Serieux Part 2

by SASundance

Despite the smoke and mirrors, it's obvious Tony's a highly flawed and complex individual who has secrets. No one had a clue that he hides a MOAS, one though, that could rip apart the fabric of society if it were ever to come to light. After almost 2 decades though Tony feels like his secret is fairly safe, which only goes to show that he shouldn't let his guard down...not ever.

26. Chapter 26: Conspiracies

My condolences to those affected by the terrible event in Barcelona, Spain and Charlottesville, USA.

A/N: It was always my intention to post Serieux in full on another site where readers were less negative. Thank -you to all the people who left reviews for this last chapter. Perhaps people are not aware that in recent times along with an increase in negativity, positive comments have declined markedly. Writers in my experience are generally insecure about our writing which is why negative comments can wreak havoc on our creative process. It makes a HUGE difference to know that people are reading and enjoying the story- justifying the hours I put into redrafts, not to mention the time that my Beta's spend on each chapter.

So, I've been reflecting on what to do with the extra chapters and considering everyone's comments and words of support. After witnessing the acts of hate that unfolded in Spain and the USA, I concluded that angst about the negativity and hate on a fanfic site seemed rather frivolous in comparison, although sadly, the fomenting of hate and intolerance on social media - which has the potential to be such a positive force in the world - is a microcosm of what is happening out in the real world. I watched as survivors refused to bow down to hate and ignorance, so I figure the least I could do was to post my extra chapters here and thus send my own message that positivity will prevail to the haters and those who chose negativity, that positivity. I don't delude myself that the extra 30, 000 words I post here will change the world but letting those individuals who spout negativity, hate and fear dictate my actions does impact on our freedom of speech.

Finally, many thanks to Faldo for proofing this chapter. Any mistakes are my bad.

Serieux Part 2

Chapter 26 Conspiracies

After Hermione had dropped all her bombshells about Harry, back when she'd first ferreted out Tony's existence and decided to offer him a job on her first trip to DC, he'd been totally overwhelmed. He continued processing all the information she'd imparted about his godson; there was so much to take in, not just in terms of the intervening years since his unexpected departure either. Hearing her analysis that her best friend and his godson was suffering under the weight of PTSD and survivor's guilt from the war had impacted upon him deeply.

It was a large part of why he'd finally decided to go 'home' to London and take up the directorship of the DMLE – that and yes, he'd had a gutful of Gibbs and the team over the years. He'd already guessed that his 'death' or rather Sirius' demise had had a deeply negative impact on Harry even though he'd never really had enough time for Harry to truly bond with him as a teenager, what with Harry attending Hogwarts for most of the year and him being holed up in that tomblike prison aka Grimmauld Place. He only knew how much it had truly it impacted on Harry though because Hermione had painted a graphic picture of how much and how deeply Harry was affected the night Bellatrix pushed him through The Veil.

It had however paled in comparison to being able to listen to Harry express his guilt yesterday though which proved to be an unbearably painful experience for him. It was one thing to know a truth intellectually but quite another to hear and feel Harry's pain first-hand. He couldn't let it go on a moment longer without doing something about it.

He wandered into his bedroom, retrieving his pensieve from his walk-in closet, plus the box where he'd carefully deposited the vials into which he'd extracted and stored over twenty memories and had placed it in his home safe. There were reminiscences of his time at Hogwarts, containing memories of Lily, James, Remus, Pettigrew, Severus and himself over the seven years they spent at school.

Some of them were just memories that he thought Harry would get a kick out of watching – how he and James had met up on the train and discovered they were related since James' mother was a Black. There was their sorting into Gryffindor and Lily's, and the very amusing one of how James made an absolute prat of himself the first time he met Lily. How she was so not impressed by James for the longest time. He'd included his memory of an epic quidditch game James and himself had played in between Gryffindor and Slytherin, which had lasted six long hours, where they beat the Snakes and won the Quidditch Cup.

There were also the memories that were so shameful for him to watch, of their teasing of Snape plus the one that showed just of how close he came to making the most egregiously stupid mistake of his life. The time when he decided, in a fit of rage at Snape's unrelenting determination to 'out' Remus with his wolf clothes on, so he'd told him about the Shrieking Shack. After running interference for Moony all those full moons, how could he have been such a pratt? There was also the memory showing how James saved Severus's butt and Sirius' too… and a bunch of other memories to put things in context. For example, how Severus hated the gentle Remus and was always trying to reveal his secret because he was insanely jealous of the werewolf.

Memories of how Snape tried to stop Lily from spending time with anyone else but him and how patient and loving she was with her friend, even when he didn't deserve her loyalty. He'd extracted memories of Severus tacitly or explicitly supported the other Slytherins when they trash talked her and other first generation born witches and wizards, instead of standing up for her like a best friend should do. There were memories showing just how shattered and hurt she was when he called her a mudblood and how it had been the last straw for her, not just a one-off mistake by Severus as Harry seemed to think. Last but not least, he'd included memories of Lily as a Gryffindor prefect with Remus in fifth and sixth year, and then in their final year, James and Lily as Hogwarts' Head boy and Girl.

Staring at the assorted vials containing so many memories Tony remembered the day eight weeks ago when Hermione had dragged him down to the commercial magical shopping precinct in DC to purchase a pensieve. It was right before she'd mysteriously disappeared on 'personal business' for ten days, remaining tight lipped about her absence. He'd figured she was meeting other magical politicians and as such was classified. Tobias had been worried about her because she was a high-ranking individual from one of their closest allies. Tony reassured him that Hermione was very capable of taking care of herself. Still his incurable nosiness made him wonder what she was up to.

Anyway, they'd picked out a pensieve that looked like an expensive Murano glass bowl, just in case a non-magical person should get curious about it. Immediately after they'd purchased it, he'd started the process of removing his memories for Harry and he'd felt deep regret that he hadn't thought to do this for him back when he escaped from Azkaban. Although admittedly, after 12 years hiding from those damned Dementors as Padfoot, he been half way to Crazy Town and hadn't exactly been thinking too clearly. Not to mention hiding from the Death Eaters and the Ministry who believed he was a mass murderer and the betrayer of James and Lily had left him with very little time for touchy-feely activities.

