TITLE: Harry Potter and the Technomage

AUTHOR: Methos All things BtVS belong to Joss Whedon, Crusade and Technomagi belong to J M Strazynski, Harry Potter, Hogwarts and all that belong to J K Rowling... nothing is mine, only the extremely twisted idea...


"Do hurry up Mister Harris, we haven't got all night you know." Professor Snape called out over the hall as Xander entered from the side hallway.

"Sir," He acknowledged the man's presence before jogging over.

"Are you alright, you seem a bit shaken." Snape snorted, looking him over as if he was inspecting him.

"The stairs decided to change on the way down, caught me off guard." Xander explained, he'd been thinking up an explanation if anyone asked, but all he could picture was that giant dog and the teeth that could have torn him in two easily.

Snape just nodded before walking out the doors. "We will be taking a route through the forest, so try and keep up."

Xander just nodded in reply, he'd heard Ron talk about the forest that was on the edge of the Hogwarts grounds, each story Ron had was scarier than the last, werewolves, vampires, according to Ron every scary thing he could imagine lived in that forest. At first he'd put it down to the kids overactive imagination, but living in a wizarding community he didn't want to dismiss anything that easily.

As the two walked out over the grass and headed past a small hut on the edge of the castle grounds Xander found himself striding faster and faster to keep up with Professor Snape, half of the time he was practically jogging to keep up when Snape stopped suddenly at the side of the forest.

"Stay with me at all times and you will be safe, do not wander off in here, there are creatures roaming these tree's that even your paltry imagination couldn't even conceive." Snape explained before striding off into the forest.

"Dunno, I've faced down some pretty scary things." Xander muttered before jogging to catch up with Professor Snape, he could easily see him from the lantern he was carrying as he made his way through the forest without breaking stride. "Do you mind if I shine a light as well?" Xander asked, he was now used to asking someone for permission whenever he used his staff for anything, the teachers didn't seem to mind it, some of them found it quite funny that he preferred a staff to a wand.

"By all means," Snape said dryly as he stopped and turned to Xander to see what he was going to do.

Muttering the short 'Lumos' charm under his breath, he stomped the staff on the floor sharply, wincing as the sound echoed through the forest. He wasn't disappointed though as the top of the staff lit up brighter than the lantern Professor Snape was carrying and shone what looked like a torch beam several feet into the air.

"Impressive," Snape conceded before turning back to his path and striding off.

Most of the walk through the forest was made in silence, with the occasional comment from Professor Snape about the sorts of creatures that live in the forest, whenever Xander heard something he'd spin his staff round and aim the torch light at wherever the sound came from. Once or twice he was sure that he saw something moving in the forest, once something dark that looked like nothing he'd ever seen, and then a white horse. He saw the white horse a few times but never managed to get a proper look at it but it did seem to be following them through the forest and keeping the other creatures away from them.

"Do they normally follow people?" Xander asked Snape as they paused by a tree for a second.

"Do what normally follow people?" Snape asked as he turned to regard Xander.

"The horses, there's a white one following us." Xander explained, then took on a look of puzzlement at Snape's sharp bark of laughter.

"A unicorn, there are several in the forest, they mean us no harm, come on." With that explained Snape took off through the forest again. Xander kept an eye out for the unicorn but only managed to catch glimpses of it as he ran through the trees.

Shaking his head at the sorts of things these people took for granted he smiled, he wondered if there was a picture of a unicorn somewhere that he could send back to Willow and Buffy, they'd definitely get a kick out of it. After about ten more minutes of walking they passed through the edge of the forest and were out onto a clear field with a gravel path stretching out into the distance.

"Now we can talk," Snape announced at they started walking along the gravel path across the field, heading to where Xander guessed the town was. "Professor Dumbledore has told me many things about you Mister Harris, most troubling of all is that you grew up on a Hellmouth, is this true?"

"Yup." Xander grinned, he enjoyed seeing people's reactions when he told them where he had grown up, a few people even mad the sign of the cross as soon as he mentioned the word 'Hellmouth'.

"And you survived using your staff for protection I assume." Snape continued as he strode along the path, causing Xander to start jogging to keep up.

"Nope, didn't have the staff until about a year ago, before then it was just me and some friends." Xander confessed, though he did wish he'd had the staff when Buffy had first come to the school, especially during the Harvest, maybe he could have saved Jesse's life if he'd had it back then.

"Interesting, and your friends, they are wizards too I assume." Snape asked.

"Nope, well Giles is but me and Willow were just normal." Xander explained, omitting any mention of Buffy, it wasn't a lie if he didn't mention it he reasoned.

"Very well, and how is Rupert?" Snape asked, causing Xander to stumble over the question.

"Fine, Giles in the one that helped me figure all this out, I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for him." Xander conceded, he really did owe Giles a lot more than he thought.

"I was under the impression that he joined the Watchers Council," Snape paused on the path, turning to face Xander and gauge his reactions. "Does he have control of a Slayer in Sunnydale?"

Xander paused, not sure how to answer this without breaking his promise to Giles to keep it secret, or to break his word to Snape about answering everything truthfully.

"Well?" Snape prompted him dryly.

"Can I choose not to answer? I don't want to lie, but I can't break my promise to Giles." Xander conceded defeat as he looked at Snape who actually seemed happy with his answer.

"And that tells me that you hold your word as bond even though you told me more than you intended to. It also tells me that you hold Rupert in the same high regard that he holds you." Snape turned and continued on the path to the village. "Do not break his trust, it my experience Rupert does not hand out trust lightly."

It took them about another half hours walk through the night to reach the village, and while Professor Snape was in the apothecary Xander went in the shop that Snape pointed out to him and started looking at razor's. Unfortunately they only had the cut throat type, and several jars and bowels along with brushes to prepare and apply the shaving cream with.

"Don't suppose you've got a Gillette razor or some shaving cream in a squirty tin do ya?" Xander asked the man who seemed amused by his question before shaking his head. "Course not, that would make things to easy."

Wandering back to the shelf he picked up a blade that looked sharp enough to cut his fingers off, along with a bowel and brush before heading back to the counter, picking up a bag of ingredients to make the shaving cream with. "I don't suppose these come with instructions do they?"

"Of course not, but I will explain to you how to prepare the cream tonight before you go." Snape explained from behind Xander, causing him to whirl round to face him.

"You know, sneaking up on people is an easy way to give them a heart attack." Xander quipped as he handed over several of the gold coins to the shop keeper then pocketed the silver and bronze change.

