The Adventures of Gambit, Methos and a cursed one-eyed cat named Xander

Genre: crossover, series of related ficlets
Characters: Gambit (X-Men), Methos (Highlander) and Xander (Buffy)
Rating: R (to be safe - each ficlet varies)
Disclaimer: I don't own any character from any of the various fandoms. I'm not making $ from this.
Summary: Gambit's life takes a turn for the surreal. Then stuff happens.

51 – Toppin and Bobbin

=Gambit! Stop flirting with the painting and get in here.=

Gambit smiled at the portrait of a blushing young woman in a Victorian age pale green dress that guarded the door to the set of rooms he would be sharing with Xander.

"Ah, chere. Je suis desole, but Gambit must go now. De chat noir be callin' for him, heh?"

She nodded, blushed and waved her fingers at him. "Until later, Mr. LeBeau."

"Call me Remy, chere."

With a wink and a grin, he turned and walked into a lavishly appointed living room done up in blues, bronze and creams. There were a few brocade chairs, a short sofa and bookshelves lining the walls. At one end stood a large fireplace and windows lined the upper half of another wall. The last one had an open arch that led to a short, wide corridor that held several doors.

None of that is what grabbed Gambit's attention, however.

Xander had backed himself into a corner and was trying to push up against the stone wall and away from the two short house elves dressed in velvet and silk pillow shams. One of them was holding up what appeared to be a horse brush in one hand and a large pink ribbon in the other.

"Mr. Kitty-face, yous is to be laying down on the floor right here," the creature pointed to a spot on the area rug in front of the fireplace. "and be letting Bobbin brush out yous fur."

Xander turned his head and gave him a truly pathetic look.

=Gambit, make him stop! Tell him to use my name and not call me Mr. Kitty-face. And I don't wanna be brushed out and tied up in bows!=

Gambit blinked twice and then collapsed on the nearest chair in hysterical laughter.

=Not funny. So very not funny.=

The two house elves exchanged a look before turning wide startled eyes on Gambit. Bobbin reached out and gave the other elf a gentle little push closer to the giggling mutant.

"Sir?" A squeaky voice asked. "Is yous being okay, sir?"

Gambit nodded and took a deep breath, trying to calm himself.

"Oui, Gambit fine, just…" Another brief giggle.

"De chat's name be Xander, not Mr. Kitty-face. An' Xander don' want t' have bows an' ribbons tied in his fur."

The house elf with the brush and ribbon sighed dejectedly and the pink ribbon disappeared with a crack. Xander seemed to relax a bit and melted away from the corner a little.

The little elf closest to him sidled even closer and pointed to his own chest. "I's being Toppin," and then pointed at the sad elf with the horse brush. "and that elf's being Bobbin."

Gambit smiled at the little creature.

"I be Remy LeBeau, but everyone calls me Gambit." He pointed at his furry friend. "And that is Xander."

52 – Staff Meeting

"Muggles." The tall man with the greasy hair and bad teeth sneered, "Lovely."

"Severus, please." The Headmaster gave him a pointed look even as the four sliders bristled a bit. Methos just met the man's gaze with a flat stare of dislike.

=I'd offer to bite him, but he'd probably give me indigestion.=

Gambit snorted and grinned.

"*Gambit don' doubt that for a minute. An' there ain't enough Maalox in de world t' make that one worth de bad taste, heh?*"

Just then another woman walked in and Xander's attention snapped to her in an instant, the ugly man in the corner forgotten. Gambit studied her, she seemed to be an older woman and in fairly good shape, but her face didn't seem to be made for smiling. In fact, a small frown pinched her lips even as she gazed around the room.

"Ah, Minerva. Please have a seat. I'd like to introduce our visitors to everyone. They have quite an interesting tale to tell. I think you will all find it as fascinating, as I do."

Once she was seated, the old wizard stood and his blue eyes twinkled brightly. Gambit felt several sweeps of pressure and thought press against his psi-shields. A light touch that he recognized as Albus and another harder and colder touch that he didn't recognize at all.

