Disclaimer is in chapter 1.

Xander packed up his things, thinking again about how Wednesday was. He'd gotten the story out of Hermione, and figured she'd be fine, but just the same he was a little worried. There was, however, not a thing he could do about it. He didn't even have a way to call Gomez to let the family know.

Xander paused, frowning for a moment, then dropped the armful of stuff into his trunk and changed it over to a different compartment. He pulled out a wood covered sketchbook and flipped it open, quickly drawing out some lines and then made some notes.

"Could work." Xander mumbled before dropping the heavy book back into the case.

The train was due to leave shortly, so he hurried things up and with a flick of his wand levitated his trunk, telling it to follow him.

He really loved magic.

"I'd say that Harris won the year." Daphne said idly to Tracy as they settled into their compartment on the express.

"If he's allowed back in the country." Tracy countered dryly. "The Minister was distinctly displeased."

Daphne nodded, conceding the point. The Davis family was closer to the Minister than the Greengrass', but it didn't take a genius to realize that the Minister was going to be unhappy if the rumors were true. Of course, the question was which rumors were true exactly. Still, Xander had managed to annoy the Malfoy's, the Minister, and at first it seemed Potter and his faction as well.

Now THAT must have taken some fancy footwork, Daphne half snickered. You had to do something really bad to annoy all three of those groups.

The rumor mill ranged from helping Sirius Black escape to assaulting the Defense professor, though no one was entirely certain why either of those scenarios would so annoy all of the above groups.

One firstie had suggested he did both, but that was so stupid he got laughed at.

"Still," Daphne said out loud, "assuming he returns, I think Xander has the edge now."

Tracy considered, then nodded. "Agreed. Daring Draco to shoot him in the back was brilliant... well, that or insane."

Daphne laughed, "too true. Still, it was in front of everyone, including the teachers. Draco couldn't do much, or even Snape wouldn't be able to get him out of it."

"Brilliant then. For timing and location, if not actual action." Tracy conceded. "You're right, I think that Harris has control of almost a third of the house now. Draco's cabal is... a fifth?"

"If that." Daphne shrugged, "Probably only that high if you count the fence sitters as being on his side."

"They may as well be," Tracy countered, "You know they'll come down in his favor at the slightest prompting."

Daphne nodded, accepting the point.

The two girls continued to offer point and counter point as the train shook and left Hogsmeade. It was something they did every year, for each house. When they got home, they would be quizzed by their parents and evaluated. Such was the life of a pureblooded scion of a political family in England.

This year would show some upsets, however. Slytherin especially, but Potter seemed to be moving into the lead in Gryffindor a little earlier than they'd expected, given his last couple years. For a celebrity, that boy was downright antisocial, and it had made them wonder if maybe he'd just skulk through his school years largely unnoticed.

This year he'd started to come out a bit, though, and both girls knew that control of Gryffindor was Potter's for the asking. All he had to do was stand up and take it.

Diggory was undisputed now in Hufflepuff, which was entirely expected. The Puffs were solid like that, rarely was there ever a real power struggle in that house. Ravenclaw was... confusing.

"So what do you think is happening in the Claws?" Tracy asked, finally bring up that house.

Daphne grimaced, "I have no idea."

That wasn't going to go over well, the two knew. Their fathers would be distinctly unhappy with the confused information they had on the Claws. Until this year it had been fairly clear that Cho Chang was heading the up and coming power, while the sitting power was the prefect, Clearwater.

Something had changed, though, and for the life of them they couldn't figure out what it was. The Claws were shifty suddenly, nervous. Paranoid one might say, particularly Chang and her group. The problem was, no one seemed to know why.

It was damnably annoying.

The train arrived at Platform 9 and 3/4s on schedule, and the platform was soon swamped in kids anxious to get home.

After watching Harry being hauled off by the overweight guy he met every year, Xander quickly found Professor Hardy where the man was waiting and greeted him as he moved over.

"Uh... Wednesday is..." Xander grimaced.

"She's fine," Hardy said dryly, "I was contacted yesterday. She shouldn't have left without telling anyone, but that's neither of our problems at the moment. You, however, have some questions to answer about your portkey."

"Yeah... about that..." Xander grimaced for the second time.