Snape didn't say anything in response, he merely sneered at the shop keeper before they both left and the man closed the door behind him.

"Not really a people person are you?" Xander asked as they walked through the town and Snape paused in front of an old looking tavern.

"People are idiots in my experience; I rarely trust them anymore than I already have to." Snape explained. "Now, I am going to have a drink in here before we head back, are you going to join me or are you heading back to the school on your own."

"Uh, I'll join you." Xander said after a moment's hesitation, he didn't fancy walking back through the forest on his own, especially not at night.

"Very well, but please try and keep your inane comments to yourself." Snape asked before opening the door for them and walking through.

The tavern seemed like something out of a historical drama, there were wizards and witches everywhere, all enjoying what looked like mugs of some sort of beer. Snape made his way quickly to the bar where he was met with a smile from the women behind it.

"Two butterbeers." Snape ordered without even glancing at Xander to see what he would like. He simply motioned to a table at the back of the room where Xander walked over and took his seat.

A few minutes of all the patrons watching Xander, Snape managed to make his way over to the table and placed the mug of butterbeer down in front of him before taking a mouthful of his own.

Not wanting to seem ungrateful he picked up the mug and was surprised to find the beer was warm, none of the beers his dad drank were ever warm, in fact he would hit Xander if there wasn't a cold beer in the fridge when he got home from work.

"What is it?" He asked curiously as he sniffed it, it smelled sweet, sort of like the sweets that Willow used to buy.

"Butterbeer, this pub is famous for it." Snape explained before nodding at Xander's beer. "Drink it before it cools down."

Throwing caution into the wind Xander took a mouthful of the beer, holding it in his mouth for a second and enjoying the sweet warmth that filled him before swallowing it. "Tastes like toffee's," He grinned.

Snape just looked at him as if to remind him about keeping his inane comments to himself before drinking some more of his beer. After a while he turned to Xander and started asking things again, at first they were simple, what sort of creatures he had come across on the Hellmouth, what sort of things had he fought against. What had he expected of Hogwarts and how did it compare to the schools in America.

Answering the questions as truthfully as he could, he was somewhat surprised when Professor Snape moved back to the bar and came back a few moments later with two more butterbeers, two apples and a knife and fork.

"Not really hungry, but thanks." Xander grinned as he drained the last of his first butterbeer.

"Your wand." Snape asked, holding out his hand without saying any more.

Xander just shrugged before fishing the wand out of his inside pocket. He'd got used to storing it there, it wasn't as if he needed to grab it for anything if they were attacked, he could always just use his staff to a greater effect. He'd just got used to carrying with him at all times, much like the staff.

"Watch carefully." Snape insisted before waving the wand carefully at the apple before speaking an incantation. "Meus pectus pectoris votum," As Xander watched the apple seemed to shimmer slightly before turning into a plate with a rare cooked rump steak on it. "This incantation will turn the object you use it on into the object you most want, as you can see I missed my meal tonight. Now you try." Handing Xander back his wand Professor Snape started to slice up the steak before eating it.

"Weirder and weirder." Xander chuckled before mimicking Snape's movements with the wand and reciting the incantation. "Meus pectus pectus votum," He was quite shocked when the apple just seemed to shrink in on itself before exploding and covering both him and the professor with apple juice and bits of apple skin.

"No," Snape said dryly as he picked a piece of apple out of his hair and glared at Xander. "Meus pectus pectoris votum. Not 'pectus pectus'." Moving back to the bar Snape returned with another two apples. "Again."

Moving one of the apples in front of him he moved his wand precisely and uttered the incantation exactly as Professor Snape had pronounced it. "Meus pectus pectoris votum." Smiling to himself he watched as the apple shrank a bit and then changed shape into the familiar shape of a Twinkie. "Now that's magic I can get behind." Xander grinned as he picked up the Twinkie and sniffed it first before taking a large bite.

"After three potions designed to create one of these snack cakes you so often talk about, I thought this incantation would save you the trouble, and save me some ingredients." Snape explained as he looked thoughtfully at the second apple. "What are they?"

Xander just grinned and waved his wand at the second apple. "Meus pectus pectoris votum." He smiled as the incantation worked perfectly a second time and a second Twinkie was created where the apple once was.

Picking up the Twinkie, Professor Snape sniffed at it a bit cautiously before taking a small bite.

"It's a snack cake; don't know if you have them in England." Xander explained as he finished off his own Twinkie, relishing the taste before taking a gulp of the fresh butterbeer.

"Sweet and creamy, I imagine things like this do wonders for your teeth." Snape bit out sarcastically but finished the Twinkie off in three bites.

"I like them." Xander grinned as he watched Snape drain his butterbeer so he did the same.

"Time to head back and I will show you how to adequately prepare the shaving cream before bed, you have levitation tomorrow am I correct?" Snape asked as they made their way out of the bar into the cold night where Xander pulled his leather trench coat tight around him and fastened it before pulling the hood up.

"Yes, isn't that the same as flying on broomsticks?" Xander asked, it was bothering him, why have two classes for flying, wouldn't one suffice? He didn't fancy having to chase down any more students from the skies when they lost control of their brooms.

"Yes, I heard about your adventures with Mrs Hooch and the broom sticks," Snape said with a wry smile. "Levitation is about using your wand to make things levitate, not levitating yourself."

"Gotcha," Xander grinned from under his hood as he muttered the "Lumos" incantation and stomped his staff on the ground to create the light.

"Why do you do that?" Snape asked, his tone genuinely curious.

"What? The light? So we can see?" Xander answered truthfully.

"Not the light," Snape waved off the comment with the practice of ages. "The distraction, I clearly heard you mutter the incantation both times, but you feel it is necessary to bang your staff on the ground to draw attention away from your spell. Why?"

"You said it yourself, distraction. If someone believes I can do the spell without saying it, then they have misjudged my abilities. Keeps people off balance around me." Xander explained honestly, though not entirely. The misdirection was something he'd picked up from Galen, who always used misdirection in his spells to keep people off balance and to allow him to work where people would shun him for using technomancy.

"A wise choice." Snape nodded as the two walked out of the village and started on the gravel path back to the school.


"One of a wizards most rudimentary skills is levitation." The teacher at the front of the class explained from his perch on a table and several books so he could be seen. At first Xander wondered if he was an elf or a goblin or something, but in the end he just accepted it as being another magical creature he was going to learn from. It seemed you could be any race in the wizard world and they would all treat you with the same respect, he wished it was true for the entire world. "Or the ability to make objects fly."

