Accidentally Magical, or

Xander Harris and the Brand New Start

by KJ Dekker aka RockyD

Rating: PG-14 (nothing worse than the source materials)

Disclaimer: The characters do not belong to me, the Buffy ones belong to Joss Whedon and Co. while Harry Potter and friends are property of J.K. Rowling. The only thing I lay claim to is the excruciating torture I put them through... and I'm sure they love me for it.

Spoilers: Harry Potter through Deathly Hallows, but set before the epilogue; Buffy set near the end of the Season 4 episode 'The Harsh Light Of Day'

Author's Note: Thank you for all the feedback, whether positive or negative. In the end, I've decided to let Chapter 5 stand as it is (with the one modification I made shortly after posting). Changing it any more would have pleased the readers who thought my characterization was totally wrong, but it would also have lost ties with what I intended for the story down the line. So, if that chapter was enough to turn you off of this story completely, I'm sorry but I'm not willing to drastically alter this story to satisfy a handful of readers. I want to tell this story the way it came to me.

Feedback: Yes, please. Writing is an ever evolving process and your constructive criticism can be invaluable to a rusty author. Anything you can tell me will be appreciated, even if I'm too introverted to always respond.

Chapter Six: Accidentally Magical

The sun was approaching set outside as the wand selection took an unusually long time. Buffy and Willow were gushing over the beautiful and elegant wand which chose Willow as it's master. Meanwhile, Xander had to face down both chocolate-eyed barrels of one unsettled witch named Hermione Granger.

He wasn't quite sure if he was going to survive the day, but he took comfort in the fact that Giles rested against the left arm of the plush chair he currently occupied. He didn't have words for how much he appreciated that Giles was standing by him for this. A promise fulfilled, and he still didn't quite feel like he deserved it, but he wouldn't go turning it down either.

"Have you ever performed any feats which you couldn't explain? Moved things, made things go away, made yourself disappear?" Hermione questioned him, the snappish tone had mostly drained out of her voice, to be replaced by something else. She was definitely filled with curiosity over this latest wrinkle in the little adventure she was on.

He looked uncertain as he tried to remember, "No, there were no floating G.I. Joe wars in my house. Though there were plenty of times I wish I could have. Uh, not the G.I. Joe part, the making myself disappear."

Her eyebrow quirked upward at his last words, but she also seemed annoyed with his apparent refusal to take the situation seriously, "I don't mean consciously. Have you ever gotten very angry at something or someone and had anything happen around you?"

Xander looked uncomfortable, but shook his head, "Usually things are getting mad at me, and I just try to go away."

Hermione couldn't seem to figure it out, "I've never heard of any cases where a..." She paused before she declared him a muggle, realizing it was a bit harsh and hypocritical of her, "Non-magical person could activate a wand, and a wizard who does not exhibit instances of accidental magic during childhood is highly uncommon. Even if he's a squib he shouldn't have been able to do that." She accented her final word to indicate the strong reaction the wand had in Xander's possession.

Giles saw Xander's discomfort at being spoken of instead of to and interjected, "I believe it may have more to do with this area than anything else." He exchanged a look with Xander he hoped would be reassuring, "As you're undoubtedly aware, Sunnydale was built upon a Hellmouth, and as such has an unmeasurable amount of ambient magic in the air.

"It's the reason why magical travel here is such a risk, it would act as a sort of scrambler. It's why the traditional wizarding community stays as far away as Los Angeles. It's also likely the reason that neither child has ever been picked up by the detection methods used by the American Ministry. They simply can't penetrate the... fog, for a lack of a better term.

"I am ashamed to admit that I have never really attempted to judge Xander's magical capacity, as I had always felt there were other more pressing matters." He shot an apologetic look to Xander and was glad he saw understanding in the young man's eyes, "It is a mistake I deeply regret, and has obviously led to today's events. It is no one's fault but my own for having failed him."

