A/N: Just a warning, there's a mild scene of child abuse in this chapter.

Chapter One: 12 years since the war

Harry Potter stealthily apparated at an empty parking space with a glamour to prevent the Muggles from seeing him. The operation was nearly botched and he was just glad it's over. Spending two weeks at a foreign city wasn't fun if you were trying to track down several dark wizards responsible for the distribution of hybrid Floo Powder that was as addictive and dangerous as regular Muggle drugs.

He looked at the street sign above to check his location 'Ryogoku Chome-1', then looked sideways to make sure nobody was following him. He was unfamiliar with the area but it was paved with residential buildings and small shops. It looked like a friendly, quiet neighbourhood. His old beaten watch said 19:00 and it looked like a light Tokyo evening. He walked slowly feeling a sudden pang around his chest, realising that he had been hit during the short duel a while ago and must have bruised his ribs. He paused and looked around, he ought to rest a bit and maybe feed himself. He continued to steer himself to wherever the sidewalk was leading him to and then stopped as he saw an izakaya across the street. He waited for the pedestrian light to turn green and crossed.

The izakaya was small, its interiors looking a bit old and mostly black and lit warmly by halogen bulbs that hang from the ceiling. He let himself in and was greeted by an old Japanese man from the bar counter. He walked towards the counter as he wasn't keen on sitting at the low tables. The man said something to him in Japanese to which he had only shrugged in response. The man nodded and brought out an English menu. Harry quickly looked at them while his stomach made noises. He wasn't really sure on what he should pick, he'd been living on 7/11 meals at his cheap hostel. He hadn't much time to 'experience culture' ever since arriving. He perused at the menu. The names were unfamiliar: yakitori, kara-agé, dashimaki-tamago and etc. but they'd look really good so he'd just randomly pointed at it as he was incredibly famished.

It didn't take long for his meal to arrive and he felt himself drool at the smell of it. He immediately picked up the chopsticks and thanked that a certain witch had taught him how to use them many, many years ago. He started on the deep-fried chicken and nearly moaned at how the crunch and flavour exploded in his mouth. As he chewed on the food, he took the cup filled with clear liquid and had immediately drank it. When the liquid entered his mouth a shock went through his system as he thought it was water. The liquid had a savory strong flowery taste and he could only infer that this was sake. He put the cup down, feeling a bit silly that he had immediately swallowed the contents in one go. The old man saw his empty cup, said something in Japanese again, and refilled it.

It took a bit of time for him to finish his meal as he had ordered more servings. The izakaya had gone crowded and he thought it was best to leave and go back to his hostel. As he stood up, he stumbled a bit. The sake had made an effect on him as he had drank a lot. He didn't know how to tell the old man that he's had enough and he had kept pouring. Harry knew it was rude not to finish it so he obliged.

He then walked himself to the nearby Ryogoku station, taking a train instead of carelessly apparating himself.

He'd stepped out of the train station and looked for his marker to see if he was at the right stop: the dog statue. Hachiko it was called and probably had an interesting story behind it but he didn't have the time to dwell on it. He muttered himself a slight sobering charm just enough to be able to walk well but still having the tipsy tiredness from the alcohol since he wanted to just sleep immediately at the hostel. Tomorrow he'd be back home in Britain and there was still a long written report to be written. He just wanted to solve this case as soon as possible.

He painfully brought himself to a crowd of people waiting to cross this massive street. It wasn't rush hour anymore but there are still a lot of daily commuters and the number of tourists taking the opportunity to experience the Shibuya crossing, a very large intersection lit by numerous LED signs and surrounding buildings that have people coming from all directions.

Harry placed himself behind a group of French backpackers. As soon as the light went green, everyone began to cross the street. Harry followed suit but was sluggish in movement. He was passed by several people who were in a hurry. Someone then accidentally shoved him. He took a glance to whoever had done that then froze in his tracks. He thought he saw a familiar feminine figure with brown bushy hair. That gave him more pain than his currently bruised ribs. He shook his head thinking: no it couldn't be her. An emptiness inhabited him for a while and he had been brought back to reality by someone who had shouted at him to hurry before the pedestrian light turned red.