"Do you all have your feathers?" The teacher asked and Hermione on the right of Xander waved her feather at the teacher.

"Now, don't forget the nice wrist movement we've been practicing," The teacher continued bringing a snort of laughter from Xander. Hermione glared at him for some reason and Ron and Harry just looked at him quizzically.

"Later, when you're older," Xander whispered at the two with a grin. 'Much older' he added in his head.

"A swish and flick, everyone," The teacher paused as everyone imitated his actions as they had been practicing for the last few days. "Good. And enunciate, Wingardium Leviosa." He paused; looking around the class to make sure everyone was ready.

"Whatever," Xander muttered at he picked up his wand and twirled it in the air. "Wingardium Leviosa." He then had to duck quickly as the feather shuddered slightly then flew towards him, quill first and embedded itself in the wood on the desks behind him. Reaching back to pick it out he put it back on the desk before turning to Ron. "People always said the pen was mightier than the sword, I don't think they had feather missiles in mind though." He grinned for a bit before attempting it again, fortunately no one else in the room seemed to be having any luck either.

"Wingardium Leviosar!" Ron shouted at the feather before waving his wand manically at it.

"Stop, stop," Hermione reached over to stop him. "You'll have someone's eye out like that." She paused glancing at Xander carefully. "And besides you're saying it wrong. It's Leviosa not Leviosar."

"You do it if you're so clever then." Ron huffed at her as he slammed his wand down on the desk.

"Fine." Hermione took the challenge and picked up her wand, with a swish and a flick she aimed it at the feather on her desk. "Wingardium Leviosa!" She then watched at the feather floated up to meet where her wand was pointed before floating up to the ceiling.

"Smooth." Xander grinned as he tried it again. "Wingardium Leviosa!" This time the feather shot up to the sky quill first, impaling Hermione's feather on the way up before pinning it to the ceiling as it embedded itself it one of the wooded struts. "Not what I had in mind." He grinned as the teacher used his wand to float over two fresh feathers for the pair.

"Show off." Ron pouted and rested his head on his pile of books.

Xander was in the middle of trying it a second time where he was interrupted by a bright flash and a loud bang coming from further down the table where Harry was sat. Leaning forward to get a better look he saw Harry was sitting there with a shocked look on his face while the student next to him had a charred face and the feather in front of him was burnt to a crisp.

"Holy exploding feathers Batman!" Xander quipped as Harry requested another feather.


"It's Leviosa not Leviosar." Ron mocked Hermione as the group made their way out of the class on their way to lunch.

"Uh Ron," Xander started to interrupt him.

"She's a nightmare, honestly, no wonder she hasn't got any friends." Ron continued to mock Hermione, oblivious to the fact that she was behind him. A few seconds later the girl in question stormed past, elbowing Ron out of the way as she stormed through an arch and turned the corner.

"Smooth," Xander grinned. "Very smooth man, though it was better than my first attempt at flirting with Buffy."

"She heard you." Harry said, blatantly stating the obvious as Xander finished laughing.

"Do you ever plan on getting a date Ron?" Xander asked as he ruffled the boy's red hair before jogging off to catch up with Hermione and apologise, as he got round the corner though she was nowhere in sight. "Man, we're talking flowers, chocolate; maybe even jewellery to get her to forgive you for this." He laughed again as the group caught up with him and Ron paled at the thought of giving Hermione gifts to appease her.

The rest of the day passes relatively smoothly, though they didn't actually see Hermione in class, which all of them thought was strange but shrugged it off as her avoiding them. That night they all made their way down to the main hall for the evening meal and found the decorations had changed drastically. Where there were once candles floating in the air and the illusion of a peaceful nights sky there were not jack-o-lanterns floating around the hall and the view above had changed to a stormy night complete with thunder and lighting.

"Now that's how to celebrate Halloween." Xander grinned as he looked up as they made their way over to the Gryffindor table and started piling the food onto their plates. The meal passed quickly enough with Xander gorging himself on turkey and mash potatoes piled high with gravy, he had to admit a growing likeness for the food here, and with the charm Snape had taught him he could enjoy the food from home whenever he wanted it. Ron and Harry had been quite amazed last night when he'd managed to transform a cushion into a twelve inch deep pan meat feast pizza for them all to share as a snack before bed.

With a wave of his hand Dumbledore changed all the food on the tables to the desert course, which was quickly becoming Xander's favourite part of the day. Immediately pulling an entire lemon mirage pie over to himself he set about slicing off several large pieces for himself before returning the pie to the middle of the table.

"Where's Hermione?" Harry finally asked, it was unlike her to miss a meal; admittedly it was even more unlike her to miss classes.

"Patelle said that she wouldn't come out of the girl's bathroom." Neville explained to Harry.

Hearing this Xander let his head fall to the table with a thump before sitting back up again and smacking Ron round the head.

"She said that she'd been in there all afternoon, crying." Neville finished off.

"Man, are you in the shit." Xander grinned at Ron after smacking him round the head a second time. Xander laughed again, barely containing the hilarity of the situation while his brain was planning how to get Hermione to forgive Ron when the doors slammed open and Professor Quirril ran into the hall screaming.

The entire hall fell silent so they could hear what the bumbling teacher was shouting about as he reached halfway down the aisles. "Troll in the Dungeon!" He shouted finally as all the teachers got up from their table. "Thought you ought to know." Professor Quirril slipped out before feinting to the floor.

"That guys the Defence against the Dark Arts teacher? He's a moron!" Xander asked, his tone dripping with contempt as it echoed round the hall causing him to duck down when he realised everyone in the hall had heard what he said.

The room seemed to still for a moment, even the thunder went quiet. Then chaos broke out with everyone screaming and running from table to table.

"Silence!" Professor Dumbledore shouted from the head teacher's desk causing the entire hall to go quiet again.

"Man, he must have some banshee in him somewhere." Xander muttered pushing his finger into his ear to mime deafness.

"Everyone will please not panic. Prefects will lead their house back to the dormitories; teachers will follow me to the dungeon." Dumbledore ordered the students before making his way to the door in the side of the hall.

Xander paused, gripping his staff tightly. He wasn't sure what to do, follow the teachers and see if he could help out, or stick with the students so he would be there in case anything happened on the way back to the dorms. His choice was made however when Snape fixed him with a glare and pointed him towards where the rest of Gryffindor was leaving the hall. He nodded slowly before Snape turned and left by a different door. "Trolls, what's next, vampires on campus?" He muttered while jogging over to catch up with Ron and Harry.

