Chapter 9.

"This was unexpected," Harry said slowly, looking from face to face. "I asked to meet with Kingsley."

"And I'm here," the tall, dark form of the head of the DMLE stepped forward. "It's good to see you, Harry."

"And you." Harry looked around the room to spy nearly all the living members of the former Order of the Phoenix. "What's all this?"

"We've been readying the Order in response to new Dark threat," Kingsley said. "Your stag interrupted our discussion about whether to contact you or not."

"As I said, Mr. Potter, you know how to make an entrance," Snape commented.

"Harry, it's good to see you, dear," Molly Weasley stood and made her way over to press a kiss on each of his cheeks and look into his eyes. "You're looking a bit peaky, dear. You must come by and let me feed you."

"I'll try, Molly," Harry murmured to her. "I've been quite busy."

"Never too busy for family, dear," she admonished, drawing his face down to press a kiss to his forehead before turning to James. "And who is this nice young man?"

Harry inwardly snorted then met James' eyes with a roll of his own. James twinkled at being called a 'nice young man,' but obligingly withdrew his hand from Harry's to offer it to Molly. "Bond, ma'am. James Bond."

"Welcome, Mr. Bond," Molly said prettily, as James drew her hand to his lips to kiss the knuckles.

"James, please."

"I like him, Harry." Molly smiled. "Bring him with you."

"Of course, Molly." Harry smiled back, then looked round the room. "Everyone, this is James Bond, my colleague and partner. James, this is the Order of the Phoenix. The lovely lady whose hand you're still holding is Molly Weasley, matriarch of the Weasley family. All the redheads in the room belong to her in some fashion." Harry raised a hand to point to several people in a row. "Her sons, Ron, Charlie, George, Percy, and Bill, and her daughter, Ginny, along with her husband, Arthur." They each waved in turn, Ginny adding a bit of a raised eyebrow and a wink at James. James raised an eyebrow back and glanced at his partner who flushed becomingly.

"If nothing's changed, the ladies next to them are their significant others, Hermione Granger-Weasley, Angelina Weasley, Audrey Weasley, and Fleur Weasley. I'm afraid I don't know the gentleman next to Charlie."

"Georges Giurgiu, Mr. Potter. Charlie's partner."

"Nice to meet you, Georges," Harry said. "Coming round the other side, we have Neville Longbottom, Hannah Abbott -"

"Longbottom, Harry," the lady in question corrected him.

"Ah, congratulations, Hannah. And Neville, too, of course. Followed by Luna Lovegood, Susan Bones, Dean Thomas, Andromeda Tonks, Professor Pomona Sprout, Professor Filius Flitwick and Headmistress Minerva McGonagall."

"Headmistress, I believe you knew my parents, the Bonds of Skyfall," James enquired.

"Yes, of course, Mr. Bond. Your mother was my cousin on my father's side," Minerva said. "It's good to see you. When last I met you, you were running about Skyfall with a sticky face and dirty knees."

"Ah, the joys of being a child," Flitwick commented.

"No, I do believe that was..."

"Probably enough," James said firmly, twinkling in Harry's direction. Harry grinned back.

"Well, then, Mr. Potter, Mr. Bond, please have a seat." Minerva raised her wand to conjure two more chairs and men pulled them up. "We were just discussing the threat, and whether you should be informed, Mr. Potter, when Kingsley received your request for an urgent meeting."

"Yes," Harry said. "I can't say what I need to speak with Kingsley about specifically, because of national security, but I can say that there's been a recent change of leadership where I work, and it's important that our new leader be better informed about the magical world."

"Harry, most of the room is now aware that you work in intelligence," Kingsley said solemnly. "It was necessary to the discussion about whether to inform you or not about the new Dark threat. From what we can gather, the group that's rising is planning to blow the Statute of Secrecy and take over the muggle world, starting here in Britain."

"Why here?" Harry asked.

"We're viewed as weak, still in recovery after the last Wizarding War, and unable to put up much of a fight, especially with your disappearance," Hermione explained. "Your paperwork in the Ministry shows that you're still alive, but you're not a part of the magical world any longer, as far as the threat is concerned, so they appear to think we're vulnerable here."

"No more vulnerable than any other magical government without me," Harry responded. "I'm only one man, after all."

