Author's Notes: One cliffhanger down, another to go, but I did promise to get this one up quickly and I followed through so please consider finding me on f acebook and following me :D Sarah Jaune...

Anyway thank you Arnel for beta'ing

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Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter

James had a sleeping Asher on his shoulder as he paced back and forth across the living room while his wife sat on the sofa. They had put Alex to bed hours before, but they still didn't know anything about his dad or Uncle Bill and if they were okay.

There had been many times in his life that he'd hated his father's job and resented the hours Harry had been forced to put in at the Ministry, but as a child he hadn't fully appreciated just how dangerous the job really was, and now he was faced with a lot of uncertainty.

They'd nearly gone to Teddy and Victoire's house, but Alex had a cold and they didn't want to risk spreading it around to the rest of the family when everyone was already stressed. James treasured the solid weight and warm breath of his tiny son as he held him in his arms and held onto the hope that things would be okay.

Thankfully, Al had brought over a mirror so they could quickly get news if something happened.

"We need one of these just for us," Caroline said into the silence and he glanced over to see Rufus with his big head in her lap. She was staring at the mirror, willing it to come alive, even though they both dreaded what they might hear.

"We do, yeah," James agreed. He wanted to say he'd ask his aunt Hermione to make him one but they didn't know if she'd gone with Harry and Bill to where ever they were going. No one had been able to get ahold of Uncle Ron and it wasn't like Uncle Ron and Aunt Hermione were always on the best of terms.

Poor Rose was likely going out of her mind with worry about her mother, not knowing one way or the other. They knew Teddy was safe but they hadn't heard from him, either, at least from what Al had said so they didn't know where Hermione was.

"I think," Caroline said slowly as she studied the mirror, "that I'm glad the only stressful thing you have to deal with at work is pissing off the coach and that annoying woman who keeps hitting on you."

James scowled at the mention of his teammate, Heather, and her latest antics to try and get in to see him when he was changing. He'd actually stopped changing in the locker rooms and was coming home dirty because it was getting ridiculous.

He'd filed a complaint with management but they were slow to do anything and he couldn't exactly quit because he had a contract. He knew it wasn't the same thing, at all, because it wasn't like she was going to overpower and assault him, but he knew if it was the other way around the management team would have taken her complaints seriously and he'd have been fired that day.

And rightfully so.

No one should be harassed like that at work! He'd hated having to tell Caroline any of this crap, but he also didn't want her to ever feel like he was hiding something from him.

"I could just quit," he said, not for the first time.

"You love the game too much to quit," Caroline reminded him quietly as she ran a finger along the dog's ear. "You'd go crazy if you were at home all the time. If you didn't do that, you'd need another job."

He would as they needed the money. They didn't have a lot of expenses, as the house was paid off, but they still had to eat. "I could do something else."

"Well, tell your boss that," Caroline told him with an understanding smile. "Tell him to get her to leave you alone or you'll quit and do something else. Uncle George would definitely hire you on."

"He would," James agreed. That offer was always open and Fred wouldn't mind a partner in keeping the business running once Uncle Ron and Uncle George were ready to retire. Problem was they weren't likely to want to retire for another few decades. But they didn't need that much money to keep going. A job with his uncle would be enough.

But he could do other things… couldn't he? The problem was he'd really only ever entertained being a Quidditch player and because his mother played professionally, he hadn't ever thought it was out of his reach. "I could switch teams."

"You could," she agreed as she closed her eyes. James paused and studied her for a long moment. She was tired. Hell, they were both tired. Asher was an easy-going baby, but he was still a baby and still not sleeping well through the night. They would have months, yet, before he would.

But Merlin, she was beautiful. Maybe others thought she was, maybe they didn't. He didn't really care about that. When he looked at her, he could see his years with her when they were not even friends but still he was drawn to her. He always had been and he knew he always would be. She and the boys were his life and what a life it had been so far. First Alex came along from that whole mess in Brazil after he and now this thing with Heather was starting to blow up. She just kept trying to get alone with him.

The fire flamed to life and James glanced over to see Louis come through the fireplace. His cousin looked tired as he dusted himself off and James felt his brow raised when he saw the pink sparkly bow in Louis hair.

"I couldn't wait there any longer," Louis told them as he walked over and held out his arms. "Mum was driving me mad. Hand over my namesake."

James handed his son to Louis. They'd named the baby Asher Louis and his cousin had been very pleased. "Mate… was Emma doing your hair again?"

"What?" Louis asked, confused, then his expression cleared and he groaned as he went over to sit with Caroline. "I thought I had them all. Pull it out, would you?" he asked Caroline.

She smiled slightly as she gently unwound the band. "It's cute."

"Those girls are a menace," Louis assured them with a twinkle in his eye. "I'm so glad you have boys."

"You love every minute of it," Caroline retorted as she poked his shoulder.

Louis chuckled but then closed his eyes and leaned back, the baby resting on his chest.

"I could have taken the bow out, you know," James told him as he went to sit with his wife.

