Chapter 47

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.

-o0o-

"Are there people on this island?" Hannah asked surprised at seeing the sailboats out on the water.

"Yes roughly 67,000 live on the island permanently but the property is warded for privacy. The people on the boats can't see us" Hadrian replied.

"67,000 people, that's more people than in Britain" Hannah said.

Tim looked at her in shock.

"More that wizarding Britain. There are more than 64 million people in muggle Britain" Hadrian said gently.

"Muggles outnumber us by 1,000 to one?" Neville looked frightened for a moment.

"Yeah, it's more likely somewhere between 500 to 700 to one in most parts of the world that haven't followed the pureblood ideology, but in Britain it's 1,000 to one and the difference is growing with every generation" Hadrian confirmed.

From the numbers Hadrian has given me, the purebloods in Britain are going to breed themselves out of existence in the next hundred years. There aren't enough of them to maintain their cultural diversity unless they stop marrying relatives and either marry halfbloods, muggleborns, or foreigners" Tim said.

"So you think Neville shouldn't have married me?" Hannah asked affronted.

"That depends on how many generations you can go back before you find a common ancestor" Tim said.

"We can both see that Neville loves you, Tim's not questioning the success of your marriage. Tim's talking about the increased risk of one of your children having a genetic problem if you're related too closely."

"What difference does that make?" Hannah asked.

"They don't study basic biology at Hogwarts let alone genetics" Hadrian reminded Tim when he looked at them in total shock.

"The more closely two parents are related the higher the risk of the children having genetic abnormality, mental retardation, genetic illnesses and probably some squibs are caused inbreeding" Tim explained.

"There are no Abbots in the Longbottom family tree" Neville replied.

"But what about your mother's and grandmothers' and Hannah's mother's and grandmothers' families?" Hadrian replied. "Genetic family history isn't just patriarchal. No matter how the British wizarding world thinks. You may not inherit family names and titles from your mother's side if she has brothers but you do still inherit half your genetic makeup from each parent."

Tim looked shocked again, "the wizarding world seriously doesn't know that?" he asked.

"No in their world it's legal for half siblings to marry if it's the mother they have in common but not if they share a father. It's also frowned upon if they grew up in the same house but given that fathers are almost exclusively granted custody in a divorce, as rare as they are, and if the child is the heir of a house it isn't that unusual for them to be taken in by the regent and his family if the mother remarries, it does happen" Hadrian replied. "They also allow first cousins to marry which also mostly happens with cousins related though one of their mothers."

"No wonder their world is seriously screwed up" Tim replied.

"Hannah got up with a huff and went to join Teddy and Franklin who were playing in the sand just out of earshot of the adult conversation.

"Sorry" Tim apologised to Neville.

"Don't be, unless you were lying about the genetics thing" Neville replied.

"I wasn't. That's what happened to a lot of the European royal families. They all believed in marrying princesses and got so inter-related that many of them developed Haemophilia, an illness where the blood doesn't clot. In extreme cases before they had a treatment for it, it would've been possible to bleed to death from a minor cut or bruise. There's also an argument that more than a few of them weren't quite mentally up to ruling and the kingdoms were actually being run by their advisors. Insanity and unexplained deaths were also fairly common."

"A lot of the Longbottom income comes from farming Neville, talk to your managers about it. They'll be able to explain why they spend so much money on stud fees to ensure that the bull isn't related to the cows. And that's for something that only has to be smart enough to eat the grass for a year or two before being slaughtered." Harry said. "Dog and Horse breeders are far more particular. Have a look at the stud books they keep and ask them why they're so careful not to inbreed."

Neville nodded thoughtfully. "Thanks Harry." He took off after his wife and the two families spent the next couple of hours doing their own things.

-o0o-

Hannah chattered on when they met up again taking charge of the conversation so it couldn't stray into areas she didn't want to think about. Gossiping about various old classmates. Still she couldn't help having a dig at Hadrian by attacking his friends.

"Ron's lost his job" Hannah said. "He's working with his brother."

"How'd he lose his job?" Hadrian asked more curious than concerned.

"He roughed up a suspect because they were Slytherin and they turned out to be innocent" Neville said. "It was his last straw. Robbard's had warned him more than once. I'm sorry Harry I couldn't do anything for him."

"That's okay Nev, he did it to himself. As you said he was warned and he knew the consequences" Harry said. "Has Hermione gone back to work?"

