Disclaimer is in chapter 1.

For Harry and Hermione, the position they found themselves in was one beyond their dreams. The woman in front of them was, for them, their monarch. Perhaps not as powerful an image as she once may have been, but to their minds the difference was practically nonexistent.

For Narcissa, despite her own place of birth, the woman was little more than a tale of fancy. There was a time, in the long distant past, when the Wizarding World answered to a King but those days were gone. Even so, there were few in her peer group that held as powerful a presence under their control as this woman did.

Xander, for a third point of view, came from a country that held monarchy as a quaint throwback to a barbaric era. Whether that was true or not had little impact on how he had been brought up, and so Xander didn't feel the same presence as the others. Neither the near mystical one that swept over Harry and Hermione, nor the power of personality that Narcissa so easily detected. For him, the woman in the chair was a familiar presence. She was powerful, he knew that by gut as well as by brain, and knew how to wield her power. He'd felt much the same in the presence of Lady Lavelle, and tended to react the same.

The Queen, in the meantime, had been sizing up her guests. The young Mr. Potter had the look of his family, she could tell. She had seen his father once, years ago, at a formal ball and his grandfather too had that same look about him. The others were something more of a mystery, well two of them were at any rate.

Hermione Jane Granger was an extremely bright and intelligent young girl who had vanished from public records a few years earlier. Prior to that she had been noted by her professors as one of the most intelligent people they had ever taught. The mystery of her disappearance from all scholastic records was now solved.

Narcissa Malfoy was a non-entity. Obviously Wizard born and, if the Queen was any judge of people, Wizarding Nobility at that. Her total lack of records in the 'muggle' world indicated a pureblood, though the Queen was not familiar with the Malfoy name.

Unusual.

The final member of the foursome was, perhaps oddly, of more interest to her than the rest. Mostly because of the spectral shade of Anne Boleyn floating by his side, whispering in his ear. She would give good money to know what the ghost was whispering, and how that peculiar relationship started.

Still, Alexander Harris was another unknown to them. He was apparently an American, but with nothing more than the name there were thousands of possible matches just in his age group. They managed to eliminate most of them, but that still left dozens who had never had an ID picture placed in any major network. And that assumed that he existed at all in the 'muggle' databases, were he a pureblood it was entirely possible he did not.

The fact that two complete unknowns were to be in the royal presence had driven security to near madness, in her opinion. Finally she had been forced to put her foot down and force action on their part. It wasn't as if they could realistically prevent assassination by a Wizard anyway. The Magicals had too many bizarre methods of killing that were entirely invisible to normal security. They wouldn't need something this complex in order to open the opportunity.

So she took a breath, and then the Queen opened her mouth and spoke.

"Welcome to the Tower, young Mr. Potter." She said, eyes firmly fixing on the nervous young man who was just now starting to fidget again.

"T... thank you, your Majesty." Harry said, fumbling through a bow.

"We have been reliably informed that you have accomplished a rather impressive act of heroism." She said, one eyebrow arcing slightly. "Slaying a serpent with a sword... Truly worthy of the bards."

"I... I mean, it wasn't all that much really."

Her eyes widened, "A sixty foot basilisk? Creatures of that nature do not curl up and die at the behest of children, men, nor even queens."

Harry, blushing wildly, shrugged a little helplessly but found himself unable to speak.

"Traditionally it is considered necessary to bring a token of the battle, however give your age..."

Narcissa grunted slightly and jammed Xander in the ribs with her elbow, causing him to yelp and cut off the Queen, much to the ire of the men flanking them. The Queen, however, merely looked to them curiously. Xander fumbled a little, but drew out a polished wooden box from under his coat. Narcissa had told him about this tradition, and he'd volunteered some of the basilisk they'd harvested. Hell, it was as much Harry's as his and Wednesday's anyway. Arguably more, he supposed, but then Harry hadn't wanted it.

He went down to one knee, like he'd been coached, and bowed his head as he presented the box. A man appeared from one side and accepted it, carefully examining it, then opened it before turning to the queen.

The Queen was silent as she looked into the box and saw the curved blade resting within, bone white and gleaming unnaturally.

"Basilisk Fang blade, your Majesty." Narcissa said softly, inclining her head slightly. "Be wary of handling it, the poison of the fang will still be lethal for centuries to come. It will penetrate any magical shield known, though it will chip and break against metal armor as does any tooth."

