Xander walked into his in-laws's house and gave them a smile. "Crisis averted," he announced. He accepted a kiss on the cheek from Molly. "And Iggy knows about the cane now," he told his mate, who was sitting at the table.
 

"As long as he's not bothered," George said, giving him a smile. "Did Simone actually kick their rears?"
 

"Quite well," Xander agreed as he sat down beside him. He accepted the cup of juice from Arthur. "Thanks, dad. Yeah, she came home with a spear and a bunch of wands that they had taken off some other girls. Dumbledore was taking them to Ollivander's for identification."
 

"Oh, my," Molly said, giving him a wondering look. "All this because of Hufflepuff?"
 

"Hufflepuff was a very friendly witch," George reminded her. "She's the reason that there's centaurs in the Forbidden Forest and that we have a class on Magical Creatures at all." He stuffed a piece of meatloaf into his mouth.
 

"It would make sense that her section would have a lot of portals to places where she had made friends," Xander agreed. "These ones were just a bit badder than the usual." He smiled at his husband. "Dumbledore is thinking about moving us and Ron to rooms near each other." George choked and Xander patted him on the back to help him. "He was talking about giving us a tower sort of place, with rooms for us, for Ron, and for any visitors if we need them." And maybe a lab of his own, he thought privately.
 

George smiled at him. "I'm sure Snape will be thankful."
 

"Probably," Xander agreed with a grin.
 

"I didn't think your rooms were near his," Arthur said.
 

"Oh, no, there's an air vent down into his room that stops in ours on the way," Xander told him. Both parents blushed.
 

"Exactly," George agreed. He looked at Xander, who smiled and nodded, so he took his hand. "Mum, dad, we're looking into the possibility of having another child," he announced.
 

"Ginny can't carry one," Molly reminded him.
 

"That's why we're looking at options," Xander told her. "I was willing to ask Tara to carry for us, she's a great mom and would love to be an aunt to our brood."
 

"And Dumbledore suggested that we adopt," George added.
 

"But we want another of our own first," Xander finished.
 

Molly smiled at them. "If you can figure it out, I'm so very happy for you both."
 

Arthur finished chewing his bite of dinner, nodding. "Me also," he said once he had swallowed. "Just one?"
 

"Maybe," Xander said with a shrug. "It's really lonely being an only child. Iggy isn't happy as an only child and neither was I." He squeezed the hand holding his. "I'm not going to be picky, but I'd love one of his."
 

"Or two," George agreed. "Twins do run in the family, dear."
 

"I'd adore twins," Xander said happily.
 

"Actually, George, triplets run in the family. You two were the aberration. It's on my side of the family." She sipped her water. "When were you thinking about having it?"
 

"We'd love to have the baby during the summer so we'd have time to get into the rhythm again," George told her. "That way it wouldn't bother the school year."
 

"Yeah, because I don't have any vacation days for the next two years," Xander told them. He squeezed his mate's hand again. "Did you want a girl or a boy?"
 

"I'd be happy with either or both," George told him.
 

"Are you thinking about that gryphon spell?" Arthur asked.
 

Xander shrugged. "Not my favorite option but I'd be willing to do that. Another good reason to plan it for the summer," he noted with a grin. "I'd be really fat when I didn't have to teach."
 

George chuckled. "If you do, I'll give you many foot and back rubs, like we did for Ginny."
 

"Why would he need them?" Fred asked as he came out of the fireplace. He grabbed a plate and sat down, dishing himself up some food. "Thank you for not making me cook, mum," he said before taking a bite.
 

She rolled her eyes. "I thought your girlfriend was cooking for you now."
 

"She had to work tonight and I'm feeling worn out." Fred looked at his twin. "Simone?"
 

"Kicked their butts and came home with the wands of the other girls they had taken," Xander told him. He smiled at him. "What would you think about us having another child?"
 

Fred's fork dropped from his fingers. "That spell?" he asked, looking over George, then Xander's body. "Have you already done it?"
 

"Not yet. We're considering all the options right now," George told him. "And Dumbledore said he's thinking about moving us and Ron to a tower of our own."
 

"You'll need it," Fred agreed. "A screaming kid would kill Snape." He smiled. "If you do, I'd be thrilled. I've thought about snatching the girls to watch on occasion."
 

"Us too," Xander agreed. "We were watching them earlier and decided we wanted at least one more."
 

"Bully for you," Fred agreed. "I'd babysit on occasion."
 

His mother clicked her tongue. "You hated babysitting, Fred."
 

"Just the messy parts," Fred defended. "Babies put out nasty things from both ends."
 

"Son, I'm still eating," Arthur said dryly, taking a bite of food.
 

"Sorry, dad." Fred stuffed his mouth, then nodded. "Xander, talk him into a lab for yourself if possible. Then you could work even during the week."
 

"You still can't work with him?" Arthur asked, sounding interested. Fred had never seemed so picky before.
 

"Some days," Xander told him. "But I've been working on stuff every weekend all weekend long because I can't do it throughout the week. I've got so many ideas."
 

"And quite marketable ones too," George added, smiling at his twin. Xander was nearly famous within the family for making stuff that frustrated them because it couldn't be sold.
 

"Yup, I've been a good boy recently." Xander grinned at his husband. "Can I have a reward for that later?"
 

"Of course. Did you want to go buy a tv tonight?"
 

"Oh, please," Xander begged. "I'll be nice and kiss you all over."
 

"That's fine," George assured him. "We can go do that in a few. Let me finish dinner. I'll even let you eat fast food." Xander beamed, his husband spoiled him.
 

"What happened to your last one?" Molly asked. That device was quite a good time waster. She had enjoyed some of his movies while they were waiting on news of Buffy.
 

"The new Ministry department wanted it," Fred told her. "They're trying to figure out how to do that sort of stuff."
 

"So I'm getting a bigger one," Xander said happily.
 

"Remember, we'll have to carry it all," George reminded him as he scraped his plate. He stood up and helped Xander to his feet. "Bye all. We'll see you soon." He put a hand on his mate's butt and walked him over to the floo fireplace. "Leaky Cauldron?"
 

"Yeah," Xander said happily. "Just an hour won't be so bad. Ron's there."
 

"The Gryffindors can wait to grill you," George told him. They disappeared.
 

"I'm sure they'll be happy with their new viewing portal," Arthur told everyone. He scraped his plate and accepted the bread his wife held out. "Not eating, love?"
 

"No, I'm having another of those hot flashes," she told him. "I'll have toast in a bit."
 

"All right there, mum?" Fred asked.
 

"It's the change of life," Arthur told him. "Perfectly normal." He sopped up the gravy on his plate and ate the bread with a slurp. "Excellent as always," he pronounced, kissing his wife on the cheek.
 

Fred shook his head and focused on his plate. He didn't need to know about that sort of stuff.
 

***
 

"Princess," Draco said as he found her and hugged her.
 

"Daddy, please don't call me that," she whispered.
 

He pulled back and looked at her. "Then I won't," he said evenly. He should be working on destroying them, they had hurt his daughter. Iggy shot him an understanding smile, as did Melvin. "Come along, you can pick your next endearment." He led her into the Great Hall, nodding that he would be sitting with the family this meal. Just before they sat down Ginny breezed in with Anastasia and Ravena following in her wake. A real family reunion. "Would you like to eat in Xander's room?" he offered to his former girlfriend.
 

"That's okay," Ginny said as she sat down. "I remember sitting down here with fondness." Her other daughters sat and she smiled at the girl who came over to give Simone a hug. "Hello, you must be Andrea," she said, shaking the girl's hand. "Sit and eat with us."
 

Iggy shifted so he could sit next to his Aunt since Denver had moved to sit on his father's other side. Everyone around them shuffled to make room for the family. "Aunt Ginny, will you be mad if the dads find another way to have a kid?"
 

Ginny patted him on the shoulder. "I won't be mad, Iggy. I wish them the best of luck. I know they don't want to hurt me so I'm not insulted."
 

"Good," he said with a grin. "I want more siblings."
 

She laughed. "I'm sure Xander feels the same way." She patted Andrea on the hand. "So, tell me about your dog?"
 

"Pumpkin? She's presently not feeling so well. I think someone cursed her. We have a meeting with Hagrid later on tonight."
 

"Really?" Denver asked, leaning around to look at her. "What do you think they did to her?"
 

"Worms I think," she said. "But that's not really appropriate dinner conversation." She smiled in Ginny's direction. "Are you her mom?"
 

"Oh, yeah. I gave birth to her."
 

"Mommy," Simone sighed, rolling her eyes. "You love me."
 

"Of course I do," Ginny told her, frowning at her. "There's never been any doubt about it. Even when you do stupid stuff and end up getting hurt." She and her daughter shared a look. Maybe it was time to tell her about the Chamber of Secrets. "We'll be talking later."
 

"Yes, mum," Simone said obediently, but she was grinning evilly. "Daddy, I figured out why you liked being bad so much. It felt really good." He laughed and gave her another hug. "Um, Mum, I think dad has something to tell you."
 

"Yes, I think the family should hear it first though," Draco corrected. He looked at Ginny, but Iggy whispered something in her ear. "Thank you for spoiling it."
 

"Uh. Oh my," Ginny said finally. "Really?" Draco shrugged. "Which side of the family?"
 

"They didn't know," Draco told her. "But it would explain your brother and his amazing slug trick."
 

"Um, eww," Andrea pointed out.
 

Simone giggled. "Too true." She handed over a dish. "Beef stir fry tonight. The house elfs are getting fancy. It has peas."
 

"Thanks for the warning." Andrea dished herself some out passed the bowl across the table. "Any rice?" It was pushed down to her. "Thank you, Iggy."
 

"Welcome." He giggled when Draco looked at him. "She can tell the difference between us now," he said proudly.
 

"Yup, you smell like mint," Andrea told him. "Denver always smells like pine cones. Melvin..." She stopped as someone sat beside her and gave her a hug. "Thank you. Who're you?"
 

"That's Ravena. You'll enjoy having her around because she *loves* hugs," Simone told her, smiling at her youngest sister. "You still have to eat."
 

"Not want it," Ravena told her proudly. She was almost two now, a big girl. And this new 'sister' was pretty neat. She even had a dog! "Want chocolate."
 

"No," Ginny told her. "Anastasia, push her plate over. "No snuggling with the twins until you eat." Ravena let go of her new 'sister' and dug into her dinner. "Thank you." She smiled at Draco. Their daughters were just odd. "How are the twins? I notice Ron's not up there."
 

"He doesn't usually take dinner with us," Denver told her. "The twins are fussy recently so he eats in his room, that way we don't have to have our eardrums broken by the pitiful wailing." He grimaced. "We told him it wasn't necessary, but he decided against letting us help."
 

"I guess that's understandable," Ginny agreed. "I did the same thing when Anastasia had colic."
 

"I had colic?" Anastasia asked.
 

"For *months*," Draco told her. "I don't think I slept your whole first year." He paused to think. "Or your third."
 

Ginny snickered. "You and me both." She kicked him under the table and licked her lips. He looked good today, being all protective of their children. He winked at her.
 

"Daddy, remember, she can't have any more," Denver told him, breaking the mood. His step-mother groaned. "Sorry, but you can't. Not that we'd *mind*, but I don't want Grandmum to kill daddy."
 

"Point," Draco sighed. Ginny smiled at him. He was willing to risk it. And he still had that spell if he needed it. Or wanted it. He smiled and winked at her. She giggled.
 

Iggy and Denver shared a look and rolled their eyes. Those two were so obvious. They needed lessons in subtly. Maybe Iggy's dad could give him lessons.
 

***
 

Xander walked out of the fireplace and floated his packages in front of him. His tv followed him, as floated by George. He was happy. His life was good. He had a tv again so he would have mindless noise again soon. He had even found a few presents that were going to make some people very happy. He opened the door and walked in, dropping most everything onto the couch. He helped George put the tv into place on the wall. A 42 inch flat screen tv and a combination tv/dvd player. With two hundred new dvd's to play on it. And some more soda because he had been out. George sat beside him and flicked his wand, attaching everything in the proper order, and stuck one of their new dvd's into the machine to play. He watched as Xander manipulated the remote, that way he could use it whenever he wanted. The dvd started with a rush of sound, making him flinch. It was turned down quickly but the door opened and admitted the dour Professor Snape. "Sorry about that," George told him with a grin.
 

"Come see," Xander said, pointing happily. He bounced slightly. Then he remembered the present he had found the older man and dug it out, tossing it over to it's recipient. "We even found you a prezzie," he told him with a smirk.
 

Snape sat down and looked over the small package. "Journals?" He opened them and flipped through the heavy paper. "These are nice. Thank you." He looked up. "Are you going to play that all night?"
 

"We only play it all night when we're having sex on the couch and fall asleep that way," Xander told him. He nearly laughed at the small shudder. "Dumbledore said he's thinking about moving us and Ron to our own section."
 

Snape's eyes lit up. That was something he could get behind. "I shall talk to him about that," he said as he stood up. "Thank you for the journals. Are you coming to breakfast?"
 

"No," George said with a naughty smile, running a hand up Xander's thigh. "I think we'll be sleeping in tomorrow."
 

Snape nodded. "Very well. Your house was looking for you since your son is still in the infirmary for observation." Xander nodded. "And your brother is presently napping."
 

"Okay," Xander told him. "We'll expect them and lock the door this time."
 

"It's not our fault that they forget to knock," George said quietly, but he was blushing.
 

Snape shook his head. "Hopefully your new rooms will have a sitting area with a door between it and your bedroom." He clutched his journals and went to beg Dumbledore to move them. He would grovel if that's what it took.
 

***
 

Dumbledore walked in the front doors and was pounced by Professor Snape. "Yes, I'm moving them, Severus. I do believe Xander could fix up that West tower, which is close to Gryffindor."
 

"Give them the south tower," Severus suggested. "There's a direct hallway between the two and there's no vent leading down to anywhere near my rooms. Plus, there's a shortcut down to the floor where Xander's main classroom is."
 

Dumbledore laughed. "Fine. I'll give them the South tower. Should I give them that whole area?"
 

"If you don't, the Gryffindors will walk in on them again," he noted dryly. "Weasley admitted it had happened before. I'm sure they'd appreciate the gesture and it could be shared with Professor Weasley. As a matter of fact, if you ceded the whole tower to them, from the entryway, they would not only have a laboratory space, but they would have a gathering area for the visiting family and their house's children. Plus, they'd have spacious rooms for each of them and a wonderful nursery area."
 

Dumbledore nodded, holding in his laughter. He'd never seen Severus beg before. It was quite amusing in so many ways. Surely the man wasn't afraid of the noise or the couple that caused it. The spell that told him what was going on around the school focused on the painting on the outside of Xander's doorway. Well, they certainly were loud....but really. Severus almost looked scared. "That's an excellent idea," he told him. "I'll walk Xander and George through there tomorrow and let them work out how to fix things up for themselves. With Xander's building spells it should be fairly easy and done over a weekend." He smiled and walked away. Yes, rather amusing.
 

Snape sighed in relief. He wouldn't have to hear them going at each other any more!
 

***
 

Xander looked around the new space and squealed in joy. It was everything they had ever talked about in getting their own house! He jumped into his husband's arms and gave him a tight hug. "I love it! Tell me you love it!"
 

"I adore it," George said, sitting down. Xander was heavy. He smiled at the headmaster. "How much work does it need?"
 

"Some of the walls are a bit weak, as are a few floors. It shouldn't take Xander too long to shore them up." He winked at Xander. "I'm sure you can help Mr. Weasley settle in also."
 

George nodded. "He'll love it too." He pointed at a door off this sitting area. "Where does that go?"
 

"To the hallway holding Gryffindor's portal," he said with a smile. "A direct link to your house."
 

Xander squealed again.
 

"We're putting in locks," George told him mate, slowly and clearly. "Repeat it please."
 

"I'm putting in locks on each of the rooms and a super lock on the lab space." He stood up and hopped his way up the stairs to check out the rest of the space.
 

"This looks suspiciously like a house," George said dryly, getting comfortable on the dusty, old couch.
 

"It was. Originally this was the Slytherin house," Dumbledore said with a twinkle in his eyes. "Salazar found that the current quarters suited him better because he could arrange for more room than this tower would allow. He always knew Slytherin would be a very populous house."
 

"We're going to be living in Slytherin's old house?" George asked. "The proper Gryffindor in me is horrified, sir."
 

"It's been purified for you. Now it's just a neutral house," Dumbledore soothed. "It's part of the original school, as designed by Salazar himself. Within six years he figured out that he had vastly underestimated the power of his house so he had this one purified and built the new, present, quarters. And I do believe he would be just as horrified as your proper Gryffindor core."
 

Xander yelled from upstairs. "We'll need a bunch of building stones."
 

"That's fine, Xander. If I remember correctly, some of this tower was built by a gryphon that had been captured so you should be able to meld in the new stones easily."
 

Xander came down the stairs. "I noticed. They used a more cubic pattern than I do, but it should be okay." He slid into his husband's lap. "This is all ours, the Weasley clan's?"
 

"Yes," Dumbledore said firmly. "Between yourself and Mr. Weasley's clan, I figured that you could use the space. In truth, the other teachers all have work spaces and neither of you have them. Plus, with the twins and any more coming from you two, you'll need the room for the children. Having you together would just be for the best, don't you think?" Xander and George nodded. "Also," he said with a naughty smile, "I'm hooking the main fireplace up to the floo." He pointed at it. "We'll have to name it of course, but it should ease the problem of Xander sneaking out for soda each week and ...."
 

"Can we put in a refrigeration unit?" George asked. The Headmaster nodded. "And you'll run interference between us and McGonagall?"
 

"She was all for the idea when I talked to her earlier," Dumbledore lied. She would be by the time he got done with her, but she wasn't doing much of anything right now outside of sleeping. "Will this hold all of you?"
 

"Really well," Xander told him. He looked at George, who nodded. "We were going to get ourselves a house soon anyway, Albus. We need the space and Fred has a girlfriend now so he really needs his privacy too."
 

"We were thinking a small house and offering Ron and the twins their own rooms," George agreed. "We were looking at that old stone monstrosity outside of Hogsmeade. That way I could still be close to work."
 

"Yeah, we're still splitting time between here and the store and it's crimping Fred's love life," Xander agreed. He looked at his husband. "Do you think I should teach Iggy how to craft?"
 

"I don't think it's in his nature," Dumbledore told him. "Healing, thoughts, traveling. The gryphon nature seems to be split between the two sides, yours and Iggy's. If you wanted, you could teach it to some others. You do have permission to do that."
 

"Cool. I'll put out a signup sheet tonight," Xander told him. "Maybe Tara will help this time."
 

"You're awfully focused on Tara recently," George said, starting to frown.
 

"She's having empty nest thoughts," Xander explained.
 

"But she sees Adrian every day."
 

"Yeah, but he's growing up. He's not living with her anymore," Xander reminded him. "She's been really sad every time she looks down at him during meals. I'm worried about her. Even Willow's noticed."
 

"Then it must be serious if Willow's paying attention to something other than her son's behavior," George said. "I'm not complaining, just worried that you're getting too involved."

"I'm not going to sleep with her," Xander assured him, leaning down for a kiss. "Maybe cuddle her sometimes, but nothing else."
 

"I think she'll find someone soon," Dumbledore said with a smile. "I have it on good authority that someone is somewhat interested in her but thinks that she could never want him." He looked around. "This will suit you?"
 

"This is great," Xander told him. "As long as Ron agrees I'm good to start work this weekend if we've got some extra stones lying around."
 

"There's that fallen wall out back," George pointed out. "Unless they're needed somewhere else," he said when Dumbledore looked thoughtful.
 

"Wouldn't they be too big?"
 

"I could easily split them," Xander told him. "Too big isn't the problem. Too porous is. I ran into that problem with the shop." He stole another kiss. "I still have a few spots I'm not happy with and want to finish shoring up."
 

"Honey, you've added seventy new stones in the last year," George complained. "It's strong enough."
 

"I'm still feeling weak spots," Xander whined.
 

"Fine," George sighed. "After you finish this."
 

Ron opened the door and walked in, back and front packs filled with the twins. "What's this?" he asked.
 

"Our new house if you agree," George told him. He took the pack off his brother and held the twins so he could go wander around.
 

"This is a bloody house!" Ron yelled from the top of the stairs. He came back down. "Which one was it?"
 

"Slytherin," George told him.
 

"It's been purged of all Slytherin influences since they moved to their present quarters," Dumbledore assured him.
 

"Bet he's spinning right about now," Ron said with a grin. "Looks great. How much work does it need?"
 

"Some shoring up," Xander told him. He looked at Dumbledore. "Can I steal one of those blocks to put into the shop?"
 

"Of course. They're just laying there. I'm not sure where they're from originally but they seem very sturdy." He looked at Ron. "This suits you?"
 

"Yeah. I want the dorm on the left."
 

"Fine with us. There's a nice upper level on the other side that would work great for Murphy." He looked around. "I felt some hidden areas too."
 

"Which will thrill the kids," George offered. "Iggy's hot on finding that hidden library." Dumbledore coughed and pointed at the fireplace. "Really?" he asked dryly. The Headmaster nodded. "Then we're definitely not telling him."
 

"I'm sure he'll be able to feel the space himself," Ron told him. He looked up at the ceiling. "How much work shoring up and can I help?"
 

"Sure and probably a weekend's worth. Less work than the store but I'm probably going to be teaching how it's done." He held out a hand and Dumbledore shook it. "We'll take it, but we get to bug Snape one last night."
 

"I'm sure that will be fine," Dumbledore agreed with a naughty smile. "He was quite happy to hear that you were moving as well." He glanced around. "Were there any other changes that you wanted made?"
 

"Just the refrigeration unit," George told him. "That way we can store milk already made."
 

"Oh, and I can have cold soda," Xander said happily.
 

"Yes, dear, you can," George agreed. "We'll even put in a pot hook in case you get the urge to cook again."
 

"I made good soup."
 

"Yes, you did," Ron agreed, smiling at them. He wanted that sort of relationship. He'd never had it yet, but he wanted it badly. George would do anything for Xander. He wanted someone who worshiped him. He saw Xander looking over at him. "Stop it," he warned. That was creepy.
 

"You project," Xander said dryly. "And you'll find someone. Even if I have to get mean and turn something human for you."
 

Ron smiled. He loved Xander. "Thanks, but I'd rather have a genuine human."
 

"You could always form an alliance with Mr. Potter," Dumbledore suggested.
 

"No offense, Headmaster, but eaugh." He shuddered. "Harry and I wouldn't work, even if either of us were oriented that way." Xander gave him another look. "You, shut it," he warned.
 

"I didn't say anything," Xander defended. "But I was thinking about Percy's newest helper. Sweet, sexy, kind and gentle."
 

"Yeah, he does remind me of a younger Percy a bit," George agreed. They had met the assistant the last time they'd kidnaped Percy for lunch. "We can really have our own floo?"
 

"I think it'd be easier on everyone if you did. Your family pops in all the time to check on the girls. Plus you both tend to run out for little things every few days. This way you're not tying up the main one and you can have private conversations with the gryphons without locking the staffroom door and depriving people of their tea."
 

"And the second floor room has a window that's just the right height to hold a conversation with a full grown gryphon," Xander added.
 

George smiled at him. "You don't have to convince me, Xander. I like this. It's comfortable to me."
 

"Draco will smirk," Ron told him.
 

"Yay. He does that anyway," George said with a shrug. "Did he and Ginny make it back to their place last night?"
 

"I think they made it to his house last night," Ron corrected with a grin.
 

"He was back again this morning," Dumbledore told them. "Spent a bit with the gryphon talking privately. Then he left again."
 

Xander and George shared a look. Surely he didn't try to use that spell....
 

Dumbledore smiled at Ron. "Does this suit you?"
 

"It's wonderful, sir. Everything I could want, short of my last daughter."
 

"I've heard rumors that someone's tracked her to a country," Dumbledore told him. "We should have an official word soon." He patted Ron on the shoulder. "Are there any major changes that you'll want?"
 

"Furniture would be great," Ron said with a grin.
 

"Yeah, we'll be moving our furniture up here," Xander agreed.
 

"That would be fine. I'm sure we can find other furniture in storage for you if you wanted."
 

"Dear, I hate our bed," George told him. "Can I decorate?"
 

"If you make it comfy for the both of us," Xander agreed. "I like the hardness of our mattress." His mate grimaced. "I know it's too hard for you, but my back and knee hurt if it's not hard."
 

"How about just a bit softer?" Ron suggested. "Did my bed hurt your back, Xander?" Xander thought back, then shook his head. "So let's switch."
 

"We have a queen sized bed," George told him.
 

"It's the same size," Xander said.
 

"When were you on his bed?"
 

"The day after all you guys left him alone with the twins. They started to whine and cry so he asked me to come up and keep him company. He slept facing one end of the bed and I was on the opposite." He looked over at his brother-in-law. "Let him nap on your bed and we'll switch if it works for him."
 

"Cool."
 

"Fine with me," George agreed. "Can we have a bed like they have in the dorms?"
 

"No." Xander shook his head when his mate pouted. "Sorry, but I couldn't handle being so closed in." He relented at the hurt look. "I'll allow the sticking-up parts but no canopy and no curtains around it."
 

