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Xander is Connor 2: Revelations and Introductions

Summary:

Fandom: Buffy, the Vampire Slayer/Angel, the Series
Series/Sequels: Part of my Xander is Connor universe, follows the events of A Second Chance
Genre: Slash
Pairings: Xander/Spike, Wesley/Angel(us), Giles/Ethan/Doyle
Archive: WWOMB, Beyond Canon
Synopsis: The others deal with the revelation that Xander is a reborn Connor and Xander relaxes now that the secret is out.
AN: As with most of my stories, this is seriously AU. The last few seasons of Buffy, the vampire slayer never happened and the timeline for Angel is seriously changed. Spike, Xander, Ethan, and Giles left Sunnydale after graduation and moved to LA, founding Angel Investigations with Angel. The Scourge never showed up in LA so Doyle is alive and well as Angel's seer, Anya never came to Sunnydale, so she and Xander never got together, Dawn never showed up in Sunnydale, and Sunnydale wasn't sucked into the Hellmouth.
AN II: I'm also changing the vampire community in this series. Vampires off the Hellmouth belong to Communities much like the Vamps in Forever Knight or Kindred the Embraced. As the oldest of the Aurileus line, and senior vampire in LA, Angel/Angelus is considered the Head of the LA community.
AN III: Thanks everybody who took the time to send feedback for the first story in this universe.

Work Text:

Title: Revelations and Introductions
Author: Josette Grover
E-mail: jgrover@tm.net or josette_g98@yahoo.com
Fandom: Buffy, the Vampire Slayer--Angel, the Series/Stargate: SG-1/Harry Potter
Series/Sequels: Part of my Xander is Connor universe, follows the events of A Second Chance
Genre: Slash
Pairings: Xander/Spike, Wesley/Angel(us), Giles/Ethan/Doyle
Archive: WWOMB, Beyond Canon
Synopsis: The others deal with the revelation that Xander is a reborn Connor and Xander relaxes now that the others know. Until he realizes that other stuff is beginning to happen to him.

AN: As with most of my stories, this is seriously AU. The last few seasons of Buffy, the vampire slayer never happened and the timeline for Angel is seriously changed. Spike, Xander, Ethan, and Giles left Sunnydale after graduation and moved to LA, founding Angel Investigations with Angel. The Scourge never showed up in LA so Doyle is alive and well as Angel's seer, Anya never came to Sunnydale, so she and Xander never got together, Dawn never showed up in Sunnydale, and Sunnydale wasn't sucked into the Hellmouth.

AN II: I'm also changing the vampire community in this series. Vampires off the Hellmouth belong to Communities much like the Vamps in Forever Knight or Kindred the Embraced. As the oldest of the Aurileus line, and senior vampire in LA, Angel/Angelus is considered the Head of the LA community.

AN III: This story takes place season 5 or 6 of Stargate, so Jack is still a Colonel, and leader of SG-1. While Harry Potter takes place in an Alternate timeline where the kids have graduated from school. Ron and Harry are the DADA teachers, Hermione teaches Muggle History and Relations. In addition, I'm totally ignoring the fifth book, so Sirius is alive and well. It was proved he had nothing to do with Harry's parents' deaths, and Fudge is currently rotting in Azkaban, Percy discovering that he was working with Voldemort. Percy is the Minister of Magic, and is currently taking the anti-werewolf laws off the books.

AN: IV ~ ~ ~ denotes point of view change.

Xander grins at the look on Cordy's face as Spike abruptly drops to one knee in front of Angel, baring his neck in supplication.

"Sire," he asks, knowing with a glance that it's Angelus he's talking to, "Do I have your permission to take your son as my Mate?"

Xander smiles as he looks over his boyfriend's head to see Cordy blinking in disbelief.

"Wait a second," she screams, "You mean I changed my boyfriend's diapers???? EWWWWW."

"Spike, what are you doing?" Xander asks, "You asked Angel that when we first got together."

"That was different Pet," Spike says, never lifting his gaze from the carpet. "Back then, you were under his protection as the Slayer's friend and I was asking the Poofster's permission to get to know you. Now you're my Sire's Childe, and I'm asking to make you my Mate for Eternity."

"Get up, William." Angelus says, and everybody else jumps as they realize who's speaking. "Connor, do you wish to take William as your mate for eternity?"

Xander looks at Spike for a long minute before replying.

"Yes, Father, I do."

"Very well then. Yes William, I give you my permission to take my son as your Mate."

Spike scrambles back to his feet and bows to Angelus before sitting back down on the couch and pulling Xander back into his arms.

"What was that all about?" Doyle asks.

