Happy Victory Day to us all! And Happy Birthday to Victoire Weasley. No longer a Teen!

We hope you and your loved ones are all save and staying inside. Take care!

Get together

Rolf Scamander sighed happily and put his fork down.

"This was amazing.", he declared and unconsciously rubbed his belly. He might have to roll to bed tonight.

"Thank you.", Ron Weasley grinned triumphantly, "Hugo and I have been experimenting to find the perfect dessert."

"Is the secret more chocolate?", Hannah Longbottom asked with a slight teasing in her voice.

"Are you complaining?", Ron shrugged and when his wife was the last to finish, he waved his wand and the dishes disappeared towards the sink.

"Not. One. Bit.", Hannah assured him and slightly shoved her husband, "Why don't you do more cooking for me?"

"Because we live at Hogwarts and don't need to cook.", Neville deadpanned.

"I am soooo full. You know, what we need now?", Luna asked next to Rolf, a happy gleam in her eyes.

"Something to wash it all down.", Hermione finished and walked out the door, returning with glasses and a couple of bottles.

"What are we having today?", Neville asked happily, leaning a little closer. Rolf felt much the same. They didn't manage to have these kinds of evenings often and it was always great fun to see who could come up with what. He and Luna always made a point of picking up something local wherever they went and so did Harry.

"Since Harry and Jo bailed on us," Hermione sighed, "We don't have anything new. But I can still offer up some Russian Vodka aaaaaand…", she squinted at one of the bottles "... some Shochu Percy brought back from Japan."

"I can't believe those two finally managed to go on their honeymoon.", Luna laughed, "Did Jo have to drag Harry out of the office by his feet?"

To his right, Rolf felt Neville stiffen a bit and sighed. He didn't really know Harry's wife that well, in fact he had only met her once, but he knew not all was well within their group of friends. Personally, he didn't put much stock into gossip, even if it was printed in a "respectable" newspaper, but then again, they were his wife's friends and he wasn't as invested in this, as she was.

"I think Harry had to drag Jo away, to be honest.", Ron shrugged, "Or at least blackmail her into leaving their whole entourage behind."

"I think their cat might be the weirdest of them all.", Hannah laughed and reached for the glass Hermione was offering her, "He doesn't act like a cat. Are we sure, he's not magical?"

"Definitely not magical.", Hermione declared, "Do you know how they got him?"

Actually, Rolf had wondered that himself and he was grateful to see Hannah shake her head.

"He was abandoned right after birth. His mother was probably feral. Alec found him and brought him home. The vet said it didn't look good, but Jo can be stubborn. She got up every two hours to feed him, he slept in their bed and all that. He thinks he's human.", Ron responded.

"That explains it.", Hannah agreed, "Still, did they just leave Lily with Emmy for three whole weeks?"

"Nuh, Wanda and Bucky are there, too. And Teddy probably looks in, when he is off work.", Ron shrugged.

"He's there today, at least.", Rolf explained, smiling at Luna, "We asked them last week, if they'd have time for dinner today. Before you guys set this up. Apparently, they are having movie night with friends today."

"But Teddy is off tomorrow, so we'll take the twins over there for lunch. We can only stay until Wednesday and we really wanted to see them", Luna added happily, "Apparently, we are going to order in."

"Ohhh, that's nice.", Ron's eyes gleamed, "We used to do that a lot, back when Teddy was a baby and Harry was still living in London."

"Won't Lily be in school?", Hermione raised her eyebrows questioningly.

"Yes, she doesn't know we're coming. It'll be a surprise.", Luna smiled, always excited to see her little namesake.

"We should order in some time.", Ron declared, looking at his wife dreamily and downing his second glass.

"Why? You are a great cook.", Hermione responded and patted his left hand.

Ron started to pout and his wife laughed happily at him. "Don't worry, we'll order in the next time your parents come over. It'll be a treat for both you and your Dad."

"Excellent idea. Have you ever ordered muggle food?", Ron turned towards the Longbottoms, who both shook their heads.

