Disclaimer is in chapter 1.

Hermione was over the moon. She hadn't really expected much from her date, to be honest. Viktor was nice enough, of course, but he sounded rather simple given his problems with the language. She'd learned quickly, though, that he was more intelligent than he sounded.

' Of course, ' She thought with a wry smile, ' He really would have to be. '

She was going to have to kill Xander, she supposed. It really was the only way. Nothing short of death would keep him from calling her, Her My Own Ninny.

Things had been a little rough for a while, though the first dance had been amazing, and she had been stunned by Xander and Wednesday's follow up a few minutes later. Mildly annoyed as well, if she were to be brutally honest, since they had stolen the spotlight from the champions and, well, her.

That was nothing, though, not compared to watching Ron and Harry trying to single… er, well, double handedly bring down everyone in the hall. Between Harry's glum faced moon eyes at Cho Chang and Ron just plain glaring at her all night, well Hermione was just grateful that Wednesday and Xander had elected to step in.

Otherwise she would have had to, and that would have ruined Viktor's evening as well as her own.

After that, though, the evening was simply amazing.

She had no other words for it. Viktor was the consummate gentleman, and had waited on her hand and foot through the entire affair. He knew how to dance, though not as well as Xander… surprisingly.

Honestly. Where did the boy learn to do THAT anyway?

Hermione had been forced to push that question aside so many times by the end of the night that she was honestly sick to death of her Slytherin friend, and for once it wasn't even his fault really.

Ron and Harry had been more attentive to their dates as the evening went on as well, dancing fairly often and, while Ron still shot glares at her and Viktor, Hermione had been surprised to see Harry focus almost entirely on Parvati for the rest of the evening without fail.

' I knew he was better than that. ' She thought.

After the ball she had gone for a walk with Viktor on the grounds, and he'd proven a surprisingly good conversationalist once she got through his limited command of the English language.

' Really need to learn Bulgarian, ' Hermione thought idly. It would be good for her, honestly. Another language was no weight to carry, after all.

She still couldn't believe how very much had happened all in one night, even by the next morning.

It had been a fantasy ball beyond her wildest dreams.

Harry groaned as he awoke that morning. It had been a long night, and he really wasn't proud of most of it. Still, Parv had forgiven him so maybe he hadn't messed up too badly. She seemed happier than Padma was before they went to bet, though now that Harry thought of it he probably shouldn't base his skill with girls on his best mate.

Ron was a great guy, but smooth he wasn't, Harry thought as he sat up and glanced over to where Ron was still sleeping.

The redhead snorted, rolled over, and went back to snoring as Harry got up and fetched his robes. He had a lot to think about, he decided. He'd screwed up bad the night before, and as much as Harry hated to admit it, he would have done even worse if Xander hadn't knocked some sense into him.

No matter what his problems were, he didn't have any right to bring pain to Parv over it.

He'd been doing that, he realized. Messing up, that is.

He grabbed his wand from the nightstand, and headed out.

He had some things to work out, some decisions to make even.

Xander glanced across at Wednesday as the Express approached London.

The night before had been pretty fun, amazing even. Wednesday had surprised him over and over, almost entirely pleasant surprising even, which in itself was a rather shocking development for Wednesday.

He smiled, remembering the look on Ron's face when she had a 'talk' with him. Bloody hilarious.

"What?" Wednesday asked, not looking at him or even opening her eyes.

"Just remembering last night."

"It was… pleasant." She admitted. "You danced well."

"No, I was thinking about you scaring the crap out of Ron, actually."

She opened her eyes, half turning to look at him, her expression rather dry, "Oh?"

"What can I say? You were amazing." Xander grinned.

"Hardly." Wednesday rolled her eyes, "Scaring his like is not much challenge. You should have let me try my hand with Potter. He might have proven a challenge."

"The last thing the ball needed was Irresistible Force Addams slamming headlong into Immovable Object Potter," Xander countered, "You want to scare the heck out of him, why don't you join our dueling practices?"

Wednesday shrugged, "Perhaps. I expect to be busy in the New Year, however."

"Oh? With what?"

She looked away, "Family business."

The platform at Nine and Three Quarters was crowded, as usual, but for one small group who watched as the old steam engine chuffed to a stop. This small group was alone in an island of space between them and everyone else on the whole platform.

They didn't appear to notice anything untoward, however, and merely smiled patiently as the children poured off the train.

"Wednesday!" The woman called out when she saw the dark haired girl step off.

