders decided together that a few of our more helpful spells could be sent around, if it was done by someone we trust."

"And you trust me because of what you did to my brother?" she asked.

Fredericka snorted. "Not quite. We trust you because we saw inside of you while we were healing you. You have the ability and the honesty to keep the harmful spells out of the general knowledge."

"And I have access to Xander's books," Ginny finished. The elder gryphon nodded. "Why me and not Hermione? She was trying to fix a few of them."

"Yes, we will allow you to work with her, but she has no desire to do this work full time." Fredericka handed over a large bag. "These are the rest of the books Xander will need. Also, you may learn whatever you desire from it. We know that you will not harm us, nor will she."

Ginny looked at the large bag, considering it. "This is blackmail," she said finally.

Fredericka gave her a gryphon smile. "Think of it more as a peace offering." She bent lower when she saw the baby in the doorway. "You're small," she noted.

"She's six months old," Ron told her. "Already crawling. Astounded our mother." He walked over and picked Simone up. "This is one of the ones that got your mommy preggers again," he told the baby. Ginny smacked him hard. "Hey!"

Fredericka leaned closer to the baby, who squeaked and squealed. "You are adorable. Very strong too." She nudged the baby gently. "You may have one of my feathers for a wand if it suits you." She straightened back up. "It is not to make you less angry. You are correct to be angry with us, though we wish it were not so. We are basing this on your abilities. You may have Hermione help you if you desire." She stepped back. "Will you do this for us?"

Ginny nodded. "Sure. I've been considering which jobs I could do while sitting at home." She smiled. "Are you going to try and make Xander unpissed? Because I doubt he's ready to even consider ending the grudge yet."

The gryphon shook her head. "I will not force it. I would be upset, even though I would get over it sooner."

"You nearly killed his mate, which is what's keeping him sane and balanced," Ron pointed out quietly. "If it were me, I'd have blown you all up by now. You might want to thank Fred and Dumbledore for being alive." He walked back into the house with the baby.

Ginny nodded. "True. George is still fairly weak. He's getting better but Xander's trying to find something to help him. Is there anything in here?"

"One of the general healing potions should help him," Fredericka said, starting to be concerned. "He won't allow it?"

"He's decided it's better if he doesn't touch his books right now," she confided. "He gets really great big bursts of anger whenever he tries to study."

"Then I will go talk to them," Fredericka decided. "It is up to me to heal this rift. The youngling was right, we are to blame." She bowed again. "Thank you. In the bag is a way of contacting us." She hopped up, taking off on a thermal.

Ginny grabbed the strap of the bag and hauled it inside, grunting with pain when she let it drop. "That is too heavy for me to carry upstairs."

"I'll get it in a few," Ron told her, handing over the baby. "I'm not doing diaper duty."

She sighed. "It's not that bad."

"That's because she's yours," Ron reminded her. "Are you going to tell mum and dad?"

"Tonight, when they come back." Ginny put the baby on the couch so she could clean the pert little butt.

Ron heaved the bag up and carried it up to her room, making sure the door was locked and all the windows were closed, just in case.

***

Fred looked out as a large shadow flowed across the outer window. "Oh, crap," he whispered. He smiled at the customers. "Be right back." He ran up the stairs. "Xander, visitor," he said from the doorway.

"If it's got feathers and it's not a phoenix, I don't care," he said quietly. He looked over. "Tell whichever one it is to go away." A small fire started in the brazier across the room.

"Okay." Fred jogged back down, but stopped when he saw who else had just come in. "What do you want?" he asked Snape.

"I was commissioned to bring down a healing potion," Snape told him, looking around with distaste. His teachings had led to this frivolity and he was not pleased. "Where is your brother?"

"Upstairs in bed." He watched the older man walk up the stairs then went out to talk to the big creature. "He's still angry."

"As he should be," Fredericka agreed. "What Reynaldo caused was quite wrong." She leaned down. "However, I did not do this to him and he has no reason to be angry with me."

"He's angry with your whole species," Fred told her coolly. "The same as he's hating that he's part of what caused his husband so much pain." She backed up some. "If he could, I'm sure he'd take that part of himself out and toss it away because it causes George so much pain to look at him most of the time."

"Enough," McGonagall said as she walked up to them. "Where is Xander? This should be between them, your anger is different from his."

"I'm George's twin," he reminded her.

"And George is Xander's husband, bonded to him on the same level as you two are," she finished. "It is his fight, yours needs to be taken up at a different time." Fred nodded, taking her advice. "Go get Xander."

"Snape's up there."

"Good. Xander usually trusts him not to harm people without a reason."

Xander walked out and looked up at the gryphon. "I'm still ready to kill you all because of how much pain you've caused my mate. Go away."

She bent down to get closer to him. "I did not cause him any pain."

"No, you didn't. You also didn't stop the one who did from doing it." He looked at McGonagall. "I'll be up tomorrow for the meetings." She nodded. "George wants to stay down here so I'm commuting for a few more weeks." He turned when he heard footsteps, bracing George so he could stand up. "What are you doing up?"

"Amazingly, the potion worked some," George said. He looked up at Fredericka. "I want an explanation and it had better be a good one," he demanded. "You nearly killed me and I could care less if your whole race died at the moment."

"It was necessary to protect you both," she told him. "The rogues...."

"Won't be attacking me directly," Xander butted in. "A head-on attack isn't the gryphon way. You prefer to take side attacks and wear away the defenses. Getting my husband stuffed up wouldn't have cured any of that." She shifted some. "So, I'm guessing it was a presumption of me not knowing my own mind and a direct violation of both of our bodies. In that case, it's the same as rape and I'd be killing you all for it."

"Xander," McGonagall said quietly. "There are rogues."

"Who'll be attacking either a favorite student or someone else in the family. Gryphons attack the defenses, not the front line." He looked back at the gryphon. "Don't they?"

"It is our instinctive means of attack," she agreed. McGonagall hissed. "What happened was never meant to happen. We have all come down on the errant one for his lack of permission and arrogance. He was nearly kicked out of the colony and forced to make it on his own."

George laid a hand on Xander's. "Forgive her already," he whispered. "I don't like you unhappy, I don't get the good cuddles that way."

Xander looked at his mate, the anchor for his sanity, the voice of reason when he was rampaging, and sighed. "All right. But I don't have to like it."

"That's fine," George agreed, giving him a faint smile. "We can even move the nest back if you'd like." Xander looked hopeful. "I promise, it won't bother me, Xander."

Xander hugged his mate, smiling as Snape came out of the store. "Thank you."

"It was a simple potion to make," Snape told him. "I hope that your more advanced books will have more challenging potions in them."

"Advanced books?" He looked at the big fluffy creature. "I have advanced books?"

"Of course. We left them with his sister. The Council decided she would be the one to translate some of the more useful and non-lethal spells into the common magic arena."

"She'll get to work from home," Fred said in appreciation. He looked back inside when he heard a bell. "Coming." He walked back inside to ring someone up. "Sorry about that?"

"It's okay. Is that a real fight?"

"No, it's a truce at the moment," he told her. He handed her back her change. "Thank you for shopping with us." He watched as she slid out behind Snape and disappeared down the street. He decided to go back out too. He found Xander being hugged by the gryphon and steadied his brother. "After this you go back to bed," he said firmly but quietly.

"Exceptional idea," George said with a smile. "Are we cooking tonight or heading home?"

"Home. Mum's probably going to be making real food soon." Fred looked at Xander. "Are you okay again?"

"I'll be fine," Xander assured him, pulling back. He frowned at his mate. "You still need to be in bed." He picked George up and carried him up the stairs.

Fred snickered. "How many more doses does he take?"

"Two more," Snape told him, picking some lint off his sleeve. "I'll send them down at the appropriate time." He nodded and walked away.

"That was rather nice of him," Fred told his former Head of House.

"We gave him an extensive volume on our potions," Fredericka told him. "Most useful things." She jumped up and flew off.

McGonagall smiled at him. "I do believe I had an order coming in?"

"And all but one thing is ready," he assured her, leading her into the shop. He brought out her special order. "We still have to set the lights on the snappers."

Upstairs, Xander had pulled the nest back into its former position and was cuddled into his husband's arms. He had missed this. George was smiling in his sleep. Life was good.

Snippet 6:

Note: I apologize in advance for the house elf speaking problems i seem to have. i tried my best. btw, kaiya (the ever wonderful beta who was working on things this weekend) read this and had the image of them not telling the 'master' until poor denver was at least six months old, and ginny coming the next morning only to find the house elf going 'round and 'round on a ceiling fan, pinned by the ears. she and her wicked mind. <G>

Draco looked up from playing with his eight-month-old daughter when he felt someone apparate near him. One of his house elves was standing there nervously wringing her hands. "What's wrong?" he asked quietly, not wanting to upset Simone.

"Master, there's something you have to see," she told him, nodding fiercely. "He was dropped off yesterday and wes take care of him, but he needs yous now."

Draco stood up, picking Simone up too. No one else was home at the moment. "Let me leave a note," he ordered. He quickly wrote out a note then followed his house elf home. Once there, he walked into the kitchen, stopping when he saw a small basket. "What is that?" he asked.

"She left it for yous," the elf told him. "Shoved it at us and said to have fun with it. It's funny, but screaming whole lots."

Draco put his daughter down on the table, trusting her not to fall off, so he could look at this new creature. He felt someone pop in. "Back here," he yelled. The baby looked up at him with eyes just like his, and wailed. "Shh, it's all right," he soothed, picking the poor baby up. "It's all right, you're safe," he told it. He looked over at Mrs. Weasley, who was looking a bit shocked. "Someone dropped it off here yesterday," he told her.

"Oh, dear Merlin," she sighed. "Is it yours?" Draco nodded. "Are you sure?"

"Bloody well looks like me," he said, turning the baby around. It had very thin, fine hair so blond it was nearly transparent and eyes the color of summer storm clouds. The baby kicked and gurgled at her. "I know I've slept with someone recently enough, but really."

"The woman was most sneering," the elf told him. "Not nice, not nice at all." She handed over the note. "That with the baby." She scampered off.

Mrs. Weasley walked over and took the baby from him so he could read the note. She looked it over, and eventually checked the diaper. "It's a boy," she announced.

"Wonderful," he said as he read. He blindly sought a seat and sat down. "Merlin, she abandoned him with me for good." He looked up. "Called him an inconvenience to her finding a new husband." He handed over the note and took the baby to look over. "And she gave you the most horrible name too."

Simone glared at the attention thief then started to scream. Her daddy! Her grandmother pulled her over to hold her, but it was still her daddy. He always played with her and now he had that attention thief.

"Oh, do stop it," he commanded. His daughter stopped and looked at him in shock. "I'm still your father and I'm not abandoning you to your mother's family. Now you have a brother." He held the baby out so she could see him. He blocked a particularly hard pat from her, but eventually she decided his fingers tasted good enough to suck on, making them both happy. "Thank you, Merlin," he sighed.

"At least they'll be close," Molly said, putting the note aside. "What are you going to do about this, Draco?"

"I have not a clue," he said honestly. "This is rather a lot at the moment." He looked at the baby, then at her. "Can we go back to your place? It has toys and the like." He glanced around the warm kitchen. "I've got to get some here for her."

"Once she's walking," Molly said, separating the babies. "I won't allow you to hand this one over to Ginny."

"I wouldn't think of it," he said, scowling at her. "They're both my children and I will take care of them."

"Good. As long as you're not going to abandon him like his mother did." The young man snorted. "I've seen it before," she told him.

"As much as I think Ginny is a wonderful mother, it's clear this one is thoroughly a Malfoy." He smiled. "That means he'll probably become quite attached to his sister and make her insane. Always wanted a sister of my own to protect and drive insane."

Molly snickered. "You'll have a half-sister or brother soon from your adoption by Xander." She gathered everything up. "Come on, let's go." She sent herself home, with him following a moment later, he had to give out some orders to the house elves. She smiled at her son, home for lunch. "We were just at the mansion," she told Percy.

"I see. Why ever for?"

"Because I got my son dropped on my doorstep by his worthless cunt of a mother," Draco said as soon as he appeared. His son belched and he grimaced. "First things first, you need manners, my boy." He accepted the clean cloth and cleaned up the grossness that came from his son's mouth. "Thank you." He sat down at the table, putting the baby back into his basket. "Was his birth certificate in there?"

Molly checked the envelope and handed it over. "Denver?"

"Where he was conceived." He read the pertinent details. She had left her name blank. "Well, that's wonderful," he said, showing it to his might-as-well-be mother-in-law. "She's made him an official Malfoy and made sure her family can't track him down."

Percy looked at the offending certificate. "He's only a few weeks old." He looked at the baby. "He's quite big for being so young."

"I was born eleven pounds," Draco told him. "Comes with the blond hair." He smiled at the disgruntled look. "Really, they can both come back to the mansion with me," he told Molly. "I can take care of them both."

"I'm sure you can," she agreed, "but Simone stays here except for visits."

"It's not like my father's friends come over for tea," Draco reminded her. She smiled sweetly and shook her head. "You don't want her to know about my life?"

"I'd prefer that you had a stable life before that happens."

"Give it up, mum," Ginny said as she waddled in. "Yes, he can take Simone back to the mansion with him sometimes. Especially the day I deliver this huge whale of a Harris." She sat down in front of the baby. "Who're you?"

"Remember that fling I had?" She nodded. "That's my son, Denver. He's five weeks old tomorrow."

Ginny sighed. "Coolness. I'm sure Simone will appreciate having someone to play with." Her daughter squealed and jumped in her seat, turning around to look at her best friend, Glinda. "Stop biting her or stay at the school until she's eleven," Ginny warned the phoenix. Glinda gave her a pitiful look. "Nice try. Won't work, but nice try." Glinda cooed at her, then started to sing. The baby on the table squeaked and squealed at the noise.

"Oh, dear, he likes to sing," Draco said, looking horrified. Ginny stared at him. "We're all horrible at it, every last one of us."

"Ah." She picked the baby up, checking him out. "Well, you're certainly your father's son. Let's hope you don't attract loose and stupid women like he does."

"And what does that say about you, dear?" her mother teased.

"I'm the exception that proves the rule," Ginny said firmly. Draco nodded, giving her a bright smile. "I can help you with him sometimes."

"I was going to start begging to bring Simone back to the mansion on occasion," he pointed out. "You can always come over there and work."

Ginny patted him on the hand. "Your house is big, cold, and drafty. Let us know when you redecorate and we'll see." He laughed. "You think I'm kidding?"

"No, just imagining what my mother would have said about all this. She would have huffed and walked away with her nose in the air."

"Have you heard from her family?" Molly asked. He shook his head. "Not a thing?"

"I got a birthday card from her aunt, but nothing else. Apparently their family wasn't as fortunate as some were in the stock market. They're relatively well enough off to live, but they're not flamboyantly wealthy. I guess they think that I'll start coming to them and asking them for things, but I'd really rather not see them ever again. They used to give me nightmares." Ginny laid a hand on his arm. "One can't pick their families," he sighed, taking his son to hold. "I should probably go have you registered too. With any luck, you and Simone will be in the same year."

"The birthday cutoff date would include him," Molly told him. "By a few weeks actually." She smiled. "We'll watch him long enough for you to do that."

"Thank you." He stood up and handed his son over to what might as well be his step-mother. "I'll be back soon." He disapparated.

Ginny smiled at the baby. "At least you're cute and we can make you a decent human being so you don't have to find the right path the hard way." Percy snorted. "Want to change Simone for me, Perc?"

"No, thank you. I think I'll have enough of that in my future." He smiled at his mother when she squealed. "It seems our first time together was more magical than I thought," he admitted. He hadn't been wanting to tell his mother yet but he'd be taking care of him himself until Kandy graduated.

"And will we be seeing a wedding?" Ginny asked. Percy scowled and nodded. "Good. It's about time you made it official. Though how I'm going to fit into any robe I'm not really sure."

"It'll be here in the garden if mum agrees," Percy told her. "Wear something comfortable for you." He nodded at her stomach. "How much longer?"

"Half-gryphons are carried for ten months," she said grimly. "And it's huge. We're already bigger than Simone was at birth. Less active thankfully, but still huge." She moved her robe out of the way so he could see her stomach. "With six more months to go," she told him. He clucked and reached over to touch her stomach. "It's not the same feeling as Simone was."

"Of course not, it's probably much more like Xander would have been," Molly told her. "You might ask him if he has a copy of any baby pictures or the like." Ginny shook her head. "You already asked?"

"His mother never took any. He was feeling lonely the other day and showed me all the pictures he had, most of which included Willow and another boy. He does have his birth certificate. Just over nine pounds and nineteen inches long." Her mother laughed. "I'm not sure where all the size is coming from, unless he's got wings or something."

"We can do one of those ultrasounds," Percy suggested. "Kandy's mother dragged her to St. Mungo's for one and it was quite interesting. Couldn't make out the picture myself, but the doctor said it was there."

"Those are probably very expensive," Molly reminded him.

Ginny shrugged. "I'll suggest it to Xander and George, see if they want to deal with it. If not, maybe they can find another way to check on it." She grunted and rubbed her stomach. "Little snot."

Her mother smiled. "Remember, what you call them now will influence their personalities later." She stood up. "I used to call George and Fred troublemakers and look how they turned out." She pinched Percy's cheek. "You were always my good little boy because you never kicked me once." She walked over to the sink to draw water for tea.

***

Draco dragged his feet as he walked into the school. Session had started only a few days earlier and all the students were still happily bouncing around the hall. Had he ever looked that hopeful and happy? He walked into the library, waving the birth certificate.

"Again?" Irma Pince, librarian, asked. "Your first can't be over seven months old."

"She's eight months and this one was handed over to me by his *adoring* mother," he said coolly. He waved a hand when she looked startled. "I'm a bit upset with her at the moment."

"I would be furious," she assured him. She pulled down the book and took the birth certificate. "Her name's not on here," she pointed out.

"She wanted it that way. I found out about him this morning when one of my house elves panicked and came to get me. They'd probably have only told me when he started walking if they knew how to take care of a child." She clucked over that and he watched her write it in. "The mother's name was Marble, Candace Marble." She wrote the name in another color of ink. "Can't make it official?"

"No, not without it being on the birth certificate." She smiled at him as she handed it back. "Congratulations, Mr. Malfoy. I'm sure your son will enjoy it here as much as your daughter will."

"Hopefully," he sighed. "As long as they get along, I'll be happy." He nodded a goodbye and left the library. He ran into Snape in the hallway and showed him the document without saying anything.

"Really?" Draco nodded. "Marble?" Draco nodded again. "Word was that she came back to find the father of her child. She didn't put her name down?"

Draco sighed. "No, according to her note, my son is an inconvenience that will only cause her trouble finding a new, richer, husband. Therefore he is my responsibility until he becomes useful to her again."

Snape sneered. "Indeed," he said coolly. "Then I will make sure that the child is protected once he gets here. Are you going to change his name?"

"She left a binding certificate with his name. She bound it to him so it can't be changed. Even with as old as he is, it would probably destroy his budding personality." He looked around. "I'd better go. Mrs. Weasley is watching him for me and she's made it quite plain that she's not helping me raise him."

Snape handed him a form. "Here, try this for a bit," he said before walking away.

"Quidditch training camp?" Draco muttered as he read. "They want me?" He stuffed it into his pocket with the birth certificate. He was going to need some things and he'd better get them now, while he had a sitter.

***

Xander landed in the living room, nearly tripping over Ginny. "Sorry," he said with a grin. "What's up?"

Ginny pointed at the baby on the couch. "Denver showed up yesterday." She continued using her daughter as an exercise weight, making her squeal in delight.

Xander sat down next to the baby, picking him up carefully. It was obvious who he was. The baby cooed and gurgled at him, making him laugh. "You're adorable. Girls are going to fall over you, mini him."

"Mini what?" she asked.

"Sorry, muggle movie reference." He grinned at her. "I'll rent it sometime so you can watch it." He rocked the little baby, earning a sleepy baby. "Such a cute little clone, yes, so very cute."

"My son is not a clone," Draco said as he walked out of the fireplace. He frowned at his teacher. "Are you enjoying pawing my son?"

"Yup," Xander said with a grin. Draco rolled his eyes. "Are you planning on having him rendered infertile once he hits twelve?"

"I should hope so," Draco said with a frown. Ginny laughed. "What? I'm probably fertile because of something Granger did to me."

"Hey, you interrupted the spell," Ron said as he walked down the stairs. "It worked for me." He looked at the baby, then at his arch-nemesis. "You spawned again?" he asked incredulously.

Draco glared at him. "I didn't mean to. I had no bloody idea until yesterday morning when one of the house elves came and got me. He'd been at home since day before yesterday afternoon and they never told me."

"They obviously had it under control," Ginny said with a shrug. "They seem capable enough." She put Simone down and watched as she crawled to her father and pulled herself up on his leg. "Hopefully they'll get along well enough to not start a war."

"Yes, the Weasley vs. Malfoy war should probably stop," Xander noted dryly. The baby dirtied itself and was immediately handed over to his father. "All yours," he said happily.

Ginny smiled at him. "You too shall do that soon," she reminded him.

Xander grinned. "I'm thinking a compulsion on Fred to make him want to change diapers would be wonderful," he said happily.

"No, Xander," Ron told her. "He'll get you while you sleep and you'll be horribly furry again or something."

Xander grinned. "He can try."

Snippet 7:

A fourth year ran into Xander's classroom, pointing and screaming. "What?" he asked, grabbing her to try and calm her down. "What happened?" She started to babble noise again. "Willow?" She shook her head. "Tara?" The girl nodded. "Guys, stay in here. Um, Mitchell, go find Madam Pomfrey and send her to Tara's room. The rest of you stay here!" He ran out of the room and down the hall, slamming into Tara's classroom. "Oh, shit," he said. "Dismissed, leave now!" The kids filed out quickly. "Tara, how long have you been in labor?"

"Most of the day," she sobbed. "I thought it was going to stop! Please, make it stop, Xander." She grabbed his hand. "Please make it stop."

"The nurse is on the way. Let me check you, all right?" She nodded and let him go. He lifted her skirt and groaned. He could see the head. "Tara, honey, it's too late. The baby's coming." Tara started to cry harder. "But it's okay. Shh, it's okay. The baby's almost seven months along and it'll be fine." He moved around to hug her. "I'm going to be right here, okay? We'll get through this and I'm going to kick Giles ass for this later." She sniffled and laughed. "Shh, it'll be okay." She writhed with the next pain. "Don't push if you can help it."

"I can't, it's got to come out," she told him, pushing hard.

He went back down and managed to catch the baby. "It's a boy," he said, smiling at her. He pulled out his pocket knife and cut the umbilical cord, handing her the baby. "It's okay, Tara, we'll be fine." He looked at the door, but no one was running their way. "Can I move you?" She nodded so he picked her up carefully. "Tell me if I hurt you and you keep hold of that little fella for me. Got it?" She nodded again and he walked out of the room, heading up to the infirmary. He met the nurse halfway there. "She couldn't stop," he explained at the distressed look. "She's having more contractions now, I just felt one go through her." He followed her up to the infirmary, carefully placing Tara on a bed. "Here we are." He took the baby when it was handed to him. "Doesn't he need something? Air or something?"

She turned and looked the baby over, eventually putting an oxygen mask over his face and putting him on another bed. "Go tell Dumbledore," Madam Pomfrey told him. "They're both going to have to go to St. Mungos as soon as possible." He nodded, but didn't move. "I can handle this."

"I don't want to leave her alone."

"Then I'd hurry up," the nurse ordered. He nodded and left the infirmary. "He's quite protective of you," she said conversationally. "I'm going to have to check you now, Professor Maclay. Please stay still for just a moment." She checked the young woman over and sighed. "That certainly explains it." She straightened up. "You were carrying twins and one's had problems."

"My son?" Tara cried.

"With some support, he'll be just fine," Madam Pomfrey soothed. She walked over to check on the child, making sure it was staying covered. The baby worried her, it was much too soon.

***

Xander ran into Dumbledore's office. "Tara gave birth in class. Madam Pomfrey said to tell you she needs to go to the real hospital."

"I've already called for them," Dumbledore said calmly, standing up. "What was it?"

"A little boy. He's okay so far but he's so tiny." Xander took a deep breath. "I'm going to go stop Willow. Did you need me to do anything else?" Dumbledore shook his head. "Then can you go hold Tara's hand? She shouldn't be alone." He jogged out of the office, making it to Willow on the long marble stairs up to the infirmary. "She's not okay, but she'll be fine," he told her quickly, making her stop. Willow frowned at him. "She delivered in the classroom.

"She's too early."

"I know, and she can't take being upset right now." Willow's frown got deeper. "If you upset her, I'm tying you to a tree until you deliver. Got it?"

"I'm not going to upset her."

"Willow, your presence upset her at breakfast. I mean it, you can't upset her now. She'll die if you upset her."

"I'll behave," Willow agreed, getting free of his arm.

"Thank you." He watched her go, frowning at her back. He pulled his wand and took her voice so she couldn't say a thing to Tara. "I meant it," he called after her. She glared back at him. "Make her suffer and it comes back to you." He turned and headed for the staffroom. He had a small side trip to make. Fortunately, Giles had convinced someone to connect the Watcher's Council to the floo network. He sent some powder into the fire and disappeared. He banged his head on the other side, the fireplace was very low. By the time he had bent down and gotten out, there were a few people looking at him. Including Giles. He walked up to his mentor and slugged him hard. "That's for leaving Tara at Willow's mercy," he snarled. "She delivered today. Two months early." Giles' mouth opened. "Not only did you run away from your responsibility, but you left her at the mercy of a psychotic raging hormone who proved that she likes to hurt her when she has a mood swing. They're going to the hospital if you're interested. I'd show up there or not at all, which might actually be better for them all." He left again, going back to check on Tara. He found Dumbledore standing in the staff room. "You sent them through the floo?"

"No, I sent them via portal. I was waiting on you." He picked up the hand Xander still had clenched. "Did you inform Rupert of the birth?" Xander nodded. "Good. I had hoped he would have stepped up and helped protect Tara when he found out how bad it was getting."

"He knew?"

"Some of it. Tara didn't confide some of it to anyone." He let Xander's hand go. "The second baby was born stillborn. That's what set off her labor." He smiled. "Nice work with Willow." He waved at the door. "I believe you have a class now?"

"I'll go in a minute. I need some time to adjust my mental rant against Giles."

"Of course. Please don't hurt the children, Xander. If you have to, let Black take them for a class." He walked away.

Xander took a few deep breaths then steeled himself to go face down children. He walked into the advanced classroom and smiled at everyone. "Go take Professor Black and Lupin and get out of my sight before I explode," he said calmly.

"Let's go, people," Black called. "He's serious."

"No, you're Sirius," Xander told him.

Black patted him on the shoulder. "Don't destroy anything," he said quietly. "We'll be out by the lake." He steered the children out of the room, following them.

Lupin stopped to look at Xander. "Will you be okay?" Xander shrugged. "Okay. Remember we can't replace anything."

Xander smiled brighter at him. "I won't destroy the equipment, but we may be missing a wall or three." Lupin nodded and left him alone. Xander shut the door after him then looked around the classroom. He pointed his hand at one wall, the external wall, and fired a blast of power at it. It wasn't often that he could push the excess energy this way, but he was more than pissed enough to force it from his body before he hurt someone. The wall exploded in a shower of rubble, giving the room a new patio-like area.

"What the bloody hell are you doing!" Snape shouted from the doorway.

Xander looked back at him. "Killing a wall instead of Giles." He shot a blast of pure energy at the remains of the wall, sending it out onto the lawn too. "Fuck him and his chicken shit problems."

Snape closed the door. "What happened now?"

Xander turned to look at him. "You mean you didn't hear how and why he left right before school started?" Snape nodded. "Tara just delivered prematurely. One of the twins was stillborn. And he never did a thing to stop Willow."

"You blame her?"

"She transformed Tara all sorts of ways and yelled at her nearly non-stop for the last five months. You tell me." He crossed his arms. "I need to destroy something and a wall is a convenient target. That's not really bearing any weight and I can always rebuild it through the semester."

Snape gave him a smile, which was rather scary. "At least you can rationalize your way out of destroying the school."

"I'm not rebuilding the entryway again," Xander said with a faint smile. "Once was enough."

"Did you see Giles yet?"

"Yup, and I'm very proud of myself, I only hit him once."

Snape laughed. "Good. I'd like to do so myself. Professor Maclay is rather in need of protection." He nodded at the wall. "You have a spell to recreate it, you might want to use it before the rain starts tonight." He opened the door and walked away, leaving the door open.

Xander stared down the student standing outside the door. "What?"

"Professor Harris? Professor McGonagall wanted to know what you were doing. She was quite upset by all the noise." She gave him a pitiful look. "Is Professor Maclay all right?"

"As far as I've been told, but she shouldn't have delivered today." He waved at the hallway. "I'll come up and explain myself to her." The student smiled and ran away. Xander calmed himself down again and walked up to two flights of stairs to the Deputy Headmaster's classroom. He stuck his head inside. "Sorry about the noise," he said with a smile. "It beats killing someone. I'll fix the wall straight away." He withdrew and went to find his textbook with the recreate spell in it. It would be handy if it worked the way he thought it would.

McGonagall walked out of her classroom and slammed the door. "Explain yourself," she ordered.

Xander turned and looked at her. "I delivered Tara's first son, the one who lived, and then robbed Willow of her voice so she couldn't hurt Tara anymore. Then I went and I hit Giles, though not as much as I wanted to. So I'm presently wearing out my anger in a non-lethal fashion that has nothing to do with a student." Her mouth opened. "As of this moment, my classroom is missing a wall and I'm on my way to find the spell to fix it. Did you want more?"

She glared at him. "Xander, that was totally uncalled for."

"No, Tara delivering two months early was uncalled for. Giles running was uncalled for. And since I'm starting to lose my temper again, I'm going to go find that spellbook so I can fix the wall and destroy it again." He turned and walked away, finishing his trek to the library. He had a few of his textbooks locked in the safe room. He glared at Willow when she stood up. "Once I'm not pissed." Irma Pince handed over both books and he gave her a smile. "I'll bring them back soon. I only need the recreate spell." He walked back to his classroom, flipping through the books to find the spell. He finally found it and pointed his wand at the wall, saying the complicated phrase. The rubble flew up and rebuilt itself. "Good," he said, tossing the books aside.

***

Willow cornered Xander in the hallway, holding him in place until her voice came back. "How could you think I hurt Tara?"

"Do the words 'swan', 'mouse', and 'bunny rabbit' mean anything to you?" She blanched. "Your hormones may be swinging, but if I *ever* find out that you definitely caused that one baby to die you will suffer. Tara's sweet and nice, she doesn't hurt people. You've managed to scare even my husband." She made a sound of protest. "Ask him if you don't believe me. He'll be up for dinner." He got free of her hold and walked away. "I'd figure it out now, Willow, before you lose everyone's support." He turned a corner and disappeared.

Willow leaned against the wall and pouted. The first teacher to walk past her she stopped. "Snape, do you think I'm mean and nasty?"

He looked her over. "Yes," he said, then walked away.

She started to cry and made a vow to be better to Tara and her son. If they both lived. That thought made her cry harder. She had hurt Tara. She was bad.

***

George walked up to Willow and grabbed her by the arm, pulling her aside. "I heard what Xander told you," he said quietly. "Frankly, he was right. You do have moments when you lose control and bad things happen around you. You scare me as much as Xander does when he loses his temper because of something like what happened today. If you want, I can help you regain control. I was very good at helping Ginny when her powers went wonky. But only if you manage to find a spot of control and calm because I'm not unleashing you on the world in the state you've been in lately." She started to sniffle. "I'm not doing this to be mean, I'm doing this because you've managed to upset my mate enough that he's crying." He stepped back. "I'll leave it up to you. It's a fairly simple technique. Fred and Percy both know it if you'd rather head to them, as does my mother and sister. But, please, ask one of us." He walked away, leaving her there.

Willow squared her shoulders and went to the staffroom. She needed someone who understood. Maybe Mrs. Weasley wouldn't look at her like she was evil. She flooed to their house, giving them a pitiful look. "George said I could come to you for help," she said quietly.

"Come along into the living room," Molly said, leading her that way and closing them in. "What happened?"

Willow sat down and looked up at her. "Tara went into early labor, one of the babies was dead." She sniffed. "Xander thinks I did it. Even Snape thinks I'm bad." She started to cry again. "It's these hormones, I can't control them and I keep breaking out and doing mean things!"

Molly pulled her closer. "I understand," she soothed. "There's a few things you can do. One of them is give up magic for the rest of your pregnancy." Willow gave her a horrified look. "It really would be better for the baby."

"But...but I can't live without my magic. It's who I am."

Molly frowned. "Willow, it's only a part of you. Your magic is an innate gift that you use, not the core of your identity. If it is, then you've got deeper problems." Willow started to cry again. Oh, dear, this was worse than she had been told by George and Dumbledore. They would have to lock her abilities away to stop all this. At least Dumbledore had given her the spell to do so. She called out to her husband and son, who came to help her.

Snippet 8:

Xander was shoved out of Ginny's room by Mrs. Weasley and the door was locked so he couldn't get back in. "But I've seen two of them before," he called.

"Not this time, Xander. Wait out there."

Xander pouted as he leaned against the wall. It was his son, he should be allowed to watch him come into the world. He had watched Draco's daughter come into the world. He brought Tara's son into this world. And now he couldn't watch his own son be born. Ginny screamed loudly and he covered his ears. Waiting sucked and it was not his strong suit. She screamed again and he nearly kicked the door open to get in there. Strong arms held him still. "I need to be in there. Something's wrong."

"No, she's just screaming," Fred told him. He smiled at his brother-in-law when he got looked at. "George is outside flying so he doesn't have to listen to it this time. You could go join him."

"Oh, good, he didn't have wings after all," Ginny said loudly.

"Ginny?" Fred called. "Are you done yet?"

"No!" Mrs. Weasley called. "Well tell you when we are, George."

"I'm Fred, oh great daft one."

"Whatever," his father said as he walked up the stairs. "Going well?"

"No," Xander moaned pitifully. "I should be in there."

Arthur patted him on the shoulder. "I'm sure you'll be helping soon enough. Won't be long now." He smiled reassuringly. "Dear, are you nearly done? Xander's about to break down the door."

"If he does, I'm sending him to Draco," Ginny called.

"Not a bad idea," Fred said in appreciation. "It'll take him a minute to get back."

"Probably won't last long enough," his father advised. He stopped Xander from lunging at the next groan of pain. "Do it anyway," he suggested. He watched as his son drug his son-in-law away.

Xander landed in Draco's fireplace with a thump. Before he could get up and grab some floo powder, a small hand was wrapped in his hair and tried to pull him out.

"You might as well come out before the fire starts to burn you," Draco told him as he picked his daughter up. "Let go of him, Simone." She giggled and wrapped her other hand in Xander's hair. He sighed and grabbed his teacher by the collar and pulled him out of the fire before his robes lit. "Why are you here now?"

"They won't let me help," Xander said pitifully. He looked down when he felt his lap be invaded by a warm body. "Hey, Denver. Are you scooting around again?"

Draco sat down and released his daughter, watching as she ran over to play with her favorite uncle too. "I'm sure she'll be done soon enough." He whistled when Denver reached for the fire. "No." Denver gave him a smile and blew a spit bubble. "Do it again and I'm putting you down for a nap, even though Xander is here." Denver clutched onto his favorite uncle, he wasn't going anywhere. "So, how long has it been?"

"She's dilated six and a half according to her mother. So at least another hour. Possibly not until tonight."

"I see." Draco pulled his wand and stunned his teacher before he could move. He stood up and strolled over, giving the older man a cocky smile. "You taught me a little too well," he said with a shit-eating grin. "Now, where to put you?" He looked at his children, who should be napping. "That's a wonderful idea, Denver," he said when he saw his son trying to use his uncle for a teddy bear. "Yes, he'll go up to the nursery." He floated Xander up with the kids, and sent them up to the nursery, him following to tuck everybody in. He smiled when both children decided to nap on Xander's chest. "Good night, children," he said, flipping off the lights. He wasn't worried about retaliation, Xander would forget all about this when his son was born.

***

Xander snuck up the stairs over the shop. It was nearly three in the morning and everyone else was asleep. He carefully put his son down and stripped to his boxers, then picked him back up and climbed into the nest to sleep. George snuffled them then glued himself to Xander's chest, his head right next to the baby's belly. Xander smiled as he fell asleep, his family was complete and he was content. Now if only they could name the kid.

Snippet 9:

Xander followed his husband into the family home, still arguing with him. "I don't want our son to have a name that makes people pick on him."

"No one's going to pick on him, Xan. It's a good, strong wizard's name."

"Problems?" Bill asked, giving them a smile.

"Another vacation?" Xander asked.

"Between assignments. Technical support isn't ready for me yet so I've got a long weekend." He held his arms out. "May I?"

Xander handed over his son. "Does he look like a Hurburt to you?"

"No," Bill agreed. "Maybe a Bill though." He grinned.

"Not a chance," George told him. He looked around. "Mum? Dad? Help?"

His mother and father walked down the stairs together. "What's wrong?" his mother asked. "Did he already do something you don't understand?"

"Well, yeah," Xander admitted. "We're not quite sure about the green stuff in the diaper, but this is about something else. We need you guys to name him. You gave all your kids normal, nice, non-nerdy names."

"What's been suggested so far?" Arthur asked, sitting down beside Bill to look at his grandson. He was the first grandson, though on occasion he did count Denver as holding that spot - the kid might as well with as much time as he and his father spent at the house.

"I want to name him Hurburt. A perfectly upstanding name with a long heritage," George said. "Or something like it."

"I'd like something that the other kids won't pick on him for," Xander argued. "Something nice and normal sounding."

"There's always Bill," Bill tried again. "It fits both criteria."

Molly laughed and patted him on the shoulder. "I'm sure the next one will be named after you."

Xander grimaced. "I don't want to put Ginny through that again," he told her. "It was horrible for her and it wore her out."

"You could always carry the next one," George pointed out. The healer that had treated him had suggested that Xander do it, just not with this one because his anger was just a little too high for the transfer to go right. But next time would be perfect. Xander leaned over and kissed him, making him shut up.

"No more," Xander said against his lips. "I'm not changing diapers forever." Molly laughed at that too. "And you, no dynastic plans of us having nine or ten. Get Percy to do that. Or Bill, he doesn't have any that we know about."

Bill snorted. "I'm too busy to have children, Xander. Besides, I couldn't take them to work with me. I live out of a backpack for six months out of the year and having a child isn't going to work."

"I'm sure you'll settle down sometime, Bill," his mother said, happily imagining more grandchildren that she didn't have to take care of. Children were wonderful, but it was even better when you could hand them over for the messy parts. "Have you sought a divination to see if he's going to have any particular affiliation?"

"Mum, never say that around Ron," George advised.

"Or Hermione," Xander added. "If I remember right, she threw a few fits about divination." George nodded. "But can we do that?"

"We probably could, but there is a solution. How about ...Ignatius," Arthur suggested. Both youngsters grimaced and shook their heads. "It is a very old name among wizards, with quite a few famous people attached to it. Plus, with his father's temperament and tendencies to cause fires when he gets upset, it would be perfect for him."

"True," Mrs. Weasley supported. "There was Ignatius the Earth Shaker. He started off some volcanos in Greece or Italy somewhere, back around the turning of the calendar. Then there were a few potion masters who had that name."

"One of which changed his name from a more water-meaning name when he figured out he was going to create potions," Bill put in. "His biography was interesting. I have it in my apartment somewhere. He's the one who created the waterproof fire spell."

"Ignatius?" Xander asked, looking at George.

"Iggy," George conceded.

"I could go for Iggy," Xander said carefully. "There's even some muggles with that name who're famous. A rock star and actor comes to mind right off but I know there's at least one more." He shrugged. "I'm not really *fond* of it, but if it makes you happy."

George shrugged back. "It should be fine and he can always change it if we don't magically bind him to it."

"Isn't that what the bitch did with Denver?" Xander asked. Molly coughed meaningfully. "Sorry, mom, but she is."

"I agree, but not in front of the children."

"Bitch!" Simone agreed from her hiding spot inside the old recliner.

"You'll not say that again," Arthur called, rolling his eyes. "I'll tell Draco you taught her that."

Xander grinned. "He needs to lighten up some," he said happily. Molly started to laugh and turned away so she wouldn't fall on anybody. "So, what do we do now that we've named the poor kid?"

"You finish filling out his birth certificate," Arthur told him, pointing at where it lay on the coffee table. "Then you bring it to the library a Hogwarts and have it filed in the Book of Heritage."

"He still needs a middle name," Bill pointed out.

"Chocolate?" Xander suggested with an impish grin.

"Well, the girls will certainly like it," George agreed. "He might actually see as much action as Charlie did."

"Or Draco did," Xander corrected dryly. George gave him a look. "I heard the rumors and the boy bragged. He got more on a weekly basis than most whorehouses."

"Who'house!" Simone said happily from her hiding spot.

The adults chuckled. They couldn't wait to see her father's reaction to that one.

"Ignatius Chocolate Harris-Weasley?" Xander suggested.

"Or Caramel," George offered.

"Ignatius Caramel. Sounds like a candybar that'll set you on fire." Bill nearly cringed when he saw the spark of inspiration in his brother's eyes. "Please, don't give one to me. Fire and I don't like each other."

George smiled at him. "Of course we won't. That'll have to be in the *special* collection."

"Literal or figurative fire?" Xander asked. "Fire in the veins, in the hormones, or on the skin?"

"I'm sure we can work that out with Fred later," George said happily. "Thank you, Bill, that was an excellent idea." He looked at his husband. "Chocolate or Caramel."

"Chocolate is my personal God, right up there with caffeine," Xander reminded him. "I can think of it as a tribute."

"Boys, that's an odd name and the poor child will probably be picked on."

"All he has to do is point at his father and tell them 'my daddy named me'," Bill reminded him "Though, I like caramel better."

George walked over to the fireplace and threw some floo powder in. "Fred!" Fred's head appeared. "Do you like chocolate or caramel better as a name?"

Fred blinked a few times. "You're kidding."

"Middle name," George told him. "By the way, Bill just gave me a smashing idea."

Fred started to laugh. "That poor child. I like caramel better personally, but I never thought of it as a name before. What's his first one?"

"Ignatius," Xander called. "Your father suggested it.

Fred shook his head and disappeared. He wasn't even going there. And since he was nice, he called Percy to warn him.

"Exploding snap for the middle name?" Xander suggested with a grin.

"You always win because you cheat," George protested. Bill snickered. "He does," he complained to his older brother. "He does this thing with his tongue and it distracts me."

"Not what I needed to hear," Bill said, closing his eyes. He didn't want to have that mental picture. But it wouldn't go away now that he knew. "Name him Caramel, let the next one be chocolate."

"There's no more coming from us," George told him.

"Caramello?" Xander suggested.

"What's that?" Molly asked, not sure she wanted to know.

"It's a candy bar that has caramel in the center, surrounded by good chocolate."

"It doesn't have the right ring," Arthur told him. "Stick with Caramel, it sounds the best."

"Okay," Xander sighed. "We'll name our first pet Chocolate."

George smiled at him. "Good. Now how about getting him his own bed?"

"But I like having him in the nest with us," Xander protested.

"You sleep in a nest?" Bill asked.

"Quite comfy," George told him. "I was against it at first until Xander showed me how comfortable the thing could be. The one at home is wonderful to sleep in, but the one at the school needs a bit more breaking in." His husband leered at him. "Maybe this weekend, if the baby sleeps through one night." Both parents snorted in amusement. "No?"

"Not for many months, sons," Arthur said with an amused look on his face.

"Shoot, I wanted sex tonight," Xander sighed, plopping onto the floor so he could fill out the birth certificate. He grinned up at his husband. "Want to go do this part?"

"No, I think it should be you. I'm sure everyone will be pleased. Besides, we're presenting him at dinner tonight."

"Point," Xander agreed, signing his name. He handed over the quill and the paper, watching as his husband signed his name. "Okay, I'm off. School, toys, soda, tranquilizers." Xander waved and disappeared. He was getting better at this teleportation stuff, it only made him a little queasy now.

George took his son back to hold, soothing him into a nap. "I hope he remembers diapers and formula. We're about out." His son let out a tremendous fart, making his father's nose wrinkle. "I thought only Fred did that. Are you sure you're mine?"

***

Xander walked into the library, waving the certificate. "What do I do with this?" he asked. A few students looked at him and shushed him. "What? It's the baby's birth certificate." That got a smile and another shush attempt.

Irma Pince pulled down the book. "I've been expecting that," she said quietly. She took it and frowned when she read it. "It's yours and George Weasley's?"

"The gryphons can do that," Xander said seriously. She looked at him. "Trust me, they can. Ask Albus if you don't believe me."

Irma 'humphed' and wrote down the information with the official ink. "All legal," she told him with a smile. "Quite an unusual name, Ignatius Caramel. Is he named after a family member?"

"No, the 'rents suggested it. It's because I start fires when I'm really pissed; they figure he's going to cause a lot of them." He grinned. "And we're hoping he's going to be smooth with the ladies like caramel." He took his certificate back. "Anything else we have to do?"

"No, he's official in the eyes of the wizarding world. Isn't he being presented tonight?" Xander nodded. "Then I look forward to seeing him." She closed the book. "Any more announcements from your family?"

"Percy's got one on the way. Fred's still single, and Bill's refusing to have one," Xander told her. He grinned again. "We haven't heard from Charlie in a few months so we don't know if he's been knocked up or not." He waved. "I'll see you at dinner. I have to go shopping." He walked away, running into McGonagall and Snape in the hallway. "Hey," he said happily, handing over the birth certificate. "We finally named him."

Snape snorted. "Remind me to get you a book about people with that name," he said, nearly laughing as he walked away.

McGonagall burst out laughing. "Oh, my, quite a name to live up to," she told him. "Are we hoping he's sweet?"

"He's very sweet, we're hoping he's smooth with the ladies," Xander told her. She laughed harder "You'll see him at dinner. We'll be back then." He strolled away, strutting like the new father he was.

McGonagall leaned against the wall, letting it support her while she laughed. That name was probably most fitting with it being his son.

***

Xander and George ran into Tara and her son in front of the Great Hall, and there was major huggage and showing off of the babies. The new parents walked in together, and the kids clapped and whistled. Dumbledore stood up and smiled down at the children. "I was wondering when you were going to get here," he told them, holding Tara's seat for her, letting Xander get George's since he had the baby. "Students and staff, may I present the two newest members of the Hogwart's family. Little Adrian Indra Maclay and Ignatius Caramel Harris-Weasley. Please, if you see them in the halls, do not forget your classes while you make them happy or play with them. We want them to be happy children raised within the boundaries of the school."

"And the village," Xander corrected.

"Yes, and the village," Dumbledore agreed with a smile for the odd young man. Caramel? Like the candy? And was the name in reference to Ignatius Spenser, the so-called Lord of Sobriety and Licentiousness? "I had not forgotten that you live down there part of the time." He waved his wand and banners appeared over the tables, two midnight blue ones. "Eat and rejoice with us," he finished, sitting down again.

"Caramel?" Black asked, Lupin looking like he was questioning their sanity too over Sirius' shoulder.

"It was that or Chocolate, my personal God," Xander told them. Both men laughed. "Besides, we want him to be smooth."

"And sweet," George added. "Though he is an adorable scamp already. Managed to get Percy earlier with a direct shot to the hair." A few of the teachers laughed. "So, who's next on the list of children?"

"Willow," McGonagall said. "She's the only other one pregnant that we know about."

Professor Flitwick leaned a little closer to them. "How did that spell work?"

"Not that well on me," George said with a smile. Xander patted him on the thigh.

"They said it was rather complicated and energy consuming," Xander told him. "Not to be taken lightly."

"Will it be one of the ones Ms. Weasley will be working on?"

George shook his head. "She's starting with things that we already have spells for. Light, electricity, pastries. Things like that. Then she's moving onto the Transfigurations parts. She's leaving the potions for Hermione and Professor Snape."

"I'm not allowed to give out any of the potions," Snape disagreed. "I'm sure Ms. Granger will be adequate enough at some of the simpler potions." He put his napkin across his lap.

"At least she's out in the middle of nowhere if something explodes," Xander said, trying to sound optimistic.

"Indeed," Snape agreed. "It's probably better that way." He carefully cut his dinner into precise pieces. "Did you get the message I sent you earlier?"

"Not yet. We just got back from the store. We were putting together one of the cradles."

"I thought you had one up here," Dumbledore asked.

"We do," Xander agreed, "but we didn't have one for down there. So now we have two more. One for our apartment upstairs and one for when he's lounging in the store. We couldn't decide."

"Though we are staying up here for a few days, just to give Fred a rest. Iggy seems to cry just as he's falling asleep."

"I'm sure Hagrid will be very pleased that his cradle will be used tonight." He nodded at the boy sucking on George's shirt. "Did you bring one of those bottles?"

"Right here," Xander said, searching his pockets until he found one. "Here we are. Cold, but it'll do."

"Then you're cleaning up after it," George told him. He fed it to the baby; they hadn't figured out how to heat it to the right temperature yet. It always got too hot and boiled. "We need to find the spell to heat it right."

"Does it not get hot enough?" Flitwick asked.

"No, too hot. It boils and turns nasty," Xander told him. "And it's not just me. Molly's had the same problem too."

"It's probably going to have to be done the muggle way," George told him. "Sitting it in a bath of hot water." Iggy let out a tremendous belch. "Was that you?" he asked, sounding horrified.

"Gee, he sounds like Fred," Xander said.

George nodded. "I've noticed that tendency. Was there something you wanted to tell me?"

"Draco got the baby a pacifier," Xander said with a grin. George nudged him. "You know I like your brother but not *that* much. It's probably something in the genes." He took his son, allowing George to eat. "Yes, you probably got it from the grandpa," he told his son.

Dumbledore snorted, but he was smiling. "You would have been shocked to have heard Molly when she attended here. Always a very touchy stomach."

George laughed. "I'll keep that in mind." He dug into his food, giving Tara a smile because she was being ignored. "Who was Indra?" he asked her.

"He's one of the Hindu Gods, he's a protector and warrior against the forces of evil." She smiled. "I thought that trait should be passed on within the group."

Xander shrugged. "Okay, I'll learn how to teach little people self-defense." She kicked him. "What? He'll probably need it. Denver's always trying to beat Simone up because she steals his toys. I'm sure they'll be playing together sometime while I'm watching them all."

"I'm very happy with the way you're taking to fatherhood, Xander," Dumbledore told him. "You seem quite happy with the role and it seems to suit you." He smiled at Tara. "Of course, he had practice with the phoenix chicks, but he does seem quite good with them."

She smiled. "Then I'll let him watch them both while we teach," she said happily.

Dumbledore laughed. "You have me there. I hadn't given any thought about how you two would be taking care of the children while you were teaching classes."

"We could probably hire his mom out as a babysitter," Xander said, nodding at his husband. "She's really good and she's usually there."

"You might want to ask mum about that first," George told him. "She might take it as an insult."

"Not if the school hires her. She is an excellent mother, as shown by most of you," McGonagall told him, smiling at him. "We'll need someone to watch over Professor Rosenberg's baby also when it arrives."

"Sometimes Iggy will be at the store with me," George told her.

"So we'll work it out. You can't do it all the time," Xander reminded him. "It's not fair, I'll have to play catch-up on the time thing so we stay equal." He stroked his husband's thigh. "The school needs one anyway. There's three infants who'll be here by Christmas, once Willow delivers, and next year Ginny's coming back. Plus, I've noticed a few other students who look like they've put on some weight in the knocked-up way."

"Yes, I had noticed that also," Dumbledore said, looking out across the student body. A few of the females drew his attention. "I was going to pull them in and discuss it with them tomorrow. As you said, it would be a good idea to have something like a nursery. Plus, it would give your mother something to do, a profitable sideline as it were."

"As long as *you* ask her," George told him. "I'm not that brave."

Dumbledore smiled. "Of course. It would have to come through me anyway. I am the Headmaster." All three parents chuckled. "Eat, children, you'll find you need it when they keep you up all night. Oh, and Xander, Tom wanted to know if you were all right. He missed seeing you at closing time every Sunday."

"I'll need to sneak out tonight anyway," Xander told him. "I'll pop over and say hi." He shifted so his son was in only one arm and picked up his fork. It was a juggling act he was becoming used to. Dumbledore put down his fork and picked up his wand, creating two small table-cradles. Xander smiled at him, that was so sweet. He put Iggy down to rest on the table and sighed in relief. Of course, his son spit his bottle out, but that was just like him. One of the Ravenclaws picked it up off the floor and brought it back, wiping the nipple gently with a damp napkin. "Thank you," Xander told her, stuffing his son's mouth again. George found the release on the back of the cradle and tipped it back some more so there wouldn't be any more projectile weapons.

***

Albus Dumbledore stepped out of Molly Weasley's fireplace and gave her a bright smile. "Ah, good, you're home," he said fondly.

"Tea?" she asked, holding up the pot she had just made. She looked at her daughter, who was nibbling on some crackers while she studied. "Why don't you go do that in the living room." Ginny shrugged and gathered up her things, going to work in the back yard. She smiled at her former Headmaster. "What can I do for you today? Is Iggy giving you problems?"

"No," he said as he sat down. "It's come to my attention that we haven't thought fully about the implications of having a child in the school." She nodded, sipping her tea. "So I'm here to offer you a part-time job." She choked. "A few of my teachers suggested you, and your son-in-law agreed, but wasn't brave enough to come to you himself."

"They want me to babysit Iggy?"

"And all the other children currently within Hogwarts," he finished with a bright smile. She burst out laughing. "It wouldn't pay much, but it would be a great help to Professor Maclay and your own daughter when she starts back."

"So, I'd be the day-nanny?" she asked, putting her tea cup aside. "Where?"

"Here if you prefer, or we could set you up in a room at the school. Whichever you decide would be fine with me."

She shook her head. "I knew that Iggy would cause problems."

Dumbledore reached over and patted her hand. "It's not just Ignatius. It's also Adrian and the children of four other girls who were found out to be pregnant this morning. You would be responsible for running a daycare for all of them."

"Just this year?"

"If it goes well enough, then I'd put you on permanently. Everyone agrees that you are a wonderful mother. Your name was the one that we all agreed on."

She sighed. "You flatter me, Albus, but I'm getting used to not having children around."

"I know. It's easy to relax once they're all in school and you don't have to wipe any more noses or baby any more scraped knees, but it would be a great help. Would you at least consider it until we can find someone permanently?"

She nodded. "I'll consider it and tell you tomorrow." He smiled. "I was really recommended?"

"Not only by Xander and George, but Hagrid seconded the motion at the pre-breakfast meeting fairly quickly. Minerva did so also. Even Severus had nothing bad to say about you. He's decided that whatever made your twins how they are wasn't *your* fault."

