Chapter 9

Xander kept a close eye on Draco for the next few days.

He tried telling himself he was just making sure the younger man was settling in well enough and wasn't over-doing too much after the transformation. He didn't quite convince himself of that though.

As the next full moon approached Xander kept even closer watch on his new roommate, telling himself he didn't want Draco to be as worn down as he had been for the last transformation. He didn't believe himself on that one either.

"You okay there, X-man?" Faith frowned.

"Huh? Yeah, just--" he made a vague waving motion toward his office.

"Yeaaah," Faith nodded.

He didn't think she believed him either. "So this everything for the lists?"

Faith nodded. "Mind if I come with? Regina said she'd watch RJ and Nik. I need out a bit."

"That's fine. Hey, Goldilocks, ready to go brave the stores for this month's major supply run?"

Draco shot him a deadly glare.

"We gotta prove we're muggle-izing you. You need more experience with the muggle world. Today you even get to use an ATM."

"Aren't I the lucky one?" Draco clipped out.

~*~*~

Xander couldn't help his grin at the first shop. The "Crossed Wands". Draco's eyes widened at the wands heavily warded and hanging behind the counter.

"Hey, Bets,"

"Well, look what the cat dragged in. Oh, Faith, good to see you, sweetie, how you been getting on?"

"Eh, I'm surviving," the dark-haired slayer shrugged.

"Those are real wands."

The retirement aged clerk raised her eyebrow.

"Drake's a Wand Wizard."

The clerk grinned. "Ah, my parents were too. Mom was from an old pureblood family. Dad was muggle born. Lost them both during Grindlewald's War. Me, I'm a squib. I can manage a bit of wicca and yer basic qwikspells that aren't all that much really, nothing to get me to Salem or New Orleans though."

"Salem School of Witchcraft and L'Ecole Magique is in New Orleans." Xander explained to Draco.

"I'm not familiar with the American schools."

"He went to Hogwarts."

"Oh I've heard of that. My gran went there. Mom's mom. Best school in the world she said."

Draco nodded.

"What brings you here?" Bets smiled.

"Long shopping list."

Bets smile widened. "Those are the best."

"Says you," Xander laughed.

"I'll take care of the list with Bets, some of it probably has to be special ordered. You two go on." Faith said.

~*~

Xander had to stifle a grin as he watched Draco wander around the room. Draco was still getting used to Wiccan style magics. Draco had tried explaining the differences rather huffily a few days earlier. Xander pretty much figured mojo was mojo, and that any difference was just a matter of details. Wizard magic still had stinky weeds and the whole eye of toad, toe of newt thing going on. Spells, rituals, do exactly this as the full moon rose, add this bit of icky reptile guts to this bunch of stinky weeds. It all seemed alike to him. Mojo was mojo, and a lot of the props were similar. Sure, source of the magic was different, but the core ingredients were the same and wand-wizards could get addicted by Dark Magics like a Wiccan could. A Wiccan couldn't do Wizard magic, but if a Wizard could be bothered they could likely learn Wiccan magic. Then again, Willow and Giles were known to get very annoyed with him for failing to see vast differences in Wiccan Magic, Demon magic, Elemental Magic rituals...all of it involved the same core aspects, just differed in the exact how they were put together.

He'd gotten an earful and then some for that and it had taken all he could do not to laugh. Draco was slowly being less agreeable and more and more snotty. At least he no longer had the flash of panic when he forgot himself and started being really--snippy. Xander took the occasional round of snippiness in stride. No sane person could keep the hours they did at the council, or deal with slayers trying to sit still to help with research without getting occasionally snide. Draco was slowly settling in his own little niche and becoming less worried about setting a foot out of line.

Xander grabbed Draco by the arm, "Let's go look at the back while no one else is here."

Draco gave him a grumpy, bewildered look but allowed himself to be tugged into a doorway he hadn't noticed before.

Xander didn't bother to stifle the grin at the look on Draco's face. The main section of Crossed Wands held "muggle" magic things, the only-see-it-if-you-know-it's-there back room had Wizard books and odds and ends that a Wiccan wasn't likely to know existed, like unicorn hair and dragon scale.

"Potion's ingredients might be scarce but if anything looks useful or just really gets your attention we'll buy it."

"If it really gets my attention?" Draco said skeptically.

"Mmm...if something really catches my eye when it comes to this type of stuff it usually ends up important somehow, some where along the line. Have no clue what most of this crap is, but sometimes stuff makes me buy it."

Draco blinked at him a second, then seemed...impressed? Well, Xander supposed that was better than being looked at as if he was out of his mind, which was exactly what had happened the one time he'd tried to explain a couple extra things he'd picked up to Willow.

"We will be coming back here--right?"

"Yeah, this is the best time of day to come. Least amount of hassle. Bets' daughter is a Wand-er like you. She might be able to get some things if it isn't here, but not very often."