"Causing an international incident is NOT something we encourage our students to do, Mr. Harris." Hardy sighed, "Still, judging by what the Ambassador told me, you probably didn't have many palatable options."

"Couldn't let them suck the guys soul out, not if he was innocent."

Hardy nodded tiredly, "I know. Come on, you have some interviews to do before we can get you home."

The interviews turned out to be fairly friendly, Xander found, but long and pretty dull. Mostly just retelling his story over and over, omitting a few details to protect... well, himself. He didn't feel like letting them in on the map, it was his. Ditto for the Grimoire.

They let him talk to Sirius, perhaps surprisingly, and Xander found the guy to be in good spirits and looking better than he had a few days earlier.

"So you found the grimoire, huh?" The man asked with a crooked smile.

Xander nodded, "it's got me through school."

"That's what they made it for," Sirius nodded, then smiled, "Well that and teaching the art of counter-pranking. Lilly was scary good at that."

"Yeah, well I've done a few things," Xander admitted with a half-smile. "But mostly I use it for study."

"I'm having a hard time accepting that a Slytherin was helping Harry," Sirius admitted, sighing as he sat back.

"As I tell people, I'm a yank remember?" Xander said easily, "I don't have any house prejudices. Neither does Harry, not too many anyway. But I didn't help him for him, I helped him cause Hermione is my friend, and she's his friend."

"I don't know her." Sirius admitted, "What's she like?"

"Scary smart, her parents are dentists," Xander said, shrugging, "She's a girl, what do you want?"

"Your girlfriend or Harry's?" Sirius asked, smirking.

Xander threw up his hands, "Whoa, friend. Not girlfriend. Don't know about Harry, but I think the same. She helps me study, I help her with what I can."

"Right."

"Yeah, your Sirius Black alright." Xander rolled his eyes, "You know, your damn mongrel avatar destroyed half my notes in the grimoire? Rewrote most of the other half. Since they let you loose, I've had to keep my notes in other places."

"Bet you don't leave em lying around anymore, though?"

"Mutt." Xander growled, shaking his head. He sighed, then half smiled again, "You know what's going to happen with you?"

"Weeks of red tape," Sirius admitted, "After that... don't know."

"Well, they let you out to play, I'm from Sunnydale. California, that is." Xander said, "Look me up. Chances are I can get word to Harry for you."

"Thanks."

Xander nodded, then got up. "I've got to go. See you around."

Sirius nodded soberly and watched as Xander left, knocking on the door to have the guard unlock it and let him out.

Outside, Xander glanced back through the glass, and was surprised to realize that he kinda liked the annoying bugger. He'd lived with him for nearly a year, in a manner of speaking, and had long since gotten used to the mutt.

Sunnydale California.

Lord, Xander loved his home.

Xander paused outside Willy's bar, looking up at the clear blue sky and just let the sun bake him for a moment before he pulled off his long shirt and flipped it over his shoulder. He walked home like that, enjoying the heat he'd missed out on in Scotland. Heating charms were nice and all, but they didn't come close to matching the real, honest, sun.

He made it to his place, noting that a lot of the little things that had been broken for years were now repaired, and there was new paint on the place. Xander suspected that had come out of his potions money, but he wasn't complaining. The place needed the work, and his parents' jobs just didn't quite cover it all.

"Mom! I'm home!"

Jessica Harris stepped out of the kitchen and smiled, "Welcome back, Alex. How was your year this time?"

"Besides the escaped convict and the demonic prison guards running around the school grounds?" Xander asked, chuckling.

"Excuse me?" Jessica looked caught between amused and concerned.

"Don't worry, they weren't after me," Xander grinned, "I thought the school would have told you."

"Well, we'd heard something about Dark Creatures, but were told that you'd been given an emergency portkey and everything was fine."

"Yeah, basically it. It's a long story, though." Xander said, shrugging as he collapsed into the chair.

"Well, tell it later then, since it seems to have worked out."

"Thanks, Mom." Xander let out a long breath. "Hey Mom?"

"Yes, Dear?"

"It's good to be home."

"It's good to have you back."

"Xander!"

Xander looked up and grinned as Willow barreled in the door, bracing himself just in time to catch the redheaded missile that had locked onto his position.