She laughed. "Of course it wasn't." She patted his hand. "Let me talk to my husband. I'm sure he'll have an opinion." She looked around the kitchen. "If I do help you out, I'll be doing it from here."

"That would be fine," he agreed. "You have everything here that you could ever need and floo access for worried parents." She opened her mouth. "Professor Maclay will probably show up at least four times that first day to check on him."

"It was horrible what she had to go through," Molly sighed. "How is the poor dear holding up?"

"Rather well. She started teaching again this morning, little Adrian in her arms."

"And Iggy?"

He laughed. "The poor boy is presently in Xander's advanced class, laying on a mat watching his father sweat. When I checked on him, he was cheering on some of the slower students." She laughed. "I think it's wonderful that they had children, but times are changing and we must change with them."

"I'll talk to Arthur tonight," she agreed. "He'll probably say yes, but I'll let you know for sure tomorrow." She looked toward the back yard. "What about Ginny?"

"She'll be one putting her child into daycare while she attends classes." He pulled a letter out of his pocket. "This is for her if she wants to restart at Christmas."

Molly took the heavy letter, smiling at it. "She might want to. She's been bored while recovering." She propped the letter against the tea pot. "Is there any more news?"

"Well, I did hear a rumor that your son Percy was going to marry soon," he said with a smile. She nodded, sipping her cup of tea. "His finance has spent the last few days writing his name with hers on all her parchments."

Molly snickered. "I went through the same phase," she reminded him. "If I remember right, you asked me when I had changed my name after one assignment."

Dumbledore laughed. "Yes, I remember those days quite well, Molly. By the way, Iggy has your stomach problems." She snorted. "He makes about as much noise as Fred does."

Molly had to put down her cup of tea she was laughing so hard.

***

Xander walked Tara around the Burrow, showing her where everything was. He knew she was nervous about leaving Adrian here, but it would be okay. He smiled when he saw the disgruntled Draco walk out of the fireplace with his daughter. "Hey. Handing her back?"

"I have a meeting today and I didn't want her to have to sit through it." He smiled at Simone's grandmother. "I'm taking Denver to the bank so I can register him." Molly opened her mouth. "I already did Simone but male heirs have to have a blood key registered. My mother's family," he explained. Molly smiled at him. "Otherwise, I'll come back for lunch and pick her back up so Ginny can go to the doctor's."

Molly took Simone from him, putting the wiggly little girl down so she could toddle around. "I'm sure she'll be a great help to me today."

"Yup, she can make Adrian and Iggy laugh," Xander agreed. He smiled down at Simone, wiggling his fingers at her. "Are you going to help watch Iggy today?"

She laughed and lifted her arms to be picked up. "Ig?" she asked, looking around. She'd met Iggy once already and liked the little guy. He didn't steal her attention from the daddy.

"Yup, Iggy, and this is Adrian," Xander said, tilting her so she could see the baby Tara was carrying. "He's very small so you have to be delicate with him too, just like you are with Iggy."

"Iggy?" Draco asked.

"Ignatius Caramel," Molly told him. She nearly laughed at the look on the poor boy's face, it was so funny. "It was a family decision."

Draco looked at Xander. "If I ever have another child, promise you won't try and name it, or give it a nickname."

Xander grinned. "But it's a good name. Ignatius is very popular apparently."

"Not among the current generation. Besides, you named your son after someone who got laid more than I ever could," Draco informed him. He smiled at Tara when he noticed her blushing. "One man by that name actually hired out a house of ill repute..."

"Ho'house!" Simone yelled.

"Yes, one of those," Draco groaned. "For a year," he finished. "And wore them out." He looked at Molly. "Who taught her that word?"

Molly pointed at Xander. "And the other one too."

Xander shrugged off the glare. "I was using it in a sentence."

Tara smacked him playfully. "My mother gave me that rule too, but you shouldn't say things like that around the babies."

"Ig Bitch!" Simone said happily, pointing at the baby.

"Or that word either," Tara said dryly.

Xander just grinned. "I'm trying to be good, but it's *hard*."

"You and good, in relation to attitudes, don't belong in the same sentence," Draco told him. He looked at his daughter. "If you say that word again, you may not have any chocolate tonight." She gave him her cutest look. "I'm still immune to that look," he told her. He looked at Molly. "You're sure it's not an inconvenience?"

She waved him off. "It's no problem. I'll let her help me with Iggy and Adrian." She accepted Adrian from Tara. "Feel free to pop in whenever you feel the need to. I remember quite well what it was like handing over your child for the first time." Tara nodded.

"C'mon, we've got to go get ready for class," Xander told her. He waved at Molly. "Iggy's cooing at the couch again." They followed Draco to the fireplace, waiting to use it.

"Caramel?" Draco asked.

Xander pinched him. "Hopefully he'll be smooth with the ladies, and most of them like caramel." He grinned, watching as Tara left first. "Don't you think he's sweet?"

"Probably very sweet," Draco said with great tact. He remembered dealing with a newborn quite well, enough to know that they were troublesome, not sweet. He flooed home to gather his son.

Xander waved again then left to go teach demonology to third years.

Molly sighed in relief and sat down to look over each of the infants, with a little bit of *help* from Simone.

Snippet 10:

Molly looked over at her sleeping charges, all five of them, and sighed. It had been a year since Albus had asked her to become the day nanny for Hogwarts, and she had to admit she enjoyed it. Though, it was tiring sometimes. At least Simone and Denver were with Draco today. Iggy had colic and had screamed non-stop since he'd been dropped off. A few of the other children had joined in whenever he interrupted their naps. It had been a hectic morning so far. She glanced around to make sure there wasn't anything she needed to do.

Outside, something caught her attention. She stared back into the garden as a dark shape moved closer.

No! NO, it couldn't be!

They were all gone!

She screamed when she saw the mask, blindly grabbing a weapon and the jar of floo powder. She blindly tossed the powder at the fire, calling on her husband. No answer. So she called the next best thing. "Draco!" His head appeared. "Death Eater!"

"Fuck me." His head disappeared and he appeared a moment later. By then, the man in the back yard had left. "What happened?" He sat her down on the couch, looking her and the children over. "Molly, what happened?"

"He was in the garden, he walked up and looked inside," she said hysterically.

Draco let it go for now, bending down to scoop up some of the powder on the floor. "Percy Weasley!" he called. Percy was always in the office. He appeared immediately. "Your house nearly got attacked. Get here now," he ordered. He broke the connection and turned to look at the children again. He didn't know all of them. Fuck! Xander didn't have a fireplace in his room and there was no telling if anyone would be in the staffroom. "Molly, get the kids back to the school," he told her. She nodded, gathering up the children to take them with her. She took some of the remaining powder from his hand and disappeared into the fireplace.

Arthur Weasley apparated in. "Molly?" he asked.

"At the school, handing the kids back." An auror appeared outside. "She'll be right back." He jogged out to talk to him. "Molly said he appeared in the garden and looked into the house," he informed him. "She's at Hogwarts giving back the kids." The auror nodded, staring at him. "She's the grandmother of my daughter," Draco growled. "You had better fix this before I have to." He turned around and found Molly hugging her husband. "It'll be okay," he told her, walking back to the living room. "Are they all safe?" She nodded from the comfort of her husband's arms. "Then let's go to my house. You'll both be safe there."

Arthur started to open his mouth, but Molly shook her head first. "We'll be fine. We'll be protected."

He snorted. "The aurors are imbeciles half the time," Draco told her. "Besides, I have both the children and better shields than even Hogwarts most of the time. You're coming with me."

"Draco, we appreciate the offer..." Arthur told him.

Draco glared at him. "I'm not leaving her here. My daughter and son would be immensely hurt." He grabbed Molly and put her over his shoulder, carrying her back to the fireplace. He scooped up some powder off the floor and took off for home.

"Put me down this instant, Draco Malfoy!" Molly shrieked. She smacked him hard on the lower back.

"Ow!" He put her down and helped her sit on the couch. "I'm not letting you get hurt. That's the end of the argument, Molly. I won't be the one to tell your sons that I couldn't protect you. So you're staying here or else I'm going to have to pull out my father's manners and force it to be so." He turned when he heard the 'ding', getting out of Arthur's way. "Good, you're here." He tossed some powder into the fireplace, calling on Dumbledore. He had a fireplace in his office. "I have Molly and Arthur," he said as soon as the old man's head appeared. "Send Xander here if he needs to do something. And tell Ginny that Simone's safe." Dumbledore nodded. "I've got the shields up again if it matters." He broke the connection and looked at the older couple. "There's a guest room right next to the nursery, I'll have it made up for you. Both the children are upstairs right now taking a nap. If you argue," he said when Molly opened her mouth, "I'll make sure that you can't leave until I say so. You can even bring the other children here. I can always go work in the study while you watch them. As I said I have the best shields money can buy and it had better hold, otherwise I might have to pull out every bit of evilness and harm them," he finished with a cold smile.

"We'll be fine at home, Draco," Arthur told him.

"No." He walked away, going to order the house elves to prepare that room for them, and to add more food for dinner. He listened to one babble about a hole in the roof. "How did that happen?" he demanded.

"Big thing thrown," one elf told him. "Tried to fix it, working on it now, Master."

Draco nodded. "I'll have a look at it in a moment. In the attic?" The elf nodded, covering her ears. "Then I'll handle it. Prepare the guest room beside the nursery, we're having Simone's grandparents over for dinner, and possibly Harris and his get." He walked away, going to check on the roof. If it had a hole in it, so did the shields. He had hired the best wizarding alarm system team to shield his house in case someone came after him because of what his father had been. As long as the shields held, it would even keep out Xander if he tried to teleport in. He jogged up the main staircase and up into the attic. He found a house elf standing up on a ladder, trying to nail a cover over the hole. "Let me," he growled, shoving it out of the way. He needed something to do. He put the make-shift cover into place with a few well-placed nails. It would do until he could have it professionally fixed. He felt the shields wrap around the spot again and nearly sighed in relief. The house would hold anything off. Even a rampaging gryphon. He walked downstairs more slowly and found Ron Weasley standing in his living room. "I've kidnaped your parents," he said in greeting. "They're staying. You can also if you want." He smirked at the sour look on the other man's face.

Xander walked out of the fireplace and hugged Molly. "You're all right," he sighed. He looked around the house, then at his former student. "Tell me."

"A death eater, being one of the stupider creatures ever given birth to, walked up to her back window and looked inside," Draco told him. He saw the rage in Xander's face. "They'll be safe here. Go find and hurt the idiots." Xander nodded and gave Molly another hug before disappearing. He shouldn't have been able to do that from inside the house.

"The shield's not set to his resonance," Ron told him, smiling at the confused look. "Melody used to do it at Hogwarts until Snape fixed the shields to her personal signature." He looked around. "What can I do?"

"Unless you want to shore up the roof, go play with the children. They're in the nursery." Draco heard someone knock on the door and went to go answer it. He waved the auror inside, slamming the door in the face of the other one. "Did you find out who it was?"

The auror, Minister of Magic Asdar, shook his head. "Not yet. Is Arthur here?"

"In here," Arthur called. He frowned at Draco. "We were just arguing about staying here."

"You're staying," Draco told him. "Argue if it amuses you, but I can force it if I have to." He looked around. "Tea!" he called. A house elf scurried in a few seconds later with a tea tray. "Thank you." He set it down and served some. "Harris is out looking for them," he said in a conversational tone, like nothing was wrong.

Ron smiled as he took his cup of tea. "I'm sure they'll be regretting it soon then."

Minister Asdar coughed. "He won't be that bad, will he?"

"They fucked with his family," Draco told him. "They'll be dead before tomorrow if Harris has his way. No threat to the flock or the family would be allowed by a real gryphon and Xander won't allow it either."

"Just don't clobber him like you did me," Ron told him. "Xander might just hit you back." He sipped his tea. "Mum, dad, you all right?" Both of them nodded. "Then I'm going to agree with the nasty smelling bundle of ferret here and tell you to stay. I'll pass word along to the rest of the family."

"Who told you?" Draco asked.

"I was in Percy's office. We were going to pick out furniture." Ron put down his cup. "What can I do to help?"

"Go fix the roof?" Draco suggested. Ron nodded. "They're shooting rocks through to break the shields. I've covered one hole already."

Asdar looked at the young men like they were insane. He remembered them very well, but this was going a little too far. "Are you going to stay here, Arthur?" he asked his underling.

Draco stared down Arthur. "They are because their own children and my children will be devastated if anything happens to them," he said firmly. He looked at Asdar. "I thought you had rounded up the rest of the nasty buggers."

"We did, most of them. We missed a few because they weren't at any meetings."

"So, this is a power move because they miss the old days?" Ron asked. Everyone looked at him. "Power can be addictive."

"Too true," Draco sighed. He finished his tea and poured himself some more, and Molly because her cup was empty too. "Most likely, they're trying to reform the old group and regain some of the fear that used to be their drug of choice. It can't be a new revolution forming, there aren't enough children of Death Eaters in England to form one."

"How would you know?" Asdar asked, sounding exasperated.

Draco stared him down. "Because I fully intend to protect myself and my children," he said dryly, but coldly. "I keep track of *everyone* I need to keep track of. There's only three children that I worry about, but two of them are in France somewhere and one is in Essex hiding from her family because she had the bad taste to sleep with a muggle." He picked back up his tea cup. "There's a spot out back you might want to check. My father used to host a few *parties* back there and I can't walk into it."

Asdar stood up. "We'll be setting up here so I'll go look over that spot myself." He glanced around. "This place is that safe?"

"As safe as Kravitz and McKennan can make it," Draco replied. He saw the look of surprise and shrugged one-sidedly. "I felt it was necessary." He watched as the Minister of Magic walked away, then looked at his guests. "Simone should be up soon," he told them. "The nursery is the second door on the right at the top of the main stairs. Their room is the first one, and you'll be on the other side of the nursery." He looked at Ron. "I suppose you can have the room across the hall from them if you want."

Ron nodded. "Thank you. I'll be back." He took some of the floo powder out of the jar next to the fireplace and left the mansion.

"Draco, we'll be perfectly safe at home."

Draco stood up and motioned them to follow him downstairs. He lit up the vault area under the living room as they passed through, coming to stop at a small door on the other side. He pulled his boot knife out and slit his palm, using the blood to open the door. He stepped out of the way so they could look inside. He had seen the body before.

Arthur walked in and looked down at the plaque above the head. He went a little paler as he turned to look at the young man. "You knew it was here?"

"Since three days before my eleventh birthday. I snuck down here and found it the hard way." He rubbed his arm where the scar was. He smiled sadly. "I nearly got killed for finding it. My father used to refuse to admit it was down here."

"I would too," Arthur said as he walked out. The door closed on its own. "Does your family guard it?"

"No, I think we stole it from the guardians in some sort of one-upmanship ritual." He pointed at the stairs. "Neither of the children are allowed down here."

"Who was it?" Molly asked.

"Slytherin's body," Arthur told her, wrapping an arm around her waist. He followed the young man up the stairs. "Do you know where the other ones are?"

"Ravenclaw's is in Scotland somewhere. Her last battle from what my father said when I asked." Draco closed the basement door tightly. "The others I never heard about. I always thought Gryffindor was buried on the grounds of the school."

"No, none of them are," Molly told him, patting him on the arm. "There's a prophecy about them getting back together again. It's said that when the four of them get together again, a great change will happen at the school."

"Maybe the gryphon-borns will get their own house," Draco said lightly. "Make Xander the founding head." He led the way back into the living room. His daughter launched himself at his legs, giving him a hug. "Look who's here to play with you," he told her, setting her aside so she could attack the grandparents.

"Grannies!" Simone yelled, pouncing on Arthur's legs. She hardly ever got to play with him these days. "You stay?"

"We'll be here for a *few* days," Molly told her, looking at Draco. He smiled his sweetest smile and sat down to have some more tea.

***

Minister Asdar walked out of the woods after having torn down a large stone monument and ran into half of his former department surrounding Xander Harris. "Professor," he said in greeting.

Xander hissed at him. "They took out a colony," he told him coldly. "They're mine."

"Technically," Asdar started.

"Sir, no," one of the aurors said. Almost everyone looked at him. "They attacked not only his *family* but the whole of the gryphon community. This is an innate drive for him. We're lucky to only have *him* here right now."

Asdar grimaced. "If you say so." The auror nodded. "That's fine." He pulled Xander a few feet away. "What do you know?"

"They're around here. They left their stink all around the colony. I've already informed my flock elders and they're pissed too. I'm the first one here though, feel lucky."

"That's fine. Can you control yourself?" Xander gave him another cold look, making him step back. "Remember, the aurors are not targets." He hoped it got through. He'd never been scared of another wizard before. Voldemort chilled him to his soul, but Xander scared him. He made a mental note to put around a mention of not bothering any gryphon-born's family without some backup. He hoped the rogues causing trouble weren't this bad when the aurors went for them.

Xander hissed again and walked firmly toward the clearing. He found one black robed woman standing next to the ruins of the statue and grabbed her, knocking her into it. "Call them," he demanded. "Let's see how they deal with me."

She started to scream and yell, bringing a few people out of the woods. Only one of them was an auror. "Get him!"

Xander let her go, shoving her to the ground, and spun to look at those idiots who had tried to harm his family. He didn't even think about drawing his wand, or the one that had been in his robes when he put it on. Two wands and he stepped into the fray with his fists balled up. One of the masked men disappeared, but he came back with more of them. Xander grinned happily. More idiots for him to party with. Stupid humans. He heard a few more of the aurors come running, but he was having fun now! He felt someone try to hex him, but it wasn't happening. One of the people he hit's mask went askew as he went down. A lock of white-blond hair came out from under it. "Oh, hey. It's you!" he said happily. He had thought Lucius had died during the last battle at Hogwarts. He pulled off the man's mask after pulling him up to his feet. "You'll be happy to know that I've not only corrupted your son to the side of good, but I'm helping him be a good and loving father to his brood. I'm hoping to become their godfather, and to any more that he might have!" Lucius fought his grip but he wasn't getting free. "You puny human," he sneered. "I'll feed you to my hellmouth for this." He glanced around. Everyone else was down and cuffed, only Lucius was standing. "I think we should go tell your son the good news." He dragged him back toward the house. "Oh, son," he called.

"Prat!" Draco yelled from the house. He came out onto the porch and stopped in shock. "What the hell is that?" He came closer. "You're dead."

"No, I think that was someone else." Xander let Lucius go. "Your call, can I hand him over to be torn into little, bitty, messy pieces that'll be tossed into the fire and turned into charcoal?"

Draco shuddered. "Remind me never to mess with your family." Xander hugged him. "Get off! Fluffy arsehole bastard." He shoved Xander away. "Hug later, kill and maim now." He looked at his father. "So, who was it? Polyjuice? Charm?"

"Uncle?" Xander asked.

Draco's head snapped up. "I have an uncle?"

"Yes, son, you do," Lucius spat. "He was mentally unstable and was forced to leave the family." He sneered at Xander. "And you, all your kind need to die horribly."

Xander clapped him on the back, sending him to his knees on the ground. "You first. Because I'm going to make sure it's going to be painful and last for a while. You can beg, but I'm not going to listen." He looked around, but none of the aurors were around. "Um, hello? Does that mean I get to keep him?"

An auror walked out of the woods with a prisoner. He looked at the man kneeling at Xander's feet, then at Xander. He noticed Draco Malfoy standing there about the same time as who was on the ground registered. He whistled loudly, bringing his boss, and his boss's boss, running. He pointed at the little group. "He had a question," he said, taking his prisoner away.

Asdar and the head of the Aurors walked over to where Xander and Draco were standing, both men realizing who was on the ground. "He died," the head of the Aurors noted.

"It was my uncle, he was apparently insane," Draco told them. "At least that's what *he* said." He kicked his father, making him grunt in pain. "Feel free to question him before Xander turns him over for killing a colony." He spat on his father and walked away. He stopped and turned around. "Father," he said as coldly as he could. "You'll be happy to know that I'm not only quite happy, but my children are quite the little Weasleys and very happy. Not only that, but Xander has managed to make me enjoy *muggle* things immensely. I'm not only happy, but thoroughly corrupted by the gryphons. I think I'll even build myself a nest." His father made a horrified noise. "Not only that, but I plan on knocking up Ms. Weasley again soon because we make beautiful children together. I'm hoping for at least four more little red headed spitfires." He smirked. "I'll make sure that everything they ever need is not only paid for, but everything that her mother needs is paid for and will hopefully support some of their grandchildren through school also." His father turned red. Draco walked over and squatted down to look him in the eye. "Xander is presently trying to convince me to try charity work, and I think I like it. Maybe work with those poor muggle-born who can't really find themselves in the wizarding world. Oh, and I'm having the body buried. I'll have a large, flowery, ornate statue erected for him." He stood up as soon as he heard the crying coming from the older man. He kicked him again for good measure. "I'm going to go back inside. Tell me how many pieces you got out of him."

Xander grinned at his adopted son. He was so evil. He hauled Lucius up by his hair. "Can I take him now or did you guys want him for a few days?"

Asdar's eyes opened wide. "They'll want to punish him?"

"He had a colony killed. Unless you found someone higher on the food chain?" Asdar shook his head, stunned. "Then you guys can question him and I'm going to go tell the elders that you have them all." He shook Lucius once then handed him over. "Expect at least the Ambassador by tonight." He disappeared, landing in front of the colony's main gathering fire. "We found the assholes responsible," he announced. Hisses and yells rang through the air. "The aurors have him for questioning but the Minister of Magic is highly motivated to let us help."

Fredericka looked down at him. "Are they willing to let us have them?"

"I told them you'd be coming to pick him up. I don't think he's in any position to argue." He smirked. "I told them at least you would be at the Ministry by tonight."

Fredericka smiled at him, her eyes glinting with icy coldness. "Thank you, young one. How is your family?"

"Scared. Bothered. But safe." He bowed to her. "Call me if you need me, Fredericka. For anything." He disappeared again.

***

Minister Asdar personally cuffed Lucius and took him away. "I want to be there when they rip you up," he told him as they walked away. "I'll bring popcorn." He shoved the bastard into the back of the wagon with the others and then climbed in after them. He saw Harris reappear so rapped on the side. "Go, now," he ordered. The cart took off, the portkey it was taking them back to the Ministry.

Xander smiled and strolled into the house. He picked up Denver when he found him in the kitchen, taking him into the living room. He handed the baby over when he noticed Draco wasn't there. "Working out?"

"He was a bit upset," Arthur told him. "Was it really him?"

"Yup, it was really the sperm donor." Xander waved. "I'll be back in a minute." He thought about what he knew of the house and headed up to the nursery. The children were the most important thing in Draco's life and the one thing that could always keep him on an even keel. He found the younger man sitting in a corner of the nursery and walked in, flopping down beside him. "He's gone."

"I know."

"If it helps, he died long ago." He looked at him. "As soon as he got that mark on his arm, he lost his right to be called a human being. He never fought against it. He never had a bout of conscience. He never even blinked when he lost his humanity."

"And I could have followed him."

Xander snorted and shoved him lightly. "No, you couldn't have. Kid, you're not the type to do that. Maybe become the next bad guy, but you'll never be the foot soldier that your father was. You wouldn't be able to take stupid orders without saying anything." Draco snorted, but he was looking better. "Besides, if you were going to go bad, you wouldn't have had either child. You wouldn't be feeding them, bathing them, or changing diapers." Draco laughed so Xander gave him a hug. "You really impressed me," he told him quietly. "You so royally broke your father."

Draco smiled at him. "I like being evil sometimes."

"Hey, evil is a state of mind until you act on it," Xander reminded him. "As long as you keep it as a state of mind, we're all good." He gave him a squeeze. "C'mon, son, let me corrupt you more. I might even let you help me get more sheets for the nest. And maybe, just maybe, I'll help you build your own." He winked at the laughter. "Come on. We've got to go check on the kids. They might have overrun Molly by now." He stood up and helped Draco up too. "Want to eat in tonight?"

"I think so," Draco told him. "I'm too tired to go anywhere." He followed his mentor down the stairs, stopping when he saw the creatures floating in the hallway. "Fuck." He patted himself, then Xander, grabbing his wand. "Expecto Patronius!" he shouted, shooting the protective spell against the Dementors. They backed away, flying out a broken window next to the door. The firebird that had manifested flew into the living room, defeating the one trying to get Denver. It screamed and went back into the wand. "Get it off," Draco hissed, trying to let the wand go. It was stuck to him and wouldn't let him drop it.

Xander grabbed his wand, making Draco's hand relax. "Nice job." He tucked the wand back into his pocket, then picked up the sniffling Simone. Draco took her from him. "Okay. Denver, want a huggie?" Denver toddled over unsteadily and hugged his legs. "You're such a good boy."

"You're making disgusting noises at my son," Draco complained. He sat down so he could cuddle his kids. They were fine. It would be fine. If his asshole of a father ever came back, he'd kill him.

Xander sighed and looked around. "Someone call George and tell him I need cuddles. I'm going to go fix the window." He walked out, going to fix the window so the shields would come back up.

Molly looked at her husband. "Was it really that easy?"

Draco smirked at her. "If you were a death eater, would you want to mess with Xander?"

She giggled. "Definitely not." Arthur groaned. "It's all right, dear, he's protecting us."

"I know, but I don't want to be the one to tell George. He'll be livid that Xander fought."

Out in the hall, Xander was holding one of his sides. It kinda hurt now that he wasn't running on adrenaline.

Snippet 11:

Draco walked into the joke shop, looking around. He hadn't been in here before, he never would have been welcome before. He nodded at whichever of the twins was standing behind the counter. "Where are the tots?"

"Upstairs taking a nap," Fred told him. "Xander's curled up with them. George put him to bed a few hours ago." He smiled. "Go up the stairs to the top. They're right inside the door."

Draco nodded. "Thank you for watching them today." He walked up the stairs, making sure to make some noise. He saw the other twin stick his head out of a room and waved at him. "Just here to gather the little creatures." The twin nodded and pulled his head back into the room. Draco found the door at the top of the stairs and opened it slowly. He saw the nest immediately and walked in to look down inside. His children, his beloved offspring, were curled up on top of Xander inside the nest. "Don't get used to it," he told them as he picked them up. Denver woke up and screamed. "Shh," he told him soothing him.

"If you wake him suddenly, he does that," Xander noted without opening his eyes. He pulled the blanket back over himself. "Denver's got a fever. Simone's cutting a tooth. Iggy's been letting Denver suck his toes again." He opened his eyes. "You might want to brush his teeth before you get a kiss."

Draco shuddered. "That's sickening. Why did you allow it?"

"Because I found it long after it started," Xander told him. He rolled onto his side. "They're more than welcome to stay for a while," he offered. "They make good napping buddies."

"I think we'd better be getting home," Draco told him. He started to turn, but Denver lunged back toward the nest, knocking him off balance. He fell into the nest sideways, hoping he wouldn't land on either child. Denver wiggled away and went back to cuddling Xander, while Simone curled up on her father's stomach. "Are you comfortable?" he asked her. She nodded and smiled. "Well, I'm not." He started to shift so he could get up, but his daughter wasn't having it. She fought against him, keeping him too off-balance to get up. He decided to give up for a few minutes to humor her. Surely she'd get tired of this soon enough.

"Want one!" Simone told him.

He stared at her. "You want what?"

"Nestie. Comfy nestie." She patted it. "Want one!"

"No. Absolutely not."

She sniffled, then started to wail.

Xander handed over a small stuffed animal. "Here, you can keep the owl tonight to remind you of the nest and you can come over whenever you want." She took it from him with a squeal of delight. Xander looked at his student. "You're going to end up giving in and building her a small one to play in," he said quietly. "Or else she'll beg George, Fred, and Ron for one."

"No way in hell," Draco told him. "We're humans, we sleep in beds." He had to admit though, it was rather comfortable. He could see the appeal of sleeping in one. He yawned. "We'll go in a minute," he told the children. Denver latched onto Xander's son's hand, sucking on it. "Denver, use a chew toy, not him."

"Shh," Xander told him. He curled around Iggy, using him as a teddy bear.

Draco sighed mentally and tried to get up, but found he couldn't. If he got to his knees to crawl out, he'd tip the nest. He was stuck in the bloody nest! He'd get Xander for this. He settled in to wait. One of the twins would come looking for him when he didn't show back up downstairs to leave. He yawned again. This was rather nice, with his children curled around him.

An hour later, Ron snuck in with a camera and snapped two pictures. He smirked as he snuck back out. Now he knew what he could give the little kids that would annoy their father. And he had blackmail material. Yes!

***

Ron and George carried the brightly wrapped package up to the door, George bracing it while Ron knocked. A house elf opened the door and squealed, getting out of their way. "Which way to the nursery?" George asked.

"Top of the stairs, second door on the right." Ron walked backwards, letting George steer them.

"What are you doing?" Draco yelled as he walked down the hallway.

"Present for the niece," Ron panted. He shoved Draco out of the way and kicked on the nursery door. It opened and Simone stared up at him with wide eyes. "Want a present?" he asked. She nodded and opened the door wide, getting out of his way. She even grabbed her brother so he couldn't get in the way of the present. It was a big present! Ron led the way into the room, finding a nice, clear spot to put the present down. George let his end down with a grunt. Then both men stepped back. "Open it," Ron told them. "Grandma said you'd love this one."

Denver squealed in delight. He knew what presents were! He ran over as fast as he could and started to attack the wrapping paper. It didn't take long for his sister to help him, but she was getting hugs from the uncles. He squealed louder when he found some straw. "Nest!" he screamed, ripping the paper faster.

By the time the paper was off, Draco had his mouth closed and was glaring at the two men. "What did you do?" he hissed.

"Gave them a comfy napping spot," George said with his brightest grin. "Mum said you'd like it. She really adores the picture of you sleeping in ours. It's a tad bit small for you, but I'm sure the children will *love* it."

Simone jumped onto the cushion that was laid overtop of the straw, snuggling down into the comfy spot. "It's big!" she said happily. Her brother climbed in over top of her and plopped down next to her so he could get comfy too. "Need toys," she called. "And sheetsies!"

"I'll get you for this," Draco promised. He walked over and saw how happy it made them. "We'll have to find sheets for it later, Simone."

"Precious, Xander has sheets for it," George called. "He'll be over later to show your daddy how to care for the nest." He patted Ron on the back. "Give him the other one, Ron."

Ron pulled a small package out of his pocket and handed it to Denver to open. The little boy carefully ripped the wrapping paper until he could see what was inside. "Baby phoenix," he said happily, showing the stuffed animal off to his sister, who had a real phoenix.

"That's to hold you over until one picks you," George told him with a brilliant grin. "There's more eggs you know."

"Eggies? Baby eggies?" Denver asked. He looked at his father. "We see eggies?"

"Later," Draco sighed. He looked at the smiling Weasleys. "I will get you for this," he promised.

Xander skipped into the room, his hands full of a large bundle. "I got them perfect," he said. He smiled at the kids as he knelt next to the nest. "Okay, you guys have to pick which set of sheets you want today." He opened the bundle, letting them feel the different sheets.

"That one!" Simone demanded, pointing at a set of blood red silk sheets. "Feels nice."

"Cold," Denver added. It was nearly summer and it got hot sometimes in the playroom. He scrambled out of the nest, tugging his sister after him, so they could get their chosen sheets put onto their nest. It was special, almost no one had a nest. Not even Melvin, who was nearly his age. As soon as the sheets were on, he climbed back in, playing with his stuffed phoenix.

Simone paused long enough to give everyone hugs, then crawled back in with her favorite dolly. This was the perfect play place.

Xander handed Draco the remaining sets of sheets. "We go to the place taped on the inside of the card. They're very nice to us." He took his husband's hand and let Ron precede them.

"I'll get you for this," Draco called after them. He looked down at the nest, shuddering. He had a set of sheets exactly like that. It was his favorite ones to make love on. That was just an icky image that came into his mind. No, the nest would go just as soon as the children were slightly tired of it. He put the pile of sheets on a table and opened the card up.

//A nest is a special heirloom meant to be passed down through the generations as a sign of relationship. Some of the straw comes out of the family nest, thereby marking it as part of the family and you as my kid. Get over it, Draco. If you try to get rid of it, that means that you're spurning the family and I can come take the kids from you to raise them correctly in the family's traditions. And yes, I will teach them gryphon magic just to annoy you. Xander.//

"Bloody fucking git," Draco swore quietly. He *would* get them for this!

Snippet 12:

Notes: a few years have passed since the last snippet. The kids are now four/five/six depending on which kid since it's right before one's birthday. Ginny decided to stay out of her seventh year for a few years due to the money she was making and the contacts she was building, which wouldn't be around if she were still in school. By the way, Melvin is Percy's if anyone forgot.

Simone and Denver pounced on their cousin Melvin, making him scream in delight. Melvin didn't have anyone to play with so a day together at Grandma's house was always special. They mutually decided on tag and ran away from Denver, who was slowest.

Molly came back from the garden, smiling at the people standing around talking to each other. "Are we having a reunion?"

"No." Xander smiled at her. "Just a random visit." He sat her down at the table. "We just decided to let the kids play with each other. They're driving us nuts."

"Iggy is a good boy, a very good boy," George said as he sat down across from his mother. "But Iggy seems to have some ...issues, mum, and we need advice."

"He doesn't like comic books," Xander complained. "Or tricks, or anything."

She patted him on the hand. "You can corrupt the other children, Xander. I'm sure Percy wouldn't mind if his son lightened up."

Percy gave her a look. "I'd like it if he suddenly got more serious. I found him playing in the mud, mother."

"Little boys do that," she said wisely.

"But Iggy won't," George complained. "No mud, no fun, no laughing out loud. He actually rolled his eyes when Fred changed him colors the other day."

Xander looked up at Percy. "How did our son become a mini-you?"

"I think the better question would be, how did my son become one of yours," Percy noted dryly. He took his usual seat at the table. "I would like to encourage my son to be a bit more serious, but he holds up Simone and Iggy as paragons of fun and says they don't read."

Molly snickered. "Simone reads quite avidly."

"So does Iggy. Want to let him come over so he can see that our kids read?"

Percy shrugged. "It might be helpful. Kandy is, as you already know, pregnant again and it's a difficult one. It would be easier if we didn't have to worry about him for a few days." He looked at his hands. "We've been to the hospital twice now and they're saying it's quite possible she'll miscarry."

"Then we'll gladly take him in for a few days," George agreed. "Or Draco might offer to watch him," he said when his all-but brother-in-law showed up. "Bored?"

"I was coming to pick up Denver." He looked around, seeing the young boy sitting on the couch reading. "Iggy, why aren't you playing?"

"Playing's for babies," Iggy said from behind his book. It was taken from him so he glared at his uncle. "Mine."

"Go play," Draco told him. "Simone's going to miss Denver." The boy sighed and headed out.

"Nice work, son," George said happily. It was a running joke among the family that Xander had adopted Draco, so therefore he was now a Harris-Weasley, and his step-son. Draco flipped him off. "What's going on in your end of the world?"

"Nothing much." Draco looked outside, smiling when he saw his son pounced by Melvin. He sighed and looked at the gathered family. "I'm going to take another sudden and long vacation." Molly opened her mouth. "We'll be leaving tonight. I can take Simone with me if it'd make things easier on you."

"Absolutely not!" Molly Weasley shouted. "You will not take either of those children away from Ginny for even a month!"

Draco grimaced. "I can't leave him here. Besides, he'll be safe. I'll make sure of it."

"No. I forbid it. Denver will stay here with us while you're gone."

"I don't know when I'm coming back," Draco told her quietly. "Denver is coming with me."

Xander laid a hand on Molly's arm. "Draco, why now?"

"Because I'm getting looks again and I hate it," he said harshly. "The house seems to have shrunk in and I can't stand it anymore."

"Denver is my grandson and you will not take him from me for a long trip," Molly told him.

Draco sighed. "Unless you want to watch him for the next six months to a year, then he's coming with me." He walked outside and grabbed his son, telling him that they were going on a vacation without his beloved sister and that he would have to tell her goodbye for a while. It was a teary goodbye, but they'd have to go through it sometime. He apparated home. Everything was ready for them to go. They climbed into the muggle vehicle that had come from the airport to pick them up, and were off.

Molly sobbed at the table, supported by her sons. Simone came in and climbed into her lap. "He come back," she told her grandma. "Me cry too, but Iggy say it be okay." She hugged her. "It's okay to cry. Can we write mommy?"

"How about I tell mommy tonight at dinner?" Xander suggested. The little girl smiled. "Okay, I'll tell your mommy tonight and everything will be fine."

"How are this year's grades?" Percy asked.

"Surprisingly, the Prefect in my advanced class flunked. She hates to sweat and it shows." He stood up. "We should probably get back, but we'll let Iggy stay tonight if you want." Molly nodded. "Okay, we'll be back tomorrow, after all the kids are off on the train."

"And some snogging," George muttered as he stood up. He looked at his mother, then at his husband. "I think I'll come home later tonight."

"Cool." Xander gave him an understanding look, and a kiss. "See you tonight." He walked over to the fireplace and sent himself back to the school.

George patted his mother on the back. "He didn't do it to hurt you. He needed to get away before he exploded. He's done it before, that's why we have Denver."

Molly sighed as she wiped off her face. "I know, but Denver is my grandchild too. I'd react the same if you took off suddenly."

"Well, there's always Charlie and Bill," Percy said. His mother and brother looked at him. "Any children they'd have would be far away most of the time. Think of it as practice."

Molly shook her head. "Those two will never settle down and have children," she told him "They're too busy with their jobs."

"So unless Charlie knocks up a dragon, we're probably not getting any from him," George finished. He noticed Percy's smirk. "You know something."

"One of his former girlfriends from school just transferred out to the reserve in a business capacity."

"Still, Charlie only has eyes for scaly things," Molly told him. "It would be nice, but I can't count on that." She stood up, putting Simone down in her former spot. "You wait here, dear, and I'll get the things together so we can bake cookies."

"Cookies!" Simone shouted loudly, bringing the two boys running.

George pulled Percy up and into the hallway. "Didn't that bint hate people like my husband?" he asked quietly.

"Yes, she used to verbally go off on people like him," Percy said. "But I'm sure she's learned better. She seems to have mellowed quite a bit." He glanced at the children waiting patiently for their grandmother to hand them the stuff to make cookies. "Should I send a letter and warn him?"

"No, I'll do it. Maybe invite him to come stay with us when he comes back. I don't want to make Xander uncomfortable, or to cause a family split."

Percy nodded. "Good point, though I think she has to have mellowed."

"Some people don't mellow, Percy." He walked away, going to write out the letter to his second oldest brother. He sent a letter to Bill too, using Ron's owl. Pig was just sitting around doing nothing at the moment. Ron was over at Buffy's living in his girlfriend's lap. He wouldn't mind. He sent them off, giving his mother a smile when she caught him. "Reminding Bill and Charlie that we'd like to see them soon," he told her.

"You are so transparent," Percy told him.

"Hey!" He grinned. "Besides, they haven't come to see the nest yet." He rolled up his sleeves and waded into the pile of cookie making materials to help. He was a champion cookie maker.

***

Xander pulled Ginny over before dinner started. "Draco took off on another of his vacations." She rolled her eyes. "With Denver."

"What? Not a chance!" She grimaced. "Any idea where he was going?" He shook his head. "Well, he has to be stopped. He's not taking my son for six months. Mum'll be devastated." She scowled at the wall and Xander realized he had unleashed a deep well of unhappiness and determination. "We'll see if he stays gone that long." She smiled at him and walked into the Great Hall. It was her leaving feast.

Xander followed, smiling at the Headmaster. "Just a bit of family business."

"Are you escorting students to the train tomorrow?" McGonagall asked him. Xander shrugged. "Good, then you've volunteered. We're short a few adults." She smiled at him. "No Iggy?"

"He's with Grandma, Simone, and Melvin."

"Ah." She nodded, looking wise. "How is Melvin?"

"Percy's worried because we seem to have switched kids sometime and never realized it," he told her. "Melvin's definitely like my kid and my kid's Percy's ideal." He paused when Dumbledore stood up to make his speech. The table was emptier because Tara was upstairs in the infirmary with Adrian, along with six other teachers. The wizard flu. Nasty thing. Even Snape had gotten caught by it this time. He clapped once the nice words were done and dug into his meal. "So anyway, Draco took a sudden vacation with Denver and Molly's not very happy at the moment. The grandkids are making her happy."

"Good." Minerva paused to eat a bite of food. "Any news from the farther flung members of the family?"

"No, but we're expecting at least one to come in for part of the summer. I haven't seen Charlie since the wedding and Bill since the year Iggy was born." He ate some of his roast. "I can help herd at the station if you want." She nodded. "Then I'm coming back here with George for the traditional end of the year sex."

She blushed and giggled. "We'll hopefully get done early this year so you can have all afternoon for that."

Dumbledore looked over at them. "Remember, we're having the castle cleaned thoroughly this summer."

Xander smiled at him. "The bug people can come into my room, but they had better not touch my nest. As a matter of fact, I'd rather clean my room myself if it's possible, just so no one touches the nest."

Dumbledore nodded. "I've already instructed that they weren't allowed to touch any professor's personal furniture and I'll gladly reiterate it. You said Mr. Malfoy took off?" Xander nodded. "Did his son go with him?"

"He offered to take Simone, but he only took Denver. Molly was *not* happy."

"I daresay I wouldn't be either," McGonagall agreed. She glanced at her house's table. "Did you tell Ms. Weasley?"

Xander nodded. "And it's looking like she's going to give him the ass-kicking of his life when she sees him because he made her mother cry."

Dumbledore smiled. "A Weasley is always a force to be reckoned with." He ate some of his vegetables.

"Yes, those children will be quite a challenge," Xander said with a grin.

"By then, I may be retired," Dumbledore told them. "I'll be able to sit back and watch the chaos they bring to the school."

"Leaving me to deal with it," McGonagall snorted. "I'm sure I'll have many words with you if you do that." She looked at Xander. "Are they keeping up with their studies?"

"Iggy's reading books that are years ahead of where he should be. He's definitely Percy's kid." He heard some choking and looked down at the kid nearest him. "What? My brother-in-law corrupted my son. He's serious!"

"The teacher?" Dumbledore asked with a naughty twinkle in his eye.

"Maybe. He reads more than Willow does, but he's definitely my son physically." Lupin choked where he sat on the other end of the table. "You guys are going to have to pop in and see him this summer. Sirius will have someone to roll around with and you can discuss books with him," Xander told him with a grin.

"We might," Lupin agreed. "I had planned on visiting a small werewolf colony in Germany."

"Oh, hey, if you run into someone named Oz, tell him I said hi and that he can write letters." Lupin nodded. "Thanks. I haven't heard from him since the year I went to help Buffy with that legion."

"Most of us would like to forget that incident," Lupin told him. Xander shrugged. "But I will pass on the message if I see him."

"Thanks." Xander glanced at Ginny, then went back to his dinner. She had her planning face on. It was almost scary.

Snippet 13:

Ginny walked into the lobby of the hotel in India and smiled at the man behind the desk. "I'm looking for my son," she told him. "Denver Malfoy. His father told me to meet him here." The man nodded and called someone over to escort her up to the Malfoy suite. She followed the bellhop up, but motioned that she would open the door herself. He bowed and left, and she pulled her wand. The door burst open and she strode in, only taking the time to kick it closed. "Oh, Draco," she called sweetly. Her son looked over the back of a couch and smiled. "Hello, sweetheart," she said, giving him a kiss. "You taste like curry." She turned and found Draco behind her. "You bastard," she said, continuing to smile. "You took my son and ran away with him"

"Your son?"

"Have I not been there for all but a few months of his life?" Draco slowly nodded. "Did you think that I didn't care about him? Or that my mother didn't see him the same way?" He shook his head. "You idiot, he's as much my son as yours now." She walked closer to him, poking him on the chest. "And you took him from me without even giving me a chance to say goodbye." She poked him again. "I should hurt you for that."

He pulled her in and kissed her.

"What was that for?" she asked.

"The sunlight was hitting you just right, turning your hair into fire, matching the fire coming from your eyes," he told her, giving her another, smaller, kiss. "I'm sorry."

"You're going to be if you ever do it again." She leaned into his arms. "If you ever take off with the kids again, I'm going to go cry on Xander's shoulders and let him beat you up for me. Then I'll finish you off."

He kissed her until neither of them could breathe. As soon as she wobbled into his arms, he took her into the bedroom. Such fire and passion was calling out to him. He needed that sort of fire in his life.

Denver went back to watching his cartoons. He didn't understand what they were saying, but it was all good to him. Daddy wouldn't be moping any more. And maybe he'd get another sister. It was his fondest wish beside getting a phoenix of his very own.

***

Molly took the message off the owl's leg, sitting down to read the short missive. She burst out laughing and waved it so everyone else could come read it.

Xander read it over his husband's shoulder, smirking. "So, Grandma, ready for another one?"

"Again?" Arthur asked, snatching the note to read it. "She doesn't say she's pregnant."

"No, but I wouldn't bet against it," George told him. "Hopefully they'll bring back lovely treats for those of us unlucky enough to have to stay here." He put a hand in Xander's robe pocket, tickling him. "Should we go decorate the house for his homecoming?"

"Give it a few days," his father said with a smile. "Ginny did say she'd warn us when they were coming back."

Melvin climbed into his grandfather's lap so he could read the note too. "Where's India?"

"If Grandma has a map, I can show you," Xander offered. Melvin gave grandma an expectant look so she created a map for him. Xander motioned him over and pointed out the large country that was India. "It's right here. India is one of the oldest steady countries in the world. It's been like it is now for centuries."

"That's a really long time," Iggy offered. His fathers both smiled at him, creeping him out. "Didn't it change hands a few times?"

"Somewhat, but India also managed to incorporate the invading cultures into their own, absorbing them instead of being absorbed. Britain used to control it too."

"Wow," Melvin said, giving his uncle an adoring look. "You're really smart."

"Only about some things. You should ask your Uncle Charlie about stuff like this when he gets here. He knows much more than me."

"He's coming soon?"

"In a few hours," Molly said tolerantly. Melvin cheered. "Maybe you should go draw him a card or a picture."

"Okay." Melvin hopped down and dragged his cousin with him to help him draw.

Molly smiled at Xander. "You handled that very well."

"Thank you. Iggy went through a 'where is that' phase last month. We actually bought a globe." He gave her a hug. "So, give. Do we know anything about this mystery woman?"

"Um, yeah," George said, sitting down and pulling his husband into his lap. "She's not of the most friendly class of people toward people like you," he told him.

"Or at least she didn't *used* to be," Percy amended.

Xander grimaced. "That's going to cause a problem, won't it?" Everyone nodded. "Then I won't attack her if she makes snide comments," Xander said with a shrug. "I can walk away."

"Thank you, son," Arthur told him. "I know it could become quite uncomfortable." He watched his son walk away to go check on the children.

"Does Charlie know what I am?"

"I'm not sure," Molly admitted.

"I reminded, or told, him of that fact," George told her. "That's why I sent the letter, that and to invite him to come see the family nest." He gave his mate a squeeze. "Fred's decided he's willing to nap in it if you'd let him."

"I wouldn't mind, as long as he doesn't hog it," Xander said with a shrug. He turned and stole a kiss. "A nest is a comfy and loving spot. I'm willing to share it with your twin."

"Thank you." George smiled. "I get the store tomorrow and the next week."

"Okay. Can I work in the lab?" Xander asked with a grin. He heard the small whimper and gave him another kiss. "I promise to be good and only create things that you can openly sell."

George laughed. "I'll ask Fred for you," he agreed. "Just don't create any more foggy bottoms."

Xander giggled. "I won't make any more if he doesn't want me to," he promised. "But I won't promise not to make any more of the icy fingers of death."

"I'm sure he'd enjoy having more of those." George patted him on the rear. "They sold very well."

"But that one kid got sick," Xander reminded him.

George leaned closer. "Then he shouldn't have eaten the whole thing." He nipped his mate on the neck. "If you make them, save one for me."

"Okay." Xander smiled happily. He looked over as the fireplace dinged, discharging Fred. "Closed early?"

"Yes. Town's dead." Fred looked around. "No Percy?"

"Kids," George told him. "Do you want Xander to help in the lab tomorrow?"

Fred's eyes opened very wide. You never knew what was going to come out of there when Xander spent time working in the lab. Some things had been hilarious and had been put onto the special list, while others had been too naughty for anyone else to have. "What were you planning on making?" he asked carefully.

Xander shrugged. "I don't know. George suggested I make more icy fingers of death. I wanted to make something that would make you both laugh until you peed."

Fred nodded. "As long as you keep it clean," he agreed.

"Has he been making naughty things?" Arthur asked, giving Xander a look.

"Not intentionally," Xander said sweetly and innocently. "I'm a good boy, but sometimes my mind travels to my snuggley one and you know how the magic can be."

Fred snorted. "Every time they have a minor spat, the lab seems to come out with another annoyance toy," he told his father. "And, dear Merlin, *NEVER* let him in there when he's horny." He looked down at Xander, giving him a light scowl. "The last thing that came out of there nearly made me blush."

"Which is so very hard to do," George snorted.

"It made people...." Fred started.

Molly held up a hand, stopping him. "I don't want to hear about it. There are many things I don't need to know about your lives." She looked at Xander, giving him a smile. "Do try to be good, Xander. You're making them upset because they can't market any of those things."

Xander looked at Fred. "You could, but you'd never be able to put it out in the main store."

"No, Xander. I'm not selling sex toys."

"Fred!" Percy shouted. "Not in front of the children."

Melvin pulled on his father's robe. "I know what they are," he told his father, sounding very serious for a nearly four year old. "I found mommy's."

Percy blushed and groaned, walking away from his son before he could yell. He vaguely heard Xander answer his son, but wasn't sure he wanted to know.

Xander leaned closer to the little guy. "Never say that in front of your father again," he said quietly. "It makes him think about things that he shouldn't when you're in the room." Melvin nodded, but he didn't look like he understood. "Those are adult toys, and he's very protective of his toys, just like you are."

Melvin's face lit up. "Okay. I won't play with his big people toys. I have plenty of my own. Can I have Iggy?"

"For a night maybe," George told him. Melvin cheered and went to tell his cousin that his parents had agreed. George cleared his throat. "Remind me to make sure our box is locked," he told his husband.

"Okay," Xander agreed happily.

"You and me both," Fred muttered.

"Boys, no discussion of adult toys," their father complained. "That's much more than your mother and I ever wanted to know about your private lives." His wife burst out laughing. "Molly, are you all right?"

"Percy's face was priceless," she said, smiling at her husband. "What did we want to eat for dinner?"

"I can cook," Xander offered quickly.

"Xander, I love you, but my kitchen is my sacred space and none of you children are allowed to do more than make toast in it." She stood up. "Stew? Casserole?"

"It's all good to me," Xander told her. He nipped George. "I have my meal right here."

"Xander," Arthur groaned. "Go neck in the garden." He watched as they left the house. "Fred, do me a favor. Never make us watch you do that with your mate."

Fred chuckled. "You should see them around the store. That was very tame. I've walked in on some things that would make Dumbledore blush."

"That was the night of the ball," Percy noted as he walked back inside. "I'm not sure what he caught them doing, but it was the first time I've ever seen the Headmaster not look calm and collected." He took a seat at the table. "Need help, mum?"

"No thank you, Percy. I've got it well in hand." She pulled some meat from the fridge and set about thawing it. "How much longer before Charlie gets here?"

"He said he'd be in after dinner," her husband reminded her. He coughed, making his wife look at him. "I'm fine."

"Off to bed with you. I won't have you down with the wizard flu that's going around," she demanded. "Boys, make sure he makes it to bed." They ganged up on their father and took him up to his room. "I will not have Charlie's visit ruined by his father being ill," she told herself. "That would be horrible for poor Charlie. I hope his girlfriend likes carrots." She brought some over and waved her wand so they were cleaned and chopped up.

Snippet 14:

Charlie sat down next to Xander on his first full day home, giving the surroundings a short glance. "Thank you for not telling her."

"As long as you do," Xander said quietly. Charlie shook her head. "Think about this, brother-in-law, she's going to find out. It's going to cause problems. And not just for me. Look at what your girlfriend's doing right now."

Charlie looked over to see his girlfriend, Amanda, reading a book to Iggy and Melvin. "She'll get used to you and see you're not so bad."

Xander snorted. "Sure she will." He leaned closer. "I promised to walk away this time, but I'm not going to rip this family apart over what I am. If it comes down to that, we'll have a fight. And I will win." He stood up. "With that said, I'm going to go take a nap in my nest. You're welcome to drop by later if you want." He walked out into the garden and disappeared.

Charlie sat back and considered the situation. At least until Fred hit him. "Ouch!"

"Tell her soon," he said quietly. "Mum'll have fits if this ends up being a fight." He walked back into the house. He liked Xander, but the boy had strange notions. Did he actually think that the family would be that upset if this turned into a fight? He looked around for his twin, but found George was missing. So was Ron, which wasn't that unusual, but George had just been here. He walked into the kitchen and grabbed one of Xander's sodas. The guy always kept at least one here, just in case he needed a boost. "Where did George go, Mum?"

She looked at him. "He saw Xander sneak off and went to snog him in private for a change," she said with a smile.

Fred snorted. "A change is right. Those two go at it all the time in the lab." He sipped the soda slowly, they gave him horrible gas. "So, what do you think of her?"

His mother glanced into the living room, then shook her head. "I think Charlie's going to have to tell her a few things before I make that decision. She all but suggested that Ginny was wrong for what she's doing, which I agree with on some points but it's her life and she has to live it. She doesn't know about Xander or Iggy. And she hasn't even met Percy yet."

"Point," Charlie said as he walked in. "Should I tell her?"

"Is it serious?" his mother countered.

Charlie stopped and thought, then nodded. "I'd like it to be."

"Then you'd better tell him soon, before Xander goes on a guilt trip over the fight being his fault," Fred told him.

Charlie nodded. "I'll tell her tonight."

"Thank you, dear," his mother said, handing him a plate of cookies. "Go feed the children and take one for yourself." He smiled and walked away. "Fred, what's going on with Xander?" she asked quietly.

"He's been worried about this. He knows that this can cause a huge row and he's going to end up stuck in the middle. Or at least he thinks so."

Molly nodded. "I can see how he'd think that, but he has to know that we'll stick up for him."

"A battle between the in-laws is never fun. Imagine having to pick a side in an argument between him and Draco."

Molly winced. "I'd rather not. That would be messy." She sighed and turned the pot roast over so it could brown on the other side. "Can you run to the store for me?"

"Sure, mum, let me finish this." He gulped the rest of the soda and belched. "Ow." He patted himself on the chest, then took the list, blatantly ignoring the money she was holding out. "Be back in a few." He grabbed some floo powder and took off.

She 'humphed' and went back to making dinner. That boy.

***

George followed Xander up the stairs and into the nest, holding him closely. "She won't get within a few feet of you," he told his husband.

"But she can still yell and it can still hurt Iggy."

"And you."

