Chapter 75

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Hermione let go of the portkey, and was surprised to find herself in the guest room she'd stayed in in Hadrian and Tim's Washington home instead of the beach house or somewhere more anonymous.

"Harry," Hermione said moving to hug him. She wrapped her arms around him and then drew back in surprise as she felt the baby bump. "Congratulations! When are you due?"

Hadrian returned the hug. "Not for another four or so months. Tim's at work, Teddy's at school and Barbara's at the park with Rosie. We have at least an hour. What did you need me to hear on my own? You know I'll almost certainly tell Tim whatever it is?"

"I know you might tell him and I don't have a problem with it, it isn't really a secret, but I still wanted you to hear it first so you could decide whether or not to tell him or to proceed with this. I found a ritual that I believe could release Tim's magic," Hermione said. Harry had been standoffish since the incident with Ginny and she hoped that his gratitude for finding this would help bridge the gap. Though she realised looking at Harry that his lack of visits might have another, happier cause. "Part of the reason I refused to tell Kingsley or anyone else was that this information is illegal in Britain today, not just doing the ritual but even reading about it is highly restricted, and I didn't want to be the cause of the British ministry having proof you were breaking their laws."

"Yeah, but the problem isn't releasing his magic, it's stopping it from torturing or killing him once it's released," Hadrian said. "His body has lived without it for too long. The magical channels throughout his body have all atrophied and the pain of the magic running through them again suddenly could stop his heart, fry his brain or send him insane."

"Yes I know that. This ritual, or I should say these series of rituals, first heals the channels and then releases the magic slowly. You'd have to perform the first ritual a week before the full moon and then on the full moon a week later the second, which will weaken the bindings. Then the first ritual again straight afterwards and every day until the pain stops to make sure the channels are fully healed once the magic starts flowing. Then repeat the series of both rituals every full moon for a year, or until Tim has as much magic as he wants and the first ritual again periodically if he starts to feel shooting pains anywhere in his body. Remember that he's going to have to work hard after every ritual to learn to control the increased magic he has available," Hermione explained. She handed over a sheaf of parchment rolls with all of the information she had uncovered about the rituals.

"Kingsley said you wanted to tell me yourself to make sure I was told about all the risks," Hadrian said.

"There are risks that if you don't do the first ritual correctly, then even the small amount of magic released by the second ritual will burn through the channels and cause excruciating pain. You would need to apply a new binding on his magic and then he would need intensive healing. He'd be in pain for weeks and you couldn't risk trying again once that happened, and there's the risk that the second ritual will open his channels too quickly, and have trouble controlling the magic. This wasn't originally meant to be used for wizards who had their magic bound as children, before Azkaban and the Dementors it was a punishment used for the unforgivables. It's considered extremely dark and illegal magic in Britain. Even though nothing was known of it by most people and there's no record of it being used in hundreds of years the penalty is blocking your magic and life imprisonment for both the castor and the recipient, which is a higher penalty than most ritual magic," Hermione said quickly. "There is also the risk that Tim would struggle to control the magic, you might need to be on the lookout for accidental magic episodes whenever he's feeling particularly emotional.

Hadrian nodded. "I'll think about it and mention it to Tim. It will be his choice."

Hermione nodded. "I Hermione Jean Weasley nee Granger do swear on my magic that I did not bring this information to Hadrian James Potter Black lightly or with the intention of harming him or any of his family, and that to my knowledge I have not mislead him in anyway and have given him all of the information I was able to uncover about this ritual and its dangers. So mote it be!"

Hadrian was shocked at the unsolicited vow, but he had to admit he was relieved she'd made it and that he didn't have to second guess her intentions. He'd heard about the vow she'd given Kingsley before he'd let her come and present this information and was grateful for his friend's protection but this vow made directly to him meant more even though he was aware there were loopholes in most magical vows if you looked for them.

"Thank you, Hermione," Hadrian said hugging her. "Being able to give Tim this choice is a wonderful gift and I'm truly grateful for all your hard work researching this, but don't be too disappointed if Tim doesn't want to go through the rituals. A huge amount of his job involves working with computers and electronics so releasing his magic might mean giving up the job he loves. It wouldn't surprise me if he chooses not to."

"You wouldn't be upset by it if he chooses not to become a wizard?" Hermione asked surprised. She'd virtually lost contact with her family because it was just easier to remain in the magical world where she didn't have to fight her instinctual habits to perform magic to do things. Her parents had forgiven her for removing their memories during the war and been fascinated by some of the things she could do but they were uneasy whenever she drew out her wand and tended to panic if it was pointed in their direction.

