Disclaimer: Don't own it! If I did, I would be making money. /opens wallet and moths fly out/ No money. No ownie.
Chapter 4
The Leaky Cauldron
London, England
December 15, 1997
Hermione frowned and nervously flattened her hair against the back of her neck as she stared at the door of Room 24. She then cursed under her breath and closed her eyes.
"Get a hold of yourself, girl!" she muttered. "It's just a casual meeting, nothing more. And he's not going to murder you and bury your parts in his backyard. His backyard is in America and you're in London and…oh, stuff it!"
Shaking her head, she opened her eyes and lifted her hand to knock on the door. There was a moment's scuffling then a shout from inside of, "It's open!"
Hermione slowly pushed the door open and her forehead wrinkled in curiosity as she saw Xander sitting with his back to her on an unmade bed. The other bed in the room was made and had an open suitcase sitting on top of it. Who else had come with him to visit his uncle?
Looking at the young man again, she noticed that he had his head bowed and a cell phone to his ear.
"Yes, Wills, we're fine," she heard him say, even though she was trying – and failing – not to eavesdrop. "And, yes, G-man is going to be on the flight back tonight. No, I'm not gonna be with him. 'Cause I can't leave Unc here on his lonesome. You just don't get it, Wills."
There was a pause and Xander sighed, shaking his head.
"I know I should've told you. I know that. And, yes, there are magical schools at home – they tried to snare me when I was eleven. No, I'm not crazy for not going. You and Jess were more important than learning how to wave a stick and make crazy things happen. You still are. I don't need magic to make a difference, Wills. I do that already. No, Giles did not know before this happened. And as to why I didn't take the offer – why I still wouldn't take the offer – is 'cause you guys need somebody completely human to keep you grounded. What do you mean why? You're learning Wicca, Giles is an ex black mage – no, forget that – dark wizard turned Watcher and our best friend is the Vampire Slayer. Do you want me to point out the other reasons why you three need somebody to ground you?"
Hermione blinked at the tail end of the conversation. Slayer? Wasn't that just a legend?
"Yeah, I know we've gotta have a talk about this. And resolve face doesn't work through the phone, Wills. I swear to you as your bestest bud it doesn't. 'Course we're still buds! Wills, we've been friends for how long? Yeah. You know me. I don't just up and abandon people. Yeah, like Unc."
He turned and glanced over his shoulder at Hermione, who waved slightly.
"Okay, gotta cut this short, Wills. I've got company. Okay, okay, I'll call back tonight. Right after G-man catches his flight. Thanks, Wills. 'Course I'll tell Unc you said 'hi.' And, no, I won't mention the strawberry shortcake incident to him. No power on earth will cause that tale to be told, remember? Yeah. Miss you too. Be safe. Tell Buffy I said 'hi' and make sure Deadboy stays in line. Hey, I'm just cautious! Okay. 'Bye."
Xander hung up the phone then fell back onto the bed, looking at Hermione upside down from tired brown eyes. Then they flickered with some emotion she couldn't describe but could remember seeing in Harry's eyes many times before.
"How much of that did you hear?" he asked in a steel-laced voice.
She looked at him for a moment before replying, "From where you were talking about the flight."
"Ah, so the beginning." Xander frowned for a moment then grunted, going from lying down to standing in one fluid motion. "So, any questions? I know there's gotta be something 'cause I didn't bother to do subterfuge at all during that conversation."
"Is the Slayer real?"
The young man blinked then chuckled, shaking his head.
"You could'a picked anything and you pick that question," he said, almost to himself. "What is it with you wizard folk and the Slayer?"
"You're a wizard too," pointed out Hermione.
Xander looked at her and said, "I've got the power but I don't use it. At least not on purpose. I did once set the cat on fire but that's an entirely different story." He smiled then went on, "Okay, the Slayer. What do you know about her? Tell me that and we'll move on from there."
Hermione frowned, trying to remember all the ghostly Professor Binns had taught them about the Slayer in History of Magic class. They'd only briefly gone over her and the dull ghost had cast her off as a legend made up to scare the creatures of the night.