"Not bloody likely," Louis said. "You'd have yanked it out. Caroline is nicer and she has long hair so she knows how to take those things out."

"Maybe our next baby will be a girl and he'll have to learn," Caroline mused and James shot her a wicked grin. "But then again, maybe I'll just ask Emma to decorate her Uncle James next time we see them."

James groaned as Louis laughed.

The mirror flared to life.

~*~

It felt like an eternity before Harry, Bill, Hermione, Vick and Rick made it back to the dragon preserve. They drove flat out to get back while Rick was up on his seat, glued to the skyline. "It doesn't look good," he said once but that was all the kid would say.

The large SUV skidded to a halt just outside the preserve but before they could jump out, Rick shouted for all of them to wait.

Harry glanced back at the kid but whatever Rick could see, he didn't see it. They'd put the wards back up and the wards had held, making the vista before him the one he'd seen when they'd driven up the first time. It was rolling hills of green for as far as the eye could see, which now that he thought of it was mental because it was still winter and everything should have been covered in snow. They'd had a mild winter, but he'd passed snow covered fields on their way here. "I'm getting old," Harry muttered to himself as he waited for Rick to tell them what they were supposed to be seeing.

"I don't know what happened," Rick said finally as he continued to scan the veiled area. "It's almost like… like maybe there's smoke concealing everything."

It was fully dark then, save for the moonlight that streamed down on them, giving off enough light with the headlights that Harry would have sworn he'd have seen deer grazing in the fields if the whole thing wasn't a magical trick. "Is it because it's dark?"

"No," Rick answered without hesitation. "Something isn't right but I don't know what it is and I don't know if we're going to be able to find out without taking the veil down and clearing out whatever is in there."

Bill drummed his fingers on the car in a loud tattoo as he considered the area before him. "If she was okay, she probably would have come out."

"Could she take the wards down?" Vick questioned doubtfully. "She had us put them up and we're pretty good at it. She might not have been able to undo them or if she could, it might take a good bit of time."

"She could be hurt in there," Hermione added quietly. "She might not be able to get through to get help."

Harry did not miss the fact that no one mentioned Bugatti or thought he was still alive. That was telling.

"We have to make a decision," Bill said as he smacked his palm on the leather. "Do we risk taking the wards down or do we wait?"

"I don't know that waiting will make a difference," Rick told them as he shifted uncomfortably in his seat. "If something is going to come out of the wards when we take them down, then it's going to come out of the wards when we take them down today, tomorrow or next week. It's unlikely to lose strength. I think I'm seeing smoke, but I honestly just don't know because I've never seen anything like this. Maybe it's a poisonous gas cloud or maybe it's nothing."

"Alright," Harry took a deep breath and let it out. "Hermione, you're going to drive away with Rick and continue to monitor the situation. I will stay here with Bill and Vick, and we will take down the wards and see what's happened."

He almost expected Hermione to argue, but she nodded her assent. "It makes sense."

"You don't think I should stay and tell you what I'm seeing?" Rick asked with the bravado that only the young could manage with a straight face.

"No," all three men said at the exact same moment.

"Fine," Rick huffed as he sat back and crossed his arms. "Just put a bubble over your heads before you do anything, okay?"

"We can do that," Harry agreed as he exited the car and let out a small shiver. The air temperature around them had dropped precipitously in the last hour. He turned back to Hermione and said, "I'll shoot up green sparks if you can come back and red if you should drive like hell away from here." She did not look amused, but she agreed and he watched Hermione turn the car around and drive off before he turned back to the men. "I should have given you both an out."

"No," Bill said without fuss.

Vick shook his head and then cast the charm to give himself the bubble which would allow him to have clean air.

It wasn't a charm Harry used often, but after the Triwizard Tournament it was fixed permanently in his brain.

When they were sure Hermione and Rick were far enough away, Bill and Vick went to work on the wards. It only took a few minutes before the smoke began to roll out from the wards and they could see that the already scorched landscape was even crispier.

Harry began immediately to douse the flamed with his wand, shooting water at all he hotspots he could see. He didn't see Glenna immediately, not with the steam from the extinguishing fires or the smoke from those still burning, but after a solid five minutes of fighting the fires, he spotted a weird mirage about a hundred feet away.

"What is that?" Bill asked, clearly spotting the shimmering light just as Harry had.

"I don't know," Harry told him as he moved carefully through the hot, soggy landscape while Vick brought up the rear behind them. "Is that her?"

They fought more fires as they moved towards it and it was only as they approached, they saw the melted puddle of the golden vase in a molten pool just outside of where this bubble, almost like an iridescent bubble gum bubble was ballooned off the ground.

Before any of them could react, the balloon almost seemed to pop and Glenna, who was on the ground covering the other man, glanced up at them, her skin a rose-colored red and her wispy hair askew. "I think it worked," she coughed and didn't protest when Bill picked her up in his arms and began to walk with her back out of the carnage.

Harry and Vick stared down at Anthony Bugatti and wondered if the man was still alive. He wasn't moving and he didn't appear to be breathing, but that didn't mean much.

