Disclaimer is in chapter 1.

With things set up, Xander just had to decide on timing.

That, however, was proving trickier than expected to decide on. The twins, like the rest of the Gryff Quidditch team, were barely around for classes as the team Captain poured on the practice sessions like some kind of insane monkey. Xander considered springing it on them during those couple of weeks, but frankly he felt sorry for the poor buggers and let it go for a while.

In the meantime school went on as usual, which was both for the good and bad.

Xander had earned a cold shoulder from Malfoy with his challenges, but little else, while the rest of the house had apparently shifted him from 'unknown' status toward the neutral camp. That caused a few to open up a bit, but in Slytherin house there weren't too many warm buddies of any type so nothing much changed.

Draco remained a prick to the rest of the school, bullying and taunting wherever he could get away with it, and a few places he couldn't. Xander watched him and his two goons corner one of the Gryff's who'd been caught out alone, hitting him with various jinxes before taunting him and leaving him with a leg locker in place.

After they'd gone, Xander stepped out of the corner he'd leaned in and drew his wand.

"You too? Go ahead," The Gryff muttered, shaking his head, "Why not?"

Xander didn't say anything as he cast the counter to the jinx and pocketed his wand again. "Longbottom, right?"

"Yeah... What do you want from me?"

"Nothing." Xander shrugged, "Just don't much like bullies."

Longbottom snorted, "I thought you were a Slytherin."

"I'm me." Xander told him, "My house has nothing to do with who I am."

"Right. Well, thanks."

"No problem. You want some advice?" Xander replied as the boy walked past him.

"Sure, why not?"

"Hit them back."

"Huh?"

"Hit them back. They'll leave you alone."

"Sure. Just hit them back and they'll run off, I bet."

"No, they'll beat the crap out of you. But if you hurt them too, next time they'll look for someone easier." Xander replied honestly. "Bullies don't like getting hurt."

"Makes two of us."

"Look, Neville, right?"

Neville nodded.

"No one likes getting hurt," Xander replied, then frowned, "Well, no one I know except the Addams family... but they're pretty twisted."

Neville blinked, confused.

"Never mind, my point is, if you've got the guts to take the pain, you can prevent more of it in the future," Xander told him. "That's how it works with Bullies. You fight back, yeah you'll take a beating, but if you take it with style and send them whining to their momma they won't come back the next time."

Neville stared at him for a moment, then nodded curtly before walking off. Xander watched him go, then shook his head and wondered why he bothered really.

"You're wasting your time."

Xander twisted to see Daphne Greengrass approach from around the same corner he'd been concealed at. "It's my time."

The brunette nodded, acknowledging the point. "I guess. He's not worth it though. Longbottom's practically a squib, there's no value there."

Xander looked confused, "Excuse me?"

She didn't seem to notice, "Of course his family is old money, with a seat on the Wizengamot. I suppose that in the long term if may pay off."

"What are you talking about?"

She looked at him evenly, "You mean you're not trying to earn favors?"

Xander just looked confused.

"Why'd you help him then?"

"He needed help, and I don't like bullies." Xander told her, "I have a couple good friends who were bullied a lot when I was a younger."

Daphne just laughed, shaking her head, "Are you sure you're not supposed to be in Gryffindor?"

Xander shrugged, "The hat seemed to consider it a toss-up between Gryff, the Puffs, and the Snakes. I didn't much care which."

"Loyal, brave, and... well, must be cunning, cause you're obviously not ambitious." She concluded, "interesting. I was offered Ravenclaw, myself."

"Why'd you turn it down?" Xander asked, somewhat curious.

"I wanted to make family connections, and Slytherin is the best place to do that if I want to hook up with as many real power families as possible." She told him casually. "You're not like most of the kids we get here, not the purebloods anyway. You act more like a muggle born."

Xander shrugged, not planning on admitting to being muggle born or whatever it was that he was. Frankly he wasn't sure on that, and trying to figure it out kind of gave him a headache. "So?"

