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Chapter Text

Harry Potter breathed out a long sigh and painfully shifted back to his base form. He needed a minute, just a minute to stand at the sink in his kitchen with his hands on the counter to breathe. Then he’d find the Essence of Murtlap and new bandages. He just needed to breathe for a minute. He wasn’t sure how he’d gotten through the day, but he’d held it together, and no one needed to know. Everything was fine.

Harry’s metamorphmagus abilities were initially pretty limited, nothing like Teddy’s. He seemed to have only gotten a little of the innate ability from his slight relation to the Black family. He’d really only realized he even had the ability when he, Hermione, and Ron had been on the run during the war and Hermione had offered to try to cut his and Ron’s hair for them. With a laugh, Harry had just shown her what he always did and made his hair the length he wanted it. He’d never had a haircut in his life besides the awful ones his aunt had subjected him to as a child, which he’d promptly fixed with his magic even before he’d known it was magic.

Hermione and Ron both had stared at him in shock before Ron just shook his head and chuckled explaining that, no, that was absolutely not a normal ability for a wizard to have. He’d played around with the ability since then, but kept it secret from everyone except his best friends in case he ever needed to go on the run again. Yeah, he was paranoid, but hey, he’d been hunted by a psychopath for basically his entire life, so you couldn’t really blame him.

Unfortunately, now his abilities were getting more use than he’d ever intended, and an unexpected upside to that was that they were growing and developing some with use. Just another minute to block out the world is all he needed before he could deal with it all. Harry felt the cool countertop under his hands, grounding himself, and tried to hold back the tears that were threatening just behind his eyes.

A sharp intake of breath knocked Harry from his almost meditative state and had him spinning around, his wand raised, and ready to fight for his life. “Oh, Harry…what happened?” Hermione put a hand to her mouth now that she could see his black eye and split lip too.

“The hell…you looked fine an hour ago at work!” Ron stepped around Hermione and Harry winced while lowering his wand. “Did this happen on your way home? Did you get mugged or something?”

Harry had forgotten they were coming over for dinner. Actually…he’d cancelled that dinner. Why were they at his home? They were both keyed into his wards, so they could clearly enter his flat just off Diagon Alley whenever they wanted, but they weren’t supposed to be there that evening.

“Harry…” Hermione trailed off, finally catching the other thing he’d been hiding with his abilities. “Why…how long…?”

He felt liked a cornered animal. He wanted to lash out or run or curl up in a ball in a cupboard somewhere. Ron’s eyes were taking on that understanding look he always got when he’d figured out some case they came across as aurors and it was so much worse than they’d imagined.

“It’s the hallows, isn’t it?” Ron concluded correctly. They both knew him too well, he didn’t keep secrets from his best friends…well, up until recently anyway. “But not the injuries…some of those look old. Why are you using your abilities to cover them? Why not see a healer?”

“I was twenty-seven…” Harry trailed off, knowing they would remember what he was referring to. It was the main reason why he was no longer the media darling he’d been after the war. People looked at him in suspicion now, not hero worship. It was fear not admiration in everyone’s eyes.

He’d been very visibly hit with a dark curse on the job. Thankfully, it wasn’t a killing curse, but it should have killed him all the same. What no one knew was that he had actually died. He’d caught a glimpse of the empty King’s Cross Station and everything before he was gasping air back into his lungs. He hadn’t aged a day since that death. He really should be almost mid-thirties by now, and his looks wouldn’t be much different, but he’d intentionally added some lines around his eyes and some stray silver in his hair since Ron had started developing those things, and Harry figured he should use his best friend as a template for what he should be looking like at his age.

Hermione stepped forward again to study his face. “So…are you saying…are you immortal?”

Harry just shrugged. He had no bloody clue, but he was pretty sure he should have died another time or two after that curse at 27 since he hadn’t been even slightly concerned for his own life in a long time now. He hadn’t even gotten a glimpse of King’s Cross those times though. So, maybe…probably.

He had a strong suspicion that he could actually die when he really wanted to. It was the Tale of the Three Brothers and how each had met his end that led to this suspicion. Harry’s ancestor met Death as an old friend when he eventually chose to leave his life. Harry might not be too concerned about his life currently, but he wasn’t quite at choosing to meet Death and move on at the present moment at least. His mental health was slightly better than that.

“Mate,” Ron sighed and sank into a chair at the kitchen table. “This is bloody shite that I have to say this, but you being immortal and looking younger than Hermione and me…well, that’s not actually what I’m concerned about in this particular moment. What in Merlin’s name happened to you? This didn’t happen on the job. We haven’t had any raids for weeks now.”

“Harry,” Hermione reached out to hold onto his arm, and Harry had to force himself not to flinch. Even so, he thought Hermione had caught the flinch regardless. “This isn’t…this isn’t him is it? Are you…safe?”

“What?! Of course not!” Harry lied through his teeth, probably overdoing it on being offended there. “Kings loves me! Why would you even think that?!”

Ron lowered his head to the table, and Hermione’s eyes just went soft. Damn, his friends could read him way too well. “When did this start?” Hermione asked, not even acknowledging his lie in the slightest. “Was it from the beginning?”

“Why are you even here?!” Harry angrily shrugged off her arm and turned to busy himself with finding the Essence of Murtlap and bandages he’d been heading to find to begin with. He wished he was better with healing spells, but his magic seemed to singularly hate healing spells for some reason…Harry was leaning towards blaming the hallows for that one as well as his non-aging. Hermione could definitely help him, but he was so very far from asking for her help in that moment that it was laughable.

“We’re here because we’re worried about you,” Ron finally lifted his head with a huff. “You’ve been cancelling things and avoiding everyone in your life for a long time now, mate. We haven’t seen you outside of work in ages. Teddy is on holiday from Hogwarts right now, have you even seen him?”

Harry stilled slightly, hating the reminder of Teddy. “Kings said…”

“Harry!” Hermione cut him off, and yeah, he heard it. It just wasn’t what they were implying though. He wasn’t some victim or something. Merlin, he was an auror for fuck’s sake!

He let go when Hermione gently took the ointment from him and steered him to one of the chairs. She opened the jar and began to apply it to his eye. “I’m surprised he left visible injuries,” she said as if it were a foregone conclusion that he was being abused by his partner and not even entertaining his protests in the slightest.

“Normal people are better with healing spells than me, my best friend is a healer, and I have a dangerous job,” Harry found himself saying. He hadn’t actually thought about it before, but any injuries he had could easily be healed by Hermione or passed off as part of his job. Even with Kingsley not knowing about his metamorphmagus abilities, being careful about bruising wasn’t an issue. Also…Harry was so far out of favor with the press currently that no one was going to ask questions about him being a little battered.

“I don’t know why he still puts up with me,” Harry found himself saying. He was only a burden at this point. Kingsley didn’t deserve the stress and drama of having Harry in his life. “Everyone loves him. The best minister we’ve ever had. Why is he with the freak? The budding dark lord? Or whatever the Prophet is calling me these days.”

Hermione winced when she lifted his shirt to see the large bruise on his stomach. “No one should have to ‘put up with you’ Harry. Whoever you’re with should feel honored to be with you,” she said sadly as if this were an argument they had frequently, but Harry didn’t think they’d ever had this particular argument before. If they had, he’d brush it off just like he was doing then. He was difficult, he was exhausting, he brought too much danger and drama to any relationship; these were all things Harry knew exceptionally well by this point.

Harry was already shaking his head. That wasn’t right at all. He was only bringing Kingsley down. He was the one who was being done a favor by not being kicked to the curb. There was an election year coming up, and associating with Harry couldn’t help with the campaign in the slightest.

Ron sighed yet again and scrubbed a hand over his face. “Look, Harry…when you and Shacklebolt started dating after your break-up with Ginny, we were a little concerned just because of the age difference and that it seemed a bit like a rebound, but you’re an adult and can make your own decisions. Plus, he seemed like a good bloke.”

“He is,” Harry protested.

“No, he isn’t,” Ron firmly corrected him.

“He’s literally the best minister we’ve ever had,” Harry tried again, getting twin glares from his friends.

“Yeah, he is, not that the bar was very high,” Ron continued with a roll of his eyes. “That doesn’t make him a good person, and that doesn’t negate the fact that he’s a shite boyfriend who is hurting my best friend, my brother.”

Harry winced. He wasn’t a victim. It’s just…it had started out so good. Yeah, there was an age difference, but they’d been so happy. Harry was at his height of popularity in the media, and they had gotten to talking at a fundraiser where they were both being touted as magical Britain’s most eligible bachelors. The Savior of the Magical World and the Minister of Magic who had rebuilt their society after the war. The Prophet almost cooed over them as a power couple when they finally went public with their relationship.

Things had been great. Then the media started turning on Harry like it always did. He was rising in the ranks of the aurors too fast. He was too good at his job. He was dangerous. Then he should have died. Was he using dark arts like Voldemort had to keep himself alive? Was he unduly influencing the minister? Was Kingsley under an imperius curse?

Kingsley was just stressed all the time now. It was a lot. Harry was a lot. He knew he woke Kingsley up constantly with his nightmares. It was the main reason his boyfriend hadn’t wanted them to move in together. Kingsley had found Harry this flat since he said Grimmauld was too difficult to keep up and Harry shouldn’t have to deal with that, and the flat was so much closer to Kingsley’s own and to the ministry. Kreacher was staying at Hogwarts anyway, so it wasn’t a big deal to let it go.

Then, well, they were busy. Kingsley liked to stay in when they had time together, especially now that being out in public would probably get them negative press. So, Harry had to cancel plans with his friends, but that was fine because he got to see his boyfriend. It hurt a little more to cancel time with Teddy, but Kingsley wasn’t a fan of kids. They caused him stress, and he was already too stressed. But…Teddy wasn’t even a kid anymore. He was 15 for Merlin’s sake.

“Harry,” Hermione finished with a healing spell that almost erased the bruise to his side. She put her hand on his knee. “He’s isolating you from your friends and family. He’s hurting you. Please…if it was me who was in this relationship, how would that make you feel?”

“Ron would never,” Harry scoffed.

“No, I wouldn’t,” Ron grabbed onto his hand, his eyes trying to convey something to Harry, but he just didn’t understand what. “What makes you think you deserve this when Hermione would not? What makes you think Kingsley has any right to do this to you, when I bloody well don’t and wouldn’t even think of it?!”

Harry couldn’t find the answer. But… “I’m me,” was all that came out.

And yeah, now he heard it, and it hit him like a troll’s club to the chest. He’d always been someone’s punching bag whether that was his aunt and uncle or Dudley or everyone who tried to kill him over his years at school. Had he really just been repeating a cycle? But he heard it now. If it was anyone else who’d walked into the auror office saying the exact same things he’d just been saying, he would have tried to get them help, to get them out of the situation, he’d never tell them they deserved it or to go back to their abuser. Merlin, it was happening again…how hadn’t he seen it?!

Hermione pulled him into her arms when they saw the realization finally hit him. “We’re in this together, Harry. You don’t have to stay with him.”

Then it sank in just how precarious his situation actually was. “I can’t leave,” he breathed out in realization. “He’s the Minister of Magic.”

He felt Hermione still and could see Ron’s face pale when the implications sank in for them too. “He could have stopped the press dragging me through the mud, couldn’t he?” He finally asked as everything hit him.

“You were more popular than him,” Hermione let him go and leaned back in thought. “You were the youngest head auror ever…and people were starting to whisper that you should be the next minister…”

“Did he do this on purpose? Was he behind it, or did he just not stop it?” Harry’s eyes widened as he asked them both. Was he just the worst auror ever if he hadn’t seen his own boyfriend systematically ruining his life over the past several years?!

“Hey, stop spiraling, this isn’t your fault,” Ron snapped his fingers in front of Harry’s face. “You were never going to see this. You’ve never had the chance to heal from anything. It’s just…it’s not your fault. And hey, we can get you out of this. We can tell the press that you’ve broken up, then you don’t even have to tell him. He’ll just read about it. You don’t even have to be in the same room.”

Harry felt his stomach sink as a conversation he’d had with Kingsley months ago came to mind. “I thought he was telling me he wouldn’t leave me with everything that was going on. That’s what I wanted to hear,” he said in just over a whisper. “But he was telling me I couldn’t leave him…”

“What do you mean, Harry?” Ron asked with worry in his tone.

“He was assuring me that Robards couldn’t fire me even though Kingsley isn’t technically my boss…he’s the head of the DMLE’s boss,” Harry explained. “What he said though was that Robards had to listen to him if he valued his job, that he could overrule any decision the head of the DMLE made…that he could have anyone fired that he wanted to.”

Ron and Hermione shared a scared look. Harry just chuckled dryly when everything Kingsley had been implying shifted in his brain from assurances to threats. “Merlin, he could have me arrested. With all this dark lord nonsense in the press, if I ever broke up with him, he could just say that he’d learned I was lost to the dark arts and that’s why he had to dump me or something. It’s not even the first time a minister has tried that with me.”

“You can’t stay with him, Harry,” Hermione finally said after a long moment of silence. “He’ll eventually kill you, or have you arrested anyway.”

“Immortal, remember,” Harry raised an eyebrow and pointed at his chest.

“Wait…didn’t you get rid of the wand?” Ron frowned. “How are you still Master of Death then?”

Harry shrugged because he could be a wizard for a thousand years and still not understand everything about magic. “It just showed up about a week after the battle, the stone did too,” he said, laying out his last secret for his friends. “Now, anytime I think about needing a wand, it’s just in my hand. I can leave it wherever, but it just reappears. The stone is pretty much always in my pocket whether I put it there or not.”

“Why didn’t you tell us any of this?!” Ron growled in frustration.

Harry just shrugged. “Well, everyone was grieving, then you had your wedding to focus on, then Ginny and I broke up and I was dealing with that, then there was always a case with the aurors, then Kingsley…it just…I don’t know. I didn’t deal with it; I didn’t want to.”

Hermione crossed her arms and pursed her lips. “I don’t care if you’re immortal. You can’t stay with him and just let him hurt you,” she said firmly with a glare out to wherever the minister might be right then in the world.

Harry really didn’t see a way out of this. “I mean…he’ll most likely die first…”

Clearly not the right thing to say judging by his friends’ expressions. “Look,” he tiredly rubbed his eyes. He hadn’t been sleeping well recently…or really, he hadn’t slept well in his entire life, but still. “I can take the occasional slap, or even losing my job, but I can’t go to Azkaban…I’ve put almost half the prisoners in there myself by this point. Nothing Kingsley does to me will be anywhere near what they will if I’m thrown in with them. At this point, I’d really rather die than face whatever they would do to me.”

“So what? You’re just going to play happy family with your abuser?” Ron glared. “Cut us out of your life completely? You know that’s his next step, right?”

Harry opened his mouth and just closed it again. He couldn’t lose Ron and Hermione. He couldn’t lose his only family, but they were right. Kingsley had already been pushing them out.

“I don’t know,” he finally gave up. He didn’t have a solution for this.

Hermione stood and began to make tea. Harry thought this was more a firewhiskey conversation, but he’d take what he could get if she was making. “Harry…I think you might need to leave Britain for a little while,” she said with her back to him as if she couldn’t meet his eyes. “The minister’s reach doesn’t extend to other countries. You could just go to France for a few months or even a year until things die down some. You’d have to give up your job, but maybe you could get a job as an auror in France or Spain or somewhere.”

“Mate, I think she’s right,” Ron looked at him sadly. “Just until there aren’t any rumors about you becoming the next dark lord, and maybe Kingsley gets a new boyfriend.”

“Who he might hurt too,” Harry sighed, not liking that thought either.

“But he wouldn’t have as much leverage over them, hopefully,” Ron just shrugged. “Look…do you, would you want us to come with you?”

Hermione finally turned around with tears in her eyes. “Oh, Harry, we could come with and start over together.”

Harry was already shaking his head. “No, Ron has his family, and Hermione, you’re already so respected as a healer. If I’m only gone for a year or two, you shouldn’t give up all that to follow me around. You’re right, I should leave, but I think I need to do this on my own.”

None of them were saying it, but it was clear, they didn’t really believe it would only be for a year. Harry had been called the next dark lord off and on since he was 12 and the Chamber of Secrets had been opened. This time, it seemed to be sticking unlike it had all the other times. Maybe he could figure out why this kept happening to him if he finally had some time away from it all…and maybe figure out why he’d walked right into an abusive situation yet again without even realizing it. He couldn’t keep doing this.

“The ministry monitors the floo. You need to buy a new owl to keep in touch,” Ron remarked, and Harry just frowned more deeply at the paranoia from his friend who was usually more a voice of reason to Harry’s ingrained paranoia.

“You really think Kings would go to all that trouble?” He asked, really not knowing the answer to that question.

“To get you back?” Ron asked with a raise of his eyebrow saying very clearly that, yes, he really did think the minister would do that.

Hermione just shook her head. “No, cell phones. We’ll all get cell phones to keep in touch,” she said firmly. “We’ll just have to be careful about the amount of magic we use around them, but no one in the magical world understands them, let alone knows how to monitor them.”

This was all too much. Harry needed to pack now. He needed to see Teddy. He needed to quit his job. How did he do all this without Kingsley noticing?

The answer Harry found was that there wasn’t a way for him to do all that without Kingsley noticing. Harry thought he might should have died yet again during that confrontation. He’d never been more thankful for the Elder Wand in his life until he was finally left, broken and bleeding, in a magically warded closet in Kingsley’s flat.

He shouldn’t have stopped by to get his Firebolt. He’d left it at Kingsley’s when they had flown together the week before, and he just couldn’t leave it behind since it was the only thing he had left from Sirius. Now, it was broken anyway.

Harry thought of his wand, and it appeared in his hand. He could have used it to fight back, but then another of his secrets would be known. He was willing to take the pain over Kingsley having any knowledge of the hallows or what it meant for Harry to possess them.

Honestly, he was surprised he didn’t splinch himself, but at least he knew that Kingsley’s wards were nothing against the power of the Elder Wand. He stayed in his flat for all of five minutes to pick up his small bag, and then he was gone, for good this time with absolutely no clue what he was going to do or where he was going to go.

Harry bounced around Europe for a while. He was wealthy enough that he didn’t actually need a job at the moment, so he planned to do some sightseeing while he healed and took some time for himself. He had been staying in the magical areas since he was most comfortable there now at this point in his life, that was until he got to Portugal.

He’d just walked into the magical section of Lisbon and was met with a déjà vu moment of seeing a wanted posted with his picture on it staring right back at him. At least this time it was a better picture. It seemed Ron was right though in the end. Kingsley really would do anything to get him back and punish him for leaving. Based on the poster, it seemed that this time he was wanted for sedition and suspicion of being a dark arts practitioner.  

Harry turned right around and booked himself into a muggle hotel instead of magical. It seemed he needed to get farther away and maybe stay in the muggle world now. Also, he needed to look significantly different because he was much too recognizable.

Harry looked in the mirror of his small hotel room and took in his long dark hair, green eyes, and plethora of scars. Well, the hair was easy. It’d always been easy…well, changing the length, but he never could get rid of the crazy curls which must be some strong genetics from the Potter line or something. With a thought, he turned it blond and made it shorter until it was just a small mess of curls on top of his head with the sides close cropped.

The eyes were harder, not that he couldn’t do it, but that he’d always been told how much they looked like his mother’s. He had to let go though as much as it hurt. He couldn’t go to Azkaban, and that was starting to look like much more of a possibility. He closed his eyes and opened them again to see eyes that were the cool blue, almost grey, that he remembered of Sirius’s. If he couldn’t keep his mother’s eyes, maybe he could keep Sirius’s.

It was the Merlin-be-damned scar that was the biggest headache of everything. His metamorphmagus abilities had never been able to do anything about curse scars. Most of his curse scars were easily coverable though with long sleeves like the basilisk scar and the gash from Voldemort’s rebirth ritual. Even the new lightning bolt scar from the war was on his chest, so pretty much always covered. The writing on his hand was more visible, but someone would have to be really close to him to see that, and he didn’t plan on anyone getting that close to him ever again in the state of mind he was currently in.

The scar on his forehead though. That one was way too distinctive. No matter what he looked like, a lightning bolt scar on his forehead would make any magical person look at him twice. It took a hell of a lot of effort, but he was able to expand the scar some. He grunted as he used all his power to pull and try to move it. It did move slightly and kind of split until it was just a couple red splotches around his eyebrow. At that point he had to give up. It refused to do literally anything else.

Harry glared at the red marks. Well…at least they weren’t a lightning bolt scar. He supposed it actually looked like a birthmark now instead of a scar. It was still distinctive, but not something that anyone would associate with Harry Potter. Really, it didn’t look that bad.

He had to stare at himself a long time, but the new look was growing on him. His body was still his own. He still had his hard-won muscles from auror training and his gangly limbs from finally having a growth spurt in his late teens. Even his face was the same just with different features to keep any magical person he may encounter from associating him with the British Savior. Actually…maybe he should work on a new accent and backstory too…

Evan “Buck” Buckley stood in front of the 118 fire station in Los Angeles, California with a stupid grin on his face. It was his first day as a probationary firefighter with the LAFD. He’d never thought he would be a firefighter before…why would he? The magical world didn’t need firefighters with their liberal use of fire suppression wards on all their buildings because of the candles and torches and all.

Harry Potter had never considered being a firefighter or even taking a fulltime job in the muggle world. Also, he’d never even considered going to California, but here he was. His new identity was rock solid. Unfortunately, it was more than a little illegal and maybe immoral too though. Without the help of MACUSA, who didn’t even know he was in the U.S., the only way to get a solid new identity was to get one from a deceased child on the black market. Thankfully, after all his time as an auror, he knew how to find the people who could get him just that.

Evan Buckley was a child from Hershey, Pennsylvania who had died from leukemia as a baby. Harry felt really bad about taking the kid’s identity, but his wanted posters had spread much further than Europe by now. He’d even seen one during his short time in Peru, so a new identity was a must.

California was as far from Pennsylvania as he could get within the same country, so Harry decided to start over there. Unfortunately, he wasn’t actually qualified for much in the muggle world. It hadn’t taken Harry long to realize that his primary school muggle education didn’t get him super far. He was pretty much stuck with unskilled labor or doing nothing and living off his vault. He knew he’d go batty within a year without a job though. Honestly, even having been travelling for the last six months left him feeling like he needed to do something to be useful and contribute to the world.

Harry had coincidentally been getting coffee in North Hollywood when a building a block away caught fire. He watched with the rest of the crowd while the firefighters rushed in and got everyone out to safety and then put out the fire. Something in him had lit up in that moment. He was used to running into danger, and he’d never been afraid of heights or small spaces. It would be a struggle to not use his magic and to keep it secret that he was immortal, but it was something he could do to actually make a difference and help others.

The very next day, Evan Buckley stepped into the LAFD headquarters and asked for an application. And really, the fire academy was easy compared to a lot of the things he’d had to do in his life. The most difficult part of everything were the tests and memorizing new information. He didn’t have anything else going on in his life currently though, so he just put everything he had into it.

Now, with three Evans in his class, his name was officially Buck, and he was ready to start over yet again. Even Ron and Hermione were excited for him when he told them during their weekly chat. They all agreed, this was perfect. Now, he just had to survive his year as a probationary firefighter.

“Uh…hi,” he smiled at the group of firefighters all sitting together and eating lunch. Merlin, he’d missed having people to eat lunch with! Not that he planned on making friends with this lot. Co-workers and acquaintances only is what he was looking for, not any strong emotional connections in the slightest.

“I’m looking for Captain Nash?” He asked the group tentatively.

Buck was still getting used to the American accent he’d worked so hard to fake, but he thought it was solid by now. If he slipped, he’d come up with some kind of lie. Everyone seemed to buy it, except…

“Anyone here know a Captain Nash?” An older man asked the table.

“What…?” Buck floundered. Did he somehow come to the wrong station?

“Sit down, kid,” the man smiled and pushed out a chair with a chuckle.

After a breath of relief when he realized they were just messing with him, Buck sat down, grinning at everyone at the table. It may not be the aurors, it might be exceptionally muggle, but it was a new start. He swore again, he wasn’t going to get close to these people. That was the issue he’d decided. He got close to people and then they hurt him. Either they actually, literally hurt him, they died, or they turned on him. If he kept everyone at arm’s length and just did the job and tried to be useful, then maybe he’d break out of whatever this cycle was he found himself in.

He was Firefighter Buckley, not Auror Potter. He wasn’t the Boy-Who-Lived or the Man-Who-Conquered. He was just a normal 34-year-old pretending to be a 26-year-old, wizard pretending to be a muggle, British man pretending to be American, immortal pretending to be mortal…yeah, what could go wrong?

“Hey, I’m Evan Buckley, but everyone calls me Buck,” he said hopefully. “I’m your new probationary firefighter.”

“Good to meet you, Buck,” an Asian man across the table smiled at him. “I’m Howard Han, but everyone calls me Chimney.”

“There has to be a story there,” Buck reached across and shook his hand.

“Wouldn’t you like to know,” Chimney smirked and passed a bowl of pasta to him.

Captain Nash clapped him on the shoulder just as the bell rang for them to rush to an emergency. “Welcome to the 118, Buck.”

Chapter Text

Buck was absolutely not here to make new friends or create a new family. He already had Ron and Hermione; he didn’t need anyone else. Unfortunately, the 118 didn’t seem to get that memo. It started with Hen inviting him over for a home-cooked meal at her house with her wife Karen and their son Denny, and it’d been so long since he’d had a home-cooked meal that he couldn’t say no. Then Bobby had an extra ticket to a Bruce Springsteen concert, and Buck had never actually been to a concert before, so he couldn’t say no. Then Chimney invited him out for drinks and karaoke, and again, he’d never tried karaoke before, so he couldn’t say no.

It was freaking impossible for him to turn away these people who were offering him everything that he desperately wanted and asking for nothing in return. How did he shut that down? He couldn’t let himself fall into that again though, especially since all these people were first responders in a dangerous job. It would be so easy to lose them.

So, Buck’s go-to was to just make himself as annoying and irritating as he possibly could. They all seemed pretty settled, even Chimney had a serious girlfriend, and Bobby didn’t talk about his family, but they all assumed he had one. Because of this, Buck thought that seeming a bit wild and immature would get them to back off and stop inviting him to things and wanting to hang out.

Step one had Buck creating a lie about where he lived. He’d bought a nice, loft condo when he decided to stay in LA, but he told everyone he had a lot of roommates so they wouldn’t think to drop by or expect to go to his place for any reason. This didn’t actually work because Hen just invited him and Chimney to her place more often for dinner and game nights.

Step two had Buck spinning wild stories about sleeping around with random women he’d met on dating apps or out at clubs. Now, he’d definitely slept around more than his fair share after his breakup with Ginny and before Kingsley, but he couldn’t do that now. For one, he'd kind of grown out of wanting to do that, and for another, it didn’t feel safe. Any time he even tried to talk to someone at a bar, he flashed back to being locked in Kingsley’s closet and bleeding out wondering just how many times he probably should have died if he wasn’t immortal. And even walking into a club would send him into a panic attack. There were too many people all around him, and he couldn’t get the fact that he was a wanted fugitive out of his head even if it was almost certain he wouldn’t be recognized.

Somehow, even with all that, he’d landed in a fire station with what seemed to be the least judgmental group of people on the planet though. Yeah, they teased him and gave him concerned looks, but they didn’t shun him. They didn’t stop inviting him to things. He was used to everyone turning on him from the slightest step out of line. He was in the wrong hallway at the wrong time, and (bam!) he was the Heir of Slytherin. Someone was trying to get him killed, and (bam!) he was a cheat aiming for glory in a stupid, dangerous tournament. He was slightly more popular than the Minister of Magic, and (bam!) Fudge, Scrimgeour, and Kingsley all vilified him in the press.

How the hell did these people still want him around and put up with him? If there was anything Harry knew, it was that he was just too much for people to want to deal with. There had to be something he could do to push them over the edge to just leave him be and stop tempting him to connect once more.

And ok, yeah, stealing the firetruck for a hook-up was probably the worst idea he’d had since he left England. Especially since he really didn’t want to actually have sex with this woman. He liked sex, and he definitely missed it, but it was way too tied into the trauma of his last relationship. Kingsley had almost weaponized sex as both a punishment and as a reward for Harry doing things he wanted him to do or stepping out of line. There was too much trauma and too may negative associations for him to work through to take that step right in this moment.

When the woman flirted with him on the call out to rescue her from her own snake, it had presented itself as an opportunity. Now, he really did feel bad that he’d killed her snake. It was very necessary though, mainly because his Parseltongue ability had lingered after the horcrux was removed, and this lady’s snake was hell-bent on her death judging by its threatening hisses. It had a lot of opinions, and the woman wasn’t going to survive keeping it around. So, yeah, they’d saved her life, and she’d found him on the social media platform Hermione had made him set up to look more like a normal muggle who understood technology.

He had left more than enough clues for Bobby to find him quickly, but it was taking too long for his captain to track him down, and the woman was getting a little insistent where they were hanging out on the roof of a building together. He was going to have to shut this down very quickly if Bobby didn’t show in the next minute or two.

“You’re fired,” was the first thing Buck’s captain greeted him with on the roof of the building once the snake lady made her exit.

Buck felt it like a kick to his gut. “I thought I had three strikes,” he breathed out. He’d miscalculated. Nothing else had seemed to work to get everyone to back off, but apparently, he’d gone too far. He knew he would eventually, but he’d hoped to keep being a firefighter at least a little longer. Hell, he hadn't even made it out of his probationary year!

“This is literally all I have,” he said, probably the most honest thing he’d said since he arrived in LA, let alone started at the 118.

“This isn’t the 1950s,” Bobby began with the most disappointed look imaginable on his face. “You have to work with women, you can’t disrespect them and do this job.”

Buck felt that strongly. He had basically been raised by Hermione even if they were the same age, so he’d always been exceptionally cognizant of how he treated woman and magical creatures. It was the absolute last thing he ever wanted to do. Granted, he’d spread his own rumors of his fake exploits intentionally, but it still hurt to be dressed down for something from his man, even if it was something he didn’t do. He’d literally made up every single woman he’d mentioned before, and this one in particular had made every single move. The only thing he’d done was take the firetruck to meet her. Even then, he was two seconds away from the ‘let’s be friends’ talk when Bobby had finally shown up.

With a sinking feeling, he realized he was already too attached. He was starting to see Bobby as some kind of parental figure. And damn, he just couldn’t break out of any of the cycles he found himself in. He kept trying to make himself these parental figures and then they’d turn away from him or die. While he knew he wasn’t like cursed or something for this to inevitably happen (curses just didn’t work that way), he still believed it was actually inevitable by this point in his life.

Bobby would hurt him. Bobby would leave him. And it was too late, Buck had somehow let him past his barriers in only the few months he’d been at the 118, somewhere between lunch that first day and probably even before the Springsteen concert. Why did he keep doing this?!

“Clean out your locker,” Bobby turned away from him, washing his hands of anything else to do with Buck.

Fate apparently wasn’t done with him yet because it was only chance that had Buck as the only person in the fire station and able to help Sargent Athena Grant save a little girl from a home invasion. It was only chance that he was able to keep this job he was coming to love more than he’d ever loved being an auror. Buck promised to back off some and stop trying to scare everyone away if only he could keep doing this thing that gave him some purpose and fulfillment.

“I know how lucky I am to be here,” Buck assured Bobby vehemently. “I need this job. I want this job if you’ll only give me another chance.”

Harry wasn’t used to people giving him a second chance. They may realize they were wrong or change their tune once he literally saved the world, but they didn’t just willingly give him a second chance. Bobby’s stern look softened slightly. “Well, don’t blow it this time then,” he said before turning away.

What the hell?! He was actually getting a second chance?! Harry almost collapsed even while he was already pulling his cellphone out of his pocket to call Ron. Ron would tell him he was being a dumbass, but he would also understand. He could stop pushing everyone away, but he still wasn’t letting them in. He only needed Ron and Hermione, and Ron would understand. Hermione would try to convince him to let people in and make a new family, but that just wasn’t something he could do.

It wasn’t even a couple weeks later before Buck made his second miscalculation. He’d lost a victim on a call. It was horrible, and it affected him strongly, but he’d learned to cope with this a very long time ago. Harry had fought in a war as a literal child which took so many people from him, and he had been an auror for fifteen years and had plenty of bad calls. Yeah, it was rough, but Harry knew how to handle this. However, Buck was new on the job, so he figured he would need to show a front of this hitting him exceptionally hard or people may start asking uncomfortable questions.

Bobby sat beside him in their ridiculous, glass locker room and handed him the card to a therapist. “You don’t have to talk to me, but you do need to talk to someone,” Bobby gave him a look that had Buck’s heart hurt. Either Buck had miscalculated and gone too far with how hurt he was acting, or Bobby just really did care. He hoped it was the first option, because he didn’t think he could recover from the second if Bobby turned away from him again.

Buck looked at the card and nodded with a small smile for his captain. Actually, it was probably a really good idea. St. Mungo’s had never been very good with patient privacy where he was concerned, so Harry had never felt safe enough to get a mind-healer after the war. While he couldn’t talk about anything having to do with magic or the war with a muggle therapist, he could maybe talk about what happened with Kingsley, the Dursleys, and losing so many people close to him.

He would feel out this therapist and see if they were someone he could trust by talking about the man he lost on the rollercoaster. If they seemed like someone he could talk to…maybe he could actually get some help. Maybe he could figure out how to break out of his self-destructive cycles. Hermione would be so proud of him for trying at least.

Harry had never been to therapy before, but it seemed less scary than he thought it’d be. He was just sitting on a couch talking about his feelings, which was difficult, but it was just the rollercoaster accident they were discussing, not what had happened with Kingsley or anything.

“What makes it so difficult to discuss your feelings, do you think?” The woman asked. She seemed nice, not overly pushy. Maybe this could actually work.

“It’s not,” Buck said honestly for this discussion anyway. She didn't know he had processed losing the victim already, so she didn't know he was really there to talk about all the rest of the crap in his life. “I’m fine.”

Buck decided he would push a little. He needed to know if she could take him being stubborn, because he would shut down as soon as his past relationships were brought up, and if this was going to work, then she needed to be a little pushier in those instances. He was going to need it to keep talking when he'd want to shut down.

“Look, I’m only here because my captain insisted,” he said, waiting to see how she would handle that. Would she rubber-stamp his form for the department, or would she dig deeper and really try to help him?

She checked her notes from his intake form and, without looking up, said, “I see you froze up at a scene the other day.”

Actually he hadn’t, his team had just been used to him jumping first into any rescue at this point. He’s taken a step back on this last one since he was trying to look like he was hurting, but he’d done his job and hadn’t frozen or anything. It was the main reason Bobby had said he wanted Buck to talk to someone though, so he'd put it on the form.

“Yeah…I hesitated,” he tried just as the therapist looked up again. He almost jumped out of his skin when he felt a slight push at his occlumency shield. The fuck?!!

“Why?” She asked while Harry was internally panicking. Harry felt another slight push and looked completely away from her, trying to process what the hell was happening.

Merlin! Muggles couldn’t use mind magic. The therapist was definitely trying to use legilimency on him though! This woman must be a witch and using mind magic on muggles to get ahead in her career!! That was so unethical and illegal on so many levels that any prosecutor in a magical court would be salivating to get this case and make their career on it! How many people had she done this to?!

He saw her put on a sympathetic face. “You lost someone. That must be hard. Was this your first time?”

He accidentally met her eyes when she moved her head down. The slight push was now a shove, and he saw exactly when she finally figured it out. The therapist’s eyes widened, and Harry felt the Elder Wand appear in his sleeve, waiting to be used. Magical people just didn’t work as first responders in the muggle world, let alone as firefighters. Clearly, she’d never thought she would find herself sitting across from another magical person, especially one who had decently strong occlumency shields.

“Stupify!” She cast, her wand appearing almost faster than Harry could process, but he wasn’t the master of the Elder Wand for no reason.

“Protego!” He cast well before the spell hit him.

The woman jumped up angrily, and Harry wasn’t sure what her move was here. She had to immobilize him to wipe his memory, and she was fast, but not as fast as Britain's top auror. She could try to run, but he knew her face, and she must have left a trail because this clearly couldn't be her first offense. Would she try to kill him?

Her wand came up, and Harry wondered how far this was going to go. “Imperio!” She cast, knowing it would cut through his shield.

Harry felt the spell slam into him, but honestly, he just rolled his eyes. It was probably the best idea to get herself out of this if a person had no morals, but better magical people than this woman had cast that spell on him, and frankly, it was laughable how easy to cast it off these days. There was very little joy in his world, and the siren song of the imperius curse that promised peace and joy had nothing against the pain he carried with him everywhere.

“Sit down and shut up,” she ordered, clearly thinking the spell had worked.

Petrificus totalis, Harry lazily cast nonverbally, groaning in frustration at the whole situation when she collapsed on the floor.

He could have her sent to prison for life for what she’d done. However, Harry was a wanted fugitive for whatever shite Kingsley was spreading around these days. Probably terrorism at this point. He couldn’t turn the therapist in and interact with the magical world. He needed as little attention as possible turned his way.

With another tired sigh, he raised the Elder Wand. “Obliviate,” he cast, wiping himself from her memory. He didn’t know how to keep her from doing what she was doing to others, but he would think about it. There had to be something he could say or do that would get someone to look into her practices. If she was willing to go this far, he'd bet his halligan that there were other criminal acts she'd taken part in. He would think about it once he was far away from this office.

Buck leaned back on the couch in the loft of the fire station just a few days after his epically failed therapy session. As much as he thought therapy would be so very good for him, he was officially turned off of giving it another go at this point. It would take a lot for him to make a second attempt. He looked over at where Bobby was approaching with an idea for how he could maybe at least get someone to open an investigation into the woman who’d tried to violate his mind.

“How was your session with the therapist?” Bobby asked with a smile, knowing that Buck had mentioned to everyone ahead of time he was going to go, so it wasn’t a secret from the rest of their co-workers. Hen and Chimney stopped where they were flipping through magazines like they were actually interested in what he had to say.

Buck put on a neutral expression because he wanted to make it look like he didn’t realize what he was about to say was as serious as it actually was. He needed Bobby to make that leap on his own. “I don’t think therapy is for me,” he shrugged in fake unconcern. “We ended up having sex in the session, so I’m thinking my sex addict self-diagnosis holds some weight, you know.”

Chimney laughed but with that look where he’d only laughed because he didn’t know how to respond and was trying to cover his horror. Hen looked like she had stopped breathing. And Bobby…Bobby looked livid. Buck was suddenly afraid he’d gone too far once again. Bobby had just given him that speech on respecting women, but Harry was pretty clear on the laws as former law enforcement, and he wouldn’t legally be at fault in this situation. In the magical world, what the woman had tried to do to him would be investigated the same as the allegations he was making here in front of Bobby. And, if it got out she’d hit him with an unforgiveable…well, she was lucky there weren’t dementors in America.

“Buck…” Bobby turned his gaze on him, and oh…he wasn’t mad at Buck. Suddenly, all he’d done to keep Bobby at arm’s length just wasn’t good enough. Bobby did actually care.

His captain opened his mouth, but the bell rang before he was able to say whatever he was about to say. Buck felt saved by whatever this emergency was going to be. He couldn’t let Bobby finish whatever his thought was, or Harry might just start crying. Bobby would handle this though; he had every belief in that. Someone would look into the therapist, and hopefully, his name would be kept out of everything.

Buck had sworn he would never use magic during the course of his job. It was too dangerous, and if he was caught, then MACUSA would get involved, and his identity wouldn’t hold up to magical scrutiny. It was his main rule, that and not getting too attached to his coworkers.

Harry had never been good at following rules.

He sat on the hood of Chimney’s destroyed car in the middle of the pile-up on the interstate and shared a look with Hen and Bobby. None of them knew how their coworker…their friend, was still alive. “How bad is it?” Chimney asked from where he couldn’t move his head since a bloody piece of rebar was sticking straight through it.

“Well, it’s not good,” Buck offered as lightly as possible to keep his friend from panicking.

Yeah, Buck really wasn’t good at following rules, and it was time he gave up and admitted it to himself. Chimney was a friend, Hen was like a big sister, and Bobby…Bobby had taken over that missing hole of a parental figure and wouldn’t let go.

The Elder Wand was already in his sleeve while Bobby filmed Chimney to show him what it looked like. Tranquillitas, Harry was nonverbally casting before he’d even made the conscious decision to use magic. It was only a mild calming spell to keep Chimney from panicking and making the situation worse. He absolutely could not move if he was going to survive this.  

Buck, Chimney, and a group of other firefighters from their shift were going to trivia night on Friday. Harry’s primary school education wasn’t going to win them any prizes, and even though he’d discovered the wonders of Wikipedia, they needed Chimney and his pop culture knowledge that Buck was severely lacking. Suddenly, all desire to hold back with the people in his life was gone, and Buck was going to do everything within his considerable power to get Chimney out of this. He might not be able to make this trivia night, but Merlin dammit, he was going to make the next! 

“Buck, secure him so we can tow the car to the hospital,” Bobby ordered as they all moved very carefully.  

“On it!” Buck hurried around to the backseat of the car.

Chimney still wasn’t panicking, but Buck wasn’t going to take any chances.  A quick sticking spell was followed by one to secure Chimney to the seat and one to stabilize the rebar all while Buck was tying the ropes around his friend that Bobby had asked him to do. Harry cursed the fact that his healing magic was crap because Chimney could really use Hermione instead of him in that moment. Honestly, he couldn’t cast any healing spells with the rebar still through the man’s head though, or it would only make it worse. 

“I’ll ride with him, and make sure he stays secured,” Buck offered quickly, knowing that Bobby would do it himself if Buck didn’t speak up. 

Bobby gave him a searching look and seemed to see that he really did need to do this. The trust his captain put into the nod he gave Buck gave him that familiar pain to his heart once again. “You got this, Buck. Keep him safe,” he clapped a hand to Buck’s back before heading to the front of the tow truck.  

“We got this Chim,” he said to his friend firmly.  

“Tatiana is going to hate this. She's going to kill me if this rebar doesn't,” Chimney remarked, and Buck had honestly forgotten about Chim’s girlfriend.  

Buck pulled his wand out of his sleeve. “You’re going to be fine,” he said as more of an order than an assurance.  

“Stupify,” he cast. Chimney didn’t need to remember the ride to the hospital, and this way, any internal bleeding would be paused for the drive, and he would be in stasis until they could get him to professionals. It was buying them time, and time was definitely what Chimney needed right now.  

Buck answered the phone and found himself smiling at the voice on the other end. “How’s Chimney?” Abby asked in her very soothing voice.

“He’s going to ok,” Buck breathed out as a thank you to the universe. “Everyone’s calling him a medical miracle now. Unfortunately, his girlfriend just left him while he was still in the hospital, but hey, if she can’t stick by his side after a piece of rebar went through his brain, then good riddance.”

Abby chuckled. “I’m sorry about his girlfriend, but I’m so glad he’s going to be ok. How are you doing?”

"I'm good, Abby...better after hearing your voice," he said sincerely.

Buck sat down on the couch in his loft and leaned back. Abby was safe. It was the first time he’d felt safe with someone since Kingsley. They only ever talked on the phone, which she didn’t mind since she was used to it as a 9-1-1 dispatcher, and Buck felt that even when they did meet finally that she would feel safe then too. She was giving him time, and Buck didn't know how she could be so patient, but he was so very grateful she was.

Granted, Harry was pretty certain he was a terrible judge of character by this point, but Abby just seemed so good, and stable, and like there wasn’t anything she needed from him. She was a little older than his actual age, but not overly much. She was taking care of her sick mother, which just added more to that feeling of safety. And Buck thought he could actually see building something with her maybe.

It would take a lot for him to move what they had from the phone to in person, but Buck was thinking that he might actually be ready to try it. He couldn’t let her in completely, but he could try to make something work. Didn’t he owe it to himself to allow himself to heal, to let someone in even if it wasn’t much? He had already given up on keeping the 118 out, so his heart was already lost there. Maybe it was time to give romance just a little more of a try.

And then he almost died on their first date. Well…he wasn’t really going to die. He wasn’t quite ready yet to meet Death as an old friend, so he would have come back to life, but still…it was embarrassing.

Abby had expertly performed an emergency tracheotomy on him when he’d choked at the restaurant. He vowed to never eat the free bread again, no matter how good it was! She’d saved him though, or she would have if he were mortal. She’d saved him, and yeah, maybe he had actually found someone safe. Someone who wasn’t just another self-destructive cycle he could subject himself to.

And then there was Bobby who just kept digging deeper into Buck's heart.

They’d been called to a tragic plane crash with so much death and destruction. Harry hadn’t been involved in such devastation since the war. It was triggering for him in the worst ways, but it broke Bobby.

Harry had tried to keep Bobby from becoming everything he’d ever hoped for in a father figure, and he had thought he was at least partially succeeding until he realized that Bobby was just a person, and a flawed and broken one at that. It pushed Harry right over the edge. He loved Bobby now, maybe even more than Remus who he'd spent so very little time with before his death.

“Help,” Bobby asked, his voice breaking and tears in his eyes. He looked between Buck and Hen who had found him in his empty apartment having fallen off the wagon and broken his sobriety. That family they’d always assumed he had, they were all dead. Bobby was all alone in the world, and he was hurting so much.

Harry held onto him and suddenly knew he’d never recover from this after its inevitable bad ending. Bobby was his now, and he took care of his family whether they liked it or not. “We got you,” he assured the man. And he did. Bobby was going to get through this, and he’d never be alone again.

Buck went to every single AA meeting with his captain for a week before Bobby told him to find his own crappy coffee and stale cookies somewhere else. Bobby’s eyes flashed with so much care and gratefulness though, that Buck just grinned back.

“Well, I suppose you’re going to have to teach me to make bis…cookies then since I’m shit at everything cooking or baking. I mainly just order out,” Buck said, narrowly catching the British name for cookies and slipping.

Even so, some cooking classes would get him more time with his new parental figure. Yeah, this was a wonderful thing and oh so very bad. Hermione was happy for him in their conversations about it, and Ron was too but also warned him about proceeding with caution.

Bobby just hummed and looked at him assessingly. “No, I think we should start with breakfast. If this thing with Abby works for you, you need to be able to make her an actual meal, and breakfast is one of the easier ones.”

Buck just grinned at him broadly, so excited that his plan worked. Honestly, he was a pretty good cook after all his years of servitude with the Dursleys. He just didn't want to cook after everything they'd put him through. Maybe cooking with Bobby would make the whole experience less traumatic and give him better associations with it.

Harry grinned at the man once again when he showed up right beside his hospital bed after the date from hell and tracheotomy. “You came,” he was barely able to whisper after having been stabbed in the throat.

“Well, you made me your emergency contact,” Bobby raised an eyebrow at him but sat right down, looking surprised but not like he was upset.

“Don’t have anyone else,” Buck whispered with a smaller smile at the sad truth in that statement.

“Abby just went to get some coffee. She'll be back soon,” Bobby motioned to the door. “I think she’s surprisingly willing to give a second date a go even after all this,” he chuckled.

“I know,” he said. “Very surprised…kind of really like her…”

“Get some rest,” Bobby patted his knee under the blankets. “Abby or I will be here when you wake up.”

Buck really couldn’t believe how good everything was going with Abby after they moved past that terrible first date. Even after her mother died, she let him stay and help. Honestly, he’d pretty much moved in, and it had been a long time since he’d been back to his loft. Buck liked to help and be useful, and there was so much to do when someone passed, and he could be there for Abby and help her through everything.

At the very least, Harry understood grief, and he could just lay in bed and hold his girlfriend when everything hit her. He knew how to be there for someone after everything that had happened to those around him in his life. Anything she needed, and Harry could be there, be her support.

Then she was gone. He understood, probably more than anyone else. Buck waved at Abby while she walked through the glass doors into the airport. “I’ll be here when you get back,” he told her vehemently.

“Be safe, Buck,” She smiled sadly, her red hair catching in the wind and a small smile on her lips.

“You too.”

Buck sighed when the doors closed. He could have gone with her. He could have shown her all around Europe and gone with her on this adventure, but she hadn’t asked him to. She needed to do this on her own, and Buck got that. He was doing that himself right then. Plus, he couldn’t exactly tell her he was English, had gone to school in Scotland, and had knocked about Europe as a fugitive because yeah…that was too much for any relationship to weather.

What he could do was be supportive, make sure everything was ready for her return, and wait for her. So, he did just that. He went back to Abby’s condo and cleaned out the fridge. He turned off the water and made sure her mail was routed to his loft so he could take care of anything pressing. He then grabbed all this belongings, and made his way back to his cold and empty loft.

He really liked his loft with its huge windows, open floor plan, and the fact that he could sleep high up. It gave him a feeling of safety, of being in the clouds. After having stayed with Abby so long though, it just felt lonely and impersonal. They’d only been together a few months, so he knew he was being a bit ridiculous. He would be fine. It was all fine, and he’d be there waiting, just as soon as she flew back into town.

Abby had been gone for seven weeks and three days. He was starting to lose a little hope. Everyone was giving him these sad looks, but Buck didn’t know what to do with them. This was fine. Abby was going to come back, and everything would go back to normal. So, he checked on her condo, watered her plants, made sure she didn’t have any outstanding mail that needed taking care of, and headed back to his place once again. It was a ritual of sorts, making sure everything was tidy and ready, just as soon as she returned.

Buck opened the door to his loft again and let himself shift back into his base form as soon as the door closed behind him. He could maintain his “Buck” form for up to 72-ish hours he’d learned through trial and error, but then he had to shift back into “Harry” for at least an hour or he’d develop a migraine. So, he’d started shifting back to his base form every night to rest so he wouldn’t be straining on his longer shifts.

“Hey you,” a voice startled him, and Harry had a shield spell around him before he could even blink.

The voice chuckled, and Hermione stepped into the loft from where she’d been out on his balcony. “Hey, Harry. I missed you,” she smiled at him, love in her eyes.

“Hermione!” Harry dropped the shield, wand and all, to run right into his best friend’s arms. “You’re here! Merlin, I missed you so much! When did you get here?”

“About an hour ago. You look good,” she remarked, pulling back to look him over, and yeah, no new scars or injuries. Frankly, he probably looked worlds better than the last time she’d seen him in person in his flat’s kitchen back in England.

