Chapter 5

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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“That was a nightmare.” Xander commented to the group as they left the main hall where they had just sat their final astrology exam.

“You’re telling me.” Ron whined in agreement.

“Well I for one think I did rather well.” Hermione announced with a pleased smile. “I’d always heard that Hogwarts end of year exams were frightful, but I quite enjoyed that.”

“You’re a sadist, you know that.” Xander turned to Hermione with a grin.

“What are you three up to now then?” Xander asked as he paused by the main arch way to the school.

“Well I’m heading to the library, our main potions exam is tomorrow and I want to brush up on a few ingredients.” Hermione voiced her decision before looking at Ron and Harry.

“We’ll be with her.” They announced in unison.

“Thought so.” Xander grinned. “I’ll be in the room, want to brush up on Herbology for Friday, I’m alright with potions, but I just can’t get head around all these plants.”

“Ok, we’ll see you back there.” Harry waved before the three moved off towards the library.

It had been a tough school year, but quite a rewarding one Xander thought to himself as he made his way up to his room. He’d seen so much, he was even getting used to acknowledging the ghosts as he walked past them in the corridors, he’d even caught himself chatting to Nearly Headless Nick on his way to class once. Every once in a while though, something would happen to surprise him though, like when he saw a tree on the school grounds actually eat a bird, that was slightly un nerving and he’d resolved himself to stay away from any trees that look like it in the future.

“Hyena.” He muttered as he approached the painting that led to his room, causing the painting to swing open. “Still some surprises left after all.” He muttered to himself with a smile as the blonde Amazon on the painting winked at him as he passed through.

“Like that.” He announced as he entered his bed room and found a girl with bright pink hair laying on his bed, leafing through one of his comics and tickling Pixel’s stomach with her other hand. He could swear he’d seen her before somewhere, but couldn’t place her. She wasn’t wearing a school uniform, so she wasn’t a student, and she looked about his age, if a few years older, as well. “You know, finding beautiful girls in my bed is normally a sign that I’m dreaming.” He quipped as she turned to see him enter.

“Wotcher!” She grinned with her customary greeting. “Who did your hair, looks like you’ve been wrestlin’ with a fire giant or something.”

“Bit of an accident with a baby dragon.” Xander grinned as his brain finally placed where he knew her from. “Hey, you’re the girl from the book store.”

“And you’re the one who’s taking me to America.” She grinned as she span on the bed to sit up, knocking his books off his bedside stand in the process and getting herself tangled in the sheets. There was a soft yowl from Pixel as she managed to roll on his tall before falling off the bed in a tangle of sheets as Pixel shot past Xander and ran out of the room.

“You know, it’s normally me that makes introduction like that.” Xander grinned before walking over and helping her up, trying to untangle her from the bed sheets he only managed to find himself tangled in them with her before she managed to trip over something, sending them both falling onto the bed.

“Ah good, I see you two know each other then.” Professor Dumbledore decided to announce his presence from where he was stood in the archway at that exact moment, and Xander found himself with Tonks lying on top of him with the bed sheets pulling her tight against his body.

“Nymphadora Tonks! What are you doing?” A woman’s voice came this time and Xander blushed bright red as he turned to see who it was and spotted a tall woman with soft brown hair standing beside Professor Dumbledore.

“Mum!” Tonks whined at the full name, causing Xander to blush even harder.

The woman, now identified as Tonks mother, simply waved her wand at the bed, causing the bed sheets to untangle, dumping Xander unceremoniously on the floor as Tonks managed to somehow stay lying on the bed.

“That could have gone better.” Xander muttered as he slowly stood up and faced Professor Dumbledore.

“Mister Harris, might I have a word with you in my study for a moment please.” Dumbledore smiled at him as he made his way over, apologizing to Tonks on his way past and sliding past her mother, carefully making sure he didn’t meet her eyes.

“Professor, that wasn’t... I mean we weren’t... I mean...” Xander stuttered out, anxious to defend what he knew it must have looked like he and Tonks were doing.

“Relax dear boy,” Dumbledore smiled at him. “Nymphadora was just as clumsy when she was here as a student not so long ago.”

“That can’t have made a good impression on her mom though.” Xander muttered as he followed Dumbledore up the spiral staircase to his study.

“I am sure Andromeda will see things as they are once Nymphadora has explained what happened, don’t worry about it.” Strangely Dumbledore’s words did little to comfort Xander.

“Hope so,” Xander smiled slowly. “So she’s the one that wants to visit the Hellmouth? Weird.” He grinned as Dumbledore opened the doors to his study revealing a man already waiting for them.

“Ah Ted, I’m glad to find you here, I assumed you did as I requested?” Dumbledore asked, nodding cautiously to the man who was petting some sort of red coloured bird on a perch at the edge of Dumbledore’s study.

“Of course,” The man smiled as he strode over and shook Dumbledore’s hand. “Is this the young gentleman from America?”

“Yes, Mister Harris, direct from the Hellmouth as it were.” Dumbledore made the introductions. “This is Ted Tonks, Nymphadora’s father.”

Suddenly the room felt a little smaller to Xander, and his hands got a little hot. He knew that Mr Tonks couldn’t already know about the incident in the bedroom, but that didn’t make him any less nervous to be around him. “Pleasure,” Xander squeaked out before coughing and shaking the man’s hand.

“All mine,” The man smiled. “Albus has told me all about you, including some of your adventures on the Hellmouth. I must say, it sounds like an exciting place.”

“Yeah, monster of the week,” Xander grinned. “It’s alright, nothing like Hogwarts though.”

