DISCLAIMER: Neither the TV show 'NCIS' nor the 'Harry Potter' book series belong to me.

Ziva placed her hands on Mary's ears at the torrent of curses that left Tony's mouth, which made the little girl crack the first grin since they'd found her.

Granted, it wasn't the first string of inappropriate words he'd made recently – it was the third time in the last half-an-hour alone – but she seemed to be starting to find it very funny.

Gibbs had wanted to break up the small party they'd started outside of the little girl's grandparents' home – or ex-home, as she'd told them repeatedly – but he was by no means done speaking to Harry. In his turn, the wizard had told them that, as their first official assignment as the liaison team (Gibbs had rolled his eyes at the mock-pompous tone the young man had used), they would be aiding in the investigation of a crew of Death Eaters' descendants – he'd said the Death Eaters were Voldemort's followers, which had quickly interested the team leader in what Harry was saying.

"Why? I mean," Tony had said when Harry was done speaking. "I'm not complaining, but why that case?"

Harry had glanced at the two wizard prisoners (which he had insisted in binding at his own taste – meaning, he'd used a spell), shaken his head and said they'd been read in in the Navy Yard. And that was the end of that.

They'd gotten McGee, and Tony had spent the better part of the trip back to HQ pestering him about how he always missed all the fun.

Then he apparently remembered what the wizard had said about Mary being a witch, and spent the rest of the trip pestering Harry about how that was possible.

Eventually, he'd decided to vent with a curse, and when he saw that that raised Mary's spirits, he repeated it several times with some serious exaggeration.

The little girl had come with them, in lack of any better idea. Tony hadn't wanted to separate himself from her, and when Gibbs had picked up on that, he'd 'ordered' him to bring her along, being a material witness. Tony had happily complied.

"I'm just saying," Tony started again, determined to make sure everyone around him got a headache. "How could you possibly know that she's a- a witch?" He'd become as allergic to the family of words as Gibbs had.

Harry was frankly understanding. He'd answered every last question that Tony had asked, even the obvious, pointless ones. But even his patience was wearing thin, and Tony could see from the frown that he was trying to hide his irritation.

"Are you her uncle or something?" He finally asked, rather unexpectedly. "Cousin? Really older brother?"

Ziva swallowed her laughter, following the scowling Tony to the conference room. "Friend." Ziva's amusement and Harry's annoyance faltered at the unusually serious tone of voice.

Harry looked slightly sheepish. "Right. Sorry."

Mary was sleeping, downstairs in the bullpen, in Ziva's desk – and the Israeli hoped she was actually resting, because the day had not gone well to her. And that was a serious understatement. McGee was there with her - the remaining three officers had followed the wizard to the conference room after dumping the two still unconscious suspects in interrogation.

The man with a few extra bruises had already been sent home by Harry. As soon as he'd woken up, he'd looked like he wanted to strangle all of them – the broken wand and the lack of support of his only back-up had probably not mellowed him out. Muttering rather sarcastic thank-yous to Harry, he'd cringed at the cab he'd had to take before leaving. Harry hadn't bothered to fix him up before he'd entered the yellow car.

"Anyway," Harry began, and his tone was a little different, as if now he was prepared to give every detail and answer every question. "I know she's a witch because she did accidental magic. It's what I was sent there to check out."

"Accidental magic?" Ziva was more focused, now that they were all sat around a table, attention trained on the discussion at hand only.

Harry nodded. "Yes – when a child, without a wand yet, accidentally triggers a spell or curse. It is usually messy, uncontrolled and random-"

"Three words to say one thing." Gibbs had a new coffee in his hand, perched on a chair next to Tony.

Harry scrunched up his nose. "Yeah, you're right – it's the Hermione in me." That was the second time he'd said something like that, and Tony still didn't get it. "Regardless, she did some accidental magic, and I was sent to make sure it hadn't become a problem." He shrugged. "It hadn't. No one saw a thing, and you actually took care of it for me."

