Chapter 36

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or NCIS or any of their characters. I do however own this story, I wrote it and I do NOT give permission for anyone to post it anywhere else. If you want to share it post a link.

"That went well" Hadrian said happily as they walked towards their room.

"Yes, it was just about perfect" Tim said smiling. To him the only thing that could possibly have improved the day was having his Mom and Dad present and approving of his relationship with Hades and his life choices. Since that was never going to be in the realm of possibility he'd put all thoughts of his parents out of his head and the day was as wonderful as it could be. Hadrian too had a secret pang that his parents couldn't be there, and the people he had thought of as his adopted family Ron, Hermione and the Weasleys weren't there supporting him either but he'd come to terms with that and didn't let it ruin his special day.

"Do you think anyone's suspicious yet?" Hadrian asked.

Tim frowned thoughtfully. "No one mentioned anything and Ducky will be doing his best to squash any suspicions that arise in his hearing" he said. "I'd guess someone will try to bring it up with us tomorrow if they have any suspicions."

"There's no point worrying about it now then" Hadrian pointed out.

"What will you do if they do find out about magic, will you obliviate them? Because I really want all these people to remember our wedding."

"They'll remember the wedding" Hadrian reassured him. "If Gibbs finds out I'll get Kingsley and Sir Geoffrey to make him understand the importance of keeping the secret, Jimmie would go straight to you or Ducky and we could probably just obliviate the ten minutes when he found out or convince him it was an elaborate prank. Your sister I could just about convince of the prank idea too depending on what she sees and it's entirely possible that Penny already knows, most of her travels that you've told me about in recent years have been to places where there is a magical community.

"How will we tell if Penny knows? Could Sarah be a witch and have her magic bound as well? Is there a way to tell?" Tim asked as they arrived in their room.

"There is but not without her knowing" Hadrian replied. "It is possible though, there were muggleborn families at Hogwarts who all had magic, and there were families like my mum's whose sister didn't. Would your parents have bound Sarah's magic though? They seem quite content that she never considered a career in the Navy."

"I don't know. You're right they never pushed her into the Navy. Dad doesn't like females serving aboard his ships though there's nothing he can do to stop it. I think he was trying to train her to become a Navy officer's wife though" Tim replied. "They may have felt they had to do it since they'd already bound mine. Either out of a sense of fairness or maybe they worried that if I realised what they'd done I could get it unbound or hate them for it."

Hadrian frowned, "If your mum is a perfect Naval officer's wife, Sarah really isn't much like her."

"No she's far too assertive and opinionated" Tim agreed grinning, "not to mention she hates the Navy."

"The easiest way to tell if she has magic would be to get her alone and take her to the portrait gallery. The portraits are spelled not to move in the presence of a muggle but if they speak to you, they'd speak to Sarah as well if she was a witch" Hadrian suggested. "It would be better to wait until your team leave in case she freaks out about it. If she's not a witch then she won't notice anything odd."

Yeah, I'll do that" Tim agreed moving over to kiss his new husband.

All thoughts of Sarah fled their minds as Hadrian returned the kiss with interest and they moved towards the bed stripping each other's clothes off. They made love wildly driving each other quickly to ecstasy and then a second time slowly and sweetly before falling asleep entwined around each other, the locking charms specifically designed to keep anyone except Teddy out of their room.

-o0o-

The guests were surprised to see Tim and Hadrian up early next morning.

"Teddy jumped on the bed at first light and woke us" Hadrian said cheerfully, though he looked a little tired.

"We could look after him today if you want some time alone" Jimmie offered.

"Thanks for the offer but he's already unsettled being in a strange place with so many other people he hasn't met" Tim replied. "I don't want him to feel abandoned."

"Besides we promised to take him out" Hadrian added.

"What are you going to do today?" Neville asked.

"We thought we'd take advantage of the winter sunshine. There's a hill on the eastern side if the property that's perfect for a beginner to learn to sled" Hadrian replied. "There's a couple of two person sleds in the outbuildings and we've had enough snow. Teddy's been cooped up for the last two days while we were busy, he deserves a treat."

"Play outside in the snow" Teddy agreed.