"As Angelus' son, Xander would be considered almost royalty in the vampire community. Spike had asked Angel's permission to Court Xander before, but now that Xander is acknowledged as Angel's son, not asking Angelus' permission would be considered a serious breach of protocol." Giles says, removing his glasses and cleaning them absently.

"Exactly," Angelus says, the Irish brogue letting everybody know he's the one talking and not Angel. "And with William and Connor formally Mated, it will keep younger vampires from trying to gain favor from myself or the community by becoming involved with Connor."

Angelus sits down on the couch across from Xander, pulling Wesley against him as Cordelia busies herself at the desk across the room with going through the mail she'd been letting pile up for the last couple days. She sorts most of it into the circular file and frowns at a letter in her hand.

"Xander, why are you getting a letter from the courthouse?"

Xander immediately stands up and walks across the room, taking the letter from her hand and ripping it open. Reading the letter, he smiles and sighs in relief.

"Once I realized what was happening, I went to court to have my name legally changed. I don't want anything to do with the Harris's or their name, so I decided to change it to Connor Alexander Angel. This is the letter saying the court is accepting the name change, and in ninety days, Alexander LaVelle Harris will officially cease to exist."

"That's something else I have to take care of," Angelus growls softly enough to only Spike can hear. "William, you're going to be with me tonight. We're going hunting once the sun goes down." Spike grins; realizing what prey his Sire is referring to.

"Connor, why don't you and the others go out today and have some fun?" Angel says, reaching into his wallet for his credit cards and making a big show of handing them to Xander. "And don't let Cordy have them no matter how much she begs." He grins as Cordy flounces off to change her clothes. "Spike and I have something we need to do, so we probably won't be here when you get back."

"What was that all about?" Doyle asks his lovers as he follows Xander and Cordelia out the door towards the minivan Angel had brought for the agency. "One minute Angel is hanging onto Xander for dear life and the second he's sending all of us away."

"Dad wants all of us, me in particular, to have an airtight alibi, Doyle." Xander grins back at his foster fathers in the rearview mirror as Wesley pulls into traffic. "I have a feeling Dad and Spike are heading straight to Sunnydale as soon as possible."

"Why?" Cordy asks, turning around to look back at the hotel and seeing Spike's DeSoto tearing into traffic. "You're right though, Spike's car just turned the corner heading for the freeway."

"Think about it, Cordy. It's pretty much common knowledge that Tony and Jessica Harris are abusive, drunken parents. Now Angelus realizes that the child they've been beating all these years is his son, how do you think he's going to react?"

Wesley, Giles, and Ethan grow pale as they realize what Angelus and Spike must have planned, then blink as they realize they can't feel a shred of sympathy for the couple.

"Shit," Cordy says, "And once the police find the bodies, if Angelus and Spike leave anything to be found, you'll be the first one the police will be looking at."

"Yeah, especially considering the fact that I'm in the middle of changing my name. The cops are going to think that can't just be a coincidence."

"Xander, Connor, what do you want us to call you?" Wesley asks, pulling into a parking lot at the mall.

"I've been Xander for nearly 20 years, Wesley, so you might as well keep calling me that. I know Father and Dad are going to call me Connor." Xander shrugs, sliding the sunglasses back on when he sees his eyes are flickering back and forth between brown and blue in the mirror.

"Father and Dad?"

"Everybody's figured out that Angelus is loose, right? And he and Angel are in complete control of the situation?"

"Yeah, when Angel started speaking in a brogue we kind of realized that Angelus was loose." Cordy snorts, "and he doesn't seem to be out to kill us this time either."

"That's because Angel, the Soul, is still there. This time, instead of Angelus coming out because the soul when bye-bye, Angelus stopped howling and fighting the cage when they both realized who I was and the soul and demon are working together. Anyway, Angelus is Father and Angel is Dad."

Everybody gets out of the van and looks around.

"Anybody want to go to the museum first, then hit the mall to do some shopping?" Xander asks, looking across the parking lot to the museum across the street.

"You want to go to a museum?" Cordy looks over at Xander, an eyebrow raised in disbelief as she remembers disastrous field trips while they were in school.

"Yeah, we won't be drug around behind a teacher this time and we can take our time looking at what we want to look at, and if we see anything interesting, we can ask Giles or Wesley if they know anything else about it." Xander smirks as he heads across the street.

Xander stops just inside the museum, allowing the others to get around him as he looks up three floors to a huge skylight set in the middle of the building. The museum is different in that it's an interconnected set of ten buildings taking up three city blocks. Giles grabs a guidebook from the counter for the group and the others argue about what to look at first. Xander grins at the look on the clerk's face as she sees the boisterous group bickering as he calls to the others to pass over the money for their tickets.

"Don't worry, we'll be out of your hair in a couple of minutes, if they can decide which building we're hitting first that is." Xander smirks over his shoulder.