"And quite possibly the most powerful wizard alive," Snape reminded him. "While our government is now relatively stable, as are other magical governments and the International Confederation of Wizards, our population is low due to our losses. We haven't recovered numbers quickly enough to have a strong fighting force. Not to mention, there's still infighting among us, between various factions left over from the last war."

"These things add up, Mr. Potter," Minerva explained. "We were just discussing whether asking you to make a public magical appearance would do any good toward strengthening our position."

"I don't see how it would," Harry admitted. "I'm still only one man."

"You're also a symbol, whether you like or not, Harry," Luna said dreamily. "A rallying point. Perhaps a way to turn them away from Britain."

"And have them do what? Blow up France?"

James interjected with a question. "Harry, do you think this is the group responsible for the tech recovered by our agent in Egypt?"

Harry pulled his tablet out of the air again, automatically adding a dampening shield so his electronics would work, and reviewed the schema that was being generated by the other muggleborn wizard in Q branch, orders he'd texted from M's office. "If not, there are two groups, and neither means us well," he said absently, spinning through the sketches left in his files."

"Um, Harry?" Hermione asked timidly.

"Yes, Hermione?"

"Is that a computer of some sort?"

"High-end tablet of my design, actually," he responded, flashing through files and reviewing relevant reports at speed.

"But electronics don't work in Hogwarts," she pointed out.

James snorted. "Q's do. I mean, Harry's do. All the non-magicals he works with-none of whom have any idea that he has magic, by the way-believe him to be a miracle worker of some kind with machines."

"Yes, well, combining science and magic has been my thing for the last several years," Harry muttered again, studying a picture of the pipe bomb from a different angle.

Hermione cleared her throat. "Harry, may I tell them?"

Harry looked up blankly, then his face cleared. "Right. I made you vow, didn't I? Yes, go ahead, 'Mione. I'll be another minute looking at this intel.

Magic accepted the directive, and Hermione relaxed. "Harry has degrees from Cambridge University in physics and engineering. He attended uni for six years after his return to London and earned doctorates in both. I watched him graduate. Just understand that he's got more masteries in Muggle sciences than nearly anyone."

"Shocked her, too, that I had a brain," Harry muttered, before shrugging. "Screw it." He popped the image up on the screen, grabbed it with magic-charged hands, and flung it into the air to display in 3-D. "This is what the group in Egypt has. We're analyzing it now. They've got more, but our agent was able to get this one out to me by using one of the dampening devices I've invented."

"Could you get more of these dampening devices?" Bill Weasley asked. "If they could disable these things, that would be quick, temporary fix to the imminent crisis."

"Yes, but they're propietary," Harry said to blank looks from across the room. "I mean, they belong to the organization I work for, not me. You'd have to work with us to get access to them."

"Harry," James said. "M will definitely agree to a joint mission in the interests of national security, both to eliminate the threat and to familiarize himself with the magical world. He doesn't care to be ignorant, nor to be in need of the dressing down you gave him today."

Harry shrugged. "He'll get more of the same if he expects a trained pet wizard, won't he?"

Kingsley frowned. "Him? M is a woman."

James shook his head. "The previous M was a woman. She was killed at Skyfall three weeks ago, and a new M took her place. It appears he knows nothing about the magical world, and all he received was a letter that appeared in her handwriting when he sat at her desk."

"This is what you meant by a change in leadership?" Kingsley asked Harry.

"Yes," Harry said, looking up from his tablet. "He only knows about magic, and that I have it. Why was he not better informed when he took over?"

"I don't know," Kingsley admitted. "There's no protocol for that particular connection, as it started with the previous M. We didn't have time to plan for her retirement."

"It's just as well she thought ahead enough to have a letter charmed for her," Harry mused, "though I do wonder who set that up."

"It indicates a security breach, at most," James said, "and a classified informed person, at best."

"As far as I am aware, there are only two wizards associated with our division, James, and I'm one of them. The other works in branch with me-I've been bringing him along to take over my old tech projects, to give me time to manage the branch. Any others that might be in our division would have been known to the previous M, but it's not like there's a secret handshake or something." Harry waved that off a bit. "For all I know, there are others who simply choose to keep quiet about their magic because they're living muggle."

"That happens quite a lot, actually," Kingsley observed. "Often muggleborns, in particular, will go muggle and hide themselves from the magical world. There was an especially large exodus when you were in your teens, Harry, and Voldemort was rising back up to power."