Harry Potter continued and scolded himself for allowing himself to think of someone he hadn't seen in nearly a decade and that even in his drunken haze it was still always her.

Thousands of miles away, at the small neighbourhood of Bay Village in Boston, a brunette had just left the bakery carrying a paper bag filled with freshly baked butter croissants. It was a bright and sunny day in July and Hermione walked the tree-lined street with a smile on her face, already feeling the beginning of brilliant weekend. Her entire week had been busy at work in the small literary agency she and her friend, Elizabeth Breitweiser, owned called Granger and Breitweiser Literary Agency located near the Boston Theatre district. They had been trying to catch up on the manuscripts and queries they've overwhelmingly received over the last several months. For the first time since opening three years ago, they had to hire interns over the summer just to speed things up and lighten the load. Two of their clients landed on the New York Times Best Sellers list last year and that caused a wave of aspiring writers to take an interest in their little agency. Their agency specialises mostly on Literary Fiction but their recent hit titles had been a gamble: a Historical Romance and an Epic Fantasy. The results of those made them decide to open up more into Genre Fiction. So far they have several options among the hundreds and there is talk of possibly permanently expanding their workforce by autumn.

She continued to walk on the brick pavement then patiently crossed the street to a beautiful brick row house situated in between two gas lamps. She opened the door with her key and entered the place she has called home for almost six years. She stepped into the foyer where she immediately heard a noise from the kitchen. Warning bells triggered in her head because she wasn't expecting anyone else to be up. The only other occupant in this house was still asleep. By habit she had immediately reached for something in the pocket of the oversized hoodie she was wearing but paused mid-space. Her instinctive reaction was a muscle memory, one she had thought she had forgotten. She shook her head thinking that her slight paranoia was only resurfacing.

It's been years, Hermione.

She then gave out a sigh of relief when she went inside the kitchen. She was greeted by the sight of a tall built figure wearing an apron too small for him and frying up sunny side-ups on the griddle. She relaxed.

"I thought I was picking you up this afternoon at the airport." She spoke, getting his attention.

"I decided to take the earliest flight." The man replied in his deep Mid-Atlantic accent .

"You should've caught a few winks." She placed the croissants on a plate and let herself be pulled close and kissed softly by the man. She couldn't help but give a small sigh as she looked at the sleepy light blue eyes and the lightly stubbled square-shaped jaw of her husband of six years.

"I slept during my flight." He replied before giving her another kiss. The second one was longer and heated and spoke of the days they've been apart but Hermione put a pause to it.

"You're burning the eggs, Noah." She breathed out and smiled.

"Screw the eggs." Her husband replied and moved closer towards her but before he could continue a noise of hurried steps from the stairs outside stopped him.

"Good morning." A little boy of five entered the kitchen sleepily, still dressed up in his 'The Cat in the Hat' pyjamas. His hair was little mussed from sleep, its colour the same shade as Hermione's. His blue eyes, which he got from his father, was suddenly wide-eyed with surprise. The traces of sleep were gone.

"Good morning, my love." Hermione kneeled down to her son and kissed him on his cheek before embracing him into a hug. He gladly accepted his mother's hug before wiggling out from her and jumping into his father's arms.

"Daddy you're here!" He exclaimed as his father caught him.

"Couldn't stand to be far away from you and mommy." Noah replied then put down his still excited son. "Now what would you like for breakfast, Gabe?"

"Funny sun eggs!" He'd actually meant sunny-side up eggs. "Two please!" He showed two fingers.

"Alright, Daddy's going to cook that for you. Let's go set the table." Hermione said as she moved towards one of the cabinets, taking out dishes and utensils.

Noah nodded too then took the burnt eggs out and started cracking new ones.

