Chapter 6

He'd been out of his mind to think that it might not be too horrible after all to be stranded in the Muggle world.

A week in the Muggle World and Draco was about to lose his mind. He had learned some things, admittedly. Things he could have happily lived his entire life without knowing. Things he would have dearly loved to have lived his life without knowing, if it hadn't been for Voldemort.

Wal-Mart was a cesspool. The clothing was of poor quality and most of the children there needed to be at the very least muzzled and kept on leashes, if not home in a kennel, rather than being let loose on the unsuspecting public.

The Muggle World was crowded, noisy and garish. Crass, crude and only just bearable due to the fact that he was on the Council's property. He still had his wand. A fact that might have been in debate in Britain at least temporarily due to some Dark Creature Ordinances that Fudge had managed to get through before he was ousted. (Potter was fighting those because of his precious Lupin, and with The Golden Boy of Gryffindor fighting those they'd likely get overturned.)

Somehow, he bet Granger played a strong part in his being sentenced to exile. Oh it was prettied up under the Witness Protection agreement with the Council. Granger had never gotten why he'd done what he'd done, though, and this was probably her revenge for his continued belief in pureblood superiority. His father had sworn he wouldn't have to take the Dark Mark, not because Lucius didn't believe in Purebloods being better than Mudbloods but because Voldemort had been a Mudblood and a madman who would have brought the Wizarding World to the ground. His Aunt Bellatrix had convinced his mother that Draco taking the Mark was the best thing possible. It really hadn't taken much convincing; his mother was a Black after all. He hadn't had a way out.

He was a Slytherin; he survived. The Malfoy fortunes were almost entirely intact other than the pittance the Ministry managed to get a hold of. The Ministry hadn't even thought to try to find any of the 'dummy' identities various Malfoys had set up over the centuries as contingency plans. He didn't think they'd considered the fact that such accounts might exist. The fools the Ministry employed were also too scared of the wards at Malfoy manner to have been thorough enough to come anywhere near the vaults there. A few could have, if they'd tired. Shacklebolt certainly, perhaps even Cousin Nymphadora. Nymphadora and Shacklebolt were known to be loyal to Dumbledore, though, and because of that had not sent to search for evidence on one of Dumbledore's spies actually being a criminal.

While the constant presence of strange Muggle things was grating, he knew he couldn't complain too much. He had a position of respect and power, and had done nothing for it. He was still a bit shocked by that. While Acting Deputy Director of the North American Watchers Council was certainly not a position a Malfoy would strive for, it was certainly far more than an exiled werewolf could have any right to hope for.

He half wanted to rail at Xander for being such a trusting fool and he couldn't quite reconcile he was working for a blasted Muggle. Sharing a house with a Muggle. A Muggle that called him Drake most of the time.

He also couldn't quite fathom that Muggle residents of the Council Headquarters were growing on him. Somehow, they were less grating than the Muggleborns that infiltrated the wizarding world. Xander, who was as Muggle as they came, not a bit of magic to him, had more...well... respect might be the wrong word. Acceptance, perhaps? Yes, that would do. Xander had more acceptance of the Wizarding World than the blasted Muggleborns that entered it. Especially ones like Granger who waltzed into Hogwarts thinking she knew better than everyone, thinking of so many ways that the Wizarding world should change so it would suit her blasted Muggle sensibilities.

The Wiccas weren't purely Muggle; theirs was a different kind of talent, and a dangerous one. They didn't have magical ability of their own per se, not like a Witch or Wizard did. Not even this Willow that Xander constantly referred to. They had an ability to sense the energies of nature and tap into those. There were varying degrees of ability in that, and of course degrees of knowledge and skill. The more one practiced the easier it was.

Kelly probably had more natural ability than Willow. Dark Magics used by their kind of magic user did things--made irrevocable connections that often came at too high a price. That this Willow had managed to 'recover' from Dark Magic addiction, control it, said a lot for her strength of will. That the enormous amount of power she now wielded started growing after she started dabbling with the Darker Arts said that while she might have been a powerful natural magic wielder, she owed the bulk of her abilities to the warped connections made by Dark Magic, unlike the young male Wicca Kelly.

The Slayers were Muggles. Well, they were mythological creatures most hadn't thought even truly existed until after the 'Potentials Activation' (as Xander called it) and the incident where three Slayers had been kissed by Dementors. The Slayer that had been the daughter of a muggle and a squib had been the only known Slayer to have a magical heritage of any sort. The Slayers who lived on the Council Compound were less annoying than they could be and generally tended to be hanging out, giggling, eating or sleeping when not training, patrolling or studying.

