Chapter 11: Is That a Dragon?

Okay, so I couldn't find the classification of Fluffy, so for this fic he's going to be an XXX class creature.

Oh, I want to say, I have been remiss in not telling all of you who enjoyed my story, Thanks, from the bottom of my heart. Your reviews help me to keep going and bring a bit of joy to my day. So, thanks again.

DaughterOfIris23 and Dashti-the-dramione-shipper are the betas for this chapter.

HP-BTVS-HP-BTVS

Xander finally caught up with the kids at Platform Nine and Three-Quarters, where they had been dropped off earlier, with orders to stay on the magical side. He made sure they were in a compartment with Neville and that they had money for the food cart. He then patrolled the carriages. He had been gone only a few minutes when Malfoy, with his thugs, decided to try and bully Harry and his friends.

"Potter. I thought you were going to spend time at the castle? It's not like you have a family to go home to. Or did your little Mudblood take pity on you and take you home to Mummy?" he sneered around the room, glaring at those he thought beneath him.

"Malfoy. I see your mouth moving, but all I feel is hot air. Are you saying something important?" Harry asked, not the least bit concerned with this bigot's words. Xander had told him that he needed to stand up to bullies or they would run all over him. His bodyguard had regaled him with tales of his own school years. He, too, was picked on quite a bit, but never gave into the peer pressure of others. Well, maybe his friends, but he learned from it and imparted the wisdom to Harry.

"Watch it, Potter, or you'll come to the same end as your parents," Malfoy repeated his words from their second meeting.

"Wow, I've never heard that before. I wonder, do you ever have an original thought in your head, or do you just repeat everything your father says? Because, you said the same thing to me only a few months ago. If all you can do is recycle the same empty threats, then I have no need to talk to you any further." And with that, he waved his hands, and Malfoy and his goons disappeared.

"Where did you send them?" Neville asked with a wide grin.

"The loo," Harry laughed, and the others soon joined in.

"Isn't it a little tight in there?" Hermione asked as she giggled at the thought of the three boys crammed into the small space.

"Yeah, but I'm sure they won't stay there for long," the dark-haired boy predicted.

And he was correct. Xander found the boys when he walked by the bathroom and heard a lot of moaning and complaining. He opened the door and saw the three boys shoved together in what must have been very painful positions.

"Draco, Vincent, Greg, what are you doing in there?" he asked as he widened the doorway so they could get out. He then looked at the bathroom, and with a touch of his finger to the outer wall, he extended it and added a few more toilets so that more than one person could use it. Then he remembered he was on a train with mixed sexes, so he added a chastity charm. If there was a girl in the room, then a sign on the door would show such, and only other girls could enter. Same with the boys. Never could both sexes be in at the same time.

"Potter put us there," the blond boy snarled as he straightened his robe.

"Really? How did he do that?" Xander asked, knowing it was probably true.

"With magic," Draco replied, as if Xander were a simpleton.

"That's not what I meant, and you know it," the wolf-eyed man snapped. "As far as I know, Harry is a first year with only a few months of magical training. You'll need to come up with a better lie then that."

"He did!" Malfoy insisted.

"I'm going to have to give you boys detention for this badly played prank, and for lying," Xander admonished, hiding a smirk.

"When my father hears about this, you'll be sorry, muggle trash," Draco snapped, his anger getting the best of him.

"That's another week added. Do you want more?"

Malfoy just snarled and stomped off, his goons following.

"Mr. Harris, can I go in now?" a voice from behind Xander asked, making him turn around and see a young boy doing the potty dance.

"Huh? Oh, yeah, sure, sorry," Xander stuttered, and moved out of the way. After hearing the boy's relieved moan, he added a silence spell on the door. Only if someone was in trouble would anyone hear what was happening in that room. He went about doing the same to the other bathrooms on the train, and then went to find Harry. "So, Harry, what made you put Malfoy and his goons in the bathroom?" Xander asked tiredly as he settled next to the kids.

"With all the shi-"

"Language, Harry," Hermione gasped.

"-coming from his mouth, I figured that he needed the loo," Harry explained simply.

"Well that explains it, but do me a favor, please, and try not to put me in another position that I need to lie my way out of," Xander requested quite reasonably.

