Progress

Daisy sighed as she stretched and rolled over, snuggling deeper into the comforter. It was Sunday, so no practice. She might actually try this sleeping in thing a bit, smiling to herself. Her bed was always comfortable, but something about Wills' just seemed like sleeping on a cloud.

"You awake?" he said softly, slipping an around around her and pulling her closer to him.

"No…" Daisy replied, keeping her eyes shut. He kissed the back of her head and settled back into the bed.

"Suppose we don't have to get up right away," he murmured. "You don't have lunch with your family today?"

"Not this weekend," Daisy said. "Stopped doing that every Sunday awhile ago with all our crazy schedules. Try to do it every other week or so."

"How drunk you suppose they all got last night?" Wills asked.

"Fairly," Daisy replied. They were both were quiet a bit. Wills opened his eyes, looking at Daisy's mess of curls over the pillow, her hand gripping his. The gentle rise and fall of her chest as she drifted back to sleep. He smiled to himself, not quite believing that she was there. He had never brought anyone to his place, outside his family and few very close friends. He wasn't one for planning and hosting parties – didn't like the massive clean-up afterwards. And he liked the privacy. He had always seen his place as a sort of sanctuary of peace and calm.

And yet, with Daisy there, it seemed like he finally realized something had been missing. It felt as though it was finally perfect. A home. And all she had done was be there.

He sighed happily and continued to watch her a few moments longer, before she turned over, her bright green eyes looking up into his blue ones.

"I can feel you, you know," she said, smirking up at him.

"I know. Not keeping you awake, am I?" he asked. She shook her head.

"No. It's… Nice. Still a bit… I'm still getting used to it. You're different than the others," she said. Wills frowned slightly.

"How so?" he asked. Daisy rolled her eyes.

"You're not my mom, dad or brother," she said. Wills nodded.

"Right," he said. Daisy laughed and leaned over, kissing him softly.

"You feel like home to me too," she said. Wills smiled at her.

"So… how soon do you think until you move in?" he asked. Daisy laughed loudly, rolling onto her back.

"You can't be serious," she said, grinning at him.

"I am. We tell everyone at the Summer Ball and then, what? Wait a month or so? You'll likely be staying over here before then a lot anyways," he said calmly.

"Bryan Wills," Daisy said, sitting up and holding the comforter to her. "First of all, I'm not entirely sure I'm ready to move in with you. Yes, we have a bond and things are… different… but that doesn't necessarily mean I want to just skip over all the normal aspects of dating and jump straight into planning the wedding."

"I said nothing about a wedding. Granted, I've been planning that for the better part of a year or two as it is," he replied, his eyes twinkling. "I just said move you in." Daisy shook her head.

"You really have a death wish with my father, don't you?" she asked. Wills sat up against the headboard and pulled Daisy down into his arms.

"You make a fair point there," he said. "Alright. We hold off a bit on the moving in part. Date – like normal. And see where we are several months down the line." He glanced down at her. "And you're right… I guess with the connection I just… I got ahead of myself. This is still… new for both us. And I know you're still figuring things out. Especially with Kingfisher."

Daisy sighed and nodded.

"He might come back," she said, frowning slightly.

"So it would seem. Why you think Nilsson didn't tell you before the conference?" he asked, looking down at her.

"Dunno," she said with a shrug. "Maybe he forgot. Or thought it wouldn't come up. They did blindside dad with that question about Remus and Alan."

"How do you feel about it, Pix?" he asked, turning serious a moment.

"I'm not sure," she said. "I suppose there's no need worrying about it until it happens, though."

"You owl him?"

"No… Still can't seem to bring myself to do it," she said. "But I suppose I should if he might come back. If he's going to be on the coaching staff, we'll have to clear the air at some point." She looked up at him. "And I suppose I should tell him about us. Wouldn't do for him to get over here and find out. He should know before he comes."

"You think that would keep him in the U.S.?" Wills asked, his brow furrowed.

"Maybe?" she said, looking away.

"Daisy… do you want him to come back?"

"I want… I want him to be safe. But ultimately, I know that he should be allowed to make his own decision," she said. The two lapsed into silence and Wills wished he could see inside her head. "Nope. Not letting you see a single thing." He sighed.

"Wasn't going to ask," he replied.

"Trust me, you don't want to see in my head right now. It's a mess," she replied. Wills kissed the top of her head.

"Just remember I'm here now. So your mess is my mess," he said softly. Daisy nodded and glanced up at him.

"You sure you want in on this mess?" she asked. "You can still make a run for it." Wills chuckled.

"Daisy Wood, I've wanted in on that mess for a long time now. Besides, we're connected. You're stuck with me," he said. Daisy chuckled and snuggled closer to him.