"Daddy, can we go to the wheel?" It was late in the evening when Gabriel entered his parents' study after Hermione had given him his bath. Noah was reading some Trading magazines while soft jazz played in the background from a vintage record player.

"The 'wheel'?" Noah looked up at Hermione questioningly.

"Ferris wheel. He saw a documentary about Ferris Wheels a couple of nights ago and asked if he could ride on one." She answered. "Honestly, this child looks like me but is the opposite of me!" She still has a great fear of heights.

"Can we please ride one, Daddy?" Gabe looked at his father with an irresistible look children would always use on their parents when they wanted something.

"Have you been a good boy while I was gone?" He asked.

"Uh-huh," He answered then turned to Hermione. "Right, Mommy?"

"Of course you were. Always have been." She ruffled his hair. Both of them then looked at Noah who was pretending to be in deep thought.

"Hmm…maybe…" He spoke with a teasing tone, putting the magazine down.

"Please please, Daddy?" He climbed on his father's lap.

"We can do that on your birthday. Maybe a trip to California? At Disneyland? If mommy's alright with that…?" He held his son closely then looked up at Hermione.

"Please say yes Mommy!" Gabe exclaimed, turning his head around to look at her. "I want to meet Mickey Mouse and ride the wheel with him!" Like every child around his age, he was very fond of Disney characters.

"Really? What about work?" She moved towards them, sitting on the arm of the chair they sat on.

"I've cleared my schedule. No business trips until next month. I'm here for the rest of July." He let Gabe down, who was squirming with excitement. "Can you leave work for a while?"

"The agency should be able to handle everything without me for a while so yes! Let's do it. It'd be our first family trip." She answered which led to Gabe running around the study with laughter and energy that doesn't seem to be dying down anytime soon.

After the plans were set and the night's excitement had died down both parents had tucked their son to sleep.

She and Noah went back to their study for some nightcap, the soft jazz music still playing. This was a usual nightly routine for them especially during the weekend when their son is finally asleep.

"I missed you while you were on your trip." Hermione set down her wineglass on the coffee table and proceeded to sit on her husband's lap. He was lazing on a lounge chair, holding a whiskey tumbler. He put the tumbler down, wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her closer.

"I missed you too." He said huskily as she started nibbling on his ear for a bit. He then cupped her face to move it closer to his for a heated kiss.

"Do you think it's time for Gabe to have a sibling?" Hermione broke the kiss and started opening her husband's shirt button by button.

"Only if you're ready," He breathed out as she started softly kissing his chest while her hand that was resting on his abdomen agonisingly started going lower...

"MOMMY!" Gabe had suddenly screamed.

Hermione had quickly jumped off from her husband, hastily fixing her clothes. The mood was broken and she didn't have time to look at her husband again or hear his groan of frustration. She immediately ran upstairs to her son's room. She had several scenarios in her head to what could have possibly happened to him that made him shout for her. When she had finally entered his room, her eyes grew wide at the scene before her. Gabe wasn't on his bed anymore, instead he was floating mid-air and going higher, his head nearly hitting the ceiling.

"Look mommy! Just like Peter Pan!" He said with delight. "I can fly!"

"Hermione, what happened–what the–" Noah had followed her to the room and had frozen upon seeing their son.

Hermione wasn't really sure at first, she just stared as her son who was chuckling and having the time of his life. Her heart was beating fast and she was trying to keep her head cool. She had always feared that this day would come. For more than a decade she had departed from the Wizarding World for reasons she didn't want to remind herself yet. She had stopped using magic. Her wand and everything that relates to it all kept hidden in a place only she knows where.