"Sorry," Harry said sheepishly, running his hand through his hair. "I'll try, but that bast-I mean, prat-makes me so mad sometimes."

"He did call Hermione a mudblood," Neville inputted.

"A what now?" Xander asked. He could make out what it meant in context, but he wanted verification.

"It means dirty blood. They call muggleborns that," Neville offered, shooting an apologetic look to his female friend.

"Well, it's a stupid word. Blood can't be dirty. There's a built-in cleaning system, called antibodies. So, I'm sure mud wouldn't last," the wolf-eyed man stated.

"I'm sure that's not how it works, but thanks for the effort," Hermione said, smiling at the man she still saw as a hero.

"You're welcome. I've seen many types of blood, but I've never seen any made of mud, so rest easy. Those morons don't know what they're talking about," Xander said, leaning back and closing his eyes. It had been a long, emotion-filled morning. Holding one's anger in is tiring. He was going to take a short nap. Surely, the train would be all right while he slept.

The rest of the train ride was uneventful. Xander had a nice nap and woke when it was time to disembark. The kids didn't follow any orderly pattern that he could see, and he made a mental note to change that as well. His head was getting fuzzy with all the things he felt needed to be changed. Perhaps he needed to keep a diary, or something.

The Return Feast went off without a hitch, and Dumbledore's presence was well received. There was one thing that they could all agree upon, and that was that the old man was well loved. Classes resumed and life at Hogwarts moved on.

Every month, Xander and Harry went to the meeting with the social worker from the Department of Health and Social Care. So far, so good. The woman they met with was nice, and she seemed to think that Xander hung the moon. Anyone who rescued and took on an abused child was a hero in her book. She had no issues with them, and said that if they continued as they were, then the adoption would go through without a problem. At first, Dumbledore tried to protest the meetings, but he was soon dissuaded from interfering. In other words, Joyce threatened to boot him again. Because he felt he was needed to mold the children of tomorrow, he desisted.

For the kids, the school year was going quite nicely. Harry and Hermione were doing well in classes. Heck, even Neville was pulling ahead now that his confidence was skyrocketing. Xander would take him aside once a week to work with him. He even snuck the boy to Diagon Alley and got him a new wand, just so he could have one all his own to use. Like Harry, his wandless spells were a bit overpowered. He needed a good focus to mute them down.

They were worried that he'd burn his father's wand out since it didn't match. Xander barely escaped, as Ollivander kept putting wands in his hand. He grabbed Neville and they ran as soon as he could.

The main thing the three children worked on was control. It would be easy to take what Xander had taught them and use it in a classroom setting, but they were all firmly warned not to do that. Threats of scrubbing loos with toothbrushes and no magic ensured their good behavior.

The group didn't know how they did it, but somehow it was kept a secret that the three first-years were learning the new magic from the ex-demon hunter. At least, that's what they thought, since they weren't being hounded to teach anyone anything. Rumor had it, the Quidditch match flying was a fluke. No one wanted to believe a child of eleven could do more powerful magic than they could themselves.

Xander kept his own abilities on the downlow, too. He didn't want to have to deal with the likes of Dumbledore. They did practice a lot in the 'house' with McGonagall and Tonks, and the kids were growing by leaps and bounds, both magically and mentally. Harry was not as skittish, Neville was far braver, and Hermione was not as prone to answer all questions asked.

Poppy made sure to visit daily, just in case anyone else was blinded or whatnot. There was one funny incident where Harry accidentally changed Xander's voice to that of a high-pitched helium tone. The poor man spent the entire day sounding like Mickey Mouse. Needless to say, he avoided encountering anyone that day. How would it look if the Head of Security sounded like a demented preteen girl?

The new classes were a hit, and essays were much easier to read for the teachers and easier to write for the students. Not that many were assigned. The professors had taken what Xander had said to heart, and only assigned essays over the weekend, or during the week for those who needed a better grasp on the theory. This had the strange side-effect of many more clubs popping up. They were for the oddest things, like magical bugs in England, dresses through the ages, sightings of the Quibbler, and Ron started one for fans of the Chudley Cannons. He had five members. The teachers were just glad that the students had found something 'constructive' to do.

