Chapter Four: Of Friends and Foe
In which friends are made, and enemies gained.
"So, we just…walk through?" Uncle Xander studied the brick wall skeptically. "Huh."
"Yes, it does seem a bit solid, doesn't it?" Giles adjusted his glasses with a frown. "But Elspeth was quite clear in her instructions."
"Elspeth, huh?" Xander said with a grin. "Is she pretty?"
Giles ignored him.
"I'll go first," Alex offered, bouncing forward with excitement.
"No!" both men shouted as one. Xander quickly caught hold of Alex's arm and dragged him back. He rolled his eyes.
"What? It's not like it's going to toss me into some hell dimension."
"That's been known to happen," Xander defended.
"But – "
"Xander shall go first," Giles interrupted firmly.
"Yeah, I'll go – hey!" Xander rounded on Giles. "Why do I have to go first?"
"Because you are…wait, where's Taryn?"
"She went through the wall," Alex informed them huffily. "I was trying to tell you."
Giles spluttered. "She just…went? On her own? And you let her?"
"Well, she sort of followed a group of boys wearing dresses. Come on, I'm going to miss the train!" Alex ducked under Xander's arm and made a dive for the barrier. "Last one through's a rotten egg!
"Come on, come on, you're going to be late!" Molly Weasley hastily untied her apron and flung it in the direction of the kitchen table. It missed its mark by several feet and landed instead on the stove, where it immediately burst into flames. She frantically doused them with a stream of water from the tip of her wand. "Ooh, and that was my good apron, too!"
"Gram, Grace is wearing my robes!"
"No I'm not, they're mine!"
"They've got a Slytherin crest, you little idiot!"
"I'll cut it off!"
"Don't you dare!"
"Girls!" Molly admonished, glaring at them both. "Stop fighting and get your things. You can sort it all out on the train!"
"Freddie, give it back!"
Molly whirled around. "Selene, stop strangling your brother!"
"He took my wand!"
"Artie, catch!" Freddie threw the wand in his cousin's direction. Artie caught it, and scrambled under the coffee table. Selene growled and dove after him.
Molly grabbed Freddie by the ear and hauled him in the direction of the stairs, and the sound of a toddler wailing. "See to your cousin!"
Freddie contorted his face in disgust. "But she's a baby!"
"Babies are boring!" Artie announced, sticking his head out from under the table. Molly glared down at him.
"Arthur Ramses Weasley, hand over that wand this instant! You are going to denome the garden for me this afternoon, young man. Don't think I don't know who exploded those pies at dinner last night!"
"Has anyone seen Will?" Amaryllis skidded into the room, holding up a Defense Against the Dark Arts text book. "His book was in my trunk."
"He's out back with Uncle George!" called Max, passing through on his way to the kitchen. "Have you seen Uncle Ron?"
"He's hiding upstairs," Selene announced, sitting up and carefully tucking her wand behind her left ear for safe keeping. "He and Uncle Harry are hiding under the beds in the boys' room."
Molly threw up her hands in exasperation. Every year it was the same story. "It's their turn to take you to the station!"
By the time Giles and Xander found their way onto the platform, Alex had already manhandled his trunk onboard and into an empty compartment. Once Taryn had been persuaded to get off the train, he leaned out of the compartment window to say his last goodbyes.
"Be careful," Giles instructed him sternly. "And do try to stay out of trouble."
"Have fun, kiddo," said Xander with a wave, hoisting Taryn onto his shoulders.
"Don't forget to feet Mr. Cat," she counseled solemnly. "Clean your weapons before storing them, and always wear fresh underwear."
"Weapons?" Giles said, alarmed. "What weapons?"
"Now, don't forget the rules," Xander said, pushing in front of the aging watcher. "No drinking, no smoking, no dating vampires."
"Uncle Xan-der," Alex groaned.
"I'm not finished, young man," Xander reprimanded. "As a Sunnydale High survivor, you would do well to heed my valuable advice. Stay away from Incan mummies, fishy swim coaches, and giant bug people if you value your life, limbs, and manhood. You should also probably find the library in case anything Hellmouthy turns up."
"Or in the unprecedented event that he may actually wish to study," Giles added dryly.
