Amy walked out of hers and Rosa's room that they were sharing in the large penthouse headquarters suite. She saw Jake sitting on the couch in the living area. "Hey," she said quietly.
"Hey," he returned.
"What are you doing up?" she asked.
"Couldn't sleep."
"Same." Amy joined him on the couch.
"I may have to sleep out here because of Boyle's snoring," Jake said jokingly.
They were silent for a moment before Amy spoke again. "I've got a random question for you. It's probably nothing, but I feel like ever since we brought Rettinburg in for questioning, Jason, Nolan and Charlotte have been acting odd. Don't you think it was weird that only Jason and Nolan went into Captain Holt's office to debrief?"
Jake thought for a moment."I wasn't really thinking about it, but now that you mention it, something did feel a bit off, but I'm not going to worry about it. They're probably just used to working with each other. Just like we are."
"Yeah, but we were told to partner up with them specifically, and now it seems like they're trying to break that," Amy said as she frowned.
"You know, Ames, you may have a point now that I actually think about it. Nolan and I have been working so well together, but it did sound like he wants to be with Jason tomorrow when we go out on watch. I wonder why."
"It's probably because you're injured," Amy attempted a joke about his leg. "Well, I guess we could think about it this way...if you had the choice, wouldn't you choose me or Diaz or Boyle? We all have partners we're more comfortable working with. So you're right, it's probably nothing. Sorry for stirring things up in your head." Amy scooched closer to Jake and put her hand on his.
Jake looked up at her then, and Nolan's words were stuck in the back of his mind. 'Just go for it, mate. I waited seven years, and somehow I was lucky enough to still get her. A girl like Amy reminds me of my own. They're too good to wait around, so don't wait forever.'
"Yeah, okay. Listen, Ames, there's something I've been wanting to tell you," Jake said as he leaned in closer.
"Oh? What is it?" Amy asked, her heart beating a little faster in her chest.
Jake was about to kiss her when he heard the door open and noticed an unfamiliar male come out of Jason and Nolan's room. They were undercover, and couldn't have visitors, so who was this? He stood up quickly, reaching for his side holster. This caused Amy to fall forward onto the couch because her weight had been leaning towards Jake. He'd apologize for that later.
"Who are you and what are you doing here? Freeze! Hands in the air!" Jake said. By this point, Amy had stood up and turned to see what was going on.
"Jake it's me, it's- it's Jason," the person said.
"You aren't Jason! I know who Jason looks like. Why were you in Jason and Nolan's room? Nolan? Jason? Are you alright in there?" Jake nodded to Amy who picked up the handcuffs and walked over to cuff him.
Jake moved quickly to the door to see if they were alright. "Guys, are you alright?" Jake wasn't expecting to see Charlotte standing in the room while Nolan was sitting on the bed. Jason was nowhere to be found. "Charlotte? What are you doing here? Who is this random guy who just came out of your room?" Jake was really confused now. Everything he and Nolan had talked about with his wife, and yet Charlotte was in his room, alone. Well, that guy did just come out of it, but it wasn't like Nolan was following him. They looked quite comfortable around each other.
"Jake, I'm fine, what do you mean? That was Jason! We were just making sure things were, er, ready to go for tomorrow."
"Um, I know what Jason looks like and that is most definitely not him." Jake said. "Come see for yourself."
So Ron and Hermione followed him out, and it was not the disguise of Jason staring back at them, but the one and only Harry Potter. Before they could say anything Amy had noticed something they hadn't.
"W-who are you? Why do you have a lightning shaped scar? Do you think you're Harry Potter? I mean, I will admit it's a very good cosplay, but Harry Potter isn't real! It's just a silly children's book." Amy was rambling as she made a "pfff" sound with her mouth. "I mean, it's not like I've reread the series or anything…"
"Oh, no," Hermione said as Charlotte. She knew it was too good to be true with keeping up the disguises for this long. She and Ron had hurriedly reapplied their own when they heard the shouts from the living area.
Boyle and Diaz had joined them now after hearing the commotion. "What's going on?" Boyle asked.
"Who the hell are you?" Diaz nodded at Harry.