So, he'd worked away steadily at his project over a period of several weeks, watching as the memories began to mount up. He decided that one day soon, he would start creating memories of the Marauders, Lily and finally Baby Harry after they'd left Hogwarts, but for now, he was just focusing on their time together in Hogwarts. When he'd completed his somewhat painful project, even though he'd included some good times too, he'd finally figured out what it was that had been bugging him when he'd been talking to Hermione. It was to do with her account of how Harry's occlumency tutoring had come to a stuttering halt.

To wit, what the devil was Snape doing with those particular memories of James bullying himself and Sirius sending him to the Shrieking Shack where Remus was going through his transformation to werewolf? Why were they, of a lifetime of potential memories he possessed, including the terrible atrocities he'd seen and taken part in as a Death Eater, been the only ones left lying about in the pensieve? Seemed extraordinarily coincidental and while a lot of Gibbs' rules were just plain ludicrous, coincidence…not so much. There was really only one reason he could think of but then, he was also totally biased when it came to Snape and his godson.

Although he'd promised to let Hermione in on his thoughts once he figured them out, Tony was still trying to figure it out if he was over reaching or not. He wished he could ask someone unbiased to run his assumptions by them to see if his analysis was sound, or if it had been completely clouded by his hatred for what Snape had done to Harry. Given his feelings about him, it was quite possible.

He supposed he could organise a Skype call to Hermione but she wasn't a trained investigator and she would also have preconceived opinions of both parties involved, too. He really wanted a fresh set of eyes – someone who didn't have preconceived opinions on what had gone down because they liked or disliked the participants.

That had been when he remembered Tobias Fornell, who knew about magic, knew about his past but had never met Snape or Harry and could be much more impartial about the facts and check Tony's assumptions to see if they were logical. So, Tony had invited him over to dinner – cooking him veal parmigiana and tiramisu so he could bend his ear and get his opinion.

Flashback to dinner in his apartment with Tobias six weeks ago:

"Okay, explain to a dumb non-magical such as myself the differences between pensieves, occlumency and legilimency to me again, Tony," Tobias requested looking bemused and a little bit lost.

"Sure, I can do that," Tony agreed agreeably. "Okay… so, Legilimancy is essentially the ability to invade another person's mind and stroll through their thoughts and memories… even if it's against their wishes or without permission. Although doing it without consent is illegal."

"What, like a mind reader?" Fornell interrupted him, intrigued.

"Yeah, I guess so. Occlumency is the skill of being able to organise your memories and thoughts, and to protect them from a being attacked by a legilimens. I've also used it to keep my memories ordered so I don't slip and get confused about whose memories are whose – and to make sure some thoughts and memories never see the light of day," Tony admitted, before leaping up and clearing the table so Fornell couldn't press him for more information.

"I've found it a useful tool when working under cover, helping to keep my identities straight and not getting confused under stress," he explained.

Fornell nodded. "Yeah, I can see why that would come in extremely handy."

Returning to the table with the coffee he'd brewed a bit earlier, he suggested they should move to the sofa in the living area. Fornell complied eagerly. Tony sniggered – the FBI agent would probably have agreed to run through the building stark naked for a decent cup of coffee. Truth to tell, he was almost as much of a coffee addict as Gibbs, except he had better taste.

As they sipped their coffee, Tony resumed their discussion. 'Okay so, where were we? Oh, yeah, well a pensieve is a magical device that is used to replay memories."

"Like a camcorder?"

Tony considered the question and wondered how to explain. "No not exactly. I could extract a memory that occurred a few minutes ago or when I was five years old. I could watch the memory taking place as a third person, as could other people."

He looked at the fibbie struggling to grasp the concept and decided to just demonstrate it, seeing he was now the proud owner of a pensieve. Heading into his bedroom he retrieved it off the top shelf in his wardrobe and carried it back and placed it on the island benchtop dividing the kitchen from the living room. He figured it would probably be easier for Tobias to experience if he was standing up.

"Wanna see for yourself?" he invited as he carefully used his wand to extract a memory of himself, Regulus and his parents when he was nearly 12 years old and placed the silverly-white wisp of memory into the bowl of the pensieve. The runes that powered the device had been obscured by a notice-me-not charm in case it ever fell into non-magical hands if it was stolen. Hermione's suggestion.

Explaining to Tobias how to watch his memory, the father of a teenage witch was keen to learn as much as he could about Emily's world, so despite being a little perturbed by the swirling mistiness wafting out of the bowl, he followed Tony's example and shoved his face into the bowl.

Pensieve memory:

Tobias found himself a part of a disturbing and disorientating tableau. Unlike watching a video or a movie, he was actually a part of the scene. He swiftly realised that while he was physically part of what was taking place, none of the other individuals were aware of him. Which was of course highly logical considering he was experiencing something which had taken place in the past And yet it felt so real – not like a Three-D movie but that he was actually present, simply invisible to the participants except for Tony who was aware that he was there.

Of course, said participants didn't look like your typical family. There was a horse-faced woman and her husband had inky black hair which was long and tied back by a leather thong, who had a pinched rather sour faced and he was scowling at his eldest son. The youngster looked to be about 12 or 13 years old and he was being lectured about the heinous crime of being seen alighting the Hogwarts express at Kings Cross Station in the vile company of a blood traitor, and two half-blood wizards. The final member of the group was a younger version of his brother.

The older boy, who Tobias assumed to be Sirius Orion Black looked singularly unmoved by the spiteful tirade, until the horse-faced witch began screeching about him staying away from mudbloods, who were trying to steal magical power from the purebloods and take over the world. Then he looked furious at the racial slur, although by then she moved on to other monstrous transgressions. Apparently, the bitch um witch (who was also presumably his mother) was throwing a fit because he had left photos of muggles stuck to his bedroom walls when he went off to school and she hadn't been able to remove them.

Screeching, "creature," at the top her lungs, Tobias wasn't sure if she was offering an opinion on the muggles on Sirius' wall, or if she was trying to insult Sirius. Suddenly someone…something appeared. It looked somewhat similar to that character Gollum in The Lord of the Rings trilogy who was possessed by the ring which he called Precious. He looked similar, but this creature…ah could this be what that horrid female had been referring to? Anyway, this creature had huge ears…talking Dumbo-like proportion almost, and huge bug eyes overshadowing the whole of the little dude's sallow face. His arms and legs, although scrawny, were much shorter than Gollum's and he stared at Sirius (little Sirius) not Tony, with a curious intensity that bordered on hatred.

