Disclaimer: See Part One.

Author's note: Sorry it's been so long. I've had a wedding, two moves, a computer crash and a bad case of writer's block all happen in this past year, which made getting this chapter out very difficult. But I've still been thinking about it, and that breeds plotbunnies. There will be plenty of story to come, extending this all the way into Harry's seventh year. Some of it will be primarily TS, some HP, and some that is truly crossed over.

Aside from the story problems, I ended up working on a Linux system after my computer crashed, and I didn't have internet access at my house. You can imagine the frustration, but I promise it was the dog who ate my couch, not me. Now I have a new(er) computer and once again have both Windows and internet, so I'm back in business.

That's all for now. Enjoy!

A Matter of Magic, Part 6
St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries...

"No. Absolutely not! Those freaks were after HIM, trying to make HIM feel guilty enough to do something stupid! It would be far better for everyone concerned if you find him a new guardian. Besides, I believe that we will have to stay with my sister, Marge, until the insurance pays for the house. The boy simply cannot control himself around her! He blew her up like a balloon, for God's sake! No, there is no way I'm letting him or any of you freaks near me or my family ever again!"

Dumbledore sighed. There was no doubt that Vernon Dursley was speaking from fear and prejudice, but the result was the same. Harry would not be going back to the Dursleys. He would have to figure out something for this summer, but then he had a year to do so for the nest one. He was confident that he could find a solution for Harry to keep him safe.

Granger House...

Harry sighed as Dumbledore finished telling him what Uncle Vernon had said. Honestly, he couldn't blame the man. He'd just had his house fall on him! But that made things very difficult for Harry. Where was he going to stay for the rest of the summer that wouldn't put people at risk from protecting him?

The problem sat on his mind for a day, and he told Blair about it; having quickly found that the Shaman made a very good sounding board, he told him a lot of things. But Blair had an idea. He'd just have to discuss it with Ruth and Jim first. And when he did, they enthusiastically agreed with his plan.

At dinner that night, the last night that the Americans would be in England, Blair broached the subject. "Okay. I've got an idea, and I want to see what you think about it, Harry. I think it would be great if you came back with us to Cascade for the rest of the Summer. It would have the advantage of putting you in my city so I'd be allowed to protect you. You'd get to see our little corner of America, play tourist for a while. You'd have to go home after the wedding, because we're going to Hawaii for our honeymoon, but then you could stay with the Weasleys until school started. What do you think?"

Harry's eyes bugged out. "You're serious?" Blair grinned and nodded. "I'd love that! I'm a ward of the school, though, now that Vernon has thrown me out. Not that I'm complaining, but you'll have to get Dumbledore to approve it."

That shouldn't be a problem. He may not know that much about Shamen, but he knows that they're powerful and he knows I bear you no ill will."

And he proved to be right. The Headmaster enthusiastically endorsed the idea, and Harry packed what few belongings he had gotten out that night before going to sleep.

Cascade, Washington...

The American wizarding community was very different from the European one. America was referred to as a mongrel nation, whether wizard or Muggle, and purity of blood wasn't nearly as important in the States as it was overseas. The result was a closer union of the two than any foreigner had a right to suspect, and wizarding law had the same kinds of strictures as Muggle law, but criminal and civil. Wizards were held to the Constitution just as Muggles were, and wizards had just as much a love/hate relationship with paper and documentation. In America, paper makes the world go 'round.

The first day Harry Potter spent on American soil was spent hip deep in paper work, both for him and for his American sponsors. They had to get him a temporary visa and file housing arrangements, register Harry's wand and his store of porions ingredients, and his invisibility cloak. There were all kins of regulations that had to be explained to him and he was also fingerprinted and photographed for the visa. It was a long and drawn out process, and by the end of the day, which was eight hours later than it was in England, Harry was glad enough to simply fall onto the sofa in Jim's living room.

