2008 First floor bar, Renaissance New York Times Square, New York

Harry knew the look Ginny was giving him. It was a look he was unfortunately familiar, resignation to a plan (" a stupid plan, Harry!" she would retort) he'd come up with. But she would always try to talk him out of it. Sometimes it was successful.

"Harry." Ginny sighed, "you know we can't jump into something like this, we don't live here, we've got our own jobs and lives, we can't really get involved."

They were having the discussion (argument was too harsh a word, Harry thought) in the hotel bar, which thankfully had a window that overlooked the children's play area. Not for the first time Harry mentally congratulated whoever designed the building - the idea of having parks next to pubs seemed anathema to most Americans for some reason that he couldn't work out. But this bar, with a conveniently placed children's play area, was incredibly popular.

Sipping his drink, Harry thought for a moment.

"You were happy enough to help Thalia out when I told you about her." He turned his head and looked at Ginny fully - both of them were occasionally shifting their heads to check on the play area - he couldn't have a discussion with her without seeing her face, it didn't feel right.

"Yes Harry, when you told me about helping three kids, but they- well." Ginny fumbled, still visibly trying to get her head around what had happened between Harry and Chiron's stories. "Well two at least, are safe, and we can't help them. No, listen" She glared at Harry until he sighed and lent back in his chair. " They aren't wizards, they aren't nearby, and we can't exactly arrange for anyone in MACUSA to keep an eye on them when we head back to work in Britain - what's the point of going to their camp to look around when we know we can't do anything."

"We don't know that Ginny." Harry tried his best not to huff, leaning forward over the small table. Yes Ginny was right that their jobs, not to mention raising James and partly Teddy, meant there wasn't enough time in the day as it was. He knew that, and that knowledge was reinforced every time he couldn't sit down and relax because his attention was urgently needed, by James usually, sometimes Teddy, or Ginny, or even the Auror Office.

That didn't matter though, since he still felt responsible in a way - if he didn't head back to London as fast as he did in 2002 maybe he could have helped Thalia, or given Luke another mirror to stay in contact.

Harry shook his head to try and physically stop himself going down that train of thought - it already kept him up the previous night and had been going around his head for a while, he knew that he couldn't dwell on 'What Ifs' like that. It was one of the first things he was taught as an Auror.

But that small voice in the back of his mind was insistent. If anyone was familiar enough with the feeling of isolation then it would probably have been him, maybe he could have talked Luke around, if he had just given the boy a mirror.

"They do have a camp but I don't really trust the Mr D or Chiron-" Harry was cut off.

"Exactly. They have a camp, and Mr D and Chiron are the teachers there, we can't do anything. Oh Harry I dislike Mr D as much as you, but really what can we do? If he's a Greek Olympian like he says-"

"He is." Harry insisted. No-one was that good an actor, and MACUSA had no idea about the monsters last time he was there, he couldn't have been a wizard, so what other explanation was there?

"It's just, well, unbelievable Harry." When Ginny said this, Harry had to laugh.

"Ginny, I grew up muggle, Gods being real isn't any more unbelievable than the existence of magic and dragons." he said this in a whisper.

Using the excuse being British gave them, particularly Teddy and James, leeway with a lot of Americans for not knowing about pop-culture or confusion regarding 'basic' items. But talking about magic was a step too far - not even the most gullible American would believe the excuse of British eccentricity, they could even think it was a codeword for something - so Harry was sure to mention this to Ginny. Hermione had told him enough about overreacting American muggles when he first mentioned this holiday that he didn't want to be questioned, or need to Obliviate some poor sod for being inquisitive.

"Yes, well." Ginny shifted, uncomfortable. Any reminder of Harry growing up muggle always was linked to the Dursleys, and no matter how often Harry had told the Weasleys he'd forgiven them, the Weasleys were all capable of holding a grudge. "You can't deny that, well, our lot are far more explainable and reasonable than, actual Olympians ." Ginny never referred to them as gods, always calling them Olympians, Harry realised.

"Why are you calling them Olympians and not, well, gods? "

"Harry, did you ever speak to the Fat Friar in school?" Ginny smirked at him, already knowing the answer. He was adorably socially inept at school, she always insisted. "If they are, actual…well, gods then what about actual God, or Nodens or Saint Petroc and-" Ginny was clearly about to read a long list, effectively bludgering Harry into acceptance, before he cut her off again.

"Maybe on our side they just hide?" But that sounded like a weak excuse even to him.

"But for some unexplained reason the Greek ones just buggered off to America? Either they are all real, or they are part of a hoax."

"Well they can't be our lot, MACUSA haven't got any idea about them." as soon as he said this, Harry realised it was a mistake.