Then Albus spent several moments introducing everyone. Gambit tried to take note of everyone's name and face, but to be honest there were too many and their names and titles too bizarre. He figured that if it came down to it, every one of them would answer to a simple call of "Professor" and a smile.

A few names he tried to make stick in his head though, for various reasons. Aurora Sinistra was a lovely and quite curvy young woman, Severus Snape was a mean and angry man who had already gotten on Methos' bad side and Minerva McGonagall had, for some reason, snagged Xander's attention tightly. He would have to find out a bit about those people that his friends were interested in, but for now…he smiled over at Aurora and winked at her over his sunglasses. She blushed and tried to stifle her giggles.

A quick glare and a hastily cleared throat from Minerva ended his little spot of flirting for the moment, but that was okay. Contact was established.

The introductions on their side of things went just as fast, if not as smooth. The ugly sneering man that Methos was trying to decapitate with his eyes was less than helpful and his comments were often very rude. Gambit merely hoped that Methos remembered that they needed these people's help and didn't kill the ass.

When the conversation turned to Quinn's invention of the gizmo that opened up wormholes between dimensions, the man flat out called him a liar and insisted that "muggles" couldn't do such things. Wade, of course, leapt to her lover's defense and made a few comments about how Severus' lack of intelligence and understanding was not enough to actually alter the truth of the situation.

Things deteriorated from there.

=Gambit.=

"*Heh?*"

He turned to look over at Xander only to find Xander still staring at the older woman with the stern frown.

=I think she's a cat.=

Gambit blinked in surprise. He looked at the woman again. "*Heh? Homme, she look like a woman t' Gambit.*"

=I know. It doesn't make sense to me either. My eyes tell me she's human, but everything else just screams cat to me.=

Tilting his head, Gambit considered it and figured that maybe it was a magic thing. Plus, it didn't matter too much if he sounded like an insane kook, he was actually used to that by now.

"Eh,…pardon moi, but…Xander say that y' be a cat."

The woman, Minerva McGonagall if he remembered correctly, turned to look at him in astonishment, blinked once and then looked over at Xander in surprise. Then she smiled. It transformed her face greatly, revealing the stunning beauty that she had once been.

"Why yes, I am."

And with that said, she stood up, concentrated briefly and then seemed to melt down into a small pretty little tabby-cat. With one large jump, she leapt onto the conference table and turned to face Xander, tiny little nose to great big nose. Xander began to purr so loudly that the windows rattled in their panes.

=Oooo! Super cool!=

Xander's purr cut off midstream from the shock. =Professor?=

The purr started up again, much louder than before.

=Gambit!= Xander's voice was shouted in his head so strongly that he rocked in his chair. =She can understand me and I can understand her!=

53 – Magic verses Science

Breakfast in the Great Hall was an interesting experience, to say the least.

Their brief introduction to the students had gone fairly well, although Xander was a big topic for conversation among them. He was currently sandwiched between Minerva and a giant of a man named Hagrid who was absolutely fascinated with the horse sized cat. Severus was still being an ass, of course, and they were all trying to avoid the blonde idiot who seemed to be in love with himself, but everyone seemed to be okay about all the weirdness around them.

Gambit glanced at the strained expression on Quinn's face as the young man poked tentatively at his plate. Well, almost everyone was okay with it.

"S'matter, homme?"

Quinn grimaced.

"We went to a world that claimed to use magic for everything before. It turned out to be fake, though. We were almost killed there because of it."

Gambit nodded.

"From what Gambit understand…a person needs t' have de gift t' use real magic. It's a talent y' born wit'. If'n y' don' have de gift, then there is only so much magic y' can actually do. Can't imagine a whole world of magic users."

Quinn frowned, and then waved a hand about to include the castle. "Then, what do you call all this?"

"A small fragment of de population." Gambit tilted his head to the side and grinned. "Y' heard de old man y'self. He could've sent us t' de muggle part of de world, which I'm bettin' is a lot like y' world; all technology an' logic an' science. This entire planet, or reality, or whatever y' call it ain't all magic. Only de small part we're seeing now."

