Contents

The Trials and Tribulations of Family.

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

Part 6

The Trials and Tribulations of Family.

Part 1

Percy Weasley walked his son into Olivander's and smiled at the men already standing there. "If I had known we were all going to do this today, I might have invited you to lunch."

"Lunch sounds good," George agreed. "Haven't eaten yet myself. I had to deliver my wand to be fixed so I could work today." He looked at his almost brother-in-law. "You?"

"We had a late breakfast," Draco said, glaring at his son's head. "Someone couldn't figure out what to wear this morning and kept us from starting out early to avoid the rush."

"But dad," Denver complained. "Simone was supposed to come today too."

"Ron's bringing her," George told him. "Just as soon as she finds her letter."

"It's the same thing," Draco sighed. "She could have shared."

"It's the point of the thing," George reminded him. "We all had to have our letters in our hands when we shopped too." Draco nodded and relaxed more. "Good morning, Melvin."

Melvin smiled at him, showing off his bleeding gums. "I got hit."

"By what?" Denver asked.

"Tananda. She threw her blocks at me." He shrugged. "She was cranky."

"Indeed," Percy said with an eye roll. "She has colic and her brother was an easy target this morning. That's what kept us." He smiled at Mr. Olivander as he walked out from the back room. "How are you today?"

"Just fine." He smiled at Denver. "Are you ready, young man?"

"Sure," Denver said happily. "Can I really have a gryphon core wand?"

Ollivander shook his head. "The wand picks the wizard, young man." He looked at Draco. "Ash, ten inches?" he asked. Draco nodded. "I was sorry to hear about your father."

"It's better that he's dead. I might have had to kill him if he had come near my son." He stood up, giving someone else the single stool. "Let's get you settled so we can deal with the clothing issue, son."

"Yes, father." Denver bounced in place as a small stack of wands were pulled down. "Wow," he said when the first one was opened. "What's that made of?"

"Ebony." Mr. Olivander carefully pulled the wand and held it out. "Give it a wave."

Denver waved it around and a light, cherry scented breeze came out of the tip. "What's the core?" he asked happily.

"It's a gryphon core, but it's a feather, not as powerful as the special one we made for your sister." He smiled kindly. "I know that you wanted a very powerful one."

Denver shrugged. "She's more powerful, but I'm more sneaky," he said with his best evil grin. "I'm the brains of the outfit." His father cuffed him lightly. "Hey! I am."

"Don't say that. Your sister is just as brilliant as you are." He handed over the money for the wand, waving off the extra. "I'm sure you'll need it for my daughter's." He turned as the bell over the door dinged. "Xander," he said with a smile. "Ignatius."

"Hi," the other kids called.

"I got a gryphon feather," Denver said, waving his wand.

"That's so cool," Iggy said, looking at his wand. He looked up at his father. "Do I get something like that?" Xander shrugged. "Why don't you know?"

"Because your wand picks you," Xander told him, patting him on the head. He smiled at his husband. "Still broken?"

"It's being fixed right now," Ollivander told him. "Mr. Weasley," he said, motioning him forward. He picked up the next box. "Try that one." Melvin waved the wand and the window broke. "No, not that one. Try this one." He handed over the next wand, then had to duck when a firebolt flew out of the end. "Hmm." He walked over to the wall of wands and pulled down a particularly dusty box. He handed it over and watched as Melvin tested it, smiling when nothing happened. "Just as I thought." He took that wand and pulled out another one, handing it over. "A fairy's hair core," he said proudly when Melvin's wand gave off glittering dots of light. "Very unusual." He smiled at his father. "That one's six galleons, fifteen sickles." Percy gladly handed over the money, pulling his son out of the way so Iggy could get his.

"Can I see the really pretty ones?" Iggy asked. "I'd like a really pretty wood on mine."

Ollivander laughed. "We'll see what picks you. Though I don't have many wands that aren't at least somewhat pretty." He headed into the back and came out with George's freshly glued wand, and a small box. "Try this one."

Iggy opened the box and pulled out the blond wand. He waved it around and nothing happened. He frowned and shook his head. "It's not for me. Maybe something bigger? Like dad's wand?"

Xander patted his fifteen-inch wand. "You'll have one somewhere near mine. You're my son." George coughed, giving him a smile. "But I agree, he should have something stunning to go with his personality." He grinned and winked at Ollivander. "Can he have something bright and shiny?"

"Father," Ignatius sighed, rolling his eyes. A box on the wall drew his attention and he walked over to it, tapping it. "Can I see that one please?" Ollivander humored him and pulled it out, letting him hold the twisted wood wand. "It's very pretty." He waved it and a breeze came out of the end. "Is this one meant for me?"

Ollivander pulled down the box under the one Iggy had wanted, handing it over. "Try that one, young man. Phoenix feather."

Iggy waved that one, a twisted oak and ash wand, and nearly got thrown across the room. "Wow. That's powerful."

Ollivander nodded. "It is. You have to be very careful with it." He smiled. "You're a very powerful wizard, young Mr. Harris-Weasley. Try it again, this time with less glee over getting a wand."

Everyone watched as Iggy moved the wand again, this time it looked like shooting green stars. "Wow," Xander said happily. Iggy grinned at him. "Is that one his?" Ollivander nodded. "Then I'll expect you to take good care of it, son." He put ten galleons on the counter, and Ollivander shook his head with a smile. "More?"

"Three more." Even Draco winced. "Trees that grow together are very rare, just like the young man is." Xander put down the extra money without another wince. "Now, who else are we getting from your family?"

"Simone," Denver and Melvin said together.

"She was promised a gryphon core wand too," Denver told him. "By the ambassador herself."

"Yes, she visited me last week," Ollivander agreed.

"Two other professor's kids," Xander added.

"I've seen young Ryan Rosenberg. I expect I'll see young Mr. Maclay sometime later this week since young Ryan said they were on vacation." He smiled at the boys. "No one else that you can think of?" The boys shook their heads. "Well, I hope you continue to be friends once you get to school."

"Them and me both," Xander said as he turned Iggy around. "Thank you, Mr. Ollivander." He herded his kid out into the main alley. "Where to now?"

"Books?" Iggy asked hopefully.

"We're headed for clothes," Draco told him. "We've already done books." He looked down at Melvin. "You?"

"Clothes," Percy agreed. "Then books and animals."

"We could all do it together," George suggested. He looked down at his robes. "I could use a few new ones too." He leaned into Xander's side. "Would you buy me a new working robe?"

"Only if you go and get money out of the bank," Xander said with a grin. "I just spent everything we had out on the dresser."

"Hmm." George took the key his husband dug out, then looked at his son. "Thirty?"

"Or so," Xander agreed. "Unless he needs a new broom."

"He can't have one unless he makes the Quidditch team," Percy pointed out. He patted Melvin on the shoulder. "Fortunately, he doesn't like to play that much." His son played but wasn't that rabid about it and had never accosted him for a special, top of the line broom.

"I'm sure he'll like flying more once he takes lessons," George told him. He looked at Denver. "What about you? Going to try out for a team?"

"Yup. Now that the doctor fixed my ear problems I'm a whiz bang on a broom. I miss playing on the Junior league, I was a star of the local area," Denver bragged. His father nodded behind him. "So, clothes?"

"Yeah, clothes," Xander agreed, helping herd the kids toward Madam Malkin's. "Then books, supplies, and animals last," he told his son.

"Books last," George corrected. "That way I don't have to carry them." Xander shrugged. "Ignatius, do remember that you're not bringing them all with you," he reminded his son. "Show some restraint this time." He walked away, heading for the bank.

"You bought out the bookstore?" Draco asked him.

Iggy gave him a sly smile. "Not all the books in the bookstore in Hogsmeade. I only bought twenty last time."

"Twenty books that you're not taking with you to Hogwarts," Xander noted as they walked into the robe shop. "Hi," he said happily. They were all here on the day that they had gotten their letters so almost no one was in the shop. "They're all starting in two weeks." He patted his son's shoulders. "And he grew three inches in the last four months."

Madam Malkin smiled at them. "Right this way." She ushered the children into the fitting area and went to get them some clothes. "Summer and winter both?" All the parents nodded. "Good." She smiled at Iggy, who was taller than the other two boys, even though he looked younger. "Isn't there another one of you who'll be starting?"

"Simone's presently hunting her letter," Draco told her. He wandered away to look around. "Xander, come try this one," he demanded. Xander obediently walked over and looked at the outfit. "Quite good for a teacher."

"Red or blue," Xander said, pulling out a dark red one. "I don't want to dress in all black. People will confuse me with Snape."

Percy snorted. "I doubt it. You're nowhere near as thin as Professor Snape is." He walked over and pulled out a few robes. "Try those. You'd look good."

Draco put one of them back, Xander didn't need to be wearing stripes. "Please don't encourage him to wear hideous clothes that will give his students nightmares." Xander glared at him. "You did my class," he defended. "You're a teacher, dress like one."

George walked in and smiled at him. "Yes, dear, do dress like a teacher." He slipped the bag of money into Xander's pocket. He pulled out a powder blue one. "How about this one? With your blue jeans and t-shirt?"

Xander nodded and checked the size, pulling out one in his size. He gathered up the other ones and walked back to the fitting areas. "Can I have these?"

Madam Malkin looked up from pinning Melvin's hem. "Of course. Try the first one on and I'll get to you in a minute. Mr. Weasley, we've just gotten in a new section of work clothes," she told him.

"Good. I need a new work robe." He headed to the rack she had pointed to, coming up with a new labcoat robe and an overall. "Dear, I found something," he told him.

Draco growled at the ugly, utilitarian clothing. No one would ever see him in such an outfit! His family shouldn't be dressed like that either!

George smiled at him. "You expect me to wear good clothes in the lab?" he asked with a smile. "With what I get into?"

"Point," Draco conceded, "but most of your family needs a makeover."

Ginny and Ron drug in Simone, who was pouting and trying to get away. "Here, yours," she announced, handing her over to her father. "We'll be in the bookstore."

"Oh, take me!" Iggy begged. He pouted at Madam Malkin. "Am I done?"

"No, son. You can wait for ten more minutes," Xander told him. He looked at Ginny, who grinned and shrugged. "Then you can go be a nerd with your aunt."

"Okay." Iggy shifted and wiggled under Madam Malkin's assistant's hands. "Hurry up! I need more books. I'm even willing to buy everyone else's."

Xander pulled out some money and handed it to Ginny. "Don't let him get too much," he said quietly. "Just his textbooks if you can." She nodded and pocketed the coins. "Thanks." Within minutes, his son was bouncing out the door with his aunt and uncle to go play in the bookstore, money from the other parents in Ginny's pocket too.

Simone pushed her brother and cousin out of the way. "I need good clothes, and no skirts," she announced.

"Princess, you have to wear skirts to class," Draco reminded her. "It is the school uniform."

"She can wear pants, they changed it last year," Madam Malkin told him. "It's a nice change." She smiled at the young girl. "You'll still need a few skirts, dear. Would you like longer ones or shorter ones?"

"Longer ones," Draco said firmly, looking a bit shocked. "My daughter will not wear those muggle mini skirts!"

"Daddy, chill." She looked at the dressmaker. "I have some skirts that I plan on bringing with me. They're in school colors and I asked when I was visiting the last time. They should be fine." She glanced at her father. "But I will allow him to buy me a single skirt." The dressmaker smiled and nodded, going to get her some clothes. "And please, may I have a formal robe this year?"

"No," Draco told her. His daughter pouted at him. "Tough, you don't need one."

"We'll be throwing that Christmas party," she reminded him.

"And you'll be getting one around then so you don't grow out of it," Xander told her. She settled down. "Simone, if you pull that attitude in class, Ron will have to punish you. You know that, right?" She sighed and nodded. "Good. Because making enemies your first day of school will make sure that they're enemies the whole time you're in school."

"Yes, they will," Draco agreed.

George snickered. "Are you regretting not getting on with Ron now?" he teased.

Draco shook his head. "Not in the least. But there are times when I could have had much more...fun if I hadn't driven off all the other houses during my first year." He winked at the adults.

"I think you got enough," Xander said dryly. "You slept with half the school."

"Really?" Denver asked. "Why did you do that, daddy? Weren't you sleeping with mummy then?"

"Not until my last year," Draco sighed, glaring at Xander. "I'll get you for that," he mouthed. Xander blew a kiss. "Son, remind me to stop at the apothecary before we leave. I think there's some things we'll need to pick up for you there."

The other men laughed, but it was Percy who pointed something out. "Ron found a copy of that infertility spell," he said quietly. "The one that worked on him for ten years. We could reasonably cast it again."

"It takes three people," George reminded him. "I'm not sure we should do it when they're this young. It might harm them."

Draco shrugged. "I'm all for waiting until Denver is older, but what about Iggy?"

Xander coughed. "We've had a discussion about that." George looked at him, mouth open. "Sorry, honey, but I caught him checking out Simone so we had a little discussion and talked about sex and stuff. Then he took his allowance and bought some books about it." He shrugged at the dirty look. "Fred and your mom knew, they caught us talking on the back porch."

"Fine, don't tell me that our son is interested in girls," George said, pouting slightly.

Draco patted him on the arm. "At least your son likes girls. Ginny pointed out that certain other children might not." Percy looked at him and shook his head. "Really?"

"If Fred ever had a child possibly, but I doubt you have to worry about it among your four," Percy told him. Melvin launched himself at his father and Percy barely caught him. "Whatever was that for?" he asked with a smile.

"For thinking that I like girls," Melvin told him with a grin. "I think girls are icky still, father, so it's okay."

Percy gave him a tight hug. "I'm glad to hear that you're not growing up too fast, Melvin." He didn't notice that Melvin winked at everyone else. He doted on his father and wanted to keep him happy for a bit longer.

"Can I look at books now?"

"Of course. Go find your Aunt and Uncle." He let his son go, watching him with a fond air. "I wonder if this is how Father felt when we went off."

Xander patted him on the back. "I'm pretty sure your dad watched the train leave with a sigh of relief 'cause now he could have snuggles with the wife." Percy glared at him. "What? You never noticed them sneaking off after the last family dinner?"

Draco coughed and nodded. "They did," he agreed. "Ginny mentioned that it was nice to know that one was never too old for that."

"I wonder..." George started, then he shook his head. "Never mind, a bad thought."

Xander blew a kiss at him. "Naughty thoughts are always encouraged."

"I was wondering if Dumbledore had a girlfriend yet." Everyone else in hearing distance shuddered. "Sorry," he said with a smile.

"Let's get you fitted," Madam Malkin told Xander. She shot George a funny look behind his back. "Just these, Professor Harris?" He nodded and stepped up so she could fit him. The first robe was put aside until the right size was found. "Are you sure you wouldn't like something more sunny and light? These are very heavy."

"I know, but my rooms have turned cold recently," Xander said with a shrug. Then he winced. "The shoulders are really tight on this one," he complained.

"We can fix that easily, Professor." She looked at Draco, then at Xander's clothes. "It looks like you're about to need more clothes."

"I just bought these," Xander whined. "Do I have to shop for more clothes? I hate shopping for clothes."

"I'll go for you," George offered. "I could use more t-shirts." He watched as his husband was fitted for more clothes. "You look stunning in that color," he said, admiring the dark blue robe his husband was wearing. "Want to get lucky later?"

Xander grinned down at him. "Only if you make up the nest."

"Dear Merlin," Percy sighed. "At least you two won't be adding to the family."

George snorted. "Not for mum's trying. She's been mentioning it again." He looked up at his husband. "You might want to discourage her soon, before you end up carrying." Madam Malkin looked at him. "The gryphons have a spell for that," he told her.

She shook her head and went back to fitting the professor. They were quite strange, but enjoyable. Really, men having children. What nonsense.

Draco smothered a laugh at the look on her face. He had seen the spell himself, it wasn't that hard, but it was pure chaos based. He had even copied it, just in case he decided he wanted more children. It wouldn't do to hurt Ginny by making her carry one again. He decided Xander could use more clothes and went to find him some. She was right, Xander did look a bit shabby today. He brought back an armful of full outfits and glared at Xander. "You will wear these, and include all the necessary underthings this time, or I will make your life a living hell."

"I can buy him clothes," George protested.

Draco raised an eyebrow. "Really? Then why is he still wearing hideously loud patterns?"

"Because no one else leers at him in them," Percy pointed out with a smile. George glared at him. "Well, they don't. And please, I agree, do wear underwear, Xander. The last time I saw you like that in public it nearly caused a problem."

"When were you doing that?" George nearly shrieked.

"Last week when you sent me from a nap right to get you potion supplies," Xander reminded him in his drollest tone of voice. "And, Percy, it was only one woman."

"Still!" George said. "You will not go out like that again! I won't have my husband ogled by just anyone!" He tried to think up a good threat but all he came up with was, "I'll tell mum if you do it again and let her lecture you."

"I got one from Ron," Xander said in his defense. "Even Buffy got in on it. And no one touched me, they just leered at my cute butt." He turned a little to show it off. "I worked hard to get my butt this firm again, it deserves to be appreciated."

"Ooh, someone's going to be sleeping on the couch tonight," Draco laughed.

"Bet me," George said darkly. "Someone's going to be getting a lesson to remind him he's taken." He shook his head. "Forget I said that." He walked away, going to sit somewhere and think up suitably horrible punishments for Xander if he went out and attracted attention like that again. They didn't need a stalker.

Percy walked over and patted him on the arm. "He loves you, George. He'd never leave you for someone else. He's proven that time and again." He smiled at his younger and irritating brother. "Remember he has meetings tomorrow if you do go after him tonight. McGonagall isn't as forgiving as Dumbledore was." George smiled up at him. "Besides, where else would he find someone who stimulated his need to be naughty?"

"Yes, but I'd like him to keep his naughtiness limited to me."

Draco walked over. "Surely you can't think someone will steal him from you."

George shook his head. "I know no one can, it's silly."

"Yes, it is," Draco said firmly. "That man gave up women for you. I doubt he's going to touch another person again. After all, you share his nest. He's loyal to his family." Draco grimaced, thinking about the letter he had received last week. "Unlike some, he's not out spreading himself around."

George started to agree, but he saw the look on the younger man's face. "What happened now?"

Draco took a deep breath. "Apparently I have a half-sister. She's in Penryn. She wrote last week."

"Oh, dear," Percy said. "Is she like your father?" Draco shrugged. "You haven't written back?"

"I'm not sure yet whether to be skeptical or not. Father sent away one supposed sibling's mother at one point."

Xander came over and hugged him. "Have it investigated. Do a relationship test or something. She's got to know you won't take her word on it." Draco nodded. "Then you can angst over it once you find out what's going on." He patted him on the back. "Honey, if I be good, will you buy me ice cream?"

"Sure," George said, pulling Xander down onto his lap. He snorted at the tearing sound. "I think these are a bit tight," he announced, letting Xander get up to get them fixed.

Madam Malkin clucked over the rip and helped to fix it. "I'll add more material to the seams," she told Xander.

"I guess it's official," Xander mock-sighed. "I'm getting middle-aged butt spread."

Draco groaned. "That sounded dirty, Xander."

George patted him on the back. "You too will find out about being old, son. Just wait a few years until you start to ache every morning when you wake up."

"Those were old fighting injuries," Xander reminded his husband. "I'm supposed to ache so I have a reminder of being young and saving the world."

Madam Malkin looked at him in the mirror. "How many times have you done that now, Professor Harris?"

"Um, something like four or five," he admitted. "I stopped counting after the second one." He shrugged at her incredulous look. "It was part of fighting with the slayer. She saved the world and I was there with her. And I even saved her a few times." She went back to adding fabric to his rear seam. "George, remind me I want to pick up some rub for my knee please."

"Sure."

Draco shook his head. "I'm glad I was only involved in that one world saving event. I don't think I could take remembering more of them."

Xander grinned at him. "It gets boring, trust me." He turned so the seamstress would quit nudging him. "Oh, hey, did you hear yet? There's someone who's trying to pick up where your dad left off, Draco. Wants to set up a formal hierarchy. I heard her speaking last week. She was really into her subject."

Draco 'humph'ed. "I'm sure we can overthrow her too. Let me tell Potter during our next match. I'm sure he'll be thrilled too."

"She's all talk at the moment," Percy assured him. "No one thinks she'll get enough support to go any further than whining and complaining. Even if your father were still around, he wouldn't have supported her because she's got some very radical ideas that none of the old timers approve of. Including making a new house at Hogwarts for, as she calls it, in-between children." Draco opened his mouth. "Of course, one of the gryphon-born has threatened her. I believe she's starting this year actually."

"Melody's daughter," Xander agreed. Percy grimaced. "Sorry, Percy, but she does have a daughter and she's starting this year. Though I did make her promise to leave Melvin and our kids alone. The daughter even agreed to leave Iggy alone. Apparently she's not real strong and she's kinda sickly so she won't be making too much trouble."

"Hopefully," Draco muttered. Xander looked at him so he gave him his best innocent look. "I'd like all the children to have a calmer time than my year did. What with Potter, Ron, and Granger, it was nearly so hectic that I couldn't study."

"That's because you wouldn't leave us alone," Ron said as he walked back in with Iggy. "Did you know your son could haggle a discount now, Xander?" Xander and George both groaned. "He used it to get everyone else's books at a discount." He grinned. "And I saw your book, very snazzy cover. A few of the parents were remarking on it."

"Spike drew it," Xander told him.

"It represents the subject matter," George offered. Personally, that cover creeped him out. The demons staring down at you from the cover seemed to follow you with their eyes. And it was a muggle picture too. He couldn't hold it in, he shuddered.

"Those are harmless ones," Xander reminded him. "A plant eater, a wood eater, and a clothes eater. The original picture showed much more violent demons." The door to the shop opened and another parent entered with one of Tara's students. "Hey, Bethany. Did you see the new book?"

She giggled. "I did. Aren't those harmless demons?" He nodded. "See, mum, I told you those were harmless ones. He wouldn't have put the *really* scary ones on there." She walked over and gave Xander a hug. She was a Gryffindor and loved him. Even though his brother-in-law was taking over, it was very clear that Professor Harris hadn't abandoned the house or his duty to them. "I saw Professor Rosenberg and her son. Is he starting this year?" she asked as she stepped up onto a fitting stool.

"Yup, Adrian and Ryan are both starting. Along with my son, two of my nephews and a niece."

"Wow. The house will be full of you this time," she said happily. "Is that Iggy?" Xander nodded. "I can't wait to meet the little guy." Xander pointed at where his son was nose-deep into a book in the corner. "Oh, he's so cute." Iggy slumped down a little more so he wouldn't be as noticed.

"He's in a growth spurt," Xander told her. "He'll be taller than I am I think." He stepped down once his last outfit was fixed. "Thanks, Madam Malkin. How much do I owe you?"

"Twenty galleons," she told him happily. This time of year was her favorite. Her mouth opened when Draco Malfoy opened his purse and put the money into her hand. "But..."

"I intend to make sure he doesn't give my son nightmares with his clothes the way he did me," Draco told her, then steered his son out. "Come on, let's go to the next stop. Animals wasn't it?"

"Yup," Iggy said, hopping up to follow him. "I wonder if I can talk Hagrid out of one of the puppies."

"No, son," Xander said as he followed along behind him. He smacked Draco across the back of the head. "I can buy my own clothes."

"Yes, but I have better taste and this way no one will stare in fascinated horror instead of listening to your lectures. Complain some more and I'll gladly fight you over it, and win since you're feeling so old." He grinned and strolled off.

Xander growled. His husband wrapped an arm around his waist. "Let him, it makes him feel better to spoil you," George whispered. "And it means we can go on vacation this year."

"Vacation?" Xander asked, liking this new subject. "Like going somewhere and seeing other things?" George nodded. "Where are we going?"

"Disney World." Xander grinned happily and allowed himself to be led along. "I'll ride all the rides with you if you're a good boy."

"Okay," Xander said happily. "When are we going?"

"The second weekend of school. I figured we'd leave Friday night and come back late Sunday. Is that good for you?"

"Teleporting?"

"Portkey from the travel agency." He gave him a squeeze. "There's a special rate for wizards." He followed the others into the familiar's shop. "No," he told his son, who was staring at a small black kitten. "No cats. Murphy doesn't like them, he attacks them."

"Yes, father," Iggy sighed.

"You can have a bird or a frog," Xander reminded him.

"But dad!" Iggy whined.

"Nope, sorry. You have to follow the rules too, son. Pick out a bird or a frog."

"But I don't like either of those choices."

"Then don't get anything," George said with a shrug. "One less thing to take care of."

Simone skipped in, waving her wand. "Ebony with a gryphon's heart string." She saw the wince. "They were dying anyway," she told her uncle. "They donated it right after they died."

"I don't want to hear about that," Xander reminded her. He was friends with a great many older gryphons, including one who was probably going to die in the next few years. She put the wand into her holder. "Thank you, Simone."

"I understand, Uncle Xander. It's got to be a bummer." Her father looked at her so she looked cute. "What?" she asked innocently.

"Please speak proper English, not what you've picked up from your Uncle's girlfriend, Simone." He gave her a hug. "Otherwise, no one will understand you." He pointed around the store. "Go pick out an owl."

"I don't want an owl. I want a cat."

"Phoenixes and cats don't get along," Xander told her. "Murphy attacks them and Glinda hates them too."

"Poo," she sighed. "Fine, then I guess I don't need anything from here." She watched as Melvin carried out a tawny little owl. "That's cute."

"I'm going to name him Oliver, after Uncle Harry's stories." Melvin smiled at his father. "Do you think that'll be all right?"

"I think it's a fine name, Melvin." Percy paid for the owl then led the way out of that store since no one else needed anything. They ran into Ron and Ginny outside. "Where to next?"

"Iggy still needs some supplies," George said, pointing at the parchment store, then the potion's supply store. "I need to hit there."

"I'll take Iggy and everyone who needs cauldrons, parchment, quills, and ink," Ron offered. "The rest of you go play with the ingredients." The kids skipped after him, money jingling in their hands.

The adults all breathed a sigh of relief. Finally, no kids. The day they went to school would be a nice change. No more hyper children.

***

Simone stepped off the train and smiled at Hagrid, waving at him. "Hi," she said, walking over to pet one of the dogs. It didn't look like his, but it was okay.

"Don't pet 'er," Hagrid warned quietly. "The girl needs 'er." He smiled as a young girl was led off the train by one of the Prefects. "First years over here," he called, waving his arms. His dogs went among the students, pushing and nudging at some of them. By the time he had all the first years, the one girl was leaning against his side. "We're gonna head to the boats," he announced, pointing the way. His dogs led the way and the girl had one hand on his arm and the other on the strange leash device on her dog's back.

Denver looked the girl over. "You're an odd one," he told her. "Denver Malfoy," he greeted, holding out a hand. He noticed that she didn't take it. "Don't worry, my father cured all the badness in the family."

Iggy nudged him. "I think she's blind," he whispered. "Hi, I'm Iggy, that's my cousin Denver. Simone? Melvin?" They dropped back to walk with him. "These are my other cousins, Simone and Melvin."

"Hi," she said shyly. "I'm Andrea." She waved. "And yes, I'm blind, Iggy." She chuckled. "Like you couldn't tell from the dog."

"No, actually I noticed how he was leading you. There's not many blind wizards, unless they've had an accident," Iggy told her. He held the boat steady while Melvin helped her in. Denver pushed him aside and climbed in, filling the boat so Melvin had to go sit with Simone. "Hopefully we'll be in the same house."

"That'd be nice. I'd like to make friends with a bunch of kids and you seem nice." She petted her german shepard's head. "This is Pumpkin. She's eight. She'll be retiring soon." She squeaked when her head was pushed down. "What?"

"One of the phoenix chicks," Denver told her, patting her on the arm. "They're a bit hyper right now. They've just gotten the ability to leave the nest for short periods of time and seem to like to investigate things."

"Yeah, dad said that he found one in the nest," Iggy told him. "Quite the impertinent little bit it was."

"Your dad has a nest?" Andrea asked.

"My father's Professor Harris and he's gryphon-born. We have a big nest at home and a small one up here at the school. It's a comforting part of the heritage."

"Wow. We, um, don't have to sleep like that, right?"

Iggy laughed. "No, silly, we'll have beds. We'll be in dorms, but ..." His voice trailed off as the castle came into view. It was a beautiful sight, the moonlight cascading over the towers and shining off the water. "Wow."

"The castle just came into view and it's sparkling in the moonlight," Denver told her. He noticed his sister was in the boat in front of them and she was staring too. "Don't worry about much, we'll protect you. It's what Uncle Xander taught us to do."

She laughed. "That's cool, I guess. I know I'll get picked on some."

"Oh, yeah, the Slytherins will do that a lot for the first few weeks, until it bores them. Unless they're brainless like some of the ones my father went with. Then they'll never get tired of it because it's the level of their mentality."

Iggy snorted. "There's a few of those. And a few in the upper years too. I'm sure Professor Snape will put an end to it in relation to her though. It's not like she can help it." The boat stopped and Iggy got out first, steadying it so Denver could help Andrea and Pumpkin out. "The path's a bit rocky," he warned as they met up with Simone and Melvin. "Come on, let's go deal with the hat." He led the way up to the school. Professor Sprout met them at the door and gave their group a smile. He noticed that Simone had taken Andrea's arm to help her around, and listened in as she told her about the changing staircases and what they were passing.

"The nice old man who came to talk to my parents about my attending put a charm on Pumpkin's harness. She'll be able to find any classroom that I tell her to. He was very sweet, Dumbledore was." She paused when she heard the noise. "What's that?"

"The Great Hall," Iggy told her. "It's the dining area. Don't worry, it's pretty easy to get around in. The tables are arranged length-wise to the dias. There's four of them and plenty of room between them. You shouldn't have much of a problem."

"And we'll be happy to help," Melvin agreed. "Even if some of us end up in another house." He gave a pointed look at Denver.

Denver shrugged. "Father said he was happy because I got in. He'd be pleased if I got into Slytherin but he's not expecting it really." He pushed his sister. "I have to watch out for her."

"Stop it, Denver," Simone whined. "Don't mess up my hair!" The door opened and Professor Spout led them in. She kept firm hold of Andrea's arm, glaring at one Ravenclaw who started to say something. They lined up.

"When I call your name, come forward, sit on the stool, and I'll put the hat on your head," Professor Sprout told them. She unrolled the scroll of names. "Alberts, Maxine?" A young, thin, tiny girl walked forward and had to hop up onto the stool.

"Hufflepuff!" the hat announced immediately.

The line slowly shortened until they came to the 'm's. "Malfoy, Denver."

He stepped forward and sat down. "Hmm," he heard in his head. "Quite a specimen. Torn between two types of being. Wherever shall you go, young Malfoy? Slytherin like your heritage or Gryffindor like your nature?"

"Just pick one," Denver sighed. He had a vision of the hat announcing that it had to think about it for the night and the anger it would cause in his father. "I don't care, just stick me somewhere so I can go eat please."

"Fine, then we'll follow your protective streak. Do come up and tell me about your adventures once you have them. Gryffindor!"

Denver sighed and handed the hat over, going to take his place.

"Malfoy-Weasley, Simone," Professor Sprout announced. A few of the kids leaned over and talked to each other. "Quiet!" she demanded as Simone handed Andrea to Melvin and walked up to the chair.

"Hmm, his sister," the hat told Simone. "You are also torn between the power of your heritage and your nature. Power, yes, lots of power. But a lot of control too."

"I could care less," she muttered. "Mum wants me in Gryffindor and Dad would be pleased as long as you don't take all night."

The sorting hat laughed. "I see. Then I best put you where your brother can keep an eye on you. Quite a destiny you have, young one. I would like to hear about it sometime. Gryffindor!"

Simone took off the hat and glanced at Melvin, who nodded. She would help Andrea down when it was her turn. When she was sorted into Gryffindor a few minutes later, she hopped up and help her down the stairs.

"That's Pumpkin's job," Andrea told her. "She's specially trained to help me down stairs and around things."

Simone shrugged. "Yay, it makes me feel happy." She clapped as another boy got put into Gryffindor. Then Ryan Rosenberg got put into Slytherin, much to his mother's displeasure. She was sure that Willow would make good on her threat to talk to her son later that night. "Besides, you'll only have to walk down them once." Her cousin was up next and she nearly stood up when the hat shouted "Hufflepuff". "Oh, shit," she whispered. "Uncle Percy's going to crap house sized bricks." She looked at Denver, who shrugged. "Oh, well."

"Why wasn't Iggy sorted yet?"

"Because he's a special case. They always go last," Denver told her.

"And now," Professor Sprout said, smiling at Iggy. "It has come to pass that a certain young wizard was admitted early so his name is not in the right order on the list. Ignatius Harris-Weasley, step forward."

Iggy stepped forward and sat on the stool, resisting the urge to fidget. "Hello. As long as you don't put me into Slytherin, I'll be happy with whatever."

The sorting hat laughed. "You don't have the personality for Slytherin, young man." It was quiet for a bit. "Just like your father, only more controlled. You'll have to loosen up sometime or else you'll be in trouble." Another pause. "Smart, yes, brave, yes. Impatient, definitely. You will have a great destiny; I would love to hear about your adventures when you start having them. Would Gryffindor suit you?"

"If it pleases you," Iggy agreed. "I really don't care that much. I'm here to learn, not to take up politics."

"Then Gryffindor it is!" the hat announced.

Iggy handed it over carefully and walked down to sit beside Denver. "I think I don't like that thing. It called me impatient," he told his cousins.

Denver coughed to cover his laugh. "No, you're not impatient at all," Simone assured him, tongue-in-cheek. "Why would it think that? Just because you liked to reprimand me for not catching you...."

"Or got Melvin because he wasn't as quick to take up esoteric subjects," Denver added.

Iggy frowned. "I simply wanted you all to be as smart as I am and to have someone to play with. It's not like I can play with your father and mine insist on doing things like playing pranks."

"You do know that pranks are your heritage?" Andrea asked.

Iggy grimaced as he nodded. "I know. My father runs a joke shop with his twin. But I'm doing good in ignoring my baser impulses. I won't play a single prank on anybody."

"This is all because you turned that cunt purple, isn't it?" Simone asked. A few of her tablemates gave her a shocked look. "What? She was!"

Iggy shrugged. "It made me see that I had to take my nature seriously or I'd never be able to control it." He smiled as the food appeared in front of him, the meat tray right in front of his plate. He dished himself out some food and passed them on. "I think I'm going to like it here."

"Just remember not to live in the library," Denver teased. Iggy shoved him. "Hey! You almost made me drop my stuffing."

"Sorry," Iggy said, giving him a grin. "I'll try to behave better."

"See that you do," an older girl said from farther down the table. "Do eat now, thank you."

"Yes, ma'am," Iggy said, snapping off a salute, just like his father did sometimes. "Any other orders of business to attend to tonight?"

"Just because you're smart doesn't mean you can be a smart ass," the girl told him. Another girl leaned over and whispered in her ear. "So? Professor's son or not, I'm not putting up with anything. Besides, one of the Professor's sons was sorted into Slytherin. I don't think they're going to be paying attention tonight." She glared at Iggy. "You won't be getting away with anything, children, so behave."

"PMS much?" Denver asked her. Her mouth opened. "I should warn you, we do stick up for each other. You try one of us, you get the group. Even Melvin." She shut her mouth and returned to her dinner. "Simone, please don't curse her tonight," he said quietly. "I'd hate to have to write father."

Simone smiled. "I'm going to be good. Iggy?"

"I'm almost always good," Iggy told her, giving her a reassuring smile. "Andrea, how does it feel to be adopted into the clan?"

"It's kind of neat. I'm an only child so I didn't realize having siblings could be like this."

"Oh, it's not," Simone told her. "Sometimes it's punching your brother until he leaves you alone, or beating up on your know-it-all cousin because he's being a pain."

"And sometimes it's sneaking off to Diagon through the floo for ice cream," Denver added, remembering their foray three years ago that had gotten them all grounded for six months. "Did Anastasia howl this morning?"

"She spent the night with Gram so we said goodbye then," Simone said between bites. She looked at her phoenix and whistled, but it chirped and nipped Snape on the ear. "Okay, be that way. See if I save you any seeds tonight." Glinda flew over and landed between her and Andrea. "Andrea, this is Glinda. She's a phoenix. One of Iggy's father's phoenix's get. Glinda, this is Andrea. Watch out for her like you would one of us please." Glinda looked at Andrea, peering at her face, then nuzzled her. "Thank you. Please, take some fruit and go find a more agreeable perch." She watched as her best-friend-since-birth stole some of the apples off the table and leapt into the air, going to sit on a rafter high above the illusion on the ceiling.

"Is she golden?" Andrea asked.

"Pretty muchly, with a hint of scarlet on her feather tips," Iggy told her. "She cut Simone's umbilical cord."

"True," Simone agreed. "Mum said Glinda wouldn't move away from her when she was having me. She was the second being to touch me."

"Wow. That beats being picked by a seeing eye dog."

"Oh, she's a troublesome little quim," Simone told her. "Trust me, you'll find yourself missing something shiny soon. She always hides it under my bed."

"Yes, if you're ever missing anything, look under her bed," Denver agreed. "I've found almost everything of mine under there some time in the past."

"Do you two live together? I noticed the different names."

"No, our parents refuse to marry. I'm my father's son and she's daddy's and mummy's princess."

"And next year, daddy said he'd show me a real unicorn."

Iggy snorted. "He wants to make sure you're not living up to his reputation probably," he muttered. She kicked him. "Ow! Grumpy."

"I'm not living up to his reputation, Iggy. It would destroy daddy and get mum on my case like nothing else has."

"Gram too," Denver put in. "She's tired of all the unmarried people in the family. I heard she threatened Uncle Bill with an arranged marriage if he didn't settle down with someone."

"Is that where the picture of him kissing a camel came from?" Melvin asked from behind Simone. "Can I still hang with you guys?"

"All the time," Simone assured him. "Just because you're a different house doesn't mean that we're going to start ignoring you."

"You, back to your house," the Prefect for Hufflepuff said as she walked over to drag Melvin away.

"I should warn you," Simone told her. "The whole clan does stick up for each other, even when one of us is sorted into a different house. He is still my cousin and I will still hurt people over him."

The Prefect laughed. "Good, but tradition dictates that he eat at with his house. You can see each other tomorrow."

Xander and Ron walked down together, frowning at the brood. "Probs?" Xander asked.

"No, just the standard warning," Iggy told him. He smiled at his father. "Are you Murphying Percy or should we?"

"I'm sending him an owl," Ron told him. He scowled at Simone. "Your language was heard and remarked upon," he warned her. "This is your only warning. Next time, I'm pulling a mum and soaping your mouth." She stuck out her tongue, which was a signal to her bird apparently because Glinda came down and tried to dive-bomb Ron.

Xander caught her and glared at her. "Don't even think about it. Murphy will stick kick your butt." Glinda 'cheeped' pitifully at him. "Yay. Go eat somewhere else." He released her, sending her into the air. "We're not cutting you guys any slack," he reminded them. He looked at the Head Girl, the one who had been bothering Simone earlier. "Or anyone else for that matter," he warned her. She blushed and went back to her food. "Good. Now finish up so you can head up for the night. We just got called so we'll be up to talk to the house afterwards." They walked out of the Great Hall together.

"Wow," Melvin whispered. "That's pretty bad for Uncle Xander. It must have been horrible."

Denver looked at him. "You're telling me. Dad must have done something pretty bad."

Simone shuddered. "I have a feeling I know what it is." She looked around. "Did anyone bring a copy of the Prophet with them?" she asked nicely. One was tossed down at her and she quickly opened it to an article she had been reading over breakfast, handing it to her brother. "Wanna bet it doesn't have something to do with that?"

"Who threatened your father?" Iggy asked, snatching the paper to read for himself. "Well, that certainly would explain it." He handed it back to Denver. "I wonder if dad needs any help." Simone and Denver gave him a look. "What? I'm useful!"

"Yeah, but we're too young. Your dad won't let us fight until we're at least fifth years and our dad said after we graduate."

"Point," Iggy said glumly. "But it doesn't mean we can't help."

"I'm going to owl dad," Denver announced.

"Use Glinda." She raised a hand and Glinda sailed down, landing on her shoulder. "Wanna go see daddy?" she asked.

Denver leaned out from the table. "Can I take this article out?" he requested. The person who the paper belonged to nodded. "Thank you." He carefully tore it out and handed it to Glinda. "Tell our beloved father that we'd like to hear more about this, before we have to get upset about it." Glinda bobbed and took off again, heading out of the great hall. "Well, I'd say this was going to be an interesting year," he decided, handing the paper back to the owner.

"Truly," Simone agreed.

"Definitely," Iggy agreed, scowling at his plate.

"Please keep me out of any revenge plots," Andrea requested. "My parents would kill me if I pulled a Granger and got sucked in."

"It's a Weasley," the clan said.

"Uncle Ron got sucked in first," Denver added.

Andrea laughed. "Good to know. Just as long as I don't get sucked in."

Simone shrugged. "Fine with us, but expect to hear about things now and then. Since you've been adopted, we'll have to include you in any and all conspiracies."

"Hey, I won't tell, but I probably can't help."

"You'd be surprised," Iggy told her. "Melvin is usually our lookout and place keeper."

"Place keeper?" Andrea asked.

"Yeah, as a gryphon-born, I can't apparate, but I can teleport, which is much the same thing. I found the spell last year and I tend to take my beloved cousins with me. Usually Melvin watches out for us and makes up our excuses."

"Oh." She sighed. "I guess I can do that."

"Usually Melvin gets an extra chocolate frog for it," Simone added.

"I've never had one of those."

"We can fix that," the three of them said together.

Iggy noticed Snape was watching them and waved at him, sending him his happiest smile. "Nice man, Professor Snape. He'll probably hate me now."

"Yay," Denver sighed. "I suck at potions."

"Yeah, but you're better at Transfiguration," Simone pointed out. "While Iggy excels at anything nerdly and divinations. I'm the beasty person. We all have our spots."

"What about Melvin?" Andrea asked.

"He's great at growing stuff," Iggy told her. "Helped me tons with my potions stuff because I know the name of *nothing*."

"Ah." She nodded. "I don't get to take potions."

"That must be nice," Denver sighed, dropping his fork. "Let's get on with dessert so I can worry all night."

Simone patted him on the arm. "It'll be fine, Denver. I promise. Uncle Xander and Dad will take care of it, even if they do have to call in Uncle Ron and Uncle Harry to help. Plus the rest of the family will jump in too."

"Yeah, but I'd rather be there!" He pounded his fist on the table, then got up and stalked out of the great hall.

Iggy looked down at the older students, who were watching them. "He's gone to work it out for himself. He'll be somewhere looking out a window, but not very far away." Denver was pushed back into the room by a familiar hand. "See?" He watched as Denver stalked back out, and tried to figure out what he was yelling. He stalked back in a few minutes later. "Not the issue?"

"Not this time. Auntie Buffy had some false labor pains." He sat down. "That article was a surprise to them too." He grimaced. "I'd hate to be dad right about now."

***

In Malfoy Mansion, Xander walked out of the fireplace, followed by Ron. They headed for the nursery first, Ron gathering up the kids, and Xander went to pull his 'son' out of bed. Together they got everyone back to Molly's, where Glinda was waiting on them with the message.

"Stay here," Xander ordered. "Your son's going to have ulcers." He left again.

Ron carefully put down the youngest baby then disappeared too, only grimacing at Draco.

Draco gave Arthur and Molly a helpless look. "What was that about?"

"Someone's hunting down the children of Death Eaters to get revenge for their family dying," Arthur said quietly. He noticed Anastasia looking at him. "Glinda's back," he told her. She squealed and wandered off to find her. Arthur handed over the clipping. "It came with Glinda."

Draco sat down to read it, turning ever so slightly more pale. "Me?"

"You're the most high profile but we can't be sure," Molly told him, patting him on the head. "They were trying to protect you."

"That's nice, but that's my house and it is shielded." He stood up but Molly pushed him back down. "Surely we can't stay here."

Arthur smiled. "We wouldn't have it any other way, son. I'll put the girls to bed." He lifted up the baby and went in search of his other granddaughter.

Molly gave him another pat. "Just relax and nap there, Draco. Ginny will be back tomorrow." She walked away, going to get him some blankets.

Draco shook his head. Is this what normal families did?

****

Ron and Xander faced down their house, giving them faint smiles. It wasn't all bad news. "Welcome to a near year," Xander told them. "For those of you that remember us from last year this will be quick. Everyone else, expect at least a half-hour meeting." He grinned at his son and family. "And I'm going to put my foot down now. Iggy and the family don't get special privileges but if you pick on them you're not going to make many friends." That got a few laughs.

Ron cleared his throat. "As many of you know, I'm the official Head of this house. Xander is actually my second-in-command and the one who meets out all punishment and anything that has to do with meddling, pranks, or getting into trouble." He smiled. "For those who don't know, I'm Ron Weasley, I teach in Defense and most of you will be seeing me on Tuesday, Wednesday, or Fridays. For those of you that don't know, that is Professor Xander Harris, he teaches in the Alternate Defense program for third and fourth years, plus a seventh year class." The kids all nodded. "Do you have any questions so far?"

"Are you encouraging your son to get into trouble?" the Head Boy asked Xander.

Xander shrugged. "He's not usually the troublemaker. That's Simone, the princess, or Denver, the reprobate." Denver laughed. "But no, Iggy shouldn't get into too much trouble. He doesn't even like playing pranks. But if he does, I'd like to know first," he finished with a smile. Everyone nodded. "Thank you." He looked at Ron, who shrugged because he didn't know what was next either. "Oh yeah. Andrea, I'm sorry now if I embarrass you or am too helpful and you get pissed, meddling is my nature and everyone has learned to deal with it."

"That's fine," she told him. "Should we explain now?"

"Yup," Ron agreed.

Xander walked over and helped her up, leading her in front of the house. "This is Andrea, and her dog's name is Pumpkin. As a few of you have realized, Andrea is blind and Pumpkin is specially trained to help her." A few of the kids nodded, but a few looked clueless. "Andrea, would you care to set guidelines for playing with Pumpkin?" he asked quietly. She nodded so he patted her on the shoulders.

"It's true, I can't see. I can see shadows out of one eye but that's it," she told the assembled house. "Pumpkin is trained to guide me around when I need it, get me around obstacles and stairs, and help me with my daily activities. Because of her training, I've got to ask you not to feed her a lot of treats. It could break her training." She snapped her fingers and Pumpkin stood up, walking over to her side. "Whenever you see her in this harness, she's in working mode and shouldn't be played with either. We've got to stay bonded or her training will break down." She reached down and unclipped the fasteners holding on her harness, releasing her. "Whenever she's not in it though, she's a giant puppy and is more than willing to play. I ask that you ask first because some days she's a giant bitch." That got some laughter. "If you ask I'm usually okay with you patting her on the head or giving ear scratches."

"Can you walk around without a cane?" Ron asked.

Andrea shrugged. "It's redundant with Pumpkin."

"What he means is that there are missing stairs that look like they're there," Iggy told her. "I fell though a bunch of those before I learned where they are." He stood up. "For the record, our family has all but adopted her. So if we find out you're picking on her, you'd better hope my father saves you."

"Iggy," Xander said firmly. His son grinned. "Actually, if I find out that any of you picked on her because of this, then I'm going to get you and make sure you learn that lesson very well." The group nodded. "Good. Want help back?"

"No, I think I can get it," Andrea said, following her dog back to her seat. Simone caught her before she fell off the edge. "Thanks."

"Welcome." Simone raised her hand. "What about the tryouts? When are they being held?"

"Next week," Ron told her. "And yeah, I'm a quidditch tyrant from way back. I was Harry Potter's best friend when he was here and playing against the Malfoy."

"As my husband said last year, he has hopes that the games get that way again," Xander joked. Ron shoved him. "Hey!"

"Your husband needs his head examined." Ron rolled his eyes. "As you can see, my brother-in-law does have a sense of humor, a bad one. I'd like to see the games played fairly, well, and excellently. I have high hopes that one of you will make it onto a championship team." That got a few smiles. "Otherwise I'm done." He looked at Xander.

Xander shrugged. "My earlier message about my room being open to all of you stands. As a gryphon-born I am a meddler by nature. So if you need to talk to me, I'm either here or at the store in town, or at Ron's mom's house infrequently."

"If that happens, I'll lend anyone my phoenix to get him," Simone said loudly enough so everyone could hear her. "She knows him well and can usually find him within minutes."

"True. Phoenixes are very fast," Xander agreed with a grin. "Before George and I started dating, we used to Murphy back and forth from the west coast of America to here. It took three days, so phoenixes are very fast." A few of the kids whispered to each other. "My own phoenix is presently trying to keep his latest brood out of trouble so he's around, but not always *around* if you get my meaning." He snapped his fingers. "Oh, yeah, I'm not going to be here next weekend. My husband's treating me to a weekend away." Ron groaned. "Sorry, dude, but he offered Disney."

Ron sighed. "What if she goes into labor then?"

"Oh, that's the last point," Xander said happily. "For at least a month, sometime in the next four, you will have only me here. Ron's girlfriend is about to give birth to triplets." That got a cheer. "So if you see the fat, waddling, blonde woman tell her she looks nice. She's a former Slayer." He stood up. "Anything else, Ron?"

"Not that I know of," Ron agreed. "We'll let you get to bed now. Come to us if you need us and we will help you anyway we can." The students broke up and Ron caught Iggy. "If you cause me trouble, I'm not going to turn you over to your father, I'm handing you to your grandmother," he warned.

Iggy did his best to look innocent. "But I'm the good one," he protested.

"Yeah," Xander snorted. "You're the intelligence behind the creative chaos you guys cause. Keep it down or we'll be having meetings in my room with your other father." He patted his son on the head. "Go sleep. I'll see you at breakfast." He walked out the portrait to wait on Ron.

Ron grimaced at Iggy. "I mean it. No hurting the other house members and no starting shit. If you have to, react, don't start it." Iggy nodded. "Good. I'm going to owl Mum tonight so she'll know where everyone is. Go to bed." Iggy hurried up the stairs. Ron walked out and grinned at Xander. "How long do you think it'll take?"

"Two days, and it'll be a Slytherin," Xander told him.

"Five sickles?" Ron asked as they headed back toward teacher's quarters.

"Sure," Xander agreed, watching as Ron went through the portrait leading to the normal teacher's quarters. He still had his specially shielded room downstairs. Which was where he was going so he could get some from his husband.

***

Simone caught Andrea before she could fall due to her newly tied-together shoelaces. "Oh, that's *so* mature," she told the Slytherin.

"Gonna tell your daddy?" the third year asked.

"No, I can kick your ass on my own." She let go of Andrea and stood in front of her. "Dueling or fist fight?"

They were interrupted by Professor Snape. "What is going on?"

"He decided to pick on Andrea," she told him. "I was about to make him see the error of his ways."

"You were going to duel?" Snape asked, smiling. She was definitely a fiery little creature. Very much her father's daughter.

"Not if he wanted to go at it physically," she said with a shrug. "Doesn't matter to me. Bullies are bad enough, but bullies who pick on someone who can't help the way they are should be eliminated and kept from breeding. Too bad no one thought about that before his father did so."

The other boy lunged, but Snape caught him by the back of his robe. "Enough," he ordered. "Ms. Malfoy-Weasley, we expect better of you here."

"Yeah, well, I expected there to be a brain requirement too so I'll gladly serve any detention for protecting those who can't protect themselves." She smiled at him. "Uncle Xander told us all about how that was the ultimate good thing."

Snape hid his smile. "Indeed. In that case, you will both be helping me clean my dungeon tonight at eight. Be prompt or get more detentions." He let the boy go. "As for you, you were warned last night to leave young Ms. Reams alone. I find myself disappointed that you can't follow simple orders." He nodded at them. "Maybe you should go eat."

Andrea smiled up at him. "I wish I had been able to take your class, Professor, maybe I'll be able to work something out for next year." She took Simone's arm and Pumpkin's harness, letting her dog lead her into the Great Hall. "I expect things like that," she said quietly. "It's okay."

"It's not," Simone countered. "He may be a stupid, evil bastard but that doesn't mean he has to pick on you. There's plenty of more satisfying targets and he was going for the easy laugh."

Andrea laughed. "So you're making him work for his laughs?"

"Exactly. Why take the easy route? Doing harder things makes your brain grow. Just look at our family," she said as she sat them down.

"Thank you for saving me. Apparently the charm on her harness works for every room but the Great Hall." She sat, Pumpkin sitting on her feet. "I even found the infirmary fairly easily this morning. With a little help from another dog. He stood there and barked at mine until we moved around a spot on the stairs. Someone noted that my dog must be a familiar because he avoided the blank spot on the way down."

Iggy plopped down across from them. "You okay?" Andrea nodded. "The idiot was bragging and Uncle Ron caught him. Now he's got two detentions." Andrea sighed. "Sorry, but everyone was warned to not pick on you because it would be cruel. Oh, heard a rumor. Ryan Rosenberg stuck up for you last night against his house."

"That would be after his mother chewed him a new one?" Simone asked.

"Definitely," Iggy said with a grin. He really didn't like Ryan, he was a bully. Quite a lot like his father. "But he said that he would help the Slytherins get our whole group and not just into trouble." His grin got meaner. "Apparently he thinks he knows me."

Simone laughed. "Really? Well, I can't wait for that attack. It should at least be interesting." She stopped laughing when she saw her brother walking in. "What's wrong?"

"Forgot to take my medicine up to Madam Pomfrey," Denver said as he clutched the table so he could sit down. "This vertigo shit sucks ass."

"Language," Ron said as he walked past them. He stopped and turned around, noticing how green the boy looked. "Forgot your medicine?" Denver nodded slowly. "Simone, take him up there and make sure he gets it after lunch. You have me and I'll allow it." He turned and continued on to the teacher's table.

"What's vertigo?" Andrea asked.

"It's an inner ear problem that makes me feel like the world's spinning but I'm not grounded to it," Denver told her. "It's like a constant motion sickness, only worse because you feel like you're spinning against the tide of gravity. So there's the wonderful feeling that you're going to fall, plus the dizziness, and then spinning on top of it."

"Eww."

"Yes, it is," Denver agreed. "I have medicine I take for it, but I forgot to take it to the infirmary this morning to have it mixed up. So I've went through classes clutching at walls, which was okay until I walked in here. Because the nausea started up with the food smells."

"Let me make a sandwich and I'll get you up there," Iggy told him. He waved at Melvin as he walked in and his cousin walked over. "Did you remember to take your medicine upstairs yet?"

"Yup. Madam Pomfrey visited us this morning to gather them and talk to us." He grimaced at Denver's green tone. "You want a bowl?"

"Nope, just my drugs."

Iggy stuffed his sandwich into his mouth., holding it with his teeth so he could put on his backpack. Once he had his hands free, he used one to hold his lunch and the other to grab his cousin. "Come on, we'll go now." Denver nodded and allowed himself to be led away.

"That's got to be hard," Andrea said quietly.

"It is. They figured it out when he was five and couldn't sit on a broom without falling off. This was the worst I've seen him in a while." She glanced at the door. "But now that he has his medicine, he's an excellent chaser and hell on a broom. Plus he can walk without stumbling, running into walls that seem to shift to him, or puking his guts up." Simone checked her schedule. "We have flying this afternoon, what about you?"

"I think I have it too," she said, running her fingers over the braille she had on her schedule. "Yup, I'm due to go flying with you, then we have your Uncle's class. Which is kinda silly."

"But it's handy in an emergency," Xander said as he walked up to the table. "Where's the other guys?"

"Denver didn't get his medicine this morning so Iggy's helping him up to the infirmary."

"Good. Can you inform my son that his fathers would like to talk to him about some missing books that used to live in the lab at the store?" Simone nodded. "Thank you." He grinned at her. "Nice catch. I heard about the Slytherin. Remember, don't start, react." She nodded so he went to eat his lunch too. He stopped to have a word with Snape, who nodded.

"Gee, you guys are really protective," Andrea said, sounding like she was complaining a bit. "I'm not helpless."

"No, but you're not used to magical attacks either," Simone pointed out. "By your sixth month, you should be able to handle nearly everything. Denver and I will even teach you some curses if you want." She dished out some of the broccoli. "What do you want for lunch since nothing's near you?"

"Poultry?"

"Chicken strips smothered in a honey sauce, broccoli, green beans, salad, or pudding in two flavors. It's all on my other side."

"Some of the chicken, the green beans, and the salad," Andrea said, taking the serving dishes. "Thank you."

"Welcome. Oh, we're going out tonight. Did you need anything?"

"I forgot my mousse."

"Mousse? Like the stuff for dessert?"

"No, like the stuff for my hair so I don't have to pull it back," Andrea told her.

"That's cool. If we find some, we'll bring it back." She looked over as Iggy ran in, standing up. He shook his head so she sat back down. He rejoined the table. "That was fast."

"Madam Pomfrey was coming down for lunch and caught him. She's reminding him that he should have come up earlier and that she'll bring down his medicine every morning to breakfast if she doesn't see him up there." He plopped his bookbag and grabbed the chicken, dishing some more out. "The bread gets soggy," he complained.

"We have bread?" Andrea asked.

"No, we had bread, Iggy ate the last few pieces with his sandwich."

"Oh." Andrea smiled. "That's good." She jumped, something cold and wet touched her back and Pumpkin was still on her feet. "What was that?"

"The dog who was warning you about the missing stairs," Simone said, reaching over to pet the big guy. "Hey, Storm. Are you supposed to be in here?"

"Get the dog out of here," Xander called. "Out, Storm!"

Storm barked and growled at him, then nudged Andrea again, walking under the table to lay next to Pumpkin.

"Apparently he wanted to talk to my dog," Andrea called back. "I'll take him with me when I'm done."

"Okay."

Andrea reached down and blindly petted both dogs. "You two talk, I won't refuse Pumpkin friends." Her hand slipped off the table and she started to slip over, but caught herself. "Oops," she said lightly.

"Maybe you need Denver's medicine," Simone chuckled.

"Maybe," Andrea agreed. "But only when I get trapped on a moving staircase for nearly an hour."

"Ooh," Iggy sighed. "That was you?" She nodded. "It's gone around the school. Next time check on the right handrail, there's a spot to depress to make it lock onto a landing. It's near the middle and always a cherub's nose, except on the one up to Gryffindor tower, that one's the house sign. Push it and it'll lock for at least ten minutes."

"Thank you," Andrea said, giving him a smile. "I'll remember that." She dug into her chicken and her watch beeped. "Twenty minutes until class."

"Flying," Simone told Iggy.

"Cool. Denver should be back by then." He looked around. "Are we having it with Melvin?"

"Nope, we have Transfiguration and Defense with Hufflepuff, Potions and Magical Creatures with Slytherin, and Flying and our free period with Ravenclaw." She caught Iggy's eye, then glanced at Andrea and back. "Maybe we should spend our free period in the library."

"Sure," Iggy agreed. "Though I think Dad's caught on that I lifted some of the books from the lab."

Simone nodded. "Yup, you've got an after-dinner meeting with both fathers in his room."

"Shit," Iggy muttered. "But I didn't take the harmful ones."

"Yay. You know how Uncle Fred is about their secret recipes. He doesn't even let your dad read them."

"Point," Iggy sighed. "Well, I guess I'll meet you guys up on the mezzanine walkway afterwards." He scraped his plate and stood up. "Ready?"

"Almost," Simone and Andrea said, shoving the rest of their food into their mouths.

Pumpkin and Storm came out from under the table as she stood up, Pumpkin moving into place and Storm taking her other side. "You'd make a very good guide dog," Andrea praised.

"He's a great dane/mastiff cross," Iggy said as they walked out together. "He's still got about six more months of growth to go."

"And about fifty more pounds," Simone added. "Hagrid told us that they're supposed to get up to two hundred pounds or more by the time they're fully grown."

"That's certainly a huge dog," Andrea agreed. "Still, he's got the right temperament."

"Didn't you say Pumpkin was going to retire soon?" Simone asked. Andrea nodded. "Maybe you can talk Hagrid into letting Storm be trained. It looks like he wants to do the job anyway."

"Usually service animals are raised by special trainers who start teaching them commands at a very young age. I don't know if I could do that."

"You could always owl your parents and have them ask," Iggy suggested.

"I think first we should ask Hagrid," Denver said as he walked up behind them. He was a lot less green now, and was munching on a bar of some sort. "He's devoted to his animals."

"I'm supposed to go talk to him anyway," Andrea told him. "He's supposed to be watching over Pumpkin in case anything happens."

"We'll see him tomorrow morning, first thing," Simone told her. They exited the building and walked slowly toward the flying field. "Hi," she told Madam Hooch happily. "Are you separating those of us who can already fly out?"

"No," she told her. "Everyone starts at the same point." She smiled at them. "Do you play quidditch? I thought I remembered seeing you."

"We three did," Iggy told her. "The local team's coach was really unhappy when we got too old to play last year." He shook her hand. "Are you running a quidditch tryout soon? Or some sort of camp to get everyone up to standards?"

"Certainly." She pointed at the brooms. "You're against the walls. Pick a broom." She looked at Andrea and clucked her tongue. "I don't know why they decided you had to learn to fly."

"Because it's a good emergency thing," Iggy told her. "There are self-guiding brooms. Heard Uncle Ron talking about them." He led the way over to the brooms, looking them all over. He picked his and brought it over to stand next to his cousins, on the other side of Andrea. "Maybe the dogs should back up," he suggested. "The kids will get funny about flying."

"Dad said there's always a mishap on the first day," Denver told her. "He caused one himself."

"He *caused* one?" Andrea asked.

"That's back when he was the evil bastard. Uncle Xander helped cure him of that."

"Unless it's him and Uncle Harry playing against each other," Simone corrected. "He knocked Uncle Harry off his broom yesterday. It was in the paper this morning."

"Is he okay?" Iggy asked. Simone nodded. "Good. Dad would get him for being unnecessarily mean to Uncle Harry."

"Harry Potter?" Madam Hooch asked. All the kids but Andrea nodded. "Is he playing professionally?"

"He started about three weeks after Fang's funeral," Simone told her. "And our dad, Draco Malfoy, was picked at the same camp for another team."

"Whenever they play, they hover and talk," Iggy added. "Do they play again this year?"

"Only if both teams make it to the playoffs," Denver butted in. "But it's kind of cool. Our Grandmother watches all the kids while they play. She gets them to cheer for the other side sometimes and even holds little parties for them."

Iggy laughed. "And it's really bad when the Uncles play against each other. Then we have to cheer for both sides and not tell them." He looked over as the rest of the students filed out. "I could probably help someone if you put a hopeless case next to me. I've been playing since I was five."

"I'll keep that in mind," Madam Hooch agreed, walking over to meet the rest of the students. "Find a broom and stand beside it," she ordered. The students shuffled around until they were all next to a broom and only one was free. "Make sure you are on the left of the broom," she called. "Your wand hand doesn't matter yet." The free broom was taken by someone who had thought the broom on their right was theirs. "Hold out your hand and say 'up'!"

"Up!' the class said, both houses having people who the broom jumped for and Gryffindor having two people that the broom wouldn't come up for. One of them was next to Denver.

Denver pointed at it. "Be firm or be pleading, but don't ask or beg," he advised.

"Up," he kid said in his best 'firm' voice. "Please?" The broom came up and wiggled in his hand. "Thank you."

"You're not the first to have problems with that one," Madam Hooch told him on her way to help the other helpless student. "For those of you with your brooms in your hand, mount it by straddling the broom and kick off gently, floating a foot *exactly* in the air, then tip the nose down and land."

As predicted, a student took off, then another, and a third. Denver was the first one up, he went for the one flying at the school's wall. Simone went for the one heading straight up. Iggy went for the one who was screaming her head off. He saw Denver and Simone catch theirs, but his was still panicking. "Shut up!" He yelled. She started to scream louder. "If you don't shut it, I can't help you." He noticed where they were heading and decided a course of action. A grab and roll it would have to be, before the whomping willow got them. He snatched her off the broom and rolled to the side, swooping away as the tree got the other broom. Denver came up under him and between them they got her settled on the front of Iggy's broom. "Wow," he said as they landed, him hovering so she could hop off and kiss the ground. "You suck at flying." He looked at his cousins, who shrugged. "I'll give you lessons if you want," he offered as he landed. "Tutoring would be of the good." He smiled at Madam Hooch. "Sorry we couldn't save the broom."

"That's fine, dear," she said, patting him on the shoulder. "That was an interesting move."

"His dad taught us that," Iggy said, pointing at Denver. He glanced around, everyone was looking at him. "What? I played on a Junior league." He shrugged and went to sit on the ground, pulling Storm over to play with so someone else could use his broom to replace one of the two broken ones.

The rest of the class got back onto their brooms and hovered, practicing landing and taking off. Two brooms broken and no one was hurt, it was probably a record.

"Can we bring our brooms next time?" Denver called as they walked away.

"You're not supposed to have one," Madam Hooch called.

Denver turned and looked at her. "It's shrunken and I can't get it up unless I make the House team, but I do have one with me. Iggy's is in his father's closet with his father's broom, and Simone could probably borrow that one since her mum put her foot down."

Madam Hooch shook her head. "Not until you make the house team then, Mr. Malfoy. Then you may bring your broom." He nodded and turned, jogging to catch up. "Well, this will certainly be an interesting class," she told herself as she gathered up the brooms.

***

The Captain of the Gryffindor team sat down next to Simone at dinner that night. "What do you guys play?" he asked.

"Chaser," Denver said.

"Beater," Simone told him. He gave her a look.

"She's great at it," Denver agreed. "Surprised dad to no end."

"I play chaser usually, but I'm an okay backup keeper," Iggy told him. "My dad was hoping that I'd play his position but I'm not that great at beater."

"Wow." The Captain nodded. "All right, then we'll see how you fly tomorrow. Bring your brooms." Denver opened his mouth. "I heard, can you get it up?"

"If I ask Daddy to remove the spell, he probably would," Simone told him. "At least for tryouts."

"Maybe," Denver agreed. "If not, I can play on any old thing." He nudged his sister. "You'll have to write for yours."

"Or ask Uncle Ron to lend me his," she suggested with a grin. She looked at the Captain. "When and where?"

"After dinner, on the pitch, right before dark. There's lights out there now."

"Okay," the three of them said.

"Oh, Melvin's a chaser too," Denver told him. "Fairly good, but not a lot of balance. He only played because it got him out around other kids."

"Will it bother you to play against him in a real game?"

"Not if we talk about it first," Iggy told him. "Simone and I were on different teams in the Junior league for two years. We talked about it and it was okay. It's only one game though, right?"

"Of course." The Captain smiled. "I'm Reggie Whitcomb. Yell my way if you have any troubles before the tryouts." He walked down the table to talk to some others, probably players.

Iggy looked at Simone. "You don't want your broom?"

"Mum said I couldn't have it until I made the team. She won't send it for tryouts." She nibbled on a bite of roll. "Do you think Uncle Xander will lend you his, Denver?"

"Maybe. I can always ask." He stood up and walked up to the teacher's table. "Uncle Ron, Uncle Xander, we have tryouts tomorrow. Can Simone and I borrow brooms?"

"Sure," Xander told him. "Iggy's is too small for him so he's going to need a new one."

"Simone's is crap," Ron snorted. "She definitely needs a new one. And I did promise to get her one if she made the house team."

"My old one's about shot," Xander added.

"Denver's got his dad's old broom," Ron told Xander.

"Hey, no fair," Xander complained.

"True," Denver said with a grin, "but he shrunk it so I can't use it unless I make the team. So can we?"

"Sure," the teachers said.

"Thank you." He looked around. "No phoenixes?"

"The three adults are teaching the younger ones how to hunt mice outside tonight," Xander explained. "It was time. Murphy loves this lesson. He's been chipper all day." He smiled. "I heard about the flying lesson today. Good teamwork."

"Thanks. Dad would probably be really proud of Iggy."

"You helped from what I heard. That's good enough for us," Ron reminded him. "Go eat."

"Yes, sir." He trotted back to his seat. "Uncle Xander said his broom's crap but you can use it and Uncle Ron said yours was too." Simone sighed. "But we can borrow brooms." He looked at Iggy. "Are you getting a new one?"

"Hopefully, my Firebolt's nearly too small." He looked at Simone. "I could sell you my old one if yours dies."

"It's not that bad, it's just got a cracked handle from that collision in my third-to-last game. I flew it after that." She put her elbows on the table and rested her head on her balled fists. "I don't want dad to buy me a broom, he always gloats and gets too cheerful."

"At least your dad gets happy. Mine starts complaining about the price," Iggy reminded her. "My last broom was nearly fifty galleons."

"Eww," Denver hissed. "Mine was like forty. Dad never blinked though."

"That's because he's used to being rich," Simone pointed out. "Xander doesn't like to spend money, hence our father buying him clothes."

"I thought that was dad's fashionable side shuddering at what he used to wear."

"It's a bonding thing," Iggy told them. "He does it to prove to himself that he's part of the family." Both cousins looked at him. "He does. No one but family would let him buy them clothes, so it proves that he's a part of the family. Besides, Uncle Ron said he'd buy us good brooms if we made our house team."

"That's going to be expensive," Simone complained. "We shouldn't make him do it."

"But he probably has contacts from where he made brooms for so long. He'll get a discount or something."

"Hopefully," Iggy agreed. "I'm due to shoot up another foot in the next two years according to dad."

"I can't *wait* to start that," Denver said sarcastically. "Dizzy and awkward, what a joy!"

"You get used to it eventually," Iggy told him, wiping his mouth. "Well, I'd better go get ready to be yelled at. Want to help me carry books?"

"Nope," the Malfoys said together. They were not helping carry heavy books anywhere ever again if they could help it.

"Did you find an inner eye spell yet?" Simone asked.

Iggy nodded, smiling at her. "I've found three different version so far. One's a gryphon spell and permanent. One's a temporary with a recast word. One's a temporary and only lasts once."

"Copy them for me," Simone told him. He pulled some folded papers out of his bag. "When did you do this?"

"During potions, after I finished. Oh, Denver, Professor Snape was mixing your potion personally while you were getting sick this morning. You should have it in mass quantities pretty soon." He stood up. "Going to get yelled at. Laters." He walked away, taking his bookbag with him. His father zapped him on the rear, making him squeal and jump, and turn around and glare.

"Go get those books," Xander mouthed.

Iggy slumped and went to do as he was told. It was only ten books and they didn't have anything that the shop sold in them. What was the big deal?

***

Simone fell onto the couch next to Andrea and patted her on the hand. "Did you know there were spells so you could see a picture in your mind?" she asked quietly.

"There are?"

"Yup. I had our local research fiend look for them. There's a temporary/works once, there's a temporary with a switch, and a permanent that works like bat sonar."

"Wow." Andrea shifted so she was facing her friend. "Can we try them out?"

"With some help and some components," Simone cautioned. "I'd do the works once one first, just to make sure it worked well enough on you."

"I've missed seeing colors," Andrea admitted quietly.

"You weren't born this way?"

"No, I was an accident when I was two and I had a lot of seizures. They killed my sight. I still remember colors, but it's like some sort of dream." She reached over and touched Simone's arm. "When can we do it?"

"After Iggy talks to Professor Snape. It's a hard potion to make and we want to make sure it's okay first. Since he's the potions guy, we're letting him do that part. Denver, Melvin, and I will cast the rest of it. With any luck, it won't be too bad to get used to."

"Wow." She smiled. "I can't wait to tell my mother if it works. She's working with six other kids who could really use it."

"Magic can't get back to the muggles," Simone reminded her. Andrea's face fell. "So unless you could make it seem like something else, it isn't the best of all ideas to spread it around."

"Oh." Andrea tipped her head down. "I guess that's true, but it's such a ...a downer. I know lots of kids who'd love to have their sight back, even if they only got it for a day or something. The kids I went to school with at the Center for the Blind would have begged for a chance to go through the spell, even if it was fatal if done wrong."

"I know, and we'll see if we can figure out a way, but it might not work on everybody anyway. You're the guinea pig here. Can you handle that?"

"I guess," she sighed. Maybe she could find a way later to help others with it. "What else is going on?"

"Well, Iggy's being bitched out by his fathers for stealing books from their stash. We're going to meet up with Melvin in a few minutes if you want to come."

"No thanks. I think I'll stay here and read my books."

"How do you read books?" Simone asked.

Andrea laughed. "I asked that same question when my mother suggested it. There's a language for us called Braille. It's a pattern of bumps and each letter and number has a different pattern." She pulled one of her books up off the table beside her seat and handed it over. "My mother translated all my books before I came"

Simone ran her fingers over the bumps. "Wow. This is intense. Can you teach us? It'd be a pretty good code."

"Sure. It's not that hard. I'm guessing Iggy will pick it up pretty fast."

Simone snorted. "Iggy will probably suck all the knowledge out of your head with a gigantic slurp and then belch."

"Eww," Andrea said, giggling. "That's a gross mental image."

"Yup, but it's the way he is." She stood up. "You sure you don't want to hang with us tonight?"

"No, I think I'll study."

"Okay." Simone walked out, running into her cousin Melvin right outside the portrait. "Waiting long?"

"Just now. Iggy gave me the 'help me' look as he carried books down to his father's room. Where's Denver?"

"Checking out everyone's broom before our tryout." She led the way to the walkway with the open windows to the outside. "Are you trying out?"

"I might, but we've only got secondary positions open." Melvin gave her a hug. "We can play against each other. It's Denver that I worry about getting rough."

"Yeah, he can get a bit focused. That's why dad pulled him from the league."

"Hey, he only broke her nose," Melvin pointed out. He grinned. "And my father would beat him up if he tried it with me."

"Very good point," Denver said as he walked up to them. "I am working on my aggression problem," he reminded them. "The brooms look good enough and we should be able to use them tomorrow. Iggy still has a little kid's broom so that's yours tomorrow, Simone. I'll take Uncle Xander's and Iggy just got permission to use his father's since Uncle Ron's broom is back at Auntie Buffy's and she's pouting at him." Simone nodded. "Good." He smiled at Melvin. "What should we do tonight?"

"We should go get into trouble," Iggy said as he stomped up to them. "Everyone grab hands. I need chocolate because my parents are *so* unfair." They grabbed hands and Iggy teleported them away.

In the shadows, Xander, George, and Ron looked at each other. "Guess you owe me those five sickles back. I was right. They did teleport to Diagon last year." Ron slapped the money into his hand. "What do we do about this?"

"Leave it for now," McGonagall said as she walked down the hall. "It could be much worse. Your children are all well prepared to face almost anything."

"Are you Dumbledore wearing a McGonagall suit?" George asked.

She laughed. "Not hardly, Mr. Weasley. I did learn from him, and tended to take it to heart before." She smiled at her teachers. "Tomorrow you yell at them."

Xander nodded. "Oh, that's not the issue. We were wondering how to stop them from doing it again."

"I doubt any punishment would be effective in this case," McGonagall told them. "Just talk with them and remind them how dangerous that can be." The parents nodded. "And Ronald, do go easy on Simone tomorrow when she comes to you with an idea. Her heart is in the right place." She walked on.

Xander looked at Ron. "I agree, that was worthy of Dumbledore." He clapped Ron on the back. "So, do we wait up in the tower or get them tomorrow?"

"Tomorrow," Ron told him. "Giggling girls are not what I want to listen to tonight." He leered. "I need to go see my girlfriend." He walked away.

"We could always go snuggle," George offered with a naughty grin. "On the couch even."

Xander leaned over and kissed him. "An excellent idea, hubby. Let's go do that. We can ream the son out tomorrow."

"Let mum and dad do it. I'm sure they'd be thrilled to yell at them. Dad appears to like it with as much time as he spent yelling at Anastasia the other day."

"Hmm. Doable and I'd get to sit back and listen," Xander said, nodding. "Okay, it's a plan." They held hands as they walked away, going to do naughty things, hopefully without any interruptions.

***

Molly smiled as Ron walked out of the fireplace while she was eating breakfast. "Problems already?" she teased.

"Yup, we caught Iggy teleporting last night, and taking the other three with him." Her cup dropped from her hand. "Oh, and he did it while he was pissed too. Went out for snacks and hair mousse for some reason." He frowned, then shook it off. "And can you find the packet I left here when I quit Firebolt? It looks like I'm going to have to make good and buy the kids brooms."

"Of course, dear." She stood up, kissing him on the cheek. She went right to the 'stuff' drawer and pulled out the packet of information he had gathered. "Here you go." She smiled at him. "Any other news?"

"Haven't gotten the owl yet?" Ron asked with grin. She shook her head. "Expect it today then, mum." He waved and hopped back into the fireplace, heading back to breakfast.

Molly shook her head and picked up a cloth to clean up her mess. She would let Arthur handle this one, and possibly Percy. They would be calm. Teleporting was very dangerous and not something Iggy should be doing at all, much less dragging the others with him. She smiled as her husband walked down the stairs. "I just got a surprise visit from Ron," she said with a smile. "They caught Iggy teleporting his cousins."

Arthur muttered something under his breath. "Well, not much we can do to stop it. I doubt McGonagall will change the shields at the school to block him from doing it." He sat down and picked up the fork his wife had handed him, digging into the plate of food she had lovingly made him. "Good as always," he complimented between bites. "Any other news?"

"Ron's owl's gotten lost again. He sent us house placements. And it looks like he may be buying a few brooms after all."

"Excellent," Arthur said, smiling at her. He glanced out the window. "Is that Ron's beast now?"

"Possibly." She opened the half-door that went to the garden, letting the owl in. "Yes, it is." She took the scroll and sat down to look at it. "Should we call the others?"

"Definitely." He got up and used the floo to summon everyone in. As soon as Percy appeared, Molly untied the ribbon and unrolled the scroll, smiling and handing it to him.

Arthur laughed and handed it to Percy. "You read it, son."

Percy cleared his throat. "Herein lies the house standings of the family, and the interested children around us," he read. "Rather formal for Ron." He saw the first child and sighed. "Melvin was sorted into Hufflepuff." Arthur patted him gently. "Let's see. Iggy was sorted into Gryffindor and they did him last. Ron reports that the hat had a lot of problems with the three of them. Took quite a while and apparently the sorting hat wanted another option because they've got such different natures." He smiled at Draco. "The other two made it into Gryffindor also," he finished with a smile.

Draco shook his head. "It's all Ginny's influence," he complained. "Denver must be getting hell from the Slytherins with his last name."

Percy handed over the scroll. "No, but Simone's already in trouble because of her mouth. Mouthed off to the Head Girl within minutes. Your son stuck up for her."

"Of course he did, we love to protect and smother our sisters," Draco said as he read. He grimaced. "Just what the family needed, a new scandal." He put the scroll down. "I'll have to accept this. Any news on the house team front?"

"Ron said he might have to buy them all brooms," Molly admitted with a smile. She looked at her husband, who nodded. "He also shared something else. Apparently they caught Iggy teleporting last night." Both fathers winced. "With the others."

"What?" Draco yelled. "He teleported *with* Denver and Simone? How could he do that?"

"He's a very powerful little boy," Arthur reminded him. "Just like his father is."

"Xander always gets nauseous whenever he teleports," Percy pointed out. "How is Iggy bringing people with him? And is this dangerous?" Arthur nodded. "Can we stop this?"

"Considering they've probably been doing it for at least a year?" Draco sighed. "I'm sure they're quite good at it by now." He turned and slammed his hand against the wall. "I will be having a talk with my children about responsibility. There is nothing that they need that requires them to sneak off in the middle of the night and go get it!"

"Ice cream parlor," Percy said smugly. His son had been talked into that escapade. Draco glared at him. "They're still young, they'll learn the hard way, the same as Fred and George did."

"At least they don't have that damnable map," Draco muttered. He disappeared from the kitchen.

Arthur looked at his wife. "I think he took that rather well," he said with fond tolerance.

Percy burst out laughing. "True. I would have thrown a bigger fit if I hadn't caught them at it last year. Did you know that Melvin was doing chaos magic back then?" Arthur shook his head. "Thankfully, I convinced him to stop before it got dangerous by telling him about his Aunt Hermione. He saw the point rather quickly and gave up on anything extreme." He got up and got a cup, pouring himself some tea. "Mum, are you watching the other kids today?" She nodded. "Can I have you watch Tanada? She's got a slight fever and her daycare won't let her come."

"Of course I will. She's a delightful little baby. As a matter of fact, Ginny's bringing the other two over today so she can get some work done. It seems they're doing road work outside her office." She sipped her tea. "Should we worry about Melvin, Percy?"

"No, mum, I think he'll be smart about it. Even if he does take up chaos magic more often, he'll not turn dark with it. Though he did say that the power was amazing. He let me feel some of it in a small ritual; it was rather awe inspiring to be that close to the source of magic." He sipped his tea, then checked his watch. "Better go. Don't want to be late. Those historians can get rather picky since the locks were changed and they don't have keys." He kissed each parent on the cheek then left through the floo.

Arthur stood up. "I should go too," he told his wife, giving her a more personal kiss on the lips. "I'll try to pop back for lunch, or call if I can't."

"That would be wonderful, dear," she called after him. She slumped once she was alone. Chaos magic? Not turning bad? Wasn't that a contradiction? She would have to have a talk with the young boy in question before he got into trouble. Very serious trouble. The Ministry could lock him up for that if they thought he was a threat. She pulled her husband's plate over and finished off his bacon. Yes, she would have to put a stop to that behavior before it hurt someone.

***

Iggy tapped on Professor Snape's door before first period, and walked in at the grunt. "Sir, I have a serious question to ask you," he said as he closed the door. Snape looked up, looking somewhat interested. "In my research, I've found three spells to help give someone a modicum of sight." He handed over the copied spells. "As you can see, all of them require potions that are far outside my range. But we would like to do this for Andrea. She's agreed to try the temporary spell to see if it works well enough, and then try one of the other two, but we're not capable of doing it."

"It's good to see students who know their limits," he said, picking up the papers to read. "Only these three?"

"Yup. Er, yes, sir. One's a once-off. One's a switch on and off. The final one's a gryphon spell that'll turn her magic into a bat-like sonar and will just give her a 3-D map in her head."

"My," Snape said, putting the pages down. "And you wanted me to brew the potions?"

"Or help us find someone to trust. These are very personal and rigid spells. While I think we could do it without help, I'm not willing to botch up the potion and possibly poison her."

Snape nodded. "I will take this into account. Who else have you told?"

"The others in the clan know. Andrea knows. I'm pretty sure Simone was going to talk to Uncle Ron about it so we could have a teacher on our side to give us a space to work in."

Snape stood up. "I will consider this. Until then, do not try it on your own. No matter how advanced you are, you are not ready for this sort of challenge."

Iggy grinned at him. "That's why I came to you."

"Thank you for trusting me with this."

Iggy shrugged. "I know my strengths and weaknesses. The same as I know that we should probably learn to get along well enough to not hate each other." His grin got brighter and bigger. "Plus, with what some of my cousins are into, I'm not the one you should be worrying about."

"Indeed?" Iggy nodded. "Did you have aspirations of joining my house before you came?"

Iggy snorted. "And kill my father with a heart attack?" Snape nodded, he understood that. "I did ask not to be put into your house, and the sorting hat told me I didn't have the personality for it anyway."

"It went on personality this year?"

"Pretty muchly. Though it did tell the rest of us that it wanted to hear about our future adventures."

"Wonderful, the hat is barmy again," Snape muttered. He patted Iggy on the shoulder. "I will consider this and talk with you again in a few days. Will you be buying the components?"

"With our allowances? Sure. It'll only take us a month if we combine them. Or I guess Simone could hit up her father."

"Not Denver? Mr. Malfoy would probably give it to him faster."

"Yeah, but Denver's not as motivated. Simone's happy that she's got another girl her age to talk to and play with."

"Surely the Potter girl...."

"Agatha's scary," Iggy told him. "Simone said Agatha creeps her out big time. There's been a few times when Agatha reminded us a lot of her mother." Snape nodded, he remembered Ms. Granger quite well from her stint here. Iggy raised an eyebrow. "Let me guess, you remember her as Harry's friend and didn't hear about the chaos incident?"

Snape started a bit. "Chaos magic, her?"

"Yup. She liked the power, that's why dad brought her up here last year. So they could clean out her house. She's been banned from touching anything of the gryphons' and they took her memories of the spells."

"Oh, dear. I never suspected."

"Neither did we until something bit Ron junior." Snape shook his head. "And I know how scary chaos magic can be, mostly because I've helped Melvin practice."

Snape went a little paler. "Melvin Weasley is playing with it? And he was sorted into Hufflepuff?"

"Yeah, but he's really careful and we *know* he's not going to go dark. I heard he wants to take over Aunt Ginny's job when he's older so he's learning how. He's doing okay. Really powerful at it, and he still has some surges when he's trying to do Charms work."

Snape's mouth opened. "Do his parents know?"

"Considering I found out about it after he got busted by his dad? Yeah. I think everyone in the family but my dad knows, he never went into worry and meddle mode over Melvin during that time."

"Do you want this to get around?"

"No, but I thought it might help to have someone else who understood, just in case," Iggy confided with a wink. "Just in case something goes wrong and we're not there to stop it." He shrugged. "That's all. I'll be around whenever you're ready to tell us it's okay." He left the dungeon having accomplished all his goals for the morning. The potion would get done, their butts were covered if something happened with Melvin, and it would all be good. His meddling for the year might even be done. He deserved a pastry for that. He patted down his pockets and found the remains of his allowance, so he checked the halls, then left.

Snape tamped down on his first instinct, which was to talk to McGonagall. That Weasley boy was dangerous and would need watched. His second instinct, tell Xander, was screaming at him. Xander was their resident expert on power surges. He would know what to do. He opened his door and found the annoying Weasley standing there. "What did you need?"

"To see what my nephew wanted and why he disappeared from the hallway," Ron told him.

Snape walked out and locked his classroom door. "He found a spell that has hopes of giving Ms. Reams some sort of sight. Unfortunately, it also has a complicated potion which he admitted was far beyond his means."

"Ah, so he gave it to you to do it for them," Ron finished. Snape nodded. "Okay. Don't do it yet. I'd like to talk to the kids first."

"I told him I'd talk to him next week about it." He laid a hand on the other professor's arm. "Did you know that your other nephew was doing dangerous things?"

"Melvin?" Ron asked, confused look out and present. "How?"

"Chaos."

"Oh, crap!" Ron sighed. He turned and punched a wall. "He got the books from Agatha I bet." He turned back around, looking at the older professor. "Who told you?"

"Your other nephew," he said dryly. "Apparently he wanted someone powerful and experienced to know about it."

"Does Percy?" Snape nodded. "Wow. Are you going to McGonagall?"

"I was going to put it off until I talked with your usual partner in crime. He would be the best to judge it since he can fathom the depths of chaos magic."

"Good point," Ron said, biting his lip. "Let me tell Xander. We'll tell McGonagall ourselves later today." He headed toward Xander's rooms, opening both doors since Xander had never figured out how to change his passcode. "Up and at 'em," he said loudly when he noticed the happy couple was still in bed. "We've got problems."

"No early class this morning," Xander whined, rolling over to cuddle his husband.

George looked over at Ron. "You have an excellent reason?"

"Melvin's messing with chaos magic."

"Shit!" Xander said loudly. "Since when?"

"Not a clue, but Percy knows."

"And the beloved nephew is still alive?" George asked. Ron nodded. "Must not have been serious."

"Well, if you think about it, Melvin's the last one to get lured in by the powers," Ron pointed out. "That's what Iggy told Snape."

Xander sat up and glared at him. "Excuse me?"

"Yes, your son had a morning conference with Professor Snape about an advanced spell and potion that might give Andrea back her some form of sight, and then warned him about Melvin so they'd have someone covering for them if something happened."

"Yay," Xander said dryly. "Where's our son now?"

"Gone. Disappeared from a hallway." Ron crossed his arms. "You're going to have to do something before word gets around. I warned mum about Iggy this morning when I went to get the broomstick stuff."

"Oh, we'll be having a talk," Xander agreed. "With both kids." He grabbed his robe and slid it on so he wouldn't stun Ron by standing up naked. "I'll come get my son out of your class later and talk to him. When's the free period today?"

"Lunch and right after. I told Snape we'd tell McGonagall."

"Why?" George asked.

"Because the Ministry will put him in jail if they think he's a danger," Xander told him. "They've done it to a few of the born without any reason and I'm sure they'll do it to him too."

"This is you worrying," George pointed out as he sat up. "It could be nothing."

"If he's having surges, then it's not nothing," Ron told him. "That's dangerous and the Ministry will do something to him. Xander's right, George, I don't want to visit Melvin or Iggy in Azkhaban."

"Oh, it wouldn't be happening," Xander told him. "If they come for my son, they come through me. I don't think they want to do that."

"No, I don't think they would, but not even you could take on a whole group of aurors, honey," George reminded him gently. Xander grimaced down at him. "Sorry, but it's the truth. We can promise to give them both private lessons in how to handle that sort of power. It should cool any problems that they'll have with the kids." He grabbed his robe and stood up too. "Any other bad news?"

"Not yet," Ron said happily. "Since these things come in threes, I'm sure it'll happen soon though." He waved and left them alone to get up.

Xander looked at George. "Think everyone else knows yet?"

"Probably," George agreed.

***

Iggy walked out of his favorite pastry shop and ran into one of the people he really wanted to avoid. "Hi, Uncle Harry," he said, knowing he was busted.

Harry Potter looked the young boy over, taking in his school uniform, his obvious location, and the pastry in his hand. "Decided not to go to school after all?" he asked.

"No, just came out for a treat." He grinned, which was a big mistake. "Sorry," he said as his Uncle dragged him to a floo fireplace. "I'm being good, I was going to go back for classes!"

"Shut it," Harry ordered, dragging him into the Leaky Cauldron. "Tom, just using the fireplace." He shoved Iggy toward it. "Call out to the school."

"Why? I tele..." He coughed. "Never mind. Let me grab some powder." He started to reach for it, but his hand was caught.

"You did what? You're much too young to teleport! It's dangerous, Ignatius."

Tom wandered over, smiling at them. "Taking some time off for an appointment?" he asked Iggy.

"No, just for a snack." He took a large bite of his pastry. "I'm going back to class now." He waved and disappeared before his Uncle could catch hold of him.

Harry growled and grabbed some floo powder, heading off to the school to talk to someone. He came out in the staffroom and smiled at old Professor Flitwick. "Where might McGonagall be right now?" he asked nicely.

"Up in her office by now," Flitwick told him, giving him a smile. "Something you needed to do?"

"No, just a message I have to pass on." He shook his former teacher's hand. "I used the floating charm the other day, first time in ten years." He left the room, heading up to the Headmaster's office. He tapped politely on the stone gargoyle and it let him up. "Professor," he said, giving her a hug. "You'll never guess who I caught in Diagon while I was on my way to get some broom cleaning solution."

"Iggy?" she asked with a smile, waving at a chair. Harry nodded as he sat down. "We found out he could do that last night. His father was not pleased."

"Yes, well, he's going to be even less pleased. I caught his son coming out of a pastry shop. Gave me a cheeky grin and everything!"

She laughed. "If you had been able to do that as an eleven-year-old, you would have too, Mr. Potter."

"Yes, but I wouldn't have been caught. Nor would I have grinned at the person who captured me." He looked at his hands. "I'm worried that some of Hermione's books got out."

She nodded. "They did. Young Mr. Weasley has them from what I understand." Harry winced. "But I do believe that he's not going to turn to the dark because of them. Chaos is a choice, but you can still be relatively good while using it. Your former wife made her choices, Harry, and unfortunately they hurt you," she said in a kinder tone of voice. "I'm sorry we didn't see it coming and stop her, but it could be much worse."

"Yeah, she could be in prison," he said quietly, staring at his hands. "They're doing that you know."

"I've heard. I'm sure it won't be a problem for young Melvin. A Hufflepuff turning to the dark is almost unheard of," she reminded him with a smile.

"He's a Hufflepuff?" Harry asked.

"You hadn't heard? He was the only one not sorted into Gryffindor. Plus, Adrian Maclay was sorted into Ravenclaw and Ryan Rosenberg went to Slytherin. Where he put on quite a show his first day. Started a fight and won from what I was told." She gave him a kind smile, the kind he would have gotten from Dumbledore. "It will all work out as it must, Harry, and you're simply going to have to ride the wave. It could be much worse."

Harry nodded. "I understand." He stood up. "Thank you for listening to me rant."

"You're welcome. I do admire your stamina on a broom you know." She chuckled when he grinned weakly. "Now don't worry about it, Xander is still here and he will definitely be watching over the clan with Ron's help."

"Thank you." He shook her hand. "If I can help, just yell my way."

"Will we be having a problem with your daughter?"

He shrugged. "I seriously don't know. She's so much like her mother some days and it's scary sometimes. She blew her brother into a wall the other day with a wandless wind spell." He shook his head. "I may end up asking her to be blocked a bit if this keeps up. At least until she starts here."

"You can do that. I'm sure Xander would know someone since he used to have a blocking bracelet of his own." Harry nodded and left, leaving her to her thoughts. She really did have to turn in Melvin to the Ministry. She pulled out her map and located Xander on it, using both spells to figure out what he was saying to his husband. She quickly canceled the listening spell when she heard them having fun in the shower. She'd check back a bit later.

***

Xander walked into Ron's room and dragged his son out by his arm, kicking the door shut behind them. He then picked up his son by his armpits and lifted him until they were eye-to-eye. "You're in so deep right now it's not funny," he hissed. "Not only did you break school rules and leave during the day, you used powers that you're not supposed to have access to until you're sixteen."

"Daddy..."

"Stop it now. I don't want some lame ass excuse and I won't hear one!" He put his son down. "No more teleporting unless it's an emergency." Iggy opened his mouth again. "Oh, no. I know about your little trip last night and the one this morning."

"Shoot. I thought Uncle Harry didn't come and tell anyone," Iggy sighed.

"You got seen, son! Your Uncle Ron woke me up this morning to tell me all about your talk with Professor Snape." Iggy opened his mouth. "Not only will I be having a talk with Melvin, but you are so *very* grounded. And if I catch you teleporting without a good reason again, I'm going to beat your ass until you're bloody, bruised, and begging. Do you understand?" he hissed quietly. Iggy nodded. "Good. Now, tell *me* about these power surges Melvin's having."

"He's having surges whenever he does charms. He said it's good up until the final flick and then there's a small wave of power that washes over him, which scares him and he cancels it before it can cause any damage."

Xander nodded. "I know what that feels like. How long has he been having them?"

"Since he was ten," Iggy admitted. "Since before his dad caught him doing the chaos stuff."

"Then we'll be having a discussion about it," Xander said calmly. "You're still grounded, even though you went around the family to get someone else to run interference. If I catch you again, not only will your other father have to pull me off you, but your Uncle Fred will have to help. Do you hear me, Ignatius Caramel?"

Iggy nodded again. "Yes, sir. Not without a good reason. I really am sorry that I grinned at Uncle Harry this morning."

Xander grimaced. "That's the least of your worries. Using these powers so young gives them a chance to warp your body to fit them. That means that you could turn out horribly deformed because it fits the magic better." He led Iggy over to the nearby stairs and sat him down on them, sitting next to him. "The gryphons who taught me showed me other kids who it happened to. They reached for too much magic and the power felt a resistance so it changed them. There's even a few rumors of kids being killed in mercy because it hurt them that bad." He patted his son on the back of the head. "I don't care that you can do it, I care that you did it. The fact that you pulled enough power to bring your cousins is even worse. No more."

"Um, I kinda taught Denver how to do it," he admitted with a grimace.

"Then I'll be talking with him too I guess. Is he boosting you?"

"No, usually I draw through Melvin. The power's so *pure*, dad, and it's beautiful."

"Yeah, but it can still drive you insane and turn you funny." He pulled him closer and kissed the side of his head. "This summer, you're going to study with the gryphons if I can arrange it. With your powers, they'll have to relent. You might actually be more dangerous than I was before I was trained."

"But I've been sneaking your books to train myself," Iggy told him. Xander frowned at him, but it wasn't a bad one. "Last summer I accidentally teleported the cookie jar into the living room and figured out that I had gifts like yours, only without the fire," he finished with a grin.

"So you *borrowed* some of the books Ginny was working with and read them to teach yourself control?" McGonagall asked as she joined them. Iggy nodded and grinned at her. "That's very interesting. But I do believe that I agree with your father. You and your cousins will be taking extra lessons in control."

"He said Denver's pulling magic too," Xander told her.

"I heard." She smiled at him. "You're much calmer than I would be."

"I had last night to scream and rant," he said dryly. He looked down at his son. "Hair mousse?"

"Andrea needed some."

"Oh." Xander shook his head. "No more, son. Not even your grandparents will save you if I find you teleporting for frivolous reasons." He patted him on the knee. "Go back to class and send out Denver."

"Yes, sir." Iggy stood up and jogged the short distance to the classroom, and soon Denver came out.

"You wanted to talk to me?" he asked as he shut the door.

"Teleporting?" Xander asked.

Denver swallowed. "I can but I don't. It makes me more dizzy."

"Yay. It does that to me too. You're still too young. Unless you want to be twisted by the magic, I'd suggest you save it for special occasions."

Denver nodded, looking more adult and serious now. "Yes, sir, I understand. May I borrow Iggy's books? I was reading over his shoulder and found a fairly interesting section on the different forms that magic can take." He glanced at McGonagall. "I'd like to try for animagus some day."

Xander shrugged. "I'll ask. Those aren't Iggy's books until I officially give them to him."

"Thank you, Uncle Xander. Can I go back now?" Xander nodded and he sighed in relief. "I'm not in trouble?"

"That's up to your father," he reminded him with a smile. Denver shuddered and left them alone. Xander looked at the Headmaster. "Melvin?"

"Transfigurations. And there's people waiting on you in my office," she told him quietly. "They want to evaluate him for being a threat."

"Over their dead body," Xander reminded her, standing up. "I'll see you up there in a few." He headed to the transfiguration classroom, popping his head inside and pointing at Melvin. "Now." He withdrew and closed the door after the boy. "Chaos?"

"Yeah, chaos. It's so pure, and strong, and it's got really pretty colors," Melvin said quietly. He tugged his uncle further away from the classroom. "You know I'm not going to suddenly turn bad, Uncle Xander. It's not in me."

"We didn't think it was in your aunt either, or in Willow, or in any number of others that have turned bad, or been turned in for being able to play with it." Melvin swallowed. "There's people here to talk to you about it." Melvin nodded. "I will protect you, but I will be teaching you how to stop the surges." Melvin threw his arms around him and gave him a hug.

Sirius Black stepped out of his classroom and shut the door. "Problems?"

"Melvin's able to touch deeper magic."

"Yeah, even deeper than the sweaty, nasty, dirty chaos magic," Melvin told him.

Xander pushed him back. "You can touch the flood?"

"Flood?"

"According to the gryphons, magic overlays everything like a flood. Pure magic, which is then taken up and filtered for use by the various creatures and humans. Pure magic is colorful, powerful, and blindingly pretty."

Melvin nodded. "Yeah, I'm getting surges of that stuff."

Xander gave him a hug. "I understand now and I can still help you," he told him. He smiled sadly at Sirius. "The Ministry idiots are upstairs. There's going to be a fight."

"Want his father?"

"No, because if I lose it, he can still get out of there, his father can't." He let his nephew go. "We'll be back. Hopefully." He led the young boy up to the Headmistress' office, giving the Ministry idiots a grim look. "He touches the pure magic, not the chaos layer," he announced proudly, patting Melvin on the shoulder.

McGonagall beamed at him. "How wonderful. Can you help him control the surges?"

"Oh, yeah, not an issue. It's actually easier to sort out pure magic because it's so different. I drew on it for about a month before I learned the trick to sort it automatically."

"Can all gryphon-born do this?" the Ministry idiot, or auror as the case may be, asked.

Xander shrugged. "It's not something we talk about often. And he's not one of the born."

"Are you sure?" the auror asked as he stood up. "The only ones who are known to touch the dangerous magics are the born."

Xander snorted. "Because none of you turn to chaos at all," he said derisively. "Sit down," he suggested when the man stepped closer. "He's not a danger to anyone, unless he pulls too much pure magic and then he's only in danger of burning himself out and going catatonic. There's no danger here."

McGonagall nodded. "Quite true. We've known he has great control since he started. It was very apparently to those of us here who deal with real magic on a daily basis."

The auror pulled out a pair of handcuffs. "I still can't let him go."

Xander smiled his coldest, cruelest smile. "You touch him over your dead body," he said calmly, tipping his head to the side. "And if more of you come, they'll die too."

"You have to step aside."

Xander moved Melvin behind him. "Like I said, over your dead body."

"Sir, you have to step aside. It's an order from the Minister herself." He pulled out the form to show it off. Xander snapped his fingers and it went up in a small, quick flame.

"It's not worth the paper it's written on. Fidders is still the Minister of Magic and he never ordered this. And I'm warning you now, boy, you come after my family and there's going to be consequences for everyone."

He sneered. "Why? Are *you* going to beat me up?"

Xander straightened up, giving him a nasty grin. "I've trained half of the aurors that entered your little happy troop over the last ten years. Not only can I kick their asses, I can kick yours and then piss on your broken, bleeding body." He stepped closer and the auror backed up. "For another thing, if you come near my son, or the others people in my family, any of them, you will pay. I've heard what your kind have done and I've got to point out that history will repeat itself. You're creating the next evil bastard who'll want to take down the Ministry. And if you come near my family, I'd be more than willing to help them."

"You...you can't! You're one of us!"

"Wrong, I'm me. I'm a guardian. I started out with a Slayer and if I end up one over my family, so be it." He turned and put his fist into the wall, trying to bleed the power out. "Get him out of here," he ordered.

McGonagall nodded. "That would be for the best. The boy is no threat and neither are any of his cousins." She looked at Xander. "Melvin, go back to class," she ordered quietly. "You, Phelps, out of my school!"

The auror sneered at her. "You can't hold this place without Dumbledore. You will lose."

Xander turned and grabbed the man by his throat, lifting him a few inches off the ground. His arms ached, but it was *good* to see the fear on his face. "Get it straight, asshole. I did the original spell to take down Voldemort and Harry joined me. I know the release word to give me access to that spell again. I would only use it to protect my family, but you're not worth a moment's thought to me or my kind. Those who touch our families are doomed. Those who do it with malicious intent are not only doomed to suffer before they die, but they'll suffer for eternity after it." He let him go before the strength in his hand gave out. "Now, go away before I lose my temper fully and go off on your pitiful ass." The auror ran from the room. "Melvin, class," he told him.

"I'll escort him. Please try not to destroy the office, I just finished rearranging the books to suit myself." She led the young boy from the room, closing the door behind her.

Xander leaned his head against the wall, leaching his excess energy into the stones. It had to get out of him before it exploded. It would be wrong to kill him now that he was running. It would be wrong to hurt anyone else with it. It had to go away. The Earth wasn't calling to it though, it wouldn't leave him. He turned and looked out the window, then closed his eyes. If he couldn't get rid of it one way, he'd do it another.

***

Fred looked out the window. "Your husband's going off," he said, sounding disinterested.

George looked up from his journal, watching the pretty fireworks. "My, I haven't seen anything that extreme since the time Iggy wouldn't let us have sex for a month, and that was only in the fireplace." The fireworks slowed and his head went down. The next boom, just as loud and twice as bright, drew his attention again. "Must be really bad this time." He closed his book and watched. This couldn't be a good thing.

"He'll come down pretty soon," Fred reminded his twin. "Anything in the books?"

"Not a bit of a clue," George told him. "I wonder why we can't remember that prank?"

"I wonder why we didn't write it down," Fred muttered. A third explosion of colors drew and held his attention. "Family?"

"As soon as I know what's going on," George agreed. It had to be extremely bad and he was now scared. Xander never lost control like that, not even at his most frustrated had he released energy in those quantities. He started to move as a glimmer appeared in the middle of the store but Xander fell to his knees and crawled over to him, putting his head on his mate's lap.

"I was bad," Xander whispered, eyes closed. "They came for Melvin and I lost it."

George patted him. "They should have expected it," he soothed. "They won't come for Iggy."

"They threatened to take all three of us, and possibly the other kids," Xander told him, his voice still not getting any louder.

"Then we'll fight."

Xander lifted his head. "They've got eight born in a special prison, locked or drugged away from their powers, and torturing them," he told his husband. "If it comes down to it, I'll have to fight. I won't let Iggy or Melvin go through that." He ran his hand over his mate's chin. "I won't let them do it again."

"I understand," George said, giving him a kiss. "All I ask is that you come back to me, Xander. I wouldn't stand in your way."

"Won't that put the rest of us in danger?" Fred asked, not coming any closer. Xander wasn't calm yet so it was still dangerous.

Xander nodded, turning his head to look at him. "Very. I touched the Earth and rode the currents to talk to the Elders. The borns don't have families anymore." Fred opened his mouth. "But I have to stop them before they come for us."

Fred nodded. "I'll spread the word around. You do whatever you have to do, and don't make my brother a widow. I'll kill you for that."

Xander nodded as he stood up. "Thank you." He looked at his husband. "I love you." He blew a kiss and disappeared, landing in front of his colony's elders. "I put myself at your service," he told them. "Tell me what to do to stop them from touching my clan."

The elders looked down at him then bent down to talk to him quietly. Xander understood and bowed.

***

Arthur looked up as his door opened, admitting his son-in-law. "What can I do for you, Xander?" he asked happily.

Xander shut the door and used his wand to insulate them from being eavesdropped on. Not even a scrying spell would work now. "You can drop the act. You knew about those other born."

Arthur sighed. "They're dangerous, Xander."

"And I'm not?"

"No, you're not," Arthur said firmly. "You've been trained."

Xander put a file down on the desk. "Of the eight they've already gotten, five of them are within training age, and six of the eight didn't even know that they needed trained," he said quietly. Arthur picked up the file to read. "They came after Melvin, Iggy, and myself this morning. It's now a war. I'm very sorry, Arthur, but I'm picking the side that calls out to me."

Arthur nodded. "I understand. Please don't bring everything down on our heads."

Xander shrugged. "I'll do whatever I have to do to protect the family. I'll also do whatever I have to do to stop this from going on." He held out a hand. "File?"

It was handed over. "Are you filing a petition?"

"I've just come from there. Right after I filed for a short leave of absence. I'm going to Percy next. Protect my husband and my son," he said, then he disappeared. The shields fell a moment later.

Arthur rubbed his forehead. This was going to get bad. It could tear the family apart. It would tear their family apart if Xander was captured, and it would be an all-out war if they got one of the kids. He silently prayed to whatever deity watched over his family that Xander succeeded.

***

Iggy walked into the Great Hall during his lunch period, dragging Melvin behind him. "Come on," he told his other cousins. "We're executing a plan." He looked at Andrea. "You too. I might have to come back for you, but I'm not leaving my clan here."

Simone looked up at him. "What's going on? Where's your dad?"

"They came for Melvin yesterday. Dad's fighting with the Ministry and we're all in danger."

That's all Simone and Denver needed to hear, they gathered up their school things and lunch and followed him down to an unused room in part of the school they'd never been in before. The door was sealed tightly, both with the normal lock and with a magical shield that only another gryphon-born could get through.

Iggy sat them down in the chairs he had pulled in there earlier, ready to explain everything to them. "You three know sometimes I hear things, right? Like through the earth link that everyone shares?" His cousins nodded.

Andrea raised a hand. "You're a telepath?"

"No, I only get flashes of conversations. I get flashes of people talking about me and sometimes things that concern me." He looked at Denver. "I just heard my dad talking to our grandfather. It's bad this time. The Ministry is locking people like Melvin and me up in a horrible little prison and torturing us by locking us away from our instinctive touch to the flood."

"I don't mean to keep interrupting, but flood?" Andrea asked.

"It's how the gryphons see magic," Simone told her. "It floods the earth and everything on it, but that's pure magic." She smiled at Melvin, who had told them all last night what Xander had discovered.

"Ok, so like the Force?"

Iggy nodded, his dad had made him watch Star Wars once. "Yeah, kinda similar. Only pure magic is *real* hard to touch and most wizards and witches can't without either a burning desire to kill everything around them or a lot of hard work and training. Melvin does it instinctively, that's why they're trying to get him. They're after me because I'm gryphon-born and so's my daddy Xander. Who's presently going to try and stomp the Ministry."

Denver winced . "Father won't be happy that this is happening."

"Yay," Iggy told him. "We're all in danger. They're coming here for us. I heard a few aurors making plans on how to take us out of the school without everyone fighting. The plan was to take us either during a meal, using the 'I need to talk to you about your parent' routine, or to sneak in and do a snatch tonight." He pulled his wand and opened up a cabinet on the wall. It was covered with dust too. "I set this place up a long time ago as a refuge," he said, pointing at the supplies. "We can stay here until it's safe, and if we have to, I can teleport us out before they can get through that door."

Denver looked at his sister, who nodded. "Then we're going to our father's, Iggy. He'll protect all of us."

"That's what I had planned, even though the stupid humans will look for us there. You probably know most of the hiding places in that marble monstrosity."

Simone giggled. "And some even Daddy doesn't know about." She took her half-brother's hand. "We found Daddy's Dad's old workrooms. And his personal dungeon."

"Wicked," Iggy breathed. "Are they shielded?"

"So strongly that Dad didn't even know there was a door there when we opened it in front of him," Denver assured him. He looked at the well-stocked cabinet. "We'll have to bring most of that with us. There's no food or water down there."

"There's running water," Simone countered. "The sink works well enough."

"Yeah, but it's nasty and we can't drink it," Denver argued.

"Enough," Melvin butted in. "Are we just staying here?"

"Unless you wanted to go back to class. We'd come save you, but it'd be a bit of a production."

Melvin reached over and bopped him. "Not what I meant. Did you have anything else planned for the day?"

"Nope, but I bought some extra books down today, just in case I needed a few offensive spells," Iggy admitted with his usual hellion grin. "Dad won't be missing them."

"All right then," Denver said, taking his hand back. "Let's pull out our books and actually get some homework done." His sister stared at him like he was mad. "That way we won't get into double trouble if we have to move. If we get it done now, ahead of time, then we'll have less to deal with later on, including playing catchup. Plus, if this all works out, then we'll have the weekend free."

Iggy nodded. "Good idea. If we get those herbology papers done then we can relax and plan for when it's necessary to move." He pointed his wand toward the library and concentrated, bringing two books to a table near them. "We'll need those two."

"Some of us will need parchment," Simone pointed out.

"And ink," Denver added.

"You guys, this was a teacher's room. They're all in the supplies closet." He pointed behind him to the small cubby. "I've had this room for a *long* time. Not even Ryan knows where it is and he used to chase me around the school."

"I never even knew there were classrooms down this way," Simone told him. "How come you never showed us these before?"

"Because they had to stay secret. This is the closed wing of the school." He grinned again. "There's sixty rooms down here that are *never* used. Not even the house elves come down here." He ran his finger through the dust on the nearest table. "No one knows why this section's closed, but it's been this way for nearly the whole life of the school. All I know is that I'm not supposed to be down here and Ryan's scared of it. Though I have noticed that one room is sealed off and nothing I can do will break the seals."

"You think it's a tomb?" Melvin asked. "Like for one of the founders?"

"Slytherin's in our basement," Denver told him. "And Father said that one of them was in Scotland somewhere."

"With our luck it's a massive sucking black hole," Simone sighed. Denver nodded, that was so true. With their luck it was going to kill them.

"Or it could be the forbidden library and workrooms that everyone says are myth," Iggy pointed out. "Dumbledore told me about those."

"Didn't they used to think that the Chamber of Secrets was a myth too?" Melvin asked.

Simone nodded. "Until Uncle Harry opened it to get the cranky asshole Voldemort in a younger body." Her mother had refused to tell her that story and she had always wondered why. "Did Dumbledore ever tell you how that happened? Mum wouldn't say anything when I asked her."

"That's because she was there," Dumbledore said as he stepped through the door and shield. "Very nice work, Ignatius. I'd give you points but I no longer teach here." He smiled at the children. "Are you going to stay here?"

"Yes, sir, that way they can't get us."

"A wise plan," Dumbledore agreed, completing the circle. "I have a message from your father, but I think you already know what it says." Iggy nodded, looking serene. It was the look his father got when he was in a fight and accepted the inevitable consequences of the fighting he was going to be doing. "Are you ready in case you have to move everybody?"

"Yes, sir. I've got it covered and planned out. I have since I learned I was starting with my cousins. They won't get hurt."

"Good, good," Dumbledore praised. "And you know you're not supposed to be down here?"

Iggy grinned. "What better place to hide?"

"Good point," Dumbledore agreed cheerfully. "Just stay in this room. I've resealed the entry you used and this section does not show up on any map ever made of the school, except the original plans." Iggy beamed brighter. "But you may not visit any other rooms in this wing, young man. They are off limits for a reason and we'd prefer you to not know why yet."

"Does that mean I get to take over Uncle Harry's spot as the guy who gets into unreasonable trouble?" Iggy teased. He loved the old guy, he was like a grandfather to him.

"I'd say that was entirely possible," Dumbledore agreed. He patted Melvin on the arm. "There are many things that you will need to know, young man. The first being that you control those surges by separating out the two types of magic. If you create a barrier within you to block the pure magic, it may backfire on you. You'll need to consciously touch the normal magic every time you try something or else you could well blow up at least the classroom." He patted him again. "The second is that you can create a key to take down the separation so you don't have to think about it," he finished with his usual twinkle in his eyes. "Lemon drop?" he offered, holding out a small tin of them.

"No, thank you," Melvin said, but he had caught the clue. "I like the really sweet stuff."

"Is there a book on how to do that?" Iggy asked.

"No, this has to be learned individually and only young Melvin can do it for himself. You can encourage him and help him test it, but otherwise it's all in his head." He stood up. "Now then. Do you need anything?"

"I could use my *special* book," Iggy offered. "Dad confiscated it last year."

"Indeed? He was probably looking for helpful spells." He swished his wand and a book came floating through the wall. "There you go. Please be careful down here. This was once the place where we had portals and some of them are still quite active, going to some very interesting or bad places." He looked down at Iggy. "Do I have your word, young man?"

"You have my word I won't go looking today," Iggy told him.

"That will have to do. Remember, all is not always what it seems. You might want to put up a block against the intangible once I'm gone." He waved his wand over his chest and turned incorporeal, taking his time floating through the door.

Iggy pulled over one of the books he had liberated earlier, using it to set up a third shield. Now not even Dumbledore could get inside.

***

McGonagall shrieked when she saw the ghost of the former Headmaster. "You died?"

"No, my dear, just visiting." He became solid and sat down across from her. "They're in one of the forbidden sections. You won't find them on the map, or even on Harry's map if I'm not mistaken." He smiled. "I suggest you put it around that they're to be excused for today and possibly tomorrow."

"Why are they hiding? We will protect them."

"Ignatius once told me that he can sometimes hear things through the flood." McGonagall's lips thinned with her displeasure. "Usually things that are about him or about to happen to him."

"The aurors are coming back?"

"And plan on taking all three of them, and probably Ms. Reams if they could manage it. She knows too much for her own good at the moment so they're protecting her too. They'll be fine. They're in Ignatius' hiding spot."

"Oh, dear," she sighed. "However did he find that entry?"

"He was six, Minerva. Boys that age find every nook and cranny in a regular house. We had no hopes of hiding that one from him." He stood up. "I need to go, I've got to talk to someone on Xander's behalf." He grimaced. "This is going to get messy, and I have no doubt that it will impact the school somehow. Do be careful. I'd like to come see you again this summer and see if things have calmed down for you."

She laughed harshly. "Calm, here?" She shook her head. "I know why you always seemed so in control now. If you don't have that inner peace, the school will eat you alive."

"Very true," he agreed. "It took me nearly five years to figure that out. My predecessor didn't have it. He always did remind me of Severus." He smiled again and walked away. His next appointment was at St. Mungos and he only had ten minutes to get there.

"As long as I get through this fight, everything should be fine," she told herself. "I got through Harry Potter. I got through Voldemort, twice. I even got through the Weasley twins. I can get through this." She checked her map but he had been right, none of the missing children were on it. "That's strange. I wonder why Remus is in the staffroom. He has a class now." She activated the spell and listened in. Interesting.

***

Percy looked up as his door was slammed shut. "Xander?" he asked, looking around. He turned around and found his brother-in-law standing there with a folder held open. "What's this?"

"What they tried to do to your son this morning," Xander told him. Percy's mouth opened. "He can touch pure magic, not the chaos magic. The Ministry came for him today and I lost my temper." Percy made a choking noise, like he was about to cry. "He's safe, for now. McGonagall and Ron are watching out for him, Iggy, and Denver. I'm going to do something drastic because they've already got eight of us." Percy patted him on the hand and closed the file so he didn't have to look at it anymore. "It's going to get bad, Percy. Very bad. Very ugly. And it's going to be a war. The person who took over for Fidders while he's out sick is doing this and has a lot of aurors behind her, and they're using their powers. Almost none of these people have families anymore." Percy nodded, but he still looked ready to cry. "I'll do what I can to protect them...." He was stopped by a bone-crushing hug.

"Protect yourself first," Percy told him. "We can watch out for the others. Be careful and watch yourself. If they're this stupid then they're stupid enough to take you on."

Xander patted him gently. Percy had lost his wife not ten months ago and it had nearly destroyed him. "I'm going to do what I have to do. Nothing is more important than stopping this right now." He pulled back. "I've let Murphy know he's on message detail to you guys. I'll see you again when this is over with." He gave him a lopsided smile. "Be careful and trust me." He disappeared, the file going with him. He had one last visit to make before the courts got to start on this. He'd try justice first. Then he'd do something drastic.

***

Draco looked up as his office was invaded. The pen dropped from his fingers. "What happened to the kids?"

"Denver and Melvin nearly got arrested by the Ministry for being dangerous," Xander told him. He sat down, his feet hurt. He'd been on them for about six hours now. "They nearly got Melvin because he can touch pure magic." He sighed. "I lost it and went off on the auror sent to pick him up." He tossed the file onto the desk, watching as he read it. "It's now war."

Draco looked at him, shocked to the core. "War?"

"War. Keep reading."

Draco went back to reading, slowly turning green. He finally shoved it away and slapped it closed. "War it is." He looked at his mentor. "What can I do to help?"

"Protect my family like they were yours. And try to help Ron too, Buffy's due any day now." Draco nodded. "The first step is a court battle, which will bring a lot of attention. I wouldn't surprised if they tried something to make me reconsider my decisions." Draco nodded. "Other than that, just hold on. It's going to get bumpy for a while. Probably worse than the last shakeup." He stood up and grabbed the folder. "I'll try and pop around as often as I can, but I don't want to put you into danger too."

Draco leaned back and shook his head. "Don't worry about it. Trying to kill me would raise a lot of questions. I'm very noticed most of the time."

"Wonderful, but your kids aren't you." Draco nodded. "So just be careful, son." He grinned sadly and disappeared.

Draco thought about all the options he had at the moment. He had some connections that could help. He had some power that he could use. But if he did so, it would make him just as bad as his father. For a better reason, but just as manipulative. Inside, his heart screamed and ranted at him about what he should be doing. This was his family they were threatening! They had to die, and horribly! He stood up, ran a hand through his hair, and grabbed a robe so he could leave the house and look his best. He had to do something and even being compared to his father wasn't enough incentive to stop him. It was time to take up the rest of his heritage.

***

Xander stood in front of the judge's bench late that night and mentally took a deep breath. He could lose everything, he had to be prepared for it. He felt the calmness steal over him and knew it would be all right. Even if his husband denied him and sent him away it would be okay. As long as they were alive and free, it would be fine. He took a sip from his bottle of water, continuing to wait on the judge. He was only a few minutes late, and he was sure the Ministry was trying to contaminate him to their side. When he walked in, he took another mental deep breath, going into his fighting breathing. This was a war, he had to win this battle. All he had to fight with were words and facts, but it would have to be enough. He had the burden of proof but proof he had plenty of.

The judge took his seat and looked at Xander. "This is a very serious charge, young man. Most people aren't strong enough to stand against the Ministry."

"Most people didn't nearly lose their family to the racial bias that they're showing," Xander countered. "I nearly lost my son, my nephew, and my own freedom this morning because I'm gryphon-born and my nephew is able to touch pure magic."

"Pure magic?" the judge asked. "I've never heard of that."

"The gryphons consider magic this way, and have proven it to be true. There's magic flooding the earth, it covers everything so deeply that we can never escape it." The judge nodded. "Certain types of people and species are on this planet to help turn that flood into something usable." The judge nodded again, slower this time. "Gryphons are here to channel that magic and filter it into something more useful for everyone. We're the primary filtering mechanism for the magic that surrounds us."

"This is very interesting," the lawyer for the Ministry said, "but totally without proven facts."

Xander pulled something out of his new briefcase and tossed it at the other table. "Fact, proven scientifically by us. It's over three hundred years old and I know people who knew all this already."

"That is what we learned in Care of Magical Creatures," the judge agreed. "Continue, Mr. Harris."

"The gryphons learned very far back that the only way to stop the greedy humans who were killing them, and make them leave the gryphons alone, was to give them a new level of filtering. This would give the humans a new level of ability and make them quit using fantastic creatures as part factories." He looked at the other lawyer. "That's why the born were created. That's what we're here for. Because someone doesn't like what our ancestors back at least twenty generations did." He looked at the judge again. "We have proof that they're purposefully coming after us and harming us greatly to get their jollies."

The judge patted the folder he had been given when the petition was filed. "I have it here. Do you know where this prison facility is?"

"Yes."

"It doesn't exist!" the Ministry lawyer exclaimed. "We do not have a special facility for dangerous criminals. We send them to Azhkaban! You know that!"

"That's wonderful, but they weren't given a trial," Xander retorted. The judge opened his mouth. "It's in the file I'm about to hand to the bailiff . Along with some other disturbing facts that I think you should be aware of." He handed the file over. "I may not be a lawyer, but I did study a hell of a lot of law when I filed to become a citizen."

"You're a naturalized citizen?" the judge asked. Xander nodded. "Who was over your case?"

"The present Minister of Magic, Wizard Fidders."

"I see." The judge flipped through the file, stopping on one of them. "These people's families are dead?"

"One of them was killed in a supposed accident with her car sitting in the middle of a road, with no other cars on the road all day, no trees near there, and no stone wall around there. The muggle cop who found her a few hours later found her car not running, the engine cold, and there no evidence of anything killing her. I would suggest a killing curse, but I don't want to be killed myself."

"We don't do that!" the other lawyer shouted. "We are not evil."

"No, you only put innocent people in jail and torture them because of what their ancestor did," Xander said sarcastically. He returned his attention to the judge. "I'm not asking for you to stop it totally. I'm asking for you to look into it and stop them once you have evidence that the court gathers. Preferably before my son, or my nephew, or some other member of my family ends up in that nice white building where I was told if I tried to get in, I would be staying."

"You visited there?" the lawyer sneered. "I'm surprised you're here now."

Xander looked at him. "I'm surprised the building's still standing," he retorted.

The judge cleared his throat. "I understand how much this bothers you, Mr. Harris. I am disturbed greatly by this too." He looked at the lawyers. "I want to see your boss, the one ordering this horrible crime, in this court by ten am tomorrow. Until that time, I am going to issue a restraining order. No one will go near any of Mr. Harris' family, including his extended family." He stood up when the lawyer opened his mouth. "It is well within this court's power to set up an inquisition into such incidences. I have before and I will again!" he shouted. "Get her in here by ten am or suffer the consequences."

"I'd like to see evidence of Minister Fidders," Xander put in quietly. The judge looked at him. "I know he's on medical leave, but why doesn't he know anything about this? He's a good guy. I trust him to not be part of this."

The judge nodded. "Yes, he is. I'm sure he'll be called to answer questions soon enough. You will be here to listen to it."

Xander nodded, closing his briefcase. "Thank you."

"This makes me ill, Mr. Harris. Most of these people are muggles." He banged his gavel. "Do it or be in contempt."

"I can't, sir, she's out of the country."

"I'm sure she can apparate."

"No, sir, she can't. She never, um, passed her licensing." He glared at Xander. "If you give us a decent amount of time, we can retrieve her."

"Ten am tomorrow morning, no more, no less." He retook his seat. "Mr. Harris, you could have made more motions."

"I have one written to release them to the gryphons for treatment, but I wasn't willing to push my luck," Xander said with a sad grin. "I would request that they be looked over by a gryphon-born who's a physician, just because they'll understand us better." The judge looked thoughtful. "There's one listed among the books we keep. I have his name and number with me if you'd like it." He looked at the lawyer, then back at the judge. "I'd rather not give it to them so he can't be judged against."

The judge nodded. "I know one myself. I'll be sure to include him. What else do you have in there?"

"Two other things," Xander said as he pulled them out. "One is an appeal to make them freeze their researchers and stop the names being given to the aurors. The second is to restrict the aurros in this matter." He handed them to the bailiff. "I really didn't want to overstep my reach, but it's so bad I'm willing to lose everything to stop them."

"Oh, really?" the lawyer sneered. "Your beloved husband and child?"

"Yes," Xander told him, his voice starting to drip ice. "Even if they deny me, or if my extended family send me away and never talk to me again, it's worth it. It's even worth it to lose my life over this. Are you willing to say the same?"

"No, we're in the right. Those people are dangerous. So are you."

"I'm usually in perfect control," Xander retorted. "It's only when I see people like you that I lose control. What I told the auror this morning was what I meant. I will protect my family up to and including my life, and the idiot's lives. If they come for me, I'm going to fight back. If they come for any of my family I will fight back and I will destroy them. Trying to take me out by taking out my family will only result in mass destruction of a lot of people. Because I'm willing to die over this one," he finished calmly, standing in a ready pose, just in case he was attacked.

"We'll get you yet, Harris. You're not above the law."

"No, I'm not above the law, I signed up to follow these laws. Unfortunately I left one bed of arrogant stupid people and joined sides with a group that was half-full of the same sort. I wouldn't change my decision, but I will protect myself and everyone around me from the stupid people."

"Stupid? At least I went to college," he taunted.

"Yay. I did okay and I didn't. What does that tell you?" Xander snorted. "I nearly got a lawyer but they all wanted more time to get ready and there wasn't any. Any further action will have a good lawyer at my side because I know I need one. I know my limits very well, unlike you."

The lawyer stepped closer. "You and your son are abominations. You should never have been created. All of you should die for what those ancestors did."

Xander smiled coldly. "Pity. Because if we all die, all that pretty magic that you like will dry up and the only stuff you'll be able to draw will kill all of you. Oh, and I should tell you, we can consciously stop filtering the magic. We can make that happen, and I've heard a few of the younger gryphons saying it would be poetic justice to watch you die as the powers burn you out." He waved the man on. "By all means though, if you want me dead, come try."

"Not in my courtroom, gentlemen," the judge interrupted. Xander bowed to him. "You can stop filtering it?"

"I've been told we can. I don't know the exact process, but I'm guessing that it'll be going around by tomorrow night. The elders know how, it's one of the secrets that are passed on from what I understand."

The judge looked at the lawyer. "Are you really willing to risk everyone's lives to continue this petty racism?"

"Your honor, they're creatures!"

"Actually, we're just as human as you are," Xander countered. "And we thought we had rights in the world. This has shown us that now we have to fight for those rights, even if it means losing a few battles and a few of the fighters." He pulled his chair out and sat down, then picked up his water to sip on. "I'm more than willing to leave this in the hands of the court for now. Until they come after us. Then I'm going to pull out all the stops and damn the court." He shrugged. "Sorry."

The lawyer sneered. "What can you do?"

"Well, let's see," Xander said, lifting up a hand to look at it, and to count off on it. "I was the one to first cast the spell that destroyed Voldemort. Yes, I had it removed from me, but I do know the word that will restore it to me." One finger down. "I know other spells, ones to bring things down from the skies to kill everyone around me. Ones to rain fire down on an attacking army. Ones to even turn them into creatures that are more in-tune with the world around them." Another finger down. "I am also pyroclastic. Or pyrokinetic if you prefer. I start fires, sometimes unconsciously. Today, after I drove that auror off, I created fireworks for thirteen minutes straight. I think I could probably focus it on a group attacking my family." Another finger down. "And then there's my nature. Sometimes it screams to me to protect my family and I have to listen. We've had this discussion before, in front of Minister Fidders. In this case, I won't hold back. Protecting my family in the moment supercedes the gryphon code of conduct and I can and will kill anyone who comes at my family." He put his hand down. "Pick one, I can give you more information about how they're going to die by it."

The judge coughed. "No one's doubting you're a very powerful wizard, Mr. Harris, but..."

Xander shook his head. "I'm not a traditional wizard. I'm a gryphon-born and magic is innate to us. Magic, to us, is like having ears that stick out from our head. For you, it's a gift that may or may not show up. For us it's like red blood cells, floating through every cell of our body to keep us alive." He glanced at the lawyer. "That's why this is so disturbing. They're being kept locked away from not only their power, but also from any human contact, any relief from the screaming of their body for relief, and being tortured on top of it." He stood up. "If it comes down to it, I can go free them, but I decided to let justice take its course first. Then I'll react."

"You, all by yourself?" the lawyer asked.

"Me, all by myself," Xander agreed. "Gryphons are earth mages." The lawyer's eyes lit up in anger. "I singlehandedly created the store my brother-in-law and husband run. It may look a lot like a cave from the outside, but it's there." He pulled his wand and pointed it at his hand, concentrating on creating a small stone. Then he threw it at the other lawyer. "We can deal with stones just as well as dirt and air."

"Mr. Harris, please restrain yourself," the lawyer snorted disdainfully. "It's not like throwing stones is going to help you. This isn't the Middle East."

"No, it's supposedly one of the most civilized countries on the planet and look what's going on!" he exclaimed. "You're locking up people because of who their ancestors were. Very civilized."

"And your kind are so much better."

"Yeah, we are. We don't attack little kids and have them locked up." Xander looked him over. "So, why aren't the kid's parents dead? Did they turn her in without being asked or did it take some convincing?"

"That child nearly destroyed her whole town."

"I doubt it. Her neighbors have said that she was a sweet little girl with no powers yet." He smiled. "And then they said that the parents were evil little assholes, just like you." His smile got brighter. "Can we do to your kids what you did to that one?"

"My child is normal!" he spat.

"Are you sure? It's not like you could tell." Xander sat back down and relaxed. "Are we through? I'd like to write my son a letter."

"Yes, we should be. Unless someone knows where Minister Fidders is right this instance."

Someone who had walked in recently raised a hand. "He was resting against the wall, your honor. He was out of breath." She stepped forward and became Willow. "I'd like to offer a scrying spell to look inside this place before you go." She smiled at Xander. "It's only fair that you not announce it."

"If you could. I'm sure they have it shielded."

Willow grinned evilly. "They can't guard against me." She waved a hand and Tara hurried forward with a large copper bowl and a few bottles of water. They set up the spell quickly and got out of the way of the judge as he walked down to where they were. "There," she announced, opening the viewing portal.

The judge watched the cell, then glared at the lawyer. "Come explain this," he ordered. The lawyer shifted closer, looking down the portal. "Why is that man in blinders, ear muffs, and a gag? That is against all treatment rules for prisoners in any sense of the word."

"He attacked a guard," the lawyer told him. "We can't exactly punish him farther."

"Yeah, 'cause he's already isolated," Willow said, enlarging the view so it seemed that the portal was pulling back. "Small cell, padded walls, no other people."

"They interact with the guards."

"Yeah, who come in and torture them. I'm sure it's *such* a *nice* conversation," Willow said snidely. She looked him over, then snorted. "You're not so hot. I have at least ten spells that will make any *really* bad guy laugh at what you become."

During this, Tara had moved over to Xander's side. "Ron disappeared earlier when Fred got an anonymous message through the floo," she whispered next to his ear. "We know he's okay but we think something may have happened to Buffy. I saw something happening to her."

Xander pulled away, looking in her eyes. "Can we stop it?" Tara shrugged. "Can you check on her?"

"The floo's locked," she said. "We'll know tomorrow."

"Murphy's waiting at Draco's. Have him send a message." Tara nodded and backed away.

"Another problem?" the judge asked as he stood up. "We will be talking. Would someone please get Minister Fidders from the hall?" He focused on Xander. "Problems?"

"One of my friends is pregnant with triplets and the father disappeared earlier. We aren't sure if everything's all right yet."

The judge nodded. "I understand this is pulling you away from your life."

Xander shrugged. "This is more important." He smiled at Tara, a warm, loving smile. "She told me what was going on."

"Are they a relation?" the lawyer asked. Xander shook his head. "Pity. Too bad they won't find her."

"Arrest him!" the judge ordered his bailiff. He saw Xander stand up and got out of the way.

Xander put his wand carefully into Tara's hand and walked over to where the lawyer was struggling. "Where is she?" he hissed, grabbing him by the throat and squeezing.

"Xander!" Willow shrieked, trying to make him let go. "If he can't breathe he can't talk! Not a vampire!"

"Yay. He did something to Buffy."

"She was doomed as soon as she retired," the lawyer croaked. "Prophecy would come true."

"Some of them are self fulfilling," Tara reminded him, calmly raising her hand. He slammed into the wall and away from Xander's hand. Willow looked at her in shock. "Speak or I will force you to speak," Tara ordered with all the force she could muster. Which was quite a lot after twelve years of teaching and eleven of motherhood. The lawyer smirked at her and the ball of energy formed on her hand. "Goddess help you if you don't."

"You and your Goddess are puny, that's why we gave them up."

"Some of you," Willow retorted. "Blast him, Tara. He deserves it." When the energy didn't fly, she looked at her former girlfriend. "Tara?"

Tara blinked then shook her head. "His servitude will be known!" she announced, and the energy flew. The lawyer shrieked but as soon as it hit, he started to babble about everything he had ever done, good or bad, starting back as far as he could remember. Soon, a familiar name popped up. Lucius Malfoy. Then Asdar, then Voldemort. He was pulled out of there before anything else could be heard.

"No, wait, the Watchers," Willow told him. "Who are you working with?"

"Philestine," the man told her with an insane smile. "The bringer of destruction will die! There will be no slayer born from a slayer retired!" He laughed as the door slammed.

"Did I miss something?" Minister Fidders asked from the gallery of the courtroom. He walked in slowly, pale and shaking.

Willow helped him to Xander's seat, watching Xander and Tara for signs of another eruption. "Minister Fidders, can you please help us? They're doing horrible things in the Ministry's name to a lot of people who are going to be damaged permanently from this. They're creating the next major bad guy." She glanced at Tara and Xander again, watching them hug. "And they're consorting with forces that are better left alone."

"The Watchers?" he suggested mildly. She nodded. "Yes, I can stop some of this." He looked at the judge, who reached up and grabbed his gavel, banging it for silence. "I have written an executive order freeing those prisoners into the gryphon's custody. The three elders of the closest colony are waiting for them at the Ministry. I have also cut an order to have everyone connected with this brought in for questioning." He held a shaking hand out and Xander moved closer. "My boy, you don't have to lose everything. This time." He looked into Xander's eyes, giving him a smile. "You fight well for a muggle-born, young man." He saw the dark brown eyes widen in recognition. "Do seem less fantastic though, it gives the rest of us a bad name." He looked at the judge. "I hereby appoint you to this matter, to sit in judgement and resolve it in the best interests of the hurt people." He patted Xander's arm. "I also have drafted a resolution to be put in front of the Ministers regarding certain civil rights that we all took for granted." He heaved himself up with a groan of pain. "I'm late for my medicine. I will see you tomorrow."

Xander stopped him, looking into his eyes. The warm green were fading to a piercing blue. "Are you okay?"

The man nodded. "I am fine, young man. Thank you for helping me see the importance of this matter." He shook Xander's hand, passing him a note. "Be well until you return to your duties." Xander nodded and stepped back. "I will see you tomorrow in your office." He left the room on Willow's arm.

Xander sat down in shock. He pocketed the note for later. He had won. No one else was going to hurt and he had won. He looked at the judge, who gave him a faint smile. "Are we done? I'd like to write a letter to my kid."

"Yes, Mr. Harris, we are truly done." He watched as Xander packed up and left the room. Then he turned to Tara. She was next to him, staring down at the scrying spell "Who was that?" he asked quietly.

"Someone who Xander saved before," she responded. She looked at him. "Minister Fidders died of his heart condition earlier this evening, after drafting those resolutions." She gave him a reassuring smile. "We weren't involved."

"I didn't think you were, nor do I think Mr. Harris was." She shook her head. "Then nothing else matters to me." He walked back and officially ended the court case. It was a relief to be out of that situation. It could have gone much worse. Mr. Harris was quite a credit to his kind. He went back to his chambers to have a drink. He needed one so he'd be able to get to sleep, those pictures had been horrifying.

***

Xander sat on his bed in the Leaky Cauldron and pulled out the note, reading the simple message. "You saved me, now I'm returning the favor."

"Gee, I don't count favors," he said to the air. "But thank you." He laid back, closing his eyes. It had been a long day and he missed his husband. He'd have to see tomorrow if George were talking to him. And what was going on with Ron and Buffy. But for now, he was just too tired to make it home. They would understand.

***

McGonagall tapped lightly on the door hiding the children. "It's done," she called out quietly. "You're safe now."

"No we're not," Iggy called back, opening the door. "The aurors are still coming."

"They're being brought in for questioning."

Iggy shrugged. "I heard them and I can pretty well guarantee that they're still coming, Headmistress. Maybe not here, but there's going to be one last sweep, just like the old days according to them." He leaned against the door, letting her see the sleeping people. "I taught Melvin how to touch the pipeline I hit, he heard it too." He gave her a sad smile. "It's going to be a while before my dad comes back. He's started having nightmares again, and this time I think it's going to be too much."

"You're a very wise little boy," she told him, giving him a fond smile. "Will you be out for breakfast?"

"I think we'll come out for lunch." His grin go brighter. "I think Denver and Simone would really like to see their father if it's okay with you." She nodded. "I'm sorry if our popping out some nights has caused problems."

"It's not a problem, just keep it under wraps. It wouldn't look right to the other students if they knew." She pulled him closer, giving him a hug. "I know you're a great deal like your father but it has been stopped."

"Yeah, until the next person with a personal bias starts shit with dad in Diagon, or one of the kids here starts crap and he overhears it. He's not going to be great for a long time, Professor. Be patient with him, okay?"

"Iggy, do you see things?" she asked as she let him go.

"No, Andrea did. That's probably why she's here instead of getting private tutoring lessons. She saw another battle, my dad against a lot of people in black muggle clothes. How is Auntie Buffy?" He saw the flinch of pain. "No, not the kids," he said desperately, turning to grab a book.

McGonagall grabbed his arm. "While she and one of the children are missing, they left the other two at her house, lying on a bed. Your Uncle found them and they're all in the infirmary getting checked out. You may go see them if you wish."

Iggy nodded, walking out and resealing the door. "I'll meet you up there." He disappeared. He knew every inch of that room. He appeared right in front of Ron, who was pacing, and gave him a hug. "I heard."

"Where have you been?" Ron asked, pulling him in for a crushing hug. "I was worried."

"We're still safe. There's going to be another sweep tonight so we're staying in my old hiding spot." Ron nodded, but didn't let him go. "Are you okay, Uncle Ron?"

"No," he croaked. He eventually let him go. "You've got the others?"

"Yeah, and we'll be fine. I will protect them. And Andrea." He grinned. "Can I see the new cousins?" He was led over to the bed they were sharing. Both girls made happy baby noises and wiggled. "Wow, you're tiny," he told them, touching their hands. One of them gave him a curious tingle, he'd have to ask someone about that. "What're their names?"

"I don't know yet," Ron admitted, running a hand through his hair. "B...she had it narrowed down to six separate names and we were going to stick them on in some order." He picked up the one closest to him. "What are you? A Gwen, a Minnie, or a Ramona?"

"A Minnie," Iggy told him. "But please, give them normal middle names. The first time Melvin heard my middle name he licked me to see if I tasted like caramel."

Ron smiled. "Your fathers chose that in the hopes that it'd make you smoother with the ladies once you were old enough to date."

"Gee, there's a line. Hi, I'm Iggy Caramel. My dads named me this so I'd be smooth with you." He shook his head. "Can't see it working, Uncle Ron." He patted the other one. "This one's a Gwen, definitely." Ron nodded. "Has Grandma been told yet?"

"It's the middle of the night, Ignatius. I didn't want to wake her up."

"Since when has she cared?" he snorted. "This is a family matter and it needs to be heard about. Grandma must get here and have lunch with us when we get back."

"Going somewhere?"

Iggy nodded. "And I even got permission this time too," he smirked.

"Fine, be back by lunch."

"Yes, Uncle Ron." He touched Gwen's hand again. "You are so cute. Just like your mommy."

"Let's hope not. Buffy could be rather...odd on occasion." He grinned. "She hated to clean. Anything. I swear, every time I wanted to cook, I would have to clean something."

Iggy gave him another hug, around the baby. "You can look at this one of two ways, Uncle Ron. The negative, that she's gone, or the positive, that they only got one of the kids and you've still got these two. Try and stick with the positive most of the time, but let the negative out every once in a while too." He let him go. "I'm going to go wake up Grandma." Ron grabbed for him but Iggy was quicker.

"I've got to work on my grabbing. Maybe Harry'll help with that," he mused. Seekers had good grabbing skills.

Iggy landed in the living room facing the wall, and turned to find the rest of his family standing there staring at him. "No, we weren't attacked, yet. Yes, there's another attack tonight, as they put it 'a sweep like the old days' so please lock the door. Or you can go see Ron and two of the babies."

"She had them?" Molly asked excitedly.

"And then she and one of them went missing," Iggy told her. "Ron's got the other two in the school infirmary with him. Gwen and Minnie are absolute darlings, but he hasn't started to panic yet." He grinned. "We're safe." He smiled at his father. "Breakfast, tomorrow?" he suggested, then glanced at his Uncle Draco, who smiled and nodded. "Laters." He disappeared again before anyone could catch him.

Arthur grimaced. "We really do have to speak to that boy about his popping around like that," he said firmly.

"I'll get the doors," Fred said, getting up to get them.

"I've got the windows," Draco told him. He patted George on the arm. "It's over with, and you're all still here," he reminded as he slid past him. "What are these rocks?" he yelled from the kitchen.

"Xander's way of letting us look out from our windows," George called back. "The same as the fishtank."

"Okay then," Draco said as he walked past the doorway. "Kitchen's locked up. I'll lock the floo once you're all at the school." He jogged up the stairs to check and seal all the windows up there.

Arthur looked at his wife. "Does this seem familiar to you?" he asked.

She nodded, smiling. "He's very good at giving orders in tough times." She stood up and took his hand. "Shall we go see the newest grandchildren?" Arthur nodded so they left through the floo, Ginny not far behind them because Ron was going to need some help.

