The Scooby Gang

Book III: Settling In

Disclaimer: I have no property rights to any published or copyrighted material that is reserved to those that make money from ideas which I do not.

Summery: The third book on the now dimensionally stranded Scoobies. With the manor stuck in Yellow Space they utilize the doors to have a life outside the manor as the group grows closer to finding their personal place in multiverse.

Sequel to 'The Scooby Gang Book 1' and 'The Scooby Gang Book 2'

Warning: Multi Ship M/FFF ahead!

Crossovers: Harry Potter, Stargate, Honor Harrington, and Highlander

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Previously on: The Scooby Gang

Book 1

The Powers That Be have had their plans to control, murder, and finding allies to fight the Scoobies thrashed for the last six months, ever since January of 1998 things have spiraled into darker and darker waters.

The plan to have Angel loose his soul to Buffy birthday romp was waylaid and Janna's Gypsy Clan were able to add another layer of the curse which triggers the heart to beat with life whenever it wanes or weakens rather than releasing the soul.

Xander ensured Angel was safe after Buffy's slayer portents concerning his possible demise, for Buffy's sake, and in the process starts to unite with him against the adversity and eventually trusts him enough to put him 'under' vampire hypnosis to verify Dawn's former status as 'ignored' was natural or unnatural.

Dawn's ignored status until now was due to the Powers' plans and a temporally placed key in human form.

Cordelia and Willow explore their new 'friendship' and talk about how they feel about Xander. The decision is made to share him and entice him into an open relationship to avoid the hurt that both feel in their potential with Xander. This allows them to realize their own sexual tension. Dawn and then Kendra are absorbed by the two's open sexually and Xander.

All is for naught with Powers' plans, they send bigbads after them in quick secession; things that were planed for slow confrontations over the next years were tossed into the melting pot and the Scoobies defeated them all but were still unable to anticipate their murder of Joyce.

Xander's talents surface as a runic master and possible fire mage, not to mention he has a blood connection to the Kalderash. An errant wish and a rebellious Demon Lord of Justice allow for Anyanka to download ten thousand years of runic knowledge into Xander's head. Cordelia has a small magical core and a runic talent but is less focused on runes than Xander. Willow's a magical powerhouse and barely has any ability with runes at all. Dawn's magic is different and vast.

With Angel's killing of Glory, a hell goddess, the group decides to step up the timetable and set the wards, and they do it 'now' to ensure they don't somehow send Angel into a coma.

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Book 2

With LeVelle Manor displaced to between the realms due to Dawn's Talent strengthening the wards they must secure their human needs which they do mostly by utilizing runes. The only land mark of between is a large "Stem" that seems to be almost plant like and Book 2

With LeVelle Manor displaced to between the realms due to Dawn's Talent strengthening the wards they must secure their human needs which they do mostly by utilizing runes. The only land mark of between is a large 'Stem' that seems to be almost plant like in the vague appearance as it either turns or they orbit the 'Stem'.

Unable to return to their home they attempt to construct a portal via Runes and Dawn's blood. The first time they are able to have the portal connect, the wall is the portal; it connects to the Archway in the Department of Mysteries inside the Ministry of Magic. They spy via runic remotes and then make some friends with students of Hogwarts and a traveler sent through the Vail in a battle at the department.

Making the first Doorway (permanent bi-directional portal), they plant one side in LeVelle Manor and the other in Grimmauld Place (Doorway 1), the headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix. Dawn's blood may not have been needed but it was used as a method of giving it the firm extra kick, just in case they'd made some errors in it.

The portal (Wall) shifts and the new Earth is a Goa'uld seat of power and they rescue a Goa'uld victim of a sadist rapist. Egeria stays with them as part of their family and they rob the Goa'uld blind while doing some damage before the portal shifts again leaving no way back to that realm.

The future world with antigun laws and advances methods of mater conversion is the second doorway (Doorway 2) to be set up. They set up an estate utilizing some of the technology Egeria pilfered from her world.

The Hogwarts kids are staying at the Manor and helping out. They start to explore their own relationships without the common limitation of monogamy, following Xander's example.