Quinn's frown turned thoughtful even though he still seemed to be a bit upset. "I guess." He sighed.

"I still don't understand it. I mean, I was very open minded and willing to accept magic in that other world, the one that was full of charlatans. I don't know if I'm willing to do that again. Then I look around and see everything that's going on here and I can't help but try to figure out how to do it with technology."

"Gambit has no doubts that y' could duplicate all of this," his hand waved, taking in the entire castle, "wit' tech an' gadgets given enough time. That doesn't mean that it can't be done wit' magic too. I've seen magic, I've used it. I know that it's real an' that it works."

Quinn seemed to mull that over a bit and Gambit took the time to eat some of the delicious food on offer. He'd spent too much time eating stale food scrounged out of the ruins in zombie-world to pass up a good hot meal.

"So…what is magic?"

Gambit blinked, chewed, and considered the question.

"Energy."

That comment had Quinn's eyebrow up in his hairline.

"It's energy, homme. Don' know where it comes from. Could be that dark-energy stuff they say is in outer space between de stars an' pushin' the galaxies apart. Could be energy generated from just bein' alive an' havin' a soul. Don' know. Just…is. What's more, people wit' de gift can manipulate it wit' their minds. Gambit can' do it. Y' can' do it. Met people that could, though."

Quinn sighed and nodded, but Gambit could tell that he wasn't very happy with the answer.

"Y' should talk t' de old man." A questioning look. "De Headmaster. Bet he could tell y' more about de nature of magic. On de other hand, he'll pro'lly pick y' brain about quantum physics, so that's fair, heh?"

Quinn snorted and grinned. Still not a happy smile, but it was a little better. Gambit beamed at him and then dug back into his eggs.

54 – Curses Unveiled

Gambit had been sitting off to the side watching the magical healer, Madam Pomfrey and the Headmaster fuss over Xander for quite a while when Methos was escorted into the medical wing by one of the elf-things.

"Thank you, Bindi. I'll be fine here, but I'll call you if I need you again. Okay?"

The little house elf beamed at the immortal and bounced from foot-to-foot as if it had to pee really badly.

"Yes, Sir Mr. Knight Sir. Bindi will bees listening really hard for yous call, Sir."

Then, with a snap of long fingers, the house elf disappeared in a flash of light and a loud crack of noise.

Gambit smirked at his friend.

"Sir Mr. Knight Sir?"

Methos frowned, then smirked back.

"I wouldn't talk if I was you, Mr. Pretty-fire-eyes."

Gambit rolled his, indeed, fire-like red on black eyes at the appellation the little creatures had bestowed upon him. The only saving grace it had was being less stupid than the name Mr. Kitty-face which Xander had been labeled with.

"So…what's going on? They able to figure out anything?"

Gambit turned his head to watch the healer lady cast a few more spells with her wand.

"Not sure. They believe he was hit wit' a dark transfiguration. Its dark 'cause it's against de victim's will an' consent. Normally fairly simple t' break, but 'cause Xander be an anchor an' not a normal person it went wrong. Also, I think de virus did something weird an' effected de curse as much as Xander. They're still tryin' t' figure it all out."

Methos frowned and nodded at the scene. "We downloaded everything we learned on the virus and Xander's condition onto a series of CD's. I don't know how much good it'll do us since they don't have computers here…"

Gambit tilted his head and considered it. "Well…if they can get us t' a non-magical part of de country, Gambit can get y' into any buildin' wit' computers t' use. Might want t' try a library at a University first though. Y' can always print it all out t' bring back."

Methos nodded absentmindedly, a thoughtful look on his face. "How in the world did a virus affect a curse?"

"No clue, homme."

They watched in silence for a moment.

"So…you think that Professor lady could teach him to shift from a human to a cat and back again?"

"Don' know. If they can' break de curse, that'd be de next best thing though, heh?"

"Yeah."

Methos sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose.

"I should go tell them what I know about the Progenitor Virus and offer to print out all of our data. It might help."

