Here's chapter three. Hope you like it! Let me know if you don't understand Xander's explanation to Harry. Now, enjoy...

Xander waited outside the Slytherin entrance, hoping to catch Draco before he went into the Great Hall for breakfast. The entrance swung open, revealing...Blaise. He stopped in his tracks, staring at her in mild shock. He had to jump out of the way before he got caught in the entrance, as it almost closed with him still there.

"Xander? What're you doing here this early?"

"I need to talk to Draco," she said, leaning against the wall opposite him. "Any idea where he is?"

Blaise shrugged. "He was still getting ready when I left. He should be out soon." With that, he went on down the hallway.

Xander was about to leave in a huff when the entrance swung open again.

"Xander! Morning!"

Xander whirled. "I need to talk to you!" She grabbed Draco's wrist and dragged him down a dark corridor, despite his protests.

"Xander, where are you taking me? And why are we going this way?"

"This is the corridor to Arachnyss," Xander answered. "But we're not going in, I just need to talk to you about something without the others butting in." She stopped and released his wrist. Reaching into her robes pockets, she drew out a small blank book and transfigured it into a thick, old book, with the front labeled: Secrets of the Shadows. "Do you know what I have here?" she asked softly.

Draco stared at it, then her. "W-where did you get that? That book was banned by the Ministry over fifty years ago!"

She smiled, though it didn't reach her eyes. "My father gave it to me last year. I have no idea where he got it, but I just remembered I even had it last night."

"What are you planning to do with it?" he breathed, watching her with wide eyes. "It's purely Dark spells in that book."

"Don't worry, I'm not planning on hurting anyone," she laughed. "I'm just gonna give those Ravenclaws some harmless hallucinations that will make them think twice about bullying a young spider."

Draco caught on immediately. "Hallucinations," he mused. A wicked grin slowly spread across his face. "I like it. It's very Slytherin sounding, as my father would say."

Xander made a face. "Your house is cunning, not evil. My house is the one that does this kind of thing, and gets away with it. You should hear some of the stories of what alumni Arachnyss' have done when they went to school here. No one ever found out, either." She snickered. "So, it's not a Slytherin thing, but an Arachnyss thing."

"That's scary, the way you put it," Draco said warily. "And it doesn't make me feel any better!" He leaned closer, getting quiet. "You can't use that book, Xander. That's...well, Merlin's beard, Xan! That's Shadowmagic. Only the darkest of Dark Wizards use that."

"I'm well aware of what it is," she said calmly, eyeing him. "And I know which spells are too dangerous. What do you take me for? I didn't have a private tutor for nothing. My father had me trained in all this thoroughly."

Draco was grimacing. "I still don't like it...but it's the only kind of magic those wretched Ravenclaws won't be able to counter. They won't know what it is."

Xander sighed. "I'm not gonna hurt or kill, just frighten. Who do you think I am, a horrid goblin who tortures thieves that steal from Gringotts?"

At that, Draco couldn't help a small laugh. "Okay...what do we do first?"

"I have a few spells picked out, but I wanted to run them by you first," she muttered, kneeling on the ground and opening the book up to the middle. She pointed at a spell in the middle of the right page. "Okay, this one can-"

"We are NOT using the Nightmare Spell!" Draco hissed. "That one requires a high level of magic, and enough control over said magic to cast it for a whole five minutes!"

Xander merely looked at him blankly. He huffed out a breath, then looked back down at the book.

"I never said which spells I was planning on doing. Stop jumping to conclusions." She rolled her eyes, then pointed at the spell underneath the Nightmare Spell. "This is the one I was thinking about, the Rage Hallucination spell. It's simple and easy."

"Year one simple?"

"Not exactly...but we don't need a Professor here to supervise, at least."

Draco raised an eyebrow.

"I just mean that it's about third-year level or so. Not much higher if it is."

"Fine...I'll help you cast the spell," Draco said unwillingly, glowering at the spell. "But we'd better not get caught doing this, or we'll most likely-"

"Get expelled?" Xander finished sarcastically, sending him a dark smirk. "Will you please knock it off? You're starting to sound like Hermione."

"I do NOT sound like a GIRL!" He protested.

"I meant you're starting to think like her and such, not that you have a girly voice, sheesh," she laughed. "You're such a touchy little thing, aren't you."

