Notes: this helped me work out some issues I was stuck in within the Curses series. This is a 'what if' story based on the premise that Alex got to raise Harry instead of Petunia. Just a bit of fluff for the list.

No Sane Man.



Dumbledore knocked on the large paneled doors, looking at the older man who was standing there. He was probably about sixty, which was middle aged for a wizard, and he was wearing jeans and a dirty t-shirt. "Alexander Dumass?"

"As usual," he said dryly, leaning against the old wood. "What did I supposedly do wrong now? And who're you?"

"I'm Albus Dumbledore. I taught you Transfiguration."

"Oh. Yeah." He nodded. "Okay, and?"

Dumbledore nodded. "May I?" Alex let him inside, closing the door behind him. He turned to look at him. "Did you hear anything about Godric's Hollow last night?"

"No," he said slowly. "What happened last night!" he yelled.

"Big fight," one of his maiden aunts called back. She came out, looking at the older man. "Headmaster! What's going on?"

"There's two relatives left of one Harry Potter," he said calmly. "One is his mother's sister."

Alex knew that name very well. He knew that family, they were his. "That stupid bitch?" Alex demanded. "I wouldn't let her raise a house elf!"

"Or you," he noted calmly. "There's a one-year-old baby who needs a good home. One who can protect and nurture him."

"You're leaving him here, Albus Dumbledore!" the aunt ordered coldly.

"Aunt Cordy," Alex whined. "A little baby!"

She slapped him upside the head. "Yes!" She glared at the headmaster, who pulled open the sack he was carrying, handing her the baby. "Oooh, such a poor baby!" she cooed, smiling at him. "Alex look at him." He looked from his spot. She glared at him again. "Now!"

He sighed and came over, looking at the kid. "Hey, Harry." He touched his head and then glared at the headmaster. "This kid is as powerful as I am!" he said hotly. "What the hell happened! There's no way in hell that his parents were killed in a normal fight! Harry's innate magic would have protected them if it was as simple as someone breaking in."

"Voldemort," he said simply. "He survived the killing curse."

Alex glared at the baby, then at him. "You're leaving him here. Petunia is one lonely and absurd bitch. If he goes there, he's going to be ridden for being a wizard."

"If you wish. That's why I came here first," he said calmly. He bowed to Aunt Cordy. He knew that Alex's grandmother had pulled a resurrection ten years earlier, when Alexander had been harmed by a stray curse at a site. They had called back most of the family to nurse him back to health and to get those who had cursed him. Alexander hadn't even heard about who had set the trap that had nearly killed him and Bill Weasley. Alexander Dumass one of the best curse breakers in the world and most of the people involved had become very sorry very quickly - with a few notable exceptions. "Alexander, we'll need him trained," he said quietly, pulling him away again. "I think that Voldemort has tainted him with his death. Hence the curse scar on his forehead."

Alex raised an eyebrow. "The boy's a Dumass," he said dryly. "He'll be raised as a Dumass." Dumbledore nodded and left it there, leaving them. The boy would be raised and trained as a wizard.

Alexander looked at his aunt. "Bring him to Grams. Put the barristers onto his family's assets to freeze them for his use, hold down the press about whatever happened. I want to know immediately if there's something we should worry about. I'm going to test him for various curses and other issues that'll come back to haunt him." He carefully took the baby and walked out to his study, slamming the door with a kick of his foot.

***

Ten years later, Harry looked at the castle as the boat went across the lake. "Wow. Pretty," he said blandly. Ron Weasley, the kid he had met on the train and who had befriended him, gaped at him. "What? I've been around the world twice. It's a nice castle. You should see the haunted ones in Germany." He grinned a bit at him. "Relax, Ron."

"Harry, who are you?" he asked, looking amazed.

"Harry James Potter-Dumass." Ron gaped with real awe now so he shrugged. "Big deal. My uncle is Alex." The boats docked and he got out, helping Ron out. He walked up the stairs with him, looking at the other kids. He saw a few who could easily become threats, and snorted. No one was going to beat him. Not while his uncle was still alive. A blond boy sneered at him and he raised an eyebrow. "Hmm, a Malfoy," he said dryly.

"Who're you?" he sneered.

"Harry James Potter-Dumass." Malfoy backed up, blinking at him. He smirked a bit. "I usually just go by Harry though." He held out a hand. "This is Ron Weasley."

"I noticed," he said dryly.

Harry removed his offer of friendship and turned away from him. "Never mind. I don't want to know you." He looked at Ron again, he seemed pretty nice. "I'm not sure where I want to go. Uncle Alex started as a Slytherin but he was expelled for sleeping with the wrong person after some of the family died in a plague. Then he went to Gryffindor."

"Most of my family's been Gryffs for years," Ron offered. "I probably will be too." He ignored Malfoy's whispered comments to his friends.

"That might be nice," he admitted. The doors opened and a severe looking woman was standing there. Harry giggled at her glare in his direction. "Man, she has nothing on Auntie Nadia when she's on a rip," he said quietly. Ron just stared at him again. "Really." He listened to her speech as they walked into the castle, looking around at the various paintings. A few he recognized since his aunt had him help her with the family's paintings. He waved to two in his family, getting smiles back.

"Getting new fans, Dumass?" Malfoy called.

Harry snorted. "They're family, Malfoy. I'm sure you've got a few around here too." They paused outside the doors to the Great Hall when she slipped inside. He looked around again, then at Ron. "It'll be fine, breathe," he instructed quietly. Ron took a deep breath. The doors opened and they walked inside, looking at the floating candles and the charmed ceiling. It was impressive, he decided. He looked at the hat, wondering what sort of spells were on it. It sang its song and he shivered, feeling something was going to happen.

His Uncle Alex had told him about life and world changing events. He knew his sorting would be one probably but he had no idea why. When his name was called, everyone in the room stared at him, most mouths open. He raised an eyebrow at a few of them, mimicking his uncle. His uncle had told him how to take fame in step and make fun of the people who thought you were famous for stupid stuff. He walked forward, letting the old hat be put on his head. "Hi," he said quietly.

"Mr. Potter. Very nice to finally see you."

"Potter-Dumass, please."

"Very well." The hat hummed. "You're quite powerful and partially trained already. What did that bastard who is your Grandfather do if I may ask? He was always an odd one, that Alexander."

"He took me with him."

"Interesting. Power, yes, much power. Much strength of will. You're nearly as stubborn as he was. You've got bravery more than most. You have a strong destiny as well from what I can see."

"So he told me, and I told him if I had to, I would. If not, I'm a live and let live sort."

"Indeed. That's always a good thing. Your uncle was definitely a hothead. Slytherin would do well for you. Hmm, very well for you."

"Yes, but they don't look too friendly and I'd like to be friends," he said quietly. "I've been with him for a few years now. I don't know too many people. I tend to not know how to make friends and talk to people."

"Hmm. Still, you could find some in Slytherin."

"Not from what Uncle said."

"Good point, but it would still do you well. Though, if all you want is friendship, Gryffindor might be good for you. Then again, with the power in you...."

"Power is nothing without control and desire. I have no desire to save the world or rule the world. All I want is to be a normal kid without all the traveling for a while. I want to play quidditch and play pranks. I really want a steady stream of baths that aren't boiled in a cauldron in the desert."

"Gryffindor it is then," the hat announced to everyone.

Harry handed it off and walked over there, grinning at Ron when he joined him. "Welcome." Ron grinned and shook his hand. Harry grinned down at the rest of the house, waving. "Hi."

"Hi," a few said back. The last kid was sorted and the food appeared, making him one happy boy. He had hoped he wouldn't be eating camp food all year. He hated camp food. He piled his plate up and started to dig in, grinning over at Ron. "This is much better than camp food."

"Camp food?" one of the girls around him asked.

"My Uncle Alex took me with him on his last few jobs. He said it was better than me sitting around being tormented by the aunties. Otherwise I'd be a girly little boy like Malfoy."

Ron snickered. "He's such a poofter," Ron agreed.

Harry nodded. "He is, but Uncle Alex likes them like that. Maybe he'll take that one into hand and fuck him into good manners." Many of the girls at the table glared at him for that. "Have you met my Uncle Alex?" he joked blandly. "He's slept with half the world. I got to wander around Cairo with some guy named Bill for two weeks because he was off scratching that itch as he put it."

"Bill?" Ron asked, sitting up straighter. "Redhead like me? Tall guy? Ponytail? Earring?"

Harry beamed and nodded. "Yeah, Uncle Bill was one of Uncle Alex's students. He taught him everything he needed to know in the field and nearly killed him a few times."

"That's my big brother, Harry," Ron told him. "He's nearly gotten him killed more than a few times according to Mum. Man!" He hit himself on the forehead. "Mum read Bill's letter about walking you around, cursing at Alex because he lasted so long that time." Harry snickered at that. "How did you like my big brother?"

"He was pretty neat," Harry assured him, starting to eat again. "Bill was really nice to me. He introduced me to three belly dancers he knew, and a few native witches he worked with. I got to hang out at Gringotts and sit in on the language lessons now and then too. Alex was always at Gringotts handing something off. We ended up there a lot so I sat in on a lot of classes. I learned how to swear in Chinese last year." Ron giggled at that, kicking him under the table. "Your big brother was fairly neat, Ron. Really patient too. He only told me three times not to talk or look at any of the market's vendors."

Ron nodded. "He's like that with me too, always a big brother." He ate a bite of chicken. "Eat, Harry. Don't waste it."

Harry ate another bite, looking around. He saw Malfoy staring at him and saluted him with his goblet of water, then ate another bite, staring back. There was no way such a pretty boy was getting the best of him.

***

Harry walked into Potions the next morning, looking at the man coming in. He frowned a bit as he walked to his seat, staring at him some more. He'd seen him somewhere before. He could swear he did. The teacher gave him an odd look, sneering down his nose at him. "That's who you remind me of! Grandma Des's sister's portrait!" he said happily, grinning at him.

"Who are you?" he said snidely.

"Harry Potter-Dumass." Snape snorted and went to start his ususal first day speech. Harry listened but he knew from the whole family that they couldn't brew a potion to save themselves, collectively even. He had already known he was going to fail in here. He did take notes, including what he knew. He'd write the family later about this. Maybe he was another relative. Snape stopped beside his desk so he looked up at him. "You really do look like her portrait, professor, and I think she married a Snape."

"She was my great-grandmother. Your father was...." He sneered more. "Pitiful."

Harry glared at him. "If you say so, Professor. What about my Uncle Alex?"

"We've never met."

Harry nodded. "Okay. I'm sure you will since I'm going to be here. Bothering you for at least five years. Not that anyone in my family can brew a thing." He shrugged. "Will you count me off if I'm honest? All the aunts say I'm more like them than anyone else."

"You must still try."

"Yeah, but not enough to drive myself insane, right?"

Snape stomped off, going to bother the rest of the students. He took points off Ron and looked much happier. He looked at the menace in his class again, then got an idea. "Mr. Potter." Harry glanced up and finished his chopping then put down his blade and looked more attentive. "Very nice. Where was the last place you brewed a potion?"

"Um, never, Uncle Alex refused to let me try. I helped him stir a few and they curdled. Just like his. I've helped cook now and then, if that counts any. I'm fairly good at making unicorn food and blasting open the stupid well in the backyard."

"What well?" he sneered.

"The one full of holy water that surrounds Uncle Alex's work area."

Snape blinked at that. "A holy water well?" Harry nodded. "Prove it."

Harry patted himself down then held up a finger and pulled his wand. "Accio holy water vial." It flew in a few minutes later and the teacher caught it, looking at it. "From his work area, in case a demon comes for me. He said it might happen and he didn't want me unprepared."

"What else are you carrying, Potter?" he sneered.

"It's Potter-Dumass. I only answer to those who get my name right, sir."

"Really? And what would you do otherwise?" he sneered.

"Nothing. I ignore people who aren't talking to me." He gave him an odd glare, then pointed his wand at Malfoy, who had his wand out. "Don't try it. He has taught me what he knows." Snape glared at him and he nodded at the wand. "I'm too much like him to sit here and take it." He stared his distant relative down, then pulled something out of his bag and put it on the desk. "Is that what you wanted to see?"

Snape walked forward, looking at the case now on his table. He snatched it and opened it, then stared at the boy. "You brought a weapon into this school?"

"The headmaster knows. I have permission, written permission, with my head of house and she's already seen that." He took it back and put it into his pocket. "It's the heir's sign and sigal."

"I know what it is." He crossed his arms, looking down at the boy. "Your uncle, he's taught you much?"

"As much as he could. I've gotten to go on many digs with him. I've spent time in many places. He can't brew a potion either," he admitted with a small grin. "We buy ours, professor. As a matter of fact, his last potions person just retired. Perhaps you know Master Hays, out of Gringotts?" He nodded once. "He was doing all his and he agreed with Alex that I can't brew and shouldn't be allowed to try." He tipped his head to the side. "Or were you talking about the fencing and the dueling?"

"Those," he admitted sourly.

"He taught me most of that last year. I really do need to keep in practice with my sword. He said he had a room of stuff around here. Do you know where it is? Professor McGonagall didn't when I asked her."

"I do," he admitted in a hiss. "Are you any good?"

Harry shrugged. "I don't know. I've only known now for a year. I suppose I'm okay. I would welcome testing myself so I can train more and get better. I know I can learn more. Uncle Alex is much better than I am."

"I know a bit about dueling myself," Snape noted. "As does Mr. Malfoy."

"I would welcome learning from you, sir, but can I just give up potions now?"

"No. Everyone must take it. You're not special."

"I never claimed I was. Just hopeless in this art. Charms and Transfiguration I'm good at. Defense I'm very good at. Potions I suck at. I'd rather not have to pretend for at least the next five years."

"We'll see." He walked off, going to test the water. He came out of his office. "Who blessed this...well?"

"The unicorns living on the property." He was still working on trying to get this one right. He tried, but it nearly exploded in his face. Fortunately he saw the bubbling and put up a shield bubble around it. It still exploded but it was contained. Harry moaned and put his head down, pounding his head on the desk. "I'm sorry," he announced. "At least it didn't hit anyone."

Snape sneered at him. "A bit dramatic, Potter- Dumass."

Harry looked at him. "What did you expect with who raised me?" he demanded with a slightly insane looking smirk. "I was raised by Uncle Alex. I've been with him for the past ten years and only with him for the last four." Snape shuddered a bit at that. "Yeah. Expect me to start singing in the halls when I finally find someone to shag, sir. I just hope I'm not the slut he is."

Ron gave him a shocked look. "We don't need to know that, Harry."

"Sorry. He is, but sorry."

"He is," Malfoy joked, nodding with a smirk at Harry. "How many times did he share, Potter?"

Harry ignored him. He looked at Snape and handed over his cauldron, bubble and all. "For you, sir. I was following instructions. I have no idea what I did wrong." He put his head back down, banging it a few more times.

Malfoy snickered. "At least you're not all powerful," he sneered.

Harry looked over at him. "I never said I was. Just fairly good at what I can do." He put his head back down again, shrugging his shoulders at the teacher. "Sorry."

"Ten points off Gryffindor for mouthing off in my class and being such a drama queen."

Harry groaned, putting his head back down and spacing off. Someone slapped the back of his head and he glared at the teacher. "Don't touch me," he snarled. "I'm being good. Feel lucky." He saw the others getting up and packed up his things, heading out with the others.

"Potter. Dumass," Snape amended and the boy looked at him. He held up the vial. "You shouldn't have this."

"I should have that but I've got others. You can have that one. He said that there's things around here that could try to harm others. I only handle things when I have to." He walked out, following after Ron at a jog. He felt the dagger slip and grabbed it, putting it on his belt like it was supposed to be. His next teacher looked at it and he shrugged. "Professor Snape wanted to see it." He sat down, looking at his friend. "Sorry about that."

"Not a problem. Mum said you were probably told to show your bum a few times when I wrote her about you. Why didn't your uncle drop you off? You looked so lost at the station."

"He was on his way to gather one of the Lost," he said quietly, looking down at his dagger, then back at his friend. "Another one died on a job and he had to retrieve them. He's about the only one who will. Apparently they were friends."

Ron nodded. "Bill told me about that job. He tried but he couldn't after a while." Harry nodded, looking at the teacher as she came in. Ron leaned closer to him. "You okay?"

"I'm fine. I blocked the explosion," he said dryly, smirking a bit at him and shrugging. "What do I know? There's no such thing as a Dumass who's good in potions." The teacher looked at them so he got to work taking notes. He heard a commotion in the halls and glanced back there, along with everyone else, and saw his uncle walking past the doorway. He waved at the teacher before running out, going to help him. "Uncle Alex!" His uncle stopped to look at him. "What's going on?"

"Bill got hurt. He's upstairs."

"His little brother Ron is my best buddy and he's in my class. Should I get him?"

"Please. Molly's not answering." Harry nodded and Alex went on.