"Gryffindor's keep up and stay alert." The prefect ordered as he led the group of terrified children through the hallways back to the common room.

"How did a troll get in?" Harry asked Xander as he caught up to them.

"Not on its own," Ron answered for him. "Trolls are really stupid, probably someone playing a joke."

Instead of answering back Harry grabbed both Xander and Ron and pulled them out of the line they were walking in.

"What?" Xander asked, looking down at Harry's panicked face.

"Hermione, she doesn't know." Harry explained to them both before turning to head to where the girls bathroom was located.

"No you don't." Xander grabbed both of them by the shoulders. "You two back to dorm, I'll fetch Hermione and meet you there." Xander's tone left no room for disagreement.

"But..." Harry started to argue, but fell back from Xander's glare.

"Go." Xander ordered the two before twirling them round and pushing them back towards the group. "Damnit!" He shouted, realizing that he'd left his staff in the main hall. Running back through the corridors he skidded through the main hall, snatching his staff from where it was propped up against the wall without even stopping, he carried on running through the hall and out the other side before turning another corner and skidding to a halt as he heard some ominous footsteps coming towards him.

"Oh you have got to be kidding me!" Xander bit out as he dove into an alcove, poking his head round the corner he watched the troll walk directly into where the girl's bathroom was located. "Come on, what's a troll want in the girl's bathroom? He had a particularly bad curry last night or something?" Shaking his head in disbelief at the situation he waited until he heard the large doors slam shut before running down the hall and slipping into the bathroom behind the troll.

Looking up at the back of the troll Xander didn't quite know exactly what his plan was, he could see Hermione on the other side of the troll who was looking up at the troll with something akin to the faces he saw on students when Snape gave them detention, pure horror. The troll was easily about fifteen feet high, a sickly green colour with a brown leather waist coat on along with a sort of improvised loin cloth.

He watched Hermione made a sudden move back and duck into one of the toilet cubicles before the troll swung its giant club back and crashed through the cubical walls sending splinters off wood everywhere. Sending a panicked look down he noticed that Hermione had hit the floor just in time, she was covered in wood but otherwise unharmed.

"Move!" He shouted when he saw the troll make another swing to demolish what was left of the cubicles, unfortunately this attracted the trolls attention who swung wild, demolishing the top half of the cubicles as it span around before impacting the club into the wall, sending plaster flying everywhere and shaking the wall to its foundations. "Not the smartest idea." Xander muttered as the troll glared down at him.

"Incendio!" Xander shouted, aiming the staff directly at the troll's chest, hoping to just keep it busy while Hermione found somewhere else to take cover. A giant gout of flame shot out of the staff, impacting the troll directly in the chest and sending it stumbling back several feet where it crunched the remains of the toilet cubical underfoot.

Xander spared a glance around the room while the troll was off balance to check that Hermione was somewhere else, thankfully she'd managed to hide under the sinks on the far side and was looking at Xander with shock and what looked like admiration.

"Petrificus Totalas!" Hermione shouted to Xander, and then repeated it when he looked at her in puzzlement.

Throwing caution into the wind and trusting Hermione's greater knowledge of spells he decided to give it a go. "Petrificus Totalas!" for a moment nothing happened and Xander feared that it was yet another spell that he couldn't do, just as he was about to cast the fire incantation again the end of his staff glowed brightly before sending a flash of blue light which impacted the troll.

For another moment nothing happened, then the troll seemed to snap to attention before falling to the floor. Beckoning to Hermione to come to him quietly he kept an eye on the troll as she ran past it and hid behind Xander. "How long will that hold him for?" He asked.

"Not long enough." Hermione said in a panicked tone.

"Fine," pointing his staff to the troll and muttering a prayer that this worked he said the incantation he swore he'd never use again unless it was in a dire emergency, and by his reckoning this counted. "Expelliarmus!"

The bright white light shot out of his staff again, impacting the troll and sending it skidding along the floor where its head impacted with the wall sending blood and other things Xander didn't even want to consider flying everywhere. The spray covered the wall and mirrors, coating Xander completely in blood while Hermione got off with only a little spray while she hid behind Xander's coat.

"I don't think that's supposed to be that powerful." Hermione commented, standing out from behind Xander and using his coat to wipe the blood of her face.

"Wouldn't know, only used it twice." Xander grimaced before letting out a short laugh at the situation. The bathroom was destroyed completely, none of the cubicles were still standing and water was spraying out of the pipes on the walls where they had been ripped off by the trolls club.

Most of the mirrors were shattered and a few of the sinks hung off the wall at odd angles where the force of the club impacting the wall had shaken them free. Leaning up against the wall Xander started to laugh, Hermione looked at him as if he was crazy for a moment before taking the scene in herself and joining in with the laughter. As they both sank to the floor laughing Xander let his staff drop to the floor where it rolled along the floor and came to rest in a pool or troll blood against something he didn't even want to imagine what it was, or what it used to be.

"Oh my goodness!" Professor McGonagall called out as she ran though the entrance to the bathroom to find Xander and Hermione sat on the floor in fits of laughter. "Explain yourselves, both of you!" She demanded taking in the scene followed by Professor Snape and Professor Quirril.

"I'm my fault Professor McGonagall." Hermione started but was interrupted by Xander.

"No way," He breathed out as he forced himself to stop laughing. "Hermione was in the toilet during the meal when Professor Quirril came in; she had no idea about the troll. When we were all sent to our rooms I didn't want her wandering the halls with this thing on the loose." He nodded to the troll body and the three teachers poked their head round the corner to see the bloody mess of the room.

"Without Xander, I'd probably be dead now." Hermione confessed going a bit pale, as if she'd just realized how much danger she had actually been in.

"Be that as it may, did you have to use such lethal force?" Professor McGonagall asked Xander, levelling a glare at him. "I know you come from the Hellmouth, but that is not how we do things around here."

Hermione just looked suitably chastised so Xander took the time to brace himself against the wall and stand up properly. "Would you rather I waited until it killed Hermione so I could find a way to capture it alive?" Xander snapped out at the teacher as he stormed over to pick up his staff. "Or maybe I should have left it alone to blunder through the halls while you were all looking for it, it could have got to god knows how many dorms by then!"

"Mister Harris, you will watch your tone with me." Professor McGonagall snapped back at him.

"Well? What would you rather I did?" Xander turned to each of the teachers. "Would you rather a troll dead, or two of your students?" He muttered the last under his breath.