Draco nodded and proceeded to go through the volumes of books.

Faith rolled her eyes at the counter when Xander began making trips to the front with stacks of books.

"Hey, we've got the money now, and expanding the research library isn't going to hurt."

"Of course, it won't," Bets smiled.

~*~

Draco eyed the books in the back of the SUV yet again as they pulled into the Home Depot. Xander smiled to himself.

"What?"

"Nothing," Xander grinned.

Draco gave him a scathing glare. "Shut it."

"Not saying nothing."

"Remind me not to go anywhere with you two again, you're enough to send a person into a diabetic coma you're so sweet." Faith grinned.

Xander gave her a confused look.

Faith laughed and shook her head. "Clueless."

"Huh?"

"Nevermind, Xan, we need wood for stakes," the dark-haired slayer chuckled as she shook her head.

Xander shrugged it off. Faith was smiling; that was something he hadn't seen in months. She was rejoining the living slowly, that's what mattered. Whether she explained what she was amused at, or not, he really didn't care, after all Faith was as odd as he was in her own way. Probably better if he hadn't even asked

~*~*~

"Where's Draco?"

"Up at the house, supposed to be resting but he's probably drooling over the books and junk we got today."

Severus stalked out of Xander's office without another word. "I'm doing good, and yourself?" Xander snorted to the empty room. He shook his head and returned to the daily attempt to crack Robin's system.

~*~*~

Severus once again waited in the living room for them. Dumbledore and Giles had worked it out so that the Potions Master would spend full moon "supervising" to make sure Draco's potion worked for six months. After that, it could be arranged for Severus' "official consultations", as part of his contract, to on the full moon if Draco still wanted him nearby.

Xander followed Draco into the bedroom for the transformation. The younger man's eyes were filled with the same dread bordering on panic that had been there the month before.

Xander reached out and awkwardly squeezed Draco's shoulder. "Be over in a minute then we can go freak Old Scowly out with Austin Powers."

Draco gave a weak smirk. Draco had been the one to make the movie choice, just to see his godfather's eyes bug. He was quite sure the humor of the movie was going to horrify Severus.

The transformation began abruptly. Xander's stomach churned as he watched it. Bad enough to suffer this due to plain old bad luck. Draco's lycanthropy had been deliberate, and Xander wanted nothing more than to tear apart the person responsible limb from limb. Whoever had hurt the man he lo--

Whoa, what the hell was he thinking? Stupid. Stupid. Stupid!

Wolf-Draco made a curious worried sound.

"Don't even think it. You didn't do anything wrong, just realized something is all." Xander assured the wolf in front of him who was looking all too apprehensive for a wolf.

Xander ignored Scowly's arch look as he and Draco settled on the couch. Wolf-Draco gave Xander a questioning glance. "Stretch out and get comfy."

Draco did just that, sprawling across the couch with his head on Xander's leg. Both man and werewolf ignored Old Scowly's intense glare. Draco made little snuff's of noise that sounded like the wolf-version of snickers at the older Wizard's reaction to the movie.

Xander didn't pay much attention. He absently ran his hand over the wolf's pale-furred head and "shoulder" his mind occupied by his earlier revelations.

He had fallen in love with Draco. When the hell had that happened? How had that happened? Goddess, he was so screwed it wasn't even funny.

He could deal with the fact he liked sex with guys. Anya...

Anya. He hadn't felt this much for anyone since Anya. His blunt, shock-you-into-heart-failure oblivious Anya. Anya who had nearly given him heart failure the first time she slipped a finger up his ass in search of his prostate while going down on him. Anya who had more than once said she'd love to watch Spike fuck Xander through the mattress. That they would be so gorgeous to watch. That had probably been her favorite fantasy, since she brought it up so much.

Xander had told her hell would freeze over first. Spike? No...in fact, hell no!

A night or three of sex with a guy he could handle. No strings, no expectations. Just sex and stress relief. He'd freaked more than a little years ago when he had trouble with the fact he liked sex with a guy but that was ancient history, at least ancient history in Scooby years. When up to your eyeballs in an apocalypse at least twice a year, who you had a "fling" (as Willow had frowningly called it) with didn't matter.

He'd never ever once imagined getting involved with a guy. Falling for a guy. Freak time. Major freakage.

A wolf-nose poked him in the stomach. Draco had shifted and was peering at Xander intensely.

Xander shoved his freak-out aside. He could freak on his own later. Not now, when he was upsetting the object of his freakage. "It's not you. It's nothing to do with you being furry. Just lay back down and relax."

Draco gave a wolf-snort of disbelief, but settled back into his previous position and gave a sigh of contentment as Xander resumed petting and scratching behind his ear.

"Merlin, I'm in hell," was heard from the recliner as Severus glanced from the two on the sofa to Fat Bastard on the television.