"Fine," George sighed. "I can handle that."
 

Dumbledore laughed. "I have two beds downstairs that might suit you. One with smaller uprights and one with the long, thin, carved uprights. We'll look over them once you've got the space finished."
 

"Magicking the furnishings will be a lot easier than moving them by hand," Xander said dryly. George patted him on the butt. "I can't even imagine carrying a bed up those first ten stairs."
 

"They're narrow but well-spaced," Ron told him.
 

"Yeah, but carrying a bed up them would be a great big pain in the back."
 

Ron laughed. "Yeah, and you'd get all the light stuff."
 

"Just because I've got this," he patted the cane resting against his side, "doesn't mean I'm weak or helpless. I can still lift, I just need a third hand."
 

"If you figure out how to grow one, let me know. I've needed at least one more arm almost every day."
 

"Wait until they start to crawl," George offered. "Iggy needed a leash."
 

Ron snickered. "I remember him crawling around the classroom when mum was sick with the flu."
 

"So do I," Dumbledore said fondly. "If I remember right, he cut a tooth on someone's ankle." Xander nodded, grinning. "Does he know about that story?"
 

"I'm not sure," Xander said. "But I can embarrass him with it tonight." Everyone laughed. "Okay, let me go find my books on how to build stuff and copy out the lessons."
 

"Dear, you know it by heart," George told him.
 

"Yeah, but there's technical lessons before you're supposed to attempt anything. If the kids want to learn, they should have the beginnings too."
 

"Just do the shoring lessons, Xander. We'll see about you putting in one on gryphon magic next year." Dumbledore smiled. "We'd best get back downstairs before something happens." He smiled at Ron. "Harry just came through the floo. He's quite upset." Ron grabbed the twins and hurried down to talk to his friend. "Xander, do you have any influence that could get young Agatha a draining bracelet?"
 

Xander shrugged. "I can ask around. Mine was made specifically for my wrist by someone there but he left last year so I'm not sure if we can even get one."
 

"Draco has one," George said quietly. "It's in his mother's vault. He told me about it last year while he was looking up the history of the wand he found in there." He stood up, sliding Xander onto his feet. "Come on, let's go talk to Bill. If you want to teach that extra class, he'll probably want to help you sort out what you'd be teaching."
 

"I'd have to teach it as an alternative to Willow and Tara's classes," Xander told him, walking out with him, holding hands.
 

Behind them Dumbledore shook his head. "Ten years of marriage and they're still besotted," he told himself. "Love is a wonderful thing."
 

***
 

Xander put in the last piece of block and stood up, looking around proudly. Their home was finished. It was officially theirs. The new locks were in. The pot hook was on the fireplace. The refrigerator was camouflaged with more of the stones from the wall. The lock on the hidden library was reinforced with a second lock. Even the phoenix aerie was done to Murphy's satisfaction. He looked around. All his helpers had gone back to their dorms earlier so he had put on the final touches himself. He walked toward the window and felt a weak spot he hadn't felt before. That bothered him so he got down to examine it. He had wanted to put the bed here but he couldn't if there was a weak spot. He found a niche in the block and played with it until it came up. "Oh, shit!" Xander said, eyes widening. "ALBUS!" he yelled. He sat there and stared at the treasure he had found. A floor safe.
 

Footsteps came running up the stairs and stopped next to him. Dumbledore got down on his knees and pulled out the large bag of pretty gold coins, very old gold coins. Under the bag were a few loose coins and two journals. He dug around and came out with one last book, and sat down to look them over. He finally nudged Xander, giving him a smile. "I do believe you've found something more precious than the coins. These were his personal journals." He looked around the room. "This must have been his room back then." He smiled. "This is an excellent find, Xander."
 

"I didn't notice it until I walked over it," Xander told him. "Am I in trouble?"
 

"Trouble? Whyever for?"
 

"Because those are personal things," Xander told him.
 

Dumbledore nodded. "True, but it's something wonderful. Your brother-in-law Percy would be over the moon about this. Do go call him." Xander numbly nodded and got up to use their new floo fireplace. "And start some water please," he called after the young man. Fascinating. He hadn't realized that Salazar had taken a lover outside of his usual relationship.
 

Xander knelt beside the fireplace, staring at Percy. "I found a diaries under our new floor," he said quietly. Percy was at work, in the main room. "And this used to be the old Slytherin house."
 

Percy's eyes widened. "I'll bring our expert over immediately," Percy said. "Start some tea, this will probably take a while." His head disappeared.
 

Xander pointed his wand at the water pot, drawing water and heating it too. That way it wouldn't be in the way and they'd still have it. He looked behind him as furniture appeared. "Hold off for a bit, George," he called. "We just found something extraordinary."
 

George came jogging in a few minutes later. "What did you find?"
 

"Slytherin's diaries, a bag of old gold coins, and some other book. Percy's on his way up with someone."
 

"Wonderful," George said. "Where?"
 

"Our bedroom."
 

"I'm going for a peek. Why don't you check the other rooms for floor safes and the like?"
 

Xander nodded and went up to Ron's room to start there. He didn't figure any other rooms would have anything like that. He found a wall safe full of horribly old components in the former work room, but nothing more exciting. He'd have Iggy go over it again next weekend just to make sure. He grabbed an empty box and stuffed the components into it, taking it down to Professor Snape's rooms. "Hey," he said when the portrait door opened. "I found a wall safe with these. The stuff from farther back is on top." He handed the box over. "I figured you'd be able to tell if anything was still good and get the most use out of it."
 

Snape let him in and sat down to look through everything. A few of the bags were still good and were carefully put aside. "Was anything else found?"
 

"Oh, yeah," Xander said, smiling for the first time. It was an amazing find. "Two diaries, one other book, and a bag of coins."
 

"Oh my," Snape said, standing up. "Was one of them a potion's book?" Xander shrugged. "Then let's go look."
 

"Percy's coming up," Xander said as he followed him out into the hall, but the other man was nearly running. "Hey, slow down," he called. He met Ron in the hallway, trying to walk the babies to sleep. "We found stuff," he announced. "A floor safe and a wall safe."
 

"Wow. Anything wonderful?"
 

"Diaries and a book, some coins. Some potions ingredients on your side."
 

Ron grinned. "Wonderful. Did you tell Percy yet?" Xander nodded. "Then let's go see these things." He followed Xander up to their new quarters, smiling at his older brother. "Anything really wonderful?"
 

"Quite a bit," Percy told him. He gently patted both girls on the head. "How are they?"
 

"Fussy. They hate to sleep." He sat down on the couch and looked at the stuff George was counting. "How old is that?" he asked, picking up a coin to look at. "I don't even recognize that marking."
 

"It's the original form of money," Percy told him. "Someone found some buried in a field last month." He looked at the pile, then at George. "Quite a haul."
 

"Yeah. Mum'll be happy," George said, giving his older brother a smile. "Think we should give them ten percent?"
 

"If it makes you happy," Percy agreed. "I don't doubt she'll complain for a bit though." He sat down across from them, looking through the diary. "These are almost priceless. We're going to take them from you and have them appraised. The way this stuff works is then we auction them off or the Ministry buys them from you." George nodded. They weren't any use to them. "You'll get the money, minus taxes and a small auction fee if they're auctioned off." Xander nodded, that sounded reasonable. "It may take a few months for this to all happen though."
 

"We both make great salaries," Xander told him. "A few months is fine as far as we know now."
 

"Good," Percy said brightly. He slipped the book into a special bag and closed it. "What else did you find?"
 

"Some spell components. I handed them to Professor Snape. He seemed to think a few were still good."
 

"No wonder he showed up," Percy's assistant said, giving Ron a faint, shy smile. "How are the little darlings?"
 

"Fussy. They hate sleeping at night right now." He put them down onto the floor, watching as they wiggled. "We need rugs."
 

"Later," George told him. "We're moving some more stuff up tonight once everything's out of the way."
 

"We'll be moving stuff all week and do the final move in next weekend," Xander told him. "That way, if something happens, it's all going to be okay." One of the kids scooted into his leg so he reached down to pet her. "You're a good girl, Gwen, go bite your sister." Gwen cooed at him. "Yes, I think you're beautiful. Now be good or I'm going to make you sleep in Hagrid's cradle by yourself." She spit a bubble at him.
 

"She likes it," Ron defended.
 

"So did Iggy, but he hated to sleep in there by himself. He always had to have a stuffed animal in there with him."
 

Hagrid tapped on the door and walked in. "Too big for 'em?" he asked hesitantly.
 

"Just a little bit," Xander agreed, "but it's a great cradle. It fits both the twins perfectly. Iggy just needed to have that stuffed dog in with him." He smiled. "It's a great cradle, Hagrid, don't stress over it. The one at the store, the professionally made one that we got from London, was the same way."
 

Hagrid smiled. "As long as it's okay."
 

"It's got a spot where a splinter's coming up," Ron told him with a grin. "Want to help me scrape it again?"
 

"Sure. Can't have these two hurt." He smiled at Xander. "He slept with that dog?"
 

"More like on that dog," George told him, smiling at him. "He used to suck on it's nose until he detached it one day."
 

Hagrid laughed. "It's good that they all liked it."
 

"Hey, thinking about having more," Xander told him. "So we're stealing the cradle back sometime soon." He touched George's knee. "We might even hope for twins."
 

Ron frowned. "Don't do that. They're hard."
 

"We know," George reminded him. He gave Hagrid a hug. "Thank you for that cradle if I didn't say it earlier. It's wonderfully made. The only thing we did to it was to put a rocking charm on it every now and then."
 

Hagrid beamed. "You're welcome. I still have your letter down at the house." He looked at Xander, who was beaming at him. "You really want more?"
 

"Probably," Xander agreed. "We miss having a kid around and stealing Gwen and Minnie isn't the same."
 

"Does Mum know?" Percy asked. George nodded. "Was she thrilled?"
 

"Ecstatic," Xander told him.
 

"She's still having those funny hot flashes though, so her hormones are a bit out of order right now."
 

Xander leaned closer to Hagrid. "I didn't mean to sound ungrateful. We love the cradle, still. Iggy was playing with it the other day."
 

"I wasn't insulted," Hagrid told him. "Sometimes I forget how small little ones are."
 

"Hey, I forget and I've seen them born," Xander said with a wink. Hagrid laughed. "So we're okay?"
 

"We're fine, Xander. Will your next one need it too?"
 

"It'd better be sleeping in it," George told him. "Otherwise the rest of us will get quite upset, including Iggy. He's looking forward to seeing how he was raised as we raise the others." He patted Hagrid on the arm. "Besides a few rough spots, it's held up to the various terrors of numerous young children. That alone makes it worth more than the ones we bought for the shop since they broke when Iggy was two."
 

Hagrid loosened up a bit more. "I'm glad you liked it so much." He looked over as Dumbledore joined them. "Sir, I have to report that the centaurs are seeing a disturbance in the stars."
 

"Again?" Xander asked, looking at his boss.
 

"It's nothing that extreme. It's a change some of us have seen before." He pointed at the bag. "Are those still worth anything?"
 

"Not in the normal sense, but they do have a worth. I'm sure Gringotts would be the ones to buy them." Percy's assistant picked up and weighed the bag in his hand. "I'd say about thirty grams each coin and a few kilograms worth of coins total so maybe a few hundred thousand because they're so rare?" he asked his boss.
 

Percy nodded. "Most likely. I'll let you sort that part out tomorrow." He stood up and gathered up the other three bags. "We'd best head back for the night. I'll expect an invitation to the house warming party." He smiled and they left.
 

Dumbledore sat down in the path of Minnie's scooting, patting her gently on the back of the head. "Be patient. You'll be crawling soon enough." He looked at them. "The change is coming but it's not a great evil," he told them. "Relax, Xander. You did promise to be the trainer and the rear guard this time."
 

"And I will be," Xander agreed, "but I'll need to know if I have to train against something."
 

"Well, there are rumors that someone's trying to gain power right now," George admitted, "but he was in Ron and Harry's class so he's not got that great of support."
 

Ron snorted. "No one liked him. He'll be an evil force all by himself probably. Not hard to beat."
 

"No, that one's a serial killer and we're looking for him," Dumbledore corrected. "This was that Nancy girl, but she's only got a few followers." He smiled. "She's not asking for violent action, she's suggesting changing the rules."
 

"Oh, goody," Xander said dryly. "We just recently got rights officially and now she wants to take them away?"
 

"More like segregate some," Dumbledore said mildly. "Give the born their own house and the like." He stood up and carefully stepped over the twin girls. "I'm sure it will all work out eventually. Not many are inclined to listen to her, except when it comes to the activists." He gave Xander a long look, making him smile. "Just keep it calm, my boy, and everything will be fine."
 

"Hey, I'm leaving that to the others. I only hop in when I have to. I learned my lessons the last time."
 

"Good." Dumbledore smiled at him. "I'll expect your classes tomorrow to be filled with many tired students."
 

"Yeah, most of them said that the small, intricate fitting in stuff that they were doing was tiring them out," Xander agreed.
 

"But they'll be able to brag about this for years to come," George said. He looked at the headmaster. "I know you've said something about giving my husband another class to teach, one on gryphon magic. Has anything been decided yet?"
 

"Not yet," Dumbledore told him. "Bill wasn't against the idea, but he did say that most of it would have to be theory for a first year class. He said he'd talk to the others, and the other colony's elders, plus Ginny and Draco."
 

"It's a good point," Xander agreed. "By teaching them the intricacies of the gryphonic magic, it could backlash and lead to people being able to counter us in a fight."
 

"Which was one of the worries, but also that some people would try things that would hurt them and they would get blamed, or that some of the simple spells would end up warped. There was also a small fear about the cultural heritage of the born being warped or destroyed," Dumbledore informed them. "Nothing will be decided until after the New Year most likely."
 

"It seems like this year's gone on forever already," Ron pointed out. "It's hard to believe it's only October. And there's no snow yet."
 

"Snow's coming in a few weeks," Dumbledore told him with a smile. "Your darlings will be able to go play in the snow within a month."
 

"Good," Ron said with a grin. "I'm looking forward to hearing them squeal at the snow."
 

"Whether it's in horror or pleasure we won't be sure of for a bit," George teased.
 

"I'm sure they'll learn to love it," Dumbledore told them all. "I'll leave you to your devices. Are you moving more things in tonight?" George nodded. "Have fun then."
 

"Thank you, Headmaster," George called after him. "Ron, did you want to move your stuff or are Fred and I doing it?"
 

"I'll do it if you show me the spell," Ron offered.
 

"You should probably let them do it," Xander said with a grimace. "I tried some of the tapes and had to retrieve them from all over the castle. The Slytherins weren't happy when I took the porn tapes back."
 

George blushed and shook his head. "I told you not to talk to Draco while you were moving them."
 

Ron snickered. That was too funny.
 

***
 

The annual cause for fighting in the halls, better known as the Gryffindor/Slytherin quidditch game, was coming in just a day so the team was flopping in their heads' living room to go over strategy. Everyone except for Iggy, he had snuck off to get some treats. He would probably get caught since his father was watching and waiting for him to come back, but it'd be worth it to get some fresh pastries. His dad wouldn't ground him from the game, Snape and Xander had a bet going over the outcome of the game. The prize was a spell from one of Xander's books or a spell to help Professor Weasley do something. It was probably a prank of some sort was the conclusion of Gryffindor tower. They couldn't wait for the game.
 

Out in the hallway, Xander caught his son as he appeared and slapped a very pretty sapphire and silver bracelet onto his wrist. "I told you no," he said simply as he walked away.
 

"But, daddy," Iggy whined as he followed his father. "I'm doing a good thing for the team." His father didn't turn around but he did snort. "Daddy, please take it off. I promise to be good and ask for permission to go out for pastries from now on," he said as he followed his father into their house. He handed over the box and ran after his father. "Please, daddy? I was being good."
 

Xander looked down at his son. "No. It's really unfair that no one else gets to leave and you pop around like it was nothing. And I told you no teleporting. What happens if you get caught, young man? If someone reports that you're apparating at your age?"
 

"I'd explain calmly that I'm gryphon-born and we can't do that," Iggy told him. "I've already had to explain that once." He clapped a hand over his mouth.
 

"Uh-huh. And when was this?"
 

"To the owner of the pastry shop," Iggy admitted with a sigh of defeat. "He thought it was a good revenge on the adults but he warned me too."
 

"Good, because you're grounded."
 

"Daddy, the game!" he said in horror.
 

"You may play because they're counting on you. Other than that, you're going to be in the living room downstairs and you're going to be there every night for the next week."
 

"Yes, daddy," Iggy sighed, heading back down to join his team. "Dad grounded me to the couch for the next week. Except for the game." He held out his wrist. "Would one of you take this off for me?"
 

Denver leaned over. "That looks familiar."
 

"It should, your father gave it to mine," Iggy said in irritation. "Please?" Their keeper reached over and took it off him. "Thank you." He smiled and took it back, going to hand it to his father. "Here you go, for Agatha," he said with a grin, then he ran away.
 

"Forgot to tell everyone else what it was?" Ron asked with mild amusement. Xander nodded, grimacing. "When are you going to tell me what that potion will do?"
 

"When it's used on you, or actually the next morning," Xander said with a smile.
 

"Xander," Ron warned.
 

"Hey, it's not a *bad* thing," Xander said with a grin. "And it'll make you happier for a few days." He winked. "Now, what am I missing in that box of stuff?"
 

"The citric acid and something else in that group," Ron said, handing over the list. "What's this going to be?"
 

"Kool-aid."
 

"What's that?" Ron asked carefully. Xander was in a funny mood today and it never hurt to be careful.
 

"A really sweet drink made with water and that stuff which all muggle kids love." Xander carefully measured out the right amount of citric acid and put it into the mix, then poured in some water and stirred. When the beaker was half full, he added sugar, dissolving it slowly and patiently.
 

By the time he was done, Ron was bored, but he was willing to try anything once. Usually. He took a small sip of the liquid and made a face. "It tastes funny."
 

Xander took a sip and nodded. "Too weak." He added more of the original mix, stirring it in. He took another sip and smiled. "Just right." He poured Ron some more and headed down to treat some of his favorite people to it. That book Tara had given him for his birthday was coming in handy now. He found her in the Great Hall finishing up her dinner and grabbed a nearby cup, pouring her out some.
 

She drank it slowly, then smiled at him. "You made me Kool-aid?" she asked.
 

Xander handed her the beaker. "All for you." He kissed her on the cheek. "I know you're feeling sad so I did something sweet and nice to make you happier."
 

She gave him a hug. He was a great friend. "Thank you, Xander."
 

"Hey, this is what friends do. And I made enough so you can share it." He looked over a Snape. "Want to try? It's what we grew up on as kids." He let Tara go, watching as Snape came over and poured himself some of the mixture.
 

He grimaced. "That's an odd flavor."
 

"Cherry Kool-aid," Tara told him. "It was my favorite when I was kid. That and grape."
 

"The book didn't have the recipe for grape," Xander told her. He looked at Snape. "This was *the* drink to have when we were growing up. It's fairly cheap to make and every kid in America probably drank at least a glass in their lifetime."
 

"How odd," Snape said, finishing the glass. "Can you get it in other flavors?"
 

"If I went to the store and picked them up off the shelves," Xander agreed. "Tara's birthday present was food recipes for the clinically advanced, recipes for people who deal with chemicals and play in labs. So I made her a fresh batch."
 

Snape looked thoughtful. "May I borrow that book?"
 

"Sure, but it's got American foods. Things like Cheez Whiz and homemade tortilla chips."
 

"I bought it because it had a recipe to make fudge from cocoa beans," Tara told him.
 

"Oh, I tried to do that one but I couldn't find the beans," Xander told her. "So I ended up buying George some fudge." He beamed. "He said I'm to buy him more the next time I go to that shop."
 

Tara patted Xander on the knee. "You're a great husband and an even better friend, Xander Harris." She stood up, taking her precious present with her, giving both men warm smiles.
 

"You've decided to ask her?" Snape asked, taking Tara's seat to sit next to the younger man.
 

"Last night, but I did that to cheer her up. She's been really sad and thinking a lot recently. Almost like she was considering approaching someone." He gave Snape a knowing look.
 

Surely he couldn't mean him. That Goddess of purity and light? He would dirty her if she came anywhere near him. "How interesting," he said before leaving.
 

Xander gave the older man's back a thoughtful look. Maybe he would help Tara a little bit.
 

***
 

It was the day of the game and both sides were already on the field. Xander had half a row saved for the family, and only Ron had shown up yet. Tara was sitting on the end of the row, helping him guard it, while Willow sat on the other end, cheering on her son. This was going to be a very loud section today, Snape guessed. He was seated directly behind Tara and the scent of her shampoo was carried on the wind to him, a light and fruity scent that made his nose itch. Another scent floated on the wind, one which made his gut clench. Blood. He realized what it had to be, but that didn't stop his intestines from knotting up or his heart from aching. She was still so pure, even after having a child, and kept herself natural. Not many witches did that these days, but she obviously knew how much more pure it made her. He noticed Xander glancing at Tara, then a small floating sign came into being while he slid over to talk to her. Surely he wasn't going to propose here, during the warm-up for the game. A few of the words drifted to him, but he knew what her answer would be. She loved Xander like a brother and would do anything for him. Even bare herself for him. He growled deep in his throat and Xander shot a glance back at him, and a smirk. That irritating idiot. Did he think that was cute? He scowled back and Xander leaned back. "Chill, I won't block your view," he whispered. Then he turned back to Tara, who was smiling. "Really?" he asked happily. She nodded. "Oh, thank you! Can we do it after the game? Please? Pretty please?"
 

"Xander, I'm not exactly at the right time of month," she said with a light blush.
 

"It doesn't matter," Xander assured her. "It can be done anytime during the month and it's all okay with the healers." He gave her a hug. "Oh, and I have a present for you, via Snape." He looked back at the potion's master and handed over a small roll of parchment. "The spell to heal all those nasty internal scars," he said with a grin. "No more worries."
 

Snape took the parchment. It had been the one he had asked for in the bet. Xander was conceding early this time.
 

She threw her arms around him and gave him a big hug. "Thank you."
 

"No, thank you, sweetie. You're the greatest. Can the family come watch?"
 

"Xander," she sighed, smacking him lightly. "There'll be nudity involved."
 

He grinned. "Not really. Remember, we had to do this with Iggy too." Tara nodded, smiling. "So, it's okay with you?"
 

"It's fine with me as long as they don't stare at me," she agreed with an eye roll. "Just no staring at my body."
 

"Not a bit. You can have a sheet and everything," Xander assured her, giving her another hug. "You're coming up so we can announce it later," he said firmly. "That way Snape has time to make the potion for you and everything, and then we'll go do that other part tomorrow." He grinned. "This is so cool. George was thinking I was going to put this off for another week."
 

She laughed. "You're anxious, it's understandable. You're a great dad, Xander."
 

Willow walked over to them. "You asked her to carry your next one?" she pouted.
 

Xander nodded. "She's been having baby feelings and we decided to ask her late last night." He smiled. "I would have asked you, but I don't want to get you into trouble."
 

Snape nearly laughed. Surely the boy hadn't seen that memo to Dumbledore telling him to call for an auror if she was found to be pregnant again. He tried to look mildly shocked when Willow looked at him.
 

"Fine, be that way," Willow pouted.
 

"Do I have to remind you what you were like last time?" Xander asked her. She turned whiter and went back to her side of the bench.
 

"That was mean," Tara gently chastised.
 

"Yay, she nearly killed you the last time," Xander protested. Tara gave him a sweet smile and shook her head. "She did and I'm protecting you myself this time."
 

"You're sweet, Xander, but behave or I'll say no." He clammed up and gave her the best pitiful look he could; obviously the man had been taking lessons from his bird. "Leave her alone about it. She still feels horrible about that time."
 

"So do I," he assured her, kissing her on the cheek. "This deal comes with a weekly supply of foot and back massages too," he teased. "You can't say no now."
 

"I won't say no," she assured him, comforting him. Xander loved his children, and everyone's children, it would be wonderful for him to have another one or two.
 

"Good, because otherwise we'd have to ask Draco and I doubt he would be as nice and pretty while carrying for us."
 

She giggled. "I'm sure he wouldn't too." She pointed at the family coming up the stairs. "I'll see you after the game." He scooted back over, removing the sign and relaxing into his husband's arms. That guy was a great friend and she would happily make him so happy he beamed and bounced for weeks on end. She looked at Snape, nodding at the parchment. "You really can make that for me?"
 

"It shouldn't be much of a problem," he told her quietly. "I've looked at it before when Xander brought it to my attention." He gave her a pat on the arm. "He was going to ask me last year to do it for you but he wasn't sure you wouldn't castrate him for it." Now why did he say that dirty word in front of her? He was sullying her with his filth, so he pulled back from her touch.
 

She gave him a warm smile. "You have to understand Xander. He jumps into things because he thinks they're the right thing to do," she explained. "He would have tried begging first, saying it would have made me happy and then I could do something I've been wanting to do for a while now." She blushed and turned back around.
 

