Chapter 2

TITLE: Harry Potter and the Technomage

AUTHOR: Methos (ianblyth2005@btinternet.com)

DISCLAIMER: All things BtVS belong to Joss Whedon, Crusade and Technomagi belong to J M Strazynski, Harry Potter, Hogwarts and all that belong to J K Rowling... nothing is mine, only the extremely twisted idea...

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Xander was possibly even more nervous now around Professor Dumbledore than he had been around the giant of a man Hagrid. The aura of power coming from the seemingly aged professor in front of him was almost tangible, it filled the air with a sort of static charge, Xander was half tempted to try his implants again to see if he could quantify it, see if he could verify its existence or if it was just him being more nervous than normal.

He’d tried accessing the implants a few times before, in Sunnydale and once on the train ride here, each time he’d met with a little more success than the time before, which still wasn’t much more than a vague tingle in the implants when he activated them. From what he knew of the character, Galen wasn’t limited to using his staff for magic, he could do it with just a wave of his hands, the first time Xander had tried that he almost fell unconscious from the way the implants responded to him.

Willow had tried to explain it, the way the implants were grown for Galen, they were rigid and grown to the way he thought about doing things, and the way he did spells, which was nothing like the way Xander was currently doing them. Galen used mathematical formula to do spells, he had all his spells neatly organised in progressive rows where each one was a slight evolution of the one before, a strict orderly mind according to the books and TV show, something that Xander sorely lacked.

His mind just didn’t work like that, his imagination was constantly firing ideas and images into his head, the way he saw it, if he wanted to do magic, he had to first visualise what he wanted to happen, and then use the incantation for it to work. So far it had worked with the staff, and with his new wand, but he’d only tried it once with the implants, and that hadn’t really gone according to plan...

=/^\=

“Come on Xander, concentrate.” Willow explained again as they both focused on the book on the table, with his staff and a simple ‘Wingardium Leviosa’ charm Xander could easily send the book up towards the ceiling and further, without the staff it was a different matter though.

Buffy was out with Angel somewhere, looking out for The Judge with Spike and Drusilla. Xander and Willow were trying to get his implants back on line and Giles was doing research in the back, over all everyone was busy and the library smelled of stale pizza from their meal that was forgotten on the table.

“Wingardium Leviosa!” Xander shouted again at the book, motioning with his hands, this time he got a slight wobble from the book but nothing like he should have received.

“See, the implants just have to retrain themselves for your way of thinking.” Willow smiled as she hugged him. “Just keep trying and I’ll be back soon.”

“Where you going Wills?” Xander asked, turning to her as she walked to the door of the library.

“You know...” She blushed a bit as she danced a bit with her feet.

“Right, bathroom.” Xander smiled as he shook his head and Willow ran out the door, some things never change. Standing up he stretched for a moment before he walked through to the back room to see how Giles was doing. “Hey G-Man, any progress?”

“Xander, as you are now a magic user in your own right, do you think you could hold some decorum and actually call me by my name instead of that god awful moniker you insist on attaching to me?” Giles said, not even breaking concentration as he turned a page in the book.

“Was that brit speak for don’t call me G-Man?” Xander quipped with a grin.

“God help us all.” Giles muttered as he slammed the book shut.

“Sorry.” Xander had the good sense to at least look admonished, he was really thank full to Giles for all the help he had given him through this tough time, and even though he didn’t show it often enough, he thought of Giles as more a father to him than his own, and should probably respect him more, but his jokester side wouldn’t allow it for too long.

“It’s alright Xander, I know you’re just trying to lighten the mood, how and you and Willow coming along with your implants?” Willow had explained Xander’s trouble to Giles, and even though he didn’t really understand the nature of the biological technology, he could grasp the idea that they weren’t used to Xander’s mind yet, and that it would take time for them to adjust.

“Good, I managed to get a book to wobble.” Xander half heartedly grinned; it was progress, not much but progress none the less.

“That’s good; it shows those things are actually learning from you then.” Giles smiled, he’d seen what Xander was now capable of with the staff, they had tried most of the incantations that he knew with his wand, and had translated them into movements for Xander’s staff. Though it appeared the staff was still learning as well, as they discovered last night when Xander tried a simple ‘Lumos’ charm that should have resulted in the end of Xander’s staff glowing softly, the result was a bit more violent than that and had bathed the entire library in a bright white light, blinding everyone for about fifteen minutes after the light had been extinguished.

“Yeah, it’s tough work though, I’ve only been at it about half an hour and I feel like I just ran a marathon.” Xander muttered wiping his brow, for some reason trying to get the implants to work was actually hard work, they seemed dormant, asleep almost, and it took every bit of his energy to get them to wake up and actually do what he wanted. It was becoming easier though, the first time he tried accessing them to do something it wiped him out completely for the rest of the day, even then he couldn’t do anything with them, only get them to tingle as they awoke.

“I received another letter from Professor Dumbledore yesterday, I explained your predicament to him and he agrees with me that it would be best if you actually attended a magic school of such.” Giles explained the contents of the letter, watching Xander carefully, gauging his reaction.

“He’s the teacher of one, this Dumbledore guy right? He teaches as a magic school, the one you went to?” Xander asked carefully, actually thinking about what he was planning to do with his future, being around people that didn’t scorn him, and having to constantly hide his new ‘implants’ from them would definitely be a bonus.

“Yes, he is the headmaster, the principal if you will, of Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry in Scotland; it’s the best in the country, possibly one of the best in the world, no finer place if you actually want to learn about magic.” Giles puffed out his chest in pride, ever since Xander had come into his abilities the memories of his time at Hogwarts had come flashing back, he could barely go a day now without thinking of his old friends, James and Lilly, he was the best man at their wedding, that was just before his father had him shipped off to the Watchers Academy. Part of him knew that his father pushed him away from that world because of the war between the ministry of magic and you-know-who and that his father just wanted him to be safe. Another part of him would never forgive his father for tearing him away from his friends, his new family, just to follow in his footsteps.

“Xander!” A shrill cry from the next room broke Giles and Xander out of their musings, breaking into a flat run Xander made it out from the back room followed shortly by Giles, the lights were out in the main library and the room was filled with the glow of the lamps from Giles’ office. In the middle of the room Willow was being held by Angel, who had his hand wrapped around her neck tightly, his other hand held Xander’s staff.

“Let her go overbite!” Xander snarled, edging towards Angel before stopping as Angel made a sudden movement with his arm as if to break Willow’s neck.

“Right, droopy, whatever you say.” Angel snarled back, it was then than Xander noticed that Angel was in full vamp mode, he actually looked like he would kill Willow, and had his teeth dangerously close to her neck. “I’ve seen what you can do with this thing, thought I’d better not risk it.” He stomped the staff on the floor, causing the sound to echo through the library.

“Let her go now Angel.” Giles stated coldly, his arm extended where he had his wand pointed directly at Angel.

“That’s not Angel, is it?” Xander said, almost with a feral grin at Angel. “It’s Angelus.”

“Point to the boy, maybe he isn’t as stupid as he looks,” Angelus snarled back at Xander, “Still looks like he’d fail the entrance exam to an American college though.”

Xander shook his head, not sure whether that was actually an insult or not, but he wasn’t about to let Angelus know he’d got one over on him. “What do you want?”

“To dance in your entrails droopy, bathe in the watchers blood, and drain red here ‘till she’s dry as the Sahara.” Angelus snarled out, leaning down into Willow’s neck to bite her.

“Expelliramus!” Xander shouted, pointing both hands at Angelus and Willow, he wasn’t sure if it would work, he was even less sure of the effect it would have without his staff, but it was the only spell that came to mind that wouldn’t hurt willow if his aim was off.

He was actually surprised when the implants did activate, the tingle rushed through his body, amplified by the adrenaline and he felt the spell rush through his hands as a bright white light shot from his hands sending both Willow and Angelus flying back into the wall with tremendous force.

