Suddenly, the sounds of battle arose around them, crescendoing from a quiet grumble to a loud roar, An image of a dark haired warrior fighting beside a dragon appeared in the store, actually, overlapped the store as if the group were in the midst of this battle. Yes this boy was powerful, but not a mere wizard. He was a mage. The knowledge of Xander's history and his capability as a warrior mage seemed to flow straight into their minds. Mages were the protectors of magic, the ones who carried magic in their hearts and in their souls. They took their power directly from air, earth, fire, and water, and used it to protect the purity of magic. These mages always fought on the side of good, and they were always be protectors. As Xander felt the vision end, he felt a surge of energy envelop his body leaving him feeling oddly complete. Kind of like he was a puzzle that had one little corner piece lost, and this was that piece. He was whole.
Ollivander felt the need to extrapolate on the beauty and power of the wand even though Xander just wanted to go somewhere to digest this news. He did manage to find out that the stain on the wand was the blood from the heart of a dragon, and that the core was composed of ground up dragon scales. The age was unknown. The shopkeeper than gave him an old book that was tightly encased in dragon hide and entitled LaVelle, then shooed them out of the store. An Elven mage, the strongest witch he had sensed in half a century and Harry Potter, Ollivander thought to himself. Voldemort was finally going to be overcome. He poured himself a drink and toasted the new millennia.
The eight young people finally arrived at the Three Broomsticks and sat down at a corner booth. "So, uh, Xander. How are you holding up?" Willow cautiously asked, not wanting to upset her friend. Xander looked up at her, and sighed. "Ask me after I've read the big Book of Xanders. I just don't know yet". He then grabbed his stuff and politely excused himself for a while. "Should someone go after him?" Ron gestured, "he seems to be a little upset, and I don't want anything to happen to him - he seems like a good guy." "Don't worry, we'll let him go through the quick stages of denial and anger and then go get him in time for sadness and acceptance." Dawn chirped "it should take about an hour so can we eat already?" The rumble of someone's stomach was answer enough, and the waitress came over to take their orders. They ate with a sort of joie de vivre that came from ignoring the bad and focusing on the good.
After the late lunch, they ordered drinks and Andrew pulled out a small package that he quickly had one of the trio enlarge. He had bought the Harry Potter Series and accompanying books for Hermione, a set of the five movies for Harry (as a joke) and the Gryffindor Polo shirt that had Weasely 01 on the back for Ron. The trio found these gag gifts rather amusing, but also a little disturbing. Hermione was intrigued. After thanking them, and giving them some advice on getting along with the various professors, they decided it was time for one of them to get Xander.
Xander had wandered into a coffee shop called Common Ground which was much more modern than the Three Broomsticks. It was all black and blue with brushed metal accents here and there. He ordered a wet cappuccino with a splash of Irish cream in it and leaned back to ponder his new situation and his new title. Mage. Catching sight of his cherry docs, he looked down at himself and realized just how much he had changed in the last year. After Anya had died, he had taken a long look at himself and realized that he needed to become more Alexander (completely comfortable with himself) and less Xander (the zeppo). Slowly his wardrobe, his attitude and his confidence acclimated to the new Alexander that emerged while taking classes, clubbing and, in general, living in LA. Today he was wearing the cherry docs he was originally going to buy for Spike after the war, a pair of trendy blue jeans with the front bleached in certain spots, a black belt that had silver studs along the sides and a white t-shirt that had the Chinese character for dragon done in cherry red and black. His hair matched perfectly with its cherry red streaks and actually had gel in it. As Spike would say, he was a pouf. But he was happier. He had also come to the conclusion, through some unique experiences in the past year, that he was maybe a tad bent when it came to his sexuality. Spike would have been right in calling him a pouf. A year and a half ago this would have sent him into a fission of fear, but now, he just accepted the fact that love went way beyond sex. He had tried the sex thing with Anya, and it really hadn't worked out how he wanted it to so now he was looking for something beyond that. He ducked into his backpack and unearthed his laptop and his new wand and entered the word "mage" on the search engine. He was so engrossed in his work that he didn't notice a tall blond man approach him until he sat down and introduced himself.
As Draco Malfoy.
