As always, I own nothing!

Read, Enjoy, Review.

And now Beta as edited by pazed!

Chapter 53

The ride from the hotel had begun in a strained silence, till the chuckle from Harry had both girls glaring at him as they sat at a stoplight. "Alex, meet Mi Lei. Lei this is Alex Harper." The pair stared icily at each other then back at Harry, Tonks's hand twitched. "Hey! It wasn't me! Tiger thought it up!" he said raising his hands defensively. "You know that Lei! He did it to me and Dad! Anyway, think of it as a learning experience."

Lei sighed and shook her head, moving the gaze of her deep brown eyes over to Alex. "He is correct Harper-san, it does seem to be a form of tradition when dealing with them. Every time they have returned to Japan we have attacked them within twenty-four hours, it is good exercise."

Alex continued to glare at Harry, her eyes thinned. "You knew about it!" she growled at him, "You were testing me!"

"To be honest, yes." Harry said a serious tone filling his voice, the Harry that had been joking with her moments before had disappeared. In his place sat a man of tempered steel, his eyes bored into her and made her feel like a misbehaving child. "You failed."

She looked down, somewhere deep inside it hurt that she had disappointed him. "I'm sor-"

Harry cut her off, "Don't apologize, learn from it." His features softened some, as she looked up at him. "What did you do wrong?"

She looked at him, then at Mi Lei, "I pursued her into an obvious trap, I had fixated on her and lost track of my surroundings."

Harry nodded, "I know that you do not have much training in surveillance or counter-surveillance, and we will be working on that, but the problems started much earlier. You missed them in the lobby, the tactics they used there were textbook." He looked at Lei. "They knew I was traveling with someone they didn't know and used that to give me a chance to call them off if you were not someone that could handle the situation." Lei smiled at him in the rearview mirror.

Harry continued, "It was a tactic used by most law enforcement groups world wide. It uses more personnel than is normally available to those like us, but it also allows the situation to be easily controlled." He explained, "Other groups use it as well, it is best suited for the capture of the target by overwhelming them with numbers. We will work on your observation skills so you will know most of the things to look for."

She nodded absently, "Your next mistake was following her into the tube." She looked perplexed. "It is easy to lose someone in a crowd, and you kind of stood out."

She blushed, "More than kind of, Harry. I'm a head taller than most, a different race, and dressed for a run… Bloody hell…" she said, "I was just asking for it."

"Take the lesson to heart, you did well though keeping up with her. She's a slippery one, she slipped past me plenty in the past."

Lei chuckled then spoke, "Yes but the last time you were eight, I have not done so good recently and surveillance is my specialty."

Tonks smiled, as she said "It's the way you move."

"Excuse me?" Lei asked.

She had looked up at the mirror in time to see Harry scowling at his partner. "The way you move. It is very subtle, but you are slightly off-balance and step heavier on your left foot. It gives you a distinctive sway in your step pattern."

"Alex!" Harry said grumpily.

"So that is how he always knows it is me!" Lei said in triumph. "Next time dinner will not so easily be won Mr. Bond!"

"Damn it Alex! Lei is a great cook too!" Harry said as he smiled at the woman, then offered an explanation. "It was a game we started playing when I was younger. Kind of a modified hide-and-seek, Lei would use disguises and skill and I would find her in a crowd."

"It improved your observation skills, did it not?" Harry nodded, "And you Ms Harper, Harry has known me for years, how did you stumble on this information so quickly?" she asked looking at Harry accusingly.

"I know how to watch people, i-" she stuttered for a moment not wanting anyone to know about her Metamorphic abilities as well as the fact she been forbidden to use them unless directed for the time being to let here settle into the 'young Alex' persona, "It's just something I picked up from my family."

"A skill I think that will serve you well," said Lei. "But back to the topic, you will need to learn when the risks outweigh the gains."

"She's right Alex," Harry picked up, "We are solders in a shadow war but this does not mean we are easily expendable, make the other guy die for their beliefs. The risks had risen to high for the potential gain at the train, you are in a city you know little of with few personal resources. We will start discussing possible scenarios, whenever we have the chance, but for the record, your running togs are not the most subtle of clothing." He smiled. "But you're doing remarkably well for the training and experience you have."

"And just how long have you been training Ms. Harper?" asked Lei.