He glared at her, avoiding the subject. "So when are we doing this?"

She shut the book. "Not right now, we have to go to breakfast in a few minutes. We'll do it tonight, during the full moon. Outside preferably."

"How are we supposed to get outside with Filch prowling the corridors?" Draco demanded.

Xander slowly turned her head, staring at him in disbelief. "You think I'd let us get caught?"

"Not on purpose!" He backpedaled. "But-"

"Hello? It's called "Spell of Invisibility"? Ever heard of it?"

He scowled. "No need to be mean."

She sighed. "I'm not. I'm just tired of having to explain things to people. Didn't you have a private tutor until you came here?"

"Yes."

"Then you should know some of the same things I learned."

"Not necessarily," he cut in. "We had different tutors. Mine specialized in Potions and dueling."

"Well, mine specialized in Dark Arts and Transfiguration. With a bit of dueling, too," Xander mused.

Draco gazed at her enviously. "I wish I'd had the same tutor you had."

Xander shrugged. "He didn't have a kind word, nor any form of praise, so I don't think you'd want him. Anyway, let's get going before we miss breakfast."

They scurried back down the dark corridor, dashing down the moving staircase, and up the hallway towards the Great Hall. They ran through the doors of the Great Hall, and went to their separate tables.

"What were you doing with the little snake?"

Xander looked up at Raven Blackthorne, a strawberry-blonde with green eyes, glaring at her. "What?"

"You came in with that little snake from Slytherin. Don't you remember they hate us? And you personally?"

"So? Some of them don't," Xander said lowly, eyeing Raven. "Besides, he's just a friend."

Raven sniffed. "Whatever. Just don't ask any of us for help when he turns on you."

"He'd never think of turning on me," Xander muttered. Her appetite had vanished, so she pushed away from the table and stalked from the Great Hall, running into Harry.

"Where you going? The food is the opposite way," Harry teased. His eyes went from amused to curious when he saw the scowl on her face. "What's wrong? The Ravenclaws at it again?"

Xander shook her head. "It's a Raven, all right, just not a RavenCLAW."

Harry cocked his head. "Huh?"

"Raven is in Arachnyss. She's annoying me because Draco and I walked in together this morning."

"You were with Draco?" The raging curiosity was evident in Harry's voice.

"I wanted to run something by him..." she trailed off, noticing a couple of Ravenclaws edging closer to eavesdrop. She leaned close to Harry's face, feeling faintly amused when his eyes widened at how close she was. "Meet me after breakfast, before Transfiguration. I need to show you something." With that, she straightened up and sent the Ravenclaws a smirk, then turned and strode confidently from the Great Hall.

"...and she never worked really hard on the assignments our tutor gave her. Honestly, it was like trying to show a Muggleborn how to duel for the first time."

Xander's hands tightened into fists. It was her sister talking; Xander recognized the voice. She peered around a corner, watching as Seraphina and an unknown Ravenclaw first year walked closer.

"Muggleborns," the other scoffed. "They think they know everything, since they were born in the Muggle world, and were blessed to have magical powers. So snooty."

A noise caught Xander's attention, and she turned her head to see Hermione standing in the doorway of the girls loo, tears in her eyes. Her gaze locked onto Xander's.

'I'll teach them to talk like that,' Xander mouthed, smiling sympathetically at Hermione.

Hermione managed a watery smile, then hurried down the corridor to the Great Hall. Xander turned her attention back to the Ravenclaws at hand.

"So, as I was saying, Moira, my sister is just like a Muggleborn. She thinks she knows everything, yet flatly refuses to demonstrate it when called upon." Seraphina sniffed. "She's so full of herself-"

Xander stepped out and revealed herself, cutting the conversation off. Both girls stared at her in a mixture of surprise, fear (Moira), and hatred (on Seraphina's part).

Before either could react, Xander had her wand pointed at them, and started speaking a spell:

Et habitare vos vere

volo ut esse non potest nisi

in vita tua, et seductionem.

With that, Xander turned and sprinted away, giggling breathlessly to herself all the way to the Transfiguration classroom. She waited outside. Finally, Harry was jogging down the hallway, looking every which way for her.

"Right here," she called.

