Ancestry 40 - New Group Members by Voracity2

Ancestry 40 - New Group Members

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Note: Talk of the SGC starts here.

Ancestry 40 - New Group Members

Draco got a call from his friends. "Hey, Greg," he said, turning to face the fireplace. "What's going on?"

"Vincent eloped. His parents have no idea. He needs to hide."

"Take him to my place. I'll be back there in a bit to meet the new girl in the circle." He smiled. "Is she nice to him?"

"She is. She's a lot like Millie. Built like her too. But she's a farm girl."

"Oh, the one from Greece he liked." He smiled. "Good on him. I'll be there in a few minutes. Let me get my bag." Greg nodded and hung up, going to help his buddy with hiding it. He went to gather his bag and notes then tell Me he was heading home for a bit since Xander wasn't around right now. He was guarding Tara. "Me, I need to head home. Vincent just eloped and he's bringing his wife home tonight."

Me smiled at him. "Hand holdy ones are always sweet. Hopefully his is too."
Draco smiled and nodded, heading home through the floo. He came out to find Pansy and Millicent on the couch waiting on him. "Yes, I'm back. How did you get in?"

"Vincent," Pansy quipped.

"That's fine. He'll want to introduce her to his friends I'm sure." He put his bag into his room. "Don't touch my notes but the laundry was clean. The Dumass elves did it." His house elf nodded and just unpacked for him. The notes went into the office.

Draco straightened himself up and went downstairs, smiling at the girl he didn't know. "Welcome to my house. I'm Draco Malfoy." He held out a hand. She said something in Greek, then translated it into English. He smiled at her. "Vincent certainly found a girl to admire in you, Hedda."

He clapped Vincent on the arm. "You may hide here as long as you want, Vincent. And if your mother gets upset, you're more than allowed to move into your old room. Which I think is the blue room in this house." He clapped him on the arm again. "Dollar, do we have tea?" he called, heading for the sitting room with Hedda on his arm.

Millie smiled, bouncing up to hold out a hand. "Hi, I'm Millicent, one of Vincent's friends from school and all that. This is Pansy."

Pansy got up and shook her hand with a smile. "It's great that Vincent found someone great to marry. He's the first in the group to do that." She sat down again. "Draco, where is your mother?"

"Probably at Professor Methos' house flirting with that one Scotsman still." He settled Hedda down into the nicer chair. The girls had saved it for her. The house elf brought in a tea service tray for them but he noticed she was limping. "What did you do, Dollar?"

"Dollar fell down basement," she said, then looked sheepish. "Dollar not mean to, Master Draco sir. Dollar did not break anything in basement."

"Do we have a healer you can see?" Dollar looked confused. "Of course my father never would've done that," he muttered. "Oh, hell. ME!" he called. That house elf showed up, looking amused. "How do I get my house elf Dollar treated? She fell down a flight of stairs." He pointed at her.

"House elf healer at Mungies, Draco sir." She looked at Dollar, moving to check her over. "Needs to be looked at. Will take her?"

"Please. Let me know what's going on and how she is please." She nodded and took Dollar with her. Draco sat down with a sigh. "I hope she'll be okay."

Pansy looked at him. "I never considered how house elves got medical treatment either. Which elf was that?"

"The head of house for Dumass Castle," Draco said with a grin. "They did a nice job of fussing at us and in the library."

She nodded. "That's sweet of him to answer for you." She poured tea for him. "I'll do the hosting duties," she told Hedda with a grin. "Millie can drop things."

"My hand's been cramping," she sighed, looking at it. "That thing with my forearm again."

"Didn't they tell you to heat treat it?" Vincent asked. She nodded with a sigh. "Haven't you been?"

"Of course, but I've been writing letters for my mother and it cramped up again." She rubbed at it. "Thank you, Pansy."

"Welcome." She smiled at Hedda. "Sugar, cream?" She pointed at each, letting the girl pick which she wanted so Pansy could fix it and hand the first cup over. Then to Vincent then to Draco then to them. "We couldn't find Blaise. He's ...somewhere."

"His mother was courting someone in Egypt I think," Draco said with a shrug. "He'll turn up somewhere, just like usual." They relaxed and settled in to get to know the new young woman in the circle of friends. Greg got there late and looked harried. "Your parents?" Draco asked.

"His mother's worried I'm exposing him to other odd things from my father's closet. I had to tell her he's not there and hasn't been for a few hours. He went to run an errand." He got handed some tea by Pansy. "Thanks." He sank into a couch and sighed in pleasure. "My mother's in a tizzy for some reason."

"Yeah, she's pregnant," Vincent told him. Greg sat up to stare at him. He nodded. "She looks pregnant."

"Huh." He grinned. "That'll be nice I guess." He added more sugar then relaxed again. "So, Hedda, are you enjoying England?"

"It's nice enough," she praised. "I hear the winters are quite mean and cold though."

"Greece has mountains," Draco said, getting a nod. "Like their storms in them, we get those same things, and snow." He smiled. "It's beautiful until you have to walk through it." She grinned at that, sipping her tea and sighing in pleasure. "She does good at that." He sipped his own and relaxed until Vincent's mother called. Then he had to go answer the other floo. "Yes, auntie?" he asked with a smile.

"Is my son there?" she demanded.

He grinned. "No comment. If he is, he's safe and being a good boy. We're having tea with Greg, Pansy, and Millie."

"Oh." She grimaced. "His father's livid he didn't make it to dinner last night."

"Well, he's probably not going to starve here. You can tell his father he's fine. I'm about to go raid for cookies since I found out Dollar is injured and had to send her to the house elf healer."

She looked confused. "There is?"

"St. Mungos has one apparently. I asked another house elf that would know."

"Oh, that's interesting." She blinked a few times. "Is there other news going on?"

"We think Gregory may be becoming a big brother."

"Oh, that's charming news! I'll go check on her later." She stared at him. "Is he really all right?"

"He's fine. All but napping on the couch right now though. He can stay the night."

"Fine." She sighed. "Is it a huge secret?"

He grinned. "No comment." He waved and she huffed but hung up. He turned off the floo and went back in there, getting a grateful look from Vincent for that. "I should tell Mother. She'll probably be amused." He considered it then went to floo her. "Mother." She blinked at him. "Vincent has news he wants to not share with anyone outside our little circle of friends. Including his own parents."

"Really?" She stepped through and dusted herself off, patting down her hair to make sure it was perfect. She walked that way with Draco, taking his seat and getting some tea from Pansy. "Thank you, dear. Very nicely done." She looked at the new girl. "Well, you're adorable." Hedda blushed. She smiled. "Quite a nice choice, Vincent. Are you happy?"

"I think we'll be very happy. We get on well and there was an instant connection, Aunt Narcissa." He gave her the pleading look.

She smiled. "It's clear that she's a fair rose of a girl." She tipped the girl's face up. "Yes, she'll do fine up here and your mother will adore her. Even if your father does grump a lot." Hedda grinned and blushed a bit. "I really should take you and Millicent shopping. You both need wardrobes that befit your station." She looked at the other girl. "That arm problem again?"

"Yes. I was writing letters for Mum earlier and it cramped," she said, letting her see it. "I'm fine, just sore. Thank you, Aunt Narcissa."

