A/N: First off, I wanted to thank people who reviewed – well most people anyway. I've had quite a lot to say about entitled readers over the last few chapters - there seems to be a growing trend towards people feeling they have a right to express their opinion and be as negative as they like about a story, all under the guise of free speech. I've tried to compare and contrast the difference, at least as I see it, between being critical just because you can and offering constructive criticism (concrit) that a writer can actually make use of if they choose to. The following is a classic example of what concrit IS NOT! Guest:Adequate for someone with limited English skills and a leaden imagination...
I mean honestly, can anyone say damning with faint praise? This is just one example of one "individual" who feels entitled to express this sentiment to me on a regular basis (particularly for Serieux but also other stories too) and by regularly, I mean at least once if not twice a week. Since I earn money writing non-fiction, clearly my English skills can't be all that limited, not to mention that quite a few reviewers have commented on the imaginative plot in Serieux, so I am pretty confident that I have anything but a leaden imagination.
For those reasons, I can laugh off the constant attacks although really, why should I or anyone else have to? But more to the point, many new writers are not so fortunate and that sort of relentless attack can damage their confidence to the point that they give up. If you are someone who takes such attacks to heart or aren't confident about your writing ability, I'd like to recommend a quote for your consideration from the highly popular physicist Professor Brian Cox.
He said..."The problem with today's world is that everyone believes they have the right to express their opinion AND have others listen to it. The correct statement of individual rights is that everyone has the right to an opinion, but crucially, that opinion can be roundly ignored and even made fun of, particularly if it is demonstrably nonsense!"
Honestly, I love concrit from my beta and alpha readers - ask them, they'll bear me out. So as long as you offer it respectfully, I accept it in pretty good grace, especially considering it is done anonymously. However, if you're going to offer constructive criticism to an author, may I suggest that you at least make sure that your concrit is grammatically correct, not full of typos and spelling mistakes. Seriously, I ask you, why would I take advice from a reviewer who can't even manage a few sentences without it being chock-a-block full of errors.
I'll let you in on a secret, the first thing I do is check out your stories to see if you have credibility as a writer, since from my point of view, you could be an axe wielding murderer for all I know ;-) If you aren't an author, that doesn't mean I'm going to dismiss your concrit out of hand...but I'm going to take more convincing that I should listen to you.
Oh, and a heads up, writers are much more likely to give you credence if you put concrit into a PM. It's like Gibbs berating his agents in the middle of the bull pen rather than going someplace private to air his grievances. My pet hate - telling someone in a review that they should get a beta reader RATHER than offering to be a beta reader for them. FYI, it isn't easy to secure the services of a good beta reader – it is a thankless task - people aren't usually queuing up to volunteer so give new writers a break, since they probably have already tried to find a beta. That's why I try never to take my fantastic BRs for granted. And on that note...many thanks to Faldo for the beta for this chapter and as per normal, any errors due to my tinkering are my bad!
Serieux Part 2
Chapter 28 Leaving…On a Jet Plane
Tony's last days as a federal agent flew by. He returned to NCIS to finish up his time and complete the last of his depositions. He made sure all his reports were finalised and ensured that Delores knew how to contact him, just in case something had been overlooked. More likely at this point, a past conviction could be thrown out on appeal and then it may have to be retried, or a cold case which he'd previously investigated might be solved further down the track and he may be required to give evidence.
So, Delores was informed that Fornell knew how to contact him via Hermione during work hours. He also slipped her an open business class plane ticket to London, hoping that one day she might come to the UK, if only for a visit. Facing her demons might seem insurmountable right now, but he really hoped that she would harness the inner strength he knew she possessed and face down her DNA donors. Delores was much stronger than she knew. Maybe she'd be persuaded come over for a visit at Christmas, especially if the Fornells came too, as was the current plan.
He'd also been kept busy packing up his possessions, working out what to take and what to leave. He'd decided to leave most of his kitchen gear behind. He was taking his piano of course, his guitar, his collection of CDs and DVDs, plus most of his books. The only other thing he was taking with him were his clothes, everything else he would replace once he found a place to live. Which just left him to figure out what to do with his apartment. He was vacillating between selling it to sever his ties with DC or keeping it as an investment and leasing it out. A former cop he'd worked with in Baltimore had become a DC realtor, and he'd offered to lease it for him.
He was stunned when McGee had the gall to approach him in the bullpen to ask him what he was planning on doing with his apartment.
"Are you just making polite conversation, Tim or do you have an ulterior motive for asking?"
"What? No, no… ah well it's just that Delilah and I want to find a bigger apartment. Yours is just what she had in mind."
Tony was not going to rent his place to anyone at NCIS – he needed to make a clean break from the people and the place. He might be persuaded to rent it out to someone from DHS or even the FBI if Fornell recommended them, but McGee? Not just no – but hell no!
