Chapter 16

Harry woke in a haze. He had to pee. Which was annoying, given that he very rarely woke up in the middle of the night for, well, anything really. Had he been more coherent he'd have understood that, while 'splitting' four bottles of wine sounded like he hadn't had that much to drink, the truth was he'd downed two bottles of wine.

He rolled out of bed in a way that made him think he should have landed on his feet. How he was going to go from on his side, to rolling, to his feet, didn't seem clear. And seemed less so as he found himself laying on the ground with part of his blankets still on him. Which seemed comfortable, but wasn't doing a whole lot to rectify the bladder problem.

It took him a few more moments but he managed to get to his feet. He wondered who cast the spinning charm on his room as it was really a pretty clever and rather harmless joke. He tried to focus but all he could think about was whether or not he knew a counter for a spinning hex.

None were coming to mind. Which seemed like something he shouldn't admit aloud. Which he didn't. He hated to think of the response if he was felled by such a simple charm. Something in the back of his mind was telling him that he was missing something obvious. But thinking of what felt too much like a lost cause to be worth his time.

Hell, it was probably just Emily screwing with him out of spite.

Except that didn't make any sense either. Emily had no real sense of humor. At least not any longer. That little passageway seemed to have closed with her most recent life. Not that she used it. And she'd only really used it to make fun of him, what, twice? Maybe three times? He didn't remember.

He wondered if she'd even admit to it. Or if she'd insist she was only a figment of his imagination or something like that. That thought only made him wonder if she had been a figment of his imagination in those moments. It made some sense. Just a way for his own id to bleed into some other shape.

His body distracted him from any more coherent thoughts about that. He decided that since he was Harry Freaking Potter he'd be able to manage making it to his bathroom all by himself, without the aid of magic, even if someone had cast a dastardly spinning hex on him at some point in the evening.

Or maybe runed off his bedroom, he thought, as he stumbled toward the window. He reached out with one hand to steady himself against the wall. He gazed out the window over the dark grounds. There were no signs of life on the Hogwarts grounds. Which was good, considering it was, he peered around his room, wondering where he'd left his watch. Or if the Headmaster's quarters had a clock. Seemed shortsighted not to have one. He could have sworn he'd thought about putting one in.

Maybe he'd told an elf to do it? No, that couldn't be right, had he told an elf to do it he'd have a clock. Probably a garish unstylish clock, but a clock nonetheless. And given that he didn't have a clock it seemed like he hadn't told an elf that.

At any rate, it was some time after the sun went down, but before the sun went up. It was still too dark to really see much of anything of note on the grounds. It was hard to even tell the difference between the lake, the forest, and the regular grounds. It was just dark shades blending together.

Once he was satisfied that he could stand without falling. Erm, well, once he was satisfied that there was no one out in the wee hours of the morning violating their curfew. That sounded better. He lifted his hand from the wall and continued to his bathroom.

He was slowly beating back the spinning hex, though, so that was a good sign. He didn't remember casting a counter to it, but that seemed like an unnecessary detail and not one worth noting.

He managed to make it into the bathroom without any further hindrance. It took, well, nearly twice as many steps as what could be described as normal, but he'd made it. Which seemed like something worth celebrating but aside from another drink, he wasn't sure just how to celebrate such a momentous occasion.

And, aside from the mouthwash, which he didn't want to swallow, he was pretty sure he didn't have any alcohol hidden away in the bathroom. Part of him decided that was an incredible missed opportunity. But a slightly more coherent part of him felt that was probably the intelligent adult decision.

Of course, adults who made intelligent, adult, decisions probably didn't wind up naked in their bathrooms at some god-forsaken hour. Or maybe they did. He didn't know. His experience was rather limited.

Either way he relieved himself, finding himself rather glad that the bathroom didn't seem to have the same strength of spinning hex on it as he did so. Once he was finished he turned toward the sink. He washed his hands, letting them soak for longer than completely necessary in the warm water.

Once that was done he splashed some on his face for no real reason other than he'd seen it done in movies and television shows. He didn't see the appeal after as he dried his face. Maybe he was missing something. He looked around to see if that was the case but all he saw was his toothbrush.

Which seemed like a decent idea given he was fairly sure he'd wound up in bed well before any thought of brushing his teeth would have come into his mind. Most dentists wouldn't have thought he did a good job as he went through the routine. But given the fact that he was going to do it again in a couple of hours regardless, there seemed to be little reason to put in all that much effort.

Of course, that might have also meant there was no reason to put in any effort. But the more he thought about it, the less he wanted to think about it. He turned the faucet off and walked back toward his bed.