"She is a supernatural warrior called – usually during adolescence – after the previous Slayer dies. Stronger, faster, and more agile than a regular mortal, she fights the creatures of the night: the vampires, the demons, and other beasts. Only one Slayer can exist at a time and she has only her Watcher to help her, no friends, no family, nothing."
Xander looked at her for a moment then began, "Okay, first off, you sound like my history professor. It's kinda creepy."
"Is he a bore?"
"Very," he intoned seriously. Then he grinned and continued, "Anyway, you're right on a few points. The Slayer's a heck of a lot more faster than any normal person's got any right to be and she slays all the nasties of the night. The non-human one's at least. But you're wrong on the one Slayer can exist at the time thing."
She frowned and he explained, "Buffy – that's the Slayer – died a few months ago. CPR is a handy little trick to know when your friend just got drowned by the Master Vampire."
Hermione blinked then commented, "I suppose I'm wrong on her only having her Watcher for help, too."
"Definitely. Buffy's got me and Wills to help her out and Giles too. He's still stuffy but he's starting to care about the lot of us more than he should. Watcher's aren't supposed to get close to their charges, y'know. Apparently it's supposed to help incase they die, which I think is a load of BS."
"I see."
"Yeah."
"How long have you been helping her?"
Xander thought for a moment then replied, "Just over a year now. Feels like a heck of a lot longer, though."
"Why?"
"Why what?"
"Why do you help her?" asked Hermione.
Brown eyes considered her for a moment then a smirk twisted the corner of his mouth.
"Why do you help him?"
She blinked and took an involuntary step back at the tone of his voice as he asked that. Then she frowned and grumbled, "I asked you first."
Xander laughed outright at that and said, "True enough." He then sobered as he continued, "I help her cause it's the right thing to do. Before I just knew magic existed…now I know that there are things out there a lot nastier than the human crooks. I tried to go back after I found out – but I ended up in a cemetery a few hours later and just sat, wondering how many graves were really empty because there wasn't a body to put in them anymore. After that there wasn't any going back."
"Your turn now," he chirped a moment later, grinning at her.
Hermione scowled then shook her head, saying, "I've been Harry's friend ever since…"
"Mountain troll incident," interrupted Xander. When she glared at him, he held up his hands and said, "Hey, Unc was personally impressed with how you three handled it. It's not everyday a trio of eleven-year-old's take on a fully-grown mountain troll. I wouldn't have wanted to take on something like that when I was eleven."
Hermione assessed that then went back to speaking.
"As I was saying…I've been Harry's friend since Halloween of our first year at Hogwarts. At first I thought he and Ron just wanted to keep me around because I was smart, but after a little while I realized that wasn't so. Well, maybe Ron did but Harry was different. He genuinely wanted a friend and despite the things we've had to put up with since then, I wouldn't want to stand anywhere else than beside him. I'm not sure why really. He's just…"
"…your friend," finished Xander for her with a small smile. When she looked at him oddly, he said, "Not just anybody can stand next to somebody who's got a destiny like we do. And we do it for one simple reason: because they're our friends."
Hermione stared at him for a moment then smiled, nodding.
"You don't seem like the sort of person that hands out uplifting speeches," she observed a few minutes later, taking in the baggy khaki pants and blue tinted Hawaiian shirt thrown over a white tee that he was currently wearing.
Xander grinned widely at that and said, "Yeah, the goof image kinda throws everything off kilter. I like it that way. Means I can do things folks don't expect me to do." He shrugged slightly as he added, "Having an ex-spy for an uncle is kinda useful, y'know."
There was a moment of silence between them after that statement then she asked, "Did you know what he was?"
"You mean did I know he was one of Moldywart's little soldiers of doom and darkness and all that icky stuff?"
"That's not quite how I'd put it," said Hermione with a barely held back chuckle, "but alright."
Xander cracked another grin at her comment then he sobered, nodding his head.
"Yeah, I knew," he said. "He actually keeps a place in Sunnydale – where I'm from – and I'd stay there with him whenever he was in town. Despite my goof nature, my family life isn't the best, y'see. I won't bore you with all the messy details of it, though."