The next day, Harry woke to the sun in his face. Blearily, he opened his eyes and saw a window in a strange place. It was neither to the left of his head, nor behind him and to the right. Instead, it was straight ahead. Bemembering, Harry sat up and felt around for his glasses, then looked around the room. The window proved to be a tall glass door with sheer curtains about six feet from the end of the couch he was sleeping on. In front of the couch was a wooden coffee table, to one side was an arm chair, and to the other was a small table. On the far wall was a large entertainment center and a set of shelves that held books and assorted knickknacks, as well as a mantle and fireplace with a painting of a wolf and a black jaguar hunting together above it. The painting would have been strange in any other household, as the two animals would hardly have been in each other's presences without killing one another in life, but it fit Jim and Blair very well.

Behind the couch and across the room was a breakfast bar which separated the kitchen-and-dioning area from the living area. Seeing the kitchen alerted him to what his other senses were telling him, mainly the scents ov coffee and bacon and the sound of a utensil clacking and scraping on an iron skillet. They were more than enough to make his mouth water, as he had slept through his normal breakfast time. He knew that it would take a few days to get acclimated to the new time zone, so for now he would be behind.

Jim immediately saw that Harry was awake. "Hey, kid. Feel better?"

He nodded. "I must have slept hard. I don't remember waking up even once."

"Like a rock. Food's almost ready. Go ahead and get a shower. Blair stayed at Ruth's place last night, so he's not here to use up the hot water."

Deciding that sounded like a very good idea, Harry nodded and looked around for his trunk. Finding it on the floor beside the couch, which was probably where his glasses had been sitting, he knelt in front of it to open it up. He got out his shaving kit and a change of clothes, then headed for the loo and a very welcome shower.

Breakfast was ready by the time Harry was done, so all he had to do was tuck in. While they ate, Jim talked to Harry about teaching him more than just how to punch straight. "I'm not going to put you through boot camp, and I'm not going to teach you how to kill, but I can probably give you a basic idea of how to defend yourself physically and keep in shape. I'd like to keep in contact with you through the school year and keep track of the progress you're making. Sandburg said that his jurisdiction is Cascade, just like mine, but there's nothing wrong with giving you the tools you need to keep your part of the world safe."

Harry agreed. "Thank you. I haven't had much training in physical defense, though."

"That's all right. I can teach you from the beginning. I know you've also got homework to do over the summer. You're not getting out of it just because you're on foriegn soil."

Harry grinned. "Maybe I'll actually be able to do my homework well instead of quickly this year. The Dursleys didn't like to let me do it before, and this year..." He couldn't go any further. He hadn't done his work this year because he had been too immersed in the memory of Dedric's death.

Jim put a hand on his shoulder. "That's all right, kid. There's plenty of time to do it now that you can think straight." He removed his hand and changed tyhe subject. "Now, Blair and I have to go to work today, as does Ruth. She thought it would be easiest if you stayed with me and Blair today. She said she wanted to show Cascade's wizarding neighborhood to all of us at the same time, tomorrow, since it's a Sunday. If Blair and I have3 to roll on something, we'll leave you at the station house with Simon, our boss. You can fill him in on things." Jim looked toward the balcony doors. "Sounds like Blair just got here."

"What sound is that?" Harry hadn't heard anything.

"His car. It's an old Volvo, and annoying isn't even the word for some of the noises that thing makes."

"How can you hear it? Aren't we on the third floor or something?"

Jim nodded. "Yeah. I hear a lot that other people don't. There's a lot to Blair's and my story, but I'm going to wait until he's up here to tell you about it. He tells it so much better than I do."

Harry was content to wait, but still he wondered what could possibly be added to the story of the Shaman he had so easily learned to trust.

The two detectives were a familiar sight that had been missed for the last two weeks. Curiosity was rampant about the teen who was accompanying them, as it was obvious that he wasn't in custody, but most people knew better than to ask such questions so bluntly. The only ones who were likely to be informed were the rest of the Major Crimes Unit. That didn't keep people from being grateful for the return of the CPD's best team.

Jim and Blair were both aware of the scrutiny, and they ignored it, just grateful to be home. England had been great, but the environment had been just different enough to give them an ever-present stress, a pull to return to their own territory, and that stress being gone was like a breath of fresh air.

Harry was used to being stared at, but these people didn't know him, or think they knew him just because of the scar on his forehead, and their simple curiosity was actually a relief. They might think he was a witness, or a cousin, or simply a teen who'd won a treat for some reason. They didn't look to him with either wild hope or disgust, pride or disdain. To them, he was just another kid. He didn't have to live up to anyone's expectations. It was a good feeling.

