Everybody in the burrow is nervously waiting as house elves begin bringing people in for the party. Ron hugs Hermione like he hadn't seen her on the train home from Hogwarts a few days ago. The hug he shares with Harry is just as heartfelt and Harry hugs Hermione and Neville.

 

Sheriff Carter takes off the baby carrier on his chest, handing Michael to Samantha Granger.

 

"He's getting so big. Pictures just don't do him justice."

 

"I know, it's been so long since Zoe was that age." Sheriff Carter warms a bottle and allows Michael's grandmother to feed him. "He's already trying to grab the cats tails when he's lying on a blanket on the floor, even if he hasn't mastered crawling yet."

 

In a corner of the burrow, Harry's telling Ron, Neville, and Hermione about the classes he'd signed up for at Tesla. "I'm going to be taking both the European and American OWLs in June."

 

"Damn Mate, you're cracked." Ron sighs. "And so am I, I'm studying hard to take the Egyptian OWLS and NEWTS through Gringotts. Though not at the same time."

 

"Are you working for them again this summer?"

 

"Yes, I really enjoyed what I was doing last year. . .once I got my stupidity knocked out of me. Bill's convinced I've got a real gift for finding things, so I'm going to take the formal tests and apprentice myself to Gringotts after graduation if they'll take me."

 

"Are you still trying to do two years of classes in one?" Harry looks at Hermione.

 

"Yes, Headmistress McGonagall says that I have a good chance of it. I'm working hard and doing two years worth of assignments. If I pass all my tests, I'll be joining the others as a seventh year next year. It will be a year's less money Mum and Dad have to pay for my schooling." Hermione knows even with the scholarship money is tight. Ron looks at her and accios some information from his trunk, copying it before sending it back up to his room.

 

"Gringotts has a massive library and are always looking for researchers. The bigots in the Ministry wouldn't let you do anything since you're muggleborn but you could go far at Gringotts. They'd pay the costs of putting you through university." Hermione takes the information, hope rising in her eyes. "Mum and Dad are going to be busy this summer. They're buying out a practice with the Goblins help and hope to have everything finished by September."

 

"All you need is your OWLS to work for Gringotts, you're old enough to apparate to classes and work and still be at home. I can't see you on a dig like Bill and I, but you'd be back at the bank researching what we find. A good half of the researchers have muggle jobs so you could do both." Hermione thanks him and starts to read.

 

"What happened to Professor Snape?"

 

"He's a wonderful researcher, but not a teacher. He's working with Gringotts doing research now that he's out from under both Dark Lords." Ron says. Hermione wants to say something but after reading all that Dumbledore had been doing she realizes he was as dark as Grindelwald and Voldemort.

 

"What about you Harry, are you working during the summer?"

 

"No, I was too busy working on classes so I could join the other students this year. Before that I was being tutored in both magical and mundane classes. Ohhh," he reaches in his pocket and brings out some books, tapping them larger. "Copies of the books I've been using since last Christmas." Hermione touches them, then shrinks them again and puts them in her pocket.

 

"You're growing up, you'd have sat right down and started reading." Ron chuckles.

 

"This is a party and there's more to life than my classes." Hermione says firmly. The others nod. "Neville, yours has some information on the botany degrees available through GD that would work with a herbology apprenticeship."

 

"Thank you Harry."

 

After the party Harry and the others head to one of the houses he has in Europe for a few hours sleep before going to visit Madam Bones and Susan. He takes her copies of the books he uses too and both women thank him before they eat lunch.

 

"How is Hogwarts?"

 

"Interesting. Between the death eater purges and the huffy parents who don't want to pay good money for their children to learn 'muggle' subjects a lot of the Slytherins are gone and so are some of the upper classes in the other houses. McLaggen from Gryffindor?" Harry nods that he knows who Susan's talking about. "He was pulled out of school because the failed all his classes, idiot was so convinced that magic was everything he wouldn't study any of the new material. Most of the students realized how badly off we are and threw themselves into studying but not some of the more hidebound idiots. Not that they're a great loss, they were little better than squibs and are already married off to others just like them who also want to live in the past. . .not the future. They won't be sending their children to Hogwarts, not that they won't be having anything but squibs. The 'purebloods are soooo much better movement is dying out, they've lost their power base and they're losing their magic."

 

"A bit brutal but the honest truth." Amelia says. "We've got lists of sympathizers that we're watching, if they cause trouble they're automatically sentenced to Azkaban for the rest of their lives after their magic is bound. Whatever happened to that idiot Fudge?"

 

"He was charged and convicted, sentenced to the rest of his life in prison where he had to work. He blathered on about how this was 'unfair', he was the Minister of Magic, and when he caused trouble got stuck in solitary. He's not a model prisoner, but he knows if he doesn't work it will be worse for him. He's still whining about having to work."

 

"Couldn't happen to a nicer waste of flesh." Amelia snorts. "Susan, take your new books to the library and show Harry what you're learning at Hogwarts this year, the rest of us need to talk about things you two don't need to hear about." The two teenagers nod and head off to the library.

 

"You brought all your books with you for break?"

 

"Yeah, I brought some of them home with me last Christmas break because I wanted a head-start on a paper, when Auntie heard about how far behind Hogwarts was she looked at my books. Our fifth year books were her first year books and she had more classes, those that were geared for students who wanted to go into certain areas. Dumbledore got rid of everything he didn't want the school offering. Those students who started this year are better off, they're getting all this from the beginning while we're having to play catch up." Harry nods. "Yeah, you've been doing the same thing from what Auntie says."

 

"From last Christmas to June I was being tutored six hours a day five days a week in mundane and magical subjects, and I worked independently over the summer so I could take classes with students my own age again."

 

"They don't have houses there?"

 

"No, it's not a boarding school so you have classes with different people. The classes are based on your ability or level of knowledge, not how old you are. Ron says the others are glad they don't have to have classes with Crabbe and Goyle anymore, the class doesn't have to wait for them to get what they're working on."

 

"Talk about students who were no better than squibs." Susan nods. "The only muscles that weren't overdeveloped for those two were their brains. They took an equivalency test to keep their wands and were hired by somebody who needed somebody who was strong as an ox. . .and about as smart."

 

"The teachers been talking to you about plans for your future?"

 

"I'm working on my classes and studying what Hogwarts doesn't offer, Headmistress McGonagall is convinced I'll be able to take the the non-european NEWTS and attend school where I want. I'm interested in spell creation, maybe working for Gringotts. I wanted to work with Auntie at the Ministry but she says that it's no place for me and is getting me to look into other options. They did a lot of cleaning house after Voldemort was taken down but it's still a cesspool of bigotry."

 

"That's what Ron said when he talked to 'Mione about applying to Gringotts this summer after her OWLS. She could make money over the summer, take classes, and still live at home since she'd be old enough to apparate. She could take the other NEWTS in a couple years and take university classes."

 

"Gringotts is going to be a force to reckon with in a few years."

 

"It already is, they just let the Ministry think they're the ones in charge." Harry snorts. Susan thinks a moment of all the changes her aunt has talked about and how often the Goblins have been involved and nods. They settle at one of the tables in the library.

 

"What are you going to do?"

 

"That's something Drs. Stark and Blake have been talking about with me, Sirius, Remus, and Sheriff Carter. I've been so long fighting Voldemort I've got my whole life ahead of me now. I've got to learn everything about being a Lord, but I've got Sirius and Dr. Stark to help me there. I thought about being an auror, Sheriff Carter is the head of Eureka's magical and mundane law enforcement, so he's telling me stories of his life as a Marshal and Auror before moving to Eureka. I'm also talking to the Goblin Elder about where my strengths lie and what I might want to do in the future. Plus there's the rest of the extended family. I have CSI, doctors, law officials. . .I have a good hundred possible futures ahead of me now that doesn't include sacrificing myself for Dumbledore's 'greater good'."

 

"There's already books being written about him and they're talking about a class on Dark Lords throughout history as part of the newly revamped DADA classes." Susan says. "He wanted his name to live forever, he's getting it but not the way he wanted."

 

"Instead of being the saviour of the wizarding world, he's going down as one of the most evil dark lords."

 

A couple days later Harry returns to Eureka. He'd already done all the homework he'd been assigned in Eureka and enlarges the notes and books from Hogwarts for the OWLs he wants to take the end of the school year.

 

"Are we sure that Harry can handle taking two such important yet different tests in the same year?" Carter asks from the couch where he's giving Michael a bottle. Allison is settled in a chair, scowling since being around the baby had made her want another child and a smirking Nathan had obliged her. She was not quite three months along and would be delivering around the time that Harry was taking his OWLS.

 

"Yes, Harry is very smart once he got away from Dumbledore and his loving aunt and uncle. One only wanted him to learn what he wanted and the other didn't want him learning at all because it would upstage their useless bullyboy of a son."

 

"What happened to him? I understand he was supposed to be in a home to lose weight before being sent to a prison for incorrigible boys."

 

"Little bastard attacked somebody and was sent directly to adult prison since he was only in the home because of his age. He kept getting in trouble and losing his privileges. He tried stealing drugs and was caught by a nurse, tried attacking her and now he's in an adult prison for 25 to 50 years doing hard labor. Putting him in the home and a prison for incorrigible boys was a compromise and it failed. The judge who'd tried him was not happy about what happened and really let him know it, he caught a lot of flack for giving him a reduced sentence."

 

"Good to know there's soft-headed judges everywhere." Carter mumbles, jiggling Michael as he fusses in his sleep.

 

"Idiot just saw his age, didn't look at his history." Stark says before he and Allison head to their homes and Carter heads upstairs, putting down the baby before showering and going to bed. The next day he drops the kids off to school before leaving Michael at daycare and heading to the office.

 

"Good morning Auror Tonks." he says when he sees the younger Tonks in his office. "What can I do for you?"

 

"Bringing back the Weasley twins for their Da so they can start work and classes again and passing along information for you from Madam Bones. We're still going through Hogwarts. It looks like that old bastard has been hiding things for years. They hope to get the school cleaned of his shit over the summer then heading off to investigate his other properties. Headmistress McGonagall hopes to be able to step down then for the new Headmaster. She's been working with the teachers already at Hogwarts and the ones coming with him and they hope to make Hogwarts great again. One of the new classes is about what that old Bastard was doing."

 

"Those who forget history are doomed to repeat it." Tonks blinks but nods. "Something that the purebloods in Europe tend to forget since it's not convenient for them."

 

"Absolute power corrupts absolutely." Tonks nods.

 

At Tesla Harry checks his schedule and heads to his history class, bringing out his book and other supplies once he takes a seat.

 

 

At their apartment Fred makes a list of the groceries they need to buy since they'd eaten everything that would have gone bad before they left as George puts their clean laundry away. Grabbing the keys to the smart car they head to the grocery store, returning a couple hours later with a full car of food.

 

They have everything put away then turn to the bags from the bookstore for their university classes.

 

"Professor McGonagall would have kittens if she knew the dreaded Weasley twins were oh god the horror, grown-ups." Fred says with a grin as he starts reading the first chapter of his new text for the class that night. George grins at him and nods.

 

Meanwhile back in wizarding Europe.

 

"Molly No-Name. . ."

 

"It's Molly Weasley."

 

"No it is not. You were removed from the Weasley family after furnishing your daughter with illegal love potions."

 

"Then it's Molly Prewitt, I'm not the first to go back to her family after her marriage ended. As the only Prewitt remaining, I'm the head."

 

"No you are not, your father named your second son Charles as his heir before his death."

 

"I object, it's been revealed that Charles Weasley is in fact not a Weasley and cannot be head of the Prewitt family." One old fool says in the gallery. "Motion to have him removed as head of the Prewett family."

 

"I thought some of you would object. Clerk, please read the list of families that are headed by non-family members. . ." The list takes fifteen minutes to read and the old fool ducks his head when his family is named. "So your appointments as head of the families are somehow fine but his is illegal? If a motion is passed to remove non-family members as head of families, your families would be affected too."

 

"No, I . . . I . . ."

 

"Shut up you old fool, do you want to ruin all of us?" somebody nearby hisses angrily.

 

Molly is dragged away to her cell after the trial is finished within an hour, the veritaserum making short work of her protests that she'd never steal from Harry and that of course he was going to marry her beloved daughter. Her wand is snapped and she's sentenced to twenty years in Azkaban

 

Ginny looks around the room as she's drug to the chair. All the seats are full but she doesn't see any of her brothers or father there but they have to be there to tell the court this has to be some mistake.

 

"Ginevra No-Name you are charged with . . . " The list of charges drones on and Ginny looks around the gallery again. If her family doesn't want anything to do with her Harry has to come to her rescue. She's found guilty and dragged back to her cell. Her mother had been taken to Azkaban that morning by boat and she's truly alone now. After dinner she cries herself to sleep. The next morning she's awakened by the guard, showers, and eats a cold breakfast and takes a bag with her lunch from an auror before the bracelet tracking her is put on her wrist and she heads to work. She works three days a week in London in a commercial laundry. It's hard work but it's all she's good for without a wealthy husband and a muggle education.

 

Ten long hours later she returns to auror headquarters, checking in and getting a cold shower before eating dinner and being locked in her cell.

 

The next morning after breakfast she's given a bucket of water and harsh soap and given the orders to clean the cell block. Scrubbing everything on her hands and knees takes most of the day and she drops onto the concrete block and thin pad that serves as her bed to work on the assignments the teachers at Gringotts had given her to get her ready for life in the muggle world. She'd refused at first because she was a pureblood and didn't have to learn about the muggle world and been told she was not a pureblood, she had been removed from the family and unless she wanted to live on the streets like a common animal she'd accept the training she'd need for life in the muggle world since she wasn't going to be welcomed back

in the wizarding world. That had been the first blow, that she had been removed from the family. Until yesterday she'd thought that the guards were fooling her and she'd find her father demanding answers.

 

She literally has just the clothes on her back, her vault that would have been her dowry given back to her father. The money she's being paid is being taken for her fines and to pay for housing her in the cell block for the next ten years.

 

The next day she goes back to the laundry, that weekend is spent scrubbing the building that houses former Professor Snape's new business. Everything is spotless by the time she's finished scrubbing and she knows she'll be doing it again the next weekend since a potions workroom must be spotless to keep the final product from being contaminated. That's one reason why the cauldrons were scrubbed by hand at the school during detentions.

 

Tuesday she heads back to Snape's store, being let in the back and finding piles of cauldrons to scrub. That takes most of that day, eating a cold meal and getting an equally cold shower before going back to her cell. Her last thought before she falls asleep is she has ten years of this to look forward to until her sentence is served, then she'd be working for the goblins to pay back the fines they were slapping her with for her actions against Harry.

 

At the bunker Harry settles at the table across from Zoe as he works on an assignment for class. They both look up as Dr. Stark comes into the kitchen and puts a bag down between the two of them.

 

"Catalogs from universities, and yes Carter I want you to look at them too. GD offers continuing Education opportunities."

 

"I know, I'm currently partway through another dual masters program." Carter snorts. Stark glares at him and Zoe rolls her eyes. "Oh just kiss each other already." She turns back to her homework then smirks. "Does this mean you finally finished your Ph.D?"

 

"I'm still a candidate, but I have an appointment to defend my dissertation this summer."

 

"Another dual masters?" Stark asks calmly . . . for him. Carter rolls his eyes at the other man. "I needed a masters for the Marshals Stark. My 'official' Masters and the doctorate is in criminal Justice, I have a dual masters in chemistry and potions and I'm going for another in biology and med-wizardry. . .even though I am older than most of the other students."

 

"Do you have a healing gift?"

 

"A minor one, I can't use it to help others. . ."

 

"But it's helped you out every time you've ended up in the infirmary at GD."

 

"Exactly."

 

"Do you have future plans on going for magical and non-magical degrees?"

 

"Yes, I'm looking into degrees in botany and herbology next." Stark drags him outside the room.

 

"S.A.R.A.H., make sure the kids don't hear this conversation?"

 

"Of course Sheriff Carter."

 

"What's going on?"

 

"We're still going through all of Dumbledore's records and we might have to tear Hogwarts apart to find all of his hidden spots. He had his own breeding program, pretending to be Mr. Evans to give his wife Lily and Petunia. He bred Petunia and Severus . . . who knows what else the man has done?"

 

"He stole Speed and who knows what he did with him while he had him drugged."

 

"Exactly. What if he did something to Lily or James. . .or even both?"

 

"Resulting in Harry." Dr. Stark sighs. "Or Michael, Hermione's one of the smartest and most powerful of the muggle-born students, he's the most powerful of the old school . .."

 

"And he knew I was his grandson. Was there another reason why he wanted me here? I was in England for a while for advanced training. Who knows if the old fool didn't nab me and do whatever he wanted with me? McKay drew blood before he left and run it through something wherever he and Colonel Sheppard are, I got an e-mail saying he has to talk to me when he returns."

 

"Shit."

 

"And there's all the kids on the list. I don't think it's a coincidence that except for that old grouch Argus, Petunia, and a lesser extent William we're all on the light side? Except for William and Xander we've all got excellent jobs? Xander hasn't gone to university but the school system on the hellmouth sucks ass to borrow one of Zoe's favorite expressions and I hear rumors that his Slayer has lost her fucking mind so he's packing up and leaving her to get killed. Because she's special and he's normal. She lost her mother recently so part of it could be grief. And I'd beat that witch they have out there, she gives everybody else a bad name."

 

"He's got a place here if he needs it."

 

Carter nods. "And a place in New York, Miami, and elsewhere. Has Speed and Evan returned yet?"

 

"No, they're due in a few days, there's a group from GD on the island investigating it. Dumbledore had to have put a fidelis on the island to keep them from being found."

 

"Yeah, if they were found quickly his fun would have been over."

 

Harry blinks a couple days later. "Professor McGonagall?"

 

"Good morning Mr. Potter, Lord Starkweather allowed me the chance to see how his school operates."

 

Minerva is shaking her head in sadness when she comes back to the guest house after school, she's seen classes that never would have been allowed at Hogwarts, magical as well as non-magical.

 

Meanwhile back in Europe Molly screams in her cell at Azkaban, she can't believe the damn goblins and her useless husband actually had her arrested, charged, and convicted. And her fool daughter was so stupid to try to slip Harry the potion in the god damn Great Hall. If she could have gotten her hands on that fool girl of hers, she'd have beaten her to death for her stupidity.

 

And the goblins actually think she'll quietly work for them after she gets out? Suddenly a collar around her neck gives her a massive jolt of power, bringing her to her knees.

 

"Naughty, naughty." A male voice says from the cell door. "That collar is going to give you a shock every time you try or think of doing something against yourself of others. Keep trying and it will eventually destroy your mind, leaving you no better than somebody who has been kissed and the perfect slave. Given a task you'd work at it until you collapsed from exhaustion."

 

"Remove it . . .now." She yells.

 

"Hell no, that will be part of you for the rest of your miserable life." He laughs.

 

"I know my rights." She throws herself against the bars and gets jolted again.

 

"You're a convict, you don't have any rights." He snorts as he walks away. "Stupid bitch, stealing from a boy you said you loved like a son and trying to force him into a marriage with your whore of a daughter.

 

"You take that back, my daughter is a perfect angel."

 

"Your daughter's the tramp of Hogwarts, rumor has it she's been with every older boy in the other three houses starting her third year. She doesn't even remember who was her first."

 

"I could fix that, a few charms and some potions and she'd be a virgin again for her wedding night." She says smugly. "That's how I got Arthur."

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"Yeah, everybody knows your daughter came by it honestly. Soooo, does Arthur know he's not Bill's father either?"