"Less than seven months…" Alex answered. Harry and Tonks both thought they would die before she regained control of the vehicle.


Emma was an angry woman, the discussion she had had the night before with her husband had ended, for the first time that she could remember easily, with her sleeping in another room. If she could have she would have kicked him out of the bedroom, 'Damn doctors' she thought.

Not that she had gotten much sleep, she had spent much of the night pacing. Her thoughts whirled and fought for most of the night till she had, at long last, fallen into a fitful sleep on the couch. Her dreams were filled with laughing people hidden behind silver masks, chasing her through hospital hallways.

She awoke with a jerk as her daughter, Hermione, touched her arm. The girl smiled at her and offered her one of her only vices, coffee. Black and sweet just as God intended, in her opinion.

"Morning Mum," Hermione said, sipping from her own cup.

"Good morning, sweetheart. You're up early," she said looking at the clock that read 7:00am.

Hermione laughed, "I've been up a while. Harry has us running and exercising every morning, I just finished. There are a few nice running trails offered here, I did 5km and the exercises Harry taught us.

Emma was stunned, her daughter ran 5km? Willingly? "I didn't know you were doing that."

"Yes," Hermione sat next to her mother. "It started not too long after we heard of the escape from wizard prison. Neville asked Harry for help. Harry is quite gifted at a form of martial arts, Aikido."

"I don't believe I have heard of it," said Emma.

"Harry said he has been learning it from a family friend, and he practices it every day, said something about it helps him feel centered," she said shrugging her shoulders, "I asked him to teach me." Emma tensed, nervous. "He told me that you and Dad would need to give your permission first."

Her mother relaxed slightly. "And you want to learn it?"

"I'd like to, I need to be able to defend myself," Hermione offered.

"And I guess you have already discussed this with your, Father!" Emma spat standing and beginning to pace the room. "He said he was done with this! Then David shows up and…and…" She folded in on herself, collapsing onto the floor crying, a confused Hermione ran to her side to hold her.

"He said he was through…." Emma said quietly sobbing into her daughter's arms. "He promised…"

"Who did Mum? What's going on?" she asked her sobbing mother.

A man's voice answered from the door, "I did, I made a promise to your mother the year that you were born, one that I'm going to break." Hermione thought her heart would shatter looking at the pain that his eyes held, he looked weak, pale, and for the first time in her life she saw not Daniel Granger Dentist but Captain Granger Soldier, his arms at his side, back ramrod straight.

"Daddy?" she said in a small voice.

He moved gingerly to the chair nearby, and sat gently. "Pumpkin..." he started, he then sat for a moment and began again. "You know I was SAS, like Uncle David." Hermione nodded, he looked around nervously. "We, the SAS, we serve at the pleasure of the Crown…" His eyes settled on her, "I've been recalled to duty."

Hermione gasped, her hand flying to cover her mouth. "B-b-but, Daddy… Why?"

He sighed, and looked at her. This was not a discussion he was prepared for, he knew it would be a serious blow to her as well as their family. "Because… because.." This was harder than he thought it would be, he struggled for a moment more then did the only thing he could, he told her the truth, "Because you are a witch, Pumpkin."

Hermione's legs collapsed from under her, and she fell the rest of the way to the floor. "B-because of m-me?" She looked back and forth between her parents, tears forming in her eyes. "Why?"

Her dad sighed, "Hermione, it is nothing you did." He placed a hand on Emma, she looked up at him. He smiled at her. "It was just the wrong place at the wrong time. The Crown has been having problems for some time with the Wizarding world."

He took a steadying breath and continued, "Because of our background, David and I have been approached to help." He held up a hand to keep Hermione from asking the questions that were already taking shape. "Our government is, rightfully, quite worried by the abilities of witches and wizards."

Hermione gave him a questioning look. "Think about it Sweetheart." He sat quietly and waited for her as she chewed on her bottom lip, a sign she was lost deep in thought.

He knew his daughter well, and he could see in her mannerisms, the patterns connecting themselves as the knowledge she had fell into place. "…untraceable movements that bypass defenses…..potions that can let you be anyone…creation and destruction with the flick of a wand." He watched as she glanced down at the stick of wood next to her mother's purse and saw it for what it was.. a weapon, as much as tool. He then watched as more things clicked into place and a small part of her childhood fractured early and fell away. "They don't think of themselves as British," she said with a small voice. "Their only loyalty is to themselves. An entire hidden culture, with unknown allegiances… I was stunned when no one knew who the Prime Minister was."