Her magical past was always one of her currently best kept secrets. Noah doesn't know anything that she is–was a Witch. She couldn't deny anymore that her son had inherited most of her genes and that he's a Wizard. In a normal wizarding home, this would've been a cause for joy and celebration but as she is in a muggle one and her husband had never known that part of her life, she was afraid. Several thoughts were running in her head. She'd needed to calm the situation. She walked towards Gabe and for the first time in a long time, she had quickly performed a non-verbal wandless spell to let him down and mildly sedate him. She hugged her son tightly who was still oblivious to what was actually going on. She would have to tell Noah later. Explain everything. She glanced at her husband for his reaction and that elicited a surprise from her.

She couldn't really understand the look on his face. Instead of confusion, his face was red with fury and his eyes looked like murder. Hermione had seen a lot of things, had experienced a lot of things but that look on him, frightened her. Even when they'd fight or when he'd be angry, she'd never seen such expression on him.

She held her son tightly then spoke, "Noah?"

He didn't say anything. She wasn't even sure if he'd heard her. His jaws were clenched and she could see the muscles by his temple twitch.

"Noah...Noah!" She called out loudly and repeatedly until he'd finally snapped out from whatever he was thinking about. The murderous fury in his eyes flickered to a stoic one. He remained silent and then left the room. Hermione followed him after making sure Gabe was alright and asleep. He had gone back to the study, finishing the contents of his whiskey and some more.

"N-Noah?" She was still shell-shocked from what they had just witnessed.

"I-I don't understand…" He put down the whiskey bottle and moved towards the shelf. She couldn't place the tone of his voice. She's not even sure on why he was looking for a book. There was silence as he pulled an old black leather-bound book, flipping through the pages so hastily.

"I don't understand, Hermione." He put down the book a moment later then looked at her. "Our son had just performed accidental magic."

"I-what?" She had suddenly gone confused. How does he know about that?

"Magic. Witchcraft. Those things are real and it's corrupted our son!" He started pacing around. "How could this be? Our son can't be magical."

Hermione doesn't know what to say. "What?" She repeated.

"Witches and Wizards live among us. They do nothing but spread malice in this world. They kill us for the hell of it! They make sport out of it." There was a sudden change in his town, it has sounded dangerous. She'd never heard him talking like that.

"How could this be? How? Unless…" He paused, staring at her. "Are you sure he's my son, Hermione?"

"W-what?" His tone was beginning to scare her now.

"IS GABRIEL MY FUCKING SON?!" He suddenly bellowed. There rage in his eyes were back. Who is this man?

"Of course he is! I've never been anyone but you before he was born!" She began to realise that the man in front of her now felt like a stranger, not the husband she'd always known. It also dawned on her that he has kept some secrets just like her.

"It's the logical explanation, Hermione!"

"Logical explanation to what?"

"Mommy? Daddy?" Noah's outburst must have woken Gabe, his excited magic must've broken the charms she used on him.

"Stay away from him, Hermione." Noah gravely said, looking at the boy who had joined them again.

"What are you saying?" She moved in front of her son, blocking him from Noah.

"I said stay away from him!" He warned, putting a step towards them. Gabe started crying, he'd never heard his father speak like that.

"What's going on, Noah?" She asked again.

"What's going on? What's going on is that my fucking son just floated tonight! It's not normal! He's got filth all over him!" He continued.

"Mommy, Daddy just said a bad word." Gabe put his arms around her legs, sniffing.

"Filth?" Hermione repeated, lowering herself to pick her son up. Gabe hid his face on her neck.

"HE JUST PERFORMED FILTHY MAGIC! HE'S DANGEROUS TO US AND EVERYONE! GIVE HIM TO ME, I NEED TO DO SOMETHING ABOUT THIS. I DON'T BELIEVE THIS! MY OWN SON!" Noah's eyes looked crazed. He suddenly punched the wall and kick the things around the room. It had frightened their son more and hadn't subdued his tears.

"Calm down, Noah. You're scaring our son." She said while rubbing her son's back.

"Give him to me." He moved closer to Hermione and Gabe and tried to take the boy from her. She held him tightly.

"Stay away, Noah. Calm down… " Hermione tried to level her voice. She was entirely confused on the situation.

