Chapter 37

Inside Thames House, within an area cordoned off from its corridors was a section, and within that was an office.

Harry Pearce sat down at his desk, eyeing the pile of mail that had been placed there. Problems usually came by phone, police report or red flash. Mail provided something of a distraction, a sometimes irritating one.

Taking a letter opener he started opening the letters, mostly were inconsequential reports that needed for various reasons to be shoved into an envelope and pushed around the internal mail system of Thames House.

One of them more interestingly had a stamp on it.

Inside there was a sheet of A4 paper, with two words printed on it. Tomorrow's Times.

Pearce raised an eyebrow, promptly disposing of the letter.

-/

Harry stood looking out of the windows of the mostly empty room formerly host to WOTAN, waiting. Ioan and Judith were around here also, away from sight of anyone coming in via the only entrances the lift and the stairs. He was quite sure the man he was meeting, or hopefully would be meeting wouldn't be taking the stairs.

He had unfinished business, and even his brief sojourn into the past hadn't made him forget how he got there and that he still needed to deal with it. But he first needed to update the man who'd sent him there.

-/ - \\-

A few days ago…

He'd had to go and disable his Dalek temporal monitor.

"Someone's been playing around with my Dalek," he eyed Judith.

Draco and Daphne were looking a somewhat exhausted from the temporal transference.

"I think you should come inside and rest before you decide what to do next," Harry said to both of them.

Inside with them all sat down Draco was slightly more conscious.

"You live here Potter?" He sniffed but accepted the mug of tea that Harry had prepared for them.

"So where've you been, sex romp through time again?" Judith asked, eyeing Draco and Daphne.

Harry sighed. "Back to the 70s."

"Again?" Both Judith and Ioan exclaimed in surprise.

"It's a complicated story, I'll explain later," Harry said quickly, he didn't want to explain and more to the point have Draco in the know about all of his business.

"You said that about 'spoilers'," Daphne warned him.

"Oh that, that's…" He looked around Ioan and Judith.

"Spoilers are finding out information prior to the broadcast, publication or otherwise happening of events, without being able to enjoy all of the other stuff that happens around them," Judith provided after watching Harry for a moment.

"Like knowing your future," Daphne said in a soft voice.

"If you like," Judith shrugged.

"Potter as much as your inane chatter doesn't fascinate me, I would like to leave." Draco rose from his chair and looked around him as if preparing for something.

"Don't apparate," Daphne said in a stern tone.

"Why not Greengrass?" Draco demanded, though he hadn't moved.

"The area here is rife with distortions that make apparition nigh on impossible. Quick way to a fast death," Ioan said with relish watching Malfoy.

"I'll walk you to the road Draco," Harry said softly as he rose from his chair gesturing the door. Daphne followed them.

Harry stuffed his hands in his pockets and allowed himself to relax and breath the fresh 2005 air and hoped he'd never get stuck in the 1970s again. At least now though he'd have a way to contact people, which reminded him, he wanted, when he'd got over the next few issues that he had to deal with to go and see Ian and Barbara.

"Draco," Harry said once they were out on the road.

"Potter." Malfoy watched him carefully.

"Keep a low profile for the next week or two." Harry turned to Daphne. "You too." Daphne arched an eyebrow. "I will need to deal with the Baron and the Baroness, they will likely not survive."

"Must you Potter?" Harry couldn't tell if Malfoy was being sarcastic or annoyed or what.

"They are useful within the wizarding community Harry," Daphne added.

"They also have in possession extremely dangerous aliens, about as old as the universe and as we know can have a disastrous affect on one's day." Harry dragged a hand through his hair.

Malfoy regarded him, though by the look of distaste as Harry dragged his hand through his hair Harry could tell he didn't like that.

"In that you are correct Potter," Malfoy paused. "But dangerous people are also useful."

"I only say keep a low profile because if the Baron and Baroness think that we've been dealt with," Harry paused. "and according to my information we should have gone back much further."

"You mentioned that," Daphne reminded him, another of the things he thought he'd explain later when he had an explanation for it, or had had time to deconstruct what River had said to him.

"So they would not expect us to be alive and may use methods to remove us from circulation to keep their means of disposal secret," Malfoy surmised. "My family has several properties in Europe, I shall retire to one of those for a few weeks."

Harry nodded and wasn't sure what to say next. "I wouldn't say it's been pleasant Draco," Harry breathed in and exhaled. "There are worse people that I could have been stuck in the past with."

