Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or NCIS or any of their characters.
Ginny woke early on what would have been her wedding day. Her father had forced her mother to cancel the celebrant and the wedding arrangements and send out official notifications to all the invited guests but Ginny had refused to give up believing the wedding would be rescheduled soon enough. She'd paid off her wedding dress and picked it up and in her heart she'd continued to hope that Harry would change his mind and return. It was only yesterday when Harry hadn't been seen in weeks and none of their friends had heard from him that she was forced to admit he wouldn't be coming home in time for the wedding. He really didn't want to marry her. She'd come home and thrown a massive tantrum throwing things around her room with her hands since her magic wasn't strong enough to cause more than a slight breeze, then thrown herself onto the bed and cried herself to sleep. Now she rolled onto her back and looked at the perfect sunny dawn outside. Harry had wanted to be married at dawn with just her immediate family Hermione, Neville and Luna present but she'd talked him out of it. She thought the public would think it was odd. Now she wondered if he would have come back if she hadn't ignored his wishes and demanded such a huge public engagement and wedding.
Ginny was glad that her mother had given up in her original plans to have a big family dinner today to support her daughter. Feeding people was her mother's way of dealing with stress not Ginny's and she really didn't want to see anyone today not even her family. She flopped back on the bed and drew the covers over her face. She didn't know how she was going to face her friends after spending the last few weeks insisting that the engagement was still on and she knew Harry would be back to marry her today, no matter what anyone else said.
-o0o-
In contrast to Ginny's day hiding in her bed, Harry was up early eager to go downstairs and have breakfast with Tim before a day of sightseeing with his friend. Harry's only feeling about his cancelled wedding when he thought of it briefly that day was relief. His time in America wasn't perfect and he missed his friends greatly at times but he knew he would probably never choose to live in magical Britain again. While his fame had frustrated him he really didn't notice the true burden that everybody's expectations were in him until the weight had been lifted. Here nobody expected any more of him than they did their other colleagues or neighbours. And he hadn't had a single row with anybody since he last saw the Weasleys. He hadn't realised how draining the constant arguments with Ginny had been. He hadn't met anyone except Tim that he was close enough to want to share his sexuality with but he wasn't going to hide it anymore either though he would be eternally grateful that when he had realised he was probably bisexual as a teenager he had been too busy preparing for the war with Voldemort to do anything about it and he hadn't told anyone before he'd realised how badly the British Wizarding world would have reacted to finding out their saviour wasn't 100% straight. In truth Hadrian's adolescence had been one long chain of libido supressing trauma's after another so he hadn't had much time or energy to dwell on his sexuality. He'd spent most of his thirteenth year recovering from aftereffects of the Basilisk venom in his system along with the usual partial starvation of every summer, then there was the Dementors and believing he was being targeted by another mass murderer. He was just starting to recover when his name was drawn out of the Goblet of Fire and he was fighting for his life again, facing a dragon, then his certain death by drowning in the lake given that he'd never learned to swim, then the grief over Cedric and the guilt of being part of Voldemort's resurrection ritual, then his fifteenth year there was the Dementor attack on his family, his anger at not being believed, torture by not one but two of his professors, the death of his godfather and then the knowledge of the prophesy, that the end of the war and the survival of thousands of people was all depending on him.
Along the way he'd come to the realisation that openly gay people just didn't seem to exist in the wizarding world, though he wasn't aware of the depth of prejudice against them and with the belief that to have the family he had so desperately wanted all his life he would need to marry a witch he kept his bisexuality to himself. It was only after his move to America that he felt free to express who he really was and he came to realise that not only might he be more gay than bisexual but that he was falling for his new best friend.
'His new straight best friend' he thought despondently. Tim had been so terrific about letting him stay, even now when he had his own apartment he mostly stayed at Tim's when his friend was home. Tim said he appreciated the company and the break from eating take-aways. Hadrian was happy to have a second person to cook for so he'd come down and cook dinner then they'd sit on Tim's bed and watch movies or read. Some nights Tim would sit at his old typewriter and write until the small hours. Hadrian had offered to leave him in piece the first couple of times this had happened but Tim had assured him that he felt better knowing the younger man was there and seemed to write better too. He did most of his homework and research on Tim's dining room table while his friend was writing. Some nights he was awake enough to return to his own flat but he noticed that Tim never woke him up if he did fall asleep and occasionally when he'd had a bad case even subtly encouraged him to stay
-o0o-
"Tell me about your friends?" Hadrian asked suddenly.
"What about them?" Tim asked.