The Queen nodded slowly, "A true prize, much more than a token as I recall."

"Ma'am," Xander said, his throat dry as he got back to his feet, he'd devoured the sections of history books the Malfoy's had on the subject. "Historically, the blade was valuable for fighting men and assassins, so the fangs were hoarded by Knights who killed the snakes. That's why the tokens were usually smaller teeth or bone. Today, I think we can agree, soldiers prefer different weapons. The handle is enchanted to prevent the wielder from cutting themselves, so you don't need to worry about the poison if you hold it yourself. Never pick it up by the blade, however."

She nodded, closing the box and passing it back to one of her armsmen.

"We thank you for the token, Mr. Potter."

"But I didn... Ugh!" Harry started, looking lost and confused.

Hermione and Xander both jabbed him with their elbows, to the Queen's amusement and to his breathless pain. As Harry was trying to get his breath back, the Queen smiled and rose from her chair, reaching one hand out to the side.

Another attendant appeared, a sword resting on a pillow in his arms. She grasped the blade in both hands and held it up vertically in front of her face.

"Harry James Potter of the Magical House of Potter, do you swear on your life and magic that the deeds you have attested to are your own and no one elses?"

Hermione gasped.

Harry managed to straighten up, face confused. "I had help, Ma'am."

"We are aware of that, but did you do what you claimed?"

"I did."

"Then swear it."

"I swear," He said, lips parched and mouth like cotton as he spoke, "on my life and magic that I slew the Basilisk that was threatening Hogwarts."

A soft flash of light pulsed forth, and the Queen smiled almost sadly.

"So much danger for one so young. I had hoped we were beyond those days." She said, visibly getting herself back under full control. "Kneel, Harry James."

Harry almost fell to his knees as she approached and deftly lay the sword down on his right shoulder, then lifted it and lay it down on his left.

"Now rise, Sir Harry, Mage Knight of the Realm and Head of the Ancient House of Potter."

Harry nodded jerkily, getting back to his feet.

The Queen handed off the sword to the attendant once more and looked down at the scrawny teen before her. It was a wonder he'd lived through a stiff breeze, she thought, let alone a sixty foot magical serpent.

With a gesture she motioned off the attendants and guards, but didn't move from where she stood.

"You may wonder why we had you swear that you had, indeed, performed your service to the realm... and yet didn't ask for an oath of fealty, or really any oath of service one might normally associate with your new position."

Harry, who hadn't had a single coherent thought since she spoke to him the first time, barely managed to simultaneously nod and keep himself from drooling in his stunned stupor.

"The Potter legacy is unusual." She said, "It is the only hereditary Knighthood remaining in the magical World. All other family lines have long since been extinguished. Given the separation between the worlds, you now exist in a strange position, Sir Harry."

"I... I don't understand, Ma'am."

The Queen smiled slightly, "We are not surprised. You now exist in both worlds. This seems obvious, we suppose, but in reality very few people do. In fact, you may be one of only a half dozen people in all of Great Britain that officially exist in both worlds. While many muggle born, as you call them, move back and forth between worlds they usually move their official existence entirely into the Magical Realm for various legal and financial reasons."

Harry nodded, though while he understood the words he had no concept as to what they really meant.

The Queen, however, seemed to realize that.

"As The Mage Knight you will receive invitations to certain events throughout the year," She explained, "You will exist, insofar as our Government is concerned. Should you need to travel through normal routes, we believe you will find that MI5 and MI6 will expedite the needed paperwork. You will also need to fill out for taxes, though since most of your estate is maintained in the Wizarding realm, those should be quite low."

"In effect," She finished, "You will be a Citizen of Great Britain in a way that few magicals ever are."

"I... I didn't know about any of that," Harry confessed.

"We suspect you will find both good and bad things about it," The Queen said with a wry smile, which then became serious. "Given your dual existence, our power to command you is limited. The power of the Royalty within the Magical realm is that of the proverbial paper tiger. By strict interpretation of the law, we are the final power of the Magical Realm and the Ministry there governs by our leave and at our pleasure. In reality, power on paper is worthless without some form of Martial Might to back it up. Our world long ago gave up the position of Royal Wizard, and that was the final step in abdicating control of the Magical Realm."