"Wait, how does Amy know who Harry is? They're not supposed to know we even exist!" Ron looked at Hermione, who returned his with an exasperated look.
"What are you talking about?" Jake was looking back and forth as Ron's words caught Amy's attention.
"Amy, did you just say Harry Potter is a children's book?" Hermione looked at her seriously for a moment.
"Yeah, of course. Don't tell me you've never heard of it! The author's British, and it's not just one book. It's a whole series! Seven books in total. It's fiction, of course, but it's one of the greatest children's series ever written!" Amy noticed the other detectives giving her a look. "And it's completely okay for adults to still be obsessed with the series, too!"
"Can you tell me what it's about?" Hermione said. She was shaking now, as Harry and Ron were looking completely and utterly bewildered.
"Me? Talk about Harry Potter?" Amy was becoming overly excited.
"Ames, your geek is showing," Jake rolled his eyes.
"It's about an eleven year old boy who finds out he's a wizard and gets to go to Hogwarts, a special magical school where the kids learn about witchcraft and wizardry! His parents died by an evil wizard named Voldemort, but he survived the killing curse that was meant for him. He spends the next seven years, one book for each year, fighting Voldemort with his two best friends, Ron and Hermione. They end up together, by the way, it's so great. I love them so much. OH! I'm sorry if I spoiled anything."
Hermione looked at Ron and then at Harry. Her face was completely pale. It took her a moment to get her wits about herself. "Okay, Amy, I'm going to need you to sit down. Jake, I promise you can put the gun down, that really is Jason Cooper. Here, I'll show you." Hermione pulled her wand out and recast the glamour charms on him.
"Did you just- is that a- did you just perform MAGIC?" Amy was having trouble forming a complete sentence.
Rosa scoffed, "Magic's not real."
"Actually, it is. Are you satisfied that this is Jason now?" Hermione asked. She watched as the 99 hesitantly nodded.
"Wait!" Charles said. "What's something that only Jason and I talked about. What did I walk in on that first night when we watched Die Hard?"
"Er…" Harry paused. Hermione gave him a look that said, 'tell him,' so Harry continued, "You walked in on those two." Harry cringed. "Okay, now do you trust us?" The four made gestures that were for the most part yesses.
Hermione looked at Ron. "You know what we have to do now, don't you."
"Yeah, reckon I do," Ron said as he pulled out his own wand. "Don't worry, we're not going to do anything to you, we're just going to reveal our true identities. Jake, 'Mione's right, you should probably make sure Amy sits for this."
" 'Mione?" Amy said, her jaw dropping, "as in Hermione?"
Ron and Hermione both took away their glamour charms, revealing their true selves, and Hermione undid the glamour charms on Harry. The trio was now standing in front of the four 99 detectives in their true form: Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, and Hermione Granger, who apparently had an entire kid's book series written about them.
"Ooooooh, mama," Amy could be heard saying. "That's- That's-"
"Okay, Ames, enough fangirling," Jake tried to calm her down.
"But then, does that mean, is Geresto a wizard?" Boyle asked.
Ron nodded. "Yeah, a pretty dangerous one, too."
"So he stole from Gringotts then! Like you three did in Deathly Hallows!" Boyle said excitedly. "See Amy? You're not the only one who's read them!"
"Yeah, Ames, I'm already on the fourth book because that bet! By the way Boyle, SPOILERS MUCH?" Jake said, acting offended.
"Okay, I'm going to stop you right there. Who is the author of these books?" Hermione asked.
"JK Rowling," Boyle answered. Amy was struck dumb on the couch.
"Do you have a picture of her?" Hermione asked.
"I'm rereading the series, too. I wanted to make sure I could keep up with any of Jake's questions. The book's in my bag," Amy said and Rosa walked away to go retrieve the book. She shoved Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban at Hermione when she came back out.
"Oh my God, that foul creature!" She shoved the book in Ron and Harry's faces with the inside cover opened.
"Of course it's fucking Rita Skeeter! How has she kept this a complete secret from the magical community?"
"That's probably why Kingsley was so insistent on keeping us undercover. Can someone uncuff me please?" Harry looked around.
"Oh, right! Of course. Sorry about that." Jake said as he waltzed over to uncuff Harry.
