Disclaimer is in chapter 1.

Jessica Harris brooded quietly as she took a seat in the darkened living room of her home of thirty years. She'd received a Floo call from the Lady Lavelle just a couple hours earlier, telling her to expect someone from the family with regards to her son's training.

Like many low magicals born into the families, Jessica hadn't grown up knowing she couldn't cast. In fact, late development was a common occurrence and many families merely assumed that their children would develop, if not into Salem candidates, then at least into fully empowered members of the Magical World.

For her it had all fallen apart when she was twelve, the final magical tests had shown that her core was at its mature peak and was no longer growing in strength. There had, of course, been indicators before that, there always were, but her parents had kept them from her so as not to 'worry her'.

It was a mixed blessing, she supposed. Her heart and soul had been all but destroyed when it all finally came down, but she had been well educated prior to that point in the family ways. She knew things that many pure bloods were never taught about the Lines, and could manage a household or a business with the competence expected of a Lavelle.

It also meant she had some idea of what the coming meeting was about, and she was worried. She'd never expected that Alex might develop an instance of the family magic, it was so rare. For it to be strong enough to require intervention, that was even worse. She and Anthony must have been far more compatible than she had believed possible, and that in itself boded for a mixed future.

The Floo flared to life on schedule, the green flames washing out as a robed figure stepped out and into the room.

"Jessica Lavelle." The pale man said, nodding politely.

"Signor Davis." She replied in kind, gesturing to a chair.

"I will stand." He said, "You understand why I'm here?"

"To a degree. I wasn't informed on the seriousness of the situation."

"Mostly because we are not certain of it ourselves, Jessica." Davis told her, "This is the first chance we've had to check it personally."

Jessica nodded, "Yet they send you."

"Yes. They send me." Davis said softly.

"My son is in his room, he came back from training and took a nap. He's been pushing himself too hard lately." Jessica said, "He has too many things on his plate for a fourteen year old boy."

"That's as it may be, but this will have to take precedence."

"Yes, I know." She said, "I'll wake him."

Davis nodded. "I'll wait and come up in five minutes. Precisely."

Xander shifted when the knock came on his door, "I'm up. I'm up."

"Not yet, but hurry please. There's someone here to see you."

"Mom?" He blinked, rolling over. "K. Who? Willow?"

"No. Someone from the Family."

Xander blinked awake, pushing himself up in bed as he automatically reached for his wand. Since he first learned about magic he'd slowly begun to fall in line with certain common attributes of wizards. One of those was, you never met another wizard or witch without your wand. It just wasn't done.

He scourgified himself, shivering with the feeling, then yanked on a pair of jeans and jammed his Ollivander wand into the belt as he threw on an old Hawaiian shirt.

Granted, it was also wizarding custom to meet in appropriate wizarding attire, but Xander figured that this was his home, not theirs.

He nodded to his Mom, "I'll be right down."

"That won't be necessary."

The new voice caused Xander to twist, hand dropping to his belt as he spotted the pale figure appear behind his Mom. He'd barely cleared leather when a preemptive spell slid under his mom's arm and struck him in the chest.

Jessica Lavelle twisted, face red, "What the hell do you think you're doing!? You said five minutes!"

"The boy must be tested off his guard." Davis said, calmly shunting her to one side as he approached the paralyzed boy. He idly noted the wand, half pointed in his general direction, "Not bad, child. But you would never have got me with that, not unless you were willing to shoot through your mother."

Xander's eyes were the only thing that could move as he stood there, glaring openly at the stranger.

Davis carefully avoided the boys' eyes as he set his small bag down on the night table by the bed. "Now, I'm sure you have many questions, and they will be answered soon enough. For the moment, just know that I am Davis. I was sent here by the Lady Lavelle. You and your family are in no immediate danger, so please stop trying to overcome my Petrificus, you'll only wear yourself out."

Xander could only roll his eyes and watch as the man laid out a couple vials on the stand, then turned back to him with wand drawn.

"And now... let us begin." Davis said, snapping his wand out at Xander. "Legilimens!"

Sirius Orion Black sat outside on the roof of the cheap motel he was renting a room in, eyeing the sun as it began it's descent into the ocean. It was a different world from home, he thought. He'd grown up in London, never venturing outside Grimmauld Place for fear of the 'muggles'. Until he went to Hogwarts his experience with other people was almost entirely limited to family, and as he'd loudly and publically noted since then his family was nuts.