The next time the portal shifts it is to an ugly world, a machine world. They save and adopt a survivor named Eric Connors and seed a good portion of the area around the portal with blocks that dampen all electricity. They don't leave a doorway there.

The next shifting of the portal is to an Earth that is in the year 4002 AD and they explore this realm a bit. They manage to use some of the technology they have from the other realms and eventually make it to the Star Kingdom of Manticore, the best choice they could find to offer any form of alliance with. They set the doorway for this realm on the ship they procure (Doorway 3).

The portal shifts again and a fairly normal and modern world but as far as they can tell it lacks any demons, aliens, or even immortals. They set up a forth Doorway (Doorway 4) there and eventually find out that it has a Chappa'ai because Egeria can feel it when it is working.

The portal shifts again and they go to a world that they (Scoobies) never left and it is two years later (2001). They explore the differences and realize the Dawn's birthday, or birth year, was off by three and half years. They set up a doorway here as well, (Doorway 5).

Through Doorway 1 Immortals are revealed to the group, the wizarding world ends their war with Deatheaters, the new year at Hogwarts starts, and using the advanced technology from the Doorway 3 to help the immortals, Amanda and Duncan, produce offspring.

Technology is shared with Manticore and the group is on their way to an area that is sure to have Naquadah in it.

The party to celebrate Dawn's birthday, the younger one from 'town' as opposed to the elder Dawn from the Manor, the LeVelle Manor is sent way from the Stem with nearly violent tug. Will the Doors still work while the portal wall is dead?

Chapter 1: Grayson

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LeVelle Manor

The yellow and red glow of the exterior of the wards was different, not that it was easy to tell that it was different but the blotches were to some degree different perhaps it wasn't just the shape of them but how they moved chaotically was. There was nothing but the yellow and red glow out there. The group spent almost and hour combing the entire horizon as far as they could north and sought of the horizon from the edge of the wards. They could not find what they called the stem anywhere in the vacuum expanse.

With Dawn's warning Xander verified that the wall portal which had changed constantly was no longer working and then checked the door's just to verify if they were working on not.

With a sigh of a relief at being able to step through the doors he couldn't help but think, 'At least these are still working.'

The others were still examining the expanse when he returned outside. The birthday girl was more interested in finding the stems then opening presents.

"You know" Xander spoke up, "I almost suspected this would happen as soon as we found that the doorways were stable after the portal wall shifted."

Cordelia stepped out of the manor with a tray of sodas and glasses containing ice, she lifts a curious eyebrow, "Why is that dear?"

The visiting analogue of Cordelia looked at her 'twin' with incredulity. Cordy had been busy being a good host she wasn't going to let the birthday party get waylaid, but Cordelia wasn't looking at Cordy for that reason so much as the 'dear' part of her question. Dawn and Dawnie however were exchanging smiles at the easily used term of endearment.

Xander ignored the looks from the three and shrugs, "I'm not sure. It's just… well, ironic is all."

Willow giggles, it took a moment to realize she was the Willow from the recent Sunnydale, the slightly older less sexually experienced Willow.

When the others turn, directing their attention to her, she eeps blushes, and earns a glare from her slightly younger twin. The Willow from the manor hated the way she sounded when she giggles and the mousy eeps were worse still.

The giggling Willow notices her doubles glare and asks defensively, "What?"

Cordelia glanced over from her spot next to Xander and at the two Willows and sternly tells them both, "Behave Willow!"

Willow the glaring one half glared at her then sniffed. The giggling older Willow shrugged.

"You know" Dawnie, the younger Dawn stated agitated, "It is getting ridiculous that we have the same names!"

Dawn nodded agreement with her semi twin. "Right, you're younger so you are dubbed Dawnie."

There was a smirk as Dawnie froze.

The host of the manor stated, "I'll be Cordy!"

The Willow from the Manor nods at her Cordelia, agreeing, "You are older. I'll be Will, as I'm younger."

Buffy frowns, "I don't want to change my name."

It was much more difficult to differentiate between the Buffys, but it was obvious that she was the Buffy from the manor because she was being petulant about the different names.