"Xander, we are coming back to here before we leave, correct?" Wesley says, looking over his shoulder as he continues to argue with Cordy.

"Yeah, since we're parked just across the street."

"You can check out the gift shops on the upper floors before we leave then, Cordelia." Wesley smirks, taking his ticket and heading for the walkway leading to the next building. Cordy growls and, grabbing her ticket from Xander with a muttered curse about 'smug English know it all bastards' follows the others out of the building.

The young woman behind the counter sighs as the last of them vanish in the walkway before turning to the older woman replacing her. "And I thought the school field trips were bad."

The older woman smirks, remembering the first time she'd been confronted by a large group of people arriving at once. The group that left seems to be a family enjoying a day off as she can hear barely hear exasperated male voices arguing with the lone female in the group. A high-pitched female yelp makes them look up momentarily but a snickering male voice carries back from the walkway, telling her 'well, look where you're going Cordy and you won't walk into the wall' followed this time by a high-pitched male yelp and laughter from the others cause them to turn back to their work.

Xander rubs the spot on his shoulder where Cordy had punched him absentmindedly as he walks across the room to a 'modern' painting and starts snickering.

"Looks like the office when Cordy decided we weren't painting fast enough and came in with one of those paint guns and had the hiccups."

"Oh god, don't remind me," Giles groans, "It took us five days to scrape the walls and repaint instead of the one weekend it should have taken."

"Well if you losers had hurried up like I told you to," Cordelia says, tossing her hair over her shoulder, "I wouldn't have been forced to take charge like that. Though I do admit, seeing Angel wearing something other than black was a shock."

"Cordy, having his clothes speckled with white and tan paint does not make it another color." Giles says dryly, pinching his nose as he remembers that day vividly. It had taken him three shampoos to get all the paint out of his hair when she had somehow 'accidentally' dumped a full gallon over Angel and Giles while painting the ceiling.

"I must admit that the office does look better with the new paint." Wesley says, expertly inserting himself between Cordelia and Xander when it looks like they're going to start arguing again about whose fault it was the paint was spilled.

"Giles, look at this." Xander says an hour later as they enter another building. "I think this is one of the scrolls the Council was yammering about last week."

"Xander, really," Giles sighs, wishing the children would take a more serious view towards the Council but knowing the Council really doesn't deserve it. "I doubt that that happens to be the case, but. . ." his voice trails off as he sees a display case with copies of ancient writing. He blinks as he looks at the papers, looking up to see a brief description of how the original documents had been found when a landslide had opened a small tomb in Greece.

"I think he's right," Wesley says, "The area of the earthquake is the same area the original scrolls were supposedly taken to when stolen from the Council."

"Who had stolen them from their rightful owners in the first place." Xander says dryly, slowly walking down the display case looking at the papers. Since learning who he really was, he'd slowly been aware of other things. He had a photographic memory now, and had slowly been making his way through the library of occult books while scanning them into a computer database. So even though he hadn't consciously read the books, he still knew everything the books contained and could go to a book and instantly find the information.

And his teachers at Sunnydale High School would be shocked to find out the boy who had barely graduated now could read over fifteen languages. That had been a shock. He'd been cleaning the kitchen, mostly to get away from Cordy's nagging about his clothes, and found a book Wesley had been looking for the last week. When he'd touched the book he'd received a slight buzz and the writing had changed shape in front of his eyes. He'd taken the book to Wesley and, in an offhand manner not to alarm the young ex-Watcher, had asked in passing what language the book had been written in. Later that night, he'd spent a couple hours in the library, and under the guise of dusting and rearranging the books, had touched most of the ones he hadn't been able to read before. He soon realized that if somebody else knew the language he could read it, but if nobody in the hotel read that language it stayed in it's original form.

While he'd been cleaning and rearranging the library, he'd found the plans for the hotel. Cordy had screamed like a banshee when Xander had announced that he'd found a pool that had been closed off during the war. Everybody had pitched in to tear down the wall and clean the enclosed pool area. A special paint over the glass ceiling that blocked sunlight but still allowed light to come through had allowed Spike and Angel to be in the room during the day.
~ ~ ~

Meanwhile, in the security room of the museum, Dr. Daniel Jackson and Colonel Jack O'Neill are busy overseeing the security setup when Xander's actions catch Jack's eye.

"What is that kid doing?" He asks, pointing to a screen showing Xander moving along the display cabinets, reading the documents. "He's only looking at the stuff a second or so, but he's looking at every page there. If I didn't no better, I'd swear he was reading each page."

Daniel looks over, recognizing the behavior from the psych classes he took in college. "He probably is Jack, that's the behavior usually shown by an idiot savant."

"An Idiot what?"

"An idiot-savant Jack, the term usually refers to a person with a mental handicap that exhibits an unusual behavior. Do you remember the movie Rainman?"