Draco walked back into the living room, where George, Percy, Bill, and Charlie were sitting. "Well, aren't you going to the school too?"

"No," Charlie told him. "We'll see them tomorrow when Mum brings them home for a bit."

Draco shook his head. "Ron won't be letting them out of his sight." He snapped his fingers and went to call Harry. He'd want to know. "Potterville," he called as soon as the floo powder hit the fireplace.

"What?" Harry asked a moment later, his hair in even more disarray than usual. "It's two am!"

"Ron's got twins, Buffy's missing with one of them. They're at the school if you wanted to go."

"Poor Ron. I'll pop over." He looked around but didn't see anyone else. "They all there?"

"No, they're in the living room," George called. "Send the kids over if you want."

"Yeah, I think I might," Harry said through a yawn. "Thanks." His head faded away.

Draco smiled. He enjoyed this good guy stuff sometimes, it was rather nice to be thanked for things. He walked back into the living room. "So, now what?"

"Card games," Bill told him. "It's the way to kill time."

"We have the kids board games," George offered. He looked at Draco, who had come home sweating and nauseous, but had been very effective all day. "You look worn out."

"I am." He stretched. "But I'll live." He smiled as Agatha came out of the fire and headed directly for his lap for cuddles. "Hello, little one. Why don't you go nap on Aunt Ginny's bed?"

"No nap," she said as firmly as a half-asleep ten-year-old could. "I'm too old for naps."

"Let's get them to bed," Bill said, reaching down to pick her up. He carried the little girl up to sleep in Ginny's room, where her father was putting her brother and sister. "You sure you want to go now?"

"Yeah. I've had this funny feeling all night that I shouldn't be home." He smiled. "I'm not paranoid, but it's not always a bad thing to follow the old instincts." He winked and walked out of the room, leaving his children in the very best of care. He flooed to the school and found the Headmistress waiting on him. "I'm here to help with Ron."

"I know. The others are all in Xander's rooms. Do you remember the way?" she asked as she led him out of the staffroom.

"Sure. Spent half of my last year down there," he reminded her. "So, any new news other than this?"

"Xander won the court battle and Minister Fidders signed protection orders before he died this afternoon."

"Who's next in line?"

"Arthur is I'm afraid," she said with a smile.

"At least he'll be fair."

"I don't want it," Arthur said as he met them at the door. "Thank you, Headmistress. We'll try to stay out of the way."

"It's not like you could disrupt the school," she reminded him. "Not even Xander can do that." She chuckled as she walked away, happy now that everything was falling back into place. Children were delightful, most of the time, and she adored having them around. She remembered quite fondly the chaos of having three separate children living here.

Arthur let Harry in. "Who told you?"

"Draco. Had a bad feeling so I left the kids at your house." Ron looked at him, frowning. "Not about you, about staying at home." He walked over and gave his best friend a hug. "How're you holding up?"

"Fine so far. There's still hope that she'll be found." He pointed at the two little girls sleeping in the nest. "That's Gwen and Minnie."

"You named one after McGonagall?" Harry asked with teasing smile. "I'm sure she won't give you a pay raise for it."

Ron gave him a light shove. "Stuff it, you. No, Buffy wanted her named after the mouse. Said she adored her and something about promising a character that she'd name her first daughter after her." He shrugged. "I'm trying to do what she would have wanted."

"I'm sure it'll work out fine, Ron. We've gotten through so much, we can get through this too," Harry assured him. He reached down to touch the smooth, soft baby skin. "You two are chilly." He covered them with the blanket laying on the edge of the nest, making sure that their heads were exposed. "There we go." He pulled Ron away to sit and talk with him. It would keep him from worrying. Someone was surely out looking for Buffy.

***

Iggy made sure Andrea and Pumpkin were included in the circle this time, then he nodded at Melvin and Denver. He would need a little help for this teleport. He closed his eyes and pictured Draco's dining room exactly as it had been the last time he had been there. Then he sent everyone there. He opened his eyes and smiled, the group had landed beside the table, with Pumpkin still sitting on her mistress' feet.

"Father?" Denver called. His father was always up by now.

Draco walked in, giving the boy a hug. "You're safe."

"Of course. Iggy instituted his hiding plan," Simone told him. Draco switched and hugged her just as hard.

Percy walked in a moment later and smiled at his son, accepting a hug. "Quite a busy few days," he said in greeting.

"You don't know the half of it," Melvin sighed against his father's chest.

"At least you're all safe," George said as he walked in, giving his son a smile. He patted him on the head. "Breakfast?" he suggested.

"Yes, please," Iggy said. He looked at Andrea. "This is Andrea Reams, formally adopted into the clan when she joined us on the boats." He pointed down at the dog. "That's Pumpkin, her service dog. Don't feed it, or she'll whop you a good one."

Andrea giggled. "Iggy! I only did that to you because you were feeding him chocolate and it's not good for dogs."

"Point, but still." He pulled out a chair for her and her dog settled on her feet like usual.

"I've never heard of any of us being blind before," Draco said as he sat down at the head of the table.

"Way to go," George told him.

"Oh, shut up. I didn't mean anything by it, it was a conversation starter. I never have heard of a blind witch or wizard before."

"That nice Mr. Dumbledore told me I wasn't the first, but the first in a very long time," Andrea told him. "I'm excused from certain classes, but I'm taking most of them."

"Including flying," Melvin told everyone. "We found her the place that sells those voice-guided brooms." He smiled at his father, who had helped with that. "It's really neat. Madam Hooch was impressed with her broom."

"I'd be impressed with her broom," Draco agreed. "Does your dog go with you?"

"We've rigged a special harness that allows her to lie down behind me," Andrea told him. She squeaked when she felt something brush by her arm.

"Relax, it's a house elf," Simone told her. "It's time for breakfast."

"Oh, bangers," Iggy said, grabbing some. His father frowned at him. "What? I like them, and they're good for me."

"Save some for the rest of us, son," George reminded him.

"I didn't even take a third of them," Iggy whined. But they stayed on his plate. He didn't like eggs that much so he'd let everyone have his share of that. He caught his father's look and did his best to look cute.

Draco shook his head. "Do behave, Ignatius."

"Iggy, what's your middle name?" Andrea asked. "Melvin told me I had to ask you."

"Gee, thanks so ever much," Iggy told his cousin sarcastically. "My fathers put my middle name down as Caramel. Apparently they were hungry that day." He looked at his father, daring him to say anything.

"Actually, we were hoping the name would transfer to his nature and make him smooth once he started dating," George corrected.

"Dad!"

"Yes, his smoothness still needs some work though," Draco said, giving him a smile. "I could give you some pointers."

"Daddy, you may have been a slut while you were in school, but we won't put up with Iggy doing the same thing," his daughter told him.

"Excuse me?" Draco asked, shocked. His daughter had said what?!?

"Daddy, I've heard rumors about you while you were in school from Uncles Harry and Ron. You were the talk of the school."

"Ryan was bragging about getting a plaque next to yours in the Slytherin hall," Denver agreed. "It seems they saved your favorite chair."

Draco turned bright red. "I'll have to go visit it some day and see if that nasty rumor is true," he mumbled. "Simone, never use that word in my presence again."

"Sorry, daddy. I didn't mean anything bad by it. I'm sure you had a lot of fun."

Draco groaned.

"Um, Simone," George said. Draco waved him off.

"No, it's all right," Draco said, willing his blush to go away. "Yes, I was a bit free with my attentions, but I was always very careful." He saw the look his son was giving his sister, then him. "Until I met your mother that is."

"That was a botched infertility spell," Melvin put in for Andrea's benefit. "My father warned me about those."

Percy spluttered. "When did I say that?"

"While you were toasted last year on your anniversary, that night that mommy was putting on special stuff for you."

"Oh, dear," Percy mumbled, turning as red as the tie Iggy was wearing. "Never repeat that, son. I wasn't in my right mind at the time."

"Gee, and I thought my house was bad with the six other kids popping around all the time," Andrea said with a smile for the adults.

"You have siblings?" George asked.

She shook her head. "But my mum's working with six other blind kids so the house is usually full. There's dog hair everywhere."

George smiled. "I'm sure Hagrid's place is about the same."

"One of the puppies has been helping her," Iggy said, helping himself to some more of the food. "Eat, everybody. We have to be back by lunch, I promised McGonagall."

The dishes were passed around, with Simone telling Andrea what each one was as she handed it off.

"Any news on tryouts?" Draco asked, desperately looking for a new subject.

"Um, yeah," Denver told him. "We're on, but the first game's not for two weeks. I owled you."

"I never got it."

"Hmm, gonna have to get a new owl," he decided.

"I'll see to that this weekend."

"Did you get the Glinda mail?" Simone asked Percy. Percy nodded. "Then you knew?"

"Of course I did. I'll be in the stands cheering you on." He patted his son on the head. "When you play against him, then I'll be cheering for him, but I'm sure you'll understand."

"Oh, yeah. Dad used to have the worst time when Iggy and I were on separate teams," Simone agreed. She looked at Melvin. "I thought you weren't going to try out."

"My team's Captain came and prodded me into it," he explained. "It seems their keeper's going to be leaving school a bit early this year."

"That rule is still in place?" Percy asked. Draco nodded. "I wonder if it's being enforced the same way."

"Only if the girls get caught," George told him. "McGonagall noticed one girl on the first day and had her pulled aside to be talked to by the head of her house. Eight months along and been hiding it all summer because her parents were away." He handed over some bacon. "Quite a stink caused when the girl's parents came in from Italy, where they were still on vacation. They wanted her to stay."

"Imagine, having to take classes while tending a child," Percy said, shaking his head. "I hope mum's doing the babysitting again this year." George nodded. "Excellent, I know she enjoys it."

"And she'll have Gwen and Minnie too," Iggy added. Everyone looked at him. "I told you that last night."

"I think Ron's splitting his class a bit," George told him. Draco nodded. "You knew already?"

"I got asked to come fill in for him," Draco said smugly. "Personal invitation. She thinks it would be an added benefit to the Dark Arts program since I went through it with such stunning marks."

"Daddy, please don't teach our class," Denver requested. "We get enough looks because Uncle Ron's teaching it."

"I'll see what I can do," Draco assured them. "Though I would hope I wouldn't favor you too much."

"Daddy, we get picked on because Uncle Ron calls on Iggy all the time."

"Hey, I just know the answers. If someone else would answer in our class, I'd be more than happy to give up the attention I'm getting."

"No one else answers?" Percy asked. Iggy shook his head. "Why not?"

"Because no one else does their homework," Denver told him. "We're ahead by the way."

Simone poked him. "Don't tell them that, they'll ask us to do something."

George smiled. "Well, I could use some help in the store this weekend," he offered.

"We'll be there," Denver told him happily. He loved to play in the store. Or just sit and watch the fish. "Did that shark give birth?"

"Oh, yeah. I stood there and watched it. Quite fascinating," George told him. "Came out tail first."

"Wow. I wish I'd gotten to see that. Did Uncle Xander ever figure out how to save images?"

"No, he never did," Draco told him. "Shark giving birth?"

"Yeah, the rock's in a shark tank right now, and there had been a pregnant shark. So we got to watch her have birth. Quite odd. Not at all like I've heard humans are born."

"You'd have to ask Xander, he's seen a number of them," Draco told him. He cut into his sausage. "Iggy, do take some more if you want it. I can afford to feed you and there's more in the kitchen."

Iggy snatched some more sausage and greedily stuffed his mouth.

"Slow down, son," George told him. "Chew before swallowing. It helps digestion later."

Percy snorted. "With the noises his stomach used to give off, I'm surprised they didn't put him on a special diet."

"He's never had any trouble after he eats," George told him. "Otherwise, he would be." He ruffled the black hair Iggy had gotten from his father. "Fortunately, it's all been noise and no ulcers so far."

"Did he really belch and wake up Grandma one time?" Simone asked.

George nodded. "More than once."

Iggy snickered. "She said I was just like her."

Andrea giggled. "Is that why your room smells like peppermint?"

"You've been in his room?" Percy asked, staring his nephew down. That wasn't allowed.

"Yup, because I'm the one working on the spell to give her back some of her sight. We're working on it in our room, and before you ask the roomies said it was all right."

Denver nodded. "There's always at least two of us in there with them. And Pumpkin growls at anyone who comes too close to her."

"That's because that nasty Rosenberg boy tried to hex the both of us last week," Andrea told him. "Quite a right little snot, that boy is." She ate a bite of her eggs.

"Hagrid said that he had to deworm Pumpkin," Iggy added for the parents' benefit.

"That must have gotten him into trouble."

"They couldn't prove he had done it," Andrea told him.

George looked at Draco. "That would have been a prank worthy of the old you, son."

"He's your son too?" Andrea asked.

"No, my dad adopted him before Simone was born," Iggy told her. "It's a family joke."

"Oh, sorry," she said with a cute little blush. "It's just that you seemed about the same age to me."

"We are. I'm only twenty months younger than George," Draco told her. "But Xander is Xander and he adopted me much the same way that Ignatius has adopted you."

"Nope, she's my sister," Simone told him.

"Oh, I see. Well, welcome to the family, Andrea. I'm sure we'll be seeing you during summer vacation next year."

Andrea giggled. "Probably not. My parents are very paranoid about me going places." She smiled at Simone. "It's been nice having a sister."

"Yeah, sisters are nice, until their phoenixes steal your necklaces," Denver said.

"I looked, she must have a new hiding spot," Simone said with a shrug. "Sorry, bro."

"When did you start calling him that?" Percy asked. That was a phrasing he hadn't heard yet. Bro?

"From one of Xander's tapes," Simone told him. George choked. "Not those!" she sighed, rolling her eyes. "One of the movies."

"Oh, that's okay then," George said. He looked at Draco, who was grinning cattily at him. "So, where's your stash?" he teased.

"In the secondary master bedroom's second closet, in a large brown box," Denver told him, grinning at his father. "I found it last year."

"Why were you in that closet?"

"Because you were sick and I went to find a blanket to put over you," Denver reminded him. Draco groaned. "Sorry, Father, but it was accidental. Does mother know...."

"Stop there," Percy commanded. "That is not an appropriate breakfast discussion." He glared at Denver. "You know better."

"What are you guys talking about?" Andrea asked Simone. Her best friend leaned over and whispered in her ear. "Oh, that. It's a normal biological function."

Draco quickly filled his mouth with pumpkin juice. He noticed the other adults doing the same thing. Children grew up too fast these days, it was rather scary sometimes. He made a mental note to have a discussion with both of his children before they decided to follow in his...footsteps at school.

And breakfast went on.

***

George walked up to Ron, giving him a hug. He had twin girls with him, and still no mother anywhere in sight. Ron was looking devastated because it was taking so long. He was also panicking because the kids were crying in unison. "Hey," he said, taking one of them. He stuck a finger in the baby's mouth, shutting her up. "They're just hungry."

Ron nodded. "I figured that out, but Ginny's not back from the store yet." He looked at his kids, then up at his brother. "Why did this happen?"

"From what little Willow could get out of anyone, the Watchers had a prophecy about a retired slayer giving birth to one of her kind, and that one would end up destroying the world." He grimaced. "It's not real clear and makes Trelawny's sound concise." He shushed the other baby. "Stick a finger in her mouth, it'll stop her from crying." Ron did so. George looked at the baby, then sighed. There were days when he missed having a baby to cuddle and hold.

"Where's Xander?"

"He collapsed in London. Dad said no one knows where he is." He sneezed. "Sorry."

"That's okay." Ron looked around the room. They were in Xander's room since his was bigger and had the comfiness of the nest. The kids appreciated napping in it and Ron appreciated the quiet when they napped. "Is he coming back?"

"He'd better come back!" George told him. "He's my husband! I'm not losing him over some stupid arsehole of a human being."

"I know that," he said in irritation. "Is there any more fighting to go through?"

"I don't know," George said helplessly. His son had gotten a note but he hadn't. It was putting a lot of doubts into his mind. Maybe Xander had found someone more like him? Or he was still crusading? In either case, Iggy wasn't sharing his note. It must have been bad news. He looked over as something tapped on the door. "What?" he called.

The unlocked portrait and door swung open, letting in McGonagall. "I've had news."

"That's nice," George said bitterly. "From my husband?"

"Not yet, no. From Sirius and Willow. They're staying in London a bit longer to finish pulling together all the loose ends Xander left."

"Then it starts over," George said unhappily. He put the baby down on the nest, watching as she stuck her own thumb in her mouth. He turned to look at the Headmistress again. "Is he coming back?"

"I don't know. I haven't heard from Xander. All I know is that he was sleeping in the Leaky Cauldron until last night. The Ministers are meeting with the judge to find out what was said." She walked further in and looked down at the children. "There may still be some fighting over them," she said quietly. They were adorable little blonde creatures, plump and pink just like they should be. "I've also received a message from a rather strange source, your husband's vampire friend. They're looking for Buffy, Ron." He nodded, but he didn't look happy. "Apparently someone like her is very well known among their version of the supernatural world. They've heard that she's missing and there's interest in finding her. I'm not sure if Xander will join the hunt or not." She pointed out the window. "Murphy's out there sunning himself."

"Do you know what my son's note said?"

"Just that he was safe now and that everything would be back to normal in a few days, after Xander had broken down for a bit." She patted him on the arm. "I know it's hard to be away from him, but this time he needs to be alone to heal. What those others went through hurt him greatly because he kept seeing you, Ignatius, Melvin, and the rest of you in their spots."

"Will they be okay?" Ron asked quietly, staring at his children.

She shrugged. "No one knows yet. The human mind is a wondrous thing and can heal from many things, but even it has its limits. Everyone has a different one so some might heal and some might not. The gryphons have it."

"Do they have him?"

"No." She walked over and opened the window, whistling for Murphy. The phoenix flew in. "He wants to see his mate. Can you get him to send a message?"

"No, I don't want to force him. If he feels more comfortable doing this alone then he should."

She shook her head. "It's not about that, George."

"Then what is it about!" he yelled. The babies screamed. "Sorry, Ron," he said, shooting a glare at the twins. It wasn't their fault. "Why can't I help him this time?"

"Because sometimes the hurt goes soul deep and sparks worries that not even love can ease. He has to work through them alone. He'll be back soon." She left them alone.

"Define soon," George called after her.

"I can see why he'd go," Ron told him. "I can't even imagine what those poor people went through. Dad came home nearly crying after talking to Xander, and he only read the file. Percy came home but he was normal."

"Percy's still in shock from losing Kandy," George reminded his little brother. Ron kicked him. "Hey!"

"Xander saw, up close and personal, what those people went through and now he's lost in the thought that it could have been you and his son. He's probably balled up somewhere crying and begging for mercy from the nightmares."

"Or he could be off looking for peace," Willow said from the doorway. She walked in with a bag. "Ginny's back but she got stopped by Lupin."

"Thanks," Ron said with a smile. He pulled out the pouches that went in bottles and mixed them quickly. He had done this part before for Ginny's kids, he could do it for his own. He stuck bottles in both kids' mouths, relaxing when he got peace. Only two more years of this.

"You've got to hold them," Ginny reminded as she walked in. "What's wrong now?" she asked when she saw George's face.

"Xander's still in London. He's having a slight breakdown," Willow told her. She looked at George. "Believe it or not, he's never had one before. We were all really shocked when he didn't have one after every apocalypse. The rest of us did and we leaned on him."

"And now he's doing his alone," George pointed out. "He should come back."

Willow shook her head. "Nope. That would show a weakness."

"I've seen him poisoned and so sick he might've died!" George said hotly. "There's not much more I can see."

"You've never seen him cry," Willow said quietly. "None of us have. None of us probably ever will. He's like that."

"I've seen him cry," George told her. "He still has nightmares."

"And this is a living one for him," she pointed out, poking him on the chest. "Give him a few days before you worry. It's not like he's going to run away from you and go find someone else."

"No, but he might not want to come back," Ron explained. "They've always been able to lean on each other."

"And this time, the nightmares nearly came true. Too true for him to face. I'm betting he's either with the gryphons, waiting for instructions, or out flying somewhere to try and work through it. He will come back, he always did before."

"Patience isn't always a strong suit," Ron told her. "Especially not in a tight and close family like ours."

"Then send Draco after him," she sighed, rolling her eyes. "Or Percy. But right now, he can't look at you knowing that it's his heritage and his lineage that nearly got you stuck in a little white cell with no connection to anything, not even your body, and tortured by assholes who hate you because of what you are. That's his nightmare, that he brought all this on."

"Which is silly," Ginny told her. She looked at her brothers, who looked thoughtful. "Though probably very male." Willow nodded, grimacing. "Okay, want to help bathe them?"

"I already did that," Ron put in. "Come hold a bottle. I've got to use the loo." He let them feed his precious soul-weights and walked into the bathroom, shutting and locking the door behind him. Then he slid down it to rest against it. What Willow had said struck a chord in him somewhere. He could see what Xander was seeing and it was making him want to cry too. Maybe Percy or Draco would be the better person to go find him.

***

George opened Xander's room's window, letting in Murphy. Did he finally send him a message? He grabbed the bird before it could move. "Got something for me?" he asked hopefully. Murphy nipped him on the nose. "Thank you for the kiss, was that from your daddy?"

Murphy looked into his eyes and released the message to him. "George, I love you, but I need some space, some time to think. I'll be back in a month, but I've got to work through this. I've sent a separate message to McGonagall, and I hope she understands." He smiled wanly. Xander looked so tired, so worn out. "I love you and I'll be back soon. Tell Ron the same and pat the babies for me. I do love you, but I just can't...." The message broke off.

"That's it?" Muprhy phoenix-kissed him again. "I see." He let the bird go. "Thank you, Murphy. I appreciate you going to find him for me." The bird nuzzled him. "Why can't he come and let me share this?" he asked the bird. Murphy made a good listening post. He never talked back or offered bad advice. "I know what he feels and it's getting hard not to blame him because he's not here to help me through this." Murphy cooed. "I know, I know, he needs to work it out for himself, but I could use the comfort too." He laid down on the couch and pulled the throw down to cover himself with. "And we still can't find Buffy or the last little one."

Murphy sang quietly, putting his other daddy to sleep. Once he was sure he was out, he flew off. His daddy needed cuddles and if he couldn't give them to his mate, then his child was the next best thing. But not the wild one, it wouldn't do.

***

Arthur and Molly both looked up at the pecking on the window, Molly getting up to let the phoenix in. "Fawkes," she said, shocked. Dumbledore's bird was here? Why? "Did he send you?"

Fawkes cooed up at her and nudged her gently. Then she cooed at Arthur and flapped a bit. The pouch around her neck jingled. Arthur carefully reached down into it, pulling out a small ring of keys. "What're these?" he asked her. She nudged the keys, then looked at the mantle.

Molly saw which picture she was looking at. A wedding picture of Xander and George. "Did Xander send those?" she asked. Fawkes let out a gross sound. "Did someone send them for Xander?" Fawkes cooed again. "He's not here, dear one. He's hiding to deal with his hurts himself this time." Fawkes seemed to glare. "What?" she asked, backing away. "We don't even know where he is."

Fawkes ruffled her feathers and sat down on the table, 'talking' to them, telling them that they couldn't leave him alone, not now. Her mate had told her how bad of shape his human was in and he needed his family. Why weren't they going? She shrieked at Arthur.

"Dear one, he told us he wants to be alone," Arthur explained. He looked at his wife. "I wish Glinda were here, she'd be able to interpret. Fawkes, as much as we love Xander and want him back, he told us to leave him alone for a bit. He needs his space to think for now. We can't impinge on that, he has the right to be alone."

Fawkes sighed and all but rolled her eyes. Humans! Didn't they know that was the *wrong* thing to give in to? Giving in to his chocolate habit was bad, this was worse, much worse! The human of her mate shouldn't be alone. He really shouldn't. She hopped up and flew off, going to find someone who understood. Maybe his mate. No, he was stuck in his own problems. But the human needed help. Maybe her human knew what to do. He was smart and knew quite a lot about the boy. She flew home to the small cottage her human now lived in. She landed on his chest and stared down at him until he woke up. Then she told him all about it.

He patted her. "I know you're worried, but I don't know why," he croaked, his throat dry from sleep. An image flashed across his mind. "Oh, him." Dumbledore sat up carefully so he wouldn't hurt his friend. "Yes, I was going to look him up today and suggest he go see his friend in Germany." Fawkes squawked angrily. "No?" She glared at him. "But his mate needs something that Xander can't give yet and Xander needs support from someone who's not affected. That's why I suggested his friend." Fawkes shook her feathers angrily. "Fine, then I'll tell George where he is." He looked at the clock. "After a spot of breakfast I think." She allowed him to get out of bed and start his day the usual way. Humans did funny things with their featherless wings. Pushups, what a waste of time.

***

Percy tapped on the small flat's door, then used the key that had been sent to him. He walked in and his nose wrinkled from the smell. Six weeks had made something die? "Xander?" he called softly.

"Go away," Xander called from the darkness.

"I can't do that." Percy flipped on a light and Xander yelled, covering his eyes. "I'm sorry." He shut the door and purposefully stepped on a bug as he walked over to his friend's side. Xander looked horrible. Unshaven, dirty, nearly naked. He even smelled bad. "Come along, a shower will do you good."

"Not yet," Xander told him. "Not ready yet."

"Well, tough," Percy told him firmly. "It's time you came out of this funk, whatever it's about. Ron needs your help and so does George. You can't hide here any longer." He pulled the younger man up and drug him into the bathroom, preparing the shower for him. He turned and found Xander leaning against a wall staring into space again. "Oh, do snap out of it," he snapped. "Not even I got to do that and my mate died!"

"I nearly got you all killed," Xander said quietly.

"Is that what this is about? Stuff and nonsense. You no more nearly got us killed than Ron did."

"Buffy?"

Percy grimaced. "Still missing, as is the baby." Xander slumped a little more. "That had nothing to do with you."

"The Watcher's Council did all this," Xander said, looking at him. "Everything, all because they're bigots. They put forward the idea that we're just animals who need firmer leashes. They developed the plan to take over and cage us all up. They even induced Buffy's labor. She wasn't due for another two weeks. All because they couldn't see past the ends of their stupid human noses."

"Excuse me, but I have one of those too," Percy pointed out, turning the showerhead on. "Strip."

"No thanks." Xander climbed into the shower, letting the warm water wash away all the grime. Suddenly he collapsed, sitting down and crying. "I nearly killed them," he sobbed.

Percy turned off the water and sat on the side of the tub, holding Xander against his legs. "Shh, they survived because you fought. You've fought for all of us and we're waiting for you to come back. Even mum is waiting for you to come back and she doesn't understand a bit of this." Xander shook his head. "Yes, you will come back. McGonagall said either you appear tomorrow for your class or you're fired." Xander sniffled. "And you still haven't seen the twins."

"I don't want to get them hurt too."

Percy slapped him hard. "Do stop that now, thank you. Stand back up, let's get back to the cleaning process." He forced Xander to stand up and turned back on the water, then went to get a pair of scissors to cut those boxer shorts off him. They appeared to have grown onto his skin. It was hard work, but by dinner time Xander was clean, presentable, and still lingering in the well of hell he had created for himself. He looked around the very nasty apartment and decided that only one thing needed to be saved, a picture of George and Iggy that Xander had almost rubbed bare. As he grabbed Xander around the waist, the other man tried to let go. "Be still!" he ordered. "It's hard enough to bring you back to mum's as is."

"I can't, they'll come for you!" Xander got away and went to sit in a corner. "They'll come after you and they won't stop there."

"Xander, no one's coming after us. Trust me, that whole mess ended with a lot of arrests five weeks ago." He pulled the other man back to his feet. "Now come along or I'm going to have to get stern with you." Someone knocked on the door and Percy went to answer it, moving aside for the man standing there. "Headmaster," he said respectfully. "Please excuse this sorry excuse for an apartment, Xander's not quite himself."

"I know, that's why I'm here." He helped Xander to his feet and gave him a smile, which made the younger man hug him. "I know, Xander, I know, but they're not in danger. You solved it." Xander shook his head. "Why not?"

"Because the Council is still coming." Xander looked at him. "I know they are." Dumbledore nodded. "You knew?"

"That's why I'm here. I need you to defend those twin little girls from them. Ron is a father, with a father's rage and protective instincts. You know what that feels like and can counter your own. You're going to have to fight them by yourself this time I'm afraid." Xander nodded, straightening up. "Are you ready to go back now?" Dumbledore held a hand out for Percy to take. "Come along. I find this gryphon teleportation to be quite fun." He smiled as they disappeared. As soon as they landed, someone screamed. "Oh, do behave," he called lightly. He looked over as McGonagall hurried down the hallway. "It's just us," he told her, smiling at her. He turned over Xander. "He's still a bit shaky but he understands that he has a duty to perform for now." She frowned at him. "There's still danger," he reminded her gently. He patted Xander on the back. "Go put him to bed, or into his nest, whichever he wants. He'll need sleep and food soon." He watched as the young Professor was walked away. "Ah, Severus. You get the unenviable task yet again. Are George and Ron about?" Snape nodded his head slowly. "Good. Excellent even. They can't come near him. He still hasn't gotten past the point of thinking that he nearly got them all killed." Snape rolled his eyes. "I know, but that is how he works. He's a protector and he almost didn't manage it this time. In fact, he knows he brought more attention onto their heads and that attention possibly could have led to them being in those little cells." He smiled. "He needs some strength to lean on, but those two are too wrapped up in their own problems to deal with his too right now. Please, give them my sincere wishes of good health and well wishes. You also might prepare a sleeping draught for the boy tonight, he's probably going to need it. I doubt he's slept the whole time he's been gone." He looked around. "Where is that boy? I asked him to meet me tonight."

"He's in the Great Hall, having dinner," Snape told him. The sound of footsteps belied his words. "Or not."

Iggy ran up and hugged Dumbledore. "Headmaster," he said happily. "Is my father back?"

"Yes, Ignatius, he is, but he's still not better yet. He's still seeing you in that little cell and hoping that it's a nightmare."

"Can I help fix it?" Percy asked.

Dumbledore shook his head. "No, this will have to be a gradual fixing. He'll have to *see* that everyone's fine and that they still want him around." Percy looked stunned. "You didn't realize that was one of his greatest fears?"

McGonagall rejoined the group. "How long will he be like this?"

"Give him until Wednesday to realize that he's home again and he should offer to teach by Thursday. He will be fine, eventually, though he will probably have nightmares about this too."

"He has nightmares?" Snape asked.

"Oh, yes, about almost every fight he's ever been in. You see, he was the one without a reason to fight, yet he did. There were quite a few times when he shouldn't have, but had to. This is one of those times. There should have been more people fighting."

"The gryphons wanted to try diplomacy first, but he went ahead with his plans," McGonagall said with a sour expression as she came back. "They're not even talking to Ginny Weasley right now."

"They've talked to me. He's not in trouble with them, but he's not in the best of positions right now either. They're quite displeased with him at the moment. Though, all three elders did say that they understood; if they had been younger, they might have done the same thing. They know this will cause more problems in the long run, but will end up with a firmer solution hopefully."

"Activism is for the young," Ron agreed as he joined them. "Is Xander back?"

"Sleeping on his bed," McGonagall told him. She kept him from moving. "You may not go bother him. He's still rather upset with himself."

"Yay. He has to see the kids."

"He will in a few days, when he's less likely to flinch away from them or scream at you to leave him alone," Dumbledore advised. Ron stared at him. "He's scared, Ron. He nearly got you all targeted and possibly killed. Above that, he had to leave all his support and deal with this because he *couldn't* put it onto George's shoulders, not on top of what you were already going through."

"They're coming, aren't they?" Ron asked. Dumbledore nodded. "Then I'll stomp them myself!"

"No!" McGonagall said. "You will protect those two little angels and let the rest of us fight this time."

"No, you'll protect them and let *Xander* fight this time. It's important that he do so." Ron mumbled something but he nodded. "Thank you. I know it's hard."

George jogged in the front door. "He's back?"

"And we can't see him," Ron told him.

"Bullshit!"

"Weasley," McGonagall warned.

"I am an adult," George reminded her. "And he's my husband."

"Who's having a pity party because he thinks he nearly got you all killed," Percy told him. "Plus he's thinking that we won't want him back because of it."

"Bullshit," George repeated. He broke free of the restraining hand and went down to their room. He tapped gently before walking in, just in case Xander was truly sleeping.

"What?" Xander asked from the dark bedroom.

"Thought I'd come see you since you're finally back."

"Am I?"

"Well, you're here, corporeal, and living, I'd settle for that right now." He walked closer and could almost see him in the darkened room. "Love, did you want to talk?" he asked as he sat on the side of the bed.

"You hate me."

"I don't hate you. Sometimes I hate some of your quirks but I sincerely don't hate you." He reached down and brushed a longish hair out of his husband's face. "I know why you're worried." Xander gave a disdainful snort. "I had to have it explained to me, but I do understand. I can't imagine you or Iggy in there."

"But ... but I caused them to come here."

"No, you didn't. Melvin did and he's been feeling just as guilty as you do now. Simone kicked him in the ass the other day so he would stop moping. Their first game is in a week."

"I'd like to see that," Xander admitted quietly. "I can't look at you."

"I know. Every time you do, you see the nightmares, right?" Xander nodded, shifting closer. "If you remember, you went through that same thing after you and Harry got Voldemort. You couldn't look at Ron or Harry for days."

"Yeah, but they fought because they had to, not because I put them into danger."

George smacked him gently on the chest. "I'm not in any more danger than usual, thank you."

"See." Xander rolled onto his other side. "I love you, George, but I still need time."

"If I walk out now, I'm not coming back until after the game," George warned. If this is what he wanted, he would deal with it. Gwen and Minnie made excellent comfort snuggles when he needed one.

"I might be okay by then," Xander said, sounding at least somewhat hopeful. He would have to start teaching tomorrow, get back to normal things, and then maybe he could face his husband and look at him. "Can...can you tell Ron not to bring the kids around?"

"No, if you want him told, you tell him that. I'm not encouraging this depressing thought loop." George stood up. "I'll see you at the game next week." He leaned down and kissed Xander on the head, like he would their son. "I'll talk to Iggy if you want," he offered.

"No thanks. I have to see him in class anyway."

"Why? He's not in any of yours."

"Yeah, he is. He has a free period when I'm teaching the advanced class and he comes in every week so we can spend some time together."

"Ah. Then I'll expect him to tell me what's going on."

Xander sat up. "George, I'm not trying to be cruel...."

"I know, but I also know you're not going to snap out of this if I coddle you." No matter how much he wanted to grab Xander and hold him until he let it all go, he couldn't because it wouldn't help Xander deal with the guilt. He would have to work through this for himself. No matter how much it irked everyone else. "I'll see you next week. Send something down if you want to talk before then and I'll come up that night." He saw Xander nod and did what he had to do, he left him alone. He found Ron in the hallway with the twins. "Do you remember when he couldn't look at you after *that* fight?" Ron nodded, frowning. "He's stuck back in that thought loop."

"Bugger," Ron complained. "I wanted him to at least see them."

"He might yell."

"Yay." Ron knocked on the door, with a little help, and it was opened from the inside. "Hi," he said, stepping inside. "We need to talk about these two buggers." He put them down on the couch and pulled his wand to light the room. "This is Gwen and that's Minnie," he said, pointing at each one. "And their sister's still missing."

"Percy told me," Xander said tiredly as he sat in his favorite chair. "Ron, can't I be left alone?"

"In a minute," Ron told him. "I need help too you know." Xander gave him a hurt look. "She's still missing."

"I heard. I can't fix that either."

"I'm not asking you to, but I thought maybe you might have some idea since you know what's going on."

Xander shrugged. "Someone in the Council took her I guess. With that prophecy, I'm just hoping for them to be alive." Ron turned pale. "I'm sorry. That was callus and mean. I.. I just can't think straight right now."

"Obviously," Ron said, gathering up his girls. "Whenever you're ready to come and be a real part of the family, come see us. We're up in our new rooms next to Gryffindor." He paused to look at his mentor. "All of us have problems, Xander, yours aren't special this time."

Xander stood up. "I nearly got you all killed, them included. How does that make you feel, Ron, huh?"

"Like you need a swift kick in the arse to engage your brain," Ron countered. Gwen burst out in tears. "I'm sorry," he said, jiggling her. "Shh, I'm sorry, I won't yell at your uncle."

Xander put a hand on her head, then one on Minnie's. He felt something funny from them. "They took the wrong one," he pronounced. Ron's mouth fell open. "If they were trying to prevent the slayer's child, who is a slayer, from growing up, it's Minnie." He shrugged. "Sorry, Ron."

"I'm not losing her too."

"Then you should probably stay away from me for a while because everything bad in the universe is attracted to me at some point or another," Xander told him. "It's nearly a universal law now, everything bad happens somewhere around me."

Ron shook his head. "Pity doesn't look good on you, mate. Get over it soon, huh." He walked out, leaving Xander alone.

Xander walked into his bathroom, thinking about taking a long, hot bath. He liked this clean feeling. The thing was, his shower worked but the nozzle for the tub didn't. "It's not like I can drown myself," he called. "I'm a water baby, I think best in it." The spout started to work and miraculously so did the drain plug. He'd talk to McGonagall tomorrow. He didn't have a class until third period so he might even get some sleep. A small bottle appeared next to him on the table he had put in there. "Gee, sleeping potion?" he suggested dryly. "Reading minds now?"

"Not quite," McGonagall said from the doorway. He eeped and covered himself with a towel. "I'm sorry to intrude, but I heard something about your tub not working?" She looked at the running water.

"Yeah, and then I said something about not drowning because I liked the water and it started working again. Then I thought about sleeping and my recent lack of it, and that pretty bottle appeared."

"Hmm, Albus must teach me that trick too," she said, giving him a fond smile. "Are you thinking about restarting tomorrow?"

"If I can. I won't get anything accomplished by sitting around and thinking."

She nodded. "I find much the same. At least while you work, your mind is thinking in the background." She used her wand to call a chair in, putting it a discrete distance away so he could relax. "I don't want you to teach your advanced class. I'll warn Lupin and Black that you're mentally unstable." Xander sighed. "Your lack of concentration will only get someone hurt, likely you, and you've had more than enough time off to last for the next three years."

"Gee, and I tried so hard to come back too," Xander said sourly. "After all, destroying my family is just such fun," he finished on a bitter note.

"You haven't destroyed them yet. You protected them the best you could." She gave him another small smile. "If I were you, I'd be worried about Mr. Malfoy. He seems to have turned quite...manipulative. I've even had him in my office over the last few weeks."

"Why?" Xander asked quietly.

"The first time to get you an extension on your leave. The second to ask my opinion about what's going on right now in the Ministry. The last time was yesterday and I called him to see how he was getting along with his plans to make everything go smoothly for a bit. Said he was tired of the upheaval and could we all please settle down and let him live in peace and contentment with his daughters."

Xander shook his head as he sunk lower. "He needs to watch them, not me."

"A lot of your family seem to think that you need watched. That maybe you're going a bit unstable. There was even talk about checking you into a hospital and seeing if that would help. From what I gather Percy was saying, you were in dreadful shape and it might have helped."

"I doubt it. I nearly had it all worked out."

"Xander, life hardly ever gives you time to stop and ponder the injustices it's dealt you. If you're getting that much time, something's about to happen." She stood up. "I'll expect you down for breakfast."

"You can stay if you want," Xander offered.

"No, I must go stop the Slytherins from sneaking out again. Professor Rosenberg's son has been dreadful recently about getting those children into trouble. Even Severus has quite had enough." She reached over so she could tilt his chin up. "I know you're upset, but it won't help to brood about it, young man. Brooding never solved anything. Action solves things. Apologizing to Ron might solve a few things too, but this thinking isn't doing anyone any good." She let his chin go. "You rest and I'll expect you bright and early tomorrow."

"I don't have class until third."

"Yes, but you've been gone for the last six weeks and I'm sure you'll need to catch up with what your students, and Harry, have been teaching them." Xander looked confused. "I asked Mr. Potter to stand in for you until you got back. If you had been much longer, I would have given him the job permanently." She gave him a stern look. "Next time, come back here so we can at least check on you, Xander. It was most inconsiderate to run like that." She left him alone.

Xander relaxed into the warm water and thought some more. He had nearly gotten out of it when he had been interrupted. If he could just hit that spot again, maybe it would be over soon.

***

Xander's appearance at breakfast stopped all the conversation in the great hall. He ignored the silence as he took his expected seat and poured himself some juice. Everyone continued to stare at him. "What?" he asked finally. A few of the Gryffindors clapped. "Thanks." He picked up a piece of toast to nibble on and found his plate filled. "Not that hungry," he muttered as the usual morning noise restarted.

Ron shifted, taking Tara's seat. "Tough, you need it. Eat it or I'm telling mum."

"She's going to be mad at me again."

Ron cuffed him on the back of the head. "Stop it now or I'm siccing Draco on you," he quietly threatened. "He offered to take care of you if you needed further time away. Just so you wouldn't end up like you were when Percy found you." He tapped the back of Xander's hand. "Eat. Or no cuddling the darling little creatures from hell who won't let me sleep." Xander took a small bite then glared at him. "Not good enough, mate, I've seen worse." He grinned. "Besides, Draco should be in any minute now. He's quite worried about you. If you don't at least look more normal he's going to be doing this himself." The door behind them opened and Tara walked in, and headed for Ron's seat with a smile. "See, everyone around here knows that you need space, but we're only going to humor you for so long."

Xander nodded. "I had almost beaten it when Percy got there," he admitted.

"Good on you, now forget about it." Xander shook his head. "Trust me, it's not going to happen. Iggy would have teleported away with George even if he had to drag him. They wouldn't have gotten any of us without killing us." Xander dropped his fork. "Sorry."

"S'okay, I've been ignoring that thought. I guess I taught you too well, huh."

"No, we're a lot alike. We worry about the same things. We have similar nightmares. And we wonder if something we do will come back and eat the family. Only you've had more experience with that. So straighten up before you give me a bad image of my future."

Xander gave him a weak smile. "Yeah, Ron, I'll straighten up soon."

"Good." He stood up, then blinked when Harry and Draco walked in together. "They're dating now?" he joked.

"Who knows," Xander said, wiping his mouth. He hadn't eaten much, but it was plenty. "Boys," he said.

Harry gave him a hug. "Thank Merlin you're back. Your kids are scary." He sat down on the other side of Xander but Draco moved him. "Sorry."

"That's all right." Draco sat next to Xander. "I hope you're eating more than that," he said in his best 'commanding the minions' tone. "You'll need your strength to straighten out the mess Potter has left for you."

"Just because I couldn't read his handwriting," Harry started, then he sighed. "Xander, the water demons need to be talked about again. There were fresh-water and salt-water ones, right?" Xander nodded. "Good. The kids kept interrupting me and translating your handwriting. It really is dreadful."

Xander shrugged. "Sorry."

Draco glared at him, making Xander flinch. "Say that word again and I'm going to remove it from your vocabulary. You have nothing to be sorry for. Potter needs new glasses. I read most of it quite easily." He spread his napkin onto his lap and reached for the juice pitcher, which Ron moved for him. "Thank you." He looked at Xander again once he had a glass of juice. "Now then, do I have to reserve a room for you at my house? I can do so if you need the solitude for a few more days. I'm sure we can muddle through this without you."

"No, it's okay. I'm good enough," Xander told him, giving him the same sort of smile he had given Ron. Draco gave him an appraising look. "I even got to sleep last night."

"Sleeping potion?" Harry asked. Xander nodded. "I mix a mean one of those." He smiled. "Really, we can listen if you want, as can your husband. Who by the way can throw awesome fits when he's worried about you. Nearly made Ginny cry."

"Which meant I would have to hurt him, but he stopped before it became critical," Draco finished. He took the bowl of eggs Ron was holding out. "Thank you. And the bacon if you please." That was handed over too. "Eat," he commanded. Xander picked back up his fork and took another bite. "Continue that action, it pleases me."

"Eww," Ron muttered. Harry looked over at him. "I just got a flash of him saying that to my sister." He put down his fork and wiped his mouth. "I think I'm not hungry."

Draco snorted. "I'd never say that to her, she has an instinctual knowledge of what pleases me." He smiled at Xander. "They did put up a plaque to me in my house, right above my favorite chair. Future generations of Slytherins will be influenced by my good habits."

"I wouldn't call that a good thing," Xander told him, trying not to smile. Draco got a slut's award? Well, he probably deserved it, but to encourage that behavior in others? "Aren't you glad your kids aren't in there now?"

Draco nodded. "Quite. Eat, Xander." Xander took another bite. "I'm sure we'll be seeing you this afternoon in your advanced classroom."

"McGonagall told me not to teach that one. She thinks I'll get hurt."

"You might," Harry agreed. "There's one very fast young lady in there. Quite the draw as it happens."

"Beat me," Ron agreed. "Beat Draco two out of three times."

"And she's mouthy," Xander added. "Yeah, I know. I'm going to bring her down a notch yet." He looked at the young Ravenclaw and smiled at her. Her eyes went wide and she ducked her head. "Oh, crap."

"What?" Draco asked, looking around the students. "Something happen?"

"She's doing it to impress me," Xander muttered. He put down his fork and stood up. "Meet me in the regular classroom whenever you're done. I'm going to go look over the grade book."

"I was supposed to give a test?" Harry asked, looking pained. "I can barely read the essays I assigned."

Xander snickered. "I know. It takes a translation spell sometimes. Meet me down there when you're done." He headed out the back door so he wouldn't have to walk past the students.

The three former students looked at each other. Close, but he was a bad liar. Draco nodded, he would handle this one. After all, Xander was his 'father'.

***

Draco strolled into Xander's classroom, he and Harry had switched off for the day. He closed the door as quietly as he could. "It must be gratifying to know that it took two of us to replace you." Xander looked over at him, then dropped his pen. "Technically, I was here for this when Ron's problem happened. Now we're switching off." He pulled a chair over and sat down. "Talk to me, Xander. I will understand."

Xander shook his head. "I've almost got it beaten."

"Of course you do, that's why your husband's living in town, your son didn't run up and hug you this morning, and you look like hell." Xander shrugged. "Some of us have been there also. After all, anything bad that's happened, like oh say, death eaters appearing on Molly's doorstep, can be attributed back to me." Xander opened his mouth. "Arthur wasn't a big enough cog to interest the Dark Lord, I heard my father ask about taking him out once. He wasn't a big enough annoyance, even with adopting Harry Potter." He smiled wryly. "And then my dearly departed father shows up mysteriously on their doorstep. I know very well why he was there."

Xander slumped. "I'm going to end up getting everyone killed. There's still plenty of people out there that want to see me dead, and not only because I'm fighting for this. I got an anonymous letter last...the month before the trial about that problem with Asdar." Draco nodded, he could understand that. "This is just going to add to it."

"Possibly. There's other reasons to hate you lot though," he said with a fond smile. "The least of which being that the family breeds fast and most wizards and witches aren't having children these days. I overheard a conversation two weeks ago wondering if the Weasleys were going to stage a coup. They didn't sound very happy about the prospect either."

"Well, Arthur is in line from what I hear."

"He's turned down the post. Said the only one of them who really wants the job is Percy, and with the way things are going that he'll get it in a few years." Xander's face fell. "Not because of you. Haven't you been reading the paper?" Xander shook his head. "Ah. Then you don't know. Half of the aurors were charged in the incidences you were fighting against and from a sweep later that night to take more of you out. That was followed by half of the Under-Ministers quitting because they knew they were going to get fired by the next Minister of Magic for supporting that woman. Percy's now an Under-Minister himself, over the historians still I believe. There's also a new department opening up, one to look at the realities of modern life so they can try to bring the wizarding world into a comparable state. The new Minister said that we're still stuck back in the eighteen hundreds and we're falling farther behind the muggles every day. He would like to see someone take some of the technology and make it work for us."

"Computers for every wizard," Xander said dryly. "Wonderful. They can join the Wiccans hiding on the internet in shadowy corners."

Draco laughed. "Truly, but it may be for the best. That's what he wants to find out. This new department took half of Arthur's and turned them into a fact-finding group. So Arthur showed up to tout the beauty of working for the real Ministry the other day to the seventh years."

"I knew we'd get a career fair going," Xander said, just a little more happy with the general world. "What else happened?"

"Only the fact that the new Minister is insane. He had everyone interviewed by the some of the secret people in the Mysteries department. They found three more hidden death eaters. And a woman who got kicked out because she was pregnant and unmarried. She sued and is back in her job, but on suspension pending the matter." Xander nodded. That sounded like the Ministry. "The new Minister was the one who rehired her. Said it's not the scandal it was a hundred years ago and many witches are going it alone these days because a good wizard is hard to find. He's single by the way so he's been seen with any number of unmarried higher ups. It's quite like one of those horrible movies you watch. The ending should either be explosive or should be happy, but I'm not sure which yet."

"They should get Dumbledore in as Minister," Xander said lightly.

"I think it was suggested, but he might be too controversial. There are a few Ministers who are still pissed about his war with Fudge."

"Ah, I remember him unfondly," Xander sighed. He picked up his pen again. "Do you think I'm wrong for not wanting to talk to George and Ron?"

"No, I think you're scared." Xander shook his head. "I think that somewhere in your head is a little voice screaming 'if you talk to them the bad things will come'." Xander shook his head again. "Then what is it?"

"I..." He shrugged. "I can't put it into words, but I still have a fight left."

"And that makes them even bigger targets and gee, that'll mean that the bad things are coming," Draco said in a direct imitation of Xander. It got a smile. "I know that George hates it when you fight, but he also understands."

"But I think this one's going to be bad," Xander said quietly. "Really bad."

"Then that's even more reason to make up with him, so that you won't die with that hanging over you. Then you'd have to haunt him and beg for forgiveness every day for eternity." He grimaced. "Which is not a pleasant thought." He stood up. "Fix this, Xander, before I have to pull out my newly rediscovered forceful charm and use it on you." He put the chair back. "Now then, am I teaching your advanced class this afternoon so Harry can teach Ron's class and he can nap?"

"If you want." Xander looked at him. "The twins are fussy?"

"I have a feeling that they know their sister is missing and they're not happy about it. They hardly ever sleep and Ron's about ready to go off on them." He smiled. "I gave him the pacifier that worked so well on Denver, but it hasn't worked yet at all."

"Maybe they've got colic. Iggy got that for months on end and he never slept, always crying."

"I remember," Draco said dryly. He had done some babysitting during that time. "This time, I think it's them missing their sister. Whenever they're in his arms they stop. He's had to sleep with them in the bed with him."

"He can borrow the nest, at least while I'm in class," Xander offered hesitantly.

"Good. I'll tell him. It is a more natural design for that." He clapped Xander on the back. "See, it's not so hard to get back to normal. Keep working on that attitude and pretty soon you'll even be making bad jokes again." He winked and left the classroom, leaving the door open.

Xander relaxed now that he was alone. Was the son right? Was he scared that as soon as he saw George something would attack? He shook his head. It couldn't be that easy. He picked up his pen and went back to grading. These essays were a mess. He'd have to put his foot down.

***

Xander stared up at his ceiling. Three days back and he was doing better. His talks with Draco had made him see how bad it was to watch him be destroyed by guilt. So he was getting better. He had even smiled at his students today. But for some reason, he couldn't sleep. He had felt tired when he had climbed into bed. And now nothing. Staring up at the ceiling wasn't helping him any. He had tests to grade. He started to get up but a bright light went off in his head. Shit, he hated those. He had only had three of them before, and he learned to listen to them. It had kept his head on his shoulders the other two times. He slipped on some pants and a t-shirt, grabbed his wand, and left his room as quietly as he could. If the flash had been right, there was a small invasion force on the school grounds coming up to the entryway. This time though, he wouldn't be rebuilding it. He stepped into the entryway and found Mr. Filch standing there. "You saw them?"

"Hagrid sent word with one of the pups," he said grimly. "You gonna go fight 'em?"

"Yeah. I'm stopping them at the door. Go wake up McGonagall." He grinned lightly. "I promise not to destroy the entryway this time."

"Good enough," he said sourly as he walked away.

Xander walked to the heavy oak doors, mentally starting the spell he would use. It would incapacitate the majority of them, and possibly kill a few of them, but it was worth it. He could fight the rest off if he had to. He opened a door and stepped out onto the front stairs, and heard the door slam shut behind him. Someone wasn't taking any chances. "I know you're out here," he called. "You might as well come out because you're not going through me."

"Oh, a slayer's lapdog," a deep male voice said off to his right. Xander glanced at him, but he knew the guy wasn't getting through the door. He shielded it with a wave of his wand. "Pretty, but ineffectual against us."

"Not really," Xander said as the man ran into the barrier. "See, some magic is stronger than others." He hoped no one opened the door. "Now, go away. You're not getting the twins."

"Why not? We already have their mother."

Xander shrugged. "I'm not letting it happen. And you have a thick file on me that proves that I'm not going to let you into this school." More darkly clad figures came out of the bushes and up the pathway from the greenhouses. "If you guys fucked up the greenhouses, Madam Sprout will make whatever I do to you seem pleasant," he warned them.

"Witches are pitiful."

"Really?" Xander asked with his trademark smart-ass grin. "Would you like to say that to one of their faces? There's close to four hundred of them inside." The man backed away and down the stairs. "I'm the protector of this institution and of the children inside, all of them. You're not getting Buffy's daughters, and especially not that slayer." He raised his wand as guns were raised. "I'm faster."

"A bullet's faster than lips, boy, stand down," another man ordered.

"Pity," Xander said, finishing off the last of the spell. From the ground he pulled the blood of the earth, the equivalent of lightening from the sky. It came through the stones he was standing on, up through his legs, making him scream as it burned his flesh. Then it came out of his body, shooting all those around him until it rejoined the earth it came from, either through the grounds or through the castle walls. From the sky more lightening came down, trying to rejoin its twin, scorching the earth and hitting the castle around the burned man. Something in Xander called out to the lightening, and small fires started around him, surrounding him where he collapsed. The men in black, those who still lived, groaned in agony. Much like Xander would have been if he was conscious.

"Fuck!" Draco shouted as he flung the door open. He ran into the shield and fought against it. "IGGY!" The shield came down with a clap of air filling the void. Draco pulled his wand and started to clear off the fires, getting Xander free of it. "Iggy, your other father, now," he ordered. "Harry, Madam Pomfrey. Ron, keep the students back and get someone out here to clean up that filth." The door shut most of the way and he heard people running off to take care of everything. He knelt down, examining the burns. "What did you do?" he hissed. "You were getting better. Now you're sick again." He pulled Xander's wand from his hand as a small gout of flame came out of the tip. "No you don't. I'm not joining you in the hospital."

Xander took a deep breath and moaned. "Are they gone? Running?"

"I bloody well doubt it considering most of them are dead," Draco told him. "Lie still. You're burned."

"Called lightening."

"Obviously. I saw it come down."

Xander grabbed his hand. "Earth lightening." He winced as he tried to move his left leg. "I'm so screwed when George hears."

"That's putting it mildly," McGonagall said as she walked outside. She looked at the bodies, then down at him. "From now on, do less strong spells, Xander."

Xander raised a hand and weakly pointed. "Forest," he told her. "More." His arm fell back onto the steps. "Sorry. But not destroyed."

"No, you didn't destroy anything." She looked at the scorch mark on the flagstones. "Did you call from the earth or the sky?"

"Both," Draco told her. "He said earth but I saw lightening, regular lightening."

"That's fairly unusual." She looked around. "Did he have a shield or something up?" Draco nodded. "That's probably why, some sort of parabolic mirror or some such." She got out of Pomfrey's way. "Want me to call an ambulance while I get the aurors?"

"Yes," Madam Pomfrey told her. "This is beyond my skills." She smiled at Draco. "Are you going?"

"Unless his husband makes it up here before he goes," he agreed. In the school he could hear a lot of voices. "You might want to get the door," he suggested. "This will probably scar a bunch of the little kiddies."

McGonagall closed the door behind her as she went back inside. "To your houses!" she ordered. "The attack was stopped and we don't need gawkers." She headed immediately for the charm to call the hospital. Those burns had looked horrible.

Part 2

Xander woke up in a blindingly white room. "Am I dead?" he asked, wondering if anyone were around.

"Not yet, but I'm hoping I can restrain myself," George told him from the bedside chair. He leaned over, showing him as unshaven and unbathed for the last few days at least. "How do you feel? I'm asking so I know where to hit you."

Xander pointed at his legs. "I think I only ache down there and my right hip. If you hit me, would you please knock me back out? Or get me drugs?"

"Drugs we can't do. The doctor didn't order any. Said they were unnecessary." He shrugged. "We argued and nearly tossed him out a window, Ginny by the way, but the nurse stuck up for him so you're drug free and the family's not allowed back."

Xander moaned as he pulled himself into a sitting position. "Wonderful. What about a burn creme? They're exposed, I can feel them being rubbed against." George shrugged. "This sucks." He looked at his husband. "Are you going to yell?"

"Not unless you want me to be thrown out," George said dryly. He smiled. "I talked to Draco after he talked to you. Our son is a wonderful interpreter." He reached over and took Xander's hand to hold. "I do understand, idiot, and I figured out something."

"Really?" Xander concentrated on him instead of the burning in his legs that felt like the tissue was still being eaten. In the back of his mind a little voice popped up and wondered if he was awake. "Is this a dream?"

"Not unless you've figured out how to share them." George stood up and gave him a kiss. "Still think it's a dream?" he asked with a grin.

"No, no dream where you kiss me is this tame. Usually by now I'm bent over something." He started to smile but moved his legs. "Shit!" he groaned, putting a hand onto his knee. When he didn't feel what he normally felt he looked under the sheets. "Um, George, didn't I have a left knee?"

"You still do. It's under there somewhere." He watched as Xander moved the sheet, exposing the open sores. "Oh, eww." He turned away before he threw up. "That's it, I'm going to complain. Those should at least be covered."

"And can you tell them that I'm still burning?" he called after his husband. He settled himself back and fought to stay awake. He really hated hospitals. Home, he needed to be home. The nurse walked into his curtained off area. "Why aren't my burns covered?"

"Because they need exposed to the air," she said stiffly. "And no, you may not have anything for the pain."

Xander grabbed her and pulled her closer. "Cover them, because I've had burns before. Never this severe but even a first aid training class will tell you to cover them to keep them from getting infected." He let her go because his mate removed his hands. "And I'm leaving. Tonight."

"Xander, you can't walk," George pointed out.

"Yay. I'll heal better back at Hogwarts."

"Madam Pomfrey said she couldn't do much to help you," Draco said as he pushed open the curtains. "Eww," he said, turning green. "George, please, cover that." The sheet was flipped back down. "Thank you. What a revolting sight." He sat down in George's chair. "I bring news," he announced.

"Did you also bring aspirin, tylenol, or anything similar?" Xander asked.

"No, but I can procure that if you desire." He smiled brightly. "The Watchers still alive revolted and called in someone you know to head them and fix this mess." Xander nodded for him to go on impatiently. "Someone named Wesley?"

"Wes? He's heading them?" Xander asked. Draco nodded. "Wow. Haven't seen him since I came here to teach." He looked at his husband. "He was the booknerd that came with us when we first showed up, one of Angel's guys."

"I remember, we talked yesterday," George told him. He sat on the edge of the bed as the curtains opened again. "Honey, this is your doctor. Please aim lower this time."

Xander flipped back his sheet and pointed at his very sick looking burns. "Aren't they supposed to be covered?" he grunted. George was leaning against his hip. "Move or I'm lashing out," he hissed. George moved away from his burn and Xander sighed in relief. "Thank you."

"You're welcome. I forgot about that one." George watched the doctor, not the burns. "And I'm sure that he would still like something for the pain."

"He can't have any," the doctor said, flipping the sheet back down. "They look fine. We're waiting for the tissues to necrotize before doing anything."

Xander leaned up as far as he could without wincing in pain. "I will be leaving tonight. I don't care if I have to teleport myself out of here to get away from you quacks, I'm leaving. So talk to Madam Pomfrey at Hogwarts and I'll be going," he ground out.

"I'm afraid I can't allow that, Mr. Harris." He wrote something on the chart. "Nurse, continue the treatment."

Xander looked at George. "I want to go to a muggle hospital," he demanded. George nodded and stood up.

"I'm afraid we can't do that either. You're here until you heal." The doctor smiled at him. "Trust me, I've seen burns this bad before."

"Then where's the healing potion?" Xander asked. "Or the bandages, the burn creme, all that good stuff that usually comes with second degree burns or worse?"

"You've had second degree burns?" the doctor asked. Xander nodded. "Where?"

"The back of my arm when I was ten." Xander showed off the patch of scar tissue. "See, heals pretty when you do things like cover them."

The doctor shook his head. "I don't know why anyone would do that. The tissue would infect."

"Didn't do it at all," Xander said with a shrug as he pulled his sleeve back down. "Not an infection, not a problem, and only itching for five months."

"See, we can heal you faster."

"Not unless you're going to talk to Professor Snape and ask him nicely to make me a healing potion."

"We don't see the need for things like that here," the doctor told him, his chin tipping up slightly. "We're above the old methods."

"The newer methods have things like skin grafts and bandages," George pointed out. "I saw it a few years back when my father was visiting one of us in a muggle hospital." He stood up. "Now, I want my husband either transferred or given competent care, which I doubt you can do."

"Go you," Xander told him, giving him a smile. "Or better yet, go me. I want transferred to a muggle hospital. Tonight."

"You can't sign yourself out, you're in no shape to be going anywhere," the nurse chastised.

"Fuck you," Xander told her with a cruel smile. "I've killed people who put me into pain. You're next."

"Well, I never..."

"Obviously never been on this side of the health care equation," Xander yelled after as she stomped away. "Your choice. Hogwarts or a muggle hospital. Or I'm sending myself to one."

"You can't do that. Your wand is locked up until you're well enough to use it." He clasped the chart to his chest. "Really, your impertinence and impatience is only hindering your recovery, Mr. Harris."

Xander grinned coldly. "What makes you think I need my wand, you stupid git? I'm gryphon-born, we teleport."

"There are shields..."

"Which I can guarantee you won't hold me here for long," Xander finished for him. "Now, transfer me to Hogwarts or to a muggle hospital!"

"You'll be fine once you calm down," the doctor said, then he walked away, pulling the curtain back around.

Xander looked at his family. "I want out of here," he told them. "These quacks are going to die."

Draco nodded. "I'll get you some pain medication, Xander. You try and rest and let us arrange everything. Hopefully by tomorrow we'll have you back at Hogwarts." He nodded George outside. "What was that about?"

"The doctor decided he was playing with fire."

"But he wasn't."

"I know. McGonagall gave him a report of what happened and they're still treating it as he did it to himself on purpose."

"I doubt he'd have done anything like that to himself, even if Voldemort was coming back and he had to kill him again." Draco glanced around. "Pain killers and what?"

"Ask Tara, or Madam Pomfrey. They'll know." Draco nodded and apparated from right there. "Shields, yeah," George snorted, going back to finish his discussion with his husband. He found his husband with his face scrunched up. "Pain management?" he asked as he sat on Xander's burn-free hip.

"I can hear things through the thread thingy," Xander whispered. "Iggy's talking about me to Melvin. He's really pissed that he didn't get to beat anyone up for threatening his cousins."

"Hmm. We'll have to see if it lasts once you're out of pain."

"Visiting hours are over," the nurse announced. "You have to leave now."

"Over your dead body," George told her. "I'm not leaving my husband and not even a troop of aurors can make it happen."

"Guards," the nurse yelled. "He won't leave."

George thought hard about his son, telling him he wished he were here.

"You rang?" Iggy asked as he appeared, looking at Xander.

"You really can talk through that thing?" Iggy nodded. "Well, that's handy. Iggy, they want me to leave your father's side and your father just wants to leave. Would you sit with him for a few moments while I have a discussion with this disagreeable bitch?" His son nodded, grinning. "Thank you." He raised his wand and fired off one of the funnier spells he used at the store, making them feel like their rears were being pinched.

"Ooh, foggy bottoms," Xander said. "Fred won't be pleased."

"Then he can get his arse down here and help me pick on the poor, deluded souls who think I'm going to leave your side." He got a few more guards, this time with the full-body jelly leg curse. "Now then, does anyone else want to disagree with my staying with my husband?" He felt someone come up behind him but he wasn't fast enough. The needle entered his neck and he was knocked out.

The guard looked at the young man. "You too, out."

"This is my father and I will kill you over him. We're like that," Iggy told him. "If you don't believe me, call my grandfather. Arthur Weasley. Room 2286, main Ministry building." He crossed his arms. "And if you come near me, I'm taking you out too."

"You don't even have a wand," the guard sneered.

"Stupid idiot, I'm gryphon-born. Why would I need a wand?" Iggy said in derision. He looked the beefy guard over. "I'd leave now, before I get royally pissed and take you out of this continuum."

The guard slowly backed away. "Now, kid, you don't want to do anything dangerous like that. We're only trying to clear the ward of visitors."

"Yay, my father was good enough to stay until he demanded this father have decent care." He moved aside the sheets, starting a small part of the burn on Xander's leg bleeding. "Does this look like good care to you?" He tipped his head back. "Auntie Willow, come here!" She was watching while she gathered things together to come help. She appeared, smiling at him. "I'm about to lose my temper, can you please help my father since there's only incompetent people here?"

"Sure." She opened her bag and pulled out a large bottle of green goo. "Aloe gel, with lidocaine," she said happily. "Left over from Tara's beach trip this summer." She put down her bag and pulled out a set of surgical gloves. "Iggy, can you please stop that bleeding spot? This won't go well over wet, nasty stuff."

"Daddy, this is going to hurt," he warned, pulling out his wand. A small tip of fire appeared and he applied to the bleeding spot. Xander hissed and grabbed the bed rails. "Sorry, pops."

"That's okay. Willow, take care of George for me please," he asked, his voice rough with pain. He sighed as she slathered on the green goo. "Oh, thank God, it stopped burning." He gave her a real, warm, happy smile. "As a nurse, you're much better than the people here."

"Aunt Ginny didn't have this problem when she came here to have Nicolette," Iggy said, staring at the remaining guard. "Go ahead and get someone," he offered. "My father's leaving this place even if I have to take it apart brick by fucking brick."

"Language," Willow said warmly.

"Yay. They're trying to kill my parents, I'm allowed to swear in such circumstances."

"Okay, I can agree with that," Willow said, pulling out a roll of gauze. "You get to wrap while I slop."

The doctor came running. "What do you think you're doing? You can't do that, he'll die!"

Xander glared at him. "They're doing what *real* medical professionals do for burn cases," he said in the most patronizing voice he could pull. "Go find me your supervisor. Now." The doctor backed away, the wall had just started to smoke.

"Temper," Willow warned. "Burning down the hospital will only make you more enemies." She looked at his 'missing' knee, shifting his leg slightly to look at it in the light. "Wow, shattered kneecap. Good job, Xan! Calling that earth lightening really is painful, gotta remember that."

"That might have been the air lightening," Iggy offered. "Uncle Draco said that he saw some."

"He did that to himself," the doctor snorted. "I've seen hundreds of cases of people playing with fire with the exact same wounds."

"Really? Down into the muscle tissue and joints too?" Willow asked. "And what about people who were struck by lightening? Did you get the assholes that Xander fried to save Hogwarts in here too?" He glared at her. "Then go away before *I* do something you'll regret. Iggy, pick your father up off the floor and take him somewhere. I'll be fine, Tara's watching."

Iggy nodded and hefted his father to his feet. "Geez, dad, diet," he said as they disappeared.

"But...but no one can do that from here."

"Draco did it this morning," Xander told him. He looked at Willow. "Would you *please* beg Snape for a healing potion? Before this kills me or I lose a limb?"

She nodded. "I've heard him rummaging around in his storeroom recently. He might be making you one." She finished that leg and went to finish wrapping the other, getting it done quickly. "There we are." She sat down in the chair, giving him a smile. "So, Wes, one of us is in charge of the Watchers."

"Hopefully he'll take the whole 'magical creatures are demons' rule out of the books for good," Xander said bitterly. "Any news on Buffy or the missing baby?"

"Not a bit," she sighed. "Ron's starting to lose his optimism and Fred was helping him watch the little creatures of wailing." She looked over as another, older, man walked in. "Hi. Tell me something, do you usually torture patients when they're hit by lightening?"

"Young lady, I don't know who you think you are...."

"Professor Willow Rosenberg, Hogwarts, Alternative Magic track in the Defense program." She pointed at Xander. "That's Professor Xander Harris, Demonology and Magical Creatures, Alternative Magic track in the Defense program, and teacher of the Auror preparation class. Oh, Xander, you didn't get to hear. None of *your* specially trained aurors went bad." Xander grinned, but his face was still clouded by pain. "Now," she said, clasping her hands on her lap. "Why were his burns left uncovered to be irritated by the sheet and to start infecting and why was there no application of anything to stop the burns from spreading until I put some aloe gel on?"

"And why no pain meds?" Xander added. "Because right now, unless that needle in your pocket is drugs for me, I want transferred to a real hospital." He looked at Willow. "This isn't St. Mungos is it?" She shook her head. "Then where in the hell am I?"

"Specialty clinic. St. Mungos transferred you here."

"Yay, I want to go to a muggle hospital. Preferably now." He looked at the older man. "Arrange it, or I'm going to teleport myself to one."

"We don't teleport, young man, we apparate."

"Gryphon-borns teleport, it's a different thing," he said tiredly, but coldly. "Now, give me pain meds and treat me better, or transfer me somewhere else!"

"I'm afraid we can't do that. You were sent here because you're a danger to yourself or others." Willow and Xander both burst out laughing. "What's so funny?"

"I got this defending the school from the Watcher's Council yesterday."

"Two days ago," Willow corrected.

"Okay, two days ago. I intentionally called earth lightening to stop them, and because of a shield I had up behind me to stop anyone from getting past me, regular lightening was called too. That's what the burns are from."

"I see. How long have you been delusional, young man."

Xander lifted his hand and created a small ball of flame. "Not delusional. Pissed, homicidal because I'm in pain, but I haven't been delusional since my last head injury ten years ago."

"Eleven," Willow corrected.

"Really?" he asked, banishing the ball of fire. "Already?"

"It was at the end of our first year that you married George, and you had Iggy during our second, so yeah, eleven." She looked at the doctor, who was backing out of the space. "Now then, do as he says or we're just going to have to take him home and treat him at Hogwarts."

"Can we?" Xander asked. He hated hospitals almost as much as George did. Of course, his husband hated them because he had to visit him in there, but he still loathed them.

"Maybe." Willow watched as the doctor got out of the doorway. "I'd be prepared to move," she said quietly.

A guard lunged at Xander and he grabbed the arm with the needle, breaking the hand holding it. "Stupid of you," he said. He shoved him back, laughing when he fell over the other guy. "Willow, if they drug me, promise me you'll get me out of this hellhole."

"Deal," she agreed. She flicked her wand at the next guard, sending him flying across the ward and into a window. "Hey, bars," she said dryly. "Psych ward?"

"Maybe," Xander sighed. "I save people and get punished for it. Wonderful luck of mine, huh." He ducked as something came whizzing at him, then looked up at the needle. "Nice shot," he called. "Ineffective since you couldn't press the plunger."

The next thing that came flying was a tranquilizer dart. He didn't quite duck that one, it went into one of his burns, making him howl in pain. He missed seeing Willow grabbed and hoisted out. He also missed McGonagall coming to check on him and fighting for him. And he missed Snape trying to bring him a healing potion. He didn't miss the nurse scrubbing the aloe gel concoction off his leg, that woke him back up. He found himself tied to the bed. He howled and growled and fought, but they were well-made restraints. So he did the thing he least wanted to do in this condition, he teleported. It made him nauseous usually, this time he nearly passed out from it. He landed in the one place where he knew he could get help and get to a muggle hospital, the Leaky Cauldron. "Hey, Tom," he called weakly as he landed on a table top. "Can I have some pants and have you call me a muggle cab so I can go to a real hospital?" He passed out.

When he woke up again, he was dressed in a loose fitting pair of pants and the bartender was giving him a worried look. "You okay there, Xander?"

"Not really," he grunted as he sat up with some help. "I really need to hit a good hospital."

"Cab's comin'," he said with a grin. "Gonna go to a muggle one, huh?"

"St. Mungos, in their infinite wisdom, or due to a paperwork screw-up, sent me to some mental ward where they did neat things like not wrap my burns up and scrubbed them with a stiff brush because Willow brought me stuff to help heal the burns." He stood up, leaning on the older man. "And then, then they told me I had done this to myself on purpose. Trust me, if I had known this was the price of that spell, I would have called down regular lightening instead." He grimaced as he grabbed a chair to steady himself on. "Thanks, man. I owe you."

"Sure. I'll send a note on to Arthur about where you are." He watched as the young man hobbled, nearly crying, out to the front stoop. He hoped the cabs were fast tonight. He heard the screech of brakes and smiled. Typical London cabs.

Xander climbed into the back and flopped sideways. "Hospital," he told him.

"You sick?" the cabbie asked, turning around to look at him. He noticed the blood on Xander's leg. "You been shot, mate?"

"No, burned. I escaped from a very bad place." He passed out again. When he came to, he was in an emergency room, a muggle one because there were nice machines that went 'beep' and 'twing' and even 'whoosh'. "Wow," he said, turning his head to look at the woman beside him. "I'm Xander Harris, naturalized citizen," he said, holding out a hand.

"Welcome to the London Burn Center, Mr. Harris. I'm Dr. Carter. I'm the attending on tonight. Can you tell me how you got those?" Her voice had just the touch of lilt to it, making it seem soft and motherly.

"Hit by lightening," he said honestly. He had been. "Oh, and what's wrong with my knee? I can't seem to find my left one."

"I've noticed that. You're very lucent for not having pain medicine yet."

Xander snorted. "Pain medicine would make me worship you, Doc. The people who were taking care of me didn't wrap them, left them uncovered under the sheets, didn't give me pain meds, and when someone put some aloe gel on them for me to stop the burning that felt like it was still going on, they scrubbed it off with a hard brush."

"Oh, dear." She brushed the hair off his forehead. "All right. We're testing your blood now to make sure they didn't give you anything. Can you tell me about some of the scars I've seen on you?"

"Yeah, they're why I left America."

"Ah, thought you were from there. Been here a while though, right?" He nodded, starting to unfocus again. "Mr. Harris, please stay with me for just a bit longer. We need to get some information from you."

"Just make it quit hurting, please?" he begged.

"I will as soon as we get back the blood work we drew. It shouldn't be too much longer." She ran a hand over his forehead again, wiping off the sweat. "Why were you found in a bar?"

"Because I ran there to get away from the stupid people who had me." He swallowed. "Can I have some water?"

"Sure." She grabbed a small cup with a straw and held it so he could sip. "Do you know where this hospital is?" He shook his head. "You don't remember?"

"No. I'm like that in extreme pain."

"I see." She put the cup aside. "Mr. Harris, can the police come talk to you?"

"I'd rather they didn't. It's not my fault the lightening hit me." It wasn't, it wasn't supposed to hit him at all, just flow through him, not burn him on the way out. "And I don't know where they are. All I want is to get better and to have my husband. Can you do that?"

"We'll do our best," she promised. A woman in white and blue wearing a big hat rushed in and handed over some papers, starting to gather supplies. "Your blood work came back, and you were right. They didn't give you anything." The nurse clucked as she set up a second IV line. "How about some pain medicines now? What does your husband look like?"

"About my height, little smaller and about as stocky. Red hair. Name's George. But if a blond, just taller than I am, with a smart attitude comes in named Draco, he's my all-but-adopted son and can make decisions and visit too." She nodded. "Also, George's family, almost all redheads. They're allowed to make decisions for me too. They like me most of the time."

She smiled. "My in-laws feel about the same way," she assured him. "What's their last name, Xander?"

"Weasley."

"All right." She wrote something on his chart. "I'll pass that along to the operator. Do you have any children?"

"Yes, Iggy. He's ten, but really tall for his age. He's hitting puberty early." His tongue seemed to grow hair and double in size, then tripled that. "Wow," he slurred. "Good. Can't feel it."

"That's actually a good thing because we need to take off the bandages to look at you, Mr. Harris," the nurse told him, wiping off his forehead. "You may feel some tugging and a little pain. Please don't swat at us while we're working."

Xander gave her a goofy grin. "How did you know I used to fight?" he slurred even worse.

"It shows in your physical condition," the nurse told him, keeping him occupied. "What do you do for a living?"

"I teach mythology at a small private school."

"Was that place you escaped from affiliated? Part of a religious group maybe?"

Xander shook his head, tossing it from side to side. "A lot of the people who work there went to the school, that's all." He grinned at her. "You'd look good as a blonde."

She giggled. "I'm sure I would." She looked at the doctor, who was shaking her head. "How long ago did you do this, Xander?"

"Few days. They had me for two or three, I'm not sure which." He tried to sit up, but the nurse stopped him. "Hey, I want to see. I've seen them before. Oh, and I have a small one on my hip."

"I noticed," Dr. Carter told him. "Relax and let us work, Xander. It's all going to be okay now. We're professionals."

"Please don't tie me down. I promise I won't fight."

"Did they tie you down there?" the nurse asked. He nodded. "Why?"

"Because they were scrubbing off the nice green stuff that made the burning stop with a hard brush. Willow put it on for me with my son. Then the mean nurse tried to yell at them. So I tried to hurt her, and the doctors."

"Ah, I see. Then we won't tie you down." She started to move but he caught her hand.

"I have really bad nightmares," he confided. "Really graphic bloody ones that make me scream and thrash. Please don't let them tie me down."

"I won't. They'll knock you out if they have to do something painful." She gave him a smile and patted him on the hand. "Why don't you try to sleep now, Xander. It might make this go faster." He nodded and closed his eyes, starting to snore soon. "Poor man. He must have been horribly abused by someone to come running over here."

"I think his husband probably saved him," the doctor agreed. "Give me some scissors. Whoever wrapped these obviously knew what they were doing." A loud clang and clash came from outside and the doctor pulled back to see what was going on.

"Dad," Iggy said as he ran in, giving him a hug. "What's going on? What's wrong with him! Tell me or I'm going to hurt you!"

"Shh, son," the doctor soothed. "We're helping him. We gave him some medicine to knock him out so we can check on the burns and see how bad they are. Are you his son Iggy?" Iggy nodded, giving her a wary look. "He said you might be showing up. Is there an adult with you?"

Iggy ran a hand through his hair. "No, but I can get one. You promise he's not in pain?"

"No, dear, we gave him Demerol. He's not feeling a thing," the nurse assured him. "It's a morphine derivative." Iggy nodded. "But we do need to see your other father or some other adult that he said could make decisions. These burns are very bad and we might end up removing tissue." She walked around and led him out of the exam room. "Can you call them?"

"I can get to them faster than trying to call them," he assured her. He got free of her comforting arm and ran out of the door, going into the deepest, darkest shadow he could and teleporting back to the joke shop. "He's in London at a new hospital. They've given him drugs. The nurse was really nice and explained that they're examining him now." He swallowed. "They looked really upset about how bad it was. They need an adult who can make decisions. They said they might need to take some of the burnt stuff off."

"I'll go," Fred said, handing over the unconscious George to their father. It had taken Harry sneaking up on him to knock George out when they had found out Xander had left the hospital. "Show me where?"

"I can take you and you can do it however. I don't know how you guys do that stuff." He took his uncle's hand, but someone put a hand on his shoulder. "It's okay, Grandma."

"It most certainly is not. You might have been seen."

"It's midnight in the muggle realm, who's going to notice?" he said. "Besides which, muggle hospital. No floo."

"We can do this, mum," Fred assured her. "Send George whenever he wakes up." He nodded at Iggy and closed his eyes. The one time Xander had done this with him he had barfed. This time was only a little bit better and they were outside so there were bushes handy. "I hate that feeling. How did you come here?" he asked as he wiped off his mouth.

"I tracked dad through the flood. He can hear thoughts through it now sometimes. To get back to this spot, I put a magical thumbtack and can find it now until I remove it."

"Good job," Fred praised. Iggy was brilliant. He wouldn't have thought of that. "Show me where he is." Iggy led him inside, past a confused looking nurse. "I'm Harris' family," he called after him.

"Good," the doctor said as soon as they walked in. She looked at him. "Are you George?"

"I can be if it'll make this go faster but my twin is presently sedated," he told her with a smile. "How is he?"

"Better than I expected. It looks like some of the burns did spread after they were initially done. Whomever put on the sunburn lotion did a good job."

"It was a spur of the moment grab," Iggy told her. "It's all we had on hand."

"That's okay, Iggy. Sometimes that's what you have to do." She led Fred outside. "You are his brother-in-law correct?" Fred nodded. "Good, because he told us that any of your family could consent to medical attention." She glanced back at the room. "I've got to ask, it's hospital policy. Does he had insurance of any kind?" She noticed Iggy slipped off, but it was expected. He was only ten and things like insurance bored them to tears.

"No, but they've got a hefty savings account and a friend they can borrow it off of," Fred told her. "We can cover any expenses." She smiled. "Would they have sent him away?"

"Yes, to the closest public hospital and it wouldn't have been nearly as good as here. They'd have done the most expedient thing, which would probably mean him losing his left leg just past his shattered knee." Fred winced. "How did he do that?"

"I don't have a clue. Unless he fell funny. He was found on the ground," he explained.

"We expect that with hit by lightening cases. How many strikes did he take?"

"We're not sure. We got there after it was all over with. He was at work..."

"At the school?"

Fred nodded, starting to frown. "Yeah. He told you where he works?"

"When I asked he told me he taught mythology at a small private school," she admitted with a smile. "Is there something I should know? Any allergies? Anything funny going on? Someone searching for him to hurt him?"

"Not as far as we know. The Headmistress at the school he works at is trying to beat the bastards who kept him like that for days." He looked over as the doors opened and his father walked in. "Dad," he sighed in relief. He had no trouble dealing with muggles. "This is Xander's doctor. He was awake for a bit."

"Good. Though I expect he was incoherent."

Doctor Carter shook her head. "Not as much as I would expect. But by his prior injuries, as told by the scars, we'd expect that he was used to pain." She smiled at him. "You're the father-in-law?" she guessed. He nodded, giving her a worried smile. "Okay, I was just telling him that it's bad, but I've seen worse. He's been given medicine and I'm in the middle of looking him over. We may have to cut some of the tissue off, but we can't be sure yet. We'll be looking at that option tomorrow." Both men nodded and Iggy leaned against his grandfather's side when he walked up to them and Draco walked in behind him. "And you are? Oh, never mind, you're the blonde he authorized to make decisions also?"

Draco nodded. "Yes, as he can for myself and my children." He looked around. "Is he awake?"

"He's drugged, finally," Fred told him.

"I'm surprised we haven't heard about that other place being shut down. We found a spot where they burned the wound closed." Iggy raised a hand. "You?" she asked, shocked.

"They wouldn't stop it, I thought it was for the best."

The doctor nodded. That changed her estimation of that kid by a lot. Obviously some of his father's former problems had rubbed off on him. "It probably was. Very nice work, Iggy." She pointed at the exam room. "Let me finish and I'll give you a full report, all right?" They all nodded. "There's a waiting area down the hall and to the left. Follow the blue stripe on the floor." They retreated and she went back to her exam. It was nice that this strange young man had such loving family. He probably deserved it after the obvious hell he'd been through. She finished wiping the gel off and hmmed. It was as bad as it looked, but savable. She moved to the other leg, letting the nurse rewrap that side for a bit. This side looked better, and the one on his hip was nearly superficial. The worst injury was Xander's left leg and it was going to definitely take surgery. Fortunately, the guy had a very supporting and loving family. That blonde guy had looked more worried than either redhead. He would make it through this, even if they did end up amputating his leg. Xander shifted and groaned. "Shh," she said quietly, moving up to stand beside his head. "You're in a good hospital and we're taking care of you. Your family is waiting on you outside." He settled down. "I'll send in your husband as soon as he shows up, Xander. You rest and heal."

She covered him with the sheet and signed the admittance order. She would be paying quite a lot of attention to his case. She walked out and found more redheads waiting in the waiting area. "My, there's a lot of you," she said with a smile. The mother smiled back. "It's bad, but healable." She sat down facing them and leaned her weight on her knees. "His left leg is the worst. There's evidence that whomever had him didn't stop the burns from spreading. Human flesh, just like beef, will keep cooking once you take the heat away. They didn't get it stopped, but it is stopped now." Everyone nodded. "His left knee is shattered. The kneecap is in little, tiny pieces so we'll probably be putting in a new one, but not for a long time. He's going to have to heal a lot before we even try that surgery." Everyone nodded again. "He will heal, but he'll have some scars."

"We know he's had some other ones," Fred told her. "He's not usually conscious of them." One of the redheads nodded.

Willow lifted her shirt to show off a small scar on her stomach. "We got matching ones a few years back. He doesn't see them as badges of honor, but as something like a memory."

Dr. Carter smiled. "That's good to know. Many times, a severely burned patient will start to withdraw because they're disgusted by the scars."

"Like hell we're letting him," a male redhead said. He looked around then up at his mother. "Where's Harry?"

"Watching all the children," she reminded him. "He'll be in later. We'll switch around."

"That's fine. He said you could all come visit, and he authorized not only his husband, but you," she pointed at Draco, "and the reasonably adult members of the family to make decisions." She looked at Iggy. "I'm sorry, I can tell you what's going on, but I can't take an order from you, Iggy. It's against policy to let you make medical decisions about your father until you're an adult."

Iggy nodded. "I understand. There's others who can so I'm shoved back." The doctor nodded. "Can I still see him?"

"Supposedly we have a rule that says you can only be in a room with an adult, but we might be able to bend it some. I'm sure there'll be someone around most of the time who'll vouch that you're not being harmed by the sight of your father healing."

Iggy grinned. "I've seen him having worse."

Fred patted him on the shoulder. "Accidental poisoning last year."

"Ah. It happens to the best of us." She stood up. "When can we expect his husband and should I get ready to give this talk again?"

"Middle of the night before he wakes up and probably," Ginny said, smiling up at her. "All right, I'm the only one," Draco poked her, "besides my assistant, who has to cover Xander's classes tomorrow, who has a free schedule. So go sit with him now and I'll stay on until George gets here." Everyone nodded and headed with the doctor to see where the room was.

***

Melvin sat up, looking around his dark room. "Shite," he muttered, getting out of bed and pulling on a bathrobe. He snuck out of his room and house, then down the hallways to the Gryffindor's house entry. He ran into Snape at the bottom of the staircase. "There's been a development with Xander. He moved hospitals," he said, trying to get past him. "Let me go! I have to tell my other cousins!" He gave the older man a shove. "Get out of my way!" He pulled up some of his special magic and pushed him into the walls. "Give me detention later," he said as he stormed past him. He pounded on the Gryffindor door, pissing off the painting. "I need my cousins," he told her when she started to scream. "Their Uncle's in the hospital."

The door opened and the Head Boy stared down at him. "Is all that really necessary?"

"Uncle Xander switched hospitals and they're having a family conference," he said as he walked past him. He went up to the boy's section first, Denver would be able to get in and get Simone. He slipped inside and up to his cousin's bed, giving him a shove. "Get up. Xander's switched hospitals," he said as quietly as he could. One of the other boys in the room glared at him. "Go back to sleep." Denver didn't wake up so he shoved him again.

"What?" Denver said as he sat up, rubbing his eyes. "What happened now? 'Nother attack?" He yawned and saw who was standing beside his bed. "Uncle Xander?"

"Got away from the bastards and switched hospitals. He's in a muggle one now." He nodded at the hallway. "We need to get the girls, Iggy's trying to tell me what's going on."

"Okay. Give me a few." Denver waited until he was alone then climbed out of bed and pulled a pair of pants on over his boxers. He grabbed his robe and headed down to where the stairs branched, going up to get his sister. He ran into the Head Boy, who was coming out of there. "Did you get her?"

"Yes, you're not allowed in there. You know that."

"She's my bloody sister, we used to share baths." Denver stomped back down to the common area and flopped down beside Melvin, who was looking for something in a journal. "Need help?"

"Broadcasting spell." He smiled and grabbed his cousin's wand, casting it slowly. He winced when he felt the flash of magic back into his hand. "No fair. Yours feels funny."

"Each wand is different," Denver reminded him. "Mine is mine because it'd work best for me." He yawned again as his sister came down the stairs. "Hey, Xander teleported away from the arseholes."

"Good." She flopped down on Melvin's other side and listened to the small voice. "Can you turn it up?"

"I don't know how. Iggy told me to find this spell in the book he gave me for safe keeping. It's broadcasting through the flood, on one of those little thought strands that he said connect everyone." He quieted down as they listened to the doctor's explanation.

Denver relaxed. "Then he'll be fine and we can go see him this weekend."

"Bloody unlikely," the Head Boy said from behind them. "How're you doin' that?"

"Iggy, being gryphon-born is closer to the true magic, and he can sometimes touch these things call thought threads. Basically, if I talk about you or think about you, the magic tries to make a small connection."

"That explains why people say their ear's burning when people talk about them," the Head Boy said, just to make sure he had it right. Denver nodded.

Melvin went on with his explanation. "Well, me, being able to touch pure magic, I can touch those threads but I don't like to because they hurt my head. But Iggy found this really cool spell that allows me to create a spot where we can hear what's going on in the thought thread. So basically, we're hearing Iggy's thoughts as he's listening to the conference about his dad."

"Oh." The Head Boy smiled. "That's a neat trick. Bet it'd be useful when your girl's being confusing."

Melvin shrugged. "I wouldn't know about that. I've only used it once before." He winced when he heard Iggy mentally whistling at a nurse. "That's why," he said with a grin.

Denver nodded. "The last time we did this, and to Iggy, he was thinking about how hungry he was. He'd just eaten breakfast and was wondering if he could make himself some food, then started to build an impressive sandwich in his head."

"Where was I when you were doing this?" Simone asked.

"Doctor's," Melvin told her.

"Ah. Okay then. Cancel it before I get traumatized by Iggy wondering what a breast looks like."

Melvin canceled the spell. "Okay. Now we know, what next?"

"Does your father know?" Denver asked him.

"Not a clue, but Grandma's there so he will by his first cup of tea." Melvin smiled at the Head Boy. "I'm sorry I woke you, but this is important."

"Hey, he's our secondary Head. We have a right to be concerned too. Next time, don't pound on the painting. I'll allow you to give *him* the password, as long as it doesn't get away from him," he told his students.

Denver leaned over and whispered in Melvin's ear. Then he stood up. "I'm off to bed. Iggy will make sure we get up there this weekend."

"Yeah, daddy was there, we'll be up there pretty quickly," Simone agreed, standing up. She kissed Melvin's cheek. "Thank you, cuz." She went back to her bed.

Denver shook his head. "She's picking up those Americanisms again," he complained. "Father will be pissed and spend all weekend nagging her about them." He went back to his bed.

Melvin grabbed the book and waved at the Head Boy, then headed back to his room. On his bed he found a short note saying he had lost his house forty points for being out of bed and had three weeks of detention because he had attacked a teacher. It was lovingly signed by Professor Snape. "Bet me," he sighed. He'd appeal it in the morning. He hid the book again and laid back down. He noticed one of his roommates was up and waved at them. He waved back so Melvin went over to talk to him. It was good to have friends outside the family.

***

Molly put a special marker in the corner of the room so they could come directly here. It led back to one of the view screens in the store so they could even watch over him while they were working. Not that George would be leaving this room for a long time, but the rest of them could pop around without intruding. She patted Xander's hand and kissed him on the forehead. He rolled and grabbed her for a hug. "Xander?" she asked quietly.

"Snuggly soft," he told her.

Draco smirked. "It seems you're very comforting." His father-in-law shook his head. "Sorry, couldn't resist." The door opened and McGonagall stepped inside. "Who told you?"

"I heard what Iggy said when he came to get Ron." She smiled and nodded at the limp form. "Is he better yet?"

"Somewhat. These people are taking action," Ginny told her. "They're thinking some minor surgery to remove some of the burnt stuff and..." Her missing brother stormed in. "Hey, George." She watched as her older brother pushed them all aside and hugged his husband, then gave him a hard shove.

"Hey!" Ron said. "He's drugged."

"He still deserves it for worrying us."

The nurse came in, smiling at them. "The family's grown," she said happily. "A supporting family is often the deciding factor in how well a patient heals. Which of you is the husband?" George raised his hand. "Could I please have you fill out some forms for us?"

"Sure, I'm not moving," George told her.

"We'll bring in a cot for you then. Feel free to bring in some pajamas for the both of you." She looked at McGonagall and her strange black long coat. "That's a very pretty coat," she said, leaving to get the forms.

"She seems nice," Willow put in to end the silence.

"Much nicer than the thing who scrubbed his wounds," Iggy said darkly, glaring at a wall. "Can I hurt her?"

"Get in line," Draco told him. Iggy looked at him and saw a rage that equaled his, and nodded. "Good boy. Are you going to tell your cousins?"

"Already did. Melvin heard me." Iggy walked over and hugged his father. "Daddy will be fine," he reminded him. "The doctor said it was looking very hopeful."

"Yes, she did," Arthur agreed. George looked at him, his eyes showing his need for reassurance. "I promise, son, your mate is going to be fine. The burns will heal, his knee will be fixed, and we'll keep going."

"A Weasley always survives as Bill once said," Ginny added.

George unstiffened. "We'll be fine. Can I have a few minutes alone? Then you can come back and argue over who gets when." The family left in pairs and threesomes, discussing their schedules to see who could be here when. George leaned down and hugged his husband as hard as he could. "You scared me, Xander, and I hate it when you do that," he whispered. "Just don't die on me and we'll be okay. Got it?" Xander shifted toward him, wrapping an arm around his waist. "Thank you. Just be okay and I'll even help you get back into fighting shape. I promise to quit nagging."

The door opened and Snape walked in. "How bad is it?" he asked.

George wiped off his cheeks. "Bad enough but not fatal they think." He pulled the sheet aside to show the bandaged areas. "This place has already surpassed the other one because they've given him medication and cleaned the burns before covering them." He looked down again and noticed one eye was open. "Hi. You're safe." Xander reached up but his hand fell halfway up to his husband. He mumbled something. "What?" George leaned down and Xander repeated it. "I love you too, goof, and you're forgiven." He gave him a short kiss, then turned back to the potion's master. "Is there anything we can give him to help speed it along?"

"I've got a few spells under scrutiny to see which would be best suited," Snape told him. "Hopefully within a few days I'll have something to at least take some of this away." He looked down at the bandages, seeing if he could look at the burns. "Interesting," he said as he straightened up. He turned when the door opened and the doctor from earlier walked in. "How long of a recovery is he looking at?" he asked.

"Probably a few months. Why? You don't look like family."

"He teaches at the same school Xander does," George explained. "His getting sick seems to throw quite a few wrenches into their orderly system."

"Ah." The doctor nodded. "What are you people? The woman in the robe kinda gave away that you're not quite normal."

Willow cleared her throat from the doorway. "We're witches."

"Oh." The doctor nodded. That explained so many of the things that had piqued her sense of 'wrongness' with the boy. "So you all teach on the commune or something?"

"Basically to others of the same path," Willow agreed. She smiled. "Is it okay if I import an altar to pray at?"

"If it floats your boat. We're not affiliated and there's a chapel downstairs for those who would be more comfortable in a formal setting." She shrugged. "You Wiccans have always fascinated me, keeping most of the old traditions alive for centuries through everything that's went on. I think that takes an amazing faith." She smiled. "Okay, forms for now, and then I'll leave you alone." She handed them to George and returned to Snape. "What do you teach?"

"Potions."

"Anything to speed up his healing?"

"We were just discussing that," he said uneasily. "You aren't upset that we're what we are?"

"No, like I said, I find the Wiccans fascinating." She smiled. "Anything you do, I'll need an ingredient list so nothing clashes on this end. But if you need to talk to me, my name is Dr. Carter and my office is on the third floor, second door on the left from the middle stairway." She shook his hand. "I hope you can help him. He seems very nice." She walked out, leaving them alone.

Arthur looked at Willow. "You took a very big risk, young lady."

"Why? Everyone knows about the Wiccans. We're a popular group to like these days." She shrugged. "And it'll save a lot of problems."

Molly laid a hand on Arthur's arm and leaned into him, whispering in his ear. He nodded and she smiled at Willow. "The different paths being left out was a good thing, but do be more careful in the future."

"Hey, McGonagall was the one in the robe," Willow snorted. She walked over and took the forms, filling them out for George. He started to take them back but she looked down at him. "Do you know all his allergies? Or how he broke his collarbone ten years before he met you? Or even about his prior burns?" George relented and let her do the paperwork. They asked some strange questions that he wasn't sure how to answer anyway. When she was done, she handed it back to him and pointed. "Sign there."

He signed his name and read over the answers. So that was what they meant by sex....

***

Xander woke up warm and at peace with himself. It was a good feeling that he almost remembered. He turned his head and found his husband snuggled up next to him on the bed. He stole a kiss. When his husband opened his eyes he smiled. "I'd roll over and hold you, but that'd hurt."

"I understand. Let me hold you for a bit." George wrapped him in his arms. "How are you this morning?"

"I feel really peaceful," Xander admitted. "Like everything is right in my world and it's going to be okay."

"I'm sure it will be. You'll be healing soon," George agreed. "Willow told them we were of her brand of magic so Snape's openly coming with a potion with your doctor's blessing." Xander gave him a smile. "What's that for?"

"Because your head just said you loved me and I looked damn good in the sunlight." He picked up his mate's hand and kissed it. "And because I wanted to."

"Just like that, no more talking?"

"You said you understood," Xander reminded him.

"And I do, but I still think it's silly."

"I know," Xander sighed. "But I have moments like that. I've had them before too."

"Yes, but before you trusted me to help you through them."

"Yeah, and this time you were part of them," Xander pointed out. "I couldn't come to one of the people I was most worried about because I thought I was going to get him killed." He closed his mouth as the door opened and the nurses came in. "Hi. I 'm awake."

"Are you in pain?"

"Some, not a lot. I have a pretty high tolerance."

"It comes from teaching eighteen-year-olds how to box," George said bitterly.

Xander nodded the nurses away, waiting until they were gone. "You don't like me teaching?"

"You teach fighting, Xander. You made sure that my baby brother would never be a relaxed man with a wife and family."

"Hey, I never told him to date Buffy," Xander butted in. "And what would have happened if I hadn't taken his training in hand?" George swallowed. "See, I do have a reason for doing it. I know that you hate the fact that I fight..."

George put a finger over his lips. "Would it have killed anyone if you had waited for help? The others were still up. Or even for you to have used a lesser spell?"

"And stun them?" Xander shook his head. "Probably not, but that's what I thought that spell would have done. I didn't think it was going to burn through me and nearly kill me."

George rolled his eyes. "Missing the point, honey. I think you chose the hardest spell on purpose."

"Actually, the building spells are much harder. Ginny has access to that spell class. It's in the same group as the one that Hermione misused." George winced. "Not that hard, it's usually taught to fully adult gryphons who're in the ranks of fighters. There's plenty of harder ones I could have used."

"Hold on. That was a *gryphon* spell?" George asked. He flicked Xander on the forehead, glaring at him. "It didn't occur to you that their bodies can take more?"

"Not until the burning started," Xander said honestly. "I usually use gryphon spells instead of the born ones. They do better for me."

"Then I think we need to have a talk about what you've been doing," George told him. "I haven't seen you do anything dangerous for the last few years."

Xander sighed. "I'm not dangerous," he said, sounding defeated.

"Did I say *you* were dangerous?" George asked immediately. He couldn't let this one fester. Xander nodded. "No, I said the *spells* were dangerous. You're cuddly and sweet up until one of us is threatened. Then you pull out the biggest weapon when a smaller one will do the job."

"You've known this about me since before we officially started dating," Xander pointed out. "I've always used a cannon when I could have used at .22." George opened his mouth. "Sorry, I know you hate weapon analogies."

"Yes, I do. They remind me that you like to fight." He slid off the bed and stared down at his husband. "I'm going to end up issuing an ultimatum. Fighting or me, Xander. Choose."

Xander laughed bitterly. "I don't think it's going to be much of a choice considering I may never walk normally again." He sat the bed up. "But hey, if you want Ron and Draco out there fighting instead of me, I'll gladly let them do it now."

"You've said that before," George reminded him quietly. "You're still keeping everyone behind you when you're an end-game fighter, Xander." He sat down next to Xander's damaged knee. "I know this hurts to hear right now, but you've got to stop fighting. Lead the troops, give the orders, train the army, but no more leading the charge. Lead from behind like any normal leader, Xander."

"I'm not a leader," Xander told him. "I'm a foot soldier who can take a troop and take an outpost out. I'm not the leader that Draco is, or the lead the charge guy that Ron is."

"So play your part," George told him. "You like being the brace against the wall. Do that. Don't take on the army by yourself. You're not Xena!"

"No, but I'm not Joxer either!" Xander said hotly.

"I'm not asking you to be a love-sick klutz, I'm asking for you to be the rear guard and the one

no one gets past. The rest of the fighters need to get between you and the army. Otherwise, they're standing around buffing their wands." Xander snickered at the sexual reference. "Let the other guys have a chance at the dark side. I promise most of them won't fail." He picked up Xander's hand to hold. "And if they do then you're still there."

"George, this is who I am."

"No," George interrupted. "You changed once you learned Iggy was on the way. You went from a laid-back rear guard to a massive weapon of destruction. And ...it scares me that I'm going to lose you."

"I changed?" Xander asked.

George nodded. "You did. Suddenly evil became a personal battle and only you could battle it." He leaned down and stole a kiss. "I realize it's because you now had something precious to protect. I figured out a long time ago that's why you did what you did to Voldemort. Because I've seen the warnings on that spell and I know you never *really* wanted to use it."

"It was the best option," Xander defended.

"To save me," George finished. "And to save the family." He ran his fingers through the dark hair he loved. "See, I do understand. Evil became personal because now you had something to really fight for, not just the world. But let the rest of us have some."

"You hate to fight."

"That's because I have no talent for it. Harassment is more my thing. I'd be the one bugging the army while you bombed the hell out of them. But it's time to let someone else hold the controls. Please, babe, go back to being an end game fighter. I liked you better when you were the undefeatable wall. This taking the place of Buffy isn't healthy for anyone." He let him go. "If only because this one time will make us totally poor," he finished with a smile.

Xander looked at the spot where his mate had been sitting. "I never realized I changed," he admitted finally. He looked up. "Will you help?"

George laughed. "You know I'm dying to put a collar and leash on you, Xander. You'd make an adorable dog." He leaned down and hugged him as hard as he dared. "Get better faster, love. I'm tired of sleeping alone."

"Okay. I really didn't mean to...." George covered his lips again.

"I know. And I love you because of that, not in spite of it. We're okay. I'm not tossing you out on your bum." He looked over as the door opened and a nurse peeked inside. "It's okay, you can come back now. We're done fighting."

"That was a very low-keyed fight. Is everything all right?"

"Yeah, Xander had to realize something. We're fine." He got out of their way, watching as they fussed over his husband. That should be him. "How long before he can come home?"

"A few weeks at least. Then probably some outpatient treatments." The head nurse shooed the others out. "We'll be doing a bandage change in about an hour, so we'll be sedating him in about half an hour. You can stay, but we'll ask you to wait in the hall."

George shook his head. "I'm staying. I know it's gross. I saw it when the other place left it uncovered for three days."

"Suit yourself but you can't get in the way."

George moved Xander's head and sat under it, putting the bed back down so they were both comfortable. "I'll be right here."

"I think I could sleep on him," Xander offered.

"You don't want painkillers?" the nurse asked, shocked. If that had been her, she'd be begging long before the last dose wore off.

"I can't feel anything below my left knee," Xander told her. "That will come back, right?"

"Hopefully. When did you realize that?"

"When the student nurse dropped her tuning fork onto my foot and I didn't feel it."

"I'll report that for you," the nurse assured him. "We'll be back in half an hour with a light sedative." She left them alone, herding the other nurses out before her.

George looked down at him. "You can't feel your left leg?"

"From about halfway down," Xander admitted. He smiled. "Will you still love me if I end up in a wheelchair or without that leg?"

"I'll love you even if you're paralyzed and can't screw me again," George said firmly. "Though, if you ever turn yourself into stone, you're being left like that."

Xander chuckled. "Okay. I can agree to that." He lifted his upper body and gave him a kiss, then fell back against his husband's body. "Any new news?"

"Not yet. I haven't heard from the rest of the family yet." He smiled. "I think they're giving us a chance to work out that little incident."

"I'm sorry."

"Good, but if you say it again, I'm letting Draco take it out of your vocabulary. He promised to put something dirty in it's place."

Xander grinned. "Okay." He shifted some then grunted in pain. "Maybe I'll stay like this," he decided.

"How did you want to lay?"

"On my side."

"We can do that," George agreed, pulling one of the pillows from behind his back. "Let me up and I'll help." He slid out of the bed and walked down, lifting the sheets up to help Xander move. "What's that bag for?"

"Peeing."

"Oh. Does it hurt?"

"Not until they pull it out," Xander told him seriously. "I've had two before and both times I needed an ice pack and a lot of comfort for about three days." He slowly shifted onto his side, letting his husband help him. The pillow was put gently between his legs and Xander sighed in relief. The pain in his back was gone, and soon his head was cradled in his husband's lap. "I really didn't mean to hurt you," he said quietly.

"I know. That's why I'm here now instead of crying on my mother's shoulder so she'd come beat you senseless." He ran his fingers through the dark hair and just watched his husband drift back off to sleep. When the nurses came in, he shook his head. "Napping," he told them.

"Then we'll reinforce the nap so he doesn't wake up," the nurse told him, sticking Xander with a needle full of something. "Did he flip over?"

"With some help. He hates sleeping on his back." He looked over as the door opened and Draco walked in. "Done with his classes already?"

"For today," Draco agreed as he walked in. "How is he?"

"We've talked. We're fine. He's a little sore but comfortable enough." He smiled at the nurses. "He really does have a high threshold for pain."

"I'm sure, but we'll still give him a light dose of pain medication just in case. All right?" George nodded. "Good." She smiled at Draco. "We'll be doing a bandage change in a few minutes," she warned.

"Can I wait outside?" Draco asked. She nodded. "Thank you. I saw them before he got here and they were quite sickening." He pulled a chair over and sat down near George. "How long do they think it'll be? I ask because McGonagall sighed this morning when she asked me to stay on for a bit."

George nodded. "They think a few weeks." The nurse finished making notes on his chart and bustled back out. "Unless Snape finds something to help him."

"Last night, Willow let on that we're witches. They expect us to be like her."

"I like my wand too much to practice her version of the craft," George said as the door opened and admitted the doctor. "Hi," he said, giving her a faint smile. "Come to clean him up a bit?"

"Just the burns this time. A nurse will come in later and give him a bed bath." She walked over. "You're not Wiccan?"

"We're wizards, but we have wands," George told her.

"Oh, so the redheaded was is part of a Lesbian coven. That makes sense. Does he practice too?"

"Not always," George said dryly. She laughed. "Sometimes he just goes with what feels right and ends up worrying the life out of me." He patted his husband's shoulder. "We'll be fine though, he's agreed to engage his brain more often."

Draco snorted. "I'm sure it'd be a wonderful change for you to not have to worry." He looked at the doctor. "There was a m...mundane who was talking to his boss last night and wanted to come in. Would that be acceptable?"

"Of course. As long as they don't upset him and don't make him throw things we'll be fine," the doctor assured him. She pointed at the bandages. "Are you staying for this?"

"I am," George told her. "Draco's got a weak stomach."

"Do not!" Draco said in outrage. "My stomach's just as hard as yours. It just fights against my control sometimes." He stood up. "I'll be back in an hour," he promised. "Harry's claimed the pleasure of helping Ron today so he's got a full classload. Xander's third years sent their best wishes and are hoping he'll be back soon because he tells better stories." He smiled. "Oh, I almost forgot. There was a vampire at the school last night."

"Wonderful," George said. "Do we know this one?"

"It was his ex." Draco smirked. "Needless to say, your brothers were not happy with Ms. Chase in the least. They had a ...discussion with her." He smiled as he walked out.

"You don't like the goth kids?"

"She's a mean and cruel bitch," George told her. "Tortured him once or twice."

"That's understandable. It's nice to have a close family." She walked out and came back with a small rolling cart. "Let's get on with this. Hopefully I'll be able to tell if we're going to need to remove any of the flesh." She picked up some bandage scissors and started to remove the coverings. Then she quickly handed him a bowl. "Don't worry, it looks much worse than it is and he's not in any pain at the moment," she assured him as she went back to uncovering the burns. "Well, that's certainly looking much better," she said happily as George got sick.

***

Xander woke up alone, but with a visitor. He blinked, clearing up the fuzziness in his sight. "Hey, Wes," he said, giving him a weak smile. He obviously had pain medicine again. "What's up?"

"I came to see how you were." He reached over and touched Xander's hand. "I'm sorry they made you destroy them. You have my word those two are now safe." He leaned back again. "How are you feeling?"

"Better. No more torturous nurses and they give me nice drugs here." He put the head of the bed up again, sitting up slightly. "What else is up?"

"We've found some information. We think we know where Rupert took Buffy and her son."

"Son? I thought they were all girls."

"They were supposed to be. Which one is the slayer, do you know?"

"Minnie."

"Ah, excellent. She was quite adorable when I saw her earlier. Made happy noises at me and everything." He smiled again. "We're hot on his trail and should be able to find them soon."

"Alive?"

"With all luck," Wesley agreed. He moved his chair closer. "Xander, it really was a cock-up from the word go this time. The prophecy was not only mistranslated, which was why Giles took the little boy instead of Minnie, but was also by someone who wasn't very reliable. She only had a reliability rating of forty percent."

"So they died in vain?" Xander suggested tiredly. Wesley nodded. "Do the remaining ones know that?" Wesley nodded again, giving him a cruel smile. "Good, 'cause I'd hate to have to finish it off."

"Me too." Wesley gave him another gentle pat. "Now, onto more personal business. We're taking care of your hospital bills, of course, so don't worry about that. Anything you need, in relation to this incident, will be taken care of by me personally. It's amazing how much room we have in the budget now that I went and cut salaries and the stealing that was going on." He straightened up some. "By the way, your son is quick the kicker. Very strong willed."

"Did he hit you?"

"No, but it was close. I do believe that Professor Snape may have saved my life when he found out who I was. It was explained to him that I was the *new* head of the Watchers and that I was an old friend of yours. He seemed satisfied with that." He smiled again. "Also, I've heard about some odd policy changes about magical creatures being listed as demonic. I'm searching that out right now and am putting it to right."

"Hey, if you can fix that, I'd be ecstatic and dance around," Xander told him.

"Not until you're healed, please. It'll probably take me that long to burn all those decrees and get the word around that it's not so. I know that one of us mistakenly took on a few dragons the other day in Romania. From what I hear, one of you stopped him and the dragon took a rather large chunk out of his head. He was mailed back to us yesterday with a pleasant note about how you were going to destroy us for it."

"Charlie?" Xander asked.

Wesley nodded. "Yes, I do believe it was your brother-in-law. How is George anyway? I haven't seen him since the wedding. He was gone when I got here."

"He's good. We're just getting over a minor fight. He's helping me see I'm trying to take on the world again."

"Yes, well, you always did jump into matters; the only difference now is that you have more incentive to take a larger piece of the action."

"Yeah, that's what he said. He told me I'm not Xena."

Wesley chuckled. "Indeed you're not. You wouldn't look good in her outfit at all I dare say." He looked over at the door as it opened, admitting McGonagall and Simone. "Hello there. Another child, Xander?"

Xander looked over his shoulder. "Hey, Simone, boss lady. Simone, don't you have class?" He looked at Wesley. "She's my niece."

"Iggy sent me." She walked over and gave him a hug. "Melvin got detention last night when he came to tell us you had escaped the evil bastards."

"Simone," McGonagall warned. "You promised to be on your best behavior."

Xander frowned at her. "This is."

Wesley laughed. "She is definitely quite lively. Wesley Wyndham-Price. New head of the Watchers Council."

She shook his hand over her uncle's side. "Simone Malfoy-Weasley, family bitch." She gave him a hard look but continued in a happy, light-sounding voice. "If you make trouble for him, expect to see me with Iggy some night standing beside your bed."

"Simone!" McGonagall said, shocked. "Xander, do control her."

"Honey, he used to fight with Buffy and I back in California. He was a dweeb then, but okay enough. He's fixing things. He's even going to make sure Iggy and I aren't classified as demons anymore."

"Cool." She slid onto the bed and looked at him. "Funny, I always thought most of those guys were old white guys. You're not that old."

Wesley burst out laughing. "No, I'm not. I was fired from the Council because I wouldn't bend to their will. That's why the others wanted me back, because I wanted to make changes in the system."

"Good," McGonagall said. "Because you're not raising Minnie at all." She smiled at Xander. "It was rather sweet of Mr. Weasley to name her after me."

"Yes, it was," Xander said diplomatically. He knew it was after the mouse, but if she wanted to think that it was all good to him. "Wesley very nicely offered to pay for all this wonderful care."

"While we're making the other guys pay for their version of wonderful care," Simone said happily. "Daddy visited them this morning."

Xander laughed. "I'm sure they had quite a discussion, princess." He patted her on the arm. "Why don't you sit in a chair?"

"Okay." She slid down and walked over to grab one for herself. "Professor, did you want it?" she asked when she realized it was the only one left.

"That's all right, I can stand." McGonagall walked over and gave Xander a hug. "All the students wish you a speedy recovery."

"They're saying a few weeks, then some outpatient, unless Snape can come up with something to help me go faster. If he can, as long as I can sit, I can start working again."

"I'm not going to fire you for being burned, Xander. Possibly for not thinking, but not for protecting the school once again." She gave him a fond smile. "You won't have any vacation time for the next three years, but it will all work itself out."

"Iggy got called to the gryphon colony," Simone told him. "To answer questions about what happened to you this time, their exact words." She smiled. "When he came back he said that it was the flaw with the human body, that it was too weak to handle that sort of energy. They only get bad tingles, like your feet falling asleep. So they're pissed at you because you should have realized that. But they still love you and Bill said that he'll see you once you're back at school."

"Wow." Xander looked at McGonagall. "That okay with you?"

"It would be fine. I asked if he could give a short lesson to a Care of Magical Creatures class if he did come up and he agreed readily. Said something about defrocking some myths. Hagrid offered to gather all his students together for it, and most of the other teachers agreed. It would give us an extra free period or so near exams."

"Ow," Xander sighed. "Exams."

"Daddy and Uncle Harry are giving them," Simone told him. "They're switching off so they can play with the babies." She sat up. "Oh, we got an owl from Uncle Charlie. He said he's sorry he used you as a threat but it worked. The stupid git..."

"Simone!" McGonagall chastised.

"Well, he was. He went in with a crossbow to kill dragons; you know, with impervious armor."

"Lost part of his head for it," Wesley agreed. "And I do agree, he was rather a stupid git. A boring one on top of it who expounded his views until we were all quite tired of him. Even his mother didn't cry about it."

"Still, she shouldn't use language like that at her age."

"One of her first words was bitch," Xander reminded her.

"Oh, I remember her calling your son one quite well," McGonagall said with a smile. "If I remember right, it was Fred who demanded that she stop calling him that." She glanced around. "Can I get you anything?"

"Nope, I'm good. I even have cable," he said happily. Over the years, since he had gotten that tv off Dumbledore, his movie collection had grown to about six hundred of them. "I'm thinking that, since Wes is so nicely paying for my bills, that I'm going to get me a bigger set to watch at school."

"You have tv out there?" Wesley asked.

"No, I have six hundred vhs tapes," Xander told him. "If the wizarding world had cable, I'd be the first subscriber and it'd be in *all* the houses I visit."

McGonagall shook her head. "I can't see how you sit and watch that thing."

"That's because you weren't raised with it. Besides, it makes comforting noises when George is gone."

"Then I won't confiscate it," she told him. He pouted at her. "You were late because of it."

"I was late because it ate one of my favorite tapes," Xander corrected. "I was trying to get it out, not because I was watching something."

"Yes, but you also play it quite loudly on occasion," she chastised gently. "If I get another complaint, I'm going to have to confiscate it for a month, Xander."

"I was using it to cover up the screaming I was doing while we were having sex on the couch. Do you think Snape would have rather listened to that?" he asked nicely.

Simone giggled. "Uncle Xander, did they give you more drugs?"

"Yes, honey, and they're very nice." He looked at the blushing Wesley. "Sorry. It's a holdover from Anya and her sharing stuff."

Wesley tugged on his vest. "I've heard from her recently."

"Really? Is she demonic again?" Wesley nodded. "Is she a good demon or a bad demon?"

"I think it rather depends on whether or not you screwed something up. She's a vengeance demon again. Still the same job description I'm afraid."

"Only be afraid if you meet her professionally. She makes things fall off."

"Dangly things?" Simone teased. McGonagall grabbed her throat. "Iggy was horrified by the things when he found out he was going to have to grow one," she explained. "It's a family joke."

"Not one for mixed company though," Xander replied. "Save it for within the family, dear. And he still doesn't like to think he'll grow one." He looked at Wesley, who was standing up. "Sorry."

"That's all right. I'll leave you to your family and come back next week, when we'll hopefully have more information." He shook the two women's hands, then smiled at Xander. "Do get better faster, Xander. I know you want to get back to your duties."

"Actually, I want my bird! Where's Murphy?"

"Sitting in daddy's living room eating the plants. He's pissed at you."

"Wonderful," Xander sighed as Wesley left them alone. "Simone, honey, you scared him."

She shifted chairs, taking the one the guy had had. "If he was a true friend, he'd have understood," she said, repeating a phrase he had told her about making friends.

"We fought beside each other," he explained. "Way back when I was still an American. He came over when Giles got fired as Buffy's Watcher to take the spot, and brought a really big problem named Faith."

"Oh, I heard him mentioning her earlier. She's out of jail he said."

"Yay for her, just as long as I don't have to see her."

"You don't like her?" McGonagall asked, taking the now vacant seat. "I thought you got along well with most of them."

"Not always. See, Faith tried to kill me once."

"Oh, dear." McGonagall looked at Simone, then back at him. "Is this something you can share?"

"Probably not. I'm okay with it now, but I don't want to know how ten years of prison changed her. I don't care if she turned into Polyanna, I don't want to see her."

"She's the current Slayer and training the younger one," McGonagall told him. "I asked who she was when that man asked to have her come in and look at Minnie."

"Not a chance," Xander told her. "If she's getting trained, I'll train her. She won't be ceded over to the Watches to raise."

"They do that?" Simone asked. Xander nodded. "Wow. That's cruel."

"By doing so, they got to train the girls however they wanted, making sure that they were obedient to any order that they gave. Buffy was one of the few that never got taken from her parents. She turned out okay, stronger willed than they wanted, but okay." He sniffed. "That's why they took her. Because of some stupid prophecy that they got wrong and one that probably wouldn't come true anyway!"

"Well, Minnie is a witch," McGonagall told him. "I doubt they'd be able to train her anyway." She stood up. "We'll let you get back to resting. Expect Severus tonight."

"And we'll come over after the game and tell you how it went," Simone told him, kissing him on the forehead. "You get better so Iggy doesn't have to beat up Ryan again."

"My son got into a fight?" Xander asked.

McGonagall nodded. "Quite a very long one. Ryan said something mean about you and Iggy decided to turn him into paste. He would have if Professors Lupin and Black hadn't found them. Young Mr. Rosenberg has learned his lesson I believe." She smiled. "He did quite well, a testament to your training." She led Simone out, taking her back to the school now that she could give a report on her Uncle's condition. The other Gryffindors would be very happy.

Xander closed his eyes and let his mind drift on the soft, gentle flow of the pain medicine.

***

Melvin sat on a desk staring at Professor Snape as he mixed something. "I still say it's unfair. I was dealing with a family emergency."

"You shoved me into a wall. You should have better manners than that by now." He looked at the little boy. "With who your father is, your behavior is watched and is a reflection on him."

"Yay. Dad congratulated me on handling the emergency so well." His father had also said much the same thing about the detentions. At least McGonagall had taken off the house points lost.

"Can I help?"

"No. This is above your meager skills. Go clean cauldrons." Melvin sighed but went to scrub them, and didn't even reach for his wand. What a refreshing change. He went back to brewing the healing potion. Hopefully Xander would be back soon. The Gryffindors were all morose and pouting. He detested pouting on a student. It made them even more whiny than usual. He glanced back at the potion, sprinkling in some salt. He had no idea why it was in there, but the recipe called for it. It was the most complicated healing spell he had ever seen and the most powerful one the gryphons had. If anything would help cure some of the burns on the boy, this would. He stopped to think about that. He was still calling Harris a boy. After having known him for the last eleven years, he was no longer a boy. He was a full-grown man with a son of his own attending school here. Possibly it was the way Xander jumped into everything. Or the energy he put into everything he did. Watching him bounce down the halls every day reminded him of a sixth or a seventh year. Even though he had seen a few flecks of silver in the dark hair, he probably would always be a boy to him. Even if he ended up horribly scarred and needing a prosthetic or aiding device. He doubted even a wheelchair would slow that young man down much. Once he figured out how to get up and down stairs, nothing would stop him. He shook himself from his thoughts and found his student looking down and stirring the pot for him. "Thank you."

"Welcome. Were you worrying about Uncle Xander too?"

"No."

Melvin looked up at him, giving him a smile. "He's really not a boy."

"How...."

"I end up a little open after I listen in on Iggy's mind. It'll go away by tomorrow. But you're right, even a wheelchair won't slow him down. I'm sure he'll find a floating spell and he'll float everywhere." He grinned. "Uncle Xander's like that and Uncle George would gladly help." He handed over the spoon. "Here you go. Oh, there're six too few cauldrons. Someone took theirs out."

"Really?" he asked, his usual cold smile coming out. "Thank you. I'll have to watch for that." He looked over and saw the pile of cleaned cauldrons, then looked at the boy. "Do go scrub them, by hand this time."

Melvin sighed and went back. He had cheated, using his wand once he noticed Snape wasn't paying attention, but they were scrubbed. At least he wouldn't have to do the hard part by hand. He drew some water into the sink and dropped the first sparkling cauldron into it. "Have you decided about the spell for Andrea yet, sir?" he called as he swiped at the clean pewter.

Snape turned and looked at him. "In the excitement I've only gotten a little of it done. It looks like it will work, so I will turn my attention back to it after I finish this potion." He heard a 'blurp' and turned back to stir some more. "Come do this part while I add ingredients," he ordered.

Melvin wiped off his hands on his robe as he walked over and took control of the spoon back. "You should have grounded Iggy, this is his thing. I'm better at herbology." He pointed at a pile of green herbs. "Cilantro, sir?"

"Yes, it had a few cooking herbs in it. Probably for taste. Stir more." He slowly sprinkled in handfuls of herbs from the piles, working like a chef with the herbs. Every pinch was an equal amount and each handful had the exact same weight.

***

Simone looked over as Denver walked in, still wobbly. "Did you take your medicine?" she asked worriedly. Today was their first quidditch game. He had to be all right.

"I just took it. I'm fine. Don't worry I'll be hell on a broom."

At the next table, one of their opponents overheard and got up to talk to their captain.

Denver sipped his juice slowly, waiting for the medicine to work. "I think today's going to be a double dose day," he said finally.

"I'll help you upstairs in a few," Simone told him. "Try to eat something." He turned faintly green. "Then go talk to the nurse and come back," she told him. She watched as he wobbled back out, nibbling on her lip. This was going to be a bad day. He hardly ever needed two doses to be able to walk. This was bad.

***

Madam Hooch walked up to the threesome, frowning at them. "It was reported to me that you are taking some sort of drugs," she said calmly. "Explain yourself."

"I'm taking *medicine* for an inner ear condition which makes me dizzy," Denver told her. "You can ask Madam Pomfrey if you want to. She has an ingredient list and can tell you exactly how vertigo works." He had expected this. It was a standard tactic. He looked at their Captain, Reggie, as he walked up behind them. "There's a challenge because of my medicine."

"I figured as much." Reggie handed over a sheet of parchment. "I got that from Madam Pomfrey just a few moments ago because I figured Ravenclaw would pull this." He patted Denver on the shoulder. "The little guy is dizzy, not taking stuff to make him faster."

"I see." Madam Hooch looked at him. "You're dizzy?"

"Vertigo is where the world spins and you're not in sync with it," Denver told her. "It's an all-inclusive dizziness that makes me run into walls, stumble around, and get really nauseous at the smell of food. It doesn't make me faster, it just makes sure I can sit on my broom at all."

Madam Hooch nodded. "So there is no enhancing effects?"

"Not as far as I know," Denver told her. Reggie nudged him. "Seriously, I've never noticed that I'm faster after I take it, not even with a double dose like today. And I've been taking it since I was five, every day, so it should have shown up by now."

"All right. I will allow it. Madam Pomfrey also stated that it is not performance enhancing. I will tell the other team that their challenge to you playing is turned down." She smiled at them. "Have a good game." She turned and walked away, going out to the pitch to talk to the other team.

"Wow, again," Simone said, glaring at Denver. "Can't they fix that with surgery?"

"As far as anyone knows, no." He grimaced. "I'd go through with it if I could but no one's offered." He looked at the team Captain. "My broom's back to normal size but their new ones aren't here yet."

"They're waiting out in the changing rooms. That's why I was looking for you." Reggie smiled. "Three boxes with your names on them." He watched as the kids ran for the changing area. "Kids," he said, shaking his head with fond amusement. Those three were hell together. Iggy and Denver worked flawlessly, and had integrated the other chaser into their team. Simone was hell on a broom anyway and as a beater she was dangerous. They had picked a secondary team this year too and some of them didn't want to play scrimmage against the main string because of her. She hit the bludgers right at you and gave you the most evil look while she did it. Must be the influence of her father. He walked out more slowly to the changing area. He had done this for the last four years so he knew his routine. He found the kids cooing over their new brooms, made by a small company that still handmade each broom. Those had to have cost someone some money. But he bet they flew excellently. "Get changed, we've only got an hour to stretch and warm up."

"Okay," Simone told him. She headed for the girls' section, where she was the only one this year, and got changed into her brand new gold and scarlet robes. She came out with the sleeves hanging over her hands and the hem dragging. "Iggy, I think I have yours." A few of the older guys screamed and turned around. "Oh, get over it! I used to have to share a bath with that guy," she pointed at Denver. "You've got nothing I haven't seen before." She took off her robes, showing off her very practical sports bra and spandex shorts, and took Iggy's robe. That one fit her much better, it was only an inch too long. She and her brother exchanged. Just right. "I'm heading out to warm up. Be girlie men now." She grabbed her broom and headed out to try it out and see if it had any quirks.

Reggie looked at Denver. "Your sister's insane."

"My sister's fifteenth word was whorehouse," Denver said dryly. "It doesn't bother her."

Iggy nodded as he slipped into his spandex clothes. It had been his father's idea to wear this under his robes because they were made to sweat and work out in. "She's seen it all and laughed at most of it." He nudged Denver. "But at least she was never traumatized."

Denver snorted. "No, that was you, cousin." He grinned. "So, are you happier with the male body now that you're growing up?"

"You like guys?" Reggie asked.

"No, when I was younger I saw his dad naked." He shoved Denver, knocking him onto the bench. "And, being five, I screamed, was horribly traumatized, and vowed never to have those scary dangly bits like his dad had." The other guys laughed. "My father George's response was that I'd enjoy it once I grew one of my own," he finished dryly, glaring at his cousin. "And no, I find that it gets in the way a lot and it's trying to take over my life."

The other guys laughed and they started to talk about how their dicks had taken over their lives too. Outside the door, Simone shook her head and walked away. Boys!

***

Xander looked over as his door opened and Fred stuck his head in. He waved in him and went back to reading his book. Wesley had left it for him the last time he had been in. He underlined a sentence then looked up. "Hey, how's the store?" He put the book aside.

"Fine. Your mate is presently sitting in it telling everyone that you're getting better very quickly and it's not that bad."

"With the exception of my knee, it's not," Xander agreed with a light shrug. "Did you watch the game?"

"We both did," Fred said happily as he took the seat beside the bed. "Quite a match. Your son and Denver were hell together. The other chaser pretty much played their guard as they scored. Simone knocked the Ravenclaw seeker off three times, and prevented her from catching the snitch. She's got the control that George and I used to have." He smiled. "And your son all but caught the snitch himself since it was resting above his head. Madam Hooch almost disqualified him but the seeker came and took it from him before she could blow her whistle." Xander bounced lightly. "They're having a small party right now. Quite fun really. Game went four hours and a bit. The Ravenclaws tried to challenge Denver because of his medicine, but they lost."

"Good. I've seen him play without it. He really did look odd with his broom tilted off to the right. So they won?"

"By about two hundred points," Fred agreed. "McGonagall was cheering quite loudly."

Xander giggled. "Yeah, the kids are neat little creatures."

"And now we've got two more in the family." Fred handed over a photograph, watching as Xander touched the two wiggling babies. "They're quite fussy still."

"Wesley told me that they have a clue where Buffy and her son might be."

"Son?"

"Son," Xander agreed, smiling at him. "But don't tell Ron, I want to see his face when he sees his son, if we get him back."

"I won't. It'd be cruel. He hoped for weeks that the kids were boys." He crossed his feet. "Do you need anything?"

"Healing potion. I hate hospitals. This one is great, but it's the whole idea of being helpless."

"Xander, you're going to need your kneecap replaced. You're going to be immobile for a bit."

"Yay. With crutches I can get around." He nodded. "I will find a way to move on my own! I really will. No more nurses wiping my butt or anything like that."

Fred snickered. "I'm sure you'll be out of here soon and George can do that for you."

"Eww."

"You let him do all manner of things to it but he can't clean it for you?"

"Not when it's dirty!"

"That makes no sense."

"Things like that hardly ever do." He handed back the photograph. "How's everyone else?"

"Mum's happily trying to take the twins to watch every day, with little luck. Dad's quite happy that everything's running smoothly at work right now. Percy's still pissed with his underlings because they're being cranky with him. Apparently Percy thinks that they don't really need to be in the office all hours of the night. The researchers are against the new policy limiting them to eighteen hour days."

Xander laughed. "They're going to fight with him. Real researches will live in the library. If he asks Willow she might even help him translate from geek to Percy language."

Fred coughed to hide the laugh. "I'll suggest it to him. He's about to have a heart attack because of the stress they're giving him."

"Was he at the game?"

"No, he was swatting the researchers out of the lab. He got there about ten minutes before it ended and is spending time with the kids today. He brought up Tanada to play with her new cousins. Hopefully they'll form a group like the older four have. Anastasia and Ravena are both lonely because they don't have anyone to play with."

"Yeah, but Anastasia will be here next year." He blinked. "I mean at the school, not here here." Fred nodded. "Sorry, drugs. I'm on a small dosage and it messes with my head sometimes."

"It's okay," Fred agreed. "George warned us. Dad said he'll be in later tonight. He came the other day but you were sedated."

Xander looked down at his foot, then pointed to it. "They're going to have to trim some of the dead stuff tomorrow. It'll be really helpful and they think it'll help the flesh heal faster."

"Good. What about Snape?"

"He's making me something but I'm not sure when it'll be done." He shrugged. "Whenever it's done, I'll be more than happy to drink it or whatever. I hate hospitals."

"I know you do. You've spent too much time in them already. George was ranting about that same thing last night."

"Ooh, I'm sorry."

"It's okay." Fred patted him on the thigh. "Worry about getting better. The faster you get better, the faster things get back to normal. And we would all like normal again."

"Okay." Xander moved the sheet and swung his legs around, looking like he was going to get up.

"Whoa, what are you doing?" Fred asked, trying to make him lay back down. "Get back into that bed, Xander." A nurse came hurrying in. "He's trying to get up."

"I need to practice walking so I can go home faster," Xander told her.

"Well, you can do that tomorrow, once they talk to you about your knee, Mr. Harris. Back into that bed!" She helped him lay back down. "Stay there! You're not allowed to get up and wander yet." She glared at Fred. "He's very suggestible while he's on his pain medicine. Do watch what you say."

Doctor Carter came in, smiling at them. "He trying to get out already?" She checked Xander over. "Naughty you," she said with a fond smile, like she was talking to a little kid. "You can't walk until we fix your knee."

"Okay," Xander sighed. "Can we do that soon? I need to get back to work and back to the store, and maybe even into the lab." He gave Fred a cute look. "Please? I really don't mean to drive you out."

"I know," Fred told him. "But I'm not comfortable working beside you. You need to build your own lab."

"I bet I could use something in my rooms," Xander offered.

"If you can get McGonagall to agree," Fred agreed.

"You work in a lab?" the doctor asked.

"I run a small joke shop," he explained. "Jokes for people like us."

"That's cool," she said, smiling at him. "Will they work on me?" Fred and Xander both shrugged. "Can I try something?"

Fred patted himself down, then came out with a small wrapped package. "This is his design." Fred showed it to Xander. "We had to individually wrap half-inch pieces," he told the other wizard. "The kids were buying it in huge hunks and getting sick." He handed it to her. "It's supposed to make you feel like you're being tickled."

She popped the chewy candy into her mouth and grabbed her sides, wincing even as she laughed. The nurse gave her worried looks but she waved it off. When she stopped, five minutes later, she had to rush to the bathroom first, then came out and congratulated them both. "I've never felt anything like that. That is so cool." She patted Xander, then Fred. "I like you guys. You guys are a lot more fun than nearly all of my patients, except the clown."

"Please, no clowns," Xander begged.

"You don't like clowns?"

"He's afraid of clowns," Fred told her.

Xander nodded. "One scared me when I was little. I hate clowns."

"All right, I won't ask him to come visit you," the doctor agreed. "We have a counselor here if you'd like to use him to work on that. He's heard about every other fear."

Xander shook his head. "The only one I really have to work through is this fear of losing my leg." He touched it to make sure it was still there. Since he couldn't feel most of it, he did this a lot. "I'm going to be okay, right?"

The doctor nodded. "I don't think you're going to lose it, Xander. The burns are healing very well and it should be fine. Even your knee will heal much more than it has."

"What about the feeling?" he asked pitifully.

"I'm not sure," she said honestly. She looked at Fred. "Are you George?"

Fred nodded.

"That's a Fred-shaped person," Xander told her, smiling at his brother-in-law. "Fred has the bigger nose by a quarter of an inch and he sits differently."

"That's good to know." She smiled at Fred. "I guess all twins do it."

Fred nodded. "We still get to pull it over on our mother at least once a month."

The doctor laughed. "Good on you." She smiled at Xander. "We don't know why you can't feel half of your calf or lower, Xander. We're going to be checking the nerves tomorrow, while you're under for surgery. It could determine how much tissue we remove. If I had to guess right now, without having a nerve conductivity test in front of me, I'd say that some of the nerves in your leg were severed by the burns. If it's that, then they won't regrow but you can learn to get around that. If it's damaged, it could grow back."

"What's the worst that could happen?" Fred asked.

"The damage could be so severe that we'd have to take off his leg because the healthy tissue is starting to die. I sincerely doubt that's going on. There's no question that it's impacted some nerves, but not to that level. So the worst thing right now is that Xander never feels his foot again and has to use crutches of some sort."

Xander nodded. "I can handle that. Will I have gross scars or ones like on my arm?"

"I noticed that one. What did that?"

"Stove."

"Oh. Accidental?"

"More or less. Drunken parent." He shrugged at the pitied look she gave him. "They're dead and I lived. So, will it be gross scars?"

"Most likely, it's going to be more gross than not. Maybe some wrinkles, some thin spots. We'll need to see if you need a skin graft to cover any of the areas." She smiled at him. "If you do, the scars will look like stretched and plastic skin."

"I can live with whatever as long as my husband can look at it," Xander told her.

Fred poked him. "He's not going to be scared off by some scarring. He's not like that."

"I know, but if it's that gross, I don't want him to get sick every time he sees them," Xander told him.

"That's a worry every patient in this facility has," Dr. Carter told Fred. "The worry that their lover/husband/wife/dog/cat/goldfish will send them away because now they're ugly and horribly scarred. I don't think it'll matter once he sees them, Xander, but he might take a few days to get used to it. He might even want to touch them to get used to the new texture and feeling of them."

"Hey, I can't feel them," Xander said philosophically.

"You're taking this very well," the doctor praised.

"I'll cry later," Xander pointed out.

Fred stood up and gave him a hug. "George will be back tonight." Xander nodded against his chest. "You'll get through this together." The door opened and Draco walked in. "Done with the kids already?"

"They're deep into their house celebration. Iggy slipped out and got them pastries." He smiled at Xander. "How are you today?"

"Okay," Xander told him. "We were just talking about what sort of scars I'll have."

Draco looked at the bandages. "I'd say bloody horrible ones, but I might be wrong." He sat down, putting his feet on the edge of the bed. "I take it you've heard that the game went in favor of our children?"

"Yeah," Xander said with a goofy grin. He patted Fred's arm. "I'm okay. But you can continue to cuddle if you want."

Fred snorted and sat back down. "Thanks, but my brother would kill me." He winked at Xander. "I've found a woman."

"Really? A decent one?" Draco asked.

"Yup." Fred gave him a smug look. "You'll see at the next family dinner."

"Hopefully she'll be better than the last one introduced to the family," Xander said dryly, looking at Fred.

"She has no problem with you, Xander. I already made sure." Fred continued to smile smugly. "You'll meet her soon enough."

Draco cleared his throat. "I think I need to butt in with some of the children. Would anyone mind?"

"Hey, if you think you need to, tell me your plans. I'll help if I can."

"Thank you." He looked over as the door opened, smiling at the former Head of his house. "Professor Snape," he greeted. "Did you have something to get the big drugged one out of here sooner?"

"Yes, I think I might." He nodded at the doctor. "Are you sure you wish to stay? This is an experimental design and not allowed out into the rest of the world." He stared her down until she agreed. "Then please remove the bandages."

"They don't look that bad," Xander told Draco. "You can stay." He looked at his family. "I could really use some hand holding."

"All right." Draco came to stand on Xander's other side, watching as the bandages are removed. "They do look less sickening," he agreed. "Almost like normal injuries." He took Xander's hand as Professor Snape flicked a drop of the potion onto Xander's leg, watching as that piece of flesh healed. "Great," he said.

"Brilliant," Fred agreed. "Wait until George hears."

"It has to be drunk first," Snape told them. "Then we'll see." He handed the flagon over. "Drink it all." He watched the burns as Xander drank, hoping that this one worked. There wasn't a specific healing potion for burns so he used the most powerful general one he could find. He let out his breath when he saw the burns starting to heal.

"Oh!" the doctor said, coming closer to watch them heal. "This is great!" She looked at Snape. "Are you sure it can't get out yet?"

"It's not exactly approveable medicine," Draco told her gently.

"I understand that, but I'm willing to buck the medical boards to use this on some of my worst patients." Snape shook his head. "You can't?"

"It's got ingredients that could potentially hurt people," Snape told her. He glanced at Xander, who nodded. So he pulled out the ingredient list. "This is what's in it."

She looked it over, frowning. "I don't know half of these herbs."

"Some of them are very difficult to find. A few I had to grow to get them at all. And a few of them are deadly in the wrong doses."

"Which would probably be different for everybody," she said, understanding. She handed the form back. "If I could ask you on occasion, with the worst of cases, especially with the little kids, could I get you to look at them?"

Snape considered it. Then he slumped. "It can't get out that this works. It's forbidden knowledge among our kind."

"Because it's deadly in the wrong strength?" she asked. He nodded. "I can understand that, but some of my patients will die if I don't do something extreme."

"Give her Madam Pomfrey's number," Xander said quietly. "Let her be the one to make the decision. She's our school nurse and would know more about what could and couldn't work outside our group."

The doctor nodded. "I can do that. It would help me a great deal and I wouldn't use it too often." She smiled at Snape, who didn't smile back. "Smile," she told him. "It worked. It healed sixty percent of his injuries." She walked over to his left side and probed his knee with her fingers. "Not that though. Okay, so mostly healed, and you still need a new kneecap. I can schedule that for you for two days from now?" Xander nodded. "Okay. And with them at this level, if I can meet with your school nurse, I can tell her what'll be needed and you can go home, Mr. Harris."

Xander grinned at Fred. "I'm almost free of the hospital. I'll get cuddles again."

"I know you will," Fred agreed. He watched as Xander lost consciousness. "Is that normal?"

"It took a great deal of his physical strength to heal that," Snape told him. "I'd expect him to sleep for a few hours and want protein when he gets up." He looked at the doctor. "I will tell Madam Pomfrey that you wish to speak to her and let her decide on that matter," he told her. "I will abide by her decisions."

"Hey, I'd just be happy if they didn't die," Dr. Carter told him. "Them living for years would be one of my happiest wishes." She smiled at Xander, then looked at Fred. "I'm not going to say anything about his miraculous recovery, just that he's being released into his usual health care provider's care and might need out patient care." Fred smiled and nodded. "Good. Now let's wrap this back up so no one suspects. I'll do his nightly bandage change myself." She efficiently wrapped it up. "There, all set. When do you think she could come in?"

"I can talk to her tonight and I'll pass word back," Snape told her. She nodded and left. "This could get dangerous," he told the other two. "She is still a muggle."

"From what she's said, burns like Xander's have a high mortality rate," Draco said quietly. "I asked her how serious this could have been. She said that they lose a third of the patients who come in the doors because burns are such picky things." He went back to his seat and put his feet back up. "While I don't *like* them, some muggles have proven to be useful at least. Even when I was evil I wasn't in favor of a total annihilation plan. It'd lead to a lot of problems within our own bloodlines and some muggles are quite entertaining. Some create rather pretty artwork, some write plays that I enjoy, and some are useful because they do work like that doctor does." Fred knocked his feet down before he sat down. "I think the worst that could happen is that she has to be obliviated," he finished quietly.

Snape considered it, it was a wise thought. Strange to come from Malfoy, but quite well thought out. "I will talk about it with not only Madam Pomfrey, but also with the Elders. I will take their advice as law." Fred nodded. "Do tell him when he gets up. Oh, the Slytherins are most anxious to meet your family on the quidditch pitch. They think they can beat them."

"That's the game after next," Draco told him. "They'll get their wish." He smirked. "I'm almost sorry for my old house. My children are hell on their brooms."

"Especially with the new ones Mr. Weasley got them," Snape told him.

"Oh, yes." He looked at Fred. "Handmade by a small company. Faster than Harry's firebolt ever was and turns on a knut. Smooth handled without a dip in it, perfect twigs. The broom that any professional player would beg for. Ron's putting me in touch with them."

"Harry's probably already talking to them," Fred reminded him.

"That's fine. I can handle him having an equal broom. I plan on bragging to every news outlet when I get one." He smiled at Snape. "If I were still in school, these would have been the brooms I would have had my father buy for my team."

