A/N. Thank you all for the ideas and support, really appreciate it guys, no matter how large or small thank you all. I'm going to try out a little something in this chapter, scenes changing very quickly. Its just a bit of an experiment that I want to try out where the purpose is to show a lot of things happening at the same time, so tell me how it comes off.
A Magical Night
It had been five days since they were reunited. Harry was back, she could still barely believe it, but it wasn't the Harry she remembered, not in a bad way, just different. The Harry she knew was uncertain, scared of other people getting hurt, the Harry she remembered used to be Dumbledore's weapon, the Harry of eight years ago would jump into danger without thinking things over, just going with his heart…which sometimes didn't end so well. But this Harry was in a way far removed from the old one, this one calculated everything, knew all the ins and outs before going in, he was nobody's weapon, he was powerful and knew it but didn't abuse it, he used every advantage he could get, destroyed every flaw he found. He wasn't scared of anything, well, except James. The one thing that he was utterly petrified of was being a bad dad, she recalled the moment when he had saved them back in the forest, the pure rage, the utter feeling of death that he emitted, she shuddered to think at what those Death Eaters had felt in their last moments of life. All that fury had been brought up by a subconscious instinct to protect her and James.
There was also a new factor in their whole situation, Exodus. Things would never truly go back to how they were before; there could no longer be any sort of trio. It was Exodus and then everyone else, they had a bond the likes of which Harry and Ron had never shared. She had watched a simulation, the way they worked together, like one organism, they didn't even need to say petty things like `Thanks' or `I owe you one', it was understood on a much deeper level, they felt each other. She knew it was an odd description but it was the only one that fit. And so she realized inexplicably that Exodus was now part of all their lives, she just didn't know how she felt about it. Part of her wanted things to go back to how they were, part of her wanted to just run away from it all, have a normal family, but in the end she still loved Harry and all the baggage that he carried with him. For when he looked at her, it was with the same look that she remembered from their youth, and she knew that her Harry, the one she had fallen in love with all those years ago was still in there, behind whatever it was that he had become.
They had had a talk about thing, them, their relationship, it was long and serious. She had asked him if he really did love her, he told her more then ever, she guessed that it was almost like a time lapse for him, he didn't have to suffer through eight years, he just wanted to go with how they left off. They talked about James, about the others back at Hogwarts, their concerns, how things would go, especially with Ron, and after hours of complete openness they made love and fell asleep. When they woke up they had discussed plans for a wedding, it would take a lot of adjusting both admitted, more so for her, but they would have a family just like they had always wanted. Things were starting to come around more and more the last couple days, she was beginning to adjust, the shock ebbing away, life settling into a new rhythm.
At first she had worried about James, but it soon became apparent that there was no need to worry, she constantly reassured Harry that he was being an amazing father and that there was nothing to worry about, each time he nodded, always thinking, always revising. She watched them now in the weight room a little scared, James was pretend bench pressing five hundred pounds, Harry was the one actually lifting, but she couldn't help but feel a little nervous. It only got worse.
Destroyer and Bulldog got the bright idea of helping James set a record, to James' delight and Hermione's horror they set up an extra strength bar and loaded it up with a ton on each end. Destroyer took one end, Bulldog the other, and Harry in the middle, with James not even able to get his hands around the bar they began lifting it up and down, James pretending to struggle with the massive weight.
"NO. No more." Hermione barged in when they began adding on even more weight.
"But mom!" James groaned.
"Hermione its really…" She looked at him sternly.
"No seriously..." Hermione cut the massive Destroyer off mid sentence; all the other guys in the room went quiet too.
"I don't want to see or hear about anything like this happening ever again." Hermione warned.
"We'll do it when she isn't here." Harry whispered quietly after Hermione had left.
"I still get to keep my toys though right dad?"
"Of course you do, I'll talk her into it."
Hermione knew about the toys that were being made for James, she didn't approve of them, but it was a father and son activity, one that they really bonded over. James had requested to have a weapon and some `awesome armor', she had been there for the conversation and had shrugged it off, no one was going to give an eight year old a gun. Much to her disbelief the next day James was presented with a gun and a special baggy uniform. The gun happened to be a modified version of the pistol that Snipe carried, and the armor, while little more then tough fabric, meant the world to James. He was now just like his dad and even got a cool code name, Wasp. Harry had assured her that this was more for show then anything else, she caved in after a good deal of persuasion and assurance from each of the weapon researchers and Miller that it was as safe as riding a broom.
