Chapter 68

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Neville was in good spirits next morning. "It's nice to have the house to ourselves again and be ourselves," He said.

"Oh! We can go if you would like. I didn't mean to outstay our welcome," Tim said surprised, and a little hurt. Neville and Hadrian acted like brothers most of the time so it had to be him Neville didn't like.

"No, not you Tim, all those blasted Longbottom and Abbott relatives," Neville said. "I'm sorry for the misunderstanding, I didn't mean you and Harry at all. You are very welcome to stay as long as you'd like. You must have noticed their stiff formality, forced politeness and the underlying tension yesterday. They don't get along, never have though I doubt any one still alive remembers the real reason. I was unaware of the situation until I married Hannah but it's been like this on every occasion since. It's almost enough to make me want to abandon the traditional formal family celebrations and tell the lot of them they aren't welcome in my home until they all remove the sticks up their arses."

"Yes, I noticed, but I just assumed they didn't approve of Hadrian and my relationship," Tim replied.

Neville sighed, "To be honest they probably didn't but it wouldn't have mattered much, as soon as you were friendly with one side the other side would've given you the cold shoulder," he admitted. "Did they upset you?"

"No, I was more amused by the way they were obviously making such a huge effort to force themselves to be polite. They wouldn't make very good politicians, well not in the non-magical world anyway," Tim said laughing.

"They are not politicians in our world, either. They are distant relatives, many of them live on stipends from the Longbottom estate, hence them toeing the family line, though some of them also have jobs of their own in the ministry," Neville said.

"Do you have plans for the day?" Tim asked.

"I have some issues from the recent Wizengamot session to discuss with Hadrian. Where is he anyway? He's usually up by now," Neville said.

"He's not still in bed, he and Teddy are out having a flying lesson," Tim said. "The wards at home aren't designed to hide broom flight, and Teddy overheard Susan and Ernie talking to Hadrian about flying."

Neville laughed. "It's hard to believe Harry doesn't fly much anymore. He loved it so much," he said.

"He explained to me that he used to use flying to escape the pressure of everyone's expectations. Up in the air he was wanted for his own skills, not for rumours and some mythical thing people thought he'd done as a baby," Tim said. "He doesn't have that need to escape his life anymore."

Neville smiled. "No, I don't believe he does, but he still has some need to escape from pressures of his positions. I go spend time in my greenhouses helping things to grow."

"When he wants an escape from the stressors of the job he comes home and plays with the children or cooks up a storm and then we have a family meal together," Tim said.

Hadrian and Teddy arrived at breakfast laughing and hungry.

"Have a good flight?" Tim asked.

"Yeah, he loved it!" Hadrian replied, as Teddy babbled excitedly about how high they'd flown and how fast they'd gone.

"I can see that," Tim agreed. "I won't ask about the safety precautions."

"I stuck him to me with a sticking charm and we didn't really go that fast or make any trick moves o sudden turns. I was careful," Hadrian replied.

"I know you would be," Tim reassured him. "Can the wards at home be altered to allow you to fly with him?"

"It's not the wards exactly that are the problem, it's the amount of air traffic in DC, I don't want to encourage him to fly there, he might decide to go exploring somewhere he shouldn't, with the speed of a good broom he could travel quite a distance in a short time and we're not that far from the flight paths, not to mention the number of private helicopters in the DC area. We can always fly safely in Hawaii or Boston and he'll be able to fly at school when he goes to Salem," Hadrian replied.

"Do you want to move to Boston when he goes to Salem so he doesn't have to board?" Tim asked.

"There's no need to move for that. We have enough elves available that they could transport him between DC and Salem each day, I'll just have to allocate a couple more for the task so they don't exhaust themselves," Hadrian replied wondering why Tim had brought that up. "Have you been worried about me wanting to move? You know I love our house and the neighbourhood in DC, the house in Boston isn't in a neighbourhood that I want to live in."

"Yeah," Tim admitted. "I couldn't imagine you thinking eight is old enough for boarding school, and I don't think even eleven is old enough to send children away for months. I remembered the portkey journey we took to get there, it's nowhere near as bad as to Hawaii or England but I couldn't wish that on Teddy twice a day."

"No I should apologise to you for subjecting you that portkey. I didn't know house eves could transport wizards that far. And I wouldn't be happy if Teddy had to board, I hope he and Rosie will want to stay home until they go off to college. Though boarding school was a godsend for me to get away from my relatives, I pray that my children will never see it that way," Hadrian replied. "If they go to Salem Teddy and Rosie will have the choice to come home as often as they want. But I could never ask you to give up your job and your life in DC to be closer to them."