Basic understanding of the written word was emphasized. The adults wanted to make sure that the students understood what their textbooks were trying to tell them. They did discover a few students with learning disabilities, and Xander was 'volunteered' to go get literature from the non-magical world on how to deal with it. The children and teens that were affected were much happier.

The goblins, on the other hand, warned Xander that they did not want to stay on teaching after this year was over. Dumbledore had found them all lacking, for some reason or another, except the Accounting teacher. No one could refute the goblin's knowledge of math. That was okay, because Xander had a plan.

Even the well-off purebloods were content with the classes. They were learning a lot on balancing their fortunes, handling the money they would inherit, and corresponding with businesses. For that, they put up with the goblins teaching them.

During all this, Dumbledore mostly attended to his duties, barring his shots at keeping Harry in the castle, and he had no problem taking the credit for what was happening. He had sent letters to the student's homes, outlining the classes and how they would help their heirs in the future. He didn't outright claim the glory, it was more like he omitted the truth on who reinstated the classes. Xander, Joyce, and Minerva didn't care, as long as the students were learning.

Hpbtvshpbtvs

It was about the middle of the school year that Harry heard something in his spying. Since he still had his stash of House robes, he had morphed into a third year Ravenclaw who was on the short side and in the library at that time and was sitting in their common room. He noted a large group in the corner, and upon further inspection, he found out that those kids were going to confront him. They wanted to know what he had done with all the letters and gifts they had sent over the years. From what he heard, they were very upset that he never wrote them back, and he, Harry, seemed to be so stuck up that he didn't even acknowledge them in the hall. There was even talk about bringing the other Houses into the deal. He left, morphed back, and hurried to his 'house', shouting for Xander.

"What's up, kiddo?" the man asked as he met him at the door.

"I was… using my Meta…morphmagus… ability to spy on… a group of Ravenclaws... just… like you and Dora taught me. And I heard… they were getting together with… a bunch of others… to confront me," the breathless boy said as he bent over, hands on knees, to catch said breath. He really needed to start working in Xander's gym. He was told he could start during the summer, since Xander was setting one up in the house that he had purchased.

"Really? About what?" Xander asked, leading his charge into the living room, where Joyce and Minerva were sitting. He settled him on the couch and conjured him a glass of water.

Harry took a long drink, set the glass on the table, and looked mournfully at the adults. "They want to know what happened to all the letters and stuff they sent me. They were pretty upset that I never got back to them. But, Xander, I never received any post. Not until my Hogwarts letter. I don't know what to tell them," he said, starting to panic.

"Minnie, do you know what he's talking about?" Xander inquired, turning to the Deputy Headmistress.

"I have a general idea, but no, I don't know what happened to all the post," she answered, her face scrunched like she was thinking hard.

"I think I know," Joyce offered, her face taking on a bitter twist. "Dumbledore would hide a lot of mail in a vacant room in the castle. Once the pile was big enough, he would go note down the addresses and then burn it. I had, and still have, the house elves replacing it with blank parchment and forged envelopes, the gifts with empty boxes. It's in a different part of the castle. Since you received all your Christmas gifts, I had forgotten all about it. But, if you want, I'll have it brought to you. Feasibly, bits at a time. That way you can go through it and answer accordingly. Of course, I want either Xander or Professor McGonagall there when you do. I don't want any nasty surprises to hurt you."

"That was pretty clever of you, Joyce," Xander said with a winning smile to take the bite out of his words.

"Hush, you. I know what I'm about. Anyway, Harry, we can start tonight. I warn you, it's going to take months to go through it all. Maybe you can have Hermione and Neville help you. Even Ron, if you want. Xander and I will go and tell the students what happened, and Minerva can stay here," Joyce said fondly.

The two adults nodded in agreement at the plan, and that's exactly what they did. McGonagall helped the children sort the mail, and she even helped write up some form letters to send to the correspondents explaining what had happened, why it had taken so long to respond, and to ask not to send anything in the future.

She also said it might be a good idea to put an article in the Daily Prophet. They drafted that and settled in for a long night of post-sorting.