“Willow!” He breathed out, running over to her now slumped form after she had impacted with the wall with enough force to leave an imprint. Angelus was likewise out cold, blood ran from his head where he hasn’t been as lucky as Willow to land against the wall, he had hit the metal book cage with the full force on the spell, Xander’s staff was rolling on the floor where Angelus had dropped it and both him and Willow were completely unconscious.

“Willow!” He shouted again as he cradled her head in his lap and tears started running down his face.

“Control Xander, magic is always about control.” Giles shouted as he made his way over to Willow’s unconscious form and started waving his wand in complicated movements in the air.

=/^\=

“Lemon drop?” The absurdity of the question broke Xander out of his memories.

“Uh, yeah, thanks.” Xander accepted the small yellow sweet he was offered with a smile, unwrapping it carefully he popped it into his mouth and sucked on it for a moment in silence as Professor Dumbledore seemed to inspect him.

“I have to say, from the way Rupert described you, you’re not quite what I had imagined.” Dumbledore started with a wry smile. “But then, nothing ever is what you imagine, is it?”

For the second time Xander was left at a loss for words as the Professor seemed to switch gears so quickly. “I suppose not.” Xander quipped after decoding Professor Dumbledore’s comment in his head, it still didn’t make much sense, but he figured it would make sense at a later point, or drive him mad for the rest of the year trying to figure it out.

“Rupert explained what had happened to you, and the events surrounding your leave from Sunnydale, I must say I believe you’ve made the correct decision in coming here, we can all help you coming to terms with your new power. Now, while you are a lot older than the rest of the people in your year, don’t let it put you off making friends with them, as I said before, Ronald Weasley and Harry Potter are two good people to have as friends, I noticed you defending them outside.” Dumbledore continued, popping another lemon drop into his mouth.

“Yeah, the age thing is ok, Giles, Rupert that is,” Xander caught himself just in time. “Explained it to me, I want to learn control and it seems best to start at the beginning.”

“As everything is.” Dumbledore agreed as he stood up from his chair and moved to inspect Xander’s staff. “Do you mind?”

“No, please.” Xander smiled, holding the staff out for Dumbledore to take.

“Now Rupert explained that you can use this as a wand, as well as having your own... abilities,” Dumbledore paused as he tried to remember exactly how Rupert had described Xander’s source of power.

“I have a wand as well.” Xander said with a smile, fetching the wand out from his pocket where he had stashed it before the house elves started taking his luggage away with everyone else’s. He held the wand out for Dumbledore to take, and smiled when he held it against the staff to compare.

“Simply amazing.” Dumbledore smiled as he passed both items back to Xander. “Now, while you are on school grounds I must request that you only use the wand, I understand that the staff is part of you, Rupert said you wouldn’t go anywhere without it.” He paused as he watched Xander nod in agreement. “But I must ask for the student’s safety, please restrict yourself to the wand in classrooms and on school grounds.”

“That’s fair enough.” Xander nodded as he relaxed a bit, he’d had frightening thoughts that they would want to take his staff away for the year, after the way Giles had yelled at him after the last spell he did with the staff, he didn’t know how anyone could trust him with it.

“Am I correct in the fact that no one else can use the staff as a conduit for their magic?” Dumbledore asked, considering the staff again.

“Giles, sorry Rupert tried and he couldn’t get anything to work, you’re welcome to try though if it would make you feel safer.” Xander offered the staff again and was surprised when Dumbledore refused it with a shake of his head.

“No my dear boy, I trust Rupert when it comes to these matters.” He smiled and clapped his hands twice, the doors behind them opened and a boy about Xander’s age walked in.

“Yes professor?” The boy asked respectfully.

“Ah Ian, would you please show Mister Harris to his room in the tower please, he’s bunking with Harry Potter and Ronald Weasley.” Dumbledore explained with a smile.

“Certainly, this way.” The boy who was introduced as Ian smiled at Xander as led him out of the room as Xander pocketed his wand again and held the staff tightly to his side.

“One last thing Mister Harris.” Dumbledore interrupted them before they had left the room. “Could you at least try and fit in with the school uniform, trousers, shirt and tie please, you may forgo the robes for your own coat though, I understand how cold Scotland must be coming from California, but the rest of the uniform has to stay.”

“Sorry,” Xander muttered as they continued out the door and Ian closed it behind them. He’d been intentionally avoiding putting on the school uniform he’d bought in Diagon Ally; he was more comfortable in his black jeans and sweater. The thought of having to wear dress shirt and tie all day just filled him with dread. “Don’t you get sick of wearing the same things every day?” Xander asked his guide as they started down the stairs and across the long corridors.

“You get used to it, it isn’t as bad as it seems, and since everyone dresses alike, no one can complain about the types of clothing you wear.” Ian explained as they came up to a large open room. “We’ll cut through here; this is where the duelling club normally holds its meetings.”

“Duelling?” Xander’s ears pricked up. “With swords and stuff?” he’d seen old movies with duelling in, and it was always swords or guns, figuring the school wouldn’t let students play with guns he assumed it would be swords, kind of like a fencing club he thought.

“Wands.” Ian practically read his mind. “One of you stands at one end of the pads and the other stands opposite, you duel until there is a clear victory, which isn’t normally very long. Come on, if we cut up these stairs we should catch up with the group that are being shown around, you’re in Gryffindor right?”

“Yeah.” Xander mumbled, a bit amused by the paintings he was passing that seemed to be alive, at least he hadn’t seen anymore ghosts yet, that was a definite plus.

“This is the most direct route to the dormitories, where you’ll be sleeping.” Ian explained at Xander’s quizzical look. “Watch out for the stairs, sometimes they move about.”

“What? They move? On their own?” Xander said, looking up. The entire tower stretched up for as far as he could see, up above he could see a few flights of stairs that were actually moving as they spoke. Glancing down he could see a group of students separating into two sets, each set looking equally bemused and amazed at the sight before them. “Right, stairs that move, check, weirder and weirder.” He muttered the last as he saw one of the groups moving towards a flight of stairs towards where he was stood.

“Harry Potter and Ronald Weasley, please follow me.” Ian shouted at the group of students being led by another older boy as they came up the stairs opposite him. He waited for the two students to look over and recognise Xander before they made their way across.

“It’s bloody amazing isn’t it?” Ron asked as they approached Xander and Ian.

Xander just nodded, smiling at the two younger boys. They watched the other older boy lead the rest of the Gryffindor away before Ian motioned for them to follow him. “Professor Dumbledore has put you three in the tower room above the main Gryffindor common room, if you’ll follow me I’ll show you how to get in.”

“Lead on Macduff.” Xander quipped, causing Ian to give him a strange look before he moved off up some other stairs and across another hallway.

“The paintings are moving.” Harry said out loud as they passed by a particularly large painting with a battle scene going on live in the painting.

“Yeah, I spotted that, weird but cool.” Xander grinned as he looked at the painting.

“Keep up you three.” Ian shouted as he came to a stop in front of a large painting of some sort of blonde warrior amazon.

“Password?” The painting asked.

“The paintings can talk too?” Xander asked in amazement.

Ian just nodded, smiling at the amazed faces on the trio before turning to the painting. “Hyena,” He said the word simply and the painting swung open. “Now remember your password, without it you won’t be able to get into the room.”

“Who chose the password?” Xander asked with a groan.

“Professor Dumbledore set it for you,” Ian explained with a curious smile. “He said it would mean something to you, but didn’t explain what.”

Ron and Harry just turned to Xander, curiosity plastered on their faces.

“A long story for another time.” Xander smiled as Ian led the way into the room. “Another time being never hopefully.” He muttered as he followed the younger boys into the room.

“Beds are though there, and this leads down to the common room.” Ian pointed to the painting. “The password is the same for the main door.” He smiled as all three students nodded. “I’ll leave you to unpack then; your belongings have already been brought up and placed on your beds along with your schedule for tomorrow.” Ian nodded to each of them before making his way out of the room and closing the painting behind him.

