The twenty sixth chapter of the "Bureau agent Potter" is here! Enjoy!
* Review Response:
jgkitarel, I'm actually not sure how long I'm going to keep Megane in coma. Probably, a year or two at most. More than that would be not even believable, considering what is going to happen right after Harry visits his home world once again... Either way, she'll definitely be back before the StrikerS time. As for Lutecia's crush on Harry, well, read this chapter and you will see that it's going to probably be twice as hilarious as you originally though. Especially since Megane will tease Lu-chan about it.
FateBurn, Ranmaleopard, Impstar, god of all, myst, Opinr, Penny is wise, thank you for your reviews, folks!
ultima-owner, no, it didn't; I mean it worked as intended... Reinforce just dispelled them too early to prevent Sein from rescuing Tre.
Jose19, I'm not sure that I've discussed this with you and I'm too lazy to go through my PM inbox/outbox to confirm it, but, in short, that problem won't really be as serious as you think, especially once Hayate warms up to him a little more. Plus the next arc is going to net Harry yet another (female) friend, the one that can and will return to Mid-Childa with him, once the mess out there has been sorted out. As for Harry vs Voldemort; Harry has noticeably more raw power than Moldyshorts, but his offensive spells all boil down to dealing direct and external damage to the targets; not to mention that Harry needs to have his target in sight to attack it. Voldemort might not have as much raw power, but he also has a far greater variety when it comes to offensive magic, plus he can use trigger-based spells and curses that allow him to take potshots at Harry all the way from his secret and well-warded safehouse.
roughstar333, I hope that this won't really offend you, but I actually had no plans to include Hermione into the next arc (the one culminating with Harry vs Voldie) at all, but I think I might come up with some plot thread that would involve her as well.
MikuRikaChan, yeah, an idea it is, but I don't think I will be using it within this story. Maybe somewhere else, thought, it will bear some nice plot.
* AN: This chapter is a bit shorter than the usual, but... Anyway, Hedwig is going to re-join the cast, now as Harry's unison device, in the next chapter. Hayate is also getting a new unison device for herself in the form of Yuki-chan (the local version of Zwei, if you don't remember)
Disclaimer: I DO NOT own "Harry Potter" or "Mahou Shojou Lyrical Nanoha". No profit is being made. The same goes for the other books, anime & manga I may or may not use for ideas.
"speaking"
"telepathy"
'thinking'
"spells / devices speaking"
written messages
Bureau Agent Potter
chapter XXVI: Lutecia's new home
While the active phase of the mission had been only a few hours long, it still left most of the rescue team members, Harry included, quite very spent. Thus, to them it felt the voyage back to the TSAB Headquarters dragged on and on forever, even if in reality it lasted the same four days it had taken battleship "Varuna" to reach the non-administered world #154 – that's how strongly everyone just wanted to return home and get some rest already.
Eventually, though, they returned to the Bureau HQ and docked within that gigantic space station. Then, marshal Crowbel finally declared the mission to be over and dismissed the rescue team, letting them get some much-deserved rest. Free at last, the seven members of the Yagami-Potter household wasted no time on mingling around the headquarters and headed straight to the spaceport to catch the nearest shuttle to Mid-Childa... Five more hours, and they were finally home!..
And even though it was still an afternoon when they finally reached their apartment, Harry and the Wolkenritter went straight to their beds – the mission left them spent, emotionally if not physically or magically. Hayate, who wasn't an active participant of the operation, and Reinforce, who just never really developed a habit of sleeping, remained awake, though. And to occupy themselves with something while the rest of their family was asleep, they began preparing a massive party to celebrate their most recent accomplishments: Harry's solo mission; Reinforce finally freeing herself from the Tome's old and corrupted Defense Program; and, now, the successful rescue of Megane and Lutecia.
A few hours later, the now-refreshed Wolkenritter joined their mistresses, and the six members of the Yagami family continued to work on arranging everything for the party together. Thus, by the time Harry finally woken up in the next morning, all was ready for the celebrations.
