See chapter 1 for notes, disclaimer, and everything…
IMPORTANT
NOTE: I'm still writing this story; I
need to format scenes to post them here. Stay tuned.
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'We'll have to wait for one of your magical relatives to come open the door,' Vance said.
Harry nodded, but didn't say a word.
'You aren't afraid of me Harry, are you?' Vance asked softly.
Harry shrugged.
'I've got to be all tough with the grown-ups here because I'm the boss, Harry, but you're a guest. Do you know what it means?' Vance asked.
Harry shook his head.
'It means that I can do this,' Vance said, and he proceeded to tickle Harry.
The boy cried with laughter and ended up hugging his mother and uncle's boss.
'Much better, Sweetie,' Vance said gently. 'I'm not your boss. I want you to be able to come and see me as a friend of the family. I don't know your dad much yet, but I can see he's a good man, and I'm quite fond of your mummy.'
Harry grinned.
'So, Harry, do you promise that you'll no longer be afraid of me?' Vance asked. Harry nodded. 'My door will always be open,' Vance insisted.
'Thank you, Director Vance,' Harry said with a bright smile.
'Call me Leon, Sweetie,' Vance said.
'I'm bunny, not sweetie,' Harry said.
'Your parents are calling you Bunny,' Vance said.
'Uncle Jethro does, too,' Harry said.
'I'm not your uncle, Harry,' Vance said, adding a wink for good measure.
'Why not?' Harry asked.
'Well, I'm not like the rest of your family,' Vance said.
'Mummy's a Muggle, too,' Harry said.
'Yes, but…' Vance said as he took Harry's British pale hand in his.
Harry blinked and finally said, 'You're nice, with or without magic, and it's not a problem if you tan too much.'
Vance caressed Harry's hair lovingly and said, 'You really don't see the difference, do you?'
Harry shook his head, puzzled.
'Never change, Harry,' Vance said. 'Hey, what do you think about adopting me as a cousin?'
Harry nodded several times.
When DiNozzo and Snape came to Vance's office to free them and escort Harry back to Hogwarts, the boy was sleeping in his brand new Cousin Leon's arms.
In soft whispers, Vance told them about his conversation with Harry.
DiNozzo and Snape were both forced to smile.
'I'll go back to Hogwarts with Bunny. I've left the Headmaster with a student in my lab,' Snape said. 'Thank you for protecting my son.'
'I truly hope that witch gets a good taste of what the Wizarding community on this side of the world calls justice,' Vance said as he gave the sleeping Harry to his dad.
Snape nodded. He was about to leave when something occurred to him.
'Does your wife know about magic?' Snape asked.
'She does,' Vance answered.
'I don't know what the Headmaster and the members of the Order plan to do to celebrate the real end of the war, but our family should do something. Would you come to Hogwarts with your wife and children?' Snape asked.
'Next weekend sounds good. We've got to throw a party for our engagement, too,' Abby added as she walked in.
'I can't have my family walk through here to Scotland. Even with Rae's magic, that would raise suspicion,' Vance said.
'Not if I lend you the keys to my place and you go through there,' Abby declared.
That declaration settled everything; the Vances would have lunch at Hogwarts the next Saturday.
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Snape was forced to smile when a platoon of house-elves welcomed him in his quarters; they all wanted to make sure that Umbridge had been dealt with and that Harry – and the entire family – was all right.
Snape put Harry in his bed and made sure that Greenli would look after her little master. Then, Snape went back to his lab, where Tonks was finishing a simple potion that Snape could use to brew a more complicated one. The Potions master inspected her cauldron and was quite satisfied.
'I'll help you with your extra training. Merlin knows we need good Aurors,' Snape said.
'Thank you, sir! Auror Moody doesn't think that being good at Potions can be useful, but I disagree with him,' Tonks said.
'Miss Tonks!' Dumbledore exclaimed.
'She has a point,' Snape said. 'And hopefully, I can teach this one to brew her own Veritaserum.'
'Would you?' Tonks asked, her hair turning pink with excitement.
