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Hadrian apparated to the assigned meeting point to meet his guests. Kingsley and Sir Geoffrey arrived with Neville.
"Nev" Hadrian said hugging him shocked. "I'm glad you could make it" he looked at Kingsley questioningly.
"Neville is on an intensive training course for learning to work with muggles" Kingsley reported. "I took the liberty of running with your idea and having Neville and several other Aurors forced to spend a weekend with a muggleborn trained in obliviations in muggle environment over the next few weeks, anyone that causes the obliviator to have to obliviate a muggle will be reprimanded and sent back to the academy for three months' refresher training on half pay."
Hadrian laughed and nodded his agreement. "It will do most of them a lot of good. They need to learn how to operate in this modern world without obliviating someone every time they give themselves away. The spread of CCTV is going to expose us all."
"I feel guilty lying to Hannah" Neville reported.
"Can you lie to her?" Hadrian asked.
"Not if she asks me a direct question but she has no reason to ask if I saw you" Neville said.
"If it helps, everyone here calls me Hadrian so you could refer to me that way" Hadrian suggested.
"Why?" Neville asked.
"We'll it is my name" Hadrian said. "I found out after the war when I went to Gringotts to sort out my estate and the damages from breaking into Bellatrix's vault and stealing the dragon. I wanted a fresh start and it felt good using the name my parents gave me."
"I don't even know how your managed to avoid being thrown in their prison for that" Neville replied.
"It's classified" Kingsley stated before Hadrian could.
"Well you might have used muggle training as an excuse but you're going to have to put it into practice here. Tim has a couple of workmates coming. They're muggles, though that word is heavily frowned upon here, the correct term is non-magical. The problem is they're also the Navy's top criminal investigative team so they're super observant. Are you going to be able to pass for a muggle?"
"I've taken his wand" Kingsley reassured him.
"Passing for non-magical for more than a few minutes is more than not using magic" Hadrian warned worriedly. "It's knowing how to turn on the taps and the lights in a normal house, not mentioning creatures that the non-magical world believes don't exist in their world, using normal non-magical swear words, having a nonmagical job and knowing enough about the nonmagical world to carry on conversation about current events. Being British is a good excuse for not following American politics or sports but Tim used to say he thought I must have grown up under a rock to not know all the other things I should."
"Would you rather we not have come?" Neville asked uncertainly.
"No I'm glad you're here. I just don't want to have to obliviate Tim's friends and family. I remember when we went to the world cup before fourth year the camp manager had been obliviated almost into imbecility. Hermione and I went back and met him again as part of a research project she was doing and he never fully recovered. He was diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer's, a muggle disease that causes permanent decline in the ability to make new memories, and permanently hospitalised." Hadrian said earnestly.
"Like my parents" Neville asked.
"Not so bad as they are but yes" Hadrian said gently.
"You mean wizards, good wizards did that out of carelessness?" Neville asked horrified.
"To keep the statute of secrecy" Kingsley said.
"Because pure blood wizards in Britain refuse to learn to blend in with muggles" Sir Geoffrey said furiously.
"Not just the purebloods. Dumbledore and now McGonagall refuse to update the muggle studies course and make it mandatory" Hadrian replied. "Even the ministry doesn't take the risks of the non-magical world seriously."
Hadrian drove them back to the house giving them a crash course in what was going on in the world. He showed them to their rooms and the others joined him as he spent a little time showing Neville how the light switches, TV and bathroom taps and toilet worked. "There are house elves here that know about hiding from the non-magical guests but they mustn't be seen by the muggles so make sure you're alone before you call them. Kingsley I'm sorry your room doesn't have any muggle amenities, we were only expecting two of you and I think it's more important for Neville to have the muggle room as you already know most of this. It will help with his 'training'"
"That's fine Harry" Kingsley agreed.
"Thanks Harry. I'll try to behave like a muggle" Neville said.
"I know you will" Hadrian replied. "Thanks for coming Nev. I know it was a lot to ask not telling Hannah."
Neville sighed. "I love her dearly but I have to admit she's nearly as bug a gossip as Lavender and Parvati, I wouldn't trust her to keep it a secret either. You're still listed as 'Witch Weekly's most eligible bachelor'. We didn't use the old vows so she doesn't have to obey me."
