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 NOTgive permission for anyone to post it anywhere else. If you want to share it post a link.
Finally, the alarm charm Hadrian had on Rosie let him know that the birthday girl was awake and he signalled to Tim as he went up to collect the one year old.
Rosie was always slightly grumpy when she first woke up so Hadrian took his time changing her clothes and fed her a small bottle before bringing her down. They headed over to Tim who was now talking with Ducky and Jimmy.
"Here's the guest of honour," Ducky said cheerfully. "I hope she's not ill," he added looking at her little red cheeks.
"She's fine Ducky. She just overslept because she wouldn't go down for her nap on time," Tim said. "Teddy was excited about the party and I guess it rubbed off on her and she's been cutting teeth."
"Teddy's getting tall. Is he still enjoying kindergarten?" Ducky asked.
"He loves it but it isn't quite enough for him these days. He's ready to start school full time," Hadrian replied.
"They grow up so fast. What sport are you going to get him into for the summer?" Jimmy asked.
"I want to let him choose so there's a program that will let him try t-ball, soccer and basketball," Tim said. "He's looking forward to it. Of course, Hades wants him to play soccer."
"Football, Tim," Hadrian corrected.
"British football" Tim agreed. "If you call it football here people will think you mean American football and are a neglectful parent to be pushing such a young child into such a rough sport."
"Uncle Jimmy" Teddy yelled running over and hugging Jimmy's knees, "I didn't know you were here. Hello Grand-ducky." He transferred his hug to Ducky's knees.
"Hello Teddy" Jimmy replied, reaching over to support the older man so Teddy wouldn't knock him off his feet.
"Hello Theodore my boy," Ducky said. "You've gotten very strong, do you mind letting me go until I can sit down and give you a proper hug?"
"Sorry Grand-ducky," Teddy said, stepping back. Ducky moved to the nearest couch and took a seat. Teddy clambered up beside him and launched himself into the Medical Examiners arms chattering away excitedly about all the things that had happened in the last few days since he'd seen him. The two had formed a strong bond and Ducky tried to call in and visit the little boy who was the nearest thing he had to a grandchild at least every other week. He had even proudly gone to grandparent's day at kindergarten with Teddy and was on the approved list of adults that had permission to collect him from school, something he had done several times when Hadrian was travelling and Tim working on a case that didn't involve a body. They'd gone to Ducky's favourite Tea house for high tea and both enjoyed themselves enormously.
Jimmy was also a favourite, the M.E.'s assistant had been coming around occasionally to play with the children on his own recently as well as with Ducky. He was still really nervous around them but it was getting better.
Hadrian and Tim kept a careful eye out for accidental magic, or magical toys that had been missed in the clean up of the ground floor. It was even more important with the ever watchful eyes of Gibbs and the forever curious Tony. Hadrian wanted to avoid obliviating them for Tim's sake and considered it unfair that they were not allowed to find out about magic until a case made it inevitable, like it had with the BAU team.
Speaking of the BAU team, Hadrian headed over to where Dr Spencer Reid had just walked into the room shyly with JJ beside him looking around curiously.
"Hey I'm glad you could come," Hadrian greeted them.
"I know you said no presents but…" Spencer said handing over a brightly wrapped package the shape of a children's book.
"Thank you," Hadrian said smiling.
"May I?" JJ said holding her hands out for the baby.
"Of course. She's teething so she's a little unsettled," Hadrian warned. He noticed amused that Spencer stepped away from JJ as she took the baby.
"You don't like children?" Hadrian asked.
"It's more that they don't like me," Spencer replied. "If she's already unsettled I don't want to scare her further."
Hadrian chuckled, "Small children are empathic Spencer, they react to your fear of them. Rosie isn't going to care how fast you read or if you're good at sports or talking to women or how you're dressed. She's only going to notice whether or not you're giving her your attention and whether you're uncomfortable with her."
"Why'd you invite the Feebs?" Gibbs asked Tim.