Tony rested his elbows on the table, bent forward with crossed arms. "How'd we do that?"

"Her accidental magic was knocking out the two men you cuffed at the scene." Harry grinned, placing his hands behind his head and nearly sending his chair toppling to the floor as he leaned back. "Problem solved."

Ziva rolled his eyes and Gibbs sipped his coffee, his expression unreadable. "And the two men at the scene…" Tony prompted.

"Are part of the bigger problem I am here to talk to you about. Which has not been solved yet." Suddenly, Harry didn't seem so peppy.

"The Eaters descendants." Tony guessed, deliberately getting the name wrong.

Harry snickered. "Some people would kill you for the disrespect, you know. Well," He corrected, absent-mindedly tapping on the table. "The same people would kill you just for breathing, but that's another matter completely."

"Tony is aggravating, yes," Ziva acknowledged, frowning slightly in alarm. "but why would those people want to kill him just because?"

Harry settled himself as comfortable as he could, apparently realizing this wasn't going to be a quick talk. "Because they are young, impressionable, and easily manipulated. They reckon they're upholding the memories of their parents, and¸ on top of that, they're old classmates of mine. They got a personal vendetta. And also because it's not just Tony, but rather all of you."

"Sounds like you got a great thing going. I don't really feel like intruding." Tony piped up – Gibbs had been silent for too long to comment.

Harry shook his head, knowing he wasn't serious about jumping ship. "The class reunion isn't the problem. The killing spree they got going is." His voice turned serious. "Started in England, and then they recently opened business in your wonderful country." He waved his wand and the information was suddenly hovering in the air.

"What're they after?" Tony's attention snapped back to the task at hand. His eyes had been less focused on the words than on the open air they were hanging on.

Harry rubbed the back of his neck. "Same thing Voldemort was after. The guy might've been a bastard, but he set a goal and he achieved it. People won't forget his name anytime soon. Anyway," He continued at the blank stares he received. "They want to purge the world of all its unworthy bugs and keep only the pure blooded."

There was a pause. "Are you serious?" Gibbs finally erased any doubts that he was in the room.

"Very."

"Racial discrimination. You're talking about something WW II style." Gibbs said quietly. The only noise in the room for the next few seconds was only the soft tap his cup made when it came in contact with the table.

Having hesitated, Harry shrugged uneasily before answering. "Was talking about something WW II style. That's over, and I've told you about it. These are just sloppy copycats. Trust me – it's nothing to what it used to be." He sighed, his eyes flashing an unreadable thought. "But they're still causing harm. Mary's parents' murder was-" His eyes flickered to Tony. "was one of many. Mary was lucky, actually. They weren't really after her mother and father." He let the meaning behind that sentence hang in the air, and make Tony's stomach want to return its lunch to the world earlier than planned.

Tony, staring at the table his fingers were drumming on, was the one to put an end to the silence. "Right. So how do we stop it? Apparently, we don't have weapons that work on them, and, also apparently, we have no way of tracking them."

"Guess you're hitting the gym, DiNozzo." Gibbs announced casually, throwing his emptied cup behind him. It landed flawlessly inside the bin.

For some reason, Ziva's lips curled up at that, and the mischief in her eyes told Tony to keep his mouth shut about it.

"'Course, Boss." Was his immediate answer. "So, like I was saying, we have no way of tracking them."

Harry smirked at the exchange, but he seemed to take pity on the senior agent. He allowed himself an amused tone only. "Don't worry, you won't have to track them. We've got that covered. What we'd appreciate from you is, however, protection to the families with Muggleborns."

"Muggleborns?" Ziva repeated, prodding an explanation.

He grimaced. "Sorry, sometimes I forget I'm not in the Wizarding World." Gibbs' impatient look told him he wasn't really interested in the apology. "Right – Muggleborns: witches and wizards born to Muggle parents."

