Disclaimer : The Harry Potter characters in this story belong to J.K. Rowling. Many thanks to her for letting them roam about in the world I created for a bit.
As always, thank you sooooooooooo much for your reviews.
Also, thank you for being so patient in waiting for the latest update. I decided to split this chapter into two parts. Who Am I? Part One and Who Am I? Part Two. I had intended on it being one longer chapter that included the first explanation of "the situation" to Hermione. However, it took me so long to write the first part of this chapter, I didn't want to make the faithful fans of this little tale wait any longer. I hope to have Part Two written and posted within the next couple of days.
Hope it doesn't disappoint!
CHAPTER 5 – Who Am I? Part One
"Holy, shit! You're Harry Potter!" Mark exclaimed and quickly he was back on his feet and shaking Harry's hand profusely.
Ron remained seated on the ground staring at the scene in front of him, completely dumbfounded. 'Okay, how in the hell does this American Muggle know who the bloody hell Harry Potter is?'
"Oh, man. It is such an honor to meet you." Mark was still shaking Harry's hand quite enthusiastically. "Just wait until the guys down at the Bureau hear that I actually got to meet the Harry Potter, in the flesh and blood. They're never gonna believe it. Hell, I can't believe it. What are you doing here in Boston or is that classified? Wait, what are you doing here? Did the Bureau send you? By all means, Mr. Potter, anything you need, I'll be more than happy…"
"What the bloody hell is going on here?" Ron shouted, unable to sit by and watch this man ramble on. "And what the bloody hell is the Bureau?"
Both Harry and Mark stared at Ron. Harry had a look that clearly said 'What the hell is going on here, mate?' written all over his face. Mark, on the other hand, was staring at Ron in that calculating way that Hermione had always reserved for very difficult Arithmacny problems. When the other man's eyes went wide, Ron knew that he had obviously came to a solution of some sort.
Suddenly, Mark was rushing toward him and pulling him to his feet. "Oh, god, I am so sorry. It didn't even register…I didn't even think…should've known with the red hair and all. You're Ron Weasley, aren't you?"
Still utterly confused by the events that were transpiring, all Ron could manage in response was "Yeah."
And then Mark was shaking Ron's hand profusely. "It is a pleasure, really, and, again, I am so sorry about attacking you. I tend to fly off the handle every now and then, especially where Miranda is concerned. She told me over and over again that the state I found her in very early this morning had nothing to do with you, but a guy can't help but wonder."
Mark stopped his rambling when Ron held a hand up in front of his face. "Who are you and what is the Bureau?" Ron fought to keep his tone neutral and his voice calm even though he was way past being irritated.
"Who am I?" Mark asked, then he laughed slightly while shaking his head. "Sorry about that. As you can see, I tend to ramble when I'm nervous, and well, meeting wizards as famous as yourselves, you can only imagine how nervous I am. Well, maybe you can't because I guess when you're famous you probably…"
Ron pointedly cleared his throat. 'Bloody, buggering hell. How did Hermione manage to spend the last year and a half living with this nutter?'
Mark turned red from embarrassment but composed himself quickly. He once again stuck out his hand toward Ron, but this time in a much more professional manner. When Ron reluctantly took his hand, the other man shook it in a professional manner and said, "Special Agent Marcus Randall, but please call me Mark, and I'd prefer not to discuss the Bureau out here in the open."
"So you're a wizard?" Harry asked, obviously completely confused.
"Well, I thought that would be pretty obvious by now." Mark again smiled at Harry and Ron couldn't help but chuckle inside his head at how the look in Mark's eyes as he stared at Harry reminded him too much of how Colin Creevey had looked at Harry the entire time they were at Hogwarts. Ron was also pretty sure that this particular wizard was attempting to flirt with his best mate.
Harry, aware of this wizard's particular taste in partners, shifted quite nervously from one foot to the other before giving his response. "I'm sorry. It's just that we thought you were a Muggle. You could say we're thrown a little off guard, wouldn't you say, Ron?"
Ron could hear the nervous tone in Harry's voice but barely heard a word that he had said. There was only one thought that was running through his mind and he needed to voice it. "Does Hermione know?"
The look on Mark's face went from one of awe to one of confusion as he moved his focus from Harry to Ron. "Who?"
Ron took a minute to read Mark's eyes to see if he was truly confused or if it was an act he was putting on. After the reaction Ron had gotten from Hermione last night by saying her real name, he was curious to see if this bloke knew who she really was, because Ron was under the impression that everything about her past had been removed or modified, including her name.
"Sorry. Miranda. Does Miranda know what you are?"
"No. Not at all. At one point and time, I thought she might be suspicious, but she is very adamant about such things as magic not existing."