"So best likely explanation is that previous M knew about another wizard in-house who could charm the letter for her in my absence, as I was frightfully busy during the whole Skyfall debacle, trying to help James capture the threat." Harry looked back at James. "By the way, I fixed your Aston. It's waiting in my warded lab. You'll have to wait a few more months for it, though, because it's not possible for it to have been restored the non-magical way that quickly."

James grinned, quick and bright, and pressed a kiss to Harry's lips. "Thank you."

Snape sneered lightly. "Perhaps now is not the time for such displays, gentlemen."

"Oh, let the boys be, Severus," Molly exclaimed. "It's sweet."

"As sugar," Ginny said, eying the pair with undisguised interest.

Harry kissed back, then leaned back and called the 3-D image back down. "Down, Ginny. Mine."

Ginny pouted. "That's not what you said when -"

"Right," Harry interrupted, to James' amusement. "So, Kingsley, will you join me and the new M for lunch today? You can establish your new communication needs and introduce yourselves. I'll also have a cell phone you can use to reach M or myself, equipped with a magic dampener."

"Yes, of course, Harry. Noon at the Leaky?"

"Done." Harry texted M, got confirmation, then looked up. "We're set. James, will you join us? It's quite likely we'll need your missions expertise."

"Of course."

"Professor," Harry turned to address Snape, "you have experience with muggles, do you not?"

"You know I do, Mr. Potter," Snape drawled.

"Could you join us as well? You are best equipped for this kind of operation, if you're up for it," Harry asked earnestly.

"If you'd like. I've been bored lately, anyway," Snape said.

"Excellent. The rest of you, stay alert, but let us handle this. We'll let you know if we need your help," Harry said, looking over the crowd of old friends.

There was a murmur of agreement as Minerva stood up. "The elves will start serving breakfast in the Great Hall shortly. I invite you to take part before you leave. Your children will be informed and brought to you."

"Children?" Harry asked. He really had been out of the loop.

"Yes, 'arry," Fleur said softly. "Our Victoire and your godson, Teddy, started classes last fall 'ere at 'ogwarts, but there are others whom we brought with to sleep through the meeting."

Hermione stood and pulled Harry up for a hug. "Rose and Hugo are 5 and 3," she said briskly. "And George and Angelina have two, and Percy and Audrey have two. Luna's expecting."

"Luna!" Harry called out. "When are you due?"

Luna stood and walked over to Harry calmly. "June, Harry. Mr. Bond, it's good to meet you."

"And you, Ms. Lovegood."

"It's Scamander now, actually," Luna corrected him. "I just didn't want to be rude while you were introducing everyone, Harry."

"Congratulations, Luna," Harry said, hugging her tightly. "I missed you."

"You should come and see us more often, Harry," Luna admonished gently. "You know how the wrackspurts get around you when you don't."

Harry laughed, a rich and full sound that made James grin, too. "I do, Luna. I'll send you a cell phone."

"Excellent." Luna kissed his cheek and left the office. Harry exchanged greetings and hugs with nearly everyone as they filtered out, leaving only Harry, James, Minerva, Snape and Ginny.

"So we're not going to share this time, darling?" Ginny asked with a nudge and a wink, extending a hand to James.

James raised an eyebrow in question to Harry. "Something I should know, dear?"

Harry flushed. "Ginny and I were an item in school, and from time to time, over the years ..."

"Last time was two years ago, actually. You got some promotion at work and we celebrated all night, Harry, my boyfriend, and I. I don't think he gets out much now, James," Ginny said cheekily.

James smiled at her. "We're a very new couple, Ginny, and I'd like to keep him all to myself at the moment."

"Probably wise," Ginny sighed. "Oh, well. It's good to see you, Harry. Nice to meet you, James." She kissed them each on a cheek and sauntered out the door.

Snape sneered lightly. "I think that was more information than I certainly needed to know."

Harry rubbed the back of his neck absently. "Probably. She's got no discretion, which is one reason we didn't last to begin with."

"Whereas I," James intoned, pressing himself along Harry from behind, "am the soul of discretion." He bit, very lightly, on Harry's neck, enjoying the shiver.

"When you want to be, yes," Harry said huskily.

"James," Minerva said sharply. "Stop molesting Mr. Potter for a moment, if you would. I'd like to know what happened to Skyfall, and if you'd like help repairing it."