“I am. What about you though? Is anything wrong? Kingsley isn’t going after you and Ron, is he? Is Ron here?” Harry looked around the loft as if expecting his friend to suddenly appear by the sofa or something.

“Everything is perfectly fine,” Hermione put her hands on his arms and told him firmly with a small smile. “Shacklebolt hasn’t bothered us besides some initial questioning, which was laughable after what all we’d been through with the war, so don’t even start blaming yourself for that."

Too late, Harry already was. “I’m so sorry…” he started.

“Seriously,” she glared at him, and Harry just gave her a sheepish smile. “I’m fine, everyone’s fine, Teddy is fine, and no one who knows what happened is mad at you.”

Harry just breathed out a sigh of relief at her answering basically every question he had in the order they had occurred to him. His friends really did know him too well. He finally chuckled. “Ok, so you’re just here for a visit? Where is Ron then?”

“Er…well…about that,” Hermione stepped back and looked away. This didn’t look good. Harry was starting to be very concerned.

“Hermione…?”

Hermione flushed and gave him a smile. “So, well…I kind of got you in the divorce…surprise...”

Harry blinked. Oh, hell no!! He sputtered in his mind. No, absolutely not! What…? No! When had this happened? Why hadn’t anyone said anything? Just…what?

Actually… “Oh, hell no!!” He said out loud for good measure.

Chapter Text

“Oh, hell no!” Harry glared at his best friend, his sister in all but blood…who he really wanted to throttle in that moment. “We are not doing this again, Hermione. We already had this talk back when you two first got together. I told you both, that I’m never picking sides ever again, and if you were to break up, then you just had to figure out some way to still be friends. We had a deal…”

“Harry!” She cut off his rant with a hand to his arm and a smile. “It’s all good. I was only joking. Ron and I, we’re good. Actually, we decided that we’re better friends than a couple and just decided to go back to that, so it’s not like we’re avoiding each other or anything.”

“Oh,” he deflated at that news. Ok, so he wasn’t losing one of them…but he was still bummed they weren’t together anymore. “What happened? You two seemed so good together?”

Hermione pulled him over to his couch and sat down, turning to face him with a serious expression on her face. “I feel like my mum is about to break bad news to me,” he joked, but yeah, if he’d had a mother, he was sure this is exactly what it would have felt like.

Hermione chuckled and ran a hand over her face. “Please don’t take this the wrong way…”

Harry looked at her because he was clearly going to take this the wrong way. Did she not know him at all?! “It’s my fault?”

Hermione dramatically smushed her face into the back of the couch. “Literally the opposite of what I was asking you to do!” She exclaimed; her voice muffled by the cushion.

Harry just waited because this definitely sounded like it was going to end up being his fault. “If you’re getting makeup on my couch, then that’s on you to clean,” he warned her. “I like this couch.”

Hermione finally looked up and rolled her eyes at him, casting a cleaning charm on the sofa for good measure. “This wasn’t your fault,” she said firmly. “What I was getting at is that we were probably together for so long because of your support and presence. When you started pulling away, we ended up spending quite a lot more time with each other, just the two of us…and yeah, we don’t actually have a lot in common besides you and trauma…”

Harry wasn’t sure how to take that. “Ok…But everything is fine with you two? Really? Like you aren’t mad?”

Hermione nodded and took his hand. “Look, a lot went into this decision. It’s been a long time coming. Not having a lot in common was only one thing, then there were our opposite schedules, then the subject of kids, and Ron just really wanted them, and I just wasn’t getting pregnant no matter how hard we tried, and I didn’t want to do fertility treatments, and then I got to thinking…”

She looked off and winced as if she was about to admit something shameful. “I got to thinking that maybe I just don’t want to have kids with Ron.”

That was probably what made sense to Harry the most. Honestly, that was something he’d seen coming from a mile away. “Hermione, family is so important to Ron, and I know it’s important to you too, but Molly was always going to be super involved in everything having to do with a kid, and I know that would have been very difficult for you.”

Hermione snorted. “And Ron would invite it.”

“Exactly,” Harry squeezed her hand. “And you know…you don’t exactly have the best parents.”

“They’re good people,” Hermione quickly defended them automatically like a reflex.

“But not the best parents,” Harry added with a significant raise of his eyebrow. “How many times have they come to visit from Australia since you recovered their memories after the war?”

Hermione looked down, and he knew the exact number. They hadn’t once visited their daughter. “Ron and I visited some.”

Harry leaned back and put and arm around her shoulders to be there for comfort as much as he could. “Look, I’m not saying it was something you couldn’t have worked through if you’d wanted, but you were just raised so very different from Ron, and he was never going to understand that you were basically your parents’ roommate over their daughter.”

“Yeah, well, I suppose I’d be a terrible mum anyway,” she sniffed.

Harry scoffed loudly. “You can just shut up about that, because Hermione Granger, you basically raised me. When we first met, I was an orphan who grew up in a cupboard with almost no socialization. I might not be very emotionally stable, but I’m much better than I have any right to be because of your influence!”

Hermione didn’t look too sure about his reasoning there, but she leaned into his side anyway. “Regardless, you aren’t going to have to choose between us. Ron will come visit sometime soon, but we didn’t want to come at the same time or it might tip off anyone who may think we could lead them to you. Also…we decided it would be a good idea for us to take a little time and space away from each other to readjust to only being friends again.”

“So how long is this visit for?” Harry smiled in relief because he was not going to bloody well go through those two and sixth year again! “When do you need to be back at work?”

“About that…” Hermione trailed off and gave him a sheepish smile. “When we were talking about starting over with you when you had to leave…I’ve kind of been thinking about that ever since that day.”

“What do you mean?” He asked, not trusting his heart to speculate on the answer and hope too much.

She looked out the window and took in a breath. “I was thinking that it might be nice to try something new, and maybe do that in the muggle world this time. I don’t want to turn my back on magic or anything, or even give up on healing, but I think I need a little break. I’ve been running full-out since that first day on the Hogwarts Express. I haven’t taken a break since then.”

Ok, so maybe she was suggesting what he thought she was, but this was a major life change. “But…you’re a very well-respected healer.”

“And you were the top auror,” she raised a challenging eyebrow at him. “I work with a lot of sexist, bigoted men who don’t respect me because my specialty is sentient creature health. I’m just tired Harry. I’m tired of fighting.”

Harry just wrapped her in his arms because he felt that so very deeply. “Then you can stay here with me for as long as you want to, forever if you want,” he assured her.

“Just…we may need to get you a new name,” he winced, hoping this wasn’t a deal breaker. “Hermione Granger moving in with a bloke not her husband, and literally everyone is going to know I’m Harry Potter.”

Hermione scoffed and pulled back to smile at him. “Please, Ron and I are better than that. We already have me a backstory worked out, and he pulled some strings to get me identification. You know…if you’d asked for help…”

Harry rolled his eyes. “It’s fine. I have an identity. I didn’t want to get Ron more involved than necessary.”

“Whatever,” Hermione said fondly while she pulled a card out of her pocket and passed it over. “You are looking at your big sister, Maddie Buckley! So, you better have not told your co-workers you’re an only child because you’re going to have a lot of apologizing to do for that blatant lie if you have.”

Harry raised an appreciative look at the well-done driver’s license. It looked completely legit. “Ok, that’s really cool,” he said emphatically. “I honestly have avoided saying anything about family at all because it’s just so bloody difficult to gauge what’s normal and what isn’t for a family when you’re literally an orphan who grew up with people who hated you.”

“Fair…you do still scandalize us with Dursley stories occasionally,” she nodded with a sad look at that.

“Have you thought about the fact that you don’t have any education in the muggle world since you were eleven? That’s one of the reasons I’m in a field that doesn’t require a college degree,” he warned her, handing the ID back. “What are you planning to do if you aren't going to stay in the magical society?”

She opened her mouth and closed it before shrugging. “Honestly, my bank account isn’t hurting, and I was planning on some free lodging from my little brother,” she winked at him. “So, I was going to take a little time and figure it out. There’s a correspondence course I can take with Ilvermorny to get certified here in America as a healer, and until then, I’ll just find something to keep me busy and occupied.”

“Well then…I guess I’m going to have to introduce you to the 118 then,” he grinned. “Abby is going to be so excited to hear about you! I can't wait until you two meet!”

Hermione looked off with an odd look in her eyes at his comment. He wasn’t sure what that look was for. But whatever, he had plenty of time to figure it out and reconnect with his sister.

“Right, so now we need to work on your accent,” Harry got down to business because that had taken him a bloody long time to figure out. “It’s difficult, but I can teach you how to do American.”

Hermione smirked at him, and Harry was really dreading whatever it was she was about to say. She tapped her wand against her neck. “Dear, little brother…you do realize there’s a spell for that?” She said with a perfect American accent.

Harry groaned dramatically and fell out on the couch. “Hermione, you’re never allowed to leave me on my own again.”

She laughed and patted him on the knee. “Of course not, you’re stuck with me now.”

Eddie fucking Diaz…!

Everything had been going so well in Buck’s life. Like, this was the happiest he’d been…maybe ever. He was finally out of his probationary year and a full-fledged firefighter. Even Sergeant Athena Grant was warming up to him instead of looking at him like she was considering all the ways to kill him and get away with it. Hermione, or rather Maddie, was settling in and was really enjoying her new job at 9-1-1 dispatch since she was keeping busy and could still help people. Actually, she was thriving in a place where she was respected and valued over St. Mungo’s which had been a tireless battle every day.

Then, because Fate hated Harry Potter, a fucking muggle vampire showed up at the 118 as their new probationary firefighter! How was he going to hide that he was a wizard from a literal magical creature?! Why was a vampire even working as a first responder?!

Normally, Harry couldn’t tell just by looking at a person if they had magic or not. That was a very specialized talent you either had to study for years or something you had to be born with as a very rare gift of genetics. However, as the Master of Death, Harry had been able to tell vampires, vetala, banshees, and (of course) inferi on sight because of their association with death.

Muggle vampires were a little more difficult to detect since they didn’t have any magic of their own, plus they looked more human, could go out in the sun, and could even eat food though it wouldn’t sustain them. It was a trade-off since magical vampires couldn’t be in the sun or eat human food, but they were basically indestructible otherwise and had magic.

Muggle vampires could die by most things that could kill a human though they couldn’t catch illnesses and would heal quickly. Which means that this muggle vampire had definitely chosen the wrong profession. Yeah, he was immortal if he wasn’t killed, but most of what they dealt with as first responders that could kill a human would also kill a muggle vampire.

Buck figured this Eddie guy must be a pretty old vampire too if blood just didn’t bother him anymore, which it clearly didn’t just by what he observed of the man during their first shift together. If Eddie was an old one, then it was extremely likely he knew of the magical world and would be in the perfect position to catch any little slip of Buck’s. The muggles of the 118 wouldn’t notice a little magic if Buck slipped because their brains were hardwired to explain it away, but not a vampire’s. Plus, it led to the question of why an old one would be in such a dangerous profession. Was it possible this Eddie bloke had a death wish and was tired of his existence? If so, then that was completely unacceptable because it put all the rest of the mortals at the 118 in danger.

Ok, so granted, Harry might not have handled the vampire’s presence in the most mature way. They’d been joking around about the firefighter calendar which Buck could never appear in as a wanted fugitive, but it was still nice to joke about trying out for it anyway. And, well, Eddie bloody Diaz was probably the most gorgeous man Harry had seen in a long time. So, Harry got a little defensive and a little pissy, but sue him…this guy was dangerous and everybody just welcomed him with open arms.

Right, so yeah, he knew how hypocritical that thought was. He was definitely more dangerous than the vampire, and the 118 welcomed everyone. But still, he was protective of his family, and apparently Eddie had fought in a war before becoming a firefighter. So, yeah…vampire with a death wish most definitely! He wasn’t going to let anyone, even a Silver Star earning, veteran, medic, vampire, gorgeous-bodied man put any member of his family in any danger whatsoever.

And then there was Charlie who liked to collect war memorabilia.

Harry was a wizard. Why the hell would he need to know anything about grenades?! Apparently, he actually did need to know about grenades when one was embedded in a guy’s freaking leg. Honestly, just how exciting and new each day was at the 118 had become the best part of why Buck liked his job. However, a live grenade in a bloke’s leg was way outside of even their most insane normal and decidedly not a perk of the job.

This Eddie guy’s nerves were rock solid! Like he was just calmly explaining to Bobby how he’d recognized the grenade was live and the dangers of removing it. Even for a vampire with a death wish, this was impressive. Like, Harry knew this probably couldn’t kill him as the Master of Death…although he really didn’t want to test out if he could stick a severed limb back on himself, but still, he was a little nervous about this regardless.

With a sigh, Buck just followed Eddie back into the ambulance to try to save the guy’s life since the military would take too long to get there. “You really don’t have to go with me,” Eddie said with that steady, calm tone while Buck and him were fitted with laughably ineffective vests in the case of an explosion.

Buck just scoffed at him because if that bomb went off, he was the only one with a chance of surviving it. He would have done it by himself, but it was a two person job. “Dude, you’re going to logistically need another pair of hands to pull this off. If you’re going to do something stupid and suicidal, then you’re just going to have to get used to me being right there with you.”

He was trying to get it across to the man that if Eddie was suicidal, then he needed to take into account the others around him, but Eddie’s eyes softened some and he just looked…grateful. Buck didn’t know what that was about, but whatever. If this guy was an old one and knew about magic, then Harry was going to cast the strongest shield he could around the grenade if there was even the slightest danger of it going off. He’d lie or obliviate the guy or something later. Vampires tended to be immune to mind magic, but Harry was willing to try the Elder Wand against that if need be.

Against all odds, they pulled it off! And Buck didn’t even have to cast anything. Ok, well, the ambulance did blow up, but they were all safely away from it when it happened, so not his problem anymore. Eddie just smiled at him and Bobby as if explosions happened around him every day...which they probably had in a war zone. “So, anyone up for breakfast?”

Bobby laughed incredulously and walked away, and Buck finally saw Eddie’s mask slipped. The man was beyond terrified! Eddie breathed out before his mask slipped back into place. Damn! He didn’t have a death wish just a ridiculous ability to compartmentalize, probably hard won in war. Why the hell was a vampire in this job then?!

“Hey, man, you’re badass,” Eddie gave him a small smile. “You can have my back any day.”

Buck did not understand this guy in the slightest. What the hell? But…Eddie just volunteered to remove a grenade from a human’s leg to save the man when he was terrified himself. And yeah, Buck was all in with both feet and over his head already. He might still not be happy about a vampire slumming it with them, but this guy…yeah, he was the real deal.

“Or, you can have my back,” Harry smiled at him because yeah, this guy, he might actually be able to trust…as long as Eddie never found out Harry had magic.

“Really? A vampire?” Maddie’s voice said incredulously over the phone. They were just starting their shifts and had missed each other the past few days with their odd schedules and hadn’t had the opportunity to talk. “Why would he work as a firefighter? I mean, I know you are as a wizard, but fire can literally kill a muggle vampire.”

“No, freaking idea,” Buck breathed out and shook his head, stepping out of his jeep in the station parking lot. “Do you think we should ask Ron to do a background check on him? Like see who his sire was and any interactions with the magical world?”

“Maybe?” Maddie huffed. “That might draw someone’s attention though, which we really don't need. He has to be an old one, right? The blood would be horrible if he wasn’t.”

“Must be,” Buck shouldered his bag and walked towards the building. “Honestly, he seems like a good dude, but know you me, I’m not the best judge of character these days.”

Maddie grumbled something, and it sounded like she was opening a door too. “Har, I don’t think Kingsley should be a gauge for how well you judge people. We all trusted him too.”

“Whatever…” Buck paused with a frown. “Drat, I forgot to stop and water Abby’s plants…I guess I can stop by after work.”

“Buck…” Maddie breathed out in a pained sigh like she really wanted to tell him something he should already have understood.

“What…?” Buck trailed off and had to hold on when the earth started shaking around them. His phone immediately went dead, and he narrowly cast a shield over himself to stop a falling piece of the roof from hitting him in the head.

When everything stopped shaking, Harry breathed out and looked around. No one was around to see him. And oh…wow, that was the first earthquake he’d ever experienced. He really was a resident of Los Angeles now, he supposed.

Harry desperately hoped Hermione was ok, but his phone was still dead. Right, well, a lot of people were about to be in danger. He shouldered his bag again and sprinted towards the locker room since the bell was about to sound any second for all the emergencies currently happening.

“Who are you so worried about?” Buck asked, nudging Eddie’s foot across from his own in the firetruck. The man had been anxiously checking his phone all morning even though none of them had a signal. "I'm sure they're fine."

“My son,” he said distractedly, before turning the phone around and showing Harry a picture of the absolute cutest kid with glasses and blond, curly hair. Actually, he reminded Harry of Teddy a little when he was still a little kid and didn’t have blue or green hair at the time.

“I love kids!” Harry cooed before the implications of this vampire having a kid hit him. Vampires couldn’t have children…how did Eddie have a son?

“Buck basically is a kid himself,” Hen chuckled teasingly.

“What the hell…” Chimney cut off Harry’s thoughts when they finally approached the hotel that looked like it was leaning almost at a 45-degree angle to the road. “How is that still standing?!”

Harry shook his head, pushing everything down. Maybe Eddie had adopted the kid. That made the most sense. He didn’t want to even entertain the other option that Eddie might not be as old as he had been assuming.

“Buck and Eddie, harness up, you’re going to start at the top while we work the bottom,” Bobby ordered as they jumped out of the truck.

“I got you man,” Eddie smiled and clapped him on the back, finally putting his phone into a pocket of his turnouts.

“Yeah, yeah, no doing anything stupid,” Buck warned him, because there was still a possibility the vampire had a death wish.

“Pot/kettle, Buckaroo!” Hen laughing called back over to them.

Merlin, Harry missed having a kid! Andromeda was Teddy’s main guardian, but as Teddy’s godfather, Harry had helped out a lot when Teddy was little. He was as involved as he could be in everything Teddy was involved in. It was only the past few years with Kingsley when he’d been pulling away, and Teddy had been at Hogwarts anyway, so it wasn’t like they could hang out every weekend or anything. Teddy was a surly teenager now, and Harry loved him dearly, all tall, gangly grump of him. But Teddy also wasn’t into hugs anymore and wasn’t tiny and cute.

Christopher Diaz was still tiny and cute and loved hugs though! And he hugged Buck the second they met after the earthquake, and Buck did actually really need that hug. Eddie’s truck had been blocked in by debris, so Buck had driven him to pick up his son as soon as they were cleared to leave the station.

The earthquake had been a rough shift, but their team had all made it out with only bumps and bruises. It had been a little concerning when they’d lost contact with Hen, but Harry had used just a little covert tracking spell that he wasn’t going to tell Hermione about, and they had found her and the little girl she was trapped with well before the building collapsed any more.

Hermione said the call center had been crazy busy, but she was fine and even volunteered to water Abby’s plants for him. Frankly, at this point, Buck was really just hoping that his loft in the apartment hadn’t fallen or the windows had broken or anything. Yeah, he could fix it, but that would be a pain since he’d have to look up architecture spells. He had a feeling a simple reparo wouldn’t put his loft back together if it had fallen in the quake. Maybe Hermione knew some architecture spells...

Now though, the only thing that mattered was getting Eddie and Christopher Diaz home. Harry grinned at the kid that didn’t look much like Eddie at all, thank Merlin! The adoption theory was definitely gaining more ground. “So, Christopher, tell me all about what you like to do for fun. Are Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles still cool, or am I just really old?”

Chis chuckled and launched into a full explanation of all things seven-year-olds loved to do while Buck drove them home. “Thank you,” Eddie breathed out beside him with a grateful look in his eyes.

“Hey, man, any time. I said I had your back,” Buck assured him because, yeah, he’d gone and done it again. He’d added yet another member to his family, or really two with Christopher. And frankly Buck didn’t care in the slightest that Eddie was a vampire anymore because he was a great dad to Chris and proved already that he was the furthest from a danger to the team.

Hell, it’d turned out that Bobby had actually hired Eddie to keep Buck from doing stupid things! Well…they were both mostly immortal, so it was fine. They could do stupid things together, and Buck would make sure the stupid muggle vampire came home to his very human son all in one piece.

What the ever-loving bloody hell and the horse Merlin rode in on?! Buck thought as his brain almost literally made the sound of a record scratching. He couldn’t believe his eyes, but the proof was right there in front of him.

Eddie’s grandmother, or rather abuela, had been watching Chris and had fallen and broken her hip. And Eddie’s abuela was the normal age for a muggle abuela!! And the spell Harry surreptitiously cast when he realized that anomaly showed that Chris was definitely Eddie’s biological son!!

Buck pulled out his phone and didn’t even know what to type. He tried several times before giving up and sending an entirely different message to a different person.

Buck: Hey, Bobby, is it cool if Eddie brings his son back to the station for a while? He has a small childcare issue.

Bobby: Of course! We’d love to meet him!

Buck nodded, well, one thing handled. Now, what to do with this…whatever it was. He needed Hermione's help.

Buck: Mione

Buck: I don’t know how to tell you this…

Buck: Eddie’s son is 7

Maddie: Yes, Buck, you’ve been talking nonstop about your new bestest friend, Chris, since you met him

Buck: No, you don’t understand…Chis is Eddie’s biological son! Like I just met his normal aged, completely human, abuela too!

Maddie: What the hell!!!

Buck: Eddie isn’t an old one! Like baby vampire! Like brand-spanking new, right out of the box vampire!!!!!

Maddie: Is he a masochist or something? How does he handle the blood?

Buck scoffed at the phone. Right, that would go over well for him to ask.

Buck: Yeah, I’ll just get right on with asking that. Come on, Hermione!

“Hey, Buck,” Eddie came up to him in the hospital waiting room with Chris in tow and a concerned frown on his face. “I think Chris needs to come with us. Tía Pepa can’t pick him up until she gets off work.”

Buck frowned but nodded. This sounded like a deeper issue than just that one afternoon. Who was going to watch Chris now that his grandmother was injured? They worked long shifts and someone had to watch Christopher overnight too. If Eddie's aunt had a job, that would make things difficult when Chris wasn't in school.

“Hey, you two going to be ok with your abuela out of commission?” He asked once they were back at the firehouse and Chris was occupied playing a video game with Chimney. Because masochist or not, and baby vampire or not, Eddie was his best friend now right after Ron and Hermione (yes, he knew it was fast, but it had only taken a train ride to get Ron as his best friend and troll to get Hermione, so this was actually pretty slow for him in the grand scheme of his friendships).

Eddie sighed and seemed to age a decade, which Buck now knew was impossible. Damn, was he actually older than Eddie?!

“I just can’t figure out all the paperwork and bureaucracy,” he let out as if it were actually a failing and not exceptionally understandable. Harry had been known to give up and cheat a little with magic when he got lost in paperwork too…don’t tell the IRS.

“It’s not like I have a lot of time either between work, taking care of Christopher, and trying to, you know, just live…I really don’t want to admit to Bobby how long it’s been since I washed dishes, like Buck…” Eddie turned pink. “It’s embarrassing.”

Harry just laughed and gave his shoulder a fond punch because that was something he could handle easily. “Hey, don’t worry about it, man. We’ll get this figured out. I’ll come over tonight and can occupy Chris with a game or movie, and you can do your dishes, or vice versa,” he offered. “You don’t have to do everything alone, you know.”

Eddie didn’t look like he really believed him, but he still took Buck up on his offer. As soon as Eddie was talking with Hen though, Buck took out his phone, knowing he needed to call in the big guns for this. He just didn't understand muggle, American stuff enough to be the help Eddie needed.

Buck: Hey, Abby, what’s Carla’s number?

Three hours later, and Buck hadn’t heard a word from Abby, but then he luckily remembered that he had Carla’s number saved in case of emergencies from when Abby’s mum was still alive. Carla had been her in-home caregiver and was a beast with bureaucracy. Frankly, Buck wasn’t sure Carla wasn’t using magic herself to take care of everything. As far as he could tell, the woman was pure muggle, but she was impressive enough that he’d volunteer her to run the entire British Ministry if he could.

He pulled up the number he didn’t think he’d ever actually used before.

Buck: Hey, Carla, it’s Buck. Sorry to be reaching out to you, but I have a favor to ask. Would you be willing to help a single father whose kid has cerebral palsy navigate the paperwork to get childcare? He’s another firefighter. I can pay for your time

Buck didn’t have to wait more than ten seconds before a response came in.

Carla: Buckaroo!! How are you?! I was just thinking about you. Of course, sugar! Just name the time and place. I know how to kick some bureaucratic butt!

Carla: What’s this about paying for my time?!

Carla: Boy! You get your head on straight!

Buck just laughed, drawing a few eyes his direction. He shook his head and went back to his texts.

Buck: Thanks Carla! U r a lifesaver

Carla: I’ll take that coming from the firefighter!

Buck slipped his phone back into his pocket and rushed over to show Christopher the locker room and maybe get a picture of him wearing one of their helmets. Maddie would love to see that! He grabbed onto Eddie and pulled him along too, getting so caught up in making Chris’s trip to the station the most fun ever that he never even realized he hadn’t heard anything back from Abby.

Chapter Text

Eddie really could use some distractions from all the problems in his life if he wasn’t going to completely lose his mind. Unknowingly and thankfully, his new co-worker, Buck, had stepped into that need exceptionally well. He’d only been working at the 118 for a couple months, and Eddie was starting to find it hard to remember a time before Buck in his life. Like, the guy was always there, and not in a bad way either. They were partners on the job, so they always worked together and looked out for each other. Then, Buck would come over and visit and cook a few nights a week, somehow (correctly) assuming that Eddie couldn’t cook for the life of him.

Now, Eddie did have an excuse about the whole cooking thing, food just…wasn’t as good as it used to be. The flavors were very muted now, so it took a ridiculous amount of hot sauce before he could enjoy most meals these days. However, back in PV times (what he was calling his pre-vampire life), Eddie really couldn’t cook either. His mother had taught his sisters, but never him. Then, his wife Shannon had actually liked to cook, so he was shoved out the kitchen quite often when they lived together. Then…then he really only needed to cook for his son, and Christopher would fake-gag at just the sight of a hot sauce bottle. Thankfully, Abuela was trying to fix that little (major) issue when she babysat.

Then, like an angel shoving it’s 6’ 2” muscly frame into their lives, Buck had just fixed all his childcare issues by introducing the wonder that was Carla to him. Again, he wasn’t sure what life had been like before Carla now except for bad and stressful. And Chris just loved the man! Like Buck knew exactly how to talk to Chris to get him to listen and make him feel heard. If Eddie didn’t know better, he would swear that Buck must be a father himself with how well he understood kids.

But, by Dracula! (should he start swearing by Dracula? That seemed like a thing. Was Dracula even a real dude? Oh well, it still sounded like a funny, ironic thing at least. Yeah…he was definitely going to do that in his own head).

Anyway…by Dracula!...Buck could really be thick-headed for some reason. And the guy was clearly smart. Like he was always on Wikipedia or looking something up during their downtime to learn more, and he was always sharing those facts with Eddie and his son. So, why couldn’t Buck see that he’d been ghosted by his girlfriend months ago?! And why wasn’t anyone telling Buck to just let her go?! What was he missing?

Pondering on his new friend, Eddie stepped into the blood bank over in Van Nuys which was actually the front for the Los Angeles vampire community. God!...no, Dracula!...he never thought he’d be making bi-weekly runs to a blood bank like he would the grocery store back before he even knew vampires existed. He’d have tried to have himself committed if someone had told him that. Honestly, he still really didn’t want to know that vampires existed.

“Edmundo, here like clockwork, as usual,” the vampire woman behind the counter smiled flirtatiously at him. Eddie just held in his groan and eyeroll. He was not here to make friends, he did not want to date a vampire, he didn’t want to be a vampire, and there was no way in hell he’d take this woman out even if he wasn’t still technically married.

“Raina,” he nodded stiffly. “Same as usual.”

She wrinkled her nose and huffed but started typing his order into the keyboard of the computer. “You’re the only one who asks for that O+ crap,” she grumbled. “Everyone else will only take it if we’re out of everything else.”

Eddie just shrugged and waited her out. He’d eventually get his blood and could go back to pretending he wasn’t a creature out of horror films for two more weeks before he had to come back to replenish his stock. “It’s the cheapest,” was his honest answer he gave every time she tried to get him to get one of the rarer blood types.

Eddie wasn’t looking for exotic blood types or whatever Raina meant by blood being a ‘good vintage.’ He didn’t want to think about what he was drinking or why he needed it. He just needed to keep living for Chris and be strong enough to do his job and provide for his son.

At first the bloodlust had been almost unbearable, but Eddie had been turned into a vampire in the middle of a war zone as a medic. There was blood everywhere! So, out of sheer preservation, he’d forced himself to get over that exceptionally quickly. To view it was a weakness and push past it. Now, it was only a necessity. One he only begrudgingly allowed himself.

Raina hit a few more keys before the price popped up on the card reader. Eddie paused before swiping his card with a frown. “The price has gone up,” he remarked, doing the calculations in his head. He couldn’t afford this.

“Supply and demand,” the woman shrugged and popped the gum she was loudly chewing. “The earthquake caused a blood shortage in LA, so more of our stock is actually having to go to hospitals, which means higher prices for the vamps. Also, we’re having to move again…don’t know where yet.”

Eddie groaned and ran a hand over his face. It made sense. While the entire chain of private blood banks was owned by a vampire corporation, the location for vamps to buy the blood had to rotate through their locations to more easily hide the fact that a significant portion of their supply was going to private hands instead of hospitals and first responders. It was annoying though because he’d have to track down their new location if he didn’t catch where it was going to be before the move. Which meant talking to other vampires…something he didn’t want to do.

Raina grinned toothily, unnecessarily showing off her fangs. “You know, you can supplement your supply the old-fashioned way. That’s what most of us do.”

Eddie narrowed his eyes at the woman. “Oh really.”

She flipped her hair and smiled even wider. “I know some good clubs. I could show you around. Just find a hottie, take ‘em out back into the alley, and free dinner. Win-win for price and pleasure.”

Eddie held in his shudder. He couldn’t do that. Something about it just made him queasy on a visceral level, and it wasn’t just because he was still technically married. “I don’t think the club scene is for me.”

Raina shrugged. “Well, you have the number for the Custodian if you change your mind, right? I know you’re still a newbie around these parts, so we have to keep you informed. I mean…just in case there’s a little oopsie.”

Eddie really didn’t want to understand what she was asking right now. “Oopsie?”

“You know…take a little too much blood,” Raina slid a business card to him which he automatically took even though he felt like he was holding a live grenade. “They come and take care of everything for you, you know.”

Eddie slid the card in his pocket knowing he would starve before ever being in a position to need to use that card. So, no absolutely not. He sighed and instead did some creative math in his head. He only ever bought the minimum amount of blood he would need for two weeks, but he supposed he could tighten his belt some. He’d rather be hungry than Christopher be affected in any way whatsoever.

“Cut two pints from my usual,” he told her and nodded at the updated total.

“So, where we going clubbing?” She grinned while he scanned his credit card and waited on the technician to bring his non-descript white cooler.

“Nowhere, I’ll be fine,” he pursed his lips, knowing it would be rough, but he was fine.

Raina raised an eyebrow as she passed over the cooler from the tech. “Well…you have the business card. Use it if you need to.”

Eddie scoffed and took his cooler, getting the hell out of there. He didn’t ask for this life. He didn’t want this life. And none of the advantages of being stronger and healing faster were worth parasitically living off others.

Buck was currently making spaghetti in his kitchen, but Eddie fully believed he was miles away in his own mind. Christopher was doing homework and chatting away at Buck who was listening, but only half-way, checking his cellphone every few minutes with a progressively deeper frown. He wondered if it was something with Buck’s sister. He hadn’t met Maddie yet, but Buck was always singing her praises…which turned out to be extremely odd when the rest of the 118 said they hadn’t even known Buck had a sister until she showed up.

“Is everything ok with Maddie?” Eddie asked while sipping at the thermos that contained his very carefully rationed portion of blood for the day. He was so very hungry, but it was worth it because Chris was able to get the new shoes he really needed.

Buck hummed before looking up from the pan and blinking as if he was trying to figure out what Eddie had asked from context clues. “Your sister…Maddie? She alright?” Eddie asked again with a little smirk at Buck’s blank expression.

“Oh, yeah, she’s great!” Buck got that dopey grin on his face anytime his sister was brought up. It was obvious just how much he loved her, and every time, it made Eddie feel the need to call his own sisters.

“Everything ok with the ex-husband?” Eddie asked next. Buck always said things were good with his sister’s ex, but they had both moved across the country and away from any of their family seemingly without notice. It made Eddie a little suspicious. Well…it technically made Chimney suspicious who felt the need to share all his theories with Eddie and Hen, so they were by extension a little suspicious as well that things weren’t as great as the two siblings tried to let on. Also, they never mentioned their parents...that was strange, right? 

“Hmm? He’s fine,” Buck waved him off but checked his phone yet again. Buck sighed and shook his head before putting the phone back in his pocket. “Actually, Maddie just found her own place and is moving in a few days. We could really use you and maybe Chim or whoever to help us put together her new furniture if you’re free next weekend. Free pizza and beer on us.”

Eddie took a sip from his thermos. “I thought you lived in a house with a bunch of roommates. Has Maddie been staying with you this whole time? I’m surprised it took her this long to move if so.”

Buck flushed and seemed to pause to formulate an answer. Damn, was Buck still living at Abby’s condo?! Come on! Someone needed to tell him to move on!

“Can I help put together furniture?” Chris asked from where he was very clearly procrastinating his math homework now.

“Of course, little man!” Buck grinned at him. “I think we should make you the Minister of Planning, and have you tell everyone else what to do! I'll even get you a clipboard!”

And there…sometimes Buck said things like that which seemed a little odd. Who had job titles that were called ‘ministers?’ Like…he thought he’d heard that on the BBC once maybe, but Buck sometimes had some strange references.

“Awesome!” Chris cheered and then pouted with Eddie pointedly tapped at the worksheet he was supposed to be doing before dinner. Honestly, Eddie felt a little useless since Buck had banned him from even touching a spatula, so at least he could try to keep his son on track.

“Right, so I guess I forgot to tell everyone that I got my own place when Abby left,” Buck said, looking into the boiling water of noodles instead of at them. Was Buck lying? Why would he be?

“Which reminds me,” Buck turned off the burner and grabbed a colander to drain the water from the noodles. “Abby’s neighborhood had a power outage yesterday. I really should go check on her place and make sure everything looks good. I’d hate for her to come back and the HVAC wasn’t working.”

Eddie snapped the lid shut on his thermos and put it to the side to clean out once Buck was gone, and he could get rid of the evidence of what it contained. It didn’t look like anyone else was going to say anything. Why did this fall to Eddie? He’d only known Buck for a couple months. Yeah, they were like best friends already, but still, shouldn’t this be Bobby who did the whole fatherly-thing with Buck or even his own sister? Why did it seem everyone was leaving this to Eddie who was seriously a mess? Like no one should come to him for advice!

“Dinner!” Buck proudly proclaimed before plopping a large bowl of spaghetti on the table.

Eddie winced at it, wondering how likely it was that he could get away with just not eating. With a huge grin, Buck added the hottest bottle of hot sauce Eddie owned to the table beside it. Well, he supposed that answered his question. Maybe it would fool his stomach some into not feeling quite so hungry.

The kitchen was cleaned up, Christopher was asleep, and Buck was awkwardly puttering around his living room like he always did when he didn’t seem to be able to tell if he should leave or not. Eddie chuckled at how such a large man could try to make himself invisible in a fairly small house. Buck should know he could stay as long as he wanted to by now. Eddie didn't understand why he always looked like he was ready to run as soon as someone noticed he was there.

“Sit,” he ordered Buck before taking two beers out of the fridge and joining his friend on the couch. Honestly, for this conversation, they probably needed tequila, but Eddie didn’t exactly have tequila money when he didn’t have blood money, so yeah, beer it was.

Buck checked his phone again, and it finally sank in what he was looking for. “You haven’t heard from Abby in a while, have you?” Eddie asked, trying to seem as non-judgmental as he possibly could when he definitely was judging Abby significantly at the moment. He'd never met the woman, but he knew Buck, and Buck deserved better than this.

Buck frowned and picked at the label on the beer bottle. “No…I hadn’t realized it’d been so long…I, uh…well, I asked what country she was in this morning, but she hasn’t texted anything back.”

Eddie held his hand out and waited. Clearly Buck didn’t want to hand the phone over, but he eventually did with a pink tinge marking his cheeks. Buck knew what Eddie was going to find.

Two taps of his finger on the screen and Eddie had all the evidence he needed. “Buck,” he breathed out. “Abby hasn’t called you in over a month and hasn’t texted you in almost three weeks.”

Buck winced. “That…I know how it sounds…”

“Do you really?” Eddie handed the phone back with a raise of his eyebrow. “Let me tell you a story.”

Buck’s brow furrowed but he nodded his head. “Ok, not where I saw this going, but ok.”

“So, this guy, let’s call him…Freddie,” Eddie said with a little smirk at Buck who rolled his eyes. “Freddie married young, his high school sweetheart. His wife…let’s call her Tannen…”

Buck actually snorted at that. “Right, Freddie and Tannen…go on…”

“Anyway,” he took a sip of his beer to organize his thoughts. It’s not like he could explain the whole vampirism issue with his ex-ish wife, so skirting that issue…

“Tannen got pregnant while they were still dating, and they were both so very excited to have a child,” Eddie continued. “But they weren’t married at the time and not really financially stable. They weren’t planning on having a baby, and they were just starting out in their careers. Tannen was an event planner and was just building a client base, and Freddie had decided to go to nursing school after having worked in a factory for a while after graduation. He was only one year in though, and it was expensive.”

“That sounds like a lot of stress,” Buck gave him that understanding smile that always made Eddie feel so seen even when no one else ever seemed to understand him.

Eddie just nodded. “Well, Freddie couldn’t keep going to nursing school, but he could enlist in the Army to pay for the wedding and the hospital bills and support Tannen and the baby. With his schooling, he was even qualified to train to be a medic, so he was still helping people.”

“Sounds like a good pivot,” Buck said supportively.

“Maybe,” Eddie looked off into the distance. “It had Freddie away from home a lot though. He missed a lot when his son was a baby, and Shannon…sorry, Tannen felt abandoned. It didn’t help that he came back from his first tour…different than when he left.”

Eddie left it at that. Buck could assume PTSD over vampirism. That was a very safe assumption. Who in their right mind would ever guess vampirism?

“But he did come back,” Buck actually reached over and squeezed his knee, which Eddie hadn’t realized he really did need. He gave his friend a little smile for the support.

“Well, after a while, Freddie thought that maybe it would be best for his marriage to re-enlist and serve a second tour…to give Tannen some space and because their son it turned out was going to need a few surgeries and physical therapy and a lot of doctors’ appointments. Tannen’s event planning business was doing better, but not enough to support them, and Freddie wasn’t doing great…so he went back to what he knew…”

“Which Tannen didn’t actually want?” Buck guessed with no judgement in his look surprisingly.

Eddie shrugged. Honestly, he didn’t know. Shannon had made a big deal about him enlisting without telling her, but there was also a relieved look in her eyes underneath it all. No matter how many times he assured her that she was safe, there was always still a little fear when she looked at him. Maybe he should have stayed and they try to figure it out, but at the time, he really did think it was what she wanted. When your wife realized she wasn’t just your wife and mother of your son anymore but also dinner…that changed things in a relationship significantly. Eddie honestly didn’t blame her one bit for it either, then at least.

“When Freddie came back from that second tour with an honorable discharge, things were…rocky,” Eddie sighed. They really had tried to make it work then, but it was actually PTSD this time.

“Tannen left?” Buck asked, seeming to realize now where the connection was.

Eddie nodded. “Yeah, and Freddie waited. He waited for two years thinking she’d eventually come back home. But it wasn’t healthy. Eventually, you have to move on, and while Freddie…while I may have waited, I knew Shannon wasn’t coming back a long time before Chris and I left El Paso for here.”

Buck looked into his eyes like he could see Eddie’s soul. Eddie thought it would make him squirm or be uncomfortable, but something about Buck’s look just made him feel safe. “Abby’s not coming back,” Buck said for probably the first time since she boarded an airplane, before Eddie and him had even met.

“No, Buck, she isn’t,” Eddie said confidently, reaching over to squeeze Buck’s knee like he had done before.

“Damn…I did it again,” Buck let out a breath that felt like it had roots in trauma.

“What do you mean?” He frowned. There was a story here, and a significant one at that.

Buck just shook his head and put his still full beer on the table. “Nothing. I need to go. I’m helping Maddie pack, and hey…I’ll have you over to my new place once Maddie moves out since apparently you haven’t been there yet.”

“I’d like that,” Eddie said, not wanting to let Buck go like this, but also not thinking of anything to stop him besides physically pulling him back to the couch.

“Drive safe!” He called out since there wasn’t anything else he could do.

“Take care of Freddie for me,” Buck grinned widely before pulling the front door closed behind him.

Eddie swapped his empty beer out for Buck’s full one and just sat there. He needed to get Buck a key to his place. Yes, random thought, but Buck was over all the time anyway, and maybe it would make him feel needed and wanted. Yeah, that was a good idea. He’d have a key cut in the morning and give it to him on their next shift. No big deal…like maybe he should hide the blood in the back of the fridge more, but besides that, no big deal at all.

“Hermione, I did it again! Why do I keep doing this?!” Harry dramatically crashed down onto his couch beside his best friend who was currently deep into working on her correspondence course with Ilvermorny to be healer certified in the U.S.

Hermione looked up and just shook her head at his dramatics. “Did what? Kill a dark lord? We’re not due another one of those for like a year if your luck holds.”

“Ha, ha,” he deadpanned and shifted back into his base form.

Frustratedly, he pulled Hermione’s hair band off her wrist to her protests and forced his long, black hair up into a messy bun. He could make it shorter like he used to do, but in order to rest his abilities, he had to let all his changes go. So, cutting it himself was probably the only real option he had, and frankly, he didn’t trust himself or Hermione with scissors after he saw Ron’s haircuts during their year on the run.

Unfortunately, he hadn’t really known how long his hair had gotten since the last time his Aunt Petunia had tried to cut it pre-Hogwarts. He’d whacked off a good three feet with his kitchen scissors when he finally stopped all the changes he'd been making and was horrified to find it was almost to his knees. It might not be the most stylish, but it also wasn’t his normal and recognizable look if he accidentally got caught out not in his “Buck” form.

“Buy yourself hairbands and stop stealing mine,” she smacked his side with her book. “Now what did you do? And do I need to call Ron for damage control?”

“What? No!” Harry scoffed. He was able to take care of himself…well, ok, maybe his current situation didn’t really support that.

“Abby,” he finally said, leaning against the back of the couch and pulling his long legs up to curl up into himself more.

If Hermione weren’t there, he’d currently be cramming himself into his bedroom closet. While it definitely wasn’t the healthiest coping mechanism, small spaces and cupboards in particular calmed him. His cupboard growing up was his safe space. It was the one place Dudley, Vernon, and Petunia could physically get into, so they had to leave him be there. Even if it was also a prison, it was still protection. He thought he’d lose his safe space after Kingsley shoved him in a closet after their last encounter, but no…it was still where he went when things were too overwhelming. Actually…maybe he would go spend some time there after he told Hermione anyway. He really could use some alone time.

“Did you hear from her?” Hermione asked, but Harry could see it in her eyes that she didn’t believe that. She pursed her lips and waited.

“I thought I’d broken out of the cycle of toxic relationships,” he sniffed. “She’s not coming back though. She just…she didn’t even bother to tell me we were done. Like, I didn’t even deserve a text to hear that she was moving on and to stop waiting. I texted her this morning, and yesterday, and the day before…she could have said anytime…”

“Oh, love,” Hermione wrapped her arms around him and pulled him down to where his head was on her shoulder. “When you first met her, I didn’t think she would hurt you either. I hoped this would be a healthy relationship for you.”

Harry sniffed back the tears that really wanted to fall. “I really know how to pick them. At least this one just left me like a bag of trash on the curb and didn’t try to kill me.”

Hermione hugged him tighter. “Well, that’s one step forward at least.”

Merlin, it was sad she was right. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

Hermione pulled back some to look at him. Her eyes shown with care and sadness. “Would you have listened to me?”

Harry just snuggled right back down into her neck, because that was fair. “Maybe we need to work out some kind of code-word that I have to listen to when you tell me I’m in a toxic relationship. Like, no protests, just get out no matter how healthy I think it is.”

“And ‘get out’ isn’t enough?” She chuckled but sounded serious in the question.

“Nah,” he answered. “Something that says this isn’t an opinion but definitive fact, and Harry is being self-destructive again. Like…I don’t know…Norberta or something. She was Hagrid’s self-destructive dream, so maybe that’ll help me see I’m chasing my own.”

“I can do that,” Hermione said seriously. “What finally made you realize this tonight?”

“Eddie,” Harry pulled back and looked at her with a frown. His new addition to his best friends was a vampire. Was that self-destructive?

“Hey, ‘Mione? Eddie is ok, right? Like this isn’t a Norberta situation, right? I mean, I know we’re not dating, but still…I’m crap at figuring people out these days,” he admitted, really hoping Eddie was not a toxic relationship.

He really liked Eddie and Chis, and that vampire couldn’t cook to save his life, and Harry refused to allow Christopher to live on take-away. Plus, it was Eddie’s probationary year, Harry knew you didn’t make a lot of money then. Harry was independently wealthy, but Eddie wasn’t and had a son with special needs. Any time Harry could bring over some groceries and cook for them, he definitely was going to. Thankfully, Eddie hadn’t really realized Harry was funding a lot of the grocery trips yet, probably because he always handed Harry cash, and then Harry magically returned it to his wallet when he wasn’t looking.

“You do better than you think you do,” Hermione smiled at him. “I think Eddie is fine. I’d like to meet him, but he seems to be doing the best he can. Plus, you said he’s a great dad, which says a lot. I don’t think this is a Norberta situation, not yet anyway.”

“Even though he’s a vampire?” Harry checked just to be sure.

Hermione shrugged and picked up her textbook again. “Honestly, if anyone was going to be your partner at work, it’s probably best it’s a vampire. Someone needs to keep up with you and a man who’s faster, stronger, and heals more quickly than a mortal is probably best for that job. You're kind of a handful, little bro.”

Harry just nodded and rested, thankful that one relationship was Hermione approved now. Maybe he needed her to check over all of them. “I wonder where he’s getting blood?”

Hermione looked up and squinted. “Clubbing? One-night stands?”

Harry frowned, he didn’t like the sound of that for some reason. He didn’t know why, but he felt that Eddie deserved better. “No, he was drinking out of a thermos earlier. Plus, with his schedule and the amount of time he spends with Chris, that's pretty much impossible.”

“There are a few vampire corporations out there who own blood banks,” Hermione shrugged and went back to her textbook as if that was common knowledge. Harry had dealt with a few vampires as an auror, but those were only vampires who had broken some pretty serious laws. He didn't actually know what the law-abiding ones did to survive and thrive.

“It’s actually quite symbiotic. They pay their donors well, still send a lot of their supply to hospitals, and all while keeping the vampires in the area fed. It’s a good system that benefits everyone. We didn’t need blood at St. Mungo’s with blood replenishing potions, but I had a few patients who donated to a vampire blood bank for extra galleons. They pay extra for exotic blood-types like what you’d get from magical creatures. They really seem to like centaur blood for some reason. Like you could get ten galleons for one donation as a centaur.”

Harry whistled at the price. He wondered if his blood would be tasty, or if being Master of Death made him poisonous or something. Probably best to not attempt a donation. He really didn’t need anyone to find something concerning in his blood.

“This looks wonderful Mr. Diaz,” the school administrator smiled at him and Carla. "I don't see anything to keep Christopher from starting here almost immediately."

Was this actually working out for them? Eddie couldn’t believe Carla had found this school that was just what Christopher needed and within their price range! It was a miracle, and he didn’t even believe in those.

“Now, we just need to meet with Mrs. Diaz to finalize the paperwork,” the woman smiled as if this didn’t just shake the entire foundation of Eddie’s world. “As soon as you can have her come in is best. Have a great day!”

Eddie just stood there, dumbfounded. What was he going to do? Why? But…? Of course they needed to meet Shannon though. They had to check that Chris wasn't kidnapped or something. But what was he going to do now?

“Eddie,” Carla snapped her fingers in front of his face, bringing his attention back to her. “You and Shannon are divorced, right? Just go tell the nice administration lady. They just need to see the custody agreement to make sure you have the authority to make the decisions about his school.”

Eddie was already shaking his head though. “No, we never got divorced, we don’t even have a custody agreement. I’m still married to Shannon.”

“Well, fudge,” Carla’s face fell. Yeah, there was no getting out of this. “Ok, well, where does she live? Is she still in Texas?”

Eddie just stood there in horrified silence. He hadn’t come to LA because of his wife. He’d frankly moved there because of the vampire-run blood banks and the LAFD. However…

“Here, she lives here,” he finally told Carla who looked both relieved that it was as simple as that and also worried about him reaching out. Yeah, Eddie was worried too. What if she tried to take Chris? He was still a vampire. Honestly, he wasn’t sure why she left their son with him to begin with. She’d made it very clear she wasn’t comfortable with what he was. He didn’t think he could win against her if she took him to court.

No, he was spiraling. He could just reach out and ask if she would talk to the school. She had left Chris with him, why would she take him away now? She hadn’t even attempted to reach out since she left. He could do this…he survived as a new vampire in a war zone, he could call his Dracula-be-damned wife on the phone!

Chapter Text

“No, you have to attach the L looking thing to another L looking thing, not the T thing,” Christopher insisted with his nose scrunched up super cute while looking at the instructions.

“Uh…” Buck held up the two pieces he was holding, neither of which looked like an L or a T in his opinion.

“Let me see,” Eddie put down his screwdriver and took the clipboard from Christopher which had the directions on it. “Hmm…he’s right, Buck. Attach it to this,” he handed a plastic piece over that still didn’t look like an L.

