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.

29. Chapter 29: Epilogue

A/N: Well this is the last chapter of a story that started out as a snark at the NSCI writers for all their mindboggling inconsistencies, retconning and character assassination of the Tony DiNozzo character - particularly that abysmal finale. It was straight out of an angst ridden TIVA teenage fanfic where Ziva has Tony's love child and keeps it a secret. Honestly, the holes in the plot would have been laughable except that it wasn't a fan fic – what it was, was an insult to the character, the actor and his loyal fans. Particularly after they had a whole season to write it. (It will be interesting to see if Paulie Perrette gets a better exit from the writers and EPs since they are saying the same things about having a season to write her departure that they said at the start of season 13 with Michael Weatherly. Wonder who has her secret love child – Burt the Hippo?)

Anyhow, as I wrote Serieux, improbable as the plot was to begin with – deliberately so as it started out as a parody, I found myself discovering parallels between the two shows and their respective characters that I'd never considered. More importantly, I found myself falling in love with the characters of two fandoms, especially how they related to each other and inter-related. It often happens when I write a long story - the characters become my imaginary friends ;) or sworn enemies, as the case may be.

So here is the very long epilogue, part of which I wrote in June 2016 which will tie up most but not all the loose ends of my story. That includes what Hermione got up while she was staying with Fornell and she disappeared for a couple of weeks to organise a dose of comeuppance for Gibbs. Some readers may be unhappy with part of my ending which seems unresolved but do remember that I plan on writing a short sequel at some stage – the seeds of which have been planted within this epilogue – actually imbedded all throughout the story.

I'd like to thank Faldo for beta'ing this chapter in the midst of some family health issues but I'd also particularly like to thank her for stepping in and offering to beta the last half of Serieux. Thanks also to Arress – who checked over the first scene set in a small southern town in US to make sure my Aussie-isms as we call them didn't sneak in while I was writing it. (It did by the way, who knew that offsider was an Aussie-ism?)

Finally, thanks to those people who took the trouble to leave feedback that was constructive or supportive. To people whose raison d'etre was to sabotage this story – it didn't work!

Epilogue:

May 2016

Gloria Culpepper entered Jackson's General store, although technically it wasn't called Jackson's General store anymore, even if all the locals still called it that. Mr Gibbs had passed on several years ago and his only kin, his boy Leroy wasn't fussed about running his pappy's store. Seems he was a high and mighty federal agent, too important to run the store now Jackson was dead, although Gloria still remembered when he'd been a sullen little punk, getting into trouble and breaking his mother's heart.

Then after years of ignoring Jackson, Leroy had turned up some years ago with a bunch of federal agents kowtowing to him and throwing the whole town into an uproar during a murder investigation. Leroy had riled up Chuck Winslow (just like old times), had his people go through dumpsters and demanded that the Winslow clan and Chuck's minions surrender their DNA for comparison. It had made Leroy even less popular with the townsfolk. The upshot was that he'd uncovered Chuck Winslow's illegitimate son, Ethan La Combe, who'd unknowingly been intimate with his own half-sister, Emily. And if that scandal wasn't enough, it turned out that her husband, Nick Kingston (Chuck's son-in-law and heir apparent) had murdered Emily's half- brother, believing Ethan was the father of his wife's baby. The town still hadn't recovered from the shame and dishonour.

Then, several years after his return for the murder investigation, Leroy had nearly gotten his own father killed by the head of a Mexican drug cartel he'd managed to run afoul of somewhere along the way. She'd stormed into Stillwater in a righteous fury, and shot up Jackson's store, narrowly avoiding killing Leroy's father. Apparently, all for the sake of getting revenge on the truculent federal agent. Poor Jackson, has been forced to take refuge with Leroy for several months, sitting around twiddling his thumbs. Just so the cartel couldn't find him and finish the job.

Those two incursions had certainly set the cat amongst the pigeons. Stillwater hadn't seen so much drama in a long time – if ever. It had left the bucolic little town with plenty to flap their gums about. Seemed as if trouble with a capital T liked to follow Leroy Jethro Gibbs around.

Anyway, Leroy had given away his father's store - his legacy, to Billy Ray Huckabee, Jackson's young assistant who'd helped out in the store, but to the locals of Stillwater, Huckabee's General Store would always be known to all and sundry as Jackson's General Store. Jackson was a real salt of the earth kind of guy, no false airs and graces about him and always ready to be neighbourly. At least his assistant had the sense not to go changing the store – getting it all gussied up would not have gone down well. Folks around here like it fine, just the way it was.

Hearing the cheery sound of laughter in the canned goods section, Gloria noticed several of the ladies from the Stillwater Quilters Association were in attendance. Those gossipy old biddies were having a fine old chinwag while picking up their staples for the bake sale for the local church. While they generally worked cooperatively on quilting projects, competitiveness often got the better of many of the locals when it came to bake sales. Gloria was justifiably proud of the Key Lime Pies she'd produced for bake sales for going on thirty years now.

Some of her contemporaries and locals had been known to stoop to some highly unneighbourly methods to one-up each other, including sabotaging their competitors and indulging in domestic espionage. For example, they had been numerous invitations to luncheons attempting to get Gloria befuddled on one Long Island iced tea too many to gain her secret recipe for the pies, passed down from mother to daughter in three generations of Culpepper women. Fruitlessly she might add, since she had a real hard head for liquor – she could drink all the men in Stillwater under the table. All that happened was that her co-conspirators ended up with horrendous hangovers and no wiser about her recipe.

Maudeen Wilkins and Carol Ann Yancy, two of the biggest gossips on the planet were twittering away about recipes, which didn't exactly surprise Gloria, given the upcoming church bake sale. But then she heard them mention something about fundraising and publishing. That piqued her interest, having written the odd book or ten of historical bodice rippers - back in her heyday under her nom de plume, Cora Lee Quartermaine. She decided to join in their conversation to see what those foolish old biddies were up to now.

"Morning Maudeen, Carol Ann."

"Gloria, you'll contribute of course?"

"To what, Ladies?"

"Our next fund-raising project, Glory. That nice young woman who was here back in the Spring, the historian, she suggested it," Maude explained.

"Historian? I thought she was a geneticist – researching people's family trees," Carol Ann objected. "She was researching all the old families in Stillwater – the Fieldings, Phillpotts, Gibbs, Hunnicutts, Abernathys and the Culpeppers."

"Genealogist," Maude corrected her crony automatically. "I thought she was researching a book on small towns in Pennsylvania."

"Well anyway, Hildegard suggested that we publish a book full of local history and folk remedies plus recipes for some of our famous baked goods, jellies and preserves and sell it to raise funds for our local charities," Carol Ann explained to Gloria.

"I don't think her name was Hildegard, was it Honoria?" Maudeen inquired.

Gloria shook her head. "No, it was Hermione. I definitely remember her saying that her parents named her after the character of Queen Hermione of Sicily, in Shakespeare's A Winter's Tale. But regardless of her name, it sounds like a fine idea, Ladies."

Maudeen glanced at her slyly. "So, you'll be contributing the Culpepper's family recipe for Key Lime Pie, Glory?"

Gloria, feeling like she'd been outmanoeuvred, scowled at her associates, but made no promises. As she made her way home she decided, should they manage to get the book off the ground, that she would offer them her prize winning recipe for Lane Cake. She'd come across it in an old journal she found in a second-hand book shop in Alabama when she was doing research for one of her romance novels. Gloria liked to think that the journal may have belonged to Emma Rylander Lane who first introduced the white four-layer cake with a bourbon -laced raison and custard filling in a cookbook in 1904.

Then again, perhaps her recipe for Lady Baltimore Cake would be more fitting for the publication since many Pennsylvanians insisted that its origins could be traced back to Pennsylvania, although honestly, it's provenance was a lot less clear cut than the Lane Cake. Still this cake, often a favourite at Stillwater nuptials, it had a delectable Seven Minute Frosting with chopped nuts and candied dried fruits. When asked for the recipe, Gloria might just have left out a teeny tiny step when people had asked her for her recipe. Honestly though, Maudeen and Carol Ann could hardly be casting calumnies since they weren't exactly innocent when it came to deliberately passing on recipes and leaving out a crucial ingredient or step and sitting back and laughing from the fall out.

8th July 2016

Three identical manila envelopes containing a file were delivered to Naval Criminal Investigative Services, DC. One was addressed to Director L. Vance; the second one was addressed to the head of the NCIS legal department and the final one was addressed to the head of the NCIS human resources department.

On the same day, identical packages were also delivered to the Navy's Judge Advocate General's Office marked Confidential. A fifth package also arrived simultaneously at the J. Edgar Hoover building in DC addressed to the Deputy Director of the FBI.

When Leon opened the envelope, and studied the contents he wasn't completely shocked – not really. Angry but honestly not all that surprised that evidence had finally surfaced proving that Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs was in fact, not 52 years old as stated in his personnel file but fifty-nine. Which was well beyond mandatory retirement age for field work. While it seemed that Gibbs had somehow managed to have his age digitally altered making him appear younger, at least on paper, apparently, he'd been tripped up by a good old-fashioned paper trail.

There were certified copies of birth and marriage certificates, hospital records of his mother giving birth to Leroy Jethro, school records including high school graduation pictures and a school year book. Statutory declarations (all duly witnessed and signed by a notary public) from age mates who went to school with Gibbs. Plus, a copy his marriage certificate to Shannon Gibbs nee Fielding and the birth certificate for Kelly Ann Gibbs, corroborating the other documents in proving that Leroy Jethro Gibbs age was clearly a lot older than he purported to be.

How ironic that Jethro, who was a hoary old dinosaur when it came to technology should end up being tripped up by good old-fashioned paper trail. Clearly, he must have retained someone techno-savvy enough to alter his personnel files digitally – and whoever it was had done an excellent job. Yet for all his efforts it had been brought undone by the fact that Gibbs home town's records, at least past records, were still stored physically on paper.

