Within the Apple Chapter 14A

Chapter 14

Hebert Home

Xander settled back and watched As Taylor Work her way through the first set of lessons he had set for her. He knew he was going to have to play it a little bit by ear when it came to the Lesson plan, since a full Hogwarts course load was not in the cards. Given the state of Brockton Bay as a city, he was going to start her off With a bit more of a tactical introduction.

So he put stunners right near the top, despite their being set later in the Hogwarts curriculum. He didn’t think it would be a problem for her, as Taylor’s magic level was clearly well into the top tiers just based on what he was seeing, plus she was a bit older than your normal starting student at Hogwarts.

Her magic potential should be more developed in some ways, but likely less in others.

For the moment, however, he had her casting reparo on basically everything broken in the house, which was leaving Danny in shock as his daughter became what was, in effect, the world’s greatest handyman in just a few moments of study.

Quite honestly, Xander found the look on Danny’s face the most hilarious part of the whole situation.

Hogwarts teachers should conduct some practical lessons in the presence of non-magiocals,He thought with that deep amusement, Magicals would never be able to take magic for granted ever again after seeing that.

She was a quick study too, he found, and possibly more importantly she knew how to learn.

This was a skill that many of the most brilliant people he’d known in his life never quite managed to acquire. Potter, for all his power and skill, actually had no real compacity for learning. New ideas had to be beat into his head until they finally penetrated… granted, once they did, he took to them and mastered them in ways that whoever originated them likely couldn’t even dream of achieving, but it left Harry with a very small quiver of arrows that he knew intimately well.

For Harry, it made him a true master of what he knew… but a shockingly limited Wizard in many other senses, with huge holes in his knowledge.

Hermione and himself were two of the few people who could consistently beat Harry in duels, all due to two main factors. First, Harry was incredibly reluctant to go all out against either of them, and second… both Xander and Hermione had made a point of learning how to learn. They both were autodidacts, and could overwhelm Harry with such a variety of unexpected attacks that he lost to attrition despite having more power and endurance overall.

Taylor knew how to learn, and the moment Xander had passed her his spellphone and showed her how to connect to the database of spellbooks, had taken to them like Willow or Hermione, soaking up knowledge like a sponge that had been left in the sahara for a year and was only now exposed once more to water.

That could be a problem, Xander made a silent note for himself there.

Knowledge sponges and magic were a potentially volatile combination, he knew that too well.

In Sunnydale, he’d never have given her access to the books freely like that. That close to the hellmouth, there was basically no chance that she wouldn’t get corrupted by the pervasive influence of the demonic. Here, as dark as Brockton was, there was no hint of the demonic at least, so it should be relatively safe to let her push her way through the books at her own pace.

He wouldn’t leave the Spellphone with her unsupervised, however, or give her her own until she was further along.

No sense temping the Gods, given how whatever ones were overseeing this realm clearly had to be fucking insane.

“How long before you intend to bring her out?” Danny asked him quietly as they watched Taylor working on the Leviosa spell.

“I’m not sure, but there are some things to do before we get to that point anyway,” Xander answered. “Given your local cape culture, she’ll need a costume I suppose. I should be able to dig up some combat robes.”

“Robes?” Danny looked at him askance, “I was hoping for some armor.”

Xander chuckled, “Combat robes are heavily armored, with both magic and physical armor. I don’t have any Dragonskin or the like, but I picked up some items from other universes that I should be able to rig into something fitting and durable.”

“What about what you used against Hookwolf? Those seemed tough?”

Xander just shook his head, “Mostly just some slightly upcharmed mundane gear. Lightweight, more intended for comfort than fighting. I’ll make her some for everyday use, but when she’s going to be in a fight, we’ll want her more protected.”

“Can’t disagree with that,” Danny admitted.

“I need a name too,” Taylor called from where she was levitating a schoolbook, showing that she’d been listening.

“You can pick a name when you earn your journeyman rating,” Xander countered, “and not until. Back to work, don’t get distracted.”

She pouted, but got back to the spells with a happy look on her face.

Danny sighed.

“What’s wrong?”

“I haven’t seen her that happy in a long time,” Danny admitted. “Since before her mother passed. I… I think I fucked up.”

“We all do,” Xander said with a shake of his head, “Remind me to tell you, another time, about when I walked into the International Council of Wizards… basically our top governing body, and told them all off to their face before… well, suffice to say, I kicked off quite a spat.”

“Spat?” Danny choked, “I can’t imagine the Secret Service would deal lightly with anyone who did that to the President.”

Xander laughed, “I took them all out before I even started. The two strongest wizards on the planet were members of the council when I threw down the gauntlet…”

He sighed sadly, “One of them was one of my best friends. We fought together in the war, along with other friends. Our enemies knew us as the Horsemen. He was Death, I was War. That day, we found ourselves on opposite sides. My… rage… made me put him in a position where he had to choose between his family or me. I knew he’d choose them, of course, but it still hurt.”

Danny stared at him nervously, “Not meaning any offense, but it sounds like you started a war with your county’s government.”

“Oh no. I started a war with my world’s government.” Xander said grimly. “I told them, if they wanted a Dark Lord so badly… I’d give them one.”

He was about to say something more, but he was interrupted by sirens suddenly going off outside, as well as the TV abruptly shifting to an emergency announcement.

“Oh God,” Danny said bleakly as Taylor let her book fall and stared at the TV.

“What is it?” Xander asked intently.

“Endbringer,” Taylor answered bleakly. “They’ll tell us where and which one shortly…”

The sirens outside faded a moment later, causing Danny to sigh in relief while looking guilty for doing so.

“Not here,” He said. “Thank God.”

Xander silently watched the TV, until a talking head appeared and started filling people in on the limited information currently available.

“The Simurg,” Danny said, paling.

Xander had read about that one, about all of them, but the Simurg was known as a mind twister. He nodded and got to his feet.

“Guess I get to test my shields against that bitch,” He said as he got his wand out.

“I’m coming with you!” Taylor jumped up.

“You are not,” Both Danny and Xander snapped, causing her to fall back into the chair.

“You’re my daughter, and I’m not letting you go anywhere near that bitch,” Danny snapped.

“And you’re my apprentice, and you’re not going into any fights until I say so… let alone with a city destroyer,” Xander said firmly as he snapped his wand out and shifted his gear to what he preferred for heavy fighting. “Now, where do I go to meet up with the others going?”

“Protectorate Headquarters here in the City is the meeting point,” Danny said as Taylor pouted.

Xander nodded, flicking his wand to summon the Spellphone, “Very well. I’ll see you when I get back. Taylor, keep practicing. Danny… Make sure she doesn’t knock the house down… or, at least make sure she puts it back up after.”

Danny’s panicked expression made him laugh as he headed for the door, quickly casting noticemenots and muggle repelling wards before opening the door.

Then he was gone, lifting off into the skies and vectoring toward the Protectorate building.

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