"Could have been worse," she quipped. "At least this will add a bit of excitement to the family gatherings."

"Ah yes. I'm sure George is going to get even richer with all the bets sure to be rolling in," he replied.

"I can just see Christmas now," she said with a sigh. "Mum'll be freezing Dad every few seconds to stop him from jinxing you."

"Good thing you got those shields down."

Several days later, Hardwick quickly made his way through the maze of a house, practically running up the stairs and down hallways. Didn't matter if he was late because his coach kept them late, Magnus didn't like to be kept waiting. And Magnus could get scary when he was unhappy.

He finally reached the upstairs parlor and stopped, catching his breath. He then calmly pushed the door open and walked in. Magnus was seated in front of the fireplace, glancing over at him.

"You're late," he said boredly.

"Apologies," Hardwick said, walking in and sitting down.

"Find anything useful for me?" Magnus asked, shifting in his chair. He didn't particularly put much stock in the seeker's abilities to spy, but at least it kept him out of his hair and away from the more sensitive projects. He had a few others looking into the Woods as well, to make sure they would catch whatever Hardwick missed. Why his grandmother had insisted Hardwick be involved because of some old friendship with his grandfather, he'd never understand. Obviously she had never met the quidditch player herself.

"Well, Jamie and Daisy seem to have these marks. Potter says it's just a family thing, but they seem odd-"

Magnus raised his hand, silencing him. He tossed a magazine on the table.

"It is a family thing. All four of the children have them. It's become a trend, apparently. More players are starting to get tattoos, as are fans," he said. "What else?"

Hardwick went silent a bit, thinking quickly through everything. He had been trying to get close to Potter, but the git was annoyingly sparse on details about his cousins or his family. Choosing instead to go on about some girl he met while out with his cousin one night. And it wasn't like he could just ask him outright about Jamie and Daisy's trip. For someone so talkative, Potter didn't give up much that was useful.

"I think Daisy and Bryan Wills, the chaser from Puddlemere, are together," he said quickly. It was the first thing that popped into his mind and from the look on Magnus' face, he knew it was the wrong thing to say. Magnus sighed.

"I do not have time for quidditch rumors. I'm not Witch Weekly," he spat. Hardwick went silent and stared at his hands in his lap. "If that's all, you can go. I have more important things." Hardwick nodded and stood, quickly leaving the room. Magnus rubbed his temples. He knew he likely wouldn't find out much, but still. Glancing at the magazine, he opened it up, looking over the photos. In one Daisy was reaching for a drink that one of her brothers – he honestly couldn't tell them apart – held away from her, laughing. The mark was small, but visible. He glanced over to another, seemingly taken at a practice. The two Woods on the Wanderers were standing on a pitch in tank tops, offering a clearer view. It was a snake circling itself. An odd choice, for sure. As far as he was aware, the whole family had been Gryffindors. Would have made more sense for them to get something with lions. Snakes had long been the sign of Slytherin. Seemed like an odd family crest, which is what one of the brothers had said it was.

Sighing, he put the magazine aside as the men from before filed into the room. Keenan, Rees and Walters sat and looked at him expectantly.

"I do hope that you all have something more significant to report. Hardwick did not," he said, looking at them coldly.

"Well, another group has just confirmed what we already suspected about the veil… that it will take extremely powerful magic to use it," Keenan said nervously. Magnus rolled his eyes.

"We already knew that, Keenan," he said, irritated. "What other non-news do you have?" He was frustrated. It seemed as though they had been getting so close and then everything had stalled.

"It seems we are having difficulty in ascertaining just who would possess such powerful magic," Walters added. Magnus glared at him.

"Oh, you think?" he replied.

"Sir, if I may… I've been looking into this Athena prophecy on my own… there's no record of what it says exactly, but… I believe – I mean – from what I've read, it seems to be referring to… to a person. Or persons. I'm not sure. But they would be someone of great power," Rees said. Magnus looked over at him.

"Are you inferring that this prophecy – or whoever the prophecy is about – could be the person that we need to have power over the veil?" he asked quietly. Rees sputtered a bit before answering.

"I believe it could be," he said. "I think they would carry some sort of ancient magic that would allow them to pass through." Magnus nodded and took a deep breath.

"But we have no idea if this person or persons even exist," Walters said.

"Then, I suppose this means that we should focus our search on this prophecy and whoever it refers to," Magnus said. The men nodded quickly, glancing around at each other. "Now go. Get to work," he said dismissing them. He watched as they all scurried out, no doubt to their respective groups. He sighed and stared at the fireplace.