And what a celebration it was; thanks to the efforts of the little Queen of the Night Sky and her faithful vassals, the party at the Yagami-Potter household went on and on for hours, spanning from the late morning to the pretty-late evening with just a few stops so that Harry and his friends could once again pay their last respects to Zest Grangaitz and, especially, Quint Nakajima...
Probably because she had taken the role of the party's host upon herself, Hayate was quite tired by the time the sun set over the city of Cranagan. And so, excusing herself, the little Queen of the Night Sky disappeared towards the bedrooms in order to get some well-deserved rest. And the Wolkenritter decided that they probably should take some repose as well, thus Harry and Reinforce were left to continue the party just by themselves.
And continue they did, though in their own way: now that the circumstances stopped conspiring to keep them from being intimate with each other, the two of them were going to catch up on what they've missed. And they had a lot of catching up to do...
With everyone else out of the room, Harry and his silver-haired lover weren't really showing much restraining in their desires for each other and soon the TV and the snacks were completely forgotten as their world shrank to just the two of them and the sofa they were lying on as they snogged each other with the full might of their passion... And that was just the beginning; soon enough their clothes started coming off as the pair sank deeper and deeper into their lust. But before it all escalated too far...
"Harry?" Reinforce, her face lit with a pretty blush, asked as her green-eyed lover gently stopped her from pulling his T-shirt off him. Her own top was crumpled somewhere above her now-fully-exposed breasts and her unbuttoned and unzipped jeans were half-way down her hips. "Something's wrong?"
"We should move to our bedroom." The young Potter whispered lowly, before laying a quick kiss on the silver-haired beauty's lips. "I don't think others will be happy if we mess this room up." The Lady of the Night Sky stopped for a brief moment to consider this. And as much as she wanted more love right here and right now with the risk of getting caught in the action actually driving her desires even stronger, she had to agree that he had a point.
"O-Okay." She finally agreed after a short pause. Leaning forward to plant one more small kiss on her lips, Harry then picked Reinforce in his arms. And once she wrapped her hand around his shoulders, he proceeded to bridal-carry her towards their bedroom...
A couple of hours – and also a few rounds of passionate lovemaking – later, the two of them were cuddling naked on their bed now, enjoying each others' warmth. Their little world, however, soon was disturbed by a constrained exclamation of 'oh my' originating from the room's doors, the doors that they apparently had forgotten to close when they relocated there...
Snapping back to the reality, Harry and Reinforce turned their attention towards where those sounds had come from, but the only thing they saw was the brown mop of Hayate's hair disappearing behind the corner as fast as that girl could move on a crutch. Dammit, this wasn't good...
"Let me deal with my master, Harry-kun." The silver-haired Lady of the Blessed Wind communicated telepathically as she pulled herself out of his embrace and got off the bed the two of them had been sharing until just moments ago... The young Potter, who still hadn't quite caught up with what was going on, merely nodded in response; and a moment later he got treated with the sight of his red-eyed lover hurrying after her little mistress while summoning a more homy version of her black-and-golden battle mini-dress to cover her nudity on the move.
Letting out a heavy sigh, Harry just hoped that Reinforce would indeed be able to resolve this whole situation without any relationship problems arising between himself and Hayate-chan...
The things were a little... strange and a bit awkward during the breakfast the next morning. Thankfully for the green-eyed teen, it didn't look like the little Queen of the Night Sky was really angry with him, even if she was giving him a look every now and then. On the other hand, whenever Hayate-chan glanced at Reinforce, an almost atomic blush would start blossoming on her cheeks.
As for the silver-haired beauty herself, she also couldn't look at her mistress without blushing, though hers was a bit more restrained. So, something interesting had happened between the two of them yesterday night, Harry concluded. And he'd be lying if he said that he wasn't at all curious about what exactly had taken place between those two girls. Yet, he knew that their relationship was none of his business, so he refrained from asking any questions... There appeared to be no major rifts between him and Hayate, and that was enough for him. That said, he just hoped that this awkwardness would disappear and everything would go to norm soon...
