Disclaimer is in chapter 1.

"Hey kid, how was the week?"

Xander nodded to Robert, tossing down some of his exercise gear, "pretty good, you?"

"At my age kid, any morning I see the sun, that's a good morning." Robert grinned, belying the grim nature of his words. "So how is Sam treating anyway?"

Xander rolled his eyes, suppressing a groan. The aches and pains in his muscles had aches and pains of their own, but it wasn't something he exactly wanted to advertise.

The old man just grinned at him, "I know that look boy, seen it in my own eyes while looking in the mirror all too many times in the past. All I can tell you, is that it gets worse before it gets better."

This time Xander did groan, not even bothering to hide it. That was about the last thing he wanted to hear, "God man, are you guys sure I need all this? I mean, really, phys ed doesn't seem to be a real big deal in the wizarding world as far as I can tell."

Robert fell silent for a moment, looking at Xander intently. "Magic is a glorious thing boy, but like everything else it has its limits. I grew up in a small town in Westmoreland County, Virginia. Spent my first 15 years in the family home. Like you say, working out, making yourself stronger, it doesn't seem too important to most wizards, not on the physical level anyway. When I left, I learned that strength and muscle, those are things I could trust. It took painful lessons, but they were important lessons, lessons I paid for dearly."

The old man was quiet for a moment, as if considering what he'd said, or maybe considering what was left to be said.

"The most important thing a man can do right in this world, is learn from his own mistakes." Robert said after a long moment, "but learning from another man's mistakes, that's the mark of more than a man. That's the mark of a leader."

Xander was silent in turn, considering Robert's advice. The old man hadn't given any real examples, but it was obvious he was serious. Xander found himself licking his lips, a little nervous, "what happened?"

Again, Robert was quiet for a long moment, and Xander wondered if maybe he wouldn't answer this time. Still, however, the moment ended in the old man began to speak, "I joined the Army boy, but back then it wasn't the same armies you join today. Training consisted of being shown what end of the rifle bullet came out of, assuming you were lucky enough to get a rifle."

As Robert told his story, Xander listened at first a little confused, trying to work out exactly when Robert had been born. After a short while, however, the confusion faded as he just began to absorb the words.

"Our family was well-to-do, so I had a rifle of my own when I joined. But I come from a magic home, we didn't hunt for our own food, so my shiny new rifle had never seen use." Robert said, looking a little lost in his memories, "because of my family's position, I was groomed for leadership role. That's not how we do things today, but then it was the natural order of things. My first squad, my first assignment, we were sent out to deal with the minor Indian uprising."

Robert shook his head, his face tinged with memory, "we were told it was a walk in the park. The superiority of our civilized military assured our victory."

By this point Xander was spell bound, listening intently.

"We lost half the squad in the first few seconds of the ambush, most of the rest the next three minutes." Robert said stonily, "I almost died because I couldn't move fast enough, couldn't think fast enough, and couldn't keep a steady hand when I needed it. That was when I learned my lesson, paid my price. Family position, magic, civilized culture... these are wonderful things, but in the real world, where the blood splatters the ground... they mean a whole lot less than we'd like to."

With that said, Robert rose from his chair and tottered a little unsteadily back into the house. Behind him Xander sat silently, questions whirling in his mind. He heard a sound behind him, and turned to see Sam standing there.

"How...," Xander hesitated, "when...?"

"Robert was born in 1807," Sam answered, already knowing the question Xander wanted to ask. "We don't live quite as long as wizards, at least not as a general rule, but we still live a long time."

"But then he'd be almost..." Xander trailed off.

Sam nodded, "he'll see his second Centennial in a few years. The oldest squib I know of."

Xander swallowed, "and you say wizards live longer?"

"On average," Sam answered with a nod.

"Wow."

Sam chuckled, patting Xander on the shoulder as he walked past, heading into the house. "Why don't you run through the katas I showed you kid, I need to speak with Robert for a few minutes."

Xander nodded dumbly, shaking himself from his stupor, and slowly got down to work.

Inside the home, Sam found Robert leaning on a cane staring out at the boy as he worked in the yard.

"Whose story you telling?" Sam asked quietly.

Robert let out a quiet breath, "my older brother's."

Sam nodded, "was a good story."

"I learned from my brother's mistakes," Robert said with finality, "I hope he can do the same."

Sam just nodded again.