"And me," Xander agreed. He flipped over, snuggling in tightly. "I'm tired of people looking at me funny. I don't like to shop outside of town anymore."

"Then I'll go with you and we'll both be stared at," George told him. "It happens."

"Yeah, but it sucks."

"True." George gave him a squeeze. "But I'm here."

"And that's nearly the only thing keeping me from screaming at the idiots some days," Xander admitted. He closed his eyes. "Can I just leave if she starts shit?"

"Sure. I'm sure Mum and Dad both would appreciate not having you rebuild part of the house if you attack her." Xander smiled against his chest, he could feel it. "Maybe she'll keep it inside."

"Or maybe I heard her telling Iggy earlier about how she had switched jobs to get away from one of us."

"Oh, really?" Xander nodded and George frowned. "Did anyone else hear her?" Xander shrugged. "Okay. Well, at least Mum and Dad are on your side."

Xander looked up at him. "If it comes down to it, I'll leave the family alone and just be here. Or at the school."

"Bloody prick," George said with a smile. "Not going to happen. Dad's gotten used to having you around. You give him muggle things to play with. Besides, Ginny would kill us all if someone forced you to not associate any longer."

"Yeah, maybe, but I still have to think ahead and plan the options."

"Well, you can just quit it right now, husband. If they say crap to you, then they're going to have to get through me, Ginny, Fred, Ron, and probably Draco. I doubt they're willing to take on half the family over such a minor little thing."

"Minor? I can blow up the house by sneezing if I'm holding my wand and thinking the wrong thing." He knew he could, he had blown up part of the Forbidden Forest that way. Just a small section, but it still blew up. It had been a very pretty explosion.

"So? Dad was the one who was worried about that. He's gotten over it, she can too." He closed his eyes. "Let's nap. We haven't had one of those recently."

"You hoo!" someone called up the stairs.

"Crap," Xander sighed. "Who gave her a key?"

"Guys?" Ron called.

"Him." George rolled out of the nest and jogged down to deal with them. "Trying to nap, Ronniekins. Make it fast."

"She needs something to totally gross out the Travers arsehole."

"Oh. Funny, sickening, sexual, embarrassing, or punitive?"

"Funny for everyone but him," Buffy said. "Punitive sounds really nice. He's been nagging me about Ron again." She grimaced. "I'd really like to stomp him, but that would be a bad."

"Yes, it would," George agreed. "He does hold the papers for your house after all." He held up a finger and walked into the back room, coming back with a small box. It had been something that Xander had created back in Ron's sixth year; the revenge toy that had made the other joke shop leave them alone.

"I remember that," Ron said with a grin. "Totally hilarious when they react." He checked the wires. "That one's to the battery, right?" George nodded.

"Can you connect it for me?" Buffy asked. "I want to floo back and hand it to him. Or hide it under his chair or something."

"Put it somewhere unnoticeable," George told her. "It lasts for about a minute, then dissolves. It's not very loud, but it does tend to scare people." He heard a thump and looked up the stairs. "You okay?"

"Murphy!"

"I'll be right back."

"Is that Xander?" Buffy asked.

"Yes, he's trying to take a nap too." He connected all the wires, remembering at the last moment that one of them was supposed to be crossed over. "You've got twenty minutes before it goes off," he warned. Ron paid him and left with her. George turned off the floo and went back up to rest with his cuddly one. Fred could apparate home if need-be.

***

Charlie took his girlfriend Amanda out into the garden so they could stroll and watch the stars come out. "What did you think of the clan?" he asked, holding her close.

"I think that most of them are great, but that one person...Xander? I think he's odd. He kept walking away from me all day, like he was afraid of me."

"No, he's not afraid of you, he's afraid of your reaction to him." He stopped her and turned to look at her. "I know that you have strong feelings against certain types of people, but Xander is one of them. He's gryphon-born."

She snorted. "So he was trying not to hurt me?"

"He only attacks if people try to harm the family." He started walking again, but she stayed there. "Coming?"

"No, I want to have this out."

"Then we'll argue away from the house, where everyone can't butt in," he told her.

She followed him, nearly stomping, to a bench set further down the garden. "You know how I feel about them and you let him near me? What about his son?"

"From what I understand, Iggy is both fathers' child, but was carried by my sister Ginny. It was very powerful magic done by the gryphons themselves." He patted her on the hand. "Xander was worried that this argument was going to tear the family apart so he promised mum to let me tell you first."

She opened her mouth, then closed it. "I won't be around him."

"Then you're going to leave," Charlie told her with a sigh. He really had liked her. "Xander's my brother-in-law."

"And I'm your girlfriend."

"Yes, you are, but I'm not going to allow the family to be hurt because you have a prejudice." He shifted so he was facing her a little more. "You saw Xander, you saw Iggy. Can you really tell me that you think either of them are violent or willing to attack for no reason?"

She shrugged. "I wouldn't know. I'm assuming they'd be on their best behavior. I have no idea what they're usually like or if they're one of the attacking bastards." She stood up. "How could you not tell me before?"

"Because I didn't realize how much this bothered you," he replied softly. "I won't fight about this. Xander is my brother-in-law and Iggy is my nephew. A Weasley doesn't abandon their family for anything."

"So you're going to let the gay, murdering, *violent* creature near our future children?"

"Better someone who has fought their lack of knowledge than someone who hasn't." Charlie stood up too. "These are my family, Amanda. I come equipped with them. They're always going to be there. I'm not going to argue about this, but I won't let it tear my family apart."

"You're taking his side over mine?"

"He married my brother so there's got to be something good there at least. Iggy's just a normal, average kid who likes to read."

"Sure, until poor little Melvin or Simone pisses him off!" she said with as much scorn as she could muster. "Then what?"

"Then they roll around and fight, like normal children," Arthur said as he walked up behind them. "I've had my doubts, mostly about how powerful Xander really is and the lack of control he showed when his powers came out. I even tried to act on them to protect the family." She snorted and waved a hand at him for her boyfriend's benefit, a 'you see' move. "Fortunately, Xander handed me a bouquet of flowers and talked to me about it. He's only violent when someone threatens the family. Any part of the family," he finished with a smile. Xander had stopped someone from bullying Arthur's aunt last week by giving him back what he was giving. "I trust Xander with my life, and those of my children and grandchildren." He looked at Charlie, then smiled. "If that's good enough for you, then there's no argument."

"And if there is?" she demanded.

"Then maybe you should sit down and talk with him. He's had a very interesting life. Guarding a hellmouth. Guarding Hogwarts. Fighting Voldemort." Her eyes narrowed. "He taught Ron how to fight effectively, which I thank Merlin for every time he has to fight. He's protected Ginny's children when they were threatened. To a gryphon, family is everything and the only important thing." He nodded at his son. "Don't stay out too late, it's supposed to rain tonight." He walked back inside. He found his wife tidying up the spotless kitchen. "It'll be all right."

"No it won't," she sighed, turning to look at him. "She's not going to change. The fight could divide the family."

He gave her a hug. "It won't happen because we won't let it happen. If anyone doesn't like Xander and George's relationship then we'll stick up for them. I'm not going to let anyone make one of my children unhappy." She nodded and relaxed against him. "Let's go to bed. It's well past time." She let him lead her up the stairs.

***

George accepted the message from Glinda, worrying about what it said. It couldn't be good if his mother was using this instead of the floo. Of course, he had turned off the floo last night..... He walked over and turned it back on. They needed a fire to warm the shop anyway, it was chilly this morning. As soon as the fire was blazing, he sat down to read the message, which ended up in the fire. How could she tell him not to bring his husband around? Was she taking the girlfriend's side over his? He looked up as someone walked down the stairs, pasting a happy smile on his face.

"What?" Xander asked suspiciously.

"Mum sent word. We're not having lunch today because her stomach's acting up again. The stress of the visit and all that."

Xander's eyes narrowed. "Someone told you not to bring me?" George winced. "What? I'm going to upset the fragile balance?"

"No, she just wanted Amanda to have some time to get used to the idea that you're gryphon-born. Charlie told her last night." He walked over to his husband and tried to give him a hug, but he got pushed away. "It's not my fault."

"I'd rather sulk alone," he said, walking out of the store. It was a short hike to the school, but he always had a sanctuary there. He waved at Hagrid as he passed him on the road, but didn't stop to talk. He even ran into McGonagall in the school, wearing a dust cap no less, but he didn't stop to talk to her either. He went right to his room and sulked. After he straightened out his nest. Someone had shifted some of the straws around.

McGonagall stared after the young man until she heard a door slam elsewhere. This was not appropriate at all. She thought about going to talk to him, but she didn't have the delicacy necessary to deal with matters of the heart. She wished someone else was around.

***

George apparated next to his mother's dining room table. "How could you?" he demanded. She looked up at him, not looking happy in the least. "He stormed out to go sulk because he thinks he's not welcome here anymore."

"I just wanted to give her time to get over it," Molly said calmly.

"I doubt she will."

"George, everyone has ideas that aren't right. Even you and Xander."

"Yes and apparently mine are against people like her." He crossed his arms over his chest and glared at her. "You hurt his feelings, mum. I won't have it. He's too fragile to have this sort of pain."

"He'll be fine," she soothed. "I'll talk with him in a while."

He snorted. "Good luck getting to him." He turned and looked around. "I think I'd better take our son back home with me." Her shoulders slumped. "I don't want that woman anywhere near my son. There's no telling what filth she told him." He walked up to the nursery, gathering up his sleeping son's body so they could go home. As soon as he stepped out into the hall, he ran into Charlie. "We're going home."

"Leaving in a snit?" he asked.

"She *suggested* Xander didn't come for lunch today." Charlie hissed. "I think it's better if my son and I weren't here either. *If* she gets over this, call us." He shoved him out of the way and took his son home.

"Sleeping!" Iggy pronounced.

"I know you are. I'm putting you back in your bed," George soothed. He didn't care who or what his son brought home when he was of the age to date, the family would just have to get over it. After all, they'd gotten over Ginny bringing home a Malfoy. He tucked the precious baby in then went down to start the day in the store. They had originally planned on taking the afternoon off, but there wasn't any way he was going to sit across from that woman and listen to her shit.

***

Charlie walked down the stairs, checking around to make sure no one else was going to yell at him. "Are you all right, mum?"

"Fine," she told him, pouring him some tea and making sure he had a plate for breakfast. "I handled that very poorly."

"No, you did what you thought was right. Not everybody's going to be happy with that. They'll calm down eventually."

She shook her head. "I didn't even think about what sort of message that would send to Xander. He is so very fragile sometimes."

"It comes from having crappy parents," Charlie reminded her. "I'd have thought he would have picked up on something better since joining the family." He dished himself out some eggs. "He'll get over it and I'll apologize for her."

"Oh, why bother?" Fred asked as he walked down the stairs, pulling on his shirt. "Will it actually make matters better to offer a false apology?" Charlie glared at him. "Do you really think she's going to change?" He sat down next to his brother. "I agree, she's a very nice woman, except for this fact. I'm sure she probably turns you on like no other woman recently. Is she really the one you want to spend your life with though?" He grabbed a plate. "I heard George."

"He took Iggy home." His mother handed him the plate of toast. "He said Xander's went off to sulk in private and that no one's probably going to see him for a few days."

"Then he's either camping in the Forbidden Forest again or he's locked himself up in the school. He'll come back."

"Days?" Charlie asked.

"As you so glibly pointed out, his family wasn't that great. Having met them, I've got to say that I'd prefer Lucius Malfoy as a parent over them." Charlie shuddered. "I think he will get over it, but he's going to feel insecure for a while."

"When did you get so smart about people?" Charlie asked.

"I live with him, have to hear George talk about him, end up watching those two make out, and I don't have much else to do right now since I'm not dating anyone." He stuffed his mouth full so he couldn't say anything else. He decided to add one more thing. "The one thing he won't ever forgive is this tearing the family apart. He was worried about it yesterday and apparently it hasn't eased any at all since then." Molly choked. "Weak family bonds," he reminded her.

She nodded, straightening up a bit. "I'll talk with him as soon as he comes out of hiding."

"It won't be today, and I doubt it'll be tomorrow," Fred reminded her. He stuffed his mouth again. "What can I do to help with lunch?"

"Go find Ron and Buffy," she said with a smile. "They might as well wait here. Maybe you can help her stay up on a broom better than Ron can."

"She can't fly?"

"She's the Slayer, she's meant to fight not fly," Fred told him. "Her words. Anything else I can do?"

"No, I think I have everything set up and ready. Shouldn't take too long." She sipped her tea. "Can you talk to your brother?" Fred raised an eyebrow. "Never mind."

"I doubt he's going to be very happy," Charlie noted. "He's grown more stubborn."

"Only about the family," his mother told him. "Xander and he fit so very well together. Then they had Iggy and George tightened his focus."

"Hmm," Fred sighed, finishing his mouthful. "Have you heard about the junior quidditch leagues?" His mother nodded. "He's trying to get Iggy into one. Hogsmeade has two teams at the moment and Iggy really would like to be on one of them."

"Trying to make him play on his house team?" Charlie asked.

Fred shrugged. "We both miss it. I refereed a game last season for them." He scraped his plate and ate the last little bit. "I'm off to interrupt Ron's sex life. Be back soon." He grabbed some floo powder, making a mental note to bring some over for all he's used, and sent it into the fire. "Slayer's attic," he called out, stepping in so he could leave.

"Slayer's attic?"

"She thought her house looked like an attic cut off and put down as a house," his mother said with a grin. "It's a very cute little cottage."

"Are they serious about each other?"

Molly shrugged. "I don't think they suit each other well enough for that, but Ron hasn't mentioned that it's very serious. Right now, they're dating exclusively and taking it slowly."

"And you approve?"

She gave him a look. "You may be my children, but that doesn't mean I can dictate how you work your relationships. I may not like it, but dragging him out of her bed won't solve anything." She smiled. "Besides, I do realize that times have changed since your father and I married. Having Ginny pregnant, twice, was quite a learning experience for us."

"Twice?"

"She did carry Iggy also." She pointed at a dish of sausage. "Eat some of that, you didn't have enough breakfast."

"Yes, mum." Charlie dished himself out some of the meat. "Have you heard from Bill recently?"

"A bit. He's on-site right now. Very hush-hush he said. Some undiscovered site of a battle during the ancient times. He said it's a very exciting find."

"Is he coming in soon?"

"He was supposed to but the find was found the other night and he had to cancel his trip home." She patted his hand. "I'm sure he'll pop in on you soon. He said he would if he couldn't get back in time." She got up to start some more food, the shower had just come on. She turned and looked over her son. "I won't let her tear this family apart," she said quietly. "If she wants, and you're serious about her, then she can keep it to herself. I won't have her hurting Iggy at all, and Xander will eventually fight back. If you love her that much, then I'll accept her. If she starts though, then she's on her own."

Charlie nodded. "I tried to tell her that. I'm not sure what's happening, mum."

She walked over and gave him a hug. "Love is never easy."

"I'm not sure it is," he said quietly.

Molly winked at him. "I could always pull out my old cards."

"Mum!" he said, giving her a look. "You have cards?"

She laughed. "Merlin, yes. One of my best subjects was Divination. That, Potions, and Domestic Arts." She opened one of the drawers next to the stove and pulled out her set of tarot cards to show him. "I could do a reading for you. I did one for Xander and George and it was right. I thought I had misread when I saw a child predicted, but then the gryphons did that spell." She put the cards on the table and walked back to the stove, cracking some eggs into the pan to scramble. "I won't pry if you don't want me to, Charlie."

He picked up the deck to look at the box it was in. "I wouldn't mind, mum," he said finally. "Though I might not fully trust it." He looked at her, seeing her for the witch she was and not only his mother. "Do you have the sight too?" She shook her head. "Not a bit?"

"Oh, a feeling now and again, but nothing much. No dreams or visions. I knew that Ron and Ginny were both going to be in trouble their last year, but not why or when. I had no doubt that Ginny would get better, her life was so long in the cards." She poured the eggs into the mostly-empty bowl. "I saw a few children for her when I read her cards before she went to school." She smiled. "I had hoped that the children I saw were *after* she graduated, but if she's happy..."

Charlie shook his head. "You have mellowed, mum. If I had come to you and told you I had stuffed up someone, you would have killed me horribly."

She nodded. "And your father would have been right behind me," she agreed happily. She smiled as her husband walked in. "There's fresh eggs," she told him.

"Can I have some tea too?" Arthur asked. He noticed the cards on the table and looked at his wife. "Already?"

"I offered to do one for Charlie."

"If it helps," he agreed. He touched the box. "She's very accurate. She predicted Kandy without knowing why."

"Well, I interpreted it as a piece of candy," she snorted. "I'm out of practice." She finished pouring water into the teapot and put it on to heat. "George was here."

"Did he take Iggy?" Arthur sighed when his wife nodded. "And Xander?"

"Sulking," Charlie told him. "I really didn't mean to start a fight."

"It's not you, son. There's plenty of people who won't accept Xander because of what he is. It's gotten around Diagon and he's sworn he's never going to shop there again." He accepted his filled plate. "What about everybody else?"

"Fred went to wake up Ron and Buffy," she told her husband. "It's taking him a bit apparently." She smiled. "Everyone else is here unless Bill gets away."

"I do wonder which site it is," Arthur said. "I had thought that we chronicled all the old battle sites and found them all."

"The War of the Ancients had a lot of personal battles that weren't disclosed," Charlie reminded him. "It could be one of those. Or one of the sacrifice sites maybe."

"Not over breakfast, son," Molly told him. She came over and took the box of cards, opening it and pulling out the cards. She held them for a moment, her eyes closed while she concentrated. The first card was dealt. "A girl," she said happily.

Arthur watched as she dealt out a mostly happy future for their son. Still, the card which should have hinted at the girl's name had been ambiguous. A death card? How very unusual. Not even Buffy had gotten one of those. He ate his breakfast, watching as she pulled out a child. "Splendid," he said happily. A grandson.

***

Fred appeared in Buffy's cottage, and stopped to look around. Little pink flowers on the wallpaper? He sneezed due to the extra dust on the mantle. "Hello?" he called.

"Shit!" Ron stomped down the stairs, his wand drawn. "What're you doing here?"

"Mum sent me," he said happily. "Said she wanted you to crawl out of your girl's body and rejoin the family for a bit." Ron's glare got hotter. "Lunch, sound familiar?"

Ron nodded. "It's not for at least three more hours." He checked a clock. "Two more hours," he corrected.

"She said to come get you up," Fred said with a lopsided grin. "Need help getting dressed?"

Ron's wand, and the hand holding it, came down to cover his nudity. "Blasted arsehole." He stomped back up the stairs, going to wake Buffy up and get dressed.

Fred made himself at home, sitting comfortably on the couch. The place really did need dusted so he pulled his wand, sending the dust to rest in Ron's underwear.

"I'll get you for that!" Ron yelled. He came down a minute later. "Thanks to you, I can't wear any now." He smiled as Buffy came down the stairs in a little sundress. "Ready to go?"

"Almost." She walked over to what looked like a china cabinet and pulled out a dagger. "Can't go anywhere without it," she said with a smile. She walked back over and stole a kiss, pinching Ron on the butt. "Be good today or I'm going to sic Xander on you."

"He's not coming," Fred told her. She pouted at him. He shrugged. "Amanda is rather...upset about what he is."

"And?" Ron asked.

"Xander's avoiding a fight and sulking because mum asked him to give her some time to get over it. So George and Xander won't be there."

"Bet me," Ron said darkly. "Fred, take her back to the Burrow. I'll be right there." He disapparated.

Fred stood up and held out a hand. "Shall we?" She smiled at him. "So, are you serious about my brother? I should warn you that I'll make your life miserable if you're playing with him." He tossed some floo powder into the fireplace and let her get in first, climbing in behind her because she was still a muggle. "The Burrow." They disappeared.

***

Ron landed in the joke shop and looked around. Someone was browsing, but George wasn't anywhere to be found. "Can I help you?" he asked.

The woman looked at him, giving him a smile. "Not unless you're going to hand over your brother again," she told him.

Ron stepped back. Melody. Shit! Fucking hell! "What're you doing here?"

"Came to get an idea. I have a problem ex that I'm trying to ...discourage. Wanna help?"

Ron pointed at the blue cases. "One of those. They're annoying and punitive." He stepped further away. "I'm going to find my brother."

"He's in the back with the little kid."

"Good." Ron headed back to the lab, and the back way to the kitchen. He looked down at his nephew. "You want to come with me? Buffy wants to teach you how to play soccer."

Iggy smiled and held up his sandwich. "Breakfast first, Unclie." He stuffed the rest of it in his mouth.

"We're not going," George told him. He looked at his son. "You can go see everyone tomorrow." Iggy shook his head. "Yes, you can."

"Uh-huh. Melvin's leaving tonight." He sniffed for show. "Please, daddy? I've been good."

"Yeah, he's been good," Ron reminded him. He picked up the little guy and gave him a hug. "Come on, I'll introduce you to the nasty woman who's trying to make Aunt Kandy go away."

"I'll hiss at her," Iggy told him. He waved at his father as they walked away. "Come get me tomorrow!" he called.

"Ronald Weasley!" George yelled in direct imitation of their mother. "Put my son down."

Ron put Iggy down and turned to look at his older brother. "I'll protect him. So will Fred and Buffy."

"Yay."

"Wouldn't Xander rather have you find him?" George shrugged. "Then you're letting me sit him. Besides, Ginny's due back today too, with Denver." He smiled. "And if Amanda says anything nasty to Iggy, I'm siccing my girlfriend on her."

"Can't I go, daddy?" Iggy begged.

George sighed. "Fine. Behave and listen to Uncle Ron and Grandmother." His son nodded. "Then you may go. Ron, keep him away from Melody." Ron smiled but picked his nephew back up to take him back to play.

Ron waved at Melody. "Nice choice. Loud, can be made to only be heard by them. George!" he yelled. "She's found something." He waved Iggy's hand. "Say bye."

"Bye, nasty lady," Iggy said, giggling when she burst out laughing. "C'mon, Uncle Ron, the kids will be up by now."

Ron waved and they went home via floo. "Here we are," he announced, holding Iggy long enough that he could give Buffy a kiss. He gave her one as soon as Iggy was off and running. "Protect him," he told her quietly. She nodded. "Did mum feed you yet?" He wrapped an arm around her waist so he could lead her into the dining room. He held her chair for her, then sat beside her. "Just saw Melody," he said conversationally. Percy, who had apparently appeared recently since his plate was mostly full, choked. "Sorry. She was finding something to drive off an ex."

Fred hopped up. "I have something perfect for that." He disappeared, going to stop her from buying anything else.

Amanda looked at Buffy. "Are you a witch?"

"No, I'm the Slayer," she said with a smile. "Retired."

"You exist? I thought you were a myth."

"So did we, until she ended up at Hogwarts for a bit," Arthur said, giving Buffy a smile. "You look nice today."

"Thanks. I found it tucked in the back of the closet. I have to do laundry."

"Yes, me too," Ron said, glaring at Fred's chair. His mother patted him on the head as she put a full plate in front of him. "Thanks, mum. Buffy can't cook."

"Can so," she argued, frowning at him. "Just not a lot of things. I make killer muffins."

Ron smiled at her. "But you don't make eggs." He dug into his meal. "I'll be back on next month," he announced.

"Are they rehiring the staff they let go?" Arthur asked. Ron nodded. "That's good then. I'm happy for you, son. Are you going to be building or testing?"

"Testing. I'll be half of the quality control department."

"Does that mean that you'll finally get off the kick to put me on a broom?" Buffy asked between bites.

Ron shook his head. "My girlfriend has to be able to fly. I promised myself that back when I was ten and I intend to make good on it."

"I'll help if you need it," Charlie told him. He smiled at Buffy. "You're graceful by nature, you shouldn't have any trouble balancing."

"I don't, until I get up high and there's only a little bar holding me up," she explained with a grimace. Her fork moved her eggs into her potatoes. "I'm okay on low level stuff."

"She starts to wobble about four feet up," Ron told him.

"Oh. That's probably easily fixed too," Charlie told her. "We'll all go flying after breakfast."

"I think I'll stay and help," Amanda told him.

"Don't fly either?" Buffy asked. Amanda shook her head. "I thought all you guys flew."

"We all learn but some of us prefer not to," Percy told her. "I don't like to fly."

She smiled triumphantly at Ron. "See, I can get by without flying. Percy can."

Ron leaned next to her ear. "Then we'd have to break up and you'd be without your usual morning wake up call," he whispered. She blushed but settled down and mentally stoked herself for another flying lesson. "Not such a bad idea?" he asked playfully.

"I'll try again," Buffy agreed.

Iggy ran back in. "Boom!" he yelled, pointing a wand at Amanda. She shrieked as she started to change colors, pushing herself away from the table and knocking things over. Iggy laughed cruelly. "I hate you!" he yelled. He ran back outside before any adult could catch him.

Buffy looked at Ron. "I thought you said you got your wand at eleven." Ron hopped up and ran outside, trying to find the children. She looked at the other woman. "You look good in that color," she offered.

Arthur stood up and walked over to the fireplace. "Everyone check for their wands. There's no telling where he got it from."

"It was medium brown," Buffy told him.

"Mine's blond," Charlie said, pulling his out to look it over. "Mum?"

"In my hand," she said, using it to bring a washcloth over to clean up the mess Amanda had made.

"Fred," Arthur called. Fred's head appeared in the fireplace. "Do you have your wand?"

Fred looked down at his body, then shook his head. "No, I don't seem to. Why?"

"Your nephew just turned Amanda purple." He glanced behind him. "Can you come back?"

"I'll send George, he's the one who makes the color changing line." His head disappeared, but he looked like he was trying not to laugh.

"This is why they shouldn't be allowed to breed!" Amanda yelled. "They're all evil and violent."

Buffy took a bite of her sausage. "Actually, I have a feeling that he did it because you hold that opinion," she said calmly. She looked at Molly. "If Ron and I are getting serious, can I have you teach me how to cook? I'm tired of the home equivalent of fast food."

Molly beamed at her. "Of course I will, dear. Especially if you're going to become serious with Ron."

George appeared and coughed quietly. "Where is my son?" he asked.

"Ron went after him," Buffy told him. She gave him a smile. "He said 'boom', then waved a wand at her."

"I'll have a talk with him as soon as I change her back," he told his mother and father. "Amanda, shall we move to somewhere more private?"

"I'm not going anywhere with you," she sneered. "You're just like your mate."

"I can always leave you that color," he reminded her. She shrieked. "Your call." She stomped off to the living room and slammed the door.

"I would have left her," Percy said. He glanced at Charlie, who had sighed. "Sorry."

"That's all right. I'm wondering what set Iggy off."

"Well, she did tell him yesterday that she tries to stay away from people like him because they're all bad and evil. She tried to tell him that she would never be able to like anyone like him." He scraped his plate. "Mum, if you don't mind, I think I should have a discussion with my son." She nodded, excusing him. He got up and walked outside. "Melvin Weasley, you have two minutes to be standing in front of me or you're grounded for the next year and won't be able to see any of your cousins." He tapped his foot, waiting on his son. "Now, Melvin," he yelled after a minute. Melvin came running out of the woods. His father grabbed him to slow him down and drag him off to sit and talk with him. "Thank you."

Out in the woods, Ron had found the children. And their hiding place up a tree. He even managed to get up there with them, barely. He accepted the wand from Iggy. "Why did you do that?"

"Because Melvin told me what she meant yesterday," he sniffled. He wiped his nose with his sleeve. "She's mean."

"No, she's prejudice," Ron told him, reaching over to pat him on the head. "A prejudice means that she holds a stupid anger against people who aren't like her. In this case, she's got a stupid view about people like you and your father Xander. She's wrong but no one will ever be able to make her change her mind."

"Then why does Uncle Charlie like her?" Simone asked. "He's a nice guy and she's mean."

Ron gave her a hug. "Sometimes you can't pick who you like. Everyone thinks that me liking Aunt Buffy is strange too, but I like her even though people think it's strange."

"Oh." She pulled Iggy closer, giving him a hug. "It's okay. If she comes near you, I'm hurting her. And if I can't, then daddy and mommy will when they get back. Daddy might even make a special trip to hurt her for you and Uncle Xander." Iggy snuggled into her side. "Uncle Ron? Do we have to go inside?"

"Well, yeah," he told her. "Iggy's got to apologize."

"Nah-uh!" Iggy protested. "She deserved it."

"Yay. You attacking her is still wrong and you have to apologize for it. And for stealing the wand," he added as an afterthought. Iggy gave him a pitiful look. "Not going to work, I've seen the master of that look - Murphy." The little boy settled back into his cousin's side. "Are you ready to go inside yet?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"Can't get down," Simone told him.

"You climbed up."

"But it's very high up."

Ron groaned and climbed down, jumping the last few feet. He pulled his wand and looked up at the kids. Someone tapped him on the shoulder. "Hey, George. She normal again?"

"And off in a snit. She's flooing back to her parents." He looked up at the kids. "Get down here."

"Too high," Simone called.

"We're scared," Iggy added.

"Crap. Do you know a lifting charm?" George asked. Ron shook his head. "I'll go get mum. She got Bill out of trees all the time." He turned and walked off, not in a hurry at all.

Ron grimaced up at the kids. "Mum's going to yell," he warned them.

"Hey, I've been good," Simone complained. "I didn't turn her colors."

Ron groaned. He was going to be *far* away from that lecture if at all possible. It would be longer and worse than any he had *ever* gotten.

***

McGonagall looked around the courtyard. Hadn't Xander been at the school? Did he leave? She looked at Snape, the only other teacher at the school. "Did you see Xander leave?"

"No. He was here?"

"He stormed in while I was examining the paintings for flaws and went to his rooms." She looked inside the school, trying to see into the cloud of insecticide. The bug-removing charms hadn't worked this year so Dumbledore had arranged for someone to come in and exterminate the muggle way. "Do you think he's all right?"

"He should be." Snape crossed his arms and looked at the man standing off to the side. "What would happen if a human was still in there?"

"They'd probably be really sick by now," the supervisor said. He looked around. "Are we missing someone?"

"Another teacher came in earlier but he's not here."

The supervisor waved it off. "We're doing the dungeons and the main hallway today. He should be fine."

"His rooms are down near there," Snape told him. "When can we go inside?"

"Unless you can fit into one of the protective suits, three days." Both teachers looked at him. "Sorry, but it's not very healthy for humans."

"Is there any other way?" Minerva asked. The man shook his head. She pulled Snape aside. "A breathing charm?"

"I wouldn't try it. Maybe something like a bubble around the head so you can see." He looked inside again. "Are you sure he was here?" She nodded. "Then we should probably try to get to him."

"He has a window," she said. "We could head around and see if we can see him." Snape nodded, walking away. "He's between the East tower and the outer wall."

"Thank you." Snape walked on. They had moved all the phoenixes to Malfoy Mansion, the only safe place for them all. The place had shields rivaled only by the school itself so he was living there during the extermination. If worse came to worse, he could move the young man there to work on him He found the window to Xander's room and peered inside. It was cloudy and hard to see. But yes, there was a form on the bed. Snape took out the window so he could climb inside, taking the limp body from the room. He paused when he noticed a large blank spot. Someone had removed the nest. He carried the young man outside into the fresh air, coming back around to the main courtyard. "He was," he panted.

Minerva took the body from him. "Oh, dear." She slapped his cheek a few times. "Xander. Harris, wake up."

Snape looked at the men standing around taking off their suits. "I noticed that someone had removed a nest," he said coldly. "You will put it back."

"It's moldy and probably what was attracting the bugs."

"You will put it back," Snape ordered. "You were told not to touch it and you will not touch it. Put it back where you found it and exactly how you found it. Today!" He turned and looked at the young man on the ground. "We need to take him somewhere else."

Minerva looked at the exterminators. "What type of gas were you using?"

"Ingredients," Snape demanded.

"It's a common poison." He walked over to the cart holding their equipment, rummaging around until he came up with one of the safety sheets. He handed it over to the weird people. "That's what we're using." He looked at the man on the ground. "Was he in there?" Both instructors nodded. "Then give him some oxygen and he should be fine."

Snape looked at the ingredients. "There's two different poisons on here," he said quietly. He used his wand to call a cart over to them. "I'll take him to where the birds are." He helped McGonagall put the young man on it, then took off, the cart following him. They walked down to Hagrid's house, him pounding on the door. Hagrid opened the door. "The dunderheads didn't check for people," he said, walking through the door.

Hagrid walked out and picked the limp body up. "They hurt him?"

"No, he inhaled quite a lot of the poison. I'm taking him to Malfoy Mansion." He lit the hearth fire and tossed some floo powder into it. In went Xander. Then him. "I'll be back," he said before disappearing.

Hagrid frowned at the main school. That was very bad.

***

Snape set the boy down on the couch and checked him over. "I can probably cure him," he told himself. He checked the sheet again. "You stay," he told the body. He found a bird staring at him, Fawkes. "Watch him. He stays there." Fawkes hissed at him. "What was that for?"

Fawkes let out a loud squeal, bringing her mate. Murphy flew in and grabbed his father's shirt, flapping until they both lifted off. He took off upstairs, taking his father to the playroom and the nest.

"Fine. Stay up there then," Snape called as he headed for the room he had been working in. This could be very bad.

***

Ron smiled as his father walked up next to him. "They claim they can't climb down."

"Bill said the same thing," Arthur said with a smile. His wand came up and the children came down. "There we are. Both of you, kitchen now," he said calmly. The kids trudged off. "The wand?" Ron handed it to him. Arthur smiled. "That was quite impressive," he said quietly.

Ron nodded. "Wish I could have done something like that at that age." He walked beside his father. "She left?"

"She left in a huff," his father corrected, but he was smiling. "Charlie's not upset about it so it couldn't have been that serious." He patted his son on the back. "What about you and Buffy, Ron? Are you two getting serious?"

"I'd like to think so, but I'm not sure it's more than a friendly sort of relationship. I like snogging her, but I don't think I could live in her life. It's hard."

Arthur nodded. "It is. She's got a lot of responsibility on her shoulders. She's a very important being and you'll have to take that into account if you start something with her. Are you willing to fight beside her?"

"I wouldn't mind, but she won't let me. I went hunting with her last year and she refused to let me near the fight. She treats me like I'm fragile."

Arthur nodded, smiling at him. "You are." He opened the back door, letting his son walk in first. "Here we are," he announced. Molly came out of the living room. "They were in Bill's tree."

She rolled her eyes. "Of course they were." She took both children into the living room to talk to them with Melvin. This was an important lesson and they would learn it.

Arthur checked on lunch, deciding to sit down and read when he saw it was nowhere near ready.

Ron went back outside to enjoy some sunlight.

***

Snape appeared in the middle of the store, looking around. George put down his book and stood up slowly. "What poison was used on your mate the year he went to train?" he asked.

"I don't know. Xander never said. He claimed he forgot but that someone had told Madam Pomfrey. Why?"

"Because those blasted exterminators caught him with their poison and the cure's not working. You don't know at all?" George shook his head. "Would they know?" George shrugged. "Do you have any other spellbooks of his with potions?"

"Hermione has all those. Ginny gave her that part of the textbooks and Xander's put most of his books with them for the summer. Is he all right?"

"No. Can you contact her?"

"Of course." George walked over and got down next to the fire. "Potterville," he called once the fire was prepared. Harry's face showed up. "Harry, I need Hermione. Snape needs one of the potions books."

"She's in the library, hold on." His head turned away and hers came in a moment later.

"What happened?" Hermione asked.

"Xander got caught by the exterminators," George told her. "The cure's not working."

"I have a few potions books, and books with potions, but I'm not sure I can give them out, George."

"I assure you, Ms. Granger, I have access to other books of their's. What do you have in the way of potions to cure poisoning?"

"I've got six potions books that have something in it, four spellbooks with cures in it, and two diaries. I can bring them to wherever you need them."

"Bring them to Malfoy Mansion." She nodded and disappeared. "Potter, I don't suppose you want to help."

"No, I won't get in the way."

"Harry, can you come and run the store for me so I can go?" George asked. "Everyone else is at lunch with mum and dad."

"Sure." His head disappeared.

George stood up, dusting himself off. "Where is he?"

"In the nursery. His bird took him up there."

George smiled at him. "Thank you," he said quietly, disappearing. His mate needed him.

Snape shook himself. It wasn't often he heard thanks for his work. Of course, he only did it because Malfoy would murder him in a horrible manner if he let Harris suffer. But it was a nice change. He disappeared, going back to the mansion. Hopefully he could figure out which cure he had used those many years ago.

***

Simone looked around. No one was in the kitchen. She could sneak off. She grabbed some of the pretty green powder and tossed it into the fire like the adults did. "Daddy's house," she announced. The fire stayed normal. "Daddy's house," she said more firmly, in a more adult manner. A head appeared and she nearly screamed. "Who're you?"

"Floo information. Where were you wanting to go?" She smiled at the little girl.

"Daddy's house. I need to go get phoenix treats. Mine just showed up."

"And what's your daddy's name?"

"Draco Malfoy," she told her.

"Then say Malfoy Mansion and step inside. Do you know where you are now?"

"The Burrow," Simone said happily.

"Say that to get back there." She disappeared.

Simone threw more powder onto the fire. "Malfoy Mansion," she told it. It turned green so she got in and went away. She looked around the living room, and not seeing anyone, hurried up to the nursery. She saw something in the nest and went over to look, smiling at the uncle's bird. "Hi, Murphy." Murphy nuzzled her and she caught sight of her uncle. "Is he sick?" Murphy nodded. "Is anyone making him feel better?" Murphy cheeped. "Then I'll tell Grandma and she'll come help." She grabbed the treats and one of her favorite blankets, then headed back downstairs.

***

Ginny, Draco, and Denver appeared out of the fireplace in a rush, nearly tripping over each other. "Hello!" Ginny called. Her mother came rushing in. "Hi, mum." She gave her a hug.

Molly looked over her daughter and sighed. "Again?"

Ginny giggled. "I only figured it out this morning, mum. Give me a few days before the lecture."

Draco smirked smugly. "We seem to work well together." Denver tugged on his pantsleg. "Yes?"

"Can I go play?"

"Yes, you may. The others are outside watching everyone fly," Molly told him. She gave him a hug. "I missed you, Denver." He beamed at her and ran out of the house. Molly looked at the couple. "Expect a fit from Simone."

"Oh, I do," Ginny told her. "But we'll be taking a vacation with just her later this year." She sat down in a chair. "What's been going on?"

"Oh, dear," Molly sighed. "There's been so much going on it's not funny." She took a seat, then remembered her manners. "Tea, Draco?"

"No thank you. We had that muggle soda on the flight back." He grimaced. "Quite unnatural to fly that way." He pointed outside. "I'm going to head out."

"Your broom's still in the closet," Ginny reminded him. He nodded and went to get it first. "Mum, what happened?" she asked. "Is Charlie all right? Didn't he get to come in?"

"No, he's still here. His girlfriend isn't. She doesn't like gryphon-born." Ginny sighed. "She said some things yesterday to Iggy without knowing what he was and Melvin kindly explained it to him this morning, prompting an attack. Iggy turned her purple with Fred's wand. Xander and George are back at the shop because I asked them to give her a day to get used to things. Then she left and I can't get hold of either of them now. Xander is supposed to be sulking today." She looked over as Simone came out of the fire. "Where did you go?"

"Mommy!" Simone launched herself to get a hug. She managed to pull her blanket enough so it didn't catch fire. "Is Daddy back too?"

"He's outside flying," Ginny told her. "Where were you?"

"I went to get my blankie and phoenix treats." She bounced slightly. "Uncle Xander's in our nest napping."

"Why is he there?" Ginny asked.

"Not know. It was just him and the birds." She hopped down. "I'm going outside to hug brother. Be back soon." She dragged her blanket outside with her.

"I should probably go check on that," Ginny sighed, starting to stand up.

"Let it be for an hour or so," Molly suggested. "He was probably checking on the nest. He said something about moving the nest there because they were fixing the bug problem at Hogwarts."

"Good idea." Ginny stood up anyway. "Come on, let's go watch." She and her mother walked out together.

***

Draco looked up, his fork forgotten. His daughter had just said something about Harris sleeping at his house. "Why was Xander at my house?"

"He said something about moving the nest there while they sprayed for bugs," Fred told him. He looked at his mother. "Did you ever find George?"

"Not yet." She glanced at the clock that showed where everyone was. George was sitting on 'safe'. "I have no idea where he might be."

"I can go ask Xander," Draco offered.

"After dinner," Arthur ordered gently. "It can wait that long."

"I guess he went to sulk there," Percy put in. "Make sense, his bird's there." He looked at Glinda, who was perched on the back of Simone's chair. "Did she bring you a message?"

"I forgot to check." She turned and looked at her bird. "Did the uncle give you a message?" Glinda leaned down and nipped her on the nose, but she gave over the message. "What's a cloud doing in the school?" she asked.

"Bloody fucking hell," Draco muttered. He stuffed another bite of food into his mouth before disappearing. He came back a moment later. "Does anyone remember what poison Harris had used on him when he went for training?"

"Yes," Percy and Arthur said.

"File's in my office," he told Percy, who went to get it. "What happened?"

"The bug people didn't check for him before they set off the clouds of smoke. So he got caught. Snape's taking care of him at my house. George is there by the way."

Molly hopped up and grabbed some floo powder. Her babies needed her. She came out of the fireplace at a run and headed up to the nursery. Her son gave her a hug as soon as she appeared. "How is he?"

"We're working on finding the right cure. Snape's got everything but the last poison he used."

"I need to know which one it was," Snape said from the doorway. "I'll have to mix some of the old cure into the new one to counteract any lingering traces in his tissues."

"Percy was getting it for Draco," she told her. She patted Xander's face. "Such trouble," she told him.

"Not his fault. They moved the nest too."

"We can always put it back," she reminded him. "He's more important than the nest."

Draco walked into the room and handed the file over. "That's what the Ministry recorded." He walked in to look down at his mentor. "You'd better get better or else I'm burying you in Father's grotto."

George growled at him. Molly glared at him. "Don't say such things!" she snapped. Xander groaned and shifted. "Shh, Xander, we're here. That horrible girl is gone. Your son turned her purple."

"I'm very proud of him for it," George admitted, still glaring at Draco. "Go away."

"My house, Weasley."

"Go away," George repeated.

"Fine," he said, leaving them alone. He found Snape waiting in the hallway. "Did you need to know more?"

"Actually, yes. There's two cures I could have used and they're opposites so I can't just try them both."

"George, what did his breath smell like?" Draco called.

George stuck his head out. "Apples, the sour ones he likes, and onions. It could have been what he was eating though. Why?"

"Because there are two possibilities and they won't work together," Snape told him. He tapped the file. "Onions and apples?"

"Sour apples. He likes the baking ones, like for pies."

Snape nodded. "Then I should know which one I used." He walked away.

George pulled back into the nursery. His mother looked at him. "What?"

"How long have you known?"

"Most of the day." She made to hit him. "Don't," he warned. "In the mood I'm in, I'd probably do something royally stupid and get you back." She snorted. "I mean it, mum. Hold it until he's up and mouthing off and I'll gladly let you beat me senseless, just not today."

She gave him another hug. "It will be fine, George. Xander is very strong."

"Of course he is; the people who did this to him said he only needed a little air." He pulled away from her. "Why did this happen today?"

"Maybe it was meant to remind you that he does love you," she said quietly.

He glared at his mother. "I knew that already. It's very evident to me everyday. I didn't need the lesson."

"Maybe he did," Draco said from the doorway. "He was a bit morose the last time I saw him." He walked in and looked down at the sleeping man. "You're welcome to move him to a bed if you'd like. He's a bit big for that nest."

"I tried talking Snape into moving him back to our place but he was adamant that we stay here." George ran a hand through his hair. "They undid the nest at the school too."

Draco winced. "Were they terminally stupid then?" George pointed at Xander. "Of course, that explains everything." He looked around. "All right, we're moving him. Do you have a way of making potions?"

"We have a whole lab setup," George admitted. "The basement is a large lab, complete with anything we've ever needed. Plus we have the main family nest upstairs."

"You have a laboratory?" Hermione said from the doorway. "Why?"

"Because half of what we do requires a potion of some sort," George told her. "All the smoke, the color changing solution, everything. We spent a lot to get the lab perfect for us."

Snape strode in. "You have a lab?" George nodded. "Are you sure?"

"Very. I was mixing child-strength sedative in it last night."

Snape nodded. "Then we can move him back to your home once I look at it."

"Go for it," George encouraged. "He'll be happier at home." He sat down and took his husband's hand again. "I'd like to have a few words with the people who did this."

"I'm sure they'll forget about it very soon," Molly reminded him. George smiled. "Even if you did yell at them, it wouldn't make matters better."

"It'd make me feel better," George pointed out. "Right now I feel bloody useless."

"Me too," Draco put in. "How many times have you done this?"

"Too many," George told him. "Every fight, that Christmas, a few other times. Nothing this severe since that Christmas though." He looked at the young boy. "How was your trip?"

"Interesting," he admitted with a sly grin.

"Again?" George asked. Draco nodded. "Did you even *try* to prevent it this time?"

"I got caught up in her fire." Draco moved closer and sat next to him. "It was like she lit a fire in my life, making it whole again. Everything that had been colorless and closing in on me suddenly regained focus around her. It was good for us I think."

Molly shook her head. "But why make her pregnant again? She's had enough."

"Purely an accident. We got so caught up that we forgot."

"If it would have worked," Hermione said. "Snape said the lab was acceptable enough. We can move him." Draco and Molly both looked at him, Draco motioning for an explanation. "Do you remember the spell you interrupted seventh year?" He nodded slowly, barely remembering it. "It was an anti-fertility charm to be worked on me, but it took three people. When you broke the protections, it may have backfired on you and made you incredibly fertile. It can be reversed, or it'll wear off when you're twenty-eight."

George smiled at her. "That's amazing. Did it work on you?"

She nodded. "Until I had it removed. Harry saw Simone and decided that it would make him happy. They're probably at the shop with him."

"You have children and didn't tell us?" Molly screeched.

Hermione cringed. "Sorry. We forgot to tell my parents until last year and I got sick. We're so wrapped up in our own little world that sometimes we forget there are others." She gave them a hopeful look. "It wasn't intentional."

"We'll see what Ron has to say about that," George told her. She winced again. "Did you at least name one after him?"

"Our son," she said quickly. "Ronald Alexander."

"Did you marry?" Molly wanted to know.

"Quietly. There wasn't anyone else there. I made Harry go through with it because it would finish settling him down. Otherwise he'd *never* go out of the house again."

Draco nodded. "I understand that feeling very well, I escape it every chance I get." He stood up. "Let's get him back to your bed. It'll make him feel better once he's home."

George stood up and lifted his husband gently into arms. "Le's go." Draco led the way, making sure he wouldn't trip over anything.

***

Harry looked up as the fireplace discharged Draco. "Did it get fixed?" he asked, coming over to move his children out of the way.

"Not yet. Isn't Snape here?"

"He's downstairs." He watched as Xander and George came through next, coming over to help brace his mentor. "He's really that sick?"

"The stuff they used is a poison," George told him.

"Two of them," Hermione said as she came through. She gathered up the scattered toys. "Put him into bed, or whatever. We'll be up in a while to give him some more medicine." She waited until everyone was upstairs to look at her children again. "Clean this up a bit please. We don't want anyone to step on a toy and break it." She headed down to the lab, only taking a few wrong turns.

Molly came out of the fireplace last and smiled at the children sitting around. "You three are so precious," she told them, stopping to look them over. Two of them were definitely Harry's children, they looked just like him. The last one was definitely Hermione's because he had her hair. Ron was going to throw a fit when he heard about this because they didn't tell him. She turned to call the house. "Arthur, we're back at the shop."

"Is he badly off?" he asked.

She nodded. "The gas they use is a poison. Xander's still unconscious. We moved him back here when Snape decided that there was a lab good enough for him to use. Did you know Harry had children?" Arthur's mouth fell open. "They're all here right now so can you send Ron over? I'm sure they'd like to see him."

"Of course. Did you want Buffy too?"

"If she's comfortable coming, I wouldn't want her to be uncomfortable." She broke the connection and went to go help. The bell on the door rang before she got halfway up so she went back down. "Hello."

"Oh, hi. I was expecting one of the twins."

"They're taking most of today off." The girl looked so familiar. "Is there something I can help you with?"

"No, I needed one of the twin's dirty minds to finish helping me plan my revenge." She shrugged. "Will they be back tomorrow?"

"Melody, just shock him into submission," George called.

"Thanks." She smiled at the older woman. "I think it's great that they're popular enough to hire people now."

Molly laughed. "I'm their mother, I gave them every idea they have." She smiled sweetly, she knew who this tramp was now. "Was there anything else you needed?"

"Nah" Melody walked out with a small wave.

"Tramp," Molly muttered, going back to the stairs. The children were little, they wouldn't get into anything. Besides, Ron was coming and he was good with children. She found George trying to straighten out the room. "It's fine," she told him.

"Mum, Snape'll be up here. I don't want him to see our dirty underwear and things." He finished tossing the dirty clothes into the hamper, which Xander had charmed to clean anything in it every night. It usually took two days to get the worst stuff clean, but it beat doing wash the normal way. He looked into the nest, then at his mother. "Did he just move?"

"No." She sat on the edge of the nest and picked up Xander's hand to hold. "I'll do this, you panic."

George gave her a smile. "Thanks, mum." He walked into the bathroom and started to scream.

Snape rushed up the stairs. "What's wrong now?"

"Stress relief," Molly told him. "It's been a long two days."

"I had wondered why he was up in the school. Minerva said something about him sulking and slamming doors."

"My oldest's girlfriend is one of those who thinks that Xander should be killed horribly."

He nodded. "Understandable. I would have stomped out too." He handed over a small vial. "He'll need to drink this first, just in case it isn't the right one. It won't hurt the new poison at all, but it could make sure that the old one won't act in collusion with it."

Molly tipped Xander's head back and carefully poured it down his throat. She was a mother, it was a practical skill.

***

Ron appeared downstairs and stopped to look at the children playing with the jelly balls. "Should you have those?" he asked. He heard a scream from upstairs. "You all right?" he called.

"Fine," George called back.

"There's children down here."

George came most of the way down the stairs. "Put those back," he sighed. He looked at his brother. "They're Harry and Hermione's."

"Excuse me?"

"You heard right. He's insulated himself that much. He's up here if you wanted to talk to him." Ron nodded. "Be right back. Xander's been given six potions and none of them have worked so far." He walked back up the stairs and Harry came back down.

"You had children and didn't even send me a note?" Ron asked.

"I forgot," Harry said quietly, not looking at him. He frowned at his daughter, who was gumming a jelly ball. "Put that down. You don't need to be limp."

"C'mon, I need a drink," Ron said, dragging Harry out the door and down to the Three Broomsticks. They apparently needed to have a talk.

Draco walked down the stairs and took the direct approach, confiscating all the soggy pranks they had liberated from the bottom row of cases. He found an empty tray under the counter and dropped them onto it. "There, now play with your toys." He found one of them using the little boy's hair as a helper to suck his thumb. "Does your mother approve of that?" The little boy smacked his sister and she cried. "Enough," Draco said calmly. They looked at him like he was insane. "I have two of my own and another on the way, plus I've helped raise phoenix chicks. There's nothing you can do that will surprise me." He sat down behind the counter. Upstairs he was in the way. The least he could do would be to babysit the next generation of annoying people. Maybe the oldest would become his daughter or son's worst enemy.

***

"So, children?" Ron asked after they'd both had two drinks.

"I wanted something that loved me. Hermi's great, but she's there to keep me from going insane or harming myself. The kids are there because I needed love."

Ron reached over and pinched him hard. "I would have helped. Or you could have come over. The house has been really quiet recently."

Harry sighed. "It's not the same, Ron. If I need a hug because the nightmares come back, then all I have to do is walk down the hall. The little you is very cuddly," he said with a faint smile.

"Harry, this isn't healthy," Ron said quietly. "You need to be around people sometimes. Being a hermit won't help you any. It only makes it worse."

"How would you know?"

Ron snorted. "Think I wasn't there too?" He flicked Harry on the scar. "Just because I don't have one of those doesn't mean I didn't fight the same things you did every time. I was there wasn't I?" Harry nodded. "And I nearly lost my family to it too, didn't I?" Harry nodded again. "Then what makes you think you're the only one who has nightmares?"

"Hermi doesn't," Harry said quietly.

"Gee that's great, but yay. Draco and I both still have nightmares. Horrible ones. Denver's his cuddle toy whenever he needs it and Simone seems to sneak into my room all the time." He touched his friend on the hand. "You can't hide from it, it doesn't get any better if you do."

Harry finished his drink. "When did you get so wise?"

"My mum told me that," he sighed, ordering them another round. "It's disappointing when you realize your mother will continue to be right until the day she dies." He paid for this round, Harry had gotten the last one. "Ginny's pregnant again we think."

Harry snorted. "Good on her. By Draco again?" Ron nodded, sipping his drink. "Why does she like him?"

"He takes the extra fire from her and uses it to right his life," Draco said as he walked up to them. "Potter, your wife's a shrew." He pushed Harry over. "So, Hermione?"

"She followed me and got demanding," Harry said with a shrug. "Refused to leave. Paid for a third of the house when I said I wanted to be alone." He sipped his firewhiskey. "She's been a life saver so far."

"I can see how," Ron agreed. "But you still have to get out of the house." Harry gave him a short head shake.

"Yes, you do. This isn't like you," Draco told him. Harry snorted. "There's not a touch of annoying prat anywhere in you now. Nothing of the mouthy little brat who tried to make my life a living hell, or even the git who was always followed around by that set of brothers with their cameras."

"The Creevys," Ron supplied. "They're both working for the Daily Prophet now." He finished his drink. "See, even the annoyance in my life agrees. It's got to be bad if the bouncing ball of fur agrees."

Harry laughed. It was quiet and soft, but definitely a laugh. "Maybe I should get out."

"Why don't you try out for a team or something," Draco suggested. Harry looked at him. "You nearly had a spot before. It shouldn't be too hard to get back into shape."

"Yeah, you could come and play with me. I won't be back to work until next month anyway and I only work six hours a day."

"Why did they lay off?"

"The economy's bad. People aren't buying brooms, they're buying houses. But we always pick up for the holidays." Ron grinned. "Fortunately, Buffy likes it when I'm home so often."

"You two are still together?" Harry asked. Ron nodded. "Wow."

"Yeah. I only see her every few weeks usually, but I've been staying with her for the last month so I wouldn't have to make mum work." He punched Harry on the arm. "So, how 'bout it. Want to bring the kids to the Burrow and come fly with us?"

Draco coughed. "Charlie's staying another week, he told your parents earlier in the kitchen. It'd be good practice for the both of us to fly."

"You're not flying?"

"Denver's ears hurt him when he flies so I haven't had much opportunity. Simone loves it though."

"Iggy's going to be put into a league around here for tots, we could probably get her set up too," Ron told him. Draco smiled at him.