"I'm glad you didn't" Hadrian said. "I just wish I'd been able to warn Hermione not to vow to obey Ron."
"I never thought she's go for the old vows" Neville agreed. "I take it from their absence that they weren't invited to the wedding."
"I couldn't invite Hermione without Ron, and she couldn't come anyway. It's not safe for her to take an international portkey this late in her pregnancy" Hadrian said. "I can't say I wasn't relieved to have the excuse though."
Neville chuckled. "I don't think that's going to help with Ron when he finds out."
"I think Ron's going to be a lot more upset and angry that I married a man than that I didn't invite him to the wedding" Hadrian said. He hoped that Kingsley has told him Tim's fiancé was a man and that Neville would be okay with it.
"I can't say I understand it but I've never seen you this happy" Neville said. "My Uncle Algie and his best friend were secretly in love and could never admit it to society. They married the witches their father's picked out for them and pretended to everyone to be just friends but I walked in on them one day the summer after third year and they explained it to me. "
"Your support means a lot to me" Hadrian said smiling at his friend, He moved to give him a hug and then thought better of it.
Neville noticed and hugged his old school room mate. "You've never made me feel you were interested in me, or made me feel uncomfortable" he said.
"No I never had time to be really interested in anyone" Hadrian said. "I was lucky that my puberty was delayed due to my relatives' treatment of me so that I found out that it wasn't acceptable before I thought about who I might be interested in. Hermione explained what homosexuality was to Ron one night and he was so completely grossed out that it put him off his food. After that I couldn't bring myself to tell him I was bisexual. Though after finding out about the love potions I can't honestly say I've ever been truly attracted to a woman other than my crush on Cho which was more about the way she played quidditch."
"I didn't think that it was even possible to put Ron the Mouth off his food" Neville said laughing. "I'm sorry Harry. He was your best mate. I know it's got to hurt."
"At least I don't have to deal with it from my family. Tim's parents won't be here tomorrow either, please don't ask him about them" Hadrian said. "Part of me wants to regret that Mum and Dad aren't alive to be here but after seeing how hurt Tim was when he tried to invite his parents to the wedding part of me was glad they weren't here to judge me."
"You don't know that they wouldn't have been fine with this. They loved you Harry there's no doubting that" Neville said.
"They loved me as a baby, sure, but then Tim's parents must have loved him as a baby too" Hadrian refuted. "Tim said things didn't start to go downhill with his father until he started skipping grades at school. In hindsight that was about the same time his magic was bound."
"His magic was bound?" Kingsley and Neville exclaimed in shock.
"Yeah they offer muggleborn's parents the choice of having their child's magic bound when they refuse to send them to a magical school" Hadrian explained. "Apparently about half the parents choose to do it."
"So Tim is a wizard?" Kingsley asked.
"Yeah, well he would be if he could unbind his magic. The healer we spoke to said that it can't be done because his magic would have built up and would burn out his magical channels as soon as he tried to use it and it would cause him immense pain every time he used it and he'd have no control."
"Would you like me to see if the researchers in Britain have a way to unbind bound magic safely?" Kingsley asked.
"Yeah! I can't promise Tim would want to go through with it even if you find a way but we'd like to know, to give him the choice" Hadrian said emotionally.
"I can understand that son. You've had too many people trying to make choices for you over your lifetime" Sir Geoffrey agreed before Kingsley could object.
Hadrian nodded. "We'll be in the lounge, the door immediately on your left at the bottom of the stairs. Come down when you're ready and I'll introduce you to Tim, his sister and Grandmother are here already and his friends arrive in the morning."
-o0o-
"Hey Tim" Hadrian said joining him and his family pushing the tea trolley laden with sandwiches and cakes as well as tea and coffee. "Anyone like a cuppa?"
"I would kill for a coffee" Sarah said cheerfully.
"No murder necessary, milk or sugar?" Hadrian said pouring her a cup.
"Is it real tea?" Penny asked.
"Of course, lapsang souchong, I sent it to Tim from Britain myself last time I was there" Hadrian replied grinning. "Milk sugar or lemon?"