"No, they've been fighting about it. Ron doesn't want his wife working" Hannah said. "He doesn't earn as much working for his brother and Hermione thought it would be better if she goes back to work to make ends meet. Ron's mum would be happy to look after the baby but Ron's ego couldn't handle the idea of not being able to support his family. Hermione hates being a stay at home mum and now Ron's no longer an Auror he's given her a limit on what she's allowed to spend on books. So she's even more pissed off. She doesn't come out much anymore"

"What's the baby like?" Hadrian asked.

"Oh she's a little darling, big blue eyes and strawberry blond curls and the cheekiest smile. She's a really happy baby, Hermione has no idea how lucky she is" Hannah gushed. "She just sits up in her pram and looks around. Funny thing is her name's Rose too."

Hadrian laughed. "Yeah I got the letter telling me that about a month after our Rosie was born. I hadn't told her about Rosie yet, it's just a coincidence."

"Have Fred and George got enough work for Ron or have they taken him on just to do him a favour until he finds another job?" Hadrian asked.

"They're doing really well, planning to open a second shop in Hogsmeade but neither wants to move up there to run it, they like living and working together a little too much if you know what I mean. George is supposedly dating Alicia and Fred Angelina, but rumour has it they swap around and they're both dating both girls. Nobody knows for sure whether the girls know or not."

"If they're swapping on Angelina then the girls know. She's one of the few people that can nearly always tell the two of them apart and there's no way she'd let them do that to Alicia" Hadrian replied.

"Any way Ron works mostly out the back because he's not good with customers, too short tempered. Ginny's real pissed at them because they refused to hire her. The twins won't even let her in the shop because they say she's bad for business."

"But working out back means making the pranks and Ron's terrible at potions. His enchanting skills aren't that hot either" Hadrian said.

"That's the hilarious thing. Not many people know this but Hermione makes potions for the twins from home while Ron's at work and they pay Ron the money she earns along with the small amount they pay him to pack the mail orders and stock the shelves when they close each night" Hannah said laughing cattily. "Ron thinks he's the man, supporting his family when Hermione's really earning the money. Still she was earning a lot more at the ministry so they'd be better off if she went back to work properly."

"But if Hermione's spending all day making potions, who's looking after the baby?" Tim asked.

"Hermione does. Mrs Weasley has her one afternoon a week when Hermione does the really tricky potions, other than that she looks after her between steps, like I said luckily she's the most placid baby."

"How did you find out?" Hadrian asked knowing Hermione wouldn't have confided in her.

"I saw either Fred or George going to her flat when I knew Ron was at work. At first I thought nothing of it but after a couple of days seeing him at the same time I followed him."

"You know that he'll punish Hermione or stop her from doing it if everyone finds out, don't you?" Neville said firmly.

"I won't tell anyone" Hannah agreed. "I don't know how they're paying rent on their flat as it is. They'd be in real trouble if Ron wasn't getting paid for those potions."

"They don't rent their flat. It was a wedding present" Hadrian said offhandedly.

"Wow! They haven't told anyone that" Hannah said surprised.

Hadrian shrugged, "I didn't do it for the recognition. I know Ron would have trouble accepting what he sees as charity though I didn't mean it that way. I just wanted them to have their own place."

"Ginny is…" Hannah began.

"I don't think Harry wants to hear about Ginny" Neville interrupted.

-o0o-

"You stopped Hannah telling me about Ginny earlier, why?" Harry asked Neville once they were alone.

"Hannah was looking for ways to get under your skin after you suggested that we might be too closely related for marrying each other to be sensible. She would've presented what's happening with Ginny in the worst possible light and then insinuated that it was your fault."

"Do I even want to know what's going on with Ginny?"

"You probably should because I'd expect it's stopping Ron and the others from getting over you breaking your engagement to her" Neville said. "If I were you I'd be wary of any Weasley, don't agree to be alone with them Harry."

"What Ginny chose to do has nothing to do with me" Harry replied.

"It's bad Harry, nobody will employ her and a lot of people have stopped inviting her to their parties, originally it was because of you but now it's because she always gets drunk and creates a scene. She was dating Dean again for a while but now she's dating some quidditch player from France who according to the papers has a wife at home. She still tells people that you're engaged and she's waiting for you to come home from assignment but nobody believes her. There were rumours that you left her pregnant but she hasn't had a baby so then there were rumours that she had an abortion"

"If she had an abortion the baby wasn't mine, and to be honest I doubt she did" Hadrian replied calmly. "She did try to tell her brothers she was expecting my baby so they'd force me to marry her but we never had sex. We didn't even come close and she didn't seem disappointed. She was more physically affectionate in front of her friends than she was when we were alone. Does Hannah take her side?"