His mother had been losing what remained of her marbles for as long as he could remember, his dad while not as bad, was just as eccentric as Wizards were expected to be. His entire world had been the four walls of Grimmauld until the day he made his way to Platform Nine and Three Quarters, and met James Potter.

From that day to the night he was thrown in Azkaban, he'd lived every day like he was making up for his first eleven years. He'd seen Paris and Madrid, Rome and Jakarta, even kidnapped his best friend once, with a little help from Remus and Peter, and shanghaied the soon to be groom on a seven day world tour that began in Monaco and ended in Vegas.

Sirius smiled slightly.

Lilly had NOT been pleased.

James hadn't been too happy either, at least not when the photos of the event turned up in their honeymoon suite.

Lord had James made them pay for THAT.

All those times, and where was he now? Exiled from home, unable to look after Harry the way he'd sworn he would. Life and fate were fickle things, sometimes.

"M... Mr. Black..."

Sirius looked down, barely hearing the soft voice, and was surprised to see the young redheaded girl Xander had introduced him to standing on the ground below him. "Yes, Willow?"

He hadn't had much contact with her, but knew that the girl had a brilliant mind. She was, in fact, very much like Lilly when they first saw her. Nervous, scared out of her mind, completely out of her depth... yet totally unwilling to admit any of it. Alright, this girl was almost fourteen, by then Lilly was nothing like any of that, but Sirius could still see her and reminisce.

"What can I do for you?" Sirius asked when she didn't respond on her own.

"W... well, I was just thinking, I mean h-hoping," The girl said, blushing as she spoke.

' Lord I hope she isn't about to confess a crush on old Padfoot here, ' Sirius thought, secretly a little pleased that he still had it.

"Yes?" He prodded.

"Could you... could you show me how you cast the Protean so easily?" She got out in a rush.

Sirius felt his little bit of guilty pride pop like a balloon and grinned self-consciously, "I think we can arrange something. Do you have any more of those spell phones ready?"

She nodded.

"Alright," Sirius hopped off the roof, eliciting a shriek from her before he cast a light Leviosa on himself to soften the landing. "Let's go."

The intrusion into his mind was like a sword slashing where Chayton's had been like a needle piercing. Xander threw up everything he had at it, but it all was cut down in an instant. He felt the other mind against his, his entire being thrown into holding it back, all to no avail. Time had no meaning, the white hot pain searing across his mind.

He clenched his teeth, his jaw cracking and exploding with even more pain, but there was nothing he could do to hold the mind back.

Not a thing in the universe.

Xander finally lost it and screamed.

That was the last thing he remembered until more pain lanced through his skull, this time from the light hitting his eyes as he woke up. He looked around slowly, realizing he was no longer petrified and was, in fact, laying back on his bed while the pale man stood over him and flashed a light in his eyes.

"He's fine, Jessica." The man, Davis, said. "Pupil response is as expected. He did indeed inherit a full measure of the Lavelle Line. I expect you'll be contacted by the Lady Lavelle again soon."

Xander heard his mother murmur something in the background, but couldn't make it out.

"He's awake, still confused. It's understandable." The pale man said, turning back to Xander. "I know you can hear me, boy. Don't try to move too much now, you won't like what it'll do to your head. I've left potions to help with the pain and the confusion. Your mother will explain it all when you're ready to understand complex concepts once more, it should be a few minutes."

Xander stared at him, blinked, then crossed his eyes, and stared some more.

"I understand that you have a busy schedule. It's about to get busier." Davis said simply. "I will be taking over your Occlumency lessons from the Auror. We have much to do, and very little time to do it in if you are to make your scheduled meetings with the Malfoy family."

With those words the man stood up and turned away from Xander, walking out of the room. He paused only by Xander's mother to say a few short words that Xander couldn't catch, then was gone.

Jessica came in and sat on the side of the bed, "I'm sorry. I didn't know he was going to do that, I've never seen a line test before. I just knew a little about them."

"Don... understan..." Xander mumbled.

Jessica nodded, uncorking a vial, "Here... drink this."

Xander did as he was told, gulping the foul tasting concoction down without really tasting it. The pain in his head dulled almost instantly, and he sighed and sank back in a more relaxed state.