Ron sighed and ran his hands over his face and through his hair. When it had become apparent that Hermione's housemate was a wizard, he had hoped that she would at least be aware of the magical world. 'That would've made explaining her situation so much easier.' But as it was, she was not aware of the existence of magic, nor did it appear by Mark's last comment that she was even willing to believe that it could even possibly exist.
Ron was just about to ask if they could see Hermione, but Harry beat him to it. "Hey, mate, is she here by chance?"
"No. Sorry. She drove up to Salem for the afternoon. Is that why you're here…to see Miranda?" Harry simply nodded in response so Mark continued. "Why? I mean I can understand why Auror Weasley would want to see her. I mean, they did go out for coffee last night. But I'm a little confused why you want to see her?"
Ron was happy beyond words that Harry was the take-charge kind of guy and that Mark was so enamored with the raven haired man, because Ron really couldn't get past the fact that Hermione had went away for the afternoon. 'What if she doesn't come back? She looked so terrified last night. What if she decided to run? What if she really has all her memories and she's been living here all this time and was really happy and never intended on coming home? What if this bloke really isn't gay and him and Hermione shag like bunnies every night?' Ron was pulled from his mental rant when he heard Harry mention his name.
"First of all, please call us Ron and Harry. Really, there is no need for formalities." Ron noticed that the look of awe had returned to Mark's eyes. "Second, why we both need to see Miranda is actually fairly complicated and not something we'd like to go into a lot of detail about standing in the middle of your lawn. I'm sure you can understand that."
Mark looked quite embarrassed as he smacked his forehead with his open palm and gestured toward the back door as he said, "Again, please forgive me. I understand completely and it seems that I have totally forgotten my manners. Please, come in. I'll put on some tea."
The three men made their way across the lawn and up the steps once again with the home's owner rambling continually once again about how honored he was to have met two men who was so well known by their kind. Ron, who was lingering behind, sighed and ran his hands through his hair once again. 'If this guy continues on like this for the entire afternoon, so help me Dumbledore, I'm going to hex him!'
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Less than five minutes later, the three men sat around Mark's kitchen table each sipping on a glass of Canadian Whiskey. When their host offered them something stronger than tea, Ron jumped at the chance for anything that would help to relax him a bit. He couldn't believe how much his life had began to spiral out of control in the last twenty-four hours. Ron was contemplating how to start the conversation, when Mark spoke up?
"Please forgive me if I just jump to the point. What do the two of you want with Miranda?
This time Ron was the one to answer the American. "Well, please forgive us, but we have a very delicate situation on our hands. It would probably make things a lot easier for us to explain if you filled us in on yourself a little more."
The request was a legitimate one. They did have a very delicate situation on their hands with the Hermione situation and it would definitely make things easier to explain to Mark if they had more background on him. After all, he and Harry were expecting to have to deal with a Muggle. However, Ron's reasons for wanting to find out more about this bloke were quite personal as well. He needed to know what he was up against here.
"Of course, I understand, and it's also the polite thing to do, given your status and all. Well, as we have already established, I'm a wizard. Nowhere near as great as either of you, but I believe that I hold my own amongst my peers here. Not only am I a wizard, but also my grandmother on my mother's side was a Seer and my grandmother on my father's side was an Empath. I was fortunate enough to inherit a bit of both of their abilities."
"Her…Miranda told me that you helped her through some tough times. You were using your Empathic powers, weren't you?" Ron interrupted.
"Yeah. She gets really distraught sometimes and she has this nightmare that really freaks her out. It's just natural to want to make her feel better. It's funny, you know. She's the only one I've ever deliberately used those particular powers on. I guess it's because her misery seems to be something that she struggles with because she just can't understand completely what is making her some miserable at times."
For the first time since sitting down, Harry spoke up. "So what is this Bureau you kept referring to outside?"
"Ah, yes. That would be the Bureau of Magical Intelligence. We are a highly exclusive group that investigates occurrences that the United States Department of Aurors can't explain. Among our community, the Bureau is much of a myth or urban legend. There are only an elite few of American wizards that truly know of its existence. All of us are highly talented in our field of expertise, but each of us live like Muggles with the appearance of denouncing the Wizarding Community so not to be recruited by departments in our Wizarding government."
"So the Chase family is a Wizarding family?" Both Mark and Harry gave Ron a questioning look.
Mark chuckled a bit. "Miranda must have told you that I went to private school with their son, Jarrod?" Ron simply nodded his head. "Actually, Mark was the first wizard to be born in their family for five generations. You can imagine the family's shock and excitement. However, Mr. Chase works in Massachusetts state government, so they didn't really advertise that Jarrod was special. That's why Miranda doesn't have any idea what I really am."
"I guess I'm still confused as to how you know Ron and myself?"
Again Mark chuckled before answering Harry's question. "Please! You're the Boy Who Lived, twice, and Ron's not only your best friend, he was also key in the defeat of the greatest evil our people has ever seen."
