"So, what's the what Giles?"
To say that Xander Harris was surprised to be standing in the doorway of Rupert Giles's apartment would be an inadequate understatement. In the past year that the two had known each other, not once had Giles asked Xander or any of the Scooby Gang to come to his home. It seemed to everyone that Giles was trying to maintain at least one place in his life free of "bloody American teenagers". So you can imagine the shock Xander felt when Giles called him an hour earlier, waking him up from his usual 14 hours of sleep on a Saturday morning, and asked him to please come to his humble abode at his earliest convenience.
"Ah, yes Xander, do please come in…" Giles said, with a sort of exasperated wave towards his living room. As Xander passed him, he got the distinct impression that Giles was just as uncomfortable in the situation as he was.
His first impression of Giles place was that it was exactly like he imagined a single, older British scholarly fellow would live. It was tidy, spacious, incredibly boring (no TV!), and the amount of books just visible in the hallway entrance and living room alone made his head spin. The place was so stereotypically British, that Xander half expected Giles to offer tea and scones at any moment.
"Eh, well, while were waiting on our guest, would you like something to drink? Perhaps some tea? I just made some for myself and…now you're gaping, why are you gaping, what's wrong?"
"Nothing, nothing!" Xander replied quickly, holding his hands out in front of him, "Just got a weird case of the wiggins, that's all." After a second of convincing himself that Giles was NOT a member of Psy-corp, ala Babylon 5, Xander sat on his couch. After a few seconds, he processed the rest of what Giles said.
"Wait, who else are we waiting for?"
Since the two weeks that Buffy had kicked ferret-face's ass (His own pet name for the Master, only slightly less fun than Dead Boy in his opinion), the other two members of the Scooby gang had been M.I.A. First, Willow had left with her family and wouldn't be back until later tonight. Her parents had forced her to go on a two-week lecture circuit tour that discussed the latest techniques in psychology in regards to decreasing teenage emotional apathy. From the last letter he got, it sounded like Willow could care less about the lecture circuit, and was going insane with boredom, which in itself was deliciously ironic. Then the Buffster was adios for the summer, doing the dad-bonding thing. Oh sweet Buffy, the only love of his teenage life. Just saying the name made something stir up inside Xander. Even though his head told him that Buffy would always want Angel over him, (which was made painfully aware to him when he asked her to the dance) his heart just kept telling him otherwise, not to mention other parts of his body. He quickly shook his head and decided to stop that train of thought. Instead, concentrating on Giles and why he was here was probably the safer way to go. Suddenly, a horrible thought struck him.
"Wait, if it's about those books on Wiccans and magic, I promise that I meant to return them! You know how it is, your 16, you're helping to fight hordes of demonic creatures hell bent on destroying the world, your hormones are running crazy…and I just said that last part out loud, didn't I?" Xander was hoping that if he sank down farther into the couch, maybe he could actually disappear.
"Ah, yes well, to answer your first question, the guest in question is a woman who is a junior member of the Council, and she is currently tidying up upstairs after the, erm, long journey from England," At this point Giles ripped off his glasses and began to polish them with extreme prejudice, "and secondly, as Sunnydale High librarian, while I am dismayed that you have broken the rules and forgotten to return library books before the school term ended, I will not accost you on the subject as I now feel horribly uncomfortable". After taking a deep and steadying breath, Giles continued, "Also, I assure you that this meeting is strictly…informational."
Xander didn't have any time to comment, because of the sudden sound of shoes on the stairwell that grabbed both males attention. To Xander, the girl that suddenly appeared just screamed "teenage Watcher!" He couldn't decide if it was the glasses, or the smart, and apparently expensive tweed business suit, or maybe the fact that her hair had this extreme librarian look to it, but there was no doubt about it, she was an up and coming female Giles.
Xander stood up as she reached the bottom of the stairs and made her way towards the pair. He was very surprised to see that, along with a handshake, she was offering him a very warm smile.