"Davis is a family retainer, you might say." Jessica said. "He administers Line Tests for Lavelle's who are believed to have shown evidence of the blood."

Xander frowned, "What blood?"

"The mind arts, Alex. The Lavelle's have long been masters of the mind arts." She said, "Occlumency and Legilimency were developed by a Lavelle, centuries ago. Along with others, some known... some... not. You've developed a Mind Talent early, most don't until their twenties when they're fully grown in body, mind, and magic."

She smiled softly, "I'm afraid it's going to mean more work."

Xander groaned, rolling over, and pulled his pillow over his head.

Jessica Harris answered the door and was only a little surprised to see Willow there, along with Sirius Black. "Hello Willow."

"Is Xander around?" The redhead asked, "I asked Sirius if he could teach me the spell for the phones, and I was hoping we could..."

"Come in," Jessica smiled, cutting off the babble before it got started.

She stepped aside, letting the two into the house, and considered the young redhead girl for a moment as she walked past. Jessica had always liked Willow, of course. Few parents of budding ADHD poster children wouldn't. Willow had a calming effect on her son, and a lifting one on her son's grades. Well, up until Xander had gotten his invitation to Salem, of course.

Even with the separation, Jessica still gave Willow some of the credit for Alex's improved grades. While his interest in the material was likely the primary reason, she suspected that without the study habits Willow had burned into him from almost the first grade he would be struggling just that much harder.

Right now, she also knew that Xander was not in the best of moods. He'd just been attacked in his own home, and even if he did believe her when she said she knew nothing about it, she had still invited the attacker into the house. No matter what rationale, he had to be feeling just a little betrayed.

Maybe he could use someone to talk to that wasn't her, right now.

"Xander's up in his room," Jessica said finally, nodding to the stairs. "I'm sure Mr. Black can get things ready downstairs while you visit for a few minutes."

Willow glanced at Sirius, who just shrugged and nodded.

"Thank you, Mrs. Harris!" Willow said, bolting for the stairs.

Sirius hesitated a moment, until the girl was gone. "What happened?"

"Family business, Mr. Black." Jessica said softly. "Don't worry about it."

Sirius paused, then nodded again, "Well I'll go get things ready for Willow's lesson on the protean then."

Jessica nodded and let him go, turning away to see to the dishes in the kitchen.

Xander had pulled his old guitar out of the closet, not really thinking anything as he did so, just looking for something to keep his mind occupied.

He'd been attacked in his own bedroom.

His fingers tightened the keys, tuning it by ear the way he'd been taught when he was eight. It wouldn't be in 'tune' with anything but itself that way, but it would do. When he finished Xander settled back on the bed, sitting against the headboard, and just started to pluck out a beat.

The guy may have been working for family, but what if he hadn't been?

He was still there, still plucking the same beat when Willow knocked.

"Xander? You decent?"

Normally that would have brought a smile to his face, and a joke to his lips, but Xander didn't even look up from the guitar. "In here, Wills."

Willow slowly poked her head in, then blinked when she saw what he was doing and let herself in the rest of the way. "I remember that. You haven't played that since you were..."

"Nine." Xander said, fingers still hesitantly plucking at the strings. "Yeah, I know."

Willow had been about to say that he hadn't played the guitar since he'd tried in that school talent show and been heckled mercilessly for it by Cordelia and her group of friends, but his answer was better. She sat down on the side of the bed for a moment, just listening, but couldn't place the tune.

"What are you playing?"

"You can't recognize it?" He asked, a hint of a smile on his face.

Willow shook her head.

"I'm disappointed in you, Wills."

Willow flushed a little, "Maybe it's not my ears, but your playing..."

Her hand clapped over her mouth, though a little too late to stop that from coming out. "Oh, Xan... I'm sorry, I didn't mean..."

"It's ok..." He said, still smiling softly at her. "It's not a song, Wills. Just listen."

She did for another little while, the beat speeding up as his fingers began to remember their way around the strings. Finally she shook her head in frustration, "I don't get it."

"Think Arithmancy, Wills." Xander said, closing his eyes.

Willow blinked, mind shifting tracks. What did Arithmancy have to do with music? She listened more intently, now knowing that it had something to do with magic, a subject that Willow had to admit (with a certain reluctance and chagrin) that Xander knew better than her.