Gambit nodded and watched Methos walk over to the healer, smile and begin to talk. His eyes shifted back to Xander. The psi-link between them fairly hummed with a renewed sense of almost desperate hope. Gambit grinned even as he mentally crossed his fingers and prayed that these folks could help his friend.

55 – Arguments

Quinn and Professor Arturo leapt at the chance to go to the non-magical portions of the reality they found themselves in. In fact, neither of them felt very comfortable nor welcome at Hogwarts. The Professor had, apparently, been accosted by several of the students and been subjected to a bit of harassment over his lack of magical ability. The fact that one of the teachers, that tall dark-haired jerk Severus, had stood in the shadows smirking the entire time didn't endear the school to him one bit.

When it had been suggested that some of them go into the Muggle World and print out the information they had on the Progenitor Virus, a loud and heated debate erupted. Gambit had the feeling that the old wizard, Albus, had been very distressed that his school, students, teachers and in fact, his very world was being disparaged so strongly.

"Look," Quinn's loud voice cut through the arguing, "we only have two more days on the timer until we can get out of this loony-bin."

A quick glance at Albus, "No offense."

Albus twinkled mildly back and gestured for him to continue.

"We have two choices here. One; we can get this information for them and hope they can cure Xander and then open the wormhole from here. Or two; we can leave the castle and wait for the timer to run down in the non-magical world. Preferably London."

"You are all more than welcome to stay, I assure you. There is plenty of room and we hope to be able to help the young man regain his true form." Albus gestured to Xander.

"I hear you, but" Rembrandt said. "I don't think it's safe for us to stay here. We're pretty much dependant on those…creature things to do anything. Even turn on the lights. And your students have already begun to make it clear we aren't wanted. How soon until it goes from insults to actions?"

Albus sighed, looking tired and old. "I am truly sorry about that. I really had hoped that the students would have known better than to be so…rude."

Gambit snorted.

"It wouldn't be so bad," Methos' voice was cold, "if it weren't for the fact that Snape stood there sneering instead of stopping them. He obviously can't be trusted to keep the more…radical of your students in line."

"I'll talk to Severus."

Whatever else Albus might have said was cut off by a nasty barked laugh from Methos. "You do that…or I will. I can assure you he won't like anything I have to say to or about him."

=Gambit…I don't want to leave. I'm sorry, but if they can help I don't want to loose that chance.= A flash of guilt mixed with hope rushed across the psi-link. =Even if it means missing the wormhole in two days.=

Gambit sighed and slumped back in his chair. This was a tough situation. He didn't know what would happen to the psi-link or either of their minds if they ended up in two separate dimensions. The link could break and reestablish itself with another like it had for Xander when he fell through the portal on his original world. Then again, it could strip both of their minds of all memories and thoughts.

So, he could either stay here with Xander no matter what the Sliders decided or he could force the cat to go with them.

He didn't particularly like this world, but he didn't hate it either. Zombie-world had been a total bust true, but this place wasn't that bad. Granted, he didn't like that the elf-creature following him around had to do even the simplest of tasks for him, but…could he really make Xander give up this chance to be human again?

"Xander says he wants t' stay. He wants t' try an' cure his curse an' be human again."

All eyes swung his way and Gambit pulled out his last pack of cards and began to shuffle them.

"Gambit will stay wit' him. These people might be his only hope."

Wade's eyes were tragic. "You'll be stuck here."

"No. We won't." Methos grinned and nodded towards Xander. "Xander developed a spell that can open magical portals to other dimensions. He can't cast it himself, being an anchor instead of a witch, but I'm sure we could find someone here to cast it for us."

Gambit beamed at Methos' obvious choice to stay with them and Xander purred loudly.

=No problem. I remember it all and we can write it up again. Heck, they might even be able to help improve it.=

"*True. Very true.*"

Quinn frowned, he didn't have faith in magic despite all of the things he had seen in this castle and he didn't really like the idea of leaving the three behind. "Okay. Fine. We'll go to the non-magic world, print out those documents and then you can come back to the castle here. We," he gestured to Wade, Rembrandt and Professor Arturo, "will stay in London until the slide. We'll wait for you incase you change your minds and want to leave with us."