Hopefully this would garner something – anything – to get them back on track. He was getting impatient. And so were those above them. They needed to find something substantial and quickly. Sighing, he stood and walked over to the desk, going through the papers he had brought back from the Ministry. The little secretary with the ability to find nearly anything the maze of the Archives was proving quite useful. Granted now that the aurors were watching her, he'd have to be more careful. As it was, she had no idea what she was doing, nor who was actually using the documents. He supposed he could just go down and fetch them himself, but it was happenstance he came across her his first time in the vast caverns. Why do the work yourself when you could delegate? Not to mention it helped cover his own tracks. Any documents found outside the Ministry would be traced back to her. And she didn't remember passing them on to him.

Though he thought it was a nice touch that the aurors thought she was involved in the group. It was a good red herring, to be sure. He contemplated leaving around little clues to focus them more on her. Just to frustrate their efforts and get them to waste time going in the wrong direction.

He picked up the report on the battle of Hogwarts and walked over to the chair, sitting as he re-read it. It was intriguing, but lately he was starting to think there was something more there. The feats of Iris Evans-Wood were nothing short of incredible, though how they managed to keep them mostly from the public boggled him. Granted, being a metamorphmagus was nothing too out of the norm. Nor was hand magic. While not many could do it, if one trained hard enough, it was possible. The shields were interesting though – just the sheer amount she had been able to maintain at once. If anything, it would help to keep an eye on her. He sighed and put the report down, staring off into the fire again.

They went to Greece over the break… Jamie and Daisy have been acting odd lately… they don't need wands anymore, supposedly… they have these new tattoos.

Magnus suddenly sat up and looked down at the report again, searching for something.

Witnesses said there was a glowing mark on her back that was visible through her clothes… it appeared to be a circle…

He reached for the magazine and flipped through it to the photos. A snake in a circle. All four Wood children had them, saying it was something they did together as a family. Magnus sat back in his chair, laughing. Of course, Hardwick would stumble onto something. But he wasn't about to mention it to him. He then looked over to the desk where reports were sitting from the other groups. He walked over, digging through them until he came to a letter from one of the groups from Greece.

References a mark… Doesn't say what it is… No clue what the significance is… However, history texts say the sacred animals of Athena were the owl and the snake…

Magnus looked around the room as he started to put it together. The Woods were linked to the prophecy. Sure, they didn't know what it said yet or what exactly everything meant, but it was obvious that they contained some sort of great power. An ancient magic. And Iris appeared to be the most powerful of them all, passing on at least some, if not all, of her gifts to her children.

"I believe it will be a very good report to file, after all…" he said to himself softly.

Teddy followed Wickers into the small cottage, looking around it. It appeared old and worn. Small. But nearly every space possible was filled with scrolls and parchments.

"Welcome to my humble abode," Parker said warmly as he let them in. "Rees is already in the sitting room."

The two walked through the small entryway into a cozy room full of more bookshelves packed to the brim. Rees looked up and smiled brightly at the two.

"Good to see you Wickers, Fletcher," he said with a little nod. Teddy nodded silently as he took a seat and looked over the piles of scrolls, books and parchments littering the table.

"What's this?" he asked.

"Oh, just some things I found in my own library pertaining to ancient Greek magical culture," Rees said. "Thought they could be useful."

"You have your own collection of texts?" Teddy asked. Rees nodded, seeming pleased.

"Not nearly as extensive as Wickers' used to be, but I'm working on it," he said. Wickers reached into a satchel and started pulling out his own books and putting them on the table.

"I still have a ways to go to rebuild my own collection," he said with a chuckle. "But I'm getting there."

Teddy picked up a book and studied the worn cover.

The History of the Cult of Athena by Nikos Aliefantis

He fought off the urge to roll his eyes. They appeared to have just about everything at their fingertips. More than his team had had, and they had the entire Archives at their disposal. It was just a matter of if or how or when they put it all together. Granted even his team had only put it together as quickly as they did because they had the prophecy to begin with. He hoped that would be one clue the group never got their hands on and was enough to thwart their efforts.

"He's got a lot of interesting texts on ancient magical cultures, but nothing in the last 20 years or so," Rees said, pointing at the book. Wickers looked at the title and nodded.

"I have a few by him. Did that have anything interesting on the prophecy?" he asked. Rees shook his head no.

"Mostly just historical aspects of Greek culture and how the myths and cults surrounding Athena played into modern Greek magical culture. But nothing on prophecies," he said. "Where's a good oracle when you need one." The younger man chuckled as he turned back to his book.

"I wonder if the old man is still around. Would be nice to pick his brain on this," Wickers said offhandedly. "He's probably got a lot of interesting takes on these things."

