A/N I'd like to take the time to thank everyone that has read my little tale and even more thanks for those who have reviewed the story. Your feedback is invaluable.

THIS IS MY INVESTIGATION, NOT A PUBLIC INQUIRY

Fleur was uncomfortable again and she didn't like it one bit. Despite the fact that she'd pretty much been uncomfortable in one way or another since meeting Alexander, it wasn't the kind of thing that dulled with repetition. Right now she was sitting in a restaurant in Mugg . . . . that is Non-Wizarding London waiting for Alexander to show up. Contacting him had been easy enough but for the first time since puberty, Fleur Delacour felt nervous when talking to a male. She had stumbled and stammered her way through an invitation for dinner, and asking him to pick the place since she wanted him to be at ease. Only afterwards did Fleur realize that she had no idea what to wear. Robes certainly wouldn't be appropriate, and the only non-Wizarding clothing she was used to was formal wear; and this meeting, and Alexander, was decidedly informal. In a tizzy, she had found Hermione Granger and asked for the younger woman's help. Together they had gone shopping with Fleur letting Hermione pick out what would be correct for the occasion. Fleur wasn't happy with what Hermione had picked out, even if it did look good on her. The blue pants were a bit stiff, and were much tighter than anything she'd ever worn before. They constricted her in areas that she wasn't used to being constricted in. The top had too many buttons for her taste and didn't quite come down to the top of the pants, leaving a strip of skin visible. Fortunately her hair and skin were flawless, as usual, and that helped boost the woman's flagging confidence.

So now here she was, sitting alone in a place she'd never been before, wearing a type of clothing that she'd never worn before and waiting for a man that she was supposed to interrogate in a public place. She was about ready to pack it in, mission or no mission when she saw Alexander walk in the door. She was quite taken with the man, but she couldn't quite figure out why. Yes, he was handsome enough, but she'd known many handsome men. Perhaps it was his confidence, he seemed to be perfectly aware of and was comfortable with, who he was; both his strengths and weaknesses. It could have been his bravery; he certainly had that in abundance. Whatever it was, something about the man intrigued her greatly and she was quite willing to put in the time to get to know him better. She stood as he approached and she noticed his clothing. He was dressed much the same way as when she'd first seen him in his office, only this time the tight shirt said "Dingos Ate My Baby", whatever that meant; and the loose overshirt was much more subdued. He froze when she stood up, his eye widening when he took in her outfit. Fleur reminded herself to thank Hermione when she saw the younger witch again.

After a moment, he started moving forward again until he was standing right in front of Fleur. "You look amazing," he said.

"Thank you," she replied. "You look very nice as well." They stood there for a minute, just looking at each other; then Fleur snapped out of it. "Shall we sit?"

"Sure," he said, then held her seat before taking his own.

"Have you ever been to a place like this before," he asked.

"No," was her terse reply.

"Do you trust me to order for us both?"

"Certainly."

"Do you like beer?"

"No, I just never had a taste for it. I couldn't even drink butterbeer when I was a student."

"Good enough then," he said and turned to the waiter that was hovering near them.

"We'll have a large with Ham, Onions and Peppers; and two Cokes."

The waiter just nodded and headed off to get their drinks. "So have you been busy," he asked.

"Yes, you gave a lot of people quite a bit to think about."

"I bet," he paused then his eye locked onto hers. "Is our little rendezvous because you want to see me or because you were ordered to see me?"

Fleur blushed and looked away as she considered the question; finally she turned back to Alexander. "Both; I wanted to see you again, and the people in charge encouraged me to do so."

Xander sighed, "Look, I know you and the folks above you have got a lot of questions about our organization and we don't really have a lot of questions about your society. Believe me, I've got the concept; but honestly, I'm here to get to know you."

