The mid-sized conference room dedicated to the investigation into the Greengrass attack had the walls covered with different reports along with both moving and stationary pictures. Harry was on the other side of the conference room from Hermione. Harry had his hands folded behind his back as if in parade rest, his black Auror cloak fell in clean lines to the floor. His eyes were fixed but unseeing at a list of names in front of him as he worked through them in his head.

Hermione found it interesting watching Harry work. He made intuitive leaps and seemed to have an almost magical ability to pick up on emotions and motivations. She had heard of mages that saw magical auras but this seemed to be some sort of almost animalistic sixth sense. Such as now when he turned to face her, suddenly becoming focused on her as if he sensed her attention. His mouth curled up a bit in that annoyingly handsome way, not quite a smile but clearly pleased by her regard.

Hermione turned back to her own work, which she had also stuck to the wall with sticking charms, not bothering to say anything to him. Now with the additional reports and analysis provided by Elias Burke and his team, it seemed the ritual space drew more from Hindu origins than the Germanic rune she had initially identified in the findings.

Several of the markings were trishuls, associated with creation, protection, and transformation. Whoever had created the ritual space had very close associations with or lived in India for a time. This was not surprising given England's history. However, considering how many British wizards were dismissive of those outside England it could hopefully eliminate some people from their list of suspects.

Harry moved closer to Hermione as she stared at the pictures of the ruins. He moved very quietly, Hermione didn't know he was closer behind her because she heard him. It was some other sense, one made her nerve endings tingle and felt like someone brushing affectionately against her magic.

"What do you think?" Harry asked quietly, the warmth of him at her back managing to be soothing and extremely distracting at the same time.

Hermione cleared her throat trying to focus despite her reaction to Harry, and pointed to several of the pictures. "The problem is not knowing who may have done the work. Are we looking at something Gerald Greengrass or his family had done? Or was it used by the person who demolished the building? There seems to be a heavy Hindu influence in the design of the ritual and the iconography used to channel magic. Whoever created it has very close ties to India or did at one point have those ties for a period of time– decades maybe even longer."

"How long would it have taken them to set up?"

"That's another tough one. The explosion did damage to the stone of the ritual space— and so far I haven't received a report on the potion used to help amplify the blasting charm to that degree. So we could hypothesize that the potion and ritual space worked in concert to intensify the damage, but there's just not enough evidence either way. The entire outlay was damaged, if I had to guess —"

"Please."

Hermione swallowed, licking her lips. "Um. If I had to guess I would say that based on the fragments we are looking at an equilateral triangle – probably thirty feet on each side by the pictures. A ritual space this large would take weeks up to a couple of months to set up, depending on time and resources."

"Either way it makes our direction in the investigation clearer."

"How is that?"

"The layout of the building adhered to a traditionalist architecture for magical buildings, so finding one's way around without being shown is fairly impossible. Not to mention the security enchantments that influenced those lost or unauthorized to head back to the entrance. Someone with time created the ritual space. Someone with knowledge accessed the lower levels. Both methods of thought point to someone who had both familiarity and frequent access to the building – specifically the lower levels."

"Would the Malfoys have access to the lower levels?" Hermione asked curiously.

"No, but we're still going to question them."

"Why?"

"Both Lucius Malfoy and Draco have potion masteries, and run a potions business. A significant portion of their income is generated by research on new potion prototypes. This could explain why we can't identify the potion used in the explosion if it was something they created that's not yet on the market."

"And I was thinking—" Harry cut off as a knock sounded at the door. "Come in."

Elias walked in with a few sheets of paper clutched in his hand. "I've got those names of vendors for the Greengrasses."

"Not as many as I was expecting..." Harry trailed off as he began going through the list. A bizarre name jumped out at him. Neville Longbottom. What?

"Apparently Greengrass is extremely discerning, and willing to work with smaller suppliers if he has reason to trust them over larger facilities." Elias offered, his eyes going between Harry and Hermione but his expression professional. This contrasted with his t-shirt which was a sunshine yellow and proclaimed, 'Every day I'm Hufflin.'

Harry had just talked to Neville a few weeks ago at the pub. Apparently, it was time to set up a visit with his friend again. "Anything more with the potion?"

"We've identified Malabrica as one of the ingredients."

Harry frowned. "What's that?"

"It's a plant that's endemic to India. Typically used sparingly as an accelerant in potion making. It's very useful but hard to grow in quantity and outside of India." Hermione chimed in, interested in that development.

"An accelerant?" Harry questioned.