"Speaking of children, are you ready to start trying for another one when we get home?" Tim asked.

"Yeah, I've started all the prenatal vitamin potions and the last birth control potion I took was almost a month ago," Hadrian said smiling.

"You're sure that's what you want?" Tim asked.

"Yes, why? Have you changed your mind?" Hadrian asked in surprise.

"No I want another baby, I'm just becoming aware of how much being pregnant will limit you. You won't be able to work, or to come back to England, or at least not be in public here and you won't be able to even go down the street or to pick up Teddy from school once you start to show, and what about when Teddy wants to have friends over, are you going to have to hide upstairs and pretend you're not home?" Tim said.

"You're feeling guilty that it has to be me every time?" Hadrian asked.

"A little, I don't know that I would be willing to do it, and I'd probably lose my job if I told Gibbs I was voluntarily putting myself on desk duty for nine months," Tim said.

"Don't feel guilty, I was cursed before we met, it wasn't your decision to curse me instead of yourself and I can't father a child I don't carry, that's just the way it works. And Healer Roberts said that it is safe for me to use glamours to hide my bump for a couple of hours most days, so I'll still be able to pick up Teddy if I feel like it or play with him at the park or go out for dinner and things. I know we weren't as involved in the community last time and I spent a lot of time at home getting the house finished, but I wasn't a prisoner in the house last time. It was just such a treat to have the space after our apartment that I enjoyed staying home."

"But you won't be able to come back home, will you miss it?" Tim asked. As many places as he'd lived in growing up America was his home country and he'd never quite felt like he truly belonged anywhere else. He failed to realise that the difference was that he'd always known that his father's overseas postings were temporary and he'd arrive home from school one day and be told to start packing for a move to another country, Hadrian had left Britain thoroughly disillusioned with magical Britain and planning from the start to make his home in his new country. The only reason he hadn't become an American citizen was because he was still employed by the British government and because giving up his British citizenship also meant giving up the right to his seats on the Wizengamot which was the reason he had ensured that Rosie also had a dual citizenship.

Unfortunately, he hadn't explained this well enough to Tim and it had left his husband feeling insecure, not about their marriage but about Hadrian wishing he could return to England to live one day.

"America is my home now. I would be quite happy to never set foot in Diagon Alley again. Between the overwhelming attention and the feeling that I need to be on my guard every minute not to be cursed in the back and the knowledge that my son isn't welcome in nearly a third of the shops thought they won't say anything if he's with me, it doesn't feel at all like home. The Dursleys made sure I never felt at home in Surrey and the Weasleys ruined the home I thought I had in Devon. The only place in England that I ever truly felt at home was at Hogwarts and I can't go back there," Hadrian tried to reassure Tim."

"You could teach, one day maybe, when I have to retire, you're still going to be young enough to work," Tim suggested.

"Hogwarts doesn't allow professor's spouses to live in the castle and it demand that the professors live on site during term time," Hadrian said. "Besides I'd be afraid of ruining the good memories I do have of the place by trying to return. I was oblivious of politics and most of the clashes between pureblood customs and muggle beliefs. I wouldn't see it the same way now."

"Well scratch that idea then, I'm never going to be too old to want you in my bed at night as often as possible," Tim said leering playfully to break the mood, Hadrian had almost sounded regretful when he spoke of not being able to return to his childhood innocence.

Hadrian laughed, then leaned in and kissed Tim passionately. "That's good, I will always want to be there with you," he said seriously.

-o0o-

Neville asked Hadrian and Tim to stay with them while they ran the Auror training Hadrian had set up. Tim set up a plasma connected to his laptop and demonstrated the information finding capabilities of the internet. He hacked into the CCTV cameras near the Leaky Cauldron and showed the people going in and out of the pub.

"If there's a reason for anyone to take a close look at this area you could have a problem. The Leaky Cauldron is registered as a muggle hotel but the number of people entering the pub and not returning is suspicious." He then pulled up the cameras in the King's Cross station. "Someone who knows about Hogwarts works in security there, it's the only explanation I can find why the camera between platforms nine and ten is down for maintenance every time the Hogwarts express is used.

"Wouldn't the concentration of magic used as witches and wizards use the portal break the camera?" one Auror asked.

