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Hannah enjoyed picking JJ's brain about fashions in the American non-magical world, particularly once JJ started critiquing fellow party guests clothing. Spencer flushed when JJ described his look as preppy professor, Tim's as smart casual and Hadrian's as more casual but still slightly conservative, but Hadrian just grinned and agreed. JJ then started pulling pictures up on her phone to show her the various high fashion and alternative fashion styles. Hermione quickly lost interest in this.
"She's never been interested in fashion. My friends Lavender and Parvati shared a dorm with her at school and said she never cared what she wore or whether she fit in," Hannah said. "She was too interested in schoolwork and reading."
"She sounds like Spencer, he loves his books and his studies. It wasn't until we gave him a bit of a makeover that he stopped dressing like a geeky college student," JJ said, smiling fondly at her friend.
"If you gave him a makeover, why didn't you make him more fashionable? Look at him he could be gorgeous," Hannah asked.
"Spence is gorgeous, and there's no point putting him in high fashion that he'd be uncomfortable in. He looks good in his current clothes and he feels confident wearing them. Yes, he looks a bit like a professor but he is one," JJ said.
Hermione would have liked more opportunity to talk to Spencer about his education, she still regretted not having gone to muggle university after Hogwarts. Still it was good to see someone beating Ron at chess, proving to him that he wasn't the best player around and that muggles could be just as clever as wizards.
Ron was shocked not to beat this muggle friend of Harry's but would happily have kept playing for the rest of the day if Spencer hadn't decided that he needed to leave with JJ when she had to go. He was quiet for the rest of the afternoon, going over the games in his head.
Hadrian and Tim both suspected that JJ had invented the other appointment to get away from Hannah but were grateful for her help during the party and afterwards in keeping Lady Longbottom entertained and her ignorance of the non magical world contained. Hadrian resolved to buy her a small gift to thank her for preventing a major incident. A gift certificate to her favourite spa to help relieve the tension Hannah might have caused seemed appropriate.
-o0o-
Kingsley discussed with Hadrian the possibility of conducting an education session on working with Muggle law enforcement. Hadrian informed Kingsley that he would in fact be in England for Ellison Longbottom's christening and would be happy to schedule several sessions for the Auror Corps and the Auror Academy for the Monday after that.
"I look forward to it," Kingsley said.
"Tim will be presenting with me," Hadrian said.
"Are you sure that is wise?" Kingsley asked. "It won't be well received."
"The Aurors need to know what non-magicals are capable of," Hadrian said calmly. "Having Tim there is the best way to show them. We can take some of the technology they've been trying to deny would work in the magical world and try to drag them kicking and screaming into the 21st century."
"I must admit Cell phones would be much more convenient if all the people I need to talk to carried one," Kingsley replied. "I tried to make it compulsory for the department heads but a surprising number of them broke within days."
"Did you buy them from a muggle retailer or here from the magical shopping centre. They need magically hardening and insulation to prevent them from burning out. I'm sorry I thought I'd told you about that," Hadrian said sheepishly.
Kingsley slapped his palm to his face. "You did. You told me the whole story of how your pocket caught fire. I forgot all about it."
"I can take you to the shop I buy my phones, they'd need a British Sim card to work in England but I can show you how to change it without damaging the magical protection," Hadrian offered. He checked his watch. "We've got time to go now."
Kingsley nodded and Hadrian grabbed his arm and apparated away. They returned twenty minutes later with a pile of new phone boxes. "We cleaned them out, they said they'd have another order ready for us to take when we come for the christening. Remind me to pick them up before we go," Hadrian asked Tim.
"Sure," Tim replied.
-o0o-
Kingsley, Ron and Hermione portkeyed home after dinner but Neville and Hannah stayed an extra day and spent time catching up on Wizengamot business, preparing for the upcoming session, and spending time together. Tim and Hadrian enjoyed getting to know their godson better.
There had been some resentment on Hannah's part over Neville's choice of Harry and Tim but as he pointed out she'd chosen both of Franklin's godparents and he hadn't objected even though he didn't really get along with Ernie McMillan that well.
"That's different," Hannah had argued. "At least Ernie and Susan would send Franklin to Hogwarts and bring him up to know everything that the future head of the House of Longbottom should know."