"Master Sirius wicked for making Mistress mad. She told creature he could punish hisself…but only after I make Master Sirius tell me how to get filthy muggles off his wall." He stared at the vile woman with a sickening mix of devotion and fanaticism. Creature knows very dark elf curses… elf curses hurt Master Sirius a bunch." He gave a blood chilling cackle that make Tobias want to upchuck.

Sirius' mother went from foul mouthed, shrieking harridan to gushing sycophant, praising the obnoxious creature lavishly before asking eagerly. "Would that be like a Cruciatus Curse, creature? "she asked him eagerly.

Nodding happily, the creature's ears flapped and his eyes gleamed with madness. "Oh yes Mistress Black. Creature make it hurt baaaaad," he promised gleefully.

"Nasty, nasty horrid Master Sirius, lover of blood traitors and mudbloods. Be an honour to hurt him," he crowed evilly while the horse-faced bitch simpered joyfully.

Then Tobias felt everything turn misty and found himself back in Tony's apartment. "Wow…that's incredible. It's better than an eyewitness testimony, cuz I can see it too," he raved. He contemplated what he'd seen before asking cautiously. "Your family, Tony?"

Tony chuckled bitterly. "Loosely speaking. Although if you want to get technical, I was disowned when I was sixteen – blasted off the family tree. Don't look so appalled, Tobias. My mother, well she was crazy – I was glad to escape. And at least I had somewhere safe to go to. James' parents took me in. Anthony DiNozzo was only twelve when he was disowned and had nowhere and no one to go to. Funny, really…we had a lot in common."

"Was that your brother?"

Yeah, Regulus Arcturus Black. He was a couple of years younger than me and the apple of my mother's eye," Tony said wistfully. "He's dead. They all are. Just my cousin Andy and her grandson, my third cousin Teddy left alive." Okay, technically Narcissa and her son Draco and his offspring were related to the Blacks. She was Sirius' first cousin and Andromeda's sister, but he didn't count Death Eaters or those that had lived off the proceeds of their crimes as family. Not that they would ever know who he was of course. "He's also Remus's son. Hermione says he's a rookie Auror, like his mother Tonks."

Tobias was silent as he thought about what he'd seen. Finally, he asked, "That creature, what was he?"

"Not a creature. That was Kreature with a K. That was his name and he was a house elf. He had the misfortune of being owned by my human incubator, Walberga Black, who I think I mentioned was as mad as a hatter – generations of inbreeding. My father's grandfather and my mother's grandfather were brothers," he gave a moue of disgust. "Anyway, she abused that house elf appallingly, and he was a sick masochist who got off on it, plus he hated me just because his beloved Mistress loathed me," Tony admitted, candidly.

"Did he hurt you that night?" Tobias asked hesitantly.

Tony looked unconcerned. "I goaded them into it. I knew what I was getting myself into when I stuck the non- magical celebrities on my bedroom walls." Seeing the appalled expression on the FBI's agent, he shrugged nonchalantly "So worth it!"

"What doesn't kill you, makes you stronger. Like I said, I knew what I was getting myself into and it definitely toughened me up. Never would have survived Azkaban without the seasoning by my beloved family and the delightful, Kreature." He chuckled lightly. "Although he got his revenge, since he ensured I would die at the Ministry, even if I was the heir to the house of Black and his Master."

Tobias just stared at him, horrified that he could be so blasé about being beaten and tortured by his own family as a 12- year-old kid. That's when Tobias received a blinding flash of insight. Cruelty had always seemed to be like water off a duck's back to DiNozzo. His weak spot was kindness – he didn't understand kindness when directed towards himself. He hated it when people were nice to him, or praised him – after all, he interpreted Gibbs' head slaps as a sign of affection for pity's sake and often thanked Jethro for hitting him. To be perfectly honest, it had always disturbed Fornell to see that – not the head slaps although that was just so wrong on so many counts, but that Tony thanked him for hitting him because it reminded the FBI agent of an abused child who thought they deserved violence.

Guess he wasn't so far off the mark, he just never imagined that a vile house elf had helped beat the crap out of him. Made Gibbs seem like a warm, kind person. Yeah, no!

So, Tobias could understand why kindness blind sighted him - he'd never learnt to deal with kindness, it confused him, unbalanced him – it was his Achilles heel.

And he suspected that DiNozzo would find it even more confusing if people who offered small kindness, like Gibbs giving him a job and Abby professing deep abiding familial love had succeeding in getting under his skin, then pulled the rug out from under him. Which was what they'd been doing more and more over the last few years.

~o0o~

The memory ended and the pensieve had ousted them both, a bit like an old fashion VHS tape in the video recorder when you hit the eject button, Tony thought amusing himself. He was deliberately trying not to think about seeing his little brother Regulus. He hated his parents for a lot of reasons but Reg was probably top of the list. He was such a great little kid until Sirius had gone away to school. Then Walberga (he refused to call her Mother) managed to corrupt Regulus and turn him against him. Apparently, the final straw was his being sorted into Gryffindor, although he was probably 'bad' enough in his biological womb's eyes even before that camel backbreaker. As it was, she was determined to ensure her younger son wasn't tainted by his wickedness.

"Wow!" Fornell remarked, looking dazed as he stumbled back a few steps, reminding Tony of Harry's graceless exit from the floo when he was a teenager. Hopefully the experienced Auror had conquered floo travel in the interim.

"That's incredible. It's better than an eyewitness testimony, cuz I can see it too," he raved. He contemplated a bit on what he'd seen before asking cautiously. "Your family sure are something else Tony!"

"As I said before they're all dead except for my cousin Andy and my third cousin Teddy.

Tobias was silent as he thought about what he'd seen.

"Did he hurt you that night?" Tobias asked hesitantly. Obviously, he realised he was treading on thin ice.

Tony looked unconcerned even if his stomach clenched with the memory of that night and he was wondering whatever had made him choose that particular memory to show Fornell. Trying to downplay it, he explained, "I goaded them into it. I knew what I was getting myself into when I stuck the non- magical celebrities on my bedroom walls." Seeing the appalled expression on the FBI's agent, he shrugged nonchalantly. "So worth it!" He chuckled lightly, definitely not comfortable talking about the years of abuse he'd endured at the hands of his parents and the hated house elf, Kreature.

He guessed that Tobias must have picked up on his reluctance to discuss his family.