 

"Nope, and he never will. I did a blood adoption on him when the baby was born. . .damn fool didn't even stop to think that a seven month pregnancy and a baby weighing nearly eight pounds might not be normal. Now what was that nice young man Albus introduced me to and had me use the potion on? He had such a funny name. . .In di anna? Yes, that's right Indiana Jones. That poor man. . .he'd just lost his wife and Albus so wanted him to be happy. And making love to me will make any man happy. And Albus took such an interest in me when he found out I was pregnant."

 

The guard contacts the goblins when he finishes his rounds.

 

"Thank you, that information is most interesting." The Goblin elder contacts Minerva a few hours later.

 

"I think I know who Molly is talking about. There was a teacher from a university from the United States that had come to the school for a lecture. He was. . .an arkyologist?"

 

"Archeologist, it's the muggle equivalent of cursebreaking." The Goblin Elder says absently. "If he is the man you are thinking of the visit should be in our records."

 

A few days later the Goblin Elder nods as she reads the records one of the minor clerks had brought her then looks at the copy of the family lineage tapestry. Henry Jones jr., the son of Albus Dumbledore and adopted by the girl's older brother and his wife. Whereabouts currently unknown. . .the rumors running around the other branches saying something about himself and his adoptive father drinking from the Grail. If he is Bill Weasley's father, there is no way to prove it thanks to the magical adoption and there is no reason to destroy any of them by trying to seek the truth. Bill grew up with a loving father and Jones had a strained relationship with his father and son.

 

She makes a mental note to try to locate him again. . .he has a Gringott's account through a muggle bank and money is routinely deposited and withdrawn. Her eyes turn to another son of Albus Dumbledore they have been trying to locate. . .one Napoleon Solo. He seems to have dropped out of sight in the early seventies.

 

At Hogwarts Minerva is looking at the other teachers who are shaking their heads as she tells them about what she had seen while visiting with Lord Starkweather and what classes she has seen Mr. Potter and the other students taking.

 

"Does he still plan on taking the American and European OWLS this summer?"

 

"He does, Lord Starkweather and Auror Carter plan on bringing him out so he can take them at the ministry."

 

"Does he plan on going on and taking dual NEWTS?"

 

"He would have no reason to take the OWLS if he did not plan on taking his NEWTS."

 

"Muggle schools give famous people 'honorary' degrees, could we do the same for him? Perhaps allowing him to graduate with his fellow students?"

 

"He would not have taken his NEWTS yet."

 

"Would he need them for an honorary degree?"

 

"Speaking of NEWTS, how are his former yearmates doing?"

 

"As can be expected. All that his mother and sister did forced Mr. Weasley to grow up. He stopped waiting until the last second to work on his assignments and can be found in the libraries studying most evenings. He's even stopped talking so much about the Chudley Cannons."

 

"Thank you god for small favors." Somebody says in the room. "What are his plans now?"

 

"Working for the goblins along with his brother Bill. He really enjoyed his work in the digs and plans on taking the Egyptian OWLS this summer when he's working in the digs again."

 

"I never would have thought that he would ever grow up." Severus Snape shakes his head.

 

"How are your Slytherin students?"

 

"Very, very quiet. Especially after hearing what had happened to Miss Parkinson and her parents after they tried to kill Mr. Malfoy's parents since Narcissa is pregnant. If they had a second child they wouldn't be able to steal the Malfoy fortune."

 

"I saw he was upset that they considered him not a threat to their plans."

 

Severus snickers despite himself. "Indeed, that was a blow to his ego. How the mighty Slytherin prince has fallen. He knows he needs to walk softly, if this is another boy he's out as the Malfoy heir. He's cracking down on his studies and hoping to find an area that will allow him to make his own fortune when he finishes school. Until now, he'd blew through on Daddy's money and influence and never had to think about a job or money."

 

"Now Miss Granger. Do we see her being able to do two years in one?"

 

"Easily, and she has the extra incentive of wanting to spare her parents the additional year of tuition thanks to her foolishness. Is anybody having problems tutoring her when she's not in class or working with the tutors?"

 

"No, she is very good about showing up for our lessons and working hard, she knows she *has* to do this in one year."

 

"Pomona, how is Mr. Longbottom doing?"

 

"Good, he got more information from Eureka during Christmas break. I know most people would never allow their apprentice to talk to outside masters but I'm learning just as much as he is."

 

The next day in New York Doc Savage looks up from a book he's reading at the buzzing. Exiting the library he checks the screens and pushes a button.

 

"Dr. Savage, I'm agent Peter Burke from the FBI's corporate crimes branch here in New York, this is my partner Neal Caffrey."

 

"Yes gentlemen, may I help you?"

 

"Sir, we're sorry to bother you but we're investigating Justin Hammer. Your name was found on some records."

 

"I brought some products from him but it was substandard and never ordered from him again."

 

"According to his records you purchased from him multiple times."

 

"No gentlemen, I only purchased from him once."

 

"Can we come in and go over the records?"

 

"Certainly."

 

"Definite forgery." Peter says an hour ago as they've gone through all the paperwork for the supposed sales.

 

"And not a good one at that. I could do better half drunk."

 

"Nobody ever said Hammer was smart. And don't even think it." Peter says, looking at him.

 

"Where to now Peter?" Neal says as they gather up the paperwork and put it back in his briefcase.

 

"Stark International, they're also on the list of major purchases."

 

"Tony Stark loathes Hammer, he would not buy from the man or his company." Doc says dryly.

 

"Yeah, the SA and his cronies thought this is the bust of the century . . .now they got egg on their face for offering him immunity in return for his records." Neal snorts. "Now they're getting nibbled on by his superiors to show results, getting threats to sue from people whose names showed up in his pack of lies, and listening to howls of outrage from the citizens who see him thumbing his nose at the authorities. Meanwhile real crooks are getting away since we're all busy investigating pipe dreams."

 

"I'd better call Tony and let him know we're coming."

 

"We're coming?" Peter asks.

 

"Tony loathes government agents, too many trying to tell him what he can and cannot do. Without me there, you'd never get beyond the first level of security."

 

"Agent Burke. . ." Tony Stark says, holding onto his temper by the skin of his teeth only because Pepper is busy digging a heel through his foot and Steve is giving him that look. You know, the 'I am going to be so disappointed in you if you throw a fit' look. He hates that look. Which is why Steve uses it on him so often. "Hammer is a lying sack of shit. I have not and would never buy anything from him, even a newspaper if he was selling them on the street. There is not one thing he has ever thought of that I have not made and made better. I could be dying and still make better."

 

"No, if you were dying you'd be whining like a two year old who doesn't have his favorite toy." Pepper snorts.

 

"Or swearing because you did something stupid and are trying to stop it from taking out more than the building. . .the city. . .the state. . .the country. . .the world." Bruce says dryly as he walks through.

 

"Hammer's shit is what you thought was so magical when you were stoned out of your ass on the pain pills then realized is worthless when you come down from them."

 

"Agent Burke, please show me the so-called orders from Tony. I handle all his major purchases and would not only have receipts from the credit cards, I'd have copies of the orders." Pepper goes to her desk and logs into her computer.

 

Peter and Pepper go over the paperwork as Neal starts talking quietly with Bruce, Steve, and Clint. Peter frowns slightly, he knows Neal's got a quick mind and good at blending in. . .all perfect traits for a conman but the way he's seeming to pattern himself on each person he's talking to is a little disturbing. And why is Dr. Savage and Mr. Stark frowning and quietly looking at each other?

 

"Okay, this is all the requisitions for the first date." Pepper says. Peter turns his attention back to Pepper. He looks through the tabs as she looks at the record. "No, this is none of ours. . each section would have put their name on the requistion so we'd know where to send everything."

 

"And there's no matching amounts on the personal or business credit cards." Peter looks at Pepper. "Could Mr. Stark have any accounts you're not familiar with?"

 

"He could. . .but he doesn't because assholes trying to cause trouble have tried to have him audited. All his information is here for the government. Trust me, they went looking and didn't find a thing. Multiple times."

 

"But couldn't they have lied?" The special agent in charge of the New York Bureau whines as he's confronted by the fact he's a damn fool.

 

"Not all of them. Most of the credit card numbers are fakes and those that are real don't have transactions for that amount on that date for that company." The records are put down in front of him. "Congratulations, you listened to a damn lying bastard because you thought he had the goods on the movers and shakers in town. He didn't and he's making a laughingstock of the bureau."

 

"But he swore he had proof of wrongdoing." he whines.

 

"Well he lied and we look like idiots. Now I'm bringing in my own people and we're taking over this branch and we're going through everything. Consider yourself on unpaid leave until we're done."

 

"You can't."

 

"The hell I can't."

 

'This is all that bastard Caffrey's fault, ever since Burke brought him in he's been a pain in my side. He has to have changed all the paperwork to make a fool out of me. I'll have to deal with him. . .and Burke if he gets in my way.' He vows as he's allowed to gather his personal items out of his office and walk out of the building. At least it's after everybody has gone home and the new shift isn't in yet so nobody sees him being escorted from the building.

 

A couple of days later Neal and Peter are walking off the elevator at the Empire State Building after thanking Doc for all his help on the case.

 

"Caffrey." A male's voice calls from the outside door. Neal turns then throws himself aside as two shots are fired.

 

Peter turns and pulls his gun, getting off a couple of shots and getting behind cover as he's hit. He hates leaving Neal in danger and turns his head quickly, sighing as he sees Neal being dragged behind cover. Doc grabs a wad of towels from the cleaning crew taking care of the bathroom and presses down to stop the bleeding.

 

"Die you sonnovabitch, you lying bastard. You and that fucking conman ruined my life." Neal's gun is empty and he throws it aside as he's tackled and starts fighting mano a mano, ignoring the knife that cuts into his chest and stomach. He fights with him, turning the knife away as it cuts into this arms, wrists, and hands. Adrenaline gives him added strength and he clubs the other man with the broken leg of a chair, knocking him unconscious.

 

"Call 911." He pants, pushing the other man off him.

 

"Already on their way." More than one person says.

 

"Good. If the building has security make sure they have copies of the video footage. They'll want to talk to eyewitnesses and if there was any cell phone footage, they'll want that too."

 

Neal moans as the pain in his side eases and his sight blurs as an arm in a white sleeve moves in his line of sight as a syringe is put away in the kit Doc had pulled out. Once the quick acting drug has taken affect Doc peels away the emergency bandage he'd put on the wound when Neal was shot and takes a good look at the injury. He shakes his head, he's going to have to operate.

 

Peter slumps down next to them. "Is he okay?"

 

"He'll need surgery." Doc says. Then he looks at the other man. "You'll need medical attention as well."

 

"I've got to deal with this shit first." Peter sighs and tries to lever himself back to his feet. Only to stare at them when his legs refuse to obey his commands to move. Doc chuckles softly, recognizing the adrenaline wearing off and lets him sit there as he deals with the police and assorted agents that are arriving.

 

Peter blinks as a strong arm picks him up from the floor, leading him across the floor towards the elevators. How strong is Dr. Savage? He can see he's carrying Neal on his other side. His eyes close as everything begins to narrow and Doc pulls Peter closer as the adrenaline finishes wearing off and he loses consciousness. Adjusting his grip he runs his card through the slot in the elevator going straight up to headquarters. Taking them right into his examination/operating room, pulling his wand and casting some spells the mediwitches and mediwizards had taught him to keep them stable. Peter lost more blood thanks to the fight, he'll have to work on him first. Looking at the two men he grabs his phone.

 

"Tony, it's Clark. Agent Burke and Mr. Caffrey have been injured. . .Ah, it's already on the news. Do you have extra saline and plasma?"

 

"Yes, do you need whole blood? We've got some that's going to have to be disposed of thanks to a blood drive. JARVIS, hack into the FBI's medical files and find Agent Burke and Mr. Caffrey's blood types for transfusion. And find out if there are any relatives to be notified."

 

"Already done sir, both men are A-. I cannot find relatives for Mr. Caffrey, there are no records for him before the age of eighteen but Agent Burke has a wife."

 

"Ask Doc if he needs anything else besides the blood." Bruce orders as he heads to the infirmary. JARVIS can keep him updated as he packs a box. By the time he gets down there JARVIS has a list for him and he packs everything, grabbing the keys to a sedan that Tony tosses him before he takes the elevator to the garage. The key fob turns on a vehicle and he gets in, arriving at the Empire State Building ten minutes later and driving into the garage so he doesn't have to deal with the mess in the lobby.

 

Doc lets him in the elevator remotely and they start cutting away clothes and setting up ivs before moving Peter into the operating room.

 

"Pepper, remind me to set the biologists on finding a way to clone blood for emergencies like this." Tony says as he slumps into a seat by Pepper's desk. "JARVIS, keep an eye on the news for any information you can find on the attack? Police broad band too. And FBI phones."

 

"Want me to call GD and see if they figured out how to clone human blood or keep it preserved longer than 21 days?" Pepper asks.

 

"They've got a larger stock to call on if they need an emergency transfusion." He says. "Though Grandma has been nagging for a call." Smirking he dials a familiar number.

 

"Blake."

 

"Hey Grammy."

 

"Anthony Edward Stark, you are not too big to beat." Allison says slowly in her office. Across from her Nathan chuckles and turns back to reading the reports from various sections. Just Tony tormenting Allie.

 

"No we haven't, like you said if we need an emergency transfusion we have a large pool of people to donate. You can freeze blood and blood products but that means you can't use it quickly in the case of an accident." Nathan raises an eyebrow at that response.

 

They talk for a few more minutes.

 

"Put me on with the cranky one if he's not busy." Tony says.

 

"Okay." Allison looks at the phone then Nathan. "Tony wants to talk to you.

 

"What's up?"

 

"Talk to me about that young man you moved to Eureka, Jarod?"

 

"Why?"

 

"I think I might have found another Pretender? I met an associate of an FBI agent last week, he almost seemed to be patterning himself on me, Clint, and Bruce while his partner and Pepper were talking about the horse shit story that we brought stuff from Hammer. Clark saw it too."

 

"Send me video footage if you still have it and I'll talk to Jarod about it. He's due back in a couple days, the island was struck by a storm and it delayed their testing."

 

Several hours later Elizabeth sobs against Peter's shoulder as he lays sleeping in a hospital bed in headquarters.

 

"E liz a beth?" Neal breaths from his bed.

 

She turns her sobs on him. He reaches out an arm and pats her back.

 

"You both could have been killed."

 

"What happened?"

 

"The Special asshole had a fit when his buddy Hammer's promises to bring down the movers and shakers in New York turned out to be so much lies. When all the 'proof' turned out to be more of his lies he was removed as head of the bureau and outside agents brought in to go over all his records. He didn't want to admit that he'd been led around by the nose by Hammer, you had to taken the real records and forged copies to make him look bad."

 

"I'm going to sue the pants off that bastard."

 

"I've already talked to the lawyers. You and Peter just need to sign them."

 

"He's going to be be bleeding money for years." Peter says from his bed. He wraps an arm around Elizabeth and looks at Neal around her. "I'm leaving the bureau."

 

"I knew you weren't happy about it anymore."

 

"No, the brass was pushing more nonsense down on the agents. Neal's off his sentence, he doesn't have to work with me." He raises a hand and points a finger at Neal. "That doesn't give you leave to go back to what you were doing."

 

"What are you two going to do?"

 

"They can come to work for me." Doc says from the door to the recovery room. "I can use a couple of investigators and Mr. Burke's arrest rate is excellent at the bureau. And Mr. Caffrey's talents can be used for other than personal gain."

 

Neal would have shrugged if he wasn't so sore. "Either that or I become a male stripper."

 

Peter just looks at him as Elizabeth snickers despite herself.

 

"But they made a fool out of me." a man in leg chains whines as he's dragged before a federal judge the next morning.

 

"No, you acting like a jackass and giving Hammer immunity made a fool out of you." The federal prosecutor snorts. "You shooting two men and trying to stab one of them makes you a criminal. Bail denied, he's a flight risk."

 

"You can't doooo that." He wails as he's pulled to his feet. "I can't stay in jail, you don't know what they'll do to me there."

 

"You're in protective custody jackass, they can't touch you." his own attorney snorts.

 

"But they still yell at me." He whines as the court officers drag him off. "Flaming jackass. You deserve to get yelled at. You knew it was too good to be true, anybody with half a brain would have looked at the paperwork and thought. . .'yeah, right. . .sure you sold all that to all these people' and laughed at his attempts to get off. Christ, Stark made weapons. . .why the hell would he buy from Hammer instead of going back to making his own?" the prosecutor snorts.

 

"He was looking for the bust to make his career, this way he'd be able to write his ticket to any office he wanted. Because working for what he wanted was too hard. How are the men he injured?" the judge asks.

 

"Looking at a long time recovering. Interestingly enough neither wants to stay on with the bureau after being shot by their supposed boss." The prosecutor says.

 

"No, I can understand why not. That would be the textbook example of a hostile work environment." The judge says dryly. "I assume you've talked to them about civil lawsuits for pain and suffering?"

 

"Oh yes, I believe the response was 'going to make the bastard bleed money for years."

 

"He'll have plenty of time to work to pay off the judgement. I can't see a jury believing his 'I snapped because they had to have altered the papers, I can't have been wrong in believing his story' sob story." The defense attorney snorts as he finishes putting together the files and putting them in his briefcase.

 

"Me neither, not when his 'poor, misunderstood friend' was already arrested for trying to take out his competition. . . again."

 

 

 

 

"Dawn, you can come out from under there now." Xander says pulling into a rest stop a half-hour after they've left Sunnydale a couple weeks later.

 

"How long have you known?"

 

"Since I got in the car."

 

She gets in the front seat when it doesn't look like Xander's going to turn around and take her back to Sunnydale.

 

"I can't stay with her, she's . . .she's. . . "

 

"Out of her fucking mind and Willow's 'I'm better than everybody else because I'm a girl isn't helping any?" Xander says dryly. "That's why I'm leaving. . .with Giles blessing because she feels she doesn't need anybody. And that's going to get her killed."

 

"Exactly. That's one of the reasons Giles was given custody of me and not Buffy. Her attitude and not having a real job or plans for the future. Because we both know Buffy was just playing at going to school."

 

"So was Willow for all that she claimed she had plans for the future. Spike?"

 

"He packed up his stuff and left before I did, Giles just waited to get a couple orders of stuff and he's heading off. He's keeping an eye on Sunnydale and will come back after it's . . .over since he's got power of attorney over Buffy's stuff."

 

"You're going to have to attend school instead of skipping."

 

"Wherever we'll going will be a real school right? Not just a holding pen until they get eaten like Sunnydale's?"

 

"It is, in fact I've been taking some classes because Sunnydale's system was so bad."

 

"Where are we going?"

 

"Do you have anything?"

 

"Yes, Giles put my personal belongings in the trailer while you were at work. Though most of it is clothes I'm outgrowing."

 

"We can stop at a couple of stores. You'll need winter clothes anyway."

 

"Where are we going?"

 

"A small town in Oregon, I've been offered places in New York and Miami but the cost of living there is outrageous."

 

"Oregon?" she moans. "But Miami. . ."

 

"Would be two thousand dollars rent without utilities for an apartment. Houses are millions of dollars. And not for mansions." He pulls out a folder. "This is areas I was looking at and what I can expect to make doing construction or other menial work." She reads through all the printouts and shakes her head. "And Oregon?"

 

"Small town called Eureka. It's a company town, the big employer is a DoD company with it's fingers in a lot of pies." Dawn looks worried a second. "Not the NID, they loathe the NID and people like that. I've not only got a good job lined up. . ." He grabs a cell phone and dials a number.