Once they got to the seventh floor, it was an entirely different atmosphere. They walked in through the open doors of the bullpen and found that Blair's desk, as predicted, had been decorated with marriage jokes. They ranged from the cheep paper and plastic gags available at any party supplies outlet to a white satin ring pillow with a gold-plated set of thumb cuffs on it in lieu of rings. the whole crew was there, applauding and laughing at the expense of the intellectual half of their favorite partnership.

Blair just grinned andtook the ribbing in the good nature with which it had been given. "That's right, laugh it up, guys. Is there so little crime in this city that you have to get your kicks picking on the little guy?"

Simon Banks was grinning around his cigar. "Now, Sandburg, who are you to go bucking tribal tradition? That pair of 'rings' has been passed down to every soon-to-be-married man in this unit since they were given to my first captain in 1973. Those things are almost as old as you."

Joel taggert cracked, "Not that old, are they?" That brought on a renewed bout of chuckles.

Megan Connor said, "Now, now, he's not the youngest detective anymore. There are a couple in Robbery and one in Homicide who are at least a year younger than he is."

Brian Rafe grinned. "Not that they have even a third of your experience."

"Yeah. It's not like the title of 'Cosmic Trouble Magnet' could possibly go to anyone else in this century." That had been Henri Brown.

Harry chuckled, thinking he could probably dispute that title himself some day. But the sound caused attention to shift to the unfamiliar face in the group. Simon said, "Who's this?"

Blair turned to Harry quickly, as if he had almost forgotten the young wizard was there. "Oh, this is my wife's adopted nephew. He's staying with us for the summer until after the wedding. Everyone, meet Harry Potter."

Suddenly Harry was the center of attention, but it wasn't like it was at home. Once again, it was just honest curiosity that had drawn their gazes, not rock-star stalking, fear, or disgust. He smiled nervously. "Hi."

Simon, however, obviously knew something more. His face hardened and he caught Blair's eye. The younger man touched his watch. Later, then. He nodded but shot sandburg a glare that said later had better not be too long in coming.

After cake and punch had been served in the break room, Simon bellowed at everyone to get their butts to work, then motioned for Blair, Jim and Harry to follow him into his office. He sat down behind his desk and said, "All right, what's going on?"

Blair started. "First, I only obfuscated a little. Ruth's neice is one of Harry's best friends and her sister wanted to adopt him, but technically he's a ward of the school and the Headmaster wouldn't allow it. He needed a place to stay that those terrorists couldn't get to him so easily."

"And what makes Cascade the place for that? Especially when you attract more trouble than all of Britain put together?"

"You know that Shaman thing? Well I just got a hell of a lot more proficient in it. It's a very long story, but you're going to need to know it. I'm kind of under orders to tell you immediately and Warren after the honeymoon."

"Orders from whom?" growled Simon.

"Incacha."

Simon groaned and sat back in his comfortable office chair. He hated the supernatural crap. "All right. Can the kid be here for this conversation, or do we need to send him back out to the party?"

"Harry's fine. He's going to need to know how the spirit world works soon, if things go the way I think they will." Blair told his superior all that had happened during their trip to Britain, not glossing over even the smallest detail. But when he got to the part where he had been in a trance, Harry got to hear things that he never had before. "It was like learning how to move light. Hard to describe. But there are rules, and I learned a few things that will be coming up for Harry. The rules are pretty simple. See, the spirit world chooses the people who will be born with those gifts that can help to protect people. They choose the Sentinels, the Shamen, and the guides. A Guide is an enhanced Shaman. But the power doesn't belong to me to do with as i will. I have to follow orders or they'll take it. Now that doesn't mean they don't let me think for myself, but it does mean that I can't kill or maim or be cruel. I'll be able to help everyone around me with their everyday stuff, with how they deal with the job."

"So does not killing mean that you can't defend yourself with lethal force if you use the gun?"