"Huh, yeah we just watched it last week at the base."

"Do you remember Dustin Hoffman's character, how he could do mathematical formulas in his head?"

"Yeah," Jack says, remembering bits from the movie he had tried to sleep through. Sam and Daniel had been interested in the movie, and Teal'c will sit through anything.

"That's a form of it, there was a rather famous case of a man who could play the piano like a master, yet he had the mental age of a four year old. There's other who seem to have calendars in their heads and can instantly tell you what day of the week a day will fall on years in the future."

Jack and Daniel watch the young man make a complete circuit of the room. "Most idiot savants live very structured, sheltered lives, Jack, since the outside stimulus bothers them." Jack watches as an older gentleman calmly touches the boy's arm and Daniel blinks as the boy's expression rapidly changes like somebody turned a light on.

"Can you turn the sound up higher?" Jack asks, as sounds come through the speaker.

"Xander, what's going on? You seemed to be in a trance."

"I'll explain later, Giles, let's just say that I was memorizing everything in the room for later." The boy says, grinning as everybody gathers around him.

"Huh?" The young woman says, blinking.

"Okay, there's something else I've been keeping a secret from you. A couple weeks ago, I found out that I have a photographic memory. Do you remember how I would look at the books a second before I would place them on the scanner?"

"Yeah," the young woman says, her eyes narrowing. "What were you doing?"

"In the split second it took to turn the page and replace the book, well, I can't say I was able to read it, but I was able to put a picture of it in my memory. Now, you could name a book and page number, and I would be able to tell you everything on that page."

"Fascinating, we'll have to test your abilities when we get back to the hotel." A younger man wearing glasses says in an English accent.

"Wait a second, you mean you were able to walk though the room and now that you've looked at everything in the room, you can tell us the contents of any of it?"

"Yeah, I could sit down right now with a notebook and replicate any page in this room." The boy says, waving a hand around the room as they go out of the camera range. "I would love a change to get my hands on the original scrolls."

"You're going to tell us why, aren't you Xander?" the older man who had touched the boy's arm says, and the body language is that of a parent lecturing a child over their latest indiscretions.

"Guys, can it wait until later?"

"Why, we're alone here?" the young girl says, waving a hand around the empty room. "Spill dweeb boy."

"Okay, since Cordy's like a pit bull and won't let go, I might as well tell everybody now." The boy says, rolling his eyes. "Wesley," the boy asks, turning to the younger man with the English accent, "Do you remember when I found that book you were looking for in the kitchen and brought it back to you?"

"Yeah," the man identified as Wesley says. Jack quickly writes down a description of everybody in the room, including what names they've said as Daniel does a computer search.

"Well, when I first picked it up, the writing changed and I could read it."

"Xander, that's one of the books Giles and I hadn't had a chance to translate. You couldn't possibly have read it, it's written in Latin."

"The book is called, "Monsters and how to kill them," the boy they now know as 'Sander' and what kind of name is that Jack wonders, closes his eyes. His next few words, obviously a passage from the book, cause everybody's jaws to drop.

"How???" Giles asks, stunned. "You never showed any signs of these sorts of abilities before."

"Dunno," Xander says, shrugging his shoulders. "After I gave the book to Wesley, I came down later that night and started looking through the library. I found out that if somebody else knew the language, I could read it. I currently can read over 20 languages."

"Hah, that means you get to be 'research boy' next time Wesley and Giles get a wild hair up their ass about having to find something in one of their books right now." Cordy says, sticking her tongue out at the two older men.

"So that's what you were doing when you found the plans for the hotel and realized there was a pool in that closed off section." Another man in the group says, his Irish accent audible through the speakers.

"Found them sir," one of the security guard says, looking up from the computer. He'd been viewing the footage from the cameras in the main building at Jack's orders, trying to find when the group had entered the museum. Jack watches over his shoulder as the footage of the group entering the building plays.

"Can you enlarge that picture?" Jack asks, pointing to a picture of Xander filling out the information sheet the museum asks its patrons to fill out.

"Certainly Sir," the picture is cleaned up and enlarged and Jack scowls at the picture. "Dammit, I still can't make anything out."

"Sir, the information sheets are still down at the registration desk. I could call down and have a volunteer bring it up." The Security guard says.

"You can do that?" Jack asks.

"Yessir, as long as I have the id number," the guard points to a number in the upper right-hand corner of the page. Five minutes later the paper is brought into the room as Jack watches the group on various cameras.

"Here you go, Sir," the volunteer says, handing over the paper to the by now pacing Jack O'Neill. Jack smiles at the young woman and takes the paper.

"Here we go, Danny. Run a check on the following people: Alexander Harris, Cordelia Chase, Wesley Wyndham-Pryce, and Rupert Giles."