Tony wandered over and collapsed on the sofa, deciding he was going to take it with him when he left. He'd need to shrink it down, along with the baby grand but it was too comfortable to leave here in DC and he had happy memories on it.

"It would still be really useful for us to use in law enforcement," insisted Fornell.

"Remember that a memory is not necessarily a one hundred percent accurate record of what happened. As you know as well as I do, Tobias, a witness or a victim's recall can be faulty."

"Well, yeah…but still to be able to see it as an impartial observer would be a huge advantage," Fornell stated, his enthusiasm barely dimmed.

"True and actually that's why I wanted to pick your brain, since you're an impartial bystander. I want to run something by you to get your take on it," Tony explained as Fornell joined him on the lounge.

"Sure, but it might cost ya some more coffee," he joked as he swallowed down the remainder of his cup.

What about the veal parmigiana and my tiramisu? Surely that was incentive enough?" he bantered back with the FBI agent.

"Ah but coffee will help me keep my focus," he argued.

Sighing loudly, Tony rose and went out to the kitchen to organise more coffee. Returning with another cup for his guest, plus a couple of brandy glasses, he broke out the cognac, pouring two generous glasses.

Grinning in appreciation at DiNozzo's hospitality, Tobias made himself comfortable as he sipped his excellent coffee. "Okay I'm feeling much more focused already. Hit me!" he instructed his host.

So, Tony did. He explained about how Dumbledore became convinced that his godson Harry had a link to Voldemort. He kept the details simple since he agreed with Hermione that the less people who knew about the horcruxes the better. That Harry needed to be taught how to protect his thoughts from Voldemort, who like Snape and Dumbledore, was a skilled legilimens, which was essentially the truth. As was the detail that Harry and Snape hated each other passionately, which made the prospect of him teaching Harry occlumency highly problematic.

"Okay, call me dense Tony, but why is that such a problem? I've had instructors who hated me and I hated them, but hell, they still managed to teach me the fundamentals of hostage negotiation or content analysis."

"Same here, but this was different. First off, Snape was a lousy teacher. His method of imparting knowledge involved telling Harry he was an idiot and a weakling, before telling him to clear his mind without explaining how to do that. Then without warning, he would force his way violently into his mind and root around in Harry's private thoughts. After he withdrew from Harry's mind, he'd taunt him for how pathetic he was – how he was failure, just like his father."

Tobias frowned. "How could he do that to a student? To a kid?"

"He was a bitter, angry wizard. Plus, he hated Harry and he hated Harry's father, James and he hated me. We all gave each other a hard time as kids but James and I double teamed on him and made him look foolish and I nearly got him killed because I was an idiot.

"And to add insult to injury, James got the girl he loved – Harry's mother because Snape hurt her badly and betrayed her friendship. Snape's the reason why Voldemort killed James and Lily and spent seventeen years trying to kill Harry. He had this pathetic fantasy that Voldemort would kill James and Harry so he could get Lily back again," he growled. Even after all this time, he was still pissed off with the greasy Slytherin bat for the death of his friends.

The FBI agent started at him to see if he was joking – as if anyone would joke about something as sick and twisted.

"Seriously, Tony? Fucking hell, who in their right mind would let him within a hundred miles of Harry after he'd tried to kill him, let alone let think that someone like that teaching children in any way shape or form was a good idea?"

"I know, alright. I'm with you and that's why I can never forgive him for what he did to Harry – as a baby, and for his behaviour towards him later on. But Dumbledore insisted he was reformed and everyone believed him."

He was silent as he marshalled his thoughts. "Snape was supposed to be undercover as a teacher because Dumbledore didn't believe that Voldemort was dead, so instead of doing anything active, he hid Harry away with horrible people who he knew would abuse him, and kept me in prison, just in case he was right. He didn't tell anyone or try to find a way to defeat him or remove his minions from society or change the political climate that made it possible for him to flourish when he returned," Tony stated contemptuously.

"We were all just chess pieces on a board; there in case we were needed and any personal suffering was just collateral damage."

Fornell's brown eyes flashed dangerously. "Sounds just as arrogant as Jethro was over Domino when he moved you all around without telling you what was going on."

"Yeah, the similarities haven't escaped me, either. So, back to the teaching method - the theory is that because Snape was a real jerk, a bitter and twisted wizard, once he was reformed, reborn, rehabilitated but undercover, he still had to maintain his vile persona or Voldemort would be suspicious of him if he should ever turn up again. Bear in mind, that when Severus was first employed it was a decade prior to Voldemort making an appearance." Seeing Fornell was going to comment, he waved him aside.

"But there are a whole lot of things wrong with those assumptions, not just ethically but logically. And apart from those flaws in the stupid assed plan overall, there are a lot of parallels to the Ari situation. During the whole hostage situation in Autopsy at NCIS when Ari shot Gerald, ostensibly it was because he was undercover. But that's a crock! He could have done that easily enough and still given Gerald a flesh wound – he was a fully trained doctor after all and studied anatomy. Ari freakin well knew what putting a bullet into a shoulder joint would do.

"He would also have known that Ducky didn't have the equipment he needed in Autopsy to save his arm and would have no choice but to clamp the artery – threatening the integrity of the arm. Haswari made a conscious and deliberate choice to make sure that Gerald, who was completely innocent and undeserving, would be left with a permanent disability. If not lose his limb!"

He saw Fornell frowning and became more adamant.

"I've done a lot of undercover work in my career, Tobias and there was absolutely no tactical excuse for Ari NOT shooting him somewhere he could have recovered from physically without disability. It was the act of a monster – even if he had been undercover and not a rogue agent. It was a huge fucking red flag that should have tripped warning signals the moment we knew he was supposed to be undercover."

Shaking his head, Tobias was silent as he thought about what Tony said. After all, if anyone was an expert on being undercover it was Tony.

"Okay, how come none of the idiot powers that be and analysts never saw that? Why didn't you speak up?"

"Because I never knew that he was supposed to be undercover until it was too late and Cate was dead. You know that Gibbs never shares a piece of Intel with his minions unless he absolutely has to, let alone that one about Ari. No doubt it was need-to-know about him over at the FBI too," Tony answered angrily, because even after all this time Ari still had the power to piss him off.

"True," Fornell conceded. "But damn it, you're right. He played everyone like a fiddle." Evidently Tony wasn't the only one who was still harbouring bad feelings about Haswari. That whole episode continued to be a blot on the reputations of both agencies, not to mention DHS. "And… Snape?"

