First Steps

A/N: Disclaimer's in the first chapter.

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October 8, Hogwarts

Octavian Selwyn had been raised all his life with the concept that purebloods were superior in all respects, that creatures, halfbloods and Mudbloods were inherently inferior and had no place in Wizarding society. He had taken his Sorting into Slytherin as all but pre-ordained ... after all, it was the One True House in Hogwarts, insofar as purebloods were concerned.

And then, in the space of less than a month, everything Octavian had ever been taught, everything he'd ever thought he'd known, had been turned on its ear. A muggle, a vampire, a bunch of girls who defied description, being both muggle and yet not ... and a woman with a type of magic he'd never seen before had destroyed not just the Death Eaters but the Dark Lord himself. Had proven, beyond any shadow of a doubt that the so-called lesser beings were anything but.

But Octavian was not a Slytherin for nothing. Slytherins, come what may, survived. They were clever, and adaptable and above all else ambitious, and an opportunity lay before him that had not existed for his predecessors. If it was possible to learn both the magic he'd known of all his life, and the magic he'd seen wielded by the Willow woman ... Oh, to be that person! The first to truly master both types of magic? That was the sort of dream that was bread and butter to a Slytherin. Even one that was eleven years old.

And even if it proved to not be possible ... well, there had to be an advantage in being 'in' with the newcomers. Octavian knew they would not simply disappear into the mists and never be seen again ... not after the last few weeks. No, there would be some sort of interaction between the Wizarding world and the Council for a good long while to come, and the potential ... heady stuff. All he had to do was figure out how to approach Willow. Preferably when Harris wasn't about.

Harris made him nervous. Octavian had seen Harris' rampage through the school, axe in hand. He'd seen death in Harris' eye that day, had seen what Harris had done during the battle in the pensieve. The longer Harris went with no idea that Octavian even existed, the happier Octavian would be.

Luck seemed to be with him, as the morning after he'd asked Professor Snape if it was possible to learn both sorts of magic (and gotten tacit permission to find out), he was late to breakfast. He'd started working on the new assignment, having enjoyed the mental exercise the first had given him, and looking forward to more of the same from this one. In his rush to get to the Great Hall before the food disappeared, he came remarkably close to mowing Willow down as he careened around a corner. Somehow, he managed to avoid actual contact, though he ended up sprawled on his arse on the floor in the process.

"Oh! I'm sorry. Are you all right?" Willow asked, one hand to her chest as she got over the startlement of the near-crash. She reached down with the other, automatically offering to help the young boy she'd nearly crashed into to his feet.

Octavian accepted the hand up and smiled at her. "I'm all right. Sorry I nearly ran you down." He said.

Willow smiled at him. "It's all right. What's your name, and where were you rushing off to?"

"I'm Octavian Selwyn." Octavian told her. "And I'm headed to the Great Hall. I almost missed breakfast, working on Professor Snape's new assignment."

Willow grinned as she turned to walk with him towards the Great Hall. "I've heard about that project of his, though he's been remarkably close-mouthed about what the assignments actually are. Or what he told you and your Housemates just before Hogwarts came under attack."

Octavian considered his options, then decided there was no real harm in telling her. "The first assignment was making us look at memories of the big battle, and figuring out where traditional Slytherin values would have similar or better results. The newest one is to analyze what we can of the decisions the Dark Lord made from his first arrival in the Wizarding world and what he could have done that would have achieved his aims with better results."

"As for what Professor Snape told us ... he showed us some of his memories of meetings with the Dark Lord before he got ... well, whatever happened to him when he tried to kill Potter the first time." Octavian's shudder was entirely unfeigned. "It was horrible. He was as apt to torture his own people as anyone else, even when they failed through no fault of their own." He gave his head a shake. "And his entire plan seemed to amount to 'torture and kill as many people as I can, regardless of who they are'. Not exactly someone that anyone with sense would want to follow."

