Disclaimer is in chapter 1.

Thankfully the term smoothed out after it's rather spectacular start, and Xander quickly fell back into the routine of classes and hanging out with Wednesday and Hermione. It was odd, he supposed, but that was pretty much all he did. Of course, back in Sunnydale he really only went to classes, hung out with Jessie and Willow, and watched TV. Ok, he also read comics, but he did a lot of reading here too.

The new wrinkle this year was Professor Hardy, who showed up right on time over the first weekend. Xander and Wednesday were waiting in the classroom when he strode in and nodded politely to them.

"So, how are things going?"

"Well, Sir." The answered in unison.

Hardy's lips quirked slightly, "I do hope they teach you more than that old gag here in Hogwarts."

Xander grinned back, "Of course, sir."

Wednesday merely raised an eyebrow.

"Alright, here are you're texts for this year." Hardy said, handing them out. "Nothing complicated. American Wizarding History isn't difficult, it's just reading and remembering. I'll trust you to do that yourself, for the most part."

They nodded.

"Now, these," He produced several slim workbooks. "Are a little different. You'll have to do some work here, and I'll be available to make sure you're understanding the work. These are introductory courses to basic physics, chemistry, and biology. For today, let's look at the chemistry primer, as I suspect you'll find some of the details on lab work to be surprising."

The two frowned, but read as directed and very shortly it became clear what Hardy had meant.

"Sir, some of this sounds like potions, but we do it very differently here." Xander said hesitantly.

Hardy nodded and smiled tightly, "You do, don't you. At Salem, however, the Chemistry and Potions classes are... or, rather, were... held in the same labs and used the same procedures for safety, among other things."

"Then why are things different here?" Wednesday asked, genuinely curious, as her Gram mama brewed her potions in a very similar manner to the Hogwarts Curriculum.

"Salem is a member of the New School of potions theory, or as the Europeans tend to call it, The Jeune Ecole." the hawk faced professor said, "Hogwarts, along with most of Europe are adherents of the old school. Most of North America, Australia, and Japan are proponents of the new school of potions theory, while Europe, South America, Africa, and China trend to the Old."

"Which one's better?" Xander asked, looking over the notes. "Hey, I used some of these procedures at home this summer. Mom insisted."

Hardy looked over his shoulder and nodded, "Safety one oh one, it's a good idea when working on your own with no experience, no matter which school. As to which is better, that is a hotly debated issue. There are some clear advantages to both systems, however, which can be considered."

Hardy paused, making sure that both were paying attention, then went on.

"First, the New School uses very tightly controlled procedures, carefully regulated variables, and meticulous lab work. You cut most of your ingredients on glassware, unless the recipe calls for a specific cutting surface, and then you never used the same surface for different ingredients. The idea is to eliminate as many variables as possible, to ensure a consistent brew. Are you following me?"

Xander frowned and looked confused. "Uh..."

Hardly chuckled, "Alright. I'll tell you a story that might help explain things. A long time ago, people used to believe that tomatoes were poisonous, did you know that?"

Xander blinked and looked at Wednesday.

"Uh, no?"

Wednesday smiled, "I did."

"Excellent, do you know why?"

"Lead poisoning."

"Exactly," Hardy nodded, then glanced over to see Xander totally confused. He smiled slightly, "People of the day often used lead dishware, plates and the like. Tomatoes are mildly acidic, and would dissolve the lead, so people eating tomatoes would also consume lead in dangerous quantities. Now, many magical potions ingredients do the same thing when you prepare them. They interact with the cutting surface, sometimes even the knife itself, and add another variable to the potion. Do you understand?"

"I guess so, Sir."

Hardy nodded, "The striving goal behind the New School is to minimize all unknown variables and allow for potions brewers to produce reliable, consistent, brews with minimum effort and time."

"And the Old School, Sir?" Wednesday asked, curious now. She had never been taught any other way, and wondered what he would have to say about it.

"Well, if the new school is a scientists system, then the old school is an artisans system." He replied, "those with real talent tend to flourish better in the older, less precise system. If you have that talent, you learn quickly to adjust for the variables, and can turn out superior products... generally at a cost of time and effort, however."

As his two students were considering that, Hardy went on, "At Salem we don't turn out potions masters and mistresses, we prepare people to take their doctorates in potions theory. The difference between a Master and a PHD is currently a hotly debated issues at the ICW level, and we don't get too much into it for now other than to say that, on average, a Doctor of Potions Theory can brew known potions faster and cheaper than most masters, often in bulk, however Masters tend to make better overall brews and currently lead the world in innovations within the field."

Hardy chuckled, "Master's tend to call Doctors 'assembly line workers' while doctors refer to masters as prima donnas. If you ever get to that level, I assure you, the parties are interesting to watch."

The two children nodded dutifully, not entirely understanding but getting the drift of it.