"I've missed you so much!"

"Me too, Wills." Xander returned the hug, glancing up behind her. "No Jessie?"

"He's got a gaming night with the guys," Willow rolled her eyes, "He said he'll see you tomorrow."

Xander nodded, "Cool."

"It's not!" Willow grumped, "He's like... a big poopy head."

Xander tried to hold back a snicker, and managed to just snort a little as he raised an eyebrow. "I'm not sure I'm familiar with the term, Ms. Rosenberg."

"Oh you did NOT just go all Spock on me!" Willow slapped him, "And he IS. You just got home, Jessie should be here."

"Wills, I'll see him tomorrow. That's fine." Xander replied with a calm smile, knowing that Willow tended to get a little hyped up over small things. "Jess had plans, it's really no big."

"He should have at least dropped by." Willow grumbled.

"And yet, I'll survive the disappointment."

"Oh you..." Willow muttered, slapping his arm again. "Anyway, enough about the poopy head. How was your year?"

"Eventful." Xander replied dryly.

Willow looked a little worried, "Compared to last year?"

"Eh. About the same, I guess. I think my family is going to be a little worried about sending me back." Xander shrugged, "Assuming they'll let me into England now."

Willow's eyes widened, "You... You think you got kicked out of an entire COUNTRY? How'd you do that!?"

"God, Wills, that's a long story." Xander sighed.

"Well get comfortable, Mister, and start talking."

Telling the story again took a little less time than the last few shots he'd had at it, as he was now becoming quite expert at getting the basics across without wandering off into nonsense. Willow cringed and made appreciative sounds at all the right places, but this time Xander included something he'd left out in all previous iterations of the story.

He told her about the map, and immediately had been forced to pull it out and activate its magic. Xander had tested it in Salem during the brief stopover and found it worked even across the oceanic distances, and now he was pleased to see that basically on the other side of the world the map worked just as well as right in the castle.

"Wow. This is your school?" Willow asked, watching the few little dots and names that represented people moving about.

Xander nodded, "Yup. That's the Headmaster there, in his office. He's like Merlin from the Disney version of King Arthur, only he's got a Phoenix instead of an Owl."

Willow giggled, covering her mouth quickly with her hand. "Seriously? You just mean he looks like Merlin, right?"

"Well, Merlin was a little more sensible in that movie," Xander admitted with a grin.

Willow started giggling again, "You're lying, Mister! Don't lie to me."

"God's honest truth, Wills." Xander grinned widely as he held his hand over his heart. "Dumbledore would be hilarious if he didn't have a reputation as the strongest wizard on the planet. I guess when you're that powerful, you get to have some quirks."

"Umm hmmm..." Willow managed to get out between giggles. "How about this one?"

Xander looked to where her finger was pointing and grimaced semi-comically, "Professor Snape, my head of house. He's not really very nice, but he's one of the top potions masters in England. He's in his lab now. If this were a Disney movie, he'd be the arch villain plotting the death and demise of everything good and pure."

Willow burst out in giggles again, "Xander! Stop it!"

"No, seriously, this guy could sub in for any male Disney villain you want to think of," Xander grinned, "He even dresses like a vampire."

She kept trying to stifle her giggles, resulting in a very red faced Willow groaning in pain between bouts of laughter.

"For all that, he's pretty brilliant," Xander admitted, nodding back to the book shelf behind them, "We have a couple potions books by him in our study wall."

Willow's eyes widened as she straightened up, "SEVERUS Snape!?"

Xander nodded.

"Oh My God." Willow forgot all about giggling, "The man is a genius, Xander! You're so lucky to be learning from him."

"Eh." Xander shrugged, "I decided last year that Genius he may be in potions, but he shouldn't be allowed near children on pain of death. Not until like, sixth year anyway, and only with people who've already earned Os on their potions OWLs."

Willow looked dismayed and shocked at his words, prompting Xander to continue.

"The dude can't teach, Wills." He said with a shrug. "He should be in research or something, not teaching eleven year olds. We had one guy in my year who was more scared of Snape than ANYTHING else in the whole world. Think about that for a second, Wills... In the last three years we've dealt with giant snakes, trolls, escaped prisoners... plus, this guy? His parents were tortured or something by terrorists back when he was a little kid. And Snape scares him more than all that."