Harry ran in and grabbed his bag and Ron's arm. "His brother just got taken upstairs by my Uncle. He needs him. His mother's not answering the floo yet." He hauled Ron off, following where his uncle had been. When he ran into a choice he pulled his wand and cast a tracking charm. It led him up the stairs in front of them and he ran up with Ron right behind him. They arrived out of breath but not too much later. He pushed Ron forward.

Alex looked at Ron, then pulled him closer to hug him. "He's fine, Ron. A cave just fell on him. He's a bit banged up and his head's a bit more dented, but nothing too tragic that we can't heal. We just need family with him right now." Ron gave him a trusting look and a nod. "Good boy. Now go call your parents. You'd know better how to reach 'em." Ron nodded, going over to the floo the nurse pointed at. Alex looked at Harry. "What are you two skipping? And why are you wearing your dagger in class? Have you had to use it already? It's only the first day, Harry. Not even I'm that bad."

Harry gave him a long stare. "Yes you are, but Professor Snape wanted to see it. I gave him one of the vials of holy water right before my potion exploded. Fortunately I cast a nice bubble around it first." Alex smirked a bit and gave him a hug. He relaxed against him. "Will Uncle Bill be okay?"

"He'll be fine, Harry. We're all hard-headed bastards in the field. Otherwise we'd have died within our first week of camp food." He looked over as an older woman came out. "Molly. A cave fell on him. He's good though. He'll live. Just a bit more dented in the head." She glared at him. "Hey, I got called to find him, not damage him more."

"Fine. Thank you, Alex. Why is Ron up here?" She looked at Harry. "Hello, dear. I see you got sorted with Ron?"

He beamed and nodded. "I did. Ron's my buddy. Uncle Alex said he needed family here so I pulled him with me." He led Alex off. "What is Professor Snape to us?" he asked quietly. "He looks just like Grandma Des's sister."

"They're basically the flipside of the family," he said quietly. "The same way the Malfoy and Weasley clans spread across a pretty single originator, we do. There's one here?"

"Yeah, he teaches Potions. He's a mean shit too. Called me a drama queen. I attributed that to you."

Alex beamed. "They're all good at potions, Harry. We're good in defense and charms and they're good in potions and herbology." He ruffled the messy dark hair. "What else happened?"

"Some sneering, some snorting, some dislike. I asked him if I could just give up now. That was before my potion exploded." Alex chuckled and hugged him. "He said he knows where your room is and he was going to test me in a duel."

"Good. You could use practice outside the family. Teach Ron how to fence. It can only help him." He grinned at Ron as he came back over. "It's a hard field, Ron, but Bill's got the hardest head of any of us since I was a newbie." He gave the kid a hug. "Thank you for taking good care of my nephew here. He's a special guy."

"Yeah, and he made Professor Snape sneer worse than anyone."

"I don't put up with primadonnas," Harry told him. "I get enough of that with Alex and Arens. Now *that's* a drama queen." Alex snickered and nodded. He looked up at his uncle. "Can you show me that room?"

"That depends. What're you skipping?"

"Transfiguration?" Harry offered sheepishly. "Which I'm pretty good at. You spent all last summer teaching me at that camp in Orion."

"I did," Alex agreed happily. "Sure. Madam Pomfrey, need me?" She glared and shook her head. "Hey, talk to Gringotts. They said bring us to you. I bring you those of us who're still alive. After all, no one else loves us like you do." He blew a kiss and walked Harry off, Ron following. "Shouldn't you ask your mother?"

"She told me to go back to class and drag Harry with me."

"Sweetie, when I was here, I maybe attended half my classes," Alex said dryly. "Of course, I was also *the* duel master of my generation. I spent a lot of time in duels for some reason," he noted dryly. He walked the boys down toward the dungeons, finding his room. He found the Potions master stomping up that way too. "Bill Weasley just got brought in, professor. I'm showing the boys my room. Mind much?"

"Uncle Alex, this is Professor Snape. Professor Snape, this is my uncle, Alex Dumass."

"Charmed," he said, shaking his hand. "Are you headed to the infirmary?"

"No, I wasn't called. I came out to stop the annoying prattle going on." He glared at Harry. "Are you not supposed to be in a class?"

"Yeah, but he needs me for the moment. Besides I can already transfigure pretty well. We ran out on a camp site and he had me working on stuff, like sheets. I do a mean cleaning spell too." He looked at his uncle, who opened the door and let him walk in. They all sneezed at the dust. "Eww. Scourgify!" he cast. The room was spotless and he grinned at his professor. "See? It comes in handy in the desert."

"It does," Alex agreed, pulling down two foils. He held up his. "This is my special blade, Harry. Until you can beat me, you may not use it." Harry and Ron both nodded. "Good boys. Now, en garde. I need to spend some time before I can get a report from Bill." He tossed one over and took up his usual stance.

Ron got out of the way, pulling the professor when Harry lunged and Alex blocked him. They watched them dance back and forth, and then Harry pulled his wand again, casting something at his uncle, making him laugh. "Bloody hell," Ron said in awe. The professor glared at him. "Sorry, sir. Never seen that technique." Alex winked at him and did a fancy side- step then disarmed Harry, putting his sword at his nephew's throat. "Harry, please yield?" he called.

"Ron, you sound like a damsel," Harry called back, ducking and body tackling his uncle, knocking him down and sitting on his arm, wand at his throat. "Yield or I'm covering you in jelly."

"Ewww. I'll never get it out of my hair." He bucked up and displaced the kid. "That works better if you out-mass your opponent, Harry." He got the kid onto his back and pinned down, smirking at him. "Like I do you," he said with a happy grin. "See why?" Harry kicked him in the chest and he winced and shifted some, pinning his legs now. "Try it again, Potter." Harry tried to move and couldn't, so he sighed and nodded. "Good try. Better than usual." He got off him and hauled his nephew up with a groan. "I see the food's still better here than I can do in a pot over the fire." He looked at the professor. "Do you duel?"

"I do," he admitted quietly.

"Good. Harry needs to practice against other opponents. He's got the feel for me but not others. Bill doesn't duel very well and Arens only duels for his man of the day." He smirked a bit and moved closer, tipping the man's face up. The chin was removed from his fingers. "You're Elizabeth's son," he said finally. Snape nodded. "She was a beautiful woman. I was sorry she died. She had a gentle nature before she married," he said quietly. Snape bowed his head a bit at that. "Do you fence?"

"I've tried in the past but I've never had formal lessons."

Alex smirked a bit. "I think I can make up for that." The bell rang. "What'cha got, Harrykins?"

"Um," he said, digging out his schedule. "Defense?" Ron looked and nodded. "Defense." He looked at his uncle. "Why did the defense teacher make my head hurt?" Snape and Alex both looked alarmed at that. "Last night. While they were sorting. It was just a twinge but it was there. I blocked it like Auntie Nadia taught me, Uncle Alex, but it still twinged."

"Really?" Alex noted calmly. "Interesting. I think I'll be here for a few days." He patted the boys on the back. "Go to defense."

"I have no bloody idea where it is," Harry snorted.

"Two halls up, turn right, go thirty steps, take a left, down the stairs, then up the adjoining one to the top, then left," Alex told him. "That's the traditional room." The boys nodded and gathered their stuff, heading out to follow directions. Alex looked at Snape. "I slept with your mother."

"She told me."

"Hmm. Good thing I know fertility charms. Huh?" he asked with a grin.

"Are you sure?"

"You look just like her."

"Maybe." He sneered a bit. "What happens if you suddenly get family?"

"Ummmmmmmmm. I'll have a major freak out and I'll yell and scream for a bit at the Fates. Then I'll get drunk, deal with it, and move on with as much contact as possible. Why? Do we need to do a parentage test?"

"It may be wise. My father was blond."

"Really? A blond Snape?" He shook his head. "Sure, if you want. I'll give blood for that. How long have you known?"

"Since I was ten. She got very ill and told me, then ordered me to forget it when she got better."

"Hmm. Deathbed confessions. Always one of my favorite things. So, this Quirrrel? What's he?"

"A stuttering imbecile."

"Ah." Alex sighed. "I know many of them." He put his sword on his back and his other two as well. "Don't you have a class?"

"No. Not at the moment."

"Pity. Want to get a butterbeer?"

"Not particularly."

"That's fine. Tell me if you want to do the test. I'm going to go lurk in the infirmary. Make sure Harry and Ron both get access to this room. I need Harry to practice. Especially if something's coming." He walked out, heading back up to look at Bill. He was awake and groaning. He shook his head, clucking his tongue a bit. "What did you do?" he asked fondly. "They told me you had died, Bill."

"I feel like it," he moaned, holding his head. "What happened?"

"Cave in." He stroked over his forehead. "You'll live. What happened before then?"

"Let him sleep," Madam Pomfrey called. She looked at the weapons he was carrying. "I doubt you need those!"

"These are mine, woman. Desist," he ordered, glaring at her. She backed off. "I also need a report for Gringotts." He looked over as the headmaster came in. "Morning, Headmaster. He got hit on the head with a cave."

"I heard. Did you send your nephew back to class?"

"Yup, to defense."

"Ah. Excellent." He smiled at the weapons. "Removing them?" he asked hopefully.

"No. Harry and Ron have my permission to get into anything I left stored here. I need Harry to continue his duel and fencing training." Bill snorted, then grabbed his head again. "He's not bad."

"He's not," Bill agreed. "He's still a brat, Alex, just like you were."

"It happens," he said with a grin. "Imagine what would've happened if the bloody bitch raised him." Bill shivered and Alex tucked him in. "There ya go. Your brother Ron made the connection earlier and Harry drug him up first to call your family. He'll be back tonight. I'll be back to get a report then. You behave."

"I always try," he said dryly. He shifted some and moaned, so the nurse came over to help him. "I'm sorry Gringotts makes you take care of us."

"It happens, Mr. Weasley. Better me than some unsuspecting mediwitch or healer." She tucked him in. "You rest. You can give your report when you wake up." She looked at Alex. "Out! Come back less armed."

"I'm always armed, Madam. People keep trying to kill me." He looked at the headmaster. "Why did Harry's head hurt when Quirrel looked at him?" The headmaster looked stunned. "He said it did."

"I don't know. I'll have to check." He led the curse breaker out. "I'll set you up in the usual suite? That way your nephew can come bother you later. The ghosts said you were fighting."

"Sparring, Headmaster. He needs practice. He also needs to play. I've had Harry with me for the last four years. I'm sure he's glad to have running water and real food that he doesn't have to cook." The headmaster smiled a bit at that. "He's also fairly good at what he does." He stopped him, staring him down. "Should something unsavory come for my nephew, I will be alerted first. He is a boy and shall not be required to handle anything that an older person can. That includes whatever sort of predator this Quirrel person is."

"He's fairly nice, but he stutters due to a vampire attack a few years ago," Dumbledore assured him.

"Ask me if I give a damn," Alex said blandly. Dumbledore nodded at the underlying threat. "Harry is my relative. He is my apprentice. Anything that takes on my heir, takes on me. Remember that. No matter where I am." He walked on. "The blue room?"

"Yes, that would be fine. The password's still swordfish."

"Thank you, Headmaster. I'll be working with him more later."

"Of course you will," he said quietly, staring at his back. He wasn't sure he hadn't made the wrong decision sending the boy to him. Alexander was an unpredictable wizard at times. Very unusual but very gifted. If Harry turned out like that...

***

Two months later, Harry was writing his uncle a letter in the library begging him to teach defense before Harry had to. This was getting really pathetic at points. Plus he was still having headaches. He finished it and read it over, then affixed the special ring to it. It was a portkey and took it to wherever his uncle was. It took a lot less time than an owl and this was getting desperate. He winced and grabbed his head again, rubbing his scar. Ron gave him a worried look and he shrugged. "I don't know." He rested his elbow on the table and his head in his hand, covering the aching part. "I'm about ready to kill whoever's doing this to me, Ron. I don't know what's going on." He heard the library door bang open and yanked his wand, turning to look at the source, Malfoy. He went back to his pitifulness. Malfoy was a blight, but he beat him all the time.

"Headache?" he sneered.

"Not really. More like skin splitting pain," Harry said lightly. "I'm sure you'd like to share it with me but I don't know the spell for that yet. I'll ask my uncle when he comes back to check on me." He winced and nearly doubled over as it happened again. "Bugger!" he said hotly, closing his eyes and breathing deeply. "Ron, I'm going to be sick," he announced.

Ron picked up their things and helped Harry up, taking him out of the library and toward the infirmary. "What is this?"

"If I had a clue, it'd be dead," he moaned, leaning on a wall as another surge went through him. "Mother fucking hell, Ron. Make it stop?"

"Petrificus totalis," Hermione Granger cast from behind them. "Ron, the other is moblicorpus."

"Moblicorpus," he said, pointing his wand at Harry's stiff form. It floated up a bit and he steered it with his wand. At least until he ran into a teacher and she shrieked. "Harry almost passed out from his forehead splitting open," he said over her yelling. It made her stop. "Granger froze him for me. Can you take over? I'll bump him on the stairs." She nodded, taking over the spell and hurrying him off with Ron behind him. Once up there, he pulled the teacher aside. "He had more than one hit tonight, Professor McGonagall. All we know is that it's something to do with Professor Quirrel. It aches in his scar. He said he was going to puke in the library so I helped him out and he got a third hit. That's when Granger hit him with the freezing."

She nodded, looking determined. "I'll talk to the headmaster." The doors slammed inward and someone stomped in, making her blush. "Alex."

"Minerva. Ron. What's going on?" He held up the letter. "I was in London getting an assignment."

"He's had at least three hits tonight," he offered. "He said it's like the scar's splitting open. Granger froze him so I could get him up here with the teacher's help."

Alex nodded and came over, casting something over the scar while the nurse worked. Then he closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Then he looked at his former schoolmate. "Minerva. I need the headmaster. Voldemort's back somehow. Again." She went pale and he arched up an eyebrow. "Wither and cry later, woman. Now." She hurried off and he cast a blocking charm before unfreezing his nephew, looking down at him. "Hi, Harry. Thankfully I was in London getting a new assignment. How many times in the last week?"

"Four days," he said weakly. "It's almost Halloween, Uncle Alex," he whined.

"I know, sprout. Let me handle this." He looked over as the headmaster hurried in with Snape. "Morning. His scar's been throbbing. I cast a blocking on it, just below the skin. Where is he?"

"I don't know," Dumbledore said quietly.

Snape looked at him. "I've suspected Quirrel of doing something for him," he admitted quietly. "I don't know what however. There is a precious artifact within the castle."

"There's ten or twelve in here, Severus. Which one? Merlin's chalice? The Orb of Grace? The Onxy Ring of Defeat?"

"That's here?" Harry asked. "I thought you said it was in Mesopotamia."

"It had been but I left it here a few years back, kiddo." He looked at the headmaster. "What?"

"We recently imported Nicholas Flammel's stone," he said quietly.

"The philosopher's stone," he mused. "Interesting." Harry flinched and grabbed his head again and they all cast the counter this time. He looked at the headmaster. "Where is he?"

"In the Forbidden Forest."

"Right. I'll be back with him." He walked out, going to get that bastard and make him quit hurting his nephew. He found him coming out of the forest, then froze him. He walked around him, nodding a bit. The turban was flipped off and he found himself looking at an extra face. "Interesting." He floated the body up, taking him up to the castle. He felt the castle start to shriek in horror and waved at the body in front of him. "Look at the back of his head."

Dumbledore looked and flinched. "I don't know what that is."

"It's an unholiness," Alex told him. "Snape!" He came out, glaring at the body. He saw the face and grabbed his arm. "Really?" he asked dryly.

"I left," he noted quietly.

"Fine. Let's chain the bastard up, shall we? Before I lose my temper and turn him into pulp." They floated the body off to the office where Alex called his supervisor and pointed at the extra face. "I need references. Call Des and bring me some. Now." The goblin nodded and disconnected. Alex looked at the body as it woke up, raising an eyebrow. "Good morning. How's your head?" he asked with a slight sneer. "You'll tell me what I want to know, Quirrel. Or else." He walked closer, just being his usual badass self. The teacher whimpered. "Let me introduce myself. I'm Alexander Mikal Dumass. I thought your order was pitiful last time around. This time, you're bothering my nephew."

"Son," he ground out.

"Actually, grandson on one side and great-nephew on the other. But thanks for noticing," he sneered, looking very evil. The man whimpered and tried to move but he was still bound. "Oh, do try some more. I'm so looking forward to talking to you." The man tried to move more as a goblin came in. The goblin came over to look at the other face, poking it. The eyes opened and looked stunned. "What is it?"

"Voldemort. He's a ghoul. This can only be done willingly," he said firmly. He handed over two books. "We have a vault for him whenever you're ready. It's the only way to keep the spirit inside and trapped."

"That would kill him," Dumbledore noted calmly.

"Yay." The goblin looked at Alex. "My nephew keeps getting pains from him."

"I'm sorry. Is he all right?" Alex shook his head. "Where is he?"

"The infirmary."

"Very well. I'll go up and do a permanent block."

