See chapter 1 for notes, disclaimer, and everything…
IMPORTANT NOTE: I'm still writing this story; I need to format scenes to post them here. Stay tuned.
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Snape waved his hand as if it were really not important, but Ducky looked so eager to know what the wizard had done that Snape answered. 'I opted for the easiest spell. The thief will be forced to admit what she did and how she stole my work. If she tries to plagiarize someone else, she'll become sick,' Snape said.
'Even if it's a Muggle article?' Ducky inquired.
'Any text that this person attempts to steal is protected by my spell,' Snape explained.
'You're good,' DiNozzo said.
The Squib had been so discreet that Snape's inner radar had ignored him up to that moment.
DiNozzo looked really in awe of Snape's talent. Snape was about to say that this wasn't much, but Dumbledore intervened.
'Severus is an astounding wizard,' Dumbledore said.
Had Harry not been in his arms, Snape would have vented his anger and bitterness on the old wizard who had never protected him. Snape knew that anything that he could say would be wasted on Dumbledore; besides, the child in Snape's arms was more important than anything else in the world.
'You didn't seem to care for any of my gifts until I was almost lost, and you discovered you could use me to spy for you,' Snape said bitterly.
'There, there, Severus,' Dumbledore said.
'I rescued Harry two days ago, and I have a lot of things to do for him. I'll ask you to leave my house now,' Snape declared.
'You cannot keep Harry with you. Now that he's under a full magical protection, I can take him with me,' Dumbledore said.
Harry wailed and hid in the folds of Snape's robes.
'You can't separate them,' Gibbs declared.
'Jethro's right. You can't treat this child as if he were a piece of furniture. Now that he's under the protection of a powerful wizard, Harry has to stay with him,' Ducky intervened.
'But Severus bears the mark of Voldemort. Men from the Ministry, or other Death Eaters, might target him and then Harry might be taken,' Dumbledore said.
'I'll die before I let anyone take Harry from me,' Snape declared.
Harry stopped hiding and beamed at his saviour.
'You're not really gifted with young children,' Ducky told Dumbledore.
That statement amused Snape, who chuckled at Dumbledore's shocked expression.
'Why are you telling us all these important things about the situation? Is it because we don't have magic?' Gibbs inquired.
'No, that's because he's planning to Memory-charm us,' DiNozzo said.
'He wouldn't, would he?!' Abby exclaimed.
DiNozzo snorted.
'What kind of spell is that?' Gibbs asked.
'One that makes you forget everything on one topic, or absolutely everything. Cynthia told me about it,' Abby said.
Ducky turned towards Dumbledore and said, 'Are you planning to make us forget we met you?'
Ducky looked so hurt and betrayed that Dumbledore paled.
'Tomorrow, you won't remember we've met,' Snape said.
Harry wailed "No!" and his small hand found Abby's.
Abby looked at her friends, silently begging for help.
DiNozzo sighed and said, 'There's one way.'
Before Dumbledore could bat a lash, Gibbs had moved behind him and was immobilizing him, and at the same time, DiNozzo took Dumbledore's wand. Dumbledore wasn't expecting NCIS agents – one former Marine and one former police officer – to overpower him so easily.
'Don't let him say a word!' DiNozzo warned his friends.
Ducky's hand covered Dumbledore's mouth.
'You see, I never showed signs of magic, but Mother and Grandmother taught me the theory. Now you've got no way to cast any spell, and you're going to swear on your wand that you will never Memory-charm any of us, and that you're going to help Snape take care of Harry,' DiNozzo said.
Dumbledore glared at him.
'Don't underestimate us,' Gibbs added.
Snape put his wand back in his sleeve and held Harry tighter. He thought that Dumbledore would manage to take Harry from him and that Muggles were no match for a powerful wizard such as Dumbledore.
'Will you swear?' DiNozzo asked.
Dumbledore kept glaring at the young Muggle.
'We're not a threat,' Ducky intervened. 'We could help you.'
Dumbledore shook his head stubbornly.
DiNozzo and Gibbs traded looks. They'd gambled and lost; there was nothing Muggles could do to make a wizard do something he didn't want to.
Ducky and Gibbs freed Dumbledore, but Gibbs made the wizard swirl around to face him.
'I hope the kid's parents come to haunt you!' Gibbs spat, low enough for Harry not to hear.
'Actually, Cynthia taught me one thing,' Abby said coldly.
Abby took Dumbledore's wand from DiNozzo's hand. Then, she laced the fingers of her free hand with Snape's, and she aimed the wand at Dumbledore.