Someone with an axe to grind, instead of taking pot shots at him which was the norm for his enemies that were pissed off with him, had decided to really hit him where he lived. Leon surmised that this concerted attack on him would hurt him a helluva lot more that losing a bossy ex-wife or paying a butt-load of alimony. He wondered which of Jethro's exes or ex-lovers had decided to rat him out. Personally, he suspected that it might be Dr Samantha Ryan's hand in this payback – it had all the hallmarks of a Machiavellian type like the former Psy. Ops psychologist all over it. The three exes would use blunt objects like sporting implements and Hollis Mann would probably just pull out her sidearm and shoot him, then bury him in a quiet grave somewhere.

No, Dr Ryan playing mind games was the most likely suspect – not that there was anything illegal about proving that Gibbs had committed fraud in altering his age. But choosing to get back at him in this way demonstrated an individual who had a keen understanding of how to hit him where it would hurt the most. As Gibbs had confessed to Leon after his father's funeral, this job was all he had – take it away and he had nothing!

Vance also recognised immediately that his Faustian bargain wasn't going to be enough to keep Gibbs ass out of the fire this time. Whoever had collected the evidence that Gibbs had doctored records had also Cc'd the file to the Agency's Legal and HR departments of NCIS plus he learnt later on, sent it to the JAG office and the FBI too. Gibbs was going to be in a shit load of trouble and he'd worked his last day as a field agent.

Even if he wanted a desk job, after being outed so spectacularly committing fraud against a federal agency, then he was going to be feeling a world of hurt. He had zilch chances of working in law enforcement ever again. Hell, he'd be lucky to stay out of jail and despite his distaste regarding lawyers, Gibbs would need to get himself a damned good one.

Vance didn't really have much sympathy, not with the past four years-worth of cases being contaminated by Gibbs' fraud; the agency was in deep do-do thanks to the former Marine. Which meant he was in deep do-do too. Lord knows, he'd barely managed to survive Sec Nav's attempts to force him out last year over the messy business with Forme NCIS agent Kip Klugman. But it was also quite possible that Gibbs' deception would be the coup de grâce that cost Leon his career.

22nd December 2016

Tony DiNozzo was hanging out at Heathrow Airport, waiting for the flight from the US to clear Customs. The holiday crush added to the sense of stress that accompanied this time of year – especially at a major international airport. He was here to pick up Tobias and Emily Fornell, who'd decided to accept the invitation from Hermione and himself to spend their second Christmas, post Diane's death by flying to England for a Magical Christmas.

The first year they were still reeling from her death and had been too numb to really care about Christmas – basically they'd ignored it but this year they couldn't pretend that it wasn't happening. So, Hermione decided that a first trip to England to spend with her mother's magical relatives might make it easier for the father and daughter to endure the holiday. The Fornells had accepted gratefully.

Tony had invited them to stay in his new house, seeing that he had more than enough room to put them up. Plus, he figured that as Tobias was non-magical, it would be less of a cultural shock for the FBI agent than staying in Hermione's magical home, not to mention the constant drop-ins of the entire Weasley clan. He guessed he and Emily would also feel less like they had to be polite around Tony if the whole Christmas thing got to be too much. If they were staying with Hermione they'd feel obliged put on an act, even if they were struggling to cope.

And while Emily didn't know him that well, ever since she'd learnt that he was magical like her, she'd been dogging him, wanting to know all about him. This seemed to be as good a time as any to spend some one on one time with her and help her with her own magic. Also he was finding his house a bit too empty now that Delores had purchased a cute 2-bedroom terraced cottage with a tiny paved back garden. It had lovely period features which his personal assistant had fallen hopelessly in love with and even though she'd been looking to buy a flat or even a 1 or 2-bedroom mews, this one spoke to her. Plus, as it had fireplaces it had earned his approval since if it was ever necessary, her terrace could be connected to the floo system – at least connected to his house.

Once the purchase had been finalised, Delores was impatient to move into her house and really, Tony couldn't blame her. Even though his place was more than big enough for them both, he understood that she didn't want to be seen be existing due to her boss' largesse. Not when she worked in the fishbowl of the Ministry of Magic where she had to prove herself to a bunch of unhappy witches and wizards who felt her job should have gone to someone better qualified. And for better qualified, read witch or wizard, not squib, not foreigner. Mind you, Tony loved to take her into the staff dining room and sit her down next to Hermione, Harry and Luna. Her sperm donor Percilious nearly had a seizure since he'd never had an invitation to eat at the Minister's table and he was a pureblood wizard.

Still, after Delores was safely ensconced in her own home, it left Tony to his own devices in his large home – not that he spent that much time in it. He was too busy working.

When he started out, he decided if he could find one, he'd like to buy a free-standing house with a garden and figured he'd probably need to buy a three-bedroom place. Although he didn't need three-bedrooms he'd decided that having a garden for Padfoot to be able to stretch his legs and muck about in, and being able to scent stuff in private would be nice. He'd started his search already when Harry casually announced that he was going to buy a house for his godfather, despite all his protestations to the contrary.

Tony knew that Harry felt guilty because he couldn't spend more time with him off the job or that Tony had to maintain his distance from Harry and Ginny's three children. However, camping out in Harry's back pocket would be suspicious since as far as anyone knew, they'd first met when Harry went to DC. So, Tony understood that he felt guilty about it and guilty about inheriting all the Black Family's wealth and giving Tony a house was a way of making things right. Not that Tony wanted or needed Harry to buy him anything. He could afford to buy his own place and as far as he was concerned, Harry deserved to inherit the Black title and wealth for what he'd been through. He certainly didn't begrudge him any of it.

Tony finally relented though because he figured that by being stubborn he was just adding to Harry's issues of stress and guilt and it was contrary to his objective in coming back to London. If it relieved even a fraction of his guilt then Tony would swallow his pride and accept it as the generous gift that Harry had intended it to be. Especially when Harry assured him that the 1.8 million pounds price tag was chickenfeed and wouldn't attract the suspicions of Ginny. Although the house that Harry initially wanted to buy him was way over the top – a mansion with ten bedrooms and ten bathrooms. He'd dug his heels in over that one because it was excessive and extreme. Then his godson showed him a place with five bedrooms and three bathrooms and had an establish back garden where Pads could loll around and smell the roses'.

The real estate agent had described it as a small but charming cottage, which struck Tony as pretty damned funny – since when was five bedrooms small? However, it did have generous fireplaces and since he was determined to live in non-magical London, he needed to be connected to the floo system – Hermione's stipulation – and he hated using cramped fireplaces to floo. The five-bedroom place was an interesting fusion of old and new - the main reception room had a beautiful timber vaulted ceiling, a rather grand marble fireplace and wall panelling and the back part of the house had a predominately new addition, modern glass and light. But he still thought it was excessive; his DC apartment had technically had two bedrooms but the second bedroom was little more than a walk-in closet.

But Harry was so enthusiastic about the place and had enlisted Hermione and Delores to plead his case for him. He also pointed out the gorgeous modern open plan kitchen and that Blackheath Village was a short walk away with several really good Italian restaurants and pizza places to keep Anthony happy. Hermione explained that Blackheath common had one of the largest areas of protected land at 85 odd hectares for Padfoot to run in and she also kind of clinched the argument when she pointed out the irony of Blackheath becoming home to Sirius Orion Black.

Somehow it seemed like destiny and Tony had given in, but when Delores moved into her own cute little place, he rattled around on his own. So, he was looking forward to hosting some of the Christmas festivities in his new house, especially having some awesome movie nights in one of the reception rooms he'd turned into a media room. One of the perks of his friendship with the Fornells and the fact he was putting them up, meant it would be easy enough to spend a lot of time with Harry and his kids and Hermione and her family too. Although because the Grangers had put him up when he'd first arrived it was less suspicious to spend time with her family.

By mutual agreement they'd all agreed that Emily wouldn't be let in on Tony's secret – only Hermione, Harry, Tobias and Luna Lovegood knew that was probably four people too many. Hermione was quite pissed off that Harry was right about the eccentric witch was indeed a seer and although Tony wasn't thrilled she knew who he was, even if she slipped up and spilled the beans, the chances that anyone believed her was miniscule. Plus, Luna tended to refer to him as Stubby most of the time – a joke because her father Xenophilius had been convinced he was Stubby Boardman, the lead singer of a musical group called The Hobgoblins. Although having yet another person know about his secret was risky, he did appreciate that now he had a few people who knew who he really was, which was a comforting thing when he needed a sympathetic ear.

Anyway, the feisty teenager had been excited to have a magical adult to ask advice and been disappointed when she learnt that he was accepting the job in England, which he'd found strangely touching. So henceforth he'd issued the invitation for them to spend Christmas with him.

As the red-headed young witch barrelled towards him, flinging her arms around his neck and apparently attempting to strangle him, he realised two things. First off, Emily and Tobias had obviously cleared Customs, and two, he must have zoned out momentarily. So much for keeping his eyes open for trouble. These days, major airports combined with a significant holiday such as Christmas and Easter were an invitation to terrorists to attack such a major soft target.

That was why Heathrow was crawling with security and law enforcement personnel, all on the lookout for individuals acting suspicious or known persons of interest. He really shouldn't have let his attention lapse but right now he had more immediate concerns. He had a 15-year-old girl hanging around his neck and his main concern was extricating himself from her stranglehold before he asphyxiated.

Once he was finally free and able to breathe freely, he greeted Tobias – a little less effusively to be sure before herding his charges off and proceeding to the carpark. Hermione's parents, Miranda and Grant, had offered their car for the pick-up – a BMW 380i but although Hermione was comfortable straddling the magical and non-magical world, she was flat out. Not only with Ministry business but picking up her two kids at Kings Cross Station plus Christmas shopping, so Tony had volunteered to do the honours. However, picking up Tobias and Emily, plus luggage, wouldn't have fitted into his pride and joy, his baby – an Aston Martin DB5 like Sean Connery drove during the filming of the James Bonds movies.

