Disclaimer is in chapter 1.

Lately it seemed that no matter what Xander did, or which way he turned, he was faced with more work than he'd ever imagined he'd do, let alone want to do. Sam and Robert had offered him some tutoring in subjects more useful in the normal world, including more exercise and some actual fight training this summer, and Xander had accepted.

Then he arrives home and cracks open his favorite book, the Grimoire of the Coven, and found a long note in the interactive section of the book.

Who Am I.

That, young man, is an interesting question with a detailed response. Simply, I was Miss Black.

Xander blinked, looking at the words in surprise. Was? Did she die? Was this something like Riddle's diary then? He read on.

Before my marriage that was my name, at least. Today I use another name, one that isn't important for the moment.

Xander sighed, grinning a little to himself. At least he wasn't facing some weird Dark Chick trying to do whatever. Well, probably wasn't facing that anyway.

When I went to school, Miss Evans, Miss Prewitt, and myself became... unlikely friends. We shared some classes, and some acquaintances, and eventually many things together as we grew from the young girls we were to the women we became. Miss Evans was killed not long after graduating, her family's opposition to the Dark Lord finally demanding the ultimate price. Miss Prewitt now resides in St Mungo's, where she has been since almost the same time, and will likely remain for the rest of her days.

They were both reliable and very good friends, and while still in school we made an agreement. We would help any who came across the book you now hold, regardless of their blood or their politics. You see, We three held very different views in those regards, views that ultimately led us down the roads we have taken, to the destinations we each found.

The words within this tome are not political, they are not intended to sway your thinking or your actions. They are, however, the opinions of three very different young women who came of age in a difficult time and so are highly charged and should always be carefully considered before being accepted as truth or falsehood.

So, the answer to your question is that I am who I agreed to be when I made the pact with Miss Evans and Miss Prewitt. I am who they would be, if they could. I am your advisor, occasionally your tutor, and if it is so required I will be your confidant. Nothing you write in this book with be shared with anyone else on pain of the Oath we took, of that you have the word of the Coven.

Narcissa Malfoy Nee Black of the Coven

Ps. I do apologize for the plague I have unleashed upon you, however as it is your third year certain agreements have to be upheld.

Xander gulped.

Plague?

Then he frowned. The plague was scary, but he suspected that it was less than lethal, whatever it was, and so it took second place. First place was taken quickly by the name 'Malfoy'.

Was she related to Draco? She almost had to be, which made a certain sense as he thought about it. Miss Black was a blood purist, Xander knew from reading her entries. She didn't have a particularly low opinion of muggle borns and all, but she still believed in the superiority of breeding.

No Matter how he looked at it, things were starting to get interesting.

Just as that thought crossed his mind, Xander nearly jumped out of his skin. The coven grimoire suddenly jumped on the desk, as the large black dog that represented Sirius Black bounded into view. The dog began barking up a storm, its cartoonlike speech bubbles blocking out the page as it seemed to be trying to get Xander's attention.

His attention it got, and Xander quickly forgot about the note from the coven member at he tried to get rid of the dog that was in the process of befouling his pages.

"No, stop it! I said stop it, don't eat that! No, I need those notes! You crazy mutt," Xander screamed at the book, trying in vain to get the dog to behave.

The black dog was jumping up and down, obviously having the time of its life, gleefully ignoring Xander's protestations. After several minutes of this, Xander finally gave up and slumped down in his chair. Shortly after that happened dogs excited rampage, came to a stop. Xander slowly looked back up at the book, and found the dog staring seriously out at him.

For a long moment the two looked at each other, and then the dog slowly began to shift morphing into a bottle of ink, and then finally into a man.

"Now you've finally learned it's futile to fight a marauder," the man grinned up at him, "let's move on to the fun stuff."

Sirius Black was insane. That was all Xander had to say on the subject.

No, scratch that. Xander had a hell of a lot more to say, the problem though, was that Sirius wasn't listening. Instead the black mongrel of a shape shifter was tearing through Xander's notes and lessons and generally making a pain of himself. Not that he cared what Xander thought, of course.

Still, the man knew his magic.

Practically against his will, Xander found himself learning from the troublemaker. Sirius went in-depth into what he called the noble art of the prank, though to Xander it often sounded like good old-fashioned bullying. That said, while he didn't approve of Sirius's methods of identifying the target, Xander had to admit that the ideas were scary good.

In fact, he shuddered to imagine the twins with the amount and kind of information that Black was feeding him.

The first weekly trio trip, as Xander had taken to calling it, came along not a moment too soon. Between black, his relatives, and Willow, Xander figured he was working harder on his holidays than he did during school. So when, under the supervision of Jessie's mother, the trio headed for LA, Xander was determined to do nothing that even resembled work for the entire day.

