Notes:

I googled the US Marine ranking system (my family was mainly air force or Navy, I do not know Marine ranking well) so if it is wrong, please let me know so I can fix it! I do not want to misrepresent our United States Marine Corps members.

let me know what you think.

Chapter Text

"Hello sir, are you Jackson Gibbs?" Harry said, not giving up his hold on Kelly yet.

"I am, who are you and what happened to Kelly?" The man said, reaching out to take Kelly from Harry. Harry flinched back and automatically went to protect the little girl in his arms.

"Can I see some ID?" Harry said, not ready to just believe him without Kelly to verify. Jackson got out his license to show Harry. "Okay, my name is Harry Potter sir. Can we go somewhere where you can help her?"

"Let me close up early and we can go to my home. Is she getting heavy? Can I please hold her?" Jackson said. He was extremely worried why a child was carrying his granddaughter, more so why they were both bloody and hurt. He couldn't see a lot yet but he could tell by the bloody rag on Kelly's head and the young boy not wearing a shirt that something was wrong.

Harry held her until Jackson had the shop closed. He handed her over to the older man. He readjusted the backpacks to try and hide his chest the best he could from him, feeling very self conscious without a shirt on. The walk down the road to the house seemed like forever in the awkward silence.

They got into the house where Jackson immediately went to the Livingroom and motioned for Harry to sit. He didn't want to get the couch dirty with his bloody, dirty clothes. He sat on the floor while Jackson put Kelly on the couch.

"Okay you're gonna need to explain everything to me while I take care of her." Jackson said after coming back with a huge first aid kit. He slowly removed the head bandage Harry made to check and clean it.

"I'm sorry it's so dirty. I didn't know what else to do" Harry did when he saw when the older man was doing. "My family is here on vacation from England and we were staying in a motel between Virginia Beach and Washington DC where the hotel is. I was taking a walk when I saw Kelly, her mom and a man get into a car. They did not drive very far when I heard a loud popping sound. I think it was a gun but I've never heard one being fired before."

"It's okay bud, you did a great job working with what you had. What happened then." Jackson said when Harry panicked seeing the dirty bandage.

"I hid in an alley when I heard the loud pop and heard the car crash. I leaned out to see someone running away from the scene and waited until I did not see anyone. I ran over to the woods where the car crashed and went to see if everyone was okay. I saw the driver first." Harry paused there. Looking away for a minute to try and get rid of the lump in his throat. Jackson continued to clean and bandage everything on Kelly. "The driver was leaning over the wheel and had a hole through his head. I went to look at the woman who I now know as Shannon. She was not breathing and twisted as if to look at Kelly. As I was checking her I heard Kelly moving and went to get her out. I noticed she had a broken arm and her head was bleeding a lot. I ripped up my shirt to try and keep her arm still and stop the bleeding on her head." Harry was pointing at the arm as he said it.

Jackson took some time to see what he could do to help as well but was impressed with what the bot had accomplished.

"We grabbed all the backpacks and I grabbed the agent's wallet in case we needed money so we could get away. When we tried to go back to the motel I heard men with a Spanish accent talking about getting rid of witnesses. I panicked and grabbed some of my stuff, put it in the bags and left. We walked for a while until we got to a bus stop. We got a bus to Washington DC. From there I didn't know who to trust so Kelly said we could either go to her dad's military base or to you. I did not think they would let us on the base and did not know where it was. We got on a bus here and walked until I found you but Kelly is tired and sore and she misses her parents." Harry was getting emotional at this point too. He was overwhelmed with everything that happened and with an adult his friend trusts he finally started to let his years out.

Jackson moved towards Harry and moved the backpacks away from the young boy. He slowly approached and when he was close enough he pulled the young man into a hug. He just held him as he cried until he too fell asleep. He picked up the child who was far too light and put him on the reclined chair. He took some wipes and cleaned him up and checked for any cuts or anything.