"Don't listen to him," Xander said, waving Giles away. "Now go kick some magical butt!" Taryn patted her father fondly on the head, nodding in agreement.
The train gave a loud whistle.
"Hold up!" Xander exclaimed, digging into his pocket. He extracted a long, cylindrical package wrapped in Scooby Doo paper. He tossed it up. Alex caught it deftly. "From your mom. You know she wanted to be here, right?"
They had barely arrived in London that morning when an urgent call had come through from Cleveland. Buffy and Willow had been forced to teleport out almost immediately.
Alex forced a smile. "World isn't going to save itself, right?"
"That-a-boy!" Xander shouted over the chugging of the engines. "Call us when you get there!"
Taryn waved furiously from her perch on Xander's shoulders as the train began to move, slowly gathering speed as it pulled away from the platform. Alex waved back until they were completely out of sight.
The extended Weasley-Potter clan arrived at the station with a full ten minutes to spare. Ron and Harry quickly sorted everyone's belongings onto trolleys, and they took it in turns to run through the barrier in pairs.
"Merlin, I don't miss this part," Ron complained loudly, surveying the crowded platform.
"You missed the excitement last year," Amaryllis informed her father dryly. "We were halfway to Hogwarts before anyone realized Artie and Freddie had snuck on board. Hélène made the conductor stop the train so she could floo Uncle Bill to come and collect them."
"Grandmum banned Uncle George from taking the kids to the station ever again," Will remembered. "She was convinced he had something to do with it."
A whistle blew, warning them that the train was preparing to depart.
Amaryllis jumped. "Will, we're late! Bye, Dad! Bye, Uncle Harry!" She threw herself at her father. Ron caught her up in a big hug, laughing and spinning her around so her long red hair streamed out behind her.
"Have a good time at school, sweetheart."
"Carry on, Will," Harry said, and shook Will's hand solemnly before pulling him into a quick hug. Will protested only slightly.
"Bye, Dad," he said with a forced smile, and followed Amaryllis onto the train, a sudden knot tightening in his chest.
Alex flopped down onto a seat and looked across the compartment to where Mr. Cat had made himself at home on the opposite bench.
"Well, it's just you and me, now, buddy."
Mr. Cat yawned lazily and rolled upside down, closing his eyes. Alex fixed him with a disapproving look. "We're on a magical train without adult supervision and you're just going to nap?" he demanded. "Where's your sense of adventure?"
Mr. Cat purred contentedly.
"Well, I'm going to explore," Alex informed him. "If you'd rather stay here and be boring, see if I care."
Mr. Cat certainly didn't.
Alex huffed and jumped to his feet. He stuck his mother's parting gift – a stake he recognized as one of her old favorites – up his sleeve, his new wand up the other, and set off down the corridor with a swing in his step.
Ten minutes into the train ride, Will decided he would be insane by the time they reached Hogwarts if he didn't escape NOW. His trunk had somehow ended up in the same compartment as Grace's and Selene's, and in the manner of giggly thirteen-year-old girls, they had been eager to show him off to their equally giggly, girly friends, who were just tickled to be the first to meet The Great Harry Potter's son.
The Great Harry Potter's son decided that enough was enough. "Definitely not Ravenclaw," he muttered under his breath. Grabbing his robes and stuffing his wand in his back pocket, Will announced he was going to the bathroom to change. He closed the compartment door on the girls' loud protests, and set off with purpose. As soon as he was out of sight of the compartment window, he ducked down and crawled on his belly back in the opposite direction. Once he was sure he was in the clear, he straightened, but unfortunately in his haste to get past the girls undetected, he paid less attention to what was going on ahead of him than he should have, and stood up directly in the path of another boy. The top of his head collided with the other boy's chin, and they both reeled back with shouts of pain.
"Oi!" the other boy yelled, catching sight of Will's face. "It's you again!"
"What?" Will said dazedly, rubbing his head. "What are you on about?" He glared back through his tousled bangs.
"Just stay away from me!" the other boy said loudly, pushing past him. "I don't need this shite from firsties!" He barreled off down the corridor, swatting at the seat of his pants, which were revealed, Will noticed, through a smoking hole in the back of his robes.
