Chapter 1
"What do you mean, you don't know? Are you telling me that they got away?"
The British Junior Agent on the screen mumbled, fiddling with the collar of his new suit.
"Well," he said nervously. "We infiltrated the news corporations to make them believe it was a gas leak, and none of the survivors actually saw the Dakotan, so we figured…"
"Did you wipe security tapes? Wipe the memories of everyone involved, whether or not they saw the extra-terrestrials? Scour the scene for any clues as to where they may have moved on to?"
"Um…"
"I thought not," Epsilon sighed. "Okay, you better start cleaning up your mess. How many dead?"
"Just ten, sir."
"Civilians?"
"Yes, sir. All residents of the flats. Four adults, three females and a male. Six children, all under three. Not many people around on a Monday morning."
"Ten people is still too many. You'll need to list the names and record the coordinates for the report. New York Base out."
Epsilon switched off the screen and turned to his father, who had been watching silently from the background.
"I see you're still enjoying being able to pull rank."
"It has it's advantages," said Epsilon. "The British team are so… young."
"Look who's talking."
"I mean it, dad. This was the first proper action they've seen, and they lost it. Lost the aliens, lost the residents, lost the whole damn plot."
"Give them time."
"Since when have you been Mr Lenient?"
"This is a brand new sector, there's bound to be a few teething problems. You should have been here when this gig started, now that was a mess."
Epsilon rolled his eyes, forwarding the incoming report to one of the archive team. He didn't bother to read it.
"Of all the places on the earth," he mused. "Why the hell would they attack Chiswick?"
XXX
"What the hell am I doing with my life?"
Epsilon looked up from his coffee to see J slump into the chair next to him, rubbing his temples.
"Bad day?" he asked.
"Worse," groaned J. "A family of Impala just landed planet side, and the kids… they just wouldn't stop running."
"Jesus Christ," muttered Epsilon. "Have I got to do damage control?"
"Nah, it's okay, Omega's handling it. I hate kids."
"They're not so bad."
"Each to their own, I guess. What are you doing tonight?"
"That depends."
"Are you still grounded?"
"I'm thirty years old. I haven't been grounded since I was nineteen. I'm an adult, I don't do 'grounded'."
"I don't think your father's gotten that particular memo."
"Tell me something I don't know."
"What don't I know?"
K had appeared behind J, making him jump and slop coffee everywhere.
"Damn!" he yelped. "We need to put a bell on your collar or something."
"I'll put that on the agenda for the next staff meeting," joked Epsilon. "Send a memo to the wardrobe department."
"Epsilon Brown you might want to shut your mouth before you swallow your feet. Now I want answers, and I want them now.
"Answers?" asked Epsilon. "I… what kind of answers? What was the question?"
"Don't act all innocent, as if you don't know!"
"Don't know what?"
"For God's sake, kid, why is there a wizard in Zed's office?"
"What!" Epsilon was up out of his chair like a jack-in-the-box, his face draining of colour. "There's a wizard here? Why? When did he arrive?"
"I was hoping you would tell me," grunted K. "He's blonde, wears a suit, and arrived about ten minutes ago requesting to see you. What have you done now?"
"Nothing, I swear!"
"Really."
"I'm serious, dad! I haven't been in contact with any of them for over ten years!"
"Well, obviously not because this guy's British."
Epsilon swore.
XXX
"Draco?"
The blonde wizard in the suit turned at the sound of his name, and nodded to his old friend.
"Hello, Epsilon."
Epsilon shot Zed a pleading look and he got the hint, slipping quickly out of the office to leave them alone. The two wizards regarded each other in silence for a moment.
"How are you?"
"I'm good, I guess," said Epsilon. "You?"
"I am well. It's been a long time."
"How did you find me?"
"Tracking spells, of course."
"The illegal ones?"
"We had to bend a few laws," admitted Draco stiffly. "But this is an emergency."
This got Epsilon's attention.
"What kind of emergency?"
"Well, probably not your kind of emergency, but a… I think you'd call it a 'situation'."
"Go ahead."
At this point Draco reached into his jacket pocket, suddenly the fully professional Ministry of Magic employee.
"Were you familiar with a Julianna Jane Cook?"
"Julianna? Dark hair, blue eyes? Yes, I knew her. Haven't seen her for at least ten years."
"I am sorry to inform you that she died just a few days ago."
Epsilon was silent, shock and confusion coursing through his mind. He wasn't quite sure what to say.
"I knew her for all of twelve hours," he admitted. "Why are you telling me this?"
Draco's eyebrows seemed to be crawling up his forehead.
"Because she had no adult family, few friends, and because you are the main benefactor of her will."
"What?"
"Twelve hours, you said?" continued Draco sadly. "I wasn't sure what to expect, but I didn't think it was like that?"
"What are you talking about?"
"Are you aware she had a son?"
"I… no, I wasn't."
Epsilon's mind was going in circles, his thoughts looping back around as they kept coming back to the inevitable conclusion.
"Please don't tell me he's ten years old," he groaned.
"You always were good at sums," shrugged Draco. "The parentage test we carried out came back positive."
Epsilon didn't even ask. He didn't want to know how they managed magical paternity tests.
"So… what happens now? I've never even met the kid. Hell, I didn't even know he existed! I… um… what's his name?"
"Sebastian," said Draco, rubbing the bridge of his nose. "Look, Epsilon, I know this is a lot to take in, but we need to get this sorted now. One of the ass holes lower in the department leaked this to Rita Skeeter, this will be all over the Prophet tomorrow. We need to get this boy out the country tonight or it's going to be a complete media circus with poor Sebastian at the centre."
"What, so you're just going to let me take him? Gonna hand him off to a total stranger just like that?"
"It goes against all our protocols, but yes," sighed Draco. "We have no choice. Normally we would arrange temporary foster care and home visits. Gentle integration, but now we're being forced to dig back through the book. The old adoption laws are still in effect, and state that if a blood link is proven, the father has the right to automatically take the child and protect them as he sees fit."
"You already have the proof."
"Yes. The paperwork needed to change his surname is being filled in as we speak."
"He's not going to be a Potter!"
"No, of course not. We're not that stupid. Potter isn't your legal name anyway, your muggle adoption still stands, despite what Dumbledore tried to do…"
"What did Dumbledore try to do?"
Draco stopped and sighed again.
"I think we should continue this in my office," he said eventually. And pressing an old quill into his hands they were gone.