It was his pride and joy. One thing that both he and Anthony DiNozzo shared was a love of cars, especially sports cars. So once the Fornells and their luggage were safely situated inside the BMW saloon and they exited the car park, Fornell turned to Tony and examined him carefully, noting his greenish blue eyes which were sparkling with mischief but had been flat and dispirited by the time he resigned from NCIS.

"You look well, Tony. London obviously agrees with you."

Tony laughed. "Londoners might disagree with you, Tobias. The good old DiNozzo charm at work – I'm making friends where ever I go."

"Yeah, Hermione mentioned something about weeding out corruption, even before you were officially supposed to take up the directorship. She mentioned something about pulling a Brubaker. Is that some sort of a spell?"

Smiling broadly, his eyes crinkling in genuine amusement, he shook his head. "No, a movie. Hermione was horribly ignorant – I've been educating her. Robert Redford circa 1980, based on a true story. He was hired by the Arkansas State Governor as the warden of a prison that was rife with corruption, to weed out the vice and corrupt officials. Brubaker went in undercover as an inmate to find out which prison officers where dirty. He witnesses widespread abuse and corruption, including rampant and open sexual assault and torture, food not fit for human consumption, insurance fraud and charging inmates for medical treatment they didn't receive. He ended up discovering a killing field full of the bodies of inmates that was the final nail in his coffin as Governor."

Fornell looked across at him quizzically. "I remember now. Damned depressing movie. Redford…ah Brubaker didn't last a whole year – he did too good a job of uncovering corruption and they fired him. So, what… you got yourself arrested and went undercover?"

"Not quite. Impersonated a rookie Auror, thanks to polyjuice - disgusting muck - and hung out with the rank and file for a week. Wouldn't you think that someone would have come up with a way to make it taste less like four-week old stinky socks and elephant crap?"

Interrupting, Tobias gave a bark of amusement. "And tell me Tony, how the hell would you know what elephant excrement tastes like or stinky socks for that matter?"

Ignoring the interruption, Tony ploughed on with his story. "So anyway, I ended up firing almost thirty-five percent of the senior Auror rank and file because they were either corrupt or too dumb to know when to keep their bigoted opinions to themselves. Then I hired about 20 experienced cops who'd left the Aurors to join the regular police because they were from non-magical families and discriminated against and/or they couldn't stomach the discrimination or the corruption. I found another 5 who couldn't even make it into the Aurors in the first place who were excellent and honest cops and hired them too. Plus, I really got up certain people's noses by hiring on seventeen cops who are classified as squibs, too."

"You hired sailors? Fornell queried, confused.

"Wait…what. Sailors? Pay attention Toby, what gave you that idea?" Tony chuckled.

"You! You said you hired squids."

"Squibs, Daddy," Emily rolled her eyes at her parent's dimness as only a teenager could pull off. "I've told you before…squibs are born into magical families but they don't have magical ability…like Mom."

"Almost right, Em. Some squibs have limited ability – they might seem telekinetic, for example, but just not have sufficient power for them to practise purposeful magic or pass their NEWTs." Tony corrected her definition, kindly, smiling his heart melting grin at her to take any perceived sting out of his correction.

"Anyway, there are lots of investigatory tasks, especially forensic methods of collecting evidence that so-called squibs can perform and they're perfectly capable of questioning witnesses or taking care of victims. Plus, they're brilliant at coordinating with the regular police department, especially with all the terrorist threats.

"They already know about magic, and since they were working as cops I was able to replace the bent Aurors immediately. So now, half the magical population hates my guts for firing a bunch of influential but dishonest Aurors who were on the take, or they hate me for hiring 'muggle cops or squibs. Apart from the minister, the only people who support me are my troops – they love me."

Fornell shrugged. "It's a thankless job, weeding out corruption, DiNozzo. But then… I'm not telling you anything you didn't already know."

Tony nodded, "True."

Glancing at Emma he saw she was watching him admiringly. To a teenager his anarchic actions were probably seen as pretty cool, he supposed. Just not very smart politically, not that he cared. After putting up with 15 years of Gibbs, Shepard and Vance's crap, not to mention the various Secretaries of the Navy, he was in the mood to rock the boat.

He badly wanted to ask Tobias about his old teammates but Emily wasn't privy to a lot of the details. Not wanting to wait until they reach his house he decided to make himself less interesting to the teenager. Switching on the radio that he'd already tuned to a jazz station on the drive to Heathrow, the teen rolled her eyes in disgust and pulled out her iPod. She turned up the volume loud enough for them to hear/feel the bass, before inserting her ear buds and tuning them out.

Fornell smiled approvingly. "Smooth, Tony."

Winking in acknowledgement, he cut straight to the chase. "Thanks. So, spill. What the hell happened to the team?" He had the bare bones but there was so much that he didn't trust to email, phone calls – even letters weren't safe these days. "What did you do to Gibbs?"

"Me?" Tobias asked, sounded mightily offended. "I didn't do anything. Blame a certain brown-eyed witch who seems inordinately fond of you. She decided some payback was due for his shitty behaviour."

"Why didn't you stop her?"

"Hey, I had no idea what she was planning, Scouts honour." He held up his hands in his defence.

"But you knew she was up to something? What did she do? Did she blackmail him? I can't think of any other reason that would cause him to resign like that."

"No… she didn't blackmail him, and Jethro didn't resign. It's just what the masses were led to believe. He's been charged with fraud and altering federal documents. Hermione discovered at some point that he'd changed the age on his birth certificate, military records and NCIS personnel file. He couldn't go back and wipe out all the paper trails in Stillwater since most of the records weren't digital but paper. Like his birth at the local hospital, his marriage to Shannon and his attendance and graduation from various schools – they left a clear trail of breadcrumbs about his true age. Not to mention he couldn't wipe the memories of his fellow schoolmates or girlfriends, many of whom were happy to sign Statutory Declarations to verify he was the same age as they were.

"Plus, she located Shannon's death certificate and the first couple of marriage certificates that he never thought to have altered since I doubt Jethro ever expected he'd get caught. I guess he never expected to be on the bad side of a stubborn and brilliant witch. He's used to the people he pisses off pointing a gun at him and shooting. Also, Jethro apparently had some sort of thing going with Vance which meant the director never probed too deeply into Gibbs affairs."

"Even when he suspected he'd done something wrong?" Tony demanded.

"Especially when he suspected Gibbs was doing the wrong thing. Seems they covered for each other on other occasions and Jethro was pissed that he didn't cover this up too."

"Why didn't he? They started off as mortal enemies but they got chummy pretty damned quick," Tony observed, checking that Emily was still occupied by her music. He thought back to Domino, Michael Rivkin, the case of the Chicago boxer and the mob madam, Gibbs abduction by the Reynosa's, Gibbs looking the other way when Ziva avenged her father and Jackie Vance's killing. Oh yeah, it made perfect sense alright.

"Hermione circumvented their 'I'll-scratch-your-back-if-you-scratch-mine' arrangement. I can see why she was described as the smartest witch of her age – she planned it like a military strike," Tobias commented appreciatively.

"She sent the file she'd collected to Vance, proving that Gibbs had committed fraud and here's the truly brilliant bit. She Cc'd it to NCIS Legal and HR departments too, plus she sent it to the Assistant Director of the FBI and the Judge Advocate General. No chance of Leon covering that up. JAG and FBI turned feral and launched simultaneous investigations. The JAG is horrified that all his cases in recent years are going to need to be retried when or if the shit hits the fan."

Tony frowned. "Why?"

"Because the defence lawyers will launch appeals, arguing that since he altered his own personnel file, knowingly committed fraud for personal gain, he was perfectly capable of altering evidence to convict someone he thought was guilty. That or he wouldn't have a problem perjuring himself to convict them. I think they're hoping to keep it quiet and do the reviewing on the down low. Fat chance!"

"I heard on the grapevine that Gibbs had dropped off the radar after he resigned…um was fired," Tony commented.

Fornell smirked sardonically. "Disappeared into the basement and tried to drown himself in that gawd-damn awful bourbon of his, more like it. Dr Mallard found him collapsed by the stairs with severe alcoholic poisoning and called a bus. He was diagnosed as suffering from jaundice, pancreatitis and malnutrition – all according to Ducky are signs of some really serious alcohol abuse. The doc called his old CO Will Ryan, hoping he'd talk some sense into him."

"The colonel - he still stable and on his meds?" Ryan had been diagnosed with late-onset schizophrenia back when Cate Todd was a newbie.

"Yeah – he's doing good."

"And did he manage to talk some sense into the stubborn old bastard?"

"Nope, no talking. Ryan ripped him a new one, shouted so damned loud I bet he thought he was back in boot camp. Then he put his boot so far up Gibbs ass he got stomach cramps. Not content to rest on his laurels, Will dragged him to AA meetings and for good measure, put him to work at his charity foundation he volunteers with, working with young offenders.

"Ryan insisted he teach them carpentry and shipbuilding skills. He's moved into the spare room at Gibbs house so he can kick his butt and make sure he's staying on the straight and narrow while he waits for the court case."

Tony sighed. What a waste…

"Okay, that Gibbs. What's with the rest of the team. I heard that the whole team was replaced. Was Hermione responsible for that too?"

"No, Bishop decided to go back to the NSA after the shit hit the fan with Gibbs. Said he wasn't who she thought he was and something about not being able to depend upon McGee if she was undercover. She's fine."

"And Tim?