She had wanted another child? Snape asked himself. Well, this certainly put a new light on that little deal to carry one for Harris. He wondered how it would be done, or whether it would be coming from one father or both. He quickly shook that thought off, not wanting to consider the idea of one of those two touching the perfection that was Tara Maclay. He clapped as the game started and more of the Weasley clan showed up. Draco was the last one to come up the stairs and he looked a bit green around the edges. He looked the boy over, wondering what was wrong with him.
 

***
 

Xander whooped and rushed the field, going to hug his son, and nephew and niece too of course. But his son was wonderful.
 

Draco walked down more slowly, hugging both of his children to him. "I'm very proud of you both," he told them. Simone wiggled in his arms so he smiled down at her. "You looked positively evil out there," he praised. "I wouldn't have wanted to play against you."
 

"I never want to play against her," Denver agreed. "Sis, did you *have* to hit that bludger *at* me?"
 

"Yup," she said with a smile. "You were in front of the idiot, duck next time." She nodded with finality. Her brother just needed to be faster. She looked up at the dark sky. "This is the longest game I've ever played," she said. "I'm hungry."
 

"Molly brought food and things up to Xander and Ron's house. We'll be celebrating up there, then you can join the team in your house." He led them back toward the school, proud of his little monsters. His father had never come to watch a single game of his, he realized. He had never felt this. Too bad. It was a great feeling to be proud of one's child. Gryffindor had won by a ten point margin, at the last moment no less. He had felt torn, he was supposed to always support his house, but his beloved children had been out there playing and that was more important to him. He vaguely wondered if his father would have had him killed if he had been sorted anywhere other than Slytherin. Simone poked him. "What, lovely one?"
 

"Quit thinking about the shitbag," she said firmly. "He's dead and we're all happy about that." Her father frowned at her. "It was in your eyes. You survived, just like Uncle Xander did, daddy, so let him rot in peace."
 

"Simone," Denver said sharply. His sister's mouth was getting out of hand! "We should respect the dead, especially if they might come back a third time."
 

"No, he won't be. He was torn into little, tiny pieces by the gryphons for having a colony killed," Xander said as he walked up behind him. He tapped Simone on the head. "Still, don't talk ill of the dead. They can come back and haunt you. Imagine that, haunted by your paternal grandfather."
 

"He might like her, she's more evil than I am," Denver told him.
 

Draco laughed. "Son, he wouldn't like her simply because she's a girl and who her mother is. She'd never get to sleep and would come bother you." He gave Simone a squeeze. "If you should ever see him, please tell me so we can banish him back to whatever hell he's supposed to be in. And you're right, I did survive and become a better person."
 

"That's what's important," Xander agreed. He unlocked their door and let everyone in. "Come on, family news coming!" he called. The rest of the clan in attendance hurried into the tower and up to the living room. He took Tara's hand as she walked up with George and led her up personally. As soon as everyone was staring at them, Xander beamed. "There's going to be new little people in the family," he said happily. He noticed Draco choking and vowed to talk to him later. "Tara agreed to carry for us. We're doing the spell tomorrow." The family went nuts, lunging to hug the three of them. Even Charlie, who was in on vacation, got in on the hugging action and he was a confirmed bachelor.
 

Xander made his way out of the mass of family and pulled Draco out of the way by the collar. "Give," he ordered. The younger man tried to look innocent. "Tell me you didn't," Xander hissed.
 

"Not by myself," Draco said, looking around. Ginny was staring at him and he gave her a reassuring smile. "Please don't tell."
 

"I won't, but if *anything* happens, you're coming here, got it?" Draco nodded. "Good. How are you hiding it?"
 

"Right now there's nothing to hide," he said with a shrug. "Not making the playoffs freed me for the year so I've got a year and a half off before we start playing again. My coach knows I'm having intermittent stomach problems so I have a ready excuse." Xander nodded. "And I will be showing up if anything happens."
 

"Good," Xander agreed, letting him go back to the crowd. He went to the refrigerator and started pulling out food. Ginny came over to help. "Hey, take this and put it on the low table with the leftover pastries," he told her, handing her the roast Molly had made. Soon he had more helpers and Arthur was talking to Tara about something. She managed to leave with the kids with the statement that she had a potion to take, but not saying what it was for so everyone thought it was for the upcoming spell. Xander smiled at his mate, who was beaming happily as most of the family gave him advice on names. They were probably hoping to avoid another 'Iggy' naming.
 

***
 

Iggy was the one who let it slip to his housemates. By the morning, everyone in the castle knew that Professor Harris and his husband were having Professor Maclay carry a child for them. So when Tara walked in for breakfast, she was forced to blush as everyone stared at her. "It's being done by spell," she said as she walked up the main aisle. That broke the staring and the kids started to speculate on how and which spell, not to mention who was doing it. Tara took her normal seat. She was early so it was just her, Lupin, Snape, and Dumbledore. The Headmaster reached over and gave her a pat on the hand with an understanding smile. "It's the right thing to do," she told him. "I'll be fine."
 

"I know you will, my dear, and any time off you need you only have to ask." He stood up and left the three of them there.
 

Lupin smiled at her. "Are you excited?"
 

Tara nodded and moved closer, taking a seat between the two men. "It's been a while and I've been wanting another child. This isn't perfect for me, but I'm more than happy to be an Aunt to this one and wait to have another one." She smiled at Severus. "It worked early this morning," she told him, reaching over to touch the sleeve of his robe. "Thank you so much."
 

"You're welcome," he said gruffly. The light shining from her eyes, the happiness they contained, was all the thanks he needed. He had restored to her the one thing that she had wanted. She smiled at him, warming his insides. "When are you doing it?"
 

"Today. Xander's taking all of us to the gryphon colony so the healers there can do it themselves. He didn't want to risk screwing it up and hurting me." She accepted the plate of ham from Lupin and nodded her thanks. "I'm not sure I'm ready for some of the side effects, like morning sickness and cravings, but I can't wait to be pregnant again," she told them. "It was a great feeling the last time." She smiled down at her son, who blushed and looked away. "Oops, looks like I have to have a talk with him soon."
 

"Let Xander do it," Lupin suggested. "I heard the one he gave Iggy and it was very comprehensive."
 

Tara laughed. "I know. He asked me beforehand if showing his son one of his tapes would be a bad thing." Both male teachers blushed and she giggled again. "I told him it probably would have been."
 

"Yes, well, that boy started reading very odd books after that," Snape said, frowning at Iggy, who was still happily bouncing in his seat. "I confiscated one of them because he was reading them in the hallway. Highly inappropriate."
 

"He went and bought another copy then, because I took one from him too," Lupin told him. "As did Sirius at one point in time. That one got handed back to Xander, who gave his son the oddest look."
 

"But it was cute," Tara defended. "He walked into at least one wall while he was reading the Kama Sutra." Both men coughed to hide their embarrassment. "It's a very strange book, has odd advice in it," she told them.
 

Snape nearly choked on his juice. She had read that book? Her? He banished that thought quickly, not wanting to dwell on it in the Great Hall. "I took a different book from him. I found it a bit too adult and too cheerful on the subject."
 

"Oh, the Joy of Sex," Lupin said with a nod. "Yes, that's the one I confiscated too. As a matter of fact, I think it's still in my desk unless someone's stolen it." He looked thoughtful, he should probably move it soon if it was still there.
 

Tara blushed. "I read that one once, trying to figure out what the big deal was. I never did get it."
 

Snape's mind turned dark again, turning off any images he might have been seeing of her reading either of those books. Of course she only liked women. How stupid of him to forget.
 

She went on. "But then again, I never really got the purpose of any of that until a few years back. I guess it wouldn't be so bad. But I could never settle with the typical *guy* sort of guy, you know? I'd almost have to get a sensitive, nurturing sort of guy, one with an almost womanly understanding of life." Lupin nodded. He understood that very well. Men like Sirius and Draco annoyed him too. He looked at Snape, who looked thoughtful. Well, technically, he did fit the criteria, but did he really think..... Oh, shit, he did. He recognized that look, had only seen it once before on that man's face, back while they were in school. He wondered if Tara knew. If not, should he tell her? He glanced at Snape and found him glaring at him. He waved him off, he wouldn't tell. It would be up to Tara to send him away. Really, infecting her perfection with all that dark and gloominess. She would suffocate in his darkness.
 

Tara smiled at them both, wondering if they remembered that she could hear them if they were close enough to her emotionally and physically. Two of her best friends and they had very interesting thoughts. He felt that way about her? So why was she hiding from him?
 

***
 

Two months in the new house and Iggy was bored with most of the rooms. He had found most of the hidden areas, including another floor safe with a potion's journal that had made Professor Snape and himself weep with joy over the contents. That had been turned over too and Snape was thinking about bankrupting his savings to buy it when it came up for auction. He knew that there was another hidden area in the living room, he could feel the depth was wrong, but he couldn't find the opening. It was frustrating him. He had gone over every inch of this place, twice, and couldn't find out how it was opened. He sat down in front of the fireplace to make notes in the dim light. Uncle Ron had a headache so every curtain in the house was pulled tightly shut, he was working by firelight today. He noticed the fire was going out so he picked up the poker to stir it back up, then added another log, using the poker to put it in the middle of the embers. The poker slipped and hit one of the small decorated tiles in the back of the fireplace, and he heard a groan. "It can't be," he whispered, poking that spot again. Another groan and a click. He made a note that it was the sixth one in the third row from the top of the wood holder, then stood up to search around the fireplace. The whole thing couldn't move out or else the smoke wouldn't be able to get out.
 

He nearly gave up when he came to a small, gold lock. A small, gold magical lock that was obviously his father's favorite lock spell. Hmm. He tried the usual word, nothing. So he sat back down to think about it. None of the ordinary words would have been used because someone might be unlocking something else in there. None of the kids' names could be used because they were said in here. Daddy Xander wouldn't want to risk it opening by accident, even without a wand being nearby. He searched through his immense vocabulary and came up short. It had to be something that his father would remember, but nothing that he used in common language. That left out most words unless they were swear words. He stood up and tried all those, but nothing. Maybe.... He thought about alternate versions of swear words, finally coming up with the one thing his parents never talked about.
 

"Pussy." The lock popped out of existence and Iggy hurriedly bent down and grabbed the poker, hitting the lock mechanism again. The whole fireplace moved out, with a long pipe sliding out to continue carrying the smoke away. He walked in and shut the door behind him, finding the opening button easily. It had an arrow pointing to it. Iggy turned around and his breath caught. A library! The library! He squealed in joy, uncaring that the sound carried through the fireplace.
 

On the other side, George looked at his mate. "Two months, it must have been a record," he said dryly.
 

"Albus asked that we tell him when Iggy finally opened it." The door opened and Dumbledore walked in. "How do you do that?"
 

"Ask Tara when she takes over," he suggested, bending down to look in the fireplace. "Where's the lock?"
 

"See the smudged tile? That one we think." George handed him the poker and watched as he opened the wall. "Son, you're grounded," he called as they walked into the library. Iggy was sitting in a surprisingly undusty chair, nose buried in a potion's book.
 

"I don't think he heard you," Xander said mildly. He took the direct route, taking the book and looking down at his son. "Grounded," he said slowly and clearly. "I told you no exploring, it upsets Simone."
 

"She's not here," Iggy said. "And this is a find. I've got to tell Snape." He jumped up and ran from the room, dodging both fathers easily since they weren't *really* trying to catch him. He ran into Snape's room, startling him and the students in the advanced class who were having an extra lesson. "I found his library," he announced proudly. "Hermetically sealed behind the fireplace."
 

Snape followed him out of the room, both of them hurrying back to the house. Snape walked in and stopped to look around. Thousands of books. His mouth fell open. "Oh, my," he squeaked.
 

"Very manly," George teased. "Want to try that in a lower register?" He grinned when Snape glared at him. "Sorry, couldn't resist." He clapped his son on the back. "You're still grounded."
 

"But, dad!" he whined.
 

"No, because Simone's still having nightmares about exploring things," Xander told him.
 

"But she's not here!" Iggy pointed out. "I haven't included her in any of my recent explorations. And besides, she'll be happy for me because I found this. It's *my* find."
 

"Yes, it is," Dumbledore assured him, with a pat on the back for good measure. "This is an invaluable find and one that the school will be keeping." Iggy pouted, he wouldn't get any money from it.
 

"I'll pay you a reward," Snape told him. "Come help me look up something, Ignatius." Iggy happily skipped over. He was like an assistant to Snape sometimes, ever since he had wandered into a first year's class at the age of eight and told one of the Gryffindors he was an idiot who couldn't chop worth a damn. They talked about the book Snape wanted and Iggy climbed up the wooden shelves to look at the higher ones. They really needed a ladder.
 

"Hello?" Simone called from the open doorway. She pouted and sighed. "I guess we've lost Iggy to the books?" she asked George.
 

George gave her a hug. "For at least a week," he agreed. "What did you need?"
 

"Iggy was going to practice with me today."
 

"I can do that," George told her. "As a matter of fact, let me Murphy Fred and see if he won't come up and we'll both practice with you." She beamed happily and went with him to write the letter.
 

Xander pulled down a familiar book. "Gee, was Slytherin a gryphon born?" he called. Snape and Iggy seemed to teleport to his side. "This one is given to young gryphons when they first start learning magic," he explained, not minding when it was snatched from his fingers. He walked back over to Dumbledore's side. "My living room won't become an auxiliary library, right?" he asked quietly.
 

"Not if you'd be willing to help work on an extension to the present library," Dumbledore said happily. Xander nodded. "This summer?"
 

"Let's do it sooner," Xander told him. "No books in the living room," he called out to them, walking the Headmaster out and shutting them in. "I wonder if there has to be a fire going for it to work."
 

"Oh, yes. We tried that when there wasn't one and it didn't work then," Dumbledore assured him. "Do leave the fire going for a bit, please." He smiled. "I'll send some food up later if you'll send it over there." Xander nodded, giving him a tolerant look. "Just think, after it's cleared out, you could move your laboratory down there."
 

"Maybe," Xander agreed, thinking of the possibilities. "I'd have to look at what he had in there first." He watched as the older man walked away, then went to grab one of his books to read. He was all alone until George got tired of flying for the day.
 

***
 

Fred looked over at his twin. "Why don't you come stay at the store tonight?" he suggested lightly.
 

George gave him a guilty look. He had spent most of his time in the house settling and had ignored the most important relationship he had. "Sure. I'll have to pack a bag. I brought home all the laundry when I came home last time." Fred smiled at him in relief. "What about Elizabeth? Any more thrown clothes and wild sex?"
 

"Wild sex?" Simone asked, flying closer. "She's like that?"
 

"Yes, dear, we have great fun together," Fred told her. "She needs to hire a new cook so she hasn't been up in a few days."
 

George reached over and shoved him. "You should have told me, git. I would have come down sooner. I was giving you space to snog and stuff in private."
 

Fred leered. "And we did, but I've missed talking with you all night."
 

"Aww, how cute," Denver said as he joined them. "Where's Iggy?"
 

"Being a book nerd with Snape," Simone told him dryly. "They found a library."
 

"Slytherin's library?" Fred asked. George nodded. "We won't be seeing either of them for weeks on end then."
 

"We promised to shove food through regularly, and Xander said no books in the living room." He grinned. "I'm thinking a month."
 

"Possibly more," Fred agreed, flying away from the kids. "You're sure? I know Tara's had some problems."
 

"Nothing unusual according to her doctor. We both panicked and forced her to go in for a checkup when she started having morning sickness so early. She's got it so much worse than Ginny did last time." He shook his head. "But her doctor said everything was on target and she was good. Xander's fussed over her, even going so far as to make her his special soup. She wisely put it aside after taking a bite. The garlic was a bit strong," he confided with a wink.
 

"What about Ron?"
 

"Not a word yet and he's nearly given up hope. The girls are almost six months old and no one can find the little bugger."
 

"I'm not sure I'd call Buffy a little bugger," Fred joked. George swatted him. "Sorry."
 

"We're all but sure she's dead and the baby's been hidden. Xander and Iggy have both said they get flashes from him every now and then so they're sure he's alive. No one's felt anything from Buffy."
 

"Poor Ron," Fred sighed. He grabbed the bat Denver came over with. "We ready now?"
 

"Sure. Beater on beater," Denver told him. "I can manage and switch for today."
 

"Good," George told him. "Go farther back and we'll hit them at you." Denver spun and flew away. "Excellent brooms," he said in appreciation.
 

"Very. Ron searched for months for the man who made those. Quite an interesting chap too. He came in looking for Ron the other day to see how these were playing. I invited him to the next game." He caught the bludger George released and gave it a whack across the field, right at Simone. She dove and sent it crashing back with the most evil smirk. "She's definitely her father's daughter," he said as George knocked it back. Soon they got into their game and quit talking, preferring to use their twin's signals.
 

***
 

After Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday had passed and no one had seen either Iggy or Professor Snape, rumors started to fly. Ryan Rosenberg had asked Xander if he had killed them, which had made Tara yell and scream at him until his mother came to save him from the scary pregnant woman. Xander had calmed her down and suggested she needed to hunt that man down instead of being patient because Snape didn't do subtle. She had cried on his shoulder because she had yelled at a little kid.
 

Dumbledore found that incident quite amusing, but enough was enough. The rumors were getting ridiculous. The last one he had heard had put Professor Snape and Ignatius captured by evil giants and taken for a midnight snack. He stood up at lunch and everyone quieted, staring at him. "I'm pleased to announce that Ignatius Harris-Weasley and Professor Snape are both engaged in a very low profile mission for this school." The buzz started again but Tara banged her cup on the table, quieting them down again. "Thank you, Professor Maclay," he said with a smile for her. "This mission, though taken on in this school, is most important. We have recently uncovered Salazar Slytherin's personal library and they are both engaged in an inventory for us." He smiled at the happy noises and a few gasps. "Because of the nature of this find, I do ask that you not tell your parents yet. I'm sending out an official announcement once we have the inventory done, which will hopefully be any day now." He sat down and the students started to talk to each other. A few of the seventh years in Advanced Potions seemed upset that they weren't trusted when that first year was, but one of the girls pointed out, at the top of her lungs, that Iggy had been in potions classes as long as they had practically since he always joined in when he was bored. Very interesting from that Slytherin. He would have to keep an eye on her.
 

Xander slipped out the back door and went to check on his son and friend. He found them sitting in the same spots, looking like they hadn't bathed since Saturday, and still buried in the books. He cleared his throat in the quiet room. "You have to start appearing. Ryan Rosenberg wanted to know if I had killed you. Tara going off on him never quite answered that question," he told Snape when the other man looked up.
 

Severus' mouth fell open. She had stuck up for him? "She told him off for me?"
 

"Mostly because of you, but yeah," Xander told him. "So you *might* want to go take a shower and eat before appearing at dinner. Albus announced that the library had been found at lunch."
 

Snape grabbed Iggy's wrist to look at his watch. "Oh, my," he said. "It's Thursday."
 

"It is?" Iggy asked, looking at his watch himself. "Damn, I missed a Transfiguration test." He shrugged and went back to his book. He nearly wailed when his father snatched it from him and put it down, then picked him up and carried him to the bathrooms. He did scream when he was put under the cold water and handed the bar of soap.
 

"Wash yourself," Xander said, walking away. He found Snape rooting through his refrigerator. "Milk's at the bottom but it's formula," he warned. Snape pulled back and Xander pointed at the newly arrived tray of food. "Eat and then go shower. You can even use ours if you want." Snape nodded, heading up to the showers with one of the sandwiches that had been brought. Xander wondered if he realized he was still clutching his book. He resealed the door, using a much harder password this time, and left them to it. He ran into Ron in the halls, going up to rest for his free period. "They're in the showers," he said quietly. Ron just nodded, he was starting to get depressed and it showed. Xander resolved to do something more about this. He walked outside and whistled, bringing his phoenix from the Magical Creatures' class. "Sorry, but he needs to run an errand," he called, waving at Hagrid. He gave Murphy an auditory message and sent him off to London. Ron looked bad and he wouldn't allow it anymore. He wandered back inside, going to finish his lunch. Hopefully he would have time before his meeting with Dumbledore.
 

***
 

"Xander," Albus said when the young man walked up into his office. "Thank you for pulling them out of there. Having them gone for much longer might have been problematic."
 

"Tell me about it. Iggy looked at me like I was an alien." He sat down in the comfy chair. "I'm not getting the extra class, am I."
 

Albus shook his head. "No, I'm sorry. They decided it would be too dangerous in the long run. But I will allow you to lead a special class for any gryphon-borns already here. That was allowed."
 

Xander nodded. "Okay. I can do that. Teaching them what I know?"
 

"And how to use the various levels of magic," Dumbledore agreed. "All the elders decided that might be quite helpful and wouldn't endanger anyone." He clasped his hands on the desk. "I'm sorry that I couldn't pull this through for you."
 

"Not a problem," Xander said with a wave. "This is actually good enough for me. Crystal's had almost no education in how to do gryphon magic and the other born is so much like a normal wizard I doubt he could teleport at all."
 

"He's actually going to be able to apparate," Dumbledore told him. "He's that far down the line."
 

"Wow, I didn't think there was a cutoff." He shrugged out of his thoughts. "It's good enough for me. Is this going to be a private mandatory or an elective?"
 

"Mandatory for a year," Dumbledore told him. "Then elective if you care to run the class with only one or two people."
 

"Like I said, not a problem. Doing that means I can do individual exercises and push them into their own categories of abilities without being overloaded."
 

"And tests would be easier also," Albus agreed with a smile.
 

"Yeah, really easy. Use chaos magic to turn that pincushion into a rocking chair," Xander mimicked. "When do I get them?"
 

"Starting next year. Crystal's so ill right now that she's not attending regular classes and that nice Mr. Rossenway is, like you said, not really needing them."
 

"And Iggy is already getting them at home," Xander finished. Dumbledore nodded. "Good. Anything else?"
 

"Yes, I'm afraid we're going to need a bit more time before we move those books. The Regent's board hasn't approved us putting up an extension to the library."
 

"So I build shelves in an unused classroom," Xander said with a shrug. "It's not that hard and Ron can help me. He needs something to take his mind off the missing ones anyway."
 

"Good point. What would you need for that?"
 

"Hammers, saws, wood, and nails. Maybe a few clamps if we're going to glue as well as nail."
 

Dumbledore made a list. "We'll be needing them anyway so I'll get you that much and we'll use one of the unused classrooms down in the dungeons. So it's closer to Severus and he doesn't have to live in your living room." He smiled. "Did you really put them both into the shower?"
 

"I put Iggy in and suggested it strongly to Severus. Oh, go ahead and tell him however you do that that he can borrow a robe." He gave him a dry look at the shocked expression. "Oh, please. You can do the thought streams like Iggy can. And I would guess that you do what Melvin does since he mentioned you giving him useful advice on the subject. Especially since I *know* you're not born."
 

Dumbledore laughed. "Very good suppositions, Xander. It is true that I can do that. Severus said thank you and he was borrowing your lone black one." Xander nodded. "Yes, I figured out long ago that I could touch pure magic and trained myself to use it. That's why I've devoted my life to this school, hoping to find others who could do it so we could come out and be seen as not dangerous."
 

"Well, gee, now you have the Hufflepuff of the family in on it," Xander pointed out. "Definitely not dangerous."
 

"Very true," Albus agreed. "The Present Minister of Magic can also touch it, a bit, and knows that I will train Melvin in it's uses and protection." He fluffed some papers. "Did you want to help with that?"
 

"I can't touch it so it wouldn't be of any use to me," Xander said with a shrug. "But you could probably pull in Denver and Iggy if you wanted to. Denver's been learning gryphon magic over Iggy's shoulder now for a few years, and can teleport by himself I'm told, and Iggy can probably touch it even if he can't do anything with it."
 

Dumbledore nodded. "Good. I'll talk to them once they're old enough. Did you had that bracelet back to Mr. Malfoy so he could use it on young Agatha?"
 

"Oh, yeah, after I put it on Iggy to scare him. That kid's going to be the death of me yet," he sighed as he stood up and grabbed his cane. "I'm off to torture fourth years. Have fun making Severus go back to class." He waved and left the office with the laughter following him. Xander walked into his classroom and found the roll already taken. "Thank you for waiting," he told his kids. "I had a short meeting with the Headmaster over a proposed class." He opened his notes. "Okay, where were we? Rigsinths?" The kids nodded and grabbed their quills while Xander put up the map hiding their outline for the day. The third years who had peaked at it earlier this morning had said it was complicated. It was nice that Professor Harris did all this preparation before classes started for the day.
 

***
 

Draco woke up as a soft whisper bothered him in his sleep.
 

"You have two minutes to get out," the whisper told him. "Or you will die."
 

Draco got out of bed as quickly as he could, grabbing his robe and the box of his most precious things. He used his wand to move everything else of his children's to a storehouse he had built last year to house their toys, stuffing it to the brim. Then he went through the floo, going to the safest place he knew. He heard the explosion as he left, and felt it following him through the floo. He stepped out of the fireplace in Xander's living room and out of the way, watching as the flames shot up. Xander woke up from his nap on the couch and looked at him. "The house just blew up," he said, shocked and breathless. Xander opened his arms so he waddled over and laid down on top of him, taking the comfort he was offered.
 

"We'll get the bastard," Xander promised, rubbing down the hard back. "How long?"
 

"Six more months," Draco told him in a near-whisper. "I can't go anywhere else."
 