“Weird day,” Xander muttered as he made his way through the arch to find two single beds and one double bed, he assumed the double was for him since it had his belongings placed neatly on it. Around the room were wardrobes and draws with enough room for him to fit all his things, there was a large window on one side, and a small grassy area beneath it where grass and mud seemed to be growing out of the stone. On the grass was Pixel, seemingly quite content and pawing at the floor. “And it just keeps getting weirder.”

“I thought we’d be in a dorm with all the other boys.” Ron explained as he moved over and sat on the bed where his belongings had been placed. “Yeah, why did Dumbledore put us in a room with you? Not that there’s anything wrong with you of course.” Ron asked then hastily added the last part making Xander and Harry laugh.

“He didn’t say, only that he saw me defending you to that Draco kid outside and thought we could be friends, it was either that or me alone up here, and if it’s all the same to you I’d prefer the company.” Xander grinned as he started fetching things out of his suitcase, placing his coat on the hanger first of all then bundling his robes up and forcing them back in the suitcase.

“Well I think it’s brilliant, if it’s just us three then no one can tell us what to do.” Harry exclaimed, jumping on his bed and pulling out his belongings from his bags.

“Sounds good to me.” Xander grinned as he started putting things in their right places, he left a load of comic books on the bed and moved across to stuff his clothes in the draws, ignoring the fact that he was crumpling them up as he forced them in.

“Cool, comics, my dad would love to see these.” Ron exclaimed.

Harry smiled and moved over to see what Ron was leafing through, and old issue of Superman. He smiled and picked on an issue of Green Lantern before flicking through the rest, there were Supergirl ones, Green Lantern, The Flash and a few he didn’t recognise like Tomb Raider and The Darkness.

“Yeah didn’t know if I’d be able to get them over here, so I thought I’d better pack a load for reading if I get bored.” Xander smiled at Ron’s amazed expression as he flicked through the comics. “Your dad a collector then?” He asked.

“Nah, never seen one before in my life.” Ron exclaimed as he put down the Superman one and started flicking through an issue of Green Lantern.

“Then why would your dad love them?” Xander asked, intrigued and trying to figure out where he actually stood with the two boys, Harry seemed to have accepted them as just comics and moved back on to packing his stuff away, but Ron was treating them as if they were solid gold.

“My dad loves muggle things, the pictures, they don’t move or anything.” He said in amazement, tilting the pages every way he could and watching for a reaction.

“Nope, they’re just normal comics.” Xander chuckled, it made sense though, if their paintings moved, maybe the wizard comics did as well, like TV in comic book format. He shook his head as he tried to figure out how that would work before putting the idea aside for the moment and moving back to his unpacking. “Um, where’s the plug socket?” He asked, holding his clock radio up with a universal adaptor in his other hand for the plug.

“Electricity doesn’t work in Hogwarts, no technology does.” Ron explained as he put the comic down carefully and moved back to finish putting his things away.

“No electricity, right.” Xander started making a mental note of everything he had that would use electricity and trying to figure out how he could find non-powered versions of them all. “Have to get some shaving cream and a razor in town then, where’s the nearest town?”

“Hogsmead, across the lake where we got off the train.” Ron filled in, it was obvious he was the one to go to with any questions about this place; Harry just looked as amazed as Xander did about the whole ‘no electricity’ thing.

“Right, have to ask one of the teachers about that then.” Xander muttered, running his hand over his chin where he could already feel the stubble growing. He was at the point where he needed to shave about once a week, maybe twice now. It wasn’t getting a major problem, but he didn’t want to be singled out from the rest of his year any more than his age and height difference did already.

After the boys unpacked they immediately set about talking about the day, about all of the amazing things they had seen on their first day here. Harry was just in amazement of it all as Xander was, apparently he came from a muggle family as well and had only found out about magic recently, Ron on the other hand had been raised in the magical community and was a wealth of knowledge about everything magical but found the simplest normal things that he and Harry took for granted as being amazing.

They were a weird trio, but somehow it worked for them. After a long conversation about the day they each decided to call it a night, looking out of the window across the lake Xander finally felt at peace, it was peaceful here, not a sound in the night. The lake was calm and he was finally getting used to the cold air, he turned and saw Harry get out of his bed, Ron was still tossing and turning in his sleep so Xander just smiled and waved Harry over to where he was stood by the window.

“Can’t sleep either?” He whispered as Harry put on his glasses and moved to stand by him, looking out the window with a faraway look in his eye.

“It’s just all so...” Harry trailed off as he looked out the window.

“Yeah, nothing like this where I come from either.” Xander muttered with a smile. “We’ll get used to it; I guess it’s like this for a lot of the new students.”

“I guess.” Harry said with a smile as he looked up at Xander. “What are those?” He asked and Xander cursed himself.

He’d gotten so used to sleeping in just boxers that he hadn’t bothered with a T-shirt again, he was stood by the window in just some long jogging pants with his arms wrapped around his waist, all his black implants and gold patterns under his skin were even more visible in the moonlight than they were by daylight. “It’s a long story.” He offered, hoping that Harry would get the hint and leave it along for the moment.

“The gold’s pretty, this one looks like a dragon.” Harry pointed to the one on Xander’s shoulder where the gold filaments traces around his collarbone and arched down across his chest under the skin.

Xander craned down to see it, but couldn’t exactly see what Harry was referring to; all he could see was the black and gold implants that singled him out as a freak from everyone else. He couldn’t see them as pretty, or as abstract shapes, all he saw were disfiguring implants that, at the moment anyway, were useless.

Harry just smiled at him before stroking his owl for a moment before heading back to bed, Xander stayed up for a bit longer, before lying on his own bed in silence for a while before he was joined by Pixel and the soft purring sent him back to sleep.

=/^\=

“Fuck, we’re late!” Xander shouted at the two boys that were following him as they ran down the corridor, skidding round a corner they came face to face with a giant door.

“Transfiguration with Professor McGonagall.” Harry read off his slip of paper to make sure they were in the right place this time; the trio had already burst in on one classroom by mistake, thinking it was the right one before being pointed in this direction.

“Is this it?” Ron asked, his voice a bit panicked.

“Looks like it.” Xander smiled reassuringly as he pushed at the door. “Only one way to find out anyway.”

As Xander opened the door and walked in, the two boys followed him and the entire class turned to watch them. Xander had to blink twice to make sure he wasn’t imagining things, it looked to him as if the class was being taught by a small black and gray cat.

“Let’s just sit down and be quiet before she gets here.” Xander muttered as the two boys nodded in agreement, he scanned the room quickly then realised with horror that the only three empty seats were at the front of the class. “And it’s not even lunch yet.” Xander groaned as he jogged to the front of the class followed by the Harry and Ron.

Xander skidded to a halt when the cat leapt off the front desk and changed form into Professor McGonagall in front of his eyes before turning to face them.

“That was bloody brilliant!” Ron shouted out and Harry laughed while Xander just slapped his face with his hand. ‘Brain before mouth Ron’, his brain was screaming at him to tell Ron, but he knew he was exactly the same, and in truth the change of cat to human was ‘bloody brilliant’ as Ron put it.

“Quite, I assume none of you have pocket watches or alarm clocks?” She asked, looking at each of the three in turn.

“Neither watch or clock works.” Xander offered, holding out his wrist to show the professor his digital watch that was displaying crazy figures on the screen.

“We got lost.” Harry said by way of explanation.

“Then perhaps a map? I trust you don’t need one to find your seats?” Professor McGonagall stated before returning to the front of the class.

“Brilliant, first lesson and I’m already in the dog house, by a cat as well!” Xander muttered as he moved to his seat followed by Ron and Harry who were chuckling under their breath at his comment.

“What was that Mister Harris?” Professor McGonagall asked, her tone of voice indicated that she had heard precisely what he had said.

“Nothing Professor McGonagall, just excited to get on with the class.” Xander said, plastering a fake smile on his face as he sat down and propped his staff up against the wall before fetching his wand out of his coat pocket and placing it on the desk in front of him.

“Very well.” Professor McGonagall said with a smile as she watched the trio sit down. “Introduction to Transfiguration, please open your text books to page five and we will begin.”