"Doubt he is. He's been putting out books for nearly a century as it is. If he's still around, probably best friends with ol' Flamel," Rees said, not looking up from his book. Teddy chuckled to hide his discomfort. If only they knew.

"Couldn't hurt to look into it, could it?" Parker commented as he handed out mugs of tea to Wickers and Teddy. "Maybe find family or friends who knew him?"

"I could give that a go," Teddy found himself saying. "Got a knack for finding people." The three men looked at him and then smiled.

"Good!" Wickers said. Teddy nodded and opened the book, glancing through it. He knew already that he'd concoct some sort of story that the professor had passed on and hopefully nip that in the bud. If they weren't looking for Nikos, less likely they'd find out the truth behind the prophecy and Prostatis. It was unlikely the professor and group had spent all those years hiding and not covered up their trail well.

They wouldn't have even known about them if the professor hadn't told them. And they only found him because Chris had the idea of looking through muggle professors. He doubted this lot would think of that. However, there was the matter of the Woods. While they had mostly kept the extent of Iris' abilities out of public knowledge, there was enough out there about the three that it was possible the group could put two and two together. Teddy found himself wishing he had a timeturner so they could go back and cover their tracks more carefully. Especially now that they knew there was a mole in the ministry. Oh well, too late for that, it seemed.

As long as the group never found the connection between the Woods and the prophecy, it was likely they would eventually move on to something else after they continued hitting dead ends. At least that's what he told himself.

"Ah, this is interesting," Parker said, drawing Teddy out of his thoughts. "Says here that the snake was one of the symbols of Athena. Funny. I always thought it was an owl."

"Any reason behind that?" Rees asked, his brow furrowed.

"Doesn't mention it in this text. Interesting. Suppose something to file away in case it pops up again," he said, still looking at the book. Teddy groaned inwardly. At the time they concocted the plan to play down the significance of the Woods' marks, he thought it a good idea. Now he was worried it would end up backfiring. They should have gone with concealing them in the hopes whoever had seen them already would forget.

He put the book down and picked up another text, listening to the random comments of the other men, but the whole time, his mind whirling with how he needed to throw them off the trail without being obvious.

Merlin, this was turning into a bigger problem. And he still didn't know who was behind it all. He glanced around the men, taking into stock what he knew about them. Wickers was still being tracked by the Ministry and nothing there indicated he was meeting up with any nefarious types. Parker was the same. Rees he hadn't a chance to really look into, but for the most part seemed to stick to his home where he studied outside of the group meetings. Or out at various libraries and bookshops looking for more texts. He did seem to visit an elderly grandmother quite a lot at an old manor in the countryside. But for the most part seemed harmless.

Teddy sighed. Whoever it was, they were definitely falling behind the cover of seeming innocuous. Perhaps it was time to look closer.

And things are moving forward...

Again, these chapters on the group and how stuff is discovered are hard to write...

That bit at the beginning, I'll admit was a later addition to the chapter. Initially it started with Hardwick and Magnus, but once I finished that and Teddy meeting with the others, it was too short and I couldn't think of other ways to drag those out anymore without making them tedious to read. But it still needed... something. After going through some of the later chapters, I realized I could sneak in some more Daisy and Wills time and address some things that I had forgotten to address in the previous chapter. So, I think it worked for the most part. The next three chapters are actually spread out over April and May to get us up to the playoffs and finals and focus more on the investigation and the group, so really needed to put the Daisy-Wills stuff in now. Then, the three chapters after that focus solely on quidditch and personal stuff with the Woods and then, well, everything comes to a head.

I can't believe we're getting so close to the end of this book. Seriously need to start planning the next one...

AleenaBean - I'm glad you liked it! I had a bit of trouble with it because I had been working on later chapters and going back to write the press scene had me feeling like it had been over with for awhile - rather than just being a few days after they return from the island (god, why does it feel like that was forever ago...). Plus, I wanted Daisy to come off strong, yet at the same time didn't want her to alienate the press. Yea, I thought it was important to include Daisy's thoughts on that, because it is different. John and Wills are so not the same, and her relationship with Wills is definitely a bit out of the ordinary considering it all came about because of the connection (though, she was obviously feeling him before that... just didn't realize it or rather ignored it).

Alexandra Granger Potter - I'm happy that you're enjoying it! Haha, yea, I had a few folks not happy that Daisy and Toby didn't end up together, but I don't know, I guess I never thought they were a good match couple-wise. I've mentioned it before, but I didn't even know who I wanted her to end up with until about half-way through Where There's a Wills... And back then, Nilsson was still in the running (albeit a very distant third to Wills and John).

As always, thanks for reading, following and reviewing!