On to the Next Adventure

The next morning, the triplets were up making breakfast when Daisy walked out. She stopped and watched them a moment, a small smile on her face.

"Blimey, Pix. Did you cry all night? You look atrocious," Remus said, walking over to her.

"That's a lovely way to say good morning," Daisy said, scowling slightly. Remus smiled and pulled her into a hug and then kissing the top of her head.

"I think maybe Alan might have some cream for that amongst his very complicated skin care regimen," Remus said softly.

"I heard that," Alan said from the stove. Daisy laughed softly as she hugged her brother back.

"It's alright. I've got stuff. And unless he's been getting his potions, lotions and concoctions from someone other than me, Mum or Uncle George's shop, I know for a fact that your skin care regimen is more extensive than Alan's," she said, glancing up at him.

"Thought that was our secret?" Remus said, frowning down at her.

"There are no secrets in this flat," Jamie said from the bar where he was looking at The Prophet while drinking coffee. "Especially not now that there are two Legilimens here."

"How could I forget," Remus said as Daisy let go and walked over to sit next to Jamie. Remus walked back into the kitchen and poured her some coffee. "So for those of use who can't read minds or feel emotions, how you two feeling?"

Daisy looked over at Jamie.

"A bit nervous. You?" she asked. Jamie looked up.

"About the same. Not sure what to expect over the next couple of months," he admitted.

"Will you be able to keep in touch with us? Or they completely cutting you off from all contact?" Alan asked, turning from the stove slightly.

"Nikos said we'll be able to owl and such," Daisy said. "I'm taking Ruff with me, so we'll try to send letters as much as we can. But you should only use him. Granted, there will be some things we can't say until we get back in case the letters are intercepted."

"You think someone would be looking to intercept them?" Remus asked, his eyes full of concern. "It would be that dangerous?" Daisy shrugged.

"We don't really know seeing as we still haven't figured out who exactly is behind the upcoming danger or what they know. But the Prostatis been incredibly private about their location for generations, so I suppose a lot of the precautions are to help keep their secret as well," she replied. Alan held a full plate out and Remus handed it over to Daisy.

"Well, at least you two can have a full breakfast before you head out," Remus said with a smile. Daisy squealed with glee as she picked up a fork and started to dig in.

"Much better to see you like this, Pix," Alan said, looking over his shoulder at her. She quickly swallowed the large bite of eggs she took.

"Well… it's gonna be a process, but… I'll be okay in the end," she said, smiling.

"That's our Pixie," Remus said. Daisy took a deep breath and smiled before returning to her food. She glanced around at her brothers and couldn't help thinking this was how it should be. Though, a small part of her was slightly on edge, feeling like something was missing. She shook it off, determined not to think about it. She had other things to focus on today.

"You sure you've got everything?" Iris asked for the millionth time as she stood in the living room of her children's flat, hands on her hips.

"Yes, Mum! I've tripled checked all my stuff and it's there," Daisy moaned, rolling her eyes at her mother. It was just like they were back in Hogwarts the morning they all left for the train. "You can go through it, if you'd like." She kicked at her backpack that sat on the floor at her feet. Despite the chaos of moving all of her things from John's unexpectedly last night, she was still able to get everything sorted and packed – even had time to check over everything that morning before her mother arrived.

"Just want to make sure you don't forget anything," Iris said a bit breathless. "It's a bit warmer there than it is here."

"We know, Mum. But it's still winter," Jamie said.

The three were currently waiting on Nikos to arrive. From there, the four would orb to a small village called Perdika where they would take a boat to the small island of Moni, just off the larger Aegina island. The community of protectors - or Prostatis as Nikos called them - was located on one shore of the island and so protected by magic that they could only enter the first time if lead in by someone who had been there before. Otherwise they would just wander around in circles on the coast.

Remus and Alan stood in front of the bar, watching as their mother and two siblings pulled on their winter coats and made ready to leave as soon as the old professor arrived. Lila stood next to Jamie, holding on to his hand tightly.