Fleur was surprised; actually she might even be amazed. He had known that she'd be interrogating him and he was willing to put up with that for a chance to get to know her. "How about," she suggested, "quid pro quo? I'll answer a question then you will." The waiter picked that time to arrive with their drinks so Fleur picked hers up and toasted him with it, "are you game?" She took a swig of her drink while he thought it over, but when she got her first taste of Coke, Fleur found that she couldn't think about much other than what she'd just drank. It was the most amazing thing she'd ever tasted, it was sweet and tart and the bubbles tickled her nose. Fleur's face lit up in a smile, she wanted to thank Alexander for introducing her to this wonderful thing but all that came out of her mouth was; Buuuuuuuurrrrpp. Fleur immediately turned a shade of red that would be the envy of every fire engine in the world then looked up in horror at what Alexander's reaction.

Xander sat there in stunned silence, not really believing what had just happened. Then he saw Fleur's horrified face and there was just one possible reaction, he started laughing; the kind of laugh that comes from deep inside and just seems to energize the soul.

Fleur went from being embarrassed to being angry. This buffoon had the nerve to laugh at her. She opened her mouth to let him know just how angry she was, and found herself laughing as well.

"That was very ladylike Miss Delacour," he said when he could finally speak again.

Her only response was to stick her tongue out at him in a spectacular burst of immaturity.

Alexander chuckled again, "OK Miss Delacour, quid pro quo; and I'll even let you go first after that little display."

Fleur took a small sip of her drink, "you mentioned other types of magic, what types are there?"

"Well as best we can figure, magic breaks down into five basic types. You've got Innate, Mind, Earth, Blood and Divine. Now Innate is your type, you use a focus to channel power from your magical core. Mind magic is more where you use your mind to focus your magic. Now mind magic is only effective in a very few areas, like telekinesis, precognition, and hypnosis. Meditation and other mental conditioning exercises can help out in this area. Then there's Earth magic or Wiccan magic if you prefer. The practitioner taps into the power of the earth to power their spells. Earth magic is mostly concerned with healing and balance but it can be useful in other areas. Blood magic is powerful and very easy to misuse. In this one the practitioner taps into the vital force contained in blood for power. It's good for destruction and vengeance. Finally is Divine magic, here the practitioner calls on a god to do what the mage wants it to do. This is usually through some sort of sacrifice or offering. Now this one is very versatile, but a lot of these beings are really temperamental so one wrong word and then you're in a world of hurt." Then a horrified look crossed his face, "Oh my god, I've turned into Giles."

"Giles?"

"My mentor and a good friend. He was always one for the lecture and I was all for sleeping through them." He noticed Fleur staring at him. "Is something on me," he asked.

"No," she replied, "that was just fascinating to listen to." Then she straightened up, "alright, your turn to ask."

Alexander thought for a moment. "What's your favorite color?"

Fleur looked at Alexander for a moment, not really sure that he'd just asked her what he had. "Did you just ask me what my favorite color was?"

"Yeah."

She thought for a moment, it was a question she'd really never given any conscious thought. "Yellow," she finally said, "a golden, sunshine yellow."

"Cool, so next question."

Fleur thought about it, then launched into her next question about the world of Demons and Slayers.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

William Jensen wished he was anywhere except where he was. He was sitting in a muggle restaurant watching an Auror of questionable loyalties interrogate her subject. The laughter from the couple suggested to him that she wasn't exactly using high pressure techniques. He looked away in disgust; he was just a muggle, she should have just lured him away, used the Imperious curse or a Crucio or two and gotten what she needed. Then he would be able to go back to where the food and the money made sense instead of waiting for her to either succeed or fail. William watched as the young man stood up and pointed to the back of the restaurant; the French girl thanked him and left, leaving the man alone for the moment. William decided that this was too good an opportunity to pass up; focused his gaze on the young man and cast Legilimency.