"The reason I bring this up is that at some point you may find yourselves back in Salem, or at another school or facility that practices the 'Jeune Ecole' method... here in Europe the only school that does so is Beauxbatons, in case you're interested. So I advise you to familiarize yourself with the lab procedures, just in case."

"We will, Sir."

"Very good, now then let's have a look at basic physics and how magic interacts with Newton's Laws." Hardy said, "I think you'll be surprised by some of the things that *aren't* happening when you cast certain spells."

Those tutoring sessions were short, only a couple of hours once a week, but the reading assigned was significant and Xander found himself spending more time with his school books than the grimoire as the weeks moved on.

Hermione was soon pulled in by the prospects of books not available in Hogwarts library, and Xander found himself sharing his texts with her more and more often. She had immediately gone on a rant about how the new school methodology made so much sense, and had then gone on to bring it up in potions class to Professor Snape.

Now there was a class Xander wished he could have missed.

Snape's rant had taken the entire class, and threatened to spill out into the next period until he'd noticed the time and stormed out of the class, after taking twenty points from Gryffindor of course. Hermione had been caught between tears and rage, huffing about the backwards attitude and such, while Snape had spent the next week growling at her about Potions factories and all sorts of other nastiness.

Suffice to say it made potions with the Gryffs a tense class.

Halloween was almost on them by then, though, and the school was providing its own distractions to break up the tension. The decorations were being setup, and the kids were eager for the holiday. All in all, even with the sniping between Snape and Hermione, things were pretty cheery.

Except for Wednesday, of course.

"You ok?" Xander asked, "you look kinda down."

Wednesday gave him a look that would have send most others running, but only shrugged. "There is something... wrong in the school."

Xander grinned, "You want to pin it down some more?"

She rolled her eyes, "I have been hearing... things lately."

"It's an old castle, I've been hearing things since last year."

"Not the normal castle sounds, Alexander," She said sharply, "darker sounds. Sounds steeped in black magic."

Xander leaned back at that, "In Hogwarts?"

"Indeed. This is a bastion of the light," She said with a twist of her lips. "But it's ancient as well, and there are many dark secrets buried here."

Xander nodded, "Alright. Any idea what you're hearing?"

She shook her head, "No. Not yet. But when forces this dark entangle in a place this steeped in the light... things will be, ugly."

Xander shivered slightly. He wasn't sure he wanted to know what there was in the castle that could set Wednesday on edge.

Halloween was upon them in no time, though, and Xander made his way to the Great Hall with several others from his year and house. The decorations were spectacular, as always, with floating jack-o-lanterns lighting the hall, and food bending the large tables under it's weight.

He settled in beside Daphne, nodding to her as she smiled back and tapped a monocle she had resting on the table beside her.

"Food's clean, far as I can see."

"Thanks," Xander nodded, taking her word for it as he started to dig in.

The twins pranks had been petering off as Xander continued with his strategy from last year of taking the small hits and storing them up until the twins had another big knock coming. At this point he suspected that they were starting to doubt he was the culprit themselves, and that was the way he wanted it,

In the meantime, most of Slytherin had figured out the identification charm and the pattern the twins used to obscure their gags. Xander had also noticed some of the Ravenclaws examining their food before eating, and so he knew that particular method wasn't going to last much longer.

As a whole, thankfully, the twins were far more dangerous to the Gryffindors than to anyone else, and with Hermione often ranting about what new stunt they were pulling on poor first year Gryffs, Xander had at least some warning of what they were working on.

He had to admit, though, they were geniuses when it came to this stuff. Way beyond him, and he didn't think he was ever going to catch them. Their real liability wasn't their skill, it was their love of notoriety. As long as they were looking to take credit for their stunts, on one level of another, he had an advantage to play into.

He glanced around the hall, expecting to see Hermione and exchange some greeting for the season anyway, but was surprised to find that not only was she not there, but Ron and Harry were missing too. He shook his head, wondering for a moment what they were up to but decided that they could look after themselves.

He nodded to Wednesday, who nodded back, and was about to move on when he saw the normally unexpressive girl suddenly go tense and snap upright, throwing her chair back to the floor. The other Ravenclaws around her jumped away from her, obviously afraid of the girl, but she didn't move. Fillius approached the table cautiously, and Xander rose up himself, making his way around the table.

"Are you alright, Miss Addams?" Fillius Flitwick asked, eyeing his most disturbing student carefully.

Wednesday didn't reply as Xander hurried over himself.

"Wednesday... Wednesday, are you ok?" Xander asked, moving around the table.

She snapped her head to star into his eyes.

"Something just died."

Xander paled, thinking about what she had said before, and was about to reply when a scream was heard from outside the hall. He, Fillius, and Wednesday were the first to move and got out ahead of the crowd. They made their way through the halls until they found Ron, Harry, and Hermione staring at a mess on the floor in disgust.

On the wall beyond them were words written in blood.

"Enemies of the heir, Beware!"