"Ah yes, hello, you must be Alexander Harris. My name is Katherine Bell, but you can call me Katie," she said, while that dazzling smile never left her face.
"Well then Katie, you can call me Xander. I figure if I can get Mr. Stuffy over there to," he jabbed a thumb towards Giles, "I can get anyone," Xander finished, with as much charm and charisma as he could muster.
For her part, Katie seemed impressed. "Well Mr. Giles, I see your explanation of Xander here was dead on. He does seem to be a courageous and witty young man"
Xander turned in mock amazement towards Giles. "Wait, he actually had nice and pleasant things to say about me? You better watch it Giles, you keep warming up to me and my acerbic wit anymore, you're bound to finally understand what I mean when I talk about the Macarena."
"Yes, that would be dreadful, wouldn't it," Giles deadpanned, looking quite embarrassed. He then continued, "Anyway, I have asked Miss Bell here to assist us today because of her…ah, unique talents," he then motioned Xander towards the middle of his living room.
"Now Xander, I want you to do something for me. I promise it is very easily accomplished, and there is no danger what so ever. If my suspicions are correct, than I promise I will let you in on everything."
Now Xander was really confused. "What are you talking about? What do I have to do?"
"Just give this a wave," said Katie, stepping towards Xander, holding out a long piece of wood.
"Wait, you want me to be a conductor?" Xander asked, the confusion evident on his face.
Giles sighed loudly, pinching the bridge of his nose, while Katie looked bemused. "No, nothing like that," she said. "Go ahead, just take it and give it a wave."
Xander looked down at the piece of wood offered to him, thinking that Watchers were a lot weirder people than he originally gave them credit for. He slowly wrapped his right hand around the handle, and took it from Katie's hand.
"Now, like I said, just give it a wave."
Sighing loudly, and deciding to humor the pair, Xander flicked the wood around in what he could only hope to be considered a wave. What happened next surprised him so much that he dropped the wood in shock. As he stared open mouthed at what he thought just a second ago was a simple piece of wood, he realized that he was completely mistaken. As far as he knew, simple pieces of wood didn't shoot out red sparks from their tip. Collecting himself, he bent down and picked it up. Standing back up and looking at the two Watchers in front of him, Xander was surprised to see a smile on Katie's face, and a sort of "I knew it" look on Giles face. That's when he knew that he had been had.
"Ok, ha ha, funny joke on the unaware guy. Alright Giles, now why did you really drag me down here," he then began to examine the wood closer, "and how did you get the wood here to get all fireworky?"
However, Katie was the one that answered. "He didn't, you did." At Xander's bewildered expression, she continued. "You see that's not a simple piece of wood you're holding, it's actually a wand used for magic, and more specifically, my wand."
Xander's mouth began to open and shut like a small mouth bass. "What…how…what?"
At this point, Giles stepped in. "Xander, Miss Bell here has a very detailed knowledge of the "Magical world". I asked her to come here today to help confirm a theory that I've had for the past few weeks."
Giles continued.
"You see Xander, the magic that you are familiar with, the kind that we have used this past year, is only one form of magic. That particular magic relies heavily on the idea of incantations and er'….certain requests towards demigods in order to perform said magic. However, the magic that you just performed a few seconds ago with the wand is a much older, much more powerful type of magic. This magic does not rely on any sort of incantation. Rather, the magic comes from the caster themselves, and is much easier and less draining to use."
"Also," said Katie, "you must be born with the ability to perform this magic, like you and I, as it cannot simply be learned. I guess you can say we are some of the lucky ones, eh?" Katie beamed, obviously very proud and very excited at what had just taken place.
Xander was near speechless. In a manner of a few seconds, his life had been completely turned on its head. So with great effort, he was able to voice the question that had been on the tip of his tongue for the last few minutes.
"Huh?"
Giles gave a heavy sigh, but smiling slightly, walked up to Xander and put his hand on his shoulder.
"You see Xander, you're a wizard."