A Matter of Family

Chapter Eight


"Not so much. I'm Alexander Harris."

Spike's head shot us as he was assaulted by the smell of fear rolling off the lil'whelp. {'What the bloody hell is the Whelp up to, dropping his name like that?'} He fixed his eyes on the other two men in the shop for the first time. As he scented the room, his nostrils flared. {'Oh, that just bloody well figures don't it? Dark magics; and lots of it. The boy would have smelled it as soon as we walked in the door, with that spankin' new upgrade he just got. Right...so the Whelp has this guy's number, and just dangled a bit o' bait. Time to play along and see what he's got planned.'}

Dawn heard Xander say his name, and turned to stare at him. {'He knows people are looking for him, why'd he do that?'} She watched as he melted into a carefree slouch, but noted the subtle tensing in his shoulders. If someone didn't know him they would never have noticed. {'Okay, he's up to something.'} Dawn moved closer to Spike, waiting to see what was going to happen.

Harry couldn't believe his cousin. He knew there were Death Eaters looking for him, and he had just introduced himself to the first one that they had run into. Then Harry caught sight of Dawn moving closer to Spike. Spike was watching Xander and the Malfoys intently, and he had an air of readiness about him. {'Maybe Xander isn't as clueless as I thought. But how could they know?'}

A lop-sided grin formed on Xander's face. "Everyone just calls me Xander. And I'm not so much a muggle, at least I don't think so. Way I understand it is, muggle means you don't have any magic, and according to that old dude, Tweedledum, or whatever, I'm a wizard. So that means I'm not a muggle right? I'm not really sure on all this. We just got here a couple hours ago, heck I didn't even believe in magic until a few hours ago, actually. But, I've been convinced. I mean, when some old guy just pops into the middle of your apartment asking if you want to meet a cousin you never knew, that gets kinda hard to ignore...then flash...here we are. Meeting Harry has been really cool, he's a good kid. This place is really neat too. I've never seen anything like this. They keep telling me I need to get a wand, but I just really can't see how a pointy little piece of wood can be all that important. But, then you're here, so you're probably a wizard too, which means you have one of those pointy pieces of wood. I'm sure Harry and the old dude tried to explain it all, but this is just all so cool I haven't really been paying any attention to what they've been saying. I'll shut up now."

Xander took a deep breath and turned to Draco. "Oh, and could you not insult my dog, please? I know he may not be the best looking in the world, but he's pretty special. Sometimes I swear he understands people and doesn't like to be insulted."

Draco gapped at the non-stop flow of babble coming from the man in front of him. {'I didn't know it was possible to say that much without breathing. This is the guy that has everyone in such a snit?'} His mother screeched bloody murder when she noticed a new name forming itself on her Black family tapestry. The tapestry revealed an uncle she had never known about, a squib. Also a new Black wizard who was nearly twenty-one. Mother had been unable to explain why the names had never appeared before. She assumed that Alexander must have made his own tapestry to get them to appear now. The realization that the newest member of the Black family was also a nephew to James Potter had truly sent the manor into hysterics. Malfoy Manor had been in a state of uproar for nearly twenty-four hours now with people attempting locator spells and giving reports of failure in finding their quarry. Now, here he stood right in front of his father, and in the company of Potter.

Draco studied the newest member of his mother's family intently. There didn't seem to be anything remarkable about him; longish, floppy dark hair, brown eyes, a bit on the tall side, and a grin that made him look like a buffoon. {'The way he talks, I doubt he is capable of higher thought anyway.'} He was radiating a great amount of power, but it was chaotic, untrained. {'No doubt that's what all the fuss is over. Get the git and make him the perfect little servant of Voldemort. And, of course, Mother would want to control him to ensure she would control the Black family fortune. Pfft. Just off him and be done with it. It's not like he's a true wizard anyway.'}

"May I ask how you came to find you had a long lost cousin?" The older Malfoy asked.

"Xander....." Harry began, but was ignored.

"What? Oh, you see that's actually a really cool story. See, my little sister, well she's not really my little sister but she lives me now that her mom died. My little sister dragged me into this occult shop and she was looking through all these books, then she got all excited. She found this potion for making a family tree. She just lost her mom about six months ago, and wanted something to remember her by. I agreed to let her try, and she talked me into doing one. So, we get home and follow all the instructions, only hers didn't do anything. Mine got all glowy, and then all these names started showing up. It was really cool, but really freaky. I mean there were the names of my grandparents...but they weren't MY grandparents. Made some calls, found out my dad had been adopted and mom thought I was crazy. Anyway, later in the evening my roommate, my sister, and I were all sitting in the living room and then ..."poof"...there's this old dude standing right in the middle of the room. He tells me that when I did the family tree my name popped up on my cousin's and my cousin wanted to meet me because he didn't have any other family of his dad's. We really didn't believe the old geezer at first......"