Fred coughed. "We still hate you for that, you do realize that don't you?"

Draco nodded, it didn't bother him in the least.

Xander woke up with a groan and his hands went for the burns. "Itches," he complained when his hands were restrained by Fred. "Got to scratch. Itches badly."

"I know but you can't scratch or they'll get worse and you won't be able to go home in a few days," Fred said reasonably. Xander continued to fight.

"Stop that," Draco said in his best father's voice. Xander whined. "No! No scratching. Play with your ears or something."

Xander sobbed as his legs continued to itch. "Make it stop," he begged as he grabbed Fred to hold.

Draco got up and went to find the doctor, finding her creatively covering up for what had just happened in Xander's room. "He's itching horribly," he said quietly.

"I hadn't thought about that. Let me get him something for that." She signed her name and looked at him. That man was hot! He had this subtle undertone of stalking, menacing, throbbing sexuality. Damn, she needed some of that. "So, are you seeing anyone?"

He gave her a teasing smile. "Technically, I'm affiliated with the mother of my children but we're not official in any sense of the word. She refused me," he said with a small bit of pitiful thrown into his husky voice.

"If you were mine, I'd have tied you down a long time ago," she told him. "But unfortunately, I can't date anyone that's related to a patient, it causes ethical questions to be raised if something happens." She patted him on the very firm chest. "Maybe after he's discharged and all better?"

"I'll be back," he promised.

Fred walked out of the room, giving Draco a frown. "Now? You have to pick up women now?" He shook his head. "I'm telling George on you." He walked away, going to get his brother. Xander needed more comfort than he could give him.

Dr. Carter went to draw some medicine to help with the itching. When she walked into the room, Xander seemed to be frozen. "Gee, you guys are really powerful," she said as she shot it into Xander's thigh. "You can release him, it should take effect in a few minutes." She frowned as the wand was pulled out. "You use a wand? That wasn't a sexual reference?"

Snape raised an eyebrow. "That would depend on who said it." He unfroze Xander, watching as he went limp. "Behave or I'll keep your mate in the hall,"he warned.

"Yes, dad," Xander whined. He gave Snape a pitiful look. "Can you talk to my bird for me too?"

"I've tried," Draco said as he walked back in with George. "He's apparently very upset with you for many things."

"I'll talk with him tonight," George promised as he walked in. He climbed into the bed behind Xander's head, letting him cuddle into his body. "Are you feeling better?"

"We gave him something to help with the itching but it probably didn't take all of it. He can't scratch, George."

"All right. I'll do my best." He looked at Snape. "Did it work?"

"Sixty percent," Dr. Carter told him. "But not his knee. We'll need to fix that before we let him go." She pushed some of her hair back. "He'll be fine now. Possibly only a week more."

George beamed. "Thank you, the both of you."

"You're welcome." She left them alone.

"Madam Pomfrey?" George asked.

"I'm going to talk with her tonight about a few things. I'll bring this up," Snape told him. "I'll also inform McGonagall."

"Thanks," George told him. He watched as the older man walked out. "He was never that nice when we were students."

Draco shrugged. "He was always good to those of us in his house." He smirked. "I have a date."

"Good. Will Ginny approve?"

"She told me the other day that we aren't dating when she told me she was going to be seeing someone this weekend." He shrugged. "Turn about's fair play and all that."

George nodded. "True, but we'll save you a spot to hide in anyway."

"So, what's this about Fred having a girl?" Draco asked, watching Xander's hand as it slipped down toward the burn on his hip. He flicked a spot of energy at it with his wand. "No."

George picked up and held both hands, giving them a massage. Xander moaned, such a sexual sound. "When you get home, I'll do your back," he promised.

"Can I have more of the potion?" Xander asked with a grin. "And what's this about Fred and a woman?"

"She's quite nice. We've had a lot of discussions. Doesn't much like jokes, but they're well suited otherwise. Elizabeth is her name and she's a chef." Xander moaned again as he hit a pressure point in his palm. "She made the most fantastic dish for mum the other day. Owns a small restaurant in London but spends quite a few nights over. They get loud, very very loud."

Xander giggled. "So do we."

"Not like that," George told him. "We've had a neighbor complain."

"Oooh," Xander said, smiling. "Can I tease?"

"Why not, I have," George offered. He leaned down and gave him a kiss on the forehead. "You need to get better. I was helping Ron with the Gryffindors yesterday and they were miserable because you weren't going to get to see the game." He stole another kiss. "One more week?"

"One more week and then we can hop into the nest and make a lot of noise. Oh, did McGonagall get onto you about the noise we make when we turn the tv up?" George shook his head. "Apparently when we turned up the tv to hide the laughing and screaming we pissed Snape off. He complained about our noise."

"I'll glare at him for it tomorrow. Right now, I'm willing to forgive him for it."

"She threatened to take the tv away."

"We'll buy you a new one," George soothed. He didn't understand Xander's appreciation of the movies they watched, but Xander liked them a lot more than anyone he knew. Maybe a few weeks without it would put it back into perspective for him. Xander gave him a pitiful look. Okay, so maybe Xander had his reasons for liking it so much. Xander nodded, still giving him the pitiful look. "Dear, that's creepy," he told him.

"It only happens when I'm laying on you."

"So I can't think about you when you lay on me?" George asked.

"No, I appreciate hearing what you think about me," Xander said honestly. "Sometimes you think I'm cute and funny and sometimes I get really great insight into what you think about me and why I piss you off."

George rolled his eyes. "If you say so. Quit sharing though, okay?"

"Okay." Xander closed his eyes, a happy look on his face.

"Huh?" Draco asked.

"Because of this incident Xander can touch those thought streams that Iggy was trying to explain to you the other day. Right now, he can hear what I'm thinking whenever he's resting on me."

"That's creepy," Draco agreed. "Can he hear anything else?"

"Not as far as I know," Xander said. He opened his eyes and looked at his 'son'. "Usually I only hear from people thinking about me." He grimaced. "And I'm not a freak. I'm just very connected to the flood right now."

"We're going to ask about how to get him a little farther away," George told him. Xander looked up at him. "Think about sex like this, honey."

Xander nodded. "Okay. We'll ask about separating me from the flood," he agreed. He yawned. "Can I nap on you?"

"Sure, nap on me." George looked at Draco. "So, the doctor?"

"The doctor," Draco smirked. "Quite a nice woman, even though she's not one of us."

"This could give you a reputation," George warned. Draco shrugged. "That doesn't bother you?"

"It's a date, I'm not planning on having children with her."

"Still, Draco."

"No, it'll be fine. No one will say anything to my face." He smiled. "No one would dare do that." He shrugged. "It'll be put down as experimentation. Besides, do I care what the others think? They didn't like me dating your sister either. I didn't listen to the stupid idiots then, I won't now."

"We'll save you a hiding spot," George repeated.

Draco shrugged. "If it pleases you to do so." He smiled as the doctor came back in, watching her body as she moved.

"Stop it," she chided. "I can't concentrate." She checked Xander over, then smiled at George. "I pulled a minor miracle. Someone is coming in tomorrow to fix his knee. It'll be a short surgery and he'll go home with crutches in four days. He'll probably end up with a cane, but it's the best we could have hoped for."

George teared up and pulled her into a hug. "Thank you."

"You're welcome."

"Honey, there are tits in my face," Xander noted. He hugged his doctor too. "Thank you."

"You're welcome, Xander. Patients like you make my year. You'll have to tell me how you're doing sometime." She winked at Draco before leaving.

"Ooh, someone's getting some," Xander teased.

"I find her fascinating," Draco said with a shrug. "Such a vital woman with such a large heart." He glanced at the door. "She can't be fully muggle."

"Who knows," George said, not wanting to burst his bubble.

***

Xander was snuck back into the school late Thursday night and was stopped by McGonagall. "Your office?" he suggested after seeing the look on her face.

"Yes, we should probably talk." She let him lead the way since he was slower. "How do you feel?"

"Better. Much, much better." He hopped up the stairs and headed for his favorite chair. "So, what's up? Besides the fact that I'm now out of vacation and sick days until I'm old and grayer."

She laughed. "Only for the next two years, Xander. Not that long." She sat behind the desk. "I've taken your television." She held up a hand. "You need to focus on other things right now and the new Department of Technology wanted to look at it to see how you charmed it." Xander shrugged. "I would prefer that you not bring in another one."

"I'm going to make a rude gesture," he told her. "Mine. I need that to cover up the noises and to give me noise. Otherwise I can't work."

"I'm sorry, but it's not a part of the wizarding world. You should be used to it by now."

"Yay! I need to have the noise. Otherwise I'm going to go insane and then you're going to have to deal with that."

She sighed. "I'm sorry, Xander. You'll get it back in a few weeks." His face hardened. "Surely George will be around that long."

"But George doesn't babble noise at me while I'm grading horrible essays. I *need* that noise or I'm going to go insane."

She rolled her eyes. "You'll get it back."

"No, tell them to keep it. George promised to help me shop for a bigger one," he said with a grin. She rolled her eyes agin. "I'm thinking forty inch screen, flat panel if I can find it..."

She grimaced. "No, Xander. Nothing that puts out more noise." He smirked at her. "If I get one more complaint from Professor Snape...."

Xander leaned over. "I could always quit," he reminded her.

Her mouth opened. "You'd do that?"

"If George wanted me to," he agreed. "I'll have a talk with Snape. It's not *that* often that we make love on the couch, and I'm surprised he can hear it."

"There's a duct down to his dungeons and he can hear it through the wall."

Xander shrugged. "Then he's probably heard a lot more than the tv."

She blushed. "Yes, he said something about that also." She glared at him. "Can't you keep it down?"

"No." He looked incredibly happy with that fact.

She grimaced. "Well, you're going to have to try, Xander. It's upsetting him and he's being even more cranky with the students. We can't have that."

"Like I said, I can always quit."

"No, you can't."

"Yeah, I can. George is worried about how my teaching fighting is affecting me. He pointed out that I've changed since Iggy was born. He's worried that I'm going to not change back, that I'm going to continue to use a cannon in place of a .22 and it scares him." He patted his crutches. "I think I've learned my lesson, but he's worried that I'm going to continue to slip into hunter mode the longer I teach."

She pursed her lips together and nodded. "I can see how that would worry him. It worries me sometimes, how much you've fought the dark side and how much of a risk you're willing to take. There's now a permanent burn mark on the flagstones, right where you were standing, in the shape of your feet."

He shrugged. "Sorry, I didn't know it was going to do that. Gryphons only get a bad tingling as the energy passes through them."

"You're not a gryphon."

"You know, George said the same thing," he told her dryly. He stood up. "I can pack if you want or I can wait until you find someone else to hire."

"Sit down!" she ordered. He sat and looked at her. "You are not leaving this school. You've worked much too hard to protect it to ever leave it for real." She looked him over. "What do you want to change?"

"I'd like a raise," he said with a grin. "And a bigger tv. And maybe someone to take over my training class next year so I quit worrying George. I'll take over Black's place and you find someone to take over the physical training and fighting part of the class."

She nodded slowly. "I can do that. It's obvious that you're not going to be able to fight for quite a bit anyway."

"I'll end up with a cane," he agreed. "No more running for me."

"Then I'll gladly let you buy a bigger tv and find you a replacement for that part of your class." She leaned back in her chair. "The raise however is out of the question. The budget is just too tight."

"I haven't had a raise since I got here," Xander pointed out.

"Really? The rest of us got raises last year." She frowned. "Three galleons a month."

"Going up to five more next school year?"

She nodded. "That's the amount the rest of us got." She smiled as the door opened and George walked in. "Did you have a good talk with your son?"

"Quite. He'll let you surprise everyone but the family by showing up at breakfast." He gave his husband a kiss on the cheek. "Are you all set?"

"Yup, but we're going to have to buy a new tv this weekend."

"That's fine, dear. With the exchange rate they're not that expensive." He patted him on the head. "You can get one that's large enough to not need a spell to see. And a tape player that won't eat the tapes." He smiled at McGonagall. "Did I just hear my beloved taking advantage of you and asking for a raise?"

She nodded. "Can you think of a better time?" Xander asked with a grin.

"No, not really." He smiled at her. "Don't worry, I'll keep his avarice down to a minimum."

"Ooh, I could switch to dvd's."

"What are they?" George asked.

"A different format to put the movies on. They're smaller, lighter, and last forever 'cause they can't be eaten."

"Dear, you have just over six hundred tapes."

"They make combination machines," Xander told him.

"All right, you two, go talk about this in your rooms. And behave. Quietly if possible. I'll look into blocking off that vent to Snape's room."

George blushed. "He's heard us?"

"Apparently," Xander agreed. "He complained about the noise."

"We'll just have to make more noise then," George said happily

"Dear, he is responsible for me being out of the hospital this soon. We can make a little noise tonight and bug the shit outa him tomorrow. 'Kay?"

George considered it then nodded. "That sounds fine with me." He helped his husband to his feet. "We'll see you at breakfast. Save me a seat if you would be so kind." He smiled at her and let Xander walk down the stairs first. "You're completely naughty," he chided. "Asking for a raise."

"I offered to quit," Xander said quietly. "Besides, I'm the only one who didn't get a raise last year." George pinched him on the butt cheek. "Ow! Wait until we're in the room. You don't know who's sneaking around."

"Not sneaking exactly," Denver said, rushing over to give him a hug. "You're back. I'm so happy! Can you talk to Iggy about pranking the shits who're bothering us? He won't, he's being noble again."

"Sure. Tomorrow." Xander let him go. "Now scoot before I have to give points for being out of bed." Denver took off at a run, back to his house.

"Usually they take points," George reminded him as they started walking.

"Like I'm going to do that because he wanted a hug," Xander said derisively. "Let someone else do it if he's caught. Not getting caught is a good sign that he's able to uphold the family motto of pranking, fun, and sneaking around."

"That's the family motto?" George asked, opening both doors for him. It widened so Xander wouldn't have to jump to get through. "Thank you," he called. He closed the door behind him and locked them both, then found Ron waiting on them. "Staying to watch us have sex?" he asked.

"Kids are napping in the nest," Ron countered.

"Honey, did you want to take the bed then?" Xander asked.

"Ewww," Ron said with a shudder. "Not in front of me!"

"Hey, you can leave them here," George offered. "But I haven't had sex in over a month and I'd appreciate some tonight. So out!" His brother left them alone. "Thank Merlin." He locked the door again, this time casting a small locking spell to make *sure* Ron wasn't getting back in. He turned and found his husband pleasingly laid out for him on the bed, and partially asleep. He would wake him up. He stopped briefly to check on the twins, they were happily napping for now. Time to make some noise!

Downstairs, Snape groaned and cast a silencing charm on that infernal vent. Those two were annoying! He didn't need to hear their happiness when he was without someone to share his with.

***

Xander hopped into the Great Hall the next morning and applause broke out. "Yes, I'm back and still living. Believe it or not. I'm okay enough to teach too. So yes, I'm giving exams as a welcome back gift to you all." There was some comical groaning, but no one looked disappointed. It was exam time after all. Xander sat down in his seat next to Tara and smiled at her. "I itch," he told her.

She giggled. "Of course you do. Where's George?"

"Showering off the goo he had to spread under the bandages." He looked over as Madam Pomfrey walked in holding a small jar. "But I already put that on," he said as she walked up to him.

"This is the new stuff," she told him. "It has something to stop the itching."

He lunged across the table and hugged her. "You are so great," he told her. "Such a saint of niceness."

George walked in and looked at them. "Another healing potion?"

"Tomorrow," she told him. "Today I bring gel with anti-itch medicine." She was surprised when George hugged her too. Tara leaned over and took the tub of gel from her with a smile. "Boys, you're embarrassing me," she whispered. Everyone was watching them.

"She made the burns quit itching!" Xander announced. The students cheered. He grinned at her. "We should put an appreciation day out for you."

She blushed and shook her head, walking away as quickly as she could.

McGonagall looked down at him. "I do believe you embarrassed her," she pointed out.

"But she stopped the itching," Xander told her. "Itching is bad, it makes me want to scratch, which will open the burns back up."

"We definitely need to send her flowers then," McGonagall agreed as she went back to eating her breakfast.

Tara handed over the gel. "I can help spread it if you want," she offered. "I'm good at gels."

"Thanks," George told her. "You can do it while I'm at work today." She nodded. "Has anyone said anything about his classes?"

"Not yet," Tara told him. She smiled as Black and Lupin walked in together, talking. "But they might."

They stopped in front of Xander, staring at him. "You're really back?" Black asked.

Xander nodded. "And I'm going to be taking over your spot in our joint class," he said happily.

Lupin laughed. "I don't think that should be such a hardship. It'll be nice to have someone else come in and do the physical training parts."

"Yes, it will," George agreed. "He's leaving the physical stuff to someone else from now on."

Black tipped his head to the side. "Did you want me to do that?"

"That means you don't have a free period," McGonagall pointed out. "And it clashes with your sixth year Hufflepuff/Ravenclaw class."

"Good point." He shrugged. "Sorry, I'd take it back but I can't do that." He hopped up and took his usual seat, which faced Xander and George. "Can you get around on those things?"

"About as good as I walk," Xander told him. "Not the first time I've had braces, crutches, or even painful injuries. I'll survive." He looked at McGonagall. "Are you forming a hiring committee for my old post?"

"Old post?" Tara asked.

"Just the physical training one," George soothed. "He had to have his kneecap replaced so he can't do that anymore." They had decided to keep the real reason between them and those who already knew.

"I was thinking about having Mr. Weasley do it," McGonagall told them.

"But he doesn't have a free period then either," Xander reminded her. He looked over as the rest of his family walked in together, waving at them. His son ran up and hugged him tightly. "I missed you too," he whispered. "But I'm going to be okay."

"Good." Iggy backed up and looked at his other father. "Are you going to be running the store or doing the lab today?"

"Lab probably. It's Fred's day to run the shop."

"Cool. Does that mean you're not coming to the team meeting tonight?"

George patted him on the back. "I'll do my best, son. Go eat." Iggy went down to his seat and told the cousins what he had been told.

Harry, Ron, and Draco came up to join the other teachers. "Does this mean we're free now?" Harry asked.

"Only if one of you doesn't want to cover the physical portion of my advanced class."

Harry and Draco looked at each other, then shrugged. They had free schedules for the most part. Seekers didn't get much training outside of 'catch the ball' exercises and were always the first ones done. "Sure," they said together. They sat down and started to talk about what they would have changed when they went through it, with some input from Ron.

McGonagall smiled at Xander. "Very nicely done," she mouthed. She stood up and headed up to her office. She had to find the money to give Xander his raise.

Xander looked at his clan. All those there were happy, healthy, and reasonably sane. All was right in his world for now. The feeling of peacefulness flowed across him again. He liked that stuff. It was all good.

***

Xander looked over as his son walked into his classroom, pointing at the chair next to him. "What's this I hear about you being picked on?" he asked, finishing the test question he was working on.

"It's that group of idiots. They're picking on me because I'm smarter."

Xander shifted to look at his son. "Do you think they'll stop if you ignore them?"

"So far, no evidence exists that they'll stop at all," Iggy said with a shrug. "But what can I do?"

"Iggy, what does that little voice in your head tell you?" Xander asked quietly.

"To pull a prank so mean that they'll cry whenever they see me for the next month," he admitted quietly, looking down at his wand and hands. "Daddy, if I do that, then I'm just as bad as someone like Melody is."

Xander reached over and tipped his son's face back up. "No you're not. She did hers out of malice. You're doing yours out of self-preservation. There is a difference." He let the thin chin go. "Are they bothering your cousins too?"

Iggy nodded, looking miserable. "I feel like I'm letting them down by not doing something."

"Then do something," Xander told him. "Make them wish they had been smarter than to pick on you." He grinned. "I can help you plan it if you want, as long as you keep it quiet."

Iggy stood up and shook his head, his face resolute. "No, I know what I'm doing." He smiled. "I promise I won't hurt him." He grabbed a hug. "Thank you for understanding."

"Hey, I got picked on all the time. Of course, I didn't have any magic to get back at the idiots, but I managed. I'll understand, whatever you do is okay with me. Got it?" Iggy nodded. "Then go run for class." Iggy ran out of the room, his Uncle Ron had given him a ten minute lateness allowance so he could talk to his father. Xander picked up his pen and went back to writing out his exam. He had to change it subtly every year or he'd get cheaters.

***

Iggy had planned this prank out flawlessly. The head idiot of the group had an elective class up in the North tower today and none of his friends took Divination with him. So he was waiting in the darkened side hall for his prey. As soon as he heard the heavy footsteps he stepped out and stunned the other boy. Then he floated him down the hallway before anyone could see. He set up his victim and then hung him back in the hallway. He even still had his wand if he could figure out a way to get down.

That didn't keep his new skirt from riding up and showing off his girl's panties though.

Iggy walked away whistling, and met McGonagall rushing up the hall. "Oh, leave him," he whined. "He deserves it!"

"Young man, my office," she snarled. She hurried on to get that poor boy down.

Iggy turned and clamped the chains with a lock and glared at the both of them. "No one picks on me and gets away with it," he told them, smirking when the boy realized what he was wearing. "I'm just warming up," he pointed out. "I can do worse, if my anger keeps growing." The boy started to cry. "Do we have an understanding?" The boy nodded so Iggy let him drop to the floor, watching as McGonagall got him straightened out. "Leave me and my family alone, Sean Inghrams, or you'll pay worse," he warned as the boy ran past him, hands holding down the skirt. He heard laughter from the main hall and was rejoicing in it until his ear was grabbed. "He deserved it!" he yelled as he was carted to the Headmistress' office. "I want my fathers!"

"I'm sure you do," she told him, forcing him into a chair. "He's on his way up right now. I doubt this is what he meant when he told you to prank the poor boy."

"Poor boy?" Iggy shrieked, standing up. "After what he did to me yesterday? Do you have any idea what that potion does when it's left on the skin for more than a few minutes?"

"Yes, it burns," McGonagall told him seriously. "And I did reprimand him for it."

"Gee, did you also get him for saying that I should be as ugly as my father and just as marked as being unhuman?" he sneered. "Because that's what he said that snapped me. And personally, I'm going to fight back. Fuck the injustice of me being more powerful, he should know better."

"You are not here because you are more powerful, you are here to learn, young man."

"Which I can't do with people like him picking on me." He sat back down, crossing his arms. "I doubt anyone's going to be doing it again, don't you?"

She shrugged. "There are some who will now step up to test themselves against you."

He shook his head. "I took care of them at the beginning of the year, ma'am. And I don't care who they are, a duel is a hell of a lot nicer than being burned."

"Who got burned?" Xander asked as he hopped in. He saw the hard looks and shrugged. "Personally, I think the putting him in a skirt and panties was mean, but perfect. Even though you probably ruined his school career and people will pick on him, at least he'll stop." He sat down with a sigh of relief. He had been on his feet when the house elf had come into his classroom. "Iggy, did I say to do something damaging?"

"You said I could make him cry."

McGonagall glared at Xander. "That was not acceptable," she told him in her most shrill voice.

"My kid's the only one who's supposed to cry?" Xander asked her coldly. She flinched away from him. "This war has gone on long enough. I suggested he do something that would end it, once and for all. Which he did. It was a bit more extreme than I would have done, but I wholly stand behind his actions. That kid has had so many complaints and you haven't done a damn thing to him. Giving him tea and suggesting mildly that he shouldn't pick on the other students didn't stop anything. How many times have you had him up here now?"

"That's not the point. Iggy did something so horribly damaging to that boy...."

"Yay," Xander interrupted. He pulled up his son's sleeve, showing off the marks from the enchanted teeth that kid had hexed to bite him. "Do you think this wasn't?" He let his son's arm go. "As far as I'm concerned, this could be a war. That kid has tortured my son and you've done *nothing*. If Iggy stuck up for himself, good for him." He stood up. "And if you try and kick Iggy out for this, you'd better be getting the Inghrams up here too." He put an arm around his son's waist. "We're going to go back to class now. Excuse us."

"Sit, Xander," McGonagall ordered. "Ignatius, go to your house and wait for me."

"Fuck off," Iggy told her. "I'm not going anywhere without my father. I'll be damned if anyone's going to hurt him further. He's still healing from the last time." He stared her down, even when she figured out what he was saying and went white. "You're not hurting my father and that kid's not hurting me. End of discussion. You want me gone, I'll go and head to one of the foreign schools. I'm sure I can find one that'll take me." He crossed his arms as the door flung open. "Hi, Uncle Draco. Go away."

"No." He pushed Iggy into the chair and looked at Xander. "You sit too," he said calmly. He looked at McGonagall. "There's a Ministry idiot at the door," he told her. "You're wanted. Let me handle this."

McGonagall stood up. "We will be discussing this later," she warned as she went to deal with the auror.

Draco looked at Iggy. "While that was funny...." Iggy pulled up his sleeve to show off the scar from the biting teeth. "I'm aware of that, but it was inappropriate to react in that manner. Making him a laughing stock won't stop him. Hurting him back would only turn him madder at you."

"Butt out," Xander told him. "Iggy has every right to fight back. That kid's put him into the infirmary three times in the last month." He stood up. "Deal with it. It happened and I'm not sorry it happened. If he wants to call his mommy and daddy then let him. We can talk about this with them too."

Draco shook his head. "The Inghrams won't talk about this, Xander. They're lawyers for the Ministry."

"Yay! Their son is torturing other students!" Xander said hotly. The fire in the fireplace whooshed up, and a few flames licked the external stones. He took a deep breath. "If they're lawyers then they should know what their son is doing is wrong."

McGonagall walked back in with the auror, and glared at her fireplace. "Do calm yourself, *Professor* Harris. Your temper is not warranted in this case."

"You're letting the little asshole hurting my son off with some tea and sympathy. My anger is totally normal. I just hope it's never your niece." He turned and found the auror standing there. "Hey, Craig. What's up?"

"I need advice, sir," Craig told him. "We're apparently dealing with a person who turned into a type of wood demon and we can't be sure if it's dangerous or not."

"Come downstairs. I can look it up for you. Iggy?"

"Leave him with me," Draco said quietly. Xander looked at him. "Am I or am I not your proclaimed son?" Xander nodded and left his son there. Draco looked at Iggy. "I agree, you had every right to fight back, but to take it to that level instead of reacting on the same level that he was pushing was highly inappropriate," he told him.

"It was inappropriate for him to react at all," McGonagall corrected.

Draco turned to look at her. "No, it wasn't," he said reasonably. "You've done nothing to stop this situation because the Inghrams were your childhood friends." He smiled. "I can call them if you won't. I won't allow this to go on either, and I am still on the Board of Regents. I will bring this before them, and tell his father *exactly* what he's done." McGonagall shuddered. "Now, either you deal with this in a fair and reasonable manner, or I will be forced to act as a Regent."

She waved a hand. "Then do so. Iggy, you are under suspension. You will not leave your house for the next week."

He snorted. "Yay." He stood up. "That's not a punishment. And like I said, if he comes near me again, I'm taking him out next time. One more incident and you'll have a dead student." He walked out, going up to his room.

Draco shook his head. "That was a very unwise decision," he told her, then he left too. He had to see someone about this matter. The Inghrams were also friends of his father's on one side of the couple. He grabbed his broom, it was only a few minutes flying since they lived about twenty miles up the road. As soon as he landed on their doorstep, he smiled his best smile at the Inghram he served with. "May I come in?" he asked politely. "There's been something going on that I think McGonagall hasn't told you." The older man let him in and Draco smiled and kissed the wife's hand. "Charming to meet you at last," he said with his best courtly manner. "We really must talk about your son." He was shown into a drawing room and sat down to tell them what their beloved son was doing. He finished with the phrase, "I haven't seen action like that since hearing about my father's days in school by way of a projection. Unfortunately, his target will fight back and has vowed to continue this fight."

The father looked at his wife and shook his head. "I knew letting that boy in early was a mistake."

She shook her head. "No, the son is wrong. He's hurt that boy."

"So? It was fine form when we went."

Draco shook his head. "It's not anymore. It hasn't since before I went." He stood up. "There's one point I forgot to mention. I am aligned with the Harris' because of who Xander's husband is, and the fact that one of his family has my children." They both looked unimpressed. "That means I'll have to fight you on this. While I don't want to, I will do so if it comes down to it. Your son will be expelled under the torture and bodily harm rules." He straightened out his coat. "And if you think the board won't back me, they will." He smiled, looking very much like his father at that moment. "I'm sure I can make them see reason on this matter. After all, what's one boy compared to the health of half of his house? Or the problems that the other students have been having?"

"Why haven't we been told of these other students?" the mother asked.

Draco smiled. "Because you went to school with the Headmistress and were friends with her. She's trying to spare you some disappointment with your offspring."

"I still think that boy shouldn't be there yet. One more year wouldn't have mattered and he'd be in more control of himself."

Draco laughed coldly. "Ignatius has more control than I do most days. This time your son drove him too far. Trying to burn him to death and taunting him about his father's injuries, gotten while defending our school, was a bit too much." The father frowned. "Maybe you never taught your son subtly, but even mine has remarked on how much he's going to kill yours." The mother gasped. "I think you need to sit down and read the complaints. The ones from the teachers and the ones from the students. I know Snape has put in at least three complaints in the last few weeks, and we both know he's not going to lie." The father slumped and the wife started to cry. It was obviously an act, but it would have to do for now. "I'll leave you now, but it had better stop. Before my son has to get into the act and embarrasses your son even more." He nodded goodbye and left them to talk and think about it. A war wouldn't help him any, but it would give him something to focus on. He was feeling the need to run off again and it was bothering him this time. Maybe a new cause would help him for a bit longer, at least until the end of the playing season. He got on his broom and went to fly home.

***

Xander angrily stomped around his room, muttering to himself. He heard a tapping on the window and looked over, going over to answer it. "Hey, Fawkes," he said, giving her a hug. "Is my Murphy still pissed at me?"

She cheeped happily and nuzzled him, showing him a picture of her human. They were happily resting at his house for a few days before Murphy came back.

"Good," Xander said, lightening up a bit. "At least one thing's going right today." He let her go and sat down, waving her to the back of the couch if she wanted. "You can rest if you want. I'm pissed at McGonagall." He told her about it, everything that had happened, even Iggy's stunt. It made him feel better to complain to someone else and she listened very well. She cooed at him when he was done, trying to keep him calm and not scratching. He had caught himself that time. She decided to give him nuzzles and go home, taking the complaints with her. He hadn't asked, but this was her human's job. She didn't know why that silly woman was doing it for him, but he should be back there. He gave her another of the human-style hugs and let her out the window, watching as she flew off because she looked magnificent in the sunset.

Xander sighed and went back to his chair. He couldn't take a bath to calm down and he couldn't concentrate enough to do anything else. He wished his tv were still here. That'd give him something to do and it would have helped him calm down. He sighed and grabbed his cane, newly given to him at his last checkup, and some money. Maybe a night in the Leaky Cauldron would improve his temperament. He ran into McGonagall in the hallway and walked past her without acknowledging her. He was still pissed and would end up doing something very mean to her.

She glared at his back. How dare he! His son hadn't been that injured and it was normal student pranks. Ron Weasley had gone through the same thing at Draco Malfoy's hands. She saw Iggy at the table and walked over to him. "I thought I made it clear you were not to come down."

"You're sending food up?" he asked snidely. Her glare got hotter. "I do have the right to eat, thank you, Headmistress. It helps me heal from the internal bruising I got from being shoved off a staircase and falling two flights last week. Not to mention the formation of scar tissue on my arm from where I was attacked by that idiot sitting happily with his friends. If you don't like my eating, then take it up with my grandmother since she taught me how to." He stuffed his mouth full.

The Head Girl, who really didn't like him, stood up. "Is there a problem?"

Iggy shook his head. "I got the asshole who's been attacking me back and she's pissed because I put him in a skirt and panties," he said loudly. More than loud enough for the boy's friends to hear since they had quieted down when McGonagall had come over to yell at him. Iggy stood up. "For that matter, I'm supposedly grounded to the house but I thought it best that I come down here for meals since I'm not supposed to leave school grounds on my own." He looked at the Headmistress again. "Like I said, unless you're sending food up there, you can't deny me the right to eat." He glanced at the Head Girl, who wasn't looking too thrilled. "But right now I'd rather not share the same building with the torturing asshole. Hopefully he won't turn evil before someone can stop him."

McGonagall slapped him. "You will apologize, young man. Or you will be expelled."

Ron walked down and stared down the woman he had looked up to when he had been a student. "You expel him for sticking up for himself, you lose me, Harris, Malfoy, and every one of us," he hissed. "Iggy?" He touched the red mark. "Go get some ice for it."

"You will return to your house," she ordered.

"Go," Ron said, giving him a faint smile. He rounded on his boss. "Do you really think we should be doing this in front of the students?" he sneered. "Because I'm sure some parents will *love* to hear about how you've hurt him." He pointed at the hallway. "Shall we?" He followed her out and slammed the doors. "I don't know what the bloody hell your problem is," he started.

"Shut up, Weasley," she told him. "There is nothing going on that concerns you in this matter."

"Bet me. That's my nephew. The same as the others are my nephews and niece. This concerns me more than it does you." He stepped closer. "I really don't know what's up with you, McGonagall. The old you, the one who was here when I attended under you, wouldn't have even yelled at Iggy for what happened today. Now, I don't know you and I'm going to call for a no-confidence vote. Even Snape would be better than you right now and he's still an evil bastard." He crossed his arms, noticing her shocked and vacant look. So he did something that would bother him later. He summoned Snape, calling out with his wand to pull the older man to them. As soon as Snape regained his feet from his undignified landing, Ron pointed at McGonagall. "She just slapped Iggy for reminding her he had a right to eat," he told him. "Look into her eyes. She's not there."

Snape moved Ron out of the way, nodding slowly. "I can see spells have been cast on her." He looked at him. "I've heard what Ignatius did."

"So did I and I thought it bloody brilliant," Ron told him. "She's suspended him and told him he couldn't come down for meals. Do you think that's fair?"

"Are we holding the vote in the hallway?" Black said as he walked out. He looked at McGonagall. "Impreious?"

"Probably," Snape agreed with a grimace. He hated to be in agreement with Black on anything. "I will have her examined by Madam Pomfrey." He looked at Weasley. "Perhaps you should send some food up to your nephew before he does something more damaging."

"Short of him turning into a cannibal, none of us would care," Ron said with a shrug. "I doubt he's up there now."

McGonagall snapped out of whatever had held her. "This is no concern of either of you," she said hotly.

"You're going to the infirmary," Snape told her. "Go now or I will relieve you of your duties until you have been proven to be well enough to continue." She stomped off. Snape looked at Weasley. "Where's Harris?"

"Out," Black told him. "I saw him stomp by the door a while ago."

"Probably drinking with Hagrid then," Ron said darkly. Something was going on and he didn't like it. "If this isn't stopped, we're going to leave. Xander will destroy her over his son and I'll gladly help. That boy has got to go."

"He hasn't been expelled?" Snape asked. Ron shook his head. "How unusual. McGonagall was saying the other day that she was going to expel him if one more incident happened."

"Was that before the kid used the liquid fire or before the human-eating teeth?" Black asked.

"Touche," Snape told him. "I will deal with this matter."

"See that you do, before the family has to," Ron told him.

Black nudged him. "You sound like one of Xander's movies."

"The muggle mafia has a lot of good points to me at the moment," Ron admitted. "I'm going to find the others before they rip into her. You'll tell me what's about to happen?" he asked Snape.

"If I can," Snape agreed. This wasn't fair and it wasn't right. Ignatius was an impertinent child, and quiet impatient, but he didn't deserve to be attacked this way. He walked up to the infirmary and talked quietly with Madam Pomfrey. She had found the curse and there was someone coming to deal with it now. He nodded that he would be taking charge for a bit. This was dreadful. All they needed was Dumbledore to come back and find this going on.

***

Iggy stormed into his grandparent's back door and slammed it, then turned around to kick it. "I'm going to kill her!" he shouted as he kicked. He felt strong arms grabbing him and fought against them. "No, let me alone!" He punched the door for good measure and cracked the sill. He felt gentler arms come around him and turned, expecting it to be his grandmother, but it was his aunt. "I want to go somewhere else," he told her, starting to cry.

She shushed him and got them both sitting down, him on her lap.

"What happened?" Arthur asked from his seat. His wife sat back down beside him. "More problems from that bully?"

Iggy nodded. "And then I fought back and now I'm suspended." He wiped his face off and looked at his grandparents. They could fix anything.

Ginny noticed the mark and tipped his face up to look at it in the light. "Mum, can I have an ice pack please?" she asked. Molly got up and filled a towel with ice, handing it over. "Tell us what happened this time, Iggy, and we'll talk about it."

He nodded, resting his head against her shoulder, telling them about it. Halfway through his Uncle Percy showed up and gave him a hug without question.

***

Snape looked up as his door was knocked on, flicking his wand to open it. "Enter," he called.

Draco walked in and sat down. "You requested to see me?"

"I wanted to talk to you since you were the least emotional of your family," Snape said with a grimace.

Draco held up a hand. "I'm not the one you want then. I found out tonight that my daughter had been targeted too. Apparently she reacted sooner, and in front of a lot of students, so he's pushed her back to consider her challenge at a later date. I want that boy expelled."

Snape nodded. "I know. Does the Board of Regents agree?"

"Inghram has a lot of influence, but I've just come from dropping off the file of complaints." He smiled. "Don't ask how I got them, you won't like it."

Snape shrugged. "I don't care how you got them. How many were there?"

"Sixteen faculty and forty-two student complaints, ranging from a complaint that he was bothering them to the more serious ones from Ignatius." He leaned forward. "Had I know that the teeth were cursed to kill him, I might have acted sooner."

Snape looked upset, truly upset. "I had no idea."

"Neither did we. It was an addendum written by Flitwick." He leaned back. "They're voting now. I'm expecting an owl or a floo message."

"Good." Snape sighed. "Ignatius left school property."

"He's probably at his grandparent's getting some support and love. She did strike him?" Snape nodded. "Then I'm surprised the building's still standing. George and Fred adore that little boy and would gladly kill any of us over him. Xander will comfort his son while they work on it." He smiled. "I think I'd like to see that."

"We found McGonagall under a compulsion," Snape said quietly.

"Wonderful, but she's strong willed enough to break those," Draco pointed out. "She never would have kept it on her for even a day before."

"Which is why I'm going to put a motion before the board to bring back Dumbledore," Snape told him. Draco's mouth fell open. "I'm not in any position to take over the school at this time. There's no one to cover for my classes and I can't do both." He patted the pile of forms in front of him. "The school takes a great deal of attention to run it. Not to mention the spells that are used to keep the Headmaster informed." He coughed. "I've written to Dumbledore."

"Let me floo the Board," Draco said, but he looked worried. "Won't that cause a problem?"

"Not really. McGonagall has been ordered on vacation for her health. Madam Pomfrey ordered it and sent her to St. Mungo's to be treated for any lasting problems from the compulsion."

"All right then." Draco got up and moved to the fireplace, tossing some floo powder into it. "Board of Regent's meeting." The face of the secretary appeared in the fire. "I'm at Hogwarts and something extraordinary has happened. Transfer me to the main fire please." The secretary nodded and disappeared, then a picture of the board room appeared. "As I just announced, I'm at the school." He got comfortable on the floor. "There has been an occurrence that needs to be brought before you." He straightened up at the glare from Inghram. "Headmistress McGonagall has just been sent to St. Mungos for treatment of an illness. They expect she'll need a lot of time off."

"Get on with it," Inghram told him. "We're too busy to be bothered by this. Severus," he said in greeting. "What does this have to do with us?"

"McGonagall won't be back before the end of the year," Snape told him. "I've asked Dumbledore to come back as I'm not prepared at this time to take over for her." A few of the board members started to say something but Snape held up a hand. "I cannot teach all my classes and run the school in a manner that befits it. There is not that much time in a single day. Since there's no hope of finding someone to take over my teaching position, I have to think of what's best for the students. Sending them into the world without any knowledge is the worse evil in my book."

"Have you owled him?" Inghram asked. Snape nodded. "When is he expected?"

"He's in the South of France," Draco told them. "Arthur Weasley got a postcard the other day from him," he admitted with a faint smile. "This supercedes the problem of a member of this board's son so I'm bringing it before you."

Inghram sighed. "Fine, bring back the old coot. I'm sure he can muddle along as he did for many years." A few of the board members looked shocked. "What? The school deteriorated under Dumbledore's residency as Headmaster. Fighting in the school? Dementors? Does any of that sound familiar?"

Draco nodded. "Yes, because it was necessary. And Dumbledore fought against the dementors. Maybe your memory is going, Inghram. He fought long and hard to keep them out of Hogwarts." The old man's face turned red. "Now, are there any objections?" No one said anything. "Any need for a vote?"

"No need," the secretary said. "We are in agreement. Until Minerva McGonagall is ready to return to her post, Albus Dumbledore may come back if he agrees." He banged a small gavel on the table. "As for the matter you brought before us before, why hasn't McGonagall done anything about this?"

Snape cleared his throat. "We don't want this in the official records." Everyone nodded. "We found a compulsion earlier tonight, laid by one of you, about this matter. Young Mr. Harris-Weasley has sent himself home for a few hours to get medical attention for his face where she hit him earlier, which is when we learned of this."

"She struck him?" Inghram asked, but he didn't look in the least bit upset.

Draco glared at him. "Yes, and wasn't she *your* choice to be Head of this school?" That got the old man frowning. "Trust me, it is being fixed." He looked at the other members. "Do you have a ruling yet?"

"We haven't taken a vote," the secretary told him. "But none of us want this student to continue."

"Which student?" Snape asked coolly. "The one doing the horrible things or his victims?"

"I think the boy doing these things should be removed," the Secretary said with a wary glance across the table at the outraged father. "What of Harris-Weasley? Is he all right?"

"As of right now, the burns were healed and the teeth trying to kill him were stopped," Draco told him. "As for how much longer the boy can take this and only do minor things in retaliation? Probably not much longer."

"We've also had some teachers threaten to quit," Snape put in. "If that boy stays, we're losing Weasley, Harris, Black, Lupin, and Pomfrey. They've all come to me since the incident earlier and told me they would quit. Pomfrey because she refuses to have to deal with such serious injuries ever again." He shrugged at the look Inghram was giving him. "There is no way we can replace them this late in the year."

"So the expedient option is to remove the boy," the Secretary suggested. Snape and Draco both nodded. "Well, then," he sighed. "I call for a vote. Should we expel this boy?" All but one person raised their hands.

"You'll pay for this," Inghram shouted as he hopped to his feet. "You will not dishonor my family this way."

"It's your son who's doing that," the Secretary pointed out. "He's the one following in the Dark Lord's footsteps." Inghram's face turned scary, making him flinch. "If you can't abide by the laws of this board, then leave," he ordered. Inghram stormed out. "Mr. Malfoy, do be careful tonight," he said quietly. "He was threatening to have you voted off the Board."

Draco nodded. "I know. I made it quite plain that this was my family against his this time and I wasn't going to back down. He hates me, you know that." He stood up. "I put myself at the board's disposal but I'd better go find Dumbledore and Harris before something worse happens."

"Tell Ignatius that he isn't suspended anymore," Snape said, breaking the floo connection as he stood up. "Send him back here and have him come to my office so we can discuss the matter of his prank earlier."

"Surely you're not going to punish him too."

"No," Snape said with a smile. "He used something that caused a potion I was working on to tip over. I would like to find out what it was."

Draco nodded and walked away, going out beyond the boundaries so he could apparate. He landed in the living room at the Burrow. "Hello?" he called. Molly and Arthur waved from the dining room. So he walked in there, stopping to give Ginny a kiss on the cheek. "It's been settled. The boy's kicked out."

"Surely they can't do that to Iggy without an appeal," Molly said hotly, standing up.

"Not him," Draco told her with a scowl. "The Inghram boy. Sit down before you fall over." He rolled his eyes at Arthur's hot look. "Where is he? Snape would like to talk to him. Apparently he tipped over a cauldron earlier."

"He's in bed," Ginny told him, giving him a smile. "So, what else happened? Is McGonagall really all right?"

Ron appeared, scowling at Draco. "What happened?"

"McGonagall was under a compulsion. And this can't get out," he told Molly, who liked to gossip sometimes. She glared at him again and he shrugged. "She's being treated for it and the Board is allowing Dumbledore to come back for the rest of this year."

"All right," Ron said happily. "Where is he?"

"The south of France," his father told him. "We have a floo address if we wanted to send news on of the children's progress." He patted his wife's hand. "Iggy will be fine."

"Yes, he will," Draco agreed. "He's out from under punishment and his tormentor is being expelled. His father's not happy about the matter, but I warned him." He sat down beside the mother of his children. "Iggy really does have to go back tonight."

"I'll bring him back," Ron told him. "Go tell Dumbledore the good news."

"He's enjoying being retired," Arthur told him. "It might not be welcome news."

"No, it might not," Draco said as he stood up. "But it is necessary news." He looked at Ron. "When did you threaten to quit?"

"Before they found the spell," Ron told him. "Black agreed and offered as soon as Snape reappeared downstairs. Lupin offered not an hour later, but for a few reasons," he finished with a knowing look. Draco nodded. "Xander's at the Leaky Cauldron. I called over there from the staffroom and told Tom to keep him there."

"Then I'll go there first," Draco told him, going for the fireplace. "I'll be back tomorrow. Sorry to interrupt your night with this drama." He disappeared, heading for the pub.

Ron sat down next to Ginny and pulled over some dinner. "Sorry, but mine got cut short."

"Who has the twins?" Ginny asked him.

"Lupin. Said he wanted to know what having children was like." He grinned. "I told him but he didn't believe me."

Molly snorted. "No one does until they have one or two of their own." She gave her son a fond smile. "Do finish mine if you're inclined," she offered, pushing her plate over.

Ron shook his head. "Just need a sandwich." Which he created.

***

Draco landed inside the Leaky Cauldron and nodded at Xander, motioning for a butterbeer. He sat down next to his 'father' and smiled at him. "It's been fixed. Iggy's not in trouble." Xander nodded, but he didn't look happy. "Are you soused?" he asked in shock. He'd never seen Xander drunk before. Xander nodded again. "Well, remember this when you wake up. It's all been settled. I'm off for the rest of the solution in a few." He paid for his and Xander's round, then shook his head where Xander couldn't see. Tom smiled and waved it off. "I'm off to the South of France. You go back to the school and go lie down. It'll look better in the morning." He chugged his beer and went back to his traveling.

Tom helped Xander to his feet and over to the fireplace, sending him home.

***

In Gryffindor tower, the Head Girl was sneering down at Simone in her room. "How does it feel to have the shame of an expelled student in your family," she taunted.

Simone had had enough. It'd been a good ten minutes of this and she was tired of it. She stood up, coming up to the older girl's shoulder, and shoved her. "Iggy's not suspended. Not any longer. And he wasn't expelled." She held up her listening portal, spelled to listen in on the Headmaster's office. "As a matter of fact, Dumbledore's on his way back." She looked the girl over. "I don't know *how* you got into a position of power, but you suck at it. Not only do you suck at it, apparently you suck at most things from what I hear." The Head Girl looked shocked. "Yay. Get over it. We have the right, and the responsibility, to stick up against shit like that happening. Supposedly it's part of the Gryffindor code. Didn't you know that?" She turned as the door opened and the female Prefect walked in. "Would you please remove the annoyance before I go off on her some more?" she asked pleasantly. "I'm tired of her diatribe against my cousin."

The Prefect smiled at her. She wasn't stupid, the Head Girl was over her and the Head Boy was sleeping with her. "Have you heard any news?"

Simone held up her portal. "Iggy's not suspended, he's on his way back from our grandparents. Dumbledore's coming back because McGonagall's in bad shape. She's on vacation for her health according to what I heard." She smiled as the Head Boy walked in too. "Going to bother me too?"

"No, I just heard what you said. Is your cousin coming back to pack?"

"He's not suspended and he's not expelled. They expelled Inghram, finally."

The Head Boy smiled, that was good news. He saw the look on the Head Girl's face and smiled brighter. So she liked the little Dark Lord in the making? Well, maybe she shouldn't have slept around on him. "Are you supposed to have that?" he asked Simone, taking the portal to listen to it. "Oh, my," he said, handing it back with a blush. "Professor Snape seems to be quite upset."

She listened, then laughed. "Uncle Xander's just come back from London and yelled at him. He's headed down to his room." She looked at the Head Girl. "Professor Weasley will be back in a few with Iggy. I suggest you talk to him if you don't like my attitude or my being here." The Head Girl shoved her and Simone stood back up, then punched her in the stomach, making her bend over, which gave her a perfect shot for her chin, but the Prefect pulled her off. "I have the right to get her back for that," Simone yelled.

"What's going on here?" another Prefect yelled as he came into the room. "Oh, do you have it well in hand?"

"Just fine," the Head Boy told him. He looked at his soon-to-be-former girlfriend. "Don't we?" She nodded, glaring ice at Simone. "Then I suggest you go back to your room. I believe I saw your owl sitting in there when I was looking for you. Along with your *cousin* Nunzio." She blanched. "I think we should have a meeting before breakfast about this matter, don't you?" She stomped off. The Head Boy looked at the two Prefects. "She's not in charge, I am. Her and her toy named Nunzio are not in charge, may not take off house points, and I'm going to do my best to have her removed from the position by Professor Weasley when he gets here." He looked at Simone and blatantly pocketed the portal. "No more spying," he told her with a smile. "And you're right, you had the right to react. That's as far as you go though. If she starts more, you let me know. Unlike Hedre, I will act on complaints like you and Iggy have leveled against her." She nodded, smiling at him. "Thank you. And you've got a night of grounding to the tower. Spend it with your cousin and brother." He led the two Prefects out, talking to them on the way down to the common area. He smiled as Professor Weasley walked in eating a sandwich. "Sir, I have your twins in my room since Professor Lupin decided to turn in early. They're presently babbling at my cat." He pulled his leader to the side. "Iggy, call for your cousin to come down. She already knows."

Iggy walked to the bottom of the stairs. "Simone?" She came running down and launched herself into his arms, giving him a hug. "You heard?"

"I changed your spying portal to one in Snape's office," she said proudly. The others sitting around looked at them. "Inghram was expelled," she said happily. A loud cheer went up. "And Iggy's not even grounded!" A few of the kids laughed. "But I am," she told him. "For tonight." She got off him and shrugged. "It's only for tonight."

He nodded, giving her a hug. "That's okay. You can come sit with me."

"Down here only," the Head Boy told him.

"My roommates don't mind," Iggy told him. "We've been working on something in there for the last few months."

"Still, I will enforce that rule. No more working on that spell up there. Come down here where the rest of us can butt in and help too," he told him, still smiling.

Ron walked away from him, patting Simone on the head as he walked up to the Head Girl's room and tapped once before walking in. He slammed the door when she screamed and started to yell at her. There was no way this was going on in his house.

***

Draco came out of the inn's fireplace and looked around. Soft, ambient lighting. Gentle patterns on the wall, ones that didn't distract you from the view through the bay windows across from him. Spectacular view, looked down across a beach and into the ocean. He looked around but no one was there. He decided to ask at the front desk, surely Dumbledore had left a message so he could be found. The desk clerk suggested a small party down the road and Draco decided to try there. He could always come back.

The small party down the road ended up being a group of college students rhumbaing around a pool, and one old man enjoying the hell out of his second childhood. He smiled. It was inspiring to know that even guys that old watched breasts in tiny bikini tops bouncing. Too bad he had to ruin this party. He slid through the crowd, taking the drink that was forced onto him. He made it to Dumbledore's side and ended up dancing with him somehow. "We need you back at the school," he shouted over the salsa music.

Dumbledore nodded. "I got the message. I'll be back in two days." He pulled Draco out of the crowd as the music stopped, leading him to a private bench in a dark corner. "Was it really that bad?"

"McGonagall ended up under a compulsion spell, leaving the bloody annoying child who's torturing students in and blaming the victims." Dumbledore nodded. "His favorite target is Iggy."

Dumbledore hissed. "And with Xander so recently out of the hospital too."

"Yeah, and he's drunk tonight." The older man nodded, he could understand that. "Snape actually announced that he couldn't handle the school and Xander was threatening to level it earlier." He coughed. "That doesn't even count the war that's started between myself and Inghram."

"He's still around?" Dumbledore said with a fond look at the young woman walking past the opening to their enclosed area. "Wonderful."

"Not wonderful. It's his son that's doing the torturing." Dumbledore looked at him and Draco nodded. "It's his son, the little idiot, who's doing the torturing of Iggy. Of course, Iggy retaliated by hanging him up like a side of beef, putting him in a skirt and panties, and fully intending to leave him there. McGonagall found out somehow and came running to stop it, and suspended Iggy for standing up for himself. Earlier it got physical, she slapped him for reminding her he had the right to eat. In front of the other students."

"Oh, dear." He finished his drink, putting the umbrella behind his ear. "Do we know what's really wrong with her?"

"All I was told was a compulsion spell and it's from Inghram personally. Now he's coming after my family from what I can tell."

"Be careful, my boy. I'll be back in two days. Tell Severus to hold the fort until then and all will be well." He stood up. "I'd best go back to my dance partner. She gets quite jealous when I run off with others, especially a good looking man like yourself." He winked and walked away, heading back to the bouncing breasts in the tiny bikini top.

Draco shook his head, but before he could get up, two giggling school girls, who couldn't have graduated their seventh years yet, pounced on him. They dragged him into the house and up the stairs, not that he was protesting too hard.

***

Later that night, Iggy flipped over for the hundredth time and sighed. He couldn't get to sleep. He kept seeing horrible things in his nightmares. He slid out of bed and padded across the room, going into the bathroom. This sucked. He couldn't sleep and his source of comfort was somewhere he couldn't get to. He would get crucified if he went to Simone tonight. He splashed his face with water and called a spellbook to him. He might as well do something if he couldn't sleep. Someone knocked on the bathroom and he groaned, getting up to let them in. "I'm going downstairs," he told himself as he walked out of his room. He found one of the Prefects sitting down there working on homework. "Can't sleep either?" he asked as he flopped down onto a worn but comfortable couch.

"Paper due tomorrow." She looked at him. "What's wrong?"

"Nightmares. Images that I can't stop seeing." He looked at the girls' staircase. "If I were at home, I'd crawl in with my dads or go find Simone if I were at Grandma's."

"You can crawl in with Denver," she offered, closing the book she was using.

He shook his head. "We're already being picked on and he sucks in his sleep. Last time we shared a bed he gave me a giant hickey." He shook his head when he saw the over-image. That wasn't right and it wasn't real, it was someone's dreams, he had to keep telling himself that. "You might want to watch out. Someone wants you dead," he told her, putting down his book. He walked up to his cousin's room and tapped gently, just in case someone was awake. He walked in at the grunt, whispering to the girl who was awake that he needed a hug from Simone. She nodded so he snuck into his cousin's bed, pulling the curtains closed around them. As soon as he pulled her close, she snuggled. This was the beauty she had as a comfort snuggle. Besides blocking out horrible images from getting to you. Her natural shields were too strong to get through. He settled in with his head next to hers.

The awake girl got up and headed downstairs, telling the Prefect that he was up there to get a hug and that she would wake them up. The Prefect nodded, she wouldn't turn him in either. They all knew Iggy knew things, the same as Andrea did. She wondered who meant her harm.

Unfortunately, in the morning, the girl who was supposed to wake them up was running a bit late so it was Ron who found them. He opened the curtains and smiled down at the pair. "Guys," he said. "I can't allow this." He sat down on the foot of the bed, looking at them. "I know you needed comfort, Iggy, but you're not allowed on the girls' side."

"I was having nightmares," Iggy told him pitifully. "I kept seeing Uncle Draco blowing up and other bad stuff."

Ron patted him on the ankle. "I understand, I really do, but you still can't come over here. You can come to my room and use my couch, or the twins, but you can't come to Simone because the other girls won't want you in here when they're sleeping, changing, or naked." Iggy nodded so Ron stood up. "I'm not doing this to be unfair, guys, but I can't allow this to go on. I'm also not going to take house points or give detentions since I know how much this stuff bothers you." He winked at Simone. "Quite a punch from you I hear," he told her.

"She hit me first," Simone reminded him. She looked at her cousin. "Next time, we'll do this downstairs on the big couch. That way we don't get in trouble." Iggy nodded and put his head back down onto her shoulder.

"You've got to get up," Ron reminded him. Iggy grunted.

"Uncle Ron, he's warm," she told him, pushing him away from her shoulder. She put her lips against his forehead then nodded. "Very warm." She crawled over top of Iggy and stood up. "Go put on some clothes and we're going up to the infirmary. You need more help than I've got."

"Can't, got potions today," Iggy told them with a whine.

"Yay, you're sick. I want you in bed," Ron told him, reaching down to touch the boy too. Shit, he was warm. "Come on, up and at 'em. Simone, go get dressed and head for breakfast. I'll take him up to the infirmary." She nodded and headed into the bathroom. "You've got twenty minutes before class," he called after her. He pulled Iggy up to his feet and walked him back to his room, putting a shirt over the boy's pajama bottoms. Then he helped him down the stairs, past the great hall, and up the long marble staircase to the infirmary. "He's running a fever," he told the nurse when she sighed. "He had nightmares all night so I found him with his cousin."

"Denver's over there," she said, pointing at a curtained off area. "He's running a fever too."

"Simone's just fine," Ron told her. "I don't know what this is." He handed over his beloved nephew and shrugged. "If you find something tell me. Xander's got a hangover so I'm going to wake him up." The nurse laughed and pulled a small vial out of her pocket. "You heard huh?" he asked.

"He was snarling most of the night," Madam Pomfrey told him. "Wandering the halls for part of it." She walked Iggy over to a bed and tucked him in next to his cousin. "I'll be back in a moment with some juice," she told them both.

Ron headed down to Xander's room, tapping gently on the portrait. When no one answered he said the password and walked inside. Xander was passed out in his chair. "Oh, brother-in-law," he said loudly. Xander opened an eye and glared at him. "Here, take this. Iggy and Denver both woke up with fevers and we've got a house problem of immense proportions." He watched as Xander slugged the vial and went back to glaring at him. "Your son's got a fever and we need to talk about the Head Girl."

"What did Hedre do this time?" Xander groaned. He stood up and grabbed his cane, heading into the bathroom. "I'm putting on the waterproof bandages so you can still talk," he announced after the toilet flushed.

"Hedre decided to pick on Simone last night. They nearly went at it with their fists," Ron told him, leaning next to the bathroom door.

"And?"

"And I caught her with a boy in her room."

"Wonderful. And?

"And the Head Boy, Gregory, wants her head, mate. She's screwing at least two other people and him until last night."

"I waned him that she was a floosy," Xander pointed out. The shower came on. "Are we stripping her of her power?" he asked. "Be right out."

Ron sat on the bed, checking his nails. He smiled when he noticed a house elf at the door, pointing it to put the tray onto a nearby table. "Thank you." The house elf smiled and hurried away. He snatched one of the rolls and nibbled on it while Xander showered. He'd even be nice and spread on the gel this morning. Xander came out of the bathroom rubbing the water out of his hair. "Want me to put on the gel?" he asked.

Xander nodded and pulled out some underwear to put on, then sat on the bed so his brother-in-law could help him with this. "They had a fever?"

"Yeah, both of them. Simone was fine when I found Iggy in her bed." Xander quirked up an eyebrow. "Iggy was having nightmares according to one of the Prefects. He went up around three am." Xander watched as Ron covered the remaining burns with bandages, then got up to put on the rest of his outfit. "Plus, Hedre decided to pick on Simone last night. Shoved her, Simone hit her back. Gregory grounded her to the tower last night but she's free now."

"I'll have a talk with them after I check on the kids. Any news on Melvin?"

"Not yet. He's usually late down to breakfast so I didn't see him before I went looking for Iggy."

Xander pulled on an outer robe and shrugged it into place. "I don't know what's going on. I had some nightmares last night too, but I thought it was the alcohol."

"So you're admitting that you were drunk, wandering the halls, and shouting at things?"

"Peeves and I got into it last night," Xander said with a grimace. "He tried to take my cane out from under me." He picked up his cane again. He could now walk about ten steps without it, which was incredible considering he was still burned. "Give me two of those and I'll eat them on the way to the infirmary."

Ron handed over two of the rolls and ate the last one himself, following Xander upstairs. They found Draco standing over Melvin, who was throwing up. "That's nasty," Ron said.

"Hi...." Melvin bent back over his bowl.

"I think it's something like the flu," Madam Pomfrey told them. She pushed Xander onto a bed. "Sit."

"I put on the gel and they're covered," Xander told her as she walked away. "They don't have to be checked for another three days."

"Good, sit anyway."

Xander looked over at his son. "Flu?"

Iggy shook his head. "My stomach's not upset. No headache. Just swimming head feelings." He pulled a pillow down over his face.

"I've got an upset stomach," Denver offered. His father came over and gave him a hug, which made his uncles Xander and Ron smile. "Daddy, can you make it better?"

"You know I'll do whatever I have to do to make it all better," Draco reminded him with a smile. "The flu isn't something I can fix."

"Are we sure it's the flu?" Xander asked. "Iggy always gets a headache and stomachache with the flu."

"Madam Pomfrey said she thought it was," Draco said as he walked back over to them.

"But why not Simone? She's gotten it every time they've gotten it, and usually gets it first," Ron pointed out.

"I know," Draco told him, looking over the boys. "And no one else in their houses either."

"You're paranoid," Xander told him.

"Better paranoid than dead," Iggy said, pulling the pillow off his head. He looked over his uncle Draco but none of those flashes overlaid his image. "Uncle Draco, do me a favor and stay with Grandma for the next few days."

"Why?" Xander asked, turning to look at his son. Iggy looked horrible. He was pale, sweaty, and looked like he wanted to puke. "Want a bowl?"

"Do you?" Iggy asked, grinning at him. "Trust me, I have one if I need one." He pointed beside the bed. "And the reason is because all night all I saw were visions of his house blowing up."

Draco winced. "Iggy, how often do you get these things?"

"Paranoid visions? Sometimes, not real often. Ones that come true? I think I'm at fifty percent."

"Daddy, please stay with grandma," Denver begged.

"Yeah," Melvin agreed. "I saw them too." He tossed his pillow at Iggy. "I'm still connected to you somehow."

"Then you forgot to cancel the spell," Iggy told him. "We'll do it later." He rolled onto his side and threw up.

"I still say that's nasty," Ron said, turning his back on his nephew. Madam Pomfrey came walking back in. "He's sick now too."

"I know. I heard." She looked at the clock then at him. "Don't you have class?"

"There's a gryphon here to talk to Iggy so none of us will have classes until after it's done talking to the students. Hagrid arranged for it to give a long lecture on gryphon-kind whenever it showed up," Xander said, looking out a window. "Iggy, want to get up and walk out?"

"Can I be carried?" he asked weakly.

"Sure." Ron slid off the bed and came over to pick up his nephew. "Let's go talk to the gryphons." He followed Xander out the door and down to the entryway, letting Xander clear the path for him since there were rocks strewn all over it. "Did you make something explode?" he joked when he stepped on a sharp shard.

"You just woke me up," Xander reminded him. He stopped when he saw the gryphon staring down at him. "What?" he asked. "I'm getting better." He was pushed out of the way and his son was examined at beak-length. "Is he really sick or is this magical?" he asked.

"It's magical," Bill the gryphon, newly minted elder of the Stonehenge main colony announced. "Can you get the potion's master?"

"He's in the staffroom," Ron said, looking around for somewhere to put Iggy. The boy only had slippers on.

"Let me have him," Xander said, taking his son.

"Here, let me," Hagrid offered, holding out his arms.

"I got it, I'm not moving but it's okay." Xander hobbled his ten steps and leaned against a fence, holding his son tightly. "We're okay," he told Hagrid with a smile. "I'm an independent pain in the butt. Just ask George. Speaking of George. Iggy, can you call your dad?"

"Daddy!" Iggy yelled. The gryphon laughed. "What? It usually works." He smiled. "Can I come train with you guys this summer? Dad said he was going to beg."

"I see no reason why you shouldn't," Bill told him, leaning closer again. "Yes, quite a spell." He looked over at the sound of running footsteps, getting out of their helpler's way. "Malfoy," he said with a smile. "How is your son?"

"Just as sick. This is magical?" He glared at Xander, who shrugged as best he could.

"It is, but it is not our sort of magic." He looked over as the sound of more running feet grew louder. "My, very interesting," he said as Snape appeared, his robes flapping behind him. "We will consult on this matter. Give me the young one," he demanded, holding out a wing.

"I can walk," Iggy told him. "And no fussing, dad." He slowly walked after the gryphon, allowing Professor Snape to hold him up at one point. They talked and Iggy told them everything that had been happening as he knew it. Including his visions, the fact that Melvin was still locked into his mind, and that Draco was having trouble with this one kid's parents. It wasn't too long before the two powerful wizards had a solution and Iggy was carted back off to the infirmary with Snape going to make him something. He gratefully settled into the bed assigned to him and closed his eyes. He hadn't realized how long of a walk it was from the entryway up here.

***

Xander grabbed Bill by the tail feathers, making the gryphon look at him. "Want to include me in this problem?" he asked.

"It depends, will you go and destroy someone?" Bill asked back, grinning at him, very strange with a beak.

"I don't know yet," Xander said honestly. "I think it's George's turn."

Bill laughed. "Good, excellent even." He turned and nuzzled Xander hard, enfolding him in his wings. "I will be here for a few days, young one. We will talk after I fix this matter and finish my discussions with these students." Xander nodded and backed away. "Why do you use that thing?" he asked, pointing a wing tip at Xander's cane.

"Because I somehow shattered my kneecap and had to have it replaced, plus I still have burns," Xander told him.

"The healing potions have not helped?"

"They've helped a lot, but I've still got ten percent of the burns I had originally and my kneecap was just recently replaced." He held up the cane. "It's really nice. Slows me down a lot, but pretty nice." Bill nodded. "If the healing potions leave me on this thing, then so be it," he said quietly. "My mate wants me to slow down anyway."

"And what do you want?" Bill asked him.

"A quiet life?" Xander suggested. "No more evil bad guys that I have to fight and protect my family against? Maybe even a vacation sometime in the next few months?" A few of the students laughed. "Yeah, laugh now but we didn't get to go to Disney like we had planned. Stuff came up and we had to postpone it."

"You don't have any vacation days left," Snape reminded him as he walked out with a steaming cup of something. "Your next dose of healing potion." He watched as Xander drank it, but nothing seemed to happen.

"He's absorbed all he can," the gryphon said sadly. "He'll have to heal on his own."

Xander stepped closer. "Speaking of absorbing. Can you please talk to Iggy about teleporting around at his age?" he asked quietly. Bill looked startled, but nodded. "Thank you. Nothing I've said has worked yet." He let Snape sit him down and push up his pants leg. "The tape's on the back," he said before the knife the potion's professor was holding could cut into the bandages. Snape kindly unwrapped the lesser burns to look them over. "Any change?"

"Not much," Snape said, standing back up after rewrapping the limb. "If we waited for ten days to two weeks, would he be able to absorb more?"

"Probably not," Bill told him. "That was our most powerful spell and I doubt it will work on him for this sort of injury ever again." He nudged Xander gently. "Do you fell well enough to help me with my discussion?"

"Sure," Xander said happily. "I like teaching." He forced himself to stand up and move down the fence, joining Hagrid on his spread-out blanket, and accepting a lapful of really big puppies. "So, where were you in the tale?" he asked.

"We were just learning about the flood, Professor Harris," one of the Hufflepuffs in his fourth year class told him. "Can you do anything with it?"

"Very little," he told her. "Iggy can do more than I can, but I'm guessing it's because he's been doing it from birth."

"Yes, he mentioned some things," Bill said dryly. "Thought trains. Visions. Teleporting."

"And let's not forget the all time favorite, using it to call out for mischief making," Xander finished with a grin.

"Wow," a few of the students said.

"He's really powerful," Ryan Rosenberg told his cronies.

Xander looked right at him. "And you're just now figuring this out, Ryan?" he asked. Ryan glared at him. "Hey, he beat you almost every time you tried to pick on him. You should have figured that out by now." He turned back to the student who had asked the original question. "Iggy has a more natural attitude toward magic. He's been around it since he was born, unlike me. Plus, he's smarter than I am," he admitted with a grin.

"It's a wise parent that realizes his own son is smarter than he is," Draco said as he joined them. "I told Percy."

"Ooo," Xander hissed. "That's going to be a messy fight."

"Very, but it should be his this time. I doubt anyone was targeting Melvin." Draco sat down on the edge of the blanket and got knocked onto his back by an enthusiastic animal.

"Shadow," Hagrid chastised, pulling his puppy off. "Sorry 'bout that."

"Not a problem. My youngest daughter does that sometimes too." He patted Shadow. "Do behave and listen to the nice big animal who'll eat you if you bark at it."

"Dogs taste nasty from what I hear," Bill told him. He nudged Shadow and laughed at the growling. "I'm bigger," he taunted. Shadow lowered himself and continued to growl.

"Stop it," Xander told the dog. He glared at the gryphon. "Don't pick on the puppy. It's mean to pick on lesser creatures." He glanced at Ryan, who backed away from him. "So, what part of the flood were you talking about? All the swirly colors? The thought strings? The pools?"

"The thought strings," Bill agreed, straightening up. The puppy barked in triumph, thinking it had won. "You are still smaller," Bill told it, making Hagrid laugh. "To get back to our discussion, the flood does many wondrous and strange things. The thought strings are one of the most interesting. Many have studied them and none have understood why they happen yet."

"What's a thought string?" Melody's daughter, Crystal, asked.

"A thought string is created by someone thinking about someone else," Xander told her. "So, if I'm thinking about my son, a string is created between us. Some people can see and sometimes hear from them."

"Yes, I heard about one of your nephews having a way of listening in on one," Bill told him. He motioned the girl closer, she didn't look well. "Sit," he told her, pointing at the blanket. She was shaking hard. "I will be looking you over later."

"I think she's going to need someone more professional," Xander said, letting her rest against his side. "She's got resinthian complex."

"Oh." Bill nodded. "It happens to many of the young." Bill looked down at her. "Did you not see one of us?" She shook her head. "Then we will fix that later. I will call our healer up to look at all three of you here."

Xander nudged her. "Iggy's been using too much magic and it's going to hurt him so they're coming anyway," he told her.

"Okay." She yawned. "You're very comforting."

"Go ahead and nap, Crystal. It's all good to us." She nodded and fell asleep against his arm. Xander looked at the other born among the students, smiling at him. That kid was just fine. The kid nodded back. "Anyway, thought strings are really neat."

"Is that why everyone says that your ears itch when someone's talking about you?" a girl, who had wisely already sat down, asked. Bill nodded.

"Very good guessing," he told her. "Yes, it is why. It even touches the mundanes sometimes." He settled himself back down and more of the students took off their robes and used them to sit on. Those who had taken classes from Xander now realized where his natural, flowing, rambling style of lecturing came from. This could take all day. "The flood comes naturally into the world, but not everyone can do that. Touching the flood is a very precarious and precious gift. For those of us who do touch it, some of us filter it and some of us play in it," he finished with a smile. "Somehow, some of the magic is changed into a less strong, but more explosive form of magic, chaos magic."

"Is that what those dark people touch?" one Ravenclaw boy asked, shifting closer. This was fascinating.

"Sometimes," Xander told him. "And some of the witches and wizards like Willow and Tara use it too. It's more prevalent among their kind than your kind."

"Do you know anyone?" Bill asked him.

Xander nodded. "I've actually got a very nice contact with a chaos sorcerer. We have a mutual loathing for someone and we trust each other enough to not kill each other whenever we need to help each other."

"Very interesting," Snape said as he rejoined him. "Would this be a Mr. Rayne?" Xander nodded. "I thought you had mentioned him before."

"Ethan and Giles used to be friends," Xander told him with a mean grin. "He feels the same way as I do about him."

Snape laughed. "Allies are always a good idea." He leaned against the fence, waving at Bill to continue. "I had wondered about how the different versions of powers were separated."

Bill nodded. "A very knowledgeable question, but it's a natural separation. Much like oil and water, or herbs and water actually." Snape nodded, understanding that analogy. "The chaos magic is often found floating on top of the pure magic, but rarely mixed in. In those rare instances, it's almost always in a pool formation."

"Which are really dangerous," Xander told him. "There's one under the front stairs. Trust me."

Bill nodded. "Yes, there is." He cuffed Xander gently with a wing. "Do not touch it again, Xander."

"Yes, Bill."

The kids laughed at the look on his face. Professor Harris was not one to follow orders.

***

Percy tapped on the door of Inghram's office and stepped inside when it was opened by his assistant. "Go take a lunch," he ordered. The office workers cleared out and Percy walked into the back office. He closed the door, making the old man look up. "How dare you touch my son," he said.

The man sneered. "Your son was in the way. Nothing more. He'll be fine."

"That's not the point," Percy said, walking over. He hit the man, knocking him to the floor. "How dare you touch my son!" he said, colder and harder this time. He hit him again, and again, and again. "Never touch my son," he growled when the man burbled an apology. "Next time, I won't be responsible for my actions." He ran a hand through his hair to straighten it out, and walked away, straightening out his clothes. He stopped in on his father, giving him a smile. "If Ministry lawyers show up at the house tonight, do send them on," he said pleasantly.

"Did one of your people find something that needs fixed?" Arthur asked, giving his son a smile.

"No, I just beat the shit out of their boss because he had the audacity to curse my son with an illness." Percy nodded at him and went to find some ice for his knuckles. That had felt rather good. He would have to revel in it later.

Arthur shook his head, moaning. What was going on with his family?

***

Molly walked into Percy's office with an ice pack and a small lunch, and promptly gave him a hug. "That's from your son, who was quite impressed with you." She babied his hand and put the ice pack on it. "Did it feel good?"

"Very," he admitted with a smile. "How dare that arsehole curse my son." She nodded. "He hopefully learned his lesson."

"Did you?" his mother asked.

Percy nodded. "Wear gloves next time," he said with a smile. She laughed but was shaking her head. "Mum, you know I 'm not the one for physical action."

"Yes, I do. Which is why, when Fred told me, I was astonished. He went to have a discussion with the man about his nephews as well," she confided. Percy smiled. "He decided you had done enough for most of us." She patted his bruised hands again. "Then Fred told your father, who was even more upset when he heard why you did this. He's impressed with you as well. But we won't hide you if the law comes for you."

"I wouldn't expect you to," he said, sounding shocked. His father wouldn't buck the Ministry that way, he was the one who upheld the rules no matter what.

"Dear, we would protect you but we don't think it's necessary this time," his mother assured him. "You had every right to protect your son from further action against him." She brushed some of his hair off his forehead. "Now, eat your lunch and you're coming home for dinner tonight. So is everyone else so it'll be a grand time."

He nodded. That sounded good to him.

***

Simone wandered the halls. She had heard this entire lecture over the course of her life. She was so well steeped in gryphon-lore that she could probably recite some of it in her sleep. She would bet money or chocolate that she knew more about gryphons than almost everybody out there, with the exception of the gryphon and Xander. So now she was bored. Her male cousins were sick due to some asshole, and Melvin had said his dad was fixing it. So no fun there. She was ahead on her homework. Uncle Xander didn't even have a tv so she couldn't watch movies. So she was really bored. She looked around, vaguely recognizing the hall she was in. Didn't this one lead to Iggy's hiding spot? She walked on, thinking that maybe he had more rooms prepared down here. She hadn't gotten to come play with him here very often at all and they had been kept in Uncle Xander's room when she had. Her father was a tad bit paranoid about her well-being.

She opened the door to the closed off section, stepping inside as soon as possible. Little did she know that Headmistress McGonagall had just sat up in her hospital bed and started to scream about her not going down there. She stopped briefly in the hiding spot, taking some supplies with her. A few bottles of water and some dried fruit would make a good snack while she was wandering. She found Iggy's stash of wizarding cards and frowned, searching through him. Man, he had nearly the whole set! No fair! She put them back in their spot and closed the cabinet doors, turning slowly. It felt like someone was watching her but there wasn't anybody down here. Iggy had said that not even the house elves came down here. She shrugged it off and headed back into the hallway, going to check some of the other doors. She found a few of them open and poked around those rooms. Nothing special, though she did find a wizard's trading card. She didn't know they had been around that long. The next door she tried was locked but a simple lock charm opened it. She noticed a darkened spot under the dust and ran a hand over it. "Professor Hufflepuff's office?" she breathed. "Oh, wow! This was her suite!" She hurried inside but this office was cleaned out too. It figured that everything had been taken out of this original part of the school when they moved to the more extensive parts. She found a small necklace under one of the old chairs on the other side of the desk and stuffed it into her pocket with the wizarding card, then hurried on, hoping to find the other offices. Maybe they had something she could find too.

The next room down had a set of large, heavy, ornately carved and gilded double doors guarding it. It looked like a library to her. She tried to push them open but it didn't budge. She tried her lock spell and it didn't work either. She decided to leave it for later exploration. There was no telling what was in there. As she stepped away, she noticed her hair was lifting off her head, like there was something blowing or sucking at it. Hadn't Dumbledore said something about portals? She shrugged it off and continued on her quest to find neat stuff to show her cousins and Andrea. She didn't find any more offices, just some dusty classrooms and something that was probably a staffroom or a lounge. But in there she found an even greater treasure. She found a sparkling wand and spent some time looking at it. This was so cool! She turned and found something standing in the doorway. "Hi," she said, deciding to stick with a clueless approach in case she was in trouble. A glowing stream shot out of his hand and she saw black. She got off a small scream mentally but that was it.

***

Melvin and Iggy both sat up and looked at the doorway. "Simone?" Iggy asked quietly, frowning. "Madam Pomfrey! Can you please get one of our fathers? Simone just got into something!"

She hurried out from her office. "How do you know that?"

"Because she's unconscious and down near my hiding spot," Iggy told her. "Something just knocked her out." He started to climb out of bed but she pushed him back down. "I have to go help her."

"You're staying," the nurse told him, then she left to go and find one of the overprotective fathers. She ran into Ron first. "Professor Weasley? Iggy and Melvin just saw something happening to your niece. They've requested that you all come up."

"Give me ten," Ron told her seriously. She nodded and hurried back to her patients. Ron walked outside and whistled loudly. Xander and Draco both looked over at him so he waved them inside. As soon as they were in the school, he told them. "Simone's in trouble. Iggy saw it. Melvin echoed off him again."

Xander's face hardened. "Start without me, I'll be up there as fast as I can."

"I'm going," Draco told him.

"Like hell!" Ron told him. "She's my niece."

"She's my daughter," Draco countered.

"We can argue about this later, she's getting deeper into shit every moment you two argue," Xander told them as he started toward the infirmary. "Coming?"

"Yes," the younger men said together. They joined Xander, trying to figure out what was going on. She hadn't left school grounds if Iggy was still in the infirmary. They walked in together and Draco and Ron shared a look. Xander was knocked out, much to his son's amusement.

"What did you see?" Draco demanded.

"She was down near my hiding spot, checking out the other rooms," Iggy told him. Madam Pomfrey gasped. "She knows she's not supposed to be exploring but she's like that," he told her, returning his attention to his 'big brother'. "She found an office, a staffroom, and a pretty glowy wand. Then she turned and someone was standing there. Whatever it was knocked her out."

Melvin shook his head. "It wasn't a something. It had pointy ears, was a little taller than her, male, and looked happy," he told them.

"You can see into the shadows?" Iggy asked. Melvin nodded. "Did you see who made Uncle Draco's house go boom?"

"Some old guy with white hair, that's all I got, he was facing the house," Melvin told him.

"Was this a vision?" Ron asked.

"No," the boys said in unison. "She yelled for help."

Draco looked at Ron, then nodded. "Then I'm going." Ron scowled. "You have those twins to take care of."

Ron pointed at Xander. "I don't think they'll be ignored," he told him.

"Go sooner instead of fighting," Denver told them. "My sister's in trouble and I can't get out of his bed to go beat the shit out of someone for it."

"Son, calm down," Draco told him.

"Fuck calming down!" Denver told him. "That's my sister! Either you do something or I'm mounting a rescue my own damn self and the hell with you!"

"Son," Draco warned coldly. "I'm not going to leave her there, you know that."

"Come on," Iggy groaned as he climbed out of his bed. The adults looked at him. "You don't even know where my hiding spot is. Deal with it."

"Get back in that bed!" Madam Pomfrey shouted as she stormed out of her office.

"Bite me," he grunted out. His uncles grabbed his arms. "I'll be back in a few minutes, once I show them how to get into my hiding area."

"Where is your hiding area?" she asked him, concerned.

"The forbidden section where Hufflepuff used to have her office," he said as he walked out between his uncles. He led them down to the doorway that went to his hidden rooms and let them into his special hiding spot, opening up his supplies cabinet so they could gear up. "She touched my wizarding cards!" he said hotly. "I'm going to smack her for that."

"Wait until we get her back and make sure she's all right first," Ron soothed. He understood, he still had his stash of cards hidden. He grabbed some of the water and some of the bags of dried fruit and nuts. "Draco, get some."

Draco grabbed his wand and shocked Ron, taking the supplies from him. He looked at his nephew. "Get him back to the infirmary. Try and keep him there."

"Bloody unlikely," Iggy pointed out dryly. His uncle ruffled his hair. "Be careful and smack her once for me." He led the way out of the room and pointed at the one he had seen in her mental cry for help. "She was in there. The whatever-it-was was in the doorway. She found the sparkly wand in there." Draco nodded and gave him a hug. "Be careful, their actions showed that they're trying not to hurt her any," he called after him. He went back to get his uncle, who weighed a ton, and dragged him back into the main section of the school. Hagrid caught them. "Uncle Draco went to find his daughter," he explained at the frown.

"You shouldn't be down there," Hagrid chastised. "It's not for you to be down there. It's dangerous."

"I've been playing down there for the last five years," Iggy told him. He let Ron drop. "Can you carry him back to the infirmary? I'm still dizzy."

Ron woke up as Hagrid was picking him up. "Let me go," he groaned. He leaned against a wall and rubbed his head. "Did the git get me?"

Iggy nodded. "He went into super-protector mode."

Ron grunted. "Fine. I'm going to help. Tell Xander to watch the twins for me. That slimy git can't do this by himself, he'll bollicks it up." He stumbled back into the forbidden section.

Iggy squeaked as he was picked up. "Hey!"

"Shush you," Hagrid told him as he carried him back to the infirmary. "I think he's supposed to be here." He put the boy into the bed the nurse pointed out. "The other two went after his cousin." He tucked Iggy in and gave him a pat on the head, smooshing him down some. "They're in the forbidden section."

Madam Pomfrey's lips pursed. "I do wish someone had sealed that section better."

"At least we're down in Hufflepuff's section," Iggy offered.

"Yes, but there's portals down there because Hufflepuff was friendly with a great many creatures that we don't deal with today." She checked the boy over then hummed and went to get some more of the potion Professor Snape had made up on the gryphon's orders. She forced him to drink it then smoothed the blankets out as he fell asleep. "There, no more problems from you three today," she told him.

Hagrid laughed. "It could be worse. Those four together get into some of the strangest things." He walked over and nudged Xander where he was resting. "Ron said ta tell ya ta watch the twins," he said when one eye opened. Xander didn't wake up well so he waited until the message was acknowledged. Xander raised a hand.

"Yes?" Madam Pomfrey asked him.

"Can you please tell my husband this news so I can duck behind you?" he asked nicely. She responded well to nice.

She laughed. "I'll send an owl down to him and ask him to come up and help you, Xander." She tucked him in too. "You rest." She shooed Hagrid out. "Don't you have a visitor to your classes?"

"Yup, he's giving a long lecture," Hagrid said happily. "He'll be here for a few days so I'll even get to have long talks with him." He walked out, beaming. This would be one of the highlights of his career.

Madam Pomfrey smiled at Hagrid's back. She was sure the man would be up most of the night badgering the gryphon for information and discussions. She walked back into her office and finished writing out the note to George Weasley. She wasn't looking forward to him storming into her infirmary, but he did need to know that she was keeping Xander unconscious for a few more hours. Apparently the poor boy needed the sleep. She watched as a slim figure walked into the room dragging a basket. "Put it on the bed," she ordered the house elf. The basket with the twins was put up next to Xander and pleasingly arranged in his arms. He looked so good with the babies. He had when Iggy had been that old and he did now. She saw Iggy roll over and look at his father and smile sadly. "It could happen," she reminded him quietly.

Iggy shook his head, slowly because he was still fighting the medicine. "It'll hurt Aunt Ginny to have another one," he said quietly so he wouldn't let his father know he was thinking along those lines. He would have loved to have had a bunch of siblings to play with. "I doubt he'd want to carry one if the gryphons did that spell and daddy George can't so it's not going to happen." He sniffled. "He really does love us though."

"He could always adopt," she reminded him, giving him a pat on the cheek. "Rest, you need it so the medicine will work, young man."

"Yes, ma'am." Iggy shut his eyes. "Can you suggest it to him?"

"I will once he's awake," she agreed. She went back to send her owl off to town. Xander's husband would love to hear about this one.

***

Dumbledore walked up the path to the school, carrying his small suitcase with him. He had promised to come back today, and while he was ready for the insanity, he wasn't looking forward to it. He looked off to the side when he noticed a large group of students sitting on the ground and a gryphon, heading over to talk to Severus. "A visiting professor?" he asked lightly.

"The gryphons agreed to send someone up to talk to Ignatius and Melvin," Severus said as he pulled his Headmaster off to the side so they could talk privately. "Someone made the three Weasley/Malfoy boys sick, but not the girl. I've gotten them a potion to help so they're in the infirmary. We're assuming it was an action against Draco by Inghram, or that was his supposition at least." He smiled grimly. "Harris is up and wandering around. He's absorbed as much of the healing potion as he can."

"How are his legs?"

"Still burned in places. Getting better slowly. It's not slowing him down any, of course, but that boy is rather fun to watch hobble as fast as he used to walk."

Dumbledore smiled. "He will eventually slow down. No matter how distasteful the idea is to him, he will get old."

"No, he's already feeling old, he's just not letting it slow him down," Severus corrected with a smile.

They both watched as George went running past them and into the school. "Some things never change," Dumbledore said mildly. "I suppose I should go see what a mess she left."

"I've cleaned up most of it," Severus told him. "With the exception of a few payments everything is done."

"Good." Dumbledore patted him on the arm. "I shall see you at lunch. I'm going to settle in. Maybe take the room across from Xander's."

Snape put a hand out to stop him. "I wouldn't. They're horribly noisy."

Dumbledore laughed. "You still haven't figured out how to block a vent yet, Severus? I'll help you with that tonight." The Potion's Master sighed in relief. He had looked a bit tired. He took his suitcase in to the school, checking to see if his old room was still open. When he found it was, he settled in like he had never left.

***

Xander woke up and looked to his left. He saw his husband cooing down at the twins and smiled. He looked so good like that. George looked up and smiled, looking very happy at the moment. "I want another one too," Xander told him.

"Don't read my mind," George teased.

"I wasn't. It was the look of contentment on your face and the happiness in your eyes," Xander told him. He reached over and touched the nearest twin's foot. "I really wouldn't mind if we wanted to have another one, George. I remember diapers and feedings, and I'm ready for them again." He shifted closer. "If you want, I'll even carry."

Madam Pomfrey walked up to them, shaking her head. "Not until you're much better and all of your burns are completely healed, Xander. Think about adoption instead. Take in an unwanted child." She checked Xander over and held the twins so George could climb up on the bed with him. "There's quite a few orphaned wizards and witches these days," she said quietly. "I'm sure you could be approved to adopt one."

"Yeah, but I want a daughter that acts like him," Xander said, brushing down his husband's arm. "I'm all for adoption, but I'd like for us to have one more of our own first."

"You want *that many* children?" George asked, sounding a bit shocked.

"I hated being an only child and so does Iggy," Xander pointed out. "It's lonely and you spend a lot of time waiting and hoping that someone will come play with you." He didn't realize he had turned on his pitiful look until his mate ran a finger over his pouting lip. "Sorry, I didn't mean to be forceful."

"I know. I agree, it's got to be lonely for Iggy, hanging around the store all the time. He hasn't had many kids to play with and he's spent too much time with his books because of it." He kissed his mate on the side of the neck, making him purr and get hard. "If we could find someone to carry for us, and not endanger Ginny's life, I'd be all for having another one or two, or even having one and adopting one."

"Your sister's not in good health?" Madam Pomfrey asked.

Xander shook his head. "The doctor told her not to have another one or she'd be in trouble. Mentioned gestational diabetes and other horrible things."

"How many has she had?"

"Four," George told her. "Three for Draco and one for us." He smiled sadly. "I wouldn't want her to get sick from doing this."

"Me either," Xander agreed. He looked over his shoulder and dropped his voice to a whisper. "We might be able to talk someone like Tara into it, but she's got health problems that'll take an intense spell to cure too."

"We have a whole book of healing spells and potions beyond the ones that Ginny and Professor Snape have," George reminded him. "You haven't even opened them."

"Maybe it has something in there to help Ginny," Xander offered.

"If you'd bring them up to me, I could tell you which would help her best," the nurse asked.

The couple looked at each other, then nodded. "After we talk to Ginny," George told her. "Being presumptuous would get us smacked hard by her and mum."

"That might be for the best," she agreed dryly. Denver started to retch so she rushed over to help him. "I'll be right back."

"Okay," Xander agreed. He snuggled in, looking down at the twins laying in his arms. "I miss these times."

"If you get injured again, I'm going to have to spank you," George reminded him lightly. He knew why Xander had been knocked out and would get Draco for it later. "They both went after her, even though Draco tried to go it alone."

"I figured as much when I recognized the twins," Xander told him. "Think we can keep them for a while?"

"I doubt they're going to be back tonight," George told him. "Melvin's account sounded like a fairy crossed with an elf."

"A fairy crossed with an elf?" George nodded. "Wouldn't that be a classification of fairy?"

"Probably," George agreed. "The message has been passed on to Dumbledore, who thought you looked cute curled up in the bed again." He pinched the firm, but soft stomach. "He understood you needing the nap that Draco so kindly gave you."

"Both of them got me. I taught them too well." He groaned as he shifted and Minnie opened her eyes, yawning up at him. "Good morning, precious. Want to come stay in the nest for a few days?" Minnie pulled her fingers up to suck on the first two and gave him an interested look. Her sister woke up with a yawn of her own but she started to cry. "Oops, hungry sounds."

George slid out of the bed and walked down to Ron's rooms to get them a bottle and some diapers. If they were going to keep the kids for a while, they'd need them. The password gave him a few moment's trouble, but he eventually figured it out. Maybe he'd ask Ron how to change their password. Some of the Gryffindors didn't knock anymore. He came out and ran into Dumbledore on the way to the Great Hall. "Hello, Headmaster," he said in greeting, giving him a smile.

"George. How is Xander?"

"Awake. Spoiling the twins because we're remembering having a baby fondly." He grinned brighter. "We were talking about having another one actually."

"Capital!" Dumbledore said happily. "Have you thought of adopting?"

"We did, but Xander really wants another of mine," he said, his grin turning to stupid and happy. "We thought about adopting after that."

"That would be wonderful," Dumbledore agreed, following him up to the infirmary. He could get lunch in a moment. He watched as Xander fixed a bottle with such a contented look on his face. Maybe he should butt in and help them some. Without harming George this time. That wouldn't be wise. Xander had nearly destroyed the colony last time. He came over to look more closely at the children. "Still no idea where their mother and brother are?"

"Not a clue," George told him. "That Wesley person thought he had one but it didn't pan out apparently."

"Spike's looking for her too," Xander told him. "He sent on a letter saying that he'd heard about the son but no concrete details."

George nuzzled Xander's neck again. "You have strange friends, love."

"I know, but they suit me and keep me from having to do everything myself." George pinched him. "Hey!"

"You don't do anything by yourself. We agreed, dear."

"Not even going to the bathroom?" Xander asked with a naughty grin.

"Well, that I'll allow," George told him, taking the baby he was holding so his mate could go use the restroom by himself. There were some activities that he wouldn't help his husband with, not unless it was absolutely necessary. Dumbledore smiled at him. "He feels the same way," he noted with a shrug. He stuck the spat-out bottle back into it's receptacle. Dumbledore switched children with him, letting the suckling babe fall asleep in his arms. "Do you think we should?" he asked quietly.

"If it makes you happy and you're secure enough to have another one I don't see why not. You could probably even find a few of the gryphon-born to adopt if you asked around. I know a few have been dropped off at the colony in Stonehenge over the years." He handed the child back when he heard the bathroom door open. "I'll leave you to remember having an infant fondly. I'm for lunch."

"We could probably join you," Xander offered as he walked out of the bathroom.

"Why don't you gather a picnic and go have lunch out with the gryphon. He is here to see you also."

"Good point," George agreed. He handed over both children to his mate. "I'll be back in a moment, I'm going to find a house elf." He hurried away.

Xander looked at Dumbledore. "Are you staying or leaving again?"

"I have plans that require my leaving sometime," Dumbledore said with a fond smile. "Whether they happen this year or next I won't know until then." He held out his arms. "Want me to take one?"

"That's okay. We have a basket," Xander said, putting them back into their carrier. He grabbed his cane and waved at the nurse as he carried the babies downstairs. "How bad is McGonagall?"

"I stopped in to see her on the way up. She's presently quite upset with Simone. She's also very wary of seeing you again because of how she treated your son."

Xander shrugged. "I make allowances for spells."

"I told her that but she's going to worry until you bring her a plant or something."

"How long before she comes back?" he asked quietly.

"She can't come into the school until we figure out if something here was the trigger," Dumbledore explained. "She'll be staying with her sister once she's released next week." He smiled as George hurried toward them with a basket. "Popular item today?"

"Oh, yes. Most everyone is picnicking today. It's a nice day and they're without classes other than this lecture that the gryphon is giving." He tried to take the babies but Xander shook his head. "Fine. You take them and I'll take the light thing."

"Exactly," Xander agreed. He smiled at the Headmaster. "Happy settling in. Come join us if you want."

"I wouldn't want to interrupt. I'm sure Mr. Weasley has some plans in mind." He smiled as the couple walked away, they were so delightful to be around. Even Severus had smiled at the cuteness they exuded like a drug. He shook himself out of his thoughts and went to unpack. He supposed he was staying for a while.

***

Simone woke up and was nearly blinded by the sparkly walls. "Eww, someone needs decorating sense," she complained as she sat up. She lifted a hand to her head, it felt like there was something on it. She pulled down a small crown and stared at it. "Huh, daddy said he wouldn't buy me one of those."

"You never have to worry about that again, Princess," a small voice said from the other side of the room. "We will take care of all of your needs and give you whatever you want."

She dropped the crown onto the bed and stood up. "Then you're taking me back to Hogwarts so I can get back to my cousins," she pronounced in her best princessly fashion.

"We cannot." The woman walked into the light shining off the walls and coming through the windows. "That is the one thing we cannot do. You are here to stay."

"Bet me," she snorted. "I can fight my way out if I have to."

"With what?" the woman asked. "Your old wand is gone."

"What? That was made specifically for me, a gryphon gave their heart string for it."

"It's safely stored with the wands of the others," the woman soothed. "The wand you found chose you and it has precedence."

"Has it occurred to you that no one's been down there for centuries?" she asked dryly. "It's probably just lonely."

"That might have been so, but you fulfilled the prophecy," the woman told her. "She with hair of sunset...."

"Hate to burst your bubble, but my hair's strawberry blonde, not flaming red like my cousin's."

"It's a prophecy, it's supposed to be a bit off," the woman pointed out.

"If you don't get me out of here, I'm going to throw the most major fit and kill everyone," Simone warned.

"If it is what you wish, we would do so," the woman told her. "You are our next ruler."

"Oh, fuck!" she sighed, looking up. "Iggy! Melvin! Send daddy!"

The woman clamped a hand over her mouth. "If they show up and you see them they will die," she said harshly. "It is the way it is."

Simone pulled away from you. "I doubt you could kill my father. Bigger and stronger have tried and failed." She crossed her arms, pulling out every nasty bit of bad personality she had ever had. "I will be leaving."

"You may not," the woman said, harsher this time. "We will die without your guidance."

"Yay! I'm not one of you. I'm never going to be one of you. For that matter, I don't want to be one of you, I happen to like my family."

"If they come, they will be killed once you set eyes on them. You are ours and you had better get used to it," she said coldly.

"Fuck you and the bitch you rode in on," Simone told her in the same tone of voice. "I don't take orders from you." The woman tried to hit her, but Simone had not only a brother, but two male cousins. She was very well trained in fighting. That woman found herself on the floor with a split lip and a broken nose. "Now then, I'm leaving. Not only am I hungry and missing my cousins, but I will not stay around you short people forever. I'm going to continue growing up." She walked over to the door and opened it, finding guards on the other side. "Move or be moved," she ordered.

"They will not follow that order," she called.

Simone did something she really shouldn't do, she grabbed a spear and brandished it. One of the guards made a grab for her, but she had taken lessons with Uncle Xander too. He went down and more came running. "I'm leaving!" she announced.

"You won't get far," the woman yelled after her.

"You stupid, bloody, unintelligent git," Simone said derisively. "I'm not your princess and I'm not helpless." She left the room, watching the guards as she walked past them. "Where's my wand?" she demanded.

"In the Library, with the others," one of the guards said, watching her warily. This was no ordinary princess. She was strong, a fighter. She knew, kind of, what to do with that spear. He followed her on her trek to find her wand, keeping back from her. He could always go get her again. He knew where she lived. It was too bad the Princess Hufflepuff had managed to escape once she grew up. She would have given them a stable line of succession. But those humans were so fragile and couldn't breed once they'd been here for a while. He watched in shock and horror as the girl found her wand, and the others they had taken from the other princesses. She broke the case, making all around them gasp. She stuffed them into her clothes, hoping that someone would be able to identify them. She couldn't be the first they had taken. She backed out of the library, her wand in her hand, tied down with one of her hair ribbons so she didn't have to hold both it and the weapon. She ran out of the library and paused to look around. He ran for the other portal, knowing what her next move would be. She was a well-trained fighter and her next move would have to be to try and escape. He slipped over into the school and locked that portal behind him so she couldn't use it, but he could get her back.

"Portal," she demanded. A few of the fairies pointed at a stone archway. She ran for it, hoping that it would work for her. If not, she would take a hostage. There was no way she was giving up her daddy, or mother, brother, or any of them really. Even if Ravena did irritate her sometimes by drooling on her favorite shirts. She saw the portal and sighed in relief. Only one guard. She stunned him with a curse she had learned from Iggy, and heard a great wail from the watching people. "Yeah, I'm related to a gryphon-born," she announced evilly. Maybe daddy had a point that sometimes evil was necessary. She walked through the portal and fell to the ground with a sigh of relief. "Oh, crap," she said when she realized she was in Stonehenge. "This portal stuff sucks. Iggy!" She felt a tickle in her head and knew one of her cousins had heard her. She forced herself to stand up and walk over to where her Uncle Xander had told her there was a guardian to the gryphon colony. "I need help," she told it. "I'm Iggy Harris-Weasley's cousin Simone. Uncle Xander told me to come here if I ever got into trouble. May I please speak with the elders and gain sanctuary until someone comes for me?"

The guardian looked her over, then clicked his tongue. "You poor girl. They got you." He opened the doorway and Simone stepped inside. He smiled at her back. That was a strong little girl to have fought her way out of there, and taken all those wands.

Simone bowed to the two elders sitting there. "Elder Fredericka, you may not remember me, but you met me when I was six months old. I'm Ginny Weasley's daughter." A sob caught in her throat. "They're going to hurt daddy."

The elder wrapped her in her wings. "We will call the school now and stop them from going further." She looked off into the distance, calling out to another who could hear her. She continued to comfort the girl. The poor baby. "You need to talk to someone about those wands that you carry."

"They took me," she sobbed. "They took my wand and said they'd kill any of my family that tried to help me." Simone pulled back and wiped her face off. "I figured that they did it to them too so I was going to have them sent to Ollivander." She sat down and looked up at the elder, taking the proper student pose. "Was this about me?"

"No, it was about the sparkling wand that is in your pocket," Fredericka told her, pointing with a wingtip. "They cannot breed right so they have no queen. Unfortunately, once a girl is over there and partaken of their foods they can no longer breed." Simone shuddered. "I can see no evidence that you've eaten of their foods, young lady. Do not worry. You will have many fine children one day and carry on your mother's traditions."

She smiled. "Thanks." She looked down at herself, shuddering at the pink lace covering her body. She was wearing some sort of white pants under the lace dress, and it was uncomfortable. "Do you think they're coming?"

"I'm sure they are. Would you like to change? Your cousin left some clothes here the last time he visited."

"Please," she said in relief. "This itches."

Fredericka nodded. "I understand." She clicked and a human came running. "Take her to change into the clothes Iggy left the last time," she ordered. "Wrap those wands in those clothes, and the spear with it, Simone." The girl nodded and followed the human back into the caverns.

"Will this cause a war?" the other elder asked.

Fredericka shook her gray head. "No. They wouldn't dare, not after she fought them."

"Hopefully her father will be stopped before she has to go back."

"Hopefully," Fredericka agreed.

***

Iggy shot out of bed and looked around. "Uncle Draco," he moaned. Then he ran out of the room, ignoring his sick feelings, heading down to stop them. "No, stop," he called as he walked through the door. "She's safe." Ron came out of one of the rooms and grabbed him. "Stop Uncle Draco, she's safe. She fought her way out. The gryphons have her."

Draco came out of the room that had eluded every lock spell he had ever found. "She's safe?"

Iggy nodded, leaning against his Uncle Ron. "She's safe. She's with the gryphons. She rescued a bunch of wands too. They need you there with Dumbledore right now." He reached out to his Uncle. "And you have to seal the door. They're looking for more princesses." He looked inside the room, noticing all the books, and moaned in pain. "Can't we move them first?" he called.

"No," Xander said from behind him. "No moving of the books. They're in there for a reason."

"Only guys down here from now on," Iggy told him, eyes wide. "They're going to try it again." He looked up at his father. "You've got to take him to the colony, him and Dumbledore. Simone needs you guys."

"Okay," Xander said, pulling him into his arms. "We'll go now. Draco, shut and lock the door using the password lock. Then come join us in Dumbledore's office." He smiled at Ron. "George's not giving back the twins for a few days. We're thinking about having another one."

Ron smiled. "I'll let you keep them for a bit," he agreed. He grabbed Iggy back and walked him out of the section, stopping to get the boy's set of wizard cards. They needed to compare decks so he could complete his.

Xander watched as Draco sealed the room again, then walked his 'son' out of the forbidden section. "At least she's fine," he said quietly.

"Yes, fortunately I didn't have to kill them all," Draco agreed. "She's really fine?"

"I'm not the one who heard it." Xander turned and sealed the section again. He would be having a discussion with his son about his safe area. He walked Draco up to the Headmaster's office, smiling at the old man sitting there. "Did Iggy tell you?"

"Yes, it's wonderful news." Dumbledore looked at Iggy. "And we're going to be having a discussion, young man."

Iggy sighed and nodded. "Yes, sir, but you told her not to explore that section. I listened when you told me."

"Iggy," Xander said threateningly. His son slumped down in his seat. "Thank you. He's not the only one who's going to be having a discussion with you, son." He looked at Dumbledore. "Are you ready to go with us now or should we go and you'll head over?"

"I'll come with you, let me talk to Severus. Did someone seal that door?" Draco raised a hand. "Very good. Tell Severus the passcode so we can get the books out of there please."

"Oh, is it *that* library?" Iggy asked.

Dumbledore shook his head. "No, Iggy, I'm afraid it's not. The missing library is in a tower room. That was Professor Hufflepuff's personal library." He ran a finger over something on his desk and footsteps came hurrying up the stairs. "Severus, we're off to the gryphon colony. You're in charge, and do help Mr. Malfoy move those books." He stood up and walked around the desk, taking Iggy's hand. "Come along. She'll need some attention from you too probably since she won't tell us anything that will stop the fear from coming back." He led them down to a clearer hallway. "Xander, can you take Draco?"

"Sure." Xander wrapped an arm around Draco's waist and disappeared.

Dumbledore shook his head. "He loves to show off, doesn't he?" he said with fond tolerance.

"It runs in the family," Iggy told him, taking his hand and bringing him to the gryphon caves too. "Hi," he called. The gryphons looked down at him. "We're here at Elder Fredericka's orders for my cousin."

One of the born who lived there motioned them to follow him. "What happened to her?" he asked Iggy. He liked the little kid, he was very fun, if a little stiff.

"Simone was exploring one of the forbidden sections of the school and got snatched by some fairy creatures," Iggy told him. "My cousin kicked their asses and got away," he said proudly.

"I'm sure she's a credit to your father's teachings." He led them into the secondary caves, where Simone was waiting on them. "Here she is. Well and mostly happy." He got out of the way as Iggy bowled into her cousin and gave her the hardest hug he could give her. He stopped Dumbledore with a head shake and a hand on his arm. "Give him a minute. He dotes on her more than anything."

Dumbledore smiled. "I know. I remember when he was old enough to recognize her. He used to toddle up to her and knock her down so he could hug her that same way." He got free and went over to separate them. "I think it's time to find your father, my dear." Simone gave him a watery smile. "We're bringing down the portal soon. They won't be coming back. And you are quite a young woman." He helped her up and took the bundle of clothes and wands, letting Iggy walk with her. "We will protect you both the best we can," he said quietly. Both kids looked at him and smiled. "Just don't tell your fathers. They worry horribly." Simone nodded. "Ah, here we are," Dumbledore said as they walked into the Elder's cavern. "All fine," he said as Draco grabbed Simone to hug. She squeaked in protest but he didn't let her go. Dumbledore shared a smile with Xander, who put an arm around his son's shoulders and let him lean against him.

Fredericka noticed the appliance in Xander's hand. "What is that?" she asked.

"A cane. The healing potions have quit working," he explained with a grin. "I'm trying to convince Ollivander to make it into an extra wand but he's being stubborn." Draco looked over at him. "It's a pain to hold a wand and a cane. Having a wand that was my cane would be much easier most of the time."

"Until you were thinking bad thoughts while you walked, daddy," Iggy reminded him. "You'd warp the floor."

Dumbledore stifled a laugh. He agreed. "I think you should wait. What if you end up not needing it?"

Xander shook his head. "I'm always going to need it. I still can't feel my foot. I'll never feel my left foot again. I'll probably always need the cane."

"I'll look into the healing spells and see if there's something," Fredericka assured him.

"No," Xander said quietly. "George likes me better this way." Draco gave him a stunned look. "It's keeping me from fighting, Draco. It's slowing me down and making us connect better. I'm willing to take the discomfort and occasional pain from my knee to make him happy."

"That's dumb," Iggy told him. "Dad would beat you senseless for suggesting that."

Xander looked down at him. "What makes you think he doesn't know?"

Iggy looked at him in stunned silence. "Daddy hates your fighting that much?"

Xander nodded. "And he knows that I'm not going to do anything extraordinary to get back into fighting shape. I'll always limp, Iggy, even if the healing potions would work, because it makes the *both* of us happier."

Iggy nodded. "I understand, sorta. I'll be cool about it."

"Thanks." Xander looked at Draco, who just nodded. Apparently he couldn't understand that sort of willingness to sacrifice. "It makes everyone more happy this way," he said quietly.

Draco nodded. He would work it out in his mind later. He had his daughter back and that was all that mattered to him. He looked at Dumbledore. "Are you taking those to Ollivander?"

Dumbledore unrolled the group of wands, shaking his head. "I'm going to have to go to the Ministry first. They need to know that the portal was reopened. Some might even want to try for diplomatic negotiations with them."

"They would never take one of us," the second elder pointed out. "We're too powerful and they fear us."

"Us?" Simone asked. She looked at Iggy. "Like him?" The elder nodded. "I'm gryphon born?"

"Yes. You are," Fredericka agreed.

"On which side?" Xander asked. Both elders shrugged. "Gee, I think we need to look at the research that was confiscated from the aurors," he said, looking at his boss. Dumbledore looked shocked.

"That would explain that spitting up slugs thing," Draco said mildly, too stunned to do more than hug his daughter. "Should we go tonight?"

"Simone, do you have your wand?" Iggy asked. She nodded and he grabbed her, taking her back to the school.

"My son is such a boy," Xander sighed. He looked at Draco. "They're at the school. He went back to bed."

"Fine," Draco sighed. "I'm staying over tonight."

"Hey, I've got a couch," Xander agreed.

"Maybe we should arrange for your whole family to have rooms together," Dumbledore said thoughtfully. "Possibly some tower rooms. Put you and Mr. Weasley together?"

Xander grinned. "I wouldn't mind, but we're over Gryffindor so we'll have to be near them."

Dumbledore nodded. He had heard that. McGonagall had complained quite often about what they were doing to her house. He looked at Draco, who was smiling. "Are you staying to help Professor Weasley?"

"Not unless he needs me to," Draco told him.

"He and Harry are taking over the physical part of my training class," Xander told him.

"Then we should probably find you a section that has extra rooms and just give it over to you." Dumbledore nodded at the elders. "Thank you for giving her sanctuary."

"We do that for family," Fredericka said with a shrug. "We would do the same for this one's family." She patted Draco on the head. "They are Iggy's and Xander's family."

Xander grinned at her. "Yes, they are." He patted Draco on the arm. "Want to head back?"

"Please. I'd like to sit and talk with my children for a bit before I go home." Xander took him and disappeared.

"He's still quite energetic," Dumbledore noted. "It hasn't slowed him down a bit."

Fredericka laughed. "I don't think much will. Do give him a lab also; his brother-in-law has been complaining about him being in there again from what I understand."

"Oh, indeed. I have just the spot for him. It's another forbidden section, but this time for falling ceilings. I'm sure Xander could fix it. Maybe he would even teach that to a few selected students?"

Fredericka nodded. "That would be fine with us. You can't hurt us with that spell."

Dumbledore smiled. "Excellent. Thank you." He bowed to her. "I'm going to take this to Ollivander's and notify the Ministry." The spear was pushed into his hand. "She took this?"

"From a guard according to her thoughts," the second elder told him. "She was still thinking about it when she ran in here." He leaned closer. "Should we worry?"

"Not likely," Dumbledore told him. "They won't come and attack you. Like Fredericka said, they're afraid of you." He smiled and disappeared. He landed on the front doorstep of Ollivanders and walked in, giving him a smile. "We had a rather large surprise," he said in greeting. "Young Ms. Malfoy-Weasley was captured by some of Hufflepuff's friends. She fought her way back." He put the spear against the counter and unwrapped the wands. "She liberated these too so they could be identified and given to the families."

Ollivander nearly sobbed at the sight of the twenty wands lying there. "Some of my best early work," he said as he picked up one of his favorite wands. "Ten inches, oak, firebird core." He put it carefully down. "I will check my books. Should I expect someone?"

"Oh, yes, I meant to call them first," he said with a devilish twinkle in his eyes. He walked over to use the floo fireplace.

Part 3

Xander walked into his in-laws's house and gave them a smile. "Crisis averted," he announced. He accepted a kiss on the cheek from Molly. "And Iggy knows about the cane now," he told his mate, who was sitting at the table.

"As long as he's not bothered," George said, giving him a smile. "Did Simone actually kick their rears?"

"Quite well," Xander agreed as he sat down beside him. He accepted the cup of juice from Arthur. "Thanks, dad. Yeah, she came home with a spear and a bunch of wands that they had taken off some other girls. Dumbledore was taking them to Ollivander's for identification."

"Oh, my," Molly said, giving him a wondering look. "All this because of Hufflepuff?"

"Hufflepuff was a very friendly witch," George reminded her. "She's the reason that there's centaurs in the Forbidden Forest and that we have a class on Magical Creatures at all." He stuffed a piece of meatloaf into his mouth.

"It would make sense that her section would have a lot of portals to places where she had made friends," Xander agreed. "These ones were just a bit badder than the usual." He smiled at his husband. "Dumbledore is thinking about moving us and Ron to rooms near each other." George choked and Xander patted him on the back to help him. "He was talking about giving us a tower sort of place, with rooms for us, for Ron, and for any visitors if we need them." And maybe a lab of his own, he thought privately.

George smiled at him. "I'm sure Snape will be thankful."

"Probably," Xander agreed with a grin.

"I didn't think your rooms were near his," Arthur said.

"Oh, no, there's an air vent down into his room that stops in ours on the way," Xander told him. Both parents blushed.

"Exactly," George agreed. He looked at Xander, who smiled and nodded, so he took his hand. "Mum, dad, we're looking into the possibility of having another child," he announced.

"Ginny can't carry one," Molly reminded him.

"That's why we're looking at options," Xander told her. "I was willing to ask Tara to carry for us, she's a great mom and would love to be an aunt to our brood."

"And Dumbledore suggested that we adopt," George added.

"But we want another of our own first," Xander finished.

Molly smiled at them. "If you can figure it out, I'm so very happy for you both."

Arthur finished chewing his bite of dinner, nodding. "Me also," he said once he had swallowed. "Just one?"

"Maybe," Xander said with a shrug. "It's really lonely being an only child. Iggy isn't happy as an only child and neither was I." He squeezed the hand holding his. "I'm not going to be picky, but I'd love one of his."

"Or two," George agreed. "Twins do run in the family, dear."

"I'd adore twins," Xander said happily.

"Actually, George, triplets run in the family. You two were the aberration. It's on my side of the family." She sipped her water. "When were you thinking about having it?"

"We'd love to have the baby during the summer so we'd have time to get into the rhythm again," George told her. "That way it wouldn't bother the school year."

"Yeah, because I don't have any vacation days for the next two years," Xander told them. He squeezed his mate's hand again. "Did you want a girl or a boy?"

"I'd be happy with either or both," George told him.

"Are you thinking about that gryphon spell?" Arthur asked.

Xander shrugged. "Not my favorite option but I'd be willing to do that. Another good reason to plan it for the summer," he noted with a grin. "I'd be really fat when I didn't have to teach."

George chuckled. "If you do, I'll give you many foot and back rubs, like we did for Ginny."

"Why would he need them?" Fred asked as he came out of the fireplace. He grabbed a plate and sat down, dishing himself up some food. "Thank you for not making me cook, mum," he said before taking a bite.

She rolled her eyes. "I thought your girlfriend was cooking for you now."

"She had to work tonight and I'm feeling worn out." Fred looked at his twin. "Simone?"

"Kicked their butts and came home with the wands of the other girls they had taken," Xander told him. He smiled at him. "What would you think about us having another child?"

Fred's fork dropped from his fingers. "That spell?" he asked, looking over George, then Xander's body. "Have you already done it?"

"Not yet. We're considering all the options right now," George told him. "And Dumbledore said he's thinking about moving us and Ron to a tower of our own."

"You'll need it," Fred agreed. "A screaming kid would kill Snape." He smiled. "If you do, I'd be thrilled. I've thought about snatching the girls to watch on occasion."

"Us too," Xander agreed. "We were watching them earlier and decided we wanted at least one more."

"Bully for you," Fred agreed. "I'd babysit on occasion."

His mother clicked her tongue. "You hated babysitting, Fred."

"Just the messy parts," Fred defended. "Babies put out nasty things from both ends."

"Son, I'm still eating," Arthur said dryly, taking a bite of food.

"Sorry, dad." Fred stuffed his mouth, then nodded. "Xander, talk him into a lab for yourself if possible. Then you could work even during the week."

"You still can't work with him?" Arthur asked, sounding interested. Fred had never seemed so picky before.

"Some days," Xander told him. "But I've been working on stuff every weekend all weekend long because I can't do it throughout the week. I've got so many ideas."

"And quite marketable ones too," George added, smiling at his twin. Xander was nearly famous within the family for making stuff that frustrated them because it couldn't be sold.

"Yup, I've been a good boy recently." Xander grinned at his husband. "Can I have a reward for that later?"

"Of course. Did you want to go buy a tv tonight?"

"Oh, please," Xander begged. "I'll be nice and kiss you all over."

"That's fine," George assured him. "We can go do that in a few. Let me finish dinner. I'll even let you eat fast food." Xander beamed, his husband spoiled him.

"What happened to your last one?" Molly asked. That device was quite a good time waster. She had enjoyed some of his movies while they were waiting on news of Buffy.

"The new Ministry department wanted it," Fred told her. "They're trying to figure out how to do that sort of stuff."

"So I'm getting a bigger one," Xander said happily.

"Remember, we'll have to carry it all," George reminded him as he scraped his plate. He stood up and helped Xander to his feet. "Bye all. We'll see you soon." He put a hand on his mate's butt and walked him over to the floo fireplace. "Leaky Cauldron?"

"Yeah," Xander said happily. "Just an hour won't be so bad. Ron's there."

"The Gryffindors can wait to grill you," George told him. They disappeared.

"I'm sure they'll be happy with their new viewing portal," Arthur told everyone. He scraped his plate and accepted the bread his wife held out. "Not eating, love?"

"No, I'm having another of those hot flashes," she told him. "I'll have toast in a bit."

"All right there, mum?" Fred asked.

"It's the change of life," Arthur told him. "Perfectly normal." He sopped up the gravy on his plate and ate the bread with a slurp. "Excellent as always," he pronounced, kissing his wife on the cheek.

Fred shook his head and focused on his plate. He didn't need to know about that sort of stuff.

***

"Princess," Draco said as he found her and hugged her.

"Daddy, please don't call me that," she whispered.

He pulled back and looked at her. "Then I won't," he said evenly. He should be working on destroying them, they had hurt his daughter. Iggy shot him an understanding smile, as did Melvin. "Come along, you can pick your next endearment." He led her into the Great Hall, nodding that he would be sitting with the family this meal. Just before they sat down Ginny breezed in with Anastasia and Ravena following in her wake. A real family reunion. "Would you like to eat in Xander's room?" he offered to his former girlfriend.

"That's okay," Ginny said as she sat down. "I remember sitting down here with fondness." Her other daughters sat and she smiled at the girl who came over to give Simone a hug. "Hello, you must be Andrea," she said, shaking the girl's hand. "Sit and eat with us."

Iggy shifted so he could sit next to his Aunt since Denver had moved to sit on his father's other side. Everyone around them shuffled to make room for the family. "Aunt Ginny, will you be mad if the dads find another way to have a kid?"

Ginny patted him on the shoulder. "I won't be mad, Iggy. I wish them the best of luck. I know they don't want to hurt me so I'm not insulted."

"Good," he said with a grin. "I want more siblings."

She laughed. "I'm sure Xander feels the same way." She patted Andrea on the hand. "So, tell me about your dog?"

"Pumpkin? She's presently not feeling so well. I think someone cursed her. We have a meeting with Hagrid later on tonight."

"Really?" Denver asked, leaning around to look at her. "What do you think they did to her?"

"Worms I think," she said. "But that's not really appropriate dinner conversation." She smiled in Ginny's direction. "Are you her mom?"

"Oh, yeah. I gave birth to her."

"Mommy," Simone sighed, rolling her eyes. "You love me."

"Of course I do," Ginny told her, frowning at her. "There's never been any doubt about it. Even when you do stupid stuff and end up getting hurt." She and her daughter shared a look. Maybe it was time to tell her about the Chamber of Secrets. "We'll be talking later."

"Yes, mum," Simone said obediently, but she was grinning evilly. "Daddy, I figured out why you liked being bad so much. It felt really good." He laughed and gave her another hug. "Um, Mum, I think dad has something to tell you."

"Yes, I think the family should hear it first though," Draco corrected. He looked at Ginny, but Iggy whispered something in her ear. "Thank you for spoiling it."

"Uh. Oh my," Ginny said finally. "Really?" Draco shrugged. "Which side of the family?"

"They didn't know," Draco told her. "But it would explain your brother and his amazing slug trick."

"Um, eww," Andrea pointed out.

Simone giggled. "Too true." She handed over a dish. "Beef stir fry tonight. The house elfs are getting fancy. It has peas."

"Thanks for the warning." Andrea dished herself some out passed the bowl across the table. "Any rice?" It was pushed down to her. "Thank you, Iggy."

"Welcome." He giggled when Draco looked at him. "She can tell the difference between us now," he said proudly.

"Yup, you smell like mint," Andrea told him. "Denver always smells like pine cones. Melvin..." She stopped as someone sat beside her and gave her a hug. "Thank you. Who're you?"

"That's Ravena. You'll enjoy having her around because she *loves* hugs," Simone told her, smiling at her youngest sister. "You still have to eat."

"Not want it," Ravena told her proudly. She was almost two now, a big girl. And this new 'sister' was pretty neat. She even had a dog! "Want chocolate."

"No," Ginny told her. "Anastasia, push her plate over. "No snuggling with the twins until you eat." Ravena let go of her new 'sister' and dug into her dinner. "Thank you." She smiled at Draco. Their daughters were just odd. "How are the twins? I notice Ron's not up there."

"He doesn't usually take dinner with us," Denver told her. "The twins are fussy recently so he eats in his room, that way we don't have to have our eardrums broken by the pitiful wailing." He grimaced. "We told him it wasn't necessary, but he decided against letting us help."

"I guess that's understandable," Ginny agreed. "I did the same thing when Anastasia had colic."

"I had colic?" Anastasia asked.

"For *months*," Draco told her. "I don't think I slept your whole first year." He paused to think. "Or your third."

Ginny snickered. "You and me both." She kicked him under the table and licked her lips. He looked good today, being all protective of their children. He winked at her.

"Daddy, remember, she can't have any more," Denver told him, breaking the mood. His step-mother groaned. "Sorry, but you can't. Not that we'd *mind*, but I don't want Grandmum to kill daddy."

"Point," Draco sighed. Ginny smiled at him. He was willing to risk it. And he still had that spell if he needed it. Or wanted it. He smiled and winked at her. She giggled.

Iggy and Denver shared a look and rolled their eyes. Those two were so obvious. They needed lessons in subtly. Maybe Iggy's dad could give him lessons.

***

Xander walked out of the fireplace and floated his packages in front of him. His tv followed him, as floated by George. He was happy. His life was good. He had a tv again so he would have mindless noise again soon. He had even found a few presents that were going to make some people very happy. He opened the door and walked in, dropping most everything onto the couch. He helped George put the tv into place on the wall. A 42 inch flat screen tv and a combination tv/dvd player. With two hundred new dvd's to play on it. And some more soda because he had been out. George sat beside him and flicked his wand, attaching everything in the proper order, and stuck one of their new dvd's into the machine to play. He watched as Xander manipulated the remote, that way he could use it whenever he wanted. The dvd started with a rush of sound, making him flinch. It was turned down quickly but the door opened and admitted the dour Professor Snape. "Sorry about that," George told him with a grin.

"Come see," Xander said, pointing happily. He bounced slightly. Then he remembered the present he had found the older man and dug it out, tossing it over to it's recipient. "We even found you a prezzie," he told him with a smirk.

Snape sat down and looked over the small package. "Journals?" He opened them and flipped through the heavy paper. "These are nice. Thank you." He looked up. "Are you going to play that all night?"

"We only play it all night when we're having sex on the couch and fall asleep that way," Xander told him. He nearly laughed at the small shudder. "Dumbledore said he's thinking about moving us and Ron to our own section."

Snape's eyes lit up. That was something he could get behind. "I shall talk to him about that," he said as he stood up. "Thank you for the journals. Are you coming to breakfast?"

"No," George said with a naughty smile, running a hand up Xander's thigh. "I think we'll be sleeping in tomorrow."

Snape nodded. "Very well. Your house was looking for you since your son is still in the infirmary for observation." Xander nodded. "And your brother is presently napping."

"Okay," Xander told him. "We'll expect them and lock the door this time."

"It's not our fault that they forget to knock," George said quietly, but he was blushing.

Snape shook his head. "Hopefully your new rooms will have a sitting area with a door between it and your bedroom." He clutched his journals and went to beg Dumbledore to move them. He would grovel if that's what it took.

***

Dumbledore walked in the front doors and was pounced by Professor Snape. "Yes, I'm moving them, Severus. I do believe Xander could fix up that West tower, which is close to Gryffindor."

"Give them the south tower," Severus suggested. "There's a direct hallway between the two and there's no vent leading down to anywhere near my rooms. Plus, there's a shortcut down to the floor where Xander's main classroom is."

Dumbledore laughed. "Fine. I'll give them the South tower. Should I give them that whole area?"

"If you don't, the Gryffindors will walk in on them again," he noted dryly. "Weasley admitted it had happened before. I'm sure they'd appreciate the gesture and it could be shared with Professor Weasley. As a matter of fact, if you ceded the whole tower to them, from the entryway, they would not only have a laboratory space, but they would have a gathering area for the visiting family and their house's children. Plus, they'd have spacious rooms for each of them and a wonderful nursery area."

Dumbledore nodded, holding in his laughter. He'd never seen Severus beg before. It was quite amusing in so many ways. Surely the man wasn't afraid of the noise or the couple that caused it. The spell that told him what was going on around the school focused on the painting on the outside of Xander's doorway. Well, they certainly were loud....but really. Severus almost looked scared. "That's an excellent idea," he told him. "I'll walk Xander and George through there tomorrow and let them work out how to fix things up for themselves. With Xander's building spells it should be fairly easy and done over a weekend." He smiled and walked away. Yes, rather amusing.

Snape sighed in relief. He wouldn't have to hear them going at each other any more!

***

Xander looked around the new space and squealed in joy. It was everything they had ever talked about in getting their own house! He jumped into his husband's arms and gave him a tight hug. "I love it! Tell me you love it!"

"I adore it," George said, sitting down. Xander was heavy. He smiled at the headmaster. "How much work does it need?"

"Some of the walls are a bit weak, as are a few floors. It shouldn't take Xander too long to shore them up." He winked at Xander. "I'm sure you can help Mr. Weasley settle in also."

George nodded. "He'll love it too." He pointed at a door off this sitting area. "Where does that go?"

"To the hallway holding Gryffindor's portal," he said with a smile. "A direct link to your house."

Xander squealed again.

"We're putting in locks," George told him mate, slowly and clearly. "Repeat it please."

"I'm putting in locks on each of the rooms and a super lock on the lab space." He stood up and hopped his way up the stairs to check out the rest of the space.

"This looks suspiciously like a house," George said dryly, getting comfortable on the dusty, old couch.

"It was. Originally this was the Slytherin house," Dumbledore said with a twinkle in his eyes. "Salazar found that the current quarters suited him better because he could arrange for more room than this tower would allow. He always knew Slytherin would be a very populous house."

"We're going to be living in Slytherin's old house?" George asked. "The proper Gryffindor in me is horrified, sir."

"It's been purified for you. Now it's just a neutral house," Dumbledore soothed. "It's part of the original school, as designed by Salazar himself. Within six years he figured out that he had vastly underestimated the power of his house so he had this one purified and built the new, present, quarters. And I do believe he would be just as horrified as your proper Gryffindor core."

Xander yelled from upstairs. "We'll need a bunch of building stones."

"That's fine, Xander. If I remember correctly, some of this tower was built by a gryphon that had been captured so you should be able to meld in the new stones easily."

Xander came down the stairs. "I noticed. They used a more cubic pattern than I do, but it should be okay." He slid into his husband's lap. "This is all ours, the Weasley clan's?"

"Yes," Dumbledore said firmly. "Between yourself and Mr. Weasley's clan, I figured that you could use the space. In truth, the other teachers all have work spaces and neither of you have them. Plus, with the twins and any more coming from you two, you'll need the room for the children. Having you together would just be for the best, don't you think?" Xander and George nodded. "Also," he said with a naughty smile, "I'm hooking the main fireplace up to the floo." He pointed at it. "We'll have to name it of course, but it should ease the problem of Xander sneaking out for soda each week and ...."

"Can we put in a refrigeration unit?" George asked. The Headmaster nodded. "And you'll run interference between us and McGonagall?"

"She was all for the idea when I talked to her earlier," Dumbledore lied. She would be by the time he got done with her, but she wasn't doing much of anything right now outside of sleeping. "Will this hold all of you?"

"Really well," Xander told him. He looked at George, who nodded. "We were going to get ourselves a house soon anyway, Albus. We need the space and Fred has a girlfriend now so he really needs his privacy too."

"We were thinking a small house and offering Ron and the twins their own rooms," George agreed. "We were looking at that old stone monstrosity outside of Hogsmeade. That way I could still be close to work."

"Yeah, we're still splitting time between here and the store and it's crimping Fred's love life," Xander agreed. He looked at his husband. "Do you think I should teach Iggy how to craft?"

"I don't think it's in his nature," Dumbledore told him. "Healing, thoughts, traveling. The gryphon nature seems to be split between the two sides, yours and Iggy's. If you wanted, you could teach it to some others. You do have permission to do that."

"Cool. I'll put out a signup sheet tonight," Xander told him. "Maybe Tara will help this time."

"You're awfully focused on Tara recently," George said, starting to frown.

"She's having empty nest thoughts," Xander explained.

"But she sees Adrian every day."

"Yeah, but he's growing up. He's not living with her anymore," Xander reminded him. "She's been really sad every time she looks down at him during meals. I'm worried about her. Even Willow's noticed."

"Then it must be serious if Willow's paying attention to something other than her son's behavior," George said. "I'm not complaining, just worried that you're getting too involved."

"I'm not going to sleep with her," Xander assured him, leaning down for a kiss. "Maybe cuddle her sometimes, but nothing else."

"I think she'll find someone soon," Dumbledore said with a smile. "I have it on good authority that someone is somewhat interested in her but thinks that she could never want him." He looked around. "This will suit you?"

"This is great," Xander told him. "As long as Ron agrees I'm good to start work this weekend if we've got some extra stones lying around."

"There's that fallen wall out back," George pointed out. "Unless they're needed somewhere else," he said when Dumbledore looked thoughtful.

"Wouldn't they be too big?"

"I could easily split them," Xander told him. "Too big isn't the problem. Too porous is. I ran into that problem with the shop." He stole another kiss. "I still have a few spots I'm not happy with and want to finish shoring up."

"Honey, you've added seventy new stones in the last year," George complained. "It's strong enough."

"I'm still feeling weak spots," Xander whined.

"Fine," George sighed. "After you finish this."

Ron opened the door and walked in, back and front packs filled with the twins. "What's this?" he asked.

"Our new house if you agree," George told him. He took the pack off his brother and held the twins so he could go wander around.

"This is a bloody house!" Ron yelled from the top of the stairs. He came back down. "Which one was it?"

"Slytherin," George told him.

"It's been purged of all Slytherin influences since they moved to their present quarters," Dumbledore assured him.

"Bet he's spinning right about now," Ron said with a grin. "Looks great. How much work does it need?"

"Some shoring up," Xander told him. He looked at Dumbledore. "Can I steal one of those blocks to put into the shop?"

"Of course. They're just laying there. I'm not sure where they're from originally but they seem very sturdy." He looked at Ron. "This suits you?"

"Yeah. I want the dorm on the left."

"Fine with us. There's a nice upper level on the other side that would work great for Murphy." He looked around. "I felt some hidden areas too."

"Which will thrill the kids," George offered. "Iggy's hot on finding that hidden library." Dumbledore coughed and pointed at the fireplace. "Really?" he asked dryly. The Headmaster nodded. "Then we're definitely not telling him."

"I'm sure he'll be able to feel the space himself," Ron told him. He looked up at the ceiling. "How much work shoring up and can I help?"

"Sure and probably a weekend's worth. Less work than the store but I'm probably going to be teaching how it's done." He held out a hand and Dumbledore shook it. "We'll take it, but we get to bug Snape one last night."

"I'm sure that will be fine," Dumbledore agreed with a naughty smile. "He was quite happy to hear that you were moving as well." He glanced around. "Were there any other changes that you wanted made?"

"Just the refrigeration unit," George told him. "That way we can store milk already made."

"Oh, and I can have cold soda," Xander said happily.

"Yes, dear, you can," George agreed. "We'll even put in a pot hook in case you get the urge to cook again."

"I made good soup."

"Yes, you did," Ron agreed, smiling at them. He wanted that sort of relationship. He'd never had it yet, but he wanted it badly. George would do anything for Xander. He wanted someone who worshiped him. He saw Xander looking over at him. "Stop it," he warned. That was creepy.

"You project," Xander said dryly. "And you'll find someone. Even if I have to get mean and turn something human for you."

Ron smiled. He loved Xander. "Thanks, but I'd rather have a genuine human."

"You could always form an alliance with Mr. Potter," Dumbledore suggested.

"No offense, Headmaster, but eaugh." He shuddered. "Harry and I wouldn't work, even if either of us were oriented that way." Xander gave him another look. "You, shut it," he warned.

"I didn't say anything," Xander defended. "But I was thinking about Percy's newest helper. Sweet, sexy, kind and gentle."

"Yeah, he does remind me of a younger Percy a bit," George agreed. They had met the assistant the last time they'd kidnaped Percy for lunch. "We can really have our own floo?"

"I think it'd be easier on everyone if you did. Your family pops in all the time to check on the girls. Plus you both tend to run out for little things every few days. This way you're not tying up the main one and you can have private conversations with the gryphons without locking the staffroom door and depriving people of their tea."

"And the second floor room has a window that's just the right height to hold a conversation with a full grown gryphon," Xander added.

George smiled at him. "You don't have to convince me, Xander. I like this. It's comfortable to me."

"Draco will smirk," Ron told him.

"Yay. He does that anyway," George said with a shrug. "Did he and Ginny make it back to their place last night?"

"I think they made it to his house last night," Ron corrected with a grin.

"He was back again this morning," Dumbledore told them. "Spent a bit with the gryphon talking privately. Then he left again."

Xander and George shared a look. Surely he didn't try to use that spell....

Dumbledore smiled at Ron. "Does this suit you?"

"It's wonderful, sir. Everything I could want, short of my last daughter."

"I've heard rumors that someone's tracked her to a country," Dumbledore told him. "We should have an official word soon." He patted Ron on the shoulder. "Are there any major changes that you'll want?"

"Furniture would be great," Ron said with a grin.

"Yeah, we'll be moving our furniture up here," Xander agreed.

"That would be fine. I'm sure we can find other furniture in storage for you if you wanted."

"Dear, I hate our bed," George told him. "Can I decorate?"

"If you make it comfy for the both of us," Xander agreed. "I like the hardness of our mattress." His mate grimaced. "I know it's too hard for you, but my back and knee hurt if it's not hard."

"How about just a bit softer?" Ron suggested. "Did my bed hurt your back, Xander?" Xander thought back, then shook his head. "So let's switch."

"We have a queen sized bed," George told him.

"It's the same size," Xander said.

"When were you on his bed?"

"The day after all you guys left him alone with the twins. They started to whine and cry so he asked me to come up and keep him company. He slept facing one end of the bed and I was on the opposite." He looked over at his brother-in-law. "Let him nap on your bed and we'll switch if it works for him."

"Cool."

"Fine with me," George agreed. "Can we have a bed like they have in the dorms?"

"No." Xander shook his head when his mate pouted. "Sorry, but I couldn't handle being so closed in." He relented at the hurt look. "I'll allow the sticking-up parts but no canopy and no curtains around it."

"Fine," George sighed. "I can handle that."

Dumbledore laughed. "I have two beds downstairs that might suit you. One with smaller uprights and one with the long, thin, carved uprights. We'll look over them once you've got the space finished."

"Magicking the furnishings will be a lot easier than moving them by hand," Xander said dryly. George patted him on the butt. "I can't even imagine carrying a bed up those first ten stairs."

"They're narrow but well-spaced," Ron told him.

"Yeah, but carrying a bed up them would be a great big pain in the back."

Ron laughed. "Yeah, and you'd get all the light stuff."

"Just because I've got this," he patted the cane resting against his side, "doesn't mean I'm weak or helpless. I can still lift, I just need a third hand."

"If you figure out how to grow one, let me know. I've needed at least one more arm almost every day."

"Wait until they start to crawl," George offered. "Iggy needed a leash."

Ron snickered. "I remember him crawling around the classroom when mum was sick with the flu."

"So do I," Dumbledore said fondly. "If I remember right, he cut a tooth on someone's ankle." Xander nodded, grinning. "Does he know about that story?"

"I'm not sure," Xander said. "But I can embarrass him with it tonight." Everyone laughed. "Okay, let me go find my books on how to build stuff and copy out the lessons."

"Dear, you know it by heart," George told him.

"Yeah, but there's technical lessons before you're supposed to attempt anything. If the kids want to learn, they should have the beginnings too."

"Just do the shoring lessons, Xander. We'll see about you putting in one on gryphon magic next year." Dumbledore smiled. "We'd best get back downstairs before something happens." He smiled at Ron. "Harry just came through the floo. He's quite upset." Ron grabbed the twins and hurried down to talk to his friend. "Xander, do you have any influence that could get young Agatha a draining bracelet?"

Xander shrugged. "I can ask around. Mine was made specifically for my wrist by someone there but he left last year so I'm not sure if we can even get one."

"Draco has one," George said quietly. "It's in his mother's vault. He told me about it last year while he was looking up the history of the wand he found in there." He stood up, sliding Xander onto his feet. "Come on, let's go talk to Bill. If you want to teach that extra class, he'll probably want to help you sort out what you'd be teaching."

"I'd have to teach it as an alternative to Willow and Tara's classes," Xander told him, walking out with him, holding hands.

Behind them Dumbledore shook his head. "Ten years of marriage and they're still besotted," he told himself. "Love is a wonderful thing."

***

Xander put in the last piece of block and stood up, looking around proudly. Their home was finished. It was officially theirs. The new locks were in. The pot hook was on the fireplace. The refrigerator was camouflaged with more of the stones from the wall. The lock on the hidden library was reinforced with a second lock. Even the phoenix aerie was done to Murphy's satisfaction. He looked around. All his helpers had gone back to their dorms earlier so he had put on the final touches himself. He walked toward the window and felt a weak spot he hadn't felt before. That bothered him so he got down to examine it. He had wanted to put the bed here but he couldn't if there was a weak spot. He found a niche in the block and played with it until it came up. "Oh, shit!" Xander said, eyes widening. "ALBUS!" he yelled. He sat there and stared at the treasure he had found. A floor safe.

Footsteps came running up the stairs and stopped next to him. Dumbledore got down on his knees and pulled out the large bag of pretty gold coins, very old gold coins. Under the bag were a few loose coins and two journals. He dug around and came out with one last book, and sat down to look them over. He finally nudged Xander, giving him a smile. "I do believe you've found something more precious than the coins. These were his personal journals." He looked around the room. "This must have been his room back then." He smiled. "This is an excellent find, Xander."

"I didn't notice it until I walked over it," Xander told him. "Am I in trouble?"

"Trouble? Whyever for?"

"Because those are personal things," Xander told him.

Dumbledore nodded. "True, but it's something wonderful. Your brother-in-law Percy would be over the moon about this. Do go call him." Xander numbly nodded and got up to use their new floo fireplace. "And start some water please," he called after the young man. Fascinating. He hadn't realized that Salazar had taken a lover outside of his usual relationship.

Xander knelt beside the fireplace, staring at Percy. "I found a diaries under our new floor," he said quietly. Percy was at work, in the main room. "And this used to be the old Slytherin house."

Percy's eyes widened. "I'll bring our expert over immediately," Percy said. "Start some tea, this will probably take a while." His head disappeared.

Xander pointed his wand at the water pot, drawing water and heating it too. That way it wouldn't be in the way and they'd still have it. He looked behind him as furniture appeared. "Hold off for a bit, George," he called. "We just found something extraordinary."

George came jogging in a few minutes later. "What did you find?"

"Slytherin's diaries, a bag of old gold coins, and some other book. Percy's on his way up with someone."

"Wonderful," George said. "Where?"

"Our bedroom."

"I'm going for a peek. Why don't you check the other rooms for floor safes and the like?"

Xander nodded and went up to Ron's room to start there. He didn't figure any other rooms would have anything like that. He found a wall safe full of horribly old components in the former work room, but nothing more exciting. He'd have Iggy go over it again next weekend just to make sure. He grabbed an empty box and stuffed the components into it, taking it down to Professor Snape's rooms. "Hey," he said when the portrait door opened. "I found a wall safe with these. The stuff from farther back is on top." He handed the box over. "I figured you'd be able to tell if anything was still good and get the most use out of it."

Snape let him in and sat down to look through everything. A few of the bags were still good and were carefully put aside. "Was anything else found?"

"Oh, yeah," Xander said, smiling for the first time. It was an amazing find. "Two diaries, one other book, and a bag of coins."

"Oh my," Snape said, standing up. "Was one of them a potion's book?" Xander shrugged. "Then let's go look."

"Percy's coming up," Xander said as he followed him out into the hall, but the other man was nearly running. "Hey, slow down," he called. He met Ron in the hallway, trying to walk the babies to sleep. "We found stuff," he announced. "A floor safe and a wall safe."

"Wow. Anything wonderful?"

"Diaries and a book, some coins. Some potions ingredients on your side."

Ron grinned. "Wonderful. Did you tell Percy yet?" Xander nodded. "Then let's go see these things." He followed Xander up to their new quarters, smiling at his older brother. "Anything really wonderful?"

"Quite a bit," Percy told him. He gently patted both girls on the head. "How are they?"

"Fussy. They hate to sleep." He sat down on the couch and looked at the stuff George was counting. "How old is that?" he asked, picking up a coin to look at. "I don't even recognize that marking."

"It's the original form of money," Percy told him. "Someone found some buried in a field last month." He looked at the pile, then at George. "Quite a haul."

"Yeah. Mum'll be happy," George said, giving his older brother a smile. "Think we should give them ten percent?"

"If it makes you happy," Percy agreed. "I don't doubt she'll complain for a bit though." He sat down across from them, looking through the diary. "These are almost priceless. We're going to take them from you and have them appraised. The way this stuff works is then we auction them off or the Ministry buys them from you." George nodded. They weren't any use to them. "You'll get the money, minus taxes and a small auction fee if they're auctioned off." Xander nodded, that sounded reasonable. "It may take a few months for this to all happen though."

"We both make great salaries," Xander told him. "A few months is fine as far as we know now."

"Good," Percy said brightly. He slipped the book into a special bag and closed it. "What else did you find?"

"Some spell components. I handed them to Professor Snape. He seemed to think a few were still good."

"No wonder he showed up," Percy's assistant said, giving Ron a faint, shy smile. "How are the little darlings?"

"Fussy. They hate sleeping at night right now." He put them down onto the floor, watching as they wiggled. "We need rugs."

"Later," George told him. "We're moving some more stuff up tonight once everything's out of the way."

"We'll be moving stuff all week and do the final move in next weekend," Xander told him. "That way, if something happens, it's all going to be okay." One of the kids scooted into his leg so he reached down to pet her. "You're a good girl, Gwen, go bite your sister." Gwen cooed at him. "Yes, I think you're beautiful. Now be good or I'm going to make you sleep in Hagrid's cradle by yourself." She spit a bubble at him.

