Chapter 8

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Appearances and other Deceits

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A slight figure stood in a very large room; the room spread outwards from the door and was comprised of many things. On some tables, there were maps, some old and some new, and pieces of parchment. On other tables, there were books of all varieties. The figure moved forward with a stealth that betrayed his age. His green eyes scanned the room, taking in all of the detail as he walked forward. On one particular wall, the figure stopped and a big grin spread across his face; he reached forward and pulled what would have been called by witches and wizards, a Muggle weapon.

His hands ran over the weapon with practiced ease, the likes of which an eleven-year-old boy should not have had.

The boy had never been to war, had never pulled a trigger and had never been trained by soldiers. And yet, those who were around him, would in later years, describe him to be a natural born leader.

Smiling, the green-eyed youth placed the gun carefully back on the rack. He looked around the room once more before heading towards the exit.

He stepped out and the door closed behind him; he then repeated an earlier process, of walking backwards and forwards past the troll three times, again, the door formed and he opened it and entered. Upon stepping in, Xander Harris, the Boy Who Lived, wrinkled his nose.

The room had filled with potion ingredients, most of which stank to high heaven. His heightened senses did not help.

He stepped back out, and repeated the process twice more, once to see the room for Defence Against the Dark Arts, and the fourth to find the Horcrux. He walked over to the statue and picked it up, tossing it lightly in the air as he did so. When he caught it again however, something strange happened. He could feel a stirring in his soul, and the hyena growled in his mind. The spirit did not like it, not one little bit.

Xander wondered if it was because of the Darkness of the object, or because it had Voldemort's soul in it, probably a mixture of the two.

He popped it into his pocket and went back to the dormitory, slipping in unnoticed, apart from the doorway that grumbled about the time of the morning, and placed the Diadem in the trunk.

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Xander marvelled as the students in the classroom began firing off shots at each other. Ron and Hermione began duelling; naturally, the red head did not stand a chance. Hermione slammed him with a red Stunning spell.

Xander was practicing with Neville Longbottom; while for the moment the round-faced boy was nervous as hell, Xander knew and had faith that soon he would grow into a strong-willed fighter.

"Neville it's all about the wrist action," he explained, while to his side Seamus had snorted in amusement. "Look," he demonstrated. Xander tried basic spells first, the Levitation spell.

"What good's lifting something? What's that going to do?"

Xander grinned and aimed his wand at Ron; before the redhead could take in what was about to happen, Xander made the quick swish-and-flick motion, uttered the word and Ron was lifted up into the air, his wand bouncing on the ground and found himself being struck by a dozen bolts shot off by Hermione.

"Hey!"

Xander lowered his friend down gently to the ground.

"Now the trick is to find a fixed point, picture it in your mind and aim. Once you've got a hold of it with the spell, lift it up and move it about."

"It's also about pronunciation!" Hermione barked as she sent another bolt at Ron, who ducked and squealed.

"Hermione is correct, pronounce the word properly or you might get some adverse effect."

Neville nodded wisely and started the flicking movements.

"Try it slowly first, just practice the wrist action before you try it quickly…" The two practiced for nearly an hour before Neville was able to lift the vase up.

"I did it!" Neville bounced happily.

"All about patience Nev … stick with it and you'll do well," Xander grinned as he shot off a bolt at Ron's legs just as Hermione's hit him in the chest.

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Hedwig flew down through a window in the Great Hall and landed on the table, just as Xander shovelled his fourth sausage into his mouth. The owl hooted happily at him.

He chewed, swallowed, and smirked, "Morning Hedwig."

The owl hooted again and lifted her leg to show a bundle of letters. Xander untied them and gave the nocturnal creature a piece of sausage meat.

"Who're those from?" asked Ron.

"You ever heard about what happened to the cat?" replied Xander.

Ron shook his head negatively, until Hermione clarified what he meant. "Oh."

"Letters." He picked out an ornate letter that had the Wolfram and Hart logo on it and smiled. Naturally, they would have an office in every dimension, and he was pleased. He had passed on information about Angelus, his whereabouts and the Jasmine and the Beast incident that would occur in ten years. They responded eagerly, thanking him for the future knowledge without asking where he got it from, and naturally enquired as to whether or not he had any more. Xander smiled; they also promised that should he have any need of their services all he had to do was ask.