Mr Tonks just laughed. “Of that I’ve no doubt.” He then turned serious for a second. “Albus informs me that your friend, Rupert, has kindly offered to put our daughter up for the duration of the summer holidays,” Xander turned to Dumbledore and watched him nod in response to Mr Tonks statement, “are you sure you are alright with showing her around the Hellmouth?”

“Yeah, if that’s what she wants to see, might not be exactly what she expects though.” Xander grinned, wondering what sort of adventures Buffy, Willow and the gang had been having while he was in England.

“I’m sure she’ll love it.” Mr Tonks said with a smile.

“If you’ll excuse Mister Harris, he was in the middle of revising for his final year one exams,” He turned to Xander with a raised eyebrow. “Potions I believe is tomorrow, and we have a lot to talk about.”

“Yes,” Xander smiled. “Thank you.” He waved at Mr Tonks before practically running out the doors and closing them behind him, before jogging down the stairs and heading back along the corridor to his room, where now he had to face Tonks and her mother, hopefully Tonks had managed to calm her down a bit by now.

“Xander! Come quick!” His musings were interrupted by Harry’s voice as he jogged around the corner of the corridor up ahead, followed by Ron and Hermione.

“What?” Xander asked, running up to meet them.

“Dumbledore’s gone!” Harry exclaimed. “Professor McGonagall said he just left with someone on his way to the Ministry of Magic on urgent business.”

“And?” Xander prompted for more information; surely someone like Professor Dumbledore went away to the Ministry plenty of times over the school year. “That was probably why Mr Tonks was there.”

“Snape knows how to get past Fluffy, he’s going to try and steal the stone, tonight!” Harry explained, ignoring the comment about Mr Tonks as he turned before running off down the corridor followed by Ron and Hermione.

“Doesn’t he ever stay still for more than five minutes?” Xander muttered before running off after the trio.

=/^\=

“Are you three ready?” Hermione whispered as she made her way up the common room stairs into their bedroom.

“Sure, going to face a three headed dog, why not.” Xander muttered as he picked up his staff and the four made their way back downstairs to go through the main common room.

“Are you four sneaking out again?” A voice called from behind them as they tiptoed through the common room on their way to the hallway.

“Neville, listen...” Harry tried to appease Neville quietly.

“No, I won’t let you!” Neville stood firm. “You’ll get Gryffindor into trouble again.”

Xander raised his eyebrow; they hadn’t been in that much trouble this year, had they?

“I won’t let you... I’ll... I’ll fight you!” Neville called, putting up his fists in a boxing motion.

Xander fought the urge to laugh at him and raised his staff to put a sleeping charm on him; Hermione beat him to the punch though. “Petrificus Totalus!”

Neville instantly snapped to attention before his body took on an almost frozen appearance before toppling to the ground and hitting the wooden floor with a sound that echoed through the common room.

“That is a useful one to know,” Xander grinned at Hermione, causing her to blush bright red.

“Come on.” Harry whispered before leading them out of the common room and along to the main stairway hall where they could reach the third floor from.

The four students ran along the corridors, quickly ducking into side passages whenever they heard someone else coming along, it took them a while but they finally made it up the stairs to the third floor passage.

“This is it, have you got the spell?” Harry asked, turning to Hermione.

“Ready.” Hermione stated, and before anyone could change their minds Harry pushed open the door and walked in.

“Wait, shouldn’t that be locked?” Xander asked as he peered into the room.

“Where’s Fluffy?” Ron asked, glancing around the room they could see it was completely empty, even the harp that was there when they had encountered the giant dog before had gone. The room had been dusted and thoroughly cleaned.

“Ok, where’s the trapdoor then?” Xander asked, looking around the floor of the room for the trapdoor that Hermione had seen.

“They must have moved it.” Hermione said in disbelief.

“Moved the trapdoor?” Xander asked and Hermione nodded, whistling under his breath he had to admit, that was some powerful magic, to move an entire room would take some serious power.

“Well, where else could they put it?” Harry asked.

“Somewhere close to Dumbledore, where he could keep an eye on it no doubt, somewhere they could keep Fluffy as well, without any students wandering in on him.” Xander tried to think of places in the school where you could hide a giant dog, but none immediately came to mind.

“I know, there’s a full map of the school in the book, Hogwarts; A History. I have a copy in my room, we can check in there to see where Dumbledore could have moved it to.” Hermione offered, and Xander had to admit, it was the only plan he could think of that made any sense.

“But it’ll take us weeks to go through all that, this place is massive.” Ron complained.

“Why don’t you get three more copies from the library then tomorrow, we can check over the plans tomorrow night.” Xander looked at each of the group in tern to see if they had any better ideas, when none came to light he opened the door again and led the way back out into the hallway.

“I suggest we all get back to bed then, Professor Snape won’t like us falling asleep in his exam tomorrow.” Hermione reminded everyone that they still had exams for the rest of the week, even if they had other things to do as well.

“Can’t we face the giant dog before the potions exam?” Ron whimpered, causing Xander to chuckle as they made their way back to their room.

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Actually the potions exam wasn’t that bad, the first half of it was written work, which Xander groaned at but actually did surprisingly well at. It seemed the brushing up on Herbology had helped him here as well. The second half was practical work, and perhaps even more surprisingly, no one had any accidents or blew up their cauldrons. Even Snape seemed surprised when the end of the exam rolled by and no one had destroyed their work.

“Come on, it wasn’t that bad.” Xander grinned as the four made their way out of the exam towards the main hall for a late lunch.

“Not that bad? I would have rather faced the giant dog with just a tooth pick than go through that again.” Ron complained, Xander was starting to get the feeling that Snape wasn’t a suspect because he’d done anything wrong, but rather because the three hated his class, even Hermione didn’t look as excited about the prospect of a potions exam as she had done with the rest of her exams.

