Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or NCIS or any of their characters. I do however own this story, I wrote it and I do NOT give permission for anyone to post it anywhere else. If you want to share it post a link.
-o0o-
A/N: one of the reviews I got asked about marriage celebrants, I didn't relaise they weren't a thing in America so I'm sorry. A celebrant isn't a party planner, they're a non-religious person who is qualified to perform marriages.
-o0o-
Hadrian had intended to go to the pub Ron was likely to have stopped at after the game to catch up with his other friend but was too upset by what Hermione had said to see him at the moment. If he'd seen Ron he'd be tempted to curse him for what he was doing to his best friend, not that Hermione was totally blameless either. He wondered whether Andi's death had been deliberately kept from her or whether she'd shut the whole rest of the world out in the struggle to manage to continue working and maintaining her house and relationship with Ron while trying to get enough rest for the baby's sake, or was just too wrapped up in whatever she was researching at the moment to notice anything else, even her deteriorating health and the death notices of the person who'd been looking after her godson. He'd intended to tell Hermione about Tim and the wedding, invite her even if she was okay with the idea of him marrying a man but she hadn't even really asked about how he was going beyond the superficial greeting and wanting to know when he was moving back to England. She couldn't have come to the wedding anyway; it was far too late in her pregnancy to be taking an international portkey though he supposed she could have caught a plane if she'd really wanted to be there for him and he'd trusted her enough to let her know where he'd be far enough in advance. He was surprised to hear she was that far along, she wrote him every month or so mostly telling him about Ron and her work and she'd only just mentioned her pregnancy in the last couple of weeks.
Hadrian portkeyed home and swept Teddy up in a big hug spending the rest of the day giving the little boy his undivided attention and unconditional love. Reassuring himself that Teddy was doing perfectly well without his godmother.
-o0o-
They were ready to go to Boston and check out Hadrian's family home there. Hadrian held out the portkey he'd made.
"I just need to touch it?" Tim said dubiously.
"Yeah it will take everyone that's touching it when I say the activation phrase. It'll feel like a hook below your navel spinning you around. If you try to make walking movements with your legs as we descend you're less likely to fall" Hadrian explained.
"Is this safe for Teddy and the baby?" Tim asked.
"The healer reassured me it's safe for the baby for another two or three months and Teddy's done this before, I've cast cushioning charms on all his clothes and his hat, he'll be fine" Hadrian replied smiling.
Tim tried his best but still ended up flat on his face. Hadrian flicked out his wand and healed up any bruises and cancelled the cushioning charms. "You're right, I'm glad you booked a place for us to stay here tonight" Tim said glad he didn't have to do that again today and twice tomorrow.
Hadrian grinned. "At least I explained to you what would happen and you knew it was a portkey when you touched it" he said.
Tim shuddered at the thought of being hooked up like that without warning.
Hadrian opened the gate. Shuddering a little as he felt the wards recognise him and holding Tim's hand they walked up the path towards the house.
"The outside looks in great condition" Tim said looking around at the shining windows and immaculately maintained gardens.
Hadrian realised there must be elves maintaining the property. "Yes. The elves have done a marvellous job" He praised clearly. The invisible gardening elves blushed with pleasure and pride.
The inside was just as well maintained, though very old fashioned and coldly formal. "This could almost be a museum" Tim commented looking around at the antique furnishings. Teddy also seemed intimidated by the cold and formal space sticking close to Hadrian and Tim.
"It looks like it was furnished entirely from the vaults" Hadrian stated. "Some of the stuff must be ancient."
"Ducky will notice. He's got quite an eye for antiques" Tim commented. "They must be worth a fortune."
"Not so much as you'd think" Hadrian replied. "The stasis charms on this place would have prevented them from aging at all so most experts will think they're fakes, old fakes perhaps but still fake. Let's look around and see if there's a room that we'd like to be married in. Keep in mind that the elves can easily redecorate."
They dismissed the ballroom as too big and formal for the wedding they wanted, the lounge room looked possible until they found the conservatory. Someone must have loved tropical plants because the room was heated and humidified and full of flowers. Teddy ran around happily playing in the dirt while Hadrian examined each plant carefully but didn't find anything magical. "This would be the perfect place" he said enthusiastically.
