Disclaimer is in chapter 1.

Wednesday walked calmly down the streets of Sunnydale, a single bag in one hand. She'd arrived through the Harris family Floo only to be told that Xander wasn't living there over the summer. She would have been put out, but the frilly pinkness of the newly decorated home left her pleased that he had the wisdom to bolt from that horror as quickly as he had.

She'd been introduced to his new sister before she made her own escape, but all she could see was that the poor child matched the décor. It was truly horrible.

Having barely made it out with what sanity she could muster, Wednesday immediately headed for the old junkyard. Xander had mentioned that he'd bought it, she could recall, but she hadn't really understood why to be honest. As it turned out she now had to check his bloodline for precognitive traits, because obviously he'd seen that… pink… coming.

The gates were open this time, so she didn't have to sneak in, which she supposed was something of a pity. Still, needs must, and the direct approach had its benefits as well.

A man tried to stop her at the gate, but she just stared at him until he backed off. Wednesday smiled to herself as she heard him mutter the word 'Addams' under his breath. She felt pride in few things, most parts of her life simply existed, but the Clan… the Clan was something she was proud of. Its reputation, especially.

She half turned to the man, "Where is Alexander."

He just pointed wordlessly before he turned and bolted. It was enough.

She found Alexander in the center of a large shop space, tinkering with a motorcycle of all things. He was covered in grease, an old torn shirt barely hanging onto his body, and she stopped in her footsteps to watch him as he worked. He looked… different without the school robes.

"Oh! Wednesday!"

The Addams scion shook herself from her reverie, the only hint of her thoughts was a slight twist to the right corner of her mouth as she turned to the speaker.

"Willow," Wednesday drawled, stretching out the name. "I have something I wish to speak with you about… later."

Willow stared for a moment, confused, but she nodded slowly, "Ok. Xander didn't tell me you were coming…"

"That would be because I didn't know," Xander said as he walked over, attracted by the shout. He smiled widely at Wednesday, "Hey Wens, I'd give you a hug but…"

"You will not," She said, eyeing his grease covered clothing. "I will accept a kiss."

His eyes widened and Xander almost took a step back, clearly shocked.

She smirked at him, amused, and pointed lightly to her right cheek, "Here, or," She offered her hand to him, palm down.

Xander recovered, reasonably quickly, and smiled as he bent over her hand and lightly kissed her knuckles. "As you wish."

Wednesday struggled, trying to force herself not to react, but she could feel the faint heat running to her cheeks and knew from Xander's expression that he'd spotted the blush, however faint it might have been. She took her hand back and turned away, partly to hide the blush and partly to keep herself from killing Xander for the brazen attempt at making her do so.

Her eyes fell on Willow, and she noted the downcast expression. The redhead had understood the jibe just as well, but it was clear that she wasn't taking it as the nearly casual flirting that Wednesday knew it to be.

This is… perfect, She thought, dark eyes glittering as she took in Willow's reaction. It was clear, now as it had been before, that Willow was more than merely Xander's friend… whether he knew it or not. Under most circumstances, Wednesday knew that she would likely be plotting the redhead's demise. She had not been brought up to share, not on anyone's terms but her own at least.

"We need to talk," She told Willow simple, then glanced at Xander. "A room."

"You staying?" He asked, clearly amused.

"I am."

"Down the stairs," He pointed, "The basement's been converted into living quarters, magic lab, that sort of thing. Willow knows which room is mine, take your pick of the rest."

She inclined her head, then dragged Willow past Xander toward the stairs.

Xander watched them go, amused and bemused, then whistled off tune to himself as he walked back to the bike and went back to work on it.

"This will do." Wednesday nodded, looking around the room.

It was far from luxury, of course, but it was well enough appointed and it felt delightfully dank.

"You can turn on the heat here," Willow reached for a thermostat.

"Leave it." Wednesday ordered, a slight smile on her face, "this is perfect."

"Really?" Willow scrunched up her nose, "I… if you say so."

"I do," Wednesday said, closing the subject and turning to Willow. "Now, we need to speak."

Willow shifted uncomfortably, "I… k-kind of thought we were."

If Wednesday hadn't already known the impressive mind that existed within the redhead's skull, she would have been far less disgusted with her actions. She also wouldn't have bothered to pay any further attention to the girl, which might have been a mistake. People always managed to surprise her, Wednesday found… usually for the worse.