“Well, that’s why he has the clipboard,” Buck shrugged and tried to attach the new piece, trusting them whether he knew what they were talking about or not.

He didn’t understand why they couldn’t just magic all Maddie’s new furniture together. She said it was a bonding experience or something. Honestly, Buck thought it would be better to magic everything together and just invite people over for pasta or a barbeque or something. What did Americans do for flat-warming type situations? This bookshelf was about to have him breaking the Statute of Secrecy just over how frustrated he was at it currently.

“Seriously, how have you not seen Princess Bride?!” Chimney was wildly waving his arms around while he followed Maddie into the sitting room of her flat where they were assembling her ridiculous bookshelf for her ridiculous amount of books.

“I’m a little behind on pop culture,” she chuckled and handed a glass of water to Chris who now had the instructions upside down in his hand for some reason.

Chimney huffed. “You’re as bad as your brother! How do you both have no knowledge of any classic cinema?! That movie’s from the late 80’s.”

“Dude, you were trying to call Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle classic cinema the other day,” Eddie protested with a raise of his eyebrow. “I don’t think you’re an expert in this.”

“It is a classic!” Chimney threw one of the things that supposedly looked like an L at Eddie’s head, but the vampire expertly dodged it. “Did your parents not let you watch TV or something growing up?”

“Nah.”

“Not really,” Harry and then Hermione both answered. They might not have been raised together, but Hermione’s parents pushed books over telly, and Harry’s aunt and uncle locked him in his cupboard while the rest of them watched the television in the evenings, so no…neither one had seen many shows or been to the cinema much at all.

Chimney sputtered as if that was a crime against humanity…which it may kind-of be in Harry’s case. Whatever… Christopher looked scandalized too, which just wasn’t acceptable though.

“Hey, Chris,” Buck smiled at him. “Maybe you can introduce me to your favorite movies then since I haven’t seen many. I'm always up for a movie night with my favorite person.”

Christopher nodded solemnly as if accepting a very serious and important job. “Yes, we'll start with Toy Story, that one’s important,” he said before frowning at his dad. “Daddy, that’s the wrong screw-thing. It’s supposed to be the one that’s flat on top.”

Eddie looked at the screw he was forcing into the shelf and sighed dramatically. “How important are books really?” He groaned, getting a completely scandalized look from Hermione that matched Chimney’s from only moments before.

"Bite your tongue, Diaz!" She scolded with a glare.

“Hey, why don’t we all go to the classic movie night on Saturday at the Ritz Theater together and see Princess Bride?” Chimney asked, not ready to change subjects from what he viewed as exceptionally important just yet. “Even Chris would like that movie.”

“Can we?” Chris turned puppy-dog eyes that had Buck melting already onto his dad who just shook his head and held firm instead of caving.

“Sorry, mijo,” Eddie said, actually sounding really sorry at the whole situation. “Buck is coming over that night to help you with that history project you have, and I have that meeting for your new school.”

Buck nodded firmly and put a hand on Chris’s back. He knew this wasn’t exactly a meeting for Chris’s new school. Eddie had set up a meeting with Shannon to talk about her going to meet with the school administration, and Buck was going to watch Chris while they were doing that. He didn’t know anything at all about American or even muggle history, but he could glue pieces of a diorama together and keep Eddie’s kid distracted while he met with his estranged wife if nothing else. He really didn’t know what all went down in the past between Eddie and Shannon, but he had a feeling it was bad and only wished he could help more.

“We could go to the movie with them Buck, without Dad,” Chris tried next, and damn, but his puppy-eyes were good. It was a good thing Harry had a whole lot of practice with Teddy’s just as killer puppy-eyes over the years, or he really would cave.

“Sorry, buddy, but you do have to finish that diorama even if you move to the new school. Your dad said they send over your grades,” he reminded the kid who just huffed and went back to the bookcase instructions.

“Hey, you two can go without us,” Buck looked up at Chimney and Maddie with a shrug, thinking they would probably make good friends. They might not have exactly the same interests, but they both liked medicine, learning, and having fun, so it couldn't be a terrible idea at least. “Tell me if it’s any good, and maybe Eddie, Chris, and I can do it as a movie night later.”

“It’s good, seriously Buck, that’s what I’ve been saying,” Chimney glared and oddly flushed with a small, hopeful look over at Maddie. Buck didn’t know what that was for, but sometimes he just really didn’t get muggles…or maybe it was just people he didn’t get.

Buck just grinned at his friend regardless of whatever was going on. “Yeah, but I trust Maddie’s taste more than yours, rebar-head.” Chim threw another plastic piece at Buck's head this time that he let hit. Chimney should get one at least.

“I’m up for it if you are,” Maddie messed up Buck’s hair, which was much easier to do when it was short and she wouldn’t lose a hand in all the tangles. He wasn’t very good at brushing it out since he still wasn’t used to having hair well past his shoulders now.

“Cool,” Chimney shrugged and flushed again just as the doorbell rang.

Maddie looked over at it. “That’s the pizza, would you get it?” She asked Chimney since she’d started sorting the screws to make it easier on them. “I already paid online.”

“As you wish,” Chimney jumped up and got a laugh from Eddie and no one else. “Seriously! We have to make you watch this movie!”

“Shouldn’t you be better at this, Buck,” Eddie stole the plastic thingy from Buck he was currently trying to screw onto a shelf. “You actually worked in construction unlike the rest of us.”

Buck blinked at him for a second before his brain caught up. Oh yeah…that was one of the fake jobs he’s created to explain away the fact he could just reparo things back together when no one was looking. Bollocks! That didn’t really help when people were watching him try to put something together in front of them though…ok, he could sell this…

“Yeah, but we actually used real materials, not this plastic crap and cardboard masquerading as wood,” he grumbled. Eddie nodded as if that made perfect sense. Brilliant! He’d bought it.

“Hey! My bookcase isn’t that bad,” Maddie huffed but gave him a fond eyeroll with just a hint of exasperation at his convoluted backstory he had only passingly attempted to explain to her.

Hermione had kept her backstory very simple. She was a nurse back in Pennsylvania where they were supposedly from, recently divorced, and had moved here to start over and reconnect with her brother. Harry had taken the opposite strategy and had created a plethora of crazy jobs to explain away all his travels and weird knowledge-base and skillset.

With all he’d done in his life, there wasn’t one job to explain it all away besides auror though…and yeah, he couldn’t really tell his muggle co-workers he’d been a magical cop after fighting in a magical war as a child soldier now, could he? Oh, and also, he was currently a fugitive because his abusive ex was the leader of a country of magical people and wanted him back under his control. Yeah, that wouldn’t go over well in the slightest.

Harry had a feeling he should probably put together a timeline of all his travels and jobs. Right now, if someone asked if he’d worked in construction first or as a ranch hand he’d have no bloody clue. Did he try out for the SEALs first or was he a bartender…yeah, no idea. He should probably figure out if it was even possible for him to have had all those jobs and still be the fake-age of 27 he was pretending to be as well. Yeah, that should probably be a priority next time he had a minute and a piece of paper.

“Pizza break!” Chimney called from where he’d set up the pizza with paper plates on Maddie’s newly constructed kitchen table.

“See you Saturday!” Chimney called out behind him excitedly, the last to leave Maddie’s apartment.

“Finally,” Buck sighed and closed the door behind the man who had lingered long after all the furniture was built.

Maddie chuckled as she picked up the empty beer bottles and plates to take to the rubbish bin. “You can head out too, Harry. I got the rest of this. You don’t need to help.”

Harry just scoffed and pulled a wooden box out of the expanded satchel he carried with him most places. It was his go-bag he’d developed from Hermione’s beaded bag that had saved their arses while on the run. He learned from mistakes, and he didn't want to be caught on the run without supplies ever again in his life. In the bag, he kept several changes of clothes, a magical tent, most of his spellbooks, his holly wand, enough non-perishable food for a month, and basic healing potions. If he wasn’t working, he probably had the bag on him or close by him anyway. Yes, he was paranoid, but this was the third time he’d had to go on the run so far (he definitely counted after he blew up his Aunt Marge before third year because he'd probably learned the most of what not to do from that experience).

Anyway, the wooden box had been added before he left Grimmauld Place for his flat off Diagon Alley because you never could be too careful. If he was going to have to start his life over again, it was best to do it right. With a flick of his wand, the box opened, and he pulled out a hairbrush, a sock, and a toothbrush.

“Hey! That’s my hairbrush!” Hermione protested once she re-entered the sitting room from the kitchen. “What are you doing? Why do you have that? I lost it years ago.”

Harry paused where he was summoning bottles of potion out of the bag next. “Er…sorry?” He said, not really sorry at all. “Look, I needed something of yours. I know you are really, very capable, Hermione, but you’re a healer, not an auror, so this is more my thing.”

Hermione crossed her arms and leaned against the doorframe. “You’re about to do something very concerning and exceptionally paranoid, aren’t you?”

Ok, so Harry did think about her words and if they had merit, he owed her that much. “Nope, this is actually reasonable,” he concluded. “I’m just warding your flat. You might not have as many people who want you dead as I do, but plenty of people would come after you to get to me, and there are a handful of Death Eaters still loose who would want to see you dead in your own right too.”

Hermione gave that a considering nod. “I had planned to ward the flat myself, but I see your point. Ron warded our last place and added a few wards I hadn’t heard of.”

“Exactly,” Harry unstoppered the first potion. “I just need to put this in every corner, chant a few things, cast some spells, and burn some incense, and Bob’s your uncle!”

“And my hairbrush is to set the wards to me…what about the sock and toothbrush,” Hermione narrowed her eyes. “Harry, did you steal Ron’s toothbrush?”

“Maybe,” he shrugged and started dribbling a little potion in each corner of the room. “I’m sure he got another one. Last I saw he had all his teeth at least.”

Hermione huffed a laugh. “I remember when that happened; he thought Crookshanks stole it!”

Harry had to pause with a sad smile. “I miss Crookshanks.”

Hermione nodded and watched while he continued the ritual. “He lived a good, long life for a half-kneazle. I think he was like 150 in cat years. One of these days, maybe I should get another cat.”

He just nodded in agreement as he continued to work. “Well, I’m added myself and Ron with you to the wards. Anyone else you want me to add?” Harry asked, not being able to think of anyone.

“No one else,” she confirmed.

Harry paused after running through everyone they knew in his head. “Er…how much do you think Eddie will be over here?”

Hermione’s eyes widened, catching the issue. “Were you planning to ward against all vampires?”

“All dark creatures actually,” Harry winced, knowing her thoughts on how prejudiced it was to ward against an entire group of people.  

“Harry…”

“Look, if you have a friend who has creature blood, I’ll add them, but warding against people you don’t know is perfectly acceptable. It’s just easier to knock out dark creatures as a whole with one ward,” he cut her off. “I’m warding against magical people you don’t know as well, and if it was possible to ward against muggles with evil intent I would. I can’t ward against all muggles, or you’d end up yelling at me since you wouldn’t be able to get any of your Amazon packages.”

Hermione glared at him, but couldn’t seem to come up with a good argument. “Fine…” she grumbled and went back to the kitchen. She re-entered the room a couple seconds later with a beer bottle from the rubbish bin. “Here, it’s the one Eddie was drinking from. Just add him to the wards so he doesn’t catch fire or something if I ask him over for tea.”

“Great!” He grinned widely.

“Er…I should probably do that for my own place too,” his face fell when he realized Eddie probably would catch fire if he tried to get into Harry’s place currently. Yeah, not great. Harry’s wards weren't exactly legal.

“Can I keep this?” He held up the bottle.

“Knock yourself out,” Hermione rolled her eyes and picked up a book to settle on the couch and read.

Harry worked in silence for a while, muttering spells under his breath and burning sage now to ward against ghosts. “Hey, Harry…” Hermione cut into his concentration. “Is it weird that I’m going to watch a movie with Chimney alone this weekend, just the two of us?”

“Why would that be weird?” He frowned, blowing out the smoking sage. “Chim’s a cool guy. He can be a little annoying, but who isn’t?”

Hermione closed her book and pursed her lips though. “Well…does it sound kind-of like a date to you?” She finally asked.

Harry thought about it while mixing the last two potions together. “It sounds more like friends hanging out to me. But…if it did end up as a date, would that be a bad thing? I don’t know if he’s your type or not since I’ve only known you to date Krum and Ron, and they are wildly different from each other. Ron and you have basically been over for a while though, right? So, getting out there may be a good thing.”

Hermione didn’t look too sure about that. “I’m not so sure I’m ready.”

Harry smiled kindly at her. “Well, just keep it a friends-thing then. Chimney’s a great guy, and I’m not trying to date him, so he’s probably perfectly non-violent and unlikely to sell you out to the press.”

“You really do have the worst luck with dating,” Hermione winced. “You’re right though. He seems sweet, and he’s really funny. I could use more friends outside of my little brother and my ex-husband.”

Harry chuckled. “Yeah, yeah, I’m only a few months younger than you no matter what I look like, and not biologically your brother if you remember.”

Hermione smirked and picked up her book again. “Bite your tongue, Evan Buckley,” she teased. “Our fake parents would be so disappointed in you saying we aren’t really related.”

“Maddie Buckley, my dear…” Harry full-on laughed. “I’m pretty sure my co-workers are starting to believe those fake parents are pretty shitty people based on how much we deflect whenever they’re brought up.”

Hermione just shrugged. “Well, don’t mention your cupboard anywhere around Athena. She will definitely fly out to Hershey, Pennsylvania and harass those poor people who you stole their kid’s identity from if you do.”

Harry shuddered, knowing he could never let that happen. He felt very protective of the original Evan Buckley’s parents and had sent them quite a lot of money under the guise of a tax break or something to soothe some of his guilt there. “Hermione, you are very scary, and Athena is very scary, and I’m worried that the two of you being friends now may just lead to Armageddon and the end of the world.”

Hermione flashed him a brilliant smile. “Well, at least you know our side has tea and biscuits then.”

“Bloody biscuits that I made,” Harry just muttered under his breath, not brave enough to say it out loud because Hermione really would start Armageddon with Athena if it was necessary. He wondered how SPEW was doing… maybe he should donate some more money just in case…

Eddie felt terrible! He needed blood badly, but he couldn’t break out of his carefully rationed schedule, or he’d starve later when he needed to start a 48-hour shift. When he’d come up with this plan at the blood bank, he hadn’t factored in the entire station being dosed with LSD in their brownies. Why would he?! Who even knew vampires could be affected by LSD anyway?! Well…probably a lot of vampires, but Eddie didn’t really talk to other vampires, so he wouldn’t know.

At least, the effects seemed to wear off of him much faster than they did Hen, Chimney, and Bobby though, but it left him so very hungry. He knew he was being petty, but he was irritated that Buck had escaped being dosed completely since he refused to ever eat anything dropped off at the station. Actually, now that he thought about it, Buck always seemed suspicious of any food he hadn’t seen cooked in front of him. There had to be some kind of story there. Like, even when they went out or ordered pizza, Buck looked at it really intensely and poked at it some before taking a small testing bite first. He wasn’t sure what that was about, but Eddie was thinking that maybe Buck had a good idea now that they’d all basically been drugged by a little old lady who thought she was helping, but who really wasn’t.

He supposed it was a good thing that Buck was sober so that he could take care of the rest of them until Athena was able to figure out what was going on. Plus, now Buck was still able to watch Chris while Eddie met with Shannon. He really should have rescheduled this meeting, but Shannon would have thought he was brushing her off or something. He was also absolutely not going to tell his sort-of wife that he’d taken drugs, even if it wasn’t intentional. That would go over horribly if they ever did end up in a custody battle.

At the very least, Eddie really hoped he hadn’t made a fool of himself while under the influence. Buck had looked stressed once the effects started wearing off of Eddie, but his friend had been running around after Chimney and Hen too during that time. Athena thankfully found Bobby. And wasn’t that a shocking and concerning revelation when they'd found him standing on the roof.

It seemed everyone except for Eddie knew that Bobby was an alcoholic, and that was perfectly fine with Eddie; he hadn’t needed to know. However, Buck already had found an AA meeting for their captain before they were even off the LSD and was planning to go with him first thing in the morning. Eddie didn’t really understand why Buck was stepping in so completely. Bobby was dating Athena, but Buck was the first to jump in and invite himself along to a meeting, even telling Athena he would pick Bobby up for it. Eddie had never met someone so there for everyone else around him. It seemed it wasn’t just Eddie and Chris that Buck took care of but his sister and Bobby too. Honestly, Eddie wondered if Buck had tried to take care of Hen and Chimney at some point and they’d told him to piss off.

Eddie sipped his coffee while he waited for Shannon, hoping it would take some of the edge off his hunger. It really had been a very weird day, so meeting with his estranged wife was just one more layer on the insanity. He’d initially been very concerned about a reporter following them around, a Taylor Kelley they’d saved from a helicopter accident which definitely brought up some bad PTSD for him after his own helicopter being shot down. The reporter and cameraman showed up at the station afterwards and made themselves at home, following them on calls and asking them all questions for some special they were going to do on the station.

At the beginning of the day, acting suspicious as a vampire had been Eddie’s major concern above all else. That was before the drugs added a whole new level of concern. Buck though… Buck had looked at that reporter like she was the devil herself come for his soul. Eddie didn’t know what Buck’s problem was with the woman, or maybe reporters in general, but he’d clammed up and left the room any time he was able to when she was there. The funny thing was, Eddie was pretty certain the lady liked Buck, like was trying to flirt with him. Buck though wasn’t having any of it. If looks could kill, Taylor Kelley would be a puddle of goo right now. Eddie really did need to hear Buck's story about whatever caused that level of distrust around reporters...or redheads?

Shannon wandered onto the patio of the coffee shop Eddie was sitting outside of with a paper coffee cup already in her hand. “Hey,” she gave him a tentative wave, looking a little lost and regretful.

“Uh, hi…” he smiled back, motioning to the chair in front of him. “You look good.”

Shannon sat and studied him. “I’d say you looked good too, but you’re perpetually 28, so I can’t really compete there.”

Eddie glanced around in fear, but they were all alone. It was a little cool for most people to be sitting outside that evening, but he hadn’t wanted to feel trapped inside with his wife when he chose a place to sit. “I’m 32 for everyone here,” he warned her with a significant look. He knew it would get harder to pass for his age as time went on, but he planned to add some gray into his hair and maybe even transfer to a new fire station eventually when it became too difficult to pass.

Shannon ignored that. “How is Chris?”

Eddie couldn’t help his smile. Just the mention of his son lit up his entire being. “He’s good, Shannon. He’s really good. He misses you.”

Shannon might have left them, but Eddie knew it was because of him, not Chris. Christopher didn’t deserve to never see his mother again because Eddie had been a terrible husband and also unfortunate enough to fell prey to an injured vampire in Afghanistan. He just had to make sure Shannon didn’t plan to leave them again…and that she wouldn’t try to take Chris away from him. He couldn't have her break their hearts again.

“I miss him too,” she smiled sadly. “You think this new school will be good for him.”

“It’s really great,” Eddie passed over all the brochures and materials. “You should have seen the art room, and everything is so accessible and accepting. They meet every kid where they are. I think Chris will thrive there.”

“I saw it…I talked to them this morning,” she said, flipping through the brochure.

Eddie just stared at her for a moment. Why had she gone over there before talking with him? Did she not trust him? Of course she didn’t trust him.

“It really was special,” she continued as if she hadn’t just made Eddie almost have a panic attack. “They said he could start as early as next week.”

He cleared his throat and sipped his coffee to collect his thoughts. Talking with Shannon had never been this awkward before, even when they’d been fighting. He really didn’t want to start another fight now though, even if he was upset she’d gone to the school first without talking to him about it.

“Thank you,” he finally said with a nod, resolving to let it go. She'd already done it. It was in the past, and it sounded like it had even gone well.

“Of course,” she smiled and reached out to put a hand on his.

Eddie pulled back sharply. Her pulse had almost pounded against his wrist. He felt her blood flowing through her veins, and the worst part was that he knew how Shannon’s blood tasted. It was so much better than anything he could get at the blood bank. Fresh could never be replaced by anything from a bag in a refrigerator. He was much too hungry for her to be this close to him.

“You’re hungry,” her eyes widened in either shock or fear, probably fear. “I know that look.”

Eddie grimaced and looked away. “I’m fine. There was just something at work today that affected me, and blood has been expensive since the earthquake. I’m fine though, I promise.”

Her lips pursed and she seemed to be studying him, maybe looking for a lie, he didn’t know. “I suppose…” she finally said slowly as if coming to some very difficult conclusion. “My car is in the lot out back…”

Was she offering…? No, what? Eddie shook his head firmly. Why would she be offering that?

“Shannon, no. I’m fine,” he said, not knowing what the hell was happening here.

Shannon crossed her arms though and pinned him with a look. “Maybe I don’t like the idea of my son being around a hungry vampire.”

“What?” Now Eddie was terrified. “Shannon, you know I’d never! I’d never hurt Chris! I’d die first!”

“I know! I know!” She cut him off quickly, her hands reaching out to his. “I’m sorry. That didn’t come out right! I promise.”

“Then what the hell did you mean?!” He asked, his mind still reeling because that was his absolute worst fear, that she’d take Chris away because she saw him as dangerous.

Shannon held his hands, Eddie's hunger crushed down under his panic now. She closed her eyes before opening them again with a deep breath in. “I know you would never hurt Chris, Eddie,” she said firmly. “I may not have been ready to be a mother, and your parents got into my head, and my mom was sick, and it all just compiled, and I ran. But I would never have left Chris with you if I thought you were a danger to him. I know he’s safe with you.”

That…made some sense. “But, you didn’t feel safe?” He asked because that’s what he firmly believed. It was why he signed on for his second tour.

She let go of his hands and crossed her arms over her chest again defensively. “Maybe…kind of. I mean at first it was exciting, after all the shock and disbelief and all. Like, you read the romance novels, and it’s like getting to be a part of them,” she said to his utter confusion.

“But then the reality sets in. We were fighting, and you were struggling and couldn’t find a job, and then I started to see myself as less of your wife and more as…well, dinner,” she ended with a wince.

“Shannon, I never…” he started.

“I know you didn’t mean to,” she waved off his protests. “But that’s what we were before I left. We’d even stopped having sex. It was just fighting and feeding…no fucking,” she gave him a little tentative smile at the end.

He let out a surprised laugh at her language. “Right, I can see that.”

“And well,” she shrugged. “If all I was to you was dinner…maybe one day you would go too far…”

“No,” he said firmly, because never! “Shannon, I promise, I would never do that.”

“Logically, I know that,” she gave him a little wet smile. “I got in my own head though. And yeah…I got afraid. I got a little afraid of you...”

“I’m so sorry,” was all he could think to say. He hadn’t ever intended her to feel that way.

She shrugged as if to say, it was what it was and in the past. “Anyway, I know how much the school costs, and I know you, and you’re spending everything you can and more on our son. So, if money is tight right now, and you’re hungry, I’ll say it again…my car is in the lot out back. I’d prefer my son’s father to be well fed than starving when he runs into a burning building to save people. It’s the least I can do.”

Eddie let out a breath, not knowing what to do with this. On the one hand, he really didn’t think he should take her up on this offer. On the other, he was just so damn hungry. And maybe…maybe they could work through all this to give Chris his family back in some form or fashion…

He took a breath in. “Out back you say?” He gave her a small thankful smile. “Only… dinner?”

“I think that’s best,” she nodded and stood, holding out a hand for him.

He took her hand, tossing his empty coffee cup in the trash. “Ok…and I’ll show you some pictures of how big Chris has gotten.”

“I’d like that,” she said softly.

Buck walked right into Maddie’s apartment without knocking and with a frown on his face and a cup of shitty AA meeting coffee in one hand and a keychain in the other. “Mads? Mione?” He called out.

“Hey,” she stuck her head in from where it looked like she’d been putting on her make-up in the bathroom. “Anything wrong?”

“Hmm, no,” he walked over to lean in the doorway and watched her do something with eyeliner. “How was the movie with Chim?”

Maddie’s face lit up, and Harry was suddenly, absolutely certain she and Ron were not getting back together. Also, he was pretty certain Chimney would be getting a very confusing shovel talk from Hermione’s ex-husband at some point in the near future. “That good?” He chuckled.

“Yeah, it was fun,” she grinned. “Chimney really is funny, and nice, and very cute…” she trailed off. “It was just a friends thing though, you know. But we got dinner at this Korean place he knew that does Karaoke, and he really can sing, and the movie was hilarious!”

“Right,” he sipped his coffee with an eyebrow raised. That whole friends-situation didn’t look like it would last that long. Maybe he should get Hen to get a betting pool started on them. He’d probably win the pool with how well he knew Hermione by this point.

“So, what’s up,” she pointed to the space between his eyebrows, making his eyes cross. “You don’t get that little furrow there unless something is bothering you.”

Buck huffed and shrugged a little petulantly. “Nothing, but I think Eddie might get back with his ex. It seems their meeting went much better than expected. I don't really know what happened, but he looked healthier...like you know...well fed when he returned.”

“And that’s a bad thing? Shannon, right?” Maddie asked, putting down the eyeliner and picking up a thing with a lot of different colors, probably eye shadow. “Has your little friend-crush turned into a full-on crush? Pretty sure your bestie is straight, just so you know.”

Buck grumbled and rolled his eyes. He stuck the tip of his finger in the blue eye shadow and dabbed a little on his scar-turned-birthmark. “Maybe I can decorate it some if I can’t get rid of it. Make it a fashion statement.”

“Stop that,” she reached up and rubbed it off. “If you want to wear makeup I’m going to put it on you, and you’re going to do it right. Now stop changing the subject. Why are your pants in a bunch this time if you aren't jealous?”

He grumbled but tried to find the words to describe how he felt. Maybe...just maybe he was a little jealous. There was no way in Merlin's name he was going to admit that to Hermione though. “You know me, Hermione. I’m as the Americans say ‘ride or die,’ and Shannon broke up with Eddie. So, I hated her on principle. Now I just have to change how I think about her? That doesn’t seem fair.”

“And this should matter to Eddie why?” She started putting lip gloss on him, so he just glared since he couldn't respond.

“I didn’t say it should matter to Eddie. It’s just inconvenient,” Buck said as soon as his lips were free again. He looked in the mirror. He didn’t particularly like it, but at least it tasted good.

“Plus, he gave me a key to his house,” Buck held up his keychain with only the one key on it. “I don’t know what to do now because I lost all my keys a week after I moved in, probably in a fire somewhere, so I can’t really reciprocate, and that’s just not fair. I already added him into the wards after I cast yours the other day.”

Hermione gave him a look he hadn’t gotten since possibly sixth year…no he’d probably gotten it a time or two since, but she was clearly wondering how he could be such an idiot. He thought he’d grown, maybe he’d regressed some though. “What?”

“You don’t have any keys…” she said slowly. “So, you’re just not locking the door to your flat…”

“It has really good wards,” he protested because, yeah, it really didn’t matter if he locked it or not, no one was getting in without his express permission regardless.

“And what about your jeep? Are you starting it with magic if you don't have a key? You’re going to kill all the electronics,” she shook her head. “What if someone gets in with you? How do you explain that?”

“Keyless start?” He shrugged. “It’s apparently a thing now. And the electronics haven’t died yet. Teddy is really into magic and technology's interaction these days, and he’s been giving me some pointers in our weekly letters.”

“Yeah, yeah,” she waved him off. “You need to get new keys made. You can’t just keep trying to pass off using magic around a vampire. That may work with the muggles, but his eyes will catch more. You're going to get caught."

“I hear you, Hermione,” he said, still thinking it all sounded like way too much work for what it was worth though.

She frowned at him, but went back to putting something on her eyelashes now. “Don’t make me call Ron on you,” she warned, and Harry wondered when Ron of all people had become the responsible one who was called on him. It seemed in some tangled web of events they were there though. Huh...Hogwarts era Ron and Harry would never have believed that, either one of them.

“Once you get those keys made, how about you come out for dinner with me and my coworker, Josh. I think you should meet him,” she said, not meeting his eyes, which made Harry very suspicious.

“Maddie Buckley…I’ve been single for like a second, you will not set me up with your co-workers,” he glared and stole her lip gloss because it did actually taste really good, and maybe it made his lips soft too, and maybe that wasn’t a bad thing.

Hermione rolled her eyes at him and made a show of being magnanimous enough to ignore the stealing of her lip gloss. “First of all, you’ve been single since before I moved here,” she protested, and yeah, maybe, but he wasn't really ready to concede to that. “Secondly, this isn’t a set up…I think Josh might be magical in some way…”

“Er…what?” Harry stilled with a startled frown at this shocking turn of events. “You think there’s a wizard working with you at 9-1-1 dispatch? Why?”

“Little things…but yeah, I think he might be either a wizard or a squib,” she said musingly. “You’re better at figuring these things out than I am. Plus, he’s really cool, and I’d hate to be surprised and have to obliviate him later after we became friends.”

Harry winced and the past auror in him really wanted to explain just how illegal that was, but hey, he was a wanted fugitive, so…there was that. “And how do you suppose I should meet this Josh, maybe a wizard, friend of yours without giving myself away?”

Maddie’s smile widened in a look Buck knew he would regret later. “Karaoke,” she said as if it answered all questions and solved all problems.

Chapter Text

Harry closed his eyes and then scooted back to sit on the counter of the sink in Hermione’s bathroom. This was going to be a longer conversation than he’d planned. Thankfully, he didn’t really have anything going on for the day besides the AA meeting with Bobby he’d already gone to and chores around his flat later since they were off work. He really didn’t like days off work since he was alone and got caught up in his head, hence why he was bothering Hermione before her shift started at dispatch. Maybe he would stop by Eddie’s and see if he needed help with anything later too.  

“Ok, so before we go into your brilliant karaoke plan, back up and explain what all has led you to think your co-worker may be magical? Does he swear by Merlin or write with a quill or drink potions or something?”

“Not really,” Hermione shrugged and started to brush out her hair. “He’s never sworn by Merlin that I’ve heard, but I did hear him swear by Houdini once, and I think that’s pretty common with American magicals.”

“Really?” Harry frowned in surprise. He hadn’t been involved in the magical community since he moved to America since he was laying low, so he didn’t really know much of the history and culture of it. “Houdini was actually a wizard?”

Hermione grinned and chuckled. “Yeah, by what I hear he gave MACUSA continuous headaches by just going around saying he had magic, using said magic, and then being dramatic enough about it that he passed for a fake-magician. Genius really. I can see why his mythos has lasted even since his death.”

“Huh…ok, so swearing by the bloke, that’s pretty damning but not definitive. Anything else?” He asked, still not ready to believe this Josh person was a wizard. Frankly, it was very strange that Hermione worked as a dispatcher herself; that wasn’t a job witches and wizards would gravitate towards. So, odds were this Josh guy was just a weird dude and still a muggle.

“I’m pretty sure the ‘home remedy’ his aunt makes him for colds is actually Pepper-Up,” she said next, and yeah, that was bad coming from trained healer. “He won’t let anyone else have any, probably since it’s toxic to muggles, and has apparently never called off work with a cold once since he started there.”

Harry sipped his crappy coffee and thought it over. “Can you give me a percentage? How confident are you that what you saw was Pepper-Up?”

Hermione shrugged and leaned against the counter with him now, most likely done with her getting ready. “I don’t know…maybe 75%. I didn’t get a good look.” That was still a really high percentage coming from someone with Hermione’s level of potion knowledge.

“Oh, and last week someone was talking about having their tarot read at the pier,” Hermione continued. “He said his aunt does that, maybe the one who makes the potion, and he called it Divination when talking about the cards…”

“Yeah, that’s bad…” Harry was pretty sure she was right now. Most people were at least a little into spiritual things that crossed over with the magical world in LA, but Divination as a term wouldn’t be the first that popped into anyone’s head who hadn’t been exposed to the school subject.

“He could be a squib though,” Harry offered hopefully since that would still be safer for their anonymity. “He could still take Pepper-Up then, and he kept mentioning his aunt as the one who made it, right?”

Hermione nodded. “That was my thought too. Plus, he’s really not close with his family at all. At first, I was certain they were just homophobes since he’s very openly gay, but now…it could be magic bigotry instead. It’s still horrible either way, and he’s such a sweet guy.”

Yeah, so now Hermione’s face was clearly saying she wouldn’t mind setting them up. Well, Hermione had a much better track record with not dating the scum of the earth than he did. Harry breathed out a long-suffering breath. “Fiiiine…we’ll go to karaoke. But invite Chim or someone else from your work too so it doesn’t look like we’re cornering him.”

Hermione blushed and Harry held in his chuckle at whatever weirdness she had going on with Chimney. “Well…Howie and I had already planned to get together a group karaoke thing in a few days…”

“Oh, it’s Howie now,” Buck teased.

“Shut it, you…and no telling Ron, not yet,” she blushed even further. “I should probably be the one who talks to him.”

Buck grinned wider but held in the rest of his teasing. She should go as slow as she wanted to, and he could be supportive. He was certain Ron would be too…well, after probably doing an extensive background check on Chimney and probably portkeying over for an unnecessarily scary shovel-talk. That really was just expected though, especially after everything that had happened to Harry.

Buck had to admit; Josh was kind of cute in a prickly puppy kind of way. He was a little peeved at Maddie though because she had very blatantly set this whole thing up as a double date, even if she wouldn’t admit it. Chimney was in fine form regaling them all about Buck’s made-up, womanizing past which Chim was now referring to as his Buck 1.0 days, whatever that meant. Really, Buck didn’t care since he’d done this to himself really, but he was starting to get the concerning impression that he had only mentioned women when he was fake-sleeping around to push away his coworkers. That was probably subconscious since he was (then and now) traumatized over everything with Kingsley.

Now though…Buck thought that maybe Chimney didn’t realize he wasn’t straight. Weird…Harry had never had to come out to anyone before. This was a situation he really didn’t know how to handle. The first bloke he’d ever slept with had immediately sold his story to the Daily Prophet and added another layer to Harry’s trauma and hatred for reporters. So, yeah, he never had to come out before since literally everyone knew he was bi shortly after he’d figured it out himself. It was a weird position to be in with everyone not knowing all his business maybe even before he knew it himself. He loved it, don’t get him wrong, but it just wasn’t a situation he’d been met with in his life recently at least.

“And that’s why I absolutely never work the night of a full moon,” Josh finished explaining a crazy night of weird calls and insanity at dispatch. Buck got it, his first full moon as a firefighter he’d helped deliver 4 babies. It was brilliant! He loved full moons and the weirdness that came with them.

This might be another tick in the Josh is magical box though. A lot of muggles believed that the full moon influenced people’s behavior, but magical people knew it was true. Josh seemed more on the knowing end of things than the superstitious end.

“I’m getting another round. Anyone in?” Buck stood and offered for the table.

The bartender filled Buck’s drink order but also slid over a glass of what looked like some high-quality bourbon as well. “The lady over there says heroes don’t drink an IPA,” the bartender pointed at a redheaded woman who gave him a smile and a nod.

First of all, rude…he liked what he liked. As Chris would say, ‘don’t yuk his yum.’ Second of all, Taylor Kelly was a reporter! There was no way in Slytherin hell that Harry was ever going to trust a reporter with anything more than betraying him, calling him a dark lord, and leaking his personal information to the world.

“Tell her thanks,” Buck gave her a fake smile and nod across the bar, but carried the bourbon back to the table with his group instead of going over to talk with her. Maybe she would get the hint that he really didn’t want anything at all to do with her. He swore that if that woman somehow led to MACUSA figuring out he was in the country, then he would systematically ruin her career and all chances of advancement.

“Ooo, shifting to the hard stuff this early in the evening,” Chimney nodded in approval of the glass. "Someone is going to need to uber home."

“Don’t touch that,” Buck scooted it forward and away from him with one finger. He didn’t think she would poison it, but he’d known reporters to do worse to him. “It came from Taylor Kelly, no telling what her nefarious purposes are.”

“Pretty sure those purposes are a date, Buck,” Josh chuckled with a look back over at the woman who did look a little disappointed.

Maddie shook her head in exasperation. “That’s the reporter, right?”

Buck growled lowly and threw a napkin over the top of the glass. Watch she be a witch and it actually have Veritaserum in it. He wouldn’t put it past her.

“My little brother is irrationally paranoid about reporters. I think one of them murdered him in a past life or something since clearly he has no valid reason to hate them so much,” Maddie rolled her eyes and gave him a dangerous look. Damn, it seemed he was acting weird. Whatever, his paranoia was absolutely not irrational.

“At least she didn’t broadcast all of us dosed on LSD,” Chimney shuddered. “I doubt the department would have let that happen without legal ramifications for the network though.”

“I heard about that!” Josh exclaimed with a huge grin. “Why would you eat food randomly dropped off at the station?!”

“I know, right?!” Buck vehemently agreed with the man. “I was the only one sober enough to corral their high-asses around dangerous fire equipment until we were able to get them all home!”

“That’s us!” Maddie jumped up and pulled Chimney up behind her. Apparently, their song was announced. Buck had already been coerced to sing with Maddie earlier, but he was frankly terrible and needed more alcohol before he was going to give it another go.

“So,” Josh turned bodily to face Buck more squarely. “We’re actually just a third and fourth wheel to this date, right? Like those two, get a clue! They are so dating. Are we like your sister’s friend-beards or something to put off them going on a real date until she’s ready?”

Buck huffed a laugh and rolled his eyes at where Maddie and Chimney were singing a very sappy duet now. “Nah, pretty sure this is a set-up between you and me. They really are dating, just not calling it that yet. But Maddie is trying to be sneaky in meddling with my love-life when she really can’t pull off being sneaky at all.”

Josh actually choked on his beer, and Buck looked at him in concern. What had he said? “Uh… you know we don’t actually have to go on a date, right? Just because my sister is meddling, that doesn’t mean we have to go along with it,” he frowned, wondering if he just really wasn’t Josh’s type or something.

“Wait!” Josh coughed a few more times before sucking in a huge, dramatic breath. “You’re not straight?! How did my exceptionally fine-tuned gay-dar not catch that?! I’m slipping!”

Buck frowned. Oh yeah, coming out. Something he’d never had to do before. “Uh…no, I’m bi,” he said slowly. “Maddie thinks I’m sad and lonely or something, but really, I’m fine.”

“Merlin’s balls,” Josh breathed out under his breath, and Buck mentally swore. Right, so yeah, Josh was definitely magical. Damn, that was inconvenient. Based on the absolutely nothing feel of magic Harry was getting around him though, at least he was almost positive the man was a squib.

“Right,” Josh shook his head and laughed loudly. “Well, what of it? Want to get dinner with me next time we both have an evening off?”

Buck frowned at the man not having seen this turn of events coming. “You actually want to go out with me?”

Josh leaned forward and raised his eyebrow suggestively. “Have you looked in a mirror recently?”

Ok, so Buck definitely blushed at that. Yeah, this wasn’t exactly his actual base form, so this wasn’t actually how he looked. For instance, a lot of his non-curse scars were converted to some tattoos that he liked since it was easier to change something than completely get rid of it. His eyes were a different color, and hair was too as well as much shorter and tamer. His general features and build though were basically him, so it was still flattering even if maybe it was more the changes Josh liked than the original.

Buck supposed Josh was…well, he was sweet. He actually seemed safe even if he had some connection to the magical world. It’s not like anyone would recognize Buck as Harry Potter anyway since no one knew Harry was a metamorphmagus. He really hadn’t thought he would be leaving this set-up with a date. The thing was though…he hadn’t dated a bloke since Kingsley…

“I’d like that, but…” Harry said with a wince at having to actually admit this. “I know Chim was talking up his version of my Buck 1.0 days or whatever, but you have to know…that’s not me anymore. I have some issues, like intimacy issues and trust issues, and the last person I dated, well, we were dating almost two months before we slept together. I’m a little high maintenance…”

Josh snorted a laugh and smiled at him kindly, tentatively reaching out and putting a hand on Buck’s. It was actually really nice. “Buck, high maintenance is my middle name. Plus, if I was looking for a one-night stand, I would definitely not ask out my co-worker’s brother. That’s just not done.”

“Yeah?” He smiled and found himself actually a little excited about it. He wasn’t really sure if he and Josh had anything at all in common or if they were a good fit or anything, but maybe just a low-key dinner with a nice guy was its own form of healing after what Harry had been through with both Kingsley and Abby.

“Yeah,” Josh smiled even wider. “Right, so calendars, I’m starting a 12-hour shift tomorrow. What are you looking at?”

“A 24-hour one,” Buck sighed and pulled out his cellphone to figure out when they next had a matching night off. He hadn't planned for this at all, but he was tentatively hopeful it wasn't a bad thing at least.

Eddie watched Buck get creamed at the firetruck driving video game he was playing with Hen. Buck really was bad at all video games, but at least that meant Chris loved playing against him. It must have something to do with his parents not letting him watch TV and movies growing up. Thank Dracula that Buck was good at driving the real firetruck even if his in the video game crashed constantly.

At least Buck was starting to look more himself now too. He’d taken the call where they lost the older couple, Thomas and Mitchell really hard. That was a couple days ago though, and the highlight of their current shift was the woman stuck in the window of her date’s apartment after a bathroom mishap that Eddie could still smell. Vampire senses were really a double-edged sword.

“How are things going with Shannon?” Bobby asked while he began setting their dinner on the table and the rest of the shift began gravitating towards it, kind of like Pavlov's dogs but with Bobby's mashed potatoes.

Eddie sighed, not because things were bad but because he really just didn’t know how to navigate all this. There weren't any self-help books about navigating a failed marriage while a vampire. “Good…I think,” he eventually concluded. “She’s doing dinner with me and Chris tomorrow night.”

“Wow, you’re already integrating her back into your lives?” Buck asked, plopping down in the chair beside him with a concerned look. "Is this a little soon?"

“She’s Chris’s mom,” Eddie shrugged in as much of an explanation as he was currently willing to give.

Really, he just didn’t feel like he could say no to her. He had recently just resupplied his blood supply (with a mostly reasonable amount for two weeks this time), but she was still offering to feed him when they got together. Between her keeping him well fed and that he was terrified she would try to take Chris away from him because he was dangerous, Eddie felt like he really had to agree to anything she asked for. It’s not that she’d asked for anything unreasonable, but he probably would have waited a little longer to let her meet with Chris if he hadn’t felt this way.

“And what about Dad?” Hen asked from his other side and gave him a concerned look that matched Buck’s. “How are you two? Are you thinking the ex might be less ex these days?”

Eddie winced. Maybe? Again, if Shannon wanted that, he wasn’t sure he could say no. So far, they had kept everything strictly non-sexual and as platonic as drinking someone’s blood could be.

“I don’t know,” he said honestly. “We’re getting along at least, which is much better than before.”

“Pass the potatoes,” Bobby asked Chimney who handed them over. “Maybe you should do something just the two of you. See where it goes? Like try dating each other again.”

“Buck will babysit, he’s got nothing going on,” Chimney grinned at the Buck who scowled right back at him.

Bobby sent a protective glare towards Chimney before turning to Buck. “You don’t have to go back to your 1.0 days as Chimney calls it to go on a date again,” he advised. “You should get back out there.”

Buck huffed and rolled his eyes before stealing the roll off Eddie’s plate. Eddie just rolled his eyes fondly and got himself another one. “For your information,” Buck began. “I have a date on Thursday night. You were literally there, Chimney, at Maddie’s set up attempt. Not very observant, are you?”

Chimney frowned, and Eddie was lost too. Buck hadn’t mentioned this. Really, Buck hadn’t dated anyone since they’d met, which sounded like a very strange situation if what all he’d heard from Chimney and Hen was anything to go by. But still…he had thought Buck would have told him if his sister had set him up with someone.

“Yeah, I guess I'm not observant because I have no clue what you're talking about,” Chimney eventually admitted defeat and shook his head.

Buck looked at the man in disbelief. Whatever the situation was, it must have been pretty obvious. “Uh…Josh…we’re going out on Thursday. We were literally discussing plans when you sat back down after your duet with my sister,” Buck said. “Which by the way, just bloody ask her out on a date already. You two are so obviously dating without dating. It’s so cute that it’s become annoying.”

“Bloody?” Eddie asked. “You trying to go British on us or something?”

“Wait, wait, wait…back up,” Hen slammed both her hands down on the table, making everyone jump. “Buckaroo…you got something to tell us there?”

Buck looked very confused. Eddie was confused himself for a split second until Buck’s words caught up with him. Josh…Buck was going out with a man! Buck wasn’t straight? Huh…was Eddie supposed to know that already? Should he pretend like he did? He definitely shouldn’t make a big deal about it; he knew that. Supportive words…yes, what were some supportive words?

“Love and support…?” Eddie spit out around his haze of whatever the hell he was supposed to say.

Buck turned his confused look onto Eddie then. “Uh, yeah…love and support for you too man,” he frowned. “Wait…did all of you think I’m straight? Really?”

“Yes! Yes, we did!” Hen nodded firmly with big eyes. “You didn’t say anything.”

“Actually, you pretty much said the opposite with all the one-night stand stories,” Chimney added with a nod.

Bobby cleared his throat before chuckling. “As Eddie has said already, love and support all the way.”

Eddie grumbled. “Sorry, I’ll come up with a whole speech next time if I’m expected to be eloquent and all. That wasn’t on the firefighter exam though.”

Buck reached over and grabbed the bowl of mashed potatoes with a wide smile. “Well, I’m bi, so there, you know now,” he said as if they should have known that, but why would they?

Hen chuckled next. “Well, I’d welcome you to the community, but it sounds like you’ve been here longer than I thought.”

“So Josh…I don’t see it,” Chimney had already moved on while dramatically studying Buck as if he could read the future of the relationship in his aura or something. “He’s kind of…”

“Nice? Kind?” Buck supplied when Chimney trailed off. “That’s what I’m looking for at the moment at least.”

“I was going to say kind of a nerd,” Chim said before taking a huge bite of the roast chicken Bobby had made.

Eddie couldn’t help his incredulous laugh at that. “Dude, Buck is a huge nerd! Do you know that he geeks out with my kid on new animal facts and weird historical events every single time they get together?”

“Am not,” Buck almost pouted.

Eddie just shared a look with everyone else. “Buck, which animal lives the longest?”

Without even stopping to think about it, Buck opened his mouth. “Did you know that there's a species of jellyfish that’s basically immortal! Its name is the Turritopsis dohrnii. How cool is it that there’s a jellyfish out there that could be around for as long as the planet is?!”

Eddie just pointed at his friend, his point proven. Chimney nodded approvingly. “I retract my objection. You and Josh will have very smart babies, little mathletes in the making.”

“Do we need to have another talk about how babies are made, Chim?” Hen smirked at her partner.

“Should I be concerned that you’re one of our paramedics?” Bobby added on with a grin. It seemed their captain was doing much better after their bad LSD trip now too. Eddie was thankful Buck had been taking care of him and that Bobby seemed back to normal.

“I know where babies come from; the storks drop them off,” Chimney said through a mouthful of food, getting complaints and groans from everyone at the table. And then the bell went off, making them all jump up and abandon their food for the next emergency.

It really shouldn’t bother him that Buck was out on a date with a man. Why would it? Eddie didn’t care. He definitely wasn’t homophobic at all. Like, he loved Hen and Karen. Why couldn’t he stop thinking about Buck being out with Maddie’s co-worker though?

Shannon groaned lowly, and Eddie tried to pull his attention back to the task at hand. By Dracula, Shannon tasted good! He could tell she was getting a little turned on too; he could hear it and even taste it in her blood at this point. It probably wasn’t a good sign that his mind kept drifting. This was something he used to be able to get into just as much if not more than Shannon, so he couldn’t understand why the whole situation felt more like picking up a smoothie at the café than his wife groaning and almost grinding up against him.

They’d had a really nice dinner with Christopher who was beside himself with excitement at seeing his mother again. It really was nice to all be together in the same room, and Eddie just prayed that Shannon wasn’t going to break their hearts again. Now, Christopher was in bed asleep though after a story from his mom, and Shannon had offered to stay for a while to supplement his blood intake so he didn’t have to buy as much. Thankfully, the blood bank had moved to just a few blocks from the fire station this time, which was very convenient, but the prices hadn't dropped much even after the move.

After one more mouthful of warm, delicious blood (Dios, but he never thought he’d ever have that thought in his brain) Eddie licked at the spot on Shannon’s neck to close the wound. Shannon almost whimpered at him stopping, so Eddie gratuitously licked her neck once more and pulled her closer, almost flush against his front now.

Eddie felt his wife gasp with a little smile at how much he was affecting her. Well, if this was what she wanted…Eddie could help out. That was kind of his job as her husband anyway, right? If this made her happy. Eddie ran his hands up her sides and under the thin t-shirt she was wearing and toyed at the edges of her lacy bra.

Shannon groaned again, but this time more in frustration than anything else. She slowly pushed his hands back down and to his side. “No?” Eddie asked in confusion. He really had gotten the impression this was what she wanted.

Shannon just looked at him, still clearly affected by what they’d been doing even as she shook her head. “Eddie…do you even want to do this?” She asked, cutting through his confusion and just creating more.

He blinked because, yeah, it was nice, pleasant even. “Yeah?” He kicked himself at it sounding more like a question than an answer.

She reached between them and cupped a hand over his jeans, clearly illustrating that he wasn’t hard at all. Really, he could get there though. He just had to focus more and not let his mind drift off to wondering if Buck and Josh were going out for pizza or to a fancy place somewhere. Buck really wasn’t a fancy restaurant person, but Eddie didn’t know Josh at all. Maybe he was. Buck really shouldn’t have to go to a fancy restaurant if he didn’t want to though.

Right, focusing. Maybe this was actually a problem. No, there were quite a lot of things he could do to get Shannon off even if he couldn’t get himself in the right mindset. “I want to take care of you,” he answered, kissing her just the way he knew she liked.

Shannon kissed back for a second before pulling back and putting a hand on his cheek, stopping him once again. “Eddie, we don’t need to do anything,” she smiled at him even as he could still smell and taste how turned on she was. Vampire senses were good for some things after all.

“You helped me, let me help you,” he murmured into her neck. Why was she making this so difficult? She had given him blood; he wanted to take care of her too.

“Eddie, stop,” she pushed him back some, and he went quickly.