Xander just smiled and opened the text book, the page he opened to showed various incantations and words that didn’t mean anything to him. He recognised a few of the words as being Latin, but that was about it, the rest of it was filled with pictures about how to wave your wand and what to do if you wanted to turn a cat into a hairbrush and back again. ‘Why would you want to turn a cat into a hairbrush?’ His mind asked, if you have a cat with you, chances are you’re going to have something else that you can use instead of a cat.

“Now, to transfigure the human form you must do one of two things, can anyone tell me what they are?” Professor McGonagall asked the class, and made a disappointed sound when only one or two hands appeared.

“It’s going to be a long first lesson.” Xander muttered as Professor McGonagall picked one of the students and they rattled off the correct answer.

=/^\=

“Well at least we’re on time for this one.” Harry noted as they were the first to enter, they moved to the front of the class and took their seats waiting for the rest of the students to come in.

“Was it just me, or did that last lesson seem to go on forever?” Xander asked, transfiguration had been a nightmare, he’d learnt one or two things, but also had managed to turn an entire row of desks into a snake, which had promptly disappeared into the walls of the castle.

“I don’t think Professor McGonagall likes you.” Ron said with a matter of fact tone.

“I’ll say again, I didn’t mean to turn her into a chair; I just wasn’t watching where my wand was pointing when I read the incantation.” Xander explained for what felt like the fifth time today.

“Yeah, but you didn’t have to turn her into a sofa before turning her back to a person.” Harry stated.

Xander just shrugged his shoulders, it had worked hadn’t it? He took the time to actually look around the classroom, there were small cauldrons on each table, and the layout of the room reminded him of the chem labs back at Sunnydale high with small Bunsen burners on each desk. He smiled when the rest of the students started filing in and taking their seats, for some reason they seemed to be staying well away from Xander, Harry and Ron this lesson.

After a few minutes of the class group chatting amongst themselves the door opened with a loud bang as it crashed against the wall and a large man with flowing black robes stormed into the room.

“Good entrance.” Xander muttered as the man made his way to the front of the room.

“There will be no wand waving or foolish incantations in this class.” The man stated as he stormed up to the front of the class and stood facing the entire group. “As such, I don’t expect many of you to appreciate the subtlety that is potion making. However for the select few who possess the disposition,” The man paused, looking directly at the blonde boy who was sat directly in front of him. “I can teach you how to bewitch the mind and ensnare the senses.

“Then again,” The man paused, turning to face Harry who was noting down everything that he said. “Some of you may come to Hogwarts in possession of such gifts that you believe you do not have to pay attention.”

Both Xander and the girl sat on the other side of Harry elbowed him at the same time, causing him to put down his quill and look up at the teacher.

“Mister Potter, our new celebrity,” He paused, turning to face Xander this time. “And Mister Harris, our resident American, I don’t suppose either of you have even brewed a potion before, have you?”

“I make a good coffee, does that count?” Xander quipped causing the rest of the class to snigger in response.

“No Mister Harris it does not.” The teacher turned to Harry again. “Tell me, what would I get if I added powdered Ashwood elm to an infusion of Elmwood?”

The girl besides Harry’s arm shot up while Xander, Harry and Ron all looked at the teacher bemused.

“You don’t know?” The teacher asked in a less than surprised tone. “Well let’s try again, where Mister Harris would you look if I asked you to find me a beasle?”

“Behind the couch?” Xander offered. “Everything I lose always ends up there at some point or another.”

The class sniggered again and the girl lifted her hand in the air for a second time.

“And what is the difference between monkswood and wolfsbane?” The teacher asked again in an even less hopeful tone.

“Ah, I know this one, Wolfsbane is used to banish werewolves, and it’s also used as a poison, or was.” Xander explained.

“And you know this how Mister Harris?” The teacher’s eyes were firmly set on him now making him squirm in his seat.

“We had a werewolf in high school, or a student was a werewolf. Our librarian knew about Wolfsbane to treat the cage he was locked in during the full moon, it kept him from breaking out.” Xander explained as the teacher nodded along with him.

“Very good, I see you might actually have a slim chance of passing this course after all.” The teacher smiled a wry grin before returning to the front of the class.

“Now, for your first lesson we will be distilling the various forms on Wolfsbane into three different mixtures, please pay close attention to the black board at the front of the class and write down everything I do, if you follow my instructions carefully there is a chance that none of you will have to visit the infirmary after class.” The teacher snapped at the class again before moving to the chalk board and starting to write on it.

“Intense guy.” Xander quipped as he opened his lesson book and started to copy down everything the teacher was writing.

“That’s Professor Snape,” Ron filled in for him. “He’s been potions teacher for the last ten years, but everyone knows it’s the Dark Arts he’s after.”

“Snape, gotcha.” Xander quipped before shrinking in his chair as Professor Snape levelled a glare at him.

=/^\=

“Lunch, finally.” Xander grinned as the group of students entered the lunch room and sat down.

“Snape was a bit intense wasn’t he?” Harry asked as he sat down next to Xander and Ron.

“Yeah, guy needs to get laid, desperately.” Xander grinned as the two boys looked at him in confusion. “He needs to have sex.” He explained.

“Ewww, Snape having sex.” Both Ron and Harry shuddered at the words causing Xander to chuckle.

“Never mind.” He grinned and fetched out his note book from potions, surprisingly he was actually quite good at it, and it seemed a constant annoyance to Professor Snape that he was actually showing competence with the potions they were making, admittedly it was only the first lesson and the potions were extremely simple, but he felt like he was getting on with it surprisingly well.

“What’s Seamus trying to do to that mug of water?” Harry asked Ron, breaking Xander out of his concentration as he looked down to the table to see one of the other students flicking his wand at a goblet on the table and muttering something.

“He’s trying to turn in into rum.” Ron explained.

“Wait, we can do that? Turn water into wine sort of thing?” Xander asked, considering the goblet of water in front of him and how much he’d like a can of coke.

“Sure, if you know the right incantation, otherwise...” Ron trailed off as a bright flash came from down the table along with a soft pop followed by the sound of metal scraping on stone.

“Gotcha.” Xander grinned as he looked down the table and saw the blackened face of the student where the spell had literally backfired in his face. He wasn’t that desperate for a coke, at least not yet.

“Well, if you don’t mind, I’ve got a free period next, so I want to go and have a chat to Professor Snape, I couldn’t work out some of what he was writing down, I just want to ask him about a few of the simple things.” Xander explained with a smile before excusing himself from the table.

“Wait, you’re going to see Snape? Voluntarily?” Ron asked, a little shocked at Xander’s words.

“If I can get this potion right, one drop should be able to turn a piece of fruit into a Twinkie, if I’ve got it right that is, I want to ask Professor Snape about it before I actually try it, don’t want to let loose another snake on the school grounds or anything.” Xander grinned before making his way out of the lunch hall while munching on an apple he made his way down to the potions room.

“Mister Harris, either come in or close the door.” Professor Snape called from the front of the classroom where he was writing something down on some parchment.

“Right, sorry sir.” Xander apologised as he made his way into the classroom again. “I wanted to ask you something about this potion, I think I’ve got the ingredients right, but I wanted to make sure with you before I tested it out.”

“You’re not trying to make a smoke bomb or anything else so simple and childish are you?” Professor Snape asked as he stood up, almost surprised when Xander shook his head at him. “Well that is a surprise; most of the students I teach think potion making is only good for practical jokes and the occasional annoyance.”

Xander just smiled, not knowing exactly what Snape wanted him to say.

“Well what is it boy, don’t just stand there all day, show me the potion you are attempting to create and I will poke the holes in your simple plan.” Snape sniped out, causing Xander to grimace as he fetched his book out of his bag. Would his potion be full of holes as Snape suggested, he thought he’d got all the ingredients right, and mixing in the incantation for transfiguring matter should work like... well, work like a charm really.