This time both Ron and Harry had to laugh softly. It had been more than two years since anyone had referred to Harry as the "Boy Who Lived," so it was quite amusing to hear the name being used again. Ron knew that Harry was legendary for all wizards, just not those in England; however, he was a little surprised that Americans would know who he was. Deciding that they really needed to just throw everything out there, Ron took a huge leap of faith and asked the one question that he knew by the look on Harry's face that his best mate was itching to ask as well.
"So, Mark. You know about Harry and myself. You ever hear anything about a witch named Hermione Granger?"
"Of course. Many of the tales told about the great adventures of Harry Potter that led to the defeat of Lord Voldemort, includes mentions of his two best friends, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger. I had heard though, that she and her parents were killed several years back by followers of the Great Evil One himself."
Ron's heart began to beat a little faster. 'Okay, so at least he has heard about Hermione. Hopefully that fact will help in what I'm about to tell him.' Ron took a deep breath and was about to start when Harry spoke up.
"That is partially correct. At the end of our sixth year at Hogwarts, Hermione's parents were attacked in their home on the day we were returning home for the summer. Her parents were murdered and her home was destroyed."
"So what happened to her?"
This time Ron was quick to answer, not allowing Harry time to start beating around the bush as he tended to like to do in delicate, critical situations like this one. "She was pinpointed to be the next target, so upon her agreement, her memories were removed and modified. She was then removed from the country and placed in a safe house. However, her secret keeper and the only person to know where she was placed was killed in battle before Voldemort was defeated. We hadn't seen her for nearly five years."
Mark gasped and said, "Oh, that is so horrible…the only person who knew where she was killed in battle…how tragic. But you said that you hadn't seen her in nearly five years. I'm assuming you have since found her."
Ron took a deep breath before answering, "Yeah, I had coffee with her last night."
Ron and Harry both watched Mark as the statement sunk in. Suddenly his eyes went wide and he practically screamed, "You have got to be kidding me! Miranda is a witch. No wait! Miranda's not even Miranda, she's the Hermione Granger. I've been living nearly two years with the smartest witch of our generation and I didn't even know it."
"Well, mate, don't worry because she doesn't even know it. At least we were under the assumption that she had every memory of who she was taken from her or modified. However, last night when her and I were…well, we were…"
Ron couldn't believe that he was a grown man who was sitting here blushing and stammering while trying to state that he had snogged the love of his life.
"We were, you know, and I was really into it and didn't even think about what I was doing and I kind of whispered her name…Hermione. She completely freaked out then and I was expecting her to get upset because I had said another bird's name while I was snogging her senseless (Ron couldn't believe that he had just put it so bluntly), but she wasn't mad, she appeared to be terrified."
"Wait a minute. You two were going at it in the backyard last night? She told me that you had kissed her good night that's all. Well, good on her! She's been seriously lacking in the physical male relationship department ever since I've known her."
Mark was smiling and shaking his head as if he was completely blown away by all the information he hand just been given. Suddenly his eyes fixed on Ron and his smile widened. He looked remarkably like how Hermione had one time described the Cheshire Cat from one of the Muggle novels that she liked so well.
"You two were involved before she left, weren't you?"
Ron blushed deeper than he had in years. He didn't know why he was so affected by this man's inquiry about his and Hermione's relationship before she left England. Ron thought that maybe his reaction was due more to the look that Mark was giving him rather than the man's curiosity. 'He looks like he knows some juicy bit of information.'
"Yes."
Mark enthusiastically smacked the table causing both Harry and Ron to jump. "I knew it. It all makes sense now. I should've known with all the strange things that happen with the twins that there was something special about them. The thought just never crossed my mind. Not with Miranda coming across as so clearly Muggle and her determination that there was no such thing as magic. It's just all adding up now."
Ron just sat staring at the man as if he had grown a second head that was speaking in Mermish. Harry, however, apparently had his wits about him enough to catch onto something that Ron completely missed, because he was quick to inquire. "Twins?"
"Yeah. Daniel and Emma. Hold on. I'll be right back." With that, the homeowner jumped out of his seat enthusiastically, smiling like a fool, and darted out of the room. He returned just moments later with a framed photograph and thrust it toward Ron. "I believe these are yours."
Upon taking hold of the photo and turning it so that he could see who the photograph was of, Ron could literally feel all the color draining from his face and felt as though his blood had been replaced with ice water straight from the Artic. Before he knew what was happening, there were tears running down his face as he stared at the picture of his only love and two little redheaded angels.
Through blurred vision he looked at his best mate and all that could escape his mouth was "Harry?" before he dropped the framed picture to the table and Apparated away hoping that he didn't splinch himself because all he could think of was 'Dear Merlin, I'm a dad.'
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