 

"Blake."

 

"Dr. Blake, it's Xander Harris."

 

"Yes Xander, is there any problems?" She looks across the room at Nathan. She listens a few minutes. "Not a problem, do you need to talk to a lawyer about custody paperwork?" He repeats that question and she grins. "We'll have an apartment waiting for the both of you and I'll talk to her when she arrives about her schooling. She might be like Harry and be tutored for the rest of the school year and attend regular classes this fall."

 

"Allie?" Nathan asks when she hangs up the phone.

 

"Buffy's sister Dawn sneaked into his car before he left Sunnydale, she's got the paperwork giving him temporary custody while Giles is busy. Giles got permanent custody of her and not her sister because she's a flake and doesn't have a job. He's got a job and stable home environment."

 

"He'll need a bigger apartment or even a house." She nods and gets on the phone with people. "He'll be delayed a couple days, they've got to go shopping for clothes. Not only does she not have any winter clothes, she's at the stage where she's outgrowing the clothes she does have."

 

"Does he need money?"

 

"Giles gave her some since he'd seen she was going to need clothes. Something the Slayer never thought about since she had so many clothes and wasn't a growing teenage girl."

 

"Okay, we will stop in the next town and hit a couple stores. Basic clothes, we can buy more when we're settled." Dawn nods. "Dr. Blake, the woman I just talked with will see about getting you enrolled at the school when we arrive, they've worked with me over the last year and already *know* how bad Sunnydale's school is."

 

"Why are they working with you?"

 

"Do you remember the owl that arrived?" Dawn sniggers. "It was about a meeting Giles, Spike, and I attended. It seems that an old bastard in the wizarding world in England has been going around getting young girls at the school he was principal at pregnant. He's been doing it for decades, I was the youngest kid there who was out of school. One of the old bastard's grandkids lives in this town, he's actually the town sheriff, a former US Marshal and an auror in the wizarding world, the aurors are their police. We've all kept in touch over the last year, one of my sisters was in legal trouble and pregnant, her boyfriend got custody of their daughter when she was born. Another of my sisters has been in a mental hospital for years, she's got a son a couple years older than I am who works with the FBI as a profiler."

 

"Damn. But school?"

 

"I have a nephew who's about your age, his parents were killed when he was a baby and he was raised by his abusive aunt and her husband. He went to a school for magic where my father, his grandfather was the princ. .. err headmaster. Some moron who used to be in charge of the magical government over there had a fit about him being away for Christmas Day visiting family and friends. He demanded Harry come back or he'd remove him from the school."

 

"Dickwad."

 

"Dawn, language. Just because I talk like that doesn't mean you can. And yeah, he is. The new principal . . .no headmistress, they're called headmasters and headmistresses over there called his bluff and knew he would be welcomed at Eureka's school."

 

"And down he goes." Dawn smirks.

 

"Yeah, but since his school was being held back by Dumbledore he spent months being tutored so he could join kids his own age. Since I'm the youngest of the older kids, they talked to me about Sunnydale. They really want me to start university this fall."

 

"As what?"

 

"I'm still trying to narrow down my choices, I'll be working with people at various labs to see what I want to do while I'm taking my basic classes."

 

"They've got a university there?"

 

"No, but I can take my classes online. Those classes I'd need a lab or other equipment for I can take at Global Dynamics. Now somebody like you. . .you'd qualify for a full four year scholarship to university when you graduated. Every student who attends their school is guaranteed one."

 

"I . . .I never expected to go on to university."

 

"Neither did I. You can do the same thing I am, working with various people until you find something you like. Giles can talk to you about it too."

 

"Wait. You said there's magical schools?"

 

"Yes, the school in Eureka teaches magical and non-magical classes. I know you want to learn magic but Willow doesn't want you learning because it wouldn't make her special girl anymore." Dawn sighs and nods. "Giles went to the same school Harry attended but left before he graduated since his father wanted him to be a Watcher. He can't complain if you learn magic from a school."

 

"Willow won't agree."

 

"Willow's a spoiled little brat who's going to get herself killed one day. Growing up with her parents made her think she's sooooo much better than everybody else. She's got problems. She learned magic from stealing Giles books. Which is soooo much better than going to school for it. Not. Both Buffy and Willow need a major intervention."

 

"Which will never happen in Sunnydale."

 

"Nope. Or in the European wizarding world since they're stuck in the 1800s both technologically and in attitude." Dawn shudders as they pull into the parking lot of a mall.

 

"Family?" Dawn asks several hours later when they've settled in a rest stop for a few hours sleep.

 

Xander brings out a photo album.

 

"Sheriff Jack Carter of Eureka, Auror and former US Marshal. His daughter Zoe and Harry Potter, formerly of Little Whinging England and Hogwarts in Scotland. He had a 'destiny', he was supposed to defeat a Dark Lord, the same one that had killed his parents thanks to a prophecy." Dawn moans. "Yep, the wizarding world over there would rather a kid fight their battles without any training rather than get off their asses and take him out themselves. I'm sure my father is rotting in hell whining because his games are over. Once the others found out what was going on, he was quickly taken out with extreme prejudice."

 

"Good, that's too much like the Watchers controlling the Slayer."

 

"Yep. Like Buffy all he saw for his future was battles, now he's got his entire life ahead of him." He flips a page. "The felony crew of CSI from New York and the cop they work with. Mac Taylor, Stella Bonasera, and Lindsay McDonald are my half-siblings. Lindsay is the one who had the baby last year and is prison for trying to blackmail her boyfriend's parents at the 'horror' of having a baby out of wedlock. She didn't know they'd cast him out of the family because he didn't want to be a thug like them. Danny's the new father, all the others are gathering around him to help. While most of the mothers were young girls with stars in their eyes who were stunned that the great Albus Dumbledore was showing them some attention, there were some who sought him out for the power or influence they could get. Lindsay's mother was one of those."

 

"Apple didn't fall far from the tree then." She snorts.

 

"This is Generals Jack O'Neill and Jacob Carter."

 

"Carter?" She points at the other page.

 

"His father. Jack's also got two half-siblings from Jacob's second marriage. The girl is part of the team O'Neill used to lead before he got a promotion. Jack O'Neill was the one who took charge of taking out the Dark Lord instead of letting Harry do it like Dumbledore would have wanted."

 

"Good."

 

"He's had a rough life. He had a son who he thought died when he was ten, it turns out the old bastard stole the kid, put a golem in his place, and put him in another family after giving him a new set of memories and appearance. Last year they found out the truth and they're slowly getting reacquainted."

 

"Bastard. How did he get away with that?"

 

"He's the great Albus Dumbledore, the hero of the wizarding world. And he did it again." He turns another page. "Timothy Speedle, formerly of Miami's felony lab. His former boss Horatio Caine, Alexx Woods, the medical Examiner, Jarod, and Evan Gilligan. Speed is another brother, he was thought to have been shot in a jewelry store a few years ago, Dumbledore had snatched him and kept him drugged. When we were all called to Scotland Mac found out that Speed was alive and told Alexx and Horatio, they immediately came to Hogwarts to see him. Jarod is a grandson, stolen from his family at an extremely young age and kept prisoner by a corporation who wanted his brains for their own uses. He escaped and the aurors got him to safety at Hogwarts. He's currently living in Eureka while they're taking out the corporation that took him and trying to find his famiy." Dawn shakes her head. "Evan is a grandson, he's got a good heart but he's a klutz and Dumbledore arranged for the boat he and some friends were on to be stranded on a deserted island. He kept them from escaping by thwarting their attempts but was called away and they managed to get away. The others thought all the problems were caused by him . . ."

 

"Awww, Mommy would have given him such a hug then knocked the others upside the head until they saw reason."

 

Xander sniggers despite himself.

 

"Leroy Jethro Gibbs, Timothy McGee, and Abby Sciuto." He turns to a new picture. "Nobody calls Gibbs by his first name. Like Jacob Carter, Jack O'Neill, and Jack Carter he always knew Dumbledore was his father. McGee is another one of his kids, while Abby is the product of a breeding experiment Dumbledore had with a teacher at the school and Harry's aunt. He'd also pretended to be Harry's grandfather and had sex with their grandmother. Petunia was born without magic so he disguised himself again and they created Lily, Harry's mother."

 

"Christ, what a bastard. You got screwed in the father department."

 

"Yep, the town drunk or a manipulative old goat who did whatever he wanted for the 'greater good'." Xander sneers. "Thankfully most of the kids turned out better than the old bastard. Anyway, he kidnapped Petunia and knocked her up by Severus Snape. . .whose family had already been victims of his manipulations. Potions turned the pregnancy from nine months to a couple days and a time turner was used to send the baby away when she turned out non-magical . . .or so he thought. She's a nature witch, not a wizarding world witch."

 

"Asshole."

 

"Yeah. This is Rodney McKay, John Sheppard, Harry, and a couple friends of his parents. Rodney is the older brother of Severus Snape, the teacher at the school Dumbledore bred Harry's aunt to, their parents were having marital troubles. . ."

 

"Oh gee, let's have a kid and hope it brings us together?" Dawn sneers.

 

"Yep, Dumbledore stole the baby and made everybody forget him. he went to a family in Canada where he was a 'first-generation magical' in school and a few years they had another baby but it still didn't save the marriage. This is Jonathon Sheppard, Harry's uncle on his father's side. Like McKay he was kidnapped and the family made to forget he'd ever existed."

 

"God what a bastard."

 

"Yep, he'd have been able to trot out the long-lost Potter heir in case anything happened to Harry and would be the Savior of the wizarding world again. This is Sirius Black and he's Harry's godfather but he was sent to the wizarding world prison without a trial when Harry was a baby, because otherwise he'd have taken Harry in and Dumbledore couldn't have that. He wanted a pliable boy who lived who was in awe of the wizarding world and would do everything he told him to do, including sacrificing himself for the 'greater good'. This is Remus Lupin, a former teacher at the school who's been helping tutor students at the school in their new classes this year since Hogwarts is so far behind thanks to Dumbledore controlling what the students could learn."

 

"Sounds familiar." Dawn snorts.

 

"This is Shawn Spencer and his father. Shawn is a 'psychic' private eye in Santa Barbera. he's a grandson." Another picture. "This is Spencer Reid and his team. They work out of the BAU in DC, a branch of the FBI that deals with violent crimes. He's a grandson. His coworkers don't know he's magical or about the rest of us."

 

"This is. . ."

 

"Oh my god, Doc Savage?" Dawn squeals.

 

"Yep, Dumbledore has been having kids for years. Spike is the oldest, the youngest is a baby who is turning one this summer. His mother is a schoolmate of Harry's, one of those kids who thought Dumbledore was the greatest thing since sliced bread. Until she learned the facts of life. The baby was adopted by Sheriff Carter and she had to repeat her year of school, she's trying to do two in one to save her parents the additional tuition since the cost of school skyrocketed once Harry left Hogwarts. Being forced to leave the school broke a fund that helped pay down the cost of tuition. As long as their was one heir to the families attending the school it was okay. Thanks to dark lords and the wars, only Harry was left. If he'd left on his own the fund would have been fine. But the former head of the ministry just had to be a big shot. . ."

 

"And fucked it all up to hell and back?"

 

"Yup. This is another brother. . .and another Doctor. Gregory House, he lives and works in New Jersey, and he's a character. Brash, abrasive, cranky. . ." Dawn shakes her head.

 

"This is a family that are friends of Harry's, the youngest boy was his best friend at Hogwarts, the twins live in Eureka. . .they're working at GD and taking university classes while saving money for a prank shop. The family has been a victim of Dumbledore's manipulations, the second son is Jack O'Neill's son that he thought had died while Horatio Caine is actually Arthur's brother, taken from the family and again made to forget they had a son to give new blood to another branch of the family that had been sent away."

 

Dawn shakes her head at everything Dumbledore had done in the name of the greater good.

 

"Yeah. We've been talking for the last year. It's still a lot to get my head wrapped around sometimes."

 

"Is this all your new family?"

 

"No, this is just the ones who were able to get away for that meeting. There's another brother who is some sort of undercover government agent. Besides him, Spike, and G-man there's another brother who's a squib, a non-magical child born to magical parents. He's a miserable old man who worked at the school as a caretaker and hated the students for having magic while he didn't. There's still more children out there, some were magically adopted so they didn't show up on the family tree parchment anymore. And the old bastard had things hidden magically, thankfully the parchment is continually updating every time the spells he used to hide something are broken. Harry and his mother and aunt didn't show up on Dumbledore's tapestry until they found a scroll."

 

"Christ if this wasn't real . .."

 

"Yeah, I'd laugh at it because it sounds like a bad soap opera."

 

"Eureka?"

 

"We should be there day after tomorrow early morning. That will give us all day to get everything in our new place."

 

"Do you have a place already?"

 

"Yeah, GD supplies most of the housing. They'll either find us a larger apartment since you're living with me or a house."

 

A couple days later Dawn looks around as they park on a street across from a cafe. "Come on, you need food, I need food, and the news that we're in town will bring somebody over in a few minutes."

 

Dawn looks around town, still not really convinced that New York or Miami wouldn't have been a better idea. She follows Xander into the cafe and they head to a table, food arriving in front of them a few minutes later.

 

"We didn't even order."

 

"Vincent knows what everybody wants." a woman says as she walks over.

 

"Dr. Blake."

 

"Xander, and this must be Dawn. Welcome to Eureka." She hands over envelopes. "Xander, your new bank account. . both yours and Dawn's have been transferred from Sunnydale. Maps of Eureka so you can find your way around. Dawn we'll get you enrolled in Tesla by the end of the week, you'll want a few days to get settled." After they eat she takes them to their house and Dawn sighs later that night when she settles in her new room, looking at the picture of her mother before she turns off the light to go to sleep.

 

The next morning she wakes up to the smell of food, coming out of her room to find Xander making breakfast.

 

"Morning Dawnnie, everything will be ready in a few minutes. You've got time for a quick shower and to get dressed."

 

"What are your plans for the day?"

 

"I've got to head into town and get some clothes for work, then we'll head into Portland for more clothes for you. I talked to Giles after you went to bed and he's going to be depositing money in your account every couple of weeks for whatever you need."

 

They drive past the school so Dawn can look it over.

 

"Larger than Sunnydale's."

 

"Most of the kids will be working for GD, so they offer more classes than 'normal' schools. Not I'd consider Sunnydale's school normal."

 

Xander parks in a space near where they'd parked yesterday and Dawn squeaks when she sees a car without a driver pulling up next to them.

 

"Smart cars, no driver needed. But you'll only see them around town." A boy about Dawn's age gets out. "Dawn Summers, this is Harry Potter."

 

"Miss Summers, I hate to tell you this but . . ." Tesla's principal says a couple days later.

 

"Sunnydale's school was awful, it was just a holding pen until you could be eaten. Yeah, I try to read real textbooks but I know I'm pretty far behind. I already knew I'd have a hard time catching up."

 

"I'd place you in the ninth grade if you were a student here. Your school did not offer many of our core classes."

 

"Damn. . .worse than I thought." Dawn sighs. "Time to pull my big girl pants on. . .what do I need to do?"

 

"We'll get you textbooks for that year and we'll set up a tutoring schedule for you. We have a permanent tutoring room set up at Tesla, you'd be there for the rest of the school year and through the summer. By the time school started you might be in your true grade if you worked hard at it."

 

"I will Principal Smith, Mommy wanted one of us girls to make something of ourselves. Buffy's just coasting through college."

 

"Do you know what you want to do with your life?"

 

"Giles says I have a gift for languages, and I liked reading history so maybe something in that area."

 

"Now . . .magic?"

 

"I know I'm talented but Willow and my sister had special girl syndrome and didn't want anybody but them having gifts. Giles tested me but I need a real teacher."

 

"We'll get you the beginning books. Xander is taking the same lessons."

 

"Ha, I always thought magic going weird around him was Willow being a bitch and making sure everybody knew only she's good enough to have magic."

 

"Well then, welcome to Tesla school Dawn." She shakes Principal Smith's hand and they head out of the woman's office.

 

"Now, do you have an area set up where you can work?"

 

"Yes, we've got a basement set up as a study I'm sharing with Xander, he's gone one side and I've got the other."

 

"Bookcases?"

 

"Five empty. I thought Xander was going overboard when he had a dozen delivered."

 

"Good, then I'll give you all your books now instead of handing them out as you need them so you can read ahead." They go to a stockroom and Dawn shakes her head in dismay at the sheer number of books on the shelves. A couple of containers are brought out and they start filling them with books from that and another room and supplies from two more rooms. Harry comes along and shrinks the containers after Dawn gets her schedule for tutoring and a week's assignments, putting them in his pocket.

 

"That is damn handy."

 

"Now, do you have a book bag?" Principal Smith asks.

 

"We're stopping to pick up one, more supplies, and a cell phone for her, Principal Smith."

 

"Thank you for helping Harry." She pats him on the shoulder.

 

"I went through this last year when I came from Hogwarts, knowing somebody else who went through the same thing might make it a little easier."

 

"What are your plans for the rest of the day?"

 

"After we get her other supplies, Dr. Blake plans on getting her a tutor for magic. I'd suggest Remus, he's got a good hand for teaching but. . ."

 

"But what?" Dawn asks.

 

"He's a werewolf. He's not dangerous. . ." Harry says to reassure her.

 

"So?" Dawn says. "So is Oz and he was one of my favorite babysitters."

 

"Oz?"

 

"Daniel Osbourne, he was a year ahead of us in school but he's a bit of a slacker and had to repeat his senior year. He left after graduation, heading to Tibet to learn how to control the wolf. Xander and the others locked him in the book cage of the library during the three nights he changed and wolf sat him with rifles with trank darts so he didn't get out and chomp on the citizens. Is this a friend of yours?"

 

"Yes, he's an honorary uncle. . .he was one of the marauders with my godfather and Dad. He taught for a year at Hogwarts but the European wizarding community has a problem with werewolves and he had to leave when a teacher let it slip. Of course that might have been Dumbledore's plan all along."

 

"Probably, from what Xander said he had ten different plans going at the same time."

 

"And getting rid of Remus meant I didn't have anybody who was solely on my side to rely on for advice. Sirius was a wanted fugitive after escaping Azkaban and nobody else believed that Albus had anything to hide, he had to be doing everything he was for the greater good. . .nobody could see what that was is all."

 

"Bunch of damn sheep, but Sunnydale had it's own problems ignoring what was in front of them while somebody led them around by the nose." Dawn snorts. They walk the couple of blocks to the 'center' of town, walking into an electronics store.

 

"Is there anything wrong with your phone Harry?" the young woman behind the counter asks.

 

"No, but Dawn needs one of her own." They go over the plans and Dawn looks at the laptops, one being handed to her.

 

"I can't. . ."

 

"It's part of the supplies for school, they don't have them at the school because the store has the programs you need." Harry says. The bags of phone, laptop, case, and other supplies go in the back of the car and they select a bag for her in another store before they drive to GD, Dawn squeaking as they go through the image projected to hide GD from people who don't know it's there.

 

"Yeah, I nearly freaked out the first time we went through the image, even with trusting Dr. Stark, Dr. Blake, and Sheriff Carter. You get used to it after a while." They pull up at the guard shack where their ids are scanned and they pull into a parking lot.

 

"Hello Dawn, are you ready to start school?" Dr. Blake asks when they enter the office.

 

"I think so, I have all my books, assignments for the next week, a new cellphone and computer. . ." she looks at Harry. Dr. Blake chuckles. "Yes, the laptop is part of your school supplies."