"You love Xander."

"What?" Willow blurted, eyes wide as she shook her head, "N-no, I mean…"

"You love him, or…" Wednesday shrugged, "you think you do. At this time it's likely a mere infatuation, but that doesn't matter. You believe it to be love."

Willow swallowed, then sighed and nodded, "I do."

Wednesday looked at her for a long moment, the silence stretching on. Finally, she spoke, "I'm going to sleep with him this year."

Willow reacted much like a bomb had been dropped in the room, her eyes bulged and her jaw dropped as she tried to speak though nothing was coming out.

"Well, to be honest," Wednesday went on, "I don't expect there to be much sleeping involved."

Willow staggered, leaning into the door frame of the room. She'd had some expectations of Wednesday being interested in Xander, but this was beyond anything she'd imagined in her worst nightmares.

"I… I… You… He…"

Wednesday observed the mental breakdown with a passive kind of interest, Willow was turning several fascinating colors to be sure. She was tempted to let it continue in the direction it was currently going, but that would be counterproductive. Still, she suspected that the direction she was about to take would accomplish just as much.

"I've offered him to two other girls as well." Wednesday said simply, "and as I require one more for the set, I'd like you to consider joining us."

Thud.

Wednesday walked over and looked down at the unconscious redhead.

"She survived." Wednesday said after she spotted the rise and fall of Willow's chest.

"Pity."

The Addams child reached down, grabbed Willow's arm, and pulled her body into the room. The door swung shut of its own accord a few seconds later.

Xander finished putting his bike back together, reasonably confident that he understood how Sirius had configured the runes and charms. It wasn't that complicated, honestly, once he saw it all laid out. He was surprised, but then he was always very well aware that sometimes the biggest hurtle to any job was just figuring out how to do it in the first place.

Certainly his wands worked like that, the initial ideas were completely bonkers, but once they figured out the process it was actually pretty easy.

Speaking of which, Xander stood up and made his way over to the work bench that held an array of nearly twenty different wands in various states of completion. He had half a dozen variations on his standard twelve to fourteen inch models, all combination core wands. The Wednesday/Basilisk cores functioned well, frighteningly well for curses, which hadn't surprised him at all. It was the Willow/Unicorn wands that actually spooked him a little and made him rethink things.

Either his friend's hair had an odd reaction with Unicorn hair, or he might need to rethink what he knew about Willow's personality. Even Wednesday's hair hadn't caused the Unicorn tail hair to spontaneously combust. Willow hair and Dragon heart strings, however, meshed well and provided a much stronger all-purpose wand than he had expected. Decent at everything, with a slight edge in Charms and Transfigurations, it came within a few hairs of matching his Ollivander Wand.

The rest of the wands in construction on his bench were ones he was tinkering with the sheath design for. Shorter hold out wands, like the ones he'd used to deflect Malfoy's jinxes during his prank, some longer ones he was testing to see if he could extend his casting range, and a few where he was playing with the material itself. As was normal, Willow and her obsession with research had turned up a few new developments in materials sciences for him to try.

At the moment Xander was working on aligning the molecules of the carbon wands to allow magical power to transmit more efficiently. It was slow going, since there just wasn't anything in the magical world that focused on manipulating atoms, so he had to design it. Xander was a little surprised that no one else had thought of it, to be honest, it wasn't actually hard to transfigure on an atomic scale. The main failing was it was damnably difficult to confirm and repeat simply because you couldn't see to that level.

He had picked up a few old microscopes from some government auctions, though, and they were helping him get the job done. At some point he'd have to get an electron scanning scope, he supposed, but for now the dissecting models were actually enough.

No, he couldn't see atoms with them, but he could get a really excellent idea of the 'grain' of the material and make his changes on that level. It would be enough to experiment with, he could improve on it later. Through the ninety times scope he could see the texture of the carbon as he laid the current blank he was working under its gaze, this one a Carbon Fiber blank that he was modifying to suit his needs.

He'd already confirmed that Willow's suggestion had merit, using a crudely altered graphite blank. By forcing a molecular alignment he'd increased the power going through the wand by at least five percent, which was certainly significant. Now it was time for a more serious experiment.

Xander used his Ollivander wand, still the best all-purpose design he had and, save for curses, the best overall wand in his possession, and cut out tiny slots in the carbon fiber blank. When he was done it looked like a circuit board that was wrapped into a cylinder, which was the goal. Next he just added the core materials, Willow hair and Dragon heartstring, and then he prepped everything for the final step.