The beat was hypnotic, even mostly except for little hits in the general sound. Little highs and lows that seemed out of place, but felt right all the same. Now that he had connected it to magic for her, it did feel familiar, something she had studied. As she listened, Willow's mind slowly seemed to connect with the sound and suddenly her eyes snapped open.

"It's the Protean!"

"Bravo, five points to the house of genius redheads," Xander said with soft smirk, then frowned a little puzzled. "Now would that Gryffinclaw or Ravendor?"

"Huh?" Willow screwed up her face in confusion. Those weren't houses from his school, she'd read about it after all. He just mashed two names together for no reason.

"You had to be there, Wills. You had to be there."

Willow shook her head, "Why are you playing the protean on your guitar? Can you cast it that way?"

"I don't know." He told her, hand coming down on the strings to still the sound. "I just needed something to clear my mind, that's all."

"Is everything alright?" She asked, concerned now.

"Yeah," He said after a moment, "I just found out some family stuff that I'm having a hard time with."

"Bad stuff?" Willow cringed.

"No. Just bad delivery." He shrugged, then sighed, "I also picked up more work this summer."

"More!?" Willow stopped just short of wailing or whining, in her opinion, but her thoughts on the matter were clear. She didn't want to lose what little time she had with her best friend entirely.

"Yeah. More."

"Xander, you can't keep doing this. You have to have some fun too..."

He grinned at her, "My Word, is that Willow I hear? Telling me not to study?"

"That's not what I said!" She glared at him as he chuckled at her.

"This is important stuff, Wills. I can't skip it." He said, turning serious for a moment.

"Oh, Xander. We never see each other anymore."

"It'll get better." He said.

She looked up at him, "You promise?"

"Yeah, I promise." He put the guitar aside and leaned over, giving her a hug.

"So?"

"The boy is a full adept." Davis reported, face a mask that showed nothing of what he was thinking.

"You're joking." Lady Lavelle hissed in shock.

"No joke, my Lady." He shook his head, "I don't believe the Line has seen his type in two centuries."

"Franklin." She whispered, "And his entire youth wasted."

Davis shrugged, "There was no way to predict that an adept would be born to two low magicals, ma'am."

"That hardly helps. Very well, training?"

"I'll focus on getting his shields up to where they should be for a normal magical child of his age. I can't do more than that if you want to keep the open line with the Malfoy family."

"I understand. Do what you can." She said, waving him away.

After Davis left, Lady Lavelle's mind whirled in shock. A full adept of the mind arts was not something that came around every day, however he was already fourteen. For an adept to reach their full potential, they had to be trained early. It was almost never done because, even in the Lavelle line, adepts were sparse to the point of nonexistence, and early training in Occlumency was pointless for most, at its worst even harmful.

She walked over to the ancient tapestry of the Lavelle line and traced the names down to where Jessica's mother ended with no names following it. She considered it for a long moment before drawing her wand and adding the name Jessica Lavelle back to the tapestry, married to Anthony Harris.

One child.

Alexander Lavelle.

This bode thinking on.

Xander sighed as he settled back into his room. He'd spent some time in the basement with Willow and Sirius, getting some pointers on the Protean alongside her best friend, but his heart and mind just weren't into it at the moment.

His guitar was sitting on a chair across from his bed, but he left it be for the moment.

He didn't know what to do from this point, and that was bugging him. It wasn't like he always had a plan or anything, but he did usually have some sort of idea. Whether it was making wands, enchanting phones, or just goofing off with his friends he had an idea.

Now the only thing he could see in his immediate future was following orders.

Come here. Do this. Learn that.

Magic wasn't so much fun anymore.

He threw himself back, bouncing a little on the bed as he did, and groaned. How had he gotten himself into this?

All he wanted to do when he came home this summer was spend some time with Willow and Jessie, maybe learn a little dueling and fighting on his own and with Sam, tinker with his wands and whatever other projects he felt like, and just generally goof off.

Now he was learning the mind arts, being taught to fight like someone was trying to kill HIM, learning all kinds of crazy stuff all because he'd been stupid enough to get himself on the sideline of the life of Harry James Potter.

"Crap!" He muttered, shaking his head.

At least Harry had to be dealing with worse than this, after all he was the guy people actually WERE trying to kill.

Xander sighed and rolled over, trying to get some sleep.

It was going to be a long, hard, day when dawn came.