"Well I've been here for weeks and we've spent nearly every night you haven't been working together but I haven't met any of your other friends. I guess I'm just curious" Hadrian said. "I hope you're not neglecting them for my sake."
Tim nodded in understanding. "I don't have any close friends other than you and Abby and the team. I didn't realise til I met you how much my job had become my world." 'And what poor friends my colleagues are' he thought.
"What about school or college friends?" Hadrian asked concerned that his friend had been so lonely.
"I never had much in the way of school friends. My dad was in the Navy so we moved around a lot and then I was accelerated up a couple of years so I was younger than all my class mates. They didn't like that much" Tim said. "I had some good friends in college but they live in different parts of the country and we've pretty much lost touch though I talk to them via email now and again. I'll happily introduce you to them if we run across each other again."
"Maybe you should make an effort to reconnect with them" Hadrian suggested.
"What about your friends? I know you're in hiding from your ex-fiancé but you must have friends you could trust not to tell her if you contacted them" Tim asked.
"I had two best friends. Ron and Hermione. Ron is my ex fiance's brother. He understands why we broke up and at first he didn't take sides but she's told him so many lies that I think he's taking her side now. My other best friend is engaged to him and she's remained neutral but it was putting a strain on their relationship. I don't want to come between them. It's better for everyone that I stay away until things calm down" Hadrian replied sighing. "I have a couple of friends from work I keep in contact with and a couple of other school friends but because Ginny and I were at school together we have mostly the same friends."
Tim nodded. "What about here? Have you made new friends with your colleagues?"
Hadrian shrugged. "They're all nice enough but it's going to take time to get to know them. I'm still being moved around learning the ropes and most of the guys I've been partnered with so far are married with families. I'm sure I'll make friends eventually but I'm not lonely with you to hang out with."
Tim rarely talked much about his team other than as they were involved in cases making Hadrian curious. From his time in the Aurors he realised that teams that stayed together long term usually became close like extended families but that didn't seem to be the case with Tim's team.
"What's your team like?" He asked hesitantly.
Tim looked at Hadrian as he gathered his thoughts.
"Gibbs is the team lead, he is an ex-marine and a bigger technophobe than you are without the random explosion thing." Tim had seen the inexplicable death of Hadrian's first cell phone. "He's brilliant at his job but doesn't deal well with others, nor authority or rules other than his, which hypocritically he expects us all to follow without question. He expects a lot from his team, too much at times but he always puts the victims first. You've got to respect that. He's been married and divorced three times and I think he's seeing someone but he keeps his private life well away from the team."
Hadrian nodded.
"'Very Special Agent DiNozzo' is the senior field agent. He's a frat boy in his late thirties who doesn't want to grow up. He graduated from Ohio State University on a sports scholarship with a degree in PE and worked as a cop for years. He's a womaniser and a prankster but though he likes playing the fool he's a very shrewd investigator" Tim continued.
"Very Special Agent?" Hadrian asked.
"That's how he refers to himself" Tim replied.
"From the frown you gave when you mentioned pranks I'd say you were a target?" Hadrian questioned.
Tim groaned. "I'm his main target. He knows Ziva and Gibbs would kill him if he pulled stupid pranks on them and Gibbs would probably kill him if he pranked Abby. Not to mention the epic tantrum Abby would throw."
"Have you told him to stop?" Hadrian asked.
"Yeah but he's the SFA he outranks me" Tim said. "I let him go at first because I didn't want to be known as one of those probies that can't take a little bit of hazing."
Hadrian nodded, he'd put up with quite a bit of harassment from the other cadets and the trainers in the Auror Corps who were threatened by his reputation and his friendship with the minister and deputy minister of magic and wanted to make sure he didn't think he was entitled to special treatment. It had got better once he'd proved he was willing to do his share of the shit jobs without whinging.
"I understand hazing as a way of toughening up new recruits and teaching situational awareness but his continuing all this time is a sign of disrespect" he told his friend sadly. "Unless your SFA is as juvenile as he appears which he can't be if he's as good as you say he is."
Hadrian had been worried that Tim would be offended but he looked relieved. "Yeah you're right" he admitted heavily. "Abby kept saying that it's just Tony's way and I was being over sensitive but…"
"Abby was wrong. You said he doesn't treat the other's like that" Hadrian said. "I'm almost afraid to ask about the rest of the team."
Tim smiled sadly. "Ziva is new. I don't know much about her yet except that she's a liaison from Mossad and friendly with the director. She seems nice enough. Tony isn't nice to her either, though he doesn't prank her. I think he still resents her for taking Kate's place."