"No, and it's lucky that it doesn't, that would be suspicious, I managed to hack the maintenance logs, it was down for scheduled maintenance each time. Someone is deliberately making sure the camera doesn't work those days," Tim replied. "The problem you're facing is that the number of these cameras and the sophistication of them is growing. This map of London shows all the current CCTV cameras used by the police, the traffic cameras, bank cameras," every time he mentioned a group he clicked and more dots appeared on the screen. "And these are the cameras planned to be installed over the next five years. In addition to these most office blocks and medical facilities have their own camera systems. It is essential that wizards learn to blend in if they're going to be entering the non-magical world. We are going to be making a submission to Hogwarts to update their muggle studies program and make it mandatory but the ministry is the largest employer of witches and wizards.

What we propose is to hold some training sessions for all your staff, and to increase the penalties of breaching the statute of secrecy. We are also going to have the obliviation teams taught how to identify the cameras and if possible alter the footage but this is a short term solution. The newer cameras transmit to multiple sites and we'll never manage to guarantee we'd got all the copies."

"It's not us you need to tell this to," one of the Aurors grumbled. "We get training in moving in the muggle world. It's the pureblood gits."

"It's rarely the pureblood bigots, they never set foot in the muggle world. It's curious half-bloods and the more open minded witches and wizards who want to see the muggle world but don't understand it or underestimate the amount it has changed since their childhood," Hadrian disagreed. "Which is why I'm making this presentation today in the Wizengamot, and tomorrow to the Hogwarts board and Gringotts human employees."

-o0o-

Hadrian and Tim finished their last education session and called in to see Hermione and Ron before they left England.

"Hello Harry," Ron greeted him.

"Hey Ron," Hadrian said cheerfully. "How've you been?"

"I've been good. Hermione's still at work." He offered them tea then went and floo called Hermione's office asking her to come home on time. He then disappeared into the spare bedroom for a moment.

Tim went over and spoke to the toddler playing with her toys in the corner.

"We missed her at Rosie's birthday," Hadrian scolded lightly.

"I'm sorry, it was just too good an opportunity to have a weekend away without the responsibility," Ron said. "You must want a break from the brats, too. You didn't bring them."

"We did, they're at Longbottom Manor. It isn't safe to bring them to Diagon Alley," Hadrian replied.

"But yeah, I understand the need for some couple time alone, not that you got that coming to visit me. You could have left her with us for a couple of days and got away to see the sights, I'm sure there are plenty of libraries and museums to keep Hermione entertained for weeks."

"Gee thanks, that sounds like a great holiday," Ron said sarcastically.

"I got Hermione's letter, how did she intercept Ginny? Whatever she did worked, I got a couple of howlers from Molly but haven't heard from Ginny at all," Hadrian said.

"I know!" Ron replied surprising them. "Hermione's got her tied up and petrified in the spare room. Said she wouldn't let her go until she vows not to hurt you or your family or she knows you've left the country again."

"You've had her tied up for four days?" Tim asked incredulously.

"Yeah, Hermione goes in there a couple of times a day to cast the spells to vanish the contents of her bladder and bowels and cleans her up if she's messed herself. And she's feeding her these horrible green smoothie things that she swears are a full meal replacement."

"But she knows who's taken her, she'll have you arrested for kidnapping," Tim protested, while Hadrian just grinned.

"Hermione's an excellent obliviator," Hadrian said.

"She's prepared to kidnap her sister in law, hold her captive for days and then wipe her memories of those days?" Tim said shocked.

"Yeah, she sees Harry as her brother and Ginny is a real threat to you and the children. Ginny is delusional, she still thinks if she kills you Harry will come home and marry her," Ron said. "Nothing we can say will convince her she's wrong. Hermione even tried telling her your marriage vows."

"Do you think that me going in there and telling her I'm married and how happy I am with my husband and children and how much I love gay sex would help?" Hadrian asked.

"Honestly no!" Ron said looking a little green about Harry talking about gay sex.

"She needs a mind healer," Hermione said arriving home and joining the conversation.

"Could we have her committed? She is a significant danger to Rosie and any other children we might have," Tim asked.

"Not in Britain, she can't be convicted unless she acts on her delusions and she can't be committed without her head of house's permission. Molly won't let Arthur give it," Hermione replied.

"So either I have her abducted and committed in another country, I press charges for the love potions which will harm the rest of the family or we just keep hiding from the crazy witch," Harry said resignedly.

"Is there something you could do to convince Arthur she needs mental healing?" Tim asked.

"Perhaps, can you call him here?" Hadrian asked Ron. "Preferably without Molly accompanying him. I have no desire to subject Tim to her ranting either."

"It night convince Arthur to commit the pair of them. Otherwise even if Ginny is cured she'll come back home and Molly will fill her head with rubbish all over again," Hermione said.

