Disclaimer is in chapter 1.

The remainder of the term was almost anticlimactic in feeling, Xander felt. It came and went with surprising speed, leaving them preparing for the end of term leaving in short order. Xander had already packed his trunk, once again planning to spend his holidays with the Addams at their invitation. He hoped that the Yule ball went fairly well and didn't start things off on a sour note.

He shrank his 'door' and laid it out on his trunk, a quick sticking charm keeping them together. The elves would deliver it to the Express in the morning. All he'd left out was his Dress Robes, and the things he'd need for the night.

That all done he took a seat and let out a long breath. It felt like forever since he'd left Sunnydale in the summer, one event after another piling up on him and everyone really, until it was almost a blur. He smiled, hand flopping out, and palmed his Spell Phone. Time to talk to Wills, she'd kill him if he didn't call a couple times a month at least.

"Dial Wills." He said softly, tipping his hat, imaginary though it was, to Harry's little addition to the device as the runic wheels spun into place. In a moment it chimed softly, and then he heard a familiar voice come through.

"Xander?"

"Hey Wills, how's it going?"

"Good, I got straight A's!" She said, obviously giddy.

"No shock there." Xander smiled, easily picturing his friend hopping in place as she talked. "I did alright myself. Mostly E's with an O or two."

"You're doing so much better, and I'm SO jealous you're at Hogwarts." She said, sounding both peeved and pleased at once. Xander loved how she could manage that.

"I can't help it, Wills. I try and try to slack off, but magic is too cool."

"Don't you DARE even joke about that Mister. Resolve face over here." Willow growled, "You do your best or I'll come over there and so help you…"

Xander laughed softly, "Thanks Wills."

"So…" She said, after a long moment of quiet. "Yule ball tonight, huh?"

Xander nodded, then almost slapped himself since he knew that she couldn't see the movement. "Yeah."

"Looking forward to it?"

"Yeah." Xander nodded, "Scared though."

"Of Wednesday?" Willow's smirk was so huge Xander could *hear* it.

"Of course, do I look stupid to you?"

"Never to me, Xan." Willow answered softly. "You'll be ok. Treat her right, she deserves your best just like you do."

"Yeah, will do. Hey, how's Jessie?"

Jessie had become a bit of a sore point for the separated duo, the teenage boy had grown into a… well, teenage boy. Willow didn't see him much anymore, as he spent most of his time in the company of Mears, Wells, and Levinson. Xander was annoyed with him for ditching Willow, but also felt bad cause there was a huge part of his life that he couldn't share with his oldest guy pal.

Really, it was confusing and a mess, and he just didn't know what to do about it or how to fix things.

Willow, for her part, seemed in much the same boat only she resented Jessie for being there but not BEING there.

"He passed his classes, still spends all his time role playing and computer gaming." She answered finally.

"K. And you? Besides class, I mean?"

"Been working on computers more than magic," Willow answered candidly. "I love magic when you're around, but it's not the same alone. Besides, my Dad bought me a great computer to 'encourage' my studies."

"Hey, whatever you want to do." Xander said, "The mutt still hanging around?"

Willow giggled, "Sirius is in LA more now, but he still drops by the junkyard a couple times a month at least. I think he's been spending time at Gringotts."

"Makes sense. Anyway, I've got to go. Time to get ready for the ball and all that rot, you know?"

"Happy holidays, Xander. Have fun. That's an order, Mister."

"Yes Ma'am." Xander grinned, "Harris out."

"That's not funny anymore!" Willow called out as he closed the phone, chuckling.

"Says you." Xander said to no one, pocketing his spell phone with a grin on his face.

He needed that.

Harry was panicking.

He knew he was, knew he shouldn't, but he couldn't help it. He and Ron were in the Common Room in their dress robes, waiting on the girls to come down.

"What am I doing here?" He asked, shaking his head. "What do I know about dancing?"

"More than me, Mate." Ron said, looking a little peaked himself. "You'll be fine, calm down."

Harry took a breath, nodding as he turned around… and promptly attempted to swallow his tongue.