The spinning hex in his bedroom seemed to be based on how fast he was moving. So after a couple of quick steps he slowed his pace until he made it back to his bed. He'd managed to get most of the blankets off of it while getting up, so he fixed that with a wave of his hand and crawled back under the covers.

There was an oddly flowery aroma as he curled back into the warmth of the blankets. He inhaled it, enjoying the scent of cherry blossoms as he let the warmth of the bed as he let himself drift off. He wondered, idly, if he'd picked up a local that evening. Which would have been incredibly out of character for him. And would almost certainly lead to a lecture from the head of the Department of Magical Education when a 'tell all' appeared in whatever paper decided to buy it. But he'd deal with that in the morning and when the room stopped spinning.

Either way, he spent his last waking moments of conscious thought trying to figure out just why the scent in his bed was so familiar to him. But sleep won before he could come up with anything concrete.

Cherry blossoms. It was obvious when the room wasn't spinning. Although he couldn't remember if the room was spinning when he was laying down before either. So maybe the fact that it settled was what made his head clearer. Or it could be that he still had his eyes open as he felt the early morning light spread over his face.

Of course, with the recognition of the scent came the memories of the night before. He scolded himself for letting a little thing like alcohol block his mind in that moment. But, really, he wasn't sure he was even fully awake when he last got up.

He was cocooned into the blankets with her. It was a position that was so familiar he wondered just how long it took their bodies to return to it on instinct. He kept his eyes closed. Letting his mind and his hands wander around the woman in the bed with him. He shifted around, rolling onto his side and laying her on her back and stared at her.

He couldn't help it. He liked looking at her. He always had and he figured he always would. Like him, she was naked. Well, unless you counted jewelry. But honestly, who did?

His hand slid up her arm and over her shoulder. He let his fingers trace over the bronze skin. He let his fingers trace down over her neck, sliding against the plain silver linked chain that rested on her. His fingers slid over the swell of her breast before they reached the ring. It probably wasn't a wholly necessary touch, but, well, he liked touching her.

He lifted the ring on the chain and peered at it as the diamonds shimmered in the morning light. Memories of scrounging jewelry stores in Japan flashed through his head. It had taken the better part of three weeks. With both Fumiko and Alex providing what felt like absolutely no assistance.

In their defense, Harry thought as he let his finger slide around the silver chain, they didn't know her tastes as well as he did. So their opinions didn't really matter. Still, he hadn't found anything he'd liked in any of the shops. It hadn't been until an elderly shopkeeper had forced him to enunciate what he was looking for that he'd come up with it.

The shopkeeper had worked magic, without working literal magic. He'd stared intently as Harry as he'd rambled in a foreign language, trying to enunciate what he was looking for. It had been a long, rather arduous process. And just when Harry decided to shut up the man had gathered up a pen and paper and started to sketch.

It had only taken a few minutes. And Harry could tell fairly early on that it was going to be the winner. But he still waited until the man finished and turned it to him to agree on it. It had taken a surprising amount of time to hammer out the details. The band was easy, white gold stuck in Harry's mind from the beginning.

The stones; however, were far more difficult. They seemed never ending and the man made him look at them over and over and over and over. Harry freely admitted he had no idea what he was looking for. But the man managed to assemble them on a pad before him and suddenly it all clicked. It would easily be his best work, his magnum opus, the man said. It was well past the point of selling Harry on it but he let the man talk.

Finally they talked about the price. The man seemed almost sheepish when he tallied up what everything would cost and the timetable for getting it done. Harry nodded at the price, doing his best to convert yen to pounds in his head. After years in Japan it was an easy conversion, but he took a little longer than normal, wanting to make sure he got it right.

He wondered about that, though. Even for his brief time at Hogwarts he'd never quite transitioned to thinking purely in terms of magical money. It hadn't helped that he and Avery spent most of their time traveling living among the Muggles. So Muggle money had stayed at the front of his mind.

But even through all of that, he'd never changed to thinking of say, the dollar, before the pound. And that never changed. So when the man gave his figure in yen, Harry's first reaction was to figure exactly what three and a half million meant in his own terms.

The man seemed to take his hesitance for a sign that he wasn't a serious buyer. Harry barely noticed the man's face fall as he started to pack up his supplies. He could sense his annoyance at staying open late to help some stupid foreigner. In a last ditch effort to salvage the sale he started to mention that they did offer payment plans.

It was that comment that snapped Harry out of his daze. That wouldn't be necessary, he said. He didn't have the cash on him at the moment, but if that was the suitable method he could return with it tomorrow. Or he could just put it all on a card now.

