I've been holding off on this chapter for awhile. I didn't like the way it was headed so I had to change it up a bit.

"thinking"

"talking"

I do not own Harry potter or Buffy the vampire slayer

Chapter 34

Harry and Xander got over to Buffy's house as quickly as they could. They were both anxious and worried about the blonde haired vampire. Harry might not have liked Spike all that much, but he hadn't wanted him to be tortured and Xander felt the same. Despite being an amoral bastard Spike didn't deserve something like this to happen to him.

As soon as they entered the house they heard Dawn crying in one of the rooms upstairs. Following the smell of blood and vampire they found Spike lying in the guestroom bed upstairs heavily bandaged; a few empty packets of human blood were scattered on the night stand next to him. It must have been bad...very bad.

The vampire was currently unconscious, but breathing in a slightly strained manner. Harry swallowed and stepped toward them bed to examine him closer.

Bandages and gauze covered the left side of his face. Harry could see a few scratch marks coming from under them, but they were healing very slowly. He had a black eye and a busted lip and his trademark bleached hair was caked with blood and dirt. It seemed like one of the girls had tried to clean him up a bit, but they hadn't been able to get much of him clean.

Spike's arms were wrapped and one of them was in a sling. His left leg was in a splint while the right leg was left untouched. His ribs were wrapped with bandages.

Despite the blood in Spike's hair, Harry couldn't find much else. He took it as a bad sign. If Spike wasn't bleeding then he didn't have much to bleed out. Unsurprisingly the hell goddess wasn't very hospitable and didn't feed her prisoner. He was pale even for a vampire and his cheeks were gaunt. If Spike looked like this after a few packets of blood Harry didn't want to know what he looked like before. Harry knew what hunger was. He knew what starvation was and this...it touched too far close to home. He left the room quickly.

Xander POV

Xander took in the sight of a tortured Spike. Anger, fear and dread warred in him. They had let their guard down and one of their own had been taken and tortured. He had failed Spike, but he wouldn't fail his girls and Giles. He wouldn't fail Harry. Not again.

He stayed in the room for a few more moments after Harry left. He walked up to Spike and rested his hand on the vampire's shoulder. One of the only uninjured places on his body.

"I won't fail you again."

With one more look at his downed comrade Xander left.

Xander found Harry downstairs sitting in the living room with the others. Buffy was pacing around the room and Willow was desperately searching through their ever shrinking pile of books. It seemed like they had gone through every book in the magic shop and their personal reserves and no one could find anything that would help them take down Glory. Tara was sitting next to Willow helping; the hospital had deemed her well enough to be checked out not long after Xander had left.

"Buff?" Xander called looking at the girl concerned.

Buffy's jaw was clenched and she kept turning a stake over and over in her hands.

"Buffy?" she stilled, but didn't say anything. Xander walked up to her and embraced her. Buffy struggled in his arms.

"Xander! Get away. I-" but she struggled in vain. Xander was stronger than her. He hugged her tighter.

"It's going to be okay Buffy. We're going to get her for this."

"I want her dead!" Buffy sobbed. "I want her-" she finally stopped struggling and broke down in his arms.

"Oh god. Spike." she cried into his chest. Xander held her tightly lending comfort.

Harry POV

Harry watched Buffy and Xander and finally understood. This was what Xander was here for. The others had constantly pushed him away. They called him weak and useless, and sometimes taunted him in front of his face and behind his back. They tried to make him fray adjacent for his protection, but they never understood that without Xander they would all fall apart. Some would die. Some would go their separate ways, and others would go into the darkness. Without Xander, the Scooby gang would be no more.

Harry had always figured that when he managed to get his money from Gringotts that he would take Xander away from here. They would go off alone and find their own adventures without others always belittling them. Harry had found his freedom from the wizarding world so Xander would soon find his freedom from his friends right? It seemed like it should have been so, but it wasn't and probably would never be. The difference between Xander and Harry was that Harry had been forced into his role and Xander had chosen his. Until he felt that they truly didn't need him anymore Xander was always going to be by their side.

Harry smiled. Xander was truly extraordinary. Powers or no.

Powers…

"Bloody Hell! I think I know how to kill Glory!"

Everybody turned to Harry with exclamations of shock and started shouting out questions. Xander let Buffy go and gave a sharp whistle making everybody cringe.