"Shh, we have a spare room you can hide in and we'll get you seen tomorrow," Xander told him, continuing to soothe him. "Albus, can you please tell someone?" he asked the air. He felt a small tingle in his head of acknowledgment. It would be okay. Draco could be protected. They would get whomever had bombed him. And the baby would be protected too. He fell asleep under the warm weight, wrapping the younger man tightly in his arms like he would his real son.
 

***
 

Fred and George were laughing when they walked into the house the next morning, stopping when they saw Xander and Draco. "Brother, I do believe you spent too much time away," Fred joked.
 

George shushed him and walked over to look at them. He paused to look at the ash decorating the carpet, looking like the fireplace had exploded during the night. He walked to the back of the couch and stopped, mouth hanging open. He motioned Fred over, whispering in his ear. "Go now," he said with a shove. Fred disappeared through the floo and George leaned down. "Xander? Would you like to offer an explanation?" he asked quietly.
 

"His house exploded," Xander whispered. He opened his eyes. "He's okay."
 

"How long has he been like that?"
 

"Three months," Draco groaned as he woke up, rubbing his eyes. He felt fingers in his hair and looked at his other surrogate father. "I got a warning in the middle of the night and moved everything important, then I came here. I felt it explode while I was in the floo."
 

"You're lucky it didn't snap and put you somewhere else." He touched the small, but obvious, bulge that was hanging out of the silk pajama bottoms. "Why don't you go take a shower, I'm sure someone will be coming for you soon." Draco nodded and left, going to take a shower. "Are we hiding him?"
 

"Yes," Xander said firmly, sitting up and stealing a kiss. "He wants this kid as badly as we want ours," he pointed out. "This could give him a lot of publicity that he doesn't want so we're hiding him."
 

"All right then. I sent Fred for Tara's obstetrician. We'll have a look at him and then figure out what to do. Do you think mum knows?"
 

"Probably not. He said Ginny didn't when I found out." He gave his mate another kiss. "Thank you for not flinching."
 

"That baby is wanted," George agreed. "But you get to hide him from Ginny." He smiled and stood up. "Fred should be back soon. Go get dressed. It's nearly first period."
 

"Shoot," Xander sighed. "And I have early class today. Guess I'm showering later." He heaved himself up and grabbed his cane, heading up the stairs.
 

George sat down on the couch to consider all their options. This could get quite messy if not handled right.
 

***
 

Fred came out in St. Mungo's waiting room and smiled at the nurse. "I need to see Dr. Latimer," he said nicely. "We're having a bit of a problem with a patient." She buzzed the doctor and he came out drinking a cup of coffee. "Dr. Latimer?" he asked. The doctor nodded so Fred pulled him a bit aside. "I'm George's twin."
 

"I noticed. Is Tara having more problems?"
 

"Well, it's a bit more complicated than that," Fred told him, then sighed. "Can you please come with me and see for yourself? I don't think I could explain it in a way that would convince you it's serious."
 

"Of course. Let me grab a bag." He walked away and came back a moment later with a battered leather case. "Let's go. Gryphon's house?"
 

"Yes." Fred followed him, then led him up to the bathrooms, where he could hear the shower running. "Draco, visitor," he announced. Draco came out and the doctor stood staring at him. "This is what we wanted you to see. His house exploded last night."
 

"Oh, dear. You weren't joking about that spell?" Fred shook his head. "Very well. Young man, please dry off and go lie down. I'll be right in after I find out some things from Xander."
 

"I had the spell done," Draco told him imperiously.
 

"Of course you did. I doubt they'd ever do it again after what happened to George," Fred pointed out.
 

"What happened to George?"
 

"They created Iggy without telling him, and George got very sick. That's why George had me come get you."
 

"I'm fine," Draco told him.
 

"Go dry off and lie down," the doctor said firmly. "I'll be the one to decide that." Draco rolled his eyes but went, he wasn't in the mood to argue right now. He found the room Xander said would be his when he had popped in and put on some boxers, they were all he could wear. He really did need to go shopping, even if all of his clothes hadn't just been burned. He covered his eyes with an arm. He didn't want to think about his house. He hated it in so many ways, but it was his. He wondered if any of the house elves had made it out. Surely they had. Hopefully anyway. When someone came to grill him, he'd ask them. The doctor came in and shut the door. "I'm a little over three months along."
 

"Good, then you shouldn't be having too many problems," Dr. Latimer agreed. He came in and poked and prodded. When he was done, he sat down to talk with the young man, telling him what was going to be happening soon and what he would need to have done. If he was taking him on as a patient, there was going to be some rules and Draco would be seeing him every month until his eighth, then every week. Draco came up with the idea of saying it was a girlfriend he was paying the bills for, just to deal with the paperwork. After all, that's how his beloved son came to be.
 

***
 

Two mornings later Denver Malfoy spit his juice out while he was reading the paper. "That bloody fuckup!" he shouted. He raced out of the room, heading up to talk to his Uncle, who might be able to beat some sense into his father's thick skull. Fooling around on Aunt Ginny? How stupid was he! He stormed in and was promptly grabbed by familiar strong arms. So he turned and pushed his father away. "What the hell do you think you're doing? Did Aunt Ginny not tell you that she'd kill you the next one of me you had?" he shouted.
 

"Calm down," Xander said from his grading chair. He turned off the tv and looked at the boy. "Gossip is a bad thing, Denver, remember that."
 

Denver scowled at him, looking exactly like an eleven year old Draco. "Yay, he's knocked someone up! Again!"
 

"No, son, I didn't, and it's Ginny's." Draco pulled up his shirt, showing off his small stomach. "I'm pregnant."
 

Denver whimpered, going from angry to shocked much too fast. "What?" he asked finally. He touched the hard lump. "You? You're pregnant?" Draco nodded and put his shirt back down. "Does Mum know?"
 

"Ginny doesn't know yet," he told him. "I was going to tell her next week but I guess I should probably do it sooner."
 

"I sent Murphy to her when I saw the paper," George said from the stairs. He came down them slowly. "You may not tell *anyone*, Denver. Do you understand? Your father still has someone who's trying to kill him."
 

"Okay," Denver said. Then he hit himself on the forehead. "Simone and Iggy."
 

"Iggy knows," Xander told him. "He ran into his uncle last night in the bathroom."
 

"Oh, crap," George sighed. "That kid can't keep a secret to save our lives."
 

"I doubt he's going to spread this one around," Denver told him. "Who'd believe him?" He looked at his father. "Simone?"
 

"Send her up later, but you may tell her it's not what it appears. I'll break the news to her later."
 

"Yes, father." Denver carefully reached over and patted the small bump. "How long?"
 

"Three months."
 

"You've hid this from us for *three* months," Denver told him. "Why? Don't you trust us?"
 

"He wanted to make sure everything was okay first," Xander told him.
 

"Oh." Denver scowled at his father. "You idiot, putting yourself through something that could kill you. What would we do?" He hugged his father tightly. "I'll run interference with Simone until you can tell her," he promised. "No more surprises. The house blowing up was quite enough."
 

"I saved everything that I could," Draco told him.
 

"Well, I guess that's okay then," Denver sighed. "At least you got out." He walked out, leaving the adults alone to 'oh, shit' in peace. He ran into his sister outside the Great Hall, and she had obviously already heard. "I just talked to father and they got part of the story wrong," he said, giving her a hug. "He didn't cheat on mum."
 

"But then she'll get sick and die," Simone pointed out.
 

"Not this time," Denver said dryly. "He said to go up to the house during our free period so he could talk to you about it."
 

"Yeah, I was wondering how that happened myself," Iggy said as he joined them.
 

"We can't tell anyone," Denver reminded him. "Whomever blew up the house is still out there."
 

"Someone blew up the house?" Simone asked. "Who? Are they dead yet or can we help?"
 

"Ask your father when you see him in a few hours," Snape said as he walked past them. He smiled at Denver, telling him he knew. Quite astounding news really. He would have to make more anti-nausea medicine today. Maybe Tara would appreciate talking with him, sharing battle stories as it were. Yes, quite remarkable. Hopefully someone had a way around the problem of giving birth, otherwise he would have to knock poor Mr. Malfoy out quite deeply.
 

***
 

Simone stormed into the house and stopped when she saw her father's business manager talking with him. "Out!" she ordered the plebeian little asshole. "I need to have a discussion with my father." He frowned at her. "Out now or I'm cursing you into an existence as something horrid that takes a long time to die." He gathered up his things and walked into another room to give them privacy. "Explain yourself because that curse is looking fairly tempting right now. How dare you hurt my mum!"
 

Draco patted the couch beside him and she obediently sat beside him, but a bit farther away than he had indicated. "I've not knocked anyone up," he told her.
 

"But the paper said your name was on the medical tests," she pointed out, trying to stay calm.
 

"Yes, it was. That's because it's me, not some random woman." He lifted his shirt and his daughter stared at him like he was mad. "Trust me, Simone. It's me."
 

She patted the bulge to make him happy, and it moved. "Holy fuck," she said, backing away from him. "What did you do, daddy?"
 

"Watch your language," Draco warned, but inside he was smiling. Denver looked like him but her attitude was all him. "I did it because I wanted another of you and your mother can't get pregnant."
 

"Does she know?"
 

"I was going to tell her next week, once I had my personal doctor confirm it," he said calmly.
 

"So, mum and grandma don't know?" He nodded. "Can I go live in another country until they calm down? I hear Africa is very nice this time of year. Especially Morocco."
 

"You can go this summer," he told her with a faint smile. "For now, I'm going to tell your mother today. I had planned on breaking it gently but those idiots at the Daily Prophet are still stealing things from the hospital it seems." He grimaced. "As for your mother, she' the least of my worries."
 

"Denver said someone blew up the house," she agreed quietly.
 

He tipped her face up so she was looking at him. "They did. I moved most everything I could, it's in your storage building. Including the nest and your doll collection. I basically swept the house."
 

"Oh, daddy, the elves," she pleaded.
 

"I don't know yet, precious. I'm letting you free of school today to go through the building with the auror over the case. It's one of the ones that Xander trained," he said to ease her sneer. "See if any of them are in there or if you can see where they went to."
 

She patted him on the arm. "I'll be a good second-in-command for you, daddy. Is Denver going?"
 

"No, I need him to go to the bank for me. Professor Snape is taking him. Then I need him to pick me up some clothes that fit."
 

"You can borrow mine," Xander called down from upstairs.
 

"Thank you," Draco called back. "But I'd look horrible."
 

"Daddy, you're going to get huge. You won't be able to help it," she reminded him. He laughed. "Seriously. What about haircuts and the like?"
 

"I haven't figured that out yet," he admitted. "I'll be able to go for a bit, but not for long."
 

Xander came down the stairs. "You and Tara are built about the same. We can probably get some extras from her and have someone do alterations. Or get some of mine and do alterations. Ginny did a bunch of her own as she grew." He smiled at Simone. "You can't tell anyone and you have to keep Iggy from telling anyone."
 

"I'll try," she promised. "Do you think they'll attack daddy for this?"
 

"I think a lot of parents would get really pissed at Dumbledore and start taking their kids home," Xander told her. "Or they'll push to have him expelled and Draco to be forced out." She nodded. "So let's keep this quiet for as long as we can."
 

"That should be about two weeks," Draco snorted.
 

"Maybe, but the longer we can the better off we'll be." Xander patted Simone on the head. "We don't want the pissed hordes of mothers to come here and drag him out onto the lawn to yell at him for taking this away from them."
 

"They'd do that?" Draco asked.
 

"Some of them," Xander agreed. "Think about Willow and Molly."
 

"Can you tell them for me?" Draco asked.
 

Xander sighed. "Sure, why not. I told you Ginny was pregnant, I can tell her you are."
 

"It seems fitting," Simone agreed with a grin.
 

Xander pulled on a robe and waved. "I'll be back in a few minutes. Ministry of Magic," he called out as he stepped into the fire. He disappeared.
 

Draco pulled his daughter closer and gave her a hug. "Thank you for understanding."
 

"I don't understand, but I know that you love kids as much as Uncle Xander so I'm okay with it." He smiled at her. "So, girl or boy?"
 

"I won't know for another two months," he told her. "What would you like?"
 

"We need more boys. Denver's lonely."
 

"I'll do my best," he agreed with a smile.
 

***
 

Xander stepped into Arthur's office and waved a hand at the held up paper and the open mouth. "It's got a few things wrong." He closed and locked the door, shielding them from eavesdropping. "It's not some woman, it's him."
 

"What?" Arthur asked, coming out of his chair. "He's what?"
 

"He wanted another one," Xander explained. "So he used that gryphon spell on himself. That was well before his house blew up though."
 

"Was he this way when we all got together for the game?" Xander nodded. "How far?"
 

"Three months."
 

"Merlin," Arthur asked, sitting back down. "Is he all right?"
 

"Up until now. The press is probably going to get him killed though. So he asked if I'd tell Ginny and you guys."
 

"It does seem fitting considering you told him about Ginny." He frowned. "Is he at your house?"
 

"Oh, yeah. We're hiding him right now. We've had Tara's doctor in to look at him. He's fine so far and we've got a long list of things he'll be needing vitamin-wise." He looked around the office, smiling at the bobblehead dolls he had given his father-in-law the year before he and George had married. "Want to tell mom?"
 

"No, son, I'm not going there. I'm going to be right here when you tell both women. It's safer that way."
 

"Ah, dad," he complained. Someone knocked on the door and Xander opened it, letting Percy in. "It's not what you think."
 

"It had better not be. I just heard from Ginny, she asked if I could hold the git while she hit him."
 

"Probably not a good idea considering he's three months along," Xander told him. Percy stared at him. "Yeah, you heard right. It's him. He wanted it that badly."
 

"Oh, dear Merlin," Percy sighed, rubbing his chest.
 

"Sit," Arthur said quickly, using his wand to move a chair over. "Xander, why don't you go tell Molly while I get him calmed down?"
 

"Since when has Percy been having chest pains?" Xander demanded. "They're dangerous! He's got to go to the hospital now! A good one!"
 

"I'll get him there," Arthur soothed, patting Xander a bit. "Go get Molly and Ginny, tell them both and then tell them to meet us at St. Mungo's." Xander nodded, disappearing from the office. "Come on, Perce, let's get you looked over."
 

"How ever did he do that?" Percy asked.
 

"Gryphon spell. That's what happened with George and Iggy." He got his son up and walking, taking him to the floo. He waved off the help from a security guard. "Just a bit of a shock, we're going to get him checked out." He sent his son on first and headed after him.
 

***
 

Xander landed in the burrow and held up a hand. "Sit and listen," he ordered. Molly glared at him. "Just listen before you attack me. Just the messenger really." He pointed at the paper. "It's wrong. It's Draco, not some girl." Ginny's mouth fell open. "He wanted another one so bad that he went ahead with it."
 

Molly's lips thinned out. "Without telling us?"
 

"He's only three months along," Ginny said quietly. "He told me we went to talk about doing it, not that he was having it done. Three months or so?" Xander nodded. "How is he?"
 

"We told the kids today. Percy's having a heart attack. Arthur's shocked and handling that problem. He's at our house."
 

"Oh, Percy," Molly said, heading for the fireplace. "Poor Percy. He's got too much stress right now." She disappeared.
 

Ginny held out a hand as she stood up. "Can you send us there?"
 

"The closest I can get is the Leaky Cauldron," he offered. She shrugged. "You're sure?"
 

"We're out of floo powder, mum took the last." She blinked as they teleported away to the Leaky Cauldron. She went for the floo fireplace while Xander grabbed a quick butterbeer before following.
 

"Long day?" Tom asked.
 

"Very long day. Percy's just had a bad shock." He downed the butterbeer and put down the money on the bar. "I'll probably be back later," he sighed, then went over to the fireplace to send himself on. He walked out of the fireplace at St. Mungo's and heard everyone yelling at once. "Shut up!" he yelled. Arthur smiled at him. "No discussing Draco outside of the family. Think about the press and the parents." He sighed. "How's Percy?"
 

"The doctor thinks he's delusional," the nurse told him. "Is there really a gryphon spell for that?"
 

Xander nodded. "It's why I have a son." He kissed Ginny on the cheek. "They moved it into her." He pointed. "Want me to explain it to the guy?"
 

"No, Dr. Latimer came running when he heard it was your family," the nurse said. She smiled at the family. "I'm not telling anybody, no one would believe me anyway." She walked away, going to check on their son for them.
 

Molly looked at Xander. "Don't you have a class about now?" she asked. Xander nodded. "Then why are you here, dear?"
 

"Damage control," he told her. He smiled. "Did you want to come talk to your son-in-law? He's at my place."
 

"We'll be up tonight," Ginny told him. "Can you take dinner in your rooms?"
 

"Sure. The kids know, we told them this morning. Simone went off and Denver about hit him."
 

"There's a thought," Molly said.
 

Xander shrugged. "Molly, he wanted one more than he loves Ginny. Don't be too hard on the guy, his life's presently falling apart."
 

"Oh, I won't yell," she promised.
 

The obstetrician walked out, smiling at Xander. "How are my patients?"
 

"Draco's calm, Tara's not. She's having cleaning fits during lectures. Washed her chalkboard earlier."
 

"Perfectly normal then," he said happily. "Did you need me to come look at him?"
 

"No, this is our family." He waved a hand at the clan. "This is actually George's family and this one is Draco's all-but wife," he said, pointing at Ginny.
 

"Ah. He talked about you a bit when he was explaining this to me," Dr. Latimer told her. "You're quite high in his thoughts." He smiled at Xander. "Then why don't you go back and send on George since he's probably got some free time and I heard you say you're supposed to be in class."
 

"Sure," Xander agreed, disappearing from right there.
 

"That's a trick I want to learn," Ginny grumped. "I can't teleport." She sat down and looked at the doctor. "So, how is he?"
 

"Quite well. Perfectly on track and all that. I'm keeping a very close eye on him." She nodded. "Once he gives me his consent I can talk to you in more detail. Would you like to come with me when I examine him next month?"
 

"Sure," she said with a smile. "If mum doesn't kill him." She looked at her mother, it was still looking close.
 

***
 

Xander appeared in the shop and whistled over the noise. Everyone looked at him. "Fred and George are going to have to close for a few hours," he announced. "There's been a bit of a family emergency." The kids made their final decisions and walked up, each one asking how long it was going to be. Fred handled it all by saying 'not more than two or three hours' to each one of them. Then he glared at Xander. "I got to tell everyone this morning," he sighed. "Percy's having a heart attack at St. Mungo's." Both twins sped past him, heading to the fireplace. "Watch out for your mother," he called after them. Then he popped directly to his classroom. "Sorry I'm late," he announced as he walked in to teach his third years. "Family emergency. My brother-in-law is presently having a heart attack over some family news." He took roll quickly and started into the planned lecture for the day, the back of his mind worrying about his bestest buddy. When he was done, he went to find Melvin and take him to the hospital too. Percy was in a room and Xander managed to get everyone out for a few minutes so Melvin could talk to his father. He got the firing squad in the halls. He answered all their questions as well as he could, and as quietly as he could, but ended up inviting everyone over for dinner tonight. The he went to arrange that and collapse. It had been one hell of a day.
 

***
 

Draco flopped down onto the couch beside Xander, patting his full stomach. "That was excellent. Did Simone tell you, I sent the house elves to the storage building too." Xander waved a hand. "You all right?"
 

"Just a little stressed," he said lightly. "Percy will hopefully be fine."
 

"He was about to have one anyway, you were just the last straw," Arthur assured him as he came over to join them. "He'll be fine and will be switched areas of work."
 

"But he loves the nerds," Ginny argued. "I think his assistant is going to get more of a role in the department." She flopped down next to Draco, patting his stomach. "Are you happy?"
 

"Very." He looked at her. "Are you upset?"
 

"Some since you didn't tell me." She punched him on the arm. "But not that much." She kissed him on the cheek. "You don't glow like I did though," she teased.
 

"It's Xander's clothes, they don't fit me right," he assured her. "Once I'm over this morning sickness part and back into some clothes of my own, I'll look just as fabulous as you did." He smiled as his children walked in with Iggy and Melvin. "How are you four tonight?"
 

"Better now that we know Uncle Percy won't die," Simone said dryly. She glared at Xander. "Learn how to break news more gently, Uncle Xander. I don't want you to kill my father some day."
 

"Yay," he said, pointing. "Go do your homework."
 

"Yes, sir," she sighed, going to do as she was ordered. His house, his rules had been told to her once too often for her to argue.
 

Draco smiled at him. "Has she been a hellion again?"
 

"No. And she's not allowed to become one either. I'm not putting up with it." He looked over at Ravena, who was walking in circles screaming her head off. "Ravena, dear, why are you doing that?" he asked calmly. She sat down and cried. "Never mind. Sorry!"
 

George slid into Xander's lap. "Making you rethink having another one?"
 

"Oh, yeah, but we both have days like that." He patted George on the butt. "Remember the first night we spent with Iggy?" His mate laughed. "I had a second thought that night."
 

"Me too," George assured him, leaning down to give him a kiss.
 

Tara walked in and smiled, waving at everyone. "I heard it was a party and the baby wanted to join in."
 

"Yours and mine both," Draco told her. She squealed and came running over to hug him, patting him on the stomach. "Thank you for taking it so well."
 

"It's wonderful. You adore your children and it shows." She smiled at Ginny. "Aren't you happy for him?"
 

"Very," she agreed. "I'm just wondering how he's going to take care of it without a house."
 

"The insurance company has already sent someone to beg and plead for me to not make them pay me the full amount of the policy," Draco told her. He looked over as the door opened and Dumbledore walked in too. "Bad news?" he asked.
 

"Two pieces of news. Xander, you have a visitor on the second floor mezzanine. Draco, they found a founder's body under your house?"
 

Draco nodded. "My great-grandfather stole it from the guardians protecting it. It's the bigger family secret."
 

"Oh. Were you willing to have it buried?"
 

"If it pleases you. I really didn't like having the oddity anyway and did threaten my father with having it buried somewhere with a ornate, expensive, and flowery headstone."
 

Dumbledore smiled. "Excellent. Would around here be all right?"
 

"There's that prophecy," Molly reminded him.
 

"Yes, but this would be the first to come here," he told her. "It's still fine."
 

She nodded and went back to her talk with Tara.
 

Xander raised a hand. "Visitor? Good or bad?"
 

"It's Spike."
 

"Yes!" Xander said, hopping up with renewed energy. "I'll be right back with good news hopefully. RON! Come on! Visitor!" He hurried out the door.
 

Ron came jogging down the stairs. "What visitor?" he asked, pulling on a shirt. Minnie had just puked on him.
 

"Spike's waiting on Xander in the second floor mezzanine," Dumbledore told him. Ron looked clueless. "He's been searching for Buffy and the baby."
 

"Oh. OH!" He ran out of the room, heading up to the mezzanine.
 

Dumbledore smiled. "I always appreciate bringing good news." Molly laughed. "How is Percy?"
 

"Fine. It was a minor one and the doctors have put him on medicine for it. It should help quite a lot."
 

"Good, excellent," he said. He smiled at Draco. "Contrary to Xander's worries, we won't let the horde of angry women pull you outside and hurt you."
 

"Thank you," Draco told him. "May I stay for a bit?"
 

"If they don't mind, this is their section. I'll tell the house elves to bring you some meals." He bowed to everyone and left.
 

"That was very nice of him," Molly sniffled. "Damn these hormones."
 

Draco patted her on the hand. "I understand like I never did before," he told her.

Everyone laughed.
 

***
 

Xander bowled into Spike, giving him a tight, energetic hug. "Tell me you've found at least one of them," he said happily, leaning against the railing.
 

Spike kicked at the cane. "You hurt again?"
 

"Permanently," Xander agreed. "So, give already!"
 

"Pushy git," Spike said as he pulled out a cigarette and lit it. He exhaled as Ron came running up. "Got good and bad news. Which one you want first?"
 

"The bad," Ron said immediately.
 

"Bint's gone."
 

"Which bint?" Ron asked, his face falling. He had such high hopes.
 

"Just Buffy and the watcher git. He took her to a demon plane." He took another drag and Ron took the cigarette from him. "Hey!"
 

"Talk. Now," Ron ordered.
 

"Calm down, he'll tell us everything in time," Xander soothed, handing back the cigarette. "He's worried, Spike. Buffy was his."
 

Spike nodded. "She used to be mine, that's why I looked. Watcher git gave her the drugs to make her deliver, delivered them, then took off with her. He gave the baby to another watcher bloke he was blackmailing." Another drag and slow exhale. "Baby's in Prague in an orphanage. Second watcher git died. Buffy and first watcher git left the plane, had someone send them to one of the lesser Hell dimensions to fight."
 

"After just giving birth?" Xander asked. Spike nodded, his eyes telling the whole story. "Any hope?"
 

"Not unless you can find one of the three remaining citizens of that plane who're still alive," Spike told him. "She's gone, mate, best accept that part. The babe, now, it's savable. The place isn't pretty and it's not nice, but it's safe enough until you can get there. Bring proof, they're bloody buggers over there. Tried to get the little bite myself and they wouldn't let me."
 

"Bring some money too, you'll probably need at least one bribe," Xander advised. "I'll call Charlie and Bill while you pack."
 

