ONE IT SUITS YOU

Xander loved doing his school shopping for many reasons. Part of it was because it was the first time he got to really hang out with Diana before school started since they were so far away from each other. It didn't help that Diana had apparently spent the summer holidays in America, traveling all over the country squeezed in the back of her parents' muggle car with all of her older brothers. He was jealous and he wasn't at the same time. He also liked school shopping this year in particular because his older sister was in town. Alecks was quite the witch if Xander had ever known one -- graduating Hogwarts before disappearing off to Los Angeles to become a muggle actress. A quite good one, at that. Then, she came home five years later with a ring on her finger, an Oscar (Whatever that was, he never understood the muggle pop-culture his mother was always going on about), and a wife by her side. Given his mum quite the shock, but she got over it. This year, Alecks had insisted on having her and Josefine (Jo, for short, she always said her full name made her feel like she was eighty) take him to Diagon Alley since their mother had to work and hadn't had the chance yet.

"The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 6, Advanced Potion Making, Confronting the Faceless -- Funky -- A Guide to Advanced Transfiguration, Advanced Rune Translation, and Flesh Eating Trees of the World? What have they been teaching you guys since we left? This shit sounds weird," Alecks mused as she perused over the list of books as they entered the shop.

"This place is crazy," Jo commented as she looked around in marvel. Of course, when they got married, Alecks told her the truth about being a witch, but this was the first time she actually got to visit a magical place that wasn't the Sakai household. "You guys do this like every year? You get to come here?"

Xander nodded as he looked around the aisles for the books he needed, snatching the list back from Alecks who pouted, "Yup, this is my second to last time, though. Weird to think about, huh? Alecks, how did you feel once you started realizing you were graduating soon?"

The woman shrugged, tossing her long black hair over her shoulder, "I dunno, I wanted to get the hell out of there. No offense if you like it, magic just wasn't my thing."

"How could it not be your thing? This is awesome," the curly-haired woman remarked, grabbing her wife around the waist as they walked. "I can't believe this is your life. So sick."

Xander didn't have any problems with Jo, in fact, he thought she was cool as hell. He did think her accent was funny, though. He just couldn't believe Alecks would marry an American. "You know you have places like this in the States, too, right? I had a pen pal that goes to Ilvermorny."

"What the fuck is Ilvermorny?" Jo exclaimed as her fingers brushed over the spines of the spellbook. He wondered what it might be like to grow up without magic. It was unfathomable to him because even after his father died, his mother made sure they would always know the power they held. There were no surprises when he got his letter at eleven and there were no surprises even now. Magic twisted its way through his life the same way blood pumped through his veins.

"It's American Hogwarts, hun," Alecks explained, giving her wife a gentle kiss on the cheek. "All right, I'll go look for Confront The Faceless, come on, love."

With that, the two women ran off to the other shelves, but Xander wasn't alone for long before he heard someone clear their throat behind him.

"Look what the cat dragged in," the familiar voice of his best friend Diana hit his ears as he turned around to face the girl. The ends of her blonde hair were stained pink, but her brunette roots were showing. He remembered when Diana had somehow gotten her muggle brother to send her some bleach and toner through the owlery and they got together in the girls' bathroom after hours and took her from dark brunette to bleach blonde. Well, technically, she ended up with orange hair, but a quick transfiguration had fixed it for the time being. That must have been two years ago and she had stuck with the blonde ever since. "Hey, loser."

"Diana!" Xander exclaimed as he pulled the girl into a hug. She hated physical affection from everyone, but Xander had been the exception from that for quite some time. People always thought they were dating each other, but neither of them could fathom such a dreadful idea. "Oh, how was America? Did you get to see New York? I've always dreamed of seeing New York."

Diana scoffed, "You're not missing out on anything, it's just like London except less rainy and the stench is worse. Besides, you got to hang out with Alecks all summer, I'm so jealous. Where is she anyway?"

"Off trying to find one of my books, but I think it was just an excuse to get Jo alone in some private corner. I swear, those two are like horny teenagers, it's ridiculous," Xander scoffed as the girl slung her arm around the boy's shoulders while the two browsed the aisles. Diana stopped as she pulled out two copies of the same book, handing one to Xander and keeping one in her arms. "I like having her home, though. I'm not sure when she's leaving, but with mum getting worse, I'm sure she'll be around for a bit."

"How is your mum? I miss her, I need to visit soon. Maybe I'll convince my dad to let me come down for the winter holidays."

