"I'm telling you Hannah, the guy was a freak," Neville said, earning a hard smack on his arm from his wife as she passed by. The customers were either abed or gone and they were just cleaning up. They'd wake in time to serve a late brunch and wait for the new slew of people to come through. Summer, especially the closer it to school, always balanced their books for the rest of the year.

"That's not a nice thing to say," Hannah said, but she was hardly angry. She swished her hips in just the way she knew he husband liked and he grinned before turning back to wiping down the bar.

"If I'd stayed much longer he would have gotten me into lying, real lying, not the half lying. And he would have known that it was all a lie. He was good, brilliant even, more logical than Hermione even could be. I'm sure that if he got me around him more often he'd eventually figure everything out on his own even if I didn't say another damn word," he said.

"Can you be sure?" Hannah asked, stopping what she was doing to turn and look at her husband. They both knew just what a bureaucratic nightmare a violation of the Statute of Secrecy could be. You had to get so much written permission even to talk to the families of muggle born witches and wizards. Even if Neville didn't tell this man, he would get labeled for doing it.

"Hannah, I am certain. What's more, I'm certain that even if he was obliviated that he'd figure it out all over again. I'm not sure I didn't just sign my own warrant by showing up on Martha Hudson's doorstep," he said.

"She said her tenants were peculiar, but that there wasn't any real harm in them. He never got anything off her," she pointed out.

"But Mrs. Hudson is a bit odd, even for a squib. She purposefully lives a completely muggle existence except for popping into the pub."

"You know, I like her, but sometimes it seems like she only comes to be sure that she didn't make up the magical world," Hannah said, leaning against the bar. Neville found himself momentarily distracted by his wife's hips. He loved them. She was deliciously plump, and her curves only got better after having the girls. Sometimes all she was to do was move around the room and he'd find himself staring at her. "Nev, focus," Hannah said, but she was grinning.

"On your thighs? When am I not focused on them?" He asked with a grin.

"Rude!" Hannah declared, faking insult and smacking him with a rag. Yet before he could pull away she grabbed his shirt and dragged him into a kiss.

"My feisty little witch," Neville teased, returning the kiss. They let themselves become absorbed in themselves for a few moments. They got so little time together during the school year that they took every chance to be together they could during the summer.

"Mmm… okay, okay, let's hurry this part up and get to bed," Hannah said, going back to her cleaning. She had magic clean a lot of things, but this was her once-weekly hand cleaning night where they scrubbed down everything on their own.

"Sounds good," Neville said, polishing the newly installed taps.

"Mmmm… Nev?"

"Yeah?"

"What did you say the man's name was?"

"Which one?"

"The one who's about to blow our cover," Hannah said, rolling her eyes.

"Holmes, Sherlock Holmes," Neville said. "Why?"

"Holmes isn't a very common name."

"No, but then Longbottom isn't very common either," Neville said. He alternated between being proud of his last name and wondering what god decided that his family would be saddled with such a name. He'd have told Hannah to name the girls Abbot if he wasn't sure that his Gran would have killed him for it.

"Wasn't Holmes the name of the man they have as one of the contacts with in the British Muggle government?" Hannah asked. "What was his first name… Mmm…" She trailed off.

"Mycroft!" Neville said, suddenly remembering as well.

"Any relation?" Hannah asked.

"Oh, I've got no idea, but it's worth a shot. Harry owes me a favor anyway for that burn salve I brought him after the dragon incident," he said.

"That was five years ago," Hannah said.

"And he still owes me the favor, with interest for it being so long ago," Neville said, making his wife chuckle. He knew it was just to please him, but he didn't care. His joke and amused him anyway.

"Do you think that this will help anything?"

"No idea, but honestly, if I jump on this now then I'm less likely to get saddled with so much blame when this man figures everything out. Let's just hope he can keep his mouth shut."

"Do you think he can?"

"Well he very loudly read me like a book, but I think he was trying to annoy me or his flatmate… still not sure which. In any case, I really have no idea," Neville said as he finished his polishing. "I'll go see Harry tomorrow," he said.