Ron bowled into Spike and gave him a hug. "Thanks, mate. This means the world to me."
 

"Like I said," Spike said uncomfortably. "She used to be mine. I understand that much." He was let go of and Ron ran off. "Bit emotional."
 

"Giles took her?" Xander asked softly. That part had apparently escaped Ron's notice. Spike nodded. "Did he leave with her?" Spike nodded. "And Ethan can't find him?"
 

"Not a bit, we've looked long and hard for 'im for you," Spike admitted with a smile. He lit a new cigarette. "Wanted a piece of him myself over this."
 

"And to think, Wesley said they mistranslated the prophecy."
 

"Yeah, if the boy got raised by the watcher's he'd get turned into the greatest master ever and kill 'em all," Spike agreed with a grin. "Ethan retranslated it for me." He winked. "So, one's Slayer?"
 

"Yeah," Xander said happily. "I'm training her myself."
 

"Hey, better'n them," Spike agreed. "You won't warp the girl or make her some zombie to take orders." He put out his cigarette. "I'll be goin' back now."
 

"Tell Ethan I owe him," Xander told him quietly, holding out a hand. Spike shook it. "You too, Spike. And I mean it. I owe you both." He walked away. "I'll give you a ten minute head start before I send Murphy." Spike laughed but he left. The phoenix didn't like his kind and kept trying to peck him to death. Xander walked into the tower in the midst of a hugging party. "Let me go Murphy Bill and Charlie," he said when Draco grabbed him for a hug. "Ron'll need help." He got free and headed upstairs to send out messages. "Ron, don't take the twins, we can watch them. Or bring them if necessary." He picked out one of the older phoenix chicks and talked to her, getting her permission, and brought her over to Ron's rooms. "You're taking her," he said. "She'll get messages back to us. Send a picture if you need help." Ron nodded, giving him a hug. "Don't worry. We'll do whatever we have to to help you get the baby back," he whispered. "But you're leaving the twins here, just in case." Ron nodded, wiping off his face. "Take your broom too," Xander ordered gently. He walked away, leaving him to say goodbye to the twins. When Ron came down and handed them over, Molly took them with a smile and a kiss to her son's cheek. Ron took off out the window George had discovered was prefect for flying out of.
 

Xander sighed in relief. A long, strange day.
 

***
 

Charlie looked up as the dragon next to him swatted at something. He accepted the golden phoenix onto his arm, taking the message. He knew this bird. "Want a bit of brekkie?" he asked. Murphy nibbled on his nose but took off again. "Okay then. Thanks." He opened the message as the semi-sedated dragon watched him read. "Well," he said happily. "Hey, Bo, I need a break," he called, heading for his boss waving the letter.
 

***
 

Bill looked up at the screaming noise, frowning at the phoenix bothering a troll. "Leave 'im alone, Murph." The bird landed beside him, holding out his leg so Bill could take the message. "Thank you. Want some water or such?" The bird warbled and hopped over to drink some water. He opened the letter, reading it with a growing smile. "Well," he said with a bright smile. "Finally." He grunted something at the head troll, and got permission to take a few days off. Trolls didn't really care about families, but Bill had about a month of vacation saved up so he couldn't be denied. He reached down and petted the bird. "Thanks for this, Murph. Gonna go back?" Murphy nipped him on the nose. "Tell your daddy I said thanks and I'll go help Ron." Murphy nodded. "Rest all you want. We'll leave together." He went to pack his backpack, all he had with him.
 

***
 

Ron walked into the agency over the orphanage his baby was living in and smiled brightly. "I need to speak to a manager," he said, his translation spell working perfectly. The baby had been put with muggles so he would probably have to beg and plead for a bit. He was shown into a small office and shook the woman's hand. "I'm Ronald Weasley and I called you yesterday?" he told her. She nodded, leaning forward. "I've got the forms you wanted. The police report," he handed that over, "the birth certificates, and the blood tests that prove that the baby's mine."
 

She read them over. "The certificate says girl child," she said, holding it up.
 

"It's not?" Ron asked happily. She shook her head. "The ultrasound couldn't be sure."
 

"You never saw it?"
 

"No, the bloody asshole who took my son and my fiancé didn't do more than deliver the other two and leave them there. He left them on the bed, covered in ick, and screaming their bloody heads off."
 

She sighed. "We will have to test the baby to make sure it is yours."
 

Ron stood up. "Can I at least see him? Hold him for a bit?"
 

"That I can do," she agreed. She smiled at him. "This is enough for me, but my superiors might not be convinced. There's bad blood between our countries right now." The door slammed open and she screamed.
 

"Bill, Charlie!" Ron said happily, walking over to hug them. "Sorry, these are my brothers. They're just as worried as I have been."
 

"Sorry," Bill said. "The little guy out there didn't want to let us in." He looked down at her. "Would it help if we did something more?"
 

She shrugged. "I'll have to talk to my boss." She filed the paperwork. "Did you have copies?"
 

"Those are the copies," Ron told her. "The originals are with my mother at home."
 

She nodded. "Very wise. I will deliver this to my superior tomorrow morning, when he comes in. Right now, we can go look at boy child." She stood up and led the way out of the office. She stopped Bill. "Bribes are not necessary," she assured him. "We are not allowed to take them and they have been cracking down."
 

"I'll keep that in mind, but we'll do whatever we have to do so Ron gets his son back."
 

She nodded. "I understand. If it were me, I would have been frantic too. Was this some sort of revenge?"
 

"We think so. His fiancé was a powerful woman," Charlie told her, climbing into the back seat of the car with Ron. "Some people really didn't want her to retire but she did, and when she got pregnant it only got worse."
 

Ron nodded grimly. "Those bastards are still going to pay," he vowed.
 

Bill turned and patted him on the arm. "They've already paid." Ron shook his head. "Didn't most of them try to attack the school and run into Xander?" Ron smiled and nodded, looking like he was feeling better.
 

"Who is this Xander?"
 

"Our brother-in-law," Bill told her. "Quite an excellent fighter. Even with his current injuries. Got burned last time and had to have a kneecap replaced, but he protected Ron and the remaining twins."
 

"He does sound powerful. What happened to burn him?"
 

"Lightening storm," Charlie told her.
 

"Ah. An act of God." She nodded and turned the car onto another street. "This orphanage is one of our best."
 

"I'm sure it is," Ron said calmly, his knees jiggling with tension. Charlie put a hand on his knee and gave him a smile. "Thank you for coming up."
 

"Where else would we be?" Charlie asked him. "I'm sure that everyone else would have come if they could have."
 

"You have a large family?"
 

"I have an *immense* family," Ron told her. "There's seven of us in the immediate family alone. Plus all the kids."
 

"We're up to what now? Six, seven kids?"
 

"Um, Ginny has four counting Denver. Percy has two, and is healing well from his heart attack as well."
 

"Hold on, heart attack?" Bill asked. He and Charlie shared a look. They needed to be closer to home to keep up with the news. "Since when?" Bill asked.
 

"Since yesterday. Draco came home with some...news that wasn't very pleasing."
 

"I saw that in the Prophet," Charlie said grimly. Ron leaned over and whispered in his ear. "Really?" he asked dryly. Ron nodded.
 

Bill looked at them. "Do share?"
 

"Remember how Iggy came to be?" Ron asked. Bill nodded. "Draco did that because he wanted another one. The Prophet got it slightly wrong."
 

"Oh. Haven't seen a paper in a bit. Did Ginny or Mum kill him?"
 

"Neither yet," Ron told him. "It's a miracle. Oh, and you forgot Iggy and the new one that Xander and his mate are having."
 

"They're having another one?" Bill asked. Charlie nodded. "You knew and didn't say anything?"
 

"I thought mum would write you," Charlie sighed. "She's a bit on the slow side recently about giving out news."
 

"Well, she's having these hormonal swigs," Ron told them.
 

"Oh, the change of life," the woman said. "I've seen women turned inside out because of that." She turned into a parking lot and stopped the car. "We will be going here. The boy is presently in the back room because he's been having problems." She got out and led the way in, stopping to have a few words with a matron over the children. They were shown to a filthy, dirty back room with bugs and trash lying on the floor. "This is not the best of rooms," she admitted at the horrified gasps. "It is the punishment room. They are not kept here for long."
 

Ron searched and found his son, obvious because he looked just like Gwen. He picked him up and held him, cooing at him. The baby cried but settled down after a few moments. Ron looked around, grimacing. "This place is filthy."
 

"They do the best they can," she told him.
 

"And their best doesn't include a broom? Or some water and a mop? The rest looked clean, why not in here? And why was my son in here at six months of age?"
 

She shrugged. "They said he was misbehaving."
 

"What sort of trouble can a child this young get into?" Charlie asked. "He can't even walk yet."
 

Ron sighed. "I can fight that battle later," he told his brothers. "I just want my son. Corruption and the good fight later."
 

Bill patted him on the back. "I understand, Ron."
 

"You'll have to leave him here..." she started.
 

"Bet me," Ron told her. "Otherwise I will have the international press here within a day."
 

She laughed. "And you really want to keep that one?"
 

"If he's mine, he's coming home with me one way or another. I'm not leaving him in this bloody hellhole." He looked around, spotting something unusual. He stomped on the little beetle, then picked it up to look at it. "I didn't know these were found outside Britain. I know someone who would love it for their collection." He put it into a bag in his pocket, mentally making a note to phoenix it back with his letter tonight. "What papers do I have to sign? I can have the blood tests run faster than you can."
 

"You act like you know he's yours. Yet you say you never saw him."
 

"You didn't read that paperwork, did you?" he asked her tiredly. "He's got twin sisters and looks just like them. Even has a scar in the same spot as his sister Minnie."
 

"You named one after McGonagall?" Charlie asked.
 

Ron shook his head. "Buffy loved Disney."
 

"Oh." Charlie smirked. "Then what's his name?"
 

"If he were a girl, he'd be a Ramona." He looked at his son, holding him out. "What's your name, little bit?"
 

"There's a derivative," Charlie suggested. "Raymond."
 

"There's always Bill," Bill suggested.
 

Ron grinned at him. "You've tried that with every boy in the family. Try it with Draco and Xander next," he encouraged. "Raymond? Maybe for a middle name." He shrugged and hugged his son close again. "It doesn't matter, I can figure that out tomorrow." He noticed another kid lying in the dirty mess and frowned, handing his son off to his brothers so he could pick that one up. "My, you're small," he said, smiling at it. The baby sniffled and wailed some more. "And you need a diaper change too." He looked at the keeper who had followed them in. "He needs changed."
 

"It's not time yet."
 

"You're going to let him suffer this way?" Ron asked.
 

"They're low on money," the social worker told Ron. "They do what they have to so they have some diapers for all."
 

Charlie snorted. "That would be while the Bishop over their church drives a Mercedes and eats out every day?" The keeper smiled and nodded. "Then you need to oust them, ducks, before it becomes critical." He took the second baby to look at. "You look like Xander."
 

"A lot like Xander," Ron agreed. "Even's got his nose." He frowned, looking at his brothers. "You don't think...."
 

"Anything is possible," Bill reminded him. He handed back Ron's son. "What now?"
 

"I want to get someone in to look at them both," Ron decided. Both brothers look at him. "With what Xander is?" Both brothers nodded.
 

"What is this Xander? You act like he's not human."
 

Ron shook his head. "He's human but he's special." She frowned. "He's got some...extra things about him."
 

"Ah. He's one of those fabled people," she sneered. "And you believe this?"
 

"He saved my life with it," Ron told her. "Saved my whole family recently by taking on people who're hurting us." He shrugged. "We don't know if Xander has any family though so..." He looked over as a magical creature walked in, frowning at them. "Hello," he said, turning off his translator. "Local Ministry?" The man nodded. "Please tell me you can help us."
 

"I've been told about you, Mr. Weasley," he said with a smile. He pulled the social worker and keeper away, talking to them quietly. He came back a moment later. "You can have them both with you until the blood work is done on your son and the adoption papers are done on the other." He walked closer, running a finger down the dark haired baby's head. "You are just like one of those that have recently fought."
 

"Xander's our brother-in-law," Bill told him. "Will that hurt us?"
 

"No, the local born that we have working for us is quite amused by his tactics sometimes. He said that I'd find someone here who could use the help. You'll be able to take them both in a few days." He stepped closer. "Sometimes bribes help, no matter what they say."
 

"And we're more than prepared to pay." Bill patted himself down. "Must have left it at the hotel."
 

"That would be fine. I'll show up tonight with the papers. Did you bring copies of those forms?" Ron nodded. "Do you have extra copies?"
 

"I've got three sets of everything and five of the report saying that they were stolen," Ron told him. "You really can help us?"
 

"As much as I can. Having these little guys in the church's custody is quite a bad thing." He looked at the keeper. "Don't be too hard on her, they've just cut their budget again."
 

"Then someone needs to fix that," Ron told him, waving a hand around. "Surely they can get cleaning supplies for this part too." The Ministry official nodded.
 

"Which department are you with?" Charlie asked.
 

"Mysteries," he said with a bright smile. "Very astute of you." He winked. "I'll be along tonight to do paperwork with you three." He turned and said something to the social worker and the keeper. They nodded and got out of the three brother's ways, letting them leave with the kids.
 

***
 

Later that night, Ron sent off the phoenix to his mum with the message and a request to have a born that could be trusted in to look over that second child, plus the half-alive bug to be changed back and questioned. He flopped back onto the lumpy bed with a sigh of relief.
 

"One or two more days," Bill told him. Someone knocked on the door and he got up to answer it, frowning at the police on the other side. "What did you need?" he asked, staying respectful.
 

"We were told there were illegal children here, taken from an orphanage."
 

Ron rolled off the bed, guarding the children. "One of them's mine. He was stolen from me back at home, along with my fiancé." He pulled out the paperwork they had signed and shoved it at them. "There's no kidnaping here."
 

The cops came in and the one in charge read the papers, then the ones Ron showed him from back at home. He finally looked at the children, especially the dark haired one. "The Bishop said that one's not to be adopted."
 

Someone tapped on the door and Bill opened it, smiling when he saw who was standing on the other side. "Xander?" The guy winked, showing that it wasn't. Whomever it was, was probably there to help them so it was all right. He walked in and looked at the child, then opened his wallet to show off a picture. "This is my son, stolen from me last month. You have uncovered a child-theft operation."
 

"But they're in an orphanage," Charlie said, not getting the clue. "Why would they be there."
 

"Obviously someone in the chain died," the fake-Xander told him. He smiled reassuringly at the officers. "I have the proper paperwork from your superiors and will bring them in tomorrow if you want." The head cop nodded and handed over a card. "We will be there at ten." The cops left, but left someone at the hotel, just in case.
 

The fake Xander took off the bracelet he was wearing, showing himself to be Wesley Wyhndam-Price. "Sorry I was so late," he said with a smile. He handed over a small envelope. "This is what we know about this child. A magical disturbance was found. We think it's Xander from another realm." Someone tapped on the door so he put back on the bracelet, becoming Xander again.
 

Bill opened the door, accepting their room service order from the maid. He tipped her greatly and she jogged away to show it off. "She'll give us information if we need it," he said with a shrug. "Wouldn't be the first time I've found a maid to be helpful."
 

"Especially if they're willing to go run out for things for a small fee," Charlie agreed. "Do we have enough diapers?"
 

"Hopefully. I bought the biggest pack I could." Ron sat down and ripped open the letter, reading the incident report. "Can you translate?"
 

Wesley took off the bracelet and sat down next to him. "What it says is that one of our seers, very reliable and the like, saw a portal opening near here. On the banks of one of the rivers. She saw a baby coming through and the portal closing. Then she saw a bright flash, which she thinks means that the baby's home dimension was destroyed. Someone sent this one out of harm's way." He patted the baby gently. "The seer, who knows Xander, thought that it might be an infant Xander from there, or the child of his line."
 

"So it could be his kid, or it could be him?" Charlie asked. Ron nodded. "And who're you?"
 

"He's the new head over the Watcher's Council. He's fixing the bollicks that they created when all this started."
 

"And a few budgetary issues," Wesley added with a smile. "What did Spike tell you? Did he have any information about Giles?"
 

"It was *her* watcher?" Ron asked. "That blasted arsehole who left Tara with Willow?" Wesley nodded. "Oh, I so want to meet up with him." Bill patted him on the back with one hand, holding out a plate with the other. "Thanks. Spike said that he had taken her to a demon plane as soon as he dropped the baby off." He swallowed. "Xander thinks she's dead. So did Spike." He put the plate down and picked up his son. "You're so special because they saved you." He looked at Wesley. "Will you leave him alone?"
 

"We'd be more than happy to leave him alone," Wesley agreed. "We will have to discuss Minnie's training though."
 

"Bet me," Ron told him. "Xander's training her."
 

"Hopefully he'll teach her how to call for help when he's outnumbered," Charlie said dryly. Ron kicked at him. "What? Xander hasn't learned that lesson."
 

"He has now," Ron told him. "That cane is permanent. He's refused more treatment to allow him to get rid of it."
 

"He loves George that much?" Bill asked. Ron nodded. "Wow. I'd say I want that for myself, but I'd never fit her into my pack."
 

Ron snorted. "How do you fit anything into your pack, Bill?"
 

"Barely," he admitted with a grin. "I only get one week's worth of clothes for six months worth of work."
 

"Eww," Charlie said, shaking his head. "I can't say my job has many things, but at least I get regular laundry service."
 

"Yeah, but you nearly get eaten every day," Bill teased. Charlie threw a pillow at his head. "Truth hurt?"
 

"I'm working in the medical section now. Only drugged dragons for me."
 

"Ooh, a promotion," Ron teased. "Gonna get a girl with it before mum sends another of your old girlfriends out?"
 

"Did Percy do that?" Charlie asked. Ron shrugged. "Bu the knew?"
 

"Apparently." The mini-Xander started to cry so Ron picked him up and cuddled him. "Can someone make a bottle?" Ron looked at their helper again. "I don't care if Minnie's the suckiest chosen one in the history of chosen kind. Xander's training her."
 

"Then I'll send on some books," Wesley said simply as he stood up. "The real him will be here tomorrow." He put back on the bracelet and left the room as Xander.
 

Charlie snatched the incident report form, reading over it. Then he whistled. "Gee, maybe we need the phoenix back to send this on too."
 

"He'll be here tomorrow," Ron said happily. Xander always stuck up for him, he'd do it for this baby too. Hopefully. If he wasn't too stressed out by the things going on at home and hadn't snapped from it.
 

***
 

Xander walked into the police station and pointed with his cane. "I'm with them. They have my son." He was shown back to the office, the officer tapping gently on the door. "Sorry. Had a small problem this morning." He took the dark haired baby and looked it over, then sniffed it. "Someone washed you in smelly soap," he told him.
 

"It's all the hotel had," Ron said with a grin. This was the real Xander, he looked too tired to be anything but. "Want the chair?"
 

"Nah, I can stand," he said, leaning against the wall. "So, what's the holdup? Demanding a bribe, needing more forms filled out, religious zealots?"
 

The cop spluttered. "We do not take bribes!" he said forcefully.
 

"Great, but what about everyone else?" Xander asked. The cop shook his head and muttered something. "We're Brits, we want to do this in the least amount of time so we can get back to our jobs. What else did you expect?"
 

"You don't sound British."
 

"I'm a naturalized citizen," Xander told him, showing off his driver's license. "See?"
 

"Oh." The cop made a note on his form. "Your son was stolen also?" Xander nodded. "Do you have any forms for him?" Xander dug into his back pocket and pulled out the forms the Minister of Magic had allowed Arthur to forge. "Thank you," he said as he accepted them, looking them over. "These all look in order. We will have to do bloodwork of course."
 

"Fine, how soon can it be done and how long will it take?" Ron asked. The police officer looked at him. "I've got fifty students who're slacking off right now, and they're supposed to have a test later this week," Ron told him. "Next hour, I've got forty more. The sooner I can get back to torturing them the better off I'll be."
 

The cop laughed. "At least you're honest." He stood up. "We can pull the bloodwork here and do it today. With any luck, we will be able to sign your forms this afternoon."
 

Ron sighed in relief. He knew this one was his, and now they had to prove it. "Did I include the girls' bloodwork?"
 

"Yes, it is in there too." He led the way down to the labs, letting one of the coroner's assistants take blood. Then they went back to wait. By the time the lab technician came up, Ron was ready to get up and pace.
 

She walked in and closed the door. "There was a small problem on the test," she announced. Ron stared at her, mouth open to retort anything. "The little blond one is related to him," she pointed at Xander.
 

"Could you have switched the tests?" the cop asked.
 

The lab tech nodded. "It is possible, but the other didn't match either of you."
 

"It had to!" Ron shouted. "She didn't sleep with anyone else. I'd have known, we were living together and never went out."
 

She shrugged. "We can rerun both tests, just to make sure. But I also sent over to the orphanage for bloodwork on any children of the right age. Two came up as matches," she said with a shrug, pointing at Xander. "Again to him."
 

Xander sighed. "Okay, this sucks." He stood up. "Can you get those children here and do the bloodwork on all of us again?" She nodded. "How long will that take?"
 

"Twenty minutes for them to get here, and another thirty to do a sweep." She said something in a different language to the chief, not expecting them to be able to understand it with their spells. He sighed and rolled his eyes.
 

"What do you mean they're selling children?" Ron asked hotly.
 

"Temper," Bill cautioned.
 

"Bite me," Ron told him. He looked at the tech. "Can we figure this out, and see if my son is among them?" She nodded. "How long will that take?"
 

"Another week. The Vatican is sending up someone to straighten out that orphanage and their boss," she said with a twinkle in her eyes. "We will rerun the ones we have and we'll do the others as soon as they get here." Everyone followed her back to the lab, Xander muttering something under his breath. "I'm sorry," she told him.
 

"I'm expecting another one at home," he explained. "The longer this goes on, the harder it gets to stay."
 

She nodded. "I understand. We are doing the best we can." She sat down and watched as each vial of blood was drawn, marking each one personally to weed out mixing them up. Next, she checked the test dates, frowning. "No wonder, these are old." She tossed them away and went to get fresh ones from the supply closet. When she came back, all the vials were laid out neatly for her and everyone was waiting expectantly as six children were carried in to be tested too. She heard the gasp and smiled. "Yes, he does look like you."
 

"He has his mother's nose," Ron said, starting to tear up. "Maybe I was wrong."
 

Charlie gave him a hug while Bill took both children, holding them while the testing was done. "How did these get there?" Charlie asked the keeper who came with them.
 

"They were dropped off on the doorstep by people who found them lying around," the keeper said with a shrug. "No one knows where they came from. They came in during a thunderstorm."
 

Xander had a sinking feeling he knew what was going on. He looked at Bill and Charlie, and they had the same look. So he pulled Ron away to talk to him. "What did that report say?" he asked quietly.
 

"Something about a portal and..." Ron's face lit up. "You think?"
 

"I'm pretty sure actually. The little me. The little Buffy. The little Tara. There's been a breach between realities and we're dealing with it."
 

"Well, they can't have my son or her," Ron decided.
 

Xander smiled. "We'll do what we can," he assured him. He didn't want to give up the little him either. He walked back over as the test results started to come back. "Anything conclusive this time?" he asked casually.
 

"Yes. The dark haired one is you," she said, then shook her head. "Yours I meant." She pointed at the one Ron was sure was his. "He's his, and the other is a close match, so possibly a cousin?" Ron shrugged. "There's that many of you?"
 

"Dad's mum had like five or six, but we never really get together these days. I could send a message home."
 

"Do so," the cop suggested.
 

"Send a message to your dad," Xander suggested. He handed over a small cellphone looking device. "Dad sent that for just such an emergency."
 

Ron grinned. "Wouldn't have sent it any other place, mate." He walked out to go send a message. Too bad they were in with the muggles. He walked outside and opened up the phone, expecting a picture, instead he heard a voice. "Oi, dad, ran into a small problem." He looked back at the building. "Five small problems." He spilled the whole story, speaking in english so no one would understand him.
 

Back inside, Xander was holding the mini him. There were two mini-hims and he was confused. Was he a twin there? Or was this second one from somewhere else? And where was the mini-Willow? Someone came running in with a wailing and screaming child, the mini-Willow it looked like. The door opened and admitted a very well dressed man, but so obviously a bureaucrat. "Yes?" he asked him. "Can you help sort this mess out?"
 

"No, not yet." He smiled at the children, then at the cop. "Which are leaving our beautiful city?"
 

Ron walked back in, the cellphone/floo device in his pocket already. "I am with my son, and Xander is with his son." He pointed at the one Xander had continued to hold. Xander nodded that this one was the one.
 

The lab technician raised her hand. "There are two that are his."
 

Xander sighed. "I don't have a clue. I'm sure someone is coming to deal with this." He looked at Ron, who nodded. "One of ours?"
 

"The Minister himself," Ron told him. "Dad put him on immediately."
 

"Minister over what?" the bureaucrat asked.
 

"Over our school," Ron told him. "Xander and I both teach there."
 

"What do you teach?" he asked.
 

"Mythology," Xander told him. Ron looked at him and grimaced. "What? I do."
 

"I know you do, but never let your students hear you say that. They'll get confused."
 

