Title: A Kind of Magick
Author: DhampyrX2
Genre: X-over w/ Harry Potter
Series: none...yet
Rating: PG-13, just to be safe
Summary: Xander accompanied Giles and Willow to England to make sure she settled in well with the Devon coven after her Darth Willow episode, and has a chance to check in with some of his lesser discussed relations.
Timeframe: Between seasons 6 & 7.
Disclaimer: I don't own these characters. Don't sue me, I'm poor.
"Hey G-man, how's our red-haired girl settling into her new regiment?" Xander asked with a joviality he did not feel as he met Giles that afternoon.
"Hello, Xander. And please refrain from using that infernal nickname," Giles replied as he cleaned his glasses compulsively at the young man's question.
"What's with the glasses wipage?" Xander asked in immediate concern; long Scooby-research experience with Giles and his habits had familiarized Xander with all the classic warning signs of trouble. The former librarian was displaying several with his posture alone, and the rag trying to change his vision prescription as the speed of the wiping increased only increased the young man's worry. "Giles?" Xander prompted when he received no answer at first.
"Y..yes," the one time terror of London's demon community stuttered.
"What. Is. Wrong. With. Willow?" Xander enunciated slowly and deliberately.
"Nothing," Giles quickly returned, which only earned him a disbelieving stare and crossing of Xander's arms. "Honestly. She's just interviewing with an...old friend of the Council's so we know the best way to proceed with her treatment. I suppose I just worry because it never should have progressed to this point. I...I should have seen the signs before and helped her better. Now, I need extra help just to gain hope she'll recover," he admitted finally.
"Welcome to my world," Xander returned in a dead voice. "Now, does this mystery interviewer have a name?" he prompted when it looked like he would get no more information.
"None I imagine you'd recognize, except perhaps through research in the library," Giles replied absently.
"So someone moderately book-famous then," Xander mused as a sliver of ice began to form in his belly. He could think of three names Giles might end up with he 'might' know from research, and only one was a good thing in his estimation. Please be Aunt Cissa's friend Snape. Please be Aunt Cissa's friend Snape. Please be Aunt Cissa's friend Snape, he pleaded in his mind.
"Indeed. He's well, a wizard of great power and influence," Giles explained.
Oh Goddess, no! It wouldn't be Potter, so it has to be... Xander replied in his mind as Giles continued.
"...by the name of Albus Dumbledore. He's the headmaster of a rather famous school for Witchcraft and Wizardry," Giles said.
"Huh. They have schools for mojo like that, huh? I'm surprised Wills didn't sign up Junior year," Xander replied, feigning ignorance.
"Ah, but as you well know, she was the wrong type of Witch to enroll so late in her education, and yet so early, Mr. Harris." a kindly and wizened voice broke in from behind the muggle construction worker and part-time demon hunter.
Xander tried not to cringe at the sound of the famous Headmaster's voice even as Giles looked on questioningly at the odd statement. "I beg your pardon?" the Watcher asked.
Dumbledore just looked on with a secretive smile, as genuine good humor danced in his eyes, until Xander finally growled under his breath and irritably replied, "My mom was born British, but they shipped her to the 'Dale when she was like five or six. All of her family are Witches and Wizards, but she's what they call a squib, a mojo dud basically, so she was disowned and forgotten. She's not even on the family tree anymore. If my grandparents were still alive, they'd sooner have spit on me than look at me. Consequently, outside of another disowned aunt and cousin, I have no family as far as Mom's side is concerned, and I'm not a big fan of them or their society. I don't like prissy bigots."
"M...my word. But, you...you didn't even believe in vampires, or know about the Hellmouth?" Giles responded in confusion.
