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Thoughts
Of Loss And Giving |
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When Xander Harris faced the First Slayer during the
funky dreams after ADAM she told him he was the last of his line that there
would be no more Harris’s after him. He
thought that meant he would never have children or a mate, especially after
Anya died during Sunnydale. He hadn’t
expected that to mean he would change his last name or that his mate was
actually a vampire, a male vampire. He
hadn’t expected it to mean that he would adopt children. Nor did he think there
would be a whole lot of them, all of whom would have interesting and diverse
backgrounds. Yet, that is what happened
in his life. When Sunnydale collapsed in a blaze of pain and
glory the Scoobies made their way around the world saving slayers and fighting
demons as they had in Sunnydale, only now it was on a wider scale and the girl,
the slayer, was more than just Buffy or Faith. The girls that they saved and fought for were as
diverse as the Scoobies themselves, but they all had one thing in common. They were warriors that no one would have
believed dangerous. They were young,
old, broken, saved, battered, and insane; they turned to the Scoobies out of
instinct and a prayer that the group could save them. When Xander went to Africa, there was a call he felt
deep in his soul. He knew that he was
where he needed to be at that moment. He
found girls struggling through the horrors of a country at war with
itself. A country that had debilitating
disease, poverty, and horrors that hid and many that didn’t. The demons in Africa were some of the worst that
Xander had ever seen; they were also some of the most dangerous. Therefore, it did not surprise him that the
African Slayers were more in tune to their demon sensing aspects. There were only two slayers in Africa that
dreamed and Xander sent them to the WWC immediately upon finding them. Dreamers usually had more prophecies
associated with them than the other Slayers.
Buffy had proved that. In the eight months Xander was in Africa he found
124 slayers, when he left Africa he took 17 with him and had a safe place built
for the rest. He hired ex-commandos and
asked Alan Quatermaine and the League stationed in Africa to take over the
training and protecting the girls. Alan
agreed as he was bound to Africa anyway. When Xander returned to Scotland and the WWC, he ran
into a battle with a group of Wizards and Witches. The teenager warriors in the group tried to
protect him, but the battle came to a halt when every spell flung at him
bounced back onto the caster. To the
shock of the adults that joined the battle the Big Bad, fried himself when he
cast a spell at Xander that should have killed him, a spell that had Willow
teleporting in and destroying the spirit that the spell left behind. Willow had frozen everyone in the field, except for
Xander and the teenagers, and demanded to know what was going on. Xander could only blink at her. ~Flashback~ “I
was just taking Kora and Kona through the woods and then wham! I was being attacked
by the freaky guy you fried the Spirit of.
These kids were trying to protect me, but the bad guys magick was
bouncing off of me. That’s what turned
the Snake guy into a spirit. Hey are you
kids okay?” Xander babbled as he bounced
over to check on the teens that had tried to defend him. He looked worried at Willow when one of them
collapsed into his arms. Willow
transported all of the teenagers, Xander, and his twin slayers back to the WWC
main house. Giles and Faith were the
ones to meet them; he sent the twins on to their rooms and promised that they
would be able to find Xander after dinner.
Giles was flabbergasted and enraged as the teens explained whom they were
who the Spirit was and what was happening in the Wizarding World. The teens turned out to be four of the Weasley family, Ron, Ginny, George, and Fred. Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, Luna Lovegood, Neville Longbottom, Seamus Finnegan, Draco Malfoy, Pansy Parkinson, Blaise Zabini, Theodore Nott, Lee Jordan, Millicent Bulstrode, Marcus Flint, Gregory Goyle, Vincent Crabbe, and Oliver Wood. Xander had grabbed onto Willow when she snarled and surged to her feet, intent on going and doing damage to the people who had kidnapped the teens from their jobs and from school. The fact that only Fred, George, Oliver, and Marcus were out of school had Faith muttering that their school sounded as dangerous as one on the hellmouth. To which Xander had asked if that meant he could blow it up. The kids had all gaped at him and Harry had haltingly explained that the school was semi-sentient and asked nicely for them not to blow it up. Giles
had then added that the School was also founded by four ex-watchers who were
found to have magick and joined the Wizarding World, one of whom had been a
Giles ancestor, so no Xander could not blow it up thank you very much. The teens had looked at Giles then in
shock. Giles explained that by Wizarding
standards, he was a squib, but in the Muggle world, he could access
magick. Giles
had then told the teens that he was going to go and see to the ones that were
left behind in the glade frozen by Willow.