Xander's head popped up when he heard the name and watched as the man smiled, held out his hand, and repeated himself, "Hello, my name is Draco Malfoy, may I sit here?" Xander, shocked, looked around at all the empty seats and then looked back at the man in front of him with confusion in his eyes. He then shrugged, said "sure" and shook his hand anyways. It was a nice handshake. Draco looked at the computer and said, "Muggle?" to which Xander vaguely replied, "a little of this, a little of that". Truly he did not know Mr. Malfoy, and he was not about to trust someone just because of how good looking they were. Even if they were spectacular. Draco was dressed in grey pants that had to be designer because they clung to all the right places, and a soft black fitted button up. The sunglasses he had perched in his white blond hair had to be Prada and his eyes were almost steel. He wore sandals on his feet that had to be Kenneth Cole's new line.
The old Xander might have been completely straight but Alex was quite happy being bent. He looked back up into those gorgeous gray eyes.
"So you're Draco Malfoy" Xander said with a faintly flirtatious smile.
"As far as I know - and why do you say my name like you're familiar with it?"
"Har-" but before Xander could get out the answer Draco had interrupted.
"Ah, our illustrious hero Harry Potter talked about me. Interesting..."
"No, that's not it. If you had waited one second I was going to explain that in the muggle world they've written a series of books on Harry Potter. You're in them," here, Xander paused for dramatic flair and then added "you're the villain - or at least one of them." with a smirk.
"So I'm an impatient man sometimes...I promise you I'm not always." Draco said with a lascivious wink. "So I'm a villain? That's quite funny"
"Well, you're the lesser villain. Your dad and Voldemorte tend to take centerstage when it comes to badness. You're just a little bit bad. Actually you're just kind of a spoiled brat...but that's okay because you're only a teenager when the books take place..." Xander trailed off hoping that he hadn't insulted the man with his explanation.
"A brat?" Draco exclaimed, "Someone called me a brat in a book that lots of muggles read!" Here he chuckled, which relieved the brunette. "Oh, Lucius will not be pleased. Excellent." The blonde paused. "Well, I guess I was sort of a brat when I was younger. And my father and Voldemorte are much scarier than me," he mused to himself aloud."I mean really, they sort of corner the market on maiming and torturing. Ah well." He refocused his attention on the man in front of him.
"I heard that you're partners with Ron Weasley. In the books you guys hate each other." Xander's curiousity had been piqued.
"Well, Weasely and I came to a sort of truce a couple of years back. I wouldn't judge him on the accomplishments of his family, and he wouldn't judge me on the mistakes made by mine. We even share a pint now and then, when he gets tired of Granger and Potter." Draco added, thinking back to the last time he and Weasley went for drinks. God, that man had drunk him under the table! Who knew that Weasley's were so resistant.
"So", he continued, "What's a muggle doing in Hogsmeade unattended? It's not a safe thing to do right now, even during the day." Oddly enough, Draco felt protective of this man he just met. He wanted to get to know this guy to find out why he was evoking such an odd emotion in him.
"Oh don't worry, I have one of the strongest witches in the world to get my back. Don't worry about me."
And at that exact moment, Willow chose to waltz into the store to collect Xander.
He groaned to himself, "Speak of the devil, and she comes," and packed his computer and wand. Then, with a very pointed look and slight inclination of his head, sent Willow scurrying out ahead of him.
Draco was astounded by the power emanating from Willow, and it took a second for him to collect his thoughts. He grabbed Xanders hand before he could leave and said with a grin, "Could I get your name at the very least, luv?" Xander looked over his shoulder at Draco and, coming to a quick decision, said "Alexander LaVelle" and left a shocked Draco in his wake.
Because Draco knew the old stories. He had learned the mythology of the magic folk as every good Malfoy did. He knew of things that people thought were imaginary. Of pointed ears and long swords. And now he had proof. Yes. He had chosen the right side. It would still come to war, but the light would win.
Outside, Xander met up with the rest of the scoobies and gloated, "Hey guys, guess who I met?" "Besides the gorgeous blonde guy?" Willow asked with a cheeky grin. "Nope, not besides him. That was Draco Malfoy. Isn't that great?" Xander was still reeling from the chemistry that flashed between them everytime they touched. He couldn't get the smile off of his face. "And Andrew, Dawn, I win the bet. The first thing out of his lips was not to ask whether or not I was a muggle like you both thought...you forget he has to be polite in public. The first thing out of his mouth was an introduction and the second was whether or not he could sit across from me" Xander said, happy at both winning the bet, and being the first to meet him. "Let me guess, then he asked whether you were a muggle," Ron said with a bit of a playful grimace. When you were Auror partners, you had to know your partner very very well. And Ron was good at what he did. "Yeah...that's true." Xander pondered this while the others exchanged money. "So what's the big deal with Malfoy anyways? He won't even fight for the light." Harry asked, confused. Xander rolled his eyes at Harry. The group from Sunnydale explained the amusement in meeting an "evil villain" in real life. The trio didn't get it, and chalked it up to an American thing.