Lucius held up a hand to stop the flow of words. "Yes, yes. I believe I understand."

Draco leaned over to Harry and whispered, "Potter, your cousin is a bloody lunatic."

"You have no idea," Harry whispered back. He was still trying to decipher all of words that had come out of Xander's mouth.

"How long have you been in the country? You're American, are you not?" Lucius asked, feigning genuine curiosity.

"Xander...." Harry tried again.

"Yeah, we're from L.A. The old guy 'poofed' us here about two hours ago. Introduced us to Harry, chatted for a bit, then suggested we come here so I could get stuff that any wizard needs. I'm still trying to understand why wizards wear dresses," Xander beamed with his best goofy grin firmly in place.

"Ah, yes. I see. Are these your companions then?" Lucius asked, trying not to scowl.

"Uh? Oh yeah, the gorgeous brunette there is my little sister...Jenny. The sneering bleach head is my roommate Sp....uh, William. I wouldn't leave without them, and William is originally from England anyway, so he demanded to come along."

Harry tried to warn Xander, again, of just who he was talking to, but a look from Xander had him shutting his mouth before he could make a sound.

Lucius looked over the group critically. The blond looked familiar, but he couldn't place him. William also had a small amount of power, {'Probably a squib.'} The girl was young, the same age as Draco and somewhat attractive, for a muggle; other than that she was unremarkable. Lucius glanced at the mutt they had brung in the shop with them. Something was niggling at the back of his mind, but he couldn't place it.

Xander watched cautiously as the man examined Dawn, Spike, and Padfoot. He sighed inwardly with relief when the man's grey eyes were focused again on him. {'All right! Way to go Wills and Tara. Looks like that spell worked. At least something is working our way.'}

"I'm sorry. Where are my manners? My name is Lucius Malfoy, this is my son Draco."

"Hi. It's nice to meet ya," Xander said, holding out his hand for a shake.

Lucius looked at the offered hand dubiously before taking it for a quick shake. He immediately wiped his hand on his robe. When Xander offered his hand to Draco the youth merely sneered at him. {'Yup. Definitely a mini-Spike. Gonna hafta ask him about that. It's just the kind of creepy coincidence that ends up getting us in trouble.'}

"Mother is raising hell trying to find you," Draco said coldly.

"Draco," Lucius warned.

"Why is your mother trying to find me?" Xander asked, politely confused.

"Well, when you appeared on Mr. Potter's family tapestry, you also appeared on my wife's," Lucius started, before Draco could say anything more. "She would be your father's cousin. She very much wanted to meet you, as there aren't that many members of the Black family remaining. She holds family in great importance."

{'Wow. Gotta give the asshole some applauses. If I couldn't smell the lies rolling off the slimy little shit, I'd almost believe him. I'll have to ask Harry about Draco. He doesn't stink of evil like his father does. Seems I have another cousin Moldie will try to destroy. Poor kid will be nothing but a pawn. Wonder why no one mentioned him before.'}

"Really?" Xander asked turning to Draco. "So, I guess that makes you like my third cousin or something right. We're going to have to get together before I leave and get to know each other. You, Harry and I can all hang out one night or something."

Harry sniggered at the horrified look on Draco's face. {'Seems Draco just realized that we have a common link. Oh, his face is priceless. It must be killing him to find out he has a muggle raised cousin, who is my cousin too. I wish Ron was here to see this. I've never seen anyone manipulate a Malfoy like Xander.'}

Padfoot was making doggy snickers next to Harry. {'Of course my dear cousin is looking for the boy. The boy keeps her from being able to get her hands on the family money. Even if Voldemort doesn't want the boy, she will try to have him killed. He is a sight to watch. He's making Malfoy think he's an uninformed blithering idiot. Harry needs to pay close attention to his cousin, he could learn some very useful tricks.'}

{'The Whelp is a bloody genius!'} Spike crowed inwardly. {'Gave 'em just enough truth to make it believable. Didn't give the Bit's name, keeping suspension off her. And he got them to admit they were searching for him. 'Course his list of people to save just went up. No way he's just gonna walk away from the snot-nosed brat. Can smell the boy is an arrogant little tosser, but he ain't evil, not yet. Know Xan can tell too. Bloody White Knight.'}

{'Xan is totally setting that conceited arrogant asshole up! This is sooo cool. Buffy would never believe it. He's awesome. Oh, the others are gonna be so pissed they missed this.'} Dawn thought, giddily.

