CHECKING OUT THE REPORT

A/N: I'd like to take the opportunity to thank everyone that has taken the time to read review or slap an alert on this story.

This time Fleur was more angry than she was uncomfortable. Yet again she found herself standing in front of the Security Committee of the Wizengamot like a penitent schoolgirl who is forced to see the headmaster; standing silent as her every word, gesture and action were dissected by people that had no idea of what her job really was like. She had finally had enough of their carping and petty insults. 'No more miss Nice Girl,' she thought.

"So what specifically did this Alexander ask you, Miss Delacour?"

"That is not relevant," Fleur snapped back. "I have already testified to you that I divulged no information that was vital to the Wizarding World. What I would have added, if you hadn't interrupted, was that there was no need for him to ask me anything vital. As was suspected and as I have already communicated to this committee, he and his organization already know everything there is to know about us."

"How is this possible," huffed Angus McMillan. "Is there some sort of spy in our midst?"

In answer, Fleur turned to another member of the committee. "You have a brother that cannot use a wand, is that not so," she asked Eloise Greengrass.

The question took the woman by surprise, but she quickly answered, "Yes, my brother Evan has no magic."

"That isn't quite true," Fleur replied, "but we will discuss that in a moment. For now, do you know where your brother Evan is or what he is doing?"

"No," the woman looked confused now. "Why would I, he is just a Squib."

"Do your parents speak to him?"

"I would suppose."

Fleur stood silently after this exchange and let the others work through the conversation and its purpose. Not surprisingly it was Amelia Bones that worked it out first. Her eyes widened and she blurted out, "Are you saying that Evan Greengrass has broken the Statute of Secrecy?"

"I suppose you could look at it that way," Fleur responded. "However, since he was excluded from the Wizarding World, I doubt the Statute applies to him anymore. And to be clear, there are more than just Evan Greengrass out there. Most of the people that we have excluded from our society have found employment with Alexander's group. And since they have very little regard for us and our biases, well they have told Alexander all that they know about our world. The reason he didn't ask me anything vital is because I doubt that there is anything I could tell him that he doesn't already know. I would hazard a guess that he knows more about what goes on in our world than most of our citizens."

"The fault for this lies on your shoulders," Angus McMillan exclaimed, rounding on Amelia Bones.

"No," Fleur yelled out before Amelia could reply. "It is not simply her fault. It is yours and mine and every person in this room. Indeed it is the fault of our entire society. We have allowed ourselves to believe in our innate superiority, and this has blinded us to the abilities of those we consider our inferiors. Just because Evan Greengrass cannot use a wand does not mean that he is useless."

"But he cannot do magic."

"He can do magic you fool, he simply cannot do it with a wand." Fleur took advantage of the shocked silence that followed her outburst. She held her right hand out, palm up; sprinkled in a mixture of herbs and muttered, "Spheris Incendiere." A ball of fire appeared in her hand and sat there, burning merrily away.

The collected Wizards and Witches were speechless. The girl had created a fireball, but she had not used her wand. They knew that wandless casting was possible, but it wasn't what the girl had done. She had used weeds and words, and not even the right words for a fire charm.

"There are more types of magic than just what is capable with a wand," she said quietly to her stunned audience. Then she dismissed her fireball. Alexander explained to me about the different types of magic and where they draw their power. And even if a person is unable to activate a wand, they can still do one of these other types. So that allows those of our people that have been excluded from our society access to what we claim they do not have. Obviously this makes them both grateful and loyal to Alexander's organization."

"We must put a stop to this," gasped Sarah Goldstein.

"How," Fleur replied. "To do so you would have to be willing to either kill those people we have excluded already or to attack a powerful organization that we know very little about but is quite well informed about us. It is time to face the truth Ladies and Gentlemen; we have put ourselves in this position. We have left ourselves with two choices, either continue to live as we have and endure the constant fear of exposure or fundamentally change our ways and adapt to this new reality. We do not have a monopoly on magic, its time we stopped acting like we did." Fleur's attitude changed and she fixed the assembled Witches and Wizards with a fierce glare, "there are those of you here that already know that Alexander's organization cannot be dealt with ham handedly."

"What do you mean Auror Delacour," Amelia Bones asked.