"She likes it," Ron defended.

"So did Iggy, but he hated to sleep in there by himself. He always had to have a stuffed animal in there with him."

Hagrid tapped on the door and walked in. "Too big for 'em?" he asked hesitantly.

"Just a little bit," Xander agreed, "but it's a great cradle. It fits both the twins perfectly. Iggy just needed to have that stuffed dog in with him." He smiled. "It's a great cradle, Hagrid, don't stress over it. The one at the store, the professionally made one that we got from London, was the same way."

Hagrid smiled. "As long as it's okay."

"It's got a spot where a splinter's coming up," Ron told him with a grin. "Want to help me scrape it again?"

"Sure. Can't have these two hurt." He smiled at Xander. "He slept with that dog?"

"More like on that dog," George told him, smiling at him. "He used to suck on it's nose until he detached it one day."

Hagrid laughed. "It's good that they all liked it."

"Hey, thinking about having more," Xander told him. "So we're stealing the cradle back sometime soon." He touched George's knee. "We might even hope for twins."

Ron frowned. "Don't do that. They're hard."

"We know," George reminded him. He gave Hagrid a hug. "Thank you for that cradle if I didn't say it earlier. It's wonderfully made. The only thing we did to it was to put a rocking charm on it every now and then."

Hagrid beamed. "You're welcome. I still have your letter down at the house." He looked at Xander, who was beaming at him. "You really want more?"

"Probably," Xander agreed. "We miss having a kid around and stealing Gwen and Minnie isn't the same."

"Does Mum know?" Percy asked. George nodded. "Was she thrilled?"

"Ecstatic," Xander told him.

"She's still having those funny hot flashes though, so her hormones are a bit out of order right now."

Xander leaned closer to Hagrid. "I didn't mean to sound ungrateful. We love the cradle, still. Iggy was playing with it the other day."

"I wasn't insulted," Hagrid told him. "Sometimes I forget how small little ones are."

"Hey, I forget and I've seen them born," Xander said with a wink. Hagrid laughed. "So we're okay?"

"We're fine, Xander. Will your next one need it too?"

"It'd better be sleeping in it," George told him. "Otherwise the rest of us will get quite upset, including Iggy. He's looking forward to seeing how he was raised as we raise the others." He patted Hagrid on the arm. "Besides a few rough spots, it's held up to the various terrors of numerous young children. That alone makes it worth more than the ones we bought for the shop since they broke when Iggy was two."

Hagrid loosened up a bit more. "I'm glad you liked it so much." He looked over as Dumbledore joined them. "Sir, I have to report that the centaurs are seeing a disturbance in the stars."

"Again?" Xander asked, looking at his boss.

"It's nothing that extreme. It's a change some of us have seen before." He pointed at the bag. "Are those still worth anything?"

"Not in the normal sense, but they do have a worth. I'm sure Gringotts would be the ones to buy them." Percy's assistant picked up and weighed the bag in his hand. "I'd say about thirty grams each coin and a few kilograms worth of coins total so maybe a few hundred thousand because they're so rare?" he asked his boss.

Percy nodded. "Most likely. I'll let you sort that part out tomorrow." He stood up and gathered up the other three bags. "We'd best head back for the night. I'll expect an invitation to the house warming party." He smiled and they left.

Dumbledore sat down in the path of Minnie's scooting, patting her gently on the back of the head. "Be patient. You'll be crawling soon enough." He looked at them. "The change is coming but it's not a great evil," he told them. "Relax, Xander. You did promise to be the trainer and the rear guard this time."

"And I will be," Xander agreed, "but I'll need to know if I have to train against something."

"Well, there are rumors that someone's trying to gain power right now," George admitted, "but he was in Ron and Harry's class so he's not got that great of support."

Ron snorted. "No one liked him. He'll be an evil force all by himself probably. Not hard to beat."

"No, that one's a serial killer and we're looking for him," Dumbledore corrected. "This was that Nancy girl, but she's only got a few followers." He smiled. "She's not asking for violent action, she's suggesting changing the rules."

"Oh, goody," Xander said dryly. "We just recently got rights officially and now she wants to take them away?"

"More like segregate some," Dumbledore said mildly. "Give the born their own house and the like." He stood up and carefully stepped over the twin girls. "I'm sure it will all work out eventually. Not many are inclined to listen to her, except when it comes to the activists." He gave Xander a long look, making him smile. "Just keep it calm, my boy, and everything will be fine."

"Hey, I'm leaving that to the others. I only hop in when I have to. I learned my lessons the last time."

"Good." Dumbledore smiled at him. "I'll expect your classes tomorrow to be filled with many tired students."

"Yeah, most of them said that the small, intricate fitting in stuff that they were doing was tiring them out," Xander agreed.

"But they'll be able to brag about this for years to come," George said. He looked at the headmaster. "I know you've said something about giving my husband another class to teach, one on gryphon magic. Has anything been decided yet?"

"Not yet," Dumbledore told him. "Bill wasn't against the idea, but he did say that most of it would have to be theory for a first year class. He said he'd talk to the others, and the other colony's elders, plus Ginny and Draco."

"It's a good point," Xander agreed. "By teaching them the intricacies of the gryphonic magic, it could backlash and lead to people being able to counter us in a fight."

"Which was one of the worries, but also that some people would try things that would hurt them and they would get blamed, or that some of the simple spells would end up warped. There was also a small fear about the cultural heritage of the born being warped or destroyed," Dumbledore informed them. "Nothing will be decided until after the New Year most likely."

"It seems like this year's gone on forever already," Ron pointed out. "It's hard to believe it's only October. And there's no snow yet."

"Snow's coming in a few weeks," Dumbledore told him with a smile. "Your darlings will be able to go play in the snow within a month."

"Good," Ron said with a grin. "I'm looking forward to hearing them squeal at the snow."

"Whether it's in horror or pleasure we won't be sure of for a bit," George teased.

"I'm sure they'll learn to love it," Dumbledore told them all. "I'll leave you to your devices. Are you moving more things in tonight?" George nodded. "Have fun then."

"Thank you, Headmaster," George called after him. "Ron, did you want to move your stuff or are Fred and I doing it?"

"I'll do it if you show me the spell," Ron offered.

"You should probably let them do it," Xander said with a grimace. "I tried some of the tapes and had to retrieve them from all over the castle. The Slytherins weren't happy when I took the porn tapes back."

George blushed and shook his head. "I told you not to talk to Draco while you were moving them."

Ron snickered. That was too funny.

***

The annual cause for fighting in the halls, better known as the Gryffindor/Slytherin quidditch game, was coming in just a day so the team was flopping in their heads' living room to go over strategy. Everyone except for Iggy, he had snuck off to get some treats. He would probably get caught since his father was watching and waiting for him to come back, but it'd be worth it to get some fresh pastries. His dad wouldn't ground him from the game, Snape and Xander had a bet going over the outcome of the game. The prize was a spell from one of Xander's books or a spell to help Professor Weasley do something. It was probably a prank of some sort was the conclusion of Gryffindor tower. They couldn't wait for the game.

Out in the hallway, Xander caught his son as he appeared and slapped a very pretty sapphire and silver bracelet onto his wrist. "I told you no," he said simply as he walked away.

"But, daddy," Iggy whined as he followed his father. "I'm doing a good thing for the team." His father didn't turn around but he did snort. "Daddy, please take it off. I promise to be good and ask for permission to go out for pastries from now on," he said as he followed his father into their house. He handed over the box and ran after his father. "Please, daddy? I was being good."

Xander looked down at his son. "No. It's really unfair that no one else gets to leave and you pop around like it was nothing. And I told you no teleporting. What happens if you get caught, young man? If someone reports that you're apparating at your age?"

"I'd explain calmly that I'm gryphon-born and we can't do that," Iggy told him. "I've already had to explain that once." He clapped a hand over his mouth.

"Uh-huh. And when was this?"

"To the owner of the pastry shop," Iggy admitted with a sigh of defeat. "He thought it was a good revenge on the adults but he warned me too."

"Good, because you're grounded."

"Daddy, the game!" he said in horror.

"You may play because they're counting on you. Other than that, you're going to be in the living room downstairs and you're going to be there every night for the next week."

"Yes, daddy," Iggy sighed, heading back down to join his team. "Dad grounded me to the couch for the next week. Except for the game." He held out his wrist. "Would one of you take this off for me?"

Denver leaned over. "That looks familiar."

"It should, your father gave it to mine," Iggy said in irritation. "Please?" Their keeper reached over and took it off him. "Thank you." He smiled and took it back, going to hand it to his father. "Here you go, for Agatha," he said with a grin, then he ran away.

"Forgot to tell everyone else what it was?" Ron asked with mild amusement. Xander nodded, grimacing. "When are you going to tell me what that potion will do?"

"When it's used on you, or actually the next morning," Xander said with a smile.

"Xander," Ron warned.

"Hey, it's not a *bad* thing," Xander said with a grin. "And it'll make you happier for a few days." He winked. "Now, what am I missing in that box of stuff?"

"The citric acid and something else in that group," Ron said, handing over the list. "What's this going to be?"

"Kool-aid."

"What's that?" Ron asked carefully. Xander was in a funny mood today and it never hurt to be careful.

"A really sweet drink made with water and that stuff which all muggle kids love." Xander carefully measured out the right amount of citric acid and put it into the mix, then poured in some water and stirred. When the beaker was half full, he added sugar, dissolving it slowly and patiently.

By the time he was done, Ron was bored, but he was willing to try anything once. Usually. He took a small sip of the liquid and made a face. "It tastes funny."

Xander took a sip and nodded. "Too weak." He added more of the original mix, stirring it in. He took another sip and smiled. "Just right." He poured Ron some more and headed down to treat some of his favorite people to it. That book Tara had given him for his birthday was coming in handy now. He found her in the Great Hall finishing up her dinner and grabbed a nearby cup, pouring her out some.

She drank it slowly, then smiled at him. "You made me Kool-aid?" she asked.

Xander handed her the beaker. "All for you." He kissed her on the cheek. "I know you're feeling sad so I did something sweet and nice to make you happier."

She gave him a hug. He was a great friend. "Thank you, Xander."

"Hey, this is what friends do. And I made enough so you can share it." He looked over a Snape. "Want to try? It's what we grew up on as kids." He let Tara go, watching as Snape came over and poured himself some of the mixture.

He grimaced. "That's an odd flavor."

"Cherry Kool-aid," Tara told him. "It was my favorite when I was kid. That and grape."

"The book didn't have the recipe for grape," Xander told her. He looked at Snape. "This was *the* drink to have when we were growing up. It's fairly cheap to make and every kid in America probably drank at least a glass in their lifetime."

"How odd," Snape said, finishing the glass. "Can you get it in other flavors?"

"If I went to the store and picked them up off the shelves," Xander agreed. "Tara's birthday present was food recipes for the clinically advanced, recipes for people who deal with chemicals and play in labs. So I made her a fresh batch."

Snape looked thoughtful. "May I borrow that book?"

"Sure, but it's got American foods. Things like Cheez Whiz and homemade tortilla chips."

"I bought it because it had a recipe to make fudge from cocoa beans," Tara told him.

"Oh, I tried to do that one but I couldn't find the beans," Xander told her. "So I ended up buying George some fudge." He beamed. "He said I'm to buy him more the next time I go to that shop."

Tara patted Xander on the knee. "You're a great husband and an even better friend, Xander Harris." She stood up, taking her precious present with her, giving both men warm smiles.

"You've decided to ask her?" Snape asked, taking Tara's seat to sit next to the younger man.

"Last night, but I did that to cheer her up. She's been really sad and thinking a lot recently. Almost like she was considering approaching someone." He gave Snape a knowing look.

Surely he couldn't mean him. That Goddess of purity and light? He would dirty her if she came anywhere near him. "How interesting," he said before leaving.

Xander gave the older man's back a thoughtful look. Maybe he would help Tara a little bit.

***

It was the day of the game and both sides were already on the field. Xander had half a row saved for the family, and only Ron had shown up yet. Tara was sitting on the end of the row, helping him guard it, while Willow sat on the other end, cheering on her son. This was going to be a very loud section today, Snape guessed. He was seated directly behind Tara and the scent of her shampoo was carried on the wind to him, a light and fruity scent that made his nose itch. Another scent floated on the wind, one which made his gut clench. Blood. He realized what it had to be, but that didn't stop his intestines from knotting up or his heart from aching. She was still so pure, even after having a child, and kept herself natural. Not many witches did that these days, but she obviously knew how much more pure it made her. He noticed Xander glancing at Tara, then a small floating sign came into being while he slid over to talk to her. Surely he wasn't going to propose here, during the warm-up for the game. A few of the words drifted to him, but he knew what her answer would be. She loved Xander like a brother and would do anything for him. Even bare herself for him. He growled deep in his throat and Xander shot a glance back at him, and a smirk. That irritating idiot. Did he think that was cute? He scowled back and Xander leaned back. "Chill, I won't block your view," he whispered. Then he turned back to Tara, who was smiling. "Really?" he asked happily. She nodded. "Oh, thank you! Can we do it after the game? Please? Pretty please?"

"Xander, I'm not exactly at the right time of month," she said with a light blush.

"It doesn't matter," Xander assured her. "It can be done anytime during the month and it's all okay with the healers." He gave her a hug. "Oh, and I have a present for you, via Snape." He looked back at the potion's master and handed over a small roll of parchment. "The spell to heal all those nasty internal scars," he said with a grin. "No more worries."

Snape took the parchment. It had been the one he had asked for in the bet. Xander was conceding early this time.

She threw her arms around him and gave him a big hug. "Thank you."

"No, thank you, sweetie. You're the greatest. Can the family come watch?"

"Xander," she sighed, smacking him lightly. "There'll be nudity involved."

He grinned. "Not really. Remember, we had to do this with Iggy too." Tara nodded, smiling. "So, it's okay with you?"

"It's fine with me as long as they don't stare at me," she agreed with an eye roll. "Just no staring at my body."

"Not a bit. You can have a sheet and everything," Xander assured her, giving her another hug. "You're coming up so we can announce it later," he said firmly. "That way Snape has time to make the potion for you and everything, and then we'll go do that other part tomorrow." He grinned. "This is so cool. George was thinking I was going to put this off for another week."

She laughed. "You're anxious, it's understandable. You're a great dad, Xander."

Willow walked over to them. "You asked her to carry your next one?" she pouted.

Xander nodded. "She's been having baby feelings and we decided to ask her late last night." He smiled. "I would have asked you, but I don't want to get you into trouble."

Snape nearly laughed. Surely the boy hadn't seen that memo to Dumbledore telling him to call for an auror if she was found to be pregnant again. He tried to look mildly shocked when Willow looked at him.

"Fine, be that way," Willow pouted.

"Do I have to remind you what you were like last time?" Xander asked her. She turned whiter and went back to her side of the bench.

"That was mean," Tara gently chastised.

"Yay, she nearly killed you the last time," Xander protested. Tara gave him a sweet smile and shook her head. "She did and I'm protecting you myself this time."

"You're sweet, Xander, but behave or I'll say no." He clammed up and gave her the best pitiful look he could; obviously the man had been taking lessons from his bird. "Leave her alone about it. She still feels horrible about that time."

"So do I," he assured her, kissing her on the cheek. "This deal comes with a weekly supply of foot and back massages too," he teased. "You can't say no now."

"I won't say no," she assured him, comforting him. Xander loved his children, and everyone's children, it would be wonderful for him to have another one or two.

"Good, because otherwise we'd have to ask Draco and I doubt he would be as nice and pretty while carrying for us."

She giggled. "I'm sure he wouldn't too." She pointed at the family coming up the stairs. "I'll see you after the game." He scooted back over, removing the sign and relaxing into his husband's arms. That guy was a great friend and she would happily make him so happy he beamed and bounced for weeks on end. She looked at Snape, nodding at the parchment. "You really can make that for me?"

"It shouldn't be much of a problem," he told her quietly. "I've looked at it before when Xander brought it to my attention." He gave her a pat on the arm. "He was going to ask me last year to do it for you but he wasn't sure you wouldn't castrate him for it." Now why did he say that dirty word in front of her? He was sullying her with his filth, so he pulled back from her touch.

She gave him a warm smile. "You have to understand Xander. He jumps into things because he thinks they're the right thing to do," she explained. "He would have tried begging first, saying it would have made me happy and then I could do something I've been wanting to do for a while now." She blushed and turned back around.

She had wanted another child? Snape asked himself. Well, this certainly put a new light on that little deal to carry one for Harris. He wondered how it would be done, or whether it would be coming from one father or both. He quickly shook that thought off, not wanting to consider the idea of one of those two touching the perfection that was Tara Maclay. He clapped as the game started and more of the Weasley clan showed up. Draco was the last one to come up the stairs and he looked a bit green around the edges. He looked the boy over, wondering what was wrong with him.

***

Xander whooped and rushed the field, going to hug his son, and nephew and niece too of course. But his son was wonderful.

Draco walked down more slowly, hugging both of his children to him. "I'm very proud of you both," he told them. Simone wiggled in his arms so he smiled down at her. "You looked positively evil out there," he praised. "I wouldn't have wanted to play against you."

"I never want to play against her," Denver agreed. "Sis, did you *have* to hit that bludger *at* me?"

"Yup," she said with a smile. "You were in front of the idiot, duck next time." She nodded with finality. Her brother just needed to be faster. She looked up at the dark sky. "This is the longest game I've ever played," she said. "I'm hungry."

"Molly brought food and things up to Xander and Ron's house. We'll be celebrating up there, then you can join the team in your house." He led them back toward the school, proud of his little monsters. His father had never come to watch a single game of his, he realized. He had never felt this. Too bad. It was a great feeling to be proud of one's child. Gryffindor had won by a ten point margin, at the last moment no less. He had felt torn, he was supposed to always support his house, but his beloved children had been out there playing and that was more important to him. He vaguely wondered if his father would have had him killed if he had been sorted anywhere other than Slytherin. Simone poked him. "What, lovely one?"

"Quit thinking about the shitbag," she said firmly. "He's dead and we're all happy about that." Her father frowned at her. "It was in your eyes. You survived, just like Uncle Xander did, daddy, so let him rot in peace."

"Simone," Denver said sharply. His sister's mouth was getting out of hand! "We should respect the dead, especially if they might come back a third time."

"No, he won't be. He was torn into little, tiny pieces by the gryphons for having a colony killed," Xander said as he walked up behind him. He tapped Simone on the head. "Still, don't talk ill of the dead. They can come back and haunt you. Imagine that, haunted by your paternal grandfather."

"He might like her, she's more evil than I am," Denver told him.

Draco laughed. "Son, he wouldn't like her simply because she's a girl and who her mother is. She'd never get to sleep and would come bother you." He gave Simone a squeeze. "If you should ever see him, please tell me so we can banish him back to whatever hell he's supposed to be in. And you're right, I did survive and become a better person."

"That's what's important," Xander agreed. He unlocked their door and let everyone in. "Come on, family news coming!" he called. The rest of the clan in attendance hurried into the tower and up to the living room. He took Tara's hand as she walked up with George and led her up personally. As soon as everyone was staring at them, Xander beamed. "There's going to be new little people in the family," he said happily. He noticed Draco choking and vowed to talk to him later. "Tara agreed to carry for us. We're doing the spell tomorrow." The family went nuts, lunging to hug the three of them. Even Charlie, who was in on vacation, got in on the hugging action and he was a confirmed bachelor.

Xander made his way out of the mass of family and pulled Draco out of the way by the collar. "Give," he ordered. The younger man tried to look innocent. "Tell me you didn't," Xander hissed.

"Not by myself," Draco said, looking around. Ginny was staring at him and he gave her a reassuring smile. "Please don't tell."

"I won't, but if *anything* happens, you're coming here, got it?" Draco nodded. "Good. How are you hiding it?"

"Right now there's nothing to hide," he said with a shrug. "Not making the playoffs freed me for the year so I've got a year and a half off before we start playing again. My coach knows I'm having intermittent stomach problems so I have a ready excuse." Xander nodded. "And I will be showing up if anything happens."

"Good," Xander agreed, letting him go back to the crowd. He went to the refrigerator and started pulling out food. Ginny came over to help. "Hey, take this and put it on the low table with the leftover pastries," he told her, handing her the roast Molly had made. Soon he had more helpers and Arthur was talking to Tara about something. She managed to leave with the kids with the statement that she had a potion to take, but not saying what it was for so everyone thought it was for the upcoming spell. Xander smiled at his mate, who was beaming happily as most of the family gave him advice on names. They were probably hoping to avoid another 'Iggy' naming.

***

Iggy was the one who let it slip to his housemates. By the morning, everyone in the castle knew that Professor Harris and his husband were having Professor Maclay carry a child for them. So when Tara walked in for breakfast, she was forced to blush as everyone stared at her. "It's being done by spell," she said as she walked up the main aisle. That broke the staring and the kids started to speculate on how and which spell, not to mention who was doing it. Tara took her normal seat. She was early so it was just her, Lupin, Snape, and Dumbledore. The Headmaster reached over and gave her a pat on the hand with an understanding smile. "It's the right thing to do," she told him. "I'll be fine."

"I know you will, my dear, and any time off you need you only have to ask." He stood up and left the three of them there.

Lupin smiled at her. "Are you excited?"

Tara nodded and moved closer, taking a seat between the two men. "It's been a while and I've been wanting another child. This isn't perfect for me, but I'm more than happy to be an Aunt to this one and wait to have another one." She smiled at Severus. "It worked early this morning," she told him, reaching over to touch the sleeve of his robe. "Thank you so much."

"You're welcome," he said gruffly. The light shining from her eyes, the happiness they contained, was all the thanks he needed. He had restored to her the one thing that she had wanted. She smiled at him, warming his insides. "When are you doing it?"

"Today. Xander's taking all of us to the gryphon colony so the healers there can do it themselves. He didn't want to risk screwing it up and hurting me." She accepted the plate of ham from Lupin and nodded her thanks. "I'm not sure I'm ready for some of the side effects, like morning sickness and cravings, but I can't wait to be pregnant again," she told them. "It was a great feeling the last time." She smiled down at her son, who blushed and looked away. "Oops, looks like I have to have a talk with him soon."

"Let Xander do it," Lupin suggested. "I heard the one he gave Iggy and it was very comprehensive."

Tara laughed. "I know. He asked me beforehand if showing his son one of his tapes would be a bad thing." Both male teachers blushed and she giggled again. "I told him it probably would have been."

"Yes, well, that boy started reading very odd books after that," Snape said, frowning at Iggy, who was still happily bouncing in his seat. "I confiscated one of them because he was reading them in the hallway. Highly inappropriate."

"He went and bought another copy then, because I took one from him too," Lupin told him. "As did Sirius at one point in time. That one got handed back to Xander, who gave his son the oddest look."

"But it was cute," Tara defended. "He walked into at least one wall while he was reading the Kama Sutra." Both men coughed to hide their embarrassment. "It's a very strange book, has odd advice in it," she told them.

Snape nearly choked on his juice. She had read that book? Her? He banished that thought quickly, not wanting to dwell on it in the Great Hall. "I took a different book from him. I found it a bit too adult and too cheerful on the subject."

"Oh, the Joy of Sex," Lupin said with a nod. "Yes, that's the one I confiscated too. As a matter of fact, I think it's still in my desk unless someone's stolen it." He looked thoughtful, he should probably move it soon if it was still there.

Tara blushed. "I read that one once, trying to figure out what the big deal was. I never did get it."

Snape's mind turned dark again, turning off any images he might have been seeing of her reading either of those books. Of course she only liked women. How stupid of him to forget.

She went on. "But then again, I never really got the purpose of any of that until a few years back. I guess it wouldn't be so bad. But I could never settle with the typical *guy* sort of guy, you know? I'd almost have to get a sensitive, nurturing sort of guy, one with an almost womanly understanding of life." Lupin nodded. He understood that very well. Men like Sirius and Draco annoyed him too. He looked at Snape, who looked thoughtful. Well, technically, he did fit the criteria, but did he really think..... Oh, shit, he did. He recognized that look, had only seen it once before on that man's face, back while they were in school. He wondered if Tara knew. If not, should he tell her? He glanced at Snape and found him glaring at him. He waved him off, he wouldn't tell. It would be up to Tara to send him away. Really, infecting her perfection with all that dark and gloominess. She would suffocate in his darkness.

Tara smiled at them both, wondering if they remembered that she could hear them if they were close enough to her emotionally and physically. Two of her best friends and they had very interesting thoughts. He felt that way about her? So why was she hiding from him?

***

Two months in the new house and Iggy was bored with most of the rooms. He had found most of the hidden areas, including another floor safe with a potion's journal that had made Professor Snape and himself weep with joy over the contents. That had been turned over too and Snape was thinking about bankrupting his savings to buy it when it came up for auction. He knew that there was another hidden area in the living room, he could feel the depth was wrong, but he couldn't find the opening. It was frustrating him. He had gone over every inch of this place, twice, and couldn't find out how it was opened. He sat down in front of the fireplace to make notes in the dim light. Uncle Ron had a headache so every curtain in the house was pulled tightly shut, he was working by firelight today. He noticed the fire was going out so he picked up the poker to stir it back up, then added another log, using the poker to put it in the middle of the embers. The poker slipped and hit one of the small decorated tiles in the back of the fireplace, and he heard a groan. "It can't be," he whispered, poking that spot again. Another groan and a click. He made a note that it was the sixth one in the third row from the top of the wood holder, then stood up to search around the fireplace. The whole thing couldn't move out or else the smoke wouldn't be able to get out.

He nearly gave up when he came to a small, gold lock. A small, gold magical lock that was obviously his father's favorite lock spell. Hmm. He tried the usual word, nothing. So he sat back down to think about it. None of the ordinary words would have been used because someone might be unlocking something else in there. None of the kids' names could be used because they were said in here. Daddy Xander wouldn't want to risk it opening by accident, even without a wand being nearby. He searched through his immense vocabulary and came up short. It had to be something that his father would remember, but nothing that he used in common language. That left out most words unless they were swear words. He stood up and tried all those, but nothing. Maybe.... He thought about alternate versions of swear words, finally coming up with the one thing his parents never talked about.

"Pussy." The lock popped out of existence and Iggy hurriedly bent down and grabbed the poker, hitting the lock mechanism again. The whole fireplace moved out, with a long pipe sliding out to continue carrying the smoke away. He walked in and shut the door behind him, finding the opening button easily. It had an arrow pointing to it. Iggy turned around and his breath caught. A library! The library! He squealed in joy, uncaring that the sound carried through the fireplace.

On the other side, George looked at his mate. "Two months, it must have been a record," he said dryly.

"Albus asked that we tell him when Iggy finally opened it." The door opened and Dumbledore walked in. "How do you do that?"

"Ask Tara when she takes over," he suggested, bending down to look in the fireplace. "Where's the lock?"

"See the smudged tile? That one we think." George handed him the poker and watched as he opened the wall. "Son, you're grounded," he called as they walked into the library. Iggy was sitting in a surprisingly undusty chair, nose buried in a potion's book.

"I don't think he heard you," Xander said mildly. He took the direct route, taking the book and looking down at his son. "Grounded," he said slowly and clearly. "I told you no exploring, it upsets Simone."

"She's not here," Iggy said. "And this is a find. I've got to tell Snape." He jumped up and ran from the room, dodging both fathers easily since they weren't *really* trying to catch him. He ran into Snape's room, startling him and the students in the advanced class who were having an extra lesson. "I found his library," he announced proudly. "Hermetically sealed behind the fireplace."

Snape followed him out of the room, both of them hurrying back to the house. Snape walked in and stopped to look around. Thousands of books. His mouth fell open. "Oh, my," he squeaked.

"Very manly," George teased. "Want to try that in a lower register?" He grinned when Snape glared at him. "Sorry, couldn't resist." He clapped his son on the back. "You're still grounded."

"But, dad!" he whined.

"No, because Simone's still having nightmares about exploring things," Xander told him.

"But she's not here!" Iggy pointed out. "I haven't included her in any of my recent explorations. And besides, she'll be happy for me because I found this. It's *my* find."

"Yes, it is," Dumbledore assured him, with a pat on the back for good measure. "This is an invaluable find and one that the school will be keeping." Iggy pouted, he wouldn't get any money from it.

"I'll pay you a reward," Snape told him. "Come help me look up something, Ignatius." Iggy happily skipped over. He was like an assistant to Snape sometimes, ever since he had wandered into a first year's class at the age of eight and told one of the Gryffindors he was an idiot who couldn't chop worth a damn. They talked about the book Snape wanted and Iggy climbed up the wooden shelves to look at the higher ones. They really needed a ladder.

"Hello?" Simone called from the open doorway. She pouted and sighed. "I guess we've lost Iggy to the books?" she asked George.

George gave her a hug. "For at least a week," he agreed. "What did you need?"

"Iggy was going to practice with me today."

"I can do that," George told her. "As a matter of fact, let me Murphy Fred and see if he won't come up and we'll both practice with you." She beamed happily and went with him to write the letter.

Xander pulled down a familiar book. "Gee, was Slytherin a gryphon born?" he called. Snape and Iggy seemed to teleport to his side. "This one is given to young gryphons when they first start learning magic," he explained, not minding when it was snatched from his fingers. He walked back over to Dumbledore's side. "My living room won't become an auxiliary library, right?" he asked quietly.

"Not if you'd be willing to help work on an extension to the present library," Dumbledore said happily. Xander nodded. "This summer?"

"Let's do it sooner," Xander told him. "No books in the living room," he called out to them, walking the Headmaster out and shutting them in. "I wonder if there has to be a fire going for it to work."

"Oh, yes. We tried that when there wasn't one and it didn't work then," Dumbledore assured him. "Do leave the fire going for a bit, please." He smiled. "I'll send some food up later if you'll send it over there." Xander nodded, giving him a tolerant look. "Just think, after it's cleared out, you could move your laboratory down there."

"Maybe," Xander agreed, thinking of the possibilities. "I'd have to look at what he had in there first." He watched as the older man walked away, then went to grab one of his books to read. He was all alone until George got tired of flying for the day.

***

Fred looked over at his twin. "Why don't you come stay at the store tonight?" he suggested lightly.

George gave him a guilty look. He had spent most of his time in the house settling and had ignored the most important relationship he had. "Sure. I'll have to pack a bag. I brought home all the laundry when I came home last time." Fred smiled at him in relief. "What about Elizabeth? Any more thrown clothes and wild sex?"

"Wild sex?" Simone asked, flying closer. "She's like that?"

"Yes, dear, we have great fun together," Fred told her. "She needs to hire a new cook so she hasn't been up in a few days."

George reached over and shoved him. "You should have told me, git. I would have come down sooner. I was giving you space to snog and stuff in private."

Fred leered. "And we did, but I've missed talking with you all night."

"Aww, how cute," Denver said as he joined them. "Where's Iggy?"

"Being a book nerd with Snape," Simone told him dryly. "They found a library."

"Slytherin's library?" Fred asked. George nodded. "We won't be seeing either of them for weeks on end then."

"We promised to shove food through regularly, and Xander said no books in the living room." He grinned. "I'm thinking a month."

"Possibly more," Fred agreed, flying away from the kids. "You're sure? I know Tara's had some problems."

"Nothing unusual according to her doctor. We both panicked and forced her to go in for a checkup when she started having morning sickness so early. She's got it so much worse than Ginny did last time." He shook his head. "But her doctor said everything was on target and she was good. Xander's fussed over her, even going so far as to make her his special soup. She wisely put it aside after taking a bite. The garlic was a bit strong," he confided with a wink.

"What about Ron?"

"Not a word yet and he's nearly given up hope. The girls are almost six months old and no one can find the little bugger."

"I'm not sure I'd call Buffy a little bugger," Fred joked. George swatted him. "Sorry."

"We're all but sure she's dead and the baby's been hidden. Xander and Iggy have both said they get flashes from him every now and then so they're sure he's alive. No one's felt anything from Buffy."

"Poor Ron," Fred sighed. He grabbed the bat Denver came over with. "We ready now?"

"Sure. Beater on beater," Denver told him. "I can manage and switch for today."

"Good," George told him. "Go farther back and we'll hit them at you." Denver spun and flew away. "Excellent brooms," he said in appreciation.

"Very. Ron searched for months for the man who made those. Quite an interesting chap too. He came in looking for Ron the other day to see how these were playing. I invited him to the next game." He caught the bludger George released and gave it a whack across the field, right at Simone. She dove and sent it crashing back with the most evil smirk. "She's definitely her father's daughter," he said as George knocked it back. Soon they got into their game and quit talking, preferring to use their twin's signals.

***

After Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday had passed and no one had seen either Iggy or Professor Snape, rumors started to fly. Ryan Rosenberg had asked Xander if he had killed them, which had made Tara yell and scream at him until his mother came to save him from the scary pregnant woman. Xander had calmed her down and suggested she needed to hunt that man down instead of being patient because Snape didn't do subtle. She had cried on his shoulder because she had yelled at a little kid.

Dumbledore found that incident quite amusing, but enough was enough. The rumors were getting ridiculous. The last one he had heard had put Professor Snape and Ignatius captured by evil giants and taken for a midnight snack. He stood up at lunch and everyone quieted, staring at him. "I'm pleased to announce that Ignatius Harris-Weasley and Professor Snape are both engaged in a very low profile mission for this school." The buzz started again but Tara banged her cup on the table, quieting them down again. "Thank you, Professor Maclay," he said with a smile for her. "This mission, though taken on in this school, is most important. We have recently uncovered Salazar Slytherin's personal library and they are both engaged in an inventory for us." He smiled at the happy noises and a few gasps. "Because of the nature of this find, I do ask that you not tell your parents yet. I'm sending out an official announcement once we have the inventory done, which will hopefully be any day now." He sat down and the students started to talk to each other. A few of the seventh years in Advanced Potions seemed upset that they weren't trusted when that first year was, but one of the girls pointed out, at the top of her lungs, that Iggy had been in potions classes as long as they had practically since he always joined in when he was bored. Very interesting from that Slytherin. He would have to keep an eye on her.

Xander slipped out the back door and went to check on his son and friend. He found them sitting in the same spots, looking like they hadn't bathed since Saturday, and still buried in the books. He cleared his throat in the quiet room. "You have to start appearing. Ryan Rosenberg wanted to know if I had killed you. Tara going off on him never quite answered that question," he told Snape when the other man looked up.

Severus' mouth fell open. She had stuck up for him? "She told him off for me?"

"Mostly because of you, but yeah," Xander told him. "So you *might* want to go take a shower and eat before appearing at dinner. Albus announced that the library had been found at lunch."

Snape grabbed Iggy's wrist to look at his watch. "Oh, my," he said. "It's Thursday."

"It is?" Iggy asked, looking at his watch himself. "Damn, I missed a Transfiguration test." He shrugged and went back to his book. He nearly wailed when his father snatched it from him and put it down, then picked him up and carried him to the bathrooms. He did scream when he was put under the cold water and handed the bar of soap.

"Wash yourself," Xander said, walking away. He found Snape rooting through his refrigerator. "Milk's at the bottom but it's formula," he warned. Snape pulled back and Xander pointed at the newly arrived tray of food. "Eat and then go shower. You can even use ours if you want." Snape nodded, heading up to the showers with one of the sandwiches that had been brought. Xander wondered if he realized he was still clutching his book. He resealed the door, using a much harder password this time, and left them to it. He ran into Ron in the halls, going up to rest for his free period. "They're in the showers," he said quietly. Ron just nodded, he was starting to get depressed and it showed. Xander resolved to do something more about this. He walked outside and whistled, bringing his phoenix from the Magical Creatures' class. "Sorry, but he needs to run an errand," he called, waving at Hagrid. He gave Murphy an auditory message and sent him off to London. Ron looked bad and he wouldn't allow it anymore. He wandered back inside, going to finish his lunch. Hopefully he would have time before his meeting with Dumbledore.

***

"Xander," Albus said when the young man walked up into his office. "Thank you for pulling them out of there. Having them gone for much longer might have been problematic."

"Tell me about it. Iggy looked at me like I was an alien." He sat down in the comfy chair. "I'm not getting the extra class, am I."

Albus shook his head. "No, I'm sorry. They decided it would be too dangerous in the long run. But I will allow you to lead a special class for any gryphon-borns already here. That was allowed."

Xander nodded. "Okay. I can do that. Teaching them what I know?"

"And how to use the various levels of magic," Dumbledore agreed. "All the elders decided that might be quite helpful and wouldn't endanger anyone." He clasped his hands on the desk. "I'm sorry that I couldn't pull this through for you."

"Not a problem," Xander said with a wave. "This is actually good enough for me. Crystal's had almost no education in how to do gryphon magic and the other born is so much like a normal wizard I doubt he could teleport at all."

"He's actually going to be able to apparate," Dumbledore told him. "He's that far down the line."

"Wow, I didn't think there was a cutoff." He shrugged out of his thoughts. "It's good enough for me. Is this going to be a private mandatory or an elective?"

"Mandatory for a year," Dumbledore told him. "Then elective if you care to run the class with only one or two people."

"Like I said, not a problem. Doing that means I can do individual exercises and push them into their own categories of abilities without being overloaded."

"And tests would be easier also," Albus agreed with a smile.

"Yeah, really easy. Use chaos magic to turn that pincushion into a rocking chair," Xander mimicked. "When do I get them?"

"Starting next year. Crystal's so ill right now that she's not attending regular classes and that nice Mr. Rossenway is, like you said, not really needing them."

"And Iggy is already getting them at home," Xander finished. Dumbledore nodded. "Good. Anything else?"

"Yes, I'm afraid we're going to need a bit more time before we move those books. The Regent's board hasn't approved us putting up an extension to the library."

"So I build shelves in an unused classroom," Xander said with a shrug. "It's not that hard and Ron can help me. He needs something to take his mind off the missing ones anyway."

"Good point. What would you need for that?"

"Hammers, saws, wood, and nails. Maybe a few clamps if we're going to glue as well as nail."

Dumbledore made a list. "We'll be needing them anyway so I'll get you that much and we'll use one of the unused classrooms down in the dungeons. So it's closer to Severus and he doesn't have to live in your living room." He smiled. "Did you really put them both into the shower?"

"I put Iggy in and suggested it strongly to Severus. Oh, go ahead and tell him however you do that that he can borrow a robe." He gave him a dry look at the shocked expression. "Oh, please. You can do the thought streams like Iggy can. And I would guess that you do what Melvin does since he mentioned you giving him useful advice on the subject. Especially since I *know* you're not born."

Dumbledore laughed. "Very good suppositions, Xander. It is true that I can do that. Severus said thank you and he was borrowing your lone black one." Xander nodded. "Yes, I figured out long ago that I could touch pure magic and trained myself to use it. That's why I've devoted my life to this school, hoping to find others who could do it so we could come out and be seen as not dangerous."

"Well, gee, now you have the Hufflepuff of the family in on it," Xander pointed out. "Definitely not dangerous."

"Very true," Albus agreed. "The Present Minister of Magic can also touch it, a bit, and knows that I will train Melvin in it's uses and protection." He fluffed some papers. "Did you want to help with that?"

"I can't touch it so it wouldn't be of any use to me," Xander said with a shrug. "But you could probably pull in Denver and Iggy if you wanted to. Denver's been learning gryphon magic over Iggy's shoulder now for a few years, and can teleport by himself I'm told, and Iggy can probably touch it even if he can't do anything with it."

Dumbledore nodded. "Good. I'll talk to them once they're old enough. Did you had that bracelet back to Mr. Malfoy so he could use it on young Agatha?"

"Oh, yeah, after I put it on Iggy to scare him. That kid's going to be the death of me yet," he sighed as he stood up and grabbed his cane. "I'm off to torture fourth years. Have fun making Severus go back to class." He waved and left the office with the laughter following him. Xander walked into his classroom and found the roll already taken. "Thank you for waiting," he told his kids. "I had a short meeting with the Headmaster over a proposed class." He opened his notes. "Okay, where were we? Rigsinths?" The kids nodded and grabbed their quills while Xander put up the map hiding their outline for the day. The third years who had peaked at it earlier this morning had said it was complicated. It was nice that Professor Harris did all this preparation before classes started for the day.

***

Draco woke up as a soft whisper bothered him in his sleep.

"You have two minutes to get out," the whisper told him. "Or you will die."

Draco got out of bed as quickly as he could, grabbing his robe and the box of his most precious things. He used his wand to move everything else of his children's to a storehouse he had built last year to house their toys, stuffing it to the brim. Then he went through the floo, going to the safest place he knew. He heard the explosion as he left, and felt it following him through the floo. He stepped out of the fireplace in Xander's living room and out of the way, watching as the flames shot up. Xander woke up from his nap on the couch and looked at him. "The house just blew up," he said, shocked and breathless. Xander opened his arms so he waddled over and laid down on top of him, taking the comfort he was offered.

"We'll get the bastard," Xander promised, rubbing down the hard back. "How long?"

"Six more months," Draco told him in a near-whisper. "I can't go anywhere else."

"Shh, we have a spare room you can hide in and we'll get you seen tomorrow," Xander told him, continuing to soothe him. "Albus, can you please tell someone?" he asked the air. He felt a small tingle in his head of acknowledgment. It would be okay. Draco could be protected. They would get whomever had bombed him. And the baby would be protected too. He fell asleep under the warm weight, wrapping the younger man tightly in his arms like he would his real son.

***

Fred and George were laughing when they walked into the house the next morning, stopping when they saw Xander and Draco. "Brother, I do believe you spent too much time away," Fred joked.

George shushed him and walked over to look at them. He paused to look at the ash decorating the carpet, looking like the fireplace had exploded during the night. He walked to the back of the couch and stopped, mouth hanging open. He motioned Fred over, whispering in his ear. "Go now," he said with a shove. Fred disappeared through the floo and George leaned down. "Xander? Would you like to offer an explanation?" he asked quietly.

"His house exploded," Xander whispered. He opened his eyes. "He's okay."

"How long has he been like that?"

"Three months," Draco groaned as he woke up, rubbing his eyes. He felt fingers in his hair and looked at his other surrogate father. "I got a warning in the middle of the night and moved everything important, then I came here. I felt it explode while I was in the floo."

"You're lucky it didn't snap and put you somewhere else." He touched the small, but obvious, bulge that was hanging out of the silk pajama bottoms. "Why don't you go take a shower, I'm sure someone will be coming for you soon." Draco nodded and left, going to take a shower. "Are we hiding him?"

"Yes," Xander said firmly, sitting up and stealing a kiss. "He wants this kid as badly as we want ours," he pointed out. "This could give him a lot of publicity that he doesn't want so we're hiding him."

"All right then. I sent Fred for Tara's obstetrician. We'll have a look at him and then figure out what to do. Do you think mum knows?"

"Probably not. He said Ginny didn't when I found out." He gave his mate another kiss. "Thank you for not flinching."

"That baby is wanted," George agreed. "But you get to hide him from Ginny." He smiled and stood up. "Fred should be back soon. Go get dressed. It's nearly first period."

"Shoot," Xander sighed. "And I have early class today. Guess I'm showering later." He heaved himself up and grabbed his cane, heading up the stairs.

George sat down on the couch to consider all their options. This could get quite messy if not handled right.

***

Fred came out in St. Mungo's waiting room and smiled at the nurse. "I need to see Dr. Latimer," he said nicely. "We're having a bit of a problem with a patient." She buzzed the doctor and he came out drinking a cup of coffee. "Dr. Latimer?" he asked. The doctor nodded so Fred pulled him a bit aside. "I'm George's twin."

"I noticed. Is Tara having more problems?"

"Well, it's a bit more complicated than that," Fred told him, then sighed. "Can you please come with me and see for yourself? I don't think I could explain it in a way that would convince you it's serious."

"Of course. Let me grab a bag." He walked away and came back a moment later with a battered leather case. "Let's go. Gryphon's house?"

"Yes." Fred followed him, then led him up to the bathrooms, where he could hear the shower running. "Draco, visitor," he announced. Draco came out and the doctor stood staring at him. "This is what we wanted you to see. His house exploded last night."

"Oh, dear. You weren't joking about that spell?" Fred shook his head. "Very well. Young man, please dry off and go lie down. I'll be right in after I find out some things from Xander."

"I had the spell done," Draco told him imperiously.

"Of course you did. I doubt they'd ever do it again after what happened to George," Fred pointed out.

"What happened to George?"

"They created Iggy without telling him, and George got very sick. That's why George had me come get you."

"I'm fine," Draco told him.

"Go dry off and lie down," the doctor said firmly. "I'll be the one to decide that." Draco rolled his eyes but went, he wasn't in the mood to argue right now. He found the room Xander said would be his when he had popped in and put on some boxers, they were all he could wear. He really did need to go shopping, even if all of his clothes hadn't just been burned. He covered his eyes with an arm. He didn't want to think about his house. He hated it in so many ways, but it was his. He wondered if any of the house elves had made it out. Surely they had. Hopefully anyway. When someone came to grill him, he'd ask them. The doctor came in and shut the door. "I'm a little over three months along."

"Good, then you shouldn't be having too many problems," Dr. Latimer agreed. He came in and poked and prodded. When he was done, he sat down to talk with the young man, telling him what was going to be happening soon and what he would need to have done. If he was taking him on as a patient, there was going to be some rules and Draco would be seeing him every month until his eighth, then every week. Draco came up with the idea of saying it was a girlfriend he was paying the bills for, just to deal with the paperwork. After all, that's how his beloved son came to be.

***

Two mornings later Denver Malfoy spit his juice out while he was reading the paper. "That bloody fuckup!" he shouted. He raced out of the room, heading up to talk to his Uncle, who might be able to beat some sense into his father's thick skull. Fooling around on Aunt Ginny? How stupid was he! He stormed in and was promptly grabbed by familiar strong arms. So he turned and pushed his father away. "What the hell do you think you're doing? Did Aunt Ginny not tell you that she'd kill you the next one of me you had?" he shouted.

"Calm down," Xander said from his grading chair. He turned off the tv and looked at the boy. "Gossip is a bad thing, Denver, remember that."

Denver scowled at him, looking exactly like an eleven year old Draco. "Yay, he's knocked someone up! Again!"

"No, son, I didn't, and it's Ginny's." Draco pulled up his shirt, showing off his small stomach. "I'm pregnant."

Denver whimpered, going from angry to shocked much too fast. "What?" he asked finally. He touched the hard lump. "You? You're pregnant?" Draco nodded and put his shirt back down. "Does Mum know?"

"Ginny doesn't know yet," he told him. "I was going to tell her next week but I guess I should probably do it sooner."

"I sent Murphy to her when I saw the paper," George said from the stairs. He came down them slowly. "You may not tell *anyone*, Denver. Do you understand? Your father still has someone who's trying to kill him."

"Okay," Denver said. Then he hit himself on the forehead. "Simone and Iggy."

"Iggy knows," Xander told him. "He ran into his uncle last night in the bathroom."

"Oh, crap," George sighed. "That kid can't keep a secret to save our lives."

"I doubt he's going to spread this one around," Denver told him. "Who'd believe him?" He looked at his father. "Simone?"

"Send her up later, but you may tell her it's not what it appears. I'll break the news to her later."

"Yes, father." Denver carefully reached over and patted the small bump. "How long?"

"Three months."

"You've hid this from us for *three* months," Denver told him. "Why? Don't you trust us?"

"He wanted to make sure everything was okay first," Xander told him.

"Oh." Denver scowled at his father. "You idiot, putting yourself through something that could kill you. What would we do?" He hugged his father tightly. "I'll run interference with Simone until you can tell her," he promised. "No more surprises. The house blowing up was quite enough."

"I saved everything that I could," Draco told him.

"Well, I guess that's okay then," Denver sighed. "At least you got out." He walked out, leaving the adults alone to 'oh, shit' in peace. He ran into his sister outside the Great Hall, and she had obviously already heard. "I just talked to father and they got part of the story wrong," he said, giving her a hug. "He didn't cheat on mum."

"But then she'll get sick and die," Simone pointed out.

"Not this time," Denver said dryly. "He said to go up to the house during our free period so he could talk to you about it."

"Yeah, I was wondering how that happened myself," Iggy said as he joined them.

"We can't tell anyone," Denver reminded him. "Whomever blew up the house is still out there."

"Someone blew up the house?" Simone asked. "Who? Are they dead yet or can we help?"

"Ask your father when you see him in a few hours," Snape said as he walked past them. He smiled at Denver, telling him he knew. Quite astounding news really. He would have to make more anti-nausea medicine today. Maybe Tara would appreciate talking with him, sharing battle stories as it were. Yes, quite remarkable. Hopefully someone had a way around the problem of giving birth, otherwise he would have to knock poor Mr. Malfoy out quite deeply.

***

Simone stormed into the house and stopped when she saw her father's business manager talking with him. "Out!" she ordered the plebeian little asshole. "I need to have a discussion with my father." He frowned at her. "Out now or I'm cursing you into an existence as something horrid that takes a long time to die." He gathered up his things and walked into another room to give them privacy. "Explain yourself because that curse is looking fairly tempting right now. How dare you hurt my mum!"

Draco patted the couch beside him and she obediently sat beside him, but a bit farther away than he had indicated. "I've not knocked anyone up," he told her.

"But the paper said your name was on the medical tests," she pointed out, trying to stay calm.

"Yes, it was. That's because it's me, not some random woman." He lifted his shirt and his daughter stared at him like he was mad. "Trust me, Simone. It's me."

She patted the bulge to make him happy, and it moved. "Holy fuck," she said, backing away from him. "What did you do, daddy?"

"Watch your language," Draco warned, but inside he was smiling. Denver looked like him but her attitude was all him. "I did it because I wanted another of you and your mother can't get pregnant."

"Does she know?"

"I was going to tell her next week, once I had my personal doctor confirm it," he said calmly.

"So, mum and grandma don't know?" He nodded. "Can I go live in another country until they calm down? I hear Africa is very nice this time of year. Especially Morocco."

"You can go this summer," he told her with a faint smile. "For now, I'm going to tell your mother today. I had planned on breaking it gently but those idiots at the Daily Prophet are still stealing things from the hospital it seems." He grimaced. "As for your mother, she' the least of my worries."

"Denver said someone blew up the house," she agreed quietly.

He tipped her face up so she was looking at him. "They did. I moved most everything I could, it's in your storage building. Including the nest and your doll collection. I basically swept the house."

"Oh, daddy, the elves," she pleaded.

"I don't know yet, precious. I'm letting you free of school today to go through the building with the auror over the case. It's one of the ones that Xander trained," he said to ease her sneer. "See if any of them are in there or if you can see where they went to."

She patted him on the arm. "I'll be a good second-in-command for you, daddy. Is Denver going?"

"No, I need him to go to the bank for me. Professor Snape is taking him. Then I need him to pick me up some clothes that fit."

"You can borrow mine," Xander called down from upstairs.

"Thank you," Draco called back. "But I'd look horrible."

"Daddy, you're going to get huge. You won't be able to help it," she reminded him. He laughed. "Seriously. What about haircuts and the like?"

"I haven't figured that out yet," he admitted. "I'll be able to go for a bit, but not for long."

Xander came down the stairs. "You and Tara are built about the same. We can probably get some extras from her and have someone do alterations. Or get some of mine and do alterations. Ginny did a bunch of her own as she grew." He smiled at Simone. "You can't tell anyone and you have to keep Iggy from telling anyone."

"I'll try," she promised. "Do you think they'll attack daddy for this?"

"I think a lot of parents would get really pissed at Dumbledore and start taking their kids home," Xander told her. "Or they'll push to have him expelled and Draco to be forced out." She nodded. "So let's keep this quiet for as long as we can."

"That should be about two weeks," Draco snorted.

"Maybe, but the longer we can the better off we'll be." Xander patted Simone on the head. "We don't want the pissed hordes of mothers to come here and drag him out onto the lawn to yell at him for taking this away from them."

"They'd do that?" Draco asked.

"Some of them," Xander agreed. "Think about Willow and Molly."

"Can you tell them for me?" Draco asked.

Xander sighed. "Sure, why not. I told you Ginny was pregnant, I can tell her you are."

"It seems fitting," Simone agreed with a grin.

Xander pulled on a robe and waved. "I'll be back in a few minutes. Ministry of Magic," he called out as he stepped into the fire. He disappeared.

Draco pulled his daughter closer and gave her a hug. "Thank you for understanding."

"I don't understand, but I know that you love kids as much as Uncle Xander so I'm okay with it." He smiled at her. "So, girl or boy?"

"I won't know for another two months," he told her. "What would you like?"

"We need more boys. Denver's lonely."

"I'll do my best," he agreed with a smile.

***

Xander stepped into Arthur's office and waved a hand at the held up paper and the open mouth. "It's got a few things wrong." He closed and locked the door, shielding them from eavesdropping. "It's not some woman, it's him."

"What?" Arthur asked, coming out of his chair. "He's what?"

"He wanted another one," Xander explained. "So he used that gryphon spell on himself. That was well before his house blew up though."

"Was he this way when we all got together for the game?" Xander nodded. "How far?"

"Three months."

"Merlin," Arthur asked, sitting back down. "Is he all right?"

"Up until now. The press is probably going to get him killed though. So he asked if I'd tell Ginny and you guys."

"It does seem fitting considering you told him about Ginny." He frowned. "Is he at your house?"

"Oh, yeah. We're hiding him right now. We've had Tara's doctor in to look at him. He's fine so far and we've got a long list of things he'll be needing vitamin-wise." He looked around the office, smiling at the bobblehead dolls he had given his father-in-law the year before he and George had married. "Want to tell mom?"

"No, son, I'm not going there. I'm going to be right here when you tell both women. It's safer that way."

"Ah, dad," he complained. Someone knocked on the door and Xander opened it, letting Percy in. "It's not what you think."

"It had better not be. I just heard from Ginny, she asked if I could hold the git while she hit him."

"Probably not a good idea considering he's three months along," Xander told him. Percy stared at him. "Yeah, you heard right. It's him. He wanted it that badly."

"Oh, dear Merlin," Percy sighed, rubbing his chest.

"Sit," Arthur said quickly, using his wand to move a chair over. "Xander, why don't you go tell Molly while I get him calmed down?"

"Since when has Percy been having chest pains?" Xander demanded. "They're dangerous! He's got to go to the hospital now! A good one!"

"I'll get him there," Arthur soothed, patting Xander a bit. "Go get Molly and Ginny, tell them both and then tell them to meet us at St. Mungo's." Xander nodded, disappearing from the office. "Come on, Perce, let's get you looked over."

"How ever did he do that?" Percy asked.

"Gryphon spell. That's what happened with George and Iggy." He got his son up and walking, taking him to the floo. He waved off the help from a security guard. "Just a bit of a shock, we're going to get him checked out." He sent his son on first and headed after him.

***

Xander landed in the burrow and held up a hand. "Sit and listen," he ordered. Molly glared at him. "Just listen before you attack me. Just the messenger really." He pointed at the paper. "It's wrong. It's Draco, not some girl." Ginny's mouth fell open. "He wanted another one so bad that he went ahead with it."

Molly's lips thinned out. "Without telling us?"

"He's only three months along," Ginny said quietly. "He told me we went to talk about doing it, not that he was having it done. Three months or so?" Xander nodded. "How is he?"

"We told the kids today. Percy's having a heart attack. Arthur's shocked and handling that problem. He's at our house."

"Oh, Percy," Molly said, heading for the fireplace. "Poor Percy. He's got too much stress right now." She disappeared.

Ginny held out a hand as she stood up. "Can you send us there?"

"The closest I can get is the Leaky Cauldron," he offered. She shrugged. "You're sure?"

"We're out of floo powder, mum took the last." She blinked as they teleported away to the Leaky Cauldron. She went for the floo fireplace while Xander grabbed a quick butterbeer before following.

"Long day?" Tom asked.

"Very long day. Percy's just had a bad shock." He downed the butterbeer and put down the money on the bar. "I'll probably be back later," he sighed, then went over to the fireplace to send himself on. He walked out of the fireplace at St. Mungo's and heard everyone yelling at once. "Shut up!" he yelled. Arthur smiled at him. "No discussing Draco outside of the family. Think about the press and the parents." He sighed. "How's Percy?"

"The doctor thinks he's delusional," the nurse told him. "Is there really a gryphon spell for that?"

Xander nodded. "It's why I have a son." He kissed Ginny on the cheek. "They moved it into her." He pointed. "Want me to explain it to the guy?"

"No, Dr. Latimer came running when he heard it was your family," the nurse said. She smiled at the family. "I'm not telling anybody, no one would believe me anyway." She walked away, going to check on their son for them.

Molly looked at Xander. "Don't you have a class about now?" she asked. Xander nodded. "Then why are you here, dear?"

"Damage control," he told her. He smiled. "Did you want to come talk to your son-in-law? He's at my place."

"We'll be up tonight," Ginny told him. "Can you take dinner in your rooms?"

"Sure. The kids know, we told them this morning. Simone went off and Denver about hit him."

"There's a thought," Molly said.

Xander shrugged. "Molly, he wanted one more than he loves Ginny. Don't be too hard on the guy, his life's presently falling apart."

"Oh, I won't yell," she promised.

The obstetrician walked out, smiling at Xander. "How are my patients?"

"Draco's calm, Tara's not. She's having cleaning fits during lectures. Washed her chalkboard earlier."

"Perfectly normal then," he said happily. "Did you need me to come look at him?"

"No, this is our family." He waved a hand at the clan. "This is actually George's family and this one is Draco's all-but wife," he said, pointing at Ginny.

"Ah. He talked about you a bit when he was explaining this to me," Dr. Latimer told her. "You're quite high in his thoughts." He smiled at Xander. "Then why don't you go back and send on George since he's probably got some free time and I heard you say you're supposed to be in class."

"Sure," Xander agreed, disappearing from right there.

"That's a trick I want to learn," Ginny grumped. "I can't teleport." She sat down and looked at the doctor. "So, how is he?"

"Quite well. Perfectly on track and all that. I'm keeping a very close eye on him." She nodded. "Once he gives me his consent I can talk to you in more detail. Would you like to come with me when I examine him next month?"

"Sure," she said with a smile. "If mum doesn't kill him." She looked at her mother, it was still looking close.

***

Xander appeared in the shop and whistled over the noise. Everyone looked at him. "Fred and George are going to have to close for a few hours," he announced. "There's been a bit of a family emergency." The kids made their final decisions and walked up, each one asking how long it was going to be. Fred handled it all by saying 'not more than two or three hours' to each one of them. Then he glared at Xander. "I got to tell everyone this morning," he sighed. "Percy's having a heart attack at St. Mungo's." Both twins sped past him, heading to the fireplace. "Watch out for your mother," he called after them. Then he popped directly to his classroom. "Sorry I'm late," he announced as he walked in to teach his third years. "Family emergency. My brother-in-law is presently having a heart attack over some family news." He took roll quickly and started into the planned lecture for the day, the back of his mind worrying about his bestest buddy. When he was done, he went to find Melvin and take him to the hospital too. Percy was in a room and Xander managed to get everyone out for a few minutes so Melvin could talk to his father. He got the firing squad in the halls. He answered all their questions as well as he could, and as quietly as he could, but ended up inviting everyone over for dinner tonight. The he went to arrange that and collapse. It had been one hell of a day.

***

Draco flopped down onto the couch beside Xander, patting his full stomach. "That was excellent. Did Simone tell you, I sent the house elves to the storage building too." Xander waved a hand. "You all right?"

"Just a little stressed," he said lightly. "Percy will hopefully be fine."

"He was about to have one anyway, you were just the last straw," Arthur assured him as he came over to join them. "He'll be fine and will be switched areas of work."

"But he loves the nerds," Ginny argued. "I think his assistant is going to get more of a role in the department." She flopped down next to Draco, patting his stomach. "Are you happy?"

"Very." He looked at her. "Are you upset?"

"Some since you didn't tell me." She punched him on the arm. "But not that much." She kissed him on the cheek. "You don't glow like I did though," she teased.

"It's Xander's clothes, they don't fit me right," he assured her. "Once I'm over this morning sickness part and back into some clothes of my own, I'll look just as fabulous as you did." He smiled as his children walked in with Iggy and Melvin. "How are you four tonight?"

"Better now that we know Uncle Percy won't die," Simone said dryly. She glared at Xander. "Learn how to break news more gently, Uncle Xander. I don't want you to kill my father some day."

"Yay," he said, pointing. "Go do your homework."

"Yes, sir," she sighed, going to do as she was ordered. His house, his rules had been told to her once too often for her to argue.

Draco smiled at him. "Has she been a hellion again?"

"No. And she's not allowed to become one either. I'm not putting up with it." He looked over at Ravena, who was walking in circles screaming her head off. "Ravena, dear, why are you doing that?" he asked calmly. She sat down and cried. "Never mind. Sorry!"

George slid into Xander's lap. "Making you rethink having another one?"

"Oh, yeah, but we both have days like that." He patted George on the butt. "Remember the first night we spent with Iggy?" His mate laughed. "I had a second thought that night."

"Me too," George assured him, leaning down to give him a kiss.

Tara walked in and smiled, waving at everyone. "I heard it was a party and the baby wanted to join in."

"Yours and mine both," Draco told her. She squealed and came running over to hug him, patting him on the stomach. "Thank you for taking it so well."

"It's wonderful. You adore your children and it shows." She smiled at Ginny. "Aren't you happy for him?"

"Very," she agreed. "I'm just wondering how he's going to take care of it without a house."

"The insurance company has already sent someone to beg and plead for me to not make them pay me the full amount of the policy," Draco told her. He looked over as the door opened and Dumbledore walked in too. "Bad news?" he asked.

"Two pieces of news. Xander, you have a visitor on the second floor mezzanine. Draco, they found a founder's body under your house?"

Draco nodded. "My great-grandfather stole it from the guardians protecting it. It's the bigger family secret."

"Oh. Were you willing to have it buried?"

"If it pleases you. I really didn't like having the oddity anyway and did threaten my father with having it buried somewhere with a ornate, expensive, and flowery headstone."

Dumbledore smiled. "Excellent. Would around here be all right?"

"There's that prophecy," Molly reminded him.

"Yes, but this would be the first to come here," he told her. "It's still fine."

She nodded and went back to her talk with Tara.

Xander raised a hand. "Visitor? Good or bad?"

"It's Spike."

"Yes!" Xander said, hopping up with renewed energy. "I'll be right back with good news hopefully. RON! Come on! Visitor!" He hurried out the door.

Ron came jogging down the stairs. "What visitor?" he asked, pulling on a shirt. Minnie had just puked on him.

"Spike's waiting on Xander in the second floor mezzanine," Dumbledore told him. Ron looked clueless. "He's been searching for Buffy and the baby."

"Oh. OH!" He ran out of the room, heading up to the mezzanine.

Dumbledore smiled. "I always appreciate bringing good news." Molly laughed. "How is Percy?"

"Fine. It was a minor one and the doctors have put him on medicine for it. It should help quite a lot."

"Good, excellent," he said. He smiled at Draco. "Contrary to Xander's worries, we won't let the horde of angry women pull you outside and hurt you."

"Thank you," Draco told him. "May I stay for a bit?"

"If they don't mind, this is their section. I'll tell the house elves to bring you some meals." He bowed to everyone and left.

"That was very nice of him," Molly sniffled. "Damn these hormones."

Draco patted her on the hand. "I understand like I never did before," he told her.

Everyone laughed.

***

Xander bowled into Spike, giving him a tight, energetic hug. "Tell me you've found at least one of them," he said happily, leaning against the railing.

Spike kicked at the cane. "You hurt again?"

"Permanently," Xander agreed. "So, give already!"

"Pushy git," Spike said as he pulled out a cigarette and lit it. He exhaled as Ron came running up. "Got good and bad news. Which one you want first?"

"The bad," Ron said immediately.

"Bint's gone."

"Which bint?" Ron asked, his face falling. He had such high hopes.

"Just Buffy and the watcher git. He took her to a demon plane." He took another drag and Ron took the cigarette from him. "Hey!"

"Talk. Now," Ron ordered.

"Calm down, he'll tell us everything in time," Xander soothed, handing back the cigarette. "He's worried, Spike. Buffy was his."

Spike nodded. "She used to be mine, that's why I looked. Watcher git gave her the drugs to make her deliver, delivered them, then took off with her. He gave the baby to another watcher bloke he was blackmailing." Another drag and slow exhale. "Baby's in Prague in an orphanage. Second watcher git died. Buffy and first watcher git left the plane, had someone send them to one of the lesser Hell dimensions to fight."

"After just giving birth?" Xander asked. Spike nodded, his eyes telling the whole story. "Any hope?"

"Not unless you can find one of the three remaining citizens of that plane who're still alive," Spike told him. "She's gone, mate, best accept that part. The babe, now, it's savable. The place isn't pretty and it's not nice, but it's safe enough until you can get there. Bring proof, they're bloody buggers over there. Tried to get the little bite myself and they wouldn't let me."

"Bring some money too, you'll probably need at least one bribe," Xander advised. "I'll call Charlie and Bill while you pack."

Ron bowled into Spike and gave him a hug. "Thanks, mate. This means the world to me."

"Like I said," Spike said uncomfortably. "She used to be mine. I understand that much." He was let go of and Ron ran off. "Bit emotional."

"Giles took her?" Xander asked softly. That part had apparently escaped Ron's notice. Spike nodded. "Did he leave with her?" Spike nodded. "And Ethan can't find him?"

"Not a bit, we've looked long and hard for 'im for you," Spike admitted with a smile. He lit a new cigarette. "Wanted a piece of him myself over this."

"And to think, Wesley said they mistranslated the prophecy."

"Yeah, if the boy got raised by the watcher's he'd get turned into the greatest master ever and kill 'em all," Spike agreed with a grin. "Ethan retranslated it for me." He winked. "So, one's Slayer?"

"Yeah," Xander said happily. "I'm training her myself."

"Hey, better'n them," Spike agreed. "You won't warp the girl or make her some zombie to take orders." He put out his cigarette. "I'll be goin' back now."

"Tell Ethan I owe him," Xander told him quietly, holding out a hand. Spike shook it. "You too, Spike. And I mean it. I owe you both." He walked away. "I'll give you a ten minute head start before I send Murphy." Spike laughed but he left. The phoenix didn't like his kind and kept trying to peck him to death. Xander walked into the tower in the midst of a hugging party. "Let me go Murphy Bill and Charlie," he said when Draco grabbed him for a hug. "Ron'll need help." He got free and headed upstairs to send out messages. "Ron, don't take the twins, we can watch them. Or bring them if necessary." He picked out one of the older phoenix chicks and talked to her, getting her permission, and brought her over to Ron's rooms. "You're taking her," he said. "She'll get messages back to us. Send a picture if you need help." Ron nodded, giving him a hug. "Don't worry. We'll do whatever we have to to help you get the baby back," he whispered. "But you're leaving the twins here, just in case." Ron nodded, wiping off his face. "Take your broom too," Xander ordered gently. He walked away, leaving him to say goodbye to the twins. When Ron came down and handed them over, Molly took them with a smile and a kiss to her son's cheek. Ron took off out the window George had discovered was prefect for flying out of.

Xander sighed in relief. A long, strange day.

***

Charlie looked up as the dragon next to him swatted at something. He accepted the golden phoenix onto his arm, taking the message. He knew this bird. "Want a bit of brekkie?" he asked. Murphy nibbled on his nose but took off again. "Okay then. Thanks." He opened the message as the semi-sedated dragon watched him read. "Well," he said happily. "Hey, Bo, I need a break," he called, heading for his boss waving the letter.

***

Bill looked up at the screaming noise, frowning at the phoenix bothering a troll. "Leave 'im alone, Murph." The bird landed beside him, holding out his leg so Bill could take the message. "Thank you. Want some water or such?" The bird warbled and hopped over to drink some water. He opened the letter, reading it with a growing smile. "Well," he said with a bright smile. "Finally." He grunted something at the head troll, and got permission to take a few days off. Trolls didn't really care about families, but Bill had about a month of vacation saved up so he couldn't be denied. He reached down and petted the bird. "Thanks for this, Murph. Gonna go back?" Murphy nipped him on the nose. "Tell your daddy I said thanks and I'll go help Ron." Murphy nodded. "Rest all you want. We'll leave together." He went to pack his backpack, all he had with him.

***

Ron walked into the agency over the orphanage his baby was living in and smiled brightly. "I need to speak to a manager," he said, his translation spell working perfectly. The baby had been put with muggles so he would probably have to beg and plead for a bit. He was shown into a small office and shook the woman's hand. "I'm Ronald Weasley and I called you yesterday?" he told her. She nodded, leaning forward. "I've got the forms you wanted. The police report," he handed that over, "the birth certificates, and the blood tests that prove that the baby's mine."

She read them over. "The certificate says girl child," she said, holding it up.

"It's not?" Ron asked happily. She shook her head. "The ultrasound couldn't be sure."

"You never saw it?"

"No, the bloody asshole who took my son and my fiancé didn't do more than deliver the other two and leave them there. He left them on the bed, covered in ick, and screaming their bloody heads off."

She sighed. "We will have to test the baby to make sure it is yours."

Ron stood up. "Can I at least see him? Hold him for a bit?"

"That I can do," she agreed. She smiled at him. "This is enough for me, but my superiors might not be convinced. There's bad blood between our countries right now." The door slammed open and she screamed.

"Bill, Charlie!" Ron said happily, walking over to hug them. "Sorry, these are my brothers. They're just as worried as I have been."

"Sorry," Bill said. "The little guy out there didn't want to let us in." He looked down at her. "Would it help if we did something more?"

She shrugged. "I'll have to talk to my boss." She filed the paperwork. "Did you have copies?"

"Those are the copies," Ron told her. "The originals are with my mother at home."

She nodded. "Very wise. I will deliver this to my superior tomorrow morning, when he comes in. Right now, we can go look at boy child." She stood up and led the way out of the office. She stopped Bill. "Bribes are not necessary," she assured him. "We are not allowed to take them and they have been cracking down."

"I'll keep that in mind, but we'll do whatever we have to do so Ron gets his son back."

She nodded. "I understand. If it were me, I would have been frantic too. Was this some sort of revenge?"

"We think so. His fiancé was a powerful woman," Charlie told her, climbing into the back seat of the car with Ron. "Some people really didn't want her to retire but she did, and when she got pregnant it only got worse."

Ron nodded grimly. "Those bastards are still going to pay," he vowed.

Bill turned and patted him on the arm. "They've already paid." Ron shook his head. "Didn't most of them try to attack the school and run into Xander?" Ron smiled and nodded, looking like he was feeling better.

"Who is this Xander?"

"Our brother-in-law," Bill told her. "Quite an excellent fighter. Even with his current injuries. Got burned last time and had to have a kneecap replaced, but he protected Ron and the remaining twins."

"He does sound powerful. What happened to burn him?"

"Lightening storm," Charlie told her.

"Ah. An act of God." She nodded and turned the car onto another street. "This orphanage is one of our best."

"I'm sure it is," Ron said calmly, his knees jiggling with tension. Charlie put a hand on his knee and gave him a smile. "Thank you for coming up."

"Where else would we be?" Charlie asked him. "I'm sure that everyone else would have come if they could have."

"You have a large family?"

"I have an *immense* family," Ron told her. "There's seven of us in the immediate family alone. Plus all the kids."

"We're up to what now? Six, seven kids?"

"Um, Ginny has four counting Denver. Percy has two, and is healing well from his heart attack as well."

"Hold on, heart attack?" Bill asked. He and Charlie shared a look. They needed to be closer to home to keep up with the news. "Since when?" Bill asked.

"Since yesterday. Draco came home with some...news that wasn't very pleasing."

"I saw that in the Prophet," Charlie said grimly. Ron leaned over and whispered in his ear. "Really?" he asked dryly. Ron nodded.

Bill looked at them. "Do share?"

"Remember how Iggy came to be?" Ron asked. Bill nodded. "Draco did that because he wanted another one. The Prophet got it slightly wrong."

"Oh. Haven't seen a paper in a bit. Did Ginny or Mum kill him?"

"Neither yet," Ron told him. "It's a miracle. Oh, and you forgot Iggy and the new one that Xander and his mate are having."

"They're having another one?" Bill asked. Charlie nodded. "You knew and didn't say anything?"

"I thought mum would write you," Charlie sighed. "She's a bit on the slow side recently about giving out news."

"Well, she's having these hormonal swigs," Ron told them.

"Oh, the change of life," the woman said. "I've seen women turned inside out because of that." She turned into a parking lot and stopped the car. "We will be going here. The boy is presently in the back room because he's been having problems." She got out and led the way in, stopping to have a few words with a matron over the children. They were shown to a filthy, dirty back room with bugs and trash lying on the floor. "This is not the best of rooms," she admitted at the horrified gasps. "It is the punishment room. They are not kept here for long."

Ron searched and found his son, obvious because he looked just like Gwen. He picked him up and held him, cooing at him. The baby cried but settled down after a few moments. Ron looked around, grimacing. "This place is filthy."

"They do the best they can," she told him.

"And their best doesn't include a broom? Or some water and a mop? The rest looked clean, why not in here? And why was my son in here at six months of age?"

She shrugged. "They said he was misbehaving."

"What sort of trouble can a child this young get into?" Charlie asked. "He can't even walk yet."

Ron sighed. "I can fight that battle later," he told his brothers. "I just want my son. Corruption and the good fight later."

Bill patted him on the back. "I understand, Ron."

"You'll have to leave him here..." she started.

"Bet me," Ron told her. "Otherwise I will have the international press here within a day."

She laughed. "And you really want to keep that one?"

"If he's mine, he's coming home with me one way or another. I'm not leaving him in this bloody hellhole." He looked around, spotting something unusual. He stomped on the little beetle, then picked it up to look at it. "I didn't know these were found outside Britain. I know someone who would love it for their collection." He put it into a bag in his pocket, mentally making a note to phoenix it back with his letter tonight. "What papers do I have to sign? I can have the blood tests run faster than you can."

"You act like you know he's yours. Yet you say you never saw him."

"You didn't read that paperwork, did you?" he asked her tiredly. "He's got twin sisters and looks just like them. Even has a scar in the same spot as his sister Minnie."

"You named one after McGonagall?" Charlie asked.

Ron shook his head. "Buffy loved Disney."

"Oh." Charlie smirked. "Then what's his name?"

"If he were a girl, he'd be a Ramona." He looked at his son, holding him out. "What's your name, little bit?"

"There's a derivative," Charlie suggested. "Raymond."

"There's always Bill," Bill suggested.

Ron grinned at him. "You've tried that with every boy in the family. Try it with Draco and Xander next," he encouraged. "Raymond? Maybe for a middle name." He shrugged and hugged his son close again. "It doesn't matter, I can figure that out tomorrow." He noticed another kid lying in the dirty mess and frowned, handing his son off to his brothers so he could pick that one up. "My, you're small," he said, smiling at it. The baby sniffled and wailed some more. "And you need a diaper change too." He looked at the keeper who had followed them in. "He needs changed."

"It's not time yet."

"You're going to let him suffer this way?" Ron asked.

"They're low on money," the social worker told Ron. "They do what they have to so they have some diapers for all."

Charlie snorted. "That would be while the Bishop over their church drives a Mercedes and eats out every day?" The keeper smiled and nodded. "Then you need to oust them, ducks, before it becomes critical." He took the second baby to look at. "You look like Xander."

"A lot like Xander," Ron agreed. "Even's got his nose." He frowned, looking at his brothers. "You don't think...."

"Anything is possible," Bill reminded him. He handed back Ron's son. "What now?"

"I want to get someone in to look at them both," Ron decided. Both brothers look at him. "With what Xander is?" Both brothers nodded.

"What is this Xander? You act like he's not human."

Ron shook his head. "He's human but he's special." She frowned. "He's got some...extra things about him."

"Ah. He's one of those fabled people," she sneered. "And you believe this?"

"He saved my life with it," Ron told her. "Saved my whole family recently by taking on people who're hurting us." He shrugged. "We don't know if Xander has any family though so..." He looked over as a magical creature walked in, frowning at them. "Hello," he said, turning off his translator. "Local Ministry?" The man nodded. "Please tell me you can help us."

"I've been told about you, Mr. Weasley," he said with a smile. He pulled the social worker and keeper away, talking to them quietly. He came back a moment later. "You can have them both with you until the blood work is done on your son and the adoption papers are done on the other." He walked closer, running a finger down the dark haired baby's head. "You are just like one of those that have recently fought."

"Xander's our brother-in-law," Bill told him. "Will that hurt us?"

"No, the local born that we have working for us is quite amused by his tactics sometimes. He said that I'd find someone here who could use the help. You'll be able to take them both in a few days." He stepped closer. "Sometimes bribes help, no matter what they say."

"And we're more than prepared to pay." Bill patted himself down. "Must have left it at the hotel."

"That would be fine. I'll show up tonight with the papers. Did you bring copies of those forms?" Ron nodded. "Do you have extra copies?"

"I've got three sets of everything and five of the report saying that they were stolen," Ron told him. "You really can help us?"

"As much as I can. Having these little guys in the church's custody is quite a bad thing." He looked at the keeper. "Don't be too hard on her, they've just cut their budget again."

"Then someone needs to fix that," Ron told him, waving a hand around. "Surely they can get cleaning supplies for this part too." The Ministry official nodded.

"Which department are you with?" Charlie asked.

"Mysteries," he said with a bright smile. "Very astute of you." He winked. "I'll be along tonight to do paperwork with you three." He turned and said something to the social worker and the keeper. They nodded and got out of the three brother's ways, letting them leave with the kids.

***

Later that night, Ron sent off the phoenix to his mum with the message and a request to have a born that could be trusted in to look over that second child, plus the half-alive bug to be changed back and questioned. He flopped back onto the lumpy bed with a sigh of relief.

"One or two more days," Bill told him. Someone knocked on the door and he got up to answer it, frowning at the police on the other side. "What did you need?" he asked, staying respectful.

"We were told there were illegal children here, taken from an orphanage."

Ron rolled off the bed, guarding the children. "One of them's mine. He was stolen from me back at home, along with my fiancé." He pulled out the paperwork they had signed and shoved it at them. "There's no kidnaping here."

The cops came in and the one in charge read the papers, then the ones Ron showed him from back at home. He finally looked at the children, especially the dark haired one. "The Bishop said that one's not to be adopted."

Someone tapped on the door and Bill opened it, smiling when he saw who was standing on the other side. "Xander?" The guy winked, showing that it wasn't. Whomever it was, was probably there to help them so it was all right. He walked in and looked at the child, then opened his wallet to show off a picture. "This is my son, stolen from me last month. You have uncovered a child-theft operation."

"But they're in an orphanage," Charlie said, not getting the clue. "Why would they be there."

"Obviously someone in the chain died," the fake-Xander told him. He smiled reassuringly at the officers. "I have the proper paperwork from your superiors and will bring them in tomorrow if you want." The head cop nodded and handed over a card. "We will be there at ten." The cops left, but left someone at the hotel, just in case.

The fake Xander took off the bracelet he was wearing, showing himself to be Wesley Wyhndam-Price. "Sorry I was so late," he said with a smile. He handed over a small envelope. "This is what we know about this child. A magical disturbance was found. We think it's Xander from another realm." Someone tapped on the door so he put back on the bracelet, becoming Xander again.

Bill opened the door, accepting their room service order from the maid. He tipped her greatly and she jogged away to show it off. "She'll give us information if we need it," he said with a shrug. "Wouldn't be the first time I've found a maid to be helpful."

"Especially if they're willing to go run out for things for a small fee," Charlie agreed. "Do we have enough diapers?"

"Hopefully. I bought the biggest pack I could." Ron sat down and ripped open the letter, reading the incident report. "Can you translate?"

Wesley took off the bracelet and sat down next to him. "What it says is that one of our seers, very reliable and the like, saw a portal opening near here. On the banks of one of the rivers. She saw a baby coming through and the portal closing. Then she saw a bright flash, which she thinks means that the baby's home dimension was destroyed. Someone sent this one out of harm's way." He patted the baby gently. "The seer, who knows Xander, thought that it might be an infant Xander from there, or the child of his line."

"So it could be his kid, or it could be him?" Charlie asked. Ron nodded. "And who're you?"

"He's the new head over the Watcher's Council. He's fixing the bollicks that they created when all this started."

"And a few budgetary issues," Wesley added with a smile. "What did Spike tell you? Did he have any information about Giles?"

"It was *her* watcher?" Ron asked. "That blasted arsehole who left Tara with Willow?" Wesley nodded. "Oh, I so want to meet up with him." Bill patted him on the back with one hand, holding out a plate with the other. "Thanks. Spike said that he had taken her to a demon plane as soon as he dropped the baby off." He swallowed. "Xander thinks she's dead. So did Spike." He put the plate down and picked up his son. "You're so special because they saved you." He looked at Wesley. "Will you leave him alone?"

"We'd be more than happy to leave him alone," Wesley agreed. "We will have to discuss Minnie's training though."

"Bet me," Ron told him. "Xander's training her."

"Hopefully he'll teach her how to call for help when he's outnumbered," Charlie said dryly. Ron kicked at him. "What? Xander hasn't learned that lesson."

"He has now," Ron told him. "That cane is permanent. He's refused more treatment to allow him to get rid of it."

"He loves George that much?" Bill asked. Ron nodded. "Wow. I'd say I want that for myself, but I'd never fit her into my pack."

Ron snorted. "How do you fit anything into your pack, Bill?"

"Barely," he admitted with a grin. "I only get one week's worth of clothes for six months worth of work."

"Eww," Charlie said, shaking his head. "I can't say my job has many things, but at least I get regular laundry service."

"Yeah, but you nearly get eaten every day," Bill teased. Charlie threw a pillow at his head. "Truth hurt?"

"I'm working in the medical section now. Only drugged dragons for me."

"Ooh, a promotion," Ron teased. "Gonna get a girl with it before mum sends another of your old girlfriends out?"

"Did Percy do that?" Charlie asked. Ron shrugged. "Bu the knew?"

"Apparently." The mini-Xander started to cry so Ron picked him up and cuddled him. "Can someone make a bottle?" Ron looked at their helper again. "I don't care if Minnie's the suckiest chosen one in the history of chosen kind. Xander's training her."

"Then I'll send on some books," Wesley said simply as he stood up. "The real him will be here tomorrow." He put back on the bracelet and left the room as Xander.

Charlie snatched the incident report form, reading over it. Then he whistled. "Gee, maybe we need the phoenix back to send this on too."

"He'll be here tomorrow," Ron said happily. Xander always stuck up for him, he'd do it for this baby too. Hopefully. If he wasn't too stressed out by the things going on at home and hadn't snapped from it.

***

Xander walked into the police station and pointed with his cane. "I'm with them. They have my son." He was shown back to the office, the officer tapping gently on the door. "Sorry. Had a small problem this morning." He took the dark haired baby and looked it over, then sniffed it. "Someone washed you in smelly soap," he told him.

"It's all the hotel had," Ron said with a grin. This was the real Xander, he looked too tired to be anything but. "Want the chair?"

"Nah, I can stand," he said, leaning against the wall. "So, what's the holdup? Demanding a bribe, needing more forms filled out, religious zealots?"

The cop spluttered. "We do not take bribes!" he said forcefully.

"Great, but what about everyone else?" Xander asked. The cop shook his head and muttered something. "We're Brits, we want to do this in the least amount of time so we can get back to our jobs. What else did you expect?"

"You don't sound British."

"I'm a naturalized citizen," Xander told him, showing off his driver's license. "See?"

"Oh." The cop made a note on his form. "Your son was stolen also?" Xander nodded. "Do you have any forms for him?" Xander dug into his back pocket and pulled out the forms the Minister of Magic had allowed Arthur to forge. "Thank you," he said as he accepted them, looking them over. "These all look in order. We will have to do bloodwork of course."

"Fine, how soon can it be done and how long will it take?" Ron asked. The police officer looked at him. "I've got fifty students who're slacking off right now, and they're supposed to have a test later this week," Ron told him. "Next hour, I've got forty more. The sooner I can get back to torturing them the better off I'll be."

The cop laughed. "At least you're honest." He stood up. "We can pull the bloodwork here and do it today. With any luck, we will be able to sign your forms this afternoon."

Ron sighed in relief. He knew this one was his, and now they had to prove it. "Did I include the girls' bloodwork?"

"Yes, it is in there too." He led the way down to the labs, letting one of the coroner's assistants take blood. Then they went back to wait. By the time the lab technician came up, Ron was ready to get up and pace.

She walked in and closed the door. "There was a small problem on the test," she announced. Ron stared at her, mouth open to retort anything. "The little blond one is related to him," she pointed at Xander.

"Could you have switched the tests?" the cop asked.

The lab tech nodded. "It is possible, but the other didn't match either of you."

"It had to!" Ron shouted. "She didn't sleep with anyone else. I'd have known, we were living together and never went out."

She shrugged. "We can rerun both tests, just to make sure. But I also sent over to the orphanage for bloodwork on any children of the right age. Two came up as matches," she said with a shrug, pointing at Xander. "Again to him."

Xander sighed. "Okay, this sucks." He stood up. "Can you get those children here and do the bloodwork on all of us again?" She nodded. "How long will that take?"

"Twenty minutes for them to get here, and another thirty to do a sweep." She said something in a different language to the chief, not expecting them to be able to understand it with their spells. He sighed and rolled his eyes.

"What do you mean they're selling children?" Ron asked hotly.

"Temper," Bill cautioned.

"Bite me," Ron told him. He looked at the tech. "Can we figure this out, and see if my son is among them?" She nodded. "How long will that take?"

"Another week. The Vatican is sending up someone to straighten out that orphanage and their boss," she said with a twinkle in her eyes. "We will rerun the ones we have and we'll do the others as soon as they get here." Everyone followed her back to the lab, Xander muttering something under his breath. "I'm sorry," she told him.

"I'm expecting another one at home," he explained. "The longer this goes on, the harder it gets to stay."

She nodded. "I understand. We are doing the best we can." She sat down and watched as each vial of blood was drawn, marking each one personally to weed out mixing them up. Next, she checked the test dates, frowning. "No wonder, these are old." She tossed them away and went to get fresh ones from the supply closet. When she came back, all the vials were laid out neatly for her and everyone was waiting expectantly as six children were carried in to be tested too. She heard the gasp and smiled. "Yes, he does look like you."

"He has his mother's nose," Ron said, starting to tear up. "Maybe I was wrong."

Charlie gave him a hug while Bill took both children, holding them while the testing was done. "How did these get there?" Charlie asked the keeper who came with them.

"They were dropped off on the doorstep by people who found them lying around," the keeper said with a shrug. "No one knows where they came from. They came in during a thunderstorm."

Xander had a sinking feeling he knew what was going on. He looked at Bill and Charlie, and they had the same look. So he pulled Ron away to talk to him. "What did that report say?" he asked quietly.

"Something about a portal and..." Ron's face lit up. "You think?"

"I'm pretty sure actually. The little me. The little Buffy. The little Tara. There's been a breach between realities and we're dealing with it."

"Well, they can't have my son or her," Ron decided.

Xander smiled. "We'll do what we can," he assured him. He didn't want to give up the little him either. He walked back over as the test results started to come back. "Anything conclusive this time?" he asked casually.

"Yes. The dark haired one is you," she said, then shook her head. "Yours I meant." She pointed at the one Ron was sure was his. "He's his, and the other is a close match, so possibly a cousin?" Ron shrugged. "There's that many of you?"

"Dad's mum had like five or six, but we never really get together these days. I could send a message home."

"Do so," the cop suggested.

"Send a message to your dad," Xander suggested. He handed over a small cellphone looking device. "Dad sent that for just such an emergency."

Ron grinned. "Wouldn't have sent it any other place, mate." He walked out to go send a message. Too bad they were in with the muggles. He walked outside and opened up the phone, expecting a picture, instead he heard a voice. "Oi, dad, ran into a small problem." He looked back at the building. "Five small problems." He spilled the whole story, speaking in english so no one would understand him.

Back inside, Xander was holding the mini him. There were two mini-hims and he was confused. Was he a twin there? Or was this second one from somewhere else? And where was the mini-Willow? Someone came running in with a wailing and screaming child, the mini-Willow it looked like. The door opened and admitted a very well dressed man, but so obviously a bureaucrat. "Yes?" he asked him. "Can you help sort this mess out?"

"No, not yet." He smiled at the children, then at the cop. "Which are leaving our beautiful city?"

Ron walked back in, the cellphone/floo device in his pocket already. "I am with my son, and Xander is with his son." He pointed at the one Xander had continued to hold. Xander nodded that this one was the one.

The lab technician raised her hand. "There are two that are his."

Xander sighed. "I don't have a clue. I'm sure someone is coming to deal with this." He looked at Ron, who nodded. "One of ours?"

"The Minister himself," Ron told him. "Dad put him on immediately."

"Minister over what?" the bureaucrat asked.

"Over our school," Ron told him. "Xander and I both teach there."

"What do you teach?" he asked.

"Mythology," Xander told him. Ron looked at him and grimaced. "What? I do."

"I know you do, but never let your students hear you say that. They'll get confused."

"Hey, just because I got the goth chick this year doesn't mean she's really a vampire. She understands that, I made sure of it." He looked at the bureaucrat again. "Ron teaches spoiled kids how to do practical things, like hunt and deal with darkness when it's dark."

"Oh, a practical class?"

"In our area," Ron agreed. "We've got a lot of woods around us and a few occasions when it's been necessary to go into them to hunt something down. Best to have the students prepared."

"Yes, I guess it is. Where is your school?"

"Up by the border," Bill told him. "We all attended, except Xander. He came over to teach from America."

"Yay me," Xander said happily. "I'm happy where I'm at."

"And you are what to them?"

"Brother-in-law."

"Ah, you married their sister, no wonder you stick up for each other." He looked at the cop. "Did you feel comfortable giving them the children?"

"Definitely." He looked at Xander. "I know someone who went to a similar school, their values are much different than those of an urban area."

"Including lying?" the bureaucrat asked.

Xander snorted. "Prove it." The man looked at him with a predatory smile. "I can prove who and what I am. I can also prove everything I've said today. You can believe whatever you want, but I'm not lying."

"Who would teach mythology at such an out-of-the-way school?"

"Someone who wanted them to have a well-rounded education," Xander explained. "Can you think of a better way to introduce ethics lectures to twelve and thirteen year olds?"

"Oh." The bureaucrat looked at the others. "And you stand beside him?"

"We do," Charlie agreed. "My own mythology class was greatly lacking in what Xander brings to the subject. Including humor." He looked at Ron. "Do you tell bad jokes to your kids too?"

"Sometimes," Ron agreed. He handed off his son, then stretched. "I just want this year to be over with. It's been so long already."

"Next comes Christmas," Xander said happily. He had found George the most incredible present. "No more crises until the new year."

"Yes, please," Bill agreed dryly. "Do you think you can keep it down, Xander?"

"Hey, I haven't been in trouble since I got hit with lightening," Xander pointed out. "Draco was the one who got his house blown up."

"Who would blow up his house?"

"A business associate who wanted him dead," Xander told him. The bureaucrat's eyes went very wide and Xander realized what he had inferred. Or maybe he had seen the Godfather too many times. One of the two. He shrugged and smiled. "It's a dirty thing, business."

The bureaucrat backed away from them. "Give them whatever and whomever they want," he ordered. He left them alone.

"You are mafia?" the cop asked.

"No, wiccans," Xander told him. "Not quite as painful when you deal with us." The cop laughed. "So, can we hurry this up any further?"

Ron looked over as the door opened, admitting the current Minister of Magic in the United Kingdom, and apparently his counterpart locally. He smiled. "This is odd," he said in greeting. "But this is my son," he said, showing him off.

"And the rest of these are mini-uses," Xander finished. The muggles were stunned and everything was discussed quickly, making the decision to turn the mini-scoobies over to the local Ministry to send them back. The second mini-Xander, the one with the different spectral resonance, was left with him. Finally, everyone was allowed to leave and the Mysteries department came rushing in to obliviate everyone and fill out forms for them. They even got a promise of help if the forms went wrong and someone came to accuse them of kidnaping the kids. The local Ministry official thanked them for their help and took them to a place where they could leave without being noticed. She smiled at the phoenix who came down to help Xander as soon as he stepped out into the open, they were almost unseen in her country. She also sighed in relief when they left. She had heard of Xander Harris-Weasley and that situation could have gotten quite ugly. The man who took down the Ministry twice was not to be trifled with when he wanted something. He seemed so nice though.

***

Xander landed in front of his father-in-law's desk, holding the baby, Murphy landing on the chair behind him. "They're on their way back," he said, holding up the little guy. "This is a mini-me of some sort. No one's quite sure why he's here." Arthur held out his arms so Xander handed him over. "Do I have some sort of bad rep among the other countries? The local Minister of Magic there looked like she was scared of me."

"Maybe," Arthur said with a smile. "You did singlehandedly, it seemed, take down the Ministry here twice when it was necessary."

"Hey, one of those I only exposed. You guys took down." He slumped a little bit. "Guess I should send her a really nice thank you letter instead of just a card."

"Yes, you probably should," Arthur agreed, handing the little guy back. "What's his name?"

"I don't know yet. I was going to take him to the colony and have him looked over. It's kinda strange that he showed up just before Ron went over there, don't you think?"

"Very. What if he's going to have to leave?"

"Not a clue," Xander admitted. He stood up. "Better go do that. Ron, Charlie, and Bill are flying back. They should be back by tonight so come up for dinner." He waved the baby's hand for him and left, teleporting away again. All the other family news could wait, Murphy would be sending out messages all day anyway. He landed in front of the colony, frowning when he was glared at. "What?"

"Get that unholy creature out of here," Fredericka demanded.

"Okay, but only if you explain," Xander said calmly. He handed the baby to one of the borns standing around. "Don't hurt him. We just found him in an orphanage." The born nodded and took the baby outside, leaving him out there with the guardian. "Will he be okay?"

"As far as I know," the born said. "But the elder's right, he stinks of the forbidden magics."

"All we know so far is that he's not from around here and he's my family, or me, one of the two."

Fredericka leaned down, getting into Xander's face. "He is unholy, you must get rid of him."

"You know if he's actually me from somewhere else it's not going to happen." She sat back up and he crossed his arms. "If you want to look him over and tell me exactly why he's here, or what forbidden magics are on him, I'd be more than happy to have them removed or whatever. All I know is that he came through a portal, was dropped off here, just as my brother-in-law was about to pick up his son."

"They found the boy?" Bill asked as he walked in. He sniffed a few times. "What is that stench?"

"Unless it's me, it's probably the baby me. See, we found an infant me in Prague."

"Prague," Bill the gryphon said, burrowing around in his nest, and coming up with a large tablet. "Ah, here it is. Magical convergence a few weeks back. Visions of a baby falling." He looked at Xander, who was nodding. "You saw it?"

"No, the Watchers told us."

"Oh. You're friends with the new person?"

"Wesley? Yeah, he used to fight with Buffy." Xander shifted his weight and recrossed his arms. "But I brought the baby here to be looked at because even I thought it was odd, and as soon as I got here, Fredericka started to scream and holler at me about him smelling bad."

"That was probably it. Go retrieve the baby from outside," he ordered. "I will examine it."

"Not in this cave," Fredericka told him.

"Hey, there's an open colony cave," Xander said, trying to stop the argument. "Granted, there are also muggles out there right now, but otherwise we can go over there."

Bill nodded. "That sounds like an idea. Go out, I will follow." He smiled, waiting until Xander was gone to get back into the fight. Didn't the boy realize that they loved to argue, that it was a species trait?

Xander walked out of the opening and found a young girl cooing at the mini-him. "Hi," he said, picking the baby up. He nodded at the guardian, who looked a little thin today. "We're going next door." The girl ran away when the guardian blinked out completely, dragging her mother back. "Don't worry, it's a test of a new holographic guardian/watcher program. It's a remote sensing and monitoring unit. This little guy was our test," he told the mother. She smiled and wiggled her fingers at the baby. "The program did really well, it informed us right away when the baby was dropped off and monitored it completely, even telling us when it had dirtied it's diaper." He smiled and walked away, heading for the other portal. He found it easily, it was open. So he walked in and closed it behind him before anyone could walk through. He found a muggle Druid wandering around and sighed. "Listen," he told her.

"Oh, what a cute child from hell," she said, walking over to peer down at it. "You're marked as a sacrifice." She looked up at Xander. "Did you do that?"

"No, I rescued him from the people who did that," he told her. "What are you doing in here?"

"We're allowed. We do one ritual every year in here. The big fluffy creatures told us we could."

"Very true," Bill said as he walked in. "But for right now, we need your expertise. How is this baby marked and can you tell by whom?" He settled himself down and waited while she worked.

"I didn't think there were any true druids left," Xander said, making it curious instead of demanding.

"A few families have kept it as much as they could. We've lost some knowledge but not all of it." She wiped the baby's face with some water from her flask, then stepped back. "This baby was conceived to be sacrificed. He's not from here either."

"That part we knew," Xander told her. "Can you tell a tradition? Maybe a caster?"

"Tradition isn't hard, it's a chaos tradition, but very old. Almost as old as my faith, and nearly as forgotten. The who is a bit more difficult. All I'm getting is female and high magics to conceive." She looked at Xander. "It's from you, but the you from wherever."

"That's what I figured." He pulled out something he always carried with him. "Is this part of who did it? Any part of who did it?"

She examined it, then smiled. "Yes, one of the women on it did it, the purer feeling one, and the other one sent him away." She handed it back. "You know these people?"

"Only the ones from here. They're my best friends." He held the baby out to Bill, who took it gently in his front paws. "What am I supposed to do now?"

"Now, we purify the baby of this taint. Fredericka was right, the baby does stink of bad magic. After we purify, hopefully the child will still be fine."

"What do you mean hopefully? Is it dangerous?"

"No, but the baby's got a crazy aura. It's magic is tied into the sacrifice and it could disturb the baby's energies, making it really sick."

"Okay, so should I get Tara, Willow, Snape, Dumbledore, or just George so I can hold his hand?" Xander asked. Bill laughed. "What?" he asked, sounding hurt. "I've never run into this before! I'm a building person and a teacher of mystical annoyances. I teach kids how to kill things for a living. I go for help, I learned that lesson, thank you."

Bill leaned over and nuzzled him. "I understand, Xander. Don't fret so. Getting upset won't help the baby any. Does he have a name?"

"Not yet. We were hoping for some guidance before we went that far. Sort of like not feeding the stray until you're sure you can keep it."

Bill laughed. "Go find Tara, and your son. That should be enough."

"Okay!" Xander said, happy to have something to do. He teleported out, right into Dumbledore's office, even though he hadn't planned on being there. "Um, you called?" he asked.

Dumbledore nodded. "Tell me about this child, Xander."

"We're trying to take off the sacrifice markings at the moment. Want to come help?" Albus nodded. "Okay, I need Tara and Iggy. Want to magic them up too or should I go walking?"

"They're in the entryway, waiting on us. I figured as much when Iggy dragged Tara out of her classroom and told her about his new brother, the mini-you?"

"Yeah. Long story that I haven't gotten all of yet." He walked down with the headmaster and took Tara with him, he was better attuned to the baby's energies so it wouldn't hurt him. Or her. It might be the daughter that George wanted. "I brought visitors," Xander announced as he landed in the empty cave complex. Only now there were other gryphons in it. "Did I misshoot again?"

"No, we came over once it was explained to us." Fredericka lowered her head. "I am sorry, Xander."

"Hey, not an issue, you were protecting the colony. I'll get pissed about it later when we can't find a name." He snapped his fingers and went to find his husband and tell him, maybe see if he wanted to join in too. George was involved in creating something so he just gave him a kiss and sent him back on his way. Fred wanted to come, but the store had customers and there was no pulling George out of the lab today. So Xander headed back and found his baby laying overtop of a sword, which would have been cutting into him if he hadn't been suspended an inch above it. "You hurt him and I react," he warned.

"Shh," Bill told him. "Let us work, Xander."

Dumbledore pulled Xander back a few feet, holding him still while they worked. The cavern was filled with a horrible stench, and the baby started to cry, but it got a little better as they went on. Eventually, everyone slumped and Xander was let forward. "Is he okay?" he asked when he didn't see movement.

"He lives," Bill told him.

"We'll have to realign his energy next," Tara told him. "It'll change who he is, making him your son instead of a mini-you." She smiled at him. "This is really fascinating."

"The same place had a group of mini-uses from another dimension," he told her weakly. "Full set. Even a mini-Oz."

"The Ministry there has them?" Bill asked. Xander nodded. "Good. Don't bring home more strays."

"If you had seen that spot, you would have destroyed it," Xander said seriously. "Big bugs everywhere. Trash piled on the floors. Kids crawling around in it. It was a horrible place and no one else wanted the mini-me."

Dumbledore patted him on the back. "We understand, Xander, but do try not to bring home more children right now."

"What happened this time?" Xander asked.

"There's an auror in looking over your class," Tara told him. "Plus a few Ministry people in looking over the rest of the curriculums. There's been a lot of questions about why you and Ron were missing. Plus some asshole moments." She shrugged and turned back to the baby. "You're feeding me tonight and I get one of those backrubs," she announced.

"That's fine, dear. I invited Arthur and Molly up to look at the new squirt anyway. We can feed you too."

Dumbledore laughed. "I'm sure it will be a delightful meal. Did you want the house elves to do something about it?"

"No, I'll pop down to Hogsmeade and get something from Madam Rosemerta. Maybe some roast?"

"And veggies," Tara reminded him. She had to have her veggies. She turned back to the baby and started on the spell to rearrange the baby's energies, carefully merging with the powers coming through Iggy from the gryphons. "Just a few more tweaks." She passed out as the baby was done, Xander catching her gently.

"I'd say we were done," he said. He looked at his teachers. "Does he still stink?"

"Only in the human form," Fredericka told him. "His energies are still a bit chaotic, but they should be fine. He can still be told as a sacrifice, but not as wholly as before. Give him a long bath, Xander, and guard him like the others. If someone takes him they can use him to harm you or Tara."

"Can we sever the link Tara created?" Xander asked.

"In time. When he has been here a year, we can sever them both. Until then, he is your vulnerability."

"Him and this one," Xander agreed, hefting Tara higher. "Albus, can I get yo to take baby?"

"Of course, I'll even bring Iggy with me."

"I can get back," Iggy told him. He smiled at the baby. "Welcome to the family. I'll try and get you a normal name."

"Funny," Xander told him. "Remember, your grandfather picked out yours." He disappeared, taking Tara back to their house and putting her down on the couch. "You stay here and rest," he said as he covered her up. He looked over as Albus walked out of the floo. "Still can't teleport into the school?"

"No, I'm afraid I can't." He put the baby down on the wider chair, watching as it cooed and settled down with the pillow. "I'd best go check on the ass...aurors." He smiled as he strolled away.

Iggy appeared in the living room and beamed at him. "I got a new book," he said happily, showing it off.

"Cool, you can read it after you go get the extra cradle from upstairs and while you watch your new brother. I'm going to get dinner."

"Send my elf," Draco called from the workroom.

"No thanks. Tara's picky about her veggies." Xander grabbed some money and left via the floo. He was too tired to teleport again today. He smiled as he came out of the Three Broomstick's fireplace, walking over to put in their order. "I'm going to pop in on the shop, be right back."

Madam Rosemerta smiled and watched him walk out. "Such a nice boy," she said as she went to dish him out some food. She was sure to include some extra vegetables since he had said that nice Professor Maclay was coming.

Xander walked into the joke shop and George looked up at him, looking confused. "What were you saying earlier about a mini-you?"

"Yes, do explain that," Fred agreed as he carried stock out to be put on display.

Xander summoned a chair and sat, telling them exactly what was going on, up to and including the fact that the kid was now his son. "So, dear, it's a boy," he finished with.

Fred laughed. "At least you didn't go knock up someone."

George frowned at him. "Not the point." He looked at his husband. "Are we raising him?" Xander nodded. "I expected as much. What's his name?"

"Not a clue," Xander told him, giving him a smile. "You're the one with the baby name book."

"Point," George said, lightening up. "We'll only have a year with him?"

"No, we'll only have a year of guarding him," Xander corrected. "Until they can sever some of the links, he can be used to hurt Tara and me."

"Oh." George nodded. "All right then. We'll be up tonight. Fred?"

"Sure. I'm spending the night over," he announced. "Got to deal with the bug problem."

"Ants again?" Xander asked. Fred nodded, grimacing. Every year, for some reason, they had an ant infestation, but only upstairs on Fred's floor. Never on the top floor that had been Xander and George's. Never in the shop or the lab. And now they had moved to this store. "Happy crushing and burning then."

Fred laughed. "I was going to ask Ron to help."

"He won't be back until tomorrow probably. He's flying back with the son." He stood up. "I ordered out for us tonight so come up whenever you're done. The 'rents are coming too." He waved and walked out, heading back to the Three Broomsticks to get their dinner. He noticed the auror in there and waved him off. "Tomorrow, man. I just got out of a crisis in the family and I'll deal with you putzes tomorrow." He took the boxes of food with a smile. "Thank you." He paid her and left a nice tip, then went back home. Draco took the food from him and put it out. "Thanks, son. What's this about aurors?"

"Every decade the curriculums are looked over and checked for problems," Draco told him. "This is the year for it. We did the last one while you were in the infirmary." He smiled. "Plus, almost every auror around wants to talk to you about what you're going to do next."

"Right now, I'm going to sit down and put up my feet," Xander told him. He did so. "And now I'm going to rest before I end up hurting myself."

Draco patted him on the shoulder. "You rest, I can serve dinner if everyone shows up early."

"Really? I can nap?"

"Go nap," Iggy agreed. "We've got the little guy." He looked over but his father was already halfway up the stairs. "Gee, guess he needed one."

"It's been a long year so far for him," Draco pointed out, sitting in Xander's chair. "Two major crises, plus mine, and Ron's. We'll have to do something nice for him for Christmas."

"Name the baby," Iggy suggested.

Draco laughed. "I wouldn't dream of taking that pleasure from your parents." The baby sniffled, then sneezed. "Well, how ungrateful," he said, picking him up to hold. "How old are you? Six, seven months?"

"Maybe," Iggy agreed, curling up with his book. His gryphon mentors were so cool. They had given him a potions book.

***

Xander walked into his classroom for his first class and noticed the extra-large student sitting in the back. "Oh, hey. Sorry if I insulted you last night. Yesterday just about killed me." He flipped open his roll book. "Okay, someone go break up the fight," he said without looking up. A few of the kids went out to break up the fight and bring their students back into the classroom. Xander called roll and started class, noticing a few of the students weren't paying attention. He stopped in the middle of a speech about water demons usually being harmless to air breathers, unless they fell in love with you and dragged you underwater, and zapped strands of light past those few's noses. "Pay attention of have a quiz on this material today." The students all picked up their quills and got notes off their neighbors. "Thank you." He went back to his lecture.

At the end of class, Xander stopped the auror. "They have you guys checking the curriculum?" he asked dryly.

"Part of it, since we're so unbusy right now," the auror admitted. "Part of it was a desire to come see you in action, Professor Harris."

"Action I'm not doing these days." He tapped his cane on the floor. "It's slowing down the action most of the time."

"I understand. Who's teaching the physical portion of your classes?"

"Two of my former students are splitting it. Right now, Mr. Malfoy is doing it because he's done for the season and Mr. Potter's not. I expect Harry back soon since the bookmakers are saying that his team won't make it all the way to the finals this time." The auror nodded. "You really want to know what happened, don't you?"

"Yes, sir. We're worried about your child. We've heard that the gryphons looked him over, but we'd like that same chance."

"Sure. One of you, preferably not an asshole." The auror nodded. "We can do that later, during my advanced class. I'll have Draco bring him down."

"Thank you." He walked away.

Xander watched his back, but he wasn't getting a bad feeling this time so maybe it wouldn't go badly. There might even be some good aurors in the Ministry, besides the ones he had taught.

***

Xander walked into the joke shop later that night, waving a strip of paper, trying to keep it away from the little sticky fingers of his new, still unnamed, son. "It's official. The aurors adore him." He handed the forms to his husband and gave him a kiss. George pulled back. "You're pissed," he sighed.

"Just a bit put out," George told him. "We don't have anything ready, and I was planning on having some time between children." He tweaked the baby's nose. "Not that he's not delightful, but he's not *ours*, Xander."

Xander grinned . "Said who? Tara said she put some of you into him and Iggy did help her so this little guy probably has some of Iggy in him too." George's face lit up. "You can ask Bill when he comes up in a few days to talk to Iggy about his love of potions. Did you know that Iggy might be the first gryphon-born Potions Master in nearly six hundred years?"

"No, I didn't know that," George said, sounding happy. His eyes weren't bright and shiny though.

Xander gave him another kiss. "They're not taking him from us, except for a month each summer, he assured him.

"No snogging in the store," Fred called from the lab. He walked out and smiled at the baby. "How are you today, it?"

"He's not an it," George sighed.

"Then I'd name him soon," Fred pointed out. He took the paper to read, smiling happily at Xander. "This is excellent news."

Xander frowned. "Did you two switch again?"

"No," Fred laughed. "George is wrestling with an internal problem."

"Does it require a potion or just some cuddles?" Xander asked him.

"Dinner out would probably help it," George told him. "Maybe a nice stroll afterwards?"

"Sure. Iggy's more than old enough to...." The baby was taken from him by Fred and carried into the back room. "I guess he's babysitting tonight. I left the diaper bag at home," he called. "And Ron just got back. He's napping right now."

"I'll pop up later," Fred called back. "Go snuggle in public."

"Let me call up to Dumbledore and make sure it's okay that I take off tonight," Xander told George. "Then I'm all yours."

"What if it's not?"

Xander grinned. "Then, we sneak away like a couple of kids and find somewhere more romantic." He winked and got down to use the floo. Dumbledore happily let him have the night off since Ron was now back. He did say something about an early meeting, but he assured Xander he would send someone for him. Xander turned and smiled at his mate, then waved his wand at them both, putting them into their formal clothes. "Come on, let's go find us a place to eat and nibble on lips." He took his mate's hand and sent them to Diagon and their favorite restaurant, which happened to belong to Fred's girlfriend. She put them back into a quiet, dark corner and told the waiter to give them a while between visits.

***

Dumbledore looked over at his favorite link to the Regents, smiling at him. "We did pass again this year?"

"Quite highly," Draco agreed, reading the forms he had been owled. "There was some doubt about Xander's classes being so necessary but they saw it as an unusual speciality." He handed the forms over. "They did suggest that you get rid of Professor Rosenberg since they found her chewing her son a new one in the halls between classes."

"Perfectly understandable in that instance. He had disrobed some poor girl the class before." Draco shrugged. "I see that it was noted on here about the giving of the tower to that family. They agreed?"

"They said it was probably necessary since children make so much noise. They thought it quite an ingenious use of the space. Also, they suggested that the other empty tower be used as the auxiliary library."

"There's no direct link between them," Dumbledore pointed out. "We'd lose two classrooms." He leaned back, thinking about the layout of the school. "If we move the classrooms right above the library, and seal them off, we could put it up there with only a staircase to ward against unwelcome visitors." Draco nodded, that had been suggested as well. "But where would I move those classes?"

"One of them needs a bigger classroom anyway," Draco pointed out. "Professor Binns' room has always been too small to sit comfortably in with a larger class."

"Yes, but we're shrinking as a population," Dumbledore reminded him. "Next year's class will only be sixty students total." He saw the wince. "You all right?"

"Fine, just a bit of movement. Happens now and then." He smiled and rubbed his stomach. "It's worth the pain as far as I'm concerned." He looked up again. "Anyway, why not move Binns down to the second floor, near Transfigurations? There's that nice room open there."

"It's haunted," Dumbledore told him.

"So? Binns is a ghost too. Maybe the ghost would leave him alone."

"Possibly. I'll discuss that with him tonight." He picked back up the forms. "They suggested we put back in the practical arts program?"

"Yes, yet again the old white wizards have decided that every witch and wizard who comes through here should leave knowing how to cook. Emphasis on the witches of course, but they can't complain if you include both sexes."

"And we could probably give quite a few lectures on a great many things outside of cooking and cleaning spells," Dumbledore said thoughtfully.

"If you introduce sex education, they've sworn to hang you. Even if you get sneaky and *suggest* that Xander give it, they will still hang you," he added with a smirk. "Though you are allowed to give them encouragement to breed. The Board of Regent's was most upset when they found out the enrollment was going down and nothing could bring it back up short of a population explosion."

"Maybe we should give the students lessons in sex then," Dumbledore joked.

"With the old men on the board? They'd want hot-wand weddings preformed first. You know how they are, Albus."

"Too true. All right, I'll take these down to the meeting tomorrow, and I will caution Ms. Rosenberg to pull her son into an empty classroom to yell at him in the future. Was there anything else that's not in here?"

"It was thought that the Weasleys were getting a bit strong here, but it was pointed out that they were the only ones qualified for the job."

"Surely Mr. Weasley can't be seen as a threat."

"No, but all his supporters can be. Xander, Lupin, Black, Potter, myself, and you were all mentioned, as well as Madam Pomfrey because Ron seems to meddle just as much as Xander does." He heaved himself up. "I want to know why the gryphon-born get so big so early on? None of my daughters did that."

"Are you hoping for a son this time?"

"Denver is. I'd be happy with a healthy one. I'm happy with all of my children." He frowned. "Now, Potter's are a different matter. You'll have some problems from Agatha and I can't find her to put that blocking bracelet on her. Those who know what happened to Granger are watching her carefully because she's quite a lot like her mother. The other two are purely Harry's children, but the oldest is a bit of a problem."

"I'll keep that in mind," Dumbledore agreed. "Thank you for giving me this tonight."

"Not a problem. This means I can go have a long, hot bath now." He left the office, the laughter following him down the stairs. He ran into Willow in the hallway and smiled at her. "Yes, did you need something?"

"Are the results back?" she asked. Draco nodded. "I got in trouble for Ryan, didn't I?"

Draco nodded again. "Quite, but it was noted that you were yelling at your son for some unfortunate behavior problems. That much was understood. I do believe you'll be asked to do it somewhere other than the hallway from now on." He grunted and rubbed his stomach. "Sorry, bit touchy today." He left her there.

"Try peppermint for that," she called after him. He waved a hand as he disappeared up the stairs. She wondered why he was living with Xander. Sure, his house had blown up, but he was rich. He could have already had another one built. She made a mental note to watch him, something was fishy with that guy. She headed up to the Headmaster's office, going to talk to him about her son. She wanted to beat him, but she knew she couldn't. Maybe he would do it for her?

***

Xander wandered into the room for the staff meeting and took his usual spot next to Lupin, who was sitting next to Black. "Anything bad so far?" he asked.

"Rumors that Willow's screeching was remarked upon," Black told him, giving him a smile. "Still no name yet?"

"Not even close to figuring it out," Xander agreed. "It took us a week to name Iggy though, so," he sighed. "Maybe Grandpa will be able to help with this one."

"What about Molly?" Lupin asked.

"Somehow the hormones have warped her brain. She yelled at me for bringing him home and forcing her son to raise my illegitimate child," he said, his confusion apparent. "I asked George and he said he felt that way for all of two minutes before deciding that it had better be us who raised him since he's a mini-me. We had a long talk last night at dinner because Molly's attitude was throwing me off, and him off, and figured out that our recent confusion was all due to her."

"Maybe Madam Pomfrey can help you with that," Tara suggested as she sat on Xander's other side. He automatically reached over and rubbed her stomach. "Thanks. I felt movement earlier."

"Wow." Xander beamed at her. "That is so cool." He kissed her on the cheek. "How are you feeling today?"

"Better," she admitted. "Breakfast stayed down. The side-effects of only drinking juice are gone. I'm feeling wonderful, if I could only get a nap."

Xander laughed. "I remember your first one. You fell asleep in class a few days." She swatted him so he quit rubbing her stomach. "You know you can come nap in our bed anytime you want, Tara. We won't molest you or anything," he finished with a leer. She swatted him again but she was laughing

Snape walked in with Dumbledore right behind him. "Let's get this started," Albus announced. Everyone looked over at him. "First, the reports are excellent. The few minor problems are easily addressed. Tara, my dear, would you consent to letting Willow take one of your classes?"

"No." Willow gave her a dirty look. "I might let her teach another section of the second class, but I'm not giving up on my classes."

"You've only got twenty in there," Snape pointed out, gently for him.

"Yeah, but eight to ten would be the perfect class size," Tara told him. "With twenty we're doing a lot less hands-on this year than I wanted."

"All right, so we can split it into two sections," Dumbledore agreed. "That would be fine and would fix most of the problems. Xander, your special topics class was allowed by the Board. They did caution me to put you all in a warded room though." Xander shrugged. "That doesn't bother you?"

"I slept in one for how many years because my nightmares made the castle shake?" he said lightly. "We can ward one of the workrooms in the house if we need to."

"Thank you. I'll get with you later this year on room assignments." He smiled at Tara. "Your room switch is going to be allowed, my dear. That nice garden room is now yours." She squealed and bounced. "I thought you might like that." He looked at Severus. "That means she's almost directly over your classroom now. Will that be a problem for you?"

"Not in the least. She hardly ever has accidents," Snape reminded him, glancing at Willow.

"Hey, I have the beginners, they're supposed to make mistakes," Willow defended.

"Willow, I'm not rebuilding your classroom again this year," Xander told her. "I'm too tired to do that."

"Is the new baby that tiring?" Black asked.

"No, it's everything so far this year," Xander sighed. "Ron's right, this year has already stretched into three or four."

"Hopefully it will slow down soon," Dumbledore told him. "At least until next summer." He smiled at Tara. "Were you wanting to deliver here? Madam Pomfrey wanted to know if she should start making arrangements."

"As long as it's not in a classroom," Willow said. Tara sobbed and got up, running out of the room.

"Yeah, remind her of that," Xander said, heading after her. He found her outside, in Hagrid's arms. "She's a twit," he said as he hugged her from behind. "It's okay. It won't happen this time. I promise." She turned and hugged him, crying on his shoulder. "I promise it won't happen. She won't hurt you ever again and you won't miscarry this time, Tara, I promise. Iggy's even learning healing stuff so he can help you if someone does something nasty to you." She nodded, but continued to cry. "Want to head inside and do this?" he asked when he noticed a few students watching them from one of the mezzanines. "Hagrid, can you shoo them on or something?" he asked quietly. The big man went to make the students leave the two professors alone. "I promise, Tara, I will do everything in my power to make sure that nothing bad happens this time. Me, Snape, and Iggy have all sat down and talked about doing surprise checks of the baby to make sure nothing's going wrong, and Snape found a way to see the baby more often."

She pulled back, wiping off her face. "Really?" Xander nodded. "You'll make sure she doesn't hurt her?"

"It's a girl?" Xander asked with a smile. Tara nodded, giving him a shy smile. "I love you," he said, picking her up and swinging her around. "You are the bestest buddy in the whole wide world." He put her down, patting her back when she had to throw up. "Sorry."

"That's okay," Tara said once she was done. She was wiping her mouth when Lupin came out with a mug of water. "Thanks to you too," she said with a smile, rinsing her mouth out. "It's a girl."

"That's wonderful news," Lupin said happily. "I'm so happy for you both." He hugged them both. "What can I do to help? Snape just let Willow know, in very certain terms, what was going to happen to her if she so much as looked at you wrong." Tara blushed. "You fancy him?" he asked in shock. Tara nodded, her blush picking up.

"I think he should see your magnificence then," Xander said firmly. "Whatever Tara wants, she gets," he told her.

She giggled and kissed him on the cheek. "I'd like breakfast."

"We can do that too," Xander told her, leading her back into the school. "Did we miss anything else?"

"Just that yours and Willow's classrooms were going to be moved with Tara's. That whole set of classrooms is going to be turned into storage space, because the storage room we're currently using is starting to cave in. The house elves won't go in there anymore so we're turning those classrooms into storage space and the old storage rooms are going to be empty until we figure out what we're doing with them."

"The storage area is *huge*," Xander complained. "It won't all fit down there."

"There's a spell for that," Lupin said gently. He smiled, even after all these years Xander was still thinking like a muggle sometimes. "It'll fit."

"Okay. I shouldn't have too much to move. How long before we move?"

"We're going to contract your husband and brother to do it all, since they know where everything is and we're all going to have exams soon." Tara groaned. "It's okay. You can make yours easier. We'll all understand."

"No, pain."

Xander lifted Tara up and carried her up to the infirmary. "She's having pains," he announced as he walked in. Madam Pomfrey hurried over to check on her.

"It's probably expansion pains," Tara told them all.

"Shh, we'll see and then take care of them," Xander soothed.

And Tara suddenly saw the other side of being loved by Xander, the over-protective worrier. It's a good thing George never got hurt. "I'll be fine. Can you please go get me some breakfast, Xander?" she asked nicely. He looked like he was ready to hit Madam Pomfrey when she took blood from Tara's arm.

"Ham, eggs, and what?" he asked.

"Just any thing, but watch the spicy stuff," she told him. "Oh, and some milk," she called after him. She looked at the nurse. "It really is expansion pains I think."

"Better to be safe than sorry, Professor Maclay. Really, it is." She bustled away to send for Tara's doctor. One could never be too cautious with people who had problems in their last pregnancies, no matter who the cause was.

Tara sighed. Maybe a nice long vacation where no one would mother her would be nice. The image of a hunting Xander flashed into her head and she shook it. No, he'd hunt her down and carry her back, and probably tie her to the bed as well. She'd have to talk to him about this. She looked over as Professor Snape came in and demanded to know what he needed to make for her. "I'm fine," she called out. "It's normal. I had these last time." He came over and scowled at her. "Really, it's just expansion pains. The baby needs more room to grow and my stomach's not liking the stretching part." She saw his hand come up but he quickly put it back at his side. "You can touch, it calms her down." Snape started to touch her, then rushed out of the room to go make her something for the pain. Men!

***

Draco looked up as Tara walked up to him, giving her a smile. "I hear you were mothered nearly to death this morning," he said in greeting, patting part of the blanket he was lounging on. He had cast a warming charm so he could have a picnic today. "Want a cookie? The elves made them this morning." He held out the plate of chocolate coconut cookies. She sat down and nibbled on one, sighing in contentment. "You'll have to stand up to him sometime."

"But it makes him happy," Tara said with a smile.

"Yes, but if you don't, I'll have to and then you'll get it doubly." She giggled. "Think I'm kidding? He's taught his son how to fuss the same way. Which means that we'll be getting it from both of them, plus some of my children, and George."

"And Fred. He gave me a foot rub last night," Tara added. She looked around, trying to see who was staring at them. She waved at Snape and he moved on. "Plus I'm getting it from him."

"Really?" he asked, interested. Hmm, could his favorite professor have found his one true light in the darkness? "You'll probably have to pounce him. He's stubborn and will try to play it off for years if you let him."

She smiled a wicked smile. "I know."

"Oh, the fancying's mutual," Draco said happily. "Good. He deserves someone to love." He picked up and nibbled on another cookie. "How long do you think it'll be before Xander goes off on his mother-in-law?"

"Tonight. She yelled at him this morning when he went to bug Ginny for a book she used during her last pregnancy for me. He started to say something and she cried so he kept the rest of the rant inside. Ginny's trying to play peacekeeper."

"I thought there must have been someone who came up with a medicine for her condition, but Snape said he didn't think so."

"There is in the muggle world," Tara told him. "But it's been found to be somewhat dangerous. Maybe she needs to see someone."

"A therapist?"

"Or a doctor who deals in women's problems. Maybe I'll drag her with me to my next scheduled appointment." She grimaced.

"As opposed to the panicked calls our doctor answers every now and then," Draco teased.

"Oh, yeah," she agreed. "They got him out of bed this morning." She finished that cookie and wiped the crumbs off her fingers. "We need some milk."

"I noticed that, but the milk down in the kitchens tastes funny to me."

"Did they give you some of my soy milk?" He shuddered. "You don't like soy?"

"I'm allergic. Quite a few wizards are."

"Oh. Sorry." She grinned. "How about melted ice cream?"

"That would be perfect," he purred, stretching in the weak sunlight. He stood up with as much grace as he could muster. "We should go find some, right this moment," he told her, helping her up. He waved his wand and everything was put back into the basket, which she picked up and carried inside. He took her to the ice cream parlor in Diagon, even buying for the both of them. They were used to pregnant women apparently because they didn't even blink when they ordered melted ice cream.

In his office, Dumbledore shook his head. Two pregnant people around again, what a fun thing this could be. But at least they weren't fighting. He checked on the location of Ms. Rosenberg, smiling when he saw she was teaching her class. Good. He would have to keep a closer eye on her. Severus had finally found a woman who intrigued him and it was up to him to make sure nothing happened to her.

***

Xander looked over at George as dinner went on. He was about to snap and his husband knew it. George gave him a 'please be patient' look. But then Molly snapped at Iggy for having a book at the table. "He's allowed to read at meals," Xander told her calmly. "It's important for him to know as much as he can and we like to encourage him to read. Besides, our son is going to be one of the very few of us who is any good at potions so that's an appropriate book for him to be reading."

"As approved of by Snape and the elders of the colony," George added for good measure. "Besides, we're not talking about anything that's of interest to him."

"Not unless you're finally going to name my brother," Iggy said, putting his book down and taking a bite of his mostly untouched dinner. "Grandpa, no offense, but please don't name him. I get picked on because of my name."

Arthur laughed. "I'm sorry, Iggy. I thought it would be cute."

"It is, but I'm at the wrong stage for cute names," he reminded him. "Two years from now I could probably use it somehow to attract a girlfriend."

"Not until you're fifteen, Iggy," Xander told him.

Molly put down her napkin and stood up. "I don't know why you continue this charade. That child isn't human!"

"He's just as human as I am, just from a different reality," Xander told him, standing up to match her. "And since I know about alternate realities, I'm thinking it's probably a good thing he's here. At least here he'll have loving parents who give a damn about him."

"Xander," George said calmly, tugging on his sleeve. "Sit, dear, or no cake." Xander took the hint and sat down, but he wasn't finished fighting by a long shot.

"Dear, sit down. The child is every bit as human as Xander is. Not only has the Ministry checked him, but the gryphons as well. They accept him as Xander's son, they even made sure to change enough of his energy signature so he wasn't fully Xander anymore."

"You're sticking up for this action?" she demanded. He nodded. "Then don't come home."

"Mum," George said sharply. She looked at him in shock. "I'll put up with a lot in front of our children, but I will not have you and dad fighting in front of our sons. We manage not to fight in front of them, you can too." Iggy nodded is support. He hated it when anyone fought around him.

"Well," she said, then she left via the floo.

"I'm sorry, boys," Arthur said, putting his napkin down.

"Arthur, I wasn't going to bring this up, but there's drugs for that sort of thing in the muggle world. They calm down the hormones."

"Was mum like this when she was pregnant?" George asked.

Arthur sighed. "With the first three, yes. The rest of you she was much calmer. She'll be around to apologize soon. I'll think about suggesting that, Xander, once she's calm again." He left too, going to try and calm his wife down.

"Can we magic the medicine into Grandma's stomach?" Iggy asked. Both fathers shook their heads. "Damn."

"Language," George said.

"Sorry, dad. Can I be excused?"

"Finish your dinner first so you're not hungry later," Xander told him quietly. He stared to take a bite but dropped his fork and headed upstairs. He hated fighting as much as his son did.

George sighed. "Eat, Iggy," he said quietly. Maybe he needed to call a family council about this. The others could take some of the stress off them. He ate a bite and dropped his fork. "Watch your brother. I'll be back." He went to the fireplace and sent himself to Percy's. They could hold it there.

Iggy nibbled on his meat, glancing at the baby every once in a while once he started to read again. Maybe he could talk Snape into showing him how to make something to help his Grandma. He really didn't want to see daddy slug her one. Daddy Xander might get upset with him for it and then they'd fight.

***

Percy looked over at George. "Surely it can't be that bad."

"She just called the new baby unhuman," George told him. All the siblings but Charlie were there. "It's gotten so bad. She and Xander almost got into it earlier." He looked at his hands. "I wanted to slap her for it," he admitted.

Ginny nodded. "Mum's gone off the deep end. We need to do something. She made Ravena cry the other day too by telling her that her daddy wouldn't be seeing her for a whole year because he was being bad."

"Bet me," George snorted. "Didn't you get his letter?" Ginny shook her head, frowning. "He offered to take the kids this weekend while they looked at plans for the new house."

"Oh." She smiled. "I'd like to help with that too, just so we don't end up with another depressing marble monstrosity." She looked over as her daughters started to argue. "Stop it or your father's not coming over this weekend." They cheered and went back to playing with their dolls. "What can we do?"

"I'm going to talk to Snape," George told her. "There's got to be something."

"If not, the muggles have something," Percy pointed out. "I've seen the ads for it in some of their magazines."

"Yeah, me too," Bill told him. "Even in Egypt we've seen some of the ads for medicines for female problems as they're always called." He looked at his sister. "How are you dealing with the pregnant boyfriend?"

"Amazingly well. He was supportive when I was carrying and we've switched the roles. Now I find him very hot because he's carrying our child."

Tananda came waddling over and climbed into her father's lap. "Grandma?" she asked.

"Yes, love, we're talking about Grandma," Percy told his four-year-old daughter. "Grandma's sick right now or else I'd bring you to visit." He looked at George. "Do you think it's safe?"

"I don't think she'd hurt any of your kids on purpose," George told him. "I'm not so sure about Iggy or the other one." He looked at his brother, then decided. "We'll be naming the new one after you," he told his older brother.

"Gee, thanks, name the violent one after me," Bill teased, but he was smiling. "Bill what?"

"William Steven Harris-Weasley. I'm tired of calling him 'it' or 'hey you'." He grimaced. "What do I do about this? I don't want to yell at her." He heard the fire go 'whoosh' behind him and turned of find his mother's face sitting in the fire. "Mum, is there a problem?" he asked.

"You're turning the family against me?" she screeched.

"No, we're talking about baby names," Ginny told her. "We've finally found the name for the new baby."

"He is not my grandson!" she said firmly.

"Gee, that's funny, because I could swear he was mine," George said harshly. "And if you don't like it, I'm sorry for all that you'll be missing out on." He turned his back on her, giving his brothers and sister a 'help me' look.

Percy stood up and walked closer. "Mum, the baby's just as much Xander's as not. I've also heard that they tried to turn the baby into both of theirs when they had switch his energies around a bit. He's still George's son."

"He is not."

"Mum, you accepted Denver," Ginny reminded her. "You will accept little William too."

"You will not name that baby after my son!" she shouted.

"I rather like it," Bill told her. "He's bound to be an interesting child. It's going to be fantastic seeing what Xander would have been like with good parents." He smiled at George. "Thank you for finally naming one after me."

"You're welcome." George sat down beside him. "I'll fill out the forms later today and have Xander file them. He said he didn't care if we named him moon pie as long as he was named."

Ginny snickered. "I can see the upcoming naming problem with the one Tara's carrying."

"Which is a girl," George said happily. "She's quite sure of it and she wasn't wrong before." He got clapped on the back and hugged for the good news. "Mum, you can either be happy for us or not, but I won't let you hurt any of us over this. William is now my son. It doesn't matter what realm or dimension he came from, he's mine now. Please accept him like you did Denver."

"I will not. You will never bring that creature into my house." She disappeared.

George held in his depression but Percy gave him an understanding look. "I'm going to go home. If you guys figure anything out, tell me." He flooed home.

Percy retook his seat and looked at the others. "We're going to have to force the issue. I don't feel comfortable letting mum near Tananda when she's like this." He looked at his daughter, who was still walking on the sides of her feet. "We're going to get casts in a few weeks and I'm not sure I want her there."

"I'll try to talk to her tomorrow," Ginny told them. "Maybe a female perspective will help." She stood up with a sigh. "I may be moving though, so I'll send you all a change of address owl," she finished with her usual smile. "Come on, girls, let's go home."

"No," Ravena told her, shaking her head. "Stay Tananda." She pointed at her cousin. "She needs hugs."

"Fine," Percy agreed lightly, shrugging when Ginny looked at him. "Less targets." Ginny nodded and headed home.

***

George came out of the floo and tried to look his usual chipper self. His husband knew him too well though. He was given a hug and put onto the couch, then Xander left. "Don't yell too much," he called after him.

Draco looked over at him. "That bad?"

"Mum's said that little William Steven is not only inhuman, he's a creature and we're not allowed to bring him anywhere near her."

"Your mum needs help," Draco said quietly. Iggy was sitting at the table. "I don't think there's a wizard's alternative to help this time."

"If there is, we'll find it," Iggy told him. He looked up from his reading. "If she hurts daddy, can I yell at her next?" George shook his head. "Shoot, I wanted to say something earlier and I didn't."

"You can't do that until you're an adult," George said tiredly. He stood up. "I think I'm going to head up to bed."

"Daddy, we'll fix it." Iggy grinned. "And I did warp the baby's energies toward mine. He's as close to my little brother as he can be." George gave him a hug. "You rest. Dad's handling it."

"I know he is." George slowly climbed the stairs. He paused when he heard Ron talking to the kids. How had he gotten back so fast? He shook his head and went up to his and Xander's room and their nest. He needed the comfort tonight.

***

Xander stepped out of the floo and hauled Molly up to her feet. "You can say whatever the hell you want to me, about me, and around me, but you will not hurt George again, Molly," he hissed. "There is no way in hell I'm going to put up with your problems when they make my husband nearly cry because you're being a bitch." He let her go when Arthur made a sound. "Dad, you're allowed whenever you want, but if she comes within a hundred feet of George without an apology and a vastly different attitude, she's so very muchly getting sent somewhere. And right about now, I wouldn't care where I sent her." He looked her over. "I don't care if this is your hormones spiking and doing the lambada, you leave George and Iggy the hell alone until it's over with. I won't have it." He turned and ran into Ginny, giving her a smile. "George is probably in bed waiting on me. Bring over the girls sometime on Friday and we'll watch them until Draco hauls his butt out of bed." He kissed her on the cheek and left, going back to comfort his mate. With a stop on the way to hit a tree a few times first. He wouldn't go to bed angry. He refused to ruin what little time he spent with his husband with anger.

Ginny turned off the floo and face her mother. "Dad, go outside or something. This is a girl talk," she said quietly. Her father slipped out to his workspace. "Mum, I don't know what this is, but you're scaring me." She sat down at the table, looking at the older woman. "Sit, mum, please. We need to have a talk."

Molly sat. "I don't see what this has to do with any of you."

"Mum, you're showing me my future right now, and I've got to tell you I'd rather not go through that." Molly snorted. "With the way you've been acting, I'm ready to put an age-freezing charm on myself, or to kill myself before I get to be your age, just so I don't hurt everyone in the family." She grabbed her mother's hand when she started to move. "Don't. We will talk about this like rational women."

"You're still a girl," Molly snorted.

"Gee, and here I am, have four daughters of my own, a step-son, and a boyfriend that I love. I haven't been a girl in eleven years, mum, and we both know it." She looked around the kitchen. "You used to be so happy, and I don't understand. Is this just the hormones? Because if it is, there's treatments."

"I don't need help."

"Mum, I'm willing to turn to the greatest of dark magics, the ones Voldemort himself used, so I don't go through this!" She recoiled as she was slapped. "Okay, that's enough," she said as she stood up. "I'm not bringing my children anywhere near you until you're better. Percy and I both agreed on this. As a matter of fact, I'm moving."

"With what?" her mother asked.

"It might have escaped your attention, mum, but I've been working since Simone was six months old. I've got a very nice monthly paycheck and a very nice consulting firm going on my own. The only reason I've stayed so long is because you wanted and needed me here to help around a bit. Well, no more, mum. Not until you're better." She walked upstairs and packed everything she could. Then she shrunk it all and put it in her pockets, going back to Percy's. "Can I beg a room tonight too?" she asked.

Fred got up and got her an ice pack while Percy showed her to the guest room. Bill looked at his hands. Something had to be done and he was the oldest. He wished Charlie were here, but he was helping with a delivery. He got up and headed for his brother, he had to know too. He was the oldest, it fell to him to fix this as spokeswizard for the family.

***

Xander climbed in behind his mate, holding him tightly. "Your mother's not coming back until she's normal," he whispered. He felt George nod. "I'm sorry."

"It's okay." He sniffed. "Why do you smell like blood?"

"I went and hit a few trees." Xander gave him a hug. "I'm fine, just some scraped knuckles." George's wand was lit and he examined the scrapes, kissing each one gently. "See, all okay. They'll be scabbed over tomorrow."

George turned out his wand and rolled over, getting a real cuddle. "I hate that we're having to do this to her."

"She's doing it to herself," Xander pointed out. "She didn't have to yell at you, or make you so upset that you were nearly crying when you came home. We'll get her fixed though. I promise." He gave him a squeeze. "Did you decide on a name while you were gone?"

George laughed. "I gave into Bill's suggestion. William Steven all right with you?"

"Sounds great to me," Xander agreed. "William Steven Weasley-Harris."

"No." He pinched his husband's stomach. "Harris-Weasley, just like with our first son."

"I thought we were going to switch it around this time," Xander mock-pouted. George kissed him. "Okay, we'll keep it that way. You've got the better heritage anyway." He snuggled in. "Should we tell Tara?"

"We'll have to. Mum might hurt her. Percy was saying that he didn't want her around his kids either," he said after a short pause.

"Ginny came through just as I was leaving. She looked like she was about to have it out with your mom too." He nuzzled George's neck. "I'm really sorry she's putting you through this."

"Hopefully dad will make her do something about this. Percy won't be able to take much of this with his heart condition."

"Percy's fine. I talked to him last week and he swore up and down that he was okay. He said they fixed his heart as good as new."

"Hopefully," George agreed. He snorted. "He always was Mum's favorite. He might have to do something really mean to stop this from going further."

"I'm sure we'll all be helping fix this," Xander assured him. "She loves you, it's some funky hormone problem talking, not her."

"But what if it's not?"

"Then she'll have to deal, George. I'm not handing you back." George laughed. "Let's sleep now. Little Bill will be up in a few hours demanding a bottle."

"I left him with Draco," George sighed, starting to get up.

Xander pulled him back down. "I'm sure he knows how to put a baby into a cradle." He closed his eyes. "Let's nap and we'll deal with this when it's lighter and warmer."

George snuggled back in, taking all the comfort he could. At least until the first nightmare started, then he sighed and woke Xander up before he could thrash around too much.

***

Dumbledore looked at Xander, worry showing on his face. "Rough night?" he asked quietly as the younger man sat down. It was unusual to see him down here on a Thursday morning, he didn't have a class until after lunch. Xander nodded. "Would you like to talk about it?"

"No. Just nightmares." Xander picked up his juice and took a sip, but grimaced. "Eww." He put it aside. "I think I'm going to go for a fly." He started to stand up but Tara walked in and gave him a hug. "It's okay."

"George came down to see me," she whispered. "Why don't you go up and sleep now? It's light, it should help."

"I tried that at dawn, I had a worse one."

"Then take a sleeping potion," she told him. "Snape, can you get him a sleeping potion? He's too tired to do anything like talk to people."

Snape stood up and walked over, tipping Xander's face up. "You look horrid," he agreed.

"It's just lack of sleep. I'll deal with it this weekend."

"No, you'll deal with it now or else I'm going to tell Molly." Tara saw the pain flash across his eyes. "Is she on another rip?" He nodded, resting his head against her stomach. "Okay. Potion?"

"I can make him one, but I can't guarantee he'll make it to class." He looked at Dumbledore, who waved a hand. "Did you want him in the infirmary?"

"No, he can be monitored in his home," Tara told him. "Draco's up there." She picked Xander up and walked him back to his rooms. "You stay here and I'll wait until you're fully out," she told him.

"Go eat, sweetie, you both need it," he told her.

Draco stormed in. "What the bloody hell is going on?" He looked at Xander. "Oh, nightmares?" he asked more gently. Xander nodded. "Does it have something to do with Iggy's baby book coming out of the fireplace at high speed this morning?"

"Probably," Tara told him. She smiled as Snape walked in with a small vial. "Does it have a dream suppressant?"

"The best I can make." He watched as Xander drank it. "If I have to, I can run a study hall for your class today," he assured the younger professor. This year had really been horrible to him so far. "And don't forget, we're looking at your burns later today to make sure that last one is scarred over." Xander nodded, starting to blink.

"Let it work," Tara soothed, stroking through his hair. Once Xander was out, she looked at the two men. "We've got to do something about Molly. I think she caused this last bout."

"Probably," Draco agreed. "That was their baby book." He looked thoughtful. "I think I'm going to have a talk with Arthur."

"No, leave it for now," Tara told him. "He's already torn in the middle over this if she's pissing off the kids." She took his arm and walked him out. "You get to play fussy one today," she told him with a smile. "You can fuss and get back at him for everything he's done to you so far." Draco smiled at the idea. "And you get to keep him sleeping if possible." She let him go and took Snape's hand. "I need to talk to you about that wonderful anti-stretchmark creme you made me last time," she told him, giving him a brilliant smile. "It's not working as well." She led him out of the tower, leaving Xander in very good, if slightly evil, hands.

***

Dumbledore walked into Xander's second section of fourth years, smiling at them. "As you probably realized this morning, we sent Professor Harris back to bed to get some actual sleep. I know you had an assignment to turn in so please do that and consider this a study hall." One of the students hopped up and grabbed a basket, passing it around for their parchments.

One girl raised her hand. "Is the new baby having problems?"

"No, just the normal problems when you have a new baby and one on the way," Dumbledore assured her. "He'll be back in action tomorrow." He heard running footsteps and held up a finger, walking into the hall and shutting the door. "Mr. Malfoy, what's wrong?"

"Xander's started having nightmares again and I can't get him to wake up," he panted, rubbing his stomach. "He keeps seeing Tara injured."

"Ah. Then kindly go get her and take her back up there to help, at a slower speed if possible," he cautioned, giving him a look. Draco nodded and continued on to Tara's classroom, pulling her out into the hall to talk to her. She ducked back in and disappeared with him up the back stairs.

Dumbledore walked back into Xander's classroom and saw many of them frowning. "Yes, he does still have nightmares," he told them.

One boy in the back raised his hand. "Sir, is that normal?"

"Possibly. I've never done what Xander's done so I wouldn't know. Everyone reacts differently." He clapped his hands. "Since Professor Maclay let her students go just now, I'll let you go also. Please make sure I've got all your papers. I'll deliver them upstairs later on." They filed out, taking quietly.

How Xander had managed to keep this part of the fighting from the students, he wasn't sure, but he was thankful. It was hard enough in the abstract, but they wouldn't be able to understand it until they had actually killed something. He hoped none of them would ever need to be drugged almost every night to get to sleep like Mr. Potter and Xander did, and Mr. Malfoy from what he heard.