"Lemon and one sugar" Penny said smiling.
Hadrian poured her a cup before making Tim a cup of coffee and pouring himself a cup of tea. He unloaded the eatables onto the coffee table for people to help themselves.
"Did Kingsley and Sir Geoffrey arrive all right?" Tim asked.
"Yes and they brought Neville with them" Hadrian said happily. "Kingsley told his wife he was needed on mandatory training."
Tim laughed. "That's great Hades" he said.
The British wizards joined the party at this stage and Hadrian cheerfully introduced them to everyone and set each of them up with a cup of tea.
"How was your flight?" Sarah asked politely.
"Thankfully uneventful" Kingsley replied remembering with horror the muggle plane he'd had to catch in the past. "And yours?"
"Quite good" Penny replied.
"You never told us where you've come from Penny" Tim commented.
"I was in Hong Kong" Penny replied. "You were lucky to get through to me when you did. I'd just returned to Hong Kong after trekking in Vietnam."
Tim chuckled. "Did you enjoy Vietnam?" he asked.
"It was an experience, not one I'd be in a hurry to repeat but I'm glad I went" Penny replied. "It was beautiful once you get out of the city and the people are very friendly."
"I'd like to travel one day" Hadrian said.
"I'd like to spend time in England. Tim made it sound so beautiful when he was there" Sarah replied.
"I loved the history of the place. I know there is history everywhere but at least in England I could read about it directly" Tim replied.
"I'm not much of a history buff, partly because it was taught so poorly at school but there are some lovely areas" Hadrian agreed. "I'd like to see more of America too. I've only really seen the DC area and a little of New York and a week on assignment in South America. That was fascinating though I didn't get time to do any sightseeing, I was working about sixteen hours a day the whole time I was there."
"So you're no good with computers, you're not interested in history and you don't write? What exactly do you and my brother have in common? Outside the bedroom of course" Sarah asked.
"We both enjoy documentaries and science fiction, jazz music and good food. We've done a fair bit of sightseeing and hiking over the last couple of years and we both enjoy travelling places that aren't too commercialised. And then we're both government agents so we can talk to each other about our jobs when we need a sounding board or outside opinion" Hadrian replied.
-o0o-
Neville was quiet during dinner, afraid of saying the wrong thing. Sarah tried to draw him out. "Why didn't your wife come with you?"
"She's six months pregnant and not feeling the best, the morning sickness has settled but she gets really travel sick so the trip would have been hard on her. Also we have a very active one year old and Hannah decided to stay home with him but she didn't want us to let down Harry so I came by myself. Especially seeing his best mates from school couldn't travel either" Neville replied.
"Sounds like you chose a bad time to get married" Sarah said teasingly.
"We needed to choose a date where neither of us would be called in to work" Hadrian replied. "Who knows how long it would take for that to happen again. Besides Hannah wants a big family so she'll probably be pregnant again whenever we did."
Neville chuckled turning red as he agreed.
"Is she trying to outdo Molly Weasley?" Kingsley asked.
"No" Neville protested. "But we can easily afford four or five."
"So could we but I don't know that I want to" Hadrian replied.
"You have enough titles for at least four" Kingsley said.
"Teddy is the Black heir and I need a boy to be Head of house Slytherin so it doesn't go to the Malfoys but I don't mind if you or your children inherit the others, you're going to have enough children" Hadrian replied.
"If you hold all the titles why can't one child inherit them all?" Sarah asked.
Hadrian panicked for a moment, how exactly was he supposed to explain that the rule was that for a person to activate more than one wizengamot seat they had to designate separate heirs for each of them otherwise another claimant to the seat could claim them for their own heirs. The ruling was originally designed to prevent the consolidation of power like that Harry currently held. However, with the loss of families in the last two wizarding wars and the declining number of wizard births with few families able to produce more than one son, the ruling was now causing undue stress in more than one wizarding house. Unfortunately, there was no correlation for this law in the muggle world so it didn't make sense to most of the other guests at the table.