"Hey, just because I got the goth chick this year doesn't mean she's really a vampire. She understands that, I made sure of it." He looked at the bureaucrat again. "Ron teaches spoiled kids how to do practical things, like hunt and deal with darkness when it's dark."
 

"Oh, a practical class?"
 

"In our area," Ron agreed. "We've got a lot of woods around us and a few occasions when it's been necessary to go into them to hunt something down. Best to have the students prepared."
 

"Yes, I guess it is. Where is your school?"
 

"Up by the border," Bill told him. "We all attended, except Xander. He came over to teach from America."
 

"Yay me," Xander said happily. "I'm happy where I'm at."
 

"And you are what to them?"
 

"Brother-in-law."
 

"Ah, you married their sister, no wonder you stick up for each other." He looked at the cop. "Did you feel comfortable giving them the children?"
 

"Definitely." He looked at Xander. "I know someone who went to a similar school, their values are much different than those of an urban area."
 

"Including lying?" the bureaucrat asked.
 

Xander snorted. "Prove it." The man looked at him with a predatory smile. "I can prove who and what I am. I can also prove everything I've said today. You can believe whatever you want, but I'm not lying."
 

"Who would teach mythology at such an out-of-the-way school?"
 

"Someone who wanted them to have a well-rounded education," Xander explained. "Can you think of a better way to introduce ethics lectures to twelve and thirteen year olds?"
 

"Oh." The bureaucrat looked at the others. "And you stand beside him?"
 

"We do," Charlie agreed. "My own mythology class was greatly lacking in what Xander brings to the subject. Including humor." He looked at Ron. "Do you tell bad jokes to your kids too?"
 

"Sometimes," Ron agreed. He handed off his son, then stretched. "I just want this year to be over with. It's been so long already."
 

"Next comes Christmas," Xander said happily. He had found George the most incredible present. "No more crises until the new year."
 

"Yes, please," Bill agreed dryly. "Do you think you can keep it down, Xander?"
 

"Hey, I haven't been in trouble since I got hit with lightening," Xander pointed out. "Draco was the one who got his house blown up."
 

"Who would blow up his house?"
 

"A business associate who wanted him dead," Xander told him. The bureaucrat's eyes went very wide and Xander realized what he had inferred. Or maybe he had seen the Godfather too many times. One of the two. He shrugged and smiled. "It's a dirty thing, business."
 

The bureaucrat backed away from them. "Give them whatever and whomever they want," he ordered. He left them alone.
 

"You are mafia?" the cop asked.
 

"No, wiccans," Xander told him. "Not quite as painful when you deal with us." The cop laughed. "So, can we hurry this up any further?"
 

Ron looked over as the door opened, admitting the current Minister of Magic in the United Kingdom, and apparently his counterpart locally. He smiled. "This is odd," he said in greeting. "But this is my son," he said, showing him off.
 

"And the rest of these are mini-uses," Xander finished. The muggles were stunned and everything was discussed quickly, making the decision to turn the mini-scoobies over to the local Ministry to send them back. The second mini-Xander, the one with the different spectral resonance, was left with him. Finally, everyone was allowed to leave and the Mysteries department came rushing in to obliviate everyone and fill out forms for them. They even got a promise of help if the forms went wrong and someone came to accuse them of kidnaping the kids. The local Ministry official thanked them for their help and took them to a place where they could leave without being noticed. She smiled at the phoenix who came down to help Xander as soon as he stepped out into the open, they were almost unseen in her country. She also sighed in relief when they left. She had heard of Xander Harris-Weasley and that situation could have gotten quite ugly. The man who took down the Ministry twice was not to be trifled with when he wanted something. He seemed so nice though.
 

***
 

Xander landed in front of his father-in-law's desk, holding the baby, Murphy landing on the chair behind him. "They're on their way back," he said, holding up the little guy. "This is a mini-me of some sort. No one's quite sure why he's here." Arthur held out his arms so Xander handed him over. "Do I have some sort of bad rep among the other countries? The local Minister of Magic there looked like she was scared of me."
 

"Maybe," Arthur said with a smile. "You did singlehandedly, it seemed, take down the Ministry here twice when it was necessary."
 

"Hey, one of those I only exposed. You guys took down." He slumped a little bit. "Guess I should send her a really nice thank you letter instead of just a card."
 

"Yes, you probably should," Arthur agreed, handing the little guy back. "What's his name?"
 

"I don't know yet. I was going to take him to the colony and have him looked over. It's kinda strange that he showed up just before Ron went over there, don't you think?"
 

"Very. What if he's going to have to leave?"
 

"Not a clue," Xander admitted. He stood up. "Better go do that. Ron, Charlie, and Bill are flying back. They should be back by tonight so come up for dinner." He waved the baby's hand for him and left, teleporting away again. All the other family news could wait, Murphy would be sending out messages all day anyway. He landed in front of the colony, frowning when he was glared at. "What?"
 

"Get that unholy creature out of here," Fredericka demanded.
 

"Okay, but only if you explain," Xander said calmly. He handed the baby to one of the borns standing around. "Don't hurt him. We just found him in an orphanage." The born nodded and took the baby outside, leaving him out there with the guardian. "Will he be okay?"
 

"As far as I know," the born said. "But the elder's right, he stinks of the forbidden magics."
 

"All we know so far is that he's not from around here and he's my family, or me, one of the two."
 

Fredericka leaned down, getting into Xander's face. "He is unholy, you must get rid of him."
 

"You know if he's actually me from somewhere else it's not going to happen." She sat back up and he crossed his arms. "If you want to look him over and tell me exactly why he's here, or what forbidden magics are on him, I'd be more than happy to have them removed or whatever. All I know is that he came through a portal, was dropped off here, just as my brother-in-law was about to pick up his son."
 

"They found the boy?" Bill asked as he walked in. He sniffed a few times. "What is that stench?"
 

"Unless it's me, it's probably the baby me. See, we found an infant me in Prague."
 

"Prague," Bill the gryphon said, burrowing around in his nest, and coming up with a large tablet. "Ah, here it is. Magical convergence a few weeks back. Visions of a baby falling." He looked at Xander, who was nodding. "You saw it?"
 

"No, the Watchers told us."
 

"Oh. You're friends with the new person?"
 

"Wesley? Yeah, he used to fight with Buffy." Xander shifted his weight and recrossed his arms. "But I brought the baby here to be looked at because even I thought it was odd, and as soon as I got here, Fredericka started to scream and holler at me about him smelling bad."
 

"That was probably it. Go retrieve the baby from outside," he ordered. "I will examine it."
 

"Not in this cave," Fredericka told him.
 

"Hey, there's an open colony cave," Xander said, trying to stop the argument. "Granted, there are also muggles out there right now, but otherwise we can go over there."
 

Bill nodded. "That sounds like an idea. Go out, I will follow." He smiled, waiting until Xander was gone to get back into the fight. Didn't the boy realize that they loved to argue, that it was a species trait?
 

Xander walked out of the opening and found a young girl cooing at the mini-him. "Hi," he said, picking the baby up. He nodded at the guardian, who looked a little thin today. "We're going next door." The girl ran away when the guardian blinked out completely, dragging her mother back. "Don't worry, it's a test of a new holographic guardian/watcher program. It's a remote sensing and monitoring unit. This little guy was our test," he told the mother. She smiled and wiggled her fingers at the baby. "The program did really well, it informed us right away when the baby was dropped off and monitored it completely, even telling us when it had dirtied it's diaper." He smiled and walked away, heading for the other portal. He found it easily, it was open. So he walked in and closed it behind him before anyone could walk through. He found a muggle Druid wandering around and sighed. "Listen," he told her.
 

"Oh, what a cute child from hell," she said, walking over to peer down at it. "You're marked as a sacrifice." She looked up at Xander. "Did you do that?"
 

"No, I rescued him from the people who did that," he told her. "What are you doing in here?"
 

"We're allowed. We do one ritual every year in here. The big fluffy creatures told us we could."
 

"Very true," Bill said as he walked in. "But for right now, we need your expertise. How is this baby marked and can you tell by whom?" He settled himself down and waited while she worked.
 

"I didn't think there were any true druids left," Xander said, making it curious instead of demanding.
 

"A few families have kept it as much as they could. We've lost some knowledge but not all of it." She wiped the baby's face with some water from her flask, then stepped back. "This baby was conceived to be sacrificed. He's not from here either."
 

"That part we knew," Xander told her. "Can you tell a tradition? Maybe a caster?"
 

"Tradition isn't hard, it's a chaos tradition, but very old. Almost as old as my faith, and nearly as forgotten. The who is a bit more difficult. All I'm getting is female and high magics to conceive." She looked at Xander. "It's from you, but the you from wherever."
 

"That's what I figured." He pulled out something he always carried with him. "Is this part of who did it? Any part of who did it?"
 

She examined it, then smiled. "Yes, one of the women on it did it, the purer feeling one, and the other one sent him away." She handed it back. "You know these people?"
 

"Only the ones from here. They're my best friends." He held the baby out to Bill, who took it gently in his front paws. "What am I supposed to do now?"
 

"Now, we purify the baby of this taint. Fredericka was right, the baby does stink of bad magic. After we purify, hopefully the child will still be fine."
 

"What do you mean hopefully? Is it dangerous?"
 

"No, but the baby's got a crazy aura. It's magic is tied into the sacrifice and it could disturb the baby's energies, making it really sick."
 

"Okay, so should I get Tara, Willow, Snape, Dumbledore, or just George so I can hold his hand?" Xander asked. Bill laughed. "What?" he asked, sounding hurt. "I've never run into this before! I'm a building person and a teacher of mystical annoyances. I teach kids how to kill things for a living. I go for help, I learned that lesson, thank you."
 

Bill leaned over and nuzzled him. "I understand, Xander. Don't fret so. Getting upset won't help the baby any. Does he have a name?"
 

"Not yet. We were hoping for some guidance before we went that far. Sort of like not feeding the stray until you're sure you can keep it."
 

Bill laughed. "Go find Tara, and your son. That should be enough."
 

"Okay!" Xander said, happy to have something to do. He teleported out, right into Dumbledore's office, even though he hadn't planned on being there. "Um, you called?" he asked.
 

Dumbledore nodded. "Tell me about this child, Xander."
 

"We're trying to take off the sacrifice markings at the moment. Want to come help?" Albus nodded. "Okay, I need Tara and Iggy. Want to magic them up too or should I go walking?"
 

"They're in the entryway, waiting on us. I figured as much when Iggy dragged Tara out of her classroom and told her about his new brother, the mini-you?"
 

"Yeah. Long story that I haven't gotten all of yet." He walked down with the headmaster and took Tara with him, he was better attuned to the baby's energies so it wouldn't hurt him. Or her. It might be the daughter that George wanted. "I brought visitors," Xander announced as he landed in the empty cave complex. Only now there were other gryphons in it. "Did I misshoot again?"
 

"No, we came over once it was explained to us." Fredericka lowered her head. "I am sorry, Xander."
 

"Hey, not an issue, you were protecting the colony. I'll get pissed about it later when we can't find a name." He snapped his fingers and went to find his husband and tell him, maybe see if he wanted to join in too. George was involved in creating something so he just gave him a kiss and sent him back on his way. Fred wanted to come, but the store had customers and there was no pulling George out of the lab today. So Xander headed back and found his baby laying overtop of a sword, which would have been cutting into him if he hadn't been suspended an inch above it. "You hurt him and I react," he warned.
 

"Shh," Bill told him. "Let us work, Xander."
 

Dumbledore pulled Xander back a few feet, holding him still while they worked. The cavern was filled with a horrible stench, and the baby started to cry, but it got a little better as they went on. Eventually, everyone slumped and Xander was let forward. "Is he okay?" he asked when he didn't see movement.
 

"He lives," Bill told him.
 

"We'll have to realign his energy next," Tara told him. "It'll change who he is, making him your son instead of a mini-you." She smiled at him. "This is really fascinating."
 

"The same place had a group of mini-uses from another dimension," he told her weakly. "Full set. Even a mini-Oz."
 

"The Ministry there has them?" Bill asked. Xander nodded. "Good. Don't bring home more strays."
 

"If you had seen that spot, you would have destroyed it," Xander said seriously. "Big bugs everywhere. Trash piled on the floors. Kids crawling around in it. It was a horrible place and no one else wanted the mini-me."
 

Dumbledore patted him on the back. "We understand, Xander, but do try not to bring home more children right now."
 

"What happened this time?" Xander asked.
 

"There's an auror in looking over your class," Tara told him. "Plus a few Ministry people in looking over the rest of the curriculums. There's been a lot of questions about why you and Ron were missing. Plus some asshole moments." She shrugged and turned back to the baby. "You're feeding me tonight and I get one of those backrubs," she announced.
 

"That's fine, dear. I invited Arthur and Molly up to look at the new squirt anyway. We can feed you too."
 

Dumbledore laughed. "I'm sure it will be a delightful meal. Did you want the house elves to do something about it?"
 

"No, I'll pop down to Hogsmeade and get something from Madam Rosemerta. Maybe some roast?"
 

"And veggies," Tara reminded him. She had to have her veggies. She turned back to the baby and started on the spell to rearrange the baby's energies, carefully merging with the powers coming through Iggy from the gryphons. "Just a few more tweaks." She passed out as the baby was done, Xander catching her gently.
 

"I'd say we were done," he said. He looked at his teachers. "Does he still stink?"
 

"Only in the human form," Fredericka told him. "His energies are still a bit chaotic, but they should be fine. He can still be told as a sacrifice, but not as wholly as before. Give him a long bath, Xander, and guard him like the others. If someone takes him they can use him to harm you or Tara."
 

"Can we sever the link Tara created?" Xander asked.
 

"In time. When he has been here a year, we can sever them both. Until then, he is your vulnerability."
 

"Him and this one," Xander agreed, hefting Tara higher. "Albus, can I get yo to take baby?"
 

"Of course, I'll even bring Iggy with me."
 

"I can get back," Iggy told him. He smiled at the baby. "Welcome to the family. I'll try and get you a normal name."
 

"Funny," Xander told him. "Remember, your grandfather picked out yours." He disappeared, taking Tara back to their house and putting her down on the couch. "You stay here and rest," he said as he covered her up. He looked over as Albus walked out of the floo. "Still can't teleport into the school?"
 

"No, I'm afraid I can't." He put the baby down on the wider chair, watching as it cooed and settled down with the pillow. "I'd best go check on the ass...aurors." He smiled as he strolled away.
 

Iggy appeared in the living room and beamed at him. "I got a new book," he said happily, showing it off.
 

"Cool, you can read it after you go get the extra cradle from upstairs and while you watch your new brother. I'm going to get dinner."
 

"Send my elf," Draco called from the workroom.
 

"No thanks. Tara's picky about her veggies." Xander grabbed some money and left via the floo. He was too tired to teleport again today. He smiled as he came out of the Three Broomstick's fireplace, walking over to put in their order. "I'm going to pop in on the shop, be right back."
 

Madam Rosemerta smiled and watched him walk out. "Such a nice boy," she said as she went to dish him out some food. She was sure to include some extra vegetables since he had said that nice Professor Maclay was coming.
 

Xander walked into the joke shop and George looked up at him, looking confused. "What were you saying earlier about a mini-you?"
 

"Yes, do explain that," Fred agreed as he carried stock out to be put on display.
 

Xander summoned a chair and sat, telling them exactly what was going on, up to and including the fact that the kid was now his son. "So, dear, it's a boy," he finished with.
 

Fred laughed. "At least you didn't go knock up someone."
 

George frowned at him. "Not the point." He looked at his husband. "Are we raising him?" Xander nodded. "I expected as much. What's his name?"
 

"Not a clue," Xander told him, giving him a smile. "You're the one with the baby name book."
 

"Point," George said, lightening up. "We'll only have a year with him?"
 

"No, we'll only have a year of guarding him," Xander corrected. "Until they can sever some of the links, he can be used to hurt Tara and me."
 

"Oh." George nodded. "All right then. We'll be up tonight. Fred?"
 

"Sure. I'm spending the night over," he announced. "Got to deal with the bug problem."
 

"Ants again?" Xander asked. Fred nodded, grimacing. Every year, for some reason, they had an ant infestation, but only upstairs on Fred's floor. Never on the top floor that had been Xander and George's. Never in the shop or the lab. And now they had moved to this store. "Happy crushing and burning then."
 

Fred laughed. "I was going to ask Ron to help."
 

"He won't be back until tomorrow probably. He's flying back with the son." He stood up. "I ordered out for us tonight so come up whenever you're done. The 'rents are coming too." He waved and walked out, heading back to the Three Broomsticks to get their dinner. He noticed the auror in there and waved him off. "Tomorrow, man. I just got out of a crisis in the family and I'll deal with you putzes tomorrow." He took the boxes of food with a smile. "Thank you." He paid her and left a nice tip, then went back home. Draco took the food from him and put it out. "Thanks, son. What's this about aurors?"
 

"Every decade the curriculums are looked over and checked for problems," Draco told him. "This is the year for it. We did the last one while you were in the infirmary." He smiled. "Plus, almost every auror around wants to talk to you about what you're going to do next."
 

"Right now, I'm going to sit down and put up my feet," Xander told him. He did so. "And now I'm going to rest before I end up hurting myself."
 

Draco patted him on the shoulder. "You rest, I can serve dinner if everyone shows up early."
 

"Really? I can nap?"
 

"Go nap," Iggy agreed. "We've got the little guy." He looked over but his father was already halfway up the stairs. "Gee, guess he needed one."
 

"It's been a long year so far for him," Draco pointed out, sitting in Xander's chair. "Two major crises, plus mine, and Ron's. We'll have to do something nice for him for Christmas."
 

"Name the baby," Iggy suggested.
 

Draco laughed. "I wouldn't dream of taking that pleasure from your parents." The baby sniffled, then sneezed. "Well, how ungrateful," he said, picking him up to hold. "How old are you? Six, seven months?"
 

"Maybe," Iggy agreed, curling up with his book. His gryphon mentors were so cool. They had given him a potions book.
 
 
 

***
 

Xander walked into his classroom for his first class and noticed the extra-large student sitting in the back. "Oh, hey. Sorry if I insulted you last night. Yesterday just about killed me." He flipped open his roll book. "Okay, someone go break up the fight," he said without looking up. A few of the kids went out to break up the fight and bring their students back into the classroom. Xander called roll and started class, noticing a few of the students weren't paying attention. He stopped in the middle of a speech about water demons usually being harmless to air breathers, unless they fell in love with you and dragged you underwater, and zapped strands of light past those few's noses. "Pay attention of have a quiz on this material today." The students all picked up their quills and got notes off their neighbors. "Thank you." He went back to his lecture.
 

At the end of class, Xander stopped the auror. "They have you guys checking the curriculum?" he asked dryly.
 

"Part of it, since we're so unbusy right now," the auror admitted. "Part of it was a desire to come see you in action, Professor Harris."
 

"Action I'm not doing these days." He tapped his cane on the floor. "It's slowing down the action most of the time."
 

"I understand. Who's teaching the physical portion of your classes?"
 

"Two of my former students are splitting it. Right now, Mr. Malfoy is doing it because he's done for the season and Mr. Potter's not. I expect Harry back soon since the bookmakers are saying that his team won't make it all the way to the finals this time." The auror nodded. "You really want to know what happened, don't you?"
 

"Yes, sir. We're worried about your child. We've heard that the gryphons looked him over, but we'd like that same chance."
 

"Sure. One of you, preferably not an asshole." The auror nodded. "We can do that later, during my advanced class. I'll have Draco bring him down."
 

"Thank you." He walked away.
 

Xander watched his back, but he wasn't getting a bad feeling this time so maybe it wouldn't go badly. There might even be some good aurors in the Ministry, besides the ones he had taught.
 

***
 

Xander walked into the joke shop later that night, waving a strip of paper, trying to keep it away from the little sticky fingers of his new, still unnamed, son. "It's official. The aurors adore him." He handed the forms to his husband and gave him a kiss. George pulled back. "You're pissed," he sighed.
 

"Just a bit put out," George told him. "We don't have anything ready, and I was planning on having some time between children." He tweaked the baby's nose. "Not that he's not delightful, but he's not *ours*, Xander."
 

Xander grinned . "Said who? Tara said she put some of you into him and Iggy did help her so this little guy probably has some of Iggy in him too." George's face lit up. "You can ask Bill when he comes up in a few days to talk to Iggy about his love of potions. Did you know that Iggy might be the first gryphon-born Potions Master in nearly six hundred years?"
 

"No, I didn't know that," George said, sounding happy. His eyes weren't bright and shiny though.
 

Xander gave him another kiss. "They're not taking him from us, except for a month each summer, he assured him.
 

"No snogging in the store," Fred called from the lab. He walked out and smiled at the baby. "How are you today, it?"
 

"He's not an it," George sighed.
 

"Then I'd name him soon," Fred pointed out. He took the paper to read, smiling happily at Xander. "This is excellent news."
 

Xander frowned. "Did you two switch again?"
 

"No," Fred laughed. "George is wrestling with an internal problem."
 

"Does it require a potion or just some cuddles?" Xander asked him.
 

"Dinner out would probably help it," George told him. "Maybe a nice stroll afterwards?"
 

"Sure. Iggy's more than old enough to...." The baby was taken from him by Fred and carried into the back room. "I guess he's babysitting tonight. I left the diaper bag at home," he called. "And Ron just got back. He's napping right now."
 

"I'll pop up later," Fred called back. "Go snuggle in public."
 

"Let me call up to Dumbledore and make sure it's okay that I take off tonight," Xander told George. "Then I'm all yours."
 

"What if it's not?"
 

Xander grinned. "Then, we sneak away like a couple of kids and find somewhere more romantic." He winked and got down to use the floo. Dumbledore happily let him have the night off since Ron was now back. He did say something about an early meeting, but he assured Xander he would send someone for him. Xander turned and smiled at his mate, then waved his wand at them both, putting them into their formal clothes. "Come on, let's go find us a place to eat and nibble on lips." He took his mate's hand and sent them to Diagon and their favorite restaurant, which happened to belong to Fred's girlfriend. She put them back into a quiet, dark corner and told the waiter to give them a while between visits.
 

***
 

Dumbledore looked over at his favorite link to the Regents, smiling at him. "We did pass again this year?"
 

"Quite highly," Draco agreed, reading the forms he had been owled. "There was some doubt about Xander's classes being so necessary but they saw it as an unusual speciality." He handed the forms over. "They did suggest that you get rid of Professor Rosenberg since they found her chewing her son a new one in the halls between classes."
 

"Perfectly understandable in that instance. He had disrobed some poor girl the class before." Draco shrugged. "I see that it was noted on here about the giving of the tower to that family. They agreed?"
 

"They said it was probably necessary since children make so much noise. They thought it quite an ingenious use of the space. Also, they suggested that the other empty tower be used as the auxiliary library."
 

"There's no direct link between them," Dumbledore pointed out. "We'd lose two classrooms." He leaned back, thinking about the layout of the school. "If we move the classrooms right above the library, and seal them off, we could put it up there with only a staircase to ward against unwelcome visitors." Draco nodded, that had been suggested as well. "But where would I move those classes?"
 

"One of them needs a bigger classroom anyway," Draco pointed out. "Professor Binns' room has always been too small to sit comfortably in with a larger class."
 

"Yes, but we're shrinking as a population," Dumbledore reminded him. "Next year's class will only be sixty students total." He saw the wince. "You all right?"
 

"Fine, just a bit of movement. Happens now and then." He smiled and rubbed his stomach. "It's worth the pain as far as I'm concerned." He looked up again. "Anyway, why not move Binns down to the second floor, near Transfigurations? There's that nice room open there."
 

"It's haunted," Dumbledore told him.
 

"So? Binns is a ghost too. Maybe the ghost would leave him alone."
 

"Possibly. I'll discuss that with him tonight." He picked back up the forms. "They suggested we put back in the practical arts program?"
 

"Yes, yet again the old white wizards have decided that every witch and wizard who comes through here should leave knowing how to cook. Emphasis on the witches of course, but they can't complain if you include both sexes."
 

"And we could probably give quite a few lectures on a great many things outside of cooking and cleaning spells," Dumbledore said thoughtfully.
 

"If you introduce sex education, they've sworn to hang you. Even if you get sneaky and *suggest* that Xander give it, they will still hang you," he added with a smirk. "Though you are allowed to give them encouragement to breed. The Board of Regent's was most upset when they found out the enrollment was going down and nothing could bring it back up short of a population explosion."
 

"Maybe we should give the students lessons in sex then," Dumbledore joked.
 

"With the old men on the board? They'd want hot-wand weddings preformed first. You know how they are, Albus."
 

"Too true. All right, I'll take these down to the meeting tomorrow, and I will caution Ms. Rosenberg to pull her son into an empty classroom to yell at him in the future. Was there anything else that's not in here?"
 

"It was thought that the Weasleys were getting a bit strong here, but it was pointed out that they were the only ones qualified for the job."
 

"Surely Mr. Weasley can't be seen as a threat."
 

"No, but all his supporters can be. Xander, Lupin, Black, Potter, myself, and you were all mentioned, as well as Madam Pomfrey because Ron seems to meddle just as much as Xander does." He heaved himself up. "I want to know why the gryphon-born get so big so early on? None of my daughters did that."
 