"I do believe that would be a splendid idea. Why don't you owl Draco before you leave to make arrangements? I'm afraid we must be leaving now."

"I'll be sure to do that. It's been really great meeting you, Luc, Drake."

The two made disgusted faces at the nicknames they had received, but said nothing. They nodded good-bye to the group and left the shop. Xander and the others remained silent for a few minutes, making sure that the Malfoys were out of hearing range. Dawn began to giggle, Harry chuckled, Spike snorted. In seconds everyone, including Padfoot, was reduced to belly-holding guffaws.

"That was bloody brilliant pet," Spike cheered. Padfoot gave a woof of agreement.

"Bloody hell. How did you do that and keep a straight face?" Harry asked.

"Ahhh. Years of experience telling people they had been attacked by gangs on PCP. Instead of telling them it was vampires," Xander grinned.

"That was awesome, Xan. The others are gonna be soo pissed they missed it," Dawn bounced over giving him a punch in the shoulder.

"We better get back to Hogwarts now," Harry said.

"Why? We need to get robes."

"But Malfoy knows where you are. He's a Death Eater, Xander. He'll tell Voldemort where to find you," Harry tried to get his cousin to understand their need to leave.

"I know he's a Death Eater. And just who the hell came up with that name anyway? Couldn't they come up with something scary, not disgusting?"

"He'll tell Voldemort. We have to go. Others will be coming soon."

"No, they won't. I just convinced Malfoy that I'm an idiot with no clue about what's going on around here. His arrogant ass won't see me as a threat. He's going to want the glory of bringing me to Voldemort himself. We won't have any other Death Eaters showing up today. He probably thinks you're playing the big protector by not telling me about your world."

"The Whelp is right. If we leave now, it'll look suspicious. We stay and do what we came here to do; he'll continue the think Xan don't know what's up," Spike added. "We don't want him to get suspicious, now do we?"

"I guess you're right," Harry sighed.

"I know I am," Xander grinned. "Now, can you go get the shop lady? She ran back there, somewhere, once the assholes started paying attention to me."

Harry went to find Madam Malkin and Dawn began to examine the robes on display. Xander pulled Spike off to the side.

"Be ready to grab Dawn and Harry when we leave here."

"Think he'll make a move that soon?"

Xander nodded. "Yeah, I'm positive. He's to arrogant to let this opportunity slip by. He'll make a move before we make it back to the Leaky Cauldron. If you were in his place, would you pass on the chance?"

"You're a sneaky bastard," Spike chuckled. "Makes me right proud, it does."


An hour and a half later, they were two blocks away from the Leaky Cauldron when Xander stopped walking.

"Get ready. Grab Dawn and Harry and get them back to Hogwarts. I'll only be a few minutes behind you," Xander whispered so low only the vampire to hear.

"Right," Spike answered in the same whisper. "What about Rover?"

Xander looked questioningly at Padfoot. The big black dog cocked his head to one side for a moment, then moved to walk beside Xander.

"Looks like he's with me. They're in the alley at the end of this block. I recognize their heartbeats. I can't tell if anyone else is with them. I'm not used to this and there are too many people for me to tell for sure."

"It's just the two. How you want to do this?"

"You'll know."

"Guys, is there a reason why we stopped? What's going on?" Dawn asked, while glancing around.

"Nothing for you to worry about Dawnie. I want you and Harry to do whatever Spike says if something does happen. No questions asked. Got me?"

The two teens nodded.

"Good. Let's go."

The group made their way on towards the Leaky Cauldron. Dawn and Harry exchanged nervous glances, they knew something was bothering the others. As they neared the alley Xander and Spike slipped into a state of battle readiness.

"Petrificus Totalus," was yelled once they reached the mouth of the alley.

Before the last syllable of the word was spoken Spike had Dawn and Harry under each arm and was running for the Leaky Cauldron faster than any human could follow.

In that instant Xander fell to the ground and rolled to the back of the alley. As soon as the spell passed over him, Xander was on his feet and used his new speed to pin Lucius to the alley wall, knocking his wand from him. Xander glanced over and watched as Padfoot tackled Draco to the ground, causing the boy to lose his wand as well. Satisfied they were no longer in danger, Xander turned his attention fully to Lucius Malfoy.