"What I mean Minister is that during our meeting last night, a Wizard attempted to use Legilimancy on Alexander and later a group of Wizards attempted to take him by force. All of those that attempted the assault were rendered unconscious and one required extended healing spells and potions at St. Mungo's. The attempted Legilimens was still incapacitated the last time I checked. Two attacks in one night beggars coincidence and since this meeting was only known to the people in this room, that means that someone here orchestrated those attacks."

"Are you accusing someone in this room of treasonous behavior Auror Delacour?"

"No ma'am, I'm saying that someone here jeopardized my mission and my life by being short sighted and foolish. I told everyone here that there wouldn't be a problem unless we broke faith with Alexander and his people. Someone here decided not to listen and now I have to try and rebuild his trust in me and in us. We have barely scratched the surface of what he and his group knows, and now; because of one or more of you fools, we may be cut off from further information." Fleur's hostile glare was answered by several from the committee. Not that it really mattered but she wondered who had given the go-ahead for last night's foolishness.

"Do you believe that Alexander will still speak to you Auror Delacour?"

"I hope so Minister, but I am not certain."

"Please contact him and attempt to resume meetings with him, let us hope that last night's damage is not irreparable."

"Yes Minister."

"As for the members of this committee, I would urge you in the strongest terms to not interfere in these proceedings. We are adjourned."

As she left the chamber, Fleur allowed herself a small smile. The Minister trusted her; now all she had to do was convince Alexander to do the same.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Xander hung up the phone and turned to Dawn, "that was her."

"I figured that from the smile on your face. So what did she have to say?"

"That she's sorry for what happened and she didn't have anything to do with it."

"You believe her?"

"Yeah, I do. When everything went down I watched her expressions. She was scared and angry but I didn't see any guilt or satisfaction. If I had then I never would have taken a call from her again."

"Well you are the one who sees after all."

"And don't you forget it missy."

"So what's the plan this time?"

"Well I'm not really sure. I mean they're not real big on entertainment. They've got that one sport, they read and listen to the radio, and I've heard chess and a couple other games like that mentioned. But no movies or TV, no amusement parks or that kind of thing, no sports other than that broomstick one; so I'd say there's a lot of options."

"So what are you leaning towards?"

"Bowling."

"Really, I can't see miss snooty being one with the rent-a-shoes."

"What makes you say she's snooty?"

This was difficult for Dawn, she'd cared for Xander her entire existence and like Buffy and Willow, she was very protective of him. A side effect of this was that she was instantly on guard against any other female that was interested, and she knew that the wand waving French girl was most definitely interested. She knew that her attitude wasn't really fair to Xander, but she was old enough to understand that fair wasn't always a consideration and that you were never to old to be childish. "It's just the way she carries herself," Dawn answered finally. "Like royalty that's decided to spend some time with the common folk."

Xander thought over what Dawn had said. "I can see that," he finally replied. "But I can think of several reasons for that. First is the part demonness, that might be what you're picking up on. There's also the fact that she's both talented and hot. I imagine she's been treated like a princess her whole life."

"So what is it about her that has you so hot for her? I know she's pretty, but you always look past that, so what do you see?"

"What I see is a little bit of every girl I've ever really cared for. She's as beautiful as Cordelia with a heart to match; she's got Willow's empathy, Faith's passion, your sister's sense of duty and your smarts. I also know that she's got the strength to handle the real world, to me that adds up to the perfect woman."

"But are you sure?"

"No, but if I don't give it a try, then I'll never know." He stood and walked towards the young brunette. "Thanks for playing 'Devil's Advocate' here, but I also know what you're not saying. You're afraid that she'll take me away or something like that, but you've gotta know that after all this time, I'm not going anywhere. I also know that you wish it was you that I was interested in, and in a way; so do I. It would make things a lot easier. But you know we tried the dating thing and as much fun as we had and as much as we care about each other, it wasn't going to happen."

"But why not?"

"Are you sure you want to know?"

"Yes," was the reluctant reply.

"Because as much as I love you, and I do; there just wasn't that passion between us. It was pleasant and comfortable but there was no fire. I hate to say it, but you're kind of in the same boat as Willow. I love her more than life itself, but I have no passion for her and without that, well any relationship beyond friendship just wont last."