"Exactly the same thing with Snape, he took delight in making Harry suffer. By that point Harry knew or suspected he was a double agent working with Dumbledore. Hell, the fact he was teaching him occlumency so Voldemort couldn't read his mind was a secret he'd been told to keep to himself. So, if he was undercover, there was no reason to keep up the act of being a cruel vindictive bully when they were in private and trying to teach Harry how to organise his thoughts to make him impervious to attack. It was counterproductive and just plain dumb. Shooting yourself in the foot dumb!"

"You said before that he forced his way into your godson's mind 'violently'? So, is that unusual? Can you read someone's mind non-violently?" Tobias asked and Tony nodded affirmative. "Can you show me how? Can you do occlumency and legil… ah read minds?" Fornell inquired.

Tony nodded. "My family was pretty dark" he confessed uncomfortably. "No big surprise that I found books in the Black family library on occlumency and legilimency, or that I thought with all the pranks and tomfoolery the Marauders got up to at Hogwarts, occlumency might come in handy," he noted, almost too casually.

Thinking about the memory he'd just seen of young Sirius Black's domestic bliss, he made an intuitive leap. "Maybe it would, but I guess that it might have come in handy around your family too – to keep your secrets. They never knew about you and your friend's animagi abilities or that Remus was a werewolf, did they?"

"I couldn't run the risk around any of them, apart from my cousin Andi – she was cool – but the rest? No way! And as for legilimancy, we studied it very briefly as Aurors but I never got a proper opportunity to get really skilled," he admitted coyly. "Not then!"

"So when then?"

"Ah well…I started applying what I knew while I was in Azkaban to stop me going completely crazy. Used it against the other inmates who shared adjacent cells…plus the guards. It's illegal to practise against anyone who doesn't give their permission but I was already in prison for life for a crime I hadn't committed without benefit of a trial. Plus, I was an unregistered animagus so I figured…what the fuck – I didn't have anything to lose. Later on, when I became Tony, I would sometimes use it when I was undercover and I was in life threatening situations; against terrorists or murderers to save my life or other innocent people."

Fornell considered the information. "Okay, but seeing as I've given you my permission, can you demonstrate the differences for me?" Tobias requested again.

Shrugging, Tony agreed. "Okay, if you really want me to." He told Tobias to clear his mind and resist him before crudely and forcibly pummelling the FBI agent's mental walls (which weren't too bad for a non-magical and untrained individual) and then he deliberately went tripping around in his thoughts and memories like a bull in a china shop. He made sure that Toby knew he was in there, before leaving again as roughly as he'd entered it. Evidently, he was successful as the federal agent staggered, almost fell to his knees before dropping down onto the sofa.

"Oh wow, that was brutal," he grimaced before knocking back half the cognac that Tony had poured him previously.

"Sorry, but you asked for a demonstration. Now try to imagine you're a 15-year-old kid, who'd been abused by his family and felt responsible for your parent's death. And imagine how that would feel if I'd been someone who you hated, who'd bullied you constantly for the last four years, yelled at you and told you that you were stupid and weak – that your father was a lowlife piece of scum."

His companion just took another slug of liquor, his brow furrowed as he thought about it. "I'd feel defiled to know YOU had been rooting around in my head. My thoughts, feelings and emotions are private and having someone I violently despised, especially if they hated me too, go inside my head to read my thoughts would be nothing short of being violated."

Tony nodded. "Hermione described it as a mind rape and I'm inclined to agree."

His fellow agent agreed. "Yeah, that was bad. I feel defiled and I don't even hate you, DiNotzo. So, can you show me how it's done normally?" he asked, breathing deeply and preparing for another onslaught. After several minutes, he shot a glance at Tony.

"What's the matter, can't you do it again so close to the first attempt?" he wanted to know.

"Yep, I can and I did. You're thinking about having another piece of tiramisu before you head off but thinking you might have to put a new hole in your belt if you do. You're worried about the squirrelly looking wizard that Emily has a crush on who is trying to get too friendly with her," Tony teased him. "If you do have another piece of tiramisu, you'll have to do an extra couple of miles on the treadmill tomorrow."

Fornell started at him, shocked. "I never felt you at all. That's incredible," he yelped, ignoring what he'd been thinking about. He didn't want to know what else DiNozzo had picked up while he was inside his head. If hat pervert wizard ever turned up dead, he might end up as the chief suspect.

"Can everyone who does legilimancy do it as stealthily as that?"

"Nope, it takes skill, practise and experience but Snape and Dumbledore were both supposed to be highly skilled."

Fornell thought about that snippet of information while he drained the balloon glass of his cognac thoughtfully.

"Right so you wanted my opinion on why Snape chose to treat Harry like shit?"

Not exactly," Tony stated slowly. "It's part of it, now that I think about it. No, I actually wanted to get your spin on a couple of other things but you needed to understand the background. You see, one occlumency lesson everything went pear shaped when at the last minute, Snape cancelled the session. Harry found himself in Snape's private quarters unsupervised and saw Snape's personal pensieve on a table."

"Ah… I see." Fornell commented sagely. "Did Harry know what it was and how to use it?"

"Yeah he did, Tobias."

"So let me guess what happens next. Harry decided to look in the pensieve, didn't he? And did he get caught by Snape or he saw something he shouldn't?"

"Both!" Tony admitted with a grimace. "Hey, are you a mind reader?"

"Nope, just the father of a teenager. What kid could have resisted the temptation to get some dirt on a teacher or a parent, even if they didn't utterly despise them or they weren't an obnoxious bully?" he asked rhetorically. "So what happened?"

"Snape came back and found him with his head in the pensieve and went feral. Abused him before screaming at him that the lessons were over and to get out."

"Damn! So…what? Harry never learned occlumency even though it was crucial to the war effort?"

"Yep! Nailed it!"

"And so… what was the memory that Harry saw? Snape was reading Fifty Shades of Grey? He was jerking off to Barry White? He liked little girls in school uniforms?" he asked, his eyes going dark and dangerous as only the father of a 15-year-old witch could achieve.

"Harry saw Snape getting teased pretty badly by the Marauders, especially James – Harry's dad. He also saw me sending Snape down to the Shrieking Shack where Remus was riding out his full moon transformation." He watched Tobias' trying to put the pieces together. "Remus aka Moony was one of the Marauders and a werewolf who was bitten when he was six."