"Do you resent her too?" Hadrian asked, already knowing about what had happened to Tim's late partner.
"No it wasn't her fault Kate was killed" Tim said. "If it wasn't Ziva we would have replaced her with someone else. Gibbs isn't as angry as I thought he would be at having her forced on him though."
"And what about Abby?" Hadrian asked.
"I'll tell you about Abby another day Hades. I don't have the energy to try to work out her motivations tonight" Tim said tiredly.
"Hades?" Hadrian asked surprised.
"Sorry Hadrian" Tim apologised hoping his friend wasn't too offended by the slip. Tim had been thinking of Hadrian as Hades for a while now, enjoying having a private name for the man he hoped would one day become more than a friend and not wanting to use a traditional pet name like 'love' or 'baby' in case he slipped up and called him something inappropriate to his face.
"I don't mind" Hadrian said smiling. "I just hadn't thought how else Hadrian could be shortened."
"What do your friends at home call you?" Tim asked.
"Harry. But I thought that Harry was my actual legal name until I found my birth certificate at eighteen. It was even on all my school records. Nobody ever bothered to tell me my real name. though in my friends' case they probably didn't know it either. Still you'd think my father's friends would've known" Hadrian replied.
"What about your mother's friends?" Tim asked.
"Oh… Nobody ever told me who they were except for Snape and he hated me for being my father's son, so I'm not surprised he didn't tell me if he knew. He calls me by my surname when he's not insulting me" Hadrian said thoughtfully.
"No one ever told you about your Mom?" Tim asked shocked.
"Well I grew up living with her sister so I guess people thought I knew about her already" Hadrian said realising as he said it how thin the excuse was. He was grateful Tim let it drop.
"So, would you like me to call you Harry?" Tim asked.
"No I would prefer you didn't. I don't want to be Harry any more. Hadrian or Hades is fine. I kind of like it" Hadrian said smiling at his friend.
Tim smiled back, he kind of liked that he had a nickname for his friend that nobody else used as well.
-o0o-
The Auror team in New York had come across a wizarding gang with a couple of members with British accents and were waiting for Hadrian to arrive to attempt to identify them.
"He's coming by portkey? He's not much of a wizard if he can't even aparate from DC to New York" Auror Thaddeus Billingsley said disparagingly. "Why do we need him?"
"Aparate to the Auror headquarters in DC and meet him there then" Head Auror Erik Johanson replied seemingly casually.
"I've never been there" Thaddeus backtracked anxiously.
"Then why would you expect a British wizard who's never even been to New York, let alone this office, to be able to aparate here to the seventh floor?" Erik asked pointedly. The young Auror Billingsley was a little too full of himself in Auror Johanson's opinion. Hopefully seeing how the British consultant and the SWAT teams worked together with others would teach him something. "As to how he can help he's apparently an expert on the death eaters and their usual techniques and wards. And I've heard he's a real powerhouse. They tried to use him to duel their senior Auror class for their final assessment last month and he beat the lot of them without raising a sweat."
"He beat twelve graduating Aurors one after another in a single day?" Thaddeus asked astonished.
"Within three hours" Erik confirmed. "They had to run the test again with one of the other senior Aurors to pass any of them. Now go up to the portkey arrival and fetch him before he thinks we don't want his help. And for Merlin's sake be polite"
Thaddeus had to admit he was impressed watching Hadrian arrive, he landed as smoothly as if he'd walked from the other side of the room. "Wow I've never seen anyone land like that|" he blurted out.
Hadrian shrugged modestly. "I portkey to London at least once a week and international portkeys are a lot rougher than this. So are most of the one's we used in England, not to mention the floo system. I was glad to find out you didn't have one here."
"Well welcome to New York. I'm Thaddeus Billingsley. Do you need a place to stay while you're here?"
"No thanks once I know where to come I can aparate home each night" Hadrian replied.
"There's an apparition point on our floor so you can come straight there. I'll show you" Thaddeus offered.
"What can you tell me about the situation?" Hadrian asked.
"We've got a group of at least eight young wizards causing trouble, it's been fairly minor stuff, burglary and mundane baiting, nothing we can't handle, but one of the witnesses reported that one of the perps had a British accent so the boss said to get you involved."
"I'm just glad to be able to be able to help and repay some of the investment MI7 made in sending me here" Hadrian said.
"Auror Black, I'm Head Auror Erik Johanson in charge of this investigation" Erik introduced himself. "We've found the safe house and have a SWAT team surveilling the place now".