Malfoy seemed amused by this. "Like the brother of the Mad Cow Potter?" He chuckled and disapparated.

Both Daphne and Harry stood on the road, nothing said for a moment.

"I would like to stay, to understand further about you, and us Harry Potter," she began.

Harry's face turned worried and slightly scared. "This isn't…I mean…what I did…"

Daphne was shaking her head, bringing her hands to bare on Harry's body in a tender embrace. "No," she whispered kissing him.

"That's good," Harry said, smiling and returning the kiss. They had hardly been intimate during their stay in the past, despite spending most of their time together, though much of it with Draco, who wasn't exactly a turn on.

"But this experience has lead me to understand you Harry Potter, something I found intriguing, more so than anyone I have known previously."

"And here I thought revealing I spend my days up to my eyes in aliens to be the most revealing thing about me," he joked, she smiled at him.

"An interesting quirk. The rest of you is far more fascinating," she said breathing in and looking around them. "I will secrete myself away, like Draco my family has ties outside of the country, I will remove myself there. I shall contact you in a week."

Harry nodded and then conceded to her. "It may take more than a week to settle things."

She smiled at him. "Then I shall 'call' you to simply speak to you."

Harry nodded. "I guess that's what people who are…" He trailed off, not sure, even now, what they were. "In a…"

Daphne laughed. "I think the term Harry, that we are skirting around is relationship."

Harry chuckled, and then said in a faux whisper. "But that sounds so awfully common!" He said jokingly making Daphne laugh.

"Common is marriage Harry," she said taking his hand. "A relationship is complicated."

"I think we can manage that," he said kissing her hand and then her lips.

"A week Harry," she said, disapparating.

-/

"Previously, on the adventure of Harry Potter and friends in the past," Judith said as he sat back down inside.

Harry gave them both a pained look. "Would you like an explanation or do you just want to mock me?"

"We can do both." Judith grinned at him and looked to Ioan who nodded with a grin.

-/ - \\-

The noise of the lift broke the relative silence in the tower, any of the computers that were in this building had long since been moved elsewhere, their noises not the whirring of magnetic tape rather the whirring of fans.

Then the doors opened revealing a single man who walked out.

"A rather proficient communication Mr Potter, I had thought you'd abandoned me," Mr Harry Pearce said as he stepped out of the lift.

"No quite," Harry said. "It pays to be careful though, given what we're dealing with."

Then Ioan, wand tucked into a pocket and a energy tracker in hand stepped out of their hiding along with Judith who was holding something slightly less friendly.

Harry smiled at Pearce and walked forward. "These are my associates."

He seemed amused more than anything. "And you wished to appear to be an enigmatic figure waiting?" He shook his head.

Harry shook his head. "No, I wanted to wait and see if you'd start shooting at me."

"Then let me save you the trouble," he said as Judith tensed he removed a mobile phone from a pocket, Ioan took it placing it on a table and then withdrawing his wand casting it upwards.

"That'll nullify the bug in your collar," Ioan said. Pearce didn't react.

-/

"There was quite a list of people to investigate," Harry began.

"Though by your silence of late-" Pearce began.

Harry cut him off. "I was silenced much like your friend in his letter."

This piece of information, by the look of Pearce had surprised him. "Your capabilities then surprise me Mr Potter."

"I have more than capable friends Mr Pearce," Harry responded.

Pearce watched him/ "And which of my list were the culprits if I might enquire?"

"Baron Liam Warner-Tirnevere and Baroness Louise Liam Warner-Tirnevere." Harry replied, though Pearce didn't immediately respond.

"I see," Pearce said after a moment's thought.

"They need to be dealt with," Harry said after a moment's grace to Pearce.

"How dangerous is their involvement in whatever it is effected your removal?"

Harry wasn't really sure how to answer that. In theory the Angels weren't dangerous exactly, in theory they didn't kill you, and it was possible to claw your way out of their clutches.

"They are what affected my removal," Harry replied after a moment's thought. "They are more dangerous than Whitaker and his dinosaurs, and as dangerous as the London Event, though more concentrated."

"I see," Pearce said as he walked over to the window. "I suppose there is a reason you have not progressed with measures to deal with this threat?" He pondered aloud.

Harry nodded. "Given your concerns and my experience they seemed to have a set up that was designed for removing people. Whomever they might be."

"I see," Pearce said again.