"Harry is the head of House Potter and House Black," Neville had countered. "He is more than capable of teaching the boys what they need to know as Head of House Longbottom. More than that, he will bring any child in his care up in a kind and loving environment. That's more important to me than anything else, besides Ellison isn't going to be the head of house Longbottom, Franklin is. I want Ellison to grow up with the skills and motivation to make something of themselves and not just live off their trust fund. Harry and Tim will teach them that better than Ernie McMillan will. In fact, I think they'd be better guardians even for Franklin than Ernie. I hope if anything happens to us either Susan or Harry will take them both in.
"But Harry's never going to come back to England, look at the house and the party, he's settled here. In fact, he seemed more comfortable with everyone else in the room than he was with his former best friends," Hannah said perceptively.
"Harry and Tim won't live in Magical Britain until the bigotry against same sex marriage, muggleborns and the children of werewolves is wiped out of our society. If you want them to move back to Britain then we should start trying to use what influence we have to change those things," Neville replied. "And don't say you don't have the power, look what you did by spreading those rumours of squib children being murdered by their parents. It was investigated and there's a person in the WPC that's in charge of making sure births are registered and the children cannot just disappear anymore, and a place to leave them that will train them in how to survive in the muggle world and give them a decent education to make the most of their lives."
"It really made that much difference?" Hannah asked, astonished.
"Not by itself but Hadrian had already told Kingsley and Robbards and they were getting nowhere trying to investigate. It was you and your friends that managed to get the wizarding world worked up about it and then Kingsley, Robbards and Harry stepped in to make the most of the opportunity you created."
"Harry, what's he done?" Hannah asked, confused. She didn't think Harry had been in Britain at all since she'd seen him over the summer.
"The squib transitioning school and orphanage were set up and funded almost entirely by Harry," Neville said. "He's also trying to set up a summer camp for muggleborn children too young to start Hogwarts to teach them some of the wizarding traditions so they understand what's going on around them a little better. It will just be for the eleven year old's about to start at the moment but he hopes to extend it to nine and ten year old's as well eventually. He hasn't entirely abandoned our society even if he chooses not to live in it. Think about it Hannah, who's done more for wizarding Britain, the pureblood Ernie MacMillan who lives of an allowance from his father, or Lord Potter Black, even though the prejudices of our world and the Weasleys unjust prosecution of him drove away. Now think about which of them you would rather the boys grow up to emulate."
Hannah did think about it, Ernie was her friend and her best friend's fiancé, but she had to admit he was more than a bit of a snob, and he didn't really do anything, he didn't have a career or a seat on the Wizengamot, which his grandfather still held so he wasn't even the primary heir.
-o0o-
"It was great seeing everyone, but I must admit I'm ready to be just the family again," Hadrian admitted as Neville and Hannah left.
"I admit I'd probably enjoy Neville's visits more if he left Hannah at home," Tim said.
"Yes but she was less outspoken in her opinions of our lifestyle this time," Hadrian pointed out.
"Maybe because she could actually see how it works, magicals and non-magicals meeting as equals and the level of acceptance, you and I and Teddy have here with our friends," Tim said. "That or she was overwhelmed."
"I'm surprised she named us both godparents though," Tim said.
"Me too but Neville complained to me about the friend she chose to be Franklin's godfather so maybe he insisted this time."
"Should we expect trouble when we go to the christening?" Tim asked.
Hadrian frowned thoughtfully, "None of the Weasley's are on the guest list and we didn't mention it in front of Ron or Hermione but Hannah's a huge gossip so I wouldn't be surprised if the press and everyone else finds out we're expected to be there. Neville and Hannah's friends were mostly on the light side of the war or neutral, the other few have publicly renounced the dark side and will be keen to re-establish their reputations and therefore won't say a single thing against me openly, no matter what their actual opinion is. I suspect it will depend on how unhappy Hannah truly is about it. She may be different surrounded by her own support network."
-o0o-
"Should we take Teddy and Rosie to England for the christening?" Tim asked.
"It should be safe enough if you want to," Hadrian replied. "I can't imagine most of the Weasley's will take our differences of opinion out on a child and the wards at Longbottom Manor must be nearly as good as ours are here. If we take several elves then one of them can be with each child all the time to pop them to safety if it makes you feel better."