"Fine. Consider it done." Gibbs agreed. Then he switched into interrogation mode again. "Why are they being targeted?"

"I told you already – they are, according to them, impure of blood. They don't have the right to use the gift they were born with. Isn't it obvious?" The tone of his voice answered his own question.

Tony thought about the adorable little girl sleeping downstairs. For some reason, impure wasn't the first word that jumped to mind when thinking about her. He cleared his throat to ease the thick quiet. "So – protection."

Harry nodded, looking grateful for the subject change. "Yes. They're only sending two people at a time, because they don't expect resistance. If you take care of the security, then they'll caught by surprise. Besides, we're low on resources. And warn your men that weapons are pointless. They need a physical fight if they're going to win."

"Right. And what do you expect us to tell them as an excuse?" Ziva brought up the issue.

Harry shrugged, and the brief panic in his eyes – which he was trying very hard to conceal – explained Tony the plan. "It doesn't matter." He guessed. "You'll erase their memories anyway."

His answering apology meant that there was nothing any of them could do.

"Do you solve all your problems by messing with peoples brains, or just the ones you can't be bothered with?" Gibbs asked, mildly glaring at the wizard.

He shrugged, lifting his hands helplessly. "Look, I don't like it, I am against it but… I also understand that it's necessary. Imagine if everyone knew there was magic in the world – if everyone knew that only a small population could practice it, and the others had to stand and watch."

Tony could see his point. Even if he didn't like it, secrets, just like clearance levels, existed for a reason. Protection didn't come cheap or easy, and you couldn't make an omelet without breaking a few eggs. Some people might be harmed by it, but, in the end, it amounted to keeping a lot more of others safe.

"I mean, we're powerful, sure, but about three quarters of the world are Muggles. We'd probably be annihilated." Harry spoke airily, like a guy commenting the weather.

Gibbs rolled his eyes, but Tony knew the younger man had gotten through to his boss.

"DiNozzo, David, send teams to the list of the people that need protection."

Harry looked up in surprise. "Er- would you like that list beforehand?" He asked, seemingly struggling not to show the grin in his voice.

Tony was already halfway to the door, ignoring the slight mocking. "No need, McGee'll compile it in a minute."

Harry blinked several times. "Uh- Not to be rude, but how? The words 'witch' and 'wizard' don't usually pop up on people's files."

"McGee always finds another way." And with that, they left.

"Why did Gibbs want to speak to him alone?" Ziva asked, the moment the door closed behind them.

Tony shrugged, mulling over it. "He's gotten too comfortable around you and me." He realized. "To be confortable around Gibbs, however" He followed her down the stairs. "is an achievement very few have managed in the past."

Ziva acknowledged that, reaching their level. "Yes, but why would he want him to be uncomfortable? What does he want to talk about?"

He shrugged in response, as clueless as she was, approaching the bullpen. "Whatever it is, he also wants us to make sure the kids are safe, so- MCGEE!" He yelled. Ziva nearly jumped, before swirling around to him, suddenly remembering the car drive the previous day.

"Do. Not. Yell." She fumed, pushing him with a well-placed hand on his stomach. "It is annoying." She didn't know why it was upsetting her so much. Maybe the headache was not fully gone.

He grinned – clearly her death threats had grown stale. "I was just calling McGee's attention. You know, make sure he wasn't sleeping again." Tony plopped down on his desk. Mary giggled.

McGee stole a glance at him in annoyance as Ziva sat down, rolling her eyes at the discussion. "No, I wasn't, but Mary was." His tone told Ziva he was lying. He really needed to learn how to control his features better. Besides, there were pencils and paper all over McGee's desk, obviously recently used.

"No, she wasn't." Tony announced happily, opening a drawer and pulling out a rectangular cardboard box. "Unless she sleep-draws. Saw it from way over there." He vaguely gestured in the direction they'd come from, not even looking. He opened the box – of what she realized were biscuits - and offered it to Mary, who peered inside curiously.