She did a healing spell on it, nodding when the cramp eased. "We'll get that helped as well, Millicent." She settled in to talk to Hedda, who was a beautiful girl. A bit wide shouldered but a good, genuine, honest girl who seemed to care for Vincent. Even with his brush with darkness. Thankfully the boy wasn't marked. She looked at Draco. "Have you discovered a good enough mate yet, my son?"

"Not yet, Mother. I've been reading up on rites about how to cancel out bloodline curses." She snorted. "It's possible. I was going to talk to Xander Dumass about that later this week when he got back from protecting Tara from the bigots about her being wandless."

"She's really sweet and shy," Pansy told them. "She showed up a few times to help Hermione Granger. She blushed and the unicorn foal at the school tried to snuggle her. Even the house elf babies all loved her."

"Xander considers her like a sister," Draco told her. "She's been bottle feeding an orphaned unicorn foal as well." Pansy shivered. "Yes, she's that sweet and pure. They all adore her. One of the foals tried to horn someone in the face for trying to pick on her." He sipped his tea. "Unfortunately her last girlfriend was shite at it."

His mother cleared her throat. "Language in front of guests, son."

"She was dating Rosenburg, Mother. That one addicted one that Snape had to help detox from black magic. Tara made her clean herself up and she still didn't manage it well enough." He sipped his tea then yawned. "Oh, sorry."

Hedda grinned. "You studied all night."

"I did," he agreed with a smile. "I've found a huge library that has a lot on most subjects. I've been there for the last few weeks."

Me showed back up, staring at Draco. "Dollar is being staying over night," he said. "Dollar has fractures and needs skelegrow. Healer will call tomorrow for Master Draco to pick her up."

"That's wonderful. Thank you, Me. Will she be okay?"

He smiled and nodded. "Yes. Dollar will be fine. Just ouchy right now." He disappeared.

"That's good to know." He looked at his mother. "Dollar fell down the basement stairs."

"Oh, dear." She sighed. "There's a healer for them?"

"St. Mungos apparently."

"Wonderful. I need to send the ones that I have with me to be checked over. They're both slowing down some." She sipped her tea, shaking her head. "Where are the other ones?"

"Three are helping the Dumass elves set back up. Two decided to retire. One went a bit psychotic and ran into the woods, Mother." She sighed at that, nodding some. "I only really need one more than I have and you have the others. Once we get them back from helping the Dumass family reset up it'll be fine."

"That's good." She patted him on the wrist. "He has been good to you."

"Very," he agreed happily. Hedda stared at him, so he explained things. She nodded that she understood. "I've been studying how to break familial curses and how to protect myself from an evil idiot from Belgium who thinks I'm a toy he can play with."

"What was Granger talking about when she mentioned a final strike spell?" Pansy asked.

Draco cleared his throat. "It's an idea from fantasy novels but many have them. They're the spell you cast when you're captured, about to die, and you're going to take them with you." He stared at her. She shuddered. "Yes that sort. Dumass said that many in fantasy novels don't work the way they think they do but I know a lot of students looked up one to use in case they had to during the war."

She nodded. "I did in case I had to take out everyone in the house." She sighed. "The war really did screw us up but at least it's done with."

"It is," he agreed with a nod. "Until the next one gets an idea." She nodded that was true.

"I can't take more depressing," Millie said. "Please?"

"Of course, dear," Narcissa agreed. "Are you all right? I know you had to get away from Flint."

"My parents lied and said I was fourteen. The judge was nice enough to help Pansy and I about our contracts."

"That was excellent of him," Narcissa agreed. "Do you have other prospects yet?"

"Only one," Pansy said. "And I loathe him. He's crazy." She shuddered. "Thankfully my mother can't sign one for me any longer."

"Thankfully Granger found that way around all that," Millie agreed, sipping her tea. She looked at Greg.

He grinned back. "I agreed with the whole house. If we had been forced to marry by the Ministry for bloodline strength reasons I would've let her kill me to get free. She's got a really bright future. I have a future and I'm not going to step in her way. She hits really hard!"

"She does," Draco admitted with a grin and a nod. "As a few aurors found out." He shook his head but was smiling as he finished his tea.

"I saw that in the papers," Hedda admitted. "Is she all right?"

"She should just be back from her college tours to pick which one she's going to attend," Draco said. "She was in the Dumass library as well looking up old healer ideas." Hedda nodded and smiled. "We're socially polite with her. She was in a different house and isn't in the same social circles we are."

That got another nod of understanding. "She is a very interesting young woman though. She clearly overthinks everything to see all sides of an argument before picking which one she wants to believe. She was staring in a mirror debating fields of medicine with herself. She nearly talked herself into law school instead during it. Then decided she didn't want to deal with politics."

His mother shook her head. "That girl is quite something. When those books were found, she wisely brought it to me instead of to Mrs. Weasley, knowing that it would take some cooperation with various types in the ministry who had subtlety."

"Did we ever find that author?" Greg asked.

Narcissa sighed but rolled her eyes. "Not fully. We know which one she was now. She's not been at her listed address." They all nodded at that. "Thankfully since Mr. Potter will probably sue her for it."

"He asked one of the twins to borrow a beater bat," Draco quipped with a smirk for her. "Granger may sue her, Mother. And Ron."

She shook her head. "I can see why. Though they did get his family very correct." She finished her tea and put the cup down. The other house elf came in to gather things and put them into the kitchen. "Thank you, Marigold."

"Welcome, Missus Narcissa." She looked at Draco, who nodded. She did her job and went back to fussing at dinner. She came back to stare at Draco. "Dollar not be home tonight?"

"No, she had broken bones. The healer kept her overnight," Draco told her.

"Good. She pained." She went back to cooking for them. She came back. "All staying for dinner?"

"Probably not," Pansy said. "I've got to get back to being nagged by my mother."

Millicent sighed. "I wouldn't mind, Marigold, but my mother's going to have a fit soon probably too."

"We are going shopping this afternoon, Millicent," Narcissa ordered. "Draco, the boys, and Hedda, who is Vincent's new wife, will be here for dinner with me," she told Marigold, who nodded, going to adjust dinner plans. She smiled at the girls. "We have some darling fashions just coming out, ladies."

"Hermione's Vogue that her aunt got her suggested v-neck dresses that seem to pull the eye inward and Y-neck halters instead of the usual V-neck ones," Pansy said. "And peplums to accentuate the hips."

"Hmm. I haven't seen any like that recently. But we can look, ladies." They smiled and nodded. "Why is she getting Vogue?"

"She said it was probably her aunt's doing," Pansy said with a grin. "Her aunt wanted a girly little girl to fuss at. Granger never obliged so she's trying to prompt her that way."

"Ah." Narcissa nodded. "Some girls do glamorous very well and some don't. She's pretty enough to pull it off but has no interest I'm supposing. Probably no reason to in her life."

"She did say that sometimes her parents have to attend charity events," Draco said. "Something about a library charity, a healthcare charity, and animal shelters. She apparently donates time to them."

"That's wonderful of her. It means she cares about others," Narcissa agreed with a nod. "I did much the same with my own charity work and I'd expect your wife would follow there, Draco."

"I figured you were bored all day, Mother."

"Well, yes," she admitted then smirked at him. "Your father was always off doing something that left me home alone too often. I needed out of the house. It's not seemly to work at our station."

"Longbottom plans to replace Sprout," Pansy said.