"Alexander!" The man grinned crookedly, waving his cigar in the air in greeting when he saw the girl's companion.

"Mother. Father." Wednesday said as she and Xander arrived in front of the small group.

"So good to see you again," Gomez greeted his daughter with a hearty hug, then clapped Xander on the back before returning his cigar to his teeth.

"How was school?"

"Educational." Wednesday nodded to her mother.

Her parents exchanged glances for a moment, serious inquisition flashing in even the jovial expression of Gomez Addams, but it was gone in a second.

"Good, good. And this Yule Ball you wrote about?" He asked, eyes glinting darkly for just a moment.

"The ball was… enjoyable." She said, thinking for a moment.

Gomez' eyebrows went up, and he exchanged another glance with his wife before they both relaxed. Whatever it was that was bothering their daughter didn't seem related to Alexander, and so it wasn't a concern they needed to address immediately.

"Excellent. So, Alexander my boy, have you kept up with your fencing?"

Xander and Wednesday were the ones exchanging glances this time, amused looks in their eyes. "Yes Sir."

"Ah, wonderful! I look forward to testing your steel." Gomez grinned maniacally, eyes glinting.

"Oh joy." Xander muttered flatly.

"Come now," Morticia said in her calm manner, "We have a ship to catch."

"A ship?" Xander raised his eyebrows, "Where to?"

"France, this year." Gomez replied, "We thought it fitting, what with the tournament at your school and all."

"Yes, we have a lovely château rented," Morticia said, "It's not nearly as wonderfully dank as the castle in Romania, but it's well suitable I assure you."

Xander just nodded, wondering for a bit why they weren't taking a portkey or the car, but finally just shrugged it off as an Addams quirk more than anything else.

He had to admit, he was rather looking forward to the holidays with them. They were such a massive change from his normal routing that it was almost as good as a rest.

A Château.

Right.

Xander was too used to the Addamses to say anything, but only they would consider a ramshackle old fort off the north coast of France, IN WINTER, to be a suitable holiday home. He couldn't help but crook a grin as they sailed into the old port, "Well, thank God you taught me those warming charms, Wens."

Wednesday eyeballed him without turning to look in his direction, but he detected a hint of a smile on her face as she stepped up onto the rails of the ship and casually hopped off onto the old stone dock. Xander shrugged and hopped over himself, landing beside her.

"It's wonderful, Tish," Gomez said, almost scarying Xander into jumping back on the ship as he appeared right beside the two teens without warning.

' How the hell does he DO that!? ' Xander thought, glaring for a brief moment.

"Of course, mon cher," Morticia said, "Cousin Itt recommended it."

"Tish! That's French!" Gomez said, grabbing her arm and kissing his way up toward her shoulder.

"Why am I not surprised it was the walking shag carpet who recommended this place?" Xander asked, laughing softly.

Wednesday spared him a dark look, but glanced back at her parents to see Gomez had made it up to her mother's neck and was starting to work his way down.

"Gomez, darling, you'll scar the children." Morticia said, pushing him away.

Gomez looked put out, then sighed, "Ah yes… You're right, of course. I suppose they haven't earned that yet."

Xander did a double take, glad he wasn't drinking for fear of a spit take, and then just stared as the couple walked past. "Yeah, ok, they're weirding me out again."

"Of course." Wednesday smiled, "They're Addamses."

Xander sighed, shaking his head as he hefted his trunk and followed along, trying to not notice that Gomez' hands were roaming quite far afield as he helped 'guide' Morticia up the stairs.

The area they Addamses had laid claim to was surprisingly homey, Xander decided as he setup his room. There was a fireplace in each of the bedrooms, and the view was spectacular, so he wasn't as worried about the cold and draft as he had been. He set his trunk at the foot of the bed, resized his portable door and set it against the outside wall, and laid out the books he'd be working through over the holidays.

In addition to his normal mix of magical endeavors, Xander was working his ways through the Shadowrun sourcebooks and a set of magazines that described various technical advances since World War 2 in fairly simple terms. The one on Tanks had inspired his current spell crafting endeavor, but now he was reading up on Stealth technology and modern flight. His note book was in serious threat of being filled up, just with ideas for how to use old spells in potentially new ways, not to mention the new materials he wanted to test for magical properties.

What he was reading about Carbon, however, had Xander wondering if maybe he had barely scratched the surface of what he could make that wonderful material do. In fact, one of the properties some researchers had found had him awake nights.