Willow looked downcast, "That isn't good at all."

"Yeah." Xander agreed dryly, "Lucky for me, he mostly just leaves me alone. I'm in his house, but not important enough to show up much on his radar."

"You are too important!"

Xander smiled, "I don't think he rates things on the Willow scale."

"Well he should." She pouted, bringing a laugh to Xander's lips.

"Enough about school," Xander said after he'd calmed a bit, eyes dancing as he looked over at Willow, "Want to hear about this summer's projects?"

"Oohh! Yes!" Willed jumped forward in her seat, literally sitting on the edge of it.

"Let me tell you about my new favorite spell in the whole world," Xander said with an air of drama.

Willow actually groaned a little, knowing Xander's previous proclivities in that area. Stunners, bone splitting curses (GROSS!), and shielding charms. She loved her best friend dearly, but he was SUCH a boy. She swore, if it weren't for magic he'd probably be all into guns or something. Well, maybe not, it was California after all. Probably surfing or skateboarding.

Xander, oblivious to Willow's thoughts, flipped open a book and turned it to her with the air of someone unveiling a magic trick. "May I present, the Protean Charm."

Willow frowned, tilting her head slightly as she started to read.

This wasn't some fighting spell! In fact, she was puzzled more and more as she read, trying to figure out why Xander was so excited. When she was finished, Willow just shook her head slightly and looked up at Xander, who was looking back with an amused sort of expression.

"I don't get it."

"Get what?" He asked, expression turning innocent.

"Why this spell, mister?" Willow demanded, setting her own expression. It wasn't quite Resolve Face... yet.

Xander sniffed, looking put out. "You don't see it?"

"See what?" Willow asked, "Ok... it's kinda cool. I've read about the Familiarity Principal of magic, and this is obviously from that school, but..."

She shrugged, not seeing whatever it was that Xander was seeing.

"Oh Wills, Wills, Wills," Xander said, sounding disappointed as he tried to keep a long face.

She growled, actually GROWLED. Xander couldn't help but bust out laughing.

"Sorry! Sorry!" He held up his hands to stave off retribution, then hastily wiped his eyes as he took a few deep breaths. "It's just that everyone has that same reaction to this spell, Wills. It's 'neat' and sometimes useful, but so what? Right?"

Willow nodded slowly.

"Wills, the map is based entirely around the Protean." Xander said, nodding to the parchment still laid out between them. "It's the core of all the enchantments, without it nothing else works."

Willow frowned, looking at the map for a moment. "Really?"

"Really. The Protean is linked with the wards at Hogwarts, so what they report is automatically mirrored here." Xander said by way of explanation. "You know the story of the Dark Lord dude who was scaring the crap out of England back when we were born?"

Willow nodded, she'd read all the histories of course.

"Well his mark, brand really, that he put on his followers was based on the protean." Xander said. "It let him communicate with them, punish them, and all that evil overlord stuff."

Ok, Willow had to admit that was kind of impressive. You know, in a really squicky kind of way.

"Even so, it's just mirroring stuff, right?"

Xander couldn't help it, he laughed at her.

"Xander!" Willow complained, picking a throw pillow and reading to make it live up to its name.

"Whoa! Whoa! I couldn't help it, Wills." Xander grinned, "You of all people, saying that communicating information was no big deal!"

Willow paused, blinking.

Wait. Her mind suddenly shifted into gear so fast that it would have made a grinding sound had it been a car. The map was sending information across the PLANET, with no satellite relay, no towers, no cable. She stared at it for a long moment, eyes blinking slowly as it penetrated. She slowly looked up at Xander, eyes questioning.

"It's got limits," He said, "But as far as I can tell, range isn't one of them. At least not within any scale *I* can test. It's tough to cast too, but I think I can get a handle on it. So what do you say, Wills? Want to see what we can make of this?"

She nodded dumbly, mind still racing along.

Suddenly she jolted, "Xander! Do you know what this means!?"

He half smiled, "I know what I think it means. What do you think it means?"

"We can make something that lets us talk even when you're at school!" Willow blurted, eyes beaming.

Xander smiled fully, "yes. Yes we can."

And a whole lot more, if his thoughts on the matter were even close to reality.