"So long as it isn't snowing" Tim said gesturing to the way the snow was falling outside and evaporating before the flakes hit the glass roof.
"Yes that would be impossible to explain" Hadrian said ruefully. "I didn't even notice it. The dining hall at school did the same thing."
"It had a glass roof?" Tim asked. "In northern Scotland?"
"No the roof looked slate from the outside but the ceiling was enchanted to look like the sky outside so when it rained or snowed it looked like the raindrops and snowflakes disappeared between two to three meters from the floor" Hadrian explained.
Tim just laughed. "Why on earth?"
"Don't know, it didn't make any less sense than staircases that move, classes in the dungeons in spite of the fact there were dozens of unused classrooms above ground, climbing through a portrait hole to get into the common room or rooms that come and go" Hadrian replied. "I think someone once decided to try to give the castle a personality."
"Since when did a school building need a personality? Most schools I went to were doing well if they were fully maintained and had adequate heating and air-conditioning and grass outdoors to play on" Tim replied.
"Yeah my primary was like that too" Hadrian agreed. "But magical Britain isn't the most rational of places. I was surprised to get here and find that the government buildings and the shopping centre looked so normal. So were decided then, wedding out here if there's no chance of snow and in that blue lounge room if the weather's not co-operating."
"Yes that sounds right. It's big enough, how do you want to decorate it?" Tim asked.
"I don't really have any ideas but we need to give the house elves firm limits or we could end up with a replica fairytale wedding. These elves don't know our tastes like Quincy's team do." Hadrian said.
"I don't think that the conservatory needs much decorating at all. It's perfect just the way it is" Tim said.
"Yes I don't want frills or anything, but the chairs need cushions" Hadrian agreed sitting down to try them. "If we have the ceremony out here will we have dinner out here too?"
"I don't know, it's certainly warm enough, let's wait until tonight and see what it looks like" Tim suggested. "What's the dining room look like?"
They went looking, "Hopefully it looks better at night" Tim said looking at the midnight navy walls and formal dining table with place settings for twenty-six. The artwork on the walls was no doubt expensive but depressing oil still life.
Tim went and sat down, "At least these chairs aren't uncomfortable" he said.
Hadrian sat down too. "Cushioning charms" he said. "Do you think Gibbs would notice?"
"Yeah he would, Tony said he's building a wooden boat in his basement so he'd got some experience with what wood can feel like" Tim replied.
"I can take they charms off" Hadrian said standing up and doing his chair, "They're not that comfortable without the charm though, maybe we could get the elves to make some sort of cushioned seat for them. The lounge chairs were also discovered to be more elegant than comfortable and Tim and Hadrian then spent the afternoon traipsing around furniture shops with an increasingly tired and whiny toddler, looking for comfy sofa's that would go with the room.
"We should have checked the beds too" Tim said groaning as they arrived back at the house to eat the meal the kitchen elves had been so excited to make them.
"Let's try them out. We could order replacement mattresses on line if we need to" Hadrian said.
"We're going to have to get that custom made" Tim said looking in shock at the bed in the master bedroom.
Hadrian walked over and gingerly climbed onto the bed and lay down. "It feels like a feather tick" he said. "Let's check out the other rooms, we don't need this much space."
Thankfully some of the other bedrooms looked like they'd been used in the past hundred years and the beds while needing new mattresses were at least a standard king size, though Tim insisted on measuring them to be sure.
"Do you want to go to the motel tonight?" he asked.
"The elves would be so disappointed and they were so excited to cook us dinner, I brought Teddy's porta-cot and your blow up mattress from home, we could lay it out on top of the master bed if you don't mind staying, otherwise we check into the motel after dinner" Hadrian suggested.
"Let's stay" Tim said also uncomfortable with the idea of upsetting the little elves who'd greeted them so enthusiastically and kept the house so perfectly tidy even though records showed it hadn't been visited by any of the Potters in decades.
They went downstairs and checked out the conservatory at dusk.
"They must have only used it during the day" Tim said looking around the dimly lit room.
"We could call Quincy and see what he could do" Hadrian suggested. "The whole house will need to be wired for electricity if we're going to have everyone stay here. Magic is turning on the lights as we enter each room, but they're obviously gas lights."