It was Willow that brought it to his attention, cause Xander knew that there was ZERO chance he'd have ever dug that deep into scientific journals to discover it. But apparently some researchers had found that nanoscale carbon elements could, when properly aligned, create a near superconducting circuit at room temperature. It had taken some explaining for Willow to convince him of why this would be useful, but it had gelled with something Xander had noticed while dueling with Harry.

When Harry went all out, normally just before pasting Xander to the floor despite Xander's cheating, his wand would actually warm up. Xander had found out one of the times he won, trapping Harry and using the disarming spell on him. When he'd picked up Harry's wand, it was actually hot to the touch.

If magic was following the same rules as most energy seemed to, then the wand was wasting some of Harry's magic by converting it to heat. A superconducting sheath would eliminate that waste, which from what Xander had read of in electrical work, would add between fifteen and twenty percent to the power a caster could bring to the field.

Of course, before he could even think of testing that, Xander had to figure out how to assemble a nano-molecularly aligned carbon wand.

Yeah.

He had some work to do.

Luckily it was magic, and not science, cause there was no way Xander would have the patience to do that kind of thing without cheating. Magic was really his kind of thing, since it was all about ideas and practical hands on application. He was all about those things.

Well, ok, he stole his ideas. But hands on he kicked ass. And really, who didn't steal ideas nowadays anyway?

Xander scowled a bit, but finally just sighed.

"On the shoulders of Giants," He said, "I can see so much from here, but sometimes I wonder if any of it is really mine to play games with…"

"Philosophical in your old age, lad."

Xander started, looking around to see Gomez smiling from where he was leaning on the stone door frame that led out to the hall. He forced a smile, "Sorry Sir. Sometimes I just… wish I could come up with my own ideas."

"A good goal, I suppose. Your own ideas about what?"

"I don't know, magic I guess." Xander admitted. "I made a fortune on a potions accident, while trying to figure out a prank. I never did figure it out, you know. I steal ideas and materials from non magicals all the time, and I get some cool results, but is any of it really mine?"

Gomez shrugged, "Interesting question, lad. Is anything really anyones?"

Wednesday merely looked up as her mother entered the room, not saying anything. Neither did Morticia at first, instead opting to silently take a seat at the foot of the bed and wait with her hands crossed on her lap. For a long moment both ordered their thoughts for the conversation ahead, each having ideas of where it was going, though both still holding questions as well.

"I've reviewed your access to the library over the last six months," Morticia said thoughtfully, "It makes for interesting suggestions on your current state of mind."

Wednesday would have flushed red if she were anyone else, as it was her cheeks did take on a tinge of pink. She didn't think her parents had ever looked over her reading selection in the past, at least not since she was six.

"It's been an interesting year, mother."

Morticia's eyebrows went up, "Indeed. You gave away Jetta Addams journal."

That brought Wednesday's head around sharply, "He both deserved and required that, mother."

"Perhaps. Your father and I were worried that maybe you may… fancy the boy, and were making emotional decisions."

THAT was as sharp as a slap in the face to Wednesday, and she jerked back as if she had received as much. After a moment she eyed her mother coldly, "My thoughts on Alexander are my own, and have nothing to do with this."

"Yes, we saw that at the train station." Morticia nodded. "Which brought us to your… other reading materials. Dark territory."

Wednesday sighed, scowling at her mother now that she understood the conversation better. Her parents knew, at least had an idea, of what was really going on but her mother had just used the opportunity to bring something out that she wasn't prepared to speak of yet.

How annoying to be out maneuvered. Even if it is by one's parents.

"One of the old targets is in use at Hogwarts." She said finally.

"Ah." Morticia nodded slowly. "And you intend...?"

"To see it destroyed." Wednesday answered simply.

Morticia nodded, "Which one?"

"The Goblet of Fire."

"I won't lie to you, lad, it's not an easy question to answer." Gomez said as he considered Alexander's issue. "But worrying that you're a thief of any sort is a little beyond the pale."

"I wish I was so sure." Xander said, smiling slightly.

"At worst, lad, you're a little uncreative." Gomez chuckled, "But I think you're worrying about nothing. Everyone takes their inspiration from the world around them. It's normal, my boy."

"I just want to come up with something that's… MINE, you know what I mean?"

"Nothing more natural, Alex my boy." Gomez said, "Wanting to make a mark on the world is something we all want. Well, most want."

"Most?" Xander asked, half smiling.