They went out to dinner that night, they still hadn't had a family meal together, Exodus always made food together and ate together, meaning that Hermione, James and Harry hadn't gotten to have a Potter family only dinner. Bessy tagged along on the Jet, she and Hermione were still on thin ice, Bessy saw Harry sort of as her son and was still very much suspicious of Hermione.
"Don't worry we'll be back soon." Harry told Bessy once they had arrived in a Paris.
"Bye Bessy." James called back as they made their way out of the Jet. Hermione didn't much condone James being a parseltongue, but it still irked a bit now because of Bessy and the possible influence that she could have on him.
They drove a nice standard BMW to an upper middleclass restaurant in Paris and had their first family meal. They laughed, they talked, and they pretended to be a normal family visiting the gorgeous city. They visited the Eiffel tower, strolled around the many beautiful parks and enjoyed their time together, forgetting about all of their problems, all of their concerns and who they really were. It was Hermione's vision of heaven, a thing that she had waited for so long, and it was perfect. Along the way they bumped into a most cheerful old man who had a full white short beard and only half his hair left.
"So sorry there." He excused himself in an English accent that they couldn't quiet place.
"Its okay sir." Harry replied warmly.
"Its so beautiful isn't it?" He gestured all around himself.
"Yes it is, its our first time here." Hermione replied, feeling at ease with the man's cheery composure. "I take it this your first visit too?"
"Yes you could say that." He replied looking up at the shining tower before them. "I'm sorry but I didn't catch your names."
"I'm Harry, this is my wife Hermione and our son James. We're to be married soon."
"How splendid. My name is Alos Thramasurius, but you can call me Alos." He shook their hands energetically; he certainly had a lot of energy for a chubby man his age.
"It is a pleasure meeting you Alos." James said.
"It is an honor meeting you all. But now I must be off, I have so many places to visit and so little time." And before they could say anything he disappeared into the crowd of people milling about them.
"He was an interesting fellow Hermione remarked." After he had disappeared.
"If only there more people like him the world would be so much better." And she was right.
Meanwhile back at the Hive a revelation was made, blood samples had been taken from Hermione, James, the twins, Moody, along with a host of other wizards and witches whose samples were collected at random from Hogwarts, and finally a fresh blood sample was taken from Exodus. Rivers of blood had been spilled throughout history in the name of various progress and emotion, but the most startling of discoveries came from only a handful of droplets.
"By god what the hell are we?" Homir Munn whispered to himself, his face white.
Amanda Flowers came in a few moments later. "Homir are the new calibrations giving us anything new?" She stopped dead in her tracks upon seeing his state. "What is it?"
He said nothing at first but then said one sentence then made her dizzily stagger over to a chair.
In another part of the Hive the twins celebrated their very first accomplishment with a group of astrophysicists and host of other scientists. They hadn't slept in days but they had done it, they had done what they thought was the impossible. They created a sort of engine capable of going far faster then the speed of light, by combining the most advance technology with some inventive magic they had come to a solution.
Their heads pounding the development team had scheduled for the party to continue in a few days. No one had literally slept in days, an unhealthy amount of booster drugs keeping them going. Wearily they made their way over to a fireplace and flooed to the Burrow, stumbling groggily, their bodies finally caving in.
"Fred. George!" Molly Weasley bounded towards them.
"What have you been doing?" She looked them; over they could barely walk.
"Just some stuff with the Hive." One of them managed to mutter.
They pushed past her and into their rooms, not even bothering to give their wives a kiss.
"Think we could name a planet after ourselves?" Fred asked.
"I was thinking about naming a system after ourselves."
"Good idea George."
With that they slumped off into their rooms and slept for the next two days.
In a deep remote area of the Amazon rain forest Lord Voldemort trudged like a sick dog, throwing up, screaming, and scratching at his face.
"Get out. Get out now. No. No." He fell to the ground convulsing in tremors.
Finally he got up, slowly, shakily. "Yes." He breathed. "I must find it. I must find the door. There has to be a door."
"I am Lord Voldemort. I am my own. I must find a way. I must warn…NO. I must warn and kill. I must rule."