Hermione came down the stairs first, her blue dress and carefully done hair shocking him into almost falling backwards onto his ass, but being saved by Ron who held him up.

"Ouff! Merlin, Potter, how can you be that heavy when you're that sma…" Ron trailed off, staring at Hermione, who was looking nervously at them. He shook his head, then dropped Harry on his arse. "Merlin, Mione. You look great."

"Thank you, Ron." Hermione said, nodding slightly.

"Yeah. What he said," Harry growled, picking himself up off the ground.

"And thank you Harry." Hermione said, but glared at him and jerked her head toward Parvati.

Harry, thankfully, caught on. "You're beautiful tonight, Parv."

"Thank you, Harry." Parvati smiled, taking his arm. "Shall we?"

"I guess so."

Ron fell into step beside Hermione as they left to meet up with their own dates, and glanced sideways at her. "You're really going on all out for this."

"For what? My date?" She asked, confused.

"Right. We both know you don't have a date, Hermione, you don't have to keep pretending."

Hermione stared at him, stunned into speechlessness more than anything.

"You can admit it, it's nothing to be ashamed of."

Hermione's jaw wavered, opening and closing, until she finally turned on her heal and stalked away from him.

Ron watched her go. "Poor girl, she's probably going to cry her eyes out now."

Harry and Parvati were staring at him, "What the hell was that, Ron?"

"C'mon, Harry, you know she doesn't have a date. She'd have told us who it was otherwise."

"I wouldn't have." Parvati growled, "And for your information, Hermione was asked ages ago."

"What? By who!?"

"None of your business." She said simply, turning back on her own heal and heading for the hall with Harry in tow.

Rob chased after them, "Seriously? By why wouldn't she tell us who?"

"Merlin, I wonder." Parvati snapped, glaring at Ron and then Harry.

Harry noticed it, but just shook his head. "I'm not saying anything."

"Smarter than Weasley, then, at least." Parv said, "Not that that is saying much."

She turned around, jabbing a finger into Ron's chest. "If you blather on like that with my sister, I swear Ronald, we'll show you that the Weasley family doesn't have a monopoly on terror twins."

"What'd I say?" Ron asked, again chasing after them as they headed for the hall.

Xander felt his stomach twist up as Wednesday approached him where he was standing outside the hall. He nodded to her as she came to a stop by his side, and she nodded back.

"You look…" He said, eyeing her tightly cut dress, and smiled, "Like you."

Wednesday raised an eyebrow, "A good thing, I hope?"

"I wouldn't have spiked a heart to your common room door if I didn't like how you look." Xander replied, bowing slightly from the waist. Then he paused and tilted his head, "Actually I might have, since I also like the way you think and the way you talk… even if you do scare the bejeebus out of me."

That earned him a slight smile, "I find myself rather… not unpleased with the way you talk and think. You're still no Uncle Fester in the looks department, though."

"Be still my beating heart." Xander said dryly, then smirked, his nerves entirely gone. "Shall we?"

"We shall." She answered, sliding her arm through the crook of his own, and the two marched into the hall where a crowd was forming to await the first dance of the Champions.

The crowd shifted a bit, the intensity growing as the suspense built. They wanted to start the first dance they'd had a Hogwarts, but they also wanted very much to see the Champions and their dates. Xander eyed the crowd, noting the familiar faces, and the ones that were missing. He already knew who all the champions were bringing, so there were no surprises of course.

He found Ron in the crowd, standing near the two horridly dressed twins, and was bemused by the earnest glare the other boy was sending through the room. Whatever Ron was looking for, Xander supposed he must have found though, because he relaxed after a bit a looked a little smug.

Weird.

Xander ignored him, turning his attention back to Wednesday. The Addams scion was dressed in a black gown that was practically painted on, a strapless design that Xander was honestly shocked she could move in. It was very much in keeping with what he had come to expect of her and her family.

Gorgeous, expensive, horrifically impractical… and yet somehow worked anyway. Beside her, he was rather dull in his silk robes with sterling silver trim, but he could handle being dull. Being bright had a bad side effect of trouble around Hogwarts.

He fetched Wednesday a drink, and had just returned when Albus Dumbledore stepped into the limelight again and pronounced the ball open with the introduction of the champions.