The shopkeeper stared at him for a few moments. A card would be fine, he said. But it really wasn't necessary to do the entire thing at once, especially when it would be custom work and the final product might not live up to his expectations.

Harry shrugged his shoulders. He was sure it would be fine. And it was no real issue. He just struggled with the conversions on larger amounts. He still thought in terms of British money, afterall. Sometimes it took him a few minutes. They exchanged sheepish smiles as Harry took out his wallet.

A few minutes later they were celebrating the sale with sake before Harry went on his merry way with nothing more than a handwritten receipt for his efforts. He'd only given an address for contact information but the man hadn't seemed to have any issue with that.

If the older shopkeeper found that awkward he didn't comment on it. He'd anticipated two weeks so Harry figured he would return at the two week part and see how it was going. It was a good enough agreement for him. There was something trustworthy about the elderly jeweler. Or maybe it was purely because he felt almost high after the weight of finding the perfect ring had been lifted from him.

He walked out of the shop with a spring in his step. Everything in Tokyo seemed a little brighter that evening. And that held true as he returned to his home to wait for Priya. They'd had loose plans to go out that evening but he'd started cooking one of her favorite curries instead.

As soon as he saw her face he knew it was the right decision. They'd had a particularly rough day at the hospital and she was clearly exhausted and not in a mood to dress for a night on the town.

Instead she sat at their dining bar and chatted about her day while Harry made dinner. It was a routine, but it was a pleasant one. One that ended in a heap of blankets before the fireplace. She'd fallen asleep in his arms and he'd carried her to bed, finding himself wonderfully content with his life.

Now he felt a pang in his chest as he stared at the ring. He'd thrown it all away because, well, he was an idiot. It was such a stupid decision on his part he still struggled with the fact that he'd even been allowed to do it.

But that was equally stupid, he knew. It wasn't like anyone else was responsible for his actions. And he was sure that had he actually listened and not reacted on a brash emotion that the situation would have ever come about.

Which was an interesting thought. What would he have done in relation to Grindelwald if he'd still been in Japan. Part of him doubted he'd have reacted any differently. He may have been there sooner. But he would have still gone to check it out. And he would have still fought the man.

The difference would have likely been Avery rather than Neville. He knew that wouldn't have made much of a difference, they were a wash in the grand scheme of things. Although with Avery he would have been less interested in showing off and might have taken the fight a little more seriously.

Still, he thought, he wasn't being that overconfident. He'd started the fight like he started most fights. He liked to see what the opponents would do before he decided on a course of action. He wouldn't have done any differently with Avery backing him up rather than Neville.

In fact, he might have been even more reckless, given that he would have assumed Avery had the escape plan already, unlike his half-assed attempt to get Neville to properly utilize the watches.

He shook the thought from his head. He knew there was no real reason to dwell on it. It didn't matter. He turned his attention back to the ring and to happier times.

He'd shown up exactly two weeks later to check in on it. The shopkeeper was in the middle of composing a letter to him to tell him it was ready. He left his wife in the front of the shop while he brought Harry into the back and dug out the ring.

The same ring that now rested on his palm as he did his best to examine it without waking Priya.

He'd gasped at seeing it. A reaction that made the elderly man chuckle to himself. The white gold ring was lined with gemstones that sparkled even in the dimly lit back room. Harry admired it, holding the soft velvet box in his hands as he did as if it were the most precious thing he'd ever seen.

He'd thanked the man profusely and promised to refer every bit of business he ever had to him. A promise that Avery made good on for a necklace for Fumiko's birthday. When he'd arrived back at his home that evening he put the finishing touches onto the ring.

It wasn't much. Just a minimal series of protective enchantments designed to preserve both the ring and the wearer. A little added bit of security for his peace of mind, coupled with some maintenance charms to always make the ring appear perfect.

He wished he could have taken credit for the idea. But he'd gathered most of the charms from an article in Witch Weekly. Either way, they'd seemed to have the exact effect as Priya had loved all of them, and the ring. And he'd loved looking at it on her finger. Granted, it was still nice to look at while it resided on a chain around her neck. But it didn't fill him with the same odd sense of pride as it did when it adorned her hand and drew the looks of everyone in a room.

He missed those days. He let out a soft sigh as he continued to stare at the ring, letting the memory of every time she'd shown it off fly to the forefront of his brain. It was perhaps shallow of him to enjoy those moments. Still, he had no problem admitting he did.

"What are you doing?" she broke him out of his contemplative silence. He kept his hand on the ring as he raised his eyes to meet her gaze. She was resting back against the pillow, her mass of dark hair spread out around her, contrasting sharply with the pristine white pillowcase.