"Harry." Ginny's face was carefully blank, she began in an obviously sweet tone, "Have you, while we're on holiday, been talking to MACUSA and working? When did - Oh." A look of realisation swept over Ginny, and Harry squirmed in his seat, fixing his gaze on the small window overlooking the children's play-area and deliberately not looking at his wife.

"When you said you had to go off to check our Attraction Passes, you just pissed off into MACUSA?!" Ginny was careful to keep her voice down, but the tone definitely carried, and Harry could see sympathetic looks from one of the men on the nearby table.

"I wanted to double check-" He tried to start but Ginny wouldn't let him finish.

"Harry, we came here, as far away from the UK as we could, for an actual holiday , for us and the boys. Yes helping Thalia and that visit was different, but you going to MACUSA, on your holiday is work. Harry we both know you need a break, actual time to yourself. Just hold off on being the big Auror for the moment, please" she finished, gently reaching over to him and laying her hand on his that was now drumming on the table.

Harry sighed. The thing was, Ginny was right. He did need some sort of actual break, Neville and Susan had left the Aurors, Ron was making noises about 'moving on'. Mad-Eye Moody famously developed his paranoia because he took to being an Auror too heavily. It wasn't healthy to dedicate all of your free time to being an Auror, Harry knew that. It didn't help that most of their holidays as a family were usually interrupted by Harry getting called back to the Auror Office.

"Look Ginny, I'm sorry."

"Oh don't apologise." Ginny scoffed, still stroking his hand, both of them now looking at the play area through the window, James was playing what passed for catch with a few other toddlers, whilst Teddy was involved in some sort of relay race around the slide with a collection of laughing boys and girls.

"We both know that's why I fell in love with you in the first place, you are so damn noble it's honestly annoying sometimes." she laughed as she finished, and even Harry had to crack a grin. Despite what Ron would say he wasn't constantly going out of his way 'like one of those Muggle superheroes', he did know his limits and what could realistically be done. But sometimes, when he thought he could help somebody, he found it difficult to turn them down, especially if it was something simple.

Harry was about to make an obviously witty reply, but at that moment there was a loud shriek in the play area.

Teddy had tackled another boy, who won the race or came last Harry couldn't tell, this was apparently the agreed forfeit of some sort that the older children had been doing for a while, but this time the tackled boy flailed, and his arm must have caught one of the other children in the face.

Harry couldn't see what had happened, but there was a lot of noise was coming the blind spot to the side of the window, where a lot of the toddlers had moved to play a different game.

James!

Harry's mind went into overdrive - he couldn't see James through the window - were some of the screams coming from him? Was he hurt?

Harry couldn't think, he and Ginny got up, joined by what was probably the parents of some of the other kids. Most were ambling or took their time in getting up, something that Harry would later be thankful for.

When Harry, who as a matter of professional pride was much faster than many of the tourists, got to the play area, he froze.

The girl's shriek didn't come from her being in pain, but surprise, she was held in place just as she was about to tumble, her feet were floating a few inches from the ground, keeping her imobile in the air at an angle, right in front of James and another girl who were both looking wide eyed at the shrieking girl.

Quickly Harry pulled James and the other toddler out from under the floating girl and quickly dispelled whatever accidental magic James had done, catching the girl's arm so she didn't hit the ground. It was much easier to case a wandless Finite Incantatum when the subject of the dispelling was not only your own son, but also done accidentally. It was barely the work of a second, but it still gave plenty of time for the kids to see it.

At that point the rest of the parent had caught up, many were pulling their own toddlers and checking on them, the mother of the tackled boy, and father of the floating girl had whisked both children into their respective arms, Teddy was looking anxiously at Harry, and where the girl had been floating. James was already in Ginny's arms, now happily cooing away, Harry handed him off to Ginny without even thinking.

He needed to do some damage control, having MACUSA Obliviators show up really wasn't going to improve anyone's day. Thinking quickly, he came up with a story before most of the parents there could distinguish from the children's babble what they saw.

"Hey, is your foot Ok?" Harry asked the girl who had been floating. Looking confused the girl nodded, her father flicked his gaze between his daughter and Harry, obviously wondering what her foot had to do with anything.

"You caught yourself on your foot to stop falling on the kids, you've got some great reflexes, but you were putting a lot of strain on your ankle holding yourself there." Harry knew this was a much more believable story, it could happen that in trying to stop herself falling the girl could have balanced (improbably) on her tip-toes like a ballerina. But on hearing the word 'strain' the girl's father looked sharply at Harry, and hugged his daughter tighter.

Thankfully Harry was spared trying to make up some medical-sounding explanation by Ginny. A professional sportswoman could explain about muscles and reflexes and the like far better than an Auror.