“Ok, yeah,” he nodded firmly. “I’m sorry, I just thought…”

“This isn’t transactional,” she frowned at him as if she had just put together some kind of distressing puzzle. “I’m not giving you blood because I want something from you in return. I just…I knew I could help, and I wanted to help.”

He hadn’t really thought this was transactional…or maybe he had. He just knew he needed to keep Shannon happy. “Look, I know it’s been a while…or well, I’m not insinuating you haven’t been with anyone since us…that’s…that’s ok if you have,” he knew he was rambling, and yeah, maybe he wasn’t super cool with that, but he wasn’t going to judge either.

“But, I mean, I can…” he motioned between them. “I want to take care of you too…”

Shannon’s brow knit as if she really was trying to figure him out and something wasn’t adding up. Eddie didn’t think there was anything to figure out though. She offered him blood; he was offering her sex or at least to get her off if he couldn’t get his traitorous dick in line with the program here. He’d never had a problem before, and he couldn’t even blame vampirism because they had been good for a while after he'd been turned. But ever since things had started falling apart in their relationship, it was just difficult to get in the mood.

“Eddie,” she said his name again, but this time sadly while she ran her thumb across his jaw. “Are you afraid of me?”

What in Dracula’s frilly cloak was she talking about?! Shannon was a fairly tiny human, and he regularly bench-pressed more than her weight even before he was turned into a vampire. He had been in war and ran into burning buildings for a living. He was absolutely not afraid of his wife. His incredulousness must have shown on his face because she was already shaking her head.

“No, I think you are,” she disagreed. “I was afraid of you, and that was one of the reasons I left. But you…I didn’t realize. I’m keeping your secret, and I’m helping keep you alive, and I’m Chris’s mother…” He knew he paled at that last one.

“That’s it, isn’t it,” she frowned. “You’re afraid I’m going to take him away from you?”

Maybe he was afraid of Shannon.

“I’m not…I’m not dangerous to Chris,” he said, the mantra that had been running in this mind almost continuously since the moment he’d learned what he’d been turned into out in the hot sand of Afghanistan when an apologetic soldier woke him up in the medical tent, a soldier who he’d been treating in the field the last he remembered, a soldier who should have died from his wounds.

“Oh, babe,” she put a hand over her mouth and gave him a teary look. “I’ve never doubted that for even a second.”

“I’m not, I promise,” he felt the tears and panic both fighting their way out. He wasn’t going to break down. He held things together. He didn’t fall apart.

“I know,” she kissed him. “I know…and I think…Eddie, I think it’ll be best for both of us if we get a divorce. I think you need a solid custody agreement that gives you primary custody, and I think I need closure from our relationship and the space to figure out who I am as a mother before I can even think about who I am as a wife.”

The tears couldn’t be held in anymore and leaked out the corners of his eyes. He didn’t know if it was grief at the loss of their relationship or just relief. She was right though. They couldn’t just keep trying to force this to work, not when they really were both afraid of each other for different reasons that weren’t going to go away.

“How do you know absolutely no answers to the pop culture questions but knew every single one for botany, animals, and serial killers?” Josh held up their trivia scorecard with an eyebrow raised in question.

“Hey, you knew the pop culture and music ones, we even out,” Buck grabbed the card to check over their answers before turning it in. “And I like to go to the zoo with Eddie’s son, Chris, and I like plants, and you know…those serial killer podcasts.”

They were called podcasts, right? Explaining that he’d studied serial killers, magical and muggle in auror training sounded like a sure way to get his (probably) squib date to suggest they never have a second date. Herbology and Potions class probably wasn’t a good idea to explain to cover botany either.

“Uh huh…” Josh didn’t look too convinced. “If your sister hadn’t assured me you were relatively normal and non-murdery, then I might be a little more concerned.”

“She said relatively normal?” Buck asked in offended shock at that. The non-murdery thing might be a bit debatable. He had fought in a war and been an auror for like 15 years...but that wasn't technically murder even if there was some death at his hand in there, so yeah, non-murdery...

Josh pointed at the trivia card. “You knew that Alexander the Great and Ptolemy XIV are believed to have been killed by aconite.”

“Uh, yeah…”

“The question was what was the name of the flower from the family Ranunculaceae which also goes by the name wolfsbane,” Josh finished with a smirk.

Buck didn’t get the point there. “That was all really interesting information,” he protested. “Aconite is a very interesting flower…and poison.”

“And yet you didn’t know that Lady Gaga’s debut album was titled ‘The Fame.’ We might need to revoke your queer card for that,” Josh added, taking the trivia card from him and standing to take it up to the MC. “Regardless, I think this will at least get us our drinks free if not the appetizers too.”

Buck watched his date walk up to the front of the bar with a grin on his face. He’d been having fun. It had been a long time since he’d had fun on a date. Honestly, he wasn’t really sure if what he and Abby had could be classified as fun but more intense and dramatic with everything to do with her mother and end-of-life care. Maybe a little fun was just what he needed right now. Fun and another friend even if a relationship didn’t work out.

Buck’s phone dinged and he pulled it out of his pocket, smiling at where Josh seemed to be arguing with the judge over one of their answers. He tapped it and looked at the text message that had just come through.

Ron: What are your plans for Yule? Care for some company?

Harry stared at the message for much longer than it took to read it. Now…this might complicate some things.

Buck: Wouldn’t your mum have a troll if you skipped out on hers for the holiday?

Ron: Nah, Bill and Fleur are hosting this year. I miss my friends

Right, so there was absolutely no way to say no to that. Harry just really hoped Hermione wasn’t going to freak. Actually, this may be epically brilliant. Chimney could stand a little fear in his life. Harry smiled as he typed out his answer.

Buck: I might have to work, but you are always welcome to my couch. We miss you too

“Something good?” Josh asked when he sat back down across from Buck. “Or are you searching for cute cat pictures because I want in if you are?”

Buck grinned and put his phone back in his pocket to focus on his date. “Just company coming for Christmas. It’s all good.”

“Family?” Josh asked with a grimace.

Buck couldn’t help his grimace at that too. “Hell no. My family is awful, all except Maddie anyway.”

Josh put his elbow on the table and leaned a chin on his fist. “I understand that. My family is awful, all except my aunt.”

“The one who makes home remedies and reads tarot?” Buck couldn’t help prodding a little.

“Oh really,” Josh’s face broke into a grin. “You been asking Maddie about me? That’s not really fair.”

“Pretty sure you’ve been asking my sister about me too,” he grinned back teasingly.

Josh pouted and stole the rest of Buck’s beer. “Yeah, but she won’t give me any of the good stuff like embarrassing things you did as a kid.”

“Oh, there was plenty,” Buck laughed. “You’ll just have to stick around to hear all about them though. It could take a while to get through those stories.”

“Maybe on a second date?” He smiled over the rim of what used to be Buck’s beer.

“Maybe,” Buck said, trying to put on his most winning smile that would probably make Lockhart proud.

Chapter Text

“Why am I third-wheeling this date between you two again?” Chimney asked with an amused look at Buck and Josh. “When Maddie and I invited you two out, at least it wasn’t an actual date.”

“This isn’t technically a date either,” Josh corrected him with a smirk, and Buck just threw an arm over Chimney’s shoulders to lead him further into the Christmas tree lot. “Our date technically starts after we buy a tree and ditch you to go off on our own. Then I get Buck all to myself.”

“And you’re here because my sister doesn’t trust me with purchasing the tree for her new place, but she apparently thinks you might actually have some kind of style as weird as that sounds,” Buck grinned at his friend and the guy he was kind-of, sort-of dating currently. “Josh and I are getting the one for my place, but it’s on you to pick out Maddie’s. She would do it herself, but there is no way in hell her car is big enough to strap a tree on top of it.”

“I feel like there is a story here about kid-Maddie and baby-Buck that we need to hear,” Josh grinned and prompted a very interested look for Chimney too.

“Yeah, Buckaroo, what did little Buck do to lose all trust in tree shopping?” Chimney dug an elbow into Buck’s side making him finally let go and step aside.

Well, if he was going to be that way…Buck looped an arm through Josh’s since Chimney was being a spoilsport. Josh chuckled, but clearly wasn’t letting it go. “Come on, Buck. What’s the story?”

“Oh, you’ll figure it out,” Buck grinned widely since it would be pretty obvious.

Harry had never purchased a Christmas tree before until he’d ‘graduated’ from Hogwarts and moved into Grimmauld Place. Graduated was used loosely since he’d been on the run and ended up just having to take his NEWTs at the ministry when all was said and done. Anyway, the Dursleys always had a tree, but it’s not like he had any part in that at all. Frankly, if he looked at their tree too long, someone was bound to yell at him or box his ears.

So, his first Christmas on his own, Harry took Teddy shopping to pick out a tree, and Teddy wasn’t even one year old at that point. Well, Harry had planned to get a nice, big tree, but Teddy had latched one little pudgy hand onto the smallest, scrawniest tree at the tree farm, so that was what they left with. Teddy was so excited about it, and Harry agreed that it should be taken home and loved too.

It had been tradition ever since then for Harry’s tree to be smallest, saddest tree he and Teddy could find that they decorated to within an inch of its life so that it would feel special just like the other trees. This was also the first Christmas he would be away from Teddy ever. Even when things were bad with Kingsley, they hadn’t gotten quite bad enough that he wasn’t able to get away for Christmas with his godson. Even the past Christmas when Harry was already at the 118, he had met Teddy and Andromeda in Canada for a couple days since Ron assured them the aurors weren’t actively looking for him there.

This year Andy had plans with her sister, Narcissa, though. Harry could go to see Teddy, but it was Kingsley’s election year, and according to Ron, part of the man’s campaign was stamping out the new dark lord and hunting down his ex to show he was tough on crime even when it was someone he’d cared about. It was a bloody shame it was getting him sympathy votes…the snake.

“This is a lot of pressure man,” Chimney breathed out and looked at the trees around them, cutting into Buck’s morose thoughts about not seeing Teddy. “What makes the perfect tree?”

Buck shrugged but with a smirk on his face. Chimney really seemed to be taking this seriously, it was so cute. He and Maddie were going to be adorable once they got their shit together. “I don’t know. Tree picking duty was officially taken away from me, remember.”

“Ooo! Hot chocolate! That’s why I came along!” Josh disengaged from Buck to point over to the cart one row over.

Buck grinned and clapped a hand dramatically on Chim’s shoulder. “Well, you’re on your own. I owe my date a hot chocolate.”

“This one’s on me,” Josh smiled back and walked over to get into the long line at the cart.

Harry almost stayed with Chimney since Josh had the drinks covered, but then he saw the man very studiously looking nonchalantly at a tree just a few down from them. He rolled his eyes. The entire British Ministry of Magic was looking for him as well as most auror forces across the world and somehow Ron always knew exactly where he was when everyone else was stumped. He really should check to see if Ron had put a tracking charm on him or something. It was both a little concerning as well as heartwarming. Harry hadn’t even realized his friend was already in town. Although, now that he thought about it, Hermione probably just told him where they were.

Regardless, it was very obvious it wasn’t Harry that Ron was here to see. “I’m going to make sure Josh knows I want marshmallows,” Harry told Chimney and left his friend stressing over if fir or pine was the best tree to duck into the next aisle and hide somewhere he could still get a good look at them.

Ron looked through the pine tree Harry was hiding behind and rolled his eyes at his friend. Well, Harry wasn’t going to leave poor Chimney to this interrogation alone. Plus, he wasn’t going to miss the drama if he could avoid it anyway. Ron next studied the same tree Chimney was. At least he was dressed very muggle and appropriate to the season and location, small mercies.

“What do you think?” Chimney motioned to the tree and asked the stranger beside him. “How do you know a tree is like the perfect tree? It’s extremely important I get this right.”

Ron looked at Chimney and gave him a little smile. Harry knew that smile. Suspects got that smile right before Ron made a joke and dug into every little thing they’d ever done in their life while they just laughed along not realizing they were spilling their secrets to the idiot auror they thought they were talking to.

“Girlfriend?” Ron asked lightly. “Is this some kind of test for your relationship she’s set for you?”

“God, I hope not!” Chimney winced. “Plus, we aren’t really dating…not that I don’t want to, but I don’t want to rush things. She just got out of a relationship, and I don’t want to be a rebound, and I think she wants to take things slow…”

Merlin, but Ron wasn’t even trying, and Chimney was spilling his guts. Harry couldn’t help his little snort of laughter. That really was just Chimney, and telling his life story to a stranger was fully expected. Everyone knew that Chimney couldn’t keep a secret to save his life or apparently keep himself from telling random people all about his relationships.

“So, you must really like this woman?” Ron smiled softly, and yeah, Harry wasn’t concerned. Initially, he’d been worried they wouldn’t all be able to be friends still after the divorce, but he also hadn’t realized how long Ron and Hermione had known things weren’t working. Apparently, it was a long time coming, and they had only stayed together for as long as they had because they did still love each other, just not romantically.

Chimney got an adorably dopey grin on his face. Harry figured he should maybe stop thinking about Hermione and Chimney as being adorable, but hey, they were. “Yeah, she’s great,” Chimney breathed out in something close to awe.

“Oh, sorry man,” Chimney blushed awkwardly, clearly just realizing he’d been info dumping on some stranger. “Please just ignore me…uh, trees…yeah…”

Ron laughed and motioned around them. “Yes, trees…I recommend the spruce. It’s the most traditional. That might just be my good British coming out though.”

Chimney frowned at all the trees, clearly having absolutely no idea what kinds of trees the ones around him were. “That one,” Ron pointed at a spruce. “I knew my secondary school botany class would actually be useful one of these days.”

Harry was so proud; Ron had said secondary school instead of Hogwarts and botany instead of Herbology. His pureblood, wizard friend had really come a long way. Harry clutched his chest and gave Ron a dramatically proud look through the tree he was hiding behind. Ron met his eyes and gave him an exasperated look in return.

 Chimney smiled widely. “Dude, they do botany classes in school where you’re from? England…right? What are you doing here in LA?”

“It was an elective,” Ron shrugged to brush off the line of questioning. “And I’m here for Christmas. I have family in town, and I absolutely do not trust my brother-in-law to pick out our tree.”

Harry glared through the tree, but Ron didn’t even look over at him. Chimney chuckled, “Maddie…the woman I like, her brother is here, and she says the same thing about him.”

“Imagine that,” Ron turned a grin on Harry who glared at him.

“Well, that line was long,” a voice said behind him, making Harry almost jump out of his skin. Merlin, he was slipping if he didn’t catch someone walking up behind him.

“These had better be worth it,” Josh handed a hot chocolate to him in a flimsy paper cup.

Buck took the hot drink and blew on the steaming liquid. “Thanks, Josh.”

“What are we watching?” Josh looked through the tree at where Chimney and Ron seemed to be chatting about good restaurants in the area now.

Harry’s immediate response was to lie, but then he stopped himself. There actually wasn’t a reason why he had to lie. Nothing about this situation would give his identity or magic away. Huh…it was odd to be able to tell the truth weirdly enough.

Harry shook his head and leaned into Josh’s side a little. “That’s Maddie’s ex-husband sizing up the new guy,” Buck pointed at Ron, getting an excited gasp from Josh. “Chimney has no clue who he’s talking to.”

“Oh, really…,” Josh smirked over at him with a mischievous glint in his eye. Suddenly, Buck was certain that Josh and George Weasley would get on scarily well. “And no one is informing Chimney about this…why?”

Buck just smirked back at him. “How would that be any fun?”

Josh turned towards him a little, that grin still on his face. “Evan Buckley…I think I’m going to kiss you. Thoughts on that? Opinions? Concerns?”

Buck played to the bit and gave it some fake thought and consideration. “Well, I think I need to experience it first before giving any opinions.”

“Hmm,” Josh chuckled but leaned up slightly since Buck was a little taller and brushed soft lips against his. It was…nice…

Buck smiled when Josh leaned back again. It’s not like it was unpleasant or anything. It also wasn’t anything…special? That probably wasn’t the best word. What was bloody wrong with him? This was a perfectly nice guy who was safe and kind and not dangerous in the slightest! Why was Buck’s stupid heart poking holes in this? It was fine!

“Hey guys,” Chimney broke into Buck’s mental freak out at his own apparent inability to be excited about healthy relationships. Damn it! He wasn’t giving up on Josh when there was nothing bloody wrong with the guy!

“I’ve got the tree!” Chimney looked very proud of himself like he hadn’t just picked the exact tree Ron had pointed at. “Have you slackers found one yet?”

“I came for the hot chocolate, so I was very successful,” Josh smiled and winked at Buck who pushed all his internal drama aside to smile back.

“Give me a minute. I won’t take long,” Buck laughed and wondered from them to track down his scrawny tree.

Two rows over, Buck’s shoulder was bumped by a smiling redhead. “You have fun interrogating the new guy?”

“Eh…he’s at least better than Seamus who was way too interested in the fact that ‘Mione and I got divorced,” Ron grinned and pointed at the tiny tree missing most of its pine needles that Buck was standing in front of. “Besides, there is no way that man has ever committed a crime in his life with the way he talks. I swear, I hadn’t even gotten to any of my good interrogation tactics, and I already had his life story.”

“I know!” Harry laughed. “Never tell him a secret either. He’ll explode trying to keep it until he just blurts it all out.”

“Why do you insist on getting those?” Ron motioned to the tree with a fond look at Harry. "They have some really nice trees all around us."

“It’s Teddy and my tradition,” he said unapologetically. “I miss him. I’m glad you’re here though.”

Ron ran a hand across his shoulders and squeezed the back of his neck. “I bought him a cellphone,” Ron said as if that wasn’t the kindest thing anyone had done for Harry in a long time. “Kid already knew how to work the thing and hadn’t held one in his life. He’s going to video call you on Christmas, even if you’re working. You should probably be prepared for a ton of text messages between now and then too unless he fries the phone by doing experiments on it. That kid is scarily good with technology.”

Harry was so grateful and touched. “Ron…thank you,” he breathed out, feeling a huge weight lift off his shoulders at the prospect of actually being able to talk to Teddy.

Ron shrugged but gave him an understanding look. They stood there for a second just enjoying being together again before Harry chuckled and bumped his shoulder to explain. “Teddy is very into magic and technology interaction right now. I’m encouraging it because one day, I want to see Lord Teddy Black walk into the Wizengamot talking on a cellphone and make Draco Malfoy die from a stroke at just how very muggle it is.”

“Playing the long game, I see,” Ron smirked, liking that image very much. “I didn’t think you’d actually let everything go with Malfoy. Kill him through indignation, I like it!”

“I learned from the best,” Harry grinned at his chess champion best friend.

“I’ll let you get back to your friends, but I’ll see you when you get home, right? Hermione said my missing toothbrush went to my kleptomaniac best friend, so apparently, I’m already in your wards,” Ron asked with a teasing look.

Harry snorted a laugh but couldn’t even correct him because Harry knew he did tend to take little things from people he cared about. It wasn’t a problem…probably. “Yeah, I’m taking Josh to lunch, so it might be a couple hours, so settle in and make yourself at home.”

Ron grinned and walked backwards away from him. “Now that’s someone who I need to meet too. Hermione said she already cleared this bloke, but I reserve the right to check up on him too.”

“No running background checks on Chimney or Josh,” Harry glared. Ron laughed and kept walking away. “I’m serious!” He called after him.

“No, you aren’t; you’re Buck,” Ron tossed over his shoulder, and Harry felt his heart swell with love at how well Ron knew him and how much he cared…even if he was most definitely going to run some kind of (probably) illegal search on the two men currently struggling to pull Hermione’s new tree towards Chimney’s truck. Yeah, Buck should probably go save Josh.

Eddie was more than a little concerned about Christmas this year. It was their first with Shannon back in their lives. Christopher was beside himself he was so happy, but Eddie was leaning towards it being more awkward than anything else. They had filed for divorce just a few days after their first conversation about it. They’d been separated for almost two years by this point, so it wasn’t like there was any reason to wait longer.

It's not that Eddie and Shannon weren’t getting along. They really were. Honestly, they were getting along much better than they had when they were married. Still, it was a little weird. They hadn’t told Chris about the divorce, but Eddie just didn’t know how to explain it.

None of this was the reason that it was Buck who was with him and Chris to get pictures with Santa this year though. Or maybe it might be a little. Christopher had actually asked for Buck to join them though, and Shannon had to work that evening anyway. For some reason, Eddie couldn’t really bring himself to introduce Buck to Shannon. That just felt exceptionally weird. And no, he didn’t plan on examining that feeling in the slightest.

Eddie watched his son charming all the elves around Santa before looking over at the man beside him. Buck had been a little more down recently even as he was standing there smiling at Chris. He was smiling, but it was a wistful, sad smile. Eddie didn’t understand it.

“Your kid is just so great, man,” Buck effused. “He’s so independent, wanting to do things on his own.”

Eddie nodded, giving up on trying to figure out what was up with his friend for now. “It’s because so many people have told him he can’t do things in his life. I never want him to feel that way.”

Buck turned his blue, almost gray, eyes on him with a smile that had Eddie’s heart doing something odd. “You’re a good dad. Chris is lucky to have you.”

Eddie shook his head and leaned against the railing for Santa’s village more. “I was gone so long. I missed so much of his life, and I’ll never be able to make it up to him.”

Buck nudged his shoulder to get him to look up at him. “Hey, I do actually know a little about that…the leaving and the being left. From my experience, it makes all the difference that you’re here now and trying, no matter what happened in the past.”

Buck seemed so sincere, and way more mature than his 27-year-old frat boy self should sound. “You turning wise on me Buckley?” Eddie teased, needing to shrug off the intense emotions. He was absolutely not going to cry in Santa’s village, especially when Shannon had already told their son the story of him throwing up on Santa when he was a kid.

“Never,” Buck grinned back just as the elf led Christopher back over to them.

“Hey mijo! You ask Santa for what you want this year?” He took his son and gave him a huge sloppy kiss on the cheek that Chris had to wipe off and call gross.

“Yeah,” Chris grinned. “I can’t tell you though. It's a secret.”

“Well, ok then,” he said, but only because he’d seen the letter Chris had written to Santa when they had mailed it, so he had a pretty good idea which video games his son wanted this year already. “Let’s go get ice cream!”

Just as they were walking away, Eddie heard the elf-lady talking to Buck. “You both have a very cute son.”

Eddie paused and waited. He wasn’t sure how Buck was going to handle this. Eddie wasn’t sure what he wanted Buck to say either. “Uh…thanks,” Buck said eventually with a smile before turning to join them.

Eddie smiled back and helped Chris down a couple steps. Buck hadn’t corrected her. That was…for some reason, Eddie was happy about that. Why? He didn’t think he should be upset or anything, but why happy? Or maybe happy wasn’t the best word…at peace maybe?

“Hey! We getting ice cream?” Buck asked again. “My brother-in-law has eaten all mine, and I’m in desperate need of a sugar fix!”

Chris laughed and let Buck pick him up to carry him the rest of the way to the truck. “How’s it going with Maddie’s ex staying at your house? Isn’t that a little…awkward?” Actually, come to think of it, that situation had to be even more awkward than what was going on between Eddie and Shannon…minus all the blood sharing bits at least.

“Nah,” Buck smiled and did a little danced to bounce Chris and get him laughing. “He was my friend first, and I had a binding verbal agreement from way back when they first started dating that we’d all still be friends if they broke up. So, they just have to deal with it now.”

“Like Mommy and Daddy?” Chris said, catching Eddie completely off-guard. Just how much did Chris actually understand? Did Chris think they were divorced? Well, they were legally getting there now, but they hadn’t told him that yet. Buck didn’t seem to know how to answer that either. At least Eddie wasn’t alone in his surprise at how perceptive a seven-year-old could be.

“Uh…yeah?” Buck looked at him and they shared a confused shrug. “Yeah, probably a lot like that.”

They thankfully got to the truck, and Eddie unlocked the doors to let them in. Well, maybe this wasn’t going to be as bad of a conversation as he had originally thought it was going to be. But damn…he’d eventually have to tell his son about the whole being an undead monster thing, so maybe he shouldn’t celebrate just yet.

“You could have invited them over. I’m perfectly capable of pretending to be a muggle for one evening,” Ron grumbled from where he was sitting on the floor and leaning against Hermione’s legs on the couch.

“Eddie and Chris already had plans with Eddie’s ex…or possibly former ex and current partner. I’m not really sure how that’s going,” Harry looked at his shining little tree wistfully while he twirled a long strand of his black hair through a finger. It was nice to be himself for a day, long hair, green eyes, scars and all.

Ron and Hermione both looked at him as if he’d just said something very funny. He didn’t understand what he’d said though that would cause that look. “I meant Chimney and Josh,” Ron chuckled. “So…maybe I should be asking about this vampire more than about the bloke you’re actually dating.”

“What?” Harry glared. “Eddie is just a friend…a really good friend. And Josh had plans with some of his friends for the holiday.”

“And I’m not subjecting Chimney to you for any length of time,” Hermione flicked her ex-husband’s ear.

“Oi!”

“You tracked him down to spy on him,” she glared. "I told you to leave him alone."

Ron shrugged unapologetically. “We both agreed to vet all Harry’s dates from now on, so I don’t see how you can get out of that either.”

“I’m not incompetent!” Harry protested but had to give up at the look from them both.

“Norberta,” they both said in unison.

Harry rolled his eyes. “Josh is at least not a Norberta.”

“No, he isn’t,” Hermione patted his hand. “You also don’t seem to be very enthusiastic about this relationship though.”

Harry sighed deeply. “Can’t we talk about you two? I have embarrassing stories on Chimney, or Ron…have you gone out with anyone recently?”

Ron wrinkled his nose. “I think I need to be single for a while,” he said eventually. “You know…figure out who I am on my own and all.”

“That sounds lovely,” Hermione ran a hand through his hair. Harry just smiled with all the love in his heart; they were going to be fine.

He cleared the lump out of his throat and took a sip of his eggnog before motioning to the tree. “Well, how about presents then?”

“I got them,” Ron leaned forward and pulled a few boxes and bags over to each of them. “Harry, Mum says that you grew so much she’s going to have to raise a sheep to get enough yarn to keep knitting you jumpers for Yule.”

Harry laughed and opened up his new, fire engine red jumper. “Remember when I was so small and scrawny?”

Hermione and Ron both winced. “Yeah, mate…don’t remind us,” Ron said, opening the handcuffs Harry had got him and spelled magic resistant, fire resistant, lock-pick proof, unslippable, and which would only open at Ron’s magical signature. See, stealing things from his friends came in handy when spelling things for them…it really wasn’t a problem. He may even remove the pink fur if Ron asked nicely.

Ron laughed loudly at them though and promised to use them at work all the time. Hermione also seemed to really like her new mug that said ‘Hang in there. It gets worse.’ Harry had gotten a similar one for Josh that read ‘Thirst Responder.’ Josh was going to love it with the unholy amounts of coffee he drank.

Harry opened the box from Hermione that had fuzzy dice in it to hang in his jeep. Apparently, they were spelled to glow when aurors were close by. How in Merlin’s name Hermione could do that, he had no clue, but he was going to test it out with Ron first thing in the morning! He wondered if they had to be wearing their robes?

“I’m shite at gift giving,” Ron said while Harry pulled his soft, new jumper on over his head. “I did get you something though.”

“It’s fine if you didn’t,” Harry said, pulling his hair put of the neck of the jumper. He hadn’t even noticed he didn’t have anything from Ron.

“Well, I did...and it's not exactly legal, so you better be grateful. It’s going to be here any second now,” Ron grinned and looked at his watch. “We timed this perfectly…any second…”

Harry frowned and shared a confused look with Hermione. Was Ron expecting an owl? Owls didn’t come to Harry’s loft because he was worried someone would put a tracking charm on it. All his magical mail went to the local owl post office, the one place Harry still regularly interacted with the magical world because he had to check in on Teddy. The cell phone was really nice now, but Teddy still couldn't take it with him through the Hogwarts wards or it would definitely die.

“Aaaannnndddd….now!” Ron pointed to the space in front of Harry’s kitchen island.

A loud pop sounded, and a tall, blue haired teenager stumbled and sprawled out on the floor, not even attempting to catch himself gracefully. “Bloody hell! Why are international portkeys like passing through a nundu’s digestive tract?!”

“Teddy?” Harry breathed out, not believing his eyes in the slightest.  

The teenager sat up with a huge grin on his face. “Dad!” He exclaimed. “Hey! You didn’t think I’d miss all our Yule traditions to hang out with the Malfoys did you?”

Harry ran right over and tackled his godson right back down to the floor in a hug. “Oi! Did you get more muscles! You’re crushing me,” Teddy complained, and Harry let him up slightly but didn’t let go.

“I missed you so much,” Harry said into the blue hair. “I love you so, so much.”

“I love you too, Dad,” Teddy huffed out a laugh. “Do we really have to do all the mushy emotional stuff though? I was hoping for some wizards chess and some good eggnog. You make the best.”

Harry knew he needed to let go. He really had missed Teddy more than anything though. He didn’t know how he still warranted being called ‘Dad’ after everything they had been through, that he had put Teddy through. A long time ago, he’d initially freaked out and corrected Teddy when he first called him daddy when he was about five, but Andromeda had set him straight immediately. He was as much of a father as Teddy was ever going to get, so whether he lived with them or not, whether they shared blood or not, if Teddy chose that role for Harry, then he was bloody well going to let him. So, even after Harry had strained their relationship...or really Kingsley had, if Teddy still wanted to call him dad, then Harry would always welcome it.

“If you let me go, I’ll give you the present Grandma sent,” Teddy tried to bribe him next.

Harry laughed but did actually let him go now. “It’s not Kreacher right? Please say he’s still at Hogwarts.”

Teddy grimaced deeply. “Unfortunately. He irons my boxers and delivers them to the dorms,” Teddy said in horror. Harry and Ron about died laughing at that while Hermione just scoffed and grumbled something about SPEW. Yeah, Harry was going to need to donate more to her charity soon to avoid his best friend's wrath.

“Anyway,” Teddy pulled his rucksack off his back and unzipped it. “Grandma sent you an entire case of butterbeer. She said you must be going through withdrawals while living muggle like you are when you like it so much.”

“Bless that woman,” Harry happily took the large case of his favorite magical beverage that Teddy handed over. “Who wants?”

“Eggnog,” Teddy protested.

Harry sighed and studied him. “I didn’t leave the rum out of it this year. I didn’t know you were coming.”

“Even better,” Teddy’s grin said he was spending way too much time with his Uncle George.

“I can remove it with a spell!” Hermione jumped up before Harry could do something as scandalous as caving to his godson’s now green puppy dog eyes.

“Aw, Aunt Mione, but I’m sixteen now,” Teddy complained while Harry threw an arm around him and led him over to the couch.

“Well, old man…how about I introduce you to this wonderful game called Mario Kart then,” Harry grinned and passed over a controller.

“Ooo! I play winner!” Ron jumped in at the mention of his new favorite muggle game.

Buck was making Bobby’s famous chili in his kitchen just a week after Christmas. He already missed Teddy so much. His godson had only gotten to stay for a few days before he’d been missed and people asked questions, so he and Ron had taken their (definitely illegal and untraceable) international portkeys back to England together. Now his loft was way too quiet.

He’d had a few shifts at work, but it was his day off, and he couldn’t stand the silence. That was why Josh was currently judging the playlist he had softly playing on his phone while sipping on a beer and chatting with him at his kitchen table. “Pass me the salt,” Buck asked, and Josh held it out to him.

“The kid was perfectly fine and even got home for Christmas. I’m pretty sure the company is going to give him a lot of money in exchange for signing something that says he won’t sue,” Josh explained what had happened to a kid they had saved who had accidentally gotten gift wrapped into a shipping container and almost shipped to who knows where before Christmas.

“That’s good to hear. I’m glad he reached out to you all. We never seem to hear what happens after calls unless they send food to the station…which no one eats anymore,” Buck looked over his shoulder and shared a meaningful look with Josh.

“Buck Buckley, the only smart one of the group,” Josh toasted him with his beer.

Buck laughed loudly. “No one in their right mind is going to agree with you on that, man.”

“Hey, you didn’t eat the LSD brownies,” Josh disagreed. “Where is your recycling?” He motioned with his now empty bottle.

“That cabinet,” he motioned to one over by the fridge. “Grab yourself a new one if you want.”

“You want?” Josh asked after tossing his empty and opening the door of the fridge.

“Yes, please if you don’t mind. I can’t stop stirring this right now or it’ll stick. I think I turned the heat up a little too high,” Buck said, turning the heat down slightly. He’d better not burn this, or somehow Bobby would smell it all the way from his house and call to berate him.

It was a while later before he realized it had gotten really quiet in his loft, and Josh hadn’t said anything in a bit. Buck looked over and Josh was just standing in front of the fridge holding a brown bottle and frowning at it. “What’s up?” Buck asked, not know what had Josh looking so upset. He’d bought the same brand of beer that Josh had mentioned that he liked the last time they went out.

“Where did you get this?” Josh eventually asked, his voice coming out hoarser than normal. Harry paused in stirring and set the spoon aside to face him, not knowing what was up. He'd bought the beer at the local grocery store.

Harry finally got a good look at the bottle Josh was holding and almost turned as pale as Josh had seemed to just moments before. Well, bloody hell, of course the probably squib man would just happen to find a magical drink in his kitchen…He'd been so careful about anything magic in his home, but he supposed it would happen eventually.

“It was a gift,” he said, knowing that wasn’t going to cut it. Clearly, Josh recognized a bottle of butterbeer.

Josh licked his lips nervously and held out the bottle more. “This isn’t sold in normal stores…Buck, where did you get this?” He said slowly with a very intense look as if that would make Buck give him the answer he wanted.

Buck just studied him. The angry and disgusted look on Josh’s face told him everything he needed to know. Merlin, but it had been nice while it lasted. He only hoped the man would dump him peacefully and not show a violent side Buck had yet to see in him.

“Well…I think we found one of your deal-breakers, haven’t we?” Buck turned the burner off under the chili because it looked like dinner wasn’t happening any time soon now.

Chapter Text

Josh sighed before putting the unopened butterbeer on the counter. “First of all, that stuff is disgusting. I don’t see how you or anyone can drink it,” Josh remarked, and Buck let a miniscule bit of his stress go. At least the disgust on Josh's face wasn’t directed at him.

Josh crossed his arms next and just studied him as if trying to read his life history from his expression or the wrinkles in his t-shirt or something. “Secondly, how in Houdini’s hell, Buck?! And why don’t you even seem surprised that I know what butterbeer is?!” Josh finally burst out.

Buck winced at that. Maybe he should have brought his up with Josh before now. “I suspected you may have a connection to the magical world, but I didn’t know for sure,” he explained. “You’ve let slip a few Merlins and Houdinis, but it's not like I saw you brewing a potion or levitating something.”

Josh nodded slowly, seeming to accept the situation and that Buck hadn't wanted to assume. “So…I’m a squib,” he said to clarify. “You are too?”

Buck shook his head slowly, Josh’s expression sinking. Yeah, this was going to be a deal breaker, he could see it already. Josh ran a hand over his face and let out a harsh breath. “So, I’ll say it again,” Josh gave him a hard look. “How in Houdini’s hell?! Are you just obliviating all your co-workers all the time? Buck, that’s seriously unethical and illegal…”

“No!” Buck cut in quickly, wanting to make sure Josh at least knew he wasn’t hurting those around him. “I don’t use magic at work…well, I have a time or two, just like a tracking charm or I stunned Chimney when he had rebar through his brain, but no one caught me, and I make it a rule never to use magic on calls or around the 118 unless I'm absolutely certain no one will see.”

Josh looked infinitesimally less concerned. “Why would you choose a job you couldn’t use magic at then? There’s a reason wizards don’t work as no-maj first responders, Buck. The temptation is there, and if you get caught…”

Buck just nodded because he dealt with that temptation daily. He knew it well, but he also knew the stakes. It wasn’t just MACUSA stepping in to obliviate his co-workers if he messed up, but him being turned back over to Kingsley, and with the election campaign Ron had filled him in on, Harry would undoubtably be sent to Azkaban with no trial the same as Sirius had hands down. It would probably get the election handed to Kingsley on a silver platter too.

“Right, so…I have a very complicated relationship with magic, if you can understand,” Buck began.

Josh snorted dryly and leaned against the island. “Buck, I have a complicated relationship with magic,” Josh began. His expression turned hopeful then as a thought seemed to occur to him. “Do you mean, that you just don’t use magic now?”

Buck took in his hopeful look and saw it for what it was. Josh would be willing to continue this relationship maybe if Buck didn’t use magic regularly. He could say that he didn't because he actually didn't use his wand much anymore, but he was who he was, and it would eventually come out. Josh didn’t deserve that betrayal.

“I use magic all the time, almost every second of the day,” Buck said, causing that hopeful look to wash off Josh’s face instantaneously. He wasn’t going to lie though, not when it would hurt so much later when he would undoubtedly be found out.

“I’m a metamorphmagus. I don’t actually look like this,” Buck explained motioning to himself. “I’m not comfortable explaining why I’ve changed my appearance though.”

Josh narrowed his eyes but nodded slowly after a moment. Buck would let him think that maybe he was making himself look better or hiding some kind of physical aspect he didn’t like or something like that. He didn’t know what Josh would assume, but whatever it was, had to be better than that he was on the run from the law.

Josh eventually walked around the island and sat down on one of the bar stools. “Look, Buck…you know how squibs are treated in the magical world,” he began, and Buck prepared himself because this was definitely the break-up speech.

He had to say something though because he couldn’t have Josh think that it mattered to him at all. “Josh…I had always assumed that you were a squib if you had magic since you work at dispatch,” he said. “I can see this is a big deal for you, but I need you to know, that you being a squib isn’t something that bothers me in the slightest. I wasn’t looking to date a wizard, clearly.”

“Thanks Buck,” Josh opened the beer he’d taken out of the fridge when he'd found the butterbeer and took a sip, clearly trying to gather his thoughts.

“I wish it didn’t matter to me…” he began. “When my family learned I couldn’t use magic, I was basically kicked out at 11 years old. I mean, I still had a room in the house and food, but it was clear I was no longer considered part of the family, that I wasn’t wanted.”

Buck felt that on a very personal level. He knew how it felt to be in a house with people who didn’t want him there. That was no way for anyone to grow up.

Josh just continued though. “If it wasn’t for my aunt, I don’t think I could have survived living that way until I was able to get out and go to college. She didn’t care in the slightest that I didn’t have magic and took me in so that I didn’t have to stay in that house with those people.”

Harry liked to think that if it had been Dudley and Petunia and Vernon had died that his mum would have taken in Dudley like Josh’s aunt took him in. It was a comforting thought as much as it made him sad that his own aunt didn’t do that for him at all. “I understand,” he began.

“No, you don’t,” Josh cut him off. “Look, you clearly aren’t no-maj-born with a gift like the metamorphmagus ability, so you can’t understand what it was like to be cut off from your family just for who you are.”

Buck crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow at the man who was assuming quite a lot there. “Josh…have you ever heard Maddie or I speak about our parents at all? There’s a reason why we don’t,” he said in all honesty. It may be for different reasons, but neither one of them had healthy childhoods.

“Oh, god, Maddie!” Josh’s eyes widened as that finally sank in. “Is she…?”

“She’s a witch,” Buck confirmed. “Her reasons for stepping away from the magical world are different from mine, but she has her own. You’ll have to talk with her. She deserves to explain her own experiences.”

Josh seemed to be fighting some kind of battle within himself before he just gave up with a sigh. “I’m sorry, Buck. I just can’t. I like you…like I really like you, but I can’t step full-time back into a world that rejected me. Dating you, being in a relationship where you’re accepted in a world where I’m not…I don’t think I can do that.”

Buck nodded. “I get that, and I respect it.”

“I do really like you though,” Josh continued with a look that was cautiously hopeful. “I might not be able to step back into that world full-time, but…could we still be friends? We make great trivia partners, and it may be nice to have someone to talk to about how terrible butterbeer is and how ridiculous the witches in movies are portrayed.”

Buck smiled because that was actually the best outcome he could have hoped for. He hadn’t been able to convince himself that this thing with Josh was going to be long-term from the very beginning. A friendship...that was even better than him trying to make this relationship work when his broken heart and brain just couldn’t get with the program.

“I would love to be your friend,” he said emphatically. “I’ve had so much fun spending time with you, and I know Maddie feels the same way. I don't want to lose you from my life.”

Josh chuckled and shook his head. “Yeah, we’re going to need a dinner to hash this all out between us, I guess. I can’t believe I didn’t see it! You two have to be the weirdest magical people ever.”

Buck just shrugged with a grin. “Eh, probably.”

“Is there anyone else I’ve missed?” Josh asked with a laugh. “Is Chimney a wizard then since he and Maddie are sort-of dating?”

“No, definitely not!” Buck laughed at that thought.

“As far as I know, Chimney is no-maj all the way. I don’t think there are any more witches or wizards in our circle of friends,” he answered honestly since Eddie was still no-maj, and he didn’t want to sell his friend out to anyone when Eddie didn’t even know Buck knew that he was a vampire.

“Merlin’s balls,” Josh grinned widely. “You and Maddie’s lack of pop culture knowledge now makes so much more sense! And her purse! It has an extension charm on it, doesn’t it?! That’s why she seems to be able to carry books around in that tiny bag!”

“Oh yeah, Maddie always has a few books on her, even with the tiny purse,” Buck laughed, and figured he could chance his luck and try to be useful to his friend.  “Also…now that you know, I’m always up to be your potion and charm dealer if you need anything.”

“I’ll definitely take you up on that,” Josh smiled and sipped his drink. They were going to be ok. They may not be in a romantic relationship anymore, but Buck was cautiously optimistic that they could make this work and still be friends.

“Now,” Buck turned around and turned the burner back on under the chili. “Lunch...you’re still staying, and now I can drink my butterbeer without raising questions.”

“Ew, that stuff is still gross,” Josh grimaced dramatically at the bottle on the counter. "Damn, it's a shame this ended before we even had sex."

Buck laughed loudly and opened the offending drink. "Probably for the best. You might not have been able to let me go after."

"You wish, Buckley, you wish," Josh grinned right back at him.

Harry sat in Hermione’s sitting room and nursed his glass of firewhiskey while his friend (now sister) ranted about her terrible day at dispatch where their systems had been down because of an accident at the communications center. She and Josh had saved the day, being the two people most used to not relying on computer systems and technology out of the group. Finally, the magical world's backwards approach to technology came in handy!

“I literally had to explain to a new dispatcher how to read a map,” Hermine punctuated the comment with a sip of her drink. “Like, seriously Harry…a map. It’s not even like I was explaining alchemy or something, it was just a paper map!”

“It was a day…” Harry sighed. His day had been a little more traumatic than frustrating. “Eddie was trapped in a burning house. There for a second, I actually considered apparating in and grabbing him. If Chimney hadn’t been able to get in touch with his friend at Harbor Station to air drop water and put out the fire, I might have.”

Hermione put a hand on his knee and just left it with a small, knowing smile. He didn’t need someone to tell him how bad of an idea it was. He hadn’t done it, and he knew he shouldn’t even consider it. He also knew he would risk having to run again to save Eddie’s life if he had to. Vampires could survive a lot, but burning alive wasn’t one of them. Harry was not going to tell Christopher that his dad wasn’t coming home even if that meant he had to go on the run, or even if that meant he went to Azkaban.

Time to change the subject. Harry took a sip and smiled. “So, how’s it going with Josh now that he knows? He interrogate you over your lunch break or something?”

Hermione laughed. “No, we chatted, but he and I weren’t dating, and he’d already gotten over his shock, so it wasn’t as intense as it probably was for you two. Mainly we ended up talking about my healer training and how my studies are going. Also, heads up, but I'm pretty sure Josh thinks you're trans."

Harry raised an eyebrow and chuckled over his glass. "Really? Why? How did he get that impression from our conversation?"

She shrugged and smiled. "I don't know...maybe you saying you're a metamorphmagus and not explaining why you're completely changing your look. Maybe also because you insinuated our parents didn't accept you. I'm just reading between the lines, but the lines were pretty clear from how he was talking around it. Just so you know, he likes you all the same if you're trans...it's just the magic he has a problem with."

"Good to know, I guess," Harry shook his head seeing how that could be a conclusion a person would jump to, but not having seen that coming at all. Oh well, at least the conclusion wasn't that he was a fugitive running from the aurors. "I guess I'm flattered he thinks I'm that powerful of a metamorphmagus, which I'm very much not."

"Harry…I’m really sorry it didn’t work out," Hermione said sadly.

Harry nodded and patted her hand still on his knee. “I know…and I’m sorry too. It’s just…I think I’m broken.”

Hermione frowned deeply. “Harry…”

“No, hear me out,” he sat the drink on the coffee table and took in a breath. He’d actually given this a lot of thought since Ginny had broken up with him, and even more since Kingsley. “I lost a part of my soul during the war.”

“Voldemort’s soul,” she reminded him with a confused expression.

Harry shook his head. “A part of my soul that had been there from when I was a baby, even if it wasn’t mine originally. I can feel it, Hermione,” he put a hand over his chest where the lightning bolt scar was.

Her expression fell. “Why haven’t you said anything?”

“Because there’s nothing to do, nothing to fix it,” he rubbed his chest. “Something is broken in here, even if it’s not the missing soul piece, maybe it’s that my childhood just really fucked with my brain too much, or that I’ve been a soldier too long that I don’t know how to be normal…”

Hermione scooted over and put her arms around him. She put a hand on the side of his face and rubbed her thumb lightly over the scar that cut across half his forehead. Something about her or Ron touching the scar had always relaxed him. They didn’t know why, but especially when they’d been on the run their seventh year, they had figured it out, and Hermione or Ron would run a finger over it whenever Harry was noticeably distressed. Harry thought it was their magic somehow soothing the ache left by the curse that remained even after the horcrux was removed.

“You really should see a mind-healer,” Hermione said for the thousandth time.

“I can’t,” he breathed out. She knew he couldn’t because he couldn’t walk back into the magical world that much and be that honest, and a muggle therapist had gone so well for him already. Yeah, he wasn’t willing to give that a try again anytime soon.

Harry rested his head on her shoulder. “A perfectly nice bloke comes my way, and I just can’t seem to feel comfortable in the relationship. Then, someone like Abby or Kingsley who both wanted to use me in their own way comes along, and I just jump right in.”

“Harry,” Hermione kissed the top of his head. “I don’t think that’s a horcrux issue. I think this is a Dursley issue…maybe even a Dumbledore issue…”

Harry winced. He still had some unresolved issues with the man he looked up to like a grandfather telling him he had to die, and even more so that Dumbledore had known it for a long time…well, that had done a number on him definitely. He still wasn’t sure what he actually felt about the man, or Snape for that matter…or even Sirius.

“Also, just because Josh is nice doesn’t mean you were right for each other,” Hermione added. “That’s not the only factor to consider. Don’t give up hope yet.”

Harry nodded. “Maybe I just need to be single for a while like Ron is trying,” he concluded, sitting back up and grabbing his firewhiskey.

“That’s perfectly fine too,” she smiled comfortingly. “Now, I do have to tell you, don't be mad, but I volunteered you to upgrade Josh’s wards. Apparently, his aunt set his, and she’s not very good at warding. He asked me, but I told him you were better at wards.”

Harry rolled his eyes at her, but smiled because he would always offer to keep his friends safe. That was never something he would be opposed to. He’d actually been trying to figure out how he could ward all his muggle friends’ homes without it being obvious and illegal. He was still working on that. “I’ll text him in the morning for a time to drop by and do it.”

“Now,” Harry grinned. “When are you and Chimney actually going to go on a real date that the two of you both call a date?”

Hermione rolled her eyes and huffed a laugh before reaching over and grabbing her cell phone. She tapped at it for a couple seconds before putting it back down. “There,” she smiled.

“What…?” The phone immediately dinged, and Hermione held up a finger to check it.

She smiled widely. “Thursday,” she laughed and held the phone out for him to take.

Harry read the text chain and laughed. Well, that was one way to do it:

Maddie: Hey, Howie, how about you and I go to dinner Thursday night? On a date?

Howie: Hell yeah! I’m there!!

“See, I was just waiting until I was ready,” Hermione said when he handed the phone back over, still laughing. “Plus, I got tired of you and Ron looking at me with those sappy looks. Neither of your faces should ever try to make that expression again.”

“Awwww,” Harry definitely made the sappy-face expression and got a swat of her hand for his troubles.

Muggle police were so cute. Harry smiled at the cops sitting across from him in the interrogation room. Now, that thought absolutely didn’t apply to Athena Grant. Bobby’s fiancé was scary, and he fully and inexplicably believed she could take him down even with all this training and magic. He had no basis for that belief, but he was certain of it. These cops though, just… he liked the Southern American expression of ‘bless your heart’ as applies to them.

They were doing their very best to pin the bank robbery that had happened while the 118 had been rescuing a bank manager and Hen who were trapped in a vault on all of the firefighters. Harry and Ron would have made these two cops piss their pants if they were on the other side of the interrogation table. Honestly, he and Ron would have figured out the 118 had no part in all this well before now. Harry was having so much fun playing the dumb blond, but he was concerned about Eddie.

Eddie clearly wasn’t having as much fun as he and even Maddie were. Hermione had been questioned by aurors after the war and again after his disappearance. These two cops had nothing on war hardened magical cops. Harry and Hermione had the most to keep from these muggles, but Eddie was the only other member of the 118 hiding something (as far as Harry knew at least). It later turned out he was wrong, but that was another day.

Harry got it, the cops were digging through their lives. His own and Hermione’s identities would hold up to a muggle investigation, and he really hoped Eddie had been discreet enough that the cops wouldn’t find questionable vampire activities on him. He was absolutely certain Eddie wasn’t leaving a trail of bodies in his wake because it was Eddie. Eddie had remarkably control over his bloodlust for any age vampire, let alone a baby vamp. Harry could only guess that his friend had been turned during his time at war as a medic in Afghanistan to have created that level of self-control that quickly.

Still, Eddie had to be buying his blood from somewhere since Buck had never seen Eddie going out to clubs and had never heard a single story about a one-night stand. Honestly, Harry was hoping Shannon was helping out since he knew Eddie’s finances couldn’t be great. Which, it seemed the cops were now latching onto. Well, if Eddie was actually arrested, Harry would just have to find out who the real bank robber was and somehow get Athena to step in.