"I... don't really understand, then." Harry admitted, more than a little shame faced. "What do I do?"

"Not all our power is gone, Sir Harry. Some was enforced by Magic." The Queen said coolly. "No Wizard has yet determined how to break that branch of our strength, nor do we expect any to do so. As a Knight of the Realm you are, magically, considered an adult. That makes you Head of your House, since your parents are deceased. You also gain the Royal Proxy, which you may use at our pleasure within your Wizengamot. Should you do so, we expect to be briefed on each vote and its consequences or you will find our pleasure short lived."

Harry nodded jerkily.

"While not a peer of the realm, you are the head of a Knightly Order, and that gains you some legal advantages that are enforced by ancient magics." She went on. "Primarily the right to bear arms and raise an armed force. Be careful of the second part of that, Sir Harry, most Knights who lost their 'spurs', so to speak, did so because they had delusions of grandeur."

"I- I will." He stammered out.

"Good. There are a few other trifles, as I recall, but the details escape me at the moment. We shall make the libraries available to you and those you designate if you care to research them."

Harry caught a glimpse of Hermione practically dancing from foot to foot and quickly nodded, "Thank you, ma'am."

She nodded once, then turned slightly as something caught her eye.

"Well, as I am being informed, there is another scheduled meeting today." She said, sighing before drawing herself up straight. "We must be leaving. Fair you well, Sir Harry James of Potter."

Harry swallowed hard, but hid it by bowing from the waist. "Good bye, Your Majesty."

Hermione fumbled slightly through a curtsy as she mumbled something the same as Harry, while Narcissa and Xander just bowed slightly as she left.

"Oh God." Harry croaked when they were safely alone. "I think I'm going to die."

It had been an interesting week, Xander considered as he plucked idly on the strings of the guitar, drawing a soft song that had the qualities of a lullaby from the old and somewhat battered instrument.

He was sitting in his room at Malfoy Manor, just processing his recollections as best he could, running everything through his Occlumency regime. Chayton had suggested that he meditate when he wanted to organize his thoughts, something an Occlumens had to do every few days or so, but Xander found it all worked better for him if his hands were busy.

Helping Harry out was an interesting experience, he decided. Not something he would normally have done for someone he barely knew, but since Xander felt he owed Mrs. Malfoy and maybe even Sirius a little for the help he'd received through the Grimoire, he'd gone a little further than he might otherwise.

Well, maybe not.

Harry and Ron had gone down into that pit with he and Wednesday, even if they each had their own reasons. While down there, they'd had to trust each other. Maybe he'd have helped Harry out based on that alone.

Hell, maybe he'd have helped out just to get the chance to meet the Queen and watch an honest to goodness Knighting ceremony right out of the tales of King Arthur.

Xander smiled, mentally cataloging that memory as important before filing it away in his long term storage.

Mental maps, the way Chayton had taught him, were an interesting affair. The mind was separated into short and long term storage. The short term section was relatively small, could really only hold a few hours of experience at best and degraded remarkably fast. On the flip side, it was thousands of times faster to access compared to long term storage and didn't require and 'memory tags' to properly recover. You could review your entire short term memory in an instant, and often did.

Long term was different. There was no obvious limit to how much it could store, though Xander had been told that some people seemed to run out of space and have to replace some memories with others. Wizards weren't sure if it was actually a physical limit that caused this, or some kind of mental block. Well, in a manner of speaking.

Willow had compared it to computer memory, much to his amusement. RAM and Hard Drive space. Frankly, though he didn't have the heart to tell her as much, Xander understood Chayton's explanation better.

She had brought up one interesting thing, however, that triggered a minor research storm on his part and a possible long term project. Non-magical science had determined that long term memories could be stored in chemical bonds, while short term was maintained in the electrical firing of the synapses. It made sense, to him at least, so he and Willow had made notes to look into it. Maybe something could be made of the project, he didn't know.

"What's that one?"

Xander jolted a little, his head snapping around to see Narcissa Malfoy leaning on the door frame. He frowned, confused by her question.

"The song."

Xander glanced down at his guitar, then back up, "Dormus charm."

"Fitting." Narcissa said, fascinated by the application of magic to music. "Do they all match like that?"

