Master Xander

Chapter 37

Saturday-Diagon Alley

The following Saturday morning was a whirlwind for both Ceraine and Alex, as they attended a flurry of meetings among the magical and non-magicals. Britain's secret services were daunting, asking scores of questions as well as providing valuable intelligence to both sides. Among the reports was data on an attack on a premier scientific symposium being held at a five-star hotel in North America where scientists and technical experts from across the world were there for their annual meeting. The building exploded, killing dozens and wounding hundreds. The perpetrators were caught by American agents both magical and mundane. To the shock of British agents (including the perpetrators), both died by spontaneous combustion. Inheritor agents burning alive rather than surrendering or being captured was becoming commonplace.

In China, the magical clan of the Shaung Chi, the order of the ancient magic, was attacked. Several members were killed by wand users before they were driven off. The order was furious, and the known wand users in China almost found themselves in a war as tensions increased. The United order was able to calm things down and now the secretive Shaung Chi were now forced allies, quietly preparing for war, against the Inheritors.

In Macon Georgia, a rift opened and something with far too many tentacles, containing far too many teeth, attempted to come through. Before it could emerge, it was met and attacked by a team of twenty, consisting of goblins, wand users, special forces handling large caliber, explosive tipped rounds, and a half dozen fairy warriors. Twenty hard fought minutes later the unidentified, severely injured, dimensional organism retreated back into the rift which closed as if it was never there in the first place. The wounded were evacuated. The inhabitants of Macon never knew the danger they were in.

As far as rifts went, this was a lesser operation. Alex was proud of them all. They acted as a cohesive team and didn't require one of the masters of the mystic arts for support. They handled it themselves. The training was bearing fruit.

Ceraine was gone on one of her buying-hunting-gathering excursions for the store they were barely in. if things continued like this, he would have to get help. The store was only opened three days a week, but it was flourishing. Ceraine and Alex needed help in running day-today operations. Perhaps some of the older Hogwarts students, Saturdays only, might be interested. Molly might want to help out. It would get her out of the house, and she could play with some of the non-magical appliances she was dying to try out when no one was looking.

His store was very profitable, but only if he and Ceraine were there to see to the customers. The cover up it gave them had served to garner them a reputation beyond the part-time teaching gig. The cover made them popular as well as giving transparency among the magicals that were more than simply curious. It was apparently the perfect undercover for an open cover operation among the people.

Alex found it funny and very encouraging at how the customers loved watching pizza cook in the non-magical oven by using simple convection heat. Their response to the taste of Coke or Pepsi, for the first time, depending on their preferences, never got old. The taste of the regular non-wizarding beverages enamored them because it was cheaper compared to the competition.

He knew the popularity for what it was–novelty. But it pulled them in, and he and Ceraine kept them. Just as importantly, it exposed them to the non-magical world. It was something both wanted. The wizards and witches, enchanted by the books and novels always sold out. And they always loved the music, and how it came out of a 'muggle' box and worked without the use of magic at all. They also loved the stores stock of hard-to-get magical items so much, that they were willing to spend serious money to obtain them. He could have charged them several times the amount, but he never did. The customers were happy. Magical or not, saving money was a lovely experience.

He was about to close the store and take a quick inventory of things, something he hadn't done for a while. That was Ceraine's job, but he needed to get on it before she slapped him on the back of his head or something for being a slacker. Oh, how he hated that word. It triggered bad memories.

The last customers, a couple of teenagers and their parents left ten minutes before he was set to close. Alex was smiling. It was something about his store that brought families together. Parents and young ones came in together more often than not. Even Minister fudge and his wife rarely, if ever, came in separately.

Once the store was closed, he would read the latest combat reports in detail and see how well the group worked together, repelling this latest threat. The dimensional creature wasn't as deadly as some of the others patiently waiting in the darkness. It wasn't one of the demonic vampire breeds, but he counted it as a good thing. They needed to start off small. He was still training the heavier hitters, and they needed time. They were getting better.