Still he decided to hold his tongue for now. "I haven't decided yet. I'm still weighing up whether to sell it or keep it as an investment," he revealed, raising an eyebrow at Harry.
McGee withdrew a cheque from his pocket. "I could buy it off you. I'll give you a good price, Tony," he said eagerly. "This is double what you bought it for," he observed, reminding Tony that McGee had been hacking not so long ago to discover his private financial details.
Tony had no intention of selling the place to McGee, certainly not for what he was offering. He'd bought the place for a song thirteen years ago because of the triple fatality but it was worth a hell of a lot more than McGee just offered him. If he decided to sell, he would get as much as possible for it – crazy not to. Real estate was pricey in and around London.
Barely glancing at it, he handed the cheque back to McGee and he shook his head. "I haven't decided yet. I'm going to discuss it with my accountant tomorrow but I had a realtor I know do a valuation last month and the property is worth considerably more than that."
"Yeah but you bought it cheap and I thought you'd give me a good price. We are best friends after all."
Harry snorted cynically, and Tony felt like McGee had plunged a knife into his back and his good intentions not to get into it with McGee fled out the door. Sure, when Tony had something that Probie wanted they were BFFs but seriously, where was he when Gibbs was being a prick this year or when Abby attacked him when he couldn't take Gibbs shit anymore. Oh yeah, that's right - he treated him like a leper for refusing to suck it up and take the abuse so that Gibbs didn't bite Tim's head off too.
"Are we really best friends, McGee? I must say that it's good to know. While I was off on sick leave, I had time on my hands and I did start to wonder. Tell me, do you honestly think that a best friend would run off and leave their partner to deal with a bunch of vicious attack-trained dogs that their owner has instructed to attack us and lock his partner out of the car while safely ensconced inside. And let's not forget leaving me without backup while investigating a triple homicide slash domestic terrorism threat to the nation. With a good friend like that I'm really going to miss our friendship… NOT!"
"Don't be an idiot, Tony. You know I have a phobia to canines after getting attacked by Jethro the dog," he argued, quick to blame his screw ups on someone or something else. As per usual!
Getting right up in McGee face he interrupted, "You mean 'don't be an idiot, Acting Senior Supervisory Agent.' If you're going to be insubordinate when you insult me, at least respect the position, if not the person. And second point, if you're going to blame your cowardly reaction on a phobia then at least be man enough to go get treatment for it. You owe it to anyone you go out into the field with because if there are dogs around, you won't have your partner's six. But Jethro attacked you back in 2008 for Pete's sake, Tim and since you never did bother getting treatment, don't just DON'T use it as an excuse."
"How do you know that I didn't get treatment for it?" McGee demanded snarkily.
"For the same reason, you never sought treatment for your fear of heights Tim. You never think about the fact that your phobias are a danger to the team because you aren't prepared to admit that you have weaknesses."
"You can't talk, you have a needle phobia."
"True I do, but my phobia isn't one that will prevent me backing up my partner in the field. I've never been confronted by an injection wielding dirt bag and run away screaming like a frightened kid. Nor have I ever had to barricade myself in a work vehicle, endangering my partner because I was too freaked out to unlock the door." Glaring at Tim he stated, "Needle phobia is also a very different kettle of fish to every other anxiety-based phobia since it is the only one that can also manifest in vasovagal syncope; which makes it damned difficult to treat.
"Fainting makes it much harder to treat with graded exposure since passing out interferes with the treatment. You have to combine the treatment with applied tension which involves tensing the body's large muscles to push blood pressure up and resist blacking out. Ask me how I know this, McGee."
"How do you know about vasovagal syncope and applied tension?" he asked sulkily.
"Because I've gone and sought treatment for it when it affected me so badly that I couldn't even go to the dentist to get my tooth filled," Tony snapped irritably.
"Frankly, if I'd had my way, you'd have been benched until you got treatment for both phobias but Gibbs thought psychological treatment was a bunch of BS, as were phobias. He said it was all a matter of not being a candy assed baby, just suck it up and get on with it."
Tony thought it was ironic the number of times Gibbs had benched him in the past year for some lame excuse, but someone who had a recognised psychological condition who posed a direct and measurable threat to the team and the investigation was BS.
"That other thing with the radio was just a joke," McGee protested, hurriedly changing the subject and alluding to the Royal Woods comms debacle. "And it was a long time ago."
Tony laughed mirthlessly. "Yeah…see I always told myself it was a joke. A very stupid one since it destroyed my trust in you, but a joke nevertheless, which was why I never reported you because if IA had heard about it, you'd have lost your job, joke or no joke. Some things you just never ever joke about and you should have known that if you were half as much of a hot shot as you thought you were. Just like you never, ever call in a fake bomb threat about an airline flight – fake or not, that will get you thrown in jail for a long time." Tony shook his head in mock disbelief. "Those pesky aviation authorities just don't have a sense of humour, dang it!