"Alright, you're done there, I'm done here, bed now," Hannah said, laying her cloth out so it could dry. Neville did the same and scooped her up. She laughed loudly as her husband carried her up the stairs. They let the outside world alone for that night, indulging in each other instead.


"You do realize that I actually have a job, right?" Harry asked, raking his hand through his hair to get some of his always wild hair out of his eyes.

"Like you don't want to be distracted," Neville said.

"Shhhh!" Harry said over dramatically, waving the door closed. "Slow week, thankfully," Harry said, leaning back in his very plush and comfortable chair. "So… you see any kids I should pluck up after graduation?"

"You asking about the DA kids?" Neville asked.

"I thought you were telling me they didn't exist," Harry said with a smirk.

"Oh please, I'm not in the mood for traditional pretending," Neville said. "Besides, it's not like I don't have this," he said, pulling the sickle out of his pocket.

"Really?" Harry asked.

"It was Creevey's idea, blame it all on him," Neville said. "He was the last one of us still in school, and it was him who trained all the kid, using your methods. We have young Aurors in training in Hogwarts," he said.

"Any good ones?" Harry asked. He'd always suspected, but normally Neville was very tight lipped about school, and none of the other professors said either.

"They're all applying to your department's training program," Neville said. "Maybe you can help me with this. Is it better to let everything be a secret dueling club still… or should I come in and help them actually learn things?"

"Like what? How to do spells?"

"No, like the observation work we had to do, or the muggle stuff we had to learn?"

"Why don't you just ask the room of requirement," Harry suggested. "You know, to leave them notes with helpful tips, or books that will help them."

"Can it do that?"

"Can it not do that?" Harry asked.

Neville considered this, leaning back in his seat. "You really, really should come and teach, for just a year."

"After I retire… I'll consider it," Harry said.

"Wow, an honest answer, I never get that," Neville said.

"I've been talking to Ginny. I don't want to become as paranoid as Moody, and I don't plan to do this forever, just as long as I'm useful. We were talking about that I might try to teach Defense after I get old and retire, and Ginny might take over for Madam Hooch whenever she actually gets around to retiring."

"You're really thinking about this?" Neville asked, a little surprised.

"It's one of my possible plans. Don't worry, one of our many possible plans involves moving to Hawaii for the rest of our lives," Harry said with a smile that made Neville laughed. As a general rule Harry Potter did best when he had absolutely nothing to do, or so much to do that he would lose his mind if one more thing got added to his pile.

"Sounds nice, whenever I retire I'll just be stuck tending bar for the rest of my life," Neville said.

"Lucky you," Harry said with a chuckled before settling in. "So, what brings you out here? It can't just be social or you'd wait until I was off, or fireplace Ginny and set up a time for us to meet later."

"Harry, I need to call in a favor," Neville said.

"Which one?" Harry asked.

"Not the snake one," Neville said. He was never sure if Harry was serious about owing him for killing the snake. He didn't even want to know what could be so big that Harry would need to have a favor for Neville to cash in before he'd come help. "The dragon burn one."

"Mid-level then."

"Let's hope it stays that way," Neville said. "There's a threat to the Statute of Secrecy."

"How bad?" Harry asked.

"Not like a muggle finding Hogwarts bad, but I've got a man who now knows my name in face who I think can figure out that I'm a wizard."

"A muggle man?"

"Yes."

"How?"

" I'm not sure how he does it, but he got a good look at me, figured out I worked with plants, but wasn't a botanist, knew I was an officer of some form, knew that I was clumsy when I was younger and that I didn't think well of myself, but that I was good at my job."

"He told all that from a look."

"And he's interested in figuring out more," Neville said. "Harry, I'm pretty sure that if I ever see him again that he's going to actually get more. I had to resort to the secondary lie about the Auror office." The first lie was for normal muggles. Aurors were trained to say the worked with the police. The second lie was for the police. Aurors were trained to say they worked for a private investigative firm.

"Was he an officer?"