 

"I don't want to spend all Giles money."

 

"If you want, you are old enough to get a part-time job here or in town but I'd rather you spend that time on your studies."

 

"So would I, I know how far behind Sunnydale's school system was and I'm going to be working hard to keep up."

 

"Has Harry talked to you about a tutor for magic?"

 

"Yes, he mentioned his 'uncle' Remus. I don't have any problems with a werewolf, Oz is a werewolf and he was one of my favorite babysitters."

 

"Good, I was going to suggest him. Harry, why don't you go get him. He's helping out in the history section." Harry hurries off and returns fifteen minutes later with Remus, finding Dawn and Allison talking. They go off to talk in an empty room and Nathan looks at Allison.

 

"That's not a normal witch."

 

"No, she's too powerful. And it's not just because she spent so long on the Hellmouth. She doesn't know though."

 

"And there's no reason to tell her."

 

"Not unless something happens."

 

Dawn takes a deep breath the following Monday morning, walking into her new school and walking to the tutoring room, settling at a table and bringing out her books and the assignments she'd been working on.

 

The next couple of months pass quietly and she cries out one day in the middle of her tutoring session with Remus.

 

"What's going on?" Harry yells. He comes over from the table where he's studying for taking his American and European OWLS next month.

 

"Somebody is attacking her magically." Remus turns the attack back on the person casting the spell, a wolf's smile crossing his face when he can hear a scream of rage and pain.

 

"Willow!" Buffy screams. "What's going on?"

 

"I. . .I tried grabbing Xander and Dawn for you, somebody stopped me." She tries again and screams in agony as magical fire envelopes her.

 

"But I need Xander here." She whines in New York, looking at the vampires and demons attacking the city. "This is all his fault. If he and. . ."

 

"Will you grow the hell up you stupid little bitch." A male voice snaps.

 

"What's her problem?" Bucky asks Tony as he comes over to the man.

 

"She pushed everybody away because she's special and they're normal. Now she needs them because it's hard without people backing her up and everybody told her to kiss her ass. Her bestest buddy Rosenberg just tried summoning everybody back and the magic fried her useless ass when it was turned back on her."

 

Bucky slaps her, thankfully not with his prosthetic arm. "Grow the fuck up you stupid selfish bitch. Me, me, me it's all about me. You didn't like anybody around you who was normal then when they left you realized just how much work they did and you guessed you needed them around you after all and had your bitch friend there try to grab them."

 

"But they left me." Buffy whines.

 

"You sent them away with you damn brat selfish attitude. Because you and that damn bitch were special." Tony sneers. She lunges for him and gets slapped down by Bucky. She lays on the ground whining. They look at each other, turn, and walk away. Either she'll grow up or she'll be killed. She had backup and threw it away, no real fighter does that. They either quickly learned or died.

 

"I was expecting Steve."

 

"Steve would have been too soft on her, he would have treated her as a girl not a soldier. He's off with Clint evacuating people."

 

Dawn wakes up in the infirmary, finding Xander sleeping in a bed next to her while Dr. Blake, Dr. Stark, and Remus talk.

 

"She's awake."

 

"What happened?"

 

"Somebody tried summoning you and I turned the attack back on them."

 

"Willow, probably she and Buffy finally realized we had left and she couldn't have that. Buffy doesn't want normal people around but she wanted us there to praise her and do everything she didn't want to . .. because she's special." Xander snorts in the next bed. He holds his head and sighs as Dr. Blake injects something into his iv.

 

"Probably, it sounds like something a spoiled brat like her would . . ." Nathan's voice trails off as Carter hustles into the room. They all look at him.

 

"Major battle in New York, rumor is it vampires and demons attacked a number of buildings. You had a call from Tony Stark." Nathan grabs his phone and walks into the hallway. His eyes are dark when he comes back into the room.

 

"Xander, Dawn. . .I have bad news."

 

"Buffy and Willow?"

 

"Gone, it seems there has been a demon lord planning to take out Manhattan. Somebody in the know located your sister and Willow in Sunnydale and brought them out. The attack on you two was Willow trying to bring you to them. . .because Buffy found out being the Slayer was hard without backup." Dawn snorts and rolls her eyes, trying to sit up and weaving until Remus lays her back down in the bed. "They had a few hours before the attack to try to evacuate the general area but they weren't able to save everybody. They're moving all the bodies to a morgue and will need somebody to formally identify the bodies when they find them."

 

"I'll do it."

 

"We'll both do it."

 

"You won't be out of here until tomorrow morning. I'll make the arrangements for somebody to fly you out tomorrow and for a rental car to be waiting on you."

 

"I'll go to your house and pack clothes for a couple days." Harry says from the doorway. "And pack a bag of books and assignments for you Dawn."

 

"Thank you Harry."

 

"Where do we go and who do we talk to when we get there. It's not like Sunnydale."

 

"Our grandson Tony will meet you at the morgue. He works with another of your brothers. . ." Dr. Blake's voice trails off as Dawn yawns and goes back to sleep.

 

Tony is nudged by Steve when a pair of young people. . . and god when had teens and early twenties become young he thinks walks into the morgue and comes over to the tables.

 

"I can do this Dawnnie." The male says.

 

"No, this is my job. Buffy's still my sister even if she did lose her damn mind thanks to dyeing her hair for so long." Tony snickers despite himself. "The bleach had to seep in, that's the only excuse for her decline into stupidity?"

 

"STD? Some of them rot the brain if they're not treated."

 

"Wouldn't be surprised with her dating history. What was Willow's excuse?"

 

"Her parents are psychiatrists, they left her alone for long periods of time. She's a genius, that makes her better than everybody else. She's got an addictive personality and the power to do whatever she wanted, if it wasn't magic it would have been drugs or booze." Steve looks at Tony who nods. "That's why so many tycoons and others have three martini business lunches. And why so many kids who had money their entire lives blow it because they never had to work for it."

 

Dawn pulls back the sheet, revealing Buffy's face. She kisses her forehead and covers her back up. "Yes, this is my sister Buffy Summers." She turns to the other table where Xander is looking at Willow's body.

 

"Do you know where her parents are?"

 

"No, they hadn't been back home for a couple years before we left." Dawn says absently.

 

"Christ." Steve breaths as Tony winces. He'd gone through the same thing with his parents before their deaths. "Their schedule should be in Willow's house somewhere, if not their tour schedule is online."

 

"Are you going back to Sunnydale? You were talking to Giles the other night." Dawn asks when they've left the morgue and gone to Avengers Tower.

 

"Tony killed Jessica in a drunken fight then shot himself. Giles is looking over everything in the house to see if it's worth saving or just sell everything to try to cover their outstanding debts."

 

"No savings?"

 

"They ran through their checks as soon as they got them. They didn't own the house either, and the car's a piece of shit. They disowned me when I refused to pay for the privilege of living in their basement so nobody can come after me legally. I already put a notice in the paper for two weeks before and after I left that I wasn't covering their debts to cover my ass legally. Not even Sunnydale's courts could come after me. At least not for the piddling bribe somebody could come up with."

 

"Since Sunnydale's court is just as corrupt as the cops." Dawn nods. "And the school system isn't any better."

 

Steve shakes his head. "Okay, what do we need to do to claim the bodies?"

 

"Not to be rude but do you have the money to bury them?"

 

"Mommy put money aside for her and Buffy's funerals when she got sick and found out Buffy was the Slayer. Not that the watchers would have taken care of that."

 

"Willow's got parents, they can get off their asses and actually act like parents for once in their lives." Xander snorts.

 

"These?" Tony shows him a website.

 

"Yep, that's them."

 

"The police can call out there and have somebody alert them. How long has it been since they saw their daughter?" He sends an e-mail to the authorities with the information.

 

"Years? They didn't come back for graduation, and that was three years ago. Of course they were furious that Willow attended UC sunnydale instead of the schools that her mother had applied to in her name. How dare she make her own decisions? She could have gone to Oxford, she should have gone to Oxford."

 

"They shouldn't be psychiatrists, they need psychiatrists." Somebody mumbles behind them.

 

"Not the first set of parents that tried to run their kids lives instead of letting them do it themselves."

 

"That's why some people should not be parents."

 

Xander's on the phone. "Giles? Yeah, it's Buffy. And Willow. Somebody's going to be contacting her parents. . .Cover story?"

 

"The building that was attacked was full of university students from various schools across the country. Either touring the museum or acting as volunteers for credit towards classes."

 

"Hear that? Yeah, that can be spun if they bother to show up. It's summer, they might have been there getting ready for their classes this fall. Yes, yes Giles I'm enrolled in university, I start this fall. I'm getting in my mandatory classes then start the speciality next year or year after that. Engineering, with a dual major in mechanical and chemical. No. . .not to blow up buildings better." He sighs as Dawn snickers. "I'm working on a space program Giles, experimenting with creating a lighter vehicle for eventual space exploration." Tony looks at him. Xander holds a hand over his phone. "Our Stark says to quit ignoring your e-mail until Pepper throws something at your head. He wants your input in it, the DoD is talking to your Agent Coulson since they hate dealing with you almost as much as they do him." Tony preens. Then yelps as Xander reaches over and smacks him upside the head. "From Dr. Blake for being a manipulative brat, she knows she taught you better than that." He pouts as Steve coughs to hide his laughter. Bucky and Clint don't even bother.

 

"So who's Dumbledore's kid here? Not Stark if Dr. Blake raised him." Dawn asks.

 

"Captain America if he's the real Steve Rogers and not somebody wearing the suit." He stiffens and glares at him, Bucky grabbing his arm. "Relax, I'm another of his bastard children." Bucky looks at the pair and can see a hint of resemblance now. Though he knows Stark will be demanding proof. So will Stevie.

 

"Your mother went to a school for magic?" Dawn looks at him.

 

"Adopted."

 

"Ahhhh, that makes more sense. 'Cause the only thing more scary than your parents with magic would have been a magical Buffy in her airhead persona."

 

"Dumbledore?"

 

"Murdered nearly two years ago, all his shit came out in the European wizarding world and they're stunned at everything he did for the greater good." Xander sneers. "So was it your magic that allowed the supersoldier stuff to take?"

 

"And protected me while I was frozen for seventy years. Are you the youngest?"

 

"Of the adult children, the younger kids are just that. . .kids. Including a baby that that's turning one in a couple months, his mother was pregnant when Dumbledore was murdered. Has anybody been keeping an eye on the European community and their war?" Natasha nods. "Hermione Granger."

 

"I'd have thought she had more sense than that." She says sourly.

 

"But he's the 'great' Albus Dumbledore and she always obeys teachers and other people in power." Xander drawls sarcastically. "She thought she'd be able to leave Hogwarts, have the baby in America over the summer and attend an American school because she's one of the smartest students at Hogwarts. She didn't realize how far behind the other schools Hogwarts was thanks to his manipulations. She had to repeat her fifth year since she left early when they realized she was pregnant, she's trying to do two years in one to both graduate with the others and save her parents money, even with the fund the ICW created tuition is still two to three times what it was before."

 

"What happened?"

 

"A long story. Short version is Harry Potter was the last heir to a fund created to help defray the costs of Hogwarts, as long as a heir attended school the fund was good. The former minister of magic Fudge demanded Harry Potter return to Hogwarts where he was gone Christmas day visiting his newfound family. If he didn't return immediately he'd make sure Harry never attended Hogwarts again."

 

"Moron."

 

"The new headmistress called his bluff and said that your grandfather would have no problems enrolling him in Eureka's school, that broke the contract and the remaining money went to Harry. When people found out what happened they wanted to lynch the bastard."

 

"And the long version?" Tony asks dryly.

 

"Harry's our nephew." Xander looks at Steve. "Seems dear old Dad impersonated Harry's grandfather to knock up his grandmother. Petunia was born a squib so he did it again and this time Lily was born with magic."

 

 

 

Steve sighs as the others swear. "He did more than that, beyond having sex with young girls. He stole the son of another one of us, putting a golem in his place and letting everybody think the boy had died. . .accidentally shooting himself with his father's gun. He put him in one of the light families that looked to him after altering his appearance and the memories of everybody. He stole another one of us, letting everybody think he'd been killed and keeping him drugged for nearly four years."

 

"Christ."

 

"He stole two pureblood children from the wizarding world, putting them in other families and wiping all memories of them. One of them was placed in another branch of the family to give them new blood since they'd been exiled to the states for being squibs for generations. Because they had dark hair. In the family the dark haired children were generally squibs while the redheads were wizards." Rolled eyes and insults to the wizarding world's intelligence. "He doesn't have any children but his 'brother' had two children, the oldest is a wizard while the girl is too young to know either way. And the boy is a brunet." Sniggers from everybody in earshot. "The second thought he was the first magical child in the family. He was actually the second son of the Potters, so he's Harry's other uncle. He stole a half-blood child from a family that had been having marital troubles."

 

"Oh and of course they had a child to try to bring them closer together. Idiots." Tony snorts.

 

Xander nods. "They had another child a few years later. The first baby was supposedly a first generation magickal and is a genius if he does say so himself. You may have heard of him. . .Rodney McKay." Tony moans and nods. "He's an asshole." The others snort.

 

"Yeah I know, coming from me that might say something." he snorts, waving a hand. "So he was stolen from his family and they had another kid?"

 

"Yeah, a teacher at the school. Dumbledore bred him with Harry's aunt Petunia, thanks to potions she was only gone a few days. The baby was born and Dumbledore thought the experiment was a failure because the baby didn't appear to be magical. He used a time turner to send her back in time to be adopted. She's a nature path witch."

 

"Jesus, what a bastard." Tony murmurs. "What else did the old bastard do?"

 

"He didn't like the idea that one of the grandkids was weak magically and a bit clumsy. He trapped him and the others on the boat he worked on on a deserted island, making sure all their plans to escape were ruined. He wasn't watching them for a while and they were finally able to get away but everybody thought because he was so clumsy he'd ruined all their escape plans by accident."

 

"Christ."

 

Xander writes out a website address and password on a notepad for Steve, Tony snatching the paper as he passes it over. "It's a site we put together for the family to keep in touch. That's the address for the site and password you'll need to get onto it. You'll need to create an account and password, once you're vetted you'll be allowed into the other areas. That's just the public forum for friends and family. They've got speciality areas set up since so many of the kids are either scientists, in law enforcement, or in some cases both."

 

"Are there any other kids in New York?"

 

"Yes, Doc Savage. . ." Xander smirks as Clint splutters and chokes on his coffee. "And the felony CSI lab here in New York, the head of it Mac Taylor is a brother, his second in command Stella Bonasera is a sister, and another sister used to work with them but she's currently in prison, she got pregnant by another of their co-workers and tried blackmailing the family about having a kid out of wedlock but didn't realize they'd already kicked him out because he didn't want to be a crook like them. We haven't found all the kids, some of them were adopted magically so they don't show up on the tapestry and he had some hidden until the trigger was found. The others didn't know Harry was a grandkid at first until a scroll was found with the news that he wanted Harry to be raised by his aunt Petunia and be abused, he was trying to repeat the Dark Lord's upbringing so he had the perfect tool and if one took out the other he could kill the remaining one while they were weak and be the hero of the wizarding world again."

 

"Christ." Clint says again. "What a manipulator." The elevator across the room opens.

 

"The police have contacted the Rosenbergs to alert them to their daughter's death along with those other young men and women touring the exhibits. They've asked that her body be sent back to Sunnydale. They'll make arrangements for her to be buried there, they're busy with their speaking tour." Phil Coulson says, walking into the room.

 

"Oh of course, just like they've been too busy to get in touch with her since graduation." Xander rolls his eyes.

 

"Do you have a place to stay?" Tony asks.

 

"We'd figured on picking up a hotel room."

 

"They'd be expensive as hell, we've got plenty of guest room. And we can talk about GD and the family."

 

"Sooooo, the son of the so called hero of the wizarding world?" Natasha asks when Dawn and Xander have excused themselves and gone to their rooms with their bags from the car.

 

"I've known from the beginning, my mother told me one day before the serum and I was real sick. We were at war, both the wizarding world with Grindelwald and the non-magical world dealing with Hitler."

 

"And then you got stuck in an iceberg." Tony smirks.

 

"Their Stark, and Dr. Blake that raised you?" Natasha looks at him.

 

"Wizards live longer than non-magicals. Dr. Nathan Stark. . .or Lord Nathanial Starkweather if you're familiar with the wizarding world, is my grandfather. Like Willow's, my parents were gone for years at a time before they were killed, they took over the raising of me. They live in a small town in Oregon called Eureka, the whole town is a think tank for Global Dynamics, a company big in the DoD."

 

"Dumbledore was nearly a hundred and fifty when he died, I've heard rumors of people who have lived longer than that but. . ."

 

"Yeah, I've heard the same rumors." Tony says. "Nicolas and Perenelle Flamel, supposedly created the philosopher's stone that allows them to create an elixer that prolongs life. Good friends of Dumbledore's, he took the stone for 'safe keeping', really a trap to entice their Dark Lord to the school so Harry could dispose of it according to my grandparents."

 

 

"Harry?" Coulson asks.

 

"Harry Potter, the boy who lived. The hope for the wizarding world and all that rot. Fate's favorite whipping boy. . .or I should say Dumbledore's favorite toy. His parents were killed by the Dark Lord when he was fifteen months off and his godfather Sirius Black took off after the man who betrayed them, ultimately ending up in their prison without a trial for a dozen years until he escaped. With Black gone Dumbledore was able to put Harry with his mother's sister and her husband where he was abused for years. Grammy told me that they were arrested for abuse and neglect and his aunt, uncle, and cousin are in prison in England. That only happened because Dumbledore was out of the way and unable to keep the non-magical CPS from completing investigations anymore."

 

"Where is he now?"

 

"Harry? Living in Eureka with the town Sheriff who's one of Dumbledore's grandkids." Xander says, coming into the room. "Here, a photo album that one of the house elves brought out from Eureka when I said we were staying here." He identifies everybody.

 

"Is everybody magical?"

 

"Of all the kids? No, Dumbledore thought we were all squibs because most of our mothers bound our magic at birth to make sure he couldn't find us and take us. . .because it would be a disgrace for the great Albus Dumbledore to have a squib child. Though he really did, the school handyman Argus Filch. Not that he admitted he was Filch's father, he was just doing the poor man a boon by giving him a job in the wizarding world. . .where he grew into a hateful, bitter man surrounded by everything he didn't have."

 

"Magic."

 

"Yep. A handful of us had to have our magic unbound when we were brought to the school for the meeting, Doc, the second in command for the CSI lab, an undercover government agent, and an agent for another branch of the same agency. . .but while theirs is covert the other is out in the open. My magic wasn't bound but it was shielded by living on the Hellmouth for so long."

 

Steve blinks at the new picture in the back of the album. It's him and the others.

 

"They're linked and magically updating, now that you've been identified as a kid you're in the book."

 

"You know. . ." Clint says slowly. "Johnny Storm from the Fantastic Four looks a helluva lot like Steve for all that he's younger."

 

"He might be related in some way or other." Xander says slowly then his phone rings. "Hello. Oh hi Jack, what's. . .really?" he says slowly. "Huh, I thought the Hellmouth was weird. What can I. . .Okay, Yeah, I'll go and claim custody of him with the papers you're sending but. . .Okay, I'll head that way in an hour after I get a shower and change my clothes."

 

"Dawnie, I gotta head off. Seems Jack O'Neill has me heading to New Jersey to pick up somebody for him who's been hurt in a car accident, Dr. Savage and I are heading off with a private ambulance in an hour. I gotta shower and change my clothes before he picks me up."