***

Tara curled up in Xander's arms, moving her hair out of the way. "Xander, I'm here," she told him. "We're both fine." She moved one of his hands so he could touch her stomach. "We're okay, Xander." He sniffled and shifted, putting his head on her stomach, but didn't wake up. "I think we'll be fine," she told Draco. "How much longer before the sleeping potion wears off?"

"Maybe another hour," he told her. "I recognized that potion from using it a number of nights myself. It's supposed to last about six hours."

"Okay." She gave him a smile. "We'll be okay."

"I'll be a floor down in the nursery," he told her. "Yell if you need anything." She nodded so he left them alone. He briefly thought about sending a message down to George and Fred, but they had enough to worry about without this.

Somewhere in the castle, Iggy frowned up at the ceiling. Yes, he was supposed to be taking a test in Professor Binns' class, but something was wrong with his father. He caught the teacher's eye and got a head shake. He went back to scribbling something as fast as he could. If he got done a little early, he could run back there and check on him before he had class with Uncle Ron.

***

Draco walked out of the floo at St. Mungo's and calmly walked over to the registration desk. "I need to see Dr. Latimer," he said quietly. "Not an emergency but just some questions."

She wrote his name down on a sheet of paper and sent it with a small bird upstairs to the offices. She got an answer back. "He's got a few minutes he can push for you," she told him. "Third floor, second door on the left."

He nodded and took the stairs up to the third floor. He walked in and introduced himself to the receptionist there. He was told to sit and wait, it'd be a few minutes because he was in with a patient. About ten minutes later, he was shown into the doctor's office. "I have some questions about female problems," he said.

"Yours?" Dr. Latimer asked, sipping at some coffee.

"No, my nearly mother-in-law."

"So the rumors are true about you and a young Ms. Weasley?" he asked with a smile.

Draco nodded, smiling back. "Usually. She and I do adore each other, most of the time, but I could never settle down with her for any length of time. It's her mother that's bothering me." He put a hand on his stomach. "I remember the lecture on stress quite well, and she's putting a lot on the whole family right now. One of Ginny's brothers has recently had a heart attack and Ginny's dearly worried that he'll have another one because her mother's become a raving psychotic bitch. She even told Xander that his newest child isn't human."

"Poor Tara," the doctor said, shaking his head.

"Not that one, the other one, the one he found in Prague."

"Oh, that one. I heard a bit about him." He smiled. "How is he? And what did they finally name him?"

"William Steven is quite nice. Hardly cries. Eats everything he can get his hands on and usually tries for more. A very nice change from my last daughter, Ravena, who screamed most of her first year." He smiled. "I'm more worried about Ginny going off the deep end and this is her's."

"I understand." He dug out a book and flipped through it, stopping at a particular name. "Try this doctor. He specializes in problems with the hormones." He wrote down the name and address. "And by all means, try to cushion the one who had the heart attack. Any stress at all is bad for them."

"He's an Under-Minister, over the research department," Draco told him. "He lives with stress."

"Oh, dear. Does his doctor know?" Draco nodded. "Well at least they're probably keeping an eye on it." He smiled. "Has anything else happened? Any funny cravings?"

"Melted ice cream," Draco told him. "It's like regular milk suddenly tastes bad. Tara and I both are having it. Plus I'm craving chocolate and tropical fruits."

"Well, that's different. But normal. Try to eat little amounts instead of the whole tub of ice cream. Eat as much fruit as you can stand. You might find some digestion problems from it." Draco nodded, grimacing. "Fortunately, the less acidic fruits are coming into season soon so try some of them. It'll help a lot. As long as you're trying to balance it out it shouldn't be a problem." He looked Draco over. "I've heard that the gryphon-born gain more weight early. Are you finding that's true?"

"When Ginny was carrying Iggy she gained almost all her weight by the end of her fourth month then the baby grew into it. I hope this is all I'm gaining." The doctor motioned him over to the scale so he got up and weighed himself. "Gained another four pounds," he said miserably. "How much longer will I do this?"

"Probably for at least another six weeks," the doctor told him. "Going by what your girlfriend went through, you should probably stop gaining by the end of your fifth month. You are a bit more slender than she is so it's going to show more on you. Expect to need at least two bigger sizes of clothes before you're done." He smiled and stood up. "Anything else I can answer for you?"

"Why is my bladder shrinking?"

"Because there's now weight sitting on it, Draco. It happens to everyone in your condition." He shook his hand and made sure he had the reference slip. Hopefully they could find something to take the stress of those two. Very unusual pregnancies. He would have to ask Xander if he could be put in touch with a gryphon healer before they delivered.

Draco left the hospital, heading for Ginny's office. He magically copied the form, stopping in to kiss her on the cheek and give it to her. "My doctor recommended her," he said quietly.

"I'll try," she said, but she didn't look optimistic. "Want to help me house hunt this weekend?"

"Of course. Are you going to be moving back in if she's cured."

Ginny shook her head. "I'm liking the thought of having my own place. Picking my own groceries, plates, and everything. I was thinking maybe a small flat here in town for me and the girls."

"They'll need room to run," he reminded her. "Ravena will never survive living in a flat in town. We'll see what I can have found." He smirked at her. "If you move into a flat, I'm stealing both girls until you move again." She laughed and he left her there, going to give Percy the other slip. He had the desire to get her fixed and he was the favorite child so he had some influence and pull with Molly. He tapped on the door and walked in, ducking a thrown book. "Does your boss know you treat your materials that way?" he asked harshly. "No real researcher would ever throw a book." He walked into Percy's office and handed him the slip. "For your mother," he said quietly. "Because I want to live in peace."

Percy smiled at him. "Does this person deal with this sort of thing?" Draco nodded, sitting his big butt down in a chair with a sigh of relief. "Having problems?" he asked with a smirk.

"Oh, yes. I know Ginny used to complain, but I realize it so much more personally now." He reached back and shut the door when he heard footsteps approaching. "I talked to my doctor and he recommended that one. Said they deal with hormone problems all the time. I gave the same name to Ginny so you could try different methods of attack."

Percy shook his head. "Mum hit Ginny last night when she got tough with her. She's at my place at the moment."

"No wonder she wants to look for a house," Draco said, thinking. "We could probably squeeze her in with me at Xander's."

"It's fine. The children screaming has kept the quiet at bay," Percy told him. Draco nodded, understanding the evils of a quiet house. "Are you coming next week when Tananda gets casts put on?"

"I wouldn't miss it if you want me there," Draco agreed, heaving himself back up. "Want to go to lunch? I'm supposed to be watching Xander sleep but Tara had him well in hand."

"Nightmares again?" Percy asked. Draco nodded. "Oh, dear. What of now?"

"Your mother forcing Tara to miscarry in various ways, on purpose."

"Oh." Percy shook his head. "Surely she wouldn't." Draco gave him a look. "She wouldn't normally."

"And now that she's turned into a raving bitch, I want her nowhere near any of my children," Draco told him. "Hopefully you can drag her to the specialist somehow." He waved. "I'm off to go to the bathroom. Yell if you want to have dinner tonight." He walked out.

Percy stared thoughtfully at the name on the slip. Maybe if he made an appointment and misled her? No, he would have to go straight at her.

***

Xander woke up and frowned at the school nurse. He looked around. Nope, still in his room. "Problems?" he asked as he tried to sit up.

"Looking at that last burn to make sure it was completely scarred over," she said, giving him a smile. "It looks excellent and I think you can quit wrapping it now, Xander." She sat on the edge of the nest. "Did you need someone to talk to? You're taking more sleeping potions now than you have in the last six years." He grimaced. "I know this has been a horrible year for you so far, but it has to get better, right?" He nodded. "So would you like to talk?"

"Only if you know someone who can fix Molly's hormones so she becomes normal again," he told her. He fully sat up and pulled his feet under him. "I kept seeing her shoving Tara and her falling, and.... That stuff," he admitted. He looked around. "No one's here?"

"I sent Mr. Malfoy out for some ice cream for him and Professor Maclay." She reached over and ruffled his hair, putting it back into place for him. "This sort of time is hard for a woman, Xander."

"Yeah, but she needs anti-psychotics," Xander explained. "She went off on the new baby last night. Then me and George too."

"What are anti-psychotics?"

"Psychiatric drugs," he said, looking up at her. "She's gone nuts. Everything sets her off, either screaming or crying, and it's...it's hurting George."

"And you," she added with a faint smile. "I went through the same thing with my own mother. I looked at her and said I'd rather have my womb cut out than to deal with that mess. She laughed and handed me the name of a doctor." She pulled him in for a light hug. "I know it's disturbing, but you will get through this and she will apologize. There's no way she can't love little William Steven."

Xander snorted. "If you're sure. I'm not."

"I'm sure. She's going to love him once she's back to normal." She let him go. "It may take a few years." Xander groaned. "You will live through this. We're very long lived people, Xander." His face fell more. "You don't think you will be?"

"I don't know. I asked once and Fredericka shrugged and said no one knows how long a born lives. I thought she was being mystic, but she said there was some sort of relationship between being powerful and dying young."

"That's because you powerful ones do things like call lightening," she teased, tweaking him on the nose. "You'll live long enough. I haven't seen any evidence of deterioration due to age in you yet. You've got the body of a twenty-seven year old."

"I'm thirty-four," he reminded her.

"See, you're already slowing it down by seven years," she said happily. He snorted, but he was smiling. "I don't think you're going to outlive your mate, but I do think you'll both die of very old age in your nest, probably together." He did smile at that thought. "All right? Any other worries?"

"Is there anything we can do to help Molly go through this faster?"

"Not that I know of," she admitted. "I have the name of a doctor we can refer to, she might know something. Or you could ask that nice Dr. Latimer if he knows something." He nodded. "Anything else?"

"Did I miss dinner?"

"Not quite," she assured him. "You can still make dinner if you get up right now and get dressed." She pursed her lips. "I do believe you'll need to have a talk with some of your students. Someone asked me earlier why you would be having nightmares."

Xander climbed out of the nest and grabbed his cane. "Because my life sucks some days," he told her. "Others it's great, but some days make me beg for it to end." He walked her out of the bedroom and down the stairs, noticing that there was food on the table. "Are we eating up here?" he called. Fred came out of Ron's section, nodding. "Okay. Thanks, Poppy." She smiled and gave him a kiss on the cheek before leaving them alone. "Sorry I slept so long."

"You needed it," Fred told him, pulling out a chair. "Sit." Xander sat and looked up at him. "How often do you have nightmares? I ask because I never noticed them before."

"That's because I always take a sleeping potion so I don't wake you or George up," Xander told him. He got comfortable. "I've had nightmares since I was fifteen and had to stake my best friend."

"Willow?"

"Jesse. We were a trio at one time." He smiled sadly. "He was turned. I had to do it to save other people's lives. But they started that night I guess." He sighed. "I usually hide them much better."

"Why bother?" Fred asked. "We'd all understand."

"Because having one night after night, almost every day of the year, gets tiring for everyone around you that keeps getting woken up. Some nights they're easier to bear and I don't even wake up. And some nights I wake up screaming and beating at things."

"I've noticed a few bruises on George," Fred told him dryly. "From that? I always thought it was from kinky sex."

"I wouldn't rule out that cause," Xander admitted. "But yeah, a few times he's been the thing I was thumping when I woke up. Usually he smacks me back at least." He shrugged. "He knew about them before we got married, Fred, I promise. I'm not beating him on purpose."

"I know you're not," Fred assured him, patting him on the knee. "You would never abuse my brother because you know the whole family would hunt you down and kill you for it." Xander nodded. "That's added onto the fact that you wouldn't do it anyway." He smiled. "So, what was it today? And yes, I'm being nosy."

"Molly pushed Tara and ...hurt her," he said quietly. He sighed again and stood up, starting to pace, his cane loud in the quiet house. "It's like every horrible thing I could ever imagine."

"I won't lie to you, Xander, mum's scary right now, but I doubt she'd hurt Tara." He stood up and stopped the pacing. "Trust me, she wouldn't hurt Tara. She likes Tara."

"She likes Iggy and George too, but she upset them."

"Tara's not that fragile."

"We can't be sure of that," Xander reminded him. "Even her doctor can't be sure of that."

"Then trust me. I am amazing and I know everything possible," Fred told him. Xander laughed. "You laugh, but Percy assured me the other day that I was a know-it-all." He hugged Xander. "Relax about it. The rest of us are handling mum. It'll be fixed fairly quickly and we'll deal with it, brother-in-law. Now, we have to plan what to do with the nursery before George puts plaid in there."

"But I like plaid," Xander told him.

Fred laughed. "Of course you do, that's why you're George's perfect mate."

***

George sat down in front of the headmaster, accepting a small cup of tea. "I don't know what to do about this, sir, but it's affecting more than Xander's performance in classes."

"I'm aware that he was having nightmares," Dumbledore said gently. "Hasn't he had them for a while?" George nodded. "Then why are these more severe?"

George shook his head, stopping himself from snorting. The man couldn't possibly know how bad they were. "This isn't abnormal. He's had worse ones than the ones Tara found today. I've seen him have such horrible ones that I became the monster he was fighting and I had to fight back. I've seen ones that made him roll out of bed and start begging for any merciful God to make it stop. I've seen ones so bad that I'm not sure how to describe it." He sipped his tea. "It's not healthy for him to have to take a sedative every night, not even at the child's strength I make for him. But I don't know what else to do."

"Do you think talking about it will make it easier?" Dumbledore asked him.

George shook his head. "No. I've had him talk to me about it and it seems to make it worse. This thing with my mother has just been the last straw. He's going to continue to see Tara in danger until Mum's fixed and I can't figure out how to fix her since Professor Snape said there's nothing that he's ever heard of that can help."

"Tara has her own protectors," Dumbledore told him calmly. "Don't worry so much about her." He smiled when George frowned. "Trust me, my boy, she does have people who would help her if she should ever need it. Like I told Mr. Potter all those years ago, help is always available at Hogwarts for those who ask."

"That would depend on knowing who to ask," George pointed out, but he was smiling.

"Very true. You're the first one who's gotten that," Dumbledore told him with an amazed look. "She does know who to ask, it's part of what makes her happy right now. As for Xander, we can probably soothe this latest bout of nightmares by assuring him that Tara has other guardians and possibly by taking his mind off all this. Maybe a few days off?"

"He doesn't have any vacation days for the next two years," George reminded him.

"Minerva obviously can't read policy then. Vacation days are only to be used after all sick days are taken and Xander had near two hundred days of sick leave accumulated. We carry them over until they use them in the case of people like your brother and your husband. I doubt he's used all of them."

"No, I think we only had a month total of sickness this year, spread out a bit. But then there was his time hiding in London."

"Pfft," Dumbledore said, waving a hand, bringing a book over to open on his desk. "As of when I left, Xander had one-hundred-twenty-five vacation days and two-hundred-forty-six sick days." He closed the book. "If Minerva changed that then I'd like to talk to her about it."

"So we can take a weekend away?"

"As long as someone knows how to get in touch with you," Dumbledore told him. "Are you bringing the baby?"

"We probably should," George told him. "I don't think I want to impose on someone for a weekend's worth of babysitting."

"You could probably pay a student to do it for you," the headmaster suggested. "Someone who was like you when you were in school?"

"There are a few of the Gryff's I would trust with the baby," George agreed. "Especially with Iggy and his cousins helping." Dumbledore snickered. "They're quite good with the children."

"I just had the picture of Simone hunting someone down and snatching the baby away from them because whomever was watching them had needed a moment of quiet so had let someone else hold him."

George laughed. "That would probably be Iggy, Headmaster."

Dumbledore smiled at him. "You could call me Albus. You're not in school anymore."

"Okay then, Albus. Would you like to come down next weekend and see the new line I started?"

"Why yes, I'd be delighted. Whenever you need me, George, I'm here for you. I may not fully understand, but I do get quite a bit of the problem."

George handed back his cup as he stood up. "Thank you, Albus. I'll be sure to yell if I need the help with my stubborn one." He smiled as he left. Where should they go? They had the money to indulge in a bit. Ron was pacing the entry way. "Problems?"

"Hagrid took the twins out for some play time with the puppies and I don't want to look worried," he admitted. "Xander's up, Fred was talking to him."

"If you had to take Xander away for a weekend, where would you go?"

"To the comic book festival this weekend in London that he was raving about wanting to go to?" Ron suggested. "Did you need a sitter?"

"No, we were going to be innovative and let some of the Gryff's handle it for the weekend. Small paycheck for them and all that."

Ron laughed. "Did the headmaster tell you to do that?" George nodded. "I'm sure my house will *love* having little Bill in there for a whole weekend." He jumped when the door opened, smiling at Hagrid and the babies. "Did we have fun?" he asked them. His son was still napping upstairs and had missed out on the dog drool. "Were they good?" he asked Hagrid.

"As gold. When can I take the little feller out?"

"Maybe tonight," Ron told him. "He's been napping a lot recently." He grinned. "You could come up and play with them tonight if you wanted. We wouldn't mind some of the dogs."

"All right then. I'll bring Shadow and Boozer here up tonight." He winked at George. "How's Xander?"

"Hopefully feeling better. They had to send him back to bed this morning to finish sleeping." He shrugged at the worried look. "It was the usual nightmares, nothing out of the ordinary." He waved. "I'm off to talk to the house. I'll be up in a few moments." He jogged up the stairs, energized by the plan the headmaster had given him. He burst into the house and everyone looked at him. "What? I've got some good news." The kids gathered closer. "Xander and I are taking a weekend away this weekend and we need a sitter. Now, we'll be paying some. Maybe two galleons a day?" A few of the students raised their hands. "You've got to interview with Xander and/or Ron. Got it?" They nodded. "Good. It'll be this weekend that we'll be gone and you'll only have the little guy."

The Head Boy smiled at him. "I thought he didn't have any more vacation time, sir."

"Don't call me sir, Gregory; it bothers me; you know that." He grinned. "Dumbledore just pulled down the books. Apparently McGonagall was trying to pull a fast one and discounted all his built-up leave time. He hardly took any of it from his second year on." The kids laughed. "So go bother them tomorrow and we'll pick someone tomorrow night. Got it?" Everyone nodded. "Good, go back to studying." He left the house, heading over to tell Xander the good news. He found his brother cuddling his husband on the couch. "Really, and after I'm arranging for a sitter this weekend and Dumbledore found you some vacation days," he said in mock-outrage. Xander launched himself at him, giving him the hardest hugs he could. "I've arranged to hire a Gryff to watch William so we'll be all alone," he told him.

"Good," Xander said, sniffing him. "What about Tara?"

"Albus reminded me that she has other people who will watch out for her. She'll be fine and we can go to that comic book thing this weekend."

"Oh, we're going to need tickets," Xander told him. "We have to go buy them tonight."

George laid a finger over Xander's lips. "There will still be stuff we can get into. I promise you. I am a great wizard and I say so." Xander grinned at him. "Feed me and you can tell me all about what you want to see."

Fred smiled as the super couple became their usual selves. He wanted that with his girlfriend Elizabeth.

Part 4

Draco opened the paper late that day; it was Saturday and he was taking some well deserved free time. The new house plans had been crap, Ginny couldn't find a thing she liked either, and the kids were driving everyone nuts. Fortunately Simone and Denver had taken Anastasia back to Gryffindor with them and Ravena was down for a nap with the triplets. He picked up a mug of spiced tea to sip at while he read the paper, starting with the financial section. He was still doing well according to his stock listings. He turned back to the front page, smiling when he saw the headline. Ginny was in the news again. It was the picture with the story that made him drop his mug of tea. He read the article carefully, Ginny was in the news because apparently she had moved her offices, but also because she was with him and he was now known to be pregnant. The picture was manipulated to show him carrying very high and all that. He grimaced and balled up the paper, tossing it aside. As he had a thought, he flicked the locks on the door. Everyone who needed to get into here had keys. Well, Fred and Ron probably weren't carrying theirs, but they had their wands and could open the stupid locks. He got up and started to pace. What should he do about this? Should he refute it and lie? Should he come out and say 'yes, I am' and then go into hiding? Hiding sounded good actually. Hiding he could do for a bit longer. Damn these hormones, they were making him paranoid again. Hadn't Dumbledore said he wasn't going to allow a ravaging horde of irritated women in here to hurt him? But all it took was one, his mind cheerfully supplied. He decided to go up to his room and look everything over, just in case he had to leave suddenly.

***

Tara walked into the library and smiled at Irma Pince, then took up all the copies of that day's newspaper. She smiled at her again as she took them to burn them. She was pregnant, who was going to question her doing funny things? She met the headmaster in the hall and nodded pleasantly to him. "They found out," she told him as she passed him.

"Oh, dear," Dumbledore sighed. "Are those all the copies?" She nodded. "Just from the library?"

"I can't exactly go around demanding the staff's personal copies, or the student's personal copies," she pointed out. She continued on her trek to go burn the papers. She would help her buddy as long as possible. She ran into Snape and Willow, arguing in the staffroom and smiled as she tossed the whole stack of papers into the fire. "They offended me today," she explained at Snape's look.

"Really?" He walked over and read the headline of the top one while it smoked. "Oh. How interesting," he said finally. "Let me add my copy to that." He hurried away to get as many of the staff copies as he could.

"What's going on?" Willow asked, coming over to read the headlines too. "Is Ginny in trouble?"

"No, they're making up trash again," Tara told her. Willow nodded and left her alone. Tara sighed in relief and plopped her big, heavy butt down to relax until more copies came in to be burned. She wondered how long it would be before someone came after Draco. He really was more fragile than she was. This was his first time doing this and she was an experienced mother.

Snape came back in with a small stack of papers and tossed them into the fire also. "I think we only need to worry about Rosenberg," he suggested.

She nodded. It was warm and comfy where she was. "Probably. She'll super-bitch out and pull back on her self-righteous cape." She yawned. She had never realized how comfy this chair was. She missed the smirk Snape was giving her, falling asleep. She'd have to remember this for a napping spot was her last thought for a bit.

Snape covered her with a throw someone had put in there for naps on the couches and left her to help cover up Mr. Malfoy's problem.

The unfortunate thing was he was already too late. Willow had asked a student to see their copy to try and figure out what had set Tara off. "Oh, really?" she said. She smiled at the student and handed them back the paper. "Thank you." She walked off, going to have a talk with Mr. Malfoy. She found the tower door locked and grimaced, pulling out her wand. She never used the thing, except for this function. The door opened under her hand and she walked up the stairs into the common area. Draco was coming down from the top levels. "So, you decided to usurp a woman's prerogative?" she sneered, looking him over. "Aren't you supposed to be a *good* guy now?" She moved closer, finally finding the evidence under his carefully tailored clothes. "Oh, look, a little lump." She shoved him but he managed to catch himself. "Not going to fight back?"

"You bloody bitch," he said, taking a swing at her. She cried as she hit the floor. "Yes, I am, and quite proud of it. And I'm not the first. How do you think Iggy got here?" he sneered down at her, doing a much better job of it. He pulled up his shirt. "See, seventeen weeks along now, and there's nothing you can do about it." She hopped up and took a swing at him. "Pissed because you'll be arrested if you have another one? Or because your present one is lowering the reputation of Slytherins everywhere?"

She shrieked and lunged at him, fists balled up, but again, he was bigger and better trained. She split his lip and then she went flying. "Go away, you stupid cunt. Before I do something more horrible to you. After all, you're not even a proper witch. You only have a job so Tara isn't overworked and because Xander begs so nicely." She screamed in outrage, getting up to try and hurt her again.

Ron and Percy came running in and pulled Willow away from Draco, Ron throwing her out of the tower. "What was that about?" Percy asked.

"The paper reported me as being pregnant," Draco said, straightening out his clothes and hair. "She objected."

"Oh, shit," Ron sighed. "Iggy." He jogged for the door that lead down to the hallway in front of the Gryffindor portrait, but he knew he was going to be too late. He could already hear the yelling.

Willow stomped off and headed for the next easy target, Iggy. No wonder he was so powerful, he was a magical creature. He shouldn't be taking classes, they should be studying him. She found the three Gryffs in front of their tower and pulled Iggy off to the side. "Do you admit to being created by a spell?" she demanded. "Some dirty little creature that was forced into your Aunt's body? A magical disease that was there so your fathers could laugh at women? Well, do you?"

"You fucking bitch," came out of the shadows. As did a blast of power that knocked Willow back into a wall. Melvin walked out of the shadow, his wand in his hand. "You have no right to be near anybody. At least he doesn't happen to torture people. Obviously not something you could teach your son." He started to cast another curse, but the little voice screaming at him that sounded a lot like his mother convinced him to stop there. He turned and ran into his cousin.

Iggy held him tightly while he shook. "A little help here?" he called out. "Teacher down!" Footsteps came running, Snape and Dumbledore first. "She attacked me," Iggy told them.

"Very well. Please sit and wait on us," Snape told him. Ron came running out of the connecting hallway. "Late again, Mr. Weasley."

"She just attacked Draco too. He's got a fat lip." He appraised Willow. "Might want to get the nurse, Iggy." His nephew's face scrunched up and soon another set of footsteps was running their way. Ron led the boys back to the other two. "Are you guys okay?"

"She was calling Iggy horrible things," Melvin told him. His shaking had mostly stopped. "I lost it, Uncle Ron."

"It's okay, Melvin," he promised, giving him a hug. "You've both got detentions with me tomorrow because I have to, but we'll be cataloging books."

"It wasn't Iggy," Simone said, pulling Melvin away so she could hug him too. "You were so cool. I'm sorry I ever called you a nerd or a geek or any of those things." He grinned and gave her a hug.

"Very nice work," Denver agreed, patting him on the back. "Is father all right?"

"She hurt daddy!" Simone shouted, but Ron and Denver stopped her from going over there. "She hurt my father, I want her expelled!"

The Headmaster looked at the children. "Do calm down," he told them. "We will be looking into this matter from all sides." He looked at Ron. "Did you give a detention?"

"To Melvin since he did it," Ron said, letting Simone go. He pulled Melvin close again. "He was defending Iggy."

"I see." Dumbledore frowned down at Willow. "What would have made her go off like that again?"

"Gee, is she preggers? This is just like last time." Ron suggested. Snape's eyes widened and he pulled his wand, eventually getting away from the woman lying on the floor. "She is?"

"Yes," Snape told him. He looked down at Melvin. "That was quite a hit. What curse did you use?"

"Fist of power," Melvin said weakly.

Ron looked down at him. "I can't even cast that right. How in the bloody hell can you?"

"I've got that extra energy to pull from," Melvin reminded him lightly. He looked at Dumbledore. "Did I hurt her really bad?" The headmaster nodded. "I'm sorry. Please don't expel me, my dad'll crap pink elephants."

Snape pulled up the boy's hand, looking at the wand now embedded in it. "I think that's the least of your worries, Mr. Weasley. Madam Pomfrey, his wand fused into his hand."

She clucked as she came over to look at it. "It will have to wait until after I have Willow stabilized. Just like your uncle," she sighed, going back to Willow. She lifted the carrier she had brought with her, taking her down the hall. "Come to the infirmary."

"I'll bring Daddy up there," Simone called after her. The nurse waved a hand. "You guys head up, we'll be right up there," she promised. She slid into the connecting hallway, running as fast as she could. If her father was hurt, that bitch would pay! She found her father sitting on a couch with a piece of ice against his lip. "Daddy?" she asked. He held up an arm and she sank against his side. "We're taking you up to the infirmary. Melvin defended Iggy and his wand is now part of his hand." She grimaced. "And Professor Rosenberg's pregnant."

"I thought they were supposed to lock her up," Percy said as he started for the doorway. "Come along, Draco. You should probably get checked anyway, if only to make your children feel better." He walked the partial family up to join most of the rest of it. Draco still had a house elf in the tower and she could watch the triplets for a few minutes. He and his son would be having a long talk later that night, even though he was proud of him for it.

***

Draco popped into Xander's room, squeaking in horror. "Save me." He climbed in behind George, using him to hide behind.

"Gee, I think we have visitors, dear," George said. He tipped his head to the side. "Who are we saving you from?"

"Remember joking about that raving horde of pissed women? Well, they came. Willow leading the charge the second time too." He heard Xander sigh. "I was in town buying myself a treat, and one for Melvin for pasting Rosenberg into a wall, and they came for me."

"Hold on, which Rosenberg did Melvin paste?" Xander asked, pulling the sheet a little higher over his nudity. "And why were they after you already?"

"Because that paper told them I was pregnant," Draco growled.

"Okay. That answers one question," George said, rolling onto his back so they could both see the frightened young man. "Answer the others."

"Willow saw the paper and came after me. I defended myself but let it slip that Iggy was created using the same spell. She went after Iggy, the easier target, and Melvin pasted her into a wall. Now she's leading some of the townswomen up to attack the school and drag me outside to burn me at a stake."

"Hmm," Xander said, grimacing. "Is she pregnant again?" Draco nodded. "Well, that explains that." He stood up, stunning his son. "What?" he asked as he grabbed his robe. "I'm an average guy."

"Not for a Brit, love. You're a bit bigger than the average Brit from what I understand," George assured him. He smiled at the look on Draco's face. "What? You don't think he's hot?"

"No," Draco said quickly, averting his gaze.

Xander and George shared a smile. "You can look now," he said once he had on his robe. "C'mon, honey, let's go see who's grazing in the living room." George climbed out of bed and put on a robe too, and they led Draco out, finding Arthur standing there nibbling from the fruit basket. "Come to hide too?" Xander asked.

Arthur smiled at them. "Yes, but I also came to check on Draco. I knew he's run to you two." He nodded at Xander's robe. "Please cover that, son." Xander adjusted his robe. "Thank you. Draco, how are you today?"

"Pregnant and paranoid," he said. "And Rosenberg's pregnant again too."

"She probably felt left out," Xander soothed, sitting down and pulling his 'son' into his lap to hold. "You'll always have a hiding spot with us, son." He looked at Arthur. "Is Molly normal today?"

"No, she was screaming earlier about the idiocy of males. Apparently women can hide it better."

"They were spying on me," Draco pointed out. "I was very careful."

"I know you were, son. But now you're going to have to make a statement or they'll eat you alive."

"Which means a trip to the colony and to see Ginny," George sighed. "Honey, can't we have a *normal* vacation?"

"Normal?" Xander asked. "What's that?"

"Point," George said in defeat. "Father, I had planned on snogging my husband's brains out for at least another day. Can this wait until then?"

"They won't be putting out another edition until Monday anyway," Xander pointed out. "Plenty of time for all sorts of snogging and other things."

"Boys," Arthur said, starting to blush. "That's more than I wanted to know."

Draco nodded. "I felt the same way when I saw him naked." He looked at Xander and realized he was sitting on his lap so he stood up as quickly as he could. "Are all you Americans built that way?"

"Yeah, I think so," Xander said, frowning as he thought. "Last I heard the average American was six to seven inches and four in girth." He looked at his mate. "I'm just above that, right?"

George looked up, seeming to consider it. "Feels like it to me," he agreed. "I believe you're about eight and maybe five in girth."

"Boys," Arthur said, blushing more.

Even Draco was blushing. "I want to be built like that," he muttered as he walked over to nibble from the fruit basket as well. The couple snickered behind him. "It's not fair that us Brits are smaller," he complained.

"It's all that inbreeding," Xander told him. "I'm surprised you have one at all with how pure your line is."

Draco spluttered. "There are some very well-built wizards, as proven by those magazines."

"Yes, but they're probably half-muggles or fully muggles," George told him. "The more diversity in the lines, the greater the penis size and ability to use it."

"Boys!" Arthur said, turning bright red.

"Sorry, dad, but it's a matter of genetics," Xander assured him. "The more pure and inbred the lines are, the weaker the genes in *all* areas. Unless you get to the point where you've got mutants."

"Bloody unlikely," George pointed out. "We'd never tolerate the ones like in that comic book you like, x something or other."

"Oh, I don't know, we've got evidence of telepathy and empathy at least," Xander argued. "We've had students in the school that came out as telepathic and empathic. It's not such a long jump to the point of telekinesis and the other abilities."

"Boys, please," Arthur sighed. "Genetics isn't one of those topics for general conversation."

"Oh, this is a continuation of a discussion last night at the con," Xander assured him. "Not the penis size part, but the rest was the topic of an official discussion last night."

Draco shuddered. "Please, make it stop."

"Okay." Xander smiled at him. "I do know something that'll make you bigger, son," he offered.

"Xander," Arthur said sharply.

"Yes, daddy." He shrugged at Draco. "We'll talk about it later." He looked over as his son appeared, then disappeared and reappeared with Snape. "Hey," he said, waving. "Are you here to tell us this is fixed?" he asked once the Potion's Master quit throwing up.

George gave him a cup of water from the bar. "Here you are. I get the same way whenever he does it to me." He smiled at Draco. "Nibble to your heart's content. It came with the suite."

"Another advantage of the exchange rate," Xander added. "Honey, remind me to stop at a store on the way home. I need munchies and more soda."

"Okay."

Snape glared at them. "You act like this crisis is nothing unusual," he said coldly.

"It's not," Xander and George said in unison.

Arthur shook his head. "It must be a record, three in one year."

"This one won't be a real crisis," Xander predicted. "Five days, maybe two weeks of press, then it disappears until he gives birth." He looked at his husband. "Do you concur?" he said in his best imitation of Draco's accent.

"Oh, I do," George agreed. "Two weeks tops." He leered at his husband. "Now that we've got the calvary, can we go back to what we were doing?"

"Son, did you need more help this very moment?" Xander asked. Draco shook his head, smiling at them. "Cool. Then we're off to make a lot of noise." He stood up, accidently flashing everyone and took his mate back into the bedroom, where they made quite a lot of noise.

Draco looked at Snape and nudged him. "Apparently all Americans are built that way," he told him. Snape shut his mouth with an audible click. "What do I do now?"

"First we should check and see if news of this spell can get out," Arthur suggested. "Then you should ask Ginny's opinion on the matter."

"Your daughter is sitting in the tower cooing at little Vincent Raymond," Snape reported. "She sent me with a message of 'tell them everything'. I believe she might have checked with them already." A particularly loud yell of pleasure out of George made them all jump. "Dear Merlin, what are they doing in there!"

"I have no idea how two guys go about it, but apparently they're liking it," Draco said as he stood up. "Is it safe for me to head back to the tower?"

"Dumbledore shooed off the women by telling them that you'd be down tonight to tell them the real story. Madam Rosemerta was in the group and looked less than pleased at that suggestion," Snape told him. "I'm sure she will appreciate the business tonight though."

"As long as no one else tries to attack Ignatius," Arthur said calmly. "Molly about hit the roof when Denver called me to tell me Melvin's wand was attached to his hand and Percy needed a book Ginny had." He popped a grape into his mouth, wincing when Xander's scream suddenly went up three octaves. "I wonder if that hurt," he mused.

"That wasn't pain," Draco told him, taking the rest of grapes. "We should probably go back."

"No apparating, young man," Snape told him. "It is strictly forbidden from four months on."

"Yes, dad," Draco said, rolling his eyes. "Iggy?" Iggy came back and grabbed him, taking him back home. "Thank you," he groaned when the world quit spinning.

Ginny shifted so he could have part of the couch. "Even Xander still gets dizzy when he does it," she assured him. "The gryphons agreed that the spell could be known about, but only in the most general sense and not where it came from."

"All right," he agreed. "With as much ancient knowledge as there is around here, I can easily say I found it in the library."

"You could say you found it in Hufflepuff's library," Snape suggested as he appeared. "The spell was in there, but it was incomplete." He grimaced. "It was in one of her work journals, as something she wanted to look into."

"Hmm," Ginny said. "Could work. Everyone knows Hufflepuffs won't hurt anyone." She put the baby back down. "Ready to walk into town?"

"Can we floo?" Draco asked.

"With as nauseous as you are?" she asked. "Flooing killed me when I was pregnant."

Arthur stepped out of the floo. "The Minister of Magic will be down. I just informed him of everything. We'll be there in about half-an hour."

"Then we should start walking," Draco said as he heaved himself up. "Damn weight gain," he complained.

"Not too much longer and then no more weight gain, just constant weight," Ginny assured him with a pat to his hand for comfort. "Come on, let's walk. It's a nice enough day. Little windy but otherwise okay." Her father got them cloaks and they walked out together. "What are George and Xander doing?"

"Making an outrageous amount of noise with his big American dick stuck up your brother," Draco told her, sounding serious. "I don't know how he'd take it."

"Oh they go both ways about that stuff," Ginny told him. Her father gasped. "Sorry, dad, but I walked in on them a few times. Quite interesting. Though my favorite was finding them in the closet for a quick blow."

"Ginny Weasley!" her father shouted, shocked to his proper core.

"What? They were in my closet at work!" she told him. Her father spluttered. "Good thing I went out for a drink that day." Draco laughed and pulled her closer to his side. "George is apparently as talented as Kandy said Percy was."

"Ginny, change the subject," he father growled.

"Yes, sir," she said, rolling her eyes where only her boyfriend could see it. "So, how big was he?"

"GINNY!"

"Sorry, dad," she said with a sheepish look. "But a girl wants to know these things."

Draco whispered something in her ear, making her laugh.

Snape cleared his throat. "Try not to infect the students with such thoughts," he commanded.

Draco looked back at him. "Is my plaque still up?"

Snape groaned and covered his eyes. He didn't know who had put that horrid thing up, but if he ever found them he was going to A-K them immediately. What wretched taste! It must have been a Gryffindor, probably Potter.

Draco winked at him and strolled on. They met the Headmaster at the door with Tara. "Surely you're not coming," he told her. "Xander would have my head if you got injured."

"They're not going to hurt me," she said confidently. "Besides, you could use someone to hold the other hand." She smiled at Ginny as she took Draco's other hand. "Let's go. The baby's hungry and Madam Rosemerta makes a great veggie salad." The experienced parents chuckled when Draco agreed that it sounded delightful and that he would buy.

***

Ginny stood up in front of the eating crowd. Iggy had gotten them permission just a few moments before to tell where the spell had come from, coming personally to tell them so he could get dinner too. "Okay, now that Draco's fed us all, we can answer any and all questions you might have."

Madam Rosemerta stood up first. "He's really pregnant?" Draco nodded. "How far?"

"Seventeen weeks," Draco called out. He pulled up his shirt and almost everyone sighed when they saw the bulge. "I'm still going to be gaining some weight."

"Probably," Madam Rosemerta said dryly. "Most women gain about double that."

Ginny shook her head. "Gryphon-born and kids born by this spell gain all their weight up front and then it shifts from water to baby weight."

"How would you know?" another woman, the one who ran the bookstore asked.

"Because Iggy was born that way," she told her. "They did it on George without his permission and we agreed to transfer it into me."

Iggy stood up. "Yeah, they got the dads and then Aunt Ginny had me," he agreed. "We're carried for ten months so I gave her extra hell."

"Iggy," Arthur sighed. "Don't pick up Simone's bad habits."

Madam Rosemerta walked up to Iggy and looked him over. "You look pretty normal."

"I am," he told her. "I'm perfectly normal, but a little bit smarter than most," he finished with a grin. "Uncle Draco, can I have some pie too?"

"Pie sounds excellent," Draco agreed. "What types do you have?"

"Apple today," the innkeeper said with a sigh. "You want to share one with the bottomless pit?"

"Just a slice for me. I'm trying to watch my figure," Draco joked. A few of the women laughed. "I really couldn't stand it if it was gone permanently. I did this because I wanted another child more than most other things in my life."

"Was this why someone blew up your house?"

"No, that was a power play by a bastard who I'm going to get," Draco said seriously. "You'll find out who when he's dragged away in chains begging for mercy."

Tara patted him on the arm. "Remember your blood pressure, Draco," she said softly.

A few of the women looked at Draco, then Ginny, then Tara. Ginny smiled. "She's having Xander and George's next one," she told them. "Same spell, better glow than I had."

"You were stunning," Draco told her, picking up her hand to kiss. "Unlike me, who now has oily skin and only glows because of that. You both glow internally from some source of fire."

"Geez," one woman said. "Even when he's the pregnant one, the lust doesn't stop." A few women nodded, remembering that feeling. "So, why didn't you just knock up Ms. Weasley again?"

"Because my doctor threatened me with death," Ginny said honestly. A few of the women looked upset. "I've had four and they said no more."

"So I decided to undertake this without asking her permission first," Draco told him. "Much like she did the first time we got together."

"That was that botched spell," she said, smacking him lightly on the arm. "All your fault."

Professor Snape stood up. "Contrary to popular opinion, none of this was done to upset anyone else, and he was very careful not to let anyone outside of those necessary know."

"I'd like to know how the Prophet found out," Draco agreed.

"Probably when you went to the doctor's last time," Madam Rosemerta said as she brought them out pie. "Where are Harris and his mate?"

"Snogging," the group said together. That got a few titters from the crowd.

Iggy cleared his throat. "They took the weekend off to revel in aloneness. One of the kids in the tower is watching little William."

"They needed a babysitter?" Arthur asked. "Why didn't they ask?"

"Because they're giving the Gryffindor's evidence of the reason for infertility charms," Ginny told him. Most of the women laughed. "Trust me, having a kid around will either make you want one or will make you desperately try to never have one as long as you remember the experience." She kissed Draco on the cheek. "You always made me want one," she whispered in his ear.

He smiled at her and licked the apple off his lips. "We'll discuss that problem later," he assured her. She laughed and kissed him on the cheek. "As you can tell, I'm still fully male."

"How's it coming out?" one man in the back asked.

"Hopefully with a knife and some potion to knock me out," Draco told him. "I don't think I could do it any other way." The men winced in sympathy. "Would anyone like pie? It's excellent today." A few people ordered pie and Madam Rosemerta went to get it for them. "Were there any other questions?"

"How long were you hoping to hide it?"

"Past the birth," Draco told her. "I had visions of the ravaging horde coming up to burn me at the stake." A few of the women blushed. "Really, this had nothing to do with you. I would have gladly let one of you carry my next child, but Ginny gets rather upset with me when I look at other women."

"Do not."

"You do," he told her. "Even when we're not together you get upset. You nearly gouged the eyes out of one woman the other day for looking at my bum."

Ginny snorted. "She should have been minding her own man, not you."

He smiled at her. "You say some of the sweetest things, Weasley."

Arthur cleared his throat. "Leave that for later, children." They shared a kiss then Draco went back to eating. He looked at his boss, who was looking pleased because no one had pulled a weapon. "My son researched the spell back to the early ages," he told the crowd. "Back to the time of the War of the Ancients. There was evidence of the first few gryphon-born being created this way as well."

The crowd talked among themselves then one woman stood up. "You're really going to go through with this?" Draco nodded. "And you don't want to do it again?"

"I can't be sure of that," he told her. "I'm not spreading the spell around to others since I made a promise not to do that, but I can't be sure that I won't want another one sometime down the line."

"Get a dog," Ginny suggested. "Five is enough."

He smiled at her. "Maybe for you, but I adore our children."

"I know, but five is enough," she told him, putting her hand in his. "For now. Wait until they're all in school before having another one, okay?"

Draco thought about it, then nodded. "All right, I'll wait that long." He looked at the woman. "My girlfriend convinced me to wait until all of my present ones are in school to even think about having another one," he told her. "But I won't give up this one and I won't release the spell."

"At least you're honest," she said with a frown. "This really isn't meant to push women out of giving birth?"

Draco laughed. "Can you imagine most men doing this?" She shook her head. "I've found myself whining often recently and even annoying myself. I doubt many men would want to."

"Except maybe couples like George and Xander," Madam Rosemerta put in. Draco nodded, that was one instance he could see. "You're really going to go through with this?"

"I've come this far, it seems wrong to not complete it when I want the child so much."

She nodded. "Then I don't see a problem with it. Ladies?" Most of them didn't put out negative noises. "It'll take some getting used to." She looked at Tara. "Why are you carrying for Xander and George if they can do it this way."

"Two reasons. George isn't a good candidate and Xander considered it, but the second reason is because I wanted to be pregnant again. They knew that so they offered me this chance." She smiled and stood up, pushing her clothes over her bulge. "They gave me the gift of having another one and being a mother to a second baby."

"Xander is special that way," Ginny agreed. "Does he give you a lot of attention?"

"That man smothers," Draco told her. "Me and her both. The slightest hint of pain and the doctor's there. Any craving and one of them is hopping up to try and do something about it." He smiled at Tara. "He spoils her rotten."

"And I deserve it," Tara agreed, much to the amusement of the crowd. "Were there other questions?"

"No, but I think it'll take some time to get used to it," the man who ran the robe shop told them. "Did you need more clothes?"

"Please," Draco told him. "My present robes are too tight. I gained ten pounds in the last two weeks."

The man laughed. "Fine. I'll tailor them personally so there won't be any problems." He looked at Tara. " Yours too if you want."

She smiled at him. "Thank you. I've got some of my old maternity robes in storage but they're from my last months." She sat back down, then stole Draco's remaining pie, eating it herself. "Madam Rosemerta, can you please send the recipe for that vegetable dish up to the house elves? I love it, but the last time I wanted it was just before dawn."

She laughed. "Sure, sweetie, I can share that recipe. It's not one of the secret ones." She smiled at the both of them. "I'm assuming we'll be seeing more of you both now?" They nodded. "Good." She smiled at the crowd. "Anything else that needs to be discussed?"

"Are you having them at the school?" one man asked.

"If possible," Tara told them. "My last one was... it was hard and I miscarried one." She sniffled and Ginny moved to hug her. "Thanks. I'm going to try to have this one up there so Xander and George can help. Just not in the classroom this time." Ginny gave her a little squeeze. "Thanks, Ginny."

"I can't even imagine what you went through," Ginny whispered. "I'm there for you, Tara, whatever you need." She pulled back. "There is some other news." She looked at Snape, who was taking over for Dumbledore.

Snape coughed. "Professor Rosenberg was removed to the hospital today for her own good," he announced. "She'll be gone for the rest of the year." A few people started to talk and one woman asked if she was pregnant too. Snape nodded. That got more discussion started. "If there's nothing else, we should head back to the school. I'm sure tomorrow will be a long day with all the parents coming in to complain." He helped Draco up and watched his back as he paid the tab, without a wince, and then left behind him.

Madam Rosemerta counted out the bill again. He had left a fifty percent tip. How very nice of him. Pregnancy was good for him apparently.

***

Xander looked over as they were interrupted for a second time, this time by their oldest son. "Iggy, we're trying to have sex."

Iggy faced the other direction so he wouldn't have to see. "The townspeople didn't hurt anybody, Draco bought us all dinner, and I just had a wet dream," he announced in a rush.

George reached over and tugged on the boy's pants until he turned around. "It's a normal part of life, son. Don't stress over it. Who was it if we might know?"

Iggy swallowed. "That little blonde chaser for Slytherin."

"Ah, the slut," Xander said knowingly. He nodded. "Good choice." He smiled at the disgusted look his son gave him. "Sorry, couldn't resist. But your father is right, it's perfectly normal and another step in the growing up process. We'll buy you some baby wipes on the way home so you don't have to keep a washcloth in your room all the time."

"You're too calm!" Iggy complained.

"Just because we're married doesn't mean we don't have them," George told him. "During long periods of separation it's been known to happen to us too."

"Too much information," Iggy said, clamping his hands over his ears. "Dads!"

"Sorry, son. It's all part of being a man. Your dick will lead you around for the rest of your life, you've got to get used to dealing with it." Xander smiled. "Why don't you talk to your Uncles about this?"

"You want me to get sex advice from Uncles Ron or Harry?" he asked.

"Or Draco," George agreed. "He understands his dick very well."

"Yeah, from what I hear they had a very close partnership," Iggy sighed. "It's embarrassing."

"It's not like we're going to throw you a party," Xander told him. He looked at George. "Didn't you tell me Draco's dad did that?"

"I don't know if he did. I know he threw one for his son's first sexual encounter," George told him.

"Still eww," Iggy told them. He disappeared, hoping to find a more reasonable, and conservative, approach to dealing with this issue. He landed beside his Uncle Percy and gave him a hug. "Can you make puberty stop?" he begged.

"No, Ignatius, nothing can stop that process," Percy said sadly. "I remember how horrible it was to go through it. All those conflicting images going through my mind." He looked at the boy. "Had one of those explosive dreams?" Iggy nodded. "The best advice I can give you is to keep a washcloth handy. They happen to the best of us," he sighed.

"But I don't want them to happen. Sex gets in the way of things." He pouted. "Sex is icky and messy."

"And sometimes it's beautiful and precious," Percy assured him. "It all depends on if it means anything to you. If you ask Draco, he could probably tell you the difference," he admitted.

"Probably," Iggy sighed. "But he's probably going to throw a party about it."

Percy laughed. "I think that's an urban legend, my boy. His father was never that caring." He patted Iggy on the leg. "Go talk to your other uncles. I'll run interference from your fathers if you want."

"I caught them mid-kiss and grope," Iggy admitted. "They seemed really pleased."

"They'll continue that until you bring home your first girlfriend. Then you'll get parental pronouncements of celibacy." He smiled as the young boy disappeared. "At least Draco can give the *whole* sex talk." He picked up his novel and went back to it. It was quite good for a muggle writer.

***

Draco was accosted in the halls by Ryan Rosenberg and his crew of idiots. "What?" he asked them.

"How dare you sully the Slytherin name?" Ryan shouted. "You're doing this? Here? On sacred ground to us?"

Draco laughed coldly. "What makes you think Slytherin himself wouldn't approve? I took what I wanted from my girlfriend, I made my choice to have a powerful child. Besides, it shows how powerful I am. Not *minor* wizard would be able to pull this off." He sneered. "You're just upset because you'll never be this powerful, Rosenberg. Get used to it. I'm more powerful than you are and am everything that you ever wanted to be." He turned so they could see his outfit and jewelry. "Look and learn, boy, because this is the closest you're going to get to real power for a very long time." The boy pulled his wand, but Draco plucked it from his fingers. "You telegraph your movements, you stupid twit. Maybe you should ask Snape for dueling lessons because you obviously haven't got it." He sneered at the boys, standing up as tall as he could. "Not only did I help take out the obstacles to my power, I've aligned myself with one of the most powerful families on the planet. I'm in line to take over Ginny's business because I'm her helper, and I have free access to any spells I want. What makes you think Salazar himself isn't smiling down on me? After all, we found gryphon books in his library." He looked over the other boys, then back at their leader. "You may have gotten the temperament from your mother, boy, but you have yet to prove yourself worthy of the right to be in *my* house. I suggest you do so before this year ends or we might push you off to the side as one of those unfortunates who couldn't keep up." He strolled away, calmly tossing the boy's wand over his shoulder as he walked.

Ron met him at the next intersection. "Posing?" he asked.

"Most of the outward attributes of power are," Draco agreed. "Join me in a midnight snack?"

"Sure," Ron agreed. He could eat. He bounced Vincent on his shoulder. "Got a means to calm him down? He started screaming earlier and hasn't quit yet."

"If he's teething, you could try something cold and pliable. It worked with all of mine." He opened the door, letting him up first. "Iggy," he said with a smile. The boy didn't smile back. "What's wrong?"

"The dads congratulated me for ...." He mumbled the rest.

"Come again?" Ron asked.

Draco smiled at him. "How appropriate I do believe." He sat next to the boy. "Want to talk about it?"

"Both the dads and Uncle Percy said I should. They said you'd know more about it."

Ron snickered. "Yes, he probably would." He went up to put his son back into bed, then to make them something to nibble on.

Draco patted Iggy on the knee. "That little blonde chaser?" His nephew sighed and nodded. "Trust me, she's not the one you want for a first time. She's not in it for the pleasure and she's not going to give you the time you'll need to appreciate the act. You want a girl who's experienced, but there for the pleasure, not for the ride." Iggy blushed. "Going a bit too fast?" The boy nodded. "Then let's start back at the beginning."

***

Iggy sat on the bench in the dressing area before a game, mentally talking to his dick so it would stand down during the game. When he had convinced it to behave for a bit, he started to pay attention to the conversation around him.

"I want to know how two blokes do it," their third chaser said. "It's got to hurt."

Iggy shook his head. "No it doesn't." The team looked at him. "What? My dads do that all the time and they're loud. I asked." He stood up and pulled on his robe. "I was about eight and they had gotten a bit loud so I wanted to make sure that they weren't hurting each other. Daddy Xander's answer was that it was a stretchy hurt and it only hurt for a few seconds, if you were prepared and wanting it. Otherwise it hurt like hell." He shrugged. "If you ask him, he'd probably tell you the same thing."

"What's a stretchy hurt?" the keeper, and Captain, asked.

"Have you ever stretched too far and it hurt?" Most of the guys nodded. "That's how the dads explained it." He smiled. "Really, if you want to know *anything* about sex, ask my father Xander or my Uncle Draco. They'll tell you whatever you want to know and give you all the precautions you'll ever need," he said, eyes wide. His mind was still rolling over what his Uncle had told him. Man, that had been a long, strange talk.

"Did they give you that talk?" Reggie, the Captain teased. He really liked this strange little boy.

Iggy shook his head. "Uncle Draco did. Man, I never want to go through that again." He sat back down and held his head. "I'm still getting flashes of what he was talking about."

The guys laughed and commiserated. "Just think, when your father George was here, there were three girls on the team," Reggie told him.

Iggy looked up. "At least Simone is my cousin. I haven't seen her as girl since we were six and I figured out she was one." That got some more laughter. "And now all this puberty shit starts in," he sighed.

Reggie sat down beside him. "It's hard, Iggy, but most of us have went through it already. If you have questions, we might be able to handle passing on some golden knowledge."

"How come you guys don't get hard when you play?" Iggy asked.

"Ah," the seeker, the only seventh year on the team said wisely. "It is time to teach you how to take care of that before the game. It's almost a ritual around here." Iggy looked hopeful. "Have you ever played with it?"

Iggy made a gross face. "I don't even want to have it some days." The seeker laughed. "Really, it keeps getting in my way."

"Well, you go into the bathroom and play with it, and once it's finished spitting it'll calm down for a few hours," the seeker told him, putting an arm around his shoulders and leading him into the bathroom. "Think about the prettiest girl you've ever seen, and try to be quiet about it or the guys will tease you about your choice of women." He left Iggy in the toilets, going back to getting ready himself. He shared at look with Reggie. The kid wasn't shy so they all knew what he looked like. "He'll probably need some extra work once he hits that awkward stage," he said calmly. "We can deal with that."

"I can help him with that," Denver said. "After all, I had to learn how to fly when I'm dizzy." He had been hiding in the corner, soaking up the knowledge for later use. Maybe he would go to someone other than his father for the sex talk. Iggy had looked traumatized when he had stumbled into Gryffindor last night. He pulled on his robes and grabbed his broom, heading out to warm up next to the dressing area. His sister was out there waiting on him. "Iggy's gotten bad," he told her.

She nodded. "I heard. One of you guys was wondering what was going on with him yesterday when he was taking a nap." She lifted off, swirling up in circles. She floated, waiting on him. "Is he okay?"

"He's hitting that bad stage where his body's taking over," Denver told her as he joined her in the air. "We're going to have to work with him if he's not going to start flying funny." Iggy ran out and joined them in the air. "We love you, cousin, and we'll help you through this."

"Denver!" Iggy said hotly, motioning at Simone.

"Oh, please, I've already had the talk with mum. I know more about this stuff than either of you probably."

"Na-uh," Iggy told her, shaking his head. "I talked with your dad."

"Ewww," she said, wincing in sympathy. "Too much information?"

"Definitely." He weaved a little. "So can I count on you guys to help me through this?"

"As long as you share the dirty magazines," Denver told him.

Iggy shook his hand. "Deal." He nodded. "Let's weave and duck. I need to make sure I'm not off balance yet." They took off, weaving and ducking around each other, Simone swinging her bat every now and then to make them move and shift. She got Iggy on the arm and grinned at him. "Meanie," he told her as he swung around her. "Don't hit me or I'll have a house elf plant dirty pictures of women in your room."

She laughed. "Yay. Like I'd care! Or my roomies. They'd probably look at it to see what all the fuss about being an adult was about." She swung at her brother and he ducked, but lost his balance and nearly fell off. "You okay, bro?"

"Father's going to beat you if he hears you calling me that," Denver reminded her. He climbed fast, then leveled out above her, hovering. "Hey, Iggy, I can see the Hufflepuff's from here. Melvin's being yelled at."

"I'll get the fuckers later," Simone dismissed. "They're probably reminding him not to take it easy on us." She floated up and looked over, smiling and waving at Melvin. He ducked behind a bigger kid. "Yup, he's being yelled at because of us."

"Get down here," Reggie called. "That's bad form."

"Sorry," the three of them said as they floated down.

"Just checking on Melvin," Simone told him. "They're badgering him." Iggy groaned. "Sorry, no pun intended."

Reggie shook his head. "Well, don't. They get pissy about that." He climbed on his broom and lifted off, hovering lightly. "We don't peek on the other team and they don't peek on us."

Denver snorted, pointing at the kid who was hovering high enough to see them. "He's been up there longer than we have."

"Oh. Well in that case, spy away," Reggie said happily. "We ready to play?"

"Ready," the three of them said in unison. Simone smacked her paddle on her hand.

"Remember, Melvin's just out of the infirmary," Iggy told them. Simone grinned. "And if you paste him, Uncle Percy will beat us all. Knock him off by all means, just not by hitting him with the bludger."

Simone laughed. "Leave it to me, dear cousin." Then she laughed evilly.

Reggie shuddered, wondering if the hat had made a mistake. Maybe she should have been in Slytherin. She scared him. He flew off, going to check on the rest of the team as they came out to warm up too.

***

Percy glared at his niece, who smiled innocently across the table from him. "Did you really have to knock him off after what he went through yesterday?" he sighed.

She nodded. "All's fair in love and quidditch," she told him. "And we won. Besides, he wasn't hurt. Iggy caught him and still managed to score with him on the broom."

Percy shook his head, but he heard Ron laughing. "Be more careful with my son. He's the only one I have, dear."

She grinned at him. "Uncle Percy, we *love* Melvin. We *adore* him. But if he gets in the way on the field he's got to move faster."

Iggy snickered. "I told him I'd give him some practice if he wanted." He glanced over, smiling at his cousin, who waved back and smiled. "It didn't seem to harm him." He took a bite of his dinner and winced. One of his teeth had been knocked loose when the quaffle had been tossed wrong by Denver. He switched to the softer vegetables, chewing them on the other side of his mouth. "How much did we win by?" he asked. He had spent the last few minutest with Madam Pomfrey's fingers in his mouth.

"About fifty points," Denver told him. He winced and moved his arm. Simone had gotten him during the game because he didn't move fast enough either. It had been a happy moment when he saw his father stand up and start yelling at her for it. "Do you get to have a talk with dad tonight?" he asked his sister.

Simone sighed and dropped her fork. "He was giving me that look again. I'm sure I'm going to be jumped soon enough." She looked at her Uncle. "Why are you eating with us?"

"Because it wouldn't be appropriate to eat at the Hufflepuff table since I was sorted into Gryffindor. I checked on the protocol with Melvin and he agreed with the book." He smiled at the fab threesome, as they were being called. "Do try to stay out of trouble for a few more weeks, at least until Christmas."

"I wonder if daddy has sent out letters canceling the Christmas party," Simone mused.

"The fact that the house blew up was news for two days," Denver pointed out. "He shouldn't have to."

"It might be a matter of protocol," Iggy told him. "Some wizards are really big on that." He picked up his book but his cousin took it from him. "As Daddy told Grandma, I am allowed to read during meals. It's important that I learn all I can. I could be the first gryphon-born potions master in centuries," he finished proudly.

"Which is wonderful, but we would appreciate your company," Simone told him. "How's the mouth?"

"It'll heal," he told her. "Madam Pomfrey told me that my tooth would settle back into place as good as new in a few days."

"Soft stuff for you until then," Denver teased. "Want to go get ice cream?"

Percy cleared his throat. "I believe his fathers mentioned putting him in a lead room so he couldn't get out of it if he ever did that again without permission," he noted idly. "He had better not even try."

Reggie came down and clapped Simone on the back. "You're one hell of a girl," he told her. "I'm very proud of the way you let nothing stand in your way, not even your brother." She smiled up at him. "Practice for beaters next Monday. Chasers Tuesday. The whole team on Thursday."

"I have a meeting on Thursday with Professor Snape," Iggy told him.

"Oh, how long did you get detention for?" Reggie asked.

"Not detention, extra lessons," Iggy told him, looking serious. "It's my thing."

"Can you switch it around?" Iggy shrugged. "When does it start?"

"Eight. We're working on a harder potion together."

"The one for Andrea?" Simone asked hopefully. Their friend was in the infirmary today because something hadn't agreed with her stomach earlier. Iggy nodded. "How long?"

"Two weeks, and we're doing the once-off spell. We'll need a few components so you'll have to pull out your begging act with Uncle Draco."

"That's fine. He's anxious to see how it goes too," she assured him. "Give me a list and I'll beg sweetly." She looked at Reggie. "When did we get practice time on Thursday?"

"Six."

"So I'll have two hours," Iggy told him. "I can grab a sandwich on the way out."

Reggie nodded. "All right. I'll allow it. Try to change it around for the week after. Some of us have detention Wednesday for the next three weeks," he said, glaring at their seeker.

"Okay, I'll talk to him tomorrow," Iggy told him. "Maybe I can get it switched this week too." He smiled at him. "Was there a strategy session coming up?"

"No, not yet," Reggie told him. "Just before the last game." He smiled at Percy. "Your son was pretty good today. Not as much as these three, but great nonetheless." He left them alone.

"I don't think anyone could stand up to us when we work together," Simone told him, reaching over to pat him on the hand. "Just think if he had been sorted into the house with us."

Percy laughed. "I can just see the terrors you would be," he told her. "The other houses would be quaking in their robes."

Xander walked in and smiled at the kids, giving his son a fierce hug. "I'm sorry we missed the first half of the game," he told him.

"It's okay, daddy, I understand how your hormones were running your life." Iggy smiled at him.

"Oh, that looks nasty. Has someone looked at it?" Xander tipped Iggy's chin up, careful of the bruise on it. Iggy nodded at him. "As long as you're okay." He kissed him on the forehead. "I'm very proud of you. Not only did you keep your cousin from being severely injured," he glanced at Simone, "but you also managed to score while you did it. You're a neat kid." He kissed him again and went up to take his usual seat. George came in the back door with William and gave Iggy a smile of his own. "Bruised chin and bleeding gums."

"He'll be fine. I've had worse." He handed over the baby. "All calm." William opened his mouth and screamed. "Or not," he sighed, starting to stand up.

"Let me," Xander told him. "You eat." He turned his son to look at him. "If you continue to cry, you're going to upset your father quite a lot because he won't be able to eat, son." William sniffled and wailed louder. "If you behave, I'll get you ice cream," he offered.

"Get up and walk him," George said between hasty bites.

Xander got up and went to walk the baby down to the Gryffindor table. Iggy stole him and cuddled him tightly. And miraculously the baby calmed down. "Gee, just love your brother more than your fathers," he said, disgusted with his infant son at the moment. "You have to eat too," he said, trying to take him back. William wrapped his fingers in Iggy's hair and would *not* let go. "Come on, son. You have to let me go eat too."

"I've got him," Iggy told him.

"You have to eat too," Percy told him, reaching over and taking the new nephew to hold. "Go eat, Xander, I have him."

Xander rolled his eyes. "My son." He held out his arms and the baby blew spit bubbles at him. "Come on, you're not sorted yet, you can't live with the Gryffindors until you're sorted into the house."

Percy laughed and handed the baby over. Which made William scream again. He quickly took the baby back. "Go eat, Xander. It seems he prefers the gentler members of the family today."

"Maybe he knows about Tara's baby," Simone suggested. "I hated Denver when he came around."

Denver hit her. "Meanie.

"Hey, you stole the attention of the daddy. And you stole my toys." She ate a bite of broccoli. "I forgave you when you learned how to hug."

"Awwww," Percy said. Then he broke up in laughter. "You two were hell on the rest of the family." They laughed. "I'm surprised Ginny didn't go insane when you were three and refused to wear clothes in public." The kids ducked their heads, and he laughed. "Don't want that story told?"

"Oh, tell," Iggy told him, grinning at his cousins. He would get Simone for telling embarrassing stories about him to the whole house.

"When they were three, Ginny could *not* keep them in clothes," Percy told him. "She had to bribe them to get dressed at all, and when they were in public Simone had this penchant for stripping. Did it in the toy store, in the food market, even in that outdoor market mum likes to shop at. That time, she stripped down and crawled in with the watermelons. Needless to say the vendor was not amused."

"Was that the year we had watermelon everything?" Iggy asked. Percy nodded. "Gee, and I thought my jumping off the roof of the house with only a towel around my neck was good," he smirked.

"Tell anyone else and you die," Simone assured him.

Percy laughed. "There's quite a few stories I could share." Simone groaned and pulled her brother over so she could hide her head on his chest.

***

It was finally Christmas and the last month had been quiet. All the students were gone. All the noise was gone. Xander and George had spent the better part of the last two weeks in bed, making a lot of noise, and the remaining kids were running around the castle making some noise of their own. But now it was Christmas morning. Xander snuck out of bed and grabbed the present he had found for his mate, then climbed back in before he could get cold. They needed to put a fire into the fireplace before they had to share body heat to get dressed. Which would mean they'd miss breakfast again. Tara and Dumbledore had taken to teasing them when they appeared for lunch rumpled and happy looking. Xander picked up his wand and started a fire in the grate, which made George hop up and get the present he had stashed inside it the night before. "Sorry," Xander said with an impish grin.

"I'll remember to pick a better hiding place next time," George said as he climbed back under the mound of blankets. Even after eleven years, Xander still got cold in the winter. He held out his little box. "For you," he said with a grin.

Xander handed over his. "Want to open yours first?"

"Let's do it together. One, two...." There was paper ripping so George tore into his.

"Ooohh!" Xander said happily. "Hershey! We get to go to Hershey ! I've always wanted to go to Hershey!" He hugged George as hard as he could. "I love you, I love you, I love you," he sang.

George patted him gently. "It's a delayed present but I didn't think you'd mind," he said with a smile. He opened the top of his box and looked puzzled. "What's this?" He pulled out the small crystal, looking into it. No picture. "Xander, honey, explanation?"

Xander pushed his hand on the other side of the crystal and it warmed up, humming at them. "It's a lovers crystal," he said with a kiss. "This way you can do to me what I do for you. Bill the gryphon and your brother Charlie helped me create it."

George closed his eyes. Oh...my....God! He could hear Xander's thoughts. "Holy Merlin," George said, dropping the crystal so he could pull him closer. "You are the sweetest," kiss, "most wonderful," kiss, "thoughtful," long kiss, "mate I could ever want." He stroked his husband's back as he cuddled him. "I love you."

"Marry me in front of the gryphons and the born?" Xander whispered.

"Yes!"

"Less noise, more family time," Fred called from the bottom of the stairs.

"Get up here!" George called. Fred and Charlie came running, his older brother smirking. "I love you, Charlie. Will you stand up for us?"

"Sure," Charlie agreed.

Fred looked from Charlie to his twin and back. "Explanation?"

"Xander and Charlie made me a crystal that'll allow me to hear him like he can me," George explained.

"With some help from Bill the gryphon," Xander added.

"Still, this is wonderful." George held up the crystal. "This is the greatest gift."

"Including the news that Tara is carrying a girl?" Xander teased.

"Yes," George said. He smiled at Xander. "Thank you."

"Well, you are pretty in this light. You're beaming. I like making you happy." He kissed him. "You make me so happy that I can't help but want to make you so happy you dance around." Another kiss.

"Less snogging, more family time," Charlie told them, pulling Xander out of bed. He turned his head.

"What?" George teased. "Never seen one before?"

"No, I've seen plenty," Charlie told him. "I didn't want you pissed at me because I peeked at your husband." He took the robe Fred handed him and stuffed Xander into it. "Downstairs, you. George will be joining you soon."

Xander glanced at his husband, giving him a little smile, and left. George blushed as brightly as he could. Fred cracked up. "Good thought?" he teased.

"Very," George said happily. He accepted his robe and slipped the crystal into the pocket, then put it on, getting out of bed. "So, what's going on today?"

"Well, we wanted to talk to you first," Fred said, closing the door. He frowned. "Mum sent sweaters again this year."

"Except for us?" George suggested.

"And Ginny."

"Oh, well. She's going to have to come back to normal sometime."

"I'm starting to think she's possessed," Charlie said. "She called me Bill earlier."

"She might be," Fred agreed. "It would explain a lot of stuff." He looked at George. "Want to talk to someone?"

"Snape would probably know," George agreed. He felt a tickling and grimaced. "Xander said Willow and Tara both know spells to depossess someone."

"Damn," Charlie said. "That's a bit extreme don't you think?"

"Not if it's necessary," Fred put in.

"Let's see if it is first," George suggested. "Did we get anything?"

"Not as far as we can tell," Charlie told him. "I've warned Ron not to wear his."

"I don't mind," George told him, but he was lying. The door opening and Xander coming in to give him a hug proved it. "What did we have planned for today?"

"Taking the kids outside and pelting them with snowballs," Xander told him with a grin. "Then lunch and maybe some Christmas movies?" he suggested.

"Okay," Fred agreed.

"Sounds good to me," Charlie told him.

"Snuggling is always good to me," George agreed. He patted Xander's butt. "Let's put on clothes so we don't traumatize the children even more." Xander dove for his closet, knowing he had more presents downstairs. George smiled and grabbed some of Xander's sweat pants to pull on under his robe.

"Underwear," Fred sighed as he left. "Don't pick up that bad habit."

Charlie smirked at him. "Go commando myself quite often," he admitted. "Feels good to me." He waved and left them alone.

"It also makes it easier to do naughty things to you under the table," Xander said with a wink.

"Xander!" Fred yelled. "Not while you eat! That's nasty!"

Xander giggled evilly. "I'm so naughty."

"Yes, but you're *my* naughty," George told him, "and I appreciate you this way." He pulled on a shirt and walked down the stairs, his new crystal being looked over to see if it could be put onto a necklace. Charlie handed him a keyring. "I'll lose it," George told him.

"It's appropriate," Fred said dryly. "It'll be in your pocket all day."

From upstairs, Xander's laughter echoed down.

Draco came down the stairs rubbing his eyes. "I thought only the children got up this early," he complained.

George showed him his crystal. "He got me something to let me read his mind," he said happily.

"Remember, the more who know, the more people who will want it," Charlie told him.

George put the keyring on his crystal and stuffed it onto his normal one. "I won't let it out of my sight." He smiled when Draco yawned. "You want to go back to bed? The kids aren't here yet."

"I'll nap later," Draco said, flopping down onto the couch. He yawned again and slowly fell back asleep. Everyone smiled at him. He was quite tolerable like that was the common consensus, except from Xander, who just thought he looked like a big kid.

Simone opened the door and peeked inside. "Is Daddy up?"

Xander shushed her. "He's back asleep." He nodded her inside, pointing at the tree. She ran for it, followed by the other three kids, and lastly by a few minutes by Andrea. "Hey, sweetie," he said, giving her a hug. She had suffered through as bad of a year as he had. Worms in the dog via a hard-to-cure curse. Kids picking on her. Someone intentionally putting something she was allergic to in front of her in herbology. That one had been nasty. Fortunately Madam Sprout had looked up when she started to have trouble breathing. If they could tell who had done it, they would have been expelled. So she had a rotten year, but her mother was sick so she couldn't go home this year. Xander had went up to her yesterday and demanded that she join them this morning and threatened to tickle her if she argued with him. She had giggled and relented after a few minutes of torture. Pumpkin settled in front of the fire with a sigh of relief. Apparently Gryffindor tower was cold this morning. Xander made a note to talk to one of the house elves about the fires that should have been laid today. George looked at him and smiled so Xander went out to look around. The school was really quiet.

He started with the kitchen and found all the elves asleep on the cold hearth. He shook a few of them, waking them up. "Hey, it's morning," he told them as they woke up. "Go do the stuff you usually do." He smiled as one yawned at him. "Don't worry, we're the only ones up so far," he said when one squeaked about not doing their jobs. They hurried off to light fires and get things ready for the feast. Xander decided to stop in on Dumbledore next, jogging up to the teacher's section. The portrait was no problem, he used a unlocking spell instead of fighting with it over the password, making it scream. "Hush," he told it. "Everyone's asleep and it's wrong." He walked up to the headmaster's door, tapping gently. He heard a squawk so entered, petting Fawkes. "Is he sleeping too?" he asked in a normal voice.

"With all that noise?" Dumbledore groaned, sitting up. "What's wrong?"

"Either the house elves got soused and passed out or everyone was under some sort of sleep spell," he reported. "I woke the elves up. No fires are lit."

"Very well," Dumbledore said as he crawled out of his bed, showing off his Alvin and the Chipmunk's pajama's. "They were a present," he said before the young professor could say anything. "Go find Severus. Do you know where his rooms are?" Xander nodded. "Then go wake him up as well. We'll come up and join you for breakfast."

Xander scrunched up his face, then nodded happily. "George and Iggy went out for food."

Dumbledore frowned. "I thought your son did that."

"I gave George a lovers crystal," Xander said happily.

"Oh, my," he said, beaming. "I'm happy for you both, Xander. I hope it brings you closer and leads to less physical noise making." He winked. "Go wake up Severus and check on the shields for me please. I'll be over in a few moments."

Xander nodded and left, leaving the older man to get dressed.

Dumbledore looked under his blankets. "My dear, you can come out now." A pale blonde stuck her head out and said something in another language, making him laugh. "Yes, he's quite energetic for having that small handicap." He helped her out and into the bathroom so she could floo home.

Xander knocked gently on Severus' door, knowing he slept lightly. When he didn't get an answer, he cleared his throat. "Open up or I've got permission to break and enter," he called. No answer so he broke and entered, walking closer to the bed. "Hey, Snape, get up. Spell on the school," he called from a few feet away. He figured Snape would probably lash out if you tried to touch him. Nothing so Xander poked him with his cane. The older man grunted and glared at him as soon as his eyes were open. "Spell on the school, we think. Otherwise the house elves got drunk and passed out."

Snape sat up and looked at his fireplace. "Are they up yet?"

"I woke them before Dumbledore. He said to check the shields on the school. And you're all invited for breakfast in our tower since we've had a fire the longest." The other man nodded. "Oh, the kids are up."

"That's fine," Snape told him. When Xander didn't move, he pointed at the door. "I will need to get dressed."

"Oops, sorry." Xander smiled and left the room, closing and relocking the portrait behind him. He found Tara wandering toward the Great Hall, still half asleep, so he steered her toward his house. She could nap on the couch beside Draco. He briefly wondered how to wake up the babies, but a kick against his hand changed his mind. "Here we are," he announced as he led her inside and put her under the blanket Draco was under. They were cute together. "The house elves were asleep."

George looked at the pregnant couple and 'aww'ed. "They look cute together," he announced, pointing at them.

Everyone grinned at them. It was so cute!

Snape stomped in and glared at them. "Are they still under it?"

"No, they're pregnant, it happens," George told him, giving him a smile. "Can we help?"

"No, it's fixed. Someone broke in and laid a sleeping spell over most of the school while they ransacked the library." He looked at Xander, who shook his head. "You weren't affected?"

"I'm guessing we've got shielding still," Fred told him. "Just to keep Xander from shaking everything." Snape nodded slowly.

"Besides, no one knows we're over here unless they're teaching or attending here," Ron pointed out from his corner. "Do the Regent's even know?" Xander nodded. "Well, then it had to be someone who wasn't affiliated."

Xander looked Snape over. "We were thinking about asking you something later. I know it's Ron's job, but he's involved and you have more experience." Snape nodded so Charlie pulled him aside to talk to him. Snape finally nodded and said something quietly, disappearing to go do something.

"He's got something to see if she is," Charlie announced.

"Is what?" Ron asked.

"Possessed," Fred told him.

Ron nodded. "It would explain a lot of the problems." He tickled William, making him laugh. "How about we open presents, guys? It's your first Christmas." Fred and George picked up the presents for the kids and brought them over to the playpen that had been built into the corner. Everyone came over to watch them rip and eat the paper, clapping as each present appeared.

Dumbledore walked in, smiling already. "I hear presents being opened," he said, handing the four children little presents. They were opened and showed as little velvet stuffed animals.

"They're so cute," Charlie told him.

"Thanks, Albus," Xander said, giving him a bright smile. "Did you run into Snape?" Dumbledore nodded. "Anything else I can do?"

"Not yet, Xander. Later, once the happiness has slowed down to a happy simmer." He pointed at the little blocks the kids were holding. "What are those?"

"They're part of the new line at the shop," Fred told him. "Baby's first prank. They're little things that make light and noise."

"There's another that plays lullabies but they annoy Vincent Raymond." George grinned at him. "They've been selling very well as baby shower gifts. We make a mean basket."

Dumbledore laughed. "That's an excellent idea. You can never start them too young." He smiled at the sleeping duo. "Have we started corrupting them yet?"

"Yes," Xander said firmly. "I've been telling Tara's stomach jokes."

Fred laughed. "So have I."

"Me too," Ron agreed.

George frowned. "I never thought about that. I've been feeding her icy fingers of death."

"Then the baby will know laughter," Dumbledore told him. "Always a wonderful trait for anybody." He looked over as Snape came back in and Ron disappeared for a few moments. He came back quickly and Snape sighed, heading over with him. "Another problem?"

"We've decided that Molly's possessed," Xander told him. "We're figuring it out for sure." He looked over as Tara moaned. "Sweetie, did you want to go help unpossess Molly?"

"No thanks," Tara mumbled, snuggling into Draco's arms. He hugged her tightly to him, earning more 'aww's. Draco flipped everyone off, and the crowd around the kids broke up to dig into the food George and Iggy had went out to get. The pregnant couple was woken up and were fed too, and the kids set off their new pranks. The adults clapped again and the four little people started to look around for more things that got them that sort of attention. Fred brought out a large box of the little colored squares, handing them over slowly.

Dumbledore settled into a chair, watching the triplets and little William ooh and aww over the lights, much to the joy of the three pranksters. "The legend lives on," he told Xander, who beamed at him. "Teach them some control please, before they blow up Professor Flitwick like Iggy did."

Xander chuckled when he heard his son choke. "You know, we've all been telling embarrassing Iggy stories recently. Apparently most of the family hasn't heard them."

"Uncle Percy got me last night," Simone told him. "The watermelon incident."

Dumbledore laughed. He remembered hearing about that. She had even made it into the paper for being so cute. "You should tell more of them, boys. I haven't heard all of them yet." The four older kids groaned. Within moments, various stories were started, vying for the right to be told first.

***

Severus Snape stepped out of the floo and glared at the woman with the butcher's knife. "Put it down, woman!" he ordered. She dropped it with a squeak of fear. "Sit!" She sat. "Weasley," he ordered. Ron and his father both stood up. "Tie her to the chair. This will be tough, but you must persevere. She will want you to help her," he instructed as Molly was tied to the chair. "She will beg, plead, and fight. She will possibly tell you she's dying. Only three people have died from this in the last century and I'm doubting that she will be next." He pulled a small vial from the interior pocket of his robe, sprinkling her with it. "Out, foul spirit," he commanded. He walked around her, laughing when she started to plead. "They are onto you, creature. They will not help you." He sprinkled more on her, making her scream and try to get free.

Ron pulled his father outside, closing both parts of the door so they didn't have to watch or hear. "I'm sorry, dad," he said quietly.

"It's not your fault."

"I teach this stuff, I should have known," Ron argued.

"So does Xander and he didn't see it either. It's all right, Ron," he said quietly, patting him on the back. He looked back toward the house but Ron turned him around. "How long will it be?"

"It could take hours, Dad. And it's not going to get better." He pulled his wand. "I can knock you out if you want." His father smiled and shook his head. "You sure? It'd make the time pass faster." Molly screamed and they both jumped, but Ron kept his father from going back in there. "No, we're going to go see the grandkids. We're going to Percy's first and then we'll go see mine." He put his wand away and took a firmer hold on his father, apparating them to Percy's flat. "He needs a diversion," Ron announced. He smiled at Tanada. "And you are the perfect one." He pushed his father down and watched as the little girl worked her charm.

Her casts made her awkward but that didn't matter right now. She loved her grandfather and it showed. "Grandpa," she said, patting him on the face. "Unclies gave me treats. Wanna see?"

Arthur smiled at her. "Of course I would, precious." She walked off unsteadily, and came back with some little blocks. "Oh, those. George showed me the prototypes." He picked up a purple one and helped her set it off. He noticed his sons talking, but he was going to let them handle it. He dealt with muggle things. They dealt with the more serious matters. It was their job, not his. His job was to worry.

Percy came over to sit down next to them. "The x-rays were excellent this time. They said her feet are straightening out very nicely." He smiled at his daughter. "They think she should be out of the casts within another two months."

"That's wonderful news," Arthur said, giving her a hug. "You'll be running after the big kids again very soon, Tananda."

She giggled. "I like chasing Iggy. He's fun."

"Yes, he is," Arthur agreed. He looked at Ron, who shook his head.

***

Severus Snape walked out of the floo in Xander's tower and sat down immediately. "I can't get it out," he admitted. "It's too strong. We may need something more holy." He looked at Tara, who nodded. "Will you come help me?"

"Of course. Let me go get my working robes," Tara told him, heaving herself up with some help from Fred. "Give me ten minutes. I'll meet you there." He nodded and left again. "Guys, no worrying," she ordered. "The baby will be fine." She hurried to her rooms to get what she needed. She had been practicing her faith since she was eight. She knew what she had to do. She left through the main staffroom. As soon as she appeared, Molly started to scream obscenities. She steeled herself. This wasn't the loving woman who had made George and Fred so special. This was something stuck into that woman's body and it had to come out before it hurt that wonderful woman permanently. She prayed to her Goddess for strength. She felt it fill her and smiled. Her Goddess understood and would be the sword she would cleave the two apart with. She stepped forward, praying out loud, praying for strength, for help, and to get this creature out of this woman. She felt the two start to separate and nodded at Snape to start again.

They would do this together. Together they could do this.

***

Xander looked up as the fireplace whooshed and discharged a very tired Tara, a stumbling Snape, and a sweaty, beaten looking Molly Weasley. "Mom," he said, hopping up to give them his couch. He checked on Tara first, letting his son get his mentor, but she waved him off. "You're okay?" he whispered. She smiled and put his hand on her stomach, letting him feel the movement of the baby. "I was worried," he admitted, giving her a hug.

"I'm okay, Xander. We're all okay now. The creature, something more demonic than I know, was sent out of her and trapped. I flooed to Wesley first and he's taking care of it." He gave her another hug then went to help the rest of his family fuss over Molly. "She's fine too. We just need some sleep and a warding charm done."

"I'm not good for that," Xander told her.

"I am," Draco offered from his position next to the playpen. He stood up with a long groan. "I learned so I could ward the house. Are we warding against or putting up extensive shields around her?"

"We removed a demonic entity from her," Snape told him.

"Then we'll do both," Draco told her. "Molly, would you like to clean up first?" She nodded and Charlie helped her up to the bathroom. "Iggy, I need the usual things." Iggy nodded. "I don't care if you have to wake up the owner of the spell component's shop." He tossed him some money. "Tell him I'm doing a warding first and he should already have a package made up." Iggy disappeared, teleporting away. "Snape, go rest, my man. You did excellent." He headed up to do this in the nursery. It was the purest room in the house. As soon as Molly walked in, he locked the room from anyone interfering. "This won't hurt, but it is strange magic," he told her.

She smiled weakly. "I understand, Draco. Do whatever you have to."

He kissed her on the cheek. "I will protect you. That's why I learned it from Tara." He looked over as a bag of herbs, separated into smaller bags, appeared on one of the cribs. "Thank you, Ignatius. Good work." He broke open the bag and spread the smaller bags out. He turned and smiled but saw the strangeness still in her eyes. "Get out of her," he warned. "I am a higher power. I can beat you." He pulled his wand. "Out of her!" he warned.

Molly sighed and a bit of smoke came out of her ear. She looked at him. "Draco?" She looked around. "Where am I?"

"In the new house," he told her, starting the spell to ward her. He frowned at the bit of smoke hanging around. "Out," he told it. "I will summon something higher."

Iggy appeared behind him, arms crossed, glaring at the smoke. "Out," he ordered. "I am one of the guardians of this school. We can defeat you." He used his wand to clap a split ball around it, then sealed it as tightly as he could. "I'm going to Dumbledore with this," he said, taking it into his hands. "I'll be back." He smiled at his uncle. "You really learned this from Tara?"

Draco nodded. "I was bored so she offered to start teaching me her form of magic." He looked at the door and opened it for Tara. "Coming to help?"

"Yup." She smiled at Iggy and motioned him to leave. "Give that to Snape," she told him. "He'll deal with it." Iggy nodded and hurried out. She nodded at Draco to seal the door again. "Let's put on the super shields so we can eat," she said with a smile. He smiled back, it was their favorite pastime.

***

Later that night, a fight broke out. Tara kept protesting that she was fine, but everyone else wanted her to have the baby checked. Eventually, Xander waded into the fight and pouted, which made Tara give up. "Fine, but Snape has to tell me why the anti-stretchmark creme isn't working this time," she announced.

Snape gave her a speculative look. "If you wish," he told her. Internally he was sweating and nauseous. She wanted him to touch her. He took her arm to lead her up to the infirmary, stopping only to get a potion for her. She had some terrible heartburn due to the Mexican food Xander had went out and gotten for her. Once they were upstairs, Tara took off her shirt, showing off a very pretty bra and a bulging stomach. He hadn't realized she was so large already. He stepped back while Madam Pomfrey did her medical examination, readying himself to touch her. His hands were shaking when he laid his right hand over her navel.

She shivered. "You're cold," she told him with a smile. She stepped closer once the drapes were drawn to give them privacy. "Does she feel all right?"

"She feels fine. I'm going to look at her aura." He blinked when she smiled at him, that same warming smile that she gave Xander. He shivered and concentrated on his task. Surely she couldn't mean him to.... He stepped back abruptly. "I can't find a thing wrong with her."

"Would you please tell me why the stretch marks are back?"

He swallowed and stepped closer, reminding himself that he could only sully her by his touch so to get it over with. He ran a finger over the faint lines of her former stretch marks and then the few new ones she had. "I can make it stronger," he said eventually, not looking up at her.

She tipped his face up and gave him her brightest smile. "Good, because I wouldn't want horrible, nasty stretch marks to mar my natural beauty." He swallowed again, and strangely his mouth went dry. "You forget, Severus, I can hear thoughts as well," she whispered. "I have to be...close to the person, but you do broadcast quite well." She noticed his hand was still shaking. "You can touch. She seems to like you. Whenever she hears your voice she quits wiggling."

Snape's second hand came up and he cradled the bulge, feeling the warmth coming across. He could almost feel movement. He looked up at her and noticed how beautiful she looked in this harsh light. And that's when it hit him. She couldn't want him as more than a friend. He would sully her in so many ways.

She laughed. "I'm not as perfect as you think. I'm human, just like you are. I've had bad thoughts and done bad things too. Nothing too severe, but some bad things," she finished with a gentle smile. He stood up and hurried away. "You should know I hunted when I was younger," she called after him. "I will get what I want," she told herself as she put back on her shirt. "Xander will help me." She walked out and ran into one of the twins, she was guessing it was Fred since he looked so calm. "Everything's fine."

He gave her a look. Then he smiled. "What did you do that made Snape run?"

"I told him he could give me backrubs whenever he wanted," she said with a cocky smile.

He hissed. "That is one mountain of a task, young lady. Are you sure you want to take it on?"

"Yes, Fred, I'm sure," she said with her most smug grin. She strolled away. "I'll see you tomorrow."

"Yes, ma'am," he told her. "I'll bring stuff to help you hunt."

She laughed and waved. "Good. I'm a bit out of practice." She let him lead her back to the tower, where everyone got into the stomach rubbing action. Even Draco got stomach rubs from Molly, who was in awe of him. Apparently the entity had kept her so submerged that she didn't remember the last few months. It would be okay, because everyone was watching for a reoccurrence.

***

Xander accepted the message from the owl holding it, easily picking it out of the usual morning flurry of owls seeking attention because it was pure white and twice as large, a Ministry owl. The other owls flew off after getting some head scratches and a few nibbles of his breakfast, leaving Xander to read the official message and respond. He stood up, waving it. "We're getting tv channels," he said happily, showing the message off. He could have cable again! He stole a pen off a kid hastily scribbling an essay for a class that day and wrote a note, begging and pleading for it to happen soon and how much and would it be actual cable or a satellite setup? He sent it back with the owl and went to Murphy his husband.

Dumbledore watched Xander's back hurry out of the room. "I'd say he was happy about this."

"It's the only thing he missed from his muggle life," Lupin reminded him before taking a bite of toast.

"I've been wondering about this television stuff myself," Madam Sprout admitted. "Is it the same shows every week?"

"It's like a series of books," Tara told her. "A different chapter each week, but you get the same books every week."

"Oh," Madam Sprout said happily. "So you don't get bored?"

"Well, there are reruns, but half the time you get fresh stuff. And things change around every few months, shows leave because they didn't do well and new ones come on," She pushed her hair over her shoulder and thought about getting it trimmed later. It touched her shoulderblades now. "Over time, the series build and finish."

"More like the circle of life," Black said thoughtfully. "I wouldn't mind a shot at that."

"Don't watch soap operas. They're horribly addicting," Tara warned. "My mother used to drop everything to watch hers."

"I'll keep that in mind," he agreed, giving her a smile. She was glowing, very brightly, and it wasn't all pregnancy. "Tara, are you having a problem with holding in your magic?" Black asked her finally.

She nodded. "The baby's happy so I glow. It's a wonderful nightlight." A few of the teachers and nearby students looked at her. "I had the same problem last time. Willow got her hormone evilness and I glowed." She frowned. "And occasionally blinked and flashed." She shrugged it off. "It's my funny pregnancy problem."

"But surely it can't be good for you," Madam Sprout told her, hoping it wasn't hurting the nice young woman.

Tara shrugged. "My doctor doesn't find it more than odd. He said it's fine as long as I can still sleep at night."

Xander danced back in and hugged everyone, even Black, who shoved him away. "We're getting cable," he said happily, hugging Black again to annoy him. "I'm going to have noise again!" He danced over and hugged Tara. "You look so beautiful." He hugged Snape as he came in. "We're getting cable."

"Oh dear Merlin," he sighed, pushing Xander off him. "Settle down. It's not that momentous of an occasion." He noticed Tara's faint glow and raised an eyebrow. "Fairly happy today?" The glow brightened.

"The baby's happy," Lupin told him, smirking at his discomfort. "Apparently she likes your voice." He handed Tara her special pitcher of milk. "Drink it all, we want the baby to be healthy when it comes out."

Tara obediently poured out a mug of the milk and drank it to show she was being good. She smiled as Snape sat down in his usual spot, trying hard not to look at her. She belched. "Oh, sorry," she said, rubbing her stomach. She winced and Xander hurried to her side. "Easy, it's just a kick."

"Still," he said, kneeling beside her to rub her stomach. "Be easy on the mommy, little girl. She's a very special and nice lady." The baby kicked again, a flurry of movement, making Tara wince. "Lupin?"

"Coming." He came over and tried to calm the baby down, but she wasn't having it.

Both men looked at Snape. Everyone in the castle knew that he had some strange way of calming the baby down. Xander started to glare when he didn't take the hint, which made him sigh and put down his fork so he could come over and participate in this strange ritual. "Do calm down," he said as he put a hand on her stomach. A very strong kick to his hand and then nothing. "If you stay calm, your mother would appreciate it."

Tara smiled at him. "It looks like you've got the magic fingers." He blushed. "She likes you."

"I'm glad." He pulled away and went back to his breakfast, but she grunted in pain. Everyone shifted and his plate was moved for him before he could protest. He sat down and picked up his fork, taking a bite before anything else could happen. He felt a small hand touch his arm and looked at his breakfast partner. "Is this helping?"

"She's very calm," Tara told him, rubbing her stomach. "Thank you."

"You're welcome. I don't want to see you in pain either." He stuffed his mouth before he could say anything else. Her smile turned knowing. "Don't do that."

"I wasn't doing anything other than thinking it's nice to be special to someone." She picked up her muffin and nibbled. "Is the new creme ready yet?" He nodded. "Want to help me try it out today?" His fork paused then continued on the way to his mouth. "I can't reach the ones coming in on my back."

"I can help you find something for that," he told her. He could hopefully improvise something without having to touch her again. She smiled at him again. Infuriating woman. "Keep that up," he said quietly, "and I won't help you at all."

She ate some more of her muffin. "I'm not doing anything. I'm a good girl, remember?"

He mentally groaned. He had deserved that.

***

Snape looked over as Tara walked into his classroom, noticing she had locked the door behind herself. It was convenient that she had the same free period as he had. He blinked as she started to disrobe. "That is not necessary," he told her, turning away, thankful that he hadn't squeaked that out.

"How can you help with the stretch marks if you can't see them?" she asked reasonably. She took off her shirt and put it on the desk, then climbed up to sit beside the clothes. "Okay, I'm ready," she said. Today she had on a sports bra so it covered more of her. She noticed he blushed when he saw her. "I'm sorry this embarrasses you," she said as he moved closer.

"It's not a problem. I've often been called upon to provide cremes for skin conditions. Yours is not the first body I've touched." He swallowed and mentally slapped himself for saying that. He uncapped the pot of creme and handed it to her. "Let me see if this works better." He dipped a finger in and rubbed it across one of the older stretch marks. It faded a bit. "That should help," he announced, stepping away from her.

"What about the ones on my back?" she asked, shifting so he could see the darker, harsher stretch marks. "I swear I felt one rip last night."

He dipped out more of the creme and spread it on her back, making her sigh in relief. It didn't fade but it didn't look as angry. "I think it will help those as well."

"Yeah, but I can't reach them to put the stuff on," she told him.

"I'm sure Ignatius would be more than happy to help you," he told her.

"First thing in the morning? Have you see him before breakfast?" she asked, but she was smiling. "Madam Pomfrey is filled with the morning medicine rounds. And I can't really go up to the other teachers and ask them to do it."

"Not even Xander?" he suggested.

"Which would mean that he'd have to get up," she said dryly. "In case you haven't noticed, he doesn't like doing that."

He sighed. "Fine, I can help you with it." She beamed at him and her radiance flashed. "That makes you happy?"

"Yes. Our friendship makes me really happy," she told him. Her eyes went wide and her hands went to her stomach. "Oh."

Snape put his hands beside hers and felt. The baby shifted and pressed back against him, and he felt a small tickle of power coming from it. "Oh, dear," he said, backing away from her. "She'll have to be shielded."

Tara nodded. "Please. That sent a shock up my spine. It was like ...." She blushed and shook her head. "Never mind."

He nodded, understanding. This was often compared to an orgasm running up your spine. "I understand. Do you want to go to the infirmary now or should I call your doctor first?"

"The infirmary might be nice," she told him, standing up. She wobbled a bit and clutched his arms. "I think she's still doing it." She giggled. "We're going to have to do something about this."

He helped her back into her shirt and robe, careful not to touch her more than necessary. He walked her out into the hall and up the stairs, brushing off the worried-looking students. "She's fine, the baby's magically active," he said finally. "Someone go get Harris if you must." A few students went running. He walked her into the infirmary and nodded her to a bed while he went to find the nurse. "The baby's magically active," he said as they walked back. Xander was hugging her as tightly as he could and Tara was giving them a 'help me' look. "It's fine, Harris. It happens quite often." Xander let her go and gave him an intense look. "I would let nothing happen to that child, or the mother," he reminded him quietly. Xander nodded and calmed down, climbing in and letting Tara rest against his chest. "Your doctor is being called." He was rudely pushed out of the way as Iggy ran to the bed and pressed his head against Tara's stomach. "She's fine," he repeated.

"Son, apologize," Xander told him.

Iggy looked confused, then looked around. "Sorry, Professor Snape. I didn't see you." He grinned. "I heard she was having problems and I got worried."

"I'll forgive it this time," he said with a scowl. He looked around as Madam Pomfrey came out of her office, smiling. "Good news?"

"It's going to be a few moments, he's in the middle of a delivery, but as soon as he can get here he will." She came and ran a hand over Tara's stomach. "Are you sure?" Her eyes went wide as the baby sent another 'feeler' out, making Tara moan and Iggy giggle. "Never mind. I guess Professor Snape was right." She pulled him over and put his hand on the poor girl's stomach. She knew Tara fancied him, and it was just as obvious that he fancied her. So she would meddle. Xander watched them like the baby was going to come out right then. "Xander, you'll have to let her lie down when the doctor gets here," she warned.

"I'm comfy," Tara told her. "It's okay." She smiled at the school nurse, silently thanking her. "Does she feel okay?"

"She feels fine," Snape assured her. He looked over as someone came jogging in. "Weasley," he said, getting out of Ron's way.

Ron put his head on her stomach and stopped, listening. He looked up. "She's happy, but she wants something."

"You did that a lot with...her?" Tara asked gently. Ron nodded.

"Did you get good at it?" Xander asked.

Ron nodded. "Reasonably so. I think it's apple juice." He frowned. "Why would you want apple juice?"

"Because it's my favorite," Tara told him. She smiled at Xander. "Please?" He nodded and slid out of the bed, laying her down gently. "Thank you, Xander."

"You're welcome. I've got some in the fridge." He walked out quickly, going to get her the baby's heart's desire.

Ron looked impressed. "He's going to spoil you rotten," he said in awe. "He won't even do that for George."

Tara laughed. "Yes he will, for some things." She pulled Snape back at the first kick, putting his hand on her stomach, which made Ron cover up a laugh by coughing. "He's run to London before to get George some ice cream when he wanted some a few weeks ago."

"I forgot about that," Ron told her. He sat on the foot of the bed, watching as those long, thin, cold fingers gently massaged the taut flesh. "Is she okay?"

"She's leaking magic," Snape told him. "It's a common occurrence." The gong to change classes sounded. "Don't you have class, Weasley?"

"So do you," Ron pointed out. "For that matter, so does Xander. Guess we're having a mass study hall today."

Dumbledore walked in, smiling at everyone. "I hear there's a new development with the child?" He took in everyone's positions before Xander slid around him. "Apple juice, a very nice choice." He looked at Ron and Xander. "I can watch her for you if you'd like to head back to your classes," he suggested mildly. Xander frowned. "Xander, you do have a duty to your students to fill their minds with visions of horrible creatures that they'll have to defend themselves against some day." Xander's pout got bigger. "Now, please, boys." He and Ron both trooped out, much to Tara's amusement. "Severus, I believe you have a class also? I will stay and watch Professor Maclay until she's better." Tara shook her head. "I assure you, I can keep the little one calm." Tara shook her head again and her radiance flashed brightly. "If you're sure," he told her. He reached over and touched her stomach, which made her wince and grab her head. "Oh, I'm sorry," he said, stepping back.

"Since when have succubi been allowed in the school?" she asked him. Snape looked down at her in shock. "The baby's been stimulating my psychic side for a few weeks now. This is the second vision I've had, nothing major or bad so far," she assured him quickly. She looked at Dumbledore. "She's Swedish? I thought all the succubi were demonic."

"Sometimes they're changed humans," Dumbledore told her. "And not all of them are bad, Tara."

"Oh, I know," she agreed. "But the baby doesn't like them."

Dumbledore laughed. "You're saying the baby can tell?"

"It is Xander's," she said in perfect deadpan. "It would know."

"And we did just deal with a demon yesterday," Snape put in. "It could have sensitized the infant."

Dumbledore looked at them. "I think that'd be a bit amazing."

"Then touch my stomach again, she'll talk to you too," Tara told him. She watched as the older man's hand touched her stomach and he flinched. She looked at Snape. "You think he's fine?"

"He'll be fine once he's free of the taint," Snape agreed. They had discovered that the baby tended to drive demons insane yesterday with Molly. Dumbledore stumbled backwards. "Feeling better now?" he asked.

Dumbledore blinked a few times. "I've never felt anyone that strong." He looked at the mother. "Most of it was you."

She nodded. "Most of it is me. The baby's not going to be more powerful than Iggy, but right now she's bleeding off me. Adrian did the same thing but no one noticed that any half-demons near us tended to move away. Willow noticed it first."

"Does Xander know?" the Headmaster asked.

Tara shrugged. "Not a single idea. You'd have to ask him." She grinned. "And that would mean telling him, which would upset him and make him stick me in a bed until I'm ready to deliver."

Albus smiled. "Touche," he agreed. "Though I was handling my companion quite well. She'll be rather upset that her marks were removed."

"Is she reformed?" Snape asked.

Dumbledore nodded. "Truly. We met while touring a magical section of the catacombs in Paris. One of the holy ones."

"Then I'm all for it and I won't tell Xander," Tara told him. "I'll even try to keep the little girl out of it."

"No names yet?"

"Not yet," Tara told the nurse. She smiled as her doctor walked in. "The baby's been broadcasting."

"I noticed your glow was brighter," he told her. He smiled at the Headmaster. "Hello, Albus. How is McGonagall?"

"Fine," he assured him, smiling at Tara. "Do keep your promise." Tara nodded. He leaned down to kiss her cheek. "I do know what I'm doing, young lady. I'm just as much of an adult as you are," he whispered.

"Yes, you are," she agreed, giving him a kiss on the cheek. "But you're still human." He laughed as he pulled back. "I won't tell. As long as you're safe." He nodded and left them alone. "I'm not only broadcasting, but the baby's sending funny signals up my spine that are making me sigh and get warm. Also, the baby's got an intolerance for anything slightly demonic in nature."

"A very odd thing," the doctor said as he pulled a chair over. "How many demons have you run into?"

"One full one and a taint," Snape told him. "Plus she just had a vision."

The doctor nodded. "Tara mentioned having some divination gifts when we first met." He looked at Tara, the question clear in his eyes.

"The baby likes him and quits moving and kicking me when he's touching her."

Snape realized he was still touching her stomach and removed his hand. The baby visibly moved. "She'll have to get over it. I can't teach classes with you attached to my hand," he noted dryly.

Tara smiled at him. "That's okay. We'll figure that part out later, when you take me to dinner?" Snape raised an eyebrow. "I'll buy," she told him. "It's in thanks for making her quit doing this." She squeaked as the baby sent another shot up her spine. "Hand," she demanded, taking his hand and putting it back on her stomach. It quit. "See," she told him. "You can't leave until they make her quit doing that. Or I won't be responsible for what happens."

Dr. Latimer clicked his tongue. "Then you may stay until I have the baby shielded," he said with all practicality. He understood that she was quite emotional right now and this was just making it worse. "It shouldn't take too long." He pulled up his bag and opened it, pulling out some instruments. "Do you want to help?"

Snape shook his head and backed up a few steps, but kept his hand on her stomach.

***

Draco sat on the couch and watched as the Minister of Technology set up Xander's tv as a test case, wondering why there were so many wires. As soon as it was hooked up, Xander flopped into his chair and turned it on, smiling at the game show that was on. "I've got tv," he told Draco happily, sounding like a kid with a new, popular toy.

"So I can tell." He tipped his head. "Why are they running through a grocery store?"

"Oh, I remember this one," Xander said happily. "They're trying to get the most groceries so the winners can race around looking for five thousand dollars."

"Muggles think up strange things to amuse themselves," Draco said, looking at the Minister. "Is that all there is to it?"

Xander picked up the new remote and changed the channel, smiling. "Movie channels." He picked up the card and flipped to MTV. "And music."

"Turn that shit off!" Fred yelled from the lab. He stomped down and grabbed the remote, turning it down and flipping the channel. He stopped when he saw animals giving birth. "Eww. That's rather graphic." He handed the remote back. "No more loud noise. I'm working on something delicate." He went back to his project.

Xander flipped to one of the music channels, no videos just music, and left it there. "There, that should make him happy," he said.

Draco looked at him. "There's no picture."

"It's a music channel," the minister told him. He looked at Xander. "You'll test this for us, young man?"

"If you take it back, I'm hunting you down and making you want to give it back," Xander said with all seriousness. The Minister laughed. "I'm not joking. I've went eleven years without cable and only having movies. If you take it, I'm hunting you down and making you sorry."

The Minister smiled at him. "That would be fine, young man." He sat on the small loveseat and pointed at the remote. "I don't know how to work that, will you show me?"

"Sure," Xander said happily, turning it to the settings. "Hmm, can't block out channels, but I can do something." He switched it to the parental controls' section. "This will probably be the most common request. It'll block out stuff that's not appropriate for a child."

"Like what?" Draco asked.

"Porn," Xander told him. "Things with blood, guns, violent and nasty stuff." He showed how it worked, letting the Minister play with it. "Yeah, that's it." He changed it to the setting he wanted, giving them a passcode for the more adult fare. Then he switched it to the guide channel, showing him how that worked.

Draco watched the tutorial. He had nothing better to do during the day while his house was being built and his finances were being looked after for him.

***

George walked in and stopped, watching Draco watch tv. "Which movie is that?"

"Game show network," he said faintly. "Muggles are stranger creatures than I thought. They think up some very odd things to amuse themselves." He pointed the remote at the tv and changed it to one of the music channels, the ones without the video. "Isn't this neat?" he asked above the Country music.

"It's horrid, change it," George complained. He watched as Draco picked up a sheet of paper with numbers on it. "Change it to something we can all enjoy before dinner."

"Dinner was over an hour ago," Draco told him. "Xander had the house elves put you something in the refrigerator." He changed it to a classical station. "How's that?"

"Much nicer," George told him, going to get his dinner. He pulled out the slabs of meat and potatoes, sitting down in Xander's chair to eat. "Where's the hubby?"

"Napping. One of his students did something so dumb it gave him a headache." Draco shifted, holding his stomach so he could move more easily. "They had to shield Tara earlier. The baby was leaking magic." The meat paused on the way to the intended target. "It's not something serious, but it had to be taken care of because it's like shooting constant orgasms up the spine." He patted himself on the stomach. "I was warned to call immediately if it happened to me. It happens more among the gryphon-born."

"It's not serious?" George asked.

"No. It means that the baby was sending out magical...tentacles is the best I can describe it, and they were coming out to do a bit of exploring. Most of them went up her spinal cord, making it feel like she was getting off. She told me she got quite warm waiting on the doctor."

"And you're not having any yet?" George asked.

Draco shook his head. "First one I do, I'll be sharing the information," he promised.

"Good. I guess we should spoil her rotten this weekend."

"She'd like that," Draco agreed. "Maybe bring her up here and rest with her all weekend?"

"You don't think she's like to go to a movie or something?"

"No. She's still in that tired phase. If you both lavish attention on her this weekend she'll be over the moon. Especially if you treat her like you do Xander."

"I can do that," George told him, using some of the cold meat to scoop up the potatoes. "Do you know what they did?"

"Said something that made him come up and miss dinner."

"Hmm. I'll ask him myself when I go up." He finished up his dinner and put the plate aside. "Now, how do you work this thing?"

Draco handed him the remote and showed him how to work it, and the passcode for the adult settings.

***

Iggy walked into the restricted section of the library; he was one of three people allowed in here. He walked through the Slytherin collection, ending up in front of a locked case. He pulled out the key and unlocked it, gently pulling out the book that had the potion and spell he was looking for. He relocked the case and walked back out to the study tables, it was quiet up here and he could easily copy off the stuff he needed. He set himself up to work, copying quickly so he could go find components.

This was the one he needed to fix all these nasty problems he was having.

***

Xander and George carefully laid down on the other side of the bed from Tara, she was resting from the excellent back and foot rubs she had received. Xander grinned at his mate. This spoiling was making him happy. George leaned over and gave him a short kiss, but Xander caught his head before it could move and deepened it. George moaned into his mouth, which made Xander even more happy. He pulled his mate closer, wrapping himself around his mate's body, losing himself in his mouth. By that time, they had forgotten Tara was lying next to them.

George's wand came up and stripped them both, sending their clothes shooting across the room. "Love, more," George gasped as a cool hand wrapped around him. Xander agreed and shifted around, giving him the one thing that he loved almost as much as real sex. He gladly reciprocated.

On the other side of the bed, Tara blushed and rolled away from them, not wanting to intrude. She couldn't believe they had started to do that in front of her. The moans were ringing around the room, making her get warm and happy herself, but she couldn't do anything about it right then. The bed dipped again and George's long, drawn-out moan was almost primal, it sent shivers up her spine. She glanced back but they were facing the other way and Xander was taking it this time. Her blush got brighter and she quickly faced the other wall. She hoped her intended, if she ever caught him, would be that passionate with her. It would be wonderful. She gently stroked her stomach, soaking up the waves of passion they were flooding the room with. She smiled and drifted off to sleep floating on them. One of her hands stroked her breast, following the will of the pictures in her mind.

Xander's yell almost woke her, but not enough to really wake her up.

The person pounding on the door did though.

"What?" Xander called. He pulled his mate's wand over and got them a blanket. Snape walked in, scowling at them. "What's wrong now?"

"You have to have a talk with you house," he ground out. "I caught three of the fifth years stealing my supplies." He paused, taking in their obvious state of undress, and the woman lying on the other side of the bed. "Are you trying to harm the baby?" he demanded. "You can't do that around it!"

"It's not born yet," George told him. "It can't see us. Besides, she's asleep. We knocked her out with foot and back rubs."

"Relax, Snape, it's all good," Xander told him calmly. "If Tara had minded, she would have hit us with something."

Snape's eyes narrowed. "Still, you're probably broadcasting and the baby can pick that up."

"Then it'll know that her fathers love each other," Xander told him. He smiled. "But I'll let you save her from our lecherousness if you promise to bring her back later on." Snape scowled at him. "It was kind of obvious," Xander told him. "Go ahead and save her. We'll kidnap her again later."

Snape picked up Tara, cradling her gently in his arms. "Do talk to the errant idiots. The Head Boy is presently reaming them out as well."

"I'll do that as soon as we get dressed," Xander told him. "Thank you for bringing this to our attention." He noticed George was opening his mouth and squeezed some muscles to make him close it again. "Give us five and I'll go yell."

Snape nodded. "See that you do." He stormed out with Tara, taking her for her protection. As he carried her back to his rooms, his mind was screaming at him about what he was doing. He settled her onto his couch and covered her gently, then went to finish his inventory in the next room. He blocked out the protests of his mind, ignoring the rational arguments for his carrying her up to her room.

***

Xander walked into the Gryffindor common room, scowl firmly in place. "Here, now!" he yelled. Gregory, the Head Boy, looked over at him, then pointed at a small room off to the side, his room as it happened. "Thank you. What did they steal?"

"Professor Snape caught them stealing the ingredients for a love potion. Or it could create a potion to make someone want sex, no matter if they wanted it before the potion or not."

"Wonderful," Xander said warmly. "Expect yelling." He walked over to the room and unlocked the door, walking inside and shutting and locking it again. "Tell me what you thought you were doing," he demanded. He frowned when he realized the Captain of the Quidditch team was one of them. "Explanations would be the only thing saving you right now," he reminded them.

"Where's Professor Weasley?" Reggie asked. "He's our head."

"Yay. He's out today so that leaves me in charge, boys." He stepped closer. "Be thankful. He'd be beating you by now with a bludger bat." Reggie swallowed. "Last chance. Explain, now!"

"We wanted a ... potion to help a girl like us," Reggie told him.

"Does she like you already?" Xander asked. Reggie shrugged. "Have you ever thought about asking her instead of taking away her free will. Which by the way would be called rape!" he shouted. "You are in such deep shit it's not funny." All three boys nodded. "Not only am I sending phoenix letters to your parents, we're going to see Dumbledore right now." He unlocked the door and froze their ability to protest, marching them out of the house and to the office.

Dumbledore walked in a moment behind them. "Xander, I did ask you not to freeze students in that manner," he chided gently.

"Snape caught them stealing potion ingredients so they could do the same thing to a girl," he explained. "I thought it fitting."

Dumbledore nodded. "Yes, I would agree." He sat behind his desk. "Where is your co-head?"

"With Molly in London this weekend, shopping for things for the triplets." He crossed his arms and looked at the boys, who all flinched. "Who was it?" he demanded.

"Simone," one boy whispered.

Xander barely kept himself from hitting the kid. "My eleven-year-old niece?" The boy stepped away from him. "Do you think that pitiful distance will save you?" he growled.

"Xander," Dumbledore snapped. "Go check on Simone, get letters ready, and bring them up here so I can sign them with you." Xander nodded, stomping out. "Boys, you have just made the greatest mistakes of your life," he told them seriously. "I can't overlook this as a childish prank. Nor would I even if I could. Do you have anything to say that might mitigate my response?"

Reggie stepped forward. "We weren't really planning on using it, sir. She's an attractive girl and she likes at least one of us. We were going to make her admit which one it was." He swallowed at the hateful look the headmaster was giving him. "We weren't going to hurt her."

Dumbledore shook his head. "Not only have you just done something so evil that only Voldemort would do, something that not even most of his followers would do upon his orders, but you were about to do it to a young lady who has no idea what liking a boy means." He stood up. "Your parents will be here when I decide your fate. For now, I'm going to lock you three in a room so you cannot harm anyone else." He flicked his wand at them and made them walk down the stairs, leading them to Xander's old room. He locked them inside, then turned to find Professor Black standing there. "Did you have something to add?"

"I'm missing something from my office too," he admitted. "I'm missing a copy of the Marauder's map, the one we made last year to replace Harry's copy."

Dumbledore sighed. "I'm not sure Agatha doesn't have that," he told him. "I will have their things searched though." Black nodded. "Can you and a few other teachers please guard this entryway, just in case they try to escape?"

"Of course, Albus. What about the windows?"

"I'll fix them in a moment," he said with a smile. "I had better go calm down Xander and Mr. Malfoy before they do something horrible and start to destroy things in their rage." He walked away, going to Gryffindor house because he knew Xander and Draco were there. He smiled at the concerned parents. "We can test her for it," he told Draco quietly. He nodded and walked his daughter to the doorway, waiting the halls. "We'll be taking administrative action," he told Xander. "Do call Ron back and give them a lecture tonight. Finish those letters and bring them to me so I can have them sent out by Fawkes."

"We can use the chicks," Xander reminded him. "They're lounging around being bored."

Dumbledore smiled. "Most people don't know which one is Fawkes anyway," he agreed. "Get them done in the next hour please." He patted the young professor on the back. "Do try not to get huffy with the others tonight, my boy, they didn't do anything." He smiled at the Head Boy before leaving them alone.

Xander looked at Gregory. "We're having a house meeting tonight. Get everyone up here and waiting after dinner." He turned and walked away, going to write letters from the infirmary so he could be there for Draco and Simone.

***

Tara woke up with a yawn and a stretch, and realized she wasn't on the bed anymore. She blinked up at the blue ceiling. "Why am I here?" she asked quietly, looking around. Professor Snape stood up from in front of the fire and handed her a mug of soup. "Thank you," she said as she sat up. "Did you save me from the rampaging couple?"

Snape nodded. "I thought it best that the baby not feel that activity yet," he told her quietly. He sat on the other end of the couch. "How do you feel?"

"Fine," she admitted, blushingly lightly. She smiled when he patted her on the arm. "It affected me," she told him. "They love each other so much. It'd be nice to have someone that passionate about me."

"Willow wasn't?" he asked. Then he realized and shook his head. "I'm sorry to pry."

Tara laughed. "That's okay. We're buddies. Lupin asked that last year when he found out we used to be together." She sipped at the soup and moaned in pleasure. "This is great," she told him.

"A simple restorative. It's my own recipe," he said with a slight smirk.

"Well, you do good," she told him with a bright smile. "And no, being with Willow was much more ...tame. We never had that *need* to go make out, or even to grope. There was never that urgency or that feeling that it would all end if you didn't touch right then." She drank more of the soup. "You'll have to make this for me again," she told him, putting the empty mug aside. "That was excellent." She curled up on the other end of the couch, facing him. "I've always wanted someone who wanted me enough to pull me into a shadowy corner and kiss me stupid."

He nodded. "Many people want that." He watched her grimace, then looked at her stomach, watching the ripples move across it. "Is she active today?"

"She's always active when I wake up," Tara told him. "She loves waking up." She shifted closer and picked his hand and put it on her stomach, letting him feel it. He let it rest there then pulled back a few minutes later. "Does that bother you?"

He shook his head. "Not in the least. It's intriguing to feel her move around, but she can't get used to it."

"She could if you would accommodate her," Tara teased.

Snape shook his head. "I can't teach my classes with my hand on your stomach. It would ruin my carefully crafted reputation."

"True," she agreed, still smiling, "but you could pop in on my classes. I have a couple of spells that will require potions next month."

He nodded. "Tell me before you do them, I'll stop by to offer some help to the usual assortment of clueless bunglers."

She lightly slapped at his arm. "They are not. Just because they're students doesn't mean that they don't know anything."

"Almost no students show any talent for potion making," he argued.

"Yay, that doesn't make them bunglers. That makes them need to work harder in your class or just get through them like most of them do. Just because they're not going to follow in your footsteps doesn't make them any less intelligent. It makes them more likely to follow in Ron's footsteps," she told him with a grin when he started to frown.

He snorted. "Weasley has said that they're not any good in there either." He noticed her eyes widened and leaned closer. "What's wrong?"

"She's doing it again," Tara told him, reaching for his hand again. It stopped that shooting feeling. "Can you feel it?"

"Yes." He got her to her feet, stretching her up. "Stay there." He knelt in front of her and rested his head against her stomach, listening to the baby's movements. One of her hands came down and stroked through his hair. "You don't have to..." he started.

"I want to," she told him, smiling down at him. "Can you make her stop that?"

"I think I can." He strengthened the shields around her, giving the emotional energy somewhere else to bleed off into. He stood up, looking down at her. She was really tiny next to him. "I've created an outlet for the excess emotional energy. She probably got a shot from the act you were witness to."

Tara blushed. "I couldn't believe they did that beside me when they started, but somehow it felt so right," she admitted quietly. She stepped closer to him and kissed him on the cheek. "Thank you, Severus."

His mind moaned. Her drawl, lightened over the years she had been there, made his name sound like a moan. He found himself shaking with the need to touch her again.

She smiled at him. "Can I give you a hug?" she asked.

He crushed her to his chest, holding her tightly. "I'm unused to people caring," he told her.

"I know, but I do." She tipped her head back and smiled at him, then gave him a light kiss on the lips. "I'll let you be as confused as you want," she told him. "It's not like I've been here before."

His eyes widened. "But.. Adrian," he protested.

"Baster." He blinked. "It was only Willow who touched me then," she explained, sitting them back down to lessen the height difference. "She got a tad bit jealous, even though she and Giles did...that."

He quit gaping, shaking himself mentally. And she liked him?

"It's obviously a sign of my good taste," she told him, reading him easily.

He laughed. "Yes, you do show good taste in most things." He reached over and touched her stomach. "If anything would happen, I would want to take it slowly."

"Slow I can do," she agreed. "Like dating slow or like working up from holding hands in the halls?" She laughed. "Sorry, but the look on your face for that suggestion was funny."

He scowled at her. "Don't laugh at me."

"I wasn't, Severus. I was laughing at the look on your face. You got this totally horrified look when I suggested us holding hands in the hallway." She leaned in and kissed him on the cheek. "I was laughing at the horror you expressed, not at you," she whispered in his ear. "You're mine, I would never laugh at you."

"Yours?" he asked.

Tara nodded. "Totally mine. And I'm possessive." Her aura flashed. "See, the baby agrees."

He chuckled lightly. "I'm glad the baby agrees with your plans to capture me."

"But never tame you," she assured him. "I like my wild beasts." He blushed and she grinned at him. "You think you're not wild?"

"I don't know," he admitted. "I never thought of myself as a beast."

"All humans are beasts," she pointed out. "Some of us are just more beastly than others."

"Like Lupin," he said with a frown.

She smacked at him again. "Yes, and I'm going to stay friends with him. No matter how much you dislike him. It's not like he had any say over what happened that night."

"He told you?"

"Black told me," she told him. "To try and explain why you loathe them so." She shifted closer. "Remus told me he didn't know what was going to happen. He wasn't in on it." She laid a hand on his cheek. "Can you please stop hating Remus so much?"

"You're not asking for your other *friend*?"

"No. Black and I aren't friends like Remus and I are. We're more acquaintances who talk a lot. Remus and I are real friends. We talk all the time and even do corny things like go to the movies together. Black and I are more drinkin' buddies."

Snape burst out laughing. "Drinking buddies?" he asked. She nodded, smiling. "I've never heard such a nice young woman use that phrase before."

She climbed onto his lap, straddling his thighs. "I'm not as nice and pure as you think." She stole a kiss. She moved his arms around her waist. "Being a cold virgin will only turn me on further," she said when he didn't move. One of the hands stroked her back gently. "I meant it," she warned before diving into his mouth. "Shy people turn me on."

He smiled and kissed her. She was definitely not like he had imagined.

"Nope, I'm not the pure Goddess most of the time," she agreed. "I'm just a woman who's very nice. Sometimes."

He laughed harder. "So I can see. Is that comfortable for you?" he asked.

"Well, no. Usually I happen to like being on my back by now, preferably with the hint of ravishment floating through the air."

He moved her onto her back on the couch, leaning over top of her. "That could become quite uncomfortable for you." He patted her on the stomach.

Tara nodded. "But we can cuddle if you'd like to go that slowly," she offered. She pushed him back into a sitting position and crawled into his lap, leaning against his chest, her legs resting on the couch. He wrapped his arms around her. "See, this is nice."

"Very nice," he agreed. He let his mind argue out the point of letting her do this without him.

***

Ron stepped out of the main floo at the school and looked around. Only Remus Lupin was in there waiting on him. "What's going on now?" he asked as he walked into the room.

"Bit of a problem with your house," Lupin told him. "Three of the students in your house were found stealing spell components."

"And?" Ron asked. "That's not enough to call me back from time with my mum." He crossed his arms at the wince. "And?" he asked again.

"Um, they were making a spell to take away the free will of a young woman in their house." Ron nodded slowly, motioning him to go on. "Their target was Simone."

"What the bloody hell were they thinking!" Ron shouted. "She's a little girl!"

"Yes," Lupin agreed, "she is. And they're presently in a locked room waiting on their parents to come pick them up," he pointed out. "But Dumbledore asked that you and Xander talk to your house tonight."

"Is Simone okay?"

"We're waiting on word from upstairs," Lupin said as he walked him out. "Draco and Xander are upstairs waiting with her." He watched as Ron took off for the infirmary at a run. "Well," he said with a smile.

Ron ran into the infirmary, running into Xander before he could stop. "Is she okay?"

"So far," Simone told him. "We're still waiting on test results." She shrugged. "Can I help ream the house out tonight?"

"Do you really want them to know the arseholes were coming after you?" Xander asked her.

She shrugged. "As long as I'm okay, I'm fine with it. As far as I know they didn't touch me."

Ron walked over to Draco and held out his hand. "Are you okay?" he asked when it was shaken.

"I'm fine," Draco said quietly. "She's fine as far as we know." He looked at the annoyance in his life. "Are you going to hit them?"

"More than once," Ron said darkly. Xander nodded, that sounded like a plan to him. He clapped Draco on the back. "If you need to talk, I'm going to be around. Just yell my way and we'll go have a beer or three." He clapped him on the back again. "Don't worry, they'll be punished."

Draco nodded, watching his daughter.

She sighed and went back to her novel. It was hard being the first daughter. At least her mother wasn't here, yet.

***

Iggy slipped into the locked room and locked it again behind him. He looked at the three boys, glaring in his best imitation of his father. "What did you think you were doing?" he hissed. "Reggie? Turning on a member of your team. And the other two of you, trying to molest a little girl."

"Why? Are you going to fight us?" one of the other two boys sneered.

"Yes," Iggy told him. "I can do that." He looked him over. "Be thankful it's me and not her father, my fathers, or my cousins. Denver would kill you. Painfully and slowly."

The second boy got up and strode over, tapping him on the forehead. "We're older than you, twice your size..."

"And obviously have half the brains," Iggy interrupted. "You're a dead man, Frederick. This is fair warning." The boy tried to shove him and Iggy punched him in the stomach, making him grunt in pain. "Remember, I grew up around older boys," he hissed. "I was taught to fight by some of the dirtiest assholes in the world. I can beat you." He shoved the boy back and glared at the other two, who were now standing. "You had better *pray* that we never meet again. Because otherwise, you're going to be sorry. And if I find out that you actually touched my cousin, you'll die. Horribly and painfully as only I can give you." He turned and walked out, very proud of himself for not attacking. He locked the door with a spell only his father knew how to counter and walked away, whistling. He headed up to the infirmary, with a quick-stop off campus to get her a rose. He strolled in, smiling at his cousin. "Are you sprung yet?"

"Not yet," Simone said dryly. She squealed when she saw the flower. "For me?"

"For you," he agreed, handing it over to her. He looked at his fathers. "I changed the lock spell on their door," he told them, grinning wickedly. "Let them suffer." He helped Simone off the bed and led her out into the hall, taking her back to the house. "They'll come find you when they get the results back," he assured her, strolling with her. "Melvin sedated Denver when he heard. He's being babysat by the rest of the house so he doesn't go tearing them up." They made it to the main hallway and found Xander waiting on them, shaking his head. "Denver's worried," he tried.

"Infirmary, in case we need to give her an antidote or something," Xander told him, giving his son a smile. He handed Simone a small necklace, now that her father couldn't see. "For your birthday," he told her with a wink, walking her back that way. She deserved presents. He paused to look around; he could swear someone was watching them. He shook it off and continued on his way to put her back into a bed for now.

***

In London, Molly sighed and put down the Daily Prophet, special edition. She didn't know how those evil reporters got their information so fast. She would have to pop over tomorrow and check on her granddaughter. No wonder Ron had left in such a hurry. She stood up, leaving a nice tip on the table for her waitress, and left to finish her shopping for the triplets. Those three needed some clothes desperately. They were hanging out of what they had and Ravena's weren't good enough anymore.

Someone else walked over and picked up the paper, taking it back to her table to read. She frowned. He had more children? She snorted and put down the paper. Well, those boys were dead if he had kept up his old ways. She picked it up and reread the article. He was what? Oh, did she ever have a plan now.

***

Xander looked over as Ron joined him in the house, he had to go check on the kids first. A quick headcount was done and then the door was locked. "Guys, sit," he said firmly. "Something happened earlier and we've got to talk." Most of the kids moved closer, sitting and leaning against the comfy furniture.

"Earlier, Professor Snape found three of you taking ingredients to make a potion to strip someone of their will to say no," Ron told them. All the older girls but Hedre, the former Head Girl, hissed. "Needless to say they're being expelled."

Xander nodded, crossing his arms, his cane resting against his leg. "That's not all. Professor Snape did an inventory and found that those components were lower than they should have been if this had been the first theft." People started to talk among themselves. "Shut it," he ordered coldly. A few of the kids flinched. "Now, if the potions are still around, we want them. I will have them sitting on the mantle of our fireplace by morning. If they're there, then we won't be conducting a search."

The Head Boy raised a hand. "What if they've used them, sir?"

"If they don't appear by first class, and they're not found in a search, then Madam Pomfrey will be drawing blood from *everybody* in the school to find out who it was used on so they can get some help," Ron told him.

"Now," Xander continued. "Somehow this has made it into the paper. I don't want to think the worst of any of you. So if you know who has it, a note on the fireplace will also be accepted. Anybody found with the potion will be put under veritassium and given a chance to defend themselves before they're expelled. If we find out that you knew they had it and didn't say anything, then you're on suspension to the house until the end of the year. That means you'll be repeating this year." Xander glanced around. "I won't demand that you come forward in front of everybody. I won't even demand that you give us your name if you *accidentally* find the missing potions. But if I find you with it, you will wish you had never met me."

Ron laid a hand on his arm. "Since we know that they had friends in other houses, their heads are giving them the same speech, with threats of death from Professor Snape for the Slytherins." A few kids nodded. "Not that they'd do anything like this, it's above most of their abilities and thought processes."

"That's not fair," Xander pointed out. "Some of them are smart and able to do this, but they'd consider this beneath them." He looked at the crowd of students again. "Like I said, we don't want to think the worst of any of you, but right now that's really hard." He uncrossed his arms and grabbed his cane. "We're going to leave the living room free tonight so you can sneak in without being seen." He looked at Hedre. "If one of the ladies in this house thinks that it may have been used on her, please see Madam Pomfrey immediately so we can do the blood work. It takes a few hours, but it's worth it to know."

"We like you guys immensely," Ron finished, "but right now we're ready to beat the shit out of someone and if I find one of you had the potion you'll be sorry." He left, slamming the portrait behind him.

"Just think, he's upset because this was his house," Xander said in a lighter tone. "You really don't want to know what he'd do if he catches you with it."

Gregory stood up. "Sir, we seem to be missing some people. What do you want us to do about that?"

"There are three who are in quarantine until their parents get here," Xander told him. "For the team, I think they should have a meeting very soon. If the other two had positions within the house, it's up to you to fill them, Gregory." He left, closing the portrait behind him.

Gregory turned to look at his house. "If you're found with that potion, and it's yours, you had better pray to any and all Gods and Goddesses that you run into them first," he told his housemates. "The quidditch team will be meeting in my room in a few minutes. The rest of you, go gossip or whatever in your dorms. The common area is closed so anyone can sneak it out of their neighbor's things. Prefects, we'll meet tomorrow before breakfast." Everyone but the team filed out. "Your guys are welcome to use my room or to use the common area, just don't be too long so it can be snuck out if it's in here," he said once the players were the only ones left. He went to his room, grabbing his things to go take a shower. That had made him feel nasty and sickened. To think, he had liked Reggie.

Simone looked at the team. "Sorry, guys."

"It's not your fault," the seeker told her, giving her a smile. "They're sick fucks." He looked around the group. "We'll need a new captain. Anyone want to volunteer?"

Denver raised a hand. "I vote for you," he told him. "You've been here longest and you're the best we've got. But can you train your replacement?"

Iggy looked around. "We've only got the one game left," he pointed out. "We could probably do without one if you don't feel comfortable doing it." He looked at their seeker. "But we're going to need a new keeper too and I only do okay in that position."

"We'll hold tryouts," the seeker decided. "If we have to, you can fill in. We've got enough house points to win the house cup this year, as long as we don't lose by too much in this last game." He looked around. "Any other suggestions?"

"I vote for you," the other chaser agreed. "Just train someone to fill in for next year," he finished with a smile. "Simone, are you okay?"

"Fine. The tests said they didn't manage to get me." She leaned back. "What about you, fellow beater?"

The fourth year boy shrugged. "I don't care. I suck at leading anything." He leaned forward. "Can we wrap this up? I want to go check my dorm."

"Go ahead," the seeker told him. "We'll hold tryouts this week."

"Good," the beater agreed, heading up to go check his room.

The seeker looked at everyone else. "Anyone you want to invite, do so. Iggy, you're training as a keeper this week, just in case. We can play with only two chasers if we have to." Iggy nodded. "Everyone else, go check your dorms. I want to paste someone for this." They broke up and headed to their rooms, the seeker going up to find his things already went through. Everyone in his dorm had their things on their bed. "We all clear?" he asked.

The guy in the next bed nodded. "All clear. Sixth years found a copy of the potion's formula in Reggie's things that he had asked someone to hold for him." He smiled. "They're packing his shit for him right now."

"Good. He deserves to have to pick it off the whomping willow." He shoved his stuff into his trunk and laid down. "Anyone got any idea who has the other stuff?"

"Yeah, I do," one guy said. "I've already sent a small note to the heads, directly." He smiled. "One of the Ravenclaws is their best friend, and I'd bet he had anything that they didn't want to keep in here since he's a Prefect and has his own room."

"Probably," a few of the guys agreed. They settled in for the night, studying all the stuff they needed for exams in a few months.

***

Xander handed over the name to the head of Ravenclaw, smiling at her as he walked past to take his usual seat in the staff meeting area. "No stress, but it was sent to us," he explained.

She nodded, grimacing. "I'll talk with them." She glanced around. "Has anyone seen Sybil?"

"Not in a few days," Ron told her. "Why?"

"I haven't seen her at all. I went up to tell her about the meeting, but she never answered."

"Maybe she took the weekend off," Lupin suggested. He watched as Tara and Snape walked in together, her taking her usual spot next to Xander, Snape frowning at her for it. Good for her! She deserved to be happy, and so did he. "Ask Dumbledore when he comes in. He knows about everything that's going on around here."

Dumbledore breezed in. "Where's Sybil?" he asked, looking around.

"I couldn't get her up," the head of Ravenclaw announced.

"I'll check on her later then, she's been ill recently," Dumbledore told them. He put a small beacon of blue liquid on the table in front of his chair. "It was found in Ravenclaw," he announced. The head showed him the slip with the name on it and he nodded. "That boy has also been removed." He sat down. "This distresses me greatly."

"The fact that it's hit the paper distresses me," Xander told him.

"That was my next point," Dumbledore told him, giving him a faint smile. "My present point is that this sort of behavior has never gone on in this school before."

"How did they get the spell?" Snape asked. "I don't even have a copy of it."

"Was it in Slytherin's library?" Xander suggested. Snape shook his head. "In the regular library?"

"Possibly," Irma Pince agreed. "Not even I know what's in all those books. I've pulled the records of what they've checked out in the last two years and haven't found anything unusual."

"It could have been hidden," Black told her. "There's little pieces of parchment hidden among some of the sections. Notes from former users who almost got caught and things like that." She nodded. "Do you need help checking them?"

"I'll give her Iggy to help," Xander told him. "He's lived in there for the last few years." Irma smiled at him. "Is it possible they got it from an outside source? What did their possessions hold?"

"A book that I had banned years ago," Dumbledore said, pulling something out of his pocket and tossing it down too. "It's a dark text that I banned as one of my first acts."

Snape flinched away from it. "Not even Voldemort read that," he hissed. "He considered it's spells too dark for him."

Dumbledore sighed. "I know. I don't know if the spell came from in there or not. The book radiates a tainting energy that harms all it touches."

"Gloves?" Tara suggested.

Xander shook his head. "Percy's crew has a new toy that might help. It's a box, with waldoes."

"What are waldoes?" Irma Pince asked him.

"Fake hands that you manipulate," Tara told her. "They're used when you can't touch the substance you're working with." She looked at the headmaster. "You could probably ask him to bring it up here so it can be checked out."

"And he does have someone there who's a dark little bastard," Xander finished. "Every time I walk past him, he starts mumbling about how he'd like to tear me apart molecule by molecule, or put a small void portal in a cell and watch while it slowly ate me."

Snape shuddered. "What a wretched way to die," he said distastefully.

"That was my feeling on the subject," Xander agreed. "He could probably read the book and not be affected by it."

"I'll talk to your brother-in-law tomorrow," Dumbledore told him. "Thank you, the both of you, for that suggestion." He looked at Snape. "We'll need one of your stronger lead boxes to contain it until they can do something about it." He nodded. "The second point, as Professor Harris pointed out, was how the press got hold of the story already."

"Could they have said something?" Sprout suggested.

"Not likely. That fireplace isn't set up to use as a floo," Xander told her. "They're in my old room."

"Ah." She smiled. "What about visitors? There is a window. They might have owled."

"That would make them look worse," Black pointed out. "Now they're going to be hunted down and hopefully beaten." He looked at Xander. "Simone?"

"The tests were negative."

"Oh, good," Lupin sighed. "She's a nice little girl." Most of the teachers stared at him like he was insane. They had *all* had a run-in with Simone and her amazing vocabulary. "She is. Just a bit brash."

"Oh, yeah, brash is putting it nicely," Black said sarcastically. "She threatened to castrate me the other day for teasing Melvin."

"Then I wouldn't do it again," Xander suggested. "She protects her cousins against everything she can."

Black grimaced. "I apologized. She seemed to accept it."

"Yes, she's never going to be able to dissemble very well," Snape agreed. "Back to the point at hand. Do we know what was written?" A paper was handed to him. "Oh, bloody hell," he sighed. "Everything is in here, including Simone's name."

"Gee, guess they're going to be in ruins," Xander said dryly. "Anyone want to take a bet on how long it takes Iggy to go hurt them once he finds out?" Dumbledore looked at him and he shrugged. "It's him or Ron," he offered.

"Professor Weasley has hired an attorney," Dumbledore told him. "He's presently stopping Mr. Malfoy from destroying the building." Xander beamed.

"That doesn't disturb you?" Madam Sprout asked.

Xander shook his head. "It's what I'd expect from Draco. He loves his kids more than everyone else's life. It's amazing the building is still standing."

A few of the teachers laughed. "Still," Dumbledore said, bringing them back to order. "We do have to do something about this."

"Should we make a statement?" Xander suggested. "Saying that we're rooting out all the children influenced in this direction and taking action against them?"

"This is the Prophet, Xander," Lupin reminded him.

"Never mind, they'll turn it around on us," Xander sighed.

"I think we should figure out how the news got out," Snape suggested. Tara nodded her agreement. "They couldn't have flooed. They couldn't have owled because the windows are locked. Could they have more friends who sent it out as a coded message?"

"If they did, we'll find them too," Xander assured him.

"Fight later," Dumbledore said gently. The door opened and Draco walked in, smirking smugly. "Did you find something out?"

"Oh, yes," Draco told him. "They had a friend." He put the papers he was carrying on the desk in front of the headmaster. "There's your source, and an accomplice from my own house."

"Ryan?" Xander asked hesitantly.

"No, he beat the boy in question," Draco told him, coming over and sitting on Tara's other side. "How are you feeling?" he asked. She smiled and they exchanged pats to the stomach. Very few people heard Snape growl.

"Other than that, what comes next?" Irma Pince asked. "Do we make a statement?"

"How about an announcement that we expelled them," Draco offered.

"I like that one," Black agreed, pointing at Draco. "How are you feeling, mom?"

Draco pulled the pillow from behind his back and threw it, hitting the professor. "Bitchy," he told him.

"Sorry," Black said, rolling his eyes.

Dumbledore and Xander both fought the laughter, but Xander couldn't win. He burst out in cackles. "You are so bad, son," he said between laughs.

"Thank you," Draco said proudly.

Dumbledore lost, starting to laugh. "This will be an interesting term if nothing else." He picked up the papers and handed them to Professor Snape. "Please have them removed and their things searched and packed. I'll send letters out to their parents tonight." Xander pulled something out of his robe pocket and tossed it onto the desk. "How many did you write?"

"Ten. I got worried and lost count a few times."

Draco smiled at him. "Thank you for waiting with us."

"If you're my son, then she's my granddaughter and someone needs to pay," Xander told him.

"What about the house team?" Madam Sprout asked. "Wasn't one of these problem children on Gryffindor's team?"

Xander nodded. "The captain. The team was meeting tonight to vote a new one in. They can probably play without a third chaser and move Iggy to keeper if they have to. He started out in that position but changed after his first year." Xander looked at the quiet Madam Hooch, who was sitting in a far corner. "Would that be okay?"

"The rules don't state they have to have a full compliment of players," she agreed. "But I thought they had a secondary team."

"They do, they're mostly fifth years and are taking owls this year. And most of them don't really want to play, they fill in when they have to, but they don't have a second string keeper."

"As long as they have a player on the field, it is allowed," Madam Hooch told him.

Snape grimaced. "One of the ones on this list is also on her house team."

"There's a girl on there?" Tara asked, shocked. Snape nodded. "A girl is doing this to other girls?"

"It's a powerful thing," Dumbledore told her. "Darkness is all-encompassing in some forms. In this case, she wanted the power she could get off Simone Malfoy-Weasley, and it overrode all protests her female mind might have made."

Tara bristled. "Still. That's just wrong."

"Yes it is," Xander agreed, pulling her gently back against his side. "But we'll get her and hopefully someone will sterilize her before she breeds."

"That's a horrible thought," Snape told him.

"You'd rather see what she does to a child?" Xander suggested. Snape shook his head. "Me either. Seeing people hurt children for their own aims is one of the most horrible things you can ever watch." He stood up. "I'm going to check on the hubby." He gave Tara a smile. "Sorry if we drove you off earlier." She blushed and he left the room.

Dumbledore smiled at those assembled. "He was quite correct. We need to get on with this so life can get back to normal for most everyone." He stood up. "Severus, would you be willing to make the statement about the expulsions since you are on the disciplinary board?" Snape bowed his head. "Thank you. Mr. Malfoy, we'll do everything we can to protect your daughter." He nodded. "Professor Maclay, please go back to resting. Your blood pressure is probably a bit high right now and we'd like you to not be sent to bed for weeks on end," he finished with a smile.

She laughed. "I'm fine, Albus, really. No matter what Xander thinks, I'm okay." She tried to get up but got stuck so Snape came over to help her. "Thank you. I think I'm going to go meditate. I'll see you tomorrow." She waddled out, followed by Draco, who wanted to talk to her. "I'm really fine," was heard from the hallway.

Snape looked around. "When will the parents be here?"

"I've told them to appear on Monday," Dumbledore told him. He stood up. "Let me send these letters on and then we'll expect them just after breakfast." He nodded at them. "Thank you for your attendance of this issue." The others filed out. "Please, make it sound firm," Dumbledore told him as he walked past Snape. "I would like some good press for once." Snape nodded and went to write a preliminary draft of his statement for approval.

***

McGonagall hissed as she read the paper, her anger overcoming her usual sensibilities. She heaved herself up off her hospital bed and wandered into the hallway. It was normal for her to take a walk every few hours so the nurses didn't stop her. She was probably well enough to be sent home, but her sister was still out of the country. As she walked, her mind came up with some things that had to be stopped. There was evil in her school and she had to stop it from growing. She walked into the security ward and smiled at the attendant. "Just a visit with Professor Rosenberg," she said pleasantly as she passed the attendant. This was the first order of business. The evil among the professors had to be weeded out and stopped. She could do that much now. She pulled a chair close to Willow and sat down, looking at her. "I can get you out of here," she said quietly. Willow smiled, she liked that plan, even though she was drugged. "All you have to do is never have another child again."

Willow leaned closer. "I don't know why I got pregnant this time," she whispered. "I guess I was lonely." She sniffled. "Two more months and he'll be out. I'll have a new baby boy."

"And will he go to Severus also?" McGonagall asked. Willow shook her head. "Then I can help you, if you agree." Willow nodded, looking happy. "It will hurt."

"Pain is part of life. That's why I lost Tara."

"And you won't be getting her back," McGonagall told her, pulling her wand. She cast a small charm on Willow's stomach, rupturing her water and creating a large knot of tissue under the baby's body. "When you deliver, they will let you out, but your conduct will be watched," she told her. "When I return, I expect you to be back to your usual self. There will be no more evil coming from you ever again." She stood up and walked away, going back to her ward. Little did she know that everything was recorded in there. Doctors came running as soon as Willow's monitors went off, trying to help her. She was rushed into surgery; they hoped to save the baby.