"You two quit fighting?"

"Right around my niece's birth," Ron told him. "Being sprayed by the brat did it. We still fight, but I'm not going to kill him anytime soon. He's moved down my shitlist to about ten or so."

Draco laughed. "Thank you. That was the nicest compliment I've gotten since your sister said I looked funny the other day."

"How was India?" Ron asked.

"Hot. Noisy. Crowded. Tiring to walk around. But Denver loved it. We're taking Simone to France later this summer so she can have a vacation without her brother since he got one." He stole Ron's drink and gulped it. "We'd better get back. Getting drunk will only make your mother scream at us."

"Where's Xander and George's baby?" Harry asked, finishing his drink.

"At the Burrow being spoiled," Draco told him. "Iggy attacked someone this morning and didn't get much out of the lecture. He was bragging about what shade of purple she turned." He stood up. "Come on, let's get back so your kids don't rip apart the whole store." He followed the friends back to the store, hoping that something got through to Potter. He was more miserable than anyone he'd ever seen. The boy obviously needed help and a family full of busybodies would certainly help him. If they could make Draco come out of his house, they could make Harry Potter come out of his. As soon as they walked back in, the screaming started. "Oh, shut up," he told Hermione. "We're all very big boys." He looked upstairs. "Anything work yet?"

"Not yet," she ground out. "You left the children alone."

"There're five other adults in the building," Ron told her. "Trust me, mum was listening for them."

"And she found them playing with something that created fires."

"*Safe* fires," Ron pointed out. "They couldn't have been burned by them. Even when you eat one of them, they only make your skin light for a few minutes."

"Tested that too?" Draco asked.

Ron nodded. "Fairly funny and shocking. Great gag for Halloween if you can stand to eat a candy bar every few minutes." He clapped Harry on the back. "I'll tell mum that you're coming for a visit." Hermione opened her mouth. "Keep it up and I'm siccing Iggy on you."

"What's his full name?" Harry asked.

"Ignatius Caramel," Draco said dryly. Harry burst out laughing, a loud, obnoxious laugh. "That was my reaction too." He looked at the kids, who all were trying to look pitiful. "Take lessons from the phoenixes. They excel at that look." The kids started to babble at once. "Yes, I know many of them. They're all at my house at the moment." He grimaced. "At least they don't trail nasty things on the carpets."

Harry looked at him. "When did you turn into a real good guy."

"It's Simone's fault," he sighed. "She refuses to talk to me unless I keep my evil ways inside my own head. She's quite the forceful beast some days."

"You call your daughter a beast?" Hermione asked.

"Never to her face, but it does fit sometimes. She can throw the most awesome fit, which of course, only her mother and grandmother can stop. Fortunately, she allows Denver to worship her so it's all right." He headed up the stairs. "I'll be back. I'm going to butt in."

"He's good at that," Hermione said stiffly.

Harry gave her a hug. "We've been invited to the Burrow for a visit with the children," he told her.

"Good. Mrs. Weasley made me feel horrid about not telling her everything about us. They'll also benefit by being around other children their own age." She walked over to stop her daughter from sucking on her brother's hair. "Don't do that, you'll put knots in it."

"Cut off a lock and braid it," Molly suggested as she came down the stairs. "Give it to her to suck her thumb with. It worked for Charlie when Bill was sick." She smiled at the children. "Would you like to come play with the other kids?" They all nodded. "Then let's go. You'll like most of them, they're very nice most of the time." She gathered them together, letting Harry get one of them, and took them home.

Arthur jumped up, coming to take one of the children from her. "Are we adopting?" he asked with a smile.

"No, these are Harry and Hermione's children." She got out of Harry's way. "Where's the brood?"

"Out in the garden trying to trap a garden gnome." He watched as the two little bundles of energy went running off and the third crawled up into Buffy's lap giving her a smile.

"Kid, you don't even know me," she protested. Harry handed her a book. "Oh, you're like that. Okay, I can read." She opened it, letting him see the pictures. "The weather outside was rainy and there was nothing to do," she read.

Snippet 15:

"I swear to Merlin, Xander, you will lie back down or I'm going to drug you."

Xander pouted at his husband. "But I have to go to the bathroom."

"You just went."

"Yeah, and then you fed me a gallon of soup." George snorted but helped him up and into the bathroom. Xander knew he was still weak, but this was ridiculous. "Can I help downstairs today? Maybe in the lab? I'd be sitting down."

"You'd have to ask Fred, it's his day."

"Fred, can I quit hiding like I'm some naughty secret?" Xander yelled.

"Sure," Fred called back. "The kids are here."

"Cool." Xander made sure he was appropriately dressed then slowly headed down the stairs. "Hey, guys," he said as he hit the bottom landing. The kids waved and went back to the their puzzle. Xander walked over to his chair and sat down, he was sweating lightly but he was okay. "No business?"

"Next week, when everyone starts their school shopping," Fred reminded him. "Are you running the maze this year?"

"Unless someone tells me I can't," Xander agreed. "It's tradition now." He looked at the unnaturally quiet kids, counting heads. "Iggy?"

"With Denver, who was running a fever this morning."

"Ah." Xander nodded and gave his brother-in-law a grin. "Can I go work in the lab?" Fred shook his head. "But I need to start wearing out some energy."

"Nope. Sorry. No lab work today. Charlie's coming over later to wander around town and see the nest. Bill might come with him, if he wakes up. He got in late last night according to mum. That's why we've got the kids, so he can sleep. Apparently the site was something really unusual and exciting."

"Coolness. Are they putting things into a museum?" Fred shrugged. "It might be kinda neat if they did, but I guess that's more of a muggle thing."

"Probably true. Gringotts wouldn't want to show off what they have, the goblins are like that." Fred locked the cash register and walked over to check on the kids. "That all black piece goes in the bottom." Simone put it in place. "Did you guys want to take your Uncle Xander and go get a treat?" The kids talked to each other, then shook their heads. "Really?"

"Grandma making stuff," Harry son's Ronald told him. "Better than anything."

Fred smiled. It was great the way his mom had adopted these three kids. "Okay. Did you guys want to do anything else, besides the puzzle, today?"

"We wanted to see the new stuff," Simone told him. She gave him a winning smile. "You always have neat stuff and I want to get Denver back for being mean yesterday."

"Why was he mean?" Xander asked as he forced himself to stand up. He ignored the shaking going on in his legs and came over to sit next to the kids, but out of the way of the door. "Did he pick on you?"

"No, he lied!" she protested. "Said mummy going to have 'nother of us."

"Did you ask your mummy?" Fred asked. Simone shook her head. "Why not?"

"'Cause it's a lie," she said simply.

"Maybe you should ask your mommy about that," Xander suggested. Simone frowned at him. "She could probably help you straighten Denver out."

"Okay." She placed another puzzle piece. "Does Iggy get to play quidditch?"

"After his birthday," Fred told her. "We have a small league around here for little kids and he wanted to join." He sat down with them too. "Here, put this one in," he said, picking up one and handing it to Ronald. Agatha, Ron's sister, helped settle it into place with a pat, that was her job. "You guys are doing very good with that."

"Thank you," they said together.

"We should probably get more toys too," Xander told Fred. Fred nodded. "I wonder where Molly gets toys."

"There's a little place near the end at the end of Diagon Alley, I know we used to go in there," Fred offered. "Not that expensive, but full of stuff." He smiled at the kids. "We used to stare inside the store every time we went down there. They had flying things and crawling things and lots of things that we could never identify." The kids looked at each other. "We should talk Grandma into taking you guys down there with Xander and Ginny."

"Mummy buys all our toys," Agatha told him, sounding very old for a four year old.

"I'm sure she does," Xander agreed. "Does she buy fun stuff?" Agatha shook her head. "Then you should have at least one fun toy." He stood up with a grunt. "Be right back." He walked into the back room, where he had a small stash of funny stuff. He grabbed one that still amused him and brought it back out, playing with it.

"Ooh," Agatha said, reaching up to touch the brightly colored plastic. "What's that?"

"Yes, I've wondered that too," Fred noted.

"Watch." Xander walked up a few stairs and started the slinky going down. All the kids watched raptly as it walked all the way down. "Like it?"

"And it's educational," Fred said with a grin. "Not even Hermione can object."

"Exactly," Xander said with his brightest grin. "Do you guys think you can do that?" They grabbed it and moved further up the stairs. Xander got out of the way as the slinky started down the stairs. "I have fun toys," Xander said smugly. Fred pushed him down into a chair. "Okay, I'll sit."

"The beads of sweat above your lip are a dead giveaway," Fred said quietly.

"What is that?" George asked as he came down the stairs. "Cool. What else does it do?"

"Gets tangled frequently," Xander called. "It's basically a spring." He held out his arms and got a hug. "It's about time we buy Iggy more toys," he said against his husband's shoulder.

"All right, once you're better." George let him go because the bell over the door had rung. "Hi." He moved behind the counter, letting Fred to watch the kids.

The woman looked around. "Is this Weasley Wizarding Wheezes?" she asked. Xander nodded. "And are one of you Professor Harris?" Xander raised his hand. "Good." She smiled at him. "Stay away from my children."

Xander snorted. "I don't know who your child is, lady, and I only teach the kids in my class. If you have a problem with my teaching methods then we'll discuss it like *reasonable* adults, or you can go to Dumbledore and talk with him, but I don't interact with children outside of my students and my children."

She shook her head. "No, you misunderstand me. You have no right to be near anybody's children."

"Get out," George said. "Now."

She looked him over. "I won't allow people like him near my child."

"Then go talk to Dumbledore. He came back early last week," Xander told her. "Complain to him because he's the only one who'll be removing me as a teacher." She sneered at him. "And if you don't get out of my sight immediately," he told her with a cold smile, "I'm going to start throwing things." She turned and stomped out. "Anybody have any idea what that was about?"

"Beside the usual?" Fred suggested.

"Yeah. That wasn't the normal 'I hate your species' thing." Xander stood up and wobbled.

"Sit," George told him. "I'm going to go find a paper and see if something's in there." He walked out of the shop and down the street to the inn, they always knew all the gossip about the town's people.

Xander looked over at Fred and the kids. "Do I draw people like that?"

"No," Fred told him. "They're everywhere, you're just a convenient target."

George walked back in. "When were you hugging Denver?"

"Not for a while now," Xander said. He looked at the picture of him hugging Denver. The article suggested, strongly, that something was going on. "I'm going to go throw a fit." He stood up again and strolled to the fireplace, sending himself to Diagon Alley. He walked out of the Leaky Cauldron's fireplace and smiled at Tom. "Where might I find a lawyer?" he asked pleasantly.

Tom laughed. "I knew it wasn't nothing. There's one up the street. You sit and I'll call him." He pointed Xander at a bar stool. Someone had told him that Xander had been sick recently. He went to call the lawyer for him. The Daily Prophet had gone too far this time and they were going to pay.

The lawyer walked into the bar a few minutes later and headed right for Xander. "Professor Harris?" he asked, holding out his hand. "I'm Theodore Miderson. You wanted to do something about the Daily Prophet article?"

"No, I want to destroy them and have them begging for mercy at my feet," Xander told him, giving him his patented goofy grin. "But I'll settle for a retraction, an apology, and a nice settlement so they won't do it again."

Theodore laughed. "Good. I think we can do that." He pointed at a nearby table. "Shall we sit?" Xander nodded, following him to the table. "First, I have to ask, is there anything to that picture?"

"I was picking him up. I don't even know when it was taken, I haven't seen Denver in weeks because I've been sick." He looked up as Tom put a small basket in front of him. He patted his pockets down. "Um, Tom...."

"You'll pay me later," Tom told him. "You need the food now."

"Okay. I'll come back by tonight." Xander grinned at him. "Thank you for believing it."

Tom laughed. "There's no way that was real. Doesn't even look like your back." He walked away.

Xander looked at the picture again, Tom had brought a copy over. "It doesn't look like my back," he agreed. He pointed at a line of muscle. "I have a scar there that shows through any tight shirt."

The lawyer looked carefully at the picture, then smiled. "Really?" Xander nodded. "Can I see?"

"Sure, I've got a pretty tight shirt on right now." He turned, letting the guy see his back. "Does it show?"

"It does," Theodore said happily. "Oh, they're in such trouble this time." He tapped the picture. "Have you ever heard of Polyjuice?" Xander nodded. "Who might have access to anything of yours, hair, skin, something like that?"

"Well, my brother-in-law had a seriously upsetting person in to be vetted by the family and she decided she'd rather be eaten by a dragon than be anywhere near me. And I've been sick recently, but I've been at the store, so most of Hogsmeade could probably get something of mine if they looked hard enough." He looked over as swearing erupted from the fireplace. "Hey, Draco," he called, smiling at his favorite student. "Saw the paper?"

"Bloody fucking arseholes are going to pay this time," Draco said. He looked at the lawyer, then at Xander. "Doing something of your own?"

"I've already had one person come up and *tell* me I wasn't going to be anywhere near her child."

"Good. Then I'm going to rip them a new one beside you."

"Theodore Miderson," he introduced himself. "Attorney."

"Oh, you're going for *miserable*," Draco said in appreciation.

"And covering my ass because this will definitely come back on Hogwarts," Xander agreed. "Sit, discuss on how to make sorry."

Draco pulled a chair over. "That wasn't Denver."

"Really? It wasn't me either." Xander looked at the picture. "Are you sure that's not Denver?"

"Denver has bright red streaks in his hair and has for the last three weeks," Draco told him with a smile. Theodore's smile got more shark-like. "I want them stopped for good this time," he told the attorney. "Can you do that?"

"I'll do my best." He stood up. "Let me go talk to someone in the Ministry. You two stay here for a few minutes." They both nodded so he walked away. He was *finally* going to get those assholes.

Xander looked at Draco. "What's up with Denver?"

"Stomach aches. He ate something bad sometime recently."

"Did you try to cook?" Xander asked. Draco hit him. "Ow. Careful, I'm still fragile and you're really strong."

Draco smiled at him. "It's about time you admitted I'm stronger and younger than you."

Xander gave him a little shove. "You're only younger by a few years. Poser."

"Ah-ah, no muggle words," Draco teased. He laughed at the sour look on Tom's face. "What?"

"You two are strange and off-putting," Tom told them.

"Believe it or not, I've been told that before," Xander told him. "Dracula didn't understand me either."

"Dracula," Tom said flatly. Xander nodded. "Why did you run into him?"

"He came to try his luck against Buffy."

"Oh." Tom shook his head. "I don't want to know, do I?"

"Probably not," Xander agreed. "It's not a messy story, just a really weird one. I got to be the bug eating guy."

Tom shuddered and walked away. "I think I'll save that story for another time." He walked back behind the bar, pushing his dinner off to the side. "Anything for you, Mr. Malfoy?"

"I'll have what he's having, and he's buying," Draco told him.

"Not today I'm not," Xander said. "I have to go home and get money as is."

Draco frowned. "You walked out of the house without money?" Xander nodded. "How?"

"I came from the shop and didn't go back upstairs to change or get anything."

"Oh. Then I'll get lunch and you can pay me back by babysitting Denver again."

"Okay. Thanks." Xander ate a bite of his sandwich. "We have Harry's kids and Simone today anyway."

"I noticed Iggy was hovering beside Denver's bed," Draco said dryly. "Have you tested him for any special gifts?"

"No, we're trying hard not to think like that," Xander told him. "We're taking a wait and see approach as he grows up. I don't think he has the sight. Tara's son does, just like his mom, but Iggy's seems to be pretty normal. He worries a lot, but otherwise pretty normal," Xander qualified.

Draco sighed. "I'm worried about Denver. He hasn't shown very much ability toward magic."

"He's only six."

"Good point." Draco accepted his sandwich and paid for them both. "How long do you think it'll take for the Daily Prophet to be in a smoking ruin?"

Xander smiled. "I don't know, but I'd like to see that."

The fireplace discharged Hermione. "Xander, did you see what they wrote about you?" she asked shrilly.

"Yup. We've got someone working on making them deal with it." He ate a bite but she snorted. "You think they won't?"

"With the crap they put Harry through in our fourth year? Probably not." She sat in the empty chair. "I'd like to know how they got that photo."

"Wasn't either of us," Xander told her between bites. He was really hungry it seemed. "My scar shows up when I'm wearing a shirt that tight. And Denver has a lot of red in his hair at the moment."

She smiled. "Good! Then you'll be able to bring them down this time." She nodded. "What did you give my children?"

"A toy that teaches the effects of gravity."

"Huh?" Draco asked.

"I let them play with my slinky."

"Slinky? Sounds like a sex toy," Draco said suspiciously.

"It looks like a spring," Hermione told him. "They were making it move down the stairs when I popped in to check on them." She looked at Xander. "Nice try."

"Kids are supposed to have fun, not just education," Xander reminded her. "It's an uncle's job to make sure that the kids aren't ruined by overzealous parents." She blushed. "So ease up. They can play with the slinky, and my silly putty if we find pictures, and I'm going to find them a lot more fun toys. Nag me about it and they'll be noisy too."

Hermione sighed and rolled her eyes. "If you must."

"Yes, he must," Harry said as he appeared. He smiled slightly at Xander. "The article was seen at the school. McGonagall was ranting in the store about the stupidity of some people."

"It actually wasn't me or Denver," Xander told him. "My scar would have shown in that shirt."

"Scars won't show up with Polyjuice," Hermione said happily, figuring it out. "It takes your image from your DNA, but not things like scars." She smiled at her husband. "Xander's hired a lawyer."

"Good on him," Harry said firmly. He pulled a chair over and sat across from Draco. "Are there any other plans yet?"

"Not yet, I'm waiting for a response," Xander told him. "The lawyer went to talk to someone. I'm hoping to make them so miserable that they go out of business."

"Fat chance," Draco said darkly. "They seem to stick around through everything." Harry nodded. "We'll be lucky to get an apology."

Xander smiled at him. "And what makes you think that I'm going to settle for that?" Xander asked sweetly. Draco burst out laughing. "I'm tired of this shit and my rep can't get any worse at this point." Harry started to smile again. "I'm all for smoking ruins and most people will probably say 'well what did you expect from someone like him'." The three younger people burst out laughing. "What? I'm serious."

Draco patted him on the arm. "Don't worry, we know you're a pussy cat."

"Shh," Xander told him. "Don't let that get around. The bigots will get *confused*."

Draco laughed harder. He had casually mentioned Amanda to her boss the other day, telling him how *strong* her convictions were and how he was *sure* her dubious talents could be put to better use than working with dragons. He expected to hear about her being fired or transferred any time now.

Xander smiled at Harry. "I told Hermione that I was going to buy your kids fun toys." Harry nodded. "And if she started to argue about it or makes them disappear, the next one's going to be noisy."

Harry gave him a pleading look. "Please, not a noisy toy, Xander. I'm sure we'll treat their new toys very well."

"Good. Now all I have to do is find the toy store so I can get Iggy stuff too."

"It's down at the end of the alley, on the right. It's a dusty looking little shop that'll remind you of Ollivanders," Draco told him.

"Cool. Speaking of wands, have any of the other chicks given feathers?" Draco shrugged. "I know Glinda did."

"And I heard Fredericka offered one of her feather for Denver's wand," Hermione put in. Draco looked at her. "She told Ginny that when she gave us the books."

"Oh." He blinked a few times. His son was powerful. The gryphons knew something he didn't. Xander nudged him. "My son's going to rival Dumbledore in power," he said happily. Hermione laughed. "What? He's got to be powerful if he's getting a gryphon core to his wand."

She nodded. "Probably, but without knowledge, all he'll be is a big power user with no depth of ability. The thing that makes Dumbledore so powerful is his knowledge."

"Hey, Iggy can help him learn," Xander said, breaking up the impending argument. "I'm sure Denver will be very careful in how he uses his power."

Draco nodded. "Probably. I have taught him subtly of action." He smiled at Harry. "Will he be in the same class as Agatha?"

"She'll be a year behind."

"No Potter-Malfoy rivalry this time," Xander said happily.

"Just Malfoy-Weasley rivalry," Draco added with a smirk. "My son and Melvin will be in the same class."

The lawyer reappeared. "Xander, good news." He stopped and looked at Harry. "You're him?" Harry nodded. "Are you supporting him?"

"He's one of my favorite teachers," Harry said simply.

"Even better. We have a sitting in front of a judge in thirty minutes. The current caseload is light and I managed to talk my way into a spot today."

"Okay." Xander stood up, finishing his sandwich in one bite. "Lead the way." He saw the look given to his outfit. "I'm still getting over being poisoned. Besides, all my robes need washed at the moment and they're at the cleaners."

Draco wiped his mouth and stood up. "Let me handle this. Coming?" he asked, walking away and dragging Xander with him. "You really should dress to impress the judge," he said with a fond air of smugness. Xander wore some atrocious outfits if you let him dress himself. Now Draco would be able to give him at least one decent outfit. Maybe his students would be spared more of the glittery monstrosities that Xander had blinded his year with. He still had nightmares about one of those outfits coming after him. He dragged Xander into Madam Malkin's shop. "He needs something respectable so we can stomp the Daily Prophet," he told Madam Malkin. Her eyes twinkled. "We only have a few minutes."

She hurried away to pick out something for Xander. She remembered the young professor fondly. He always bought such interesting outfits. But with who had brought him in, she decided to go for stately. She could see him dressed like a Malfoy. "Here we are," she said, putting clothes into a changing room for him. She watched with amusement as the Malfoy heir forced the professor in to get changed. They had a hissed conversation and Draco shook his head, but it was fine. When he came out, she saw what the argument had been about. Dear Merlin, she hadn't watched that part of him before. He was nicely built. Very nicely built. She hurried over to do some fast alterations. She hoped he had some bodyguards to protect him.

***

Draco adjusted his waistcoat as he sat and waited. He glanced at Xander, who wasn't fidgeting yet thankfully. "How could you not wear underwear?" he asked quietly.

"Easy. I was wearing sweats," Xander hissed. "I'm like that."

"Most people wear underwear daily."

"Yay. Do I look like most people? Besides, it's just one more thing that I'd have to take off when I went back to sleep."

Draco shook his head. "This is an American thing, isn't it?"

Xander shrugged. "We did invent the underwear model and quite a few of us do go commando sometimes. I never realized you British guys didn't do that sometimes."

"You're a citizen too," Ron reminded from behind them. He was the representative from the family because he wouldn't kill the reporters. Hopefully. Molly and Arthur both were ready to kill them with their bare hands. Buffy had offered her services. Fred and George were letting Xander handle it, they knew what Xander was capable of. He looked behind him as the doors opened, admitting a few reporters and a lawyer. "They're here."

"Yay," Xander said, glaring at the stupid humans. They were going to be sorry by the time he was done with them. Everyone stood as the judge walked in.

"Why are we here?" the judge asked.

Theodore stood up. "Madam, we have proof that not only did the Daily Prophet run a patently false story, but they did it with malicious intent to destroy my clients' reputation."

"Madam, there is freedom of the press," the Daily Prophet's lawyer pointed out.

"Yes, but that doesn't extend to lies," Theodore told him. He looked at Xander, then back at the judge. "Not only is the story meant to inflame the public against my clients, but they put in a false photo to prove it."

"Was it manipulated?" the judge asked.

"No, Madam, we suspect Polyjuice. There are things that wouldn't have been covered by the potion that both clients have." Behind him Denver threw up. The judge looked at the little boy. "That's part of the proof, but I humbly apologize for him, he's sick."

"That's fine. Bailiff, send someone to clean that up." She looked at both parties. "What proof can you offer?"

"I can prove the picture's false." He turned and held his hands out, taking Denver from Ron. "This is the little boy in the supposed picture." He sat Denver on his table, then handed a copy of the picture and article to the bailiff to be handed over along with an affidavit from Denver's mother and father about how long the color had been in his hair. "As you can see, the boy does have attributes that wouldn't have shown up with Polyjuice." He nodded at Xander, who stood up and took off his robe, turning around. "Polyjuice also doesn't take scars into account. You can see in the picture that the man doesn't have one, yet my client's scar shows through most shirts he wears."

The judge looked at Xander's back. "If I may ask, how did that happen?"

"Poisoned implement," Xander told her. She waved him to go on. He put back on his robe as he explained. "I was training with the gryphons and was out for a fly. We were attacked by some people. A large, sharp something was shoved into my back and dragged down, leaving poison in the torn flesh. It took nearly a month to heal." He sat down.

She nodded. "Are you gryphon-born?" Xander nodded. "Thank you." She looked at the Daily Prophet's lawyer. "Can you prove that this picture is real? Because that scar would show up and these statements say that this little boy has had partially red hair now for nearly a month."

The other lawyer stood back up. "Madam, we rest on our reputation. We do not make up photographs."

"No, only stories," Ron said dryly.

"Did you have something to add?"

Ron stood up. "No, ma'am, I'm sure everyone's very familiar with how the Daily Prophet can make up stories. Rita Skeeter's very presence in their midst makes their reputation void."

"She's lied before?"

"About me, about Harry Potter, about our friend Hermione, and all during our fourth year."

The judge nodded. "I'm not an avid reader of this paper and hadn't known that there were prior problems from them." Ron sat back down. She frowned at them. "Unless you can show proof that this picture, or the contents of the story, are true and real, then I'm going to have to rule against you. I'm sure the Malfoy child," she noticed he swallowed hard. "You didn't know who he was?"

The other lawyer shook his head. "The child wasn't identified until earlier this morning. We were given the picture, Madam. We have no idea that it wasn't real."

She looked at the paper. Then she looked at her bailiff. "Call downstairs to the newsstand. Ask them if ..." She glanced at the paper again, "a Creevy is a usual photographer." The bailiff left.

Ron's eyes narrowed and he leaned forward. "They used to worship Harry," he told Xander. "That's not right." The judge looked at him and he smiled innocently.

The bailiff reappeared. "Madam, the man running the newstand said that there are two Creevies that are often credited for photographs, but that they usually identify which one of them it is. This photo doesn't say which one it is."

She nodded and he sat down. "Well, gentlemen, are you going to suggest that the picture was taken by someone outside your organization?"

"We're not sure who took it," the lawyer told her. "That was a typo."

"I'm sure it was," she said dryly. She looked at Xander, then at Denver, who was looking a little green. "You might want to get him a bucket," she suggested as she stood up. "I'll be back with an answer in a moment." She left the courtroom.

Draco relaxed. "I like this new system. It's much more informal than it used to be." He patted his son on the back. "Just an hour more and you can go back to your bed," he soothed. Denver nodded and scooted around until he landed in his father's lap. "Is your stomach still hurting?"

"Yup." Denver looked at Xander. "Are you still sick too?"

Xander nodded. "Pretty muchly." He ruffled the blond and red hair. "Was Iggy making you feel better?" Denver nodded. "Then I'll let him stay if your father agrees I know he makes lots of people feel better. He gave me a lot of hugs when I first woke up."

"And this Iggy would be?" their lawyer asked.

"My son, Ignatius. He's been making Denver feel better all day."

"Oh. I didn't know you had children," Theodore said. "How many?"

"Just Iggy," Xander told him. "I'm happy with only one. He's one hell of a kid."

"Yes, he is," Draco agreed. "He picked up your old book and started reading it to Denver this morning. It seemed to make him much better."

"It did me too when I was sick. I guess George gave it to him." He pinched Denver's ear gently. "When I was hurt really badly in a fight, back when your uncle George and I were still dating, he read that very same book to me while I healed."

"I'd rather not remember that time," Ron told him. Xander gave him a smile. "Sorry, but you looked horrible, Xander. You were so injured there were bets being placed about you living." He shuddered. "Can we please change the subject?" he pleaded.

"I'm glad I missed that," Draco told him. He squeezed his son. "What did you want for dinner tonight?"

"Grammy's making soup for me," Denver told him. "I'll share with you, sissy, and Iggy."

"That's very nice of you," Xander told him. "Your Grandma made me a lot of soup recently too."

Ron nodded. "And the rest of us got some too. She's been making a lot of comfort food recently."

"I noticed that a batch of scones ended up in my kitchen this morning," Draco told them.

"Mum's been unhappy with so many of us sick so she's trying to pamper the rest of us," Ron said with a shrug. "Be thankful. I got spinach rolls in my lunch pail yesterday."

"I like your mom's spinach rolls," Xander protested. "It's about the only way I'll eat spinach."

"I like them too, but she filled my pail full of them," Ron told him, starting to smile. "A lot of the guys on my shift love mum now."

Draco shook his head. "At least she cares about you."

"Son," Xander said, punching him on the arm, "we like you too."

"Gee thanks," Draco said dryly. But he liked the fact that he was wanted for himself. Not his money, not his influence, but him. Xander liked him because he did, not for any other reason. It was a big thing in his life and a definite change from his childhood. He cuddled his son closer. Denver was his lifelilne to sanity and everyone understood that. Simone was his daughter, and special for that reason, but Denver was his and only his. He guarded him with his life, and his adoptive family did the same. It made him happier than most things in his life to be Xander's adopted son. He stood up as the Judge walked back in.

She sat down and so did everyone else. "I checked the law books for the wizarding world. While there is no specific laws against lying, there are personal injury laws regarding cases like this." She looked at the Daily Prophet's lawyers. "Have you found any evidence stating that your clients had nothing to do with this situation?" He shook his head. "Then I'm forced to rule in favor of the plaintiffs, Alexander Harris and Denver and Draco Malfoy." She smiled at them. "With this situation being so serious, and this allegation making me ill, I have decided that not only will the Daily Prophet retract the story and offer a *front page* apology, in the main headline if you please, but will also offer you monetary remuneration for their offensive trash." She frowned at the Daily Prophet. "Let me make note that you making up such harmful stories sicken me. The fact that you have enough power to make an innocent person look not only guilty, but guilty of such horrible things, means that you have too much power. For that reason, you will pay to the three defendants half of your yearly profit for this year. They can decide among themselves how to split it up, but you will be paying them by tonight." She banged her gavel. "Hopefully you will remember this punishment in the future when you decide to make up news." She smiled at Xander. "Please accept my apologies for any reaction you may get from the general public." Xander nodded. "And Mr. Malfoy, please make sure no one harms your son over this."

"Over my dead body," Xander told her.

She smiled at him. "That's what I thought you'd say." She waved a hand. "Dismissed. I will have an accounting of the payment on my desk before I leave today," she ordered.

"Madam, such a fee tonight would be very hard to do."

The judge snorted. "While I was gone, I checked with the bank. They wouldn't give me a figure, but they did say that you had ready access to funds. It will be tonight or you'll be in contempt and I'll add a fine on top of it." She stood up and walked away.

Xander stood up and wobbled, letting Ron catch him. "Head rush," he said.

"Definitely." Draco led the way out of the courtroom. "Are you heading home or back to the Burrow?"

"Mum said you're both to come tonight," Ron told them. "Something about dinner and Xander napping on the couch."

"That would be fine," Draco told him. "Did she get Iggy and the others?" Ron nodded. "Then I'll meet you there. I believe my son needs a treat for only getting sick once in *their* presence." He shot a glare back at the representatives of the rag. "I do hope that you can find your way to our gathering tonight, I'm sure we'll all want to see the money you're giving." He walked away. "Would you like a new toy or a food treat?" he asked his son.

"Can I have some ice cream?"

"You'll throw it back up."

"But it'd make my throat quit hurting."

"We'll see what they have for that," Draco agreed, taking his son to spoil him some more.

Xander let Ron lead him to a public fireplace, still kind of dizzy. "Gee, that means I'll have money again."

"You have money now," Ron reminded him. George had said something about some of the reward money still being around. He sent them both home at the same time so Xander wouldn't fall down. "Here we are," he announced.

George reached over and steadied Xander. He looked over his outfit, then up at his husband's face. "Do I even want to know?"

"Draco got offended at my sweat pants and the lawyer agreed." Xander slid down into his mate's lap. "We won."

"Of course you did," George agreed.

"How did you win?" Arthur asked. He handed the green-looking Xander a glass of juice. "Drink that, it should help. Your next dose of medicine is already in there."

"Thanks, dad." Xander gulped the juice, nothing could mask the taste of his medicine. "We got an understanding judge who slipped us in right away."

"Already?" Molly asked.

Xander shrugged. "Yeah. I guess the guy had connections." He snuggled into George's body. "I'm a bit tired. Can I nap?"

"Sure, we'll nap in the living room," George told him. He let his brother pick Xander up for him and led the way so they could cuddle together on the couch.

Fred came back into the kitchen. "Did you see what he was wearing?" he asked his mother. She nodded, her lips pursed together. "I guess I know what George sees in him."

"Meow," Ginny said from her place in the corner. "Very catty, Fred."

He grinned at her. "You really think so? But I don't have a proper tail. I have something to fix that, but I really didn't think I looked good in one."

"Enough," Arthur broke in. "I wonder who they got as a lawyer." He pulled out his floo directory from work, looking under lawyers. "There's only a few in here and none near Diagon." He looked up as Draco appeared outside the door, Denver in his arms sucking on something very red and drippy. "Who did you get as a lawyer? Xander said he got you in already."

"Theodore Miderson," Draco said as he walked inside. He looked around.

"He's napping," Ginny told him. She looked up. "He couldn't find underwear?"

Draco shrugged. "He claims he runs around like that a lot." He handed Denver to his grandfather. "Here, you turn red for a bit."

"I like red," Denver reminded him. He stretched up and gave his father a kiss on the cheek, leaving a sticky trail of red popsicle. He smiled at everyone. "We beat them good," he announced. "We woned and everything."

Draco took a seat next to Ginny. "That's very true, we did. There's going to be a representative coming tonight to pay us half their profits from last year." Arthur's mouth opened. "Minus lawyers fees of course."

"That's a huge amount of money," Arthur said in shock. "How much is the lawyer charging?" Draco shrugged. "You didn't think to ask?" Everyone in the room groaned. "Son, you need to get that sort of thing in writing."

Draco leaned closer. "Do you really think the money matters to me?" he asked. Arthur smiled and shook his head. "I'm giving it all to Xander anyway. I figure they can use it to pay for the cost of the supplies Snape used to heal him and update the store. And if he takes too much, or more than I'm comfortable with, then we'll be having a discussion and the shortfall will be made up," he finished quietly. Arthur nodded, he understood. "Discussion closed." He leaned back, then remembered to give Ginny a kiss on the cheek. "How are you feeling?"

"Fat."

He looked her over. "You haven't gained a gram yet. Feel fat in a few months."

She laughed. "I'll feel fat then too," she reminded him.

"And I'm sure Xander will gladly give you many more backrubs."

She hit him with the book she was reading. "I'd better be feeling your fingers on my back this time. It's your fault I'm getting fat."

He took her hand and kissed the back of it. "You know I won't shy away from touching you," he said against her skin.

"Not in the kitchen," Molly told them.

"I think they've done enough of that already," Fred pointed out. "She's already pregnant."

Draco smirked at him. "Yes, she is. It's very tempting for me to go after her again." Molly shook her head. "But I can wait until after dinner. Come home with us tonight?" Molly had put her foot down, there would be no sex under her roof. Ginny might be pregnant by him and Simone might be around, but Molly refused to listen to the sound of her children having sex.

"Sure. But I get a foot rub."

"I'll steal Ron's oil if you want me to," he agreed.

"I doubt you want to steal Ron's sex oil," Fred told him.

"Hey, leave my personal lubricant out of this," Ron complained.

"Personal lubricant?" Ginny snickered. "Something you wanted to tell us, Ron?"

Ron's blush matched his hair. "Sometimes a guy likes to feel slick," he told her.

"Beats spit," Fred agreed.

Draco looked at them. "What are you talking about?" Ginny leaned over and whispered it in his ear. "Oh that. There are much better things than oil, and they won't get all over the bed."

"I doubt you've done that in the last year," Ginny argued.

Draco leaned closer and nipped her lips. "Just the mere thought of you makes me need to adjourn myself to the bathroom to deal with my lust."

"Dear Merlin," Molly sighed. "No more sap or sex talk in my kitchen. Draco, leave off talking her into bed until you take her home tonight. Boys, you don't need to talk about tossing off in my kitchen either." Both her sons blushed brightly. "I hope that's settled." Everyone nodded. "Thank you." She turned back to the stove. "We're having casserole tonight," she announced. "It'll be ready in half an hour. Go do something until then." All the younger people escaped to the back yard.

"There really is something better?" Ron's voice carried in from the garden..

Arthur shook his head when his wife's mouth opened. "They're not in the kitchen," he pointed out.

"Still, you'd think we were a bunch of perverts the way those boys go on."

Arthur stood up and walked over to his wife, giving her a hug. "I remember feeling the same way at their age," he whispered in her ear. "Some days, I still do." She tittered and smacked him on the chest. "Want to go fool around?"

"After dinner," she told him. "There's not enough time before." She gave him a light kiss as a promise for later.

***

Everyone was waiting impatiently for the lawyer, or the representatives, to show up with the money owed to Xander, Denver, and Draco. Ginny tried to study, with little success due to the lips on her neck. Draco was occupied with his favorite treat. Ron was trying hard to ignore them by polishing his broom. Xander and George were curled up together, talking about what they needed to do with the money vs what they wanted to do with the money. The only thing they'd agreed on so far was that Iggy deserved some new toys and they all needed some new clothes. Fred was eavesdropping in case George wanted to add onto the store. Arthur and Molly had left the kids alone for a bit, but were back now, sharing the paper between them. The kids were all curled up together on Bill's bed, Denver on the outside in case he needed to get sick. Bill was off visiting friends and would be back tomorrow.

Xander looked at Fred, giving him a smile. "Did you want to suggest something?"

"Well, the store could use some more cases and the like," Fred suggested. "Maybe some supply stocking."

"All very practical," Xander agreed. "I was going to go over some of my spells with you guys to see what I could do to help." Fred smiled at him. "The practical ones. Like building charms and stuff like that."

"It'd save us money," George agreed. "Can you build us a storage space?"

"Probably. I know I have a spell to build a house. I should be able to use it to build a storage shed."

Everyone looked at the fireplace as it dinged, discharging the lawyer. "Hello, all," Theodore said happily. "I have a sheet here for Xander and Draco." He waved it a bit. Draco snatched it first. "On there's an accounting of my bill and what was left."

"How much are you charging them?" Arthur asked suspiciously.

"Fifty percent."

"What?" Molly asked. "That's outrageous."

"That's what most of my colleagues charge," Theodore said with a shrug.

Draco glared at him, making the man take an involuntary step back. "I don't think so."

"It's fine," Xander butted in.

"No, it's not. It's robbery," Arthur corrected. "No wizarding lawyer would ever think to charge that much."

"Muggle ambulance chasers often charge that much," Xander told him. "It's fine, dad."

"No, it's not," Draco told him. "Stay out of it." He looked the lawyer over again. "Do you really think you did enough work to earn that much money?" He glanced at the paper again. "And did you demand to see an accounting of the Daily Prophet's balance sheets? This figure is much too low."

"It's what they gave me. It had the Ministry stamp on it."

"Yay," Draco sighed. "If the newspaper was making this little of profit, then they wouldn't be in business today," he told the lawyer. The lawyer took another step away from him. "Did you bring a copy of their paperwork with you?"

"Um, no." He looked around. "I left it in my office."

"Then we'll go to your office," Draco told him, grabbing him by the arm. "Let's go." He followed him back through the floo network. The requested papers were handed over, and they made him laugh. Sure the Daily Prophet had only made 120,000 galleons last year. And he was a Weasley by birth! He gathered everything up and took it to the courthouse, the lawyer following in his wake trying to get him to stop. He found an officer of the court and stopped him to ask a few pertinent questions.

***

Draco walked out of the fire the next morning with a yawn. He was too tired to apparate. He tossed something at Arthur, who was up and dressed. "They got fined too," he said smugly. He trudged up the stairs, going to curl up with his girlfriend. He was a hero now, no one would complain too loudly as long as they didn't have sex. He stripped and climbed in beside her, curling around her body. She thoughtfully rolled over to give him a kiss and a handjob.

Arthur read the official document, smiling brightly. "He got it all straightened out," he said happily. Xander and George would be ecstatic when they woke up. He tried to hand the papers to Fred as he walked past, but Fred shuddered and sent himself back to the shop. It had been a long night and Fred was barely awake. Arthur smiled. His family was going to be okay. Now all he had to do was ask for a raise. He hoped Asdar would see sense. It had been fifteen years since he'd gotten one. He finished his breakfast and cleaned up after himself, then went to the early morning meeting of the Ministers.

***

Xander woke up warm, snuggly, and a little too warm for comfort. He shifted away from George, but the heat continued. "Crap, I didn't need to be sick today," he complained. He forced himself out of bed and to the bathroom, waiting in line so Ron could finish up. He splashed himself with water and looked up. He looked like hell. He'd have to do something about that. He decided against a shower because he wanted to go back to bed. After hogging the bathroom for a few more minutes, he trudged back to bed. It was empty. He sighed in relief as he slid into the cool sheets. Nice.

Downstairs, George was eating something so he could go to work. No one expected Xander to come back today so he could sleep in. He knew Xander was getting the wizard flu and had already made arrangements to cover Xander's shift at the store. Now all they needed was Draco and everything would be good. He put his bowl into the sink and headed home.

***

Xander opened an eye, someone was trying to crawl in with him. "What's wrong, Iggy?"

"You don't feel good and need hugs," his son told him, giving him a hug.

"Get out and let me put on clothes, then I'll have hugs," Xander told him. His son laughed, but left the room so he could get semi-dressed. As soon as he was back in bed, Iggy came back in with a cup of something and some toast. "Thanks, Iggy." He let his son curl up against his side while he tried to eat breakfast. "What are you doing today?"

"I'm going to talk to the new baby and read some more to Denver." He looked up at his father. "Do you need read to too?"

Xander shook his head. "I'll be fine by tonight. Denver needs you more." He ruffled the little boy's hair. "Did Ginny tell you to talk to the baby for her?" Iggy nodded. "That's cool."

"The baby's funny. Can we have one?"

"Not really," Xander told him. "Aunt Ginny would have to carry it for us and she's already pregnant for Draco." Iggy sighed. "Sorry. But go ahead and ask your father if you really want a little brother or sister. Let's see what he says."

Iggy laughed. "I already did, daddy. He said we could if you wanted to carry one around." He smiled up at his father. "So can we have one?"

"Your father and I will discuss that tonight," Xander told him. He put the remaining toast and tea off to the side. "What else were you going to do today?"

"Just that. I figured I'd play the rest of the time. Do you think Grandma will make me eat veggies for lunch?"

"Oh, I think it's pretty well set that we'll all be eating vegetables for lunch," Xander told him. He smiled at the person opening the door. "Hi, Grandma."

"How are you feeling, Xander?" She came in and felt his forehead. "Just like we thought, the flu." She picked Iggy up and put him onto the floor. "Go play with Denver. He just got sick again and needs your special touch." Iggy hurried off to help his best friend. "Flu?" she asked. Xander nodded. "Can I get you anything?"

"A new stomach?"

"I can't do that, but I can manage to settle yours." She handed him a small vial of liquid. "Try that."

"Can I take this with the other stuff?" She nodded. "Okay." He swallowed the couple of tablespoons. "What do I do now?"

"Sleep." Molly took the vial back and helped him settle back into the bed. "There we are. You rest."

Iggy screamed from the hallway. "He's naked!" He ran into the room. "Daddy, Uncle Draco's deformed!" He crawled up and hid in his father's arms. "He has a dangly thing that's really gross."

Xander and Molly tried very hard to keep from laughing. Draco appearing in the doorway in Ginny's robe did them in though. "I am not deformed," Draco told him. "All adult men have things like that. Next time, knock." He stomped back to Ginny's bedroom and slammed the door, making sure it was locked this time.

Iggy looked up. "I have to grow something like that to grow up?" Xander nodded at his son. "Then I'm not growing up."

"Go read Peter Pan. He didn't want to grow up either, son," Xander told him.

"Yes, that was a very nice story," Molly agreed.

Iggy slid out of the bed and carefully checked the hallway before heading down to the bookshelves. But before he read anything to the other kids, they would have to discuss what he had seen. That had been weird.

***

Draco stood up during the family dinner. "It was fixed to *my* satisfaction," he announced. There was a bit of clapping. "Not only did the Daily Prophet try to lie about their profits, the lawyer was also fined for helping them lie." Xander clapped. "So, with great pleasure, I give you this, Xander." He handed over a small gold key. "It was deposited directly for you."

"What about Denver's part?" Xander asked, looking at the key.

Draco gave him a scolding look. "Denver doesn't need anything. You need more clothes like I bought you yesterday."

"And underwear," Fred added. A few people laughed. "Please don't run around like that at the store or the school. We don't want to have another obsession to handle."

Xander smiled at him. "Okay, but only if you explain to Iggy about adult males not being deformed."

George choked. "Excuse me?" He looked at his son. "Who were you peeking on?"

"I went to talk to the baby," Iggy told him. "Uncle Draco scared me." He glared at his uncle. "I don't look like that and I'm a boy. If I have to look like that when I'm older, then I'm not growing up!"

George put his head down on the table with a groan. "Son, we'll discuss this later."

Arthur clapped. "Good. Now I feel redeemed for having to have that talk with Percy and Charlie."

"And Bill," Molly reminded him. "He cried for days because he was going to grow up like that."

George gave a whimper. "Son, it's not a bad thing. Just trust me on this. You'll enjoy it when it happens to you." Everyone laughed.

"Are you sure?" Denver asked. "I don't think I could ever enjoy growing dangly things like that."

Draco covered his face with a hand. "Son, we'll discuss this later."

"Okay, Daddy."

Draco shook his head. "As I was saying. The situation has been handled. I snagged a copy of the paper," he said, handing it to Xander with a smile. "And I sent one to the school also. Everything is fixed to *my* satisfaction so it hopefully won't be happening again." He sat back down and accepted a hug from his son.

"But the judge said to give some of it to Denver," Xander reminded Draco.

"We did, we took a single galleon in payment for the pleasure of stomping them." Xander frowned at him. "If you continue to argue, I'm turning you into something without a tongue until you see reason." Xander opened his mouth and Draco pulled his wand. "Try it," he suggested.

Xander shut his mouth. "Thank you, Draco."

Draco smiled at him. "You're welcome. What are you going to do tomorrow, now that you have money?"

"Toys and clothes," George told him. "That comes first. Then we'll figure out what we're doing."

"We'll have plenty of time to figure that out," Xander agreed. He touched his husband's thigh. "Your son said you brought up an interesting point. Something about children?"

"I only said that so you would explain to him why we can't have anymore," George told him.

"Oh, why not? Grandchildren are wonderful," Molly suggested with a twinkle in her eyes.

"Where do babies come from?" Denver asked his father.

Arthur laughed. "Yes, sons, where do babies come from?"

"From Ginny," Fred told them. She threw a corn cob at his head. "Hey, easy on the hair."

Draco looked at the gathered children. "Babies come from sex, which happens between a man and a woman. It's a biological thing that makes most people very happy." Iggy slowly raised his hand. "As for you," he said, reaching over to pat him on the head. "The gryphons decided that your fathers needed you so they combined the both of them and eventually put you into Ginny."

"Oh," Iggy said, nodding. He looked at his father. "Does that mean that we can't have more?"

"It would be rather difficult for your daddy to carry one," George told him.

"Then why don't the people who work in places like you were muttering about have lots of kids?" Simone asked.

Draco frowned at her. "Ask your mother." Ginny shook her head - she wasn't going to step into that argument. "They have spells that prevent it," Draco said, glaring at the grinning Ginny.

"If I wear baggy clothes, it might be okay for a while," Xander suggested with a grin. "I'm fat anyway because I'm out of shape. No one would notice for a while."

George stared at him. "Are you offering?" Xander shrugged. "You're sure?"

"If you want another one, I'll do anything to make you happy." He leaned over and kissed his husband. "Your happiness is most important to me."

"If you have another one, you're moving for the baby's first year," Fred told them. Ginny punched him on the arm. "Ow! Grumpy."

"Shh, they're having a tender moment," Ginny complained.

"I think that we have enough," George said quietly. "Unless you..." Xander shrugged. "You're leaving it to me?"

"You're the favorite daddy."

"Yes, I am," George admitted with a bright grin. "But I think we have enough." George took Xander's hand and squeezed it. "We'll stick with one for now. There's no hurry on the spell."

"Okay." Xander gave him another kiss. "Will you help me get back into shape this year?"

"As long as you don't go fight," George agreed with a smile.

"If a new bad guy pops up, I'll do whatever I have to," Xander reminded him. His husband opened his mouth. "I'll let the older kids take the front line, but there's no way I can not fight totally. It's not how I am."

"I know," George sighed. "I just wish you wouldn't be on the front lines anymore. I don't like to see you hurt."

"I don't get hurt on purpose."

"I know, you just get hurt by accident." George gave him a kiss. "I'd like it if you didn't get hurt at all."

"I'll try."

"Thank you." George stole another kiss. "Okay, enough mushiness. Dessert."

"Which is pudding, and therefore more mushy," Ginny said with a grin. "For the record, as long as I have a lot of time to recover after this one, I'll happily carry one for you two. It makes you two happy and I kinda like being pregnant." Her mother gave her a look. "Except for the weight part," she admitted.

Molly nodded. "If they decide to do that, I'm sure they'll come tell you first so we don't have to hunt down another gryphon."

"The family needs more girls," Arthur told them.

Simone smiled at him. "I'm a girl. Aren't I enough?"

"No, honey, we like girl babies around here," Ginny told her. She patted her on the head. "That's why I'm giving you a sister."

Simone tossed her napkin down and stomped off.

Her parents looked at each other and shrugged. She'd get over it.

Snippet 16:

Xander walked into the library waving the newest baby's birth certificate. "I'm here to give you this for my all-but-adopted son," he said happily.

"One of the parents really must come in," Irma Pince told him. "It's the rules."

Xander shrugged. "Sorry, but he's buried underneath a pile of kids right now and the mom's on bedrest because it was five days of labor. I'm the best you get this time."

She shook her head. "Quite irregular." She took the certificate to read over. "Oh, he had another daughter," she said happily. "Five days?"

"Yeah, she's stubborn," Xander noted dryly. "She's refusing to feed from both sides of mom and she really hates diapers. Every time Molly comes near her, she wails." He smiled. "Quite the little hellion in the making."

She laughed. "I suppose, with those two as parents, it was bound to happen to one of their children." She put the entry into the book, making a note that a relative had brought the form in. "All legal," she announced. "Anastasia Romani, a very pretty name."

"And she's another redhead," Xander told her. "Do you know if Dumbledore's in?" She nodded. "Then I'm heading up there to tell him." He winked at her, making her blush. "Don't worry, I'm sure there's going to be more of them soon." He paused. "Did Harry or Hermione register theirs?" She shook her head. "Then I'll remind them to do that today. That'll be okay, right?" She nodded. "Thanks." He strolled away. He found Snape lurking outside the Headmaster's office and showed him the birth certificate. "Five days of labor," he said with a smile.

Snape shook his head. "She's a very strong girl."

"And so is this daughter. You should go see them. They're back at the mansion because Draco threw a fit about his daughter not spending her first night in her new crib."

Snape nodded. "I'll pop around later." He pointed at the stairway. "Are you headed up?"

"Yup, Ginny wanted me to give him a message. Coming?" Xander opened the doorway and hopped on a rotating stair, letting it climb. He walked over and kissed Albus on the cheek. "Ginny sent that because the breathing exercise made her keep calm after the third day," he reported. "Anastasia is every bit the hellion you were predicting for Simone." He smiled.

"Good," Dumbledore said with a fond smile. "Are they at the Burrow?"

"Malfoy demanded so they're at his house."

"Good, good," he said. He pointed at the chair, so Xander sat. "Are you taking a year off?"

"Why would I take a year off?" Xander asked.

"To spend your new wealth," Snape suggested.

Xander snorted. "I can spend it just fine while I'm working. Teaching won't hinder my buying toys, or working in the lab." He looked at his boss, pouting slightly. "You don't want me to leave, do you?"

Dumbledore shook his head. "Not at all, Xander, but you did miss the meeting this morning."

Xander chuckled. "I was feeding Anastasia. She refuses to suckle from one side so I was helping Ginny breastpump and prepare bottles."

"Oh. That's excellent news," Dumbledore said, relieved. "Then you're coming back this year?"

"If you'll have me. I told you before, I'm not leaving unless you throw my chunky butt out and even then I'll probably have to be drug kicking and screaming as the castle falls down around my head."

Dumbledore laughed. "That's what I needed to hear." He leaned closer, putting his elbows on his desk. "Are your classes all set up?"

"As much as they are every year. The book hasn't changed. I'm an expert at giving the 'the author refused to change the order of the book so you're going to be flipping around in it' lecture. As far as I know, I've got forty kids coming in next week and I'm ready for them."

"Excellent news," Dumbledore agreed. "But the book has changed." He handed over a large envelope. "This was sent to you by Rupert. New classifications have come to light recently. Including the classification of gryphons, unicorns, and dragons."

"Fuck him," Xander said quietly. Dumbledore's smile got a little wider. "I'm not a demon, thank you. I'll look over the rest of it, but if I do anything with the book, I'll be rearranging it." Snape coughed. "You think he was right to put us in there?"

"No, but I disagree with Rupert Giles on many things," Snape reminded him. "Much as you do these days."

Xander nodded. "Yeah, we do hold grudges." He stood up. "Anything else?"

"Can you include the demonology part of Professor Maclay's class? I understand that she's feeling a tad bit overrun with material since she added a seventh year class."

"I can try," Xander said with a shrug. "If not, I could probably teach a second class in the subject. She covers nearly a year's worth of material anyway."

Dumbledore nodded. "Good. Do that." Xander nodded again. "Thank you for helping her out."

"Hey, I like Tara. I even like Willow again. I can handle a lot more than what I'm doing right now. It's not like I'm Snape and I teach every year's worth of kids." He tested the weight of the material. "Anything else that I missed?"

"Just that," Dumbledore told him. "Please remember we have a day of meetings tomorrow. You're expected to attend those too." Xander smiled and nodded as he walked out the door. Dumbledore looked at Snape. "You were worried?"

"He's still weak from his poisoning this summer," the potions' master reminded him. "A third class could well put him into the infirmary."

"I'm sure he'll be fine. Did he pay you for the ingredients you used this summer?" Snape nodded. "Even better. It's amazing, I've only had two owls about him this year." He winked. "And both were easily solved by that lawsuit."

Snape smiled. "It was obviously the cunning idea of Mr. Malfoy." He nodded and walked away.

Dumbledore smiled. "No, it wasn't, but he did manage to pull out some of the Malfoy charm and put it to good use," he muttered as he made notes.

***

Xander tapped on Tara's office door, smiling at Adrian, who was sitting quietly and drawing. "Hey, little man, where's your mom?"

"She'll be right back. She went to the bathroom." He grinned at Xander. "Can Iggy come play?"

"How about you go play with Iggy," he suggested. "He can talk about his new cousin. She's very cute."

"How old is she?"