By that time they had made their way to the 3 W's. Otherwise known as Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes, it had bought out Zonko's joke shop and was always heavily populated by young children - even during the summer months. Ron lead the crew to the back where he met up with his brothers Fred and George. After being shown the latest in wizarding candies, trying a few old ones out, and having Andrew turn into a kitten (this was not one of Andrew's better days) shed, and then return to his normal state, an owl showed up instructing them all to attend an important order meeting that night. Even the scoobies were to be there. This put a damper on the mood and so they all decided to call it a day and the trio returned with the Scoobies to Hogwarts.
Reactions and Recognition Back at Hogwarts, the company parted ways: Harry, Ron and Hermione went to visit Dumbledore and the other five retired to their rooms to digest all of the information they had gleaned today. They all had been shocked at Ollivanders with the discovery of Xander's mage status. Some adjustments had to be made, and research and training would have to be done. Perceptions shifted and yet life went on. Change really was a fascinating phenomenon/p>
For Buffy, it was the discovery that once again, she had failed to keep Xander away from magic. This adventure was supposed to be straightforward: Find this guy Voldemort and his minions, get Willow to stop them from doing whatever they did, and then step in and kick their collective death eater asses. Simple really, right? But it had become complicated. Xander had already been changing, but now she was a little afraid that he would become unrecognizable. He was powerful now, and soon wouldn't need her help at all. Buffy felt a little relief when she realized that she had one less person to worry about. She began feeling a little bit better about the whole situation. However,she realized that subconsciously, she felt some jealousy as well, because she was accustomed to being the sole warrior. She would have to get over that if she was to keep his friendship, she mused to herself.
For Dawn and Andrew, it was just a matter of being impressed and excited for Xander. They might have been envious that he had "come into his own" but in the end they were simply happy for him.
Willow was both happy and anxious for her friend. Unbeknownst to Xander, she had gone back to Ollivander's to reassure herself that the temptation to the dark side would not happen to Xander. He reminded her that mages were purely warriors for the light, and that if Xander was to turn to the dark side, his powers would be naturally stripped from him. His powers would simply disappear. She thought that that was a good thing. Mr. Ollivander also informed her very politely, that it was Alexander LaVelle's place to do the research; after all he had the tools, and that the best thing for her to do as a Witch was help him develop. The better thing for her to do, however, was be there for him. With that, the old store keeper left her to collect Xander from the coffee shop. Now, in her room, she meditated on the problem for a while and decided that the old adage was true. She would not walk behind him, for he may not lead, she would not walk ahead of him, for he may not follow, so she would just walk beside him and be his friend.
Alexander LaVelle Harris felt like he didn't know himself anymore. He was having an identity crisis of major proportions. "Damnit!" he yelled. He ran his fingers through his hair. "I thought the big shit was over since the defeat of the First, I thought I was just going to lead a normal life...and now I'm officially a warrior...and if that wasn't enough, I'm fucking Elven..." he yelled. "Elven! How dumb is that? If the other scoobies find this out they're gonna [hit] freak [smack] right [pound] out! [growl]. He needed to get out of the castle. He shucked off his clothes, pulled shorts, a long sleeved t shirt, and his running shoes on and tore out of the castle for a cathartic run.
After running a few miles to reduce his stress level, he actually was able to think. The anger and denial pouring out of him each step left only the truth to be dealt with. He went through the facts. First, he was in a niche of the world that based itself around magic. Second, he was a mage. Third, being a mage meant that he was indeed both magic and at least a little bit Elf. He felt the tips of his ears as he ran. Nope, still round. Fourth, he, the Sunnydale crew and the three musketeers had to defeat an evil wizard with the combination of their powers. This was serious.