The lights dimmed, spotlights pinning the couples as they came into the hall and the crowd sucked in a breath.

Fleur was stunning, as expected. Roger Davies looked as dull beside her as Xander felt beside Wednesday. Cedric and Cho looked… perfect as they entered. Xander had to blink, but the scene didn't change. Viktor came next, and Xander couldn't help but suck in a breath of shock. He swallowed hard, glancing sideways at Wednesday and cringed.

"Indeed." Wednesday said, amused. "She looks beautiful."

"Yeah." Xander agreed. "But so do you. And she doesn't terrify me."

"You say the nicest things."

Xander turned to look at Wednesday, who looked back steadily at him. They entirely missed Harry's entry into the hall.

The students watched as the champions started their dance, and Xander had to wince in sympathy as it quickly became obvious that Harry hadn't even gotten to his level of shuffle competence with dancing. He and Padma just looked awkward as they shifted around the floor through the first dance.

As the dance ended, Xander joined in the polite applause as the Champions finished up. The next piece of music started after a short pause and the rest of the school filtered out onto the floor, and Xander gingerly grasped Wednesday as they began to shuffle along with the rest of the school.

Wednesday was both somewhat pleased, however also rather disappointed in her date by the end of the first dance. On the plus side, he hadn't stepped on her toes, which was better, she supposed, than many of the girls around her experienced if one were to judge by the muffled yelps and apologies, and yet…

"What?"

She looked up at him, face schooled to show no emotion or hint of her thoughts, "nothing."

Xander smiled crookedly, "Try that on someone who can't read you. What's wrong?"

Her eyes searched his face, and she quickly realized that he wasn't kidding. He was actually reading her. Her parents were the only ones who did that, even Pugsley wasn't adept at reading her when she didn't want to be read.

Alright, she decided, if he wanted to act like an Addams… well, she would treat him as one.

"I'm dissatisfied with your dancing."

A flash of hurt echoed in his eyes, which almost made her regret her choice of words. Almost.

Xander winced, "Sorry. I guess I need lessons."

"Father will be put out." Wednesday said flatly.

Xander's eyebrows went up. What did Gomez have to do with this? Was she actually going to set her dad on him? That would be, like, REALLY bad. But… That didn't seem like something Wednesday would do.

"H… he will?"

Ok, Gomez scared him.

"You've obviously been neglecting your lessons." She said simply.

"I have?"

Now Xander was just confused.

The music ended and they fell apart, Xander feeling a little lost and more than a little dejected. Wednesday, however, simply drew out her wand and snapped it in the direction of the band. The lead singer jumped like he'd been goosed, his yelp startling everyone into stopping what they were doing and look over at him as his hands began to move on his guitar.

"Footwork," Wednesday told Xander seriously, "Is everything."

Xander's eyes widened as she stepped into him, the opening chords of the tango playing.

"En Guard." She told him simply, pressing hard into his chest.

Xander shifted his feet automatically, as if he were entering a fencing duel, and the two looked into each other's eyes as they waited for the moment to move. Wednesday was waiting for the chord, Xander was waiting for the first move of his 'opponent', still not entirely certain what she was thinking.

The chord came as the rest of the band confusedly caught up to their lead guitarist's change of pace and Wednesday moved, eyes boring into Xander as she said one move.

"Attack."

Xander moved forward as Wednesday backed away, their feet interlocking as they moved. He almost stumbled as she turned, leading him into the spin, but kept from messing up.

"Defend." She said, stepping into him as he automatically fell back.

Three steps back, Wednesday smirked, "Parry."

Xander twisted, spinning her around as people fell away from them and the floor cleared.

Attack. Xander would stride into Wednesday, his feet following the pattern he'd learned from Gomez.

Defend. Xander fell back as Wednesday became the aggressor, pushing him back with a dark and feral stalking motion.

Parry. The couple spun around the floor, twirling around the now empty floor, neither realizing that they were being watched by almost everyone in the hall.