He nodded, panting slightly as he slowed to a stop in front of her. "I was delayed by Ron. He normally shovels his food in, but today he was telling me not to inhale mine."

Xander snickered. "Hope you didn't eat so fast you didn't taste it."

"Nah, it was fine. So what did you want to tell me?"

"Draco and I have settled on something to use," she said quietly, pulling him further down the corridor and inside an empty classroom. She pulled out the small book again, Transfiguring it back into the musty old book from earlier. "My father gave me this book. It's...well, let's just say, I don't feel like getting caught using this."

Harry studied the book's cover. "Secrets of the Shadows?" he looked at her, confused. "Secrets? Is this Dark Magic?"

"Yes, but I was tutored in using Dark spells, so you don't need to worry about it," Xander told him, paging to the spell she and Draco has decided on.

"Isn't this kind of stuff illegal?"

"Yes, so we need to be careful and not talk about it very much."

Harry nodded. "Just don't get yourself expelled."

She laughed softly. "At least you're not as against it as Draco."

"Draco tried to talk you out of it?"

She nodded.

"Should I?"

She sent him a wicked smirk. "I don't know...should you?"

"I'm guessing not."

"That would be one of your smartest decisions."

"Do you need the girl's name?" Harry gazed down at the open pages of the book.

Xander nodded. "I already have it, though. Her name is Diana Crookston."

Harry helped her set the book on a desk. "Any potion ingredients needed, or is it just an incantation?"

"Incantation," Xander murmured, letting her fingers gently caress the pages. "Here it is, 'Rage Hallucination'. We're doing it tonight, outside hopefully, during the full moon."

"Does the full moon help the spell?"

Xander thought for a minute. "No...I don't think it does. But being outside let's the power of the spell grow as much as needed without threatening the safety of others and without destroying things."

Harry was impressed. "So, Dark magic, huh? Just be careful."

Xander chewed nervously on her lower lip as Harry read through the spell. Should she tell him? Or should she wait until after the spell was completed?

"Harry," she said without thinking.

He looked up at her. "Yes?"

She sucked in a deep breath. "It's not Dark magic...at least, it isn't technically Dark."

He frowned. "What does that mean?"

"Have you ever heard of Shadowmagic?"

He looked at her blankly. "What's Shadowmagic?"

She sighed. This was going to be hard to explain... "Shadowmagic is the in-between magic of light and dark, so it isn't evil, technically. The intent may be evil, but the magic is basically neutral."

"Is that supposed to make sense?"

She glowered at him. "I'm explaining it the best I can. Anyway, You know how the Professors have separated the magics and labeled them "Light" and "Dark"?"

He nodded slowly.

"This is the Dark-ish kind that is hard to control. It not only uses your powers, but you can call upon the forces of nature too. It can be difficult when you haven't been trained to use it, but it's pretty easy for me. I have been trained to use Shadowmagic."

He considered everything she'd told him for a few minutes. "Okay. I think it's risky, but as long as you don't get caught, I won't say another word."

She smiled. "Oh, trust me. I won't get caught. Just don't tell Hermione or Ron. I have a different task for Ron, seeing as how incantations aren't his strong point."

"Neither are Potions and Transfiguration," Harry remarked. He went pink with embarrassment at having been talking about his friend's failures. "I shouldn't have said that."

"I won't tell him. Anyway, meet me and Draco tonight outside the Slytherin entrance if you can. I'll make sure we get outside and back in safely."

Harry grinned. "I'm starting to feel excited! It's like an adventure."

Xander nodded, grinning with him. "Well, it sort of is an adventure, Harry. One we're creating for ourselves."

"When it's done, can I take the book and read it?" Harry asked hopefully, casting a wishful glance down at the book.

Xander Transfigured it back into a small, blank book. "If I let you, you have to make sure no one else ever sees it. I'll have to think about it."

Harry nodded. "Okay."

They exited the classroom and headed to Transfiguration class. Neither of them noticed that they were being watched from the shadows, a satisfied, evil smile spreading across the viewer's face.

"This will be easier than I thought," the person mused.

"Yes...the girl...she carries a natural ability...an attachment to the Dark...she will prove to be useful in the future..." hissed another voice, seeming to come from the air.

"Master?" the unknown person said cautiously.

"Let us go now," the second voice commanded. "Before you are noticed to be missing..."