Disclaimer is in chapter 1.

Xander's summer holidays quickly settled into a routine, between spending time with Jessie and Willow and working on his magic he didn't have time for much else. He was forced to make time, however, when Sam came back to make good on his promise, which he eagerly did.

Well, Xander was eager until the training Sam offered him consisted of exercise and lots of it. Sam just smirked, stole a beer from Tony, and settled in to watch as Xander sweated through the calisthenics.

"Tell you what, kid," He called once after Xander whined about this not being what he'd asked for, "you get through the whole routine without dying on me, or puffing like a freight train, then we'll start with some fighting basics, deal?"

Xander glared at him, but Sam only laughed and went back to sipping his beer as Tony came out and joined him as they watched Xander groan through the paces Sam had set for him.

So things quickly broke down into a set series of patterns that Xander rather enjoyed, and the summer became one of the best of his life. He, Willow, and Jessie roared through Sunnydale, doing all kinds of things that he never really got around to with them before. The normal stuff too, like movies and parties, but they often just found themselves out on the cliffs looking over the ocean for long hours as they talked about the past year and just simply reaffirmed their friendship.

Then he would spend time with his magic, sometimes plotting to nail the twins even if he had to do it from across the ocean, sometimes just reading ahead in his workbooks. Wanting to do homework was a new experience to Xander, but from what he had found at Hogwarts it was common to muggle born and raised. The very idea of doing magic was just so awesome they HAD to do as much as they could.

The pureblood students had a lead on them, but one thing every muggle-born had over their pureblooded brethren was that they enjoyed trying to catch up. What was old and dull to the magically raised was awesome and incredible to Xander and those like him.

So he read ahead, and practiced some stuff from the second year books while his potions brewed. At the same time, Willow spent long hours over in the basement with him, buried in a book and asking questions that forced Xander to review everything he'd learned. In turn, he found it all the easier to move ahead with the past years work fresh in his mind.

He and Willow both wished they could tell Jessie, though, keeping the secret of magic from him was complicated and made things harder on all of them. If Xander had to do it for more than the summer, he doubted he'd be able to manage.

Through it all he kept careful notes and continued to work in the Coven Journal.

Narcissa shook her head, amazed at the work being run through the journal. She wished that Draco would spend as much time on learning magic as this one did. Lily was the same, though, she remembered idly. When she was spending time doing all sorts of inconsequential things, Lily Evans had been absorbing everything she could about magic and it's practice.

How often had that happened, Narcissa wondered idly. Lily had started fast, it had been obvious from nearly her first day that she was bright, but just how bright wasn't evident until her fourth or fifth year. By Seventh year, well it had been a forgone conclusion that the little muggle-born girl would be Head Girl.

There was a drive there, that Narcissa would have expected in Slytherin or, at least, Ravenclaw. What made her a Gryffindor would forever be a puzzle. Still, Lily hadn't been the first muggle-born to take that position, nor the last. Indeed, if she was reading correctly between the lines in Draco's ranting, there was a young Miss Granger who was well on her way to being the latest.

There was a certain... love, no, not love. A Lust for magic that the muggle-born seemed to have, Narcissa supposed. This all-consuming infatuation that would eventually die down to a lifelong love similar to that which Narcissa herself held with the magic of her life.

The pale wife of Lucius Malfoy sighed, remembering the envy she had held for her muggle-born friend during their school years, then went back to working on the journal. She truly enjoyed this diversion from her daily life, this young man was a fresh wind blowing through her life. She only wished that her fellow coven founders were still around to offer their points of view and enjoy it alongside her.

The worst day of the summer happened right around halfway through the holidays while Xander was working on his attempt at rebrewing the twins' ton tongue toffee. He could have sworn he had it right, but when he tested it on himself nothing seemed to happen.

Resigned to another failure Xander had started to pack things away when he felt a tightness in his pants and began to fidget.

"Xander?" Willow frowned, noticing his grimace. "Are you ok?"

"Pass me the antidote we brewed..."

"Why? It didn't work...?"