Xander shrugged as he answered, "My aunt and cousin didn't even manage to track me down until I was thirteen or so. And even with everything I saw them do, I didn't trust them. Especially after I learned why Mom was kicked to the curb. My relations are not of the good. Hell they disowned Aunt Andromeda for marrying a mudblood wizard. He has powers and everything, but his pedigree didn't meet snuff, so they booted her. Until I met Buffy, and lost Jesse to the vamps, I was more than willing to stay away from the whole shebang outside of occasional visits and things I tried to convince myself I was exaggerating." His reply was a bit of a blur of the truth, actually. He was more like eight or nine the first time he met Tonks, who was a few years older than him, and he met Aunt Cissa when he was eleven or so. Still it passed on the needed information, and the sentiments behind it, accurately enough.
Albus had the grace to look appropriately embarrassed by the scathing words and tone Xander employed, after all he had every reason to be that bitter. "It is also why young Mister Harris tried to forget anything to do with Hogwarts, and why he refused to be tested for magick in a neutral area when I asked him as a boy," Dumbledore interjected.
"I really didn't want to want to play a game of 'which accident will finish me off to hide my family's shame'. As far as I wanted to know I had a nice normal life with Willow and Jesse. The rest of you could do your thing without me," Xander stated with a scowl.
The aged Wizard nodded his head in acceptance of Xander's words; they were nothing new to him, after all. "I have already given my assessment to the coven, Mister Giles. If I might, could I have Alexander escort me back to where I can safely apparate home? I would like to discuss some things with him that he might be embarrassed to share with you right now," the Hogwarts legend asked mildly.
"If Xander agrees..." Giles hedged in a somewhat protective tone. For all intents and purposes, Xander was one of his kids. If the presence of Dumbledore bred this level of animosity in him, then maybe it might be best not to let him be further agitated. The lad had been through so much after all...
"It's cool, Giles. There's some stuff about Wills I guess I should ask, and I don't speak Watcher or Wiccan well enough to dumb it down. I can walk old Bumblebee here back to where he wants to vanish," Xander replied. His tone was cold, but accepting. Besides, he needed to ask about Puff, anyway.
"Are you sure?" the Watcher asked seriously.
"I'm good. I wanted to visit my cousin later anyway while I'm here, so I might as well try to mend some bridges and stuff. I'll talk it out with you when I get back," the White Knight assured.
Giles nodded in acceptance of Xander's words and headed off toward Willow's lodgings with a concerned look, as the pair walked toward the woods to the north.
"So, what's your real verdict?" Xander asked in a professional tone left over from the long ago soldier possession. It was a voice meant for debriefings with both the brass, and with subordinates, and it gave away nothing.
Dumbledore sighed as he regarded the lad walking beside him. He knew Xander avoided most of the Wizarding world outside of his blood relations, but he never realized how resentful Bellatrix and her mother's actions had left him to them all. "She will recover with time, and careful concern. The coven knows their matters more than well enough to help her. It's her own desire to punish herself that will be her greatest obstacle to recovery," Albus said after a time.
Xander nodded in agreement. He could see the storm of loathing and self-recrimination building the second he had talked her down. Willow always had been her own worst enemy. "I figured as much," he replied non-commitally.
"The Ministry did want me to check her for the Mark. I won't lie to you about it," the elderly wizard supplied without prompting once Xander seemed ready to hear it.
"I figured that, too. She's not Dark, and even if she was, she's not yours to punish. I'll tell you what I was too nice to say to Tonks. I don't care of she's got an 'I heart Voldemort' tattoo on her ass and a 'Death Eaters are Fun' bumper sticker for her car, she's not yours to deal with. If they try to hurt her, they'll have to go through me, and I know way more about you and your methods than you want to know about me and mine. Anyone who hurts my loved ones better expect to come away bloody. At best," Xander cautioned in that same dead voice.
"You would have made a smashing Hufflepuff, lad. Your loyalty does you credit," Dumbledore replied as if he had not just been all but threatened with a painful death.
"I'm too sneaky for Hufflepuff, to dumb for Ravenclaw, too shady for Gryffindor, and I wont' kiss Moldybutt's ass for Slytherin. I never belonged there to begin with, and I made the right choice staying away," Xander retorted icily.
"I would argue every point you just made but the one about Severus' house," Albus shot back with a hint of amusement.
"As far as I care, I'm a squib," Xander declared back nastily.