"That's only four people, Jack, what about the others?"

"Those are the only ones we can identify on the tape. There's two other names here, an Ethan Rayne and a Doyle, but I don't know who's who."

"If I had to guess, I'd say the guy with the dark hair and Irish accent is Doyle."

"Sir," one of the security guards says, pressing a finger against the bud in his ear. "The group has just left the museum and is heading across the street to the mall. Do you want to keep an eye on them with the outside cameras?"

"No need, we have everything we need for now." Jack says, waving the paper in his hand. "If you can make a copy of that for me, I'll grab Daniel and get out of your hair."

~ ~ ~

Meanwhile outside in the mall parking lot Xander leads the way into the mall.

"Where to first, Cordy?"

"Oh, they're having a sale." Cordy grabs Xander by the elbow and drags him into Victoria's secret. A minute later Xander, dragging Cordy by the elbow this time, emerges from the store.

"Nope, nope, nope, not gonna go there Cordy, you want new clothes you have to buy them yourself." He says dryly, shuddering as he remembers the sight of so many bras, panties, and salesclerks descending on him and Cordy like sharks smelling blood in the water, or in this case smelling a young man with a Gold MasterCard.

Xander looks at his watch and heads for the food court. Everybody sits down at a table as they decide what they want to eat while he doodles on a notepad.

"Xander, what are you doing?"

"Making a list of what I need to do." He says, absently. "I need to check in with the Oracles, hopefully they can tell me what's going on with the photographic memory and languages. Dad and Spike want to check out some of the upper floors and see how much work needs to be done to make them habitable and the kitchen needs to be redone."

"Huh, What you talking about Xander, there's nothing wrong with the kitchen."

"Not the one we've been using Cordy, that was a smaller kitchen used for room service when the hotel was still in operation. There's a huge commercial kitchen and laundry down in the basement that needs to be cleaned and brought up to code."

"Really?"

"Yup, found it on the old blueprints. There's a stairway leading down to it that was boarded up. I'll have to find the door and make sure the stairs are safe before we do some more investigating."

"Damn, what else did you find?"

"The hotel originally had a penthouse, but it was tore down when lightning hit the hotel and the top two floors had to be redone," Xander says, "there was a room up on the second floor filled with clippings and books about the hotel. Dad stumbled on it when he first brought the hotel, and I've done a little searching at the library."

"You hated doing research when we were in school." Cordelia says, coming back to the table with a veggie sub.

"Yeah, I know." Xander says, rubbing the back of his head. "Now, it seems almost effortless. It's like a flip switched in my head and now it's almost second nature. Now, I'm seriously considering attending college, if I can figure out what I want to do."

"Wesley and I can sit down with you and a school catalog to see if anything interests you." Giles says, coming back to the table with a tray from the Chinese place.

"Thanks Giles, I picked up some stuff last week at the local campus." Xander stands up, returning to the table with a tray five minutes later.

"So where are we going first?" Cordy asks after everybody's eaten and threw away their garbage, "Since Xander's being mean and won't let me buy any clothes."

"You can buy all the clothes you want, Cordy," Xander disagrees with a smirk "you just have to pay for them yourself."

"Like I said, you won't let me buy any clothes." Cordy grumbles, a grin on her face. "Oh hey, they have a Lowe's here. Do you need any new tools for the hotel?"

"Not yet, I need to see what the Laundry and kitchen look like before I go on a Lowe's shopping spree."

Xander is looking at DVDS when a laughing Cordy shoves one into his hands. "I think we should sit down and make Spike and Angel watch this one."

"What DVD, Cordy?" Wesley asks from the next aisle where he's looking at foreign films.

"Interview with the Vampire," Xander and Cordy say in unison.

"Angel would kill all of us," Wesley says, "You know how much he hates those books.

"The movie's even worse." Xander snickers. "Make a movie night, this one and Queen of the Damned, see which one makes them groan louder."

Four hours later, after everybody has emptied the van of bags (including those from a major grocery shopping trip because they were out of just about everything) from the mall and walked to a nearby restaurant for a late dinner, Xander drives to the old post office to question the Oracles, accompanied by Giles and Wesley.

"Traditionally, children of vampires have been scholars as well as fighters." The male Oracle sneers, his attitude clearly saying 'Are you that stupid that you need to bother us with these juvenile questions?'

"Wait a second, you mean I'm not the only child of two vampires?

"Certainly not, young Warrior." The female Oracle declares with a sniff. "You are merely the latest one to be born. If the forces of evil had chosen not to interfere, a member of the Council would have approached your father and you would have been given free reign to the libraries under their control. To aid you with your studies, the gifts of knowledge would have become more active while you grew up. In your case, since you had to be reborn, your gifts were activated at once. That is why you have discovered that you suddenly have a photographic memory and the gift of languages, oral as well as written."