"Nothing," She said in reply, "Just commenting. Most of the purebloods who come here are trained from the time they can talk to move through the shadows of power, you just act different."

"I'm an American." Xander said, having found that to be a good answer to anything weird.

She nodded, "Yes. I'd heard that they had a far different system than we have here. How does it work, anyway?"

Xander shrugged, "Never really my thing."

Daphne just nodded.

"I don't get this pureblood thing myself," Xander shrugged, "but there's a lot I don't get, so that's no surprise."

"Purebloods are really just another term for old families," Daphne said after a moment, "those who have power and don't want to lose it. Malfoy could have claimed nobility, you know, if he'd been able to think through the rage you put him in. The Malfoy's are merchants, but his mother is a Black. They're full on nobility, I think that the head of house is a Duke or Baron, though it's pretty pointless now."

"How come?" Xander asked, the name 'Black' pricking up his ears.

"The family is dead." She shrugged, "The only living members have been cast out, I think, and Malfoy will inherit the title and estate when he turns seventeen. Since he's a Malfoy, the family title will be transferred over to him and the Black family will die out officially. Then he'll be able to answer yes if you ask him if he's nobility."

Xander shook his head, "Sounds complicated."

"It's the way things are."

"Why are you telling me this?" Xander eyed her closely.

She smiled, "I see there's some Slytherin paranoia in you after all. I'm telling you this because I'm thinking maybe you're going to have some influence. Maybe. Maybe not. Either way, I don't risk much by telling you some stuff everyone already knows, but you will owe me a small favor. Maybe later, you will be able to tell me something I should know. That's how things work here."

Xander stared at her evenly for a moment, then frowned slowly. "How many people in Slytherin are thinking like this?"

"Most of us, of course." Daphne shrugged, then waved her hand, "Oh Malfoy and his two dimwits aren't. Draco is too arrogant to think about what other people might be willing to do for him, he only sees what he can make them do. Crabbe and Goyle are bookends, too dumb to tie their shoelaces let alone thing for themselves. But they're not really what makes up Slytherin house."

"And the rest of the school?"

"Most of the purebloods think the same, or pretty close." She frowned, considering, "I suspect that Longbottom is probably the furthest from that, even though his family is minor nobility. From what my mother told me, they didn't expect him to come to Hogwarts, so his family didn't train him to take over. They're probably scrambling to do that now. The Weasleys know the game, I expect, what with the mother being a Prewitt and their dad being in the Ministry, but they don't have the cash to play the game so they mostly ignore it."

That was the second name he recognized, and now Xander was actually getting interested. "Prewitt? Important family?"

"They were," Daphne nodded, "but they took a lot of deaths in the last war. Now they're mostly dead too. I think there's a direct line heir, but he's some old man who doesn't get involved in politics."

"How do you know all this?" Xander asked, actually pretty impressed.

"I told you, most of the purebloods know it by our age. It's how you figure out who not to annoy, and who to help in exchange for favors." She told him, "it's important business, life and death for a family. Especially now."

"Why now?"

Daphne had known that he was clueless, but it hadn't really penetrated just how little he really knew. She was getting the picture now, and berated herself for starting the conversation. Still, he was gaining some credibility in the house among both the pure bloods and the neutrals, and several of the mixed blood and muggle born outcasts in their year looked to him for protection, though it was clear he didn't know it.

For the moment he was nothing, but that could change, and her mother had always told her to watch for the future power, not merely the present. In Slytherin house the present power was Draco Malfoy, Marcus Flint, and a small scattering of others across the years. The future power, though, was obscured as was usual for the house.

In Gryffindor it was blatantly obvious. Potter was going to be a force to deal with, assuming he survived all the enemies he had, with him Weasley was likely to rise into some power, and the muggle born Granger would also share in Potter's influence.