"We may need to know if he gets out," Dumbledore told him.

"He won't. We have other ghouls trapped," the goblin noted. "It would cause him extreme pain however. We don't want that, do we?" The headmaster shook his head. "Good." He looked at Alex. "I'll be waiting for your availability schedule." Alex nodded. "They will need a defense teacher."

"From Harry's letters, he could do it," he noted dryly. He looked at the headmaster again. "Do you have a backup?" He shook his head. "If you don't, I'll sub." He looked at the books, then handed them to Snape. "Here. Figure it out and call them." He went to sit with his nephew.

Snape sat down with the books, finding the pertinent parts already marked.

***

Alex looked at the class in front of him, raising his eyebrow. "Sit and shut it!" he ordered. They all stared at him in horror. "Professor Quirrel sprung a brain leak with the extra body inside of him. I am your substitute, Alexander Dumass. Before you ask, I am a curse breaker. I have taken on many creatures for shits and giggles and for the job. I am also Harry's uncle and no, he won't be getting preferential treatment. I don't care who you are, I expect you to do a halfway decent try at the very least. Now, I have the old plans. I think they're crap. We're going to start where you should have."

He looked at the first years, nodding slowly. "Good. There's enough of you." Someone came in, swaggering. He raised an eyebrow. There's only one family that had that hair. "Do you have an excuse, Mr. Malfoy?" The boy looked stunned and shook his head. "Then go get one and get back here within ten minutes. You'll be working with me." Alex looked at the others as the boy disappeared again. Snape walked him back and gave him an odd look. "Did you keep him?"

"I did. He had a personal problem."

"That's fine. Mr. Malfoy, stay up here after you put down your books. We're going to be working on defensive strategies. There's too much hexing in the halls to leave this until later. Mr. Malfoy, do you duel?" He nodded. "We'll do this informally then. First, there is a shield." He cast it slowly, watching the students follow along. "All of you stand up and cast it." Most of them got it. A few didn't and he had to swat Malfoy for sneering. "Try it again. Harry, help them with Ron once you've got him set." He watched while everyone got it. "Good. Now, hex your neighbor. Slowly and carefully." The ones who hexed winced as theirs bounced back. "This is the drawback of this method," he noted patiently. "Malfoy, hex me. Show the benefits."

"What sort?"

"Anything. Just not an unforgivable." Draco gave him an odd look, then cast a simple hex. He smirked at the boy. "Do it again. That wasn't nearly showy enough, Malfoy." The boy sneered and cast something from the fourth year book, making Alex smirk and nod. "Now, did we see that?" Almost everyone nodded. "Bending it so it's not a bubble around you is the next lesson. Every other row unshield." They looked alarmed. "Finite, people." Granger undid hers and took a deep breath. "That's the second problem. It is airproof."

He let his drop and looked at Malfoy. "Try it." The boy created one that was just in front of him. "Good." He sent a pretty simple hex at the boy, gauging his strength. "Very good. You make a good demonstration model. Expect it next class and be here on time or else it'll be embarrassing," he said quietly. He looked at the others, then shot a hex at a few who hadn't undone theirs. "Finite Incantantum," he said slowly and clearly. They undid theirs and they shot a hex. Then the groups switched and only one passed out. He woke him up and looked at him. "Common sense. It's a good thing, young man. What's your name?"

"Crabbe," he moaned. He was helped up and sat down, holding his head. "Sorry, professor."

"Not an issue. We used to bet who could hold it longest. I was never that dumb, doing that means that you lose brain cells. Malfoy, front and center," he demanded. The boy quit leaning on his desk. "Good. Now, those who have it, take your house and work on how to bend it in front of them. That's pretty individual how you imagine it." He nodded, going to do that while Alex got the Gryffindors. Ron had to vent once but otherwise it went fine. He patted Ron on the shoulder. "Bill's got a temper too," he reminded him. "Sometimes you've got to find that spot of calm. Harry, work on that tonight."

"I've got a potions paper."

"Cheat, Harry. Like I care about your potions grade. Work with Ron on that then on this." Harry grinned and nodded, walking out once the class was done. He looked at Malfoy. "You do okay, kid. Fairly well done. Not very fast, but fairly well done." Malfoy tipped his head in acknowledgment. "Had to practice this?"

"My father wanted me up to snuff in dueling," he admitted. "May I have a pass?"

"What'cha got?"

"Creatures."

"Sure." He closed the door and looked at the boy. "You're a smart ass. Harry's told me about you." Malfoy smirked a bit at that. "But I need someone in our social class."

"You are?"

"The Dumass clan?" he asked with a smirk. "Yeah, babe. Trust me. Ask your father. I have need of someone to help Harry learn jewel and painting identification."

"Your nephew and I don't get along. He's *famous*," he sneered.

Alex shrugged. "So am I. It's not like he asked to be. It's not like we cater to it since it's for a stupid reason, like me being famous for sleeping around is. He spent the last four years following me around various sites and digs. He's eaten more bad food than anyone you've ever known." He moved closer. "You're a consort veela," he noted, frowning a bit. "Practice your defense, kid, and talk to your mother this year. There's things you don't know."

"What?"

"Things like each family has curses placed on their veela members." He stroked some of the blond hair. "I'd say from this that yours was monogamy." Draco pulled away. "Talk to her. Tell her that I have a good knowledge of the subject. One of them was mine once." He opened the door and wrote out a pass, handing it to him. "Unless you want to stay and work this period?"

"What sort of identification?"

"All sorts. I'm a curse breaker. We do all sorts of identification. Jewelry, cursed and not, paintings, artifacts, ugly statues. All sorts of stuff." He shrugged. "I don't have time for it and it's not offered anymore. And if you're really lucky, I'll let you work on the potion I'm doing." He made 'shooing' motions. "Go play."

"I want to talk about this."

"Fine. Go hand in the excuse and come back. We can work on tomorrow's lessons. The other first years." Draco snorted and walked off to hand in his excuse then come back. After sending a quick owl.

***

Alex looked at the man walking into his room, then bent back over the potion he had found.

"Are you going to blow up the castle like your nephew keeps trying to do?" Snape asked. Alex handed him the scroll he was working from. "Interesting. Out of balance. You could end up being two." He came over to check it, then sighed and moved him out of the way, going to destroy that mistake and start over again. He shook his head as he worked. "You and your nephew are both hopeless in this subject."

"Dumasses are good at defense and charms. Snapes are good at potions and herbology. It's a well known fact around the family." Snape snorted and nodded. "You know that I need someone to do this all the time, right?"

"No. Your nephew said your last one had retired." He glanced at him and went back to his preparations. "What sort of potions do you usually work with?" Alex handed over another scroll. He looked at it, then at his father. "You use all these?"

"I carry all those. My case is behind you on the table. That's also where the unicorn horn is." Snape got it and started to check the potions, putting out ten of them and shaking his head. "I also pay top dollar. I got those from Knockturn last week."

"I can tell. He was always a dolt in class." He looked at him. "You pay for ingredients?"

"And I put you on retainer per year. Twenty extra gold a month and I don't need them that often but I get pushy when I suddenly run out."

"So stocking up would be a good idea?"

"I tried that, they went bad then I suddenly needed them."

"Fine. I'll consider it." He put that aside and went back to the potion he was working on. "Why are you doing this?"

"Because I need to. Bad things are coming, Severus. I'm sure you've noticed it." He nodded, yawning a bit, but continuing on. "Mr. Malfoy is looking very good. I've been using him as a demonstration model. I also suggested that he talk to his mother about the family's veela curse." Snape stopped chopping to look at him. Alex nodded. "I've known a good few of them. I used to have one of my own," he sighed, shaking his head. "Then she died."

"People seem to do that around you," he noted dryly.

Alex glared at him. "I don't cause the influenza," he said snidely. Snape nodded. "Nor was it my problem that caused her to die by abridging her family's veela curse."

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean that."

"Fine. I accept." He looked at the potion. "How long will it take?"

"Ten hours. Unfortunately I do have class tomorrow."

"As do I." Snape gave him an alarmed look. "I'm subbing for Defense for at least the next month."

"I almost feel sorry for those students. What were you making Mr. Malfoy demonstrate?"

"Shields. Crabbe passed out."

"I heard. I was nearly impressed with him. It shouldn't affect his already mediocre performance."

"Then it isn't just my class. I'm impressed." He looked at what he was doing. "Isn't that the same stuff you put in stews?"

"Only if you want to crap orange."

"I think we did that before school started," he said thoughtfully. Harry walked in and he waved him over. "Didn't I put that in the stew once?"

Harry looked and nodded. "Yeah. We pooped orange for two weeks."

Snape held in a snicker but you could see the smirk on his face. "It does that to everyone. That's why smart people don't eat that."

Alex patted Harry on the back. "Cooking and potions are alike in some ways, only the ingredients are different." He grinned at his nephew. "Good work today, Harry."

"Thanks, Uncle Alex. Did you tell Malfoy to help me with something?"

"Yup. Things that only rich kids who bathe in the gold instead of letting it make more can teach you. Gem identification and that stuff." Harry groaned, looking pitiful. "Tough, kiddo. You've got to know it. I do okay but I'm still not great at it. I have to cast discerning spells and that doesn't always work. When you've got a whole casket of them and one's sending out poison gas, you want to identify them faster than that."

Harry sighed and nodded. "Fine. He approached me and I looked stunned so he laughed and told me you had said so. Should I get him?"

"Sure. You can work on the stuff I just cleaned out of Sunnydale."

"Oooooh. The Hellmouth?" Harry asked, his eyes bright. "Is it as bad as we were told?"

"And then some but the things were egging on the evil there so they had to be removed. I could have used the help really. It took me two weeks to do a plotted cleaning and there's still enough crap there for Bill to go back for, but Molly won't let him since he might get eaten. I've never seen so many vampires or had so many of them trying to eat me. We'll go this summer."

"Cool! I'll have to practice my staking and throwing skills," he said happily. He hugged his uncle. "Where's the stuff?"

"Shrunk. In the blue bag, like always."

Harry got to work finding everything he had brought up for him to help him with, and for Alex to have something to do since he wasn't giving homework, and then went to find Ron and Malfoy. He found them sniping at each other outside the library and got between them. "Guys, Uncle Alex was just on the hellmouth and he brought back *tons* of crap to work on. Come see?" Ron beamed and headed down there to look at it. He looked at Draco. "You're right, he did ask. If you have the time, I wouldn't mind. I know it's an important skill for a curse breaker to have," he said quietly.

"Very well then. I accept your uncle's offer to have me tutor you. Shall we?" Harry nodded, walking with him. "Where is the Hellmouth?"

"California. He said we can finish the clean-out this summer. He said he's never seen as many vampires as he saw there and he nearly got eaten so I'm going to take most of this spring to work on my knife, dagger, and stake throwing skills."

"Crossbows as well," McGonagall said as she walked past him. "Remember, we want you to come back healthy, Harry."

"Yes, ma'am. Uncle Alex was just at the hellmouth."

"I heard. I also heard he's got a vampire stalking him at the moment." They shared a look and a grin, then Harry jogged to catch up. "That boy will definitely make a very good curse breaker with the trouble that finds him." She shook her head and went back to her classroom, going to grade papers. They'd talk to Alex about his lack of giving homework tomorrow.

***

Alex walked into the classroom the next morning looking much younger. He looked about eighteen really. He ran a hand through his thick, dark hair and grinned at Harry, who just looked stunned. "The potion worked." He looked at everyone, noticing only Malfoy wasn't staring in shock. He had seen him change back last night. "All right, back into your groups. We'll do a quick review of the shields in non- bubble format then move onto the next part of shielding using that same shield. Mr. Malfoy, my young assistant, come up here." He got up and walked up to join him.

"Shield please." Draco shielded and he shot something harmless at him, playing really. Draco smirked and shot back something harder, which he reflected, making Malfoy set back up his shield and absorb it. "Good job, Mr. Malfoy. That's the next two steps for those paying attention." The headmaster and two aurors walked in and he waved. "Draco, help your house, Harry, help yours once they're done." He walked over to them, taking them into the hall. "Yes, I know it's rather a drastic step but it's also necessary. Unfortunately something else is going to keep coming for Harry and I'm not exactly at my best. Therefore I did the potion."

"You mean Professor Snape did the potion?" one of them asked.

"Did he say that? I said no such thing," he said dryly. He stared the headmaster down, making him shiver. Then he stared at the other two. "I'm perfectly fine and happy. It was locked in and I'm good."

"Fine. But we still were made aware of some cursed items being brought into the school?"

"I'm training my apprentice and I just did a plotted clean-out of the hellmouth. Two weeks with vampires everywhere."

"And one stalking you," Harry called from inside the room.

"And one stalking me," Alex agreed with a grin. "Harry's very good at breaking some of the more usual curses."

"Do you think that work is appropriate for a boy his age?" one auror asked.

"I went into the training program with people who were apprenticing their younger brothers at his age and younger," he noted dryly. "I'm making sure it's not harming him. He doesn't get anything really nasty. Nothing in the higher, plus two or greater, categories. He can't do those yet. Right now I'm using some of the items I found to help him learn gem identifications. He's doing fairly well so far for the first night. Besides, he's been with me for the last four years. He knows what he's doing in a camp environment."

"That just sounds bad," Ron said, leaning out the door. "Which is the reflection, shield reflectus or shield absorbus?"

"Relfectus, Ron, that should be pretty self-evident."

"I thought so and so did Harry, but Malfoy's yanking chains."

"Hmm. We'll deal with that in a minute," he assured him with a grin. "Go back to it."

Ron nodded at the others. "If Bill could take me and let me do it that way instead of boring homework, I might go most of the year," he told them. He disappeared, going back to stick up for Harry.

Alex shrugged and pushed his hair back. "I need hair things. I haven't got any. I've got to floo home for clothes anyway. My butt spread." He looked at the headmaster. "No one should be able to get into my room. Have they?"

"Two house elves. They tripped a curse to covet an emerald and an onyx. Will they be fine?"

"They should be. They're covet and hoard, ignoring everything but the hoarding, curses."

"Good. Then taking them away?"

"May drive them insane trying to get them back, but I can break them and they'll go back to being pretty."

"Fine, thank you," the headmaster told him. "Is there anything dangerous in there?"

"Some but I'm working on that, not with the kiddies. Harry's not ready to work on something like the Chalice of Souls. Before you ask, that's in my personal work vault."

"Thank you." He led the aurors off, then looked back at him. "You should not wear inappropriate clothes to teach in."

"I know. Any luck getting a decent teacher?"

"The Ministry wants me to appoint one of them."

"Can they do the work?" He shook his head. "Then fuck 'em. I'll stay if it's that bad. Too bad you can't find someone like the Prof was."

"I remember him fondly," he admitted. "I can try." He escorted them out and then went to call him. Immortals were nice, even if this one was rather grumpy and mean at times.

***

Alex looked up as someone slammed open the door to the classroom a few weeks later, smirking at the man standing in the doorway. "Professor Methos. Welcome to your class. I'm your substitute smart ass, Alex." He shook his hand with a smile. "Welcome back," he said quietly.

"Hmm. We'll see. What have you done?" He looked at the obvious demonstration model. "First years?"

"Of course. What better way to start them off right?" He grinned at Draco. "Show off a bit," he ordered. Draco cast the last spell they had been working on, earning a pleased looking smirk. "Good boy. Ten points." Draco smirked and moved to sit down. Alex grinned at him. "I'll stay tonight and go over where I've been. It's not like I've been giving homework so you won't have to grade things. I've been going on the 'you did it you get credit for the day' system really."

"That's fine." He put his bag down on the desk and looked at everyone. "I am Professor Methos. I do suggest you listen to me, but I do not suggest any of you bother me before my second cup of coffee. Doing so has caused irreparable harm in some beings." They giggled at that, especially two boys in the back. "You two. Names?" he snapped.

"I have a few of them. Would you like them all?" Harry asked blandly, smirking at him. Methos' eyes narrowed. "I'm Harry James Potter-Dumass. Sir, are you any good at fencing? I'll need someone to help me work on my form when my uncle's gone."

"You fence?"

"I'm learning."

"We'll see." He looked at the other. "You?"

"Ron Weasley."

"Hmm. I've met your brother Charlie. Very well. Is that where we were?" Alex nodded. "This far in?"

"The first teacher started them off with mollywogs," he said in disgust. "I only got here at Halloween."

"Interesting. Then you've done amazing so far." He looked him over, then nodded once. "Perhaps you should demonstrate where we're going?"

"As you wish." He pulled his wand and they went back to back to start the formal duel. Methos turned too soon but Alex already had the shield cast and was then going for his throat. By the end of the period they were at a stalemate and no one was moving. The whole front row had cast a shield around them to make sure no one got hurt after the first bounced spell. Alex finally gave his most evil smirk and muttered something, making the other man yelp as his ass was pinched and he shot another hex at him, getting him in the chest and turning him frog green. "Do I win or should we continue?" he asked, sounding amused.

