Disclaimer: I do not own BtVS or Harry Potter nor their associated properties and spin offs.

"What?" Xander asked, not sure if he'd heard her correctly.

"I said, I'm Sandra Tarnhelm from the American Ministry of Magic, Mr. Harris. I'm here regarding a custody hearing for your 13 year old cousin," the young woman in the black dress repeated.

"There are several things wrong with that statement," Xander replied. "Want to guess what they are?"

The woman groaned. "You have no idea what I'm talking about, do you?"

"Not a one," Xander said, waving for her to enter his motel room.

"You don't know anything about magic?" Sandra asked.

"Magic is about the only thing you've mentioned that I do have knowledge of," he admitted.

"You know of magic but not the Wizarding World?" she asked, confused.

"Exactly," he replied. "Most of my experience comes from stopping rogue magic users, like Mayor Wilkins who tried to ascend into a pure blood demon just last week."

"What?!" she exclaimed in horror.

"Not important," Xander said waving it off. "He's dead"

"Could you provide evidence of that?" Sandra asked hopefully.

"What kind of evidence?" Xander asked.

"A copy of your memories would be best, but a sworn oath would be acceptable," Sandra offered.

"How do you copy memories?" Xander asked curiously.

"I place my wand at your temple, you visualize the memory you wish for me to extract, and I simply pull wand away with a copy of your memory strand attached," she explained. "A magical item called a pensieve is used to view the memory at a later date."

"You just want the final battle where he turned into a snake demon, right?" Xander asked.

"And his death," she agreed.

Xander closed his eyes as she placed the wand against his temple and after giving him a couple of seconds to focus, pulled the wand away with what looked to be a strand of quicksilver attached that she quickly deposited into a crystal vial.

"That felt a little freaky," Xander said shaking his head.

"Yes, it does," she agreed. "But back to my original purpose. I am here because your 13 year old cousin is the subject of a custody hearing and the American Ministry of Magic would really prefer if you won."

"I'm hardly the best person to raise a 13 year old boy," Xander said, "I'm barely an adult myself."

"The other party involved does not have your cousin's best interests at heart," Sandra told him, "they aim to see him dead for their own purposes."

"Tell me more," Xander ordered.

"Well it all started a little over a decade ago..."

Several hours later

"That is majorly fucked up," Xander said, once she'd finished briefing him, "but I lack the home, hearth, and cash to raise a teen."

"The Ministry is willing to provide funds and pull strings to insure that that is taken care of well in advance, Mr. Harris."

"Call me Xander," he told her. "Now you've told me a lot, but not what the American Ministry's interest in all of this is."

"That's easy enough to answer," she replied. "We have several prophecies that place your cousin against one of the many Dark Lords England produces, and we'd like him to win. While we don't have the same separation of magical from non-magical people that they do, we would like to avoid the witch hunts that a war between the two would spark."

"Enlightened self-interest," Xander said with a nod. "That I can work with."

"So, you'll do it Mr.- I mean Xander?" she asked hopefully.

"Sure," he agreed. "I'll need a house in Sunnydale and some additional resources, but I'm more than willing to take in my cousin."

"That is such a relief!" she enthused. "The hearing is in three days and you have a lot to learn to be ready in time," she explained.

American Ministry of Magic

"There was something that you wanted brought to our attention?" Hancock, the head of the foreign affairs department, asked as he entered her office.

Sandra nodded. "The memory strand I received from Xan- Mr. Harris, contains some things I think you should see, as well as a couple of anomalies," she reported.

"You don't say," the gray haired man, who looked to be in excellent condition despite his age, said with some interest.

"Yes, sir," she replied promptly.

"I believe you're working on the Potter case with Johnson?"

"Yes, sir," she agreed.

"Very well, let's see it," he said.

She gestured to the pensieve on her desk. "Already set up, sir."

The two leaned over the bowl and the world around them vanished in a swirl of silver, leaving the pair standing at Sunnydale High's Graduation Ceremony.

They watched events unfold as the Mayor transformed, the vampires attacked, and the students defended themselves. All entrancing sights on their own, but they were drawn to where Xander stood shouting out orders during the battle... and the numerous misty shadows that surrounded him. Sometimes a figure would come into focus for a moment as Xander did something, only to fade away a second later.

The memory ended and the two sat quietly in her office, digesting what they'd just watched.

"Contact the Amerind Council," Hancock ordered. "He looks like a natural Shaman."

"Did you see the shades of the dead, sir?" she asked quietly.

"There is no such thing as a natural necromancer and he's clearly untutored," Hancock said finally, after a few minutes of silence.

"Officially?" she asked cautiously.

"That's the official word," he stressed.

"And the Potter case, sir?" Sandra asked.

"He's still a damn sight better than any other option available," Hancock answered her "If anything, Harris practicing Amerind style magic would just improve matters, and it looks like he'll have to; talent like that demands to be used."

"Yes, sir. I'll continue with the adoption paperwork," she said, relieved.

Typing by: Shirinoki