Tim nodded and Quincy popped in when Hadrian called. "Whats can Quincy be doing for you masters" he asked.
"We wanted to know if you could wire the house for electricity and improve the lighting in here.
We're hoping to have our wedding in here the weekend after Christmas if it's not snowing" Hadrian asked. "Can you do this without disrupting the plants or the environmental charms. We don't want any wedding decorations but the rooms need new mattresses for us and possibly four guest rooms."
"Quincy cans do" the elf said bobbing his head enthusiastically. "do you wants lights like this or theses" he added casting a couple of illusions.
"I really like the little white fairy lights but will they give enough light to eat?" Tim asked.
"Yous could have table lights toos" Quincy said adding them to the illusion.
"That looks great, remember though that they have to be wired in well enough to fool some very observant non magical people Hadrian said adding table cloths and white plates to the illusion tuning the cloths several colours before settling on dark green.
A young female elf popped into the room. Dinners is ready in the dining rooms" she said. "Oh yous want to eat here" she clicked her fingers and the plates of food popped onto the table. The elves had gone overboard and prepared five courses each with too much food for the two men, one little boy and Quincy who they'd invited to join them to discuss the rest of the work.
"Well that's the catering sorted as well. This food is amazing" Hadrian said appreciatively.
"Your food is just as good" Tim replied smiling at his fiancé. They enjoyed the rest of their meal and finalised the plans with Quincy who assured them he could have the work done to make this look like a muggle home before Christmas. Returning upstairs Hadrian pulled Tim's blow up mattress out of his backpack and used magic to inflate it. Pulling out the bedding from home he quickly made up the bed. They elected to set up the porta-cot in the room with them so Teddy wouldn't wake up alone in a strange place.
-o0o-
They left Teddy playing out in the back garden with Tollie while they met with the celebrants the next morning, so they didn't need to feed him his suppression potions.
Their first choice had sounded perfectly likeable on the phone but once he saw the house
he started talking about the media and increasing the awareness and acceptance of gay marriage amongst the old families.
Hadrian looked at Tim and shook his head, his eyes widening in alarm. He didn't trust this man not to contact the press behind their backs.
Tim agreed. "I work for the Navy and if my marriage becomes public knowledge I will lose my job" he said bluntly.
"That's not fair" the celebrant protested and went on to talk about making an official protest against discriminating policies of the government.
"I'm afraid we've decided not to go ahead with the wedding at this time" Hadrian said firmly. "Tim, can you see Mr Browne out? I'll be back soon."
As soon as they left the room Hadrian disillusioned himself and aparated outside and into the rear seat of the celebrant's car. He cast a silencing charm on himself and cast a spell at Mr Browne's cell phone to disable it, he waited until the celebrant had driven to his next location before obliviating him of the memory of the house, instead planting a memory of their old apartment building. He waited until Mr Browne had left the car before aparating back to Tim.
"Did you mean it that you've changed your mind about the wedding?" Tim asked anxiously.
"No of course I haven't" Hadrian said hugging his fiancé and kissing him gently. "I'm sorry for making you doubt me even for a second but I had to say it because I needed him to have the memory of us telling him that since I didn't already have a memory of hearing you say it to me and I didn't have time to stop and explain to you if I wanted to get into his car and make sure I wiped his memory before he spoke about it to anyone. I obliviated all knowledge of the house from him, he thinks he met us in an apartment building. He's a bit of an extremist when it comes to gay rights and I didn't trust him not to use us as an example in the press."
"And what if he comes looking for us again, he must have the address written down somewhere?" Tim asked.
"I managed to erase it from the day planner he brought with him and I'll ward the house specifically against him so he can't find it" Hadrian replied.
"Let's hope the next celebrant is more sensible" Tim said.
"If we can't find a celebrant we could try the wizarding world, they probably have someone that will fit in with the normal world well enough" Hadrian suggested.
"We've got half an hour, let's go to the kitchen and talk about the menus" Hadrian suggested.
"They entered the kitchens and were set upon by the kitchen elves. "Masters not comes to kitchen" she said horrified "Missy and Bissy brings foods to masters" the elf said horrified.