The Puffs were hard to tell, though Diggory was clearly on the rise there.

Among the Ravenclaws things were a little clearer, since Cho Chang was carving out a place for herself beyond her year, guided by Marietta Edgecomb, who had strong pure blood ties. The dark horse there, literally it seemed, was the Addams girl. She held no sway, but neither was there anyone in the entire school basically who wanted to go against her. That in itself was power, and could change into influence later on.

Daphne licked her lips unconsciously, considering that Harris had by luck or genius foresight placed himself in a position to influence two potentially interesting individuals in other houses. Yes, he was worth spending some time on.

Speaking of which, she found him staring at her, and shook her head clear of her straying thoughts and focused on his question.

"Why now? Because of the war," She answered, "A lot of prominent families were basically destroyed, like the Blacks and the Prewitts. Wizards live long lives, which can put a crimp in inheritance laws, but basically over the next few years a lot of houses are going to change as their heirs come of age to claim the head of family title. Longbottom, Malfoy, and Potter are just the most visible."

"Harry too?" Xander mused.

"Oh yes, The Potter's are an old family, something of a mixed blood line but they're considered pure blood by most." She said, "Not quite nobility, but they have their own crest and coat of arms, the Potter's have traditionally been Knights and, more recently, Aurors. I understand that Harry's relatively wealthy, though no one is really sure of how much because the Goblins don't let even the ministry mess around with family vaults and finances."

"Sounds like a complicated mess."

"It is." Daphne admitted with a shrug. "But it's our complicated mess, we know our way around."

They may, Xander noted, but she'd admitted that Neville probably didn't know as much as he should, and Xander would bet Harrys didn't know anything from what little he'd heard from the boy and Hermione.

"So Malfoy acts like a dick cause he's going to inherit a title?"

Daphne laughed, "no, Draco just is a dick as you put it. The title makes him worse it all, don't be surprised if he works it into the conversation at meals as soon as it occurs to him."

Xander nodded, unsurprised. He wondered just how much education actually went on outside of Hogwarts suddenly, and whether it really mattered to him. He didn't have to walk through the minefield, after all.

"Thanks," He said after a moment, "I'll think about what you've said. You mind if I ask you some questions later, maybe?"

"Just not in front of Draco," She told him, unwilling to be seen to be taking sides.

"Deal. Thanks again."

Daphne just nodded and left him there, leaving Xander to think about it for a moment before heading for the library. He needed to think, and the talk to Hermione or Wednesday, and just maybe look some stuff up.

Hermione wasn't there, but Wednesday was, and Xander dropped into the seat across from her with a cheery grin. "Hey there."

She looked up at him evenly, "Hello."

"You know anything about all the family stuff everyone seems to care so much about here?" He asked, leaning in to check what she was reading.

A History of Witch burnings. Lovely.

"Some." She told him. "Why?"

"Dunno, just got a crash course on it from a housemate," Xander shrugged, "Seems like Malfoy is set to inherit a noble title, and he's not the only one. Guess that war everyone whispers about really messed them up around here."

The Addams Scion raised an eyebrow, "Really? Wars are so interesting. The death, carnage, mayhem. It makes for fascinating reading."

"You read about it then?"

She nodded, "Yes. However the books are probably wrong."

"Oh? How come?"

"They're mostly written by people who weren't involved, often based on reports by people who heard about the events from someone else. That does not make for a good history book."

Xander had to agree with that point. "Well I guess there were a lot of families basically destroyed, and a lot of the next people in line to take over those families are just starting to come of age now."

"That would explain some of the things I've seen," Wednesday mused, "Family survival is nothing to be played around with. People have committed genocide over less."

"Yeah..." Xander said slowly, "Sure."

"I suppose the question becomes... what do we do about it?"

"Do?"

She shrugged, "You must have a reason for bringing it up."

Xander frowned, "I... guess I didn't think that far ahead."

Wednesday rolled her eyes, "Boys."