"I have contacts in UNIT, but I thought you would want to keep this a British concern without uninvolving the United Nations," Harry offered the security services head.

Pearce looked at him. "Yes, the less the UN is involved in our internal concerns the better for our international dealings," Pearce said, though it seemed to Harry to suggest a dislike for UNIT.

Not that he'd had a lot of dealings with UNIT, since the '70s Harry mused to himself. "I have some contacts in the Air Force."

"Through your Wyvern directive."

Harry didn't bother to be surprised, he was after all talking with a spook.

Harry continued. "But I'll need people on the ground and the whole area will need to be cordoned off and kept that way."

"And this menace, it is secure?" Pearce asked seemingly skirting around what it was, maybe not wanting to know what it was, what they were. The best way to deny knowledge is not to know it. Harry wondered if that was how spies and politicians managed their lives. That said his life and his friends and associates were also a fair balance of each not knowing everything about him. Though Daphne was the closest in knowing a lot about him. And then there was Judith who also seemed to know too much about him.

"Secure enough that unless someone with knowledge of the esoteric or alien won't be able to access it," said Harry.

Pearce watched him. "And of course you would know being the esoteric advisor to UNIT," he paused and Harry mentally cursed himself for using the word. "In the 1970s, and having briefed the Prime Minister at the time, along with working with General Sir Alistair Lethbridge Stewart."

"He was a Brigadier at the time," Harry needlessly corrected. "Been digging around have you," he asked, a statement rather than a question.

"You lead an interesting life Mr Potter," Pearce simply said.

"Most people are boring is how I like to think," Harry countered.

"There are resources I can access to secure a site such as the one the Baron and Baroness inhabit," Pearce offered casually.

"This will need to be a kill not capture mission," Harry said calmly.

Pearce looked at him sharply for a moment, then nodded. "Very well," Pearce said in a somewhat reluctant tone.

-/ - \\-

It was an oddly reminiscent thing to behold Harry mused, riding in an armoured assault vehicle toward the Baron and Baroness' home, explosions were around him, not that he could see anything, but it had been arranged that some low yield explosives would be dropped near the house, more for shock value than to damage anything.

Harry steered his concentration back to the anti-apparition wards he was supposed to be casting as they made their way towards the house. Ioan was similarly placed, though in another APC doing likewise, there were 3 in total making their way towards the house.

Though with the explosions and whatever alien technology the Baron and Baroness had access to, anyone apparating through the attack would probably be turned into the consistency of a milkshake.

Then they suddenly came to a halt and the soldiers inside with him briefly looked to him and their commander, and then the door opened, leading out into a world of explosions and gunfire.

Unlike his comrades Harry was not dressed in anything that would suggest he was fighting an enemy, aside from the guns he wasn't wearing anything out of the ordinary.

This wasn't an enemy who was going to fight with bullets he'd reminded Pearce. He hadn't bothered to explain the full details to the army. He was here as 'Esoteric commander, LPI', another feather to add to his hat he supposed.

The explosions and noise was mostly from the soldiers, the spells were a lot less frequent as the army was shooting first at anyone pointing a stick at them. Everyone here was a hostile.

-/

The fighting had ended and now Harry, Ioan and Judith were carefully dismantling the transmat.

"We could have just blown it up," Judith said as Harry and Ioan gingerly removed the control elements.

"I don't want any energy transference to what's sitting below us." Harry said as they put another piece into another of bottomless bags they'd brought with them. They were all friendly or dangerous depending on your point of view florescent orange.

"I think that's the last active piece," Ioan said extracting his hand with a small control in it.

Judith leaned back and looked to the laptop and the meters they had with them.

"Well, suspense isn't something I need," Harry said impatiently.

Judith smiled sarcastically, or at least that was the expression Harry thought of when he saw her pull that face. "No desire to return to the '70s a third time?"

"No," Harry replied without pause. "I'll take it by your casual tone that we're safe."

"We're never safe, not now we're in the 21st century, isn't that what the Captain's always banging on about?" Judith commented.

"He does like a good bang," Harry said and then cursed himself for saying it.

Then a figure in a lengthy coat came walking down the corridor. "Mr Potter."

"Mr Pearce." Harry rose from the floor and shook Pearce's hand.

"Everything is secure?"

"For now, we'll do a full sweep before the guys leave," Harry said joining Pearce as they walked back to the main room, which was where the bodies were. Harry had wanted to get to work on the transmat straight away, but the bodies would need to be sighted by him before they were disposed of in a way he was familiar with.