"Merlin no! Hannah gets really bitchy about her. Sometimes when she's been drinking she starts flirting with every man in the room. Hannah came back from the bathroom one night and caught me trying to fend her off. Thank Godric Hannah could see that I was trying to get away from her and didn't blame me. She marched across pulled her off me and bitch slapped her so hard she fell over then took my hand and dragged me home to bed."

Hadrian grinned. "Good night?" he teased his friend.

Neville blushed, which was answer enough.

"Ginny can't upset me anymore. The only reaction I had from hearing that was to be glad I don't have to be there to deal with it" Hadrian said honestly. "I'd almost thank that bastard who cursed me for helping to open my eyes and see the truth about her."

"Only almost?" Neville asked watching the way Hadrian kept checking on the little girl asleep in his husband's arms.

"No, I'd thank him. But that wouldn't stop me from having him charged, he wasn't doing it to help me" Hadrian replied.

-o0o-

"You know I was surprised that Harry invited me to his wedding" Neville said to Tim one day they were walking in the gardens.

"Weren't you close friends at school?" Tim asked.

"We shared a dorm, and we were always friendly but he was closer to Hermione and the Weasleys" Neville said. "Then when he moved away I thought he would drop all contact with all of us."

"Well I understand his problems with keeping contact with the Weasleys, but he does still write to Hermione" Tim replied.

"Yet she has no idea even what country he's living in" Neville said.

"Neither does Hannah" Tim warned.

"Yeah I realised that you were being purposefully vague about that" Neville said. "And I understand in Hannah's case, Harry doesn't know her very well other than her being my wife and she is a terrible gossip at times. But he used to trust Hermione with everything."

"But now Hermione's magically married to Ron and I know Hadrian was upset about how old fashioned and one-sided the wedding vows were. And then there's that biography. Hermione had to have known Hadrian would hate it. It damaged his trust in her."

"Yeah and it cost her a lot of other friends too. Between the people who are angry with her for doing that to Harry and the people who disagree with things she has written and those who are afraid of what she'd write about them If she writes another book she wasn't too popular at parties for quite a while. People stopped inviting her places and with her work she didn't really care at the time but now she's home with the baby she's very isolated."

"Tell me more about wedding vows. I know Hades was very careful to discuss our vows and make sure I was happy with all of them" Tim asked.

"Well you do know that when a wizard makes their vows their own magic will strongly encourage them to keep them and they can lose their magic if they do break them?" Neville said anxiously.

"Yes" Tim replied. "Hadrian wasn't sure that it would work like that with me because my magic is bound but he made sure that I knew it was possible."

"Hermione and Ron used the old vows. Apparently, they're traditional in the muggle world too but almost no witch would agree to use them these days, I'm not sure if Hermione realised that her magic would force her to keep her vows quite as strictly as they do. Perhaps nobody warned her because she's the sort to research everything to death and thought she would already know" Neville said sadly. "She always did get too caught up in her work and studies but her heart was in the right place and she never once turned her back on Harry at school when almost everyone else did, even Ron."

"So, Ron knows that she must obey his every command no matter how much she disagrees?" Tim asked.

"He's possibly thick enough not to realise how unhappy he's making her but I believe that if he did tell Hermione to publish that book he has to know she probably only did it to obey him" Neville said thoughtfully. "I don't know if he knew how much power those vows would give him over her before the wedding or not."

-o0o-

Their week together came to an end and Neville, Hannah and their children planned to leave straight after lunch.

"This has been a great week Harry. Thanks for inviting us" Neville said.

"It's been good to catch up, and to get to know Hannah and the kids" Hadrian replied smiling.

"Nice to get to know you a bit better too Harry" Hannah said smiling. "And Tim and the children. They're great kids. You're a good father."

"Franklin is a great kid too" Tim said smiling. "I'm glad you brought him with you. I really don't know what Ellison's personality will be, but he's a little cutie."

"I think he's going to be a little daredevil like Teddy" Neville said. "He has no fear."

Hadrian laughed. "My advice is to keep him busy and give him safe ways to be active and explore his environment" he said. "And then a playgroup or something where he can play with kids his own age."

"But you said that wizarding children are kept at home until they're nine or ten" Hannah protested.

"Muggles run playgroups and kindergym programs for children from Ellison's age in nearly every town in Britain" Hadrian said. "There's no good reason not to join one of them, it would be good for Franklin too."

"But what about the statute of secrecy?"

"Children have vivid imaginations. Nobody will take anything he says as evidence that magic really exists" Tim replied.

"And if he performs accidental magic?"