"I'll concede this time," Methos told him. "Then again, you are a world champion."

"Five years running and another eight out of sequence. Then again I'm a curse breaker, not a defense person. I only have to know it, you have to do the harder work. You don't usually find something extreme in traps."

"Good point. Thank you for giving me the extra time I needed."

"Not an issue. I've enjoyed working with my apprentice." He shrugged and looked at Draco, then at Ron. "If either of you feel like you might like to join the field, I'll be home for the next three days. Write me."

"That means you'll be gone over the holidays and Grandma Des said she'd kill you if you did that this year," Harry reminded him. "Can we go on a raid this holiday? Just a short one?"

Alex considered it then nodded. "We'll see what we can pull up." He bowed to the teacher then picked up his stuff and left, heading back down to his room. He was leaving it in good hands. The guy had started out teaching him too.

Harry looked at the new teacher. "Sir, that technique where you turned early, are you teaching us to do unmannerly things like that as a matter of habit or as a matter of necessity?"

Methos smirked at him. "I prefer to be on the winning side, Mr. Potter-Dumass. I will teach you the correct method and then how it's usually done and how to beat those that bend the rules as I did. Does that ease your pure little soul?"

Harry snorted. "Who said I was pure and who said I had a little soul, Professor?" Ron gaped at him. "What! You see things traveling and going on digs. There was a temple that had the whole illustrated manual of how to shag a girl or a bloke drawn on the walls. Alex had to draw each figure and then send them on."

"Was it educational?" Malfoy sneered.

Harry nodded. "Quite and Uncle Alex told me why he's shagged half the world's population since he was my age too. When I'm old enough I hope to have one, not many. That was the biggest learning experience." Ron giggled at that. "It was." He shrugged at the teacher. "Sorry, sir. Since we're up to shooting hexes to distract and then shooting a quick second one, can we work on our speed today?"

Professor Methos nodded. "We may," he decided. "Speed is often the issue in winning duels. Get in whatever groups he put you in." He looked at Malfoy, who remained sitting. "You may assist me, Mr. Malfoy."

"Of course, Professor. I enjoy being stared at," he said sarcastically, getting up to help him. It was an honor, his father had mentioned him many times.

***

Harry woke up suddenly, holding his head. "I thought he was dead," he moaned. He got up and went to call the person his uncle had told him to before he left, flopping down in front of the fireplace with the floo powder he had been sent with. "Gruinth, Gringotts," he ordered quietly, rubbing his head. The goblin's head appeared, looking confused. He looked around his wrist at him. "Uncle Alex told me to call you if I got another of these pains from Voldemort," he said quietly. "He's in one of the ghoul vaults."

"Mr. Potter-Dumass," he replied. "He made a report about such matters. For now, let me check. You shall head to the infirmary immediately and have her do a blocking charm. If she cannot, have her call me again. Also, take some pain killers and do not expect to make it to classes tomorrow." Harry nodded. "Is this the first?"

"I felt some burning the other day but nothing like this," he admitted. "I thought someone had done a heating charm on it on the sly. It stopped after a few minutes."

"Very well. Go to the infirmary. I'll be up there by morning with some answers. Have her alert your defense teacher. Go." Harry nodded and canceled the call, taking his floo powder with him. He didn't even bother to change, just grabbed his robe and tossed his flo powder onto his bed, heading up in his pajamas and slippers with his robe tied around him to ward off the chill in the halls. Another surge hit him halfway there and he leaned on a wall, catching his breath. He heard a soft meow and looked down at the cat staring at him. "Mrs. Norris, I need the infirmary badly. Please?" They all knew Filch could talk to her. She scurried off and the caretaker came around a corner, sneering at him. "I need the infirmary, Mr. Filch. Please. It's my scar again. He's back somehow."

The man looked at him. "I'll escort you up there, boy." He followed him, catching him when he fell on the stairs. He picked the boy up and carried him instead, walking him into the infirmary. The nurse came running. "He said something 'bout his scar," he said blandly.

Harry grabbed the nurse's hand. "I talked to the goblins about it. They said to do a blocking charm and administer pain killers. The source is in a ghoul's vault within the main branch. He'll be here by morning and if you can't, his name's Gruinth." She nodded, administering the blocking charm. He relaxed and blacked out.

Filch looked at the boy, then at her. "Need me to wake the Headmaster?"

"Please." He nodded and left with his cat while she got the poor boy out of his robe and covered him. She did administer a light sedative and pain killer, then made a report. She debated calling the defense professor, but he was always so grumpy. The headmaster came in and she handed him the report. "Mr. Potter-Dumass said he'd be here by the morning, Albus," she said quietly.

He nodded, coming over to look at him. "One of his loyal people have used a goblin to free him I'm afraid." He touched the scar, noticing the heat. "It's warm."

"I administered a block."

"Call the goblins back. I'll get Professor Methos up." He hurried off, leaving the boy in the best possible care. They could get Alexander back for the boy if necessary.

***

Methos walked into the Great Hall the next morning, basically a walking zombie. For some reason he hadn't slept that well last night. It was like someone had tried to wake him up. The nurse rushed in after him and spun him around, grabbing his hand reaching for the sword he habitually wore before he could draw it. "We need you in the infirmary," she ordered. "Right now." He nodded, sighing a bit. "I've got coffee for you. There's a goblin waiting."

"Why?" he muttered, following her out. "What's gone wrong now?"

"Six ghouls were let out last night," she told him. "Including the Dark Lord's spirit." That got him moving and he ran up the stairs, going to check on the boy. She found the headmaster sitting beside him. "Here he is," she said needlessly. She poured him a cup of coffee and handed it to him. "Here, you need that."

"Thank you." He sipped it as he looked over the scar, laying his hand on it. "It's still warm. Have we put anything on it?"

"A blocking charm and I administered some pain potion and some mild sedative to keep him out. Mr. Filch had to carry him in. He found him wandering this way and had to carry him when he collapsed." She rung her hands. "I don't know what to do. There's been a goblin here and gone, but he didn't leave much information." She handed over the note he had left her. "That's what they left."

Methos read it. "It's in Sanskrit. They know I'm here?" She shook her head. "Why write it in this?"

"They said Alex said to."

"Ah. He does know I'm here." He reread it. Then he nodded and found his wand, pulling it to work on the scar. "I'm going to break the link."

"That could kill him," Dumbledore said, stopping him. "He's the only one who knows what's going on," he said at the searching look. Methos knew what would and wouldn't kill the boy but he wouldn't take being lied to.

Methos shrugged. "Is his life worth that?" The headmaster sighed and shook his head. "I didn't think so. You have other methods of getting that same information without damaging the boy and making him die for it. Which would you rather do? Have his uncle come back?"

Dumbledore's face lit up. "That may be the perfect answer."

"He's well known to dislike that side's position," Snape said from the doorway. "There was an owl for you, Professor Methos," he said, handing it over. It was blatantly opened but it was addressed to both of them so he didn't get more than an odd look. He looked at the boy. "We should break the link."

"Can we without damaging him?" the nurse demanded. "I won't have you turn him into some vegetable!"

Methos and Snape both looked at her. "Of course not," Snape assured her. "Pull the Compendium of Mental Maladies down for me, Poppy. I need to look up the potion." She nodded, going to pull that from her special bookcase. He looked at Methos. "Do we need his uncle?" He nodded. "Before or after?"

"I can break the charm."

"Finius used to be a curse breaker himself," Dumbledore offered.

"I remember. He had much promise when I taught him," Methos agreed. "Severus, start on that potion. Madam Pomfrey, keep the boy sedated for now. He'll be in extreme pain. The ghoul is very angry. I need to find a source mentioned in the note the goblins left."

"I have the two books they left with us," Snape offered.

"Good. Is either by Urn and Heinrich?" He nodded. "Then I need that one. Headmaster, cancel my classes." He nodded and left on that clear note of dismissal. He waited until they were alone and looked at his former protege. "Do watch out for him," he said quietly.

"I've already had that boy's job," he admitted.

Methos nodded. "I thought you might have. Very good job of surviving, Severus. Very nicely done. I'd give you points but you're no longer a student." He looked at the note again. "Hurry up with that potion. We can't afford to wait."

"Fine." He took it and headed to his classroom, going to cancel his classes for the day. He found Malfoy in there with a letter in his hand. "What's that?" he asked as he gathered materials.

"From my father. He said it serves that blood traitor right," he said, handing it over.

Snape paused to look at it, then at him. "That's more than enough evidence for Dumass to call injury on your family, Draco." He nodded. "Do you want that?"

"I don't know," he admitted quietly. "Can I help, Uncle Severus?"

"Shut the door, put a sign up saying all classes are canceled today and tomorrow." He nodded, going to do that for his godfather. He looked at the potion, then at the boy. "Have you worked with Maypole Flowers?" Draco shook his head. "Damn." He handed him what he knew. "A very fine mince on all that, contrary to all counter indications." He got down in front of his fireplace, using a pinch of floo powder to call someone. "Gregory Sanders," he hissed. A blond headed man appeared, smiling sunnily at him. "I need you. We're having to break the link from Potter-Dumass back to Voldemort. He was released and he's trying to destroy the boy's brains."

"I'll be there as soon as I can apparate or portkey. You're at the school?" He nodded. "Give me a few hours at the most." His head disappeared.

***

Greg landed in front of the school and looked up at it, then took off running. If he had been called back from his safety, this was really serious. Serious enough to miss finals in his Master's programs. Serious enough to flush him into the open. He danced around a teacher on his way down the halls, waving over his shoulder. "Sev needed me," he called. He tapped on the door before walking into the classroom in the dungeon, looking around. "Not much changed. I'm not really impressed with your decorating, Severus." Snape glared at him. "Where do you need me?"

"We're on step seven and I'm barely keeping up with the chopping," Draco told him.

Greg washed his hands and came over to help, looking at the potion then at the instructions. "I haven't done this in years," he admitted. He got sucked in, getting to work.

Draco looked at the undignified jeans and loudly colored t-shirt, then sneered. "Who are you?"

"This is Gregory Sanders, Mr. Malfoy. He was a year behind me and was my apprentice until the Dark Lord made him leave for his own safety," Snape instructed. "He was also Head Boy in his year."

"Tied with Philip Callahan," Greg reminded him. He looked at Draco. "I was the head of Slytherin, Malfoy. You look a lot like your daddy." He went back to work. "You any good at this?" Draco nodded silently. "Then prepare the stuff for step ten and eighteen."

"I don't know how to deal with three of the ingredients."

"Then do what you can and we'll work on it together," Snape ordered. Draco nodded and got a clean knife to start on those things. The instructions said to use a clean silver blade. He looked at Gregory. "Last night, the ghoul of Voldemort was released from a ghoul vault in Gringotts," he said quietly. He noticed Draco glancing at him. "A finer mince, Mr. Malfoy."

"I'm going to go back and double chop, sir. That way I get a more even texture."

"Good." Greg looked at his former professor and friend. "How?"

"He was in the former defense teacher here. They were locked in." Greg shuddered at that. "He had a second head on the back of his head. It was voluntary." Greg winced and moved back away from him. "Potter's link came alive last night and made him collapse in the halls. The goblins instructed us how to break it."

"Good! Where's his Uncle? I heard he got moved into his uncle's house."

"Alex should be on his way," Draco said quietly. "He's very protective of Harry. He took a youthening potion to better protect him." He showed off his efforts. "Do we need smaller?"

"No, that's good. That's almost pulped," Snape noted. "None of this is repeated, Draco."

"I'm not sure who I'd repeat it to," he snorted, looking bitter. He looked at Sanders. "My father said it was a good thing he had been released."

Greg clapped him on the back. "I'm sorry your father's still a dick, Draco, but that doesn't mean you have to follow him. There's other ways and there's no other heirs." He got back to work, taking the next step to start preparing. "Who's doing defense?"

"Methos."

"Hmm. I've heard about him," Greg admitted. "Interesting man. How's the headmaster?"

"He didn't want it broken." Draco dropped his knife, staring at him with fury in his eyes. Snape nodded. "That's why his uncle is so protective of him, Draco."

"Then the wanker bloody well needs him to be," Draco told him firmly. "How dare he!"

"He does. Anything for the end result," Greg told him. "He tried to get me to make stuff for him and I ran instead of being exposed and harmed." He looked at Draco. "If you're any good I can teach you alchemy by correspondence when you're older. That is, if you don't end up being a bratty little dork like you could be."

Draco swallowed. "We'll see."

"Good." He got back to work. "I need the narwhal horn." Draco passed it and the grater over, watching how he did what he was doing. "We'll need the other stuff soon, Draco." He got back to work. "Do we have the three potions made or not?" he asked.

"I have two, the last one will require a day to brew."

Draco looked at it. "The invisibility one? I have six vials in my trunk that I made last year." Snape smirked at him so Draco went to retrieve one or two for him. After all, he could always make more.

***

Methos looked up from his reading as Snape walked in with a tiny vial of rainbow colored liquid. "We're ready?" He nodded. "Someone call Flitwick," he ordered the nurse. She went to do that and he stood up, getting out of the way. Once the teacher came in and took up his spot, the potion was poured down the boy's throat and then the curse was worked on. It finally snapped after a few hours worth of fighting it. The nurse helped them into a bed and got them something to drink and eat before going to check on the boy. Professor Snape was doing it for her. "He's fine," he announced. "His mind seems clear enough." He put away his wand. "We should let him awaken now."

"The present dose of sedative will wear out in two hours." She got him onto a bed and checked him over, then clucked her tongue and ordered a house elf to bring dinner to his office. "There, you go eat, Severus," she ordered. He nodded, going back down there. She fussed over her patients, shooing Ron Weasley out again, for the fourth time that day. Her doors once again flew open and this time she had to shoo Alex out. "He's fine. We've broken the link," she said, stopping him. "He'll be awake in a few hours. Go clean up first," she said, swatting him on the arm. "You smell like you were rolling in dragon dung." He glared at her. She slapped him this time. "Out and bathe!" He snorted and did a cleaning spell on himself before sitting beside his nephew, Ron next to him. "You still smell," she told him. The other teachers laughed at that. "Once he's awake you will bathe," she ordered. "Then you may come back."

"Fine. Whatever," Alex agreed. Ron nodded his agreement. The house elf brought food for the professors and she got to work fussing over them for a bit longer. By the time the headmaster came in, she was nearly ready to scream at the stinky being in her infirmary. Alex looked at him. "What happened?"

"We were hoping you knew," he admitted, coming closer. "Is he fine?"

Alex pulled him closer by the front of his robes. "Dumbledore, what happened?" he demanded coldly, staring into his eyes. "I know how he was let out. They blackmailed a young goblin by holding his wife hostage. What happened to my nephew?"

"The link activated when he was released. He called the goblins as you told him to," he said calmly. "They sent him up here with instructions while they checked on things. He almost collapsed in the halls and Mr. Filch carried him up the stairs. We did what we could while the potion was readied and then the link was broken just a bit ago."

"It took us hours, Alex," Flitwick noted. "It's a very strong link. Forged in blood and pain." He saluted him with his tea cup. "You'll need to teach him shielding before anything else."

"Nadia started to," he admitted. He ran a hand over Harry's head. "There's still a bit of the link there."

"We couldn't slice through it," Flitwick noted. "We opted for pinching it closed."

"Then we'll see what we can do through the goblins," Alex agreed. Dumbledore looked at him and Alex glared at him. "You hurt my nephew and raise my ire," he noted.

Ron tugged on his arm, getting the cold brown eyes focused on him. "Malfoy wasn't in class today. Either he was helping or he was partying."

Alex considered it. "Go get him, Ron."

"I can't. He's a Slytherin in Slytherin territory."

Methos coughed and looked at the nurse. "Call him up, Poppy. Please. I think he may have some more information than we do." She nodded and the boy came up a few minutes later, handing Alex a note. "You knew what we're going to ask?"

"It was fairly obvious I wasn't up here and I wasn't in classes. I've been thinking all day whether or not to give that to his uncle." He looked at Alex, the first person to earn his respect for treating him fairly. "I don't want to see him dead. I don't think it's right that he did this, even if the reason behind it is noble."

Alex looked him over, then read the letter. He passed it to Methos. "Handle that, Professor. I will lose my temper."

"Call insult?"

"Fine." He looked at Draco. "Your father admitted to helping blackmail a goblin through kidnaping so they could release evil spirits into this world, Draco Malfoy. You're young but not that young. You should have some sort of moral compass by this point. Do you support him or not?"

Draco shrugged. "He's my father. I believe in his cause of purity. I don't like this method of his working."

Alex nodded slowly. "And yet, there's many more powerful half-bloods. Why is that?" Draco looked confused so Alex pulled him closer, casting a small charm on his own hands. "Cast that on yours." He did so. He put the boy's hands on Harry's bare arm. "Feel him, Draco." He closed his eyes and felt, then stared at him. "Harry's a half blood. His father was pure, his mother was from a long line of squibs really. A might-as-well-be muggle." He grimaced. "Now, feel me." He let the boy test his strength. The boy turned and tested Ron Weasley, then Professor Methos, which made him look drugged. "He's a special case," he admitted as he pulled him away from the immortal. He looked at the boy. "Now, who was the more powerful?"