"Thinking," Harry said. He let his finger slide around the chain, running slowly up the length of it so the ring came to a rest against the back of his hand.

"Well that's frightening," she teased, an early morning yawn following her words. He looked away and did his best to stifle his own yawn, knowing full well she'd scold him for making her yawn again, even if it wasn't an entirely fair situation.

"It usually results in questionable decisions but I suspect that's due to formulating half of the idea and then acting on it rather than thinking the plan through to a logical conclusion," Harry said, hoping it sounded both pretentious and idiotic. For what it was worth Priya giggled, which did wonderful things to her upper body.

"I think the best advice would be to practice more," Priya said.

"Which is what I was doing."

"Do I even want to know?" she asked, raising her thin eyebrows and doing her best to give him a skeptical look. He resisted the urge to shift back on top of her and to trace his lips over those very brows. It was one of his greater accomplishments, he thought.

"Well, I'd decided that I should wake you up with some kisses and go from there. But you looked so relaxed and peaceful that I continued the thought and concluded that it would be better if I let you sleep," Harry said.

"Would you look at that, you are learning," Priya said.

"See there is hope for me yet," Harry responded, with his best and brightest fake smile.

"Well, there was. Right up until the point where you instead decided to wake me up by tugging at the chain around my neck," Priya said. "I don't have any bondage, captivity or asphyxiation fetishes so it wasn't that amusing."

"I'm sorry," Harry said. He let his hand fall to her chest so that he was no longer applying any pressure to the chain. She just shook her head, doing her best to wipe the smirk off of her face. Her efforts were largely futile.

"Oh it's fine," she said, her eyes flashing down to his hand, her engagement ring still resting against it.

"Another reason to practice more," Harry sighed as he spoke. Priya's response was an exhale akin to 'mmm' as she continued to look down. They were quiet for a few moments, Harry spent the time counting her heart beat against his hand. At thirty-seven she spoke up.

"You never did take me to see it," she said. Harry felt it was his brows furrowed. She could tell he wasn't putting two-and-two together so she offered more. "The shop where you got the ring.'

"I didn't," Harry admitted. She'd talked about wanting to go see it and the jeweler who'd designed and crafted her ring, but somehow they never got around to it.

"Why not?" she asked. Harry shrugged his shoulders.

"I don't know. By that point we weren't venturing into Tokyo that often," Harry said.

"We definitely liked our little neighborhood," Priya agreed.

"And we never made a specific date for it. It wasn't like I was avoiding doing it. We just always seemed to have something better to do," Harry said. It felt like a weak excuse when he voiced it but they both knew it was the truth. It was one of many things that they'd always talked about doing but just never quite got around to. There was an odd sort of simplicity to it, almost like a lapse of memory.

"We did not," she agreed. "Should have."

"There's still time," Harry shrugged. "I doubt he closed up shop. We could head over there next weekend if you wanted to."

"I'll keep that in mind," Priya said. But deep down they both knew that they would not be venturing across the world that weekend, even if they'd really wanted to.

"Why did you want to go, anyway?" Harry asked.

"I feel like I should compliment him on the ring. It's gorgeous and they went through all that effort for me," Priya said.

"He was well compensated and it is his job," Harry said, earning him a quick glare.

"That doesn't invalidate his efforts. And I also wanted to pick his brain about a matching wedding band," Priya admitted. "He did such a great job with the engagement ring that it only seemed fitting to give him a crack at the next one."

"I see," Harry said, finding himself reminded of how little they'd really done toward actually having the wedding. Even if he didn't quite understand the purpose for having two rings himself, he still knew he'd have bought the wedding band instantly if that was the route she wanted to go.

They lapsed into silence once more. Priya closed her eyes and took a deep breath as Harry went back to counting her heartbeat. It seemed faster than it had moments earlier. He wondered if that was normal for a conversation, or if he was missing something.

Given his track record he leaned toward the latter. And he expected it to be something so obvious he'd feel like an unobservant moron the moment she voiced whatever it was.

This time she waited until one hundred and sixteen to speak up.

"Are you going to take it off the chain and put it back on me or what exactly are we doing?" she asked so quietly he had to strain to hear her, even as he rested inches from her. Harry felt his own heart flutter as she spoke. He knew what she was asking, but the joke popped into his head before the serious response.

He lifted his hand from her and took the ring between his thumb and index finger and examined it for a moment.

"On you," he said, ignoring her sharp intake of breath as he placed the ring down on her right nipple. Her eyes flashed down to it, and then back to him, and then back down to it. She erupted into a fit of giggles.