"Where to? We haven't really lived anywhere accessible to muggles.", Neville said.

"Too true. But…", Ron stopped, just as they all went silent. Emmy Stark's voice drifted out of the living room.

"Uncle Ron? Aunt Hermione?!", she sounded so frantic, they all stood up together and ran through the door, hindering each other in an attempt to hurry.

"Emmy? What's wrong?", Ron was the first to reach his niece, his voice forcibly calm, sounding professional.

"Someone took Lily.", the teenager's head proclaimed, tears glistening through the flames.

"What?", Neville was the first to regain his voice, kneeling down beside Ron, "When and where? Do you know by who?"

"No, we don't. Half an hour ago Bucky activated his emergency beacon for like… a second. He was with Lily at the movies. Teddy apparated there immediately. Bucky is pretty hurt and unconscious. Lily was nowhere to be found. We contacted Kingsley directly. Everyone is already out there, looking. They took Bucky to 's. Now I'm waiting in front of his room for news. The healers let me use their fireplace. Teddy is out with the other aurors, Wanda has left to meet up with some of the Avengers and Dad and Mama are on their way back.", Emmy's voice broke, when she finished with her retelling. Worry and fear clear on her face.

"We are on our way, Em. We'll be there as soon as we can, okay?", Ron told her and even Rolf almost believed his forced calm. "Some of us will go to the ministry to help, but we will not leave you alone, okay?"

A mixture of relief and fear flashed over Emmy's face again. She probably wanted everyone to look for her sister, but also didn't want to be alone.

"Rolf and I are on our way, darling. We will apparate to London in a heartbeat.", Luna declared, looking at her friends. She was right, of course, Rolf thought. The others either worked for the ministry or had at some time.

"And me.", Hannah stepped towards them, "Sometimes it's hard to understand what's going on. I'll deal with the healers and all that."

Emmy nodded thankfully, then obviously listened to someone on her side of the conversation and vanished without another word.

For about two seconds no one spoke, instead just looking at each other in shock.

"Right!", Neville called, taking control of the shocked group, "Everybody outside. You guys, ", he pointed towards them, "directly to Emmy. Ron and Hermione, off to the ministry. I'll go to your parents' house and then follow behind. That way, we can get the word out quickly."

And that was that. Three minutes later, Rolf, Luna and Hannah appeared in St. Mungo's reception area, a small queue in front of them. The receptionist looked up from the visitor he was apparently arguing with, spotted Luna and froze. Even after all those years, Rolf was still not used to the way his wife got recognized almost everywhere in Britain. Travelling around the world was appealing for a lot of reasons. After the receptionist motioned for someone behind him, a young healer in green robes walked up to them under the curious eyes of the other waiting people.

"Hello, I am here to take you upstairs.", she explained, looking nervous and starstruck. They followed without another word, conscious of how this needed to be kept quiet for as long as possible.

"Emmy!", Luna called five minutes later, ran forward and almost crushed the tall girl in her arms. Emmy had been sitting on a bench in front of a closed door, but when her aunt ran towards her, she shot up, her face stoic.

"It's okay, darling, it's okay now. We are here. You don't have to be strong anymore. We've got you.", Luna told her firmly, Emmy's face pressed between her shoulder and neck, "It's all going to be okay now."

Emmy's shoulders sagged a little and she started to sob, not even noticing as Luna pulled her down onto the bench, still holding her and not letting go.

Rolf carefully sat down on the girl's other side. He didn't know her well enough to know what to do, but wanted her to know that he, too, was there for her, shielding her from whatever else was going on. His wife shot him a grateful look, then continued to rock and shush Emmy carefully.

"I'll go and find a healer to tell me what's going on.", Hannah whispered carefully, afraid to startle the crying girl.

Rolf nodded at her and then settled in for a long wait and the nervous pain of having to trust others to do all the work and finding little Lily.

About an hour later, they still didn't know anything specific. There had been a lot of magical traces, so the kidnappers had definitely been magical. The Minister had pulled in about everyone from the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. This was a public relations nightmare. Yes, Harry had taken a step back from his role within the magic community, but there was no doubt that he was still the most famous wizard alive. Even the idea that someone could be bold enough to go after his family was preposterous.