"Okay I know once you calmed down a bit you told me to forget about him and Bishop hacking into your tax records. But honestly, McGee can't help himself – he shot himself in the foot. Both feet! I might have already let him overhear me on the phone talking about the FBI doing the probity and security checks on you for your new job. Seems like he and Gibbs weren't happy that you wouldn't tell them which agency had hired you as director. And I might have already set a cyber trap, thanks to Pen. So, anyone snooping around making enquiries into your data at the FBI triggered an alarm."

"Pen? Is that Penelope Garcia?"

"Yeah, the woman is a genius with a keyboard and totally evil. Bit like a cyber version of Hermione - if they ever teamed up they'd be master criminals and rule the world." Both men exchanged a glance, shuddering at the thought of them joining forces.

"She's kind of adopted Emily since she heard about Diane's death. Having a female that can be a sounding board has been really helpful for her and she's enough of an anarchist to appeal to a teenager whose angry and grieving. Plus, she lost her own parents and can relate.

"Anyway, when Tim made the first unsuccessful attempt to hack into my computer I ignored it, because of what you said. But the trouble was that he wouldn't give up, he kept on trying. See Pen had created this evil trap when she was staying at Quantico in protective custody earlier in the year.

"She had a bunch of cyber nasties were trying to kill her and a lot of spare time on her hands and was feeling evil. It was designed to draw in hackers and keep them coming back so she'd have a better chance of tracking them down.

"Near as I can tell, it's brilliant," he confided, admiringly. "The hacker thinks they're getting through all these complex firewalls to reach their prize and right at the last minute – BAM - they get thrown out and have to start all over again. Except after each failure she ups the ante and makes it a bit more difficult. She's designed it to be more addictive than crack cocaine except it's like a game, something about neurobiology and CT scans she utilised to make it even more addictive. So, when I asked her to set up a trap on my computer at work, she decided to have McGee beta test her new baby."

Tony grimaced, thinking about how McGee was always bragging about the software he got asked to beta. How ironic he was unknowingly helping Garcia to catch Black Hats because of his own compulsion for hacking. Not sure he'd have appreciated the irony when he found out, though.

"So?" Tony asked, not sure he wanted to know.

"Pen let it go, because I told her you didn't want to pursue it anymore and I figured that his constant failure to crack my computer must be driving him crazy, which was punishment of sorts. So I didn't insist she remove it from my computer. It seemed harmless and he was helping us out… even though he had no idea."

"But?" Tony prompted because he sensed a humungous but.

"But... Penelope was having way too much fun with the beta test and kept it going, taunting him - driving him nuts. Said she was obtaining invaluable data to fine tune it…and then unfortunately it came to the attention of the FBI cyber-nerds that someone at NCIS was making repeated unauthorised attacks on my computer. They set up a sting of their own, gained remote access to his computer and started an exhaustive investigation into his activities, including past ones. They turned over evidence to various agencies he'd been hacking into, including that stupid foray into your tax records."

Tony groaned. Oh crap, he was glad he wasn't around when the shit hit the fan. That would not have been pretty. "And?"

"And Vance managed to claim that most of his hacking was for National Security purposes and made various deals with directors of other agencies. I reckon his lips must have gotten pretty chapped from all the ass-kissing."

Tony snorted at the gross image. "Eww Toby. Was that necessary? I meant your comment – some thoughts simply aren't for sharing. And why do I sense another but?"

"Because you're no fool, DiNozzo. The IRS weren't convinced that McGee hacking into their records to gain details of your tax return so he could figure out how you afforded your Georgetown apartment was a matter of National Security. Imagine that!" Tobias exclaimed theatrically.

"Similarly, the FBI weren't convinced that over 60 hours of trying to crack an encrypted file on your probity and security checks for MI5 and MI6 was a matter of national security either. They charged him with a raft of indictments and the judge threw the book at him."

Tony looked at him, shocked. "McGee's in prison? This is my fault – I set him up in the first place. Can't we appeal?"

"C'mon Tony. This isn't your fault – Tim made way too many enemies with his hacking over the years – and mostly within the law enforcement community. You know he hacked - even when there was no need; hell, the guy routinely hacked into the DMV rather than make a phone call or get a warrant. He was always living on borrowed time – but to hack into the IRS and for a non-work query was grossly arrogant and downright stupid. Even Al Capone learned the hard way that you don't mess with them."

"Yeah but if I hadn't been whinging about it to you, he wouldn't be in prison." Tony pointed out guiltily.

"You didn't force him to try to break into the IRS for your tax records, or for that matter, break into my computer to try to read the encrypted file. His own arrogant belief that he was too good to be caught was what really tripped him up and honestly, it was just a matter of time before he pissed off one person too many. Besides, Tony, he's not going to be in prison for too much longer. Seems that the FBI's Cyber Crimes Division adheres to Jethro's Rule # 5."

"You don't waste good?" Tony parroted without thinking. "What does that even mean in this context, Tobias?"

"It means that Deputy Director, Aubrey Ryan has a delicious and perverse sense of irony. First, she catches the hackers and she takes great personal satisfaction in throwing their asses into jail and then she gives them the chance to stay there and serve out their sentence (which in his case was a damned long time) or work for the FBI Cyber Crimes division.

"McGee spent a couple of months sitting on his ass in a federal penitentiary before he got a visit from Aubrey and an offer to work for the light side. It also means he can't afford to put a foot out of line or his ass will be thrown back in jail, permanently. Obviously he accepted the job and he'll be out in the new year, maybe February or March if all things go smoothly."

"What about Bishop?"

She's fine, Tony. She admitted being an accessory to the IRS hacking and testified against McGee because she refused to take part in the subsequent accessing of the encrypted files on my computer. She got a rap over the knuckles as in a black mark on her record. As I said, after Gibbs was forced to resign she decided to return to the NSA, although I hear that the DEA are trying to recruit her.

"Vance on the other hand…Dead Man Walking. Rumour has it that Sarah Porter is just waiting for the mess with Gibbs and McGee to die down a bit and then he'll be shown the door." Tobias shook his head but he didn't exactly look upset about Leon Vance – the man was a loose cannon.

"And Ducky?" Tony inquired softly.

"Dr Mallard had a belated epiphany about how short-sighted he'd been and decided it was time to hang up his rib cutters and his Stryker saw. Now that he's retired from NCIS he consults part-time and is an expert witness. He was shaken up by all the crap that was going on right under his nose and he decided he was past it. Of course, call me a cynic, but the fact he was sent to Coventry by most of his former UK Intel. contacts might well have contributed to his Road to Damascus moment. It was a pretty major wake up call."

The director of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement sighed. They were silent for several minutes as both men contemplated the ignominious end to what had been a most illustrious career in law enforcement for the esteemed medical examiner. Fornell was hoping that would be the end of Tony's inquiries. Knowing Tony's inclination for blaming himself for things he wasn't responsible for, Tobias was willing to bet he was already castigating himself over the demise of his former team. Unjustly, in Tobias' opinion.

The brutal truth was that every individual on Gibbs team had their fair share of faults and personality traits that made them difficult to work with, including Gibbs – especially Gibbs. A good leader should have been able to compensate for all the quirks and flaws of their team members, though. But Gibbs with his micromanagement of his team, his paranoia - not letting his right hand know what his left hand was doing, let alone deliberately keeping his agents out of the loop even while making them to compete against each other, magnified all their shortcomings. However, in Fornell's opinion, perhaps Jethro's most serious failure as a supervisor was his stubborn refusal to uphold or enforce the chain of command, constantly undercutting his second-in-charge's position within the team, effectively rendering DiNozzo impotent as SFA.

Any wonder the highly experienced and gifted investigator had turned increasingly to irritating his team when he failed to receive the respect that was his due as second in command. A position he'd held for well over a decade.

If Gibbs had just ensured that the junior agents had known their place when he'd brought them onto the team, even if he hadn't addressed all the other issues, Tobias was sure that the whole tenor of the team would have been very different. It would have been far more positive – and more than likely, it wouldn't have imploded like it had when DiNozzo left. But the fault wasn't Tony's, or if he bore any responsibility, then there was plenty of blame to go around, with each and every one of them on or associated with the team at least as responsible.

Finally, the silence was broken between them by Tony's melancholy sigh. "And Abby?" he asked in a monotone. "Where is she?"

Groaning inwardly, the FBI agent shared what was common knowledge - which wasn't a lot. "She was working in the private sector for a bit, but she refused to observe the dress code, wanted to work with her ear-splitting music and expected her superior to keep her juiced up on caffeinated drinks. That wasn't going to fly anywhere but NCIS, no matter how damned good she was. Word got around pretty damned fast about her unprofessional attitude and now none of the major labs or corporations will touch her. Last I heard, she was working a few shifts a week for that Ancestry crowd, running DNA tests and managing a Goth club that's reputed to be in danger of foreclosure."

Privately, he'd heard that Sciuto was starting to act erratically, possibly affected by the post hypnotic suggestion that Hermione had placed whilst she was in the psych ward at Walter Reed more than seven months ago. She'd been writing long rambling letters to all the various team members including Ducky, Vance and Palmer, berating them all for their behaviour regarding Tony. Thus far Abby showed no sign of being capable of, or perhaps willing to acknowledge her own culpability in what had gone down. He was not about to share that data with Tony at this point in time however. She was every bit as stubborn as Gibbs when it came down to believing that she was right and everyone else must be wrong.

Tobias wondered why it was so hard for her to see things from other peoples' point of view which inevitably led on to similar musings about Jethro, too. But knowing that would take a truckload of profilers to figure out, he resolved to put it out of his mind and just enjoy this precious time with Emily and get to know all Diane's magical relatives instead. Life was too short to worry about people who refused to help themselves.

24th December 2016

Fornell watched Emily as she and the other teenagers played with Tony's Wii, they were using a ten-pin bowling game. Fornell figured it was probably a fairly easy game for the magical kids who weren't au fait with technology or computer games to grasp how to play and join in on. While Hermione's pair, Hugo and Rose had grown up straddling both worlds, especially since their father's death, they still weren't as comfortable with technology as Emily who practically had her cell phone and iPod grafted to her person.

