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.
I'm sorry we've been ignoring you. I'm Susan Bones, and this is Ernie MacMillan, we went to school with Harry and haven't seen him in years," Susan said offering Tim her hand.
Tim shook hands smiling pleasantly, "I'm Tim, Hadrian's husband."
"Who's Hadrian?" Susan asked confused.
"I am!" Hadrian said rolling his eyes. "It's my real name."
"Since when?" Ernie asked.
"Since my parents filled in my birth certificate," Hadrian said sarcastically.
"I thought you were betrothed to Ginny Weasley?" Ernie said.
"I broke off my engagement and my relationship with Ginny about two weeks before I left England nearly five years ago. Neville, Hermione and Luna Lovegood witnessed the ending of the betrothal contract and I stated clearly multiple times that I had no intention of ever renewing it. Why would I want to marry a fangirl that I cannot trust?" Hadrian said bluntly.
"Ginny's been claiming that you're still engaged for years," Ernie argued.
"And multiple people have been telling you she was lying for years," Neville reminded him. "The girl needs a mind healer."
"Tim and I have been together for almost four years," Hadrian said. "I haven't even seen Ginny since I had her and Ron arrested for assault and conspiracy to commit assault before leaving Britain."
Considering the conversation closed, Hadrian turned his attention to his children and transfigured one chair cushion into a booster seat and another chair into a highchair and strapped Rosie in. Handing them both some fruit pieces he turned to Hannah. "Where are Franklin and Ellison?"
"In the nursery. I can have an elf take Teddy and Rosie up to join them if you like," Hannah said.
"Would you like to go and play with Franklin, Teddy?" Hadrian asked.
"Have they eaten?" Tim asked.
"I can have something sent up for your children even if they have," Hannah replied.
"I'll go play with Franklin, can I take my trains to play with. Is Rosie coming up to play with Ellison?" Teddy replied.
"Rosie can go as long as Ellison isn't needing a nap," Hadrian said.
"Are you hungry for lunch yet?" Tim asked.
"No thanks, I want to play" Teddy replied.
"Okay then, let the elf looking after you know if you get hungry," Hadrian agreed.
Hannah called the elf who popped in and popped out with the two children.
"He's speaking so well," Hannah said.
"Yeah, being at kinder with his friends has turned him into a real little chatterbox," Hadrian replied. In truth, he'd always been a bit of a chatterer and being surrounded by older people was responsible for his language skills, kindergarten had just cured his shyness, so he'd speak in front of a group he didn't know well.
"Have you had any problems with accidental magic at kindergarten?" Hannah asked.
"No none, he knows he isn't allowed to use magic and he's very careful, the only real risk is that we'll forget to give him his potion," Hadrian replied.
"What is a kindergarten?" Susan asked.
"It's a part time program three or four hours a day three days per week for the school year to get children ready to start school. He learns things like playing nicely with other children, using pencils and scissors, listening to the teacher and joining organised songs and games. Teddy loves it," Hadrian explained.
"But isn't it too soon, he won't start school until he's eleven?" Ernie asked.
"He will go to a local non magical school next year and then to a wizarding day school once he turns eight," Hadrian said.
"You're sending him to muggle school, is that safe? What about the statute of secrecy?" Susan asked. She'd heard Hannah talk about this when she came home from the holiday they'd spent with Harry in the summer but hadn't been satisfied with Hannah and Neville's assurances that there wasn't a problem.
"Surely you realise that here in Britain, muggleborns and muggle raised witches and wizards all go to muggle schools for five or six years before starting Hogwarts," Hadrian replied. "I did, there were a few incidents but nobody believed that it was magic. Hermione said the same. Teddy's a smart boy he knows about magic being a secret and if he did slip up, adults would write it off as imagination. People in general don't want to believe in things they can't explain, they're more likely to convince themselves there was an accident somehow or they were hallucinating. Like so many witches and wizards were willing to believe that I'd gone mad and was an attention seeking liar when I said Voldemort had returned, in spite of the fact that it should have been obvious that I hated the attention I already had. His accidental magic only tends to occur when he's hurt or upset and the metamorphmagus concealing potion uses his magic to work and makes an outburst less likely," Hadrian replied.
"It would be more difficult for Neville and Hannah to send Franklin to a non-magical school, because he doesn't know so many of the things non-magical children know at this age such as using light switches, electrical gadgets and toys and telephones, not to mention popular TV shows for children his age," Tim said. "We live in a largely non-magical home."