"Just born yesterday," Xander said as he sat down next to him. "She's very strong and very stubborn, but kinda cute."

Tara laughed from the doorway. "Ginny had another one?" Xander nodded, watching her walk in. "What's her name?"

"Anastasia. She's *very* stubborn." He grinned at her. "You needed me to take some of the weight off you?"

"Please. I've got too much material to cover." She patted a two foot stack of parchment sitting on her desk. "That's the advanced spells class, part one. Since I'm running three years worth of classes now, I'm pulling up some very interesting spells. Can you take the demonology lectures?"

"Sure. I heard you've got about a year's worth of work and I offered to run a second class for the fourth years. Oh, and Giles sent shit." She winced. "Classifying gryphons, unicorns, and dragons as demons."

"The hell with him," Adrian said firmly. His mother stared down at him. "Sorry, but he can't even remember my birthday. He's a bad guy."

"I'm sure he had his reasons," Tara soothed. "We'll talk about him later, Adrian."

"Okay," he sighed. He looked at Xander. "Did you really birth me?"

"Well, I delivered you," Xander corrected. "But your mommy birthed you."

"Oh. Was I slimy and nasty?"

"Yeah, all babies come out that way, it's the way nature makes them."

Ryan made a grossed out face. "That's nasty."

"Yup, but then you got a bath and you were baby colored and anti-slimy," Xander said, giving him a hug. "You'll see one some day."

"Eww."

"Sorry." Xander looked at Tara, who was smiling. "Maybe your mom'll have another one." Tara shook her head. "No?"

"The miscarriage left some scarring," she said quietly. "I can't get pregnant again without a major spell helping."

Xander stood up and gave her a hug, whispering in her ear, "I have one of those." He pulled back and took the stack of papers from her. "Any particular order?"

"That's in my usual order. Have fun." She watched him pick up the envelope and leave. "Adrian, I know you're mad at Giles, but you can't speak out like that. Save it for when he's in front of you."

Adrian nodded. "Yes, mommy. Do you think Uncle Xander was upset?"

Tara smiled. She remembered hearing that Xander had announced her giving birth with a punch. "No, I don't think he was upset at all. He loves you and knows what Giles is like." She looked at her desk. "Give me a few more minutes and we'll head into town."

"Okay, mommy. Can I go flying? I want to join one of those kiddie leagues."

"We'll see," she told him. She really didn't want to think about him flying. That was a scary thought. He might get hurt. He looked up at her, giving her the pleading look. "We'll see," she repeated. He nodded. That kid was too smart, it was scary how well he read her sometimes. It was almost like he was reading her mind.

***

Xander walked into the joke shop loaded down with stuff. He plopped it all down on the stairs, then sat down beside it. His brother-in-law looked around the corner at him. "We just got new materials so I'm rewriting my textbook."

"By yourself?" Fred asked.

"I have a template," Xander pointed out. He stood up. "It shouldn't be so hard. I should have a working copy by next year." He stretched. "But that means I'll have to do some research. Giles sent new chapters putting me in as a demon."

Fred winced. "Is his house still standing?"

Xander grinned. "As far as I know. I wouldn't be that obvious." He walked over to the fire. "Gotta call Harry. Wanna help?"

"No thanks." Fred picked up his notebook from his fourth year. Somewhere in here was a great idea, he just knew it.

"Potterville," Xander called as he tossed some floo powder into the fire. Harry's head popped up. "Did you forget to register the kids?" he asked, sitting down. Harry frowned. "I asked Irma Pince, and she said you hadn't registered any of them in the book."

"What book?" Harry asked. "No one said anything about a book."

"The Book of Heritage," Xander told him. "It's a birth registry for wizards. I put in Anastasia today. That's why I checked. You have to register everyone's birth."

"Is this like a Hall of Records?" Hermione asked when her head popped in.

"As far as I know. Arthur told us we had to and Irma tells us that we're legal whenever we put in the birth certificates. You might want to check on that."

"Thanks," Harry said. "I'll call around and see if this is a Hogwarts policy or a Ministry one." He smiled at Xander. "Anastasia?" Xander nodded. "Ginny finally popped?"

"After five days of labor. And now the little one's picky." The chime over the door rang. "Gotta go. Call Molly and ask her, she and Arthur told us." He waved and broke the connection, getting up. He smiled at the man standing in the doorway. "You might as well come in so I can knock you through the door," he said with a smile. Giles stepped in and closed the door, and even attempted to open his mouth. "Save it. I'm not a demon, nor will I ever be as far as I know. I'm rewriting the book." He crossed his arms over his chest. "Unless you came to apologize, and you're about five years too late for that, then I don't want to hear it."

"Xander, I didn't mean to upset you. I did the new chapters how I thought they'd be best taught."

"Yeah, you messed up the first book that way too. Another reason why I'm rewriting it." He started to tap his foot. "Anything else?"

"Those are the official Watcher classifications," Giles said quietly.

Xander smiled his coldest, cruelest smile. "Then I guess I'm going to have to go show them that not only am I not a demon, people like me aren't to be trifled with. Because if a Slayer shows up to try and kill me, I'm getting her. I'm not allowing anyone to be hurt. Thank you for coming." He walked over to his stack and started heaving it up the stairs in chunks.

"Why is his kind classified that way?" Fred asked.

"Because someone in their *absolute* ignorance decided that all magical creatures had to die. We had a unicorn walk onto the property the other day and Buffy nearly didn't save it. This wasn't me," he said, taking off his glasses to clean them. He put them back on. "It really wasn't me."

"Then I'll have a talk with Travers," Xander told him.

"Traver's died, Xander."

"Hey, good news." Xander came down into the shop again. "Then you tell whichever stupid idiot human that's trying to force this that the gryphons won't stand for it. I've been told repeatedly that I should drop Buffy as a friend because it's nearly a war. Guess which one I'm going to choose." Giles flinched. "Now go away before I finish losing my temper." Giles nodded and walked away, looking like he was scared. "I'll kill them," Xander hissed.

"Warn them first," Fred told him. Xander frowned at him. "The gryphons? They can probably get the news around to everybody."

"Yeah, maybe I should," Xander said. He went into the back room to get some privacy. This was not going to be happy news. He started with the Magical Creature's board in the Ministry. "Hey, this is Xander Harris," he said with a faint grimace. The woman answering the floo nodded and held up a finger, getting someone else to talk to him. The newly appointed Minister's head came up in the flames. "Hi. I've got bad news. Really bad news." The Minister's head bobbed. "The Watcher's Council decided we were all demons. Unicorns. Gryphons. Dragons. All of us."

The Minister hissed. "Has anyone come for you yet?"

"No, but I heard a unicorn barely made it out alive," Xander told her. "I got handed new chapters for my classifications class and we were in there."

The Minister nodded. "Then we'll handle this. Are you telling your kind?"

Xander shrugged. "Probably. They live near each other and I think it'd probably be better if I did it instead of you."

"Good. Tell them that I'll be up tomorrow for a conference on the matter. We'll figure this out. Protect yourself and your family." The head disappeared.

Xander sat back on his heels so he could grab some more floo powder. He tossed it into the fire. "Main fire, main gryphon colony, Stonehenge." A head slowly grew to encompass the whole fire. "I need to talk to the ambassador. There's been something bad happening near you guys." The gryphon turned his head and squealed something in gryphon. A new head appeared. "Elder Fredericka, I have to report that the Watcher's Council has named us all demons. Along with unicorns, dragons, and any other magical creature." She nodded. "It's official in their minds. I've already had a discussion with the Ministry. The Minister of Magical Creatures wants to talk with you tomorrow. She'll be coming up."

"We heard about a unicorn being injured," she said regally. "We will deal."

He shook his head. "I wouldn't deal. I really wouldn't. I know the Council and it's going to become a hunt."

She nodded. "We'll figure it out. Be safe." Her head disappeared

Xander relaxed. It was being handled, he would do what he had to do. He walked out of the back room and found Hagrid standing inside the shop. "You heard too?"

"Yeah. The Ministry just called. Bloody pricks. Have no respect."

"I know," Xander told him, patting him on the arm as he walked around him. "At least the Ministry is taking this seriously. It may not become a full hunt and purge." He frowned at Fred. "I'm hoping they didn't create detailed maps on how to get here."

"Me too," Hagrid agreed.

"I'm not so sure that a memory charm will work this time," Fred pointed out. Xander looked at him, looking confused. "Isn't that the usual way of dealing with this sort of mess?" Xander shrugged. "What else could they do?"

"They could shut them down," Xander pointed out. "Or they could do something stronger, like a binding to keep them from harming a magical creature. And, if they're including me, are they including the Slayers?"

"Probably not," Fred agreed. "Please go blow up something before we have an accident."

Xander laughed. "Not a problem, bro. I'm in control. It'll be okay." He went to carry the rest of his research up the stairs. It was going to be a long few months.

Snippet 17:

George looked out of the bathroom when he heard a thump from his bedroom. "Who're you?" he asked the man now laying in his nest.

"Oz."

"Ah." George finished wiping his hands off and walked to the top of the stairs. "Xander, there's a strange man up here," he called.

"Be right there," Fred called.

"Xander, there's a stranger in our nest!" George yelled louder. Xander came thundering up the stairs. "I think maybe you should deal with this," he told him.

Xander looked into the bedroom and smiled so broadly his face nearly split. "Oz!" he yelled, taking a flying leap at his friend. He pounced him, hugging him as hard as he could.

"Hey. You called?" Oz asked.

Xander pulled back. "You can't write now?"

"Don't know the addy," Oz said with a shrug. He waved at George. "You're still together?"

Xander grinned at his mate, holding out a hand. "That's my husband. George, this is Oz."

"He introduced himself," George said as he climbed in next to his husband. If anyone was going to be curled up against Xander, it was him.

"He was Willow's guy in high school," Xander told him, smiling at ease the jealousy he could see. "He saved me that Christmas."

"Oh." George's whole attitude changed. "It's very nice to meet you," he said, shaking the other man's hand. "We wouldn't be together if it wasn't for you."

Oz nodded. "That's cool. Married is good for you, Xan." He patted his friend on the shoulder.

"Not only married, but we have a son," Xander told him. "IGGY!" His son bounded up the stairs. "Come meet your Uncle Oz. He's a really great guy." Iggy climbed in with them and shook Oz's hand, looking him over. "He used to save my life a lot."

Iggy grinned at him. "Good, someone needs to," he told his new uncle. "Do you fly?"

"Nope, sorry. I do the furry thing." Oz sat up, looking the little boy over. "Gryphon baby?" Xander nodded happily. "Wow, very happy with the married thing then."

"Are you like Uncle Remus?" Iggy asked excitedly. Oz nodded. "Really?"

"Really. He's the reason I'm here. He said your dad wanted to hear from me." He looked at Xander. "How would I write a letter to you?"

"Write it to Buffy, she'll send it on," George told him.

Xander nodded, still grinning. "Yeah, the brother-in-law's over there often enough, there shouldn't even be a great delay." He gave Oz another hug. "We missed you, man. There's so much you have to catch up on."

Oz got free of the clingy guy. "We can do that," he agreed, nodding at Iggy. "This is boring adult stuff if you wanted to go play."

Iggy laughed. "Daddy's not boring. He does exciting stuff, like fight and fly." He grinned at George. "And he's the greatest because I get to test the pranks."

Oz shrugged. "So, life?" he asked.

"Oh, I'm teaching now," Xander told him. Oz nodded. "I'm teaching demonology and fighting, just like I was before, only Giles is gone."

"Asshole," Iggy muttered. Oz looked at him. "He's mean to his kids."

"Giles has kids?"

"Willow and Tara forced him to procreate with them," George told him, grimacing. Giles was not a happy subject in their household. "Fortunately, they're being raised like by their mothers and they won't end up horrible creatures."

"Both of them?" Oz asked. Xander nodded. "Must have been one hell of a night."

"Planned," Xander told him. "Tara wanted to be a mommy and Willow jumped in to join her. Which explains why they're not together anymore." Oz nodded slowly. "The kids, Adrian and Ryan, are horrible around each other and Iggy."

"They'll fight over anything," Iggy told him. "Even who gets to beat me up." George looked at him. "Daddy took care of it," he told him to get rid of the concerned look.

"Oh, yeah, Ryan and I had a *long* discussion in front of his mother. Tara just looked at Adrian and he burst out into tears. They're never going to do it again," he said with a fond pat on the head for his son. "Buffy's dating George's brother Ron, the one who used to stare at her when we first got here. They're stable but not continuous so it works for them."

Oz nodded, he had stopped there first. He approved of Ron. "And Giles?"

"He ran," Xander said simply. "Willow turned into super-bitch while pregnant and he took off, leaving Tara at Willow's mercy." Oz opened his mouth. "She's better now, the time without her powers and the week in the mental ward seemed to have stopped all bad intentions she's had towards Tara or anyone else."

George nudged Xander. "Apparently the medicines calmed down all those nasty homicidal urges she's had. She's still behaving rather well."

"Guess she doesn't want to go through that again," Xander said with a shrug. "I'm just glad she's back to normal. She's been her old self since Ryan was six months old."

"How old is he?" Oz asked.

"Six months younger than I am," Iggy told him. "Adrian's only four months younger though."

"Problems getting pregnant?" Oz asked Xander.

Xander shook his head. "Willow created so much stress Tara miscarried one of the twins. Adrian was born early. Hence the stint of mental health care."

"Oh." Oz blinked a few times. "She turned that bad?"

"She transfigured Tara quite a few times," George explained quietly. "We think that one of the times created the problem with the stillborn twin." He looked at his son. "You are not to speak on that matter, Ignatius. It hurts Aunt Tara to talk about Andrew."

"Yes, sir," Iggy said obediently. He liked Adrian, most of the time, and Aunt Tara baked stuff. "Can I beat up Adrian's daddy if he comes back again?"

"No, son, that's my fun," Xander told him.

"Huh," Oz said, staring at Xander. "That bad?" Xander nodded. "Never expected that."

"Neither did any of us. Buffy's gotten him a few times, but he still likes to pretend he doesn't have sons." He shrugged. "It's not like they carry his name. Both mothers refused when he suggested it, long before he left. The Council knows though, they've sent letters saying that Giles' pension was being held for them as a form of trust fund." Xander smiled evilly. "I'm not sure who was stunned more, Tara or Giles. He threw a fourteen-year-old sized fit. Snape sedated him and sent him away. Oh, and Buffy's happy. Can't cook, but happy."

"So she said," Oz told him.

"You saw Buffy and she didn't tell me?"

"I just came from there," Oz told him, patting him on the arm. "It's okay. I'll be here for a few days." He looked down at what they were sitting in. "Nice nest."

Xander beamed. "It's the family nest. It was in the bank." He patted the braided outer ring of hay. "It's been passed down through a lot of generations. We're the first ones to put it into use for centuries."

"Very cool," Oz agreed.

"What are you doing now?" George asked, feeling like he should be offering snacks or something.

"I manage a commune and head a pack. We're trying to do the band thing, but I'm having to teach music classes." He shrugged at Xander's giggle. "It works for me. I'm happy most of the time."

Iggy looked at him in awe. "Can I watch you change this month? Uncle Remus won't let me."

"Nope. Too dangerous," Oz explained.

"Shoot. He says the same thing." Iggy frowned at his fathers. "When do I get to see that? It'd be really neat...and a learning experience," he tacked on hopefully.

George shook his head. "Never."

"Not until you're an adult," Xander told him at the same time. They looked at each other. "We can't stop him when he's grown up, but I will teach him how to take precautions."

"When he's twenty-one, I'll let him come visit the preserve," Oz told him. Both parents smiled at him. It would be rare for Oz to stay in control of a pack that long, unless they were family. An empty promise would work for now.

Iggy beamed at him. "Really?" Oz nodded. "That's so wicked!" he shouted, crawling out of the nest. "I'm going to tell Uncle Fred about this." He ran down the stairs.

George smiled at Oz. "Thank you. That could have gotten sticky."

"No cubs of my own to velvet-glove," Oz told him, nearly smiling. "It's good to have nephews like that." He stretched. "So, can I stay for a few day?"

"Sure," Xander said, looking at George, who shrugged. "You might even be able to nap with us in here."

Oz snorted. "No offense, Xan, but you're too cuddly for my tastes. I think I'll take the floor."

"You can have our bed," George offered. "We sleep in here usually so it's not a problem. And mum'll understand that we can't come to dinner tonight so you two can catch up." He kissed his husband hard, making sure his husband remembered who he belonged to. "I'd best get back to work. Come downstairs whenever you're ready." He climbed out, leaving them alone.

"Gryphons are protective," Xander said happily. "He's so much like one of us and it makes me very happy."

"Happy is a great thing," Oz agreed. "I'm that way usually. My mate's a cute little wolf." He winked. "Very tiny little thing at that."

"Girl?" Oz nodded. "How long have you been together?"

"A few years. Nothing formal. I chase her every full moon and she likes it that way." He shifted, getting comfortable. "This is really comfy. Have to remember this when I go home."

Snippet 18:

Xander looked out of his classroom when the screaming started. "Shit!" he swore. He grabbed his wand off the desk and headed out to try and do something about it. He locked his classroom door so that nothing could get through it. How did a fire monster get into his hallway. "WILLOW!" he shouted. Fire was her thing, not Tara's. And besides, Tara had this period free. She came running. "I think this is your area."

She frowned, concentrating on the monster. "It's a fire elemental. I've got to get some stuff."

"Can we get the students past it?" She shook her head. "Is there a passage out of this hallway?"

"There's the passage down into the dungeons. Send them down there."

Xander turned and unlocked his door. "Guys, you're leaving via the dungeons. Take your stuff and head down to the dungeons in one large group. It'll be harder to hit individuals that way." He waited until the group was formed, then let them out, firing on the elemental to distract it. He noticed Willow's class coming out to help her. "Do you think that's wise?"

"Xander, that elemental has to be really old and powerful," she complained. "I need the help. Ready?" she called. Her students all nodded, though a few of them looked like they were going to pass out. "Then begin!" She started the chant, bringing a water elemental to fight with it.

As soon as she had it started, Xander headed down after his class. He ran into Snape's class evacuating too and forced his way through the throng to find the teacher. "Fire elemental," he told him. Snape's eyes narrowed. "Big, huge, filled up the hallway, fire elemental."

"How would someone send one of those here?" Snape grumbled. He gathered up his materials and walked out into the hallway.

Xander followed him, stopping when he heard a large explosion. "That wasn't upstairs, was it?" he asked. Snape shook his head. "The store." He ran up the stairs, going as fast as he could to get out of the school. He forgot he couldn't teleport inside the school grounds and nearly knocked himself onto the ground just outside the door, but Hagrid caught him. He waved the help off and took off at a run. No, this couldn't be happening. Not the store. His son and husband were there. Not his family. By the time he got halfway there, he could see the smoke and tell where it was coming from. He put on an extra burst of speed, nearly running over one of the firefighters. "My family," he panted.

"In the ambulance. They were thrown free," he said, guiding Xander that way. He left Xander in the hands of one of the Ministry officials.

"Professor Harris, have you gotten any threats recently?" the Ministry official asked. Xander looked at him stupidly. "It was an explosion, Professor Harris. Someone did this."

Xander growled low in his throat. "Then they're mine." He pushed pat him, finding Fred and Iggy first. He bowled into them, giving them as tight of hugs as he dared. "George?"

"In the other one. He needed oxygen," Fred told him. He stopped Xander. "It was flashback. Just like at the school that time."

Xander's eyes narrowed. "You're sure?" Fred nodded. "Then whomever did it has to be one of us." He turned and found the Ministry official standing behind him. "Whoever did it used a decreate spell. It's one of the most powerful gryphon spell ever. It comes with warnings about nearly everything. That means it's one of my kind." He pushed past him and opened the back of the other ambulance, crawling in to give his husband a hug.

"Sir," the driver started. Xander growled at him. "Oh, you're the husband. That's fine then. Let him rest flat on his back please." He climbed in and helped arrange George so he wouldn't get hurt further. "We're taking them for observation. Do you know anything about the spell used?"

"Flashback," Xander told him. He looked up at the driver, who looked somewhat familiar. "Were you at Hogwarts when Voldemort showed up?" The young man nodded. "It was the same spell. They got caught by the flashback." He gave George a squeeze. "I'm going to tell your mom and dad. You rest until I get there tonight, okay?" George nodded, blowing a kiss through his oxygen mask. Xander looked up at the driver. "If he's seriously hurt, you do whatever you have to do to save his life. No questions asked." He kissed his mate's cheek and climbed out, watching as the ambulances disappeared. "Portkey, interesting usage," he decided. He looked at the smoking ruin, then nodded, walking over to where the store was. He found Madam Rosemerta in the crowd. "I need something to contain any infected debris," he told her quietly. She looked at him quizzically. "The jokes, they exploded with the shop. There's no telling what's on some of the wood." She nodded and hurried away. Xander turned to look at the firefighters. "It was flashback," he called. "I'm moving the remains." He shut his mind off so he wouldn't have to think about what the debris was. His family nest. Everything of his family's. Everything that his husband had ever wanted in his life. Destroyed by a selfish asshole who would be paying heavily. Madam Rosemerta gave him a large glass jug, like one that alcohol was cured in. Xander pulled his wand and picked up as much of the loose material as he could, sending it into the glass jar. There was no telling which joke had hit which piece of wood or how they had mixed. He noticed a few more being placed about and finished cleaning up the mess. By the time he was done, most of the crowd had disappeared.

One of the firefighters was standing beside him. "Souvenirs?" he asked.

"It was a joke shop," Xander said quietly. "The jokes exploded too." The firefighter winced. "This is public safety. There's no telling what was on some of that wood." He turned away from what had been his home. "It was a decreate spell. It causes flashback, a backwash of magic rushing outward from the spell to find a way back into the earth. Pure chaos magic and so very powerful that most of the gryphon-born can't cast it." He sighed and gave into the temptation, giving the ruins one last look. "I had my ability to cast it removed after that incident with Voldemort. There's going to not only be fallout from this incident, but it's going to resonate through the magic fields for weeks." Xander walked away, going to a safer place to send himself to Molly and Arthur. He ended up in the Ministry first, Arthur was always more calm. He gave his father-in-law a hug and told him. Arthur hurried away so Xander went to tell Molly. It was his duty, it was his family. By the time he got to the hospital, Dumbledore was there. "I'll be back day after tomorrow," Xander told him.

"That's fine. I expected you to ask for longer off," Dumbledore agreed, giving him a pat on the back. "Was it that spell definitely?"

"I've never seen another one that had a flashback like that. Not in any of the spellbooks is there anything that has a flashback warning. So unless they've got something I don't, I'm assuming it's that spell and it was another gryphon-born." He turned and hit the wall, cracking the plaster and fracturing one of his fingers. "I'm going to get them."

"After your mate is safely back at the Burrow," Arthur advised. Xander nodded, that was a given. "We don't know anything yet."

"There was someone there asking questions, he knew," Xander told him. He rubbed his sore hand. "I want them though, dad, and the part of my that's a gryphon is screaming for revenge. They destroyed my home, my nest. They nearly killed my mate. This deserves retribution of the highest order. They're going to get it."

"Of course they are," Molly agreed coldly. "Trust me, you're not alone in going after them, Xander. I want them just as much as you do." She looked at her husband. "No one said anything?" He shook his head. "Nothing?"

"Not a thing," he told her. "Xander said there was someone there but they apparently didn't feel the need to tell me." He looked around. "Molly, did you tell the others?"

"No. I thought we'd tell them tonight. Everyone was supposed to be home tonight for dinner." She looked back at the examination rooms. "Iggy and Fred will be fine, but they want George to stay overnight for observation. They think he might have a concussion from being thrown."

"Which is the only thing that doesn't fit," Xander butted in. "Flashback is a backwash of magic fighting to get back into the earth. It shouldn't have thrown George like that. It threw them clear of the building from what I saw."

"Could it have been directed?" Arthur suggested. One of his colleagues hurried down the hallway. "Maybe she has some information." He stopped the Minister of Magical Creatures. "Do you have any idea what's going on?"

"Not yet." She glanced at Xander. "The Unmentionables got the call first. They handed it over to us just a moment ago. They think it was one of the gryphon-born."

"But the flashback didn't act regularly," Arthur told her.

"Which is why we're both working the case. They wanted us to watch out for your family." She saw Molly's enraged look. "We'll find whomever did this, Molly, you know I won't rest until this mystery is solved."

"That makes two of us," Xander told her. She looked at him. "You're keeping me in the loop because there's no way you can get this person without endangering lives. I want them. They came after not only my family, but my family nest, which is as important to one of us as our family. It's our proof of lineage."

She nodded. "Fine. We'll keep you apprized. If you do the same, Harris." He shrugged. "Thank you. May I go ask them questions?"

"As long as you don't upset them," Xander told her. He took a deep breath then let it out slowly. "I'm going to go vent some of this anger." He sidestepped a nurse, heading outside. He glanced around the street he was on, then decided some walking might help. It was only a few blocks to the Leaky Cauldron and maybe he could trust Tom to hold his wand for a few minutes while he went to vent it out. As soon as he walked in the door, he felt someone like him. He glanced around and found Melody sitting in the corner. She had been at the store recently. He walked over and pulled her up to look at him.

"I heard. I have an idea who it might be," she told him. He let her go, still not saying anything. "There's a group of rogues, about ten strong, who want to be the new big bad. One of them tried to come after my daughter and my mother. I tracked him back to where they were meeting. Together we can take them, they're puny borns on the power scale."

Xander's eyes narrowed. "How did you know?"

"It's in the paper already. Someone sent the Daily Prophet a warning." She handed him the paper. "Are they okay?"

"George has a concussion. Everyone else is just bruised." He made a fist. "I promised to keep the people in on this. We have to go back to the hospital."

"Deal," she agreed. "They're near there anyway." She waved at Tom and put some money on the table. She had been waiting here most of the day for Xander, ever since she had read the paper. She followed him out into the night air, trying hard to keep up with him. She waited down the hall from the family, not wanting to upset them.

Xander walked up to Arthur and opened the paper, showing it to him. Arthur took it from him, reading it, going ever so slightly more pale. "Melody knows who it might be. Did that minister want to come with us?"

Arthur swallowed and looked up. "She's left for the night. I can call her."

Xander shrugged. "Your call. We're not waiting that long." Arthur nodded and walked away to call the proper people. Xander gave his son a hug. "I'm so glad that you're all right," he whispered.

"I'm okay, daddy. I promise I'm okay. Go stomp the buggers so I don't have to."

"Iggy," Molly chided gently. "You're not old enough to stomp anybody yet. Wait until you're out of school." She kissed Xander on the cheek. "Good luck, son. Give them one for me."

Xander nodded and let his son go. He turned and walked away, joining Melody at the end of the hall. There was no way he was losing this one. He didn't care who followed him into the fight; it could be a Death Eater for all he gave a damn. Anyone who got in his way was going to suffer. Official or not.

***

Xander looked at the warehouse Melody had led him to. Why did bad guys always have to be in warehouses? It was stupid. It might give you space but the building could easily collapse on you. He steeled himself for the upcoming battle, clearing his mind of everything else. He heard someone step up behind him, but instinctually recognized the person as non-lethal to him. He nodded at Melody and she blew the door in. He was still stronger than she was. She could do the more loud and startling things better than he could. He walked in through the cloud of dust, staring down the people staring at him. "I believe you called me out to a fight?" he asked calmly. His wand was in his hand. A few of them laughed. "Cute. Let me introduce you to my Hyena spirit," he sneered. "She does it better." He said the simple spell that undid the binding on his passengers. The hyena came forward and his eyes started to glow red. "You're mine. You came after my family and my family nest." The other gryphon-borns stepped back, leaving one where he was. "Don't even try," he sneered. "If you stick up for him, then you're my new enemy. My last one, I did that same spell on. Look what happened to him and his crew." He fired off his first spell, hitting the man left out in front. From behind him, a shield blocked off the exits, trapping them all in here. He shifted his focus from the man writhing on the floor, screaming in pain as his organs started to rearrange themselves, to the others. They all screamed and tried to run away. "You were warned," he hissed, firing off at them. Hex after hex, spell after spell, all of them eventually went down. A few of them had gotten off spells, but nothing that *harmed* him. One of them pissed him off, but nothing more. He felt another born in the building and looked around. She was standing above them on a catwalk. He raised the hand without the wand and fired his finger at her. "Boom," he said. "You're next. Let this be a lesson." She laughed, so he fired off his excess anger at her anyway, bringing the catwalk and part of the roof down on top of her. He stepped up to her. "I warned you," he told her in a conversational tone of voice. "Don't fuck with my family. Only the perpetually stupid do that and most of them don't live." She tried to sneer at him through her missing teeth. "Which clan tossed you out?"

She spat the blood at him. "I don't belong to any *clan*. That's for sissies."

He snorted. "Really? Gee, I got all the spells I ever needed from mine. *Everything* I could ever need to destroy you and all like you. *Never* touch what's mine again," he hissed. "Next time, I won't be so *nice*." He walked away. The shields came down and he walked outside. He saw an auror waiting and waved him off. "Go away. This isn't your business."

"Professor Harris, you've being called before the judicial board," the auror said, looking like he was very sorry to be doing this.

Xander laughed. "They can do whatever they want. This was my duty. You can tell them that when you see them again." He waved his wand and the auror went flying; Xander had sent him back to the Ministry building. He'd get there much faster this way. Xander shook off the rest of his anger as he walked back to the hospital. At least he hadn't killed anyone. It wouldn't have been right because his own family wasn't dead. The code of honor was very strict on that point. And hey, he could always go live with the colony if something happened. Iggy would probably love living there. He walked into the hospital and into an ambush. Fortunately they were in a hospital and could get immediate medical attention. He strolled into his mate's room and leaned down to give him a kiss. "They're very sorry and they're never going to do it again," he told George. He heard a cough and turned, finding his father-in-law standing there. "Shouldn't you be at home?"

"Xander, the Ministers have called for you to be put into prison," Arthur told him. "You got one of us."

Xander raised an eyebrow. "One of the born was a Ministry person

"An auror undercover to get them," George told him. He touched Xander's hand. "They can't do this, Dad."

"They can and they probably will, son, but not for very long."

Xander gave him a bright smile. "Let them do their worst. I'm known for having suffered and I've beaten it before." He handed George his wand, sticking it to his hand. "Keep that for me, babe, I'll be back soon." He followed Arthur out. "You know, they should have identified themselves, I might have spared them. Though I didn't kill anyone. The code is very strict on that."

"What code?" Arthur asked as he walked Xander to the Ministry's main building.

"The gryphon code. A death is only acceptable if a death occurred. That's why everyone's hurting but not dead."

Arthur nodded. "That's good to know." He led Xander into the Minister's judicial board room. "He's here."

"Thank you, Arthur. You may leave," Minister of Magic Asdar told him.

"He can stay," Xander told him, sitting down and putting his feet up. "My family has a right to hear what bullshit you're trying to put on me."

"Son, you hurt one of the aurors."

"Actually, I hurt a few of them because they were stupid enough to jump me on your orders," Xander corrected. One of the ministers sighed. "As for the one in the main battle, did they identify themselves?" Asdar shook his head. "Then why should I have spared them? As far as I knew, they were just like the others."

"You still hurt him."

Xander leaned forward. "And was he there when they attacked my family?" he asked coldly. Asdar flinched. "That's what I thought." Xander stood up. "You technically don't have the right to judge a gryphon matter, but I'm feeling nice today so I won't cause a stink about it. I agreed to keep the Minister of Magical Creatures informed and Arthur told her where we were headed. For that matter, if any of you read that yellow rag, then you would have known it was going to happen and might have prevented it."

"They were protecting Percy," Arthur said quietly.

Xander looked back at him. "Wonderful. What about the rest of you? The threat was to the *whole* family. Was someone protecting you and Molly? Or the kids?" Arthur nodded. "Huh." Xander looked back at the board. "So you purposefully left my family open to attack."

"We figured that they could take care of themselves," Asdar said quietly.

Xander laughed. "With me teaching almost a mile away and not able to get to them to help them? And with my *son* there?" Asdar paled. "You're in deep shit, Minister. You really are."

"We can throw you in Azkaban," one of the Ministers pointed out harshly. "You did attack some of our people."

"Only after they attacked me. And try it. Dementors don't touch us. They never have." He smiled. "It was in Voldemort's papers, a letter he sent Draco's father to warn him that there might be one of us fighting with Dumbledore at Archmenis." A few of the ministers shifted nervously. "Oh, didn't know about that either?" He looked at Asdar. "You did." Asdar swallowed. "So, where did you put those death eaters?"

"That's it, young man. You're going to Azkabhan."

Xander laughed. "Go right ahead. I could probably use the meditation time. They won't hurt me. I have mental shields that they can't break. They don't know Willow and Tara's magic either." Asdar's face turned red. "For that matter, I could probably lose the extra weight I'm currently carrying around. I'd like to see you handle the matter diplomatically though."

"What makes you think they'll know?" Asdar said cruelly.

"Easy. Melody sent herself there as soon as the fight was done." Asdar laughed. "By teleportation, which you can't stop unless you have her exact output level." That stopped him. "The gryphons might give you an early Christmas present and not interfere, but do you usually gamble like that?"

"Explain your earlier remark," the Minister of Magical Creatures demanded.

"Okay." Xander pointed at Asdar's arm and used the last bit of his rage to rip the cloth and the illusion off it. "That's what I meant. He dropped out?"

"He was a spy," the Minister told him. "How did you know that?"

"While I was sick I helped Draco clean out some of his father's office, which he had left alone until he was ready. His name was on the list of fighters at Archmenis." He sat down and put his feet back up. "Now then, you can be reasonable or you can be assholes, that's all up to you. Personally, I'm tired. I started fighting with a very old fire elemental this morning in Hogwarts and continued until just now." He yawned. "I really am tired and would like to get back to my mate's side. He needs me."

"You're not going anywhere," Asdar told him. "Except to prison." Xander waved a hand. "That doesn't bother you?"

"Like I said, they can't drain me. They can barely find me when they try. Bring one in, I can prove it. All it'll do is piss me off more." He smiled sweetly. "All up to you still." He put his feet onto the floor. "This isn't really a big game of chess, no matter what you think."

"Xander," Arthur told him, coming over to take his seat on the council. "You had no right to go after them like that."

"I had every right. They tried to destroy my lineage and the symbol of my house. By gryphon rules, that's punishable. Which I did. I followed the code exactly. A death is not acceptable in these matters unless a death occurred. I didn't kill any of them but they won't be doing it again."

"The warehouse lit on fire once you were a block away," Arthur told him.

Xander laughed. "That still wasn't me. If I had wanted to burn them, I would have done it while we were all in there. Melody and I would have been able to walk out of it." He leaned forward, talking only to his father-in-law. "You remember back when you worried about my lack of control?" Arthur nodded. "Well, I fully admit I lost it tonight, but the fire wasn't me. I had no need to burn them. Even if they aren't of a clan or a colony, then they're still bound by the gryphonic rules of conduct. It's nearly innate in us, as much as our desire not to do a frontal assault is. All of us act in certain ways according to what everyone's told me. By attacking any of you, they knew they were facing retribution. They might not have expected me to be that powerful, but they knew it was coming. If I hadn't retaliated, then the gryphon community would have turned their back on my whole family. That's the way they are. I'd be seen as too weak to be one of them."

"Is that the only reason you retaliated?" Asdar asked.

"No. They hurt my family. My desire for retribution was much stronger than the knowledge that I had to do something about them. The screaming in my blood is still going on because I left them alive, but I know where the line is." He put his feet back up. "Sorry, it's been a long day," he said at the dirty look. The door slammed open and Xander looked over his shoulder. "Hey, Ron, go wait outside." Ron opened his mouth. "Outside. They can't do anything that'll hurt more than my reputation." Ron glared at everyone, especially his father.

"Ron, wait outside while we discuss this," Arthur ordered calmly. His son slammed the door, then kicked it for good measure, but he was back in the hallway. "Xander, I know that my family is your family, but he is my son and it was proper that I do that."

"He wasn't coming to your aid and he wouldn't have wanted to listen to you," Xander pointed out calmly. "Besides, I was closer." He grinned. "But you might end up with a very surly son for a few days."

"Boy, you're overstepping your boundaries," Asdar warned.

Arthur glared at him. "That too is my jurisdiction," he said angrily. He glared at Xander. "But it is true."

"Then yell at me later. Fighting two battles will only give me a headache."

"You're taking this very lightly," one of the other ministers accused.

Xander shrugged. "Why should I take this heavily?"

"We could kick you out of Britain and refuse to allow you to get anything of yours. Including your money or going to Stonehenge to say goodbye," that minister told him.

Xander shrugged. "I've started over a few times in my life. What makes you think I can't again?" He spluttered. "Let me guess, you think that I'm a little scared of being kicked out? Not a bit." He put his feet back down, they were numb. "I started over when I came here. I would make sure Iggy at least stayed here, and George if I could so he could see his family, but I can start over. The only barrier I would have is language. Oh, and by the way, you underestimate my skills yet again." He looked at Arthur. "May I borrow your wand for a second?" It was handed to him and everyone watched him very closely. Xander growled a gryphonic phrase and his journal came floating down onto the table. Xander tossed back the wand and picked up the journal to show the name on the front of it. "With the exception of the money in Gringott's, which I would leave for my son anyway, I can always start over again." He laughed. "At the very least, I have an 'in' with a chaos sorcerer because my bird likes him and a vampire because he sees me as something more than a body to be used in a fight." He stood up. "Is there anything else? My mate needs me and I think we've covered all the bases."

"You still hurt those aurors."

"They attacked me first," Xander countered. "That's not assault, that's protecting myself from bullies." Asdar glared at him again. "Did you tell them to jump me as I walked in the hospital?" Asdar shook his head. "Pity. I'd like to talk to the person who told them that. There were injured people in there who probably got disturbed." He tipped his head to the side. "If you want to try me, then let's have a trial. If not, I've got shit to do and you're keeping me away from my mate and my son." He watched as the ministers looked at each other. Finally one pointed a wand at him. Xander felt his mind be transported to somewhere else. It was almost like he was in a cell. He could see a dementor floating in front of him and he shrugged it off. He felt a touch brush against his mind, but it didn't really touch him. He settled in to meditate before he hurt someone. A while later it was like his husband was coming to visit him. He smiled at this fake George. They had gotten the hair wrong, George had gotten a haircut just yesterday. "Hey," he said, waving but not moving. The dementor came back but it passed by him like it was an empty cell. "They can't get me. And you're not real." George's mouth opened but the vision shattered. Xander was panting and sweating, but he stared down the wizards. "I told you so." He picked up his journal. "Was there anything else?" No one said anything so he left the room. He saw Ron waiting out there. "Don't get in the middle of it," he suggested. "It's going to get nasty again." He walked away, going back to the hospital. Once he got there, he asked a nurse if she could give him something for his broken finger. She gave him a splint and let him sit beside his husband's bed.

When Arthur and Molly walked in, he shushed them and took it out into the hall. "Tell me now if you don't want me around anymore."

Molly hauled off and hit him. "Shut up, Xander." He shrugged. "I know what you're thinking. I'm not mad at *you*. You did what you had to do to make sure no one ever did it again and made sure that the people who did it this time won't be doing it to anyone else." Xander nodded. "You're more than welcome at the house when you bring George over to recuperate." She reached up and laid a hand against his cheek. "You're so brave."

"Stunned stupid," he said, giving her a bright smile. "And really tired. I'll bring him tomorrow so I have time to get our room at the school ready. You can baby him tomorrow."

"And Iggy will be staying with us," Arthur said, giving him a faint smile. "You scared a lot of them."

Xander snorted. "If they had done any research, they would have known that we're the masters of mind fucks. We invented that trick." He grimaced and looked at the room behind him. "We'll talk about this tomorrow, Arthur. You were doing your job. The same as those poor schmucks who I beat up earlier were."

"Xander, you did break a few rules," Arthur told him. Molly hit him. "Ow. What was that for?"

"Those rules are stupid and don't cover this situation."

"They're to prevent incidences like Bill's people found at that site," he argued.

"This is a hospital," Xander interrupted. Both parents looked sheepish. "Thanks but gryphons don't think like that. If they retaliate for my retaliation, then any gryphon has the right to destroy them. Even if they've rejected everything else, they know this." He smiled at Arthur. "Just think, I'm not the strongest. One of the strongest of my degree of being born, but not the strongest. The strongest few live in the colony because they have 'puny human' complexes."

Arthur grimaced. "Yes, we've met a few of them." He reached over and patted Xander on the shoulder. "I understand, Xander, but I would have rather not seen that."

Molly laughed crudely. "It's no different than when he went after those death eaters. They decided not to do anything to him then because of who it was. In this case, they were just as harmful to society. It was a blessing." She pulled Xander down and kissed him on the cheek. "Come home as soon as you can. Iggy nearly broke my heart worrying about you tonight." She smiled. "Did you tell Ron to mind his own business?"

"No, I told him not to get between me and Arthur," Xander told her. "I don't want to make the guy pick a side. That's just wrong." He shrugged and walked into the room again, going to check on his mate. Maybe it would be better if they moved to the colony. He had a standing offer. Or he could always make the new house more secure.

***

Molly came out of the fireplace and ran into Ron, who was still pacing and muttering. "He told you not to get into the middle of the argument between him and your father and I agree, so quit," she ordered. Ron gave her a shocked look. "Yes, you. All that muttering and wearing a hole in my floor. You should be ashamed of yourself."

"But..but he shoved me away and told me not to get in the middle."

"Between him and your father," she said, giving him a short hug. "I asked, he said he didn't want you to have to pick a side." Ron nodded. "Does that make you feel better?"

"Yeah," Ron said, giving her a small smile. "I thought he was trying to say I couldn't help."

"No, I'm sure you could have helped him quite a lot. Your father said they tried to do something that showed him what prison would have been like. The person who did it has a whopper of a headache," she informed him with a cold smile. "Imagine, making it seem like he was in prison. And Xander didn't react at all."

"I imagine he based it off what Sirius Black told him, mum," Ron suggested, sitting down to watch her putter around the kitchen. "Is he in trouble?"

"Only if they're being bullies, which they tried." She pursed her lips. "Apparently Xander pulled out his arsehole act for them." Ron's eyes widened. "Yes, dear, I do swear when there's a reason for it," she told him condescendingly. Really, did her children think her a saint? "They pushed and he countered with calm smugness."

"So that's where Draco gets it from," he said happily. His mother laughed and shook her head. "So he acted like one of them and they didn't like it?"

"Not all of them are like that," she reminded him. "We've known some of those people for a very long time."

"Some of them always looked at me like I was deviant little creature and they were waiting to put me in jail." His mother frowned at him. "They did. Remember that garden party when I was nine?" His mother's face scrunched up but she eventually nodded. "Asdar gave me that look whenever I went for the snack table. That present Minister of Magical Creatures looked at me like I was some sort of creature that she didn't want to deal with. A few others got me too. Fudge used to do the same thing."

"Son," Arthur said as he appeared behind him. "They're like that because of their jobs. They hold important jobs and have a lot of stress."

"Not back then they didn't," Ron argued. "Asdar was an auror at the time. Minister Fudge wasn't a minister and most of the rest of them weren't nice to us kids. It's power corruption, not stress, dad."

"I'm sure it's not," his father told him, sitting beside him. "Ron, you can't barge into a judicial chamber like that. They could have seen it as an attempt to free Xander and punished you with him." He patted his son's arm. "I would have hated that."

"Dad, if they touch any of us, then Xander's going to hurt them," Ron said firmly. "You're lucky he held it in tonight." Arthur nodded. "I won't get in the middle of you and Xander arguing tomorrow, but I won't let him get hurt by this family. Some of us will follow George." Arthur looked sad, but he nodded again. "Not that I want it to happen," Ron soothed, "but if it does. You know how Xander is. You've seen him protect the family before."

"Which is why I stepped in tonight. He nearly got sent to prison."

"For protecting his family?" Ron snorted. "Not without one hell of a protest."

Arthur shook his head. "Not even Dumbledore would be able to save him, son. Asdar is very close to revoking Xander's citizenship and banishing him from Britain."

Molly banged a pot onto the stove. "Let him try."

Arthur smiled at her. "Xander told him the same thing. That he could always start over again and we would have Iggy. And possibly George if Xander could force him to stay." He shrugged at her dirty look. "He knew that Asdar had been a spy."

Ron snorted "According to the records I've seen, there's only been one successful spy that never got caught. Snape." Arthur nodded for him to go on. "From the records of the trials that they held, and the released documents for the ones they didn't even bother to try and hold, Voldemort killed any and all spies except Snape."

"Who has those?" Molly asked as she brought over some sandwiches.

"Harry. Hermione thought it might help his nightmares to read some of the transcripts. Did you know that Sirius wasn't the only one who got thrown into Azkabhan without a trial?" Both parents shook their heads. "Yeah, there are records for twelve more that never got given that right. Most of them are dead now, but there's a few who are alive. And almost all the trials had someone saying that the Ministry would fall from the inside. Which leads me to believe that they had a spy in there, not the other way around." He took a bite of his sandwich and grimaced. "Corned beef?"

"It's all we have. I have to do some shopping," Molly sighed. "Just eat it, Ron."

"Yes, mum." He took another bite. "It does make me wonder."

"Ron, please don't repeat any of that theory. It could get a lot of people in trouble. Most of those records are supposed to be sealed."

"No they're not. Hermione got them from the library at Hogwarts in the newspaper archives. And I'm not the only one asking questions. Harry went to ask Dumbledore if any of that was true. He agreed that Asdar might be a death eater who's trying to pretend he's not."

"Some of them did reform," Molly put in weakly. "Or tried to."

"Yeah, but he denies what he is," Ron pointed out.

"Which could be because he's worried about the backlash," Arthur reminded him. "It would be like Xander wearing a t-shirt with his lineage on it. Some people would not be very happy with him for it." He took a bite of his own sandwich. "I know you don't care about such things, but for someone like Asdar, image is everything."

"And Xander just threw it to the wind," Molly reminded him.

Arthur nodded. "I know. I almost expecting a letter to be in my box on Monday thanking me for voluntarily quitting." Ron frowned. "When I made Minister, they requested a letter of resignation so it could be put about if something happened and I embarrassed them. With Xander being part of my family, it could happen."

"Not unless they want some major backlash," Ron said, his eyes narrowed. Arthur shook his head. "Dumbledore would stick up for you, so would most of the teachers, and some of your coworkers."

"They'd be trying to protect their own jobs, son. It wouldn't happen."

"Well, that sucks," Fred said as he walked down the stairs. "What about Percy? The Ministry is his life."

"Asdar is cruel enough to try and make him choose," Arthur told him. "I wouldn't blame him for it if he does." He handed over his sandwich. "I wish the aurors had decided to go in with Xander instead of standing back and waiting for it to end."

"Excuse me?" Fred asked. "They stood back and waited for Xander to do their dirty work?" Arthur nodded slowly. "And did anyone else see this?"

"I heard the aurors talking about it while they waited to jump Xander at St. Mungos. They all knew. Asdar told them to wait and see if he walked out of it alive."

"Mother fuckers," Fred muttered. His mother gave her wand a meaningful look. "Mum, first they leave us open to attack, Xander's immediate family. Then they do things to try and let him be killed. Doesn't that sound funny to you?"

She nodded. "But there's nothing we can do about it." She snorted. "It's not like the Daily Prophet is going to do an expose on what happened."

"They might, if they thought it would change the current administration," Ron said. "They're mad at Asdar too for letting Xander and Draco screw them so badly."

On the windowsill, unseen by them, a small ladybug took notes with her special quill pen. That gryphon-born female had been right, this was going to be one of the top stories of the century.

Snippet 19:

Notes: Thanks to Shaz for the idea, it'll come in here and the next snippets too. Hers was the idea with the caves.

Xander looked over at Fred as he joined them in the living room. "I found my building spell," he said. "But it'll build a cave complex." George shuddered. "I can put windows in, if you can stand that for a while until we can rebuild."

"I'm not sure we'll be rebuilding," Fred told him. George nodded.

"But it's your dream," Xander protested. "You're letting them win!"

"They blew up the store, Xander, and everything in it."

"Yeah, and I lost just as much as you did," he reminded them harshly. He shook his head. "Sorry."

"It's okay," Fred told him. "I know you miss things that you've lost, but I'm still not sure we should rebuild."

"And you'll do what instead?" Xander asked. Fred glared at him. "Hey, practicalities here. George can always come live with me at the school. That means you're stuck."

Fred nodded and slumped down some. "I know. I'm trying not to think about that."

"Then let me see what I can plan for a rebuild," Xander coaxed. "At least let me do a plan or something so you can decide if you can live with it for now."

"Caves probably wouldn't help us," George pointed out quietly. "We'll need a real building."

"Actually," Xander said with a grin. "If the spell works the way I think it does, we can have something better. But we can still rebuild the building around the caves. It'll be a temporary shop so you have some cash coming in while you're working on the new store."

"The longer we wait, the more market share we lose," George agreed. Fred nodded. "Can we at least do that much?"

"Sure," Fred sighed. "I'll look at a plan."

"Cool." Xander grinned. "Now then, what about the other practicalities? Insurance and that stuff."

"We had some," George told him. "I made the payment last month."

"The Prophet owes you guys bigtime," Ron said as he walked in to join them. "Has anyone seen the paper this morning?" Everyone shook their heads so Ron held it up so everyone could read the headline.

Ministry Intentionally Harms Old Wizarding Family Over Prejudice.

"Oh, shit," Fred said, snatching it to read it. "Who wrote this?" He searched and found the byline. "Skeeter gave us good press?"

"It's her way of getting back at the Ministry for letting Xander and Draco screw them," Ron said happily. "She says so down near the bottom. Calls for an external investigation about how 'widespread the prejudice goes and how these strange and powerful wizards are being mistreated, thereby creating a new evil force'." He smiled at Xander. "That's you by the way."

Xander laughed. "Really? I'm the new badguy on the block?" Ron nodded. "That's nearly cool. Not exactly me, but cool nonetheless. How did she hear about this?"

"She's an animagus," Ron said smugly. "Turns into a bug. Hermi found out."

"So she could be here now?" Fred asked as he looked around. Ron shook his head. "No?"

"Nope. She's a ladybug. It's not the season for them so she can't be too obvious." Ron sat down on Xander's other side. "What can I do to help you rebuild?" Both twins opened their mouths but nothing came out. "Yes, me. I have learned how to build stuff over the years."

Xander gave him a hug. "You can help me. We're doing a temporary store." He let his buddy go. "Have you heard from Percy?"

Ron nodded, scratching his scalp. "Yeah, I heard from him. Actually I went to see him and they did what dad thought they would. I told him we'd understand if he picked his job."

Xander nodded. "I will. I'll owl him and make sure he knows I won't get upset."

"We," George reminded him. He gave his husband a stern look. "You're not babying me this time, Xander."

Xander gave him a breath-stealing kiss, keeping it up until his mate went limp. "Of course I'll wait on you hand and foot," he said with a grin. "You're coming back to the school with me or you're staying here. There's no chance you won't be pampered within an inch of your temper." George opened his mouth so Xander took possession of it again. George wouldn't be able to protest by the time he was done.

***

Draco sat down, finally alone for the first time in days, and picked up the distressingly large stack of newspapers that he hadn't had time to read yet. He flipped the stack over so he could start at the bottom and catch up. The first headline caught his attention. "Bloody hell, doesn't it ever stop?" he muttered, reading the article about the corruption in the Ministry. He had a perfect idea for the Ministry but no one would listen to him because of who his father had been. The next one made him gasp. "Someone's trying to hurt the family?" He quickly scanned the article. The date caught his attention. It had been sent out six days ago. A week and no one had bothered to warn him? He picked up the next one and his mouth opened. "I'll kill them," he growled.

"What's going on?" Ginny asked. She walked in and sat beside him, putting her head on his shoulder. He showed her the paper. "Is everyone okay?" she asked, taking it to read. An attack on the shop? And Hogwarts? Her family. "They're dead now," she vowed. She took the next paper in the pile, reading the story about Xander against the Ministry. The next day's paper didn't have anything in it, but the day after that did. People were calling for mass resignations. Especially the Minister of Magic's and the minister over magical creatures. They had tried to throw Xander in jail without a trial? She stood up and looked at the fireplace. "Want to take Anastasia for a visit?" she asked.

"Let's see the last one first," he suggested. "Just in case we have to mount a rescue attempt." He picked up that last paper and smiled at the picture on the front. Xander and Harry in Diagon with the kids. Doing normal things. The caption said something about them leaving it to others to fix, which was very ungryphon-like. It speculated that Xander knew more than he was letting on. He handed the paper to Ginny and went to gather the kids together. They could use an outing today. A quick trip to the Burrow and then to find Xander. A short, pleasant trip. As soon as he stepped into the living room, Ginny took their youngest from his arms, bundling her up tightly.

"We go separately," Simone announced. She smiled at her parents. "I know how." She hurried over at the skeptical look, tossing some powder into the fire. "The Burrow," she called out. The fire turned green and she stepped inside it, sending herself off. She landed in the kitchen and peeked around the corner into the living room. Grandpa was talking with people, a lot of people, maybe even fifteen, which was as high as she could count. She decided against a noisy entrance and snuck up behind him, casually slipping into his lap. "Hi," she said when the talking stopped. "We come to check on the unclies. Daddy pissed."

"I know he probably is," Arthur told her. "Iggy's outside."

"So? I haven't had huggles recently." She hugged him.

Arthur smiled at his coworkers and shrugged. "She's been with her family now for nearly a month," he explained. A few of his coworkers smiled. "As I was saying, I don't want it. I can't be impartial. We'll need someone above reproach. Someone who can not only be impartial, but not base his decisions on his family."

"Fidders," someone suggested.

Arthur thought about it. "He would work," he agreed. "He understands the problems." He nodded slowly. "I can see him as the new Minister."

"He definitely won't ignore a dark force rising," one of the visitor said lightly.

Draco walked into the living room. "May I make a suggestion?" Arthur smiled at him and nodded. "Why don't you set it up so that all the Ministers have to vote for their next boss? Then slowly make it general elections?"

"You wouldn't protest mudbloods voting?" one of the female contingent asked.

Draco grimaced. "While I still think most of them can't find their asses with their wands, there are some that seem to have some sense." He glanced at his girlfriend. "And besides, someone gave me a very long lecture about genetics and how we were getting weaker by inbreeding, which means that Harris will end up taking over eventually."

"Like you'd mind," Ginny said, bopping him on the back of the head. "Ow. Your hair's crunchy again."

"I like my hair this way," he reminded her. She opened her mouth and he kissed her. "Leave the hair alone."

"I'll get it fixed for you one of these days," she vowed. She handed over the baby, shooing Simone off her grandfather's lap. "Is everyone okay? We just caught up with the news."