William looked around; he was standing in a clearing in a forest. He found it interesting that everyone's mindscape was different; idly he wondered what the significance of the forest was. Then things changed; as he was standing there the sky darkened and as quick as thought, it was night. William peered into the sudden dark, trying to find which way to go. His examination was interrupted by a rising growl from the dark around him. William's eyes widened, this was new and not very welcome. He could sense a presence out there, some sort of guardian that was stalking him. William focused his power, trying to see what was out there. Suddenly the mindscape lightened and he saw an enormous animal approaching. He wasn't quite sure what it was until it gave out a laughing bark and broke into a gallop. The fear was so great that William couldn't concentrate enough to pull himself out of the mindscape, so he ran. He could just barely see where he was going, but the sound of the beast behind him spurred William on. Suddenly he spied a building off to his left, with the door towards him. Quickly he changed direction and made for it. He could almost feel the beasts breath on the back of his neck as he came to the door. He muttered a quick prayer as he grabbed the knob. It was unlocked so William jerked the door open, dove inside and shut it behind him. He breathed a sigh of relief as he heard the lock click into place, he was safe. He still couldn't see anything so he pulled out his wand and muttered "Lumos". He almost wished he hadn't. William found himself standing in the middle of an extensive mirror maze and there was no door to be seen. 'This isn't good,' he thought.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Xander watched as Fleur headed to the bathroom, specifically he watched her backside as she headed off; it was a very nice backside. He sat down, thinking that she was probably the most beautiful girl he'd ever met, seeming to combine the best aspects of Faith, Buffy and Cordelia. He felt a tickle in the back of his mind. Xander glanced around the room, trying to figure out what was going on when a man at the bar collapsed. Considering that the man was wearing a combination of purple, electric blue and lime green, Xander figured that it was a good bet he was a wizard. Which meant that the tickle he'd felt was this clown trying to get into his mind. Xander sat back down with a quiet chuckle; he didn't envy the guy having to deal with what he and Alpha had cooked up.

Fleur smiled at her image in the mirror; fortunately bathrooms didn't change much between the Wizarding World and the rest of the world. She couldn't remember a time when she'd enjoyed herself more. She'd found that Alexander had a silly streak in him that just tickled her sense of the absurd. It had been hard for her to concentrate on her assignment because she was laughing so much. One other thing that had endeared Alexander to her was that he seemed genuinely interested in her, as opposed to what was the easiest way to get her out of her robes. Fleur finished up and headed back out into the restaurant. Sitting down she asked, "Anything happen while I was gone?"

"I believe one of your shadows had an accident," he replied.

"What, where," she asked, looking around.

"Guy by the bar passed out, right after I felt something in my head. If I had to guess, I'd say he was trying to read my mind."

"What makes you think he was from . . . . . my world?"

"Well he was wearing normal clothes, but the colors were definitely unorthodox."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, he was wearing a bright green shirt with electric blue pants and a purple hat, belt and shoes."

Fleur thought for a moment, "did he have blond hair and a little beard?"

"Yep."

"You're right, that was William. What happened to make him pass out?"

Here Alexander blushed. "I've got a little trap in my mind. If anyone tries to read me they end up in a mental construct of a mirror maze for twenty four hours."

Fleur goggled at him. "How did you manage that?"

"That's a long story," he looked at his watch, "longer than we've got actually." He looked up at her, "do you want me to walk you to the ministry?"

Fleur just nodded.

As they were walking down the street Fleur cleared her throat, there was one question she'd wanted to ask but hadn't been able to come up with a graceful way to do so.

Alexander smiled and glanced down at the woman next to him, "just ask, I'm used to it."

She looked up in shock, how had he known what she'd wanted to ask. But then she realized that everyone Alexander ever met had been curious about what had happened, so she took his advice. "What happened to your eye?"

Alexander looked surprised himself, and even a little grateful. "Thank you."

"What for?"

"Most people ask me how I lost it, like I mislaid it somewhere. You didn't, so thank you." They walked in silence for almost a block before he started talking. "It was an end of the world situation. Something calling itself the 'First Evil' had assembled an army of uber-vampires behind the Hellmouth and a bunch of eyeless guys out in the real world. The kicker was this evil priest that had been physically hyped up. The guy was a psycho that hated women and loved to just hurt people. Anyway, there was this powerful widget down in this winery, so we decided to go in and get it. It was a trap, and we were getting our asses kicked so we went to retreat but this maniac had gotten his hands on this girl named Kennedy. She was young and scared and most importantly to me, she was Willow's girlfriend. Willow's been my best friend since we were in Kindergarten and there isn't anything we wouldn't do for each other. So when I saw this girl that she cared for about to be killed, I went in and got her out, but the psycho guy got a hold of me. He could have killed me, I knew that when I made the decision to save her; but he didn't. He called me 'The One Who Sees', then gouged my eye out; he thought it was funny."