Hannah returned from another trip around the hospital. She had taken it onto herself to talk to healers and call the ministry for updates.

"Emmy?", she asked quietly and crouched down in front of the girl, who was now sitting quietly, her head on Luna's shoulder, "Your parents are about to land at Stark HQ. Let's go and meet them there, yes?"

Emmy nodded and they all got up, when she suddenly stopped.

"What about Bucky?", Emmy asked, looking worriedly at the three adults surrounding her.

"I am sure someone will tell us, once they know something concrete.", Rolf tried to reassure her, looking questioningly at Hannah, who nodded in agreement.

"No… We… We can't just leave him alone. That's not right. He's hurt. They haven't even told us, if he'll… no, we can't leave him like this."

Rolf raised an eyebrow. He couldn't deny that he was surprised by this. He had never met Barnes. The only thing he knew was that he had apparently been brainwashed, killed Harry's adopted parents and was now SOMEHOW Jo's bodyguard. But Emmy looked truly worried.

"You are right, of course.", Luna agreed, "He's family. You go with Hannah, Rolf and I stay."

Family?, Rolf thought, a little confused. That had not been the impression he had gotten so far, but then again, Harry was one of Luna's best friends and she knew they kept in contact via letters and Luna didn't have to tell him everything that Harry confided in her.

"You'll stay with him?", Emmy repeated, looking pleadingly at Luna.

"We will."

Which was how Rolf found himself sitting on that damned bench again, his wife now snoozing on his shoulder. He felt ready to explode. No, he wasn't a fighter. Even his beautiful, kind wife was more of a fighter than he was. He hadn't been a part of the last war. Hadn't ever had to fight anyone. Still, sitting in a quiet corridor and doing NOTHING while everyone was busy was just maddening.

The door next to them opened and Luna's head shot up as five healers left the room, looking tired. One middle-aged wizard turned towards them and nodded kindly.

"Miss Lovegood, Mr Scamander?", he asked rhetorically and Rolf wasn't even surprised anymore that he knew their names, "I'm Healer Reinke. I am Mr Barnes' healer for the time being."

"How is he?", Luna asked, without any preamble.

"He is still unconscious. He was subjected to a great deal of harmful magic. Due to his unique physiology, we can't even determine what exactly was used on him. Sadly, his mechanical arm was simply unable to withstand that much magic, so we had to amputate it. Once everything is settled, we will provide him with an alternative."

"So he will be okay?", Luna let out a relieved breath.

"Most likely. We can't wake him, so we will just have to wait. I know, it would be important to ask him some questions, but that's simply not possible."

"Unbelievable.", Rolf growled, "He's a muggle, Lily is a child. And they attacked them with magic and almost killed him, without him having any way of defending himself. It's just… I have no words."

"At least they didn't kill him. Or tried to, from the looks of it. If they had used the killing curse…", Luna added, her eyes bright with anger.

Healer Reinke looked around carefully, before lowering his voice a little. "Actually, they might have. But as I said, Mr Barnes physiology is quite unique. We have no way of knowing if magic affects him, like it does other muggles. One of my colleagues has gone to contact Healer Kremer just now. He was the Healer responsible for Mr Barnes during his last stay here, so maybe he'll have some insights for us. For now, you might sit with him. I will talk to security, this whole area will be secured until we know what exactly is going on."

"Thank you.", Rolf and Luna said in unison and nodded at Reinke, as he left them to themselves.

Luna didn't hesitate and opened the door, revealing a room dominated by a huge bed and at least six chairs strewn around. Bucky Barnes was lying motionless, a blanket covering him up to his neck. Rolf closed the door and followed his wife, who had pulled a chair up to Bucky's right and sat down, carefully touching his hand.

"Hey Bucky, I know we've never actually met, but in case you can hear us: Don't worry. This is Luna and Rolf. We are here to make sure you're okay. Everyone is out looking for Lily. I am sure they'll find her. It looks like you fought hard to protect her. Thank you so much for that. Now we just need you to wake up and be okay."