"Tim is a wizard already," Hadrian growled. "And no, it wouldn't upset me if he chose not to unbind his magic. It wouldn't affect our relationship at all! Magic is a tool Hermione not a way of life here."

Hermione flushed, "Sorry Harry, I should go," she mumbled.

"Bye Hermione, thanks for doing this research. Even if Tim doesn't want to use it, hopefully it will help other young witches and wizards," Hadrian said.

"I'll write to you, I guess you can't visit at the moment," Hermione said.

"I'd rather not take an international portkey if I don't absolutely have to," Hadrian agreed.

Hermione took the Portkey back to London and Hadrian read over the papers carefully. He had learned a great deal about runes and rituals since leaving Hogwarts and could see several things in the rune array that he wasn't sure about. He would take this to the experts and see if they had a way of improving either or both rituals before he mentioned it to Tim. He had plenty of time. It wouldn't be safe for him to perform the rituals while he was pregnant any way. Hermione had done a great deal of research to find this much information on a ritual that according to the documents, hadn't been cast in centuries. He wondered why she'd put in that much effort. Of course, it could just be gratitude for saving her from the hell of her original wedding vows. He hoped it was.

-o0o-

"What did Hermione want to talk about? Has she decided to leave Ron? Is she asking you to help hide her and their Rose away from him?" Tim asked that night.

Hadrian chuckled, "No I think they are getting along better these days, though I'll never truly understand their relationship," he said. "She didn't have any complaints about him, anyway."

"Did she come to warn you that Ginny is looking for you again?" Tim asked resignedly.

"No, Ginevra's still committed to the hospital by the mind healers, Hermione says it's beginning to look like the damage from the possession in her first year is so great that she may never be healed enough to be safely released," Hadrian said sombrely. "I didn't like her but I never thought she was that mentally ill. I should have tried to get her help before I left."

"You did more than she deserved by not having her arrested," Tim reminded him.

"Perhaps, but the healers think she was already ill. I should've noticed, and maybe if she was arrested they would have forced her to see a mind healer years ago," Hadrian replied sighing.

Tim didn't reply and after a moment's thought Hadrian explained the reason behind his old friend's visit. "Hermione thinks she might have found a ritual that repeated over a year or two would allow your magic to be very slowly released."

"Oh!" Tim replied, unsure what to think. It had never occurred to him that his magic could ever be released from the block it had on it and not having any memories of ever having or using magic he didn't miss it.

"Without harming me?" Tim clarified.

"Hermione believes so," Hadrian replied deliberately calmly.

"But you have doubts?" Tim said perceptively.

"Hermione couldn't find any record of this ritual being used in at least the last three hundred years. And the anecdotal evidence isn't as comprehensive as I'd like. Because all ritual magic is banned in England, Hermione has very little experience or real education in the area of this sort of magic and most books she can get hold of on the subject are centuries old. I would like some experts in it to look over this and see if it is possible and if they can guarantee it is safe to try before you make a decision," Hadrian said calmly.

"If it is safe would you want me to do it?" Tim asked trying hard to sound merely curious. Hadrian saw through him though.

"Honestly, I don't really care if you can use a wand or not. I've never cared Tim," Hadrian said earnestly, cupping his face. "You are the man I love just the way you are. If it you think it will make you happy to get your magic unsealed and the experts say it's perfectly safe then I will do all I can to help. If you decide it's too big a risk for some reason or you're afraid you won't be able to control your magic around delicate electronics or even if you just don't want to explain to Gibbs that you need to take a sabbatical while you learn to control your magic or whatever reason you have for not doing it then that's fine too. Remember that unsealing your magic would mean that you need to wear gloves to touch a computer and you won't be able to go near one when you're feeling particularly angry. I couldn't guarantee that you'd be able to do your job with your magic unbound so you might need to find out if it can be rebound again without harming you if you can't get control of it. I don't care why you choose, only that you're not hurt by the choice you make. The only thing I wouldn't be okay with is you forcing me into doing the rituals if the experts can't promise it's safe. I couldn't bear to get this wrong and torture you or worse," Hadrian said earnestly.

Tim wrapped his arms around Hadrian and hugged him tightly. "I'll be glad if the ritual works to give other kids the opportunity to get their magic unblocked when they're old enough to make their own decisions but I don't know if I want to take the risks."

"I'm fine with that. You don't have to decide now, in fact we can't do it at the moment anyway. I don't know how long it will take the experts to conclude whether the rituals are likely to work and the risks involved. Then even if the experts say that the rituals will work I wouldn't want to perform them while I'm pregnant," Hadrian said.