"Did I miss them!" Wills shouted as he bounded into the flat. Daisy sucked in her breath, freezing slightly as the chaser grinned, happy not to have missed the Woods' departure. While she still felt slightly awkward around him, the nerves were quickly squashed somewhat by his happiness that was pouring through the connection. Iris looked up from her bag and smiled at the chaser, but then stopped as her eyes widened. She looked over to Jamie. He just smiled and shrugged.

"What's going on?" Lila asked softly, looking up at Jamie as he started to grin. Iris looked utterly flabbergasted.

"Well… turns out Daisy developed a connection after all," he whispered, looking over at Wills. He had to admit, after thinking it over, it was ironic and slightly hilarious that it would be Wills. The tall blonde beamed at Daisy as he walked over and wrapped her in a tight hug.

"Promise not to fall in love with one of those handsome Greek blokes while you're gone, Pixie," he said dramatically.

"I… doubt I'll have much time for that," she squeaked out. Jamie started chuckling and shaking his head as Iris blinked slowly, still coming to terms with what she had just discovered.

Before anything else could happen, there was a knock at the door. Remus walked over and answered it, leading the grizzled old man back into the living room.

"Ah, good! You are all ready," he said, smiling brightly. He was wearing his own heavy coat and carrying a knapsack over his shoulder. Wills let go of Pixie and looked over at the man.

"You must be Nikos," he said, putting his hand out. "Bryan Wills, center chase for Puddlemere United and Pixie's future husband." Nikos chuckled as he shook his hand.

"Ah… young Daisy. What did I say? You did not have to worry about the connection. It would come when the time was right. And it is quite strong, I see," he said, glancing over at Daisy. Wills froze as Remus and Alan stared at him and Daisy a few moments before bursting into laughter.

"I… excuse me… what?" Wills asked, leaning closer to the man. Nikos looked over at Daisy, whose face was red and her hair quickly turning purple.

"Oh, Athena," the old man muttered. "I did not realize you hadn't said anything. A recent development, yes?" Daisy nodded.

"Last night," she murmured.

"What? And you said nothing to us? Did you know Jamie?" Remus shouted.

"Of course he knew," Alan said, still laughing. "Merlin, Mum you going to be okay?" All of them turned to look at Iris, who had a slightly dazed look on her face.

"I… well, I think so," she said, studying Daisy.

Nikos chuckled and looked around the room, his eyebrows shooting up when he saw Alan and Remus. He looked at Iris.

"Triplets? And identical?" he said, a bit stunned. She nodded. "But only Jamie has been marked?"

"Yes, why?" she asked. Nikos looked over at the still laughing Remus and Alan and back at Iris.

"It is interesting, but there is no time to focus on that now," he said. He bustled over to stand next to Iris and looked at Jamie and then Daisy.

"I apologize but we should be off. We can deal with all this when we return," he said. He looked at the four expectantly, holding his hands out. Daisy shook her head and stepped over to her mother, taking her hand and avoiding looking at Wills. Jamie kissed Lila on the cheek and then stepped over, taking Nikos' hand as Iris took his other.

"See you when you get back," Remus said, still chuckling. Daisy finally looked over at Wills, who was still stunned into silence. It was the first time any of them had ever seen him this quiet for this long. She waved weakly and smiled.

"See you in two months," she said.

The next second they were gone.

"Wills… you okay, mate?" Alan asked, stepping over to the tall player. Wills looked over at him, his eyes still wide.

"She… that… me?" he sputtered. Remus and Alan burst into laughter again.

"Better get him a drink," Alan said, looking over at Remus.

"But it's 10 in the morning!" Lila exclaimed.

"Doesn't matter, he needs it," Remus said, walking to the liquor cabinet.

"She can feel me?" Wills finally managed to get out. "It was me? At the party… and she… Merlin…"

"All those years of claiming you'll marry her must have finally won her over," Alan said. Wills shook his head and looked over at the spot where the four had just stood.

"More importantly, how do you feel about our sister?" Remus asked. Wills turned to look that them, taking in the shift in their demeanor. Both were suddenly quite serious as Alan crossed his arms in front of him, flexing his biceps and suddenly appearing quite menacing. Wills swallowed.