"Are you a muggle? Or a muggleborn?" Ernie asked.
"I'm not a muggle, but in my country if parents choose not to send their children to a magical school then the government binds their magic so they can't actively use it. I might be muggleborn or one or both of my grandparents may have made the same decision my parents did. Unfortunately, they would also have had their memories of the event wiped so I cannot ask them. It doesn't really matter," Tim replied.
"How can you say it doesn't matter?" Ernie asked incredulously.
"The importance of blood purity is a British and European concept," Tim said dismissively.
Ernie frowned but Neville jumped in and began rambling about his new greenhouse before Ernie could say anything else. Hadrian jumped on the conversation and he and Tim found themselves following Neville out to inspect it. On his way out Neville gave his wife a pointed look and Hannah blushed and hung her head.
"What is Harry doing here anyway?" Susan asked curiously. "He never comes to England these days."
"Neville asked Harry and Tim to be Ellison's Godparents," Hannah replied.
"You're going to let people like that be your son's godparents?" Ernie asked.
"Harry Potter gave everything he had to destroy Voldemort. He still spends most of his time tracking down the Death Eaters that escaped justice to make sure there will never be a third war against them. Every man woman and child in Britain owes him a debt we can never repay," Hannah said repeating Neville's arguments.
"Yeah that's fine, but he's married to a man. A man who cannot even use magic. You heard them, they live in the muggle world. Is that the way you'd want Ellison to be brought up if something happened to you?" Ernie argued, not that he wanted custody of the boys but for the next Lord Longbottom to be brought up outside their world was unheard of.
"Neville insisted. He respects Harry not just for saving us but for the work he's doing now both as an international Auror and on the Wizengamot and with his charities," Hannah replied. "And I have to admit that in spite of refusing to live here, Harry does more for our society than most people."
"Like what?" Ernie asked.
"Harry's the major benefactor for the new wizarding orphanage and the squib orphanage and school. In addition to the money he provides both properties and all the building maintenance is done by his corporation. In addition to that he set up the programs and organised the new staff," Hannah said.
"That still doesn't answer the question, if something happened to you would you want Ellison brought up by two men together instead of a proper family, in the muggle world in whatever country they live in?" Ernie pressed.
"Neville would," Hannah said. "They have a proper family and Neville said Ellison is a second son, he doesn't have an estate to manage or Wizengamot seats to sit on when he grows up and we'd rather he grow up with people who will encourage him to work for a living and make his own life instead of sponging on his head of house and resenting his brother for having the money and the power. Besides it isn't as if Harry's totally unaware of the pureblood customs, he had to learn them when he inherited his seats. He could teach Ellison what he needs if necessary."
"He doesn't even sit on his seats in the Wizengamot," Ernie scoffed.
"But he does decide how they are voted, Neville sends him the notification of the motions up for discussion and he researches the issues and tells Neville how to vote," Hannah replied.
"So, you're going to let Neville have his way like a dutiful little wifey and name Potter and his boy godparents of your son," Ernie sneered.
"You know what. Yes, I am. Harry and Tim are awesome parents," Hannah said, finally opening her eyes and seeing why Neville had had doubts about Ernie being Franklin's godfather, and role model.
-o0o-
"I didn't mean to make trouble for you and Hannah," Hadrian said as they walked towards the greenhouse.
"Don't concern yourself. Hannah agreed with my decision to choose you when we discussed it. I don't know why she didn't follow through and make sure Susan and Ernie knew they weren't going to be Ellison's godparents. For that matter, I don't know why they would've assumed they would be Godparents again in the first place," Neville said rolling his eyes at his former dorm mate.
"Is it normal for children to be assigned the same godparents because the godparents are the ones who traditionally take over custody of the child if the parents died? Because I would want Teddy and Rosie to remain together," Tim asked.
"Normally the closest family member would take custody, otherwise Harry here would have been sent to Mum and Dad instead of his relatives," Neville said. "Of course with what happened to Mum and Dad perhaps it's just as well he wasn't."
"No. My Mum and Dad's will listed four different people I should have gone to instead of the Dursleys. I wasn't sent there because of some stupid tradition. Dumbledore wanted me out of the wizarding world supposedly so he could hide me better but also to restrict what I learnt about our world," Hadrian said.
"That backfired on him. If you'd grown up in our world then you might not have felt the desire to leave and never come back," Neville suggested.