Arthur nodded. "For the most part. George and Fred are fairly disheartened. Their insurance agent's already been around to see them and said they'd get it soon. Xander's working on plans to rebuild the shop. Percy's in a royal snit because someone gave him an ultimatum." He shrugged. "It's what we expected when we found out what was going on."

"And you didn't tell us?" Draco demanded. "Did you think I wouldn't help? Or be able to help in some way?" He pouted. He had thought he was family.

"You were protecting the most important of the family treasures," Arthur told him, making him stop pouting. "None of us would have been able to go on if any of the children had gotten hurt."

Draco nodded, mollified. "All right, but tell me next time." He picked up Denver and swung him around. "Come on, let's go pounce Iggy." He led the small parade of children into the yard.

Arthur smiled at his daughter, but didn't relinquish his hold on the latest grandchild. "Why don't you go play too, dear?" he suggested. She rolled her eyes and walked away too. He looked back at the others. "It was a good idea," he told them.

Everyone nodded. "Might cause a bit of a stink," one man offered. "It shouldn't be too hard to implement at first. If only the Ministers and Under-Ministers vote, it should go rather quickly."

Arthur nodded. "Are we in agreement then? Fidders?" Almost everyone nodded. "Were there any others that could be suggested?"

"I was going to suggest Athena Harmandis. She's fairly fair, but a bit high strung."

"I think it would soothe the average wizard and witch if we went from the inside this time. But, if she wants, I wouldn't mind sitting down and talking to her. If everything that's going on happens then we'll probably have quite a few openings coming free." Everyone nodded at that. "Any news on the hearings?"

"Just that the magical creatures want Asdar's head," one woman suggested. "Apparently he's pissed them off for the last time. I know they're not going to call Xander about what happened. They want the incident to die." Ginny ran up the stairs crying.

Draco stomped back in and flopped down onto the floor beside Arthur's chair. "Your daughter's insane," he told him.

Arthur patted him on the head. "What happened now?"

"I was praising Denver for being a little Malfoy." A few of the guests coughed and snickered at that. "He is. He's exactly what I wanted to be when I was his age." He looked up at his father-in-law. "Then I praised Simone because she's *obviously* one of you. So Ginny screamed something about me being a pig and ran away crying." He shrugged. "I don't understand."

Arthur nodded. "I know, son. It's hard to understand women. I'll have her mother talk to her. It might help some." Draco nodded and rested his head on his upraised knees. "Did you want in on this meeting?"

"As long as no one's going to hurt the family over whatever happened, I'm good with the world not falling apart." He looked around, then up at Arthur. "Are you making sure some stability exists?" Arthur nodded. "Are you planning on making a rule that states a death eater can't hold a position of power?"

"No, but we were considering a disclosure to the ministers rule," one man told him. "That way people would know."

"If you put it before the elections, it would probably help a lot," Draco offered. "That's how Xander said they do it in America." Everyone looked at each other. "We might even base it on the British system if we wanted to take the muggle way out of this trouble."

"That could work," Arthur agreed. Everyone nodded. "It's a very good suggestion, son." He smiled at Draco. "Xander's back at the school today. George is hiding from him."

"I'd hide from him too," Draco snorted. "That man can smother if you're sick." He looked around. "How is everyone?"

"We found something interesting," the vocal woman said. "The top of the building blew off. The flashback sent the bottom level outward and the top two upwards. We've found a few pieces of their clothing fifty miles away." She smiled. "It's a very odd occurrence. Someone's studying it to see if it was a fluke or something in the design of the store."

"With as many times as they had to fix it, there's no telling," Draco told her. But he smiled. "So, the nest?" She shrugged. "No idea yet?"

"We've sent word out and a few people have sent things in. We've gotten six robes, a few books, and a bunch of metal boxes embedded in trees." Draco smiled. "The nest might have blown apart."

"Hopefully not," Arthur sighed. "It's the way gryphons establish lineage." He patted Draco on the head again. "Each child gets some of the family nest for their nest to mark them as part of the family."

"You have a nest?" the woman asked him. Draco nodded. "A big one?"

"Smallish, but it's meant for the children. They enjoy the hell out of it." He looked up. "I'll gladly let Xander steal some of the scented hay for a rebuild."

"He still has the one at the school too," Arthur reminded him. "The problem is that Xander's family kept that nest for generations."

"How do you keep the hay from going bad?" one of the men asked. Arthur and Draco shrugged. "A spell of some sort? A preserving technique?"

"You'd have to ask Xander," Arthur told him. "I don't know. We haven't been gifted with one."

"I don't think Xander would want to see you sleep in a nest," Draco told him, smiling at him. "It wouldn't be something he'd want to walk in on."

Arthur rolled his eyes. "Xander doesn't tend to walk in on us, Draco, your son does."

"Point," he agreed with a grin, feeling much better now. "But at least my son didn't scream about adults being deformed."

Arthur laughed. "No, he didn't." He shook his head, but everyone else was smiling. Laughing was good. They needed the tension break.

***

Xander brought the small model out to show McGonagall. "What do you think?"

"Will it be big enough?" she asked with a smile. He gave her a look. "Sorry, couldn't resist. It's been a good day for me. Someone managed to get their lesson right on the first try." She lifted the lid off, looking inside. "It's rather dark," she offered. "Will that be enough room?"

"That's just for the store." He added on another section. "That's for us. And yeah, I couldn't figure out how to do windows so the blue stuff marks where I'm putting them." He watched her look it over. "I thought that the wobbly lines would help them separate out the stuff by section. You know, the fun, kiddie safe stuff right at the front. The more adult revenge toys toward the back."

She put the lid back on. "That's a wonderful idea. Have you shown them yet?" He shook his head. "I wouldn't mind it, were it up to me. It looks like you planned for almost everything. Bathroom?"

"Right here," Xander said, pointing at it. "A public one in the store and a large one in the back. I'm planning a sunken tub and everything."

"Very nice," she agreed. She straightened up. "When do you show it to the twins?"

"Tonight at dinner. Then I'll let them decide and do the formal planning for the human sized one." He looked over as the door opened, admitting Snape and Dumbledore. "I got the model finished," he said happily. The older men came over to look at it. "The blue areas will be windows in the real one." He was almost nervous. He liked these two men and their opinions mattered to him. Snape stepped back and nodded, looking pleased. "You think they'll like it?"

Snape nodded. "Most likely. The windows in the lab are a nice touch." He crossed his arms. "How will you build it?"

"A few spells," Xander told him. "Ginny's going to shield the area while I work so no one can see what I'm doing. These'll be the biggest spells I've ever done. They're so complex there's a whole book on the building spell itself. I've got my notes though and the diagrams so I can visualize properly."

Dumbledore pointed at a small mark on the lid of the store. "What's this?"

"I was thinking about putting in a chandelier there. I was going to put some metal flashing or mirrors around the skylights to spread the sunlight around, but I figured we'll need a regular light source too. A chandelier is just something I've always wanted."

Dumbledore smiled at him. "Excellent work, Xander. I look forward to seeing the real thing. You'll have to let us go through first."

Xander beamed. "Okay. I'll tell them." He carefully put the models away and covered them. "I hope they like it."

"They should," McGonagall told him. "Have you heard anything about the Ministry?"

"Dad's having a meeting today with a bunch of the Ministers and Under-Ministers. I'm hoping that they at least set a course of direction. Maybe even come up with a name for the new Minister of Magic."

"Did Asdar finally quit?" Snape asked.

"The advisory board looking into everything *suggested* that he retire," Xander told him. "They've also decided they don't want to talk to me, hear about me, or see me ever." Dumbledore burst out laughing. "Apparently I scared some of them," he said with a naughty grin.

"Not that they didn't deserve it," McGonagall said, patting him on the arm. "You called for us to come today?"

"Oh, yeah. We need to work on the maze this year. Since I'm rewriting the book, I can't run it. My deadline is January second and I've found some assumptions of arrogance in the book. I had no idea that Giles wrote some of it from his training and not the research. So I'm going to go find someone and talk to them about it. They'd know and can give me what I need."

"Will this person cooperate?"

"Probably," Xander noted with a grin. "Spike still thinks I'm a pretty good human. I've sent him a letter and he said he'd help, but I'll need about three days and a weekend off to go see him. I'll be in London, but we're going to be holed up working on the categories together."

Dumbledore nodded. "I can approve it. Did you need one of us to cover your classes?"

"I'd like it. All of you have sat in on some of my lectures. Otherwise I've got to get a student to fill in and they stutter."

"I have a free period during part of your fourth years' class," Snape agreed. "If we can combine them for this week it would be easier."

McGonagall shrugged, it didn't matter to her. The other houses were with her that period. "As long as we can do that for the third years' class also, which would give you a free period that week," she agreed. Dumbledore nodded when they looked at him. "Then it should work well enough. Can you give us your notes?"

"I can give you the notes, written out perfectly, so all you have to do is read them." Both teachers nodded. "Cool, thanks. I really need to get this book fixed. If the research I did wasn't right, then I don't know what's going on. The books I used and Giles disagreed forty seven times in the first book, and now I've got to include the second class too. Would it be too hard to put them together? I know it'd make the book cost more, but it'd be easier for me."

Dumbledore shrugged. "It's your class. A pricier book would be a worry for some parents, but noting on it that it was for two years worth of classes might help some." He patted Xander on the shoulder. "As I said your first year, you're the teacher."

Xander nodded. "With any luck, I'll have everything fixed and ready for editing by the time I come back. Spike's one of those guys who, if he doesn't know, he knows someone who knows and can get hold of them. He's the one who's going to make the book work this time. I'm even giving him co-writing credit."

Dumbledore smiled. "I'm sure the vampire will appreciate that greatly." He smiled at the young teacher. "If there wasn't anything else?"

"No, just that. I'll be borrowing Willow's laptop and she's already agreed too. It should be okay."

The teachers walked out, talking about some minor gossip from their houses.

Xander looked around the classroom. It would all be okay.

***

Xander smiled at Ginny as she came to help carry the model. He gave her the smaller, residential section piece and took the main part himself. Together they flooed over to the Burrow. "I bring an idea," he called. No one answered. He put the model onto the table and walked around to look around. "No note," he called.

Ginny groaned. "It's not a problem. I know it's not a problem." She looked around, then grabbed some floo powder. "Potterville," she called. Hermione's head appeared nearly instantly. "Is my family there?"

"No, and neither's Harry," she said complacently. "They all went shopping for something. They're supposed to be back in about half an hour." She looked behind Ginny, smiling at Xander. "Did you get the model done?"

"Just today," he told her. "Sorry, but we panicked."

"Perfectly understandable," Hermione agreed. "By the way, Xander, I'm getting you for the drums." Her head disappeared.

"Drums?" Ginny asked.

Xander nodded. "Drums. She gave one of the toys I gave the kids an unamused look. I warned her the next one would be noisy." He went to put the model together, but out of the way. "I'm all set," he announced from the living room.

"Good," Ginny told him. "Will it work?"

"Oh yeah," he agreed as he walked back into the kitchen. "No matter how long it takes to rebuild the building will hold and we can always build through the walls, knocking one room down at a time to build the wooden building if they want." He stopped when the fireplace dinged and Harry stepped out of it, imitating a beast of burden. "Give me that," he said, taking the bags from him. "What's all this?"

"Groceries," Harry panted. "Molly just did a stocking run because the panty had been allowed to go bare." He collapsed into a chair. "That woman haggles like a pro."

Molly came out of the fire, laughing. "Thank you, Harry." She kissed his cheek, then Xander's. "Just leave it, I'll put it up."

"Nope," Xander said, stuffing some cans onto the pantry shelf, label side out because she liked it that way. "I can help."

She grabbed him by the arms and steered him out of her way. "Out. Go sit down." She rearranged the cans he had already put up, even though he had put them into the right order. As soon as everyone else appeared, she snatched the bags from their hands and put everything away.

Xander motioned his partners in crime out to the living room, where he had set up the model. He took the cover off carefully and stepped back.

"It's a cave," Fred said. George nodded.

"Pick up the lid and look inside," Xander urged. "The blue areas will be windows."

George took off the top and flipped it over when he noticed the blue areas. "Skylights?" Xander nodded so he put it aside. They examined the edges of the shop. "How is this temporary?"

"I can take down each room as it's ready to be built," Xander told him.

"Oh," Fred said, nodding. "Excellent idea." He nudged one of the non-straight walls. "Why is it like that?"

"See, I figured you could separate out things by grouping. The stuff for everyone up front," he said, pointing at that section. "The farther back, the more adult you get. I figure the revenge toys should probably be at the very back." He turned the model a little bit so they could see the lab he had set up. "And I put the workroom and lab here, with windows so the kids could watch you create. They'll have shades so you can have privacy, but you can show off sometimes too," he said happily.

"What's that section?" George asked, pointing at the other part of the model.

"Living quarters."

"Oh," Fred said happily. "Can we look inside?" Xander moved so they could huddle around that part. "This looks great," he said finally. He looked at his brother-in-law. "How much will it cost us?"

"Less than it did to renovate the building the last time," Xander told him. "The stones for the cave can be found anywhere. We can get some of them from the woods if we look hard enough. I asked Hagrid and he said there's an old quarry a few miles away, easily flyable if we want to look there. The biggest expense will be the lab setup."

George smiled at his husband. "Splendid thinking, hubby. Can we think about it?" Xander nodded and walked away. "Do you like it?" he asked his twin.

"He thought of everything," Fred reminded him. "It really is an ingenious design. I'm wondering if he can really do all this though."

"He said he'd create the model using the same spells," George offered. "I'm guessing windows were a little hard in this size." He ran a finger over the blue spots designating skylights. "He worked hard to make it not look so much like a cave."

"And it would save us money until we could build again," Fred pointed out. "If we can take down walls as we build, it might not be so bad."

"We can soften the impact by painting," George offered. He used his wand to change the color of the walls, making them a light mauve. A very comforting color.

"No," Fred sighed, changing it again, this time to a light blue. The walls turned plaid.

"Xander!" they yelled in unison.

"Sorry! Couldn't resist!"

"I rather like that," George admitted. His brother glared at him. "Maybe if we change the colors every day? Make it a joke by itself?" Fred shrugged. George smiled at him. "We'll be the only joke shop in the world that operates out of a cave. Instant recognition."

Fred laughed. "Too true. Okay, Xander, we give in." Xander came back in and gave them a hug. "We'll work out all the minor details tomorrow."

"Okay," he said happily, covering back up his model. "Are we going to be able to share one bathroom?"

"Maybe," Fred told him. "Didn't you put in two?"

"I put a mini-bath in the store. There's only one shower and bathtub though."

"That should be enough," George offered. "Iggy doesn't take all day and neither do we."

"I was thinking about him after a game," Xander told them. Both twins shrugged. "Not a problem?"

"Shouldn't be. We used to have to wait to shower after a game," Fred told him. He patted him on the back, nearly knocking him over. "Good job."

"Spiffing," George agreed with a smile. He wrapped his husband in his arms. "Did you hear? Someone found some of our stuff. Dad told us earlier. Just some clothes and things, but it's hopeful that we'll find more." Xander smiled at him. "Not my ring or the nest probably, but maybe most everything else."

"You lost your ring?" Fred asked. He hadn't noticed.

"I took it off because my hands were swelling last week. You remember."

Fred nodded, he did remember. George had a horrible day in the lab and the swelling potion had gotten on him. "Where was it?"

"On the dresser," Xander told him. "In my jewelry box." He saw the wince and blinked heavily. "I know, but we can figure that out later." He gave his mate a squeeze. "The same as we can figure out the nest stuff later too." George rested his head against Xander's shoulder. "We'll figure it out," Xander repeated. "As long as we're all living, anything else can get be gotten over." He kissed the side of his husband's head. "Enough bad stuff. We have to plan on how to get rocks so I don't have to create them."

"Could you?" Fred asked.

"Maybe. I'm probably not that strong; maybe strong enough to create a few small ones but the shaping I have planned is much easier. I'd be wasted again for at least a week. Oh, and I got permission to go work on the book with Spike. I sent him a copy with my notes written in. It shouldn't take more than a week."

"Even better," Molly said as she walked in. "Did you get the model done?" Xander nodded and pointed at it, getting out of her way by sitting himself and George down on the couch. "The blue stuff is for windows."

She nodded as she looked over it. "Very ingenious," she praised. He smiled at her. "How long do you think it's going to take?"

Snippet 20:

A young boy walked up to the spot of his former favorite shop, nearly laughing when he saw the sign.

Coming Soon! Weasley Wizarding Wheezes, the second edition.

Coming in a week (crossed out), two weeks (crossed out), a month.

Bold new designs inside and out.

He giggled and jogged to where his friends were playing. This was great news! They were coming back!

***

Xander snuck down to the spot the shop would be sitting on and crossed out the month, adding 'and six more days' to it. They had almost enough rocks, but they needed a few more medium sized ones and they were having trouble finding them. Someone tugged on the back of his robes. "Yes?" He smiled at the little girl standing there. "What are you doing out so late?"

"I wander. My parents understand." She grinned at him. "Six more days?"

"Yeah, we need some more rocks and we can't find them."

"Big rocks?"

"Rocks the size of a big roasting pot or bigger," Xander told her.

"Oh." She blinked a few times. "If we find them, can we bring them here?" He nodded. "Thank you for coming back. You made us all very happy because you liked to play pranks too." She turned and skipped off, heading for the tavern.

Xander shook his head. That was odd. Nice, but odd. He headed for the tavern himself because he knew Madam Rosemerta was holding the glass jugs with the remains of the bottom floor. He tapped on the door and walked in. "Hi?" he called.

"Be right out," she yelled back. She came out wiping her hands. "Oh, Xander," she said happily. "Nearly ready to rebuild?"

"With a few more stones," he told her. "Can I look at the stuff in the jugs?"

"Sure. They're in the basement along with the boxes that were left here for you." She led the way.

"Boxes?" he asked as he followed her to the basement. He stopped when he saw the boxes. Their usual shipment. "Wow. That's really cool of them." He looked at the labels. Everything was here. All their potion supplies and everything. "I've got to tell the twins about this," he told her. He noticed a few metal boxes. "What're those?"

"Those are what people's found so far," she explained. "Supposed to be some robes and stuff. Someone put them in metal because it'd absorb any remaining chaos energy. I guess they figured you could do something to make it go away again." She pushed back some of her hair. "When do you think you can move it?"

"I think we can get most of this tomorrow," he told her, looking at the metal boxes again. They looked familiar.... He opened one of them and whistled. His weapons collection. He laughed. "Oh, not a robe," he told her, pulling out a battle axe to look over. "These were my babies before I married and had Iggy." He carefully put it away. "I missed you guys," he told the boxes.

She laughed. "You boys and your toys," she said with a wave of her hand. "You know the hours so I'll be here whenever those mates of yours come."

"I'm only married to George," he reminded her with a naughty grin. "Fred couldn't keep up with me."

She laughed harder. "If you say so." She led the way back up to the main inn. "Whenever you want, they'll be here."

He kissed her on the cheek. "Thanks for helping us so much." He walked out, heading back to the school. He ran into Irma Pince in the entryway and grabbed her, twirling her around. "It's almost all over, we're almost back into our home," he said happily. He smiled and let her go, heading down to his rooms.

She stood there, looking shocked. No one touched her, especially not to dance. She blinked a few times then decided to go back to her library. Her pay discrepancy could wait until tomorrow to be discussed. She hurried back to her office, hoping no one else wanted to dance with her.

***

Xander looked at the spot where he had hidden the rocks, noticing that there was a small pile of them out from under the cover. "Wow," he said, sitting down beside them. Each of them was a good size, and decent enough to work with. He smiled at his helpers, Ginny, Hermione, and Ron. "Someone found us some more rocks." He settled his working materials in front of him, arranging them in the most pleasing manner. "Okay, start the shielding," he ordered. "Ron, go stand outside or go get the glass jugs from Madam Rosemerta. Ginny and Hermione, I *can't* be disturbed." Everyone nodded and he felt a shield go up around him. Just in case though, he put on his battered invisibility cloak so that it covered him and his materials. As he started the first part of the spell, he felt the earth respond all around him. It was going to be okay.

***

Fred and George apparated in front of what had been their shop, frowning when they couldn't see anything. "He hasn't started yet?" Fred asked. George nudged him.

"We had to put up a shield," their little sister said, snatching the baskets from them. "Did mum make it or are you poisoning us?"

"Mum made enough for everyone and about a quidditch team more." George walked over and felt along the air, running his hands along the shield. "Can we bring it down?" Both women shook their heads. "Not even to peek?"

"Xander said he can't be disturbed or bad things will happen," Hermione told him. "I'm not sure what, I've never studied those spells."

"He'll become a statue and then you'll have to snog a marble man," Ginny said with a twinkle in her eyes.

George shook his head sadly. "That would mean the end of my happily married life. I could never stand living with a cold, unresponsive man." He looked around, noticing Ron wasn't there. "Where's Ron?"

"Getting something." Hermione pointed at the glass jugs he had carried up so far. "He's been getting those."

Fred moved closer, examining the contents. "Xander put the remains of the wood in here," he said finally. He uncorked one jug and quickly put it back. "It's infected."

"Might be a fun thing to deal with," George suggested. "Magical Mysteries?"

"They definitely need study," Hermione told them, pointing at Fred's missing hair. "Did you have something to make one bald?"

Fred eeped and touched his new bald spot. "What did that?"

George grinned. "I guess we'll have to find out," he said happily. "Could be quite fun."

"As long as it grows back," Fred grumped. He looked behind him when he heard footsteps, getting out of Ron's way. He was carrying a box. "Are those ours too?"

George nearly squealed. "Our potions shipment! It hadn't come yet." He looked at his brother. "We can start restocking at the Burrow."

Fred nodded. "Okay. You tell mum." Ron laughed. "What?"

"She suggested it earlier when she popped in to nose around," he told his older brothers. "Did you want me to bring up the weapons boxes too?"

"Weapons?" George asked. "When did we get weapons?"

"They probably came with your husband," Ginny pointed out. "He seems to like things like that."

George nodded. "Probably did, though I wish I had known that. He wouldn't have gotten so hurt in a few fights."

"It's hard to hold an axe and a wand," Ron told him. His brothers gave him a funny look. "Direct quote from Black."

"Oh." Fred looked at his brother. "Should we look at them?"

"We should," George agreed. "Bring them up, Ron."

Ron snorted. "You can help carry. Your arms aren't broken."

"Oh, for Merlin's sake, use your wand," Hermione snapped.

Ron looked at her. "Have I ever mentioned that your forceful side is not only creepy, but bothersome?" She glared at him. "Well, now I have. Thank Merlin I'm not married to you." He strolled away, going to not do what she said. He lifted every day at work, he was perfectly capable of lifting some of the weapons boxes by himself. And he thought that all the way up to the point when he tried to move one. He got his crafty smile and made the boxes feather light, just long enough to carry them out. So he grabbed six of them and took them back to the site. "Ha," he said as he dropped them, canceling the spell. He went back for the rest of them, smirking at her shocked look.

Hermione walked over and tried to pick up one side of the top box. "How did he lift six of those?" she said incredulously.

George and Fred snickered. "Big brute strength I guess," George told her. He made a sound of joy when he saw a bit of stone pop over the shield. "Is that it?" he asked, pointing.

"It'd better be, otherwise you're getting a statue," Ginny teased. "Did you bring the camping gear? Ron forgot it at home."

"We can go get it," Fred offered. She nodded. "Be right back." He disappeared. He came back a moment later carrying a large, scuffed duffle bag. "This it?"

"That's it," Ron said as he carried out the last of them. "That's all there is." He wiped his forehead off for show. The last box moved in the slight breeze, but fortunately Hermione never noticed. His sister smirked at him as she canceled the spell.

"Guys, I need to do something nasty to my ex's hair," Ginny announced. "Can you think of anything?"

"Balding potion," Fred offered, pointing at his bald spot.

"Did you want to change the color, make it look like real hair, or just make him scream in horror?" George asked.

"Any and all of the above?" she suggested with her own version of a mean and cruel grin. "He tried to say that Denver wasn't a proper son of mine. That he was a Malfoy and only a Malfoy."

Fred winced and started scratching as his hair grew back. "And for that you want to hurt him? Denver is a Malfoy. He looks like one, he occasionally whines like one, and he even eats like one."

"That boy will never tan," Hermione agreed.

"Not the point," Ginny told them. "He all but said I wasn't a good mother to Denver." She pouted, an irresistible thing to her brothers.

"I can think of a few things," George told her with his most evil smile. He pointed as another arch of stone came up above the shield. "There's more of it."

"Xander told you both it'd take two days," Hermione reminded them. She grimaced when Fred combed his new hair into place. "That was sudden."

"Which is a good thing in our line of work," Fred reminded her. "Want to sniff? Maybe it'll do something different with your hair."

"No, thank you," she said dryly, going back to her post. She saw a few kids watching and waved at them. "Three days," she called. They pouted. "You can't see until he's done or it'll turn out funny in a bad way." The kids trudged off to go do something else. "There, settled that problem." Ginny and George laughed. "What?"

"They'll be back," Ron told her. "Children and little sisters are like that." He punched Ginny on the arm. "Stay out of my personal oil."

She grinned at him. "But it felt good!" He shuddered and walked away so she laughed. Direct hit!

***

Xander came out of his spell trance and looked around. He was in the middle of the shop. It was nearly done. All he had left were the windows and the doors, and the spells on them. He stood up with a groan, taking the time to stretch. Three days of doing this. He was sore, tired, and really needed the bathroom. He decided to head there first, just to make sure the plumbing worked. After he was done, he walked back to the bedroom to work on the windows in there. This was going to be so good when the guys saw it.

***

Xander walked out of the store and the shield fell. "I'm done," he announced. The kids clapped and cheered. "It'll be officially open in three days, with all new stock," he told them. The kids talked among themselves as they walked off.

Dumbledore walked up to Xander's side. "Did it all work?"

"It worked great," he said with a grin. "Want to see?" He let the older man into the building, letting him check out everything. He heard the laughter for the walkway between the shop and the lab. He had put the views from an aquarium on the walls, but it could be turned off to become normal windows if the twins wanted. He watched as Dumbledore came back out, still grinning. "Cool, huh."

"Very well done," Dumbledore praised. "The attention to detail is wonderful." He patted him on the shoulder. "Did someone tell you not to use major magic?" Xander started to frown and shook his head. "Good. It was a rumor I had heard and I wanted to check on it." He walked Xander back out, running into McGonagall and Snape standing outside. "He did an excellent job. Though the spell over the main doorway might need a bit of tweaking. It feels like it'll stretch." He let his coworkers into the store so they could check it out. "I'm sure Professor Flitwick would be quite interested in the spells to make the windows look out on different views."

Xander giggled. "I got them from him. He had them in a really old spell book. The same with the stretching portal spell."

"You'll need to anchor it," Dumbledore told him. "Those sort always need an anchor. But it was very considerate, making the doorway match itself to whatever size the person entering is." He took McGonagall's arm and walked her back to the school. "I'll expect to see you at classes on Monday," he called back.

"Okay. I'll be up for breakfast." Xander turned and found Snape staring at him. "What? The lab looks really bad?"

"No, it's quite nice," he said. "I had no idea that they were expanding that area."

Xander shrugged. "They used to complain that it was cramped so I gave them more room." He grinned. "You don't like the fish, do you?"

Snape shook his head. "It's not exactly standard wizarding creatures."

"Yeah, but they're calming and fun to watch. Plus very colorful. And I can cancel the view if I want."

"I saw a diver."

Xander stepped closer. "I put the viewing spell on a rock," he said quietly. "It's a normal rock and no one will sense anything unless they're magical. No resonance, no leakage of magical energy, nothing that'll show up unless you know what you're looking for." He stepped back. "What was the diver doing?"

"Staring at the rock, but he didn't move it." Snape glanced at the main doorway. "Are you sure that one's correct?"

"No. Dumbledore said I needed to anchor it better. I'll do that tomorrow, after I eat. Close the door behind you, I have the keys." He grinned and disappeared.

Snape grunted in annoyance but he closed the door before going to have a drink at the inn. He didn't think it was possible, but he had found someone worse at potions than Xander. He didn't even have anyone in detention tonight to help him clean up the mess.

***

Xander popped into the Burrow, landing on the couch with a yawn. "Done," he told Arthur. "What's this about me not using major magic?"

"Some people were worried that there might be some instability around the store because of the flashback," Arthur said, turning the page on his paper. "They didn't want you to bring down the rest of the town by accident." He lowered the paper. "Why don't you go eat and take a rest, Xander? You've been working for quite a while."

"Okay." Xander got up and yawned his way into the kitchen. Molly handed him a bowl of soup and a sandwich, shooing him to the stairs.

"You eat that while the water warms up for your shower then go to bed," she scolded. "Doing all that work must have worn you out." She walked in and kissed her husband on the cheek. "Did you want to sneak off and look at it?"

He smiled up at her. "No, I can wait until tomorrow, and so can you." He patted her on the butt, then pulled her down into his lap for a hug and a real kiss. She giggled and pushed ineffectively at his chest.

***

Xander climbed into his bed for the first time in three days and his husband nearly ran out the door. "Hey!" he complained. "Needing cuddles here." George slid in and gave him a perfunctory hug. "You can wait," he chided, holding George tightly.

"But we want to see it now," he whined.

"You did that on Christmas too, didn't you?" Xander asked with a grin. George nodded. "Give me a few hours. It's better by sunlight." He forced his mate onto his back and curled up on his chest. "Give me a few hours and I'll show you around. There's one small spell that needs to be fixed, but it'll be okay enough until then." He yawned again. "Need a nap."

Fred poked his head in. "Is it done?"

"With one correction needed," Xander agreed. "But that'll take someone better at portals than I am." He yawned again. "Tomorrow, guys. It looks more impressive in the light."

"But we wanna see it," Fred told him, starting to bounce on his feet.

"Tomorrow," Xander told him.

"Tomorrow," Arthur agreed from behind Fred in the hallway. "Just a few more hours, boys."

"Just like Christmas," their mother agreed as she slipped past Fred toward her room. "I'm sure we'll all be very happy when we see it tomorrow."

Xander's answer was a snore.

"Aww, that's cute," Arthur said, smiling at George, who was now a body pillow. "Let him rest, George, he deserves it. Those were some very heavy spells he used. I'm quite impressed." He patted Fred on the back. "Have a nice night, boys." He walked into his bedroom and closed the door.

Fred pouted at his brother, but his twin was trapped. Xander fought when his pillows moved.

"I'll wake him up at dawn," George told him happily. "Four more hours."

"All right," Fred sighed, going back to his room.

George settled himself for a sleepless night. It was torture to wait.

***

Xander plopped down in his usual chair at the table and gave his mother-in-law a pitiful look. She laughed and put a large plate of food in front of him with two of his sodas. "Thanks," he mumbled, grabbing one of the drinks to gulp. Caffeine was always helpful in the morning. As soon as that can was gone, he started on the food. "Give me enough time to eat and shower and I'll take you over and show you around," he mumbled between bites.

"Really, those boys should have let you sleep longer," she said firmly. Xander nodded, giving her a disgusted look. "I'm sure it was just their enthusiasm," she soothed. Xander nodded again, but he still didn't give his husband a happy look when he joined him at the table.

"Good morning," George said happily. Xander grunted at him. "What?" he asked innocently.

"I could have used some more sleep," Xander reminded him. "I have to start work again on Monday."

George gave him a hug. "I know and I'm sorry, but I've got present anxiety." He gave his mate a pitiful look. "Please? You can always nap later. It's only Saturday."

"Iggy has a game later," Xander reminded him. He scooped up the majority of his remaining eggs and shoved them in his mouth.

"Xander, eat like a normal human being," Molly chided. "They can wait long enough to let you eat."

"No we can't," George argued. His mother laughed. "We can't. This is really important." He squeezed Xander's thigh. "Eat faster, dear, and I'll make your night *very* happy tonight." Xander raised an eyebrow, and picked up a smaller bite. George leaned over and whispered in his mate's ear, and the food nearly instantly disappeared. "Thank you."

"Hey, that'll make up for the sleep I'm missing. I'll nap tomorrow." Xander stood up. "No Fred?"

"He's outside thinking," Molly told him. She stuck her head out the half-door to the garden. "Fred Weasley, get in here! We're leaving!" she yelled. It wasn't long before Fred landed outside the door. "Thank you. Keys, Xander?"

Xander held up a large brass key. "Here we are." Fred snatched it from his hand and disappeared, George no more than a heartbeat behind him. Molly and Xander laughed, but they left the house to go see too. The front door was already open so Xander escorted his mother-in-law inside. "Hey, that's the wrong color," he said, frowning at a small bout of graffiti. "The door was locked."

"It can be cleaned," Molly said, waving her wand at the spot, cleaning it up. She looked around at the walls. "Just like you imagined it," she said happily. She wandered back. "Xander, why is this view a dirt floor?" she called.

Xander pulled his wand and concentrated, flipping the stone over in the National Aquarium. "How's that?" he called.

"Much better," she said happily.

Fred came out of the hallway leading back to the living areas and gave Xander a hug. "You're the greatest," he said happily. "I'll even stop complaining about snogging in the workrooms." He wiped his eyes and walked back to the lab area, laughing out loud when he saw the view.

George came out of the living areas and smiled at his husband. "How did you duplicate the view from our rooms at home?"

"The same way I did the fish," he said smugly. "It's a small viewing portal attached to rocks."

"The fish disappeared again," Fred said as he walked back out. "Now it's a work room and some woman poking at the spot."

"They shouldn't have been able to see it," Xander said with a frown. He walked back to look at the view, frowning. He stunned the room and summoned the rock, looking it over. He fixed the portal and sent it back before the stunning wore off. The view came back and the rock was scrubbed, then put back into a fish tank, this time with tropical fish and sharks. "Hey, cooler view," he said happily, walking back into the main shop area. "All better." Arthur appeared, holding a parchment in his hand. "For me?"

Arthur nodded. "They delivered to my office." He handed it over. "Please don't mess with the muggles, Xander. It looks bad."

"I only stunned them," he complained, reading the note. "See, someone else thinks that I'm not supposed to be doing major magic either." He showed it off. "Can you please tell them to tell me that personally so I can bitch them out?" he asked sweetly. Arthur nodded. "Thanks." He balled up the parchment and tossed it into the empty fireplace. "So go look, tell me how good I did." Arthur walked off, letting his wife show him around. Xander lit the parchment on fire with his wand.

George bounded out and picked Xander up, swinging him around. "I love it," he told him. "It's perfect and unique and so very us. It's the perfect joke shop and amusement place in one."

Xander smiled down at his husband. "You're welcome." He stole a kiss. "Wanna go nap?"

"Nap? We have to make stuff," George told him. "We've got to get the stock out and make sure everything's up to our standards."

"I told the kids last night we'd be opening in three days," Xander told him.

"Kids?"

"There was a crowd of kids waiting on me when I got done." He slid down his mate's body, stealing another kiss. "Either I get a nap or I'm going to whine for hours," he said nicely, giving him a smile. "Wake me up for Iggy's match."

George laughed. "All right, you go nap and I'll make Fred go referee tonight." He gave him a squeeze. "I mean it. This is perfect. Much better than I imagined, Xander. Thank you."

"Welcome. I like making you happy." Xander reached into his pocket and pulled out a small box. "That's why I got you this."

George took the little box, holding his breath. Inside was a wedding ring, one to replace his lost one. "It's gorgeous," he said, smiling. He took it out and put it on; it was an eternity band with emeralds between the diamonds inside a solid silver band. "I love this." He gave his husband a long, penetrating kiss. "I love you. You're so good to me."

Fred leaned against a wall, watching his brother all-but have sex in the middle of the shop. He could see the ring, and honestly if Xander had given it to him, he'd be making out with him too. He coughed loudly, breaking them up. "Are we working in the lab today?"

"I'm napping," Xander told him. "George offered you to referee tonight."

"Forgot about the game," Fred said, his face starting to scrunch up as he thought. "Wish Charlie or Bill were here, they'd do it and let us work."

"Bill said he'd be back tonight," his mother called from the back. She and Arthur walked out to join them. "Oh, George," she said happily, picking up his hand to look at the ring. "That's even nicer than your first one."

Xander beamed happily.

Snippet 21:

Bill forced his way through the throng of kids, generally moving toward the register and his brother-in-law. "Good reopening," he said in appreciation. If there had been a shop like this when he had been a child, he might have run away from home to come visit it. He smiled at the wall behind Xander as it slowly changed colors. "Your idea?"

"The plaid, the color changing was the twins." He leaned on the counter, watching the kids talk about the new stuff. "The red stuff's hot," he warned when someone started to put it on their mouth. "And you've got to buy it before you can eat it." The girl in question ran over and gave him a sickle for the treats in her hand, then ran back to her friends to show off what they did. Her ears started to smoke and she belched a small flame, making the other kids in the store go 'ooooh'. There was a run on those candies.

Bill laughed. "Very cute," he told Fred as he waded toward them. "Xander, can I borrow you for a minute?"

"Sure," Xander said, turning over register duties to Fred and taking Bill back into the quieter living section. As soon as the door closed, silence was achieved. "A spell I found yesterday," he told him. He led the way to his and George's bedroom. "What's up?"

"You know I've been working on a battle site?" Xander nodded. "Well, it looks like one of you was there." He opened his robe and carefully pulled out a wrapped object. "This is part of a skeleton we found," he said quietly, unwrapping it so he could see the claw finger. "The goblins I work for *refuse* to go anywhere near the site now. Can you get us a specialist or a historian to help us? Someone who could identify the various stuff we've found and help us with any technical details."

Xander shrugged. "I don't know, let me ask." He got up and walked to the fireplace, tossing some of the special contact powder into the fire. "Secondary fire, main gryphon colony, Stonehenge." A head appeared, a human one. "Hey, is big Bill there?" Bill frowned at him. "Believe it or not, the colony's historian is named Bill too," Xander told him with a grin.

"This had better be good," the gryphon said as he appeared. "I was in the middle of a new book." He looked at the thing Xander was holding out. "Where did you get that?"

"I have someone here, a relative, who works for Gringotts and they found a battle site. He needs to talk to you about it and maybe convince you to help him. Can I put him on?"

"Do so," Bill the gryphon said.

Xander got out of the way. "Here you go, Bill Weasley, Bill the gryphon. Oh, Bill, do you have anything on portals? One of the ones I created is doing funny stuff."

"I'll send someone down to help you," he told him. "Portals can be very dangerous, Xander, that's why we don't use them."

"This one's supposed to stretch to whatever size you are, but it's been stretching length-wise too, like it gets longer the more it stretches in height."

"I'll send someone down, Xander."

"Okay." Xander walked away, leaving them alone. Out in the store, everyone was silently staring at a man holding a large, round, braided hay object. Xander squealed and leaped over to look it over. "The family nest!" he said happily, giving the man a hug. "You so rock, dude. You're the greatest being at the moment." He carried it away, going to put it on the base he had made for it. He could fix it later. There was enough here to rebuild it. "Bill, look," he said as he walked in. "The family nest!" He put it on the base and looked it over. "This is so wicked."

Out in the store, that man was looking at Fred, looking confused. "Was that a good thing?" he asked.

Fred nodded. "He's formerly American," he explained. The guy nodded. That certainly explained it. "Thank you for bringing it back. Xander's heritage is very important to him."

"It was nothing. It was in my field." He waved and walked over to look at the treats around.

Fred walked over to the doorway that went to the lab, and stuck his head in. "Someone found part of the nest!" he called. George came running out and headed back to the family section. Fred smiled at the man coming up to him. "Thank you for that. You just made my brother-in-law ecstatic. He's been so down." He waved the man's money off. "It's free. Have fun with those." He handed over a small bag from under the register counter containing one sliver of wood from the old store. "Try that too," he said with a smile. "It's a mystery what'll happen."

The man smiled and walked out, his son would enjoy these. His wife had been right to nag him to bring it back for a reward. Not that the tricks would be what she had been expecting. But the boys had just rebuilt so they probably didn't have any of that settlement money left.

***

Xander walked into breakfast Wednesday and smiled at everyone. "Someone found the outer ring of my nest," he announced to the other teachers. A few of them clapped and everyone else looked happy. "And the reopening went very well. The kids nearly cleaned out the whole shop." He sat in his usual seat. "So today's going to be a good day."

"Good," McGonagall agreed. "What about Minister Fidders? I heard he was coming up to tour the school."

"I've met him before. He fixed the immigration stuff for me." Xander dished up some food. "I'll eat fast," he said when he noticed some of the teachers giving his full plate a look. "I've got a first period class too." He stuffed his mouth.

"I saw the ring you gave George," Tara told him. "Very beautiful." Xander grinned at her between bites. "Did it take you long to find it?"

He shook his head. "I took Harry to help me find it. I tried to get Ron, but he had to work."

"So that's what the picture was of," Willow said. Xander nodded. "I guess that's cool." She looked around, then back at him. "Have you seen Ryan? He wanted to talk to you about guy stuff."

Snape coughed. "Yes, he started to come to me for it, but realized I might not have a clue what he was talking about. Apparently I'm not a man according to him," he finished dryly.

Xander looked Snape over. "You look like one to me. What did he need?"

"I have no idea. He started to babble something about protective gear and then blushed and ran away."

"Oh, he probably needs a cup," Tara said, nodding. "Adrian needed one of those to play quidditch." Snape gave her a look. "I guess he thought you never needed one because you don't play sports."

Snape snorted. "Indeed." He finished his breakfast and stood up. "Good day." He walked away.

McGonagall leaned around Willow and Tara. "He came to me after class yesterday and was indeed asking about protective gear. Didn't blush a bit, but why he expected me to know I'm not sure."

Xander coughed. "It's because you're such a tough woman," he explained. She smiled. "He probably thinks you used to play quidditch yourself."

"I guess it was a compliment then," she said happily, getting up. "I'll see you all at lunch." She walked away also.

Xander stuffed the rest of the food into his mouth and grabbed one of the last pieces of toast to nibble on his way to his classroom. "Later," he mumbled, heading out.

Dumbledore stared at the young professor's back. If he only had that sort of energy.

***

Xander looked up from his grading as the door opened. "Hi, Minister Fidders. Give me a sec." He finished grading that paper and put it aside. "Sorry, I lose my place in essays if I don't do it all at once." He put aside his quill and pasted on his 'interested' look. "What can I do for you today?"

Minister of Magic Fidders closed the door. "Xander, there was a small concern about the magic you were using last weekend," he said, sitting down at a student desk.

"Yeah, Arthur mentioned something about the excess chaos energy. But you've got to realize, what I am is made to channel and smooth out the chaos energy." The Minister tipped his head to the side. "Gryphons channel, smooth out, and filter the chaos magic for the larger lumps of it. That's our function the greater scheme of life. The problem became that humans were able to pull up the chaos magic, but it wasn't ....helpful to them. It was too lumpy if you get my meaning, hurting them greatly when they tried to use it." The minister nodded. "So they researched and decided that they needed the gryphon-born because we filter the magic streams so much smoother, which in turn makes it easier for other humans to use it, which means that the humans would leave them alone."

Minister Fidders smiled. "That's good to know. So you can successfully handle chaos magic?"

"Up to a point," Xander told him. "I'm not the strongest. I can deal with chaos tainted magic, and things like that, but I couldn't handle pure chaos magic. Especially not when there's a big chunk in the stream like there's been recently. So what I did actually smoothed out the fluctuations around Hogsmeade."

Fidders laughed. "Thank you for that explanation. But, in the future, could you please warn us? The Misuse of Magic office nearly went insane while you were working. All their monitors picked up on you and nowhere else."

"Not an issue. I would have thought Arthur would've put it around. I heard him bragging to Percy."

"Ah, yes, Percy Weasley." He grimaced. "He's become a bit uptight since that incident happened."

Xander nodded. "Someone gave him an ultimatum, his work or his family. I know it didn't make him that happy." He shifted and crossed his feet at the ankle. "I've been meaning to steal him for a while, just to make him feel better. Percy and I get along great."

"You don't think he'll be upset about what happened?"

"Probably about the part where they left Fred and George out to dry, if he knows. Maybe more if he didn't. I'm not sure what Percy knows and what he doesn't. He hasn't written me recently."

Minister Fidders stood up. "Thank you, Professor Harris." He smiled. "No phoenix?"

"He's running an errand in London today, taking some of his last crop of chicks to Ollivanders and taking a message to the vampire working with me on my textbook."

"I had heard that some of it was wrong."

Xander snorted. "Not only is some of it wrong, but Giles intentionally put something false in there. That was before the incident with the Watcher's Council declaring all magical creatures demonic. Thankfully, most students take things from the notes I give them and not the books. With luck, I'll have a correct copy by my deadline in January. For both classes."

Minister Fidders nodded. "Good work." He shook Xander's hand. "Please, seem less fantastic," he said quietly. "I'd like it if everything died down for a bit."

"There's still going to be action against the Watcher's Council. They come from near the main gryphon colony and we've heard that they've gotten hold of a unicorn in the past. The new Head is an asshole of the highest magnitude."

Minster Fidders smiled. "Quite often people in charge are. I'm hoping not to become one myself." He patted Xander on the arm and walked out, continuing on his tour. He came back a moment later. "Could you show me your other classroom and how the various implements work?"

"Sure," Xander said, gathering up all the essays. "It's really pretty neat," he said with a smile. He led the way down and showed off his toys.

***

Bill stood up at dinner, clearing his throat. "Family, I have something important to announce." He looked at Xander. "The site I'm working on was one of you. We've positively identified it as such from the gryphon records. As a matter of fact, it was a gryphon-born female fighting against one of the old-time dark wizards." Xander dropped his fork with a clang. "She changed shape to fight with more powers."

Xander's mouth opened, but no sound came out. "No way," Ron breathed. Bill nodded. "And you're sure?" Bill nodded again so Ron looked at Xander. "Does that mean you can do that?"

"No," Xander squeaked. "None of us can."

Bill's smile got brighter. "The gryphon Bill managed to find her former house and her decaying books." He sat down. "The nest itself was a find, but her books are priceless. The goblins readily handed everything at the site, except a necklace, to the gryphons for study. They don't want to deal with it."

Xander shook his head. "Necklace? Could it be like my bracelet was when I had it?" Bill nodded. "Wow. Any idea which clan she came from?"

"She's from an African clan, but she's the daughter of a European mother. Her clan's from Belgium. Bill's trying to find out if there's anyone remaining from her family to get official permission." He smiled at Xander. "He said your lineage was from there too."

"An African clan or the Belgian one?" Molly asked.

"There's so much interbreeding," Xander told her. "Females and males are given to other clans and colonies so there's not inter-family breeding."

"I was wondering," Ginny said. "What's the difference between a clan, a flock, and a colony?"

"It's a matter of relativity," Xander told her with a mischievous grin. "A flock is a single family unit. A clan is an extended family unit. A colony can be a clan with others added in, or it can be a group of gryphons living together, like in Stonehenge's main colony."

"Is there more than one there?" Bill asked.

Xander nodded. "There's six colony portals within Stonehenge. One of them is apparently empty now, but there's more than one there. Caves can only hold so many of us before it gets crowded."

"So, colonies can hold families, but it's not only family members," Fred summarized. Xander nodded. "That's interesting. So, would you belong to the colony?"

"I'm affiliated with the main colony because they trained me and taught me what I needed to know. I can choose to go to another colony, but it might be seen as turning my back on the first one unless there's an overcrowding problem - which there is. So, theoretically, I can start my own colony, or my own flock."

"Which you have," Molly pointed out. Iggy giggled at her. "Do you have plans of setting up a colony?"

"Not really. I already have a clan going." He grinned at her. "I adopted you all so it's official in our eyes. I have a clan going." He nodded, closing that subject. "Any ideas how long it'll take to find any relatives?"

"Bill thinks that there's probably at least four surviving. That flock exchange was one of the most common back then. Belgium and the African tribes were the most populous and neither one kept very good records of incoming gryphlets."

"Gee, that would be something that changed," Xander said with a frown. "There's a very big book of every gryphon that ever *visited* the colony I work with. Breeding has an even larger book."

"It apparently changed when the hunts started," Bill told him. Xander nodded. That explained it. "So we're searching. Before then, we're hoping to find something fantastic in her books, maybe even a diary."

"What about the skeleton?" Xander asked.

"It's going into the Ministry's creature museum. Apparently she didn't get to shift fully before she was killed."

"Because shifting fully meant she couldn't use her wand," Xander said, understanding.

"Actually, she had a staff," Bill told him. "About six feet tall, large emerald at the top."

Xander stood up, pushing his chair over. "She was a desert guardian?"

"Huh?" George asked.

"Desert guardians. They guarded one of the most massive colonies down there. One of the biggest ever!" Bill nodded. "It's her, isn't it?"

"We think so," Bill agreed with a smile. "It looks like it's Thermina. We're trying to figure it out for sure."

"Thermina?" Fred asked.

"Think of her like Sir Galahad from King Arthur, only a gryphon-born," Xander explained, putting his chair back into place. "It's a legend among us. Someone told me when I first got sick up there." George frowned at him. "Telling me stories kept me calm and anti-whiny."

"I'll have to remember that," George told him, patting the chair. "Sit down, Xander." Xander sat back down. "So, she's a white knight among the borns?"

Xander nodded. "Yeah. She supposedly died in battle protecting her colony, facing off with Merlin himself."

"But Merlin was good," Ron pointed out.

"Not always," Molly told him. "He did bad things too." She looked at Xander. "Was he searching for a newborn?" Xander nodded. "Then I know the myth associated on our side."

"And in the books we found part of the story from her side," Bill told her. "Merlin wasn't the good guy everyone thinks and this find proves it."

"His quest to make the future turn out the way he saw it blinded him to the ethics of his actions," Arthur told him. "Both sides probably had some stake in it."

Xander shook his head. "No, Merlin came after one of our eggs so he could sacrifice her. It had to specifically be a pure bred gryphon, female, and a gold egg. He was going to break it open and sacrifice the child within to build up his power base, wanting to absorb what would have been her powers." Arthur shook his head. "That's what the gryphons recorded. This wasn't being blind, this was a power move."

"Could it have happened?" Bill asked.

Xander nodded. "The same as if I do some of the darkest spells and kill you during them, I can take your energies. It's the same spells. Someone got caught last year doing it to a unicorn and were sentenced for it."

Arthur sighed. "I had forgotten about that."

"But Merlin was a shining figure in the world," Ron argued.

"Who knew he wasn't going to be a major player himself. He was a facilitator," Bill reminded him. Ron nodded and looked away. "He had a period of his life when he wanted power and wasn't careful about how he got it. This was part of that."

"And he was blasted back into the ocean for it," Xander added. "The story finishes that Thermina defeated him by some sort of displacement spell, basically calling flashback to her and shoving him away. The pure energy running through her killed her and he was forever banished from touching another magical creature."

"He was so burnt out that he went into hiding. That's supposedly when he found the Lady of the Lake."

"Oh," Ron said, blinking a few times. "So he was a bad guy who became good?" His parents nodded. "Interesting. Won't it cause problems within the historians?"

"Oh, yeah," Bill agreed. "They're already protesting that this isn't what we think it is, and it's not who we think it is, and that Merlin could never do anything like that. I wish he'd wake up and admit it so they'd all shut up."

"He's sleeping?" Xander asked. Bill nodded. "Are you sure?" Bill nodded. "I wouldn't be." Bill frowned at him. "One of the colonies up north was supposed to be guarding his body. The one that Lucius had destroyed. No body was reported. Just a grave."

"Oh, crap," Bill said, looking stunned. "How long have you known?"

"It came out while I was informing someone of the colony's demise. They wanted to know if they should move the body or not. I'm not sure what they decided. Bill will probably ignore any question you ask about it, but you might be able to out-stubborn him into telling you about it."

Bill nodded. "I'll talk with him tomorrow. If Merlin's dead, then a lot of what we know is wrong."

Xander shrugged. "I stay out of those arguments," he said wisely. "It keeps me happier." He looked at his son. "Why don't you call Melvin and ask him to sleep over tonight?" he suggested. His son slid out of his seat and walked over to the fire to call his cousin. "Fidders came by today. He was really nice and agreed with you about people panicking over my using magic in town right then. Asked that I tell him if I plan on using something bigger. I told him why we're here and he looked really stunned, like he had never heard it before."

"You guys filter chaos magic, right?" Molly asked. Xander nodded. "And the ones like you are because normal human wizards can't use the level of filtering that the gryphons create?" Xander nodded. "That's what we were always taught in Care of Magical Creatures."

"Hagrid never said anything about that stuff," Ron said, frowning at his mother.

She laughed. "Don't worry, anytime you need that sort of knowledge, I'm sure one of us will have it." He grumbled something but stuffed his mouth.

Arthur smiled at his boys. "As long as you can keep the controversy polite, it'd be very nice to hear about more of this."

Bill snorted. "Polite? The Merlinites at the Ministry? Some of them don't want to see anything except for him being the hero. They don't even like to acknowledge his role in Arthur's birth because he screwed people over. They're going to be up in arms about this." He took a bite of his dinner. "Great job, mum. Can't tell you how nice it is to eat real food."

Xander nodded. "Much better than I do at home."

Iggy stomped back to the table and sat in his seat, his arms crossed over his chest. "Melvin's daddy told me not to call him again."

"I think someone needs to have a talk with Percy," Xander suggested. "Even Fidders suggested someone talk with Percy because of his surliness."

Arthur wiped his mouth and stood up. "I should probably be the one to do that."

Xander smiled at him. "If it doesn't work, can I kidnap him and make him uncranky?"

"As long as it doesn't hurt anyone," Arthur told him. He tossed some powder into the fire and disappeared. He appeared in Percy's fireplace. "Percy," he said, stepping out. "I think we need to talk. Minister Fidders suggested it," he said at the frown. Percy's mouth opened in shock. "Tell me what's wrong?" he offered quietly.

"Wrong?" Percy screeched. "What ever could be wrong? Just because the Ministry is targeting my family, my brother-in-law is nearly thrown in prison, and everyone decided that it's somehow my fault!"

"Percy," Kandy said quietly, laying a hand on his arm. "Everything's fine now. They've found the people responsible. Everyone's fine."

Arthur sat down next to Melvin and smiled at his son. "Percy, I know that you're distressed. I was horribly upset, enough that I went and yelled at my boss at the top of my lungs." Percy pulled away from him. "Percy, this has been a horrible time for the whole family, not just yours. By being surly and nasty to the rest of us, it just leaves you more alone." He gave him a sad smile. "Xander said that he's going to kidnap you if you have more problems." Kandy smiled and Melvin laughed. "Really, Percy, it's all fixed. We'd be more than happy to have you come back and the family to be whole again."

"But..." Percy said.

"Time's up," Xander said as he stepped out of the fireplace. "Sorry, but I'm impatient and I need to talk to my bestest buddy." He grabbed Percy and took off with him, and no one heard the address he gave the floo. He stepped out into the woods, letting Percy go so they could walk out of the ruins of the cabin Xander had found a few years ago. "Tell me. I'm not going to get upset and I'm not going to scream back. So just yell and scream and get it all out."