Narcissa stared at her oddly. "Really?" She nodded. "Is his grandmother fine with that?"

"As far as I know." She shrugged. "Hannah is. They're betrothed I think."

Draco smirked and shook his head. "Married the other day. They eloped as well."

"It does solve a lot of problems," Vincent agreed happily, smiling at his wife, who grinned back. "Her mother insisted that we do things in a way that is her natal family's ways, which I have no idea about and I wasn't against, and my father wanted me to marry someone delicate who I'd break. Thankfully you're stronger than I am and I like that about you," he told her at the pouty look. "You're still girlish and delicate yet not breakable."

Draco cleared his throat. "He's sorry, Hedda. He's not used to speaking so much at once, especially not to girls." She looked at him. "He's always been worried about his strength being overpowering by accident. Even when he was younger, he used to not play with me and the others here because he worried he'd hurt us.

"You, however, are his ideal woman. You're girlish, delicate when you wish to be, can nag him when he needs it, and can look like a superb wife on his arm when he needs you to, and probably pick on him at home so he lightens up and quits worrying about that." He grinned. "The only thing that would've gotten him hotter would be you being a bit taller than him. There was a Germany nanny in the group at one time that he had his first crush on."

"Most people saw my size as a problem," she said, then looked at her husband.

"I'd break someone like Pansy," he said honestly, staring at her then grinning. "I nearly did one night by tickling her. I bruised her ribs tickling her." Pansy nodded, finishing her tea. "We were only eight. You being stronger is a great thing to me and I adore that about you. But I still love your mind the best." She relaxed again and beamed at him for that. "You know all sorts of stuff and made me want to actually go learn something."

She kissed him on the cheek. "Thank you, Vinnie." He grinned at that, blushing some. "You're very sweet."

"Draco tried to teach me how to talk to girls and other boys. I usually just stand there looking big and menacing behind him."

Greg snickered. "Yes we do. It helped more than once."

Draco waved a hand lazily in the air. "Yes it did. And kept me from being a total prat a few times to Weasley."

"His nose would crunch so nicely," Millie sighed, shaking her head. "More than once I almost hit him but Greg walked me off and Vinnie sat on me so I couldn't get up."

Hedda looked at her then at Vincent. "Weasley's got an immature temper and a mouth on him," Vinnie said dryly. "He likes to bait at Draco and Draco baits him back. It was a house rivalry thing."

"Yes, but thankfully we do behave mostly in public," Draco said dryly. "Especially as I found out our line's starting points were together."

"Together?" Narcissa demanded. "A Malfoy and a Weasley?"

"Back when.... Marigold?" he called. She popped in. "Tell my mother about that war where my ancestor and the Weasley ancestor were together please? The one with the first Dumass heir?"

She looked at her mistress. Then ducked her head. "We's not supposed to talk about it, Mistress Narcissa. Bad people, dog people, show up to take wizards for their powers. Many fought. Including house elves. We always tell them from then on." She stared at her.

"Former Weasley and Former Malfoy both together, in hand holdy, giggly things. Make many things together to defeat dog people." She grinned at Draco then at his mother. "They have daughter right before they lost but war was won and dog people flew off again." She shrugged. "We won. Few got taken but we made them go." She left again.

Draco grinned at her. "Dumass' family library has a scroll about them. I have no idea if they were married to others or not but they were apparently in rabid love at that time." He shifted to cross his feet. "There was a Flitwick then too. A Dumass."

His mother blinked. "I'd like to hear more about that, son."

"I'll send Alexander a message to see if he'll let me copy it, Mother." She nodded, looking at the others.

"That's just freaky. Why would werewolves attack wizards to steal their magic?" Pansy asked.

"It wasn't," Hedda said. "I've seen things on them in a temple. Like the Egyptian deities, they wore dog heads."

Draco nodded. "You're right, they did." Pansy gaped in horror at him. He nodded. "They did."

"Wow. Is that well known?"

"Hidden. You know the Ministry believes England started with Merlin."

"Point." She considered it. "So that was before?"

"The first Dumass came over with the earliest Romans and found people just like him. So we're talking early Roman history," Draco said. "Merlin was said to be the early 1100's."

"Wow. So very ancient history." She blinked, looking at Hedda. "It's in some temples?"

"In Greece, we have many old temples with works on the walls." She waved a hand. "We took trips. I asked about that one and they said it was some carryover from Egypt where they had crossed over but it spoke of a war against them."

"Huh," she said then nodded. "Our ancestors did a lot of weird things."

"Well, some of ours," Draco said dryly. "Mine were still in France then." Narcissa rolled her eyes. "Hers were in Germany. Upper Germany."

She nodded. "True." She looked at Hedda again. "You do have quite the shape, Hedda. Trim waist, nice legs." The girl blushed at that. "We can make you so beautiful girls get jealous." She looked at Millicent. "I should've taken you a few years back. The school's uniforms do you no favors."

"Or anyone," Pansy said. "Really, very few of us looked good and those ones often used magic to make it so."

"Lavender Brown," all the guys agreed with a nod.

"Those sort of girls have their allure," Narcissa told them. "But then they marry and have to drop all the acts to be themselves and their husbands are often confused."

"As Granger put it, some girls invest in makeup and hair things, focus on fashion, and some of us just live life," Milli told her. "I'm kinda that way myself. There's no amount of makeup that'll make my face less square."

"Yes there is," Vincent said. "Remember what Blaise did that one time?"

She gaped. "How did he do that? I thought it was a glamour!"

"No," Draco said. "That was makeup and only makeup, Milli. We watched him do it. He highlighted your bone structure to highlight the cheekbones and your chin line got softened somehow. I have no idea how that's done."

"For that, you go to someone who can teach you," Narcissa said with a smile for her. "Which may mean muggles. They do have some fascinating products we don't. We can look at that as well, ladies." They nodded. She got up and looked at Draco, who stared back. "The vault key, son?"

"Let me get up," he sighed, going to do that. He came back with one. "It's the household account for the month. The rest are still in audit status. They found someone trying to get into them. Probably Great-Aunt Druscila they said."

She grimaced. "That's a shameful thing that she did." She led the girls with her to her favorite shop. The tailor in there blinked at them. "This is Millicent, one of my son's friends. She'll be finding a partner soon. This is Vincent Crabbe's new wife he eloped with." She smiled at him. "They both need to look fantastic. She's got to meet his parents tomorrow or so. Millicent has to meet hers sometime soon."

The tailor nodded, getting one of the female fitters in. She came out and curtseyed. "Madam Narcissa." She looked at the girls. "We have dresses to make them spectacular." She led them back to let them use the trying on illusion. A few wouldn't work but they found a pretty v-necked peplum dress made Hedda look svelte. She had a great shape once she was in a better bra.

Millicent was harder, she was basically rectangular, but they could add in some defining seaming to give her a better waist and make her bust stand out more. Then she got in their makeup person to go over how to do that with the girls. By dinner, the girls were gorgeous looking. Still very tall for women but they wore it well. They looked fantastic. Narcissa paid and led them back to the house via portkey. Floo would just mess them up again. Milli's hair wouldn't stay up if they flooed.

***

Millicent went home that night, staring at her mother, who stared in awe. "Narcissa took me to be properly fitted." She turned, letting her mother see. She smiled. "They knew how to handle my shoulders, Mum!"