"Are you hoping for a son this time?"
 

"Denver is. I'd be happy with a healthy one. I'm happy with all of my children." He frowned. "Now, Potter's are a different matter. You'll have some problems from Agatha and I can't find her to put that blocking bracelet on her. Those who know what happened to Granger are watching her carefully because she's quite a lot like her mother. The other two are purely Harry's children, but the oldest is a bit of a problem."
 

"I'll keep that in mind," Dumbledore agreed. "Thank you for giving me this tonight."
 

"Not a problem. This means I can go have a long, hot bath now." He left the office, the laughter following him down the stairs. He ran into Willow in the hallway and smiled at her. "Yes, did you need something?"
 

"Are the results back?" she asked. Draco nodded. "I got in trouble for Ryan, didn't I?"
 

Draco nodded again. "Quite, but it was noted that you were yelling at your son for some unfortunate behavior problems. That much was understood. I do believe you'll be asked to do it somewhere other than the hallway from now on." He grunted and rubbed his stomach. "Sorry, bit touchy today." He left her there.
 

"Try peppermint for that," she called after him. He waved a hand as he disappeared up the stairs. She wondered why he was living with Xander. Sure, his house had blown up, but he was rich. He could have already had another one built. She made a mental note to watch him, something was fishy with that guy. She headed up to the Headmaster's office, going to talk to him about her son. She wanted to beat him, but she knew she couldn't. Maybe he would do it for her?
 

***
 

Xander wandered into the room for the staff meeting and took his usual spot next to Lupin, who was sitting next to Black. "Anything bad so far?" he asked.
 

"Rumors that Willow's screeching was remarked upon," Black told him, giving him a smile. "Still no name yet?"
 

"Not even close to figuring it out," Xander agreed. "It took us a week to name Iggy though, so," he sighed. "Maybe Grandpa will be able to help with this one."
 

"What about Molly?" Lupin asked.
 

"Somehow the hormones have warped her brain. She yelled at me for bringing him home and forcing her son to raise my illegitimate child," he said, his confusion apparent. "I asked George and he said he felt that way for all of two minutes before deciding that it had better be us who raised him since he's a mini-me. We had a long talk last night at dinner because Molly's attitude was throwing me off, and him off, and figured out that our recent confusion was all due to her."
 

"Maybe Madam Pomfrey can help you with that," Tara suggested as she sat on Xander's other side. He automatically reached over and rubbed her stomach. "Thanks. I felt movement earlier."
 

"Wow." Xander beamed at her. "That is so cool." He kissed her on the cheek. "How are you feeling today?"
 

"Better," she admitted. "Breakfast stayed down. The side-effects of only drinking juice are gone. I'm feeling wonderful, if I could only get a nap."
 

Xander laughed. "I remember your first one. You fell asleep in class a few days." She swatted him so he quit rubbing her stomach. "You know you can come nap in our bed anytime you want, Tara. We won't molest you or anything," he finished with a leer. She swatted him again but she was laughing
 

Snape walked in with Dumbledore right behind him. "Let's get this started," Albus announced. Everyone looked over at him. "First, the reports are excellent. The few minor problems are easily addressed. Tara, my dear, would you consent to letting Willow take one of your classes?"
 

"No." Willow gave her a dirty look. "I might let her teach another section of the second class, but I'm not giving up on my classes."
 

"You've only got twenty in there," Snape pointed out, gently for him.
 

"Yeah, but eight to ten would be the perfect class size," Tara told him. "With twenty we're doing a lot less hands-on this year than I wanted."
 

"All right, so we can split it into two sections," Dumbledore agreed. "That would be fine and would fix most of the problems. Xander, your special topics class was allowed by the Board. They did caution me to put you all in a warded room though." Xander shrugged. "That doesn't bother you?"
 

"I slept in one for how many years because my nightmares made the castle shake?" he said lightly. "We can ward one of the workrooms in the house if we need to."
 

"Thank you. I'll get with you later this year on room assignments." He smiled at Tara. "Your room switch is going to be allowed, my dear. That nice garden room is now yours." She squealed and bounced. "I thought you might like that." He looked at Severus. "That means she's almost directly over your classroom now. Will that be a problem for you?"
 

"Not in the least. She hardly ever has accidents," Snape reminded him, glancing at Willow.
 

"Hey, I have the beginners, they're supposed to make mistakes," Willow defended.
 

"Willow, I'm not rebuilding your classroom again this year," Xander told her. "I'm too tired to do that."
 

"Is the new baby that tiring?" Black asked.
 

"No, it's everything so far this year," Xander sighed. "Ron's right, this year has already stretched into three or four."
 

"Hopefully it will slow down soon," Dumbledore told him. "At least until next summer." He smiled at Tara. "Were you wanting to deliver here? Madam Pomfrey wanted to know if she should start making arrangements."
 

"As long as it's not in a classroom," Willow said. Tara sobbed and got up, running out of the room.
 

"Yeah, remind her of that," Xander said, heading after her. He found her outside, in Hagrid's arms. "She's a twit," he said as he hugged her from behind. "It's okay. It won't happen this time. I promise." She turned and hugged him, crying on his shoulder. "I promise it won't happen. She won't hurt you ever again and you won't miscarry this time, Tara, I promise. Iggy's even learning healing stuff so he can help you if someone does something nasty to you." She nodded, but continued to cry. "Want to head inside and do this?" he asked when he noticed a few students watching them from one of the mezzanines. "Hagrid, can you shoo them on or something?" he asked quietly. The big man went to make the students leave the two professors alone. "I promise, Tara, I will do everything in my power to make sure that nothing bad happens this time. Me, Snape, and Iggy have all sat down and talked about doing surprise checks of the baby to make sure nothing's going wrong, and Snape found a way to see the baby more often."
 

She pulled back, wiping off her face. "Really?" Xander nodded. "You'll make sure she doesn't hurt her?"
 

"It's a girl?" Xander asked with a smile. Tara nodded, giving him a shy smile. "I love you," he said, picking her up and swinging her around. "You are the bestest buddy in the whole wide world." He put her down, patting her back when she had to throw up. "Sorry."
 

"That's okay," Tara said once she was done. She was wiping her mouth when Lupin came out with a mug of water. "Thanks to you too," she said with a smile, rinsing her mouth out. "It's a girl."
 

"That's wonderful news," Lupin said happily. "I'm so happy for you both." He hugged them both. "What can I do to help? Snape just let Willow know, in very certain terms, what was going to happen to her if she so much as looked at you wrong." Tara blushed. "You fancy him?" he asked in shock. Tara nodded, her blush picking up.
 

"I think he should see your magnificence then," Xander said firmly. "Whatever Tara wants, she gets," he told her.
 

She giggled and kissed him on the cheek. "I'd like breakfast."
 

"We can do that too," Xander told her, leading her back into the school. "Did we miss anything else?"
 

"Just that yours and Willow's classrooms were going to be moved with Tara's. That whole set of classrooms is going to be turned into storage space, because the storage room we're currently using is starting to cave in. The house elves won't go in there anymore so we're turning those classrooms into storage space and the old storage rooms are going to be empty until we figure out what we're doing with them."
 

"The storage area is *huge*," Xander complained. "It won't all fit down there."
 

"There's a spell for that," Lupin said gently. He smiled, even after all these years Xander was still thinking like a muggle sometimes. "It'll fit."
 

"Okay. I shouldn't have too much to move. How long before we move?"
 

"We're going to contract your husband and brother to do it all, since they know where everything is and we're all going to have exams soon." Tara groaned. "It's okay. You can make yours easier. We'll all understand."
 

"No, pain."
 

Xander lifted Tara up and carried her up to the infirmary. "She's having pains," he announced as he walked in. Madam Pomfrey hurried over to check on her.
 

"It's probably expansion pains," Tara told them all.
 

"Shh, we'll see and then take care of them," Xander soothed.
 

And Tara suddenly saw the other side of being loved by Xander, the over-protective worrier. It's a good thing George never got hurt. "I'll be fine. Can you please go get me some breakfast, Xander?" she asked nicely. He looked like he was ready to hit Madam Pomfrey when she took blood from Tara's arm.
 

"Ham, eggs, and what?" he asked.
 

"Just any thing, but watch the spicy stuff," she told him. "Oh, and some milk," she called after him. She looked at the nurse. "It really is expansion pains I think."
 

"Better to be safe than sorry, Professor Maclay. Really, it is." She bustled away to send for Tara's doctor. One could never be too cautious with people who had problems in their last pregnancies, no matter who the cause was.
 

Tara sighed. Maybe a nice long vacation where no one would mother her would be nice. The image of a hunting Xander flashed into her head and she shook it. No, he'd hunt her down and carry her back, and probably tie her to the bed as well. She'd have to talk to him about this. She looked over as Professor Snape came in and demanded to know what he needed to make for her. "I'm fine," she called out. "It's normal. I had these last time." He came over and scowled at her. "Really, it's just expansion pains. The baby needs more room to grow and my stomach's not liking the stretching part." She saw his hand come up but he quickly put it back at his side. "You can touch, it calms her down." Snape started to touch her, then rushed out of the room to go make her something for the pain. Men!
 

***
 

Draco looked up as Tara walked up to him, giving her a smile. "I hear you were mothered nearly to death this morning," he said in greeting, patting part of the blanket he was lounging on. He had cast a warming charm so he could have a picnic today. "Want a cookie? The elves made them this morning." He held out the plate of chocolate coconut cookies. She sat down and nibbled on one, sighing in contentment. "You'll have to stand up to him sometime."
 

"But it makes him happy," Tara said with a smile.
 

"Yes, but if you don't, I'll have to and then you'll get it doubly." She giggled. "Think I'm kidding? He's taught his son how to fuss the same way. Which means that we'll be getting it from both of them, plus some of my children, and George."
 

"And Fred. He gave me a foot rub last night," Tara added. She looked around, trying to see who was staring at them. She waved at Snape and he moved on. "Plus I'm getting it from him."
 

"Really?" he asked, interested. Hmm, could his favorite professor have found his one true light in the darkness? "You'll probably have to pounce him. He's stubborn and will try to play it off for years if you let him."
 

She smiled a wicked smile. "I know."
 

"Oh, the fancying's mutual," Draco said happily. "Good. He deserves someone to love." He picked up and nibbled on another cookie. "How long do you think it'll be before Xander goes off on his mother-in-law?"
 

"Tonight. She yelled at him this morning when he went to bug Ginny for a book she used during her last pregnancy for me. He started to say something and she cried so he kept the rest of the rant inside. Ginny's trying to play peacekeeper."
 

"I thought there must have been someone who came up with a medicine for her condition, but Snape said he didn't think so."
 

"There is in the muggle world," Tara told him. "But it's been found to be somewhat dangerous. Maybe she needs to see someone."
 

"A therapist?"
 

"Or a doctor who deals in women's problems. Maybe I'll drag her with me to my next scheduled appointment." She grimaced.
 

"As opposed to the panicked calls our doctor answers every now and then," Draco teased.
 

"Oh, yeah," she agreed. "They got him out of bed this morning." She finished that cookie and wiped the crumbs off her fingers. "We need some milk."
 

"I noticed that, but the milk down in the kitchens tastes funny to me."
 

"Did they give you some of my soy milk?" He shuddered. "You don't like soy?"
 

"I'm allergic. Quite a few wizards are."
 

"Oh. Sorry." She grinned. "How about melted ice cream?"
 

"That would be perfect," he purred, stretching in the weak sunlight. He stood up with as much grace as he could muster. "We should go find some, right this moment," he told her, helping her up. He waved his wand and everything was put back into the basket, which she picked up and carried inside. He took her to the ice cream parlor in Diagon, even buying for the both of them. They were used to pregnant women apparently because they didn't even blink when they ordered melted ice cream.
 

In his office, Dumbledore shook his head. Two pregnant people around again, what a fun thing this could be. But at least they weren't fighting. He checked on the location of Ms. Rosenberg, smiling when he saw she was teaching her class. Good. He would have to keep a closer eye on her. Severus had finally found a woman who intrigued him and it was up to him to make sure nothing happened to her.
 

***
 

Xander looked over at George as dinner went on. He was about to snap and his husband knew it. George gave him a 'please be patient' look. But then Molly snapped at Iggy for having a book at the table. "He's allowed to read at meals," Xander told her calmly. "It's important for him to know as much as he can and we like to encourage him to read. Besides, our son is going to be one of the very few of us who is any good at potions so that's an appropriate book for him to be reading."
 

"As approved of by Snape and the elders of the colony," George added for good measure. "Besides, we're not talking about anything that's of interest to him."
 

"Not unless you're finally going to name my brother," Iggy said, putting his book down and taking a bite of his mostly untouched dinner. "Grandpa, no offense, but please don't name him. I get picked on because of my name."
 

Arthur laughed. "I'm sorry, Iggy. I thought it would be cute."
 

"It is, but I'm at the wrong stage for cute names," he reminded him. "Two years from now I could probably use it somehow to attract a girlfriend."
 

"Not until you're fifteen, Iggy," Xander told him.
 

Molly put down her napkin and stood up. "I don't know why you continue this charade. That child isn't human!"
 

"He's just as human as I am, just from a different reality," Xander told him, standing up to match her. "And since I know about alternate realities, I'm thinking it's probably a good thing he's here. At least here he'll have loving parents who give a damn about him."
 

"Xander," George said calmly, tugging on his sleeve. "Sit, dear, or no cake." Xander took the hint and sat down, but he wasn't finished fighting by a long shot.
 

"Dear, sit down. The child is every bit as human as Xander is. Not only has the Ministry checked him, but the gryphons as well. They accept him as Xander's son, they even made sure to change enough of his energy signature so he wasn't fully Xander anymore."
 

"You're sticking up for this action?" she demanded. He nodded. "Then don't come home."
 

"Mum," George said sharply. She looked at him in shock. "I'll put up with a lot in front of our children, but I will not have you and dad fighting in front of our sons. We manage not to fight in front of them, you can too." Iggy nodded is support. He hated it when anyone fought around him.
 

"Well," she said, then she left via the floo.
 

"I'm sorry, boys," Arthur said, putting his napkin down.
 

"Arthur, I wasn't going to bring this up, but there's drugs for that sort of thing in the muggle world. They calm down the hormones."
 

"Was mum like this when she was pregnant?" George asked.
 

Arthur sighed. "With the first three, yes. The rest of you she was much calmer. She'll be around to apologize soon. I'll think about suggesting that, Xander, once she's calm again." He left too, going to try and calm his wife down.
 

"Can we magic the medicine into Grandma's stomach?" Iggy asked. Both fathers shook their heads. "Damn."
 

"Language," George said.
 

"Sorry, dad. Can I be excused?"
 

"Finish your dinner first so you're not hungry later," Xander told him quietly. He stared to take a bite but dropped his fork and headed upstairs. He hated fighting as much as his son did.
 

George sighed. "Eat, Iggy," he said quietly. Maybe he needed to call a family council about this. The others could take some of the stress off them. He ate a bite and dropped his fork. "Watch your brother. I'll be back." He went to the fireplace and sent himself to Percy's. They could hold it there.
 

Iggy nibbled on his meat, glancing at the baby every once in a while once he started to read again. Maybe he could talk Snape into showing him how to make something to help his Grandma. He really didn't want to see daddy slug her one. Daddy Xander might get upset with him for it and then they'd fight.
 

***
 

Percy looked over at George. "Surely it can't be that bad."
 

"She just called the new baby unhuman," George told him. All the siblings but Charlie were there. "It's gotten so bad. She and Xander almost got into it earlier." He looked at his hands. "I wanted to slap her for it," he admitted.
 

Ginny nodded. "Mum's gone off the deep end. We need to do something. She made Ravena cry the other day too by telling her that her daddy wouldn't be seeing her for a whole year because he was being bad."
 

"Bet me," George snorted. "Didn't you get his letter?" Ginny shook her head, frowning. "He offered to take the kids this weekend while they looked at plans for the new house."
 

"Oh." She smiled. "I'd like to help with that too, just so we don't end up with another depressing marble monstrosity." She looked over as her daughters started to argue. "Stop it or your father's not coming over this weekend." They cheered and went back to playing with their dolls. "What can we do?"
 

"I'm going to talk to Snape," George told her. "There's got to be something."
 

"If not, the muggles have something," Percy pointed out. "I've seen the ads for it in some of their magazines."
 

"Yeah, me too," Bill told him. "Even in Egypt we've seen some of the ads for medicines for female problems as they're always called." He looked at his sister. "How are you dealing with the pregnant boyfriend?"
 

"Amazingly well. He was supportive when I was carrying and we've switched the roles. Now I find him very hot because he's carrying our child."
 

Tananda came waddling over and climbed into her father's lap. "Grandma?" she asked.
 

"Yes, love, we're talking about Grandma," Percy told his four-year-old daughter. "Grandma's sick right now or else I'd bring you to visit." He looked at George. "Do you think it's safe?"
 

"I don't think she'd hurt any of your kids on purpose," George told him. "I'm not so sure about Iggy or the other one." He looked at his brother, then decided. "We'll be naming the new one after you," he told his older brother.
 

"Gee, thanks, name the violent one after me," Bill teased, but he was smiling. "Bill what?"
 

"William Steven Harris-Weasley. I'm tired of calling him 'it' or 'hey you'." He grimaced. "What do I do about this? I don't want to yell at her." He heard the fire go 'whoosh' behind him and turned of find his mother's face sitting in the fire. "Mum, is there a problem?" he asked.
 

"You're turning the family against me?" she screeched.
 

"No, we're talking about baby names," Ginny told her. "We've finally found the name for the new baby."
 

"He is not my grandson!" she said firmly.
 

"Gee, that's funny, because I could swear he was mine," George said harshly. "And if you don't like it, I'm sorry for all that you'll be missing out on." He turned his back on her, giving his brothers and sister a 'help me' look.
 

Percy stood up and walked closer. "Mum, the baby's just as much Xander's as not. I've also heard that they tried to turn the baby into both of theirs when they had switch his energies around a bit. He's still George's son."
 

"He is not."
 

"Mum, you accepted Denver," Ginny reminded her. "You will accept little William too."
 

"You will not name that baby after my son!" she shouted.
 

"I rather like it," Bill told her. "He's bound to be an interesting child. It's going to be fantastic seeing what Xander would have been like with good parents." He smiled at George. "Thank you for finally naming one after me."
 

"You're welcome." George sat down beside him. "I'll fill out the forms later today and have Xander file them. He said he didn't care if we named him moon pie as long as he was named."
 

Ginny snickered. "I can see the upcoming naming problem with the one Tara's carrying."
 

"Which is a girl," George said happily. "She's quite sure of it and she wasn't wrong before." He got clapped on the back and hugged for the good news. "Mum, you can either be happy for us or not, but I won't let you hurt any of us over this. William is now my son. It doesn't matter what realm or dimension he came from, he's mine now. Please accept him like you did Denver."
 

"I will not. You will never bring that creature into my house." She disappeared.
 

George held in his depression but Percy gave him an understanding look. "I'm going to go home. If you guys figure anything out, tell me." He flooed home.
 

Percy retook his seat and looked at the others. "We're going to have to force the issue. I don't feel comfortable letting mum near Tananda when she's like this." He looked at his daughter, who was still walking on the sides of her feet. "We're going to get casts in a few weeks and I'm not sure I want her there."
 

"I'll try to talk to her tomorrow," Ginny told them. "Maybe a female perspective will help." She stood up with a sigh. "I may be moving though, so I'll send you all a change of address owl," she finished with her usual smile. "Come on, girls, let's go home."
 

"No," Ravena told her, shaking her head. "Stay Tananda." She pointed at her cousin. "She needs hugs."
 

"Fine," Percy agreed lightly, shrugging when Ginny looked at him. "Less targets." Ginny nodded and headed home.
 

***
 

George came out of the floo and tried to look his usual chipper self. His husband knew him too well though. He was given a hug and put onto the couch, then Xander left. "Don't yell too much," he called after him.
 

Draco looked over at him. "That bad?"
 

"Mum's said that little William Steven is not only inhuman, he's a creature and we're not allowed to bring him anywhere near her."
 

"Your mum needs help," Draco said quietly. Iggy was sitting at the table. "I don't think there's a wizard's alternative to help this time."
 

"If there is, we'll find it," Iggy told him. He looked up from his reading. "If she hurts daddy, can I yell at her next?" George shook his head. "Shoot, I wanted to say something earlier and I didn't."
 

"You can't do that until you're an adult," George said tiredly. He stood up. "I think I'm going to head up to bed."
 

"Daddy, we'll fix it." Iggy grinned. "And I did warp the baby's energies toward mine. He's as close to my little brother as he can be." George gave him a hug. "You rest. Dad's handling it."
 

"I know he is." George slowly climbed the stairs. He paused when he heard Ron talking to the kids. How had he gotten back so fast? He shook his head and went up to his and Xander's room and their nest. He needed the comfort tonight.
 

***
 

Xander stepped out of the floo and hauled Molly up to her feet. "You can say whatever the hell you want to me, about me, and around me, but you will not hurt George again, Molly," he hissed. "There is no way in hell I'm going to put up with your problems when they make my husband nearly cry because you're being a bitch." He let her go when Arthur made a sound. "Dad, you're allowed whenever you want, but if she comes within a hundred feet of George without an apology and a vastly different attitude, she's so very muchly getting sent somewhere. And right about now, I wouldn't care where I sent her." He looked her over. "I don't care if this is your hormones spiking and doing the lambada, you leave George and Iggy the hell alone until it's over with. I won't have it." He turned and ran into Ginny, giving her a smile. "George is probably in bed waiting on me. Bring over the girls sometime on Friday and we'll watch them until Draco hauls his butt out of bed." He kissed her on the cheek and left, going back to comfort his mate. With a stop on the way to hit a tree a few times first. He wouldn't go to bed angry. He refused to ruin what little time he spent with his husband with anger.
 

Ginny turned off the floo and face her mother. "Dad, go outside or something. This is a girl talk," she said quietly. Her father slipped out to his workspace. "Mum, I don't know what this is, but you're scaring me." She sat down at the table, looking at the older woman. "Sit, mum, please. We need to have a talk."
 

Molly sat. "I don't see what this has to do with any of you."
 

"Mum, you're showing me my future right now, and I've got to tell you I'd rather not go through that." Molly snorted. "With the way you've been acting, I'm ready to put an age-freezing charm on myself, or to kill myself before I get to be your age, just so I don't hurt everyone in the family." She grabbed her mother's hand when she started to move. "Don't. We will talk about this like rational women."
 

"You're still a girl," Molly snorted.
 

"Gee, and here I am, have four daughters of my own, a step-son, and a boyfriend that I love. I haven't been a girl in eleven years, mum, and we both know it." She looked around the kitchen. "You used to be so happy, and I don't understand. Is this just the hormones? Because if it is, there's treatments."
 

"I don't need help."
 

"Mum, I'm willing to turn to the greatest of dark magics, the ones Voldemort himself used, so I don't go through this!" She recoiled as she was slapped. "Okay, that's enough," she said as she stood up. "I'm not bringing my children anywhere near you until you're better. Percy and I both agreed on this. As a matter of fact, I'm moving."
 

"With what?" her mother asked.
 

"It might have escaped your attention, mum, but I've been working since Simone was six months old. I've got a very nice monthly paycheck and a very nice consulting firm going on my own. The only reason I've stayed so long is because you wanted and needed me here to help around a bit. Well, no more, mum. Not until you're better." She walked upstairs and packed everything she could. Then she shrunk it all and put it in her pockets, going back to Percy's. "Can I beg a room tonight too?" she asked.
 

Fred got up and got her an ice pack while Percy showed her to the guest room. Bill looked at his hands. Something had to be done and he was the oldest. He wished Charlie were here, but he was helping with a delivery. He got up and headed for his brother, he had to know too. He was the oldest, it fell to him to fix this as spokeswizard for the family.
 

***
 

Xander climbed in behind his mate, holding him tightly. "Your mother's not coming back until she's normal," he whispered. He felt George nod. "I'm sorry."
 

"It's okay." He sniffed. "Why do you smell like blood?"
 

"I went and hit a few trees." Xander gave him a hug. "I'm fine, just some scraped knuckles." George's wand was lit and he examined the scrapes, kissing each one gently. "See, all okay. They'll be scabbed over tomorrow."
 

George turned out his wand and rolled over, getting a real cuddle. "I hate that we're having to do this to her."
 

"She's doing it to herself," Xander pointed out. "She didn't have to yell at you, or make you so upset that you were nearly crying when you came home. We'll get her fixed though. I promise." He gave him a squeeze. "Did you decide on a name while you were gone?"
 

George laughed. "I gave into Bill's suggestion. William Steven all right with you?"
 

"Sounds great to me," Xander agreed. "William Steven Weasley-Harris."
 

"No." He pinched his husband's stomach. "Harris-Weasley, just like with our first son."
 

"I thought we were going to switch it around this time," Xander mock-pouted. George kissed him. "Okay, we'll keep it that way. You've got the better heritage anyway." He snuggled in. "Should we tell Tara?"
 

"We'll have to. Mum might hurt her. Percy was saying that he didn't want her around his kids either," he said after a short pause.
 