Percy shook his head. "I don't want to."

Xander stepped closer. "Percy, on some level, you blame me for this. All this stuff happened to your family since I came along. I know that you do," he countered when Percy shook his head. "It's reasonable, I understand that."

Percy stepped away from him. "Even if I did, it's unreasonable and wrong."

"Since when has the human mind made sense?" Xander said scornfully. Percy scowled at him. "See, you need to get it out before you explode. Otherwise I'm stealing Melvin for a sleepover and giving Kandy stuff to put you in an excellent and relaxed mood."

"Did Fidders talk to you too?"

"Actually, he only talked to me and I was going to let dad handle it." Percy scowled again. "What? You don't like me calling him that?" Xander stepped closer to him again. "Is that all part of the blaming me thing?" Percy nodded. "It might help if you screamed at me instead of holding it in. It'd make you feel a lot better."

Percy took a deep breath and faced off with his brother-in-law, willing to let it all out as long as it wouldn't come back on him. He just couldn't carry it around anymore.

***

Xander and Percy appeared in the dining room together. Percy went to his wife and whispered something in her ear, making her smile and kiss him. "I'm sorry if I've caused any trouble," Percy said quietly.

"It's all right, son. I do understand," Arthur told him, giving him a hug. "It can't be any worse than what I thought when Xander and George first started dating." He smiled at Xander. "And then he decided to show me he could be worse than I thought, but probably wouldn't toward the family."

Xander nodded. "True." He kissed Fred's cheek.

"Eww," Fred muttered, wiping his cheek off. "George, your husband's molesting me again."

George walked over and kissed his husband hard. "Put your lips on my brother again and I'll make you sorry," he promised. Xander grinned at him. "Oh, like that thought do you?"

"Maybe," Xander said happily. "But only if I get to try and retaliate later."

Arthur shook his head. "As you can tell, nothing much has changed. Sit and have dessert with us. Bill's just found an amazing historical site, it'll really shake up some historians."

Percy frowned. "I've heard. I'm being moved to their unit due to their boss getting a promotion." He looked at his brother. "They're all cursing your name and giving me dirty looks because of this."

"They'll get over it," Xander told him.

"You could ask to be transferred," George suggested as he slid down into Xander's lap. "The kids have decided that they're staying here tonight."

"Oooh, really?" Xander breathed against the warm skin of his mate's neck. "Does that mean we can be noisy?"

"I'd like to sleep tonight," Fred butted in. "Please put a silencing charm on your room."

Ron choked on his juice. "Fred, not while I'm drinking. That's an icky picture."

Xander looked over at him. "I feel the same way whenever I have to hear about how you snogged Buffy into a good mood." Ron smiled at him. "Just remember, I've known her since before she dated a vampire." Ron frowned at him and flipped him off.

"Ronald Weasley!" his mother shouted. She reached over and whapped him on the arm. "You do not make that gesture in my house."

"Yes, mum." Ron glared at Xander, who was smiling at him. "I'll get you for that."

"How about we get Draco together instead?" he suggested.

Ron considered it for a minute, then nodded. "Sounds reasonable to me." He finished his juice. "Are we finally attacking his hair?"

Xander nodded. "I'm tired of the helmet look. He needs real hair." He smiled evilly, then chuckled. "I don't think he knows how strong the two of us can be."

Molly choked. "Xander, don't be mean to him."

"He told Ginny that Denver was only a Malfoy," Xander whined. "She's obviously smoothed out some of the Malfoy roughness with Weasley care and attention on both of them. He needs to learn that he can't insult her willy-nilly whenever he wants."

"You would have been hell during our early school years," Ron said, smirking in admiration. "I might have not had to call him all sorts of names."

Percy glared at his youngest brother. "The war between you two should have stopped long ago. He is practically family now."

"Which is why he's further down my ..." He looked at his mother. "Crap list," he finished. She growled. "Sorry, mum, but there's no other way of putting it."

She shook her head. "I'm sure those two will work it out without any help from you lot." She called the cake over to her and put it in the middle of the table so she could slice it. Together with Kandy, everyone got served and was happy again.

Snippet 22:

Xander had waited for this moment for nearly a month. Draco was walking into the shop and Ron was in the back room. "Hey," he said, patting down his pockets. "Can I borrow your wand for a moment? I can't find mine." It was a lie, but Draco readily handed over his wand for him to use. He changed the color of the wall behind the kiddie-safe treats and muttered the incantation to stop Draco from using the spell to flatten his hair. He smiled and handed it back. "Thanks. I was tired of that color and it wasn't going to change for hours."

Draco smiled at him. "No problem. Iggy told Simone about something that tickled you and Denver's demanding some of it."

"Oh, yeah, the icy fingers of death. You eat it and it tickles you ten minutes for each inch you eat." He pointed at the jar holding the long strings of taffy-like material. "Right there. Six knuts an inch. It was one of my creations."

Draco walked over and pulled out a few inches, cutting it off with the cutting bar on the jar. "I think this should be enough to soothe his temper tantrums," he said with a smile as he brought it over to be rung up.

Xander handed him a bag. "That's three inches, so eighteen knuts." He took the money. "Hey, you wouldn't want to test something out for us, would you?" Draco shook his head. "Shoot. We really need an independent test subject."

"What does it do?" Draco sighed. He hated it when Xander was unhappy, besides, it kept him from blowing up stuff. He took a small piece of popcorn that Xander was holding out. "What does it do?"

"It makes other people see things that you can't," Xander said with a grin. "Like you turn colors but only they can see it." Draco dropped the piece of popcorn, but Xander nearly cackled because the potion was soaked up through the skin. He saw Ron sneaking out and opened his mouth like he was going to warn Draco, but nothing came out. This was going to be good.

Ron raised his wand and sent a short spell at his almost brother-in-law. "Ha!" he shouted when it was done.

Draco watched as his hair fell down into his eyes, and over his mouth, and down his chest. Then the hair on the rest of his body started to grow too. "What did you do!"

"Ginny said so," Xander said with an evil smile.

Draco growled and disappeared, going to Ginny's office. He landed in front of her desk, huffing and sneering. "What did you tell those two maniacs to do?" he demanded. "I look like a yeti! I ought to make you shave all this off! Why did you tell them to do this to me?"

Ginny shrugged. "I asked months ago." She reached into her drawer and pulled out a hairtie. "Here, you need it."

"Do you know how long it takes me to fix my hair every day and shave?"

She looked him over. "Not as long as it will now?" she guessed. He huffed and pulled up the top of his hair, making a topknot. "What did they do to you and which pair was it?"

"Ron and Xander," he nearly wailed.

"Ah." She stood up and moved some of the hair out of his eyes for him. "I told them months ago to get you for saying I wasn't a good mother to Denver," she said quietly. "I'm sorry they waited this long to do it." His eyes flashed. "Well, you did."

"You're an excellent mother to my son."

"Our son," she corrected. "I changed his diapers and read him bedtime stories too, as much as you do for Simone. That makes him just as much my son as it does yours." He sighed. This argument again. "And then you compounded it by saying that I had no effect on his life. If it had been me, you'd be more than hairy." She sat down again. "Sorry about the hair, but the kids will probably think you're a teddy bear." She smiled.

"I'll get you for this," he promised, grabbing her. "You'll fix this or your family will have to beg to get you back." He disappeared with her. "With you Weasleys, who needs Voldemort and Death Eaters? You're the most evil creatures on the face of this planet."

"Thank you," she said with a grin. She wiped her smile before he dumped her onto the floor. "You want me to fix it and you abuse me?"

"I should abuse you," he snarled. "It'd serve your family right for doing this to me."

"Just think, Xander likes you a lot, he could have done a lot worse."

"Worse? How can it get worse?" he screeched. "I look like some creature that Hagrid would keep!"

"Yell like that again and I'll call him," Ginny told him, standing up. He growled at her, making her back up a step. "Hey, you started it! You said I wasn't a good mother to Denver. I'm an excellent mother to all the kids, even him!"

Denver walked in and looked up at them. "If you want to yell at each other, can I go live with Iggy? His parents don't scream or leave." He pouted at her. "Mommy, are you coming back for good?"

"No," Draco told her.

"It's up to your father," Ginny said, pointing at him.

Denver looked at his father. "Daddy, why are you furry? Is this a subtle way of telling me I can have a dog?"

"No," Draco said. "Go play upstairs," he ground out. Denver sighed and rolled his eyes, but he left them alone. "Do you see what your son learned from you?"

"Yup, he learned to give a damn about other people's feelings," she countered, crossing her arms.

"I care about other people's feelings," he said, starting to pout.

"So you didn't mean to say I wasn't doing a good job with Denver?"

"No! But he is a Malfoy. He looks like every single one of us and he acts like us."

She rolled her eyes. "Then Merlin help him if he ever gets a girlfriend! He'll probably have this same argument with her." She smirked. "And that's assuming he likes girls."

Draco spluttered. "He had better like girls. It's up to him to carry on the family name and genes."

Ginny shrugged. "Yay. He might not like girls. Xander said he caught your son groping Melvin." And Simone, but she conveniently left that out.

"No! Not my son. My son will be straight and have many children to carry on the better part of the family's heritage." He crossed his arms and fully started to pout, not that she could see it. "My son has to do that or the whole family might die."

She gave his furry self a hug. "I'm sure he'll have at least one kid. Xander and George did." He looked at her, but he wasn't ready to be mollified yet. "And you look better with hair that's not chunky." She ran her hands through some of the pelt coming through his shirt. "It's good to be able to run my fingers through it."

"I like my hair, I look good like that."

"Who told you that?"

"My mum, used to say I was very handsome with my hair like that." He sniffed. "I like my hair like that."

"Honey, everyone else thinks your hair looks like some helmet-like protection device." He pulled away from her. "What looked good on you as a child doesn't look good on you now."

"You'd prefer me like this?" he asked, waving a hand at all his hair.

She shook her head. "Personally, I think it's cute that you shave everything." She smirked when he glared at her again. "I do. It's cute to watch you shave." She sat down on a couch. "I'd rather that you not have that much hair because it reminds me of your father, but I'm more than willing to help you find a hairstyle that suits you."

"I like my hair that way," he ground out.

"Draco, I don't know how you get laid as much as you do, everyone used to laugh at your hair." He stomped out and she sighed, getting up to use the fireplace.

"No!" he said harshly from the doorway. "You're staying." He covered the fireplace and stomped back out again.

She sighed and sat down again. "This was not how I wanted to spend the day." She tipped her head back. "I need to call Hermione, I was supposed to be meeting with someone today," she yelled. And she really needed to get the news back so someone would go pick Simone up at daycare.

"Fine, use the one in the kitchen," he snapped from the doorway. "Who're you meeting?"

"Minister Fidders. He wanted to know if there was anything coming down that he should know about." She stood up. "Besides, your daughter's playing right now and someone has to pick her up." She started to walk away from him but he grabbed her arm. "What now?"

"You sent my child out to be taken care of by a stranger?"

"Mum's busy and the daycare's just down the road from my office. It's run by a very nice witch and two wizards, all of whom mum talked to." He glared at her, and it felt like the air was heating around them. "She's only there when I have to go into the office. Usually she's with me at Hermione's while we work."

"From now on," he snarled, "she comes here when you're too busy for her."

"I'm not too busy for her. Did it occur to you that it's good for her to meet new people and play with other kids?" She got free of him and he made another snatch for her. "Get over it, Draco. If Denver's yours, then Simone and Anastasia are mine."

"They're my children."

"And mine. I didn't see you laying there pushing them out." She turned and walked away, heading for the kitchen. "Percy Weasley," she called as soon as the floo powder was in the fire. Her brother's face showed up. "Percy, I need a favor. Draco's just kidnaped me to have a fight. Simone's in daycare up the street and I had a meeting with Minister Fidders in about thirty minutes. Can you call off and pick her up?"

He looked around her but he didn't see anyone else. "Are you all right?"

"Yeah, but I think it's going to be a long, tiring fight. One we need to have if he's going to continue to see his daughters, but it's going to be horrible. Can we send Denver to you too?"

"Of course. I have nothing here for him to do, but I'll gladly take him to mum's tonight."

Ginny smiled. "Thanks. Expect him soon." She broke the connection. "Denver!" she yelled. He came running down the back stairs. "Want to go see Percy and the others?" He nodded, looking happier. "Okay. Let's send you there so your father and I can fight."

He laid a hand on hers. "He's very fragile," he told her quietly. "Be nice to him or he'll cry." He let her send him on to his uncle.

Ginny turned around and found her ex standing in the doorway. "That way he doesn't have to hear us argue."

He shrugged. "I know your mother will take good care of him." He leaned against the doorway. "Are you done?"

"For now." She stepped away from the fireplace, and it disappeared too. "You do realize that the house elves will be confused?" she asked.

"I don't care." He pointed at the hallway. "Let's go fight somewhere else." He walked off, leaving her to follow him.

She sighed but followed. Maybe she'd be able to shout some sense into the guy. He wasn't totally gone yet. "Have you decided to apologize for insulting me yet?" she asked. He looked at her, then looked away. "Because if you haven't...."

"You'd take my daughters away from me?"

"You're trying to take my son away from me," she reminded him. "I can get over Denver's loss, you can get over the girls'."

He shook his head. "No, I won't. They are my life."

"No, they're part of your life," she countered. "You have more in your life."

He shook his head. "No, I don't. I've built my life around them because I can't do much more." He turned to face her. "They are my life. You have more going on."

She nodded. "Yeah, I do. You could but you chose not to."

He laughed coldly. "Like anyone's going to trust me! No one even wants to be around me because of what my father was. All those parties that I used to go to are closed to me. People I thought I knew snub me. Either I'm in love with you, and that's too much for them to handle, or I'm a Malfoy and therefore evil and unable to be around decent people."

She walked over and hugged over. "You need better friends." He pulled away from her. "Has anyone in my group said anything to you?"

"No, they just give me looks like I'm a horrible disease that's infecting you periodically." He sat down and curled up in a chair. "You can't take the children away from me."

She sat down across from him. "I don't want to but you're not giving me much choice. I'm not going to voluntarily hand over my children to someone who insults me." She got comfortable. "I'm nearly leaving this to you, but I'm drawing a line. You insulted me and I'm not going to put up with it. For that matter, I know my brothers can do better. Percy might as well have thought this prank up." She smiled. "But Xander wouldn't hurt you."

He nodded. "I know."

She picked up a pillow and tossed it at him. "Asshole, you could get over this if you wanted to. You used to be much more forceful and manly. You're wimping out because people give you funny looks?"

"I'd like to be accepted by someone."

"Gee my family doesn't count?" He shrugged. "Get over it, Draco. "You're feeling pathetic again and it's affecting everything around you."

"You left me and took my daughters," he protested. She shrugged. "That doesn't bother you?"

"I told you that I wouldn't put up with shit from you when we were in India." She leaned closer. "You do realize that you brought this on yourself."

"But he is a Malfoy! He looks like one, he acts like one, and he's everything that I would have been with decent parents."

"Yay. He's also all but my step-son."

He shook his head. "We're not married."

She picked up a small statue and threw it at him, hitting him on the side of the head. He looked stunned as he rubbed the small lump. "Good, maybe it'll make you see reality again. Have I not been there for Denver for most of his life?" Draco nodded. "Didn't we already have this fight at least once before?" He nodded again. "Did you think I was blowing smoke up your ass that time?" He nodded. "Bloody idiot." She got up and walked out. She came back a moment later. "In case you hadn't noticed, I'm here. I've been here and might continue to be here. Whether or not I'm here depends on you pulling your head out of your ass and seeing me for everything I've done and been through. Until you do, I'm not talking to you and you might as well tell my parents you've kidnaped me." She walked away again.

He sat and thought about it as the extra hair receded, leaving him desperately in need of a shave. He absently scratched his chest. Then he pulled his wand and cast the shaving charm. He started to cast the charm that would fix his hair, but his wand wouldn't work. It felt plugged up. He frowned and then hit himself on the head. "I'll get Xander later," he promised himself. He played with his wand while he thought. If she meant it, she was really pissed and he would be groveling soon. He looked toward the door, but she hadn't reappeared. He stood up and went to find her, but decided that maybe a present was in order. He made a stop at the safe and pulled out a necklace he had been meaning to give her for her birthday. Thinking about the house led to starting with the nursery, hoping she would hide in the same places he did. No luck. He tried their bedroom, but it was empty except for the house elf cleaning the mirrors. He headed back down the stairs, trying to think if there were any rooms she had spent a lot of time in after Anastasia's birth. Nothing was coming up, so he headed back to the garden. She liked the outside. Bingo. He walked up behind her and put the necklace around her throat.

"I don't want presents," she told him.

"It was your birthday present," he said quietly. He walked around to face her. "You're still an incredible mother, especially to Denver because he will one day become a lot more like me. I'm hoping you teach him how to relate to women so he never has to go through this." He looked up at the sky, then back at her. "Can we go inside, it's getting cold." She shook her head. "You want to hold this talk out here?"

"The living room smells again."

"We can go anywhere you want, as long as I'm not cold." She raised an eyebrow. "You're wearing more clothes," he pointed out.

"You have a whole closet full of clothes upstairs."

He shrugged. "Probably true, but I'm comfortable in this." He sat down beside her. "I'm not sorry about what I said, but it wasn't what I meant. Simone is a Weasley. She looks like you, she acts like you, and she laughs like you. Denver is a little me." She nodded. "It had nothing to do with the civilizing influence you give my son. Or about how good or bad of a mother you are." She punched him on the arm. "Ow! Harridan."

"That would require us to be married," she pointed out.

He sighed. "You know what I meant."

"No, most of the time I don't," she reminded him.

"Ginny, we speak the same language."

"We both may be British and wizards, but we speak *very* different languages." She tried to take off the necklace, but his hand stopped her. "I don't want this, Draco. I don't need presents from you. I don't need your money, your family name, or anything of yours."

He slapped her hands away from the clasps. "This is the only way I know to interact with women. This and sex, and I think we've proved how that turns out." She laughed. "Besides, I picked that out for you for your birthday. Unfortunately you weren't here."

"Hey, you insulted me."

"I just told you it had nothing to do with that!" he said in exasperation.

"Bet me!"

He grabbed her face, making her look at him. "My son is a younger version of me. No matter how you civilize and soften him, he'll still be a little me with better manners." She tried to pull away but he squeezed. "No, you'll listen. There was nothing that I said that was meant to impinge on your abilities. It was a statement of fact. You're the one keeping my son from turning into a complete slut." She hit him, making him flinch, but he didn't let go. "I've been hit with bludgers harder than that."

"I can hit you harder," she offered.

He nodded. "Probably. You're a very strong woman, if only because you didn't beg for drugs while Anastasia was trying to put off her birth." He smiled at her. "But Denver is not your son. He's your step-son, and you do an incredible job with him, but he's biologically all mine."

"Then maybe I should beat how to deal with women into him," she said, pulling away from his hands. "Don't do that again, you'll be missing body parts."

He scooted back a few inches, all the bench allowed him. "I'm sorry."

"You're going to be," she agreed. She took the necklace off and handed it to him. "I'm here for more than civilizing your son," she said bitterly. She started to move, but he grabbed her and pulled her down onto his lap. "Let me go."

"No, not until you explain that. We're still not speaking the same language. What you do is more important than what I do with him. I could never teach him how to deal with another human being."

"If you interacted with them it might help," she pointed out. He shrugged. "You don't care?"

"No, it's a moot point. No one wants to be around me. Ever." He let her go and put the necklace into her hand. "It's yours. If you take it off again, I'm gluing it to your neck." He walked away.

"Draco," she called, hurrying after him. She stopped him in the hallway, making him turn around. "I'm his mother."

"Yes, you are. The most important thing in a child's life. You're the one who takes what little I've managed to contribute to him and turn him into a human."

She hit him again, making him 'oof' and wince. "You contribute a lot to all the kids. Not only are you giving them a saner sense of humor, but you're making them happy because you pay attention to them. They don't get as much attention from anyone." He smiled at that. "Now, are you done being a git?" He shrugged. "Good. Then we've got to figure out how to get you out of this house."

"I like this house," he protested, but he let her drag him along. "What are you planning now? Hopefully it has nothing to do with my hair." He allowed himself to be put onto the couch and moved to curl up against her when she sat next to him, but she picked up the paper. "What's that for?"

"To hit you with the first time your fingers slide against my skin," she told him. She looked at her hand, then around. She started to get up but he did instead, going to look for her necklace. He came back a minute later with it in his hand, dangling it for her to take. "It's really a birthday present?" she asked. He nodded. "Nothing else?"

He smirked. "I was going to use it to talk you back into my bed, but I doubt you'd want that now." She smiled and shook her head. "Thought so."

"Not until you get that damn fertility spell taken off," she muttered, going back to searching for something. "Ah-ha!" she said, handing the paper to him.

He sat beside her and read the short article. "How would this help me?"

"At least you'd be doing something that you liked," she offered. She started to tuck the necklace into her pocket but he snatched it from her hand and put it back on her, gluing it to her neck with a charm. "Thank you, Draco."

"You're welcome." He put down the paper. "Why would I want to do research?"

"Because it would get you out of the house and around quiet people," she told him. Then she smiled. "And I seriously doubt any Slytherin would be anywhere near this project. Most of them were afraid of books in school." He nodded, that had been true. "Libraries are quiet places and so are museums. They'd have people there that care what you do, not so much about who you are." He shrugged. "And you have the means of study here."

He nodded. "The body's downstairs," he admitted quietly. "It could be analyzed."

"See, it could be invaluable to the historical base of knowledge." She curled up against his side. "You'd have total control over everything that went on with the body. You'd probably have to pull out the Malfoy charm sometimes, but otherwise it shouldn't be too bad."

He kissed the side of her head. "Why do humans have to be more complicated than sex and cuddling?" he asked her.

"Because people have developed these things called emotions over the years," she reminded him. "And sometimes they're stupid and wrong, and sometimes they get hurt, and sometimes they make life richer." She looked up at him. "It could be a lot worse, Draco. I could have not told you about Simone and kept her away from you." He went a little pale so she patted his thigh. "It's a good thing that I see something positive in you, huh."

He wrapped his arms around her. "It is, but I'd like it if you'd tell others." He gave her a squeeze. "Can we talk like adults now?" She nodded. "Without any storming out?"

"If it works, I'm all for it," she agreed. "That means that you can't do it either."

He nodded. "I can agree to that." He buried his face in her hair. She smelled like the kids.

***

Molly walked into the store and looked around. "Xander? Ron?" she called. Both of them appeared out of the hallway to the lab. "What did you do to Draco?"

"Forced him to talk to Ginny," Xander told her.

"By messing with his hair," Ron added with a grin.

Molly rolled her eyes. "You know how much trouble he goes to with his hair." Both young men nodded, both of them smiling. "And you destroyed that?"

"No, I gave him more hair and blocked his wand from casting that spell," Xander told her.

She shook her head. "Hopefully he doesn't have his father's poofy hair." Her son burst out laughing. "Ronald, it's not nice to laugh at the dead," she reminded him.

"Mum, we used to tease him that his father was a poof," Ron gasped. "The ponytail just gave it away."

"I'd have voted for him to be a drag queen," Xander agreed. He had to stick up for his partner in crime, even though he was sure Draco's mother only had him for the money Lucius offered her in compensation for marrying him. She glared at both of them, but she was starting to laugh too. "I just gave him some of the ever grow potion."

"Blond yeti," Ron panted, trying to stop laughing.

She swatted the both of them. "You'll apologize when you see him." She looked around the shop. "Are most of these new?"

"A lot of it was stuff that we didn't put out before, it wasn't officially tested," Xander told her. "Now that it's tested, we're putting out a little bit of everything." He walked her over to a small locked case. "These are special," he told her. "We have to lock them up because the kids will go to any length to steal them." He opened the case and pulled out a small silver rope, cutting a piece off. "Bite a little piece of this."

She nipped a small piece off the end, then started laughing. "What is this?"

"Icy fingers of death," he said with a wink.

"Oh, dear Merlin!" she giggled, grabbing her sides. "I can see why everyone likes this." She walked over to the fire and headed to her husband's office, going to give him the rest of it. He needed a good laugh.

Ron and Xander high-fived. "Yeah," Xander said happily.

***

Draco pushed his hair out of his eyes. "I need to do something about this," he muttered.

Ginny reached over and pushed it off his face for him. "It's longer than I thought." He groaned. "Why don't you cut it a little bit? Then you could push the rest back in another, non-crunchy, way." He gave her a look. "What? I like running my fingers through your hair now that I know it's so soft."

"I'll get someone to cut it tomorrow," he sighed. She leaned over and kissed him on the cheek. "What was that for?"

"For taking a suggestion and not grumbling about it."

"Wait until tomorrow."

She smiled. "I have a way to make sure you won't be complaining." He looked at her but she shook her head. "You'll find out."

He picked up a forkful of mashed potatoes. "I could send this at you."

"And I could change it into water before it makes it halfway across the table," she countered. He gave her a speculative look. "It's one of the spells I worked out recently." She ate a bite of steak casually. He smiled at her, prompting her for information. "I'm doing the more helpful spells right now. We started out with stuff we already had, and then moved to things that'll be useful in daily life. I did Ron's favorite one, a spell to create pastries out of thin air. Then I did one to transfigure the material in mid-flight. That's as close to an offensive or defensive spell as I'm getting. Hermione wants to do some of the defensive spells she's found, but so many of them can be used against someone so I've decided not to go there."

"What if she does?"

"Then the gryphons will take all her memories of anything to do with them and send her home," she said simply. "I talked with one of them yesterday about this and they were quite calm. They figured some human would do something like this." She ate a bite of asparagus. "How far are you going to let them go with your hair?" He shrugged and started eating again. "Colors? Maybe a streak or highlights?"

"No," he said with finality.

"Okay, that's what I was wanting to know. Plan on going into regular London."

"Why?" he asked, being careful.

"Because the shop I saw and heard good things about is out there," she told him. He sighed and nodded. "Thank you."

"I'd do damn near anything for you," he reminded her.

"Then find a way to get out of the house." He grimaced. "Buy season tickets to a quidditch team or something. Do something to get yourself out of the house on a regular basis."

"I'm supposed to take my father's spot on the Hogwarts Board of Regents," he said quietly. "I went once and they all looked at me like I was some mutant."

"Yay, a bunch of old farts who can't even remember when they were in school, much less put themselves in the minds of a modern student." She pointed a fork at him. "You're the youngest on there by about a hundred years."

He nodded. "Probably true."

"Could that have been why they were giving you funny looks?" He shrugged. "Well, was it fear or was it revulsion?"

"Revulsion. Though one person did look afraid."

"Then they need to get to know you." She kicked him on the shin. "The old you would have stormed in there and sneered at them."

"I haven't been him in a while," he reminded her.

"Yeah, since I was about six months along with Anastasia." He gave her a startled look. "Yeah, you, pregnancy got you too." He shook his head. "Yup, it did. You got even more cranky than I did, and then you got strange and moody, and now you're swinging the other way." She started to take a bite but he stopped her hand. "I can't eat now either?"

"No, not that." He let her finish that bite of food. "I haven't always been like this?"

"No, it's a more recent thing. Usually, you work it out and come back from your sudden vacations. This time, I guess I cut it out on you."

He shook his head. "No! It was good. Very good. You made me feel alive again."

"Well, I guess you're going to have to quit being a prat and keep me around then," she teased. He nodded quickly. "I was joking."

"I'm not. Can we go pick up the kids?"

"No, mum'll complain if we take them now. It's after their bedtimes."

Draco sighed. "I hate it when they're so far away."

"Then we can always go stay there," she reminded him. She looked around the empty, big, cold house. "Maybe someone else should live here with you anyway. This house reminds me of a tomb."

"That's the basement," he joked weakly.

"And the living room and the bigger dining room. All of the house is drafty and cold, and very quiet." He shrugged. "Draco, the whole house is like a crypt. Every time you come back here, you get depressed and quiet. Maybe you should move. Somewhere smaller and noisier?"

He sighed. "I can't. It's part of the will."

"So build a small house somewhere away from the stone monstrosity. Somewhere that makes you happy."

"I think that's a big step," he pointed out. She nodded. "Can I just hang at the Burrow again?"

She nodded. "Mum'd probably enjoy it most of the time, especially if you'd cut the grass and degnome the garden. No one's done it in a while and they're annoying her."

"How do you do that?"

She smiled. "Don't worry, mum'll tell you everything you need to know." She stole a bite of his steak since hers was all gone. "No matter where you move, you're taking whichever house elf cooked dinner tonight."

He laughed. "Of course I am. It's not like I'm doing housework." He leaned over and stole a kiss. "Thank you."

"You're welcome." She stole a deeper kiss. "I'm still not having sex with you until you get rid of that fertility spell."

He laughed harder. "I can't even whine my way into cuddles?"

"Cuddles I can do, but you're at least wearing pants to sleep in."

"I can't sleep in clothes," he complained.

"Yay. Still no sex. I've had enough kids." He shook his head quickly. "Oh, yes I have. Three pregnancies is enough."

He stole another kiss. "You look good like that."

"I'm not having another one."

"I'd like more kids. And I promised my father I'd have more little Weasley spitfires." She looked confused and opened her mouth. "When Xander found him among the Death Eaters. It's part of what made him cry." He smiled smugly. "That and I told him I'd be doing charity work with the muggle born." She snickered. "He really cried, got very upset with me for some reason."

She burst out laughing. "Draco, if we have more kids, I'm finding the gryphon spell so you carry them." He looked thoughtful. "And trust me, it'll make your body feel wrong for months afterwards."

"But it has to feel less lonely. You have someone inside you kicking you and touching you. It'd be good probably. I'd like not to be alone."

She moved seats so she could hug him.

***

Molly walked down the stairs to start breakfast for her husband and the kids, and stopped. Draco Malfoy was sleeping on her couch. With her daughter lying on top of his chest. She cleared her throat and Draco waved, making a 'be quiet' noise. She 'humphed' and walked into the kitchen. She slammed a frying pan down hard and smiled when she heard her daughter squeak. "Good," she called.

Draco walked into the kitchen and kissed her cheek. "She decided I can't live in my home."

"I agree," Ron said as he skipped down the stairs. "Your house is drafty, big, and soul sucking." He plopped himself down at the table. "What do I get to do today, mum?"

"You're coming with us," Ginny told him, smacking him across the back of the head. "That was a weak prank."

"Xander only wanted to shock him enough to make him go find you and fight with you." He looked at Draco. "We could have done more, but we decided you didn't deserve it enough to exert ourselves." He smiled. "You looked cute," he offered.

Draco growled at him, making Ron move away from him. "One of these days, Weasley. I'm adding it to the tally and I will may you pay." He sat down and pulled Ginny into his lap, sniffing her neck.

"Draco, remove your lips from my daughter's neck," Molly said stiffly.

"It's okay, mum, he needs me."

"That's nice, but you're still in my house, at my table, and I won't watch you two make out."

"You watch Xander and George do it," Ron reminded her.

"They're married." She cracked some eggs into the pan. "As soon as I see a ring on her finger, she'll get the same rights George has." She stared down Ron. "The same goes for you as well, Ronald."

Ginny snickered. "Yes, mum. But do you really want me married to him?" He poked her hard, making her squeal. "See, he abuses me." Her mother rolled her eyes. "Did Percy pick up Simone?"

"Yeah," Ron told her. "She spent half the night in my room." Ginny looked at him and he shrugged. "Last night was a bad one."

"Oh, Ron," Ginny sighed, leaning over to hug him. "I'm sorry you're still having nightmares."

"Bad ones?" Draco asked quietly. Ron nodded. "Lots of blood?"

"The scene out in the forest," he sighed. "When the aurors attacked us to get us off the Death Eaters. I keep seeing Hermione and Harry falling and I'm never able to get to them before Harry dies and Hermione kills half the aurors in a final attack." His mother walked over and gave him a hug. "Thanks, mum."

"Instances like that will always change your lives," she reminded them, looking at Draco. "I wish none of you had ever seen that side of life, but it happened and we have to move on."

Draco shook his head. "Some of us can't, Molly. It's like it happened yesterday every time the nightmares come back." He gave Ginny a squeeze. "It might not ever get better."

Ginny looked at him. "Have you ever asked Xander how he got rid of his?"

"George is his comfort snuggle," Ron told her. "He still has them, and he has them worse than either of us do." He looked up at his mother. "Think about what would have happened if we hadn't had the training, mum."

She sniffed. "I'd rather not. That's one of those thoughts that gives me and your father nightmares." She ruffled Ron's hair. "Oh, the eggs," she said when one of them popped oil out of the pan. She hurried over to flip them. "What do you two have planned for today?"

"Ron and Xander are escorting Draco to get a haircut," Ginny told her. Ron looked shocked. "Hey, you fixed his hair, now you get to sit there and help finish the process. Besides, the both of you could use one."

Molly nodded. "Definitely, and you should pay for ruining Draco's hairstyle yesterday."

"Mum, they turned him into a big, blond teddybear." Ginny started to snicker. "Then he came and yelled at me, before kidnapping me to have a fight."

Draco ran a finger over the necklace she was wearing. "It was a productive fight."

Fred snuck up behind Draco and ran his fingers through the soft, loose hair. "Wow, it *is* real hair. Mum, did you know he had real hair and not something fake and made from that muggle plastic stuff?" Molly snorted.

Draco swatted the hands out of his hair. "Get your own," he grumbled.

Ginny shifted so she could run her fingers through his hair. "Mine," she told Fred.

Fred shook his head. "I don't see a ring."

"She wouldn't accept one," Draco reminded him. She tugged on his hair. "Woman, behave, or I'm going to do something that will make your mother scream at me."

"Something good or something bad?" Ron asked. His mother tossed a towel at his head. "Well, you might not scream if it was something good."

"I'd scream anyway, because of the way Draco's mind goes when he looks at Ginny," she told him with a frown. "No making me scream in either revulsion or horror," she scolded.

"Fine," Draco sighed, grabbing Ginny's rear and squeezing.

"Draco!" she yelled. "Let go of her arse."

Draco's hands flew off her rear. "Sorry." He hid his face in her neck again. "Won't touch her again."

"Mum," Ginny sighed.

"I still don't see a ring," Molly said firmly. "Until I do, there will be no groping in this house."

Ron sighed and put his head down. "Is breakie almost done?" Molly scowled at him but went back to fixing breakfast for everyone. "Fred, we're going to need Xander."

"Good, it'll keep him out of our lab." Fred shrugged when his mother looked shocked. "If he likes working in one so much, he should have built himself one. He's taking all our time in the lab."

"He was working the register the last time I saw him," Molly reminded him.

"He was the only one in the store," Fred told her. "We were at the bank checking funds."

She rolled her eyes, but started to dish up food. "Someone go wake up Xander. That way no one can complain." Fred skipped off. He'd have the lab all to himself today!

***

Ginny dragged Draco into the salon by his arm, both her brothers following behind him. "Hi," she said with a smile. "I called yesterday. Three appointments together?" The receptionist nodded and marked her off. "How long will it be?" She glared at Xander. "Some people can't wait."

"I can wait," Draco offered.

"It won't be too long," the receptionist told her. "Did any of the gentlemen need our special computerized service?" Draco was shoved toward her. "Come right this way, sir, and we'll start the computer process."

"What computer process?" Draco asked, shooting Ginny a glare.

"We're going to take your picture and then plug it into the computer, which will pull up various hairstyles so you can see what you'll look like," she said happily. She sat him down on a stool. "Look at the camera." Fortunately, she pointed at it since he didn't know what one was. He stared at the spot she pointed at and a small flash went off. "All done," she said happily. "You can go back and wait with your friends."

"They're her family," he grumbled. "I'm just an innocent victim." He trudged back to the waiting area and sat next to Ginny, leaning into her side. "They took my picture."

"Good. That means that we'll be able to look at a lot of types of hairstyles and pick one that makes you look hot."

"I looked fine," he said, shooting a glare in Xander's direction. "I looked good enough to get many people in my bed." Ginny smacked him hard. "Ow. Not while you were pregnant."

"You haven't gotten laid by anybody but me since Denver got dropped off," Ginny whispered next to his ear. "All you've had was me and your hands." He shivered. "And if you don't get something cute done with your hair, you'll still only have me and your hands."

He kissed her on the cheek. "I'd be happy with that," he offered.

She smiled and shook her head. "You're sweet, but that's not the point. I like you looking hot. You looking hot means that people look at me and wonder what I've got to make you follow me around like a puppy dog." He scowled. "Kidding," she said with a grin.

"People look at you when we're together?"

"Yup. Because they wonder why she's with you, git," Ron told him. Draco threw one of the hairstyle books at him. "Hey! Watch it!"

"I can make the world forget you," Draco reminded him.

Ginny shook her head. "You can't make mum forget him, honey, she'll never forget giving birth to him. She once told me she looked down and screamed because he should have been a girl."

"Eww," Xander told them. "No more fighting, or I get to wear myself out with you two today." Both men settled down to wait.

A hairdresser walked out, smiling at Ginny. "You wanted us to work on all of them?" she asked.

Ginny stood up, hauling Draco with her. "This one is mine, and he needs a new look badly. His old one was slicked back and crunchy, which means that I can't run my fingers through it. So he needs something to make him hot." She pulled Xander up. "He just needs a trim, he's never concerned about how he looks for his husband." The hairdresser pursed her lips. "Really, the only reason he's wearing decent clothes is that his husband picked them out this morning."

"Iggy picked them out," Xander corrected. He smiled at the hairdresser. "My son."

"Oh. He has excellent taste," she said, looking over his navy blue t-shirt and tight jeans. "And the other one?"

"He's my brother, you can make him look as bad as you want," Ginny offered. The hairdresser laughed. "Seriously. His girlfriend will understand. She's more fashionable than I am, but won't care because they never go anywhere." Ron glared at her back, she felt it.

The hairdresser nodded. "That will be fine. Mr. Malfoy, let's go look at the pictures and find you a new look. Nancy, Helen, come get these two," she ordered. Her underlings hurried out and led the other two back to separate chairs, while she and Ginny led Draco over to look at himself on the computer. "I have to ask, is that your natural color?"

He smirked. "Everywhere," he answered.

Ginny laughed. "As I found out yesterday." He nudged her. "Sorry, couldn't resist. He refuses to do anything beside cut it."

"Then we can weed out a lot of the images," she said, taking the keyboard to select a few options. "These are the first ten out of thirty hairstyles," she told him, letting him look them over.

"I like that one," Ginny said, pointing at one that wasn't *too* far off his old style. It was swept back in a more gentle manner, but it looked very natural. "Can he do that without gel?"

The hairdresser ran her fingers through his hair. "Maybe. It seems well trained."

"Let's look at the others first," Draco suggested. She nodded and paged down, letting him see the next ten. "Next," he suggested. He found one on the last page, a shorter, but spikier style. "Can I do that one?"

"Will your hair stand up?" she asked, playing with it some more. "Maybe I can get somewhere between the two," she decided. "How about if I take this much off," she measured off a length with her fingers. "That should allow it to spike a bit if you wanted it to, or you could so the swept back style like your girlfriend liked if you chose that way. It'd be fairly versatile." He nodded. "Good. Let's get you to a chair." She watched as Ginny gave him a kiss and whispered something in his ear, then led him to her workstation. "This won't hurt a bit," she promised him.

***

Xander and a nearly bald Ron looked up as Draco was led out. Xander whistled and Ron glared at her. "I'll get you for this," Ron promised his little sister.

She smirked. "You can try, but I'll be with him." She patted Draco on the butt. He looked hot! Mission accomplished. She watched as he paid the nice hairdresser, leaving a good tip, and accepted his next appointment. "Come on, I want to go find a new outfit," she told him.

He kissed her on the cheek. "I'll take you shopping if you get lunch." She smiled at him. He stopped to look at Ron. "Find lice?"

"No," he said indignantly. "My hair was fried from work. It was the only way to save some of it." He crossed his arms. "I didn't need it though."

Xander snorted. "Yeah, you did, Ron. I've seen serial dyers who didn't have hair that was as bad as yours was." He patted him on the back. "You've got to get away from the steam section, dude." He walked out behind the happy couple. "Want to go drive Fred out of the lab?"

Ginny turned and looked at him. "Xander, no," she said seriously. "Fred loves his lab time and you can't keep driving him out of it. He's about to banish you from the labs again." She walked up to him and gave him a hug. "Go infuse some of the walls so they're stronger or something."

"Okay," he sighed, but it did need to be done. He tugged Ron, having him come help him. They needed to find some more rocks to strengthen some weak spots.

Draco watched them go, then pinched his girlfriend on the rear. "Nice work," he told her, taking her hand so they could head around to shop.

"I seem to spend a lot of time talking Xander out of things," she mused. "I talked him out of a Hawaiian print robe last week." She noticed he looked confused. "Do you remember the game where you ended up naked?" He grimaced and nodded. "Remember the shirt you ended up in?"

"Yes," he said carefully. She smiled. "Tell me he didn't find a robe in that pattern," he begged.

"Oh, yeah. In reds at least so it looked decent enough on him, but he did find one." She leaned against his side. "It could have been much worse. Madam Malkin was keeping him away from the really garish ones. He wanted a silver one, shiny silver," she finished. He shuddered. "She pointed out that he wouldn't look that good in it and refused to let him buy it."

"Good. Maybe a small bribe will make sure he never goes near that section of the store again." He smiled evilly. "Or we could buy that section and burn it," he said happily.

She shook her head. "We can't. It's the section little kids get Father's Day presents from. They'd be devastated."

"But the fathers of the world would rejoin," he argued. He patted her on the hand. "Fortunately, all our children have my tastes. Denver bought me a very pretty blue one for Father's Day."

She snorted. "I've seen it, it's too light for you."

"Yes, but it was tasteful and I can wear it easily," he pointed out. "Especially if I wear it open over an outfit like I wore to court. I looked wonderful in it."

She tugged on his sleeve. "You sound like one of those queenly guys, Draco," she whispered. He scowled at her. "Just telling you."

He poked her, making her squeak. "Just because I'm very fashion conscious does not make me a drag queen." He led her on, going to help her find an outfit. She had to match his magnificence.

***

Xander and Ron landed in front of the store, letting their nets with stones down beside them. "Will this be enough?" Ron asked.

"To help fix one of the smaller weak spots, the one on the roof," Xander agreed. He noticed a parent looking at him. "It's perfectly stable," he told her, "but it won't stand up to more than a strong storm so I'm adding more stones to the places where I used more porous materials."

She nodded. "Will it withstand a dragon landing on it?"

"Most of it," he told her. "There's six weaker spots that'll only stand up to a storm like we had last spring. But I can merge some of the mass of these stones into the weave I put up and strengthen it." He smiled at her. "Don't worry, it won't fall on your head."

"As long as it doesn't," she said with a smile. "Aren't you a professor?"

Xander shook her hand. "Professor Harris, demonology and paranormal classifications." He nodded at Ron. "My helper is Fred and George's brother. We're playing hooky from the normal Sunday activities."

She laughed. "Good enough." She looked around. "Is your class mandatory?"

"No, it's an elective in the Defense Against the Dark Arts program. The beginning class is open to third years, and I'm running a second one for fourth years. The fourth years have the option of taking mine, switching from mine to study other forms of magic, or changing out totally." She nodded. "Basically, I cover the creatures that Professors Black and Lupin don't in their parts of the courses."

"And you teach an auror preparation class?" she asked. He nodded. "Are you still teaching one?"

"As far as I know. I do more physical training than auror prep though. I've had a few kids in there that wanted to play quidditch professionally so they took the opportunity to bulk up their muscles. Black and Lupin handle the magical parts of it while I do the physical."

"That's interesting." She smiled at him again. "Did you have no idea I'm a reporter?"

He shrugged. "Not really. But if you give me bad press I'm going to bug the shit out of you," he added with a naughty grin. "I'm like that."

She laughed. "So I've heard. Morgana Lesters, Witch World Weekly." She shook his hand. "My editor wanted us to do a special piece on the different classes being offered at Hogwarts as electives. Would you be willing to let me use what you just said?"

"As long as you don't call me names, make me sound dumb, or evil," he said with a shrug. "My classes are pretty full right now. I've only got two open spots in my fourth year class and about six this year in my third years. It was something we expected to happen though, with there being no current big, evil force to fight." She nodded and brought out a notepad, taking notes of what he'd said. "Professors Rosenberg and Maclay usually have really full classes, what they do is interesting."

"Why wait so late for your classes?" she asked.

Xander leaned against the side of the store. "A few reasons. The first being that I cover some things that aren't really nice to hear about. Some parents got upset my first year because I was teaching first years about some of the horrible things that can be found in the world. One of the demons I cover actually eats children." He shrugged. "It was decided that it would be better if we limited the class to the older students."

Ron nodded. "True. Some of the stories he told gave me nightmares and I was a sixth year when I took it," he offered. "But I've also run into one of them recently." Xander looked at him, frowning. "The green thing with the horns and the slimy suckers."

"Oh, that. Did you remember the wood?"

Ron nodded. "And I even remembered how to kill it, but I still can't remember it's name."

"Sometimes names aren't that important," Xander agreed. He turned back to the reporter. "Ron was also in my advanced class the first year, back when Professor Giles was still working up there."

"He made us jog," Ron said with great distaste.

Xander smiled at him. "Yup, he did. It wasn't so bad, when there wasn't snow on the ground." Ron nodded, that had been true. "At least he kept you guys at a mile. He used to run five a day."

"Eww," Ron said, picking up one of the sacks of rocks and carrying it around the side of the building. "I'll go find the ladder."

"Thanks." Xander smiled as Hagrid walked toward him. "Hey, Hagrid. What's up?"

"Thought I'd get something to cheer Fang up. One'a the kids got him in a fight yesterday. He's not a young pup anymore." He looked at the woman. "Reubus Hagrid," he said, shaking her hand.

"Morgana Lesters. Witch World Weekly." She smiled at him. "We're doing a special on the non-required classes offered at the school."

Hargid smiled. "Then you won't need me. Care of Magical Creatures is mandatory for everyone." He smiled at Xander. "You comin' up tonight?"

"Probably. Fred wants the house to himself for a while." He watched as Hagrid walked through the door and disappeared. "Huh."

"That doesn't worry you?" she asked.

Xander shook his head. "No, I've been trying to fix that spell for a few days now. But I know where he went." He smiled at her. "He's safe." He motioned her around to the side of the shop. "I won't be doing anything that you can't see," he offered. "We can continue. Hagrid will be back by tonight." She followed him to get a deeper interview.

Hagrid looked around the cave he found himself in, surrounded by gryphons. "Hello," he said cheerfully. "I stepped into Xander's store and...."

"XANDER!" one of the gryphons yelled. When he didn't get an answer, he stormed off. He had forgotten that he was supposed to send someone up to help Xander fix that portal.

Hagrid continued to smile at the remaining gryphons. "I didn't mean to intrude," he offered. "But can I look at your wings? I'm Groundskeeper at Hogwarts and I teach Magical Creatures."

One of the young gryphons, barely a toddler, walked up to him and plopped himself in Hagrid's lap. "Groom me!" it demanded.

Hagrid happily complied. He did so love creatures.

***

Xander looked up from his patching in the new stones as a gryphon landed outside the store. They were basically on the same level. "Hi, Bill," he said, giving him a smile. He saw the man on his back. "Hey, Hagrid, sorry about that. I've been trying to fix the portal."

"I will fix it," Bill told him huffily. "You should not mess with things that you don't understand."

"But I'm not," Xander complained. "I anchored it every which way I could and it still does that. Even the Charms teacher couldn't figure out what I did wrong."

"Then we'll remove it and reweave it," Bill said firmly. "Go get your books."

"Hey, Fred, can I have the books I used to work on the store," he called through the skylight. His brother-in-law headed back to the living area to get them for him. "At least that only happened once," he offered. Bill glared at him. "And it was someone who respects you for the creatures you are."

Hagrid laughed. "True. Had a long bit'a pettin' on some babies. Truly magnificent creatures." He slid off the gryphon's back. "Thanks for bringin' me back and all. I'd best get Fang his treat." Xander tossed down something. "Thank you, Xander."

"Welcome. I figured I should probably get it for you so we don't have you landing back there." He winked. "You might not come back."

Hagrid laughed. "I'd always come back for Fang." He walked away, whistling happily.

Xander slid down his ladder when he saw Fred walking out to the door. He took his books with a smile. "Thanks. We're going to try and be unobtrusive."

"We close in an hour anyway," Fred reminded him. He patted Xander on the shoulder. "How many more weak spots do we have?"

"That one's still a little weak. I'll have to shore it up a little more before someone as big as him," he pointed at Bill, "will be able to land on the roof. Right now, it's strong enough, but I'd rather have it stronger."

"Fine with me," Fred agreed. "Any chance of the skylights falling in?"

"Not unless something *really* heavy lands on the roof," Xander told him. "I've got a few more stones I can integrate when I have more time. Right now, it should all be okay."

"Good. Stay out of the lab," Fred told him as he went back inside.

"He says I was keeping him from the lab," Xander explained. He flipped open his book and showed off the spell he had used. "I did this one."

"That's why," Bill muttered. "There's supposed to be more to this spell."

"That's all Flitwick had."

"Ah. A mistranslation. That explains it." Bill nudged a sack he had around his neck with a wing. "Take this. It's yours." Xander took the bag of books and opened it, looking stunned. "You've proven you have the capability to use some of our hardest spells. Open the red book." Xander held one up. "The other one."

"Okay." Xander dug around until he found the other red book and opened it to the index, finding the spell he wanted. "This one?" he asked, showing it off. Bill nodded. "Thanks." He took down the first spell and the doorway trembled. He frowned and reached out to steady and meld it a little more. "Sorry, really dead wood," he explained. He recast the spell, anchoring it to the walls and the floor. He anchored it width-wise to the doorway itself so it couldn't stretch anymore. As soon as he was done, Bill stepped up and the door opened to admit him. He walked through without any problems and Xander whooped. "Yes!"

Bill walked back out and seated himself, looking at the young man. "Good job," he praised. "Now we have to discuss things." Xander nodded, settling himself down, but repacking his books first. Bill all but worshiped books so he was very careful with them around him. "You may not show these to Ms. Granger."

Xander nodded. "I was wondering when she was going to try and rework an offensive spell," he said quietly. Bill nodded. "Has it been taken from her?"

"Yes, all of it. We felt her putting a shield around her house and knew it was not one of the spells she should have. That was in the higher books." He looked at Xander, who shook his head. "You haven't given them any of your higher textbooks?"

"I gave them the potions books," Xander admitted. "And a few diaries from the potion makers, but I haven't even given Ginny access to my higher textbooks. I know there's stuff in there that they can't have."

Bill nodded. "True, though we trust Ms. Weasley. She and her mate are not only amusing, but quite strong and able to handle the situation should it arise."

"What situation? An offensive spell getting out?"

"That or having to use one if something too horrible happens," Bill agreed. "Something like what happened to your family." He stood up and sniffed. "Why do you smell like cows?" Xander shrugged. "Did you get your nest back?"

"Someone brought the braided outer edge," Xander told him. He hopped up, carrying his books back inside and going to get the nest he still hadn't finished fixing. He brought the ring back out, laying it on the ground. "This is what was found."

Bill sniffed it then shook his head. "This isn't yours. It's a phoenix nest." He sniffed Xander again. "It is the reason that you smell like cow however." He nudged Xander playfully. "Are you claiming another creature in your lineage?"

Xander snorted. "Not hardly. So what should I do?"

"Give that to Murphy and his mate. Yours probably won't be found." Bill shrugged. "I can help you rebuild one. We know where some of your relatives are."

"I have relatives? Living relatives?"

"One," Bill agreed. "Two more that have died in the last few years. Their nests are laying around in the catacombs. We can find some of the orginators' hay in there and remake your own nest." Xander sniffed and lunged, hugging him hard. "I understand," he said quietly, enfolding him with his wings. "I was once without my family nest for a year. It is very hard when you're not surrounded with the scent of your family. Even when you can't smell it, you know it's there." Xander nodded. "I will help you rebuild."

Xander pulled back. "I have one up at the school, but the exterminators did something to it and it smells wrong. But I did give Draco a family nest." Bill nuzzled him. "Thanks, man, this means the world to me."

"You are one of us, it is only fair." The gryphon stuck his head in the door. "If he has any more of the fake nest, throw it out," he told George, who had just appeared.

"It's not the nest?" George asked. Bill shook his head. "Then what was it?"

"A phoenix nest," Xander told him. "But I have relatives and Bill thinks I can rebuild mine."

"What about the one up at the school?" George asked. "It smells funny."

"We may be able to fix it," Bill told him. "I'd have to take a look at it." He nipped Xander's head playfully. "I'll do so when I come back with some of the hay for you to rebuild. Remember what I said." Xander nodded. "You may show Ms. Weasley your new books. We like her." He took off into the air.

Xander pulled his husband into his arms. "He brought me more textbooks and helped me fix the spell on the door," he said happily.

"And we'll have a nest again," George agreed. "We'll have to break it in that first night." Xander just grinned at him. "Mum wants us home for dinner."

"Okay. Let me go get some more of my books for Ginny." He led the way into the shop, going to find his favorite textbook. It had some of the neatest spells for personal use. Including one that created lubricant and baths. He sent himself to the Burrow, landing behind Molly. "Hi," he said happily. "Bill just came up and helped me fix the doorway spell." Molly shot him a glare. "What?"

"What did they do to Hermione?" she asked.

Xander sighed and sat on the stool beside her. "She tried to use one of the offensive spells," he said quietly. "They took the knowledge from her." Molly waved a spoon, a motion for him to go on. "All I know is that she put up a shield-like creation, and the only one I know of would attack anyone who wasn't part of the family as she defined it." He swallowed. "Did it attack someone?"

Molly nodded. "It attacked her son. He's here, with Harry and the others."

Xander slid off the stool. "I'll go talk to him. Trust me, they were gentle when they did it, as gentle as they could be." Molly nodded, looking resigned. "She knew better," he reminded her. "That was part of the rules she was given when they agreed she could help Ginny." He looked around. "Did anyone go take the books from the house?"

"Ron went to do that with Ginny. Hermione's in the hospital. Little Ron just got out an hour ago. Harry's quite upset."

"I'd be pissed too if my husband put up a spell and it bit Iggy," he said philosophically. He walked into the living room and gave the kids a hug, motioning with his head for Harry to join him outside. "Is she okay?"

"She's still groggy from the spell," Harry said quietly. "Why?"

"The thing that bit little Ron was a shield, meant to protect the family by eating whatever came for the family." Harry winced. "She knew she wasn't supposed to do any of the offensive spells, Harry. They have to protect themselves." He looked at the door behind them. "Is Ron okay?"

"He had to have stitches. Magic wasn't closing the wound." Xander nodded. "Are there any more like that?"

"Spells that'll protect the family by eating intruders? Yeah, I think so. I think there was some sort of guardian spell that used basically the same formula. It could wander wherever the family went."