Then the ashes would be disposed of at sea, just in case these people had anyone who might try to use them now that they were removed from the land of the living.

Harry indicated again the people he knew of, the Baron and the Baroness and a few of the "security" people he had seen before.

The wands had been collected in a separate area, treated much like active weapons.

Harry wasn't sure what he was to do with those, but they would be spared disposal.

-/

Pearce spoke with the military commander before returning to Harry. "The device is disabled?"

"Mostly," Harry said as they walked back into the house, which despite the bombs that had been dropped around it was practically intact, even the bombs dropped close to it hadn't damaged it. Wizarding building and all that, probably.

Pearce watched him. "You will contact me when it is safe?"

Harry nodded as they walked back to Ioan and Judith. "Of course." And with that Pearce departed.

-/

"Had your little chat with the spook?" Judith said eyeing the man as he walked away.

"Yes, identifying bodies is such fun," Harry replied in a deadpan tone.

"And now you have another house to add to your portfolio." Ioan said as he tied up another of the bags.

Harry shook his head, Pearce had discussed this with him, the house would be cleared out by Harry, Ioan and Judith totally, and then it would be occupied by someone from the service, someone possibly magically related, or not. Either way they'd be briefed by Harry and Pearce and then they'd get to live a rent free life, while making sure no one tried to breach the concrete bunker below.

Harry was mostly sure the Angels couldn't escape, that was what the transmat had been there for. One way in or out, and that way in was via alien technology, which meant they were relatively safe.

That said there were still lots of unknowns.

"You're thinking hard to yourself," Judith said, she'd managed to sidle up to him silently.

"You're thinking things like this don't make sense, from what you've described these statues," Ioan said as he stood up nodding to the floor. "Couldn't be used as a weapon, but here they are."

Harry raised both eyebrows in surprise. Ioan grinned at him. "You're not the only one with a suspicious mind."

Harry over to a wall and tapped it listening. "It's Hermione's time turner," he said several moments of silence. "It's been annoying me for a while."

Judith exchanged a look with Ioan. She stood up and tapped the wall next to Harry and looked at him.

"Hermione Granger and the time turner she used while you were in school?" Judith queried.

"To go to more classes," Ioan shook his head. "Even for the wizarding world that's dumb," Ioan said as he tied up the last bag and standing opposite Judith and Harry in front of the wall. He reached between them and knocked on the wall.

Harry and Judith looked at him he shrugged. Harry motioned away from the wall. "We should start doing a walk through this house."

"We'll need more than we brought if this is like any big wizarding house it's going to take ages to clear out." Judith said casually, she didn't elaborate on how she knew about large or any for that matter wizarding houses.

"Even then," Ioan mused as he pulled a leaver on the side of the wall and gas lamps or some sort of magic lamps illuminated the corridor. "This is a wizarding household, what secrets and killer objects might remain?" He wondered frowning.

Harry nodded. The house was large and it made him in no physical ways think of Grimmauld Place, the Baron and the Baroness might not be the Black family, but there was a reason that Daphne had eaten before she'd attended the party, and it wasn't just because she wanted to be prepared for any dangers she might get into with him. Though it was endearingly sweet that that was the reason she'd given him.

"So what do you think we should do?" Harry asked as they stood around one of the doors. "Alohomora," he said as they all quickly stepped away from the entrance as nothing happened.

"We should remove everything we can," Ioan said as Judith stepped into what turned out to be a bedroom.

"And then?" Harry asked as the enormity of the task was dawning on him, he wasn't for all his skills an expert on decontaminating a magical house of magic.

"I have some contacts that can help purify the house," Judith said vaguely and then smiled at him. "And then do what you like to do," she paused and gave him a hard look. "And not sex the house Harry."

Harry stuck his tongue out at Judith. "I don't want to know what pornography you're looking at Judith," Harry said as he tapped the walls.

"Expecting false walls?" Ioan asked.

Harry shrugged. "Anything's possible," then he added. "So we should destroy the house?" He questioned his two associates, while Pearce had already suggested how to deal with it, ultimately the final decision lay with LPI.

Ioan stopped what he was doing and then broke into a grin.

Anything involving the tearing down, literally in this case of the high and mighty wizards in their upper societies that had ostracised him was something he liked.

Judith just chuckled shaking her head.

Harry gingerly opened the cupboards, it revealed several furs, which gave off a weird vibe. He carefully closed the door.