Willow and the other Scoobies had demanded that he wasn’t going alone
and decided to go with him. The teens
were told to stay where they were, Dawn and Connor, who Xander had custody of,
came in and promised to keep the teens company.
When
they arrived in the glade, Willow unfroze everyone not wearing a mask. When she did an older Wizard fired a spell at
Willow, causing Xander to step in front of her and smile in satisfaction as the
spell rebound, knocking the old guy on his ass.
An
older woman with red hair stomped forward, “Who in Merlin are you people and
where are the children?” She demanded, scowling at them. Xander
stepped forward and smiled sweetly at her, causing the woman to come to a stop
and smile in return. Faith and Willow
turned away to keep from laughing, while Giles rolled his eyes upwards. Xander’s drawing power on women was strange
and often amusing. If they weren’t evil
they wanted to be his mother, sister, or wife.
If they were evil they wanted to spawn with him and then kill him. That wasn’t even covering what happened with
men. “Madam,
I am Rupert Giles, the young man in front of you is my son Xander Giles, these
are my daughters Willow Rosenburg and Faith LeHane. The children my daughter and my son saved are
back at the WWC headquarters here in Scotland.
I can assure you we mean none of you any harm, though I would recommend
that you put your wands away as none of my children do well when
threatened.” Rupert said coolly, looking
at the woman and then around at the people pointing wands at them. Another
Wizard stepped forward and nodded to the group that had gathered behind the red
haired woman, who looked like she wanted to mother Xander and the two
girls. “I am Headmaster Albus
Dumbledore, this is Molly Weasley, four of the children are hers. If you will allow us to we will go with you
to gather the children.” Rupert
narrowed his eyes. “I will not, Mr. Dumbledore,
I know a great deal about children in a battle, but from what those children
have told me you have done nothing to protect them and for that I will not be
returning them to you. Mrs. Weasley and
her husband are more than welcome to come to the WWC to see them, but you sir
will be getting nowhere near those children.”
“Now
see here.” The man who had fallen over
at his own spell snarled. “Watch
it Peg-man, you already used up any good will that we woulda had.” Faith said with a curled lip and a
snarl. “Just
who do you people think you are?” Remus asked stepping forward. Xander
walked over to Remus and poked him in the chest; he then looked back at
Giles. “He’s Harry’s werewolf, we’ll
bring him with us, since these idiots don’t trust werewolves,” Xander announced cheerfully. Remus stared at him in absolute confusion;
Faith grinned as she walked over to him, picked him up and threw Remus over her
shoulder. Remus made a sound of protest,
but a laughing Willow transported the pair away. A few minutes later Faith returned with Dawn,
who was grinning widely. She
bounced over to Xander and threw an arm around him. “I think Remus is going to bust something
from the blushing, do you think we could keep him?” She asked cheerfully. Xander burst into laughter. Willow
turned her attention to the evil wizards and witches and made their masks
disappear. Dawn was pushed over to Faith
and Giles as Xander joined Willow and began to walk among them. Only one of the masked people was released, Xander
grabbed the man by the arm and looked down at the mark on his arm. Severus Snape stared at the strange boy and
watched in shock as his arm rejected the mark where the boy touched him. Xander nodded to Willow and Dawn came over
disappearing with the dark man. “That
man is a felon, return him immediately for trial.” Peg-leg, Alistair Moody, snapped and grabbed
Xander. Seconds later, he was dangling
from Faith’s fist and then flying through the air as she threw him across the
glade. “No
one touches Xander,” Faith snarled. Bill
Weasley stepped to the front of the group and stared at Xander, who grinned in
response. “Giles, I thought your last
name was Harris?” Bill asked as he walked to Xander who hugged him and then
stepped backwards bouncing on his heels. “Rupert
adopted me, so I’m a Giles now.” Xander
said happily. Bill
laughed and looked back at his parents and brothers. “These are the Slayer’s Council, or World
Wide Council, or Warrior Women’s Council depending on who you talk to.” Albus
swallowed, he knew now that when they said no one could take the children they
meant it. The Council was a power to be
reckoned with and could not be stopped by anyone in the glade. The fact that this group was likely some of
the top members of the WWC meant that the people from the Wizarding World were
in a great deal of danger for having attacked Xander Giles nee Harris. Everyone knew that going after that
particular gentleman was usually a bad idea. Molly
made a sound and bundled Xander up into a hug, making him look over at Bill and
Bill’s wife, who both grinned at him in response. Molly pulled away and kissed him on the
cheek, causing Xander to blush and looked at the ground. Dawn giggled and Willow shared a grin with
Rupert. “Thank you for saving my Bill
from that evil werewolf.” Molly said
gently as she stepped back. Her husband
moved forward and shook Xander’s hand enthusiastically, while his brother
Charlie came up. “Xander!