"Not that," Harry said, glaring at him. "Any more surprises?"

"Well, Ginny's still being allowed to work on stuff. And I just given permission for Draco to help her." Harry chuckled weakly. "The gryphon that helped me today, Bill, said that they were strong enough to do whatever was necessary in case a spell got out, or if something bad happened and we had a repeat of the Voldemort incident." Harry paled and Xander put a hand on his shoulder. "The nightmares don't go away," he told him, "but the ache eases. No matter what, you'll always remember what happened, but it'll seem more distant in a way."

"Like my childhood died that day," Harry said. Xander nodded so Harry gave him a hug. "Why did I jump in?"

Xander laughed. "Because you're a lot like me, kid. You knew you had to do it or a lot of people would get very badly hurt. It's who you are, you're a guardian and a protector. Feel better about that part, you couldn't have stopped yourself if you had tried." Harry nodded against his shoulder. "Come on, I think we need to spoil your little creatures."

Harry pulled back. "They're already spoiled." He glanced around. "What do I do about her?"

"That's up to you," Xander told him. "Do you want to stay with her?" Harry shrugged. "I'd think on it before I did anything. She might have a really big personality change from this."

"She started screaming at me as soon as they did it," Harry noted dryly as they walked back inside. He saw Ginny and Ron dropping boxes of books, and more of them littering the kitchen. "She had that many?"

"No, there's more," Ron told him. "Xander, we could use some help. Ginny just had to stun Hermione so we could raid her personal library. She has books in there on summoning demons." Xander winced. "Harry, I'm sorry, mate, but I really should turn her in."

Harry nodded. "I understand. I'd like to see them first though, face her down about it."

"That's a good idea," Xander agreed. "Ginny, call Draco. The gryphons decided you could work with him." Her face lit up and she squealed so he handed her the next book in his set. She flipped through it, then handed it to her mother so it wouldn't get mixed in. "Besides, we could probably use the muscle." He followed Ron into the fire. As soon as they stepped out, Hermione came for them with a fireplace poker. "Put it down," he ordered. She stared at him in shock. "What did you do to yourself? You used to be a hell of a lot more innocent and nice. What happened to that sweet little girl who didn't want to hit anyone?"

She sneered at him. "She killed people, all thanks to you."

Xander shook his head. "I gave you the training, Hermione, you chose to use it." He pushed her into a chair and stuck her there. "Stay." He followed Ron back to the library, going to find the rest of his books. He got a bright idea and went back to the living room. "Come on," he said, compelling her to follow him. He took her to Hogwarts and walked her into the Great Hall, taking her up to Tara and Willow. "She's gone dark," he told them quietly. "We're emptying her house." He looked at Willow. "I think you can handle this better than I can." The witches nodded and took her with them, once he had removed the spell. He disappeared again, going back to help Ron. "All settled," he told his brother-in-law as he reappeared in the fire. He looked at the piles of books in the living room. "Where would she have gotten chaos books from?" He opened the front of one and sighed. "From the personal library of Ethan Rayne. Great." He slapped it closed. "Ron, do we know how she got his books?"

"He found her and tried to talk to her. She all but killed him and robbed him," Harry said as he walked in. "She admitted it." He nodded at the books. "Do you know him?"

"Very well. He and Giles used to do magic together. He's the one who freed Giles when he was asleep your sixth year." He rubbed his forehead. "I'll deal with that part later. Let's load all this into boxes and move it back to the Burrow. We'll store it in the shed for now. I can weave a protection around it." He started packing books. "Harry, anything you don't want to keep, let's move it." Harry nodded, but he stood there. "What's wrong?"

"How could she have gone so bad?" he whispered. "I never noticed."

Xander held out his hand and Harry instinctively took it. He let a little bit of chaos-tainted magic out in a small bubble, which the other wizard felt - Harry's eyes opened with wonder. "That's just chaos *tainted* magic, Harry," he said quietly. "Chaos is a very popular choice because it's so powerful. You can get drunk on the power and not even realize it." He let Harry's hand go, but let him keep the little bubble. "Absorb it, you'll understand." He watched as the small bit of power was absorbed and the younger wizard sat down, looking drugged. "And that isn't what Ethan and Hermione play with," he reminded him.

"No wonder," he sighed. "That's a great feeling."

"And very addictive," Ron pointed out as he carried more books in. He smiled at Harry's shocked look. "He accidentally sent some into me when he had the flu the last time. Never hand the guy a tissue." He dropped the stack of books. "That's all for the library. That just leaves her personal rooms."

"And the other rooms," Harry noted dryly. "We have books in every room of the house." He got up to help remove more of the books, leaving Xander to pack them up and send them to the Burrow.

***

Molly screamed as a stack of boxes appeared right in front of her. "Xander!" she yelled. Boxes of books had been coming fast for the last hour.

He appeared, giving her a sheepish smile. "Sorry, mom. I thought you would have been done by now. We're going to move them after dinner so I have time to weave a protection around the shed."

"We'll put them in Charlie's room," Ginny told him, using her wand to move the stack of boxes into the hallway. One of them tipped over with a crash. "Oops." Her mother frowned at her so she went to clean up the mess. "Sorry about the vase, mum, I'll get you a new one tomorrow," she called.

Xander sat down at the table, next to Draco. "Where's George?"

"Still in the lab," Ron said as he appeared. "I just popped in on them. They're deep into something new." He sat down, looking around. "Looks much better packed in boxes."

"What are you doing with them, boys?" Arthur asked.

"Well, some of them don't belong to her," Xander told him. "Some of them belong to a few chaos sorcerers. I was going to track one down when I'm in London next month." He grimaced. "If he's still alive, I'm sure he wants his books back. Plus, he should be able to give the other chaos people their books back too."

"They're dangerous," Molly reminded him as she sat down.

"Yeah, but they're probably pissed right now because they don't have their books. That's why I'm warding them until we can do something about them." Arthur nodded. "And then," he sighed, "a few of the books are not gryphon books that I've ever had. So I'm going to have to cart them next weekend so we can figure out what to do with them. A few of them are very important books that I've only heard talked about. I'm sure Bill the gryphon will be *thrilled* to have a copy."

"They're that bad?" Draco asked, passing the potatoes.

"Yup. One's full of ways to kill a gryphon and use the parts."

"Xander, food," Ginny reminded him. "Save that for later." She retook her seat. "All cleaned up, mum. And I'll still buy you a new vase tomorrow."

"At least I didn't care for that one," she said primly. She saw the shrug and frowned. "Make sure that they're safe tonight."

"Yes, mum," the younger people said in unison, mostly.

Draco nudged Xander. "A gryphon gave me a compliment?"

"Yup, said you were strong enough to handle it if something got out or it was a situation where something *had* to be done." Draco nodded. "So I guess you're her new research assistant," he said happily.

Ginny laughed. "As long as we're not working at his house," she put in. He frowned at her. "Nope. I'm not letting those books be tainted by the overwhelming sense of despair your house exudes."

"I'm guessing it needs to have it's aura cleaned," Arthur suggested. Everyone looked at him. "A house keeps a living record of energy from the inhabitants, the same way a person's body does," he explained. "With as much evil and depression that's lived in that house, it probably needs to be cleaned."

"Can you do that?" Draco asked.

Arthur shook his head and handed over a card. "I can't, but they can."

"Spengler and sons?" Draco read. "I've never heard of them."

"Spengler, like dealt with paranormal stuff?" Xander asked. Arthur nodded, looking happy. "That was a movie."

"Not exactly," Arthur told him, then he took a bite of food.

"Next he'll be saying Atlantis was real," Ron said.

"It was a most famous school of magic back before the modern period of civilizations," Molly told him.

"What?" Xander asked. Molly nodded. "Does that mean it didn't disappear?"

"No, it did, just a bit later than everyone thought. Some sort of horrible backlash from a duel I understand. The earlier demise, the one everyone knows about, was because people were looking for them and they had to disappear." She dished him out some corn and put it on his plate for him. "Eat, Xander, you'll need your strength to move all those books out of my kitchen."

"Yes, mom," he said, shocked.

Snippet 23:

Notes: Happens the year before Simone, Melvin, Denver, and Iggy start school. Death of a Minor Character most people really liked.

Xander knocked on Harry's door, giving him a head shake when the door opened. "He died."

Harry sighed. "Hagrid must be torn up." He let his former teacher inside. "What can I do to help?"

"The funeral's tomorrow so we should probably both be there for him. He's kept himself drunk for the last three days and I don't think he's going to be able to hold himself together during the funeral." Harry nodded, sitting himself on the couch. Xander sat next to him. "I also think that we need arrange a distraction, give him something to care about again."

"It's too soon," Harry told him. "Let him have time to grieve."

"But he's not. He's trying to ignore it and get around the knowledge. If he were dealing with the grief, it'd be different, but he's just drinking. Maybe a distraction will help him deal with it." He shrugged. "That's my idea, and the only one I have."

"Maybe," Harry agreed. "It could backfire. He might hate whatever you give him."

Xander shrugged. "Then Iggy will have a pet," he said philosophically. "Or Denver, or Simone, or someone. It's not like we can't find a home for a dog within the family."

"Good point," Harry agreed with a smile. "I have a try-out tomorrow. I'm flying against Malfoy, it's a multi-team tryout for the National team. They're picking for six different teams along with the National."

"Congratulations!" Xander said happily, pulling him into a hug. "It's a great thing. Do you think you'll get it?" Harry nodded. "Have you been practicing? I'll let you borrow the twins, I don't have classes today so I can watch the store."

"Maybe," Harry said, looking at his hands. "It's been a while, but I think I can do this."

"Hey, borrow the husband, I won't mind," Xander told him. "He'd be really happy to get back on a broom again. He and Fred have thought about trying out for a the local 'just for fun and butterbeers' league, which are the parents of the kids in the kids' league. They'd be really happy to help you practice. And if they're not, I'll zap them until they give in."

Harry laughed. "Thanks, Xander." He looked around. "What sort of distraction were you thinking about?"

Xander handed over a small pamphlet.

***

Hagrid leaned heavily on Harry and Xander during the funeral for his Fang. "I don't know what to do," he sighed when the casket was lowered into the ground. "I'm all alone."

Xander gave his arm a squeeze. "It'll be okay, Hagrid, you'll find a new friend who'll devote himself to you." He gave him a faint smile. "I'm sure you will. And if not, well, Molly had someone drop a dog on her doorstep a few mornings ago."

Hagrid shook his head. "People shouldn't do things like that."

Xander nodded. "I know, but she's got a loving heart. If she can't take care of the dog, one of the kids will probably adopt it." He looked at Harry. "And he's got a try-out today."

Hagrid gave Harry a tight squeeze. "Good luck, someone needs to be happy."

Xander gave Harry a look, and got a nod in return. "Will you come with me to look at the dog? We're not sure it's healthy or happy. None of us know anything about dogs." The big man nodded his agreement and turned away from the grave. He couldn't stand there anymore. He let Xander lead him back to school and to the floo fireplace. As soon as he stepped out of the fireplace, the large puppy ran up to them and started to bark and whine for attention. "Hey, little guy," Xander said, picking him up. He showed the dog to Hagrid. "This is the guy they left on the doorstep. The note said he's a mastiff/great dane crossbreed." He watched as Hagrid took the puppy to look over. "The rest of them, according to the note, are in the pound but the former owner wanted to keep this one. I figure it was a kid and they couldn't bear to part with it, but a parent put their foot down."

Hagrid sat down and looked in the puppy's eyes. "You're gonna be a big'ne," he told it. "Too bad you don't have no one to care for." He sniffled. "Fang would've loved you."

Xander patted him on the shoulder. "Fang would have eaten him," he said with a smile. Hagrid laughed. "He's supposed to get a little larger than Fang was. Mastiffs grow to be about two hundred pounds." Hagrid looked up at him. "And like I said, he got dropped off here."

"What's a pound?" Hagrid asked.

"It's where unwanted dogs and cats go. People stop by to adopt them, if they're lucky."

"And if not?"

"Don't ask," Xander told him. "It's peaceful, but not a happy moment."

Hagrid nodded. "I understand." He looked at the puppy again and held him out, but Xander shook his head. "For me?"

"If you want him," Xander told him. "Molly said he eats too much, she can't feed it and Iggy." Hagrid almost smiled; Iggy was known to have a cast iron stomach, he even ate Hagrid's rock cakes and enjoyed them. He gave the older man a hug. "I know he's not Fang, and he'll never be Fang, but he needs a loving parent and you need someone to love. And maybe, he'll help you a little bit."

Hagrid nodded, hugging the puppy to him. "Thank you, Xander." He stood up. "I'll try to take good care of him."

Xander punched him playfully. "You'd better, or I'm siccing Simone on you for it. She has first dibs on him if you don't take him." He heard a small laugh, it was a start. "And Denver said he's going to be checking on him every day once he starts school, because he says he's a great guy to be sad with. Apparently it's the great dane influence."

"When was Denver sad?"

"When he found out he might not get to go to school with Simone. He very nearly cried for two weeks straight. All on top of this little guy, who took it all and just gave kisses."

Hagrid looked at the puppy again. "You're good for that?" The puppy barked and wiggled, making him laugh. "All right, I'll give it a try."

"And if you can't handle it, then let me know and I'm sure Denver and Simone will have a fight over who gets him. I'm sure after both of them have black eyes and broken bones, they'll work it out."

Hagrid nodded and sent himself back to his house. He set the puppy on the table and poured himself some tea, with a lot of brandy. He watched as the little nose headed for the second cup of tea, then right for his. He laughed because the puppy sat down and slurped up the laced tea as fast as he could. "Yeah, you'll be happier here with me. The kids'll be too loud for you." He patted the soft butter-colored back. "Maybe we'll find peace together." The puppy tipped his head to the side and drooled. "Just like Fang," he said with a sniffle. The puppy walked up to him and licked his face ardently.

***

Xander looked up as someone knocked on his door a week after the funeral. He smiled as Hagrid walked in, followed by Shadow. "Hey." He pushed out a chair with his foot. "Hey, Shadow."

"Don't talk ta him, he's been naughty." Hagrid sat down and glared at the dog. "He crapped in Madam Sprout's personal garden."

Xander bit his lip so he wouldn't smile. "Never had that problem before?"

Hagrid sighed. "I'm too old to be raisin' a young one, Xander."

"Like I said, I can always give him to Iggy." Hagrid scowled at him. "Then what's the problem? You're not *that* old. Shadow's not going to grow up for a while, I found a book on his breed." He searched his desk and came up with the breed books he had found. "One on great danes and one on mastiffs. Did you know mastiffs were the dogs of war? Great, long history with his breed."

Hagrid looked down at his dog. "That explains why he can drink me under the table." Xander opened his mouth. "He steals my tea."

"Oh." Xander looked down at Shadow, who it looked like winked at him. "Are you a normal dog?"

"No," Hagrid told him, giving him a smile. "He's a gryphon in a dog costume."

"He winked at me," Xander explained.

"You wink?" Hagrid asked the dog. The puppy winked at him. "Got somethin' in your eye do ya?" He picked the little dog up and looked into his eyes. "Don't see nothin'."

"Maybe we should have someone look at him. He might be a gryphon in a dog costume." Hagrid looked at him like he was insane. "You can't tell me you haven't seen a special animal while you've been here."

"Well, no I can't, but I didn't think he was one. Why was he with the muggles?"

"Mom or dad was probably one and the other parent was probably a normal animal," Xander said with a shrug. "It would explain it."

"Then we can't leave the others in that pound place," Hagrid told him.

Xander stood up. "Leave that to me, big guy. I'll be back as soon as possible." He headed to the front door so he could leave. He walked out of the broom closet at the pound, which he had shown himself when he'd been here the first time. The spells he had laid were still working, confusion and concealment. "Hi," he said happily. "I adopted a dog from you guys last week and I've decided to take the rest of the litter too." The woman behind the desk gave him a smile. "Are they still here?"

"Yes, they are, Mr. Harris." She led him back to the cages, showing him the reduced number of the litter. "Someone adopted one of the dogs, a nice little boy and his father." She let the rest of the animals out, watching as he gathered them up, putting one into the pocket of his very strange coat. But she didn't care about his clothes, he obviously loved the animals very much. She even went and got him a basket, it was a great thing to find an animal lover like him. She added the puppies' ID numbers to the form he had filled out last week and watched as he walked into the broom closet, though she saw him walking out the front door. What a strange, but happy man.

Xander walked back into the school, carefully carrying the basket. He ran into McGonagall in the hallway and let her see them. "We decided we need to check the other animals. Hagrid's Shadow winked at us."

"Oh, dear," she said, picking up one to look at it. "You're adorable." It peed on her, it was just so happy that someone was paying attention to it. She carefully put it into the basket with a pat to the head. "I'm sure he'll love them as well." She wiped at her robes as she walked away. Allowances were always made for the young.

Xander walked into his classroom and found Hagrid playing with Shadow. "Here we are," he told him.

"That was fast."

Xander winked at him. "I'm so charming, she just *had* to give them to me." He put the basket down, letting Shadow's siblings out to play. He noticed the small dog at the bottom and picked it up to look at. "Where did you come from?" The dog yapped. "I didn't pick you."

"A present?" Hagrid suggested.

Xander shrugged and put the puppy onto his desk, away from the papers he had been working on. "I guess. Iggy'll love him. Or Denver, or Simone, or Melvin. Percy could use some lightening up," he decided.

Dumbledore walked into the room with McGonagall right behind him. "You said something about a dog winking?" he asked. Both men pointed at Shadow. "Then let's look at him, see if he is magical after all."

McGonagall sat down on the floor and looked at the animals. The little puppy jumped off the desk, aiming for her bust. "Oh, no you don't," she said, catching it. "Allowances are made for the young, not the horny."

Xander snickered. "He snuck into the basket somehow."

"A proper companion," Dumbledore told Hagrid. "Quite the wizarding dog." He handed Shadow over to his owner and picked up the next puppy. "Minerva?" he suggested.

She handed the dog over. "It's an animagus," she told him. "Stuck this way."

Xander's mouth opened. "I found a wizard's pound?"

"No," she told him. "Probably just felt you show up there to see the other puppies." She was quite aware of the story Hagrid had been told.

"Why'd you go there?" Hagrid asked.

"Because I wanted to see if the other puppies were going to be adopted," Xander told him honestly. He had worried because they were going to be *big* dogs and this was London. "So I showed up and looked them over. The pound was very nice to me when I said I'd think about taking one of them." One of the puppies barked at him. "Yes, you, lovely." He picked her up and rubbed noses with her. "You are adorable, even though you're going to weigh as much as I do when you grow up."

Dumbledore looked at him. "Really?" he asked. Hagrid showed him the breed books. "Merlin," he whispered. "Mastiffs? Great breed," he said happily. "Wonderful breed. Godric Gryffindor had one, turned it away from a battle so the story went and it followed him until his last battle." He tapped five of the six puppies on the head. "All familiar quality," he announced. The last one whined at him. "You're quite nice, but you have no magic, my dear." The little dog yapped at him and bounced around. "Yes, you," he sighed, picking it up to look at it. He laughed. "Minerva, did you recognize it?" She nodded, giving him a dry smile. "What shall we do with it?"

"Who is it?" Xander asked.

"Do you remember when you first got here and there was one child that was quite horrid?" Xander nodded, frowning, but he did remember. "It's a younger sister."

"So it's a Malfoy cousin?" Xander asked. "I can just see Draco's face when he hears about this."

Minerva McGonagall shook her head. "No, not him, the one who threatened Lupin. Her sister. If you remember, we expelled the both of them in her sister's final year for summoning demons."

"Oh, yeah," Xander said, nodding. "I remember her now. And she's that dog?"

"She's animagus and stuck that way," Minerva said with a smile. "Quite self-taught and very arrogant it appears." The dog growled at her. "Do hush up or I'm going to leave you that way." The dog whined but it settled down. "What shall we do with it?"

"Tell the Ministry," Dumbledore told her. "Let them deal with it." He stood up. "Hagrid, if you decide to keep all of them, then I'll understand. If not, I could talk to someone who might have a spot for them. His own familiar is very old and getting ready to pass on. I'm sure he'd like a new one soon."

Hagrid looked at Xander. "Did you want to save one?"

Xander shrugged. "We'll have to deal with animals soon enough," he reminded him. "Oh, Headmaster, has Iggy been bugging you?"

Dumbledore smiled at him. "Indeed, he has come to see me a few times. He reasons quite well for someone his age." Xander rolled his eyes and sighed. "But I do wish to agree with him, if it wouldn't be too much trouble for you."

"No, no trouble for us," Xander told him. "Sending him to school a year early won't bother us at all. It's not like I won't see him everyday."

McGonagall looked somewhat shocked. "Early?" she asked.

"Early. Iggy's trying to get in a year early so he can go with Simone and Denver."

"And Melvin," Dumbledore told him. "We had to arrange the birthday cutoff date some, otherwise next year would only have twelve students. Melvin will be starting next year as well. As for Ignatius, I'd leave it up to the teachers. I was going to bring it up at the next meeting."

"I'm staying out of it," Xander told him. "He's a smart kid, and he could probably do it, but I'm not going to beg and plead."

Dumbledore nodded. "Professors Maclay and Rosenberg's sons are also starting next year. It would do him good, if he could keep up."

"He's reading one of the journals Ginny's working with," Hagrid said proudly. "Told me about it yesterday. Something about an elemental user."

McGonagall looked impressed. "Does he understand it?" Xander nodded. "Then we'll have to sit down and talk with him about this." She stood up. "Hagrid, please keep Shadow out of my room. He was chewing on my desk yesterday."

Hagrid nodded, but he was smiling. As soon as they were alone, he looked at Xander. "You lied?"

"Yup," Xander said, giving him a smile. "I found Shadow at the pound, and did really think about giving him to Iggy, but I thought you could use him more. Though, Denver did cry on him for two weeks."

Hagrid got up and gave him a hug. "Thank ya. He's been good for me."

"Hey, he's a good dog, chewing and drooling aside."

"That's a puppy for ya," Hagrid said. He put all the puppies into the basket and carried them down to his hut. He would enjoy raising them. Seven little dogs to follow him around. He might even be able to herd students with them.

Xander looked over at Murphy, who had slept through all the noise in his corner. "Hey, want to take a message to Percy?" Murphy turned his back on his human. "What's wrong?" Murphy made a disgusted noise. "What? You don't like puppies?" He got up and walked over, but Murphy only gave him a pitiful look. "What? I've been good. You could go visit Glinda afterwards."

"No," Dumbledore called down the hall. "They'll get their letters."

"Fine," Xander called back. He patted his bird gently. "Why don't you go find Fawkes and mate or something?" Murphy looked at him, giving him the pitiful look again. "She sent you away?"

Dumbledore walked into the room with Fawkes. "Apparently she's quite upset with him." He put the two phoenixes together on the perch, and watched as his girl turned her back on her mate. "Whatever happened was apparently quite the horrible fight."

Snape strode in with a vial. "Do you know what your mangy birds did this time?" he demanded, shaking the vial. "They drank all of the Eros potion I had in stock."

"Him or her?" Xander asked.

"Him!" Snape said firmly.

Xander looked at his bird. "Murphy, you're supposed to feed it to her, not drink it yourself." His bird made a pitiful noise. "Fawkes, give it up. He loves you. He always has loved you. Otherwise you wouldn't have twenty-six chicks with each other." Fawkes squawked, it sounded obscene. "Hey, he's a good guy. Doesn't he help you when you're nesting?" She fluffed her feathers. "And doesn't he hunt and gather for you? He even brought you peppermint mice last time." She looked over her shoulder briefly, then went back to staring at the wall. "You could continue to ignore him, but he's only going to get stubborn and hunt you down to beg." She hunched down. "And a new nesting would really be nice. We all enjoyed the chicks." She glared at him. "Sorry, but they were kinda fun. Besides, Glinda's coming back next year. You're going to have competition and he might just give up on you if you insist on being mean to my guy."

Fawkes hissed at Murphy and took off, but he was right behind her. He pounced her and carried her off. Apparently they were going to have a talk now.

Xander chuckled as he sat back down. "I think they're going to be okay. We might even have more chicks soon."

Dumbledore smiled at him. "While they're always nice, I do hope he gets her permission before the mating flight this time. Last time seemed to take her by surprise."

"Yeah, but she enjoyed those chicks more," Xander pointed out. Out in the hallway, Fawkes let out a mating yell. "I guess we'll have some more soon," he said happily. "You really know someone who needs a familiar?"

"As much as Shadow was left on Molly's doorstep," he admitted as he walked away.

Xander laughed. It was for a good cause, Hagrid would forgive them for the little lies.

Snippet 24:

Notes: More minor character death, but also some funny stuff. Sorry, not meaning to be depressing.

Ron woke up to a tingling feeling in his balls. He didn't know what it was. He hadn't felt this way in ten.... He hopped up and looked at his partner. She was still sleeping, but they had made love earlier. Oh, shit! He pulled on some pants and headed for his brother and favorite person. "George," he said as he landed beside the register counter. His brother smiled at his semi-dressed state. "Leer later, I need help." He leaned over to whisper in his ear. "The anti-fertility charm wore off and I'm having a weekend with Buffy," he whispered. "Do you know the spell?"

George frowned and thought about it. "No, I've forgotten it," George admitted finally. "I don't use it so I guess I've forgotten about it." He looked around the store. "And Fred's not here. He's probably used it more recently." He leaned on the counter and thought about it. Mum would beat Ron if he came home with a pregnant slayer after ten years of dating. "What about Percy? He probably uses one with Kandy."

"Yeah, maybe," Ron said, scratching his head. "But I don't think I can ask him."

George put a sign up in the window saying they'd be right back and took Ron with him to help him ask. This was too serious. They landed in Percy's living room. "Hey, Percy," he said happily. "Ron needs some brotherly help that I can't give him." Percy looked up at him with wet eyes. "What happened?"

"Someone attacked Kandy," he whispered. "She died."

George pulled Percy up, holding him tightly. "Shh, I'm here for you," he soothed. "It'll be okay, we'll get through this together." He nodded Ron away, and Ron left. "When did it happen?"

"Last week," Percy gasped, starting to cry again. "I can't bear it anymore." He sat down again, dragging George with him. "I've been trying to make arrangements and I can't let her go. I'm lost without her. I can't seem to do anything without needing her. I can't even get up anymore."

"We'll do it for you," George promised. "All of us, okay?" He pushed his brother's head back onto his shoulder. "Where are the kids?"

"Melvin's in his room and Tananda is in her crib. She was crying a few minutes ago, but I couldn't get up and go look in on her."

"Then I'll do it," Xander said as he appeared. He stopped long enough to give Percy a hug, but the kids needed him more. He checked in on Melvin first, he was pretty self-sufficient. Tananda was on his bed. "Hey," he said as he walked in, shutting the door. "Are you guys okay?"

Melvin shook his head, looking up at him. "Uncle Xander, I need help. I can't take care of sissy all by myself."

Xander gave him a hug. "We know now, we'll help you. You can both go stay with Grandma for a few days, until your daddy can handle life again." Melvin nodded against his chest. "How is she?"

"She just ate and poopied again, but she's fine." He handed the baby over to his uncle. "I can't get diapers right and she doesn't like it."

"It's okay. C'mon, I'll take you to Grandma's now. Ginny's there with the baby." He led the way into the living room, kneeling in front of Percy. "I'm going to take the babies to your mom's," he said quietly. Percy nodded, sniffling. "That way you can grieve alone for a few days. I'll be right back." Percy nodded again so Xander stood up, taking Melvin with him to the Burrow. He got there in time to hear a scream. "Ginny?" he called, holding onto Melvin. She walked into the room, panting and holding her stomach. "Shit, it's time? Now? Percy's going through hell right now!"

She glared at him. "Not my choice, too early, going now!" she told him, pushing past him. "St. Mungo's," she told the fireplace, disappearing.

"Shit." He took Melvin with him to the hospital. "Hi, Ginny Weasley just appeared out of the floo?" he told the nurse. She nodded. "I'm her brother-in-law. We're in the middle of a family crisis." He looked down at Melvin. "Can I leave him here while I go get the rest of the family?"

"Of course. It's going to be a few minutes before we know anything."

"Good," he said, handing over the baby. "Their father's going to pieces because his wife died." He disappeared, going back to Percy's apartment. "Ginny's at the hospital," he yelled over the talking. Everyone got very quiet. "She's in labor, sent herself there. Ron, go get Draco now. Then find Harry to watch the kids if he can." Ron disappeared, going to do that. "Molly, you're needed now. Arthur, I need a diaper bag, Tanada needs changed desperately, and can you pack stuff for Melvin?" He disappeared again, going back to the hospital. "Sorry," he told the nurse, taking back the now-changed baby. "It's been one of those ten minutes." He walked over to the fireplace, calling his boss. "Hey, it's me. I know you're not really happy with me at the moment," he told McGonagall, who was taking over. Dumbledore had fallen and hit his head earlier that day and was out up in the hospital wing. "Ginny just went into labor, Percy's wife died last week and we just found out, and I'm at St. Mungo's."

McGonagall pursed her lips. "These are serious circumstances, I'll give you a few days," she told him. He sighed in relief. "Is she all right?"

"It's early and the baby's *huge*. Either she's got almost no water, because we can see the outline of the baby, or the baby's over ten pounds." She winced. "This'll make what happened with Anastasia look peaceful. Plus the Percy thing. Ron found him crying, she died last week and he can't let her go. He hasn't managed to do anything, not even tell the rest of us."

"Of course he can't! What would you do if George suddenly died?"

Xander swallowed hard. "Die with him," he said honestly, breaking the connection. He got out of the way, letting Arthur and Molly come out of the fire. "Sorry, had to call off work." Molly took Tanada from him and sat down with her, feeding her the bottle she was carrying. "It's going to be hellish," he told Arthur. "Did you put Percy to bed?"

"Yes. Molly sedated him, he's back at the Burrow with Ron." He patted Xander on the shoulder. "You don't handle a crisis as well as you used to, son."

"That's because I'm getting old," Xander told him. He looked at the small family. "Will Percy be okay?"

"Eventually." He led Xander over to the seats and sat down to wait. It wasn't long before a doctor came out to talk to them.

***

Fred smiled at his baby sister, who was healing after having a caesarean section. "How do you feel?"

"Good drugs," she said with a smile. "Did you see her? She's huge!"

"Yes, she is," Fred agreed. "Would you like a piece of candy?" He held one out to her. "It's good, I promise."

She unwrapped it and popped it into her mouth, smiling when he did. "Wow, chocolate."

The incision on her stomach started to wiggle, and soon a voice was heard. "If you had listened to me, you wouldn't be in this predicament," her mother's voice said from the lips of her incision, very loudly. A nurse walked in and Fred smiled at her.

"It'll help her heal faster," he explained, "and make her laugh."

"I expect to see a ring before you have the next one," the lips went on. "Three children and no ring, I should have been hosting a wedding my now."

Ginny giggled. "Funny, mum, but you don't want me to marry him. And neither do we."

"Fine, but I had better not see any more children, young lady. I'm sure at least one of you had a procreation charm that you could have used. But noooo, too caught up in each other's lips to use it." The wound was starting to shrink, and the voice was a little quieter. "And now, now you give me another grandchild. And early I might add!" she screeched. "Long before we were ready for it! The nursery isn't even set back up yet!"

Draco came storming in, it had taken a bit to find him. "What's going on."

"And you!" the lips said as they shrunk a little more. "You got my daughter pregnant and didn't even *think* about her reputation, did you?"

Draco shuddered and glared at Fred, making him move away from his girl. "Don't ever do that to her again, it's creepy and nasty." He walked over and kissed her on the cheek. "How are you, love?" he asked quietly.

"Drugged," she told him.

He sighed and looked at the nurse. "How is she?"

"Normal," the nurse told him, giving him a smile. "It's actually quite the charm. Can I tell someone?" Fred nodded, looking happy. "I'll be right back with a doctor and your daughter."

"Daughter?" Draco asked. Fred nodded. "Oh, dear." He looked down at Ginny. "I only have one son?"

She giggled and patted him on the face. "Next time, honey, when you carry him."

The doctor came in as the lips started again. "Next time? Next time! There had better not be a next time! I still don't see a ring and I do not see a wedding! The next time the child had better be born in wedlock and had better be a boy!"

The doctor watched as the incision slowly closed, then looked at Fred, trying to hold in a smile. "Yours?"

"Mine," Fred said, handing over the spare candy he had brought. "Nagging works in our family and mum wants to do it, but won't. Thought I'd give everyone a lift." He kissed Ginny on the head. "I'll see you when you're straight again." He left her with them. "She's enjoying the nagging wound closer," he announced.

"Fred!" his mother sighed. "Now is not the time for that."

Percy glared at him. "Are you going to make jokes at the funeral too?"

Fred pulled him up for a hug. "Only if you ask, brother." Percy leaned against him. "But right now, mum is saying everything she ever wanted to. Right from the lips."

Molly got up and peeked into the room, walking in further when she heard her voice. She laughed when she saw where it was coming from. "It's certainly appropriate," she told her daughter, who laughed. "But I won't demand a wedding right now," she assured them.

"Why not?" the incision asked quietly. "Now's a perfect time. We can have someone in and do it right now, with the whole family here." It popped closed.

"That was fascinating," the doctor told Molly. "Your son is a genius."

"And a pain," Draco sighed. "Can you please smack him for that."

Molly kissed him on the cheek. "You can do it later, after the funeral."

"What funeral?" Draco asked, looking worried. "It's not Arthur, is it?" She shook her head. "Then who died?"

"Kandy," she said quietly. Draco's mouth fell open. "Ron found out when he went to ask Percy for something. The children will be with us for a few days."

"So will we," Ginny offered. "I can help." She smiled at Draco. "I am experienced."

"Yes, you are," the doctor agreed. "It's time to make this the last one," he told her.

Molly snorted. "I have seven."

"And your daughter's now had four, but her body's worn out."

"She had the first two back-to-back due to unusual circumstances," Draco told him. "Did you cut it out?"

"The baby, yes, her uterus, no. Technically, she would probably make it through another, but I wouldn't recommend it. Her body won't bounce back as fast this time. She might even get gestational diabetes next time."

Ginny pouted at him. "But he needs another son."

Draco kissed her on the cheek. "Then I'll carry the next one, love. Don't worry about having another one." The doctor was giving him a look. "We're very good friends with a gryphon-born and it seems they have a spell for that."

The doctor nodded. "Good. Though I'd like to see you push one out," he said with a smile. "She should be fine, give her some time to come down from her high. The baby's on her way in." He walked out, leaving them alone.

"You'd have the next one?" Ginny asked.

"Of course. I'm not going to let you carry one," he told her, pinching her on the arm. "You're much more fragile."

"Hey! I'm very strong," Ginny protested.

"Not right now, you're not," he argued.

"Enough," Molly told them both. "Ginny, we'll discuss this when you can think rationally. Draco, don't egg her on. You know very well she'll get pregnant to prove you wrong." She walked over and opened the door for the nurse, smiling at her thirteen pound granddaughter. "Do name this one soon." She left them alone, going back to her spot at Percy's side. He needed her more right now.

***

Xander trudged into the school, it had been a longer than average week emotionally. First the funeral, then hearing a rumor about why Kandy had died. The gryphon-born who had attacked her was now resting in Hell, where he belonged. And he didn't even have to touch him, Melody had attacked him and came to the funeral, kneeling in front of Percy's chair to tell him Kandy had been avenged. Then she had left him alone to grieve, promising to give him a year before he saw her again. Well, it might be more than a year, the aurors had picked her up last night and then had come to him to ask questions about the gryphon code of conduct. She was free, but really scared that they would charge her. And now he got to do the happy stuff. He walked into the library. "Last time, as far as I know," he told Irma Pince. "No more from Ginny and Draco, unless they do what the gryphons did to George."

She chuckled. "I'm sure he'd look stunning that way," she said as she input the information into the Book of Heritage. "There we go," she told him, patting him on the hand. "McGonagall said to tell you to come to her office when you came in."

He nodded. "I know. I'm headed there now." He tucked the birth certificate into his pocket, he could send it back via owl or Murphy later. He walked out to the stone gargoyle and up to the Headmaster's office, knowing she was up there. "A thirteen pound girl," he told her with a smile.

"How is Percy?"

"Destroyed. Kandy was the center of his world." He sat down across from her. "Molly's kept him sedated most nights. The kids have taken Melvin and Tananda to Draco's house so he can have some time alone. If any of us pop in, we do so subtly so we don't intrude on him. Arthur got him a straight month off if he needs it." She nodded. "Other than that, Fred's made something that pleased the doctors, and annoyed Ginny and Molly. George has spent the last day wrapped around me and Iggy. Ron's gotten Buffy pregnant because he forgot the anti-preggers charm." She snorted and rolled her eyes. "That's how we found out about Kandy. George didn't remember it either."

"You two don't really need it," she reminded him.

"Exactly, so they went to ask Percy." He shifted and sighed. "How's Albus?"

"Better, but still tired. I think he'll be taking a long vacation again soon." She looked at him. "Xander, I know this is a tough time for you, but I have to ask a great favor of you." He nodded. "If I'm to be Headmistress, then Snape takes over my job as Deputy Headmaster." Xander shuddered. "You don't like him for that job?"

"I think he'll be a terror to anyone not in his house and I think the kids will seriously look back with relief that they got out of here. I love Snape, he's a great guy, but him and power probably won't get along too great." He looked over his shoulder when he heard the door open. "Hey, just giving my opinion of you and power issues." Snape glared at him, looking hurt. "I don't say things that I wouldn't say to your face. You do terrorize students and you can be really cruel sometimes. You and power are hell together."

Snape nodded. "I know I have problems in that area occasionally. I am trying to work on them."

Xander patted him on the arm. "Work harder, man. You made a few of the Hufflepuff's cry the other day because they were talking about clothes in the hallway between classes." Snape continued to frown. "Sorry."

Snape shrugged. "I wasn't aware I was that harsh."

"Children can be fragile," McGonagall agreed. "But that is not the point." She smiled at Xander. "My original point was that, if I end up taking over, we'll be needing a Transfiguration teacher. I'd like for you to sit on the hiring committee."

"Sure. Can I give them tests?" She nodded. "Cool. What about Gryffindor house?"

She sighed. "I'll miss dealing with them, but we'll have to appoint one for them. I'll take a vote of the students and take that into account when I name my successor." Xander nodded. "I was wondering if I could count on you to fill in for that post also, at least for the rest of this term."

"Cool with me," Xander agreed. "You know I like your house. What about where I'm not here all the time?"

"You might have to be," she said cautiously.

"Then I'm going to have to bring Iggy and Fred up here with George." He smiled. "I can work it out with the kids if you'd like." She nodded, starting to smile again. "Was there anything else?"

"Not yet. The hiring committee met last night to put together the ad. You'll need to get with Professor Snape to look over the wording."

Xander looked at Snape. "Whenever you've got a few minutes?"

"After dinner," Snape told him. Xander nodded. "Was there anything else you needed the both of us for?"

"The annual Gryffindor-Slytherin game is next week," she reminded them.

"Ah. Oh, Harry got his spot." She smiled again. "He's main seeker for one of the teams, which one I'm not sure, but Molly put an ad in the paper tomorrow." He stood up. "I'll see you guys after classes. I'm going to be late to my last one."

"Thank you, Xander. I know you've got a great deal of stress right now."

Xander laughed. "Stress, me? But hey, if worse comes to worse, I'm married to a Gryffindor, he can always help some." He walked down the stairs, leaving them alone.

Snape frowned at the doorway. "He really is still rather brash and obnoxious."

"But he did have a point, Severus." She unrolled the map on the desk. "This is how he did it," she told him. "A map that tells you everything about everyone in the school." She touched one of the dots, bringing up a sign telling her what Hagrid was doing in the library.

"Interesting," he said with a smile. "I had wondered that."

"There's another part to it, a spell that links you to the walls of the castle. It allows him to look out of any portrait's eyes and hear what anyone nearby is saying. It's rather amazing and a relic of Salazar Slytherin. The map is from Gryffindor himself."

Snape looked impressed. Those two had worked together?

***

Xander slid into the seat next to his husband, giving him a kiss on the cheek. "I'm the head of Gryffindor," he whispered. George looked at him, a huge smile on his face. "At least until McGonagall gets her old job back. And they're hiring for it." George nodded. "I'm going to suggest Lupin or Black for it, which means we'll have an opening in DADA, which Ron would do wonderfully in," he whispered.

"Oh, my," George said happily. "The news just gets better. Iggy got his notice that he won his appeal today." He gave his husband a real kiss, and ignored the whistles and claps from the students sitting in the Great Hall. "I'm happy."

"Me too," Xander told him. "How's Percy?"

"Sleeping. Mum can't get him up."

Xander frowned. "I can't think of anything to help him. He'll have to get through this himself."

George nodded. "We know. Are you coming over this weekend to talk to him?"

"I'll try, but I may have to stay here unless I can work something out. Want to come talk to the kids with me tonight?"

"Yeah. Fred's brought a girl home so I'm here all night." He stole another kiss and then turned back to his dinner.

Xander smiled at a few of the Gryffindors he knew. They would be so surprised!

***

Xander stood in front of the members of Gryffindor tower. "Okay, guys, big announcement time. Until Dumbledore comes back, McGonagall is now the Headmistress." That got a cheer. "And I'm now the head of your house." Everyone stared at him in shock. "What? Can you think of someone better?"

"Professor Harris, no offense, but you didn't even go here."

"Ah," Xander said happily. "Let me introduce my mate. George Weasley, these are our new kids. For those of you who don't know, he was one of you, as was most of his family back to the beginnings of the family line." A few of the kids cheered. "Plus, I do happen to fit the ideals of the house. I'm brave, strong...."

"Jump into fights," George added.

"Hey! I haven't gotten into a fight in years," Xander complained, pouting at his husband.

"Try weeks," George countered.

"Months at least," Xander sighed. George smiled at him. "Fine, weeks. But he was a bully and deserved that black eye." He turned back to the kids. "So, we've got to have a short talk. No, I'm not going to become a tyrant to you guys the way Snape thinks I am. I'm not going to force you guys to take up self-defense lessons. I'm not going to favor you above all others ether." A few kids booed. He frowned at them. "Yay, get over it." He looked at the main group again. "One of the main problems you're going to have is that I meddle, compulsively. It's part of what I am." George nodded. "Trust me, he's seen it happen, especially within the family. Also, I'm here to ask questions of and bring worries to. I'm not going to turn you in unless I think it's in your best interests, meaning that you'll die if I don't. And if I do, I'll tell you why I did it after you get caught." A few of the kids nodded, they had gone to him before for help. "Other than that, there comes a problem called my living arrangements." A few kids snickered. "No, not George, the fact that half the time I live in Hogsmeade." A hand was raised in the air. "I know, it'll be inconvenient to get hold of me when I'm gone, but I'm willing to put something into place for that. With Murphy hanging close to the school and his girl right now, you can always send a message via him or an owl. I will get it and I will answer. If it's actually important enough to you to sneak out, then I'm all for that. I'm found at George's and his brother's joke shop almost always. I do ask that you save those for a personal crisis because I could get in just as much trouble as you." He waved around. "Any questions?"

"Sir, are you saying we can come bother you all hours of the night?"

"As long as you knock and give me time to get dressed," Xander told her. A few of the kids tittered. "Over the eleven years I've been here, I've seen kids who wanted talked out of committing suicide, pregnant kids, kids who were taking drugs of one kind or another, and kids who were going to be killed by their parents, literally, if they flunked a class. There is almost nothing you can tell me that I won't understand. I'm also here to protect you if you need it and to keep the other students for beating you up. And yeah, I've heard about what happened in the Astronomy tower last month. If that happens to one of you, even if McGonagall is back in charge of the house, you can come to me. Every student is able to come to me if they can't talk to someone else so you might find students from other houses sometimes. I can't promise to drop them for you, but I will give you just as much time, if not more." The kids mostly nodded. "Are there any other questions?"

"What about the upcoming game?"

Xander let George stand up. "I leave this pep-talk up to my mate, who used to play beater for the house."

George stood up. "Girls and boys, I want you to listen to me. I'd like to see you smash Slytherin's faces into the mud, but the field is dry." A few kids laughed. "I was here during most of the Potter/Malfoy fighting. I haven't seen a game get that dirty since then. But I have hope that it will happen this year!" The kids cheered. "So, please, beat them, humiliate them, and make them run home crying to their parents."

Xander laid a hand on George's arm. "Dear, next year, we'll have to cheer against Denver. You might want to tone it down, just in case."

"Denver?" one boy in the second year asked.

"Next year, his sister's daughter, his sister's boyfriend's son, and his nephew will all be here. Along with our son." George smirked proudly. "We're hoping that any open positions on the quidditch team will be filled by at least Iggy, if not Denver and Simone. Or that they at least make second string," he added with a grin. "The problem becomes that Denver is a Malfoy and Simone is technically one. That means that we might have to cheer for Slytherin *and* Gryffindor next year."

"Bet me," George retorted. "I'm only cheering for our son, who had better be in Gryffindor." The kids laughed. "He had better, or at least Ravenclaw, I might accept that." He smiled at his husband. "Having married into the house, you have to stick up for us now. That means you have to promote the house to the son."

"Okay," Xander told him. He smiled at the kids. "As you can see, I'd do damn near anything to make my mate happy. But if you do see us fighting, please don't get between us. Walk around us, run away from us, and only talk to us again when we've kissed and made up."

"Yes, Fred learned that lesson quickly," George sighed. "I'm surprised he didn't kick you out of the store for good, Xander."

"I apologized," Xander defended. "Besides, he knew I didn't mean to yell at him. He's a very understanding guy."

"Who still won't fall under your spell," George reminded him with a grin.

"But I have the Weasley I want," Xander reminded him, stealing a kiss. "If I had wanted someone else, I would have went for Ron."

"Eww. Has he heard you say that?" Xander paused, then nodded. "And he didn't smite you?"

"He sat me down and gave me a very nice talk about how he could never really love me," Xander said with a brighter smile. "It was pretty funny. He thought I was serious."

George burst out laughing. "That I would have killed to see." He leaned against his husband's side. "Okay, enough voyeurism from you guys. Any more questions?"

"Are you two really together?" one boy asked. The couple nodded. "Like sleeping together?"

"Every chance we get," Xander told him. "Yes, we are gay. George cured me of everything girly. No more do I look at girls in short skirts, or bouncing chests. No more do I wonder what a woman moans like or if she'd taste good. And," he sighed, "he even cured me of the desire to smell a woman after sex. He smells much better afterward." Some of the kids looked shocked. "Oops, forgot to mention that I'm realistic in my discussions. Yeah, if you guys come to me for a discussion about sex, I'll give you graphic details and precautions. I believe reality is a good thing most of the time and I tend to promote that viewpoint." He pinched George subtly on the rear, making him jump. "Anything else I forgot?"

One girl smiled and raised her hand. "Sir, can we just pop around and bug you for no reason?"

"You mean hang out? Sometimes. But sometimes I'll be busy and I'll expect you guys to respect that. That doesn't mean that I won't come help you if you need it, but if it's 'my girlfriend of two days broke up with me' don't expect me to stop having sex to come talk to you. You'll have about an hour's wait." The older kids all laughed. "Anything else?" No one said anything. "Then get back to your homework." He led George out into the hallway. McGonagall was standing there. "What?" he asked when he saw the shocked look. "I'm not giving up nookie for minor problems. Bad problems, but not minor ones that can wait for an hour." He led George past her, leading him down to their rooms to make good on his words. It would be an hour before anyone saw them.

McGonagall whimpered. Her poor house! She had worked so hard to keep it respectable.

***

Ron sat straight up. He had heard something. "Who's there?" he called.

"Me," Xander yelled from downstairs. "Get down here. I have something for you."

Ron grumbled, but he got up. By the time he got down there, all that was out of place was a paper. A paper open to the jobs section with one ad colored in. He sat down to read it, smiling slowly. He could do that, his job had made sure he was very proficient with transfiguration and Xander had made sure he was proficient in defeating the dark arts. Resume due in within two weeks? All right, he could do that. He pulled over a pad of paper to write out a preliminary copy. This was a good reason to wake him up. He really didn't want his old job anymore and his bosses hated him.

"Ron?" Buffy called.

"Down here. News just came that I need to do something about."

She stomped down the stairs. "I thought I heard Xander." He handed her the paper. "Hey," she said happily. "Great news?"

"Possibly. If I can get it, then I'd be out of my old job."

She kissed him on the side of the head. "I know you hate it so I'll wish you good luck." She walked into the kitchen with a yawn. "Am I burning something or are you?"

"I'll burn something in a few. Go back to bed, dear."

"Can't, doctor's appointment," she reminded him.

His pen paused above the page. That's right, they were going to look at the babies today, maybe all three of them. He smiled and went back to writing his resume out. Even more reason to get this job, whichever one was up for grabs.

***

Xander leaned back in his chair, looking around at the hiring committee. "I know I confused some of you by adding a few words," he started.

Lupin frowned at him. "It took us about ten minutes to agree to that wording," he pointed out.

"Yeah, but I think we have a teacher who can fill the Transfiguration spot. Or two maybe. So putting in the other position will save us time."

"You're serious?" Sprout asked.

Xander nodded, pointing at Lupin. "He and Black are both excellent at it, as proven by their youth." Lupin looked stunned. "In which case, we'll need someone in DADA."

"You want us to try out for the job?" Lupin asked. Xander nodded, and a few of the teachers looked thoughtful. "Then I'd have to defer to Sirius. He's better than I am."

"Yeah, but you're the better teacher," Xander reminded him. "He's great at dealing with the kids on their level, and getting them to listen to him, but you've got that 'teacher' air about you that's totally different. I think you should both try out." Lupin nodded his head once. "Does anyone not like that idea? Hiring from within?"

Snape raised a hand. "How were you thinking about doing a test?"

"How were we going to test the other candidates?" Xander asked. Snape inclined his head. "McGonagall has said often enough that a real Transfigurist is very rare these days, that it's almost a lost art, the same as yours is, Severus. I think that we'll have a lot of people who *think* they can do it but won't be able to do the full job. The same as I think we'll be getting posers for the DADA job." Snape snorted and nodded. "My thinking is that we should either hire from within, or we should make them prove it."

Snape nodded. "I like both actually, and for the first time, I'm not going to put myself up for the Defense job. I find I'm happy where I am."

"Cool, so that leaves a clear field." He smiled. "Though I do have it on good authority that one of my brother-in-laws will be applying." Snape raised an eyebrow. "Ron."

"Ah. For which position."

"Either. His former job is making him transfigure a lot these days. He said Firebolt is buying substandard wood so he's been transfiguring it into better condition. Taking out knots, straightening it out, things like that. Plus, I *know* he's trained enough to teach DADA. Not only did I train him, but he's been hanging with the Slayer now for ten years. So he knows how to hunt and what do to. If he's one of the final choices, then I'll withdraw my vote so I can't influence anyone."

Sprout, Lupin, and Pince nodded. It seemed fair to them.

"The ad went out today," Lupin told them. "We decided on a two week application period?" Xander nodded. "You didn't change that?"

"I figure that's enough. I can write up my resume in that amount of time and I've held about fifty jobs if we go back to the year before I came here. You guys can do it faster if you use one of those quick quote quills." Everyone nodded. "Was there anything else to discuss today?"

"No," Lupin told him.

Xander stood up. "Then I say we hit the dinner table and scare the kids." He walked out.

Snape shook his head. If he was power hungry, Xander just assumed the reins of power. He looked at Lupin, who was smiling. "You like him running things?" he asked.

"No, but his energetic nature does get things done quickly," Lupin told him. "It's nice not to draw things out for hours." He stood up. "You keep forgetting, Xander has a meddling nature. He'll jump into anything as long as it doesn't bore him."

Snape laughed. "Yes, I had forgotten about that *endearing* trait of his." He stood up. "Let us go eat." The other teachers left. Maybe having Xander on here wasn't such a good idea after all. He would hate to reprimand him for usurping his authority.

***

Ron walked out of the room where he had been tested and sighed as he sat down Xander on the floor. "I'm tired," he announced. Xander nudged him. "I still forget names, but I killed everything they threw at me. How is Black taking the Transfiguration job?"

"Badly. He growled at me yesterday and wasn't even a dog." Xander put an arm around Ron's shoulders. "How's the house?"

"Percy's better. He came down the stairs this morning, shaved and dressed in real clothes that matched. He even ate something without mum prompting him. She thinks he'll be well enough to head home soon."

"Good. I'll pop by this weekend to see him." The door opened and the other finalist for the DADA walked out, looking unhappy, yet giving them a smug look as he walked past them.

Three minutes later, Lupin walked out. "We're done," he announced. He watched as Xander and Ron stood up, letting them in first.

"Congratulations, Mr. Weasley," Professor Snape said with a slight sneer. "You won. Even though you can't *name* anything, you managed to beat them all."

Xander grinned and hugged Ron. "Now you can quit the other one."

Ron laughed. "Too late." He bowed to Professor Snape. "Thank you. I hope I live up to your expectations."

"See that you do," Snape told him.

Ron all but danced out of the room, going home to announce his new job.

Xander grinned at Snape. "The other guy was that bad?"

"He could name things, but he couldn't defeat a grindly glow," Lupin told him. "Ron has practical knowledge." He slapped Xander on the back. "I'm assuming you'll be celebrating tonight?"

"Probably," Xander agreed with a smile. "I'll tell Gryffindor that I'll be gone tonight and to send Murphy if something happens." He walked out, humming happily. He found Ron hugging his bird in the entryway. "Message home?"

"Yup. Then he'll come back so you can come with me." He grinned at Xander. "I'm going to float," he declared.

"You and me both," Xander told him, patting him on the back. He walked up to the Gryffindor tower and opened the door. "Yo!" he yelled. A few students came running down the stairs. "We've got a new DADA teacher and I'm going to go celebrate with him. Pass it around that Murphy will be back in a few, use him tonight." He grinned at them. "And he's a Gryffindor."

The kids cheered and went to tell the Prefects and Head Girl and Boy.

Xander went down to pack an overnight bag. He'd probably just make it back in time for his first class.

Table of Contents

To The Death It Comes. 2

First Year Of Trauma. 69

Advanced Learning Problems. 150

Part 1. 150

Part 2. 195

Part 3. 239

Part 4. 291

The Quidditch Match, A Snippet 335

A Collection Of Snippets. 340

Snippet 1: 340

Snippet 2: 352

Snippet 3: 354

Snippet 4: 362

Snippet 5: 364

Snippet 6: 383

Snippet 7: 390

Snippet 8: 396

Snippet 9: 398

Snippet 10: 411

Snippet 11: 420

Snippet 12: 423

Snippet 13: 429

Snippet 14: 435

Snippet 15: 469

Snippet 16: 494

Snippet 17: 501

Snippet 18: 505

Snippet 19: 519

Snippet 20: 532

Snippet 21: 542

Snippet 22: 554

Snippet 23: 585

Snippet 24: 593