He thought of past battles and realized that, although he had definitely participated in the fighting, he had often been paired up with someone stronger or more magical for his own good. Oh, it wasn't as if his talents weren't utilized (usually pertaining to some form of modern weaponry or another)it was just that he had been so limited. In Sunnydale, his strength was limited by his normality, and his magic was negligible. He fought as hard as he could, but the fact of the matter was, without Buffy, Spike,or Willow around, he wouldn't be alive today. Now he had power. He could feel it in the ground beneath him, in the air around him, seeping into him. It was as if a conduit had been opened when he first touched the wand, and it had remained open ever since. He knew instinctively that this could not be closed, even if he decided to not use his powers. His magic. If he fought, he was going to be fighting Voldemorte on the front lines with no one to protect him this time. Indeed he would have to be the protector this time.
'Okay,' he thought to himself. That's the situation. Now what are my options, he thought to himself. One - I can simply leave. Two - I can stay and at least do the normal Xander thing which is to get beaten up, but at least fight like a human. He dismissed this one as ridiculous right away. Three - I can accept this and try to become an Elven War Mage. Xander stopped running and sighed. Obviously he would have to choose the third option. "Well, Alex, it's time to start your new life." The decision had been made. As he ran back he decided that he didn't, after all, have to tell the others about the Elven part.
Alex got back into the rooms and took a nice hot relaxing bath. He had made his decision. Now all that mattered was following through. He grabbed some indigo died jeans, a white T-shirt and his grey suede button down shirt and put it on. He threaded the black leather belt with the brushed silver plaque buckle through the belt loops and slipped on his comfy leather flip flops. First impressions meant a great deal, he knew from experience, and he had to convince a whole room full of people to have confidence in his abilities. He then packed his computer, his book and his wand into his black Italian messenger back and walked down to the library to see if he could learn to charm his hair back to a more sedate color before dinner.
Within half an hour he had the charm down pat with a little help from Andrew and Dawn. He had bumped into them on the way to the library, and they had decided to come with him. They were excited about their wands and kept on whipping them out and pointing them at random things a la Quick Draw McDraw. When they got to the library, they found a basic charms book, and his hair was now brownish black to match his outfit, Dawn's hair was bright cherry red, to match the punk look she was sporting, and Andrew's was all royal blue to match Dawn. Xander suddenly had a memory of an old friend pop up and when Andrew was distracted, changed his hair back to it's normal color with blue highlights to appease his mind. He then turned back to his book and focused his attention on the history of his heritage, losing himself in the stories of warrior after warrior battling for the light against wizards, demons, witches, succubae...you name it, there were warriors fighting it. In a time long gone, they rode on Dragon steeds. When that was no longer plausible they fought on horse. And when those didn't work, they would fight on the ground, with no advantage and sometimes to their disadvantage. They fought tirelessly and for a cause. He felt that he wasn't possibly worthy of the name LaVelle. But he would be.
The alarm on his computer went off, and he realized it was time to meet again in the Great Hall. He packed up, got Dawn and Andrew's attention, and they all walked to dinner together, him wrapped up in his own little world, and Dawn and Andrew wrapped up in their little world.
They were pleased to see that Hermione, Harry, and Ron had decided to join them, and so they once again commandeered one end of the high table in order to more easily converse. Willow opted to be the one to sit next to Snape. It seemed that they had some interests in common, and the conversation flowed fairly consistantly between them. Andrew and Dawn had adopted Hermione into their discussion of Science versus Magic, which left Ron, Harry, and Xander to their own devices. Well... honestly, it left Alex a little out of the picture, after all, Ron and Harry were old friends and could talk endlessly about anything. Or rather Harry talked while Ron put in his two cents here and there. After observing the people surrounding him for a while, he decided to do a little multi-tasking and pulled out his laptop, surfing for websites that pertained to Elven and Mage lore while he ate.
Since dinner was finished right before meeting time, the professors and guests slowly meandered to the meeting room, breaking off into small parties to discuss this or that. Dumbledore, however, elected to stay at the back of the crowd with Alex. "Alexander LaVelle Harris, I heard that there are some changes in your life; how would you like me to introduce you to the rest of the order?" Dumbledore asked. Though Xander completely mistook Dumbledore's question, the Headmaster took his answer seriously "Well, I've been thinking of maybe going back to Alexander or Alex for short and using LaVelle as my last name. I have no ties to any Harris's to worry about. Why don't you introduce me as Alexander LaVelle." Xander (now officially Alex) replied. "Ah, my dear boy, I see you have many adventures ahead of you. Had I known of your existence earlier...well, I shall not think about what shall not be, War Mage LaVelle." Dumbledore smiled. "Who told you about that?" Xander was shocked that Dumbledore already knew about his status when he himself had only found out that day. He was rather upset that someone had told what was his story to tell. "Please don't be too displeased Alexander, Ollivander is on our side and merely wanted me to understand why you were brought here." Dumbledore gently consoled "Now my dear boy, we are at the meeting room. I fear we shall have to take this conversation up at a later date." With a mischievous smile, Dumbledore turned and maneuvered his way to the head of the crowded room.