Xander cocked his head, considering the question. The Dormus sounded like a lullaby, and the Leviosa had a light, airy feeling to it. He nodded slowly, "So far. At least the obvious ones do."

"Obvious ones?"

"I plucked out the Protean back home," He said, "Didn't sound like anything really. Just a three meter beat with a little variation."

Narcissa nodded, "I suppose it's coincidence."

"Maybe. Maybe it's more than that." Xander shook his head, "I guess we'll never know."

"Perhaps one day you'll write a book on it." Narcissa smiled.

"Maybe." Xander shrugged, "I've started one already, actually."

"A book? On music and magic?" She was surprised.

"No," Xander shrugged, unlooping the guitar from his neck and laying it back on the bed. He reached over and got one of his notebooks from where his trunk was at the foot and tossed it lightly to her.

Narcissa Malfoy glanced at the title, her eyebrows raising slightly.

The book's cover was written in neat calligraphy, and read simply 'The True Art of the Technomancer'. She snorted slightly.

Xander grinned, "I know, it's a little pretentious, but it's fun."

"Charming muggle contraptions is barely magic, Alexander." She said lightly as she handed the book back.

He shook his head, "That's not what the book's about."

"I've heard of this so called 'Technomancy' before, it's a silly branch of child's games, just trying to make muggle toys work."

"No, that's..." Xander paused, thinking about it, "A branch of Technomancy, Mrs. Malfoy. I think it's a very small branch. Did you know that non magicals had invented a new material lighter than silk, but stronger than steel?"

Narcissa blinked. The last she'd heard and any NEW materials being invented it had been alchemists behind it.

"They've invented thousands of new materials in the last few decades," Xander went on, "And most of them seem to have interesting properties when mixed with magic. Carbon, for example, makes for pretty decent wands."

Her eyes flicked to the plain black wands he'd laid out on the night stand by his bed. She had assumed it was some sort of polish, or a dark wood.

"They didn't invent carbon, of course. Pure carbon is the same thing that coal is made of, or diamonds." Xander said, "They just invented new ways to put the carbon together. Non magicals create entirely new materials every other day now, so my friends and I have been toying with how we can use these materials magically. That's what the book is about."

Narcissa eyed the book where Xander had laid it down, new interest forming. "I see. Perhaps it's not an entirely wasted avenue of research. At least we don't have a budding Arthur Weasley in the house."

Xander looked at her, confused for a moment, but she just laughed lightly and waved his questioning look off.

"Good night, Alexander."

"Good Night, Mrs. Malfoy."

For Harry, back at Privet Drive, things were in something of a mental turmoil. Thankfully, his relatives were pretty well terrified of him once more and they were leaving him in peace. He wasn't sure what scared them more, the fact that he could use magic freely now or the fact that a car with the Royal emblem had picked him up and dropped him off.

He'd heard Petunia playing it off to the neighbors as something 'terribly hush hush', and she "really couldn't speak about her family's connection to the royals". It amused and irritated him, but honestly as long as she was playing her little social games, she wasn't bothering him.

Vernon was another matter, unfortunately. For now it was holding, the fat man was too scared to do anything, but Harry wasn't sure it would hold for long. Dudley, he knew for a fact was too stupid to realize that things had changed.

And all of THAT left him with a dilemma.

He was an adult in the eyes of magic now, though he hadn't claimed any of his rights as of yet, other than using a little magic now and again. Since that was masked by Mrs. Malfoy's counterspell on his wand, Harry didn't suppose it really counted. Still, the point was that he could move out if he chose.

Was that a smart move, however?

If Mrs. Malfoy was right, the wards here at privet drive were second only to *possibly* the full wards at Gringotts or Hogwarts. In fact, for normal everyday considerations, the wards at privet drive were demonstrably superior to either place, at least as far as he was concerned. Oh, he'd certainly be safer locked in a vault at Gringotts, but who wanted to live like that? Also, Hogwarts, with all the wards fully activated was probably safer but, again, a fortress did not make for much of a home.

Neither did privet drive, of course, but since neither locking himself in a vault or turning Hogwarts into a magical fortress was going to happen, privet drive was the safest place on the planet for him to stay.

And did that little revelation leave a bad taste in his mouth.

