Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.
Brent sat at the bar, silently flipping through the Daily Prophet. He wasn't able to completely focus on the articles though, his mind was racing with the prospect of his girlfriend meeting him mother. It was going to be perfect. Reagan ws going to come home with him for Christmas, his mom and dad were going to be there, and his younger sister was coming home from Aureus Arbor, the school of magic she attended. His mom had agreed with him earlier that morning that having Reagan come home with him to America would be perfect.
"Just make sure she doesn't have any plans of her own," his mother had warned.
"Nonsense mother, where else would she want to spend Christmas but with me?" he had replied.
Now he was anxiously waiting till he saw her later that day to invite her.
"You really think they're doing something that top secret?" A voice behind Brent pulled him out of his thoughts.
"Of course, they are," a second voice said. "Its the Department of Experimental Magic. Everything they do is incredibly top secret."
Department of Experimental Magic, Brent thought. That's Reagan's department.
"So only the Department officials know what's being worked on?" the first voice asked.
"Yes," the second one replied. "We just need someone to tell us who works there."
"But no one would be that stup-"
"Excuse me, gentlemen," Brent said, swirling around on his bar stool to face the two men behind him. "I'm sorry to have overheard, but were you two discussing the Department of Experimental Magic?" Brent smiled brightly, never missing an opportunity to boast about his girlfriend, even though he still didn't quite understand what it was she did.
"What if we were?" the fist man asked, a slender pale skinned blond with a pointed nose and an expensive looking robe.
"Reagan Potter works in that Department, did you know?" Brent continued.
"Reagan Potter?" the second man asked, also tall but with dark hair and a rather large nose. "You know Reagan Potter?"
Brent laughed. "She happens to be my girlfriend."
The blond smiled. "Have a seat, mate."
Brent, still grinning, nodded and pulled up a third chair to their table.
"Brent Johnson," he said, shaking each of their hands.
"Mathias Malfoy," the blond replied. "This is Drayton Flint."
"Nice to meet you both," Brent replied.
"So you're dating Potter?" Mathias asked again and Brent nodded.
"Yes I am. She's the daughter of Harry Potter, you know."
"Yes we do," Drayton replied. "Everyone knows that."
"Oh, are you friends of hers?" Brent asked.
"More like old acquaintances," Mathias replied. "We went to Hogwarts with her."
"You know it seems like everyone around here went to Hogwarts," Brent said, shaking his head. "Everyone knows everyone."
"So does Potter have any friends?" Mathias continued. "Anyone she works with?"
"I'd say so," Brent replied. "She and Taryn Pagg are good work friends. And they spend tons of time together, always working."
"They work a lot?" Mathias asked.
"Tons lately," Brent replied, rolling his eyes. "Must be something incredibly important too, because Reagan can never tell me what it is that they do at work. Other that what her job title is."
"And what's that?"
"Reagan is a Constructor," Brent replied, beaming, proud that he could remember what Reagan had told him. "She creates and constructs spells and charms. She works specifically with Defense spells. She has a diploma on the wall from Stanford University of Magic in America for it. She's very smart, Reagan is."
"Indeed," Drayton replied.
"Now do you go to lunch with her often?" Mathias asked.
"I take her out when I can, usually two or three times a week. When practice permits it. I play Quidditch, did I tell you? I'm the Seeker for the Chudley Cannons."
"Well, who would have guessed?" Mathias replied. "Well, good luck this year!"
"Thanks," Brent replied, standing up. "I hate to be terribly rude, but I must get off to practice. It was wonderful to meet you. Its always wonderful to meet friends of Reagan's."
"Have a nice afternoon, Mr. Johnson," Mathais replied, shaking his hand again.
"It was nice to chat with you," Drayton said and shook Brent's hand once again as well. Brent smiled and waved as he got to the door.
"I stand corrected," Drayton said, turning towards Mathais. "I guess there is someone that dumb."
oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo
Three Months Later...
"Three bridesmaids, Mum," Reagan said. "Not eight."
"What about your cousin Gabrielle?" Ginny asked.
"Gabby?" Reagan asked. "Uncle Percy's daughter?"
"She's a intern for the Daily Prophet," Ginny replied. "And her acne has cleared up... for the most part."
"Mum, I don't know Gabby very well, cousin or not," Reagan replied. "My wedding, my bridesmaids. Lane, Taryn and Caitlin. No one else."
Ginny sighed. "All right, all right."
"Thank you," Reagan replied, huffing.
"But what about-"
"Muuu-um!" Reagan cried, turning to face her mother. "The answer is no!"