I had no idea you knew Bill. It’s good to see you mate, been chased into any
dragon zones by crazed women wanting to mate with you?” Charlie asked, patting
Xander on the bottom and grinning wickedly. Dawn
hooted with laughter and Willow cackled.
“Dear Lord!” Giles muttered.
Xander turned and looked at Giles sheepishly. “You
got bored on your search for Dracula so you could kick his ass aye?” Spike
asked as he, Kit, and Buffy stepped around Giles. “I
did get bored looking for Dracula, the wives were awesome though. For vampires they make awesome chocolate cake. By the way, they are coming to spend
Halloween with me, so we need to make sure no one stakes them. Plus the ladies would love to see you again
G-Man.” Xander said grinning wickedly,
his eyes dancing with humor. Spike
let out a snort of laughter and walked over, dragging Xander away from the two good-looking
redheads. Xander looked at him in
confusion, but said nothing. ~End
of Flashback~ Xander
should have realized then that his life was going to change, that and that
Spike was beginning his courting. That
night after all of the new members of the Council was given rooms, the
Weasley’s, Remus, and Severus ended up staying, Spike began ‘Operation get
Nummy’. Xander had no idea how many
people helped the vampire in those first days, but he did know that by the time
Christmas rolled around, everyone at the headquarters were helping. It
also started a tradition where Spike gave him a variety of presents up to
Christmas day. The gifts were always
something new and different. Everything
from tools to sex toys, the best thing about his gifts were that each gift was
followed by cuddling and time spent with just the two of them. Xander
wasn’t sure why or even how it happened, but from December first to January
first there was never any major evil since he and Spike had started
dating. Xander had no idea which god was
responsible, but he thanked all of them every day for it happening. Christmas had gone from being a time of year
to hide from, to being a time of year to look forward to with anticipation. This
year Spike had enlisted their kids to help him with Xander’s presents. His Wizarding kids transfigured snowmen into
a walking interacting Frosty the Snowman village, much to Xander’s delight. They had also done the same with the Charlie
Brown figurines in the main room. His
slayers and mages had transported to different parts of the world and gathered
him rare samples of woods for him to work with.
Xander already had plans for several pieces of furniture. His
Wiccan’s had gathered crystals and blessed them so that he could use them as he
wished. Xander planned to make
protective amulets out of the crystals for his children and his girls. Spike
had gotten Willow and Buffy to agree to watch the youngest slayers while they
went to an island that Harry owned for three weeks. Xander was certain that before a week was up
they would have the kids with them as Spike was as delighted with having the
kids as Xander and the other Scoobies were. There
were times when he would wake up in a sweat still afraid that he would be
caught in the loneliness and emptiness that followed the loss of
Sunnydale. However, there was Spike to
hold him through the fear and to remind him that he was loved and at home. Xander knew he was blessed by the love of Spike, his kids, Giles, and his friends. What was once a foretelling of loneliness became a realization of hope, home, and love. Xander couldn’t ask for a better life, demons and chaos included.
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