"Buff" Xander teases and offers a teasing smile, "We could call you Naked-Often?"

She widens her eyes and glares at Xander with no malice; her voice was slightly husky and flirty, "Not unless you want me to be naked often."

The other Buffy glares at her, "Hey, stop flirting with Xander, my Xander might get ideas."

Xander L smirks at her asking with an 'oh so innocent' tone, "He's your Xander, huh?"

The elder Buffy flushes and Buffy giggles at her 'twin'. "Don't knock it 'til you've passed out after twenty-some orgasms."

Buffy widens her eyes and glances at the younger and fitter Xander.

Xander LeVelle shrugs and offers some pleased self depreciation, "Some of those were from Kendra and Cordelia."

Cordy huskily intones, "Not very many, but I did notice she has this thing about talking dirty…" She was grinning as both Buffys flush.

Riley smiled widely and Buffy smacks his arm and says, "Don't!"

Riley nodded once with a grin still on his face.

"Xander is Xander, and can never be anything but. You can call me LeVelle if you must but only when there are two of me."

The other Xander nods, "And you can call me Harris."

Xander LeVelle winces at that name. Though it was common enough to not be directly associated with the Presidency of Haven, he had the itching feeling that the Manticore Realm's Xander Harris had been an ancestor of the Harris Administration if nothing else to support the perversity of the multiverse.

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After the party, Dawn took the Cordelia from LA to The Joyce. It was too difficult to move the medical devices and Dawn just didn't know enough about them to move them and set them up again. She was still running the scanning and programs by instructions, even the Prolong gene therapy, which was basically a shot and then some time later some treatment by way of some interactive signals and scans which only took about five minutes to ensure they were working properly.

A hand held scanning device was easily able to work with the main scanner and Cordelia Chase of LA had been interested in having a 'medical checkup' when it was mentioned for everyone. Dawn was not a doctor but the most familiar with the devices and what she was seeing was not a good thing.

When they were alone Cordelia shares, "It's the visions, they're like causing this blinding pain when I get them and then I get migraines a bit more often afterwards."

Dawn nods, understanding, and tells her, "There is some minor damage but I could see it getting progressively worse if left untreated. And that is if you stopped having the visions. I'm just now learning most of these but I can see if I can set up some nanobots to constantly repair the damage in the area."

Cordelia smiles with relief, "Thank you Dawn."

Dawn winces as she tells her, "But just to let you know, I don't think the visions are the direct cause of this damage. The visions, by what I have determined, come from a symbiotic creature that isn't demonic at all."

Cordelia was surprised, "Creature?"

"Yes." Dawn nods, "The visions aren't controlled by you but they can be controlled by the Powers. I think that this damage is directly linked to the Powers. I don't know if this is intentional in their part or if they just prevent the creature from completely merging with you. I suppose we could have a magical healer check you over just to be sure and make sure the damage is healed properly. They might be able to help you merge with the symbiote properly."

"Alright, I'll see a healer… just… don't share this with my Angel."

Dawn grins at that possessive pronoun, "That depends. Are you going to share him?"

Cordelia had wide eyes. "Share him, with you?"

Dawn shakes her head. "No, I just want you to keep an open mind. Cordy would be so much less happy if she didn't have her Wills. I know Kendra isn't as into the girl on girl action as Cordy and Willow but I don't think you and Cordy are that different."

Cordelia sighs softly and bites her lip, "I don't know, I don't think I could trust Willow like that."

Dawn shrugs not being one to judge. "It doesn't need to be Willow and it doesn't need to be now. But I want to make sure that you'll keep an open mind when it comes to relationships. The reason I say this, is because the Angel here is a vampire. Vampires have a… nature…"

Dawn didn't know if that was the proper word for it, "He said once that it was unnatural for vampires to be monogamous. They can be utterly loyal but usually sex and blood and all that go hand in hand. I don't think Angel has slept with anyone but Buffy but he might in the future, and your Angel… you never know there might be a girl that you both like."

"Fine," she sniffs, "so long as you don't tell him that I was like dieing right?"