“We can face the dog tonight; I’ll even bring a toothpick for you alright?” Xander grinned as Ron scowled at him. They were interrupted from their chatter when Harry groaned, pressing his hand to his head.

“You alright harry?” Hermione asked as the three stopped to check on him.

“My scar, it’s burning.” Harry explained.

“Right, you two go and fetch the books; I’ll wait for you with Harry in the room.” Xander offered, Hermione and Ron nodded before moving off towards the library. “You alright?” He asked, looking at Harry who seemed visibly shaken.

“I think it’s a warning.” Harry groaned out.

“Better than an alarm clock,” Xander grinned, causing a slight smile to appear on Harry’s face as he led Harry back to the room. Back at the room the scar seemed to be burning stronger, Harry looked in obvious pain about it but there was nothing that could be done. “Just rest up ok, we’ll be done soon.”

Xander was resting on the bed, keeping a watchful eye on Harry when the painting that functioned as their main door opened.

“About time you two got here,” Xander grumbled. It had been nearly an hour since Ron and Hermione had gone to get the books, he’d been getting a little worried about them.

“Ahh!” Harry groaned loudly, pushing his head into the pillow.

“Sorry, Professor Quirril, what can I do for you?” Xander asked, finally turning to see who it was. “Headache,” He muttered, nodding to Harry. “Think the potions exam was too much for him.”

“Pr... Professor Dumbledore wo... would like to see both of you in his st... study for a mo... moment.” Quirril stuttered out.

This seemed to break Harry out of his pain, for a moment at least. “Dumbledore’s back?” He asked before pressing his hand to his temple again.

“Y... Yes, he asked to see y... you two as soon as he go... got back.” Quirril explained with a small smile.

“Think you can manage to Dumbledore’s study Harry?” Xander asked, turning to regard him for a moment.

“Wh... why don’t you help him? I’ll ca... carry you’re st... staff.” Quirril offered, picking Xander’s staff up from where it rested on the wall and examining it for a moment.

“Sounds fair,” Xander grinned as he helped Harry to his feet. “Come on; don’t want to keep Dumbledore waiting.” With that he pulled Harry’s arm around his waist and followed Quirril out of the arch, who courteously shut the painting behind them.

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As the two followed Professor Quirril into Dumbledore’s study it surprised both Xander and Harry that Professor Dumbledore wasn’t in his usual seat behind his desk, nor was he anywhere in the study that they could see. The pain had started to fade from Harry’s head on the walk to the study and now he was quite capable of walking on his own.

“Where is he?” Xander asked, turning to regard Quirril with a raised eyebrow. From what he’d seen of the man in their Defence Against the Dark Arts lessons, he was a complete idiot, but surprisingly good with offensive charms and curses when he demonstrated them to the class.

“Do... downstairs.” Quirril pointed to the stairs on the opposite side of the room that Xander had never noticed before, they had to have been there of course, it was a large spiralling staircase with ornate stone work built into the wall, he’d just never seen it before.

“Come on then.” Xander smiled, holding his hand out for his staff and then frowned when Quirril passed by him to walk down the stairs without giving it to him. “Weird guy,” He muttered before he followed Harry who had already started his way down the stairs following Quirril.

Taking one last glance around the study, making sure he hadn’t missed any other stair cases or passages out of the area, Xander shrugged before making his way down the stairs to follow Harry and Quirril who were probably already at the bottom.

The staircase was quite long, longer than the one they’d used to get up into Dumbledore’s study, Xander mused that it must have passed the floor they originally started on and was making its way down the floor below, but that didn’t make sense, because the floor they’d came from was on the ground, they went up one level to Dumbledore’s study. If this went down two floors, then they were heading down underneath the school.

“Hey, you two alright down there?” Xander called out, waiting for a moment to see if he could hear any footsteps on the stairs. No footsteps and no reply. “Anyone?” He called out again, no reply. Even though the stair case was well lit somehow, it was beginning to feel quite creepy on there, not quite as spooky as The Master’s cave where he found Buffy’s drained body, but close. Picking up the speed he started to jog down the stairs, smiling when he actually found the bottom and Quirril was stood in front of a large arch, Harry wasn’t anywhere to be seen though.

“Hey, where’s Harry?” Xander asked, pausing for a moment at the stairs. He could see his staff; it was a few feet into the arch way where he could just make out a green wall of energy, like a wall of thin glass, in the archway.

“Right here.” Quirril shouted, spinning round to show Xander he had Harry by the throat pulled in close to him, his other hand pointed a wand at Harry’s neck, a wand that looked suspiciously like Harry’s own, pressing it into the soft flesh.

Pulling his wand from his pocket he aimed it at the pair, snarling at Quirril. “What’s going on?”

“Harry here was just kind enough to tell me how to get past this barrier; it seems Dumbledore put it up to protect the stone.” Quirril spoke, only now he didn’t have the stutter and his voice seemed different, deeper somehow.

“Dumbledore put the stone in there?” Xander motioned to the barrier, where he could see two bodies lying on the ground, a few feet from the door. Their robes identified them as Slytherin, but aside from that Xander couldn’t make out who there were. “But why do you want to steal it?”

“He’s...” Harry started before Quirril pushed the wand further into his neck, silencing him and causing him to wince from the pain.

Looking at Harry he got all the confirmation he needed when he saw the hate burning in his eyes. “You’re Voldemort?” It was all Xander could do to stop laughing. Everything he’d heard about Voldemort put him as some larger than life demon, with powers that no human could imagine.

