Mulder was moaning, as he lay on his bed. "No, no, no…."

"Is he going to be alright?" Ron asked, wrinkling his nose.

"I don't know…" Harry gazed at the man, who was moaning on his bed. "Maybe it came as a shock."

"I don't get it," Scully said, frowning. "How could it be a shock? He believes in everything, every SINGLE thing. And what's he doing? He can't believe he's a wizard." Then she paused. "Alright, I don't believe it myself!"

"No, no, no."

"Maybe we should tell Professor McGonagall." Harry peered at Mulder through his glasses. "Or Madam Pomfrey."

"No, no, no…."

"Okay Mulder," Scully said, forcing herself to sound sickeningly loving. "It's okay Mulder, come on, it's okay."

"But how could my parents hide it from me?" he asked. "What went wrong?"

"We should check the rest of the library for information," Scully said. "Come on, let's go find out."

"I'm a wizard Scully," he said, sitting up. "But I can't even enjoy the fact that I'm one, because I'm not even TRAINED! I'm nearly thirty-nine years old and I probably can't perform the simplest spell…"

"Oh Mulder!"

"And there's no way I can spend the next seven years, I have a JOB in the bureau… my life can't change now… I'm too old." And suddenly he grew very depressed, when he realized that despite the fact that every female in Hogwarts was in love with him, he was becoming an old man.

"Mulder?" Scully asked. "Is this your idea of a midlife crisis?" She dragged him off the bed. "Now snap out of it!"

"You could always get some books from Diagon Alley," Harry said helpfully. "Teach yourself some magic."

"My parents hated me," Mulder said bitterly.

"That can't be true," Ron said.

"Actually they were never very nice to him after his sister was abducted," Scully informed him rather bluntly.

"But this was a year before she was taken." He plopped back down on the bed. "Why did they hide it?"

"Perhaps Dumbledore has some answers for you," Harry said. "Sure, this is Britain, but he's one of the most prominent figures in the magical community. You'll probably learn more about yourself."

"But he didn't know about me! He called me a Muggle, the hat called me a Muggle…"

Ron frowned. "That makes no sense."

"No kidding!" Mulder replied nastily.

"Professor Dumbledore does have his resources," Harry continued. "Do talk to him!"

"In other words Mulder," Scully said, "stop that incessant moaning.
We're going to pay a visit to Dumbledore's office."

~X~X~X~X~

"SO I AM A WIZARD?!?" Mulder collapsed into one of the chairs, clutching his chest. "I'm about to have a heart attack. How could someone hide who I was?"

"Your mother was a witch…"

"MY MOTHER WAS A WITCH?!?" Mulder turned to Scully incredulously. "Hear that Scully? My mother was a witch… a witch." Scully shook her head, making a mental note. Self-discovery doesn't work when you're nearing forty. You can't discover a secret so big about yourself at that age.

"Your father was a Muggle."

"Ah."

"Your father was a powerful Muggle, though, wasn't he? Some high positions in the government?"

"You could say that. Though not as much as a certain black-lunged sonofa…"

"Enough Mulder." Scully put her hand on his arm to quiet him down.

"Well your father must have had some dreams for you, probably didn't like the thought of you becoming a wizard."

"Why'd he marry his mother?" Scully inquired.

"They did get divorced," Mulder replied, irritably.

"Well, we don't have every single detail of your life here, Mr. Mulder."

"Just Mulder."

"Mulder." Dumbledore smiled in a saintly manner. "But your father did contact Toil and Trouble to tell them that you were going to Alakazam. And that's about it."

Mulder made a sound that was close to a ferocious growl. "So no one bothered checking out the facts?"

"Despite being a Muggle, he must have had friends in high places."

"Great." Mulder smacked his hand against his head. "Just great…"

"One of them was a wizard by the name of CGB Spender…"

Mulder bolted out of his seat. "WHAT?!?"

"I bet you he got us here," Scully suddenly mumbled.

"No," Dumbledore replied. "He works for the United States department of The Ministry of Magic as well as having his high places in the government. He hid strange things from Muggles, in both jobs."

"I should have known…"

"There's been no Spender activity here for a while, so he couldn't have had you sent to Hogwarts," Dumbledore explained.

"My father and that idiot orchestrated this! Why would CGB hide me from the magical community anyway?"

"I have no answer to that," Dumbledore replied. "I can't even contact the outside wizard world."

"Another question," Mulder asked suddenly. "Why did the hat call me a Muggle?"

"Well, it was probably influenced by us calling you two Muggles…" Dumbledore said thoughtfully, stroking his silvery beard. "And the fact that you never thought you had such powers. Not to mention, it remained dormant inside you for all these years. You wouldn't have found out you weren't a Muggle, had you not decided to try riding a broomstick."

"Great. And how come my mother hid her origin from me?"