"What the…?" he muttered to himself, but shook his head and set off again, determined to find Amaryllis and sensible, non-aggressive company.
A veritable giant of a man (if he was 100% human, Alex would eat his new pointy hat) met them at Hogsmeade Station, and called for the first years to follow him. He introduced himself as Rubeus Hagrid, the Keeper of the Keys and Grounds, and professor of Care of Magical Creatures. Alex grinned to himself. He was totally going to ace that class.
Hagrid led them to a small fleet of boats docked along the edge of a lake. Alex got into a boat with three other students; two girls he recognized from the train, and a tall boy who introduced himself rather imperiously as Edward Jackass III, or some such shit, but Alex wasn't really listening.
"I'm a half-blood, of course," Edward informed them as though they should already know all of this. "My father's an auror, and Mother's actually a rather well-known muggle film actress. I really get the best of both worlds. What about you lot?"
"Muggle-born," one of the girls said shyly.
"Both my parents are wizards," the other girl said with a shrug.
"Well, I'm sure – I'm sorry, did you say they are both wizards?"
"Yeah, what of it?" the girl asked defensively, bristling at his tone.
"Well," Edward said, straightening in his seat, "I just don't understand how that sort can –"
"You finish that sentence, Eddy, and I will personally introduce your face to my fist," Alex interjected smoothly.
"Let me guess, your Daddy's a poof as well?" Edward said viciously.
"Dunno," Alex said with a shrug. "Never met him. Left when I was a baby." He turned pointedly away from the other boy. "So!" he said cheerfully to the girls. "Got any siblings?"
The girl with two wizard fathers shook her head, but the first girl nodded.
"Two older sisters," she said, smiling hesitantly. "Louise is a witch, but Ellen's going to be a lawyer."
"Hopefully not the evil kind," Alex joked. "Are your parents lawyers, too?"
She shook her head. "No, they're teachers. What about your mum? What does she do?"
Alex was saved from answering ("She saves the world a lot.") by Edward, who muttered something unsavory under his breath about what Alex's mum probably did, and that was when Alex's self-restraint snapped, and he pushed Edward overboard into the lake.
A loud yell and a splash made Will jerk his head around. There was a flurry of activity in one of the other boats, and someone was flailing around in the dark water.
"Oh, shit, he can't swim!" he heard an accented voice yell across the silent lake, and another figure, silhouetted in the small pool of light from the boat's lamp, stripped off his robes and dove into the water.
"Everyone jus' stay put!" Hagrid bellowed, manually steering his boat with huge, powerful oar strokes in the direction of the two who had gone overboard. The second boy had latched onto the first, but the first one was panicking and thrashing around. "I gotcha, boys!"
He grabbed the taller, floundering figure by the collar and hoisted him out of the water. It was too dark to see clearly, but everyone let out a sigh of relief when the second boy hauled himself up on his own.
"I was trying to help you, you idiot!" the would-be-rescuer yelled. "God, you're eleven-years-old and you can't swim?"
Will wished he could hear the half-drowned boy's response, but Hagrid chose that moment to smack him on the back, and while the boy was busy coughing up a lung, Hagrid called for the boats to move out.
The man who opened the front door was as tiny in stature as Rubeus Hagrid was large.
"Firs' years, Professor Flitwick," Hagrid announced, herding them inside.
"This way, this way, please!" Professor Flitwick said in a squeaky voice, beckoning them all forward. "Welcome to Hogwarts! If you would all wait here for just a moment, I will lead you to the Great Hall to be sorted into your Houses!" He hurried off, leaving the first years alone in the Entrance Hall.
"How do they sort us?" one girl wondered nervously.
"My uncle says you have to fight a troll, but he'd lie to his own mother," a boy Alex couldn't see responded dryly.
"I heard we have to fight a dragon," Edward admitted, looking more than a little sorry for himself.
Alex looked sideways at him. "That wouldn't be too bad," he decided, and then took pity on the soggy looking boy. "I'm kidding," he said, rolling his eyes. "Cheer up, Eddy."
Edward looked at him distrustfully.
