Disclaimer is in chapter 1.
Xander called Jessie and Willow first thing after he'd unpacked, and in short order the two were over at his place and they were getting caught up on the past year while some of the shows Jessie had taped for him played in the VCR.
"A Prank war?" Jessie cackled, "You've got to be kidding."
"No, these twins are insane," Xander grinned, "Though I have to admit I almost thought I was dead meat when one of the pranks I set up caught the teachers."
"You pranked the TEACHERS!?" Willow screamed while Jessie laughed.
"Yeah, but I got it blamed on the twins." Xander smirked, then frowned as he considered, "Though it did get a little out of hand. The pranks weren't bad, but one of the teachers reacted kinda... stupid. Made things worse."
Jessie was still laughing as Willow openly scowled at him.
"Anyway, it was an ok year except for the snake." Xander said.
"Snake?" The two blurted together.
Xander nodded, "yeah, once got loose and bit some students. Caused a bit of an uproar."
Willow shivered. Snakes she did NOT like. Jessie just whistled softly, "Cool dude."
"Anyway, it's summer, I got money, and while I do have some work to do I also want to have some fun. What do you two say?" Xander asked with a grin, "up for a real blast of a summer?"
"Sure, what have you got in mind?" Jessie grinned back as Willow nodded.
"Well, I figure we take at least one day a week and do something awesome." Xander said, "Theme parks, a day in LA, whatever. Sound good?"
"Sounds cool to me, good with you Wills?" Jessie looked over.
Willow nodded, "I think I can sell my parents on the idea."
The deal made the trio settled in to watch some more TV until Jessie had to go home for Supper. Willow, who lived closer, lagged behind.
"Xander, were those stories true?" She asked when they were alone.
He nodded, "Just underplayed. The snake was actually a sixty foot long Basilisk."
Willow 'eeped'. "You're kidding!"
Xander shook his head.
"You HAVE to be kidding!"
"I wish. It petrified a friend of mine," Xander said, frowning. He then smiled slightly and looked up at Willow, "Hermione, actually. She's kinda like English-Willow."
"Hey! I speak English!"
Xander chuckled, "Not what I meant. Anyway, yeah the stories were true."
"Jeeze. Are you sure you want to go back there?"
Xander thought about it, then shrugged, "Yeah, I think so. It's awesome, Wills. We're learning stuff you only see in movies and comics. Come on downstairs, I want to show you some of my notes."
Down in the basement that had been set aside for Xander's 'magical studies', he broke out his notebook and showed it to Willow. She skimmed through it quickly, then looked at him with a curious eye.
"Magical tattoos?"
"It sounded cool?" Xander replied with a weak smile.
She rolled her eyes, "Can I borrow this, Xan? I'll bring it back tomorrow."
"Sure."
"Ok, I'll see you then," She said, getting up to leave. "It's real good to have you home. Bye."
"Bye."
It took some convincing, but the three of them managed to convince their parents and the first excursion day was set for the beginning of the following week. Xander and the other two settled in to a bit of a routine otherwise, watching TV and doing whatever came to mind. With Willow he found himself working on his projects, as well as a bit on homework, and he spent his time with Jessie pouring over comic books and Jessie's latest obsession, Role Playing Games.
It turned out that, without Xander around, Jessie had started hanging out with Jonathan and the Wells brothers, as well as some of their friends. That group was into the geek scene SO much more than Xander had ever been, but it was fun to be immersed back into a years' worth of total geekdom in just a few days.
The books were cool too, since they gave him ideas for things to research when he went back to his projects.
It was his Uncle who surprised Xander, though. Sam had showed up to make sure Xander was still working out as he'd begun to the year before, and express disgust at how much Xander had slacked off, then he got serious for a bit.
"Hey kid," Sam said after one workout, while Xander was wiping the sweat away, "got someone I'd like you to meet."
Xander shrugged, "Sure, unc. Who?"
"He's family," Sam told him, "Squib, same as me, from way back. He asked about you after you left last year."
"Oh yeah? How come?"
"Keeps tabs on the family, heard you were going to magic school I guess."