"It does, but it also means that I won't need to. Shamanic magic is the strongest kind on the planet, and I won't have to worry about me or Jim getting killed on the job. I can deflect a spell or a bullet. Here, I'll show you a mild example." Blair took a blank sheet of paper from Simon's fax machine and wadded it into a ball. Then he made sure that the blinds were closed before handing Simon the ball. "Throw it at me."

Harry watched with extreme interest, curious about what the Shaman could do on the battlefield. Simon grinned as he threw the paper, probably something he had wanted to do since this conversation started. But it never made it's target. Instead, it bounced off a deflection shield that had a kind of strength Harry had never seen. It was alive with Power, the power of Nature herself. Harry had no problem believing that it could block a bullet. It might even be able to block the Killing Curse. Unconsciously, Harry whispered, "Wicked!"

Blair grinned, but he continued with his explanation. "Now that doesn't mean I can't keep the gun with me. It just means I won't have to use it. I'll be able to calm down a stressed-out perp so he doesn't hurt anyone. Psychos like Lash I'll be able to spot and stop. And we won't have to run background checks on anyone's dates anymore, either."

"So except for the 'do no harm' bit..."

"I'll be able to help our people, too. The guys already know they can come to me if they just need to talk to someone. I've been working some of this unconsciously. Now I'll be more effective in helping them with their problems, like an unofficial councelor. And I should be able to help keep the guys sick days down, too. You know, the whole medicine man thing's not just a gag."

A thought occurred to Harry. "Do you want to use my Herbology texts? If you're going to be doing that kind of healing, they might be of some use to you."

Blair nodded. "That would be great, thanks." He turned back to Simon. "What else do you need to know?"

Simon thought about it. "This magic stuff. Regular people still aren't supposed to know about it. Can you keep it quiet? Hell, can you even use it and keep it out of the papers?"

"Yeah. I can make it so that they don't even notice it."

"Good." Simon leand back and sighed. "This stuff is still to weird for me. Have you told the kid about the other thing yet?" "The Sentinel thing" hung unspoken in the air.

"No. He slept all day yesterday because of the jet lag. And believe me, with the way wizards travel, it was a hell of a lag. We were going to tell him today while we work."

"Fine. Sounds like there's a lot for you guys to do. And you have three new cases on your desks, gentlemen. Have fun!"

Jim grinned. "You're all heart, sir."

"Krebain again? Why won't this guy give up?"

"Thick skull?"

Blair chuckled. "Probably." He sighed. "I have to get into his head. We can't use my empathy in court as evidence, just like we can't use your senses, but it can lead us to solid evidence."

Harry listened to them talk about the cases they were working on while he tried to process the information he had jsut gotten about Jim. It made a lot of sense, in a lot of ways. The wizarding community was so insular that it was hard to get a new idea through their heads, and ite was very easy for them to ignore problems, either past or present. There would have been no reason for ancient wizards to record how they had gotten their power, so the information had been lost. And the Sentinel was something that no one in the wizarding world had any inkling of. A Muggle having greater senses than your average human was not something that the purebloods would want to hear at any rate. No way would they entertain the idea that a Muggle could be naturally better than they were at anything. And it sounded like it had it's own set of problems. Sensory spikes, zone-outs? Not something to be jealous of, certainly.

Harry also got the feeling that Blair was holding something back, something that was related to him and the problems of Britain. He would ask about it later, though. He didn't want to seem rude to his hosts, and the Shaman just might be trying to figure out how to tell it to him.

Blair smiled at the young wizard's thoughts. He had no idea what was coming, and Blair had no authority to tell him that little bit of the future. If it wasn't allowed to develop naturally, it might not develop at all.

They were in the truck, headed for lunch while they talked over the new assignments that had sprung up on their desk. They had just pulled out of the drive up at HealthNutz, a health-conscious fast-food place, when Jim heard a shot ring out. Instinctively, he tapped into Blair's power and shielded the whole cab ot the truck invisibly. Blair felt it and took over the shield, simultaneously strengthening it and wresting it out of Jim's control so that the sentinel could concentrate on the matter at hand. Another shot rang out as he did so, but the truck wasn't hit, even in the shield.