“No, I am not Voldemort, but you must be exceedingly brave to even speak his name, brave or foolish.” Quirril shouted.

“And you can’t get the stone, why not?” Xander asked, trying to put all the pieces together in his head.

“Because only a muggle born can pass through the arch,” Harry bit out, wincing as the wand got pressed into his throat again.

“Yes, a rather ingenious idea of Dumbledore’s. I was told, by a reasonably reliable source, that those two students were muggle born.” Quirril explained.

“Malfoy,” Harry bit out through clenched teeth.

“Yes, he does have a wonderful hatred of all things muggle or not pure blood doesn’t he?” Quirril sneered at Xander. “I knew you two were a danger to me from the beginning.”

“Wait; let me get this right, you’re behind everything that’s been happening this year? The troll?” Xander asked, trying to get his head around the fact that this teacher was responsible for everything that had happened.

“A distraction so I could steal the stone,” Quirril admitted. “Snape interfered though, while everyone else was dealing with the troll, which you so happily killed by the way, he headed to the third floor to protect the stone.”

“Bet he saw right through you.” Xander grinned, vindication for Snape, finally.

“He never trusted me again, meddlesome incompetent.” Quirril snarled, obviously annoyed that his plans had been broken by a potions teacher. “He never left me alone, he doesn’t understand, I’m never alone.”

Xander fought the urge to laugh again at the mumbling coming from the man holding Harry hostage, even Harry looked a bit confused as Quirril started mumbling to himself. “So you need a muggle born to fetch you the stone so you can live forever, and you’ll kill Harry if I don’t help you, that about the size of it?”

“Perceptive as always, I thought someone with your natural talent for all things magical would be able to find a way through there. I watched as you blasted the Mirror or Erised into as million pieces with a simple spell. If you can’t get through the barrier, then you could always make another hole in the wall.” Quirril sneered at him.

“Could do, if my staff wasn’t on the other side of the barrier.” Xander muttered, he was reasonably sure he could pass through the barrier, he was of course muggle born, or still a muggle technically, but why tell Quirril that.

“Don’t play me for a fool boy!” Quirril shouted. “I checked Dumbledore’s files on you; there has never been a wizard in your family as far as the records go back. You’re about as pure blood muggle as their can be.”

“And yet, using magic, so I guess the records are wrong.” Xander quipped, trying to keep Quirril off guard while he figured out a way out of this so he could save Harry and the two boys in the chamber.

“I must confess the exact nature of your magic eludes me, but I will figure it out.” Quirril bit the last few words out in determination. “Now, you will fetch me the stone or I will kill Harry Potter.” Quirril spat out Harry’s name as it offended his lips to even speak it.

“Fine, whatever,” Xander muttered as he put away his wand and made his way to the arch way, pausing for a moment and placing his hand in first, watching in amazement as green energy played over his hand before he stepped through completely. Picking up his staff first he made his way to the pedestal in the middle of the room, where a small box stood undisturbed on the top.

“Bring me the stone or Potter dies!” Quirril’s shout echoed through the hall.

“Keep your knickers on.” Xander mumbled as he reached for the box, jumping back when red lightning seemed to play over the surface where he was going to touch it. Breathing in sharply he lifted the lid of the box, breathing a sigh of relief when nothing happened and it revealed what looked to him to be a giant ruby inside. Turning around he could see Quirril getting anxious as he twitched his wand against Harry’s throat.

“And what’s to stop me destroying the stone right here?” Xander bluffed.

“Because I will kill your friend, and then you.” Quirril shouted before turning his head to look up at something.

“Let me talk to him.” A voice whispered through the halls.

“But master, you’re not strong enough.” Quirril said, seemingly on speaking terms with whoever was causing the bodiless whispering.

“I am strong enough for this.” The voice came again, hissing through the silence of the halls.

Quirril seemed to pause before pushing Harry away from him where he fell against a wall, taking his time to sit down he watched as Quirril started unwrapping the purple turban he had on his head, as he pulled the last piece of cloth off with a flourish Xander had to wince.

The guy had someone else’s face growing out of the back of his head, in all his time at Sunnydale he didn’t think he’d ever seen anything quite as disgusting as that.

Quirril turned to face Xander so the other face was facing Harry, his want was pointing directly at Xander, twitching for an excuse to use it.

“Harry Potter, we meet again.” The face spoke in a whispering, hissing tone.

“Voldemort.” Harry exclaimed under his breath.

Ok, evil sorcerer guy can live inside other people, why does no one tell me these things? Xander’s brain was running at double speed, trying to figure out a way to distract Voldemort so Harry could escape, then he could deal with Quirril before getting the two boy’s by his feet out of here.

“Yes, you see what I have become; see what I must do to survive.” Quirril span round so that he was facing Harry with his wand aimed at his head. “And you,” The hissing voice continued as he spoke to Xander, “You interrupted my feeding.”

“That was you then, outside, drinking the unicorn blood.” Xander put everything together.

“Yes, unicorn blood can sustain me, but it cannot give me a life of my own, I am reduced to a mere parasite, living of the life of another.”

“So you need the stone,” Xander threw it up in the air, snatching it as it fell back to his hand. “Or you’ll live like that forever.”

“Don’t be a fool,” Voldemort hissed. “Both you and Potter will suffer the worst death imaginable unless you hand that stone over now.”

“Now you see, we have a problem,” Xander grinned, trying to think of a way out of this one. “I have the stone, you can’t get it. You have Harry. Let him go, you’ll still have me and I’ll give you the stone.”

“Brave, foolish but brave,” Voldemort hissed as Quirril’s wand twitched in Harry’s direction, blasting a stream of energy out at him which threw his head back into the rock wall, rendering him unconscious immediately. “Give me the stone, or Potter dies!”