All of the Weasleys in the castle were helping, though they were being paid. Percy had protested, but Xander and Harry wouldn't let them help without some form of compensation. Ron was just glad he would have a bit of dosh to spend this summer. The twins were happy to add to their savings. Neville said that if they tried to pay him, he'd give them a what for. Xander was so proud.

After dinner, Xander got up to stand in front of the students just before afters. "So," he said loudly, getting everyone's attention, "I heard a rumor today that many of you want to confront Harry. I can tell ya right now, that would be a very bad idea. You, Drake, what is going on in your House? That's where the rumor started from," he stated, pointing to a seventh-year Ravenclaw prefect.

The boy in question stood reluctantly and said, "I'm not completely sure, but I did hear the same rumor as you. From what I gathered, some of my housemates think Harry has been skivving his 'duties,' as it were. He never replied to any post sent to him, and they feel that he's rebuffing them. As an idol and a public figure, they feel they have the right to know all about him," Drake said, glaring at the main conspirator.

Xander noted the glare and pointed to the boy. "What gives you the right to pry into Harry's life?" he inquired with a glare all his own.

"We wrote to him. Sent him letters and gifts. He ignored us," was the mulish reply.

"Did you ever think there may be a reason for that?" was Xander's rebuttal.

"What reason could there be? Everyone knows he's a spoiled rich kid," the still-unnamed boy said defensively.

"Where did you get that from?" Xander was shocked, everything he knew about Harry never suggested that others thought he was anything but an abused child.

"The books," the boy said condescendingly, as if it were obvious.

"The what now? I don't know of any books that say that," the wolf-eyed man said with a great deal of confusion.

"Xander, he's talking about the children's adventure books," Joyce added, looking down her nose at the fifth-year Ravenclaw. "There are fantasy novels about the life Harry was supposed to lead, but I never thought anyone would take them seriously. You need to look into that," she added.

"Oh, I'll get right on it. You can believe that," he vowed, then turned back to the student body. "Okay, first off, those stories aren't true. And I will be finding out who wrote them, and Harry will be getting his due. Because I know for a fact that he was not spoiled. I won't tell you his story, but you can take my word for it that the people who raised him will be jailed for their treatment of him," Xander replied, shaking his head at the misinformation spread to the whole of the public. "Second off, he never - and I do mean never - received any mail while he was growing up. The only mail he ever received was his acceptance letter. You can blame that on Headmaster Dumbledore, but we're going to give him a chance to explain his actions." With that, the entire hall turned to face the Headmaster.

"As Mr. Harris said, Harry's caregivers were not kind. I had not realized how much so until recently. Nevertheless, can you imagine how they would have reacted to a large parliament of owls converging upon their home on a daily basis? They are muggles, so it would have been close to breaking the Statute of Secrecy. I have been screening his post and keeping record of it. When he is older, I will give him that record so that he may reply thusly," the old man stated calmly. In his eyes, he did no wrong. And judging from the reaction of many of the students, they felt the same.

"I will see to it personally that Harry replies to everyone he can. I want you to know that what you were planning would have seen many of you in detention, or worse. Bullying is not allowed in this school while I am the Head of Security. You'd better remember that," Xander stated firmly and then took his seat.

"Thank you for that, Mr. Harris. I'm glad that this was nipped in the bud. Now, students, enjoy your dessert," Dumbledore said, waving his hands in a grandiose manner, making the sugary confections appear.

And with that, the school went on. Post was answered, classes were tended, homework was done, clubs were attended, and playing commenced. Harry was getting a much better reception from his fellow students now that he had answered all the mail. They were now treating him like any other student. The public would more than likely react the same since they had put the article in the paper.

Harry was just glad that the disappointed look seemed to vanish from most of his peers' eyes. He had always felt that he just didn't measure up. Now that he knew why, he had drafted another article stating that the storybooks were just that: stories. Xander was working on remuneration. With the goblins on his side, he was very hopeful.

It was toward the end of the year when Harry and Hermione found out that Hagrid had obtained a dragon's egg. They, of course, went straight to Xander.

"Oh, for the love of Twinkies. Come on," the beleaguered man said as he stomped out of the room.

