Disclaimer is in chapter 1.

Harry frowned as he focused on the spell, working through Hermione's advice he'd managed to improve the casting time and responsiveness of the spell, but he was being distracted by thoughts about the movie of all things.

While it wasn't the first time he'd ever seen one, it was the first time he'd watched a movie with friends. It was… a completely different experience than watching one in class, he had to admit. Of course he'd never seen a movie with nudity in class either, so he'd been really glad of the lowered lights. The darkness hid his blushing.

He pushed those thoughts from his mind, focusing on the techniques Hermione had drilled into him about conjuration. He had to admit that they really helped with the shield spell Xander had taught him, letting him get the shield up in half the time and with a lot less power. Harry figured he could shave another half second, maybe more, off the formation of the shield with practice.

For a spell that only took maybe two seconds and a bit to cast, well that was pretty good he figured. Especially since every instant in a fight was a big chunk of eternity.

He was still practicing it when Xander showed up for his morning routine.

"Looking good." Xander said as he entered the room of requirement, barely keeping the jealousy out of his voice as he watched Harry easily master a spell he'd created, yet couldn't cast.

"Thanks," Harry said, pausing as he wiped some sweat from his eyes and poured some water from a jug he'd brought. "Drink?"

"Not yet, thanks." Xander said, shaking his head as he tossed his robes aside and stretched a little in his tees and sweat pants. "You need to get some normal clothes, man."

Harry glanced down at his robes and shrugged, "These are better than any clothes I've ever worn, except that suit we got this summer I guess."

Xander shrugged, "Whatever."

"Hey, before you start," Harry held up a hand, "I've got the spell down now, I think. No more metal clanking to the ground when I'm done anyway."

"Yeah?" Xander half smiled, shaking his head. "Cool. Show me."

Harry nodded, extending his Ollivander wand. "Protego Facetus!"

The pyramidal construct snapped into existence in front of him, floating in clear defiance of gravity. Harry grinned from behind the armored shield, proudly showing off his mastery of the spell.

Xander smiled, though he felt a little sickly again at seeing his spell so easily mastered by someone else while he couldn't yet manage it himself. He wanted to be happy for Harry, but sometimes it was really hard.

"Alright, let it go." He said after a moment.

Harry nodded, dropping the spell, letting the conjured metal vanish into nothingness along with the energy of the Protego shield.

"Nice." Xander nodded, "Ok, now try it the way you did it the first time."

There was a long pause.

"What?"

Xander rolled his eyes, "I still want to know how come you were conjuring actual titanium, Harry."

"Uh…" Harry hesitated, thinking about it. "But… I don't know what I did before."

Xander stared at him for a long time, "You… No, I know that, but you did it before, you can do it again… right?"

Harry just looked puzzled, "I guess."

"Alright… so give it a shot."

"Uh… ok… Protego Facetus!" Harry blurted, letting the shield form.

Xander nodded, "Ok, let it drop."

The spell, metal shield and all, dropped and vanished.

"No, Harry, like the first time…" Xander said, exasperated.

"Uh. I don't know how?"

Xander stared at him until Harry started to feel a little nervous.

"You… don't know how?"

Harry shook his head.

"He doesn't know how." Xander turned away, visible restraining himself from doing something harsh. "Geeze Harry! Didn't you think it would be useful to conjure real materials?"

Harry was shrugging as he turned back. "I guess. I didn't think about it."

"And Hermione didn't say anything?" Xander's voice sounded pained.

"Uh… I don't think so."

Xander slumped.

"Xander? Are you ok?"

"I think I'm going to cry."

It was just after lunch when Padma and Wednesday arrived at the empty classroom they'd claimed for their 'movie day', the first to arrive by a narrow margin, followed by the Gryffindor contingent, minus Harry.

Padma greeted Hermione with a smile, but just barely acknowledged Ron when he said hi. She was no fool, and knew that if not for Xander and Wednesday she'd have been humiliated at the Yule ball. She had no intention of forgiving either Ron or Harry anytime soon, and even if she did she intended to see them work for it.

Ron barely seemed to notice the snub, however, so she was denied that small satisfaction as Xander and Harry arrived. They looked like they'd come straight from the showers, wet hair plastered to their heads, and Xander's shirt was sticking in places where he hadn't dried himself off.