Harry and Ginny's kids were definitely far less comfortable than their cousins, probably because they spent the majority of their time with their magical cousins and grandparents who, frankly, were clueless when it came to all things non-magical. Even their grandfather, Arthur who was supposed to be an expert on items used by non-magicals was woefully unfamiliar with some of the simplest things.

Still despite their differences, Em seemed to enjoy getting to know the other magical teenagers who were distantly related to her mother. She was getting on well with Albus and Hugo, although she'd really seemed to hit it off with Lily and Rose. Seeing her smiling and laughing made him glad they'd decided to spend Christmas in England. Well mostly happy. It was the fifth one of the group of English teens and also the eldest, who had Tobias' blood pressure soaring off the charts.

He was a young, handsome looking kid with cobalt-blue coloured hair, which Fornell immediately labelled as a sign of rebellious self-expression. Another black mark against him – and it was a biggie - Em was totally besotted with the kid whose name was Teddy Lupin. While he was still trying to sort out everyone and who they were related to, he knew that Teddy was Harry Potter's godson. That said, he was equally sure that he must also have some connection to Tony by the complex and contradictory way DiNozzo looked whenever his name was mentioned. Fondly affectionate, yet also pained; absurdly proud yet guilt-ridden.

Tobias had gathered that the young man, who had just finished school, was a trainee Auror. Apparently even now, very few magical youngsters in Britain attended regular tertiary education. Hermione's brother-in-law, Harry and her husband, Ron had never even returned to school to complete their final year at the end of the war. She was something of an oddity, having obtained post graduate degrees at university as the Brits referred to College.

So, he was not real thrilled that Emily had a crush on a boy with blue hair who was going to be a cop but hadn't gone to college. Call him a hypocrite, since he was in law enforcement too, as Diane had been, but he was hoping Emily would end up with a nice doctor or a lawyer. Hmm on second thoughts, perhaps not a lawyer…maybe an architect, an orthodontist or even an aeronautical engineer.

Someone flopped down beside him; Harry Potter, who handed him a beer. "He's a really good kid. You don't have to worry about Emily," Harry assured Tobias, indicating Teddy.

"I'm sure he is but Em's my little girl, and she's had a tough time. It's a father's job to hate all her male friends, especially when they are significantly older."

Harry chuckled. "Hey, I'm the father of a teenage girl too. I get it. But honestly, Teddy is a great kid. Besides, I don't know if you've noticed but he's got a bit of a bromance slash hero-worship going on himself at the moment; so, I think Emily's reputation is safe." He motioned to Teddy who was joking with Tony.

Fornell watched as Tony was explaining something about the Wii to the blue haired young man. Anyone who knew him well could see how terribly pensive he seemed as the youngster lapped up the attention with an expression of rapt concentration.

"Who is Teddy to Tony. He's not his father, is he?"

The black-haired wizard erected a privacy shield and shook his head. "He was extremely close to Teddy's parents. Remus was one of his best friends at Hogwarts along with my father, James Potter. Plus, Teddy's mother was Sirius' favourite cousin, Andromeda's daughter – Nymphadora Tonks. She was an Auror too and if you dared to call her Nymphadora she tore your arm off and slapped you with it." He looked incredibly sad and he took a long swig of his drink before continuing. "They were both killed in the war, not long after Teddy was born."

"Does Teddy know who Tony is?" Fornell asked softly, wincing at the tragedy that Teddy had endured.

"That Tony is his first cousin twice removed? No, but maybe someday he will. Tony has started mentoring him with his Auror training. He was identified and recruited in the nascent training program for his undercover potential even before Tony officially took over the department. He's begun giving him special one-on-one training. Hermione says that when she checked him out she learnt that Tony was an expert in undercover work in the US?" Harry stated it as fact, although Fornell sense the query.

"The best I've ever worked with. He brought down a mafia boss and his whole family, even though it took almost a year to do. Another case…took over a team full of rookies – had to do the lion share of the investigating. Still managed to work on an undercover case at the same time and not one of his team had a clue that for almost a year he was also pretending to be a college professor. He can slip in and out of new personas' in the blink of an eye."

"But isn't Teddy a bit too young for undercover work at this stage of his career? He's not even qualified yet," Tobias asked, returning to the earlier topic.

"Teddy shares a unique gift with his mother, who was great undercover too." Seeing the open curiosity in the FBI agent's eyes, Harry yelled, "Cadet Lupin, report!"

Teddy jumped to attention and marched over. "Something I can assist you with Auror Potter, Sir."

"Emily's dad used to work with Tony as a federal agent. He's curious about your potential undercover abilities. Rather than trying to explain to him what a metamorphmagus is – I thought you could just show him, Teddy."

Teddy grinned and nodded. Suddenly the kid's overly long, cobalt coloured hair turned salt and pepper before Fornell's eyes and his hair line receded dramatically. Fornell found himself looking at his doppelganger before suddenly he was looking at a carbon copy of his own beloved daughter. Finally, he found himself looking at Tony or a Tony clone. Seeing Fornell's astonishment he started laughing, before shifting back into Teddy once more, complete with blue hair that could do with a trim.

Emily squealed like a fangirl. "OMG, you're an metamorphmagus. That's so cool. Dad you have no idea how rare it is. Wait 'til I tell the kids at school that I met one. Hang on …we're not related, are we?" Seeing her look of hero worship, Tobias snorted, not comforted by the tangible evidence of his teenage daughter's crush as she stared adoringly at Teddy.

Hermione chuckled as she smacked her father's knuckles playfully. "Well you're distantly related to the Weasleys who are distantly related to the House of Black. Plus, you're distantly related to him through James, Albus and Lily because Harry is also related to the Black family on his paternal grandmother's side. She was Dorea Black before her marriage and Teddy's Gran, Andromeda Tonks nee Black was Sirius' cousin before she was married."

Seeing Emily's woe begotten, kicked puppy-dog face she chuckled harder. "But everyone is related to someone in English magical families… if you go back far enough. But not enough to stop you two dating or marrying though," she smiled, seeing Teddy looking bashful while Emily looked relieved, but blushing.

Fornell glared daggers at her and she smiled back brightly, since she knew that Teddy's bashfulness was probably related to rumours that he was keen on Bill and Fleur Weasleys' eldest daughter. Victorie was more closely related to him than the American teenager whose relationship was tenuous. No doubt he was probably relieved by her explanation that no matter who he ended up dating, in such a small population he would be distantly related to them and it wouldn't be a problem. Unless he wanted to marry a close cousin.

Meanwhile, Harry was enthusiastically nattering on to Fornell about the changes Tony had introduced to combat corruption and Tobias concluded that Teddy wasn't the only one who seemed to have a bromance going on with Tony. Harry was describing how Tony had introduced annual lie detector tests and random drug tests to ensure that Aurors weren't under the influence of drugs or alcohol on duty. Fornell was impressed by how much Tony had achieved in such a short time but he figured that after cooling his jets on Gibbs team for so long, Tony was feeling energised facing the challenge of cleaning house.

One thing did catch him by surprise – Harry mentioned how Tony had set up a DNA and fingerprint database so that if the Aurors accidentally contaminated crime scenes, they wouldn't waste time chasing false leads. Fornell knew the database could also be useful in identifying dead Aurors who might have been beyond being recognised physically but it also could help catch Aurors who committed crimes. All were laudable reasons for having a database but Tobias was caught off guard by the fact that Tony had collected not only blood and epithelial cells (mouth swabs) but Harry innocently mentioned that Tony had collected a hair sample too.

Frankly, that was a bit unorthodox – you could get mitochondrial DNA from the hair shaft that provided information on the direct maternal line of mother to daughter but the more useful DNA testing – autosomal and Y-DNA testing required access to the hair follicle. But as Tobias was well aware, you could also use hair samples for other types of testing such as hair analysis including toxicology. The FBI agent wondered what the hell Tony was up to.

25th December 2016

"Honestly, Tony, we'd be perfectly fine alone here tonight. We could watch a DVD in your movie room – after that magnificent lunch today, we're more than happy to look after ourselves. You and Hermione should go to the Weasleys for Christmas dinner with the kids." Tobias maintained and Emily nodded her agreement.

"Yeah, we're good," she concurred.

Tony chuckled. Hermione had flooed to the Weasleys to put in a brief appearance and accompany her two kids, although she wasn't staying for dinner, just some celebratory drinks. She had begged off attending the large Christmas dinner, pleading she had her guests from America to entertain. He'd politely declined an invitation for the same reason, especially since the Fornells were staying at his place.

"Trust me, Tobias, you're not an imposition. I'm glad of the excuse. Between you and me, Molly's not sure what to make of me, being American and all, and its awkward," he stated cryptically, giving him a look.

Fornell decided not to question him further. Emily and the Grangers who were here too didn't know Tony's real identity. He could only imagine how difficult it must be to have to be with people he knew well like the Weasleys and to pretend not to know.

"Okay, I get that you probably feel like an outsider and that red-headed mob, no offense intended Em, can be a zoo with all the spouses and grandkids. But Hermione's family. There's no reason why she shouldn't go be with Hugo and Rose and enjoy herself."

Grant Granger chuckled and exchanged a look with his wife Miranda. "No need to feel guilty, Tobias. Confidentially, Hermione and her mother-in-law are a bit like oil and water. She's a traditionalist to her bootstraps and our daughter is, as I'm sure you've already gathered, a reformer, so they often clash. Molly's also a tad xenophobic, as her eldest daughter-in-law Fleur can attest. She's still not happy that the Head of the DMLE is a foreigner and that Hermione was the one who appointed him."

Fornell looked at Tony who shrugged and smirked but it was what the FBI agent had come to think of as him 'having his game face on.' It was impossible to tell what he was really thinking or feeling.