"We're not looking for more food" Tim said hurriedly. "We wanted to talk about the guests that are coming after Christmas. We're planning to have a very small quiet wedding here on the Saturday after Christmas but our guests will all be non-magical and most of them are not allowed to know about magic so we will need to hire a maid or waiter to help you"
"We's can dos the work for guests" Bissy said annoyed.
"I know you can do the work but if they need help and aren't allowed to see you or the magic how are you able to help them?" Hadrian asked. "We can't have food popping onto the tables while they're there or logs putting themselves into the fire as needed or any of that. We're going to need a human they can go to for assistance and to serve the food at meal times."
"Missy can looks like a person" she said turning herself into a middle aged woman.
"That's great Missy, but can you remember not to do any magic at all in front of people. These guests are investigators and they're much more observant than normal people usually are" Tim said.
"Missy cans remember" the elf declared.
"What's yous want to feeds these peoples?" Bissy asked.
"Well a light lunch before the wedding and then a big dinner and a full English breakfast the next morning, maybe with American pancakes as well. I don't know if anyone is staying longer than that" Tim said.
"Sandwiches for lunch and a nice soup, perhaps with some quiches. Then for dinner lobster salad followed by roast beef and vegetables and a choice of deserts whats be your favourites?"
"Apple pie and vanilla ice-cream" Tim said.
"Treacle tart and anything chocolate but the wedding cake will be chocolate and maybe we should have something fancier like lemon meringue pie, or banoffee pie. You're cooking for guys so something substantial, not light and overly elegant."
"Does yous wants me to make the weddings cake?" Bissy asked.
"I've already ordered one. I didn't know if the house still had elves" Hadrian said apologetically.
Thankfully the other celebrant understood their situation and promised to keep their wedding quiet, they discussed the vows and the various non-religious rituals he had available and came to an agreement as to the format. He was impressed with the conservatory and was quite happy with the back-up plan if it was too 'cold'.
"It looks like you have everything well in hand. May I ask whether you've been living together long?" the celebrant asked.
"Nearly two years" Tim said smiling. "Though of course we don't normally live here. We both work in DC but this is Hadrian's family home. It's entailed so he can't sell it."
"I generally recommend my couples have a few counselling sessions before getting married to ensure they've discussed with each other their expectations for the future, and plans for children, child rearing styles and so on" the celebrant said handing them two thick envelopes. "I realise this may not be possible for you but I'd like you to fill out these questionnaires separately then discuss your answers. It just ensures you've discussed most of the big issues you're likely to face and are ready to make a lifetime commitment. You can do this on your own if you're more comfortable with that or consult a relationship counsellor nearer to home."
"Thank you" Tim said.
"You may of course call me any time if you want to discuss anything" the celebrant said.
"You are a relationship counsellor?" Hadrian asked.
"Yes it's my main occupation. I became a celebrant because I enjoy seeing happy relationships as well as those already in trouble. It broadens my perspective shall we say" the celebrant said beaming.
Hadrian grinned. He looked at Tim nodding slightly to tell him that this was the celebrant he wanted and Tim nodded back and they closed the deal giving the celebrant a deposit.
-o0o-
"Jethro" Fornell greeted him as Gibbs strode into Fornell's house uninvited.
"Tobias" Gibbs replied.
"Coffee or Bourbon?" Tobias asked.
"Bourbon" Gibbs replied, letting his friend know that whatever had brought him over wasn't work related.
"What brings you by?" Tobias asked.
"You find anything more about Black?" Gibbs asked.
"Only that he's classified up the whazoo" Tobias grumbled. "I don't know what this kid did but his file's more redacted than a black op report."
Gibbs frowned suspiciously. "I've heard that the unofficial story is that he's seconded here for his own protection after taking out a terrorist group?" he said doubtfully.
"Where'd you hear that" Tobias said paling.
"From someone I trust, that heard it directly from Black himself. He's not a threat to Black's security here" Gibbs replied. "I just want to know that he's not being duped by this Black."
Tobias nodded, "The story tallies with the secrecy and the number of commendations in his file. But it must have been a hell of a terrorist cell to be put in protection like that."
"Not a cell, from what I heard he says he brought down the whole organization that were terrorizing Britain a few years ago" Gibbs said.
"Nah can't have been, some kid called Potter was awarded the George Cross for that" Tobias said.