"So wait, you two aren't actually cheating on your spouses with each other?" Boyle asked. Jake and Amy looked at him in a confused manner. "I walked in on them on Die Hard night a week ago, and they made me promise not to say anything. I thought it was odd that Jason- I mean, Harry, didn't think it was odd."
"No, we're not cheating. We're married to each other," Ron said as he put his arm around her.
"This is the best day of my life," Amy said. "I knew. I knew it from the third book on that you two were going to get together! I was so mad at you two in Half Blood Prince."
"Am I the only one feeling personally violated right now?" Ron looked around and asked.
"Er, no, mate. Your name also isn't on the cover of seven bloody books. Hermione, how'd she get away with this!" Harry said. The reality of the situation was hitting him. Not only was he famous for actually defeating Voldemort, but he was famous amongst muggles because his story had been turned into a children's novel. He'd never get away from the spotlight.
"I don't know, Harry, but I swear the first thing I'm going to do is find out once we get back to London!" Hermione said.
"But Kingsley knew, Hermione," Ron said. "It might be better to just let this go."
Hermione stared at him incredulously. "You're joking, right?"
"Kingsley's probably just trying to protect us, Hermione. Besides, we need to focus on Gerteso. That's why we're here. And maybe we can be relaxed with our disguises now that they know, but we need to still keep up the guise in public. It's one thing for Gerteso to think random Aurors are after him, but we'll put a greater target on our back if we don't. So to the rest of the world, we'll still be anonymous."
Hermione huffed as Harry shook his head in continued annoyance. "I'm going to bed now."
"Wait," Jake said. "Is that why you two want to partner up? You need to go into the American Ministry, don't you! I thought you didn't like me anymore!"
"Er, yeah, muggles can't exactly waltz into the Ministry, or MACUSA," Ron affirmed.
"I still can't believe you're real," Amy said. "It's like all my dreams are coming true."
"Ames, those sound like weird dreams if you ask me," Jake eyed her.
"Well, this is cool and all, but I'm following his lead, and going back to sleep," Rosa turned around and walked down the hallway.
"We should go, too," Hermione looked at Ron while Amy was trying to mask her disappointment. Hermione noticed and said, "I promise I'll answer any of your questions tomorrow, when we're not focused on the case," she smiled.
"Really?" Amy's face lit up.
"Of course, but only if I can borrow your books and give them a read through and see how much of the story she got right," Hermione said.
"Oh, yes, yes of course!" Amy said.
Everyone began going to their respective bedrooms, but Amy lingered on the couch. She watched Jake grab a water out of the fridge and regretted not knowing what was going to happen between them earlier.
"You alright, Ames?" Jake had stopped by the counter and noticed her sitting there.
"Oh, um, yeah. I guess I was just wondering what you were about to say earlier. You know, before Harry freakin' Potter walked out of that room."
"Yeah, that. It was nothing," Jake said, playing it off. He'd lost all the courage he'd mustered from before. "I'll see you in the morning." Jake turned to head down the hallway.
Disappointment flowed over Amy as she replayed those moments. She swore he was going to kiss her. And then suddenly, she was reminded of Hermione making the first move with Ron in Deathly Hallows as she watched Jake walk away. Spurred on by a random burst of courage she stood up and just before Jake reached his room, Amy hissed his name.
He turned around as she said in a low voice, "I don't think it was nothing. If you won't tell me or show me, then I will, and I hope I'm not wrong."
Before Jake could respond, Amy flung her arms around him and her lips met his. They were adults. They weren't teenagers, and dancing around each other wasn't an option anymore. Especially if they were both single. She felt his arms wrap around her waist as he met her own in kind. When they broke apart, Amy looked at him. "Please tell me I'm not wrong," she said breathily.
"You're not," Jake said.
"So you…"
"Yeah," he leaned in and kissed her this time. Amy lost all sense of time and thought, allowing herself to just be in the moment. When they finally broke apart a second time, he said, "I should probably go in there before Boyle discovers this and has a heart attack."
Amy laughed. "I think we've all had enough surprises for one night."
"Ya don't say. We'll talk tomorrow?"
She nodded as she backed away down the hall, watching him disappear into the bedroom.