Ceraine was a hard taskmaster, and he worked them as well. Their knowledge in using their wand combat magic using previously unknown spells, was improving and when they combined it with their ever growing wandless abilities, they were formidable. But they needed more experience and training-education. A lot of these new dimensional infiltrators fed on their type of magic. He needed to teach them to counter that.

Then there were some of the Hogwarts students. After this tri-wizard contest was finished, he would look into training a few of them. He had already picked out who he wanted. Harry was however, a wildcard. Honestly, he wasn't stable, Neither was Ron. And Dumbledore hadn't helped the situation with his clumsy attempts at poisoning the kids with potions again. He just seemed to believe simple manipulation just wasn't enough. Arthur and Molly were very careful when they were around him.

But Harry went through so much on his own. He needed an adult role model, and it wasn't Dumbledore. The man's convoluted plans, coupled with his enormous responsibilities, were too complex. He cared for Harry, but some of the things he did and the ways he acted towards him sometimes made Alex truly worry about the old man.

Alex believed he was partly to blame as well. He knew better, but hadn't taken enough time to work with him. He had been too focused on Ron. After thinking about it for all of ten seconds, he resolved to correct this problem as soon as the contest was completed. Whenever.

He was so young, but Harry was impressive, especially when confronting and handling the dragon. The boy had potential and Alex promised to work with him, if he were interested. However, before that, he would have to get past all of those roadblocks in the boy's mind. And Dumbledore's plans were an enigma. He watched the old man carefully, as much as he was being watched in return. It was almost a game, not between enemies but more life adversaries, or perhaps contestants. He hated thinking of Harry as a prize. He was fighting for a boy's life, something that Giles had done for him precisely at the right time. Because of what happened in his life, Alex resolved to support him as Giles, and his uncle Roy had in those crazy days of his youth.

The last customers left minutes ago, and Alex was about to close shop. But before he could do so, two men entered. The hair on the back of Alex's head stood up as the two began casually examining everything a little too closely. The magical warning silently triggered a few second later. But Harris was already on alert. It was an instinct, a warning honed throughout almost four decades on living off and on hell mouths. Years ago, he called his own internal warning his football jock bully instinct.

In its carrier, his wand Jessie twitch. Alex took note of it, as it confirmed what he already knew. This was the second time these two strangers had entered his store. A couple of months earlier, they had come in and examined the store like professional inspectors, and then left. He had taken note of it that time.

A quick scanning spell indicated they weren't Death Eaters and not connected to the Ministry. Ministry officials had a distinctive magical tag that both he and Ceraine could identify. These two were different. They had the same magical aura that the remains of those who attacked MI-6 had, their bodies of those saboteurs underwent spontaneous combustion, but there was still enough of their magical auras left to detect. His ability to detect those distinctive auras was a gift of being 'one who sees' and in combination with the gifts left to him by the spirit of the Alpha Hyena. Magical auras were very distinctive to the alpha, so much so that he could detect family groups, if he so chose to do so. Which he didn't. What was going on with the Hogwarts students and their blood lines, he didn't even want to think about.

This time, the two healthy-looking men barely browsed at anything in the store. Apparently, they were making sure that he was alone. After about a minute, the first man, a tall dirty blond male, wearing squared glasses, obviously magical in nature, chose to speak to him.

"Hello Mister Harris?" the man asked politely. He knew who Alex was. He was going down a checklist, making sure that this was the person he wanted.

"Hello," Alex brightly answered. He moaned internally. He sounded so much like Willow, even after all of these years. "That's me. How can I help you? Is there anything that you have in mind that we can get for you?"

"No," the man responded cooly. "We were just looking around and wanted to see your store. Is Mis Delane around?"

"I'm sorry, she's not here," Alex replied. "Out on one of her shopping trips. Got to keep the store supplied, you know."

"I quite understand," the first man in the dark robes responded. He looked understanding, but Alex saw what was under the surface. The man was a tightened coil, waiting to spring. The second man, a brunette, reminded Alex of a rattlesnake.

"I wanted to speak to both of you, sadly that can't happen now. Perhaps later," he added, while he glanced at Alex. "I wanted to speak to you about your classes at Hogwarts, and this store. All of it, actually." The man seemed amused by something.