Harry looked up at the calendar on the wall, with the days crossed off one by one. He had a little less than a week before he was due to go to the Weasleys. Harry decided that he could safely shelve the decision effectively until the next summer. He could endure a few more days, especially since he was now able to practice magic once more.

He didn't know what he would do next year, though at the moment he was leaning toward enduring more time with the Dursleys. Between the ability to do magic, and the instruction he'd received from Xander on how to take the Knight Bus, Harry figured he could take a little aggravation in exchange for the safety provided by blood wards.

Of course, that did bring up another point. He had to confirm that there were, indeed, blood wards on the house. Mrs. Malfoy seemed fairly confident of that fact, or at least concerned enough not to want to test them, but she had admitted that they may simply be extremely effective intent based wards.

Those were the sorts of things he could hire someone to erect anywhere, assuming he had the money. His account ledger was impressive sounding, at least to him, but Harry didn't know what the prices of such things were.

He'd have to find out, he supposed. There really was so much to do.

Narcissa entered the sitting room adjacent to the Master bedroom to find Lucius waiting for her.

"Yes?" She asked, cocking an eyebrow, "did you want something?"

"I just had an interesting conversation with Draco."

Narcissa suppressed a sigh. She'd expected this, of course, and hadn't bothered to tell Draco to keep quiet, since she had known that he wasn't likely to listen.

"And?" Was all she asked as she stepped in front of the mirror and unbuttoned her robes.

"What on earth could have possessed you to take the Potter brat to Paris with you?" Lucius demanded, "particularly without informing me?"

Narcissa snorted softly. There was the real crux, she suspected. "What would you have done, husband? Forbid it?"

Lucius whitened, "From what Draco tells me, Potter dresses like a pauper most of the time. Where did the gold come from to pay for all this?"

"From the Black accounts."

"What?" Lucius leaned forward, eyes wide.

"Sirius is the boy's Godfather, Lucius." She reminded her husband lightly as she let her robes fall to the floor and stepped out of them.

She really was a little put out that the sight of her in the silk undergarments meant less to her husband than the subject of Potter and her Cousin, but, not really surprised. When he started to growl again she cut him off, "Honestly Lucius, what is this really about? You're not still angry with the boy over losing Dobby are you?"

"That little... brat has no respect for our traditions!" Lucius ground out.

"Of course he doesn't. He doesn't know them."

"He... wait, what?"

Narcissa rolled her eyes, "Lucius, do use your mind. I know it's there. You yourself said that Potter lives in a muggle neighborhood."

"Obviously a heavily warded house..."

"Against wizards, yes. However it's a muggle home." She said, "I visited him. To be honest, I think that if you and your 'friends' were to pay a visit to the boy's so called family, he might secretly be grateful. Disgusting creatures. He was brought up entirely ignorant of magic, Lucius. Even his mail is apparently under redirect wards."

Lucius' eyes widened and he slumped back in his chair. "That's..."

"Obscene." Narcissa finished, slipping into her night gown. "Harry Potter will never be the perfect pureblood you would wish for, however he isn't the revolutionary nightmare you and Draco portray him as either. He is a young, ignorant, and terribly confused child. I suspect that someone has been carefully introducing him to our world in just the right way to make him choose a side. Something that you and Draco have rather neatly played into, I might add."

"Dumbledore." Lucius growled, eyes flaring.

"Who else?" Narcissa laughed lightly. "The man might be a great many things, but he's no fool when it comes to political maneuvering."

Harry was never quite so glad to get out of Privet Drive, though for once he had to admit that it wasn't the Dursleys fault exactly. After the horrendous mess Mr. Weasley and the Twins made trying to Floo into an electric fireplace, something Harry had never even considered POSSIBLE before then, and the following insanity the twins always seemed to leave in their wake, Harry didn't want to tempt fate by staying within reach of Vernon for a while.

He was setup quickly in The Burrow, sharing a room with Ron as was normal, and the growing excitement of the upcoming world cup had begun to blot out his worries concerning everything else that had gone on in his life. That was what he loved about the Burrow, this was the only place Harry had every felt like a normal kid in his entire life.

"Hey mate," Ron interrupted his thoughts, "Rough summer, I guess, huh?"

Harry opened his eyes and looked over at his best mate, "I don't know. It could have been worse."