“Wait…what? Can you explain that again? I don’t understand,” he asked the cops who were walking him through how they thought the 118 had pulled off this heist and why. He internally laughed at the ‘you’re so dumb’ looks he was getting now. Ron was better at this strategy than he was. Ron had made it into an art form, but Harry was channeling his best friend very well.

Merlin, he was so going to call Ron as soon as he got home, and they were going to have the best laugh over this. Harry and his friends had actually robbed a bank before ironically enough. Their heist might not have been this well planned, but hey, they were 17 and starving, so a little grace there. At least they had the flair for the dramatic unlike whoever did this one. Why rob a bank if you weren’t going to ride out on a dragon and end a war?

Eddie was double checking his credit card statements while he waited for Shannon to bring Christopher home after their day together at the beach. The statements all very clearly listed that he had been purchasing acupuncture and holistic wellness services every two weeks. Apparently, that was what the vampires were hiding their blood dealing through. He trusted a shady organization as well-established as this one was to know how to cover their tracks, but he was nervous about the cops digging into his finances any more than they already had.

“Daddy!” Christopher called out as soon as Shannon opened the door to the house.

“Mijo! Did you have fun with Mommy today?” He opened his arms for a big hug, feeling all his anxiety turn to joy as soon as his son was in his arms again. Everything was better when he had Chris with him.

“I built a sandcastle, and found this,” Chris held up a large pink shell.

“Wow! That’s so cool!” Eddie grinned and seriously studied the shell like it was a jewel his kid had found.

“I think you should put this on the shelf in your room and then go clean up. You’re still sandy,” he said, wincing at the grains of sand that had transferred to him from Chris’s shirt and rubbed at his skin. Sand always took him back to the desert, and Eddie had to push down the images wanting to drag him back to the worst days of his life. He was glad Shannon offered to take their son to the beach since Eddie himself always had trouble going there.

“Hey, how was your day? Anything interesting happen at work?” Shannon asked, dropping the bag of towels and swim trunks in Eddie’s laundry room to be handled later.

“It was fine,” he shrugged. “Apparently, there was a bank robbery or armored car robbery or something while we were making a rescue. The police have been asking a lot of questions.”

Shannon frowned and sat on the couch. “Anything you should be concerned about? You pay cash for your blood, right?”

“I don’t, but it’s fine,” Eddie handed over the credit card statement and pointed at the charge. Predictably she laughed loudly as soon as she read it.

“Edmundo Diaz getting acupuncture or reiki or something,” she giggled. “I never thought I’d see the day. Should I buy you some essential oils or crystals to keep around the house?”

“Ha, ha,” he deadpanned. “Actually, lavender essential oils are very calming to diffuse for when Chris has to do his PT in the mornings.”

Shannon just laughed louder and held her sides. “Oh god, you’ve gone LA on me!”

“Yeah, yeah,” he smiled, grateful that he had his friend back. He may no longer have a wife, but Shannon had been his friend well before they were together. It felt like they were almost back there again, that they could be what they used to be.

“So, let’s see if I got this right. The fake nerve agent attack was a distraction for the armored car robbery…which was a distraction for the diamond heist,” Buck scrunched up his face in a very confused look. “Crime is hard.”

Eddie couldn’t help his smile at his best friend. Buck was just so…Buck. Eddie didn’t think Buck could intentionally commit a crime if his life depended on it. Actually, maybe if his sister’s life depended on it or someone he cared about. Eddie could see Buck doing whatever it took to protect the people he cared about. However, he was certain Buck would be the worst criminal on the planet.

Bobby had mentioned once that Buck had tried out for the Navy SEALs oddly enough. Eddie hadn’t talked about it with Buck, but he understood why Buck would drop out even after completing training. Buck could absolutely not be a soldier. Buck might be badass, but he would never intentionally hurt anyone for any reason. Buck couldn’t make those hard decisions, and Eddie wouldn’t wish that on him for any reason whatsoever.

“Ok, so enough of the heist talk,” Chimney cut in after Hen’s explanation of how she and Athena had gone all Hardy Boys or Nancy Drew or something on the crime scene and figured out what happened.

“Dude, this is like the most excitement we’ve had in a long time,” Johnson called over from where he was sitting at the other end of the table.

“Yeah, yeah,” Chimney waved him off before pinning Buck with a look.

Eddie would save him from whatever this was about to be if he knew what he was saving Buck from. Chimney was acting captain right now though while Bobby was being investigated for whatever the cops had turned up during the heist about his time in Minnesota. Out of all of them, it wasn’t Bobby that Eddie thought would have something come up in the investigation. Frankly, he was still breathing a sigh of relief that his own dealings hadn’t gotten flagged. Everyone knew their captain would be cleared, but they were stuck with Captain Han right now, and he really might bite the man if he asked them to run one more drill.

“So, I went out with Maddie last night,” Chimney began.

“I heard,” Buck grinned. “Break my sister’s heart, and you’ll wish I only broke your legs,” he said with the brightest smile and the lightest tone, and for some reason Eddie felt a shiver of danger run down his spine still. Chimney gulped, so clearly, he felt it too. What in Dracula’s name had that been?!

Chimney shook off whatever that was and put back on the smug look he’d worn since being promoted to acting captain. “Anyway,” he started again. “I heard from your sister that you and Josh broke up. Why didn’t you say anything? What happened? Please say you didn't make Josh cry! It would be like kicking a puppy.”

Eddie frowned in concern. Buck hadn’t said a thing. Why hadn’t he told him? Eddie thought they were the type of friends who told each other things. Well, he didn’t tell Buck a lot, but Buck told him things.

“First of all, he broke up with me. And, secondly, it’s not a big deal. We’re still friends,” Buck shrugged. He looked sad, but not overly upset. Eddie supposed that was a good thing. “We just were looking for different things in life. It didn’t mesh.”

“It didn’t mesh?” Hen raised a questioning eyebrow. “What does that mean?”

“I means I make shit decisions in relationships,” Buck shrugged. “This time, we just called it before it could implode and ruin one or both of our lives. Probably the best outcome.”

Eddie frowned. He didn’t like that. Buck shouldn’t feel like this was his fault. He didn’t know what had happened, but Buck was…Buck was special. He deserved someone who saw that. He shouldn’t look this resigned to whatever this negative feeling was about himself. Something had happened is his friend’s life, and Eddie realized he had no idea what that was, but it was important. What did a person do with that realization?

Hen reached over and patted Buck’s hand. “Hey, Buck, sometime things don’t work out. That doesn’t mean they weren’t good while they lasted or that better things aren’t to come.”

Buck smiled and Eddie sighed gratefully that Hen had found the words he couldn’t. The bell rang loudly and they all abandoned the pizza they’d had to order without Bobby’s cooking there. Eddie prayed it wasn’t another of the package bombs that had been delivered around town recently. Whatever this was, had everyone on edge.

The ambulance pulled up to the scene of a car accident, and Eddie let out a breath of relief. Any day without a bomb in it was a good day in his opinion. He’d had enough IEDs for his entire life, thank you very much.

He and Buck rushed over to the driver in the car. They started in on the questions to assess her mental faculties, and Eddie began to place the collar around her neck to stabilize her for transport. “What about the woman?” The driver asked frantically. “She came out of nowhere. I didn’t see her!”

Buck stood up to look while Eddie finished securing the collar. “Eddie…” Buck breathed out in what he immediately recognized as a horrified tone.

What had happened? Eddie straightened up to look. “No, don’t,” Buck tried to block his view, and Eddie had a sinking feeling and felt his knees going weak. Why didn’t Buck want him to see?

“Let me by,” Eddie pushed him aside, maybe using more of his vampire strength than he should. He had a feeling though. He had a very bad feeling.

“Eddie!” Hen tried to stop him next, but he’d seen the yellow dress. The same yellow dress he’d seen just that morning when Shannon had dropped by the house because she’d wanted to take Chris to school.

“No!” Eddie rushed over and collapsed beside his wife, his friend. “Shannon…”

“I didn’t want to leave,” she gasped out in pain, trying to find air.

“No, no, you’re going to be fine. Stay with us,” Eddie took her hand while Chimney and Johnson transferred her to a backboard. Eddie caught the look in Chimney’s eyes…Shannon wasn’t going to be fine…

Eddie breathed in. There was a lot of blood. He could see her injuries; he could smell the blood. Shannon wasn’t going to make it.

Chimney held off intubating her so that Eddie could say goodbye, but this couldn’t be goodbye! “Tell Christopher I love him,” she said with all her strength.

“I will,” he sniffed, not even able to hold back the tears. “He loves you too. I love you.”

“Tell him…tell him I’m sorry for leaving again,” she gasped.

This wasn’t happening. He couldn’t let her go. “Shannon,” he breathed out, knowing the weight of what he was saying. He never thought he would ever consider this. After what had happened to him, the thought would have never crossed his mind until this happened.

“I can fix this,” he said lowly. It would work; he could do it. “I can keep you here.”

And he would do it too. He would turn Shannon into a vampire right there in front of Chimney in the back of this ambulance no matter what the consequences to him were. He might not remember his own turning, but he’d pieced together what must have happened from what the soldier who’d done to him had told him later. He was certain he knew enough to do it if he had to.

“Let me…stay with us…” he begged. He wouldn’t do this against her will, but she had to. She had to live.

“No,” Shannon gave him a weak smile. “Not like that…I’m sorry…not like that…”

Buck sat beside Eddie in the hospital waiting room and wrapped his arms around his friend. Eddie gasped a sob. Buck just held him tighter.

Buck wasn’t allowed in the back of the ambulance. He had no reason to be there since he wasn’t a paramedic. Chimney and Eddie had crowded in with Shannon, and Buck had looked on, trying to figure out how to get in, but then the doors closed. He would have tried to save Shannon. His healing magic was shite, but he would have tried. He didn’t know how Eddie had kept from turning her, but Buck was grateful he wasn’t currently having to obliviate Chimney and Hen to save his vampire friend.

“She left us,” Eddie gasped out in another sob. Buck rubbed his back and held back his own tears. “I tried…I asked her to stay…”

Buck nodded, not that Eddie could see. So, he had offered to turn her. Buck got it, he understood why she might say no. On the other hand, he also didn’t understand.

He was immortal, but if he wasn’t, Buck thought he’d probably choose to become a vampire over dying at most points in his life at least. He could understand why other people might not though. He was used to his life changing drastically when he’d become a wizard, then famous, then a child of prophesy, then a soldier, then a fugitive, then the Master of Death, then so on and so forth. Most people weren’t used to that though. He supposed not everyone would choose to become a supernatural being, even if it kept them alive. There were definitely downsides.

Buck might not have the words to say to make this right, but he knew grief. He knew how to be there, even when there was nothing he could do, nothing that could be done. “I’ve got you,” he said, looking over at the other members of the 118 and motioning with his head for them to leave. Eddie didn’t need them standing around and watching him fall apart. He wouldn’t appreciate that. Hen nodded and herded the group out of the room.

“I’m here,” Buck said again when they were finally alone.

“How am I going to tell Chris?” Eddie asked from his shoulder as he clutched Buck’s shirt in his fists.

Buck scratched the back of his Eddie’s neck and had to forcibly keep himself from kissing the top of Eddie’s head like he would Hermione. Eddie wouldn’t like that. “You just do. You be honest, and you let him express whatever he needs to,” he finally said because he’d had to break bad news to parents and children as an auror too many times. “I’ll be there with you if you want me to.”

“Please,” Eddie held on tighter, trusting Buck to hold him together through this, and Harry was gone. He loved this man. And wasn’t that the worst realization to make at the absolute worst time!

Chapter Text

Eddie wasn’t holding it together well in the aftermath of losing his ex-wife. Yes, he put on a front of staying strong for Chris. He’d told his son that his mother was gone, and that this time she couldn’t come back. He’d held Chris while he cried. But really, really it was Buck holding them together through everything.

Eddie hadn’t even been able to explain to his son that Shannon had died. He’d only been able to say she was gone. He knew Chris needed more of an explanation than that, but his words had failed him. He’d looked at Buck helplessly who was sitting on the other side of Christopher on their couch, and that made Christopher look to Buck too. Buck had come with him when Eddie had asked. He was ashamed he couldn't do this on his own, but he'd be forever grateful that he didn't have to.

In the wake of both of their pleading looks, Buck had just put an arm around Christopher’s shoulders and pulled him in to his side. Then Buck held his child while he was the one who explained that sometimes people we love are taken from us. Sometimes there are accidents that we just can’t predict and can’t change. That Shannon was in one of these accidents. Buck explained that she had died and moved on to an afterlife but that she would still be there. She was in Christopher’s heart and would watch over him. Eddie wasn’t sure he really believed that, but it helped. It helped him and Chris both.

Buck was so good at this. Eddie didn’t know why or how, but he felt the tears running down his cheeks when Buck transferred a crying Christopher to his arms. He and Chris held each other, and he mouthed a silent ‘thank you’ to his friend over his son's head. Buck nodded, wiping the moisture out of his own eyes, and he hadn’t even known Shannon. What had Buck gone through in his life that made him so good at explaining death? Eddie wasn’t sure he wanted to know.

Things got better, but they also got worse. Things were better just because of time and having to move forward. Eddie and Chris grieved and stayed home from work and school to be with each other. They had each other, and Buck even stayed at their house for a while cooking and helping with all the funeral and burial arrangements, but then he had to go back to work. Things got worse then for Eddie at least because Eddie’s family came to town for the funeral, and his parents didn’t exactly like Shannon, and they definitely didn’t know he was a vampire. Actually, that was one of the main reasons Eddie had moved to LA, that and the blood bank system.

Eddie had to take all his blood out of the refrigerator because his mother would take it over with things she wanted to cook. She and his abuela would be cooking for all the family coming through town. She was also really bad at just going through everything in the entire house saying she was cleaning and helping but also invading his privacy. He didn’t know what to do with his blood supply. What little he had was even more precious now too because Shannon was no longer there offering to help.

Finally, he stashed all he could in a cooler in the garage with a lot of ice packs and hoped for the best. It wasn’t ideal, but it only had to last for a week until his parents went back home. It was probably the longest week of his entire life.

It wasn’t even the fact that Eddie had to sneak into his garage in the middle of the night to drink blood like a teenager sneaking alcohol from his parents that made it so terrible. It was really his parents who just didn’t understand him in the slightest. They tried to get him to move back to El Paso. When that didn’t work, they tried again to get him to just give them custody of Christopher. He would never give up his son! He especially wasn’t going to give up his son to people who didn’t listen or seem to care in the slightest for any boundaries he’d ever tried to set in his life. They didn’t even listen when Christopher told them he could do things himself and just did them for him. Christopher shouldn’t have to grow up in a situation where people told him what he was able to do and didn’t listen to his needs. Christopher was going to face too much of that in his life anyway, he shouldn’t get it from his own family.

It was with so much relief that Eddie finally dropped his parents off at LAX at the end of the week and went back to his thankfully empty home once more. Christopher was back at school for the first time that morning, and Eddie went to the garage to move the last of his blood back to the kitchen. He opened the cooler, and his face fell at the melted ice packs. He’d replaced them only the day before, but it was hotter today than it had been. He didn’t notice heat or cold like he used to before the vampirism, and it only just occurred to him that it was exceptionally warm that day.

With a sinking feeling, Eddie opened the airtight opaque bottles he kept the blood in and sniffed it. He grimaced violently at the smell. It was bad…it was so bad!

There wasn’t anything to do but toss it out. He dumped the spoiled blood down the drain in the kitchen, running a lot of water behind it to wash it and the smell out that was making him gag. He’d have to buy more. It was going to be a major hit to his budget, especially now that he had to buy more than his usual supply without Shannon anyway. He was almost done with his probationary year though, and he would be making much more money as a full firefighter. He could do to it. Even if he went just a little into credit card debt now, it would only be until he got his next paycheck. Yes, he could make this work. He just needed to make another trip to the blood bank.

He decided he would make the trip right after his next shift. He was actually really happy to finally get back to work, even if things were still tense with Bobby being under investigation for not disclosing his issues back in Minnesota. Chimney was still in charge of the station and there were still the bombings happenings, and Eddie didn’t like being sidelined from everyone, Buck especially, when all this was going on. He wanted to be with his…well, his family.

When had he started seeing the 118 as his family? He wasn’t sure. He’d never set out to see anyone he worked with as more important than only coworkers, but Buck had just jumped right into his life with him and Chris. Bobby had sent over food after Shannon’s death. Hen and Karen babysat Christopher when he’d needed to meet with the funeral home. Even Chimney had come by one morning and bullied him out for a game of basketball to take his mind off things in the middle of his parents’ visit. They were a family, and he wasn’t sure what to do with that.

Eddie breathed in the first breath of rightness he’d felt since Shannon’s death when he was finally standing once more in the apparatus bay and in his uniform for a shift. He had one moment of settling in, then the alarms were going off for some new emergency. With a bright grin, Buck grabbed him into a quick hug and welcome back before they parted since Buck was assigned to the ladder truck that shift and Eddie the fire engine.

Eddie was never going to allow him and Buck to be assigned separately ever again.

Harry really wished he were dead. Like really and truly wished he was just dead right now. The pain was so bad that it was unbearable. He’d been under the torture curse many times by this point, and he couldn’t rank the pain against each other. He and the cruciatus were old friends, so while you could never get used to the pain, it was at least expected. It was familiar. This pain, this was something he’d never experienced before. It may or may not be worse than the cruciatus, but he’d take the torture curse any day over a ladder truck lying on his leg. At least he knew what to expect there.

Unfortunately, this desire apparently didn’t count as being ready to meet Death as an old friend because Harry was still there and still in agony. The kid who did this was monologuing about Bobby getting his dad arrested or something, and he thought someone might be trying to talk the kid down. Maybe Bobby? Why was Bobby there?

It really didn’t matter what all was happening because Harry gave himself fifteen minutes. He would stay here for fifteen minutes in agony. At the end of that, he’d summon the Elder Wand, stun the kid, levitate the bloody ladder truck off of himself, then get arrested by MACUSA who would have to obliviate everyone, maybe even do some complex magical ritual to erase the evidence if there were news cameras around filming. He would, of course, be sent back to Kingsley who would send him immediately to Azkaban, do not pass Go do not collect $200. Then Harry could get busy trying to figure out the animagus transformation which he would hope he could get down sometime within the next century and escape from that hellhole.

It was a really bad plan, but it was what was keeping him going right at that very moment. Making the plan was at least keeping him from giving up completely. So, he kept telling himself that he just had to endure this for fifteen minutes. He really didn’t have a way to gauge fifteen minutes though, so whatever, he just kept telling himself that to keep from going insane. Maybe it was fifteen minutes, maybe it was shorter, maybe it was longer, it didn't really matter...

Then Eddie was there. When did Eddie get there? He wasn’t injured was he?

“You’re going to be fine, Buck,” Eddie said in a wet gasp. Was Eddie crying? Why was Eddie crying? Eddie shouldn't cry.

“You can’t leave me. You have to stay here for me and Chris,” Eddie said next, and Harry finally got it. Eddie was asking him to stay.

He couldn’t leave just yet, not from death or getting arrested. He had to stay. Eddie had just lost his wife; he couldn’t make his friend go through another loss so soon. Plus, Eddie didn’t know how to make the crumpets Chris liked for breakfast that Harry kept their kitchen stocked with. In fact, Eddie called them the weird biscuit things, so no Harry couldn’t leave them yet.

Then he was being dragged out from under the truck, and yeah, that was worse. The truck on top of his leg had been much better. Harry screamed, and Merlin he didn’t think he’d screamed at anything, out of pain anyway, since he was fourteen and first held under the torture curse. He may have blacked out for a second, and he really wished it was longer.

He was suddenly in the ambulance now though and hopefully on the way to hospital. Eddie was still there, telling him to stay with him and holding his hand. Damn, he loved Eddie so much. He really wished Eddie wasn’t straight and maybe thought damaged fugitives were hot. This was probably still not the time for those thoughts. Eddie deserved someone less damaged than him anyway. Someone softer...less paranoid...maybe with tasty blood.

Harry looked around the ambulance as the thought struck him. There was so much blood…this couldn’t be good for Eddie.

“I’m sorry,” Harry apologized as he saw the blood on his leg, the blood smeared on Eddie’s arms from trying to help him, and blood really everywhere. “I’m sorry…don’t…it’s probably bad…”

Eddie looked so confused. Harry was being very clear though, he was sure of it. Eddie had to hold it together because Harry wasn’t sure if his blood would be healthy for a vampire. He wasn’t really sure if he was even alive, so maybe it would be toxic…or maybe it was fine. Maybe he’d be a little tasty treat on his way to meeting Death as an old friend…that might actually be a good way to go…

“Never mind,” Harry gasped in pain. “Might be good…”

Eddie still seemed confused and was checking his eyes now with a little flashlight, probably for a concussion. Yeah, he definitely had one of those. Whatever, Harry knew he’d made perfect sense. Eddie was welcome to just do him in right then. It would be better than all this right now at least.

The ambulance pulled up to hospital, and Chimney threw open the doors. Eddie and Chimney moved the gurney he was on, and it jostled his leg. Thank Merlin, Morgana, and Mordred too that he finally passed out from that!

Josh stared in horror at the TV screen while everyone at dispatch watched the bombing and aftermath unfold on the news. That was Buck trapped under the truck…that was his friend. His friend was trapped under the ladder truck while a bomber threatened to blow them all up right there in the middle of the street. Maddie gasped tearfully beside him, drawing his attention to her. Josh put an arm around her. He couldn’t even process his own fear at what was happening to Buck, so he couldn’t imagine what Maddie was going through.

They’d had so little time. Josh didn’t regret breaking off the romantic part of his relationship with Buck, and not just because of the magic. That was the main reason initially, but the relief he saw on Buck’s face when he’d suggested they be friends, was even more telling. They were good friends, they may even be great friends one day, but Josh didn’t think they were destined for a romantic relationship. He did think they had been destined to be in each other's lives for longer than this though.

Seeing Buck pinned under the truck left Josh with a sharp pain in his heart. He couldn’t lose Buck. They were just figuring out how to make this new thing between them work. Buck had come over and set his wards just a few days before, strengthening them to a paranoid extent, and Josh was now more certain than ever that, one, Buck was a much more powerful wizard than he’d even guessed, and two, something really bad had happened to him and maybe Maddie too in their past. He needed more time to be there for his friend. To help him heal from whatever this was. To have a friend with magic who didn’t seem to care in the slightest that Josh wasn’t able to access his own. They could be good for each other.

“He could get himself out of this,” Josh muttered under his breath so that Maddie would be the only one who could hear. He knew it would be really bad, and MACUSA would flip, but he kind of hoped Buck would do it anyway. “Just a couple spells, and he would be free.”

“It’s on national news,” Maddie whispered back wetly. “He won’t. He could, but he won’t. He knows what’s at stake.”

“Oh thank God,” Josh breathed out when all the bystanders rushed over from the sidelines to help the firefighters lift the truck off Buck once the bomber had finally been subdued. It looked like they were actually able to pull him out now.

He and Maddie needed to get busy then because the hospital was dangerous for a metamorphmagus like Buck. It was better to plan ahead than have to get obliviators involved later. “I’ll have then diverted to Cedars,” he told Maddie quickly, already moving over to access a computer terminal. “You need to call ahead and have him transferred to the St. Gertrude ward.”

Maddie frowned. Why did she look confused? She needed to call as quickly as possible. "Hurry, Maddie!"

“The patron saint of cats and gardeners?” She seemed way too confused. Did she not know?

Josh blinked at her in surprise, and not knowing how she didn't know this already. “Who was also a witch…you know, herbology and familiars…the magical ward…?”

“Oh,” Maddie breathed out. How did she not know about the magical hospital ward in LA? Ok, so she’d only been living there about a year, so he supposed that might make sense, but Buck should have known and told her.

“I assume he can hold his changes while unconscious, or he’d never be able to sleep in the firehouse,” Josh continued in his hushed tones while sending the routing information to the ambulance to go to Cedars Sinai in particular. With their trauma center, he was pretty sure that had already been the destination of the ambulance, but he needed to make sure. “No matter how powerful he is, I have a feeling anesthesia is beyond his capabilities to hold his changes through, and that will be really bad if he changes back in the middle of surgery; plus, he shouldn’t be in surgery as a wizard. He has better options.”

Now that Buck was out from under the truck, he had an excellent likelihood of pulling through this since he could be treated magically. The healers in the St. Gertrude ward were the best in the nation. Buck would be fine, but Maddie needed to make this call.

“Maddie?”

She was shaking her head though with a sad look in her eyes. “No, he can’t go there,” she said to Josh’s complete shock.

“Why?”

Maddie was now pulling him into the breakroom though to grab her bag from their lockers. “He can’t go to the magical ward,” she said frantically in a whisper almost closer to a hiss. “He’ll have to do the surgery. I’ll fix him up after or something, but they can’t know he’s a wizard.”

“The healers won’t tell the 118,” Josh frowned, not knowing why this was an issue. “The St. Gertrude ward looks just like the other wards in the hospital, and all the healers are well trained in dealing with no-maj first responders who may bring in magical people. I’ve routed many people there myself on calls when I was able to figure out ahead of time they had magic or had creature blood.”

“You don’t understand,” she shook her head and summoned a potion from the bag after pulling her wand out of a holster on her arm. Josh had never seen Maddie’s wand or seen her use magic before. Something about it shocked him more than it should.

She looked at him, all fear and grief gone from her face. There was only determination and resolve there now. “My brother cannot be identified as a wizard by other magical people,” she said very clearly. “I’m not talking about the 118, though they really shouldn't learn about it either for Statute of Secrecy purposes and all.”

“Oh…” Josh breathed out. That was…what did that mean? Why was Buck in hiding from the magical world? Had he done something? But no…he knew Buck. Buck wouldn’t have ever done anything to need to go into hiding for. Buck was just such a golden retriever of a person. Josh would never believe Buck was in the wrong for whatever this was.

“I need you to get this potion to him and make him take it,” she shoved the vial in his hand. “Too many people will be watching me. I’m the sister. Everyone will expect me to be there to offer support and talk to the doctors. You’re the ex. They won’t expect you to be around as much as me. You can get in, give him the potion, and get back out without anyone missing you.”

That didn’t sound easy in the slightest. How did she expect him to sneak into a secured area of the hospital when he didn’t have any magic or hospital credentials? “What’s the potion?” He asked instead because actually doing this was too complicated to process right now. And, yeah, he was probably going to try to do it anyway. He’d probably get detained by hospital security while making the attempt, but he already knew he’d at least try. He hadn’t had friends who cared for him like Maddie and Buck…well, ever, even though he’d only known them for less than a year.

“I developed it months ago in case anything happened. He’s always ending up in these terrible situations, maybe not exactly like this, but something was going to eventually happen,” she explained, grabbing both their things and heading towards the door. Well, he supposed their shift was probably over by now anyway since it was ending when they learned the bomb went off.

“It’s keyed to his form now…like Polyjuice but for his current form. If he takes that, it’ll hold his changes for about 12 hours without him exerting the magic needed to do it himself.”

“Oh, ok,” Josh nodded because, yeah that made sense if Buck was going to try to pass for a no-maj. If what he suspected was true and Buck’s form was significantly different than his current one, he absolutely couldn’t turn back when a no-maj doctor was looking at him, or Merlin forbid, in the middle of surgery.

“I still don’t know how you expect me to do this…or even why it’s necessary,” Josh frowned even as he got into her car with her and she began to drive off, ignoring the speed limit entirely.

“My brother’s go-bag will be at the station in his locker,” she said…and what? Why did Buck have a bag for if he needed to run?!

“He has an invisibility cloak, and it’ll be in the bag. We’ll stop by there first and grab it,” she continued, and oh…ok, so that was maybe something that could help. He hoped it was a good cloak though because sometimes those were pretty terrible. Anyone with magical knowledge would be able to spot a ripple in magic if the cloak was shitty.  

Josh just looked at the vial in his hand of clear liquid as they got closer and closer to the fire station. He was getting a really bad feeling that he’d stumbled into something much bigger than he could even imagine. He thought he might be too far in to get out now though. “Maddie…I have to ask, why is Buck in danger? Why can’t he see the healers?” He asked just as they screeched to a halt outside the bay doors.

Maddie turned that hardened look on him, and yeah, this woman and seen hardship, and she knew how to handle terrible situations. Josh had never seen someone pull themselves together so quickly and make a plan when anyone else would be spiraling into a puddle of goo. Hell, he’d been spiraling into a puddle of goo while watching the news, and it wasn’t his brother.

Maddie closed her eyes and breathed in deeply before pinning him with what was almost a pleading look. “My brother…he’s innocent. He didn’t do anything wrong,” she began, and Josh was already nodding. That he believed; he knew Buck. “But there is someone very powerful who he trusted…who we all trusted, and we shouldn’t have.”

Josh was there with her now in understanding. He could see that plain as day. Buck would get himself into that situation. “Right, no need to say more,” he opened the car door. They didn’t have time, so he didn’t need more of an explanation. They could fill him in later once Buck was safe. “Let’s get that cloak.”

Maddie looked at him gratefully and a little in surprise, but she smiled and led the way into the station. She cast something that had the firefighter who had been left behind at the station completely ignoring them while she hurried to the locker room. “Alohamora,” she cast and rolled her eyes in exasperation when the locker didn’t open. Josh didn’t know much magic, but even he knew that should have worked.

“My paranoid brother apparently decided to ward his locker,” she explained with a pained sigh. Wow…what was very paranoid.

“Knowing him, I’m keyed into the wards though,” she placed her hand on the locker and, Josh assumed, pushed some of her magic into it. The lock immediately clicked open.

“I’m starting to get the feeling the wards around my apartment may be too strong,” Josh mumbled while Maddie pulled the satchel that he recognized as the one Buck carried on him almost all the time out and shoved her arm all the way into it up to her armpit.

She huffed a humorless laugh and pulled out a silvery cloak. “If you aren’t able to get your DoorDash, tell him, and he can tweak them,” she said as if that was just something to expect when Buck warded your place. Maybe he should have asked more questions before agreeing to Buck performing a whole slew of rituals he’d never seen or heard of in his life…not that he as a squib knew many to begin with anyway though.

“Right…hospital,” he took the cloak and shoved the vial he’d still been carrying into his pocket.

So, this was an excellent invisibility cloak. Not that Josh had many experiences with them, but damn, he was completely invisible! Maddie had been right about her not being the best to sneak in. She’d been rushed as soon as they stopped at the hospital by so many members of the 118 that she had almost disappeared into their midst. Josh had already been wearing the cloak, so he tiptoed around Chimney and Hen to enter the hospital unseen. Even the electronic door sensors didn’t pick him up though, so he had to wait for someone else to enter before being able to step past the automatic doors.

Josh paused at a haunted looking Eddie Diaz who was sitting in the waiting room just staring at his hands like he was on another planet. There was still some blood there on his fingers, like he’d wiped it off but hadn’t had time to wash yet. Josh only paused for second in concern for the man because Maddie grabbed onto Diaz as soon as she got there with the others.

“Come on, Eddie, we’re going to get you washed up. Buck is going to be fine, I promise. He’s going to be fine, just you see,” she steered him right into the men’s restroom, clearly not caring in the slightest that she was going in there with him.

Josh turned away from them and hurried behind a nurse into the emergency room. He followed the hurried activity of the trauma doctors and nurses to where multiple people were cutting off Buck’s pants to get at his leg and hooking him up to all sorts of machines. He stayed out of the way, looking for any opportunity to jump in and dump the potion down his friend’s throat without being run into by one of the medical staff. While he waited, he tried to follow the shouts of blood/oxygen stats and medicines listed, but his medical knowledge was limited to what he could handle on 911 calls over the phone, so he was lost almost instantly.

Josh just stood there and prayed that Buck wasn’t going to turn into a woman right there in the middle of the emergency room while being prepped for surgery. He was still certain he was right in his guess that Buck was trans. It made so much sense. While the magical world was fairly uncaring about sexuality, trans people still faced some bigotry, even though transitioning was actually much easier with potions…or apparently being a metamorphmagus. It also explained Buck and Maddie's estrangement from their parents who were maybe bigots...it didn't explain why Buck couldn't be treated by the healers though...that didn't exactly fit his theory.

He didn’t know how long they had before Buck's magic stopped holding his form, especially with all the IVs and definitely pain meds they were currently dosing Buck with. It was frankly astounding that Buck could hold his form while asleep or unconscious to begin with, but with morphine in his system…yeah, there wasn’t a metamorphmagus alive who could hold that, Josh guessed from the little he knew about the talent anyway.

Josh’s eyes widened when he caught a slight change from where he was studiously looking for anything to happen. It was Buck’s birthmark over his eye surprisingly. It moved slightly!

Everyone was so very focused on his leg, that Josh was certain he was the only one who saw, but it was changing even more right there before his eyes. The red splotch connected and moved up his forehead. Why would Buck move his birthmark? That seemed an odd use of his powers.

The mark started shrinking and then expanding though. The birthmark splintered into branches and stretched out. The red also lightened some into what looked more like a scar than a birthmark. A very, very distinctive scar…a scar that every magical person knew…a scar that even a squib like himself knew on sight!

Josh hurried over, less concerned with being bumped into now because someone would definitely notice the moving birthmark if they looked up for even a second. He opened Buck’s mouth and dumped in the potion as fast as he could. He massaged Buck’s throat so that it would go down and almost passed out in relief when it finally did. He hurried back to the corner of the room and anxiously waited, staring at the lighting scar.

Finally! Finally, the scar clumped back together and moved back into red splotches, splitting and framing his eyebrow once again. The nurses and doctors never saw, thank Houdini and Merlin and even Circe! The medical staff grabbed onto the gurney and hurried Buck out to surgery though, not a second too soon.

Josh just stood there where he'd been left, invisible in the corner of the room in the hospital breathing out to calm his nerves. What the hell situation had he landed himself in?! His panic skyrocketed instead of calming down. Harry freaking Potter was right there in front of him, being wheeled off to surgery!! That was Harry Potter!! Savior of the Magical World! Boy-Who-Lived! Man-Who-Conquered! And inexplicably the man wanted for being the next rising dark lord…!

Josh ran an invisible hand over his face and couldn't hold back the frankly unhinged chuckle that left his mouth. Evan ‘Buck’ Buckley was absolutely not a dark lord in the making! He may not have really known his friend at all, but he did know that! Buck ran into burning buildings using no magic at all to save no-maj people! Freaking Harry Potter was trapped under a ladder truck and didn’t use any magic at all to save this life! What the fucking hell was the magical world thinking labeling that man as a dark lord?!!

Houdini’s rabbit and the hat it came in!! Josh freaking Russo had dated Harry Potter! Most eligible bachelor in the entire magical world for so many years running! He needed a damn drink!

And he needed an explanation because Harry freaking Potter did not have a sister!

“He wasn’t making any sense in anything he said. He just kept apologizing,” Eddie knew he was hysterical, and he couldn’t stop it. He was breathing fast and shallowly while Maddie held his hands under the water, massaging soap under his nails. “Then he just laughed and made even less sense talking about how it might be fine and go ahead…I don’t know what he was thinking or trying to tell me.”

“Eddie, he clearly had a concussion and was in a lot of pain,” Maddie said soothingly, and why was she washing his hands again? Eddie couldn’t remember.

It was a good thing Maddie was washing his hands though, Eddie knew that very well because he was half a second from licking his fingers even as he sat in the waiting room with everyone watching. He hated himself; he really did. Buck’s blood though…it smelled…Dios, but he’d never smelled anything as good. And there had been so much of it in the ambulance.

Eddie had actually easily been able to hold himself together while Buck was in distress. Buck was all that mattered. They had to get him to the hospital. Buck had to hold on and not die on him. He couldn’t lose Buck like he’d lost Shannon. But then Buck had been wheeled off by the doctors, and the smell finally sank in. And Dracula’s first wife! It was glorious!

When it all hit him at once, it was just too much. There was the blood, and the hunger, and the fear, and grief, and the worry…and Eddie just thought he was going insane. He had sat down on the first seat he found and just lost track of himself and time and everything around him. There was too much, and he was overwhelmed. Then there was Maddie.

Maddie had taken his arm and tugged him away. She told him it was all going to be fine. She washed off the blood, and somehow seemed to have gotten most of the blood off his clothes somehow too…and he really didn’t remember how that had happened. Maybe he’d never had blood on his clothes? No, he’d definitely had blood on his clothes. Was this a different shirt maybe…he didn’t even know anymore.

Finally, partially coming back to himself, Eddie actually took in what was happening for maybe the first time. “Maddie…I’m so sorry!” He breathed out realizing this was Buck’s sister! She must be so scared.

“I know,” she turned off the water and grabbed some paper towels. “Buck is strong though. You know my brother. This isn’t going to stop him. He’ll pull through this, and he’ll be fine. That I am certain of.”

“I wish I was,” Eddie just watched her wipe the water off his hands now, still not being able to bring himself to do anything. “His heart was struggling…”

That wasn’t something a person should know without supernatural hearing and an obsession with blood though, was it? Did she notice? He looked up at Maddie who just nodded at him as if that comment weren't exceptionally strange.

“His heart is exceptionally strong though,” she laughed with no actual humor behind it. “An old principal of ours said it was his superpower really. The fact that he could love when anyone else would turn to hate; that his heart was just so big.”

Eddie didn’t exactly see how this connected, but at least she wasn’t calling him on him being able to hear Buck’s heartbeat. He breathed in and finally felt more centered. Then he looked around.

“Uh…Maddie? You do know we’re in the men’s restroom, right?” He asked with a small tug of a sad smile at the woman.

Maddie scoffed and rolled her eyes, tossing the towels in the trash. “Eddie, if anyone cares about me being in here, then they can bring it on. With the mood I'm in, I’ll be more than happy to show them why my high school bully is still afraid of me to this very day.”

Eddie let out a little chuckle and allowed her to lead him back out of the restroom and back to the waiting room with everyone else. He really hoped she was right. Buck had to be ok. He had to live. He had to pull through this…because…because, losing Buck might be worse than losing Shannon…

Chapter Text

Harry couldn’t feel much from his body at all when he slowly came to. He did feel a large hand holding his though, it was strong with callouses from years of hard work. “Ron?” Harry painfully opened one eye and then the other.

“Bobby,” the man responded, and Harry internally panicked.

He wasn’t using his metamorphmagus abilities at the moment, he could tell. Harry felt like he was thinking under water, so definitely strong pain killers. Harry glanced at the arm Bobby wasn’t holding and just almost let out an audible sigh of relief at seeing a tattoo there. The tattoo was what he’d created to move the burn scars from Gringotts’s inhumane security measures into. So, Hermione must have gotten him the holding potion before his changes broke under anesthesia. He only hoped it lasted until he could think clearly enough to hold the changes himself.

Buck looked over and couldn’t help a painful smile at the man who was looking at him with so much fondness it made his heart hurt. He really was so very thankful to have let Bobby into his life and to finally stop trying to push the man away. “Hey,” he breathed out and glanced down at where his entire leg was encased in a white cast and suspended over the bed. “How bad is it?”

Bobby’s face fell at the question. It must be really bad. Buck was concerned, yes, but it looked like he’d only been seen by muggle doctors. Hermione was around somewhere, and he’d prefer to hear her prognosis over anything a muggle doctor could do for him.

“You’ll walk again,” Bobby said firmly as if trying to convince himself of that statement more than Buck.

Ok… he frowned. That wasn’t exactly what he asked. “What about work? Will I be a firefighter again?”

Bobby’s lips thinned, and he squeezed Buck’s hand in both of his now. “You have a long road ahead of you, kid. That’s something the doctors can’t answer right now. You just need to focus on healing now anyway. And I'll be here with you every step of the way.”

Buck glanced up at the bag of something hanging and connected to a needle in his arm. It must be something for pain because his brain wasn’t really processing much. “Maddie?” he asked, because he could really use his sister right now to explain what all was going on through the fuzziness of his thoughts.

Bobby smiled and shifted around to lean more against Buck’s bed, never letting go of his hand. “I sent her to take a break and get some coffee. She’ll be back soon,” he assured him.

Buck nodded and blinked slowly, trying to figure out how he felt about any of this. “They get the guy?”

“Yes…I’m so sorry, Buck,” Bobby breathed out. “That bomb was meant for me. You never should have been caught in this. You weren't even working at the 118 when the kid's father was arrested for arson.”

“Hey,” Buck frowned and squeezed Bobby’s hand. “That’s not how this works…you can’t take the blame for what other people do and their decisions. We learned that in AA, didn’t we?”

Bobby chuckled and ran his free hand over his face. He looked tired, like maybe he hadn't gotten sleep in a while. “I think you’ve been to more AA meetings than a lot of alcoholics have.”

Buck shrugged and closed his eyes because his eyelids were feeling exceptionally heavy right now. “Well, therapy didn’t exactly work out for me, so I appreciated the message and did surprisingly get some things out of it. Good advice and perspective at least.”

Bobby had gotten very quiet, and Buck felt himself drifting. If Bobby’s hold on his hand hadn’t gotten almost painfully tight for a second, he’d think that Bobby might have left. It was nice though. Bobby wasn’t a hand holding person, and Buck was very touchy-feely after a lifetime of being touch-starved, so he appreciated it.

Bobby cleared his throat suddenly, so Buck cracked open his eyes again to keep himself from falling back asleep. “So…Buck, where did you get this?” Bobby ran a finger down the long gash in his arm where Peter Pettigrew had collected his blood to raise Voldemort to life. It had been part of a ritual with a ritual blade, so the cut was essentially a curse-scar, and Buck hadn’t been able to move it or change it into anything else since most of his magic went into doing what little he could to the more noticeable curse scar on his forehead.

He was a little too drugged to have to field these questions, but he had assumed they’d come up eventually. So far, Abby had been the only one who was consistently that close to him who asked the questions. “I was a bit of a daredevil as a kid,” he said, the same thing he’d told Abby when she asked. “I got hurt a lot falling from heights and doing stunts.”

The funny thing was that it was actually true. Those heights he fell from were actually from a broom, and his daredevil tendencies were mainly in quidditch and evading people who wanted him dead though. Even drugged he knew he shouldn’t be that specific.

Bobby raised an eyebrow though in disbelief, and Buck wondered what he’d missed. “Then what about this one,” Bobby turned Buck’s hand he was holding over and traced the writing on the back of it.

That one Buck couldn’t actually explain. The ‘I must not tell lies’ scar was too distinctive and too specific for any story he could make up about it. The truth…well, he had a feeling Bobby would run straight to Athena and have her open an investigation if he said that a teacher had tortured him at school when he was a kid.

Well, the same thing he told Abby then. “I don’t want to talk about it,” he said firmly before closing his eyes again. He never knew what Abby had guessed had happened, and he didn’t need to know what Bobby was thinking either. He just needed his captain to let it go.

There was a long moment of silence while Bobby came up with whatever explanation he would going to make up in his own mind. “Where did you say you were from again?” Bobby asked, and damn, that was not the direction Buck had wanted him to go in his thoughts.

Suddenly, he knew that he needed to protect the Buckley parents. Nothing could blow back on them; they didn’t deserve any of this. Buck’s thoughts scrambled trying to come up with some lie, anything to keep Bobby from thinking he needed to get Athena to look into the original Evan Buckley's parents.

“Hey, little bro,” Maddie said from the doorway, holding two cups of coffee. “It’s good to see you awake; you had us all worried.

Buck smiled and let go of his distress. Maddie would handle this. She’d figure it out for him; she was good that way. “I was just taking a little nap, nothing to worry about,” he joked while his ‘sister’ handed one of the cups of coffee to Bobby.

“Our parents live in Australia now, and they had nothing to do with what happened to my brother,” she told Bobby firmly. Bobby’s eyes widened at the new information they’d never mentioned before. Frankly, Buck was surprised Maddie would offer her own, real parents as a cover for Buck. Not that they would ever come to visit, but still...something about it warmed his heart.

Good, Buck closed his eyes. He could really use another nap. Hermione was awesome. Maybe the Buckley parents should randomly win a luxury cruise. Yeah, he’d do that as soon as he was out of hospital.

“I’m going to stay with him now if you want to go home and shower and get some sleep,” Maddie told Bobby who nodded and sipped his coffee. Buck frowned because now it sounded like Bobby hadn’t left since he’d been admitted.

“I’ll be back in a few hours. Be good for the nurses until then,” Bobby stood and patted Buck’s shoulder before leaving the two of them alone.

Maddie huffed out a sigh and sat down in the chair beside him. “You have to stop doing this to me,” she breathed out. “I know you’re immortal, but I’m not, and you’re going to cause me a heart attack one of these days.”

Harry reached out and took her hand with the one Bobby had only recently abandoned. “Hey, Death wasn’t ready to be best mates with me just yet. I’m kind of high-maintenance as a friend,” he joked, getting a little laugh. “Nice move with getting me the holding potion. How were you able to manage that?”

Hermione gave him an apologetic look, and he was suddenly very worried about what had happened. “So…I gave your invisibility cloak to Josh and had him sneak in and dose you with it,” she admitted with a wince.

Harry just blinked a few times, trying to process all that. Why would Josh have done that for him? 

“Really? Josh did that for me? That’s… wow…”

“He’s a good guy,” Hermione nodded, and Harry knew that very well already. “I haven’t had the chance to talk to him about it after, but he stayed for a while in the waiting room with the rest of us and gave me back your cloak.”

Harry hummed and tried to get more comfortable. “How long until the potion wears off?”

“You have a few more hours,” Hermione frowned at the bag of what was most likely pain killers. “I suppose you probably can’t hold the changes with that in your system, can you?”

He shook his head, and the world spun just a little. “Er, no…can you cut back how much I’m getting?”

Hermione fiddled with it some and nodded eventually. “Yes, I very rarely would need to use an IV with potions, and this doesn't look much different from the ones we used at St. Mungo's. I’m not cutting you off completely, but you should be getting much less in your system now.”

“Awesome,” he said dryly, knowing that meant he was about to be in a hell of a lot more pain. “Recovery from this is going to be a bitch.”

Hermione scoffed. “Please, you’ll be out of here in a few days, and I’m going to immediately banish the bones in your entire leg and regrow them. I already sent off an owl order for a large batch of Skele-Gro when I went to get coffee earlier.”

Harry woke up a lot more at that comment. “What? But everyone will notice I recover too quickly. They'll ask questions.”

“Then fake a limp,” she gave him her patented Hermione glare that said he was being ridiculous. “I’m not letting you do this the hard way when I can fix your leg easily as your personal healer. If you live for a few hundred more years, I’m not going to make you do that with lasting damage to one of your legs. Deal with it. I’ll have to leave the soft-tissue damage already since that’ll be too noticeable to get rid of, so you’ll have some more scars for your collection, but the bones, those we are fixing with magic as soon as I get you home.”

Harry just smiled at her fondly. “So, you’re my personal healer now? I thought your specialty was magical creatures.”

Hermione rolled her eyes. “Well…you kind of count…whatever you are now.”

“Right…” Harry didn’t know what to think about that. He was too tired and drugged to think about it now anyway. Speaking of magical creatures…

“Is Eddie ok?”

Hermione nodded. “He had to go take care of Chris, but he’ll be back by to see you later. He was understandably out of it and worried when I first got here, but I got the blood washed off of him and got him cleaned up. He pulled himself together after that pretty quickly.”

Harry felt really bad about that. He hadn’t meant to bleed all over his vampire best friend. At least he didn’t make Eddie give himself away though. Now, Harry really just needed to close his eyes for a while until the pain meds wore off. “I think I’m going to go back to sleep.”

“You should,” she squeezed his hand. “I let Ron know you’re ok, and he’ll fill in Teddy at school. You have nothing to worry about besides getting well enough to get out of here so I can heal you. Get some rest now.”

“Sounds good,” he mumbled, already feeling sleep take him.

Josh nervously stood outside of Buck’s apartment wondering what the hell he was doing. Part of him wanted to run as fast and as far from all this mess as he absolutely could, but the other part of him, the stronger part, had him raising his fist and knocking. That part of him knew Buck…knew Harry, and needed to be there for his friend.

“Hey,” Maddie opened the door and smiled tiredly at him. “My brother is the absolute worst patient. I hope you know what you’re getting yourself into.”

Josh walked in and took in the loft apartment he’d known so well only days before but now saw in a different light. For some reason, knowing this apartment was Harry Potter’s was different than knowing it was Evan Buckley’s. Maddie had asked him to stay with Buck while she had a shift at dispatch since he was off that day. He was standing there just lost about how he should handle the situation. Maybe he should have planned his more before coming over. What did he even say to these people…the heroes of the magical world.

“Josh!” Buck grinned from the couch and pinned him with pain-filled eyes. “Hey! Thanks for potioning me in the hospital!”

Josh breathed out at where Buck no longer had the cast on his leg which looked much too flat to have bones still in it. “Skele-Gro?” He asked Maddie, thankful Buck wasn't going to have to heal the no-maj way.

“Yeah, there are a lot of bones in the leg and foot,” she breathed out. “Buck has a terrible couple days and a several more doses of Skele-Gro to go. I just need you to stay with him and make sure he doesn’t try to hop around the apartment while I’m at work.”

“Hey! What if I have to pee?” Buck pouted. Wow, did Harry freaking Potter just pout?!

“Have Josh help you hop there. Don't try to do it on your own,” Maddie rolled her eyes and kissed him on the top of the head. Josh never would have guessed they weren't actually siblings if he hadn't figured out who Buck really was. Well, he supposed they actually were siblings, if not biologically. It hadn't taken long to figure out who Maddie really was since she looked exactly the same, and yeah, he could see why and how they were passing as siblings clearly now.

“You know you can drop your changes since it's just us here,” Josh breathed out, deciding to hit this head on instead of pretending like he didn't know. “It has to be easier with what you’re going through to not have to maintain the magic.”

Buck and Maddie both frowned at him. “Uh…” Buck’s eyes cut between them questioningly.

“Were you ever going to tell me?” Josh crossed his arms and looked at them accusingly. They looked at each other again, clearly trying to figure out what exactly he knew. Well, that answered his question. They weren’t going to give anything away that he hadn’t already figured out.  