 

"Okay, I gotta work on stuff for my classes." Tony settles in a corner of the living room with her to go over her classes, the others shaking their heads as they hear how bad the Sunnydale school was.

 

"That sounds like what we would have been learning." Bucky says. Steve nods. "Harry was in the same boat, Hogwarts didn't offer any non-magical classes and the magical classes they did offer were drastically dumbed down to make the purebloods feel better about themselves. This last school year was the first year they offered the new classes from the beginning of the school year. Harry says that the school lost a lot of purebloods, either to other schools that were in the same boat, because they were death eaters or sympathizers, or because parents didn't want to spend more money for their kids to take muggle classes." She sneers. "Not that they'll have magical children, they're already so inbred." She looks up as Xander comes through and kisses her on the hair before he heads down to the garage with Bucky. The private ambulance arrives and Xander gets in the passenger seat.

 

"Did Jack tell you who we're picking up?"

 

"His teenage clone created by a renegade Asgard alien who just finished high school? Yes." Doc looks at him.

 

Xander shrugs. "Grew up on the Hellmouth, nothing surprises me anymore."

 

"Who the hell are you?" Jon asks a few hours later after he's put in the back of an ambulance with his 'brother'. He might be hurt and this doesn't feel like a trap but he can't let appearances fool him.

 

"Xander Harris, or Alexander LaVelle Harris if you want the full name. Jack O'Neill called me and the guy driving to come pick you up when he got the news about the accident. Need us to go to an apartment or anywere else?"

 

"No, I'd already sent on everything to Colorado. How do you know Uncle Jack?"

 

Xander snorts. "Jack told us you're his clone. . .and can I say how fucking weird that is? You've been out of touch, Albus Dumbledore was killed nearly two years ago."

 

"Shit."

 

"Yeah, I'm another of his kids . . .so's Clark in the front. Need me to take over the driving?" He sees they're pulling into a rest area. Doc nods and they switch places.

 

"Doc Savage? Okay, now I know I'm still unconscious and hallucinating. Or the hospital has me stoned out of my mind on painkillers."

 

"Like Alexander I was unaware that my father wasn't my biological parent until Dumbledore's death."

 

"How many of us are there?"

 

"Over 30 boys and fifteen girls, and we haven't found all of them. If they weren"t magically adopted, they were hidden by other means. You've heard of Harry Potter?" Xander says from the front.

 

"The hero of the wizarding world? Yeah."

 

"He's a nephew, Dumbledore pretended to be his grandfather and knocked up his grandmother. When Harry's aunt was born a squib, he did it again. This time Harry's mother was born with magic, otherwise the old bastard would have just kept going."

 

"Christ."

 

"He kidnapped his daughter Petunia and bred her like a prize horse to a teacher at the school, using potions to make the pregnancy only three days. The baby was born and he thought she was a squib, he used a time turner and took her back in time to be adopted. Turns out she's a nature path witch."

 

"Christ, is there anything else?"

 

"Yeah, but I'm not sure if I should tell you one of them."

 

"Tell me." he orders. Oh yeah, this is Jack O'Neill.

 

"Jacob Carter is your brother, like you he always knew the old bastard was your father. He's got an older son from his first marriage that's magical, he's the head of magical and non-magical law enforcement in a magical enclave in Oregon. I just moved there a couple months ago for work and schooling. I'm in New York because a couple old friends got killed."

 

Jon laughs. "So Carter's my niece." They pull into a rest area and Xander looks back at them.

 

"Yeah." Doc injects something into the iv.

 

"Okay, tell me the other one. . .I'm floating from whatever Doc just gave me."

 

"Dumbledore had a habit of stealing people and making everybody who loved them thinking they died."

 

"Charlie?" Jon asks. No. Oh god, no.

 

"Spent his entire life thinking he was the second son of Arthur and Molly Weasley until people started doing family tree tapestries and surprise, surprise his name wasn't on either of his parents tapestries. Seems Dumbledore had taken him before the shooting because that's the age. . ."

 

"He'd have gotten his letter for school."

 

"Exactly. The mediwitches and wizards broke the charms making him look like the rest of the family but it took more work to find the blocks on his memories, they weren't able to remove them. . .they were too deeply placed but they broke the leads to his magic keeping them active, they should eventually dissolve."

 

"You said he did this to somebody else?"

 

"Yeah, that time he stole one of his sons who was a CSI out of Miami, like you he left a golem in his place. He was shot in a jewelry store robbery. His boss held him as he died, begging him to hang on."

 

"Just like I did with Charlie."

 

"He kept Speed drugged for years, it was only when Dumbledore died and the tapestry said, location unknown for him that the goblins went looking and found him. He stole three children from the wizarding world but instead of making their families think they died he made sure nobody remembered they'd ever existed. . .it took Harry doing a family tapestry of his own because a charm had been broken to make them realize Dumbledore was his grandfather to find out there was a second Potter son. You might know the name. . .John Sheppard."

 

Jon swears in a number of languages. "Yeah, from what the others have said, he planned on trotting him out as the lost Potter heir after Harry ended up sacrificing himself for the 'greater good' but he's involved in whatever it is Jack and Jacob do so they couldn't find him."

 

Jon laughs. "That must have made the old goat mad. You said other kids?

 

"Yeah, it turns out Speed's boss, the one that was with him when he 'died' is actually a Weasley, stolen from the family to be put in another branch in the States that needed new blood. . .they'd been sent away from the main family for the 'horror' of having dark hair. . .dark hair usually meant they were squibs." Jon shakes his head. "God, just when you think the wizarding world can't get any worse."

 

"Yeah, anyway Horatio's got a nephew and niece, the boy's dark haired . . .and a wizard."

 

"Ha. Suck on that European wizarding world."

 

"While the girl's a redhead but too young to show magic and is recovering from a bone marrow transplant from the boy, seems the brother had been undercover and took in a young runaway as part of his cover."

 

"And had a kid?"

 

"Yeah. Horatio pretended the kid was his until she was diagnosed with cancer and needed the transplant, then had to tell Ray Jr's. mother the truth. He knew the girl was his brother's, she looked just like him at that age but everybody saw the hair and automatically assumed she was Horatio's. He stole a kid from a half-blood family that was having marital problems and thought a kid would bring them together."

 

"Didn't work?"

 

"That's why my parents adopted me, they'd have been better off divorcing and maybe getting sober and being happy instead of drunk and miserable."

 

"Yeah, that's a reason why parents should have to pass a test before they have kids. Anyway, he stole him and put him in a family?"

 

"Yeah, like your friend Sheppard he thought he was the first magical in his family. He went to school year-round in Canada, graduated early, went to university and got multiple degrees, got nabbed by the government here in the US to work for them first at area 51 then somewhere else. . ."

 

"Oh Christ, not McKay." Jon moans.

 

"Yep. From what the others told me, he's got a job in the magical government in Canada and was sent to where Jack works to hide the signs of magic. Anyway a couple years later they had a second son, the teacher he bred to Petunia."

 

"Christ."

 

"The cursebreakers are tearing apart the school to find all Dumbledore's little hiding spots but the old bastard had stuff hidden under so many charms it's nearly impossible."

 

"Think they've cleared an area, then trip something and find out you gotta start all over again." Jon sighs. "So what now?"

 

"I'm taking you to a private hospital I run while you recover."

 

"While I'm heading back to Sunnydale in a couple days with Dawnie for Willow's funeral and have Joyce dug up. We're cremating her and Buffy so Dawn has them nearby since we're not coming back to Sunnydale. If Willow's parents hadn't sent word back for the funeral home in Sunnydale to handle everything because they were busy we'd have done the same for her too. She and Buffy might have lost their damn minds with their special girl syndrome, but they were our friends."

 

"Okay, not that I'm complaining but why you two?" Jon asks.

 

"I'm old enough to be your older brother who just graduated from university, that's why I haven't been around for the last three years while you were attending high school. I was in New York with Dawn when Jack called. While Doc's got that private hospital for you to recover in."

 

"University." Doc looks at him.

 

"I've been accepted to MIT, I start classes this fall. If anybody in Sunnydale asks, I can say I've been working construction to save money for school. Everybody knows my parents never would have helped me with tuition."

 

In Sunnydale a couple days later Giles and Spike unlock the door of the Rosenberg home, Spike blinking as he walks into the building.

 

"Willow is dead and her parents can't really be said to live here, they haven't been here in years." Spike nods. "Where to start Watcher?"

 

"Empty the refrigerator and cabinets of everything that would go bad before they return. . .if they ever do. Find a outfit for her to be buried in. . .we'll have to do the same for Buffy. In Willow's case clean out all signs of her magick use."

 

Giles shakes his head at all the books she'd stolen from him and the others. He packs them up and makes sure her room is clean of everything that ever showed she dabbled, searching the building with his magic to make sure they got it all and swearing as he finds multiple areas set up throughout the building, all with Willow's magical signature on them.

 

"She was going down a dark path Watcher, she'd have destroyed somebody or something before long." Spike says as the last of the building is cleansed and they deliver the clothes for Buffy and Willow to the funeral home. Xander and Dawn arrive a couple days later and they have the graveside service. Xander detours to another cemetery and looks down at the Harrisses tombstone. He shakes his head as Giles pats his shoulder.

 

The Summers house has already been packed up and they follow the truck out of town for the last time, Giles counting to ten as Spike drives over the welcome to Sunnydale sign and defaces it with a can of spray paint before they drive away.

 

They settle at a cheap motel a few hours and a few hundred miles away.

 

"Giles, what are your plans?"

 

"I've been hired by Hogwarts as a lecturer for one of the elective classes they're going to be offering as a part of the new history curriculum. During the summers I can work on my own research."

 

"The watchers?"

 

"A bunch of useless wankers who self-destructed thanks to their own greed. The magical and non-magical governments took them out with extreme prejudice and relocated the girls to foster care homes. With some counseling they should be able to live normal lives. The Slayer spirit was pulled from Faith and destroyed by a group of wizards and other magic users, there will never be another Slayer for the watchers to control. Other groups can take care of demons just as well as they could and they don't use a child as a warrior to do it. They're going through all the Watchers records, weapons, artifacts, and money. If Buffy had managed to pull her head out of her arse and grow up, she'd have been awarded a portion as damages for her years of being the Slayer." Giles doesn't say it's all going to him now. And he plans on giving it to his children.

 

"What about the girls?"

 

"Most were given to the Council by their families because the knew what a Slayer was, some were stolen by them. Some are being raised by their watchers and will be dealt with later. Those that can't function in normal society will be taken in by the groups and trained to help the fight."

 

"Spike?"

 

"I'm going to be helping out the DADA teacher, showing the kiddies what a big, bad vampire really is."

 

"And having fun trying to make them piss themselves?" Dawn giggles.

 

"Oh yeah." Spike laughs.

 

"Dawn, how are you classes coming?"

 

"Slow, Sunnydale didn't offer a lot of this stuff so I'm learning all new stuff in addition to catching up in the classes that I did take. But Mommy wanted one of us to make something of herself and I'm the only one left now."

 

 

 

Jon opens his eyes at the hospital, moaning when he finds his older self sitting next to the bed. He knows he's not there waiting for him to wake up, the wheelchair is a dead giveaway.

 

"What are you doing here?"

 

"Finally getting my knees taken care of now that I've been kicked up the ranks."

 

"The base?"

 

"New guy named Landry has been named head." The door opens and Jon moans. Charlie grins as he enters the room. "They want you in your room to talk over the surgery."

 

"Ah hell. . ." Jack wheels himself off as Charlie settles in a seat beside the bed.

 

"This is . . .awkward."

 

"Charlie." Jon reaches up and touches his son's face for the first time in his new life.

 

Harry takes a deep breath a few days after Xander and Willow had returned to Eureka, Dr. Stark patting him on the back and giving him a smile as they walk into a government building in America so he can take the American OWLS.

 

That takes a couple weeks and two weeks after that he and Sheriff Carter walk into the ministry where he's scheduled to take the European OWLS. He smiles as he sees Hermione sitting at a table and pats her on the shoulder. She hugs him before other students start coming into the room.

 

"Will I need to take those tests?" Dawn asks Remus in a tutoring session.

 

"No, you started taking magical lessons after the cutoff, a number of Xander's siblings are older and taking self-study. In Europe, you would need an OWL or your wand would be snapped and your magic bound if you had non-magical parents, but that was a way the purebloods kept the others in line. They'd just bribe their way out of any troubles. Americans are different, it's more a way to show what you've learned. In both cases, your grades determine what advanced classes you could take."

 

"Can I take them?"

 

"If you want, if you wanted to go for a higher magical degree you'd need the tests."

 

"There's higher degrees in magic?"

 

"Yes, in the wizarding world if you wanted to go on you'd apprentice yourself to somebody, here in America and Canada if your university has a magical track you can apply to get a degree. I'm going for a double degree in magical and non-magical classes through GD."

 

 

"But why are our talks nearly empty?" Sheila Rosenberg whines a few weeks later as she sees another nearly empty auditorium.

 

"Because the news that you were too busy to attend your daughter's funeral made the rounds." the woman who'd rented them the auditorium says, glaring at them. "You disgust me you miserable old bat, how long has it been since you were home and talked to your daughter?" She snorts at the look on her face. "Yeah, that's why nobody's here for your oh so precious lecture."

 

"Maybe we should have gone back home." she says after the lecture is cancelled.

 

"Ya think." Her husband says dryly. "Everybody in the business hates us for not cancelling the speaking tour. Our daughter died Sheila and you can't be fucking bothered to even pretend to mourn her."

 

"But if we'd cancelled the tour we'd have lost money."

 

"She was our daughter and she's dead."

 

"But she didn't go to Oxford."

 

"She didn't apply to Oxford you damn fool, you are the one who wanted her to go there. You're the one who filled out the application and wrote the essay. . .not her. You wanted to run her whole damn life and she told you no. So you had a shit fit and fell in it."

 

"It's all that little bitch Bunny's. . ."

 

"Buffy died trying to save our daughter's life. She didn't have a damn thing with our daughter not choosing to go to Oxford. You being a spoiled BITCH had everything to do with our daughter's decisions." Ira yells, getting in her face.

 

"She did not, Willow should never have been there."

 

"Buffy and Willow were volunteering at the museum for credit toward their last year of school. Willow was knocked unconscious and Buffy threw herself in front of her when the attack happened. If you'd bothered to listen to the officer when he told us about Willow's death instead of telling everybody the tour had to go on and you had to go over your notes you'd know that. Buffy's mother died a couple months ago and she had a younger sister she was raising. Now that poor child lost her sister and her mother. She had to identify their bodies."

 

"But I wanted her to go to Oxford." She whines, stomping her foot and pouting.

 

"No, you wanted to go to Oxford but your grades weren't good enough. Our daughter wanted her own life. You're just a spoiled stupid little bitch who had to have her own damn way. Quit trying to blame everybody else."

 

"What about her friend Xander, I'm sure he begged her to stay. He's probably the town drunk just like his parents." She sneers.

 

"Xander moved away and is attending MIT, he's got a job with a DoD company and is going to be working in their space program."

 

"He's working for NASA?"

 

"No, he's working for one of the companies that is going to take over NASA's job. Because they're not involved in launching shuttles or satellites anymore. From what I understand, he's working on lighter materials and longer acting fuels to allow man to explore space."

 

"But they had to have done something to keep Willow from going to Oxford." She whines. "She did everything she was told before she had friends. And they didn't even give her a proper jewish burial, she should have been buried within 24 hours of dying."

 

"Over three hundred people died that day Sheila, they didn't have the time. And since when do you care about proper jewish traditions. You haven't been to a synagogue since before Willow was born. If you wanted her to have a traditional burial you should have got off your ass and made the arrangements yourself. The only reason you're complaining now is you're mad people realize you're a miserable bitch and aren't bowing, scraping, and kissing your ass for living."

 

Hermione holds up her hand when the OWL from the Ministry arrives at her home. She's getting her grades early since she'd took her tests at the ministry. She'll get a letter from the school when the others are sent out. Taking a deep breath she opens the letter then grins. Giving the owl water and treats she heads off to the Burrow.

 

"Is that your grades?" Mr. Weasley asks. Hermione nods. Ron is in Egypt on a site but he'll be flooing his father in a couple days. The twins are back for a visit and they all look over her grades.

 

"Congratulations Hermione, this is all you needed to go into the seventh year with the others?"

 

"Yes, I've already passed all my tests for my sixth year classes."

 

"Does the school know?"

 

"They were supposed to get the official results when I did. I already knew from the proctor that I passed but we had to wait for the official results. Dobby?"

 

"Master Harry's friend Hermy ask for Dobby?"

 

"Can you take this to Harry?" She copies her OWLS for Dobby and he heads off with a smile. Hermione looks at the time and heads back to her home, her parents will be heading home soon.

 

"Hermione?" Samantha says when she returns home.

 

"Got my grades and had to let the Weasleys know. Sent copies to Harry with Dobby . . ." Dobby pops in, bubbling over as he gives copies of Master Harry's grades to Miss Hermy.

 

"That's quite the difference in classes." Thomas says, looking over Harry's OWLS. "Hogwarts doesn't teach any of this."

 

"No it doesn't, even with the new classes the school doesn't offer all this."

 

Carter comes into the office a few days later and turns on the television, Stark glaring at him until he sees what is being broadcast. Or rather who can be seen in the distance with the telephoto lens the cameraman is using.

 

"I think Harry's going to be spending more time with Colonel Sheppard."

 

"Congratulations on your grades on the European and American OWLS." Sheppard says when he arrives in Eureka a couple days later.

 

"Nice entrance." Stark says, smirking at McKay.

 

"Blame the driver." he points at Sheppard. "We were supposed to come in quiet."

 

"Too much shipping traffic off course because of the storm McKay, this way they headed away from the area."

 

"Yeah, a giant spaceship hovering over me would make me move too."

 

"And make me go running for clean clothes after I shit myself."

 

"That too."

 

"Okay, what did you need to talk to me about the next time you were back. . .not that we expected you to make such a big entrance." Carter asks as he, Stark, Allison, McKay, and a man introduced as Carson Beckett gather in a meeting room at GD.

 

"Okay, short version is there is a gene that turns on Ancient machinery, Jack O'Neill has it, Sheppard has it, and you have it. But it's not tied to our magic, because the other magic users on Atlantis don't have it. But the version you have isn't the same as O'Neill's. . .or even Sheppards's. But it is identical to mine, and mine isn't natural. I gave myself an artificial version so I could operate the machinery on Atlantis without having to have Sheppard think 'on' at it."

 

"So you think he might have given it to me?"

 

"Possible. Are the goblins and cursebreakers any closer to finding all his hiding places? And we'll need to test Harry and Speed, he had them for years."

 

"No. Dumbledore has been headmaster for decades. And the school is just a small part of Hogwarts. Looking for all his hiding spaces is opening parts of the castle that haven't been touched in years."

 

Meanwhile Radek is inside looking through the rooms of debris they'd mined when they were in orbit before landing. It will all go through the recycling units for raw materials and energy while they're on Earth. He checks on the solar collection unit, now that they've settled it can start charging again.

 

Xander comes to the door and hands Dr. Stark a letter.

 

"What is it Xander?"

 

"I'm being sued, by Willow's mother. Because I just had to have kept her precious daughter from attending Oxford. Oh, and I didn't bury Willow properly by jewish tradition even though she's the one who had the funeral home arrange everything, she doesn't approve of the outfit Giles picked out for her to be buried in. . .not that she knows all her daughter's clothes..."