"Look," Alex said, sighing. "No hard feelings, ok? I mean, if I hear another homophobic slur I'll kick your butt into next week, but it's the first day so I'm willing to let you slide. You don't ever mention my mother again, and I won't tell everyone what you blubbered about when you thought you were still drowning. Capisce?"
He held out his hand, and after a moment's hesitation, Edward accepted it for a moist shake.
"That was you in the water?" a strangely familiar voice said behind him.
"Yeah, it was kind of my fault to begin with," Alex said, turning to explain. "I –" He stopped in his tracks, mouth falling open comically as he came face to face with his own face.
"Merlin's pants!" his double swore, grey-green eyes wide in a pale face.
"Hot damn!" Alex added for good measure.
Professor Flitwick chose that moment to return, and there wasn't time to say anything more. "The Sorting Ceremony is about to begin, so if you'll all just follow me – oh, do be careful, there seems to be a large puddle of water over here by the doors…"
The Great Hall was a truly spectacular sight, full of chattering students, floating candles, and a ceiling that seemed to be non-existent. But Alex's attention was focused solely on his mysterious doppelganger. He was itching to interrogate the other boy, and from the furtive looks he was receiving in return, the feeling was mutual. But there was no opportunity to talk as they filed past long tables of noisy students towards the front of the room.
Alex fidgeted impatiently as a stocky man in professors' robes brought forth a wobbly, three-legged stool and an ancient wizard's hat. The hat sang a song, which was an unexpected but not altogether unpleasant experience owing to its rich baritone voice, and Alex surmised that there was going to be some kind of ritualistic ceremony. His suspicions were confirmed as one by one, the first years were called up to try on the hat, which everyone seemed to have pre-decided was the best judge of character the school had to offer.
As far as rituals went it seemed pretty non-lethal, although Alex made a mental note to check for lice later on.
In some cases, such as Merrythought, Melissa (RAVENCLAW!), the verdict was almost instantaneous, but in others, the hat lingered. Still, everything seemed to be progressing as expected until the professor reading off the names called "Potter, William!" and the hall erupted into a fresh burst of enthusiastic chatter. Alex's mysterious look-alike detached himself almost reluctantly from the line of first years and moved to the front. At the long tables, older children were actually standing up to get a better look, and the excitement level at the red and gold table in particular reached supersonic.
Alex held his breath as his double – William – disappeared underneath the brim of the ancient hat.
The hall fell silent as though everyone else was also holding their breath, but after a full five minutes had elapsed, and it became clear that Potter, William's sorting was going to be a long one, people began conversing quietly amongst themselves again. When the hat did finally reach its verdict after nine minutes, forty-two seconds, everyone was thoroughly distracted and completely unprepared for the hat's pseudo-mouth to open wide and bellow "HUFFLEPUFF!" at the top of its, er, lung-equivalents.
The red and gold table burst into immediate applause, and then stopped abruptly, looking perplexed. An awkward silence ensued, and everyone was looking at each other in confusion. Alex used his powers of deduction once again to surmise that this was not the result people had anticipated.
William had removed the hat and was standing awkwardly, so Alex, feeling bad for the guy, took it upon himself to whistle loudly and start to clap. "Nice going, man!" he called charitably, even though there was still the possibility that he was evil.
William looked over at him in surprise, but then he smiled and nodded, and the rest of the hall woke up from its stupor and the table decked out in yellow and black cheered and hollered for five minutes straight before the professor with the list shot off several fire crackers and got everyone under control again.
The second half of the alphabet went quickly, but Alex, who was second-to-last with an S-U, was practically dancing in place when they finally got to him.
"Summers, Sirius!" the professor called, consulting his list.
Alex rolled his eyes and bounced forward. "It's Alex," he corrected loudly, but didn't wait for a response and jammed the hat down over his ears.
Well, what do we have here? the hat's voice spoke into his mind. Courage in spades, and intelligence, yes, and – ah ha! – a rather devious streak, I see! Where shall I put you?
Hufflepuff, please, Alex thought back politely.
Hufflepuff? the hat repeated, surprised. Are you sure? It seems like a hasty decision to me – I can see into your mind you know –
Obviously, Alex thought sarcastically.