Dan nodded slowly, "The Crown needs to know what a wizard is capable of." He started slowly trying to make sure they both understood this was for their safety as well. "What would happen if some of those Death Eaters, people like those outside the station, could get hold of a nuclear weapon?"

"They couldn't!" replied Emma, "It's impossible! They are protected on bases or bunkers," she said filled with conviction.

Hermione shook her head, "Apparition, Portkeys…bloody Hell… even a summoning charm may be able to do it."

Dan continued, "That's not even counting shipboard weapons or those in transport."

"There are other protections!" Emma pleaded. "Retinal IDs. Pass codes."

Hermione looked sadly at her mother, then father. "Polyjuice, Veritaserum…the descriptions…hell the formula for Polyjuice is in my school books."

"Polyjuice?" Emma asked.

Hermione looked back to her mother, "It's a potion, fairly difficult. I could probably make it given time and a little practice, it uses a hair from a person…"she really didn't want to say it, but continued, "to turn the user into a perfect duplicate of another person."

"…a hair…" Emma went pale. "It can replicate the DNA?"

"I-I I'm not sure… I don't think it has ever been tested."

"And this Veritaserum?" Emma asked.

"A truth potion. The drinker will answer any question," Hermione answered.

"Dear God…" Emma gasped, and looked at her husband.

"That's why I couldn't say no Emms. They don't believe there is any immediate danger of something like that happening, given the general lack of knowledge of the outside world, but they can't take any chances." He could see it in her eyes, with Hermione's help he had conveyed what he had so poorly tried to tell her the night before. "All I'll be doing is passing on some information, nothing hard to get, copies of Hermione's books… whatever, nothing too dangerous. They just want to be able to understand what a witch or wizard is capable of, and for our protection they have offered any help they can," he said with a smile.

"Mum," Hermione said, "maybe it's for the best." She gave her mother a little grin. "I'm a first generation witch, and that makes me a target in some people's eyes. I'm safe at school, the wards are some of the best known and with all of the changes it is probably one of the safest places in Britain." She looked at each of them in turn, "Now there is help outside, someone to help protect you and Daddy."

Emma turned to Dan. "David is taking care of a few things before we get home. Wards on the house, along with a hidden panic room, a monitored alarm system, the same at the office. A response team will be there in minutes."

Emma nodded her head slowly, "No unnecessary risks?" she asked.

"Not a chance," Dan said, as he offered her his hand. Slowly the couple rose and headed toward the bedroom. "Hermione, your mother and I didn't sleep much last night. We're going to lie back down, can you ask for our rehabilitation appointments to be moved to this afternoon when the front desk opens?"

"Ok," she replied, as she picked up her coffee and moved to the chair next to the window that overlooked the small pond glistening in the morning sun. She sat down heavily, the weight of the discussion with her parents settling deeply within her.

As she thought she lifted her cup, only to find the large mug's contents cold 'How long have I been sitting here?' she thought absently as she stood and looked at the clock that read 9:38. She moved to the kitchenette and poured herself a fresh cup, and sipped deeply as she leaned against the counter. She had been connecting the dots ever since her parents went to bed, every line seemed to connect to one common thread. An enigma that she was going to find out more about no matter what. "Harry, what is your secret?" she asked herself, as she set down the coffee and walked to call the front desk.

Hey, my first post note!

I thought I'd address a couple of things. First my version of Bond (the elder one), he is a mix of the books and the movies (mostly because some of the Roger Moore ones ran off the rails as it were Chough….View to a Kill…Chough) and follows the timeline up until the new Casino Royal, put them at the beginning where they belong till after Skyfall. He looks as he is described in the books, including the scar (if he had darker hair and the scar Daniel Craig is fairly close).

As for the Martial Arts Harry has learned, he has gone through the long version of training described by Tiger in Ninjutsu, a real martial art with roots in Kendo, Akido, Judo, and Karate using Tai Sabaki (Full Body Movement) with a heavy use of stealth. He just calls it Akido as does James as it is a world wide style, besides who would believe it if he said he was a Ninja?

Hope you had fun! Keep Reading!