Hermione's voice was thoughtful as she tried to decide if this made it more likely that the potion and ritual space were connected. "Mhmm. It speeds up the absorption rate of the potion. It can make the difference between life and death with some of the medical potions it's used in."

"Thanks, Elias. If the testing turns up anything else let me know immediately." Even more, reason to talk to Neville, Harry thought. At least he knew he'd get a straight answer out of his longtime friend.

"Of course Harry." Elias backed out, about to close the door, then stuck his head back in. "Have fun on the date, you two!" He shut the door quickly behind him.

Harry raised his hands. "I didn't tell him anything."

"Hmph." Hermione sniffed, picking up a large runic reference guide, and proceeded to do her best to ignore Harry Potter.

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Harry took out his mobile to shoot off a quick text:

Neville

Harry: hey mate

Neville: whats up

Harry:i was wondering if we could set up a time to chat

Neville: you know you can come by anytime

Harry: this would be concerning your supplying the greengrass foundation

Neville: i had nothing to do with what happened harry

Harry: i know. just need to have a conversation with you and pansy

Neville: would next Thursday be too long?

Harry: no mate that's fine i appreciate it

Neville: yeah

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Harry walked up to a very different imposing manor house Saturday morning. He was a bit tired and a hell of a lot more stressed than he had been when he started his week. Questioning the minister's son even tangentially had sparked a conversation with Robards who hadn't appreciated that Harry had set up the meeting before alerting him.

Robards had been caught flat-footed when the minister made an idle inquiry regarding the case and how it related to questioning his son and daughter-in-law. And since shit rolled downhill, Harry had been on the receiving end of it.

Harry hadn't backed down in the argument with Robards, Neville was not a suspect in the investigation. Potentially Neville may have information he didn't know the value of - and that was the extent of it. Robards had been happy enough to throw the investigation into Harry's lap because of the political implications. And then Robards had washed his hands of it — he didn't get to complain afterward to Harry that he wasn't aware of each step of the investigation.

Harry rolled his neck trying to shake off the tension of weird job bullshit, before knocking at his godfather's door. A sullen-looking house elf opened the door.

"Oh, it's you," Kreacher said grumpily. "The master has been waiting for you in the study."

"Nice to see you too, Kreacher."

The house elf walked in a strange hobble leading Harry towards the study. "Why is Harry Potter happy to see Kreacher? Kreacher is not happy to see Harry Potter." The house elf continued muttering to himself disagreeably. "Kreacher does not like destructive disrespectful wizards even if the Master Blacks like brimstone-smelling wizards."

"Aw Kreacher, don't you know you're my favorite house elf?" Harry asked cheerfully, his mood improving as Kreacher's face became more sullen.

"Kreacher refuses to be Harry Potter's favorite house elf." Kreacher opened the door dourly announcing to the occupants. "The messy dragon one has arrived." Before vanishing with an annoyed pop.

"It's just amazing how he could still be mad over something that happened ten years ago," Harry said bemusedly.

Sirius laughed. "Well, you did destroy my mother's portrait when everyone was convinced nothing was going to pry that witch off the wall."

"I wasn't even trying to though! You know how it is the first couple of transformations! I burnt my bloody firebolt on accident too."

Teddy was on a baby broom that hovered two feet off the ground, slowly circling the room as his dad's watched carefully. "Don't wowwy Hawwy. Me like you."

"Rrrr. Harrrrrry. Worrrrry." Remus emphasized the R sounds for his son as he passed him.

Sirius let his hand trail through the boy's hair as he passed him. "Don't worry, Moony, he'll get it soon enough."

Both men were obviously dressed to go out to take advantage of Harry watching Teddy during his picnic date. Harry flopped into a chair with a sigh watching Teddy slowly fly through the study.

"Been a week then, Harry?" Remus asked.

Harry stretched out his feet. "Not too bad, the higher profile cases always get a bit tense."

"Is working with Cinderella helping?" Sirius smirked at Harry.

Harry kept his face straight but his lips turned up. "She really is the best in the division with her background and she has a really quick mind. She's practically a walking reference manual."

"I heard Greengrass doesn't like her much. Cissa heard him complaining about his interview." Sirius said referring to his cousin Narcissa Malfoy.

Harry winced. "She just got a bit too aggressive during the meeting. She's fairly direct, and that method doesn't work well with putting someone at ease when you've got to get answers out of them. She was right though - that's probably what got him so brassed off– it just wasn't the time for those kinds of tactics."

"Ah," Remus interjected. "I can see the appeal for you of someone like that."

Sirius stood, up and walked behind Remus, placing his hand on his shoulder, giving it a squeeze. "Honestly some of it reminds me of Lily, remember when she told off the director of care at St. Mungos?"