"Well, you're away from those muggles now, at least." Ron grinned, "And the World Cup is in just a few days!"

Harry grinned. It was the eighth time since he'd arrived that Ron started on about the Cup, but he didn't mind. If the Burrow was the one place he felt like a kid, the Quidditch pitch was the only place he felt like he'd earned the admiration people sent his way. To see others, professionals, play was almost as awesome as getting out on a broom himself.

"It's going to be brilliant." Ron said.

Harry agreed whole heartedly, "Absolutely."

' The bars in this dump of a town are cesspits, ' Amelia sighed as she moved in on her 'target'.

The Lord Black, exile or not, was at least relatively easy on the eyes. She could have drawn worse lots from the family than the strong suggestion that she may want to 'take an interest' in him. His choice in hobbies was distasteful to her, but then most males tended to play around in muck that she wouldn't touch with a ten foot pole.

Luckily they rarely wanted her, or any woman, playing in their toy box so it wasn't much of an issue.

Tonight, The Lord Black seemed in a decent mood, so she put a sway to her hips and an airheaded smile on her face and stalked her way over to where Black was sitting.

"Hey there, I've seen you in here a bit." She said by way of introduction.

He looked up at her, a smile blossoming on his face. "I'm new in town, but I've been dropping by for a while."

"Well, buy me a drink then, stranger?" She asked, cocking her head and hips just enough to be noticed.

"Sure," Sirius smiled, "Have a seat."

The World Cup of Quidditch turned out to be quite the event when Xander showed up with the Malfoy's early in the day. People were just beginning to arrive and already the camp ground was flooding with the most bizarrely dressed Wizards Xander had ever seen in his life, barring Headmaster Dumbledore.

"I thought the instructions were to 'go muggle'" Xander blinked, looking around, more than a little bemused.

Lucius sniffed slightly, "As if I would ever..."

"Actually Sir, you look great compared to some of these people. What IS that guy wearing?" Xander cringed as a man walked by in a ballroom gown.

"Robes, I presume," Lucius eyed the man briefly, "That's Archibald Anders, and I suppose it's a robe."

"No, that's a dress. Women wear them."

Lucius turned his attention back and peered closer, "Looks like a robe to me, though why you'd ever want one so... frilly I'm not sure."

"It's an old dress," Xander said, just barely keeping from laughing. "Like, seventies or early eighties prom style. Wait, look when he turns back around, check the cut of the chest."

When Anders turned back around Lucius realized that the cut was indeed a little... full... in the chest. He shook his head, "Anders never was a sensible sort."

"So we look fine?" Narcissa asked, curious.

Xander checked out the Malfoy's again and nodded, "Yeah. Oh, you don't look average for sure. But any non-magical who looked at you would only note that you're probably wealthy enough to be eccentric. Him, they'd consider totally nuts. If you were trying to blend in, you'd have to dress down a little, but there's no way any non-magical would think there was anything seriously weird about you. Just a little weird."

Lucius stiffened, glaring at the boy, who just grinned back.

"Don't take it as an insult, Sir. Non Magicals often pride themselves in being a little weird. Sometimes it's the only way people have to feel... different from the crowd." Xander said pensively, remembering his beloved Hawaiian shirts. "You all look good enough that any attention you get will be admiring instead of the bad sort."

Lucius wasn't certain how to take that, but decided that it wasn't a bad thing at least. Not that anyone would be critical of him, he WAS a Malfoy after all. But it was good to know that even without trying he and his family fit in and would be recognized as a cut above.

He nodded in the direction of the amphitheater, "That way. We should say hello to the Minister before everyone starts flooding in."

"Oh joy." Xander muttered, earning soft snicker from Narcissa and a disapproving glare from Lucius.

"Yes, you might consider apologizing for that mess," Lucius suggested.

"Uh, no." Xander said firmly. "I stand by that."

"Whether you stand by it or not is hardly relevant. It's done with, now if you have any brains at all you should begin repairing your bridges." The man said sternly, his tone lecturing. Just as he finished he realized that he was giving advice to a young man he really didn't like and just barely kept from groaning at the realization. "Do as you will."

Xander nodded absently, looking around the scene as they walked. "This is freaking amazing."

Lucius nodded as well, eyeing the large structure as they approached. "Seats a hundred thousand. Built in just two months, of course they spent the previous eight months laying all the charm wards to keep the area hidden from Muggles."