"It would," Tim agreed. "I don't want to be paranoid but I also don't want Teddy to notice that I'm hovering."
Hadrian nodded, "If we take him, then I want him to feel safe at Longbottom Hall, which means we need to act like we think he's safe. He's normally very aware of our feelings."
"Have you considered having an elf accompany him to school like that?" Tim asked curious how far Hadrian's protective instincts had gone.
"I haven't gone that far but there is an elf assigned to listen for Teddy and go to him if he cries out in distress. They're under orders not to reveal themselves and not to interfere unless Teddy if in danger or seriously injured. And there is one assigned to do the same for Rosie and Barbara when they're out," Hadrian said.
"And one assigned to me too?" Tim asked.
Hadrian blushed, "Will you be mad at me if I say yes?" he asked sheepishly.
Tim leaned over and hugged him. "Since I've never even noticed he's there, no I'm not mad. He's obviously not that intrusive. I'd like to talk to the elf that looks after me though."
"Elves, there's two when you're out in the field, one to protect you and one to protect the rest of your team," Hadrian admitted.
Tim smiled, "Why?"
"Because you're my husband the elves see you as a master too, and when there was only one he became conflicted between my order to keep you safe and your desire to find and protect Tony one day when he was the one in imminent danger. So now there's two of them so they can do both, follow your orders and still keep you safe," Hadrian explained.
"Have they saved me very often?" Tim asked.
"I don't know. You'll have to ask them, one of my orders to them was not to tell me anything. I didn't want to invade your privacy more than I had to to keep you safe. They're not spies Tim, just security detail," Hadrian said.
Tim laughed at the idea of him and the team taking a security detail with them everywhere but thinking back there were a lot of situations that could have been a lot worse than they were, and a couple of situations where the perp had unaccountably stumbled while running away from them. "I think they may be doing more than keeping me safe. They're actually tripping perps as they try to escape."
Hadrian laughed. "I expect they would argue that catching the perp rather than having to go looking for them a second time and risking an ambush is keeping you safe."
"Are they with me in the bullpen?" he asked.
"No, they're not, I was afraid their magic might interfere with the computers or MTAC. They did put some minor wards on the inside of your desk drawers against ill intent though and your food stash is warded against theft unless there is a genuine medical need that the person must eat immediately," Hadrian replied.
Tim laughed.
"Do you have any other elves following people around to keep them safe?" Tim asked.
"No, I thought about assigning Hermione an elf to keep her safe, but she would hate me for it. She still hasn't accepted that elves are happier and better off with their magic tied to serve a family," Hadrian replied.
-o0o-
"Hadrian, there is something else we were going to talk about after Rosie's birthday. Do you want to start trying for another baby?" Tim said sitting beside his husband and taking both his hands into his.
"I think I would," Hadrian said thoughtfully. "I like the idea of the children being a little closer together in age than Teddy and Rosie are. I want to wait until we come back from Ellison's christening though. I know it would probably take longer than that to succeed but if things go wrong I don't want to have to worry about harming a potential baby if I need to use the time turner. What do you think, would you like another baby so soon?"
Tim nodded, "I wouldn't mind one, but it took a couple of years of unprotected sex before you conceived Rosie, so it might not happen immediately. Or did you want to take a potion to make it happen more quickly? It's up to you, it's you that will have to give up fieldwork for months to keep the unborn baby safe. Will taking leave again so soon affect you getting a position here if all the death eaters are caught?"
"It shouldn't. The real problem will occur if I get a lead on one of the death eaters being here in the States while I can't work in the field. I wouldn't want to put the baby at risk and I may have to call Robbards for support which depending who he sends would expose where we live and increase the risks for all of us," Hadrian said.
"You've taken every possible precaution to prepare for someone finding us Hadrian. And there's no reason to suppose that a Death eater will appear here in the tristate area. Anywhere else and you wouldn't be local, you could still claim your home base is in another country," Tim said encouragingly. "Are there potions to help you conceive?"
"There are such potions but I don't think we need one just yet," Hadrian replied thoughtfully. "What if I stop taking the birth control potion and see what happens. If I'm not pregnant again by this time next year I'll consider taking a potion."
Tim smiled. "Yes that sounds sensible."