 

"What a bitch."

 

"I have to be in New York in two weeks for a court date. I don't have a lawyer. . .or can afford to stay in New York for a court case."

 

"Don't worry, any judge will look at this and throw it out immediately as being without merit." Allison says. She grabs her phone, dialing a number.

 

"Pepper, it's Allison Blake. Toss the stapler at Tony's head again dear, I need to talk to him." A high pitched yelp. "No dear, the bigger head." Nathan smirks. She gives him a look.

 

"The other one was closer." Pepper snorts. In the office Natasha is sniggering as Tony whines. "Dr. Blake needs to talk to you."

 

"Pepper's being mean to me. . ." His whole demeanor changes. "Okay, he can stay here and I have a friend I can call in. We'll beat the stupid woman like a rug." He ends the call and goes back to whining.

 

"What was that about?" Pepper asks.

 

"Steve, Xander and maybe Dawn are coming out in a about a week. Willow's mother is a stupid bitch who's suing Xander for keeping Willow from going to Oxford when she wanted her to go to Oxford. She's also suing because Willow wasn't buried in proper Jewish tradition. . .whatever the hell that is."

 

"Jews generally bury their dead within 24 hours of death without an autopsy. And all the other stuff that happens to a body before a funeral." Bucky says. "We had a jewish friend in school and his grandfather died before the war, I remember that much."

 

"Jacob." Steve says, nodding.

 

"It took them longer than that to find all the bodies." Clint snorts.

 

"Yes. She also didn't approve of the outfit that was chosen for her daughter's burial. . .not that she knows which outfit that was. Her daughter had more clothes than she knows. . ."

 

"What a bitch."

 

"Call Matt Murdock to come talk to him when Xander arrives, I'll cover the bill if Grandma isn't. Rumor is it that attendance for their talks dropped dramatically when the news they couldn't be bothered to head home to attend their daughter's funeral. So she's trying to recoup the money they're not making."

 

"Are you stupid?" A judge sneers at Sheila Rosenberg two weeks later. "There is no way in Hell is Mr. Harris the reason your daughter didn't go to the school you wanted her to attend. I'd say she chose to attend a different school because you're a miserable bitch who had to control everything."

 

She throws herself at the judge, getting tackled by the bailiff.

 

"Take her away, get a real mental health person to look her over. Case dismissed. Have a good day Mr. Harris and I'm sorry you were bothered by her."

 

"Nooo, you can't." Sheila tears herself away from the bailiff and runs toward Xander, grabbing a pitcher and throwing it at his head. That little bastard ruined all her plans and needs to die. She trips on the cane that somehow gets between her legs.

 

"Take her away and have her charged with assault at the least, we'll see about the other charges later."

 

"Are you okay Mr. Harris?" Matt Murdock asks, patting him on the shoulder as a violently screaming Sheila Rosenberg is dragged away.

 

"Yeah, and I thought my parents were bad. They were the town drunks but they never pretended to be anything but that."

 

"Are your parents still alive Mr. Harris?" The judge asks as the courtroom is cleared.

 

"No, they died shortly after I left Sunnydale. Tony killed Jessica in a drunken fight then killed himself." Matt shakes his head in dismay. "I had already put notices in the paper that I wasn't responsible for their bills and they'd disowned me for not paying their rent for the 'privilege' of living in the basement. But I got a bunch of good friends who . . . Dawnie." He pulls the crying teen girl into his arms.

 

"I just heard. . .are you okay?"

 

"Yeah, she got taken down before she could do more than throw a pitcher of water at me and scream obscenities. I've had worse from my parents."

 

"God, Mommy never liked for leaving Willow alone most of the time but I never thought something like that would happen."

 

Matt tilts his head slightly, his radar sense is giving him two different versions of what's in front of him. In one Mr. Harris is holding a young female by her voice, heartbeat, and other body signals, while the other he's talking to . . .a blob of energy?

 

"Mr. Harris?" The judge asks.

 

"Sorry your honor, this is Dawn Summers, the younger sister of Buffy Summers who died with Willow in the attack in New York. I have primary custody of her when I left Sunnydale since our mentor Giles had custody of her."

 

"Not her sister? Or her father?"

 

"Buffy was a flake and didn't have a job and we haven't seen Hank since the divorce. . .he couldn't be bothered to Mommy's funeral, just sent paperwork giving custody of me to Giles. . . to get out of the child support he owed. He tried demanding paternity tests during the divorce to weasel out of child support, then whined when we both came back as his so he had to pay child support and alimony. Not that he was regular in either." Dawn says. "Giles had an apartment and a steady homelife. He gave me the papers so I could move to Oregon with Xander since he was moving too, to Scotland to teach at a private school."

 

"Are you in contact?"

 

"Oh yes, we e-mail and skype all the time and he's coming out next summer when he's not teaching or doing research."

 

"What's going to become of her?"

 

"She's going to be looking at some serious jail time, losing her license, and you've got a lawsuit against her for defamation of character. After her actions in the courtroom, there's no doubt you'll be getting a substantial settlement. She is already in trouble with the board that governs licenses for using her daughter without her permission. She whined that she shouldn't need her permission, she's her daughter and she owns everything of hers. She owns her since she gave birth to her."

 

"I see where Willow got her spoiled bitch tendencies from." Dawn mutters as they walk off.

 

"Are you going to be in town for a while?"

 

"Yes, we're staying at Stark International a few days, the business were I work is working with him on a project. Dawn's going to be spending the week visiting museums for papers for her classes."

 

"I wasn't aware that schools had started yet?" The judge says dryly.

 

"Sunnydale's school system is pretty bad, I had to go back a couple grades when I changed schools and they've been tutoriing me ever since we moved so I can get back to the tenth grade next month. I should have been a junior but Sunnydale didn't offer a lot of the classes my new school does."

 

Xander snorts. "This is the same school that allowed Willow to take over teaching the computer class when Ms. Calendar was killed." He throws his arm around Dawn's shoulders as they walk to the elevator.

 

Ham Brooks pats Matt on the shoulder lightly. "Now that we're off the clock, nice aim with your cane." Like Doc he knows about Murdock's senses.

 

 

 

"You can't take me to jail." Sheila screams as she's dragged away.

 

"You tried attacking a judge and the defendant in your lawsuit, we sure as fuck aren't going to be letting you off with a slap on the wrist and being told not to do it again. You're looking at serious jail time Lady."

 

"Nooooo."

 

"Dumb cunt," the bailiff snorts as she's placed in the back of the police car. "What the hell did she think was going to happen?"

 

"But she's special, everybody should do what she wants." A clerk snorts as she finishes the last of the paperwork and hands it to the police officer. "Women like that are too stupid to live."

 

"How did it go?" Tony asks when Xander and Dawn return to Stark Tower.

 

"Willow's mom tried attacking the judge when he told her I wasn't the reason Willow didn't go to Oxford like she wanted, then she broke away from the bailiff and threw a water pitcher at my head. Her case was threw out of court but my case against her is going forward. She's looking at serious jail time according to the judge."

 

"What a stupid woman." Pepper snorts. "She didn't want a daughter, she wanted a perfect little robot who would obey her every whim."

 

"Exactly."

 

"Dawn, do you have lessons you need to work on while you're here?"

 

"Yes, and I have papers I need to write for exhibits at the museums I'm going to be visiting."

 

"Xander?"

 

"I'm going to be doing a little shopping while we're in New York. And visiting my own museums."

 

"When do you start MIT?"

 

"Two weeks after Dawn starts classes."

 

"Books and supplies?"

 

"They'll be arriving in a couple weeks after we get home. I signed up for four classes, Dr. Stark and Blake wanted me to go for a full semester but I can pick up more classes after this if I finish them before the end of the semester. I won't have the books or supplies for the classes until after the end of the semester, but they have e-books on the computer for me to use."

 

"And when are you lot going to be taking classes."

 

"When hell freezes over." Clint says as he walks through. "Me and books, not mixy. Ask Coulson, he had to keep the teachers from shooting me in classes at SHIELD."

 

"I said the same thing, now look at me." Xander rolls his eyes.

 

"I've been thinking about it." Steve says slowly. "There's still a lot I need to learn about the 70 years I was frozen. And Bucky's in much the same boat for all that he was awake some of that."

 

"The Russians weren't much for keeping me appraised on current topics." He snorts as he walks in. "Stark, can you help me with my arm. I think I have a small piece of grit in here somewhere." Tony grabs a kit and starts working with Bucky on his arm.

 

Doc Savage looks around the small town they've driven into in late November, Tony Stark is waving his arms around as he points at everything. They walk to a large building, finding scattered seating areas in the room.

 

"Jeez kid, what happened?" Clint asks, coming over to Xander Harris who sitting on a couch with his leg out in front of him on a footstool in a cast. He's got a bandage on his head and from the way he's shifting in his seat, more bandages or bruises under his clothes.

 

"Some damn drunk driver ran a red light and took out my car as I was driving in Portland last month. Broke my leg in two places, broke three ribs and cracked five more, sprained my wrist, and totaled the car. It was a POS but it was paid for. He's whining about how life isn't fair because he's got to pay for everything since he was driving on a suspended license and his insurance told him to shove it up his ass when they dropped him like a hot potato. He's gonna sue, they gotta pay for his car. That's why he had insurance."

 

"And yours would only pay the blue book value."

 

"Yeah. And wouldn't touch the medical bills. Or pay my lost wages. So I'm suing." He moves in the chair and hisses.

 

"Pain pills?" Doc asks.

 

"Damn things don't do a damn thing for me."

 

"I'm like that, I had two teeth pulled a couple years ago and I didn't think it did anything until it wore off." Clint says.

 

"And morphine or anything stronger knocks your ass out."

 

"Or you're like Tony and it makes you higher than a kite and you have to be locked away for your own good before you create something that will destroy the world. . .or everybody's sanity." Rhodey says dryly. Bruce moans. "Yeah, word of advice. If he's that bad, lock him in the padded room and toss something in to distract him. Something that won't cause the world to end if he tinkers with it."

 

Meanwhile Nathan Stark is smirking at Neal Caffrey. "No copying or forging anything while you're here Caffrey."

 

"Where's the fun in that?" He smirks. Then yelps as Peter swats him on the ass. "Will you behave?"

 

"Neal, will you come over here?" Doc asks. He's sitting by a man a few years older than Neal to Peter's eye as they walk over.

 

"This is Jarod. . .Greene?"

 

"As good a last name as any and they haven't found my family yet." He shrugs. "This is the young man you think might be another pretender?"

 

"Pretender?" Bruce asks. Clint and the others are right behind him. The whole story about Jarod's abduction by the Centre is told and Phil Coulson is shaking his head. "How did this not get picked up by SHIELD?"

 

"They've kept it quiet for years. Ms. Parker's mother tried getting some of the kids away from them and was killed for it. You might be one of the ones she got away. I know they were missing about five children by their own records before I got away with my simulations. The only Pretender I know for sure if Angelo. . .and he's so badly damaged by what has happened to him he's got a child's mentality."

 

"If they found them they'd probably have no more of a normal life than the potential Slayers that were rescued when they took out the Watchers Council." Xander says from his corner of the room.

 

"From what you have said, yes. They spent their entire lives training, the others would have spent their lives running simulations."

 

"It would explain how you can easily slip into different personas for a case."

 

"And why the government couldn't find anything on me before I was eighteen. All I remember is a series of different homes and different names."

 

Dr. Stark taps his feet and glares at Xander over crossed arms until the younger man takes the pills he hands him and drinks the glass of water.

 

"You are as bad as Carter about taking medication when it is needed."

 

"It doesn't do anything for me, why take it?" Clint chuckles and nods.

 

"Children, you are prescribed drugs for a reason." Dr. Stark says blandly.

 

The others begin appearing and they settle in groups to talk and catch up on things, people moving from area to area as conversations change.

 

"I would not be able to stand being the only tech in the lab." Danny says as he looks over at the playpen where Evelyn and Michael are babbling at each other.

 

"I'm used to it, I can run my lab the way I want it. Madam Director tried giving me an assistant once and it blew up big time since she couldn't be bothered to do a background check on him. He'd been fired for falsifying results, Tony's the one who found out what he was doing."

 

"And of course he wanted revenge?"

 

"Yep. He framed Tony for a murder. He's back rotting in prison and everybody yelled long and loud at the stupid bitch for not even checking his background. She was already smarting from the backlash for trying to get everybody to dress preppy yuppie like she did."

 

"That was stupid."

 

"She wants in Gibbs pants again." Across the room McGee tries desperately not to snicker at his boss's look. "He's not interested so she's shoving her weight around until she gets her own way. . .or somebody takes her out because she's causing so many problems."

 

"Classes?"

 

"Got in eight on the computer, being off thanks to the leg there wasn't much else to do." Xander sighs. "I have a 3.82 GPA. . . .which according to U of C Sunnydale's records was better than Willow's." Dawn sniggers from the area where she's talking with Harry, the twins, Ron, Neville, Spike, and Giles. The three current Hogwarts students are looking at Professor Giles and Mr. . . .Spike. They're still not quite sure what to make of the two men who had brought them out to see Harry and the twins that weekend.

 

"How are your classes coming?"

 

"Good, I can't believe that we're going to be graduating from Hogwarts in June. It seems like yesterday I walked on the train for the first time." Ron says. "Studying for our NEWTS is taking up all our free time. Especially with all the extra classes on the new tests."

 

"Ron Weasley, willingly studying." Harry smirks. "The power he knows not." The twins laugh.

 

"Yeah, yeah," he grumbles. "It took me a while but I finally grew up."

 

"Did the countersuit against Willow's mother get settled?" Tony asks.

 

"Yes, the mental health professionals all agreed, she's not mentally ill she's just a hateful bitch who wants to control the world. Her remaining speaking tour was cancelled when the news she had that fit in court reached people. I won't see a dime of the money but she's going to be working menial labor in prison for her entire sentence to pay off her fines and court costs, plus this judgment. She tried declaring bankruptcy like the so called rich and famous thinking it would get her off the hook. . .wasn't so and she quickly dropped it when she realized she'd be poor if she did that. And she'd still have to pay the judgment." Clint sniggers.

 

"So which side?" Xander looks over at Drs. Stark and Blake.

 

"Both," Tony sighs. "They told me when I was younger, in a drunken argument."

 

"We never wanted you to know." Allison pats his shoulder. Tony puts his hand over hers.

 

"I know, you two are more my real parents than Howard and Maria." The others look at them. "Howard was magically adopted, he is another one of Dumbledore's kids. And Maria was a muggleborn student at Hogwarts who caught Dumbledore's eye." Nathan says. "Tony was magically adopted when he was born."

 

The others sigh, moan, or silently swear. "So are you magical?"

 

"Yes, but I prefer science."

 

"Which just proves you were meant to be a Stark."

 

The next morning Xander is wheeled out in warm clothes to watch a pickup quidditch game with Harry, Ron. the twins, Charlie, and John Sheppard against a mixed team from Eureka. General O'Neill would be outside with him enjoying the fresh air but he's undergoing physical therapy after his second knee replacement surgery.

 

"Damn, I can't imagine flying through the air on a broomstick." Clint says, looking over at the game with a shudder then turning his attention back to Xander and Dr. Stark. "Bad enough Stark flying through New York in his suit. Where is he anyway?"

 

"Either hiding from Allison's lingering mood swings or tinkering with his suit. He brought out a new version when you came out that he wanted to test. While he can't do it in New York or Malibu, he can here." Almost as if he'd heard him, Tony comes flying through. . .not under his own power from the way he's going. Numerous wands set up a cushioning spell before he hits the ground.

 

"Should have let him bounce." Clint mumbles.

 

"Jo would beat us if we did any more damage to the town." Harry snorts as they go back to the game. Clint shudders and quickly nods, Jo reminds him way, way, way too much of Natasha in a mood.

 

Dawn looks out the window a few weeks later. It's Christmas Eve and while they have a tree and presents neither of them are really in a celebrating mood. She looks over as the home helper comes out of Xander's bedroom after helping him to bed.

 

"How are you doing Dawn, I know it's been a rough year with losing your mother, sister, and Xander being hurt." In addition to a home health aide he's also a trained psychologist who knows about the supernatural and has been talking with the pair about all that's happened the last couple of years.

 

"I'm . . .coping. I also knew we'd lose Buffy one day, being the Slayer is a automatic death sentence and she's already died once. But Mommy should have had a nice long life and died surrounded by family, friends, and having got her grandkids high on sugar then sent them home to their parents with a smirk." The man chuckles despite himself. "Unfortunately it's often the ones who have everything to live for that are taken from us too soon."

 

Dawn nods. "Harry should have been raised by his parents with a number of younger brothers and sisters driving him nuts. Same with Neville, the only difference there is Neville's parents are still alive. All any of us can do is remember those we've lost and take things one day at a time." the man nods and pats her on the shoulder before he heads to his house. Thankfully he only lives a block away so coming in to help Xander get ready for the day and again to help him with a bath and bed isn't that far out of his way.

 

"What is this place?" Reed Richards asks in late March after they've gone through a security checkpoint and pull into a parking lot. It's been years since they had to show ID.

 

"Global Dynamics, giant think-tank run by the DoD. Eureka's a company town. They've got the best and brightest here. . .and the craziest."

 

"Coming from you that might say something." Johnny Storm snorts as they walk towards the front of the building, making sure their badges are on full display.

 

As they walk into the building an explosion can be heard.

 

"Coming from me that is saying something." Tony says. "Xander, what are you doing covering the front?"

 

The young man at the desk looks up from the comic he's reading. "Fargo's with Dr. Blake yelling at people and Dr. Stark dragged Larry off to deal with the first explosion, he's probably staring at whoever caused this new one." A nearby 'woomph' and Xander sighs, grabbing a nearby fire extinguisher and putting out the flames in a room.

 

"Don't make me put you in the corner." he says. The scientist ducks his head and goes for cleaning supplies to clean his lab. "Soooo." He puts the pin back in the extinguisher and puts it next to him. "Here on business or pleasure?"

 

"Bit of both. This is Reed Richards and Johnny Storm, two members of the Fantastic Four. We've got something we need to talk with my grandparents about." Reed and Johnny stare at each other. . .grandparents? "And shouldn't you be working in a lab making lighter plastic for spaceships?"

 

"They've got a test running on this latest batch of material so I'm off until we know either way so I'm subbing in other areas and getting in classes. Rumor has it some other companies are trying to take our discoveries but we've got it patented and they're howling to anybody who will listen about how they've got to give it to them."

 

"Yeah, that sounds like some big business." Tony snorts. The elevator opens and Dr. Blake and Fargo walk towards the group. She stares at the scientist cleaning his lab.

 

"Not again." She complains.

 

"Yep, I told him don't make me put you in a corner." Sticking the comic in his laptop bag he heads down the hall to a room to get in a couple classes.

 

"Not that I don't mind you showing up Tony but. . ."

 

"Reed is working on something I remember Grandpa complaining about. Reed Richards, this is Dr. Allison Blake, one of the heads of GD with Dr. Nathan Stark and Fargo out there." Reed tells what he's been doing with a few quiet words and Allie picks up the phone, Nathan coming into the office fifteen minutes later. Larry takes over the desk and Fargo settles down to handle the details of cleaning those two labs and replacing anything that will be needed.

 

'Woomph'

 

Nathan smirks as he finds Xander with the scientist standing in the corner, his nose pressed in the wall as he calmly asks what the fuck is his malfunction? Allison takes over the lecture and Xander goes back to the room and his interrupted class.

