Keep it coming plz it is good

With all the other stories you’ve picked back up I hope you decide to give this some more love too. I’ve always felt that Xander and Tara would have been a good pairing (hell Tara/just about anybody is pretty believable), and it’s rare to see those done well and not in a homophobic way. This one is probably my favorite (except for maybe Marked, that one is fun too), just because the relationship between the two feels like two equals coming together to help each other grow.

Also, Harry and Xander finally meeting and Xander finding out all the shit a preteen has been exposed to at a school of all places would be downright hilarious.

This is good. I'm imagining Xander's reaction to Harry showing him his memories of Hogwarts being the 'best' school and... I know in first year the bad things were kind of spaced out (apart from Snape being unpleasant every potions lessons), and he pursued the mystery on his own/Hermione and Ron's initiative, but second year? Which he's only just come out of? He spent a lot of that being bullied and harassed by his peers while the teachers didn't do anything to stop it.

Thank you for writing!

Holy Carp, I love this concept! Please continue!

*twiddles thumbs*

Omake: After coming out of the pensive, Hermione exclaimed, "She cast a flame spell, with a cookie!" She then rushed into the kitchen. "Mrs. Weasley, teach me the secrets of magical baking," she pleaded.

3

Promising stuff. Hope to see more of this. Thanks!

It definitely want to see more of this!
The Potter's have to be how Xan is related to Harry through as they are the Peverell descendents who have the whole history and relationship with Death thing going on plus I can actually see Xan's whole being loved by the Hellmouth coming from the Peverell/Potter with their affinity for Death being being born within its boundries would have attracted the Hellmouth.
Also given the nature of the Hellmouth plus the Mayors hold of the place and the fact he wouldn't want the Wizards interfering or even knowing about what was actually going in his Town Xan could very easily be an actual but untrained Wizard/Necromancer instead of a Squib Shaman/Necromancer as there could have easily been wards around the town to stop the schools sensing the kids as it was very interesting that Xan was away from the Hellmouth when they first contacted him.
As for exactly how Xan is Harry's Cousin I can see him as the Grandson of Charlus and Dorea Potter which would also make him a Black through Dorea. The Black Famly Trapestry said they had a son but nothing further that line sort of went into limbo as the line didn't end but stopped registering so the Hellmouth or the Wards blocking the Magic of the Tapestry to record his birth is an idea there again it would be interesting if the Black, Potter and any other Tapestries involved suddenly updated the moment Xan left the Wards around the Town.
I can actually see Tony being his step-father in such a case as I could see his real father dying in the blood war and his mother fleeing to America as she was a Squib or near Squib so a target before Xan was born again the Death Affinity from the unborn Peverell she was carrying could explain how she ended up in Sunnydale the whole weird double edged Potter luck in a survival situation thing being triggered by her terror as the most dangerous place on the Planet was actually the safest place for a hunted Peverall and his mother to hide.
Of course if the Wards stopped the registering of Xan's birth on the various Family Tapestry and that as fixed as soon as Xan left the Town Wards the Goblin's will be in a right tizzy over it all as it would play havoc with their records and vaults at the very least it might cause a redistribution of the Potter Vaults as the secondary Potter/Black Bloodline actually had an Heir instead of becoming exstinct as previously thought and the vaults merged back into the main line inheritance. chuckle
Dumbledore might end up in trouble there as it probably caused a audit of the whole Potter Estate in preparation for the redistribution back into two Potter Inheritance so anything hinky there would cause a shitstorm such as unread wills and Dumbles taking Potter gold and other things and signing contracts (those Harry Potter Books etc ) without being legally Harry's Guardian not sorry for the MOB
Add in the whole Lavelle middle name thing of Xan's he could have also inherited vaults and other gifts from his mothers side as well as mother Jessica under the Lavelle Name because when you think of it Xan could very well have been the result of a Potter-Lavelle Marriage Contract. I've read fanfic that had Charlus and Dorea very active during the Grindelwald War so if they worked with a French resistance Wizarding Couple named Lavelle during the war I could see that resulting in such a contract to marry their kids to each other to blood cement that alliance and that could very easily bring the French Goblin Horde and Ministry into play as well. Xander is beloved of Chaos as well remember!
Shaz

'd love to read more of this story

cool! please update soon!

Eh, chalk it up to naitonal pride and the fact that Hogwarts can argue its quality overall when compared to other schools. At the same time, that doesn't mean that the other schools might not have it beat in a subject matter.

My position would be that, whether it is the best or not, Harry believes it is and it is a school he knows and where all his friends are. The latter two, mind you, are good reasons for him to stay and is probably the direction Albus will use to argue keeping Harry there.