Dawn mischievously grins at her giving her a nod. "I won't say a word."

LA's Angel at the door turns from the med-lab door and flees. He had loads to think about.

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The Joyce enters Yeltsin system and start to observe the local communication traffic. It takes a few hours to update their information on the local system as it was somewhat limited in the scope of things with other star nations and the league had no information on Yeltsin at all. The group settled down in the dinning room which had turned into more of a common room as of late. Several new pieces of the puzzle were filtering in these last two hours and they all wanted to know what to expect.

Egeria explains what she found, "This area of space, according to the local star charts, is called the Yeltsin System. Both Yeltsin and Endicott systems are loaded with heavy elements, mostly the more common metals, but if I'm right Naquadah is plentiful in this area."

It was almost as though Egeria was reluctant to accept the fact that it was plentiful herself. "Looking at the local tech level it is obviously behind Manticore or the League by quite a bit."

Xander gathers their attention with a gesture. "Socially they seem to be misogynic here. Women have fewer rights and considerations than most any other place. They're almost considered property and seen but not heard."

Incensed Buffy speaks up, "That's ridiculous!"

Xander gives his agreement and then morbidly adds, "Yes, it is. But then the Endicott system is even worse!"

At their incredulous looks he smirks and waits silently for one of them to break and ask how.

It wasn't just Buffy, and it wasn't just asked – they shout out, "Worse!?"

Xander gives a firm single nod. "The Graysons have an undercurrent with their emotions concerning women folk. They might think of them as almost property but to them the women are the Life-Givers. They might not have the 'stability of man' but they are human and they deserve love, happiness, and above all, are a treasure to cherish as god's gift to man. The Endicott system doesn't believe that; they think of women as bringers of pain. The two used to be a united people. When they first settled it seems one segment of men were sympathetic to the mother's of their children and the other blamed them and that blame turned to hate. The other side believed their constantly pregnant women were in pain from constantly losing children and didn't need to endure any additional stress in life. You have to realize the amount of bad pregnancies these people suffered. The miscarriages quadrupled their surviving infants, easily."

They all nod. The idea that the issues socially had been so impacted by the circumstances hadn't previously occurred to them.

Xander continues through their nodding, "The women folk need to be protected, looked after, and shown kindness in their extremely depressing grief. Endicott's planet is Masada. Masada's tendency to use women as the scapegoat grew, religiously. They go about punishing their women thinking that they are purging themselves of their sin by doing so. They'll go about slaughtering anyone, including babies in their crib, and claim they 'are about god's work'."

He shivered in disgust and said, "If there was ever a planet to glass over it would be Masada." He added after a moment's silence, "If I come across a Masada while we work around here, I kill him, without hesitation."

They all nod white faced.

"Do you remember that saying about eating paint chips as a kid makes you slow…" he said with a slight smile, "Masada didn't realize this and all of their ancestors really liked the paint chips. Grayson of course learned not to eat the paint chips at a heavy price; I think they still have medical issues due to heavy metals in their food, water, and even the air."

Wills hisses with utter shock, "No way!"

Xander grins and tells her, "They started out religious, so maybe it was on Earth when they ate paint chips, you know, as part of their religion?"

Seeing Xander smirk at her Wills giver out a groan.

Buffy was confused at her groan, "What?"

Willow sniffs, "He's going to constantly eat… I mean talk about them eating paint chips! You know they use to mix lead in with the paint to bring out color?"

Willow shakes her head, "They stopped when so many kids started to suffer from lead poisoning that affected their brains and…"

Buffy's giggle interrupts Will's words, evidently when she thought of it; she really thought it was funny, if a bit morbid.

Wills shakes her head and growls at him, "It's not right to make fun of people's homes, Xander!"

He sniffs, "I can make fun of anyone I want! Besides I'll stop when they stop acting stupid."

Willow grunts, "Fine!"

Turning to Egeria he tells her, "They have loads of processing stations along the asteroid belt." He then asks, "Is there any chance of checking them out to see if they have Naquadah in them?"

She nods with a smile. She knew that Xander wouldn't make fun of them to their face or as individuals but she could understand the ideas and uses of anyone undermining bad decisions.