Xander felt compelled to stick up for his mentor, as he had done for him, "Giles, it isn't all your fault. It's not like I've ever really tried. I've just been content to have things however they came. If I had been a little more like Willow and been willing to study, maybe we could have found out ages ago... and I wouldn't be so far behind." He sounded quite dejected.

Hermione watched the exchange with wonder. Until now she had only really seen Xander as a juvenile young man who refused to grow up, much like Ronald Weasley. She winced mentally the memory and continued on along in her thoughts, realizing for the first time that Xander might be more mature than she gave him credit for. However, it was not her place to introspect on her customers, she needed to finish this transaction and refer them to the American Ministry for further information.

She pulled a roll of parchment out of the case and touched it with her wand, and a rush of words and numbers rolled past before coming to a stop, "Alright, now that we've selected a wand... I should say, selected two wands for the wizard and witch... we should complete the transaction so we can all move on with our own business." She once again looked at the parchment before proceeding, "All totaled, the wands and this little house call come at a cost of fifty-eight galleons and ten sickles... or roughly five hundred and ninety dollars American."

Willow and Xander were floored, the latter in the literal sense, by the sum. She allowed them a moment before offering, "The larger sum of four hundred and fifty dollars is the responsibility of Mr. Giles and is for covering the cost of transportation and the visitation fee required by Ollivander's Wand Shop. The remaining one hundred and forty is split evenly between the two of you, as it is seven galleons or about seventy dollars per wand."

Willow couldn't seem to find words for how shocked she was, but Xander almost immediately replaced his wand in it's box and declared, "Giles, I can't... that's just too much." He tried handing it back to Hermione, "I guess I don't really need to be a wizard anyway."

Giles looked at the young man with sadness before proclaiming, "You'll not be handing anything back today, Xander. I am more than willing to cover the cost for both of you, as I am primarily to blame for dragging you into this predicament in the first place." Both Willow and Xander looked ready to protest, but he quieted them with a look, before turning to Hermione, "I don't suppose you take checks?"

After finalizing the transaction with Mr. Giles, she quietly gathered her possessions with a wave of her wand. She took another look around at this motley crew of individuals; Willow had finally managed to put her wand back in it's case, but looked as if she wanted to pull it back out just to look at it again. Buffy was doing a series of stretches and glancing at a rack of weapons Hermione hadn't noticed was there before.

Giles had finished his reassuring of Xander that he needn't pay him back for the wand and had made his way over to a shelf full of books, and the collection caught her attention for a few moments. She just couldn't resist a peek at some of the bindings. She wandered over and browsed a plethora of titles she had never dreamed existed. She felt like a child all over again seeing so many books she had yet to explore.

"You have the look of someone who enjoys a good read," Giles commented sagely.

Hermione jumped at his sudden speaking, having completely lost herself in her perusal, "Oh, oh, yes... I've adored reading since I was very little. Most of the children teased me about it... called me a know-it-all, but I was actually very proud of it." She blushed at the appreciative smile Giles sent her way.

"There's certainly nothing wrong with a thirst for knowledge." Giles posited, "Wit beyond measure is man's greatest treasure."

Hermione's eyes widened, "You were a..."

"Ravenclaw? Yes. Although that damnable hat had the nerve to say I'd do well in Slytherin. Told it to sod off," He added with a chuckle before sighing, "Although look how things ended up anyway."

Hermione was quiet a moment, before responding, "Mr. Giles, everyone makes mistakes, and from what I've seen you have more than made up for it while working with the Slayer."

He looked kindly down on her, "I've been meaning to ask about that... there must have been days worth of information to sort through, and yet you managed it in just over twenty minutes. Might I ask how that was?"

Hermione nodded, pulling out her wand and summoning her pensieve to her. She caught it out of mid-air and turned the stone basin to face Giles, "After getting my internship with Mr. Ollivander, I began reading up on everything I could. I came upon a rune that alters the flow of time inside a pensieve. While I'm viewing memories, time travels at a much slower pace. So, I can sort through material faster than would normally take."" She gestured to the rune in question on the lip of the bowl.