"You and Harry," he said quietly. "Why?"

"My blood's been mixed through the years. We've bred animals and didn't think to keep the family that pure. It just happened most of the time because most of us don't really like to travel. My line, and some of yours, founds the backbone of the line in Russia, Belgium, and parts of Egypt and the Mediterranean. We've never been shy about outbreeding now and then when the child wanted it. It made us stronger to incorporate more magic into the family from other sources. We have a whole branch that does wandless magic now." Draco looked awed at that. "But I could care less where the people I slept with got their magic if they have any. Harry's a half-blood. You and Ron are pure bloods. What difference was there between yours, his, and mine?"

"The outbreeding?" Ron suggested. Alex nodded, looking at Draco again. "You've got to admit, Malfoy, there's been a lot of crossing over in the families over the centuries."

Snape snorted from the doorway. "An understatement?" he asked sarcastically. He looked at the nurse, then got a pain potion from her stores, going back to his office. His protege had a headache.

Draco stared at him. "Why?"

"Because those without the bloodline draw power differently. With us it's something in our blood, something that forms us before we're born and sings to us from the womb. For them, it comes from a slightly different source and it's stronger if it breaks through. There have been muggles who break through at the age of eighty and forty and all across the scale. For them to break through in children means that they're stronger than the average who have the right stuff in their blood. With us, it's innate. With them, it's a special gift. Gathering gifts means you can add that gift into your bloodline." Draco shook his head, looking confused.

"Think of it this way. Think of a garden reception buffet. The same people, the same food, the same chatter. Then you add in a new person and things change. They bring dishes to the next event and new news and new gossip. That changes those that had been boring and sated before into those who needed new life. The muggle borns are like those new people into the garden party circuit. They add new flavors and new gossip into the chain. Otherwise, everything's the same and you slowly start going insane and weak."

"We're not weak."

"You are compared to Harry."

"Yes, but he's supposed to be *special*," he protested.

"I'm not. Even without experience, my generation was stronger. The weakest of my year was your strength." Draco frowned, looking at the professors, who both nodded. He looked at him again. "The old line magic can only spread so far, Draco. There's only so much to go around. With the new magic floating in and out of the pool, it thins the older magic out so it can reach more and activate more of the newer magic. The older magics were built on earth sensing. There were those who could claim Druid gifts up until about three generations before mine.

"One of my aunts was one. She's the one who helped start the curse breakers because she was innately drawn to the bad magic that could hurt the humans who didn't have a clue and the wizards and witches who couldn't handle it. She knew that the gifts were going to fade out. Her grandmother's generation had ten with Druid gifts of Earth Sensing. Hers only had four born and one who forced themselves to be." Draco shivered at that. "Yes, I know, dark magic," he said with a small smirk. "Your generation has none born, Draco. Mine had two born. I'm one of them. Harry's and your generation has none born. Your father's had none born."

"We had two born," Flitwick corrected. "A child of your line and one other in Russia. She was killed by Stalin's purges," he said sadly. "Your child lives yet, Alex, but it's unawakened."

Alex looked at him. "Does he know?" He shook his head. "I'll find the sources. Thank you, Finius." He looked at Draco again, then back at him. "Theirs?"

"All curse breakers have a touch but none have been noted with the true gift as you show, and yours was weaker," Methos told him. "I've visited the other schools and since the end of the war, none have shown it. Mr. Potter shows the weaker, curse breaker strain but not the pure gifts. I'm sorry."

"I'm not. I don't use mine because it about killed me with a few earthquakes." He looked at Draco again. "Do you understand now why it's not all good to be pureblood? Yes, it's something to be proud of, but the blood gets too diluted. You lose the special spark and it's down to the flatter specialness that can only exist but not create new sparks."

"So if there's a mudblood born with the gifts, it wouldn't surprise you?" Draco asked.

Alex nodded. "That's true. If there was one, I'd expect it from the non-blooded families." He smirked at him. "It doesn't dirty the blood, it cleans it and purifies it again so it's stronger and that spark comes back. If you look at the birth records of those tested at birth for gifts, the average score isn't that different among the three classes of wizards, but the few who stand out are most often not purebloods totally. Yeah, his daddy was one, but his momma's family hadn't had the spark in generations. Harry's got an aunt who's so hateful of magic that she's denounced those muggles who follow the ways without the powers. She doesn't even allow the mention of magic in muggle books in her house because she hates it so much." Draco sneered at that.

"Harry almost got raised by her," Ron noted.

Alex nodded. "I demanded to take him in when the headmaster came to me first. I wasn't going to let anything go live with her. She couldn't raise a rabbit." He stroked Draco's cheek. "You've been exposed to many ideas today, Malfoy. You need to think about this. Yes, I'm going to call insult on your father. Yes, he's going to try to get me for it. I could actually cry insult all the way to claiming you because he knew what he was doing to Harry." Draco paled at that and he smirked a bit. "Your father isn't the sort to take orders without a good reason, Draco. Why is he taking orders from that weakling Dark Lord?"

"He's weak?" Ron asked. "People are still scared of him, Alex. How can he be weak?"

"Easy, Ron. He didn't do most of what was attributed to him. That was his minions. He only took on special cases. Correct?" Ron nodded, that was pretty well known. "Yet, he couldn't beat an infant. A half- blooded infant."

"Harry said his mother's sacrifice...what the headmaster told him," Ron stumbled.

Alex shook his head. "Nope, sorry. Yes, Lily protected him with her death. That wouldn't have let him live like this and it wouldn't have caused him to become a ghoul. There's very few reasons why ghouls are born, Ron. Besides, I know for a fact that house elves are stronger than he is. They just don't fight back when you kick them. Some day, I'll explain advertising and PR to you guys. You'll like the subject. It's how you create a totally fake image and reputation using a few incidents and some media presentations."

"Tricks and glamours to make beauties out of brass," Draco said quietly.

Alex nodded. "Yup, that's PR and advertising, Draco. That's it exactly," he said with a small smirk. "Think about his PR campaign. He had people going out to do his dirty work for him and advertising it with the dark mark. He had them so scared that they reported and bragged to the press, which spread rumors and knowledge of him so he'd be more greatly feared. He hardly ever taught his death eaters anything. He hardly ever did anything on his own. He was supervising. Like a head house elf." Draco snickered at that. "Seriously. He's like a head house elf at a great estate, like yours or mine. He rules all the other house elves but there's always something more powerful that they want."

Draco smirked at him. "Is he really a house elf?"

"No, from what I hear he was a very charismatic and energetic young man who wanted power more than anything. People follow others like that because most people want others to make their decisions for them. Welllllll." He shrugged. "They let them make stupid decisions for them and then they pay the price." He stroked Draco's cheek again. "I'm not asking you to do more than think, Draco. You're a smart boy. You have that sort of magnetism yourself. Of course, if you become a dark lord, then Harry and Ron will have to whip your tail up and down the street," he offered dryly, making Draco chuckle. "Think. Talk to Snape. Talk to whoever you trust. All the while I'm going to making your daddy sorry he was ever born." Draco nodded, leaving them alone.

He looked at Ron. "House elf magic is *fascinating*. They can do nearly anything they want. Including apparating inside Hogwarts." Ron gaped. "Seriously. Plenty of the older time bastards used to seal their treasures with house elf magic and house elf blood. You'll get a quick class on house elf magic if you become a curse breaker. Bill hated those lessons, they bored him. That's why he's doing Ancient things. They didn't have as many house elves and used human blood bindings usually. People do terrible things so you don't learn their secrets. It's a law somewhere in our blood." He turned back to Harry, stroking over his forehead. "He's running a tiny bit of a fever," he announced. The nurse came over to help him.

***

Harry stumbled into his uncle's work area, giving him a hug. "Thank you," he told him.

"It's nothing, Harry." He snuggled him in tighter. "You're a good boy and you did the right thing. Now, let's get back to work."

Harry moaned. "Uncle Alex, please?" he begged. "Can I be a normal little boy for a while?"

Alex looked down at him and nodded. "Sure, Harry. You just want to play pranks and play quidditch and that stuff?" Harry beamed and nodded. "I did that myself," he offered with a grin. "As a matter of fact, I'm staying here until your next game so I can see you play. I'm very impressed with you, Harry. You're a very strong little boy."

"You make me sound like a baby water buffalo already out in the fields," he complained, but he was grinning.

"Of course you are. That's why you're going to breed many babies, so you can have stronger little water buffalo children and I can get more work out of you lot." Harry giggled at that, giving him another hug. "Speaking of.... anyone here spark that interested feeling I described?"

"Not yet. I do know I'm going to settle down and not sleep around like you did."

Alex smirked a bit. "I had fun."

"I bet," Harry said sarcastically, looking up at him. "Still having fun?"

"Yeah," he admitted, looking smug. "I love my life."

"Good. When I give you grandnephews, you can spoil them, within reason. They won't be going on any digs until they're at least fourteen. I still can't believe I caught Arens and his boy of the moment shagging at eight." He rolled his eyes. "And then they invited me to join in." Alex laughed at that. "Sure, you laugh now."

"No, I'm more laughing about how you screamed like a virgin spinster seeing sex. It was kinda funny. Embarrassed Arens to death. His toy of the moment wasn't greatly pleased either."

"I bet not. Especially since Arens about killed him for offering me a taste."

Alex grinned at him. "I don't care if you shag boys, Harry, as long as they're human boys and not house elf boys or camel boys or even horse or llama boys, I'm fine with you doing boys or girls." Harry blushed at that. "Should I take you out and have you broken in?"

"For some reason, I want more than a quick thing, Uncle. I don't want to be the school slut."

"Yeah, neither did I," he sighed, shaking his head. "I never said a thing about what I did but somehow they always knew. Then again, Hogwarts got an influx of foreign students because I was such a slut." He grinned at Harry. "Some of them were pretty nice. What did you think of the school in Saudi Arabia?"

"It was scarily quiet."

"It was," Alex agreed, grimacing a bit. "All the girls were really polite but you couldn't touch them. Four of them transferred in to try to woo me, did I ever tell you that?"

Harry gave him an odd look. "I'm not sure I want to know about you debauching four Saudi princesses, Uncle Alex. I've heard more than enough of those stories from Arens over the years. He told me a lot more than I needed to know about how you used to whore your way around the world. He's the one who showed me the phone book of lovers."

"At least I'm responsible enough to mark them down in case something happens," he noted dryly.

"Yeah, because if you didn't, you'd never remember them," Harry told him, patting him on the arm and getting free of him. "I love you, Uncle Alex, but I want a girl or a boy friend, maybe even a lover, but no less than that. I want some emotion to go with the sex. I want what you had with HER." Alex nodded, looking a bit more serious now. "Do you think I'll find it?"

"I think you will. I know you've already got some fans in Granger and Ron's little sister. Molly said she's got a horrible crush on you."

"I remember her at the station," Harry admitted. "She blushed and stuttered. She was cute but so little! I think I want a girl who's going to be able to keep up with me. One who likes to cuddle and kiss bruises. I'd rather not have someone who stares at me in awe, I want someone who wants to hold me and help me."

"That's a good idea," Alex assured him. "I'd rather see you with someone who could help you instead of wait at home on you like the aunts do." He grinned at him again. "How do you feel?"

"Crappy. I'm still tired. It's like something's being sucked out of me." Alex checked him and shook his head. "I know, we've already checked all that. It's part of the recovery. The energy's going to heal the headache I had." He grinned at Ron and Draco as they came in. "Came to make me feel better?"

"Not really," Draco told him. He handed over a letter. "I was instructed to hand this over without looking at it. What has my father done now?"

"Oh, he's threatened, bribed, and tried to kill me," Alex said dryly. He opened the letter, reading it and snorted. "And now he's offered me you to take over as the administrator of the family's assets and to head over my works." He handed over the letter and grinned at Ron. "We've been talking about boy and girl friends. What sort do you want?"

"A nice girl who'll not make my mum scream at me like that one witch Bill brought home from Egypt a few years back."

Alex snickered and nodded. "I can see that. She was a bit sweet and innocent, very fragile and quiet. Very much a devout Muslim woman. I doubt Molly would get along with someone so self-effacing."

Draco stared at him, waving the paper like a flag. "Did you read this!" he demanded in a high, screechy voice. "He's giving me to you like some house elf! He thinks I'm a house elf!"

Harry patted him on the back. "It'll be okay, Draco."

"Yeah, Alex said house elves are some of the strongest magical creatures in the world," Ron assured him.

Draco glared at them. Then he stomped out, going to talk to his mentor, Professor Snape. He stormed into the classroom, still waving the letter. "He's giving me away like a house elf!" he shrieked.

"Calm down, Mr. Malfoy."

"Bugger you! My father gave me to Alex Dumass like I'm some bloody little house elf and sex toy!"

Snape took the paper he was waving around, looking at it. Then at the boy. "You'd be rich, pampered, protected, and kept like a cherished harem slave." Draco let out a wordless shriek, looking very stressed out.

Alex walked in and hugged Draco. "Nothing said I have to accept, Draco. After all, I'm annoying him greatly just by existing," he said in his ear.

"He would be your pampered harem slave, correct?" Snape prompted.

"Yeah," Alex agreed with a grin. He gave Draco another hug. "It'll be fine, Draco." Draco pulled away and stared at him. "Really. I'm annoying him to no end with this, Draco."

"He said in the letter that it's either this or he's killing himself and naming you my guardian, which means you can't bugger me night and day for the rest of my tired life."

Alex took the letter back and read it over, then snorted. "Huh. Yes, I can." He looked at him. "You're too young and I'm all about choice, Draco. I would never force you to do that. I might let you handle the estate stuff since it bores me to sleep. You could even handle the money stuff, but I'd never sleep with you until you're of age and you wanted it. That is, if your family curse wouldn't kill you." Draco swallowed and nodded. "Again, I'm all about the choice in these situations. I've been offered many women and men in the past for various things. Loans, people wanting to trade for special artifacts to gain power, poker debts, because they wanted to share a special memory with their spouse.... All sorts of reasons."

Draco blinked at him. "How many people have you slept with?" he asked in awe.

Alex shrugged. "I quit counting after a hundred. I have books of them all."

"Please tell me you're kidding," Draco said in awe. Alex shook his head, grinning at him. "Estimate. How many?"

Alex considered it, his head moving back and forth, side to side. "Maybe a thousand?" He shrugged. "I have no real idea. Harry!" Snape shuddered. Harry stuck his head in. "How many people were in those books?"

"The slut phone book you keep? I don't know. Accio phonebook," he announced, getting it flying into his hand. He held it up to show Draco, who's mouth fell open. "That's from his school years." He tossed it to Draco.

Alex looked at the spine. "Six years. That was a few good years." He took it to look through, smiling at a few names. "That was a nice few years. Oooh, I remember her," he said happily at one name. "She was really fun."

Draco snatched the book back, looking at the name. Then he looked at Alex. "You slept with McGonagall!" he asked, looking shocked.

"We were yearmates," he said with a small grin. "She was a hot quim in her day."

"Ewww!" Harry said, shuddering in horror. "Oh, God! Ron!" he said, wandering off. "Take this mental image from me before I get stuck on it!"

Draco gave Alex a look like he was insane. "You slept with *her*!"

He nodded, pulling out his wallet and showing off an old picture from his school days. He pointed at her. "That was a teenage McGonagall. Blame me much, mate?" he asked with a wicked smirk.

Draco looked and blinked, then walked out to show Potter and Weasley, who stared at it. "That was her!"

"Man, she's let herself go," Ron said dryly. He shivered. "Can we slip her some of that youth potion you think?" Draco gave him an odd look. "It'd be nice to have one hot teacher to look at. Otherwise someone will have to start fantasizing about Snape, which is so very wrong."

"Thank you for taking that mental picture out of my head, Ron, but now I have a worse one," Harry moaned. He walked off, going to beat his head on the wall like a house elf.
Draco returned the picture, then walked off again shaking his head. He walked up to Transfiguration, closing the door behind him since she was alone in the office. "My father just offered me to Alex for his personal body slave. Based on your prior relationship with him, do you think it's worth it?"

She choked and spluttered. Then she burst out crying and ran to her office for a long cry.

"Sorry," he called after her. "I wanted first-hand information!" He went back to look at the directory of lovers. He finally looked at his head of house. "At least he never slept with Dumbledore."

"Thanks Merlin," Snape agreed. "Why is Mr. Weasley giving me funny looks?"

"He wanted to give McGonagall some of the youth potion so he could have a hot teacher to stare at before someone decided to start fantasizing about you. Dumass is off beating his head on a wall like a house elf."

Snape closed his eyes and slowly shook his head. "Go away, Mr. Malfoy, and think about your options at the moment. Write your mother or something." Draco left, taking the damnable book with him. Snape got up and closed his classroom door, locking it completely so no one, not even the headmaster could get in. Then he sat down and cackled for a good, long time.