"Got a description of the kid?" Gibbs asked.
"You think it's the same person?"
"Well we've got this Potter kid winning the highest honour a British civilian can win, and then this Black kid, also British, who tells me he's twenty-four though he looks sixteen and ranks way above what you'd expect for his age, even if he is twenty-four, with his past almost totally redacted and the story he's given his fiancé is that he took out a terrorist organisation. I just want to know this kid's legit before he marries one of my people" Gibbs said.
"He engaged to Ziva? I wouldn't worry too much that girl's more dangerous than almost any man on the planet" Tobias said reassuringly.
"McGee" Gibbs replied.
Tobias sighed, he could understand why Gibbs papa bear routine was in full flight. Tim McGee had an air of innocence about him that called to even his protective instincts. "I'll see what I can find out. Have you tried to run the guy's prints and DNA?"
-o0o-
"I haven't seen you for a while" Ziva said as she walked into the ricotta cheese making course Hadrian was doing.
"Hello! I've been busy" Hadrian said smiling.
He'd been wanting to do this course for a while and when they'd seen it rescheduled Tim had insisted he go. Tim and Teddy were doing some male bonding at a local elementary school fair that had a few rides suitable for the little boy.
"Work?" Ziva commiserated.
"And moving house, renovating and getting our son settled in" Hadrian replied.
"You adopted a child? How old is he?" Ziva asked enthusiastically. While she didn't think children were in her future she loved babies.
"He's almost three and a half" Hadrian replied. He would have offered to show her the photos on his phone but a lot of them included Tim.
"What country did you get him from?" Ziva asked.
"England" Hadrian replied.
"I thought you'd say one of the third world countries that have a lot of orphans" Ziva said surprised.
"Teddy's a distant cousin" Hadrian said smiling sadly. "It's just the two of us now. We're going through a surrogate next time so we can be involved right from the start."
"You just adopted him and you're already thinking of another child?" Ziva asked.
"We'll he's already nearly four. I want them close enough to play together" Hadrian said. "Besides we were already in the process of having a baby when we found out that Teddy needed new guardians."
"So you have a child in the way?" Ziva asked.
"Yeah that's the reason that we needed a bigger place" Hadrian said cheerfully. "We've bought a house with a yard for them to play in. What's been up with you lately?"
"We'll I've been busy with work. One of my colleagues has been on light duties because of an injury so we've had more weekends off but after this weekend we're working every weekend up until Christmas to catch up our share" Ziva said.
"That sucks, so have you finished your Christmas shopping or don't you celebrate?" Hadrian asked.
"Personally I celebrate Hanukah, but my colleagues say I don't need to believe in Christmas to celebrate with them" Ziva answered.
"Yeah! I've never celebrated Thanksgiving before last year but it was nice to do something special with my boyfriend and learn about his traditions" Hadrian said understandingly. "I'm sure your friends would also celebrate Hanukah with you if you asked them to."
"Are you religious?" Ziva asked.
"My Mum's family are Presbyterian and my Dad's family are Pagan so no, religion wasn't discussed in our house, at all " Hadrian said laughing. In honesty Petunia and Vernon were Presbyterian but like everywhere else they only took Harry to church with them when Mrs Figg was unavailable to babysit.
Ziva laughed too.
-o0o-
A/N2: Thank you to julschristine975, charm13insomnia, Locket1, Kourtney Uzu Yato, gabrieljuarezl, lilly-flower15, xDarklightx, DS2010, Lientjuhh, CrazyPedantic, Bella216, Almonda, Village-Mystic, Rori Potter, buterflypuss, acherongoddess, Firehedgehog, IchigoRenji, Dedicated4reading, Gracie15Trowa, serenityselena, Maben00, Guest, lia (Guest), Afrodity, PercyJacksonROCKS4ever, Silvermane1, Merlenyn, Kris (Guest), Agii26, Yuri Ice, xJig of Deathx, xfadegirl5, drkflame89, Angelee Tyson, dreamyangels, Lady Eilistraee, badluck-ngprod, cindyprijatel, FantasyLover74, NRM1982, asilt, Cassandra Montenegro, 1, Dandle1312, Absentdementia, Hawa DL, Pegasusgirl57, Poisonsnake23 and wescott97 for your support.