Ginny smiled. "All right, I'm done for now. I just want this to be perfect for you."
"And it will be perfect," Reagan replied and the continued walking. If Taryn is found before the wedding.
"Where are we meeting Brent?" Ginny asked.
"The Leaky Cauldron," Reagan replied.
"I'm surprised that he didn't want to come shopping with us," Ginny said.
"Mum, did Dad want to plan details of your wedding?"
Ginny laughed. "No, I guess not. Though he was just happy to be getting married at that point, I doubt he thought much about it."
"Exactly," her daughter replied, laughing. "Men are like that."
"Indeed they are," Ginny agreed.
oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo
Ê "I have a meeting with Captain Potter," Trevor said out loud as he read through his owl. Anne Marie wrinkled her nose.
"What ever for?"
Trevor shrugged. "It doesn't say." He stood up and straightened his uniform and sighed. "We'll have to postpone lunch till later, okay?"
Anne Marie managed a smile, but Trevor could tell she was disappointed.
He kissed her cheek as he passed by her and left the Auror Department.
"Ah, Liententant Daniels," the receptionist said, smiling at him. "Captain Potter is waiting for you. Go right in."
Trevor nodded and stepped into the office, a room he was familiar with and comfortable in.
"Lieutenant," Harry said and offered him a seat. "Thank you so much for coming on such short notice."
"Not a problem, sir."
"Now let me get straight to it," Harry said. "I've had some correspondence over the past few weeks with the American Auror and Defense Agency, the AADA. They are very interested in the Animagent department we have developed over the past few years, and they want someone on hand, experienced and responsible. They need a strong leader with morals, goals and determination to start up their own division of the Animagents. They told me to think off every possible person I know and then pick who I trust the most. Lieutenant, if you are interested, I would like to offer you this position."
Trevor sat in stunned silence, staring speechless at his superior officer.
oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo
"America?" Anne Marie asked. "As in that really big country on the other side of the Atlantic?"
"Yes, the same one," Trevor replied, having just told his fiancee of the position he had been offered. "It would be a promotion, and an entire department of Aurors under my command."
"That sounds like a great opportunity," Anne Marie replied.
"I think so too," Trevor agreed, silently thinking of taking a page out of Reagan's book. Escaping to America sounded like a wonderful idea.
"When do you leave?" Anne Marie asked.
"Well, I didn't say yes quite yet," Trevor replied. "I told him I would need some time to consider it. And the best part is I don't see why I can't bring you with me."
"Me?" Anne Marie squealed. "Wicked!" Laughing she jumped into Trevor's arms.
"Lets celebrate," he said. "Lets go eat, any where you want."
"Anywhere?"
"Absolutely."
"Can we go the Leaky Cauldron?" Anne Marie asked. "I've been craving their clam chowder."
Trevor laughed and nodded. "Then the Leaky Cauldron it it."
oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo
"Hello beautiful," Brent said and kissed Reagan's cheek. "Mrs. Potter," he nodded, smiling at her.
"Good evening Brent," Ginny said as he took her cloak.
"Did you have a nice time?" Brent asked. "How is the shopping coming?"
"Its coming," Reagan replied, making their way across the crowded room towards their table against the wall. "In fact we might have found-"
"Well, I say!" Brent cried and clapped a blond haired man on the shoulder. "Look who we've run into, Reagan dear!"
Reagan recognized the man, though she wasn't so sure why Brent was so excited to see him.
"Its Mathias, isn't it?" Brent asked a petrified Mathias Malfoy. Mathias nodded and Brent grandly shook his hand.
"You know Mathias?" Reagan asked.
"And Mr. Flint here," Brent replied, looking at darker haired man. "Drayton Flint, right?"
"Nice to see you again, Brent," Drayton said. "Miss Potter, Mrs. Potter."
"Good evening Drayton," Reagan and her mother both replied.
"Is everything all right?" Trevor asked. Reagan whipped her head around at the sound of his voice. He was standing on the other side of Mathias and Drayton's table, Anne Marie standing beside him.
I didn't see him come in.
"Ah Trevor," Ginny replied, grateful for a friendly face.
"No no problem, Trevor," Brent sneered. "Just catching up with some of Reagan's old friends here."
"Friends?" Reagan, Ginny and Trevor all asked at once.
"No offense, gentlemen, but I don't know where he got the impression that we were ever friends," Reagan replied.
"Well, they told me they knew you from school," Brent replied. "I met them a couple months ago, in this same bar. They were quite eager to hear what you had been up to."
"They were?" Reagan asked, and Trevor folded his arms. "What exactly did you tell them, Brent?"