"Lately though, I've started to doubt that it was a joke. Abby would have covered for you both, just like you tried to cover for her when she attacked me." He glanced over at Harry who was listening in very closely, an expression of disgust on his face as he listened to Tim's rationalisations.
"You're become so damned cocky; you think you can get away with anything. Even getting investigated by Parsons and the Department of Defence hasn't taught you a modicum of sense – has it? You still think you're untouchable. You honestly think that you too damned smart to get caught, so you decide just for the fun of it, to hack into the IRS and delve into my private financial affairs. Just like you thought that you were too smart to get caught when Ziva had you tracking down Ilan Bodnar for her when she cried on your shoulder – or was it more than that?"
McGee turned bright red. Tony wasn't sure if it was embarrassment or anger but was leaning towards the latter. Feeling sad that their years together had come down to this farce, he decided to offer him one last piece of advice along with one reason why he didn't want him anywhere near his place. Not that he was sanguine about him taking the advice since he never did before.
"One thing I do know, Tim. Your luck will run out sooner or later. As good as you are, there'll always be someone better and faster than you are. As for my place, let's be honest, you aren't an ideal tenant for the director of an ultra-secret agency to lease their apartment to. I'd be tainted by association and I'm not prepared to do that any longer."
~o0o~
Sitting in a super roomy first-class seat on the British Airways flight to Heathrow, Tony thought back about his run in with Tim. If he'd been prepared to admit that he'd stuffed up, Tony might have been able to put all the animosity aside – after all, no one was perfect. He certainly wasn't perfect – far from it. But McGee didn't seem to think he had done anything wrong and had no intention of taking responsibility for his screw-ups. He'd tried to put the blame of the Royal Woods fiasco on Ziva when the truth was that he was the most senior agent in charge of the surveillance and the buck stopped with him. And he constantly bragged about graduating top of his FLETC class so he couldn't plead ignorance about what he had done.
Still, he had to give credit where credit was due. McGee was incredibly dogged when he decided he wanted something, refusing to take no for an answer. In his last days, he kept bugging Tony about his apartment, even after he informed him his accountant recommended holding onto his place as an investment. Which was the truth – Deanna Burns, another ex-cop turned financial advisor had suggested holding on to it and if he needed cash, to liquidate some of his other assets. McGee wanted to lease the apartment but Tony told him again that he wasn't going to risk having his apartment used to commit crimes, since he knew full well that McGee wouldn't stop hacking. Getting into the IRS database and not getting caught would have been like cocaine to a crackhead and it had been done off the clock at home.
So, McGee, having decided he wanted to rent Tony's place, spun Wheels a sob story about Tony being pissy with him over Abby and sent her in to charm him. It was sneaky because he knew that Tony liked his girlfriend. Tony had ended up explaining that he refused to let McGee rent out his apartment because he didn't want his property used to commit crimes, namely illegal hacking. When Wheels defended Tim fiercely, he explained how weeks ago, Tim got a bee in his bonnet about how Tony had afforded such an expensive property, so he'd hacked into the IRS to find out about his financial situation.
She'd been shocked, thinking he was joking initially, but Tony was serious. He told her that McGee never received any discouragement from Gibbs, so he felt free to hack even when there was no need to when working cases. Not getting caught had made him think he was invincible which was dangerous, because sooner or later he would get careless. There would always be another Richard Parsons waiting in the wings to make his name by bringing Tim down.
Tony hoped that by giving Delilah a heads-up, she might be able to get in his face and sort him out but he wasn't holding his breath. Hacking was addictive behaviour and Tim didn't see that it was wrong. Still, at least when his luck ran out, and it would because, as good or smart as he was, there would always be someone else just a little bit smarter or faster than he was - it wouldn't come as a complete shock to Delilah. Hopefully it wouldn't hurt her career too.
Leaning back in his seat he looked at Harry who was looking happy to be heading home. Sighing, he decided to put all the hurt and regrets out of his head right now and look to the future.
Hermione had organised for him to stay with her parents for a week or two while he sorted out somewhere to live. Harry was apologetic, wanting to put him up in his own home but that would look highly suspicious since he was supposed to be a stranger. Frankly, Tony was also wary of running into Ginny or Mollie and he assured him that he didn't expect his godson to let him stay at his home.
Settling down, he decided to watch a movie, although the stress from such a momentous move had taken its toll, making him drowsy and he soon found himself drifting off to sleep.
~o0o~
Harry leaned back in his first-class seat with a sense of relief – in more ways than one. Personally, because he was heading home to his family; to Ginny and his three kids, although the kids were away at school. He knew that things would be tense between him and Ginny initially. After all, she hadn't wanted him to go and he couldn't share with her why it was so important that he go to the US for five weeks, since he, Hermione and Fornell were the only ones that knew about Sirius.
He couldn't help wondering if Luna would know who Tony was. He was pretty sure his friend was a seer, although Hermione was more sceptical about such things. Time would tell, he supposed.