He huffed in exasperation and went to Buck’s fridge to grab himself a beer; he deserved it. “I think I had a right to know that I was mixed up with Hermione Granger and Sir Harry Potter,” he finally said after opening the bottle and taking a sip. "That's not a small thing when one of you is literally a fugitive."

They both winced, and yeah, they should feel bad. “I’m pretty sure my knighthood has been stripped,” Harry said finally, his accent immediately slipping back to British. And, ok, that was hot.

“Actually, it hasn’t been,” Josh replied and went to sit in the armchair beside the couch. “When I saw your birthmark change into the famous scar, I immediately went to my aunt’s house and dug through her old issues of the papers. She has a bit of a problem with hoarding magical newspapers. Anyway, you were knighted by the no-maj queen, and it seems you made an impression. She refused to strip your knighthood until you are apprehended and questioned.”

“Harry isn’t a dark lord,” Hermione began with a frantic look in her eyes.

“Duh,” he rolled his eyes and decided to let them off the hook. He could tell they were getting very anxious about everything he knew and what he planned to do with that information. “Buck runs into burning buildings to save no-maj people on the daily and doesn’t use magic to do it…of course he isn’t a dark lord. I’m not an idiot unlike all your friends in the magical world. Really, anyone who's met Buck couldn't possibly believe he'd be a dark lord.”

“Those people aren’t our friends,” Hermione frowned with a thunderous look on her face. “If they believe Kingsley’s lies, then they’re no friends of ours.”

“Well, your ex is an asshole,” Josh concluded. “Not me, I’m your most awesome ex.”

Harry snorted a laugh. “Mate, you are so right about that; you have absolutely no idea. Well…Ginny is fine, but still, you’re quickly heading to the top of the list.”

Josh watched while Buck slowly began to change into Harry Potter. He was more than a little sad to see the tattoos disappear since they'd been pretty sexy, and he was very concerned when they all became scars littering his friend’s skin. Blue eyes turned green and blond hair grew to a shocking length and turned almost jet black. Overall, Buck and Harry did look the same on a base level, but all the little surface level changes made him almost unrecognizable.

“Hey,” Harry brushed long black hair off his shoulder. “You wouldn’t happen to be good at cutting hair, would you? Hermione and I are both bollocks at it.”

“Hell no!” Josh shook his head firmly. No one wanted him to attempt a haircut. Harry would probably end up bald. Also…while he normally wasn’t one who went for long hair, it was hot on Harry. “Plus, it suits you.”

“I have to go to work…are you going to be ok staying here now?” Hermione asked him with a concerned look. “We didn’t want to lie to you, but this is a tricky situation…”

“I know,” Josh nodded. “I was very freaked out for a while, but I thought it through. Especially after going through the papers and seeing what all had been printed about you, well, I understand now. Fear is a powerful thing, isn’t it? Why did Minister Shacklebolt turn on you like that anyway?”

Harry looked pained, and Hermione looked murderous. “I left,” Harry finally said, the physical pain of his leg and the emotional pain on his face making Josh just want to hug him.

“Kingsley was an abusive bastard who thought he owned Harry,” Hermione filled in, looking like she’d curse the man next she saw him. “He’ll do anything to get that control back.”

Well, damn. Josh hadn’t seen that coming. “Can I hug you?” He asked Harry instead of all the platitudes he desperately wanted to throw out there.

Harry sniffed back a sob at the question. “Please.”

“I’m so sorry,” Josh stood and carefully wrapped his arms around his friend.

“I’m sorry you got pulled into this,” Harry held onto him tightly and said.

Eventually, they let go of each other, and Josh smiled at both of the war heroes he was still surprised were in his life. “Well, it’s a good thing I’m a squib then,” he concluded. “No one in the magical world thinks I matter in the slightest. I’m invisible. Who is going to think I of all people would know where the most wanted fugitive in the magical world happens to be hiding?”

Hermione pulled him into a fierce hug next, and Merlin, Josh was starting to think this insanity was the best thing that had happened to him in a long time. “You matter,” she assured him. “You matter to both of us so much.”

“Go to work,” he eventually gave her a little shove towards the door. “I’m make sure your pseudo-brother doesn’t injure himself further and gets his next dose of Skele-Gro.”

“The 118 is on shift,” Hermione said in a change of subject, now back to sounding American instead of British. “Don’t let any of them in, especially Eddie, if they stop by for any reason though. Tell them Buck is sleeping or something.”

“Why especially Eddie?” Josh frowned while Maddie grabbed her purse and a tumbler of coffee distractedly.

“He’ll smell the potion, but I’m pretty sure any of them will recognize Buck’s leg is currently boneless,” she said, leaving the apartment and closing the door behind her.

Josh spun and pinned Harry with a questioning look. “Ok, what am I missing? Why would Eddie Diaz be able to smell Skele-Gro? That seems...odd.”

“Er…” Harry’s eyes were wide while he was clearly scrambling to come up with an explanation. “Can you just let that comment go as not my secret to tell?”

Josh crossed his arms because, hell no, he was only barely holding it together enough to be ok with harboring a fugitive. “After all this?” He motioned up and down Harry’s body. “I think I’m on the need-to-know list now.”

Harry wrinkled his nose but finally gave in. “So…Eddie doesn’t know that I know…but he’s a muggle vampire.”

Josh let out a hysterical laugh and plopped back into the armchair. “Of course he is! Is Hen a werewolf now too?!”

“No…but my godson is half-werewolf,” Harry offered, and Josh’s laugh got even a little more hysterical. What even was his very non-magical life anymore?!

“You sure you’re up for this?” Eddie asked with more than a little concern over what he was asking his best friend to do. “I can call around to Chris’s friends’ parents to see if one of them can keep him.”

Summer break had just started, and Chris was just recently out of school. Carla would usually keep him when Eddie had a shift, but she had a doctor’s appointment that day, Pepa had work, and Abuela was in Texas visiting family. Buck had volunteered when Eddie was bemoaning the issue, but Buck hadn’t been out of the hospital long at all, at least in Eddie's opinion.

“I’m fine Eddie,” Buck assured him from where he was limping stiffly from Eddie’s couch towards the kitchen. “My cast is finally off, I have absolutely nothing to do today, and I miss spending time with my best buddy.”

“Come on, Dad!” Chris protested. “I’ll take good care of Buck.”

“See, we’ll play video games, order pizza, and have a guys’ day. Nothing strenuous, I promise,” Buck grinned and crossed his heart from where he was leaning against the doorway to the kitchen now.

Eddie sighed, but he needed this extra shift he’d picked up. He had finally graduated from his probational period and was a full firefighter. Now though, he was in debt between paying for Shannon’s funeral, Chris’s physical therapy, the private school tuition, and the extra blood he was having to buy. His paycheck was a lot more comfortable, but the money still seemed to flow through his fingers like water.

He studied Buck one more time. He was very concerned that Buck was pushing himself too much to recover and get back to work. The cast had seemed to come off faster than it should, and Buck seemed way too mobile for having had a ladder truck on his leg only a couple months before. Eddie wasn’t a doctor though. His medical training didn’t extend to anything after emergency response and battlefield medicine.

“Buck can do my PT exercises with me,” Chris grinned next and used his crutches to stand.

“Yeah, little man. You can show me how it’s done. See, my superman will take care of me, and I’ll make sure he eats and gets to bed at a reasonable time,” Buck grinned fondly at Eddie's son. Eddie knew Chris would be safe with Buck, he just wasn't sure Buck was up to a hyper seven-year-old in his condition.

“Hey!” Chris protested the comment about his bedtime.

“Ok, maybe just a little after your bedtime, but not much,” Buck smirked at Eddie unapologetically.

“Fine,” Eddie gave in because he really did need the help. “You two play a lot of video games though and no rough housing.”

“Yeah!” Chris pumped a fist in the air.

“We got this Eds, you just have a good shift. Be safe,” Buck said, looking a little sad, like he would rather be going with Eddie to work. Eddie understood that completely, but Buck needed to heal. Buck was too breakable. Even with Eddie’s advanced healing, a ladder truck on his leg still would have been devastating. Buck was just a normal person though, and it was a miracle he was doing as well as he was.

“Love you mijo, be good,” he kissed his son’s head and included Buck in the ‘be good’ admonishment.

Buck stopped limping almost completely as soon as the door closed behind Eddie. He was very certain Christopher wouldn’t notice like Eddie would. His leg was still a little sore from all the soft tissue damage, but the broken bones and metal hardware were gone, and all new healthy bones were finally in its place. He and Maddie hadn’t quite figured out how to fake all the paperwork for the department since he’d had to drop his muggle doctor to cover up how quickly and completely he’d healed. Ron would probably help though. He was getting surprisingly and concerningly good at forging muggle paperwork.

Regardless, Buck was going to have to be off work for several more weeks yet or no one would believe he was well. Plus, he would have to recertify as a firefighter since everyone had seen what had happened on the news and the brass knew what he'd been through. Thankfully, his face hadn't been very visible on the news coverage what with a ladder truck on top of him, so his identity wasn't in danger just yet from the magical world. Anyway, it was still going to be a process.

As a silver lining, at least he had time to take care of Chris when Eddie needed him now though. Merlin, but he missed Teddy. They’d gotten to talk on the phone only a few days before when Teddy had gotten off the Hogwarts Express for break, but that just meant that he missed his son even more. It would be a while before Teddy could visit him in LA since Andromeda wanted to spend time with him, so Buck would just have to spoil Chris until then. Spending time with Chris was absolutely never a hardship.

“Ok, little man, I think we have time for one round of Street Fighter before I make us something for lunch, sound good?” He asked Chris, knowing he was going to get his ass handed to him by a seven-year-old at any video game they played.

“You’re on!” Chris grinned as he went over to the video game console to set up the game for them.

“I’m going to grab us something to drink while you get it going. You want water or juice?”

“Apple juice!” Chris called after him.

“You got it!”

Buck rummaged through Eddie’s refrigerator looking for something healthy to cook for lunch since they had already decided on pizza for dinner. Eddie really was bad at stocking his fridge and ordered way too much take-away. Buck had been ‘recovering’ so he hadn’t stealthily been sneaking groceries into the house recently. If Eddie actually ate food when people weren’t looking, he would have realized that Buck always bought much more than he told him he did when he offered to pick up things for Chris.

“Hmm…sandwiches it is, I guess,” he eventually decided and began to take out what they would need.

“Can I have a cookie while you make them?” Chris asked with an adorable attempt at puppy dog eyes. While Chris was very good at them, but was nowhere in the same universe as Teddy who could change his eye color to match Harry’s. So, good try, but Buck wasn't caving.

“Not until after lunch, buddy,” Buck said, laying out the slices of whole wheat bread that Chris didn’t like but Eddie and Buck both insisted on to counterbalance all the pizza and burgers they did give in on quite often.

“But I’m hungry,” Chris whined.

Buck chuckled and put some mayo on the bread. “You can make it five minutes while I finish this. I doubt your stomach is rubbing a blister on your backbone in that amount of time.”

“It might,” Chris replied, but there was definitely amusement in his tone. “Come on, Buck. One cookie won’t spoil my lunch.”

“After,” he stressed and slapped some turkey on the bread. A scraping noise sounded over his head, and Buck’s neck snapped up to look. His eyes widened in surprise at the sight of the box of cookies sliding across the top of the refrigerator and right across the kitchen to Chris’s hand. He checked, but no, he hadn't used any magic at all. So where did the magic come from...?

“What…?” Buck’s surprised eyes met equally surprised and a little scared eyes which were now looking at the box in his hand.

“Buck…I think I did that,” Chris breathed out. He looked up at Buck, and yeah, he was now panicking. “How did I do that?!”

“Oh, love, it’s ok,” Buck’s heart sank, but he held himself together. He put down the knife he’d been holding and hurried over to kneel in front of his best friend’s son. His leg twinged at the position, but he ignored it because this was much more important.

“Bucky, what did I do?” Chris gasped, not getting enough air.

Buck took the box from him and put Chris’s hand on his own chest. “Hey, buddy, feel my heartbeat. Breathe with me, ok. Come on, match your breaths to mine,” he mimed breathing in deeply and letting out the breath.

What were the odds that a muggle vampire would end up fathering a muggleborn wizard before he'd even been changed into a vampire? Harry had learned to stop asking about the odds in his life though. The odds never seemed to matter around him in the slightest.

Chris eventually calmed down and stopped panicking. “Hey, Chris, your dad and mom always told you that you were special," Buck began.

Chris snorted wryly. “Because I have CP.”

“Well, yeah, but that isn’t the only thing that makes you special. You're kind and smart and funny and that doesn't have to be all either,” he smiled. “Sometimes things happen that we can’t explain. Maybe…maybe magic can be real. What do you think about that?”

“Yeah? You think so?” Chris’s eyes lit up at that thought. “You think I might have magic?" Thankfully, kids were so ready to believe magic existed when adults couldn't be convinced of things they saw right in front of them.

“You know…I can’t think of anyone else I think would deserve to be able to use magic more than my best friend, Christopher Diaz,” he said confidently. And yeah, magic didn’t solve everything, but life could be a whole lot easier for a person with CP who could cast spells. This was a good thing…as much as that hurt because it also meant that Harry might have to move on soon, but Chris deserved this even if it meant Harry might not be able to be in his life for much longer.

Chris immediately held out a hand and scrunched up his face, clearly trying to make the bottle of apple juice come to him. Harry couldn’t help his laugh that maybe sounded a little sadder than he planned. “It’s not working,” Chris huffed petulantly.

“I wouldn’t worry about it,” Harry ruffled his hair and took a cookie out of the box with a wink. “Just one.”

“Thank you, Buck!” Chris’s grin was wider than a cookie warranted.

“I bet it’s like a muscle that just needs some training,” he said, trying to make it sound like speculation and not first-hand knowledge. “Keep at it, and I’m sure you’ll be able to control it in no time at all. Maybe just don't try around your friends, only at home. You wouldn't want to scare anyone.”

“Should I tell dad?” Chris asked through a mouthful of cookie, and Buck had to physically pinch himself because he desperately wanted to tell the kid to keep it a secret, but he knew he couldn’t. He couldn’t even ask Chris to keep him seeing it a secret, not and keep from betraying Eddie’s trust in him completely.

Instead, Buck nodded with a smile. “Yeah, I think you should tell him, but don’t be surprised if he doesn’t believe you instantly. You know us adults, sometimes we can be pretty dumb,” Chris laughed at Buck’s comment.

Eddie was a vampire, so he was more likely to believe in the supernatural, but he probably didn’t know about magic as new vampire, so that would still be a shock. “You may end up having to show him before he completely believes,” he added on because, yeah, he could see Eddie needing a little more convincing.

Chris was finally asleep, only thirty minutes after his normal bedtime. Harry stole a beer from Eddie’s fridge and sat on the couch with a tired sigh. He pulled out his cellphone and called a number that had jumped to the top of his recent calls over the past few months.

Harry took a long sip while the phone rang. “Hey? What’s up Buck?” Josh asked on the other end of the line with a little concern in his voice. “You don’t normally call this late.”

Harry winced, not realizing it had gotten so late since he’d started some laundry for Eddie after putting Chris to sleep. “I’m sorry, Josh. Are you busy?”

“No, just watching Drag Race and eating that Fortescue’s ice cream you got me, which is awesome by the way,” Josh chuckled. “What do you need?”

“I just had a question,” he sighed again. “Clearly I’m not American…”

“Which still blows my mind,” Josh interrupted with a laugh.

“Anyway,” he continued. “I may have just witnessed a muggleborn kid’s first accidental magic. Do you know how MACUSA deals with that? Do they wait until the kid’s 11, or do they talk with the family before then to explain things?”

“Why the hell would they wait for a kid to turn 11?!!” Josh sputtered in surprise. “Do they do that in England? Why?!”

Harry sighed. “I really don’t know what's standard in England. No one contacted me before I was about to go to school, but my situation was a little different than normal. My aunt should have told me about magic well before then. I don’t think Hermione was contacted before school though either, but I haven't talked with her about it a lot.”

“Weird…” Josh said, clearly judgmentally at the British magical world. “Well, here someone will be sent to explain things to the family shortly after the magic is registered at MACUSA. It’s a big country though, so it probably won’t be super quick. They’ll definitely get there before the kid is ready to go to school though. Wait…weren’t you babysitting Eddie’s kid today?!! What're the odds a vampire's kid would turn out to be a wizard?!”

“Never ask the odds around me," he laughed dryly. "And yeah, that’s the problem.”

Harry winced as all the implications hit him yet again. “If Chris tells the people from MACUSA that I saw it, they'll want to send an Obliviator to visit me since I'm not family. They’ll find out I’m not a muggle, because like hell I'm going to be obliviated!”

Josh let out a noisy rush of air on the other side of the phone. “What are you going to do?”

“I don’t know…I don’t think there’s anything I can do,” Harry shrugged and took another gulp of the beer. “I won’t ask Chris to lie for me, and telling Eddie is asking him to lie to MACUSA now too. I can't have either of them getting in trouble on my account.”

“Are you running?” Josh asked the question that had been constantly going through Harry’s head all evening. “Maybe you should talk to Maddie. I don’t know what to do, Buck.”

“I know, I just needed to know my time-frame,” he said gratefully. “For now, I think I’ll just go business as usual. You said it would take some time, so maybe Chris will have more accidental magic incidents before then, and he won’t even think to mention that I saw the first.”

“They’ll ask,” Josh said, and Harry had known that too. He could still lie to himself it was a possibility though.

“Then I’ll run when I have to,” he concluded as much as he hated the idea. “I’m not going to run before I absolutely have to though. My life is here now, and I don’t want to give everything up yet again. I’m not going to let Kingsley take you and the 118 from me as well as everything else.”

“I don’t want you to leave either,” Josh said quietly. “Look, I’ll talk to my aunt. She probably knows a lot more about how MACUSA does things than I do.”

“Thanks, Josh. I don’t know what I’d do without you,” he smiled.

“I know; I’m a delight,” Josh quipped, getting a laugh from him.

Harry kicked his feet up on the coffee table and got more comfortable. “So, is Ilvermorny the only magical school in his country? I don’t see Eddie as someone likely to send his son off to a boarding school.”

Josh snorted in agreement even though he only knew Eddie in passing and from Harry's stories. “No, definitely not. There are day schools as well. There’s one here in LA and another up in San Francisco that Chris could floo to daily if it is a better fit. My cousins all went to the one here in LA.”

“Good to know,” he nodded, not that Harry had any say in that decision in the slightest. “Thanks, Josh. I’m going to let you get back to your show now.”

“Good luck, Buck. We’ll figure something out,” Josh assured him.

“Goodnight,” Harry said and disconnected the call.

Harry just sat there for a long while. He wasn’t going to leave his family. He didn’t want to leave. He didn’t see what his options were though. At the very least, he could use the time he had left well and productively though. Chris’s life might be easier with magic, but he was still going to have some accessibility challenges with magic school too, especially with Potions. Chris’s fine motor skills were a bit of a struggle for him.

Harry opened the drawer in the table beside the couch and took out the pad of paper and pen Eddie kept there for notes and grocery lists. He started jotting down some of the things he could help teach Chris before he had to leave, things that he could do without letting it slip he was a wizard. He’d start with helping Chris figure out how to chop and slice and everything for Potions. He’d buy some books on magical accessibility too that he could give Chris right before he had to run if it came to that.

Quills were going to be a problem. Harry would look into alternatives. Ballpoint pens would be the easiest option which already existed, but he would need to look into if there was actually a reason why quills were required beyond tradition. He’d never actually looked into that since he’d always had so many more important concerns way above that in his life.

‘Brooms’ he wrote and underlined multiple times on the paper. Chris would absolutely love to fly, and Harry was going to make sure he found the safest way to make sure the kid had that opportunity…and that Eddie wouldn’t freak out over it. Actually, flying was probably something Chris wouldn’t even need many adaptations to do. It was probably more Eddie who would need to adapt for that.

Well, one step at a time. Buck would have Chris help him cut up some fruit in the morning for their breakfast and start in on teaching him knife safety and the proper techniques then. Chris could tell Eddie later when he got back home about the magic after Buck left, but Buck was almost certain Eddie wouldn’t believe his son until he saw it himself. Hopefully, Buck had a few months before he had to make some very difficult decisions.

Chapter Text

Buck walked up to the very nondescript and beige branch location of the Pacific Heights Bank. It was a simple concrete building with an almost stock logo of a green mountain on it. No one would ever look twice or really have any thoughts about it if they didn’t know what it actually was.

He walked into the overly air conditioned space and up to a bored teller who was clearly doing the Wordle on their phone. “Good morning, what can I help you with today,” the teller almost yawned out when Buck stopped at their window.

Buck absolutely hated this part of any trip to the bank for the danger it caused to his identity, but he’d specifically chosen a time when hardly anyone would be there. He had been assured there were protections in place, but he didn’t trust them. Buck looked around first before leaning forward some and whispering, “I’m here to see my account manager. I’m Harry Potter.”

To the woman’s credit, her expression didn’t change in the slightest at his name. She clicked a few keys on her keyboard and hit a button to open a door in the teller stand beside her. “Come on through, they are expecting you,” she motioned him to the door in the back before going right back to her phone.

Buck took in a deep, steadying breath and stepped through the door which looked like it led to a bland hallway before it felt like he was drowning, then stretched thin, then too heavy and he landed sharply in the main bank’s lobby. Every single time, it amazed him to see the lush greenery, water features, colorful birds, and cool ponds in the oasis of nature which was the Sidhe bank. He was absolutely certain he was no longer in California, and a little worried he might not even be on Earth anymore.

Gringotts was thankfully not the only magical bank in the world. After the war, the Goblin Nation had very clearly and viciously informed Harry, Ron, and Hermione that their business was no longer welcomed nor appreciated after robbing the place and stealing their dragon. The three were frankly lucky they weren’t facing legal action or violence, which was probably only because they’d literally stopped the war. However, after having been unceremoniously banned from the bank, the three of them stood on the marble steps in Diagon Alley with everything from their accounts in small shrunken trunks and just looked at each other in bemusement, wondering at what they were going to do now.

“Well,” Ron had sighed first in resignation. “I guess we have to go deal with the Sidhe then, unless you would rather the Vampires. Personally, I vote vampire since at least I know how they would kill me, but the sidhe have more stringent privacy and secrecy policies, so whatever…”

Hermione and Harry had just gaped at him. “There are other banks?” Harry eventually asked.

“Er, yeah…you didn’t know that?” Ron frowned like they should have realized this, and Hermione looked ready to punch him. One of these days, Ron was going to realize the privilege he held as a pureblood wizard, but that day had yet to arrive. “Us British mages all pretty much use Gringotts, but magical creatures tend to use the sidhe banks except for muggle vampires who have their own system. Even magical vampires use either the sidhe or Gringotts though usually.”

And that was how Harry, now Buck, had decided to open all his accounts with the Sidhe, which turned out to be exceptionally lucky since they didn’t care in the slightest that he was now a wanted fugitive from most of the magical world. Honestly though, they were much scarier than the goblins since their rules were stricter, they didn’t care who he was in the slightest to bend any of them for him, and if any were broken…well, no one would ever hear from him again or know what had happened to him. Also, there were a lot of unspoken rules that Buck had to learn from a deep dive into the Sidhe race with Hermione or he would have broken them on their first meeting…and again, never be seen or heard from again.

All in all, it really wasn’t that bad though. Buck knew his money was safe, his investments were well cared for, and Kingsley could never track him down through the bank or touch his accounts no matter what he tried. Plus, if he were to ever be taken by his account manager for an imagined slight, well, the Sidhe world really wasn’t that bad overall. Not that he wanted to be taken from his life, but hey, this paradise wasn’t Azkaban or a goblin dungeon at least.

“Sir Harry,” he was greeted cheerily by his account manager Darragh. The man was tall, well-built, and looked about Buck’s real age with just a very slight tinge of green to his skin which wouldn’t be noticeable if a person wasn’t looking. When he smiled though, his teeth were much sharper than any normal human’s would be and gave his entire look a predatory feel. When he smiled, Buck never could determine if the man was flirting with him or deciding if he’d taste better with barbeque sauce or ranch dressing. All in all, still might not be the worst way to go, the Sidhe were quite fit.

“Good to see you again, Darragh,” Buck shook his hand with a smile and followed his manager to an intricately carved wooden desk over by a bubbling water feature in the corner. He stepped through a powerful privacy ward around the desk and settled in the comfortable green, velvet chair.

“Coffee, tea?” Darragh asked as usual with that dangerous smile turned up even another notch.

“Nice try,” Buck snorted a laugh and rolled his eyes at the question. Rule one of dealing with the Sidhe, never take any food or drink offered. If you did, then you would never be leaving their realm again for the rest of your life. He’d been tempted a couple times to take Darragh up on his offer of tea when things were at their worst with Kingsley, but he could never leave Teddy.

Darragh just shrugged and sat with an unrepentant grin. “Can’t fault me for trying. I do quite enjoy your company.”

Buck just smirked at him because he was immortal, and one of these days, that offer to join another immortal race may just be too tempting to pass up. “Well, keep asking, maybe I’ll change my mind eventually. I do quite like the new waterfall over there,” he motioned to a very beautiful addition to the corner of his manager’s office-area.

Darragh chuckled in amusement and pulled Buck’s file from a desk drawer. “What can I help you with today, Sir Harry? Do we have a new investment opportunity you would like to add to your portfolio? That one with the Longbottom Exotic Plants has been doing well recently. I believe they are cultivating a new line of fast-growing mandrakes.”

“That’s good to hear, but not this time,” he leaned back and got more comfortable. This realm really was exceptionally calming. He knew he couldn’t get any more comfortable though because it was all designed to make him fall asleep, and if he did…again, not leaving ever.

“Today, I need to set up a new trust account,” Buck explained. “Like the one I have for Teddy.”

“Ah, yes…Lord Black’s account,” Darragh pulled another file from within Buck’s account files. “Who is this trust account for?”

“It’s for a young muggleborn wizard in the United States, Christopher Diaz,” Buck explained while Darragh pulled out the necessary paperwork. “I also need you start in on the paperwork to officially mark him as under the protection of the Potter family…as meaningless as that is currently. Hold off on filing it with MACUSA yet though.”

That protection had meant a lot back before the world turned on Harry. Now though, it only really gave Chris status as part of a magical family instead of as a muggleborn. That didn’t matter as much in the United States as if did in Britain, but still, it would give him some extra legal protection, have solicitors more willing to work with him if he ever needed one, and actually made Eddie safer from the magical word’s discrimination by extension as well. If/when Buck had to run from his life in LA, he would file it immediately, but filing it now would give his location away to MACUSA.

“How much are we setting aside for Mr. Diaz in his trust?” Darragh asked. Buck’s account manager was amazing at not questioning any of Buck’s decisions and just rolling with them, as odd as they sometimes were. That might be a sidhe thing, but Buck really only ever dealt with Darragh, so he wouldn’t know.

Buck had thought about it, and he knew he was doing this behind Eddie’s back which was more than a little questionable. He had no actual blood or legal claim to Eddie’s son, but Buck was actually Harry Potter, and he was a part of the magical world and knew what it was like to be thrown into an entire culture and world you knew nothing about. It was the least he could do to make sure Chris had every opportunity to succeed and all the protections he could offer him. Eddie would eventually learn about it, but probably not until Chris was eleven and starting at a magical school. Buck could deal with the fall-out then, especially since he’d very likely be on the run and with a new identity by that point.

“Make it the same as Lord Black’s,” Buck told Darragh firmly. “All the same stipulations and protections as well. Christopher will most likely be going to a day-school in Los Angeles instead of a boarding school, so you may need to change any wording if the paperwork specifies Hogwarts tuition or housing…add in transportation though. If he decides to floo somewhere daily, I want the floo powder covered.”

Darragh nodded while his quill scratched across the parchment in an intricate language Buck would never even attempt to understand. Buck always cast the standard translation spell at anything he was asked to sign at the bank though because, again…there was usually a clause that would have him committing to spending the rest of his life in the Sidhe realm.

They were nothing if not relentless and consistent. It was a bit of a headache, but he’d known all this going in, and he’d only ever been treated with exceptional respect, privacy, and care, so he viewed the annoyance as worth it. Hermione was onboard with the Sidhe as well for all her banking, but Ron had definitely gone with the muggle vampires who he’d said at least only wanted his life or blood and not his entire self. Maybe he should mention the vampire bank to Eddie if he ever decided to tell Buck he was a vampire…maybe.

“Sign here and here,” Darragh pointed at two lines.

Buck translated and checked over the paper, crossing out the line selling his existence the the Sidhe with a smirk. “I’m not Christopher’s legal guardian,” he frowned at the next line which listed him as such. He was listed as Teddy’s legal guardian at the bank for financial reasons, but not with the ministry because of Andromeda’s custody. He didn’t have the same relationship with Christopher though as he did Teddy.

Darragh shook his head. “No, with the Sidhe Nation, you will be listed as his legal guardian because we do not deal with muggles here,” Darragh corrected.

“His father is a muggle vampire, does that make any difference?”  Buck frowned, really thinking Eddie would have a major problem with this when he eventually learned of the trust account. It kind of sounded like he was taking Eddie’s kid, even if it was only for banking purposes. That definitely wouldn’t go over well.

Darragh nodded and took back the paperwork, making a few changes magically. “You can both be listed as his legal guardians then since he is a creature, but you must still be listed as a guardian for us because you are the account holder and the magical party.”

“Wouldn’t his father need to sign off on that?” He frowned next because even if this was only for the Sidhe people, that seemed like a weird thing that he could just be assigned custody of a child that wasn’t his own even if it didn’t really mean anything outside of the Sidhe.

Darragh just smiled, showing all his teeth. “His father has no dealings with the Sidhe. Our dealings are with the Potter family, and Christopher Diaz is now a member of the Potter family for my people. Sign here,” he tapped the paper again a little impatiently this time.

Buck frowned and translated it once more. Everything was above board this time, and he wrote in ‘Edmundo Diaz (vampire)’ as a secondary guardian as odd as that was. Eddie was so going to kill him.

Eddie was going to kill him even more when Buck read the second piece of parchment he was to sign. He was now the official legal guardian of Edmundo Diaz (vampire) now as well. “But he’s an adult,” he tried to protest.

Darragh clearly didn’t care. “You have taken on this family, so they are yours now in accordance with Sidhe law. If they break one of our laws, they are your responsibility.”

Ok, so that was nice at least. Clearly, Buck was never going to let either Eddie or Chris deal with the Sidhe on their own, but at least they couldn’t be made to stay eternally in the Sidhe realm if they broke a law now, and no sneaky clauses could be added into anything they signed. All in all, that was probably for the best. He supposed he could handle Eddie’s ire for both him and Christopher being listed as part of his family for that added safety. Actually, maybe he should ask Hermione if she wanted to be listed as part of his family then too now that she wasn’t with Ron, she really didn’t want to spend the rest of her life with the Sidhe.

“Wonderful, now this is for Mr. Diaz’s tuition, incidentals, living stipend after graduation, and coverage for any future apprenticeships or mastery courses,” Darragh passed over next, and Buck sighed after translating and picking through his new contract. It was all worth it to know Chris was set up for success in the magical world now even or especially if anything happened to Buck or Eddie.

“Dad, I can get it down for you. I have magic now,” Christopher said, pointing at the box of cereal he wanted Eddie to get for him, but Eddie currently had his hands full trying to fix coffee and text with Carla who seemed to suddenly have to leave town again to help with her sick father. The man had been in bad shape recently, and Carla had been trying to juggle everything with her job and relatives. He assured her vehemently that she should go and be with her family, that they would be fine. Dracula, but summer break was very inconvenient for childcare!

“Just give me a minute, mijo,” Eddie said as patiently as his stressed nerves would allow. He wasn’t sure where this new magic thing had come from, but Christopher had been adamant about it for a few weeks now. Maybe Buck had showed him a magic trick, and Chris had latched onto it or something, or maybe it had been a movie. He sent off a quick message to Buck while feeling very guilty about using his best friend’s medical leave to his advantage once again.

Duh! Bring him by! I'd love to spend the day with my best friend! Buck just sent back immediately when Eddie asked if he could watch Chris while Eddie went on shift. Buck was…well, he was a lifesaver. It wasn't the first time Eddie had wondered what they would do without the guy.

Chris made some kind of grumbling noise, and Eddie sighed tiredly. He took in a calming breath and turned to finally get the cereal box. “Chris, I said…” he trailed off as the box floated off the top of the refrigerator and down to the hand of his very smug-looking kid.

“See!” Christopher crowed with a loud and teasing laugh.

Eddie just…what the hell just happened! He just stared at whatever the hell was going one. Did Chris…? But…how? Did Eddie somehow do this to Chris by spending so much time with him? But no, Eddie didn’t have telekinesis and none of the very few vampires he knew had ever mentioned it. Also vampirism wasn't catching...but then how...?

Chris just giggled and poured the cereal in his bowl. “Buck said you probably wouldn’t believe me until you saw.”

Eddie brain screeched to a halt once more before he slowly knelt down to be more eye-level with his son.  “Buck saw you do that?” He asked, not knowing what this all meant. Why hadn’t Buck said anything?! Buck should have told him!!

Chris nodded and shoved a Cheerio in his mouth. “Yep! A few weeks ago.”

“And what did Buck say when he saw you move something with your mind?” Eddie thought his eyes were probably wider than they’d ever been in his life. Like, yeah, he was a vampire, but magic that something else! How did a person even wrap their minds around that?! And how did Chris have it?!

Chris shrugged. “He said to tell you but not be upset if you didn’t believe me until you saw it. He said adults can be dumb,” he giggled again at the end, clearly communicating that that applied to Eddie.

Eddie took in a deep breath. Ok, so Buck hadn’t told him his son was apparently magical in some form or fashion. But Buck was right, and he hadn’t believed until he saw it. Dios mio, but honestly, he wouldn’t have believed Buck if he’d told him either.

“Did Buck seem…freaked out?” He finally asked, trying to not sound freaked out himself.

Christopher firmly shook his head, munching on his Cheerios. “Nah, Buck said I’m special, but he already knew that, so I’m just more special now.”

Damn, but how did Buck always handle these things better than Eddie did, and Buck wasn’t even a dad? Well, he absolutely wasn’t going to let Buck upstage him in this. “Well, he was absolutely right!” Eddie smiled and kissed the top of Chris’s head. “I don’t know what all this means, but it definitely means you are extra special, just like we already knew.”

Christopher rolled his eyes and went back to his cereal, clearly more concerned with his breakfast currently. Eddie was suddenly very glad they were going to Buck’s apartment that morning. He needed answers, or at least someone to freak the hell out with!

He glanced up at the clock. Dracula’s balls! They were already late!!

Just one more week. Buck only had one more week before he could get back to work as a firefighter. He’d had to take a ridiculous amount of time off because it would have seemed questionable and concerning if he’d taken less with the injuries everyone had seen. All the soft tissue damage in his leg was finally healed now, though he did have some quite impressive scars left. And the bones in his leg had literally never been healthier since they were brand new. Buck was going insane sitting around his loft doing nothing now.

Well, he wasn’t actually doing nothing he supposed. He’d done the bank stuff. He'd talked to Teddy on the phone a lot. He’d been teaching Christopher potions under the guise of cooking classes. And he’d found a treasure trove of books on accessible magic and specifically cerebral palsy and spellcasting. Maddie had helped him find a mage in Cleveland who had CP and researched it in particular.

Annoyingly, Maddie and Chimney had even dragged him along as a third wheel on way too many of their dates recently. Chimney at least was clearly concerned he was going to become a recluse during his recovery. Buck was doing fine though, really. Even Molly Weasley was teaching him how to knit over video call when Ron got tired of him calling all the time and passed his cellphone off to his mum. Buck had about a third of a scarf currently, and it wasn’t half bad if he did say so himself.

Yeah, ok, he was going crazy.

Thankfully, he’d been able to recertify to be a firefighter and just passed the last of his exams the day before. He was absolutely not petty enough to have looked up the records Eddie had set to intentionally break them…who was he kidding, he was definitely that petty. He’d also sent quite a few gloating texts to his friend already about it. It really had to be eating at Eddie who was a vampire and thought Buck was just some little old normal human. Ah, the small joys in life…

Speaking of the bloodsucker…Eddie’s key scraped in his lock. Harry rolled his eyes and magically changed his look from ‘Harry’ to ‘Buck’ instantly. Eddie didn’t need to use the key since he was integrated into Buck’s wards, but Eddie didn’t know that and used the prop key all the same every time he came over. At least he felt welcome to just walk into Buck's space, and the key sound did at least give Harry a heads up to make sure his appearance was correct.

“Sorry, sorry, I’m running late. I gotta drop him off and run,” Eddie ushered Chris quickly into the loft.

Chris looked at Buck and rolled his eyes. “Dad is never on time.”

“Coffee is on the counter,” Buck motioned to where he’d made Eddie a travel mug of coffee just the way he liked it, knowing his chronically late friend would be cutting it close. Christopher wasn’t wrong.

“Que Dios te bendiga!” Eddie breathed out in a rush of gratefulness and hurried over to the coffee.

“Be safe at work. We’ll find something fun to do. Hey Chris, how about going to a movie today?” Buck called over to his shoulder to where Chris was already setting himself up on Buck’s sofa to find a cartoon to watch.

Eddie walked to the door, but paused with a seriously look on his face. “Hey, Buck…when I get back, can we talk?”

That looked…concerning. What had he done? There was no way Eddie had found out about the bank, right? If MACUSA had already stopped by to explain magic, it wouldn’t be Eddie at his door but an obliviator. So, what had happened?

“Yeah, man, of course. Anything wrong?” He asked as lightly as he could make his now racing heart say it.

“No, no,” Eddie waved him off with a smile over to Chris. “Love you, Chris!”

“Love you too, Dad!” Chris called back even as he flicked through the channels.

Eddie scoffed and rolled his eyes. “Get my kid out into some daylight at some point, yeah?”

Buck just laughed because maybe whatever this was wasn’t actually terrible. “Yeah, I can do that.”

Well, this definitely counted as daylight. Buck stood with Christopher leaning between himself and the railing at the very end of the Santa Monica Pier. It had been a much too beautiful day to go to a movie, and Eddie was right, Chris was starting to look pale, and he wasn’t even the vampire in the family.

They had a blast riding the rides and playing all the games that were definitely rigged. Buck had used just a little magic to turn a few of them in their favor though. Christopher even had a large plushie now that took up half the bench he was standing on currently.

“So, good day? You going to give me a five star rating?” Buck grinned at his ray of sunshine enjoying the view of the ocean.

“Yeah, maybe even six,” Chris breathed out. “I’m going to miss our days when you go back to work with Dad.”

Buck hadn’t thought of that. They’d had a lot more time to spend together since he’d been off work and not actually having to stay home and heal. He had babysat quite often recently when Carla was busy or it was her day off. As much as he really wanted to go back to work and be with his family again, Chris was also his family…now literally at least according to the Sidhe Nation.

“Hey, we can still do Buck and Chris days,” he assured his little friend. “I’m not abandoning you. I might be at work more, but we’ll still go to the zoo and the aquarium, and I’ll keep teaching you how to cook.”

Chris grimaced because he still wasn’t sold on cooking, but Buck was determined Chris's knife skills would be better than his own when he first started Potions. “I suppose I should learn to cook since Dad is hopeless,” he said in a long-suffering tone.

“That’s the spirit!” Buck just grinned. Eddie probably would be a better cook if he actually could taste food as much as a normal human these days. The guy was single handedly keeping the hot sauce industry afloat currently though. Absently, Buck wondered if a person could eat enough peppers to make their blood taste spicy to a vampire.

“Buck…where did all the water go?” Chris asked suddenly, and Buck turned and immediately couldn’t think anything except for fuck!

“Tsunami!! Run!!” Buck yelled at everyone around them, grabbing up Chris and turning to run as fast as he was able.

Everyone ran, jostling each other, screaming, knocking others out of the way. Harry would have apparated them away, but there was no way with that many people that he wouldn’t splinch himself, Chris, and probably five other people in the attempt. So, he ran…

They weren’t going to make it. He could feel the wave like fear pricking at the back of his neck. Harry dove into one of the wooden stands and turned to Chris. Wandlessly he cast a tracking charm on the kid followed by a bubblehead charm and a protection ward. Before he could do the same for himself, the wave hit…

It felt like concrete slammed down on him, and Harry was tossed against pieces of the pier and crushed by the water. He tried to claw his way to the surface. He had to find Chris. His lungs screamed…and with a glance of a white train station, Harry Potter died.

“Merlin…” Maddie breathed out as she watched the tragedy unfolding on the news playing on the small TV at 911 dispatch.

“Shit,” Josh echoed from beside her. “I’m so glad my aunt is out of town today, or she would have been there reading tarot.”

Maddie pulled her phone out of her pocket suddenly and checked it because she had a very bad feeling. Her Harry senses were telling her that her friend was in danger. She breathed out a sigh. She must be wrong. It was only paranoia.

“Buck and Chris went to a movie,” she said in relief when she pulled up the picture they’d sent from a diner that morning. It was just Harry’s luck to be caught in something like this. Thankfully, for once, he was far away.

“Chimney is about to have a rough day,” Josh put a hand on her shoulders. “We should get to the phones, they’ll ring any second now.”

“Somedays…today…I wish the statute wasn’t a thing,” she whispered lowly as she followed her friend back to their stations.

“Maddie, even magic isn’t going to save someone in that,” he motioned back at the TV grimly.

“Chris and Buck went to a movie, right?” Bobby asked Eddie worriedly as they stood, taking in the destruction around them.

“Thank God, yes,” Eddie breathed out in relief.

“Come on,” Hen clapped a hand on Eddie’s shoulder and headed to one of the boats. “There are a lot of people out there who need us.”

“Let’s go!” He nodded firmly. Eddie vowed to use all of his vampire strength and stamina that day without questioning if anyone would notice at all. He’d do everything in his capability to help the victims of this disaster.

Harry breached the surface of the water and took in a breath, his recently dead lungs on fire. “Buck!” A small voice yelled in fear.

Harry whipped around, treading water to see Christopher clutching a light pole with a shimmer of magic still around his head from the bubblehead charm. “Hold on! I’m coming to you!” He yelled, kicking his legs and swearing that he was going to get Chris out of this. Even if he died fifty more times, Christopher was going to make it out of this safe and whole.

Harry finally had Chris in his arms and hoisted him up on top of the 136’s firetruck ironically enough. It seemed the most stable thing around them. Unfortunately he knew intimately well just how much one of those things weighed, and yeah, they'd be safe there. “Are you ok? Anything hurt?”

“I’m fine,” Christopher assured him, still trying to catch his breath. “You have…you have magic too!”

“Yeah, superman,” Harry held him close and kissed his wet hair. “Yeah, I have magic too. I’m going to use it to get you out of this, I swear. You’re going to be ok. I promise, you’re going to make it through this.”

“I know,” Chris told him without an ounce of disbelief. “I know, because I’m with you.”

Everyone had always looked to Harry to save the day. When he was child, the entire world looked at him to rescue them. He had carried the weight of everyone’s lives and expectations for so long, and it had weighted him down. Not a single time in his entire life though had that expectation felt so light. Christopher believed Harry would save him, and Harry found that Chris’s belief was one of the most important honors he’d ever been bestowed.

With a nod, Harry renewed the protection ward and tracking spell around his charge. “Now, don’t tell anyone we meet today about the magic, but maybe you can help me pull people towards us. Can you say ‘accio’ for me?”

“Akeeo?” Chris frowned.

“Close,” he laughed. “Accio…”

“Accio,” Chris tried again.

“Great!” Harry beamed at him. “Now, just like you moved the cookies before, try to feel that feeling, and say the word. It gives the magic direction.”

He didn’t really think Chris would be able to do anything, especially without a wand, but accidental magic was a powerful thing, and this was a high stress time. Harry would try to fish whoever came by them out of the water, and if Chris could help pull them towards the firetruck even a little, then even better. “Now, focus on that woman while I go try to get her,” Harry pointed at the woman swimming their direction. “Stay safe, and hold on tightly.”

“Accio,” Chris’s face scrunched up in concentration as he focused everything he had one the woman.

Harry climbed down and grabbed onto the firehose to pull it across the street for people to grab onto. They’d make it through this, and Harry would get Chris back to Eddie. Eddie had trusted him with his son, and Harry would defy Death himself…again…to get Chris back home.

Chapter Text

Harry was tying off the firehose to a light pole before he even thought to check his appearance. Merlin! He couldn't believe he hadn't checked before! He’d died several times in his life and had kept his changes though. For instance, when Kingsley had definitely killed him in their final confrontation, Harry’s hair hadn’t grown out to his knees but stayed short. So, it was with some hope that he raised his hand and felt short hairs on his head. He breathed out a sigh of relief before helping the woman who was swimming towards him up onto the truck with Chris.

Thank Merlin that it seemed time was the main factor in losing the changes…well, that and muggle anesthesia which suppressed his magic, so understandable there. His magic never did leave his body when he died though, because he wasn’t really gone, or only was for a second or whatever…Harry really didn’t understand what happened to him when he 'died.'

“You ok, buddy?” Buck asked as soon as they were safely up on the truck, and he could check in with Chris again. Chris didn't have any injuries beyond a few scrapes and bruises miraculously.

“Yeah,” Chris breathed out in a sigh. He didn’t seem to be doing much at all with the accio charm, but Buck hadn’t really thought he’d be able to anyway. It was more giving Chris something to do and wishful thinking.

“What happened here?” Chris ran a finger across Buck’s forehead, and he held in a swear at what Chris must be tracing. That damn scar just didn’t want to stay gone; it was the most stubborn part of all his changes. “Did that happen today?” Chris looked confused at the old scar, which yeah, must have been really confusing since it was obviously not new but hadn't been there before.

Buck closed his eyes and let his magic change it back into a birthmark. The woman wasn’t paying them any attention; she was helping a man up on the truck who’d grabbed onto the firehose he’d tied off. “Better?” He opened his eyes and asked. Chris’s face did something between confusion, awe, and concern. Hopefully in all the trauma the woman wouldn't realize it had changed.

“It’s gone…you did that with magic?” Chris frowned. “Why? It's really cool, like a lightning bolt.”

Buck kissed the top of his head and adjusted Chris’s glasses that had surprisingly stayed around his neck through the waters. “It’s a long story, superman. How about I tell you once we’re out of all this and safe on dry land?”

Chris gave him a solemn nod before pointing at another woman who was having trouble getting to the truck. “Buck, she needs help.”

“I got it, buddy.” And Buck was back at work getting as many people as possible out of the waters and up onto the truck and safe.

Harry Potter and Buck Buckley, neither one had needed to know anything about tsunamis. England definitely didn’t get them, and why would he have thought California would? Like yeah, it was a possibility, but who would plan for a tsunami?! However, he did understand basic laws of nature, and if the water came in, then it would need to go back out again. So, Buck knew he had to get all these people safely on the truck as quickly as possible in case there was either another wave or in case the waters quickly receded.

By the time Buck was back up on the truck and hugging Chris close to him, he was pretty cut up from all the debris in the water. Hermione was going to have a time of it to heal all this. Even if his healing spells weren't shite, he couldn't use any of them with all these muggles around him. Well, he was pretty sure everyone were muggles on the truck, but that wasn’t guaranteed. Any creatures or mages, like him, might have been too surrounded by others to apparate, or weren’t powerful enough to be able to, so there was always the possibility there were other magical people about, trying to survive like everyone else.

“Why didn’t you tell me you had magic too?” Chris asked quietly while they waited for the waters to go down enough they could get back off the truck. Buck glanced around, but no one was listening to them, all caught up in their own fear and anxiety.

Buck whispered another couple wandless spells to keep Chris protected and to track him if they were separated, worrying that the ones he’d already placed would either fade off or wouldn’t be strong enough. It was the only thing keeping him sane right now. Eddie was going to kill him for taking Chris to the pier, and Buck didn’t blame him in the slightest. Eddie trusted him with his kid, and Buck had almost gotten him killed!

He wasn’t sure what to tell Chris, especially not here where they could be overheard. “Shh, it’s a secret,” Buck whispered to him. “I’ll tell you when we can talk, and others won’t hear. Can you keep it a secret until then?”

Chris wrinkled his nose. “Like…don’t tell dad?”

Buck shook his head firmly. No, he’d never want Teddy to keep anything this big from him, and he would never ask Chris to do that to Eddie. “No, buddy, you can tell your dad anything, but we can’t just tell anyone here,” he motioned to everyone else on the truck.

“Ooooh,” Chris breathed out with a nod. He leaned his little head against Buck’s chest. “You saved me. Thank you, Buck. I was under the water, but I could still breathe.”

Buck just kissed the top of his head again. “You save me and your dad every day, so it was the least I could do. Now…I spy with my little eye, something that is…brown.”

Chris giggled and blinked around him. “Wood?”

“Nope, try again,” Buck laughed.

A surge hit the truck when the waters began to recede, and Buck jumped to the side with everyone else to try to pull in the group of people pushed their direction from wherever they’d been holding on for their lives more inland than them. Everything was so chaotic. Buck leaned down and pulled a man up to grab onto the truck, and another surge hit.

The truck shifted and floated to the side just slightly, enough to make him stumble. The protection spell around Chris tugged at him, and Buck instinctually reached his arm back grabbing onto his own magic to tug Chris forward. He overcompensated though in that pull.

It was almost in slow motion as he saw Chris stumble back onto the truck from where he had been falling off a half second before, while Buck passed him, falling the other direction from the backlash of his magic. Buck fell with relief that Chris was back on the truck and a sinking feeling that he knew he wasn’t going to be able to catch himself.

He hit the water hard, and there was probably a piece of a sign or wood or something that he’d hit going down as well. Buck was certain he blacked out for a second before he sputtered back up to the surface, coughing out water, and scrambled to find purchase on anything solid enough to grab onto. He really wasn’t the best swimmer. That lie about having done Navy SEAL training to explain his intensive auror training was going to come back to bite him in the ass one of these days. In reality, Harry had really only swam a couple times since the second task of the tournament. It was all bad memories.