Ron went to floo and Hermione offered their guests a cup of tea before she started to prepare dinner. They both refused the tea and Hadrian stepped up to help with the meal.

Arthur arrived, Ron had managed to catch him at work as he was leaving so he was alone. "What's the problem that you couldn't come home and talk to me about it?" he asked.

"Ginny, she needs a mind healer and if we tried to talk to you about it at home Mum would interfere and say 'it's just a harmless crush and we should let her go, that Harry would be home soon and then we'll see what comes of it'," Hermione said quoting Molly's objections.

"Hermione, I know you worry about her but Molly doesn't believe in mind healers and I'm not sure I do either," Arthur began.

"And it doesn't matter to you that she threatened to kill my husband and daughter?" Harry asked stepping into the lounge.

"Harry, you're home!" Arthur exclaimed.

"To visit, not to stay. I can't live in a country where my husband and children can't travel about freely for fear of their lives," Hadrian replied.

"Ginny isn't a threat to you, she's just letting off steam," Arthur protested.

"Arthur, Ginny was here ranting on Friday wanting to know a way to get in and crash the Longbottom Christening to get to Harry. I tied her to her chair and told her I wouldn't set her free until she takes a magical vow not to harm Harry's family. I've made her the same offer three or four times a day and she's still sitting in the spare bedroom tied to a chair plotting to kidnap Harry and kill his husband," Hermione said bluntly. "We invited you here so you can see for yourself what a threat she really is. She is clinically insane, she cannot be reasoned with."

Arthur sighed. "I want to go in and talk to her," he said.

"Sure, if you leave your wand here," Hermione replied.

"What!" Arthur asked.

"Arthur, if you set Ginny free and she comes out here and attacks Tim I will kill her to defend him. My marriage vows won't allow me to do any less," Hadrian said earnestly. "For the love of Merlin if you don't want her harmed then leave her tied up until we leave."

Arthur shakily put his wand on the table and Ron escorted him into see his daughter and removed the silencing charms.

"Dad, quick let me loose Hermione's gone mad and she must have Ron under the imperious or something," Ginny said.

"You can go free as soon as you vow not to hurt Harry Potter or his husband and children," Ron said before Arthur could respond.

"You're all lying about my Harry marrying that man. He will come to his senses as soon as he sees me, he'll know that we are meant to be together," Ginny shouted.

"If you were meant to be together you wouldn't have had to overdose him on potions to get him to go out with you," Ron replied unimpressed. "He's truly in love with his husband. It seemed wrong to me too at first that Harry was with a man but they are happy together. It's good to see."

"You are lying," Ginny yelled hysterically.

"No he isn't!" Harry said entering the room. "I love my husband and our wedding vows were for this life and the next. And like it or not, I'm gay Ginny, now that I'm free of mood altering potions the idea of kissing a girl makes me want to gag."

"Harry, you came to save me, Hermione's gone insane. Please Harry, tell them you love me," Ginny pleaded.

"I didn't come to save you Ginevra, Tim and I came to see Hermione and Ron before we went home," Hadrian said. "I'm actually grateful that Hermione prevented you from being able to accost me in public and make a scene that would harm me, my reputation or try to harm my family."

"You don't mean that Harry!" Ginny shrieked.

"I do Ginny," Hadrian said, he reached out towards the door and Tim entered the room. Hadrian walked over and kissed him passionately, going a bit further than either of them was comfortable with when not alone in the hope that Ginny would see what everyone else saw. True love and desire.

"No!" Ginny wailed.

"Ginny this is my husband Tim, Tim this is the witch who almost poisoned me with love potions and drove me out of England to get away from her," Hadrian introduced cruelly.

"I'd say it was a pleasure to meet you but I'd be lying," Tim said. "But I do have to thank you for being such a selfish bitch that Hadrian was able to break through an almost lethal overdose of love potions and for driving Hadrian away from Britain. I wouldn't have met him if it wasn't for you. We have a great life together with Teddy and our daughter."

Hadrian, Ron and Hermione all looked amused but Arthur was shocked and Ginny dismissive.

"You don't love him like I do!" she insisted.

"You're right I don't. Your so-called love was selfish and cruel. You didn't care at all if Hadrian was happy or even that you were destroying him. I love Hadrian with everything I am. I would give just about anything to make him happy, even if it wasn't with me. But I'm lucky because Hadrian loves me like that too and we are incredibly happy."

"His name is Harry and he's going to divorce you and marry me. Tell him Harry!" Ginny screeched.