"You said it yourself, most children don't perform accidental magic until at least eight or nine years old. And even if he does, I remember performing several acts of magic while at school and nobody paid attention. People just don't want to see what doesn't fit into their system of beliefs."

"Can I speak to Harry alone for a minute?" Neville asked.

Hannah and Tim both nodded and moved off a little with the children.

"Harry. I have had a great time and I'm glad we came but I need to know. Did you have an ulterior motive in inviting one of the biggest gossips in Hogwarts and telling us all this stuff?" Neville asked, refusing to look at his friend.

"Neville, no! We just wanted to catch up with you, and any long-term friendship between us needs to include Hannah. She's your wife and we wanted to get to know her and the kids" Hadrian protested. "And most of the things we needed to explain just came up. I'll admit it would be great if Hannah talks about some of the issues about the British wizarding world. Having more people out there thinking about these things and talking about them might help, Neville. And we both know that that Britain needs the help to pull itself back in line with the rest of the world before it breeds another wanna be dark lord. But that wasn't why we invited you, we want our friendship to last and that means understanding and accepting the differences between the worlds we come from. Tim and I have lived together for nearly three years without a lot of these topics coming up because I'm not pureblood. I was raised outside the wizarding world and missed a lot of the differences because I was fighting so hard just to survive and to hide how I was treated at home" Hadrian stopped rambling and took a deep breathe trying to find a way to explain why Tim questioned so many things Neville and Hannah took for granted.

"If you think about all the times you needed something explained about the nonmagical world this week, and then think about me and Hermione arriving in your world as eleven year old's surrounded by people like Malfoy who sneered at us and insulted us for asking questions, expecting us to just know about your culture. All the things we needed explanations for that we either never got or got explained by Ron who didn't understand why we didn't know. Hermione could have given you most of this information, or Hannah's friend Justin is a muggleborn. They're just conditioned from the start not to talk about the nonmagical world. Tim hasn't had to grow up with that prejudice so he speaks his mind and questions the things that don't make sense to him. That's all. Neville, I'll swear on my magic that our friendship is genuine if you want me to."

"No Harry I believe you" Neville said smiling sheepishly at his friend. "Maybe next year you can come to Guernsey to visit us."

"I'd like that Neville, if you have enough security to have me there" Hadrian replied.

-o0o-

Tim and Hadrian decided to stay in Hawaii until sunset before packing up, arriving back home at 0100 and then have Tim and Hadrian use the time turner to turn back enough hours so Tim could recover from the portkey and get some sleep before he returned to work. As soon as Neville and his family left they put both children down for naps and left Tollie in charge, asking her not to disturb them unless it was an emergency. They ran down the beach out of sight of the house with a blanket and casting sunscreen charms and sand repelling charms they stripped off making love in the sunshine.

Once they'd rested, Tim remembered his promise to teach Hadrian to swim and they made their way to the rockpools to discover the joys of skinny dipping with someone they loved. Hadrian didn't learn to swim but no longer did he associate the idea with the freezing cold Black lake and the terrifying realisation that his friend's life depended on his non-existent ability to swim down to the bottom of the lake and rescue him. Instead for the rest of his life mention of the word swimming led to memories of he and Tim teasing each other in the warm safe rock pool.

"We didn't end up trying the day bed on the porch" Hadrian said remembering the plans they'd made.

"Something to look forward to next time" Tim said smiling.

Hadrian grinned.

"Are you going to talk to Quincy about putting in electricity and a theatre room?" Tim asked.

"Yeah, if we're going to be spending time there I want you to be able to work the lights. I vote we leave the kitchen alone and depend on the elves to cook those wonderful meals though" Hadrian replied.

"Definitely, you deserve a holiday from cooking too" Tim agreed. "And the local food was superb."

"It will prevent you from ever inviting your team here" Hadrian warned. "The elves here don't have the ability to pass themselves off as human."

"Is it a spell they could be taught?" Tim asked.

"The glamour to look human would be easy enough to teach, it's the behaviour and remembering not to use magic in sight of nonmagical people that's the problem. It would take years for them to learn" Hadrian replied.

"That's okay, it's nice to have a place away from them" Tim said. "And even if we offered them accommodation the flights are pretty expensive and most of them have other plans for their vacations."

-o0o-

"Where'd you go for your vacation McTan?" Tony asked grinning when Tim walked in to work the next morning.

"Hawaii" Tim replied. "Hadrian owns a house there that he wanted to see."

"With a private beach?" Jimmy asked, having seen Tim and Hadrian's houses in DC and Boston.