"Twenty points will be taken from Gryffindor for your reckless behaviour!" Professor McGonagall snapped out. "Each!" With that she turned to storm out of the bathroom.

"You do realize how lucky you are?" Professor Snape stated, turning to Xander in particular. "And I am curious which spell you used to kill a mountain troll."

Professor Quirril seemed equally interested to hear the answer to this and Professor McGonagall even paused at the door to hear the answer.

"Expelliarmus." Xander muttered, waiting for the outcry from the staff.

"You expect me to believe a simple Expelliarmus charm took down a mountain troll?" Professor McGonagall asked in amazement.

"You used your staff, correct?" Snape asked, his tone daring Xander to lie.

Xander just nodded in agreement, hanging his head.

"Ten points to Gryffindor for Mister Harris's use of a third year spell while still in his first year." Snape stated, ignoring the glare that Professor McGonagall sent at him. "Now, back to your dorms, both of you!"

Professor McGonagall escorted the duo back to the dorm rooms, pausing in front of the entrance to the main Gryffindor common room.

"That was very brave of you, thank you Xander." Hermione smiled as he stood up on tip toes to kiss Xander on the cheek before running into the common room and up the stairs.

"I believe that girl is developing a crush on you." Professor McGonagall stated with a smile as she led Xander up the stairs.

"Oh god no, I have enough with vampires and demon mummies, I don't need an eleven year old girl crushing on me as well." Xander buried his head in his hands before he realized what he had done, removing his hands from his face he could feel the sticky reside of the drying blood on his hands which he had now plastered all over his face. Looking down at his uniform and coat they were equally coated in blood and other matter, and white plaster from the walls stuck to him in a fine powder making him look like an extra from a bad horror movie.

"You lead an interesting life Mister Harris; I only hope the rest of the school year will be quieter than these last few weeks." Professor McGonagall smiled as they reached the painting that led to Xander, Ron and Harry's room. "You might want to consider a shower tonight; if you leave the clothes on the chest by the end of your bed the house elves will clean them ready for tomorrow." With that last piece of advice Professor McGonagall took her leave and strode off down the corridor.

"It was quieter on the Hellmouth." Xander muttered before turning to the painting and muttering the password before entering.

"Bloody hell, what happened to you?" Ron was the first one to see him enter and Harry just looked at him in equal parts of amazement and disgust.

"Tomorrow." Xander simply said as he held up his hand to stop any further questions. "Right now I need a now shower and a cloth to clean this goo off me, after than I want to sleep and forget this night ever happened."

He turned to Ron and levelled him with a glare. "You owe me big for this, Hermione may forgive you yet, but I don't think she'll let me off that easily."

"What? Is Hermione ok?" Harry asked, moving to stand besides Ron.

"She'll be fine, a little less stickier than I am, but fine." Xander explained as he moved off towards the shower area they all shared. They'd come to a simple agreement with the shower area, no one else came in while one of them was taking a shower. That way each of them could be afforded their peace while they cleaned up and Ron and Harry didn't have to worry about Xander walking in on them.

"Than what..." Harry started to ask but was waved off by Xander.

"Later," Xander simply said before walking into the bathroom and turning the showers on before dumping his coat and staff on the floor by the basin. "Much, much later." He muttered as he started to wash the drying blood off his staff.


At breakfast the next morning the room was awash with rumours about what had happened last night, there were even a few going around that Xander had killed the troll with his bare hands after it threatened Hermione. Of course all the rumours were being denied by Hermione as she sat at the table trying to avoid eye contact with Xander, who was trying to do exactly the same thing.

"Good luck today Mister Potter, remember you are playing against Slytherin." Snape turned to stare at Xander for a second, regarding him for something before moving off down the aisle.

"Is it just me or is he limping?" Xander asked, leaning back on his chair to watch Snape walk away.

"I'm telling you, he's up to something." Harry whispered to him. "Maybe Snape let the troll in last night, so he could get past that dog, and he got bit, that's why he's limping."

"Hold on a sec," Xander interrupted Harry with a grin. "Firstly, why would Snape try and sneak past that thing? And secondly, if that thing bit you, I think you'd have a bit more than a limp, you saw its teeth, I think you'd me more missing a leg than limping." Xander laughed as Harry grudgingly agreed. "He probably just caught his leg on something, or a potion blew up in class, happens all the time." That was true, in all his potions classes at least two cauldrons had exploded each lesson, Ron was the cause of at least three of them.

"The day I was a Gringotts with Hagrid he got something out of one of the vaults, said it was Hogwarts business, very secret." Harry continued on with his conspiracy theory.

"So you're saying..." Hermione started.

"That's what the dogs guarding." Harry stated.

"Fine, the dogs guarding something, I can see that. I can't see Snape trying to break in though; he's a teacher here, why would he need to break into anywhere?" Xander stated, poking more holes in Harry's theory.

They were interrupted from any more theory talk by the hooting of an owl, looking up Xander could see one flying through the top window on the far wall carrying some sort of parcel. The owl soared down over the tabled before dropping the parcel into Harry's hand.

"Bit early for mail isn't it?" Hermione asked, turning to each of them in turn and then blushing when she reached Xander's eyes before turning away quickly.

"Let's open it." Ron said excitedly.

"Well I can tell you what it is." Xander grinned, looking at the shape of the present as it lye on the table.

Harry just looked at him with a questioning look.

"Oh come on, look at the shape of it, it's a broom for god's sake." Xander chuckled before reaching for another goblet of orange juice as the three children unwrapped the present.

"My god! It's a broomstick!" Xander exclaimed in mock shock as they finished unwrapping it.

"That's not just a broomstick Harry, that's a Nimbus two thousand." Ron exclaimed, causing both Xander and Harry to look for the distinctive mark on the broom marking it as the fastest broom around.

"Well you kept going on about it, looks like someone finally took you seriously." Xander chuckled. Harry had been on and on about this broomstick ever since he made the Quiddich team, now that he finally had one maybe he'd shut up about it.

"Did you?" Harry asked, turning to face Xander.

"Nope, not me, just follow the owl." Xander said with a grin, nodding to the teachers table where the white owl that had delivered it was perched next to Professor McGonagall.

Harry followed his gaze and smiled over at the teacher who smiled back with a brief nod. "Are you all coming to watch the game?" Harry asked, receiving enthusiastic nods from the rest of the table but was disheartened when Xander didn't meet his eyes. "You're not coming?" he tried his best not to sound heartbroken, but he'd got used to Xander being there, a sort of surrogate big brother watching out for him.