"Yes, after breakfast when we've got our snow gear on" Tim agreed. "You need a good breakfast to help keep you warm in the snow."

"You're all welcome to join us, or the car will be available to take you anywhere you'd like if you want to do some sightseeing" Hadrian offered.

He was surprised that Gibbs, Jimmie, and Neville decided to join them once they were sure the newlyweds wouldn't rather be alone with their son. Ducky and Penny decided to sightsee, Kingsley and Sir Geoffrey had set up meetings with their American counterparts and Sarah hasn't yet emerged from her bedroom.

They had a great morning out sledding and trooped into a late lunch as the clouds moved over and it started to sleet.

-o0o-

Hadrian was a little concerned when Kingsley asked to speak with him in private, even more so when he asked him to place a silencing charm around them.

"You didn't bond during the ceremony" Kingsley said concerned. "Do you plan to?"

"We did a couple of weeks ago" Hadrian replied. "We found a bonding ritual that didn't require a third person."

"And it worked with Tim's magic bound?" Kingsley asked.

"Yeah it wasn't a problem" Hadrian said, blushing. "It was a sex ritual. His magic is only bound from active use. It's still present in his blood and semen."

"So he could impregnate you?" Kingsley asked relieved. "Is that what you really meant when you said you'd organised to have a baby in the spring by surrogate."

"Yeah it came as quite a surprise because neither Tim or I knew he wasn't a muggle" Hadrian said laughing.

"Is that why you decided to get married?" Kingsley asked concerned again. The wizarding world didn't respond well to fatherless children but in Harry's case he could easily tell people that the child's mother had died, nobody in Britain would assume that he'd carried the child. After all he'd been through Harry deserved to marry for real love not affection and duty.

"I love him, I wouldn't marry someone I wasn't in love with but we weren't in any hurry to make a formal commitment, it may have taken a couple of years to get around to the wedding if I wasn't already pregnant. Especially since gay marriage isn't really accepted in the nonmagical world though homosexual relationships are. If it's a boy the baby will be the next heir of Slytherin, keeping the title away from the Malfoys. We didn't want any possibility of them contesting that" Hadrian replied.

"I certainly support that" Kingsley said. "You and the baby are well?"

"Yes. This curse while not exactly common isn't unknown in America and I have a healer that has experience with male pregnancies" Hadrian replied. "Clancy's put me on leave from regular duties. It was that or desk duty and I don't need the money enough to spend my days filling in forms. He'll still call if they get a case involving a British fugitive."

"Even then you should limit your involvement to advising from the sidelines" Kingsley ordered.

"Yes Sir" Hadrian replied cheekily.

"I'm serious Harry. Producing an heir to keep the Earldom of Slytherin and the Black fortune out of the Malfoy's hands will do more to prevent another uprising than catching a few more death eaters already on the run" Kingsley said bluntly.

"All the care in the world won't necessarily make the baby a boy" Hadrian responded.

"I know that. But having one child means that you can produce another which will prevent the Malfoys from contesting your ability to be head of house" Kingsley stated. "Even if you never have a boy it will be seventy years or so before you could be declared incapable of producing a male heir."

Hadrian groaned. He could see that if the baby was a girl he would have to deal with quite a lot of pressure from both Kingsley, Robbards and Sir Geoffrey to keep producing children until he did have a boy.

-o0o-

The guests started to leave soon after lunch, and Tim and Hadrian made the rounds of saying goodbye to each of them.

"Thanks for inviting me Harry. It's good to know that you're happy after all the things you've been through what with the war and then being betrayed by the Weasleys like that" Neville said hugging his friend.

"Thanks for coming Nev. It meant a lot" Hadrian replied.

"I know you're hesitant to spend time in England but we'd love to have the two of you, or three of you come and stay" Neville invited them

"When Teddy's feeling more secure and Hannah's well enough I'd like that" Hadrian replied smiling. "Or better yet, we could rent a place on the beach somewhere and both have a real holiday."

"It will probably be the four of us by then" Tim said.

"You're going to adopt? Are you going to do a blood adoption?" Neville asked.

"Blood adoption?" Tim asked.