Under the ninety times magnification of the scope Xander carefully twitched his wand while his eyes were glued to the binocular eyepieces, something that had taken him a fair amount of practice to master, and began layering the softer graphite into the circuit lines he'd cut earlier. The most difficult and time consuming part of it was ensuring that the graphite was aligned correctly, however, and he had to back up and redo his work often.

So focused on his task was he that Xander barely noted the passing of time and the thought of were Willow and Wednesday were never once entered into his thoughts.

Willow groaned, moving slowly as light returned to her world.

"I just had the strangest nightmare." She mumbled, shaking her head.

"What, pray tell, made it a nightmare? Having sex with Xander, or sharing him with me?"

Willow's eyes bulged as she bolted upright in bed, staring at Wednesday in shock as she found the other girl sitting calmly in an office chair across the room.

"I… You…" Willow mumbled, "We…? Xander?"

"Indeed," Wednesday said, eyeing the redhead with a degree of pity… or perhaps condescension.

Honestly, Willow wasn't entirely sure which it was.

"Here, read this." Wednesday said, offering her a large thick book.

Willow accepted it, with just a little suspicion, and turned it around so she could read the section Wednesday had it open to. She paused after reading the section title and brief description, eyes widening again as she looked up to Wednesday. The Addams girl just stared back, her expression devoid of any hint to her thoughts.

Willow bowed her head and went back to reading, suddenly deeply interested in the subject matter.

"Ah, Miss Granger," Minerva McGonagall smiled tightly at her favorite student, "It's pleasant to see you again."

"You as well, professor," Hermione said, a little quizzically, "May I ask why you're here?"

The professor had knocked politely on the door to her parents' house, but Hermione was the only one home at the time as her parents vacation didn't begin for another few days.

"I wanted to deliver this in person," Minerva said, holding out a badge.

Hermione's eyes widened as she recognized it for what it was, "Professor… I…"

Minerva smiled, her voice chiding, "who else did you believe would warrant it this year?"

"I… well, I'd hoped," Hermione admitted, trailing off.

The professor chuckled softly, "You've earned it. With it, I would like to ask a favor of you."

"A favor?"

"When we do the muggle-born orientation every year, I invite prefects to help out," Minerva said, "Normally I use seventh year prefects, but in your case it seemed to me that perhaps a younger face with similar experiences might be useful."

"Of course, Ma'am, I'd be honored."

"Excellent, I'll owl you with the exact date once arrangements have been made," Minerva said, "we'll meet in London, of course. That won't be a problem?"

"No, no problem." Hermione said, "Do you know, more or less, when?"

"Not for a few weeks," Minerva said, "the final day depends on several factors, including the birthdays of the children involved, and their parents' schedule."

"Oh, yes, of course," Hermione nodded, "I'll be prepared when you call on me."

"I had no doubt," Minerva said, "I'll take my leave now. Do enjoy the rest of your vacation, and congratulations on the prefecture. You most certainly earned it, Miss Granger."

Xander whistled slightly as he ambled, literally ambled, back into the junkyard. He was feeling more relaxed and in a better mood than he had for months at least. Hogwarts was awesome, but at the best of times there was a tension below the surface that built up over the year.

Probably why Harry always has some huge adventure toward the end of the year, needs to break up the tension.

He hadn't seen hide or hair of Willow or Wednesday since the latter had arrived, but that wasn't altogether unusual for Wednesday and he took the opportunity to spend some time with Jessie and the guys. They'd played a couple short modules from Dungeons and Dragons and Mage, then broke into a new card game that the guys had called Magic.

It was good fun, Xander'd bought a box on the spot. It was tucked under his arm now as he made his way into the shop where his bike was resting on its stand. He set the box of cards down on the bench and did a slow tour of the bike, with a grin he couldn't quite wipe off, then looked back to the bench and his current projects.

As always, he seemed to be drowning in projects, but he just couldn't help it. There were so many things he wanted to try with Magic, and it all seemed like top priority. He was still manufacturing wands, of course, but that had almost become routine in short order. The hardest part now was aligning the carbon molecules for better conductivity of magic, but he had an equation for an enchantment in mind that might solve that bottleneck. Everything else was pro-forma, aside from whatever experimental core he was playing with at the time.