Xander whistled, "That has to be some complicated warding."

"Not just wards," Narcissa said, "Huge charm arrays as well, and those don't last long so they have to be reapplied often."

"It's an immense tasking," Lucius admitted, "It's taken 500 ministry wizards to manage it."

"Cool." Xander whispered as they arrived at the camp ground and came to a stop at the Ministry tent.

"Oh! Lucius, so good to see you," A flustered Minister Fudge said as he noticed them, "And your family too, Narcissa, Draco, wonderful to see you a..."

Cornelius Fudge trailed off as he recognized Xander, a sour look coming over his face, "You."

"Ah Minister," Narcissa smoothly cut in, smiling, "You know Alexander of course? He's staying with us over the summer."

"Is he?" Fudge asked, forcing a sickly smile to his face. "How... nice."

Xander took a breath. He would not apologize for what he did, but even he recognized the need to hold up an olive branch. "Minister, I'm terribly sorry for having caused you any trouble back at Hogwarts."

"Yes well, boys should stay out of official business." Fudge muttered, eyes darting between Lucius and Xander.

"Indeed they should, however since his actions did rescue my head of house," Narcissa cut in again, "I can't say that I'm terribly sorry for them. We do apologize for the inconvenience to you, however."

"Inconvenience? Incon..." Fudge began to turn a really impressive color of red, but was sidetracked when Lucius caught his eye and shook his head slightly. He slowly got his breath back and swallowed, looking like he'd just forced down a pill intended for horses. "Yes, well. What's done is done. Let's move on, shall we? Shame to waste such a lovely day on political nonsense."

"Of course, Minister." Narcissa smiled beatifically.

Lucius gently took the Minister by arm and led him away, chatting closely, leaving them as they were. Narcissa took a breath, rolled her eyes, and shuddered just a little.

"There goes a greasy little worm," She muttered before taking Xander and her son under her arms and turning them around. "Well let's get settled at our camp then, then you two can explore."

"Yes mother." Draco said as they began walking.

The Malfoy 'tent' looked like something out of the Arabian Desert more than any camping tent Xander had ever seen. It rose up two *stories* above the tents pitched around them, and Xander recognized the distinct buzz of active wards as they approached.

Along the way he noted some familiar names near other, not quite so opulent tents. Parkinson was right next to the Malfoy tent, as were the Crabbe and Goyle tents. Nearby, Xander recognized the Greengrass name as well as several others from his house at Hogwarts.

Most of them were still empty, the grounds still only just beginning to fill up.

"Here we are." Narcissa said, pushing the canvas aside as she stepped into the tent, followed by Xander and Draco.

"Holy Shit." Xander sputtered as the marble lined interior was revealed, complete with running fountain.

"Alexander! Language!" Narcissa snapped, shutting him up.

"Sorry, but... I mean... Holy Sh-ow!" Xander yelped as he caught a palm across the back of his head.

"I will not send you back to your mother cursing like some lowborn guttersnipe." Narcissa growled.

"Alright, alright." Xander muttered, rubbing his head. "But, heck... this is a TENT?"

Narcissa glanced around, "It's smaller than home, but it will do for the night. Why don't you see if Pansy and her family have arrived yet, Draco?"

Draco nodded and left quickly, just as pleased to be away from Xander.

Xander, for his part, could only stare in stunned fashion as Narcissa inspected the surroundings.

"Yes, it should do." She said finally.

"How do you cram all that in here anyway?" Xander muttered, shaking his head.

"Spacial expansion charms, of course." Narcissa shrugged. "They're not difficult."

Xander frowned, "I thought they were. I mean, my trunk cost a fortune."

"Yes, however you use a multi compartment trunk, with the space expanding FAR beyond the optimal equations." Narcissa explained. "This was quite a large tent to begin with, you see, so the space that was possible to create in here was commensurately larger. Expanding a trunk to, say, ten times it's normal size is easy. Doing that four times over and fitting each space into the same trunk? That's substantially more difficult."

Xander just looked around in awe, "Man I need to start looking up these charms."

"Chapter thirty three in the Grimoire." Narcissa said absently. "But do it later, you should get out and explore. This is not an event to be missed, Alexander."