– and I really don't think –
Yeah, I don't care, Alex interrupted. Look, I'd love to stick around and argue all night – and believe me, I will – but I'm hungry and I've got a potentially evil doppelganger to interrogate before bedtime, so how about we make this quick and you just sort me into Hufflepuff?
I don't think you understand how this works, the hat said dryly.
I don't think you understand who you're dealing with, Alex countered, conjuring a mental image of Aunt Faith's knife collection. So unless you want to be donated to the nearest Salvation Army, this is how it's going to work…
…
…
…
"HUFFLEPUFF!" the hat cried for the entire hall to hear, and if anyone noticed an edge of hysteria in its voice, it went unmentioned.
"So," Alex began conversationally, spearing a piece of chicken from the nearest platter. "You evil?"
"Pardon?" Will said, staring at him blankly from across the table. "Why would you ask that?"
"It's been known to happen," Alex said defensively. "It's William, right? Obviously there's something hellmouthy going on here. Have you always looked like that? This?" He gestured to his own face.
"Of course I have," Will said indignantly. "Look, Summers, I don't know what you're playing at –"
"Oh, like it's my fault," Alex interrupted. "What are you playing at?"
"Nothing!" Will insisted, beginning to get agitated. He took a deep breath. "All right. Let's say this is all a coincidence. This happens sometimes, right?"
"Maybe in the wizarding world," Alex scoffed, "but there are two things I was raised not to believe in: coincidences and leprechauns."
Will rolled his eyes. "Everyone knows leprechauns are real. It's their gold that's fake. Wait, are you saying you're a muggleborn?"
"Seriously, leprechauns?" Alex's jaw dropped. "Mom is going to freak! Oh, um, what did you ask me?"
"I asked if you're a muggleborn. You…obviously don't recognize me." Will's dad tried his best to keep his picture out of the newspapers, but Will had mostly inherited the distinctive Potter look, so it was something of a moot point.
"What, you some kind of celebrity?" Alex snorted. "And yeah, I guess. Sort of. I think?"
"How do you not know?" Will asked, furrowing his eyebrows.
Alex considered how to answer. My mom's a mystical warrior who isn't completely human because of her inherited demon powers and coming back from the dead, etc, so I'm not sure if she counts as a muggle really wasn't appropriate dinner conversation to be having with strangers, so he went with the simpler response. "I never knew my dad," he admitted. "So I guess he could have been a wizard."
Will froze. A sudden, obvious, terrible, amazing thought occurred to him. But it couldn't be true. Dad would have told me, he thought desperately. He would have told me!
"Is your father dead?" he asked finally. It came out more of a croak than a sentence.
Alex frowned, and nudged a goblet of water across the table. "I hope not. No, my parents just split up. Mom doesn't like to talk about it."
"And she doesn't know for sure? That he wasn't a wizard?" Will pressed.
Alex shrugged helplessly. "I don't know. I mean, you would think she would, but…no one else in the family ever met him. Mom was gone for over a year, and then she just showed up one day with me. I know she never told him about being the – about the family business. So maybe he was keeping secrets, too." He felt suddenly exposed. He was always careful to pretend he didn't care that his dad was gone, didn't know anything about him, really, aside from a first name, but admitting it to this boy who looked exactly like him and probably had a fantastic father hurt unexpectedly. Snappishly, he added, "But I don't see how that's any of your business."
"My mother left when I was a baby," Will said steadily, even though his heart was pounding in his chest. "And my dad never told her he was a wizard."
They stared across the table into identical eyes. Neither of them was stupid. It was obvious where this conversation was going.
Alex licked his lips. "What was her name?" he asked carefully. "My mom's name is really unusual."
"So is mine," Will admitted.
"Ok, on the count of three."
"One -"
"Two -"
"Three -"
"Buffy," they said in unison.
Alex laughed shakily. "So…"
Will rubbed the back of his neck. "Yeah."
The much-older boy beside them, who had been deeply involved in a sports debate with his friends and hadn't so much as glanced in their direction since the feast began chose that moment to look up from his treacle tart and the squiggly Quidditch plays he'd been drawing on his napkin.
He cocked his head to one side. "You know, the two of you look remarkably alike! Are you brothers?"