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It wasn't a week after Dawnie's birthday that they had one for Tara; she was very shy, and for some reason, worried. Xander picked up on it right away and when he noticed she was skipping to the side he approached her.

"Tara, are you alright?"

She almost sighed with relief at getting caught. She was going to do a spell to stop them from seeing she was a demon but she wasn't sure the wards would let her anyway. She felt so safe here.

"Um…" she hesitates then tells him without stuttering, "I was going to cast a spell."

Xander raises an amused eyebrow. "You can if you want, I don't see any harm. It isn't in you to harm anyone here."

She flushes and stutters nervously, "It… I don't w…want them to see me as a- a demon!"

Xander frowns at feeling the real fear in her. Looking into her eyes she felt his brush and instead of closing up, she opened up so he could understand. His face almost went slack.

"Tara" he said softly, "you're not a demon and you're not going to turn into one. Why don't you go have fun? Trust me, the wards…?" he gestures. "They won't let you be hurt here, guaranteed!"

She felt the utter relief at his firm soft tones. She reaches over and kisses his cheek in thanks and never noticed the harsh look he had as he vanished out the door heading to Sunnydale with a few other things.

It didn't take long, Tara had seen her brother's in Sunnydale which was what made her start thinking they were telling the truth.

Finding them was simple; he'd paid attention to Wills' instruction on hacking into information databases that were suppose to be secure. Nobody was in the Sunnydale RV so he didn't have any hard questions to answer. He printed out the address for a local hotel that Jed Maclay had paid for with a credit card.

Five minutes later he'd had his confirmation, they were misogynists. Jed had killed Rose Maclay when he found out she was having another 'girl'. She'd been supposed to use that 'devil's' magic to insure she had a boy, but instead she'd used to make sure she had a girl. The fight was one sided as Rose had tried to protect her belly from any blows but it hadn't taken long to kill her. That was back in 97 and they'd been worried that Tara had seen it. They'd convinced her that she got her magic from her inner demon and that it would make itself known; only they could keep it at bay. The more he read in their minds the more he felt the rage.

Jed had two shots, then three; he was gone completely and the two boys stared at him in shock as he shot them both once. Xander used his elemental magic to scorch their crotches until they had nothing left to rape with, and would never be able to reproduce. He made sure to wipe down the prints and leave. The two boys would wake and call an ambulance. Neither one would say what happened to their father. They would leave town right away after that.

Returning to the RV he took a shower and headed back to the Manor. He knew he shouldn't have let his temper get to him but after seeing him get away with the murder of his wife, he had to deal with it, not just for that but to protect Tara and likely Willow.

He snuck back into the party and watched as Tara opened her gifts and as she looked up she smiled at him.

'Your family can't hurt you anymore, your dad paid for the murder of his wife and your unborn sister.'

She widened her eyes surprise and touched the collar she had on. 'You didn't have to, Xander.'

'You're one of my girls, live with it.' He smirked and went towards the cake.

She blushed gently and smiled as she opened up the other gifts not letting the darkness of her father's deeds stain her life or the moment.

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It was Christmas season on Grayson, a few days prior to the actual holiday but still within the season. The timing differential for Christmas for the separate worlds was staggered – two weeks, six weeks, one week and then one week, or thereabouts. Michael Czajak had made his home through Doorway 2, in Blasedale.

Blasedale had a few days until Christmas. Allen and Harriet had an additional week tacked on to wait. Of course it wasn't even the last week of October in Sunnydale and Hogwarts just had Halloween.

They found the Naquadah lining a number of heavy metals that was evidently being confused with waste and disposed of.

By chance the closest structure was Orbital Four and after they docked without much trouble, Xander approached the commanding officer.

"Commander Hill?" he asked. He'd known that was who he was looking for without asking but it was polite to ask.

The commander turned. "Do I know you?"

There weren't many people on the orbital right now, just a skeleton crew for the holiday. For Xander the name had come from the commander's mind as had the information about their orbitals. Xander hoped to get a good feel for him before anything happened.

