Author's Note:

Oh! Hello world! I am so glad to see that a good portion of you liked Chapter Nine! I tried to add some problems between Gibbs and Tim and I will try to not make everything okay overnight. I mean, Harry's going to have some abandonment issues. He was abandoned by his aunt and his honorary grandfather, all within less than a year. I also have a bit of an idea with the will. Please be open minded, I'm not exactly sure if people are going to like this. Well, read and review people!

Chapter Ten: The Will

Tim nervously played with his tie again as he sat in the room where the Potter will was to be read. Vincent wouldn't be giving him support today, as he would be reading the will. That didn't make Tim nervous though, he could get through without the slightly older man's constant presence. No, what made him feel like he was about to puke everywhere was the fact that one Mr. Remus John Lupin would be coming to the reading. Tim knew that Remus had been one of James' school friends who had constantly helped pull pranks on unsuspecting students and teachers and had a fierce loyalty to the man and his family. That included Harry, even though he wasn't a Potter by blood. Remus sounded like a nice man, but he was terribly afraid that the younger man would to get custody of Harry.

Remus did have a right to Harry, has he was the boy's honorary uncle, but Tim wasn't going to give that to him. If he wanted Harry, why hadn't he taken the tot when he first became an orphan? It would have made the most sense, as Remus had known Harry and the Potter's much better than Petunia had and would have been able to care for Harry the way Lily would have wanted, but he hadn't. He had let Harry end up in a hellhole where he was unloved and abused. Tim knew that he was known as a forgiving man, but forgiving Remus for what had happened seemed near impossible.

There was a sudden 'pop' and Tim jumped out of his seat, startled. In the room now stood a man who appeared ragged and worn and seemed fairly tired. His eyes were a fairly bright golden brown color, though they were dull. When he spotted Tim, he gave a small, tired smile before hobbling over. He must have been in a fight recently, as the leg that was the culprit behind the hobble had been recently bandaged. "Hello there," the man said, "You must be Timothy McGee. I'm Remus."

Shock ran rampant through Tim's body. The man that Lily had spoken so highly of, who Timothy imagined had the same IQ as he had, was this poor man? He looked to be intelligent, but as if he had just come crawling of a dumpster. Tim reached out and grasped Remus' hand. "That would be me." Tim said, "I've heard a lot about you Mr. Lupin."

"Please, call me Remus," he said, "Mr. Lupin still reminds me of my father."

Tim was curious as to why the man looked so poor, but didn't vocalize his thoughts. It would be rude and uncalled for, especially since he had only known the man for only five minutes max. Remus gave another sad smile and Tim knew that his attempts to be subtle were in vain. "It's alright to be curious," he said, "Everyone is from time to time. I should let you know."

"You don't have to tell me anything." Tim said. He knew what it was like to talk about things that he didn't want to talk about. Back when the Smith's first took him in; Mrs. Smith had constantly asked him questions about how his home life had been. Mr. Smith had been somewhat distant, as they were getting a divorce and he had been fighting with Vincent a lot back then, but he had protected him when his father tried to break his wand. As much as Mr. Smith reminded Tim of DiNozzo Senior, he knew that there was one difference. Tony's dad hadn't cared for Tony at all; Vincent's dad did love Vince, which was probably why the two had started talking again. Tim made a mental note to visit both of his surrogate parents.

"I want to be able to see Harry," Remus said, "and if I don't tell you the truth and you find out another way, you'll probably never let me see him again. Bloody hell, you probably won't let me see him once you know the truth!"

"You love Harry and that's all that matters."

Remus snorted. "I'm a werewolf."

This time, the shock wasn't as bad. The full moon was just a few days ago, explaining why he looked so tired and worn. Tim knew that getting jobs in England were very hard for werewolves, as the British magical community had many laws against them. One of them was that a werewolf wasn't allowed to start a family. That explained why Remus didn't get custody of Harry.

Tim gave the man a small smile. "Do you honestly think I care?" he asked.

Remus looked completely shell-shocked. "I tend to judge people on what they do, not who they are." Tim explained, "There was a girl in my class who always hid in the corner where the sun couldn't reach her. I remember my father telling me that she was vampire and that I wasn't to go anywhere near her. The very next day I got up the courage to introduce myself. Her name was Allison and she was one of my best friends. I still keep in touch with her. If I can be best friends with a vampire, than why the hell wouldn't I accept a werewolf as my son's uncle?"

The hug that Remus gave had been unexpected, but not unwanted. Tim wanted to be on good terms with Remus, he wanted Harry to have a chance at knowing not only the mother had lost, but his step-father too.