"I can see that. You look beautiful." She looked at her face. "The makeup isn't too obvious." She nodded. "Did you get their card?" It was handed over. "We can go back there for your trousseau when you finally marry. Your father's in his office."

Milli skipped that way, knocking before walking in at the grunt. Her father looked up and choked, staring at her. She grinned. "Aunt Narcissa took me to someone who could handle my shoulders."

He stood up, staring at her. "Well!" He blinked a few times. "I see some makeup but it looks good on you, dear." He came over to walk around her, nodding. "We'll add another picture to the marriage broker's stock of you to show around. She did a great job."

"It's not that hard apparently. It's all in how you fit things and what lines you use," she quipped. Then she went up to her room. They had taught her how to handle her hair overnight too. She had learned a lot of girl lessons from that dresser.

The parents shared a look then added that to her marriage broker file. That would make boys more likely to look at her twice at least.

***

Vincent came home with his bride on his arm. She had been fixed up by Blaise, who Draco had called to come specially since it was the next day. He had done her makeup and she looked fantastic in her dress. He looked at her, getting a shy grin and a nod. He opened the door and walked in. "Family announcement," he called.

"Why?" his father demanded. He came out to stare at them. "Son?" he demanded cooly.

"Father, I'm sure you remember Hedda, my new wife." He stared at him.

"Yes but I don't remember her being pretty that way," his mother said as she came out of the kitchen wiping her hands off. She looked at her then smiled. "I sense Narcissa's touch."

"Yes, she knew someone who could figure out what to do with my shoulders," she said happily.

"She did a good job. We'll have to go back there now and then." She shook her hand. "Come sit, dear, let me get to know my daughter-in-law while I nag my son for eloping without warning."

"I knew what who I wanted, Mum. She's prefect. She's smart, she's caring, she's a great reader, she's really smart. She made me want to learn stuff." He looked at his father before following her.

His father came in after a minute to calm himself. "So you eloped today?"

"Two days ago," Hedda said, smiling at Vinnie. "Vinnie came to the house to get me and we eloped down in Greece, in my village, then came up to stay with Draco for our honeymoon night." She smiled at the parents. "He and his mother were very sweet to give us advice on how to handle our marriage."

"Narcissa can be very sweet," Vincent's mother agreed happily. "Much better now that she's a widow as well." She looked at her husband, taking his hand to hold with a smile. She looked at Vincent. "I knew immediately," she told them. "And had to convince him."

"I knew, Mum, and she had a good idea." He grinned at her, making her blush but grin back. They smiled at his parents. His father was still upset but oh well! "I introduced her to the gang yesterday. We had tea at Draco's with Pansy, Millie, and Greg."

"That's fine, dear. Though I would've liked some warning so I could've made dinner tonight special." His mother stared at him. Then at her. "Sometimes he doesn't let us celebrate things. You have to teach him better, Hedda."

She giggled. "Sometimes you just need the quiet happiness, then the louder comes later. It makes you appreciate it."

Vincent's mother sighed in pleasure. "I can see that and it's a beautiful sentiment. You do want to start your marriage with just the husband there. That's why you have a honeymoon. We went to Baden for ours." She smiled at her husband.

"I had to run an errand for my father and came back to find some lout trying to flirt with you beside the pool," his father said, sitting down. "It made me jealous for the first time."

"You handled it well, even though you did scare him off, dear." She looked at Hedda again. "Are you two planning a regular honeymoon?"

"Next month we're taking a week at the family's beach house so my grandmother can meet him," Hedda said, staring at her then smiling. "She won't be upset. She didn't want me to find someone who'd want me just for being strong. Compared me to a field oxen."

Vincent snorted. "You're not an ox. I'm an ox." She swatted him on the arm with a smile. "I am!" He grinned. "You're a delicate forest nymph of a ancient forest. Built like a tree, with many rings and hidden things under your bark." She giggled again and swatted him again but kept blushing. He put his arm around her and smiled at his parents.

His father sighed. "You're clearly smitten and we do like Hedda, son. We'll welcome her to the family tonight at dinner. I'll tell your aunt."

"Must we?" he asked, looking concerned.

"She'll pout if we don't," his mother said.

"She calls me chubby."

Hedda stroked over his arm. "I like your muscles being padded enough to be comfortable to rest on. You give great hugs that way, Vinnie."

He blushed at that, staring at her. "My aunt's pushy."

"Hmm. So am I when I need to be. Greek women are fiery and protective of what's ours. You're now mine." He kissed her gently, making her giggle again. "Silly!"

"Yes but I'm silly about you so that's okay. Right?"

"Of course it is. I feel the same silliness about you." They snuggled together, staring at the parents.

"It looks like you found a good match," his father said with a nod. "I'm happy for you both, children. Let me go call my aunt." He went to the office to floo her.

His mother sniffled a few times then hugged Hedda. "We'll work on redecorating his room this week for you two, dear. Right now it's very plain." She wiped a cheek off. "Oh, I've got to tell the girls before Narcissa does!" She went to call around to tell them the great news that her son had found a wonderful young woman to marry, without their permission but she was wonderful to him.

She arranged a tea for them to meet the new wife of the circle in a few days. Then told Hedda, who agreed it'd be fine. Though she wasn't any good at flowers and plants so to please not make her garden. Vincent's mother cooed at that and told her she wouldn't have to. Theirs was easily cared for by the house elves.

***

Library and Me faced off with Xander, making him groan mentally. It had to be bad. "Master Alexander," Me started.

"What you want us to be doing with the aunties' stuffies?" Library finished. "Attic of older stuff mostly survived the fire. Plus suites of their clothes and jewels."

He stared at them. "What? How did it survive?"

"Was packed in fireproof trunks," Me said happily. "Even have things from Mistress Elsinore."

He blinked a few times. "The one that was Des's sister? Or the other one?"

"Both," Library told him. "Mostly clothesies. She not wear jewelry."

"No, her portrait didn't show she did." He leaned back in his desk chair then sighed. "I guess bring it here so I can sort it out? Some of it Tara or someone might like to inherit since I don't wear dresses myself." They nodded. "Hold on, we had a whole book of missing jewelry."

"Is with Mistress Mellie," Library said. "We's be taking it back last week. She not be a Dumass, not have Dumass jewelry. Or books."

"Or statue, which growls," Me added with a manic grin.

"Is that locked up?" They both nodded. "Okay, show me that later. Yeah, I can sort through it." They nodded, taking him to the room it was all stored in. It took up most of a guest suite full of trunks of clothes and stuff. "Shit. I nearly forgot how many aunts we had."

"Many shrunken," Library said with a point. "Newer shrunken. Older not able."

"Yeah, I can see that since that spell didn't come out until the 1850's." He looked in the top one then sighed. "Wow. Feasting gowns." He moved it to the next dress down. "This must've been Aunt Elilia. Only she wore that flowered print in all the aunts." He got into that trunk, putting things on the bed to look at. "They're in good condition. I have no idea what to do with them." He looked at them. "Did you guys want souvenirs from any of the former aunts?"

"We's already take," Me said happily, showing off his new tie.

"Okay. If there's something let me know." He got back into that first trunk then sighed. "Wow. A lot of stuff." He put those back once he came to the shoes at the bottom, looking in the top pockets. He found her jewelry box and looked, staring at the earrings. Big, twinkly earrings. He blinked then put them back and put the jewelry box aside.