56 – Moping

It had looked like a small wooden hoola-hoop. The old wizard had waved his wand a bit, tapped the hoola-hoop once and said a strange word. It had sounded something like portal or portus or portly. Whatever. It had made the wooden hoop glow however.

He had handed it to Methos. Then Quinn and the Sliders had grabbed hold. One of the professors, a witch called Vector, had also grabbed hold of the hoop. Then Vector did something or said something, because there had been a flash of light and a swirling rush of air and then they were gone.

Gambit had been assured that portkeys were perfectly safe. Albus promised that the group of people would arrive safely and quickly in London. Professor Vector would be able to use the hoop to bring Methos back safe and sound. Minerva had promised that it would be okay and that the portkey had worked perfectly.

Gambit was willing to adopt a 'wait and see' policy. He didn't want to cause much of a fuss; they were trying to help Xander after all. Still, if the portkey didn't return with a healthy Methos like promised, Gambit planned to blow the Great Hall sky high.

=Do you think it'll work?=

"*It better, heh? De old man promised that de hoola-hoop would be better an' faster than a car. Gambit thought that poor Quinn's head would explode hearing that.*"

Xander looked at him, a wash of confusion over the psi-link.

=Not that.= A huffy sigh and then the huge cat flopped down on the floor next to Gambit's chair. They were nearly eye-to-eye that way. =I meant, do you think that having the information on the virus will help them to find a way to remove the curse?=

Gambit scratched his chin and looked up at the ceiling considering it. "*Don' know. If de virus mutated de curse, then it might not be fixable. Then again, maybe it just mean that they have t' change de cure to match de mutation.*"

=They were talking about calling in a professional curse breaker. I guess with the virus and the mutation and all that stuff that it's not just your regular average curse. The school nurse is really good about reversing minor hexes, jinxes and stuff. Which makes sense if you think about it. Castle full of teenagers with rampaging hormones, more magical power than common sense, and a political schism a mile wide to divide them and the only real consequence is detention? Heck, I'd have cursed all the bullies to the Hellmouth and back if I were a student here.=

"*Good point. Gambit would've been tempted t' turn a few of these lil' snots blue or purple or somethin' himself.*"

He reached out and ran a soothing hand down Xander's furry neck.

"*Guess y' just special. Have de superpower curse, not just some lil' schoolboy hex.*"

=Swell.=

Twin deep felt sighs echoed through the room.

"*Kinda worried 'bout de others, too.*"

=Huh? Why? They'll be fine.=

Gambit shrugged and shifted in his chair.

"*I know. Just…I know Methos'll be okay. As long as de magic hoola-hoop don' turn him inside out or nothin'. The others…I worry 'bout them. Rembrandt be their only fighter an' he's not viscous enough or trained enough.*"

=You worry too much. They'll be fine. Rembrandt's a good fighter and so is Quinn. And don't underestimate Wade. Plus I think that Arturo can keep them out of most messes. He's got a good head on his shoulders.=

"*Maybe…*"

57 – Spying on Death

Gambit watched Aurora Sinistra's shapely backside shift and sway as she made her way down the stone corridor. She was a little bit older than he usually liked, and somewhat less physically active than he was used too. She wasn't cute, or gorgeous, or conventionally beautiful. She was…statuesque. Stately. Aloof.

Currently, she was driving him insane with her Victorian manners and her shy flirtations. He was also pretty sure that he was the man her momma warned her about.

"…brother Bill normally works as a curse breaker for Gringotts. He just finished an assignment, so they pulled him back to England and sent him here. I guess he's supposed to help out Madam Pomfrey with the cat. I guess the cat is really a person that's been cursed. I hope that I can…"

Gambit turned away from the mesmerizing view of Sinistra's bottom and saw a bunch of children swirling past him to make their way to their next class. His eyes caught sight of three students in particular. A taller boy with bright orange hair stood between a shorter dark haired boy and a girl with large teeth and frizzy hair. He was babbling on about his brother the curse breaker as they turned the corner and wandered off.