Fleur listened to this with a quiet amazement. She was not amazed that Alexander was brave; she knew that already; no she was amazed at the fact that he would willingly risk his life for someone he barely knew because she was important to a friend of his. "Did you ever regret it?"

"Never."

"Really?"

"Yeah. You've got to understand that me, Willow, Buffy, Giles, Dawn, heck even Faith; we've been through so much together, we're so close that there isn't one of us that wouldn't willingly give our lives for any of the others. Sure we fight and get pissy with each other from time to time, but in the end there isn't anything that we wouldn't do for any of the others. Kind of like your trio of Mr. Potter, Mr. Weasley and Miss Granger."

Fleur digested that, but then looked at him sharply, "How is it that you know so much about us?"

"I think you already know the answer to that question."

"So how did you get . . . . relatives of Wizards who can't do magic to work for you."

"Well first of all, you're wrong to think that they can't use magic. They can, it's just that they don't have enough power to activate a wand. Anyway it's kind of a funny story. I was taking a couple of newbies through London when we came across someone fighting off a couple of vamps. We couldn't figure out if it was a really burly woman or a longhaired guy in a dress. Long story short, we saved him and he followed and asked us what had happened. Turned out his name was Tiberius Malfoy; and man the guy has serious anger issues. Once he found out that he could do magic, even if it wasn't the same as he was familiar with, he volunteered to be a watcher. Heck he practically begged us for the chance. Once he came on board he passed the word, apparently there's a network of people that have been excluded from the Wizarding World. It works out well for us, we get people that are tougher and better prepared than our usual trainees and they're all magic users of one type or another, and they're already used to the weird and unusual. That and they collectively hate your guys guts, so they tell us everything we need to know about your society."

Fleur thought about this as they walked. She found it ironic that a society that was so obsessed with secrecy had just allowed all of that information to be available to anyone who asked. "So where is Mr. Malfoy now?"

"Australia," Alexander answered, "he wanted a place with tea, but it had to be as far away from England as possible. He's a blood mage, and a good one. It lets him channel his anger. Heck, he's even getting used to working with us muggles, and being polite about it."

Fleur tried not to laugh, a Malfoy that willingly worked with muggles. The whole notion bordered on the impossible. She turned to look at Alexander's face as they walked. It was not a face that would be considered classically handsome, but there was character there. Character that had been shaped by trials that were much more arduous than those she'd experienced. He thought she was attractive, Fleur could see it in the way he looked at her. But it seemed to her that he was more attracted to the person that she was rather than just her appearance. Fleur glanced around and realized that they were almost at the ministry; she didn't want the date to end, but knew that it had to. She turned back to him, "thank you for the evening Alexander."

He smiled down at her, then slowly raised her hand and kissed it. "The pleasure was all mine Miss Delacour. I look forward to seeing you again."

"You would want to see me, even though . . . . ?"

"Even though you're using me to get information; yes I would. You're an amazing woman Fleur, and I would love to get to know you better."

"Thank you Alexander," she murmured "I believe I would like that as well." Then she placed her hand on his cheek, leaned in and kissed him. The kiss lasted a sweet eternity, but then he pulled back from her.

"I hate to break the mood, but there seems to be several of your compatriots that are surrounding us."

Fleur looked around; sure enough there were six examples of the rougher element of the Wizarding world surrounding them. She turned back to him, scared that he might think she had something to do with this. His gaze pierced her for an instant, but then she saw him relax and give her a soft smile.

"Any time girls," he muttered.

Suddenly there were other forms in the dark. Then Fleur heard the yells of combat and the sound of fists hitting flesh. One of the toughs managed to fire off a spell in Alexander's direction, but all this got him was simultaneous hits from three different sources. He groaned and collapsed like the rest of his compatriots.

"Thank you ladies," Alexander said. Then he turned back to Fleur, "until the next time Miss Delacour." Then he walked off into the dark with his honor guard. Fleur looked around at the unconscious men; it was all she could do to suppress her laughter.