Blair called in the shots while Jim started driving the truck toward the source of the sound. Harry was just glad that he'd belted himself in. He'd had enough trouble with America's reversed driving, and now Jim was all over the road as he weaved through lunch-time traffic. He was thrown forward when Jim whipped the steering wheel around and parked against the curb on the opposite side of the street.

The two cops jumped out, Blair shooting a parting admonition for Harry to stay in the truck. Jim grinned at him as they reached the door frame of the building. "You've been wanting to say that to someone for five years, haven't you."

Blair just grinned in return and they moved into the building.

By the time they got to the stair well on the fifth floor, both detectives had their game faces on, serious and focused. No one had come down the stairs, so they were careful opening the door onto the floor. There were people sticking their heads out of their own doors. One was a kid, ten or so. She pointed to the door from behind which the shots had come. Jim nodded to her and waved her back inside. The rest of the people on the floor took their cue from that signal and stuck their heads back inside their own doors. They wanted no part in it if more bullets started flying.

They stayed at the door for a moment, Jim listening in on the apartment. "One heart beat, very fast. It's in a different room, though."

Blair scanned the apartment with the empathic gift that was the most accessible part of his magic. "It's a young girl. She's not hurt physically."

Jim nodded. He tursted his partner. Still, he used the precaution of keeping his gun at the ready as they opened the door and entered the apartment. There were two bodies on the floor, both black, one male and one female. The male still had the gun in his dead hand and it looked like a murder/suicide. Sweeping with their guns, neither detective found any surprises. Jim quietly said, "Chief, you take the kid."

Blair nodded and went into the smaller of the apartment's two bedrooms. He opened the closet and found an ebony-skinned girl about Harry's age trying as hard as she could to blend in with the wood work. "Hey, it's okay. I'm with the police. I'm not going to hurt you. Come on out of there. It's safe now." He held his hand out to her to help her up out of the floor.

The girl looked up at him, fear and questions in her eyes. She seemed to find what she was looking for and took his hand. He pulled her up and held her face to his chest. "I'm going to take you out of here just like this, okay?" She nodded, not speaking at all. Blair inserted a tiny probe of thought into her mind to monitor her level of shock. It was pretty bad, but she could still understand him. He wrapped a blanket around her mind and a jacket around her head to keep her from seeing anything that would further traumatize her. He took her out of the apartment and into the hallway, nodding to Jim as he left. The Sentinel would get on his cell phone after the door was shut.

Blair sat the girl down on the floor and calmed her down just enough so that she would be able to answer questions. "You're safe, I promise. I need you to answer some questions for me so we know what happened here." The girl nodded shakily. "Good. Now, what's your name?"

"T-Tamika Watson," she stuttered.

"And how old are you?"

Fifteen."

"Okay. Can you tell me what happened here, Tamika?"

She took a shaky breath and haltingly told her story. "I came home from summer-school like I always do and cleaned up the dishes, then I went to my room to do my homework and listen to some stuff on my stereo. Mom works nights. She doesn't think I know what she does. She teels me she's a waitress. He's her boyfriend, but he's her boss, too."

"Boss?"

Tamika looked him in the eye and Blair felt a shield go up in her mind. Very surprising. That was a Shamanic ability. "Her pimp."

Blair nodded. That explained the shield. She was expecting him to judge her mother for her profession. But Blair would never do that. "Okay, what happened next?"

Tamika's expression and her shield relaxed a bit. "They came in screaming and yelling. I took off my headphones." She stopped for a moment, then said, "She screamed again, but it was different, scared. Then—" She couldn't say it as emotion caught up to her and she started to cry. Blair just held her, letting her cry while he held a mental hand out to his partner. Jim sent him a reassuring bolt of boredom. The scene was exactly as it appeared. The mother's boyfriend had shot her and then shot himself. End of story.

A few minutes later, the uniforms showed up and Jim handed the scene over to them. He called Simon and told him the story, then got another surprise. "Tamika Watson? Shit. That's one of the kids who Daryl's been tutoring." The captain's son had taken on some tutoring during his senior year in highschool as a community service project, and he had gotten close with several of the kids. "He's been playing big brother for her all year."

"Do you think you could get him to meet us at the station? She could probably use a friendly face right now."