"Let him talk guys." He said. Harry shot him a grateful look. Everybody quieted down and stared at Harry expectantly.

"We've been looking at this the wrong way. We've been trying to find a spell to turn Glory human, but we don't need that. We need to find a way to cut her from her powers. Glory is a goddess, a divine being therefore she is worshipped by others from her dimension. Gods and goddesses gain their powers from their worshippers. If we were able to cut Glory off from the source of her power, her worshippers, then she will become mortal."

"So what? You want us to go to her dimension and kill her worshippers? 'Cause I'm telling you, looking for that spell sounds so much easier." Buffy said. She leaned against the couch that Willow, Tara and Giles were sitting on.

Harry shook his head.

"Not at all. I'm suggesting a barrier of sorts. Let's say that every prayer sent to Glory is a physical thing. If we created a barrier around her than every prayer would bounce off. She would become steadily weaker because we have cut her off from her power source."

"So like a force field type thing?" Xander asked. Harry smiled at him.

"Yes, Xander. Exactly like that."

"But…would the force field be Glory size or larger?" Willow asked frowning softly.

Harry sighed.

"I'm afraid that it would have to be larger. No one here can get close enough to Glory to obtain something personal from her. We will not be able to tune the barrier to only her." It was the only major flaw in Harry's plan.

"That's not good right because if it didn't matter than you would've mentioned it." Dawn said. She had entered the room not long ago. Her eyes were still red and slightly puffy.

"No, because the spell I have in mind doesn't just cut Glory off from her powers. Everyone inside the spells domain will be cut off from any outside powers."

"How's that bad?" Willow asked, "Buffy can go in and take care of her."

Giles took off his glasses and began cleaning them.

"I'm afraid that it's not that simple Willow. Technically, Buffy's powers come from an outside source. The first slayer. Her going into the barrier would be like…a Cruciamentum." The room was silent.

"Yours, Harry's and Tara's abilities come from your connection to the Goddess. Without magic, I would not be strong enough to face her. Spike is in no condition to fight Glory and Dawn is not an option. Yes, she maybe be the Key but I am also afraid that if she would go into the barrier she would simply…disappear." Giles continued.

Harry met Xander's eyes. It was time to finally tell the others the truth.

"Actually Mr. Giles," Harry said, "that's not quite right."

"What do you mean?" Tara asked. The others echoed her with slightly different variations.

"I may be able to call the power of the goddess, but…that's not all." Harry took a deep breath. "My magic comes from within myself. I am not a Wiccan…I am a wizard."

"Dear lord." Giles took off his glasses and began cleaning them again.

"Wait. What's a wizard? How's it different? Confused here." Buffy said looking between Giles and Harry.

"It is exactly what he said Buffy. A wizard's powers doesn't come from their surroundings or the gods and goddesses, it comes from within him. He has a magical core and he can draw upon it to perform spells. Harry, why didn't you tell any of us?" Giles asked.

Harry looked down and bit his lip. Xander walked up to him and put his arm around his waist. Harry stepped into his arms and laced their fingers together much to the shock of the others. He looked up into their stunned faces.

"I told Xander." He felt Xander squeeze his hands lightly, giving him strength.

"I didn't come to Sunnydale by my own means. I was left here by my relatives. They were ashamed of me because of my magic, because of what I can do. I let all of you assume I was Wiccan because it was easier. I didn't want to stand out."

"But you do." Willow blurted. "You're all powerful and cool and stuff."

Harry wanted to point out that they never really knew the real him. He wanted to tell them how fake he acted around them most of the time. He wanted to let them see the truth, but he couldn't. This wasn't the time or the place for this. And truthfully? Harry didn't think he would ever be able to.

Instead he just shook his head at Willow and smiled softly.

"Thank you, but that was not my intention."

"Great!" Buffy said impatiently, "but what's with all the snuggling with Xander thing?"

Harry looked up at Xander and the older boy shrugged. Xander grinned at the others.

"Isn't it obvious? We're dating."

Buffy and Willow burst out with questions talking a mile a minute. Dawn was grinning at the couple and Giles looked like he had been struck with an anvil. Tara smiled at the couple and nodded her head in approval. She had felt that something was going on between them. The looks they had shared before were proof of it.

"I-I think that we should b-be focusing on G-Glory." Tara said.