"Wait," Xander says, holding a hand up, "do you mean that if Father or Doyle lapse in Gaelic, I'll become fluent in that language?"

"Certainly, Young Warrior. That is one of the gifts that set the children of vampires apart from others. As with others of your kind, you are not bound to one Community and can travel freely to seek knowledge from others.

"What is this Council, if I may ask." Giles says, holding up a hand.

"The Council consists of other Daywalkers, children born of vampires. They have amassed huge libraries of knowledge over the years. One should have contacted you by now."

With a wave of their hands, the three are outside again and Xander, grumbling about pain in the Ass powers that be, scrambles behind the steering wheel.

"Well, did the Oracles tell you anything?" Cordy asks as they come back into the Hotel. Looking at the time, Wesley and Giles shut and lock the thick inside doors for the night, knowing Spike and Angel would be coming inside from the sewers.

"They said that my newfound gift of photographic memory and languages are part of being a Daywalker. I'm not the first child born of two vampires; in fact they're pretty common it seems, common enough to have their own Council. In fact, one should be showing up anytime."

"Really," Cordy says, looking up from checking her e-mail. "What does this Council do?"

"According to the Oracles, the Council consists of other Daywalkers and controls a huge library of information. If Wolfram and Hart hadn't fucked up, I would have grown up normally, the Council would have contacted Father, and they would have privately schooled me. Daywalkers are scholars as well as fighters, that's why we have photographic memories and the gift to read and speak any language. Since I had to be reborn and grow up again, rather than allowing the gifts to appear slowly as I grew up, the powers appeared all at once. Now, I'm going to get a hot shower and change my clothes before I come back down."

"Xander, bring the information down from the college when you come down, will you?" Wesley says over his shoulder as he heads for his and Angel's bedroom. "Giles and I will help you decide what classes you might like to take."

Xander grins as he heads back upstairs, smiling as he opens his door to find a package from Spike on his pillow. Heading into the bathroom, he runs hot water into the huge claw foot tub and strips off his clothes, tossing them into the open hamper. He lights candles around the room with a lighter of Spike's and slides into the water, leaning back against the cool porcelain of the tub to think about what he'd learned less than an hour ago.

Xander only emerges from the water when the water turns cold, pulling the plug and wiping himself off with a thick towel from the closet. Xander briefly thinks about walking downstairs in just his robe but finally pulls on a pair of black silk pajamas Spike had brought him for Valentine's Day before pulling his robe on over them and heading back downstairs.

Xander drops the thick information packet and even thicker catalog onto the table in front of Giles and Wesley before turning his head and grinning at Doyle.

"Doyle, says something in Gaelic, would you?"

"What do you need me to say?" Doyle asks in Gaelic, looking up in amazement as Xander responds in fluent Gaelic.

"Damn, I know you said that the language gift made you fluent in any language, but that's impressive." Ethan says, "I wonder if that would apply to magical texts as well?"

Giles stands up and walks into his private library, returning with one of his spell books. Xander takes it from his hand and rapidly turns the pages before staring at the fireplace and softly uttering the spell to light a fire. The others jump as fire erupts in the fireplace and burns brightly for a minute despite the lack of combustibles. A second phrase extinguishes the fire.

"Did I do that?" Xander asks Giles, sounding like a nineteen year old for the first time in weeks.

"Yes, Xander, that was all you." Giles smiles, "Looks like I'm going to be teaching you magic this summer. I'll get hold of one of my old teachers and see if I can get some beginner books sent here."

"Thanks, Giles."

Back in their hotel, Jack paces the room waiting for a messenger to arrive with the files he had requested. Daniel had spent two hours on the computer when they got back tracking down information and had found out the group, minus Doyle, had moved from Sunnydale five years ago after graduation.

"Five years ago Danny? He don't look that old." Jack says, staring at the picture taken from the security camera. "I'd say 18, 19 tops."

"Positive, I've found a picture in the paper taken just after graduation, and OH MY GOD?"

Jack immediately turns around and stares over Danny's shoulder at the computer screen.
"Where was that taken? I can't remember any major wars happening five years ago."

"Jack, according to the paper, that's the Sunnydale High School. It blew up during graduation, and nearly a hundred people were killed."

"Whoa, I don't remember hearing anything on the news about that. And with that kind of destruction, surely somebody would have sent a news crew to the scene."

"According to this," Danny says, printing out the screen as he scrolls down, "a gas main leak was touched off by a spark and the school went up like a bomb."

"That doesn't look like fire damage from a gas main explosion, that looks like somebody deliberately blew the school up." Jack says, grabbing the picture from the printer and staring at it. "See, here, here, and here, I can see at least five ignition points just from this picture. Somebody deliberately set something off."