"We will have to have two elves take Teddy, and Rosie too. And Tollie can go with them too so there's always at least three elves with them working in shifts. Do you want to portkey straight to London, or stop overnight in Hawaii?"
"How about we go straight to London and plan to stop in Hawaii on the way home. That way if things go really well and we want to extend the trip another day or two we can," Tim suggested. "And if not we have some time to relax before we get back to work."
"Sounds good," Hadrian agreed. "Did you get the time off?"
"I got the week after, we could leave here Friday after work without using the time turner," Tim said.
"What about you?"
"The week after, same as you but I can also take the Thursday and Friday before unless a case comes up in my area of expertise," Hadrian said.
-o0o-
Hadrian and Tim had decided to portkey to London and turn back a couple of days, staying at the flat in Grimmauld place to recover from the portkey and have a couple of days to themselves before the children arrived and they headed to Longbottom Manor. Talking to Quincy, Kingsley, Robbards and Sir Geoffrey had turned that into a week on their own before the children joined them.
Hadrian caught up on some business with Quincy, looking at the new developments and refurbishments he was making. The new school and estate they'd decided on last time was now completed and the students had started to attend. The wards on the school made it one of the most popular schools in the area with students travelling from adjoining school zones to attend. Seeing the success Hadrian made plans to include more schools in his new developments. The children were learning in a place of peace and safety, everything a school should be but for so many children failed to be. The education department were sceptical but handed over licences to build schools in areas where the overcrowding of the current schools was limiting the educational opportunities of the children.
Hadrian also took time to catch up with Sir Geoffrey and to continue planning the education sessions Robbards wanted him to run with the Aurors and Auror cadets, his recent experience with Trainee Auror Caddie had given him some new ideas to add to the suggested sessions. They also took some time to do some of the tourist things around Britain that neither of them had had the opportunity to do in the past.
At the end of the week they were both glad to be reunited with Teddy and Rosie and they took the local portkey Neville had sent them to the edge of the manor.
"Wow, and I thought our houses were a bit much just for the four of us!" Tim said looking at the ancient manor up on the hill above them. "There's got to be over a hundred rooms."
"It's been the home of the Longbottom family for hundreds of years. It's designed to have more than one generation living here. Neville's grandmother still lives in one of the wings," Hadrian replied.
"And not being subjected to muggle inheritance taxes or upkeep costs no doubt helps," Tim said cynically.
They walked up to the house, "Why did Neville have us portkey so far out? I thought he trusted us," Tim asked.
"A house this old probably has blood wards on it meaning only family members can apparate closer to the building. If he didn't trust us we would have landed outside the gate," Hadrian replied
pointing to the gates about an extra mile down the hill.
Tim looked around and saw a couple of smaller houses scattered around inside the huge stone walls.
"Would they be farmer's cottages?" he asked.
"I think they would've been in the past," Hadrian agreed. "Some of the larger ones probably would've also housed relatives at one stage, the sons who weren't in line to inherit the Lordship and main house. It's only Neville and his family and his grandmother left now. The wars have been nearly as hard on the Longbottoms as they have been on the Potters and the Blacks.
"Do the Blacks have an old family home like this?" Tim asked.
"Yes, that Abbey we visited last time that felt so awful, Quincy has cleared it out and the curse breakers have taken down and replaced all the wards. The Blacks were historically a very dark family. Their wards would have killed Teddy even if he is the heir," Hadrian replied. It should be safe to look at now."
Tim shuddered as he remembered the feeling of the Abbey. "Do you think they've really managed to fix the problem. I wouldn't want to live there."
"I wouldn't either. I did consider having it converted to muggle apartments but perhaps Teddy or one of his descendants will want to live there. Potter Manor was already destroyed before I was born and there didn't seem any point rebuilding so I kept the gatehouse and built a housing estate on the rest of the grounds. I certainly don't need a home like this but I don't want to take that away from Teddy if this is what he wants."
"At least it's a nice day to walk and we don't have to carry our bags," Tim said smiling.
Neville opened the door as soon as they reached the steps, having been alerted to their arrival by the wards.
"Hey, I'm glad you could make it," he said cheerfully. "I'll show you to your rooms if you'd like to rest, or lunch is about to be served on the terrace. We have to take advantage of weather like today."