"A way of altering a child's DNA to make it biologically more like you. There's still a difference to having a child of your own. I'll explain it later if you like. No Neville we're not going to adopt. There are spells here to help two men produce a child of their own."

"I don't think I want to know" Neville said paling slightly. "I'm happy for you but please don't tell me the details."

Hadrian laughed. "Okay Nev, you keep believing our baby's going to arrive by stork."

"Stork?" Neville asked totally confused.

"Oh. It's a muggle story people used to tell young children back in the days they didn't want to tell them about sex and pregnancy. A stork is a huge bird and it was said to deliver babies to couples who wanted one" Hadrian explained.

"You're saying that the muggles tell their children about sex?" Neville asked astonished.

"Just in very simple terms that the daddy puts the baby into the mummy's tummy and it grows there until it's big enough for them to go to the hospital and the hospital takes it out. Muggles don't have glamours so they can't hide pregnancies like we do. And they don't have elves or silencing charms so there is less separation between parents and children."

-o0o-

"Good luck with the baby" Sir Geoffrey said shaking Tim's and Hadrian's hands.

"Thank you Sir" Tim said, while Hadrian just rolled his eyes.

"It still might be a girl and I have no intentions of having half a dozen children just to get a boy" he reminded his boss.

"We're still researching distant relatives and the line of succession after Malfoy. It's not looking good" Sir Geoffrey said. "Those few that didn't support Voldemort are heavily involved in the pureblood movement in Europe."

"I understand Sir Geoffrey but as Kingsley said, even if this is a girl she will provide evidence of my ability to have children which should make them back off" Hadrian pointed out.

"Was he really telling us we need to have a boy to save him the trouble of assassinating an entire extended family?" Tim asked in horror.

"Yes and he means the entire families, wives and children as well" Hadrian said sighing. "I'm just glad you do have magic because the idea of him doing that because I didn't leave you and marry a wizard is horrifying."

"You were prepared to let him do that to be with me?" Tim asked not sure whether he felt awed by the depths of Hades' love for him or upset by it.

"It's only just starting to become an issue again. I'd hoped that having lost so much in the war and seeing what a monster Voldemort became, Draco would settle quietly into a non-political life" Hadrian said regretfully. "You should double check that he's acting on his own free will this time" he said to Sir Geoffrey.

-o0o-

"Thank you for inviting us Timothy. It was a lovely wedding" Ducky said warmly.

"Thanks for believing me and wanting to come" Tim replied smiling at his elder friend.

"It was a lot of fun. Your husband has some interesting friends" Jimmie said.

"If by interesting, you mean a little odd" Hadrian agreed laughing.

"So Ducky you and Penny seemed to be hitting it off" Tim teased his friend.

"She's a fascinating woman. A little flighty though but very good company" Ducky replied.

"By flighty you mean always flying off on some new adventure" Tim commented. "Half the time I see her it's just for lunch in one of the airport restaurants when she has a stopover in DC between adventures."

"But she goes out of her way to stop over in DC rather than Dallas or New York even when it would be cheaper or better connections" Hadrian reminded him.

Tim smiled.

"I'll see you all at work on Tuesday" he said warmly.

"Enjoy your extra day off" Jimmie said.

"We have to close up the house again" Tim replied.

"It seems a pity that a house like this sits empty" Gibbs commented.

"Especially when there's so many homeless people" Hadrian agreed. "But the entailment's quite strict. I can't sell it or rent it out or even give it away and the maintenance costs are deducted from the trust so I'm reluctant to let squatters just move in and risk them trashing the place. From the records it was used as a convalescent home for soldiers during the first world war. I looked at doing something along those lines but it needs a lot of modernisation to bring it up to meet public building regulations so it will take some time."

-o0o-

When Penny and Sarah were the only guests left, Hadrian offered to give them a tour of the house and tell them some of the history he'd learned from skimming through the journals of his ancestors.

"This is the portrait gallery. It's a family tradition to have a portrait painted just after your eldest child's and grandchild's first birthday" Hadrian said, adding sadly. "Unfortunately, my parents didn't get around to it before they died."