The first night was mostly talk and a little behind the back plotting between Xander and Willow on what they wanted to do with the Protean spell over the summer, and various ideas they had on improving old projects like their wands.

Willow wanted to try playing with the cores, including dual or multi-core wands, while Xander wanted a backup with him at all times after the incident with the Dementors. Handing his wand off to Sirius had been necessary, but if more acromantulas had attacked while they were struggling through the forest he would have been a sitting duck.

They quickly sketched out some preliminary lists for materials and such, and plotted a trip to Three Angels in the near future with either Sam or Xander's Dad. Xander also wanted to pick up some scrap metals, mostly brass, bronze, and copper. All three of those metals were known for being easy to work, magically, and capable of taking enchantments.

Gold was good too, better in fact that the three Xander wanted, but he didn't want to waste gold if he didn't need to. Still, a small amount of it went on the list as a second thought.

The next morning Xander was surprised when Sam showed up without being called, and naturally invited himself to breakfast.

"Smells great, Jess," Sam Ruaidhri Harris grinned, taking a seat and a plate from his brother.

"Get your own, Rory." Tony growled, grabbing his food back.

"Is that any way to treat a guest?" Sam whined.

Jessica sighed, rolling her eyes as she prepared another plate and slid it down in front of Sam. "Here you are."

"Well, we know which one you married up in this relationship, eh Tony?" Sam smirked at his brother.

"What are you here for, Sam?" Tony groaned.

Sam ate some bacon before nodding his head over to Xander, "I hear that the family is already looking to get him back to England."

"That's what I'm told," Tony admitted. "Not too happy about it this year. Last year was supposed to be an exception. Not sending my boy back to that loony bin."

Sam shrugged, "You fight the family, you're going to lose, Tony."

"Not before Alex is done at Salem I won't." Tony countered, "I can hold the line for a few years."

"Maybe." Sam shrugged. "Maybe not. Besides, as much as I hate to agree with the family on anything... and you KNOW I hate doing that, they do have a point. Kid is making some powerful contacts in the old world. They've been contacted by the current Matriarch of the Malfoy family, and acting Matriarch of the Blacks, concerning him."

Tony frowned, thinking about that. He knew the names, but never really paid much attention to that stuff since, as a non-magical, it didn't matter much to him. Even so, the Blacks were an important family. Or they used to be.

"Blacks are gone, ain't they?" Tony mumbled.

"Not entirely." Xander and Sam said together.

Sam smirked, "Go ahead kid."

"Sirius Black applied to the Ministry for Asylum from the Brits," Xander said, idly nibbling on a piece of bacon. "He's the head of family, but I'm not sure what that'll mean in England."

"Technically he'll be Lord Black in Exile," Sam filled in, "I had to do some research in a hurry. Legally that limits what he can do in England, but he does have access to the Black assets and can make financial decisions through Gringotts. His Heir presumptive is that Potter kid that supposedly iced their last Dark Lord as a babe, one of X's classmates, right kid?"

Xander nodded, "Harry's sort of a friend. We've, what did you call it Sam? Bled on the same ground?"

Sam nodded, "Yeah. Changes folk, don't it?"

"Yeah."

"Anyway, that links the kid to the Blacks, the Malfoys, and the Potters. Lot of power and influence there, Tony."

"Which means dick all if the kid gets killed by some floating demon or sixty foot snake." Tony countered.

"Point. Which is why Robert has an alternative to offer." Sam suggested.

"Like what?"

"He called in an old favor, you remember Tommy Falcon?"

Tony snorted, "You don't forget the man who saved your life, Sam."

"Yeah, well Robert was the guy who got Tommy a shot at The Proud. He was discharged a couple years ago, starting to slow down I guess," Sam snorted. At eighty years old Tommy had been a member of the Proud for over thirty years. It wasn't a record, but it was well above the average, which rested just under ten. "Tommy says he'll give the kid some training, teach him to take care of himself."

Tony grimaced, "Damn it Sam. All the training in the world won't save Alex from a death curse in the back."

"No, it won't." Sam admitted, "But the truth is still that X isn't a target, he's just not smart enough to stay the hell out of the way."

Both men tossed glares at Xander, who suddenly became very interested in cleaning his plate. Sam chuckled at it, then turned his focus back to Tony.