"Are you going to get him in trouble?" Harry fretted when he saw they were headed to the Headmaster's office. He still didn't like Dumbledore much, but unless he screwed up, he was still in charge.

"Nay, I can take care of it. But I'll need Dumbledore's permission to do what I want, and I hate asking permission," Xander complained as they reached their destination. He just waved the gargoyles away and they quickly stepped aside. When the group got to the office, the perturbed looking professor sat behind his desk. "Dumbledore, Hagrid has done something stupid. I need your permission to create a pen to raise a dragon."

"Why ever do you need my permission? I thought you were the owner of the school," Albus asked, looking over his half-moon glasses.

"Yeah, but if you sign off on it as Chief Warlock, then I won't have to deal with the bureaucrats," was the tired answer. The year had been going so well these last few months. Now, he didn't know how having a dragon on the premises would affect everything.

"If Hagrid has acquired a dragon, as your question might suggest, then should we not take it to a reservation?" Albus asked, his voice calm, though there was a twinkle in his eyes.

"I was thinking of training it, or having the goblins train it, for an extra security measure," Xander said, perking up a bit, as if the thought just came to him. It would be a great boon to have the large reptile guard the castle if they could train it up right. "Isn't the motto of this school, 'Don't Tickle a Sleeping Dragon'? I mean, I'm just making it true."

"Ah, I see. Very well, I will sign off on it, as you say," the old man stated, pulling the required contract out of his desk. It was much the same one that he had used to get Fluffy on the grounds. Hagrid being gamekeeper had facilitated a great need to have such documents on hand.

"I appreciate that," Xander said truthfully. He could have just hidden the creature in the forest, but someone, sometime, would have found it and probably killed it. This way they had the paperwork to keep it and train it. He conjured a piece of paper and wrote a quick note to one of the goblins still on staff. It asked for a dragon trainer to come to the castle. They would work with Kettleburn to keep the dragon contained. He would stipulate that the dragon was not to be tortured, but hopefully, since it would be a newborn, they could work with it more easily. He folded the paper into an airplane and sent it out the window. It would go where he needed it to.

With all the paperwork done and signed, the two adults and two kids went to see Hagrid.

"So, Hagrid, you know it's illegal to raise dragons without the proper parchments, right?" Xander asked as he moved into the sweltering hut.

"My dear man, wherever did you get that egg?" Dumbledore asked as he applied a cooling charm to himself and the children. He leaned toward the fire to look at the egg in question. It looked to be a Norwegian Ridgeback. One of the more dangerous of the creatures.

Xander, upon seeing the cooling charm, waved his hand and created a personal air conditioner. Then he set up everyone in the hut with one. Hagrid sighed with relief.

"Dumbledore, sir, I, er, won it in a poker game, at 'og's 'ead," Hagrid answered his boss's question first.

"Hagrid, as King of the Goblins, I can legally take that egg and have it raised here at Hogwarts. That way you can still see it grow up. But, if you're caught with it, it's jail time for you," Xander tried again, handing the paperwork over to the giant.

"You'll let me name it?" the half-giant asked. He read over the contract and nodded. It was a good deal. Xander would own the dragon, but he would have a say in how it was raised.

"Sure, why not. It's not like I'm any good at naming things." He cringed at some of the names he and Buffy had come up with for some of the demons they had fought. In his defense, some of those names were unpronounceable to the human tongue. Unless you were Giles or Wesley. Or Spike and Angel. Okay, so he and Buffy were lazy.

"We can help too," Harry offered, glad that his friend wouldn't be in trouble.

"Well, alrigh' den. We 'ave a deal," Hagrid said, signing the contract and taking Xander's hand, almost dislocating the man's shoulder by shaking it so hard.

A large stone pen was erected in the back of the keep, toward the Forbidden Forest. It sat just within the borders and was sunk three and a half meters in the ground. It was surrounded by large stone walls about six meters high except for the stone gate, which worked on an outside pulley system. It was fifteen meters in circumference. There was a free-standing, thick cave molded out of lava rock, so the dragon would have a place to nest.