“Sorry sir, it’s a potion that will hopefully transform a piece of fruit into a snack cake.” Xander explained as he opened his book to the right page and handed it over.

“A most novel idea, one I don’t believe has been attempted before, which means it will probably fail.” Snape explained before he’d even looked at what Xander had written.

“If you could just tell me if I’ve got the ingredients right, that’d be a big help.” Xander grinned as Snape looked down at the book at raised an eyebrow in interest at what he had written.

“Certainly a novel idea,” Snape’s tone had gone from condescending to curious now. “I don’t know if it will work, but the ingredients are correct for what you have in mind. Am I correct in assuming you are on a free period now, or are you simply avoiding another class to come and speak to me?”

“Free period sir.” Xander grinned at Snape’s smile, he was amazed he’d actually got the ingredients right, his first even custom potion, this was definitely something to write home to Willow about.

“Well let’s see if it works shall we? I assume you have your wand, if you start collecting the ingredients needed I will clear a space for you to work.” Snape said before moving off and clearing a space on one of the desks at the front of the room and lighting one of the burners to warm the cauldron up.

“Right, ingredients.” Xander muttered before shrugging off his coat onto one of the desks and moving to the store room to fetch the ingredients he’d written down.

Five minutes, and a lot of bottles later he came back to the table where Professor Snape was waiting and watching him. “I was just admiring your staff,” He said by way of explanation. “Professor Dumbledore explained your situation but I didn’t quite believe it myself.”

“Sorry to say it’s all true.” Xander said with a grin as he started laying out the ingredients in a first needed closest to the cauldron basis.

“And you use this instead of a wand?” Snape asked again, hefting the staff into the air and examining in close up.

“Actually I use a wand as well now, but I can use either, the staff just takes a bit more control or the results... well, they’re a bit random.” Xander explained as he finished laying out the ingredients and fished out his wand from his pocket.

“May I?” Snape asked slowly as he held his hand out for the wand.

“Um, sure?” Xander said half heartedly as he handed the wand over.

Professor Snape took the wand, and after examining it for a brief moment aimed it at the floor and shouted “Incendio!” A small bolt of fire shot out of the end of the wand, impacting on the floor and dissipating quickly on the stone slabs. “A nice wand.” Snape conceded as he brought it back to examine it again. “Now show me with your staff.”

“Are you sure? I mean, I don’t want to blow up anything or well, anyone.” Xander grimaced, if the wand could create a fireball, the there was no telling what the staff would create.

“I would not have asked you if I wasn’t sure, now the same charm if you will.” Snape’s voice had taken on that condescending tone again, so Xander figured it was worth a shot.

Picking up the staff he angled it so it was pointed at the floor, connecting with the staff quickly he mumbled a quick prayer before closing his eyes. “Incendio!” He opened his eyes just in time to see a nice sized fireball, maybe two or three times the size of the one the wand had created, impact the floor before dissipating on the stone flooring as the smaller one had done.

“Very well.” Snape didn’t look particularly impressed, neither did he seem dismayed at the show the staff put on, he simply returned the wand and moved back to the cauldron. “Now, we will work on this potion you have concocted, if you start adding the Whovian herbs I will watch and stop you if anything goes wrong.”

Xander just picked up the herbs he needed and turned to Professor Snape to make sure he had picked up the right ones.

“I will stop you if you are wrong, I will not hold your hand throughout this entire exercise, now, three grams of Whovian herb followed by two pinches of wormwood.”

=/^\=

“You really spent the entire free period with Snape?” Rod blurted out as Xander collapsed on his bed after the afternoon lessons.

He’d had Mythical Creatures followed by Charms and Curses in the afternoon, and that much reading had really worn him down, he wanted nothing more than to sit down in front of the TV and watch an episode of Star Trek or something, anything to help him unwind.

“Are you stark raving mad?” Ron continued on as Xander flopped back down on the bed after throwing his coat on one of the hooks on the wall.

“No, I just wanted my Twinkie!” Xander snapped back jokingly.

“The food here isn’t that bad,” Harry said with a grin, “and at least you didn’t have any more accidents like in transfiguration.”

“That’s true.” Xander had to agree, aside from his mishaps in Transfiguration, the rest of the day had actually been quite smooth, he found he actually enjoyed most of it, but it was a lot harder work than school was last year, at first he put it down to a different education system, but now he was thinking it was something else. Maybe there was a bit more of Galen’s personality left over in him because he didn’t hate school quite as much as he used to, it might just be the fact that he was learning something cool and enjoyable, but there was that niggling doubt in his mind that there was something else at work here.

“What about that Hermione? She was always answering the questions before anyone else; I barely got a word in half the time.” Ron continued on as Xander and Harry looked at each other and rolled their eyes. Ron was definitely the chatterbox of the trio, half of the time they couldn’t get him to shut up.

“She was a bit of a know it all.” Harry conceded, remembering how she answered every question in Charms perfectly.

“Reminds me of an old friend.” Xander smiled as he thought back to Willow and Sunnydale, wondering how they were doing back in America.

“So how did the potion go?” Harry asked, moving the conversation away from Hermione and onto Xander’s persistent hunt for his Twinkies, whatever they were.

“Didn’t work, but Professor Snape thinks it was the incantation not the potion, he suggested I go and talk with Professor McGonagall about it, but she was busy today.” Xander had conceded defeat, for today anyway. He’d return to the hunt in the morning, there had to be a way for him to turn something into his beloved snack cake, especially with all the magic around here, someone must have attempted it at least once before.

“So what now? I mean, no more lessons tonight, fancy a bit of exploring?” Ron offered with a smile.

“You two go ahead, I’m beat.” He smiled when he received the customary confused look that meant he’d said something American and had to translate it to brit speak. “I’m worn out, want to rest then sleep.”

“Gotcha.” Ron smiled, he was getting the hang of the way Xander spoke, but every so often Xander would drop a new one on them sending them right back to the beginning.

“I’ll come, I need to find the library for tomorrow, I need some books for Defence against the Dark Arts.” Harry said with a smile, that was the class he was actually looking forward to.

“That’s tomorrow?” Xander said, perking up. He’d heard things about that class; it was supposed to be the most exciting class in the school.

Ron and Harry both nodded at him before making their way out of the room and leaving Xander to his own thoughts as he was resting on the bed. “Well at least I’ve got you for company.” Xander grinned as Pixel came up and started nuzzling him.

Sleep came easy for him that night, he didn’t even hear the two boys come back into the room late at night after their exploration of the castle, the next day was sure to be as wearing as this one, and so he got at much sleep as he could. Waking only once or twice in the night to Pixel’s purring in his ear he slept quite soundly, finally getting used to the cold air in the castle.

=/^\=

“You wished so see me Mister Harris?” Snape’s voice echoed through the potions lab as Xander walked in.

“Uh, yeah, how’d you know?” Xander asked as he made his way into the classroom.

“It is a relatively small school, and rumours are always quick to find their way back to the ones they concern.” Snape said by way of explanation as Xander reached the front of the class where he was stood. “Well?” Snape’s dry tone was making Xander even more nervous than he already was around the guy, for some reason the man just sent shivers down his spine, but he was the only teacher that actual treated him like ‘just another student’, rather than someone who needed special attention or someone to keep away from.

“I need to ask you a favour.” Xander bit out, hoping not to get shouted at if his request was turned down.

“A favour?” Snape turned and seemed to regard him in a new light, students never came to him for things like that; they would always go to Dumbledore or one of the other more ‘friendly’ teachers. “Pray tell, what would you ask of me?” Snape’s voice had taken on that mocking tone that Xander heard so often when he was talking to Harry, to be honest it was starting to grate on him, the man reminded him more and more of Snyder ever day, if Snyder could kill you with a flick of his wrist and a simple word that is.

“I need a razor.” Xander mumbled out as he lowered his head, he hated coming to a teacher with stuff like this, but since he didn’t know his way around the area, and had no clue where to find the simplest of shops, he had to go to a teacher.

