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.
"You seemed to have a bit of a problem ditching the golden boy's groupies after all, Mister Harris. Miss Granger is one of Potter's primary shadows," Severus Snape disdainfully intoned as the pair entered his office.
Xander shrugged indifferently as he replied, "I guessed that when the Potter kid dragged off a glaring redhead I'm assuming was the another of his posse. It wasn't anything to worry too much over."
"The Weasley boy, I assume. I doubt his sister would have needed to be dragged off while glaring at you. Young Ron isn't exactly someone well versed in hiding his intentions," Snape returned with a derisive snort.
"We can't all grow up learning just when to keep quiet and watch our surroundings," Xander countered evenly.
"You hardly seemed quiet with our resident know-it-all. Although I dare say that had more to do with Albus and his off the cuff attempt at giving you proper cover than any failure on your part," Snape admitted grudgingly as he sat at his desk and motioned for Xander to settle into an empty seat.
The youngest living Black smiled a smile uncommon at Hogwarts outside of the Slytherin dorms as he replied, "It worked better than expected, actually. I developed a perfectly fleshed out cover that's easy to remember. Mostly because minus the me being a Watcher stuff, I just told the truth about my experiences with the Council and the Slayers, and deflected any and all credit to them like a good little neophyte Watcher. It will give Hermione and her buddies something to research that would come up golden if they managed to find anything, and gives me an excuse to be here for few days at least. I could have done worse."
"Thank Merlin you aren't just the slow-witted do-gooder you present yourself as," Snape responded with smirk.
"You don't live long on a Hellmouth without learning when to take a passive role in certain situations, and learning how to lie through your teeth in others," Xander confided in a factual tone.
"At least until you start making a name for yourself, anyway. You are aware certain demon circles happily name you as Ripper's heir apparent for more than just his role as a Watcher, aren't you?" Snape inquired in a similar tone.
Xander seemed wholly disinterested as he replied, "I've heard some things like that. You torture a few uppity demons for information after you discover them planning a hit on the Slayer's little sister and all of a sudden you're death's angel incarnate to them. They really do tend to go for the melodramatics."
"I'm sure it was blown entirely out of proportion," Snape replied drolly. "After all, it isn't like you're descended from a Wizard's line known for squeezing information out of anyone in their way," he added sarcastically.
"Point taken. Ironic that /they/ never knew my pedigree, though. It might have made things easier," the carpenter mused aloud.
"So other than being forced to let Granger impart her infinite wisdom upon you, what have you discovered so far," Snape asked after a pause.
"You mean besides the fact Draco has a pair of totally unnecessary no-necks shadowing him to Quidditch practice, that he practices at a pace that gives the term 'obsessive compulsive' new meaning, and that he's apparently an even bigger racist loudmouth to his classmates than he's ever been to me?" Xander asked with a raised brow.
"In my godson's defense, his practice and torment rates are more related to matching and antagonizing Potter than any real desire to say anything to the girl. I dare say he'd take the more traditional path a pureblood takes to muggle-borns and ignore her completely if she wasn't a close friend of Draco's worst rival," the Potions Master responded.
"I figured there were extenuating circumstances. Of course from the impression I got about how much Hermione and Draco must argue, you might want to make certain to keep them away from broom closets and other tight spaces while alone. As much fun as the heart attack Lucius might have from what could result might be, I don't want to hear about my cousin getting lynched," Xander replied conspiratorially.
"I'll keep that in mind," Severus replied with a roll of his eyes.
"Heh You remind me of Giles, Master Snape," Xander commented after a pause.
"I don't know whether to be flattered, worried, or insulted by that," Snape admitted after a pause.
"Go with flattered. It shows me why Aunt Cissa calls you a friend" the nephew of Narcissa replied. "Now, on a more important and relevant note, when do you think the best time would be to catch my cousin alone to talk to him?" he asked a moment later.
Snape mulled the inquiry over for several seconds before he replied, "Approximately an hour from now when he comes back from Quidditch practice. His so called friends don't bother to escort him back to the dungeons because he returns with the rest of the team, and he usually breaks off to avoid Miss Parkinson for as long as possible."
"Parkinson, eh? Does little Drakkie have a girlfriend?" Xander inquired slyly.
Snape snorted as he responded, "More like what you Americans would call a stalker. Miss Pansy Parkinson seeks to improve her standing among other pure bloods the old fashioned way. By marrying up into a more esteemed family. Draco has the misfortune of being related to two such families. She's determined to force the issue no matter how short he is with her."
"Ah" Xander replied with an heir of understanding. "A 'Harmony' rather than a girlfriend then. Poor kid," he mused sympathetically.
"A 'Harmony'?" Snape inquired.
"Harmony Kendall. A muggle in my year of high school that sounds like she was cut from similar cloth to your Pansy. She ended up a vampire and 'love interest' interestingly enough to a vamp called Spike that looks like a lost relative of Lucius and Draco. My friends and I decided as a whole she was the most annoying tag-along sheep in existence and should have been staked on sight /before/ she ever became a vampire," Xander explained.
"I've heard more than one of my own Slytherins, including young Mister Malfoy, suggest far less noble fates for Ms. Parkinson when she's in a particular snit. There are days I miss the freedom of my time as a student with a few well placed hexes to use over my stature now as the House Master," Snape responded with a derisive snort.