Still, once home, he knew that Ginny would give him the cold shoulder for his sins, knowing that he would prefer screaming stand-up rows any day of the week to being sent to Coventry. He was no mind healer but he strongly suspected it harked back to being locked up in a cupboard under the stairs and ignored. One thing he knew though, their issues weren't going to be resolved until he went home.
Plus, to be honest, he was relieved to be going home because the visit to DC had been an unsettling experience. What with his questioning his feelings about his wife and her jealousy, and then there was his experience of platonic friendship with a female who liked him for who he was, not WHO he was. It had left him feeling confused.
While he was going to miss Ellie Bishop and was grateful for what she had offered, for what she'd taught him, he knew that keeping up their friendship would be fraught with difficulties. It might even cost him his marriage and while he treasured the gift she'd given him so casually, he wasn't going to jeopardise his marriage in any way. He took his vow very seriously, marriage was for life.
Then there was his professional satisfaction of a job well done. His godfather and the new director of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement was sitting safe and sound beside him and heading back to take up his new post. Frankly, Harry wasn't sure if the Wizarding world was ready for the shakeup Sirius was going to bring to the job, but boy he was looking forward to watching what was going to happen. Sirius had ready flagged a program to track down war criminals i.e. Death Eaters like Augustus Rookwood who had escaped and were hiding out in the non-magical world. As he pointed out – he was uniquely suited to chasing them around the world and had already established contacts with the American magical law enforcement community to help him track them down.
Then there was the relief that a Death Eater and former CIA assassin hadn't succeeded in killing Tony, who luckily never learnt his true identity. Had Kort aka Rookwood had a clue who Tony really was, he would have taken him out years ago; as it was, Tony had ended up saving Harry's life which was sobering and a bit humiliating since he was supposed to be protecting him. Still as dangerous their job was, Harry couldn't help but be more relieved that he'd managed to separate him from NCIS still in one piece. Frankly, when he'd accepted the assignment – it was Sirius so how could he not – he had thought Hermione was being overly dramatic.
She told him about the toxic work environment at Sirius' workplace and he'd discounted approximately ninety percent of what she said. After all, Sirius had been on the same team for 15 years, if it was that bad, why would he stay? Sirius had already served twelve years in Azkaban for a crime he didn't commit and then been forced to hide in his family home that he regarded as almost as bad as the infamous magical prison. Also, as brilliant as his sister-in-law was, she'd never worked as an Auror.
As an outsider, she couldn't possibly hope to understand the banter, the off- colour humour, the juvenile pranks and joshing that went on in a workplace where they knew that everyday might well be their last. Hermione might misunderstand that Aurors, who simultaneously might have to deal with horrific violence and depravity from the public, could also act like juvenile twats, just to let off steam. From an outsider's perspective, the Aurors when they were not in the field, often looked to civilians, like they belonged in kindergarten not law enforcement.
After five weeks shadowing Tony DiNozzo at NCIS, Harry was forced to admit that he owed Hermione a huge apology when they got home. She'd been right all along; the agency was downright toxic and what was inconceivable, Tony had stayed in that hell-hole for 15 years. Harry couldn't help wondering if Pads was right about him suffering from survivor's guilt, but if so, he sure as hell wasn't the only one. Sirius, in his humble opinion was in a similar situation – the only one of his friends to survive, and like Harry, dying and being given a second chance must have been a huge burden to cope with. Plus being forced to keep it a secret – at least he had been able to reclaim his life and friends – well those who hadn't died.
Pads was clearly still carting around his own caldron-load of guilt over not being around to bring Harry up. Although, if Snape and Sirius were correct about Dumbledore's motives, Albus would have found another way of wresting control of Harry away from his godfather, in order to fulfil his grand plan for his prized little hog.
So, survivor's guilt went a long way to explaining why Tony had remained at that place for so long, putting up with that abusive prick Gibbs, the crazy Abby who looked like a vampire and the way she sucked the life out of people's auras made him wonder if she actually was part vampire, plus that smug bully, McGee. In Harry's admittedly highly biased opinion, since he couldn't stand him, the agent was pure poison. Best friend indeed!
He'd been less than impressed by what he'd learnt about him - the whole Deep Six novels had been an unforgiveable blight on his character as far as Harry was concerned. He'd already learnt about Tim's proclivity to blame Tony for his own screw-ups, such as the debacles over his poison ivy. In the last week though, he'd discovered that McGee had a nasty habit of not just blaming his partner for his own blunders, but failing to back him up in the field, too. Running off and leaving him with vicious dogs was bad enough but being so freaked out that he'd locked him out of the company vehicle was inexcusable. There was no way that tosser should be allowed to keep his badge, let alone be promoted to Tony's old job; he was a disgrace to law enforcement professionals everywhere.