"Maybe I can ask Hermione if she wants some," he decided. "Or Harry. He might like some women's clothes for some reason. Or Tara." He considered it. "She'll looked stacked in a Georgian gown." He looked at the next trunk, which probably belonged to the same woman. "I should've done this when I was younger."

"Grief happens as it does," Library said with a pat. She and Me left him to it.

Xander sighed, looking at the older clothes. He decided to call Tara, who looked at him oddly. "It's the aunt's old stuff, Tara. Not like I'll be wearing it."

"They're family heirlooms, Xander."

"No, they're clothes worn by former aunts," he said dryly. "A lot of former aunts. Since it's just Harry and me, we don't really wear aunt's dresses." He held up one to show her.

"That's pretty but fancy."

"Yeah, it was meant for a summer late afternoon tea event." He refolded it and put it back into the trunk.

"Your daughter and her family may want some."

"Tara, she's built like I am. I doubt she could wear a slyph's gown." He found that one to hold up, making her blink a few times. "Snape may've been able to wear it but he's gone."

"True," she said quietly. "I can come look but that's family heirlooms and should go to the family."

"Tara, let's be honest here. I wouldn't give away a family heirloom but the aunts would appreciate someone wearing their dresses. They all passed them to each other and down the family lines." He stared at her. "Or else they would've been sewing all the time."

"Point. I can see if there's anything I want to borrow." She pushed her hair back behind her ears. He showed her the room of the trunks, making her moan. "Oh, you're just starting."

"Yes, with Aunt Elilia out of the probably fifty-seven aunts. She was into big, flashy things." He showed off her earrings. "She rarely wore anything but these."

Tara blinked again then nodded. "Those are twinkly."

"Yeah and I don't have a place to wear them," he admitted. "I'm probably going to end up giving a lot of it away or selling it to someone like Madam Malkin to remake."

She nodded. "I can see that. I'll be up tomorrow with the foal to help me."

"Okay. Not like I'm not used to it." She grinned and hung up, going to think about all that.

Xander ran into one of the ones with the odder names. "Ah, Victorian names," he said happily. "Auntie Toilette." He shook his head. "Her trunk probably has perfumes. She always had some on from the stories." Sure enough, he found a whole lot of perfumes in boxes, mostly still sealed with wax.

He put all those aside in another area. That way it didn't get on the clothes to make anyone sneeze. He found more in her shoe compartment and added them then looked at the rest. A few things had holes and her shoes were worn out so he probably couldn't sell those. He settled in to make notes on what came from where and which aunt. And in one case an uncle. He had liked petticoats; stole them often from the dancers he had seduced.

***

Xander walked around in circles in his office, muttering about a few aunts. His grandmother appeared, staring at him. "Why in the hell did we keep Aunt Orange Blossom?"

She blinked a few times. "She's a distant cousin who married in?" she said, thinking about it. "I barely remember the woman. What's happened?" He showed her. "Oh, that's nasty. Is that mummy parts?"

"Yeah," he said dryly, nodding. "It is. And they're cursed. Probably from the first day. Was she one of the ones that ground up mummies to drink with their tea supposedly to prolong their lives?"

"I don't really remember her, grandson. How are you going to handle that?"

"I'm going to go to the museum. As I should." He sighed. "And then we have Uncle Petticoat thief." He held up something. She giggled. "It's not funny. It's a royal heirloom, Grandmother. Why didn't anyone else go through all those trunks?"

"Because we didn't want to feel like you do right now," she quipped then faded out.

He glared. "Fine." He tipped his head back then looked around. "Hey, Library?" She appeared. "Do we have a house elf at the Palace?" he asked her.

She nodded. "Two, sir. They keep track of magical things for them. Why?" He held up the jewel. "Oh. Pretty."

"Not ours. The uncle that used to steal petticoats got it from someone else."

"I will tell house elf to contact you?" she guessed.

"Please." He grinned and nodded. "Just give me a day to see where it came from." She nodded, going to tell that house elf that.

***

Xander was dressed reasonably well and muggle, looking at the agent that walked into Dumass Glenn's study. He smiled and waved. "Hey."

"You're a Dumass?"

"I'm the head Dumass. I'm Xander." He stood up to hold out a hand. "Head of the family Dumass." The agent shook it. Xander sat down and put things in front of him. "We've been going over the stuff that survived the fire from the aunts, mostly the old clothes in the attic sort of things. Unfortunately one of the uncles was dating one of George the Third's bastard grandsons and stole from him." He opened the box. "I know I've seen it in a portrait in the US schoolbooks."

"You probably have," he agreed, looking it over. "Oh, that's real."

"Yeah. We're cursebreakers," he said with a grin. "It's not magical in the least though. But I was taught gem identification thanks to my training. That's really stones and a huge ruby that's probably Indian in nature by the color. The maker's mark is from a company that went out of business in the late seventeen hundreds.

"So it was an heirloom before he apparently took it off his lover. Though his diary later said he won it in a poker and blow job game. Which made his lover pout apparently as that was his mother's dowry for having him."

The agent put it back into the box. "Any others?"

"Yes. Unfortunately thanks to the same uncle mostly." He pulled a bigger box up to put in front of him. "Different lover, this one a royal mistress he liked to steal the petticoats from. He thought they were pretty," he said at the odd look. "He didn't crossdress but loved petticoats."

"Oh. Interesting uncle."

"I'm sure he was." He pulled up another smaller box to put on top with a grin. "And I believe that's an heirloom as well as it's a signet ring."

He opened it and winced. "Yes, that's the cypher for the Duke of Kent, Victoria's father by the age of it. Any idea..."

"His mistress had it and it was in a petticoat pocket. She left him the petticoats when she died," Xander said blandly. "It was apparently wrapped around a cockring." He pointed at that in the bigger box. "I can only imagine why."

"I don't want to imagine why," he quipped. "I can bring those back with your regards."

"Please." He grinned and nodded. "I don't want to deal with those. Or the other heirloom jewelry we have to now have appraised. I don't want someone to find out that we somehow stole or won those."

"That I can fully understand. I'll bring them back to our jewelry people. Anything else so disturbing?"

"One of the married in aunts was apparently a mummy collector. I found mummy parts." The agent winced. "Back then they considered them able to prolong your life. I've called someone in a museum to come pick them up." He snapped his fingers. "By the way, has the tunnel under the Tower been sealed? I mean the magical one." He handed over that envelope. "They wanted to free a political prisoner, which was Uncle Petticoat thief. It's not a bad plan."

The agent looked at it and giggled. "I hope so."

"Probably a good idea even though it's made by magic. There's some thieves who can use magic."

"I've heard." He straightened up, tucking that into a box. "Who else are you?"

"Xander Harris, from Sunnydale." He grinned. "Helper to the Slayer Buffy." The agent stared at him. He grinned and wiggled his fingers. "Yeah, I know the Council still hates me. Yay. The girls deserve better."

"They do." He nodded. "I'll hand this over for you. Anything else good?"

"Ancient plans for carriage weapons?" He held them up.

"No, we don't have a real Q to make them. Thank you for doing your duty, Mr. Harris." He nodded and left with that stuff. The higher ups were going to be amused.

"Tell them I apologize for that uncle."