Of those listening, only Tim knew what a huge loss this was for his husband. Magical portraits were imbued with the subject's personality and memories. He'd been fifteen months old when his parents were killed and if they hadn't put it off because they were in hiding Hadrian would have had their portrait to get to know them.

The portraits were motionless and Tim mentally kicked himself as he realised this only meant that one of his relatives was nonmagical. He needed to have each of them pass back through the portrait hall without the other to be sure they both were.

"So what happens to the first portrait when the second one is painted?" Sarah asked.

"They're up in the attic" Hadrian said.

"What a waste" Penny commented.

"There's nearly twice as many as there are down here. They are entailed to the estate and cannot be sold. I expect they were put up in the subject's private rooms while they were living, or their parent's or spouses after their deaths and are put away only when nobody remembers them well" Hadrian said lightly. He could hardly tell her that the portraits enjoyed being up there together without the older versions of themselves, or that having talking portraits in the bedrooms and sitting rooms could be awfully off-putting like having strangers in the room all the time. Though in some cases the 'younger' portraits didn't interact with their environments, Hadrian had asked a portrait artist why that was and found that sometimes witches and wizards harvested the magic from a portrait and added it to their newer portrait when they had another one painted.

"Why did they get their portrait painted when their child turns one?" Penny asked.

"Because portraits aren't for the subject, they're to pass on the family history to the following generations" Hadrian replied. "And with infant mortality rates so high even among the upper classes until fairly recently a baby's first birthday was considered an important milestone."

"Will you get a portrait painted?" Sarah asked.

"Yes I want to keep the tradition going. I'm in the process of looking for a portrait artist I like" Hadrian replied.

"Whose work you like you mean?" Sarah asked.

"Yes. but I'm going to have to spend more than a dozen hours in the artist's company pretty much doing nothing while he paints so I need to at least tolerate the person as well" Hadrian replied.

In truth, there weren't many magical artists out there and they'd found the one they wanted but needed to wait until after the baby was born because a glamour would interfere with the magic of the portrait and Hadrian didn't want to appear visibly pregnant in his portrait.

-o0o-

"I don't want to ask Tim and upset him but I need to know what happened with my son? Last I heard things were improving between them" Penny asked bluntly when she got Hadrian alone.

"It's a long story" Hadrian said sighing.

"I have time to hear it" Penny said demandingly, leading Hadrian over to a pair of chairs.

"I don't know if thighs really did improve between them because I don't know what it was like before but their meeting wasn't instigated by Tim. He confided in me that he would have been quite resigned not to ever see his father and I believe that they sentiment was mutual. The admiral came to visit a few days after Tim got shot a couple of years ago, stayed about ten, fifteen minutes. Honestly, he only came because he was in the city for meetings and SecNav made a point of asking him about Tim, expecting him to have already seen him. He and Tim spoke civilly for the first time in years but that still didn't stop the admiral from disparaging Tim's career or trying to convince him to join the Navy. At that stage, Tim and I had been together for about six months and given their relationship Tim wasn't ready to tell his father about me but he did mention to his mother that he was dating someone he believed the admiral wouldn't approve of. His mother expressed concern and took the Admiral's side though she barely knew anything about the situation. When we became engaged, Tim took me to meet the Admiral and his wife. The Admiral, before we could tell him about our relationship, insulted me to my face and ordered Tim to cease our friendship because it would make people think he might be homosexual to be hanging around an openly gay man. Tim told him that there was nothing wrong with that and the admiral lost his temper and stormed out of the restaurant. Heather McGee told Tim off for deliberately upsetting his father before leaving as well and we haven't heard from either of them since."

"My son is concerned what being openly gay will do to Tim's career. 'Don't ask, don't tell' is taken very seriously in the Navy" Penny tried to justify her son's concerns.

"Tim is not in the Navy. He has no intention of ever joining the Navy and has told his father that he would not be joining the Navy during every single conversation he's had with his father since he was seventeen" Hadrian replied unimpressed. "NCIS is a civilian agency. Not to mention that the Navy is seriously considering repealing 'Don't ask, don't tell' a fact which the admiral is well aware of given how hard he is campaigning to keep it."

