A/N What the eff is wrong with It keeps bodging up my bold and italics and has scruched all the words together, if it looks crappy blame the website. My apologies in advanced.

If we are marked to die, we are enough to do our country loss; and if to live, the fewer men, the greater share of honor

William Shakespeare

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Renegade Master

Don't say Wis…

Chapter 1

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The majority of the New Watchers Council didn't know it, only the core Scoobies, those who had been there since the beginning, knew hissecret. Most ofthose of who didn't know about his secret still felt a sense of familiarity withAlexander LaVelle Harris, or Xander as he was more commonly known. The majority who felt this way didn't question it, merely accepted it, which was fine with him. Besides, temporal mechanicsgave him a headache and he didn't want to sit in on another session with both Willow and Fred explaining it.

The first timeline, as he'd come to call it, had been about discovering who he was; it was about sitting on the back bench and watching as the football team took all the glory and made all the shots, always pushing him out of the way for fear he might be hurt.

However, in the end, it had him that had been hurt in the first place, both emotionally and physically.

The second timeline had been about acquiring power, using it and distributing it appropriately. With his knowledge of future events, he had tried to alter the timeline to turnout better for all involved; for the most part, hehad achieved this, his only failure being the Watchers Council.

In their arrogance, Travers and his followers who did not have the Slayer's best interests at heart, blatantly ignored Xander's warnings and paid the price, heavily. Those few who had listened had come through and helped in the final battle with the First's army this time the losses hadnot been nearly as numerous.

When the war was over, they regrouped and moved to LosAngelestemporarily to help Angel in his fight with Wolfram and Hart.

The vampire with a soul, well, the other vampire with a soul had been surprised Giles and the Scoobies had been quite hostile towards Angel at first, but Xander, through calm judgement and explanation,had made them see reason; "better the devil you know," after all.

Once again, they had gathered information and battled those in charge; Fred had survived this time around because Illyria already existed andconsequentlyher Sarcophagus was not waiting in customs.

They had fought and won another battle. All of them, a little bit tired in their own way, had moved to England. There, they set up the New Watchers Council; this time with the intention of actually helping and training the Slayers, which was more than the Watcher's Council had done in the past.

However, it was more than that now, it was about helping them, teaching them to be more than themselves, to stop that 'world evolves around them' crap that Buffy had spouted so often. It was about giving them a base of operations, a strong leadership and friends, to remind them that not everything was about dying.

Xander decided to wear something casual jogging pants and a t-shirt would do nicely. He stretched and warmed up his body. While he didn't really need to go for a jog, he liked to keep it a habit. It was a good way to stay awake and clear his mind, to think. There were circumstances that made thinking more of an adventure for Xander than for most people.

He was stuck with several different personalities in his head. He had his own, the personality he grew up with, plus a version of his mind from another reality. It had already been years older than him when it had merged with him as a teenager, and it had held a lot of knowledge and skills that Xander-the-boy had never known. That had been wiggy in itself, but then they were joined by the spirit of the Hyena. It was not quite a possession as such, more of a joining. Besides all these, he had the memories and knowledge of what his other self called 'soldier boy' that had come as part of the package with his older memories. Last but not least, he had the memories, knowledge, and abilities of the Shadow, otherwise known as Lamont Cranston.

He'd had years to get used to the crowd in his head, but it was still odd. His dreams were sometimes happy, sometimes dark and terrible, and sometimes just weird. Hehaddreamt of running through the plains of Africa, of being the hunter and pack leader, of calling his pack to join him on a feast of meat. There were other dreams, ones where he ran through a dark deserted corridor with an unknown terror beating down upon him, only to wake with the certain knowledge that the terror was himself.

The boarders in his brain kept him on his toes, but more than that, they kept him honest and true. True to his friends, his cause, and himself. They were the next best thing to a conscience.

The Watchers Council had been called for some reason that he hadn't been made aware of. They were all there, old and new, and for some reason that again, he was not aware of, Andrew and Jon were standing at the front. Faith, who had come so farsince her early Slayer yearswasalso present; she was nowfully integrated into the workings of the team and the Council, no longer an outsider on a bloodthirsty rampage of death and destruction; this time around they had steered her away from the influence of the Dark Side and the Mayor.

MayorWilkins had been less than pleased about that, but hey, what can you do…

Wesley was sitting with Fred;the wet-behind-the-ears Watcher had also come far. The Watcher had undergone quite a transformation over the years. He was a different person since joining Angel, being tricked into betraying him, later rejoining Angel and in extension, the Watchers Council. Fred had followed him, like a little lovesick puppy, if lovesick puppies were bouncy brilliant, and Texan. Xander had smiled and welcomed them. He had to admit, the new Wesley was a lot easier to talk to. He'd even struggled past his reserve to ask Xander for advice on how to keep Fred satisfied.