As the two pulled away, Vincent came into the room. He gave a large grin at Tim and a polite smile at Remus. "You must be Mr. Lupin." Vincent said, "I'm Vincent Smith, Mage-in-Chief of the United States of America. Now, normally, Ms. Theresa McCoy would be handling this case as she is our cabinet member for Foreign Affairs, but I felt personally responsible for this case."

Remus looked bashful. "Thank you, sir."

"The pleasure is all mine Mr. Lupin." Vincent said. Then he turned his attention to Tim. "Are you recovering alright Tim?"

"I'm doing as well as expected Vince." Tim said. Out of the corner of his eye, Tim saw Remus' eyes widen. Tim turned to face him. "I'm a Navy cop, an equivalent to an Auror," he explained, "About a month ago I was shot and only got out of the hospital last week. Vincent is my best friend and watched Harry for me while I was there. He's reading the will because he doesn't want the will to be misread or lost again."

Remus nodded. "I've been on the wrong side of muggle guns before." Remus said.

A few moments later found Vincent calling in Tim attorney and an extra for Remus. At the confused look he received from the Brit, Vincent explained that the laws against werewolves were very much different in the United States and all werewolves were to be treated as if they were a normal wizard. The werewolf smiled and relaxed, taking a seat with Tim.

Vincent took a seat himself and grabbed the will. Clearing his throat he began, "I, James Charles Potter, and I, Lily Marie Potter nee Evans, do declare ourselves of sound mind. We declare this to be our last will and testament and revoke all wills and codicils previously made."

"We have one son named Harry James Potter, born July 31st. In the event that we die before he becomes of age, we appoint Sirius Black to be our Personal Representative to administer this Will. If Sirius Black is unwilling or unable to serve, than we appoint Alice Longbottom as our Personal Representative in his place."

"Any and all debts, taxes, and necessary funeral costs should be paid in full by the Personal Representative before any actions that are dictated in this will are to take place." Vincent paused here for a moment. "Do you know if any and all debts were paid Mr. Lupin?"

"I believe they were, but it would be much more effective to ask the goblin in charge of their accounts." Remus said.

Vincent nodded and whispered something into a multi-colored ball at the tip of his wand, than it vanished and Vince continued to read the will. "To Sirius Black, we leave ten thousand Galleons, James' Cleansweep, and custody of Harry James Potter, if his biological father is unable or unwilling to take custody."

Tim's mind was racing. James knew Harry wasn't his! Then anger took over Tim. Who was this Sirius Black and why hadn't he taken custody?

Vincent went on reading despite his friend's turmoil, "To Remus Lupin, we leave ten thousand Galleons, Lily's school journals, and James' history books. To Frank and Alice Longbottom, we leave seven thousand Galleons and our dearest cat, Ophelia. To Peter Pettigrew, we leave one Knut, as, if we were killed by You-Know-Who, he was our secret keeper and obviously betrayed us. To Petunia Dursley, we leave one Knut and a wish that you will one day come to your senses. To Timothy McGee, we leave five thousand Galleons, Lily's journals of the summer you spent together, and James' pensive."

"If we are to die before one Harry James Potter becomes of age, custody should be given to whoever is available in this order: Timothy McGee, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, Frank and Alice Longbottom, Arthur and Molly Weasley. In no case is Petunia Dursley or her family to ever gain custody of Harry James Potter. This is our final will and testament as of October 20th, at the Potter Cottage, Godrick's Hallow."

Tim spared a look at Remus and noticed that the younger man was crying and muttering something unintelligible. Catching Vincent's eye, Tim silently asked what he should do. Vincent shook his head and pointed to the door. "I'll bring Mr. Lupin to your house later Tim." Vince said.

Tim nodded before leaving the room and heading towards the nearest fireplace. As much as he hated the Floo, it was the quickest way home, especially since he had the fireplace installed at his house. Gibbs would be at the house watching Harry, as he had come to do in the recent week. His relationship with them man was still slightly precarious and Harry still feared that his grandfather would suddenly disappear again, but Gibbs had proved himself to be a capable and reliable babysitter when needed, so the older man was often at the house when Tim needed to handle paperwork from the hospital or legal matters like today.

Tumbling out of the fireplace, Tim coughed a little before being bombarded by a hyperactive three-year-old. Tim smiled as the little rascal wrapped his arms around his neck. His little boy was turning four in two days and Tim hoped that Remus would stay long enough to celebrate the occasion. The werewolf had missed almost as much of Harry's life as Tim had and he didn't want him to miss another minute.

"I'll never get used to you tumbling out of a fireplace McGee."

Tim smiled at his boss. "I won't either Boss."

Gibbs smiled and shook his head. "Lunch is on the table and Harry was supposed to wash his hands, but I don't think he did."

Harry looked bashful and ran off to do his grandfather's biding. "I'll see you Sunday, Tim."

"Bye boss."