Rolf squeezed Luna's shoulder once, before he too, got himself a chair and sat down next to her. The healers had done good work, there were no scratches or discolourations on Barnes' face. He just looked, like he was sleeping, his long hair partially braided and…

"Does he have a purple streak in his hair?", Rolf asked, the question slipping out, before his brain had caught up with the fact that that wasn't really important.

Luna stood up and leaned over the unconscious man, carefully stroking the vibrant streak on his left side, before letting out a choked laugh.

"It's a clip. Lily loves to braid. She must have styled his hair.", Luna's voice quivered lightly and Rolf reached for her, pulling her on his lap.

"Harry sure knows how to pick them.", Rolf smiled and kissed the top of Luna's head.

To be honest, he had never warmed much to the man. Harry was always friendly, kind and warm. He sent gifts and letters to the twins, played with them… and then, it was like he could just shift his whole being. He could go from loving uncle to serious businessman and socialite in under a second and Rolf didn't know how to deal with that. He tried to be open and authentic and Luna… Luna was the most genuine person he had ever met. If she liked something, you'd know. If she didn't like something, you'd know. But with Harry Stark… Rolf wasn't even sure if the man liked him, either. He just couldn't tell, when it came to "The Saviour". Which was another thing that always threw him a little off. People worshipped the man. He wasn't even 40 yet and so many wizards and witches talked about him, like he was another Dumbledore. Even his own friends liked to ask him for advice on random things and mostly, Harry was used to people following said advice.

Rolf sighed a little. Mainly, he felt like after all those years, he still had no idea who Harry Stark actually was. One of the faces he got to see or someone completely different?

They sat quietly for a moment, Luna returning to her own chair, when she suddenly spoke: "Harry inspires loyalty in people."

"I know.", Rolf responded, thinking about the blind faith his wife had in the man.

"He sees people.", she continued, without really listening to his answer, "And he always, always thinks everyone's happiness is his responsibility. That probably happens when you are a teenager and everyone tells you, you have to save them all."

"He's not a teenager anymore, though.", Rolf added and Luna shrugged.

"No, but nothing really changed. Back then, the wizarding world depended on him. Now it's the employees of Stark Industries. If he screws up, their livelihoods are at risk."

"Still.", Rold said quietly, looking at Barnes, "This man literally killed his parents and he got him help, took him into his home and fought with his own brother about him."

"To Harry, everyone is redeemable.", Luna said, finally turning around to look at her husband. This was the first time they had ever discussed Harry in any way and Rolf was shocked by all the things he had apparently never known about the man, that seemed to obvious to Luna, "His Dad made his fortune developing and selling weapons and over the years, he invented some truly horrific things that killed and hurt countless people. His brother did that too, for a while. Harry always sees the good in people."

"You make it sound like he could even forgive someone like Voldemort.", Rolf frowned, but Luna nodded gravely.

"If he had wanted forgiveness, probably."

"Could you?", Rolf wondered out loud, "Forgive everything?"

"I don't know.", Luna admitted, "It probably depends on who was hurt. I took some time forgiving my Dad, you know? Harry didn't. He understood, he said. And I'm thankful I forgave him."

There was a sudden commotion out on the corridor and both Rolf and Luna hurried outside. A group of people in robes were making their way towards them, surrounding…

"Teddy! Lily!", Luna called out, when he saw the eldest Stark child carrying his youngest sister. Lily was clinging to her oldest brother, her face wet with tears, but she at least seemed unharmed. "What happened?!"

Two healers were swarming them, but Lily just clung closer to Teddy and he shooed them away.

"She is unharmed.", Teddy declared, "We checked once we found her. We just need to get out of the way. We…"

But before Teddy could finish his sentence, the doors behind him were pushed open and more healers and a group of Aurors hustled through. One of them was seemingly levitating a stretcher between them. And on it, hardly recognizable between all the blood and torn flesh: the ashen face of Harry Stark.