Disclaimer is in chapter 1.
The holidays progressed quickly, Xander found, and as normally as one could expect when one was hanging around the Addamses. Despite the ban on explosives in the tower, Pugsley and Fester had found a nice little quarry a few miles out of London which served as a nice testing spot for various explosives the duo cooked up.
"What are you two up to today?" Xander asked, swooping down on the two and hopping off his broom.
He had to admit, flying was one of the big bonuses about having magic, but he really wished it wasn't on broomsticks. Comfort charms be damned, the stupid thing rode up his crotch and kept binding up the Wizard's robes in really uncomfortable places.
Unfortunately there simply was no spell to 'superman' the whole process, at least not under his own control. As far as Xander had been able to find, it was patently impossible to levitate or otherwise 'fly' under one's own magic. He could do it to someone else, or they could to him, but something about trying it on himself would case the magic to be annulled by his own core.
"Hey Xander!" Fester grinned, hunched over as he sidestepped from one charge to the next, "You're just in time. We're going to be trying semtex today!"
Xander blinked, looking at the dull white blocks of putty. "Hey, wasn't the semtex you used last Christmas like orange?"
"Yup!" Fester grinned widely.
"Why isn't this stuff that color?"
"Couldn't get a permit to buy any in England." Fester replied.
"So... you what? Brought this from the states?"
"Nope."
Xander sighed, "Where's it from?"
"Black market." Fester grinned, "only the legal stuff is color coded. Military semtex doesn't have the coloring, or the chemical markers to trace back to its source."
Oi. Xander pinched the bridge of his nose.
Fester finished up and turned back, "See how I did that? Always be very careful with the wiring, boys. Last thing you want is a misfire."
"Yes, Uncle Fester." Pugsley replied dutifully.
Xander leaned in slightly, "Triple twist with a cap?"
"Right you are, you remembered!" Fester grinned gleefully.
"Yeah well, blow me up once, shame on you... blow me up twice, shame..."
"On me!" Fester cackled, pulling them back. "Come on, come on."
Xander let himself be dragged away, snagging his broom as they moved back to the safe zone. Safe being by Addams definition, mind you. Hunkered down behind a boulder, Fester produced an old plunger style detonator and grinned.
"Ready?"
"Ready!" Pugsley grinned.
"Are we far enough..."
Apparently, in Addams talk, what Xander started to ask translated directly to 'ready!' because Fester instantly depressed the plunger. The explosive crack made him jump slightly, pressing closer to the boulder, then the shock wave rolled over them and popped Xander's ears.
Fester was yelling and dancing with Pugsley as Xander's hearing came back, and the two looked at him and yelled something.
"What!?"
"Watch out for falling debris!" Fester repeated himself.
Xander blinked, then looked up and yelped. He dove to one side just as a chunk of rock the size of his head slammed down into the boulder he'd been sheltering behind and splintered into shards. Xander rolled to his feet and glared at Fester.
"Safe distance!?"
Fester shrugged, "Very slim chance of being hit."
"Slim. Slim he says," Xander muttered, shaking his head.
"If you boys are quite done," Wednesday's voice rang clearly through the general melee as she swooped in on her own broom, riding side saddle with a level of dignity Xander wished he could approach, "Father says we're going to Diagon today to do some shopping."
"Cool." Xander grinned, "I need to get to Gringotts and check out this cash I'm supposed to have."
"I'm certain the Goblins will be able to answer your questions."
Diagon at Christmas time was a site, though the more Xander thought about it, the more confused he got.
"Something bothering you, Son?" Gomez asked as they navigated the throngs.
"Well, yes Sir. Christmas is a Christian holiday, so why are witches and wizards so big on it?" Xander asked, looking around.
"Complicated question, my boy." Gomez replied, "Do you want the short answer, or the long one?"
"Uh... short?"
"They're not big on it."
Xander waited, but it became obvious that he wasn't going to get much more than that. "Ok, longer than that."