Alex looked perplexed. "Is there something wrong?" So they're finally revealing themselves Alex thought. His psychic and mental shields were up. He expected some form of mental intrusion and he was correct as the smaller man attempted to perform a not-so-subtle spell.

Alex pretended not to notice. "Sounds ominous," he muttered to himself loud enough for them to hear it.

The first man smiled. "Oh, nothing so serious, sir. But there is something you should be aware o. We've heard complaints from certain prominent family members about some of your classes involving muggle history." The man laughed lightly as such an absurdity. "It seems that you have been teaching that muggles are equal to us wizards, that they are intelligent, at least on the level of us in the magical world." He looked around. "Some of your items 'ere are muggle-based. Those things are dangerous and unreliable. Somebody could get hurt trying to use such things," he sniffed.

"We all know muggles are brutal savages," the second man told Alex. His voice had a slightly nasal tone to it, "incapable of changing their natures. Trying to make them seem civilized is causing dissension. You Americans sometimes forget the magical community is separated from the lesser animals for a reason."

"Your teachings," the first man sneered, as his veneer of politeness fell away. "It needs to be readjusted. That's why we're here," he smiled. "We suggest you change your approach, be less positive in your, shall we say, exuberance in teaching all of the lies you have spread at the school." He smiled again. "This store, for example, should be updated to reflect a more proper magical representation. Get rid of all those muggle things and foods. It would make life for you a lot simpler, and we would all be happier."

Alex looked at him. "May I ask a question, please?"

"Yes, you may," the man answered, smiling.

There was also a dark undercurrent in that smile that screamed for Alex to tread carefully. The man smiled too much.

"Who are we?" asked Alex, in the same manner as Willow would have when she was ready to vaporize a vampire.

The man's smile faltered for a second. "Why the Ministry of Magic, of course."

All pretense of civility withered away from Alex. "I don't think so. Minister fudge would have told me. You're a liar. You sound like a Death Eater. Who are you?"

The man laughed while the second man looked at him hostilely. "Ah bloke, you got me. Death Eaters? Hardly," he said, shaking his head. "I see it now. there's no convincing you," he snorted. "Americans. You never listen to the obvious."

"What's obvious?" he asked.

"The first man smiled once more. He began speaking slowly so that Alex could understand him. "To listen to your instincts, obviously."

The second man all but growled. "Mister Harris, it is obvious that you are in trouble."

"Oh, I knew that a long time ago," the professor smirked as he rolled his eyes. Then, he punched the first man who was invading his personal space, hard in the face. "I never liked bullies."

The man reeled back as Alex broke his nose. The second man whipped out his wand as Jessie leaped into Alex's hand.

"Now you've done it," the first man hissed through his pain. Using his wand, he attempted to heal himself, relying on his partner to deal with the arrogant blog. "We tried doing this the easy way!"

An instant later, he forgot his pain as he started fighting for his life. His partner wasn't doing much better, as the man they dismissed as a magical weakling had them both on the defensive using a wand, and wandless magic. The rumors were badly mistaken.

A magical shield blocked several powerful spells from his partner. Neither one of them had seen the type of magic used by Alex. This shopkeeper turned out to be a magical powerhouse. In unspoken agreement. Both men didn't hold back. This had become a death match.

The American wand pushed out a spell. The man with the broken nose had trouble countering. The second created a magical shield that kept him from becoming an ice sculpture. It held. But the shield cracked a moment later, much to the shock of the second man.

Both men backed off now, regrouping for another round of attacks. Their enemy just stood there, waiting. Slowly, the wand left his hand, glowing brightly. It made sounds like women singing, accompanied by some ancient, hysterically laughing monster. Then, without warning, Jessie attacked the second man with incredibly powerful spells. The man screamed and fought back using every spell and incantation his mind could think of to defend himself. He screamed and ducked again as the wand tried to stake him.

Broken nose was frozen for a moment, trying to conceive how this was even possible before Alex interrupted his thoughts.