"Wolfram and Hart?" asked Hermione.

"They're a law firm," Xander explained to Hermione, with a rather smug look. "A very expensive law firm."

"Oh…"

The next letter was from Gilderoy Lockhart, expressing the need to get together and chat sometime, perhaps to do a picture shoot or maybe even an interview. Ron screwed his face up in disgust.

"Mum loves him."

Xander shrugged his shoulders and added it to the mental list…

He also received an update from Gringotts telling him about the house that the Dursleys had built; he had paid a large sum of money to have a new room built up from scratch. Harry Potter may have put up with living in crap, but Xander Harris was not about to. They promised that the wards were the best that money could buy, and that the room was fitted to have every wizard's needs. They had also stated that they fitted the room with every piece of technology he had requested.

"Sweet."

He rolled the parchment up and placed it in his bag.

Xander and Ron paid Hagrid a visit later on that afternoon; when they went into the small dimly lit cabin, the great hound leapt up and woofed at his presence. It was not a dangerous growl or bark, but an 'I'm happy to see you' kind of woof.

Xander scratched the great hound's ears, "Hey Fang…"

Hagrid chuckled; "Down, Fang…" The dog instantly obeyed and sat on his bed.

"So, how's school treating yeh?"

"Snape's being a dork as usual," he replied, receiving odd looks from both ex-wizard and wizard to be. "But otherwise, most lessons are fine."

"Another Weasley, eh?" Hagrid said with an amused look, looking down intently at the boy who blushed but held his gaze. "I spent half me life chasin' yer twin brothers away from the forest."

Xander chuckled, "Yup, sounds like them."

Xander let the conversation drift onto lessons and pupils; the last thing he needed to do was bring up Snape, as he already knew that the arrogant sod did not like him and the reasons behind it.

"How's yer brother Charlie?" Hagrid asked Ron. "I liked him a lot - great with animals."

Xander looked at the newspaper and as per ordered events, Riddle had tried to break into Gringotts. Xander had hoped that maybe he could get there and time the events together but it was too risky; how would he, an eleven year old boy explain what he was doing and why he was breaking into Gringotts? Not only would he be thrown into Azkaban, but also it would put everything he had struggled so far to put into operation at risk. He sighed and put the newspaper down.

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"It's a Remembrall!" Neville explained, holding up the glass ball filled with swirling, white smoke. "Gran knows I forget things – this tells you if there's something you've forgotten to do. Look, you hold it tight like this, and if it turns red… Oh..." His face fell, because the Remembrall had suddenly glowed scarlet.

"You've forgotten something..."

Malfoy had gone for the small ball like object but before he could grab it, Xander's hand was there. He picked it up and grinned wickedly at Malfoy, before passing it back to Neville. Xander flipped Malfoy the finger and they went back to the lesson.

Xander was able to get the hang of flying on a broom easily enough. After a few mishaps with the brooms in the beginning, he was zooming through the air with a practiced ease. He could honestly understand the attraction the younger mind had with it.

Neville made the same mistake of climbing on his broom and flying off far too quickly, and eventually he came crashing down with a nasty crack.

Naturally, the first thing Malfoy had done was start laughing and insulting Neville.

Xander sighed. "You don't remember that rule I placed, do you, Draco?"

"What rule?"

"The one about insulting my friends?"

Hermione breathed in, "Harry you can't."

"No way, I'm not letting you get close enough," said Malfoy, reaching down and grabbing the Remembrall before jumping on his broom, and pushing off quickly into the air with a big grin on his face.

"More than one way to skin a ferret…" Xander said as he pulled out his wand, and bellowed, "Accio Remembrall!"

Unfortunately, Draco had been holding onto ball a little too tight, and as the powerful spell connected with it, it shot out of his hand and knocked him off balance fifteen feet up in the air. Malfoy came crashing to the ground hard, just as the Remembrall reached Xander's outstretched hand. Many of the Gryffindors laughed at him and oo'ed at Xander's skill.

"Nice one," said Ron.

"Better than getting on my broom; Madam Hooch said no flying so I wasn't technically breaking any rules."

Hermione scowled but remained quiet…