"Ginny came through just as I was leaving. She looked like she was about to have it out with your mom too." He nuzzled George's neck. "I'm really sorry she's putting you through this."
 

"Hopefully dad will make her do something about this. Percy won't be able to take much of this with his heart condition."
 

"Percy's fine. I talked to him last week and he swore up and down that he was okay. He said they fixed his heart as good as new."
 

"Hopefully," George agreed. He snorted. "He always was Mum's favorite. He might have to do something really mean to stop this from going further."
 

"I'm sure we'll all be helping fix this," Xander assured him. "She loves you, it's some funky hormone problem talking, not her."
 

"But what if it's not?"
 

"Then she'll have to deal, George. I'm not handing you back." George laughed. "Let's sleep now. Little Bill will be up in a few hours demanding a bottle."
 

"I left him with Draco," George sighed, starting to get up.
 

Xander pulled him back down. "I'm sure he knows how to put a baby into a cradle." He closed his eyes. "Let's nap and we'll deal with this when it's lighter and warmer."
 

George snuggled back in, taking all the comfort he could. At least until the first nightmare started, then he sighed and woke Xander up before he could thrash around too much.
 

***
 

Dumbledore looked at Xander, worry showing on his face. "Rough night?" he asked quietly as the younger man sat down. It was unusual to see him down here on a Thursday morning, he didn't have a class until after lunch. Xander nodded. "Would you like to talk about it?"
 

"No. Just nightmares." Xander picked up his juice and took a sip, but grimaced. "Eww." He put it aside. "I think I'm going to go for a fly." He started to stand up but Tara walked in and gave him a hug. "It's okay."
 

"George came down to see me," she whispered. "Why don't you go up and sleep now? It's light, it should help."
 

"I tried that at dawn, I had a worse one."
 

"Then take a sleeping potion," she told him. "Snape, can you get him a sleeping potion? He's too tired to do anything like talk to people."
 

Snape stood up and walked over, tipping Xander's face up. "You look horrid," he agreed.
 

"It's just lack of sleep. I'll deal with it this weekend."
 

"No, you'll deal with it now or else I'm going to tell Molly." Tara saw the pain flash across his eyes. "Is she on another rip?" He nodded, resting his head against her stomach. "Okay. Potion?"
 

"I can make him one, but I can't guarantee he'll make it to class." He looked at Dumbledore, who waved a hand. "Did you want him in the infirmary?"
 

"No, he can be monitored in his home," Tara told him. "Draco's up there." She picked Xander up and walked him back to his rooms. "You stay here and I'll wait until you're fully out," she told him.
 

"Go eat, sweetie, you both need it," he told her.
 

Draco stormed in. "What the bloody hell is going on?" He looked at Xander. "Oh, nightmares?" he asked more gently. Xander nodded. "Does it have something to do with Iggy's baby book coming out of the fireplace at high speed this morning?"
 

"Probably," Tara told him. She smiled as Snape walked in with a small vial. "Does it have a dream suppressant?"
 

"The best I can make." He watched as Xander drank it. "If I have to, I can run a study hall for your class today," he assured the younger professor. This year had really been horrible to him so far. "And don't forget, we're looking at your burns later today to make sure that last one is scarred over." Xander nodded, starting to blink.
 

"Let it work," Tara soothed, stroking through his hair. Once Xander was out, she looked at the two men. "We've got to do something about Molly. I think she caused this last bout."
 

"Probably," Draco agreed. "That was their baby book." He looked thoughtful. "I think I'm going to have a talk with Arthur."
 

"No, leave it for now," Tara told him. "He's already torn in the middle over this if she's pissing off the kids." She took his arm and walked him out. "You get to play fussy one today," she told him with a smile. "You can fuss and get back at him for everything he's done to you so far." Draco smiled at the idea. "And you get to keep him sleeping if possible." She let him go and took Snape's hand. "I need to talk to you about that wonderful anti-stretchmark creme you made me last time," she told him, giving him a brilliant smile. "It's not working as well." She led him out of the tower, leaving Xander in very good, if slightly evil, hands.
 

***
 

Dumbledore walked into Xander's second section of fourth years, smiling at them. "As you probably realized this morning, we sent Professor Harris back to bed to get some actual sleep. I know you had an assignment to turn in so please do that and consider this a study hall." One of the students hopped up and grabbed a basket, passing it around for their parchments.
 

One girl raised her hand. "Is the new baby having problems?"
 

"No, just the normal problems when you have a new baby and one on the way," Dumbledore assured her. "He'll be back in action tomorrow." He heard running footsteps and held up a finger, walking into the hall and shutting the door. "Mr. Malfoy, what's wrong?"
 

"Xander's started having nightmares again and I can't get him to wake up," he panted, rubbing his stomach. "He keeps seeing Tara injured."
 

"Ah. Then kindly go get her and take her back up there to help, at a slower speed if possible," he cautioned, giving him a look. Draco nodded and continued on to Tara's classroom, pulling her out into the hall to talk to her. She ducked back in and disappeared with him up the back stairs.
 

Dumbledore walked back into Xander's classroom and saw many of them frowning. "Yes, he does still have nightmares," he told them.
 

One boy in the back raised his hand. "Sir, is that normal?"
 

"Possibly. I've never done what Xander's done so I wouldn't know. Everyone reacts differently." He clapped his hands. "Since Professor Maclay let her students go just now, I'll let you go also. Please make sure I've got all your papers. I'll deliver them upstairs later on." They filed out, taking quietly.
 

How Xander had managed to keep this part of the fighting from the students, he wasn't sure, but he was thankful. It was hard enough in the abstract, but they wouldn't be able to understand it until they had actually killed something. He hoped none of them would ever need to be drugged almost every night to get to sleep like Mr. Potter and Xander did, and Mr. Malfoy from what he heard.
 

***
 

Tara curled up in Xander's arms, moving her hair out of the way. "Xander, I'm here," she told him. "We're both fine." She moved one of his hands so he could touch her stomach. "We're okay, Xander." He sniffled and shifted, putting his head on her stomach, but didn't wake up. "I think we'll be fine," she told Draco. "How much longer before the sleeping potion wears off?"
 

"Maybe another hour," he told her. "I recognized that potion from using it a number of nights myself. It's supposed to last about six hours."
 

"Okay." She gave him a smile. "We'll be okay."
 

"I'll be a floor down in the nursery," he told her. "Yell if you need anything." She nodded so he left them alone. He briefly thought about sending a message down to George and Fred, but they had enough to worry about without this.
 

Somewhere in the castle, Iggy frowned up at the ceiling. Yes, he was supposed to be taking a test in Professor Binns' class, but something was wrong with his father. He caught the teacher's eye and got a head shake. He went back to scribbling something as fast as he could. If he got done a little early, he could run back there and check on him before he had class with Uncle Ron.
 

***
 

Draco walked out of the floo at St. Mungo's and calmly walked over to the registration desk. "I need to see Dr. Latimer," he said quietly. "Not an emergency but just some questions."
 

She wrote his name down on a sheet of paper and sent it with a small bird upstairs to the offices. She got an answer back. "He's got a few minutes he can push for you," she told him. "Third floor, second door on the left."
 

He nodded and took the stairs up to the third floor. He walked in and introduced himself to the receptionist there. He was told to sit and wait, it'd be a few minutes because he was in with a patient. About ten minutes later, he was shown into the doctor's office. "I have some questions about female problems," he said.
 

"Yours?" Dr. Latimer asked, sipping at some coffee.
 

"No, my nearly mother-in-law."
 

"So the rumors are true about you and a young Ms. Weasley?" he asked with a smile.
 

Draco nodded, smiling back. "Usually. She and I do adore each other, most of the time, but I could never settle down with her for any length of time. It's her mother that's bothering me." He put a hand on his stomach. "I remember the lecture on stress quite well, and she's putting a lot on the whole family right now. One of Ginny's brothers has recently had a heart attack and Ginny's dearly worried that he'll have another one because her mother's become a raving psychotic bitch. She even told Xander that his newest child isn't human."
 

"Poor Tara," the doctor said, shaking his head.
 

"Not that one, the other one, the one he found in Prague."
 

"Oh, that one. I heard a bit about him." He smiled. "How is he? And what did they finally name him?"
 

"William Steven is quite nice. Hardly cries. Eats everything he can get his hands on and usually tries for more. A very nice change from my last daughter, Ravena, who screamed most of her first year." He smiled. "I'm more worried about Ginny going off the deep end and this is her's."
 

"I understand." He dug out a book and flipped through it, stopping at a particular name. "Try this doctor. He specializes in problems with the hormones." He wrote down the name and address. "And by all means, try to cushion the one who had the heart attack. Any stress at all is bad for them."
 

"He's an Under-Minister, over the research department," Draco told him. "He lives with stress."
 

"Oh, dear. Does his doctor know?" Draco nodded. "Well at least they're probably keeping an eye on it." He smiled. "Has anything else happened? Any funny cravings?"
 

"Melted ice cream," Draco told him. "It's like regular milk suddenly tastes bad. Tara and I both are having it. Plus I'm craving chocolate and tropical fruits."
 

"Well, that's different. But normal. Try to eat little amounts instead of the whole tub of ice cream. Eat as much fruit as you can stand. You might find some digestion problems from it." Draco nodded, grimacing. "Fortunately, the less acidic fruits are coming into season soon so try some of them. It'll help a lot. As long as you're trying to balance it out it shouldn't be a problem." He looked Draco over. "I've heard that the gryphon-born gain more weight early. Are you finding that's true?"
 

"When Ginny was carrying Iggy she gained almost all her weight by the end of her fourth month then the baby grew into it. I hope this is all I'm gaining." The doctor motioned him over to the scale so he got up and weighed himself. "Gained another four pounds," he said miserably. "How much longer will I do this?"
 

"Probably for at least another six weeks," the doctor told him. "Going by what your girlfriend went through, you should probably stop gaining by the end of your fifth month. You are a bit more slender than she is so it's going to show more on you. Expect to need at least two bigger sizes of clothes before you're done." He smiled and stood up. "Anything else I can answer for you?"
 

"Why is my bladder shrinking?"
 

"Because there's now weight sitting on it, Draco. It happens to everyone in your condition." He shook his hand and made sure he had the reference slip. Hopefully they could find something to take the stress of those two. Very unusual pregnancies. He would have to ask Xander if he could be put in touch with a gryphon healer before they delivered.
 

Draco left the hospital, heading for Ginny's office. He magically copied the form, stopping in to kiss her on the cheek and give it to her. "My doctor recommended her," he said quietly.
 

"I'll try," she said, but she didn't look optimistic. "Want to help me house hunt this weekend?"
 

"Of course. Are you going to be moving back in if she's cured."
 

Ginny shook her head. "I'm liking the thought of having my own place. Picking my own groceries, plates, and everything. I was thinking maybe a small flat here in town for me and the girls."
 

"They'll need room to run," he reminded her. "Ravena will never survive living in a flat in town. We'll see what I can have found." He smirked at her. "If you move into a flat, I'm stealing both girls until you move again." She laughed and he left her there, going to give Percy the other slip. He had the desire to get her fixed and he was the favorite child so he had some influence and pull with Molly. He tapped on the door and walked in, ducking a thrown book. "Does your boss know you treat your materials that way?" he asked harshly. "No real researcher would ever throw a book." He walked into Percy's office and handed him the slip. "For your mother," he said quietly. "Because I want to live in peace."
 

Percy smiled at him. "Does this person deal with this sort of thing?" Draco nodded, sitting his big butt down in a chair with a sigh of relief. "Having problems?" he asked with a smirk.
 

"Oh, yes. I know Ginny used to complain, but I realize it so much more personally now." He reached back and shut the door when he heard footsteps approaching. "I talked to my doctor and he recommended that one. Said they deal with hormone problems all the time. I gave the same name to Ginny so you could try different methods of attack."
 

Percy shook his head. "Mum hit Ginny last night when she got tough with her. She's at my place at the moment."
 

"No wonder she wants to look for a house," Draco said, thinking. "We could probably squeeze her in with me at Xander's."
 

"It's fine. The children screaming has kept the quiet at bay," Percy told him. Draco nodded, understanding the evils of a quiet house. "Are you coming next week when Tananda gets casts put on?"
 

"I wouldn't miss it if you want me there," Draco agreed, heaving himself back up. "Want to go to lunch? I'm supposed to be watching Xander sleep but Tara had him well in hand."
 

"Nightmares again?" Percy asked. Draco nodded. "Oh, dear. What of now?"
 

"Your mother forcing Tara to miscarry in various ways, on purpose."
 

"Oh." Percy shook his head. "Surely she wouldn't." Draco gave him a look. "She wouldn't normally."
 

"And now that she's turned into a raving bitch, I want her nowhere near any of my children," Draco told him. "Hopefully you can drag her to the specialist somehow." He waved. "I'm off to go to the bathroom. Yell if you want to have dinner tonight." He walked out.
 

Percy stared thoughtfully at the name on the slip. Maybe if he made an appointment and misled her? No, he would have to go straight at her.
 

***
 

Xander woke up and frowned at the school nurse. He looked around. Nope, still in his room. "Problems?" he asked as he tried to sit up.
 

"Looking at that last burn to make sure it was completely scarred over," she said, giving him a smile. "It looks excellent and I think you can quit wrapping it now, Xander." She sat on the edge of the nest. "Did you need someone to talk to? You're taking more sleeping potions now than you have in the last six years." He grimaced. "I know this has been a horrible year for you so far, but it has to get better, right?" He nodded. "So would you like to talk?"
 

"Only if you know someone who can fix Molly's hormones so she becomes normal again," he told her. He fully sat up and pulled his feet under him. "I kept seeing her shoving Tara and her falling, and.... That stuff," he admitted. He looked around. "No one's here?"
 

"I sent Mr. Malfoy out for some ice cream for him and Professor Maclay." She reached over and ruffled his hair, putting it back into place for him. "This sort of time is hard for a woman, Xander."
 

"Yeah, but she needs anti-psychotics," Xander explained. "She went off on the new baby last night. Then me and George too."
 

"What are anti-psychotics?"
 

"Psychiatric drugs," he said, looking up at her. "She's gone nuts. Everything sets her off, either screaming or crying, and it's...it's hurting George."
 

"And you," she added with a faint smile. "I went through the same thing with my own mother. I looked at her and said I'd rather have my womb cut out than to deal with that mess. She laughed and handed me the name of a doctor." She pulled him in for a light hug. "I know it's disturbing, but you will get through this and she will apologize. There's no way she can't love little William Steven."
 

Xander snorted. "If you're sure. I'm not."
 

"I'm sure. She's going to love him once she's back to normal." She let him go. "It may take a few years." Xander groaned. "You will live through this. We're very long lived people, Xander." His face fell more. "You don't think you will be?"
 

"I don't know. I asked once and Fredericka shrugged and said no one knows how long a born lives. I thought she was being mystic, but she said there was some sort of relationship between being powerful and dying young."
 

"That's because you powerful ones do things like call lightening," she teased, tweaking him on the nose. "You'll live long enough. I haven't seen any evidence of deterioration due to age in you yet. You've got the body of a twenty-seven year old."
 

"I'm thirty-four," he reminded her.
 

"See, you're already slowing it down by seven years," she said happily. He snorted, but he was smiling. "I don't think you're going to outlive your mate, but I do think you'll both die of very old age in your nest, probably together." He did smile at that thought. "All right? Any other worries?"
 

"Is there anything we can do to help Molly go through this faster?"
 

"Not that I know of," she admitted. "I have the name of a doctor we can refer to, she might know something. Or you could ask that nice Dr. Latimer if he knows something." He nodded. "Anything else?"
 

"Did I miss dinner?"
 

"Not quite," she assured him. "You can still make dinner if you get up right now and get dressed." She pursed her lips. "I do believe you'll need to have a talk with some of your students. Someone asked me earlier why you would be having nightmares."
 

Xander climbed out of the nest and grabbed his cane. "Because my life sucks some days," he told her. "Others it's great, but some days make me beg for it to end." He walked her out of the bedroom and down the stairs, noticing that there was food on the table. "Are we eating up here?" he called. Fred came out of Ron's section, nodding. "Okay. Thanks, Poppy." She smiled and gave him a kiss on the cheek before leaving them alone. "Sorry I slept so long."
 

"You needed it," Fred told him, pulling out a chair. "Sit." Xander sat and looked up at him. "How often do you have nightmares? I ask because I never noticed them before."
 

"That's because I always take a sleeping potion so I don't wake you or George up," Xander told him. He got comfortable. "I've had nightmares since I was fifteen and had to stake my best friend."
 

"Willow?"
 

"Jesse. We were a trio at one time." He smiled sadly. "He was turned. I had to do it to save other people's lives. But they started that night I guess." He sighed. "I usually hide them much better."
 

"Why bother?" Fred asked. "We'd all understand."
 

"Because having one night after night, almost every day of the year, gets tiring for everyone around you that keeps getting woken up. Some nights they're easier to bear and I don't even wake up. And some nights I wake up screaming and beating at things."
 

"I've noticed a few bruises on George," Fred told him dryly. "From that? I always thought it was from kinky sex."
 

"I wouldn't rule out that cause," Xander admitted. "But yeah, a few times he's been the thing I was thumping when I woke up. Usually he smacks me back at least." He shrugged. "He knew about them before we got married, Fred, I promise. I'm not beating him on purpose."
 

"I know you're not," Fred assured him, patting him on the knee. "You would never abuse my brother because you know the whole family would hunt you down and kill you for it." Xander nodded. "That's added onto the fact that you wouldn't do it anyway." He smiled. "So, what was it today? And yes, I'm being nosy."
 

"Molly pushed Tara and ...hurt her," he said quietly. He sighed again and stood up, starting to pace, his cane loud in the quiet house. "It's like every horrible thing I could ever imagine."
 

"I won't lie to you, Xander, mum's scary right now, but I doubt she'd hurt Tara." He stood up and stopped the pacing. "Trust me, she wouldn't hurt Tara. She likes Tara."
 

"She likes Iggy and George too, but she upset them."
 

"Tara's not that fragile."
 

"We can't be sure of that," Xander reminded him. "Even her doctor can't be sure of that."
 

"Then trust me. I am amazing and I know everything possible," Fred told him. Xander laughed. "You laugh, but Percy assured me the other day that I was a know-it-all." He hugged Xander. "Relax about it. The rest of us are handling mum. It'll be fixed fairly quickly and we'll deal with it, brother-in-law. Now, we have to plan what to do with the nursery before George puts plaid in there."
 

"But I like plaid," Xander told him.
 

Fred laughed. "Of course you do, that's why you're George's perfect mate."
 

***
 

George sat down in front of the headmaster, accepting a small cup of tea. "I don't know what to do about this, sir, but it's affecting more than Xander's performance in classes."
 

"I'm aware that he was having nightmares," Dumbledore said gently. "Hasn't he had them for a while?" George nodded. "Then why are these more severe?"
 

George shook his head, stopping himself from snorting. The man couldn't possibly know how bad they were. "This isn't abnormal. He's had worse ones than the ones Tara found today. I've seen him have such horrible ones that I became the monster he was fighting and I had to fight back. I've seen ones that made him roll out of bed and start begging for any merciful God to make it stop. I've seen ones so bad that I'm not sure how to describe it." He sipped his tea. "It's not healthy for him to have to take a sedative every night, not even at the child's strength I make for him. But I don't know what else to do."
 

"Do you think talking about it will make it easier?" Dumbledore asked him.
 

George shook his head. "No. I've had him talk to me about it and it seems to make it worse. This thing with my mother has just been the last straw. He's going to continue to see Tara in danger until Mum's fixed and I can't figure out how to fix her since Professor Snape said there's nothing that he's ever heard of that can help."
 

"Tara has her own protectors," Dumbledore told him calmly. "Don't worry so much about her." He smiled when George frowned. "Trust me, my boy, she does have people who would help her if she should ever need it. Like I told Mr. Potter all those years ago, help is always available at Hogwarts for those who ask."
 

"That would depend on knowing who to ask," George pointed out, but he was smiling.
 

"Very true. You're the first one who's gotten that," Dumbledore told him with an amazed look. "She does know who to ask, it's part of what makes her happy right now. As for Xander, we can probably soothe this latest bout of nightmares by assuring him that Tara has other guardians and possibly by taking his mind off all this. Maybe a few days off?"
 

"He doesn't have any vacation days for the next two years," George reminded him.
 

"Minerva obviously can't read policy then. Vacation days are only to be used after all sick days are taken and Xander had near two hundred days of sick leave accumulated. We carry them over until they use them in the case of people like your brother and your husband. I doubt he's used all of them."
 

"No, I think we only had a month total of sickness this year, spread out a bit. But then there was his time hiding in London."
 

"Pfft," Dumbledore said, waving a hand, bringing a book over to open on his desk. "As of when I left, Xander had one-hundred-twenty-five vacation days and two-hundred-forty-six sick days." He closed the book. "If Minerva changed that then I'd like to talk to her about it."
 

"So we can take a weekend away?"
 

"As long as someone knows how to get in touch with you," Dumbledore told him. "Are you bringing the baby?"
 

"We probably should," George told him. "I don't think I want to impose on someone for a weekend's worth of babysitting."
 

"You could probably pay a student to do it for you," the headmaster suggested. "Someone who was like you when you were in school?"
 

"There are a few of the Gryff's I would trust with the baby," George agreed. "Especially with Iggy and his cousins helping." Dumbledore snickered. "They're quite good with the children."
 

"I just had the picture of Simone hunting someone down and snatching the baby away from them because whomever was watching them had needed a moment of quiet so had let someone else hold him."
 

George laughed. "That would probably be Iggy, Headmaster."
 

Dumbledore smiled at him. "You could call me Albus. You're not in school anymore."
 

"Okay then, Albus. Would you like to come down next weekend and see the new line I started?"
 

"Why yes, I'd be delighted. Whenever you need me, George, I'm here for you. I may not fully understand, but I do get quite a bit of the problem."
 

George handed back his cup as he stood up. "Thank you, Albus. I'll be sure to yell if I need the help with my stubborn one." He smiled as he left. Where should they go? They had the money to indulge in a bit. Ron was pacing the entry way. "Problems?"
 

"Hagrid took the twins out for some play time with the puppies and I don't want to look worried," he admitted. "Xander's up, Fred was talking to him."
 

"If you had to take Xander away for a weekend, where would you go?"
 

"To the comic book festival this weekend in London that he was raving about wanting to go to?" Ron suggested. "Did you need a sitter?"
 

"No, we were going to be innovative and let some of the Gryff's handle it for the weekend. Small paycheck for them and all that."
 

Ron laughed. "Did the headmaster tell you to do that?" George nodded. "I'm sure my house will *love* having little Bill in there for a whole weekend." He jumped when the door opened, smiling at Hagrid and the babies. "Did we have fun?" he asked them. His son was still napping upstairs and had missed out on the dog drool. "Were they good?" he asked Hagrid.
 

"As gold. When can I take the little feller out?"
 

"Maybe tonight," Ron told him. "He's been napping a lot recently." He grinned. "You could come up and play with them tonight if you wanted. We wouldn't mind some of the dogs."
 

"All right then. I'll bring Shadow and Boozer here up tonight." He winked at George. "How's Xander?"
 

"Hopefully feeling better. They had to send him back to bed this morning to finish sleeping." He shrugged at the worried look. "It was the usual nightmares, nothing out of the ordinary." He waved. "I'm off to talk to the house. I'll be up in a few moments." He jogged up the stairs, energized by the plan the headmaster had given him. He burst into the house and everyone looked at him. "What? I've got some good news." The kids gathered closer. "Xander and I are taking a weekend away this weekend and we need a sitter. Now, we'll be paying some. Maybe two galleons a day?" A few of the students raised their hands. "You've got to interview with Xander and/or Ron. Got it?" They nodded. "Good. It'll be this weekend that we'll be gone and you'll only have the little guy."
 

The Head Boy smiled at him. "I thought he didn't have any more vacation time, sir."
 

"Don't call me sir, Gregory; it bothers me; you know that." He grinned. "Dumbledore just pulled down the books. Apparently McGonagall was trying to pull a fast one and discounted all his built-up leave time. He hardly took any of it from his second year on." The kids laughed. "So go bother them tomorrow and we'll pick someone tomorrow night. Got it?" Everyone nodded. "Good, go back to studying." He left the house, heading over to tell Xander the good news. He found his brother cuddling his husband on the couch. "Really, and after I'm arranging for a sitter this weekend and Dumbledore found you some vacation days," he said in mock-outrage. Xander launched himself at him, giving him the hardest hugs he could. "I've arranged to hire a Gryff to watch William so we'll be all alone," he told him.
 

"Good," Xander said, sniffing him. "What about Tara?"
 

"Albus reminded me that she has other people who will watch out for her. She'll be fine and we can go to that comic book thing this weekend."
 

"Oh, we're going to need tickets," Xander told him. "We have to go buy them tonight."
 

George laid a finger over Xander's lips. "There will still be stuff we can get into. I promise you. I am a great wizard and I say so." Xander grinned at him. "Feed me and you can tell me all about what you want to see."
 

Fred smiled as the super couple became their usual selves. He wanted that with his girlfriend Elizabeth.
 

***
 

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