“Harry!” Xander shouted, “You want to kill me, fine, bring it on.” Xander shouted, walking outside of the barrier and dropping the stone on the floor in front of him where it fell with a chink.

“You fool, none can stand up to me,” Voldemort hissed as Quirril pointed his wand at Xander. “No mere wizard can stand up to me. You could have been great, ruling the world at my right hand, and you threw it all away for this boy!” The wand twitched again as Voldemort hissed “Avada Kedavra.”

As soon as Xander saw the twitch he started his shield incantation. “Umbra Protego!” he watched in horror as the sickly green energy that signified the killing curse built up and flew through the air, impacting his shield in the chest and sending him stumbling back several feet.

“Yeah, well, that’s what friends are for.” Xander quipped, causing Quirril to gape at him.

“How did you defeat the killing curse? No wizard alive can withstand its effects!” Voldemort hissed.

“Yeah well, I’m not a wizard,” Xander stepped forward menacingly, raising his staff to the air. “I’m a Technomage!” with the shout he brought his staff down on top of the Philosophers Stone, cracking it first as a bright white light shone out from inside before the stone exploded, throwing both Xander and Quirril to the floor.

As the wall impacted his back he saw Harry looking at him in amazement, he’d obviously regained consciousness while he and Quirril were fighting. As the darkness started to swim in front of his eyes he turned his gaze to Quirril, who had fallen to the floor, a shard of the stone embedded in his neck where blood was flowing freely.

As he started to lose consciousness, and blood started to trickle down over his eyes, he could have swore he saw some sort of mist raising from Quirril’s body and floating up the stairs, his last sight before he lost consciousness was Harry, crawling over the stone to where he was laying. “That hurt,” He managed to whisper out before the darkness finally claimed him.

=/^\=

“Is he going to be alright Professor?” Harry asked, as he stood watch over Xander in the hospital wing. Ron and Hermione were with him and Dumbledore stood at the foot of the bed watching them all.

“He’ll be fine, just fine my boy.” Dumbledore reassured him with a smile as Xander started to stir.

“What the?” Xander muttered in a panicked tone.

“It’s alright dear boy.” Dumbledore placed a hand on Xander’s arm, comforting him, “Madam Pomfrey had to bandage your eyes when they started to heal on their own. You possess quite a resistance to magical healing don’t you know.”

Harry smiled as he started to slowly unwrap the bandage from Xander’s eyes, causing him to wince as the bright light of the hospital room flooded his vision.

“Damn!” Xander shouted, bringing his hand up to shield his eyes, they were tingling and the light was making them burn, they felt even more sensitive than normal.

Harry spotted it first, letting out a surprised shout before Ron and Hermione noticed it. “Your eyes, they’re blue.”

Xander was still blinking, trying to adjust his vision to the light. He could just about make out Harry, who had a bandage around his head, as well as Ron and Hermione who were stood on the other side of the bed.

“Yes, your eyes started to change when Madam Pomfrey tried to heal them,” Dumbledore explained what had been happening. “They seemed to take offence to being healed, so we decided to leave them for your own healing powers to take care of.”

“Thanks,” Xander said, rubbing at his eyes where they itched before fetching a mirror of the stand. As Harry said, his eyes were now a piercing blue instead of the deep brown they were before. His hair still wasn’t growing back on the top of his head though; it seemed only to grow on the sides and back to just above his ears. “Must be something to do with the implants, they have their own healing system.”

“I thought as much,” Dumbledore smiled. “You’ve had quite the collection of visitors,” He nodded to the bed next to him where it was laden with flowers, chocolates and candy of all shapes and sizes.

“Ugh,” Xander groaned, trying to sit up in the bed. His muscles complained which told his he’d been in the bed a while. “How long was I out for?”

“Just over a week my boy, I’m afraid you missed your birthday.” Dumbledore smiled as he nodded to the other bed where a small pile of presents we stacked with Pixel curled up in a ball at the base of them, obviously guarding them.

“That sucks.” Xander grinned despite the pain he felt.

“What happened between you and Professor Quirril in the catacombs is the most private of secrets,” Dumbledore smiled with a twinkle in his eye. “As such, the entire school knows about it.”

Xander groaned, sitting up properly made him feel better so he swung his legs over the side of the bed and touched his feet to the cold marble floor.

“You and Mister Potter are most fortunate, though Mister Flammel mourns the loss of his stone; he wishes to thank you personally for your bravery in keeping it from the hands of Voldemort.” Dumbledore smiled, passing Xander his staff to help him stand. “It is not every first year that can stand up to Voldemort and live to tell the tale.”

“Yeah, well, I’ll be happy if I never have to see that creep again.” Xander groused as Harry passed him his coat, he definitely felt like an old man now, leaning on his staff for support as he shrugged his coat around his shoulders, not even bothering to thread his arms though the sleeves. “Is he gone? You know, for good?”

“Alas there are other ways he can return.” Dumbledore stated gravely. “But you needn’t worry about that; this moment is yours my boy. This came for you while you were unconscious, I took the liberty of opening it in case it contained anything that needed to be attended to urgently.” Dumbledore smiled with a twinkle in his eye as he handed over a scroll of parchment to Xander.

“It’s from G-Man!” Xander exclaimed as he sat up in the bed straight so he could read the letter carefully. As he scrolled through it he noticed the lack of mention about Buffy or Willow, in fact the letter seemed written in a completely business fashion with no sense of emotion in the wording whatsoever. “The house has been sold.” He finally said solemnly.