Snape let loose a bark of laughter, at first Xander wasn’t sure if it was directed at him or the situation, which he had to admit was a bit on the funny side. “You need a razor; didn’t you bring one with you?”

“I used to use an electric.” Xander bit out causing Snape to laugh again. “All the other teachers have beards, stubble or avoid me whenever I see them in the corridors.” He muttered out, trying to explain that Snape was the only one he could turn to.

“Did it ever cross your mind that we don’t actually use razors here?” Snape asked, his tone not really condescending, just full of sarcastic humour. “Well, most people don’t, I personally like using one.”

“You use one?” Xander’s mind was running at two hundred miles an hour. The other teachers didn’t use razors, what did they use then? Magic to shave as well, did they use it for hair cuts as well? Did these people use magic for everything?

“Yes, I believe muggles call them a ‘cut throat razor’, though I must confess I don’t know exactly why.” Snape confided as he explained what he used.

“Right, the old flick knife razor, Giles used to use one of those.” Xander remembered, he’d seen one of those in Giles bathroom a few times, he’d just assumed it was a British thing rather than a wizard thing.

“I will be heading into Hogsmead tonight to retrieve some things from the apothecary; I assume you would like to join me?” Snape’s tone this time seemed dry, but not condescending, merely curious.

“Thank you.” Xander practically exploded out how grateful he was, it had been nearly a week now at the school as his stubble was starting to really irritate him.

“I have just one request, on our walk to the town, you will answer any questions I pose to you with complete honesty.” Snape said before turning to leave the room with a flourish of his robes. “Is that acceptable?”

Xander paused, weighing up the options. He’d explained more about his situation to Dumbledore, but he knew that Dumbledore would keep his secrets, he didn’t know much about Snape, but he knew that he did need a razor or he’d be forced to grow a beard or resort to hunting down another teacher and facing the embarrassing prospect of asking them to teach him the spell for shaving. “That sounds fair.” He finally conceded.

“Meet me in the main hall at seven o’clock tonight; do not be late as I will not make this offer again.” With that Snape left the room leaving Xander alone with his thoughts and the smell of the potions lab.

“Great,” Xander looked around the room for a clock then had to do a double take at the time it showed “Fuck; I’m late for Boom Class.” Running out of the room he skidded down the halls, using his staff for leverage as he ran round the corridors and out onto the center green area.

=/^\=

“Welcome to your first flying lesson.” The women at the front of the class was addressing everyone when Xander skidded out of the main hall and nearly fell on the gravel path before making his way slowly over to the group of students where they were stood with broom sticks to their side. “Ah Mister Harris, so nice of you to join us.”

“Sorry Miss, I was with Professor Snape.” Xander explained as he jogged over and took the only place left next to Hermione. The rest of the students groaned when he mentioned Snape’s name and even the teacher seemed to look at him with pity.

“Very well, now that everyone is here, please step up to the left side of your broom stick.” The teacher commanded and Xander watched as all the students stepped forward.

“This is not going to end well.” Xander muttered as he followed in step and walked up to the position everyone else had.

“Place your right hand over the room and say up.” The teacher said, watching the class with interest.

“Great.” Xander muttered again as he tried it once. “Up!” to his great surprise, absolutely nothing happened, not even a wobble. Looking around a few of the students, Harry included, had managed to get their broom to fly up to their hand on the first try. Shaking his head he glared down at the broom, as if it was its fault and tried again. “Up!” again, nothing.

He attempted it a few more times, with absolutely no success so he glanced around the class to see if anyone else was in his predicament, even Draco had managed to do it by now, he was being outdone by that snivelling, annoying little git. He even let loose a snigger when Ron called too hard and the broom shot up and smacked him in the face. Shaking his head he looked back to his own broom and tried it a few more times. “Up! Up! UP!” no success, the rest of the students were watching him now with interest, all of them now holding their brooms tightly.

“Is there a problem Mister Harris?” The teacher commented as she walked over to face him.

“I just don’t think broom stick flying is the way for me to go.” Xander conceded defeat.

“Yes, professor Dumbledore thought as much, he seemed to think you would have more success using your own methods, but I thought it best to see if you could actually use a broom as well.” The teacher smiled at him before placing retrieving his staff from the grass where he had dropped it and replacing the broom with it. “Would that help?”

“Well, I don’t think I’m going to ride my staff, but it’s a definite start.” Xander grinned as he held out his hand and joined with the staff in his mind, causing the staff to shake a bit on the floor before jumping up to his hand.

“Interesting.” The teacher commented as she watched him with a smile, even Draco wasn’t smirking anymore and the rest of the students were watching him with interest. He’d caught on to the fact that there were already rumours flying round the school about him, one of the most interesting one was that he was an aura sent to keep an eye on Harry Potter, though what an Aura was, or why they would send one to watch Harry was beyond him, as with all the rumours surrounding him, he just ignored them and carried on with his day. “You can fly this way?”

“Not exactly fly, but I think it should work for me.” Xander grinned as he thought of the right spell to cast, he’d been working on mixing the magic that was being taught here with the magic that Galen used, while he found that he could do most of the things that Harry and Ron could do, there were things that he simply couldn’t do because the magic wasn’t in his body, it was in the implants, and similarly the reverse was true. There were things that he could do, that amazed Harry, Ron and even some of the teachers.

Bracing himself for a second he muttered the incantation under his breath as he pictured what he wanted to happen, “Pulpitum Leviosa!” then smiled as he felt the solid transparent platform under foot where there used to be soft grass.

“Well, I have to say I was expecting more than that Mister Harris.” The teacher actually looked disappointed; she’s obviously heard the rumours about him as well and was expecting to see something special.

“Oh, it worked.” Xander grinned at the teacher as he motioned up with his staff. To the teachers great surprise he started lifting slowly off the ground, he started gaining speed then stopped in the air about six feet up, where he promptly sat down on the transparent platform that was holding him up and smirked down at the rest of the students.

The teacher was just looked at him, half in surprise and half amusement as the rest of the class, Ron and Harry included were looking up at him slack jawed in amazement.

“It won’t do for Quiddich, but that’s bloody brilliant.” Ron was the first one to voice his amazement; even Draco seemed suitably impressed as Xander seemingly just hung there in the air, looking just as comfortable as he was on a chair or his bed.

“Yes, I believe that will do Mister Harris, could you please come down now.” The teacher grinned up at him.

“Will do.” Xander smirked back and lowered himself to the ground until he was sat on the grass, where he simply dissipated the platform and stood back up.

The teacher just grinned at him and he finally noticed that her eyes were bright yellow, almost vampire looking. It unnerved him a bit but she was out in daylight and seemed quite a perky person, so that reassured him enough to just smile back as she walked back to her position at the front of the class.

Harry turned to him and smiled, Ron was still looking at him in amazement when Hermione just tutted and muttered “show off” under her breath. He took the time to glare at her to let her know he’d heard her before she turned back to listen to what the teacher was saying.

“If you are all finished gawking at Mister Harris’s little display, I want you all to mount your broom, grip it tightly, we don’t want you falling off.” A few of the students seemed unnerved at this while the rest giggled.

Shaking his head Xander just watched as the rest of the class mounted their brooms and held them comfortably between their legs. “Still sounds rude, no matter how you say it.” Xander grinned at his own joke and got another glare from Hermione for his trouble, feeling a little childish he simply stuck his tongue out at her and pulled a face, she seemed suitably annoyed by that and went back to staring at her broom.

“When I blow my whistle I want each of you to kick off from the ground hard. Keep your broom steady, hover for a moment as Mister Harris did, then lean forward slightly and touch back down.” The teacher gave full instructions and Xander watched as all the students were looking thoughtful about it.

“On my whistle.” She paused for a moment, looking around the class to make sure that they were all ready before blowing the whistle sharply.

Neville was the first one to actually get off the ground; he was about four feet in the air by the time the teacher had walked over to him. “Looks like he’s got the hang of it.” Xander muttered with a grin as Neville seemed to be panicking in the air a bit.