Remus laughed. "And James had to drag her away. It must be a Potter thing then, because I swear to Merlin, I've seen Zinny do that with Fred."

Sirius was staring downward, and his hand trailed over Remus's shoulder. "Mhmm. Funny how things work out the way they are intended."

Remus reached up and caught Sirius' hand. "Don't start that magical destiny bollocks again or I won't let you go drinking with your Slytherin pals."

The evening at the pub Harry had spent with Neville and Ron was suddenly playing through his head. What had Neville said?

I was just having this conversation with Theo Nott the other day — you know, about his investigations into genealogy and time travel.

Harry had seen family charts spread out in Nott's study and tacked haphazardly along dark hallways when the Auror office had raided Nott's mansion. He and Ron hadn't paid them much attention though as they concentrated on confiscating all the illegal time travel baubles and research while ignoring Nott following them making inarticulate excuses. Hermione had said that the person who had created the ritual markings had been heavily influenced by Hindu culture. Nott with his crackpot investigations might actually know which families they should be looking at.

"Hawwy." Teddy reached out grabbing his knee and Harry realized he had zoned out for a bit.

He leaned forward. "What's up little man?"

"I'm weady to meet you pwincess."

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Harry Potter was obviously beyond devious, Hermione thought as he strode up to her in the park with the most adorable teal-haired toddler she had ever seen. The smile on Harry's face told her knew exactly what she was thinking as he stopped in front of her. "Hermione, I'd like you to meet my godson Teddy Black."

Teddy smiled at her shyly, leaning against Harry's chest, and gave her a wave of his little hand with his fingers all spread out. "Hi pwincess. I'm Teddy. I'm five."

"You're three." Harry corrected him.

Teddy nodded seriously at her and Hermione couldn't help but smile at him. Teddy was dressed in a light blue shirt that complimented his teal hair and had a picture of a wizard riding on a broom on it. His light silvery grey eyes reminded her of Malfoy's. How strange to think they were all related– including Harry.

"It's nice to meet you, Teddy. My name is Hermione Granger." She held out her hand to shake his, but Teddy grasped her hand and made an exaggerated kissing sound above it. "Muah."

Hermione narrowed her eyes at Harry. "What have you been teaching this baby?"

"Nothing—"

Teddy got over his shyness quickly, as usual, and reached out for Hermione saving Harry an explanation in the process. "Pwincess!" His hair flickered darker and began to curl as Hermione took him from Harry.

Even though Teddy was small he was a sturdy little boy and she was surprised by how heavy he was, in a low tone of voice she whispered a featherlight charm, feeling him lifting a bit and giving her arm some relief.

"Wow," Hermione murmured, studying the child in her arms. "A metamorphmagus."

Teddy grinned at her charmingly with his newly curly brown hair.

Harry looked around and spotted a conveniently large tree. "Why don't we go set up our picnic over there?" With as forthright as Hermione was, and having seen the subtly cast featherlight charm, he wasn't worried that Teddy would be too hard on her to carry or she would let him know. So he didn't get Teddy back from Hermione as they moved toward the tree. Harry could see Teddy appeared fascinated with the 'pwincess' as they had a low conversation.

Harry pulled the blanket and picnic basket out of his pocket before casting a quick growing charm to get them back to the right size and settling the blanket on the grass. Hermione settled with Teddy who turned to him with a little frown on his face. "You pwtended to be a muggle?"

Harry glanced at Hermione and she winked at him. "Yes, Harry why did you pretend to be a muggle? Lying is not nice."

Teddy nodded in agreement. "Not nice."

"Well." Harry paused considering. "Since Hermione was pretending to be a muggle I had to pretend too."

Teddy gave an overly shocked gasp that the princess would lie about something, and Hermione gave Harry a small glare before turning back to the boy. Teddy looked at them both thoughtfully before he got up and walked towards his little broom that Harry had brought along. Teddy grabbed it and then turned back to both of them with a stern expression on his little face. "Daddies say lying is bad. Dime out fow you." With that pronouncement, he turned away and got on his broom to start slowly flying in circles over the grass in front of them.

Harry laughed to himself softly watching Teddy. The kid was so smart, it was bloody adorable.

Hermione looked over at him, "What did he say?"

"Time out because we're liars."

"Oh. Well, I suppose that's reasonable."

"I can't believe you told my three-year-old godson I lied about being a muggle."

"I can't believe you wrote your phone number on my arse, so I think we're even."

"You did sic Hagatha on me."

Hermione smirked at him. "Don't do an area of effect cast unless you want to catch what's in that area."