"It's a new and little known ruling of the House of Lords, trying to maintain the number of people eligible for seats in the House" Sir Geoffrey lied calmly. "After so many of the families have married each other for generations and the decrease in family sizes they're concerned about the future."
Kingsley then skilfully changed the subject asking Sarah about her schooling, which he'd overheard her mentioning to her brother earlier.
"The house is lovely, I would have expected it to feel more musty having been shut up empty for so long" Penny said.
"The company that maintains it does an exemplary job" Hadrian agreed.
"We bought new mattresses for all the beds so you don't need to be worried about sleeping in a rats' nest or pile of dust" Tim reassured everyone.
"Are you going to renovate?" Sir Geoffrey asked.
"I don't think we will use the house often enough to make it worthwhile. We wired the rooms we're using for electricity and thankfully the previous tenants invested heavily in that newfangled idea of indoor plumbing" Hadrian replied. "And of course we'd have to set up Internet access before I'm likely to convince Tim to visit again."
Tim laughed lightly while Sarah nearly fell off the chair at the idea of her brother being separated from his beloved computers.
"Neville chuckled at the idea of indoor plumbing being a new idea but supposed without the water conjuration and waste banishing rune arrays it might have taken muggles a lot longer to work out how to have water in their bathrooms without carrying it in in a bucket from the river.
"So the old fashioned gas lamps in the ballroom are real?" Sarah asked.
"Yes, there is kerosine in them if you'd like me to have them lit" Hadrian replied. "I'd wait until morning to explore the rest of the house though we didn't manage to check and fill all the lamps."
Hadrian guests retired for the night early, the British were experiencing something similar to jet lag from the time difference. Hadrian attempted to join them to give Tim more time alone with his family but Penny and Sarah objected vehemently. They wanted the opportunity to get to know Tim's soon-to-be-husband.
"So what do you do for a living?" Sarah asked.
"I work for the FBI, though I'm on leave until Teddy's settled in with us and we've found a good day care. I enjoyed my job though I must admit there's no real need for me to earn a living. I earn more in interest and investment income than I normally spend each year. This year has been a bit different of course with the wedding and the new house. I'm not sponging off Tim if that's what you're worried about."
"No though it would probably have occurred to the Admiral" Sarah admitted.
"Thankfully I've never had the pleasure" Hadrian lied knowing that the admiral no longer had the memories of their meeting.
"It must be difficult to adjust to being a full-time parent" Penny sympathised. "Especially with Tim still working such long hours."
"It's a little lonely at times especially in a new neighbourhood but we're starting to make friends, Teddy more than me admittedly, the soccer mums don't know quite what to make of me."
Penny laughed. "I think you'd find their conversation a little limited too" she said.
"Please don't take offence Hadrian, but they probably think that you're the babysitter, you look too young to be his Dad."
Hadrian laughed and sighed, "yeah, and if the last few tears is anything to go by it's only going to get worse."
"What do you mean?" Penny asked.
"Tim says I actually looked older when we met than I do now, and when I look at the photo's we took back then he's right, we think it was because of the stress of my life back in England" Hadrian replied.
"Good to know" Sarah said nodding, "I would've been worried if you looked much younger."
"Hey!" Tim exclaimed, "Have some faith in me!"
-o0o-
"Wow" Jimmie said as the beautiful early 18th century house sitting in immaculately landscaped gardens came into view. "I know Tim said it was a huge old house but somehow I wasn't expecting this."
"It is very well maintained for a property that nobody lives in. Young Hadrian definitely doesn't give the impression of coming from old money like this" Ducky replied thinking of the young man he'd met cheerfully trying to set the kitchen table, while cooking and caring for a demanding young child.
"No he doesn't" Gibbs agreed frowning. "But their new house in Chevy Chase isn't that much smaller than this."
"They purchased and renovated that house though. Timothy and Hadrian were talking about colour schemes and bathroom fittings the last time I went to check on his shoulder before he returned to work" Ducky said surprised.
"I'm not sure how much renovation it required. It is immaculate now. It isn't as formal as this looks to be" Gibbs replied.
"Tim made it sound like they got a real bargain because it was almost ready to be pulled down" Jimmie said.
"In that case Hadrian has a real gift for renovating and building and landscaping crews in his pocket" Gibbs said.