Brent looked from Reagan to Trevor and then back to Mathias and Drayton. "They said they were friends of yours, so it didn't seem any harm in letting them know about your success as a Constructor. They wanted to make sure you had some good friends at work, so I told them that you and Taryn were the best of friends, always working on stuff you couldn't tell me about."
"YOU WHAT?" Reagan cried, and half the room turned to look at them. "Brent, I can't believe you!"
"Malfoy and Flint, you're coming with me," Trevor said, casting a spell over both men. Both men's arms went behind their back and a sliver mist of magic circles around their wrists.
"Come, lets sit down," Ginny said and ushered them to their table.
"Brent you never tell anyone about what I do," Reagan scolded him.
"They were friends of yours at school," Brent replied. "They should have the right to know."
"Brent, I wasn't friends with those boys at school," Reagan said shaking her head. "We hated each other. Our parents hated each other. What you said to them could have lead to the kidnapping of Taryn. I don't understand how you could be so dense sometimes!" She stood up and gathered her shopping bags. "Mum, I'm sorry for not being able to have lunch with you this afternoon. And Brent, I hope you only knew what you've done. I'm going to the Ministry. If Malfoy and Flint had anything to do with the break in at the Ministry, I want to be there when they spill it."
oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo
"Nothing," Harry said and Trevor looked up.
"Nothing, sir?"
"It seems they were to gather the information needed. Who ever they were working for was smart and cast a very powerful Memory Charm on them both. Destroying their minds will do them no good. And it will leave us with nothing."
"Which is what we have now!" Trevor exclaimed, standing up. His fists balled up and he held them close to his eyes, clenching his teeth and shutting his eyes. Harry could tell he was trying to gain control of himself after his outburst.
"Forgive me, sir," Trevor said. "Its been a long day and its not ending with the answers I had hoped for."
"Same here, Lieutenant," Harry replied. "Go home and have a nice relaxing evening. Take Anne Marie somewhere special."
Trevor nodded and left the room, quickly taking the lift to the Atrium and Apparating to Anne Marie's front door. He knocked and the hall light flickered as she opened the door.
"Come in quick," she said, "before it starts to rain."
He nodded and took off his cloak. She lead him to the living room and he took a seat on the couch.
Seeing Reagan with Brent and her mum had taken a toll on him. He was perfectly happy living in a ignorant bliss thinking that Brent did not exist, but each time he saw the two of the together it tore his make believe land apart. It was time to do something about it.
"Anne Marie," he called, sitting up.
"Yes?" she replied from the kitchen. He followed the sound of her voice, not sure of what he was about to suggest was best at the time. But he also didn't care.
"Do you have plans tonight?" he asked.
"Not really," she said. "I was waiting to see what you wanted to do."
"Lets elope."
"Wh-what?" she asked, setting the tea pot down.
"Lets elope," he repeated. "I don't want to wait any longer to get married."
"Are you serious?" she asked. "Tonight?"
"Why not?" he shrugged. "We can go to the Ministry and get married. We can be in Fiji by sunset."
"But you just caught Flint and Malfoy."
"They didn't know anything," he replied.
"You really want to do this?" Anne Marie asked and Trevor nodded.
"Okay, lets go get married!" she replied.
oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo
Reagan shivered, pulling her cloak tighter around herself as she walked up the path to her flat. A glance at the sky told her it didn't look good. It was dark, though it was a little past four, and the dark clouds held a definite promise of rain.
Figures, she thought. What else could go wrong?
She waved her wand over her door knob, expecting to hear the familiar click of the magical lock unlocking, but it made no sound. Instead her front door casually swung open. She tightened her grip on her wand and cautiously stepped forward, mentally going over the words for a shield charm, just incase she needed it.
She stepped around her furniture, noticing nothing had been moved. There didn't seem to be anything out of place, and she relaxed a little.
"Maybe you just forgot to lock the door this morning," she said out loud. She dropped her wand onto the table, pulled the scarf from around her neck and tossed it on the chair and was about to remove her cloak, but she stopped, hearing a noise from the back of her flat. She carefully stepped towards the sound of the noise, whispering a Silencing charm on her creak wooden floor as she went.
It was a short distance from her living room to her bedroom door, and she paused for a moment to listen at the door.
Springs? she thought to herself. What kind of thief or dark wizard would make the sound of springs?
She slowly pushed open the door and realized that there was no dark wizard and there was no thief in her bedroom. But there was someone in there.
oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo
A/N: Sorry for the long delay in posting. Life happend, so I donÕt know how frequent updates will be, but stay with me! Review please! EE