But to find out that the manky knob headed pillock had left his godfather – left any Auror - without backup in a dangerous undercover mission, was beyond belief. McGee was always muttering under his breath about Tony being a jerk and being juvenile but you really didn't get anything lower as a cop than not backing up their partner, especially when he was questioning suspects about a triple homicide deemed to be a domestic terrorism attack. Harry honestly didn't get how McGee was still working as a cop and why he'd want to, since he obviously failed to understand the absolute fundamentals of being a cop anyway.
So, succeeding in getting Tony away from that joke of a law enforcement agency was a huge weight off Harry's mind. As far as he was concerned, NCIS was a joke, although not in a good way, and he felt grateful to have managed to get Sirius out of there in one piece. He did wonder about the damage that team had done to his godfather's psyche and his mental health. Hermione felt he was clinically depressed and he couldn't think of any other reason why he'd stay in a place where he was treated him like shite for fifteen years. Unless he was deliberately trying to punish himself – perhaps he had a death wish.
As Harry stretched out luxuriously in his seat, he was pleased that he'd decided to upgrade their business class tickets to First Class. The extra leg room was welcome, especially for Sirius at 188 centimetres tall. Harry wasn't one to flaunt his wealth but he felt that a little extravagance as a celebratory gesture was appropriate. His godfather was alive and coming home again after almost two decades and if that wasn't a cause for celebrating, he didn't know what was.
As he thought about McGee's feeble excuses in their last few days as he tried to get Sirius to sell his apartment to him for a song, Harry suddenly felt a eureka moment, like he'd felt when Sirius' scathing yet scarily accurate commentary on Ginny's Prince Charming fantasy was being recounted. The picture he'd painted of their life together was so freakily accurate, unfortunately. And he was reminded of the words his godfather had used about Snape. It had struck a nerve and he'd put it out of his mind until now.
'Tell me Harry, did Snape ever accept that he was responsible for your mother's death? Or did he blame her death on your father, on me, on Moony, on Voldemort, or Wormtail?' Tony had spat out that hated name of the former Marauder. He still had so much pain from the betrayal of a friend.
'Maybe he blamed Trelawney for having the 'vision' or Dumbledore for holding her job interview in his brother's pub?' To be honest, Harry had never wondered why Dumbledore hadn't interviewed Trelawney at the castle. It was odd.
'Did Severus ever accept that in becoming a Death Eater and telling Riddle about that damned prophecy, he signed James and Lily's death warrant and effectively Alice and Frank Longbottom's too? Alice, Frank and Neville had done nothing to deserve his betrayal.' Harry honestly didn't know if Snape had accepted his role in his parent's death and most of the time to be honest he tended to blame James and Lily for treating him so badly that he'd felt like he had no other recourse – but that wasn't strictly true.
Then there was the accusation Harry really didn't have an answer to. 'And here's a question that always bothered me, he hated you and made your life a misery because he hated that James and Lily shunned him but why did he single out Neville and make his existence a living hell? Alice and Frank had never done anything to inspire his hatred – apart from joining the Aurors when they graduated. Why was he such a prick to Neville who wouldn't say boo to a goose when he started school?'
Thinking of all he had learnt over these last five weeks, Harry realised that the truth was there, right in front of his nose if he took the time to think about it for just a few minutes. Timothy McGee, never took responsibility for his screw ups, always blaming others for them - up til now he usually managed to blame Tony. Just like Snape was never at fault.
And he realised that McGee thought he was way smarter than everyone else… just like Snape had. And that the similarities didn't stop there, either.
Both blamed their arrogant attitude, their vitriol, their inability to work with others on the fact they'd been bullied and yet had turned into the very thing that they'd professed to abhor, bullies lashing out at innocent people.
All this time he'd been tying himself up in knots over who he should believe – Snape or Sirius over what had happened between Snape and his mother. Yet it had been staring him in the face.
'Did he blame you for being born, for causing her to die protecting you? Did he blame Lily for dying because she refused to accept his friendship anymore when he called her a mudblood in anger and expected her to forgive him, like she'd done so many times in the past? That's not real love…not in my book anyway.
It wasn't a sign of how much Severus loved his mother that he hated you for surviving when she died protecting you. You were just a baby.
If you're going to believe someone, surely it should be someone who was able to put the happiness of the person they loved before his own needs? Sirius had the perfect opportunity to get Jeanne back again by failing to rescue her husband who would have died like the other doctors and nurses he worked with. Yet he saved Jeanne's spouse.
Snape on the other hand saw nothing wrong with swooping in and 'rescuing' Lily after Voldemort was supposed to kill James and her only child. Merlin's flowing beard, Sirius was right - how could Severus think that was love?
How could he ever think that Snape's inability to let the bullying that his dad or Sirius had inflicted upon him as stupid gits at Hogwarts (in much the same way he and Draco had taunted and tormented each other for six years) ever be justification for telling Voldemort about the prophecy? That was as lame as McGee feeling that his being bullied at school gave him carte blanche to act like a smug superior wanker with his colleagues now, and justify him breaking the law with impunity.