"You really have great balance there sweetheart." Ginny said, probably laying on a bit thick, but if the girl and her father believed it, then it didn't matter. "Have you ever tried out for ballet?"

The girl, now looking much more relieved, smiled shyly and shook her head

"No ma'am." Harry couldn't place the accent, it definitely sounded American but not one he had heard before.

"Well you should maybe consider it, catching yourself en pointe like that to stop your fall was impressive, but be careful you may have sprained yourself if you weren't careful."

At this the girl's face had gone from smiling to worried, and her father, and some of the other parents that caught the word 'sprained', looked nervous.

"Will she need the hospital." came a voice from one of the other parents. Inwardly Harry swore, they didn't want to draw attention to it, a hospital was really not what they needed right now.

"You could claim something from the hotel?" came another voice.

Claim what? Harry thought, but he didn't have time to voice it because then multiple 'helpful' voices chimed in, talking about suing, and bills and costs and 'poor young girl' which wasn't helping said poor young girl, or her father, both of whom were looking increasingly worried, the father was now physically checking his daughter looking for sprains or bruises ( in entirely the wrong places , Harry thought, in a voice that sounded suspiciously like Ginny)

"Hey, everyone!" Ginny had to raise her voice, but after years of professional quidditch and shouting across a full-sized pitch, it was easy enough to quiet the room. She spoke just to the girl and her father in her 'Harpy fan' voice. "It's nothing like that, just rest your foot, most sprain's don't need a doctor at all, just rest and maybe something cold held on to it for a while at first, in most cases it solves itself and will be fine in a day or two."

Harry didn't know if it was the accent (he'd been told by Seamus that many Americans found a British accent sounded more authoritative) or the confidence from Ginny, but that quieted most people, but just before Harry could relax, more people turned up, uniformed hotel staff bought in by some of the more 'helpful' parents, who were pointing in the direction of the girl, and in the middle of miming something obviously terrible.

"..and that poor girl, crying in pain, the floors here are really very slippery, it's a wonder she didn't fall and crack open her head!"

This started the hotel staff (three of them, which Harry thought was overkill, but who was he to judge) going to the girl, pushing Harry out the way and talking with her and her father, one of the waitresses came in with a chair and some cushions for the girl and her father to sit down whilst one of the suited men, probably the hotel manager, was gesturing and talking. Harry realised later probably begging the man to not sue them, whilst the girl and her father just looked overwhelmed at all the fuss.

While this was going on, Harry pulled Teddy and Ginny, still holding James, close, and mumbled into Ginny's ear, under the cover of a hug.

"Accidental magic, the girl was floating a little, but -"

"The balancing was a good story, I'm glad I could work in ballet to it." Ginny nodded.

Harry moved to stand next to Ginny, allowing him to be close to her and James, Teddy was nearby chatting to one of his new friends, but also keep an eye on the hotel staff and the few remaining parents and children, although it was clear that some of the parents were staying because the drama was still playing out.

Whatever was going on between the hotel staff and the father-daughter pair, it was clearly being resolved, two of the staff began heading away but then being turned around. Harry caught that the father was rather forcibly insisting that both he and his daughter were completely fine, but then being overruled by one of the nearby parents. It would have been funny if it wasn't happening in front of him, Harry thought.

The father insisted he and his daughter were perfectly fine and absolutely not going to sue, one or more of the hotel staff would then get up to leave, but then another parent or somebody nearby would chime in about how the girl's shriek sounded so very painful and she was obviously injured terribly and of course it was the hotelier's that were at fault, the hotel staff would then return to their position by the girl and asking if she was ok, and generally bending over backwards with apologies or offers to get them to hospital. Then the father would insist again they were both fine, and the charade would repeat.

The waitress was caught in the middle, looking like a rabbit caught in headlights Harry thought, half-way between leaving the father-daughter pair and staying, incase they accepted the ride to the nearest hospital or needed something and she could retrieve it quickly.

Harry shared a glance with Ginny, who eventually sighed, handed James off to him, and went over to the small huddle surrounding the squirming eight year old.

"There is nothing wrong with her foot, and definitely not anything that would require a hospital visit. Myself and my husband arrived here first and saw what happened." Ginny said, speaking clearly above the din in what Ron and Percy had dubbed her 'Press voice', cut-glass accented and audible without being forceful or aggressive. Harry couldn't help but grin at the sight of the other adults in the room turning to her like ducklings.

"Miss - I am sorry but I don't think I caught your name," Ginny softened her voice and looked at the girl, who had now stopped squirming now that there weren't so many raised voices.