They arrived at the site and found the swat team waiting just over 100meters out from the edge of the property.
"They all left in a hurry as we were arriving and there's been no activity since" the SWAT leader reported.
Hadrian immediately started walking away from the property.
"You're going the wrong way" the SWAT leader said.
"Where did you aparate in?" Hadrian asked.
"The alley over there has a blind spot behind that truck" Auror Nathaniel Carmichael said pointing.
Hadrian walked over and examined the area.
"They felt you coming. There alert wards are about another 60metres out and there's wards in the alley as well" Hadrian told them. "We're wasting our time they won't be back."
"No one puts wards out that far" Nathaniel objected.
"We used to put ours out to at least 300 metres when we were in hiding from the death eaters" Hadrian replied. "The problem with that is they also alert any wizard who passes by with the sensitivity to feel wards and far more magicals live in mundane areas here in America."
"Should we search the house?" Thaddeus asked.
"How much time between the first SWAT member arriving and their last person's departure?" Hadrian asked.
"Maybe three or four minutes. Not long enough to set a trap" Nathaniel replied confidently.
"Enough time to activate previously laid traps" Hadrian warned.
"Wouldn't there be a risk they'd set them off by mistake?" Thaddeus asked.
"If it is escaped Death Eaters they would have laid them anyway. SOP" Hadrian said.
"So how do you suggest we go in?" Erik asked.
"Through the roof. The traps will be mostly on the ground floor"
"You can't levitate a team up there in a mundane area" Erik protested.
"We could if we disillusioned them" Nathaniel suggested.
Hadrian picked up a nearby rock, charmed it the colour of the house and levitated it slowly up towards the house. About two metres from the upstairs windows it suddenly changed colour and fell to the ground where spikes had appeared put of nowhere. "Magic cancelling ward. We'll need a mundane produced ladder" he declared.
The young agent who'd suggested disillusioning paled. "Will it be safe?"
"It should be. One thing all Death Eaters had in common is they disregard muggle or mundane methods of doing things. They've probably never seen a muggle ladder in their lives. Even the rebuilding of Hogwarts after the war was all done with magic carpets, brooms and levitation" Hadrian explained calmly.
-o0o-
Hadrian used the mage sight charm on his glasses as they finally got into the house and was able to identify and disarm several traps commonly used by specific Death Eaters.
"It looks like Travis and one of the Flints' work" he said relaxing a little.
"How do you know" Thaddeus asked.
"Each Death Eater had their favourite traps and spells. It could be one of the others using Flint's family spell but thy guard their secrets closely so probably not" Hadrian explained.
"And that's good?" Erik asked.
"Of the Death Eaters we know have got away these two are little fish" Hadrian said. "Neither of them is above average, strength wise and while they're smart enough to have gotten away I'm not surprised they've already attracted your attention.
"Yeah but we've lost them" Erik complained.
"They'll show up soon enough" Hadrian replied.
"And we won't make the same mistakes next time Nathaniel said still smarting from having inadvertently alerted the targets.
"Let's head back to headquarters and go through what else we've got on this gang" Erik suggested.
"Okay" Hadrian agreed. He was able to point out several things that he believed were the work of Travis and Flint as opposed to the work of the American members of the gang, but they didn't make much more progress.
A/N: Thank you to linzi, gaul1, xDarklightx, julschristine975, SandraD, buterflypuss, DS2010, acherongoddes, PickABookOrCrimeShow, Rori Potter, Maben00, Firehedgehog, Locket1, Merlenyn, ToTheStarButPickMagic, Silvermane1, Luluca Amekaze, icyquest4, Cinnamon Buns, bipolarwithcats, DarkBlade23451, GaaraxFangirl3, Kourtney Uzu Yato, yamiko20, zEROfrustration, vadenvern, AlexaIrina, Lady Nyshah, eBeth093, newc001, shadoucat, marissa6270, .male, miline, Chompekitas, jaspersvamp, misstress132, Catcat1520, davignonr, Lady-Totoro, Swirling Rain of Tears, NANA-TheFemmeFaye-tal, blackgirl663, KeithRichardsRoxMySox, Shianelle, blacktides, Gwenaelle7, poppabear11420, Angelisa McKaine, Spazzy13, vale8409, LaHarpie, , SheDevil24, Kalibrit, Winchester, Amaranthais, ShiaPotter, christinaemerald, Dustin travis, nicopop, Aiyobi Uzamaki, MariLucia, prismaticmem, setsunai, ariannalupin, msblackroseofdeath, Lotty7, Hiruka654 and for your support.