"My real name is Hadrian and after I left Britain I decided that I'd had more than enough of being Harry Potter who everyone thought they could use and control. I'm Hadrian now and I make decisions for myself. I am never going to leave Tim. I love him. I don't love you Ginny. I don't even like you. You are a spoilt selfish deluded woman who needs to open her eyes and see what harm her actions are doing to everyone around her. I would sooner have married my aunt Petunia than you. At least she was honest with me, and I'd likely live longer," Hadrian said bluntly.

"You're lying, you need to come home Harry and we'll make you see sense," Ginny said determinedly.

Hadrian turned to Arthur, "I honestly believe that Ginny's current state of mind makes her a danger to me and to Tim and our children. I would be all in favour of Hermione's plan to leave Ginny tied up here until she chooses to make that vow to not harm me and my family, but I wouldn't want to do that to her and Ron. So, given that Ginevra is clearly out of her rational mind I have another couple of options, either she gets mind healing and you sign guardianship of her over to someone Molly can't bully into getting her out without being cured and making that vow not to harm or attempt to control me or my family, or I will press charges against her for potioning me and she will go to Azkaban. Either way my family will be protected from Ginevra and her delusions. I spent my teen years with my freedom and safety restricted by the fact there was someone out there trying to kill me, I won't allow Ginny to do that to my children."

"Harry, please be reasonable," Arthur pleaded.

"I am being reasonable! If I wasn't being reasonable and generous I would release her from her bindings and either she would attack Tim and one of us would kill her in self-defence, or she would attack me and I would have her arrested without giving you a choice and have her charged not only with attempted rape, attempted line theft and assault but also attempted murder of the head of a most noble and most ancient house and I would ask the Wizengamot for life imprisonment," Hadrian said bluntly.

"You can't think that leaving this to go on as it is could be in Ginny's best interests. She's obsessed with some fantasy she thinks is Harry and miserably waiting for him to come home and fall in love with her. It's never going to happen, she needs help to move on and live her life," Tim said. "Refusing to get her the help she needs is just cruel."

"Self-defence?" Arthur asked, ignoring Tim completely.

"There's a strong possibility that our wedding vows would cause us both to die if one was killed," Hadrian said. He didn't believe it would be the case but it could definitely be argued that way in court.

"And attempted murder? Ginny had nothing to do with that attack, Kingsley proved that," Arthur argued.

"Yes, you're right, what you may not realise is that that attack or rather the fact I needed a comprehensive scan by a healer because of it, saved my life. The amount of potions Ginny was feeding me was damaging my magic and if it had continued and I'd continued to work as an Auror I would have suffered a lethal core breech within a couple of months," Harry replied. "So what's it going to be, you sign custody over to someone that will ensure Ginny receives the care she needs or she goes to Azkaban."

"Harry, please, she's my daughter," Arthur begged.

"I have a daughter too, she's only one year old, totally innocent and Ginny wants to murder her because she's in the way of the happy family fantasy in her mind. You would do anything to ensure your daughter was as safe as possible. Why would you ask me not to do the same for my daughter?" Hadrian countered.

"Take her to the healer," Arthur conceded bitterly.

"And guardianship?" Hadrian pressed.

"None of the boys will stand against their mother and it would ruin us to abandon her care," Arthur whispered.

"Hermione and I are prepared to make a vow to Harry, not to arrange her release until she is of sound mind and ready to take the vow not to harm him or his family," Ron said. "Hermione will research and find the best mind healer we can afford."

"I'm willing to help fund it if that is the barrier to her getting better," Hadrian said.

"And what if the best mind healers are in your country?" Hermione asked.

"That would be fine, so long as I know where she is and it's not the same city as my family," Hadrian agreed, after a silent conversation with Tim.

A/N: Thank you to Rori Potter, Kourtney Uzu Yato, Kaorilamb, mayawene, kimbarn30, ArielSakura, KEZZ 1, knuckles 8, Reader Ethiriel, Locket1, starie78, lilly-flower15, Firehedgehog, mumimeanjudy, charm13insomnia, serenityselena, LunaSunFlowerLily, Fyreheart, gabrieljuarez, xDarklightx, DarkRavie, Serpent91, Tetractys, Gime'SS, BCgurlie, Selenity84, Rainbow2007, Guest, TruGemini, Vladimir Mithrander, buterflypuss, aisa.32, delia cerrano, julschristine975, Melikalilly, Village-Mystic, Fallow54 (Guest), DS2010, acherongoddess, SpiritBlackPaw, lisicarmela, Merlenyn, Daithi4377, Silvermane1, Lientjuhh, NightshadeDreams, luramos, Corala and all those who followed and favourited for your support.