The pattern went on, the two dancers spinning across the floor, the only two people in their world until the song came closer to the end. They came out of a parry, and Wednesday attacked three paces until Xander parried and they twirled again. Then she smiled up at Xander, eyes dancing darkly.

"Now, the coupe."

Xander's eyes widened, but he followed her instruction and lunged forward, his body bending over hers as she leaned backwards and let him come to a stop over her as the music came to a stop.

She looked up at him, amused by the look of stunned shock on his face.

"Wow." Xander mumbled, looking down at her.

"Acceptable." She said simply.

"Ahem."

The duo looked up to see Albus Dumbledore, smiling at them, "Marvelous show, however I think we should let the others back on the floor."

"Do you mind?" Xander shook his head, "We're having a moment here."

Dumbledore looked so surprised by the rejoinder that several people broke out laughing at him as Xander and Wednesday straightened up and strode off in the direction opposite the headmaster. Xander couldn't help but smirk as he passed the Weasley twins.

"Top that."

The twins glared at him for a moment, then looked thoughtfully back at their dates.

"Don't even think it, you two." Angelina glared, "You're both useless on the dance floor."

"Too right," Katie agreed, shaking her head. "Find two more girls to make fools of."

"Do you think we could?" Fred asked his brother.

"Err, I think we shouldn't."

"Why is that, brother of mine?"

"Because Angelina and Katie are looking rather irritated with you for asking."

"Oh dear."

Xander and Wednesday took a break out from the next dance, walking back toward the tables.

"Hey Wens…"

"Yes?"

"Thanks."

She didn't answer, but Xander wasn't really expecting one from the taciturn Addams scion. He just smiled and grabbed a drink for each of them from the table on the way by, then rejoined her.

"Thank you." She nodded, accepting the drink.

He took a seat beside her, "You do know that won't work for any other types of dances, right?"

"You would be surprised how well I can make you dance using a blade."

"Yeah, let's not test that ok? I'll get lessons." Xander laughed.

"You're assuming I'll give you another chance." She countered calmly.

"Or I just don't want to disappoint the next homicidal maniac I ask out." Xander replied in riposte. "I hear it's hazardous to your health."

"No, telling your current homicidal maniac that you're already thinking of the next one is hazardous to your health."

"Are you saying you're mine?" Xander asked with a grin.

Wednesday froze, then slowly looked away, but not before Xander thought that he caught just a hint color in her cheeks. If it had been willow, she'd be burning red, he was sure but he'd take a victory where he could.

The dance moved on, with Xander and Wednesday taking to the floor again a few more times before Xander noted that Wednesday's relatively 'content' mood suddenly evaporate.

"I'm probably going to regret this, but what's wrong now?" Xander asked as they slowly moved around the floor.

"Look in the corner, over your shoulder." She said, turning them around until Xander could see Harry and Ron sitting in the corner, scowling at the floor while their dates sat beside them, looking depressed.

"Ow." Xander winced, "What's with them?"

"I do not know," She shrugged.

"Why do you care?" Xander asked, his focus back on her. "You don't care much for Harry."

"No, I don't. Padma, however, is one of the few tolerable members of my house."

Xander nodded, "Alright. I've got a win, win, for you."

Wednesday raised an eyebrow in question.

"She's Ron's date, I'll ask her for a dance, you ask Ron." Xander grinned. "Then just be gentle with him."

Wednesday again raised her brow.

"You know, the way you treat door to door salesmen."

"That may just work."

Padma Patil was surprised when the Slytherin approached her. She knew him, of course. He was in her year and had attracted the attention of the entire school a few times in the past years, though for now it was that incredible dance that stuck in her mind. Wednesday Addams was beside him, and that alone basically put any thought of attraction to the young Slytherin out of her mind.

She wasn't going to annoy the Addams.

So when he smiled at her and came a stop, bowing slightly from the waist, Padma Patil almost had a heart attack.

"May I have this dance?"

Padma couldn't help it, her eyes darted fearfully toward Wednesday, but the other girl wasn't looking at her. Instead she was standing in front of Ron Weasley, of all people, and from the looks of it the red head was scared out of his wits.