"Note this down as killer clothing that we can return to later" He said turning back to Ioan and Judith. "As much as I'd like and I'm sure you'd both enjoy blowing this place up, we need to consider security and the statues that lurk beneath."

Ioan's face fell a little bit at the prospect of not being able to destroy a one of the wizarding elite's homes.

"If we destroy the house we still need to put something here to keep an eye on it, Pearce-"

Judith interjected with a touch of amusement that Harry couldn't identify. "The spook."

"Yes, is going to provide someone as we've assisted him in identifying this problem and removing it," Harry paused as they reached another door. It turned out to be another bathroom. "I think we should outsource our problem, after Judith's people" Harry paused and looked to Judith who nodded. "Have done a thorough job."

"I suppose you have someone in mind then?" Ioan asked as they walked into the sizeable bathroom.

-/ - \\-

The track was very much a track despite the fact that Tinworth was a Muggle and Wizard community the track that lead down to the cottage obviously hadn't seen any vehicles, especially vehicles with an internal combustion engine since at least the 1980s.

Judith was seated beside him in the Defender, he'd offered Ioan the chance to accompany them, but he'd wanted to jump on his broom and check the outer areas of the property and the air above as they approached the point of finishing their work on the former Baron and Baroness' property.

It had taken them a little under a month to clear the property, something Daphne had also pointed out to him on the phone, wherever it was that she was calling from. He didn't want to know, not until he had the house cleared and everything set up, the power that the angel statues held was immense and anyone who had set up that system there obviously knew something and had their fingers in magical and normal pies.

Daphne had passed his concerns onto Malfoy or Draco as she called him, and suggested as he'd made such an effort in the literally the past he should continue.

He wanted Judith along with him as her associates had flooded the house with a something, a smoke or a something else, she hadn't told him anything about them, not who they were, or in any detail of what they did. Except to give him an invoice for their services and a little chat afterwards. Not everything had been cleared out, but they'd managed to find some other alien technology they'd missed and some other things that he'd put in the X category of he wasn't sure what to do with.

What was certain was that the Baron and Baroness were far more than what Daphne and Draco had said they were, he wasn't sure if they were testing stuff, or in the know or what, but they had had a lot of alien technology in their home. Not that he had a base line for the amount of alien technology in their home, but between paranoia Ginny style about aliens and himself they were at least somewhere in the middle.

"Subtlety isn't what wizards go for, it's literally its name isn't it?" Judith commented as they arrived at the cottage.

Harry shrugged. He'd sent a letter to the occupant of the house asking if they could visit with a 'business opportunity' but had left it there, while he trusted his magical mail forwarding company to be secure he still wasn't entirely sure what he was dealing with and as it was a partially a wizard's fault that he'd landed in the 1970s a second time he wanted to play it at a cautious rate. He very much did not want to end up in the '70s a third time, twice was enough, avoiding two versions of himself plus Draco and Daphne was not something he wanted to do.

They both gathered bags containing contracts, maps and other things they'd need, Ioan and his wife had provided them with contacts to get these things drawn up. Harry hadn't considered how much paperwork was involved in bringing in an outside contractor. But it was worth it rather than knocking down the house and building another one there, aside from all the ground work that might be needed there was just getting materials up there to the Baron and Baroness' former home. Plus keeping it intact meant they, both MI5 and LPI could see if anyone dropped in.

Harry walked up and knocked on the door, it was opened almost immediately.

"Heard your vehicle arrive Harry," said a man with red hair and a bright smile who shared Harry's disinterest in spells to remove scars.

"Hello Bill," Harry said as Bill pulled him into a rough hug.

"And…" Bill looked to Judtih.

"Judith," she said simply.

"Harry's…?" Bill trailed off looking between them.

"Associate," she said with a glare at them.

Bill showed them as Fleur was coming down the stairs.

"Harry!" She said bringing him into a warm embrace. "It has been far too long that we have not seen one another, no?"

Harry grinned. "Like another life."

After a cup of tea and some friendly chats and remembrances of past glories and defeats Bill lead them into another room, probably a dining room Harry supposed.

"So what requires all this security Harry?" Bill asked leaning back into his chair.

Judith withdrew the contract from her bag and pushed it across the table. "We can discuss the particulars once you've signed this."

Harry began. "But the basics are we've got a job that requires your skills that are somewhat beyond mine. Much of the initial work's been done but I want you to clear everything up." As Harry and Judith were talking Bill had picked up the paper, and Harry noted noticed it wasn't parchment and had looked through it.