 

"Xander, labs for your classes?" Nathan calls.

 

"Next week. Fargo's got the schedule."

 

He nods and they walk back to the office.

 

"Labs?"

 

"Xander is going for a dual degree in chemical and mechanical engineering, he's not really at a stage where he has projects that they'd be doing in class but he's working ahead so when he does come to those classes he's got everything already done."

 

"Do you need to help?" Tony waves a hand at the room.

 

"Nah, Allie will make him regret his stupidity without raising her voice." A sleepy babbling in the corner has Nathan taking his latest daughter in the bathroom to change, settling in her chair and giving her a bottle from the refrigerator. Tony sighs.

 

"You should be having children of your own." Nathan looks at him over his glasses.

 

"Pepper's two months pregnant."

 

"Awww, congratulations." Allison says coming into the room. "Have her call me for a baby shower and whatnot. How is she handling work?"

 

"She plans to take leave starting her ninth month and be off two months after she delivers. I told her she could have more time off than that but she's afraid I'll do something stupid." Tony pouts as Johnny Storm tries not to cackle. Nathan just smirks. "Thor's promised me an Asgardian Valkryie nanny to protect Pepper and the children. He's sure that this is just the first of many."

 

"That's why we have Emily. Carter has Michael and Allie had baby envy." Nathan smirks. "You weren't kidding about Steve and Johnny looking alike." Nathan looks at the younger man.

 

"Lord Starkweather, I seek a boon of protection from those that might harm me, my sister, and the child she carries if this knowledge is released."

 

"Granted." Nathan says as Reed stares at Johnny. He hadn't told anybody that Susan was pregnant.

 

"I went to magical school in New York." He says. "There's a reason why I look so much like Captain America, I'm his clone. Created by the great Albus Dumbledore in an attempt to recreate Captain America, but under his control. I don't know if you're familiar with what's going on in the European wizarding world."

 

"Our town Sheriff is one of Dumbledore's grandchildren, we have a son of his who was a CSI in Miami, he stole him from his life and left a golem in his place to die in a jewelry store robbery. We have another grandson of his who Dumbledore thought was a klutz and stranded on a deserted island with the people on the sightseeing boat with him for a number of years, sabotaging their attempts to leave. They only managed to escape when his attention was elsewhere and he whined in a scroll about how his fun was spoiled."

 

"You know of his 'affection' for muggleborn female students?"

 

"The young man you met earlier is the youngest of the adult children, the youngest of them all is not quite eighteen months old and adopted by the town sheriff. He also took in Harry Potter, the hero of the wizarding world. A group of us took out Voldemort last summer." Johnny nods in satisfaction. "When he couldn't find the superserum in my blood I was sent away. You don't seem too surprised to hear this?"

 

"You are not the only product of Dumbledore's breeding attempts. He took his own daughter and bred her to one of the teachers at the school, using potions to speed to pregnancy to three days. The baby did not appear magical at birth and he used a time turner to send the baby back to be adopted. While not a wand witch, she is a nature path witch. He stole multiple children and placed them with other families after making sure nobody remembered them. One of them turned out to be the second Potter son, Harry's uncle."

 

"Susan is another one of his children, our mother stole me and her when she finally escaped him. He'd kept her for breeding stock. Her name was Sally-Anne Perks."

 

"You're too old."

 

"Mom stole a time turner when she escaped. . .after nearly gutting Dumbledore with a sword. He'd said that she'd left the school after their second or third year but she'd been a captive at the school all that time. Escaping back in time she made her way to Gringotts and the Goblins sent her to America. She eventually ended up marrying our father when I was two and Susan five."

 

"Is Susan magical?"

 

Before he can answer the floo across the room springs to life, revealing a goblin. "I am sorry to . . ." his voice trails off as she looks at Johnny Storm. "That is not Mr. Rogers."

 

"No I'm not. My name is Jonathon Storm."

 

The goblin swears and asks him to keep the floo open as he scurries off.

 

 

 

 

 

 

"Goblin Elder?"

 

"Yes?" She looks over her shoulder at the youngster as she looks over the room of scrolls and other items they'd just found at Hogwarts.

 

"There. . .there is a man who looks like Mr. Rogers in Lord Starkweather's office in Eureka. He says his name is Jonathan Storm." Minerva and the Goblin Elder exchange looks over the boxes of scrolls that bear his name.

 

"No doubt why this newest area opened." She sighs as she follows the youngster to the floo. Meanwhile Andromeda and Madam Bones are trying to comfort Minerva, who is devastated that one of her former students had been held at the castle for a couple of years and nobody had even noticed she was missing. Did the Prefects or head boys and girls not do rounds on the train on the way home as they do on the way to school? Did her parents not wonder where she was?

 

Back in Eureka Nathan sighs. "I have the feeling you telling your story just opened another hidey-hole of Dumbledore's at Hogwarts." The door opens and Xander brings in something. "And why aren't you using your cane?"

 

"It makes me feel old."

 

"One, you're only 22. Two, your leg was broken in two places and you're still undergoing physical therapy on it. You need your cane . . .at least for a while. Have you talked to Henry about a new vehicle yet?"

 

"No, I don't feel comfortable with huge monthly payments since I don't have that much saved for a down payment. Silly me, I didn't think I needed a different car when I went into Portland that day."

 

"Have you heard about a court date for your case?"

 

"Not yet, the guy's lawyers are trying to lowball me for a settlement. What they offered wasn't even blue book value for the car. I'm suing for the blue book value of the car since it was totalled, pain, suffering, my medical bills, and lost wages. It's nowhere near enough for a car but it's good towards a downpayment when I can finally drive again."

 

A voice at the floo has their attention going back there as Xander heads back out.

 

"Mr. Storm, Mr. Stark, Lord Starkweather, Mr. . . "

 

"Reed Richards Ma'am." He's not familiar with the Goblins but he knows age and power when he sees it and manners are always good.

 

"Mr. Storm, are you aware of how you came to be?"

 

"Yes Ma'am, my mother told me when I was old enough to understand. It was shortly before I received my letter to the New York School and she was killed."

 

"Albus was keeping an eye on you after your mother escaped with yourself and your sister. It was his intentions to capture you and either use you as a weapon or try to find a way to recreate your abilities as he tried to recreate Mr. Roger's abilities. Or. . .I am saddened to say destroy you because he did not see you as a human being, rather a golem type creature he had created."

 

"I'm not surprised." Johnny snorts. "May he rot in hell."

 

"Undoubtedly. He did not see people as anything more than his personal plaything, everything he did he could explain away as for the 'greater good' No matter how many people he hurt."

 

"A classic sociopath."

 

"As the mental healers and those who have gone into the non-magical world tell us. Nobody saw what he was doing thanks to his mask of geniality. Nobody wanted to see what he was doing."

 

Xander gets in the passenger seat of the smart car he's been using since the cast was removed and goes home, finding Dawn putting a casserole in the oven.

 

"How was work?" she asks.

 

"Annoying, a scientist ended up setting his lab on fire five times today doing the exact same thing."

 

"Lemme guess, it shouldn't have done that, let me try it again?" Dawn snorts.

 

"Exactly. Anything in the mail?"

 

"A letter from dumbass's lawyers, an elf brought a letter from Giles and Spike, a letter from Willow's mom. . ."

 

"I'll take that to the Sheriff's office in the morning, it's probably more of her hate spewing because she's a miserable human being and can't admit that she might have pushed her daughter away with her neglect."

 

Xander shakes his head in disgust as he reads over the latest offer. "Do they think I'm as stupid as their client?"

 

"They're thinking you're a young kid and will accept a low offer because you've never seen that much money before." Dawn says, working on homework at the kitchen table. The dishwasher is running and the rest of the kitchen is otherwise clean. "They don't realize you've got a lot of people behind you who are more than happy to help you screw him over for what he's done."

 

Jo shakes her head when Xander drops off letter at the office.

 

"Xander?" Fargo asks when he limps into GD and signs in.

 

"Sorry I'm late, I got a letter from Mrs. Rosenberg yesterday and dropped it off at the Sheriff's office. Jo's going to read it and if it's anything good she'll give it back to me. If it's not, it's another count against her in prison."

 

"Good, you're using your cane." Nathan says from the doorway.

 

"I woke up in the middle of the night with a leg cramp."

 

"The others did tell you that would probably happen. Did you take the extra potassium?"

 

"I did."

 

"But he wasn't hurt that bad." The defendant yells in court. Xander and his lawyer from GD had gotten a court date in the middle of May, nearly seven months after the accident.

 

"Keep a civil tongue in your head or I will find you in contempt of court and order you removed. This is a courtroom, not a circus." the judge snaps. "Mr. Harris's leg was broken in two places, he had three broken ribs and five cracked, as well as a sprained wrist and numerous bruises. If that's not 'hurt that bad' I'd hate to see what you call bad hurt."

 

"But I wasn't hurt." he whines.

 

"Drunk drivers are notorious for surviving the accidents they cause without a scratch because the alcohol relaxes them and the people they hit are tensed because they know they're going to be hit." The judge says dryly.

 

"But the car wasn't that badly damaged." He tries to get the case thrown out again.

 

"Mr. Harris?"

 

"My car was totalled your honor, I had to be cut out of it with the jaws of life." he hands over pictures of the accident and the police reports.

 

"Yes Mr. Brigham, the plaintiff's car was totalled in the accident. Do you have a car now Mr. Harris?"

 

"No your honor, I'm currently without a car while I'm saving money for a down payment."

 

"I can afford a second car, yours was a piece of shit." the defendent sneers, then blanches when the judge glares at him.

 

"It might have been a POS car but it was paid for. Any other car I'd be stuck with payments for at least three years. Even a used car. Longer if I want the payments halfway reasonable. Of course that means tons of interest."

 

"Did the defendant contact you with a settlement offer before the court case Mr. Harris?"

 

"Yes, but it wasn't a good one. It didn't pay my medical bills, lost wages, pain and suffering, and only offered me a token amount for my car." He hands the letters to the bailiff who takes them to the judge.

 

"So you had your lawyers try to lowball him with a settlement that wasn't even the blue book value for his car?"

 

"But he's just a kid, he'll just blow the money."

 

"Yeah, on paying my medical bills, replacing the money I lost when I wasn't able to work for nearly three months, and putting money aside for a down payment to buy a different vehicle since you destroyed mine." Xander says in disgust.

 

"Mr. Harris, are you back to work full-time?"

 

"Only part time your honor. I'm still attending physical therapy for my leg. The doctors don't expect me to be back to work full-time until this fall."

 

"Do you have family Mr. Harris?"

 

"My all but sister your honor, but she's younger than I am and still in high school."

 

"How did you handle being in a wheelchair?"

 

"With a lot of help. Neighbors filled the freezer with casseroles we just needed to put in the oven when they weren't cooking meals and filling the shelves with groceries. They set up a schedule so I wouldn't be alone in the house while Dawn was at school, a neighbor who's a home health aide helped me get up in the morning, got me bathed and dressed, and helped me in bed at night while keeping a full-time job himself."

 

"What do you do for a living Mr. Harris?"

 

"I work for a company that has ties to the Defense Department, my last assignment we were working on lighter plastic and chemical fuels that could be used in long-term space missions." The defendant whimpers. Nope, this isn't a kid he can just roll roughshod over and his threats to sue his insurance company had been laughed at by the company.

 

"The case go well?" Sheriff Carter asks, leaning against the door of a car in plain clothes. He'd volunteered to take Xander into Portland for the court date. The lawyer from GD nods and heads to his own car. He's got other stops before returning to town.

 

"Yeah, I got everything I was asking for and then some, the judge was disgusted with his trying to lowball me so much because I'm just a kid and had an old car. He also didn't like that I'm still recovering from the accident, undergoing physical therapy, and only back to work part-time. The defendant was bleating I couldn't possibly have been hurt that much. . .until they showed pictures of the accident."

 

Xander gets in the passenger seat and they drive back to Eureka. He gets out of the car after thanking Sheriff Carter for the ride. Dawn hands him a letter when he arrives home.

 

"Huh, never thought I'd see any of this."

 

"Payment towards the money Mrs. Rosenberg owes you?"

 

"Yeah, money is coming right out of her wages from her prison job and going to the victim compensation fund since she won't willingly pay her judgment."

 

"No, she's better than everybody else in the world . . .or at least she was until Mr. Rosenberg divorced her and left her with nothing. She's lost her license, all the money was in his name. . .she's looking at working menial jobs for minimum wage once she gets out of prison. She can't go back to writing books and lecturing, everybody knows she's full of shit and nobody would believe her, she lost her publishing contract and her books aren't selling anymore."

 

"And she's still blaming everybody for Willow not bowing, scraping, and kissing her ass while obeying her every little whim." Xander snorts. He signs the back of the check to deposit tomorrow and puts it in his wallet.

 

"Now, how did the court case go?"

 

"Good, the judge threw the book at the guy who hit me, he really didn't like his attitude and claims that I couldn't have been hurt bad, he wasn't. My car wasn't that badly damaged, three hundred bucks should cover everything. He didn't know it had been totalled and I didn't have a car now, he could afford a second car and mine was a piece of shit anyway."

 

"What a miserable human being."

 

"Yeah, he's whining about how much he has to pay me and he's still looking at serious jail time. He's finally getting punished for everything he used to get away with before and he doesn't like it."

 

"Are you going to be looking at a new car?"

 

"In a few months once I'm a little more steady on my feet. I can use a car from the GD pool if I need one before then. Anything I brought would need work to come up to Eureka standards and I can't afford the monthly payments and the cost of work on it. Even if GD would work with me on it and the money would be coming out of my paycheck. Including the car payment."

 

"A much smaller bite over 52 weeks rather than 12 payments." Dawn says. She'd been taking care of the house's finances as part of her math tutorial.

 

Xander leaves early the next morning, depositing the check into his account before heading to GD and signing in. "Where do you want me today?" He asks Fargo.

 

"Go over to section seven, all the research you did with Giles will help out there." He nods and walks to the elevator, running his pass through the key card slot before walking in.

 

"Do you have any experience with research?"

 

"I worked for years with a school librarian who used to work for the London Museum. Research is a good chunk of what I did."

 

"Good, here's what I . . ." Xander follows him to a table and settles down to work.

 

Xander looks around Hogwarts castle a couple months later, then at Dr. Stark. "Why am I here? I can understand Harry, he would have been graduating with the others."

 

"Headmistress McGonagall wants you and Dawn to have copies of the books the school uses so you have a good selection, Harry got them for last year and this year also since his godfather got a set for him while he was over here taking care of the Black and Potter fortunes. The Department of Mysteries would like to talk to you about working with a Slayer and what it's like living on a Hellmouth, while the goblins want to talk to you about your parents."

 

"The Harrisses? What for?"

 

"From what I understand," he says slowly smiling as he sees Johnny Storm, Steve Rogers, and Tony sitting in a corner talking about . . .cars. "Jessica Harris is the last descendant of an old wizarding family that sent their squib children away and were wiped out in the wars that followed, leaving the vaults just sitting there. As her son, you are the last of the family."

 

"But I was adopted and I'm not an heir."

 

"I do not believe it matters to the Goblins. If you had been magically disowned they wouldn't be talking to you but you were only disowned in the non-magical world."

 

"Who's the guy with the white hair and dark robes talking to everybody?"

 

"Aberforth Dumbledore, your great-uncle. He never got along with his brother, they parted on bad terms after their sister died. He blamed Albus for her death. He's been talking to the kids that we can find to apologize for his brother. He never believed Dumbledore's Leader of the Light and anything is forgiveable as long as it's for the greater good persona. He was looked down by the so-called light because he owns and operates the Hogs Head, a bar in Hogsmeade. Now that everybody knows the truth about Albus, they're looking at him a bit more favorably."

 

"Oh dear, this will not be good." Headmistress McGonagall moans as a sneering Draco comes over to the group that has enlarged to include Bucky, Clint, and Hermione. He starts saying something and is waved off. Angrily he grabs his wand only to have it grabbed by Bucky. Pulling it from his grasp he tosses it aside and pulls him over his lap. Holding him in place with the bionic arm he pulls up his robe and proceeds to spank the hell out of Draco, leaving the younger man sobbing after his threats to tell his father do nothing but make Bucky hit harder. He ends up being told to stand in the corner until he wasn't a brat and is dragged off by Severus who's quietly swearing about the fool boy.

 

"Did you see what he did?"

 

"Beat your ass for being a little brat. You came up there strutting like the cock of the walk and the roosters showed you who really ruled the henhouse. What were you thinking?"

 

"When my father hears about this . . ."

 

"He's going to tell them they should have finished the job, he doesn't need you. He's got a heir that's he's going to make sure doesn't grow up as stupid as you. You still have a year of schooling left that your father won't be paying for so you'll be working for the goblins to earn money to go with the money from the scholarship fund to pay for your last year. Your father told you not to screw around and do two years in one, if Granger could do it so could you. You didn't and now you have to pay the consequences. For Slytherin's sake, even that oik Weasley pulled his bloody head out of his arse and started concentrating on his studies. He's got high marks on the Egyptian OWLS and plans on taking the NEWTS in a couple summers."

 

"But my father has to pay for my schooling. Granger's parents are poor, that's why she did two years in one. To save them money. . .they went to the Goblins for a loan. . ." he whines.

 

"They went to the goblins to help with the financing to buy a second practice, they are by no means poor. They doubled their business practically overnight thanks to the Goblins."

 

"But Granger's going to be working!" he bleats.

 

"Many people do, it's only the useless who sit on their ass all day sneering at the others. You'd best get used to the idea of working for a living, you're not going to have the Malfoy fortune to fall back on. And the rest of the world stays rich by working hard and making good investments. Even if you somehow get back in your father's good graces you would be expected to make business choices to increase the Malfoy wealth. Potter's godfather might be an imbecile Gryffindor but he just increased the Black and Potter holdings here in Europe by a good ten percent by taking over several businesses that were faltering, giving them more money to work with, and bringing in new people to operate them." He looks at Draco with a sneer. "Interestingly enough they were former Malfoy properties. Lucius was quite put out when he found out they were making a profit and tried to sue claiming he'd been cheated, not even his normal barristers would take his case. His complaints to the Ministry and the Goblins went nowhere as well."

 

The next morning Draco whines when he reads the letter from his father the owl had left, everything Professor Snape had told him was true. His father wasn't going to pay for his last year of school, unless he somehow passed his NEWTS this summer he'd have to sign up for the scholarship fund to pay for his last year of schooling. And he wouldn't have the summer to pretend to be studying, he'd be working. . . for the Goblins. How could his father do that to him. He rails at the world until he's hexed and chucked in a compartment on the train with his trunk being tossed on top of him.

 

Arthur looks around the Burrow a couple nights later. What had always seemed like a small house with all his children around now seems so large. . .and incredibly empty. How can families like the Malfoys rattle around in their great big manors? The floo comes to life and a laughing Ron comes flying out, hugging his Dad and going upstairs to put everything away.

 

"I wasn't expecting you home." Arthur says. 'Not that I mind' he thinks, the burrow already feels so much better.

 

"The Goblins are letting me stay here to work and take classes this summer." Ron says as Missy the house elf puts the food on the table. "I might have to do some travelling, but by portkey I won't be gone more than a day or so unless something goes seriously wrong at a site. Then I'd be heading home immediately since I'm not trained." Arthur nods in satisfaction.

 

"Have you heard from Hermione?"

 

"Yes, she's doing the same thing I am, working, taking classes, and living at home. I know I'm not ready to take classes at a non-magical university but the Goblins have copies of textbooks in many major areas I can read in my spare time, she's already making plans for finding a place to live while she's taking classes this fall."