Speaking of curses and those that break them, he was supposed to meet Xander in the infirmary this afternoon to act as interpreter. Vaguely, he wondered what time it was.

That's when he saw Methos.

He was about to call out to the immortal to ask the time and see if he wanted to meet the curse breaker when he arrived, but something stopped him. Instead, he watched with narrowed eyes as the older man stalked down the hall, stopped at the corner and then ducked his head around quickly before pulling back. A heartbeat and then the immortal slinked around the corner and skulked in the shadows. Gambit wouldn't have even been able to see him if it hadn't been for his mutant eyesight.

"What in de world is de old man up to?"

No one answered his whispered question, so Gambit decided it was up to him to find out. Methos may have millennia of hunting and stalking prey on his side, but Gambit was a Master Thief, the nominal Head of the entire New Orleans Thieves' Guild. He'd give up his right to carry his bo and wear his colors if he couldn't step into the shadows and follow his mark unseen.

Methos led him on a merry chase. They wandered along stone corridors, down several flights of steps and through several archways that were magical in nature. Always down deeper and deeper into the bowels of the school. Windows disappeared and torches lit the corridors instead of the sweeter smokeless candles found in the upper levels. Shadows danced and twisted and still Gambit stalked Methos…who was apparently stalking the tall greasy jerk known as Severus Snape.

Gambit hadn't had this much fun in a long while.

He was creeping along a dimly lit stone corridor when he heard the loud thump. One eyebrow arched up, he slid soundlessly around the corner and melted into the deep dark shadows of a crudely carved stone pillar. Further down the hall, in the bright circle of light cast by a flickering torch, Gambit saw Methos.

The ancient immortal had Severus pushed up tightly against the damp stone wall, his gleaming broadsword pressed tight to the jerk's neck. Severus held up better than Gambit would have expected. He was pale and his eyes were wide, but his mouth was twisted into a sneer and he wasn't trembling or begging.

Gambit hated to admit it, but he was impressed. Methos could be one intimidating bastard when he wanted to be.

"You will reign in your little snakes immediately. They upset the others to the point where they left this miserable castle, but it won't work on the rest of us. Reign them in…for their own sake." Methos' voice hissed with anger. "If you don't and they continue to verbally or magically attack one of mine, I will retaliate. On. You."

There was a look in Methos' eyes and it was one that Gambit had only seen once or twice, but that had been more than enough. It was the look that said that the immortal was already visualizing your decapitated head being mounted on a spike.

Then Methos pushed Severus down and away. The immortal shifted back, melted into the shadows and disappeared around the far corner before the Head of Slytherin House had managed to roll back up to his feet. Gambit smirked.

Grinning like a loon, he figured that it would be best to head to the infirmary and tell Xander all about Methos' little promise to the big greasy jerk. His cat would enjoy the story. Plus it might take his mind off of the worries about removing his curse, at least for a little while.

Turning, Gambit started to step out of his hiding spot when he saw two glowing green eyes peering out at him from the deepest shadows across the corridor. He blinked, his own eyes burning like twin fires in the dark.

A small boy with dark hair, glasses, and crimson lining on his cloak stepped out of the shadows. Those green eyes, glowing with power, shifted to peer down the corridor at the still ruffled Severus Snape before turning to look back at Gambit.

Then the boy smirked.

Grinning, Gambit winked at the boy and then melted back into the shadows and drifted away back down the corridor. Yep, the day was definitely looking up.

58 – Misunderstood Beasties

"…Aragog really is jus' a harmless creature. Don't un'erstand why he upsets people so. His children are a might touchy, but y' jus' have t' know the right way t' talk t' 'em."

=Gambit? Is he insane? 'Cause those giant spiders were way creepy and I'm pretty sure they're demonic in nature.=

"*Oui, think he just might be a bit touched in de head.*"

Xander snorted and stepped over a huge deadfall that the rest of them had to scramble over.