Padma closed her eyes, pushing certain admiring thoughts out of her head. The last thing she wanted was to get Wednesday thinking that she was moving in on her territory.

That way led to painful endings.

Xander was moving like a man on a mission, however, and didn't even glance at her OR Wednesday as he steered straight at Hermione and simply reached out and started strangling the Gryffindor genius.

There was a long startled moment in which no one acted, even Hermione seemed too shocked to do anything as her head was shaken back and forth in a mass of bushy hair.

"Hey!" Ron blurted, drawing his wand. "You ca…"

He stopped when he felt a sharp jab in his crotch, his eyes darting down to see a dark wand pointed at his privates. As he slowly looked up the wand to the hand, then arm, body, and finally face, he found himself staring at two bleak and black eyes.

"Don't." Wednesday said simply.

"Uh…"

She wasn't paying attention to his gurgling, however, and had already turned to look at Xander while keeping her wand trained on its target, "Alexander?"

"Yes Wednesday?" Xander asked, still shaking Hermione.

"May I ask why you're strangling our friend?"

"You remember Harry's conjuring 'problem'?"

"The titanium? Yes."

"She fixed it."

"I fail to see the problem," Wednesday admitted after a moment's thought.

"No… She fixed it. He's conjuring normally now. He doesn't even remember how to do it the other way." Xander said.

"Ah." Wednesday said, jaw dropping slightly. "I see. Carry on."

The twins looked at each other, confused but not overly worried. They'd seen enough roughhousing to know that Xander wasn't actually inflicting injury, but they were royally confused by the conversation.

Padma, however, did understand it and was groaning as she pinched her nose. "You're kidding."

Harry just sighed, "Xander, let her go."

"You don't get a vote. You're fixed." Xander muttered.

"Oy!" Harry objected, "Don't say it like that!"

Xander rolled his eyes, letting Hermione go and shaking his head. "What? She may as well have neutered you, she cut off something I consider pretty valuable."

Ron squeaked, holding himself. "Harry! She didn't!"

"RON!" Harry and Hermione snapped at him.

"Honestly, Ronald!" Hermione growled, rubbing her throat as she smoothed her hair back and glared at Xander, "Was that really necessary?"

Xander considered it for a long moment, then nodded. "Yep. Come on, Hermione! We had a guy conjuring REAL titanium out of somewhere, now he's…. bloody normal!"

"It's hardly my fault!" She snapped waspishly, "All I did was talk him through the mental aspect of conjuration!"

"Oh, so he's mental then?" Xander asked, nodding, "Makes sense."

"Hey!"

Xander shook his head, sighing. "From now on, Hermione, we don't fix things that aren't broken… not until we've figured out how they're working as it stands, just in case we want to go back. Deal?"

She glowered at him, "I'd like to point out that we all agreed with teaching him proper conjuration as an experiment, but yes we have a deal."

He nodded, "Yeah I know we did. But I just can't help but imagine that we've just lost out on something big."

"Presumably," Wednesday said calmly, "He still has the capacity, just not the ability. We should be able to recreate it, though it may be easier if we are able to determine what he was doing, precisely, in the first place."

The three turned to look at Harry pensively.

"W… what?" He asked, getting nervous.

"Lab rat?" Xander asked.

Wednesday nodded, "I believe so."

They glanced at Hermione, whose eyes had taken on a gleam that seriously disturbed Harry. "Agreed. But it'll have to wait until next year, he has too much work to do for the tournament."

Xander and Wednesday reluctantly agreed and, a deal in principal reached, Xander produced his door and set it up against the wall.

"Alright, old business is now tabled. Shall we adjourn to the Indy marathon?"

"Second."

"Motion seconded," Xander nodded to Hermione, "All in favor?"

Everyone raised their hands.

"They ayes have it," Xander said, opening the door. "Welcome to Harris Theatres… no sticking your gum under the seats."

"What's gum?" Ron asked as everyone filed in.

"Nothing!" Hermione clapped a hand over Xander's mouth, "Just a non-magical thing. Don't worry about it."

Ron looked confused, but nodded and walked in.

Hermione refused to look at Xander as she too entered, Xander just shrugged and closed the door behind him.

Xander was somewhat surprised by the reactions to the movie series as they progressed through the series, watching the movies in the order they'd been filmed instead of the chronological order. When the Nazis showed up in Raiders, both the twins and Padma had reacted with visceral reactions similar to his own. He'd had to ask about it after the movie was over, and one thing that hadn't turned up much in his studies of the magical side of the Second World War was the fact that the SS Uniforms were very similar to Grindlewald's own Stormtrooper forces.