As for the other four members of the Yagami-Potter household,.. The Wolkenritter too definitely noticed that something had changed between their two mistresses over the night. But they weren't about to question them about it either. If either Hayate-chan or Reinforce wanted them to know more about it, they would tell them about it, they thought.
~/ *** \~
About a week after everyone returned to Mid-Childa, a missive from the Bureau higher-ups arrived to the Yagami-Potter household. In short, Reinforce and her knights were getting the remaining durations of their mandatory service for the TSAB noticeably reduced as a 'thank you' for their hard work during the rescue operation. Furthermore, the Wolkenritter were no longer required to wear their power limiters now, while their silver-haired mistress could have three of hers taken off now. And, finally, all five of them had the right to choose their duty stations returned to them.
Understandably, the last bit had spawned quite a conversation among the members of the Yagami family as Hayate-chan was really curious about where everyone wanted to go. As it turned out, though, most everyone was quite satisfied with their current units; only Vita wanted to request a transfer. When asked about where she wanted to transfer to, the miniature Knight of the Hammer gave the following answer: Air Forces' 5th expeditionary wing.
"My, my, someone wants to be together with our cute Nanoha-chan?" The Queen of the Night Sky said in a tone that made the thoughts going through her head blatantly clear to everyone within an earshot. Vita huffed, crossing her arms on her chest as a small blush blossomed on her cheeks.
"Well, somebody has to keep an eye on that little devil so that she doesn't kill herself or something..." The petite knight replied in a totally-not-honest voice.
"Of course, of course." Hayate-chan said as she waved her hand in a manner that made her disbelief in the redhead's reasoning as clear as crystal. "You have my blessing, Vita-chan." That was where Shamal lost her composure and dissolved into giggles, prompting the red-haired Knight of the Hammer to start chasing her 'round the living room with Graf Eisen in her hands...
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The young Potter was quite surprised when someone rang his doorbell late on a Saturday morning: as far as he knew, neither he himself nor any of his cohabitants were expecting any guests today. Understandably curious, Harry peeked out through the Judas hole to see, who these unexpected visitors were. They turned out to be a pair of the Social Services agents.
"What can I do for you today, gentlemen?" The green-eyed special investigator asked as he opened the doors and invited those guys in. Truth to be said, he was really curious about what brought them to his humble abode: among the members of the Yagami-Potter household, only Hayate-chan was considered a minor, yet he was quite sure that the Social Services guys weren't there because of her. And he wasn't the only one. Signum, who had stayed behind to help him with housekeeping while everyone else went to have fun outdoors, was watching the unexpected guests from the kitchen's doors.
"You are on the list of potential foster parents for Ms. Lutecia Alpine." One of the agents said after the pair introduced themselves. "We're here to see whether you home will be a good place for her to grow up in." Oh... So they've decided against keeping Lu-chan at the hospital till her mother finally awakened, Harry thought. And Megane-sensei thought highly enough of him to entrust him with her daughter! Still, was there really no one before him on that list? And the young Potter didn't shy away from asking that question.
"Yes, there were others before you on that list..." The other Social Services agent replied. Indeed, Harry wasn't on the top of that list; Lutecia's still-living blood relatives were. However, those people were her maternal great-grandmother and a set of paternal great-grandparents. And all of them were too old to look after Lu-chan properly... As for the other candidates, Nakajima family were at the top of Megane's list, but following Quint's untimely demise, Genya felt that he would be too busy with his own two daughters and managing the 108th battalion to be a good foster parent for Lutecia. No, if there was no one else up for the job, he would take care of her, of course, but... He'd rather someone else became Lulu's guardian. "...And you are one of the top candidates at the moment, provided you are willing to look after Ms. Lutecia Alpine, of course."
"No, I wouldn't mind taking care of Lulu-... of Lutecia-chan." Harry stated.
"Good." The second agent continued. "Then, we shall inspect you apartments to see whether they are fit for a child to live and grow in. We would also like to have a chat will all of the adults residing in here... though it seems like not everyone is present at the moment..." The man trailed off here.