"Oh yeah, it's hard to keep you all straight," he commented.

Tony nodded. "Yeah I can see that." He started to chuckle. "Fifty Shades of Grey, Fornell – really?"

'Hey man, I listen to water cooler gossip in the office," he protested before returning to the problem. "So what do you want my opinion on? Obviously, Harry shouldn't have been snooping but chances are, you or Gibbs would have done the same. Nosy bastards!

"I probably would and most kids would too and someone who deals with kids every day of the year surely should have known that, too. Expected it! Oh okay…I think I see where you're going with this."

The fibbie reached over and grabbed the cognac bottle and poured himself a healthy measure and topped up Tony's glass who had only drunk about a third of his. Sipping his own this time and savouring it while Tony simply regarded him with interest he started speaking again.

"You think Snape set Harry up? That he left the pensieve out with those specific memories for Harry to find? But why?"

"Maybe so he had an excuse not to teach him occlumency. He knew that theoretically Dumbledore could have taught him, but the old goat was paranoid that Voldemort might learn his secrets. If he didn't teach him he wouldn't learn it."

"But if Snape was undercover and Voldemort had a connection to Harry's mind, surely it was in Snape's own interests to bend over backwards to teach him occlumency, not leave him unprotected."

"You'd think. Instead he set him up to fail, week after week with his pitiful tutoring sessions. And is it just me but why would he leave just those few explicit memories in the pensieve? He's a grown wizard who's done a lot of questionable stuff but those specific memories are special to him? Really?

"According to Lils, his dad beat the crap out of him as a kid and Voldemort makes him and all of his flunkies kiss his butt and totally demean themselves. Yet he wallows in the stupid shit that went down when we were at Hogwarts. Doesn't that seem weird to you? Very self-indulgent and childish to play the victim when he's not blameless by any means. He was willing to kill an innocent toddler to get vengeance on James, get rid of her husband and baby to get the witch that he wanted yet he couldn't let go of a feud that he had some responsibility for creating as a school kid years before.

"Anthony DiNozzo was bullied at boarding school too but even when they ran him up the flagpole in his underwear, and you don't get much more humiliating than that, he didn't dwell on it. He actually managed to repress it to such a degree that he'd convinced himself that he was the bully, not the victim."

"I see what you're saying, I think. Me…I stew on all the things I've fucked up or wish I could do over. I don't dwell on crap stuff that someone did to me. And you?"

"Most definitely. It would be all the things I wish I could do over too, everyone I wish I hadn't hurt. The people I've let down. The people I didn't save," Tony replied thinking of James, Lily, Harry, Remus, Cate, Paula, Zoe, Jenny, Jeanne and even Snape when he nearly died back at Hogwarts." Afterward…not so much since his actions lead to him being wrongly incarcerated, not to mention his failure to teach Harry occlumency was directly responsible for the debacle at the Ministry of Magic that lead to his trip through the Veil.

Knowing he couldn't change the past, he tried to shrug off his anger. "If Remus had attacked him they would have hunted him down and killed him; not that they would have needed to because it would have destroyed Remus and he'd have taken his own life.

Both males were silent as they sipped the expensive cognac contemplatively before Tobias finally responded.

"Even if you made Snape's life a misery, he took revenge that was totally lacking in proportion to the crime. James and Lily died and you spent 12 years incarcerated and tortured for a crime you didn't commit. At least he got parole for getting Harry's parents killed. How many years did he serve – it couldn't have been much?"

Tony shook his head. "He was never held accountable – he never served any time. Dumbledore vouched for him."

"Did he know what his precious student had done?" Fornell demanded incredulously.

"Oh yeah, he did but the old fool was big on giving Death Eaters a second chance. This was the head of the Wizgamot, he ensured that while they were running around throwing out Death Curses and other Unforgivables, that the Aurors could only stun them. If we killed them, they couldn't be given a chance at redemption."

"Didn't anyone ever think to make that guy pass a mental status exam. Sounds like he shouldn't have been permitted anywhere near vulnerable kids, let alone to be educating them or given the power to make far reaching decisions about the whole of your society. I guess that's what attracted you to working with Gibbs, his rule of shoot to kill if someone threatens you."

Tony thought about Danny Price and shrugged noncommittally, "I guess."

"So this miserable sod, who was an adult wizard not a child, who had managed to escape punishment for his very serious crimes, was reliving how terrible it felt to be bullied by his peers, years ago? Poor Didums!" Fornell retorted scathingly. Sounds to me he should have been thanking his lucky stars for how damned fortunate he was to get a second chance. His victims didn't get a second chance."

"I think he considered having to teach at Hogwarts for 15 odd years to be cruel and unusual punishment."

"Humph…I bet you would have swapped with him in a nanosecond. How come you didn't get a shot at redemption, too? Seems like Dumbledore liked murderers – not that you were one of course."

"Because if I was around I wouldn't have let the Dursleys raise Harry and for his plan to succeed, Dumbledore needed an abused and neglected child who would allow himself to die when his kindly old mentor told him it was necessary to save everyone else."

"Like I said, that guy should have been in a psych ward for the criminally insane."

Taking a bigger gulp of his cognac this time, he tried to calm himself because after all, these guys were dead and Sirius had been the one who was fucked over by what had occurred, not him. It wasn't his fault and he didn't deserve to bear the brunt of Tobias' ire.

"So anyhoo, Toby. I was wondering what you thought about my suspicions."

"I don't think you are crazy, if that's what you mean. He should have been bending over backwards to make sure your godson learnt occlumency because making sure Harry's thoughts and memories were secure would have helped to protect his own cover. If he had the ability to use finesse instead of attacking him mentally, then why would anyone with an IQ higher than a cactus do something so dumb and damaging?"

Tony stayed silent and let the experienced investigator talk. It was why he'd invited him for dinner after all.

"If you want a building to withstand a hurricane, ya don't build it using wood that's been attacked and weakened by termites and expect it to be able to resist the wind force. Only conclusion that makes any sense is that Snape didn't care because he wasn't undercover, or that prick Voldemort already knew about him. Then there's door number three – he was having a bet each way and was hindering both sides 'til he could figure out which side gave him the best outcome.

"As to leaving the pensieve deliberately so he would have a legitimate excuse to break off the lessons – I think that it is scarily plausible. Although there is no way to prove it…but you already knew that."