'Okay, Mr "I'm-a-great-wizard-who-thinks-he-can-do-anything", are you going to let Harry stay with Severus?' she asked.
Dumbledore was surprised to see sparks at the tip of his own wand – his wand that was in the hands of a Muggle. Granted, she was holding the hand of a wizard, but that wasn't the way it worked.
'Whoa!' DiNozzo exclaimed.
'Abby shouldn't be able to do that,' Ducky half-stated, looking at DiNozzo.
'I couldn't do it, even as pissed off as I am, and she's using a wand that's not hers,' DiNozzo said. 'In theory, that's impossible.'
Snape was in awe.
Dumbledore was beginning to be truly afraid for the first time in his life.
'So?' Abby growled at Dumbledore.
Dumbledore sighed deeply and took two steps back to sit down on an old wooden chair.
'I thought Petunia would protect Harry, and I made a mistake when I promised her I wouldn't interfere. Lily was her sister, and I thought that after Lily's death Petunia would love her nephew,' Dumbledore said. He looked at Severus and said, 'You're going to be even more in danger when Voldemort comes back. How can you protect Harry then?'
'My Mark is almost inactive. We have time before he comes back,' Snape declared.
'Are you going to leave them alone?' Abby asked Dumbledore.
'I want to help,' Dumbledore said.
'Do you know the difference between helping and interfering?' Abby asked.
Before Dumbledore could answer, Snape snorted and said, 'No, he doesn't, but I won't let him bother Harry in any way.'
'I really want to help,' Dumbledore insisted.
'Stubborn,' Abby said, looking straight at Snape.
'Understatement, Agent Sciuto,' Snape declared.
'You can call me that in forty years. Right now, "Abby" will do, Severus,' she said softly as she squeezed his hand. 'Fate brought us here today. Ducky found the article that the idiot stole from you, then Tony told the rest of the team about magic, and then we met. I don't know what I can do, but I'll tell you where you can find me, and if you need anything you can come see me. At anytime – I'm a bat.'
'Aren't you going to stay, Mummy?' Harry asked with a very small voice.
'Abby isn't from this country,' Severus answered patiently.
Harry pouted.
Abby let go of Severus's hand and tossed Dumbledore's wand back to the old wizard, who barely caught it. She crouched next to the chair and said, 'I've got to work, Baby, but you and Severus can come and see me whenever you want.'
'Why aren't you working here?' Harry asked.
'I need her,' Gibbs told Harry.
'Why?' Harry insisted.
'Abby is the Queen of her lab. We need her help,' DiNozzo added.
'Goddess of the lab,' Abby corrected her friend.
'Abby is helping us catch criminals,' Ducky added.
Harry looked at their visitors and his protector, clearly lost. 'Huh?' he said.
'When people do bad things, they always leave things behind. My job is to give a name to those things, and then Tony and Gibbs go arrest the bad people,' Abby explained.
'Will you show me?' Harry asked.
Abby looked up at Snape, while Harry alternated looking between Snape and Abby. Snape nodded; he was using Legilimency to be sure that the Muggles were on his side. Up to now, Snape was satisfied with the feelings and thoughts he could read in his non-magical visitors; he knew that they were all on his side for Harry's sake – even if they didn't know how powerful Dumbledore and Voldemort were.
All that Harry knew right now was that after one long nightmare, he had a daddy and a mummy. The boy hoped that it wasn't just a dream – that had happened before, and then he'd woken up in the cupboard again.
'What can we do to help you?' Ducky asked Snape.
'There's nothing you can do about the Dark Lord,' Snape pointed out.
'You must need help to find stuff for Harry,' DiNozzo stated.
'Daddy blinked us here from the house of Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon. It was funny,' Harry said.
Snape looked at Gibbs, the only one whom he knew could help him and give him tips about raising a young child.
'You should show Gibbs what happened when you rescued Harry,' Abby told Snape.
'Would you agree?' Snape asked Gibbs.
'It would help you understand why I want to help them, Gibbs – why I must help them,' Abby told her friend.
'All right,' Gibbs consented.
Snape shared again what had happened that made him rescue Harry; he added a few things to help Gibbs understand why Snape was slightly wary of Dumbledore.
'Is there a way to force him not to interfere?' Gibbs asked, pointing a finger at Dumbledore.
'There's one,' DiNozzo said. 'If he swears on his wand, he'll be bound to his word.'
Dumbledore glared at the young agent.
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(Next scene as soon as possible. It's typed and edited… I "just" need to format it for here)