"Doesn't she know that you're half English, have a British passport and come from a highly influential bunch of bluebloods?"

Yes, but I'm half American too and that side of the family was originally from Italy and therefore I'm a foreigner. She thinks that Hermione should have given the job to Harry."

"Hermione must have had a good reason for choosing you."

"She did," Miranda championed her daughter. "Apart from them both having concerns about the appearance of nepotism, Harry was becoming jaded by the endemic corruption. He thought when they cleared it out after he killed Riddle that was the end of it."

"Plus, Harry is tossing up whether to change careers. He's thinking of teaching," Grant commented, clearly in Harry's confidence.

"The truth is, that it's easier for an outsider to come in and make the sweeping changes that are needed to ensure that corruption doesn't have a chance to become entrenched," Tony declared. "Since this is something that non-magical law enforcement have had to struggle with in the last few decades, bringing transparency and accountability into play, it made sense for me to do it. Plus, you told Hermione how much I despised betrayal and dirty cops, Toby."

"Well it's true, you're disgustingly incorruptible, DiNozzo. Even fifteen years working for under 'Gibbs' Rules' never managed to smash your moral compass. You know the system is far from perfect but that if you don't work within the system we have, warts and all, you end up becoming everything you hate, end up just as bad as the perps."

Tony shrugged, not so sure he was such a good guy. He'd let stuff slide with Gibbs and the team when he should have reported it. "Well anyhow, upstart foreigner comes in, makes sweeping changes, gets rid of corrupt but politically connected Aurors and hires 'muggle- trained' cops and squibs in their place. Everyone hates his guts but if it had been an insider who pulled this shit, it would have been so much harder on them, more pressure brought to bear.

"Hermione would also have copped way more criticism in her new role than she has. Being a foreigner and 'from the muggle' world, it is easy for me being the scape goat. Plus, I don't give a rats about popularity or my political future."

It was true, he could always get a full-time job with MI6 or the cops. Alternatively, he could always go back to the US. He could also take his time finding a job - Harry had already insisted on giving him a portion of the Black Fortune despite his protestation, in addition to purchasing his London home.

Tony had left the money sitting in an account, untouched, just like he had DiNozzo's trust fund from Tony's mother in an account earning interest. Tony had tried handing it back to Anthony's father but Anthony had been adamant that he'd just blow it on a dodgy deal or drink the proceeds. He insisted that Tony keep it and although it felt wrong, he had never actually touched the principle though.

He'd taken some of the interest earned to buy his beloved mustang that had been blown up and then when he came back to London, used some more of the interest to purchase his Aston Martin. The trust fund had also come in handy as collateral when he decided to buy his apartment in DC, since as McGee had discovered, it was a bargain due to its unfortunate history. Of course, having magical spells available to him to clean up all the blood and gore from the crime scene had been a decided advantage when he'd purchased the property. So now he had a second big bank account just sitting there should he ever get into difficulty and need to find a job.

Not that he hadn't enjoyed cleaning up the department that almost three decades before had incarcerated him without the opportunity of a trial. He'd tried hard to be dispassionate and not let bitterness and revenge rule his decision-making process. He channelled his inner Anthony with his deep abhorrence of all things corrupt to help Tony rid the department of the entrenched graft and corruption. One of the first things Tony had done in conjunction with Harry was to quietly investigate every single prisoner to ensure that there wasn't any other witches or wizards who had been incarcerated without receiving a trial.

Since his appointment, Tony had brought in a whole raft of reformist measures such as biannual lie detector tests - in line with some of the most innovative non-magical law enforcement agencies. The only difference being that the DMLE could use veritaserum instead of measures of galvanic skin changes. Mind you, thanks to Padfoot, he had a huge advantage when it came to liars. He remembered a television show called The Sentinel about a guy who had extraordinary sensory abilities. It was of course, the result of someone's fertile imagination but Pads had extremely sensitive taste, hearing, scent. All of which could assist in him detecting a liar - although to be perfectly honest, licking someone's skin to detect miniscule changes in biochemistry was a bit gross albeit fairly normal canine behaviour. Being able to let Pads out to play on the common on a regular basis he found his human sensory abilities had become even better, and they had always been better than the average human, magical or non-magical. Of course, as a wizard he couldn't exactly rock up and lick someone to determine if they were lying or not but smell and hearing was still pretty accurate indicators of someone trying to deceive him.

In addition, he'd also introduced a raft of financial anticorruption measures that included mandatory declaration of any services or goods offered to the Aurors in the course of their job. They also had to declare and agree to oversight of any bank balances just like he'd needed to when he was at Baltimore PD or NCIS with Anthony's inheritance. And he'd also made it mandatory to declare financial affiliations upon being hired to avoid any perception of impropriety.

Another important anticorruption measure that he'd instituted was a long overdue scheme to protect his Aurors' financially, should they be injured or killed in the line of duty, so that their families were taken care of. It was also in line with other law enforcement agencies and imminently reasonable, given the life-threatening risks they ran. Tony knew it would make it easier for them to resist criminals attempts to corrupt them if they knew their families would be well taken care of if they weren't around.

It was just the start – Hermione and himself were working on ways of increasing Auror salaries, simultaneously raising their standing and the standard of applicants. It would mean that he could have his pick of the crop of young wizards and witches and train them the way he wanted. With his new initiatives, Tony was hoping that they would soon be on par with the rest of their law enforcement brethren in the UK.

He'd noticed since his return that there was an air of smugness surrounding the magical community that was way too familiar. They believed themselves to be far superior to the normal population because of their magical abilities which had lead them to rest on their laurels for way too long. Now that the rest of society had entered the technological age, they were no longer inferior – in many ways they'd far exceeded the magical world. Space travel or forensic science being but two examples of how far superior they were in lots of ways.

Tony was keen to incorporate forensics into the Auror training program – he figured that it would be easier to educate the trainees rather than trying to change the perceptions of older more closed-minded individuals. He still had the cops he'd hired who were accustomed to working with the benefits of forensic science to help solve cases. Which wasn't to say that he was opposed to using magic to solve crimes – he'd found some creative ways to get to the bottom of a few cold cases that none of his colleagues thought could be solved.

Sighing, knowing change didn't happen overnight, he wandered into the kitchen to organise their dinner. Hermione should be back soon and then they'd all sit down and eat before watching Tony's favourite Christmas movie – It's a Wonderful Life – together. It was one of Anthony's few happy memories with his mother – that and the caramel popcorn.

As far as Christmas dinner was concerned, it was just going to be a simple meal – soup and sandwiches and Miranda had supplied a plum pudding and brandy custard. He'd made the minestrone soup the day before – it was one of those dishes which always benefited from having a day or two to develop its full flavours. And the turkey or honey cured ham sandwiches were leftovers from a glorious lunch today.

Grant came into Tony's ultra-modern kitchen and offered to help, so he had him start buttering bread and assembling various condiments for people to add, depending on personal preferences. Meanwhile, he kept watch over the soup and shaved some fresh parmesan cheese. Miranda drifted in to heat up the plum pudding and warm the custard while Tony transferred the steaming soup into a tureen and began to locate the soup plates. Heading into the dining area, he yelled at Grant to stop nicking the slices of ham and he grinned as Hermione emerged from his flooed fireplace.

Hermione had insisted when he decided to live in a non-magical locale that the house he purchased needed to have a working fireplace and he'd duly obeyed. She was after all his boss.

Watching her emerge gracefully, he chuckled. Even after years of practise, Harry still ended up on his butt. "Perhaps you should give Auror Potter pointers on how to floo without looking like a buffoon," he suggested hopefully. "It is hard to instil the appropriate level of gravitas for our Auror Corps into the public when he arrives on his butt."

Hermione shook her head in defeat. "I've tried; for someone who was the youngest ever seeker at Hogwarts in a century, he can be surprisingly ungainly. He tried claiming it was because he grew up with the Dursleys but I put the kybosh on that pathetic excuse, since I never flooed until I was at Hogwarts and I don't end up on my bum."

"Maybe Harry could put a cushioning charm on his butt, so he bounces back onto his feet," Emily suggested, amused.

She had been fascinated with the form of magical transportation since it wasn't available back home. Although the retail savvy American teen had taken great delight in dragging all the Weasley cousins including Harry's kids and Rose and Hugo to Harrods and Harvey Nichols on a retail therapy outing. They'd been suitably gobsmacked by the store escalators and surprised that muggles had lifts (elevators for the Americans) too, like at the Ministry of Magic but were even more amazed at the vast array of foods available there in one place.

Hermione's kids were pretty accustomed to non-magical society since they were taken out into it regularly, not just by their mother but by Grant and Miranda as well. Harry occasionally took his kids into London to the theatre, restaurants or the movies but the rest of the Weasley mob relied mostly on Arthur and his rather quaint knowledge of non-magicals. Emily was quickly proving to be a subversive influence, with her love of retail therapy; she'd also dragged them all off to The London Eye.

After bowling on Tony's Wii set-up, it had been decided to take the rest of the Weasley cousins ten pin bowling at a real bowling alley. Emily had a list of other places she wanted to go including: crazy golf and attending the ballet at Sadler Wells, attend a show at the West End, visiting Buckingham Palace and the Tower of London. The teenager was determined to drag Tobias and as many of the Weasley kids along with her as possible.

Tony had also promised to take them to see a pantomime – Aladdin - tomorrow night, since none of the Weasley kids or Teddy had ever been to see one. It also wasn't common in the US so he doubted if Emily or Tobias had been to one either. The Grangers thought it was a wonderful idea and volunteered to help chaperone Rose and Hugo's cousins, although Tony suspected that like him, they were secretly happy to have an excuse to attend without looking pathetic. Delores Bromstead, his personal assistant had also offered to help with transportation and chaperone duties.