"We invited our friends Spencer and JJ," Tim replied. "We caught up a few times since they have me a ride home that time and Hades worked a case with them fairly recently too. Besides you tend to forget because you like him and we haven't worked a case together since you met him but I married a Feeb."
Gibbs laughed. "Who's that Tony's hitting up?"
"One of Teddy's friends' moms, I guess he hasn't told her how he knows us yet, she reacted strangely when she found out we both work in law enforcement," Tim said.
"You look into it?" Gibbs asked, his gaze on the woman sharpening.
"Of course we did. Teddy think her son's one of his best friends, and doesn't understand why we don't like him going to his house to play. She came up clean but I couldn't say the same for the rest of her family. Their chauvinism has kept her out of trouble so far. That or they think she's too ditsy to be told about the family business. Her husband isn't involved either, so far as we could tell. The family didn't approve the marriage."
"Organised crime?" Gibbs asked.
"Russian mob," Tim confirmed.
"Should we warn Tony?"
"I don't know Boss, I'm kind of looking forward to watching him crash and burn when her husband arrives," Tim replied.
"She's not wearing a ring," Gibbs noticed.
"Her hands have swollen too much for them to fit, she's nearly three months pregnant," Tim said grinning.
Gibbs laughed, "Tony is slipping, normally he could pick that a mile away."
Hadrian led Spencer over to Hermione. "I'd like you to meet one of my best friends from school. Hermione, Dr Reid is the only person I've met smarter than you and Tim," he introduced causing them both to blush. "And this is Spencer's friend JJ, and of course you know Rosie."
"The birthday girl finally woke up," Hermione said making an effort to smile. She was glad to be introduced to some of Harry's friends but seeing them all and how much Harry was at home amongst them, was driving home for her how much Harry's life wasn't in England anymore.
Tim came over to greet Spencer and JJ and spoke to them for a few minutes allowing Hadrian to draw Ron away from what was likely to become an academic conversation about literature. The two ex-Gryffindors headed towards the buffet and Ron loaded up his plate as Harry quietly told him what some of the American and nonmagical foods were. "Great spread Harry," he said starting to stuff his mouth. Neville came and joined them with Hannah clinging to his arm.
"I can't even talk fashion with these people," Hannah complained. "I didn't understand a word they were saying."
Hadrian bit back a laugh. "Fashion outside the British Magical World is very different from inside it, and changes incredibly quickly," he said.
"So do I look horribly out of fashion?" Hannah asked.
"No that's a fairly classic look, which doesn't ever go totally out of style. It's a bit formal for this type of party but you look fine," Hadrian replied. "The great thing about the muggle world is that there isn't just one sort of style, the peer pressure to conform isn't universal, like our world."
"But I can't make friends with your friends if I can't talk to them," Hannah said.
"Talk to them about your children, that group over there all have children somewhere close to Franklin and Ellison's ages. Just keep in mind they don't have house elves and most of them won't have a full time nanny, many of them don't have any help at home at all," Hadrian said.
"Thanks Harry," Neville said.
"She's still going to have problems Harry, I took Rose to a playgroup like you suggested but the other Mum's were talking about TV programs their children liked and the newest fad toys," Hermione reminded him, joining them.
"Yeah I know but what can I do? She wants to talk to the other women and you and Barbara are the only witches here, if I point her in the direction of our law enforcement colleagues I'm going to end up having to obliviate someone!" Hadrian replied.
Hermione looked shocked. "I thought you said the statute of secrecy was different here?" she said.
"Yeah, different in that the magical world tries to blend in and hide in plain sight, not that everyday people are allowed to know about magic," Hadrian replied thinking hard. "Spencer and JJ know about magic and the nonmagical world because of their job, maybe they could help." He hurried over to where the two of them were still talking to Tim who had been joined by Ducky and Jimmy and drew them away.
