Chapter Seven "Testing theory"

When Harry awoke, he was in the crib back at Gibbs' home. Mouth wide open in a waking yawn, he peered blearily through the bars around the room and took note of the toys now lined neatly on a shelf that hadn't been there before. Speaking of toys…

Harry cast around for his stuffed dog and grinned quite happily as he snagged the black stuffed animal from the end of the crib and laid his head against the soft fur. The dog had reminded him so much of Sirius that he couldn't resist wanting it, though now Tony had it in his head he just loved dogs. All well, he could think that all he wanted, so long as he didn't get a Rottweiler looking one. He never could forgive Aunt Marge for that hellion she constantly brought over to the Dursley residence.

The nursery door creaked open slowly and Harry sat up –with difficulty—as his guardian entered the room with a tired smile as he spotted Harry awake.

"Hey there little guy," greeted Gibbs as he walked up to the bars and lowered them, lifting Harry out. The Auror blinked and settled himself against the man's hip, a tiny hand fisting Gibbs's shirt. Gibbs patted his bum to see if he was wet –to his embarrassment—and found him wet sadly. Harry mentally growled. First chance he got –if he had to relive these horrifying baby days—he was going to get toilet trained fast.

"For a baby, you're surprisingly dry more than wet a lot of the times," Gibbs mused to himself as he carried Harry to the changing table to undress him from the pajamas he'd been in. Harry decided to remain stoic as his nappy was undone and Gibbs left it covering him. He mentally smirked, seemed his guardian had learned his lesson. Gibbs did his work on Harry's lower half before he found himself taped up in a new nappy and soon dressed in a pair of black shorts and a green shirt.

"You're going to need a bath tonight," Gibbs said to the Harry as he carried him to the kitchen. Harry frowned at that, shuddering to himself. A bath? By Gibbs? Someone shoot him now, or AK him. He wasn't picky. He squirmed a little, unhappy, as Gibbs arrived at his destination and placed him in the highchair. Harry watched his guardian fetch something from the cabinets and he watched, trying to move around in the blasted seat to see what he was doing.

When Gibbs did turn around, Harry finally took note of the bib in one hand and a small child's bowl of something indistinguishable in the other. Oh Merlin. He wasn't! Harry frowned as the bib was put around his neck gently and he instantly clamped his mouth shut as Gibbs neared his mouth with that appalling sense of 'food' on the spoon. It looked like someone had vomited yellow crap and had put it in a jar to be called baby food later. He really sympathized all babies now; they had to eat this garbage.

"Open up for the train," Gibbs called and Harry stared at him in disbelief. As if this wasn't degrading enough!

"Oh, you don't like trains do you?" Gibbs raised an eyebrow playfully and he reached over, tickling Harry in the chest. Having recently discovered how ticklish he was thanks to Abby and Tony in the hospital, he tried to stop the man only to end up in a burst of giggles. Gibbs seized his moment and shoveled the stuff in his mouth with inhumane triumphant. Harry gagged and swallowed hastily, grimacing and stamping a fist down on the tray in protest. What a cold move!

Deciding to enact a bit of revenge even though his dignity would suffer, Harry let his childish emotions come to the front, tears welled up in his eyes, and before he realized the quick effect, he started to let out loud babyish sobs.

"Awe, damn. Hey there, shh, it's all right." Gibbs quickly sought to repair the damage and unlocked Harry from the highchair, cradling him on his lap and rocking him. Harry hiccuped, still sobbing though he applauded his baby side, if only that worked on others. The Daily Prophet was spilling lies on him again? No problem! Just break down into sobs in front of them! That would go over well.

"No more tears, there's a good boy," coaxed Gibbs as he wiped the tears from Harry's cheek and gave him a small hug. Harry was surprised by how gentle the agent was with him and how much he had actually comforted him with those words. Was this what a father's affection felt like? Nonsense, this man wasn't his father.

Harry allowed Gibbs to place him back in the highchair before the man looked thoughtful.

"Don't like the grub do yah?" Gibbs said suddenly, grunting in realization as he stood up and returned with a banana. Harry looked at him incredulously before understanding dawned on him as Gibbs smashed the banana up. At least this he knew what it was.

Deciding to be the obedient baby again, he opened his mouth and accepted the mashed pieces to Gibbs' clear relief. It actually didn't taste that bad, he mused as he munched on it with his two little teeth, one on the bottom and the other on top. It really was quite odd having only two teeth, and he didn't look forward to the teething if he had to grow up again.

Gibbs seemed satisfied that he was finished and picked Harry up, giving him a quick cleaning with a cloth before carrying him to the car. Harry put up a small fight before he was settled into his rear-facing car seat. What he wouldn't pay to at least see where they were going! This was so annoying.

Thank Merlin they reached the base quite fast and Harry was unbuckled and soon in the office area before he could think properly. Harry allowed himself to be lowered into his playpen as Gibbs barked out orders at his team. Fiddling with the toys in the pen, he realized he really didn't know how to play with these.

Darn the Dursley family; Harry prodded one experimentally before finding out, to his outward delight, how to get it working. Wow, it moved even! The de-aged adult was soon transfixed; he didn't notice the adults smiling at his coos and giggles.

"I did find a Potter family, though the location is vague. There is only one H. Potter that is currently not above 50 or dead," Tim said and Jethro turned his attention to him.

"There was a boy, Harry Potter, born in 1981 but his records only show as far as 1991 and end there rather abruptly. There are a few notes in his records that say he attended a special boarding school until 1997 but after that, he vanished. He's currently 18 years old and location is unknown."

"Could Potter still be connected?" Ziva asked and noticed the baby was looking up at them, staring at Tim.

"Don't know. The question would be, why was the kid wearing robes with H. Potter on it," Tony asked, confused.

"Perhaps they were kept by Johnson and he found the baby? Someone could have killed him trying to get to the little one," Ziva pointed out.

"I think for the time being, this Potter thing isn't going to help us out and we should concentrate on finding Johnson's killer." Jethro told them.

"I have a feeling if we went to see his mother's niece, we'll get answers. I wasn't able to find her until I happened to search for Clark Johnson in the UK and surprisingly found more about him there," Tim told Jethro. The lead agent raised an eyebrow.

"Her name is apparently someone by the name of Lavender Brown."

For some reason, the baby started sobbing again and Jethro hurried to comfort his distraught charge. Picking the infant up, he nodded at McGee.

"I'll talk to the Director, looks like we might be going to London though."

'Right into deadly territories,' Harry thought to himself. For some reason, he had no desire for Lavender of all people to discover he wasn't even old enough to walk yet. That would be nightmare.

I made Lavender sort of muggleborn and Clark is as well, though I won't tell you why. Also, don't ask how McGee got this stuff and why he decided to look at UK. Maybe it was instinct? He does that a lot in the show anyways. Wonder if Harry gets revealed or not and causes mischief along the way. Stay tuned and review to find out!