Magical cameras were still a fairly new 'technology', and few pictures existed from the Second World War on the magical side of affairs it turned out, but lots of descriptions had survived. Of course, the Nazi uniform was so equated with bad guys in the modern world that Xander hadn't really connected the two. It just made sense to him that Grindlewald's people wore black and red, and the lack of robes was hardly a big deal as far as he was concerned.

To the twins, who had apparently been brought up on war stories by some of their less reputable 'uncles', seeing the Nazis show up had been akin to watching and old boogey man come to life apparently. Padma was much the same because, unlike Hitler's legions, Grindlewalds people had in fact made serious inroads into India, Pakistan, and even some of the areas further east.

The second movie, Temple of Doom, had drawn the usual disgusted sounds from Ron and the Twins, Harry had seen worse of course, and Wednesday usually DID worse. Padma, however, actually got offended by times, and a little freaked out as the movie went on.

"The Thugee Cults still exist in magical India," She admitted after he questioned her, "much like the Death Eaters here. They're mostly quiet now, but my parents can remember times when they were very active. It's… like watching you know who come to life."

"Whoa." That had surprised Xander a bit, he'd never really thought about the historical aspect of the second movie.

"They're thugs and brigands," Padma sighed, "But the statutes of secrecy were always a little thin in India, and a few squib and lower caste wizards joined them, either for gold or just to kill the British."

"Oy! Why'd they want to kill British?" Ron objected.

"Duh, the brits were invading their land." Xander rolled his eyes.

Padma mostly ignored Ron, but nodded in Xander's direction, "Mostly yes, though for most of those types it was just an excuse to kill without repercussions."

"Such is the way of petty minds." Wednesday shrugged. "There is no difference between any of the myriad of similar groups through history. Civilizations devise laws, but there are always those who are unable or unwilling to live within them."

The third movie, in some ways, surprised Xander more than the first two, however as the purebloods watching didn't really follow the plot well, getting confused by the reference to Arthur.

"Wait, I still don't get it," George admitted, frowning, "What was with the cup thing again?"

"The Holy Grail?" Xander blinked, "I thought you guys were all about Arthur and Merlin."

"Oh, you mean that cup from the movie last night?" Padma blinked, "I wondered where they got that from…"

Xander exchanged looks with Hermione, "Isn't the Grail in the magical stories of Merlin and Arthur?"

She was also confused, "I'm not sure. It is in the oldest muggle tales, I'm sure."

"Weird." Xander frowned, "I wonder, did magicals edit it out, or did non magicals tack it on?"

Wednesday shrugged, "Either is possible. The Grail is an element of Christian tradition, one not strongly followed even within Christian sects. There are some who believe it to be an entirely fictional story created specifically for Arthurian legend."

"I wonder…" Xander mused, "Maybe it's a magical artifact that non magicals mistook for something godly? Like the Goblet of Fire, maybe?"

"The original descriptions do fit." Wednesday conceded.

Xander shrugged, "Anyway… The Holy Grail, to non magicals, is a religious artifact like they said in the movie. It's always been tied deeply with Arthur and Merlin, which is why you'll see it in almost all non-magical stories about Merlin."

"Huh. Weird." Ron shrugged, "Was a cool moving though."

Harry grimaced and his fists thudded into his forehead as he bowed his head and groaned. The twins glanced at each other, recognizing that Ron had gotten the name wrong, but couldn't remember it themselves and so for once exercised the better part of valor and kept their gobs shut.

The screen had turned to show Willow, who was sitting in a chair while snacking comfortably on some popcorn herself.

"The Holy Grail has always been a bit controversial," She said, "but few scholars actually believe it ever existed. There's no mention of it in any texts until around 1100 AD, and the first texts don't mention it as being godly at all."

"That's not too long after the magical world officially broke from the non-magical," Xander mused as well, sitting back. "I wonder if there's a connection?"

"Magically, there are several artifacts that match the physical description," Padma said thoughtfully, "The Goblet of Fire, as you said, the Chalice of Hufflepuff is another. It's said to have been charmed to transmute water to mild healing draughts, though there's some debate on how effective they were. Stories range from pepper up potion level to elixir of life level, but there's nothing to back it up."