"A fairly standard contract. What have you been up to since Hogwarts?" Bill mused.

"All manner of things," Harry said vaguely, they hadn't talked of his sister; Bill hadn't been present when he'd 'returned' her. They were seemingly keeping a great amount of distance over that particular Mad Cow in the room. Harry supposed they would have to speak on it at some point, much as he'd had with the other Weasley siblings.

After reading through it he signed and passed it back to Judith.

Harry let Judith explain mostly, only interjecting when he felt he needed to. She had been more intimately involved with clearing the house. Harry had for a while when Judith had brought in her 'associates' thought that he might not need to bring in outside, or rather more outside help to deal with the house.

But Judith and her associates had ended their sessions looking very ashen faced, drawn out and tired beyond anything that he had seen considering there had been no audible spells cast, though with Judith that didn't mean anything.

As Judith and Bill spoke Harry found himself standing and musing by the window and then allowed himself, with a small look to Judith who acknowledged his desire to leave the room with the briefest of acknowledgement.

She was oddly focused in her dealings with Bill or maybe just in her dealings relating to work her and her associates performed.

Outside of the room Harry caught himself thinking of the past, his past, rather than the past he, Draco and Daphne had wandered around in.

This was the house, part of his journey to Voldemort, to the end of things, to the start. Exhaling he stared into the fireplace, he became aware, as he was breathing in tasting the charcoal scent on the air that Fleur had come up beside him.

"You are finished with Bill?"

Harry shook his head as he turned to face her. "No, just Judith is more familiar with the particulars of what needs doing."

She regarded him closely. "Something you are not Harry?"

"We all have our specialities," Harry replied. "And how have you" Harry paused. "And Bill been doing. Really?" He asked glancing down the corridor.

Fleur exhaled. "Since ze war, since everything and you know of his sister no?" She watched his expression and he attempted to maintain it as neutrally as possible. "You know more than most would think Harry Potter."

Harry raised an eyebrow. "George and Ron know that I brought their sister back to them."

"Back from where Harry?" Fleur asked curiously, at least thought it was curiously, there was something more to her query, though he couldn't quite work out what.

Harry was saved from answering when Bill came down the corridor a satisfied expression on his face. Maybe it was how much LPI was going to pay him. Harry wasn't sure of Bill and Fleur's employment status, after the war and everything he'd really drifted away from everyone Hogwarts and Order related. Something Neville had pointed out when they'd last met and something Harry intended to rectify and continue to try and uphold.

A look passed between Fleur and Bill and Fleur stepped away to intercept Judith muttering something about cake.

Harry fancied some cake, but it seemed Bill wanted a word with him.

"Your friend Judith knows her stuff Harry, though I can't place where she'd know what she knows."

"You and me both," Harry muttered as he turned away from the fireplace to Bill who was also, oddly looking above the fireplace where Harry had been looking.

"I was looking into some old family stuff, after Ginny," he paused watching his expression. "George explained your involvement."

Harry nodded but didn't say anything, there was so much to say and yet there was nothing for him to say.

"It was only today that I realised," Bill said looking at the mantle piece again.

Harry stared at him unsure what to say, unsure what he was talking about.

Bill smiled sadly. "You know mum had brothers."

Harry felt goosebumps play over his skin, but Bill continued to speak.

"I remember, during the first war, when I was young, her brothers would come around, my uncles."

Harry wondered if he should make his excuses and leave, but instead he stood still watching Bill look over his shoulder at the mantle piece. Harry tried to recall what was on the mantle piece, something had caught his eye, but he wasn't sure why it had caught his eye, he'd gotten distracted smelling the charcoal from the fire, but there had been something that had initially drawn his attention.

"They used to tell me stories about magic, about their lives, about the war and about the people they met," Bill chuckled in remembrance. "All the funny people that they knew through the order, about Dumbledore in his big cloak, the order members out there watching Voldemort's plans," he paused. "And sometimes they, Gideon and Fabian would tell me about this interesting man, a friend they knew for a short time."

Time. The word sent chills down Harry's back.

