Master Xander

Chapter Thirty-Four

Weasley Manor

"Before you try to stuff me with food again, Mrs. Weasley, I want to go through our lessons again," drawled Alex. "I've picked three of your children for the training but before I do anything I want to teach you the basics to you both. I can't do that right now if you try to force me to eat first. If worse comes to worse, then we'll do this at my place."

Molly blanched. "I do not want to study with all of those magical creatures flying around looking at me," grumbled the woman. "It's embarrassing and makes me feel like I'm at Hogwarts again. Me! At my age?"

"Well then, no cooking until after this lesson.," Alex responded with just a touch of mirth. Before we start with lesson three, let's do a fast recap. Wizards and witches in this world have a magical core. Let me correct myself. Everyone in this world has a magical core, but it is accessed differently. Some can access and use magic. Others cannot. You use wands, or in very rare cases staffs, as a focus for your magic. If a wand isn't used, then it is called wandless magic or sorcery. I disagree with the way that term is defined, but I will not argue about that now. Dumbledore uses wandless magic and is considered one of the greatest wizards as well as one of the greatest sorcerers in the world.

"Your magic comes from within. And because of that, I am teaching you how to use some of that magic without your wands. Now, because you're so old," he smiled, "it may take a little longer to get it which is why I have been teaching you meditation techniques how to feel your magical cores, literally communicate with it, and finally be able to expand and begin to use it, using your body as a focus rather than the wand. This will do three things for you. First, you will not need to use your wands in time if you choose not to. Second, you are in control of your core, and no outside forces can bind your cores unless you allow them to. And lastly, your core acts as a mental backup. You cannot be memory wiped as your cores keep what is you, inside it as a backup. That backup is always being renewed. That means your capacity to retain memories will significantly increase."

Arthur's face scrunched up. "I thought it was just me, but my memory does seem to be better these days."

"Six weeks of focusing on your inner selves will do that to you," Alex told him. "Like Ceraine, you both are born to magic. Let's do a simple test. I want you to concentrate and create a portal from here to connect to my home in London. You've seen me do it lots of times and you've seen my hand movements. I want you to follow those hand movements while focusing on your cores and using that power. I want you to create an opening. Forget apparating. Forget about portkeys. Forget about your wands. This is you."

It took a couple of hours, but they were both were able to create small portals and maintain it for several seconds. Both were exuberant and utterly exhausted.

"Excellent, my students!" beamed Alex. "That was a great start, better than me when I first tried. With an external focus. That was true wandless magic. Now, I want you to keep practicing on this. In about a week, it will become second nature and you will not get tired, and the spell will be almost instantaneous. Naturally, this will be the last technique that I will teach the boys."

"Why?" asked Molly. A second later, she gasps. "They wouldn't!"

Alex shrugged. "They're boys. No girl's dorm would be safe, not with their imagination and that ability. I have to place some limiters on them temporarily for their own safety, as well as the girls."

Despite being exhausted, Molly cooked a sumptuous meal and Alex showed his appreciation by consuming every morsel. Arthur was content and trying hard not to burp, much to Alex's amusement. The man was about to take an anti-gas potion before Alex discouraged him. He explained that using potions for every little thing wasn't in his body's best interest. Non-magicals discovered that using medicines for every little ailment caused more problems and addictions than they cured, and magical potions followed the same pattern. So, go natural sometimes and let nature take its course. Of course, Molly didn't have to be there when nature took its course.

Molly gave Alex one of her most dirty looks and secretly thanked Merlin the children weren't there to listen in on this conversation.

"Mister Harris," Molly said in her most serious voice. "I want to know what that evil woman said to you."

Alex smiled. "Why do you call her evil?"

"she really is," Arthur added before Molly could go off on a rant. "The woman is power hungry, interferes with everyone at the Ministry trying to do their business, reports to Minister Fudge as a spy, and because of her authority, she has had several people in the Ministry fired for standing up to her. And Fudge allows her to get away with this. I think she is after his job, and everybody knows it. But he uses her as a shield to keep others from looking at him too closely."

"She is building up her power a bit at a time and Fudge is too focused on the Dearth Earthers to even notice it." Molly grumbled. "I understand his worries, but he ATTACKED MY SON, and Harry and the others! If Arthur hadn't been there…"

Mrs. Weasley was furious and still terrified at what could have happened and she blamed Fudge for almost hurting the children. The man was so frightened, he couldn't tell the difference between children and Hooded Death Eaters!

"Fudge is making the classic mistake most politicians do. They love the position but not the responsibility when the going gets rough. They shift the blame of pass the galleon. Minister Fudge might do the going the same thing. He will let things fall apart when the going get tough. Everybody will suffer and Dolores will step in. She's a pure blood monster and she'll be worse than ever."

"Alex," Molly warned. "She is dangerous. You cannot deal with someone as treacherous as that woman. You gave her your memories! She can use those against you!"

Alex shook his head. "I showed her the memories, but she can't pass them on. If she tries to pull them out of her mind, then they will shred and fall apart. Those memories can't be magically stored because they are encrypted, which means she would have to break a code to externally access them in any form or fashion." He smiled viciously. "and I don't have the code. It's at my home base away from this… place."

"But she will try," Arthur insisted.

"Of course she will." Alex looked across the table at his two friends. "Minister Umbridge is a dangerous woman. But I've been around dangerous women all my life. It's my mantra. In my teenage years and early twenties. I had a girl friend who was a mummy brought back to life. She was beautiful, but she needed the life force of others to remain 'alive'. We had to put her back before she sucked everyone dry. It wasn't her fault, but we didn't have a choice. Then there was a school teacher, who was a magical creature, we think. She could have been an alien life form. Whatever. She tried to seduce me so she could have children, little baby flame thingies, but she would eat me while we had sex." He shivered. "we had to take her out."

"I have an insane master vampires seer who wanted me as her pet. It claimed to love me, but who knows what that meant? Then I had a vampire slayer, well two of them who used me for their own purposes and I had to deal with that. Then there was Anya, an ancient vengeance demon. She was power, and I almost married her. There was Cordelia, whose tongue was so sharp, it dripped molecular acid, that is a super strong solvent that can dissolve anything on Earth. The ancient creature Umar the Unrelenting, In loved that name, wanted me to give her progeny so that she could raise an army to destroy her equally insane brother. I almost forgot about Wednesday Addams, Vampire Slayer, but she was too intense, even for me. But I think we could have made it if it wasn't for Buffy hating her guts. Buffy was too perky, and Wednesday is best described as anti-perky. They were both dominant warriors. The two didn't mix.

"The only normal acting woman I was involved with was Ceraine's sister, but she was royalty and we couldn't come together because of it, even though we are still good friends. Rita is a reporter and kind of mercenary, but I understand her and I do like her. So, the point is, I can handle Delores."

Both Weasleys looked at him in shock. "You should write a book," Arthur muttered. "I'd read it. Twice."

"I could have gone and attacked her, insulted her. But I am trying a different approach. My experience gives me an edge she can't handle now or later."

"She'll turn on you," Molly warned.

"Once my usefulness to her is ended, no question. When she tries, I will make her suffer emotionally. That's another thing I learned from my lady friends. Guilt 101, 102, and 103. If she plays nice, so will I. But she won't," he growled.

"Your life is insane!" Arthur exclaimed.

"Tell me about it," Xander confirmed. "I am an avatar for chaos." He smiled hysterically. "Or, so I've heard."