"Yeah, you're right. I did. I just wanted to know if I was being biased by our bad history – wanted a fresh eye on it."

"So is that it? Apart from the fact that a very unpleasant excuse for an individual was obviously dwelling in how terrible his life was and it had nothing to do with the choices he made as a mentally competent adult?"

Tony considered before replying. "It kind of occurred to me that after having access to Harry's innermost thoughts for weeks, he would leave a memory of James in the pensieve that was particularly unflattering. Isn't that a freaking big coincidence?"

Tobias stared at the NCIS agent steadily. "You're saying he deliberately tried to screw up Harry's relationships with his father and to a lesser extent, to you? That's a long bow to draw, isn't it? To what end?"

"To mess with him, maybe." Tony replied diffidently.

"Okay, what else have you got, Tony? Tobias sat up and looked at him sternly. "You might think that, but I know you. You wouldn't express it if that's all you had. There must be more evidence or information for you to go out on a limb like that."

Nodding, the wizard smiled, glad he'd decided to share his thoughts with Toby.

"Just before he died at the Battle of Hogwarts, Snape told Harry to collect his tears and told him to look at the pensive in the headmaster's office. In it Harry saw a memory of a discussion that Snape must have had with DumbleDumber before he died. The old goat told Severus that Harry had to die (assuming he'd achieved certain tasks he'd set him) in the final battle with Voldemort, because of my godson's connection to him. Dumbledore explained that he'd been grooming him from the time of his parent's death (and possibly before) to die in the final battle to defeat Voldemort."

Ignoring the outraged exclamations of Tobias and trying to tamp down his own fury, he continued. "He admitted without any prompting that he'd been fully cognizant that Harry wouldn't have a happy childhood being raised by Lily's sister and her husband. But the arrogant old fool simply justified it because if he'd organised to have him brought up in a happy home, Harry wouldn't be malleable enough to ensure that his plan was carried out i.e. die selflessly at Voldemort's hand. Snape observed that he'd been rearing him like a pig who was going to be slaughtered and he agreed with the analogy, saying he did what needed to be done."

Fornell cursed fluently and violently, his expression one of outraged disbelief. "Was this fucker trying to recreate the resurrection of Jesus Christ? Who was the most dangerous wizard…really?" he demanded heatedly.

Personally, Tony thought he had a damn good point. He shrugged, because in some ways he thought Dumbledore was actually a lot more dangerous because he pretended to be kind and benign. Frankly he was pleased that the wizard was dead. At least Voldemort was upfront about his criminality.

"I take it once he heard that, your Harry refused to be manipulated into committing suicide?"

"Oh no, he did. He was so riddled by grief and guilt that he believed that vile old wizard's propaganda that it was necessary for him die to save the world. He was a 17 year-old-kid who had endured semi-starvation and deprivations most of his elders would never dream of for months on end like sleep deprivation, along with Hermione. Combined with the abuse of his childhood and the mind games Dumbledore played with him during his years at Hogwarts, he was putty in that monster's hands."

Fornell leapt up and started pacing in his agitation. It wasn't hard to figure out what had him so het up. As the father of a witch who attended a magical school he was identifying with the teenage boy. Striding over to the bottle of cognac he poured himself another glass. Tony vowed to take Tobias' car keys and call him a cab to take him home and ducked into the kitchen to pour more coffee. He also decided to put more on to brew.

"Okay Tony, I'm beginning to understand why you and Hermione are so angry at Dumbledore. This guy is revered in your world? He's evil…a monster!"

"I don't think he's the legend that he saw himself as, not in the rest of Europe anyway despite him serving as the Chief Warlock in the Wizagamot in Britain, and as Supreme Mugwump of the International Confederation of Wizards – which is a bit like the magical equivalent to the United Nations. But in the UK magical community, most people won't hear a bad word about him or consider he was less than perfect." He replied, pushing the cup of coffee towards the scowling fibbie.

"You might want to drink a few cups of that rather than the cognac," Tony observed wryly, thinking about the mother of a hangover Toby would have tomorrow morning.

Tobias grimaced, probably thinking the same thing as Tony since he started sipping on the coffee and put his cognac down, although he kept looking at it longingly. "Okay, sign me up the Dumbledore Haters Fan Club but how does this tie in with your suspicions about Snape deliberately leaving memories for Harry to find?"

"Yeah I was getting to it. Amongst the memory of Dumbledore's grand plan for rearing his little sacrificial Harry Lamb, there were memories of Snape and Lily – how they were friends, best friends, before they went to Hogwarts. How he loved her, how he was deeply IN love with her. How she'd 'wronged' him by breaking off their friendship when he insulted her and stood with the blood supremacists. How she forced him to become bitter and to betray her.

"It showed how he plotted so Voldemort would get rid of James and Harry and obtained Voldemort's promise he could have Lily for his own amusement. How Voldemort double crossed him, killing Lily and James and inadvertently leaving Harry alive – who incidentally, was a constant reminder to Snape that he was James son, who he despised. And not just for James taunting of him at school but for marrying the girl he desperately wanted. How Snape made a vow to Lily upon learning of her death to protect Harry, which to his mind, he fulfilled by protecting his six but obviously didn't feel that protection included not harming him emotionally and/or psychologically." Tony reeled off the details of the memories, finding it hard to contain his anger and sarcasm.

The FBI agent and father of a teenage witch tried desperately to process the heap of intel Tony had spewed at him, almost like a machine gun in its rapid fire. It was a helluva lot to take in. Luckily, Tony seemed to realise how much he was expecting of Tobias and stayed silent to let him think.

Finally, he made eye contact with Tony. "So that's pretty shitty to dump all that on the kid with his last dying breaths. Did Snape know he was dying when he overshared his memories, do you think?"

"Yeah I would imagine so, but I'm not absolutely certain," Tony responded briefly and neutrally.

"So, he might easily have been having regrets and thinking about Harry's mom," Tobias observed trying to be fair.

"Yep, it's quite possible," Tony conceded.

"This happened right before Harry confronted Voldemort; and Snape would have known that?"

"It would be a reasonable assumption but impossible to confirm it since he's dead," Tony stated in a matter of fact manner, trying not to influence Fornell's thoughts.

"And there were no other memories that were included in this second foray into the pensieve?"

Tony shook his head. "Not as far as I'm aware – Hermione didn't mention them… so unless Harry withheld it, that's a no."