"You're going to adopt a child. Tim will soon be a father. Hopefully that will improve his insight into how his father feels" Penny commented.

"Tim is already a father and he has told me that if he ever tried to impose his career aspirations on any of his children without considering who they are and what they want to do with their lives I am to beat him over the head until he comes to his senses" Hadrian replied bluntly. "He has no plans to be the sort of father that makes his child feel that his love is conditional on the child doing exactly what his father wants him to do every second of the day."

Penny looked taken aback by the plain speaking and then saddened by what it revealed of the relationship between her son and grandson. She had thought that the tension between them was a result of Tim deciding not to join the Navy when he came of age but from Hadrian's words it had been present through most of Tim's childhood.

Hadrian sat quietly for a moment as she was lost in thought then moved over to look out the window to give her some space. He smiled as he saw Tim and Teddy playing ball out on the driveway where the snow had been cleared.

-o0o-

Tim spent some time with Sarah as she was packing.

"Come for dinner before you go to England" he invited.

"Yeah I will" Sarah said smiling.

"I mean it Sar, you're always welcome. I feel like I hardly ever see you anymore" Tim said earnestly.

"I'm sorry Tim" Sarah said. "I just got caught up trying to finish up my thesis and everything. And every time we did plan something either you or Hadrian was away on a case."

"I know it can all get a bit overwhelming" Tim said agreeably.

"Did you tell Mom and Dad about the wedding?" Sarah asked.

"We tried" Tim said sighing. "Dad went off as soon as I introduced him to Hades and Mom scolded me for upsetting him and took off in pursuit of Dad. We didn't get a chance to even tell them we were serious let alone about the wedding."

Sarah looked chastised. "I'm sorry Tim" she said. "I told them about the wedding. I rang them just after we got here and you told me they weren't coming."

"And yet they still didn't contact me" Tim said suspiciously taking out his phone and checking it. There was nothing wrong with it and Tim saw several messages of support and congratulations from the friends who'd been at his buck's party. "No, no messages from Mom or Dad."

"I'm so sorry" Sarah said leaning over to hug her big brother.

"It doesn't really matter, they haven't been part of my life for a long time now" Tim said resigned. "I'll catch you before you leave."

Sarah watched concerned as he hurried from the room and thought about warning her new brother-in-law what had just happened.

-o0o-

"You look after my grandson, young man. I'm depending on you" Penny told Hadrian as she was leaving. "And that little boy of yours, he's a treasure!"

"They both are" Hadrian agreed grinning. "I'll take care of them both. Feel free to stay with us any time you're in DC. We have plenty of room."

"I might take you up on that" Penny said.

"Where are you off to now?" Tim asked affectionately.

"I'm headed for Papua New Guinea" Penny said sounding slightly awkward.

"With a stopover to see Mom and Dad in Hawaii" said without resentment. "Have fun."

-o0o-

A/N: Thank you to Firehedgehog, Locket1, Kourtney Uzu Yato, Guest, Almonda, Bella216, aisa.32, buterflypuss, lilly-flower15, Rori Potter, MeraHunt, charm13insomnia, xDarklightx, DS2010, Dedicated4reading, mother oracle, acherongoddess, serenityselena, Silvermane1, julschristine975, avidereader101, mayawene, Gracie15Trowa, PercyJacksonROCKS4ever, .9, icyquest4, SpiritBlackPaw, yngoldfogee (Guest), Merlenyn, foxwolf101, SilBlood, ElisaMiranda, earthdragon77, NyxLoon, LaverdaHarleyIndian, Ratchet-999, Catchfire, Kori no megami, Lying Knaves, weeping angels, Goddess-Akria, Yugioh and Inuyasha lover, polgara255, Rowen-bsg, Sylvie Chevasson, Dark-hunterxONihime, kayhandd, ccanuel6, Seravonjia d' Felys, Geistervogel, claire nunnaly, FIREBLISSFEATHER, masterpencro, Elemental wings, Mikado Tora, sifshadowhear, Jayne Lucifer, Fabianadat, Lizziliane, DownUnderFan, AnmialsRainbows, darkfairy20, .520 and Hoppy159 for your support.