He was still working on his doorway, making minor and not so minor improvements as he went along, and the communicators were about as good as he could make them for now.

Xander turned his attention to an old TV he'd picked up, just to take apart. He didn't think he'd learn much about it, given that magic and technology tended to be at odds, but it would be an experience if nothing else. He was happily pulling the device apart when Wednesday and Willow made their reappearance from the depths of the dungeons under his shop and junkyard.

"Where have you been?" Willow asked, alternating between frowning at him and blushing hot pink and looking away. "We looked everywhere."

"Clearly not," Xander chuckled as he looked through the wires and dust of the old set, "I was out with Jessie and the guys."

"Oh." Willow drooped a little, not quite meeting his eyes.

Xander briefly wondered what that was about, but considering Wednesday likely had a hand in it, he figured he probably didn't want to know.

"What are you doing?" Wednesday entered the conversation, her cool monotone offsetting Willow's slightly hyperactive babble quite nicely.

"Just checking the guts of this thing, seeing if maybe I can get any ideas from it," Xander answered as he drew his carbon wand and used it to snip some connections.

Willow looked closer and frowned, her mind clearly distracted from whatever had been distracting her, "Xander, be careful… the capacitors in those can hold a charge for…"

The loud buzzing sound that drowned her out was, in turn, drowned out by Xander's pained gurgle as he touched something wrong with his left hand and it felt like a thousand angry bees were running all the way through his arm into his chest. He jerked his other hand out and screamed as a bolt of raw magic tore out of his wand and vaporized the wall of the shop.

Wednesday hauled Willow down and out of the way as Xander jerked back and hit the wall behind him, slumping to the ground in pain.

The threat of being disintegrated passed, Willow and Wednesday rushed across the shop to where he was panting hard on the ground, eyes crossed.

"Please don't ever let me do that again," Xander whimpered.

"You idiot!" Willow hissed, "You almost killed yourself."

Wednesday, however, was looking behind her to the hole where a wall had been, and beyond that to the utterly destroyed rows of old cars that had absorbed the force of Xander's magic.

"Himself," She asked, mildly put out, "He very nearly killed us."

Wednesday looked back at Xander evenly, "Very impressive."

Xander groaned, "I'd be happier with that compliment if I weren't dying here, Wens."

The Addams scion merely rolled her eyes and pulled him up, "You will live, or I will make your shade wish dearly that it had. I'm not quite finished with you, yet."

Xander shot her a quizzical look through pained eyes, "What?"

"You'll see," She said, only the slightest tinge of color brushing her cheeks at that.

Xander looked over to Willow, to see if she knew what Wednesday was talking about, but the redhead was blushing so profusely that he was immediately distracted by worries about her health.

"Willow, I didn't hit you did I? Are you ok?"

"N.. no," She stammered, "I'm ok."

Xander nodded, getting painfully to his feet.

"Should you be moving? We should get a doctor…"

"He survived vacations with my family," Wednesday said dryly, "He'll be fine."

Xander chuckled painfully, but gently patted Willow on the shoulder, "I feel like every muscle in my body is staging a revolt, but I'll live. Merlin, would you look at that."

Wednesday and Willow turned to see the damage wrought by the accident as Xander limped over to it himself. He paused to check his wand, but didn't see any damage as he then moved on to the hole blasted through the wall.

"It appeared to be raw, unrefined magic," Wednesday said, "far more powerful than I would have predicted you were capable of."

"I'd be hurt by that," Xander replied, "but this is more than I would have predicted I was capable of too. Damn, it's lucky you two weren't hurt."

They walked out into the junkyard, through the corridor carved out of the wrecked cars. Some of the metal was still glowing hot and smoking. Small fires burned where rubber or gasoline had been close enough to catch, yet far enough to avoid being entirely vaporized.

"What do you suppose happened?" Willow asked, frowning.

"Something to do with nearly electrocuting myself, I'm guessing," Xander answered.

"The electricity was converted into magic," Wednesday guessed, "presumably by the wand?"

"Huh," Xander looked back along the path of destruction he'd caused, "That's interesting. I wonder how we can duplicate it, minus the electrocution of course…"

Willow blinked, considering it for a moment, then looked at the destroyed materials, "Are you sure you want to?"

Xander shrugged.

She had a point, he supposed. Pure destruction like that had limited uses, but it did have uses. Still, he'd much rather see if it could be harnessed.