“Mister Long... Mister Longbottom!” The teacher tried to get his attention as he lifted further and further off the ground before taking off across the green on a sharp curve taking him about fifty feet off the floor.

“Guessing that’s not quite what he had in mind.” Xander grinned as the teacher shouted after him; he was rewarded by another glare from Hermione for his efforts to lighten the mood.

Looking up in the air Neville was obviously having trouble keeping his broom steady, he was weaving and waving all over the place and gripping onto the broom for dear life. He seemed to rebound off the castle a few times before arching down towards the floor, just when Xander thought he was going to crash into the ground and embed his broom in the soft soil he pulled up and started heading towards the group of students at full speed.

The teacher was the first one to dive out of the way, followed quickly by a few other students, with a sharp shout of “Fuck!” Xander dove out of the way as well, narrowly missing the broom as it shot over head making his coat flap about in the back draft.

Neville seemed to then steer his broom through one of the arch ways before shooting back up to the top of the castle where he flew along the roof for a moment before turning round one of the turrets where his robes got snagged on one of the statues, pulling him off his broom. Xander watched at the boom, now without it’s rider arched to the ground and impacted the soil much like a javelin, impaling itself about three feet into the soil.

Neville’s robes we stretching up on the statue and Xander could hear them tearing. Muttering the incantation again he quickly felt the platform appear underfoot and he took off from the ground at his best speed arching up to where Neville was snagged on the statue. “Hold on!” He ground out between his teeth as his flew towards Neville as best he could. He was met with a shout when Neville’s robes finally tore, the boy started falling to the floor to Xander changed his speed and direction, arcing down to where Neville was falling. Taking note of the metal spiky ornament on the castle wall that could easily impale the small boy Xander sped up, not wanting to see a death this early in the school year, Jesse was enough, there was no way he was going to let another boy die when he could help stop it.

Speeding up he was just about to intercept Neville’s fall when he jumped off the platform, catching Neville in mid air before tumbling to the grass on the other side of the gravel, his staff fell to the floor as he wrapped his arms round the boy, trying to shield him from the impact as best he could.

“Fuck that hurt!” Xander screamed as a tumbled ball of him and Neville rolled along the ground, his coat and Neville’s robes getting tangled up as he heard the shouts of the teacher and the rest of the class running over to see if they were ok. “You alright?” Xander was the first to recover, leaning down he could see the boy was in pain.

Neville just whimpered a bit cradling his arm and Xander could see that his ankle was bend at a position that was completely unnatural. Scooping the boy up in his arms he stood up, grimacing when he felt his back click from the fall. “Remind me not to do that again.” He muttered to the boy in his arms as he walked over to meet the teacher and the rest of the students.

“Are you both alright?” The teacher shouted out as she reached them, her voice filled with concern for the two students.

“I’m good, bit of a graze that’s all. Think he’s got a sprained wrist, maybe a broken ankle.” Xander grimaced as the boy finally noticed his ankle and whimpered more.

“Give him here.” The teacher ordered and Xander handed the boy over into her arms. “That was good flying by the way.” The teacher whispered to him before turning back to the class.

“Everyone is to keep their feet firmly on the ground while I take Mister Longbottom to the hospital wing, understand?” The class all nodded in unison while Xander made a fervent prayer never to leave the ground again. “If I see a single broom in the air, the person riding it will find themselves out of Hogwarts before they can say Quiddich!” The teacher strode off into one of the archways surrounding the green, leaving the students to mumble amongst each other as Xander sank to the floor and relaxed on the grass.

“Did you see his face?” Draco snarled out.

“Ugh, why did I have to be in a class with that idiot.” Xander muttered before sitting up to see what was going on.

“Maybe if the fat lump had given this a squeeze,” Draco paused, holding up a gold and silver ball that Xander didn’t recognise. “He would have remembered to fall on his fat arse.”

“What’s that?” Xander asked Hermione as she walked past to avoid the group.

“It’s a Remeberall; Neville got it in the post this morning.” Hermione filled in, “That was really brave of you though, stupid, but brave.”

“Thanks.” Xander bit out dryly, taking the back handed complement with a pinch of salt.

“Give it here Malfoy!” Xander was interrupted from his lazing about when Harry’s voice filled the courtyard and the rest of the students seemed to shrink in on themselves going as quiet as possible.

“No, I think I’ll leave it somewhere for Longbottom to find.” Draco paused, sparing a glance at Xander with a smirk before stepping up to his broom and taking off slowly in a swirl around the students.

“Not again.” Xander muttered as he clambered to his feet and got ready to cast the spell again, Draco actually seemed in control of his broom however and he could always fly up and get the ball after lesson had finished.

About twenty feet up in the air Draco stopped and turned to the students again. “What’s the matter potter? Bit beyond your reach?”

“Harry.” Xander let the one word be a warning as Harry mounted his broom and kicked off from the ground.

“They’re both going to get expelled.” Hermione muttered and Xander had to nod in agreement.

“Great, I can’t catch two of them.” Xander said as he walked into a clearing and cast the spell, feeling the platform beneath his feet he quickly took off and aimed himself at where Draco and Harry seemed to be arguing in the air.

Harry shouted something to Draco that Xander couldn’t quite catch before his raced at him, Draco was quicker though, spinning in a three sixty roll on his broom he avoided Harry quite easily before shooting off across the green.

“Have it your way then!” Draco shouted with a grin as he stopped and threw the ball towards one of the castle walls.

Harry seemed to hang in the air for a moment before shooting of at a speed that even impressed Draco. Xander quickly had time to duck to the platform, laying flat on his chest as Harry shot over head to catch the flying ball.

“Ugh, idiots!” Xander shouted out, not bothering to right himself in the air he simply changed direction and shot off after Harry.

He quickly found however that Harry was going a lot faster than he was capable of, he was racing at the wall at a speed Xander couldn’t even hope to match, and for a second Xander grimaced as he thought Harry was going to smash into one of the glass windows he was heading for.

As Harry approached the windows he pulled a sharp turn reminiscent of a hand break stop in the air and easily caught the golden ball that was flying through the air. Xander breathed a sigh of relief when he started heading slowly for the ground and he turned to make sure Draco was doing the same.

“Nice flying.” Xander grinned as he flew over next to Harry and slowed himself down so he could stand up from his laying down position on the flying platform he’d created.

They were both met by cheers as the entire group surrounded Harry and started congratulating him on his flying and for standing up to Draco.

“Harry Potter!” A voice called out over the green and Xander whipped round to see Professor McGonagall walking across the grass toward them.

“This can’t be good.” Xander muttered as the rest of the class fell silent as Professor McGonagall approached.

“Follow me.” Professor McGonagall asked sharply before turning and walking into the school, followed by a dismayed looking Harry.

“If he gets expelled,” Xander paused, glaring at Draco with all the hatred he could put into his eyes. “I will personally kick you out of this school, your ass and my boot, got it?” Xander paused as Draco swallowed, looking more than slightly nervous at the threat.

Walking away from the group of students Xander took his position laying down on the grass again and waited for the teacher to return, hoping none of the other students were stupid enough to try their own flying lesson. He’d had quite enough air time for one day, and he didn’t fancy any more jumps and loops on his platform trying to stop a stupid student from imminent death.

=/^\=

“Seeker, nice one Harry.” Xander grinned as he caught up to Harry and Ron on the central outside area on their way back to the common room.

“Go on Harry, Quiddich is brilliant.” Ron shouted, he certainly seemed enthused about Harry being on the team.

“I’ve never even played, what if I make a fool of myself?” Harry asked, turning to Ron then to Xander for guidance.

Xander just shrugged, it had come to his attention that Harry was looking up to him, turning to him more and more lately like he saw Xander as a big brother to him. It was kind of nice, reminded Xander of the way Willow would turn to him for things back in Sunnydale.

“You won’t make a fool of yourself.” Xander spun around to see Hermione on his other side, obscured from the other boy’s vision by his long coat. “It’s in your blood.”

“Huh?” Xander questioned as both Ron and Harry looked just as confused.