"There's nothing wrong with being one. But I doubt those born without magick set spell books alight when they forget to suppress their power," Dumbledore responded.
Xander had no ready reply for that. The incident in question still bothered him; almost as much as anyone outside of Tonks, Aunt Rommie, Aunt Cissa, or Puff knowing about it did. "It's not important," he finally stated in a tone that said the matter was closed for discussion.
"Perhaps not for this conversation. I imagine your more concerned for your cousin than for the past. That is your way," the old professor agreed.
"I need to talk with him privately. That will only happen if I can catch him at your school in the next couple of weeks before you let out. I need to know his intentions," Xander informed the Headmaster of Hogwarts.
"Are you certain you're willing to surround yourself with us like that for this?" Albus asked absently, as if the thought was a random one of a man loosing his wits to age.
"Don't play Alzheimer's patient with me, Bumblebee-man. I'd go to Hell itself to give the Devil a wedgie if my family needed me to. Draco's family, no matter how much I annoy him. I need to see how he is personally," Xander returned as he returned to his professional tone.
"They've both asked you to look in on him," Albus stated in a much more serious voice.
"They both think it's coming to a head soon. This whole thing stinks like Sunnydale Hellmouthy crap. It probably even has a lame assed prophecy nobody bothered to mention to me yet tagged to Moldybutt and that Potter kid Sirius was so fond of. Frankly, I don't know, and I don't care. All I want is Draco to come out of the aftermath safe. If I have to bludgeon him with a shovel and drag him away from this to save him, I will. If I have to do what you and your Order refuse to and finish Snakeman himself off to save the kid, I will. If I have to stand back and let 'dear' Uncle Lucius get arrested when he screws up again so I can save him, I'll dance a happy jig as it happens. All that matters is that Draco is safe and has a chance to be happy. From what I hear, the happy part might be the difficult part of the equation," Xander replied without a bit of doubt in his voice.
"You'll side with the Order, then?" Albus inquired, a bit surprised.
"Hell no," Xander shot back definitively. "I'll get Draco fray adjacent, that's it. Finit. Done. You can both destroy yourselves and each other beyond that for all I care. Feel free to play out your little Magneto versus Professor Xavier fantasies to your heart's content wherever my family won't get killed for it. I already have war to fight, and the stakes are a Hell of a lot higher than one lame ass Wizard with delusions of grandeur that you're too wishy-washy to take executive action against. You're the ones getting munched because you send Aurors and Hitwitches to do a sniper's job. That's your damage. All I care about is me and mine. Let him win and see just what the muggle world is like when he comes for us. I'd love to see how long he'd last against a properly breifed special forces unit. It would be funny as hell if it wasn't so sad."
Dumbledore didn't know what to say to that. Alexander was being brutally frank in his opinions, and for the first time ever Albus was beginning to agree with the lad's decision to stay out of the Wizarding World to a degree. His battles against the demonic forces left him more scarred and dangerous than the Wizard had expected. Still, he cared deeply for his family, both blood and extended like Mr. Giles and Miss Rosenberg. Dumbledore could not fault that reasoning a bit. "I'll arrange something for you to visit in the next couple of days. You might want to get a room at the inn once things here are settled, though. To make it easier to reach Mister Malfoy, if nothing else," Albus finally offered.
"I'll talk it over with Tonks," Xander replied with a nod. He knew he had shaken the old guy up with his replies. Frankly he hoped it woke him up to what life on a portal to Hell really meant. If Dumbledore could pull his head up out of the sand, this all would have been settled before Xander was ever born. Instead, it's gone on for generations.
Dumbledore tried valiantly to smile at Xander once he said that, before he took out the slip of paper that was his portkey, and spoke the activation phrase to return him to his office. "Snickerdoodles," the old wizard said with a sad smile, one that bordered on pity and made Xander want to scream at him even as he disappeared.
"No good will come of this. I just freaking know it," Xander groused under his breath after a moment to fume at the idea of Dumbledore pitying him, before he stalked off to see Giles and Willow.
END PART 3