"Really Harry?" she choked out as she laughed. He smiled at her as she composed herself, then faked confusion before faking an epiphany.

"Oh, you're right," he said, he picked up the ring and moved it to her left breast, causing another fit of giggles.

"How did I ever fall in love with you?" Priya asked.

"I'm extremely attractive while doing magical research," Harry said. "And you couldn't resist my innate magnetism."

"Oh, right," she said, still fighting to suppress the giggles. "How could I forget that?"

"I have no idea," Harry said. Once she'd managed to compose herself she took the necklace off and held it in her hand, the ring dangling between them.

"Let's be serious now, though," Priya said.

"Even if I rather liked the concept?" he asked, tilting his head toward her chest. She made a show of rolling her eyes at him.

"I have enough holes in my ears. I don't need to go making more of them on my body," Priya countered.

"Well fine then," Harry teased. He shifted his weight and moved to rest on his elbow next to her. She let the necklace fall toward her navel and he spent a moment playing with the chain, admiring the silver as it contrasted with her skin.

"You're not answering my question," Priya said.

"It's a complicated question to answer," Harry admitted. He could feel his heart in his throat as he said it. He struggled not to coke on the words. They were far from what he actually wanted to say to her in that moment.

"Then what are we doing?" she asked, anger rising into her voice. He saw her right hand clench into a fist for a moment. But that was as much emotion as she allowed to bubble over the top.

"It's not that. It's something else," Harry said.

"Are you fucking Granger?" she asked.

"What?" he blinked in surprise. That wasn't at all where he'd expected the conversation to go.

"I mean I know you did before. And it seemed natural," Priya said.

"I am not," Harry said.

"Oh," Priya said. She paused and looked like she wanted to say something but the words didn't come.

"I actually haven't since we…" he said, letting his words trail off.

"Me either. But it was only a few months, Harry," Priya said.

"Felt longer."

"It did," Priya admitted. "So long you might have been able to talk me into one threesome."

"I thought we were being serious," Harry countered. Priya smirked at him, her eyes flashing playfully as she did. But he knew her well enough to know that playfull was all it was.

"Well if you aren't answering my question," Priya said.

"What I want can't be my answer," Harry said.

"Remember the practice of having coherent thoughts? Whatever that sentence was is definitely a failure on that front," Priya said.

"If I put the ring on your finger again, it doesn't make you innocuous little Priya paying her dues at St. Mungo's. It makes you the future Mrs. Potter," Harry said.

"I see," Priya said, her voice quiet.

"So I feel like if I do what I'd like, it ruins the plans you've set up in the last few months," Harry said. "And while I'm okay with that. I'm not sure that's my decision to make."

"I guess that's understandable. But let's ignore that for a moment. Tell me what you want," Priya said.

"You," Harry responded instantly. "And everything that entails."

"Me too," she said, her voice little more than a whisper.

"But I can't," he started but she shushed him with a glare.

"Kiss me," she ordered. Harry stared at her for a moment.

"Well, okay," he said. He couldn't see much of a downside to her command so he shifted over her and pressed his lips to hers. The kiss lasted longer than was strictly innocent, but given that they were both naked that didn't seem to be much of a problem.

"Better," Priya said against his lips. Harry lifted his head from hers, his body shifting over hers as he looked into her eyes.

"What?" he asked.

"We needed that," Priya said.

"I'm not going to argue with you there, but still, random," Harry said.

"Well, it shut you up so I can speak," Priya said. Harry raised his brows but knew better than to interrupt at that moment. Priya dared him to comment with his eyes but Harry resisted the temptation and waited for her to continue.

"Look," she said. "If we do, we do. If we don't, we don't. I'd like kids. And I know you'd like kids. But my family is you. And if that's all it is, that's all it is. As much as I'd love to meet Dev and Anika Potter. If we never do, we never do."

"James and Daisy," Harry countered, earning him a pair of raised brows. He'd always wanted to name his kids after his parents. He figured he'd get James, but doubted he'd get both. So he figured since his mother and her sister both had flower names, maybe a flower name would be a good pick.

"James and Anika," Priya compromised.

"James and Anika," Harry agreed and kissed her again. His weight shifted against hers, his body resting on hers.

"Well that's settled. Now about the future," Priya said.

"What about it?" Harry asked. He turned his face into her neck, trailing her lips over her skin.

"What are we going to do?" Priya asked.

"I can apparate us to somewhere with an open governmental office and we can get the paperwork all signed. Or we can try to make Anika," Harry said. Priya swatted him on the back. It did little to deter him.

"That isn't what I was asking," Priya said. She brought her hand to the necklace and drew Harry's attention to the ring.