"I rather think we do," Wednesday answered, "If only to determine exactly what happened."

Xander nodded, "Yeah."

Willow considered, then she too was in agreement, "New project?"

"New project," Xander and Wednesday spoke together.

Robert looked over the old junkyard as the sun rose, setting the wrecks against a glorious view of the sea beyond. This was the first time he'd set foot in Sunnydale in, well a good many years. Normally people came to him, but he was interested enough to make an exception in this case. Young Alexander was one to watch, he believed. The young man was already making waves in various quarters, certainly the Lavelles were watching carefully, and even the Harris clan was starting to take note. Most of them were watching and recognizing the political connections he was making, some paid more attention to the not so small fortune he was gathering with his potions patent, but Robert saw more than any of that.

The boy was a creator, someone who wasn't satisfied with good enough, and those sorts of people tended to do more than merely accumulate wealth.

Robert had once known someone similar, not a Wizard… more's the pity, but both a creator and a brilliant mind. Unfortunately he'd not been worldly enough to control his creations, and he'd died penniless and the world was infinitely poorer for it.

Nicola would have appreciated this place, Robert noted with a grin as he walked through the piles of junked cars and other things sorted into large stacks. He paused as he reached one place, however, and blinked in genuine puzzlement. What on Earth?

There was a column of pure destruction, cut right through the center line of the yard. He looked up the long cut, noting that it had torn through the fence at the far end and burrowed a chunk of the hill beyond. Robert leaned heavily on his cane and shook his head.

Somehow I'm now terrified of the thought of Nikola being anywhere near this place. Wizards.

He sighed and turned to walk in, carefully stepping over the burnt section of wall and into the shop, noting that Sam and Sirius were both already there.

"Do I want to know what happened?" The old man asked wearily.

"We don't know."

"You don't know what happened?" Robert frowned.

"Don't know that either." Sirius shrugged.

Robert turned to Sam, his expression stern, but the other man just held up his hands.

"Don't look at me, Robert," Sam said, "The kids won't say what the hell they did. All I know is that it's set off a major project. Xander's cancelled everything else, including training."

Robert looked back at the devastation and tried to figure out what sort of spell would have done that.

Fiendfyre? No, the place is still standing.

He'd seen a lot in his time, but this wasn't like any spell he'd known. It rather looked like some incidents of accidental magic, only magnitudes more powerful.

"They won't say what happened?"

Sam shook his head, "the three of them basically said that we'd have to take the information over their dead bodies."

Robert grunted, "Good."

"Good?" Sirius glanced over, "Why?"

"Means they're learning. Secrets are power in the magical world, Black. No sense handing power out to just anyone." Robert said, "They say anything else?"

"Just that it's important," Sam shrugged.

"Well, that means I've wasted a trip," Robert sighed. "Where are they?"

"Basement lab, working." Sam answered. "Door is sealed, but Black could break it."

Robert waved off the offer, "How about I try?"

He walked over to the door and thumped a few times with his cane, then leaned back on it to wait. After a couple moments there was a scrabbling sound and the door slid open, a redhead poking her face out.

"Yes? We're busy."

"Please inform Alexander that Robert is here." Robert said calmly.

"Oh, right, Xander said you'd be coming," Willow perked up, "Come on down."

"Thank you."

She stepped aside and he entered, letting the door shut firmly behind him as she drew a carbon black wand and cast a quick locking charm. Robert was mildly amused, knowing that any charm cast by a young witch with no formal schooling was unlikely to keep out a determined non-magical, let alone Lord Black, but the idea was there at least.

"Xander's in here," She gestured as they reached the bottom of the stairs.

He was led to a large workshop, scattered with power tools and magical paraphernalia, quite unlike anything he'd ever seen before. Few magicals used Dewalt power tools, after all.

"Robert!" Xander poked his head up from, "Welcome, sorry for the mess."

"Cleaner here than up top, kid," Robert chuckled dryly. "Don't suppose you'd like to inform me as to what happened?"

"Sorry, no," Xander shook his head, "We're telling no one. But come over here for a sec, will ya?"

Robert made his way over, can clacking against the cement floor, and looked over what Xander had been working on. "So what's this then?"

It looked like a hockey glove, wrapped in duct tape, sprouting wires or something similar.

"An experiment."

Robert did a double take, only then noting the dark girl who'd somehow appeared at his side. He put a hand over his heart, taking a deep breath.