"Yeah. He hasn't left for California yet. He was going to wait until after the Emergency Services Picnic anyway. I'll give him a call. Have the uniforms bring here up to Major Crime once he gets her to the station."

The rest of the day was fairly normal. They worked on the Krebain robberies some, just working over the evidence that had already been collected, and then they went home for the day. Harry watched CNN during the evening, trying to see if Voldemort had done anything big, but nothing showed up that could really be attributed to him. Blair said, "I have a feeling that you would know if he was doing something like that, Harry." And he pointed to the teen's scar.

Harry nodded. "I'd know if it was him. But I wouldn't necessarily know if someone else was doing it, say Malfoy."

Blair shrugged. "I guess that makes sense. But what would you do about it if you did know? The whole point of bringing you across an ocean and a continent was to keep you safe so that you could learn. You're not ready for him, Harry, and I think you know that."

Harry frowned. "I know. But I should still know what's going on." Surely Blair wasn't going to start keeping things from him like everyone else did?

But Blair smiled. "As long as you don't try and do anything insane."

Harry grinned.

That night was vision free, probably due to the bulk of the planet being between him and Voldemort, and Harry was more than grateful to Blair and Jim for taking him in. There was much to be said for putting distance between yourself and your problems, if only for a short while, not to mention the fact that he wouldn't have to feel the pain of the Cruciatus Curse or Avada Kedavra.

Their next day was spent in a section of downtown Cascade that of all of them only Ruth had ever seen before. The entrance was in the back of a small restaurant which was totally hidden from the view of Muggles in general. Jim saw both the actual building and the illusion which hid it, an image of a fenced off vacant lot with trash blowing around in it. The two were blurry and warped in and out of each other, giving him a headache if he looked too long, so he closed his eyes, letting Blair lead him until they had gotten inside.

Ruth led Blair, Jim, Simon and Harry all into the restaurant and introduced them to the owner, Robert Mae. He was a tall man with black hair and brown eyes and was very thin, like a bean pole. He congratulated Ruth on her engagement and showed them all to the back door, where the entrance to Cascade's wizarding neighborhood was nestled against a brick fence. Ruth took her wand out and raked it across seven of the bricks, which then started to shift and move out of the way with a hollow scraping sound. Ruth said, "Welcome to Goodfellow Road."

Named for Robin Goodfellow, the mischievous sprite who served Oberon, the Fairy King, Goodfellow Road was often called Puck's Row and was a riot of colors, scents and magic. It was not unlike Diagon Alley in London, but it had a distinctly American flavor. First, American wizards celebrated the entire month of July rather than just the Fourth, so the Row was full of American flags, only they weren't just colored banners but everything from animated stars and stripes to illusions floating in the air. One illusion depicted the ride of Paul Revere, only it had him riding a broom rather than a horse. Blair said, "How many of the founders were wizards?"

Ruth answered, "Paul Revere, Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Edison, but no one else. They were among the first who tried to introduce magical concepts to Muggles through the use of science. Not all magic is unusable to the average human. Most Potions Masters in the States work for pharmaceutical companies. There's a lot of money in transmagical research. There's even hope that a cure for cancer might be waiting itn the wings. Anyway, those three got into a lot of trouble for revealing themselves to Muggles, but they also did a lot of good towards bridging the gap between magic and science."

They continued through the Row toward a large marble building, one of Gringott's American branches. This reminded Harry that he had no money, which he told Ruth. "Well, we should be able to get you a vault here and transfer some money from there to here."

"How do they do that? Is it anything like they do it at a Muggle bank?"

"It's totally magical, but it mimics the Muggle system, yes. Your vault in London has a spell which keeps track of the funds and other objects within it. Any money or object can be instantly transported by a simple activation of the pass-spell which is on every vault key. Each one has a different signature, so it's impossible for a key to get into a vault to which it does not belong, and anyone who was able to forge such a key would have to not only be agenius, but also have access to the original key and have a lot of time and power on their hands."

Blair said, "So it's not possible for someon to hack into the system?"

Ruth shook her head. "I won't say it's impossible to rob Gringott's, because it's happened, but the system's shields are the strongest known to man, and they're constantly being added to."

Harry frowned. "Why couldn't someone disguise themselves as a goblin and get in through the proper channels?"