Soon enough Tim was cleaning the kitchen while Harry took a nap. Tim jumped when someone knocked on his door, but relaxed when he remembered that it was probably just Vincent bringing Remus over. Drying off his hands, Tim went to open the door.

"Are you Mr. Timothy McGee?"

Tim almost jumped when he looked down. Outside was a goblin who, if his facial expression was anything to go by, wasn't pleased to be here. "Yes, that would be me."

"These are the items that were left in your possession according to the Potter will," the goblin stated, "The money was transferred to your vault and these were to be hand-delivered to you by the order of Griphook, head of the Potter vaults."

Tim politely took the offered items. "Thank you very much," he said, "May your gold always flow."

The goblin smiled at the phrase. "And may your investments be sound Mr. McGee." Then the goblin was gone.

Shutting the door, Tim quickly ran to his room. Millions of questions were running through his mind, most of them referring to the pensive that James had left. What had been so important for James to say that he had left it in a pensive for the man that his wife had cheated on him with?

Hoping and praying to Merlin that this wasn't James' equivalent to an afterlife Howler, Tim plunged his head into the bowl.

IN THE PENSIVE

Tim was in a fairly comfortable office. The rug on the floor was a simple red and the fireplace was roaring with life. In the light he could see a man that he assumed was James Potter. He was sitting at a desk with a sad face. He had obviously been crying earlier.

James turned his head and Tim swore that the man was seeing him. James gave a humorless chuckle before running his fingers through his hair. "How do you even do this?" he asked no one. "Dad had always given me advise on what to do if a girl cheated on me and what to do if she ended up pregnant, but not what to do if I wanted to leave a message to the man that she cheated with." Another humorless chuckle passed his lips. "Guess there's a first time for everything."

"Before I say anything else, I want to tell you I'm not mad at you." James said, "At first I was in a rage. All I knew was that another man had slept with my wife and had gotten her pregnant. I was tempted to go to America and hunt you down, make you feel the pain that I felt when I learned that the love of my life had cheated on me. Then Lily explained the affair to me and I learned that you thought she was being honest when she told you that she was single. She showed me a picture of you and all I could see was the little things Harry got from you. I'm still upset with Lily, but not with you. You were an innocent roped into a situation you didn't fully understand. At least, I hope you didn't fully understand."

"Most men would divorce their wife and abandon the child that wasn't theirs. That isn't me. The moment I saw Harry for the first time, I fell in love with the little baby. He was absolutely perfect and, even after I learned that he wasn't mine, he was still perfect. If you didn't want him, I would have gladly raised him as my own. Now, it seems as if I won't ever have my own."

Tim felt the tears running down his cheeks. He wished now more than ever that Harry hadn't been his. Tim still had a chance to fall in love and start a family. James didn't have that choice now, he was dead.

"If you're thinking that Harry shouldn't have been yours, then you might as well stop that right now." James said, suddenly looking like a little boy that was caught with his hand in the cookie jar, "To be honest, if you hadn't got my wife pregnant, she would have never been. I found out after our wedding that I was… well, to put it into simple terms, not able to produce enough of the little guys to actually get a girl pregnant. So, in a way, I guess I should thank you."

"Thank you for giving Lily the best gift she could ever ask for," James continued, "and thank you for giving me a son that I could love as my own. You probably will never hear this if we survive, but the lunatic is after us, so I highly doubt we'll be able to watch Harry grow up. I hope that, even though Harry is probably going to be the biggest surprise of your life, you'll love him like I did. Thank you."

OUT OF THE PENSIVE

Tim wasn't surprised when he came out the pensive crying. James had known, though probably not for very long, that Harry wasn't his. And the man still loved him. His own father hadn't loved him, but James had been able to love his son like his own. That meant the world to Tim.

Suddenly there was a hand on Tim's shoulder and he jumped. Rubbing away the tears, he faced Vincent and Remus, both who looked extremely worried. "Are you alright Tim?" Vincent asked, pulling his friend into a one-armed hug.

"I'll be fine in a few minutes Vince." Tim hiccupped. Then he turned his attention to Remus. "There's a spare bed in the office. You can stay there. Don't even say you can't, I want you to be there on Harry's birthday."

"He probably won't even recognize me."

Tim spotted Harry in the doorway, looking as if Santa Claus had come early. "You'd be surprised Remus. The kid has a memory like an elephant."

Before Remus could get out another word, he was tackled by Harry, who was saying 'Uncle Moony!' in the loudest voice Tim had ever heard Harry use. Remus looked like he was about to cry. Tim gave a shaky smile. He had so many questions for Remus, but they could wait. The werewolf needed to hold Harry close. He needed to make sure he wouldn't disappear.

Even though he was still crying, Tim was happy. His little boy had gotten back his uncle and he got to keep the tyke. All was right in the world of Timothy McGee.