The room was set up in the same way very small lecture halls are generally set up. There were three long tables which went from one end of the room to the other. The first one was level with the front podium, the next table was up a level, and the next table was up another level. This allowed everybody to see the speaker. However the furnishings were extravagent and lush. The deep mahogany tables were beautifully bordered in carvings of vines, and the matching chairs were cushioned in either red, blue, green or black velvet. The curtains in the room were draped in blue velvet, and the floor was laid down with beautiful blue Persian rugs on a perfectly finished wood floor. In the corner of the room, there were maps laid out of the different known strongholds of Voldemort, detailed and built to scale and on one wall were the names of known death eaters. Opposite to that were the names of the dead. Though morbid, it did get the point across. This was not fun, this was war. Personally, Alex thought it was a bit much. After all of the battles he had fought, all the apocalypses the scoobies had averted, and all the baddies they had beaten, he knew that it was important to not get too caught up in the darkness. You had to have hope as well.
He looked around the room and saw a huge bay window and then, rather rashly cranked the curtains open to watch the gorgeous sunset. Dawn and Andrew then proceeded to tie them wide open - reinforcing the message. Hope was needed. He then walked to the back of the room, straddled a chair, and pulled out his laptop again. So was research. The room quieted down at this enigmatic act and the meeting was started.
Dumbledore had already let the members know of new arrivals that would aid in the fight against Voldemort so the introductions were, for the most part brief.
"This is Buffy Summers. She is a slayer and has survived longer than any longer slayer in history. She has, with the help of numerous friends, including those you see here, averted apocalypses, slain demons and vampires nightly, and defeated the First Evil.
This is Dawn Summers. She does the research for the group, and also fights alongside of them. We will be training her magic.
This is Andrew Wills. He helps with the research, records happenings, and fights alongside of the group as well. He is well-versed in technology, but needs to be trained in magic.
This is Willow Rosenberg. She is a powerful wand less witch. She, too, does some of the research, but focuses most of her energy on defensive spells and potions.
This is Alexander LaVelle. He also aids in the research, and the fighting. As of recently he has discovered that he has an aptitude for magic and we will be there not to teach but to support his magic growth. He is an Elven Mage of the family LaVelle." The room exploded.
Dumbledore waited for the noise to pass, and then moved on to the meeting at hand, doling out assignment to various people, and updating his information on the movements of death eaters. Until they could have a fairly permanent location, no attack was to be made and a call was made in need of people to create and augment defensive spells. Spies were sent back out, and Animagus's were sent to sniff around for more information.
Alex and the rest of the Scoobies collected in the back and talked about the night's meeting. "Elven?" Willow said with a quiet squeal, "You didn't tell us that! Oh and what's this about the name Alexander LaVelle...are you serious about this? Do you, like, want to change your name?" Alex let out a small sigh. "I'm only like a quarter Elven. I don't even have the pointy ears. And the name change is actually not that new. My life has changed a lot in the past year or so. I no longer feel like Xander Harris the Zeppo. I'm not attached to the name Harris anymore, for one thing, and for another, I happen to like the name Alex for professional reasons. I've been using the name Alexander LaVelle for the past year at school and...other places. I just didn't want to hurt you guys at all" Alex shrugged. Willow smiled a rather tremulous smile and said," okay Alex, but you'll still have my yellow crayon right?" He laughed and reassured her of their always continuing friendship.
By now the room was quite empty, and the scoobies were dismissed. Dawn and Andrew went to their rooms to play computer games, and Buffy and Willow went to train. Both groups had asked if Alex wanted to tag along, but he just wanted to go to his room, crawl into his sueded jersey pants and then into his warm cozy bed. He got as far as his portrait when a hand landed lightly on his arm, and startled him out of his silent reverie.