"I suppose that's reasonable," Harry repeated her own words back to her. He turned away from looking at Hermione, to watch Teddy glide along on his broom. Hermione was wearing a sleeveless white button-down, and he could see the curve of her breast down through the cleavage and it was quite distracting. Her hair curled wildly around her head, bushier than it was when he worked with her, or when they had met on their first date. He liked it. It made him think of running his hands through those bushy curls while she was underneath him.

Silence fell for a minute before Harry asked her softly. "How has England been for you so far?"

"Mmmm." Hermione made a humming noise as she thought, catching Harry's eyes briefly before they both faced forward again. Harry was wearing a plain black t-shirt and jeans. No one had ever looked more handsome in such an everyday outfit, in Hermione's opinion.

The large tree provided shade from the hot sun and the occasional breeze made the weather pleasant as they both watched the most adorable toddler Hermione had ever met. It was curious how everything with Harry tended to make her emotions respond in extremes. He inspired feelings in her that were difficult to manage with her usual intellectualism.

And it wasn't just a sex thing. Or even an attraction thing. It was an everything kind of thing. The intense sense of triumph she had felt when he couldn't figure out the ward. The admiration she felt when he went over the case details so concisely. How he made her feel happy, even when she was trying to be mad at him. How bizarre was it to want to tell someone off and snog them at the same time? It was mental.

"It's not bad is it?" Harry asked when it didn't seem like Hermione would continue. Damn, he knew he had been a bit determined, but he hadn't accidentally ruined things had he?

Hermione let out a sigh, drawing up her knees to rest her chin on them. "No, it's not bad at all. Some things might even have been passable." She teased him pointedly about their night together, laughing when Harry shot her an incredulous glance.

"Passable? I thought we were already in time out for lying, Hermione."

Hermione waved her hand airily. "Fine acceptable then."

Keeping one eye on Teddy's distance Harry leaned closer to her. "Poor baby. I'm sorry, didn't I give you enough orgasms?"

When Harry leaned toward her and his voice lowered it suddenly became hotter outside. His movements were sinuous, and his eyes caught the sunshine, appearing brighter than just a moment before. It reminded Hermione of how he had seemed in the cab when they had been on their way to his flat. The impulse to reach out and touch him was intense, and her hand curled into a fist against the picnic blanket.

His gleaming eyes flickered downward briefly catching the betraying action and he reached for her hand. Harry smoothed out her fist so her fingers laid flat in his hand, before bringing her hand closer to his mouth and pressing a kiss softly to the back of her hand. His lips were hot and soft against her skin, and her whole body reacted, wanting to melt into a puddle.

"I am not having an affair with my coworker." Hermione meant to say the words firmly, instead, they came out terribly weak sounding even to her own ears.

Harry's face was absolutely serious, for once the gentle amusement that always seemed to lurk around him was absent. "What about a relationship with a friend?"

"We're not friends." Harry still had her hand, but now his face was closer to hers. When had he gotten so close? His proximity made it hard for her to think.

"I want to be. I admire you. Your intelligence. Your humor." He paused and he let go over her hand to cup her cheek. "How beautiful you are. Can't we be friends Hermione?"

There was a plaintive thread of pleading in his words that made her shiver. How could a witch say no to that? To Harry? Impossible. Hermione pulled a little away from him trying to give herself space to think. She cleared her throat, her heart beating a trifle too fast. "Just friends. We— we should make Teddy eat a snack, he's been playing for a while in the sun." Grasping that excuse Hermione turned and reached for the picnic basket that Harry had brought, determinedly pulling out items to inspect them as a distraction.

Lots of people had sex and were still friends, right? Hermione looked over to see Harry not moving, a look of satisfaction on his face. "You still owe me a bra and a set of trousers. And go get Teddy."

Harry grinned at Hermione's irritable demand jumping up to go get his godson. Teddy was concentrating on making figure eights when Harry snuck up on him grabbing him off his broom and tickling him when he squealed. "Love you, Teddy."

Teddy wrapped his little arms around Harry's neck snuggling him as he carried Teddy back to the picnic area. "Did the pwincess say yes?"

Harry laughed. "What do you know about princesses saying yes?"

"Daddy told me, he weads me the book."

"Well, this princess is a special one. She hasn't said yes, but I hope she will."

"I will give hew a cookie fow you."

Hermione looked up to the sound of laughter and saw Harry laughing as he tickled his godson, the little boy giggling as he held tightly to Harry, his hair flashing black. She pressed her hand to her chest where her heart was misbehaving.

She was in so much trouble.