"I can do that." He passed by the museum person waiting. "He's in the office." He pointed.

The museum person walked in and stared. "You've deaged somehow, Alexander."

He grinned. "Not my doing."

"Point. What were you doing now?"

"Well, we went through the stored auntie stuff from the attic before the fire." He waved him to a box in the corner. "Mummy parts." The museum person moaned but went to look. "You'll want to sit. I did decurse them for you. The box underneath is a problem though."

The specialist sat down to look through that box then the second underneath it. "Oh, bloody hell!" He looked at him. "That's a..."

"Yeah, that's an ancient heir stone. Engraved with prayers to Ptolemy. No note of which one." He got up to come over. "It is charged." He sat down across from him. "The third one will make you happier with humanity though. It's from the war."

"Which war?" He looked then stared at the engravings. "Which Egyptian deity is that?" He looked at him. Xander handed over a copy of the scroll he had made for Draco. "Oh, hell!" He looked at him. "I know you're an American now."

"Yeah, I heard rumors from the underground. All the house elves know."

"Charming!"

"And that's from them. Not from our people. It's in their language not one of ours." He grinned. "And underneath that is the piece of their weapon that was in the same trunk. It was dug up by Aunt Allisandra way back when but we've been protecting that secret since one of our ancestors was one of the ones that drove them off."

"I can slip that to them if they want it, Alex." He looked at the heir stone again. "Can it work?"

"Yeah, it reads me as a very distant offshoot, which is probably true for about forty of every hundred people."

The museum specialist nodded at that, just the once. "Okay. We can figure that out. Not going to the bank with it?"

"We're still mad at each other." He grinned. "Oh!" He snapped and got up to get something, holding it out. "Is that Georgian or earlier?"

He looked. "Earlier by that jeweling style. Probably done by an apprentice." He handed it back. "Aunt things?"

"No, the same uncle I had to see the agent about to hand back a few royal heirlooms to," he said dryly. "He liked to steal petticoats from his dancer girlfriends and his boyfriend who was a bastard offspring of George the Third."

"Oh, crap."

"Just a few things though." He grinned. "All older at least."

"True. Anything newer? We had a break-in recently."

"According to the underground you had a break out recently. Those damn canopic jars."

"Shite," he muttered. "So we'll have to talk to them."

"Yup. Tell them to tell me if they ever find evidence of the line's grandfather? That scroll has a few place names that aren't down here that I know of."

"I can do that." He shook his hand and carried the boxes out to his practical little car to take back to the museum. He gathered the other magical that worked there, and the members of the Council that worked there. "Harris, or Dumass actually. He's been going through stuff stored by his former aunts in the attic. He found a few things thanks to an uncle dating, and then some things for us." He put down the first box of mummy parts.

"Not unheard of. They'd grind up mummies," the nearest one said, looking in there. "Mostly limbs were severed. We may be able to match cut marks." The second box got put down. They all stared at the small stone plinth. "That's magical," that Council person said.

"It's an heir stone," one of the magicals said. He leaned over to look at it. "Marked to Ptolemy?"

"Yes. And it works. He said he reads at about the same level as forty out of every hundred or so would, a very distant relative." They groaned. He grinned. "Then he gave me something for that weird little project we've heard rumors about." He put the scroll in front of the Council people. They took it to read and moaned. "Do we know about that battle?"

"It was a full on war," the head of the group admitted, looking at him. "We know it happened but not why or where or how. What's that other language?"

"Cursebreakers call it Thrist. It's theirs, as in the ones that invaded apparently." He pointed. "That's also theirs, the stone's a carving about it and the pieces are from a weapon."

"Can I copy this?" the head of the Council group asked. "For our library?"

"Yes and you can ask Dumass yourself if he has more on it in his family's library. Apparently one of his ancestors was there."

"Do we know where he is?"

"Xander Harris? Yes, we do," one of the magicals said happily. "He's at Dumass Castle or sometimes at Dumass Glenn with the one wandless witch he apparently adopted named Maclay?"

"Rosenburg's girlfriend," he said flatly. "Oh, that's interesting. Huh. And he's Harris? Xander Harris?" That one nodded. "You're sure?"

"Yes. He introduced himself to help his cousin Potter with the Ministry causing issues."

"Ah." He nodded once. "It figures that Harris isn't an anomaly from Sunnydale."

"No, he's deaged," the museum person quipped. "I remember when he was a snotty asshole of a cursebreaker when I was a student." He grinned. "That man drove me nuts. But he did protect the magicals by denaturing some of the artifacts we found. He found whole tombs by tripping into one drunk one night."

"That figures with Harris," another Council member complained quietly. "So he's really a Dumass? Like Destina? We have her portrait."

"Yes, he's her grandson."

"Oh." They shared a look then nodded. "Then we won't want to bother him. She had some sort of curse on us."

The cursebreaker trained one on the team giggled. "Ya think?" They glared. "It's still there too. You're all marked with it. She was not a nice lady by any means." He looked at the museum person. "Anything else come of it?"

"He had to give back royal heirloom jewelry apparently from an uncle that used to steal petticoats."

"That's charming I'm sure." They got into the new things to go over and learn from them then categorize them as being hidden or not.

***

The senior on that team showed up to the Council that night, staring at the head council sitting in meeting. "Are we aware that the Yanks got to open a Gate of the Ancients?" Travers choked on that news. "I take it we're not. By the underground demon communities they've had it open now for a few years." He handed the head archivist the scroll with a grin. "Share with Rupert please. It came from the Dumass library." He sat down.

The archivist looked at it. "That's a first hand account of a battle with those dog headed...oh!" He stood up. "That's a first hand account of the battle!"

"It was a full war," he reminded him. "So that's *a* battle. By the way, I'm told house elves know about it."

"Charming!" He looked it over, nodding. "Nicely copied too." He looked at him. "Are there others?"

"I don't know. Am I going to go ask Harris-Dumass that by myself? I'd have Ripper do it."

"Yes, he'll let Rupert know if he asks," he said, sitting down again. "Oh." He stroked over it. "We only have second-hand information on that." He looked at Travers, who waved a hand. "May we?" Travers nodded, sipping his coffee. "Can we talk to the Yanks about what they've found?"

"Our person among them is confused. He thinks they're changing planets instead of realms."

Destina's portrait cleared her throat. "They are. The dog headed ones were alien, not demonic." They stared at her, some shifting to look. She smiled and nodded. "I talked to our progenitor. They came on ships first and then found portals. They came for the magic to get the skills." She smirked. "The house elves could tell them. They know to alert us if more show up. Though some won't realize why."

"So they're actually alien?" Travers demanded. She nodded. "Does your grandson know anything else?"

"Probably. He has a better poker circuit connection than you lot do. He probably ran into their people a few times. I know he's got a good hand with Thrist, which was one of their languages." She smirked again. "I need him to go tell the Ministry."

Travers nodded. "Can we have a copy of any works about this?"

She shrugged. "Ask the boy yourself. Well, not *you* but Rupert may be able to ask him or Wesley."

"I'll have them ask," he said, then looked at the others. "What else was found?"

"Mummy parts. An heir stone for a Ptolemy. Which still is active."

Travers blinked a few times. "Great." He nodded. "Being hidden?"

"That one can be shown but no one would be allowed to touch it."