'It is a very complicated potion,' Snape said.
'Please, sir!' Tonks said.
'That'll be a lot of baby-sitting, Miss Tonks,' Snape said, one corner of his mouth rising.
'That's not a problem, sir,' she said.
There was a knock on the lab door. Minister Fudge came in with Malfoy.
'Is everything all right, Professor Snape?' Fudge asked.
The Minister had never been fond of Snape, but what Malfoy had told him about Umbridge's behaviour had really shocked him.
'My son is safe; thank you, Minister. I can't say as much about your Assistant. She threatened Muggles and broke laws in a foreign country,' Snape declared quietly.
'Oh, my!' Fudge said. Then he realized what Snape had told him and asked, 'How could she break laws in a foreign country?'
'The Four Founders have created a magical link between my quarters here and the city where my fiancée, Harry's mother, lives,' Snape explained.
Fudge blinked several times, and then he said something no one would ever have expected him to say, 'Your love must be deep to have allowed such unusual magic. Did you know that such a phenomenon was mentioned only in the legend of the Noble Knight Iùon and the Gentle Princess Imalla?'
Dumbledore did something very silly when he said, 'No, I didn't know.'
Fudge launched himself into a complicated story. Apparently, the Minister for Magic had a secret passion for medieval literature, and romantic history in particular.
Dumbledore managed to make Fudge flee when he offered tea.
Fudge and Tonks Floo'ed back to the Ministry together.
Snape sent Malfoy to Diagon Alley to buy the ingredients for the potion that Narcissa wanted to help her protect the baby Lucius and she wanted to have.
Dumbledore Floo'ed to the Burrow, the Weasleys' residence, to be informed of the progress of the latest information within the ranks of the Order.
Until dinner-time at Hogwarts, everything was quiet, which was rather astounding.
When Abby arrived, Narcissa told her how angry Pince had been with Dumbledore. Abby hopped by her desk to call Gibbs and advise him to go to the Hogwarts library as soon as possible.
Gibbs wanted to stand by his lover's side. He went to the library and found Pince casting Protection spells on books; the sound of her voice told him how angry and disappointed she was. That evening, Irma Pince was witchnapped to Washington, where she discovered what fun could be had in Gibbs's basement – and not sanding the damn boat.
The staff - and family of some sort – was gathering for dinner when Abby noticed that Remus was not with them. Snape rushed to Dumbledore's office; Remus was still working on Pettigrew's parchments. Snape had one of the house-elves bring the scrolls to Remus's new quarters, and he told his colleague that annoying the ladies by being late to dinner might not be the smartest move of the week. Remus followed Snape instantly.
They all had a nice dinner, and they started celebrating the true end of the war.
Their main thought was that the children, born and to come, wouldn't have to fight Voldemort and his minions.
Remus looked a bit sad.
'The Wolfsbane is going to make your life easier, and now that I can work on your problem, I hope to find a cure,' Snape said softly in Remus's ear.
'I grew up and went through puberty with that poison in my veins. Even if you find a way to make the beast go away, I'll never have children,' Remus said sadly.
Snape snorted.
'Of course, adoption, provided that I can do that, would be good,' Remus said.
'Of course, there's that, but when you have your own kids, you'll pardon me if I laugh and don't baby-sit,' Snape said.
'I can't… It's impossible, Severus,' Remus whispered.
'My potions can do everything. When it happens, you'll remember this evening,' Snape said.
'If it happens, you and Abby would be perfect godparents,' Remus said.
'Speaking of godparents, that reminds me of something completely different,' Abby said. She turned to the witches and asked, 'Could you tell me more about bonding ceremonies?'
Instead of growling, or blushing, or whatever, Snape summoned a bottle of ink, a quill and a piece of parchment to take down notes. Planning his Bonding with Abby was much more pleasant than talking about the war and/or the late Riddle.
Dumbledore never tried to come close to Abby's engagement ring, for which Ducky thanked him once they were in private.
The next day was quiet.
The day after that, Auror Ruby Rae came back to NCIS.
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(Next scene as soon as possible)