He saw the scars and lashes on Harry's back and had to bite back a swear. He slowly disinfected it as he could see the slight infection settling in.

He sat back in the nearby chair and thought about what to do next. The kids were scared and had traveled across a few states just to get to him. He wanted to call his son and let him know his little girl was safe but he was on a black ops mission overseas right now.

He decided to call Jethro's base and see what steps should be taken.

"Sergeant Major Julius Lachlan here." A deep voice said.

"Good evening my name is Jackson Gibbs. My son Leroy Jethro Gibbs is a Gunnery Sergeant who is currently overseas but based out of your base. I have some problems I need help with." Jackson said. He was not sure how to start.

"Of course sir. I will be able to help you. What seems to be the issue." Julius said.

"My son's wife and daughter were traveling with an NIS agent after Shannon, his wife, saw something. I do not know why because Kelly, his daughter, does not know why they were hiding as she said. About an hour ago a young boy, probably about 9 or 10, came into my store carrying Kelly Gibbs who was bloody and asleep. I'm not sure how much I should tell you over the phone sir." Jackson said. He told the important parts but he also knew his line was not a secured line.

"Where are you located sir. A couple of marines and I will come to you." The Sergeant Major said, much more serious now.

"I'm in Stillwater Pennsylvania. They told me that they didn't want to tell NIS because they didn't know if they could trust them so if you could come without an agent I would appreciate that." Jackson said. He finished up the conversation and went to get something for him and the kids to eat.

He saw Kelly stirring and went to sit by her. She sat up and when she saw him she started crying and launched herself at him. He just held her as she cried. He tried to be reassuring and helpful. He saw Harry get up and look over before fidgeting.

"Hey now, it's okay. Grandpa is here. I called someone to come and help us okay" Jackson said. Kelly started calming down and so he turned his attention to Harry. "Hey are you doing okay there?"

"Um yeah. I was just wondering where your bathroom is?" Harry said with a deep red blush across his cheeks. Jackson showed him where it was.

He came back to see Jackson and Kelly sitting at the table. They invited him over to eat some pasta that Jackson had cooked up while they slept.

"So Harry, tell me a bit about yourself," Jackson said, curious about the little boy who probably saved his granddaughter's life.

"I am eleven years old and about to turn twelve in July. My relatives won a trip to Washington DC for 4 so we came here about 5 days ago. I go to a boarding school in Scotland and have a couple good friends. I enjoy football, um I guess you would call it soccer, and have always wanted to play." Harry said. He did not know how to describe his school without giving away magic.

"Where are your relatives now?" Jackson asked. He noticed the careful use of the word relative and not family.

"I don't know. They were in the motel when everything happened and I just wanted to get Kelly away safely." Harry said, just realizing that he has no idea what happened to his relatives.

"That is okay, we can have someone look into it. Now why don't we go watch a movie while we wait for some friends to come help us." Jackson moved them into the room where he put on the sandlot. It was one of the movies he had. He called his friend Leroy Jethro "LJ" Moore over the name his son was named after. He was in his way as soon as they hung up.

He sat in the chair on the side watching the kids and waited. He heard the lock and got up to let his friend in. He introduced him to the kids then sat down in the kitchen where he could see the kids but they would be able to talk.

He explained everything he knew at this point and they grabbed the backpacks to look through. A couple of the items were strange but he thought they might be Harry's. The silver blanket-like material was nice and a photo album with a picture of a young man with very similar hair and skin color to Harry along with a young woman with flaming red hair and the same bright green eyes as her son. They were holding a baby Harry in the picture smiling at each other.

They continued talking for a while talking about options and what to do. Harry started dozing off again and Kelly was already asleep. At this point it was about 8 and after a day and a half running from danger they were exhausted. Around 9:30 there was another knock on the door. Jackson opened it to see the marines there. One was clearly the Sergeant Major based on the rank displayed on the uniforms.