Fred and Wesley were sitting withAngel, Spike, Gunn and the green-skinned Lorne. The Angel Investigations team had now become a part of the Watchers Council, and even Illyria had followed suit, her 'love', if you could call it that, for where Wesley went it demanded that she follow.

Xander slipped in unnoticed; even with the large crowd of people. It was a skill he had learnt, and it had come in useful on more than oneoccasion. He spotted Ethan Rayne chatting to Giles; the new Watcher saw Xander and winked. Ethan was similar to Giles in many ways as they had been friends, or rather, old acquaintances, for many years. However, there was one major difference between the two. Ethan point-blank refused to wear tweed.

Xander smirked and leaned towardsHarmony's ear. The blonde, like the rest of the large group of people had come far too. In this timeline, she had not become a vampire, but was saved by Xander's… lust. Not that she minded; like Fred who followed Wesley, Harmony had followed Xander and had gone where pointed.

"What's going on?" Xander piped up.

"We're discussing the seventh book that's just come out."

"Oh," Xander sighed.

Xander blinked and a smile of amusement crossed his lips. There had been quite a few fans of the series in the Council, even some of the older and more experienced Watchers (who had survived the destruction of the old council), admitted a liking of Ms. Rowling's fantasy books.

"And this called for the entire council?" Xander said, shocked.

"No," Harmony smiled, "Andrew put up a notice about it three days ago, it's been on the board and it spread pretty quickly."

"This," Xander drew his attention to Jon, the minute hero among the group, the one who had surprised them all, "is the situation. Xander Harris becoming Harry Potter."

"Not just Xander becoming him," Andrew waved a hand in Xanders direction, people looked at him and blinked in surprise, but those who knew him best, like Giles, smiled. "Harry's body, but Xander's mind and abilities."

"Why?" Someone from the crowd asked. It was a very small look, but Xander spotted the eyes of Giles and Andrew meeting for the briefest of moments.

"Because these are the perimeters that would like to stick to; besides, I just simply can't imagine Xander's face on the boy who lived," Andrew said with the intensity he always brought to discussions of fictional characters, as he looked Xander's way. There was a chuckle from the large crowd.

"We've put together a small list of 'what if's'," Jon said smirking. Andrew pulled out a pointer and extended it; at which Faith could be seen rolling her eyes.

"Okay, that sounds interesting," Xander agreed starting to enjoy this a little. "Let's see, I've alreadygot the gifts of the shadow …"

"Telepathy," Andrew said seriously. "So that would mean you're already a Legilimens and Occlumens – that's the wizarding form of telepathy - because you've been using yours for so long, and you're so good at it."

"Cool, that means I've got an advantage over them. Then I've got the Hyena spirit and soldier boy."

"Yes, tactical knowledge would be helpful. If you were Harry Potter, you would no doubt be leading an army," Andrew said. He sat back and took a sip of his drink. "The hyena would provide you with strength."

"Faster healing, greater agility -" Jonathan's list was interrupted by Faith.

"Wickedly awesome flexibility," she added with a leer.

Andrew flushed a bit, but he said, "Also, it gives you heightened senses, too, so you could sniff out trouble."

Xander and the group chuckled at Andrew's 'improved' sense of humour

"Now onto the matter of where to put you; we've been thinking about this for some time," he said earnestly

Xander saw Faith roll her eyes and heard her mutter the word 'nerd'. He glanced at her reprovingly. She had been with them long enough to understand the importance of humouring the nerds.

"We were going to go with book two, but decided against it, book one you have more time to set ground work for a resistance, you can make contacts earlier, for example Gilderoy Lockhart."

Xander held up a finger, "The man's a fake!"

"True," Jon agreed, "But he has contacts and resources. Use them wisely."

Xander blinked, "Huh?"

"We know where the Horcruxes will be located," Andrew, said continuing right over him, - Horcruxes being the vessels that Voldemort used to contain pieces of his soul. "The only problem will be locating them as they don't make appearances until certain books, which will make life somewhat difficult."

"How so?" someone piped up.

"Well, Xander wouldn't be able to get the cup, for instance, until the final book, due to it being hidden by Bellatrix Lestrange." Andrew paused and sighed, "Which means you wouldn't be able to kill her until you got the Cup; however things like making friends with Draco Malfoy would be a good way to ensure he comes over to the light side."

They went through a list of peoples and places to visit, including the coming and going room where the final Horcrux was. Andrew suddenly stopped, looked at Giles, who, to Xander's surprise, nodded.

Andrew breathed in and said, "I wish it could happen, the way that Giles and I have described…"

Xander sat up, and warning bells in the back of his head suddenly started blaring. The world around him went white and Xander Harris, the twice-blessed man vanished.