"You know the Family is going to push for this, Tony. I don't like it much myself and, to be honest, most of the family probably aren't in love with it. They're bastards, but they're not into getting kids killed." Sam said, lips twisting, "The kid was just dumb enough to go and dangle something incredibly juicy in front of them."

Tony sighed, then turned to Xander, "Alex... you're old enough to have a say in this. I'm not promising to go with what you want, but I want to hear it."

Xander looked back up at them and considered it for a moment.

There were pros and cons to both options. On the one side, he was learning tons in Hogwarts, though to be honest most of it was probably OUT of class and could be learned in the States. Hogwarts library was one of the top in the world, by all accounts, even those professors he'd spoken to from Salem, however, so some things he'd probably lose out on elsewhere. Like his family had realized, Xander was making some friends and contacts at Hogwarts that were very influential in England and probably Europe, but Xander didn't know what that translated into in the real world.

The other side was obvious, Harry couldn't go through a school year without getting his ass into some mess that Xander had been dragged into two years out of three. Xander paused for a moment, then added in the Troll incident and upped the counter to two and a half years out of three.

That said, the only times he'd really been in lethal danger where his own damn fault. He'd gone after the snake cause it hurt Hermione, and no one asked him to chase after Harry when Black had grabbed them. Xander supposed that if the same thing happened in Salem, he'd make the same choice again.

"I think I'd like to go back," He said after some thought, "I know it's not as safe as you'd like, Dad, but you know what... the worst danger I was in, well it was my own fault. I chose to walk into those situations. I can't say I won't do the same again either, doesn't matter if it happens in Hogwarts or Salem."

Tony sighed, slumping in his chair.

After a long moment he nodded, "Ok. Tell Robert that Alex can train with Tommy. I haven't decided yet, but... it won't hurt nothin."

Sam nodded, setting his utensils down, "I'll set it up. Hey kid, I hope you've been keeping up on your conditioning... cause Tommy Falcon is full blood Sioux and he don't go in for lazy white man things like sleep."

Xander gulped, then squeaked out, "What?"

Sam left, chuckling deeply the whole way.

Xander just groaned. Why did he always get himself into these things?

At that same time, half a world away, a group of men were meeting for the first time of the Summer Season, with a long agenda to look over.

"I suppose the first thing we deal with may as well be the recent incident with Mr. Sirius Black." Said the man at the head of the table, eyes twinkling softly as they were wont to do.

"There's not much I can do directly against his application for Asylum, Chief Mugwump," The American representative said softly. "It's already gone public to a degree."

"That's fine, Marcus." Albus said calmly. "I'm actually more curious about the results of his interrogation."

Marcus Simmonds nodded, drawing out a parchment and glancing it over. "Mr. Black was interrogated by a Master Legilimencer while under the influence of Veritaserum that had been administered by a Potions Master. The team is one of our best interrogation duos."

Dumbledore nodded, waving softly to the man.

"According to his testimony, one Peter Pettigrew betrayed the Potters and killed the Non-magicals that night." Marcus said, "Our team confirms his statement."

"I see," Albus sighed, "Well that's that then."

"What will the British Ministry do?" Dietrich Blein asked, leaning forward.

"Minister Fudge refuses to hear any alternative to his constructed world," Albus said with a sigh, only his eyes seeming to express anything other than disappointment. They twinkled softly, as they tended to when he was amused by something.

"And how does this affect your situation with the Potter boy?"

"It does not. With Sirius as The Lord Black in Exile he has no legal ability to change Harry's status." Albus said with finality. "I can continue to keep Harry protected from his enemies."

The men around the table murmured, but in general nodded in agreement.

"Very well, then we let the Asylum proceedings continue unimpeded." Francois Renauld moved.

The motion was quickly seconded and passed. Albus couldn't help but suppress a slight chuckle at how fast many of the nations' representatives jumped on the opportunity to make a fool of England and, of course, it's Minister. Fudge had made no friends for himself on the international scene, and was burning more bridges with the inane appointment of Ludo Bagman to the chair of the upcoming World Cup.

Albus put those thoughts aside as the meeting moved on, and The Council began to debate matters of international impact amongst themselves.