"Maybe not but I would still have left to ensure Teddy's safety, but if I'd grown up with you and your Gran, Ginny may not have been able to get away with potioning me and the public would have known me better and may not have turned on me as easily as they did," Hadrian speculated. "More importantly though, I've always thought that Sirius wouldn't have gone after Pettigrew and been wrongfully arrested if Hagrid hadn't taken me away from him that night.
Tim leaned over and hugged his husband.
"I know, it does no good to wonder 'what if'" Hadrian said tiredly.
"No but what happened to you makes me even more careful to make sure that Franklin and Ellison will be well looked after if anything happens to Hannah and I and that the people we've chosen will have airtight legal documents to back up their claim," Neville said.
"Yes, me too. I haven't given you custody of Teddy and Rosie because I want them to stay in America, but the people we have given custody to are muggles and Kingsley will be their magical guardian. That said, I hope their Uncle Neville will always be part of their lives and that you would take the position of Regent for all my seats on the Wizengamot. We hoped by separating the magical guardianship of the children from the regent positions their custody would be less likely to be challenged. But as Regent you would need to teach them the things they need to know. Teddy will be Lord Black and at Rosie will be Lady Potter and also the regent for the other seats at the moment."
"You're right," Neville said. "I understand Harry. This isn't the best place for either of your children to grow up in until we manage to get rid of the bigotry and I'm afraid that's going to take decades to stamp out."
"Kingsley's doing amazingly well with the child abuse and squib legislation," Hadrian offered.
"Yeah, it's finally beginning to be considered more shameful to have a ten or eleven year old child die in an accident than to admit they don't have magic," Neville said pleased. "And you should see the Alley, new mums are bringing their babies out and introducing them to everyone as soon as they've recovered from the confinement, especially those married to purebloods. There seems to be babies wherever you look."
"I was on the Alley yesterday, it looked normal to me. Then again it is normal to bring your children to the shopping centres I usually go to, but I never really noticed the lack of young children in Diagon Alley until I started looking after Teddy regularly," Hadrian said.
"I don't think any of us did. We just assumed it was normal for people to keep their children at home in seclusion to keep them safe until they were old enough to start school. Nobody really knew what was happening except the families involved. I just don't understand it, I couldn't hurt Franklin or Ellison whether they had magic or not," Neville said. "When I look back at what happened to me, how Uncle Algie did to try to force magic out in me, I'm horrified. If I had've been a squib I wouldn't have survived my childhood. I can't forgive him for that and I have trouble forgiving my Gran for not stopping him. What's come out now has brought all those memories back."
Hadrian nodded, "In some ways your childhood was more emotionally destructive than mine, at least my relatives never claimed to care about me. I didn't have that feeling that they betrayed my trust or my feelings for them."
"I swear Franklin and Ellison aren't going to go through what either of us did," Neville said.
"Teddy or Rosie either, that's one reason they won't go to Hogwarts unless they really want to. I don't want all these crazy expectations placed on them because they're my children," Hadrian said fervently.
"I understand that. You went through hell, everyone idolised you and the turned on you at a whim," Neville said. "I never quite understood why?"
"The Australians call it 'tall poppy syndrome'. People have a need to cut down the famous and overachievers. Those stupid children's books didn't help. Everyone thought I was some sort of superhero and then they were all disappointed when I turned out to be a normal muggle raised wizard," Hadrian said.
Tim kept quiet, he knew his childhood struggles were nothing compared to the other two but he still resolved that his children would never feel that his love and respect were conditional on any decision they made whether it be career, relationships or lifestyle.
-o0o-
Susan sat next to Tim later that afternoon.
"You know we all used to speculate on what kind of girl would be lucky enough to capture the heart of The-Boy-Who-Lived," she said. "I don't think any of us pictured it would be someone like you."
"The-Boy-Who-Lived?" Tim said slightly amused but also annoyed at the inference.
"Because he survived the killing curse as a baby," Susan explained.
"He told me about it, I just have never heard anybody call him that. It's a disgusting name," Tim said frowning.
"What do you mean?" Susan asked surprised.
"What else happened that day?" Tim asked pointedly.
"Voldemort was defeated, well temporarily defeated but we all thought he was killed," Susan said.
"And?" Tim pressed.
Susan looked at him blankly. "The whole world celebrated the freedom from the fear," she said uncertainly.
"Your parents died when you were a baby didn't they?" Tim asked.
"Yes, they were killed by Death Eaters which is why I was so grateful to Harry for defeating him," Susan said.
"Would you have liked to be constantly called the-girl-who's-parents-were-murdered?" Tim asked.