“Indeed,” Dumbledore paused as he took the parchment back off Xander and watched as he slumped down in the bed. “The money from the sale of the house has been moved into Gringotts and an account opened for you, you can access the money anytime you wish and withdraw it in either muggle currency or wizard currency.”

Xander wasn’t listening though, he was just staring out of the window, his mind drifting back to the night he had actually faced up to his parents, and how they had left, leaving him the house to do with as he pleased.

=/^\=

“You still carrying that stick of yours boy!” Xander’s father shouted at him as he made his way through the front door and downstairs to pack ready for Hogwarts. After the arguments with Buffy, Giles had got in contact with Albus and arranged for him to start this year instead of after he’d finished school.

Ignoring the comment be started to make his way down the hall and towards his bedroom. He was in no mood for another fight tonight, the argument with Buffy still had him riled up inside and he could feel his agitation being echoed by the tech implants inside him and feeding back in a never ending cycle.

“Don’t you ignore me!” The man shouted, slamming his fist on something causing Xander to jump slightly and stop in his tracks. “Now come here and face me like a man, if that’s what you are.” He slurred out at he made his way to the doorway that separated the living room from the hallway.

“Sorry,” Xander muttered as he turned around to face his father.

“Don’t give me that,” Tony was drunk as usual, his mother was stood behind him sneering at Xander. “Why you still carrying that stick of yours around.” His tone stated that he didn’t really expect an answer to the question as he stumbled over and snatched the staff from Xander’s hand before throwing it down the hallway.

As Xander moved to go and retrieve it, his father grabbed him by the collar and pulled him up to face him.

“You’ll never amount to anything, I don’t know why you even bother going to school, to see that slut friend of yours Willow probably.” He slurred out, pushing Xander away from him and into a wall.

“Don’t talk about Willow like that.” Xander said slowly. His anger was getting the better of him, amplified by the tech and he couldn’t afford to lose control, not again, not tonight, but his anger was surging through him. The tech echoed his anger back to him and felt like it wanted to be used, to do something to stop this threat it perceived from his father.

“Or what? You actually going to grow a pair, stand up for yourself for once in your life?” Tony sneered at him, stepping up to get right in Xander’s face.

Xander took a deep breath to calm himself and avoided looking at his father, he’d begun to see Giles as his father more and more recently anyway, this man was just another bully making his life hell.

“Come on, take a swing, show me what you’re made of. Show me my son isn’t the useless pile of shit I think he is.” Tony pushed him again, ignoring the low growl that came from Xander’s throat as his back hit the wall. “Go on; show me you’re not a complete waste of space.” Tony sneered again, pushing him into the wall again.

When Xander’s head hit the wall his tech had obviously decided enough was enough, his arm reached out and the staff flew into his hand where he grasped it tightly. “You want to see what I am?” He shouted, his anger quickly conjuring an illusion of darkness surrounding him. “You really want to see what I’m capable of?” He conjured a small platform in front of him, pushing it forward to slam his father in the gut, doubling him over. Another platform under his chest pushed him back up to standing up right before Xander started walking towards him. The darkness behind him now a tangible thing as it grew to encompass the entire hallway.

“I killed a master vampire tonight,” He shouted, another platform came into existence, pushing his father back into the wall and pinning him there. “And don’t give me the crap of no such thing as vampires, you can’t be that stupid.” Another platform pushed his mother back to the wall, pinning her in place by his father. “You think after that, you would be any problem for me?”

He saw his parents visibly pale as the illusion of darkness now filled the entire hallway, blacking out everything but them and Xander. He watched as his father struggled to get free from the invisible platform that was pinning him tightly to the wall. “You don’t like it, do you?” He sneered, releasing his hold on his father momentarily before slamming him to the wall again. “Being bullied like this, you’re used to being the big man. So tell me, big man, how’s it feel to know I could do anything, I could keep you like this forever, it wouldn’t bother me.” The darkness now seemed to emanate from Xander as he leaned in to get right in his father’s face. His hood had fallen over his head and holding his staff he looked like a spectre of death surrounded in the darkness.

He sniffed, something smelt off, he looked down in disgust and saw his father had actually wet himself in fear. “Get out.” He shouted opening the door so the light coming from outside was the only thing they could see in the eternal darkness that surrounded them. “Next time I won’t be as forgiving.” Releasing the platforms that held his parents in place he watched as they ran out the door, terrified of what Xander was conjuring in their house.

As another of his platforms slammed the door shut behind them he sank to the floor, still clutching his staff as the darkness around him seemed to shrink back to wherever it had come from. He watched the door with tears welling in his eyes, the anger which held him strong through the entire fight had gone now, leaving him cold and feeling empty inside. His implants tingled from the use they had been given and seemed anxious for more magic.

He simply sat, not crying but tears running down his cheeks. He wasn’t sure if it was relief or anger as he just waited, waiting for the door to open again and his parents to come back and start yelling at him again. They never came, he waited for hours before finally finding the strength to stand and walk over to the telephone numbly where he called Giles to come over so he could explain what happened.

The next day, after a long nights talk with Giles he waited at the breakfast table, drinking a mug of coffee that his father had forced him to start drinking a long time ago, it was just a routine now though. His parents didn’t come back. He waited all day, ignoring the telephone when it rang, probably Giles to see why he hadn’t come round for his talk about going to Hogwarts. Every time I heard someone walk by the house he flinched, expecting his father to storm in the door any minute. They never did.

=/^\=

“Thanks,” Xander said, trying to force a smile onto his face as he turned to Dumbledore and got out of the bed, wincing as his bare feet met the cold stone floor. His mind was racing, trying to figure out what this meant for him to actually go back to Sunnydale over the holidays.