"Yes the beach was nice. The house needs a bit of repair work, it's only been maintained enough to keep it waterproof at the moment, so it was a bit like camping out in a house with the old gas lighting and wood fired stove. Teddy loved it" Tim replied.

"Secluded enough for an all over tan?" Tony asked waggling his eyebrows.

"Tony, we took the kids. This was a family holiday" Tim said wearily.

"So you guys still haven't had a honeymoon?" Jimmy asked surprised.

"No but it's fine Jimmy we took our new nanny so we had plenty of time alone. Neither of us want to leave the kids for a whole week anyway" Tim said smiling at his friend reassuringly. "Neville and his family met us there for most of the week. He said to say hello."

"You didn't say if the beach was secluded" Tony insinuated.

"Yes Tony, the beach is secluded enough for you to get a sunburnt dick if you can talk Hadrian into lending the house to you for a day or two" Tim remarked snidely. "Hadrian and I however have better uses for our dicks than to find out how much they could hurt."

Ziva burst out laughing. "That's the most crude thing I've ever heard you say" she said.

"Glad to hear it McGee, now get back to work all of you" Gibbs barked, having arrived with a new cup of coffee in time to hear Tony's final question and Tim's answer. He slapped the back of Tim and Tony's heads lightly.

"Thank you boss" Tony replied facetiously.

-o0o-

Abby had returned to work the day Tim and Hadrian left for their holiday and had been quite put out not to have heard from any of the team in the month she'd been off.

Director Shepard had been quite severe with her in their appointment at the start of her first day back, letting her know she was on probation and if she failed to treat any agent professionally and prioritise her work solely on the importance and urgency of the case being investigated instead of favouring Gibbs team she would be reallocated possibly to the Seattle office one of the few satellite offices that did all their own forensics. Director Sheppard had also let Abby know that all of the teams had been very happy with the temporary forensic scientist who'd replaced her and most of them would prefer that Abby be reallocated now instead of given another chance, and that there would be no intervention to save her position here at headquarters if she didn't follow the rules and behave professionally towards all agents, NCIS and other agencies working joint cases.

With Tim away the MCRT were working cold cases so she hadn't seen any of them down in her lab and one of her new rules was a ban on visiting the bullpen and accosting the agents. Hugging was also now on the banned list unless the agent gave her specific permission to hug them every time. Abby was surprised and hurt that when she asked, Ducky, Jimmy and her friends on the other teams had all refused to give her permission. Some of them told her that she hugged too hard and it often hurt them to be hugged by her. She was sure Gibbs would let her hug him, but then he hadn't been down to bring her Cafpow all week.

Tim was back today but she had no desire to go up to the bullpen and see him. Still that meant the team would be back in rotation and Gibbs would have a reason to come down and visit her.

A/N: Thank you to veyronking995, buterflypuss, xDarklightx, SpiritBlackPaw, Locket1, charm13insomnia, Gottahavemyncis, Kaorilamb, Rori Potter, DarkRavie, lilly-flower15, dobbys-stinger, Firehedgehog, Kimpatsu no Hoseki, asdf (Guest), Maben00, DS2010, Kourtney Uzu Yato, acherongoddess, Merlenyn, Silvermane1, kimbarn30, Village-Mystic, serenityselena, lia (Guest), mayawene, PercyJacksonROCKS4ever, Fallow53 (Guest), Lw117149 (Guest), Martionmanswife, .9, Guest, Antujoannas, Valgal37, minxjewel, veneno, claw06, DragonBloodSky, Yllanya, RAD092515, ShamieLove214, Flame150, Slate Grey, Shadic Kitsune Ebonwood, zoisyte, anilass44, Skywillow, pez304, BlindBardRLB, CheezieBacon, panth13, dawnk553, silverspun, Ri Granger Potter, prince0904, Hiraeth Ianevski, Hesperis, WerewolfLover13, angeleyes24245, thexemerald, Lieselotte19, jjrocx, Pawesome Sauce, Joanna-T, potter8668, Magsheather, Nekoka6069, Theatre Ninja, silverblade243, nolsoee, mariojackson, Heala, pipper11, Asbeth, Menoly, msmith, Lunatics Revenge, kymickeyfan717, scholarbard, harry'stardisonbakerstreet, CatGirl04, Mybraindevourersyourstories, madbrat, Confused Interests, JuicyGeek, Shanon Nakayama, whindman, The Sleeping Death, akatsukipheonix, Bast14, Iniesetsu, zizike. Jenniebennie, miaserafina, Renegade Storm and alien164 for your support.