"My friend Neville's wife has been very isolated in the magical world in England and she's over there trying to meet new people and make conversation. I wondered if JJ could do me a huge favour and go over there and help smooth over any oddities she comes out with. None of Teddy's friends' mothers have permission to know about magic and to them, and even if she manages not to say something magical, Hannah will sound like she grew up under a rock."
JJ laughed. "Smoothing things over is my specialty," she said confidently.
"She's the blonde lady in the greyish purple jacket and skirt," Hadrian replied gratefully.
"So there are no other witches here? Is that unusual?" Spencer asked.
"None other than Barbara and Hermione," Hadrian replied. "There's nothing suspicious about it. I invited the people I work with frequently but the girls couldn't come for various reasons and none of the guys bought dates. Most of our friends aren't magical other than my old school mates."
"Hermione didn't seem too different," Spencer said.
"Hermione grew up in a nonmagical home," Hadrian explained. "Her parents aren't magical so she still spends some time there, though she and Ron live and work in the magical world, so their daughter will probably grow up nearly as out of touch as Hannah is."
"The wizards fit in better?" Spencer asked curiously.
"No, not in general. American witches and wizards fit in much better than their British counterparts because the two worlds aren't as isolated here as they are in Britain, and Kingsley and Neville have training to fit in as part of their job," Hadrian said. "Neville and Kingsley are keeping an eye on my friend Ron for me, but he's easy to manage so long as there's food around."
Spencer laughed.
"He's also interested in chess, though he's never played with a set he couldn't tell the pieces where to move," Hadrian said.
"Animated chess?" Spencer looked shocked.
"Yes, and not just to follow commands like a voice activated computer game, the pieces have personalities and a mind of their own, it takes time to train them properly. Ron's men do as he tells them but mine always used to argue and tell me what I should do instead," Hadrian said ruefully.
Spencer went off into peals of laughter, "I'd like to see that!" he said.
"Ron's always looking for new people to beat. Stay after the party quietens down and I'll set the two of you up to play," Hadrian offered.
"Thanks," Spencer said moving off to talk to several other people he'd met.
Hadrian approached Ziva who he saw was now on her own. "Hey Ziva, have you done any good cooking classes lately?" he asked.
"I went to a rather interesting Choux Pastry course last weekend we had off it was more of a refresher for me but it was fun," Ziva replied.
"So about three or four weeks ago then," Hadrian said laughing. "You've been extra busy lately."
"Yeah, Tim was beginning to worry that he wouldn't be able to get today off," Ziva replied. "What about you, have you done any classes?"
"Not really, I spent some time learning some local dishes when we were in Hawaii, but between Tim's hours and mine I haven't had many weekends free," Hadrian replied. "I don't get as much time to cook as I would like and I'm limited to what the kids will eat though they're both pretty good eaters," Hadrian said.
"I can picture that, just the cleaning and maintenance on a house like this must take up a lot of time," Ziva commented. "It's not at all the sort of place I pictured McGee living in."
"Thank heavens we have some help with that," Hadrian said, ignoring her second comment.
"Your Nanny cleans, that must cost you an absolute fortune," Ziva said.
"Yes but day care wasn't an option with both our jobs and hiring a nanny with the security clearances we wanted prevented us from considering a college student," Hadrian said. It was difficult to hide the fact that they didn't so much have a nanny/housekeeper as a staff of four house elves as well as Barbara who was their human contact for schools and kinder while they were both working. Without the elves, Hadrian and Tim would've found most of their spare time taken up cleaning and gardening and home maintenance and Quincy's maintenance charms meant that the house would always look just painted and renovated.
"I really am surprised Tim would want a house like this, in fact after seeing his apartment I'm surprised he wanted a house at all. I would have expected he would buy a condo, and a small one at that," Ziva said again.
Hadrian nodded. "It was more my choice, Tim was in hospital after being shot in the shoulder, when I found it. I wanted a yard for the kids and we needed space to have a live-in nanny without sacrificing our privacy too much. It is a bit more than we'd planned but it worked out cheaper than you might think and Tim loves it. Because he'd been brought up in Naval Base housing it hadn't occurred to him to want more than the basics."