Danny looks over Jack's shoulder, seeing the darker scorch marks Jack points out. "Why didn't the authorities check this out then?"

"I don't know," Jack picks up the phone and orders room service, "But let's find out while we wait for the files to come."

An hour later, Jack pushes away the last of his meal as Danny finishes reading the file a courier had run over.

"Well, does the file say why nobody bothered to investigate the school bombing?"

"I can't believe what I'm reading. According to this, Sunnydale had one of the highest death and disappearance rate in the United States, higher than Washington DC, New York, and LA combined. And I'd say the police weren't doing a damn thing about it."

Daniel passes the reports from the police department across the table to Jack and he slowly begins to read.

"Hell, I'd say they were protecting what was going on." Jack growls when he finished the report. "Nobody can be this damn incompetent."

"Whoa, hold it." Daniel says, standing up with a page in his hand.

"What's going on, Danny?"

"There's a name that keeps popping up in the police records. One Buffy Summers, and I remember reading about her in most of the records I pulled up." Daniel pulls the laptop over and begins to type, pulling up a new record.

"Elizabeth Anne Summers, goes by the name Buffy. The Sunnydale police Department seem to have her down as a convenient scapegoat whenever something happens in the town. One Detective Stein tried to arrest her for the death of a man interested in her mother, despite the lack of a body. It was later determined that he was a serial killer who married women for their money and killed them. Ever since, Stein had it in for Buffy and whenever there was a murder or disappearance he tried to railroad her into the crime."

"Asshole, what happened to her?"

"She left Sunnydale after Graduation and is currently in her senior year of college in DC, with plans to go into law enforcement. Another member of the group, a Willow Rosenberg, graduated last year from Harvard and is running a software company in Boston."

"Anybody else they hung out with in High School?"

"One Faith Donaldson, deceased. According to this, she was injured in the explosion and lapsed into a coma. She was moved to a private facility in England where she was murdered less than a month later. Her murderer was never found. According to what records we could find on her, she was a street kid from Boston who moved to Sunnydale after the woman who took her in off the streets was murdered."

"What kind of monster would kill somebody in a coma?"

"I don't know, according to this the last person who left her room before her death was one Quentin Travers, but everybody at the hospital swears that she was still alive when he left. From what the investigator says in his report, the staff of the private hospital didn't really care to have her as a patient and would gladly cover up a death at his hands. Unfortunately, since the hospital was a private one, officials really couldn't bring anybody in to investigate or shut down the place."

"What a charming place." Jack says sarcastically, looking at pictures of the facility. The armed guards and bars on the wall make it look more like a prison than a hospital. "Do the records say what a group in England would want with a Boston street kid?"

"Nope, they just swooped into the Sunnydale hospital once she was stable and carried her off. Since the hospital was overwhelmed with victims from the high school explosion, they were too glad to get an empty bed to care what happened. The hospital seems to have the same problem of not wanting to get involved the police have."

"Damn, now I really want to meet these guys. Hopefully they'll tell us what really happened." Jack says, "Did you find out what they're doing now?"

"Yup, according to this, Xander Harris, Cordelia Chase, Rupert Giles, Wesley Wyndham-Pryce, Ethan Rayne, Doyle, a man known only as Spike, and a Liam Angel opened a detective agency called Angel investigations six months after they moved to LA. The detective Agency has a good track record with the local police."

"Where are they located?"

" A place called the Hyperion hotel. A year or so ago, Liam Angel brought it for back taxes, the company that owned it went bankrupt in the 80's and it's been closed ever since. According to the records, they operate the business out of the hotel as well as live there."

"Where are they located? I have a feeling we're going to be paying them a visit tomorrow. I smell a mystery and I hate mysteries." Jack says, when the computer begins beeping. "Danny, what's going on?"

"I set up an alert in case anybody else tried to access these files. The Sunnydale police department just tried to access the file for Xander Harris, but they've been blocked because they don't have the proper clearance."

"Why are they trying to find him, can you find out?"

Daniel's fingers fly over the compute screen and he blinks.

"Yeah, according to this Xander's parents, one Anthony and Jessica Harris were found murdered in their home after somebody called 911 from a phone booth. They've put an APB out on him. Jeez, what a bunch of morons, according to this they don't seem to know he moved to LA five years ago. They still have him listed as living in Sunnydale."

"Oh jeez, now that's incompetent." Jack snorts, "Didn't they even bother to check in the house and see if he lived there or ask neighbors if he was there?"

"That would make too much sense, from what I've seen they do what they want until the facts tell them otherwise. Detective Stein is still blaming Ms. Summers for unexplained deaths that continue to pop up, despite the fact she's not even in the same state anymore. According to this, she's filed a lawsuit against Detective Stein and the police department for continued Harassment."