As a kid who was bullied from the day he'd been left as an orphan at Number 4 Privet Drive, Little Whinging, Harry had an excellent excuse to blame the world for his miserable life but as bad as it had been at times, he recognised even as a kid, he still had a lot to be thankful for. He was able to learn, he was alive, able to take care of the people who were important to him and able to take responsibility for himself. He wasn't a burden to anyone else. There were many people in the magical and non-magical world who didn't even have that much going for them.
Of course, now he had a lot more, a family that loved him, friends who had stood by him when he'd needed them, more wealth than he could ever reasonably spend -although that really didn't get him excited. What did excite him about his wealth however was that he was able to make life better for those people he loved, for example he already had plans to purchase a house for Sirius as a welcome home present. Hermione had enlisted her parents to start checking out non-magical properties since Sirius had explained he wanted to live in non-magical London.
Looking over at the wizard who had also known bullying, abuse and endured terrible injustice and still had grown into a caring, nurturing person, who still chose to laugh in the face of pain and saw his glass as half full. Harry realised he felt comfortable in accepting his godfather's opinion of his mother and father. After all, he'd made no attempt to pretend he was perfect – in fact, he was probably the most supercritical person Harry had ever known – which with Hermione as a best friend, was a huge achievement. That girl second guessed everything she did.
Of course, Hermione, while all about personal growth and knowledge, didn't take on the sins of others. Sirius in contrast, shouldered so much guilt that belonged to others that Harry was constantly astounded he could get out of bed each day. Hopefully being back home with family might help him to heal a little.
His godfather looked surprisingly serene and Harry realised he was sleeping. Shrugging, since that sounded like a good idea he closed his eyes and pictured heading home to Ginny and the extended Weasley clan. He missed hanging out with his brothers-in-law and Arthur. Molly and her fierce hugs and overly dramatic demonstrations of affection…not so much. It kind of made him uncomfortable…but she meant well!
Drifting off to the happy thought that he couldn't wait to introduce his godfather to the youngest Potters and his own godson and Sirius' cousin, Teddy Remus, he slept until Tony shook him awake just before the plane landed at Heathrow. Getting off first was a perk of flying in First Class and he was excited to be nearly home. He knew that Hermione was meeting them and that she would have first-gen bodyguards, Dean Thomas and Justin Finch-Fletchley as her protection detail accompany her to the airport.
He was half hoping that Ginny would be here too, but he knew better than that; she hadn't inherited Arthur's wide-eyed enthusiasm for the non-magical world. She simply couldn't envisage that there were things that 'muggles' could do better than wizards and witches. Therefore, even if she wasn't angry with him for not acceding to her wishes for him to not go to the US, she would have no desire or curiosity to see how the other half lived.
Clearing customs and glad that Sirius was accompanying him, since he felt out of his depth dealing with all the non-magical red tape, he simply followed his lead. Still, he was pleasantly surprised to see not only Hermione and her minders, but also her parents too. Miranda and Grant Granger also had Arthur Weasley sandwiched between them as he looked around him with the enthusiasm of a toddler seeing his first airplane. Which he probably was. Hermione rushed up to them and giving them enthusiastic hugs, she stood on tip-toes to whisper in Sirius' ear that she didn't have the heart to refuse Arthur's request to meet their plane.
Tony shrugged philosophically. "Have to start meeting people sooner or later, Hermione. To be honest, the one I'm truly nervous about is your press secretary."
"Luna? Why would you be worried about her?"
"Because unlike that old fraud Trelawney, I suspect Luna is psychic…a seer. Her mother was too. "
Hermione frowned. "Ah. Okay that is a bit concerning."
Shaking her head, she looked across at Harry quizzically. "Where is she?"
"Where is who? Ginny? Was she supposed to be here?" Harry asked, confused and shooting a glance over at Tony who looked equally baffled.
"No not Ginny. Delores."
Tony jumped into the conversation. "Delores didn't come, Hermione. I explained to you before that she couldn't face her demons here. I'm hoping that with a bit of time to process things, she might decide to make the trip at Christmas, particularly if Tobias and Emily come over for a visit."
Hermione looked confused and showed him the text message she'd received with the flight details and ETA plus and brief explanation which read: Changed my mind, took some vacation days. Coming home to visit.
He looked at Harry in astonishment. "She was on the same flight as us. Why didn't she tell us?"
Dean Thomas who had come forward to welcome them both, looked confused. "How come you two didn't see her?"
"Yeah but she had a business class ticket. Harry decided when we got to Dulles to splash out and upgrade our tickets so we were up in First Class. Plus, we were first ones off the plane. Why didn't she tell us she was on board?"
Harry nodded. "We'd have gotten her upgraded as well if we'd known."