“Follow me.” Hermione said with an annoyed tone before taking off down one of the corridors, not even bothering to look back to see if they were following her.

“Reminds me of another friend back home, bossy, strong willed,” Xander paused for a second imagining the havoc that Hermione would cause if she would be called as a slayer.

“What is it?” Harry asked as they started jogging down the corridor to keep up with Hermione.

“Random scary thought.” Xander grinned at the two, “I’ll tell you later.”

Hermione had stopped in front of what looked to be a trophy cabinet, though Xander didn’t recognise any of the names of the sports involved, there were more than a few just dedicated to Quiddich alone. Must be the wizard sport of choice, Xander mused.

“Whoah!” Ron exclaimed as Hermione pointed out one of the names on the Gryffindor house trophy. “You never told me your father was a seeker too.”

“Famous dad, that explains it.” Xander muttered as he noticed the name on the trophy, that had to be why everyone was treating Harry as if he was a rock star or something.

Harry just turned to Xander with a questioning look, as if to say ‘what are you on about?’ He then turned back to the trophy and muttered “I didn’t know.”

“Ok, not the famous dad theory then.” Xander muttered, causing both Hermione and Ron to look at him this time.

“What?” Xander asked, feeling as if this was some private joke that everyone except him knew about.

“You don’t know, do you?” Harry asked, turning to look up at Xander.

“Ain’t got a clue.” Xander confessed. He’s often wondered why everyone treated Harry so different, most of the school treated him like he was the second coming, while a select few seemed to shun him because of it and acted like they hated everything he stood for.

“Come on, I’ll explain it on the way back to the common room.” Harry said with a smile as the group started walking.

=/^\=

“So your parents were killed by this guy?” Xander asked as Harry finished the story and they walked through an archway to the main stairway room.

“Yeah, and I grew up with my aunt and uncle, didn’t even know about magic until Hagrid came to find me.” Harry finished off with a sad look in his eye.

“Damn kid, you’ve had a worse life than me, and I grew up on a Hellmouth.” Xander conceded as the steps started rumbling while they were walking up them. “What the hell?” He shouted, getting ready to cast whatever spell was needed and grabbing onto the stone banister with all his strength.

“The staircases change, remember?” Hermione filled in, though her voice wasn’t quite as know it all and annoying as usual.

“Still freaky.” Xander shouted above the rumbling of the stairs and the grating sound of stone against stone.

“Let’s go this way.” Harry pointed to a door at the top of the stairs and started walking towards it.

“Anything to get me off the stairs that can move of their own accord.” Xander muttered, taking a last look at the stair way before jogging up the stairs to catch up with Harry, Ron and Hermione.

Opening the door at the top of the stairs, the group stepped through as Harry looked around first.

“Creepy.” Xander gave a shudder as he looked around. The entire hallway didn’t look like it had been cleaned for years, and grotesque statues hung on every corner making the corridor feel less inviting than a master vampires crypt.

“We’re not supposed to be here, this is the third floor.” Hermione explained.

“The place to stay away from, unless you want a grizzly, horrible death that is?” Xander quipped back, remembering Dumbledore’s words on his first day.

Hermione just nodded as Xander stopped in his tracks. “Right, back to the freaky stairs then,” He grinned before taking a large step back as one of the stone pillars ignited on the top casting the entire hallway in flickering orange light. “Even freakier by light,” Xander muttered, turning around to see a small cat with red eyes walk through the door.

“It’s Filches cat.” Hermione explained as Ron and Harry took off running down the corridor into the darkness.

“Sure, run into the darkness on the corridor that promises death, and the Hellmouth was less scary why?” ignoring his brain for the moment he turned back and started running down the corridor, easily catching up to the three younger students. He was more than slightly disturbed by the fact that the stone pillars seemed to be lighting up with fire as they ran down the corridor. “Well that’s going to make it easy for him to find us.” He muttered as he skidded around a corner and came face to face with a giant wooden door.

“Hide in here.” Harry shouted before he started to pull on the handle. “It’s locked!”

“Oh move over!” Hermione shouted before pushing Harry out of the way and brandishing her wand at the door. “Alohomora!” She shouted and a click came from the door.

“Is there anything you don’t know?” Xander quipped as he opened the door and they all ran in, closing the door behind him be pulled on it and held it in place for a bit to make sure it would stay shut.

“Standard book of spells, chapter seven,” Hermione informed him with a smile, he smiled back and nodded. Sounded like a useful book to read, but not one he owned. ‘Wonder if the library’s got a copy’ he idly wondered as he let go of the door handle, content that the door would stay shut.

“Um, Xander...” Ron whispered, tugging at his coat.

“Yeah?” Xander replied, not taking his eyes of the door, ready to cast a holding charm if he saw the handle start moving.

“Xander...” This time it was Harry tugging at the other side of his coat. Turning round he saw Hermione first, staring out into the room with wide eyes, all the blood had drained from her face and she looked like she’d just seen her first master vampire.

Ignoring his brain for the second time in ten minutes, he looked up to see what everyone was staring at, and immediately wished he’d stayed ignorant. In front of them was a dog, or at least it looked like a dog, or dogs. It had three heads and each of them was larger than Xander, his brain idly wondered if its teeth were about the size of his arm, he quickly banished the thought as his imagination decided it didn’t want to know how big its teeth were. “Right...” Xander honestly didn’t know what to say, there were no swearwords he knew that could explain how he was feeling at this moment.

As the middle head yawned, Xander’s imagination got its wish and saw the dog’s teeth were easily the size of him arm, perhaps bigger. “Not good!”

“Ya think?” Ron shouted back at him, causing all three heads to fully wake up and look at him.

The dog then stood up to its full height, and Xander wondered how much clean underwear the group would need to get them through the nightmares tonight. His answer came when the three children screamed in unison, the pitch deafening him as he ran to the door and opened it, holding it open for the Harry, Ron and Hermione to run through before he slammed it shut and locked it.

“What the fuck was that?” Xander shouted out as they ran down the corridor back to the freaky stair room.

“What the hell do they think they’re doing, keeping a thing like that in a school?” Ron asked as Hermione closed the door behind them and they all gripped the banister of the stair way in shock.

“Didn’t you see what it was standing on?” Hermione asked at they started jogging down the stairs and taking another route back to the common room.

“Feet weren’t as interesting as its teeth.” Xander admitted, a giant three headed dog coming at him, his field of vision narrowed to the things that could kill him quickest, that was its teeth, all of them.

“It was standing on a trap door,” Hermione informed them as they walked along the corridor towards the common room.

“So, what, it’s a guard dog or something?” Xander briefly considered the notion, it was a good idea, and no one was likely to get in to whatever that thing was guarding.

“That’s right, now I’m going to go to bed, before you,” Hermione shouted, poking Harry in the chest, “Or you,” poking Ron this time. Xander briefly glared at her, daring her to try it with him. “Come up with another idea to get us killed, or worse expelled.”

“Being expelled is worse than being killed?” Xander asked in amusement as they watched Hermione walk down the corridor to the common room while they stopped in front of the painting that let to their room.

“She’s got weird priorities.” Ron noted, Harry and Xander could only nod in agreement before opening the painting and walking through the arch to their room.

“Now, are you two going to be safe while I go out with Professor Snape tonight, or do you want to come with me?” Xander asked, already knowing the answer as the two boys shook their head in horror at the idea of spending any more time with Snape than humanly possible.

“I’ll be back later alright.” Xander smiled at the two before pulling his jumper, no sweater, damn brit speak, over his head and then putting his long coat back on. “Try to stay away from dogs that can swallow you whole alright?” He grinned at the two who visibly swallowed before making his way out the door and down towards the main hall.

=/^\=

Right, it's been pointed out to me that I've made a few glaring errors with continuity from the books, i'm sorry...

All of my HP knowledge comes from the movies, I will try and get hold of the books at some point to help me, but if you'll just bare with me while i settle myself into working in this new universe :D

Hope you're all enjoying it, glaring errors withstanding, though :D

M