"Willow! Just pass me the antidote!" Xander snapped, grabbing at the crotch of his pants as he tried not to be obvious about it.

Willow, puzzled, quickly handed it across to him and he drank it down but unfortunately found that it had no effect. "Xander, what's wrong?"

"Uh, nothing." Xander lied. He shifted again, managing to maneuver himself to his jeans weren't threatening to crush the affected part of his anatomy. "I, uh, need to go and do... something."

Willow blinked, confused, but before she could say anything Xander got up and bolted for the stairs out of the basement, only to run dead into his uncle as Sam came down the stairs.

"Hey, whoa kid, where's the fire!?"

In my PANTS, Xander snarled internally, glaring at his uncle. "Nowhere, just need to go upstairs."

"Kid?" Sam blinked as Xander pushed past him.

Willow just shrugged when Sam looked to her for an explanation, so he decided to follow and see what was up. Upstairs he found Xander in the hallway, fighting with his pants.

"Uh... kid?" Sam asked hesitantly, then he noticed the bulge in the kids jeans and started to wonder just what he and the redhead had been up to. "You know kid, maybe it's time for you and your old man to have the talk..."

"What?" Xander stared at him for a moment, then grimaced, "Ow! God, Uncle Rory give me a hand here!"

"Hey kid, that ain't even legal in Tennessee." Rory held up his hands.

"What are you... ahhh..." Xander sighed as his pants came loose and he relaxed a bit, "God that sucked. Stupid potion."

"Potion?" Sam blinked, "Uh... that was caused by a potion?"

Xander nodded, face reddening, "Yeah. God, what if Willow had seen me!? Oh man, this is so humiliating!"

Sam eyed the kids crotch for a moment before realizing what he was doing and shook himself clear, "Uh... how long does it last?"

Xander blinked, "I dunno, why?"

"Just curious, kid." Sam said, thinking hard about the potential benefits. "You got any left?"

Xander slumped in a sofa chair, his zipped now undone as his underwear tended through the split. "Why!?"

"I've got a date tonight, kid." Sam grinned.

Xander groaned a little shifting again for comfort, then looked at Sam oddly. "Yeah, sure I guess. It's down in the cauldron. Just get it from Willow, I think I'm gonna spend the day in bed."

Xander quickly put that humiliation out of his thoughts and, after the effects of the potion went down, literally, a few hours later he vowed to never test potions on himself again. The twins had the right idea, in his opinion. Get some suckers to do it.

In the meantime, though, he refocused on just enjoying his vacation time.

Well until his dad came to him one day and said that Sam had suggested they have 'The Talk'. After an hour that quickly became the second most humiliating thing that happened to him that summer, Xander escaped with pretty much no dignity left and a vow to NEVER tell anyone about those events as long as he lived.

As the end of July came, Xander was surprised to come upstairs one morning to find Miss Berkeley speaking with his parents.

"Ah, hello, it's been a year, hasn't it, Alexander?"

"Ah, I guess so, yes."

"Tell me, how was your time at Hogwarts?"

Xander shrugged, "Was ok I guess."

The scholastic recruiter smiled, "I think it was a little better than ok, you did quite well actually. Not top in your classes, but usually within the top twenty, which is quite respectable."

Xander smiled, "Well I learned the trick to that here."

"Oh?"

"Find the smartest girls in school and hang around them," Xander grinned.

Elizabeth Berkeley smiled widely, "That sounds like an excellent plan. I was just speaking with your parents about your options for this year."

"Oh yeah?"

"Yes, The Salem Institute has reopened its doors to new students, though space is still at a premium due to the volcano..."

"Yeah, I remember." Xander smirked, "Has it kept growing?"

"Quite." Elizabeth nodded, then sighed, "To be honest it's been a nightmare. We still haven't worked out what those students were working on, and if we could we would certainly ban it in the future."

The woman sighed, then shook her head, "At any rate, you have a place in Salem, of course... also, home schooling remains an option, and I am pleased to say that we have decided to encourage an ongoing scholastic exchange."

"You mean we can keep going to other schools if we want?" Xander asked, interested.