"So who was the wanker in the library, 'Mione?" Ron asked the moment he saw Hermione after her class.
"Ronald Weasley, how dare you use language like that and insult someone you don't even know!" Hermione admonished hotly
Before Ron could say anything else to get the bushy haired prefect into a more pronounced mood, Harry hurried to his side and cuffed him lightly on the back of his head. "I thought we agreed to be tactful and ask nicely, Ron," the-boy-who-lived spat in exasperation. "Sorry, Hermione. He got away before I could grab him. You know how he gets" Harry apologized after giving Ron a stern glare.
"It's alright, Harry. You're not supposed to be his keeper. At least not /all/ the time," Hermione teased with a put-upon sigh.
Harry gave a sickly variation of what would have normally been a good-natured chuckle as he responded, "Yeah, I have to trade off with you when I can. And occasionally I let Ginny have a go. She has more practice keeping him in line than we do, after all."
"How very true," Hermione agreed with a smile.
"Hey!" Ron protested loudly as he began to blush to the tips of his ears.
This earned a small laugh from the entire golden trio as the tension of Ron's blatant jealousy was drained off. Once they settled down, they walked off down the hall toward their house common room. "So, who /was/ the guy you were showing around earlier?" Harry asked after a while.
"Hmmm? Oh! Well, I'm not really supposed to say..." Hermione hedged uncertainly.
"Oh come on, 'Mione. We won't spread it around, and it's the only way to calm Ron down before his head explodes," Harry implored as he glanced at Ron, who was getting red again.
"Oh, all right. But you both better keep it to yourselves," Hermione warned after a moment of consideration. "His name is Alexander Harris, and he's here from the Watcher's Council to put together a report and historical perspective piece about Hogwarts in the modern era. Headmaster Dumbledore asked me to show him around the school because the Professors are all getting their O.W.L. and N.E.W.T.S. material together to test us. I gave him a tour of the campus until Professor Snape took him off my hands to make sure Slytherin got their say in his report," Hermione reported.
"Greasy git," Ron muttered reflexively under his breath at the mention of the Potions Professor. "Probably doin' all he can to make Gryffindor sound like a bunch of goits."
Harry looked like he really wanted to agree with Ron there, but knew Hermione would get upset at their bashing of a professor as she always did, so he held his tongue. Instead he asked a more important question "What's the Watcher's Council?"
Both Hermione and Ron looked at him like he was nutters before they launched into an explanation of the Council, the Slayer, and the world of supernatural creatures not truly related to the Wizarding World.
"Wait, wait, wait. If there's a group in place to stop major threats like this, why aren't they helping us with You-Know-Who?" Harry finally asked after he got the gist of their explanation.
"Well, mostly politics. From what my father's said from time to time, Minister Fudge won't ask for help from a muggle like the Slayer whenever anyone suggests it, and the Council won't get too heavily involved Wizarding World because they have quite a bit to handle already with demons that avoid us like mad," Ron explained sheepishly.
"So we have to try to struggle through this without extra help used to this kind of fight because Fudge is a sodding idiot too proud to admit he's a wanker?" Harry angrily inquired.
"Like that's really news to anyone?" Ron darkly asked back.
Draco scanned the hallway surreptitiously for a pug-nosed blonde land barnacle named Pansy as he fell behind the rest of the team and headed for the Potions room. His godfather Professor Snape had taken to letting the young Malfoy heir have a few minutes respite in his office after practice if he could get there undetected.
The platinum blonde youth let out a sigh of relief as he entered the Potions room and headed to Snape's office. He had made it. He was safe for now.
His ruminations on how he could relax within his slightly extended respite were cut off abruptly; however, as a peculiar and hardly unfamiliar tune began haunt the air from a dark corner of the room.
Puff, the magic dragon, lived by the sea
And frolicked in the autumn mist in a land called Honalee.
Little Xander Harris loved that rascal Puff
And brought him strings and sealing wax and other fancy stuff, oh
Puff, the magic dragon, lived by the sea
And frolicked in the autumn mist in a land called Honalee.
Puff, the magic dragon, lived by the sea
And frolicked in the autumn mist in a land called Honalee.
Together they would travel on boat with billowed sail
Xander kept a lookout perched on Puff's gigantic tail
Noble kings and princes would bow whene'er they came
Pirate ships would lower their flags when Puff roared out his name, oh
Puff, the magic dragon, lived by the sea
And frolicked in the autumn mist in a land called Honalee.
Puff, the magic dragon, lived by the sea
And frolicked in the autumn mist in a land called Honalee.
A dragon lives forever, but not so little boys
Painted wings and giant's rings make way for other toys.
One grey night it happened, Xander Harris came no more
And Puff that /tiny/ dragon, he ceased his fearless roar.
His head was bent in sorrow/white hair/ fell like rain
Puff no longer went to play along the cherry lane.
Without his lifelong friend, Puff could not be brave
So, Puff that mighty dragon sadly slipped into his cave, oh
Puff, the magic dragon, lived by the sea
And frolicked in the autumn mist in a land called Honalee.
Puff, the magic dragon, lived by the sea
And frolicked in the autumn mist in a land called Honalee.
"b..bu...bloody hell," Draco exclaimed in shock.
END PART 8