"Great. Have Dumass tell us as well." That got a nod and they all sent Rupert and Wesley messages. Des told her other portrait to tell him about that.

***

Xander strolled into the Ministry, grinning at them. "Hey, guys." He held up a box. "Horrible artifact for Mysteries. Weapons and all."

The auror checking wands looked in the box then at him. "That's a weapon?" Xander pulled it out to use on a wall, making it partially explode. "Oh, that's a weapon."

"It sucks at magic to fire." He put it back into the box. "I can keep it...."

"No, please don't, Mr. Dumass." He got him a pebble to lead him to the new Mysteries department.

Xander strolled that way, heading down to where he needed to be. Not where the pebble wanted him to go. He opened that doorway and walked in, leaving the pebble rolling up the hallway like he had dropped it. He kicked the secret entry closed, looking at the people staring at him. "Howdy!" He grinned.

"You're a bad omen and you're happy," one complained flatly. "Why?"

"Well, a few things. Want an alien weapon?" He put it on the table in front of him.

The head of the Department of Mysteries walked in and stared. "That's alien?"

"Yeah. You guys may not remember why house elves are supposed to tell you if certain beings show up."

"We have one person that has to have that knowledge," the head said.

"Great. I have scrolls from then." He unhid them and handed them over. "On the war. One of my ancestors was there. The Americans have it open again too."

The department head got that person and brought him back. He was ancient. "Harris," he said with a nod.

"Still me, yup. Stuff from the library? Aunt Allisandra found those."

He read them over, grimacing. "Oh, that's why we have to beware of them coming back. Why the house elves will warn us."

"The Americans have a gateway they use. We've been other places and they've hidden battles down here." He pushed over the weapon. "One of theirs. Sucks at magic. It's miscalibrated, it should suck in other energy sources from crystals."

The department head took it to look over, then hummed. "That's nice. Why is there crystals?" Xander looked then pointed. "Oh, that's what that is. What does it do?" He fired on a coat tree in there. The person pretending to be the coat tree yelped in pain but they healed him before he died of it. "He's in trouble anyway," he decided. "That's...." He looked over the injuries. "Well, that's interesting."

"You can choose how much power you put into it. I barely put in any power."

The department head tried it on an actual wall and it melted it. That got a loud moan. "Oh." He looked at him. "Are there others?"

"Yeah, the US Air Force has some. They've been training with them if they're smart. You gotta know what your enemies' weapons can do." He leaned on the table. "I had a Dumass house elf go talk to one in the US that she met before. They know about it and are watching for more to appear. They have one that's an ally now, he changed sides. He's with their top people."

"So they're actually using the Gateway of the Ancients?" the one with the knowledge demanded.

"By what we know they have been for over five years now." Xander grinned. "Daniel Jackson is the name I hear most associated. He's an archeo. I ran into his parents way back when."

The head of the department looked at his guy. "How bad is it?"

"If they make it down here, they'll try to take over again. Can they still steal magic? Not sure what they've come up with or if they're even still interested. They had space capabilities before." He pulled out the information he had. Xander handed over the rest of those scrolls to him so he could scan them for new things. "That's Thrist."

"Which is theirs." He grinned. "Thankfully I read that shit. The Natural History had a broken canopic jar so there's still some down here. That one has a new host. And you guys probably have no way to tell the symbiot."

"No, we don't, not beyond a possession," the head of the department said. "Anything else in your family library about that?" Xander grinned, pulling something out of his pocket to put on the table. "What's that?"

"Ancestor's journal. The son of the one that fought them and disappeared. I'm pretty sure they took him with them."

"Great."

"Or he took over and went to have a temper tantrum at them at their house."

"That's even worse." He went over that one, grimacing at what he saw. "Shite and hell."

"Yup." Xander undid the clouding spell for them. "Sorry, heir locked."

"Have you found more of their stuff over your years?" the one with the knowledge asked.

"Yeah. A number of things. Including one that's in the lobby of the bank in Paris. They think it's just pretty. I shielded it so it can't go off. Or suck in."

"We need to look at that then."

"The last I knew it was on the western wall underneath the shield display."

"I can go see that tomorrow." He went back to the journal, shaking his head. "They did what?"

"A lot of what. His vision led him up here with the earliest Romans. He knew he'd need to be up here to protect those who had skills like he had." He shrugged. "That's why he also founded the Snape family line."

"Great." They got back into the book. "Can we still do that?"

"Yeah. Probably. We can figure it out if we want to." Xander leaned on the table. "I'm happy no one else did. By the way, that's one that Dumbledore stole from the family. He had a few of those scrolls in the stuff he stole."

They shared a look then went over all that stuff. "They could do things we can't," the head of the department said.

Xander nodded. "Including stuff I can't. I can probably try to figure it out but I have no idea how to really work on that." He yawned. "Cute sleep hex. Won't work though." He glared at the former coat rack, who went limp again. Then at the boss. He yawned again. "Hmm. I'll nap later." He pointed at one scroll. "That's got coordinates. They're not down here. That's not an earth based location. It's from a bigger planet."

"If we get things from them can we translate it?" the head of the department asked.

"Yeah. I can translate about eighty or eighty-two percent of their language off the top of my head. So can Philip Callahan but he can't read it. He can translate it to something else using a guide. Though the one that the college uses is *so* wrong. It's Budge. He screwed up greatly there too. He got hieroglyphs wrong too."

That got a mass of nods. "Can we talk to that military group?"

"I can't," Xander said dryly. "Can the aurors in the US? Maybe. Not sure. Want me to ask them?"

"No," the head of the department asked. "We can ask the one that had custody of Mr. Potter ourselves."

Xander grinned. "I know you guys are paranoid. Let me know how my ancestor ended up?"

"I can do that if we find out. Did anything else come out?"

"Heir stone to Ptolemy?"

"That's going to cause problems," he muttered, shaking his head.

"Using the magic tracking it leads back to Corsica. Someone there's the best fit heir."

"Not like they'll let a new pharaoh rise," the head of the department said.

"The museum person I gave that all to, including a copy of that first scroll, probably went to the Council people. I know I've been asked by the watchers I know about it. That's why I looked for the others." He grinned. "There's some freaky stuff in our library that I had never seen before. Including Cat God Sex Rites as the scroll was titled. It's a sexual sacrifice of virginity and power to Bast."

The head of the department stared, mouth open. A few others laughed. "Seriously, guys. There's some weird things in my library. Some I found, some I didn't find. Aunt Allisandra found that one. Lady Elsinore has a whole section of journals in a safe in there that I can't open. It takes a woman."

"Can we get someone like one of us to the castle?"

"I mean, I'd let Callahan take a bit of polyjuice to do it," he said, looking at him. "You guys would set off some of the hidden stuff we've found. Mostly by accident." He pulled something out of his pocket to hand over with a smirk. "By the way, that said it came from down here. As near as I can tell from what it's said it's a limiter for the Veil."

The head of the department took it to look at. "How?"

"It's part of the frame."

"Oh, dear." He nodded once. "That's interesting. Can it bring people back?"

"Not sure," Xander admitted. "I can have Harry come check to get Sirius back."

"Please don't." He put it out of the way in a cubby to be worked on. "Any other neat things?"

"Oh hell yeah." He grinned. "Do I want to spread the fungal spreading, procreating, pinching gold statues? Well, yes, I gave it to Professor Methos. He needed something fun. He's letting the students be pinched if they try to move it. It lets him know who's nosy."