"We'll join you for lunch" Hadrian replied. "Is it just the family?"
"Susan and Ernie are here too, you remember them both?" Neville replied.
"I do," Hadrian replied. "They're friends of Hannah's. Ernie can be a bit of a snob but Susan's quite sensible, I think you'll like her," he explained to Tim.
"What Harry's trying hard not to say is that she's not as stuck in traditions as Hannah, or at least she wasn't before she got engaged to Ernie a couple of months ago. She didn't have such a sheltered life as Hannah did. Her parents were killed in the first war when she was a baby and the aunt that
brought her up was killed at the start of the second war," Neville said cheerfully.
Tim laughed. "They're Franklin's godparents. Were they upset that you didn't choose them to be Ellison's as well?"
Neville swore, "You know I'm not even sure Hannah has told them," he admitted. "She wanted to tell Susan on her own and she never mentioned how they reacted. I hope she has but I didn't think to check."
Hadrian frowned, this wasn't like his friend. He hoped Hannah hadn't put off telling Susan and Ernie because she had changed her mind about who she wanted to be Godparents.
Neville led the way out onto the terrace and introduced Tim to Susan and Ernie.
"Harry, Hannah didn't mention you were coming," Susan said smiling at him.
"Hi Susan you're looking well," Harry said gallantly.
"Thank you, so are you. You look years younger than Neville and Ernie," Susan said.
"That's not exactly an advantage unless I'm undercover," Hadrian said laughing as her fiancé and Hadrian's husband frowned.
"We'll you look great. Healthier and more relaxed than I've ever seen you," Susan said.
"Yes, not having to watch my back every time I leave the house is amazingly less stressful than living here," Hadrian said.
"So, Hannah was right, you're not moving back?" Ernie said. "What about your responsibilities. You have a seat in the Wizengamot."
"No, I'm not returning to live in England. Neville sits as proxy for my seats and to be honest I don't owe this society a damn thing," Harry retorted.
"But you could do so much more by leading the faction yourself. People would follow you," Ernie stated.
"Until the daily prophet decided I was too powerful or dark or crazy again," Hadrian retorted cynically. "I gave up my family, my childhood and very nearly my life for this misbegotten society that thinks it's acceptable for my godson, the child of two war heroes to be banned from entering some of the shops on Diagon Alley. I can't even take my children out in public here without a security detail. Who are you to say I haven't already given enough?"
"People know I vote the Potter proxy and those that matter know that Harry is involved in making the decision which way his seats are voted. It's not unheard of for me to vote Harry's seats differently than my own on the rare occasions we disagree," Neville said. "And as for the changes Harry would want to make in our society, his friends have all been quite vocal what changes need to occur before Harry will consider returning. We've been working hard to end the bigotry in our world. Besides you can't talk, what exactly have you done to help fix our society since Harry killed Voldemort?"
Ernie spluttered but had no reply to give. Instead he turned and attacked Hannah. "How come you didn't tell us Harry Potter was coming?"
"Because Neville forbade me. He said it wouldn't be safe to have Harry here if word got out in advance," Hannah said.
"Rubbish, you have better wards than anyone," Ernie said.
"No wards are unbreachable and I still needed to arrive outside them. It would be easy enough for someone to plan an ambush if Hannah had let slip when we would be arriving," Hadrian said.
A/N: Thank you to Firehedgehog, Rori Potter, jayswing96, jilumasam, SpiritBlackPaw, starie78, DullReign82, buterflypuss, sandipi, knuckles 8, charm13insomnia, xDarklightx, DarkRavie, fayriegirl, mithrilandtj, Tetractys, Heretogetthestory, Gottahavemyncis, acherongoddess, Kourtney Uzu Yato, KEZZ 1, Melikalilly, lilly-flower15, aisa.32, Reader Ethiriel, gabrieljuarezl, staar (Guest), kimbarn30, Village-Mystic, delia cerrano, DS2010, 19811945, TruGemini, Merlenyn, Silvermane1, serenityselena, Fallow54 (Guest), Guest, Serpent91, Locket1, Rainbow2007, Gime'SS, Harriverse, lia (Guest), Ashley (Guest) and all those who followed and favourited for your support.