"Addamses have a different way of looking at the world, though even we like to make a mark. We just don't usually care about the world." Gomez said seriously, his trademark grin not in evidence. "We make our mark on the Clan."

Xander nodded slowly, though Gomez didn't really think he understood the difference.

"At any rate, lad, let's stop moping and have a little fun, shall we?"

Xander winced. "This is going to hurt, isn't it?"

"Only if you're slow on your feet, my boy."

Christmas with the Addams was an interesting experience, as always, and this time around was no exception. Xander slept like the dead the first night, his afternoon having been spent running like hell from a sword wielding Addams. Gomez wasn't impressed with his footwork, but complimented him on his endurance.

Xander wasn't really sure how to take that.

Today Xander was spending time in France proper, so to speak. The family had arranged transport, in this case a reusable port key for the duration. He was happy that they'd thought ahead, cause the entire Hols out on a fort in the middle of the Straight wasn't his idea of a merry Christmas.

Xander was heading toward the entrance to La Rue du Magie, meandering and enjoying the sights. Wednesday hadn't been interested in shopping, and the rest of the Addams seemed just as antisocial so he decided to head out on his own. He was about halfway down a narrow street a few streets north of La Rue when a group of a dozen or so people swarmed out of a narrow alley and nearly run him over.

He half had his wand drawn as he spun around, but they ignored him as they ran passed, laughing and joking in French as they raced across the street and, to Xander's shock, swarmed up and over anything and everything in their way, including walls.

"Holy shades of Spider-man!" He blurted with a chuckle, tilting his head to the right as the group jumped, crawled, swung, and actually ran up and over the buildings.

"Mixed metaphor, young man."

Xander almost jumped out of his own skin, jumping around to glare at the speaker. "Don't DO that!"

The man smiled, "Sorry. I wasn't trying to sneak up on you, you were merely distracted by the runners."

"Where I come from, running is done on flat surfaces." Xander countered, eyes still drawn to where the last of them was vanishing over the rooftop across from him.

"A limited philosophy. What brings you to France?" The man asked.

"Hols." Xander answered.

"Peculiar. Your accent is mixed, your word choice is all over the map. Where are you from?"

"Cali boy." Xander answered, "School in Scotland."

"Ah, interesting combination." The man answered, extending his hand. "I'm David."

"Xander." Xander replied, shaking the hand and nodding over his shoulder, "You with that bunch of lunatics?"

David smiled, nodding. "We're a club, you could say. Le Art du Movement. The Art of Motion."

"Funny, I didn't see any paintbrushes." Xander drawled slowly.

"You might be surprised, I suspect a few of them have cans of paint on them, not that they'll tell me." David chuckled. "Sorry for them almost running you down, though."

Xander just shrugged it off and the man loped easily off after them, "Hey!"

"What?" David asked, glancing back.

"How do you get into this club anyway?"

David smiled, "You know Concorde Square, near Champs Elysees?"

"I can find it."

"We'll meet there most afternoons."

Xander nodded, "Thanks."

"Hope you know a little francais, young man." David chuckled before turning and loping off at a decent speed, straight into a concrete wall that he scaled easily. Xander then watched as he jumped across to a corner of a building, and scaled the wall in seconds, and then was done.

"Damn. Just like the comic books." Xander grinned, shaking his head as he turned once more toward La Rue du Magie. "This whole world just keeps getting cooler every year."

La Rue was as spectacular as Xander remembered, and he took his time. He had a fairly long shopping list, mostly gifts for the various people he hung with. Most of his list was easy enough, of course. It was the Addams that, not surprisingly, that continued to drive him to near madness.

Just how DO you shop for people who already have everything they want?

You didn't, not if you were smart. Since Xander didn't consider himself to be smart, he just kept on browsing.

Luckily for him, the magical world was still full of wonders even years after being introduced to it. Even the minor nick-nacks of the magical world held him spell bound. Mad Eye Moody carried some with him at all times, setting them up in class before the students arrived, and packing them up again after everyone had left.

The Foe Glass was a common trinket sold in all magical marketplaces, and Xander glanced over several in just as many shops as he browsed. Most were cheap, he could easily spot the flaws in the material choice. Cheaper metals wouldn't hold a runic charge particularly wrong, causing the devices to wear out in weeks or months at the outside.

He'd love to get his hand on the runic schematics that devised the spell effect, though. Xander had a few ideas, but was honestly perplexed by how it could do what most claimed. He only got as far as a relatively short range 'intent' ward based device, which was pretty cool in and of itself to be honest.