"Stretcher?" Vick asked cautiously. "I mean, she said she did it, right? She transferred the curse to the vase and it blew everything to hell and back." He pointed around at the absolute devastation around them. "I still have no idea how she might have managed that, but I am impressed that she's alive."

"Have you seen that kind of protection before?" Harry asked as he indicated the man on the ground. "What was that bubble thing?"

"I haven't seen it in use, no," Vick admitted. "I've heard of it being used, but it's something that fell out of favor years ago because it would only protect against some magic and not others."

"Come again?" Harry asked, turning to him. "How would that work?"

Vick pointed to the vase. "See the curse was coming from an object and not a person. If I remember correctly, that was the key to that bit working. If the spell was coming directly from a living creature, the protection is useless. I actually would have thought that the transference to the vase would have negated it, but I don't know. It's all very old magic no one uses anymore because we have shield charms that protect against everything."

That was a point. Harry started to open his mouth to ask another question when Bugatti moaned.

"Well, damn," Vick said on a long whistle. "Stretcher it is."

~*~

"Why is she going to the hospital and not me?" Daphne demanded as Nat shifted nervously from one foot to the other.

Teddy hadn't been thinking when he'd arrived back at his house and told everyone that Harry was alive and so was Bugatti and he need Nat at the hospital immediately.

For a long moment, Nat truly thought Teddy would wipe her memory but Teddy smiled and shook his head sadly. "Nat's is trained in Muggle forensics. Her father is world famous for it. We need her specialty to see what was done to his skeletal structure and to make sure it's really him and not someone using Polyjuice. It turns out that they aren't an exact copy with Polyjuice and Nat can tell that with a bone scan."

That was such absolute rubbish that Nat almost expected Daphne to protest, but she seemed to deflate and nodded her acceptance.

"I'm going to take you back to Lily and Scorpius' house," Rose said kindly as she shot Nat a look of horror that clearly reflected Teddy's explanation. "You need some tea and some rest. We know he's alive and being treated. Everything else can wait for the Healers to see him. Our aunt will see him personally and she's the best, isn't she, Victoire?"

"She's absolutely the best," Victoire agreed as she also shot her husband a sideways glance and he shrugged.

I mean, as far as dragon dung stories went, it was… something.

As soon as Rose and Daphne were through the Floo, Victoire turned to Teddy. "You are a terrible liar."

"I am a terrible liar," Teddy agreed as he pulled his wife into a hug and then passed her off to her mother. Fleur was beside herself with relief. "Let everyone else know through the mirrors. Nat, do you want Al to come along?"

"Yes," Nat said without giving herself time to think.

"I have the cloak," Al told her as he went to retrieve it from a corner. "You staying here for now?" he asked Andrew as he jogged down the stairs.

"Claire fell asleep," Andrew told them. "All the kids are fine and crashed on the floor of the playroom in a heap."

"Leave her there," Victoire told him. "You and Rose can sleep in the guest room."

Some family left, relieved, others stayed, and Nat knew that because they were family, the support was always there and that was the important part.

"I'm ready," Nat said as they went through the Floo to Audrey's office where they could hide Nat in the cloak.

It wasn't usual for an Auror in training to be there, but at the same time he was Harry's son, so none of the busy Healers questioned Teddy as he took them along the corridors to the room where Bugatti was in isolation. Nat spotted Rick standing outside of one of the doors, pacing back and forth. When he spotted Teddy, he sagged in relief. "I don't know what to make of him."

"Is he in there?" Teddy asked, pointing at the door and Rick nodded.

Teddy pushed open the door and all of them entered to find Hermione, Audrey and Bill examining the man who was laid out flat on the table.

Nat walked over and studied him. There was something there. It was the Imperius Curse, yes, but under that was a hint of almost inky blackness that filled his veins. Nat looked around and when she saw it was just them, she said quietly to Rick, "Do you see the black?" She didn't take off the cloak, knowing someone could walk in at any moment.

"I see it's something," he told her quickly. "It doesn't look right. It doesn't look like before, though."

"No," Nat agreed. "The curse is definitely gone, but it's… something. Well, I'll try to pull it out and see what happens."

"Is that a good idea?" Audrey asked Nat as she continued to examine the man.

Nat had no idea, but figured it wasn't going to help to leave it in him. It was not right. She didn't know what kind of not right, but it wasn't okay. "Stand back," she said and waited for them to comply. First, she went to his head and placed her hand there, removing the Imperius Curse. When he didn't wake up, she knew things were very serious.

"Have you started?" Hermione asked her.

"She hasn't," Rick told them. "She just took off the Imperius Curse. Do you want my help?"

"I don't know yet," Nat said as she touched the man's bare arm and began to pull the black gunk towards her. Slowly she pulled, and slowly it moved, although it felt like it was anchored to the man, and slowly she dropped it from him into a bucket that Audrey had conjured for her. When she finally had the last of it out, she took a step back and felt a little light headed. Two arms caught her, even though she was still in the cloak and Al held her against his chest while she caught her breath. She watched the man and waited to see what would happen.