The elderly pair that puttered around in the library were barely noticed by Draco. Then again, they also didn't often come out of their library. The two remaining aurors weren't bad Draco supposed.

"Brooding, Drake?"

Draco startled slightly taking his eyes from the television he'd been staring at but not watching. "Is that a problem?" Draco snapped.

"Ooookay, someone is snippy tonight. I was just going to tell you Giles called. He worked it out that you will get imported Wolfsbane. Here to get Wolfsbane you have to be a registered werewolf. Including having your picture up in a registry. Not good for you just yet. "

"A registry?"

Xander shook his head "Why I don't know since the morons don't do anything about Muggle weres of any type. But you can't go in the registry. We'd have everyone and their dog that wants to kill you beating on the door if you were on it. None of the Wizarding Councils can do a damn thing about what goes on on Council property though. We deal with too many magical books and artifacts that we need now not after fifteen years of red tape. Dumbledore and Giles got it worked some guy is going to brew the potion and portkey over with it. Starting tomorrow afternoon. If somehow it ever happens we can't get the Wolfsbane or you miss a dose, we've got a decent sized steel cage in the basement of the admin building and tranquilizer guns."

"A tranquilizer will wear off," Draco said tightly. Idiot Muggle...

"And whoever's watchin' ya, probably me, will tranq you again so you don't hurt yourself. Same as we used to do for Oz back in high school."

"You--you knew a werewolf in high school?" Draco stared.

"I grew up on the Sunnydale Hellmouth." Xander said wryly, "I got stuck with Spike, formally known as William the Bloody, for a roommate more than once."

"I could brew the Wolfsbane myself," Draco said ignoring the incomprehensible fact that anyone would be insane enough to room with a vampire, let alone that particular vampire.

"Huh...well, too late this month but if you want to that's fine. Think Yolanda and Freddie would get the right stuff for it?"

Draco sighed. He couldn't go into wizarding areas in America, at least not yet. He had too many enemies to chance going alone and there was no one he could take with him that would be helpful if he was attacked. "The correct ingredients? Yes, in that it is the actual item written on the list. The necessary quality of ingredient? Doubtful."

"Huh, well maybe next month we can just get the ingredients shipped over by Giles."

A potions lab would be useful. He ventured to say as much. And it would be useful to securing his own place here. He did like making potions well enough, his grades had been earned fairly in his godfather's classroom despite what Potter might think, though Draco would willingly admit the only reason Crabbe and Goyle passed was because they were his toadies. At least here, he could use his magic even if he did have to put up with Muggle things.

Xander nodded."Yeah it would, but one thing at a time. I want a workshop and the proper tools, like a lathe and drill press. I could make a good bunch of our stakes and crossbow bolts. In fact, I'd rather be making those and restoring the rest of the buildings than running things. Did the girls drive you nuts today?"

Draco shook his head. "I fixed the pipe in the second floor bath while I was over there. Transfigured the white bit to brass and it's all nicely seamless and not leaking."

"Cool. Thanks a bunch for dealing with them today, Drake. You didn't have to magic up the Dorm."

"Yes, I did, if only to shut them up," Draco snorted. The fact that the Compound was now back in the black financially had spread like wild fire. Various "Slayer Houses" scattered about had been calling demanding money for this and that. The Slayers that lived on the compound itself had been clamoring about their promised housing renovations.

The Slayers had been annoying. They chattered and whinged constantly. Still, their dormitory was now nearly palatial due to his hours of boredom spent supervising the decorators his mother hired every few months to change this room or that. His father hadn't trusted they weren't ministry spies or some rot so Draco had hours upon hours of watching transfiguration spells that changed upholstery, carpets and paints. After seeing them countless times it was not a problem to do the spellwork himself, in fact it was tediously simple. The slayers oohed and ahhhed and changed their twittish little minds about a dozen times just to see the "cool spell" again. Hopefully their newly remodeled and redecorated dormitory would keep them quiet for a few days.

Xander laughed. "And the new swings, slide and teetertotter by Faith's?"

Draco glared. "The little twerp said I couldn't make anything like that."

"Sure, Drake, sure," Xander smirked.

Draco snorted. RJ had said that, after falling about laughing when Draco hadn't known how to operate the DVD player. He'd somehow gotten roped into keeping an eye on Faith's children for a little while the night before thanks to a demon the younger Slayers weren't sure they could deal with on their own.