"Good point." Willow said. "Though from what we've learned, he really only got that way towards the end of his rampage." Because he'd created so many horcruxes, Willow suspected, but she wasn't about to tell this little boy that. "At first, he seemed to be very clever and charismatic."

Octavian nodded. "My dad used to say that about him." There was little point in trying to hide the fact that his father had been a Death Eater. Willow and the others would find out from someone else even if he tried to hide it.

Willow glanced down at him. "Your ... oh. I'm sorry. Was he ... "

Octavian was surprised to realize that Willow sounded truly regretful about his father's probable fate. "He was." He said. "In the battle."

"I'm so sorry." Willow told him, putting a somewhat hesitant hand on his shoulder.

"I won't pretend it doesn't bother me." Octavian said. Truth be told, the reality of it hadn't quite hit, yet. It was hard to come to terms with the fact that his father was dead. It just didn't seem possible. "But crumpling up in a corner won't bring him back." Nor would hating the Council people. He took a deep breath. "I do have a question for you, though"

"Go ahead. I can't guarantee an answer, but I don't mind you asking." Willow said.

"Do you think it's possible for one of us to learn your sort of magic?" Octavian said.

Willow tilted her head to the side a moment, then smiled. "I should think so, at least to some limited extent. Are you any good at Potions?" She asked.

Octavian gave her a look. "I wouldn't know. I've not really had much of a chance to find out." Between being a First Year and the fact classes had been effectively canceled for two weeks.

Willow laughed. "Point. But the fact Hogwarts teaches Potions means that at least some of you have some ability in my sort of magic ... earth magic. After all, brewing potions doesn't require a wand, does it?"

Octavian's eyebrows went up. "No, no it doesn't, except for one or two really, really high-level potions that only the best Masters can brew." He cocked his head at her. "Do you think I could learn other stuff, besides the potions?"

Willow looked down at him, expression suddenly serious. "Possibly. But before I agree to teach you anything, you must promise me to do exactly ... and only ... as I tell you, and to never, ever attempt to do any earth magic unsupervised, or experiment with variations on things I show you. Earth magic is very, very dangerous if you don't know what you're doing." To put it mildly.

That's what got her in so much trouble. She'd leapfrogged about half of the stuff she needed to have worked her way through, in her desire to be 'of use'. She had mixed and matched and generally toyed with powers she didn't fully understand and hadn't respected at all. And it had bitten her in the ass, big time. She didn't want that happening to someone else.

Octavian nodded. "Fair enough." He said. It made sense to him not to go mucking about with something he had no understanding of. "I can give you a Wizard's Oath to that effect. There would be ... repercussions ... if I went back on my word, that way. Above and beyond whatever might happen to me as a result of being an idiot, anyway."

Willow nodded. "That will work." She agreed.

Octavian pulled his wand, and gave his oath. "I, Octavian Selwyn, solemnly swear to do only as Willow Rosenberg instructs me to do in regards to Earth Magic, and to never attempt to perform or experiment with Earth Magic unsupervised until such time as Willow Rosenberg gives me permission to, so mote it be."

Willow nodded. "All right. I don't want to interfere with your regular school work, so we'll have to meet on the weekends. Probably Sundays, since Professor Snape seems to have laid claim to your House's Saturdays. I'll bring you a book to read later today, and you can have questions to ask when we meet next. And even if you can't actually do more than Potions, understanding Earth Magic might come in handy sometime."

Octavian smiled. "See you later, then."

HPHPHP

Octavian wasn't the only Slytherin putting a plan into action. Daphne Greengrass was as well, though her plan was far less grandiose than Octavian's. She had no ambitions to learn Earth Magic. She planned to make herself if not indispensable to the Council, then a highly-prized resource. After all, the Greengrasses were a pureblood family that weren't supremacists, nor were they so-called Muggle lovers. They had access to ... well, less 'twisted' information than either side had. After all, much of the information both sides worked with had been ... adjusted ... to better support their claims. a more moderate, well-balanced view of Wizarding history would be of benefit to the Council, to sort the truth from the lies in both camps. And even in the middle, since Daphne was well aware that history was written by the winners, so for all she knew there was misinformation amongst what she knew.