I can see Xander being swayed fairly strongly by the "friendship" argument, he knows quite well what it's like to have that kind of powerful motivation. I also can't see him being okay with all of the Adventures, if only because this is his baby cousin he's supposed to be taking care of and clearly no one has trained him in anything directly applicable, like tactics. Xander might be less phased by the content of many Adventures than most of the other adults thanks to his own and Sunnydale, but he is too aware of how many others have died even if he personally managed to not along the way, and managed to keep at least certain precious people equally alive as well. At the very least, he'll want to run his baby cousin through his own Sunnydale boot camp - both to ensure he doesn't get himself killed while with Xan and as a leg up in any future Adventures because this is definitely His baby cousin, there will be more no matter what.
Xan's adventures do include Giles as a Responsible Adult Helping, often, Harry doesn't really have that (yet- Sirius and Remus can kind of count, occasionally, as do some of the older students, technically, eventually). At the very least Giles is trying, and teaching applicable, relevant knowledge including how to use it (though Xander's off the cuff out-of-the-box ideas do an amazing job there, he does often have some baseline knowledge to direct it, such as "wooden stakes to the heart kill vamps, thus kill it with a pencil before it rises").
Xander is also well-accustomed to school being mandatory and needed knowledge coming from outside it's structure, so Magic School isn't an issue there so much as the distance crimping his ability to tutor his baby cousin in all of the Important Things school doesn't teach. Especially since his school appears to require some of the same knowledge that's kept Xander alive over the years while teaching it about as well as Sunnydale High did, which is "trial-by-fire with no instruction".
Maybe he can ask for "some time to consider it, take most of the summer to get to know his new charge" and so on? We all know Dumbles will bend over backward to keep Harrykins in his school, so something like not being certain of his continued attendance until he gets on the Train (and providing the portkey to do so if possible/necessary in a hopeful "just in case") won't cause as much problem as it might normally.
And then Xander can honestly tell Harry he's considering it but there are Very Important Things he's worried about more urgently, like Sunnyhell Boot Camp to ensure his baby cousin survives the summer in the first place. Xander can decide closer to September, when he'll have a better idea of how far Harry has come in Xan's Emergency Training/Tutoring, Sunnyhell Edition (with Hogwarts additives because Wizard, regardless of continued attendance). XD

I've no doubt Harry will not share his countrymen's disdain by the end of summer. Not when he's going to get glimpses of Epic Tara, Xander-as-a-whole, their new tutors, Sunnyhell… He's a kid, and they are doing Really Cool Things.
Also, I will not be surprised in the least if Horse notices that there's something about Harry, considering he instinctively knew those were shades of the dead watching Xan's memory. (Entirely separate from noticing the Horcrux, if it exists in this 'verse.) He might get a little leeway from being younger and guarded by Xan, or he might get it kicked up even more notches because he wants to go back to his foreign boarding school so he has less time to keep studying with this teacher. Or he just might have a strong affinity but not the rest of the shaman-y magic style flavor thing, so he can learn some less hands-on stuff by listening but not necessarily everything Xan is so he's not joining properly/fully. Or he'll have wait to learn all of it from Xander instead because Horse isn't interested in taking on another student directly right now.
This is a quite young Harry yet, though, so I can totally see him adopting/adapting a touch too easily because he's not completely a jaded angst-muffin yet and Very Magical and Open Minded.

I will be delighted to see more of This Tara, I already want to hug her and squee. She's going to kick such ass so much sooner and more confidently! Xander is amazing and going to be impressively terrifying by summer's end, I just know it, whether certain people will notice however...
How long d'you think it will take for any of the Scoobs to notice Xander is still in town after his departure? I have a bit of strong feeling that Giles will find out first, and because Xander wants to introduce him to his baby cousin for a variety of reasons, many of which boil down to "both English, both Magic, kid needs to know other Safe Adult to go to if there's trouble". It's not like he's hanging out at the Bronze, he's getting Intensive Training. Maybe after Harry moves in they'll need to go out and show him around town, and he'll decide to introduce his two newest favorite people to his older favorite people? How long has Tara been there, does she need tours as well? They all need clothes, Thrift Shop Day shall be had!

Of course they think Hogwarts is the best, they are isolationists and it probably was a long time ago. They've been indoctrinated with that belief since they could speak for generations, how many travel enough to learn otherwise? How many migrate for any reason and actually send their kids to the local schools instead?
Also figure how many wizards are there even? Because it's a lot easier to be the "premiere" education in the world when there are about ten options total that actually cover the full collection of topics for so many levels in one place, and how many have (mostly) Masters teaching all of it? Other places might be more innovative, and damn amazing, but those kinds of credentials mean a lot in formal rankings (Staff accreditation and amount of coverage of each subject, that is).

Unexpected but this seems to be solid.

This makes sense for Red's teaching style; the point of her hard-hitting lessons is to make her student the one who knocks.