"I've always loved her," he said nervously. "You know that."

"We're serious here, Wills," Alan said.

"I am too," Wills responded. "At least… well… it's a bit complicated, isn't it?"

"That is true," Remus said walking back towards him.

"Blimey and now I have to wait two months until she gets back to talk about it," Wills replied.

"Good luck with that," Remus said, handing him a glass. Wills took it and down the whole thing in one gulp.

"What am I going to tell your Dad?" he asked, the color starting to drain from his face. "He's going to kill me." Remus and Alan chuckled.

"I suggest you don't say a word until Pix gets back. Or she will kill you," Alan said. Wills nodded.

"Good idea. Blimey…"

"There really is no dull moment with your family," Lila said, slightly in awe.

"No, there certainly is not," Remus said, grinning.

"Okay, so where are we on potential suspects?" Teddy asked, looking over at Chris and Dominique.

"So far, none seem active or organized enough to be behind something big," Chris replied.

"All of Voldemort's followers that we've looked into are either dead, in jail or reformed," Dominique said, looking over her notes. "Though we're thinking about looking into Grindelwald groups as well…"

"You think there might be some still around?" Teddy asked. Dominique looked up at him and shrugged.

"It wouldn't hurt to look," she said. Teddy nodded.

"How are you doing with the forum?" he asked, looking around the group of four in his office.

"We've got a meeting with Harry and his team in about 30 minutes," Toby said.

"And I need to go pick up the minutes from yesterday's planning meeting from the Department of International Magical Cooperation," Dominique said.

"Alright then, I suppose you should all get to work," Teddy said. "Good job so far."

The team stood and walked out to their desks.

"What do you think Jamie and Daisy are up to about now?" Dominique asked. "I wouldn't mind being on an island about now."

"Doubt it'll be much of a vacation for them. Aren't they supposed to be doing some sort of training while they're away?" Chris said, going through some files on his desk, getting ready for the meeting with Harry.

"Suppose Pix is glad to be gone about now, though," Toby said as he glanced at The Daily Prophet on his desk, grimacing.

"How back is it?" Molly asked, looking over at it, across her desk. "They weren't too hard on her, were they?" Toby sighed and lifted it up, displaying the headline.

Arrows Dream Couple Calls it Quits, Kingfisher Returns to U.S.

"It could be worse - at least the writer kept unbiased. But the timing and such doesn't paint the best picture. So far no one is offering much in comments. Though they did quote Nilsson as saying that the whole team wished for Kingfisher's quick recovery and the door was open for his continued involvement in the future, should he choose to do so," Toby said, putting the paper back down. "But no comment on the breakup. All he said was it was a personal issue between Daisy and Kingfisher and he had no comment on it."

"There's another article on Daisy and Jamie leaving the country," Chris said. "Suspect it's only a matter of time before the gossip columns flare up."

"It's probably a good thing they'll be cut off from news," Molly said as Dominique nodded her agreement. "Daisy always did take articles to heart too much."

"It is true about Wills?" Chris asked, looking at Dominique across from him. Her eyebrows flew up.

"How did you hear about that?" she asked, lowering her voice as she looked around. Chris stared at her a moment.

"You honestly think Remus and Alan were going to keep that secret to themselves?" he said, smirking. Toby chuckled from next to Dominique.

"At this rate, her dad is definitely going to find out before she gets backs," he said. Dominique's head whipped over to look at him.

"No. He absolutely can't find out," she said. "That would be a disaster of epic proportions."

"I'm not about to be the one to tell him," Toby said, still laughing. "Honestly, I don't think many want to take on that job. Daisy even said she wasn't looking forward to it. I'm sure Wills is dreading it more than her."

"When exactly did you have time to talk to her?" Dominique asked. "You weren't at the game or the hospital and she came straight over to our place then back home after she moved things out. Then they left yesterday morning."

"Ah, right… we charmed some notebooks that we write to with. Had them since Hogwarts," he said. "She sent me a novel the night before she left. I was still up, so we chatted back and forth a couple hours."