"Your friend is busy right now," Alex said coldly. "You thought this would be easy, didn't you? Of course, you did. "This store is my domain. Forget about apparating or calling for help. It won't happen."

The man snarled and unleashed a cutting spell, combined with two death-inducers. They were blocked by a golden shield covered in runes. Alex had simply conjured, and the shield appeared. Now, the man found himself on the defensive as the American attacked him with wandless magic of a type he had never seen before. The spells came from every direction. The shield blocked his attacks and changed colors to a menacing blue and purple. Alien spells erupted from the edges of the shield while the shield blocked every offensive and counter spell broken nose could think of.

He couldn't defend himself from all of them. He screamed for help. But his partner was already down, shivering from a spell that Jessie had shot at him. The man was convulsing, and half frozen. The Icy Tendrils Of Ikthalon slammed into his body. The spell lasted only five seconds, but its effect was like being hit by the cold of space. The second man lay there unable to think, much less move. Jessie twirled lazily as it circled his body.

The bloodied man was close to panic. He couldn't escape. his spells were deflected and his defenses were crumbling. Suddenly his wand caught fire, being turned to ash, the result of being hit by a thin ray of magical flame. A bolt of magical–something, knocked him to the floor. Completely exhausted, all he could do was to glare at his former prey with withering hatred.

"Sorry about your wand," Alex muttered, not being sorry at all. "Faltine flame is a pain to handle. They always burn something," he casually added. With a movement of his hands, both men stood up and faced Alex. The spell being used was familiar, yet completely unknown to both men. Magic itself was holding them up. And they were afraid.

"I know who you are," Alex said as his Cloak appeared from nowhere and draped itself around his shoulders. "I consider you no better than leeches. Think about what I just said. Consider this a warning. Tell me everything. Now."

The bloody nosed man managed to smile. "We'll tell you nothing! If you kill us, it won't matter. Our minds and secrets are locked. You try to force us and you will trigger a spell that will kill us both. Our people will know and hunt you and your slut down like dogs."

Alex figured as much. "Well, I tried." Casually he pointed that the second man's wand and broke it into several dozen pieces. "If I were to kill you now, then your people will detect it anywhere on Earth." Both men were surprised. "Yes, I know more than you think. I'll have to use my imagination."

The air in the store suddenly chilled, and the light dimmed. Xander Harris, a master of the Mystic arts, began moving his hands and fingers in exotic patterns. Light and power emanated from his hands, while he spoke words of power in a language neither paralyzed man had heard before. A portal opened and all three men were sucked into another dimension faster than their brains could process the transition.

The three of them found themselves in a mono-colored reality. The two men looked awestruck. They could feel the magic, and the absolute threat of being here.

"This is the purple dimension," Alex told the terrified men. "Aggamon the Tyrant, is the ruler here. If he finds you, you will become his slave and work his mines until you die, or if something eats you. And that is the problem you face. The creatures here love to snack on magical things. You'll know you're being hunted when you hear those high squeals." Alex paused a moment, listening. "Oops, I think they know you're here. You'd better start running. These creatures like their food fresh."

The second man, still recovering from being half frozen, looked at Alex, his eyes filled with loathing and growing fear. "I can't run! Your curse!" he screamed. "You can't leave us here!" the second man yelled. His terror was extreme.

"I gave you a chance to tell me what I wanted to know. You refused. Your deaths are on your own heads now."

"You think we'll crack?" the first man yelled at Alex.

"No, I expect you to be true to yourselves and your calling." Another scream. Louder and closer this time. "Well, I have to go. I hope you are up on your wandless magic. You will need it here. Oh, and think of yourselves as a casualty of war if it makes you feel better."

"My people will come for you, the first man screamed. "They will make you pay, you muggle lover!"

Alexander Lavell Harris' smile was cold. "Muggles rule," he whispered as his wand slipped back into his hoister and he stepped back into his store, leaving them there.

He spent the next hours removing all traces of the two men from the store and the surrounding block. When he was finished, it was as if they had never been. It helped that the two men had covered their tracks in Diagon Alley, to make sure no one had seen or noticed them.

Now, it was the Inheritors' next move , minus two, in the war.