Tim nodded, "Yeah the baby's safety comes first," he agreed rubbing his hand over Hadrian's rounded stomach lovingly.

-o0o-

Sarah came around begging Tim's and Hadrian's forgiveness, and was shocked silent when she saw the increased nonmagical surveillance and security around the house. "You really think he's that much of a threat to you?" she asked Tim astonished.

"The Admiral would rather not have a son than have one who's gay. Do you know he actually argued against the abolition of Don't Ask Don't Tell, in fact he'd been arguing for decades that it didn't go far enough and trumping up excuses to try to get any officers or enlisted men in his command dishonourably discharged if he found out they were gay. It's a huge slap in the face to him professionally to have an openly gay or bisexual son," Tim replied.

"But you're not flamboyantly gay," Sarah replied.

"No but I am openly married to a man, Hadrian is my medical proxy and my designated next of kin. He's listed on my personnel record as my husband and most of headquarters at NCIS knows this, partly due to Abby's extremely loud tantrums when she found out. Hadrian has worked a few joint cases with us and he introduced me to his team as his husband and there's a picture on my desk of him and the children. I don't believe SECNAV has a reason to know that I have a husband, but on the other hand I wouldn't be all that surprised if he did. The man's sneaky like that," Tim explained to his sister.

"You can't seriously believe he'd hurt the children?" Sarah said shakily.

"There are many forms of hurt, Sarah, I don't believe he'd openly attack them but seeing one or both of their parents beaten in our home a place we're supposed to be safe would be incredibly traumatic for all of us," Hadrian said.

"My belief that he could never hurt a child isn't as strong as yours, Sarah. He would do whatever he thought in his stubborn head was right without considering what anyone else might think or feel, and I believe that would include taking the children away from us or trying to get them to see homosexuality as sick the way he does. I still remember when he put me in the hospital trying to force the seasickness out of me. He kept me out on a boat until I was dangerously dehydrated and delirious from throwing up. He didn't head back to the dock until I lost consciousness," Tim replied bluntly.

Sarah paled, "I can't believe he would beat you!"

"You were too young to remember the last time," was the only answer Tim gave.

Sarah looked at him with tears in her eyes before grabbing him into a tight hug.

-o0o-

Tim had been keeping a covert eye on the Admiral's movements and noted that the Admiral's cell phone was now back on the naval base in Florida with some relief. But he didn't relax the extra surveillance. Hadrian offered to go and obliviate the knowledge from him again but Tim declined.

"You can't obliviate him without obliviating Mom and Sarah and we both know that Sarah will only tell him again if she doesn't remember how he reacted this time. At least we know of the threat now," he said sighing.

"I could compel Sarah not to tell him," Hadrian said.

"Yes but you couldn't compel Mom and Penny, not to mention Gibbs, Tony, Ziva and Vance along with every naval officer we've ever met while out together," Tim replied. "He was always going to find out one day. It would be better to try to compel the Admiral to stay away from us, unless you could compel him to accept us."

"It would be too big a risk. He's a strong-minded man and there's no way to tell if his stubbornness would one day overcome the magic," Hadrian replied, sighing resignedly. "And we couldn't change his personality too much. Someone would notice and investigate."

-o0o-

It was more than a week before Heather telephoned Tim, and then she called him at work instead of on his cell phone.

"McGee," Tim answered absently, still setting up computer searches for their latest case.

"Tim it's me, your mother," Heather said hesitantly.

"Mom, is everything okay?" Tim asked urgently.

"Yes I'm fine and the family is all well. Sarah and your father have had a falling out over you she said to him that in all the years the two of you weren't talking that you never encouraged her to take your side or to break off ties with him much less ordered you to and since he was forcing her to choose between you she was choosing you," Heather said.

"And you decided to ring me up and see if I can calm her down and get her to be reasonable," Tim guessed cynically.

"Noo. In this instance I believe that it is your father that was the one acting unreasonably," Heather said, upset by Tim's assumption though she could understand why he thought she might've reacted that way. "He's upset that he didn't get the promotion to Washington and he's trying to blame it on the shame of having a gay son."

"Don't make excuses for him Mom, we both know that's bullshit and he does too. Besides he didn't know about his promotion when he gave you and Sarah that ultimatum," Tim reminded her. "In fact, I couldn't guarantee that his marching into NCIS and threatening me at my desk in sight of the director and half the NCIS teams in the Navy Yard didn't influence Davenport's decision to promote someone else."

"He didn't?" Heather whispered horrified.