Ziva smiled, "I'm glad," she said.
In a way, Hadrian knew Ziva was right, without the help of the house elves, there was no way he or Tim would've wanted a house like this. Neither of them really enjoyed mowing lawns, gardening or the amount of cleaning it would require with two small children. Nor did they care about the grandness of the stately old home, it was all about the privacy the grounds provided, though looking around Hadrian realised they'd got a lot more involved in the local community than either of them had expected.
Tim strapped Rosie into her high chair towards the end of the party, and they all sang happy birthday and took photos of the birthday girl in her party hat with her cake in front of her before Hadrian and Tim helped her blow out the candle and moved the cake into her reach to demolish while the slices of the second cake were passed around.
Hadrian had had to warn the house elves about the mess Rosie would make with the cake and that they needed to let her and not come in to clean up until all the guests had gone. They'd even had a bit of a practice run and taken photos in case Rosie didn't co-operate on the day, which the children had loved but gave the elves fits. It was only making it a direct order that allowed them to leave the mess alone until given permission to clean. They didn't fully calm down until the mess was gone and Hadrian and Tim had praised them for following orders so well.
Rosie had apparently learned from Teddy's help the first time round as she happily plonked both hands into the pretty little cake, smearing cake and icing all over her face, outfit and hair with the cutest grin.
Tim and Hadrian made a show of playing rock, paper, scissors for the dubious honour of being the one to take her upstairs to clean up, making their guests laugh as Hadrian lost and shouted for everyone to clear the way before he carried the messy sticky one year old at arm's length.
"Oh master Hadrian, Missy Rosie be even more messy caky than last time," Tollie said.
"She certainly had fun with it," Hadrian said laughing. "And she'll have fun with her bath while you have fun cleaning her up." He handed her over to Tollie to bath and quickly changed his shirt before returning to the party.
-o0o-
Tim approached Spencer as everyone else was leaving, "Hadrian said you were interested in his chess set," he said.
"Very interested, but I came with JJ," Spencer replied.
"JJ's welcome to stay too, since she knows about magic, or one of us could easily take you home later," Tim replied.
"Take me home with magic?" Spencer asked excitedly.
"Yeah if you want. But don't get too excited, magical travel may be more convenient but it's not pleasant, particularly for the person not in control," Tim replied amused.
JJ was curious enough to stay as well and the three of them approached Ron who was still eating cake. "Spencer and JJ know about magic because of their jobs. Spencer's a chess player and he's curious about the differences with wizard's chess. Would you like to play a couple of games?" Tim asked Ron.
"Where's Harry?" Ron asked.
"Probably in the shower after cleaning up our little cake princess," Tim said dryly.
"Couldn't he have just spelled them both clean?" JJ asked.
"Most cleaning spells that would get that amount of stickiness off are too harsh to use on babies, besides it would've been suspicious if he arrived back downstairs perfectly clean in the same clothes within seconds of going upstairs," Tim replied.
"So, magic is convenient, only when there's nobody who doesn't already know about it around?" JJ asked.
Tim laughed. "That about sums it up except for the wards. This house is 100% fireproof, water proof, rust proof, rot proof and insect proof, the only thing in it that will degrade are the electrical, telephone, TV and internet cables. It's also warded against anyone wanting to harm any of the residents or any child. Anyone wishing to harm any of us today would have suddenly remembered a more important engagement or something that prevented them from attending," Hadrian said.
"Could you ward a school like that?" Spencer asked.
"I own a heap of rental property including a couple of school buildings in Britain and they're all warded like that but it's illegal to ward any building that you don't own," Hadrian replied, joining them. "You're thinking of trying to prevent bullying?"
"Yeah," Spencer agreed. "Are you ever tempted to put illegal wards on your children's school?"