If I was dying and knew I was taking my last breaths, I'd be thinking about my regrets – the whole life flashing before my eyes thing. So, in that sense, if he felt Lily was the love of his life I guess it makes sense that he'd be thinking of her but I'd also be thinking about all the crap I'd done and wondering if I was going to be forced to pay for my sins. Sounds like he'd had quite a bit to be fearful about - yeah?"

Tony shrugged his shoulders. "I'd say so, but I guess it depends on his perceptions – was he capable of understanding how much harm he created by what he did. Could he realise just how much pain he caused? I think he saw himself as a victim – I'm not sure he ever took responsibility for the crimes he committed, even if it was just in his mind. He sure as hell was never held to account in real life or apologised. Why else would he blame Harry for surviving and looking like his father…it's not as if he had any choice in either matter."

"True, but that would make him a monster – a sociopath. Could he have filtered his memories, do you think?"

The wizard mentally congratulated Tobias for his comprehensive examination of the issue he'd asked him to consider. Maybe he was being so painstaking because he was a dad and could identify with a 17-year-old kid with the weight of the world on his shoulders. So, it made him examine the facts from every conceivable angle.

"Could he? Yes, it's possible to separate out your memories and clearly, he did separate them to some extent – at least as far as delivering the crucial 'you must die plan' information. But was he able to consciously include or exclude other memories at such a highly critical point in time – well that's a great question. Truthfully, I don't know, Tobias. I just don't know."

Fornell nodded gravely. "I guess if it was just this one-off occurrence I'd think that it was just bad luck that Harry got to see painful or unflattering information about his mom and Snape. But see, and I'm guessing as a seasoned investigator, it's what bothered you too, the coincidence of Snape's memories and a pensieve involving his Dad and to a lesser extent yourself. Therefore, the memories of his mother, father and Snape seems highly coincidental.

Tony grimaced. "Honestly, if this was a movie instead of real life, I'd say it was a really lazy use of a deus ex machina by the writers because they wanted the protagonist to have some intel before the climactic scene. That they couldn't be bothered finding a more plausible method of exposition, such as a journal where he could read a whole bunch of other thoughts and memories too."

Fornell stood up and headed into the kitchen, grabbed the fresh pot of coffee and brought some more in for them both. Tony accepted it gratefully, wrapping his hands around the mug to warm his hands. He was going to be up all night, either peeing or being too wired to sleep. Gibbs would make him pay if he was slightly below par in the morning. Ever since the mess in Iraq with The Calling, the ex-Marine made the term hard-nosed bastard seem like a soft cuddly teddy bear when it came to Tony. Still, he appreciated Fornell letting him bend his ear and brain tonight.

After five minutes or more lost in their own thoughts, Fornell broke the silence. "So, I agree with your assessment, DiNotzo. I think that it is highly probably that the wizard known as Severus Snape didn't want Harry to learn how to protect himself and set him up for failure. That he laid a fairly obvious trap and Harry fell for it, and he wanted to taint and debase the kid's relationships with his parents. Even if it was only his idealised images of them (which he found out about when he was rooting around in his thoughts) because he resented Harry for existing. It's damned crappy man, but what do you want to do about it? What can you do about it?"

Tony considered what Tobias had said as he sipped his coffee. "I don't know, to be honest. I need to talk to Harry at some point if what Hermione tells me about his survivor guilt and PTSD is true. She believes that he feels guilty for surviving, even though he willingly died to save everyone. He feels that Dumbledore and Snape were two courageous wizards who sacrificed themselves and weren't given a second chance; that they were more deserving than he was so why was he spared."

"Kid needs to stop idolising those douchebags," Fornell opined sturdily.

"I know, but it's not that simple. He's been brainwashed by a master manipulator who, even two decades after his death, is a beloved figure in magical Britain."

"Maybe we need to get him to a deprogrammer," Fornell suggested.

"Nice idea but I don't think that there are any in the wizarding world. So, that leaves it up to us to try to manage as best we can." Tony replied, knowing it would be an uphill battle.

Still this was his godson Harry they were discussing. James and Lily's boy - failure was not an option.

End Notes:

Okay, so I got to thinking that I should be giving honourable mentions to reviewers who are doing the right thing rather than just focusing attention on the negativity of entitled reviewers, jerks and trolls. Much is written about constructive criticism (concrit) and honestly, I don't mind it WHEN offered respectfully. Sadly, most people who offer advice forget about the constructive component and don't even bother to be respectful. In my experience on the site, people who actually know what they're talking about, offering to share that knowledge are mostly humble and generous when sharing. I love getting feedback from polite subject matter experts and have even co-opted them to give advice on future stories. I do a fair bit of research and try to keep the number of mistakes I make to a minimum. Just remember no one is perfect – I'm certainly not, nor do I pretend to be but leaving high handed, condescending and critical reviews by someone I don't know is NOT appreciated. It makes me disinclined to listen to anything you have to say.

If you're confused about what constructive criticism is, here's a great example left by a SME (subject matter expert). This reviewer knows a hell of a lot more about the subject of firearms and law enforcement than I ever will but Acrwdo1 is polite when offering me info I can use in the future. Acrwdo1 has offered advice on a number of occasions – even helping by reading drafts or researching laws for me. I've seen Acrwdo1's feedback on other people's stories – which is polite and informative to other authors too. I love reviews from people who actually know what they are talking about and I'm grateful for their help.

Acrwdo1 Concrit and a favourite reviewer

Another excellent story. Although there are a lot of excellent authors here, I do believe that you are probably my favorite when it comes to NCIS. I know it is just a minor thing, but the Firearms Instructor in me figures I'll point it out in case you want to note it in future stories. The Drill you are describing is called either a Rapid or Emergency Reload. It is when you have fired all the rounds in the magazine and the slide has locked to the rear, indicating an empty firearm. A Tactical Reload Drill, on the other hand, is used when you have fired most of the rounds in the magazine but you are getting ready to go into a situation that you'd rather have a weapon loaded to full capacity. The critical difference is with the Rapid/emergency Reload you let the empty magazine fall to the ground out of the way and forgotten. The Tactical you bring the fresh magazine up and using the same hand, eject the old magazine and insert the new magazine. You then take the old magazine with whatever rounds are left and stick it in a pocket just in case you need those couple of rounds. Because unlike TV and the Movies, in real life ammunition is a finite commodity.