"Do they have chocolate?" She asked, looking up at him again.

He made a face, taking one and showing it to her before eating it himself. "Nah, sorry kiddo. Butter."

She saw his surprised expression when she seemed satisfied with that answer, happily taking one herself. "Good. I don't like chocolate." Ziva chuckled.

"Yeah, I knew that. I'm smart that way." He told her, placing the box on the desk so that she had full access to it.

Since Tony, in his haste to show Ziva how adorable he could be, had apparently forgotten the reason he'd yelled McGee's name in the first place, Ziva decided to take over. "McGee, Gibbs wants you to make a list of children who might be witches and witches born of non-magical parents." She told the junior agent, glancing around briefly to make sure no one would dub her as insane.

"Why?" He asked, one eye already on the computer as he started working on the task and the other on her, awaiting her answer with a confused frown.

"We were asked to place them under protection – apparently we are dealing with a… gang, of sorts, that is after them." She shrugged, and the message was clear: for the last few days, she'd heard enough craziness for a life-time. She had given up trying to process it all.

McGee nodded, turning back to the computer. "I guess I need to get creative…" He mumbled, typing quickly and effectively.

Tony was watching Mary munch on a cookie while she absent-mindedly made a picture of her parents, but he looked up at that. "Right, so – Ziva and I will brain-storm for ya'!" Tony said in forced cheerfulness, both trying not to think about the little girl's drawing on the floor and hoping to annoy McGee in his boredom.

It was pointless, however. McGee didn't even spare him a look, completely focused on his work.

"Brain-storm about what?" Ziva decided to ask, stopping the paperwork and leaning forward, a little eager to escape her own boredom.

"About how we can make that list."

"What makes you think we can?" She was just delaying the moment she had to pick up the pen again.

"There's got to be a way." Now he was becoming serious, brows furrowing in thoughtfulness.

"You do not know that." She challenged, eyes falling to Mary distractedly.

"Then how did Snoring One and Snoring Two in Interrogation know that Mary was a- witch?" He almost didn't stutter at the word this time, and he was looking triumphant at his discovery.

The little girl frowned, looking from Tony to Ziva with a slightly upset expression. "What does that mean, Tony? 'Witch?' The man before called me that, too."

Tony looked more than a little panicked. "Uh… Yeah, well, how about we let him explain, when he comes back, uh?" He forced a smile, but his words only made her frown further and fidget under both their scrutiny. She dropped it however, eyes returning to the paper.

So far, she hadn't asked about her parents – though there were several sheets representing what were obviously them strewn around on the floor. Ziva held no illusions that that was the result of her infant naïveté – Mary knew very well what had happened to her mother and father. Tony had been right about one thing – she was smart. Ziva imagined that she was trying to protect herself under a layer of deniability.

"So, do you think they are awake?" She decided to make everyone more comfortable by asking, changing the subject to the Death Eaters again.

Tony jumped at her question like a dog with a bone. "I dunno. How about we go check?"

"Pointless. They won't regain consciousness for another two hours." Harry and Gibbs were back.

Ziva did a quick analysis of their expressions. Harry's was as ever – cheerful, mischievous and falsely carefree. Gibbs' was impassive – she got nothing from him. Her conclusion was that she wouldn't find out what was discussed in that room.

"Why?" She resorted to find out what she could ask about.

"Because I've seen enough Stunning spells to know how long they last." Harry sat on the corner of Tony's table.

Mary nervously etched closer to the senior agent, and he picked her up, placing her on his knee. She glanced at him before speaking. "Tony said- He said that you'd explain why you called me a witch."

And the next hour was spent with Harry happily explaining all about magic and the Wizarding World. At first, Ziva had been worried – every time someone passed through their bullpen, she'd nervously glance at the chatting wizard – until she realized that no one was paying the slightest attention to him.

She decided not to ask.

She'd almost forgotten about McGee when he gave a cry of triumph.

"I got it!"