"Sorry, I've got a ton of work to catch up on in Charms and Curses, I thought I'd grab the library while everyone was at the game, catch up on it all." Xander confessed, truth was he still didn't understand the complicated game and he could use the extra time to brush up on some of the spells that he was still misfiring.

For some reason he found that a lot of the spells he was being taught didn't have a translation in to the Technomage spell. He could easily use the basic spells, but the more advanced ones, like Expelliarmus, led to unpredictable effects, especially when used with his staff. He was going to use the time in the library to see if he could decode some of the more complicated spells and translate them to his own spell language, he didn't want to do this in front of everyone in case it led to any dangerous spells being discovered. Hopefully by using his wand for them instead of his staff he could limit the fallout, but just in case he'd rather do it in an empty area where there were no students.

"I'll catch the next one, I promise." Xander promised Harry who was still looking up at him with hope. Harry nodded back reluctantly as they all carried on with their breakfast.


The game seemed to be fully underway and even in the library well away from the fields he could hear the cheering of spectators. Turning away from the window he turned his attention back to his book, the hardest spell he'd found to translate was a shield spell, for some reason it just didn't have a translation that his implants could use.

He'd brought down the Technomage Trilogy books with him and was leafing through them, comparing the notes Galen made in the books along with the spells from the book he'd fetched from the library shelves. "This would have been a lot easier if I got the memories along with the implants," He muttered as he started writing down the spell for a simple shield in his book.

From the way the books explained it, Galen had problems with shields as well, he could barely hold one on his own until the last book where he found the spell for a shadow shield. Writing this down in his book Xander noted that there were seven basic spells that Galen used, and all the rest of them spiralled from there. The problem was that Galen's spell language was drastically different from his own; he had been training the implants to work with incantations and movements, much like the rest of the students and wizards in this world. His language had absolutely nothing in common with the mathematical equations that Galen used for spell casting.

"Shadow shield," Xander hovered his quill over the words for a second before stepping up from the table and fetching another book from the shelf, this one called "Protection for Beginners."

"Shadow shield, shadow shield, shadow shield," Xander continually muttered under his breath until he came across a spell that looked like in produced the same effect. He'd come to the conclusion that he wasn't actually using the same magic as the rest of the wizards after all, the spells looked the same because that was how he was visualizing them after being taught.

It made sense that the implants were taking the spells that they already knew, and translating them across to whatever Xander was attempting to do, but like the broomsticks, he couldn't actually use the magic because he wasn't a wizard himself. "It's not magic, it's technology." He muttered under his breath.

"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic dear boy." A voice came from behind him, startling Xander out of his thoughts.

"Professor Dumbledore." Xander exclaimed as he span around to see the tall professor clad in his customary flashy robes stood in the entrance to the library. "Is the game over?" He looked around; surely he hadn't been researching that long, but the piles of books strewn around him told a different story.

"Yes, it finished several minutes ago, Harry Potter won the match for Gryffindor." Professor Dumbledore announced as he moved over to sit with Xander.

"I'll never understand that game." Xander confessed with a shake of his head as he started packing away books and placing the library ones back on the shelves.

"It's really quite simple, but I fear you are not the type to enjoy the game for its own sake." Professor Dumbledore smiled at him as he leaned over to read what Xander had been writing. "I've been meaning to talk to you about the incident with the troll, quite unfortunate I think you'll agree."

"Yeah, sorry about that," Xander apologized quickly and turned to face the Professor. "I didn't mean to kill it, or I did but I didn't..."

"My dear boy, you aren't in trouble about the death of the troll," Dumbledore interrupted him. "I came to talk to you about why your spells seem to be that much potent when you use your staff, but I see you have already come to a conclusion of your own."

"Yeah, it's not magic." Xander confessed, praying that Professor Dumbledore wouldn't ask him to leave the school now that they had figured it out.

"Maybe it is, maybe it isn't. Just because the origins are different doesn't make the result any less magical does it?" Dumbledore posed the question that Xander had deliberately been ignoring.

"I can do the same things, sometimes," He confessed as Dumbledore nodded. "But other times I can't do anything like what everyone else is capable of doing."

"Yes, I assumed as much, but life would be so dreadfully boring if everyone was the same wouldn't it?" Dumbledore smiled at him.

"It's like the shield, there's a spell here that might work, but so far none of the shield spells I've tried have worked for me." Xander sat down again on the bench in frustration. "Everyone else can at least muster a simple spell to block basic attacks, but I can't even do that."

"And if you're new spell works, what will it accomplish?" Dumbledore asked, glancing at the cover of the first book of the Technomage Trilogy, intrigued by the design of the Babylon 5 station on the cover.

"According to the book it will cover me with a sort of shadow skin, capable of withstanding all attacks aside from the spell of destruction." Xander confessed and pointed to the area where he had jotted down the spell of destruction, but hadn't written anything next to it as a translation for him to use.

"And you have tried this shield spell?" Dumbledore asked, pausing when Xander shook his head. "Perhaps you should try it before you dismiss it, but first I believe young Mister Potter could do with seeing you, he does look up to you you know." Without waiting for an answer Professor Dumbledore stood up of the bench and walked out of the library at a speed a man of his apparent age had no right to possess.

"Why whenever I talk to that guy do I leave with more questions than I started with?" Xander asked under his breath with a grin as he finished cleaning the books away and then jogged out of the library to meet Harry, Ron and Hermione, who had taken to hanging around with them more and more, she'd even forgiven Ron's 'slip of the tongue' and was quickly becoming friends with the two boys. Xander still found her attentions a bit weird, and she would refuse to look him in the eye when he was watching, but several times he'd caught her staring at him in classes and lunch, she'd blush and duck her head whenever he caught her though. Sometime he'd have to have a talk with her, maybe set her up with Ron or Harry, someone more her age, someone who wasn't him.


"Heard you won the match," Xander said with a grin as he caught up with Ron, Harry and Hermione as they were walking through the courtyard.

"You should have been there, it was bloody brilliant. Harry did this thing at the end where he was stood up on his broomstick to catch the Golden Snitch, it was amazing." Ron explained excitedly.

"Next time." He grinned and patted Harry on the shoulder. "Where you heading now anyway? Free period, don't you normally spend it in the common room?"

"We need to see Hagrid, Snap tried to put a curse on Harry while he was flying." Ron explained causing Xander to stop where he was. "Snape? Not this again." He muttered before jogging to catch up with where the trio had finally caught up with Hagrid.

