Disclaimer is in chapter 1.

Xander didn't know what to think about everything he was being told now, it seemed a little messed up.

"That's totally messed up!" Willow responded when he told her, pulling a laugh from his throat.

"I think I got that much, Wills."

"I mean, why send you back there if they're so worried?"

Xander was wondering that himself, he knew that he parents weren't happy about it, and now Robert was giving him advice that basically amounted to 'watch your back, someone has a knife'. He was thirteen for crying out loud, what the hell was he supposed to do about it?

"I don't think it's that dangerous, Will," He said finally.

Her eyes widened, "But... the big snake! And spells, and stuff..."

"None of it was aimed at me," Xander said, thinking it over. "I involved myself, right?"

"I guess," Willow said reluctantly.

"It's not like I'm Harry or anything."

Willow perked up at the mention of Harry Potter, almost drawing a groan from Xander.

"God, Wills, don't tell me you've joined his fan club."

Willow blushed red, "Of course not, dummy, but I've read all the stories about him and..."

"And from what Harry grumbles about, you now know a lot of very near fictional stories about his life." Xander grinned wryly.

"Those were HISTORY books!" Willow blurted, scandalized.

"They were written by people who didn't know much history, apparently."

Willow looked a little disturbed by that, but didn't comment further. It brought to mind the similarities between her and Hermione, and Xander had to smile at the thought.

'What is it with me and scarily smart gals?' He wondered, a shiver passing through him as he looked at Willow for the first time as a Girl, and realized that she was a lot cuter than he seemed to remember. 'Whoa. Where did that come from?'

Xander shook off the thought, "Anyway, I'm a nobody at the school. What's more, I'm an American nobody, so I'm not worth killing."

Willow slapped his shoulder, "Don't talk like that! You're Xander, you're a somebody to me."

"Thanks, Wills, but that's not what I meant." Xander said softly, smiling at her. "I talked with Professor Hardy about it. I'm not worth anything to either side over there, but dead I could cause them a lot of trouble."

"Why?" Willow scrunched up her face, confused.

"Cause it would attract attention from the States," Xander shrugged, "And a lot of other countries, I guess. Right now the bad guys are still pretty crippled from what Harry did to their boss twelve years ago, and the good guys are the British government... How much do you think they want a bunch of Yanks sticking their nose into British business?"

"Not much, I suppose."

Xander smiled, "Dead on. Anyway, I'm pretty safe."

"Not if you stick your own nose in where it doesn't belong, Mister." She told him firmly, resolve face in place.

"Wills... That snake hurt a friend." Xander told her evenly in return.

Willow paled slightly, but nodded.

That was one thing she knew about Xander, one thing that she wouldn't change. He protected his friends, as best he could anyway. When they were younger he took beatings from Bullies to protect her and Jess, even though neither of them wanted him to. It was just what he did, it was who he was.

She sighed, "Alright, but please... be careful."

"Hey, no worries." Xander smiled, "I'll have Wednesday there, and you know that when in doubt, we lead with bone splitter curses."

Willow rolled her eyes, but nodded.

Summer was coming to a rapid close, and Xander found himself against the wall as he seemed to be running out of time, but not out of things to get done.

His conversations with Robert continued, with the older man speaking to him a lot about history, especially military history. That was cool, Xander found, because he'd always had a degree of interest in it, and now he had someone to talk to who had actually *fought* in the American Civil War. Robert had also been involved in the first and second world wars, and every conflict up until Vietnam, though he had only been an advisor by that point.

Robert had a far different opinions on most of the subjects than Xander had always heard, but a lot of his points made sense, so Xander wasn't sure what to believe. Robert insisted that he had to learn all he could about something, though, and only then form an opinion. Too many people just accepted the common thoughts on a subject, ignoring the facts, and what was worse, ignoring the people who were twisting those facts to their own ends.

Wand research continued, though they didn't make a lot more progress than they had managed already. Willow now had two wands claimed as her own, a Carbon rod with ground Basilisk scale core, and a Graphite model with unicorn tail hair. The two made for a good all round casting capacity, they had found.

Xander had stored all their extra blanks in his trunk, along with his notes and various components. He was already planning his own wand for fighting, based around a Carbon Rod blank and Basilisk eye core. He didn't want to waste the basilisk eye material they had, though, until he had perfected the design, it was far too valuable, especially since he and Wednesday were quite certain that the eyes were the core of the large snake's magic.

He wasn't sure, of course, that he would be able to make anything better than a fitted wand, but it *felt* like they were on the right track, so he was making plans in the hopes they would succeed.

A trip back to Three Angels had won Xander his new pair of boots, which he was certain would make an impact back at Hogwarts. The new boots were based off a Motorcycle design, with metal clasps that gleamed against the iridescent green flecks of the snake skin material. Almost black, they glimmered green in the right light, and suited his Slytherin colors perfectly.