"I attempted to anonymously buy the building and lease it back to the school for a nominal amount for the next fifty years. I'm waiting to hear the outcome but the education department generally likes to own their school buildings," Hadrian replied, not mentioning that he'd also started to buy up the properties surrounding the school and letting the wards he put on those buildings overlap the most of the school playground.
Spencer looked shocked. "I knew you had money, but to buy a school in this neighbourhood and not even cover the mortgage payments with the rent?"
"I've already told you how I make my money if you think about it," Hadrian said enjoying Spencer put the puzzle together.
"Rents. You've warded your rental properties so you don't need to pay anywhere near the normal maintenance costs, and your rental properties are safer than most places so your tenants benefit too," Spencer realised.
"Yes, added to the fact that my family has been around literally almost forever, and each generation has never sold so much as a square foot of land, instead adding to the properties wherever they see fit. I'm starting to buy buildings in Washington but I most of my rental income still comes from Britain."
"I wish you would buy my building," Spencer said half jokingly. He was tired arguing with the landlady about the constant need for maintenance on the pre-war apartment, though he loved the architectural features and the look and feel of the building.
"Is it for sale?" Hadrian asked.
Spencer sighed. "No, the original owner I rented from died a year ago and his widow hasn't been good at keeping up the maintenance so she might be open to offers but she hasn't put it on the market. She's tried to put the rents up though to the point I might look for somewhere else when the lease runs out next year."
"Make sure next time you pay more attention to the condition of the building and its maintenance record than the character. Maybe even take Morgan with you to help you," JJ suggested, smiling ruefully at her friend.
"Let me know if you decide to move and I'll send you a list of the buildings I own," Hadrian offered, resolving to look into Spencer's building and make a viable offer on it. Unlike the school though, he was planning to make a profit.
Hadrian introduced Spencer to his chess men, making Spencer laugh as he told the intricately carved pieces of marble that Spencer was a better player than he was and that he wanted them to mind their manners.
Ron won the first game, Spencer was too busy controlling his shock and amusement at Hadrian's chess set telling him what to do and arguing with his decisions. But the second game Spencer managed to put the novelty of the animated pieces aside and win convincingly. The third game took a lot longer as the chess men obeyed their new temporary master and the two men battled for dominance.
Ron found Spencer's questions and discussion on the history of chess in the muggle world equally distracting. He'd always thought that chess was a British wizarding game that had leaked into the muggle world but Spencer said the game had been played in muggle China for centuries before making its way to England, via Persia and India. He wanted to argue but Spencer knew a lot of details about the other countries he'd barely heard of. Hermione also shut him down by agreeing with Spencer. Ron knew better than to argue with his wife about facts she had read.
A/N: Thank you to TruGemini, BrothersBestFriends, delia cerrano, buterflypuss, knuckles 8, julschristine975, Melikalilly, Kourtney Uzu Yato, SpiritBlackPaw, Rori Potter, DS2010, LunaSunFlowerLily, Firehedgehog, Gime'SS, Village-Mystic, Locket1, Vladimir Mithrander, DarkRavie, acherongoddess, notsofrilly, charm13insomnia, KEZZ 1, lilly-flower15, starie78, Reader Ethiriel, mayawene, Venus914, serenityselena, Serpent91, Fallow54 (Guest), Silvermane1, kimbarn30, The Vitruvian Woman, yngoldfogee (Guest), DullReign82, Beth5572, Merlenyn, lescavanagh, blinddivinity, Rainbow2007, Marikili68, Sarasri, ruth hammond, AndrewWolfe, MargaritaS, wannabe kairi, Tetractys, and all those who followed and favourited this work for your support.
A/N2: I've had a lot of complaints recently about the number of thank you's I add to each chapter and I was tempted to ignore them since I am sincerely grateful for the support and it seems wrong not to thank you all. However, one reviewer pointed out that is does pad out the word count and give a false impression. So I have reduced it to reviews only and if you dislike it enough then I encourage you to read someone else's work instead.