Daphne headed straight for Xander after breakfast. Unlike her First Year Housemate, she was not terrified of Xander. Deeply respectful of his abilities and disinclined to piss him off, yes. Afraid of him, no.

"Mr. Harris?" She asked.

Xander glanced over at her. "Hey there. What's up?" Xander had to restrain the urge to tell her to call him Xander. Being called Mr. Harris still felt very, very weird.

"I had a thought earlier. The Council doesn't know all that much about the Wizarding world, do they?" Daphne asked.

Xander eyed her for a moment, and Daphne had to fight the urge to squirm against the sense that she was being weighed and judged. Finally, he spoke again. "Not really, no."

"And pretty much everything you do know, you've learned from one extreme or the other. The Death Eaters or, well, whatever label you want to put on the people with the opposing viewpoint."

Xander nodded. "That's true."

"Well, my family ... and a few others ... have been neutral in this whole mess from the start. I won't pretend that the information we have is free of misinformation, but it's at least not heavily slanted to support one side or the other."

"And you're offering access to this information in exchange for ... what?" Xander wanted to know.

Daphne had to fight down a grin. Any and all doubt (not that she personally had had any) that Xander was largely Slytherin in mindset just got washed down the drain. "A reciprocal information exchange." She told him. "Quite frankly, Mr. Harris, you and your people are ... extremely interesting. And almost completely unknown." And there was little in the world that a Slytherin liked better than delving into a mystery. Especially one as intriguing and full of possibilities as this one. "I imagine you're trying to forge ties with the adults, but it's always been a truism that the young adapt better to situations like this. Your best chance of having solid allies in the Wizarding world comes from this school and the kids in it."

It was an equitable exchange. She learned about them, they learned about the Wizarding world. She earned a position of influence among them, and in exchange, they got a strong ally in the Wizarding world that would be better positioned to lobby for them than anyone from the two extremist camps, as they could speak to what was, after all, the bulk of the wizarding population.

Xander eyed her for several long, nerve-wracking moments before he smiled and nodded, extending one calloused hand. "I do believe we have a deal miss ... "

"Daphne Greengrass." Daphne introduced herself, shaking his hand.

"So what can you tell me?" Xander wanted to know. He got to his feet and motioned for her to follow him.

"Offhand, without the books for reference, just that the whole dark/light pureblood/muggleborn conflict has been going on a lot, lot longer than Voldemort." Daphne said. "Longer even than the Founders, though a lot of people like to attribute the Dark to Salazar. He might have been a Dark Wizard, but he was hardly the first. Or the most influential. And there used to be a difference between Dark and Evil, which, unfortunately, seems to have gone by the wayside at some point ... not sure when, why, or how." Daphne told him as she followed him into the teacher's meeting room.

"Interesting." Xander said, and he meant it. "Any idea what started the problem?"

"Not a one. I imagine it might be somewhere in the books, but I didn't run across an explanation for it in the ones I've read." Daphne told him. "Though, given my age and the fact I've been at Hogwarts much of the time the past four years and a bit, I haven't been able to read anywhere near even a tenth of the library at our manor." Most of the books had simply been beyond the comprehension of an under-eleven-year-old, or even a fifteen year old, for that matter. And of the ones that weren't, well, it's not like she was a Ravenclaw who did nothing but read.

"Fair enough. Your dad going to be willing to let strangers borrow his books?" Xander wanted to know.

"Strangers, possibly not. His daughter? Definitely." Daphne admitted. "He'll figure out you guys are reading them even if I don't tell him, but as long as I am technically in possession of the books, he won't squawk."

Xander nodded. "Fair enough. Now, what exactly are you wanting to know about us?"

"Everything." Daphne admitted. "But let's start with ... who was the Slayer, before there were multiple Slayers? And how did you meet her, and get involved in demon hunting?"

"You better get comfortable, Daphne. Because it's a bit of a story." Xander told her.