"Well, if you really need them right now, I'm sure I can ring them up and ask to come back here as soon as possible." Harry stated then.
"That would be most helpful." The Social Services agents agreed.
"Alright. You can probably inspect the apartments meanwhile." The young Potter said next, while telepathically asking Signum to play a guide for those two. That done, he 'dialed' Reinforce up...
The inspection of the Yagami-Potter household lasted for a good few hours, mostly because the Social Services agents had to carry out six independent interviews with the adult residents. Yes, even with Vita, who, despite being over a millennium old, looked – and often behaved – like an eight years old kid... And while the results of this inspection were a secret for the time being, Harry was quite sure that everything went fine, seeing as the agents left his apartments in a pretty good mood. Or, at very least, without being visibly put off by something.
He was finally contacted again almost a week later. And, as it turned out, despite everything he ended up being picked as the primary candidate for becoming Lulu-chan's foster parent. Once his intentions of actually taking that role were confirmed, he was invited over to the local Social Services office in order to sign the required paperwork. As soon as those papers would be processed, he'll finally be allowed to take Lutecia under his roof...
Harry was also informed – more like reminded – that there would be weekly inspections of his home for the next four months and biweekly ones for the six more years after that to ensure that the proper conditions for raising a child were maintained. Thus, if he were to leave for somewhere and take little Ms. Alpine with himself, he should inform the Social Services office beforehand.
Another thing for the young Potter to consider was his job. Being an active investigator meant that he risked his limb and life on every mission. Furthermore, those missions themselves could be as short as a few days or as long as a couple of months. Neither of that would be helping him with being a good parent, foster or otherwise. After some thinking, the green-eyed teen decided that he should quit his current job and transfer to a less dangerous and time-demanding position. Or, better yet, become unemployed until Lutecia grew up a little and didn't require as much attention. He did have enough money on his account to last for a couple of years like that, even without 'leeching' some from Reinforce and the Wolkenritter... Not that they would mind helping him out with this...
Colonel Abarth was understandably upset about the Investigator division losing yet another combat mage, but he also understood the young Potter's reasoning well and agreed that it was probably the right decision. In the end, he offered Harry the position of a keeper of the department's archives – a job that generally would require him to be at the office for just a few hours a week. The salary was, of course, much lower too, but that didn't really matter to the green-eyed teen at the moment, thus he gladly accepted the offer.
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With all the necessary preparations that he could think of complete, Harry finally set off to collect Lulu-chan from her current 'home' at the Cranagan's central hospital, where her mother had been transferred to a few days ago. Reinforce was tagging along with him, as did Hayate, even if long walks were still quite tiresome for her.
Of course, before he could actually collect Lutecia, Harry had to drop by the Social Services to sign a few more papers as well as to get an agent that would make sure that everything was in order, before he was finally allowed to take little Ms. Alpine to his home. Thankfully, that was it, as far the bureaucracy of the Administered worlds was concerned.
That, of course, didn't mean that there weren't any other problems for Harry to solve... For one, Lutecia would need new clothes seeing as the young Potter couldn't just collect the ones already bought for her from the Alpines' residence. And, unlike how it was with the furniture, buying fitting clothes for someone without them actually being there to try those out was close to impossible. And then there probably was a multitude of other things that a little girl would need that the green-eyed teen just couldn't have known about beforehand...
"Hello there, Lu-chan." Harry said as knelt before the bed Lutecia was sitting on, idly playing with some random toy the nurses had found for her somewhere. "Would you like me to take you home?" Thankfully, this time around, the lavender-haired girl did recognize him right away. And, she had actually reached out to him on her own.
That was definitely a good sign, the Social Services agent thought. Up until now they had been a bit concerned with entrusting little Ms. Alpine to the people who didn't have any real experience in raising children – Mr. Potter had none at all, while Reinforce and the Wolkenritter had only ever observed others do it over the courses of their long lives – it looked like choosing their household was the right decision after all: Lutecia knew and trusted them already, and while inexperienced, they all were good people and would definitely do their best to give her everything she'd need.
That's all folks!
Read and Review!