"So that's how you know everything," Molly said in awe. At that moment Teddy came out of his office and stopped when he saw his team sitting at their desks still chatting.

"I thought you all had work to do," he said, raising an eyebrow. Immediately, they all set about doing whatever it was they needed to do. Dominique stood quickly and left the department, making her way towards the lifts.

She waited patiently for one to show up and once it did, she was mildly surprised to see Magnus standing there.

"Dominique!" he said with a smile as she stepped in. "Fancy running into you." She smiled and pressed the button for the fifth level.

"Aunt Hermione let you out to roam?" she asked, looking over at him.

"Oh, she has me out and about rather a lot, actually. We use memo planes a lot, but she prefers me when it comes to files," he replied. "Where are you off to?"

"Department of International Wizarding Cooperation. Need to pick up a file from Olive Pentergrass on the forum," she said with a sigh.

"The Minister's got you lot working on that too now?" he asked, astonished. Dominique nodded.

"It'll probably take the whole Ministry to get that monster running smoothly," she said ruefully. Magnus chuckled.

"Sounds like you could use a drink. Doing anything after work today?" he asked. Dominique thought for a moment, Alan's comment from the weekend coming to mind. Dominique looked over at him, studying his face. He seemed eager for her to say yes, but she couldn't quite determine where he stood on the dating-or-not spectrum.

"Before I say yes, I think I should probably be upfront about something," she said. Magnus looked confused but motioned for her to continue. "I'm not saying that I've interpreted things this way, but I think it's only fair that you know – I'm not interested in dating at the moment. I had a bit of a rough break-up and I'm just not ready for that sort of thing. If friendship is still on the table, though, I am open to that."

Magnus stared at her a bit – momentarily stunned by her declaration – before he started chuckling.

"Dominique, you are stunning and while I do find you attractive, I assure you, I'm not asking you out on a date," he said with a twinkle in his blue eyes. "I'm far too busy to think about a relationship with the forum and other work that I'm doing for the Minister. I enjoy spending time with you and friendship is enough for me."

Dominique smiled and nodded, her cheeks slightly pink. Though she figured it was probably best to get it out in the open.

"Good, in that case, yes, I am free tonight. Same place?" she asked as the lift stopped at the fifth level. She paused before stepping out and looked back at him.

"Same place. I'll see you there about 7," he said. Dominique nodded.

"See you then!" she called out as she left the lift. No one else stepped in and the doors shut behind her. Just as soon as she disappeared, the friendly smile fell from his face as he began to smirk. He had to admit, he did find Dominique beautiful and enjoyable to spend time with. If he was going to have to spy on someone in that vast family of hers, at least he could have fun with it.

He waited patiently as the lift took him to the level where the Minister's office was located, humming softly. He smiled slightly to himself, thinking about how well everything was coming together. No one suspected anything and once he got close enough to Dominique, he would then have an in with not just the Minister, but the auror's office as well.

The lift stopped and the doors open, revealing the bright hallway outside the office. Magnus stepped out and started towards the door.

"I gotta a feeling… that tonight's gonna be a good night," he sang to himself softly as he smiled. "A good night, indeed…"

And here we are at the end of this book... I wanted to try and end this on a bit of a humorous note since the previous few chapters were a bit drama-filled. There is more drama to come, of course, but also some fun stuff. And of course, Daisy and Wills will need to get themselves sorted. I've already started writing the part where they tell Oliver and it pretty much writes itself since Oliver has long made his thoughts on Wills dating his daughter known. Cracked myself up a tad bit with it so far...

Feels a bit surreal that there are only two more left in this saga, but I assure you that I'm hard at work on the next one. Real life is really busy at the moment, but I'll try to get some sort of preview up by tomorrow in order to tide folks over until I'm at a point when I can start posting the next one. I'm still at about the first three and a half chapters done, with some from later chapters in pieces. And then the first eleven chapters planned. Really should get more of that done before I think about starting on posting the next book. I don't want you guys to have to wait forever on updates.

As always, thanks for reading, following and reviewing. And stay tuned for a preview off The Calm Before the Storm!