"No that's horrible!" Susan said frowning.
"Yes. It is," Tim said pointedly.
"But it isn't like that, Harry living saved our world, he should be proud of that," Susan protested.
"You think Harry should be proud of that night? He remembers his mother pleading for his life, her death and then the curse being cast at him and he didn't do anything. He believes Voldemort was vanquished that night by something his mother did. Would you like your friends to call you the-girl-who-lived-when-her-parents-didn't?" Tim asked incredulously.
Susan looked shocked, "I never thought… he never said anything."
"How could he. He was an eleven year old kid in a brand new world who from the moment he set foot in it everyone had unrealistic expectations of," Tim said.
"You're really not what I expected," Susan said.
"Yeah you said that already," Tim said.
"No I meant when Hannah told me Harry had married a gay muggle man I expected someone more... I don't know…"
"More subservient? More aware that I'm inferior to wizards? Maybe more like Ginny Weasley? More feminine?" Tim asked.
Susan blushed. "No, yes, I don't know," she stammered. "A lot of us were surprised he ended up with Ginny Weasley, she was too interested in partying and being the centre of attention. It made sense when we heard they broke up. But I thought he liked her type, his mother was a redhead too, as was his grandmother. They say that Potter's always go for redheads."
"You had hopes that he'd look in your direction?" Tim asked gently.
"Yeah I wouldn't have said no to him if he had. But that's not unusual almost every single witch was hoping they could catch his attention. Instead he disappeared. Other than Ron and Hermione's wedding this is the first time I saw him. I wasn't heartbroken when Hannah told me Harry was married. I'm happy with Ernie," Susan said.
"I'm glad to hear it, one obsessed red head is more than enough," Tim said dryly.
"Ginny Weasley," Susan said sighing. "She truly believes that Harry will come home and marry her one day. Even the fact he's been gone years now hasn't altered her belief. She needs a mind healer but her parents won't do anything about it. I'm surprised Harry told you about it."
"I met Hadrian the day he left England and we very quickly became best friends before becoming involved with one another, there is very little about our lives that we haven't shared," Tim said. "The only thing that I really didn't know before coming to England the first time is exactly how famous he is and how the public react to him. He tried to explain it but in my world, we have celebrities that have as little privacy as Harry and have all these fabricated stories about them appearing in the magazines but they wouldn't put up with strangers accosting them on the street. And sensible people know that most of the celebrity gossip is either false or blown out of all proportion, here they seem to believe every word, even when it contradicts another story which they also believe. It almost makes me wonder if there's a spell or something cast on the newspapers."
"So he told you all about the war?" Susan said. "About the horrific things that happened and the battle of Hogwarts?"
"He probably told me more about that than anyone other than Ron and Hermione know," Tim replied.
"Do you know Ron and Hermione? Do you like them?" Susan asked.
"I know them," Tim said diplomatically.
"But you don't like them," Susan said perceptively. "How does that effect your relationship with Harry?"
"It doesn't, Ron and Hermione live in England, they came to Rosie's birthday party about a month ago with Neville and Hannah, but we don't see much of them," Tim replied.
"Does Harry know you don't like them?" Susan asked.
"Of course, I don't keep secrets from him. Hadrian thinks Hermione and I might get along better if she loosened up a bit and stopped stressing herself out about the differences between our home and England. It upset her to discover that the rest of the world don't consider Hogwarts to be a great school, and the different approaches to the statute of secrecy nearly drove her into a meltdown," Tim said chuckling.
"Harry truly doesn't mind that you don't like his friends? He was always super protective of them in school, they always seemed joined at the hip," Susan commented surprised.
"He's no longer a school child with no family other than his best friends, and neither are they," Tim reminded her. "Hannah is your best friend but do the two of you both like exactly the same people?"
Susan blushed. "Hannah seemed to think that you're the one behind Harry's idea to use Neville and Hannah to spread gossip that will change things here," Susan said changing the subject slightly.
"Hannah is wrong, I'm not the one who understands how the British Wizarding world works. If Hadrian got advice off anyone it would have been Neville, Kingsley, Sir Geoffrey and his bosses," Tim replied. "But don't for a moment think Hadrian manipulated Neville into it. He explained to Neville quite clearly that he was hoping Hannah chatting to her friends would raise the level of knowledge and awareness of what was happening to squib children and Neville agreed with him."
"But he still manipulated my friend?" Susan asked half angry and half amused.