They had cost him a bit, more so in materials than cash, since he had to provide the basilisk skin for them, but Xander figured it was worth it there. The bootmaker had counseled him to use more material than needed, fashioning a larger pair of boots than he normally wore. Charms were then applied to shrink them to a perfect fit.

When Xander had asked why, the answer had surprised him not so much because it was surprising, but rather because it made so much sense.

"Well boy, it's like this," The old man had told him, "Sizing charms can make a cloak, or boots, or whatever, larger or smaller as you need them... but they can't make more material. So they're stretching the material, or compressing it, to fit. In most cases, that don't matter none. But this here, this is basilisk skin, and it has some properties that you don't want to spread thin if you have a choice. Better to make it bigger, then shrink it down, that actually makes the material tougher by focusing its strengths into a smaller area. These'll be as fine a pair of boots as I've ever made, you've my word on that."

With that answer, Xander had simply nodded and told the craftsman to do his best and he would take the expert's advice on the matter.

Xander had to admit, though, that he was looking forward to getting back to Hogwarts. Willow, Jessie, and all were great, but there was just something about a magical environment that was so damned cool. He couldn't believe that he was actually getting assigned *magic* as HOMEWORK. It was so insanely cool that Xander could barely contain himself sometimes.

Being a Star Wars geek from way back, it was like being approached and asked to join the Jedi order or something. He honestly couldn't understand anyone who didn't love every moment of it.

Which brought him back to the Grimoire.

That book from his first year had unlocked a few levels now that he was about to go into his third, giving him access to spells even further along than it had before. The release of Sirius Black into his precious reservoir of knowledge, however, was a mixed blessing at best. The Wizard turned Shaggy Dog, or vice versa (Xander wasn't certain which), was a pest that constantly forced Xander to fight him off if he wanted to actually read anything.

The flip side was that Xander was getting better with a lot of rather obscure spells that pertained to enchanted items. He'd also begun to learn more and more about how the book had been written originally.

It was all based around a very old charm known as The Protean Charm, ironically one that Xander knew quite well since he had come across it when research magical tattoos. It was the same spell that made the base for the Dark Mark on the arms of Chief Moldy Shorts thugs.

The Protean was from a very obscure branch of magic that was based strongly around what was called the Similarity Principal. In fact, Xander had learned quickly, that few Witches or Wizards had ever really heard about it, maybe as little as one in ten. Which was ironic, since almost every non-magical person on the planet knew of one of its applications, the Voodoo Doll.

Basically, the Similarity Principal stated that like affected like, and it was possible to connect two similar items so that what affected one, would affect the other. That was how a Voodoo Doll, properly made, could affect the person it was crafted to resemble, it was also how Voldemort could inflict pain on anyone wearing the Dark Mark from any Dark Mark within his reach. It was how the book was connected with the one in Narcissa Malfoy's study...

And, more interestingly in Xander's opinion, it was also how a LOT of semi-legal wizarding objects were made, including one Sirius Black referred to as The Marauder's Map.

Sirius refused to hand over the details on how to make said map, but he had been hinting around it, and Xander was wondering if it were possible to make one of his own. The protean charm was very advanced, NEWT level at least, but much of the rest was relatively easy, though probably long, detailed, and precise in nature. He would bring it up with Hermione and Wednesday back at school, Xander decided. If nothing else, it would be fun to research, especially when he started to think about what ELSE the Protean could be used to make.

Almost too soon, yet after such a long wait, it was time to leave for school again.

Xander had said his goodbyes, and was waiting for the portkey to Salem when his Mom and Dad came in.

Anthony looked serious as he sat down, "Son... we should talk."

"What's up, Dad?"

"We just want you to be careful."

Xander smiled, "I will, Mom... Dad, I promise. If it was really dangerous it's not like I'd be going back, right?"

His parents exchanged a glance, which caused Xander to stare for a moment.

"Some in the family want you there, Son," Tony said after a moment, "They're putting a lot of pressure on us, and the school."

"How?"

"Harris is a big family, with a lot of power," Tony sighed, "And right now, the head seems to think that you getting closer to a few of those kids over there is a good thing. That place seems a little off too me, but I've never been to a magical school, so I don't know for sure. I know that the Wizarding world can be dangerous, or at least seem like it, to normal folk though, so I expect it's not as bad as it seems to me..."

Xander nodded, he'd already worked that out. Well, and Robert had said as much as well.

"So I just want you to know to watch your back, and try to keep your head down, ok boy?" Tony said gruffly.

Xander nodded, "I will."

Jessica hugged him quickly then, and Xander fought off a lump in his throat as she sobbed a little.

"We're both going to miss you, so try and come back in one piece, k?" Tony asked with a wry smile.