Hermione winced at the nonchalant manner in which he spoke about it. She'd had enough practice in reading Harry that she knew he was a little embarrassed and ashamed of his family. And didn't quite know why he was telling someone who was practically a stranger such intimate details about himself.
"Anyway," he continued, not noticing her wince, "it was around the time one of the school's back home was trying to recruit me that I found out about it. A big freaking eagle owl landed at the end of my bed and let me tell you, that's a damn scary thing for an eleven-year-old to see just staring at them out of the dark in the middle of the night. Naturally I screamed and fell off the bed trying to get away from the thing, which brought Unc running to see what was wrong."
Xander smiled faintly at the memory and shook his head.
"I shocked the hell out of him with my response after I saw the thing."
When he fell silent, Hermione took a step towards him and reached out to touch his shoulder. When he looked curiously up at him at the contact, she pushed, "What did you do?"
The young man grinned at that and replied, "Gave him a hug and told him that it didn't matter to me."
His response stunned her into silence for a moment and she had to struggle with what she said next. She just couldn't get her mind around the fact that someone felt about Snape the way the young man in front of her did. Not after spending six years with him as her professor and watching him belittle nearly every soul in Hogwarts.
"He…he means a lot to you, doesn't he?"
"He's one of the two relatives I have that care about me," replied Xander. He looked up at her and said, "I know you probably can't see how but, like I've said before, you don't know the side of him that I do."
Hermione stared at him for a moment then looked down at the floor, scuffing one foot lightly.
"Then help me get to know it."
He blinked and stared at her, brown eyes wide.
"You…you're serious?"
"Yes."
Xander stared at her for a moment longer then shook his head, mumbling, "Wow. I never expected…" He then looked hard at her and pushed, "You're certain you wanna do this? 'Cause if you start liking him with all that's going on, you're gonna be alienated. Maybe even from your own friends."
That thought made Hermione falter for a moment but she shoved it aside. Harry and Ron would just have to deal with it. If Snape was really going with Dumbledore's orders…he was technically innocent of murder. Was killing under order or someone close to you who asked – who begged – murder?
"I'm sure," she said then, eyes sparking with determination.
A bright smile broke across Xander's face at that and he held out a hand for her to grasp.
"Welcome to the Society of Idiots Who Think Severus Snape is Innocent, then," he quipped. She laughed and gripped his hand in hers, a smile twitching her own lips. His smile and goofy demeanor was infectious… "We now make a grand total of three people. Four, I guess, if you count Unc's lawyer, though I've never met the guy in person."
"Whose the other?" asked Hermione just as the door opened behind her. She turned and blinked as a tall, gray-haired man dressed in a rumpled looking tweed suit came into the room with a harried expression on his face.
"Xander, where on Earth did I leave those…" He noticed Hermione before he'd winced his sentence and blinked. "Ah. I see we have company."
The youth chuckled and rose, saying, "G-man, this is Hermione Granger – I ran into her in the Ministry a few days ago. Hermione, this is Rupert Giles, librarian and Watcher in his spare time."
"Xander! What on Earth are you…"
"I told her, G-man. Chill."
The Watcher stared at the young man for a moment then caused Hermione to giggle when he muttered, "Merlin save me from the youth of America." He then turned towards her and said, "I hope my young 'friend' here hasn't been too barbaric. American's can be as such at times."
"Hey!" exclaimed Xander. "I resemble that remark!"
Hermione couldn't help but giggle at that and Giles cast her an amused look that had a wary haze behind it. She noted it and couldn't fault him for it. Technically she was a stranger to both of them and truthfully knew that even Xander's apparent camaraderie with her was just his nature. They weren't really friends.
Not yet at least.
"I take it you're going somewhere, Mister Giles?" she asked as he began to move about the room, occasionally placing a object within the suitcase she'd noticed earlier.
"Back to America, I'm afraid," replied Giles. "There have been some…problems…of late that require my attention." He looked at Xander then and asked, "You wouldn't happen to know where my plane ticket went, would you?"