=A bit? Try a lot…=

When Hagrid had invited them to spend the day outside the castle seeing the grounds, forests and all the animals that lived there, all three of them had jumped at the chance. Not that the castle wasn't interesting or that most of the people weren't friendly. It was just that they had been cooped up for far too long and they each needed some fresh air and to stretch their legs.

Too bad their tour guide was an insane half-giant that thought giant demon spiders made great neighbors. Xander freaking out at the thought of baby demon spiders hatching in his fur hadn't helped keep things calm during the meeting. Methos assuring everyone that spider guts washed out better than zombie guts probably didn't help either.

"Hagrid…" Methos was trying to soothe the agitated man in his own not so soothing way, "is there any creature here that isn't categorized as a demonic, human-killing, flesh eating, horror?"

Hagrid's hurt look proved that Methos hadn't been as soothing or as diplomatic as he could have been.

They all turned the corner on the path and found the edge of the Forbidden Forest gave way to a wide open field that held a long wooden fence corral around a large barn. Which was fine except that the field was filled with large winged black horses that were skeletally thin and covered in reptilian scales. Their eyes were milky white and their mouths were filled with sharp edged teeth.

Methos and Gambit shared a long look.

"'parently not, homme."

=Flying demon horses?= Xander looked over his shoulder at the other two, a low growl in his throat. =As if bird shit wasn't bad enough, imagine what these things could do to the paint job of your truck.=

Gambit snorted and elbowed Methos.

"Xander says that de flying demon horses would mess up y' paint job worse 'n bird shit."

Methos paused, thought about it and then barked out a loud laugh. "Gods…you two are twisted."

"Wha's so funny?"

Methos glanced back at Hagrid, shrugged and simply pointed to the corral with the winged and scaled horses.

"Y' can see 'em, huh?" Hagrid nodded and grimaced. "Them's thestrals an' most people can't see 'em. Invisible they are. Only those that can truly un'erstand death can see 'em."

Gambit pushed his sunglasses up on his head and nodded. "Don' worry, homme. All three of us can see them just fine."

Hagrid hesitated and then sighed. "Sorry t' hear that."

They all nodded and just watched the thestrals in silence for a while.

59 – The Crush

"*Xander!*"

Gambit shifted away some more and felt his back hit the stone wall. The blonde idiot shifted with him and reached out with one arm to press his hand against the wall next to Gambit's head. The scent of lavender and vanilla swirled together in a cloud of fragrance wafting off the man. Gleaming white teeth flashed a huge smile as the idiot leaned in closer.

"Please, call me Gilderoy. After all, I'm sure we're going to be great friends."

The man leered and pressed his body close to Gambit's. Gambit tried to lean back and away, but the wall stopped him from escaping. Gambit could beat the man to a pulp, but after Methos' little temper-tantrum and his threats to Snape, they'd had to promise the old wizard that ran the school that they wouldn't break, mutilate or kill his staff.

"*Xander! Help!*"

Reaching up with his other hand, the DADA Professor tugged on a lock of Gambit's hair, twirling it around his fingers.

"You've got such pretty hair, interesting eyes, and…" the man leered down the length of Gambit's body and chuckled, "such a gorgeous body. Oh, the things I could do to you…"

Gilderoy pressed up against Gambit. Something hot and hard shifted against Gambit's thigh.

Eyes flaring brightly with mild panic, Gambit pulled out his collapsed bo staff and prepared to telescope it to full extension. Promise or not, this guy was getting a beating. Then, out of nowhere and accompanied by much growling and a roar of rage, a huge horse sized panther leapt down off of the stairway landing from a higher level and crashed into Gilderoy, knocking him from his feet.

"Mr. Harris!" Professor McGonagall was running right behind him.

Xander ignored her and placed himself between Gambit and Gilderoy. He crouched down, bared his huge fangs and growled and hissed. His fur all stood up on end, fluffed up in absolute anger.

For his part, Gilderoy screamed like a little girl, scrambled back away and then tried to regain his dignity by wrapping his cloak around himself to hide his now soaked and stained pants. Climbing to his feet, he tried to push his hair out of his face and smiled ingratiatingly and not a little gratefully at McGonagall.