He bought a couple cheap ones to pull apart.

Brooms, of course, were fascinating even though Xander didn't fly much. It wasn't that he didn't enjoy flying, to be honest, but he didn't have time overall. He got in a fair amount of flying while at Hogwarts, mostly on weekends, but never pushed his first Christmas gift from the Addams' to its limit and couldn't really justify the sheer cost of a better model.

He did, however, find a book on broomstick charms.

He bought three copies of that one.

In all truth, there were just too many doodads and gizmos in the magical world to even begin describing, and Xander wanted them ALL. He also wanted to know how the damn things worked.

There was a clock that told you if you were late for something. How the hell did it KNOW?

He saw magical weapons, charmed with curses or perfect balance, or just simply a razors edge that never needed to be honed. Other shops sold clothing with all manner of charms laid on them, from color and shapeshifting to actual defensive counter curses for the paranoid shopper. Common expanded trunks were set out front, single compartment devices similar to his own portable door. Cheap, usually non-magical designs, with expanded spatial charms laid inside. The frighteningly more expensive custom jobs were never advertised, Xander noted quietly as he passed. If you had to ask, you couldn't afford one.

He stocked up on all manner of gizmos and doodads, mostly for his own fun but also as gifts to people who he figured would appreciate them. Willow would probably like one of the automatic makeup compacts he'd found.

That thing annoyed him to no end, much to the amusement of the sales lady. Xander had picked up the gold colored compact, noting that it was actually polished brass, and made the mistake of looking in it. When he closed it afterwards, he was somewhat dismayed to find that it had transferred what he could only determine 'prostitute chique' make up to his face while he was looking into it.

After a LOT of fumbling, and some help from a giggling sales lady, Xander managed to get the crap off his face and also received a quick lesson in its use. Thankfully it had other settings, and he bought a few for the girls in his life, though not until the sales lady promised that each one came with an instruction manual.

The last thing he needed was one of the girls in HIS life looking into one of his gifts and coming out looking like a Hollywood idea of a prostitute.

They'd kill him.

If he were lucky.

If he weren't, and it was oh say… Wednesday who wound up in such a mess?

Xander shuddered. There wasn't enough groveling in existence to stave off the pain.

He was about halfway down his tour of La Rue when he spotted a familiar face in the crowd and smiled at the blond as she approached.

"Fleur. Happy holidays," He said with a slight bow from the waist. "I didn't know you came back to France."

"Oui, Alexander is it?" The French Veela smiled, expression slightly puzzled.

Xander nodded.

"And you are in Paris, why? For the holidays?"

"Yes, I spend my holidays with the Addams Clan," Xander answered, "It tends to be a new place each year."

Fleurs eyes widened. "Addams? Truly?"

Xander grinned, "Yes. Have to love their reputation."

She smiled in return, "It is not so bad for a Veela. I know of their reputation among Wizards, but the Addams have protected many Veela in the past."

Xander nodded, "I can't say I'm surprised. They seem to like… taking in strays, so to speak."

She glared at him, but he cut her off before she could say anything else.

"And I say that as one of the strays," Xander said with a smile. "They've done a lot for me, without being asked."

"Oui." She said slowly, nodding. "I would not, how you say? Phrase it like that, but I understand your meaning."

Xander nodded, "Sorry. I didn't mean anything by it, really."

"Non, I was too touchy." She waved him off, "Being a Veela isn't not the easiest thing, but there are many worse things. How are your holidays going?"

"Well, we just started, but pretty good. Been shopping, Christmas stuff mostly," Xander said, "scouting for ideas, things like that."

"Ideas?"

"New projects to try," he shrugged, "I always have a couple on the go, and I just finished one so I need something new."

"What did you finish?"

"Simple expansion scheme, but on a doorway instead of a trunk." Xander said, "I didn't like the idea of needing a ladder to get into the room compartment of my trunk. Now it'll just be storage."

"Ah yes, I recall now. Impressive. You are, what? Fifth year?"

"Fourth."

"Very impressive." She smiled, then looked around. "Alors, I must go. It was pleasant to see you again, Alexander."

"And you, Fleur." Xander smiled, ending their conversation with the same bow he began it with.

She smiled back, then headed off while Xander took a moment to touch up his Occlumency shields. Even just her presence was a little unnerving, he found. Like she became his best friend while she was present, despite his shields.

' Interesting ability, that. ' He thought as he moved on.

He had more shopping to do, of course.