"It's on the dresser, G-man," replied the youth. As the older man went to retrieve it, he leaned towards Hermione and whispered, "Robots."
She blinked and turned to stare incredulously at him.
"What?"
"Robots," he repeated. "Apparently Buffy's mom was dating a robot. Her and Buffy have been having issues since then since everyone thought Buffy had killed him."
Hermione blinked slowly several times as she absorbed this information then said, "You lead a very strange life."
Xander shrugged slightly, a sheepish smile on his face.
"On the Hellmouth, nothing's strange anymore. You headin' out, G-man?"
"Yes," replied the harried looking Watcher. "And would you cease calling me that infernal nickname?"
"Sure, G-man."
Hermione covered her mouth to muffle her giggles as Giles glared at Xander. Then he sighed and spoke in a voice that carried an undertone of fatherly concern.
"Do be careful, Xander. Severus has dealt with many unsavory people in his life and any number of them could come out of the woodwork before and after this trial. Keep your eyes open and try not to get kidnapped or anything. I would greatly despise having to explain to the airport personnel why one of my bags is filled with weaponry."
The young man was halfway tempted to tell him how he'd gotten his guns and ammo over but decided again it. He waved a hand dismissively instead and said, "You've got nothin' to worry about, G-man. I'll be careful. Promise."
Giles arched an eyebrow and Xander added, "Scout's honor."
"Xander…"
"Okay, I was never a Scout but you get my point. Now shoo and go do the comfortingly Watcher thing."
"Be careful," cautioned Giles again. Then he nodded towards Hermione and mumbled, "Miss Granger," before he vanished out the door. Xander looked after him for a moment then fell back onto his bed with a grunt.
"Sheesh, I thought he'd never leave."
Hermione smiled and looked down at him, absently noting he wasn't wearing any shoes. "He cares about you."
Xander propped himself up on his elbows and said, "Yeah, I know but I can only stand so much worry."
"He's worried?"
"I'm the observant one, remember?" He frowned and added, "Yeah, he's worried. Mainly worried about how this trial's gonna go. We both know what verdict the general public gives Uncle Sev. Just kinda hope it doesn't actually happen, 'cause if it does…"
"Azkaban," whispered Hermione. Despite the fact that she still felt disdain for Snape and couldn't quite see the same man Xander saw, she wouldn't wish a moment in Azkaban prison on anyone – not even Voldemort. She's seen what that place and its guards had done to Sirius.
"Yeah…" Xander shivered then sat up, sliding one arm under his bed to snag a pair of shoes. "Okay, enough moping about. I'm hungry. You hungry?"
She smiled slightly and replied, "A little."
"Wanna go out with me?"
Hermione arched an eyebrow at the question and he smiled in response.
"Just as friends."
"Friends?"
"Yeah," replied Xander as he stood up, grinning cheekily at her. "Y'know, those people you like to hang out with a lot?"
"Isn't this awful fast to be declaring us friends?"
"I'm a pretty good judge of people and I can tell you're a good person. And you kinda remind me of Wills."
She blinked and he explained, "Willow, my best friend for years. Now, c'mon, before my stomach eats its way out of my body and goes looking for food on it's own. We wouldn't want to scare people like that, would we?"
Hermione giggled and shook her head as they walked out of the room and headed downstairs.
"No, we wouldn't. And, Xander?"
"Yeah?"
"I'm glad you're my friend.
He grinned at her and said, "It's nothing, Hermione. Now, c'mon. I saw a nice place to eat in the alley behind this place. My treat if you can help me find it."
"Okay," she said and took the arm her offered her with a smile as they reached the main floor of the Cauldron. A few who obviously knew the reason why Xander was there – rumors had been going around about him ever since the Auror had mentioned his relation to Snape in the Atrium but nothing had appeared in the paper as of yet, which was slightly worrying – glared at her but she ignored him.
They didn't know each other that well yet but she knew instinctively that she could trust him and that as long as he counted her as a friend, he'd be at her side in a moment's notice if she needed him. And for that, she'd do the same for him.
Author's NoteOccurs in same time period as the previous chapter.