' Who would have guessed it? ' Padma thought, a little unkindly, ' Ron Weasley has wits to be scared out of, and he's smart enough to recognize a threat to his life when it's in front of him. '

Her eyes widened as Wednesday dragged Ron out onto the floor, the redhead's face frozen in agony as Wednesday dug her fingers under his arm and into the nerves of his pectoral muscles.

"Ahem."

Padma turned back, startled by the voice so close to her. Harris was smiling at her as he held his hand out, and this time she tentatively took it and was drawn out onto the floor.

"What's going on?"

"Wednesday likes you." Harris told her. "So we're going to make it so you have a good night, if it has to be done over Ron's dead body, well that's a price that Wens and I are willing to pay."

Padma giggled nervously. "I didn't think she even knew I existed."

They were slowly dancing around the floor now, and Padma was enjoying her first real dance of the night.

"She isn't the most expressive of people, but she notices everything." Harris told her as he held her, "She told me you were 'tolerable'. High praise indeed, I only got an 'acceptable' after our dance earlier."

"I…" She looked at him, incredulous. She'd seen better dances, to be sure, but not from people her own age. At least not outside of a show, "I… Thank you."

"No worries." He said, looking over her shoulder. "I think Wens cracked him already."

As they turned around Padma could see a pale and shaking Ron Weasley walking unsteadily in their direction. He came up to them and took a shuddering breath, "Uh… right, May I cut in?"

Padma was a little disappointed when Xander nodded and stepped back, allowing Weasley to step in. He didn't head toward Wednesday, however.

"Where are you going?" Padma asked, unable to hold her curiosity.

"Now I have to have a chat with Harry." He said over his shoulder, smiling. "He needs to wise up."

"And if he doesn't?"

"Then I ask Parvati for a dance, and Harry knows that if I do that Wens will have all that extra time on her hand." He grinned. "Harry won't want that to happen."

"Too bloody right." Ron shuddered.

"Ciao." Xander waved over his shoulder, heading for where Harry and Parvati were sitting, Harry's eyes fully on Xander's approach.

"Alright, Potter, we need to have a chat." Xander said as he approached.

Harry scowled, but nodded, and got up. "Fine."

"I'm terribly sorry for borrowing your date," Xander bowed to Parvati, "I'll return him in one piece as quickly as possible."

The mumbled response from the second of the Patil twins didn't exactly make it sound like she cared. Xander just shook his head as he dragged Harry off.

"Ok, Man, you're keeping me away from my date and that's not cool, got it?" Xander said as soon as they were away.

"I didn't ask you to come over."

"No, but Mrs. Malfoy will skin me alive if I allow you to embarrass yourself, and her family, here tonight." Xander countered with a growl, "So you either listen to me now, or I dance with Parvati while you get the same thing Weasley got. Pick one."

Harry swallowed, but sighed. "Fine."

"Why the hell are you ruining Parvaties evening?"

That wasn't what Harry had expected, actually. He'd been steeled for the whole 'shaming the family' speech, and was blind-sided by Xander's question.

"What?"

"Did she do something to you that you want to humiliate her?" Xander asked, "I mean, bring her here as a Champions date, then ditch her publically? Cause that's pretty shitty, mate."

"No! I mean, I just wanted to…" Harry stammered out.

"Yeah, we all know what you wanted. The school knows it by now," Xander rolled his eyes, "And personally I think you're an idiot. If you wanted a smart hotty you had one closer than Cho Chang. That said, you asked Parvati. She said yes, and gave you your opening dance… now the rest of the evening is HERS."

Harry looked at his feet, once confronted with it he had to admit he was being a git. "She's going to hate me."

"And you'll deserve it, but before that you owe her a night of dancing and maybe some decent conversation. So moon over Chang tomorrow, tonight belongs to Patil. Fair deal?"

Harry nodded.

"Good," Xander smiled, clapping Harry on the shoulder. "I wasn't really looking forward to siccing Wednesday on you. She doesn't like you for some reason."

"Tell me something I don't bloody know."

"You'd better hurry up and apologize for being a git, or else I WILL sic Hermione on you in the morning." Xander said with a smile.

Harry groaned. He'd rather deal with Wednesday.