Buck was going under again, and he was certain he was going to die yet again that day, until something stopped him. It felt like a rope was around his chest, holding him in place and keeping him from sinking again. Buck looked, but there was nothing there around him. He glanced behind him and saw a little hand reaching his direction and an intense look on Chris’s face way back on the firetruck.

Merlin’s balls, Chis was going to be excellent at Charms. Buck might need to add more money into his mastery funds to train with a true Charms master if he wanted to go that route later. That was years down the line though, but Buck was suddenly very happy he’d taught the kid accio.

Now that he had the time to breathe, Buck was able to reach a car whose roof was just above the water line. He grabbed on and pulled himself painfully on top of it. The rope around his chest loosened and disappeared. Once he was up to safety, Buck look back at the truck, just in time to see Chris pass out into the arms of one of the other survivors from his overuse of magic. Frankly, Buck had been surprised he could hold on that long, it was so very impressive. Now, he just had to get back to the truck and hold Chris so tight that nothing bad could ever happen to him again.

Chris had used too much magic in helping him and probably in keeping himself swimming earlier when they’d been separated in the first wave. While the firetruck group stumbled inland once the waters receded towards where they'd heard a field hospital was set up, Harry pushed his own magic into the little body in his arms. Chris was ok, he would be ok, but he still wasn’t awake. It was terrifying Harry. Chris had to wake up. Harry would give him every bit of his magic if it would get him to wake up. Harry had used a lot of magic himself that day already through dying and coming back to life.

His reserves were gone, and he was starting to get rid of his metamorphmagus changes as they approached the VA hospital. It wasn’t noticeable yet, but several of his tattoos were scars once more, and it’s possible his eyes were green, but he wasn’t certain about that. He kept his hair and the birthmark only because it would be noticeable to the people around them. Chris stirred right before Harry gave in and pushed the last of all he had into him.

“Buck?” Harry stumbled at the sound of the very familiar voice from the hospital. Thank Merlin!

“Chris!!!!” Eddie yelled next. Harry saw him run towards them, and Harry just didn’t have anything left in him. He only prayed to Merlin that his hair and the birthmark stayed, but he was out of anything left in him to give.

“Eddie,” Harry passed the almost conscious kid into his frantic friend’s arms.

“Why? What happened? Chris?” Eddie held onto Chris like he was the most precious thing in the world, which Harry supposed he was.

"We were on the pier," Buck admitted, knowing he was probably going to lose his friend. The admission caused a string of Spanish swear words from Eddie.

“Dad?” Chris woke, and Harry was finally able to let go. Chris was going to be ok. He let himself sink to the ground, glad that it seemed strong arms caught him, from where, he didn’t know. They smelled like Bobby though. Huh? Where had Bobby come from?

“Dad, I swear, I can’t leave you for any time at all or you’re getting stabbed, cursed, blown up, or hit by a bloody tsunami!” Teddy bellowed on the other end of the phone, making Harry wince at the sound in his still aching head. "And that's not even taking into account everything from before I was born!!"

“Language,” he chastised, knowing it was super hypocritical of him, but hey, he was a parent, he could be hypocritical. “Teddy, love, I’m immortal,” he reminded his kid for the thousandth time.

“So, you’re still hurt. Aunt Hermione said you were cut up badly and magically exhausted,” Teddy ignored his admonishment as usual. “Even if you can’t outright die, I still don’t want you hit by a bus or lightning or whatever else major thing is out to get you next.”

“I’m more concerned about if you’ve gotten your summer homework done yet and when you’re coming to visit,” Harry stood from his couch with a wince. Magical exhaustion was a bitch. "I'll be fine."

He could hear Teddy rolling his eyes all the way from England. “Grandma made me do my homework as soon as the term ended. You know, most kids get to do their homework at the end of the summer.”

“Uh huh, and you get to spend yours on the beach in California since your homework will be done. What sounds better to you?” Harry took a cold butterbeer out of his fridge. It was the last of the ones he’d gotten from Christmas that he’d been rationing religiously since then. “Oh, and bring butterbeer when you come. I'm out.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Teddy laughed. “I’ll be there just after your birthday. Sorry I can’t make it before, but Grandma has that holiday planned with Aunt Cissa in France and she wants me to stay with her until they leave.”

“I know, Teds. We’ll just have to celebrate both our birthdays when you get here since you’re all officially adult and all…my baby all grown up,” Harry fake sniffed. But yeah, Teddy was 17 now, how did that happen? It was going to be his last year at Hogwarts, and then…Merlin, getting a job or a mastery. How was Teddy so grown already?!

“Oh, that reminds me,” Teddy cut in, and there was a definite note of tension there. Harry braced himself for whatever was about to come his way. “There’s a technomage who works in LA. He’s the best from everything I’ve read and studied…I was kind of hoping, that maybe he’d let me apprentice with him after I graduate. I’d like to see him while I’m there…I know that you being in hiding is dangerous, but you don’t look like Harry Potter to people who don't know you at least…and I could go on my own…”

“Hey, yeah, of course you can meet him,” Harry cut in because he wasn’t going to stand in Teddy’s way for anything. He’d figure it out, especially if it meant Teddy might move to LA after Hogwarts. He’d even take on the sidhe or the goblins again to make that happen.

“Really?”

“Yeah, owl me all the information, and I’ll get Hermione to check into it and get you a meeting. I’ll see if I can safely go with you, she or my friend Josh can if I can’t,” Harry offered just as his wards pinged and he heard a knock at his door before it was promptly opened. Thankfully, he’d already applied his changes, or Eddie would have gotten an eyeful.

“I have to go, Eddie just walked in,” Harry told Teddy in his American accent.

“Oooo, Eddie! The hot vampire,” Teddy laughed, and Harry needed to keep him and Ron from talking from now on.

“Bye,” Harry rolled his eyes before just hanging up the phone before Teddy could embarrass him further.

“Right, so how about you two stay in and order pizza this time,” Eddie began as if he hadn’t just barged into Buck’s loft. "Maybe two pizzas, you both are too thin."

“Buck!” Chris hugged him tightly around the middle.

“Hey…what?” Buck frowned at them while still hugging Chris back.

“This time off you have going on is really working out for me,” Eddie grinned and helped himself to Buck’s half full coffee pot he’d abandoned for the butterbeer earlier. “You’re no Abuela and only half a Carla, but you’ll do.”

“But…why…” Buck looked at where Chris was already on his couch and trying to find his cartoons on Buck's TV. “Eddie man…you want me to watch Chris again…after what happened yesterday?!”

Eddie leaned into his space, and Buck realized Eddie looked tired, which wasn’t a good thing for a vampire. Tired meant hungry. Was Eddie hungry? Why?

“Buck, it was a natural disaster,” Eddie said emphatically. “You can’t predict that. You did everything you could to save my son.”

“I’m pretty crap at divination,” Buck let out with a breath, not knowing why Eddie was trusting him after he’d almost gotten his son killed. For some reason, it looked like he might be forgiven though.

Eddie blinked, seeming confused for a second. “Whatever, look…there’s no one I trust with my son more than you, Buck.”

“Oh…” Buck didn’t know what to say about that in the slightest. That was a lot. Yeah, Buck loved Chris like his own, but wow, Eddie trusted him that much?! But Eddie also didn’t know Buck had been lying to him all this time.

“So, maybe play some videos games or watch a movie this time, yeah? Just to be safe,” Eddie smiled his radiant smile as he backed towards the door.

“Hey…you wanted to talk about something…before all of yesterday happened?” Buck frowned, remembering they were supposed to have a talk the day before that’d never happened with all the tragedy and fear and getting checked out by doctors.

Eddie’s look fell before he nodded. “Right, that’s not important right now though,” he glanced at his son with a sad look. “How about we just get through the next few days, and then we’ll talk?”

Buck glanced over, and yeah, Chris had looked tired too. “Nightmares?” He guessed.

Eddie nodded. “I know you tried to shield him from everything, but he still saw a lot. I think we’re going to have nightmares for a long while.”

Buck reached out and put his hand on the back of Eddie’s neck and squeezed it comfortingly. “We will too. We can all be there for each other,” he said. He’d had nightmares about losing Chris all the night before. The what ifs and all the worst case scenarios.

Eddie seemed to lean into his touch slightly. “I’d like that,” he breathed out, seeming to find some relief from Buck's words.

Buck let go, as much as he never wanted to let go, ever again. “Have a good shift. Less than a week, and I’ll be back making your life so much more interesting.”

Eddie rolled his eyes. “More like terrifying, but yeah, I’m looking forward to it.”

Eddie left and Buck walked over to Chris. “So…how do we feel about naps because I’m already planning one for like an hour from now?” He asked because Chris definitely looked even more tired than Eddie.

Chris looked up from his cartoon and smiled at him. Merlin, but he’d fly against a dragon again to protect this kid if he had to. Chris motioned to his face. “Can I see what you look like? Is it just the scar?”

Buck laughed and shook his head, sitting on the couch beside Chris. “It’s not. I look a little different.”

“Can I see?”

Buck closed his eyes, and opened his bright green eyes to look at Chris again who gasped and reached out to take a fistful of Harry’s long, black hair and trace a couple of the burns on his arms that were normally turned into tattoos. “Wow, you look different. I like it though. Why do you change how you look?”

"What, you don't think I normally look good?" He teased, trying to sidestep the answer. "Maybe I just want to be blond."

Chris giggled and seemed to let it go for the moment at least. He was probably too tired to really push. "I like the green eyes."

“Well thank you...Did you tell your dad about me yet?” Harry asked because he’d really like some warning before he was completely shunned or yelled at or whatever, and Eddie didn’t seem like he’d known earlier when he left. The aftermath of a tsunami would make even one of your friends being able to use magic seem less important though, he supposed.

Chris scoffed. “Dad only just believed me that I have magic. I think I’m going to let you have that conversation. My part is done.”

Harry laughed because he had a feeling he knew what Eddie wanted to talk to him about now. He didn’t know how to handle that in the slightest, but it was much less scary to deal with Eddie wanting to talk about Buck having seen Chris use magic than knowing Buck was actually magical himself. Maybe he could come up with a fictional ‘friend’ who had magic, was that too much like a lie? He actually did have a lot of friends with magic.

Eddie was more than a little worried this was a scam. A random special needs school reaching out that wanted to give his son a scholarship to attend seemed way too good to be true. Well, they didn’t actually say they were a special needs school, but they said they taught very special students, so…yeah, they were definitely a special needs school.

The people from the school had been so good about working around his schedule to meet too, but it was odd they wanted to meet with him and Chris alone. Normally, Carla would be there with him for these things, but they’d seemed very insistent that they wanted to talk to only him and his son. So, yeah…probably a scam. He was going to vet literally everything they said and not believe a word until he could check with Carla.

He had a moment of thinking that he should call Buck and tell him about the school meeting, but then he wondered if that was weird. Buck was starting work again just the next day, and he had enough on his plate. Plus, Buck and Eddie weren’t in a relationship or anything…Eddie wasn’t sure why he thought he should run everything by Buck. Did Buck realize he did that? Did Buck think it weird? Maybe he should back off just a little…

Eddie straightened the throw pillows on the couch for the hundredth time and Chris laughed at him. “What? I just want it to look good,” he glared playfully at his son.

“It’s a school, Dad, not a date,” Chris laughed, and that took Eddie back, and his heart probably skipped a beat. Did Chris think about Eddie dating again? Did they need to have that talk? Eddie wasn’t thinking about dating yet. But maybe he would one day…

A knock at the door effectively halted his panic attack to start a new one. The people from the school were here. “It was Ilvermorny, right?” He asked his son, just to check. They’d said they represented a group of schools, but the people were from one called Ilvermorny or something weird like that. Chris just very unhelpfully shrugged. He liked his current school and wasn't too excited about this meeting, so Eddie was just praying he didn't actively try to tank the interview because a scholarship would be really nice. Plus, they said they only started students at 11-years-old, so Chris had 4 years until then regardless. That was odd right? Why would a school start for 11-year-olds?

Eddie did eventually open the door to two women, one a small blonde woman whose huge smile made her look very bubbly, and a taller Asian woman around his age or a little older who looked slightly sterner or maybe just exasperated. “Hello,” he tried a nervous smile on them. “Uh, I’m Eddie.”

“Mr. Diaz, it’s so good to meet you,” the blonde woman shot her hand out and enthusiastically shook his with much more force than he’d expected. “I’m Professor Arbor, and this is Auror Zhao. You can call me Dahlia though.”

Eddie just blinked at the enthusiastic greeting before glancing in confusion at the other woman. She rolled her eyes. Definitely exasperation then.

“Dahlia teaches biology at Ilvermorny, and an auror is a type of security. Since Dahlia is visiting with a lot of families all over the country right now, the school thought it best she had some security with her,” the woman explained with an accent. Eddie wasn’t exactly sure where it was from. He’d expected more of a Chinese accent, but it sounded…maybe Irish?

“How many times do I have to tell you, just say I teach Herbology,” Dahlia almost bounced into Eddie’s house past him without him even offering for her to enter. Eddie himself was still so very confused. Aurors? Herbology?

“You must be Christopher!” Dahlia clapped her hands before hurrying to sit beside his son. Eddie was worried for one minute, but something about this woman just said she wasn’t dangerous in the slightest. He kind of understood why her school would insist on security if she was visiting random people’s homes and just running in and making herself at home. It seemed Chris was on an extensive list, hopefully this scholarship wasn't extremely competitive.

“Hello,” Christopher shook the woman’s hand with a wide smile. At least he seemed to be making a good impression.

“Oh dear…well, aren’t you just precious,” Dahlia blinked and looked up at Chris’s crutches and then at Eddie with a look on her face he knew exceptionally well…she hadn’t known Chris has cerebral palsy.

Eddie opened his mouth, not sure what to say. He cleared his throat. “Your school…you said it was for students with special needs…” he trailed off. They hadn’t exactly said that though…

“The school teaches special children, whatever form that takes,” Auror Zhao said as she finally entered the house behind Eddie, closing the door behind her. She gave him a comforting smile though.

“Ilvermorny or whichever of our schools you choose, would love to have Christopher attend,” Dahlia shook herself out of her surprise and enthusiastically agreed.

Eddie didn’t know what to make of this entire conversation, but he did let out a small breath of relief he'd held when he realized they hadn't known. So…it wasn’t a special needs school? They clearly hadn’t known Chris has CP. Why were they reaching out to him then? Chris was really smart and had good grades, but he wasn’t first in his class or anything. Why were they contacting him about a scholarship?

“Now…let’s get down to business,” Dahlia clapped her hands. “So, do you believe in magic?” She grinned widely.

The following conversation was probably the most surreal conversation he’d ever had in his life. Magic existed…Chris was a wizard or mage or whatever he wanted to be called…there were schools out there specifically for magic…and they had a way to find special kids like Chris. Oh, and an auror was actually a magical cop.

Honestly, ok, Eddie’s threshold for believing in the supernatural had been scrapped the moment he’d learned he was a vampire. Still…a whole society living and working alongside the non-magical one and going unnoticed…that was a little hard to believe. Well, that was until he remembered he was a part of one of those societies as well.

“So, are other mythical things real too,” Eddie asked, definitely fishing here for his own sake. “Like…ok, like werewolves and vampires and mermaids and all?”

Dahlia giggled. “Oh my, yes, but don’t worry. We’ll keep your baby safe from any danger.”

Ok, so not the most encouraging reply to show this woman would be ok with Eddie himself being a vampire. Did they have some way to check that? He hadn’t told Chris yet, so he was definitely not going to tell these women anyway, but still, that sounded a little concerning. Neither of them had seemed to realize what he was though.

“Dahlia, seriously,” Auror Zhao sighed deeply. “Don’t worry Mr. Diaz. Merpeople live under water, vampires tend to keep to themselves, and werewolves are only dangerous one night a month. I actually had a werewolf professor one year, and I have to say, he was one of my favorite professors I had in school.”

“Well…that’s good,” he wasn’t sure what to say about that at all. Did they like people like him or not?

“Cool,” Chris said as if it was the best thing he’d ever heard, which definitely gave Eddie some hope about when he finally told Chris what he was, which should probably happen sooner rather than later since Chris was apparently a wizard or something.

“Now, we need to talk over some of the legal business,” Auror Zhao explained, leaning forward. “As we’ve explained, we have to keep this all secret. No-maj people aren’t allowed to know of our world unless you are immediate family, like you. You mentioned a care-giver…a Carla Price?” the woman checked a notebook in her pocket.

“Carla looks after me when Dad’s at work,” Chris explained.

“Well, we have to keep this a secret from her,” Dahlia jumped in. “I know you trust her, but she’s not your immediate family, so we can’t tell her. Understand?”

“Carla is extremely trustworthy,” Eddie began because he was starting to get a really bad feeling about Buck who had seen Chris use magic.

“Has she seen any of Chris’s accidental magic?” Auror Zhao asked in interest.

“No,” Chris shook his head firmly.

“What would you do if she had?” Eddie asked slowly. “You wouldn’t like arrest her or something?”

“Merlin no,” Auror Zhao shook her head. “It depends on what she saw, usually, no-maj people just think it was a trick of the light, but if it was very obvious, we would call in an obliviator. They only wipe the memory of the magic; it doesn’t hurt and won’t affect any other memory.”

That still sounded…well, terrible.

“Has anyone besides you seen Chris’s accidental magic?” Zhao asked. “This is very important Mr. Diaz. They won’t get in trouble, but we must assess the danger to our community.”

“Well, Buck did, but he doesn’t count,” Chris said, and Eddie’s heart dropped. He had just decided he was absolutely going to lie and not tell them about Buck. Hell, he hadn’t had a chance to talk to Buck yet between all of Chris’s nightmares and Buck getting ready to head back to work and preparing for this meeting.

“Buck is…?” Dahlia prompted.

“Dad’s partner,” Chris said with a grin, and ok, maybe Eddie could spin this. He just had to get control of the narrative. They'd said immediate family, right?

“Yes, Buck’s my partner,” he said firmly, it wasn’t a lie at all, but he knew they were going to interpret it in a different way than his son had meant. Chris had meant they were work partners, but if these people interpreted that as Buck being Eddie’s romantic partner, then all the better for not having any of Buck’s memories wiped. “That makes him our family.”

“Oh, yes…we are very inclusive in the magical world,” Dahlia firmly nodded enthusiastically. Well...that sounded good...

“We would insist on meeting him though,” Zhao cut her off. “I must explain to him just as I've explained to the two of you. If we’d known you had a partner, we would have insisted he be at this meeting as well.”

“But that’s not why I said Buck doesn’t count…” Chris started, but Eddie knew he needed to cut this off before whatever his son was about to say. He couldn’t make it sound like Eddie and Buck only worked together or whatever he was going to say. He’d never forgive himself if anyone did any tampering with his best friend’s memories.

“I’ll call him. I’m sure he’ll be right over…uh…he was just, uh, out at the store,” Eddie said quickly, already pulling out his cellphone and glad Buck had gotten his replaced after the tsunami already. He hoped that they didn’t notice that Buck didn’t live with him. After a quick glance at the walls though, Eddie had an uncomfortable realization that it actually did look like Buck lived with him based on him being in many of the family pictures on the walls, the LAFD sweater with ‘Buckley’ across the back hanging with the coats, and the fact that Buck knew his kitchen much better than Eddie did.

That was definitely something he’d have to pick through another day. Eddie hit Buck’s name under his ‘Favorites’ tab in his phone and listened to it ring.

“Hey, Eds. What’s up?” Buck answered almost immediately in a bright tone as if talking to Eddie made his day.

“Hey, Buck,” he weighed what to say. How did he tell Buck he needed to come over and pretend to be his fake-husband for the afternoon and learn about magic? There was absolutely no way to say that in front of these women, so he gave up.

“Hey, could you come home for little bit? We need to have that conversation we’ve been putting off,” he said, hoping that Buck caught him asking him to come ‘home’ and not over to their house. Maybe it would give him a clue?

“Oh, yeah, sure,” Buck’s voice was tense, and Eddie could understand that. Chris having magic was a little scary, especially since Buck didn’t have being a vampire like Eddie did to know the supernatural existed before all this. “I’ll be right over.”

Buck was always so good about that. He had come over at 1am just two nights before when Chris had a bad nightmare and had been calling out for him. Eddie really didn’t know what he would do without Buck, so this absolutely had to work. He couldn’t handle Chris going off to a magical school all alone; he needed Buck by his side with all his memories.

Eddie made everyone coffee and found the cookies Chris liked so much and that had gotten them into this mess. He’d just passed them out to everyone when Buck’s key scraped in the lock, and he walked right in just as Eddie knew he would. They never knocked anymore, and he’d been counting on that to sell him as Eddie’s romantic partner to these magical people.  

“Hey, Diazes! How’s my superman doing?!” Buck happily called out until he walked into the sitting room and stopped immediately in his tracks.

“Harry?” Auror Zhao had stood up immediately with a stick in her hand…a stick Eddie now knew was a wand! Eddie stood too, feeling danger but not knowing from what.

“Bloody hell,” Buck sighed, his voice suddenly taking on a British accent for some reason. What was happening? Eddie faltered, not knowing where to turn his attention.

“Harry Potter, you are under arrest,” Auror Zhao held her wand up but it shook as if she were afraid or overwhelmed or something.

Buck looked over at Chris and Eddie saw it, Buck gave in. Whatever was going on, all fight left his friend with that glance at Chris. Buck held his hands in the air immediately. 

“I’ll come easily and not cause any problems, just don’t do anything to put Chris in danger,” he said, and Eddie hadn’t even processed that Chris could be in danger. He walked over and stood directly in front of Chris. He didn't know what was happening in the slightest, but if anything did happen, he would protect Chris at all costs.

“What’s going on?” He asked everyone. "Why are you arresting Buck? And who is Harry Potter?!"

Dahlia seemed just as confused as he was, but she was now holding her wand as well. “H-Harry P-Potter?!” She gasped out, definitely recognizing the name.

“I make it a point to never ask the odds anymore,” Buck sighed deeply in that British accent and gave the auror a wry and fond look. Did they know each other? They must if she recognized him, right? “But really, what are the odds that an ex of mine who I last saw in bloody Scotland would be an auror here in LA and doing a school visit for a muggleborn?”

“Knowing you...I'd never ask that question," she actually smiled to Eddie's surprise. "I actually live in New York now, but I’ve been traveling with Professor Arbor for all the visits,” the woman shrugged, and Eddie saw her look, it wasn’t fear…it was…concern, concern for Buck. Now Eddie was really worried. He'd been worried before, but if she was arresting him and concerned about him, something bad was going on here...

“Cho, you know I didn’t do it, right? I couldn't,” Buck, or maybe Harry asked. “I’m innocent. You have to believe me, you know me.”

“Yeah, Harry, I know,” she said, but didn’t lower her wand, and Buck didn’t lower his hands. “I still have to bring you in though. A lot of people want to ask you a lot of questions. You can't run forever, and you'll get a much fairer deal here than most anywhere else.”

“Are they going to send me back to Kingsley?” He asked, and it was the first time Eddie caught any quiver in Buck’s voice, and Eddie really didn’t like it at all. Buck shouldn’t sound afraid. He’d just faced a tsunami and save Eddie’s kid! Eddie suddenly wondered what chance a vampire had against two magical people. He might even have tried out his chances if Christopher weren't in the room. Buck had been right, they had to make this go smoothly for Chris.

“Not if I have anything to say about it,” Auror Zhao said, or maybe it was Cho. Eddie breathed slightly easier. He had no clue who this Kingsley was, but Buck had looked afraid, and that had him afraid too.

“I’ve kept in touch with George. He told me what happened," Zhao added with a sad smile.

“Ah,” Buck nodded and let the woman put handcuffs on him. “You look good, Chang. Haven't aged a day,” Buck grinned that grin he did that always got him accused of flirting.

“It’s Zhao now, married two years ago,” she showed him a ring that he appreciatively oohed and aahed over even while handcuffed, it was just such a Buck think to do that Eddie couldn’t believe he was maybe not really Buck at all. "You look good too. I like the blond hair. I always did like blonds."

“Harry Potter!” Dahlia squeaked out again. “But he’s a terrorist!”

“Who did what exactly? What proof of any crime have you seen?” Auror Zhao raised an eyebrow at the woman. “I learned early in life to not believe anything the papers write or the British Ministry for Magic says. It’s why I live in New York now,” she added with a long-suffering look to Buck who nodded in what looked like complete understanding.

“Buck, are you in trouble?” Chris asked in a small voice. “Did I get you in trouble?”

“No, buddy,” Buck assured him, and Eddie felt the anger that had been rising in him at Buck for not telling him any of this start to seep away. “I made a very powerful person angry a while ago, and I knew I couldn’t run forever…I just thought I had a little more time,” Buck breathed out at the end, and all the rest of Eddie’s anger was gone.

“Do you need a lawyer? My cousin Manuel is a lawyer,” Eddie offered because he’d just gotten his best friend arrested…his friend who sounded like he was in trouble…but…why was he running from magical people. And, oh yeah, a non-magical person like Manuel probably couldn’t defend a magical person, could he?

“We don’t really do solicitors in the magical world for criminal matters. We have other ways of getting at the truth,” Buck turned sad, blue eyes on him. “Could you call Josh and tell him what happened?”

Eddie’s eyes narrowed. “Why not…?”

“Just let Josh, know, ok?” Buck cut him off with a look. Right, so Buck didn’t want these women to know about Maddie. Why? Did they not know he had a sister?

“So, you’re…?” Eddie motioned between Buck and everyone else in the room. Dracula’s balls, but he was surrounded by these mages, wasn’t he?! Wait…did that mean Josh was too?! What about Maddie?!

“I’m really sorry, Eddie. I’m so sorry, Chris,” Buck looked between both of them but not expanding any further.

“Come on, Harry,” Auror Zhao pushed him towards the door. “Better get this taken care of. I’ll stay with you as long as they’ll let me.”

Dahlia stood. “Well…um, so…we’ll be in touch about Christopher’s education…and um, well, Harry Potter…” she trailed off like Eddie really should know who she was talking about when he only knew Buck. Did he know Buck? 

“Oh, Eddie!” Buck paused in the doorway, making Auror Zhao run into him with a huff.

“Tell Bobby I’m going to need more time off…maybe don’t mention I was arrested?” Buck winced. “Er…if I’m not deported, I should be back, right?”

“I don’t really know, Harry,” the auror said sadly.

“Just tell Josh, he’ll know what to do,” Buck said instead. Eddie knew this was somehow code for Maddie, but he still didn’t know why unless she would get in trouble for harboring him…Buck was a wanted fugitive, wasn’t he? That’s what this was. But…why?!

Everyone left and Eddie heard odd pops outside his house as he sank down onto the couch beside Chris. How did everything fall apart so quickly? Did he just lose his best friend? Was Buck going to prison for terrorism or something? Who was Buck? Who was Harry Potter?

“That’s what I was trying to say earlier,” Chris said with a sniffle. “Buck didn’t count because he has magic too. It's how he saved me in the tsunami.”

Eddie closed his eyes and let his head drop to the back of the couch. What had he just witnessed? Why hadn’t Buck said he was in trouble? Was his name really Harry? Was he actually British? Why hadn’t Buck ever said anything…?

And Eddie had never told him he was a vampire either…

He let out a breath. Buck had been in trouble, and magic was a secret. Of course, he wouldn’t tell Eddie, just like Eddie had never told him. Maybe they weren’t as good of friends as Eddie thought…but then, Buck had given up immediately and not fought back because Chris was there. And Buck had saved his son. And Buck had told Chris about his magic and told him it was nothing to be scared of when he was the first person to see it. He had taken care of Chris when he needed him the most, even when it would put him in danger from other magical people. And maybe Eddie loved him even more now, even with all the lies.

Chapter Text

“I just don’t understand why he was so insistent that I call you and not Maddie. Shouldn't I have called his sister?” Eddie sighed in frustration after explaining to Josh what had happened with Buck. He hadn’t even had Josh’s phone number and had to call Chimney to get it. It would have been so much easier to explain to Maddie who would hopefully know what was going on already. After getting Buck arrested, Eddie was going to do his damndest to respect his friend’s wishes now.

A long moment of silence stretched out without any comment. “Josh?” Eddie prompted. “You still there?”

“Yeah,” a deep breath exhaled into the phone’s speaker. “I’m just freaking the fuck out right now Diaz! You really don’t realize how big of a deal this is!”

Eddie winced because he’d already figured that out. With the way the Dahlia woman was acting, it sounded like whatever Buck was accused of was very well known. Dios! They were looking for him in America when whatever it was he was accused of happened in England! It had to be really bad.

“But you do know…” Eddie prompted, sitting on his bed. He’d shut himself in his room so Chris couldn’t hear. If this got very concerning, he didn’t want Chris even more worried about their friend than he already was. “You’re part of this magical world too, aren’t you?”

“Sort of,” Josh said tensely. “I’m like the opposite of your son. He’s a magical person born to non-magical parents. I’m what’s called a squib, a non-magical person born to a magical family.”

“Oh,” Eddie frowned. That sounded pretty terrible. It would have to suck to be born into a family of magic but you not be able to access it like they could.

“Look,” Josh started again. “He didn’t want to mention Maddie in front of the auror because she’s also a British citizen. Anyone who knows Buck, or rather Harry, would know who she is if you mention someone he calls a sister…”

“Wait…Maddie isn’t Buck’s sister?!” Eddie’s brain had caught on the careful way Josh had worded that, and now he had to process that both of them were from another country, magical, and might not even be related. Just how many lies made up Buck’s life anyway?!

“She is in all the ways that matter,” Josh said enigmatically. “Regardless, he was keeping her from being found out for ‘harboring’ him and being sent back to England to face charges there. Buck is innocent of his crimes; Maddie’s not innocent of hiding him and refusing to turn him in, even if he's found innocent.”

Eddie just nodded and laid back on the bed, not even able to sit up anymore at everything hitting him. “This Cho person seemed convinced Buck didn’t do whatever it was she was arresting him for. So, you believe her?”

Josh snorted loudly. “Eddie, you know Buck. He’s accused of conspiring to overthrow the government, and suspected terrorist activities,” Josh said, and Eddie’s eyebrows shot up. Even with all the lies, Eddie couldn’t believe why anyone in their right mind would think Buck would be involved in all that.

“Buck…well, Buck and Harry are really the same from all I've been told, even though I didn't know him before he was Buck. It’s not like he’s putting on an act. Buck never lied to you about who he was as a person even if his backstory is different,” Josh said the words that Eddie had needed to hear since his best friend had been led out of his house in handcuffs.

Eddie let out of a breath that didn’t help relieve any of his tension at all, actually it might be worse now that he knew he really and truly had gotten an innocent person arrested. “It’s our fault he was arrested. I can’t believe he didn’t tell Chris to keep his magic secret or that he was in hiding or anything. Maybe Chris wouldn’t have told me Buck had seen him do magic if Buck had said to keep it secret.”

“He called me right after seeing Chris use magic that first time,” Josh said to Eddie’s complete surprise. “He asked when MACUSA usually sends people to talk to the family of no-maj born kids to know how long he had before he had to run again, but he never once even considered asking Chris to lie for him to you or anyone else. He would never put a kid in that position, especially your kid.”

“He waited too long then; he should have run,” Eddie said, glad that Buck had stayed even if Eddie also really wished he’d run before all this happened. He just didn’t want to lose his best friend though. “Do you think he has any chance of being cleared? That Cho lady said he’d get a fairer deal here than in England.”

“That’s the truth,” Josh said as if he really wanted to strangle someone. “I’ll talk to Maddie as soon as I get off the phone with you. Her ex is still pretty plugged into the government in Britain, so maybe he can pull some strings or at least figure out what’s going on. I think Buck is extremely unlucky an old friend of his who could recognize him was at your house, but very lucky it was her who arrested him and not someone else who didn’t know him.”

“An ex,” Eddie added. “He said she was an ex of his.”

“Really…you said Cho…like Cho Chang?” Josh asked, surprising Eddie once more. Why would Josh know her?

“He called her Chang once, but she said she’d gotten married…”

“I didn’t know he’d dated Cho Chang…that wasn’t in his biography,” Josh said to Eddie’s complete confusion. “I wonder if that was before or after what happened to Cedric…”

“What the hell man?!” Eddie cut off his musing. “Biography?!”

Josh laughed. “It’s Buck’s story to tell, but he’s a little bit famous. Also...maybe don't tell him I read his biography.” Why did Eddie get a feeling that was an understatement.

“I’ll have Maddie stop by as soon as she hears anything but just keep doing your normal schedule and don’t mention what happened to anyone. Maddie will clear more time off with your captain or whatever needs to happen there. I think we should plan on him returning until we learn differently. You know how Buck is, his life is the 118.”

Eddie did know. He knew that painfully well. “Right, thanks man. I can do that,” Eddie nodded even though Josh couldn’t see him. He didn’t want to let Josh go yet. He needed more information.

“Is that why you broke up?” Eddie found himself asking. He knew it was none of his business, but he needed to know. “Because he’s a fugitive?”

Josh snorted a laugh. “No, I actually didn’t learn that until after we’d broken up. No, it’s because he’s a wizard. There’s a lot of prejudice against my kind in the magical world…which I want to be clear that Buck didn’t mind in the slightest and isn’t prejudiced at all…!”

Eddie rolled his eyes. Of course, Buck wasn’t. Frankly, if Buck were actually planning on overthrowing a government, then Eddie would fully believe it deserved to be overthrown. Buck wouldn’t hurt a fly and was the most understanding and accepting person Eddie had ever interacted with, and that was including everyone else at the 118.

“It’s just a lot to have to step back into that world for me,” Josh sighed. “Not that I’m very far away from it now being friends with Buck and Maddie. Still, living with someone with magic is asking a little too much of my childhood trauma right now though.”

“I get that,” Eddie agreed, understanding childhood trauma. He knew he should tell Josh he’s a vampire, but it was still difficult to admit out loud. And he definitely needed to tell Chris first. “I’ll let you go tell Maddie now. Let me know if you hear any updates.”

“Will do, and Eddie…don’t beat yourself up about this. You didn’t know, and Buck knew the risks of staying around,” Josh said, not making Eddie feel any better about it though.

Eddie told Buck’s ex goodbye and flopped back down on his bed. What the hell was he going to do now?! He had a shift in just over 12 hours, and he was going to walk into the 118 without Buck when he was supposed to be finally returning after everything that happened with the ladder truck. He had to walk out of his bedroom and explain to his son that his Buck was gone, and they didn’t know if he’d be returning. How was Eddie supposed to do any of this?

Eddie frowned at the fancy blood bank in Beverly Hills he was forced to drive to after his shift. The shift had been rough. Maddie had apparently told Bobby that Buck was off in Australia because of a family emergency with their parents. Eddie had a very distinct feeling that not a single word of that held any truth in the slightest. If Buck and Maddie weren’t actually related, then what about Buck’s parents? Were they in Australia? Were Maddie’s? Were there any parents in Australia?

Bobby, Hen, and Chim relentlessly asked Eddie questions the entire shift about what was going on and what he knew. Chimney was freaking dating Maddie, so he really should be bothering his girlfriend about this, but apparently, Maddie was as tight-lipped about the thing as it came. Also…did Chimney know about Maddie’s magic? Probably not, right? When did a person generally tell people about that…when did Eddie tell people? He knew enough other supernatural people at this point that he probably should tell at least Chris and Maddie, but he didn’t know how to open that conversation in the slightest.

Then, after his shift, he had to drive all the way to Beverly Hills to this super fancy blood bank since the vampire services had moved yet again. He felt so out of place. The phlebotomist’s shoes probably cost more than his rent, and that was definitely a Ferrari parked in the lot beside the building.

Raina grinned at him from the desk, looking just as deadly as she always did with blood-red nails, perfectly coiffed hair, and eyes that looked like they could poison you. “Eddie, baby,” her grin turned up another notch. “I’m glad you found us.”

“You texted,” he raised an eyebrow. He’d never given Raina his phone number… intentionally. It was actually good to get the moving text though or he would not have known where they were located this time. He just really hoped this didn’t end up with him having to change his phone number. Raina was...well...not someone he was going to be friends with any time soon.

“The usual?” She asked, already typing away. “Our prices have gone up.”

Eddie paused in pulling out his debit card and winced. “How much?”

The price flashed across the card reader, and Eddie couldn’t breathe for a second. He’d had to buy Chris new crutches since his were lost in the tsunami, as well as new glasses since his broke, and now Chris was in therapy for all the nightmares from the tsunami. Then, on top of all this, his landlord had raised his rent when he signed his lease for the next year. He absolutely couldn’t afford this.

“Seriously?!” He finally breathed out.

“We just had a tsunami,” Raina said with a look calling him an idiot. “There is a massive blood shortage currently. Prices should be back down in a month, but this is what it is right now.”

Eddie bit his lip and couldn’t even do any creative calculating for this. “Just one bag today,” he finally said. That wouldn’t get him past a few days before he needed more blood. It was all he could afford and still pay their bills and feed Chris and pay for gas.

Raina rang him up, and Eddie swiped his card. He fought with himself all the way up until Raina passed the small cooler to him, but he was going to have to do the one thing he’d promised himself he’d never do ever since he’d been changed.

“So,” he croaked out. He cleared his throat to try again. “So, what’s the best club to pick up some willing blood donors at?”

Raina looked positively lecherous at that question. “I knew you’d eventually get there, Eddie-boy! It takes a good century to build up substantial vampire wealth. Supplementing your blood supply is really the only way to go until then. Here, let me write down my favorites. You want some company?”

Eddie shook his head while the vampire woman scribbled a few names and locations of clubs and bars on a notepad. “I think it’ll be less awkward if I’m picking up women without another woman around me, no offense.”

“Oh, none taken, hot stuff,” Raina scratched a name off the list. “Then you don’t want the queer ones then. You might want to start with Plasma. It’s a vampire club, as in normies pretending to be vampire, not as in our actual kind. It’ll be kind of like training wheels. Those weirdos will be more likely to brush off a bite if you accidentally get caught.”

Eddie took the list as if it were a loaded gun and was already regretting this decision. “I think I’d stand out in a vampire club, regardless of if I actually am one or not.”

Raina looked him up and down assessingly. “Just wear black and eyeliner and leave your fangs out. You’re hot enough no one’s going to question you much.”

Eddie couldn’t help grimacing even more at that remark. He paused before turning, wondering if he could get any more information out of the woman. Frankly, he was wondering how much of an idiot he actually was by avoiding all things supernatural. Now that he was a part of the world and even his son was, maybe he needed to learn more about it all.

“Hey…um, Raina? Do you happen to recognize the name Harry Potter?” He asked, not sure if he was hoping for her to know Buck or not. Mainly, he wanted to know how much of an understatement Josh's comment about him being famous was.

Raina’s eyes widened comically. So, definitely an understatement. Eddie was going to kill Buck after hugging him for full week once he returned.

“You really are a baby vamp, aren’t you?” She chuckled, not kindly at all. “It’s a good idea to avoid any mages, sweet cheeks. They leave us alone if we leave them alone. I'd hate to see your pretty face after a run-in with an angry auror. However…if you do ever see Harry Potter,” she grinned, showing fangs. “You tell him I’m in. Most of us are. If he wants vamp support, then all he has to do is ask.”

Eddie’s eyebrow shot up in shock. Ok, so Raina was definitely volunteering to join whatever terrorist organization Buck was accused of leading…because, why? Because Buck, no Harry, was the one leading it? For the love of freaking Dracula! What had he gotten himself into?!

“Just a name I heard in passing,” Eddie was already backing towards the door. "I really don't know anything at all. It just sounded important. I should go...and check out those clubs..."

“Let me know how it goes! Good luck, baby fang!” Raina laughed, waving him off before turning back to her computer.

Eddie scurried out of the blood bank and to his truck. He had never had a one-night stand before. He’d never dated anyone besides Shannon! How the fuck was he going to go and pick up a random woman at a club? Dios mio, but he wished Buck was there to get advice from. Didn’t Chimney say that Buck’s 1.0 days saw him picking up women left and right?

The one thing he absolutely did know though was that he was avoiding Plasma at all costs!

It took Eddie a week and him being hungry enough it was very concerning before he forced himself into the tightest shirt he owned and his nicest jeans. He asked his abuela to babysit Chris for the night, and actually drove to one of the clubs on Raina’s list. In that time, he hadn’t heard anything about Buck. Maddie had called just to say that her ex had asked around and had learned that Buck was being held at the MACUSA headquarters in New York, but she didn’t have any more substantial information than that for the moment. Eddie was getting a little frantic, and being hungry wasn’t helping in the slightest. He’d snapped at Chimney so many times that Bobby had actually pushed him towards the locker room and told him to take a cold shower at the end of their last shift.

With his vampire hearing, the music being blasted loud enough to wake the dead had him feeling nauseous from the moment the bouncer let him through the door. The lights were messing with his eyes too, flashing and making the room spin. He didn’t understand how a normal human did this, but as a vampire, he was probably going to be throwing up in the bathroom even before he had anything to drink. Maybe he was just too old for this? How old was Raina? 150? Yeah, maybe he shouldn’t go for that excuse.

Eddie went straight to the bar and ordered a bourbon to hopefully hide behind while he scoped out the patrons around him. Everyone was young and beautiful and looked so much more comfortable there than he did. He was on his second bourbon and starting to feel like a creeper staring at people before he noticed a woman looking his direction with an inviting smile on her face.

Ok, so maybe this wasn’t going to be quite as hard as he thought it was going to be. Eddie smiled back and sipped his drink. She was cute, beautiful even, but he still wasn’t sure how to go about this whole thing.

And then she was walking over. Shit! What did he do now?!

“Hey, you here alone?” The woman leaned against the high table Eddie was using as basically a shield from the rest of the club.

Eddie smiled, hoping smiling counted as flirting, right? “I could stand to not be alone anymore,” he said, and where in Dracula’s castle did that come from?!

The woman flipped her long, curly blonde hair over her shoulder, and Eddie had a strange flash of curly blond hair on someone else’s head. Someone much taller and more masculine than this woman. Eddie physically shook his head to get the image of Buck out.

“Amber,” she held out a hand to him.

“Eddie,” he raised it to kiss instead of shaking it. “Nice to meet you.”

Eddie wasn’t really sure how he and Amber found themselves in the backseat of his truck. He’d intentionally not Ubered for this very reason though. It had all been a blur since she’d first walked over. His mouth had been saying things without his permission that he’d only ever seen in the cheesy romance movies Shannon had made him watch. For some reason, Amber seemed to like that or at least be willing to go with it for the moment.

He just…well, this wasn’t doing a hell of a lot for him. It wasn’t that Amber wasn’t gorgeous, but he just…wasn’t attracted to her for some reason. He should be, right?! Was something wrong with him?

Amber’s hand was down inside his pants before he could even really analyze why this wasn’t really working for him. And he did start to get hard at that. It just…didn’t feel right. He was so hungry though. He just had to push through this or maybe change things up a bit.

“Hey,” he stopped her with a smile that he hoped covered up his discomfort. “Let me take care of you instead,” he said, sliding his own hand up her skirt. Actually, a bite to her inner thigh would be the least likely to be noticed later or for him to get caught doing it, especially if he was under her skirt.

“Oh my God!!” She exclaimed when he ran his tongue up her thigh to follow his hand. “Where the hell have you been my entire life?!”

Eddie was on his third shower since he’d gotten home from the club. He hadn’t even really had sex with Amber…well, he did count oral sex, so yeah he had, but still. He shouldn’t feel like this, should he? He felt like he’d used her. Yes, he was definitely not hungry anymore, but it was almost worse than being hungry. He didn't even know what this feeling was, but he didn't like it at all.

Besides that one moment when Amber had been feeling him up, he hadn’t been hard the entire time. When she’d tried to return the favor, he’d just said he was good, that he’d taken care of himself. She was beautiful, and nice, and had sweetly kissed him before jumping down out of his truck and heading back to the club, not noticing she was missing a little blood now. What was wrong with him?

Eddie scrubbed his arms again and then just leaned against the wall of the shower. He couldn’t do this again. Maybe he could eat bloody steaks instead? But no, animal blood didn’t do much for him at all. He’d just have to go into debt then. Raina said this was probably only for a month. He could pick up some extra shifts…but how was he going to pick up extra shifts without Buck helping babysit Chris? Abuela and Pepa would help, but they would also worry. He’d figure this out; he had to.

Eddie was using his probably one not-hungry day to get as much done around the house as possible. He’d picked Chris up from Abuela’s and dropped him off at school that morning and was now frantically cleaning the floors and dusting and whatever he could do before he started to lose the energy he had. He really should have timed this better to be on shift at the firehouse when he wasn’t hungry, but he hadn’t realized he was going to swear off ever picking up someone at a club again the one time he’d actually tried it.

He had started in on folding laundry when a knock at his front door stopped him. Eddie ran through who might be stopping by his house all the way to the door, which he opened to find Maddie Buckley holding a large cardboard box on one of her hips. She hadn't been on the list of people who would normally stop by.

“Maddie?” He asked suddenly concerned at her being there. “Is it Buck? Did you hear anything?”

“Hey Eddie. Can I come in?” Maddie smiled and motioned behind him. She looked a little tired, but not overly concerned, so Eddie relaxed slightly.

“Yeah, of course,” he opened the door wider and moved out of her way.

Maddie went straight to his living room and plopped the box on his coffee table. “Right, so I heard from Cho. Things are looking good right now. She wasn’t more specific than that, but thank Merlin, Harry was able to convince them to question him using Veritaserum, which means they know they’re getting the truth…that’s like a truth serum that actually works,” Maddie said, slipping into a British accent that had Eddie blinking and trying to catch up.

“Oh, so does that mean they’ll let him go?” He asked, relieved his friend was actually being heard. "Once they hear he didn't do it, right?"

“They will, or Ron and I will get him out,” she shrugged as if she hadn’t just off-handedly offered to break someone out of jail.

“Ron…your ex…” Eddie was really trying to keep up.

Maddie smiled and shrugged. “Wouldn’t be the first time we went on the run with Harry.”

“That’s exceptionally concerning, you know that, right?” Eddie crossed his arms and glanced in the box. Weirdly it contained a random pile of junk. Actually, that scarf looked like Hen’s that she wore over the winter, and he thought he saw a ball-cap with the Minnesota Twins on it…so probably Bobby’s.

“What’s with the box?”

Maddie shoved some things around and began to dig through it. “Well, since Harry is gone, I decided to go ahead and do my yearly take-back of everything he’s stolen. I may need to move it to bi-yearly, I think he's getting a little worse. Plus, if we have to run, we aren’t taking all this with us. Anyway, he tends to hoard things from his friends…it’s a long story actually.”

“I don’t understand…” Eddie cut off when Maddie shoved a Hot Wheels car and plastic dinosaur into his hands that were definitely Chris’s. Chris had never even missed them.

“I don’t think anything else was your kid’s, but this is definitely yours,” Maddie emerged from the box with a green t-shirt.

“That little klepto!” Eddie grabbed his old army t-shirt from her. It was his absolute softest shirt, and he’d thought the dryer had eaten it or something. It’d been missing for at least a month or two at this point.

Maddie gave him a sheepish smile. “Yeah…so I’m pretty sure he’s been wearing it often around his loft too, so…sorry about that.”

Eddie frowned at the shirt, not understanding in the slightest why his friend would take things from them. “Buck steals our stuff? Why?”

“Not really,” Maddie rubbed her neck, clearly trying to rephrase this so he’d understand. “It’s useful to have something from people you care about to add them into your wards or cast protection wards around their homes, and Harry is anal about wards. He added you to his wards really early on after he met you, so you can enter the loft whenever you want. That key you have is just a prop, you don’t actually need it to enter. Also, he cast a low-level ward around your house to keep people meaning violence away from your home. I’m actually surprised Cho didn’t notice it, but Harry is very good with wards at this point.”

“Really?” Eddie frowned, his heart feeling full all of a sudden at Buck’s thoughtfulness in trying to take care of them.

“Yeah, Harry takes it to a bit of an extreme though. Through…various circumstances,” she grimaced, and Eddie knew there was a backstory there. “Harry has lost or had taken from him almost everything he had from his family and the people he lost. Now, he kind of…well, just holds onto things.”

Eddie didn’t even think about; he handed the shirt right back to Maddie. “Put this back in his drawer then. If you run, I want him to have it in case we meet again, ok?”

Maddie gave him a sad smile but did take the shirt back. “Eddie, I have a feeling you’re never actually going to be rid of Buck no matter where we run or what happens.”

That soothed something deep within Eddie. He sat on the couch and ran a hand over his face. “How are you holding up, Maddie?”

“My real name is Hermione. And I’m holding up, mainly keeping busy and calling in favors from old school friends who may have any useful information,” she sat beside him and patted his arm. “You are welcome to keep calling me Maddie though.”

“And you aren’t really Buck, or Harry’s, sister?”

“I think he’d like you to keep calling him Buck too,” she chuckled. "He is Buck to you."

“And well…I’m as close to a sister as he’s going to get,” she shrugged. “Buck is an orphan with no family. We’ve been close since we were kids though and in boarding school together.”

“Oh…” Eddie trailed off, not even knowing what to say about that. He did have a burning question though. “Why would anyone think Buck of all people could be a part of a terrorist group?!”

Maddie’s lips pursed and she turned more towards him. “Look, Eddie…some things I think you need to hear from Buck and not me. However, the basics of all this is that we trusted someone we really shouldn’t have. After the war, well, we wanted to trust people again, especially the people who fought with us.”

Eddie leaned back away from her in surprise. “War?”

Maddie nodded slowly. “Right…more information. There was a magical war Buck, me, and my ex-husband Ron were all involved in.”

Eddie firmly shook his head. “Buck would never fight in a war.” He’d seen Buck pick up spiders and take them outside instead of squishing them. He’d never set out to hurt someone.

The look in Maddie’s eyes was not encouraging. “Eddie…Buck fought in the war, and then he joined the aurors, which…our world is fairly small, so aurors are very much paramilitary in our society, and Buck was the top one.”

Eddie’s was having to re-think everything he knew. That just didn’t seem possible. “But…why?”

“You have to understand, Harry didn’t actually want any of that. He was…basically what you would call a child soldier,” Maddie said to Eddie’s horror. What the hell?!