"That's brilliant," Giles breathed.

She moved on, focusing her eyes on the pensieve in her hands, "I believe I should be getting on my way back to the Los Angeles Ministry office so I can make it back to England before they close up. My findings have already been sent along to Mr. Ollivander, as well as both the American and British Ministries. You will surely be hearing from both of them in the coming weeks."

He once again extended his hand to her, "It has been a pleasure, Miss Granger."

She was caught by surprise as a vibrant head of red hair collided with her in a crushing hug. She momentarily thought Ginny Weasley had somehow followed her here, but quickly realized it was simply Willow. The young girl was clutching to her for dear life and muttering thank you repeatedly. She finally had to be pried off by Buffy, who apologized for her friend before saying goodbye herself and heading out on patrol.

The last person to say goodbye was Xander. He looked suddenly awkward and stuck his hand out to shake, much like how Giles had. She conservatively grasped his hand to shake it, at which point he softly said, "Thanks, Hermione... this is unbelievable." He gestured with the wand box held in his other hand.

She regarded him for a moment and replied simply, "You're welcome."

Without another word she used her wand to shrink her traveling cases, much to the amazement of the remaining youths, before sticking them in her purse which was resting across her shoulder. She bid them farewell with a silent nod and began turning on the spot to disapparate, when Xander suddenly got her attention.

"Whoa whoa, hey!" His sudden movement towards her sent her off balance and she began falling to the floor, only to have him catch her before it was too late, "Geez, sorry about that... are you okay?"

"Are you mad?" Hermione hollered after she'd been hauled back to her feet, "What did you do that for?"

He looked truly sorry, "I'm sorry! I just remembered... Didn't Giles say the Hellmouth acted like a scrambler or something towards magic travel? Are you sure it's safe for you to beam yourself out from here?"

Hermione looked at him as if he'd grown a second head, "Beam myself out? What does that..." Then it hit her, he was perfectly right, "Oh my, you're right! How could I have forgotten that?"

She looked ashamed of herself, and it was only then that both of them realized that Xander was still holding on to her from when she'd almost fallen. They sprang apart like they'd been shocked and Xander went to sit on the back of the couch.

Giles, too, looked ashamed for having forgotten, "My word, that was almost a disaster! I'm terribly sorry for not remembering how dangerous that would be, especially since I just mentioned it not long ago."

Hermione looked briefly horrified, as she'd very nearly been scattered about the countryside. She didn't imagine it would have been terribly painful, but it wasn't her ideal way to go. She had to take a seat on one of the chairs she'd conjured earlier in order to catch her breath. Her life hadn't even flashed before her eyes, wasn't that what they always said happened?

She finally came back to herself, and appeared to be in the middle of a conversation between the other occupants of the room, "How is she supposed to get home now?" It was Xander, and he sounded quite concerned.

Giles spoke up next, "I believe it should be possible for her to travel if she can get out past the boundaries of the Hellmouth's strongest magic... at the very least that should be the city limits."

Willow entered the conversation, "How will she get out there, Giles? It's not really a short walk there. Oz went to play a gig at The Bronze, and Buffy's already left on patrol. She could have carried you where you need to go."

Hermione suddenly looked harassed at the idea of the petite blond hauling her over her shoulder through the streets of this unfamiliar city, "That's quite alright, I'd rather she not."

"I can do it." Xander offered, "I've got Uncle Rory's Chevy again... I can run her out there."

Hermione stuttered, "I d-don't really..." She couldn't find a good argument against it, as the only other options were a rather long walk or an embarrassing parade through the streets in the arms of a woman smaller than herself, "I don't see why not."

"Cool!" Xander celebrated, then realized how silly he looked, "Want to come along, Willow?"

Willow looked tempted, but shook her head, "No, I have some things I want to ask Giles and I don't want to forget them."

Hermione and Xander looked at each other for a few moments, realizing they'd be stuck together in a car for several minutes, alone. They both looked away from each other at the same time and silently exited the apartment after saying goodbye to Giles and Willow