"Don't worry my boss threatened him right back and of the two of them Gibbs was definitely scarier. The Admiral was forced to back down. It was interesting to watch," Tim replied. His computer dinged. "I've got to get back to work, Mom, we're in the middle of a case and my search has turned up a result that might give us a lead."

"Okay Tim, I'll talk to you soon," Heather promised. "Give my love to the children, and Hadrian too."

Tim smiled. "I will Mom, take care of yourself. Love you."

"I love you too Tim," Heather said almost tearfully.

-o0o-

It was several weeks later before they heard from Penny, but Tim wasn't worried about that. She often seemed to drop of the face of the civilised world and bury herself in places with patchy cell phone reception and no internet connection for weeks or months on end, and he knew she had never taken directions from others well. The Admiral's attempt to forbid her from doing anything would've made her determined to go straight out and do it. That he was trying to force her to lose contact with her grandson would likely lead to her blasting him with her temper before totally putting it out of her mind. Tim hoped that the only lasting effect it would have would be to stop her from continuing to try to force a reconciliation between her son and grandson.

Eventually she sent a postcard telling him she was in Africa on her way to an undisclosed mission and would contact him when she got back. She admitted that she had heard from his father but told him not to worry about that nonsense and that she'd call him as soon as she could.

Tim laughed at her comments and stuck the postcard on the front of the fridge to share with Hadrian later and be able to read it again if he got despondent about the loss of his family.

-o0o-

"Grab your go bags, we're going to Hawaii," Gibbs ordered a couple of months later.

Tim groaned internally though he was careful not to protest out loud when he heard Gibbs, then grabbed his go bag, thankful that Hadrian had put a mild expansion charm on it to allow him to carry a few changes of clothing suitable to most climates. Tony cheered and started chattering about Hawaiian beaches and girls in bikinis.

"Isn't there an NCIS office in Hawaii that can deal with it?" Ziva asked, exchanging an eyeroll with Tim over DiNozzo's enthusiasm.

"There is but their MCRT is down a member and currently swamped with local cases, so as this is related to the triple homicide we're investigating, we've been cleared to go and give them a hand with it. Move people we need to be at Andrew's airfield by 1900 and with the traffic this time of day it will take us that long to get there," Gibbs barked.

They scrambled, piling into the car and Tim rang Hadrian as they left the yard, leaving a message with Barbara.

"Hi Barbara. It's Tim, can you let Hades and the kids know I'm going away on a case and I'm not sure how long I'll be I'll try to ring Teddy and Rosie at 0700 your time, tell Hades I'm headed for the NCIS office in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii if he needs to get in contact, but it might be better if you don't tell Teddy that. He wouldn't understand that it's work," Tim said.

"Okay Tim, have a safe trip," Barbara said cheerfully.

"Hadrian isn't gone as well is he?" Tim asked surprised Barbara wasn't asking Tim if he wanted to speak to his husband.

"Oh no, he's upstairs bathing the children," Barbara replied calmingly. "I'd offer to take the phone up to him, but I think he might have climbed in with them. They've all been finger-painting out on the lawn. He said something about baby hand and footprints for her book."

"Was his back aching?" Tim asked concerned.

"He didn't say but it didn't appear to be, I think he was more concerned about getting the paint and pink glitter off his skin," Barbara said. "He was quite a sight and before you ask, yes I did get a few good photographs."

Tim laughed. "No don't disturb him, tell him where I'm gone when he gets out and that I'll try to ring him later."

His cell phone buzzed a moment later and he grinned at the pictures of his love and children, covered in blue and pink paint and pink glitter. He saved it in his files and returned to work before Tony, Ziva or Gibbs could question him about it.

"Don't you and Hadrian own a house in Hawaii?" Tony asked fishing for an invitation as they sat prepared for take off.

"It's peak tourist season. It would be good for the budget if it's convenient for us to stay there," Gibbs said.

"Yeah otherwise we'll end up in some rat infested dinky little motel miles from anywhere we need to be" Tony added.

"Thanks Boss" he added facetiously as Gibbs head slapped him.

"I would like to see your home, McGee," Ziva said smiling.

"Indeed yes Timothy. Has it been in Hadrian's family long?" Ducky put in.

"Yes, we do have a house in Hawaii, but I'm afraid we can't stay there during the case, it's on the wrong island and travel between them is too time consuming and inconvenient," Tim replied. "I'll ask Hadrian but I'm sure you'd be welcome to go spend a couple of days there on your way home if you like, I'll take you across and show you around, but I for one, want to get home to my family as soon as possible since Hadrian can't come out and join us. We don't want to be too far away at the moment," he added maintaining the fiction that they had a surrogate they needed to keep in touch with, rather than it being Hadrian that couldn't keep his glamours up to hide his pregnancy in front of muggle houseguests.