"Wasn't it made of wood?" Ron objected, "The goblet's Gold!"

"That's just Indiana Jones' interpretation," Hermione said, "Remember last night? The Grail in Excalibur was far more ornate."

"Oh. Yeah."

"It seems likely that the original Arthurian Mythos was heavily influenced by the Magical World," Wednesday said after a moment, "So many of the artifacts from the stories likely existed in some form. Given that the original stories were deeply steeped in Celtic Mythology, and were only later hijacked by Christianity, it's unlikely that 'God' had anything to do with it."

"Makes sense." George said.

"Indubitably." Fred replied.

"Anything direct, you mean." Xander replied with a half smirk.

Wednesday glared at him, but only sniffed in annoyance. "Pest."

"Hey, just saying." He held up his hands, "Don't know if there is a God, but if there is a Creator type, then he was involved… just not directly."

"Granted," Wednesday conceded with a sigh, "However it seems likely that any creator's connection is most likely akin to your ancestors connection to you being here. They were involved, vitally so, but that doesn't mean they are here."

Xander shrugged, conceding the point.

"Anyway," He clapped his hands, getting up. "Everyone like the movies?"

Everyone nodded, the Twins in weird sync, one head up while the other was down.

"Excellent. Wills, Herms, Wens? Ideas for next week?"

"Star Wars?" Willow suggested.

Xander winced, "You know I'm not sure I want to own up to that one just yet."

Willow frowned, then her eyes widened. "Oh yeah… Sorry."

Fred and George exchanged suspicious glances, "What's Star Wars? And why would you have to own up to something about it?"

Harry, Xander, Hermione, and Willow exchanged knowing glances.

"Uh nothing." They said together.

Wednesday merely rolled her eyes.

The twins weren't buying it, but it was pretty clear they weren't getting anywhere with this group either.

"How about some pure action?" Xander suggested, "Terminator, Predator, Aliens?"

"Ew! No!" Willow paled.

Willow HATED Aliens. The whole thing just creeped her out SO much. "ET maybe?"

"Come on, Willow, something fun to watch!" Xander objected.

"ET is so fun!"

"Bleh."

"How about we compromise?" Hermione suggested simply. "Xander picks one, Willow you can pick one, and I'll pick one… unless you want to Wednesday?"

Wednesday merely shrugged, "That's alright, no."

Willow and Xander both pouted almost identically, "Fine."

Hermione rolled her eyes, "Children. I pick the Princess Bride."

"Oh! That's a great one!" Willow perked up.

Xander rolled his eyes, but nodded, "Ok that's not bad. The Twu Wuv crap is annoying, but there's some really excellent humor and fight scenes. I want Predator."

Willow took her turn to roll her eyes, but it was better than Aliens. She sighed, thinking about it, then shrugged, "I'll pick something out but I don't know what yet."

"Alright. Next week then." Xander said, grinning.

Everyone agreed and the group broke up, though Xander remained in the room for a while longer after they all left so he could catch up with Willow, face to face as it were.

For each of them the time was moving swiftly now, rushing headlong into the end of the school year. Classes were a bit of a blur, as Wednesday returned to her research on the Goblet, Xander and Harry kept working to help Harry prepare for the third task, and Hermione delved into whatever she was presented with, with her trademark gusto.

The third task was coming quickly, and Harry was nervous about it, but knew that he was far more prepared for anything that he'd been just a couple months previously. With Hermione and Xander helping him, he felt that he could manage anything, and that was a good feeling.

Wednesday was growing more frustrated, and was concealing it poorly. Few in her house were brave enough to approach her as the days moved on. Only Padma, who tread carefully, and Luna, who blundered apparently blindly, came anywhere near her unless it was absolutely unavoidable. She was far from unsatisfied with the situation, however it did bring a degree of attention to her from people who normally wouldn't glance in her direction.

One morning at breakfast that came to a head as the blond Veela, Fleur Delacour stopped in front of her seat at the Claw table and stared at her for a long moment.

"Yes?" She said, looking up as Padma shifted nervously on her left, Luna blinking owlishly on her right.

"You are zee Addams, yes?"

"I am."

Fleur half bowed, "My deepest apologies for not greeting you earlier. I did not know you were here. Ma famille honore notre dette d'honneur."

Wednesday raised her eyebrow, gazing back silently in response.