"Anything else good down there?"

Xander grinned and pulled out another small box, enlarging it to put onto the table. "That you mean?" They stared at the bejeweled sword inside.

"What's that?"

"It has a proper name." He pointed at the hilt.

"Dragons Bane," he read. "In Church Latin." He looked up. "Can it kill a dragon?"

"Has protections on it to kill any dragon it gets anywhere near. Even if it's up the hall. I checked before I came in."

That got a sigh. "How did you do that?"

"Trap finding spells, dude. How do you think I do it?" He grinned. "The same way I can figure out how they make the vaults." The man slumped, staring at him. "I had to figure out how they were broken into once. That's why I solved Case 2." He grinned.

"And Justy could probably do the same if he stared at it long enough. By the way, he did survive. He and Mellie both. They're being annoyingly alive. I really need to go fix that soon. Perhaps with Lucifer's Chalice. It's...." He patted himself down. "There it is." He put it on the table with a grin. "Think he'll like it?"

"No, neither do I," the head of the department told him.

Xander blew a kiss. "I know." He picked it back up and one of the scrolls. "Let me go rub that in his face." He strolled out, apparating from in there to prove he could.

"How did he do that!" the head of the department demanded. "We can't do that!"

"Cursebreakers have to learn different types of magic," the old one told him. "Because of what's used in tombs. There's no telling what else he learned how to do from other forms of magic. Though I think that was house elf based."

"We're protected against house elves," he complained.

"We hope."

"We need to go over our wards. If something happens and we have to hold a senior level cursebreaker or that one we'll lose them if they can't show it up." He huffed.

"We can get our spell creators onto it," another one said, making notes. "Do we talk to the Americans?"

"Yes. Today. I need to talk to my counterpart out there." He walked off to do that, taking the scroll with him. That way he could prove that gateway was a problem. The others got to work on what they needed to pass around in information.

***

The head of the Department of Mysteries looked at the staring Ministers. It wasn't all of them, but the important ones that needed to know. "Thanks to Dumass cleaning up a bit of his family's library, we've found out that an ancient menace has been reactivated."

"Are we going to be invaded by some higher being?" Amelia Bones asked, leaning back in her chair behind her desk.

He grinned. "You wish." She slumped. He put up the report he had started. "Because I know there's bugs in here that go to the Prophet and some other Ministers not attending." They read it and a few scoffed. He got the house elf he had waiting in. He pointed. "Is that right by what you guys remember?"

She looked then nodded, looking at him. "Yes. We's know there's one in the the American Military. He changed. Shiny Forehead Man." She looked at Amelia, smiling at her. "They be very good so far. Miette say they win and hide things."

"How did you ask them?" Amelia asked her.

"What one knows wes all know. Important things."

She nodded. "So that's really what happened?"

She nodded. "Few left with them to fight the bad dog men back. Lost." She blinked at her master then at the Department of Mysteries head. "They come here?"

"No. We hope not. We need to know what they know and if we can put one of ours over there to help make sure they don't come for us again."

She grinned. "Miette say Grumpy Jell-o Woman blew up sunsies to stop that."

"Son, like a child?" he asked.

She shook her head. "No. Sunsies." She pointed up. Amelia sucked in a breath at that. "They not come now."

"That's great. Can you get us the name of someone to talk to about what we know versus what they know? And maybe to get an auror out there with them?"

"Will ask Miette." She disappeared. She came back a minute later. "Grumpy Jell-o Woman and Space Monkey Man be in DC with General Jacksies soon."

"I can figure that out," he said. "Are there other places that have information on this stored?"

She shrugged. "House elves do not do that." She disappeared.

"Thank you," Amelia called. She looked at him. "So they really...."

"One was a Dumass ancestor." He grinned, handing over the original scroll. "They fought dirty and won. That's where we get Thrist from as well."

"I've heard of the language." She read it over, then groaned. "They ...how did they do that?"

"No idea. Dumass found a weapon of theirs that should run on crystals with energy and instead was modified to run on magic."

"That figures," she muttered, tossing it down. "So we need to talk to the Yanks, again, and see where we can *help*? Before we're all surrounded by people wearing dog armor?"

"Yes. Apparently. Or we're all having to rely on cursebreakers to save us."

She blinked a few times. "We don't need that sort of chaos in the world." He grinned. "Anything else come of this?"

"I can pick the next one who kept track of that information sooner. By tradition we had one person who was alerted to many bigger problems that we may not handle anymore. He taught a lot of us today about all that stuff."

"Do I need to know about other ones?"

"I hope not. I don't want to know about them." She sighed but nodded. "But we do need to know what they know to protect ourselves and the American Magical community. I doubt they know."

"Probably at the higher levels but maybe not at the lower," she said. "That's probably highly classified."

"Probably."

"Okay, so we need to talk to the American aurors. We need to see what they've found out that we can borrow and learn from. We need to keep Dumass from learning about it before he has to help his slayer save us all." The head of the departments nodded. "Probably with Bill Weasley's help and with Potter behind him again." She looked at the others. "Which aurors could go?"

"Junior or second grade ones," Shacklebolt said. "They're unmarried. This sounds dangerous and long term."

"I like that idea," she agreed. "How do we figure out who she meant?"

"I talk to the auror that had custody of Potter." He grinned. "He brings it to a higher up probably."

"Probably a good idea. Are there other stores of information you think?"

"There's libraries that old."

"Point."

"The cursebreakers probably found some in some things they had to rescue. Dumass said one's in the bank in Paris, being pretty now. The one who went to look at it got stonewalled by the bankers."

She grimaced. "We can politely ask them about it too. They do keep long histories as well."

"True."

"Let's do that first then talk to the Americans? Or set up to talk to the Americans?"

"I can do that. My counterpart over there is an idiot but not that bad."

"Have fun with him. I know mine over there is an asshole. Pompous git and all."

"Hmm. Maybe their next election will help with that." He looked at the others. "If they show up here, we'll need to know and have to make plans."

The others nodded, putting out what their people could do to help. They could at least hold the world steady for now.

***

Xander waved at the auror he called. "The UK Ministry is going to be calling your people," he said quietly. He held up something with a grin. "I know it's above your pay grade."

"It looks like it might be classified, yes. How did you know?"

"I found it in a tomb. Plus some old family journals. And the house elves."

"House elves?"

"Yeah, they have group memories of the battles."

"Shit. Okay, I'll keep an ear out for them to call me. How's Harry doing?" He moved to show him napping on a couch. "That's great. Your team's having a bad week."

"I was back there last night." He winked. "Thanks, man." He hung up. He could leave this in other hands. Hopefully. Though he did send Emilia a message. They hadn't noted if veelas could affect those sort. It might help if they made it to Vegas.

***

Brad the auror went to talk to his boss. "I've gotten a heads up that the UK is going to be calling about something important but historical. They're going to want to talk to a senior higher up probably."

"I can pass them up immediately by calling mirror. How bad?"

"What Dumass held looked like it's classified. He found some family journals."

"Oh, that sort." He nodded. "Okay. We can help."

"Thanks." He went to get some coffee and back to his desk to get back to work. That was not his stress to deal with.

The higher up sent his bosses a message. They could probably sidestep the weird call by calling first.

***

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