There really wasn't much else he could do, or anything he could say. Some lessons you had to learn yourself, and the mark of a man was how well you learned them. That said, however, there were bigger things in the world than being a man. Sam knew, as Robert did, but the ability to learn from the mistakes of others was perhaps one of the most elusive, and valuable, qualities to have.

By the end of the week, Xander's work out had gotten a little easier. The muscles he'd let go while back at Hogwarts slowly tightened up again, and even showed signs of perhaps not trying to kill him while he slept. He had to admit, he did make sense, or least it seemed it did that being fit would probably benefit him whether he had magic to use or not.

Of course, he supposed that he might see it that way simply because that was what he was told from a young age. A fit mind in a fit body. That was the saying, but it was a saying from a non-magical school.

Still, it made sense, he decided. So until he had evidence to the contrary, Xander decided he was going to stick it out, and deal with his sadist of an uncle. It was something he would have to look up though, if only to determine what value, if any, the whole routine really had.

His personal projects were moving along better than his workouts, thankfully. With Willow's somewhat obsessive help, Xander thought that maybe they might begin to handle on the wand crafting thing.

They had actually tried making one already, with no success. The preparation of the word was apparently one of the most complicated parts, all the book seemed to agree on it. The reference material he picked up in the New Salem library indicated that wand blanks were often aged much as 50 years, which really put a crimp in lot of his ideas.

It was Willow unsurprisingly, who offered him an intriguing alternate path.

"Are all wands made of wood?" Willow asked, looking up from the book.

Xander nodded, "all modern wands are anyway."

"What about non-modern wands?"

Xander stopped, leaning back from his book, and thought about the question.

"Well," he said slowly, "staves were made from wood, but they often used a crystal focus."

"Crystal?" Willow asked curiously.

Xander nodded, remembering the history book he'd read on the subject. "Actually, there was a time when Crystal foci were pretty trendy."

"What kind of Crystal?"

"Diamonds were the most popular," Xander answered, "I think some other crystals were used as well, but those were very rare."

"Diamonds," Willow mused, falling silent for a moment as she considered it.

Xander recognized the look on her face.

"What is it?" He asked.

"What is what?" Willow blinked, looking up at him.

Xander smiled, leaning forward, "I know that look. You have some kind of idea, and I know you well enough that I want in."

Willow blushed, "well, I don't know if it's an idea... really is just a vague thought."

Xander raised an eyebrow questioningly.

Willow sighed then leaned forward with just a glimmer of a glint in her eye, "it's just that diamonds and would have something in common."

Xander blinked, "they do?"

Willow smirked, nodding happily at Xander's confusion. "They do."

Xander thought about it for a long moment, then shook his head, "I give."

"Carbon."

Xander looked puzzled, rolling it over his head, "carbon?"

Willow nodded, "carbon is the base material of all life on earth."

Xander nodded, "carbon-based life, right? I remember that episode of Star Trek."

Willow rolled her eyes, "really Xander, life is not a television episode."

"Can I help it if everything I really needed to know, I really did learn from TV?" Xander grinned.

Willow stomped her foot, eliciting a crack that echoed in the basement. "That's not funny mister."

"I beg to differ."

Xander smirked as Willow reddened slightly, glaring at him. Her tolerance levels to his nonsense had dropped markedly in his absence, and he was really enjoying the fact that he could get to her more easily than he used to.

Willow took a few breaths however, and calmed down. "As I was saying, diamonds and wood have carbon in common."

Xander thought about it, frowning a little as he puzzled it out, "okay, yeah. Diamonds are pure carbon right? But wood isn't. I don't think, right?"

Willow sighed, but nodded, "no, wood isn't pure carbon. But carbon is the most basic element of all life, including wood, here on earth. And if the diamond works as a foci, then maybe carbon is what's important in a wand."

Xander considered it, "could be. How do we test it?"

Willow thought about it for a moment, then get an expression on her face and Xander had a hard time recognizing. It was an expression, he realized shortly, that would have been more at home on Wednesday Addams' face. And while he became inured to that look on Wednesday's face, seeing it on Willow's sent a spike of fear up his spine.

Lucky for Xander, he wasn't the target of the expression of pure evil. Not this time anyway.

Willow's face morphed back to one of pure innocence as she spoke up, "well, you know daddy bought a new set of golf clubs."