***

Dumbledore let the parents into the room chosen for the disciplinary action and waved at them to sit on the benches in the back of the room. "We'll begin in a few moments," he told them, taking the high chair behind the judge's table. "There will be two teachers joining me: Severus Snape, who is the head of the judicial board in this school, and Madam Pince, who is a neutral party. We will be holding a full trial because we think it is warranted in this case."

Reggie Whitcomb's father stood up. "Did my son try to use that on a first year?" Dumbledore nodded. "Did he actually do it?"

"No, he was found before he could. There is evidence that one girl did have the potion used on her, but we can't tell exactly what was done. It was not just your son though. There are two others who were caught stealing with him, and three others who apparently had access to the information and helped them. They're mostly all being tried today. Two sets of parents couldn't be here today so their trials are being held tomorrow so their parents can be in attendance." The father nodded and sat down. "Are there any other questions before we begin?"

"Are you using truth serum?" one mother asked. Dumbledore nodded. "Are you turning them over to the aurors?"

"I checked on the pertinent statues," Snape said as he walked in. "Since we cannot prove what happened to that one girl, we cannot charge them. Their names are being put onto a watch list for further infractions." He took his seat and banged the gavel. "Bring in the students," he announced. Irma Pince brought in the students then took her seat. "We are here to answer some questions about a heinous matter. You are here because you are in suspicion in this matter. Have they been given veritassium?"

Irma Pince nodded. "Twenty minutes ago, I gave it myself." She looked at the parents and smiled. "It was made as strong as possible and given in the propr dosage." A couple of the parents nodded. She looked at Snape. "They are ready."

"Then let us begin," Snape said. "Bring the first one forward." He flicked his wand and the student was pulled forward, the rest of them sat down.

***

Iggy read over his ingredient list again, then nodded. He could do this. It wasn't too complicated. And it would solve all his problems. He looked around the tower, smiling at the Head Boy. He pointed at it and shrugged, asking for permission to leave. Gregory shook his head. "Please?" he mouthed. "Spell components." Gregory pointed outside and waved. Iggy grabbed his list and went into the hallway so no one would see him teleporting. He ran back upstairs and grabbed some money, then headed out. It would solve all his problems and make him so much happier. And it'd only be a month until it was ready.

***

Xander looked over at Tara, where she sat in her new seat. The baby had been acting up so she had moved closer to Snape because he calmed the baby down. She was worrying him. Her visible aura was all but gone today. Was she unhappy or was she having problems? He took a bite of his pot pie and frowned when he tasted chocolate. Tara smiled at him. "Are you okay?" he asked finally.

"Fine," she told him. "Quit worrying."

"But I do it so well," he mock-whined. "Especially when your glow is dim."

She tried to look around herself, but shrugged it off. "I'm dimmer today?"

Snape and Lupin both nodded. "Yes," they said together, then grimaced at each other.

Xander giggled. "That was so cute." He gave Tara puppy eyes. "Are you okay? Really okay?"

She nodded. "I feel fine. No pains, no problems, and so happy I'm floating." Her dim aura disappeared then came back.

"Okay, you're getting checked out," Xander said, standing up.

"I'm fine," she told him. She frowned when he walked over to her. "I'm fine, Xander."

"Then let's make sure of that," he said with a smile. "Or no footrubs tonight." She sighed and pushed back from the table. "We just want you to be okay," he reminded her gently. "I'd kill myself if you got hurt because of the baby," said as he walked her out. "If my bestest buddy isn't okay, then I'm so very upset that I'm never going to be happy again. So I want you to be okay, and the baby as well."

She patted the hand holding his. "I'm fine, Xander. The baby is fine and I'll be okay. I promise nothing will happen to your daughter."

"Yeah, but what about you?" he asked her. "We want you to be as okay, if not more okay, than the baby." He walked her into the infirmary, settling her gently onto the bed. "Can we check her? Her aura was dim this morning." Madam Pomfrey came over and waved her wand, then frowned. "There's a problem, isn't there," he demanded. The nurse frowned at him. "Is it the baby or her? I want her to be okay, even if the baby isn't," he said, starting to panic.

"Calm down, Xander, or leave the room," Madam Pomfrey warned. "You getting hysterical isn't going to help." She smiled at Tara. "Are you having any cravings for protein?" Tara shook her head. "Then we'll have to adjust your vitamins a bit. You're a little anemic and it's starting to show." Xander opened his mouth and she knocked him out. "I've had enough of that," she said as she floated him onto a bed. Professors Lupin and Snape rushed in. "She's fine, just a bit anemic," she announced. Lupin kissed Tara on the cheek and Snape looked like he couldn't decide what to do.

"I'm fine," Tara told him. "I need more iron in my diet." Snape nodded and hurried off. "Not now!" she called after him. He came back. "Diet adjustment, not a potion," she said with a light smile. "It'll be okay."

"Then why is Harris unconscious?" Snape demanded.

"For the same reason you'll be if you don't stop," the nurse told him calmly. "Hysterical people aren't welcome in here, Severus. You know that." He nodded and tried to calm herself. "Short of her drinking blood, she's going to have to change her diet a bit. She'll be fine." She looked over as Draco walked in holding his stomach. "Pains?" she asked. He nodded and climbed onto a bed without prompting. "Wonderful." She came over and checked him, then smiled. "I believe it's time."

"I'm early," he panted.

"Only the true gryphon-born are carried ten months," Madam Pomfrey reminded him. "You're just under your ninth month so you'll be fine." She looked at the other professors. "Do close the curtains around him until the doctor can get here." She went to summon him.

Tara lifted her head. "Want a hand to hold?" she asked. "Xander got knocked out because he was frantic."

"Please," Draco groaned, a low, pain-filled sound. "I'll never pick on Ginny again when she tells Anastasia about how bad her labor was." He rolled onto his side. "Can we stop this now, before it rips me in two?" he called.

"Quiet, boy," Snape told him. "You chose this path and you will have to walk it." He walked over and looked at his former student. "Calm yourself, this is nothing compared to the later stages of labor and delivery."

Tara laughed. "How would you know?" She rolled off the bed and came over, laying behind him so she could hold him. "I know it hurts, but it'll hurt less soon. Dr. Latimer will give you good drugs and you'll get the baby cut out," she soothed.

"You, back in bed," Madam Pomfrey told Tara. Tara gave her a look. "Fine, for now," she sighed. She looked over as more footsteps came running. Melvin and Iggy slid around the corner, going running into Draco's bed. "Out!" she ordered.

"Bite me," Iggy told him. "That's my baby sister." He laid a hand on Tara's stomach. "Oh, shit," he sighed. "Call the doctor. She's in labor too."

"I am," Draco argued.

"Not as much as she is," Iggy told him. He felt Draco's stomach. "The kids are going in unison." He looked at Snape. "Some pain killers would be great," he told his mentor, who hurried out. "Melvin, the others, now. And try to wake my dad if you can. He wanted to be there when Aunt Tara went into labor." Melvin gave Xander a hard shove, then ran off to get the rest of the family. "It's a good thing Elder Bill made me study this stuff, huh," he told them. Madam Pomfrey dragged him away by his ear. "The babies will need shielded," he called as he was dragged into the hallway.

"Young man, I have been doing this now for over twenty years. You've barely started your training."

"She's having contractions eleven minutes apart," Iggy told her. "She just had one, go check if you don't believe me." He mimicked his father's 'I'm pissed' stance, crossing his arms. "Uncle Draco is two-to-one to Aunt Tara's, but every other one is in time. Her's are still light and easy but she's having them."

The nurse frowned and went in to check them, then came back out. "Very well," she said. "You will be taking classes with me next year, young man."

"Good," he told her. "Beats Divination. I've already got that down to an artform." He walked back in and shot his father with a bolt of energy, making him yelp and jump. "They're both in labor," he announced.

"Shit," Xander swore, sliding off the bed. "Tara, honey, are you okay still? Need anything yet?" She shook her head, biting her lip. "Draco, do you need anything besides pain medicine?" he asked, moving around to look at him. He held his son's hand while he had another contraction in time with Tara. "I think you're doing an amazing job," he told Draco. "You've gotten through some really tough times recently and you're a great father. This will be okay." Draco glared at him. "You are. I'll be there if you want when they cut the baby out."

Draco sighed as the pain eased. "Hopefully I won't realize anyone's there." He reached for Tara's hand, squeezing it. "Be with her. She's going to need you more." Xander nodded and Draco groaned as the pain increased. "I want drugs now!" he called.

Snape walked in, handing over a large vial of potion. "Drink it all, young man. You'll need it." He handed a second one to Tara, a smaller, lighter colored one. "This one will ease the pain. You drink it too. That baby has to be quite large."

She shook her head. "I'm okay. I want to feel this."

"Drink it please, Tara," Xander said quietly. "I don't want you in a lot of pain."

She rolled her eyes. "I'm supposed to be in pain. The baby's big and it's supposed to hurt when it comes out." Xander gave her his best begging look, and she nearly caved in, but she didn't want drugs. "Cap it, I may want it later." Snape nodded and capped it, putting it into his pocket. She nearly sighed in relief when she saw the doctor coming in. "Thank you. Save us!"

He laughed. "I'm sure you don't need saved. Maybe someone needs a sedative," he said, giving Xander a meaningful look. "Quit badgering her."

"I wanted her to take pain medicine. It's not a bad thing," Xander protested. "I don't want her to hurt."

"I know," Dr. Latimer soothed. "Okay, who's in labor?" Both of them raised their hands. "Good," he said happily. "Just what I needed. Every one of my patients seem to be in labor today. Draco, we'll do you first." He looked around. "Do you want to go to the hospital? We could probably do this here."

Draco grabbed the doctor by the arm. "I want better drugs. They're not working yet."

The doctor laughed. "I'm sure it will work soon." He noticed Snape and Lupin standing behind Xander. "Did you give him anything?"

"He should be unconscious within five minutes," Snape told him. He pulled his wand and knocked Xander back out. "For the betterment of us all," he told Tara, who laughed.

"Fine. Put him on a bed." He was bowled into by some kids. "Who're you?" he asked.

"My children," Draco panted, grabbing Simone's hand to hold. "Dear Merlin! Tell your mother I'm sorry for putting her through this three times, Simone." Snape knocked him out with a well-placed bolt of energy.

"Thank you," Denver told him. He looked at the doctor. "Are we doing this here? If you are, you're doing it under our supervision."

"You're children."

"We can still kick your ass," Simone pointed out. "That's our father and we're *very* protective of him." She looked around. "Are we doing this here? I can help sanitize." Iggy hurried back in with the Headmaster. "Iggy, help me clean somewhere safe for them to cut the baby out." The doctor and the other adults watched in amazement as the kids sanitized one of cubicles, the one farthest from the door. Madam Pomfrey floated Draco over there and laid him in the bed, watching as the children scrubbed him too. She nodded the doctor over, then stunned both children. "Hey, no fair," was Simone's last words for a while.

Iggy looked at her. "Don't even think about it," he warned. "If anyone's staying up in the family it's me. I have to know anyway. What better time to learn." He walked back to Tara's side, holding her hand through another contraction. "One of you call my family," he told the two professors. "They'll hurt someone if they're not told beforehand. Try Aunt Ginny at her office first. She'll be the most calm and she's been here before." Lupin hurried to do that. "Good, you come hold her hand, Professor Snape. You'll keep her calm until we can deal with her being in labor." As soon as she breathed out the last of that contraction, he swiped himself with his wand to sterilize himself and went back to help and/or observe. He got there in time to see the baby coming out. "Eww," he announced. He cut the cord for the doctor and helped clean the baby off while Madam Pomfrey worked to get the little boy breathing. "He got what he wanted," he announced after the first cry. Snape laughed from the other room. He looked at the nurse. "What now?"

"Now you sit and watch him," she told him, steering him to a bed and settling him down so he could hold the baby. "The other three will be awake soon enough. You deal with them." She walked over to check on Tara, covering her with a sheet so she could get the poor woman out of her clothes. "Six centimeters," she announced.

"I'll be there in a few," Dr. Latimer called back. "Let me finish stitching.

Iggy looked at his new cousin, smiling happily. He was so ugly he was cute. "Are all babies wrinkly and slimy?" he asked.

"Yes," Tara told him. "They all come out like that and stay that way for about a week."

"Oh. I guess that's cool," Iggy said, going back to paying attention to the baby, just in case something happened.

***

Percy looked up when he felt a cool breeze. "Melvin?" he asked, his breath catching.

"Wow, I never imagined that being outside my body would be this cool," he said. He grinned at his father. "Just got knocked out, don't worry."

"Who attacked you?" Percy asked, standing up. "And do go back to your body, thank you. We don't want you stuck."

"Madam Pomfrey knocked me out. Uncle Draco and Aunt Tara went into labor together." He shrugged. "The next thing I knew, I was floating this way. How do I get back?"

"You grab the thin silver cord that's sticking out of your bellybutton and use it to guide yourself back to your body." He grunted in pain. "Please do so now, before I have to call someone." Melvin nodded. "I love you, son, remember that if you get stuck. I will always come for you." He sat back down, not feeling well at all.

"Daddy!" Melvin yelled, trying to touch him. "No, no, not happening. Dumbledore!" he yelled. Nothing happened. So he did the next best thing, he went floating off, hoping to find his grandfather. He'd only been in this section a few times. He finally found the Unmentionable's department and barged in. "I'm Percy Weasley's son," he panted. "He's having another heart attack in his office."

Someone came rushing out of the office. "Are you dead?"

"Knocked out of my body. Go help my father!"

"Okay. We're going. Let me call someone to help guide you back, Melvin." A few of his people went running, taking the right turn immediately. "How did you get knocked out?"

"Madam Pomfrey knocked me out when I came in to help with Uncle Draco and Aunt Tara's births. I guess she knocked me out of my body." He fidgeted. "My dad's going to be okay, right?"

"He'll be fine," the man told him, soothing him. "We can get him to the hospital faster than anyone else can." He moved closer. "Did you give him that news?"

Melvin nodded, then his face scrunched up in that 'boy's going to cry' way. "I think I caused it. Him seeing me like this did it." He sniffled. "I didn't mean to hurt him."

"I'm sure you didn't. He's been under an immense amount of stress recently, what with six of his people out on sick leave and the Minister above him demanding too much." He pulled a chair over. "You're supposed to be where?" A young woman walked in, someone that Xander had met with his new son. "This is Melvin Weasley."

The druid smiled at him. "I met your cousin Iggy."

"Everyone seems to know Iggy." He held a hand out to her, and strangely enough he felt it when she touched him. "Are you a ghost?"

"No, sweetheart, I live on both planes. I'm going to teach you how to get back into your body. Where is it?"

"The infirmary at school. Madam Pomfrey knocked me out."

"Okay. Now reach down to the thin cord coming out of your stomach." She watched as he did so. "Give it a *gentle* tug and think about it sinking into you and pulling you back to your body. Time will seem to slow, but it is going faster than you think." He nodded and did so, but didn't move. "What's keeping you here, young man?" she asked gently.

"His father's having chest pains."

"Then we can stop in on him." She smiled at him. "Do it again and think about making it back to his office so you can check on him. I'll be floating behind you somewhere in case you get into trouble."

"You mean like that dragon that tried to eat me on the way here?"

"Exactly. We can defeat the dragon." She watched as he disappeared. "I'll be back, then you can explain why a pure magic user is able to do this." She concentrated, changing her state of being, becoming her normal form and taking off after the boy. She led him from his father's office once Percy was taken by the paramedics, taking him back to the school. She got them around the dragon, freeing the cord from under the paw trying to hold it down, and they continued on. As the floated up and through the window in the infirmary, a baby's wail could be heard. "See, everything will be fine," she assured him. "I will stay and help you climb back into your body."

"Do I put it on like clothes?" he asked.

"First, you mimic the position you're in. Then you lay on top of your body and sink inside. You'll feel uncomfortable for a few days, like your skin doesn't fit right, but it will ease with time."

Melvin nodded and laid down on top of his body, sinking partway in. But he panicked and tried to fight his way back out. It felt like a black hole or a void pulling him into the flesh.

"Don't fight it. It's frightening, but it will be fine," she assured him. She became more solid as someone came closer. "He's been knocked out of his body. I'm working on getting him back into it." She grasped Melvin's human hand and encouraged him to rejoin with himself. "He'll need bound. This is particularly dangerous for him," she said quietly. She noticed a young man staring at her and smiled at him. "Hello, Iggy. Is that your sister?"

"My new cousin." He moved the blanket so she could see the baby better. "What are you?"

She laughed. "I'm an elf, one of the aether elves." She cast a small spell, sucking Melvin back into his body. "There, now stay in there, Melvin," she admonished gently when he opened his eyes. "You saw your father was fine." He nodded, but he started to cry. "It wasn't your fault."

"It was. He thought I was dead!" Melvin sobbed.

Ron came over and gave him a hug. "He's fine, Melvin. It was a false alarm, not another heart attack. Just some pains." He looked at he elf. "Are you dangerous?"

She shook her head. "Not in the least. I'm the one who helped young William." She faded out and sped off.

Ron soothed his nephew. "I'll take you to see him once Tara's popped," he promised quietly. "He's fine. They checked him over thoroughly. All the scan said it was close but not quite." He tipped Melvin's head up. "You didn't hurt him. I promise, little guy." Melvin laughed weakly. That was Ron's pet name for him when he was around five and begging for some of his time. "He's fine and so are you."

"How long was I out?" Melvin asked. "I'm cold."

"About three hours," Iggy told him. He flicked his wand and a blanket floated over, covering his cousin. "You rest. It's going to be a really long day. Auntie Tara hasn't given birth yet and Uncle Draco was knocked back out." He shifted. "He kinda screamed when he saw the big incision on his stomach," he said with a grin. "Dad's response was 'what did you expect the hole to look like', which was kinda cool." He showed off the baby. "New baby Malfoy. Denver had to be dragged out of here by his collar. Simone was knocked out and carried. She's tried to come back twice. We've been ordered to the tower tonight for a celebration. Uncle Draco will be here for a few days."

"Wow," Melvin said. "It only seemed like minutes."

"It would," Snape agreed as he came over. "We'll have to lock you into your body. It is a dangerous habit to have."

"It was the firs time," Melvin whined. "I didn't plan on it. And the lady was nice, she kept the dragon from eating me on the way back."

"Which would have been bad, both parts of you might have died," Iggy told him. "No more doing that. Learn to teleport like the rest of us, young man." Melvin stuck his tongue out. "We'll talk later, okay?"

"Okay," Melvin told him. He looked over at the curtained-off area. "Is she okay?"

"She's fine," Iggy assured him. "They even let Daddy wake back up because he promised not to panic and grab people to shake again." Melvin snickered. "You rest. You'll be released for dinner if you're okay." He slid off the bed, walking over to get the bottle warming on the windowsill. "Here, you," he said, sticking it into the open mouth. "You need to eat, otherwise you'll never appreciate Grandma's cooking." The few adults still around laughed and he had to fight off Aunt Ginny. "My turn," he told her.

"He's mine, Iggy, I can feed him," Ginny reminded him, taking the little boy from the other little boy. "Go cuddle Melvin. He probably could use the body warmth." Iggy sighed but he did as he was told. "Melvin, Percy's fine. We checked not even a half-hour ago. So quit worrying." She walked back into the curtained-off area, showing off the baby to Xander, who hadn't seen him yet.

***

Dumbledore stood up in front of the gathered staff the next week. "Now that everything's back to normal," he said dryly. The new parents laughed and snickered. "I have an announcement to make. It was sent to me this morning that Professor Rosenberg went into labor early." Xander frowned. "The baby girl is fine, but Willow is not that healthy at the moment."

"Why?" Black asked, frowning himself. "She was fine when she was taken out of here."

"Was it stress?" Tara asked.

"No, it was a someone, not a something," Xander said quietly. "Someone not wanting her to get pregnant ever again."

"How very astute. How did you know?" Dumbledore asked.

"Owlgram."

"Ah." The Headmaster nodded. "It would be reasonable that she would owl you first. Did you talk to Ryan?" Xander nodded. "Do you know what happened?"

"All she said was that she agreed with McGonagall before it happened. Now she wasn't so sure." He stood up. "Is the baby coming back if she isn't?"

"Who would raise her?" Snape asked. Xander looked at him. "Have you talked to your husband about that yet?" Snape asked him.

Xander laughed. "Not me. Ryan does have a cousin out in the muggle world, but I'm not thrilled with her." He looked around. "Is Willow coming back?"

"She's not going to be coming back next year," Dumbledore said gently. "She's not in any shape to do so."

"If I talk to Wesley, would you mind?"

"I think she might like that option," Tara told him. She reached over and tugged on him, making him sit back down. "She liked Wesley when she saw him last. He would take care of her and her daughter."

"I'll talk to him tonight," Xander said, looking at Dumbledore for permission. He got a nod. "And McGonagall?"

"She's not coming back at all," Dumbledore sighed. "The compulsion spell has damaged her permanently I'm afraid." He rubbed the bridge of his nose. "I have no idea how to help her in this matter."

"Have her take up private tutoring?" Black suggested. "We did get that one person last year who broke out in magical problems. She could take care of them."

"There's that nice little cottage on the road up," Lupin suggested. "I'm sure we could spiff it up for her."

"I've got a lamp she can have," Madam Sprout offered. "Plus, if she doesn't like that there is a nicer, but more decrepit, cottage closer to the town if we wanted to work on that one. It's got five rooms instead of the three in the one on the road. Xander, could you fix them?"

"I'd have to look them over," Xander told her. "The shoring up stuff doesn't work unless it's been created by a gryphon or a gryphon-born. But I do still remember some from my days as a carpenter so I can probably do something anyway." He looked at the other big guy on the staff, Black. "You up for some hammering and hefting?"

"I can do that," Black agreed, looking at Lupin, who nodded that he would help too. "We can do whatever is needed."

"Good," Dumbledore said, smiling at them. He had a wonderful staff. "Since this has happened, I'm going to have to appoint a new Deputy Headmaster. Severus, I've heard your arguments and you're correct, we can't find anyone to take your place until someone like Ignatius grows up." Xander beamed. "And gains some experience hopefully," he added for good measure. He looked around the group. "So I have to pick among you." He smiled at Tara and she shook her head. "You don't want it?"

"I hate being in charge of anything," she told him. "Besides, Madams Sprout, Hooch, Pince, and Pomfrey have been here longer, not to mention Lupin, Black, and everyone but Ron."

"I say we take a vote," Madam Sprout announced. "And Tara, I don't want it. I'm happy with where I am." Most of the teachers nodded. "Does anyone have any candidate beside Tara?"

"We could nominate Xander," Black said dryly.

"No," Xander said coldly. "Not going there."

"Okay, sorry," Black said, backing away from him. "A joke, really, Xander."

"Thank you. I don't want power, I'd suck at using it." He looked at Tara, giving her a smile. "You are a great leader though. You stay calm in emergencies, you give good advice. You can be cryptic, which appears to be a job requirement. Plus, you can still teach since you don't have all the classes that someone like Snape does."

"Yes, but I also have a baby," she pointed out.

"Yay. And? By the time anyone allows Dumbledore to leave again he'll at least be walking." Dumbledore groaned. "Oh, get over it. You love it here or you would have run away screaming a long time ago," he said dryly.

"True," Dumbledore agreed, smiling at him. "I will retire one day though, and next time it will stick."

"Sure you will," Xander told him. "In five or six years."

Tara laughed. "I don't think it'll take that long this time, Xander." She looked around and no one looked unhappy. "Does anyone object?" Madam Hooch raised her hand. "Why?"

"Because you don't fly."

"Oh." Tara shrugged. "I enjoy watching others fly and I have flown before. I'm very nervous up there though. I won't be doing anything to the flying program."

"Then I have no objections," Madam Hooch agreed.

"Good," Dumbledore said firmly. "Then that's settled. What's next?"

"Tara needs some soundproofing," Madam Sprout said with a small smile for her new semi-boss. "Maeve can be quite loud some mornings, dear."

"I can set that spell tonight," Dumbledore told her. "I'm sorry she's been keeping you up."

"She was in the tower last night," Xander told her, frowning.

"Not last night, the night before last," Madam Sprout told him.

"She was in the tower then too," Tara said, starting to frown. "I think we have a new ghost."

"If that's so, we'll move you. Though the only open suite of rooms are down near the back entrance to the dungeons." Dumbledore looked thoughtful. "Possibly those nice garden rooms up by your classroom?"

"Only if I get curtains," Tara told him. "Hagrid's class looks in there."

"I can do that," Dumbledore assured her. He looked at Snape. "Will that bother you? I believe you used to have a problem sharing that air vent with Xander's family."

Snape shrugged. "I've grown used to the screaming of children." He paused as the door opened and Ron burst in. "Problems?"

"Xander, Iggy's gotten into something. You've got to come see this." He started to snicker. "You've really got to come see this." He smiled at Dumbledore. "He's in Gryffindor's main room."

Xander stood up and walked out, going to check on his son. What had he done this time? Behind him he heard Dumbledore burst out laughing. Gee, must be something good this time. He walked into the common room and the kids spread out so he could see the little boy wearing full uniform. His five-year-old son?

"No more dick, daddy," Iggy said happily, holding up his arms. "No more nasty spitting stuff either."

Xander groaned and sat down, holding his head. "No. No! Iggy, you are so grounded." He picked up his son, holding him up to look at him. "What did you do and is it reversible?" he asked slowly and clearly.

Iggy laughed and wiggled. "No more dick," he sang, over and over again.

Simone came down the stairs and stopped to look at him. "I'm not babysitting that," she announced, cracking up her housemates. "I remember him at that age, he was hell on everybody's nerves." She walked closer. "You know, that robe looks just like a dress," she teased.

"Not a dress!" Iggy screamed, starting to cry. "Meanie! Daddy, make her stop."

"Simone, stop it or I'm feeding you whatever he took," Xander ground out, his teeth tightly clamped together. He stood up. "Come on, we're going to see your other daddy." He picked up the book and took him to the shop, still holding him out. George came out of the lab when he felt Xander show up. "Yours," Xander said, handing him over. He slapped the book onto the counter. "Tell him why you did it, Iggy."

"No more dick," Iggy said happily. "And Si-Si's a meany, daddy."

"I'm sure she is," George agreed. He looked at the book, then at his husband. "Is it in there?"

"As far as I know. That's the only book that was near him when I got there." He crossed his arms. "Just wait until your grandmother sees you."

George laughed. "I don't even want to go there." He handed Iggy back. "I don't know what to do with this, Xander."

Fred came out of the back, and stopped to look at his nephew. "What happened to you?"

"No more dick," Iggy said as the door opened.

Xander looked over his shoulder, frowning at the parent standing there. "Our son managed to deage himself. He's got a pubescent brain inside a five-year-old's body." She nodded, trying to understand it by the look on her face. "We're leaving soon anyway." He looked at Fred. "Do you have any idea how to deal with this?"

"Not a single one," Fred admitted. He looked at George, who shrugged. "Mum or dad?" he suggested.

"I can hear the laughter now," George told him. "Plus, Percy's resting at home. Iggy would drive him up the wall." He tweaked his son's nose and handed him one of the baby-safe pranks, taking him and sitting him on the counter. "Stay there and play with that, son."

"Ginny?" Xander suggested.

"Did your books have anything in them?" Fred asked. Xander shrugged. "Then why go to her?"

"Because she's an excellent mommy and would keep me from yelling," Xander told him.

"Ah," George said, nodding. "I understand that urge. I'm feeling it a bit myself. I doubt anyone other than Bill would have a clue. He might have come across something similar from a curse or two." He walked over to the fireplace and squatted down, tossing some of the floo powder into the fireplace. "Bill Weasley." Bill's head appeared fairly quickly, showing he was at home. "Iggy just managed to deage himself," he announced. "Do you know a cure or something?"

"Short of a second childhood? Not a thing," Bill told him. He smiled. "Is he still a cute little bugger?"

"Very," George agreed.

"He was getting away from puberty," Xander told him as he walked over. He held out his son. "Are you sure you don't have a cure?"

"Have you checked his recent readings?" Bill suggested. He noticed Fred waving a book. "Could it be in there?"

"Probably," George agreed. "We don't have the ability to fix this though, dear brother."

Bill grinned. "Then hand him over to Snape. If it's a potion, he'd know how to fix it." He laughed when Iggy stuck his tongue out at him and shot the prank off into the floo, sending fireworks all the way to his apartment. "Thank you, Ignatius, I've been missing fireworks." He shook his head at the parents. "Not a clue, guys. Love hearing from you though. Tell me how it turns out." His head disappeared.

Xander groaned as he stood up, his knees were still aching. "Anyone want to go talk to Snape?"

"No," Iggy told him.

"Shush, you," Fred told him, handing him another fireworks prank. "I'd go up to him and hand over the baby. He's supposed to be watching over Iggy's training as a potion's specialist." He handed Xander back the book. "Have fun with that. I'd like to see how it turns out too."

Xander grimaced but he obediently went back to Hogwarts. He walked down to the dungeons. He kicked open the door and smiled brightly at Professor Snape. "He's your protégé, you fix it," he said, handing over his shrunken son, then slapping the book on the desk. "I don't know what he did, but this is getting ridiculous. All because he didn't want to go through puberty." Snape's left eyebrow went up. "So, since it appears to be a potion, and you're the potion's master, and you taught him how to mix the damn things, you get to fix it."

Snape put down the child, glaring at his coworker. "Why is it my fault?"

"Because he's been trying out potions and you haven't been monitoring him," Xander pointed out. He picked up the book and held it up. "Look familiar?" Snape swallowed. "Also you taught him how to mix potions. This is your fault."

"I'd say it was yours since you never taught him to appreciate his body," Sanpe argued.

"I did, Draco did, Percy did, even Fred did. It never got through to him. And you taught him how to read!"

"It is a necessary life skill," Snape said at his most dry. "If you would ask nicely, I might consider it but since you stormed in here I'm duty-bound to correct this abominable behavior, Professor Harris. However will your children learn manners if you don't use them yourself." He pointed at the class of students.

Meanwhile, on the floor, Iggy was playing with his new pranks. He had stolen an extra few from the box. He smiled up at the students watching the fight, giggling because none of them were paying attention to their pots. Too bad. He giggled really loudly as he set off one of the blocks, then another, shooting them at the pretty silvery pots. He likes silvery pots, they held all sorts of neat stuff.

"What the hell!" Xander yelled as the first pot went sailing over his head. "Ignatius Caramel Harris-Weasley, put those down!" he ordered in his most authoritative voice. His son giggled madly and set off one last one before getting up and toddling over, narrowly not falling over the hem of his student robe. "Son, you're in so deep, don't even try to look cute," Xander warned.

Snape laughed. "He does take after you it seems," he said sarcastically. Xander glared at him. "Do you know which potion it was?"

"What the hell is that noise?" Draco demanded as he strolled in, his son strapped to his chest. "I was trying to teach a petite young girl to lift weights and all of a sudden this castle-shaking noise happens, which nearly traps her under the barbell." He looked around at the mess. "Don't you think you should clean that up before it mutates and tries to eat us?" he asked, pointing at the potion that had been changed and was now crawling across the floor.

"Blast!" Snape said, pulling his wand to deal with the potion creature.

Xander handed Iggy to Draco. "Deal with the sprout." He grabbed his wand to tackle it too. "Out, children," he ordered. The students rushed out of the room. If they hadn't known the two Professors liked each other, they would have been scared. But the two of them could beat anything if they worked together.

Draco pulled Iggy aside, sitting down with him. "Why did you do that?" he asked, trying not to smile.

"No more dicks," Iggy told him.

"Did you make yours disappear?" Draco asked, starting to check, but the little boy slapped at his hands. "You didn't make yours disappear?"

"No, silly. Not make go away. Just make little again."

"Oh. So the size was bothering you." Iggy nodded. "And you didn't want to talk about it again?"

"Gets in the way," Iggy pouted. "Besides, none of the other boys were like me."

Draco gave him a hug. "I know, Iggy. It's hard when you're better endowed than most everyone else, but they'll be catching up to you in a few years. I promise, you won't be alone for long." He gave him an extra squeeze. "Does this spell have a cure?" Iggy nodded. "Did you make it?" Iggy shook his head. "Why not?"

"Because it's only supposed to re...re..retard growth," Iggy said proudly. "But it made me small."

"And now you don't have anyone to play with," Draco reminded him. "You're the only child again. No one to play with, all the others are older than you and won't have time to play with you. And you won't be able to fly for another year."

Iggy pouted, then wiggled down and stomped into the classroom. "Fix me!" he demanded. "I want to be big again."

Professor Snape looked down at him. "Sit, Ignatius. We will deal with you in a moment." He turned back to the creature crawling around on the floor. "Maybe you should gather something so we can trap it," he suggested.

"Maybe we should declare it a unique lifeform," Xander suggested, but he grabbed the cauldron off the fire.

"Not that one!" Snape yelled. "Put that one back! It's that potion for Ms. Reams." The cauldron was carefully replaced. "Get one of the large buckets or something. We'll give it to Hagrid."

"Hey, a new beastie," Xander said happily. "No one else will have one of these." He glanced at his son, then grabbed the largest bucket, holding it while Snape floated the creature up and put it in there. "I'll go give it to Hagrid. Can you deal with my errant son?"

"Of course. I'm sure there's a cure." Draco nodded from the doorway. "Don't you have a class?"

"We dismissed, just in case you were blowing the dungeon up," Draco told him. He followed Xander up to his level, but left him to go back to his classroom.

Xander walked outside, waving down Hagrid. "We've got a new beastie," he said unhappily. Hagrid frowned at him. "It was today's potion lesson, plus some of the pranks that my beautiful and demented five-year-old son set off."

Hagrid looked at the moving thing in the bucket. "Why do ya call it a beastie?"

"Because it was chewing on a table leg," Xander told him, handing him the bucket. "Snape and I are in agreement, you're best suited to deal with this creature." He waved his wand, summoning one of the blocks. "If it helps, this was in there."

"Xander," Fred said as he appeared down the road. "Why did you take that!" He stormed up, but stopped when the bucket was tipped. "What's that?"

"Iggy helped create it from the potion of the day and some of these." He held up the block. "I thought it might be helpful. You know Hagrid won't tell anyone."

Hagrid nodded, starting to smile. "Iggy created a new lifeform?"

"Yes, a very unique one," Xander assured him. "I don't think the world has ever seen it's like before. That's why you get it. It's purely a magical creature." He patted the big guy on the arm. "You might want to keep it away from the puppies. I'm not sure it won't eat them." He smiled at Fred. "Iggy did it by shooting them off at the potions, which knocked them over and combined all the wrongly done potions with the fireworks and residual magic. Which then grew and crawled and nibbled on the tables. I'd better get back before Snape kills me." He waved. "Going to deal with Iggy. Have fun, Fred." He jogged back into the school.

"What did Iggy do to himself?" Hagrid asked.

"Deaged himself back to five-years-old," Fred said with a bit of disgust. "All so he didn't have to deal with growing up."

Hagrid laughed. For being a year younger, Iggy was taller than most of the boys and a few of the girls in his class. "I'm sure he'll get over it some day."

"Right about the same time as he ....." He stopped, watching the car fly in. "Ministry never means good things." He handed over the block. "Give me a few and I'll help you do something with it," he said, watching the car land. A lawyer climbed out and walked inside. Fred hurried toward the school. He had the worst feeling about this. He walked in about the same time as Draco walked down the stairs.

"What do you want?" Draco demanded. "I'm rather busy."

"Draco Malfoy?" Draco nodded. "I'm here to serve you with a summons." He held out a folded paper.

"Who's suing me now?" Draco asked, taking it to look over.

"Family court, sir. You're being sued for custody of your son, Denver." He looked over as someone else came down the stairs. "Is that him?"

Draco looked back and shook his head. "That's Ryan Rosenberg." He grimaced and read. "It doesn't say, when am I due?"

"Next week, sir. Wednesday, ten am." He tipped his hat. "Sorry about this, but I'm supposed to look at your son also. Just to make sure the child in the paperwork filed is the right one. The judge ordered it."

Draco sighed and nodded. "He's in class." He noticed Fred and grimaced. "Can you get him out of Transfiguration?" Fred nodded and headed that way. "Why is his mother trying this now?"

"Because of that one, sir," he said, pointing at the boy strapped to Draco's chest. "It was in all the papers."

Draco looked him over. He had seen all sorts of these cases before and looked like he could read people. "Do you think she's serious or after money?" he asked quietly.

"I don't know, sir, but she did have a look of unholy glee on her face when she left the judge's office." He smiled as Denver was led out to him. "Hello, young man. I'm an officer of the family court. I'm here to look you over for your mother."

"The bitch didn't even put her name on my birth certificate," Denver told him. "If she comes near me, I'm siccing my sister on her." Fred snickered behind him, but patted him on the shoulder. "I am. She's missed out on nearly twelve years of my life. Oh, and tell her, and the judge, that I already have a mother. Her name is Ginny Weasley and she's been wonderful since my mother dropped me off on my father's doorstep. Oh, and you might want to mention that she didn't give me to my father, she handed me over to a house elf and left me there." He looked at his father. "I know this isn't your doing, but can I destroy her?"

"No, son, we have to go through the courts this time," Draco told him, giving him a hug. "It'll be fine. We have some of the best lawyers on retainer in the wizarding world." He looked at the process server. "Have you seen enough?"

"Yes, sir, but you're to bring your son to court with you. The judge will want to talk to him too." Draco nodded. "Sorry to do this with the new one and all." He tipped his hat and left them alone.

Fred muttered something and Draco nodded for what little he caught. "I'm telling dad in a few moments. I'm tired of this crap happening to the family." He stomped off, going up to the house.

Draco looked down at his son. "You will let me tell Simone," he said quietly. "That way she doesn't go off and kill the bitch." Denver nodded. "Thank you, son. And don't worry. It will be handled." He ruffled his hair and sent him back to class. He looked behind him, smiling as Dumbledore came out. "I need to have next Wednesday off, sir. I intend to force her to commit suicide for fucking with my family." He walked off, going to tell Snape and Xander himself. His other children and Ginny would be told after dinner, when he was calm again.

Dumbledore shook his head. "Was she really that stupid when she was here?" he mused, thinking back. He didn't remember her at all.

***

Draco stood in front of the judge, his arm around his son's shoulders. The judge had just appeared and was reading over forms filed by the supposed mother. The judge looked at him. "No filings?"

Draco shook his head. "I put in mine earlier this week," he said calmly. "That's all I have to say on the matter." His son sat down and put his feet up on the table. "Denver, quit being surly," he chided gently. Denver put his feet down. "Thank you." He looked at the judge again. "Did you not get my initial filings?" The folder was held up. "Yes, that's mine."

"All right. Then I have to ask a few questions. Mr. Malfoy, when were you aware of your son's existence?"

"When my house elf came to get me and told me there was an emergency at the house." He sipped his water. "She had handed the basket to my house elf and then left him there."

"Just answer the questions, sir." The judge looked at Denver. "He's how old?"

"Just under twelve. His birthday's in sixteen days."

"It's in twelve days," his mother corrected.

Draco pulled out a copy of the birth certificate and handed it over. "You put down sixteen days from now," he said with a sneer. "Can't remember?"

"Enough, Mr. Malfoy. I know that your son is precious to you. Your recent actions show that you care about all your children." He straightened up. "Ms. Marble-Cresent-Turnerbill, why are you filing this now?"

"Because I realize what a mistake I made leaving him with his father. He partakes in unnatural acts. He's an evil bastard."

Draco snorted. "Evil bastard? Since when? I changed my behavior while in my seventh year. I haven't been an evil bastard since then."

"Go, dad," Denver agreed. He looked at his mother, then at the judge. "If it matters, I'd rather be eaten by something large, slimy, and that had dull teeth than be anywhere near her."

The judge nodded. "That does matter, but not yet, Mr. Malfoy. You'll have your audience in a while." He looked at the mother again. "According to the birth certificate that was on file with Hogwarts, his birthday is in sixteen days, not twelve. Have you marked any celebrations for his birthday? Sent him a card? Sent him any letters or presents?" He noticed the boy shaking his head.

"I sent him a card every year but it always came back marked 'no one living here by that name'." She pulled out stack of letters and put them on the table. "These are them."

Draco looked at her. "I want a handwriting test."

"You will get your say, Mr. Malfoy," the judge reminded him. He looked at the supposed mother again. "You say you sent these and they came back every year?" She nodded. "Let me see them please." The stack was handed over by the bailiff. "I see," he said, after opening the first one. "Rather inappropriate for a one year old," he said, holding up the picture of a naked woman.

"It was all I could find that year, and he wouldn't have been able to read it anyway. I figured it would make his father laugh." Draco glared at her. "After all, he's all about playing around."

The judge looked at Mr. Malfoy. "*Now* it's your turn. Did you ever see these?" Draco shook his head. "Is this your handwriting?" he asked, holding up an envelope.

"Not as far as I can see from here," Draco told him. "You can have it checked against a handwriting sample, I would insist. I've never seen any owls from her. The only way I knew she had remarried was because I someone periodically check on her." The mother gasped. "To protect myself and my child, I wanted to make sure she wasn't going to come back and try this earlier." The doors opened and a guard walked in, whispering in Draco's ear. "Your Honor, there's an extraordinary circumstance. My second eldest daughter has just went missing while visiting her sister."

"Just a moment more, please," the judge said, smiling at him. "Are you willing to leave your son here with me for now?"

Draco shook his head. "I'd be willing to let him stay with members of his step-mother's family for the night so you can talk with him. I don't want her anywhere near my son. She's shown no concern over him until now, and as far as I'm concerned is only after a payout. She's never wanted to be a mother. A certified copy of the note that came with my son is in the material I filed."

Denver stood up. "I can stay at the Leaky Cauldron if Uncle Percy can't put me up," he offered.

"By yourself?" his mother asked.

"Yes, by myself, you c..." His father tapped him on the top of the head. "Sorry. I'll try to control my language in the future, father."

"Thank you." He gave him a hug. "I'll be back with Anastasia as soon as possible. Be good tonight and no sneaking off to the ice cream parlor."

"Yes, father," Denver said with a smile.

"One last question, Mr. Malfoy," the judge requested when Draco gathered up his coat. "These other children, are they all by Ms. Weasley?" Draco nodded. "Even the latest?" He nodded again. "Why didn't you marry her?"

"Because she said she didn't want me to," he said simply. "She and I have worked out a very good partnership over the children, and we work together most of the time." He put on his cloak. "I offered to marry her when I found out she was pregnant with Simone and she said no. I asked her again when I was having a weak moment back when Denver was five, she refused me again. She's happy with what we have."

"If I made you, as part of the custody of your son, would you?"

"If you tell her yourself," Draco told him. "But otherwise, yes. To save my son from the horrible fate of the bitch over there, I would gladly marry a mountain troll to keep my son." He walked out, heading to the public floo. He walked out in the tower and looked around. Absolute silence. "Hello?" he called. When he didn't get an answer, he headed for the main part of the school. He found all the teachers massed out there, but Xander. "What happened and who took her?" he demanded.

"One of the fairy bastards took her," Simone said from the staircase to his right, "and he took off flying without a broom. Uncle Xander teleported over to the gateway I used to try and keep them from going through. Iggy told the gryphons." She stood up. "I'm going with you."

"No," Draco told her. "You're staying here in case she did like you did and fights her way out." He handed her his cloak. "You stay here and guard the rest of the family. Denver's staying in London tonight so call him." She nodded. "And watch Lucien, your great-great-grandfather would come back and haunt us if something happened to his namesake." He looked over as Iggy reappeared. "Did they make it through?"

"The fairy bastard hurt daddy pretty badly. Daddy only had his cane and wand." Iggy grimaced. "Come on. Uncle Ron's already there. He was knocked out too." He took Draco's hand and brought him with him to the colony. "He's the father," he said when someone looked at him. "It's his daughter that my father was trying to save." He led him back to the healer's area. "The bastard had a sword, Uncle Draco," he said quietly. He opened the curtain and let him back there. Iggy wasn't allowed back there because his father was in bad shape. Of course, the fairy bastard nearly didn't make it through the gateway either. The only thing keeping him from going after his cousin was the fact that the gateway was a multi-terminus. It went to a few places. Hopefully, they could set it using Draco. He was a strong wizard and had the righteous anger of a father with a missing child. Draco came back out with Ron, who was hobbling but moving. "You okay enough to go?" Iggy asked them.

"I'm going," Ron said firmly. "I don't care if this looks like an invasion force, I'm going." He walked out, with a short courtesy nod at the elders, and led the way to the portal. He pointed it out, checking for anyone around them. He smiled when he felt Iggy shielding the area. "Okay, it goes to a lot of places."

"And you have to get there before she eats," Iggy reminded them. "Or she'll be sterile and attuned to them from what Simone was told." He bounced on the balls of his feet. "Can I come?"

"No, I need you here," Draco told him. "Your fathers need you and so does Denver. He's in London tonight, probably at the Leaky Cauldron. Pop in on him occasionally to make sure he's still there." They shared a look and Iggy nodded. He understood that Draco's biggest weakness was his children. "Thank you, Ignatius." He gave him a smile and turned back to the portal. "How do we set it?"

"Think of Anastasia?" Ron suggested. The portal opened, showing a glittering city.

"That's it," Iggy told them. "Just like Simone described." He stepped back as they walked through, waiting until it was closed to drop the shields. He found a few muggles standing around looking up at the lintel above him. "Neat, huh," he said, going back to the colony. His father needed him and so did Denver. He could split himself up enough. As soon as he got inside, he headed for the library, double-checking the method of putting a tell-tale on someone. He felt it take hold of Denver and smiled. "Just think of me, cousin, and I'll come running," he whispered, going back to sit beside his father. And he wouldn't be denied this time. He pushed past the gryphons standing in his way, being smaller in this case was useful. He sat on the edge of his father's bed, patting him on the chest. "Daddy, if you die, dad's going to kill you," he pointed out. Xander smiled and opened his eyes. "Uncles Ron and Draco went after Anastasia. And Uncle Draco's *pissed*." He looked over as the healer came in. "How's his throat?"

"We were very lucky to catch it in time," the healer told him. She looked down at him. "Did I not ban you from this area because you are too young?"

"I saw him when he was poisoned and burned, this is nothing new. Get over it." Iggy stood up but his father caught him and mouthed something. "I have a tell-tale on him." Xander mouthed something else. "You're right, they can get past it. I'll go check on Denver now and be right back." He put one of his magical thumbtacks into the bed and disappeared.

"That child of yours needs manners," the healer said, trying to pluck the thumbtack out, but Xander stopped her. "Surely you can't want him back here." Xander nodded. "Fine," she sighed. "But if he ends up with horrible nightmares, don't blame me."

"He has them already," Xander croaked. "Healing potion? Now?"

She snorted. "I see where he gets his impatience from," she said with a grimace, but she went to get him a healing potion from the main fireplace, where the Hogwarts potion master was working. "He can barely talk," she announced. "Ignatius will be back soon."

Snape nodded. "It's as we expected." He continued to stir. "Fifteen more minutes."

She nodded and settled down to wait.

***

Iggy landed behind his cousin, giving him a hug. "Want an update?" he asked.

"Young man, how did you do that?" the judge asked.

"I'm gryphon-born. We teleport and shields have to be set to our particular magical resonance to keep us out." He pulled Denver up and nearer to the door to talk to him. "It was the fairies again. Anastasia was pulled kicking and screaming over there, but not before my dad and Uncle Ron tried to beat him senseless. The fairy was nearly dead, my dad was nearly dead, and Uncle Ron went with your dad to get her back."

"Do you think that's appropriate information for someone his age?" the judge asked.

Iggy looked over at him. "I'm a year younger than he is and this is reality. We tend to face it in our family. My father demands it."

"And your father would be?"

"Professor Xander Harris, Hogwarts." The judge sighed. "He's presently healing from trying to save Denver's sister. And it's not looking very well. So, since his dad had to leave, I've been asked to pop around and give him updates, plus make sure he's not kidnaped by the uber-bitch that tossed him at a house elf and ran away cackling."

"Is that the story or the truth, young man?"

"It's what the house elf told me when I asked how I got to father's," Denver told him. He looked at Iggy. "Truth, is it bad?" Iggy paused, looking like he was thinking. "Iggy?"

"I'd say, if I was being dad-like, that I'd want more backup than a limping and injured Uncle Ron. Of course, this is your dad we're talking about and he's pissed enough to commit genocide at the moment. Yeah, I'd say so," he said seriously. "I'd also say I'd go after them but I can't get the portal to focus and neither could any gryphon. They blocked us out."

"But the gryphons said Simone was gryphon-born and they wouldn't want one of us because we scare them," Denver said, thinking about it. "It must be a new trick, they're trying to guard against what Simone did."

"Simone's back at Hogwarts holding down the fort with Melvin. Are you staying at the Leaky Cauldron or should I come pick you up later?"

"You can ...teleport with him?"

"I can teleport with him, his sister, our cousin Melvin, and one other if I have to. I've done it before." He grinned. "We've often snuck out for treats after a hard day."

"That's amazing. Do all gryphon-born know how to do this?" Iggy shook his head. "Why not?"

"Because you have to be taught how to teleport. I figured it out by accident, with a cookie jar." He gave Denver a hug. "I'm going back to the colony. I left a tell-tale on you if you need me. So just yell, okay?" Denver nodded, giving him a brave smile. "Remember, if she hurts you, Simone and I will toast her and Melvin will plant her into the ground with his nifty fist of power spell." He glanced at the judge and made a decision. "Tell him," he said, then he disappeared.

Denver turned back around. "I have to report that I can kind of do that too, sir. I'm not great over distances, but I can boost Iggy whenever he needs it."

The judge pointed at the seat. "Are you feeling left out of things because your family is learning gryphon magic?"

"I feel more left out because of what my last name is and I'm a Gryffindor. No one cares what Iggy and I can do unless they want something very badly from somewhere outside the school."

"I see." The judge looked him over. "What about other matters. Do you have a girlfriend?"

"I'm a first year and barely started into puberty," he said with his best 'ick' face. "I won't need or want one of those for at least another two years. Iggy's ahead of me on the puberty thing and he still thinks girls are nasty too."

"I see. Do you look up to your cousin, even though he's younger?"

"In some ways. Iggy's much more powerful than I am. He's also found a calling already because he's so good at potions and almost none of the born are. I don't look up to him for anything other than having male friends."

"Don't you have another male cousin? Percy Weasley's son I believe?" he asked, flipping through the files. "Ah, yes. Melvin."

"I do, and I adore him greatly, but we hardly ever got to see him because of his father's work schedule and his mother watching him most of the time."

"Oh, I heard about that. How is Melvin taking it?"

"Rather well. He's healing, but it's going okay. He hasn't cried in his sleep for months now."

"I guess that would be a normal reaction." He looked up. "Denver, do you want to get to know your natural mother?"

Denver shook his head. "I want nothing more than to never see her again. She flung me at a house elf and left me there, not caring if my father was home or not. She never told my father about her being pregnant. She never informed him of my birth until she showed up, and left a note saying I was an inconvenience to her finding a new, richer, husband. She's never made contact, she's never shown up, and she never gave a damn until this last husband screwed her out of a juicy alimony. She's after my dad's money and could care less about my health, my well-being, or my education. And to be perfectly frank, I'd really rather teleport myself to my Uncle Charlie's dragon preserve and be eaten. I think it would be more fun than listening to her whine about being stuck with an almost-twelve-year-old boy."

The judge nodded. "I understand. Did you never receive any of those cards?" He handed over a few of them.

"That's not my father's writing," Denver said, tossing it back. "It's also not any of our elves' writing."

"I thought your father's house blew up."

"It did. The house elves are rotating through dad's temporary residence with Uncles Xander and Ron at Hogwarts so they have something to do. The rest are off visiting or watching the new house go up." He wiped at a tired eye. "Are we almost done? I was up late last night writing a paper so I'd have a few days free of homework."

"Almost," the judge said with a smile. "Would you be willing to sit down and have a meal with her?" Denver shook his head. "Are you scared she'll try and take you?"

"She's desperate for money and coming after my father, the cash cow. I have no doubt that she'd try something that stupid." He sneered. "I'd like to see her try it when I'm awake, or see her get past the rest of the family. Ginny would about kill her."

"Do you call her aunt?"

"Sometimes. She's made it clear that I can call her mum if I want, but she's never pushed it. She's done the mum thing for me, ever since I showed up, but she's never pushed me to do anything. So sometimes she's Aunt Ginny and sometime's she's mum, and sometimes she's just Ginny. But if I call her Ginny in front of grandma, she'll soap my mouth again."

"The Weasleys have accepted you as one of their own?"

"Since that house elf told my father that I was an emergency that he had to come take care of. Grandmother told him that Ginny wouldn't take over full raising me duties and she never has. They've always had a good relationship about us kids, except for a few fights."

"Do they fight in front of you?"

"Not if Ginny can help it."

"I see. What about your father."

"There was this one time that Uncles Xander and Ron turned him furry to force him to finish having a fight with Ginny. They started to fight in front of me and Ginny sent me to Uncle Percy's for the night so I wouldn't have to hear it. I almost never hear my father yell at anyone. Well, the occasional bout at the house elves when they slack off, or the time they gave us food poisoning, but no other time comes to mind."

"I see." The judge made notes. "Do you know the legend of your grandfather?"

Denver snorted. "We were warned to tell Daddy if he came to haunt us so he could be banished back to hell." He wiggled in the leather chair. "I know some, but not specifics. Father said he wouldn't tell me any more than the generalities until I was old enough to chose my own path."

"Very good. Do you think your father is on a dark path, young man?"

Denver laughed. "My father? He gave up being an evil bastard in his seventh year, when Uncle Xander got hold of him. Sometimes we talk about him being an evil bastard and how he used to pick on people, but that's mostly to teach myself and Simone not to do it ourselves." He leaned forward. "My father still has nightmares about the fight after Voldemort died, the one with the aurors and the death eaters in the woods, where he got clobbered for going after a death eater by an auror. Does that sound like he's on a dark path?" he said mockingly. "My father's not the evil person in the family, that's Simone. Just ask her." He stood up and started to pace. "I'm tired of this. If you try and put me and her together, she's going to the hospital because she'll be missing parts. If only because my beloved older sister will hurt her for coming near me." He looked at the judge, unconsciously mimicking his father's favorite 'you're an asshole, get out of my face' stance. "I've made myself as plain as I can. I won't see her, talk to her, or be in the same room as her. The next time I want to see her is at her funeral so I can point at her ugly and ill-used body and laugh."

"Ill-used?"

"She's had three husbands for money, no more kids, and obviously has done something to alter her appearance considering she's got to be thirty-five or so now."

"Thirty-one," the judge corrected. "She's only a year older than your father." He clasped his hands. "I feel your revulsion but the law does state that all parents are equal under the law until proven to be unfit."

"Doesn't leaving me with a house elf without knowing if there was a human home count? Or her obvious distaste of me count? Or even the fact that she's never had another one count?"

"She could be infertile," the judge said gently.

"Yeah, and she could have forced herself to miscarry too." He smiled. "It was in the papers last month, how she was locked up in a mental hospital due to hurting herself and her unborn child. Simone and I had a long laugh over it." He sat down again. "She didn't even put her name on my birth certificate. That and the note that came with me tell me all I need to know about her as a parent. She's in it for the money." He shrugged. "I'll never believe anything else."

The judge nodded. "That's fine, Denver. I will take your wishes into consideration, even though you're still young and may change your mind in the future."

Denver snorted. "When? When she comes begging me for money? Not likely."

"When you have a wife and child of your own?" the judge suggested.

Denver snorted. "Fat chance. I won't want her anywhere near any child of mine. What will she teach it? How to prostitute herself into a wealthy marriage? I have all the family I need, thank you."

"Then I think we're done. Can I call your Uncle for you?"

"No, I can step over to his office and check in with him. Or go stay in the Leaky Cauldron. Many of my housemates will probably beg me to pick up things for them."

"I'm not sure I want you staying up there alone."

"Iggy and I stayed up there when Ginny gave birth to Ravena. Tom's a wonderful friend of Uncle Xander's. They talk almost every week when Uncle Xander runs out for soda." He stood up. "He knows me well enough to watch out for me and make sure I eat dinner. May I go?"

"Go ahead." The judge watched him go, worrying about that young boy. He had so much ill-will in him for someone his age. Plus, what was Professor Harris teaching that boy? Gryphon magic was dangerous, that boy shouldn't be exposed to it, even if both of his parents used it on occasion. He would have to consider this situation very carefully. A house elf came in with a letter and a mug of cocoa, handing them both over. "Who's this from?"

"Minister Acrimon," the house elf said, backing away from him. "Very big badness, very mad." He left the office.

The judge opened the letter and read the all-but orders. He then tossed them into the fireplace. He wouldn't make a decision based on bias or friendship. He didn't care that his old school chum was Inghram or not. The man needed to be in jail because of what he had already done to Mr. Malfoy. He leaned back and sipped his cocoa, never realizing that the poison in it was working on him. The house elf came back half an hour later for the mug and started to scream, bringing the guards and bailiffs running.

***

Draco and Ron were captured as soon as they stepped through the portal. Fortunately, a thin, tiny voice yelled out for them to be brought to the palace. A cheer went up, mystifying the adults. They were shown into an opulent throne room, and found Anastasia staring at the walls. "Stop," she ordered. "If I see you, physically see you, you'll die," she said quietly, continuing to stare at the wall. "Daddy?"

"Right here, pumpkin." He moved closer and hugged her, keeping his eyes closed. "I'm going to save you."

"I should stay, they need me."

"They need to quit taking daughters of worried parents," Ron corrected. He looked around, all the little fairies were eagerly watching to see when the Princess would slip. "Anastasia, would you like a blindfold?" he suggested.

"I tried that, they ripped it off," she sighed. "Daddy, I want Mummy very badly," she told him. "Uncle Ron, I love you dearly, but I don't think you'll win this time. They're waiting for a fight, they've called in part of their army."

"Bully for them," Ron told her. "They won't win. Your father and I both know spells that can destroy their whole little world." He stepped closer and pulled Draco back from his hug. "We will not leave you here."

A blue/green fairy in a long white robe stepped out. "Who are you to threaten us?" he demanded.

"I'm her father and you kidnaped her," Draco told him. "This is her Uncle. I believe you met another one of her Uncles outside the portal." He looked him over. "You stole my daughter."

"Your daughter is meant to be here. There's a prophecy."

"Yay," Ron said lightly. "Prophecies aren't worth the paper they're written on usually. How accurate was this seer? How many other ones have they had?"

"Enough! You do not have any legal standing here. She is ours."

Anastasia opened her eyes. "Shut the hell up," she told him. He backed away from her. "You think you got the bitch in my sister, but you were so very wrong," she hissed, advancing on him. "You have no right to take me from my family. Or my friends. Or even from that school. I am not your property!" she screamed. "I am no one's property!"

"You are our prophesied one," the judge told her.

"Yay, like my Uncle Ron said, how accurate was this seer? How many did she have? He deals with prophecies every day, as does my Uncle that you nearly killed because he was defending me. There's nothing you have that can compete with my family. I'd rather die than stay here." She pulled the wand her father had given to her. "Back, now," she ordered.

"You cannot leave, we'll die!" the judge told her.

"You've lived this long, figure out how to keep going!" she answered. "It's been six *thousand* years where I'm from since your Princess Hufflepuff came back home."

"Thousand?" the judge asked. "You lie!"

"Why would I lie?" She held her hand back. "Uncle Ron, the gun please?" Ron's personal sidearm was handed to her. "Did you have anything near this when she left?" The judge shook his head. "The world is full of them now, and not only the muggle world." She unlatched the safety and pointed it at him. "Now then," she said, trying to restrain herself. "I'm going home with my family. If you don't like that, tough. If the army appears, my father studies gryphon magic for a living. He can take out the pitiful army and all the lands around this city with a single word. Do you really want to die that much?" The judge shrugged, starting to look bored.

"Anastasia, give me the gun," Ron told her, stepping closer. One of the little fairies tried to block his path so he picked it up. "Tell whomever sent you that they shouldn't send a child to do an adult's job, it's cruel." He let it go, pushing it away from him. "Gun, Anastasia, before you end up hurting yourself."

"Are you willing to die over this?" the judge sneered at him.

"Yes," Ron told him. "To prevent this horrible fate, definitely. There's a loving family waiting on my triplets at home." He knew Draco was staring at him. "She's my niece. My family is everything to me. Besides, there's evidence that she's gryphon-born herself."

"Impossible, the wand would never pick one of them!" the judge snapped. "Bring the rosette crystal!" A few fairies came in carrying a carved rose made out of crystal. "Touch it, Princess, and we'll find out for sure."

She touched it and the crystal flashed brightly. "Wow, pretty lights," she noted. She felt herself be pulled back against a hard, unfamiliar body. "Uncle Ron, can we escape?" she asked.

"Not yet. There's too many of them," he whispered in her ear. "Remind them why you can't stay, niece."

"Oh, yeah, forgot to mention a point," Anastasia told them all. "Did you know that my kind stop being able to breed once we've been over here a while? It's something in your food." She licked her lips; she had woken up with the taste of honey on them. "Good thing I like girls, huh," she told her Uncle. "I woke up with something in my mouth."

"How dare you!" Ron shouted, raising his wand. A bunch of staffs were pointed at him. He was faster though, firing on the throne itself. He spun, taking his niece with him, firing a second blast around at the guards. Draco joined in on this blast and together they at least stunned the poor deluded creatures. "We're leaving," he told the judge, who was crawling back to his feet. "Stop us and actually die." He walked out, the crown falling out of Anastasia's hair, but the threaded jewels staying in.

"Daddy, can I have leather when I go to school?" Anastasia asked as they walked toward the portal. "And does anyone else feel like Gulliver?"

"Yeah," Ron said with a grin for Draco. "I kinda do feel like Hagrid at the moment."

"Definitely never thought I'd be the tallest bloke around," Draco agreed. They stopped at the portal. "Open it," he ordered the fairy standing there. The fairy shook his head. "Do so or die."

"I'd rather die than lose our princess," he nearly cried. "We'll die without her."

"Has it occurred to you that you've lasted this long without stealing children?" Anastasia asked him. "If you've done it this long then you can continue to do so." She pointed at the portal. "Open it. Now." He shook his head and ran off.

"Well, this is bloody wonderful," Ron sighed. He pulled out the necklace he had on him and touched it, thinking about someone coming to open the blasted thing. He felt Xander answer and a few minutes later the nicest face he'd ever seen was there. An enraged Ginny was right behind Sirius Black too. How very wonderful. He passed through the girl, then got Draco out, turning to guard his back. He was the more rational one right now. He stepped through and the portal crashed around them. "Wow," he said finally. He noticed Ginny looked older. "How long were we gone?"

"A week," Ginny sighed from her position hugging her daughter and boyfriend.

"Eight days if you count today," Black told Ron, clapping him on the back. "Good job."

"It was Anastasia's idea," Ron admitted. "She didn't look at us the whole time." He smiled at his niece. "How is everything else?"

"The trial?" Draco asked quietly.

"Denver's barricaded himself in one of the rooms in the tower. The judge wants to see you as soon as you get back."

Draco nodded, smiling at his daughter. She lunged over and hugged him too. "Let me go change."

"No, go now. We'll come with you," Ginny told him, standing up and carrying her daughter. "We'll need to get her checked first."

"She said she woke up and had swallowed something," Ron reported. He looked down at himself. "I'll go tell the judge that you're on your way." He smiled when he saw Xander leaning on George, handing back George's Christmas present. "Thanks for the loan, brother. I'll be back." He apparated to the Ministry, then flooed to the courthouse section. He saw someone go running and realized what he looked like. "I'm not a threat," he called after him. He stopped at the information board, waiting for a guard to come bother him. It took about two more minutes.

"Sir?" the guard asked cautiously.

"I just got back from helping Draco Malfoy save his second daughter. The judge wanted to know when we were back." He turned to look at the kid, who looked somewhat familiar. "Neville?"

"Ron?" he asked happily, hugging him. "Dear Merlin, you're a mess. What're you doing now?"

"Teaching Defense at Hogwarts and raising my triplets."

"Wow. Triplets." He shook his head. "That's wonderful. Who's the mother?"

"Remember those visitors we had in our sixth year?" Neville nodded. "Remember the blonde, the Slayer?" Neville nodded faster this time. "It was her. She was taken right after delivering them."

"Oh, I'm sorry." He gave him another hug. "Come on, I know where Judge Perkin's office is. He's in there too." He led the way, chatting about what he had done since he had left school.

"Call me up for a beer some night," Ron invited. "I'm at Gryphon's Hole. Dumbledore gave Xander and I our own tower because of all the kids. I'm over Gryffindor now too." Neville laughed. "So, call me up some night soon and we'll go drinking." He smiled and gave him another hug. "It's good to see the old crew doing so well." He tapped on the office door and walked in at the called 'come in'. "Judge Perkins, I'm here on behalf of Draco Malfoy." The judge looked him, obvious in his examination of the bloody and dirty clothing. "We just got back. He's having his daughter looked over right now but will be here as soon as possible afterwards."

The judge nodded. "Thank you. Can you get the boy out of your house?"

"Iggy?" Ron called. Iggy landed beside him, frowning at him. "Go get Denver and bring him here. I'll be waiting until Draco gets here." Iggy nodded and disappeared, coming back a minute later with Denver.

"Is she okay?"

"We think she's fine. She may have been tainted by their food, but she's being checked out right now." He smiled at him. "Quite a brain, your younger sister is. Gave us the help we needed to break her out."

"Good," Denver sighed, giving him a hug. He waved at the security guard. "Isn't he in one of your pictures, Uncle Ron?"

Ron smiled at Neville. "That, Denver, is Neville Longbottom. He was in the same class as your Uncle Harry and I, a Gryffindor through-and-through." Ron realized he was holding his wand and put it back into his special, quick-draw holster. He patted Denver on the head. "The one thing I have to say about those fairies is that they have good taste in clothing. Your sister looked aces."

"She always does," Draco said from behind them. He looked at the guard. "Longbottom?" Neville nodded, happy to be remembered. "Well, you certainly made good. Good on you." He clapped him on the back and walked Anastasia in, giving his son a hug without taking his hand off her. "How are you?"

"Fine, father, now that this mess is over with." He glared at the judge. "He tried to force me to sit at the same table as that creature and force myself to eat. Like that could happen with her harpy fingernails drumming on the table and her pissing and moaning about how much work I was going to be during the summers."

Draco snorted. "Not going to happen, son. She'll have to get through me to take you." He smiled at Ginny as she muttered something about a long red wall. "And the rest of the family, of course," he said, giving her a smile.

"Of course," Ginny agreed with a cold grin of her own. She walked in and pulled Denver into her lap, letting Ron lean against her chair. "Neville, come over for dinner some night," she called before he left. "We'd love to hear about your life." He sighed happily before leaving them alone. "So, where's the greedy bitch?" Ginny asked. The judge looked shocked. "What? Can you honestly think of another reason for her to show up now?"

"She could be regretting her prior mistakes," the judge offered.

Draco snorted. "I'm sure she is. The matter of a prenuptial agreement that took all of her money and gave it to her husband if their divorce was her fault." He handed the papers over. "I found this waiting on me." He looked over at the woman he had spent a week with as she walked in. "Look, it's the gold digger," he said snidely.

"Didn't take time to clean up from your manual labor?" she sneered.

"Sorry, but saving my daughter took precedence over this matter. Her life was in danger, Denver's wasn't at the moment." He looked at the judge again. "I won't let her have my son. Come Hell or Voldemort returning for a third go-round, she's not getting any of my children, my money, or my name." Ginny looked up at him. "This would be the *perfect* blackmail play to get me to marry her. I'm one of the few eligible wizards around who's rich enough to equal her other husbands."

"I loved them," she snapped.

"Really? Then why were you with me three months before your first divorce was final," Draco said dryly. She looked like he had just hit her with a cricket bat. "It's amazing what the newspapers report." He looked at the judge again. "I want to hear her demands before I make another statement. I'm tired of this pussy-footing around and I want her out of my son's life for good."

"She is the biological mother," Judge Perkins sighed.

"Prove it," Draco offered. "Let her take bloodwork and prove it. Her name's not on the birth certificate. By her choice I might add. Unless she's willing to pay for bloodwork to prove this allegation, I'm not saying a word about whether or not we slept together. She can't prove a thing."

The judge rubbed a tired hand over his slightly jaundiced forehead. "I know this is tough, Mr. Malfoy, but she can have the bloodwork done, the same as you can."

"Yes, but does she really want to gamble on it coming out in the way she wants?" he asked with a smile. He looked at Ginny, who nodded and shrugged. "I can get statements saying that Denver isn't her son."

"Wouldn't that be a lie?" the supposed mother suggested snidely. "We both know he's mine."

Draco looked over at him. "No I don't. You never put your name on the birth certificate and I slept with a few women back then." He sneered. "Denver could belong to someone else. After all, it's not like you *showed up* and gave me the baby. And house elf testimony isn't legal." He looked at the judge again. "It's true that I've always thought she was the mother, but there were other candidates. While on that vacation, I slept with six different women, any of them who might have dropped my son off on my doorstep. As a matter of fact, a few of them are more likely since I gave them my address and I never gave it to this woman." He waved a hand in the supposed mother's direction. "So, without the bloodwork, it's all been supposition until now."

The judge sighed. "Is this more delaying tactics?"

Draco shook his head. "Not in the least, I freely admit to being a slut when I was younger. I have a plaque in my house that awarded me the honor of my antics living on through the ages for being such a slut. It's common knowledge that I was very free with my attentions until Ms. Weasley and I formally made an alliance." He smiled. "If she wants to be his mother, then she'll have to prove it was her who had him."

Denver looked at his father. "Daddy, thank you for stopping that behavior. I'd hate to see you dead by Ginny's hand."

Draco patted him on the arm. "I'm a smart man, Denver, I try to never upset Ginny unnecessarily. I learned the lesson her brothers keep forgetting." Ron coughed, but it sounded like he was trying not to laugh.

"Do you want to do the bloodwork?" the judge asked the supposed mother. "It would be at your expense, but it would only lengthen this by a week."

She grimaced and looked at Draco. "I'll get you for this," she hissed.

He waved a hand again. "What will it take to make you go away, Marble?"

"I want a million galleons and a day to get out of the country," she said, glaring at her son. "You're just like your father, you'll never be more than a playboy and a user."

"Unlike Father, I have sisters and Aunt Ginny, all of whom have taught me how to deal with women," Denver told her. "Fortunately, they helped teach Father different too. If you were a decent being, you might see that. Unfortunately, you can't see past your money-grubbing, dirty, filthy, *used* little fingers. I hope your next husband treats you like you deserve and sees you for what you are."

"Done," Ron said, flicking his wand at her. He grinned. "Have fun with the blessing." He looked at Draco. "Don't pay her. Denver's worth it, but really. She'd probably take less and leave happily before she's arrested."

Marble snorted. "I won't take less and you can't prove anything."

Draco pointed at the court reporter in the corner. "Official records. You just committed blackmail in front of a sitting judge and it was recorded. I'd take ten thousand and leave faster than you had planned. I think I can hold off my son reporting you to the Ministry for..." He looked at his son and smiled. "Until after breakfast?"

"Sounds good to me," Denver told him. "Can we eat here in the city?"

"If you wish," Draco agreed. "I'm sure you can spare a few more hours for the resolution of this matter. Dumbledore won't complain too much to me."

"What about Lucien?" Ginny asked.

"I can go get him," Iggy offered from behind Ron. "He's been resting in with us in the house for few days since Simone's bogged down with homework. The triplets too, Uncle Ron." Ron grimaced. "Uncle Fred tried to snatch them, but we bravely fought him off using funny spells that he vowed to turn into pranks for the store."

"Where have Xander and Tara been?" Draco asked.

"Tara's been taking care of Maeve," Ginny told him. "Xander's still sick, Draco. His throat isn't quite healed yet. He made it to *one* class and did it by signs. Then Madam Pomfrey dragged him out by his ear and knocked him out in the infirmary and kept him knocked out for the next three days."

"Sign language?" the judge asked.

"No, like written cards signs," Ginny corrected. She smiled. "Complete with included funny story of the day."

The judge laughed, but ended up coughing. "That's a good one. I never thought that Professor Harris had a sense of humor."

"He has a great one," Iggy told him. "The only time anyone in this building runs into him though is when he has to be serious. My father's a great guy."

"It does bring up a problem I'm seeing," the judge said. "Denver has admitted to learning gryphon magic." Ginny reached over and cuffed him across the back of the head without looking at him. "He said he's been learning it from his cousin."

Ron nudged Iggy. "Quit spreading it around, kid. You'll get in trouble."

"I asked. And the gryphons did say that Simone was a born," Iggy told him. "Since we can't be sure which side it's on, he might be one of us. A weak one, but still one of us."

"True," Draco agreed. "Anastasia reads as one as well."

Ginny looked at Ron. "It would explain what happened when your wand broke." Ron nodded. She sighed and shifted. "We can have it checked out. I'm not sure how though."

"It'd be in the harder books," Iggy put in. "And I'm banned from the lab for at least a month so I can't mix up the stuff to do it." He stretched. "Snape said that I'm not even allowed in class for the next month." Ron and Ginny looked at him. "It's not my fault he's annoyed with me."

"Do the words 'no more dick, daddy,' mean anything?" Ginny asked him.

"Oops," Iggy said, blushing. "Never mind. But now I have an extra free period, more time to spend in the library."

The judge looked at him. "You're not a normal little boy," he said dryly.

Iggy shook his head. "Of course not. Why be normal, it's boring. The whole family lives by that motto." He looked at Ms. Marble. "Why don't you run now?" he suggested with a smile. "It'll save your life." She stood up and stormed out, huffing in indignation. "Watch out for the sister," he yelled after her. "She's much more like Uncle Draco used to be and you trifled with her beloved brother."

"Ignatius," Draco said dryly. "Simone is safely at school." Iggy shook his head. "She's not?"

"I brought her but she's in the hall interviewing that Neville guy for a class assignment. Oh, Aunt Ginny, can I use you?" She nodded. "Cool. Thanks. I've already written it based on our talk when I was seven." She chuckled. "Denver, yours is written and waiting on your bed. Melvin helped you write it." Denver snickered. "He was really happy to write about your father's job, while he wrote about Uncle Harry's for his paper." Even the judge laughed. They all turned and looked as a woman screamed in the hallway. Simone strolled in, writing the last of her paper with a flourish of her quill. "Feel better?" Iggy asked her.

She smiled at him. "What makes you think I did that?" she asked him, looking smug. "Mum, is nice guy two words or one?"

"Two," she told her. "And you're right, Neville was always a very nice guy. Very sweet, if a bit clumsy on occasion. I'm looking forward to talking with him and seeing what's been going on in his life." She looked at Draco. "We're taking off next week for a mini-vacation. I'm going to France to lounge on a beach, with the exception of stealing Neville for a lunch date. Want to come?"

Draco thought about it, then nodded. "All right. I could go for watching the women in thongs again."

Iggy sighed. "No more sex talk, please? It's icky."

Denver nodded. "Really icky."

"You'll appreciate it when you're older," Ron told them. "Trust me, I used to think the same thing. Then Agatha's mother came along and I was even more convinced."

"Gee, thanks," Ginny told him.

"You're my sister, I'm not supposed to like you," he said, giving her head a little shove. "You're not a girl."

"Oh yes, she is," Draco told him with a leer. "Quite a girl. Even after four pregnancies."

"Remember she can't have another one. Hate to have to kill you for that," Ron told him, giving him a level stare. Draco smiled and nodded. "Keep remembering that and we'll be just fine, Malfoy." He looked at the judge. "Are we done yet?"

"Yes, Mr. Weasley, it appears she wasn't serious in her desire to see the boy after all." He rubbed his forehead again. "You might want to watch out, Mr. Malfoy, she was quite adamant that you be taken down and she has her supporters."

"Is that why you look like hell?" Ron asked him. The judge looked at him but didn't say anything. "Because there's stronger healing potions than anything around here."

"I would have to consider that a bribe," the judge said carefully.

"Why? The case is closed, isn't it?" Denver asked, trying to sound reasonable. "Trust us, we're all very good with healing potions because of the various scrapes we've gotten into."

Ron patted himself down, coming up with a small vial of dark purple stuff. "Try this. It's a super healing potion. Xander's extra dose."

"Won't he need that?" Ginny asked him. "I can make him one."

"Snape made extra," Iggy told her. "He heard something about a certain Inghram trying to make the judge see things his way."

Draco glared at the judge. "Is that true?"

The older man uncapped the lid and swallowed the potion. "He tried. I pride myself in not being swayed by political debates. I do my best to be impartial and not use the law as a tool for revenge." He looked at Denver. "Did you feel that I acted wrongly?"

"I felt like you were taking the cunt's side," Denver told him. Iggy swatted him. "Hey! You use that word."

"Not in front of the family or other random adults," Iggy told him.

"If I hear it, ever, you're getting soaped," Ginny told him. Denver sighed and slid down further in his seat. "Apologize."

"Yes, mum," Denver said, rolling his eyes. "I'm sorry I used foul language in your presence, sir. Even if it fits."

The judge nodded, smiling at him. "I can understand that feeling. The reason I pushed was because the law says that I have to give the filing parent a chance to make an emotional contact with the child in question. I had to give her a chance, even if you didn't want her to have one. Do you understand why?"

"Because sometimes parents aren't what she is," Denver told him. "I get it, but it sucks sometimes. You almost punished my father for protecting me." He stood up. "Oh, if you want to order daddy to marry, I'd do it now. Iggy, butterbeer?"

"Sure," Iggy agreed, following his cousin out to the floo.

"It does worry me that you're unmarried, Mr. Malfoy," the judge admitted. "It is unusual for children from broken homes to grow up normal and well-adjusted. In his case, I see a very strong will." Ginny snickered. "I also see some behavior problems that will need to be addressed." Both parents stared at him. "I see him as a bit spoiled, him and his cousin both."

Draco shook his head. "He's much better adjusted than I am. He has more family than he can stand most of the time because they butt in. We do as much as we can to make him happy and safe."

"Yes, but a mother might help that," the judge said carefully.

"I'm a good mother!" Ginny said sharply. "He knows he can come to me for anything, and often does. He's got no lack of maternal role models. His father and I marrying would only make us miserable and it would show to the children. Therefore, I'm going to say no to that idea and remark that you can't force us to marry without a very good reason." She stood up. "I've heard enough, I'm going to join the boys at the Leaky Cauldron." She walked out.

"It really doesn't pay to piss her off," Ron told him, taking her chair. "Any other fruitful suggestions?"

"Not really," the judge told him. "Do tell her I'm sorry, I didn't mean to upset her, I was trying to make a small suggestion, not an order." He signed some papers and handed a copy to Draco. "For your records. Please, tell her I'm sorry."

"I will, once she's had a day of lounging in the sun." He stood up. "Nothing else?"

"No, Mr. Malfoy, I find your child mentally old for his age, and very strong willed, but otherwise not abnormal, unsafe, or otherwise in danger."

"Good," he said with a smooth smile. "Thank you for handling this matter." He nodded at Ron. "Want a night out on me?"

"I'd rather go cuddle with the kids," Ron told him.

Draco's smile brightened. "Yes, I think I'd adore a night with the children. Let's go. Ginny can handle Denver for the night." They quickly walked to the floo and sent themselves back to the tower. Fred was there with all six kids, reading to them, so they grabbed their respective children and cuddled in too.

Part 5

Xander finished his signs for the next day, then tossed them aside, laying down next to his hubby. "Miss you," he whispered to the sleeping ear. George pulled him down and cuddled him in the classic teddy bear position. It was good his husband was willing to stay with him through all this stuff. At least he'd be able to talk again in a few days. It had been two weeks since his throat had been sliced. He could talk for a few minutes now before his throat started to hurt, but he had been assured it would get better soon. He looked at the snuffling noise, getting up to check on Maeve and William, who were both with them tonight. Maeve was sucking on her big brother's ear, which was making the noises he heard. "Bottle?" he suggested, handing them both bottles. They snuggled together and fell asleep drinking happily.

"They up?" George mumbled.

"Just a little hungry. They've got bottles." Xander slid back into bed, starting to swallow to ease the pain. "I want to do something for the house."

"Party?" George suggested, laying his head on his mate's chest. "Maybe a theme party just to be different?"

Xander made a happy noise. "Yeah." He pulled the blankets up to his waist. "Help?"

"Sure." George snuck a kiss. "You quit talking or you won't be able to take questions tomorrow." Xander gave him another kiss. "Are you happy?" Xander nodded. "Really happy?" Xander nodded harder. "No more desires that need to be addressed?"

Xander thought about that. Did he really want anything else in his life? He felt content, but that feeling of peace was missing. Was it a worry or a want? He shrugged and nodded. "I think I'm good. I'm happy with the kids. I love my life. We've got a good savings in case Iggy or the kids get sick again." He swallowed, his throat was starting to burn. "I'm good," he finished.

"Good,"George told him. "Then can I have something I want?" Xander lifted his face, thinking something at him. "No, I wanted the kids too, but I've always wanted one thing and I've come close so far, but never quite got there." Xander smiled and nodded. "Can I have a party for my birthday?" Xander nodded. "I know it's a month away, but I always wanted a real party, with balloons and stuff." He played with Xander's bellybutton until his hand was slapped away. "Sorry." He grinned. "Even a small one would be okay."

"I can do that," Xander told him, his mind racing. If his beloved wanted a party, he would have one of the best he could throw. "Fred?"

"He can come," George said with a smile. "But I want this to be mine."

"Cool. We'll have Fred's the next day." He nodded, settling the thoughts in his mind into a cohesive order. He'd get Tara to help him tomorrow. He felt himself drifting off and pulled his mate closer to his side. This was the life he wanted and he really was content.

***

Tara looked over as Xander walked up to her, Maeve in the baby carrier on his back. "What's up?" she asked. "Did we have a bad night?"

He shook his head and held up a small sign, which made her squeal. "Costume party," he told her. She nodded and they ducked into her classroom to start planning what they would need.

Snape came in a moment later, only noticed by the baby, who squealed in delight. She still liked him. He patted her on the head, alerting Xander to his presence. "What's going on?"

"George has never had a birthday party," Tara told him. "I'm helping Xander figure out what he needs to do for one."

"Ah." Snape walked around, looking at their list. "Aren't those for children's parties?"

"We're including the house," Xander whispered. "Keep it down. Ron's around here somewhere."

"Fine." Snape looked at the list. "You'll need food."

"Good point," Tara agreed, writing down the usual party essentials: chips, dip, drinks, little finger sandwiches. Xander added on pastry nibbles, which confused her. "What are those?"

"The things Fred's girlfriend makes," he told her, continuing the list. "Think we can do this?"

"I think we could not only do this, but with magic it'll be a wand flick to decorate and clean up," Tara told him. She smiled at Snape. "Give me a minute more and I'll let him go do what he needs to do." First class gong rang. "Or not. You'd better go. Bye, Maeve," she called as Xander walked away, waving the their child. The baby cooed and bounced, flailing back. "She's such a happy baby."

"As she should be. She's already spoiled rotten," Snape reminded her.

"Is not," Tara said with a frown. "She's just doted upon." She looked around. "What's up?"

"I was wondering if you would care to go to town with me tonight? I have to pick up a book and planned on eating in town."

"I know how much you hate to eat alone," she agreed, smiling brightly at him. "I have a few things I could pick up." He nodded. "After last class?"

"We have a staff meeting about next year's classes," he reminded her. "After that would be fine though."

She nodded. "Okay. We'll go after the meeting." He gave her a faint smile then swooped out, going to torture his fourth year Gryffindors and Slytherins. She settled in to finish her plans for the meeting tonight. She had to submit the lesson plans for the next year and she only had them half done.

***

Xander walked into the joke shop and waved Fred outside. "We're doing something special for George's birthday," he said quietly, all the volume he could achieve after a day of teaching three classes. "Help?"

"Sure," Fred said brightly. He looked at the plans, walking Xander down to the apothecary which had just opened. They sold some great rub for sore muscles and Xander usually needed some. "Is this a surprise party?" Xander nodded. "Okay. Am I invited?"

Xander gave him a light shove. "Of course. We're celebrating yours the next day."

"Okay, I can get behind that," Fred agreed. "A costume party. Interesting." He opened the door, holding it for his brother-in-law. "George will go ape over this." He handed the list back, watching as it disappeared. "I won't tell him, but how are you going to make Ron and the kids keep it a secret?"

Xander grinned. "I've got a way, don't worry." He picked up the badly needed muscle rub, and something that Madam Pomfrey said he should be using on his throat. They walked around the aisles, stopping in the condom aisle. "Ooh," he said, picking up a pack of colored condoms. "Haven't seen these in a while."

Fred laughed. "I'm sure he'll enjoy them a lot tonight." He walked him up to the counter and picked up his order for headache powder, something he had planned on doing later anyway. "Thanks." He stuffed it into his pocket and looked at Xander. "On our birthday?" Xander nodded. "Then I can definitely help. Our birthdays are on a Saturday, a Hogsmeade weekend actually." Xander beamed and paid for his purchases. "So we can even help the kids pick out costumes that day. You'll have to keep George busy that whole day." Xander nodded. "Take him to London and spoil him rottener or something."

"I can do that," Xander agreed. "I'll get with the house tonight." He smiled. "This will be so great." He jogged out of the shop, heading back to the school. He stopped to tell Tara something since they were coming down the hill, then continued on.

"What was that about?" Snape asked.

"The daughter did something cute to Iggy," she said with a smile. "Crapped all down his arms when he was holding her." She put her arm through his. "Are we eating at the Three Broomsticks?"

"There's hardly another place," Snape reminded her as they walked on.

"We could apparate to London and go eat at Fred's girlfriend's place. It's supposed to be great, and discreet."

Snape thought about it. That would make this more officially a date than he had originally planned. "Is it expensive?"

"Not really. Xander and George's last bill came up to about three galleons and you know how they eat."

Snape frowned. "I'll take you there this weekend."

"How about I take you there this weekend," she offered. He looked shocked. "Women's lib said I could treat you to meals too," she pointed out with a small smile.

"I'd prefer not to associate myself with that movement," he said stiffly. "I like the older ways of doing things."

"Okay." She smiled up at him. "I'll treat you to a meal some other time." He frowned. "Just on the spur of the moment." She patted his hand. "It'll be nice."

"I'm sure it will be." He got free as the town came into view. She gave him another one of her knowing smiles but he tried to ignore it. She had said she would let him work his way up to holding hands in public. It was going to take a while, she should accept that.

***

Xander stood in front of his house, holding a pile of cards. Everyone was gathered in front of him. He held up the first one. "This will be a secret. If anyone spills it, they're having two weeks of detention, including on the night of the event, which is a Hogsmeade night, so you'll be grounded to the tower that day." The crowd nodded so he put up the next one. "George's birthday is the next Saturday in Hogsmeade." A few of the kids laughed. "We're throwing him a party," the third sign said. They all nodded and started talking. He whistled, then rubbed his throat, showing them the fourth one. "A surprise costume party."

Iggy stood up. "He wants one of those, Dad?" He handed over a glass of juice he was drinking. "Drink, you look horrible."

"Healing potion an hour ago," Xander croaked. "It's working." He sipped the juice and held up the next sign. "Like I said, a *SECRET* costume birthday party." That one hit the floor and one last one was held up. "Owl Fred for help with your costumes. He'll be hiding them at the store that day so they can be picked up. This will be a *whole* house party."

The kids broke up into discussion groups, Simone and the family coming over to him. "Are we going to have to make costumes?" Simone asked.

Xander shrugged. "I'm guessing it's up to us," Denver told her. "Does father know?" Xander nodded. "Okay, then we'll keep the secret." He looked at Iggy.

"I'm not going to tell," Iggy defended. "This is so great. I can't remember when dad had a birthday party." Xander shook his head. "Never?" Xander shook his head again. "What about Uncle Fred?" Xander spun his finger in the air. "Oh, the next day?" Xander nodded again. "Dad, how many more treatments this time?" Xander held up four fingers. "Good, it's really odd not to hear you talk." He glanced around. "Are you putting a 'can't talk about it outside the house' charm on the door?" Xander nodded. "Did Dumbledore agree?" Xander smiled and nodded. "Did he think it was neat?" Xander nodded happily. "Then you can count on me." He gave him a hug and hurried over to where the rest of the team was talking.

Xander whistled and held up one last sign. "Please remember this party is for *all* ages so pick appropriate costumes. Also, there will be a charm on the door so it can't be discussed outside the tower." All the signs went up in a sudden flame and turned to ashes. He waved and walked away, going to cast the charm. Dumbledore met him in the hallway. "All done," Xander croaked.

"Good." He smiled at him. "I dare say this will be a party for the school to remember." He patted Xander on the back and checked the spell, nodding when he saw it was properly applied. "Are you inviting Melvin?" Xander nodded. "Have you told him?" Xander nodded again. "Wonderful." He glanced around. "What's wrong with William?" Xander shrugged. "Are you sure? He was rather fussy earlier."

Xander tapped a tooth. "Teething. Normal." Then he waved and went to check on the kids. William was indeed cutting a new tooth and was quite unhappy with the fact. Xander settled down. The other planning would come tomorrow.

***

Fred looked at the plans for the decorating box, nodding. "I can do this," he agreed. "It'll be a neat thing to have at the store too. We've done about six parties so far this year."

His girlfriend Elizabeth leaned over his arm to look at the plans. "That is neat," she said with a smile. She grinned at Xander. "My part's the food?" Xander nodded and handed over a list of what he wanted. She read it over, nodding slowly. "All perfectly doable. It'll cost about three hundred dollars, muggle, for this amount of food." Xander tossed over a small bag of coins. "Gee, this is heavy."

"Good," Xander said, his voice a little stronger today. The damage to the lining of his throat was nearly healed now, but he still couldn't use it too often. "We're doing all Gryffindor, all of us, and you of course." She nodded. "So get someone else to work."

She made a note on her list. "I can do that. My new chef has an assistant who could probably work that night. She's always happy for the extra money." She smiled at Xander. "What about this guy's birthday?" Xander pointed at the top of the list. "Oh, the next day. We're doing a luncheon for you, dear?"

Fred blushed. He loved her but she liked to call him pet names and it embarrassed him. "I agreed I could have mine the next day." He looked at the second part of the list. "What's an ice cream cake?"

"Very nummy," Xander told him. "You're sure you don't mind?" Fred shook his head, smiling at him. This made his brother happy so it was good to him. "Then you'll be in charge of getting him over there while I handle the last minute details." He winked. "This will hopefully be really great." He slid out of the booth, leaving them to have a lunch together. He headed to the bank, going to exchange some of the money he had so he could arrange for the second part of George's birthday gift. The spa he had chosen was close to Diagon, George didn't like to get too far into main London because being surrounded by the muggles made him nervous, but this place was well known among the wizarding community. He walked into the spa and smiled at the receptionist. "I want to treat my lover," he croaked. He sighed and pulled out a pad, writing out what he wanted so his throat would quit hurting. She laughed. "Sorry, sore," he whispered. He made another note. She booked the spa services and he paid for it. "Thanks." He left, going home. It was almost time for his class.

***

George picked up the clothes sitting on the floor, frowning at the notepad he pulled out of Xander's pocket. He glanced around, then flipped it open, smiling at the notes on the first few pages. His lover was giving him spa treatments for his birthday! He nearly bounced in joy. He quickly closed it and put it on the dresser, continuing to pick up the laundry so it could be done. As soon as the basket was full, it disappeared so he piled the rest of the clothes next to the spot so they could be washed some other time. He checked his watch, it was an hour before Xander was getting out of class. So he decided to take a nap. He laid down and closed his eyes, and was almost asleep before it happened. A gentle hand started to rub his arm. "Xander, you're early," he whispered, not opening his eyes. He heard the door downstairs open and be slammed, then kicked. "Guess that's Ron. Must have had a stupid question again." The hand shifted, moving down to his chest. "That's nice."

Xander walked in and stopped, frowning at the blonde sitting next to his husband. "Dear, did you order the succubus?" he asked dryly. He walked over and grabbed her by the hair when George had moved, dragging her out of the tower and back into the main school. He passed Ron, who looked a bit shocked. "Succubus," he said, taking her up to the Headmaster's office. Albus was the only one with a tame succubus in the whole school. He kicked in the door and dragged her in, handing her over. "Keep your friend out of my bed and off my husband," he said, then he turned and left.

Dumbledore gave the young woman a sad smile. "I told you that you couldn't practice your trade here," he told her, picking up his wand. He banished her, ignoring her tears and protests of innocence. He hoped Xander forgave him for this.

Xander walked back into the tower and found George sitting on the couch, looking upset. "Not your fault," he whispered, pulling him up to kiss him. "She won't do it again." He sat down and put George in his lap, holding him. No nasty demon bimbo was going to touch his man! "I'll protect you from her."

George relaxed. Xander wasn't mad at him for it. He put his head on the firm shoulder and closed his eyes. He loved his husband.

Xander sniffed him. "You smell like me," he whispered. George lifted his head and looked at him. "You do. It's turning me on."

"I can feel it," George told him, wiggling in his lap. "Want to go remind me who I belong to?" Xander growled. "Not that I've ever forgotten," he said quickly.

"That demon ho had better stay away from you," Xander told him, picking him up and putting him on his feet with a pat to his butt. "Run, my little prey." George took off up the stairs, he loved this game. Xander smirked as he headed up, only stopping in the bathroom to grab one of the colored condoms and put it on. Gryffindor red, how appropriate. He walked into their room naked and George burst out laughing. "You don't like?" he asked, kicking the door shut. His cane went next to it and he hobbled over to the bed, standing proudly beside it.

"Honey, that looks silly," George told him, reaching over to take it off him. He ended up pulling a few hairs, but he would be forgiven because of what he was going to do next. He licked along the head, making Xander moan and lean forward. He gently settled his husband on the bed and continued to play with him. His Xander deserved it for being such a great husband.

Xander's mind completely left his head and he drifted on the sea of contentment.

***

Xander looked around the house, everything was ready. The trays of food were in place and mostly intact. None of the kids had showed up as Lady Godiva or something equally inflammatory. Hedre had shown up as a geisha, and he wondered if she knew what a geisha was. Another girl had shown up as a belly dancer, but her outfit was tasteful. He wondered how much longer Fred was going to take. Xander pulled down his mask, completing his costume as an Italian mediaeval comedic actor, whatever they were called. The mask was great, it had a *huge* nose.

Back in the house, George was starting to pout. After a great time at the spa and lunch out, Xander had said he needed to take care of a small problem in Gryffindor and rushed off with Ron. Fred was smirking at him. And to top it off, there was not a hint of his birthday party. Plus, Fred had taken his Christmas present. He had confiscated it earlier this morning, before they went to the spa, so it couldn't be lost. Now he wouldn't give it back.

Fred stood up, making sure his robe was closed tightly around his costume. "Xander just called, they need your level head to solve the fight between the two boys over a girl." He hauled his twin up and shoved him toward the door when he didn't want to walk. "The boys demanded that you solve it because you've got such a level head and Xander told them that neither of them deserved her."

George allowed himself to be forced over to Gryffindor. Maybe this was his party? His mind ran over the possibilities. No, they probably wanted him out of the tower so they could decorate. He walked through the portrait doorway and stopped. Everyone was staring at him. "What?" he asked.

Fred moved past him and pointed his wand at a box, making it shoot open and balloons fly out, along with glitter, lights, and a banner. "Happy birthday, Forge."

"Gred?" George asked, starting to smile. Fred nodded. "Oh, I love this!" He hugged his twin hard. "Xander?"

"One, two, three, drop," Xander called. The illusion on the kids dropped and they appeared in their costumes, while Fred just took off his robe and put on his mask. Xander stepped out of the crowd and smiled under the edge of his mask. "Happy birthday, George," he said with his brightest grin. "But you're not dressed." He waved a wand, putting George into a Tarzan-like loincloth and long wig. "That's better." He walked over and took his mate's hand. "The birthday boy!" The kids all clapped and shouted their happy wishes, then the music started. Xander drew George onto the temporary dance floor, giving him the first dance. "Fred's birthday lunch is tomorrow," he told him quietly as they danced.

"I love this, Xander," George said, beaming. "This is so great! And you kept it a surprise!"

"Yup," Xander said with a bright grin. "I'm a good boy and you said you wanted it." He leaned in for a kiss but the nose got in the way. "Oops."

George snuck one by tipping his head off further to the side. "I love you. This is so great!" He drugged his husband off the floor so they could look at everything. Hagrid dressed as Bigfoot was one of the funniest things he had ever seen, as was Dumbledore as a pirate. The food was excellent! All of his favorite things, plus stuff for the kids. His presents were stacked in a corner chair. Xander pulled him away from them. "I can't open them yet?"

"Not for about an hour," Xander told him, leading him back to the floor. "These tights are too tight," he said while they moved together.

George noticed the rest of his mate's outfit and licked his lips. "I like them," he said. "Can we keep those?"

"If you want," Xander agreed. "They're not part of the costume, I had to buy them separately." He shifted, trying to undo the wedgie in the making. "Owowowow," he whined. George fixed it for him. "Thanks, dear."

"You know I like playing with your butt. I'll protect you from the bad wedgies," he whispered, keeping one hand on the tight butt. Xander still worked out and it showed. A few of the older kids dancing near them gave him knowing looks, and a few assured them that they wouldn't be over until *late* tomorrow. That was probably a wise thing.

Simone came over and stole George to dance with him too. She looked over his outfit. "Cute wig," she said with a grin.

George giggled. "Xander has good taste." He flipped some of the hair over his shoulder. "How long ago did he plan this?"

"About a month ago. There was a spell on the door so none of us could talk about it. Though Melvin knew too." She pointed at where Melvin, Iggy, and Denver were all hiding as ghosts in the corner. "I tried to talk them into different costumes, but they're so very unimaginative." She rolled her eyes. "Even Daddy came." She pointed at the sheik in the corner, who was gathering a lot of the older girls around him.

George snickered. "He had better watch out or Xander will pull him away from the horde of women by the ear."

"Daddy would never sleep with a student, Uncle George. He'd get them the day after they graduated maybe, but not while they were in school." She spun him away and lost him to another girl, Hedre. "Well," she snorted. "Like the slut's going to get him.

Hedre smiled up at George. "Your man is quite fond of you," she said in greeting. George nodded in greeting. "Are you enjoying your party?" One of her hands slid under his loincloth.

George shrieked and jumped. Simone pounced the other girl, pummeling her very quickly. "Never touch my uncle," she instructed as she hit Hedre. "Not only is he married, you slut, he's very much in love with Uncle Xander." She was pulled off by one of the ghosts and Hedre was escorted out, her broken nose, fat lip, and heavily bruised face hidden by her makeup. She snorted. "And stay away!" she called after her. She got free and went to get some ice for her knuckles.

Xander tapped her on the shoulder. "What did Hedre do?" he asked calmly.

"Groped your man."

"Oh, really," he said, glaring at the door. "Well, every party has to have one," he announced. "Now that we've gotten that requirement out of the way, let's get back to the party." The kids started dancing again and Xander brought George some punch. "Do I have to write my name on your butt again," he whispered in his mate's ear. George blushed and his outfit became just a bit tighter and more revealing. "I'll do that later. Permanent marker or cum this time?" he asked.

George moaned. "Can we do that soon?" he asked.

"No, but I can do something to make you feel better," he promised with a wink. He led the way over to where Draco was sitting, plopping George down onto another couch. This was the marked adult section so they were safe over here; none of the first-through-fourth years were allowed anywhere near. He sat in his husband's lap crossways, and positioned the small hole in his tights. He felt his husband pop inside him and smiled. "It's not the best, but I know you always wanted to try this," he whispered.

George moaned and buried his face in his mate's neck. "I'm going to get you for this on your birthday," he whispered, thrusting subtly. The position made sure that only someone looking at them from the side could see what was going on and the free side of the couch was against a wall. Not even Draco, who was holding court on the next couch could see anything. He quickly got off with a moan, hiding it by biting and sucking on Xander's neck. One of the girls around Draco giggled.

"I like hickies," Xander told her with a grin. He shifted and the soft cock fell out, then he felt a finger come down and adjust the loincloth. "Ready to go back to dancing yet?" he teased, leaning back to get a kiss.

"Just you wait until your next one, Xander Harris-Weasley," George promised.

Xander grinned and leaned next to George's ear. "All the kids are staying with Fred and Molly tonight and I'm sending Ron out on a mission of stress relief. We'll have the *whole* tower to ourselves," he promised. Then he slid off the shaking legs and helped his mate to his feet. "Presents now?" he suggested with a smile.

George nodded. "And some more punch," he begged. He glanced in a nearby mirror, which hadn't been there before, just to make sure his loincloth was covering him completely. He had to adjust it a little bit because of some hair sticking out, but he was good to go back to the kiddie section of the party. "Let's do presents!" George yelled. The crowd parted and let him over to the throne-style chair next to the small pile. The music changed, going to something calmer and quieter. "Oh, wow," he said, sitting down. It was a nice chair. He wanted one of these in their house. He picked up the one on top. "From the whole tower?" he asked as he read the card. "That's sweet, guys."

"Well, you might as well be one of our heads," Gregory, the Head Boy, told him. "We all chipped in and got you something."

George tore into the paper, stopping when he saw the photo album. He opened it slowly, not sure he wanted to know what was inside, but it was pictures of them. Him and Xander in almost every one of them, all wizarding photos. All taken when they weren't expecting it but Xander was always giving him looks. A few were really funny, like the one right before Xander tipped the milkshake over his head a few weeks back. Then there was one where Xander was giving him a lusty look. "Oh, my," he breathed. "Guys, you rock," he told them, hugging it to his chest. "This is the greatest. Thank you!" The crowd clapped.

Draco walked up to them. "Open the silver one next, it's from Ginny and I."

"Oooh, buying presents together," Fred teased. "Are we finally going to see a resolution to you two dating forever?" Iggy poked him. "Hey!"

"Be nice. Ginny would make him change if she married him, then what would we do?" Iggy told him. "Open the silver one anyway," he suggested.

George opened it and squeaked, closing it quickly. "Draco, not in front of the children. A book of dirty practical jokes; the cover proudly proclaiming over 12 shrinking potions included. He handed it to Xander, who put it inside the photo album. "Thank you, Draco. I'll be sure to use one or two." He smirked at him when Draco's eyes widened. "What's next?"

"The pretty purple one," Melvin called out. "Grandma sent it to me last night."

George opened it and found a box of the fudge he liked so much. "Wow. I'll call her tonight," he called out. "Thanks, Melvin."

"Welcome, Uncle George. We didn't even put bugs in it like Uncle Fred suggested. Or Bertie Botts."

Xander shuddered. "That could have been a disaster in the making." He handed over the next one. "Here, from me."

"But I thought the spa...." Xander shook his head, smiling. "That was only a distraction?"

"Yup," Xander said happily. "I think you'll like this one more."

"More than on the massage table?" George asked. Xander chuckled. He tore into the package and blushed bright red, stuffing the box down his loincloth. "Xander, children!"

"Is it a sex toy?" Draco asked. A few of the kids stared at him. "What? They're married."

"No, it's not," Xander told him.

George pulled him closer and handed him the box, shoving him away. "Please, Draco."

Draco looked at the box, then shook his head and walked off, trying hard not to let on that it had stuff on it. He sent it back to the house and retook his spot in the middle of his group of admirers. He watched as George opened Ron's present, a box of fishing supplies. George had recently taken up the hobby of sitting beside the lake and napping while pretending to fish. The last present was a set of comic books from the missing brothers, things meant to amuse and mystify. Then the party went back to the throbbing music and happy partying people.

***

The next morning, most of the Gryffindors walked in and winced at the brightness of the light. Many of them looked like they hadn't been to sleep yet. A few of them were wearing muggle sunglasses. One even fell asleep on the table. The professors that had attended didn't look much better, and hopes sprung that the party would spread out later that night. Xander fell face down into his eggs shortly after sitting down and his snores reverberated around the Great Hall. George gave his mate a tolerant look and continued to eat his breakfast, occasionally sharing a bite of it with the two children at his side. Even Dumbledore looked tired, but happy. The fact that he was wearing an eyepatch mystified some of the kids, but most put it off as something in his quirky nature. Xander woke up with a snort and looked around. He smiled at George and accepted the napkin.

The other three tables talked among themselves, making up what had happened in Gryffindor tower the night before in the absence of real information.

Dumbledore stood up once he heard the orgy rumor and the room quieted. "I'm sorry if Gryffindor tower kept anyone up. The party for Professor Harris' husband George got a bit louder than we had expected." He smiled as the rumors started again. "Since Gryffindor had a long party, the other houses will be allowed to throw their own next weekend." He sat down and the teachers looked at him. "I'm not expecting anything as ornate or fun," he told them with a bright smile. "But it wouldn't be fair for them not to have a party to celebrate George's birthday also."

Professor Snape groaned. "I'll try to keep the dancing girls away this time," he told him. Tara smiled at him. "I'm not joking."

Xander burst out laughing. "I heard about some of those!"

Snape nodded. "They haven't calmed down since Mr. Malfoy left either," he noted dryly, picking up his tea to drink. "Do eat, you look like you could use a restorative potion." Xander gave him a wink and dug into his former pillow.

George smiled at him. "We'll come see you if I decide to ravish him again later," he said just loud enough to be heard by the other teachers. Snape choked. "Sorry, but it was my birthday."

"Fred's party is this afternoon," Xander reminded him. "Save room for food."

"All right, I will," George agreed. He noticed a bit of fudge left on Xander's neck and leaned over, licking it off for him. "That's for the excellent party. I never imagined something like that when I asked for one."

"I try to please," Xander told him smugly.

"Oh, you do, hubby. You definitely do please." He stole a kiss and started to eat. He felt a hand on his thigh and was grateful for the long tablecloths. "Xander," he hissed. "Stop it."

Xander looked under the table and kicked the blonde woman sitting down there. "Albus, she's back," he said, putting a proprietary hand on his mate's crotch. "Mine."

"Yours," George squeaked. His eyes widened. "Tell me that's you, dear."

"It had better be me," Xander said, giving him a leer. "Hurry up and eat. I think I've got my strength back." George dropped his fork and wiped off his mouth, then grabbed Xander and dragged him out of the Great Hall, taking him into the back hallway. Students never came back there and there were many little niches in the walls, a few with benches suitable for what he wanted to do.

"I believe he created a monster," Tara said with a naughty grin. Albus choked on his juice, looking at her. "What? I'm not the nice little girl everyone thinks I am, Albus. I'm just as old as Xander is, and have done nearly everything he has." She looked smug. "Just ask around and see." She stood up and headed out the main doorway, going to her rooms to find a good outfit for Fred's luncheon.

Snape cleared his throat. "Indeed, she's proved on a few occasions that she's not the innocent little girl we all thought she was." He blushed slightly.

Albus smiled at him. "I'm happy for you then." He saluted him with his juice. "Have fun." He dug into his food, hoping his stomach settled down finally.

Snape ducked his head and started to eat quickly. He would need to talk to Professor Maclay about her choice of venues to protest her assumption of innocence.

***

Fred smirked as Xander and George walked in. "Finally got out of bed?"

"I'll have you know we made it down for breakfast this morning," George told him with a smile. "And then promptly left again for some more fun."

"In the hallways," Xander added with a grin. He saw Arthur shake his head and walk away. "Sorry, dad, but he jumped me!" Arthur shook his head again.

"They're cute," Molly chastised. "Besides, you enjoy them being this happy." She kissed Xander on the cheek. "Are you able to sit?" she teased.

"Definitely," George agreed. "On my lap." Xander blushed.

"Perverts," Charlie said with a fond air.

"Married perverts," George corrected. "That means we're supposed to do things like that. If you found someone, you could do the same thing and not get into trouble with mum." Charlie laughed and turned away to hide it.

"If he converted to Islam, he could have four wives," Bill put in. "Imagine the nagging mum would do then," he told George, making him laugh. "Hey, Charlie, I've got a friend I want you to meet. Totally unsuitable for me, but she's more into creatures anyway so I immediately thought of you."

Charlie shook his head. "No thanks. If I get that desperate, there's all those mail-order witches I could try." His mother frowned at him. "I'd be doing them a favor, they want to get out of their countries. Did you know some of the Eastern Block countries restrict what witches can do?"

His mother shook her head. She couldn't imagine being so desperate to leave that she'd marry anyone who asked as long as they lived somewhere else. "I hope you never get that badly off," she told him.

"Seriously, my friend would love to meet you," Bill told Charlie, pulling him aside to show him a picture. "Just joined Gringotts in my area after leaving a teaching position in France. She's Egyptian and very nice, just a bit more into creatures than I can stand. So she's perfect for you."

"Why didn't she apply for a job with the preserves?" Charlie asked.

"She had been teaching charms and decided there was more to life. Beasties are a hobby of hers, not her calling." He clapped him on the back. "Her floo line is on the back if you ever want to set it up. You can even stay at my place that night." He strolled away to go pick on George some more. "So, did you get *any* sleep last night?" he asked Xander. Xander shook his head slowly. "Needing a nap then?"

"I'll tie him down later and allow him to sleep," George told him. "You should have been there, Bill. It was wonderful. He got all the Gryffs into it, threw me a real costume party."

"What were you?" Molly asked.

"Tarzan," Xander told her. "Very cute in the loincloth and wig. Though you looked a little like Ginny with your hair that long." George nudged him so he grinned. "Well, you did." He crossed his arms. "Hey, Bill, do you have an anti-succubus charm? The only one I've found was really hard and time consuming. I'm looking for a quicker version."

"Whatever for?" Arthur asked.

"One's gotten into the school and likes him," Xander told him, patting George on the rear, right over his name.

"Xander is that a hicky?" Molly asked, sounding horrified.

"No, mum, he ran into a vampire," Bill snorted. "Nice marking, brother. Good technique." George blushed. "Ah, the heat of the moment sort."

"He was holding in a scream," Xander said proudly. "Didn't scar the kids at all." He walked George away, heading over to Fred. "How was your night last night?" he asked.

"Interesting," Fred said with a smirk. He noticed the mark. "Not as much as yours was though, I take it." He flicked it. "Does it hurt?"

"Not now," Xander told him, rubbing it. "You mean you didn't notice it last night?"

"Xander!" George hissed. "Don't tell everyone."

Fred snorted. "I saw it last night but it wasn't as dark. Noticed you two kept retreating into the corner too. Nice shielding, most of the kids never suspected it." He glanced around. "How is that girl this morning?"

"Embarrassed and heading up to talk to Dumbledore," Xander told him. "Simone too."

"Are they in trouble?"

"Maybe a bit," George told him. "She did start the fight this time, even though she was defending my honor."

"Maybe Hedre and the succubus running around should get together," Fred suggested.

Ron walked over to them. "Dumbledore grounded Simone to the tower for the next week and she had a night of detention with him. Hedre was almost kicked out because she tried to claim you had made a pass at her, George." George's mouth opened. "Fortunately, Dumbledore didn't believe her and turned her over to the disciplinary board for judgement. Oh, and Hedre *is* talking to the succubus. She told Dumbledore that she was considering it as a career option."

"Wonderful," Xander drawled. "Just what the world needs. Another one." He patted George on the butt. "We have got to get you a repellent, dear."

"Please do it fast," George told him. "I don't like the creatures at all."

"But why pick on you?" Ron asked. "They don't come near me."

Xander grinned at him. "Haven't you figured it out yet? All the bad things in the universe center around me. If you look at the history of the world since I was born, you can connect every event back in eight steps or less. So she's trying to piss me off so much that I destroy her once and for all, thereby eliminating one misery from the world." He saluted him with the soda he had been sipping since the leaving school. "I'll let you help if you want."

Ron shook his head, walking away muttering about arrogant buggers and brothers-in-law who would take on the world over a stupid bimbo.

George gave him a look. "You promised, Xander."

"And I'm keeping it. Taking on a succubus is not hard. Even Iggy could do it."

"He'd probably ick her to death," Fred put in. "No fighting, Xander. You did promise my brother and I'd hate to have to go dig out my beater's club and beat you with it."

Xander grinned. "Okay. Ron can fight her. Or Draco can fight her. But I get to do the banishing spell." Fred shook his head. "But I never get to do the banishing spell," he pouted.

"As long as it's not hard and doesn't make you talk all night so you end up with a sore throat, you can do the banishing spell," George soothed. "That's not fighting." He wrinkled his nose. "But go ahead and use Draco. He'll be able to frustrate her and keep her busy for hours."

Xander chuckled. "I'm sure he'll appreciate hearing that." He looked over as the bell dinged and Dumbledore walked in. "Got free already?"

"And I even managed to catch a nap," Dumbledore said proudly. He handed Fred a small present. "I know you lost yours," he said with a wink. He walked over to Xander and George. "I'm sorry about her behavior. I thought she had reformed."

"She probably did for a while and backslid," Xander said with a shrug. "If we have to banish her, we're using Draco as the bait and I get to do the banishing spell."

Dumbledore nodded. "I know you missed out on doing them the other times." He patted Xander on the back. "I've banished her again."

Xander grinned. "But you just banished her from the school. I'll banish her back to hell," he said happily. "She'll never touch my mate again or she'll be going back without a hand." He strolled away, going to get another soda from the table. Molly gave him a look so he gave her back an innocent one. "What? She'd better not touch my man again or she'll be missing things. I might be nice and start with a hand, but I'm not going to stay nice, Molly. She's playing with the bane of hell. If you don't believe me, I can show you the letter where I'm called that." He popped open another soda. "So, how's the house?"

"Just fine, Xander. The children were over yesterday and destroyed a good portion of it. They've been quite good lately." She touched him on the arm. "I'm sorry for what I did while I was possessed."

"Not a prob, Molly. I understand." He kissed her on the cheek and walked away, going back to George's side. His mate was looking at him and laughing and he wanted to know which joke he was the butt of. "What's up?" he asked, kissing his husband on the neck.

"Just remarking that I get to write my name on your butt, dear," George told him. Xander shrugged. "You don't care?"

"You're the only one who will see it so if it makes you happy we can go into the lab and do it now." George's mouth fell open. "What?"

"You hate it when I get possessive!" George exclaimed.

"I come from a possessive species, George. I love it when you get in a claiming mood," Xander said quietly. "I've always loved it. Smothering is different than claiming and getting possessive though. Remember that part."

George smiled at him and smacked him on the rear. "Up to the nest, Xander, now." Xander grinned but didn't move. "Now, mate." Xander handed over his soda and turned to look at him. "Now, or else I'm going to jump you in front of the family."

"Wouldn't be the first time," Fred muttered. Suddenly Xander took off running toward the back area. George smiled and walked after him, giving Xander time to get undressed. "Come back soon or no ice cream cake," Fred called after him. His twin waved a hand. "Guess he got his best present last night," he told his mother.

"What's going on now?" she asked.

"Claiming rituals. Xander wants to make it official in front of the gryphons and they have to have some certain activities done first." Fred smirked. "The list was amusing when I read it over with George. There were a few things on it that Xander had to explain."

"Like what?" Charlie asked.

"Like the fact that they'll have to decide which is the head of the family," Fred told him. "And that the second one will have to be marked as the second head of the family."

"Marked how?" Molly asked. Fred just smiled at her. "Oh." She blinked a few times, trying to banish the image. "And they have to have this to be married as gryphon-born?"

Fred nodded. "Technically it's the gryphonic marking system. The born don't really hold to any particular tradition so they're not suggesting anything other than a party." He sipped the soda and grimaced. "Diet again," he sighed.

"It's all we could find," Arthur told him. "Everything else was sold out. There's some sort of game today."

"The World Cup," Bill told him. "It's a big soccer tournament. Happens every few years or so. It's like quidditch to the muggles." He looked at the doorway. "How long will this take? I'm anxious to eat."

"Not long," Fred said knowingly. "This was just a quickie in the nest. They'll go at it again for longer tonight." He finished off the soda as Xander walked out, leaning heavily against the walls. "That bad?" he asked.

Xander walked back into the lab and stuck his head under the faucet. George was in the shower so this was the best he could do. The cold water woke him up a little bit, but not enough. He didn't get to see George come in and turn off the faucet for him so it wouldn't overflow.

"What am I going to do with you?" George sighed. He picked up a broom handle and poked Xander gently with it, making him jump and flail. "Have a nice nap?" he teased.

"Babe, I love you, but you've got to let me rest sometime," Xander begged. "I promise, if you let me rest, I'll do anything you want later." George puffed himself up. "Please, just a nap?"

"After we eat you can nap until dinner," George told him, giving him a hug. He replaced the broom as they walked out, letting Xander fix his own hair however. He clapped his hands for attention. "Fred was nice enough to put off his own birthday celebration so Xander and he could make mine very special last night. So now, without further ado, let's get to the celebrating!" The food cart was wheeled out and the luncheon was set out buffet style while the family pulled chairs around and sat surrounding the counters. There wasn't a table back in the living area, they had never really needed one before. When the cake was brought out, George smiled at his twin. "For you, something that the wizarding world doesn't do. An ice cream cake." He nodded at Fred's girlfriend's helper to cut it, showing off a piece. "Think you can handle this monster?"

"I want a small piece," Xander told the server. "Maybe a corner or something." Fred was handed his and then the rest of them got theirs handed out. "Make a wish," he called before Fred could take a bite.

"You're supposed to have candles for that," Fred noted as he poked at his cake. "It's ice cream?"

"Mostly," his girlfriend Elizabeth told him. "It's part ice cream and part cake. There's a small layer of cake on the bottom."

He dug in and moaned, holding his head. "Brainfreeze!" Xander said happily. George and Fred both laughed and dug in, taking large bites. That cake wasn't going to last very long at all.

***

Xander was called into the Headmaster's office and went willingly, even though it was probably bad news. "What's going on?" he asked as he sat down, rubbing his sore knee.

"Are you all right?"

"Just a bit achy. I was pacing in class." Xander got comfortable. "Hit me with it."

"Do you remember Christmas morning?" Xander nodded. "And you remember the sleeping spell?"

"Yeah, and I remember you said someone broke into the library but you never said what was taken. Are you going to tell me now?"

"Yes, I am." Dumbledore leaned forward, putting his arms on the desk and leaning on them. "We know that it was a powerful spell, and we know what books they stole."

"And you're giving me this lecture because it's a gryphon born?"

"No, not this time," Dumbledore said with a smile. "Not one of you, or anyone in your family. Though, you might want to go clean Ignatius' room for him. He's got a few books that are probably best left in the library for now. At least for a few more years." Xander nodded, giving him a dry, but humourous look. "You knew?"

"He's got sixty books in his room at home that I could object to if I was being a good parent, but he's never done anything wrong - outside of his deaging spell, which didn't go the way he wanted. A few more, powerful, books are what George and I expected. But back to the new bad. Is it a big bad, a minor bad, or a bad that's going to make George mad at me?"

"Probably a minor bad, with the exception of the students it's going for. For them, it's could be as bad as Voldemort getting hold of them." Xander nodded, understanding that. "And I'm afraid it's coming for Ignatius because he's very close to one of the main targets."

"Physical menace, legal menace, or spiritual menace of the ghostly variety?"

"Physical, but clever enough to make me cringe in horror. You see, it's coming for young Ms. Reams. The spell to try and restore her sight once is nearly done, but we're modifying it to the one that she can switch on and off due to time restraints. On April first, there will be a certain alignment in the stars. Some people will want to take advantage of it."

"And she's part of the prophecy?" Dumbledore nodded. "Okay, what do they want her for?"

"Blood. They're going to use her blood to try and force another sacrifice to carry a child that will kill the whole of the wizarding world. That's why she's starting here. That's also why it's so important that we get her as well-trained as possible before then. The people who are going to do this won't understand, or won't care, that her blood won't work in this case."

"She's doing excellent in her studies. What do you want me to teach her?"

"First, I want you to teach her how to protect herself. She's blind, but she's not helpless. Second, get her a weapon of her choice. A cane would be the normal one, but I'll understand if she wants something different with her." Xander nodded again. "Other than that, work with *all* of your children to protect her. Because if they don't get her, they will take Ignatius in her place. Or they could take Melvin."

"Percy will shit," Xander said quietly. "What more can I teach them?"

"How about teaching them to clean their rooms?" Draco said from the doorway. "You requested my presence?"

"Someone's coming for Andrea, and if they can't get her Iggy or Melvin."

"Then they'll die," Draco said with a shrug. "Who are they?"

"I don't know for sure. It's a group formed long ago and in secret. They're trying to bring a child across that will be implanted into another sacrifice. Something about these particular children will make sure it happens."

"It's the pure magic," Xander told him.

Dumbledore nodded. "So it seems. For right now, we can't fight them, we can only plan a defense. Doing so means that Ms. Reams will be protected. Doing so will also mean that your children are protected."

"Are the gryphons in on this?" Xander asked.

"I can't tell," Dumbledore admitted, spreading his hand out. "I don't know who might know. Notice was just sent to us last year that it would impact us. McGonagall was prepared to deal with it if she had to."

"But she's semi-insane now and can't," Draco finished. The older man nodded. "Do we have any research on this phenomenon or on the ritual?"

"No. I know you both have contacts that might know. If you think you can trust them, then please find us something." Xander stood up. "Just a moment, Xander. In case you hadn't noticed, I did say I wasn't sure I could trust the gryphons. I don't know if you can either in this circumstance."

"Yay. We still have a mega-library in the homeland. They can't keep me or Iggy from getting into it and using it to our heart's content. They aren't even allowed to block our access to the information if they're involved. Doing so breaks the code. Each gryphon and born is allowed to pick their own side, even against their flock and leaders." He smiled. "Iggy is going over there this weekend, he'll be thrilled." He tipped his head. "I'm going to Wesley personally. If they're involved, then he'd know. If they're fighting against us, I'll know. Wesley can't lie worth a damn." He waved. "I'll be back later. Draco, you get on the planning side since it's your thing. Get Harry and Ron into it later tonight. I'll be back." He limped down the stairs, heading for the staff room and the floo fireplace. "Hey," he told Snape as he walked past him. "Can you tell Tara that we're having a scoobie meeting tonight?" Then he disappeared, heading to the Watcher's Council. Just like last time, he bumped his head on the inside of the fireplace too. He walked out, right into a wall of armed people. "Chill," he told them, frowning at them. "I need to see Wesley. Something's just come up." He was led to a large office, filled with sunlight and lots of books. "Leave," Xander told his escort. "Wesley won't get hurt. I like him. Unlike you." The kid backed out and shut the door.

Wesley looked up from his books. "How's the mini-you?" he asked pleasantly.

"Better now that he's cut that last tooth." Xander sat down across from him. "Tell me about this star convergence coming up?"

Wesley shuddered. "Nasty business. We have them trying to create a Destroyer, an avatar to start destroying the magical things in this world."

"Do you have anyone working on this?" Wesley nodded, looking happy. "Can you tell me that they're not working on the other side?"

"Not with any reliability," he admitted.

"Can you get me copies of the research?" Wesley looked hesitant. "I'm not asking for secrets, but anything constructive. We got it dumped on us today and my son's one of the alternate sacrifices."

"Oh, dear," Wesley sighed. "I'll get you what I can. Is there a blind wizard?"

"There have been a couple of them," Xander told him. "But yes, there is one right now. I'm telling you this because I know I can hurt you if you betray me." He smiled. "But we don't want to go there, do we?"

Wesley laughed. "No. I don't want that to occur." He nodded at the door. "Would you like to see Ms. Rosenberg and her new daughter?" Xander shrugged. "You don't care?"

"I figure that's up to her. Is she back to the old Willow or still the hormonal monster?"

"She's quite normal, though a bit darker than she used to be. If you want, I can call her in."

"Sure. I can swap kid stories with her and tell her how her son got his ass kicked last week, again." He settled himself comfortably. Willow came in a few minutes later with her new daughter. "Hey, Wills."

She frowned at him. "What happened this time?" She sat in the chair next to him. "You only come here when something happens."

"This time, I'm here looking for research," Xander admitted. "We got a problem dropped into our lap and have no clue what's going on."

"That convergence?" she asked Wesley. He nodded. "Wow. Good luck. You can't change the path of the stars."

"No, but we can guard the sacrifices and figure out where they're meeting so we can stop them," Xander offered. He smiled at the baby. "Hello. You look a lot like your big brother did."

"How is Ryan?"

"He picked on Denver last week and Simone kicked his ass good in the middle of the entryway." Xander grinned. "He's presently on detention with Snape. Snape's trying to teach him patience and subtly."

"What did he do?" Wesley asked.

"He tried to pull his disrobing trick on Denver, who just started puberty. He found his first pubic hair last week so he's living in embarrassment, which your son picked up on. Simone caught him as they were going to dinner later that night and wailed on him until Tara and Snape interfered. Simone's back in detention for it too."

"Ryan got more?" Wesley asked. Xander nodded, holding up a finger. "Oh, dear." He looked at Willow. "It seems he has his father's temperament."

"Indeed," Willow said. "I'd like to cure him of it, but I tried everything."

"Now Snape's trying," Xander told her. "He's calmed down a lot in the last few weeks. I think Draco had a discussion with him too."

"Oh," Willow said, looking at her daughter. "She's a witch too."

"If you don't come back, both Tara and I will watch out for her. We're trying to do the same for Ryan but he's not pleased with the idea. Oh, we have a succubus. Do you guys have a quick, easy charm to make them leave someone alone? She and her protégé are picking on George."

"And she's still living?" Willow asked, sounding amazed.

"Yeah, as a personal favor. That and she's been showing up at the shop to pick on him."

"Hmm, I might have something," Wesley said, getting up to check out his books. He pulled down three of them and flipped right to the charms. "I've got two different ones, and one of them has two mentions." He handed the books over, watching as Xander magically copied them. "Will those help?"

"If they work, I'm all for using alligator dung right now," Xander told him. "I might not be able to sleep with him for a few weeks, but if it works it's good enough." He put the paper into his robe pocket. "So, can I get that research?"

"Of course. Let me go over there," Wesley said. "Willow, you may stay and talk with him in here if you want."

"Please," she agreed. "There's a bunch of jumpy gits outside the door." She smiled as Wesley left, then lost it. "Why else are you here?" she asked.

"I'm getting research and making sure we still have allies," he told her. "You guys are the preeminent research guys." He shifted, moving his cane to between his legs. "Are you coming back?"

"No." She patted her daughter on the head. "I've rediscovered the joys of research and I'm happy here." She smiled. "How's Tara?"

"Good. She and Snape are working on something together. They're going very slowly, but she's happy. She even went naughty a few weeks ago at breakfast. Oh, and I threw George a birthday party! A costume party with the Gryffs. He adored it."

"Good. I'm glad you two are still together." She turned her daughter around. "Amelia, this is Xander. He's a semi-Uncle who you'll only see every now and then but he'll be watching out for you in school. Okay?" She pulled a fist up to suck on, but didn't cry when he took her.

"Oh, you are adorable. You and Maeve would get along so well together."

"Maeve? It was a girl?" She shook herself. "Draco's?"

"No, Tara's. She carried Maeve for us. Draco had a son, Lucien. They went into labor at the same time and the kids love each other. They're so happy when they get together. Not even teething broke into that." He blew on the baby's belly, making her chuckle and wiggle. "You're a happy baby," he told her.

"Wow. Tara's calming magic has spread."

"You should see Snape. He quit growling at the first years for a whole week." He handed Amelia back. "If you want, you can send her to us to play for a few weeks of vacation," he offered as Wesley walked back in. He saw the gun and one eyebrow went up. "I hope you know I can make that not work."

Wesley sat behind the desk. "It's not to use on you. I stopped to pick it up from the person fixing it for me." He slid it into his desk drawer and shut it. "I asked them to photocopy all the research they had. It should take about an hour since there's over six hundred pages loose at the moment. Did you want to wait or send someone back?"

"I can wait," Xander told him. The wand in his pocket came out as soon as the gun did.

"Xander!" Willow shrieked.

"Put it down, Wesley. If you're in on it, then I'll stop you later. If you're not in on it, then that's good too. Like I said, I'm not here for secrets."

"Bullets are faster than lips."

"I think we proved they weren't before," Xander reminded this Wesley-looking person. "Willow, take Amelia and go find the real Wesley. This one is wearing a very familiar bracelet. It lets them take on another person's shape and mannerisms." She hurried away and came back with one of the guards, who took the bracelet from that person's arm. He turned into one of the oldliners. "Gee, did I meet you sometime in the past?" he asked the scarred man.

"You bloody arsehole!" the man shouted. "Because of you, we'll all die!" He lunged at Xander, but Willow stunned him with her wand.

"If you had read the right translation, you would know that young Vincent Raymond would only be killing you all if you raised him. That's what you get for listening to idiots who pretend to know what they're talking about."

"Xander, um, don't you do that?"

Xander shook his head, relaxing once that guy was dragged out. "Not at all. Over half of the demons I teach about I've met. My kids learn that on the first day, in exactly that wordage." Wesley walked in and Xander waved his wand at him. "You really need to lock up that bracelet."

Wesley smiled. "I noticed." The bracelet went into the drawer that had held the gun, which was shoved back in there too.

"Do I really have to wait an hour?"

Wesley snorted. "Dear Lord, no. Why should you? We've got a list of books for you to look up on your own." He handed it over, then tossed over a large manilla folder. "That's the research we have so far. I can send anything else along with Ms. Rosenberg if you wish."

Xander stood up. "That'd be neat. Tara would probably really like to see her and Amelia." He smiled. "Allies again?"

"Allies again," Wesley agreed, shaking his hand. "Thank you for not killing him."

"Why does everyone think I'm some blood thirsty killer?" Xander whined. "I only defend when I need to, and if that includes someone's life then so be it. That's the only time I fight!"

"I know, but many of the Watchers see things in black or white. You fought against us so therefore you are willing to kill more of us at the slightest provocation. They feel the same way about Spike and Ethan." He smiled very brightly. "Have you talked to them? From what I understand, it's mostly Chaos people working on this matter."

"Oh, we're going to be talking soon," Xander agreed. "Probably this weekend." He waved the papers. "Thanks, Wes." He disappeared, teleporting back to Dumbledore's office. He turned around when he saw the look of bliss on the other man's face, assuming that someone was under the desk. "Research materials for you. Wesley has two people working on it. Willow will bring anything further. Do you want it or should we keep it?"

"Xander, I'm enjoying the laughter in the Great Hall," Dumbledore said, sounding amused. The younger man turned around and held up the envelope. "What's that other thing?"

"Book list. Oh, and Willow's daughter Amelia is a witch. She told me so."

"Good, good," he said calmly. "Is that all of it?"

"They're still pulling up stuff," he said, handing it over. He watched as the things were looked over. "So, do we work on this or do you want to control the flow of information?"

"I trust all my teachers," Dumbledore said, handing it back. "Occasionally not a student or three, but I trust all my teachers." He smiled again, starting to look like he was buzzed and high. "Do whatever you think is best in this instance."

"Okay. You enjoy yourself. And tell me it's not addictive."

"No," Dumbledore told him. "Not addictive in the least." He watched as Xander left, then patted the head of his companion under the desk. "Continue, my dear."

Xander ran into Tara outside the Great Hall. "Did you hear?" She nodded, looking worried. "There's some sort of mystical convergence going on. They're going to try for an innocent blood sacrifice of a powerful child, one from here." She nodded slowly. "I've got research from Wesley. We have a partial list of who it might be, and we've got some brainstorming to do. I'm letting Draco organize."

"Good," she said happily. "I'll come up about an hour after dinner and repossess Maeve for the next few nights." She gave him a hug. "How was Willow?"she whispered.

"Good. She's rediscovered her love of books. Amelia is a happy baby." He grinned. "She let me hold her. She'll be bringing any further research personally so you can talk to her." He chucked her under the chin. "She wanted to know the same things about you. She also said your calmness has spread to me," he said proudly. "You're a very talented witch, you got me and I didn't even realize." She smacked at him, but was laughing. "So a few days maybe." He went into the Great Hall to get something to nibble on. Research was his weak spot, but he knew someone who *excelled* at it. "Hey, Iggy, son, need to talk to you," he said as he walked past the table. "Follow me into the back hall." He made a quick sandwich and then filled a plate, heading into the back hall to eat. He chose a niche, one that he hadn't had sex in a few weeks past, and sat to nibble. Iggy slowly walked out so he waved him over. "We've got probs, young man, and you are part of the cure." Iggy nodded, looking happier now that he knew he wasn't in trouble. "We've got an astrological convergence of major proportions and someone's going to try and sacrifice a kid. Possibly a kid here." Iggy nodded, turning serious and looking like he was ready to kill. "We know jack shit about it." Iggy's mouth opened. "I've got some preliminary research and a list of books we need to be found and looked through. You up to going to the Elder's colony in Amsterdam?"

"Wow," Iggy breathed. "I can go play in the big library?"

"Yup." Xander handed over the book list. "Put a star beside those that we have here so the rest of us can start on that tonight." Iggy went through and starred five or six, noting where they were. "Okay, the rest have to be found. This is going down on April first this year and you're our book nerd."

"I'll do what I can, daddy." He handed the list back. "I have a test on Monday."

"You can study on Sunday, Iggy. I'm sending you out Thursday to the main library. You'll have to make a stop and get a slip from Bill, but it shouldn't be a problem. Oh, and we don't know who's the enemy this time. So no gossiping and no sharing information."

Iggy nodded. "Okay. Can I tell Bill?"

"Let me talk to him first," Albus said as he joined them. "That was fast."

"He's our lead researcher. Willow's doing it with the Watchers. I'm no good at the research stuff. Tara's good, but she's going to be busy. George and Fred are good, but they can't devote their lives to it. Short of pulling in Harry's kids to help, and keeping Agatha out of the dangerous books, we're short of research nerds." He patted Iggy on the back. "He's the best we have, untrained and all."

"I agree. Ignatius, I will let you out early on Thursday so you may go to the main gryphon colony here. I'll expect something from you on Sunday morning. I'll have a discussion about you with your teachers." He looked at Xander, giving him a smile. "Did you tell him anything else?" he asked while the professor ate.

"Not yet. Iggy, you and the others, including Andrea, are going to be taking more self-defense lessons. Consider yourself having no free period anymore." Iggy sighed but nodded. "Thank you. Go back to dinner." Iggy hurried back into the hall. "And no sharing!" he called after him. He looked at the Headmaster. "You don't agree with me including him?"

"I thought you were going to tell him that he might be a sacrifice," Dumbledore admitted.

"I'm still considering that," Xander admitted. "I think he should know but I don't want to make him paranoid." He scraped his plate and stood up. "Let me drop this off and get some supplies for a research party. We should have at least a base to work from by late tonight if you want it." He headed back inside and grabbed some fruit, then headed down to the kitchens to talk to the elves.

Dumbledore shook his head. Even after all the crises, that boy was still able to jump right in and take charge, even if it meant his son's life. Amazing. Hopefully it wouldn't backfire this time. At least they were going in a logical direction. He went in to eat his own dinner. He was rather hungry tonight for some reason.

***

Xander looked at the gathered family. "Okay, here's what we know so far. There's a convergence of astrological means. It's a sign that there should be a wonderful sacrifice that will take the blood of one innocent, magical being, and use it to push a pregnancy on another one." He held up a hand at the opening mouth of his mate. "So far, we have a possible list of targets, all from here. We know, from Wesley, that this will mean the end of all magical things in this world. We have a date, we have the beginnings of research from the Watcher's Council. I have to go visit another source this weekend and Iggy is going to another." He sat down. "That's where we're at so far." He looked at Percy and his assistant. "I gave you a copy of the books?" Percy's assistant nodded. "Do you have any of them?"

Percy coughed. "Yes. We have a few, one of which is a duplicate of one here." He nodded at his assistant, who pulled out some books. "We did a preliminary search and came up with more sources, some of which can be passed on so they can look for their own copies."

"Willow's working with them," Tara told him. "If it comes down to it, can she come use your lab?"

"Yes, as long as the books don't leave. We're open to public research with the filling out of a short form," Percy told her. "How is her daughter?"

"Amelia is a happy, bouncy baby who loved me on first holding," Xander told him. "She looks just like a baby Ryan." He looked around. "I'd like to take a step backwards and have the Astrology teacher check and make sure it's *this* year. Would that be okay?"

"I think it's a reasonable step," Snape agreed. "It could have been misread already. Prophecies aren't always correct."

"Or interpreted correctly," Tara put in, smiling at Xander. "Where are the smaller kids?"

"Upstairs trying to help Draco take a nap," he said with a grin. "He had a bad day with the builders so he's coming into this tomorrow, once we have a platform to build from. He's coordinating."

"Excellent," Percy agreed. "He can come and go at will, and doesn't have a set schedule right now."

"Plus, he is a natural leader," Snape pointed out, happy to stick up for his former favorite student. "I can agree with his appointment."

"Good. So, tomorrow we deal with the astrology teacher, Iggy packing to leave for Amsterdam, and sorting out sources. Tara, want research head?" She nodded. "Okay. That leaves me teaching the kids more self-defense."

Percy swallowed. "Why?"

Xander glanced at the door behind him, then at the one heading to Gryffindor's hallway. "Because the list includes two of our own," he near-whispered. "And Dumbledore asked me to teach them all better self-defense. I'd love not to, but I have to take into account that we'll need it."

"It's Andrea, isn't it?" Tara asked in the same hushed tones. Xander nodded. "And there's a possible backup list?"

"Of people who either see, can touch the pure magic, or can manipulate the structures." Percy started to cough. "Percy, trust me. I'm looking out for Melvin just like I do Iggy. Nothing's happening to him unless I'm dead and there's no one else around. No one's getting any of them, at anytime, for anything bad."

Percy calmed himself. "I know, but I have to worry."

"Hey, *I'm* worried and I'm the one who has to watch them every day. I'm the one who taught Simone how to beat up on the bigger kids in the league when they started to pick on her. You worrying is an okay thing, just don't get sick with it. I'd hate to have to resurrect you so I could yell at you." Percy smiled at that. "Got it?" Percy laughed and hugged him. "Thanks. Now, does anyone see anything I've left out so far?"

"Not yet," Snape told him. "The new potion will be ready in six days. We should be able to work with her after that. As long as it works, we should be able to provide her with at least temporary sight."

"Good," Xander said happily. "A happy thing in all this gloom is wonderful." He looked at Tara. "If you have a vision, I want to know. I know how you are about sharing them, but even the most vague and annoying thing could help."

"I have some every few days," she protested. "Seeing the future of Adrian and Maeve or of Hagrid's puppies. That can't help."

"It could," Xander told her. "Have you seen Storm being trained as a seeing eye dog?" She grimaced but then nodded. "See, helpful." He looked at Snape. "Tell them to him and let him decide. We can't get Trelawny because she's still sickly."

"Plus, she doesn't often have real visions," Snape put in. Tara patted him on the arm. "Write yours down for me and we'll go over them during our free periods together." She nodded and subtly leaned closer to him. "Was there anything else?"

"Not unless someone's got a suggestion," Xander told him.

"At work, we often have meetings between researchers working on the same matter, or a designated spot to put research into. Would that work now?"

"I think that's going be called Iggy's room," Tara said with a grin.

"Only if Percy goes up there and helps him clean out all the extra books he's not supposed to have," Xander told her. "Oh, and Snape, he's been borrowing from Slytherin's library again so you might want to go through it with him too." He smiled. "He's in Gryff tonight."

"I think we should go through it anyway," Snape agreed. "Do you think he'll mind?"

"Probably not, but I'd let him move the dirty clothes that's hiding some of them. Plus he can tell you his hiding spot for his Uncle Fred's spell books too."

"Ah," Snape said as he stood up. "Then I'll go retrieve him and go through it. If Mr. Weasley will stay?"

"Of course," Percy told him. "I wouldn't miss this for the world. Do you think we should go through Melvin's things too?"

"No, he's only got two or three of Iggy's books," Xander told him. "I asked Melvin and he told me so."

Percy laughed. "At least he was honest," he said as he stood up. "Shall I go get Iggy?" Xander waved a hand. "What's the password this month?" It was whispered into his ear. "Who thought that up?"

"The new Head Girl. She loves tongue twisters," George told him. He looked at his mate, silently telling him that they would be talking soon.

"I'm teaching them self-defense, and going if there's a raid," Xander told him. "I won't let a kid suffer because I'm getting slow and old. There's not enough of us this time."

"We could safely bring in Black and Lupin," George pointed out.

"And Ron and Harry," Percy's assistant agreed.

"I was going to let Draco tell them, and to ask Harry if we could use his youngest and possibly Agatha."

"That might be dangerous," Snape reminded him.

"I know, but we're short of time right now. Besides, this is the closest she'll be getting to chaos research and we'll be able to monitor her behavior."

"So it could help us in the long run," George finished. "I think it's risky. Harry yes, Agatha no. And probably not Ronald either. He hates research because it reminds him of his mother."

"He's going to have to get over it," Xander pointed out. "He's going to start school year after next."

"Good point," Snape agreed, "but he is still a child and might miss things. I'd rather the known researchers stay on this matter." He walked away. "I have one in my house that I trust. I'll send her to Draco tomorrow," he said as he left with Percy to get Iggy.

Tara tapped Xander on the head. "No third group of scoobies," she chided gently. "Two were enough and we're still kicking." She kissed him on the cheek and walked away.

George waited until the door closed. "Was it me or was she glowing?"

"She's still glowing on and off," Xander agreed. "She's not pregnant again, it's a side effect of the last one."

"I don't think they've gotten that far yet," Fred agreed from his corner perch. This was strange to him so he was listening for now. "How many books of mine does Iggy have?"

"I've seen two different lab books in his hands over dinners in the Great Hall. How many are you missing?"

"I haven't checked recently," Fred said grimly. He looked around the main room and walked over to the pile of books carelessly piled next to the fireplace. He came up with three books, which he showed his twin. "I think we need to get a physical lock for that lab cabinet."

George smiled. "That won't stop him, Fred. It never stopped us."

"It stopped me for a little while," Xander put in. "Maybe a better lock spell?"

"Maybe," Fred said darkly. "We've got to stop this kid before he steals all our ideas and goes into business for himself."

"Or you could start making him work in your lab over the summers," Xander offered. George's face lit up. "What better way to give him experience?"

Fred grinned at him. "I like that idea. How long is he disappearing for?"

"A month and a half. You'll get a few weeks out of him on each side. And you never know, he might have some improvements or new ideas. It could be really good for the store."

"And if we put him making the standard tricks, he'll learn what it's like to really work," George added. "It would free us to create new things."

"Good point," Fred agreed, sitting next to George. "If we have to fight, are you, Xander?"

"I'm not letting them suffer, but I won't be the point man. I'm too slow." He patted his cane. "I'll be the end of a wedge or something."