Dawn sat there, looking at the floor as tears slowly leaked from her eyes. She'd asked why, and he had answered. As Dawn was sitting there, she suddenly felt strong arms around her and she was pulled into a warm hug. "I am sorry Dawn, I wish I could give you what you want, but that would be a lie and that's one thing I won't do to you."

"I know," she choked out. "Thank you Xander." The two friends sat there motionless until Dawn was once again back under control. Seeing this, Xander got up and quietly walked to the door. "Call Willow," he said, "and have her explain the situation to all the folks that came from the Wizarding World. I want her to put tracking spells on everyone just in case. I also need you and Andrew to go through the archives. Both groups have been in England for over a millennia, they must have interacted before. Find out what happened and most importantly, if there's a treaty or agreement or something like that." He sighed, "I've got a feeling that this is all far from over."

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

"So what is this again," Fleur asked. She was feeling a little awkward without her robes again, and the noise and crowd didn't help at all.

"This is called bowling," Xander replied. "It's a lot more popular in the US than it is here, but I thought you might like it."

"So we're supposed to throw these things down there and knock over those white things?"

"Yep, without stepping over that line or throwing it in the gutter."

"What's a gutter?"

"Those grooves on the side."

"Ahh, and this is supposed to be fun."

"No, it is fun. Unless you happen to take it way to seriously, but that's true about anything isn't it?"

"True, so why are we really here."

"One, because its fun and you need to lighten up a bit; two, because anyone from your world would stand out like a sore thumb's sore thumb. No one can listen in over the noise and there's too many people around for anyone to try anything. It's as close to isolated as we're gonna get."

Fleur looked at him strangely, "Why do you think I need to lighten up Alexander?"

"You rarely smile or laugh Fleur." His hand reached out and caressed her cheek, "and all that frowning gives you the wrong kind of wrinkles."

Fleur gave him a dazzling smile, then punched him in the arm.

"What was that for?"

"You have all these women friends, but you don't know that you shouldn't comment about wrinkles. I believe that they have been deficient in your education."

"Not so, they've been quite diligent, you all just keep changing the rules all the time."

"All the better to keep you treating us well Alexander."

"As you deserve," Xander said with a little bow. "Now, more bowling and less flirting."

"You do not want to flirt," Fleur said with a small pout.

"I said less, not none," Xander replied. "Now you hold the ball like this . . . . ."

Fleur didn't pay a lot of attention to what Alexander was saying; instead she was relishing the feel of having his arms around her. They did talk about demons and monsters; in fact Alexander recounted the entire incident with Glorificus. But Fleur was having trouble focusing, bowling and flirting were both quite distracting. All too soon the evening was over. The two of them were walking back towards the Ministry, secretly Fleur wished they were heading for her flat, but she knew that they weren't ready for that just yet.

"So what did you think of bowling?"

"It was fun, and I promise to smile more often."

"Good, you're too pretty to be as gloomy as you were."

Fleur looked away. "It is difficult some times; to look the way I do and have people think my face is all there is to me. It is hard to be happy much of the time."

"I had a friend, Cordelia; we dated for a while. She went through the same thing. Everyone expected her to go to College long enough to snag some rich husband and spend the rest of her life being ornamental and giggling on command."

"So what happened to her?"

"She stopped caring so much about what other people thought and became an incredible person. She received visions to guide a champion for good, and she chose to keep receiving them even though she knew they were killing her. She was dead before she turned twenty five, but I never knew a person who so confident in who they were."

"She sounds like someone worth knowing."

"She was, and I was just telling someone earlier today about how you remind me of her."

"Oh, in what way?"

"Your heart is much like hers; she kept it secluded, but if you were lucky enough, she allowed you to see the depth of caring she was capable of."

"Thank you Alexander," Fleur said. "For the evening and the compliment."

"The evening was my pleasure, and the compliment was merely the truth," Xander said gallantly. Then he leaned in and dropped a light kiss on Fleur's lips. Her arms circled around his neck and she deepened the kiss. All too soon they both had to come up for air.

"I look forward to seeing you again Alexander."

"I'll even let you pick the time and place Fleur," he replied. Then he turned and walked away. All too soon he was lost to her sight. With a small smile, Fleur turned and headed into the Ministry, she had a report to make and a date to plan.