Willow and Buffy stopped asking questions and looked at Tara sheepishly. Giles snapped out of his stupor and Dawn's grin faded away. Xander and Harry smiled at her in thanks.

"The spell I have in mind is a modified spell for wizard babies. Young wizards have burst of accidental magic and some babies have them as well. The spells are usually placed in the cribs or rooms and they contain the wizard's magic. With a few changes I can change the spell to keep magic or outside mystical, magical or divine influence out instead." Harry explained.

"So you're gonna do some wizard spell and go in and kill Glory?" Buffy asked callously. "What do we need to get? Can you do it tonight?"

"I'm afraid it's not that simple." Harry hesitated. "With the changes I have in mind the spell will drain me short to the point of passing out. Someone else will need to go in."

"But my slayerness will be gone and the others can't do anything!"

"Actually Buff…that's not quite true. I can do something." Xander said. "You remember the hyena? Well, I do to and it didn't quite leave like we had planned. Instead, it left something behind."

"B-but you said you didn't remember." Willow's lip trembled.

"I do." Xander said quietly. Harry squeezed Xander's fingers. It was his time to comfort the other boy.

"The hyena left a kind of echo. I've always felt it, but it hadn't really done anything to me. Until I met Harry." He looked down at the other boy. "I knew from the moment that I met Harry that we were meant to be together. It wasn't until Dracula showed up that things began to really change." He looked back toward his friends.

"We were both under the thrall, but we were both still connected. When Buffy killed Dracula our bond kind of broke and then became different." Xander closed his eyes and called up his power. He opened them and the others gasped at the glowing yellow green of his eyes.

"I'm still human, but I'm different now. I'm stronger and faster. My senses are stronger."

"But you're still our Xander-shaped friend!" Willow wailed in denial. "You can't be-be not normal!"

Harry narrowed his eyes at the stupid chit when he felt the slight flinch that Xander gave. He would have said something, but Xander beat him to the punch.

"Willow, I can hear your heart beating."

Willow grew quiet. Tara grasped her girlfriend's hand.

"Are you evil?" Dawn asked quietly. The girls had told her long ago about Xander's stint on the wild side.

"If he's evil then I'm evil." Harry's eyed flared the same yellow green making her jump.

"How?" Giles asked staring at the duo.

"It's partially my fault, the Hellmouth's and Dracula's. We were already bonded, but our connection was forced to grow and evolve. Xander and I share the same hyena abilities."

"Why didn't you tell me sooner?" Willow turned big hurt eyes to Xander.

"How would you have reacted Willow?" Harry asked. "Would you have accused us of being under some sort of spell? Would you have feared him or ridiculed him for something like this happening? Would you have tried to fix Xander? Fix us?"

Tears welled up in Willow's eyes.

"What I am, what we are, isn't something that can or should be fixed Willow. I like being this way, and I like being with Harry. Would you have really tried to take my mate away? My happiness?" Xander searched his oldest friend's face for an answer. Willow began crying and Tara pulled her into a hug.

Xander sighed and let go of Harry. He walked toward Willow and put his hand on her shoulder.

"I love you like a sister Wills, but sometimes you try to interfere when you shouldn't. That's why I didn't tell you. We wanted to wait until we were sure that you were ready. I hate that we have to do this now." Xander shook his head.

"Willow, what you need to understand is that I can't stay the same person forever. I mean sure, I will always have my undying love for Twinkies, but parts of me will change. If I didn't I would still be trying to declare my undying love for Buffy and sending Angel long distance hate vibes. People change Will. Peoples grow up and you can't stop something like that. You were right earlier Willow. I am your Xander-shaped friend, but what you need to understand is that no matter how much I change I will always be your Xander-shaped friend."

Willow threw her arms around his neck and started crying. Xander held his best friend close until her sobs died down to light sniffles. He leaned back and kissed her on the forehead.

"I will always be your Xander-shaped friend." She gave him a teary smile and leaned back into Tara's arms. Willow looked up at Harry who was watching the proceedings closely.

"You take care of my friend okay? If not, I'll have to beat you to death with a shovel and I'd rather not have to do that."

Harry nodded at the redheaded witch with wide eyes.

Giles cleared his throat.

"I'm a desperately sorry that I have to interrupt such a touching moment, but we need to get started. Harry what do we need?"

Harry straightened at the serious change in conversation. Bonding time was over. Now, it was time to get to work.