Xander nodded, "Alright. When?"
"Today, if you want. He's out near LA, I'll drive you."
The drive out was peaceful, leaving Xander relaxed as they drove up to a nice colonial style home tucked into the hills maybe an hour out of Los Angeles. Sam brought him in and they found a really old man sitting on the porch, looking out over the Ocean.
"Hello Robert." Sam said respectfully, pausing at the porch steps.
"Sam. This your nephew then?" The old man asked, looking Xander over carefully.
Sam nodded.
"Well don't just stand there, come on up, take a seat."
They did, and there was a moment of silence before the old man looked at Xander again.
"I understand the Family has been showing an interest in you."
Xander shrugged, "I suppose so, Sir. I don't really know much about it."
The old man snorted, "Don't suppose you would. Watch out for the Harris' son, we're a sneaky lot."
Xander smiled weakly at the man.
"Anyway, Sam also tells me that you're taking schooling abroad?"
"Hogwarts, Sir."
Robert nodded, "Was a good school in my day, haven't heard anything much about it lately, but then I don't keep up like I used to."
The conversation fell into a lull for a long moment, then just as Xander opened his mouth to ask why the old man wanted to see him, Robert spoke up again.
"So tell me, son, what happened over there this year?"
Xander blinked, "Pardon?"
Robert chuckled, "Last year Sam and your Dad are telling me about how you were a Wizard and all, then this year past the family starts buzzing about you, and just last week you'd think someone dropped a live grenade in the Elder Harris' lap. You're causing waves, son, and I'd like to know why."
"What does it matter to you?" Xander asked, a little put out that his life was being watched so closely.
"Me? Nothing much. To be honest, I probably won't be around much longer anyway. To the family, though, it may matter."
"Wasn't anything much, just a memory of that psycho dark lord." Xander shrugged, "Loosed a basilisk on the school, didn't have much to do with me, I just went down with the guy who killed it."
The old man snorted, "Wasn't anything much. Funny. And the year before?"
"Hey, I had nothing to do with that." Xander protested, "That was all Harry and his group."
Robert chuckled, "You're an interesting lad, Alexander. What are you studying beyond the basics, if you don't mind my asking?"
"Nothing really," Xander said, "I'm signed up for Arithmancy and Runes next year, but those are my first electives."
Robert nodded, "Any history classes?"
"American Wizarding History and History of Magic," Xander responded.
Robert exchanged glances with Sam, then turned back to Xander. "Tell me, do you plan on living solely in the Wizarding world, lad?"
"I don't know, but I doubt it. I'm not giving up my TV," Xander declared.
The two men chuckled at that, but shook their heads.
"Not what I meant, but it answers the question well enough." Robert said with a sigh, "You know, most children who go into the magical world never come back. They lose the ability to exist in the realm of mere mortals. Even those who were born to completely normal parents."
Xander frowned, "how come?"
"Because, from the age of eleven all they see is magic for ten months of the year. By eighteen, the normal world has moved on without them, and that was decades ago. Today you can lose your place in the world in even less time."
Xander grimaced at the thought, but another one was pushing to the surface. "Why are you guys so intent on all this stuff?"
Sam laughed, "Told ya he'd ask."
"So you did, whelp." Robert grumbled good naturedly, then turned back to Xander. "We're interested because it suits us to have a contact who can walk in both worlds."
"Can't you?"
"We're both Squibs," Robert explained, "We know the magical world, but the magical world doesn't really want to know us."
"Sounds like those idiot pureblood types in England."
"To a degree, yes."
"So what do you guys want?"
"For now? To do you a favor, if you really want to walk in both worlds. Later, well we'll talk about later when it comes." Robert said.
"Did the rumors mention I was sorted into Slytherin?" Xander asked dryly, "Cause you've got to be cracked if you think I'm going to agree to anything without knowing the end price."
They laughed, "No end price, lad. We don't recruit or blackmail children. However, by helping you now we at least have a chance at a future arrangement. That's something we won't have if you vanish completely into the magical."
Xander frowned, he'd never thought about it in those terms.
"Alright, what did you have in mind?"