"And you, child, must be the Addams. Please, my old heart can't take what it used to, don't sneak up on me like that." Robert smiled personably.

"I'll take that under advisement," She said looking him over tightly, "You're a squib."

"I am."

"Excellent," She nodded to Xander, "let him try."

Robert glanced over to see Xander nodded, "Right. Here, Robert, try this on."

Robert found the duct tape glove shoved down over his hand, something cool brushing his fingers inside. It was indeed a hockey glove, but they'd cut it and drilled and done various other atrocities to it before apparently wrapping it entirely in duct tape. Along the cuff he felt a heavy weight, more than the padding would explain.

"What is this supposed to do?" The old man asked curiously.

"Absolutely nothing," Xander said, "here, take this too."

Robert automatically accepted what was offered, noting that it was a carbon black wand very similar to the one that the redhead had used. He presumed that they were the wands that Xander was making, but it hardly mattered.

"I can't power a wand, Alexander," He said, just a hint of the old regret in his voice.

"Wave it." Wednesday said dully, eyes piercing him.

"What?"

"Wave it, Robert," Xander ordered, no question about that tone.

Robert sighed, but did as he was bade. His heart almost burst as bright sparks erupted from the tip of the wand, showering the room in red and blue.

"It worked!" Willow cheered.

"What have you done?" Robert whispered, shocked to his core.

Xander shook his head, taking the wand and the glove back.

"We can't tell you," He said, regretfully, "Not now, probably not ever. This is too big. Even I can see that."

"You gave me magic?"

"No," Wednesday shook her head, "We merely… augmented it."

"The glove," Robert's sharp eyes locked on the silver grey glove, wondering just what it was that the Duct Tape was hiding.

"Partly," Xander confirmed, "but only partly. We're… years from anything useable here, Robert, at best."

"Augmented," Robert's mind locked in on that word, and he glanced involuntarily upward, "that's what happened topside. You blasted the yard with augmented magic."

"Again, partly," Xander hedged, "we won't share the details…"

"After seeing that I know why," Robert mumbled, "Wizards would kill for far less."

"Not merely Wizards," Wednesday said, eyes locked with him. "I assume you know what my clan will do to you if you betray us?"

Robert shook himself clear of his thoughts, eyes matching hers, "I assure you, child, I have no intentions of betraying anyone. I'm an old man, this wouldn't be more than mere amusement for me, and I don't know many people I'd trust with it either. I'm surprised that you showed me even this much."

"The fact that it can be done is…" Xander considered his words, "bad enough to release, but we needed to see what would happen with a low magical. In theory, this could even allow a non-magical to cast…"

"Possibly," Wednesday cut him off, "however we have yet to see if a non-magical could shape the magic."

"True."

Robert nodded, leaning heavily on his cane, "My advice is to tell no one. Not even that you've done it, Alexander, not even that it's possible. In fact…"

He sighed, closing his eyes, "Can any of you manage an Obliviation?"

The three teens shared a nervous glance before Wednesday stepped forward, "I can."

"Do it. Take my memory," He told her, "I deal with too many magicals, and some of them are nosy bastards. I can't protect my mind from them."

Wednesday looked at him evenly for a long moment, then nodded, "Very well."

Robert looked evenly at Xander, "Whatever you do, Alexander, be very careful about releasing this. You could change the world with just what you've shown me here, and I've no doubt you kept a lot back. Some powers don't belong in the hands of men."

Xander nodded seriously as Wednesday brought up her wand with a slash and jab.

"Obliviate," She intoned darkly.

Robert slumped, then shook his head, and looked around for a moment, "So this is where you've been hiding yourself? Don't suppose you want to tell me what happened top side?"

"I'm afraid not, Robert," Xander said with a sad sort of smile. "Come on, I'll make time for training."

"Good lad."

Willow and Wednesday sat, perched on the smooth hood of an otherwise wrecked car, watching as Xander ran the yard with Fenrir. He and the dog almost literally flew over the wrecks, bounding up and over some piled five high with an ease that Willow was in awe of and even Wednesday found somewhat impressive. He'd been at it for twenty minutes, and was now covered in a sheen of sweat that stuck his shirt to his form and beaded off his face as he grinned and dared his familiar to catch him.