"P-p-p Professor!"

"What is going on here?"

Gilderoy smiled his best award winning smile. "I was just helping the poor man out. He got lost, you see. I was just trying to help him find his way."

Gambit snorted and slipped around Xander's bulk to stand by the witch Xander liked so much.

"Bull." Gambit pointed at Gilderoy and grimaced. "He don' take no for an answer. That's de problem. Gambit tell him no, he didn't want t' get naked an' do things wit' him."

McGonagall's eyes got wide even as the psi-link flooded with shock followed by even more anger.

"Gilderoy don' want t' hear that, so he try t' insist. Push Gambit against de wall an'…" Gambit shuddered, "touched him."

"What!" The witch's face went red, then pale, then red again.

"It's a good thing y' two show up when y' did. Gambit had just pulled out his bo staff an' was about t' break de promise he make t' Albus about not killin' his teachers."

=He was going to rape you because he thought you wouldn't fight back!?!=

With a roar of rage that echoed off of the stone walls, Xander leapt at Gilderoy. Gilderoy fainted before he had a chance to realize that Professor McGonagall's fast wand work had saved his life.

60 – Luna Lovegood

The three of them were sitting in the courtyard enjoying the last of the warm weather. Well, Methos and Xander were enjoying it. Gambit was already cold, southern boy that he was. According to their host, the snow would fly soon. He was not looking forward to a Scottish winter.

=So, it doesn't look like Bill will be able to help much…=

Xander was depressed. Big time.

Even though the blonde buffoon had gotten taken to task for his behavior with Gambit and the meaning of the word 'no', he was still teaching and still staring at Gambit with wide eyes and longing sighs. It was creepy, but as long as he stayed away, it was livable.

Gambit, Methos and Xander had all been reminded of their promise and they reassured Albus that as long as Gilderoy kept his hands to himself that he wouldn't get beaten up, blown to pieces or eaten by a large angry cat.

That was a minor irritation though compared to the fact that the curse breaker, one Bill Weasley, had examined Xander and announced that breaking the curse could be done, but it would be dangerous and it would have unpredictable side-effects because of the mutating virus.

"*Depends…he says he can lift de curse. Y' just gotta risk de unknown side-effects.*"

Gambit shifted and poked the immortal in the arm.

"What d' y' think? Should Xander try t' have Bill remove de curse?"

Methos reached up and rubbed at the back of his own head and grimaced.

"It's a tricky situation, to be sure. It would be easier to say if Bill could tell us what the side-effects would be. It could be something as simple as he lifts the curse and Xander stays a cat. Or it could be that he lifts the curse, Xander shifts back to human and the virus runs rampant though his system doing only God knows what to him."

=Or, I could turn into a talking purple duck with orange and green polk-a-dots.=

Gambit snorted.

"Or, you could just go to Professor McGonagall and ask her to teach you how to use magic to shift yourself between feline and human forms," a soft voice said.

All three of them turned to see a tiny little girl with long blonde hair, buggy gray eyes and a dreamy smile on her face. She stared intently at the air over Methos' left shoulder.

"I'm Luna Lovegood."

Gambit smiled gently at the little girl. "It's nice t' meet y' Luna. I be Gambit, this is Methos an' de great chat noir is Xander."

Luna turned her head and stared directly into Gambit's eyes. Her focus was incredibly intense and it was sorta creepy.

"I know. The nargles told me."

Then her eyes drifted away and she seemed to stare at nothing. Methos and Gambit exchanged looks and shrugged in confusion at each other. Luna walked over to them, and ignoring the two men, she stopped right in front of Xander and looked up at him even as the big cat tilted his head to look down at her. She reached up and ran one hand gently along his furry cheek.

"Yes, that would work out well. After all, you are a humanimagus." She tilted her head slightly and stared at Xander. "A handsome one, too."

And with that, she smiled up at him, winked, then turned and skipped off across the courtyard.

"What de hell?"

"I have no idea. Strange little girl, though."

Xander purred loudly. =I like her. She thinks I'm handsome.=