The Potter were flying back to the Hive, Harry and Hermione had decided that tomorrow would be the day that would come out and reveal Harry to the wizarding world.
"You know tomorrow we can go get your things for Hogwarts." Hermione told James.
"We can?"
"Yes we can son." His dad replied.
"Does that mean everyone will know about dad?" He asked.
"It does, they have to know now, a lot of people are getting suspicious."
"Okay, and can I tell them all about everything?"
"You sure can."
"Are the Weasleys coming with us?" He asked.
"Yes they are." Hermione replied, hoping that everything would be okay. She had a feeling that Ginny knew that something was up, and several other people were beginning to get suspicious.
Once back at the Hive Hermione visited the Burrow and talked to Ginny and the others about meeting up early the next day to go to Hogsmead to get the kids their supplies.
"Do we get to meet your new hubby?" Ginny approached the subject as delicately as a bull approaches a red car.
"You've already met him." She replied quickly and flooed back to the hive before anyone could say anything else.
"I have a feeling that there is a lot going on down there that we don't know about." Molly said suspiciously. "Fred and George stumbled in utterly exhausted, we never see James or Hermione, Moody is constantly over there working on something. Will we ever know what is going on?"
"Don't worry about it Molly, its nothing bad." Arthur assured her. Arthur was one of the very few privileged with the information about Harry and the goings on at the Hive. "Everything should be pretty clear to you tomorrow dear."
"Don't dear me." She replied indignantly. "When my boys come home in that state, and everyone is constantly going in and in and out, I have to worry."
"Let me just say that we at the spark of a massive world wide explosion in everything. We are just trying to make sure that nothing bad happens because of it." Arthur reasoned.
Molly sighed and didn't bother pursuing the subject any further, if he said that everything would be clear tomorrow, then everything would be clear.
Snipe cursed in colorful Russian. The firing pin on his old rifle was broken, after working with perfected technology he liked to get back to the his roots, fire off some of the older weapons. It was nice to fire a sniper rifle that was used back in world war two, it kept his senses sharp, made sure that he didn't rely on technology but on himself, his own skills. He knew that the other guys did the same thing too, Pyro played with matches and gunpowder, and Stalker filmed parkour videos, Bulldog liked to go to a pub and start a fight, while Joker played cards and tennis. Destroyer just broke things, and JJ liked to tinker with gadgets and computers. Sarge liked to fly planes, and all of them loved extreme sports, from base-jumping to mountain paraskiing, it was great fun.
Checking the damage done he found that he would need to get a new pin manufactured, it was a pain in the ass to it. The weirdest of things happened as he wished that the pin would just fix itself…it did. In his palm the cracked pin molded back together, leaving absolutely no trace of the fracture.
Again the colorful Russian.
Just for the hell of it he broke it again and wished for it to be fixed. Concentrating on the pin it fixed again. He did this another dozen times, experimenting with various parts of the rifle.
With this new discovery he ran to tell the others, but upon arriving in the living room he found their fascination gathered around Joker and Pyro.
"What's going on?"
"We've all been doing some freaky shit man." Destroyer replied unnerved.
"So I'm not the only one?"
"You too?"
"Yes. I just fixed my rifle by thinking it."
"Okay one at a time everyone show everyone else what you can do." JJ suggested.
Stalker went first, concentrating he moved his arm along his body and it disappeared. He patted his chest to show that it was still there. JJ took out a lock, held it at arms length and suddenly it popped open. Pyro put a tennis ball on the table and put it on fire, extinguishing it just as quickly. Snipe followed with his break and fix, and Joker transformed Pyro's tennis ball into a deck of cards. Bulldog brought the same tennis ball to float above the table and it blew up when Destroyer shouted "Boom!"
They stood in silence for a few moments, going over what had happened; they knew what had happened, they just couldn't believe it. They had done magic.
At that moment Sarge walked in with Hermione and James who looked at the assembled group inquisitively.
"Hey Sarge, watch this." Stalker made his torso become invisible.
"Bloody hell." Sarge said astonished.
"And that's not all, we can all do something too." Snipe put in.
"Umm Hermione?" Harry asked her uncertainly.
She looked back at him just as confused. "Something tells me that they might need to get some wands." Was all Hermione could say in her bewildered state.
A/N. One more chapter of confusion for you guys before our friend shows up. Getting confusing isn't it? Any guesses?
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