"He discussed the issue with Neville in front of her. Hadrian and Hannah would find it very difficult to have anything to say to each other if he couldn't mention anything he was happy for her to gossip about as well as the things he didn't want her to gossip about," Tim replied smirking.
"He could have told her," Susan protested.
"And Hannah would have told all of you about it, devaluing the gossip she did share," Tim retorted.
"You don't like Hannah much either do you?" Susan asked.
"She's pleasant enough but we don't have much in common," Tim replied. "She's a full time housewife and mother and lady of the house, and I really haven't met many people with a lifestyle like that. Hadrian and I both work full time in law enforcement, and juggle everything else around the kids. We don't have time for numerous social luncheons or gossip the way Hannah does, and didn't even have elves in the house until we needed them to help with Teddy. I'm not devaluing her contribution to society, she's managed to sway a lot of people and improve the plight of all wizarding children. I'm just not used to a society that's that insular and easily influenced."
Susan nodded thoughtfully, "There's more than that," she said.
"When we first met, Hannah made no secret that she believed muggle society to be immoral. She disapproved of everything from my clothing to my relationship with my husband and my parenting decisions. It didn't help that she seemed to resent Hadrian for not returning to England or letting her tell everyone about me and where we lived. And the closeness between Neville and Hadrian also annoyed her, especially when she found out Neville had attended our wedding and not told her anything about it."
"That last one would do it on its own. Even more than gossiping, Hannah hates not knowing things. She would have been in a major snit to find Neville kept secrets from her," Susan said amused.
-o0o-
Hannah had asked for the elves to bring Ellison down when Rosie went down for her nap, and Hadrian reached for him eagerly.
"Hey little man, haven't you grown," Hadrian said, smiling at the baby. "Can you smile for me?"
Ellison gave a big grin.
"You are so cute," Tim said sitting on the arm of Hadrian's chair and tickling the baby's tummy.
"Is Uncle Tim tickling you?" Hadrian asked. "Do you like Uncle Tim tickling you?"
Ellison chuckled and squirmed, obviously enjoying the attention.
The two men continued to play with the baby until he began to fuss and grunt, suddenly a horrible smell began to circulate around Ellison and he began to grizzle.
"He needs a new diaper, can you point me towards the nursery, unless you have a change table closer?" Tim said to Hannah.
"Diaper?" Hannah asked confused.
"Nappy," Hadrian translated.
"Snaffy," Hannah called.
"Yes mistress," a young-looking elf popped in.
"Ellison needs cleaning up, and a change of clothes," Hannah ordered.
The elf approached Tim who put the baby into her arms them popped away with him, returning him a few minutes later in clean clothing.
"Thank you Snaffy," Tim said taking back the toddler. He put him up against his shoulder and leaned into Hadrian. "How come they waited so long to have the baby Christened?" he asked.
"Mostly it's tradition," Hadrian said. "I'm not sure why it started."
"If it's hundreds of years old like a lot of British traditions it's probably because of the infant mortality rate. Before modern plumbing and sewage systems were built many children didn't survive. So the family wouldn't waste time christening the baby until he or she looked strong enough to have a chance of survival."
"The aquamenti charm was invented in the 1200 giving witches and wizards access to clean water long before the muggles, even now it's purer water than most cities," Hadrian said.
"Which would've made a difference if they had the education to understand why it was necessary, but did they?" Tim responded.
"The other reason they waited was for Neville to be sure we were ready to come back to England to attend," Hadrian said quietly.
"Oh!" Tim said softly. "He really felt that strongly about us being the godparents?"
"Yeah he did," Hadrian confirmed.
A/N: Thank you to lilly-flower15, Kaorilamb, knuckles 8, mumimeanjudy, Gime'SS, charm13insomnia, DarkRavie, Firehedgehog, Guest, Kourtney Uzu Yato, Sakya (Guest), kimbarn30, xDarklightx, Fallow54 (Guest), mayawene, Carl-the-strange, Rori Potter, Rainbow2007, Midnight Angels, Village-Mystic, SpiritBlackPaw, rmiser1994, KEZZ 1, buterflypuss, starie78, delia cerrano, aisa.32, acherongoddess. Tetractys, staar (Guest), Silvermane1, Reader Ethiriel, whatweareafreaidof, CraftyMomma, Harriverse, bluepillfanfic, LadyDrak75, Kris (Guest), serenityselena, DS2010, Melikalilly, yngoldfogee (Guest), Beth9891, MissHexie, Serpent91, flybunnyand all those who followed or favourited for your support.