"I didn't realise you've been to their new house?" Ducky questioned.
"I've driven past" Gibbs admitted.
"Checking up on your boy?" Ducky said nodding wisely. Tim might think Abby and Tony were the favourites but Gibbs was very protective of his youngest agent.
"Sir Geoffrey" Jimmie said impressed.
"Of course it doesn't mean anything here in America" sir Geoffrey said smiling.
"Here you would have got the military cross instead" Gibbs put in.
"Yes well I was just lucky to be in a position to make a difference" Sir Geoffrey said dismissively. "It does help me and my agency be taken a little more seriously, otherwise I don't know that I'd bother with it."
"It's actually Sir Hadrian as well isn't it?" Gibbs asked Hadrian. "Sir Hadrian Potter."
Hadrian shrugged. "If I wanted to use that title" he admitted. "It brings up memories I'd rather forget."
"It does to us all lad. But time will take the sting out of those memories and you may regret abandoning the title" Sir Geoffrey said.
"You mean my descendants might regret it if I die without changing my mind. So long as I remain a dual citizen I can start using the title whenever I want" Hadrian argued.
"It will become less believable" Sir Geoffrey warned. "An eighteen-year-old knighted by the queen wasn't believable anyway" Hadrian argued.
"Isn't today your wedding day. You shouldn't be together it's bad luck!" Jimmie exclaimed suddenly.
"It's bad luck for a groom to see the bride before the wedding, are you calling me a bride Jimmie?" Tim asked amused.
Gibbs and Hadrian laughed.
"You know what I mean it's traditional" Jimmie protested blushing.
"What did you expect us to do? Play some sort of reverse hide and seek all day where we take turns hiding in our rooms to avoid each other?" Hadrian asked.
"Normally one partner would get ready somewhere else. It is bad luck to see each other before the wedding" Ducky said.
"A tradition that began when the groom didn't get to see the bride he'd bought at all before the ceremony in case he didn't think she was pretty enough and tried to renegotiate the bride price" Hadrian said dryly. "I refuse to be treated like a bride or a parcel of goods for sale. Tim and I will get ready in separate rooms and I'll take the back stairs so we don't see each other again til we meet for the wedding but that's as much credence as I'm willing to give that tradition."
"Without a bride involved you can have the wedding the way you want" Gibbs said nodding.
"Huh?" Jimmie asked.
"You boys wouldn't have experienced this but generally weddings are organised by the bride and their family. It is the groom's job to agree with their bride, support her in arguments with her mother and do what they're told without complaint and hope the results won't be too dreadful" Gibbs said cynically.
"Sounds cynical Boss" Tim commented.
"Sounds about what happened with Ginny and Molly" Hadrian commented.
"Yeah but they tried to blackmail you I to marrying Ginny after you broke off the engagement. They're not exactly normal" Tim retorted. "Boss at least got married of his own free will, three times. He should have at least some positive experiences of planning a wedding."
"Don't count on it my boy, I've met his ex-wives" Ducky said dryly.
A/N: For those curious about the house wiki/Joseph_Stone_House
A/N2: Thank you to Kourtney Uzu Yato, serenityselena, julschristine975, buterflypuss, PercyJacksonROCKS4ever, lilly-flower15, mayawene, Jake Crepeau, Village-Mystic, Locket1, Kris (Guest), DS2010, Rori Potter, DDM520, xDarklightx, Gracie15Trowa, Guest, LadyDrak75, Firehedgehog, acherongoddess, Maben00, .9, Silvermane1, Arfa, Gottahavemyncis, Merlenyn, zivadavid03, Castiel-.-Helvisek, Ash of Mine, crdavidson, veyronking995, ququaq, Just Sandy, putputters, tbox, BenLoVesLV, jturfitt, batman77, junkyforfanfic, mitsuki67, MFProductions, Aoi436, CodenameConundrum22, lisagrace, Ladynightwing58, Lilith1710, diamondstarlight713, LadyDuet, Limetka.111, amgcat, Yaoifan-gurl-forever, LiquidCrystal, Beatrice112, DeathBringer6669 and Slashpet for your support.