Harry was coming of course with his three but Ginny had begged off, supposedly because of her pregnancy, although Hermione had commented rather archly that she hadn't let her previous pregnancies interfere with her social engagements. Apparently, Ginny wasn't a fan of non-magical entertainments, rarely accompanying Harry when he did take the kids out -usually with Hermione and her kids. According to the kids, their mother was permanently in a bad mood since she fell pregnant five months ago and Harry was bending himself into a pretzel to try to mollify her, although he was fighting a losing battle.

Although her pregnancy had been a shock to everyone, Harry was over the moon with happiness. Frankly the timing sucked and Tony was more than a little bit suspicious. When he arrived, he'd decided to have Harry tested to see if Ginny had been potioning him or she had just taken advantage of his lack of experience in affairs of the heart. He'd finagled a hair sample from Harry under the guise of setting up a DNA database and sent it away for toxicology. It had come back with some anomalies, unidentified substances that he was having analysed but even if he had irrefutable proof, with Ginny expecting a new little Potter, he didn't reckon it would make a bit of difference.

There was no way that Harry would consider leaving her with a baby on the way. Still, Tony was cynical. It was if Ginny knew he suspected her and had deliberately fallen pregnant to thwart him. Although he loved Harry's kids, part of him chaffed at the thought that the heir to the House of Black and Potter for that matter might have been begat via a love potion. Unfortunately, it looked as if Ginny held all the cards so Tony turned his thoughts back to the pantomime.

They'd invited Molly and Arthur to the pantomime too but the Weasley matriarch declined politely though Tony had been able to persuade Arthur to come, knowing the eccentric wizard would adore pantomime. After all, song and dance, slapstick comedy and cross-dressing actors all combined with topical humour and a plot which was loosely based on a well-known fairy tale, fable or folk tale – what's not to love? With its highly participatory form, where the audience is encouraged, expected even, to sing along and shout out phrases to the performers – Tony expected Arthur to really enjoy himself since he had a child-like naiveté that could be quite endearing.

He had to admit he was looking forward to it too. While as a member of the House of Black, he'd never attended one before, Anthony DiNozzo had gone one year with his mother when they'd been visiting her Paddington relatives at Christmas. He was five or six at the time and it was one of his only truly happy memories of Christmas, so now Tony couldn't wait to go and experience it for himself. He was looking forward to watching the kids watch the pantomime too.

He'd initially been tempted to book seats for Peter Pan because he was curious about the cross dressing. It was a tradition for the theatrical productions of the show to cast a girl to play the main character of Peter Pan but because panto tradition was for the opposite sex to swap roles, Tony was curious to see if panto Peter would then be played by a real boy.

Then he remembered how Cate had frequently accused him of being an X-rated Peter Pan and he decided Aladdin was a better choice. Christmas was a happy time for him this year and he didn't want to spoil it by thinking about the past too much.

~o0o~

As Tony, Emily and the Grangers were putting the finishing touches to Christmas dinner, Hermione sat beside Tobias, sipping some mulled wine.

"So why does Tony dislike your mother-in-law? Is it just because she doesn't like 'foreigners' and thinks you should have appointed Harry as the head of DMLE?" Fornell asked bluntly.

Hermione rolled her eyes. "Well spotted, Toby. You should be an investigator! No, it isn't because she's xenophobic – and she is, by the way," she confirmed, standing up and checking to make sure that her parents and Emily were otherwise occupied before gaining her seat once more.

"It's because she interfered in Padfoot's relationship with Harry. It was while he was out in hiding at his ancestral home, and a grim and depressing place it was for someone who'd spent 12 years of their life in Hell in the company of Dementors. Anyway, the Weasleys, Harry, Ron, Ginny and I were all staying there with him too, since it was starting to get dangerous by then. So anyway, the Weasleys had put Harry up a few times at the Burrows - that's their home - and suddenly Molly's acting like it made him their seventh son and she should get to say what happened to him.

"She undermined Pads and was disrespectful of his attempts to re-establish his relationship with Harry, which from what I understood was a close one. He'd certainly spent a lot longer than a few weeks with him, which was Molly's claim to fame. Padfoot was Harry's father's best friend and his parents had chosen him as his godfather, not Molly who they didn't know from a bar of soap," Hermione said, full of indignant rage on someone's behalf. Tobias just wasn't sure if it was Harry's, Sirius' or both.

"Aside from trying to come between them, she wasn't exactly empathetic to Padfoot, didn't like him. I realise now that he was suffering from PTSD but she didn't even try to understand or help him. She wasn't even particularly grateful that he was letting them stay in his house where they were completely safe – it was under a fidelis charm and the Death Eaters couldn't find it. If she'd shown him some kindness, even if she or Dumbledore sought the assistance of a mind healer, he might not have behaved so impulsively and with such little concern for his safety that night at the Ministry and Harry would have still had his godfather."

Hermione scowled fiercely, sipping the chianti with its array of spices and clementine before she stared into the flames of the fire that Tony had burning. She looked around Tony's main reception room with its beautiful vaulted ceiling, grandiose marble fireplace and wall panelling, sighing.

"Hell, what am I saying? If she'd been half the mother to Harry she thought she was, she would have made sure he got the help of a mind healer after Cedric's death. A mind healer might have prevented the whole fiasco at the Ministry but then again, the Weasleys didn't even get help for Ginny after she'd been possessed by Voldemort for months in her first year at Hogwarts. Although, I guess to be fair, it's possible that Dumbledore never told them all the details of Ginny's possession – he always did like to keep things close to his chest."

Fornell raised his eyebrows. Such a lot of tangents to pursue. Deciding that time was limited and he could go back later and clarify details, he kept it simple.

"So how did Harry feel about her interference in his relationship with his godfather?"

"To be honest Toby, I'm not sure he was really aware of it. He was always fairly clueless about relationships. Not surprising considering his impoverished background, but then he was so starved of affection that it made him ill-equipped to deal with conflict or betrayal. Even the smallest kindness had a huge impact on him.

"He named his son after Dumbledore, a wizard who raised him like a farmyard animal to be broken and malleable, so at the appropriate time he would sacrifice himself. He gave his son a middle name of the man who betrayed his parents because of jealousy and revenge and despite what Snape may have done to help out in the war effort, he and Dumbledore don't deserve his forgiveness or his admiration. That should give you a clue how easy it was to win him over."

Sensing how strongly she felt, he decided to change the subject since it was Christmas night. "So, from what I heard, Tony seems to be succeeding in reforming your law enforcement procedures? Is he happy in the job?"

Hermione grinned. "He's been busy in the six months he's held the job. Even though he's taken a few cases with MI6 and one with the Met, he's ripped through the DMLE like a whirlwind. He's made a fair few enemies along the way but his Aurors love him and would walk through fire if he asked them to."

"He said he got rid of a lot of corrupt Aurors?"

"Yeah, I think it shocked people to their core to realise that even though we cleaned the department after the war, that we had corruption again. They think that Voldemort was the cause, not that he simply took advantage of corruption that was already there. I suspect there is just as much corruption in the Ministry, if not the Wizengamot too – just like in the non-magical government and houses of parliament. Corruption will always flourish where ignorance and greed exist and power is entrusted to a few individuals who think that their tenure means there is no need for accountability."

Tobias nodded. "True. Power tends to corrupt..."

"And absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men." Hermione finished the famous quote by Lord Acton.

"And that's what makes you such a cool Minister of Magic. Most of your brethren wouldn't have a clue what I was talking about…you Hermione finish the quote."

Hermione shrugged and returned to the topic. "Anyway… even if Tony has managed to make a lot of enemies he's pretty much taken the wind out of his detractors sails too. And the baby Aurors all think he walks on water. He solved some old crimes – like over ten years old that the old-timers said were unsolvable, just by reading the case files. He also solved a couple of extremely dangerous cases without a spell even being fired by anticipating what might happen and having backup in place. He's an amazing investigator – just like you said."

The FBI agent nodded. "That's why I tried to recruit him for years."

Hermione nodded knowingly. "Yes, I can see why. He's formed a new section within the DMLE – undercover specialists and he's training those recruited in undercover techniques. Many of the group are Animagus who excel at surveillance.

By the way, did he tell you, he and Teddy did some undercover work for the Met on a serial murder/ rape case. Teddy disguised himself to fit the victim's profile – a petite blonde, out walking her black Irish Wolfhound mix at night. They trapped the killer after he followed them, and Padfoot turned the tables once he had his scent and tracked him down.

"They often do surveillance together where Teddy is a little old lady or a kid walking his dog and everyone ignores them, thinking they're harmless. Plus, Tony's already worked with MI6 to track down a major terrorist cell."

"How come I didn't hear anything about it?"

She smiled. "Because it was authorised at the highest levels, Prime Minister to Minister of Magic. Tony came up with a plan to find all the members of the cell using a time turner, and it was strictly need-to-know situation. I've consented to him using the time-turner on a case by case basis, with my approval."

Seeing Fornell's expression, she became slightly defensive. "What? There are safeguards. I have to approve its use every time based on merit. We only use it to gather intel., not change anything that's already occurred. Don't forget Tony's used a time-turner for extended periods of time in the past for law enforcement purposes, as have I when I was at Hogwarts, without wreaking havoc on the universe. Its use is always to be one of last resort, not the first line of defence. And in this particular case, we had prime ministerial approval too."

"Why get involved in this case, Hermione?"

"Because they were threatening all of us. Terrorists kill witches and wizards just as easily as regular people. They don't discriminate and besides, it might be my mum and dad who were targeted. I'm first and foremost a Brit, Tobias. I care about non-magical people too. I have other family…cousins, aunts and uncles who could have been killed.

"And besides - you know Tony. He cares passionately about the innocents, and he doesn't ask them to cast a spell to prove they are magical before wanting to help them. Between Padfoot and DiNozzo, he feels driven to save lives. He didn't stop being a cop when he returned to our world, and I doubt he ever will after close to two decades. When MI6 requested his help, there was no way he would say no to them."