 

"And Harry?"

 

"He's got another year of high school until he graduates, then he'll be doing the same. He has a friend who is going through the same thing, she transferred from a bad school too and had to go back a couple of years. You met her at graduation, Dawn Summers?" Arthur nods, remembering the teen girl. "She should have been a juneyar. . .?" Ron stumbles over the unfamiliar word.

 

"Junior." Percy corrects, coming into the room. "Sorry to drop in unexpected Dad, a late meeting at the Ministry and I didn't feel like going home right away. It means she would have been a sixth year Ron." Ron nods. "I met the young woman in question when she was waiting for her friend at the Ministry a couple days ago, she would have been a fifth year when she moved to Eureka but went back to the fourth year because her school was so far behind. Remus Lupin is tutoring her in magic since she's had no magical training before now, just watching a wandless sort that dabbled according to her." Arthur shakes his head.

 

"Is Draco Malfoy settling in with the Goblins?"

 

"No, they've already hexed his voice gone once because he wouldn't stop insulting them or whining about how he had to work. . ." Arthur looks at him. "I know, I know, I was just as bad a couple summers ago when I started working. I learned, he'll learn." He looks at Percy. "How is Ginny settling in?"

 

"She had a hard time adjusting but she's settling into working and studying, the goblins and ministry agreed to split off a percentage of what she's earning and putting it in a new account for her future. She's got over eight years on her sentence yet before the Goblins take over her care, in a few years she'll be taking classes to learn about the muggle job she'll have, she can't expect to be scrubbing floors and doing laundry all her life."

 

"Ron, what classes are you taking this summer?"

 

"Language classes, computers since the entire world runs on them. . ." Percy nods. "Oh Dad, are you going to Eureka again this summer?"

 

"Yes, when I can get the time off. The classes are interesting and Charlie and Bill have offered to put me up a proper workshop this summer."

 

Percy nods. "They talked to me about it a couple days ago, I'm handling having the supplies delivered to the Burrow."

 

 

 

"Welcome back Auror Tonks, enjoy your day off?"

 

"Did a little training boss." Tonks says as she follows Amelia Bones into the office. 'And hope to god I never have to use it on you.' There was a reason why Tonks was on the Minister's security detail despite just being out of training. Beyond being able to look like the boss at a moment's notice.

 

Harry smiles as Mr. Weasley and Neville arrive in Eureka by Portkey a couple weeks later.

 

"Welcome back to Eureka." He gets their bags piled in the back of the smart car and they drive off, he pulls over when he sees a girl walking.

 

"Dawn, need a ride?"

 

"Please, Mr. Lupin got called away unexpectedly and told me to head home and read ahead in my books." She gets in the front seat, looking at the pair in the back. She recognizes Neville from his visit last year. And from their trip to Scotland a few weeks ago. The man was there too but she didn't catch his name then.

 

"Arthur Weasley. Ron and the twins father." She smiles.

 

"They're behaving, aren't they?" He sighs. He knows that look, the one his son's friends usually wear after they've been up to no good.

 

"Oh yes, they're helping me with my magic tutoring now that they've finished their university classes for the year and have some more free time after work. They've talked about the shop they want to open with their friends, they came out a couple weeks ago to run workshops for the fliers." Harry smiles, he'd enjoyed himself that day, not only flying with his uncles but seeing his old team-mates again. "Harry and I have been helping them with stock for their business when we have a few extra hours. They always pay us for our time and feed us."

 

"Molly would never have believed it, the twins responsible adults. They were horrible scamps in school. And Ron was . . .Ron was . . ."

 

"Lazy and always put everything off until the last second and had to be constantly reminded of assignments and papers?" Harry says. Arthur sighs and nods. "Ron was basically a good person but he had his faults. Everything that happened over the last couple of years made him grow up and take a good look at himself."

 

At Gringotts the Goblin Elder looks at the three men across from her. "Thank you for agreeing to speak with me Mr. Solo, Mr. Jones, Mr. Murdock."

 

"Nobody has called me by that name in many years." The former Napoleon Solo says, almost in unison with Indiana Jones.

 

"I know gentlemen, it has taken us this long to track the two of you down. Mr. Murdock, thank you for agreeing to come. Would you be shocked to find out that Jack Murdock is not your biological father?"

 

"No, I've known for years. . .since the accident when the blood types didn't match. I never said anything because he was the best father I could have had. Especially after my mother. . .left." He knows where she is, working in Hell's Kitchen as a Nun.

 

The Goblin Elder nods. "Indeed. Your biological father, like Mr. Jones and Mr. Solo, was Albus Dumbledore." Napoleon and Indy start cussing while Matt blinks. "I take it you two are aware of what has been going on?"

 

"Yes, while we don't live primarily in the wizarding world, we keep an eye on everything that's going on."

 

"In case it impacts us." Indy finishes what Napoleon was going to say. The entire story is told for Matt and he shakes his head at the manipulations that had been going on for decades.

 

"And you've still not found all his hiding spaces?"

 

"No, and areas we thought we'd cleared have revealed new secrets. We were unaware of your existence Mr. Murdock until we searched an area of the castle again when Mr. Storm telling the truth about his parentage revealed another section of rooms. During that search we found another room full of scrolls."

 

"What about a family lineage potion?" Napoleon asks.

 

"We created one just after Dumbledore's death, but it is incomplete, with new names emerging when something is triggered. Like Mr. Storm and Mr. Murdock."

 

A few days later is another reunion at Hogwarts, people mingling in various groups. This one is vastly different than the first one, they've been keeping in contact over the last couple of years. The newcomers are welcomed into the 'screwed over by the great Albus Dumbledore' club."

 

"What happened?" Matt can hear the tapping of a cane as Xander's voice comes near and a grunt as he sits down.

 

"Got hit by a drunk driver last October, broke my leg in two places, broke three ribs and cracked five others, and sprained my wrist. Totalled my car, I had to be cut out of it with the jaws of life. I was off work nearly three months, I'm only working part-time now with the physical therapy. The guy who hit me spent the whole court case whining--I couldn't be hurt that bad because he wasn't, my car wasn't that badly damaged, three hundred bucks should cover it. . it's a piece of shit anyway. Oh, it was totalled? Well he can afford a second car while I'm saving money for a down payment, the more money I put away the less I gotta pay out over time even with GD covering the financing and taking the money out of my check weekly. Either way I gotta be working full-time before I can do that. The judge awarded me blue book value for the car, my medical bills, lost wages, and pain and suffering but I haven't seen any of it yet. He's still facing charges for the accident." Dawn comes over. "Whoa, that was weird." He looks over at her, she had been talking with Spike and Giles. "Floo call from Fargo at GD, it seems the guy that hit you is trying to cut a deal to keep him out of prison and as part of it he just transferred money to the Eureka bank for the judgment against him and he made an arrangement with a car dealer in Portland, he'll pay for a vehicle for you and pay for two years insurance. Fargo sent over copies of the paperwork." Dr. Stark takes it from her hand and starts to read everything over.

 

"He must be looking at serious time then." Tony says as he comes up behind them.

 

"Probably, there's only one reason to do more than you were ordered." Xander snorts. He takes each page after Dr. Stark and Tony have read them.

 

"Everything looks on the up and up." They say. "But one of us is going with you when you go out." Tony says. He then looks at Dawn. "And I want you."

 

Dawn snorts. "I'm not that kind of girl, and aren't you going to be a father in few months?"

 

"I don't mean that way." he rolls his eyes. "I meant as an internship at Stark during a summer after you finish university."

 

"Back off, I saw her first."

 

"She can come back to GD after she's done at Stark. . .if she doesn't decide she wants to live and work in New York." Tony smirks. Dawn giggles as Dr. Stark and Tony bicker as they walk off.

 

"So you're a clone too huh?" A voice asks when a silencing spell goes up around a small area.

 

"Too?" Johnny asks, turning around. Tony blinks. "Jack?"

 

"Yeahsureyoubetcha." The seemingly teenage boy waves a hand. "You got screwed over by the great Albus Dumbledore, I got hit by aliens." The existence of aliens is already known to the group. He smirks at Jacob, who's staring at him. "Loki stole people and replaced them with clones to try to get around the problems the Asgard are having." Tony chokes. "My Asgard, not yours. Mine look like the Roswell greys, they don't breed anymore, they get by on cloning and are having problems since cloning already cloned material. . ."

 

"Causes defects." Reed says. The teenage boy in front of them that Tony had hissed in his ear is actually the middle aged man across the room nods. "The clones weren't supposed to last more than a week but that's only how long Loki would need the original. Everything worked out okay until he nabbed Jack. Thor, a friend of ours, thought that something might happen and put something on Jack's genes to keep him from being cloned. . .I was the result. When I woke up a teenager, we knew something had happened."

 

"Why Jack?"

 

"Thor and the others think that Jack is the future of humanity." Jacob silently swears. "Yeah, it was nearly a week and I started getting sick that the others figured out I wasn't the original Jack, we found him in Loki's ship and Jack called Thor to save me. Only my team, the President, Xander and Clark since Jack called them . . ."

 

"To pick you up and take you to Clark's hospital."

 

"Yeah, Charlie, and now you guys know that I'm still alive."

 

"How long has it been?"

 

"Nearly four years. . .I don't seem to be aging as quickly as I should. . .which since the clones were only supposed to last a week isn't that bad. Once I recovered I enrolled in high school."

 

"Why?"

 

"To eventually go back into the program. I'm still trying to decide what university I want to go to since all this stuff happened while I was out of touch. And I need to catch up on the magic stuff."

 

"Come to Eureka. Come to New York." Tony and Nathan say nearly at the same time. "You can catch up on the magic stuff while you're taking university classes. And I want to talk to you about getting the Avengers on the system GD uses." Tony tells his grandfather. "Steve and Bucky are still getting caught up on everything that happened and I'd like to see everybody get degrees."

 

"Talk to me before we leave. Unless you're coming to Eureka?"

 

"Yes, I want to go with Xander to make sure he gets a decent car. One that won't need tons of work. Because we've all heard to problems the auto industry has."

 

Tony parks at the car dealership a few days after they return to America, Xander getting out of the back seat and walking the vehicles with him. He gets behind the wheel of a few, the owner of the dealership coming out and going on a test drive with them. They go in his office and go over all the paperwork on the car, the information being sent to the insurance company in Eureka before they head off for a nice lunch so they can handle all the details and have the car detailed before they pick it up. Xander signs all the paperwork and nods at the license plate on the carand proof of insurance in the glove compartment before they drive to Eureka.

 

Pepper looks at Tony when he walks into the office a few days later. "I went with Xander to select a car in Portland since the guy that hit him is in more trouble than we thought and is trying to become a saint so he gets a good plea bargain that keeps him out of prison. He has no idea about cars." Pepper nods. "Then I ended up talking to Tesla's students about Stark International and what kind of work we do."

 

Tony finds Steve looking over a gun magazine when he walks into the living room. How things have changed in seventy years.

 

"Get Xander taken care of?"

 

"Yep, he had no idea what to look for in a car."

 

"Two drunk parents I don't imagine he would." Clint says, walking through. "You got a delivery from a university?"

 

"History textbooks and other stuff. I still want you two to go on for higher degrees. And Coulson agrees with me."

 

"Traitor." Clint grumbles but takes one of the school catalogs. "Can we take them online in case of injuries or we gotta leave class to go save the world again?"

 

"Yes, I've got you enrolled in the same system GD uses for continuing education classes. It handles most of the universities in the country and a few elsewhere. They tend to add new schools every few years, they just added a bunch of them this summer.

 

"Is that how he's attending MIT and working?"

 

"Yes, he's finishing his third semester thanks to picking up a couple extra classes last fall and taking classes this summer."

 

"Textbooks and other materials?"

 

"Once you've signed up for a semester's classes they'll be sent to you, or if it's a local school you could go pick them up yourselves. If you finish your classes early like Xander did last fall you can pick up more classes, they have e-books on the system to read. If you do that you'd get the hard copies after the semester ends. Oh good Lewis." he grabs her I-Pod making her yelp and try to grab it as he holds it out of reach. "I have paperwork you need to look over to transfer your credits to a good school."

 

"I can't afford a good school, my student loan is going to be sky-high as it is."

 

"Stark will pay for it, the envelope is on Pepper's desk." He hands her the I-Pod and gives her a shove towards the elevator. "Come back here when you're done."

 

"What's this?" She asks a half-hour later, waving a paper. "Stark garnishing my wages?"

 

"Stark is taking over your student loan payments once you've formally graduated, money will be taken from your check weekly. It's something GD does for their employees, this way instead of twelve payments a year, it's spread out over 52 weeks. You pay less interest that way and pay it off faster. It's similar to what GD does for their employees who have loans. We're also consolidating your loans into one instead of the three you have out."

 

"What pay?"

 

"That's part of the paperwork Jane has, making you her paid assistant instead of an unpaid internship. You've more than completed your hours, you have the paperwork in your packet, you just need to finish it and complete the paper. Though, political science and interning with a scientist?"

 

"Jane's was the only one left." She says absently as she looks over the paperwork. It's completed over the next few days by her, Jane, and the others and sent various places by the house elf that pops into the living room. Matt Murdock shakes his head when he finds boxes of magical books from Scotland and America in his apartment in both braille and regular print he can read with his fingers. He's still not sure about learning magic, but talking to the others who don't use it in their everyday lives either at least made him agree to the books. The healers think that the bindings on his magic broke to save him during the accident and changed his body. Richards however thinks that the radiation might have triggered an otherwise latent mutation.

 

Xander and Dawn are out in the back yard for a cookout over the fourth of July, relaxing and enjoying themselves. Giles and Spike are due out for a visit in a couple of weeks and Xander had just finished a set of covers for the basement windows that can go up when he's staying there and be taken down when he's gone without needing major renovations to the house.

 

Dawn checks the food on the grill and settles down at the picnic table next to Xander. "How are you doing on your classes?"

 

"I'm two out of the four classes I wanted to get in, thankfully a lot of the basic classes can be used for both degrees."

 

"Mommy would be so stoked, you going to MIT."

 

"What about you, are you any closer to deciding on a future profession? And school?"

 

"Yes, I'm majoring in history with a languages minor. I'm still looking over schools." Xander nods in satisfaction. "Giles will be so proud."

 

Horatio pulls up in front of an apartment building in early August, looking over at the two men next to him.

 

"Thank you for bringing us Auror Caine." Roy Hinkley says as he and Jonas Quimby exit the van and look around. They've seen a bit of the small town Gilligan had settled in and can understand why he hadn't sought them out. Horatio checks the names on the mailboxes and leads them up to an apartment, knockingon a door.

 

"Lt. Caine. . . Skipper?" Gilligan squeaks when he opens the door and Lt. Caine steps aside so the Skipper can grab Gilligan in a hug, then swat him with the hat he takes off his head. "Boy, we have been worrying ourselves sick over you since we got the letters."

 

"Letters, I didn't send any letters. Nobody wanted anything to do with me."

 

"We know Gilligan."

 

"Professor?"

 

"Year before last we received letters with the truth about what happened on the island and pictures of you and Auror Caine here in town. It took the Skipper a bit of time to track Lt. Caine down and he said that while he did know you he wasn't sure where you were but if we wrote letters he'd try to pass them along." The Professor looks at Lt. Caine like he would a misbehaving student, Horatio just looks at him over his glasses. "I wasn't sure if Gilligan was in Eureka or still on the island. And you never wrote letters."

 

"We couldn't say what we wanted to in letters. Not even the best author in the world could have wrote down what we were feeling and trying to make it coherent."

 

Gilligan's brain catches up to what his ears had heard. "Auror Caine?"

 

"I'm a squib while the Professor works at a magical school."

 

"I'm lecturing at MIMT now, Massachusetts Institute of Magical Technology. The school I'd taught at before merged with another and I was given a severance package when I returned."

 

"Are you looking for a job Professor Hinkley? Tesla teaches both magical and non-magical classes."

 

"Really? Is housing affordable?"

 

"As a GD employee, you'd be getting your housing for free. Eureka is a company town." The Professor and Skipper look at Horatio as he bring out his phone, dialing a number. Allison Blake arrives about fifteen minutes later.

 

"Mr. Hinkley, we've been wanting you to work here at GD for years now. You have quite a reputation in both the magical and non-magical worlds." She sits down to go over the pay and benefits.

 

"I was expecting Nathan." Horatio says a few minutes later.

 

"We finally located Jarod's parents. I'm sure that will bring a call from the goblins with more rooms opening."

 

"Major Charles, how nice of you to join me." Nathan says, looking at the man in front of him wondering which family line descended from Dumbledore. While Jarod had shown up on Dumbledore's family lineage neither of his parents had.

 

"You called myself and my wife here?" He asks.

 

Nathan puts two pictures down in front of the other man, a picture of a boy, one the same boy age progressed, both from a decades old missing person's report buried in government records, then finally a picture of Jarod. The woman takes the picture and cries.

 

"Jarod. ..Greene for lack of a better name since he doesn't remember his original last name. Escaped from a place called the Centre run by a bunch of industrialists who wanted to use his gifts for their own purposes. The government took them out with extreme prejudice but it took this long to find information on his family. You're a very hard man to track down Major Charles."

 

"With reason, we already lost one child to those bastards. . .we didn't want to lose the others."

 

"Is our son here?" Major Charles and his wife had done their background on GD before they'd agreed to come, driving through the streets and seeing businesses, people walking, children playing and generally enjoying themselves. That had relieved them a little that this wasn't another Blue Cove.

 

"He's in the building right now, working in a lab with another employee." They walk out of the office to the elevator, going to another section. Xander looks over, blinks, then looks at Jarod. "Dr. Stark needs to talk to you a second." Jarod looks over to the door of the lab and stands there stunned. Xander smiles sadly, takes the stuff from his hands including the gloves, and pushes him towards the door. "Go say hello to your parents, it's been a while." He goes back to what they'd been working on, smiling as he sees the group walk away, idly wondering what it would be like to have had parents who gave a damn about him. He shakes his head, all the family had welcomed him and Dawn with open arms and a good chunk of them had come from a shitty family life too.

 

"Did you hear? They found Jarod's family?" Dawn asks that night when he comes back to the house.

 

"Yeah, Dr. Stark brought them to the lab this afternoon. I knew immediately who they were."

 

At Jarod's apartment Jarod and his parents fill dishes with the food that had been on the table courtesy of Vincent. They'd been talking for hours until Dr. Stark and Sheriff Carter took him and his parents home, putting Jarod's car in his usual parking spot, putting the rental car in a guest spot, and telling them Jarod was off for the rest of the week before getting a ride back to GD for their vehicles.

 

"Are you going to be okay at work?"

 

"Yeah, we weren't at a stage that anything needs to be done and Dr. Stark told me to work on classes or projects until he's back."

 

In Baltimore Spencer Reid drops his desk chair at the BAU, turning on his computer and looking through his mail that he'd grabbed this morning to read after being gone for over a week.

 

"Reid?" Aaron asks as he opens cards.

 

"Friends wishing me a happy birthday." He smiles at the cards and puts them in his messenger bag.

 

"I didn't know it was your birthday."

 

"I haven't celebrated it since my mother was institutionalized." He says quietly. "A couple years ago I found I had other family through my mother and we've been in touch since then."

 

Derek catches Penelope's eye and she immediately scurries off.

 

"You won;t find out anything, all my records are triple sealed." He smirks at the others, anybody who knows Jack O'Neill would have been demanding a DNA test.