"They'd never tell me this story when mum was around, just when they were watching over me," he paused, his voice cracking slightly. Harry recognised the expression on his face, the pain of brilliant memories. "He was a man, a time traveller" Bill grinned. "This man carried a great burden and yet he was full of life, fun and adventure. This man stood up to the great Dumbledore, stood up and won, and they were like old friends who had never met." Bill moved past Harry. "This man, saved lives, working with muggles, saved the lives of the Order with the muggles. Yet his burden hadn't lifted and it was something that seemed to worsen rather than get better. But he continued to be their friend, sharing, drinking," he chucked. "and just being there with them." Bill took something off the mantle piece but Harry found his attention shifting from whatever it was back to Bill. "Then one day he said he had to go, and he was never seen from again." Bill looked down at the whatever it was he was holding. Harry realised it had to be a photo, with a strong notice-me-not charm on it, which was stopping him from noticing it. "Then when Fleur and I were clearing the last of my things from the Burrow I found a collection of photos," he said and passed the picture frame to Harry.

Harry felt chills down his back again and for a moment wasn't sure what to say.

It was another photo of him with Gideon and Fabian, laughing and drinking and sitting in a familiar pub.

It was very clearly him, the photo was not nearly as aged as some wizarding photos, their eyes and in fact all of the colour in the photo was quite visible.

Even though he'd seen Gideon and Fabian barely a few weeks ago he still felt unable to say anything for a moment.

Then Bill was looking to him again. "So Harry are you the friend my uncles spoke of?"

Harry wasn't sure what to say, or what he could say. He just nodded slowly.

Bill grabbed him in a hug and Harry still wasn't sure what to say, except to hug the man back.

"Thank you," Bill said, his voice thick with emotion.

"Thank you?" Harry repeated questioningly.

Bill stepped away from him, wiping tears out of his eyes. "They were always so..." He trailed off. "The war." He stopped again. "But when they spoke of being around you, the time you spent, knowing you they were so animated."

"You don't want to know anything about it?" Harry asked after Bill composed himself.

Bill looked shocked. "That would spoil the magic of it Harry," he said with a warm smile and pulled him into a hug again.

-/

Later Harry and Judith walked out to the Defender, Harry found Judith taking the keys and getting into the right hand side of the vehicle.

Harry wordlessly let her.

"You're in deep thought."

Harry shook his head. "Yes."

"Bill knows that you knew his uncles during your sojourn to the past."

Harry didn't even bother to ask how she knew.

"Does he know that Daphne and Draco were with you during your second time around?"

"No," Harry replied as Judith steered the vehicle along the track. "He didn't want to know anything, said it'd spoil the 'magic'."

This made Judith laugh, genuinely, rather than her often sarcastic laugh she used.

-/ - \\-

Harry looked up as Judith walked into the room that he was currently sitting in. It was one of the out buildings close to his house that he used for storage, many of which were now totally full of stuff from the Baron and Baroness' house. But this particular room was his 'conspiracy' room, or that was what he'd named it in his mind. It contained information and other things that didn't have answers.

"Finally got it out of your mental to do list." Judith handed him a stack of letters. "I grabbed your mail."

Harry nodded. "How's Bill?" He asked. He'd been present on the first day, but as it became apparent that it would not be a one day task he'd deferred responsibility to Judith while Ioan was running down some of his contacts, others who'd like him been ostracised and remove from the wizarding world concerning what might sit in the conspiracy room, not that he'd called it that, or even had this space until yesterday, before that it'd been in his study, but not it had a definite space.

"Working hard, indifferent to the military presence," Judith said as she sat down into one of the chairs that littered the room. Harry turned to look at her as he flicked through his letters. "Are you really going to call it the 'conspiracy room'?"

Harry glared at her. "Huh," he said as he got to a letter that carried the post mark of his magical mail forwarding company. "Uh oh," he said.

"Two utterances of noises and half words Harry, soon you'll be conversing with the rest of us mere humans." Judith idly commented looking at the wall.

"Oh buggering bugger." Harry said as he passed the moving photo of a disturbing image to Judith.

"So we didn't get them all," she commented upon looking at the photo.

-/

A/N:

While looking on the Harry Potter Wiki (checking some things) I realised that Bill was old enough to have known his uncles, so Harry makes his way into the Weasley family's mythology. I had intended that Harry's meeting with Gideon and Fabian become known by someone in the Weasley family (though not Molly), and it fitted to bring in Bill at this point.

If anyone's wondering this is still set in 2005, Doctor Who universe wise, at least where the new series is concerned not much happens until 2006 because of the 12 month gap introduced between when Rose leaves in 'Rose' and returns a year later in 2006 in 'Aliens of London'.

Thanks for reading.