Xander shook his head at the commander. "No. Xander LeVelle" he held out a hand and the Grayson shook it. "I'm not from Grayson but I'm looking for some raw materials that aren't being processed out of in your waste material." He gestures to the processing plant there in the orbital. "I'd like to make some arrangements to assist in the processing of your materials in exchange for keeping the element. I'm fairly sure I can increase your output by at least twenty-two percent. And that is on a bad day."

Hill lifts and eyebrow and replies honestly, "I don't think it is quite that simple."

Xander smiles as he'd felt the honesty and desire to accommodate him in the commander's mind.

Hill shrugs. "Tell you what. I'll send word to my Steadholder. You can hash out the agreement with him. I can tell you already that every job is taxed, so the processing would have to earn you money, and then you'd have to purchase the material you wished as a separate transaction. Perhaps you could process the material and sell it to us at slightly less cost. However…" he glances at the Star-Falcon Class Yacht, "it might be best to include some defensive or evacuation policies in there as well. Grayson has ships but if you're going to be here anyway…"

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Introduction to Steadholder Mayhew had been arranged quite quickly by Commander Hill. Evidently the Steadholder, a young man closer to Xander's age than Giles's, had a solid work ethic and wasn't yet married so was more then willing to work over the holidays. This is the man that made sure that the armsmen who took post during the holidays were unmarried. Commander Hill had been married and was greatly missing his wives and children but only worked every other Christmas to give his second in command the same holiday time he had.

Xander held out his hand, "Xander LeVelle."

'LeVelle isn't a Grayson name. I wonder what brought him to the Yeltsin System.'

The Steadholder shook Xander's hand. "What can I do for you Mr. LeVelle?" he asked, and then offers, "Commander Hill didn't say much."

Xander liked what he saw in the young Steadholder's mind, he hadn't been one of the Keys long, in fact he'd only back on Grayson for a year or so, and he was still going to be attending more studies off world.

"What the basics are?" Xander conditioned his response and received a nod. "Is that you are throwing away an element naturally found in your system that could be utilized by some technology LeVelle Industries is developing. I'd like to just take that throw-away unprocessed material off your hands. The problem arises as this would take your workers time and it wouldn't benefit you at all; so what I propose is a mutual beneficial program. I'll work with your men to advance the processing set up and reduce the average wasted product by at least twelve percent; that on the product side of things and not the waste side, so it isn't counting the element we're removing form the waste."

Mayhew looked surprised but waved him to the office. Xander knew the wave was a visual queue to the armsmen to stand down any overactive defensive measures and that he was taking a guest to his office. Armsmen in general varied on their listening in to the conversations of the Steadholder, it was best to have signals such as that to eliminate confusion. His brother had taught him that.

"I see what you're saying," Michael Mayhew said as they both entered the office. "I can even agree with it. However, what it would be in fact is much more complicated. First, as you are not a Grayson so we would need to set up a way to pay you, and tax the payment for your services and/or tax the payment for the product that is produced over and above the projected amount. The last is what I would prefer as we don't know if your system will speed up the process…" he pauses with hope displayed before he reluctantly adds, "or if it would slow it down. The element you are seeking would not be a problem but we would need to track how much and tax the sale of it."

Xander sighs, "I see."

He knew this was going to be how it was done after talking to Hill but he smiles giving his voice a tone of jest, "Paperwork is evil! You do realize that, right?"

Michael Mayhew laughs loudly. He'd told his brother much the same, "How long are you planning to stay Mr. LeVelle?"

"It depends on how much Naquadah we can actually harvest out of the processing and how helpful the techniques I use are for you Orbitals. I imagine anything I show Commander Hill will be shared with the other Orbitals. Perhaps even harvesting the Naquadah…"

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves. Any new technique you develop will need to have a patent with official papers, registering it with LeVelle Industries. We need to register your company with the Steading and we'll do that this first week…"

The talk went on and Xander really wished he'd talked Frank into this. He hadn't even graduated High School and he was here now, doing what usually was done by those who had a degree in business. He felt like he was flying by the seat of his pants; or was it trousers now?

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