***

Lucius stormed into the room where his son was waiting. "You do not have a choice."

Draco pointed his wand at him. "I can hex you and laugh. Alex has taught me some things that would make you very afraid." He sneered at him. "I'm not a piece of property, father. I'm your heir. If I go to him, there'll be no more Malfoys."

"He never keeps anyone," Malfoy sneered.

"Yes, but I'm still part veela, father, and there's a curse on the family. Either I'm monogamous or I'll die and so will the rest of the line. Mother was very candid about that. Either way, your precious line dies out." He glared at him. "Couldn't you not bend over and take it up the arse from the dark lord just that once, Father?" he asked bitterly. "Just once so that your family wasn't destroyed? Generations and centuries of Malfoys are looking down on you and sneering for your stupidity," he spat.

"You'll go to him and let him break you in, Draco. It is your duty if I say it is."

"Even if it is, he's refused to touch me until I'm of age and come into my powers," he said coldly. "If so, the Malfoy line is dead and therefore the will's apocalypse clause is now in effect." Lucius looked stunned. "Do you really want that, father? Because I'm sure we can combine with the greater wealth of the Dumass clan!" His father backed up a step. "You fucking bastard. You're going to pay for giving me away like a house elf. Remember, you used to drag me around *everywhere* with you, father. Owls are already on their way to the Ministry, the paper, and Mother." Lucius went pale at that.

"I suggest you commit suicide instead of going home!" He got up and faced his father down, his wand still clenched in his hand. "I loathe you. At least he sees me as a human being of worth. Unlike you, sperm donor." He walked past him, rudely shoving him out of the way. He called the bank, getting the goblin over his family's accounts. "My father has seen fit to give me away like a house elf to Alexander Dumass. Since I'm part veela and with the family's curse of monogamy on it, would that not create the situation for the apocalypse clause?" It nodded slowly. "Then enact it. Apparently I've been sold," he sneered.

"I know of Dumass. He is very fair and very generous," he said quietly. "He will not touch you until you are ready and of age. He will also not harm you. He's never been like that, Mr. Malfoy. If anything you'll be more spoiled than your mother ever has."

"With how he treats his nephew...."

"Harry is his heir and apprentice. He is being trained by him. His spouse is a different matter. You'd be expected to sit home and manage the collections and the library while he went out into the field. Personally I believe you could make him slow down again. He should slow down and enjoy his reyouthened life. After all he had been hiding behind that disguise spell since he had been hit with that youthening curse ten years ago." Draco looked stunned. "You thought that's what the potion was for?" He nodded silently. "It was to take off the disguise that Des had put on him. He was youthened down to a child when it went off. Fortunately a member of his family was still living and felt it.

"They came for him and helped him heal. Des revived most of the family to heal him and to protect his secret. Now that he's doing it openly.... I'm overjoyed that he's decided to be open with his age now. He's only seventeen at the moment. He should be enjoying life, not working for a living he doesn't need. His family is richer than yours ever was, even at the height of prosperity when you were near royalty." He grinned a bit. "Therefore you will be spoiled and doing the world a great favor if you make him take back up Quidditch for a living instead of curse breaking. Not that he'll ever truly give us up, but he should cut back."

Draco frowned a bit at that. "He can play?"

"He once had teams killing each other to recruit him while he was in school. They used to ship in women for him to play with so he would remain happy and healthy. Those were the bad days for venereal diseases you know."

"I hadn't, but it makes sense. You really think it's suitable?"

"I think it would be good for both of you. You would be spoiled but you'd also be cherished and valued, which would mean that the Malfoy sneer might disappear for good," he said a bit smugly. "He would get to relax and enjoy his youth again. It can only benefit all. The balance in that is the apocalypse clause in the family will. Is your father going to die?"

"I suggested it strongly. Owls are already heading home, the Ministry, and the paper." The goblin smirked a bit at that. "I'm sure he'll want to, but with the act of giving me to a man, there will be no further children with the family curse."

"True," he agreed. "Unless you decide to do a gender
reassignment potion?"

"Eww," Draco said with a shudder.

"Just suggesting it as an idea, Mr. Malfoy. Very well, are you accepting this?"

"Father ordered me to. He's already signed me over and filed the paperwork. Once you're notified, enact it. I won't have father betraying generations of Malfoys for his dick's pleasure."

"Very well. What did he do?"

"He was part of the reason the vaults were opened," he said quietly. The goblin gave him a harsh stare. "He wrote me a letter while it was going on. I got it the next morning. I'm the bribe since Alex called insult on him for intentionally harming Harry."

The goblin nodded. "Go with him, Draco. It would be better for you. I will start that clause immediately. Now that I know of it, I must report it by tonight at close of business." Draco nodded, understanding that. "I wish you well. You will be much cherished as a consort. Remember though that he does have a finite patience limit with whining, teasing, and bossy people. Those are usually the days he ends up in the field for three years straight." He signed off and ran a finger over that clause, starting the chain of events.

His bosses and a few of the board came in to see what was going on. Anything that required that massive of a move usually went through them. He replayed the conversation entirely for them. It got grave nods but they didn't stop the process. Lucius was a conspirator but his family would be protected by this while they charged him. There was still some money left out of that clause and they could easily seize that and the family manor if it wasn't included. The ancestral home of the Malfoys wasn't the present manor, and Draco could have the old place instead.

***

Draco mother stormed into the school two days later, finding her son and dragging him off by the hair. "How dare you ruin this family!"

"How dare you give me away like some house elf!" he shouted back, getting free and glaring at her, smoothing down his jumper. "You gave me away to a male, mother. You signed that paperwork with father. Of course the apocalypse clause was enacted. I am the last of the family. I won't be having children since you gave me to a man! That was the clause!" She flinched. "What's the matter, mother? Can't live on what's left?"

"The goblins seized it!" she hissed.

"Wonderful. Since father helped free the ghouls, they should!" he shouted. She looked stunned and started to cry. "Mother, don't start. I'm not giving you anything. Talk to the goblins if you want something of your own." He turned and walked off again. "Thank you for giving me away, mother. Apparently it was a decent thing for you to do before I turned into my paternal contributor." He opened the door to his classroom and glared at her. "I'd hate to be that stupid and ruin the family." He walked inside and slammed the door behind him. "My mother apologizes for her rudeness." He sat down and glowered.

Harry looked over at him. "You okay, Draco?" he asked quietly. Draco shook his head, glancing at him. "If you need to vent, I can be yelled at. It wouldn't be the first time. I can also tell you about all the aunties at the house and most of the unicorns."

"You've got unicorns?" he asked, looking at Potter. "Why?"

"There's a whole herd who lives on the land. I even get to help milk them now and then," he said with a slight grin. "Alex likes unicorn cream in his tea." Draco blinked a few times at that. "You'll like the house, Draco. It's very warm and inviting. Lots of little places to curl up and read. Lots of busybody aunts who feed you until you beg for mercy. You'll have your own room in Alex's suite. Just watch out for Mel. She's a berk and a bitch."

Draco nodded, relaxing a bit at that. "Do you have pictures?" he asked quietly.

"Six or seven," he admitted quietly. "I'll show you later." Draco nodded, turning to pay attention again. Harry relaxed and went back to taking notes. It would be okay now.

***

Alex walked into the house and cleared his throat. "Meeting!" he bellowed. The aunts all came running. "Who here remembers the Malfoys?" Nearly all the aunts raised a hand. Alex shut the door and leaned on it. "Mr. Lucius Malfoy was behind releasing the ghouls. He wrote a note to his son, Draco, about how proud he was of his actions. I called injury on him." His grandmother moaned from the stairs she was sitting on. "He's tried everything and even tried giving away his son. When I showed no signs of relenting, he signed over his son without my authorization.

"It was either take the boy in or else he'd be homeless and his family name in shame and shambles. The goblins enacted the apocalypse prophecy in the family will. It's about the same as ours," he noted bitterly. "He'll be coming home the next holiday and I expect everyone to be nice to the boy. He is a Malfoy, the only and last Malfoy, and even his mother signed him over. The goblins, upon hearing his reasons for enacting the apocalypse clause, then took the rest of the Malfoy estate not included in it away from the family and charged Lucius and Narcissa in front of the Ministry. Therefore we're shielding my new mate and he's a consort veela, half if I'm not mistaken." That got another moan from his grandmother.

"From the same line," he noted dryly, making her whimper a bit. At least it was a change. "He and Harry have learned how to get along. Draco's a smart little boy and I've already told him I'm not touching him until he's of age at least. I expect Harry's already shown him all the pictures he's got and warned him about Mel and Nadia's tempers. They'll be home in three days for the Easter holidays. I expect you to treat the boy like you do Harry and his friends.

"By the way, he's friends with a Weasley. Bill's little brother Ron. He's looking like a good one to train too." He looked around. "Any arguments and yelling, get it out now," he offered. "Draco doesn't need it and the goblins convinced him it was his only safety and for his own good, which I agree with. Which was why I warned them before now. I will *not* have any of you riding that boy for his misfortune of having those two as parents."

"We'd never do that, Alex," his grandmother said firmly.

He looked at her. "Yes, you will. You've done it to Harry once or twice too. Always in a heated moment but you have. Why do you think I took him with me?" She looked embarrassed. "We will go along with the assumption that Draco will be my mate when he's older. We do have complimentary magic. He is strong enough to sense power. He's a Slytherin like I was and he's every bit as charming as I was at that age." That got some sweeter smiles. "If he desires it when he's of age, I'll release him from his servitude. I've already assured him of that. So he'll need a room in my suite. Put him beside Harry in the spare bedroom."

"You don't want to do that. That means you can't bring a woman home," Aunt Cordy, the head aunt, noted bitterly.

"I can't do that now anyway and I've got a flat in London if I need it," he reminded her. "I'd never rub the kid's nose in it that way. Not with his gifts coming due in a few years." That got some sighs. "He's in Harry's class." That got some heated glares in the direction of the other manor house. "Grandma, I want you to go over what Draco has left and make sure it stays separate from our stuff, just in case he does want to flee when he's of age. I'll be acquainting him with the various collections within the family since they'd be his job when he gets older. That way he can start under me, you, and Nadia and slowly take over for us." She nodded, accepting that.

"Aunt Cordy, introduce him to the unicorns, dear. Help him find a spot that's safe and comfortable for him to hide in when he gets overwhelmed. Then leave it alone. Let him clean it if he wants." She nodded. "Be blunt about it because he's not going to understand why he'll need it." She nodded again, looking wise. "Mother!" She appeared in a flash of smoke. She was now a vengeance demon and she wasn't allowed to live in the house since she had changed over. "I got given a boy."

"I saw. He's strong, he'll be fine, Alex," she promised, kissing him on the cheek. "Even though it means no grandchildren I'll accept Draco. He's a very pretty boy."

"Who will not be taking a gender potion but he does have a good grasp of potions," he told them all. That got some smiles. They all needed someone who could do potions around the house. "Try to soften the blow if you come back, mother. I haven't told him anything about you yet and I'm not sure Harry knows."

"He does. I told him last year," she assured him calmly, smiling a bit. "It'll be fine, Alex. Just calm down. We'll protect the boy as if he were Harry. Now go fly. Harry didn't know you could play quidditch." He rolled his eyes. "Son, you're seventeen again. Go play." He sighed and grabbed his broom from the closet before going outside. She pulled up a book she had stolen from Draco's old home, handing it to Cordy. "Here. The boy's old family. They got the manor house but not the ancestral home. Any single portraits are going there and at least one copy of each family member's portrait as well. The will was pretty specific. He's going to get to keep most everything inside but the building." She faded out, then came back. "The goblins did warn him about gender potions. I wouldn't try it." She faded out again.

"I know cursebreakers get into trouble," Aunt Nadia noted, clenching her hands together. "This is a bit much however. For both him and Harry. I hope those two can continue to get along." She went to scream in the backyard, getting a few of the unicorn babies up to cuddle her.

Des looked at the other women in the family. "We'll protect the boy as well as we ever did Harry. We'll even lay off Harry for a bit. He probably just wants to be a normal boy after being with Alex for four years straight." They all nodded at that. "Cordy, start training Alex and Harry in how to date and be a proper boyfriend this summer. It's not too early to make sure they've got all the pertinent points down." She nodded, going to make notes on that. "Someone tell Nadia to check Harry's clothing. I want to see him in something other than Alex's clothes. Also, get her onto Alex's wardrobe again."

She stood up and came down the stairs, heading for the ten story library, going to look up information on the family. The boy's last picture was very cute. If he kept that pale coloring he'd look stunning next to Alex. He even looked a bit delicate. That would only help him later in the bedroom. Alex liked them a bit delicate now and then. She'd make sure Nadia got through to him about all that he could do as long as he talked Alex into it first. A good lover could work their lover into a frenzy and get anything they wanted if they played their cards right and she took that one for one who could.

***

Alex looked up as the door opened, smiling at Harry, Draco, and Ron. "Hey, Ron. Crowded house?"

"Mum said I could come over today. I can floo home later if it's okay."

"Like I care?" he said with a shrug. "Harry, Nadia's on another clothing kick." He grimaced and whimpered. "Also, expect to have the 'caring and nurturing a lover' talk with her, boys. She and Des decided it'd be a good idea so Harry wouldn't turn into me." He went back to his reading. "Draco, you've got the room next to mine. Today I want you to go up there, put up your things, then explore the house with Harry so you learn where everything is."

Draco walked over and kissed him gently on the cheek. "He's shown me a lot already," he assured him. "I'm not feeble."

"No, but this way you can get accustomed to things so we can start training you in how to handle stuff like the cursed artifacts lying around here this summer." Draco looked amused at that. "Seriously. We've got cursed stuff, embedded stuff, unholy stuff, and plain old dark stuff, lying around here and there. The library's full of books on curses, hexes, and transfiguration. I'll take you to the bookstore tomorrow so you can order whatever potions books you want." He grinned at him. "With Professor Snape's approval of course."

"Of course. I had wondered why he had said he'd see me tomorrow." He sat on the arm of is mate's chair, looking at the book he was looking at. "What's that about?"

"An artifact I'm working on freeing from some magical ice." He let him see it. "Basically I'm freeing it so they can sell it or it can be stolen and some other wizard will use it until it eats him too, and then some other curse breaker can figure out how to remove the souls from it and put it back into storage for a few more years." Draco looked amused at that. "See, curse breaking is a business, Draco. The stingy tightwad Goblins make money off storing things.

"So it may be a few centuries before that happens but some goblin will decide that the markings we put on this one will be nothing too bad and will decide that the spot could be more profitably taken up by something else that can earn them money. So they'll put it up at auction and then it'll be another curse breaker's fun to break the artifact after it's eaten half a town or so."

He shrugged. "They little bastards charge us a flat free for each artifact we have in storage with them each year. This is a commission piece from them so they have to pay for it, but anything I find in the course of business with them I have to pay to have stored. That takes about five percent of our salary a year.

"There's other exceptions but I don't want to be a Specialist or a breaker in the labs there. So anything I find, even if they give me the assignment, I can have the tight asses sell for me and they take ten percent, or I can store it with them and slightly up my yearly fees by a few galleons more. Or I can keep them here and learn from and about them."

Draco shook his head. "I didn't know you could do that."

"Most of the curse breakers don't care to. They're in it to break tombs, find gold because it pays them more to find gold than books, and hand it over to get their commissions. It's like training a dog. Now, the smart curse breakers learn from every little thing that they bring up. If it's a book, I have a scribe copy and translate it for me. If it's an artifact or a drawing, we study it, then decide to sell or send it on. I could do private auctions of anything that wasn't a direct ordered job from the little bastards, but that gets messy and they start questioning your loyalty so you get the bad jobs, which means more books and I'm a happy Alex."

"What did they do this time?" Harry asked tolerantly, grinning at him.

"They told me I couldn't work all the time and to go play professional Quidditch for a few years. Bastards."

Draco patted him on the head. "It's all right. We know you're mental and should be locked up," he offered with a bratty grin. "How much do you clear a year?"

"I usually do about seven or eight jobs for them a year, including finding lost and dead curse breakers. Those are flat fee jobs. Anything that I want to do I'm supposed to submit a request and then do it. Usually I file it as I'm going out the door and have already portkeyed or apparated off before they pick up the paper. That gets me around the formality. Ron's brother Bill works exclusively in the tomb raiding department now so he's basically straight on ordered jobs. Most of the stuff he finds will be for examination instead of storage.

"That means he doesn't have to pay for it, but he won't get that big of a commission either until it's sold. He'll get fair market value by weight for any gold and stuff like that instead." He grinned at Harry and Ron a bit, then at Draco. "Then again, I've also done some jobs on my own, ones that Gringotts forbids. If I do those and get hurt it's my own fault, but they can't truly stop me because I'm on straight commission instead of salary like Bill is. I basically work for more of my haul. Those on straight salary get twenty percent at the most. You start with two and work your way up. Guys like me, and someday Bill and Arens, work on commission.