"Have you considered the offer?" Wednesday asked, not looking aside at Willow. It was her estimation that the redhead would be better able to respond if she felt that she wasn't being too closely observed. "You may have the Summer solstice, if you so choose."

"This summer?" Willow squeaked, turning rapidly red.

Uncharacteristically, Wednesday hesitated. She wanted to say no, to tell Willow that it would be the following summer. Her pride, she knew, wanted to claim that first time with Xander for herself. It was slightly foolish, it wasn't some issue of young love, it was a ritual and it didn't matter who went first.

She didn't say no, however, and instead merely shrugged.

"If you wish," She said, then offered, "Or you may take next summer."

Wednesday ceased breathing, listening for Willow's reaction, she'd done it. Offered up her pride as a sacrifice to the existing friendship that bound Willow and Xander. Now it was just a question of whether Willow would take what was offered, or let her fears rule her. Wednesday suspected strongly which would happen, but it was outside her control now.

Willow sighed, clearly relieved.

"I… I'll do it," She replied, blushing furiously, "Next summer."

Wednesday smiled, a hint of victory and a hint of sadness hiding deep in her impassive features. She had her choice, but the fear Willow was giving into had tainted her own victory with the taste of ash. Willow was a friend, not of the Clan, but her friend nonetheless. She should be stronger than that.

Wednesday decided then that she would be stronger than that… or she would break.

Either way, things would be interesting in the future.

"Very well," Wednesday said aloud, "We will inform Xander together."

"We?" Willow squeaked, eyes wide as they darted between Xander and Wednesday.

"Yes," Wednesday said firmly, "We."

Wednesday turned to Willow, dropping a hand on the redhead's shoulder, "You can do this."

Willow swallowed hard, but nodded.

Xander grabbed a towel as he made his way back to the shop. He didn't see the girls anywhere, they must have gotten tired watching his workout he supposed. He'd needed to clear his head, the new discovery had just set him spinning.

He didn't even know what the hell he was going to do with it right now. It sure as hell wasn't practical, not as far as he could tell at least. Just waving that wand around had drained the batteries they'd packed into the glove, and it had barely boosted Robert at all if Xander were correct. Batteries just couldn't pump out the power nearly fast enough to keep up with a magical draw.

Capacitors, like the ones that almost fried him, could discharge effectively instantly, but that meant a one shot burst. Possibly useful, especially in a fight, except that capacitors would be drained by lightning wards almost instantly. Not great in a magical area where such wards were commonplace.

This just brings me back to the original problem, Xander realized. For a moment it had seemed like he'd solved the question of how to 'store' magic for a spell, but in the end it seemed like he was still right back where he'd started. Storage was an issue, one that had some limited solutions… runic arrays could store minor amounts of power, though they mostly drew it from the ether, and enchantments certainly held a charge for extended times.

None of those solved his problem, however, so Xander resolved to keep at it. What he needed was some way to carry a heavy duty power source on him, something that could charge capacitors in between uses. That was tricky, obviously, given that such things were generally rather bulky but with special manipulation he might be able to figure something out.

Xander couldn't help but grin a little, mostly at the thought of a massive diesel generator stashed in a portable hole, with wire leads linked to his wand. Funny, but impractical. He could do better than a diesel monster too, it was just a matter of designing it.

He stepped over the burnt ridge of the wall that led into his shop, idly hoping that the guys could get the materials to do repairs in the morning. It certainly wasn't the first time an experiment blew up on them, that was one good reason to buy the junkyard, but this was probably the largest to date… and, considering some of their potions mishaps, that really was saying something.

Xander checked his bike, glad that it hadn't been struck by the blast, and made sure that everything else was reasonably secured before he made his way down below.

He froze in place as he walked into his room, Willow and Wednesday were sitting there on the edge of his bed… looking at him.

Well, Wednesday was looking at him. Willow was staring at the floor and looked redder than her hair.

"Oh there's no way this is good," He mumbled, shaking his head, "Do I need a calming draught, Wens?"

"You may need more than that if you keep calling me Wens," The dark girl muttered, but Xander paid her little mind.

He knew her tells better than that, she wasn't particularly annoyed. That wasn't the same as saying she wasn't annoyed, of course, she was Wednesday after all, but he was safe from any serious pain for the moment.

Depending on what this is all about, that is.

"I assume this has to do with why you've been shooting odd looks my way the last month or so?" Xander asked dryly.

"You noticed?" Wednesday asked, mildly surprised.