Tony shook his head, "I guess she didn't want to put us out. She still thinks she's less valuable because she is not a witch." As another thought occurred to him, he looked over at Hermione, "Where's she going to stay. Can we put her up at a hotel near me?"
"All taken care of. She's staying with my parents for tonight. Luna wants Delores to stay with her whiles she's here, so we'll take her over there tomorrow."
Harry looked puzzled. "Why does Luna want to put her up? She doesn't even know her?" he asked Hermione.
She smiled, seeing that the squib was now making her way beyond customs and headed toward them, somewhat shyly. "Because apparently, their mothers are distantly related so she wants to welcome her back home."
"On second thoughts, I'll bring Luna over to my parent's house tomorrow to collect Delores. It will give us a chance to see if she recognises you, Tony," she said sotto voce in his ear so Dean didn't hear her. Originally, she was going to drop Delores off but decided that this was a good opportunity to test out Tony's suspicions. Harry would take great pleasure in telling her 'I told you so,' if he was right about her psychic abilities.
Nodding his agreement at her suggestion, Tony hurried back to his friend and grabbed her bags after giving her a brief hug, knowing her reticence at being the centre of attention. Nevertheless, he grasped her hand and hauled her toward the welcoming committee.
Scolding her affectionately, he told her, "You should have let us know you were on the plane, you goofball. We'd have gotten you an upgrade. At least that way, we could have chatted since Harry slept his way over the Atlantic. Worst travelling companion ever!"
Harry, realising that his godfather was taking the spotlight off Delores, who was socially awkward around groups of people and covered up her awkwardness by acting haughty and officious, manfully played along with him. "Well, hello there, Pot. I only decided to sleep because you nodded off as soon as we got settled in our admittedly supremely comfortable seats. But' you're right - Delores and I could have had a great old chat about my new boss. By the way, you do know that he drools in his sleep?"
Tony snorted dismissively, "Says he who snores like a freight train," he teased Harry, pleased to see Delores looking much more relaxed. If things worked out well, perhaps he wouldn't be needing to look for a personal assistant after all.
Harry, seeing Justin Finch Fletchley accompanying Hermione's parents and his father-in-law, Arthur coming towards them, grabbed the balding, slightly portly looking ginger -haired wizard. Genuinely happy to see him, he briefly wished Ginny had come too before giving Miranda and Grant a quick hug. He'd always gotten along well with Hermione's parents who manage to blend in with the wizarding world much better than Arthur did in the non-magical world. Justin, it seemed, had been tasked with keeping track of Arthur – any faux pas would be explained by the cover story that Justin was his private nurse and he was an 'eccentric' - read crazy recluse. Miranda and Grant had also been watching over the muggle loving, but dreadfully clueless wizard.
Pulling him forward, Harry introduced his father-in-law to Delores Bromstead.
Arthur immediately put his foot firmly into his mouth. "Bromstead? You're not related to Percilious Bromstead are you? Oh, silly me, of course you're not. You're an American. Well you're very fortunate since he's a bumptious, officious clerk who works at the Ministry of Magic with me. Thinks he's Merlin's gift to the wizarding world," he grumbled crabbily.
"Actually, Arthur, I'm a dual American and British citizen, even though I haven't been back here since I was a child. And I really must agree with you Mr Weasley, Percilious is a self-important, smug little prat. " Seeing Arthur's expression, she explained. "He's also my father, unfortunately."
Laughing at Arthur's look of horror, Hermione dragged the angular squib towards her parents and beckoned Tony over too. "Tony, Delores, please meet my parents, Miranda and Grant Granger and my father-in-law, Arthur Weasley. Mum, Dad, Arthur, this is Anthony DiNozzo, our new Director of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement and his friend and former colleague, Delores Bromstead, who hasn't been back home since she was a child."
Tony used his charm to smooth over Arthur's faux pas, quickly deciding that he liked Hermione's parents – they were down to earth and friendly. He breathed a huge sigh of relief. Although he was going to start looking for his new home asap, it was nice to know that the Grangers were personable and intelligent people. Not that it should be surprising, given their daughter but still, if they had been overbearing or boring it would have made the next couple of weeks very awkward. Grant held out his hand and Tony grasped it firmly.
"Pleased to meet you both. Please, call me Tony."
Miranda smiled. "Welcome home, Delores. Tony, Hermione tells me you are part English?"
Tony nodded. "My mother was English." (Which was no lie). I spent time here as a child but I haven't been back in a very long time either."
Delores chimed in, "Tony's mother was a Paddington," she told the Grangers, knowing that the information would mean nothing to Arthur.
"North Sea oil Paddingtons?" Grant asked, impressed.
Tony nodded. "Yes, although the only Paddington I really had a relationship with was my Uncle Clive who died quite a few years ago."
Miranda started corralling the group. "Alright people, let's get your luggage and head home for something to eat before you all split up and go your separate ways. Harry and Arthur, you'll come too, I hope."