Fred nodded, looking at George, who didn't look happy. "That okay with you?"

"I don't want him to go at all, but I know I won't be able to stop him."

"Yup," Xander agreed. "Especially if it's one of the family."

George stared at his mate, but he didn't back down. "Fine, but if you get hurt again, Xander...."

"If it saves one of our kids, I'd gladly die over it," Xander reminded him calmly. "I'd hate to do it," he said when Fred opened his mouth, "but if it has to happen so that Andrea, Melvin, or Iggy doesn't then it will."

George nodded. He understood that, he even understood why Xander was doing this now. "If you die, I'm going to your friend Ethan and having him pull you back so we can fight about this."

Xander grinned. "You say the sweetest things." He blew a kiss. "Would you keep me a zombie forever or eventually let me go?"

"It depends on how quickly we find you," George said dryly. "If you're nasty looking then I'll only yell at you then burn you to death. If you're nice looking still, I might keep you around for a bit."

Fred looked at his twin in shock. "You'd play with the dark magics?"

"I was teasing," George assured him. "I could never love a zombie or a vampire, I'd realize where they came from and would get quite sick."

"Good," Xander told him dryly. "I'd hate to have to find you and Spike together some day."

"Eww, dear. He's not my type in the least."

Fred shook his head. "I used to understand you, George. I'm sure I will again some day." He stood up and Xander pounced him, sending them both crashing to the floor while his brother-in-law tickled him. "What are you doing?" he shrieked.

"Helping you understand George. I do this to him all the time." He continued until Fred fought his way out from under him and took off for the bathroom. "Think he understands more now?"

"Only the fact that you're insane," George told him, leaning down to kiss him.

Fred stomped back down the stairs. "Draco said to quit it before he had to come down and beat you senseless for keeping him up." He flopped down in Xander's chair, watching them make out. When Ron came in dragging Iggy, followed by Percy and Snape, he went up to help clean out the kid's room. "Damn, how many books do you have?" floated down the stairs a few minutes later.

"Did Iggy move the library from home up here?" Xander asked.

"Only half of it," George told him, stealing another kiss. He stopped when he heard a thump, followed by a sliding noise and another thump. "I think William is up."

"Hmm." Xander tipped his head to look at the stairs. Sure enough, their second oldest child was sliding down the stairs on his butt, the only way he was allowed. "Coming down to get a cuddle?" he asked.

William nodded and ran over once he was on the floor. He climbed up between them and snuggled in to be held between the daddies. This was his favorite spot in the whole world!

Xander and George shared a smile and another kiss, then Xander used his wand to call over a book to read to their son.

Upstairs, Fred was making Iggy actually clean his room while they sorted out his books on the bed, frowning every time a piece of dirty clothes flew across the room. The sock that hit Snape nearly did him in, but the quiet acceptance of his detention made Fred laugh harder. That boy was such a liar sometimes. He looked at his nephew. "Where's the rest of them?"

Iggy sighed and used his wand to flick all the clothes into a pile, uncovering the floor safe he had found. "Here they are," he said, forcing it open and starting to pull out tomes. He flinched when Snape reached down and smacked him across the back of the head when he saw the first one. "Sorry," he sighed.

"I'm sure you and Mr. Rosenberg will enjoy your detentions together," Snape told him. He used his wand to clear out the rest of the floor safe, and watched as Percy summoned more from somewhere. He looked at the boy, who only grinned apologetically. "You will be finishing that inventory, including these books, so that I know what you steal in the future," he noted.

Iggy sighed. "Yes, sir. I was only looking for something to slow down this damn body problem I'm having."

Fred laughed. "Iggy, it doesn't stop. Never. No matter what you do, you will continue to age. Your dick will continue to try and run your life for you. You will continue to grow taller and hairier. You will also continue to get awkward moments and moments when you're not sure you want to be a boy. Get over it already."

"But none of the guys on the team are built like me," Iggy complained, pulling his knees up to rest his chin on them.

"Yes, well, apparently Americans are built bigger than us Brits, kid. Your father's a lot bigger than George and I."

"You peeked?" Percy asked with mock-astonishment.

"I caught them going at it," Fred defended. "It's not hard. They do it everywhere. Even at George's birthday party."

"Is that what they were doing in the corner?" Iggy asked. Fred nodded. "Denver thought so; I owe him a knut now." He sighed. "There's another stash in Draco's room. Let me go get them and the ones in my dorm room." He heaved himself up and wandered off to go get the rest of his book stash.

"Do you think he'll eventually live in a library?" Fred asked Percy.

Snape nodded. "Most likely. I can't imagine his future home being too small or he won't have any room for furniture." He held up one book. "This one might help you in your line of work a bit," he told Fred. "Slytherin was trying to defeat a few of the more embarrassing pranks popular in his day." It was snatched from his hand. "Since I'm over that library, I will allow you to borrow it for a week or so." Fred beamed at him. "With the understanding that none of them make it into my classroom," he finished.

Fred nodded. "If I can do it, I will."

"Some children will do it on purpose," Percy told the professor. "Just because they were told not to."

Snape smiled cruelly. "Then I can punish them most severely."

Iggy walked back in with a stack of books, staggering under their weight. "Help," he said, tripping on the open floor safe.

Draco flicked his wand from the door, taking the stack and putting it down. "You're a wizard, Ignatius, act like one. None of us physically heft anything unless we're working out." He strolled away, going to find something to nibble on.

Iggy sighed and sat on the floor, pulling his wand. "Melvin, yell a 'watch out'," he whispered, then waved his wand. "Cuman."

In Gryffindor's common room, Melvin dove for cover, dragging Andrea with him. "Iggy's moving books by magic!" he yelled. Books started flowing down the stairs, narrowly missing a few people's heads. One bright person ducked under the blockade at the portrait and opened it so they could all depart, then hit the ground before one of them clocked him too.

The Head Boy came out of his room and watched the flow of books. "How many did he have up there?" he asked after ten minutes watching the stream flow.

"You don't know Iggy," Denver called from up the boys' staircase. He slid down the railing, staying out of the way. He grabbed one. "Hey, that's mine," he called. It quit fighting and laid calmly in his arms.

Gregory shook his head. "Make sure your room's clean tonight. You can have him do it if you want." He ducked under the stream and one low-flying book hit him on the shoulder. "Ouch!" He made it over to the couch, where a few stray books were trying to come out of the various hiding spots. He got them free and watched as they joined the stream of books. "I hope his fathers are ready for this," he muttered, sitting down. "You could probably get up again," he told Melvin and Andrea. Just then, one went zinging for Melvin's head. "Or not," he said after ducking.

"Iggy's books like my head," Melvin told him. "Only Simone's immune from this."

"That's because Iggy and his books know she'll paste him if she's hit," Denver said as he joined Melvin on the floor. "Hi, Andrea."

"Hi," she said, smiling at him. "How long will this last?"

"Iggy has books hidden all over the tower." He pointed as a few came down from the girls' side. "Look, there's the ones Simone was hiding for him."

Gregory shook his head. "That kid needs to keep all those in his other room. I think I'll make it an order."

Melvin looked up at him. "You're going to try and kill him?" he asked. Gregory shook his head. "Iggy would die without his books."

"I'll tell him he can only have ten in the whole tower outside of his school books. He can switch them out."

"He's got twelve at any given time for research," Denver said helpfully. "And his bookshelf holds fifteen."

"Fifteen then," Gregory agreed. Another book came flying at Melvin and Denver, making him duck. "This is getting ridiculous. How many books did he have?"

"I've counted a hundred-fifty," Melvin said helpfully.

Denver looked at him. "Say two hundred then? With the ones that haven't come out because they're in or under stuff."

"Oh, he's got some in my trunk," Andrea said.

"Simone, let the books out," Denver yelled. "Andrea has some in her trunk!" A few new books came flying down the girls' stairs, and the stream slowed down to a trickle. A book every now and then. A thumping from a closet made Gregory wince but he bravely got up to let them out too. A few new books came out of the broom closet, one or two from his bathroom, and then there was the empty room next to his. The door unfortunately opened in so he couldn't quite get out of the way fast enough. Now he knew why the other first years didn't use that one. It had apparently been half-full of books.

Back in Iggy's room, Fred was grabbing all his work books as they started to pile around them, glaring at his nephew. "You are in so deep," he told him.

"Make some of them pile in the hallway or we'll never make it out of here," Percy commanded gently. He smiled at his nephew. "And whenever you're ready, you can come do an internship in my department. I think you'd fit in well around there."

"Xander offered him a spot doing menial labor in the store," Fred told him, grabbing another book he recognized as Percy's and handing it over. "He'll get to make the standard pranks, which will free us to do more creative stuff."

Percy nodded. "Most understandable. Maybe next summer?"

Iggy smiled at him. "Sure. I'd love to come work with you, Uncle Percy."

"Only if you're ungrounded by then," Snape reminded him. He ducked some books that were making a pile on the other side of the bed. "Start them piling in the hallways. We can shift piles in as we get ready for them," he ordered.

Iggy nodded and flicked his wand, making them pile against the walls so people could still use the hallway if they were very careful.

Downstairs, both parents were staring at the flow of books in shock. When had he gotten all of them? "We getting Iggy clothes and bookcases for his birthday?" George suggested. Xander nodded, it sounded good to him. One last book flew through the open door and up the stairs. "Ooh, that's Fred's diary," George said with a wince. "Our son might not have a birthday." Xander nodded, understanding that perfectly.

***

Xander tapped on the Astronomy tower's door and walked in late that night. She always held class late at night, otherwise you couldn't do any of the work. The teacher smiled at him, but her name escaped him. "Did you get a chance to look at it?"

She nodded and drew him over to a light table, flicking her wand to light it up so she could point out the various stars on her map. "It's going to be one of those occasions where the stars are almost in position, but it won't be a perfect alignment. Whomever did the drawing thought that the universe was in a stable rotation instead of moving outward. There's a few stars that won't ever be in the right positions again," she ran a finger down the right side of the drawing. "None of these accessory stars will be correctly placed." She looked at him, and he nodded. "The alignment simply can't happen the way that they think, nor will it ever. Even when the universe starts retreating back toward galactic center, the stars will be moving in different patterns as far as we can tell. They'll never have it again."

Xander beamed. "That is so cool and great news." He gave her a hug. "Thanks. I'll pass that on. Hopefully word gets back to the idiots before they try something." She nodded. "You know why?"

"There's many prophecies about that star formation. It may only happen every six hundred years, but everyone says something's going to happen. I've pulled the relevant ones from this side of the problem if you want." She patted a small stack of books. "As long as I get them back, you may borrow them, Professor Harris."

Her name suddenly came to him. "Thanks, Professor Sinistra." She laughed. "I got it wrong, didn't I? I'm sorry, I'm horrible with names. I called Ron Draco the other day." He gave her his best cute look.

"No, you got it right, it's the fact that you still don't sound very British so my name sounds rather funny coming from you." She patted him on the shoulder. "Please don't take them from the castle."

"Yes, ma'am. Thank you." He gathered up the pile of books and left quietly so he wouldn't disturb her class any more. He nearly danced all the way back to the tower, until Iggy ran him over that is. "What's going on?" he called after his son.

"Trelawny's in trouble, I felt her nearly die," Iggy called back.

Xander sent the books to his couch, accidentally landing them on top of Maeve, who started to scream and woke up everybody, but he was too far away to care. He ran after his son, thinking hard about Dumbledore getting up and meeting them there. He found Iggy arguing with the lock on her tower trapdoor and pulled his wand, using his special unlock spell to open it. The trapdoor fell open and the rope ladder came down. He heard footsteps and nudged his son up there. "Do what you can, I'll be right behind you." Tara came around the corner. "Get Pomfrey," he told her. "Iggy's already heading up." She nodded and started for the infirmary, which was half-way across the school. He hoped she got there in time. "Okay," he told himself, climbing up into the unfamiliar territory. Trelawny hated him, he wasn't actually allowed up in her classroom, but he didn't think she'd mind this time. Iggy was bending over her draped body, trying to see if she was breathing. "Onto the floor," he told him. CPR worked best on a flat surface. "Do you know what happened?"

"I've been getting tickles," Iggy admitted, "but no visions. Andrea hasn't had any either. I guess she was reaching and somehow got stuck outside of her body for too long."

Dumbledore climbed up as Xander started CPR. "What are you doing?" he asked.

"Trying to resuscitate," Xander said as he pushed on her chest. "Want to help? Iggy, breath. Every fifteen."

"Yes, dad." He bent down to do it, ignoring everything else. He heard a slight cough. "She's trying."

"I noticed. Keep going. We don't exactly have oxygen tanks around here. Do it lighter, don't try to inflate her fully." Iggy nodded and went back to it.

Dumbledore was pushed out of the way by Madam Pomfrey. "What''s going on?" she asked as she knelt beside the body. "Is she alive?"

"Not very," Xander told her. "She's trying, but it's not working very well." He got out of her way, pulling Iggy with him to hold. "He said she tried to breathe at least once."

"I heard her cough, but it was so tiny of a sound," Iggy explained. "I couldn't find a pulse when I first got up here."

"All right," Dumbledore said. "You two down into the hallway to catch her." He stopped Xander. "Thank you."

"Hey, she's a human being and deserves that much. Even though she never told me why she hates me." He slid down the ladder and reached up, taking the body into his arms, letting Iggy help him settle her onto the stretcher. Madam Pomfrey slid down the ladder as well and floated it. "Need his help?" Xander asked.

Madam Pomfrey shook her head. "I'm taking her directly to the hospital. I fear she's been out of her body for far too long." She hurried away with the body, going to find the portkey to the hospital.

Xander put an arm around his son's shoulders. "You did the best you could," he promised.

"Xander, Ignatius," Dumbledore said as he climbed down the ladder. He noticed the look given to his dancing pumpkin pajamas and sighed. "A gift from the same person."

"Now I know what to get you for your next birthday," Xander said with a hint of a grin.

The Headmaster shook his head. "Please don't. I have plenty. Get me socks, I could always use some socks." He turned them toward the main part of the school, starting them that way. "Have you felt anything from her?" he asked Iggy.

Iggy shook his head. "Not really. Andrea and I have both felt some tickles sometimes, but nothing concrete. Neither of us have had a vision recently, sir."

"That's fine. How did you know to come to her tonight?"

"You know that strange state when you're almost awake, but you're still pretty much asleep?" Both adults nodded. "I saw her struggling, like someone was choking her. I grabbed clothes and was out of the tower before I was really awake and it seemed like an excellent idea to continue."

"Tara met me at the bottom of the ladder," Xander told him. "Oh, new development when you have a moment."

"Good. Later, Xander." He patted him on the back. "I know that this is important...."

"But she was your friend," Xander agreed. "Like I said, when you've got a moment."

Dumbledore nodded. "Thank you." He walked them back to the main staircase. "Go back to your rooms. I'll let you know tomorrow what happened," he said tiredly. They both gave him a hug before heading up to their rooms.

Snape came out of the shadows that led down to Slytherin house. "Was it her?"

"Trelawny may well be dead," he said, sounding so very tired. "Poppy thinks she was out of her body for too long."

"You did nothing to encourage that behavior," Snape reminded him. "She did that on her own, even after you warned her." He nodded at the stairs. "How did they know?"

"Young Ignatius saw it happening. He reacted before he could stop and think."

"I didn't know that trait was genetic," Snape said as he walked away. "I'll leave you to your waiting," he said as he left.

Dumbledore summoned his robe and went up to his office to wait on news.

***

Xander walked into the house and found everyone staring at him. "Something happened to Trelawny," he announced.

"Bloody hell," George sighed. "Dear, what are these?" he asked, pointing at the books. "They don't look like Iggy's usual."

"Oh, I got those from the Astronomy teacher. They're books with prophecies for this starshift, both past and future. But there's good news. The stars won't be in exact alignment. Ever. The person who did it didn't take into account the expanding nature of the universe." He sat down and took Maeve from Ron, hugging her. "Why are you up, Princess?"

"Someone inconsiderately set some books down on top of her," Ron said dryly. Xander blushed. "Accident then?"

"I meant to send them to the table," Xander told him. "But I was also running after our son at the time. He saw her going down."

"Oh, dear," Draco said. "Is he all right?"

"So far. He didn't say he needed to talk."

"So we should find him and Simone on a couch about now?" Ron said dryly. Xander nodded. "All right, I'll go check on them in a bit. Apologize to the baby for thumping her good."

"Are you okay?" Xander asked his precious daughter. "I'm sorry I did that. You know I'd never hurt you, Maeve." She babbled at him then blew a spit bubble, placing it on his cheek. "Thank you for forgiving me." He cuddled her close. "I'm sorry, guys. My aim sucked this time."

"It's all right. A minor emergency is always welcome to a major one that involves the family," Draco pointed out. He yawned and looked at the clock. "I'm going back to bed. I'll get all the information tomorrow." He left them alone.

George kissed Xander on the cheek, then Maeve on the head. "You're practicing your aim this weekend, love. No more trying to smoosh the baby."

"Why was she on the couch?" Xander asked.

"She apparently climbed out of the cradle," George said with a shrug. "Who knows?"

"She might've floated," Ron told them, then yawned himself. "Some witches and wizards do that as early as a year old."

"Well, she was active in the womb," George put in. "Wouldn't surprise me in the least." He stole the baby. "Thanks for waiting up with me, Ron."

"Not a problem. I'll be going back to bed. Some of us have early classes tomorrow."

Xander sighed. "Yeah, I do too." He heaved himself up and stole the baby back. "Come on, let's go sleep in the nest with William. Would you like that?" She cooed and squealed. "Good." He headed up the stairs, his mate following him. In the nest, they found Lucien waiting on them and Draco fast asleep on their bed. "Must've made a mess," Xander whispered. He set Maeve down in there then climbed in, helping George in so he wouldn't step on them. Then he flicked his wand, bringing over William to cuddle too. That's the way it was supposed to be in the family nest.

***

Xander woke up and blinked. George was in front of him, so which adult had climbed in with them? He turned his head and saw a pale arm around his waist, then smiled. Okay, so Draco had climbed in sometime during the night. Lucien must have been fussy. He looked over at George, who smirked and nodded. "He's comfy," Xander told him. "We're okay."

"You've got an hour before class," George whispered back. "Go back to sleep. I'll get you up."

Xander grinned and put his head back down. He loved his husband. He loved his husband even more when the hand across his waist started to move, making him squeak. He heard the laughter and looked toward the doorway, smiling at Albus. "Let me get untangled." He carefully shifted the babies out of the way, then moved Draco's arm, climbing out around him. He followed his boss to the living room. "How is she?"

"Not good at all," Dumbledore sighed, rubbing his forehead. "They pronounced her dead shortly after she arrived." He sat down on one of the couches. "How is your son?"

"He didn't say anything last night," Xander admitted. "So I'm guessing either he's napping with Simone or he'll be reacting around the funeral." He smiled as Ron came down and grabbed one of his sodas. "Save me one," he reminded him.

"There's one left," Ron grunted, heading for the Great Hall. He needed food to wake up.

Dumbledore looked at Xander. "Who's minding the triplets?"

"That'll be George until he has to leave, then we send everyone to Molly. I guess we'll continue to do that until something bad happens." He rubbed his left eye. "God, I'm morbid today."

Dumbledore sighed. "There's a reason for that." He handed over the folder he had carried in. "This came out of the floo for you this morning. It's a report." He watched as Xander read it, then headed up to show it to his husband. He hated being the bearer of bad news. He noticed the door leading down to the Gryffindor hallway opening and smiled at Simone. "Did Ignatius jump you last night?"

"No, but he looks like hell this morning," she told him as she walked in further. "What happened?"

"Professor Trelawny ran into some problems last night. She ended up dying from them, and Ignatius saw it happen."

She nodded. "Okay, then I'll pounce him later until he says something to me about it." She looked at the stairs when the yelling started. "Bad timing?"

"Possibly. Can I help you with anything?"

"Um, not really. It's more of a family thing. Really boring and all that."

"Your father will probably be up in a few moments. He was asleep in the nest behind Xander when I woke him up."

"Behind Uncle Xander?" she asked, looking confused. "Why would he be in the nest with Uncle Xander? Is he cheating on mum? 'Cause Uncle George will kill him over Uncle Xander."

"No, he climbed in because Lucien was fussing and probably fell asleep," George said as he came down the stairs. "It's good that you know I would kill over Xander. Did you need something?"

"It's more of a family thing," she said uneasily.

"Your father just went into the bathroom to shave," Xander told her as he reappeared. "Tell me and I'll go ask him for you?" She pulled him down and whispered in his ear, so he smiled and handed her something from his pocket. "Think before using it please." She nodded and left.

"Did you just give her a condom?" Dumbledore asked, looking disturbed. "She's much too young for that sort of thing."

"No, I gave her a few galleons," Xander told him. "Condoms come next year." He sat down on the couch. "When did this happen? There wasn't a date on it."

"As far as I could tell, it wasn't the first time, boys. I'm not sure when that time occurred, but it had to have been recently."

Xander nodded. "Then I think I'll be doing the baby thing in class today." He looked at George. "Can you get me the playpen and I'll take them with me? And do you want to tell Ron?"

"Tell Ron what?" Draco asked as he came down the stairs. "Why is my daughter's perfume floating around in here?"

"She needed some cash to get in on a present for someone," Xander told him. "You owe me two galleons and a few sickles." Draco waved a hand at him. "Did you hear?"

"I heard," he said grimly. "I can watch them for a bit if you want."

Xander shook his head. "Not necessary. I've got two back to back and then a few hours free, then we both have class. Besides, it'll give the kids a break." He grinned. "They love it when the tots come in, it gets them out of a long lecture because I usually sit beside the playpens."

"As long as you remember that you're giving a test this afternoon," George told him. Xander groaned and covered his face. "You didn't write it yet?"

"No, I wrote it last week, but I forgot to copy it. I'll do that during my break. Maeve loves the copy room." He sighed. "I can do this. Am I taking the triplets?"

"If you want," George offered. "I could take them but we're doing stocking today. I'll be in the lab all day." He took the file to read again. "Do you have any suggestions on how we should handle this?"

"Could it be a taint from the possession?" Xander suggested. George shrugged. "Want me to corner Snape and Tara later?"

"If you wouldn't mind," George agreed. "I think I should tell Percy and Ginny though."

"Yeah, that's better coming from you," Xander agreed. William squealed and reached up, trying to catch the gryphon chick flying around his head. "Don't tease," he warned. That chick was troublesome. It landed on Dumbledore's shoulder and craned it's neck around so it could look into his eyes and coo. "I think he likes you."

"Many creatures do," Dumbledore told him, reaching up to scratch the strawberry-blonde head. The gold and red had combined to make him look like a Weasley child. He looked over at Xander. "If you can wait until after breakfast, I'll help you move things down for the day."

"I can do it," George told him. "We don't want to add to your stress right now, Albus."

He smiled at the cute couple. "It would be a relief to have something other than paperwork to do," he admitted. "It leaves me too much time to think."

"Hey, then you can gladly help me set up the playpens," Xander offered. "George, diaper bags?" His mate stole a kiss and left. "It came out of the floo?" he asked.

"Came shooting out," Dumbledore agreed. "No note, nothing on it."

"They're probably tired of dealing with it," George said as he came down the stairs. "Lucien is being packed up right now." He smiled at the triplets hiding behind the couch. "Did you guys want to go to class with Uncle Xander today?" They babbled at him, happy to be leaving the house to go anywhere. "Okay, go get your sweaters." One of them ran off, going to grab their sweaters. Sweaters meant going really far outside of the house, not just to visit the nice people in red and gold. They allowed themselves to be put into their sweaters, while William and Maeve were put into carriers. Lucien was carried down and another bag was handed to Xander. "All ready," George announced. He let the Headmaster grab the playpens that could be connected together, then helped herd the kids down the stairs. He kept Minnie from running out the door, where she could hear the puppies and Hagrid, then kept Gwen from going to eat in the Great Hall. When they finally got downstairs, George gave his mate a kiss. "Have a good day. I'll find an elf and tell them to bring you some snacks and drinks." He left.

Dumbledore moved one of the desks so he could put up the playpens, wondering who thought up the interconnecting tunnel between them. "That's very cute."

"That way they think they're playing," Xander said, catching Gwen before she could leave the room. "Oh no you don't. You get to stay in here with me today, young lady." He lifted her up and sat he on his desk. "Stay there, mini-Buffy." He put the sleeping kids into the one next to the wall, then put the more active triplets into the front one. "Let them nap," he warned. "Or no treats later." Gwen smiled at him and Minnie pushed her brother, making him cry. "Shh, Vinnie, it's okay. If you're good, I'll even go out and get you guys ice cream tonight."

"Dadada!" Vinnie said happily, holding up his arms. Xander picked him up and gave him a cuddle, then put him back into the playpen. He smirked at his sisters, who pounced him to try and steal the teddy bear.

"Here," Dumbledore said, summoning some of their toys, including the ones he had given them, to the classroom. "You play nicely and I'll be back in a while." He looked at Xander, who smiled. "Thank you."

"It's good to see life after losing a friend," Xander said quietly. "I've been there myself. I spent *weeks* in the park after my friend Jessie died." He gave the older man a hug. "Come back and sit in on the class if you want. We're going over succubi today."

Dumbledore laughed. "I'm sure I could contribute a lot to the discussion," he agreed. He waved at the children and left the family alone. He passed a house elf carrying a large try, giving it a smile. The elves all loved the children, they were their size and accepted anything they said like it was law.

Xander looked over at the knock. "Hey, Dobby, can you put it on the desk please?" He smiled and opened the folder he had stuffed into a diaper bag again. This was going to get messy. George was going to cry. He didn't want to be in the middle of this stuff. He picked up a glass of juice and smiled at the house elf. "If you want, you can talk with the twins," he said, knowing what the nice little guy wanted. He had a thought and went to close the door. "Dobby, I need to talk to you about a student coming in next year." Everyone in the family knew that Dobby worshiped Harry with every cell in his body. Agatha coming in might not be a good thing, she could be really mean and liked being so.

***

George walked into the store and closed the door, turning around to relock it. "Fred? We've got problems. Get out here," he called, heading over to put on water for tea. Fred came out of the lab. "We've got a very bad problem," he said quietly. His twin pulled a chair out and sat down, preparing himself for the worst. "A file came through the floo this morning. No note or anything with it." He pulled the copy he had made out of the report from his pocket and handed it over. "I'm going to have to tell Percy and Ginny."

Fred balled the paper up and looked at him. "Is she still possessed?"

"I hope so," George told him.

"I'd go tell them soon, they're about to head out for the day." He handed back the report, watching as his brother left. Why had he went to Harry's first?

***

Ron strolled into Xander's classroom, waving him at the hallway since his class was taking a test. He waited until the door was closed to glare at him. "Why are my kids in there with yours?"

"Because your mother gave them to someone and the Unmentionable's department had to rescue them," Xander said simply. Ron's mouth fell open. "I have a copy of the report on the desk if you want it." He opened the door and let him go in and get it. One student was shoved out of the room then Ron came out. "You know better than to cheat," Xander told him. "Go see the Headmaster and confess before I tell on you." The kid sighed and headed up to tell on himself.

Ron leaned against the wall, reading the short report. He looked over at his brother-in-law. "Still possessed?"

"I'm hoping so," Xander told him. "Draco said a little more of the creature came out before they shielded her." He sighed. "I'm heading over to see your dad after class, and then I'm going to talk to the person who wrote the report. You can come if you want."

"No, I don't want to get in the middle." Ron handed the folder back. "How did George take it?"

"It was like his heart was breaking," Xander admitted. "He all-but trudged out this morning." He stuck his head into the room, raising an eyebrow. "I know you're not cheating, Huns."

The girl shook her head and quit staring out the window, and consequently at her neighbor's paper. But she wrote one last thing and joined them in the hallway. "I was trying to remember my name, Professor," she admitted. "I studied too hard."

Ron patted her on the head. "It's okay. I've had days like that. Did you remember it?" She nodded. "Then run outside and sigh in relief." She walked away, leaving them alone. "I did that once in Binns' class," he said with a smirk.

Xander shrugged. "I never tried that hard. By the time things got really hard, I was slaying and didn't have time for homework."

"Got Willow to cheat for you?"

"Hardly ever. Unless I was going to flunk, she refused to copy her homework for me." He grimaced. "That explains why I didn't go to college and ended up here though so I'm kinda glad most of the time."

"What were Buffy's grades like?"

"Better. Willow cheated for her more often."

"You were her best friend since school started and she wouldn't let you cheat off her?" Ron asked, sounding incredulous. "Why not?"

"Because she decided I wasn't using my time wisely. You know, all that training and fighting beside Buffy wasn't a good use of my time," he said with a grim look. "It's in the past. I got over barely graduating high school."

"Mate, if it were me, I'd still be pissed."

"Every little once in a while," Xander sighed. Another student came out, but this one handed over Vincent to his father. "Thanks. Sorry if he was disturbing you guys."

"He was picking on Maeve again, sir. She was trying to get him out of the tunnel and he was pulling her hair." He smiled at Ron. "Sir, they're adorable today. Whomever did the braids was very cute." He headed back inside to his test.

Xander shrugged. "I got bored during a lecture. Maeve go one too." He chucked Vincent under the chin. "You had better quit picking on her or Lucien will beat you with the teddy bear again." Vincent laughed.

"Gee, the war goes on," Ron said, tucking his son under his arm. "Want me to take them?"

"I'm okay with them and I only have one more class."

"But you always get them," Ron pointed out.

"They're quiet for me," Xander countered.

"Boys," Dumbledore said as he walked down the hall. "Let Ronald watch the children, Xander, you were wanting to go talk to the person who wrote the report." He smiled and waved at the baby. "Were you being naughty," he said. Vincent laughed again. "Ah, a future Slytherin. Wonderful."

"Wonderful?" Ron asked. "That'd be horrible!"

"Hey, if Denver can be in Gryffindor, Vincent can be in Slytherin," Xander told him, grinning. "Okay, after this class, I'll let you take the kids." He looked at his watch, then inside the room. "Twenty minutes," he called. A whole lot of groans floated out to them. "You want the playpens too?"

"Sure," Ron agreed. "It'll keep them from wandering around and chewing on people's ankles."

Xander grinned. "I wonder if that kid has a scar from Iggy teething." He nodded inside. "Want to help, Headmaster?"

"I wouldn't mind but we should wait until the students are done." A few more filed out, handing over their tests. And none of them looked happy. Dumbledore looked at the teacher, who smiled. "I warned them this was going to be a hard one. It's covering two very tightly packed categories that have hundreds of members. So that's a good reaction. Last year I had one person who walked out wondering if suicide was an option or if she had missed her chance. It's a hard section and I can't break them up because they're related. If I tore it in two, then the Christmas exam would have covered three weeks of class. And if I add another test, I'd get flamed by the kids."

"I understand," Ron agreed. "I've got a test like that too. Everyone dreads it." He watched as a few more students walked out, one of them carrying a crying Lucien. "What happened to you?" he asked.

"Tried to climb out and fell. Maeve made it though," the girl said with a grin. Xander hurried inside to go stop his daughter from helping the students. "Test?" Ron took it from her. "Tell him it wasn't as bad as I've heard." She strolled away.

Xander walked out with Maeve under one arm and Lucien under the other. "She was helping by stroking one boy's leg for him," he said with a grin.

"Flirting already?" Ron teased her. She giggled and reached for him. "Hold on, let the nice Uncle Albus hold Vinnie first." He handed off his son and took her, letting Xander reposition Lucien. "Were you being comforting?"

"I think the boy was near tears," Xander confided. Most of the rest of the students filed out, some of them looking quite dejected. One even came out with tears running down her face. Xander gave her a hug. "It's okay. It's only a fifth of your grade," he soothed. The Ravenclaw nodded and left. "I really don't mean to do that to them," he said with a shrug. Lucien wiggled and grabbed his lip. "Gee, thanks," he said, removing the sharp little fingers from his lip. "Try that with your father, he likes people playing with his lips."

Ron snorted and turned away to hide his laughter in the wall across from them.

Dumbledore shook his head, but he was smiling. "I hear he's selected a few to play with them now, instead of just anybody."

"Which is good," Xander agreed. "Ginny would have killed him otherwise." He heard a crash and handed over Lucien, going in to check it out. "OUT!" A few students went running. "The rest of you have ten minutes." He walked out and all but one student finished and went running away. He walked back out. "Spontaneous make out session. They tipped over a table." He grimaced. "I'll have to clean up that ink."

"I'll send an elf with some powder to help clean it up," Dumbledore told him. He led the way inside to start taking down the playpens. He let Ron and Xander herd the children and keep them away from the ink. The remaining student sighed wearily as she handed in her test and left for Potions. The class-change bell rang, waking up Gwen, who was trying to nap, making her cry. Ron gave her a kiss and she calmed down, allowing herself to be herded to the Defense classroom. They hiked everything to Ron's classroom and set it up as he took roll.

"As you can see, we're without a sitter today," Ron announced. "Please ignore the cuteness, they're trying to make sure the lecture is short today." A few of his students laughed. Gwen started to fuss so he picked her up and held her as he went into the characteristics of boggarts.

Xander headed down, putting the tests inside his special locking drawer, then grabbed the folder and teleported to Arthur's office, the napping William on his chest. "Hey," he said, closing the door. "Is this really important?" he asked the worker standing there while Arthur signed things.

"Paychecks," Arthur said, signing some more checks. He handed them back and smiled at Xander. "What can I do for you today?"

"You can read this and tell me if it's an authentic report," Xander said, handing it over. He got out of the way so the worker could leave, closing and locking the door behind her. "It came out of the floo by itself today."

"Oh, dear," Arthur said, his eyes going wide. He looked up. "When did this happen?"

Xander shrugged. "Not a clue, but it would explain why Minnie had a new hole in her ear the other day. It looks like someone took blood." He sat down. "George and Draco found out the same time I did and Ron read the report for himself. We don't know what to do, dad, and it's killing George again."

"I know, Xander. I'll have a talk with her tonight. Hopefully she's still possessed." He turned to his brazier and tossed some floo powder into it. "Ginny? Is Percy there?"

"Right here, dad, what's wrong?" Percy asked, coming into view.

"Can I have you both in my office immediately? It's a family matter." Percy nodded and they both disappeared.

Xander leaned back and unlocked the door. "I really hate dealing with this stuff, dad, and I don't know what to do."

"Have you authenticated it?"

"Not yet. I was heading over there after I let you see it." William shifted and Xander paused to pat him on the back. "Sleep, little guy. You can see grandpa later," he soothed. He looked at his father-in-law. "I can't imagine that it's fake if it's on Ministry paper, but I was going to look into it further, maybe talk with the man who wrote the report."

Arthur nodded. "I'd like to do that too." He looked at his clock. "What's taking them so long?"

"Percy works in the auxilliary building," Xander reminded him with a smile. "Can you call my husband and see if he ever came home?"

"Go ahead." Arthur got up to have a word with his assistant, waiting on his children.

"George Weasley," Xander called out, waiting on him to pop up. "Fred Weasley." Fred appeared. "Where's George?"

"He went to Harry's this morning and hasn't come back yet," Fred said, frowning. "What happened now?"

"Come here and read for yourself," Xander offered.

"Oh, that. I read that," he sighed. "I don't know what to do. Where are you?"

"Your dad's office. Percy and Ginny are coming over now. You want to join in on the discussion?"

"Hold on, let me go check someone out." He disappeared, but came back a few minutes later. "How did today go?"

"It was interesting. The kids were good all day, Ron came down a few minutes ago to repossess them for the rest of the day." He looked over as everyone came in. "Fred's here." He sat back, leaning against Ginny's side since she was leaning on his chair. "Where are the kids?" he asked.

"Draco came and stole them to look at the house going up," she said, frowning. She kicked the door shut. "Again?"

Arthur handed over the report, then sat down and smiled at Fred. "Do you have any suggestions?"

"Other than finding one of those muggle priests? I don't know, dad. I have no idea what to do anymore." He turned and looked at Percy, who had just put his fist into the wall. "It might not have been your kid," he offered.

"No, I've seen markings on Tananda that I wasn't sure of. Someone wrote on her with marker the other day and mum doesn't have any in the house." He looked at Xander. "What did you want to do?"

"The only thing I know to do is to protect the kids."

Ginny put down the file and turned, walking out of the office.

"Ginny, come back," her father called, hurrying after her.

Percy gave Fred a sad smile. "How's George taking this?"

"He went to Harry's this morning and hasn't made it back yet," Fred admitted. "I was going to floo over and check on him around closing."

"I'll go," Xander told him.

"No offense, but maybe I should go," Fred told him. "You're a lot closer to this situation and he probably wants to distance himself for a few more days." Xander nodded. "I'll bring him home tonight." Xander nodded again, but he wasn't looking happy. "This isn't about you, Xander, this is about him needing some distance from the problem so he doesn't break down."

"I'd like to know what's wrong with her," Percy said, rubbing his forehead. "This is highly abnormal."

"We're hoping for a continued possession," Xander told him. "Ron and I both."

"If it is, the Unmentionables could probably cure it," Arthur said as he walked back in and shut the door. "Ginny wanted some time alone," he said quietly. He sat down again. "Xander, I'm going with you to the Unmentionable's. Percy, did you have any suggestions?"

"I think we should wait and see if she's still possessed," Percy put in. "If she's not, then I don't know what to do, father."

Ginny came in, wiping at her cheeks. "I think she might need more professional help," she said. "If she's not possessed, we might have to look at other options to help her." She leaned against Xander's side. "Are your kids okay?"

"As far as we can tell. Yours?"

"Ravena said something about nasty people and I didn't understand. I thought she was having a nightmare." She choked up. "I wish it were a nightmare."

"Me too," Xander soothed, pulling her down into his lap to hold. "Let it out, Ginny. It's been a hard road so far." She nodded, sobbing on his chest. The three men gave each other looks, then gathered closer to the floo to talk quietly until Ginny had stopped.

***

Xander walked into the Unmentionable's department and smiled weakly. "Can I talk to Henderson?" he asked quietly. "They have some information that I need to get off them."

The boss came out of the back off. "She's off for the next hour, testifying in a case." He walked closer and nodded at the folder. "How'd you get that?"

"It came out of the floo at Hogwarts," Xander admitted. He patted William's head. "Can I ask you for something?" The boss nodded. "Can you put some sort of locator on the kids? Something that'll allow us to find them immediately?"

"Like they put on pets and cars?" one of the workers asked.

Xander nodded. "Yup, just like that," he finished dryly. "If my dog disappeared like my kids seem to, I'd never let them leave the house."

The boss led him back into his office and cleaned off a chair for him. "Sit, Professor Harris." He watched the young man.

"I'm really not mean," Xander told him. "I only act in defense."

"I know. That wasn't what I was looking at." He nodded at William. "How is he?"

"He's okay," Xander said, patting William's back. "He's sleepy today but okay otherwise." He touched the big wetspot on his shoulder. "That was Ginny."

"Ah." He sat behind his desk. "I've allowed Henderson to look up translocation spells, but she hasn't come up with anything yet." Xander slumped a little. "Do you have any idea what this might be about?"

"Molly was found to be possessed a few months back, on Christmas, but Snape and Tara cured her of it we thought."

"So, she might still be possessed?" Xander nodded. "Interesting. Do you know by what?"

"Lower level demon. Couldn't hold more than a smoke form. I thought Snape gave you guys the demon he took out."

"We got something, but like you said it was smoke."

"Yeah, well, more came out when Draco shielded her."

"Mr. Malfoy does shielding?"

Xander grinned. "He learned from Tara because he was bored. He does really good."

"I see." He glanced around, then smiled. "If you're sending your son over to deal with that convergence issue, you could have him look something up."

"Good point," Xander agreed. "I hadn't thought of that." He pulled something out of his pocket and wrote that note down. "Thanks." He looked up. "By the way, the stars won't be in the right place." He put the napkin back into his pocket. "I had the Astronomy teacher check and it won't be perfect, they forgot to take in the expanding nature of the universe."

"Oh." He looked happy. "That's wonderful news. Now all we have to do is stop the bloody buggers and it'll be great."

"I'm hoping to get the news out through the chaos network this weekend," Xander admitted. "Or maybe tonight." William woke up and yawned at him. "Hey, little guy. How was your nap?" William pulled up his thumb to suck. "Are you going to stay awake?"

William blew a spit bubble and dirtied his diaper. The boss shook his head. "My daughter did that a lot too. There's a bathroom across the hall."

Xander blushed. "I forgot the diaper bag at home. We'll head there in a few. You can wait that long," he told his son.

William wiggled and started to gnaw on one of his buttons.

Xander rolled his eyes. "Don't do that. You'll pull it off and swallow it." He removed the button and kept his hand over it. "So, anything else we can do, or help with? And how many times have you had to rescue the kids?"

"Three days in a row," the boss told him. "Yours, Percy Weasleys twice, and Ginny Weasley's once." Xander winced. "Chewing on your finger?" Xander nodded. "For right now, I'll send someone over to look her over, make sure she's not still possessed. Do you have someone else who can watch them?"

"Not at the moment. We'll figure that part out later." He stood up and shook the man's hand with the unslobbery one.

"Be easy about this, Professor Harris. We're watching out for them. If only because William there could probably blow us all up one day."

"He's a good boy," Xander told him with a smile. "He'll only be defending too. Harris' never attack." He waved and walked out, leaving the file there. He teleported back to the house and changed his son, then headed back to the Leaky Cauldron. He stopped to let Tom admire his son's cuteness. Then he realized he didn't have any money on him and went to the bank. He noticed the interest had been put in, the three or four heaps of coins were a bit larger. He made a mental note to go retrieve his paycheck soon as he traveled back to the surface and walked out of Diagon, going to call a cab. He stopped when he saw a neat book, going in to buy it for his mate, then headed on to the rest of his errands for the day.

***

Xander sat on Ethan's couch, looking over at Spike. "How have you been?" he asked pleasantly while they waited on the wizard.

"Decent enough," Spike admitted. He pulled out a cigarette but Xander patted William on the head. "Fine," he sighed. "What's his name?"

"Little Bill, named after my brother-in-law. William Steven for long." Xander grinned at the choking sound. "We didn't name him after you, but if you want to think that it's okay with me," he said with a grin and a wink.

Spike laughed, pounding his fist on the couch. "Wonderful. Hope I'm a good influence on the tyke."

"What's so funny?" Ethan asked as he brought in the tea tray. He sat it on the table then sat next to Xander and his son. "My, you're a powerful little mite," he said, reaching over to pat William on the head.

"Ethan, do you see how high these ceilings are?" Xander asked. Ethan nodded slowly. "If you *ever* hurt my children, especially this one, you'll be seeing it up close and personal. Then you'll be landing on the floor with increased gravity. Over and over again."

Ethan smiled. "I would never dream of harming your child, Xander. Even though this one was obviously created as a sacrifice."

"On another plane." Both people looked at him. "He appeared over here in Prague, along with a few mini-scoobies from yet another plane." He tickled his son, who wiggled and giggled. "And then the gryphons made you my son instead of a mini-me."

Spike leaned closer, looking at the boy. "Does look like you. Bit lighter than you around the face and hair."

"Iggy and Tara helped," Xander told him. He looked at Ethan. "I mean it."

"I know you do, Xander." He patted him on the knee. "Now, why the unexpected dropping in?"

"We know something new about the convergence." Ethan started to cough. "I see you've heard?"

Ethan nodded. "Yes, I have. Everyone within the chaos community has. As a matter of fact, there are people looking at this son of yours for the first sacrifice. I told them to not even try of course, but you know how well some of us listen."

"Well, gee, that's good to know," Xander said dryly. "We thought it was supposed to be a blind wizard."

"It was, but as a secondary choice, he could be used. He'd be blinded first of course." Xander growled. "Sorry. I have no intention of using that time for anything other than the intended wishing moment."

"Hmm." Xander looked at Spike. "You might want to have some people check the star alignment. The person who originally did it didn't take into account starshifts." Ethan's mouth fell open. "I had someone check when we found out Iggy was on the list."

"Both sons?" Spike asked. Xander nodded. He whistled. "I want in on that fight. Be a blood bath."

"Truly," Xander said grimly. "I won't let anyone harm my children." Ethan gave him a look. "You knew?"

Ethan shook his head. "I heard last night. One of your nieces ended up among my community." He frowned. "How is she?"

"Was she hurt?"

"No, just scared I think,."

"Then she'll be fine," Xander told him. "Ginny said something about her telling about nasty people."

"Yes, you could probably describe them that way," Ethan agreed. He shook his head. "As long as the little scamps are fine. I'm fully against using someone that young, they haven't had the experience to make up their minds yet."

"Yeah, not until they're eight," Xander told him. Ethan looked at him. "One of my semi-family's kids has already started walking down your path. Her mommy was the one who had your books." Spike hissed. "We've only had a few problems with her so far, but it's going to get bad once she's grown."

"Well, once she's suitably adult, do introduce us. I could possibly help her find a teacher," Ethan offered. "Might not take her on myself, I still have nasty memories of her mother attacking me."

"Was that the bint with the big hair?" Spike asked.

Xander nodded. "Yeah, that about describes Hermione."

"What ever happened to her?" Ethan asked. "I haven't seen her around."

"The Ministry decided she was dangerous and transplanted her memories. She's working as a muggle librarian in the East End somewhere. She's closely monitored."

"Ah. Probably for the best," Ethan said, pouring himself some tea. "Xander, would you like some?"

"No thanks. I still hate tea." He shuddered. "Nasty boiled leaves. Once I discovered the beauty of the floo in relation to the grocery store, I'm never without my usual source of caffeine. Or munchies." He grinned. "It's nice to be me." He stood up. "I'll leave you to the rest of your night. Oh, Ethan, warn them for me. I'm not against killing people who come for my children and Andrea is all but my child." He smiled at Spike and left. There was a bus stop on the corner and he knew his way around enough to find his way back to the Leaky Cauldron. Or at least somewhere dark and private so he could teleport.

Ethan looked at Spike. "It looks like I'm going to the pub tonight. Want to come with me?"

Spike nodded. "I could use a pint."

***

Xander strolled into the house, smiling at Draco and Ginny cuddled together on the couch. "George back yet?"

"Not yet," Ginny told him. She held out her arms and accepted the baby. "Give him a few more hours."

"Okay. Let me send him this thing I found him." He held up the book with a smile. Ancient Practical Jokes For The Excessively Talented. "Think he'll like it?"

"I think he'll adore it," Ginny said, giving him a smile. She watched as he slid a note into the book, then sent it through the floo. "He's at Harry's?"

"According to Fred." Xander sat across from them. "Have we figured out a sitter solution? If not, I only have one class tomorrow."

"Ah, the suicide test," Draco said with a smile.

"Only one person came out crying," Xander said proudly. "Tomorrow has the Slytherins though."

Draco nodded. "Quite a few of us might come out crying. I can't wait until Rosenberg takes it." Ginny smacked his leg. "What? With who his mother is, he's got to be better at it than the average, or at least he'll be expected to be."

Xander shook his head. "He's not interested. I asked him earlier this year and he sneered at me and said that he's a proper wizard, so he wouldn't be caught dead in that class."

"That's narrow minded of him," Tara said as she came in. "But that would be Ryan." She sat on Xander's knee, looking at him. "Did you really have all the kids in your classroom?" He nodded. "Why?"

"Because Molly's having more problems. The Unmentionables found the kids staying in a strange house and liberated them."

Ginny nodded. "Mum's still funny. Are they checking her over?" Xander nodded slowly. "Did they say anything else?"

"Just to tell Iggy to look for location charm to put on the kids while he's in Amsterdam this weekend."

"I thought the necessity was over with," Tara put in.

Xander shrugged. "This is Iggy we're talking about. It'd be mean to tell him he couldn't go now. Besides, not everyone knows that the stars aren't going to be in alignment. I sent word through Ethan but who knows how many people will listen to him." He glanced at his son and Draco shook his head. "He's actually above Iggy on the alternate list now," Xander said quietly.

"But now Ethan knows," Tara told him.

"Yes, but we've come to an understanding about how he's going to be hitting his ten foot ceilings repeatedly, then crashing to the floor with increased gravity."

"Can you do that?" Ginny asked.

Xander shrugged. "He doesn't know that." Everyone laughed. "Let's get sitting arrangements done for tomorrow and the rest of the week. Just in case."

***

Harry looked over as a book came flying out of the floo, leaning over to catch it. He saw the title and smiled, getting up to take it to George, who was laying in his back yard staring up at the trees. "This came for you," he said quietly, handing it over. He sat beside him. "Are you feeling better?"

"Not really," George said, staring at the cover. He started to smile. "My man," he sighed. He started to thumb through it, coming to the letter, so he opened it.

It must suck to go from having a great set of parents to having one that's not so wonderful. I know I can't understand because I never had wonderful parents, but I'm more than willing to try whenever you're ready. Remember, we can get through anything together. We got through the fight our first Christmas almost-together. We got through Voldemort. We even got through my idiocy and fighting problems. So I'm here for you whenever you need me, to be the rock that you can lean on and the body-pillow you can cuddle when you have nightmares. I'll be here when you're ready to come back. Xander.

George wiped off his cheeks. "My man is wonderful."

Harry nodded. "If I liked blokes, I wouldn't mind one like him."

George snorted. "There's no others like Xander. Not even little Bill." He sat up. "I should probably go back." He looked at the letter again, then stuffed it back into his new book.

"You can stay for dinner," Harry offered. "I'm making lasagna." George smiled at him. "And you could help calm Agatha down. I took her to Diagon yesterday and she's still over the moon."

"She's already gotten her letter?" That was unusual. Most kids didn't get theirs until just before school started.

"With a note that she was going to need something very special," Harry agreed. "It was to give us time to find a dampening bracelet."

"Xander asked around but he couldn't find one. The one Draco has was built for a male so we're not sure it would work." He pushed himself up. "Come on, I can help." He carried his precious gift inside, putting it carefully on top of the refrigerator. He heard screaming and Harry sighed so he went to break it up. "Hey!" he shouted from the doorway. Agatha let little Ron go, making him thump on the floor. "That's not nice, Agatha. He's your brother, not your victim. Go sit in the living room." From downstairs he heard Harry laugh. "Now."

"You're not my parent," she said defiantly.

"I'll go," Ron said, hurrying over to his Uncle's side. He gave him a loving look. He followed him down the stairs. "How come she doesn't pick on Mellie?"

"Because she's not being fair," George told him. "She's being mean because you're a boy." He led the way back into the kitchen. "We have another helper."

Harry smiled at him. "Want to make a salad, Ron?" His son nodded happily. "Okay, go ahead and make enough for all of us, even your sister."

"Agatha hates salad."

"She'll eat it or nothing," Harry reminded him. Ron smiled and went to get the stuff to make a salad at the table. "Was Mellie being good?"

"Mostly. Agatha was teaching her how to play with the fire." Harry hurried up to save his youngest daughter.

George grimaced. Agatha was going to be hard for Harry to live down. Him being who he is and having a dark daughter was going to be something that people talked about forever. Almost no one remembered Hermione and everyone would blame him for it. He smiled at Ron. "Are you looking forward to going to school year after next?"

Ron shook his head. "I don't want to go if sissy's there," he said quietly. "She'll make my life even more hell." He glanced around. "Uncle George, can she go to a different school?"

"I think your father was looking forward to all of you guys coming to Hogwarts," George said, walking over to sit at the table. "I know that I'm looking forward to seeing you every day, and you'll get to take classes with your Uncles Ron and Xander." He tweaked the boy's ear. "We'll watch out for you, you know that, right?" Ron nodded so he leaned closer. "And I doubt that you two will be anywhere near each other. I doubt she's going to be a Gryffindor like you will be, Ron." Ron grinned at him. "Plus, you'll have Iggy, Melvin, Denver, and Simone there two years ahead of you, and Anastasia a year ahead of you." That made the boy happy. "Oh, and we think there's going to be a new nesting this year. Murphy and Fawkes are hovering in the nest all the time but they won't even let Xander near them." Ron laughed. "So, when you get into Gryff, you'll have lots of friends already there."

Ron nodded, continuing to tear up lettuce. "That would be okay. Do you think she'll be a Gryff?"

"Not if the hat has any sense," Harry said as he came in with Mellie, his youngest daughter. She plopped herself down at the table and stole a cucumber to eat. "Honey, you need to peel that first." George waved his wand and the skin came off, making Mellie clap. "Just a few more years and you can do that too," Harry assured her.

"She's a squib," Agatha said from the doorway. Mellie started to cry.

"Stop it," George snapped. "Mellie's not a squib. She's a wonderful and powerful witch, but *she* knows when to show off her powers."

"George, relax," Harry said quietly. "Agatha, unless you want me to take back your new wand, I'd stop now." She pouted and stormed into the living room. He noticed his son swallowing hard and came over to give him a hug. "It's okay. She's going to be grounded to the tower room tomorrow and the day after."

Ron smiled at him. "Thanks, dad. Can Iggy come stay over soon? Or one of the other cousins?"

"Well, Iggy's going to be going to Amsterdam this weekend," George told him. "He's looking stuff up for us in the main gryphon library. I can make him come back Saturday night and he can spend over then if your father agrees?"

Harry nodded. "Sure. I wouldn't mind." He glanced toward the living room. "Is he still loathing pranks?"

"Not as much as he used to," George said with a smile. "Can you please check his bags, make sure he didn't bring back the library."

Harry laughed. "I figured him for a book nerd. How many does he have now?"

"Owns? About three hundred, spread all over his room at the shop, his room at the school, and his dorm room."

"Bookcases for his birthday," Harry said. "Does he want wood or metal?"

"Either would go with his lack of decorating skills. I'll expect to have them hanging with dirty clothes soon enough."

Harry snorted. "That's a normal boy thing, George. Or don't you remember what your dorms used to look like?"

"Oh, I remember," George said, taking a piece of the cucumber for himself, with a smile for Mellie. "But wasn't it yours that got the whole tower sprayed one year for bugs?"

"I think it was our year that broke the bug spell," Harry said dryly. "Between Ron and his snacks under the bed, and Neville and his sweet skin creme, we always had bugs." He finished the lasagna and put it into the oven. "There, that's ready. How's the salad?" He noticed the bowl was mostly full. "Good job, Ron. Put it in the fridge."

"It's only got one cucumber," Ron said, glancing at his sister.

"That's okay. I'll buy more tomorrow." Harry gave his son a hug. "You're such a good boy, Ron." He gave Mellie a hug. "You're a very good girl, Mellie."

"Oh, where's mine," George teased.

Harry hugged him. "You're a bloody big bugger and I'm glad you're not my son," Harry told him, making him laugh. He heard the doorbell and went that way, stopping his daughter from opening the door when he saw the auror on the other side. "Yes?" he asked as he answered it.

"Mr. Potter, there's a letter for you from the Minister." He handed it over.

"You guys have no work?" Harry asked as he opened it. "Owls usually suffice."

"In this case, he wanted to make sure it got here." He looked at Agatha.

Harry grimaced and looked at his daughter too. "Tower, now," he ordered. She stomped off to her punishment place. "Thanks for this. We're trying hard to cure this." He crumpled the paper in his hand. "Did he send you with a suggestion?"

"Only with a book, Mr. Potter." He smiled as he handed it over. "None of us who know blame you, sir. We all know it was your ex." He smiled at George as he walked up behind Harry. "How are your children?"

"As far as I know they're fine. Did something else happen?"

"Oh, no, sir. It was a general question," the auror told him. "I admire Professor Harris greatly, he's an amazing man, and I try to emulate his determination and resolve." He nodded at them. "Sorry about that, Mr. Potter. We've sent a few before and they were never answered." He left them alone.

Harry handed over the letter from the Misuse of Magic office. "I'm going to hurt her," he said quietly. He looked at the book, frowning at the index page. "There's a spell in here to ground her permanently." He closed the book. "I'm not sure I want to strip her of her powers."

"Can you restrict how much she uses?" George suggested.

"Maybe. I'll have to go through the book to see." He went back into the kitchen, putting his book on top of George's.

"Did you hear?" George asked as he sat down again. "Trelawny died."

"Oh! How?"

"Apparently stayed out of her body too long. Iggy saw it and went running for her, almost running over his other father in the process. They tried to resuscitate but she didn't come back."

"Can't say as I liked the woman all that much, but Dumbledore must be devastated."

George nodded. "They were old friends. Her funeral was short, but Xander was there for him. Hagrid on the other side."

"How are the puppies?" Ron asked.

"Good. There's one who's been helping a blind young woman who's attending right now. Hagrid is really interested in the training Storm's getting." He patted Ron on the head. "I was telling him about how great his first year was going to be. How much fun he would have as a Gryff."

"I'm sure he will. If only because the other kids will help him a lot." He smiled at Mellie. "You'll have a lot of fun too."

"School's icky," Mellie told him. "And you'd be all alone, daddy."

"That's okay," Harry told her. "I'll get to see you every weekend and on holidays, and all summer long." She frowned. "You have to go to school, Mellie."

"I know," she said sullenly. "But you shouldn't be alone."

"We'll have him over all the time, Mellie. He won't be alone all the time," George assured her. She smiled at him. "And if we're still teaching at the school when you're there, you can come over and hang in our living room with the rest of the cousins. I'm sure your father will be popping around often."

"Is Xander thinking of leaving?" Harry asked.

"No, but it pays to be careful when making promises," George told him. Harry nodded. "In case something happens. I'm always careful about making predictions." He ruffled Mellie's hair. "Besides, if we're not there by then, I'd rather see the kids in the shop than not at all."

"If you're not there, I'll give the kids the map and my old cloak," Harry said with a smile. He checked dinner, turning it around in the oven. "About another twenty minutes." He pulled down both books and handed George his. "Find something funny. I'll need it come September."

George smiled and searched for something to royally embarrass Agatha. "Too bad Draco went straight, you could change her name."

Harry snickered. "True. Wonder if I can do that anyway. Maybe Goyle or something. She'd fit in well enough with them."

"She's too smart for that," George said, laying a hand on his arm. "She'd enslave the whole family and make them do her bidding."

Harry burst out laughing. "Oh, I can see that."

"Maybe you can make Agatha see that she can do that for the light side," Ron suggested.

"Maybe," George agreed, looking at his friend. Harry shrugged. "Xander?"

"Xander," Harry agreed.

If anyone could convince her to manipulate and hurt for the light, it would be him.

***

Xander looked over as Dumbledore walked in, waving his fork at him. "Want some dinner? Iggy and I decided we couldn't stand the noise tonight." He pushed out a chair with his foot. "Sit, talk with us."

Dumbledore sat down and dished himself out some salad. "I was wondering why you were eating in here tonight." He looked at the playpen in the corner. "Where are the children?"

"Draco took them out for dessert," Iggy told him. "I didn't want to go." He looked down at his plate. "I'm sorry I couldn't save her, Headmaster."

Dumbledore patted him on the back of the head. "It wasn't your fault, Ignatius. You didn't know what she was doing."

"Neither did you," Xander pointed out. "You may know everything that goes on here, but you don't read all minds."

Albus smiled at him. "No, indeed I don't," he agreed. He took a bite. "How was your meeting with the chaos sorcerer?"

"You went to see Ethan?" Iggy asked.

Xander nodded, his mouth was full. He swallowed and picked up his water to sip. "I went to tell him about the star problem since I figured he could get messages to the guys doing it. I found out that William's higher on the list than Iggy was."

Iggy choked. "I was on the sacrifice list?" Xander nodded. "Wow, people want me dead. Is this how you feel, daddy?"

Albus chuckled. "No one actively wants your father dead, Iggy, they want his species dead. Though he has made a few enemies over the years."

Xander nodded, still blushing a bit. "Iggy, no one wants me dead as a sacrifice, it's always because I stood up for what I believed was right. I hope you never have to have that feeling. As for the sacrifice, I've been there before. Ask me about Mrs. French when you're older, son."

Dumbledore started to really laugh. "I had forgotten about your stories regarding her," he said between guffaws.

"Sacrifice, hostage, pain in the ass, that's me," Xander said dryly, taking another bite of meatloaf. "Eat, Iggy. Or you'll end up shrinking into a house elf. Then you won't be able to fly."

"Eww," Iggy sighed, picking up his fork to eat. "I wouldn't want to be that short." He took a bite of salad. "Headmaster, are the kids safe now?"

"Yes, as far as I know they are," Dumbledore told them both. "From what I was just told, Molly was taken to a special care facility and should be released at the end of next week, once she's fully healed and checked over. They're calling in special people to work on freeing her."

Xander sighed in relief. "Thank you, Tara's Goddess," he said, looking up at the ceiling.

Iggy looked at his father. "Why aren't we religious?"

"Because I never found one that answered the questions that bother me suitably," Xander told him. "If you wanted to learn about different religions, I'll gladly let you try some out. Let you go to church and things. Just don't become a zealot, son."

"Yes, daddy. I was thinking about a few of the older faiths. Auntie Tara's faith is really strong, but I don't understand some of it."

"Then ask her," Dumbledore urged. "She'd probably love to talk to you about it if she thought you were serious."

Iggy looked at him. "You think?"

"I know." He smiled at the young man. "Also, there's a wizard attending in Hufflepuff who's of the Jewish faith. There's a few other types of Christians around also. If you make subtle inquiries they might come find you and talk to you about it."

"I know, from Tara, that you might want to stay away from the Southern Baptists. She had some bad experiences with them."

Iggy ate a bite, chewing slowly. "I think I'll start with Auntie Tara. She could explain a lot to me probably." Both adults nodded. "Besides, her Goddess accepts her magic and her being who she is. I like that in a Goddess or God, I think."

Xander smiled at him. "There's all manners of faith that will do that, son. You'll figure it out eventually." He looked at the Headmaster. "How are the schedules looking for next year?"

"Much the same as they did this year, with a few exceptions. Severus wanted a different free period next year so I've rearranged his classes, which interfered with some of Hagrid and Madam Sprout's. I've finally got it all worked out. Where would you like to teach your optional class?"

"How about in a room where we can have a small lab? Like the room on the other side of Snape's classroom?"

"Daddy, you'll have three classrooms," Iggy pointed out.

"I know, son, but it's necessary. You see," he took a drink, "I'm going to be teaching all the gryphon-born who come in some of the basics of their powers so they don't have problems like I did when I first started."

"Yes, that was the main reason," Albus said gently, with great humor. "If I remember right, you used to have quite a problem with surges and having to wear it out. Something about a poodle named Fang...."

Iggy looked at his father in awe. "You turned Fang into a poodle?"

"Two or three times," Xander agreed, smiling at his boss. "Always with permission of course." Iggy nodded, looking like he was hanging on every word. "Very soon you'll start having power surges that will seem to want to ruin your life," Xander told him. "Some of it's hormones and some of it's linked to your emotional state. You'll find your powers *itching* to get out. That's why I wore a dampening bracelet for a while, because I couldn't control the surges, especially whenever your father flirted at me."

"What ever happened to your bracelet?" Dumbledore asked.

"It's in my box of special stuff. Are you wanting me to have it fixed for Agatha or Iggy?"

"Does she *have* to come here?" Iggy asked. Dumbledore nodded. "Why? There's other schools."

"Yes, but would you trust her to some strangers?" Dumbledore asked. Iggy nodded. "You would?"

"I'm assuming that, since they're teaching students every day, they're a lot like the teachers here. At least to the point of not wanting to hurt a student for doing stupid stuff." Xander snorted. "Okay, most of the ones here don't want to. But still, she could go over there, where no one knows who her father is, and where she'll be treated like the little monster she is." His father glared at him. "Sorry, but she is! She's always picking on little Ron."

"I know, son," Xander told him. "But here she has people who know about her problems and are watching out for it."

"A letter would do the same thing there and then she won't be 'Harry Potter's daughter' like she will be here."

"She'll be that no matter where she goes," Dumbledore said wisely. "There's not many wizards and witches who don't know who Harry is."

"Yeah, but since he went here, she'll be compared to his reality, instead of being compared to his legend somewhere else."

"That's an interesting thought, young man. Why would that be easier?"

"Because a legend can be discounted, fought, and corrected. The reality can't be fought. Professors Lupin and Hagrid both remember Harry with fondness so will treat her that way and be disappointed by her problems. Snape will loathe her anyway because of who she is, and she'll end up proving him right, which will hurt little Ron when he comes." He took a sip of his milk. "Plus, she won't have to live up to the mischief that Uncles Harry and Ron got into. I doubt she's going to have his map or his cloak."

Dumbledore shook his head. "I doubt so either. But Little Ron might."

"Which will be great, but he'll be fighting his father's reality and his sister's. He'll be buried by the people who she pissed off, which will probably include most of my house."

"You don't think she'll be in Gryffindor?"

"Not if the hat has any sense," Iggy told him. "I can see why it sorted Simone and Denver, they're both very protective and proactive in their protection of the weaker kids. I can even see why Melvin was separated; he's so happy over there because a lot of the kids in Hufflepuff are like him. But she could never be a Gryffindor. Or a Hufflepuff. Or a Ravenclaw. And if she's put into Slytherin then Uncle Harry will have problems of his own. That's another good reason for her to go somewhere far, far away. So Uncle Harry won't have problems with his own reputation."

Dumbledore nodded. "All very excellent reasons. Five points to Gryffindor for the wonderful reasoning you just did, Ignatius." Iggy beamed. He usually only got points from Snape. "Still, I think it's better that she come here, so we can keep a closer eye on her. It's possible we can keep her damage to a lesser level."

"Whereas someone who she doesn't know will kick her butt might not," Xander added. "She won't respect a stranger until they kick her butt. And no, I'm not telling you to take her on the first day, but the first time she starts stuff, someone's going to have to fight back."

Dumbledore frowned, but he was nodding. "I'm sure we can get the teachers to toughen up for her."

"Put her under Lupin and Black directly," Xander suggested. "Together they've got the right mix of maternal, nurturing qualities and toughness, plus they're both experienced with mischief and badness."

"Did they really go to school with Professor Snape?"

"And your Uncle Draco's father," Dumbledore agreed.

"Wow, so they really do know evil when they see it." Iggy looked at his father. "I can see Uncles Remus and Sirius straightening her out. Tara's Goddess knows no one else has been able to."

"Yeah, we've all tried our hands with that task," Xander agreed. "Eat, Iggy." His son ate a bite of his corn. "Thank you."

"Welcome." Iggy smiled at his Headmaster. "When can I be ungrounded from Potions?"

"Next week, when Ms. Ream's potion is done," the Headmaster told him.

Xander looked at his son. "You're still grounded by me, son. Don't worry." Iggy sighed and ate.

The adults shared a look; they would be talking about Agatha before she appeared, though Iggy did have a good suggestion.

***

Draco looked over as the fireplace dinged, nodding at the head sitting in it. "You needed something?" he asked, going back to his plans for his new house. Ginny had helped him choose what style and he did like the Tudor style she had chosen, but it didn't seem to have enough rooms in it. He frowned as the man the head belonged to walked out of the floo. "What did you need?" he asked again.

"Mr. Malfoy, I'm here to talk to you about your inheritance," the man said, sitting down on the couch beside him. "Due to the restrictions of your father's and grandfather's wills, you're no longer entitled...."

Draco had him pinned to the back of the couch by his throat before he could finish that sentence. "It's not my fault the house blew up. It's my father's. They blew it up because my father was such a bastard," he growled.

"Still," the man croaked.

Draco pulled him up and drug him back to the floo, sending them to the Ministry Court building. "We'll settle this with my attorney," he told him, dragging him through the halls. He tapped on the door and shoved the man inside first at the call. "Fix him or I'm going to kill him." He slammed the door and took a seat. Then he got up and went to get his son since no one was home at the moment. He came back and they were arguing about it. "The house blowing up wasn't my fault. Inghram did it, not me. I had nothing to do with the marble tomb exploding into little pieces, though it did make me happy once I had calmed down again." He sat down and stuck a bottle in his son's mouth.

"I know that, Mr. Malfoy," the inheritance lawyer told him. "But the terms of both wills say that the house has to be lived in by you under any circumstances. No matter what."

"You expected me to live in the rubble under a tent?" Draco asked sarcastically. "Try it," he said when the wizard reached for something, pulling his wand first.

"I would never dream of drawing on you, Mr. Malfoy, it's well known that you're fast at dueling." He cleared his throat and pulled out the papers, handing them to Draco personal lawyer. "These are the pertinent documents. As you can see, he's in violation of both wills and the inheritances are to be dispersed among his suitable heirs."

"My heirs were both sorted into Gryffindor," Draco said dryly. "I doubt either of them would have approved of my children." He looked at his lawyer. "Fix this or set us up a time in front of the judge."

"Yes, sir," his lawyer said, reading over them. He pointed at a section and smiled. "There is an out. How old are you, Mr. Malfoy. Thirty-one?" Draco nodded. "Were you thirty before your children were sorted?" Draco thought about that. Had he been? He nodded again. "Then there's an out. According to your grandfather's will, everything he passed on goes to you if your father was dead before you were thirty and your children were sorted before your thirty-first birthday, when you were supposed to get your inheritance, with the stipulation that your heirs weren't raised by you. In that case, the will states that having someone else raise them negates the demand that they be suitable." He let the other lawyer read it. "That means that all of the money left over from your father's inheritance goes to you automatically."

"But I did raise Denver for the most part."

"Yes, Mr. Malfoy, but is Denver your heir?" his lawyer asked.

"He's my first son," Draco said, thinking about it. "The Marble family is one that my father would have approved of. The Weasleys aren't." He shrugged. "Is he?"

"Could you classify your son Denver's upbringing as being more than half done by Ginny?" the inheritance lawyer asked. Draco nodded firmly. "How?"

"He's not exactly the little Malfoy he seems to be," Draco told him. "She turned him into a caring and loving little creature that gets along well with girls. Something I never excelled at," he finished grimly. "Simone is more my daughter by temperament. Denver looks more like me but she's got my mean temperament and linguistic abilities." His lawyer snorted but tried to hide it. "She's gotten twelve detentions from her language issues so far this year," he admitted.

The inheritance lawyer read over both documents. "All right, he invalidated the will," he said finally. He signed his name on the last page of the documents and handed them back to the personal attorney. "I'll bring the keys to all the vaults to your present residence in a few hours and all the pertinent documents about the vacation house and the Mistresses' house."

"Which one had that?" Draco asked.

"Your grandfather. It was held for you due to the fact that your father was a cold bastard who never liked sex." He stood up. "I'll see you soon, Mr. Malfoy." He smiled at the child. "Are you going to go after Mr. Inghram soon?"

"I was waiting to get my inheritance for that. I wanted to be on firmer footing in case he started something." The lawyer left, leaving him alone. "This is Lucien, named after my great-great-grandfather. Please put him on as an heir."

"Have you registered him?"

"The day after his birth he was noted in the book of Heritage." He stood up. "We're looking over house plans. Call me if you have any problems with either situation." He left, going back home. He literally ran into Ron as he came out of the fireplace. Ron ended up holding Lucien and Draco was sprawled on his back. "Was it good for you? I see stars," he joked.

"Rather less explosive than I was led to expect from your reputation," Ron joked back. He looked at the baby, who was looking a little shocked. "You okay, little person?"

Lucien pulled his fist up to suck on and then cooed.

"I'd say that was a happy noise," Draco said, forcing himself up. "We just came back from the attorney." He took his son back, looking him over. "Where's your bottle?"

Ron pulled it out from under his back, sitting up to hand it over. "What's wrong now?"

"Small matter with my paternal line's wills. They never took into account the house being blown up." He stood up and walked over to the couch. "I'm expecting the keys to the vaults any time now." He put his son down on the cushion beside him and went back to the plans. "Do you think ten bedrooms and sixteen other rooms is enough?"

"For your family, yeah," Ron agreed, coming over to look at the plans. "The kids each get a suite?"

"Simone can't share a bathroom with anyone. She hogs them," Draco explained. "Plus, Denver's going to be spending a lot of time in his soon," he finished with a sly smile.

Ron sat down in Xander's favorite chair. "Wow. Is that bigger than your last one?"

"Smaller and warmer. Ginny insisted it be less tomb-like."

"It was," Ron agreed.

"I agree, I was always depressed while I was living there alone."

"Where did Ginny find a house to rent?"

"Suburbs of London. About ten minutes travel time by bus to her office." He glanced over. "It's a nice little Gingerbread style house. Barely enough room for her and the girls." He tapped a room. "I don't like where they're putting the library. It's got a lot of light, which is supposed to be bad for books."

"That's what curtains are for," Xander said as he walked up the stairs. He hauled Ron out of his chair and sat down, putting his feet up on the table, holding down the edge of the house plans with his heels. His cane was leaned against the arm of the chair. "I hate teaching fourth years."

"What was the topic today?" Ron asked, sitting on the couch on the other side of the baby. "Sex or money?"

"Money. Wish demons. I made the mistake of asking the kids what they would ask for, then I was going to give them the standard lecture afterwards about what they would have to pay in return. We never got to the lecture part. They argued most of the class about what a good wish was. Money, fame, easy women," he sighed. "They all got argued over. So of course this was the day that Dumbledore came in, and I got the funniest look, so I told him the topic and tried to stop it for the fourth time. Still no luck. I suggested Dumbledore stop it and try to give them the 'reason this is bad' lecture. Not even he could get it stopped. So they continue this argument down into Potions." Draco snorted. "Oh, yeah, so I got to hear about it from Snape too, so I explained it to him, about not even Dumbledore being able to stop that argument. They apparently continued it throughout Potions, even though he thought he had stopped it, and out into Hagrid's class. So now Hagrid's giving me funny looks. He thinks I assigned it as a paper or something. Which I might have to, just to give them the damn lecture about the cost of wishes." He moaned and rubbed his aching head. "And I have to go over this same lecture tomorrow with the other two houses."

Ron started to laugh. "Glad I don't get that one," he said happily.

"No, you get succubi," Xander reminded him. "So you have to tell them *exactly* what they do," he finished meanly, making Ron blush.

"Maybe I'll get George to give that lecture," Ron mumbled. Xander glared at him. "He'd know!"

"We've had enough trouble with that hussy, thank you," Xander told him. "The kids don't need to know about it too."

Draco shook his head. "I'm glad I don't teach traditional classes. Any word on when Potter's coming back?"

"Two weeks. The whole team is on vacation right now," Ron told him. "Got a postowl yesterday." He grimaced. "I want to do that this summer."

"George is taking me to Hershey, Pennsylvania," Xander said happily. "We can do the spa and the theme park."

"All that because of a candy bar?" Draco asked.

"Hershey makes a few candy bars," Xander told him. "The town is named after them, they built a theme park, and they have a spa where you can soak in hot cocoa."

"I'm sure you'll come back high and happy," Draco told him. He looked over as the door opened and Tara walked in with Maeve. "How are you two today?"

"Better," she told him. "No more diarrhea or fevers." She handed the baby over to Xander, who cuddled her tightly. "I heard about your fourth years. You all right?" Xander shook his head. "Want to take a nap? We can work out sitting arrangements for next week later."

He shook his head. "No, I can do that. Hopefully I won't have this problem again tomorrow with the other two houses. If they get it out of their systems tonight it'll help me a lot." He grimaced when he heard the bad noise in the diaper. "Maeve, was that you?" he asked her. She batted him on the face. "Guess it was." He heaved himself up and walked slowly over to the changing table they had down there, cleaning her quickly and efficiently. "There we are, all clean again." She did it again. "I thought you said this was cured," Xander complained.

"Madam Pomfrey gave her something for it and said she'd be fine in an hour," Tara said with a shrug. She sat down.

"Yay," Xander said dryly, going back to reclean the tiny baby butt. He paused before picking his daughter up, but she didn't do it again so he went back to his chair, shooing Tara out of it. He put his feet back up and settled his daughter on his lap. "Where's William?"

"With Grandpa," Ron reminded him. "The triplets and he all went to work with him today so Percy could drop off Tananda."

"Gee, his office must be a wreck by now," Tara noted. She smiled at the baby, who was falling asleep. "The magic touch happens again."

"Cool. We could both use a full night of sleep tonight." He yawned. "How long before we have to hire a nanny?" he asked.

"Next week," Draco told him. "Since I'm getting my inheritance, I'll have to do more work on my finances weekly, plus work with Ginny."

"We should ask the Headmaster to appoint a new day-nanny," Tara sighed. She hated the fact that she hadn't been able to fully cure Molly. Now they were going to be taking her job from her. "I know he's asked Poppy if she could fill in."

"I'd agree with that," Xander offered. "But it'd have to be temporary. She'll be giving lessons against next year because a few seventh years want to specialize as medical people." He rubbed his forehead. "What we need is another loving relative to show up and offer to do it full-time."

Ron cleared his throat. "Short of getting Percy to retire, it's not happening. Fred and George are too busy at the shop. Bill and Charlie are too far away. Mum's not getting my kids again until we're *sure* this time she's free of any taint." He gave Tara a smile. "Whatever you did worked for a few months, but I don't want to take that chance this time."

"Me either," Xander agreed. He glanced around. "It's quiet without Iggy being here. Wonder how he's doing in Amsterdam?"

"They probably love him lots," Tara assured him.

"Unless he's pissed off a librarian," Draco put in. "Squealing in joy and all that sort of noise."

Xander chuckled. "I'm sure he's doing okay. He loves his library time and knows better than to act up when he's visiting. I'm sure Bill gave him a long list of rules for proper conduct while at the library." Maeve wiggled so Xander picked her up and held her against his shoulder, patting her gently on the back. She continued to wiggle, trying to crawl up his chest. "Want to get down and crawl?" he asked her, putting her down beside him. She was pushing herself around, not quite crawling yet, and only able to move a few feet at a time. "Thankfully, we'll have all summer without this problem. Just another month and a half and we'll be okay."

"And no mystical star convergence," Ron said happily.

"We'll still have to watch and make sure," Xander corrected. "They might not care and try to do it anyway." The others looked at him. "No one said chaos people made sense," he pointed out. They nodded and bent down over the house plans, making suggestions for things like fixtures and paint colors. Ron's suggestion of lime green in the kitchen had Draco horrified and shoving him off the couch, making the others laugh. They were still laughing when George came in, sweaty and dusty looking. "Problems?" Xander asked his husband, holding up his arms for a hug.

"I cleaned out the closets in the living section today. Someone came by collecting clothing for the poor." He slid into his husband's lap, giving him a hug. "I left your old shirts alone, dear, just like I promised."

"Please get rid of them," Draco told him. "They're horrid and loud."

"They're my favorite shirts," Xander told him. "I brought them with me when I came over." He squeezed his husband's waist. "Thank you. Did we give them a lot?"

"All of the old robes you had down there." He patted himself down and pulled out a small book. "I found this in one of the robe's pockets." He handed over the mini New Testament. "I thought you weren't religious."

"I'm not, I took it to shut the person up and make them quit hounding me in the subway one day," Xander told him. He tossed it aside and went back to getting cuddles. "You've got to stop my fourth years, dear. They're horrible again."

"What did they do this time?" George asked, stealing a kiss. He felt something wet against his ankle and looked down, smiling at their daughter. "Hello, Maeve. How are we today?" She dirtied herself. "Oh, still having that problem." He got up and went to change her. "What happened, Xander?"

"They wouldn't let him get on with the Wish Demon stuff," Ron told him, turning to watch his technique. He couldn't change Maeve without her wiggling all over the table. He didn't know how her parents did it. "They got stuck on the subject of what an appropriate wish was for three classes. Now he has to give the lesson to the other two houses tomorrow."

"Oh, I'm sorry," George told him, bringing back the pretty little one. "How are we besides that nasty mess, beautiful one?" he asked his beloved daughter. She smiled at him and made happy baby noises, waving her fists and kicking her feet to emphasize her points. If he only understood what she had been saying about the woman watching from the corner..... He looked back at his husband. "Are we going to dinner tonight?"

"Only if you want to go stop the fourth years," Xander told him. "I asked the house elves to bring us up dinner so we wouldn't have to brave that noise tonight.

Ron stood up. "I'm heading down so I can watch a few of my kids. We went over werewolves today and I want to make sure none of them get the brilliant idea to go after Lupin this year." Xander nodded. "Bring you back anything?"

"No, but tell my fourth years that I'm making that a paper topic and that they're to examine the possible ramifications of making such a wish in detail. No length requirement," Xander said with a smile. Ron nodded and headed out. "Thanks, Ron," he called after him. He pulled George back into his lap. "How was your day besides long?"

"Just that. Not many kids in town today. This is the slow season so Fred spent the day in the lab. Oh, they moved the viewing rock again. We're back to tropical fish again."

"Cool. They're pretty and colorful. If you leave the first door open, you can sit at the register and watch them."

"I did, and I got lost in my head while I watched them," George told him. He looked over as the tv came on, frowning at Draco. "You and that game show."

Draco shrugged. "I'm easily amused right now," he defended. Supermarket Sweep came on with a burst of clapping and noise. "Muggles really are strange creatures. Think I can get one of those boxes at the new house?"

"I'm not sure when they're releasing them to the general public," Xander told him. "You'd have to check with the Ministry of Technology. It hasn't been too bad so far. Madam Sprout comes up once a week and watches Law and Order reruns. Dumbledore comes up and watches soaps every now and then." He looked over as the fire whooshed and discharged his father-in-law and most of the kids. The rest came with Ginny a few minutes later. "Hey, all," he said, waving. "Draco's discovered an addiction."

Arthur nodded. "I was wondering about that myself. What are those types of shows called?"

"Game shows. It's a half-hour contest to amass the most money or points and win. There's other contests that don't fall into this categoy, they're different and more physical usually," Draco explained.

"American Gladiators," Xander said happily.

"Hmmm," Draco agreed. He made room for Arthur and Ginny to sit next to him. "I thought about popping 'round earlier, but I decided to come back and finish making decisions on this mess." He waved a hand at the plans. "Peanuts," he said, frowning when the couple on the tv didn't get it. "That was easy!" he snorted. "Stupid muggles."

"Stupid American muggles," Xander pointed out with a smile.

"Yes, any British muggle would have gotten that," Draco agreed.

Arthur rolled his eyes. Draco was so transparent some times. "The children were wonderful all day. Only tore down my desk once or twice." Ginny snorted. "Or possibly three times," he admitted. "My assistant took them out to lunch with me, that's where we ran into Ginny and her two."

"So Anastasia earned some money babysitting today," Ginny finished.

"Eggplant," Draco muttered, ignoring them.

"We found the cutest t-shirt today for Vinnie," Ginny continued, after glaring at her semi-boyfriend. "I put it into the diaper bag." Draco continued to answer the questions beside her so she finally looked at him. "Draco, if you get one of those, you're leaving it in the living room," she told him. "Or I'm never sleeping with you again."

He looked at her, a hurt look on his face. "Where else would I put it? If I put it in the den, I'd never get anything done."

"Some people have them in their bedrooms," George told him. "Xander told me about that."

"Why?" Draco asked.

"Because they want to relax and have the noise before they go to sleep, or to watch the news and stuff like that," Xander told him.

"Or porn," George added.

Draco shook his head. He didn't understand some muggles. "American muggles or British ones?"

"Both," Xander told him.

"Oh." He looked at Ginny. "You'll make sure I don't do that?" She nodded, giving him her resolute look. "Thank you." He kissed her on the cheek and went back to watching his game show.

Ginny rolled her eyes. But she was smiling. "We saw Percy today. They're cutting his staff again."

"Is he going to have to retire?" George asked. "I doubt the stress of that will help him any."

"He doesn't need that many people," his father explained. "He only needs three staff researchers, most everyone else comes in and does their own these days." He smiled at Xander. "I've talked with the Minister over Technology and he said that you've done wonderful as a test subject. They're going to release those boxes to more wizards this summer."

"YES!" Draco shouted, jumping up and down.

Ginny patted his leg. "It's good that the team you wanted won, dear."

He beamed at her. "They're good at this stuff. Now all they have to do is get the five thousand dollars." He turned back to his viewing pleasure.

Xander hid his snickers in his husband's neck. "Why were you at the Ministry today, Draco?"

"I had to argue with someone over my inheritance. They decided that I should lose it because the old house blew up."

"Oh, really?" Ginny asked. "Did you beat them up?"

"No, they found an out." He smiled at her. "Surely you aren't after me for the money," he said with mock-outrage. "I thought you were different, Ginny Weasley."

She shoved him into her father. "I am different, you big dork. I could care less about your money, but you being poor would mean I'd have to put up with a miserable you for *years*."

He smiled. "Good to know you'd support me." She smacked him hard. "Ow! Wench!"

"If you married her, she'd probably calm down," Arthur teased.

Draco spluttered. "At this late of a date? I bloody well doubt it. She's too old to change that much."

"I can hit you again," Ginny reminded him.

"Children," Xander said, pointing at the kids watching them. "Remember, they're watching you two to see how normal couples act."

Draco looked down at the kids. "Don't become like us, find real happiness that lasts more than a few moments at a time."

Ginny sighed. "I'm perfectly happy," she reminded him. "You're the miserable one."

"That's because I'm going to have to become the vision of what a Malfoy is again," he told her. "Getting my inheritance means that I'll have to take up my last name and set an example to all of society."

"I doubt they're going to be looking at you for social cues," Arthur said as diplomatically as he could. "You're a bit too young to be the social trend-setter."

Draco shrugged. "Good. I hope I never have to do that. My grandmother was one of those and it irked her to no end that she had to watch everything she did in public and at home." He shifted, putting an arm around Ginny's shoulders. "Did you know I now had three houses, including the one going up?" She shook her head. "My grandfather had a house built for his mistress. He left it directly to me since my father was such an asexual bastard."

"Language," George chastised. "You don't want another Simone-like child, especially not if one of them will end up calling the current Minister of Magic a bitch."

Arthur chuckled. "I remember that day very well. Minister Asdar had the most shocked look on his face when she called him that. And then she smiled at him afterwards. I thought Molly was going to have a heart attack." He looked at Xander. "Though I believe that was your contribution to her vocabulary."

"That and whorehouse," Xander agreed. "How is she?"

"Doing well," he said with a smile. "They've cleared her completely and now she's getting some help dealing with what she did while she was possessed. They said the family can visit her next weekend and that she could probably come home a few days after that."

"Excellent news," George told him. "Are we going as a group or individual families?"

"I thought a large group. It'd be easier if everyone had some support when they went. Percy will need someone to lean on. I've already called Charlie. I couldn't find Bill."

Xander frowned. "Really? I talked to him last week. He was at home."

"I got a letter saying he was going on a special assignment," Arthur said with a shrug. "He might not have floo access. Something about a special tomb with a body in it still."

"A mummy?" Ginny asked.

"No, a sleeping witch. That's all he said about it so far. I'm sure we'll be hearing about it afterwards."

Xander nodded. "Anything like that usually does make it into the Prophet and the international press." He smiled as a house elf carried in a large tray, letting go of his mate so he could take it from the little guy. "Thank you."

"Yous need more?" it asked, looking at the extra people.

"No, thank you. The we fed the children before they came back and ate with them," Arthur told him.

"Okay. Me bring snacks later." It hurried away.

Xander smiled at Arthur. "What did you feed our kids?"

"Pizza. They seemed to love it."

"Them and Xander both," George said as he sat the table for dinner. "Draco, turn off the tv and come eat. You guys can join us for drinks at least." The kids were put into the playpen and the adults gathered around the tables. "Are we expecting anything else tonight?" he asked as he passed the potatoes to his husband.

Draco raised his hand since he was drinking. "One of the lawyers over my inheritance is coming over with some things for me. I don't know when."

"Good," Xander told him. "We can give you some privacy if you want."

Draco shrugged. "I make no secret of my net worth. I have three vaults at Gringotts, plus my mother's which I haven't been to in years. I now have three houses apparently. Plus, I have to make paint and other decisions and could use someone with good taste to help me." Xander opened his mouth. "Not you."

Xander grinned at him. "I wasn't going to suggest anything bad. Just tapestries and thick curtains. You and sunlight don't really get along first thing in the morning."

Draco nodded. "I can do that. It would be a help."

"Keeps out the drafts," Arthur agreed.

"I'm having special windows put in. No drafts," Draco told him. "They're made to keep out drafts and not let the heat out. They came from America." He looked at Xander for a reaction.

Xander shrugged. "I was putting those in back when I was a carpenter. They're standard issue over there." He ate a bite of pot pie. "Umm," he said, spitting out a piece of something. "Peas." He picked out all the peas and took another bite, nodding happily. "Did you get the skylight put in okay?"

"Very much. The fan in it was working when they tested it." He ate a small bite of the flaky crust. "Why don't you like peas?"

"Because they taste nasty," Xander told him.

"He has as much distaste for most vegetables as you do for the sun in the morning." George smiled at him. "Plus, he whines about his breath later when he eats them." He ate a bite and exchanged plates with Xander. "I took your beef one," he explained. He looked around the table. "What else is new?"

"I have something that I'm curious about," Tara put in. "Willow once gave me a key to hold onto and never took it back. She said it was ours, but not *ours* because we were broken up then."

Xander shrugged. "Not a clue. By the time you guys broke up, Willow and I weren't that close."

"If I get it, can you tell me what it is?" she asked. Xander nodded so she went to dig it out of her jewelry box. When she came back, most of the food was gone. "That was fast."

"The vacuum known as Melvin came through," Xander told her. He took the small gold key and looked it over. "It's a Gringott's key," he said finally. "Number 1158." He shrugged and handed it back, but she waved it off. "You're sure she said it was mine?"

"She said it was yours," Tara told him again. "She said she was keeping it for you because you were horrible with it." She put a hand over her mouth. "Oh, I bet it's the rest of the reward money."

George tossed his napkin onto the table. "She kept it from him?" Tara shrugged. "But it was his!"

"It was all of ours," Xander corrected gently. "It doesn't matter, George."

"It does. There were plenty of times when you could have used that money! Like when Iggy got really sick when he was four."

Tara looked helpless. "I didn't know, Xander. She said she was keeping it for you, she never told me what it was."

"It's okay," Xander assured her. "I'll write her tomorrow and make sure that's what it is." He smiled at her, then turned it on George, who was fuming next to him. "We're talking about Willow," he said quietly. "She probably thought she was doing the best for us."

George grimaced. "She always did try things like that. Most of that reward money was for you, Xander. Only ten percent of that was for them." He looked at Tara. "I don't blame you, sweetie, I firmly blame Willow and her oddities."

Arthur coughed. "George, what's done is done. You managed that emergency and paid the shop back for the money you borrowed."

"Still."

"No, it's fine." Xander gave him a kiss on the cheek. "I'm not upset about this. Willow never gave me my share anyway. And we have a lot more than what's left in the bank probably. We'll consolidate the vaults and it'll be okay." Xander looked at Tara. "Did you want half of what was left?" She shook her head. "You're sure? You could probably use it to take a wonderful vacation or something."

George calmed down. Xander was right, they had a lot in the bank thanks to the settlement with the Prophet. They had a vault full of money because of that settlement and both of their paychecks. They didn't need the extra. "Honey, take it," he told Tara. "You deserve it for lasting this long. Think of it as a bonus for staying here for eleven years."

She smiled. "I'll take a third," she agreed, giving into their pressure. She could stash it away. "How much do you guys still have from the settlement?"

"Three hip-high piles that are about a foot across," Xander told her.

George looked at him. "When did we spend so much?"

"Vacations? School supplies? Iggy's book allowance?" Xander suggested. George nodded. "We could probably count it or have it counted or something. There's more than enough in there to live off of for at least three years," Xander told him. "Even if we both lost our jobs tomorrow, we'd be okay for three years."

George nodded. "Good. But I thought we had more."

"It goes fast," Arthur reminded him.

"I remember living on his paycheck," George said with a grimace. "It was very difficult."

"But we were happy then too," Xander reminded him, sounding hopeful.

"Yes, we were," George agreed, giving him a smile. "It was tight but we were good most of the time."

"Yeah, and thirty galleons doesn't go far when you're supporting you and Fred, plus the shop," Xander said with a grin.

George snorted. "I remember quite well. Does Fred still owe you lunches?"

Xander nodded. "I never kept track. He'll end up making me lunch some day."

An owl came in through an open window, landing on Xander's shoulder. It held out the paper it was carrying, hooting gently for some attention once it was taken. It got some food and took off again, going back to it's handler's tender mercies.

Xander opened the special edition of the Prophet. "Gee, wasn't Bill in Egypt?" Xander asked, turning it around to show the headline, "Woken Witch Destroys Cairo Mall."

Arthur snatched the paper to read. "It doesn't mention Bill anywhere," he said in relief.

"I think one of us should go check anyway," Ginny said quietly. Xander nodded and stood up. "Let Dad do it, Xander."

"Honey, he'll rip someone a new one. Do you want to come?" She nodded and wiped her mouth off, heading after him. They flooed to Bill's apartment and ran into the goblins packing things up. "Hold it," he demanded. "Where is my brother-in-law?"

"And why are you packing?"

"He's being transferred back," one goblin told him. "Main office said so." He shoved Ginny aside, going to pack up the books on the bookcase behind her.

Xander picked the goblin up and looked at the little creature. "Where is Bill Weasley and what sort of trouble is he in?" he asked patiently. The goblin raised a wand and Xander smiled coldly at him. "I'm not in the mood to pick on you, but I will not let him be hurt further. Where is he and what condition is he in?"

"His leg's broken in sixteen places," the goblin told him. "Being transferred back tonight." He was put down. "You are a rude human."

"Yay. You're not telling us about our family," Xander told it. "Where I come from, that's usually something that pisses us off."

The goblin looked over as the door opened and a human walked in. "He's getting in on our way."

"Bill's my brother," Ginny told the human. "We only want to know where he is and how he's doing. We just heard through the Prophet."

The human smiled. "I understand," he said, smiling at them. "Are you two married?"

"No, I'm her brother-in-law," Xander told him. He knew better than to say he was gay in an Islamic country. He would end up in prison very quickly. "Where is he?"

"He's in the local wizards hospital." He led them over to a couch and sat next to Ginny. "The local police are not happy with him, but he did stop her from killing many muggles. We're evacuating him for his own good so he can't be hurt by the locals. They prosecuted a witch last year most harshly because of what she was." Xander nodded, he'd heard about things like that. "So we are sending him back to the main bank in France."

"England," Ginny told him. The man looked at her. "Most of his family is in England. None of us are in France."

"But the main bank wants him there," he told her.

"Then we'll take him home and watch him ourselves," Xander told him.

She put a hand on his knee. "I know you hate hospitals, Xander, but they won't hurt him. No one would go against a goblin's wishes." Xander frowned at her. "He'll be okay in a hospital." She looked at that man. "We just want him in a closer one."

He shrugged. "I will see what I can do." He stood up. "Now, we are taking his things and sending them back to his family home." Ginny nodded, looking up at him. "We thought it safer for him."

"What about his job?" Xander asked.

"That is up to the higher ups to decide," he told them. "I do not know. He was not the one who woke her, but she was in his care. They will not make a decision until he is healed."

Xander stood up. "Can we at least see him? We kept his father from coming so he wouldn't rip someone apart." He looked at the goblin he had 'talked' to, then back at the human. "His father is very worried."

"I can take his sister," the man offered. "They are very strict about family going." He looked Ginny over. "You'll have to cover your head and change out of your robe." She waved her wand, changing her robe into something more native to the area, then pulled a scarf out and covered her head. "We will be back if you wanted to stay and supervise." Xander shrugged and sat down, giving him a long, steady look. "I will protect her."

"Good," Xander told him. "Otherwise Mr. Malfoy will have to come save his fiancé." Ginny smiled at him before they left. Xander got up and went to call home and tell them what was going on.

***

Ginny leaned down and kissed Bill's cheek. "Happy drugs?" she asked.

He snorted. "Not enough. Why're you here?"

"The paper said something happened and we knew you were in the middle of it," she told him, sitting on the side of his bed. "Did you want to come closer to home or go to France?"

"I'd rather recuperate at home," he told her. "Gringott's main people want me in France though. It's possible they're going to fire me if I don't follow orders."

Ginny shook her head. "Not even close. They can't do that by employment laws." She picked up his hand to hold. "Are you okay? Besides the leg thing?" He shrugged and picked at the blanket. "Lost someone close?" He nodded. "I'm sorry, Bill." She gave him a hug. "The goblins are packing up your things right now."

"I'm being rushed out for my own good," he agreed. He looked at her, seeing that she understood. "It's not easy. I won't be able to go to her funeral."

She squeezed his hand. "I'm sorry. Maybe someday you can come back and visit her." She watched as a nurse walked through the ward. "Did you want to come home with us? Mum's still in the hospital but you could come to my place or Xander's."

He grimaced. "He'll fuss."

She laughed. "You have no idea!" she told him. "When Tara was pregnant for him, he fussed over her so much she took up with Snape."

"Snape?" he squeaked. She nodded. "Wow. Has he lightened up?"

"Not yet." One of the nurses walked toward him. "What sort of care will he need when he's transferred?"

"Are you his wife?"

"He's unmarried, I'm his sister. Our mother's in a hospital herself."

"Oh." The nurse nodded. "He will need someone to do things for him and to watch his cast and leg." Ginny nodded. "Are you a qualified nurse?"

"No, but I'm a champion fusser," Ginny told her. "The whole family is going to help." She hugged her brother and stood up. "I'll be back tomorrow if you're still here."

"I'm surprised they let you come alone," Bill told her.

"Xander's waiting back at your place. They'd only bring me." She gave him a smile. "You behave and I'll force them to send you back to us instead of to France." He gave her a weak smile. "You rest. Remember, we're going to make you babysit all the kids." He laughed, which made her feel happier. "Okay, I'm going," she announced. She leaned down and gave him another hug. "Now I'm going." She followed the nurse back to the waiting area and nodded at the man who had brought her to follow. "He's coming home," she said as they got into the car. "He doesn't want to go to France and be surrounded by people he doesn't know." She waited until the car had left the hospital to look at him. "Why does Gringotts want him in France? Their main office is still in London."

"They wanted him in France for his own good," he said. He pulled out onto the interstate, heading for Bill's apartment. "What is that other man to you?"

"Xander's my brother-in-law, and Bill's. Bill is my brother, and there's seven of us who will come down and help with him. You can tell them I said so," she said in her nicest tone of voice. "Or else, I could apparate him to my house. Either way is good for us." She noticed they passed the exit they had come out of on the way up. "Weren't we supposed to go there?"

"Your friend is now at your brother's office." He took the next exit and swung into the lane holding some skyscrapers. "We will be there soon." He was silent as he drove. "You love your brother very much?"

"Very, very much. We're a tight family. We'd kill over each other if it came to it. Just ask Xander." This guy was creeping her out. As soon as they stopped, she got out and headed for the elevator. "Which floor?" she asked, taking the position to control the buttons.

"Six. It will take us down to his floor." She pushed it and he waited. There was a blond man standing there waiting on them. "Who is this?"

Draco shook his hand. "Her fiancé." He led her to the office where Xander was removing boxes back to the tower. "We're almost done?" he asked. Xander nodded, looking at the man behind him. "Good news, dear, your brother's coming home with us. You'll have him at your place for the most part, but Percy has demanded equal time." He gave her a squeeze. "Don't forget the pictures," he told the goblins helping them.

An especially well-dressed goblin walked in and nodded at Draco. "Everything is set up." He glanced at Xander, who was staring at him. "He will be going back with you tonight. Will you be teleporting him, Professor Harris?" Xander nodded. "That would be fine. Be careful of his leg. My bosses want him back eventually."

Xander smiled at him. "Of course. I adore Bill. I named my youngest son after him."

"George named him," Ginny reminded him. "He got tired of you calling him it."

"Naming the kids are hard for us," Xander shot back. With a wave of his wand, the office was totally clear, even the drawers. "Okay. We're good. If I took anything I shouldn't of, he'll send it back." He straightened out his robe. "Can we go get him now?"

"Of course." The goblin nodded at Draco. "Your vaults will be open for you tomorrow, Mr. Malfoy." He led Xander out. "As for your problem, I've alerted our people in London about the situation, but they said that Ms. Rosenberg will have to come down herself and hand over the key in front of us. They'll have the paperwork ready tomorrow if it's convenient for you?"

"Tomorrow afternoon is great for me," Xander agreed. "She'll be there, even if I have to drag her down. Is there anyway to get an accounting of what's in our old vault?"

"Not without some time. We don't usually keep track of the amount that's in there." He led Xander through a doorway and out into the ward at the hospital.

"That is a neat trick," Xander told him. "I can't get some of my portal spells to work right." He smiled at Bill, patting the cast gently. "Itching yet?" he teased.

"Hell yeah," he said with a smile. "Springing me?"

"Yup, to our tower and then to Ginny's house." He accepted the list of care instructions, looking them over. "No pins?"

"We're holding them together with magic ones," the nurse told him, smiling at him. "Have you had a cast before?"

"Three different times, muggle ones, all on my arm." He helped Bill to his feet, handing him his crutches. "Can't forget those," he told him. "And away we go." He held tightly and disappeared, heading home. Bill started to retch in his arms as they landed, but Arthur was waiting on them with a hand and a bowl. "Ginny and Draco?"

"Went to her house to prepare a bed," Fred said from Xander's chair. He let Bill have it as soon as he had stopped throwing up. "It does it to me too," he assured him.

Xander moved out of the way as the fire whooshed, letting Percy move past him. "Hey, the gang's all here, but Charlie," he said happily. "We need food." He watched as Ron waved his wand and created some little pastries filled with fruit and meats. "How do you do that?"

"You gave me the book," Ron snorted. "Never looked at it?"

Xander shook his head. "Not really. I'll do that later. Tara, honey, can you yell at Willow and tell her I'll meet her at Gringotts tomorrow at three?" Tara nodded and headed over to call her ex. "Ron, kids?"

"Coming," Ron told him. "Dumbledore went for them since Iggy disappeared after being home for all of five minutes."

"He was called to the gryphon colony," George said. Xander raised an eyebrow. "Bill wanted to know what he had found." His mate nodded and settled in to let the happy family move around him. "Everyone, sit, you're loud," he complained. "There're kids sleeping."

Bill smiled at him. "Gee, thanks."

"You'll be here for at least a month," Xander told him. "We can always come hug you then."

Bill laughed. "Glad to see you haven't changed, Xander." Four blurs ran in and ran into him, hugging him hard. "Hey, easy! I had a mall fall on me," he laughed.

Draco and Ginny came out of the fireplace. "All set," he announced. He nudged Xander. "Thank you," he said quietly.

Ginny nodded. "He was creepy and nasty."

"That's because he was from the Unmentionables department," Bill told her. "They're all like that down there."

"They were going to make you disappear?" Arthur asked. Bill nodded. "Then I'm happy to see Xander get pushy."

"I only picked up a goblin and demanded information," Xander told him from his position on the couch. "They called their boss, who was really nice. He was even nicer than some people in Diagon sometimes."

"Yeah, the local boss was nice," Bill agreed. "I used to wonder if he wasn't fully a goblin. Told him that one time and he glared at me for weeks. Eventually he laughed at me one day and said it was the fault of us humans. He worked too long with us." He looked Xander over. "What happened to your leg now?"

"That's from the time it was burned," George told him.

"Couldn't get it fixed totally?"

"It's as fixed as it will ever be," Xander told him. Bill nodded slowly. "I'm okay. I can walk a few steps without the cane. It's good enough for me." Bill grinned at him, and it was a knowing smile. "We're going to Gringotts tomorrow if you needed me to deliver something."

"I put everything in the lab," George told him. "You can sort through it tomorrow by viewing portal." Bill looked at him. "We just packed everything and sent it here," he explained.

"Including your office," Xander put in. "I did that myself. The goblins did most of your apartment. I'm assuming they'll send anything furniture like."

Bill nodded. "Thanks, guys." He patted Melvin on the back of the head. "You haven't even seen your father yet." Melvin waved a hand in the air, making everyone laugh. "I'm okay, guys. Really. Just a bit battered."

"Battered?" Xander asked. Bill gave him a 'help me' look. "Guys, he's less injured than I was earlier this year." The kids let him go and went to say hi to their parents, but slowly eased back over to be near their Uncle - who told some incredible stories when asked. .

Iggy looked over at his father. "Two of the books you wanted me to look up were checked out already. The others were dusty, old, and mostly in Ancient Gryphon. I made copies of the pages with the phrases I was supposed to look out for, according to Big Bill, and sent them back to him. I found three books I want to buy some day, and the librarian said to tell you that I can't be one of us naturally because I'm too quiet." He grinned. "So I explained that you had gotten all the loudness and jumpiness, hence I would be passing it onto my own kids. She agreed it was probably likely."

"That's okay, son, we'll still love you, even when you scream at them," George told him.

Xander nodded. "We'll go behind your back and corrupt them into proper born."

Iggy groaned. "Please don't do that," he whined.

Denver patted him on the back. "Don't worry, we'll corrupt them in other ways," he assured him with a smile. "They'll become little Malfoys if we have our way." His sister nodded, but his father looked over at him. "What? They're cousins!"

"Son, they'll always be Harrises," Draco told him.

"Yeah, they'll never be blond without dying their hair really often," Xander put in. Draco tossed a pen at his head. "I was looking for that earlier, it's my grading pen." He glared at his 'son'. "You can afford to buy your own."

Tara smiled. "If he looked in his old school trunk, he could probably find a few that he never got around to using back then."

Draco stuck his tongue out at her. "I'll have you know I had decent grades when I was in school." He went back to his house plans. "You'd think with magic all this would go faster," he complained.

"Then you'd have to pick out colors and paints sooner," Xander pointed out. Draco glared at him. "If you could have magicked it up in a weekend, you would have had to have all that done before you even got started."

"Yes, but I'd have been done by now," Draco said, leaning back on the couch. He turned on the tv. "I give up for the night," he announced.

"Then put the plans back together and get them out of the way," George told him, noticing the door opening. He helped clear off the coffeetable, letting Ginny settle the food the house elf had brought into a pleasing array. "Thank you," George told it. The house elf bowed and smiled before leaving quickly.

"You thank the elves a lot," Draco noted.

"It's only fair, they do a lot of work and we're making extra for them," Xander pointed out.

"Yes, but they *enjoy* doing that stuff," Draco told him.

Xander shrugged. "I'd do it for a human servant who liked to clean too. Besides, if you're nice to creatures then they'll often help you at the worst of times."

Ron nodded. "Yeah. I had one help me out of the castle in my fifth year so I could go help Harry."

"Speaking of Harry," Bill put in. "Where is he?"

"The whole team decided they needed a few days off," Ron told him. "They're all in the South of France until next week."

"Wow. Team bonus?" Ron shrugged. "I'd like to get perks like that," he said wistfully, then glared at his leg. "Anyone know how to make this quit itching?"

Xander got up and got something, handing over the vial. He watched as his brother-in-law drank it and promptly passed out. "Guess it quit itching," he said with a shrug as the rest of the family laughed. "Hey, I know itching, it won't quit." He stole a bite of cheese and bread, then flopped into his husband's lap. "Want to go to the bank with me tomorrow? With the qualifier that you can't yell at Willow?"

George frowned at him. "I deserve the right to yell. She knew Iggy was sick that time."

"What now?" Iggy asked. "Since I'm supposedly sick again?"

"When you were four," Xander told him. "We found out your Auntie Willow had some money of mine."

"Oh." He nodded. "Don't yell, dad, that was six years ago. She probably didn't even know." His father George nodded. "Yeah, but this is Auntie Willow we're talking about. If it relates to money, she'll never go for it."

Tara snorted. "She used to spend some money, Iggy. Way back when we were all Americans." He grinned at her. "She used to shop with Aunt Buffy all the time, every weekend almost."

"So that's why Willow never spent money," Ron muttered. "Buffy can make anyone swear off shopping forever." He looked at Xander. "Can you go with me this weekend? Wesley said I had to pack the house sometime." Xander pulled him closer, giving him a hug. "Thanks," Ron said against his stomach. "I really don't want to face the house alone."

"Not a problem," George assured him. "We'll both help." He patted his brother's head. "Now get off my husband, little brother, before I use you as a tester again." Ron slid back into his own seat.

"I can help too," Tara told him. "I'm not doing anything this weekend."

Xander grinned at her, and it was an evil grin. "Anyone disagree with Bill babysitting until he goes back to work?" he asked. No one raised a hand. "Then I hereby do appoint him head babysitter for the next few weeks." Tara laughed. "You don't agree?"

"No, I think he'll be a great sitter," she told him. "But six toddlers with a cast on his leg?"

"Six?" Draco asked.

"Isn't Lucien going too?" she asked him.

He shrugged. "I was going to search for a nanny." George reached over and swatted the back of his head. "Watch the hair!" he complained. "Just for that, I should make you watch Lucien tomorrow."

"I can do that," Xander offered. "The kids liked him last time." He looked at Tara. "I can watch Maeve too, give Bill a chance to grow into the babysitter role." She gave him a hug.

"As long as you don't teach my son to deal with frightful creatures until he's older," Draco told him. "Then you may watch him for a few days."

"I can do that," Xander agreed. "They usually nap during the frightening creatures lectures." He looked at Ron. "Did my kids give you any problems?"

Ron shook his head. "I asked Dumbledore to announce it, and he added the note that they should have stopped that discussion earlier to avoid the paper." He grinned. "Hagrid and Snape both agreed with him, then gave each other dirty looks."

Xander snorted. "Those two are so cute when they have to work together. Just last week Snape had to have Hagrid help him get some stuff from one of the magical creatures the classes are studying. Apparently he deals better with the dead parts than the living whole."

George snorted. "I actually can't see Snape going anywhere near a unicorn or most magical creatures."

"He's never pretended to be an animal person," Iggy defended. "He's a potions master, he's supposed to deal with parts and bodily fluids." He grinned. "I found a neat spell for you, daddy. It was even in a human book." George looked interested and Fred looked over from his seat too. "But I want a raise in exchange for it."

Xander laughed. "Good one, son. That's almost as good as me asking for a raise the night I got out of the hospital."

George patted him on the butt. "You got that one, dear."

"Yeah, but I haven't had one in years."

"Yes, and neither has our son."

"Yes, but if you give him more, you'll never get his room clear of books," Percy pointed out with a fond smile for his favorite nephew. So very much like him.

"I might use it to buy other things," Iggy offered. "Treats, pastries...." He trailed off as Ron created one and handed it over. "How did you do that!" he shrieked. "No fair! You were supposed to be the cool Uncle."

Ron snickered. "I am, but you have to know what to ask me to teach you."

"Teach me that," Iggy told him.

"This weekend, if you're good," Ron agreed. Iggy pouted. "And I do mean good," he reiterated.

Iggy sighed and settled down. "I'll be good this week, Uncle Ron."

Xander smiled. "Good one," he congratulated. "Want to try that one on the mouth monster?"

"What did Simone do this time?" Ginny asked. The flurry of owls she had gotten in the girl's first week had given her nightmares.

"Professor Flitwick was trying to give Melvin some help with his control problems and accidentally knocked him onto the floor, mostly to save him from the phoenix chick coming over to help by biting him. So she called him every name in the book," Iggy told her, sounding proud. His cousin's extensive vocabulary was partially his doing.

"Flitwick calmly explained that he was saving Melvin from some pain, so she apologized very nicely," Xander added. "And accepted her detentions graciously. Everyone's gotten used to her mouthiness," he told Ginny.

"Except Snape," Iggy put in. "He got her the other day for swearing at her cauldron when it wouldn't boil no matter what she did."

"At least he stopped taking house points off for her," George said kindly.

"He *stopped* taking house points off her?" Percy asked. Snape hatted their whole family, except Iggy.

"He got tired of writing out the forms," Xander told him. "The day that he had twenty of them from the family alone got to him."

Draco looked at Iggy. "Your house will never win the House Cup if you four keep it up," he warned. "That will look dreadful to anyone who cares about such matters. Like employers."

Iggy shrugged. "It's not me. Yell at your daughter."

"You help control her," Ginny pointed out. "Only you and Denver can stop this problem, Iggy."

"Teach her how to swear in other languages," Percy suggested. He smiled at the shocked looks. "Surely they can't take off points for something they didn't understand, and it would reinforce Ignatius' learning when he starts to work on other languages."

"He can't teach them gryphon," Xander reminded him.

"We know Simone is a born," George said gently. Draco groaned. "We still haven't found out which side it's on." Xander pointed at Draco, who wasn't looking at them. "You're sure?" Xander nodded. "Wow. When?"

"Way back when. Farther back than in my family." He poked Draco on the back of the head. "Did you want to see that research?"

"No."

"Are you sure?" Percy asked. He had that information locked in his archives.

"Yes." Draco looked over at him. "I don't want to know. I'm happy with my life the way it is, I don't need to figure out which side it's on. She can live without it."

"She's already part of my acknowledged flock so that gets her around most everything," Xander told him. Draco shrugged. "It would entitle her to a lot, like library privileges and following in your footsteps with the gryphon magic translation."

Draco shrugged again. "As long as she's happy, I could care less." He went back to the tv, changing channels. He hated Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy. He found a movie he had been watching the other day and left it there. He had missed most of this while changing his son.

***

Xander, George, Tara, and Maeve met Willow in front of Gringott's a few minutes before three the next day. Tara and Willow both squealed and hugged hard, and the baby on Willow's back waved and squealed at the baby on George's chest. "Happy babies," Xander noted, patting Amelia on the head. "You've grown," he told her.

She pulled his hand down and bit into it hard, smiling at him.

"Ow, teething," George said with a sympathy wince. He had scars from Iggy and Denver trying to eat him. He shook Willow's hand, but kept his opinion to himself. "Are we ready?"

"Sure," Willow said, taking Xander's arm to walk him inside. "Rosenberg and Harris to see a district manager," she announced at the reception desk. Tara handed her the gold key she had kept. "Thanks, sweetie." They were shown into a small office and Willow shook the goblin's hand. "Thank you for handling this for us."

The goblin looked at Xander. "It was brought to our attention most quickly that this account had a problem," he said grunted in what had to have been his most droll voice.

Willow looked at Xander. "You scare goblins?"

Xander shook his head. "I had to help fix a few last night over Bill. The district manager in Cairo is a great goblin, very helpful in everything that had to be done last night." He smiled at the goblin in front of them. "Tell the one I picked up and interrogated that I'm sorry. I was a bit stressed."

"It is like that with your species," the goblin pointed out. He handed Willow some paperwork. "Fill that out and sign it."

She read it over. "I didn't steal it," she snorted.

"Technically," George told her. "You did." She frowned at him. "Didn't someone tell you sometime that most of that was Xander's?"

She sighed. "Fine. But I was keeping him from wasting it all."

"Spending it to help our son when he was sick would have been wasting it?" George asked, trying to stay calm. Xander put a hand on his arm and gave him a loving look. "I'm sorry, but you knew we needed it then."

"By then I had forgotten about it," Willow told them. Tara gave her a look but she ignored it and signed the forms. "There." She handed the little gold key to Xander. "All yours." She watched as Xander signed the forms where the goblin pointed, then followed the district manager out into the main bank.

"You'll have to go down and examine the contents with them," the goblin told her.

"But the babies can't go," she complained. "It'd make them sick."

"I can watch them," Tara told her. Both kids were handed to her and she took them out to sit on the stairs in the sun. This bank gave her the creeps. There wasn't any sunlight.

Willow climbed into the rail cart with the couple, keeping hold of her emotions as they traveled far beneath the bank and London. They stopped in front of a small vault door, the goblin getting out and taking the key to open it. She watched as the couple walked inside, but only glanced inside herself. She hadn't realized the pile was so big. Must have been interest. She went back to the cart and sat quietly while the couple talked.

Xander walked out first, smiling at the goblin. "Can you please have this put into our other vault?" The goblin nodded. "Thank you. That way it'll be free for someone else to use."

George smiled as he walked out. "More than enough to put aside for Iggy's college needs," he agreed. "Xander, I was wondering, how long has it been since you got a paybag?"

Xander thought back, then shrugged. "I thought Dumbledore was putting them into our vault," he admitted. He climbed into the cart and smiled at Willow, snuggling up to his honey for the trip back.

George glared at Willow as he climbed in, not at all happy with her. It would take a long, hard rant for him to be happy with her again. He looked over at his husband as they traveled to their other vault, a planned stop so he could try to find a book he had been craving. "Do you think Iggy's going to apply next year for summer classes at the Braun Institute?" Xander looked clueless. "It's the best potion's college in the world and they've got a summer class system for students who haven't graduated yet. I heard Snape went there starting his second year."

"Maybe. I'd like to hear more about it. Iggy's already promised Big Bill that he'll go to them for some training this summer. Plus, he's offered to help Percy next summer and the summer after too."

George nodded. "All right. We'll talk to Snape about it?"

Xander nodded, looking happy. "I think he'd love that. He's very happy with Iggy's progress, with the exception of that deaging spell."

"Deaging spell?" Willow asked quietly.

"Our son wanted to stop puberty so he found a spell to retard growth," Xander told her. The goblin chuckled evilly. "Yeah, he deaged back to five and started singing about not having a dick anymore," he agreed, smiling at the goblin as they got out to look inside their vault. "Honey, maybe the paychecks are being put in here."

"I put in some the other day," George told him. "From the yearly profits." He got out and glanced inside. "No, that's about the right amount." He climbed back into the cart and accepted the small bag that Xander filled. "Want me to talk to Albus tonight?"

"Yeah, please," Xander agreed as he climbed back into the cart. The vault door was shut and they went off, heading back up to the main bank to finish the paperwork on the transfer of the money.

***

Xander tapped on Snape's door, waving him out into the hallway. It was the last class and they were almost done. "Can we talk to you tonight? George mentioned a potion's institute and I wanted your opinion on getting Iggy in there."

"Braun?" he asked, sounding pleased. Xander nodded. "He's too young. They won't take anyone until they're thirteen." He glanced inside at the quiet class. This potion required silence or it would explode. He led Xander farther away. "I did a few summers there myself so I have some information on it. I'll bring it up after dinner?"

"Sure," Xander agreed. "Is he eligible?"

Snape nodded. "Definitely." He winced as he heard an explosion. "I had better go clean that up. Tonight with the boy?"

"Without. I don't want him to get too happy about it so far in advance," Xander told him with a grin. "Let it be a surprise." He strolled away as another explosion happened, wincing. He remembered the mess from last year. It had been horrible, so bad he had offered to help Snape clean his dungeon out of pity for the poor man. He strolled up to the main hallway, noticing his husband had a confused look. "Snape will meet with us tonight about the Braun Institute. He went for a few summers."

"Good. You got your money but apparently you never saw it," George told him. The confused look spread to his mate's face. "We need to look everywhere for it."

"Phoenix nest first," Xander told him, starting toward the tower. "Glinda always takes shiny stuff." He walked up to the tower, putting his cane off to the side so he could crawl around the large nest. He found a few of the paybags and tossed them back toward his mate. He found one last one and carried it back himself, joining him on the stairs. "How much is that?"

"Two years worth," George admitted. "We're missing three bags."

"I guess we're going to go search the kids' rooms," Xander sighed. Fawkes flew in and squawked inquiringly at them. Xander held up a bag. "Did Glinda hide these?" She cooed and nuzzled him. "Where are the rest?"

Fawkes flew slowly down the stairs so the humans could keep up with her. She met up with Murphy in the living room area, nuzzling him and telling him what they were looking for. It wouldn't be right for her to go to her daughter's nest, it could be taken as a threatening action toward the new chicks. Murphy nuzzled his human and his human's mate. He liked the mate. He flew off for the third floor, taking them to the new nest. He called as he flew, making sure his daughter knew they were coming. Glinda tried to keep them out, but they were bigger. She sat on her nest and pouted, not even perking up when her mate flew in. Murphy told this new male off; his and his mate's humans loved the students and they couldn't take from them. He watched as the humans looked around in shock. It was a very well decorated nest, pleasingly glittering and shiny.

"I thought dragons did this, not phoenixes," George sighed. He looked up. "Albus, could you come up here please, and Snape if he's not busy?" The door opened and Albus walked in. "That was fast."

"I heard you coming up here and wondered why," Dumbledore said, looking around. "Oh, my," he breathed. He touched a medal hanging next to him. "They've certainly been busy little creatures." He looked at the male. "I don't recognize you."

Xander picked up a statue that had a sticker from the British Museum of History and showed off the sticker. "I think his human may be a thief too."

Snape stormed in. "This had better be good." He stopped when he saw the mess spread around the room. "What the bloody hell is this?" he exclaimed. "My cauldron!" He picked up one of his missing cauldrons. He glared at Glinda, who cheeped pitifully. "You know better."

Glinda nipped her mate, who squeaked painfully and glared at her, then started to tell of Snape for touching his carefully stolen treasures.

"Guess he told you," George joked. He picked up the pay bag next to his foot and looked inside. "Not yours, dear. It's too full."

Dumbledore looked inside the bag and shook his head. "It's Hagrid's," he announced, glaring at the male phoenix. "You are in trouble, young man." The phoenix puffed himself up and hissed.

Xander hissed back, which made the male settle down behind his woman. "Thank you. You know better. Murphy, tell him the rules of living here. I think we'll have some time giving all this stuff back." He looked at Snape. "Do you have the stolen items reports?" Snape nodded. "Then let's pack this up and take it somewhere safe, starting with those?"

Snape nodded. "It's a reasonable place to start." He waved his wand and crates flew up from some storage area. George packed everything up for him and Xander moved them down to Snape's office. "Thank you," he said, nodding at the couple. "Should I expect you tonight?"

"Probably," Xander agreed. "Oh, I found a new hidden spot in the tower. It only appeared recently."

Snape looked interested. "Have you gotten inside yet?"

"It doesn't feel like it's all there," Xander told him.

"It's very strange feeling to me," George added.

"It might only open at certain times or with certain people in front of it," Dumbledore suggested. "We'll have to look into that."

"I'll search through his diaries tonight," Snape agreed, glancing around the nest. He found a small group of missed things inside the nest and carefully reached in and brought them out. It was very good that Glinda considered him one of her flock or he'd be missing an arm or his head. George snatched the paybags from his hands and looked inside, tossing them to his husband. "You were missing some?"

"Yes, and she hid about two years worth in the main nest," George told him. "That's the rest of it."

"I'll make sure of that," Dumbledore told him, taking the bags to hold. "If you'll bring down the others, just in case. I mark each one as a certain teacher's." Xander nodded and looked at his husband, who summoned them from the couch where he had dropped them. One of them was open. "I'll go check with whomever opened it," he said, leaving to go do that. "Severus, I'll want a report. I'll report this male to see if anyone's missing him." He glanced at the male, noticing his distinguishing ruff. "Come to my office in a few moments, George." He walked away.

Xander looked down at Glinda. "No more stealing, little chick, or the Granddaddy will have to make you leave." She made pitiful noises. "If you keep him from stealing, I'm sure he'll let you stay." She nuzzled him and then her father. Xander smiled and petted her gently. "You're going to be a very good mother, Glinda, and I'm very proud of you. You can come bother us anytime you need us, okay?" She cooed and he stood up, walking back to his mate's side. "Come on, let's go. Can we prop the door open?" he asked as they walked out.

Snape opened the door and froze it in place, then glanced around again. He noticed a hidden necklace and summoned it, heading down to check the items found against the stolen items reports. This was going to be an interesting night.

***

George walked into the shop with the bag of paybags and dropped them onto the counter. "The bank's closed," he said at the look his twin gave him. "Xander's missing paychecks. He didn't even mention that he wasn't getting them." Fred snickered. "It's not funny," George told him. "Plus, I got to look inside at the stuff Willow was holding. Huge pile, bigger than our profits for the year." Fred's mouth fell open. "It's being transferred into our personal vault so we don't have to dick around with two of them." He leaned on the bag. "Help me hide this for tonight?"

"I'm not comfortable with it being here tonight," Fred told him. "We got broken into last week."

George sighed. "I know. But we can't leave it in the tower. One of the Gryffs took some of it already. Xander asked them why and they said it was lying there on the couch and they needed it for a present. So he gave it to the little darling," he finished dryly. "Called it a loan."

"It's not the first time," Fred reminded him. He walked over and lifted the bag. "Where did they find it?"

George snorted. "Glinda got herself a man and he stole it."

"Ah. Well, we knew she liked to snatch stuff." Fred looked around and then back at the living section. "In Iggy's room?"

"If he comes down for a book, he'll think it's his raise. How about in your room?"

"I do have a nearly empty bedside table right now," Fred agreed. "Let's go see if it fits." They walked into the back, George coming back when the bell over the door dinged. Fred came out a few minutes later and noticed his brother on the ground. "Hmm. That's not good." He woke the little phoenix napping under the counter. "Go get the granddaddy and the Auntie Nurse," he told her. She flew off and he went to check on his brother. Small knot on the back of his brother's head. He glanced around, but no one else was in here. Xander appeared beside him so he turned over care of his brother to him and went to search for the intruder. He found someone going through his lab and hit him with the poker, but only stunned him. As soon as the man pulled his wand, it went flying from his hand and Ron bowled into him, pummeling him into the floor. "Ron," Fred said, hauling him off. "As much as I enjoy that, he'll have to answer questions later. Bind him." He walked away, going to check on his twin. George was groaning on the stretcher Madam Pomfrey was leaning over. Ron drug the idiot out of the lab and dumped him closeby. "Go search for others," he ordered gently.

Ron nodded and ran off. He came back a minute later with someone else. "Iggy's closet. I couldn't find anyone else." He looked over the two men. "Why'd they break in here? You guys don't keep money around."

"Speaking of money," Fred said, whispering in his ear. "We'll be coming up to the tower tonight. Go get that and take it back with you." Ron nodded, heading back to Fred's room. He looked at the two guys. "Why did you break in here?"

"We was paid," one guy said in a horribly thick cockney accent. He shut up quickly when Draco showed up with the Law Enforcement agent, though he looked more afraid of Draco.

The second guy sneered at Fred. "You'll go away now," he said happily.

"Search the building," the agent said. "Look for anything they planted." He rebound the boys then looked at George. "Is he all right?" he asked Madam Pomfrey.

"A bit banged up," she told him. She patted Xander on the arm. "Just a bit of observation, Xander. Don't worry."

Xander growled at the two boys, who moved away from him. "Tell me now who did this or suffer," he warned. "I'll get arrested just so I can beat your asses tonight in the jail cell."

"Sir," the agent said gently, tapping him on the back. "I'd never let you in the same cell with them." Xander glared at him. "Really, Professor Harris, if they don't know that you'll kill them already, I'm sure the aurors you trained will be more than happy to tell them *all* about how horribly you killed Lucius Malfoy a few years back."

The boys looked at each other then the one that Ron had beaten up nodded. "Fine," he spat, along with a tooth and some blood. "We was paid by some young scut. Said the blond guy pissed him off and we'd be doing his da a favor by pissing him off." He smirked at Draco. "You've got enemies."

"Yay," Draco said in his best bored tone. "I consider this a petty attempt and an annoyance, nothing more. If someone had actually wanted to piss me off, or get my notice, they'd do something bigger. This was not only pitiful, but you telling me about it has made me see that I have to teach these deluded idiots a lesson." He looked at the agent. "Sounds a lot like Inghram's son to me, doesn't it you?" The agent thought about it, then nodded. There was a constant detail on the family because *everyone* knew who had blown up Malfoy Mansion. "I think I should pay them a visit."

"Oh, me too, me too," Xander begged, bouncing slightly. "I have some *wonderful* ideas," he said evilly.

George patted his mate on the arm. "He wants to make them miserable, dear, not make them commit suicide."

"I'd like subtly," Draco told Xander. Xander leaned over and whispered something in his ear. "You can do that?" he asked, looking shocked. Xander nodded. "Then I might just bring you after all." He watched as George was taken by floo, then watched as the idiots were taken away as well. "Come, Xander, let's go plan something truly evil for our dear Mr. Inghram." Xander followed him back, happily thinking up the worst that he could do and suggesting some of it on the ride home.

***

Xander cackled as he read the paper, handing it over to his official teaching assistant. Draco smirked and folded the paper up so he could read it while he ate. "Are you taking my children today?" he asked Xander.

"Bill pouted and said we didn't love him so he's got all the kids today." Xander stole Tara's paper to finish reading the way the man had walked into the Ministry and begged to make them stop Draco. It was so cool.

Iggy stood up and waved a hand. "I have an announcement to make," he called. Most everyone looked at him. "There's a second phoenix chick nesting," he said happily. A few of the students in other houses clapped. "The nest is up on the third floor, where we don't normally go anyway, so please don't bother her, she's really cranky." He looked at his cousin, who sighed and nodded. "Also, there's something you don't know about the mother, Simone Malfoy-Weasley's own phoenix Glinda, she likes to steal shiny stuff. When we checked on her last night, we found a few cups, someone's glasses, and for some reason a set of dentures." That got some laughter. "So, if you're missing stuff, Simone and I are both sorry and we've turned it over to the Headmaster." He sat down.

Dumbledore smiled at him. "Yes, there is a second nesting," he agreed. "Glinda's looks to hatch just before you leave for the summer. Xander, Murphy's?"

"Six weeks probably," he noted. "Twenty-eight eggs." He looked at Snape. "Whatever potion Murphy drank apparently did the trick, it's nearly the record clutch." Snape groaned.

Dumbledore laughed. "Also, Ignatius was correct, Glinda and her mate have shown a definite preference for shiny articles, as many in Gryffindor already know." Someone threw something at Simone's head, but she didn't say anything back so he let it go. "Anyone missing anything should come to my office and check with me. I've done my best, with Professor Snape's valuable assistance, to match up anything found with a missing item's report. So, if you want them back, please come see me sometime today." He picked up his juice and sipped at it, watching the students discuss the new nesting and the suggestions about what the two phoenixes had stolen. It would add quite a lot of life to the rest of the school year. He looked at Snape. "Is the potion ready?" he asked quietly.

"One more day," Snape told him in the same tone of voice. They didn't need the students knowing what they were doing. He looked down at Xander, then at the son he wished could be his some days. "I'm sorry we could have discuss that school last night."

Xander shrugged. "It's more important to return all that stuff. Besides, like you said, he's got three more years. Whenever you've got time before this weekend would be fine." Snape nodded. "Do you think they'll be...against him because of what we are?" he asked candidly.

Snape shrugged. "I don't know. The last one was trained there, but one never knows about this time in history." He finished off his toast and stood up. "I shall see you all later." He left them there, heading back down to his dungeons.

Tara wiped her mouth and stood up, following him out. She caught him up in the hallway, stopping him with a hand on his arm. "Would you like to celebrate getting the potion done tomorrow night?" she asked. "Maybe a dinner out in London?"

He looked down at her. "Perhaps the night after that?" he suggested, walking her down to his part of the castle. He opened his classroom door and let her inside. But as soon as it was closed, she curled up against his chest and kissed him. "What was that for?"

"For being so nice and making that potion for her," she whispered. She stole another kiss. "And for helping the Iggy monster." She smiled and slipped out of the room, letting him start his day.

Snape walked over and checked the cauldron with the simmering potion in it. The supposedly simmering potion. He glanced around, but nothing else was out of place, the cauldron was just empty. "Albus!" he yelled. The Headmaster came running in five minutes later, giving him time to check the whole of his classroom and personal office. It wasn't anywhere. "It's missing."

"Dear Merlin," Dumbledore said, looking around. "You've searched everything?" Snape nodded. "Did you have the door locked?"

"I did. It was still locked when I opened it. Professor Maclay was there when I opened the door."

"Tara, hmm," Dumbledore said. Snape looked offended. "I know she had nothing to do with it, but she is a very observant young woman and might have seen something you didn't. I'll check with her in a moment. Can we remake it?"

"There's no way. It's taken us a month to get it correct. Who would do such a thing?" His door opened. "Get out!" he yelled. "It's a study hall today!" The students scurried away. "Do you think it could have been one of them?"

"If it was, they're goners," Iggy said from the doorway. He looked in the cauldron, then up at his mentor. "Find the asshole later, fix it now, sir."

"How?" Dumbledore asked, trying to keep Snape's temper in check.

"Temporal spell," Iggy said simply, looking at Snape. He saw the flash of anger. "We can speed up a room so that we can fix it by tonight if we have to."

"Doing so has caused irreversible harm," Snape said in his best teacher voice. "Your father would never allow it."

"Who said I'm going to ask my father?" Iggy asked, nearly sneering. "We promised her to help her. I won't go back on a promise." He jumped as a shot of power hit his ass. "Ow! Daddy! I promised."

"Which one was that?" Dumbledore asked.

"George, a holdover from when I was eight and running loose in town every day," Iggy said in disgust. "What side effects are there and can we minimize them?"

"It's not an option," Snape told him. "It's much too dangerous."

Iggy snorted. "Dangerous? Like someone trying to take her because they can't read a star chart?" Snape glared at him and started to open his mouth. "You might as well tell me, I'm going to do it without you," he pointed out. "I can get Melvin to help me. He adores Andrea."

Xander walked into the room and picked his son up, pulling him up to his eye level. "Stupidity doesn't cure anything," he said slowly and clearly. "Find the original potion."

"It might have been ruined," Snape sighed. "It needed to reduce some more and taking it off the heat could have curdled it."

Xander put Iggy down. "You don't mess with time. It didn't even take Fredericka a day to teach me that one, son. It's bad for everyone." He looked at Snape. "I have a bloodhound spell. It can track anything. Can I cast it on the pot?"

Iggy looked inside, then shook his head. "Whoever did it cleaned it solidly."

"We can try anyway," Snape told him. He watched as Xander cast the charm, then followed his pointing wand. "Give it to me. Time is of the essence." Xander handed over his wand without a grimace or a comment about him having to take it more slowly now. He hurried away, going to find that damn potion.

"It wasn't an insult, daddy," Iggy said, leaning against his father's side. "Are you going to keep picking me up until I'm bigger than you?"

Dumbledore laughed. "I doubt he'll be able to, Ignatius. Go help Professor Snape." Iggy hurried out. He looked at Xander. "Are you all right?" Xander nodded. "I'll make sure your wand comes back to you."

"I know it will. Snape will blow up something if he tries to use it. My wand's just a little more powerful than most people's." He walked away, going slowly. His knees had *ached* this morning so he wouldn't complain about the slow comment. Today.

Dumbledore searched for Snape, hurrying to find and help him. Preferably before he killed the students in his house. How had this escaped all of them? He met Draco Malfoy in the hallway outside the house door. "Let me in." Draco shook his head. "Severus will need my help."

"Not to kick the little shit's ass he won't," Draco told him. "It's his house, trust him to know how to correct them." The door opened and he watched as his former mentor came out with a large pot. "Need a fire?" he asked, creating a small ball of fire on the tip of his wand. It was attached to the pot.

"Is it still good?" the Headmaster asked worriedly.

"They had it over the fire," Snape told him. "It should still be good enough." He hurried back to his classroom to put it back over the main fire in there. He found Iggy rescrubbing the pot, waiting until it was rinsed to pour it back in. "Onto the fire," he commanded, taking the time to calm himself. "You'll want to talk to three of them," he told the Headmaster. Dumbledore nodded. "Before I get them again."

"Of course. Did you tell them to pack?" Snape nodded. "Then I'll go find them and floo their parents." He looked down inside the cauldron. "Is it supposed to have purple spots?"

"No," Snape moaned, coming over to look down inside. "Flowers?"

Iggy looked inside. "Those are from a painkilling potion," he noted. "I still don't know the name of them."

"You'll have to work on that," Snape told him. "A real Master knows all his ingredients in all their forms." Iggy gave him a knowing look. "As an ideal, which you will have to live up to until you are out from under my tutelage," he concluded. "Skim those out, Ignatius, and stir it gently. We'll have to check it in a moment." He went into his office to wear out his frustration in a way that wouldn't hurt anyone else. He was surprised when Tara walked in, but her gentle touch seemed to wear out his frustration. "They stole it to taunt her with it," he said quietly.

"I know. I heard." She smiled and gave him a hug around one arm. "It could be worse, they could have ruined it totally."

"They might have. They added some ingredients for a pain tonic."

"Which she'll probably need," Tara pointed out. "As long as it's still going to work, it'll be okay. She'll be fine and the potion will work wonderfully. She'll be able to see again at least part of the time." She gave him a squeeze. "Now go check the potion and keep Iggy from doing something stupid."

He nodded and walked out, going to check on his apprentice. Iggy was finishing the straining process, pouring the potion through five different sieves to take out all the contaminants. "Any sign of the rest of the pain potion?" Iggy nodded, his tongue stuck between his teeth as he poured. "Very nice work," he said as the potion was put into a new cauldron and put back over the fire. "Remember the bark has to be in there until right before we give it to her." Iggy picked out the bark and everything that was supposed to be in there so it could go back into the pot. "Very nice work. Five points to your house."

"Still can't believe you're giving Gryffindor points?" Tara asked from the doorway of the office.

Snape glared at her but she giggled. "Thank you for your input, Professor Maclay. I'll get with you tomorrow night over that spell you'll be doing." She smiled and walked away.

Iggy leaned closer to the older man. "We all know you're dating her," he stage whispered. "Everyone in the whole school not only knows but they're mostly very happy about it." He stirred the pot a little more. "Can you please excuse me for the day, sir?"

Snape frowned at him. "You should keep up to date in your other classes, Ignatius. It won't due to fall behind."

"I've got everything done for the day and Denver has all my assignments. I'm so far ahead in everything but Transfiguration that I'm being bored in class again." He handed over the spoon. "Please? I'll do research for you if you want."

"You're not allowed to enter the special collection room without an adult to monitor you," Snape reminded him. After having found sixty of the books from Slytherin's personal library in there, the order had been given to all the teachers that the boy wasn't allowed to go near that collection without an adult monitor.

"Hey, I can pop back to the gryphon library. They've got spell books in there that I could learn to love."

"No." Snape handed back the spoon. "I'll send word around to the other teachers that you'll be working in here. Please summon the new books you checked out so I can look them over to make sure of the contents." Iggy pulled his wand and flicked it, bringing a few books down from his dorm room. They even managed to miss all of the students running late in the halls. As soon as they landed in his hand he handed them over with a smile. "Thank you." Snape sat down to flip through them. He found a potion that interested him and read it through, taking the time to copy it for his further studying pleasure. He missed the smug look as Ignatius tended the potion for him.

***

Xander looked over at the fireplace as a head appeared in it with a ding. "Tom," he said happily. "What can I do for you?"

"You can rent a mailbox like everyone else, Professor Harris."

"Oh," he said, hopping up. "Sorry about that, but I couldn't resist. It's just such a great deal and I *had* to have it. Please don't be pissed with me?"

"Sure. Come get it soon though. Can't say as I understand what that's all about." His head disappeared.

Xander grabbed his robe and cane, heading to the floo. "Be back in a minute," he yelled before disappearing. He landed in the Leaky Cauldron and smiled at the bartender. "Thank you, Tom. You're a wonderful wizard and I love you whole lots." He hurried over to pick up his box. "This'll make my week." He hugged the other man and went back to his house. He found his husband, brother-in-law, and 'son' there. "It came," he said happily, showing off the box. "The whole set."

"The whole set of what?" George asked patiently. Fred nodded from behind him.

"The whole Monty Python collection!" Xander said happily.

"Brilliant," Draco said, taking it from him and pulling out his boot knife to open it. He looked over the titles. "They were a television show too?" he asked in shock. Xander nodded, flopping down in his chair and waving a hand. "Cool. Let's start there since I haven't seen them."

Fred looked at the clock on the wall. "Draco, your show is coming on in about twenty minutes," he noted.

"I can skip it today." Draco popped the first dvd into the machine and stared at Xander until he turned it on. He waved his wand, bringing some popcorn, which he kept to himself as he settled in to watch this brilliance in action. These people were muggles? Further proof that about one percent of muggles deserved to breathe the same air as he did. Though, only the British ones.

George and Fred shared a look and went back up to the lab. They wouldn't be hearing from either of those two for *hours*.

Part 6

Andrea drank the potion and immediately grabbed her head. "Oh, pain," she complained.

"Of course there is, you're using mental lines that you haven't in *years*," Simone reminded her, giving her shoulders a rub. "Just wait and we'll see if it works."

Andrea nodded and closed her eyes, concentrating on making the potion work faster. When she felt something like a building, or a running feeling, in her head she opened her eyes. "Whoa," she said. Everything was fuzzy, but she could see more, and out of both eyes! "Yes!" She stood up and looked around. Every few seconds a new level of sight returned. "This is super cool." When she could see totally, she looked at all of her friends, who were staring at her. "Wow, Iggy, you're really tall and skinny." He laughed and hugged her, spinning her around. "Easy! I'm still dizzy." She laughed as he put her down, going over to hug everyone else, including Professor Snape. "Thank you," she whispered against his chest. "This is so great." She blinked. Something more was going. "Um, still working," she noted, pulling back. The walls took on different colors and textures, the people started to fade out and started to look like ghosts. "Things are starting to look funny," she announced. "Iggy, you're looking red and Denver and Simone are kinda pinkish. Melvin, you're looking ghostly and really thin." She looked at Professor Snape. "You too, sir."

Tara slipped off the desk she was watching from, coming over to tip the girl's head up and look into her eyes. "What do you see for me?" she asked quietly.

"Pretty gold lights like a halo, but you're really thin too." Andrea frowned. "What happened?"

"I think you're seeing the astral spectrum," Tara told her. "Can you see any spirits hanging around?"

Andrea looked around, nodding when she saw a few people hanging out in the corners. "Yeah, there's a few people over there," she said, pointing at them. "And there's someone with another bright light standing in the doorway."

"Yes, dear, I do carry some light of my own," Dumbledore said as he walked in. "What happened?"

"It's too strong," Snape told him. "She's seeing the astral as well as the physical." He pulled over the spell and handed it to her. "On there is the word to cancel it should it get too much. It's the same word to turn it on and you only have to think it as far as the spell said."

Andrea nodded. "I think I'll turn it off for now," she said as she sat down. "It's all overwhelming."

"Can we put some sort of filter on it?" Melvin asked. He *really* liked Andrea.

"Maybe on a set of glasses?" Iggy suggested. "Something like a blocking charm?" He looked at Tara. "How do you keep from seeing spirits?"

"I have to turn my on consciously," Tara told her. "But the blocking charm on a set of glasses is a great idea." She looked at the two more experienced wizards. "Can you do that?"

"We'll have to find out," Dumbledore told her. "But by all means, Ms. Reams, do turn it off for now if it's disturbing you." He watched as Andrea turned it off and slumped a little bit. "We'll hopefully be able to fix this problem in a few days. Ignatius...."

"On it," he said, disappearing from the spot he had been standing.

"Wow," Andrea said. "He really loves the library."

"Oh, and he found a *girl* there," Simone put in with a smirk.

Andrea looked toward her. "I thought you'd be more blonde. Everyone says how your brother's blond."

"He is," Simone sighed. "But all us girls are true Weasleys. It disgusts dad every now and then." She hugged Andrea. "We can practice and work you up to using it for a full day. 'Kay?"