"I get eighty percent value of whatever I find, upfront or right after an immediate auction. By my contract they have to either sell it within eighty days of when I hand it over, store it at their own cost if I hadn't asked for it to be stored, or give me fair market value if it's going for study. The downside is that the guys on salary get their crews and supplies paid for them and we have to pay our own. I'm basically a contractor for the bank. The others are employees. The only benefit I get is medical."

"Wow," Ron said. "Will Bill move to that?"

"Probably, if he's smart. He's in an area with a lot of work so it'll do his bank balance good once he's more skilled in the field and got a good name for himself. Most of the time goblins allow us to switch over to dent our ambitions. Contractors don't get the good jobs with the gold and statues. We get the libraries. Which I like more anyway. Guys like me also get to lay traps for future curse breakers who'll someday see the wreckage of this house and come find my stash and have to get through my traps. Because we not only curse break we also create curses and use them to protect our work areas and things. I've got a vault in the bank to work in that has the nastiest of the nasty stuff. If I wanted to I could mine the lawns and the lands around the house to be worse than any tomb ever seen on this planet. That would get the aunts mad at me however," he finished dryly. He patted Draco on the back. "As the ... spouse, you'll get to oversee the collections lying around, including the library. This summer you'll start lessons on what we have and don't have and how to take care of it. I think you'll enjoy that somewhat. The estate jewels are fabulous and we have an old dress collection too from all the maiden aunts." He grinned at Harry, who groaned. "The attic is really the place to play in if you're looking for old stuff." He stood up. "Come on, I'll show you up to your room, Draco. Harry, show Ron the kitchen?" Ron beamed at that and followed Harry that way.

Draco followed him, thinking about that. "So, how much do you pull in a year?"

"Last year I pulled in about seven thousand galleons from ordered jobs and about triple that from self- ordered jobs, plus the Sunnydale job. That's a forbidden area because it's so dangerous. Grandma Des, the kids are back," he yelled. "Harry needs to work on his staking and stuff so we can finish cleaning out Sunnydale!" He opened a door at the top of the stairs. "The other direction are the guest rooms." Draco smiled and followed him down the hallways. "These are mostly auntie rooms. They've got a sitting area and a bedroom. I've got a suite to myself since my father died during the plague and didn't come back. Since my mother's now in vengeance, I pretty much get the master suite to myself these days." He opened a door at the end of the hall, letting him into the suite. "That blue door is yours, Draco. Mine's the gray one. The bathroom is the green one." Draco nodded, going to put his bag on his bed and look around his room, then he came out and snooped around the main suite. Alex was once again sitting and reading. Alex coughed when he noticed Draco staring at a painting. "Long story, Draco."

"Who was she?"

"She was Valera. She was my mate when I was originally about this age." He looked over his shoulder at him. "She died because she stomped on the family's curse by wanting someone, not sleeping with them, but wanting them." Draco shuddered. "That's why you've got to be very sure, Draco. You've also got to be very pure or else you've already chosen." He closed his book and put it down, then walked him out of the suite and downstairs. "Aunt Nadia is on a clothes kick and she'll scream and kick at you if you don't let her do at least one velvet jacket for special dinners and one hunting outfit."

"She makes them?"

"Most of the time. She's good at it, but she's annoying," he shared quietly, getting a grin. "Okay, let's start in the most major collection and the one that ties others together." He opened the library doors and Draco gulped air. He grinned at him. "You thought I was kidding about having a scribe copy each book and having it translated?"

"No," he said weakly, looking around. "Hopefully there's a catalog?" Alex pointed at the shelves off to the right of where they were. "Does it tell you how to find it?"

"It's arranged by subject. You find what you want and run it over that blue velvet pad. The book flies down to the table and you read it. When you're done, you put it on the blue cart and a house elf shelves it." He winked at him. "You'll get your own corner for anything Potiony or your school books. This also holds records of all the other collections." He walked him to a waist-high shelf that held some enormously thick books. "The family jewelry. The family paintings. The artifacts, A-F, G-I, J-P, S, T, and U- Z." He pointed at those. "The shelf above them are my field journals. Harry's presently studying a few of them. The last thick book is household assets. Basically it's the 'other' category. The furniture, the tapestries, the rugs, that stuff." Draco nodded, still looking amazed. "The language stuff is next to your right hand. Alphabetically by language name." Draco looked at those, smiling a bit at the various titles. "We focus more on reading but some do have pronunciation guides. I usually start new curse breakers in either Greek or Egyptian, then move them onto Latin and then to modern or a more ancient base." Draco looked at him. "I've trained a few," he admitted with a goofy grin. He leaned closer. "Be thankful you didn't make the holiday ball this year," he whispered in his ear. "Merlin, the stuffy people wearing too much jewelry is annoying. I ran and hid in my work area."

"Can I see your work area?"

Alex shook his head. "Sorry. I've got some really nasty stuff out down there and I don't think you want to deal with demonic summoning and magic stuff. Harry's locked out right now too," he assured him, leading him off. "Now, this is the main house. There's three vacation homes and my flat in London. My flat in London is where I'll be taking any ...dates until you're of age and have made your decision. That way you don't have to get jealous or have to see it." Draco nodded, looking at him as they walked. "We've got ten house elves among the family homes. Six here. My flat doesn't have one but the vacation home in Jamaica has two." Draco nodded quicker at that, looking around as they walked. Alex pounded on a door before opening it, letting him into a narrow hallway. "This is the Hall of Portraits. I'm sure your family had one?"

"We still do. I've never seen the ancestral home but I'm told there's one there." He walked down the rows, looking at them. "Why are some blank?"

"Because I got cursed about ten years ago in a trap," he said quietly. An older male painting at the end of the row hissed at that. "Sorry, Granddad. He's the line's originator and the originator of the Snape line," he said with a small grin. "Family, this is Draco Malfoy. His father thoughtfully signed paperwork without either of our permission and gave him to me as a concubine."

The older male portrait looked at the boy, then nodded slowly, looking amused. "You'll do. You're pretty enough. You look smart so that means you can help Alex around the house and the like. Do you fly?"

"I love to fly," he offered with a grin.

The old man smiled. "Good. Make Alex buy a new broom. His last one nearly died on him last night."

"I haven't flown in years, Granddad," he complained. Draco gave him a horrified look. "I haven't had time to," he offered with a small shrug. He pointed at a painting. "This is the first cursebreaker, my great aunt." Draco bowed politely and she smiled. "She didn't talk much." He walked him out, taking him to the kitchen. "This the kitchen. The red cupboard has the unicorn food and supplies, including the solid silver combs and brushes if you ever need them." He stole a piece of potato being chopped and munched on it as he led his charge outside. "This is the back acres. The herd of cows and such are down at the pond at this time of day but...." He whistled and something came out of the brush, a house elf. "Me, where's the unicorn baby?"

"Baby unicorn is being brushed by Ron and Harry, Master Alexander." She grinned slyly at Draco. "Is him another student?"

"No, this is Draco Malfoy. Someone wanted him to be my consort. He'll be here whenever he's not in school." She nodded. "His is the blue room next to mine."

"Yes, Master Alexander. Me will take good care of Master Draco's things. Just like Me does Master Harry's things." She ducked back into the bush, going back to her pruning and degnoming.

Alex grinned at him and walked him on, taking him to where he could hear Ron babbling about the unicorn and how soft it was. "The house is a spare house for guests and special work projects," he said, pointing it out. Draco nodded and smiled at the unicorn. "I know, they make you wanna go 'awwww' and grin," he offered with a small nudge to the boy's shoulder. "Go ahead. She's a suck up for attention." Draco knelt beside the other boys, petting the gentle little baby unicorn. He looked around. "Did the momma abandon her or just wander off?"

"She headed to get a drink," Harry offered, cleaning off the comb and starting on another part of the soft pelt.

Alex grinned. "I'll leave you three here for now. Remember, no swearing or the mother will horn you up the backside." He walked off whistling, heading back in and stealing another bite of potato on his way past. He heard a thrown 'prat' from outside and then a yell as someone got horned but that was fine. They'd learn to get along or else the unicorns would get them. That would stop any petty arguments pretty fast. Alex found the book he wanted from long practice and sat down to reread one of his favorite novels. Draco came in and sat beside him, leaning against his side. "You're not old enough for that yet."

"I know. I never imagined how soft they were. My father said that they're just fancy horses."

"Your father needs horned up the backside too. Then again, he might enjoy it a lot," he said dryly.

"It'd probably burn him," Draco said sarcastically. He looked at the book. "What's that?"

"More adult than you are," he admitted, looking at him .

Draco gave him a patient stare. "I'm not that young. Well, correction, I am that young but I'm not that naive or innocent. I do know how people have carnal relations. My father drug me to the whorehouse and his mistresses houses many times in the past."

"Again, your father needs horned," he said, patting him on the back but letting him snuggle in. "Don't rush, Draco. You've got time and things to do before you get there. Learn to enjoy all the time you're spending instead of just the free times. Even class times can be split if you're attentive and creative enough." Draco nodded, reading over his arm. "Tell me when you're done with this set."

"Go ahead," he said a moment later. Alex turned the page. "Is this a magical book?"

"No. Totally muggle." Draco looked stunned and Alex grinned. "Some of the best artists are. Think about mythology and how much muggle creativity leant to that subject. Muggles are very good at creating a reality around them that pleases them. Some want magic but most see the world as magical enough for them because they believe in things like miracles. The only real difference is that we've got a special spark in our blood and we've been trained to see the magical in the world. Even those with the special spark don't always see the magical things around them. They take it for granted."

Draco nodded. "My mother was like that. She always acted like magic was her slave. She hated having to actually say a spell. It's like it was too much effort."

"Maybe she had weak magic," Alex offered with a small shrug. "The strongest creatures take magic for granted as just being 'there'. House elves never make a big deal out of magic but they're much stronger."

"They can travel and things by finger snap."

"Yup, they can. They can also apparate inside Hogwarts," Alex reminded him.

Draco looked thoughtful. "Can humans do wandless magic?"

"Some. It's not a strong gift and it takes a strong caster since it's all about will power. I can't do it much but I have been known to call my wand with it when I'm stuck or something." Draco looked up at him. "Sometimes the want and the need is enough. Sometimes it's not."

"I got that part. You get stuck?"

"Oh, yeah," he said with a soft grin. "A lot. Like every other curse breaker, I'm mortal and able to be trapped, hurt, and killed. I take more care than some of them do, but not always." Someone slammed the front door. "Arens?" A thin, wispy blond man with long hair stuck his head in, looking attentive. "Hey. Are you *finally* done?"

"Yup. Thanks for giving me your assignment, mate. It was a good find." He looked at Draco, then back at Alex. "Isn't he a bit young?"

"His father gave him to me," he noted patiently. "Right now we're just talking. He's got years before he makes that decision. Harry and Ron were brushing the unicorn colt out back."

"Actually it was a filly," Draco said quietly, staring at the man.

"Oh, a new one," he said, sounding happy. "Another mouth in the herd."

"All unicorn foals are blessings, Alex. That's why you've lived so long." He grinned at Draco. "I'm Arens Tolmere."

"Draco Malfoy." He got up and shook his hand. "Come, I can lead you."

"I've been here many times, young man. Alex and I are old buddies." He grinned at the boy. "Go back to your cuddle. Nothing makes a boy grow up right better'n cuddles." He ruffled his hair and walked out, stealing some food on his way through the kitchen, making the aunts shriek at him, but he only grinned back. "Harry, Ron!" he yelled. They came back carrying the specially treated paper covered in baby hair so he opened the door, letting them inside. Grandma Des smiled and took it, kissing them both on the cheek before shooing them off to play. "So, boys. What're you learning now?"

"Draco's going over gem and other things to identify," Harry said happily. "Plus Uncle Alex said we could finish cleaning out Sunnydale this summer."

"You're braver than I am," he teased, pinching him on the ear. "Come inside and tell me how school is." He walked the boys back into the library, watching as Alex hugged Harry but let him go sit with him and Ron. "You're cute together. When he's grown, he'll be a heartbreaker, Alex."

Alex smirked a bit. "I know." He grinned at Draco, who only smirked back and nodded. He went back to his book. "Tell him about the maze, boys."

"We found the most amazing maze under the school," Harry said happily, hugging his favorite uncle and camp mate. "It's got spells, minor trapping traps, and hidden walls. I did a lot of sensing work in there. I missed a whole week of class doing it," he admitted happily. "Professor Snape was not happy with me."

"Harry, you caused McGonagall to panic," Ron reminded him.

"Better than me, I made her cry," Draco offered. Everyone stared at him. "I asked her if she thought a relationship with Alex was worth it based on past experience."

Alex snickered, leaning down to kiss Draco on the head. "You're so evil sometimes. I wondered why she came up and gave me a spontaneous hug and said she had wished she had been the one I stayed with. I should find my old house picture and send it to her," he said fondly, grinning at Draco. He went back to reading. "How many more detentions do you have, Harry?"

"Ten." He looked at Arens. "It's *so* unfair," he said plainly. "I miss a week of school and got three week's detention with Filch. I already know *way* too much about the forest and the trophy room, plus how to mop." Arens laughed at that, giving him a hug. "Thanks, Uncle. It's not my fault I got so involved. I was really bored in most of the classes. I can't brew a potion to save anyone's life. I already know most of the defense stuff and the other classes. Care of Magical Creatures is a lot of petting right now and flobber worms now and then. Herbology is okay, I guess, but it's like potions. A lot of things I don't know why I'm learning about since I can't do a thing with them. I've already killed five plants."

"Six," Ron reminded him. "You had one die the day we started back."

"Oh, yeah. I murdered her rose bush by watering it," he said dryly, grimacing a bit. "I'm sure I'll have more detentions then." Draco snickered at that. "I will!"

"It'll be fine, Harry," Alex said patiently. "You're one of us. You can't do herbology or potions. It proves you're not a Snape." He looked at Draco before changing the page. Draco turned it back to get the last few words then turned it again. "Fine, you turn the page then," he offered with a grin.

"I had no idea muggles could write like this. When was this written?"

"About a century ago," Arens said dryly. "It's a classic. Some of them still write the most shiteful things in the world, but now and then a classic comes into being." Harry snickered at that. "It does. Anything's better than the books Mel reads."

"Point," Alex agreed dryly. "Speaking of, she wanted a shelf in the library." He looked around, then shrugged. "I guess she couldn't find one. Library!" he called. The house elf appeared, hands clasped in front of her, staring at him. "Draco is learning potions. He'll need a shelf for those books and for his school books."

"One or two, Master Alexander?" she asked quietly.

"Two, just in case. Keep Mel's trash novels off them."

"Mistress Mel keeps her books in her room so she can refer to them when she can't sleep," she said. "Mistress Mel is being very noisy and alone right now. Should Library find her a shelf?"

"No. She can continue to keep her crap up there."

"Yes, Master Alexander. Library will move some books around. There will be many potions books? Should Library start work on a new shelf in the other library?"

"That's a thought," Alex agreed. "Sure. Draco, you won't mind it being in the Dark Arts section, right? It's usually a locked room."

"That's fine," he agreed. "I've seen plenty of those books around my former house."

"Cool." He grinned at his elf. "That would be fine. Keep Mel out of there as well."

"Yes, Master Alexander." She went to clear him off a shelf by moving the song books out of the way. She wasn't sure why those silly bards kept writing songs about her master and his family, but they were amusing to sing at the holidays. That's when her master usually escaped for his work area.

***

Draco looked at Alex's broom after breakfast the next morning, grimacing in distaste. "This is a horrible broom."

"I know," he sighed. "I played on it when I was this age the first time."

"There had better not be a third time," Aunt Nadia called.

"I hope not either!" He grinned at Draco. "So you're saying I'm getting another broom as well as new clothes today since Aunt Nadia didn't want to sew this week?" He nodded, grimacing a bit. "Sure. We need to stop in my study."

"Fine," Draco agreed. "Can we go now?"

"We're taking the boys," he said patiently. Draco sighed. "Don't worry, they're going to the sweet shop and then going to the clothiers. I doubt they're going into the broom shop."

"Weasley is quidditch mad," Harry said as he came in. He sat down and a house elf popped around to give him breakfast. "Thanks, Me." He dug in. "I've got a new broom. Is that yours, Uncle Alex? Is that an antique?"

"Funny, kid. Really funny," Alex said patiently. He looked at Draco, then at Harry. "When is Ron coming?"

"Ten. His mum's about to cook all day and he didn't want to have to sit and watch her or do homework. His little sister is bugging him for pictures of me." He ate another bite and shook his head. "I'm not sure I can take that."

"There will always be girls like that," Alex noted dryly, grinning at him.

"Alex, if you had to reage, why didn't you have to go back to school?" Draco asked.

"Because I still had all my memories and training. My body deaged but I could still conjure hard charms when I was eight. The Ministry made an exception for Des, otherwise she was going to destroy them all."