She nodded, "yes, though there are some restrictions."

"What kind?" Jessica asked, leaning forward.

"While Hogwarts and it's sibling schools in Europe are well known for high standards in scholastic pursuits, there are several courses they do not offer that are highly encouraged in Salem." Berkeley stated, "American Wizarding History, for one. Chemistry, Physics, Biology. These are core courses in the normal world, but only electives at Salem. Still, they have become increasingly more important as technological advances begin to match, and in places outstrip, magical alternatives."

"What are you suggesting then?"

"These are mostly introductory courses, because magic is taught so young, they basically amount to prep courses in case Alex here may wish to pursue them further after he graduates." She explained, "So we're considering offering a tutor to help balance the Old World education and atmosphere with some of our own new world curriculum."

"That sounds pretty cool," Xander said.

"We'll have to discuss it," Jessica said, frowning, wondering about her son being so far from home yet again, and possibly remaining there for several years, barring holidays.

"Of course, just contact me within a week or so?"

Jessica nodded in agreement, and Elizabeth rose and said a few parting pleasantries before leaving.

"So, Alex, what do you think?"

Xander frowned, considering, "I don't know. Hogwarts is cool, and I had a lot of fun..."

"And got pretty good grades too," Jessica said, looking at his report, "I'm impressed, Alex, this is a big improvement."

Xander flushed, but nodded as he smiled, "Thanks mom."

"Now though, this is a big decision."

Xander nodded in agreement, "yeah."

"Did you make any friends?"

"Sure, Mom, Hermione and Wednesday are great."

"And will they be at Hogwarts?"

Xander paused, "Well Hermione will be."

"What about this Wednesday?"

"I don't know, she's like me, Mom."

"Is she the one you talk to over the Floo every few days?" Jessica smiled.

Xander nodded.

"Well go check with her then, see what she's thinking about doing."

Xander nodded in agreement, "Thanks Mom."

#1 Cemetery Lane.

The explosion of the Floo flame startled the Addams clan for only a moment before Wednesday ran up to the fireplace and actually smiled a little.

"Hello, Alexander."

"Hey Wednesday," Xander's flaming image grinned back, "You get a messenger from the school?"

"He's still here." Wednesday said, taking her normal seat. "He and father are speaking about the options available to us now."

"Mine left, has he talked about the exchange program?"

She nodded.

"Any idea what you're going to do?"

"I believe I would like to return." Wednesday said after a moment, "I believe that it may be important."

Xander raised a flaming eyebrow, "Oh? Are you a seer or something?"

"No, but the family blood often exerts an influence."

"Watch it," Xander smirked, "You're starting to sound like some of the purebloods."

Wednesday arched a brow in return, unsmiling as she responded, "Please. The Addams bloodline is a carefully monitored integration of all blood traits. Those stagnant families are nothing compared to mine."

Xander's fiery image threw up his hands, "Whoa, ok, I give. Just saying."

"At any rate, father is discussing the matter now."

Xander nodded, then grinned as he heard Gomez yell something about a donation in the background. "What was that?"

"I believe that father is offering to pay for our tutor." Wednesday said with a smirk.

Xander rolled his eyes, knowing from the past Christmas just what Gomez could be like. "So you're going back?"

Wednesday looked at the burning image of her friend, considering the question. She had a distinct feeling that it was important for her to be in Scotland, for the moment at least. She also thought that it was likely important that she and Xander remain close, but she didn't know why. Should she convince him to go back? The question bothered her, as she didn't have all the information for herself. Did he even like it there?

He hadn't been unhappy, she didn't think, but perhaps Xander wanted to go to Salem. Should she try and convince him otherwise?

Wednesday took a breath.

"I am." She said, "And you?"

"I'm not sure," Xander said seriously, "I need to talk it over with my mom and dad."

"Do so." She said, then smiled ever so slightly. "If you choose not to, write me."

"Count on it."

Xander's image vanished then, and Wednesday stared at the empty fireplace for a long moment.

No.

His will was his own, he would make his choice as she made hers.

Come what may, she was an Addams and not some pawn of destiny.