“You mustn’t jump to conclusions my boy,” Dumbledore smiled at him. “Things are rarely what they appear to be, even the most obvious of things.”

“I knew you were going to say that.” Xander grinned slightly, his mood lightening somewhat as he saw how all of his friends were looking at him concerned. Forcing a smile on his face he walked round the bed, petting Pixel as he made his way to Dumbledore and Harry. “Thank you,” He smiled at Dumbledore before bending down to look Harry in the eyes. “Thank you.”

Harry just grinned before embracing him in a tight hug which Ron and Hermione followed suit with. Soon the bunch were laughing as Dumbledore watched from his seat on the bed, they certainly were an interesting group, Rupert had been right, nothing would ever be the same with Xander at Hogwarts.

=/^\=

“Wotcher!” Tonks grinned from the hallway entrance to the group’s bedroom.

“Hey,” Xander grinned from his position on the bed where he was just finishing off packing for tomorrow. “You all packed.”

“Nope,” Tonks grinned back at Xander’s puzzled look. “Slight change of plans, I ain’t coming with you, seems my mum’s decided to join me on the trip, so we’re going to the Cleveland Hellmouth instead.” She smiled before making her way over to sit next to Xander on the bed as her mum came in, followed by Professor Dumbledore.

“Mister Harris,” Mrs Tonks announced as she made her way over to the bed where Xander and Tonks were sat. “I assume Nymphadora has explained our change of plans to you?” She smiled as Xander nodded.

“It was very kind of you to offer, but I feel it would be best if we did the holiday as a family, that way Nymphadora will be able to return to her Auror training as soon as she returns to London.” Andromeda continued, causing Tonks to smile and nod.

“Sounds cool,” Xander smiled, looking over at Tonks who grinned back, causing him to blush. “So, I'll be going back to good old Sunnyhell on my own then?” He smiled as he looked around the room, checking that no one else wanted to come with him.

“Well I did have one thought,” Dumbledore started to say with a wry smile. “I believe your friends would like to ask you themselves though.” Dumbledore let out a small chuckle as both Harry and Ron came into the room.

“What?” Xander asked, raising an eyebrow at Harry first, then Ron. Surely they didn’t want to come with him, to visit the Hellmouth. Hell, part of him didn’t want to go back, he was happy here, finally coming to peace with himself. “You two don’t want to come? Do you?” He asked, his eyes showing the concern for their safety that his voice didn’t.

“If you’ll excuse us Professor,” Andromeda smiled at Xander. “Mister Harris,” She nodded as Tonks stood up next to her. “We should be going; we have a long trip back to London ahead of us.”

“Of course,” Dumbledore smiled, “I'll escort you out.” He nodded at Xander, his eyes twinkling with knowledge as he turned and ducked out of the archway following Andromeda and Nymphadora.

“So?” Xander turned to where Ron and Harry were fidgeting nervously. “Look, I don’t think you two would be safe on the Hellmouth, that’s all.”

“What?” Ron burst out, his eyes widening after Xander’s explanation of what he thought they were going to ask. “No,” He waved his hands anxiously. “I’m all for staying away for Hellmouth’s.”

Harry smiled, nodded at Ron’s emphatic denial of what Xander had said. “Bit of the opposite really,” Harry grinned.

“My dad, he wants to meet you,” Ron explained. “I told you he loves everything muggle, well, he wants to ask you some stuff, learn more about the muggle world, all that stuff.”

“Fair enough,” Xander nodded, he could stand up to an interview about normal life he supposed. “That’s it? He just wants to ask some questions?”

“I told him you were going back to Sunnydale today,” Ron explained, fidgeting again. “He asked if you’d like to come and stay with us instead.” Ron asked the last hopefully, in the last year he’d become quite close to Xander, not as close as Harry, but they were becoming close friends, especially after Xander had been defending him to Malfoy for the entire year.

“Spend the summer in the magic house?” Xander grinned. “Seriously?”

“It’s not huge or anything,” Ron stumbled out. “But its home, Fred and George are away for the summer, spending it with their girlfriends, you could have their room.”

“What about Harry?” Xander asked, looking directly at Harry.

“I can’t,” Harry said, sorrow tingeing his voice. “The Dursley’s are expecting me back.”

“We’ll keep in touch, I'll owl you every day,” Ron said with a grin. “So,” He turned back to Xander. “What do you think?”

“Sounds like fun,” Xander grinned. He didn’t really have anything back in Sunnydale to go back for, not after the way he left. “Are you sure?” He asked, watching Ron carefully to make sure he was being truthful about it all.

“Yeah,” Ron nodded. “My dad really wants to meet you, he’s got tons of questions about stuff, how they work and everything, his major ambition in life is to figure out how muggle airplanes stay in the air.”

Xander had to laugh at that one and was joined in by Harry who was snorting with humour. “Don’t know if I can answer that one,” Xander grinned. “But I can try and explain it.”

“You really know?” Ron asked, amazed at this bit of knowledge.

“It’s not exactly a secret,” Xander smiled as Harry nodded. “I'll try and explain it to your dad.”

“So you’ll stay?” Ron asked hopefully.

“Yeah,” Xander grinned. “Sounds like it’ll be a laugh.”

“What about your friends?” Harry asked, happy that Xander had said yes to staying, but not sure about why. “Don’t you want to see them over the holidays?”

Neither of the boys recognised the shadow of sorrow that passed over Xander’s face as he thought back to how he had actually left Sunnydale, and the argument that had led to him coming to Hogwarts just over a year ago.

=/^\=

“You killed him?” Buffy shouted, outrage dripping from her voice.

“Would you rather it me? Or Willow, or Giles that was dead?” Xander shouted back. “How many people have to die so you can keep your boyfriend.”