Fornell did know Tony and she was right – he wouldn't turn his back on MI6 when innocent people might be threatened. "Okay, you're right. Just… please be careful, Hermione. I know you're the Minister of Magic and a helluva smart witch but messing with time is serious stuff."

"Yeah, I know. But since it is classified, it will be used sparingly," the young politician assured him earnestly, before adroitly changing the subject.

"Hey, did Tony tell you, we hired a forensic scientist and set up a forensic laboratory. We found a squib who was top notch, so now we can run fingerprints and basic trace particulates evidence to help us solve crimes.

"Of course, at this point only the cops that Tony hired understand how to take advantage of the information and the trainees are learning of course. Still, he's dragging us kicking and screaming into the late twentieth century at least. And he's made a lot of people think, reuniting squibs with their magical families in a way that benefits everyone, even if the traditionalists are violently opposed to using muggle technology."

"So, it sounds like you and Tony have been working pretty closely together. How's that working out?" Tobias wanted to know more but decided to use some diplomacy.

"We have been. I've been helping to set up the disability and death scheme with him and set up the forensic labs." Seeing the question in his eyes, she decided to give him what he was after.

"Yes, I still want a relationship with him but no I haven't put the moves on him. Harry told me about that doctor – Jeanne and how he fell in love with her, even though he shouldn't have since he was undercover. He told me how Tony met her again, how he saved her husband's life, how much it hurt seeing her again and realising he still loved her. And then Padfoot told me little bit about her one night when we were drinking a bottle or two of red wine. He also said he and his girlfriend Zoe broke up soon after, partly because she was jealous of Jeanne.

"So yeah, I understand why you gave me the shovel talk now, and you were right, he is broken from everything that's happened. Hence I've decided that I'll concentrate on just being his friend for now."

Tobias smiled and gave her an affectionate hug. "Honestly, I'm happy to hear it. Tony could do with a good friend right now, much more than a short-lived affair. Trust me, it wouldn't have lasted if you'd managed to start anything right now. Focus on supporting him while he starts to put his life back together," Fornell advised her gravely.

"I can see he's doing better, even if being around family and not being able to tell them is hard for him. On the positive side, the job is challenging and he seems to enjoy the mentoring of the baby Aurors. He's a born teacher," Hermione said.

Tobias looked bemused. "Even the younger kids seem to adore him. He always claimed that kids hated him."

Hermione frowned as she slipped into psychologist mode. "Yeah I have a theory about that. Kids are highly perceptive – even non-magical children and I think they picked up that he was holding back something huge – that he was pretending. Admittedly he is still hiding things – big things but not a huge part of himself anymore. And since he started letting Padfoot come out to play regularly, I think he feels freer, happier and kids sense that and accept him."

"Makes sense. Makes a lot of sense. Anyway… be his friend just because. When he's ready to move on, perhaps your friendship will deepen into something more."

Hermione was about to reply when Emily rushed in, throwing herself in the space between the two adults on Tony's leather sofa which had been in his apartment in DC. He looked at the identical sofa and the numerous comfortable armchairs arranged around the fireplace and he had to laugh at his daughter. Normally she didn't want to spend time with him but then teenagers were fickle creatures. At least this Christmas had been a been a helluva lot better than last year had been.

Smiling at his daughter, he inquired, "Everything okay, Em?"

Nodding contentedly, she announced, "Dinner is ready, guys and Delores just pulled up in her Mini Hatchback." Emily had fallen in love with Delores' yellow and black Mini Cooper. Tony was miffed because he thought his car was way cooler.

Emily grinned at the most powerful witch in the UK and asked the Minister of Magic, "Hey Hermione, are you coming to see Aladdin with us tomorrow night?"

"Yes, Emily. Tony invited me too. I haven't been to a panto in a very long time. I'm looking forward to getting dressed up for something that isn't work related. I can't wait!"

"Me too. Maybe we can go shopping. I have nothing to wear."

Tobias rolled his eyes at the blatant exaggeration but since Emily was her mother's daughter he decided that discretion was the better part of valour and kept his mouth shut. Besides, he was so happy that she was enjoying their vacation.

Figuring she missed going clothes shopping with her mother, Hermione nodded. "Sure, why not. We'll invite Rose and my Mum along; have a girls' day out at the Boxing Day sales."

Sniffling with mixed emotions, Emily threw her arms around the warm-hearted mother. "Thanks, that sounds awesome. Your mom is really cool, by the way. And thanks for inviting us to spend Christmas with you and Tony. I just wish Mom was here, too. It's great to have such a big family."

As Tony carried in a couple of plates of sandwiches into the dining area, Emily looked at him pensively and smiled. "Hey guys, can we make Tony a part of the family too. He already feels like one of us."

Hermione smiled at her parents who'd also come in behind him, carry platters of yummy smelling food before she glanced at Tony in amusement. "What do you say, Tony? Want to be adopted?"

He snorted, laughing. "Make me sound like a stray dog that is looking for a furever home, why don't you, Madame Minister."

"Well you do have that whole puppy dog expression going on, Tony." Hermione teased him gently. Plus, when you're on a case you're like a dog with a bone."

"Yeah and let's face it, a collar and leash might just keep you out of trouble. You know you're a trouble-magnet, DiNozzo." Fornell joined in the teasing fondly, although there was more than a modicum of truth to his statement.

"Oh, that's hysterical, Guys. So, aren't you worried that if you lie down with me you'll end up with fleas? Well save it cuz I'm top dog now. Besides there's plenty of life in the old dog yet. What… you honestly think I haven't heard every pun using a dog metaphor or had them used against me? Think again, you two." Tony smirked back at the pair affably.

"Why would people want to liken you to a dog, Tony?" Miranda asked, curiously as Delores came into the room carrying the trifle she'd made along with the pumpkin pie for the visitors and expats from the US to stave off any homesickness.

Hermione and Tobias stared at Tony, wondering how he'd field that tricky query – would he explain Padfoot to the Grangers and Emily. But Tony was a great undercover operative for a damned good reason and not only was he quick on his feet but he was extremely agile mentally as well.

Without missing a beat, he grinned his very fake grin at Delores – and replied. "Because as Delores can attest, when I was at NCIS it was a huge joke that I was a Loyal Saint Bernard to my boss for 15 years, or his lapdog. But dog-gone-it, in a dog-eat-dog-world, it looks like the last laugh is on me, since no one thought I had the dog's bollocks to leave him."

Finally shooting a look at Hermione and Tobias and smiling, this time contentedly he observed. "So… I guess it isn't true what they say…you really can teach an old dog new tricks."

End Notes;

Well there you have it – 32 chapters, just under 240,000 words and a lot of author angst and joy as I say goodbye to these characters. Another story done and dusted.

As I usually do at the end of my stories I usually mention what is next on the agenda. I plan to resume writing my stalled fic – Rising to the Bait and complete it. The problem was that I was actually planning on redeeming Gibbs in that story and then the season thirteen debacle happened. I was just so angry with the Gibbs character and the actor who plays him. He is an EP on the show which means that he pretty much signs off on every story arc including that awful season13 including the whole Tiva secret love child. In good conscience, I just couldn't write an ending redeeming him after MH decided to be petty and pay back an actor who was leaving by giving him and his fans such a pathetic send of after 13 years of loyalty. I just couldn't do it and I didn't know how to write myself out of the corner I was in. Now, thanks to Arress, who is always a great sounding board, I have a few new ideas about where to go and will start working on it soon.

As to other projects, I was also half way through two other fics when I began writing Serieux. Thinking at the time it was only going to be a fairly short story I stopped writing them, so now I can go back and finish them off. One is a redux of season 4 and yes, I know it has been done many times already but I like to think I have a fresh take on that arc. The second story is a tag to The Admiral's Daughter – with a difference. ;) Of course, I still have my ongoing series of tags There's Always Tom Morrow that I will continue to add to.

Lastly, I can't end Serieux without a final comment on reviews. We all know the maxim that you can't judge a book by its cover, and similarly, we can't judge a story by the number of reviews it attracts. Crossovers are a perfect example of this adage. At fan fic dot net crossovers tend to not get a lot of hits and unless the story has a popular pairing, an author needs to resign themselves to a substantial drop in the number of reviews, often a dramatic drop. For example, my other story There's Always Tom Morrow – each chapter gets on average 37 reviews per chapter and at least three times the hits that Serieux attracts because it is languishing in the crossover section where it is mostly ignored. It only averages 12.5 reviews per chapter and it is twice the word length plus there are fifty percent more chapters than TATM, yet gets way less hits on FF. On AO3, Serieux is not posted in a crossover category hardly anyone checks – it is posted in both HP and NCIS fandoms – which means it gets twice the exposure.

For anyone wondering why I'm not inclined to post more crossovers on this site – there is your reason. Well... that and the trolls is why! So, if you like a crossover fiction, do the author a favour and let them know. I guarantee that they will appreciate your review of their story even more than usual. And I might point out that it is in all our interests to encourage them or they may get fed up and stop writing crossovers or else post them on a fan fiction archive which appreciates their efforts more that TPTB on this site.

Although, I digress. I merely used the cross over situation to make a point. The number of reviews a story receives should not be the only deciding factor in readers giving stories a go to see if they like it. New writers who don't have a following yet can find it really hard to get a foothold, especially writers who don't write popular pairings. For those people who read SG1 fanfics I wanted to recommend a great story I read by a new author who has 4 stories on fanfic dot net. The story had hardly any reviews – undeservedly in my opinion. The title of the story is 'One and the Same' and here is the link s/12594431/1/ so all you SG1 fans, please go and check it out. If you enjoy it, leave some reviews. Hopefully, we can encourage the author to share more stories with us. It can also be found under favourites on my profile page.

And that's it for now. Hope you enjoyed it.