"Put it on," Harry said. He shifted his lips toward her ear and added, "fiance."

"It can't be that easy," Priya frowned. Harry let his hand slip behind her neck and found the clasp on the necklace. It took him a couple of attempts to undo it with one hand, but he managed. He pulled it gently off of her and held it in his hand.

"Why not?" he whispered.

"I don't know," Priya frowned as he distracted her by kissing her neck even more. "Because you're right. For what I might have to do, well, it will be a lot easier if people aren't asking me who gave me the rock."

"Disillusion it," Harry said. "I could probably come up with a spell that would let you do it at will."

"Of course you could," Priya scoffed.

"I'm sure you could too if you put your mind to it," Harry said.

"Oh just put it back on me," she said. "I miss the weight of it on my hand."

"Gladly," Harry whispered. He pulled the chain from the ring and tossed it onto his bedside table. After that he lifted up her left hand, kissed her ring finger, and, for the second time in his life, slid an engagement ring onto her finger.

He spent a moment admiring it. He couldn't help it. It looked every bit as wonderful on her hand as he remembered. He kissed it once and then let his lips trail up her arm. She pulled him to her lips and held him to her.

They kissed for a long time, memories of lazy mornings in bed in Japan filling both of their heads. But just as Harry shifted himself to attempt more a familiar pop of elves appearing filled his bedroom. Priya shrieked so loudly that Harry wondered if she knew any good spells for fixing blown eardrums.

"We has your breakfasts," one of the Hogwarts eleves said. It left a tray of food on his dresser. A second elf left a pot of coffee and the pops of apparition filled the room once more. Harry turned to kiss Priya again but she shook her head.

"Nope," she said. "Total mood killer."

"You might have to get used to it," Harry said.

"Really, Harry?" Priya chuckled.

"Well, they bring breakfast every day," Harry shrugged.

"And you think the solution is me getting used to it and not you telling them to leave it elsewhere or stop? Especially when the chance of them popping up will lead to a zero percent chance of you having morning sex," Priya said.

"I will discuss it with them," Harry caved immediately.

"Good. Now get off of me I want to shower."

"Can I come?" Harry asked, rolling off of her and standing up.

"Will you behave?" she asked, standing as well. She stretched her arms over her head, forcing her chest toward him. He stared, he couldn't help it.

"Maybe."

"Well fine," she said and sauntered off toward the bathroom.

A half hour or so later they were sitting in his private study. Honestly, it still amazed him just how many perks being the Headmaster of Hogwarts had at the castle. His own rooms were massive and conformed, much like the room of requirement, practically to his thoughts. Priya peered through a morning paper as he magically reheated the benedicts the elves brought him and poured cups of coffee.

The ease in which they settled into the morning routine startled him. Although he wondered if it should have, given that they'd done some form of it for years. They ate without talking. Interrupted only by four soft knocks on his door.

Priya raised her brows in alarm and looked around. But Harry merely shrugged his shoulders.

"There's nothing scandalous about me wanting to chat with my new nurse," Harry said as he rose and walked toward the door. Priya covered her left hand with her right and waited as he opened it.

"Good morning, Harry," Fumiko said. Avery stood behind her. He nodded to both of them.

"Fumiko, Alex," he said and stepped away from the door. They followed him in. Fumiko smiled rather brightly at Priya, who uncovered her hand. A small squeal and a lot of hugging followed. Avery merely gave him a knowing look.

"About time you pulled your head out of your ass," he said.

"Careful or I'll put yours in yours," Harry countered, earning himself a chuckle. Fumiko and Priya continued to gush. Harry was pretty sure they'd already had the entire conversation before.

"Going to share the details?" Avery asked.

"We got drunk, screwed, and then talked," Harry shrugged. He conjured two more coffee mugs and summoned an elf to refill the pitcher before pouring one for each of the new guests.

"There has to be more to it than that," Avery laughed and thanked him for the coffee.

"Wasn't, really," Harry said.

"Not even something like, say, the details of the conversation?" Avery asked.

"Pretty standard. Nothing you and Fumiko haven't argued before," Harry said.

"Would have saved you a lot of time had you listened," Avery scolded. Harry rolled his eyes at the other man.

"Story of my life, really," he said. Avery chuckled to himself.

"Well, sometimes your boneheaded decisions lead to an amusing couple of weeks and an up close look at spaceships. At other times, well, they just make you look like an idiot," Avery teased. Harry couldn't help the smile that curled up his face.

"Well, you win some, you lose some. To what do I owe this morning interruption?"

"We were going to tell you that your new nurse was approved and see how you reacted. But it seems like you already found that out," Avery teased.