Smiling happily, Hermione slipped her arm through Arthur's, knowing he would be thrilled to visit her parent's home. Without Molly to try to take charge of proceedings, she knew he'd be a gracious guest, even if he did tend to put his foot in his mouth at times.
Having Harry and Tony home finally, especially after the assassination attempt by Augustus Rookwood was a win. With both of them backing her up, the magical world was about to get a very major shake-up.
Tony grinned at Hermione as Arthur wanted to know if he could go back to the Grangers in a real muggle car before embarking on a story to Delores about his enchanted muggle car that sadly, his son Ron and Harry wrecked when they were going into their second year at Hogwarts. He could see Harry's ears turning pick with embarrassment as Delores chuckled at the story.
Trying to do the maths on fitting nine people into vehicles, he briefly thought about hiring a car before leaving Heathrow. After all, he would need a car sooner rather than later but Hermione must have guessed what he was thinking because she mentioned that although Justin and Arthur had apparated from the Burrow, she had driven her Kia Sorento and her parents had brought their BMW 320i that could seat 5 comfortably.
Settling in Hermione's vehicle with her minders and Delores, he felt excited and nervous about finally coming home. He was actually looking forward to the challenges of modernising the DMLE and he hadn't felt challenged for a damned long time. Truthfully, he hadn't felt anything but maybe despair and numbness in forever. It was good to be home and he knew that he had a busy two weeks before him, getting a car and a place to live. He was also going to meet up with the non-magical law enforcement directors he'd agreed to consult with on difficult cases. Partly it was because he wanted to ensure that Anthony's years of professional experience and expertise continued in the non-magical world but it was also because he didn't want the non-wizarding part of his persona to become bored and resentful.
Anthony DiNozzo's memories had impacted on him significantly, changing who he was – he wasn't Anthony obviously but he also wasn't just Sirius either. He was Tony, an amalgam; maybe not equal parts of both individuals' personalities, memories and morals with a good side-serving of Pads thrown in too. He'd be the first to admit it was weird and difficult to explain, perhaps the easiest way to envisage it was like a recipe. Not every ingredient was required in equal quantities to work synergistically – like truffles – a very small amount impacted on every other element of a dish, enhancing them. Anthony and his memories was the truffle oil that ensured that Sirius and Padfoot would never be the same again, not even returning to magical Britain.
He'd made them better and Sirius was grateful to the cop for giving him a new life. Going back to England, he was patently aware that even aside from the changes that twenty years had wrought, he was significantly different from the wizard who was pushed through the veil. The part of him that was Anthony deserved to be fulfilled and acknowledged and the best way he could think of was to continue to use his abilities to help solve non-magical crimes.
So, Tony really wanted this move to work out - for them all to thrive and be happy. Time would tell if it had been a good idea or not. Give him him six months and he would be better placed to judge if he'd made the right decision.
End Notes:
So just the epilogue to go now. Unlike the infamous epilogue in HP, the majority of mine takes place six months hence. The epilogue also lays the basis for a short sequel that I will write at some point in the future, although at this stage, I'm not sure that I'll post it on this site. I'll probably post it on AO3. They don't penalise crossovers.
BTW, while appreciated, it isn't necessary to assure me that trolls intend to hurt people and the best thing to do is to ignore them. I've already researched the psychology of trolling when developing corporate training on trolls. So, I already know about the so-called triad of psychopathological traits associated with trolls – narcissism, sadist and don't. Pair an individual who is high on cognitive empathy with the trait of sadism and you have someone who knows how to hurt someone and really gets off on it, and you have a toxic mix.
However, the problem is that trolling is anything but black and white. It is complex behaviour and there are more than one reason why people become trolls therefore it's wrong to see it as a ''them'' and "us" activity. My theory is that negativity begats negativity, for example, there is a real sense of entitlement that seems to be spreading. Indeed, the latest research from Stanford and Cornell Universities on trolling seems to suggest that even average contributors can be influenced to troll under the right conditions. The factors include such issues as your mood, the time of the day and perhaps not surprisingly, the presence of previous negative comments which increase the likelihood that the next person will feel more entitled to be negative too and thus post a toxic comment. Food for thought, so perhaps we should all chose our words very carefully.
To end on a positive note, I want to shine a light on a most rare breed of reader. The reviewer/commentator who waits until a fanfic is complete and reads it in one or two sittings. Many people who chose to do this just leave feedback at the end of the story – and that is very much appreciated – but there are few individuals who go above and beyond and leave feedback at the end of every chapter. Often it is just a sentence or two but the gesture is always highly valued by authors for their thoughtfulness. Two examples of this rare breed are Cassandra30 and marilynjordan. There are others I'm sure in the 'read it when it's complete' and 'review every chapter' category, so on behalf of myself and other fanfiction authors,, I salute you!