"I'm Holly ma'am. Holly Jones"

"Miss Holly Jones was about to fall over onto one of the younger children and caught herself by standing en pointe, a skill that many professional ballerinas often use. I assume that she was surprised by her fall and natural instinct at holding herself up, and yelled in surprise. We were all confused by the yell, but as we can all see it was nothing more than surprise rather than anything injurious." Ginny paused, looking around at some of the more vocal adults who were insisting on hospital visits or x-rays. "As a professional sportswoman I can say that the most severe injury from this would be a sprained ankle, and the best course of action would be to rest hold something cold around the ankle, but based on Miss Holly's reaction I don't believe that she has suffered a sprain at all. There is really no need for any hospital or doctor visits."

Ginny finished smiling gently at Holly, who was now beaming after being compared to a professional ballerina, completely forgetting her earlier visible distress at the attention.

Harry sighed in relief, and looked around at some of the other parents, a few were looking at him and James had buried himself in Harry's chest, nervous at all of the attention. It was only by coincidence that Harry noticed another adult, probably not a parent but almost definitely looking for drama.

As the new man got closer, reaching into his suit pocket, his eyes fell on Harry and he did a double take, this confused Harry, before he saw what the man was wearing.

A crisp business suit, immaculately pressed, severe haircut and stern expression all pointed so a middle-aged professional, but then Harry noticed his feet. Trainers.

Suddenly the double take made more sense, he was one of MACUSA's Obliviators. Harry scowled at him and shook his head, hoping he could get across that the last thing he or Ginny needed was an Obliviator.

Thankfully the Obliviator got the message and turned around and walked into the nearest corridor - probably to apparate back to MACUSA and inform them that there wasn't a risk to the Statue of Secrecy.

Turning his attention back to the gaggle, a few of the parents had left, but the most vocal were still around, and some of the children near Teddy's age were sitting like they were watching a tennis match between the vocal parents still talking about lawyers and regulations.

"...but she was floating ." This came from one of the boys, the children that weren't engrossed in the passive-aggressive argument between the parents were having their own discussion.

Harry saw a few of the children nodding, and swore under his breath, hopefully it could be passed off as an over active imagination, but there were multiple heads nodding, more than one child had seen what had happened.

Luckily Teddy had more than enough practice at deflecting attention from any magical slips, and walked to the group.

"Holly couldn't have been floating. Ddn't you hear what Ginny said, she was balancing on her toes. I've seen professional ballet dancers and when they balance on their toes they look like they are floating."

Harry was glad to see that Teddy's more logical explanation was accepted, although the boy and another girl were shaking their heads and were soon engaged in a whispered argument with Teddy about floating girls and what they saw.

"Aren't you with the police? Don't you know that there was child endangerment here? Shouldn't there be some sort of legal action?" one of the more 'helpful' parents, the same one that had bought over the hotel staff, gestured to Harry.

This was exactly what he was hoping to avoid. After explaining that he was involved in the Metropolitan Police (the accepted cover story for most Aurors) and that no, policing didn't cross international borders in the way they were thinking, most of the remaining parents, seeing that there was no chance of any more drama, left.

It steadily trickled down until it was just Holly, her father (Elijah Jones he introduced himself) and Harry, Ginny, Teddy and James, the hotel staff and waitress had finally been waved off by the combined efforts of Ginny, Elijah, and Holly after she proved she was fine by standing on her feet, and with no signs of discomfort or pain, the last hotelier left with a look of relief.

"Well thanks again for your help. I don't know what came over some of them, honestly." Elijah signed, shaking his head. Holly laughed from where she was now sitting with Teddy, playing a normal game of Snap. Harry and Ginny

"Americans-oh. Sorry, not you of course." Ginny tried to backtrack, but Elijah just laughed.

"Hey it's no worry, I'm Canadian, and so is my Holly. We're down here on vacation, but after that scare I guess we'll stick to some bus tours for a while." Harry and Ginny commiserated with him. They knew how difficult it was to get any child to sit still for any length of time on a bus, especially on holiday.

After an hour, and being treated to Teddy's display of 'magic' (taught by George and Ron as a matter of course, he was virtually an honorary Weasley) that wowed Holly and visibly confused James, Harry and Ginny said their goodbyes, with the promise to meet Elijah and Holly over the next few days (they had booked their trip with the same tourism company as Harry and Ginny it turned out, and were planning to visit the Empire State building at the same time).

Getting to their room, Ginny surprised Harry by heading straight for the bed and sighing.

"Turns out even on our break we still need to actively keep the Statute of Secrecy from collapsing." After Harry had wrangled James and Teddy into watching some Disney film, Ginny sat next to him on the edge of the bed, and murmured into Harry's ear.

"If we can't get a break from working to keep the Ministry afloat here, then you might as well visit the camp Harry. I can't well argue about not thinking about work when I've just spent the last half hour doing the job of an Obliviator and Muggle Worthy Excuse witch combined. But try not to get hurt."