"She misses having you around, too," Xander commented, forcing a brief smile onto his face. Being an orphan at sixteen was not something he wanted to think about right now. Besides, she was still alive and she was getting on well enough and that's what mattered. He just didn't want to think about what could happen while he was away at school. "Ugh, let's not talk about sad things, it makes me ill, I swear."

Diana scoffed as she pulled another book off the shelves, "You're ridiculous, but I digress. I can't believe we have to go back."

"Why wouldn't we?" the tan boy asked with a small laugh as he weasled his way out of the blonde's grip to grab a book he had missed. "It's not like any of us almost died last year."

"Harry probably did," Diana laughed. She always laughed like she thought she was the funniest person in the world; it was one of the things Xander loved about her. Never afraid to be the loudest in the room. "No, I don't know, I just feel like we've been doing this shit too long. I'd rather be dealing with GSCEs like my brothers. Being the only witch in the family is giving me some serious jealousy issues."

"Yeah, but being a witch just makes you the coolest person in the family," Xander replied with an easy shrug as he turned the corner. Of course, in his typical carelessness, he turned the corner and crashed straight into another person. "Oh, sorry about that."

The easy smile stayed on his face even as he realized who he had bumped into. Draco Malfoy always wore a sour expression on his face, but his current one as he dramatically brushed off his shirt was extra pissy. Xander just chuckled as he took a step back to which Diana was immediately at his side, wrapping a protective arm around this shoulders, glaring at the blond as if daring him to start something.

"You all right, Malfoy?" Xander asked, pushing his dark hair out of his face as it flopped into his eyes. It had grown a little long over the summer, but he kinda liked it that way. He also was too lazy to cut it, maybe he'd have Diana help him if it got too unmanageable.

"No thanks to you," the blond spat. He always wore a general expression that seemed to attempt to broadcast to everyone in the room that he was better than them -- the all black outfit he donned was certainly an attempt to intimidate everyone else, but Xander had known the boy since he was eleven so the effect was kind of lacking a little.

"Darn, I would have loved to help you out," Xander retorted with a shit eating grin, "Sorry if I wrinkled your sweater, it's a nice sweater if I'm being honest." As he and Diana went to walk past him, he made sure he brushed Draco's shoulder, shooting him another grin as he muttered, "It suits you really well, honest."

He heard Draco scoff and probably roll his eyes too, if Xander knew his mannerisms well enough and the two walked away from him giggling with each other incessantly. As soon as Draco was out of earshot, the girl smacked him, "I can't tell if that was a dick move or not. Was that you attempting to be an arsehole?"

"It was a nice sweater!" Xander exclaimed with a scoff as they continued throughout the bookstore. They ran back into his sister and her wife who were chatting to themselves while Alecks held a book in her hand. As soon as she noticed her brother the woman handed it over.

"See, look, I found one! Not too rusty, if I do say so myself," Alecks exclaimed, a proud smile on her face, "Oh, my God, Diana is that you? Sheesh, I haven't seen you in like seven years! You're blonde! And cool! Is that a nose piercing?"

Diana laughed and pulled the older woman into a hug, "Yes, it is, I made my older brother do it for me and I think we almost killed my dad after he found out. How's Hollywood been treating you?"

"Better than this dump," Alecks responded with a chuckle, "Di, this is my wife, Jo! Ah, I'm so glad you still put up with my brother after all this time, I always knew you were gonna be cool when you grew up. Xander, why couldn't you have grown up cool like Diana?"

"Because you took all the cool with you when you left!" Xander exclaimed.

The four of them laughed and Xander was glad that Diana tagged along with them for the rest of their trip. Diana never came with her parents, so it was pretty much tradition that she would stick by Xander's side. The two of them had been inseprable for years anyway and this year was no different. As they left the bookstore, Xander got the feeling that someone had eyes on him. When he turned around he locked eyes with Draco. When the boy didn't look away, Xander stuck out his tongue before walking off to catch up with his sisters and Diana. He didn't think about Draco often, but when he did, it was never with any harm or malice. The boy was just a boy who seemed to have a problem with Xander, but he never gave Xander a reason to have a problem with him so he really just let the boy be. He wasn't going to go out of his way to be rude to someone when he had no idea what would cause him to act the way he did. They were just kids, after all. It wasn't like any petty rivalries they had now were gonna matter in ten years or even five.

In fact, when he thought about how much they had seen each other over their years at Hogwarts, Xander might even consider Draco a friend.

ahh first chapter! i am literally so in love with xander he's just a human puppy dog and a total Hufflepuff stereotype i KNOW but i don't care because this is my story and i love him