"The interview portion last night was particularly amusing," Harry said. "Although I'm not sure if the board of governors would approve all of the activities involved."

"As long as they were involved they probably would. Bunch of old, rich, Pureblood perverts," Avery countered.

"Pot, Kettle," Harry said.

"I'm not that old," Avery said.

"What, like ninety?"

"Sure, we'll go with that."

"Life would have been easier if you were just a governor," Harry said.

"Life would have been easier if we stayed in Japan, loved our wives, and ignored the rest of the world," Avery said.

"Well, you're not wrong there," Harry said. Once again he found himself wondering if he'd have been able to stay in the country after what happened with Grindelwald in France. And if it would have been the better decision.

The honest truth was that it almost certainly would have been. What did Grindelwald matter to him? He could have been happy in his own bubble in Japan. There was next to no chance that the other Wizard would have come looking for him.

And then what was the worst that could have happened? Some people from England like say, Hermione or Ron or Neville came looking for him and asked for help? Had Fudge been Fudge he might have been able to return as a hero.

Instead he'd run away from the love of his life and fled back to the only country he thought was home. He'd let Avery use the excuse of showing Fumiko his homeland but he suspected they all knew it was because Priya would also return. And that they'd eventually hash it out. It annoyed him that they seemed so far ahead of him when it came to that aspect of his own relationships. Still, he knew he had no reason to argue with them, or be mad at them. He'd made a mistake. And it had taken Priya's own assertiveness to get him to acknowledge it and fix it.

"Either way, you've obviously met the nurse. And since you've spoken I'm sure she told you about our plans," Avery said.

"I rather liked the part where I was left out of them," Harry said.

"It wasn't so much left out as it was planned around," Avery said. "We fully intended to tell you. And honestly, you don't need to have the burden of making all of the decisions."

"Disagree," Harry said.

"Which is why you were left out of the process," Avery said.

"So why are we all here now?" Harry asked.

"We just wanted to check in," Avery said. "I take it you know what she did with Emily."

"I do. I'm both confused as to how she got Emily to listen to her and intrigued to see if it leads to anything more," Harry said.

"How is she doing, by the way?" Fumiko asked. Priya sipped her coffee.

"She checked in yesterday afternoon. She's in the mountains somewhere. I meant to look up where on a map but got distracted," Priya said. "She didn't say much."

"You're in contact with her?" Harry asked. Something in the back of his mind wondered if he really wanted Priya and Emily to be friendly.

"Sort of. We have one of those charmed notebooks. A pocket sized one that can be destroyed by either side to keep it as innocuous as possible. She jots a few notes most days," Priya said. She took out her wand and summoned a small black notebook with 'field notes' stamped across the cover and handed it to Harry.

He paged through it until he found the last entry, dated the day before. It was fairly only a couple of words. 'Found local guide, exploring mountains, odd magic in air.' Harry frowned and tossed it back onto the table.

"Well that's useless," Harry said.

"I'm amazed she is actually keeping it up at all. For the most part she just dates things and provides a location or a brief comment," Priya said. Harry grabbed the notebook again and paged through some of the earlier entries. He conjured a map of Iran, took far longer than he cared to admit to find Tehran, and started to trace his way through the locations she mentioned.

It surprised him just how much ground she'd covered in a relatively short time.

"Are you in contact with the reporter as well?" he asked.

"Who?" Priya responded.

"The woman who broke the news our engagement. The one you said got her into the country," Harry asked as he traced a finger over one of the mountain ranges finding himself oddly annoyed they weren't ridged. He summoned a few thumbtacks and marked the places she'd specifically mentioned on the map.

"Oh. No. I don't even know if she stayed there. I just wanted the credentials and a passable cover story," Priya said. She frowned after she spoke and looked pensive.

"I see," Harry said.

"Should I have done more?" Priya asked.

"No idea," Harry said. He walked toward the fire and grabbed a handful of powder. "I think if you thought she would be useful you would have."

"I guess I dismissed her pretty quickly," Priya said, her frown deepening. "I was trying to act all suave, cool and mysterious like you and didn't think of anything for her to do."

"Blow him on your own time," Avery laughed, earning himself a glare. "He doesn't need to think he's any of those things. It'll inflate his ego further."

"Haha," Harry responded. He tossed the powder into the fire and asked for the Department of Magical Education. When there wasn't an answer, which felt obvious as it was the weekend, he pivoted and asked for an address in London.

"Harry? What are you doing calling? Oh God did someone die?" Hermione asked as she answered the floo call. Harry felt it both insulting but oddly appropriate that death was her first thought.