"That's understandable my dear boy" Ducky said smiling.

"Is the house big enough for all of us?" Ziva asked suspiciously.

"Yeah it's a big old plantation house. It's not quite up to your usual standards though Tony. There's no electricity but there is running water in the kitchen and downstairs bathroom and the house itself is clean enough and in good condition. No rats or serious bug infestations. There's a wood stove in the kitchen, no refrigeration so we eat mainly fruits, vegetables and breads while we're there, but its only about fifty minutes' walk along the beach into town, there's no transport at the house, and no reliable taxi on the island, even if there was the road's overgrown to the point of being unusable by anything other than an off road bike or quadbike, though you could possibly hire a small boat, there is a jetty near the house that Hadrian says is usable. There's a double bedroom and two single bedrooms as well as the master suite set up for use. I don't think the rest of the bedrooms are furnished, or if they are they were furnished back in the 18th or early 19th century, so I wouldn't trust the mattresses. Hadrian inherited it from a distant relative like the house in Boston so it's not exactly a family home to him, and like that house, the family hasn't lived there for quite some time, but this one hasn't been renovated in at least the last century. There are ten acres, including a private beach"

"How do you get there then?" Ziva asked curiously.

"We normally walk from the village, or hire a powerboat" Tim replied not able to tell them they arrived by portkey and flew about the property on brooms.

Gibbs thought back to the house in Boston where they held the wedding. The house had been an odd juxtaposition of recently perfectly decorated rooms for their use but beyond the area they were in the rest of the house looked like deserted for nearly a century and creepy enough that it could easily be rented out to a movie company to use as a set for a haunted house. If Tim was saying that the house in Hawaii was an old plantation house unrenovated, without modern plumbing and not wired for electricity then it was possible it hadn't been lived in for a very long time. Tim had joked about indoor camping in Hawaii and it was possible that the house was like an oversized rustic cabin. Personally, he didn't mind but he decided to have a quiet word with the others before they decided to stay behind. Listening to his team whinge about the conditions wasn't his idea of a relaxing long weekend.'

He had a more immediate concern though, "Ten acres with a deserted house and usable jetty, would make a good place for smugglers to bring goods ashore, what security do you have when you're not there? I'd hate for you to walk into something like that with the children," he said concerned.

Tim couldn't tell him that the property was actually home to a thriving potions ingredient export business and more than half a dozen house elves, and was warded against intruders, so he made light of the situation.

"We've never seen any sign that the jetty's been used when we're not there, the island's too small to be a major importer of illegal drugs, though Hadrian did tell me that the family journals said the ancestor who bought the property had used the island as a pirate base and to smuggle rum," Tim said.

Tony laughed, "A real smuggler's den," he said enthusiastically. "We have to visit!"

"Don't get too excited, I think the current house was built a couple of hundred years later," Tim said amused.

"Are there smuggler's caves?" Tony asked.

"I've never seen any, but I've never been looking either," Tim replied.

"How can you be so boring, you were staying in a pirates' den and you never went looking for treasure?" Tony asked disbelievingly.

"Like I said the house has been totally pulled down and rebuilt and the property was lived in by the family for centuries, there's been generations of boys grow up there playing pirate on that beach. I highly doubt there's anything left to find," Tim said placidly.

"I think Tim and Hadrian had better things to do on a deserted island paradise than play pirates and explore dank dark holes in rocks, Tony," Gibbs said smirking.

Tim blushed and the subject of the house was dropped. The course of the case took them back to DC before they closed it so any talk of staying in Tim's holiday house was shelved for the indefinite future until they needed to go and help out the Pearl Harbor office some time or were all forced to take their excess comp time and leave.

A/N: Thank you to sandipi, colubrum, aisa.32, lilly-flower15, Fyreheart, KEZZ 1, Rainbow2007, xDarklightx, kimbarn30, caged21hearts, Gime'SS, julschristine975, buterflypuss, DS2010, mithrilandtj, knuckles 8, Lady Kaiki, daithi4377, Lucky Guard, wildcat1144, madnessdownunder2, Serpent91, mayawene, mooneysfate, siobhan.22, Rori Potter, kirsty21, Mae Rose, Guest, Village-Mystic, SpiritBlackPaw, Love life and Have fun, lia (Guest), Guest and all those who followed and favourited for your support.