"Good for her. Between that Asshole Stein trying to blame every crime on her when she doesn't even live there anymore and them not even knowing Xander doesn't live in Sunnydale anymore, the Sunnydale police department is a laughing stock. Everybody should be fired and new people brought in to take it over."

"So, we're going to see them tomorrow?" Daniel asks, pushing away from the computer.

"Yeah, judging from what you found out about them, Hammond would love to hire them as researchers. And if half of what I heard Xander say is true, you've finally found somebody who can keep up with you when you start talking theories, obscure books, and languages that have been dead for a couple thousand years."

Later that night, Giles smiles as he sees Ethan and Doyle soaking in the tub. Walking past the door before they can see him and pull him into the tub with them, he walks to the fireplace in their suite and takes a pinch of powder from the bag on the mantle.

Throwing it into the small fire he'd lighted earlier, he calls out a familiar name.

"Hello Rupert, it's been a while." The smiling face of his old mentor, Albus Dumbledore says, "Something the matter?"

"Yes sir, you remember my telling you about the children when I visited you last summer."

"Yes, your Slayer and her friends. Whatever happened to them?"

"Buffy is currently attending College in Washington DC, according to her last letter she wants to go into Law Enforcement. Willow, the young Wandless Witch I told you about graduated from Harvard last year and is working in computers. And you already know Daniel, I sent him to you to help out when the school needed to be rebuilt."

"Indeed, he's currently helping teach Magical Creatures with Hagrid and I intend to offer him the position when Hagrid finally decides to retire. But didn't you say there were two young men in your group?"

"Yes, Albus, the other young man is named Alexander, Xander for short. I can't tell you the entire story right now, but sufficient to say that Xander exhibited signs of Magic tonight. I wonder if it would be possible to bring him to Hogwarts this summer to be tested."

"I don't see why not, Rupert. He's a little older than our normal students, but I believe with the proper tutoring he could finish school in four years. How did he manifest?"

"It's a long story, but I showed him one of my beginner books. Xander read a spell to start a fire and a fire burned in the fireplace, despite having nothing to fuel it, until he read a second spell to stop it."

"Interesting, and he's never shown any signs of magic before now?"

"Not that I remember, though Xander will tell you that Magic went 'wonky' around him. He was the focus of love spell once, the one woman he was interested in didn't seem to be affected, but every other woman in town was after him. He was chased all around town for hours until the spell finally wore off."

"Oh dear, that sounds painful. Any other occurrences you can think of?"

"Xander was looking at a book once, and it burst into flame." Giles says, "he's also something of a demon magnet, two female demons wanted to mate with him and kill him while in high school. Oh, and he was possessed twice, once by a hyena spirit, the other time during a incident where the children were dressed up for Halloween and they became the people they were dressed up as. I checked him for signs of magic when Willow became interested and he never seemed to show any signs, but now I'm wondering if I just missed it somehow."

"What is his name, I'll ask the sorting hat if he should have been contacted."

"Thank you, Albus. Try either Alexander LaVelle Harris or Connor Angel." Rupert grins at the look on his old mentor's face, "it's part of the long story I can't go into detail right now about, but they're both the same person."

"You will be telling me the entire story later, dear boy." Albus says, walking over to the Sorting Hat and nudging him awake. The hat lets out an audible snort as Albus places him on his head, and a long conversation occurs before Albus removes the hat.

"Well Rupert, the Hat doesn't know anything about an Alexander Harris, but Connor Angel was definitely on the list. Interestingly enough, the name seems to have moved from it's spot in the 2011 school year to the 2005 school year, with the note of home schooled. With that settled, I'll see you tomorrow, along with Harry Potter and Ron Weasley, our DADA teachers, Severus, and Minerva."

"Professors McGonagal and Snape haven't retired yet?"

"Nope," Albus says, his eyes twinkling, "And they both remember your Senior year rather vividly. The story about your escapades are told to all the new students as 'what not to do' while in school."

"I'll see you tomorrow then, Albus. And thank you."

"You're welcome dear boy, now stop talking to your old teacher and pay attention to the two young men who are currently standing in the doorway waiting for you to finish so they can take you to bed."

"Thank you professor," Ethan smirks, walking across the room to wrap his arms around Rupert. "It's nice to see you again. Now do what the nice professor said Rupert, and come to bed. Tomorrow will be soon enough to take care of everything."

Xander wakes up hours later as the mattress tips. Minutes later Spike's arm wraps around him. Xander closes his eyes again and goes back to sleep, unaware of the two different factions coming to see him in the morning.

AN: To be continued in Colonels and Wizards and Aliens, Oh My!