"I'll help," Melvin offered. "I can make all sorts of neat stuff for her to look at."

"I'm sure you can," Snape said dryly. "For now, we'll take her up to the infirmary, Mr. Weasley, and have her examined to make sure the spell will stay permanent." Melvin nodded and practically drug Andrea from the room.

Simone sighed again. "All I wanted was a sister my own age who understood me. Now she's going to have a Melvin stuck to her. I'll never get to have girl talk." She walked out with Pumpkin.

Dumbledore tried to not laugh until she was farther away, but Tara smirking did him in. "At least she'll get more use out of it with some practice," Tara said, snuggling up to Snape's side. She smiled at him. "Would you care for that dinner now?"

"Yes, I believe I would," he agreed. "London or Hogsmeade?"

"London. I found this cute little restaurant the other day and I want to show it to you. How do you feel about Indian food?"

"It's rather spicy for my usual fare."

She pinched him on the butt. "You need to live a little, Severus. You can't live on gruel and toast alone." She led him out to the point where they could apparate. "Of course, since I invited you, I'll be the one paying. Now no more robes." She waved her wand, making their robes look like very formal jackets. "And away we go. Catch me." She disappeared.

He grimaced and followed her to Diagon, it was the most common apparation point. "Don't do that again," he warned. "I don't like teasing and tricks."

She smiled at him. "What tricks? You do need some excitement and teasing is good for you. It makes you lighten up." She grabbed his hand before he could pull away and tucked it under her arm, leading him out of Diagon and into muggle London. "Besides, I like a little spice every now and then. It makes me happy to tease and tempt."

He looked down at the dress she was wearing, something she hadn't worn since her first year of teaching. "I remember you in that dress," he said quietly. She looked quite fine in it and it did show her assets to the fullest. She looked like quite the nymph in the corset dress. He swallowed when she smiled up at him. "You are lovely today, Professor Maclay." She pinched his hand. "Tara," he corrected.

"That's better." She stopped and looked up at him. "The more you try to get away from me, the more I fight. Fair warning," she finished with a pixie grin.

Snape saw the car coming and pulled her out of the way, back against the building as it dove up onto the sidewalk. Instinctively his wand came up and the car was stopped by a force field. He took a deep breath and she held him tightly. "I think we should go back," he said once he was done shaking. They could have both died!

The Unmentionable's department showed up with the muggle police men and started the memory charms. One of them came over and gave them a reassuring smile. "Good work, Professor Snape. Would you mind doing the paperwork tonight so I don't have to come in early tomorrow?"

Tara smiled at him. "He saved me."

"I know," the agent said. "It's a good thing too. I don't know the muggle who was driving, but it's going to get messy. He's fairly drunk and knocked his teeth out." He led them a little way away and started working on the report about this use of magic.

At the end of it, Tara decided they still needed dinner so she drug them to the restaurant anyway. Then to a hotel for the night so they could have peace and quiet while they broke down in shock.

***

Xander looked at the empty spots at the breakfast table, frowning at his boss. "Snape and Tara?"

"Are fine, even though they had a bit of excitement. They decided to stay in London last night to break down in peace," he returned quietly. "They'll be in soon."

"As long as they're okay," George said from the other side of Xander. "They are all right, right?"

"They're fine, George. Quite all right actually. Just a bit shaken up. A muggle lost control of his car and made it onto the sidewalk. Severus stopped it before it hurt them. Very subtly, the muggles didn't even realize what happened." Xander relaxed and took a bite. "If they're not back in time, can you take over Tara's class, Xander?"

"Sure. I don't know much about what she does but I can at least babysit." Xander scraped his plate and stood up. "I'll go down to her room. What about Potions?"

"I'll take that over," Ron announced. "I have a free period right now."

"That won't be necessary," Dumbledore told him. "I'm doing that myself. He's changed the curriculum since you took that class." He smiled at the eager young teacher. "I think you'll be more suited to helping me with registration duties, Professor Weasley."

"Cool," Ron said, grinning at his relatives.

"I'm going to head to Tara's room." He gave his mate a huge, deep kiss, which got some applause. "You be good today and I'll go get you that treat," Xander promised with a grin before disappearing.

"Treat?" Ron teased. "What sort of treat are you getting?"

George shrugged. "All he said was a treat. Nothing else. Won't tell me a thing," he admitted.

"It's driving you insane, isn't it," Lupin teased.

George nodded. "Definitely. The man is such a sweetie, but he's horrible when he wants to surprise you. Won't give you a hint or anything." The doors to the Great Hall opened with a thump and someone walked in. "Harry!" he yelled happily. The students broke into applause, making Harry blush. "How was the vacation?"

"More like work," Harry said as he walked up and gave everyone that warranted one a hug. "How's things here?" he asked as he took Xander's seat. "And where's the dynamic one?"

"Going to sit in on Tara's class. She's in London right now," Dumbledore told him. "Are you back for a bit?"

"For at least a year." He glanced around. "Is today the day for the advanced class?"

"Tomorrow," Ron told him. "I get to help with registration this year."

"Good on you," Harry congratulated happily. "Did my kids drive your dad nuts yet?"

"Oh, yeah," Xander said as he walked in. "Tara's in her room with Snape. I didn't think it wise to interrupt them." He hugged Harry. "Want to come lecture for me today?"

"No, Xander," Dumbledore told him. "You can go get whatever fabulous treat you had planned after your class today." Xander grinned at him. "You have to teach your own class."

"I know, but Harry does it so well," he said.

"I know he does, but you still have to teach today, no matter how much you want to go play in the sunshine," Dumbledore said patiently. "I know how strong the urge is for you children, but you have to attend to your duties first."

"Okay," Xander sighed, then he grinned evilly. "I'll just have to make up for the time spent away by getting him *two* presents." George laughed. "Walk me downstairs and snog in my classroom, honey?"

"Sounds lovely," George said, smiling at Harry. "Wait for me and you can come to the shop and we'll talk?" Harry nodded so he left with his husband to go be naughty in his classroom.

Dumbledore groaned and shook his head. "Those two set such a bad example," he complained. "All play and almost no work."

Harry laughed. "They do work, sometimes, Headmaster. They both work very hard so they can enjoy all these little side trips to the darkened classrooms. I've seen them both work until they just *had* to snog."

Sirius Black started to laugh and fell out of his seat, grabbing Lupin to bring him down too.

Dumbledore shook his head. That couple and their family did liven up the old school if nothing else.

***

Iggy looked over at Andrea, watching her read her braille textbooks, then he went back to his. He glanced over again, this time catching Melvin's eye. Melvin glared at him so he went back to his studies, but he couldn't concentrate. He stood up and headed over to the house, going to talk to the master of girlie seduction. Draco looked up from watching one of Xander's newest movies, giving him a smile. "Is it wrong to want something that's not yours?"

"You're wanting her because you can't have what you really want," Draco told him. "It's a normal reaction, but it will cause problems. I believe Andrea is the one thing that Melvin will kick your ass over." He patted the seat beside him. "Sit, let me hear about the one you *really* want, Iggy."

Iggy blushed. "I noticed her staring at me. She's petite, and kinda a little bit older than I am. Reminds me of Aunt Willow for some reason." Draco frowned, he was not happy with that woman right now. "But she was really nice when I talked to her."

"Oh-ho, you talked to her. Important conversation?"

"Asking her if she'd mind me sitting at her table so I could snatch one of the books she was using," Iggy said with a brighter blush. "And I got a...." He mumbled something.

Draco patted him on the back. "Yes, this is your first crush, my boy, and it happens to the best of us. Did you at least find out her name and which colony she adheres to?"

"She's Dutch and lives in Belgium as part of her family's flock. Her great-uncle is the historian for the Amsterdam colony. Her name is Raena," he sighed. "She's beautiful. Has bright brown hair and shining green eyes."

"Bright brown?"

"It shined, Uncle Draco, like the highlights were made of faerie lights. And she had this smile. She likes potions too."

"It's an excellent start. Did you ask if you could write her letters?" Iggy shook his head, looking at his hands. "Then why don't you try that next? Introduce yourself again so she knows who you are and tell her about yourself. Suggest that you start a correspondence between yourselves. How old is she?"

"Twenty-eight."

Draco winced. "She's a bit older than you are, young man."

He nodded, looking pitiful. "But it doesn't matter. I'm old for my age."

"Of nearly eleven," Draco reminded him. "Try a friendship with her first, Iggy, it might become more once you're older." He patted him on the shoulder. "Other than a friendship and your fathers will harm her greatly."

"Which is no fair!"

"You're much too young, Ignatius. She's over twice your age." He pinched the boy on the ear. "Write to her for now. See if she's really interested or if she sees you as a little boy who's interesting. Make your decision from there." Iggy sighed. "Trust me, something more accessible will come along some day."

"But she's everything that I want!" he protested. "We share interests. We like the same things. We're both borns."

"Yes, but she's still twice your age and if she so much as looked at you funny, your fathers would have her thrown in jail. So start a friendship with her until you're old enough," Draco advised. "Then start the hunt for someone closer to your own age."

"Yes, Uncle Draco," Iggy said, sounding defeated. "When do I get to be old enough?"

"When you finish school," floated down from the lab, sounding suspiciously like Uncle Ron.

"Nosy bugger," Iggy muttered.

Draco laughed. "It's a family trait, my boy. You've got to learn to put up with it." He gave him an affectionate swat. "Now go write this young woman a letter. I'll help you edit it." Iggy went for a pen and some parchment, starting to write her a letter on the coffee table. "Has Denver shown any desires toward women?" he asked casually.

"Only a little," Iggy told him. "He found his first pubic hair the day before Daddy George's birthday party. I've heard him in the bathroom a few times too, but nothing too strong in the actual girl department." He looked up. "Are you hoping he'll follow in your footsteps?"

Draco shook his head. "While it was fun, it wasn't always satisfying. Having all those different women was *wonderful* but I find having your Aunt Ginny to be more ...." He couldn't find another word.

"Like a full course gourmet meal as opposed to fast food?" Iggy suggested with a naughty grin.

"Yes, quite like that," Draco agreed. "While one will fill you up, the other will soothe other cravings and desires besides the hunger. I want all of my children to know what they're getting into before they start a committed relationship, but I don't want them to sample everyone in the school to find it."

"Oh. I guess that's cool. Melvin will have Andrea. Denver gets all blushy and shy whenever one of Melvin's housemates show up. Simone just sneers at both of them and says things like 'hands make more sense at our ages', which is starting to piss Denver off recently." Draco snorted, trying hard not to laugh. "And hopefully I'll get her." He went back to his writing, trying to sound mature and interesting instead of ten and boring. When he was done, Draco looked it over for him and made a few corrections in his words, which he took and sent it off with a school post owl.

***

Two days later, somewhere just outside Amsterdam, a young woman accepted the owl and read the letter, smiling. "Oh, how cute," she said, showing it to her father. "He's this nice little potion master in training and he has a crush on me."

Her father shook his head. "I've heard of his father. Quite powerful. Is he any good?" He reread the section on his current research. "He has lofty goals."

"Father, he's ten."

"Oh." He smiled. Not a possible match then. He handed the letter back. "Be gentle when you turn him down, Raena. Boys that age are often fragile."

"I think I'll keep him as a penpal. He probably isn't beloved by everyone at Hogwarts if he's Professor Snape's personal student." She went to write him back, carefully wording it so he knew she wasn't interested in him as more than a friend. He had been cute and would be devastating when he finished growing up. Maybe she'd see him around Braun in a few years.

***

Xander looked around the Great Hall. Dinner seemed quieter tonight for some reason. All the students were there, but no one was saying anything. He looked around at the teachers, but they didn't notice anything wrong. Except Tara. She was frowning at the Slytherin table for some reason. Directly at Ryan Rosenberg. He caught her attention and gave her a questioning look. She shook her head, then shrugged. So what was wrong? He looked around the hall again. All the kids he personally taught or had anything to do with were all there. Iggy was reading a potion's book he had gotten from the gryphon library. Simone and Denver were arguing but so quietly that it wasn't disturbing any of their housemates. It seemed normal enough, but it felt creepy, like something was going to happen. He saw the door at the other end of the hall open slowly and drew his wand, starting to stand up. Lupin looked at him then at the door, where Xander was pointing his wand. Apparently something registered on him too, he drew his wand, which prompted Sirius and Tara to do so. Snape moved her behind him and stood up as the door crashed open.

A lone figure walked in and fell onto the floor, then appeared to stop breathing.

"Stay seated!" Dumbledore yelled as the students started to react, racing down with his teachers to see what was going on. That's why they were all there when the small group of people rushed in, balls of flames already in their hands.

"Iggy, protect the house!" Xander yelled, firing on the first one. The man went backwards, screaming as he hit the wall. "Prefects, houses now!" he ordered. The kids left in large groups, careful to make sure one of the higher students were with each group. Xander got another one, then punched a third one. His wand was knocked from his hand, but he still had his cane and he had taken the time to train himself with it as a weapon. Two more were knocked out by him, and another went flying from behind him. He spun and took on another group, and his neck was grabbed. He threw that person and stomped them on the throat, incapacitating them. He ducked as someone else went flying. He looked around and his son had stayed. "Iggy, out! Go guard the family!" His son nodded and went to do that, running out with the last students in the hall. Xander got another one before his cane broke, but that gave him his former favorite weapons, stakes. He was *so* relieved that George had all the kids tonight. He noticed a new group coming up behind this one, but they were wearing robes. He thought he recognized someone, but they fired on his group so they must have been bad. He used his little gift with George, sending him a plea for reinforcements. He found a wand on the floor and turned, firing it. It was fortunately his because it sent four people back into the hallway, screaming in pain as the fire hit them. "Fuck this shit," he said at his most evil. He decided now was a good time to lose it. He conjured a firebird and sent it at the attacking group, making them scream and run away.

"Xander!" Dumbledore said sharply. "Withdraw it now!"

Xander did and looked around. Everyone had been taken care of. The people in the halls were surrounded by Ron, Draco, and Harry. "Did we get them all?" he asked.

Black nodded, panting hard. "Someone check Gryffindor and for the kids," he suggested, bending down to breathe easier.

"I'm taking you to the infirmary," Lupin told him. "He's got a cut down his chest."

"The kids are with George and Arthur," Xander told them. "Don't worry about the little ones." He walked out and lifted one of the idiot's faces. "Who are you and why are you here? Tell me now so we can put it on your tombstone."

"The alignment," he whimpered.

"Won't happen that way ever again," Xander spat. The man blanched. "Did you have more people with you?" He nodded. "Ron, Gryffindor. The others are coming." Snape came up behind him. "Go check on the kids. Iggy left last. I'll meet you there." Ron nodded so Xander turned and started back toward the Great Hall. "Who's he?" he asked, pointing at the body on the floor.

"It's Giles," Tara said, looking up at him with tears in her eyes. "He's living."

Xander started to swear in Gryphon. This was just perfect! "When he wakes up, ask him where he dropped Buffy off and if she's still living. Ron'll want to know. I'm going to check the back way up." He headed for the back hall at a fast limp. This was just perfect. He had to come back? He found a few kids and helped them get to the main staircase so they could run up and seal themselves in the Prefect's bathroom. They wouldn't be able to get to their houses yet, the doors would be sealed. He found the painting over Gryffindor's entry torn and hanging by a hinge. He walked in and found the common room empty. "Ron?" Ron came down from the boy's side. "Iggy?"

"And Andrea. Denver and Simone have everyone else." He glanced around. "No one saw Melvin."

"Then we'd better head out. Did you ever pinpoint a place?"

"Stonehenge. On the tomb cover."

"Okay." Xander grabbed Ron's hand and teleported him, just like his son had Melvin a few minutes earlier, to the outer ring - a blind spot if you were inside. He landed behind his son and tapped him on the shoulder. "Go get help, both of you." Melvin opened his mouth. "Anger is deadly in a fight, Melvin. Go get help. Iggy, Arthur, now. Melvin, gryphons. They have to let you in." The boys nodded and left, leaving them alone.

"We could have used them," Ron said quietly, walking with him to the cover stone. They could see more wizards. "Ready for this?"

"Always," Xander quipped. "Fuck them and the bitches they rode in on. They've got a member of the family."

"Then I believe it's more my duty," Draco said as he landed behind them with Harry a heartbeat behind. "My daughter adopted her into the clan. Xander, take left side. Ron, right. Harry, you're rear guard. None of them leave walking." They nodded and got into position, walking closer. As soon as they made it to the ring of watchers, the firing began again. Taking them out one by one, slowly weeding through the people protecting the rite.

"Andrea, use it now," Xander called.

Andrea turned back on the spell. It hurt her head so much to use. She struggled, but she was bound to the rock with iron. "You're not getting me and I'm not blind anymore," she told him, finally getting a foot free when the ancient chain broke. She kicked over all the bowls of herbs and oils, destroying their careful preparations as much as she could.

"You'll pay for that," a man said, backhanding her. She cried out, but a large paw grabbed him from above and lifted him, dropping him from about fifty feet up.

Xander glanced up. "Hey, Fredericka," he called. "Can we destroy them fully?"

"No," Draco grunted. "Maim now, kill later, Xander."

Xander shrugged and pulled out a fighting spell he hadn't used in a while. He cast it on himself, turning himself into a force for the will of the power streaking around the clearing. He worked his way through the crowd, knocking people down as he passed. The energy fought him as he made it to the coverstone over the grave and tried to take control, but it wasn't happening. He fought it hard, but it made him grab a knife. He heard Andrea scream and fought it back a little more. He stabbed himself in the stomach, a shallow wound, but it broke up the energy so much that it let him go. He shook himself, then turned and threw the sacrificial knife at someone, embedding it in their chest. The energy in the clearing whipped and wound, creating a beautiful dust storm. He steeled himself against it and unlocked Andrea and the other girl, getting them moving. "Gryphon colony," he told them, pointing at the open portal. "Now." He gave Andrea a light shove and turned back to start working on the army from the front, while they were distracted by the fighters at the back.

And, as usual, the aurors showed up at the end, when everything was done with. They got to take out the last few people fighting, and one tried to hit Xander. Ron repaid the head injury he had gotten back in his seventh year by bashing that one with a rock. When the head of the strike team looked at him, he shrugged. "Someone did it to me when we took on the Death Eaters. I thought it fair this time." He walked over to where Xander was wobbling, helping him sit down. "What did you do this time?" he asked in disgust.

"Broke up the energy." Xander groaned and pushed on his stomach. Maybe it wasn't as shallow as he had thought. "The easy way to stop the ceremony."

"Well it did do that," Draco agreed as he walked toward them. "You badly off?" Xander shook his head and allowed himself to be stood up. "Looks shallow enough. A few moments with Madam Pomfrey's wand and you should be fine."

Xander nodded. "Usually." He looked around at the bodies. "Where's Harry?"

"He helped the kids into the colony," a deep voice said from behind them.

The three men looked at the young gryphon male. "Titus," Xander greeted. He saw the pain in his eyes. "Was one of you hurt?"

"Fredericka is gravely injured. Someone cut into her underbelly."

Xander walked closer and gave him a hug. "Draco, we need Ollivander. She promised him something." Draco didn't move. "Now!" His 'son' left. Xander looked at Ron. "Tell George I'll be back as soon as possible and leave some of Giles to me."

Ron's mouth opened. "That was Giles?" Xander nodded. "Then *I* might leave you a bit." He disappeared, apparating back to the school.

"Come on," Xander said, leaning on him. "Since she adopted me, I'll stand vigil for the borns." He walked into the colony and was led back to Fredericka's private chambers, where he had spent the better part of his training summer with them. She was laying on her side in the nest, one of the human healers checking her stomach. "How does it look?" he asked, after giving her a kiss on the side of the beak.

"Not good." The healer looked at him. "Are you sitting vigil?" Xander nodded and took up his spot beside her head, stroking it gently. "It won't be long." She stood up. "It damaged her heart." She saw the swallow. "She was old, young man. You knew it would happen some day and this way is very honorable."

Xander nodded, but he didn't say anything. This was his adopted mother and it was a hard thought.

***

Draco pounded on Ollivander's door, waking the man. "Come on, you've got to come," he said once the door was opened by the pajama wearing man. "The Gryphon ambassador is dying."

"Oh, my," Ollivander said, looking down at himself. "Give me a moment to gather my things. Are we brooming?"

"No, we're apparating. She might not have ten minutes. They got her underbelly during the fight." The older man nodded and left, going back to his workshop. He came out with his collection case and a longer robe to cover his clothing. Draco led him back to the apparation spot and sent them back to Stonehenge. As soon as they appeared, all the aurors looked away and a few turned green. "What? She's generously giving of herself if she dies. It's how we get our wands." He led the way to the portal, letting Ollivander in first. "Fredericka told him to come take from her now," he said to the gryphon blocking their path.

"Let others say goodbye first," the gryphon said quietly. "A few more minutes will not matter." He looked at Ollivander. "She is still alive, but not able to speak. What did she offer you?"

"Two heart strings and two pin feathers."

The gryphon nodded. "I will see that you and her guardian are left alone as soon as we are done." He leaned down and nuzzled Draco. "Xander is well enough. His stomach wound is minor and he has refused treatment for now." Draco nodded, though he didn't look happy. "Is the battle done?"

"Unless someone was doing it in another country," Draco agreed. "Most everyone out there is on the ground and begging for mercy."

"There should be no mercy," the gryphon hissed.

"Exactly," Draco agreed. "Should I join Xander? He has adopted me, or so he says."

The gryphon nodded. "It would be good. Where is his mate?"

"With the children. The more important guarding task," Draco said as he was led back. He nodded at Xander and took up his position on the other side of the body, freeing the gryphon standing there so it could go cry in peace. It was odd watching the tears stream down the hard beak.

The stream of people and gryphons paying their respects continued well into the night. When they were all done, Ollivander was brought in and the curtains were shut. Until George got there, then he walked in and hugged his mate, helping him stay standing while the necessary materials were collected.

****

Xander walked into the school, tired and ready to drop. One of the ghostly beings was standing in the middle of the entry. "Peeves, what do you want?" he asked quietly. He tried to brush some more of the smoke residue off his clothes.

"You're in trouble," Peeves sang. "The Headmaster wants you in his office." He cackled and made a grab for Xander's new cane, but it shocked him. "Hey, no fair!"

"Go away, Peeves," George said tiredly as he walked in. "Xander, office?"

"Yeah, I probably should. He'll know why Giles came back," he said grimly. He walked up, tapping on the stone gargoyle. The stairs opened and he climbed on, letting them carry him up. "You put Peeves out there to get me?" he asked as he walked in.

"It kept him out of the infirmary and made him leave Tara alone," Dumbledore told him. "Sit, dear boy, before you fall over." Xander nodded and sat, accepting his husband into his lap when he came up behind him. "How was the funeral?"

"Tiring," Xander told him. He patted his new cane. "I'm back to having two wands again."

Dumbledore nodded. "I understand. How do you feel?"

"Like I could use a shower, a nap, and a long cuddle," Xander said honestly. "Everything's moved so fast." He looked around the office. "Are you leaving? There's not enough books in here."

"I sent some of the ones I had borrowed from the library back so Ignatius and Melvin could use them," Dumbledore said with a faint smile. "Are you prepared to teach your class today?"

"Today's one class and the advanced one," Xander thought out-loud. "I can if I have to, but I really don't feel up to it. Do I have to?" He paused to think of his schedule. "I was supposed to give a test I think." George nodded. "I can do that much then."

"Good. I know it's been a hard week, Xander, but the best way to deal with grief is to start moving back into normal routines."

"I know," George agreed. "Fred's said the same thing." Dumbledore smiled at him. "I think I'll go help him give the test, just to make sure no one's cheating and the like." The Headmaster nodded wisely. "Anything else?"

"Murphy left here last night in a snit. Fawkes apparently said something mean to him. I'm sure he's with your family or looking for you." Xander nodded. "Giles didn't die."

"Shit," Xander sighed, rubbing his forehead. "Why is he back?"

"I don't know. He won't say anything to anyone, not even Mr. Weasley." Xander groaned. "He wants to talk to you."

"Then you'd better be putting a non-violence charm on me," Xander said honestly. "What he did to Buffy was betrayal of the group. He doesn't deserve to be in this school, much less being pampered upstairs."

"He's not being pampered. He's tied to the bed and fed through a tube. He had quite a few massive injuries."

Xander stood up, letting George slide down him. "I want to give him back to the Watcher's. He turned his back on us when Tara needed him most. He shouldn't be here."

"I know. As soon as he's well enough, I'll gladly let you take him through the floo and drop him on that nice Wesley's desk." He smiled at the nod. "Before then, do try to get some information out of him tonight. Though, I believe Tara is waiting on you to try and keep you calm." George snorted. "She's more concerned about getting him to tell her why he left her back then. She's spent the last few nights in tears, crying on Severus."

"At least he takes good care of her. I'll accept him as her mate if she will." Xander took his husband's hand. "Let me get changed. Can you send up something light for us to eat before class? I really can't do the great hall today."

"Of course, Xander. There's two hours before your class so you can collapse in the shower if you want." Xander nodded and left, taking his mate with him. "Oh, dear," Dumbledore sighed. "I had forgotten how close those two were. He's still devastated." He made a note in his journal about the discussion and sent the house elves a message to bring them some soup and toast. When he checked on the boy a few minutes later and found him crying in the shower, he shook his head and blocked him out consciously so he could grieve in private. He checked on the infirmary. Ron was about to beat Giles again and Madam Pomfrey was going to have to semi-sedate him again. He smiled when Ron fought his way out from under it, sending her a message that Xander was back and would she please pull him up to look at the wound on his stomach. Most impressive breaking of the magical continuum that boy had done.

***

Tara met George and Ron outside the infirmary. George gave her a hug, crushing her to his chest. "It'll be okay," she told him.

"Of course it will, once he gives us what we want to know," Ron snorted. He cracked his knuckles. "I'm sure we can convince him to give it all up."

Xander walked up, dressed in mourning clothes. "Pain later," he said quietly. He looked at Tara, who gave him a brave smile. "Are you sure you want to do this?"

She nodded. "I need to know." She pulled herself out of the comforting embrace and straightened her robes. "He's not as bad as he was yesterday."

"Yay. Bad doesn't matter. I'm all for a deathbed confession," Ron put in.

"I know, but there's a lot of stuff he has to tell us probably," Xander told him, giving him a reassuring squeeze on the arm. "Let me go in first. If he's being a prick, you can come in and beat him." He walked in the door, knowing that everyone was standing in the doorway. He nodded at the school nurse as he walked back to the curtained off area.

"The back one, Xander," Poppy said gently. "Try not to hurt him more." Xander shot her a small smile before opening the curtains and disappearing into the cubicle. She looked at the waiting people. "You could move closer. He won't know." She went back into her office. This wasn't any of her concern, unless Xander tried to kill the man.

Xander looked down at Giles' inert form, pasting on his most bored look. "You wanted to see me?" Giles nodded so he pulled a chair over. It took him too much time to stand up these days so it would make him calm down somewhat. His cane was rested against his stomach. "You've got a lot to answer for, Rupert," he said quietly. "You ran when Tara needed you most. You took Buffy and her son, leaving him in that filthy place. Now you come running back as something bad happened and I have to admit that I think you had something to do with them getting into the school."

"Water," Giles croaked. Xander handed him the glass and watched as he drank. "Xander, I'm sorry," he said once he had finished it. But he kept the glass to hold and play with, he had to do something with his hands and balling them up into fists wouldn't send the right message. "I left Tara here because I couldn't stand Willow's behavior anymore. I thought that you would all be able to protect her." He looked down into the glass, seeing his reflection in the water. "I'm sorry about what happened to her."

"That's a lie," Tara said, opening the curtains. "It's funny, Giles, being in a magical environment has strengthened my psychic gifts and we all know empaths are natural lie detectors." She stared him down. "Why did you leave me here, without any real support, at the mercy of that bitch!" she demanded, sounding nearly hysterical.

"Tara, honey," Xander said calmly, patting her on the hand. "Screaming won't make it not happen." She looked down at him. "I'm sorry I wasn't there for you the way you needed. He's going to be sorry for that too." She nodded, a single tear running down her cheek. "Why don't you call Severus up here so he can explain it to the both of you."

"You like us together?" she asked.

Xander nodded. "As the last remaining scoobie here, I love the fact that you've found somebody. The fact that it's such a solid guy as Severus thrills me even more. I can even forgive him for being an evil bastard some days if he makes you happy enough to glow again." She smiled at him. "Now call him up here so he can give this man some truth serum if you want to know that much." She nodded and left, thinking over the offer. He turned back to Giles. "Cute lie. Want to try that again?"

"Are you taking over as head of the scoobies now?" Giles asked, looking him over. "You're still a boy, Xander."

"I'm nearly thirty-five," Xander pointed out, standing up. He held out his arms, his cane against his thigh. "Not only have I grown up since we came here, I'm an excellent father and husband. Most of your influence has been countered. George has even made me see that I don't always have to fight for the good guys to win," he said as he sat back down. "Not only am I an adult, you gave up your position when you left. When you deserted her, you lost all respect and any right to call yourself one of us." He shifted, putting his sore knee out straight. "Now then, want to try the lie again?"

"I was scared of what Willow was doing," Giles spat. "Is that good enough? That I was scared of a little girl with too much power and hormonal fluctuations that would kill everyone if she got upset with me one more time?"

"Gee, and yet it was solved," Xander told him. "A few months without her powers calmed her down after she gave birth and during her second one. She's with Wesley now. You'll be seeing her once I deliver you back. Now, next point. Where's Buffy?"

Giles turned ashen. "She's dead." He heard a gasp from outside. "Surely he doesn't think that much of her."

Xander resisted the urge to slap the man on the bed, if only because Poppy would make his life hell. "He loved her, Giles. They may not have been able to make it official, but he did love her. And he loves all three of the triplets." Giles mouth opened. "And yeah, got a real copy of the prophecy. You'll be happy to hear that I'm training the slayer she gave birth to, along with the other two. They're all happy, well adjusted children who miss their mother quite a lot. As does Ron. Where is her body?"

"In that realm. We walked into the middle of a civil war that was going to spread. She was still weak from the birth and died as she should have."

"You're not the one to make that decision," George said from the doorway. He patted Xander on the shoulder. "Dumbledore is here. Hurry up."

Xander gave him a smile. "Sure. Just one more question." He looked at Giles again. "Can we summon her body back and have it buried here, in her home plane?" Giles shook his head. "Then we're through. You're going to the Watchers as soon as you're able. I'm sure Wesley will *love* to see you." He stood up and took his cane into his hand. "Never come back, Giles. Never come near your sons while they're here. Never come near any of my family. Or else we'll have to talk again and it won't be pleasant."

"You want to hit me, don't you," Giles said calmly.

"No, actually, I've learned to lean more on my magic than my physical fighting skills since my knee died in the middle of a battle." He smiled coldly. "I'd hex you multiple times until I felt better. Never come near my family, any part of it, or we'll see how I compare to an evil, hormonal Willow." He left with his mate right behind him. Xander noticed Ron walk in, but decided he could wait in the hallway for him. He leaned against the cold wall, eyes closed. "I wanted to hit him."

"Of course you did," George agreed. "I wanted to hit him. He'll be gone tomorrow." He patted his husband gently, knowing he didn't want to be held. Right now, if Xander's knee was perfect, he'd be pacing to wear out the anger he was feeling. "Stairclimber?" he suggested.

Xander nodded. "Yeah, I think so. Come get me in an hour if I'm not back by then." He blew a kiss and went to work out in his Advanced classroom.

George waited on his brother. He heard some shouting and almost ducked back in there, but Ron needed to get it out once and for all. When Ron came out, he offered him a hug but his brother shoved him aside and stormed away, heading outside to go hit something hard and unyielding. George understood that. He was feeling the same way right then. He nodded at Snape as he walked up. "Make him healthy enough to leave tomorrow," he suggested. "Before Xander or Ron kill him." He walked away, going to look in on the kids. Bill was watching them from the house. He picked up Maeve and cuddled her tightly, calming himself with her scent.

***

Xander walked out of the floo fireplace at the Watcher's Council, thankful that someone had raised the opening a foot. "Here," he said, tossing Giles down onto the desk. "Yours. We don't want him."

Wesley looked at the man, then at Xander. "Buffy?"

"He had her killed during a fight. Walked her into a battle not three hours after giving birth. Both sides fought her as an invading force. She's buried there and we can't get her body back." Wesley nodded, looking pissed. "Ron wanted him to burn at the stake for it, but Dumbledore decided you should have him before we do evil things to his body. By the way, he probably should go back to a hospital." He looked over as a door opened and Willow walked in. "Look who came back," he said quietly.

She walked in and looked down at Giles. Then she slapped him and looked at Wesley. "If you put him in the infirmary, I'm taking a long vacation until he's gone."

Wesley smiled at her. "I would never dream of it, Willow. He'll be going off-campus." He looked at Xander. "How are Ron's three?"

"Doing good. Walking around being holy terrors, like kids are supposed to be. Minnie stripped off her clothes and went walking down the Slytherin table the other night." Willow snickered. "Ryan tried to say something to her so she peed on his hand." He smiled at Willow. "Your son's calmed down at lot. You'll hopefully see a lot of improvement when you get him in London next month. May tenth, Kings Cross." She nodded. "I'll leave you with this ...being. I've got to teach kids how to deal with vengeance demons." He sighed and left via the floo.

Willow snarled at Giles' body, pulling back to kick him, but Wesley's strong arms going around her stopped him. "Make him leave," she requested. "Him or me, Wes."

"Him, my dear." He kissed the side of her head. "You're always welcome here. He's not. He betrayed not only you and your group, but also the Council." He pushed a button on his desk, sitting them both down on a nearby couch before the guards came in. "This piece of trash was returned to us. Please send him to a hospital. Give them a reasonable excuse for his injuries. He'll be standing in front of a judgement panel as soon as he's healed." The guard nodded and hefted Giles, taking him away. Willow snuggled into his side and he smiled in contentment.

***

Xander walked into his classroom and stopped, seeing the woman sitting on his desk and the students staring at her in shock. "Gee, my ex," he said with a fond grimace. "What are you doing here, Anyanka?"

"I came to see you," she said, stopping the buffing of her nails to smile at him. "I've been checking on you." She slid off the desk. "Can we talk?"

"As long as you make it fast. I'm telling these nice kids how to deal with someone like you today."

She grinned. "I know. I can even give them the lecture if you want. I still tell great stories." She led him into the hallway. "Are you happy?"

"Happier every day," he told her. "I have what I always wanted, a family who loves me. I'm more than content with my job and my life." He tapped his cane on the floor. "I can even live with the minor injuries and slowing down."

She stepped closer. "You're staying handicapped for him?" she purred. Xander nodded but didn't react any other way. She looked down his body, then back at his face. "You're really gay?"

"I think it's more person specific. I'd do anything for George. He cured me of ever wanting anyone else."

She pursed her lips, then suddenly smiled. "Good. That's what I wanted to know. I'm no longer a vengeance demon. I've been switched to a training demon."

"Congrats. Giles came back."

"Oh, really?" she asked. He nodded. "Was that a wish I heard your heart making?" She laid a hand over it, but then frowned. "You don't want me to fix it?"

"No, I can kick his ass all by myself. But you might want to check with Willow and Tara." He stepped away from her. "Why else are you here? You only show up when you're called."

"Actually I was. My last assignment was up here. Some girl getting screwed over by her boyfriend. He's presently getting very sick to his stomach, just like she is." Xander nodded. "You don't want to know who?"

"I can probably figure it out well enough on my own. It's a small school," he reminded with his normal cocky grin. "But hey, while you're here, feel free to go frighten my students into never calling on your kind. I can teach them how to kill you guys next class." She pouted, but went back in and introduced herself again, this time starting on some of her favorite stories.

Xander leaned against the wall and looked up at the ceiling. "You might want to figure out which kid," he whispered. He heard laughter from down the hall and looked over at Dumbledore walked up to the doorway. "Do we know who?"

"Yes, and he's experiencing everything his very pregnant girlfriend is," Dumbledore assured him as he walked past him, going to sit in and listen to this lecture for himself, just in case.

Xander pushed himself off the wall, narrowly missing a chick. "Hey, feeling bored? There's a demon in there. Or Tara's doing light spells." The chick cheeped at him and went to Tara's classroom.

***

Raena looked up as a phoenix chick landed on the library table beside her. "Wow, must be important," she muttered. Her mother looked over at her from her position behind the librarian's desk. She smiled and waved the letter. "Iggy. The chick was bored so he sent it instead of an owl."

Her mother walked over and took the letter to read. "My, you're a smart one," she told the chick, who puffed up and sang happily. "Quieter please," she admonished. "This is a library." The chick cheeped and leaned over, nuzzling her. "I didn't know there was more of them at Hogwarts," she said, handing the letter back.

Raena nodded. "Iggy said his father's is part of a breeding pair. He and Dumbledore's bird are a nesting pair and he said his cousin's bird has a nest ready too. It's really fascinating." She opened the letter and read it, laughing. "He's such a cute little kid."

"How old is this boy?" her mother asked, sitting down to pet the not-often-seen bird.

"Ten. He'll be eleven in a few days."

"They let him in early?"

"Oh, yeah. He's a potion's master in the making. He and his father are part of one of the Stonehenge colonies. Apparently their historian and Professor Snape at Hogwarts are working on his training. His father's more of a builder and mischief maker."

"Well, that's certainly interesting," she said with a fond smile. "Is this one his?"

"No, she's unbonded." She looked at the phoenix. "If you wanted, you could look around the school. Just stay away from the blue door, okay? We don't want to have to rescue you." The bird cooed and leaned against her chest, singing gently to her. "Okay, or not." She scratched the small head. "I wonder how old you are?" She read more of the letter, finding the section where he told her about this chick. "Welcome to the Braun Institute, Hilda. You're a welcome visitor to our halls." The bird nudged her so she shifted her hand, scratching the eye ridges. The bird's eyes shut and she moaned in pleasure.

Her mother laughed. "I think you should start researching them, dear. It might come in handy." She went back to her desk, happy that the young chick had found someone to love. Her husband would jump with joy.

Raena looked over at her mother, but the little bird regained her attention with affectionate nips to the fingers. "Thank you. Were those phoenix kisses?" Hilda cooed at her some more, looking into her eyes to send her a mental message of liking her. "Oh, you chose me?" she asked happily.

At the desk, her mother laughed. Her daughter could be a bit thick when it didn't concern a potion.

***

Bill climbed off the exam table, smiling at Madam Pomfrey. "So I'm okay to go back to work?" he asked for the second time. She nodded patiently. "Thank you. I'll get out of your hair tomorrow." He kissed her on the cheek and went to call the rest of the family to tell them the good news. He found Draco hauling suitcases down the stairs. "Use your wand," he teased.

"Can't. Spell components," he grunted. He put them beside the fireplace. "The house is officially done."

"Wonderful news," Bill said, giving him a smile. He had never thought he'd like the Malfoys, but this one wasn't all that bad. Most of the time anyway. "Are you moving without telling anyone?"

"Just the heavy stuff today," Draco told him, sitting on top of the case, wiping his forehead off. "I wish I could magic them, but it could destroy a few of them."

"Will the floo hurt it?"

"Not that much. They're protected against that. But not apparating or lifting, or even shrinking. It's rather inconvenient."

"So pay one of the little bastards in Slytherin to help you," George suggested as he walked in. "There's a few who could use the money."

"Good idea," Draco decided. "I'll talk with them tonight." He looked at Bill. "You look extremely proud of yourself."

"I've just been cleared to go back to work," he said happily.

"That's excellent news,"George said. "We should go out to dinner to celebrate. Let me go find Fred and tell him?"

"Sure," Bill agreed. "But you're buying."

"I can do that," George agreed, patting Xander's paycheck in his robe pocket. He had been heading to the bank. "Let me pop down to the shop. Come down there in a few." He disappeared through the floo.

Draco stood up with a groan of pain. "I'm too old to do things like hauling." Bill laughed. "You don't think so?"

"You're only thirty-one, and we live to be over a hundred. You've still got a ways to go before you're too old for anything, Malfoy."

"Hmm, good point." Draco buffed his family seal on his robe. "Let me go find some little kid to do this for me." He strolled away, going to his old house. There was always at least one poor one in there. The door opened for him easily and most everyone looked up. "Would any of you like to earn some pocket change? I'm moving into my new house and could use a helper. If not, I could easily go find a Gryff."

Ryan looked over at him. "Feeling too good to lift and tote?" he sneered.

"Why should I when I can pay someone to do it for me? Three galleons for the day's work, today and tomorrow's worth of work."

Ryan sighed. "I guess we should help, with you being part of the house and all." He looked at Draco's large ring. "What's that? Looks ostentatious."

Draco held it out so he could see it. "It's my family seal. Created back when Merlin was freely roaming around by a Master Silversmith in Greece for my great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great grandfather's Uncle, which was passed to my side because that one only had a daughter." He took the opal and silver ring back, putting it back on his finger. "It's the symbol of me running my family now." He glanced around. "Anyone else want to help? I could probably use more than one. Three at the most though." A few more boys stepped forward and he led them back to his room, letting them pick up and carry stuff through the floo while he packed. This was much easier.

***

George walked into the living section of the shop, stopping when he heard the screaming. He cleared his throat and adjusted himself then went back to his twin's room. Since the door was open, he had to duck a dildo being thrown off the bed. "I say," he called from the safe side of the doorway, facing the opposite wall. "Bill's heading back to work and we're going to dinner to celebrate. Would you like to come?" A pillow was thrown his way. "Thank you, but I already took a nap, Fred. Supper?"

"In a minute," Elizabeth called, scrambling for a sheet. She wrapped it around herself and stuck her head out the door. "How long do we have to shower?"

"Say an hour?" he said, giving her a smile. "Do I have to warn you to treat my twin right? Otherwise my husband will do very mean things to you."

"Your husband's a pussy cat," she snorted. "And I always take care of Fred. I might leave him gasping for air and needing someone to make sure his heart's working right, but I always take care of him." She smiled. "Where are we heading?"

"I have not a clue," George admitted. "I think we were going to decide that as soon as everyone got together. I'm heading for Percy's next." She nodded. "An hour, our house." He strolled away. She was a really lovely woman, and did remind him a bit of a female Xander in intensity. But she made his brother happy and that was what mattered to him. He flooed to Percy's, smiling as he walked out of the fireplace. "Bill's headed back to work. Want to come to dinner to celebrate?"

Percy dropped his fork onto the takeaway and stood up, wiping his mouth. "Better than that slop. Tananda. Want to go say goodbye to Uncle Bill?" She ran out of her room and hugged George around the thighs. "We're going to dinner if you think you can behave." She nodded and gave him an innocent look. "What were you doing?"

George picked something out of her hair. "Playdough it looks like." She smiled, showing off a hint of purple. "Oops, we ate some, Perce." He handed over the little girl. "Our place, an hour." Percy nodded, frowning at his daughter. "They all do it, don't worry too much." He left, going to check on his parents. He found his father watching his mother cook. "Good news, Bill's headed back to work. We're headed out for a dinner in town if you wanted to join us."

Molly smiled at him. "We'd love to, George. When and where?"

"We haven't decided that far yet. Just be in our house in an hour." He smiled and hugged his mother. She had been returned to her old self. He left, going back in time to see three Slytherins carrying boxes down the stairs. "Draco's leaving without telling us?" he asked them, sounding like he was joking.

Draco came out of the back area, shaking his head. "My house was finally finished today so I'm moving some of the extra things back now. The spell components and the things I've bought for the house recently. I was going to officially move this weekend so Xander has time to pout."

George laughed. "All right, we can accept that. Are you coming to dinner with us tonight?" Draco nodded. "Good. So are Fred, Elizabeth, Percy, Tananda, Mum, and Dad." Bill perked up. "So pick somewhere. I told them an hour." He looked down at himself. "I'd better shower and change. Hold the fort down for a few minutes." He headed up to the bathroom.

Xander walked in a few minutes later and watched the box brigade. "Draco, did you have an announcement?"

"I'm moving this weekend," Draco called down from his room. "We're having dinner out so dress in something decent."

Xander snorted. "Wonderful. Guess who I ran into today," he called as he walked up the stairs. Draco stuck his head out of his room. "My ex, the vengeance demon, showed up today to help me lecture on her kind," he said with mock-happiness. "Someone shoot me the fuck now before the owls start coming." He heard the shower turn off. "George or Ron?"

"George." Draco closed his door. "You can hide behind me."

Xander shook his head as he walked in to get a wet and slippery hug. They always cheered him up. "My ex showed up today," he announced in the middle of the hug.

"The demon?" Xander nodded. "Well. What did the cheeky twat want?"

"To make sure I was happy. She was here to torture a Ravenclaw boy so decided to say hi and help me give the lecture about her kind today." George gave him a squeeze. "Thanks. I'm expecting a blizzard of owls tomorrow." He sighed and stepped into the shower, turning on the cold water.

"Dear, your clothes," George pointed out. He went to their room to get dressed, but was nice enough to pull out an outfit for Xander. Something Draco had bought so he wouldn't hear any complaints.

***

Xander looked around before he stepped into the Great Hall the next morning. He only walked in when Dumbledore smiled at him. "I really didn't call her," he said as he joined the other teachers.

"I know, Xander. Don't fret about it," Dumbledore told him. "Fortunately we've found the poor boy she cursed and are treating him."

Lupin leaned around Dumbledore. "Was she really your ex-girlfriend?"

"Oh, yeah," he sighed as he sat down. "My ex. We accidentally forced her to become human for a while so she picked me to teach her how to be a good human. Not that she ever really got the point of anything besides sex and money." Snape choked. "Not together, separately." He grinned. "She never got that desperate. Back then I was willing to be walked over by a girlfriend."

"It's strange thinking of you dating a woman," Black told him.

Xander nodded. "Yeah, every once in a while I have to stop and think back too. I used to really like women, until I found out George liked me." He looked down at his suddenly full plate. "Thanks, mom."

"You're welcome," Tara said with a smile. "So, how was Anya? She only stopped in to say hi and asked if I wanted her to curse Giles."

Xander shrugged. "She said she got a promotion. She's teaching the young demons now. So no more random vengeance, now she's on special assignments I guess." He grimaced. "Can we put something up so she can't come back?"

Dumbledore laughed. "If I could, I would do so, Xander. I can't imagine what some of the parents will be saying." Xander moaned. "Don't worry, they'll write me, not you."

"No, her," Xander said, pointing at Dumbledore's friend, who was standing with Anya and the former Head Girl of Gryffindor. "Why me? Can't Ron deal with them?" He put his head down on the table, which made the demons laugh. "Make it stop, Albus, please?"

Tara stood up. "Anyanka, would you care to eat with us?" she called. Xander batted weakly at her. "If you do, you can't curse anyone. We can block you from doing so while you're here."

Anyanka smiled and waved. "Hi, Tara. No, we're just surveying. Therina's student wanted to be evaluated for duty." She strolled up. "You have children?" she asked, pointing at Maeve, who was eating at the kiddie table behind the main one.

"Mine," Xander said coldly, lifting his head. "Mine, and you will stay away from them."

She backed away from the iciness in his eyes. "I wasn't going to hurt her. It's not my job description," she reminded him.

"Yay," he said dryly. He stood up and leaned over. "Go away," he said slowly and clearly. "Take the demon ho and leave. You can even take the student for an hour. It shouldn't take you much longer than that. And if you *ever* come near my children, I will go to the demon plane and track your wrinkly butt down."

Tara patted Xander on the back, forcing him back into his seat. "He's very protective of his children. I carried Maeve for him."

"Oh. That's wonderful." Anyanka looked at Xander, who was staring her down. "You know I wouldn't ever come near a child. They're not part of my job." Xander started to growl, making her back up. "Oh, I forgot you were one of those. Never mind. Your need to protect your family goes down into your genetics. I won't even come if they call, Xander. I promise, we're going to leave your family alone." Therina coughed and she looked at her. "Oh, tell me you didn't," she begged. "He's gryphon born, he'll kill over his family. Every last one of us if he has to."

Xander nodded. "Take the hint. Never touch my mate again." Therina squeaked and left, taking her student with her. He looked at Anyanka. "Thank you for helping me yesterday. It was nice to scare the children that much. I'm sure none of them will ever call on you."

Anyanka smiled. "You'd be surprised. I usually get at least one call from the people I've taught. They remember how mean I can be and call on me specifically." She fluffed her hair. "It's a wonderful calling."

Xander nodded. "Yay for you. I'm happy that you're as happy as I am. Go away now. Bye-bye."

She rolled her eyes. "Fine, I'll leave. It's not like I have any work around here. I can't even recruit?" Dumbledore and Xander both shook their heads. "Fine, I'll work out of Diagon." She disappeared in a flash of smoke.

Xander looked at the students. "For those of you who didn't hear the lecture yesterday, that was a vengeance demon. Please, never call her again." He put his head back down on the table.

Tara gave him a hug. "I know it's hard to see her again, Xander, but you showed her. She won't be coming back. I'll stomp her if she does, okay?" He nodded. "Why don't you eat and then go call George? It'll make you feel better." He turned and gave her a real hug, then dug into his food. She looked at Dumbledore, who was shaking with suppressed laughter. "Are you going to write Hedre's parents?"

"I already have. They've since written back and yelled at me because I was putting my so-called sick fantasies onto the students." Xander snorted. "I'm sure they'll love this development. I'll make Hedre write them herself this time to tell them the good news." He looked at Xander. "Are you all right?"

"Just fine," he said. "Did you set the record spell yesterday? I can run it today so everyone knows the same thing."

"Yes, I did, and it was quite tame."

"Definitely tame. No one got their balls removed, eaten, or cut up in front of them." Black held his mouth and ran out. "Sorry," he called after him. "Didn't mean to make him sick."

"We all got very strong stomachs from her," Tara said tactfully. Anya had offered to get Willow for her too. She turned the poor demon down, it wasn't that bad. "If it was tame, it couldn't have been any of her usual stories." Xander shook his head. "New ones?"

"All fresh from the last two years," he said. "Then she told them how to summon her, so they could avoid it according to her, and about what a vengeance demon was for. Very thorough, but I think I'm going to have nightmares for a while." He scraped his plate and stood up. "Tell Sirius I'm sorry about his stomach, Remus. I didn't mean to make him sick. But if he wants, I can tell him some really great stories of hers about guys she's cursed for doing what he did last month." He grinned headed down off the dias, going down to his class.

Tara burst out in chuckles, leaning against Snape's arm. "That was so mean," she gasped. "I can't imagine what Anyanka would do to poor Sirius for his liaisons."

Snape pushed her head off his arm. "I'm sure it would be suitable to his behavior."

Tara shook her head. "No, she does what she wants, unless you ask for something in particular. I hope those two never meet professionally." She wiped her cheeks off. "It felt good to laugh."

Iggy hopped up and rubbed his butt. "No pinching!" he demanded, glaring at his cousins. Simone looked clueless. Denver shrugged. Melvin shrugged from his seat. "Okay, who pinched my bum!" he called.

"Sit down," Snape yelled. "Such behavior is not decorous."

"Someone pinched me!" Iggy insisted.

"I'm sure they won't do it again," Tara told him. He sat down, but jumped up and stormed out again. "Guys, please," she called. "Iggy's under enough stress right now."

"Too true," Remus sighed. "Speaking of Iggy, I have his class in an hour so I should probably go get ready for Simone." He looked over but Denver had his sister in a head lock and was pummeling her. "Should we go break that up?"

"Probably," Tara agreed. She looked at Dumbledore, who shook his head and sipped at his tea before standing up. That was apparently the signal because the Prefects got up and separated them.

"Bring them up here please," Dumbledore said, walking back out into the back hall. He didn't see Snape sneering at Simone, or her flipping him off very visibly. But he did hear the twenty points off comment the potion's master too. "Children," he said once the door was closed. "What was that about?"

"My sister's a git!" Denver said, shoving her. "Hands are better. How would you know? Suddenly got a dick?"

Simone patted down her robe, then looked him over. "When did you grow one? Oh, and the girl you're after, she likes girls. You don't stand a chance," she sneered.

"Enough!" Dumbledore said sternly.

"And another thing, brother dear, daddy's going to have you rendered infertile this summer so you can't do what he did and knock someone up."

"Enough!" Draco roared, startling them all. "Simone, you are not only grounded, but it will be the most unpleasant time of your life. You do not pick on your siblings that way. You wouldn't do it to Anastasia and you won't do it to Denver." He patted Denver on the head. "Now, what started this?" He glared at them until Simone looked away. "I'm waiting."

"Denver's over the moon over this girl. He's forgetting *everything* because of her."

"That's what boys do," her father pointed out. "Some day soon you'll find a boy who'll do the same thing for you." She snorted and looked skeptical. "That is, if you don't drive them off with your mouth. Go to the house and wait on me." She huffed and walked away. Draco tipped Denver's face up. "Go have your eye looked at. Are you all right?"

"Was she right, daddy?"

Draco grimaced. "I was going to give you an infertility potion so you could explore your natural instincts without having problems, not because I regret having Simone." He hugged his son. "Now go get that checked and we'll take a long walk tonight so we can discuss this in private." Denver nodded. "Really, son, it's not the worst thing, it's to make sure you're safe. There's many things out there that you don't understand yet and a number of girls who will take advantage of you by intentionally getting pregnant to gain the family name." He smiled. "I hope you find someone like your step-mother, but I'd rather be safe for now. It's nothing against you." Denver nodded and headed up to the infirmary, not going through the Great Hall. "I'm sorry about that, Headmaster. I'm going to have a discussion with my daughter."

"Please. Also have one about her mouth," Dumbledore suggested. "If she comes back next year swearing in such a manner, I'm going to have to take corrective measures beyond detentions."

Draco grimaced. "You can blame that on Xander, thank you. He taught her the first swear word." He walked away, going to yell at his little one. It was just jealousy, she would have to get over it. Soon. He walked in and found Iggy and Simone going at it, watching to see who would need medical attention first. "Stop it," he snarled. Simone knocked Iggy onto his butt

Iggy kicked her feet out from under her and pounced her again, smashing her head into the floor before standing up.

He wiped the blood off his mouth. "Never say that to me again, Simone, or I'll do it worse. You might want to thank your father for saving you this time." He looked at Draco. "Sorry, but she needed it. I'm going to get a bandage." He walked away, heading up to join his cousin in the infirmary.

Draco sat on the couch and pointed at the other end. "Sit." She moaned as she got up, crawling onto the couch. "I don't know what that was about, but I'm tired of it already. All this crap from you will stop, Simone." She glared at him. "Has it occurred to you that you've just managed to upset the most calm individual on the face of the planet? Has Iggy ever hit you before?"

"He's an asshole."

"Your language is another matter we will be taking up, young lady," he said coldly. "That's another thing I've had enough of." He shifted some, pulling a foot up under him. "Now, you have one opportunity to tell me what is bothering you before I react and beat you senseless myself."

"You won't hit me," she told him. She found herself over his lap and being spanked before the last word came out of her mouth. "Let me go, bastard!" she screamed, fighting back.

He shoved her onto the floor, not rubbing any of the places where she had managed to get him. "One chance, Simone, before I turn you over to your mother again. Give me one very good reason for not tossing you out of the family for your recent behavior."

"I'm just like you," she sneered.

"I managed to change. You can do the same. And saying that you're just like me isn't much more than admitting you're a spoiled little girl. Now, what is wrong. This is your last moment."

"They're all too wrapped up in their little lives to see that they're tearing all of us apart," she shrieked. "You're not helping any either by encouraging them. So yeah, I'm pissed. It's wonderful being alone."

"Are you really?" he asked.

She nodded, getting up and sitting in Xander's chair. "Fuck you and your whoring ways, father. And fuck you doubly for passing them on to the other boys in the family."

He stood up and towered over her. "I will not take that disrespect from you, Simone. Not now, not ever," he said calmly. "I am not a whore, nor am I teaching your cousins or your brother to fool around on anyone. I am teaching them how to attract someone suitable. I am teaching them how to enjoy what they'll be doing with those people some day. I am not teaching them anything else." She glared at him. "As for you being alone, that's by your own doing, little girl. It says something when not even your own siblings will be around you."

"Yeah, 'cause I've had such a good role model," she yelled. "Like I need this shit." She took off her tie and dropped it on the floor. "I'm done for the year. I'm leaving and going home to mother."

"Good luck with that," he called after her as she used the floo. "She won't put up with this either." He sat down in the chair, glaring at the fireplace.

"Is it safe now?" George called.

"I won't hit you," Draco called back. "You're not my daughter."

George walked down the stairs. "She does have a point. She and the three boys have always been closer than anything and now they're finding their own ways. She's being left out and she probably is quite scared that they'll leave her permanently."

"Yes, but she's making sure it happens."

"Human beings are like that," George said gently. "We often run from what we need most and force the worst things to happen to us." Draco looked up at him. "Besides, she's seen your fighting to stay away from Ginny and that's all she knows, Draco." He gave the younger man a gentle pat on the head. "Give her some time. She'll figure it out."

"Or she'll kill someone," Draco noted dryly. "Your son is up in the infirmary."

"I know. Poppy will handle it. She's really good at figuring out what the underlying problems are." He smiled. "With that said, I'm going to go make mean things. If you wanted, I can keep Simone from buying any of them and let the boys have some for free."

Draco shook his head. "It won't help anything. I'm hoping Ginny will be able to stop her before she hurts someone else."

"Like herself?" George asked as he walked away.

***

Ginny looked over as her floo discharged her daughter. "What are you doing here?"

"I quit." She sat down at the table and picked up a piece of melon. "I'll go to a different school, but I won't go back to Hogwarts."

"Hmm." Ginny finished her bite of eggs. "What happened?" She took another bite.

"Daddy yelled at me and beat my ass."

"You probably deserved it," Anastasia told her. "You're a horrible little girl."

"Ana," Ginny warned. "Just because she's not like you doesn't make her horrible. Apologize."

"Sorry," Anastasia said, looking down at her plate. "Can I go to my room and read? You two probably need to have a long talk."

"Sure. Bring your breakfast with you, and Ravena." Anastasia nodded, gathering up both plates and her little sister. "What happened?" Ginny asked her. "Besides your father spanking you."

"Iggy and Denver are leaving me."

"Uh-huh. Why?"

"Because they've got girlfriends," she sneered.

"Oh." Ginny nodded. "Yeah, but they'll always come back." Simone shook her head and put it on the table. "Are you sure of that?"

"Yup."

"Ah." Ginny finished her breakfast and got up, putting her plate into the dishwasher. "Simone, clear the table and we'll talk."

"Do I have to?"

"Yes." Her daughter sighed and stood up, bringing over the empty dishes. "Do you actually think that the boys will ignore you totally forever?" Simone nodded. "What proof do you have of that?"

"Gee, let's see," Simone said dryly. "Let's start with me getting knocked off my broom and no one noticing. After that, we can count the day I got this." She rolled up her left sleeve and showed off a recent cut. "In Herbology, with a poisoned plant. Melvin noticed that one because I smacked him when I asked for a handkerchief. That's how I found out it was poisoned, after class. And did my *loving* brother or cousins come see me in the infirmary during my three hour stay? No. Denver was worrying about his lone pubic hair falling out. Iggy was worrying about a new potion he wanted to try, and Melvin was drooling over Andrea - who doesn't realize he's doing it. And that's just the tip of the iceberg. Last night, do you know what happened?" Her mother shook her head, turning and resting against the counter to look at her. "Last night, someone snuck into our room. I beat the shit up. The Prefect and Head Boy both congratulated me. Iggy and Denver looked at me like I was insane. Just because the guy might have been someone's boyfriend, which he wasn't. They think I overreacted. How very nice of them to worry about my safety," she finished with a trademark Malfoy sneer.

Her mother hugged her. "I'm sorry you've had such a horrible term. Why didn't you tell me?"

"What could you do?"

"Beat the boys for you," she snorted. "It's not you, honey. They'll get over it soon enough." She pulled a chair over and sat down, holding her eldest. "Next year will be better. This summer will make them see how horrible they're being."

"I don't want to see them. I'd rather die than have to see either Iggy or Denver for the next few years."

"Tough. I'm not sending you to France." Ginny looked over as George walked out of the fireplace. "Were you aware that she was nearly killed in Herbology?" He nodded. "Was your son?"

"He wanted to go up but Flitwick wouldn't let him out of class." He came over and hugged Simone. "It sucks, but they'll realize they're asses in a few weeks. Once school's out..."

"I won't see them," Simone told him, pulling away from both adults. "I could care less if they both end up comatose in a hospital bed, I don't want to see them."

"That's a horrible thing to say," Ginny said calmly. She had seen the hurt look on George's face. "You don't want them to get sick, Simone."

"Why not? Iggy wants me to shrivel up and die, he said so!" She stomped off, going up to her room. The door slammed, shaking the others in the hallway.

"She didn't mean it, George."

"No, she did. I think it's time we saw this from the other side. Do you want Iggy or Denver?"

"Actually, I think I want Melvin. He's not the most attentive, but he's always watched the group." She stood up. "We're going to yell at the boys," she called.

"Good, beat the fucks for me,"Simone yelled back. She kicked her door.

Ginny shook her head and followed George back. "How did you know?"

"I called and heard part of it," he admitted. "Fred's heard too. He's about to beat Draco for hitting her."

"She probably needed it," Ginny said before disappearing. She came out of the fireplace and found Percy in front of her. "Here to yell at the boys?"

"Melvin snuck into the teacher's lounge and called me," he admitted, rubbing his forehead. "Said Simone attacked Denver in the Great Hall and then she left the grounds."

"She's at my house," Ginny told him. "Really upset. I think we need to talk to the boys. Preferably before she does something stupid." She looked around. "Where would they be?"

"Iggy and Denver are both in the infirmary," Xander said from the stairway. Everyone looked at him, they hadn't noticed him there. "Gee, hi. Yes, I do know about feeling invisible. Want me to talk to Simone?"

"Do you think it'd help?" Ginny asked.

Xander shook his head. "Not until the boys quit panting after women and realize she's still standing there." He stood up. "But I think I understand a little bit." Ginny nodded and got out of his way, letting him head to her house. He walked up the stairs and tapped on Simone's door. "Hey, it's me," he said at the thump.

Anastasia peeked out of her room. "Hi, Uncle Xander. Are you here to yell too?"

"No, honey, to comfort," he said with a smile. "I've been where Simone is during high school." The door opened and his niece stared up at him. "Really. My friends intentionally tried to shove me away because they decided I wasn't good enough for them anymore. Being normal guy when everyone else was becoming special sucked ass." She let him in and slammed the door before Ravena could get an idea. He sat on her bed and patted his lap. "Come here. You need a cuddle."

She crawled into his lap and leaned against his chest. "They really did that to you? Auntie Tara and everyone?"

"Tara wasn't part of the group then, but she was there when it happened the second time. She stuck up for me then, even talked to me often. Much more often than my supposed best friend ever, Willow." He gave her a squeeze. Those times still hurt to think about. "You see...."

***

Ginny walked into the infirmary alone, and closed the curtains around the boys' beds so they could get some privacy. "Tell me why you're ignoring Simone?" she asked calmly.

"We're not," Iggy complained. "I don't know where she gets that stuff, but I haven't ever ignored her."

"Did you give her funny looks for beating up on the guy who broke into her room?" Ginny sat on the end of Denver's bed. "And did you ask how she was after she was injured in Herbology? Or even quit panting after girls long enough to realize that she fell off her broom recently from very high up?" Denver groaned. "You didn't know?"

"She bounced back up and announced she was fine!" he whined.

"And did you believe her?" He nodded. "Why?"

"Because she doesn't say those things without it being true," Iggy pointed out.

"Did you ever think it might have been because she knew you weren't going to pay any attention to her? I bet that if I asked, she got checked out that night and was at least bruised." Both boys hung their heads. "That's why she's so upset with you, boys. Because she's got no one else and you guys have a lot of other friends."

"She could have more," Denver pointed out. "She's scared off everyone but Andrea with her mouth."

"Which is how she protects herself from people she doesn't know getting close. She's very aware that a lot people would like her only for her father." She grimaced. "Anastasia pulls out her princes act when people come close enough to try and become friends. She's got you guys and that's it. She'll never have a lot of friends because she's very aware people want to get close to her because she's an heiress. The same way people like to get close to you, Denver, for the very same reason. Or Iggy because he's powerful. People are like that unfortunately." She slid off the bed. "I think you two need to think about your relationship with Simone. She's in her room crying on Xander right now because you guys have let her down so badly." She looked at them. "Pick now, boys. Do you want her to be around or not. Otherwise the next time you see her will be on the train back. And that's only if she doesn't talk her father into sending her to France." She left, stopping to give Melvin and Andrea a hug. "You too," she told Melvin, giving him a stern look. "Andrea, she's sorry she's upsetting you because you're the only friend she feels she has left. She'll hopefully be back tonight or early tomorrow." She stopped. "Who was the person sneaking into the dorms?"

"One of the pervy town boys," Melvin told her. "Is she okay?"

"No. I'm hoping I'll get her calmed down later." Ginny gave him a hug and walked away. She knew the fathers would be talking with each of them later. Draco caught her in the hall and gave her a hug. "Did you really spank her?"

"She called me a whore," he whispered. "I feel horrible about it." He pulled back. "Is she all right?" Ginny shook her head. "What's wrong?"

"The boys have managed to find a life and she hasn't. Since they're about her only friends, she's quite alone and lonely." She started walking, and he followed her. "Xander's telling her stories about being left out by Willow and everybody."

"At least someone understands."

Ginny stopped and looked at him. "How many real friends did you have in school?" she asked. He frowned but apparently couldn't come up with an answer. "You've warned her often enough about people who'll want her for her name. That's why she's such a mouthy shit to everyone. And that's why she's so dependent on the boys for friendship."

"I guess I can understand that," Draco murmured. He gave her a short squeeze. "Can it be fixed?"

"I hope so. If not, she just asked to transfer schools and never see the boys again." She patted him on the back. "How's the moving?"

"Decent enough. The furniture makers delivered yesterday. Almost everything is in there. I need some more towels and sheets if you want to go shopping with me tonight?"

"No thanks. I think I'm going to be spending the night with Simone. Can you get her cleared for the day?"

"I'll do my best." He gave her a kiss on the cheek. "Good luck. Call if you need me." He walked away and she headed back to leave for home again.

***

Simone giggled. "Were they really that big of butts?" she asked. He nodded, giving her a look. "Do you think the boys will ever get over it?"

"Maybe," Xander said, sounding optimistic. "If not, then you'll find better friends who won't ignore you." He gave her a squeeze. "You ready to go back and face Dumbledore?" She shook her head. "The longer you wait, the worse it's going to be."

"I don't care. The worst he can do is kick me out and I'm not sure I want to go back next year anyway. I'd rather go somewhere that they aren't." She looked up at him again. "Are you mad at me for not liking Iggy anymore?"

"No, I understand. He's always been absorbed in something, though he used to care that you cracked a rib."

"Don't yell at him, Uncle Xander."

"Why not?"

"Because, like you've said, he's never focused on me like Denver did. I'm used to some ignoring from him, just not that much."

"Okay." He kissed her on the side of the head. "You sure you don't want to come back now?"

"No," she sighed. "I want more time to calm down." She smiled. "And hey, if I get kicked out, I won't have to worry about them."

"That's assuming that the other schools will take you when Hogwarts kicks you out," he pointed out. She grimaced. "They might not want to take a chance, especially with your detention record, young lady."

"At least you didn't call me a little girl."

"Well, you still are, but you're trying to be adult more often. That too will get better as you get older." He put her onto the floor and stood up, picking up his cane where it had fallen. "You sure? I'll go up with you if you want."

She looked around her room. "I know I probably should, but if I have to see them, I'm only going to get into another fight."

"I can probably help that too. I'm doubting that you're not going to be grounded to the house, so you only have to worry about that after classes are done for the day." She nodded, looking miserable. "I bet if you apologized and told him, that Dumbledore would understand. He's been a teacher and Headmaster for a very long time. He used to head over Gryffindor too." He gave her another hug. "Come on, I'll walk you up." She nodded and grabbed her robe and jacket. "I'll even hold your hand if you want." He walked her down to the floo, meeting her mother there. "We're going to talk to Dumbledore," he said quietly. "She might be back later." Ginny nodded and gave her daughter a hug, whispering something to her.

"Thanks, mum." She held her Uncle's hand while they flooed back to the main school fireplace, letting him lead her up the stairs. Dumbledore smiled at her and she broke out in tears. "I'm sorry."

"It's all right, Simone. I know how lonely it can be to be ignored suddenly by those that you considered friends." He smiled at Xander, who sat down and lifted her onto his lap. "We'll talk for now and then I'll have to decide on your punishment."

She nodded, stopping her crying. Xander gave her a comforting squeeze. "I'm ready to take whatever you have to do to me, sir."

"Good."

***

Iggy pounced Simone once he walked into the tower. "What happened?" he asked, sitting beside her. He tried to give her a hug but she shoved him away. "I'm sorry, I didn't realize."

"Yay." She got up and went up to her room. Two days of suspension to the tower might not be so bad. She found a small tray of food on her bed and smiled, pulling her curtains to eat in peace. She heard one of her roomies walk in but didn't pay any attention to them. She wasn't friends with any of them. So when her curtains opened and Andrea climbed in beside her, she wasn't really prepared. "Did they send you?" she asked.

"No. Melvin's so upset that he couldn't eat so I thought I'd see if I could help."

"Yeah, you can continue to be my friend, unlike my cousins and brother."

Andrea hugged her. "Anything. Can I come over this summer?"

"If you can stand my sisters, then you can even stay in my room, assuming Ravena hasn't torn it apart again."

Andrea giggled. "Okay. I'll help you clean it if I have to." Pumpkin barked so she let the dog up, petting her until she laid down. "Classes today were boring. You can copy my notes if you want."

Simone shrugged. "I'm doing so bad in some of my classes that I don't think I care right now." She looked at the plate, offering her friend a bite of chicken. "Want some?"

"No thanks, I ate downstairs." Andrea pulled back and laid on the second pillow. "So, what happened? I know they're ignoring you but I never noticed it."

"That's because it started as soon as we got here," Simone sighed. "It's just worse now. Did you know I fell off my broom last practice?" Andrea shook her head. "I did. Cracked a rib. Damn near broke my wrist." She flexed it, it was still a little stiff. "Did you know that neither my brother or my cousin realized I had been hurt?"

"I heard you say you were okay," Melvin said, opening the curtains so he could climb in on Simone's side. He gave her a hug and closed the curtains again. "Before you say anything, the two idiots are downstairs and your Head Boy is really nice. He came and got me and suggested I come talk to you." He leaned his chin on her shoulder. "You said you were okay."

"Would it have mattered if I hadn't? I said that ten minutes after I fell."

"You waved me off," Melvin pointed out.

"Melvin, that was five minutes after I fell. I laid there catching my breath for a few minutes. You were staring at Andrea all that time."

"Oh." He gave her a cuddle. "I'm sorry, Simone. I didn't realize. I know they didn't realize until your mum yelled at them earlier."

"Gee, and that's so helpful," Simone said. "I don't want them to like me because my mom yelled at them."

"They won't," Andrea told her. "She pointed out what was wrong, she didn't pay them to like you." She shifted the plate aside and hugged her friend too. "I don't know what I can do about this, but I'm still here."

"I know you are." Simone enjoyed getting hugs, relaxing into them. "But I don't want to see them. I don't want to hear them say they're sorry or anything. I'm tired of them and their problems."

"So we'll run interference until it gets to us and we lock you in a closet," Melvin told her. Simone chuckled weakly. "You think I'm kidding but I'm not. We were going to lock you guys into Slytherin's library, but Uncle Xander told us we couldn't because there wasn't any air back there."

"I don't care enough to fight with them," Simone admitted. "I don't care anymore. Uncle Xander showed me that I don't need them. I can be friends with you two and that should be enough."

Andrea smiled at her. "If you say so, but we'll support you finding more friends. After all, one friend is great, but sixteen is really fun for birthday parties."

Simone laughed and hugged her. "Thanks."

"Anytime. That's what friends are for." She looked over at Melvin, who looked upset. "It'll be okay," she assured him. "Simone wasn't kicked out. Yet."

"I asked mum if I could transfer," Simone admitted.

Melvin pinched her hard. "You can't do that! That'd leave me with the idiot duo. Then what would I do?"

"Get resorted?" Andrea teased.

"I'd have to. Otherwise Gryffindor might fall apart if they were left alone." He slid out of the bed. "I have to get back. I have a paper I need to write. Want to meet up in the library?"

"I'm suspended to the tower for the next two days," Simone told him.

"Oh." He grimaced. "Then I'll just have to come back and have you help me. After all, this is Transfiguration and I suck at it." He blew kisses and hurried away. Denver got in his way and he glared at his cousin. "Would it have been too much trouble to float down and ask her if she was really okay when she cracked a rib?" he asked. Denver winced. "I fully admit, I wasn't paying attention to her either, but you guys are majorly screwed. You used to be so close and she's upset because you guys aren't anymore. I'd fix it before it starts the rest of the family fighting." He walked out. He found the Head Boy on the walkway. "I'll be going back if that's okay with you."

Gregory looked at him. "If you're keeping her calm then you're allowed. But if she beats you up, you're on your own, Melvin. I'm not that strong."

"I know." He leaned on the railing too. "She's upset because the people who are usually her line to sanity are ignoring her. It'll only get worse before it gets better. I think she'll beat them up the first time they try to talk to her."

Gregory nodded. "I figured as much. Are you spending the night in the common room?"

Melvin shook his head. "No thanks. I have a great bed with just the right amount of lumps in the right spots. But I'll be doing my homework with her. Can we do it in her room?"

"As long as her roommates don't mind and Professor Weasley doesn't find out, you're fine."

"He's fine anyway," Xander said from behind them. He smiled at the boys who had jumped. "Ron's stuck with sick kids right now. So go ahead, Melvin. If he yells, tell him I said it was okay. You're keeping her sane right now." Melvin smiled and left. "How is it going otherwise?" he asked, leaning against the railing.

"Pretty good, sir."

"Gregory," he warned.

"Sorry, Xander. The house is okay. I'm not real sure about some things right now, but everything else is okay. I know the others on the house team are worried about her. Did she really get hurt?"

"Yup. Madam Pomfrey had to heal her rib that night. It's amazing but the other beater told her to suck it up and deal with it too. Apparently he's finished a game after a bad fall."

"I remember. He broke his wrist. Changed hands and went on. I used to wonder what had made him that way until I met his father after that game. His father congratulated him for it." He shrugged. "We're all different, being a Prefect and Head Boy have made me see that. I just don't understand why we're like we are."

"Think about studying people," Xander suggested. "College isn't for everybody but you'd probably do okay there." He smiled. "Just think, you're missing the next Malfoy-Weasley coming in."

"Yeah, and I'm really thankful for that right now." Gregory waved and headed back inside. He nodded at Melvin when he ran back inside, and decided to ignore the rest of them for right now. He had his own problems at the moment. College? Would his NEWTS count and how would he apply?

***

It was the last game of the season and Gryffindor had pulled this match in the yearly draw. The team was ranged around the field, Iggy playing keeper and the alternate chaser looking nervous beside Denver. Simone swung her bat, wincing at the stiffness in her wrist. Today might not be such a good day. Earlier, the seeker and pro-tem captain had given them a pep talk about doing what was best for the team, even if they didn't speak to each other. So she focused on the game. She knew she wasn't in her top form because she didn't really want to knock anyone off today. The balls were released and she flew off, banking to hit one of the bludgers away from the alternate chaser. She got into the rhythm of the game and forgot about everything else. Hit the bludger, stay out of the way of the chasers and seeker, watch the score. Hit the bludger away from Iggy and Denver, fly away, get out of the way and hit the other one when her partner falls. Watch the score climb for the other team. She damn near asked to switch places with Iggy, but he knew that position better than she did.

Hit the bludger, get out of the way when the seeker nearly ran her over. Hang on for dear life when the wake of his broom nearly made her fall. She ended up upside down for a minute but flipped up as soon as she could. Hit the bludger coming right at her head, then duck because the second one was right behind that one and she didn't have time to recover from her last bat. Smack her bat on her broom when Iggy fell off, swearing mentally at his stupidity. Fortunately he got up and waved that he was all right. She moved to take his spot until he could get back up in the air. Block the damn quaffle and hit the bludger the other team had sent her way, helping her team. Keep from hitting the next bludger at her brother and try to control her anger. Hit the damn bludger at her bother for his stupidity because he had lost the quaffle in a move he had never practiced. Get out of Iggy's way as he got back up in front of the goals. Hit the bludger. Swear at Denver because he had done it again. Get out of the way of the chaser gone off course from a hard shove. Hit the damn bludger at the other keeper with a snarl and a sneer.

Hit the damn bludger again, then narrowly miss getting hit by the second one, get into a bludger war with the other team by hitting it directly back at them. Knock one of them off and laugh evilly. Knock the bludger at Iggy, who needed a good crack upside the skull, but there was a chaser between them so no one yelled at her. Duck and weave, swing upside down to get out of the way as Denver tried to run her over. Get hit with a bludger that she couldn't avoid because of her loving brother and nearly fall off, swinging up so she had more than one hand on the broom. Get back on and rub arm, which had no feeling in it. Switch bat to other arm and smack bludger at brother, and seeker on other team gets in the way. Knock him off his broom just as he reached for the snitch, watch it disappear again. Bat away something else, then pause when a foul is called on the other end of the field. Wipe sweat off with good arm and take the time to look at the other one.

The other beater came over. "You okay? I noticed you switched hands."

"I can't feel this arm," she admitted, flying closer to him. "Check it for me?"

He poked and pushed on it, then shook his head. "Dislocated. You need to have it put back in place." The whistle blew. "You want to go down? We can take a time out."

"No, I'm fine," she said, gritting her teeth. Her hurt wrist shot a burst of pain down into her hand and she kept the bat by force of will. "I'm fine."

"Good girl, Simone. It won't be long now."

She nodded so he flew away. She got back into the rhythm of the game. Hit the bludger, wince at the pain in her hand. Try to switch hands but the other couldn't make a fist, much less swing. Other team's seeker flies too close and tries to knock her off. "Missorted bastard," she called after him, gripping her broom with her knees. Duck a bludger, duck a chaser or two, don't duck the next bludger and that's all she knew for the next few hours. She missed Iggy and Denver nearly knocking each other senseless as they rushed to catch her. And the foul that was called on her behalf and even her father storming over and removing her from Madam Pomfrey's care so she could go to a 'real hospital'. She woke up in that same hospital. "Did we win?"

"No," Draco said with a shrug. "Or the house cup. Don't worry, you have six more years before you have to give up hope." He reached over and gave her arm a squeeze. "Can you feel your right arm, princess?"

"Daddy."

"Sorry, Simone, but I do slip. I called you that for too many years to stop now." He smiled at her. "Can you?"

"My right arm?" She wiggled her fingers but that was all she could move. The rest was strapped down. "It doesn't hurt right now and I can wiggle my fingers."

"Which would be an improvement over when you were examined," he admitted. He shifted closer. "What about your left wrist?"

"That still hurts," she admitted, looking down at it. "Why am I in a brace?"

"Because you dislocated three of the little bones. When did you do that?"

"I hurt it the first time I fell, in practice, but Madam Pomfrey said it was just a sprain."

"Well, this time it isn't," he said with a frown. "Can you move anything else? Like your feet? You pulled most of your lower back when you were caught from what the doctors said." She shifted and moaned. "That's what I thought. Do you want some pain medicine?"

"No, I'm okay as long as I don't do that again," she told him. "Where's mum? Usually she does hospital duty."

"She's helping Iggy settle his stomach. He threw up right after he and Denver caught you between them. The stress got to him. Your mother's holding his hand while he vomits."

"Eww."

"Sorry. Are you up to visitors?"

"If it's Denver, I'll say thank you but I don't want to talk to him."

"I know, but it might make you all feel better if you did," Draco said calmly. He hated this rift in his family, hated it with everything in him, evil and good. "Not talking to him won't make you feel any better."

"Yes it does," she corrected. "Now they know what I feel like."

"I understand, but it's not *helping* the problem any, Simone."

She frowned at him. "Why are you being so touchy-feely, father? This isn't like you. Are you possessed like Grandma?"

Draco laughed. "No, I'm not possessed. I ache because you two aren't getting along. I only want him to love you and you to love him."

"I might have at one point in time, but I don't think I can do that anymore."

"Even though he kept you from cracking your head?"

"Even though he kept me from cracking my head," she agreed. She looked at the door and saw her brother standing there. "Thank you for catching me, Denver." He turned and walked away. "See, it's mutual now," she told him firmly, rolling to lay on her more uninjured side. "I think I'm going to take a nap now."

"All right. I'll be here," he told her, waiting until she closed her eyes to frown at her. He would chase down his son in a few moments, once she was asleep again. He found Denver down the hall, squatted down holding his head. "She didn't mean it."

"Yes she did," Denver said quietly. "I fucked up so bad." He looked up. "Help me fix it, daddy?"

"I'm trying, son, but I think you're going to have to do most of the work." He pulled him up and gave him a hug. "She still loves you, as I do, but she's pissed at you right now."

"No, now she hates me and she'll never like me again," he argued. "This is Simone, father, she's not known for changing her mind about things once she's made it up."

"But emotions are different," he reassured him. "She'll change her mind once she sees that you're sorry."

"But am I?" he asked. Draco looked down at him. "It feels really nice to have more friends than my cousins and my sister. I don't want to give that up."

"No one's asking you to," Ginny said as she joined them. "She's awake again and the nurse kicked me out to check her over. They think she can go home tonight if she can rest in a bed or on a couch."

Draco smiled. "Thank you." He looked at his son. "No one's saying that you have to give up your new friends, son, we're saying that you have to spend some time with your sister too if you want to fix this."

"But there's not enough time in a day," Denver complained. "I can't choose between them, I don't want to be that miserable."

Draco looked at Ginny. "This must come from your side of the family. Xander understands this," he joked.

She rolled her eyes. "We're not asking you to choose, Denver. Why can't you compromise and invite her along?"

"I tried that and she turned me down," he defended. "Besides, none of my friends like her. She's mouthy and a brat according to them. She cost us the house cup." He took a deep breath. "A lot of the kids think she was missorted. That she belongs in Slytherin, and there are days that I agree, father. She's miserable as a Gryff."

Ginny swatted him on the head. "She's miserable because you're making her that way by ignoring her. She's miserable because you're so wrapped up in the newness of your new friends, that you've forgotten about her. Do you and Iggy still hang out?" Denver looked miserable and nodded.

"Then why not with Simone?" Draco demanded. "She is your sister and will remain so even after you both die."

"Because she doesn't fit in with my friends," he answered, looking up at them. "No one likes her. I'm not even sure Andrea *really* likes her. *NO ONE* likes her, father, and it's starting to show. It's only going to get worse."

"If you stuck up for her, the others might accept her," Ginny pointed out. He shook his head. "What makes you think that these friends are so hot, son?"

"Because they like me for who I am. I didn't have to be born into a family to be liked."

"We like you even though you were born into the family," Draco said dryly. "Most of the time." Denver looked hurt. "Right about now, I'd like to beat you senseless." He stood up. "I'm not dealing with this. Can you make him see reality?" Ginny nodded. "Thank you." He walked back to his daughter's room and found Iggy waiting in the chair, holding his daughter's hand. "Has she went back to sleep?" he asked quietly. Iggy nodded, but he didn't look happy. "Did she yell at you?"

"No, I heard what Denver said." He looked up. "And it's true. Aunt Ginny had a point, but it's an unfortunate truth. They really don't like her because of all the house points she's lost and because she and Hedre got into it at the beginning of the year."

"All of Hedre's supporters are graduating this year," Draco reminded him, sitting on the end of the bed. "Do you think this will change?"

Iggy shrugged. "I don't know. I know I've been horrible because I've been so wrapped up in finally getting to study what I want to do with my life and all this puberty crap. Between that and doing the potion for Andrea, I don't know where I got lost. I realize that I did," he admitted quickly at the frown, "and I want to try and fix it, but I don't know how." He kissed Simone on the cheek and stood up. "I want to go back to where we were when she got kidnaped, Uncle Draco, but I don't know how."

Draco gave him a hug. "Easy, you bug her until she forgives you and you keep your promise until she realizes that you mean it, Ignatius. It's that simple. You'll have to show her that you mean to change."

Iggy nodded and let him have the room alone. He found the rest of team in the hallway with Uncle Xander. "She's asleep but she's waking up every few minutes." He heard a moan from in the room and smiled. "She's awake."

"How is she?" the seeker asked.

"In pain," Iggy told him. "Her sore wrist was dislocated sometime during the game, her right shoulder was out of place, and we sprained her back when we caught her. She's going to be spending some time in bed." He got out of their way, going to hug his father. "Can you just smack me really hard and get my priorities back in focus, daddy?"

Xander smiled. "It's not that easy, son. You've got to make decisions about how you want to spend your time. Do you want to spend time with Simone or with everyone else?"

"I'd rather have her. She understands all my quirks and doesn't look at me like I'm either some oddity or some cute little kid playing dress-up." He pulled back. "I think some of it has to do with the seventh years remembering me running around the school bugging everyone to read their notes. And a few of them told me that they remember me back when you were potty training me, during their first year." Xander grinned. "But it's really lonely most of the time because I am younger and I'm odd. I already know what I want to do and I'm very focused on it."

"We warned you that going a year early would be hard," Xander reminded him. Iggy nodded, getting the point. "I think it'll get better next year. First years always have it tough. Adjusting to the new rules, figuring out their place in the hierarchy, dealing with the assholes in the upper classes who think they're so smart because they've had five years of potions."

"Even though I can outmake most of them," Iggy conceded with a grin. "Thanks for stopping that fight by the way."

"Not a problem, son, that's what I there for. How was your detention with Ron?"

"Good. He had me mix him a cleaning potion for the other idiots to use. Something from the sixth year textbook, which pissed them off further because their best potion maker couldn't get his right when Ron had him try. He didn't even bother to measure correctly. I think he's one of the dunderheads that Snape keeps griping about." Xander smiled brighter. "But it went okay. I got to dust the shelves and redo the bookcases." He looked into the room. "Should I go back in there?"

"Let them do it for now. You'll have her all to yourself soon enough. It's not like they'll be bringing her notes from her classes and treats from your personal stash."

"Oh, I, um, need to restock that."

"I just gave you your allowance," Xander said, sounding put out.

"Yeah, but I spent it on something, dad. Something really nice too."

"For Simone?"

"No, for my penpal. She was having a horrible day with a really hard potion, so I sent her a cute little mini-phoenix in jade. Just like her new one."

"I think it's really neat that Hilda picked her. She must be a very nice young woman." Xander gave him a squeeze and slipped him some money. "Don't spend it all on chocolate either," he warned. Iggy nodded and disappeared, coming back five minutes later with a large white box. "Cake?"

"Sampler pack from the candy shop in Diagon. The woman who was behind the counter was really sorry that Simone got so badly hurt." He pulled out a twizzler to eat and walked into the room, going to share them with his favorite cousin. "Want a chocolate frog?" he asked around his licorice. She accepted one but didn't say anything. He looked at the guys on the team and they left for a few minutes, leaving them alone. "Simone, I'm sorry. I didn't realize. You should have said something sooner."

"You were doing important stuff," she said, opening her frog. She handed him the card. "I already have her."

"I don't," he said happily, putting it into his pocket. "I may have been, but I wanted to know these things. Remember, I'm a really clueless guy and I don't realize that the rest of the world is around some days. So nudge me the next time, okay?" She nodded, nibbling on her frog. "Are you in pain?"

"No." She looked at the box. "What else did you buy? Besides the bag of twizzlers in your pocket."

"Oh, I bought some stuff I thought you'd like," he teased as he opened the box. She squealed and grabbed the candy flower, watching as it bloomed in her hand. He leaned over and kissed her on the cheek. "I'll bring you notes tonight, okay?" She nodded, staring at her flower. "And then you can tell me everything that I missed. I'll send back in the guys." She smiled at him. "You're welcome. You deserve it, if only because we all survived this year." He left her alone and shared a few of the treats with his teammates as they walked back inside. "I'm going to put this up."

"Have fun," Xander told him, giving him a pat on the back. His kid was amazing. He walked in and gave her a kiss on the head. "I remember being in that spot," he told her. "Just think, tomorrow you get to spend all day on a couch or in bed."

"Eww, Uncle Xander," Simone complained. "Can't I at least get up and go to the bathroom?"

"Only if you're staying in the tower and not in our living room, young lady. Then you'll have to climb stairs."

"Then I'll come over that afternoon," she said firmly. "Nap in front of the tv." He nodded. "When can I get out?"

"I think tonight, if your parents are going to get pushy." He walked out into the hall and flagged down a nurse. "She wants to know when she can leave?"

"The doctor is in conference with her parents right now," the nurse told him. "It shouldn't be too much longer. Tomorrow morning at the latest." He nodded and disappeared, making the young girl squeal. "At least she's happy," the nurse said, going to check on more of her patients.

***

Draco walked into the Ministry of Technology's office. "Is this where I come to get one of those boxes?"

The woman behind the desk nodded and pulled out a form. "How many did you want?"

"Um." He thought hard. Ginny would kill him if he got one for the bedroom and he'd never get anything done with one in the office. "Just one I think, at least for now." She checked a box and handed it over, watching as he filled it out. "What else do I need to do this?"

"A television and the spell to run it. A few cables, which you can buy at the same place as the television. We recommend these places," she said, tearing off the bottom of the form and handing it over. "Tell them you're hooking it up to a satellite dish and they should be able to help you fairly quickly and easily. They cost somewhere between one hundred pounds and just over a thousand, depending on what you want." She looked at the name on the form, then at him. "The last on the list is a specialty television shop. If you wanted the most expensive and the biggest, go there first." Draco nodded, deciding to take her advice. "We can come put the thing in tomorrow afternoon if that suits you?"

He smiled. "That would be excellent. I seem to have become addicted to a certain game show." He signed his name and sealed it with his ring, then put down the deposit listed on the form and left. One thing down, one to go. First to exchange some money.

***

Simone sunk onto her bed with a groan. Her back hurt. The walk up from the entry had been a horrible and long one. She closed her eyes, too tired to even kick off her shoes. And her wrist itched under the stupid brace. Someone touched her foot, taking off her shoes for her. "Thank you, whoever you are," she said quietly.

"Not a problem," the Head Boy told her. "You rest for a bit. The house elves are bringing up lunch in about an hour." She nodded but didn't open her eyes. "Any medicines that we have to watch?"

"Don't turn me funny colors and I can't take pain medicine for another three hours." She groaned as she flipped onto her side, her preferred sleeping position. "Thank you, Gregory."

"You're welcome, Simone." He closed her curtains and left her to sleep. He had just enough time to get back to his class before Professor Weasley got him for being tardy.

When Simone woke up again, she was warm, being held, and the light was at the wrong angle to be anything but evening. "Who're you?" she asked.

"It's me," Iggy whispered. "You didn't wake up for your medicine or lunch so I thought I'd wake you for dinner." He handed over the little flask. "This first, then we'll nibble on what the elves left earlier." He watched as she drank it all. "Professor Snape was really impressed that I could make the pain potion so easily."

"You made it?" she asked, rolling carefully onto her other side. Her shoulder was still bandaged down. "Was that why it tasted like grapes?" He nodded, grinning. "Beats the other stuff," she told him, kissing him on the tip of his nose. "What time is it?"

"Dinner time. I ate half of your lunch a little while ago so the elves wouldn't be insulted." She nodded. "Want help to the bathroom before they get up here with dinner?"

"Please." He climbed out and helped her to her feet, sitting on the bed while she wobbled into the bathroom on her own. One of her roomies walked in and looked at him. "She's in the bathroom."

"Are you staying tonight?"

He shrugged. "If she'll let me. I promise not to peek." She grimaced. "Really, I have someone I'm interested in. She's in Amsterdam and a lot like me," he said happily.

"How old is she?" Simone asked as she came out, drying her hands off on her shirt. "We need more towels again."

"Twenty-eight."

Simone snickered. "I'm sure she's going to be dating you soon, Iggy."

"Yeah, I know, but a guy can dream and grow up. After all, we're long lived creatures so I'll eventually be old enough and she won't be so old." He helped her back into bed, covering her gently. "Did you want your notes now or later?"

"After dinner." Simone waited until they were alone. "You don't have to do this."

"Yeah, I do," Iggy told her, sitting beside her again. "I have to do this because you're my favorite girl cousin and I adore you, even when I'm an ass and I don't remember that other people exist. You know it wasn't just you. It was Melvin, Andrea, and even Denver who I forgot about while I was working." She shook her head. "Yeah, it was. The only reason Denver saw me at all was because he pulled my books away and forced me to hang with him and his friends." He sneered but quickly lost it. "I'm sorry, Simone."

"I know, Iggy, but it hurts."

"Of course it does. Being let down that way is horrible and makes you feel lonely. Just like being different does." He shrugged at her questioning look. "There are kids who're scared of me, Si. I don't even know why. They don't know me and I haven't done anything spectacular in years." She gave him a hug. "Sorry, I didn't mean to put that on you while you're sick."

"My back's hurt, not my brain," she scoffed. "You really felt lonely?" He nodded. "Then why didn't you come and find me?"

"Because you always seemed so wrapped up in being an outcast. You never seemed to want me around." She punched him on the chest. "I guess I deserved that." She nodded. "Sorry, again."

"It's all right, Iggy. I was doing that because you guys didn't seem to want me around, so I was acting the same way back. If you had said something, I would have clung to you all term."

"I say we quit all this acting and pretending and do something so mean to Denver that he regrets finding those new friends," he said against her ear. She giggled. "Think up something mean."

She relaxed and thought, then came up with a brilliant idea. She whispered it to him, making him cackle.

The girl in the room with them shook her head. Those two were horrible together.

***

Iggy tapped on his mentor's door, smiling when he answered it. "Sir, if I mix this potion and this potion, will anything adverse happen?" he asked, showing the two parchments off. His Uncle Fred had agreed that Denver deserved it and had given him the sacred color-changing recipe on a single use scroll.

Professor Snape read each one, then shook his head. "Probably not. Why are you changing your cousin's medicine?"

Iggy smiled at him. "Because he deserves it." He rolled them back up. "If I added this one, would it change it too much?" he asked, patting himself down until he came up with another one, meticulously copied out of an old book of Xander's.

Snape looked it over, then took back the other two scrolls. He finally looked at the boy. "What is this one for?"

"So he won't see it but everyone else will." He heard soft, feminine laughter from inside. "I'm sorry I interrupted your private time, sir."

"It's not a problem, Ignatius, you should check for counter-indicators when trying new things. Your timing is fairly bad tonight, but you've had worse. There shouldn't be any problem mixing the second two, but the first and the third have ingredients that will counter each other." He handed them back. "Best to leave that third one off for now." He glanced behind him. "What is the second one?"

Iggy smiled. "Color changing solution, sir. A family specialty." His grin turned mean. "I haven't been able to do it with a wand since I was five and I got the bitch who told me I was an evil creature destined to burn in her version of hell so I thought I'd do it this way instead."

Snape nodded. "I understand. Keep it from getting out, please." Iggy nodded and left and he closed the door, looking at Tara. "That boy is going to follow in his Uncle's footsteps."

"Gryphons love pranks," Tara reminded him. "He's being true to his nature." She patted the couch beside her. "You were telling me about his namesake?"

Snape sat down next to her and pulled up his mug of tea. "Yes, Ignatius Spenser. Never touched a drop, actually fought for prohibition, but he was the randiest wizard ever seen. The rumors say he repeatedly wore out his many lovers."

"I heard somewhere that he rented out a house of ill-repute and wore that one out too," she said excitedly.

"Indeed," Snape agreed. "More than one. That's why he was known as the Lord of Licentiousness. Very odd fellow from what I understand."

"How did he die?"

"He cuckolded the wrong husband." He kissed her hand, putting it back onto her lap. "A very nasty duel, which he never excelled at." He sipped his tea. "An odd man."

"Hopefully Iggy will learn from his lessons."

"I plan on teaching him how to duel formally next year," Snape told her. She giggled. "I'm sure he'll need it, no matter which profession he takes up."

"Just think, Anastasia starts next year."

"Yes, and Agatha Potter," he said dryly. "What a joy."

"Maybe she'll stay out of your house," Tara comforted. "If not, I'm sure you can handle her. Or you can always ask Simone to bring her down a peg or two." She snuggled into his side. "Are you comfortable?" she asked, watching the fire.

"As I ever am."

"You could take off your robes," she offered. "I promise not to pounce at the first sight of skin."

He laughed and shifted, taking off his starched robes, but leaving on everything else. "Is that better?"

"Much," she agreed, snuggling in again.

***

Bill looked around the site, frowning when he saw all the burned vegetation. This didn't feel right to him, but none of the goblins and trolls he worked with seemed bothered by it. Maybe he was soft from his time away. He glanced around again and noticed a gold, scarlet, and purple body sitting on a nearby tree. "Murph?" he called. The phoenix flew over and landed beside him, cooing up at him. "What're you doing here?" The bird made a disgusted noise then fluffed his wings. "Ah, woman problems," he said knowingly. "I've had a few of those." Murphy leaned against his leg, singing to him, sounding sad. "She'll take you back, Murph. She loves you. Otherwise she wouldn't have put up with you for this long." The bird cooed up at him. "Sure, you can stay for a few days, until you're ready to go back and make her see what an upstanding mate you are." Murphy relaxed. So he called out in Goblin, wanting to know what his assignment was. The head goblin grunted something back, then pointed at the cave opening. Bill told him that he wasn't sure it was safe enough for humans. The goblin sent a troll in there and it came back out a few minutes later. "Fine," Bill sighed. He took a step toward the cave and had to duck suddenly as Murphy took off and flew around his head. "What the hell?" he mused, looking.

There was a *huge* dragon flying around the camp and it looked pissed.

"Shit," the head goblin said. "I thought it was dead." Bill looked at it. "What?"

"You were going to kill her just for her treasure?"

"That's what we do here," he reminded the human.

Bill crossed his arms. "There's a difference between taking treasures out of abandoned tombs and killing living things for some pretty jewels." He ducked as a talon came near his head. "Murph, leave her alone!" he yelled. "She'll kill you and Xander will hurt me."

Murphy screamed and abused the dragon, fighting it over her human's mate's brother. She pulled back, hissing at the tiny bird, but the phoenix wouldn't get out of her way. So the dragon retreated and decided to pick on the other creatures raiding her nest.

"Bloody hell," Bill said, grabbing Murphy. "Go get Charlie and get him here now," he ordered sternly. "We need him here now, Murphy." The bird got free and flew off at top speed while he went to hide. The goblins could take care of their own damn selves. They deserved it for taking on a female dragon. This was obviously a nest. Only a nest made dragons attack like that.

***

Murphy flew into Charlie's camp, panting hard and desperate. The human could be dead by now. He called out for the human mate's brother, bringing a few humans running. None of them were the human he needed so he continued to call out in panic. Charlie came running once he heard, and he landed in front of him, sending him the picture of Bill and the dragon.

"I've got to go," Charlie yelled. "My brother's in trouble with a wild dragon. The goblins are trying to take out a nest." He grabbed a rope and some other gear, then looked at Murphy. "Can you give me a clear shot of the ground? Something so I can land there?" Murphy stared into his eyes, flashing all he had seen. The picture of the tree was the clearest and Charlie disappeared, going to help.

Murphy slumped and looked around. A large tongue came out and licked him, making him squeal in disgust.

"Sorry, she's a bit drugged," one of the handlers explained in a thick Australian accent. "Want some water, you big bugger?" Murphy cheeped and hopped onto his shoulder, making him wince. But he led the poor dear to one of the drinking troughs and let him drink his fill.

"She's pretty," one of the younger handlers said.

Murphy glared at him.

"I think it's a boy, mate," the Aussie said with a grin. "Are you Murphy?" Murphy cooed and went back to drinking. "Then I'll call your da and tell him you're okay." He walked over to the hospital building, going to call the school. He managed to get the Headmaster, and his bird, who apparently decided to cuss him out for Murphy being there. He walked back out. "No wonder you left 'er," he said with a grin. "You want food too? We've got some oatmeal or you can go catch mice or some such." Murphy curled up on a chair and gave him some grateful sounding noise. "Okay, you rest then. Wonder how Charlie is." When Charlie reappeared with his brother, he followed them both into the hospital. "Murphy's fine, had some water. His chit screamed at me."

Bill laughed dryly. "Fawkes is a bit upset with him right now. She drove him out of the nest." He reached over and patted the bird. "He saved my life. Drove off the dragon and saved me."

Charlie gave him a hug. "Good. You going to call your home office?"

"Oh, yeah, I should probably do that," Bill agreed. "Give me a few to not want to piss myself first." His brother hugged him again. "G'r'off," he said with fondness.

"Bet me. Guys, do we want the girl? She and her full nest are presently sedated." A few of the handlers nodded so Charlie took them to the cave so they could gather her and her nest up. It wasn't safe there anymore.

***

Denver took his medicine for his vertigo and paused. It tasted funny for some reason. He shrugged it off, it was working that's all he cared about. He sat down in the nearest chair, waiting for it to work all the way. It usually only took ten minutes. This time, it seemed to be working faster. He stood up and started to leave Madam Pomfrey's office, but her mirror stopped him. Why was he purple, silver, blue, and green paisley? He stepped closer, touching himself to make sure it was him. He opened up his shirt, checking his chest. Yes, it was him. "What the fuck!" he yelled, bringing the nurse. She took one look at him and collapsed against the door laughing. "Did you do this to me?" She shook her head. "Then who did? Who made up my potion?"

"Professor Snape delivered it himself this morning," she managed. She watched as he stormed out. Hopefully Snape knew what he was doing.

Denver stormed into the Great Hall, Snape hadn't been in his classroom yet. "What did you do to me," he snapped as he stood in front of him. He opened his shirt. "Do you see this?"

Professor Snape calmly put down his tea and looked at the boy. "I don't see anything wrong, Mr. Malfoy, outside of the fact that you are half-dressed in front of young women." He looked at Dumbledore, who had been let in on this prank and the reason for it. "Do you see anything wrong, Headmaster?"

"No, not a thing," Dumbledore told him. He smiled at the boy. "Could it be that you had nightmares last night and they're carrying over perhaps?" Denver started to shake in anger. "Maybe you should go back to the infirmary and have it checked out."

"She laughed so I know you see it," he hissed. "I'll destroy this school if one of you did this to me." He turned and stormed out.

Dumbledore stood up. "He wishes you to excuse his conduct, he's feeling a bit under the weather at the moment." He sat back down and sipped his juice, looking at Professor Snape. "Maybe you should mix all his potions from now on."

"Yes, I think I shall," Snape agreed. He looked down at Iggy, who was snickering into his oatmeal. "Do finish up. You have that extra lesson in twenty minutes."

"Yes, sir," Iggy called, scarfing down his meal. By the time his mentor was done, so was he.

***

Denver stormed into Ron's bedroom, slamming the door against the wall. "Would you please do something about this!" he commanded.

Ron blinked at him, squinting to try and focus. "Why are you funny colored?" he asked finally.

"Because *someone* changed my dizziness potion and it did this!"

Ron nodded and put his head back down. "Go ask Snape *nicely* for a cure."

"He claims he can't see anything wrong," Denver sneered.

"Hmm," Ron agreed, starting to fall back to sleep.

"UNCLE RON!" he shrieked.

"I hunt and kill things that make that sort of noise," Xander warned from the bathroom. He walked over and looked at his nephew. "Gee, Denver, did you *want* to look like that?"

"No!" he said coldly. "It was my morning potion! Fix it!"

"Denver, I'm not the potions person in the family. You'll have to wake up your Uncle George for that," Xander said patiently. "He spent the night at the shop so you'll have to go down there."

"Floo's not working," Ron mumbled. "Notice was sent out last night. On table."

"Then he can walk down," Xander said. He looked at the boy. "Put on your shirt fully before you do that and then go ahead down. I don't think Dumbledore will get *too* upset with you for it." Denver stormed out. "Ron?" Ron snorted and opened an eye. "The floo's out?" Ron nodded. "Since when?"

"Line repairs, today and tomorrow," he said through a yawn. "Night."

"It's breakfast."

"Exercises today with Lupin. I can sleep in if you'd shut up."

"Oh. Okay. Thanks, Ron." Xander closed the door and went back to his empty room. He smirked once the door was closed. His son was too good!

***

Fred looked up as the shop's door slammed open, cracking the glass in it. "You'll be fixing that, Denver," he said calmly, going back to his reading. Paisley, he was impressed. George had never gotten past stripes or spots.

"Fix this shit," Denver snarled, walking further into the store. "They got the spell off you lot so you know how to reverse it."

Fred looked at him. "We guard all of our spells, young man. I haven't let a one of them out. Besides, we figured it out in our sixth year, someone else could have." He closed his book and stood up. "As for the patterns, I'm not sure I can cure it. We do simple color changing, not this complex sort. I'd say this was someone else." He shrugged. "I can change you into a different color, but I can't remove it."

Denver stalked over, making himself as tall as he could. "Fix this shit. It had to have come from you."

Fred stood up and towered over the eleven year old. "Like I said, I didn't do this and I don't know how to fix it. And if you keep this crap up, I'm dragging you to mum's house by your ear, young man. Wouldn't you love that right now? She'll beat you until you can't sit down if you try to threaten her." Denver stepped back and sulked. "Why don't you ask around at the school?"

"Because the teachers are in on it," he spat. "Snape and Dumbledore said they didn't see anything wrong with me."

"Then maybe you're supposed to be paisley for a reason," Fred said with a shrug. The boy glared at him. "I can spank you too, kid, remember that." Denver backed away another step, then stopped and thought about it, stepping closer. Fred smacked him hard and took him to see his father. "Dad, problems with this one now," he announced as he came out in the house. He found Molly and Draco waiting on them. "Hmm, you guessed?"

"Iggy called," Molly told him. She took Denver and spanked him once, then handed him to his father. "I think you two need to have a discussion."

"Another child gone wrong," Draco sighed, standing up and taking the boy into the living room.

"I don't know what's wrong with you, Denver, but I will not have you acting like your sister. I've already had a report of you running around half-naked and screaming at teachers. I won't have it." He sat himself on the couch and paused as the feeling of deja-vu floated over him. "Explain yourself now or face the consequences."

Denver held out his arms. "Look at me!" he shrieked. "I'm funny colored!"

"No, you think?" Draco asked sarcastically. "And why is that, son?"

"Like I have a fucking clue!" he shouted.

Molly walked in the door and spanked him. "I will not have you speak like that in this house." She looked at the father. "Do you know why this happened?" Draco shook his head. "Are you sure?"

"As far as I know. Unless he's pissed someone off greatly." He looked at his son. "Have you?"

"Besides the bratty sister?" he sneered.

Draco got up and spanked his son this time. "I won't have you calling your sister names when it's your fault she's like she is at the moment." He sat back down. "Now then, explain yourself and your behavior."

"I think it's normal what with me being paisley," he sneered.

"I can hit you again," Draco warned. "You do not get hysterical and scream just because you're funny colored. A real man can be any color and stay poised, if he wants to."

"I'm eleven!" Denver reminded him.

"Yay as your Uncles say." Draco looked him over. "I've had enough of this, Denver. You being paisley is not a tragic event in your life. You getting sent to your biological mother's house in Brazil will be. Do you understand me?" Denver's mouth fell open. "I warned you that I would not put up with such behavior and I will not." He stood up. "Decide now, son. Calm yourself and stop your histrionics or face the consequences of your actions over the summer."

Denver clamped his mouth shut. "Fine. What do you suggest I do about this?"

"Have you thought about asking someone who knows about these sort of things?"

"I asked Uncle Fred!"

Draco raised an eyebrow and Denver calmed himself. "You demanded, you whined, and you threatened, that's a bit different than asking politely." He smiled. "And it's George who makes that part of the line."

"Where's George then?"

"I don't know, probably only Fred does. You might try asking intelligent questions instead of reacting." He gave his son a hug. "Think of it this way, son, you look good in those colors. Whomever did this could have turned you some horrible pattern instead of one that compliments your natural coloring. Now, if you've calmed yourself suitably, we'll go ask your uncle where George is and maybe he can fix it." Denver nodded. "Do you think you can keep yourself calm that long?"

"As long as I get to beat the fucker who did this," he grumbled, following his father back to the floo. They landed in the joke shop and ran into Dumbledore. "Sir, I'm sorry I left."

Dumbledore smiled at him. "I'm sure you're going to be very sorry, while you're suspended to your tower for the next week."

"But I have a test!" he whined.

"You should have thought about that before you left the campus."

"You never get Iggy for it."

"If I could catch him, I would, and I have in the past if you remember." Dumbledore looked him over. "Do your business and go back to the school via the floo. You have one hour." He walked away.

Draco coughed, trying not to laugh. He looked over at Fred. "Would you happen to know where George is?"

Fred nodded. "He's working in the lab today." He glanced at the door, then at his nephew. "Fix it," he reminded the boy.

"Reparo," Denver said listlessly, pointing his wand at the window. It fixed itself and he slumped. "May we go back there and bother him?" Fred nodded. "Thank you." He walked back to the lab, pausing to watch the turtles crawl around. "They changed it again?" he asked as he slipped into the lab.

"Last night," George said absently. He looked over, then jumped. "What happened to you?"

"I don't know. Someone spiked my morning potion." He grimaced. "You don't think it was Iggy, do you?"

"I don't know," George said honestly, though he was quite sure it was his devilish little boy. He pulled Denver into the light, then hurried back to stir his potion so it wouldn't boil over. He pulled the pot to the cooler part of the fire then walked back. "Take off your shirt." Denver stripped off his shirt, showing that it was all over. "Hmm." George walked past him and dug inside a locking cabinet, coming out with a small vial. "Here, try this. It cancels out our version of the color changing potion for those who are allergic." He watched as the boy drank it, but the colors only faded a little. "Well, it helped," he said when nothing more happened.

"Would another dose work?" Denver asked. George shook his head. "Then what do I do?"

"I'd ask Iggy. He spends so much time in Snape's class that he'd know who took the oak stem mushrooms to do this." He scratched his head. "I don't know what to tell you, Denver. That's much more ornate than anything I can do." He patted him on the head. "Never threaten your Uncle Fred again, kid, he'll swat you harder next time."

Denver looked miserable. "Yes, sir. I'm sorry about that, but I was really upset."

George shrugged. "You need to tell him, not me, and it shouldn't matter. Threatening your family is not acceptable in this family. Your anger was reasonable, but your focus for it wasn't." Denver nodded, looking more miserable. "Put back on your shirt and go to class."

"Can you do a masking charm? Something to hide it?"

George shook his head. "It had an anti-charm in it, otherwise you would have faded more." He gave the poor boy a hug. "Do you know why they did it? A prank this elaborate usually has a point to it." Denver opened his mouth, then shook his head. "Have you pissed anyone off?"

"Only Simone," he said, sounding dejected. "Do you think she did it?"

"With as horrible as she feels, maybe," George agreed. "You abandoned the one person that used to mean the world to you. Of course she would react. The question is, could she had done this?"

"She could have paid someone to do this," he pointed out.

"Would she do that?"

He snorted. "No, she'd want to do it herself but she's not a potion person. Which means Iggy must have helped her. But I haven't been ignoring him."

"Sounds like you pissed Iggy off once he realized what you had done." George sat down and pulled Denver into his lap. "Think about the situation being reversed. Simone and Iggy find great people to hang out with, or not so great people to hang out with but they take all their time. How would you be feeling?" Denver slumped. "I think Simone is very pissed and hurt by you right now and I think she's right to feel that way. Don't you?"

"But it's not my fault she can't make friends," he whined.

"She's not a friendly person. She's not ever made friends easily and you knew that. You had to watch her fight to gain acceptance in the Junior league. You had to watch her fight for friends among the other kids that you've met over the years. Even when her mouth didn't get in the way she didn't really fit in with the other kids. You knew that." Denver started to sniffle. "And then you found some really big assholes and started to hang with them."

"They're nice," Denver argued.

"Son, they intentionally tried to trick Andrea a few months back. They're not nice, and they're your friends because they like what you could do for them. Watch what they do today when you show up like that."

"They'll laugh," he whispered.

"Would a real friend laugh?"

"A little."

"Will these kids laugh a little or a lot?"

"They'll die laughing," Denver admitted. He looked up at him. "Have you been watching them?" George nodded. "So why didn't you stop us from ignoring her?"

"Because you need to learn what's important in life for yourself. No one can tell you what should be important in your life, and if anyone tries take their advice but think about it." Denver nodded, but he still looked miserable." He gave his nephew a hug. "Why don't you get dressed and go back to class. The color should wear off soon enough. I've never run into a permanent color-changing potion so it should be gone by tomorrow." Denver nodded and trudged over to his clothes, putting them back on. "While you're up there, you might want to do some thinking, settle some priorities. Because if you don't, Simone's dead set against seeing you until you're both adults and Draco will give in to her eventually. Think about her going to France for school."

Denver started to cry. "I didn't mean to hurt her."

George pulled him back into his arms, and Draco walked in, getting his other side. "We know," Draco assured him. "But you did and now you have to own up to it and fix the situation before it gets worse. It is up to you to finish fixing it. Ignatius has already groveled and apologized enough to soothe Simone's hurt feelings. It's your turn now." His son nodded and wiped his face. "Finish getting dressed then go apologize for your earlier threatening. I'll walk you back to the school."

Denver looked at him. "Dumbledore said to use the floo."

"Then I'll escort you and talk to Professor Snape personally to see if he'll make something to counter it for you."

"It should wear off by tomorrow," George told him. "I haven't seen a permanent one yet." He patted Denver on the back of the head. "Have fun in school and take the time to think." Denver nodded and walked out to apologize to his Uncle Fred. "Do you think he understood this time?" George asked quietly.

Draco nodded. "Whomever did this got through to him. I don't think there'll be more problems of this sort." He walked out and found his son standing in a corner with a mother laughing at him. "It wasn't his choice," he said coolly. He took his son's hand and took him back to the school. They walked out of the staffroom and found Remus Lupin waiting on them. "Is he supposed to go to class or immediately to his suspension?"

"Class today, suspension tomorrow."

Denver looked at him. "May I still take my test, Professor Lupin?"

"I haven't decided yet," Remus told him, looking down at him. "I think that should depend on your behavior from this point on, don't you?" Denver nodded and walked away, it was time for him to be in Potions with his cousin. Simone was still in bed probably. He slipped into the room with a nod for the teacher.

"Mr. Malfoy, nice of you to join us," Snape said with a sneer. "Do you feel better now?"

"No, sir. I feel worse." Snape raised an eyebrow. "But I'm not going to go into my reasons for that statement in front of the class." He crossed his arms and pulled out his version of the Malfoy charm. "My Uncles said that someone in one of your classes made the potion. Do you know if they made an antidote?"

Snape nodded. "You cannot take it if you've already had some. I can't give you any for twenty-four hours."

Denver sighed. "Thank you, sir. I'll see you before first period tomorrow." He slid into his seat and looked at the things spread out. "What are we mixing?" he asked his lab partner. He looked around. "Where's Iggy?"

"Simone's back went into spasms so she's back in the infirmary, he's with her," Snape told him. "You're making a feather-light potion. Do begin now as you're about out of time. Or you can do it tonight during detention." Denver nodded, he'd accept that. "Then go check on your sister and be here tonight at eight." Denver slid out of his seat and left the classroom.

A few of the kids burst out laughing, clinging to each other. They'd never laugh to his face, his sister would pound them into the floor.

***

Denver slid into the infirmary, and promptly glared at the woman in his way. "Move." She got out of his way and he walked over to where he could hear Simone saying something. He patted the curtain before walking in. She laughed. "Gee, thanks." He looked at Iggy. "Did you make a cure?"

Iggy shrugged. "What makes you think I made it?" He turned back to Simone, giving her a kiss on the cheek. "I'm going to run and ask someone to take notes for us for the next class. Will you be okay?" She nodded and he stood up, getting into Denver's face. "If you make her feel worse, I'm smashing your face and your balls." He left them alone.

Denver slid onto the stool beside her bed. "I'm sorry, Simone. I've been an ass."

She nodded. "Yes, you have." She shifted and grimaced, but swatted at the hands trying to help her. "I don't want you to help me. Ever."

"I'm sorry, Simone."

"Yay. Good for you. I hope you and your new friends will be very happy. Now go away."

Denver hung his head. "I'm sorry, Simone. I didn't mean to ignore you or to hurt you like I did."

"Again, yay."

"Can't you just shut up and let me apologize?"

"You've done that already, three times. Did it make you feel better? Because it doesn't me."

"Just shut up!" he yelled, jumping up. "I'm trying to fix this and you're being a bitch. I'm sorry, okay! I'm an ass and I'm sorry. I didn't mean to hurt you. Do you know how many time's I've heard about how much I've hurt you? Or about how bad of a person I am? Do you know what I'm feeling because of what I did to you?"

"No," she said quietly. "I only know what it feels like to be pulled apart by someone who you thought you loved." She pushed herself up until she was fully sitting up. "Do you know what it's like to be abandoned by the one person that you thought you could trust above all others? Or how it feels to literally see your life disappearing, all because the one person you trusted was leaving you behind?" she spat. He backed away from her. "Well, thank you very much, now I do. Go the hell away and leave me alone. I don't want to see you. As a matter of fact, I'm going to tell mum to not let you into the house. I'm going to do my best to not see you again until you figure yourself out. Because if you're not my brother, you're nothing to me."

He ran from the room, going to find somewhere to be alone. Melvin and Iggy found him and caught him, pulling him into an empty room to soothe him. "She didn't mean it," Iggy told him.

Denver nodded, starting to cry again. "She did. She meant every word. I didn't mean to do that to her!" He pulled back so he could brush his face off. "I want to fix this."

Iggy handed him a small vial. "For your color problem."

"Uncle George already gave me some."

"So take it tomorrow, you can live like that until then." Denver put the vial into his pocket. "We'll help you fix this, but you had better fix it fast," Melvin told him. "There's no way I can stand this to continue much longer. It's making my father get stressed and I won't allow that." Iggy patted him on the back. "How do we fix it?"

"We make Simone see how miserable he is," Iggy told him. He grabbed Denver and drug him back into the infirmary, right into Simone's room. She opened her mouth then saw her brother. "He's sorry, Simone. So very sorry that he's doing this. Can we please start working on this now instead of when one of us ends up trying to commit suicide?"

"Damn, you're dramatic today," Draco said from behind him. He hugged his son. "Simone?"

"All right, I'll conditionally forgive him, until he proves he wasn't sorry." Her brother bowled into her, hugging her as hard as he could. "Owww! Get off!" She shoved at him until he backed off. "I still have a sprained back, jackass."

He grinned. "Sorry, but I couldn't help it." He looked at his father. "I have to go to class, but I'll be back as soon as I can." She nodded. "I'll even come up during lunch and our free period."

She nodded again so he ran off. "Is he serious?"

"I"ve never seen him cry before," Iggy told her, sliding into the bed next to her so he could rest his head against her shoulder. "They think they're going to spring you soon back to the tower." Melvin came in and snuggled up to her other side. "So what are you going to do this afternoon?"

"Study for her upcoming tests," Draco said firmly, staring at his daughter. She sighed and nodded. "Thank you. I'm not asking for a turn-around, just for a real result of your intelligence." She rolled her eyes. "Do that again, young lady, and lose your allowance for the summer."

She gasped. "Daddy!"

"You haven't studied all year," he said with a shrug. "Why should I reward that?"

"Because if I don't get my allowance I can't buy things that'll keep me from hurting Ravena for ripping up my favorite books?" she suggested.

Draco laughed. "I'll talk with her next. It seems to be the week for it." He gave her a look and she relented. "Thank you. All I ask is that you try." Madam Pomfrey walked him, making him move off to the side. "Is she being released?"

"Yes, Mr. Malfoy, I'm going to release her back to her tower and her bed. Or to her Uncle's couch and his television if she feels she can walk up the stairs to the bathroom." Simone shrugged. "Do you have a preference?"

"Tower," Iggy told her. "That way we can help you study."

Melvin coughed. "Uncle Ron yelled at me after breakfast for staying in Gryffindor last night."

"Yay," Iggy said with a cold smile. "You leave Uncle Ron to me." Simone laughed. "Come on, let's get you back to bed. I'll stay with you."

"Your grades are slipping too," Draco pointed out.

"Ha!" Iggy snorted. "I'm so far ahead it's not funny. I borrowed a second year's textbook and worked in it the other day because I was bored. With the exception of transfigurations, I'm doing very well."

Draco nodded. "I heard your fathers talking about your grades last night," he told him. He cracked his knuckles. "Come on, I'll carry you back to your tower." The boys moved and gathered up everything she had brought down with her. They followed her up to her room and put her things back into place. As soon as she was comfortable, the boys climbed into her bed and pulled out her books, studying with her. Draco smiled at them and left them alone. His son would be with them later that night. He walked down the stairs and found Ron walking in. "Leave them alone," he said quietly. "They're helping her study."

"They're not allowed in the girls' dorm," Ron reminded him.

Draco laughed. "How many times did you sneak into Hermione's room?" Ron looked pissed. "You never did?"

"No, we managed to deal with everything in the common room. Every plan, every problem, every bit of research we did in plain sight."

Draco snorted. "I'm surprised none of your house mates decided to help." He looked up the stairs. "We both know that those rules are made for the older children so there's no sex. It's not like they're going to have sex." Ron looked sick. "Let them be if the other girls don't mind. Or let them into Iggy's room if his roommates don't mind." He looked over as the door opened and the Head Boy walked in. "They're all going to be together," he said happily.

"Cool with me," he said, glancing at Ron.

"Fine. Make sure no one minds," Ron conceded. "But try to keep them out of the beds. The hallways, the common room, anywhere but in the beds. It'll set a bad precedent that'll haunt us later." Gregory nodded and went up to talk to the kids. A few seats floated up a few minutes later. "I can accept that."

"Thank you," Draco told him, giving him a smile. "How are the threesome?"

"Nasty and being bad," Ron said with a grin. "Just like we did. Only they've got the wizard flu." He steered Draco out of the common room. "How are they?"

"She accepted their apology. Things might be getting back to normal soon." He smiled as his son walked past him with his bag. "Doing your suspension early?" Denver nodded. Then he turned and hugged his father. "Got laughed at?"

"Yeah. All my friends." He headed into the tower to his real friends. They wouldn't laugh that much and they'd stop when he started to feel hurt.

Draco smiled at Ron. "Yes! Back to normal. Hopefully they've learned that lesson." He smiled at Xander as he walked toward them. "Problems?"

"Iggy's skipping class again."

"He's studying with Simone." Ron stopped him. "How are his grades?"

"Not the point. He has to go to class, just like every other student. It looks bad," he finished with a grimace. "Dumbledore said he has to go to class."

Ron stuck his head back into the house. "Iggy, you have to go to class or you're going to be held back!" Iggy came running. "Teacher's kids have to set a good example," Ron pointed out as the boy went running past him.

Xander stopped Iggy. "I like the fact that you're so far ahead, but it does look bad to the other kids. Just like you getting to leave campus." Iggy nodded, looking fine with the decision. "Go be bored in there and think up new stuff for your other father." Iggy grinned and hurried down to Transfigurations. "Did he mix the color changing potion?" Both fathers nodded. "Are we sure?"

"Unless Snape did it himself," Ron said with a shrug. He took Xander's arm and turned him around. "Come on. We can leave Melvin with her." He walked the other two men back to the Great Hall for lunch. Something made him look behind them. "Xander, why are the tiles behind us green?" he asked.

Xander shrugged, but he was smiling. No one was supposed to know about his cane being a second wand. Draco gave him a look. "Aren't you missing a game show?"

"Yes," Draco agreed, hurrying back to the house so he could watch tv.

Xander and Ron snickered once he was gone.

Draco settled in on his new couch with a sigh of relief. Everything was right in his life again. The tv was turned on and turned to the right channel. A small body slipped into his lap. "Hello, Ravena. Are you running away again?" She nodded and curled up to nap on him. She loved her daddy and it showed. Yes, everything was right in his life.

***

Dumbledore looked at his staff, who were all happy that it was the last staff meeting of the year. They only had two weeks left of this *interesting* year and everyone was quite pleased to have survived it. "We only have one last thing to deal with," he announced, bringing the discussion away from the children. Some days he understood why the Headmaster he had learned under had refused to let any parents teach. Always tired, sick children, and the other assorted problems of having children around. Did he really miss all that from the first time? Xander gave him a knowing look and he smiled at him. The children were delightful eighty percent of the time, he could deal with the sudden emergencies and the naked beings running around the Great Hall. "The last thing of note is to talk to Ms. Ream's parents." Snape and Xander sighed. "I think it should be one of you two, but I also think that you'll have to make it very clear that this spell can't get out, that it has some unexpected side effects and isn't really safe for another person to have it used on them."

Xander looked at Snape. "Do you want it or me and Iggy?"

"I think you and Ignatius should. He found the spells and pushed for them to be done. He's also done all the research so he can explain whatever needs to be explained." Snape smiled. "Plus, if necessary, you can create a small memory wipe quite well from what I understand."

Xander nodded. He was very good with them. He had wiped Giles' memory of Hogwarts' location. "I can do that. At King's Cross?" Dumbledore nodded. "Okay. We'll ride back on the train or pop into London." Dumbledore smiled at him. "I could use something from Diagon anyway."

"Plus, you can check and see if your ex really did set up in Diagon," Lupin suggested. Xander frowned at him. "Sorry."

"I'm leaving that to the Ministry. I'm not dealing with Anyanka or the demon ho she's been hanging with. Speaking of Hedre, did anyone tell her parents?"

Snape nodded, smirking. "We called them in and put her under truth serum in front of them. They were not happy with their daughter."

Xander shrugged. "That's all about them, as long as they stay away from my mate." He shifted and popped his good knee. "Anything else?"

"Your son is going to actually attend classes next year?" Sirius Black asked.

Xander nodded. "We talked about how unfair it was, even though he's ahead in every class but yours. We've decided to give him an extra class during his spare time and give him extra, harder potion assignments." Snape nodded. "Also," he said happily, "Simone and Denver are all settled out and Simone's calmed back down again. We may not have a problem with the mouth next year."

"Good," Dumbledore said, smiling at him. "I'd hate to have to expel her for another fight in the Great Hall."

"It'll only be in fun from now on," Ron told him. "Less swearing and more bonding moments." He looked over as Xander shifted uncomfortably. "What's wrong?"

"Murphy hasn't come back yet," Xander admitted. "Fawkes kept us up all night squawking obscene things about him."

Dumbledore sighed. "I know it's hard without your friend, Xander, but Murphy will come back."

"Yeah, but where is he hiding? He's not with any of the family that we can tell."

***

Bill walked out of the fireplace with Murphy in his arms. Xander hopped up and took his bird, hugging him hard. "Where were you?" he asked, cuddling him tightly.

"Saving my tired butt," Bill told him, sitting down on the couch. "Took on a dragon for me."

Fawkes flew down the stairs and started to screech at her mate.

"Shut it," Xander told her. "He saved Bill from a dragon." She cheeped at him, sounding very nice, then went back to haranguing her mate. "I mean it, Fawkes."

"She knew," Bill told him. "One of Charlie's guys called Dumbledore after it happened." Xander squeezed his bird again, waking him up. "He's a great bird."

Xander grinned. "Good. We've got new chicks in their nest and a few cracks in Glinda's."

"Wow." Bill started to get up then decided not to and fell back onto the couch. "I'll go look in a few minutes."

"Should I politely ask the elves for something to eat?" Xander asked. "Or call your boss for you?"

"Nah, I quit. Having them decide to kill a dragon for her nest was further than I wanted to go. So I'm jobless and sponging off the family for a bit." He grinned. "Can I shack up here?"

"Sure, but we're leaving once school's over with for a week-long vacation. You can house sit with Ron." Bill nodded.

The door opened and Dumbledore walked in, smiling at the sleepy bird. "How are you, Murphy? Ready to come back?" Murphy cheeped and glared at his mate. "I see."

"She yelled at him as soon as she realized he was here," Bill told him. He shook the man's hand. "How're you, sir?"

"Looking forward to my summer vacation actually." He looked at Xander. "Where are you heading?"

"Hershey," Xander told him with a grin. "George is going to ride the roller coasters with me and soak in hot cocoa at the spa."

"That sounds wonderful," Dumbledore said, looking pleased. "Bring me back a shirt or something." Xander nodded. "Why don't you let him go so they can finish fighting."

Xander carefully let Murphy go and Fawkes started again, but this time Murphy made just one obscene sounding noise and it made her stop. She paused then cooed at him. He fluffed up and settled back into his human's lap. She flew over and landed on the arm of the chair, cooing at him. He turned his head so she nipped him on the neck, making him squeal. She cooed again and he looked happier. From upstairs something called out pitifully. Murphy called back, then looked at his mate, cheeping at her. She nuzzled him gently. He returned it and nipped her on the neck. They flew off together to look at the new babies.

"Wonderful," Dumbledore said happily. "Glinda's nest just broke open with chicks. All but two eggs have hatched and they're busy right now."

"Should we move them back to mum's?" Bill asked.

Xander shrugged. "She can stay here for a few more months. Simone can borrow one of the other chicks and train it, she's been doing it so far."

"Hmm. Maybe she'll follow Charlie then." He stood up. "I should probably go admire the young. Don't tell mum, Xander, I want to announce it myself." Xander gave him a hug but he got free and went upstairs.

Xander looked at his boss. "You just showed up to fix their relationship?"

Dumbledore shook his head. "No. To tell you that Iggy did pass Transfiguration with an average rating. Simone passed everything, barely. Denver passed Potions and Herbology, barely. And Melvin passed everything, but only did average in anything outside of Herbology."

"Cool," Xander told him. "I guess I owe them ten galleons each." The older man gave him a quizzical look. "I promised them last week that I'd give them ten galleons each if they managed to pass everything. After the year they've had it's a good thing to do something normal and pass their classes."

"Very good idea," Dumbledore agreed. He stood up. "Your grades?"

"Are sitting in Remus' hand so he can factor in the other grades with mine. My other two classes are in the red folder sitting in front of you." He pointed at it. "And only two unpassing grades. One in each class. Two below averages in the fourth years. Six in the third years. Most of them are Ravenclaws so they're going to whine."

Dumbledore laughed. "Another wonderful reason to be hiding up here. Did you want me to have dinner sent up?"

Xander grimaced toward their minimal kitchen area. "For some reason, one of Draco's house elves has stayed. We're trying to convince her to go back to work for her boss, but she refuses to leave. She said that the house elves here don't feed us good enough. We've argued with her," he said at the opening mouth.

"I'll talk with her myself tomorrow. For now, try to keep her out of the main kitchen. We don't want to make the rest of them mad." Xander nodded. "Thank you."

The house elf peeked around the end of the stairs. "I's can't work here?"

"Well, we do have open positions but it's not fair to let Xander and his family have one of you if everyone else can't have one," Dumbledore told him.

"But theys not eat!" the elf protested. "They's all skinny and bony. Must eat!" She walked out, pointing at Xander's stomach. "Needs fat there. Husband likes pudginess. I's heard."

Xander grinned. "George was happy that my butt was getting soft again," he told him.

"That's more than I wanted to know," Dumbledore reminded him. "I know that they need feeding up, we try to do that all the time but they never gain weight. We can't give him special privileges though. You can come visit but you can't feed them."

"Then I's work for you," she decided. "I's feed them greatly." She nodded.

Dumbledore smiled. "That would be fine. I'll talk to Draco and have you released from his service into mine." He looked down at her. "Why do you want to serve them so much?"

"Theys say thank you," she told him. "Very nice."

"I'm sure it is," Dumbledore agreed, smiling at Xander. "Come to my office and we'll call Draco immediately. Then you can help fix dinner for these poor boys and their lack of fat." He led her away, taking her up to call her boss.

Xander put his feet up with a groan. All he had done was grade but he was tired! Maybe a nap in his favorite chair.

***

It was the first day of the next year and everyone was well rested after their summer off. The kids had all come in smiling. Draco had officially taken over Xander's spot in the Advanced Fighting class doing the physical part. Bill had went to work with his sister and Draco. Harry was training hard for the next quidditch season. The new first years were being led in, and Anastasia had already nearly beaten up Agatha. Those two were going to be problematic. Since Anastasia got to be sorted first, she had calmly accepted her assignment into Gryffindor. Her father smiled at her anyway. He had so hoped one of his children would be Slytherin. Maybe Lucien when he was older. He had crawled under the table and pounced his big sister for hugs as soon as she was in line, making a lot of the students laugh. He was a lovely little boy who liked to bite people a lot. Especially the Ravenclaws for some reason.

Two students later, Agatha Potter's name was called. She calmly walked forward and put the hat on her head. "Potters aren't Slytherins," she told him, just like her father had. She knew where she belonged though.

"Yes, but you are," the hat said. "Slytherin!" it called.

"I'm going to stick you to my head until you change your mind," she swore, doing so. The hat screamed and fought but the sticking charm held fast. "Change your decision and you can go on," she said with a haughty air.

"Fine, Ravenclaw," it ground out. All the professors were surrounding it, trying to figure out how to help. "Now let me go."

"Fine," she said, uncasting the charm. She walked down to her new table.

But the hat had other ideas. "No, I changed my mind again. Hufflepuff. That should put you in your place," it yelled after her. It felt itself being picked up and told the Headmaster what had happened.

"Agatha Potter, you will join me in the back hall and we will sort you properly," Dumbledore told her. She glared at him but pretended to be obedient. The hat complained so he carefully handed it back. "Give it an easy one next," he suggested to Madam Sprout, who had requested the duty again this year. He dragged the girl into the back hall and glared down at her. "You are in trouble, young lady. You do not abuse the sorting hat!"

Xander and Draco walked out, Xander grabbing her while Draco put on the draining bracelet from his vault. "That should help some," Xander said, giving her a cold smile. "I've told your cousins to watch out for you." She sneered. "I think you'll find it very hard to work around that bracelet." She drew her wand, but nothing happened when she tried to cast something so she started to scream.

Draco took the direct approach, with Harry's prior approval. He picked the girl up and put him over his knee, spanking he very hard until she bawled. "Don't you *ever* threaten another professor, student, or inanimate object again, young lady. Your father gave me leave to beat manners into you." He put her back onto her feet and stared down at her. "If I hear of you pulling this sort of thing again, I will turn you over to Simone for correction. Do you understand?" he asked in his most deadly voice. She backed away from him. "Headmaster, I believe we should go with the sorting hat's first instinct."

Dumbledore nodded. "I think so as well." The door to the Great Hall opened and Iggy stepped into the hall. "Yes?"

"The hall's in an uproar, sir. There's a call to not only put her in Slytherin, but to expel her already before she can harm any of the Hufflepuffs. A number of the upperclass Gryffs are ready to beat her for hurting the old hat; it's dear to them." He glared at his semi-cousin. "If you start shit, *I'm* going to be your worst nightmare, not Simone. She'll stand there and laugh." He smiled at his father. "Dad, did my books come in?"

"Not yet," Xander sighed. "Go back to your table. We'll be in soon." Iggy nodded and left them alone. "I agree with the call. Slytherin was the hat's first choice." Tara walked out with Snape. "What do you guys say?"

"She would do best in my house," Snape told him, one hand on the Deputy Headmistress' shoulder. Tara looked happy about it so no one said anything. "It did sort her there first."

"I'm not going. Potter's aren't Slytherins," she said haughtily. Xander kept Draco from grabbing her again, which made her scream and back further away from him. "I won't go. I'd rather be expelled!"

"We'll deal with this after dinner. Send her up to my office. I'll call her father."

"Harry's sitting on the side of the nest," Xander told him. "He's playing with Tayla and her new mate."

"Even better. Have him come down and ...." He watched as Xander unfocused then shook his head. "Problem?"

"No, Iggy. It's going to become a riot soon. Most of the Hufflepuffs are afraid for their lives and the Ravenclaws aren't far behind."

Dumbledore nodded and led the way back in. "We will take up Ms. Potter's residence after dinner," he announced. "But know this. Precautions have been taken to make sure she cannot hurt a student." The Hufflepuffs stopped cowering and crying. The Ravenclaws bucked up and started to talk to each other. "Let us finish the sorting and then we'll eat. The teachers will tell you where she ends up later."

Ryan Rosenberg stood up as the spokesman for his house. "Sir, the precedent is that the hat's decision is final, even if the student doesn't like it. It knows more about us than we do because we're still too young to be able to know ourselves." He glanced around at his housemates, a few of whom nodded. "She was sorted into our house first and we're willing to accept her and guide her behavior as long as Professor Snape is." Snape nodded, giving him a faint smile for his excellent speech. "The hat has always won any argument, just because she threatened it shouldn't matter." He sat back down.

"I'm still thinking on it and will take it up with her father," Dumbledore responded. "The precedent is set and we will probably end up following it, barring some unforseen issues that may arise. A very excellent speech, young Mr. Rosenberg, ten points for your house." Ryan smiled at him. "Let's finish this year's sorting," he told Madam Sprout.

"Spenser, Lydia step forward," Madam Sprout called out. The young, shaking, girl stepped forward and the hat was placed on her head.

"Hufflepuff," the hat shouted. "A true one." The Hufflepuffs shouted and cheered, getting back into the mood of the sorting.

***

Harry glared at his daughter. "I warned you," he hissed. "I warned you not to act up and I warned you not to start crap on your first day. And what did you do? You threatened the sorting hat!" he shouted. "That just proved that you're evil and should be barred from magic!"

She sniffed and sat down, crossing her legs daintily. "I refuse to be a Slytherin. None of the family was."

"Actually," Dumbledore said as he walked in. "Your great-grandfather was a Slytherin. A very odd duck for a Potter." He sat behind his desk. "Harry?"

"She was sorted into Slytherin, let her stay there," he said coolly. "My daughter and I don't see eye-to-eye on nearly anything and I will not allow her to run roughshod over the fine traditions of this school." She snorted again and he pulled his wand, freezing her. "What do you want to do, Albus?"

"I personally want her to go to another institution," Dumbledore said honestly. "I think she needs a firmer hand that we can give her." Someone knocked on the door and walked up, Ryan Rosenberg. "You wanted to add to your earlier remarks?"

"Yes, sir. I'm personally willing to take her into hand and guide her in the proper Slytherin ways," he said, nodding at Harry. "We all know my mother's one of the most powerful witches around and I'm almost as good." Harry coughed to keep from laughing. "Besides, I think putting her under someone's direct care and influence might help some."

"Ryan, her mother turned her to chaos magic when she was eight," Dumbledore told him.

Ryan snorted. "And? My mother damn near killed eighteen people while she was pregnant with me." He looked at Harry. "I'll make her my personal princess if you agree and treat her however she needs to be treated, whether harshly or not. I am still every bit of my father's child and apparently chiding and commanding good behavior are genetic with me." Harry shrugged. "I promise I won't beat her, hit her, or call her names, though I may use Simone and Ignatius as a threat sometimes. However, I will keep her in line. Whatever punishment she merits, give me double if it pleases you."

"You're drawn to her darkness," Dumbledore pointed out.

Ryan shrugged. "I think she's a suitable consort for one such as myself." He adjusted his robes. "If I'm going to take over Professor Malfoy's place in the hierarchy, which I intend to do, then I'll need a strong consort and helpmate. Together we could rule Slytherin, as soon as she's adjusted herself to being there. And as I said, I can keep her in line. I know what she's like, I've seen others who love to be in command and rule others. It's a common trait among my mother's friends." He grimaced. "I can guarantee her enough people to rule over if she'll change and agree; it should keep her out of trouble for the most part."

Harry shrugged. "I'm at my wit's end," he admitted. "Even the present Minister of Magic isn't too fond of her."

Ryan snorted. "He's not really getting the whole Slytherin vibe anyway," he noted. "He's never understood what it means to *crave* power and control like a good Slytherin would." He looked at Dumbledore. "If it pleases you, I can start working on her tonight. A fair deal at first should suit. As she proves her loyalty and worth, then more power and control can be had if she's subtle enough. As my mother taught me, I'm more than willing to teach her."

Harry and Dumbledore looked at each other. "I feel like I'm making a devil's deal," Harry told him.

"I do as well." Dumbledore nodded at the girl. "Bring her back, Harry. It's that or she changes schools to Durmstrang." Harry flicked his wand at his daughter, unfreezing her. "We have decided your fate, Agatha. You have a choice."

Ryan stepped forward. "You can learn how to control others in a subtle and satisfying way under my direct tutelage or you can be expelled and sent far away to school in a horrible, drab, prison-like environment." She opened her mouth and he held up a hand. "I can promise not to yell at you, hit you, or otherwise hurt you in a physical manner, but I cannot keep you from harm by the Weasley clan. None of them really like me," he finished with a calm, cold sneer, learned from his Head. "What do you say? An alliance or an exile?"

She glared at her father. "You're allowing this toad to do this?" she asked.

Harry nodded, looking calm. "He's agreed to keep you from harm for the most part. You do have the option of going away to school, and I think it might be easier if you did."

"Would I be coming home during breaks?"

"That would depend on your behavior," Ryan told her. "I can guarantee you time at home, or with my family among people who control knowledge and other muggles for a living."

"You're a muggle?" she sneered.

"No, my mother's a witch. My father's a wizard. My mother is also a Watcher, soon to be married to the new Head of them. They control half of the world's knowledge of chaos magic, paranormal activities, and actively seek to control a select group of powerful young women and men. Your choice of course." He backed away.

Agatha looked at Dumbledore. "Will you take the bracelet off me?"

"If you show improved behavior," he agreed. "But the first time you act against another student it will go back on."

She glared at Ryan. "No funny stuff? I'm not going to be your whore."

"Agatha!" Harry shouted.

"If you chose to seek my bed once we're both of age, then I wouldn't mind," Ryan said honestly. "But forcing a bed partner will never be necessary for me. I've already had offers and I'm barely into my adulthood." He smoothed down the front of his robes again. "It is your choice," he repeated.

She stood up. "Fine. I'll take him up on his offer. You had better keep your deals, the both of you." Dumbledore and Ryan both nodded. "Then I'm officially a Slytherin?" Dumbledore nodded. "Take me back to the house, Ryan."

"Of course, my dear." He took her arm and led her down the stairs, going back to their home.

"As if there was ever any doubt," Harry sighed. He collapsed into the chair and started to cry. His poor daughter. What had Hermione done to her? Dumbledore came around and hugged him, trying to soothe him.

Table of Contents

The Trials and Tribulations of Family. 2

Part 1. 2

Part 2. 103

Part 3. 203

Part 4. 305

Part 5. 406

Part 6. 508