"You remember the early episodes of Bewitched?" Dumbledore replied. "One of the loveliest American TV shows… well, Darin didn't really want Tabitha to know about it or use her possible powers. You're a half Muggle, Mulder. Your father was probably a bit scared that his son would have more power… and that's all I can think of right now."

Mulder gaped at him, dumbfounded, then stood up distractedly. "Thank you sir, thanks for all the information."

~X~X~X~X~

Mulder was very miserable the next morning. "They hid the truth from me Scully." She nodded sympathetically. "And this time, it was the truth about myself!"

"I know Mulder…"

"Agent Mulder, you're not a Muggle?" Neville asked, a smile of relief on his face.

"Not entirely," he replied.

"Mulder, I thought you of all people would enjoy something like this!" Scully told him. "So why aren't you enjoying it?"

"Because the truth was hidden from me," he replied glumly. "And then of course -there's the fact that my arch nemesis is also a wizard. And then there's the fact that all I can do is ride a broomstick!"

Hermione's eyes were gleaming. "Mulder, I'll teach you about magic," she said earnestly. "I'm not bad at it myself…"

"She's the teacher's pet," Ron grumbled. "She's better than most of us."

"Could you really teach me?" Mulder asked, a half smile forming on his face.

"Of course!" she replied eagerly. "Tell you what, after classes are over, I'll teach you a little bit everyday! You'll know the basics…"

At that moment, Professor McGonagall came by. "Mulder, we realize your predicament. You have a life of your own in Washington DC and we can't tear you away… nevertheless, you'll probably want to learn some magic as well."

He nodded. "Hermione's agreed to teach me everything she can."

"Oh." McGonagall actually glared at Hermione, something she had never done. The girl shrank back, alarmed. "I thought I could teach you a little bit."

"If there's anything extra," Mulder replied. "But I don't want to be a bother…"

"Not at all!" she said, laughing uproariously, causing Ron to clutch Harry in shock. "Not at all! I'll teach you everything you want to learn, don't worry about it. I'll give you basic knowledge. You'll still lead the life of a Muggle, but you'll have basic ideas, which are still better than nothing!"

"Of course." Mulder smiled weakly.

"Besides, I don't want Hermione's studies getting disrupted."

"But she always does well," Harry said. Ron nudged him.

"Well, I'll teach you every evening," McGonagall said, beaming at Mulder. "At eight. How's that sound?"

"Great," Mulder said unenthusiastically. He just needed this.

~X~X~X~X~

"Welcome back to Defense Against The Dark Arts," Professor Moody growled. He was better known as Mad Eye Moody, because of the huge blue eye he had. Though he'd been through quite a bit himself the year before, he'd decided to stay on as the teacher of the class, which surprised Harry since there'd been a new Defense Against The Dark Arts teacher every year.

Scully gazed at his huge eye as if hypnotized. "Wow," she whispered. Moody shot her a dirty look, then gazed at the rest of the class, rather fixatedly.

"You'll have a lot to learn this year," he said, his eye suddenly focusing on Mulder. "Vampires and the Unforgivable Curses will be covered extensively this year. Be prepared…."

They left the class, Scully slightly shaken. "And did you see how he kept glancing over his shoulder?" she asked Hermione.

"We're used to it by now," the girl replied, "but he's definitely very paranoid."

"Nothing wrong with that!" Mulder exclaimed and they all rolled their eyes, as they remembered his little speech about government conspiracies when he'd fallen off the broom.

Potions was especially odd today. Snape didn't bother insulting him on the account that he wasn't really a Muggle. He also didn't say a word against him for being half-Muggle, since McGonagall had actually warned him before class started, but he made a point of favoring the Slytherins. He went around teaching them all how to make a potion to use against a dangerous creature, when he paused before Neville. "You're ruining it again!" he admonished angrily. "When will you ever learn?"

"S-sorry sir," Neville stammered, his hands shaking as he poured in an ingredient that didn't seem to be being used by the rest of the class. Scully narrowed her eyes, wondering if she should say it to Snape, but that was his problem. No use causing the boy to have more problems.
Suddenly, a pink explosion filled the air, and Snape was found covered in it.

"Ugh!" he spat. It had ended up going into his mouth, but unlike the potion that he was requesting everyone to make, it tasted sweet. The pink liquid covered him from head to toe.

"Oh no…" Neville started to move away, very slowly, backing away as Malfoy taunted him. "I didn't mean to…"

And then suddenly, Snape surprised everyone, by smiling good-naturedly. "It's alright Neville," he declared. "It's okay." Neville couldn't believe his luck, but chose not to pursue the matter. With a wave of his wand, Snape cleared off the liquid from his body, but he did seem a bit different. He smiled sweetly at Scully as she walked out of class with Hermione. "Goodbye Dana!" he called and she glanced back, in alarm.