"Ah. I thought she was a bit like that," Draco admitted, smiling at him. "She seems very fierce."

"She is, but she's also great in Defense. She *is* the herd mare around here." Draco snickered at that. "She is. She'll pinch you too if you forget it." Harry nodded hard at that. "Got a few already?"

"I didn't put on socks the first time I came out and my shirt was untucked." He ate a larger bite and chewed slowly. Then he swallowed and looked at them. "She's on a tear for some reason."

"Grandma Des, is there a problem?" Alex called. "Harry said you're being mean to him."

"No, dear. Not a thing. I just wanted him to show some manners today since you've already warped him so much."

"Okay, as long as you're sure. We're going to Diagon in a half-hour. We'll be gone most of the day."

"Fine!" Something clanged. "Bad, Library!"

Alex got up with a sigh and went to check on the elf. "What did she do?" he asked patiently.

"Dropped the toast holder," she said, frowning at him. "I'm not being mean."

"You're being grumpy, Grandma Des. Go find a man and date!" She swatted him and he shrugged. "It works on my bad moods. You haven't even gotten out of the house recently. Go yarn shopping or something." He kissed her on the cheek. "Just quit being so grumpy."

"Was that boy curled up with you last night?" she asked quietly.

"Only while we were reading. He was reading over my arm. We had a talk about that and he knows he's still underage. Don't worry about that," he said, staring her down. "I am famous and I know all, including how to count birthdays." He headed back to the dining room.

"You mean you're a famous know-it-all," she called after him. "Bit of a difference, grandson! I also will have great-grandbabies before I die."

"Sure, Grandma. As long as you raise 'em," he called back, taking the boys to his study. Harry stayed in the doorway and tried to stop Draco but he grinned. "It's safe." He pointed at a statue. "It's shielded, Harry. I always shield it when I'm not in here constantly." Harry came in and sat down while Draco looked around the reference works on the walls and the things in the glass cases. He frowned at something and Harry coughed, shaking his head. "That's remains of someone, Draco."

"Sorry, Alex. I didn't mean to pry." He walked over to look at his desk, seeing the forms he was looking at, gaping in awe. "You are worth more than us," he said, looking stunned. "Much more!"

"Of course I am," he agreed smugly. "I actually worked for the last sixty years, unlike your family." He pinched him on the arm and grinned. "It makes the money grow each time you put some into the bank."

"I know that." He pointed at one entry. "Why is this one red?"

"That one's red because that's the household accounts vault and someone overspent again," he noted dryly, grinning at him. "Probably Aunt Cordy. She handles most of that. We'll fix that today and get an updated list before we head down to get money from the vaults." Draco nodded, looking at the rest of the things on his desk.

"As long as I don't have to deal with the accounting, I'm good with knowing I have a trust vault," Harry offered.

"Your parents left you one, Harry. I've got the key but it's only gold. The pictures and things we had to rescue from the shell of the house." He looked at him. "You'll get them this summer. You're old enough to know what we know and see more of their lives." Harry nodded, relaxing again at that. Alex found his key ring and checked them over, taking two off that he'd been meaning to do recently. "I don't ever use those," he told Draco. He stuffed them into his front pocket and stood up. "Besides, I'm a curse breaker. Our vaults open at our touches, not with our keys. We just have keys to prove who we are." He walked the boys out. "We're going!" He took them through the floo, coming out the other side in the Leaky Cauldron. He had to go back to get his wand, but when he came back the boys were talking with Ron about something. He waved at the barkeeper and headed out with Harry, going through the portal into Diagon. "Ah, shopping. The bane of my existence some weeks. Bank, clothes, broom. Other crap," he ordered. "Boys, once we hit the bank and the clothiers, you can go to the sweet shop while I get a new broom."

"We can come," Ron offered.

"We're going to the bookstore after that, right?" Draco prompted. Alex nodded. "When is Professor Snape coming?"

"Noon. We're buying him lunch." He winked at him and walked the boys back to the bank, smiling at the goblin who hurried out to talk to him. "I'm not on assignment this week."

"I know. Where is Arens?"

"He went home last night to be with Steven. Why?"

"His house had a fire. We think it was an attack and we think they're heading for yours."

Alex headed into the office, going to call his grandmother. "Aren's house was possibly attacked, they think it's coming for us next. Hike the shields to the maximum level and be careful. We'll be home as soon as we're done." She nodded, going to do that immediately. He looked at the goblin. "Why do you think it's an attack?"

"Because Arens was working on The Book of Souls."

"Ah." Alex nodded. "I've got a translation of that at home. What did he need?"

"He has your original copy and the translation. He thinks some things were left out and you know he's got a feel for necromancy."

"Isn't that illegal?" Harry asked.

"Yes, but there's plenty of dead things and death in tombs, Harry. Remember all those traps that had dead things waiting to zombify and come back to eat us?" Harry moaned and nodded. "He's got a feeling for those. You've got a good feeling for that too." He looked at the goblin again. "Have we tried summoning him?"

"I didn't want to chance it in case he was injured or with his mate at the hospital. We haven't heard anything other than his house burned in a freak lightening storm."

"Someone tried that on my house a few years back," he noted dryly. "Pity about them frying for it." He shook his head. "Okay, let's do the errands faster, boys. That way we can go protect the house." That got some nods. "We're heading down."

"That's fine." He verified the keys. "The household one is empty," he noted, holding it up.

"Transfer this month's funds into it."

"You've already used three months worth."

Alex frowned and shook his head. "No we haven't."

"Yes, you have."

"No, we haven't. Des said we haven't even done the monthly shopping yet," Alex told him. "I also noticed my personal vault's inventory was shorter." The goblin looked stunned and hurried over to dig up the old inventories and compare them against the one he created. "Who's doing it?"

"One of the other curse breakers," he said, looking at him. "Go ahead and grab a good bagful. It'll take us a week to clean up this mess."

"Were they involved with my father's thing as well?" Draco asked quietly.

The goblin looked at him. "An underground movement was found because of that incident and I believe this is part of it. It will be fixed within a few weeks. Everything will be returned and all the artifacts will be checked."

"Thanks." He walked the boys back to the carts, holding up his ID necklace. The cart goblin huffed, he didn't make a commission on this ride. "Sorry, Tailgate. It's time to do clothes before Nadia drives us insane." He nodded, getting them into the cart and starting on the long ride down.

Draco smiled at him. "Is this a special part of the bank's vaults?" Alex nodded. "Curse breakers get their own area?"

"We do. We often store stuff we're working on in the vaults so it's safer. This is the heavy security area and it's to shield any leaking magic. I also have a vault I do work in down here." Draco nodded at that, smiling as they stopped. He looked at the door as they got out, finding the proper key. "Another perk of the job," he offered with a grin, opening the door and pulling out a large pillowcase from his pocket. This would definitely last him for a good, long time. Draco looked amused but he shrugged and pulled out a second one, letting the boys take the first one back to the cart and climb back in with it.

Alex uncovered a small box and smiled, opening it to look inside. His old journal and pen set. Plus his parents' wedding rings and the family's seal. He put them into his pocket and finished taking gold out, then looked around and got something off the shelf on the wall, stuffing it into the other pocket. He walked out and got back into the cart, smiling at Draco. "Boys, before we go back, we're going to stop at the ancient homeplace to look at something. I just realized I hadn't checked on it in a while." They grinned and nodded.

Des could handle the house and everyone knew he'd kill anyone who attacked his family. He had when they had tried the house after trying to kill him with that trapped cave. They came out and headed past the goblins, who came over with a bottomless bag, shaking his head at their antics. "Thanks." He patted him on the head. "I'll be available sometime next week." The goblin nodded and watched them walk off, going to make a note of that.

Alex walked the boys into Madam Malkins', making her smile. "Aunt Nadia's tired of sewing. She wants us in non-field attire this week."

"I can see why. Those pants are very loose on you, Alexander." She walked him to the first stool, looking at Draco. "I heard what your parents pulled, Mr. Malfoy. I'm sorry they were so rude to you. Did you need anything today?"

"Yes, put him in real clothes too. Summer's nearly here and he shouldn't grow too much. Plus he needs more pajamas like mine. He liked my velour jammies."

She smiled and got to work fitting all the boys, including Ron at Alex's insistence. They paid her and then walked down the alley, going to find Alex a new broom. The broom shop's bell jingled a friendly tone as they walked in and he looked at Draco. "Find me something, boys." They grinned and went to discuss the various brooms and the merits of each. He looked at the amused shop girl. "I'm flying a Comet 10. It nearly quit on me."

"Those are collector's items now," she noted dryly.

"I know. Which is why it nearly quit on me. Since I'm back to my proper age, I was ordered to start playing quidditch again."

"Did you play before?"

"Just a bit," he offered with a sexy grin. "I'm Alex Dumass." She blushed and started to sweat. "I need a good, long broom for my beater playing."

She walked over to where the boys were, pulling down one. "We like this one for beaters," she offered.

Draco frowned at her and shook his head. "That's too simple. He needs something faster and more smooth. Firebolt?" he suggested. She pulled one down so he could look at it and Ron drooled. "Not even in your wildest fantasies I bet," he said smartly, smirking at the poorer boy.

"At the time being. I can always make more money," he reminded him smugly. "Aren't yours locked?"

"Boys," Harry snapped. "No arguing. I will beat you both!" They sighed and he looked at the firebolt, then at his uncle. Then at the blushing saleswoman. "It's been at least four days since he's had anyone. Ask him when he checks out. For now, he needs something a bit more sturdy. He weighs more than I do."

"I can see that," she agreed, looking around and pulling down one. "Nimbus." She handed it to Draco, who weighed it and nodded slowly, smirking a bit. "For it's weight class it's very light and versatile. It's a good travel and a good play broom both. It's good on quick maneuvers and excellent on smooth flying."

"Can we try it?" Alex asked. "I like to try those that I like." She nodded and led them back to the trial area, watching him, one hand stroking her stomach without her consent.

Draco coughed and looked at the two staring boys, shaking his head. "We'll wait outside if you like that one, Alex," he called.

"Thanks, Draco. Call Severus, have him come sooner."

"Of course." He led the boys out, going to call from a public floo so Alex could have the shopgirl in the back room on the broom. Alex came out ten minutes later with the broom and a bright smile. "Better?"

"Much," he said happily, grinning at Severus as he joined them. "Books?"

"Sweets for us," Harry said, digging into the bag they were using. He came out with four galleons and held them up. "My allowance?"

"Is a bit more than that, Harry, but you can't annoy me to death with sugar over the holiday." He handed him a few more. "Behave, be safe, be good."

"Yes, sir." They took off for the sweets shop while Draco and the adults headed for the bookstore and the potions section.

Draco looked at all the books, picking out an encyclopedia and a 'thousand-and-one household spells' compendium. Snape changed that one for something slimmer but more useful. Draco looked at him. "I'll probably end up brewing household spells."

"Yes, but that has the most common. The only ones not in there are the beauty spells. I doubt you'll be doing those."

"Oh, I don't know, Mel could use a good beauty potion," Alex said dryly. "Get both. Money's not an object." Snape handed back the compendium and handed Draco four more books, then looked over the selection and went to have one ordered for him. Alex grinned at him. "That way you're not bored." He walked the boy back to the desk, letting him put down the stack. Draco headed off to check out some more books and bring them back, making Snape snort and shake his head. "He's a boy, let him read fun stuff," he chided with a bright grin. Alex went to get a few more practical books, including a good book on veela heritage and powers, putting it blatantly on top of Draco's choice of a gay sex manual. "We're getting a bit ahead of ourselves."

"I'd rather read now and ask questions until I'm ready," he noted patiently. He looked at the books and went to get some comics. He came back and put them on top, grinning at his teacher and his future spouse. "There, I'm done."

"You're cheaper than any girl I've ever dated," Alex teased, making Draco blush. The shopgirl gave them an odd look at the _Illustrated One-Thousand-and- One Arabian Nights_, which she knew very well had dirty pictures in it. The gay sex manual got a few odd looks too but Alex shrugged. "It was his choice."

"My father gave me to him as a concubine. I'd better learn my place before it's time to fulfill my duties, shan't I?" he teased.

She blushed bright red and nodded. "I'm sure you'll be very knowledgeable by the time you're of age, sir." She bagged up their purchases and took the gold, watching them go. Snape was keeping himself from laughing but Draco was smiling at his spouse. "I should show up somewhere in something horribly cheesy that looks like a harem costume."

Alex burst out laughing, hugging the boy. "Oh, I knew your sense of humor was as good as mine!" He grinned at Severus. "You think we can do that?"

"I don't think you should until he's of age."

"True. It'll have more impact then," he said, winking at Draco, who grinned and cackled. "Ron, Harry! Let's head!" he called. They ran out of the sweets shop with their bags and he nodded at Severus, grinning a bit. "We're going to the former homeplace. Want to come and then have lunch with us at home instead of at the Leaky? That way you can look in the libraries."

"I wouldn't mind," he agreed dryly. They headed through the floo to the main house and Alex had to check his pockets. Everything was still there. He put the box and the keys in the bag with the books and then led the way into the old manor house. Well, castle really but close enough. He walked them back to the main library section, going in and putting the books down. "Severus, there's two trunks underneath the blue couch. Pull them please so we can pull the potions section for Draco." He did so and then came over to help levitate the books into the bottomless trunk. The other one got books Alex and the boys wanted from the classics and charms sections then they were carried off by one of the house elves. Alex looked at the boys, then nodded.

"I'm going to show you something most don't get to see," he said quietly once they were alone again. They all nodded and he pulled out the thing he had gotten off the shelf. It was a ring that fit over his whole hand and had specific nubby points and dips in it. He walked them out of the library and to what was usually the Master's Study, going to a wall. The key was placed against a sconce's pipe and the wall opened. He took the torch and headed down, letting the boys and Snape follow him. The door closed behind them once they were all inside and he lit the other torches with the first one. They finally made it down to another door and he put the key in a few spots, his hand turned this way and that. The stone door slid open with a scraping groan of complaint and he walked in, lighting the nearest torch. A pipeline of gas ran around the room so each torch and the line was lit in turn. He looked at them and smiled, then got out of the way. "This is my treasure room. I've spent sixty years collecting what's in here. This is why you're learning gem identification more than anything at the moment."

Draco walked down into the sunken room, looking at everything in there. "Wow," he said, opening a trunk. He looked back at his spouse. "Is this included in those books?" Alex shook his head. "Why not?"

"No one realizes I pulled those out of tombs, Draco. Don't touch the white bone box. It's still cursed." Draco moved away from it and looked at another spot, letting the first trunk close. He pulled out an square cut emerald that was the perfect Slytherin color noticing it was on a chain. He held it up against his chest. "I'd need to be a big chested girl to wear this but it's beautiful." He carefully put it back and let that trunk close too, walking back to his mate's side, hugging him. "Thank you for showing us."

"You're welcome." He grinned at him, then at Harry. "There's another reason we're down here. Harry, Ron, stay here." He walked Draco off, taking him to the back of the space. There was a small silver casket and he opened it, pulling out the blade inside. He looked at it, then back at his son. Then he looked at his mate and pulled something out of a panel in the top of the trunk. He relocked it and walked them back, handing the dagger to Severus, hilt first. "You are an heir," he reminded him at the hesitation. Snape nodded and put it into his pocket. "I'll have a sheathe made for it." He looked at Draco, taking the other something out of the box it had been in. "This is traditionally worn by anyone in the family who's married into it or otherwise affiliated. Down to the mistresses really. So a concubine is clearly included." He handed him the small earring, watching as he looked at what was carved into the top of it. "That's the family seal, Draco."

"Wow." He looked at him, then down, then back at him. "You really want me to wear this?"

Alex nodded. "Yes, I do. It's only proper and it will keep you safer." Draco nodded and looked at it again. "We'll have Des do it later." He kissed him on the forehead. "When you're older we'll get out the more proper marking for you." Draco nodded and they headed back up the stairs, Alex stopping to shrink a small cask of jewels and tuck them into his pocket. He followed them up, making sure everyone was on the stairs before sealing the room again. The torches went out as they walked past each one and the last went out as they closed the study door. They flooed home once they had their packages and went to lunch while Alex got to work on that cask. Just in case the family needed it.

Nadia stuck her head in. "You didn't get hardly any formal clothes, Alex."

"It's not like I wear them a lot," he said dryly, looking at her. "The summer and then the winter holidays." She nodded, looking unimpressed. He picked up a ruby and tossed it at her. "Go find the cloth you want and have something made," he told her. She squealed and hugged him before running off. He grinned as he locked the rest into his desk drawer, getting up to find out why Ron was yelling about the mail birds this time. He found an owl with his name on it and opened the letter, sitting down suddenly and breaking out laughing. "Severus! Come here!" He came walking in, looking calm and unflustered. "They finally nailed the old fart for what he did to us," he said happily, handing over the letter. "For the curse he laid in that cave and all of it. Methos is now the new headmaster. I'm coming back to teach defense."

Severus passed out. No sane man could handle that news without doing so.

The End.