"What's this 'cousin'?" Xander allowed the last word to drip venomously. "I thought we were getting along well; planning to have tea or some other British social nicety. I'm hurt. You know, I may not know the spells, but I do know the basics of many strange languages, and I think you just tried to petrify me. Where I come from thats not a very nice thing to do."

"Unhand me you filthy Mudblood!" Lucius sneered.

"Ohhhh moving onto the insults now. Those might actually be effective if I gave a shit about fucking wizard social classes. But, I don't. So can we move this along where you try to threaten me, and I tell you how things are REALLY going to be?"

"I told you he was more than he seemed to be, Father," Draco spat from his position on the ground.

"Shut up, boy!"

"Now, don't talk to Drake like that. Boy's smart, you should have listened to him," Xander growled.

"I'm going to enjoy watching the Dark Lord break you and turn you into a mindless slave," Malfoy seethed as the thrashed, trying to break free of the grip Xander had on his shoulders.

"Finally, we get to the threats," Xander sighed dramatically. "Now, we can get down to business."

Lucius redoubled his attempt at breaking free. Any punches or shoves he attempted were ignored. He desperately kicked out and contacted Xander's knee. The shock of the blow was enough to cause Xander to release his grip for a second. Lucius pulled himself free and dove for his wand. A dagger embedded itself in his hand before it ever made contact with his wand. Malfoy found himself dangling several inches off the ground, Xander's hand tight around his throat, a second later.

"That's it, I'm done playing games," he snarled with a shake to his prisoner. "Your fucking master can kiss my damn ass. I will NEVER serve him. Harry is under my protection now. I don't care if I have to kill every single one of you fucking Death Eaters before I get to Moldie Warts. Nobody threatens my family." Xander's eyes flashed green.

"Who are you?" Malfoy choked out.

"You're worst fucking nightmare if you come after me or mine. Tell your master I'll be coming for him." Xander said, as he pulled his dagger free.

"Tell him yourself," Malfoy bit out painfully. He pulled a walking stick from his robe and placed the top of it against Xander's chest.

Xander felt a tugging sensation begin in his navel. He immediately threw Malfoy away from him. A few seconds later the blond had disappeared.

"Shit! The fucker had a damn portkey!" Xander raged, walking over to Padfoot.

"Of course he did. How did you think he was going to get you back to the manor?" Draco sneered, still eyeing the large black dog cautiously.

"Get up Drake," Xander ordered, picking the wand from the ground.

"What are you going to do with me?"

"Depends," he shrugged as he scratched Padfoot behind the ears.

"On what?" Draco sneered, getting to his feet.

"On if you want to be like that asshole father of yours."

"My father is a great man," Draco spat.

"Your father is a cowardly piece of shit that left his son alone in an alley with an unknown enemy!"

Draco could only gape for a moment before he regained his composure. "So, I'm an enemy then?"

"I told you, that depends on if you want to be like your father."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Draco sneered.

"You're not drowning in dark magics like your father. At least not yet. Do want to be like him? Kissing the ass of some bigot with delusions of grandeur and allowing him to order you around? Or do you want to be your own man and make your own decisions?"

Draco wouldn't meet his eyes. He fidgeted nervously, eyes darting everywhere around him.

"That's what I thought. You're confused and don't know what to do. You don't have much time to decide Draco. Things are about to start getting messy around here, and it's going to happen fast. You're going to have to choose a side."

"I don't have a choice," he answered, barely above a whisper.

"Yes you do. I'll help you if you want," Xander said as he placed his hand on the back of Draco's neck. "Let's get you home."

The walk to the Leaky Cauldron was made in silence. When Draco walked to the fireplace he turned and asked, "Why are you doing this? Why don't you just take me prisoner? Use me?"

"I'm not like that. And you heard me, I protect my family," Xander smiled at him with gentle eyes and returned the boy's wand.

Draco focused stunned, disbelieving eyes on him before calling out Malfoy Manor and disappearing.

Xander sighed. "I really don't want to go back. Gotta tell Snape what I told Malfoy. Make sure the dude is on the same page as us, so he doesn't blow anyone's cover. And I'm soooo not looking forward to telling the others about what happened at Ollivander's. You've never seen Willow in full out inquisition mode. I'd rather take on a pack of Faryl demons alone."

Padfoot eyed his nephew and just shook his head in confusion. Seconds later they were standing in Dumbledore's office.