"Nonsense!" Hagrid's short reply echoed Xander's own feelings as Ron told Hagrid about the match and how Hermione had had to set Snape's robes on fire to distract him from completing the curse. "Why would Snape put a curse on Harry's broom?"

"Who knows, why was he trying to get past that three headed dog on Halloween?" Harry blurted out and Xander found himself slapping himself in the forehead again, doesn't anyone know how to keep secrets around here? Especially if you were where you weren't supposed to be, you don't tell anyone, simple.

"Who told you about Fluffy?" Hagrid asked, looking down at the four students. Xander forced himself to keep a straight face as he imagined anyone trying to call that beast Fluffy.

"Fluffy?" Ron obviously couldn't keep his mouth shut.

"That thing had a name?" Hermione neither it seemed.

Hagrid just looked at Xander expecting him to make a comment as well, Xander just smiled and shook his head, Ron and Hermione had already voiced enough disbelief for him.

"Of course he's got a name, he's mine, bought him off an Irish fellow I met down the pub last year." Hagrid explained causing Xander to laugh whole heatedly.

"Let me get this right. You bought a giant three headed dog of 'some fellow down the pub'?" Xander asked and when he received a nod from Hagrid that just sent him into fits of laughter again.

"Then I lend him to Dumbledore to guard the... wait, shouldn't have said that." Hagrid paused as Xander's fits of laughter came back. "No more questions, that's top secret that is."

"But Hagrid, whatever Fluffy's guarding," The name of the dog sent Xander into fits of laughter again as Harry glared at him before continuing. "Snape's trying to steal it."

"Codswallop!" Hagrid stopped in his walk and turned to face Harry straight on, dwarfing the younger boy. "Professor Snape is a Hogwarts Professor."

"Hogwarts teacher of not, I know a spell when I see one. I've read all about them you've got to keep eye contact and Snape wasn't blinking." Hermione leapt to Harry's defence.

"Look, Snape's a potions professor right?" Xander asked and waited for the nods from the trio of younger children. "Why would he use a curse instead of treating the brooms of the Gryffindor team with a cursed potion? Surely that would be more his style if he was 'evil'" Xander finished off by making air quotes around the word 'evil'.

"Finally, some sense!" Hagrid shouted with a smile at Xander. "Now you three listen to Xander here, he makes sense. You're meddling in things that ought not to be meddled with. What that dog is guarding is strictly between Professor Dumbledore and Nicholas Flammel."

"Who?" Xander asked, causing Hagrid to stumble over his words before he nearly repeated the name again.

"I shouldn't have said that." Hagrid admitted again causing Xander to start laughing again.

"Look," Xander said with a grin in-between laughter. "Why don't you write down everything you're not allowed to tell us and give me the paper, that way I'll remind you if you're ever going to say something that we shouldn't know about."

"A good idea, I think I'll do just that." Hagrid smiled at Xander and slapped him on the shoulder, nearly pushing him head over heels onto the floor before striding off.

"Nicholas Flammel." Harry repeated the name as Xander sat down on the grass trying to catch his breath from laughing so hard.

"Oh man, I needed that." Xander grinned up to the trio of younger students.

"You don't suppose he'll really do it do you?" Hermione asked, still not looking Xander in the eyes but focusing on his staff instead.

"I don't know, but it was fun to try." Xander grinned as Ron and Harry tried to work out exactly what he told Hagrid to do.


The next few weeks flew by, with Xander's new understanding of the way his implants translated the 'magic' spells into the 'technology' spells that he was using, he was coming along in leaps and bounds in most classes.

He was still having a few problems in transfiguration, he could manage the smaller stuff, or create an illusion that he had accomplished the work, but he couldn't really transform anything larger than a chair into anything else, and trying to transform anything living into another thing wiped him out completely. The only time he'd ever managed it was that first lesson where he'd transformed Professor McGonagall into a chair by accident, but after that he could barely transform a rat into a book.

Christmas was nearly here and the rest of the students were getting ready to go home for the Christmas holidays, Ron and Harry were staying in the castle for the holidays like him, but Hermione was heading home for the holidays. So while everyone else was packing up to leave they were in the main hall while the gnomes decorated the giant Christmas tree that had taken center stage in the great hall.

Ron and Harry were quite happily playing wizards chess on one of the tables while he was sprawled out on the table itself reading through some old comics that Willow had sent over in the last post run along with Christmas presents from herself along with ones from Buffy, Giles and most surprisingly of all Buffy's mom.

It was nice and quiet in the hall as Hermione walked in, clad in her now usual long winter coat and the Gryffindor coloured scarf wrapped round her neck, she seemed ready to go out and brace the snow, unlike Xander who was freezing even in his jeans, t-shirt, shirt and sweater.

He watched as Hermione made her way over to the table they were all sharing and smiled at them all in turn, she'd actually managed to meet Xander's eyes a few times recently, but whenever they were left along together she'd make up some excuse and leave the room quickly, at first Xander found it funny, but this crush of hers was starting to get annoying, a lot of the other students had spotted it and started laughing whenever they saw the two together. There were even a few rumours going round about the pair that Xander stopped whenever he could.

"That's totally barbaric!" Hermione exclaimed as Ron took another of Harry's pieces off the board, he'd won the last three games, and after a while the sight of the pieces moving on their own and their own funny ways of destroying the piece they took had lost Xander's interest. It was fun to watch at first, but Xander would have still preferred a TV with his old selection of DVD's.

"That's wizard's chess." Ron explained with a satisfied smirk. "I see you've packed." He nodded to the large suitcase that Hermione was dragging behind her.

"See you haven't." Hermione shot back.

"Change of plans, my parents decided to go and visit my cousin in Romania, he's studying dragons." Ron explained.

"Dragons? Cool." Xander perked up, he was still amazed at how hidden the Wizards world was from everything else, each time he thought he'd seen everything something new would pop up and surprise him.

"Good, you can help Harry; he's going to go in the library, to look for information on Nicholas Flammel." Hermione prompted.

"Oh you three aren't still on that are you?" Xander groaned as Ron voiced his own complaints. "Look, it's probably just a friend of Dumbledore's, I doubt he's anyone famous or these two," He nodded and Ron and Harry in turn, "would have found something by now. It's been two months, give it a rest."

"Not in the restricted section." Hermione whispered before picking up her suitcase again and moving the leave the hall. "Happy Christmas," She called as she walked back down the aisle to the main castle exit.

"I think we're a bad influence on her." Ron confided in Harry and Xander.

"Think you're right there." Xander grinned back.