"No, but I could just guess that he'd see through the first lie completely so I didn't even bother…. What did he call himself? A consulting detective?" he asked. He frowned, seeing Harry tense just the slightest bit. Normally a person wouldn't notice, but Neville knew Harry and he'd trained with him. "What is it?"

"Nothing, I just think I've heard that somewhere… what did this man say his name was?"

"He didn't. His flatmate and his landlady did though. Sherlock Holmes," he said.

"Oh bloody-" Harry caught himself off, instead stick to silent and controlled, if violent hand motions.

"What is it? Do you know him?"

Harry let out a deep breath he'd been holding during his little spastic tantrum. "Not in person, no," he said, slipping back into his seat and looking like he could very much use a holiday. "But I've been warned that if I cross paths with him that I'm to turn and walk away as fast as I can without running or looking too suspicious. Where did you meet him?"

"By who? I met him in his home. Hannah and Gran had me dropping off a gift for his landlady," Neville explained.

"I'm sorry Neville, this only became a real problem once you were gone, so I never thought it'd matter. We deal with muggle law enforcement sometimes. We just have to, can't help it. It happens. We get called on to help out sometimes, but we're not allowed to touch any cases that Sherlock Holmes touches, for reason of the Statute of Secrecy."

"Is he that dangerous?"

"No, he's just that clever, and even worse for needing to solve a mystery than me and Ron and Hermione were," Harry said, scrubbing his hands over his face. "I never told you because mainly he's so muggle none of our kind would have any reason to get near him, and because there didn't seem any reason why you'd ever have met him."

"A birthday gift, apparently did us all in," Neville said, commiserating along with his old friend.

"Apparently. Try not to worry too much just yet. It's good you came to me. I'll call Mycroft Holmes and see just how much damage he can mitigate from all this," Harry said.

"Am I going to get a mark for this?"

"Bloody nightmare if you do, but I'll see what I can't do to stop it. Mr. Holmes warned me that this would happen eventually. Good luck for my department that it was you. Bad luck for you and me that it was you. Really sorry about this," Harry said, starting to make notes and pull out the phone he had in his office that was specifically for dealing with the muggles.

"Exactly who is Mycroft Holmes to Sherlock Holmes?"

"Big brother," Harry said. "Not a happy relation from what I gather, but I try not to gather too much. I don't like getting mixed up with Mycroft Holmes unless I absolutely have to."

"Who is Mycroft Holmes?" Neville asked, wondering what kind of muggle man could order around the head of the Auror Office.

"Officially? He holds a small position in the British muggle government."

"Unofficially?"

"Unofficially, I have no idea, and I hope never to not to. What I do know is that he man knows more about my job and my people than I do, and that's bloody disturbing enough to make me keep away from him as much as possible," Harry said.

"I'm sorry Harry."

"Not your fault, no way you could have known. Even if you stuck to the story, Sherlock Holmes apparently can see through it. It's not idle reasoning that's got me keeping my people from him. He is the type who'd figure this out on his own. The only question now is just how fast he's going to figure this out, and whether his brother already knows and is already taking steps to fix it, or if I get to be the bearer of bad news."

"He's know already?"

"He probably knew there was trouble before you did."

"He doesn't sound like much of a muggle."

"I hope he's just a muggle, because from what I've seen him do with only muggle resources I'd be afraid of what would be left undone if he also had magic at his disposal," Harry said, honestly shuddering at the idea. Neville had never met Mycroft Holmes, but the name was wizard-ish enough that he'd remembered it and heard about the man as a source in the muggle government. He was starting to wonder just exactly what else he'd been blissfully unaware of until now, and just what exactly he was about to learn.


A/N: Thank you guys for the reviews and favorites. Harry Potter stories do tend to get more traffic, apparently.

Yes, this is short. I'm tired, I've had a long day, and I wanted to get this out. I'll have the scene with Sherlock and John in Mycroft's office in the next chapter. I am sorry that this chapter is so short, but I figured you'd rather have a posted chapter that is also understandable. As opposed to an unposted chapter that I lost consciousness of half way through.

Thank you again for your reviews. I hopefully will get the third chapter of this and JOM up before tomorrow's next day sunrise.