The Care of Magical Creatures class took on a whole different meaning when Norberta was hatched. Hagrid tried to name the female dragon Norbert, but the goblins corrected him on the creature's sex. Now the school had XXXXX and XXX magical creatures, the latter being Fluffy, and the students were of two minds about it. Some, like the Weasley twins, were ecstatic. Others, like Percy, were nervous. Sure, the baby dragon was harmless now, but it would grow.

Fluffy decided that Norberta needed a father figure and could be seen in the pen most days, tussling and playing with the baby dragon. On many occasions the poor dog needed his fur regrown due to the haphazard flames of his adopted daughter. However, because of their playing, Norberta was learning when not to spout her flames.

Life went on, and Norberta was widely accepted over time.

It was the last week of the year, and the end of the year tests had just finished. Xander was once again called away to help find out what had been killing the unicorns all year. They had looked before but had found nothing. He and Hagrid were in the forest looking for clues when they came across a hurt mare.

"She's 'urt real bad," Hagrid said with tears in his eyes as he kneeled next to the bleeding unicorn.

"Can you help her?" Xander asked, petting Fang with one hand and Fluffy with the other to keep them away from the hurt animal. The two dogs had taken a liking to Xander since he had completed his Animagus form. They knew an alpha when they smelled one, and the Conri was a great alpha. Sometimes, when he was bored, he and the dogs would run around the forest.

"Step away from the unicorn," a voice to their right said.

"Why? Hagrid can stop the bleeding," the wolf-eyed man asked, confused as to why the… being would not want them to save the mare. Surely, she was important to the herd.

"She is beyond saving," the centaur stated morosely as it stepped out of the tree line, bow drawn and aimed at Xander.

"No!" Hagrid yelled, startling the injured animal. He petted her neck to calm her, whispering softly in her ear. "I ken save her," he insisted softly, pulling ointments and bandages from his pockets. He worked feverishly, applying everything he thought would help.

Xander wanted to give him a hand, but he knew from experience that he would just agitate the poor thing. So he silently sent some soothing magic to hold the unicorn to this side of the living while the gentle giant continued to work on her. It took a half an hour of sending magic and applying balms and plasters, but the combination worked, and soon the unicorn was on its feet. It wasn't healed completely, but it wasn't knocking on Death's door either. The entire time they were working, the centaurs surrounded them with their bows ready.

"Tha's the bes' I ken do," Hagrid stated tiredly.

"We will bring her to our healer. You have done well, Hagrid. Who might you be, stranger?" the largest centaur inquired, motioning another centaur forward to take the unicorn to the village.

"Me? I'm just Xander," the wolf-eyed man said, a bit drained himself. He had never sent magic like that before, and it was exhausting to do. He'd have to figure out a better way to help if there was a next time.

"A human," spat a dark-haired centaur.

"Yeah, one that just helped heal a unicorn," Xander said angrily. He knew that some centaurs hated humans, which was why he generally stayed away from them. When he and the dogs went running, they mostly chased the large spiders. Well, Fluffy ate them, but they didn't let Hagrid know. Still, the colony was moving further and further away from the school as the nest got smaller and smaller. "Do you know who did this?" he asked, changing the subject.

"No. We've been hunting them since the first unicorn died, however, they are very elusive," the leader said with a great deal of scorn.

"Do you mind if me and the dogs try and pick up the scent?" Xander asked, not wanting to get fired on if he changed.

"How would a human pick up a trail that we could not?" the dark-haired one asked with disdain.

"I can turn into a canine," was the elusive answer. Sure, wolves were canines. Big honking canines, but canines, nevertheless.

"I am the leader of this herd, Magorian. I give you my permission to hunt these woods for the cursed being that killed the unicorns," the largest centaur stated, wanting to see just what type of dog this man was.

"Yeah, thanks," Xander said, and he turned into his Conri form and started sniffing around. He picked up the scent of unicorn blood and noted it was headed straight to the castle. "Hagrid," he said, still in his wolf form, and startling the centaurs, "I'm headed back to the castle. The big bad is there. Bring Fluffy and Fang as fast as you can." With that, he disappeared.

"I be'er git goin'. Xander isn' one to be kep' waitin'," Hagrid said to the centaurs and then started running. For a big man, he moved quickly. The dogs ran by his side, and soon the castle came into view. He just hoped he wasn't too late.