"Disneyland," Jessie exclaimed, "I love this place!"

Xander laughed, draping an arm over the shoulder of both his best friends, dragging both closer to him as the trio walked in the magic kingdom. "This is going to be so cool."

"You know I heard they have great educational..."

"Hey!" Xander cut Willow off abruptly, holding up his hand a stop her in place. "We talked about this Willow, no work, no learning, only fun."

Jessie smirked and Willow, enjoying the outraged look on her face as she turned on Xander.

"Just because were having fun, doesn't mean we can't learn something to," Willow huffed at him, obviously spinning up for rant.

Xander just grinned at her, "today is not for learning Willow, today's for mindless, totally unproductive, and utterly time wasting, fun."

Will crossed her arms, glaring at Xander, who just kept on grinning back at her. Finally, after a long moment, she gave up and grinned back. "Alright fine."

"Yes!" Jessie crowed, pumping his arms in the air in triumph. "Let the fun times begin!"

Xander put his arms back around his two friends, and trailed by Jessie's mother, the trio made their way into the happiest place on earth.

The three of them spent their day going from ride to ride and show to show, and generally just having fun. For Xander it was the first time, and perhaps as much two years, that he just focused on nothing but fun. That thought struck him as they were leaving the park, and the concept actually staggered him for a moment.

It was insane, where was the slacker he used to be? He and Jessie had perfected their, don't care attitude, had spent hours on it even, and now what was he? The horror of horrors was that he was becoming, God forbid, Willow or Hermione.

Now there was a scary thought.

In all seriousness, though, it did worry him somewhat. The idea that he was losing himself kept coming back to him. He couldn't help it though, just the idea of magic and the things he could do, those kept him up at night. He would lie awake, staring up at the ceiling in the dark, and just try to mentally map out all the things he could accomplish.

It was like living in comic book, the wonder, the horror, the sheer infinite possibilities. It was, in plain and simple fact, a fantasy come true. How could any geek worthy of the title possibly do any less?

The day after the Disney trip, Willow came over in the morning and the two of them went down to the basement and immediately began to crack open the books.

"Have you been reading over the winter," Xander asked.

Willow nodded enthusiastically, "I've read all the theory, and even managed to practice some of potions, but it was hard keeping it from my dad."

Xander nodded, "they around more this year?"

Willow shrugged, "not really. But potions stink, so I can't really do any inside."

"Yeah I can see that." Xander responded, opening his notebook on wand making. "It kind of sucks that your dad is so close minded."

Willow grimaced, neither nodding nor refuting Xander's statement. "I guess, but I don't really want to give up my computer classes either. So I don't know, maybe I'm happier here?"

Xander shrugged, mulling that over. Finally shook his head, "you could be right. Wizards are a little strange, and really backwards it seems. As long as you doing what you love, I'll be happy for you."

Willow blushed red for a moment, ducking her head down to look at her toes, "thanks."

Xander just smiled, then looked down at his book. Willow took a moment to regain her composure, then looked over at what he was reading.

"Wand crafting?" Willow asked, her voice getting a touch of excitement. "You want to build a wand? Because I would really love to have one, you know if you thought you could do it, but it can be really frustrating reading through the books and not being able try the spells, you know..."

Xander laughed, holding up his hands to stem the flow of words from his friends' mouth. "Hold on, hold on. I'm just doing the basic reading, we are a long way from building one."

"Oh," Willow said, blushing again. "I was just, kind of you know, hoping and all."

"I know," Xander said sympathetically, "but it's supposed to be really hard to make a proper wand."

"How are they made?"

"Well according to what I've been reading modern wands are built with a wooden conduit," Xander said seriously, "that's around a magical core."

Willow blinked, "that sounds simple enough."

Xander shrugged, "where it gets complicated is the fact that no one knows why or how it works. At least no one knows is talking. In fact, I think I read almost a dozen different explanation so far and all of them contradict each other."

Willow scowled at the book, "there's no facts? Have there been any studies? There should be standards, shouldn't there? If every wizard or witch needs to use a wand wouldn't it make sense for want to be the most studied piece of magic in the world?"

Xander half shrugged, half smirked, "you just used the words wizard, witch, and sense in the same sentence. I'm pretty sure that violate the law somewhere."

When Willow scowled at him, Xander couldn't help himself, he broke down laughing much to his redheaded friends ire. As he laughed she kept glaring, which caused him to laugh harder, which in turn caused her to glare more. The circular reinforcement continued until Xander was clutching his side painfully, and even Willow was finally beginning to crack a smile.