“Shut up, you don’t know what you’re talking about!” Buffy shouted back before storming out of the library.

Xander had left Angelus alive that night in the library, he was about to stake the bastard, and would have gone through with it as well, when they had been interrupted by Buffy. She kept claiming that they would find a way to put the soul back in, to turn him back to Angel. For two weeks they’d kept him locked up, two weeks where they’d taken turns watching him. Two weeks until Spike and Dru broke him out of the cage where they kept him in the mausoleum.

Angelus had gone too far though, last night he kidnapped Willow and Giles after killing Ms Calendar. They’d gotten cocky, thinking with a slayer and Xander on their side Angelus wouldn’t dare try anything. They were wrong though.

Xander had found Willow and Giles, tied up and bleeding badly in Angel’s mansion while Buffy was still in the library, moping over her boyfriend killer and trying to find a way to ensoul him again; despite how many times Giles had told her that the magic’s had been lost.

He’d gone into the mansion in a fit of rage, incineration vampires wherever he saw them, Angelus didn’t stand a chance. He saw him bending over Willow, ready to bite her, to kill her. That had been the final straw. He didn’t even know what spell he’d used, he just wanted Angelus dead.

Angelus had charged him and Xander had fired this red beam from his hand, it was like nothing either he or Giles had ever seen before. It struck Angelus in the chest, burning through him like he was paper before exploding out the other side and burning a hole clean through the wall behind him.

He then watched as Angelus looked at him in disbelief before turning to so much ash.

That night they’d told Buffy, and she’d cried for hours. She didn’t want to speak to any of them, let alone Xander, and had even avoided Willow and Giles at school the next day.

“What was that spell?” Giles asked quietly as Willow ran out the doors after Buffy.

“I don’t know, it didn’t even feel like a spell. I didn’t even had to use the staff, it was weird Giles, like I didn’t even have to cast it, it was just there, ready for me.” Xander tried to explain, he’d tried to cast the spell again, but with no success, whatever it was, however he’d done it, he couldn’t replicate it. “She ever going to forgive me?”

“In time, all things are forgiven in time.” Giles smiled as Willow walked back into the room with Buffy following her.

“I want you gone Xander.” Buffy stated simply.

“Buffy...” Xander started.

“You can’t just...” Giles tried but she just held up her hand.

“He goes, or I go.” She said before turning on her heels and leaving the library, Willow watching her with tears in her eyes.

“What?” Xander asked, turning to Giles. “What do I do?”

“You don’t have to go anywhere.” Giles stated firmly. “I’ll talk to her.”

“I don’t know Giles, she seemed pretty pissed.” Xander muttered, sinking into his chair. “What about that school? You know, the wizarding one you went to?”

“Hogwarts?” Giles asked, raising his eyebrow. They’d talked about Xander going to Hogwarts a few times, but hadn’t thought of him going there until he’d graduated Sunnydale.

“Well, if Buffy wants me gone,” Xander frowned, never thinking he’d hear those words coming from his lips. “Hogwarts sounds like the place to go.”

“Are you sure? I mean, Albus will take you of course, but leaving Sunnydale...” Giles didn’t want to continue, he couldn’t believe Buffy was being so selfish about all of this.

“I’m sure.” Xander stated, his version of the resolve face in place as Willow hugged him, tears swelling up in her eyes. “I’m sure.” He whispered as he hugged Willow back.

=/^\=

“I'll see them next summer,” Xander plastered on a fake smile as he looked at the two boys, shaking himself out of his memories as he stood up.

“Brilliant,” Ron grinned, his smile nearly splitting his face in two. “I'll owl dad, tell him you’re staying, he’ll meet us in London when we get off the train.” Smiling at Xander and Harry, he moved quickly over to the desk and started furiously scribbling a note.

“What about you?” Xander asked in a low voice, turning to Harry. “I get the feeling your holiday isn’t going to be as much fun.”

“I'll be fine,” Harry tried to reassure him with a smile but it didn’t quite reach his eyes. “It’s only a few months, and I'll have you two owling me to keep me company.”

The smile did little to reassure Xander; ever since Harry had confided in Xander how the Dursley’s treated him he’d been more and more protective of him, like an older brother would be. “If they give you any problems, just owl me, and I'll be there as soon as I can.”

Harry grinned, his spirits soaring. This was the first time in his life he had friends who actually cared for him, friends that would go out of their way to help him. Hogwarts was his true home, not back with the Dursley’s.

“Thanks Xander,” Harry smiled, nodding his head at his friend as he had seen Xander do so many times over the past year as a sign of respect.

“Yeah, whatever,” Xander grinned, waving it off and pulling Harry into a tight hug. “We faced down Voldemort, gotta stick together haven’t we?”

“Yeah,” Harry nodded, pulling himself out of the hug that was an uncharacteristic show of emotion for Xander. “You did all the work though.”

“And I couldn’t have done it without you two,” Xander smiled, nodding to Ron who was carefully tying the note he’d written to his owl and carrying it to the window. “You know if either of you need anything, just ask alright?”

“Thanks,” Harry smiled before standing up and moving over to his bunk to make sure he was fully packed for the train leaving in a few hours.

“You think we’ll actually get a quiet year next year?” Xander asked rhetorically as he set about checking all his drawers to make sure he’d packed everything.

“With you two around?” Ron snorted with good natured sarcastic laughter. “Somehow I doubt it.”

=/^\=

AN: Major rewrite at the end there, and will be updated soon with the continuation of this story... as you should have spotted, Spellcraft in Sunnydale has been deleted, the story will now continue with Xander at The Burrow over the holidays.

Methos