"Harry wake up!" Ron shouted through the room as he was the first to wake up on Christmas morning.

"Ugh!" Xander moaned and hid his head under the covers, pulling a pillow on top of his head to blanket the noise out.

"Come on Harry, wake up!" Ron shouted again and Xander realised that he wasn't in the room but downstairs in the main common room area. They'd since discovered that they were the only three students in Gryffindor still at the school over the holidays, so they normally left the painting to the main common room open so they could wander in and out as they pleased.

"He'd better have a mug of coffee or I'm going to shoot him." Xander groused as he sat up on the bed and pulled the covers around him.

Harry just laughed, picking his glasses off the table by his bed he quickly ran down the stairs.

"I swear, one day I'll pay Dumbledore back for pairing me up with two kids like this." Xander muttered under his breath as he made his way down the stairs, pulling his quilt around his shoulders and wearing it like as cape as he traipsed down into the main common room.

"Happy Christmas Harry, Happy Christmas Xander." Ron announced as the two walked into the main area. Harry sent the greeting back but Xander just grumbled something before flopping into one of the larger chairs and pulling the quilt tighter around him as he pulled his legs up to snuggle into the chair properly.

Even Pixel was still asleep; she'd taken to sleeping down here by the fire lately instead of on the grass by the window where cold air blew in from the cold outside. Xander smiled at her soft purring before reaching down and scooping her up before depositing her softly in his lap on the quilt, she pawed at the quilt for a bit before settling down and letting Xander stroke her back to sleep as she purred contentedly.

"What the hell are you wearing Ron?" Xander asked, taking a minute to clear the sleep from his eyes as he yawned before fully taking in Ron's appearance. He was stood in his pyjama bottoms and some sort of woollen sweater with a giant 'R' emblazoned on the front.

"Oh, my mom made it for me, looks like Harry's got one as well." Ron nodded to the small pile of presents that were under the tree, a few of them had been partially unwrapped by Pixel with torn wrapping paper strewn over the floor leading to where she had been curled up.

"I've got presents?" Harry seemed a bit amazed at this fact.

"Yeah!" Ron grinned as Harry sat down in front of the tree and started to sort through the small pile.

"This one's for you." Harry grinned; passing a small box shaped one up to Xander before finding one addressed to him, which he tore into quickly revealing a jumper like Ron's but in red and yellow instead of Ron's soft brown and cream.

"Cool, now if I just had a DVD player." Xander muttered as he unwrapped his present to find the complete set of 'Crusade' on DVD from Willow.

"What's this?" Harry paused, picking up a larger, thicker one that obviously weighed quite a bit from the way he was holding it.

"Dunno," Xander conceded as he tried to make out what it was shaped like. It was addressed to him but he couldn't see who it was from.

"This was attached to it." Harry smiled and passed over the card, watching as Xander tore the envelope apart and threw the paper into the fire before opening the card.

"From Willow, Buffy and Giles," Xander read aloud from the card. "Hope this finds you safe, Giles explained to me about the lack of electricity in the school that he had forgotten to mention to you, so we both worked on enchanting this to work for you." He stopped reading aloud as the letter, obviously written by Willow, went into more personal details of the trials that's the group had been going through lately.

"So what is it?" Ron asked as Xander finished reading the letter and folded it up with a smile before placing it on the arm of the chair.

"She didn't say, one way to find out though." Xander grinned as he tore into the present, throwing the wrapping paper on the floor where Pixel lazily batted at it for a second before returning to her warm spot on Xander's lap.

"Whoa!" Harry exclaimed as Xander finished tearing the paper off.

"What is it? Some sort of book?" Ron looked confused but Harry had immediately recognised it for what it was.

"It's a laptop computer," Xander smiled, mentally thanking Willow, Giles and Buffy for being so thoughtful. "Obviously enchanted by Giles to work in Hogwarts, so I'm guessing the battery doesn't need charging," he smiled again as he lifted the screen up and ran his fingers along the keyboard.

"What does it do?" Ron asked, still confused as to what a 'laptop computer' actually was.

"I'll show you later, get on with opening your own presents." He grinned and lent over to lift another one off the pile. "This one's for you." He grinned and threw the soft parcel over to Harry who caught it easily.

Harry carefully picked the card off the top first, unfolding it to read it aloud. "Your father left this in my possession before he died. It is time it was returned to you. Use it well."

"Nice and cryptic." Xander commented with a grin as Ron just shrugged.

Unwrapping the present carefully Harry gazed in puzzlement at what was revealed. It appeared to be some sort of dark multicoloured cloak with blacks, gold, silver and bronze colours running across the slightly see through fabric.

"Bit old fashioned for my tastes." Xander quipped as he picked up another parcel from the set, this one from Mrs Summers he noted before tearing into the wrapping paper.

"Well, let's see then, put it on." Ron commented from his perch on the couch and Xander shuffled the chair round so that he could see as Harry pulled the cloak on.

"Whoa!" Ron exclaimed first.

"Ok, I take it back, that's cooler than the laptop." Xander commented as he looked over at where Harry's body used to be.

"My body's gone!" Harry exclaimed as he looked down.

"Yup, brings a whole new meaning to the phrase 'I can see right through you'." Xander grinned as he moved his head round to see if there was any distortion like a Predator Cloak from the movies.

"I know what that is!" Ron shouted. "That's an invisibility cloak."

"Kinda got that from him being invisible you know." Xander quipped with a grin so Ron would know he was only joking, the two boys had gotten used to Xander's sense of humour by now, and even though some of the things he thought were funny were a bit cutting at the time, they both knew he meant them in good nature.

"I'm invisible?" Harry asked, spinning around under the cloak to get a better feel for it.

"They're really rare." Ron stated as he stood up to take a closer look. "I wonder who gave it to you?"

"There was no name." Harry said as he picked up the letter with his 'invisible hand' and moved it over to Ron.

"Still cool." Xander grinned as he watched the letter float over where Ron seemingly plucked it out of the air.

"It just said 'Use it well.'" Harry finished off as Ron took a closer look at the letter.

"Well, don't think we're all going to fit under there if you plan on using it to sneak into the library." Xander offered. "I'll stay here and you two go."

"Nope, I need you to help with the books on the top shelf, makes it easier if I don't keep having to move a stool along whenever I need it." Harry explained.

"I knew you two would ask me to get you some top shelf stuff one day," Xander paused looking mock thoughtful. "Didn't think it would be for a few years though."

Harry just laughed while Ron looked confused again.

"Muggle thing." Harry explained to clear things up for Ron.