"No. Come through when you can. Something came up," Harry said. Hermione's fiery face pursed her lips but she agreed. Harry left the connection open and sent for an elf to ask Neville to see him.

"What are you doing?" Fumiko asked.

"I made a promise to both of them," Harry shrugged. "I'm keeping that promise."

"He said they could be involved," Priya added.

"You trust them?" Avery asked. The question was directed at Priya, but Harry answered.

"With my life."

"Didn't seem worth it to argue with him," Priya added. Neville walked into the room a few moments later. He looked freshly showered and like he'd just finished a morning workout. Hermione stepped through the fire a couple of seconds after.

"What's going on?" she asked.

"Priya sent Emily to Iran," Harry said. He lifted the notebook from the table with magic and shot it toward Hermione. "Those are her notes so far."

"You think there's truth to those rumors?" Hermione asked Harry, not bothering to spare a glance at Priya. Which at least meant she didn't notice the ring. Which would save him from having a tedious conversation for at least a few minutes.

"I think it's worth looking into," Priya said, annoyance bubbling up in her tone.

"I didn't think it felt serious," Hermione said.

"Well if it's not, we'll know," Priya responded, cattily. Neville glanced between the two women, then raised his brows at Harry. Harry shrugged.

"Regardless, it's our first step in anything," Harry said. "And since you wanted to be involved, I figured you should know."

"Being involved means telling me before you do things, not after," Hermione scoffed.

"I'm not the one making those decisions," Harry said. He nodded at Priya. "She is."

"What?" Hermione asked, glaring over the notebook at Harry.

"She's in charge," Harry said.

"But that makes no sense," Hermione said. "And I certainly didn't have any input."

"Well we can vote on it then, all in favor?" Harry asked. He held up his hand, as did Avery and Fumiko. "And opposed?" No one added a hand.

"That's settled then," Priya said.

"Why her?" Hermione asked.

"She's smart, capable, and level-headed. Of all of us she's the most outside of any other influence. And I trust her," Harry said. "So if you want to be involved, it's what she says goes."

"I have no issue with it," Neville said. This earned him a glare from Hermione but a smile from Priya steadied him slightly.

"You don't even know her," Hermione said.

"Still, I have no issue with it," Neville repeated. Hermione seemed to realize she'd more or less lost the argument and decided to move on.

"So why are we here?" Hermione asked.

"Keeping everyone in the loop. Emily is in Iran exploring the magical disturbances she feels there. The ones that are emanating from caves where that terrorist cell supposedly hid. There's a chance she might need some additional support. I thought it necessary that everyone is on the same page," Priya said. Harry smiled at her. He'd figured she'd be able to take over if he pointed the way.

"I see," Hermione frowned. She peered around the room before taking a deep breath and continuing. "I appreciate the update. If there's anything I can do at the ministry to help, please let me know."

"I will do so," Priya said.

"Thank you," Hermione responded. The room fell into a tense silence and Harry wondered exactly how this was all going to work. Really, he thought, it would probably be easiest if Neville and Hermione just went ahead and boned. He was distracted by that thought from a buzzing on his wrist.

He looked down at it on instinct, before he remembered exactly what it meant. Red coordinates flashed on the face. He ran two fingers over the face and flicked them at the map on the wall. A large red dot pulsed in the mountain region he'd marked.

"I have to go," Harry said as the vibrating grew more intense. He tried his best to not let the panic slip into his voice. When Priya mentioned she'd given Emily her watch Harry doubted she'd ever succumb to using it. Her asking him for help felt like such a foreign concept he had a hard time fathoming what danger she could be in. He noticed Fumiko and Avery looking at their watches as well, each growing progressively paler.

"Where are we going?" Neville asked.

"You're not," Priya said, rising to her feet and looking at the map.

"Excuse me if I can help," Neville said as Harry moved to the fireplace. He threw powder in, figuring he'd go to London and apparate from there.

"Alex go with him," Priya said. Avery swallowed back his nerves and nodded. "The rest of us still need to talk. Ping Fumiko if you need more help. Don't do anything stupid."

"I'll try to remind him of that," Avery said as he moved toward Harry and the fire.

It gave Harry a good enough idea of where to start though, and he said Avery's address into the fire. He felt the man follow behind him as he focused, knowing he'd have to apparate Avery with him to cover the distance. He let his magic rise in him, fighting against the taint he felt as the power filled him, and readied himself for combat.

Author's note: Thanks for reading and reviewing I do appreciate all of the feedback and support I receive. If you'd like to support me further I can be found on PAT RE ON at TE7writes. There are a few additional chapters already live over there.

Thanks again!