Xander, she knew, was more observant than he seemed to be but given that he seemed to be completely oblivious that wasn't really much of an improvement.

"Yeah, and I also noticed the looks I got from Fleur and Padma, so now that you've dragged Wills into it I guess it's time to spill?" Xander rolled his eyes.

Wednesday, he knew, thought she was far sneakier than she actually was. She probably was sneaky, for an Addams, he supposed. However, even Draco had more subtle moments than she did. Well, intentionally subtle moments at least. Wednesday was an inherently subtle girl, her personality was very slight variations of grey that started at charcoal and slowly descended to pitch black. When she decided to act, however, she had all the subtlety of a wrecking ball.

"Padma and Fleur both couldn't look me in the eyes for a while after talking to you," He told her, "And you've been eyeing me up like you want to play a game, which usually doesn't mean good things for the other player as I recall?"

Wednesday smiled, genuinely pleased, "Very nice, Alexander. I underestimated you."

"You do tend to do that," Xander told her dryly, "Now stop stalling."

"I do, don't I?" Wednesday frowned then, "Well, I'll save that for later. For now, you're right, no more stalling. Read this."

Xander quirked an eyebrow as she handed him a large book, "Isn't this one of Padma's?"

"It is."

"Huh," Xander mumbled, reading the description of the ritual, skimming it quickly with the speed of long practice.

He froze partway through, then went back and read slowly and carefully. Fifteen minutes passed before he said anything, then he closed the book with a snap and looked Wednesday in the eyes.

"Not a chance."

Wednesday merely raised her eyebrow, "Oh?"

"This is a slave ritual, what are you thinking?"

She smiled openly at him, probably the most open he'd ever seen her, "That I trust you."

"You're insane," Xander mumbled, shaking his head, "of course you are, you're an Addams."

Wednesday stiffened, "Be careful of your mouth, Alexander…"

Xander rolled his eyes, "Your family are some of the greatest people I know, but they're all nuts. Good nuts, fun nuts, but nuts just the same. There's a fine line between greatness and insanity, and the Addamses are probably the ones who drew it there in the first place."

Wednesday fell silent at that, noting that while she and her family had been called insane many times in the past, it had rarely been as complimentary as what Xander had just delivered. In fact, she suspected that her father would gleefully arm himself with those very words once she told him about them.

"This… what, did you think I would focus on the ritual itself and miss the whole slave part?" Xander asked, shaking his head.

"Yes, actually," Wednesday admitted freely, "You are a boy."

"Wens, if I did this with you, your family would hunt me down and make me wish they'd merely skinned me alive," Xander shook his head, "but more than that, you're my friend. I'm not doing that to you…"

He glanced over to where Willow was listening avidly, now more interested than embarrassed.

"To any of you."

"Then do not," Wednesday shrugged, "To your first point, my family will not involve themselves. This is my decision, they will honor that no matter how it ends. To your second… the outcome is purely up to you."

Xander sighed, "Wens… why?"

"Because I wish it."

While Xander could read Wednesday better than most, he knew well enough that there were depths to her that no one, not even he, could plumb easily. Perhaps her mother, Morticia was amazing, but no one else.

Xander turned to Willow, shaking his head, "Tell me you're not really thinking about this?"

He was surprised when she jutted her chin out, firmly setting her face. It wasn't quite her resolve face, thankfully, but despite the deep red blush he knew before she spoke that she was serious.

"I agreed to do it," She told him firmly, and he could almost hear her saying so there and see her sticking her tongue out at him.

Xander glared openly at Wednesday now, "You've no right dragging her into your insane plans."

"She is your oldest friend," Wednesday shrugged, "She had the right of refusal."

"And I don't?" Xander asked sardonically.

He knew enough about magic and rituals to know that this was no childhood lark to undertake, Wednesday was playing with deadly serious magics this time. He was firmly trying to forget what he… they would get to… have to do, and focusing on the risks.

"Of course you can refuse," Wednesday shrugged.

"Then I refuse."

"But why would you?" She continued, as if he hadn't spoken. "There is no risk to you, and no one can be forced into this. The ritual only works with voluntary participants… very voluntary, I might add."

Xander didn't need the sparkle in her eye and voice, he groaned and turned away. Wednesday had put just a hint of throaty depth to her words at the end, and he shivered.

"Damn it, Wens… This is a bad idea."

"That's why it's perfect."