"They'd have to know the right channels in the first place, and I seriously doubt there's a human alive who does."

Once inside the bank, they found out that it was going to take three hours for the transfer to be completed, so the four decided to go exploring the Row. Ruth was already planning the wedding, and all the little details that were involved in one. No matter which side of the magical scale you fall on, a wedding is a royal occasion, and there is no such thing as a simple one. Blair mentioned eloping, and Ruth told him that didn't count. This made Blair realize that he hadn't contacted Naomi yet. "I don't even know where she is."

Simon snorted. "And how is that abnormal?"

Jim grinned. "Your mom, Chief. She could be anywhere on the planet."

Harry said, "Why don't you owl her? Hedwig was able to find Sirius in South America without an address."

Blair grinned at him. "You mind if I borrow her later?"

"Not at all."

They went back to the bank to get Harry's money and Ruth's and get some of each exchanged for dollars. Harry discovered that the money had already been exchanged for American wizarding money, which was far different tha even British wizarding money. It followed the decimal system, for one, and there were five coins instead of just three. The base coin was gold, and it was called a Slug, and it was worth fifty Muggle dollars. There was then a smaller gold coin called a Snail worth Twenty dollars, a large silver coin called a Jack worth five dollars, a small silver called a Jenny worth one dollar, and a large copper called a sprat that was worth a dime. Muggle pennies were often seen floating around since they fit so well within the system, but if it was a newer zinc-cored one it was worthless.

Later, once Harry had money in hand, they went to a high end clothier. Harry needed more than just his school robesm, and all of them needed clothing for the wedding. Harry's bottle green dress robes that Mrs. Weasley had gotten for him for the Yule Ball wouldn't really go with the color scheme she wanted, which was silver and scarlet. Blair made the suggestion of merging their two cultures in the ceremony just as they would be in life. She grinned and glomped on him. With that in mind, she decided that the men would wear wizarding clothing and the women would wear Muggle clothing. Simon suggested she talk to his secretary, Rhonda, who had just recently helped to organize her sister's wedding.

The men got a crash course in wizard wedding traditions from the salesman and purchased a traditional wedding robe for blair and matching dress robes for Jim, Simon and Harry. Simon also ordered a set for Daryl, since he intended for his son to attend with him. That led to a discussion on who else Blair was going to invite to the ceremony. Under normal circumstances, Blair wouldn't have ever considered not inviting all of the Major Crime Unit, but he wasn't sure if he could do it under the anti-Muggle laws. Ruth said she would look into it and ask her Captain.

They paid for their packages and left the clothier's, deciding to get something to eat. They stopped at a small eatery and got a copy of the local wizarding paper and one of the Daily Prophet. Harry told them about all the problems they'd had with Rita Skeeter and the way that Hermione had solved the problem, which had the four of them rolling in the aisles. Many were the times that Jim or Blair had wished that they could do something similar to members of their own media.

That night, as Harry was preparing for bed, he thought hard about all that had happened over the past two weeks. Once again, his life had been fundamentally changed in a matter of moments, but he couldn't actually find himself complaining this time. He had learned a lot about the way the world really worked, and ironically it was two—well, not Muggles, but not wizards either—who had done the teaching.

And there was more to come. Blair was going to show him the spirit world and Jim was going to teach him how to fight in the Muggle way, both things that they seemed convinced he was going to need in the future, and given what Blair was, Harry was inclined to believe him. Voldemort was alive and powerful once again. There was no chance that the man—if man he could be called—was not going to come after him. But hopefully, with the aid being given him by these two men, he would be ready for it when he came.

He lay down on the sofa in Jim's living room, and sighed. One thing was for certain. The rest of the summer was going to be very interesting.

Okay, I'm not going to even try to give a time table for the next "episode", but it will include the wedding, Harry's birthday, and some other important things. This will slowly work its way into OotP, but some very vital changes will have been made. Certain people will not die, and others will, and some people will be hired and others won't. More new characters will be introduced, and others will gain larger roles. And as usual, Naomi will leave confusion in her wake.

Now that I've confused you sufficiantly, I'll leave you. There will be more story, but I don't know when. Reviews, as always, are very welcome.