"You expect me to calm down when my son is about to be like the very same shit that killed my family?"

"Killed your family? You said they died in a car crash!" Gabe had cried more as his parents started screaming at each other now.

"They were murdered by Wizards!" Hermione gasped at that revelation.

"Give him to me!" He'd forcefully and successfully pulled the boy from her. "We need to purge the corruption from him."

"Stop! Noah, you're hurting him!" Hermione had tried to pull her husband's arms away from Gabe but he was too strong for her. The boy burst into even more tears and it broke Hermione's heart.

Noah had pulled the boy out of the room. Hermione had followed them, fear was all over her now. They'd gone down to the living room where Noah was trying to tie Gabe's hands with cable ties.

"Mommy, Daddy's being mean!" Her son screamed, his face down on the carpeted floor. His eyes were red with tears and snot was all over him.

"What do you think you're doing?" Hermione pushed her husband away.

"I'm making sure he doesn't do anything else." He glared at her.

"You're hurting him! He's not some animal you just tie up!" She hit his chest, her tears couldn't be stopped. Her baby was hurting and so was she. She needed to stop her husband.

"Don't interfere!" He'd stopped her from hitting him again. He pushed her forcefully and she fell with a thump on the floor. He took a tiny bottle from his trouser pocket. He rolled the boy so that he was supine. "Drink this!" He tipped the bottled to the boy's mouth but Gabe held his mouth shut.

"I said drink this!" He squeezed his son's jaw, forcing it to open a bit. Gabe continued but struggled to keep his mouth closed.

Hermione stood up, there was a bit of pain all over her body but she ignored that. She held her right hand behind her as she had nonverbally summoned her wand. She didn't have any choice, her husband was hurting her Gabe. Once she felt the wand reach her right hand, she felt a sense of familiarity and longing. She hadn't realised how much she'd miss her wand.

Be strong, Hermione. Do this for Gabe.

Without preamble she pointed it at Noah who was still trying to force the bottle to their son and performed a spell for the first time in a decade.

"Stupefy!" Noah slumped on the ground, the bottle rolling away. She ran to her son and whispered words of comfort. She then waved her wand again and did a few spells and incantations. She had no other choice. She was still confused on what was going on and the best thing for her to do was to make sure her Gabriel is going to be away from here and be somewhere safe.

"Mommy?" Gabe spoke as he calmed down, streaks of tears and ignorance still evident on his face. Hermione's heart gave out a bit for her little boy. She took her smallest cloak and wrapped it around him. She then double-checked on their things, she made sure she got the important ones.

"Do you want to go on a trip, Gabe?" She asked her son.

"Are we going to Disneyland?"

"No, darling, we'll go somewhere else. To a friend of mommy's." She let herself think of the past, of the people she'd left behind. Of someone she'd never really forgot.

He glanced at his unconscious father then replied, "I don't like Daddy today. Can it just be the two of us?"

"Of course, darling. It'll just be the two of us." She said wearing the sling of her bag around her. Silently, she cast a charm on her son again.

"Okay, mommy." Gabe started to yawn. She'd move closer to him and started carrying him. Once he had fallen into his drowsiness, Hermione took one final glance at the place that was her and Gabe's home in the last few years and left.

Hermione had portkeyed to London after getting an approval from her associate in the MACUSA, hoping that the Fidelius charm hadn't been updated and that he'd still be there. Luckily, Gabe hadn't really felt the disturbance and continued to sleep. She crossed the street and towards the familiar 12 Grimmauld Place, managing to go through the security wards that he had placed all over the house. She'd silently congratulated herself for that, she thought she'd forgotten her spellwork. She walked towards the last few steps to the door and rang the doorbell. A moment later, it had opened revealing a bespectacled, messy-haired man with his wand out.

"H-Hermione?"

A/N: Thanks to Coffee Reveries for helping me with this! Please don't forget to write a review!