Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, nor do I own the Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting or Neverwinter Nights 2. Those belong to JK Rowling and the geniuses at Wizards of the Coast and Obsidian Entertainment, respectively.

Yet, Never, in Extremity

Decisions

"Hope" is the thing with feathers –

That perches in the soul –

And sings the tune without the words –

And never stops – at all –

And sweetest – in the Gale – is heard –

And sore must be the storm –

That could abash the little Bird

That kept so many warm –

I've heard it in the chillest land –

And on the strangest Sea –

Yet, never, in Extremity,

It asked a crumb – of Me.

- Emily Dickinson

"Be careful, boys." Gann couldn't help a small smile when Callum grinned up at him, Bevil's son hot on his heels. Odd, he couldn't help thinking, how history tended to repeat itself at times.

"Sorry, Dad, we're just going to go meet Harry. Auntie Min wants to talk to him and Mother, probably you, too."

"Why don't you and Danan go find your grandfather and Safiya? I'll meet your brother."

"Yes, sir. Mother and Auntie are in our kitchen."

The boys ran back towards the Keep proper, and Gann chuckled a little before making his way through the busy courtyard.

Had it really been that long? Almost seven years since they'd brought Harry to Faerûn; the kind and gentle boy that he and Lyssi considered as good as their son, the boy Callum called brother and Danan Starling idolized. The boy that would be returning to that plane to study a form of near-sorcerous magic that had even Safiya scratching her lovely tattooed head. Harry wasn't his by blood, but this was a boy he'd helped raise, and, if he was right, who would soon be spending most of the next seven years on the plane that had almost stolen Elyssia from them. Though, he thought with a small flash of residual anger, that was mostly the fault of that thrice-damned sword in the first place. And Kelemvor. He wasn't sure how, but given enough time he could probably trace that back to the current God of the Dead somehow.

And Callum, if Elyssia and Minerva were right, might be joining Harry in two years. Lyssi had told him about that night before Khelgar, Daeghun, and Safiya had brought her home, and he held no ill will towards his wife for it. He knew full well her competitive streak, after all - he'd used it to win a kiss when he'd first started courting her - and he doubted that her tolerance for alcohol had increased in her time away from them. It didn't mean that he wouldn't be severely tempted to lay hands around Severus Snape's neck if he ever met the man, though, even if Elyssia herself wasn't sure which of them was Callum's father.

Harry was just bidding Ivarr farewell when Gann reached the Temple of Tyr. "How were your lessons?"

"They went well," Harry said. "Ivarr's teaching me how to cure minor wounds and a few basic antidotes. I should have it soon. I hope."

"I'm sure you'll do well; Ivarr's had nothing but good words for your progress. Minerva's here."

"How long is she here for? Have she and Grampa Daeghun gotten into any fights yet?"

Gann laughed. "Not yet. But she wants to talk to you and your mother, and I made sure your brother fetched your grandfather and Safiya for this."

Harry cringed. Not, Gann thought with an amused snicker, that he didn't have reason to. "Please, Father, please tell me we'll be away from any weaponry? After last time…"

"I'm afraid the family meeting will be in the kitchen. Now don't look at me like that, it was your mother's idea. How are your eyes feeling?"

"Fine, since the last time Ivarr looked at them. He said he did as much as he could with the scar on my forehead, too." Harry reached out absently, tugging at the thick fringe that hid the last vestiges of a faint scar shaped like a lightning bolt and smoothing the dark hair more firmly over his forehead.

They'd told him when Harry was nine. About what the scar meant, about Harry's birth parents' death, about Voldemort's campaign of terror - and that was a pathetically stupid name, wasn't it? To think that Elyssia had been in the thick of that… But they'd made sure that Harry knew what everything meant, that he'd be a celebrity for something he couldn't remember if the scar was displayed. It didn't sit well with Elyssia, it didn't sit well with him, it didn't sit well with Harry or Elyssia's aunt. Thank the spirits for the last.

Her aunt… Gann mentally shook himself, put a hand on his eldest boy's shoulder. "Come on, let's go see what the old dragon wants."

It was an odd sight to see the entire Faerûnian contingent of her pseudo-family arrayed opposite her, Minerva thought as she watched Daeghun Farlong and Safiya take their seats. Elyssia and Gann directly across from her, each with an arm or a hand on young Harry and Callum watching her suspiciously from just behind his mother's shoulder - the boy looked eerily like his father with that particular look on his face. Daeghun and Safiya had taken a seat on either side of the small family, glaring for all they were worth.

Minerva fixed both of them, wood elf and Thayan, with her sternest glare and slid a parchment envelope across the table to Harry. "Your Hogwarts letter."

Harry nodded slightly and brought it back to him, flipping a small dagger from his belt to slice the envelope open. He removed the letter, read it, passed it and the supply list over to his foster mother. Daeghun was reading over Elyssia's shoulder, she noticed.

"We can go shopping today or tomorrow, if you'd like," she said, folding her hands on the table and watching the little family. "While I'm sure that many of the Potions ingredients would be much better for your classes were they picked here, I cannot say the same for the rest of your supplies, Harry."

"He hasn't agreed to go," Daeghun said, still imposing despite the fact that he was shorter than she was.

Minerva caught the little ones looking at each other, looking between each of them, and starting to inch towards the door. After the royal altercation the last time she visited, she didn't blame them.

"Down, boys," Gann said, and Minerva could hear the laughter in his voice. "Your grandfather and your great-aunt aren't going to start anything this time, are they?"

Daeghun rolled his eyes and went back to reading over Elyssia's shoulder, plucking the letter from her hands when she'd finished.

"Your grandfather has a point, Harry," Elyssia said. "It's your decision. Would you like to go to Hogwarts?"

"I've been hearing about it for almost forever, Mother," Harry said. "Of course I want to go!"

"You understand everything that the decision means?" Safiya said. "If you go to Hogwarts, you won't be able to keep up the practical lessons with Ivarr until you come home for your holidays. You won't be able to see us outside of your long breaks and summers, you won't be able to come home except for those times. The only contact you'd have with any of us is through letters. Do you understand all of that?"

Harry bit down on his lip and looked at the tabletop for a moment. "Auntie? Will I still be Harrison Kendrick there? When you call for the Sorting and in my classes? I…I like being Harry Kendrick, and I haven't been Harry Potter in so long…"

Minerva couldn't help the soft smile on her face. "Of course you will. I'll make sure of it, even if I have to transfigure the lists myself."

"Do not feel that you have to go out of some sense of obligation," Daeghun interjected. "No matter what they say, you do not owe them anything."

"Now see here, Mr. Farlong -"

"Father!"

"He is right, though." Gann reached around Elyssia and turned Harry's face towards his own. "Think long and hard about this, Harry. If you want to go, let it be because you want to go. Understood?"

"Yes, sir…Mother, Father, may I be excused for a while?"

"Come find us when you're ready, sweetling. Callum, if you want to go, too?"

"Yes, Mother. C'mon, Harry, let's go find Danan."

The boys walked out of the room, and Elyssia turned her gaze to her and the elf. "Father, Auntie, I appreciate that you're trying to help in your own ways. But this will be Harry's decision. I want it made without any outside interference other than any advice that he might ask for. And, for the sake of every god and his mother - don't you dare snicker, Gannayev - can you two please stop acting like a pair of three-year olds?!"

"Come in."

"Mother? Father? I, um, I was wondering…could we get Auntie Min to take us shopping tomorrow? For my school things?"

"Of course, sweetling. Why don't you go ask her right now, hm?"

"Thank you!"