Gomez smirked, "Part of it goes back to the fact that Wizarding society as we know it today really didn't begin until a little over a thousand years ago, which was well after the entrenchment of Christianity into the society in which most wizards come from."
"Hogwarts is a thousand years old," Xander frowned, "the school is as old as wizards?"
"Well no, there were wizards around long before that, just not connected as a society the way they are today." Gomez told him, "Druids and Shamen, priests and seers, they were all around but mostly they were part of world society in general. So now, for bonus points, what caused the separation of the two societies?"
Xander grimaced, this was NOT covered in history class. "Uh. Witch hunts?"
Gomez glared at him, "Come now, lad, aren't you paying attention in history class?"
"They don't teach that in history." Wednesday spoke up.
"What!? It's the single most important event in wizarding history, and they don't teach it?" Gomez blurted, drawing attention. "What about the classes from Salem?"
"Those are mostly American Wizarding History. I believe that they expect Hogwarts to teach us the rest."
"What do they teach?"
"Goblin rebellions mostly."
Gomez paused, actually shaking slightly as he slowly changed color. Seeing any color in the normally pale man's skin was interesting, but Xander didn't think the puce look was healthy. "The more I learn about this school of yours, Dear, the less I like."
He sighed, shaking his head, "Wands my dear boy. Around eleven hundred years ago, give or take, the first modern wands were developed."
Xander frowned again, then looked over his shoulder back to where he had bought his wand. "But, isn't there a sign about 'fine wands since 40 BC'?"
"Ah yes, the Ollivander's." Gomez rolled his eyes, "Nice folk, but a little dreary. The family began creating Staves in 42 BC, however Staves while based on many of the same principals as wands were much more power intensive."
"I don't understand, Sir."
"Call me, Gomez, lad." Gomez quirked a grin as his cigar twitched in response. "Simply put, only a tiny fraction of people can use wands, we call them wizards today. Only a tiny fraction of THOSE people can use a stave, in fact I think there is only two in England today who could. Your headmaster Dumbledore, and Nicholas Flamel. We call those people, legends."
"Not much of a market for Staves then, huh?"
"Not much, no lad." Gomez grinned, "Actually, as the legend goes, the original Ollivander created only one, as much by accident as anything else, and it found its way into the hands of Merlin. The family knew that they had magical potential, however, and spend generations refining their work. The breakthrough of wands came about with the help of Rowena Ravenclaw and Salazar Slytherin during their younger days, before Hogwarts."
Xander frowned slightly, considering that carefully.
"Now, mark me, lad." Gomez said seriously, "Because for your sort, that is perhaps the most important event in history. Most wizards without a wand? Nothing more than peasants working the land. With a wand? Well, you get what you see here today."
Xander looked around, all the decorations lit up around him, the entire place animated without any hint of technology or electricity, and he rather imagined that it probably had been very much like this ever since Diagon Alley was created.
"Now, back to your original question, most wizards came from normal society and they brought along the various Christian influenced holidays with them, and even as they began to drop Christian beliefs, they kept the link to the holidays."
"Cool." Xander said as he thought about it. "I kinda thought it was something to do with the old druid holidays, like Christians were supposed to have coopted in the first place."
Gomez shot a sharp glance at the young man, then smiled, "Sharp, lad. I like that. But no, modern wizards have mostly lost all touch with Druid and Celtic rituals, the same as the rest of the modern world. Some tell themselves that story, mind you, cause they hold no love for the church and don't like to admit any connection, but it's all bunk. Now, if you want to learn about real druid rituals, I know a few people."
Xander swallowed at the nearly feral grin on the man's face and shook his head, "maybe later, Sir."
"Pity. And how many times must I tell you, call me Gomez!"
Wednesday cleared her throat, and the two looked at her.
"Yes?"
"We're here." She said, nodding up.
The two looked up, spotting the Gringotts sign.
"Ah, yes. Come along then," Gomez said, "Right inside."