“He was hunted from childhood by this psychopath who was trying to take over, and Harry ended the war by killing that monster. After that, well, he’d saved everyone, and they just expected him to keep doing that. He didn’t really have a choice,” Maddie explained. “Honestly, I think if he got to choose, then this, what he has at the 118, is his dream. There isn’t an equivalent of firefighter in our society. I think healer would be the closest, and there just isn’t enough adrenaline in that profession for Harry. He needs a little danger. Now though…ever since I followed him here, this has been the happiest I’ve ever seen him.”

Eddie tried to let all that soak in. How had he gotten his friend so wrong. But had he really? He needed a very long conversation with his best friend…if Buck was ever able to return. What all had Buck been through? He was so much younger than Maddie…how had no one tried to protect him?

“But he’s so young still…” Eddie just looked at her helplessly. Something crossed Maddie’s face that he couldn’t interpret.

“Eddie, you need to talk to Buck about this, not me. I can tell you everything that happened, and I know we’re friends, but not like you and Buck. You need to hear it from him,” she answered, and she was absolutely right.

Eddie nodded and felt so tired. All the energy he’d had that morning was just gone. At least he wasn’t hungry.

“What about you?” Maddie asked, leaning against the back of the couch and pinning him the most understanding look he’d been given in a long time. “How are you doing with all this? I know it's thrown you for a loop, especially with Chris being a part of our world. How is Eddie doing though?”

Eddie opened his mouth to tell her he was perfectly fine but couldn’t bring himself to say the lie. He looked down and considered what he was willing to open up about. He wasn’t the best at letting people in…Buck excluded who had just barreled into his life like a hyper puppy and never left. Maddie had been a nurse though…right? Something was wrong with him, and he could use some help.

“You were a nurse?” He asked with a frown, wondering if her being a witch meant there was a different story there now.

“A healer actually,” she nodded. “It’s the magical version of a doctor. I specialized in magical creature health.”

That knowledge brought Eddie up short. He was a magical creature...sort of, right? He wasn’t exactly willing to tell her that though. But still…maybe she could help. He needed to be able to eat, and something was wrong.

“Can I…can I ask you a very awkward and uncomfortable question?” He winced. This was probably worse than telling her he was a vampire, but honestly, he’d rather talk about this particular problem with Maddie than his regular doctor who he didn’t know well at all. Maybe that was weird, but he just knew she would be more understanding, and maybe able to magically help him.

Maddie just laughed. “You got a questionable rash? I’m always good to check out a questionable rash. I might even have a safe potion you can use for it…depending on what it is at least. So…we dropping trousers? You might want to close the curtains first,” she motioned to the window.

Eddie couldn’t help his laugh. Something about Maddie just made him feel safe ever since she’d helped him clean off the blood in the bathroom after Buck’s accident with the ladder truck. That and Maddie was dating Chimney. If anyone could put up with Chimney long-term, then they had the patience and fortitude of a saint.

“Not a rash,” he laughed again. “It’s just…well, I can’t really…well, not that…”

“How about you start with when you first noticed whatever this problem is,” she cut off his nonsensical ramblings.

Eddie took in a breath and nodded, starting over again. “Ok, well, I think it was back when Shannon first came back into our lives. We’d never had any problems before…in bed…you know? We had plenty of other problems in our relationship.”

“But you did now?” She prompted, no judgment at all on her face.

“Not exactly,” he frowned. “It’s just…I wasn’t really interested now. I didn’t feel a connection to her like I used to.”

Maddie frowned slightly. “That seems completely reasonable to me. She left you, and it had been a long time since you were together. She was essentially a stranger walking back into your life.”

Eddie nodded slowly. “But…I went out and well…I couldn’t really get interested in someone else either…like, I know she was gorgeous, but I just…wasn’t attracted to her.”

Maddie’s look didn’t shift in the slightest. “Just because someone is good looking, doesn’t mean you have to find them sexually attractive. It doesn’t sound like you’re describing a physical problem to me here. It’s not like you were sexually attracted to her and not able to do anything about it…Eddie, it sounds like you just didn’t want to do anything about it.”

He winced because, yeah, maybe. “Something’s wrong with me though, right?”

“Not in the slightest,” Maddie shook her head. “Why do you think you have to be ready to sleep with anyone wherever and whenever?”

Eddie didn’t know the answer to that. Just…well, he was a guy, right? But he’d only ever been with Shannon, and he was single now. Wasn’t he supposed to…you know…be out there or something…

Maddie sighed. “I really shouldn’t tell you this,” she gave in. “I really think it will help though.”

Eddie cocked his head to one side and waited out whatever moral obligation she was weighing. “I don’t think he would mind…no, he definitely wouldn’t,” she finally nodded. “Right, so don’t ask the why because that’s invading my brother’s privacy much more than I’m willing to do, but Buck 1.0 never existed.”

“Uh…what?” Eddie frowned. He knew that was Chimney’s shorthand for back before Eddie had joined the station and Buck had been a little wild.

“Ok, so maybe that’s a bad way of putting it because my brother did sleep around a lot back in the day, but not when he moved out here and joined the 118,” Maddie continued to his confusion. “As far as I know, and my brother is actually too chatty about his love-life, so I do actually know…he’s only slept with Abby since he moved here.”

“But…why?” He asked and rolled his eyes at Maddie’s look at him for asking the one question she told him he couldn’t. “Fine, but how does this pertain to my situation?”

Maddie gave him a fond look now that Eddie wasn’t sure he deserved after getting her brother arrested. “There are a lot of reasons for not jumping into bed with everyone who crosses your path. That’s not a requirement of being a single guy in LA. Buck had his reasons, and I’m sure you have your own. Maybe you’re just looking for the right person, or maybe you’re demisexual or something. Or maybe you just don’t like one-night stands. It doesn’t have to be more complicated than that.”

Right, so Maddie was basically telling him to get a therapist. That was just great. He couldn’t afford the copay for a therapist.

“Thanks Maddie,” he said because that actually did help a hell of a lot with his own personal crisis. He didn’t even know why he was beating himself up about this so much. In the grand scheme of his problems though, it still didn’t help him get blood. He was still going to be hungry.

“And Eddie…if you ever need anything, I’m happy to help you,” she said, squeezing his hand once. That was nice…he really needed blood though. She couldn’t help him with that.

“Diaz! Come spot me!” Lena Bosco ordered as she walked past Eddie towards the station’s gym. Eddie quickly shut his laptop where he’d been looking up the term Maddie had used…demisexual. It was…he really didn’t want to admit it right now, but yeah…maybe she was onto something there. Again, that complicated Raina’s way of getting blood at least though.

He grumbled all the way down to the gym and did help spot Bosco. She’d thankfully agreed to stay on at the station and put off going back to the 136 while Buck was away at his ‘family emergency,’ and she was great, but she wasn’t his best friend. Eddie missed Buck like a missing limb.

“Who peed in your cheerios?” She asked, startling Eddie who had zoned out completely.

“Huh? What? I’m fine,” he sighed and set the weights back in the rack.

“Dude, you’ve been walking around like you want to punch someone for a week now. What’s up? Seriously?” She asked, and she actually did seem to care.

Eddie tiredly leaned against the rack holding the punching bag. He was hungry again. “I’m having some financial difficulties. I think I’m going to have to pick up a second job. No one is asking for shift covers right now for some reason. Shouldn’t people be going on vacation or something? It’s the summer!”

Bosco looked at him with a small frown on her face as if trying to figure something out. “You were Army, right?” She eventually asked.

Eddie had absolutely no idea where this was going. “Uh, yeah…?”

“You trained in fighting there, right? Like MMA?”

Eddie’s eyebrow shot up. “Yes, yes I did.”

“Great! You’re coming with me tonight,” she smiled at him broadly. “Don’t spread it around, but I know a way to make some fast money. You get paid if you win or lose, but much more if you actually win.”

Well…this sounded a whole lot better than going to a club.

Chapter Text

“So…muggle hair dye?” Cho asked conversationally while she waited with Harry in the MACUSA portkey office for the contingent of aurors to meet them and probably start in on his interrogation. The office was currently empty because they didn’t want to put any of the civilian workers in ‘danger’ around such a ‘vicious’ wanted terrorist.

“Clearly blue contact lenses. But how in Merlin’s name did you get rid of the scar? You didn’t like burn your forehead or something, did you?” She continued as if they weren’t waiting on a bunch of people who probably wanted to toss him to the nearest dementor or into whatever America’s version of the Veil was.

Harry chuckled, doing his best to compartmentalize his rising anxiety. “Cho, you just saw me…what was it?...four years ago at the anniversary? I already had my eyes fixed by then.”

“Well, excuse me for not remembering you tossing your glasses when I was in the middle of moving continent and getting a new job,” she fondly scoffed at him. “Plus, the blue lenses don’t have to be corrective. So, what is it then if not that? Your appearance isn’t different enough for Polyjuice, and I don’t know any glamours that are this good.”

Harry smiled and decided it was probably the end of his hiding anyway. All his secrets were coming out, especially because there was no way he was going to let them send him back to England without a Veritaserum questioning if he had anything to say about it. Plus, if he was able to escape, he didn’t want more people than necessary to see his ‘Buck’ look in case he wanted to use it again. So…he breathed out and let go of his changes.

“Morgana’s tits!” Cho gasped and dramatically slapped his shoulder where he was still standing there handcuffed. “How did no one fucking know you’re a metamorphmagus?! I feel like that would have come up during the war if not during the tournament. Is that how you got away with sneaking around all the time?”

Harry gave her a sheepish smile, shrugging his wild hair over a shoulder. “Er, well, I’m really not that powerful since I can’t change my bone structure or anything, but I’ve been getting a lot of practice in as you can imagine, so my abilities have expanded quite a lot. Back at Hogwarts, I only knew I could change the length of my hair, so that was pretty much all I ever used it for back then. It was a little terrifying when I saw what my hair actually looked like after not having gotten a haircut for over two decades. I think I screamed like Malfoy when my patronus chased him down that one time.”

Cho snorted a laugh. “Only you Harry…” her amusement suddenly washed off her face for a deep sadness. “Look, I’m sorry about Kingsley. I’ve mentioned my suspicions to my co-workers a lot over the past few years out of sheer indignation. They know none of this makes sense. I think…I think you can get them to listen. I’ve laid the groundwork anyway. Plus, they already all know how you were maligned over the war and made Undesirable Number One then, this all tracks with things done to you in the past.”

“Do you think I can get them to listen with some Veritaserum?” He asked pointedly. “Cho…I’ll spill any secret they want to know about the war or British ministry at this point as long as they don’t send me back. Please, you can’t let them send me back to Kingsley. I’d rather be thrown in prison here than sent back to England.”

He was shocked that he actually meant every word. Not too long ago, he would have done everything in his considerable power to keep the secrets of the war like the horcruxes and the hallows. Even after the war he had dangerous secrets, like there were several classified missions he really shouldn’t be the only person alive who retained the knowledge of, but definitely was…and Kingsley…probably the only thing that could get him to spill all those secrets would be Veritaserum.

“Mr. Potter,” a stern-looking older man with bifocals, hair almost as blond as Malfoy’s, and a mustache that should have stayed in the 1970s said when he entered the room flanked by a whole group of red-robed aurors. It was a little flattering how many aurors they thought they needed to bring him in. “I think you have a strong case to request a lawyer to mockup an interrogation contract before your Veritaserum questioning actually.”

That surprised Harry because solicitors were usually kept out of criminal proceedings because of the use of pensieves, Veritaserum, and binding magical contracts. A questioning contract was one of the few times they were allowed, at least in Harry’s experience in England, and only when the aurors believed they were going to uncover very dangerous or politically sensitive knowledge. Which they definitely were if they were going to question Harry, but still, that meant that at least on some level they believed Cho’s suspicions that he may not actually be in the wrong. He didn’t want to hope just yet, but he was starting to head that way.

In the face of being questioned, Harry felt himself falling back into Harry Potter the auror and further away from Evan Buckley the firefighter. Actually, Buck would probably have done it too, but whatever. He smiled at the man with a little flirtatious wink. It was a character he fell into to make people comfortable around him, the same as Ron played up the buffoon…which had led to most of Buck 1.0’s lore even beyond the lies he’d told to push away his team. Anyway, time to play with these aurors…

“Well, hello handsome, I do always like to know the names of my dates though, it makes things so much easier, so you are…?” He asked the man. At least two aurors behind him snorted a laugh, and Cho rolled her eyes.

“I swear, Barclay, he had absolutely no game in school,” Cho assured the auror who was probably her boss. “If he doesn’t behave, I’ll tell you all about our first and only date.”

Harry fake gasped. “I counted the Christmas thing as our first date. You hurt me, Cho.”

She wasn’t amused. “Behave.”

“Fine…It’s good to meet you Auror Barclay and assembled minions,” Harry grinned at the group.

Barclay wasn’t amused either, even though the man to his left was probably Harry’s new best friend since he was still chuckling at the jokes. If Harry had to escape, he’d make sure it wasn’t on that particular auror’s watch. It was only fair.

“Mr. Potter, you do realize how serious this is,” Barclay glared. Harry’s carefully held anxiety was really trying to break through all his many layers of Occlumency to hide it.

“Sir, I know exactly how serious this is. I was Head Auror by the time I was 27, overthrew 2…no 3 dark lords if we’re being generous…the last one only had like 5 followers, so I’m not sure he counts,” he told Cho who rolled her eyes at him again before looking back at her supervisor.

“And if all that wasn’t enough, my godfather was wrongfully accused and sentenced to maximum security prison for 12 years and then hunted until his death…not to mention that I was literally almost killed by my own ministry when I was 15, hunted by them for an entire year when I was 17, and now the literal leader of my nation actively tried to kill me once, almost killed me several more times, and is trying to have me imprisoned for the rest of my life because he couldn’t handle me dumping him…so yeah, I understand, but also you don’t get to control how I cope to keep myself sane,” he added with a dark look at the auror who looked slightly less irritated and a fraction more impressed at his honesty.

Auror Barclay gave him a short nod. “I suppose you have a point there…now, do you have a lawyer, or should we provide you with one? I’d like to get a move on with your questioning.”

Harry couldn’t help his wide grin. “I definitely do…I have to warn you though, my solicitor is Sidhe.”

At least five of the aurors swore violently at that. The Sidhe bank was very full-service though. It was one of the main reasons he’d picked it over the vampire bank even with the extra danger of them always trying to get a person to sign their life and freedom away. There were definitely worse ways to go at the very least.

Barclay held a hand out and took Harry’s wand from Cho and his go bag that he carried whenever he wasn’t on shift. Well, he took the holly wand Harry still carried on him when he wasn’t at the fire station. Harry could call the Elder Wand whenever he wanted, but he wasn’t about to tell them that. And, if they thought they were going to get past the wards on his bag, then they best have an expert ward-breaker on staff because Harry’s paranoia had paranoia at this point.

“We will fire call the bank for you. Who is your assigned Sidhe representative?” He asked, all business. Barclay really was no fun, very Terry Boot vibes in an interrogation, nothing like Ron or Harry. Different strategies, but they were all pretty effective.

“Darragh,” Harry told him simply. His account manager/solicitor was not going to be happy to be called away from the Sidhe realm on short notice, but he was very well compensated, so he’d get over it. With a dismissive wave, Barclay left his aurors who pulled and pushed Harry down a dark hallway and through several empty offices towards a very sad and boring interrogation room…as they all were really no matter what country. Cho stayed with him the entire time and even slouched against one grey wall when they were finally left alone.

“You think I’m going to run or something?” Harry asked, because he just might, and he really didn’t want to get Cho in trouble if he did.

She shrugged. “Probably, but mainly I asked to stay with you to make sure you aren’t getting shuffled off to an international portkey without at least checking your story first…plus, I think that they’re hoping that having me, who’s still a British citizen, in attendance will keep this from becoming some kind of international incident.”

Harry snorted wryly. “Good luck with that. I’ve never been very good at preventing those.”

“Ah, France,” she nodded knowingly. He’d actually been thinking the Quidditch World Cup, but yeah, France was more his fault, she had him there. “Just how did you end up breaking into the Louvre and getting away with it?”

“Classified,” he smirked. That was actually dark lord number three and his five followers he and Ron were after. The French Police Nationale were really quite appreciative after the international incident thing was smoothed over. Actually, that was right when he’d first started dating Kingsley and things were still good. Kingsley had really gone to bat for him then.

“So, tell me about this new bloke? He treat you well?” Harry asked with more sincerity than most of what he’d said since portkeying to New York. He and Cho might not have kept in touch, but he did still view her as a friend and wanted her happy.

Cho smiled, and it was all Harry needed to know. He’d never smiled like that about Kingsley, ever. “Adam is actually pretty wonderful. I think even Cedric would approve,” she said, and yeah, that was high praise. Her smile turned into a smirk then. “At least he’s never ditched me on Valentines Day for another girl.”

“Ha, ha,” Harry smiled, still a little embarrassed for his teenaged self. He really didn’t have any game back then, she was very right. “It was for that Quibbler interview if you remember.”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever you have to tell yourself,” she just shot back fondly. “Long as you don’t do the same thing to your hottie of a partner. I hate to see sexy men cry.”

“Eddie would never take me to any place as cheesy as Madam Puddifoot’s,” Harry scoffed, getting a real laugh from Cho. Actually, it would probably be really fun if he and Eddie did go because they’d both get a kick out of making fun of it the entire time they had tea and tiny sandwiches. Then they’d go to a pub or something for real food. Wait…Cho meant work partner, right? It didn’t sound like she had though…

“It really was bad, wasn’t it? Merlin, those cherubs!” She shook her head chuckling.

The door opened a few minutes later, and Auror Barclay held it for the tall Sidhe man whose slightly green skin stood out much more under the harsh lighting of MACUSA. “Sir Harry,” Darragh gave him a long-suffering look, clearly calling him an idiot for getting arrested.

“Darragh,” he nodded and just grinned. Darragh would take care of this, he trusted the man and his extreme competence. Well, if he didn’t end up selling the guy his life and liberty or something, but hey, at least he wouldn’t be sent back to Kingsley. Darragh would most likely treat him well.

Darragh tisked, and snapped his fingers, causing Harry’s wild hair to immediately snap into what felt like a braid down his back. “Much better. You looked like a stray kneazle. I can’t work under those conditions,” he sat across the table and took out a ream of parchment. “Now, if you will all leave me and my client. I will call for you when the contract is finished.”

“MACUSA requires me to check over any Sidhe contract before the prisoner signs,” Barclay warned with a narrowed look at Darragh who sighed as if it was so very unprofessional for him to not be trusted but nodded anyway.

Harry nodded too; that was a very good policy. They hadn’t had that policy when he was an auror, but very few mages willingly agreed to work with the Sidhe when Gringotts was right there, so they hadn’t needed it. Realistically though, if Harry didn’t think he could reasonably get out of this, he probably would consider selling himself to the Sidhe. It would get him out of custody into another realm at least.

Cho finally left with her supervisor, and Darragh snapped again, vanishing Harry’s handcuffs. Harry immediately rubbed his wrists and popped his back that had gotten very stiff. “Thanks, you probably weren’t supposed to do that, but I appreciate it,” he said settling back into his chair.

Darragh shrugged before tapping the parchment where the framework for a contract suddenly appeared. “I’m almost positive you could have escaped at least four times before now if you weren’t hoping to prove your innocence. I may not agree with allowing yourself to remain in custody, but I can see the advantage of no longer being on the run.”

Harry raised an eyebrow. “Six by my count actually. And yeah, that and I didn’t want to get Cho in trouble.”

“Well, I make more money if you are out of prison and actively investing your significant funds, so…let’s get started,” Darragh smiled with his extra-sharp teeth and tapped a quill to the contract. “What areas of your knowledge are dangerous to national security or classified enough to get you into more trouble than you’re already in?”

Harry sighed and rubbed his neck. “Can we just ban any questions about the war?”

“Is anything relevant to your current troubles?”

“Absolutely not,” Harry assured firmly, and Darragh wrote it in. No one needed to know about the horcruxes or hallows. There was way too much danger for anyone to hold that knowledge, himself included. He couldn’t exactly obliviate himself though…especially when he was now Master of Death.

By the time Darragh and Harry finished the contract, Barclay looked it over and made them change picky things, they wrote it again, and everyone finally signed, it was very late at night, and the MACUSA potion master had gone home for the evening. So, Harry was off to lock-up for the evening to wait to be interrogated until the next day. There were at least three more ways he could have escaped overnight, which he may be generous enough to tell the aurors about if he was allowed to remain in the country or at least not sent back to England.

On the positive side of things, Harry was allowed a fire call since he was being held overnight. He had to think really hard about who to call because who he really wanted to call was Eddie…who Cho seemed to think was his husband or something…he wasn’t sure how that had come about, but whatever, he wasn’t complaining. Anyway, Eddie’s didn’t have floo access. Hermione was his next thought, but he didn’t want to get her pulled into this in case they realized she’d known where he was all this time. MACUSA knew she was in America because she was still taking classes at Ilvermorny, but they didn’t know she was in LA. Josh also didn’t have floo access…so Ron it was…

Ron sighed deeply when his head appeared in the green flames. “You really do have the absolute worst luck, mate,” he said dryly, which meant Eddie must have told Josh, who told Hermione, who had already contacted Ron. The friend grapevine was very fast.

Harry frankly agreed about his luck. “Well, I knew I couldn’t run forever, and at least it was Cho.”

“She still angry at you for the Valentines thing in fifth year?” Ron asked with a frown.

Harry laughed. “No mate, we put that behind us before the war even really got started. I haven’t seen her in about 4 years, but we always did pub nights after the anniversary speeches and glad-handing when you were off shagging Hermione or something. Then…you know…Kingsley happened, and she moved country…so…”

“Yeah, I get it,” Ron sighed. “By the way, I checked MACUSA’s floo connection, it’s secure. They have warding around the magic of the connection.”

Harry sighed in relief at his friend’s assurance. He’d almost not called Ron because of that. International calls were always a little more secure than local ones since a person couldn’t travel through the connection, but still, the British Ministry could monitor them to an extent…unless MACUSA secured it on their end.

“I don’t have long,” Harry heard the auror who’d laughed at his jokes shuffling his feet behind him. He really should learn the bloke’s name. “My Sidhe solicitor wrote up a contract, so I won’t be spreading classified information and all, and I’ll be questioned under Veritaserum tomorrow.”

“That’s really good news, Harry,” Ron nodded firmly. They shared a look, clearly saying Ron would relay all this to Hermione. “No whispers on my end yet of you being found. MACUSA has kept a good lid on all this surprisingly. I’m starting to think Chang might have had the right idea to jump ship and head over there.”

“Thank Merlin word hasn’t got out,” Harry breathed out again. “Oh…Teddy…” he couldn’t say to tell Teddy that he might not be able to make his trip, not when there was an auror behind him.

Ron just nodded though. “Hey, you’re innocent. This might not take long. Maybe…maybe nothing has to change?”

Harry thought it was too optimistic to think he’d be allowed to go back to his life in LA. If he somehow could though, he’d grab onto that opportunity with both hands. Then, Teddy could come visit and look into that technomage he wanted to study under, and maybe move in with Harry in a year. And then there was Eddie and Chris…and there was too much back in LA for Harry to leave now. He had to clear his name and make sure they would let him return to his life. He didn’t know how he was going to do that, but he needed to make it happen.

It took two days for Harry’s questioning to finish up. There was a lot of arguing between the aurors about how to best word their questions, and every time Harry’s Veritaserum wore off, they had to wait two hours before he could be given another dose. Harry hadn’t remembered feeling this drained since the war. Emotionally, mentally, and physically, he felt like he was at the end of his capabilities to continue.

Realistically, there wasn’t much the American aurors could do to a sitting British Minister of Magic (who had just won the freaking re-election, which was just great), but they asked the questions anyway. They asked Harry about things he’d never told Ron or Hermione or anyone. They asked things, and Harry found himself saying truths he hadn’t been able to admit to even himself all these years. As much as Kingsley had destroyed him, Harry was now starting to realize just how much that actually was. Even bloody Auror Barclay looked ready to throw down for Harry, and Harry didn’t think the man had emotions until that moment. Cho was crying, and Harry couldn’t say anything to help her through his own tears.

“Well, we are absolutely not going to extradite you to England,” Barclay firmly growled when Harry’s last dose of Veritaserum wore off. “Beyond that, I can’t give you any definitives until I speak with the President of MACUSA. As much as we have been trying to avoid an international incident…I don’t know how that is possible now. However, I will argue that you be granted political asylum. Whether she agrees or not though, we’ll have to wait and see.”

Harry let go of so much of the stress he’d been holding onto now that extradition was off the table. Hopefully he wasn’t told to leave the country, but at least they weren’t planning to gift-wrap him and hand him over to Kingsley. “Thank you,” he told the man sincerely who gave him a firm nod of what looked like approval before he took all the paperwork and pensieve recordings and left the room, presumably to meet with the president.

“Harry…I’m sure Ron or Hermione have told you this, but you really need a mind-healer once all this is over with,” Cho sank into Barclay’s seat and leaned closer to him. “I’ve been seeing someone since the war who has been helping, and I didn’t go through nearly as much as you did…and everything that happened after…”

Harry frowned and pulled over a piece of spare parchment and a ballpoint pen that the American aurors seemed to favor over quills, thank Merlin. He scribbled out a name and slid it over to her after only a moment of weighing if it was a good idea or not. “Look, I don’t want to incriminate myself, so take this as an anonymous tip, but you may want to look into this Dr. Wells, she’s a witch working as a muggle therapist. She’s also the main reason I’m hesitant to try any type of therapy again.”

Cho took the paper with a grim and angry look on her face that was clearly not directed at Harry. “Should I ask about you when I find her?”

Harry shook his head. “She will have no recollection of me as a patient…if you understand,” he told her firmly. What she’d done was exceptionally illegal and unethical, but obliviating her was also illegal, and Harry was really pulling for that political asylum right now. “I’m fairly positive my captain got her fired from the LAFD, but I’m not sure if she’s still practicing somewhere or not.”

Cho slid the parchment into her pocket. “I’ll look into it; you can trust me with this. It’s the least I can do.”

“You don’t owe me anything,” Harry smiled at her as much as he could when his face felt chapped from all the crying he’d been doing for two days straight.

Cho reached across the table and took one of his hands in both of hers. “Harry…we all owe you everything. You hear me. I don’t know how much the Americans can do about the situation in England, but you have to realize even they know now. We all owe you, and not just for Voldemort, but yeah, at the very least that….plus, those other two dark lords,” she gave him a wobbly smile at the end.

Harry snorted a tired laugh. “Eh, that last one doesn’t count.” Cho chuckled with him, and they settled in to wait on whatever the President of MACUSA would decide.

Lock-up wasn’t that bad. Harry had a private room with three meals a day and a stack of quidditch magazines Cho had dropped off for him to catch up on all the games he’d missed during his time on the run. Well, the food was very bland, the bed was hard, and the loo was in his room with no privacy, but still, he’d been in worse prisons…or really dungeons, but whatever.

Bureaucracy did not move quickly, but Harry wasn’t expecting it to. Really, the fact that it took almost a whole week for a decision to be made was faster than he’d thought it would be. He knew Ron and Darragh were both checking in on him regularly, plus Cho, so maybe that was helping, but still…for any type of government proceedings, that was really quick.

“The President has authorized me to present you with a few options,” Auror Barclay laid out three pieces of parchment on the table from where he was sitting across from Harry and Darragh who was invited back for legal support.

“Any of those options include political asylum?” Harry asked, sliding the first contract closer to read it.

“All of them,” Barclay nodded firmly, finally giving Harry the hope he’d been trying to protect himself from. Barclay tapped a finger to the contract Harry was looking at. “This one offers a position as my second in command in the aurors. I know it would be a demotion for you, but I’m still a couple decades from retirement at least. I’m hoping you take this offer even though it will cause MACUSA the most political upheaval since we won’t be able to keep it a secret that you work for us.”

Harry pressed his lips into a firm line. He didn’t want to return to being an auror. He liked helping people with no violence involved, and he didn’t want to give up being a firefighter. Plus, Kingsley would know where he was if he worked for MACUSA. The minister would not have an easy time getting to him, but Harry still didn’t like that thought.

“The others?” He asked, pushing that contract back to look over the second.

Barclay sighed but didn’t look like he was surprised that Harry would pass up on the auror job. Frankly, this man now unfortunately knew him better than his best friends after their intense two-day interrogation. “This next is the safest for you, and the one I recommend if you don’t take the job offer. This is our version of witness protection. You would be required to testify if there were any reason for you to, but I don’t see an American trial as a possibility for a British world leader, so it’s a very distant possibility. We would give you a new identity and relocate you somewhere, obliviating all but one auror from knowing that location and identity.”

Frankly, that was worse than the job offer because he’d be taken from the lives of his family then. He couldn’t cut Hermione, Ron, Teddy, Eddie, Chris, Josh, Chimney, Hen, Bobby, and Athena from his life now that he had them. He couldn’t walk away from his family again.

“The third?” He asked, hoping that this one wouldn’t suck. He would have a hard time taking either of the first two.

Barclay grimaced. “This is the most dangerous option for you. I do not recommend it,” he slid the contract over. “It is for political asylum and nothing else. We turn you lose, and you’re on your own. We’ll do our best, mainly for our own political reasons, to keep your presence in the country secret, but you’ll have no official ties to MACUSA.”

“Where’s the pen?” Harry asked immediately reaching for the ballpoint pen. This was the one he'd been hoping for.

“Sir Harry,” Darragh sighed and slid the contract over to himself firmly. “At least let me read it first. Sweet Oberon, but mages are so hasty. This is why your realm is so chaotic.”

Harry laughed at him, but let his solicitor do his job. Darragh did suggest a few changes to destroy records of his initial arrest location since it was clear Harry was returning, but overall, it was very straightforward, and more than Harry could have hoped for. Yes, it was the more dangerous option, but it gave him his life back. Plus, he had Hermione there and Eddie who could hold his own as a vampire, so he wasn’t alone.

Harry signed with a flourish. “Now, who has my wand and bag? Did the bag bite anyone? That was a really cool ward, wasn’t it?”

Barclay grimaced, and Harry’s heart warmed that someone had definitely gotten bit. “You wouldn’t happen to be willing to teach that ward to me before you leave, would you?”

Harry smiled broadly and probably a little ferally now that his anxiety was gone. “Oh, love, not only that, but do you want to hear about all your holes in security down in lock-up? I have a list.”

Buck was very nervous. He’d never been this nervous standing outside of the Diaz home ever. This had always been his safe haven. He'd known from the moment he was welcomed in that first time that he really was truly welcome even though it was hard for him to admit it at times. Vampires were extremely territorial (baby vamps the most), so Eddie giving him a key and allowing him to basically take over his kitchen was evidence more than anything else that for some strange reason, Buck was allowed into the Diaz family. He didn’t know why or what he’d done to deserve that, but the extent of the access he was allowed to Eddie’s home was overwhelming. That level of trust was both flattering and terrifying.

Now, Buck was certain he’d broken that trust. There was no way Eddie would forgive him lying to him for years…not to mention the whole wanted fugitive part. Maddie had said that Eddie had forgiven him, but Buck didn’t believe it. Maybe he’d just put on a good show to keep Maddie from being upset while Buck was away. Buck wouldn’t trust it until he saw it himself.

Buck shored up his shaky Occlumency walls that the Veritaserum had torn down and took a few deep breaths before he knocked on the door. It didn’t take more than ten seconds before the door was enthusiastically thrown open.

“Buck!” Chris shouted before almost tackling him to the ground. “Maddie said you were free, but not when you would be back!”

“I’m back, buddy,” he held onto the kid with all the love in his heart. “I’m so sorry, Chris. I didn’t mean for you to worry or have to see that. It’s all good now though.”

“Do you get to stay now?” Chris leaned back to ask, his blue eyes looking hopefully up at Buck.

Buck hesitated because that was more Eddie’s call than anyone else’s. He looked behind Chris to where a vampire was leaning against the opposite wall and giving him what could only be described as a fond look. Maybe things were going to be ok.

That was until Buck saw the deep bruise on Eddie’s arm…

How did a vampire get a bruise that didn’t disappear within half an hour. And why did Eddie look so tired? There were bags under his eyes, and he looked like he’d lost some weight. What the bloody hell had been happening while he was away?! It’d only been two weeks! A week in holding, and then a week where Harry stayed in New York getting all the paperwork and legalities settled as well as hanging out with Cho and her husband Adam.

“Hey,” Eddie said, shrugging at Buck’s concerned look. “Just an accident on the job. No big deal.”

Bullshit. Buck’s eyes narrowed. A vampire didn’t bruise like that from anything that could happen on the job barring something that would have absolutely killed a normal human, and Maddie would have definitely told him about that. Why was Eddie lying to him about this? Maybe he didn’t want Chris to know?

Buck looked down at the smiling kid, and let it go for the moment, but only until Chris was out of the room. “Yeah, superman,” he finally felt reasonably able to answer Chris’s question. “I’m legally able to stay around as long as you want me now. I’m officially no longer a fugitive.”

Chris cheered and pulled Buck into the house and past Eddie who shut the door and followed them. “I’m so sorry I got you arrested, Buck,” Chris said almost frantically. “Or Harry? Should I call you Harry? I like Buck a lot more than Harry though. Ms. Athena's son is already called Harry.”

Buck stopped and knelt down to be able to look Chris in the eyes. This was important. “Hey, Chris,” he said, stopping his friend from spiraling. “Absolutely none of this was your or your dad’s fault in the slightest. I never told you I was running from a bad man, and I should have. And Chris…I’ll always be your Buck. I want to be your Buck, not Harry, not to you.”

Chris’s face broke into a huge smile. Buck glanced up, and he couldn’t read the emotions on Eddie’s face, but he got a feeling he’d said the right thing. Eddie gave him a nod and a smile. “Hey, how about I order us some pizza, and you can tell Buck about everything he’s missed while he’s been away?”

“I want to hear about jail!” Chris tossed his crutches by the couch and plopped down. “School is boring, tell me about magic jail. Are there bars on the cells or is it force fields like in Star Trek?”

Buck and Eddie shared a look with an entire conversation in it. Eddie eventually shook his head with a chuckle and picked up his cellphone to place their pizza order. “Well,” Buck started. “Jail was boring too, but my friend Cho gave me a whole stack of quidditch magazines to read. Now, let me tell you about the best magical game in the entire world that I’m going to teach you just as soon as we can convince your dad it isn’t dangerous.”

“Good luck with that,” Eddie scoffed, not even knowing anything about the game. That just wasn’t fair. Buck pouted at him, but Eddie rolled his eyes and kept typing.

“Anyway,” Buck looked back at an excited Chris. “You fly around on brooms…”

“Dios mio! Why the hell would you fly around on brooms of all things!” Eddie stopped his typing to exclaim. “No, hell no, Buck!”

Buck smiled because things might not be back to normal yet, but maybe they could get there. He was still welcome for some reason, and even though he didn’t deserve it, he was never going to willingly walk away from that. Now, he just had to figure out what in the founder’s names had been going on with Eddie!

After way too much pizza, stories of Buck’s greatest hits as a quidditch player that had led to explanations of magical boarding school and the day school options that Dahlia and Cho hadn’t actually gotten around to going into depth about with Buck’s arrest, and then a Disney movie…Chris was finally asleep. Buck followed Eddie out of Chris’s room where he turned the lamp off and softly closed the door behind them.

“I’m sorry I lied to you,” Buck immediately started the conversation because no matter what was going on, he needed to make that clear immediately. Whatever it was though, the bruise was still on Eddie’s arm, so Buck was getting more concerned by the second. Vampires didn’t bruise like that.

Eddie paused in where he was getting two beers out of the fridge. “Buck…I was definitely angry for a little while, but then…well, I get it,” he said, straightening and passing a beer to him. “The auror lady, your friend, explained the Statute of Secrecy when they were explaining Chris’s magic, and well…the whole wanted fugitive thing had to have complicated all that even more.”

“I’m still sorry,” Buck followed him to the sitting room and the couch. Eddie didn’t know Buck knew he was a vampire, so he could have told Eddie the truth, but he didn’t want to put Eddie on the spot about being a magical creature until he was ready. It wasn’t Eddie’s fault that Buck had weird death senses. He absolutely would call his friend out if he kept lying about those bruises though.

Eddie took a sip of his drink to collect his thoughts. “Maddie wouldn’t tell me a lot about what happened. She said I should hear it from you. I really only know she's your sister, just not by blood…there was a war, and you were some kind of soldier and then cop, and someone powerful was angry at you and has been spreading lies.”

Buck laughed. “Well, that’s it in a nutshell, everything and nothing,” he said. “Look, that really is the basis of things, but I’ve spent two weeks having to repeatedly scrape my soul bare about all this. Could I have just a little time…not long, just a few days to be back to being Buck Buckley and not Harry Potter before I do it all again? I promise I’ll tell you everything, but I don’t think I can physically do it again right now.”

Eddie actually reached over and took his hand and gave it a squeeze. It was comforting until Buck realized Eddie’s hand was too cold. Yeah, he was a vampire and ran colder, but it was still way too cold. “I’m fine with that Buck. I don’t want to push you,” Eddie spoke over Buck’s growing concern. “Can you at least tell me one thing though…who’s in Australia?”

Buck laughed, holding onto Eddie’s hand tightly so he couldn’t take it away. Buck would take any intimacy Eddie was willing to give and hold onto it as long as possible. “Maddie’s parents, or well Hermione’s, I don’t know if she told you her real name. They’re kind of shitty parents, but at least they weren’t abusive or really neglectful. I doubt they will ever come up again unless we need an excuse to leave town, which I hope never happens again.”

Eddie laughed and it brightened the entire room. “I'm sorry about that for Maddie, but oh, man, you don’t know how many questions I’ve had to dodge about what you were up to in the land of kangaroos. Your sister was absolutely no help at all. I don’t know how she distracted Chimney that entire time without answering anything.”

Buck waggled his eyebrows in suggestive explanation, and Eddie choked on his sip of beer. “No, I don’t need an explanation.”

“Ah,” he laughed. “Well, what about you then? What have you been doing the last two weeks?”

This was what Buck really needed to know. Now was the time for Eddie to at least partially fess up. “Nothing much,” Eddie shrugged, taking another sip of his beer. “Just work and Chris. I helped Abuela fix a hole in her fence a few days ago.”

Buck’s eyes narrowed. No, this had gone on far too long. He was the first one to let people keep their secrets, but this one looked dangerous. Eddie knew he was powerful now. Why wasn’t he letting him help?!

“Right, so my dear, lovely friend,” Harry let go of his American accent and slipped back into auror mode. He was Harry again even if he looked like Buck. Eddie needed an auror, not a firefighter right now. Eddie’s eyes widened, rightly sensing this was getting serious.

“Yeah, friend?” Eddie said with a gulp at Harry’s look.

“My sister intentionally came over to your house while I was away to tell you she was here to help if you needed anything,” Harry said slowly. It was the most Hermione could do without saying she knew Eddie was a vampire herself. “I don’t know what you talked about, but I do know you didn’t ask for help…not with what I'm seeing now with the state you’re in.”

“What do you mean?” Eddie looked completely confused, which was clearly covering over panic at knowing exactly what Harry was talking about.

“Right, I’m going to say this as clearly as I possibly can so you can’t misinterpret,” Harry said slowly putting his beer on the table and holding onto Eddie’s cold hand again. “Vampires do not bruise like that from ‘normal’ activities.”

Eddie’s eyes widened almost comically, and he tried to pull away. “Hey,” Harry held on tighter. “I didn’t want to call you out before you were ready, and I’m the very last person to ever judge you, but I can help. Hell, Maddie can help. What do you need? You need someone arrested? Are you sick? You need blood? What do you need, Eddie?!”

Harry hated that he was talking too loud there at the end in his frantic questions. He threw his hand behind himself, casting a low-level silencing charm at Chris’s door with the Elder Wand to hopefully keep from waking the kid up. Eddie’s eyes caught on the wand, and he seemed to not be able to breathe.

“Hey,” Harry put the wand down and held both hands up placatingly, hoping to show he meant Eddie no harm at all. “I was only casting a silencing charm, so I didn’t wake up Chris. I’m not going to tell anyone anything if you don’t want me to. I need you safe though, Eddie. You don’t understand how much you and Chris mean to me. I promise you. I only want to help.”

Eddie continued his freaking out, but at least didn’t look like he was about to run anymore. Harry knew his friend had a problem with asking for help. Harry had that problem himself until Hermione or Ron would bully him into letting them in every time. Whatever this was though was serious, and Harry wasn’t letting it go without a fight.

“Let me in, Eddie,” he said when his friend calmed down slightly and seemed better able to focus. “Remember, I have your back, and you have mine. Let me have your back this time.”

Harry could see it when Eddie finally gave up his need to hold everything in and not ask for help. He seemed to finally relax only a little and let some of his burden go. Eddie took in a deep breath.

“Did you know werewolves exist?” He asked, completely shocking Harry. This was not where he’d been expecting this conversation to go.

“Yes, Eddie,” he said slowly. When had Eddie had occasion to interact with werewolves? As far as Harry could tell, Eddie barely interacted with vampires. “I know werewolves exist very well. My sort-of uncle was one.”

Eddie looked surprised for a second before just letting it go. “Well, apparently they are really into street fighting.”

And what the bloody hell had been going on while Harry was out of town?!!! It had only been two bloody weeks!!

Chapter Text

Eddie was freaking the hell out! He was going through so many emotions that he just wanted to shut down and not deal with it. First it was panic, Buck knew he was a vampire! Then anger, why hadn’t Buck said anything? Then there was acceptance of the situation because if Buck had told him before he’d known Chris had magic, then Eddie would have most definitely packed up Chris and moved the next day. Then anger again because why hadn’t Buck told him after Chris showed he had magic? But then was understanding because Buck had thought he had to go on the run once people knew about Chris.

Now Eddie didn’t know what he felt. He was just bombarded with so much that he couldn’t process. Eventually, he just had to settle for some kind of numb relief. They were both supernatural in some form, and Buck surprisingly didn’t look afraid of him at all. Plus…Eddie had kind of gotten his friend arrested, so…water under the bridge?

Oh, but now Eddie had to fess up to the mess he’d gone and gotten himself into. “Did you know werewolves exist?” He asked in resignation.

“Yes, Eddie,” Buck said as if that should have been obvious. Why would it have been obvious? “I know werewolves exist very well. My sort-of uncle was one.”

Eddie was absolutely not going to process that in addition to everything else. “Well, apparently they are really into street fighting.”

“Excuse me,” Buck pinched the bridge of his nose and looked like he was doing his best not to yell or something. Eddie was suddenly very glad for the forethought of putting some kind of silencing spell around his kid’s door. This was probably not going to go well.

Buck sighed and looked at him again, seeming to rein in all his anxiety and frustration into a false calmness. “Any why in Merlin’s name would you, Eddie Diaz, vampire, happen to know that werewolves are into street fighting?”

“It’s a long story,” Eddie obfuscated, not wanting to go into it at all. And hey! Mages swore by Merlin; he was so justified in swearing by Dracula in his head! Right, not the time.

“I have nowhere to be until I finally get to start back to work in two days,” Buck crossed his arms and really did look like he’d sit on Eddie’s couch for two days straight if that’s what it took.

Buck wasn’t his parent or actual husband and had no say over how he lived his life. At least that’s what Eddie was telling himself even though it felt like Buck really did have a say after all they’d been through together and how much he’d come to rely on his friend. “Ok, well, you have to realize that blood is very expensive, and it got worse after the tsunami and the blood shortage it caused. Plus, I had to get Chris new glasses and crutches, my rent went up, and I really do need a new truck. The old one’s A/C went out and has transmission issues.”

Buck’s expression fell into one of sad understanding. He ran a hand over his face and asked the question Eddie had been dreading. “Wouldn’t going clubbing and a few one-night stands have been much easier than street fighting though? That seems…drastic.”

Eddie shrugged and couldn’t help the blush he felt light up his cheeks. Dracula, but wouldn’t it have been nice if vampires couldn’t blush! “So…it’s possible I’m demisexual…and er, one-night stands kind of really cause me some psychological distress…”

“Oh,” Buck breathed out next with wide eyes, and Eddie was actually not shocked to see literally no judgement on his face in the slightest, only concern. “Well, thanks for telling me, and yeah, I can see how that might be a problem. How did you find a werewolf street fighting group though anyway?”

And that was it. Buck just accepted and moved on. Eddie couldn’t express how very thankful he was that Buck wasn’t making a big deal out of it. Eddie, himself, had been freaking out ever since his google search in the wake of Maddie’s off-hand comment. He needed someone to accept him and see it as normal when nothing else in his life was normal.

With a breath of relief, Eddie settled in to tell the convoluted story then. “Well, I told Bosco, your temporary replacement at the station, that I was having some financial problems, and she took me to a street fighting group she goes to occasionally. The money wasn’t good, but it was easy. I just had to pull my punches and really watch how hard I went with the normal humans to not actually hurt anyone.”

Buck nodded, still no judgement. Eddie was maybe a little shocked now at how much Buck was just going with it all. “And I guess there was someone from the other group who saw you?”

Eddie nodded. “Bosco decided to go home with someone else one of the nights, so I was alone, and this guy approached me. My senses just went haywire when he walked up and screamed danger and ew, wet dog and all that.”

Buck chuckled and nodded. “You’re natural enemies, sort of…I’ve seen werewolves and vampires work together and even be good friends, but you have to get past that first instinctual reaction.”

Eddie nodded. “Yeah, it surprised me because no one else I’ve met seemed to just know what I am…well, besides you…”

“I’m an anomaly,” Buck winced, and Eddie was starting to get the impression Buck was an anomaly in a lot of things. “If it helps, Maddie didn’t know you were a vampire when you first met, and I doubt Cho or the Ilvermorny lady figured it out either.”

Maybe he should tell Buck the school might think they are married? Nah, not important. “Well, good,” he breathed out in relief at that reassurance. “Anyway, the guy said he could get me a fairer fight and much better pay. He was right.”

Eddie looked down and let out a breath. “Well, the pay is great, but well, I’m good, but not great. I think I’ve lost as many fights as I’ve won. Plus, the wolves all want to go up against the vamp, so I think they’re throwing their toughest at me. But I’ve paid off my debt and put a down payment on a new truck.”

Buck whistled, actually looking impressed. “Well, that sounds dangerous, but I’m glad you’re ok. I’m sorry I wasn’t here to help before, but I’m here now. So…let’s talk about what we need to do so that you don’t have to keep going back and getting hurt.”

Eddie finally looked Buck in the eyes and raised a speculative eyebrow. “Buck, I’m out of the hole, but the blood prices still haven’t gone down yet. And I think I need to buy Chris some introduction to magic things now too…once you tell me what those things are anyway. Like does he need a wand? Not a broom, definitely not a broom.”

Buck laughed and just seemed to brush his concerns aside. “Don’t worry about the magic stuff. I was already starting to teach him some skills under the excuse of teaching him cooking and things like that before I left. I’ll just tell him it’s for magic school now instead of saving himself from your terrible cooking skills. And, he doesn’t need a wand until he goes off to school.”

Eddie just blinked. What? Buck had already been helping his son prepare to join the magical world? Well, the last of his residual anger at Buck not telling him things just seeped away. Eddie shook his head though. “No, I need to save money for his tuition. The meeting was under the guise of a scholarship, but that wasn’t actually what they were offering. They said there was significant financial assistance if we need it, but it wasn’t a complete scholarship.”

Buck was already shaking his head. “Seriously, that’s still almost 4 years away. Don’t worry about it, Eds. Magic school is absolutely not going to put you into debt, I promise. Now though, what’s pressing is your need for cheap blood so that you have enough in your paycheck for those new car payments.”

Eddie nodded, because yeah, Buck had a point there. “A few bruises are a small price to pay for that.”

Buck scoffed. “I’m not going to allow you to run into a burning building with broken ribs and bruises. Eddie, you might be immortal, but you aren’t indestructible and pretty evenly matched with a werewolf. In addition to yourself, you put Hen and Chimney and everyone else in danger then too.”

Eddie didn’t need to be indestructible. He just needed to be safe and healthy until Chris turned 18, or maybe 20, or at least until he got settled and able to take care of himself. Buck did have a point there about himself and others though. Collapsing in a building fire could still kill him, and the fights were significantly raising his danger of that.

With Shannon gone, Eddie was all Chris had, so he really should be taking a little better care of himself he supposed. Plus, Eddie would hate to do the same thing to someone else that had been done to him. He didn’t think he would drain one of his co-workers if he was on the brink of death, but he also didn’t want to chance whatever latent vampire instincts he might have.

He’d been drained out in Afghanistan as a combat medic, and the vampire who did it had freaked out at killing him when he saw they were both Army and then turned him instead. If he was being honest, Eddie could see himself making that same decision if it was Hen or Chimney that he was looking at on the floor, and he was about to be responsible for their death. He really didn’t think he’d attack one of his friends, but still, that was a chance he wasn’t willing to take.

“Ok, well, suggestions?” He asked, hoping that Buck had some ideas since he seemed determined to keep Eddie from going back to the fights. Eddie was floundering here. There were only so many extra shifts he could legally take. “I already tried the club scene, and I really don’t want to go back.”

Buck looked at him assessingly as if trying to gauge his reactions. “How offended would you be if I just gave you money?”

Eddie wasn’t sure what his face was doing, but it must not have been positive. Because what in Dracula’s fangs?! He was absolutely not going to take any of Buck’s money.

“I’m kind of loaded,” Buck shrugged in response to whatever Eddie’s face was doing. “But I can see you don’t like that idea, so plan b…”

“Which is…?” Eddie prompted at the dramatic pause.

“Er…so I was bleeding a lot after the whole ladder truck thing,” Buck actually blushed. Why? That was an odd reaction. “Er…well, how do I smell?”

“What?” Eddie didn’t even know how to answer that.

Buck huffed and rolled his eyes. “Well, I haven’t really been around a lot of vampires who I wasn’t arresting, so like, my blood, does it smell good, or maybe toxic or gone bad…?”

Eddie just blinked. Ok, was Buck offering what he thought he might be offering. “It smells good,” he said slowly. “But Buck…”

“Hah! Easy solution then! I really was hoping we didn’t have to go to a plan c,” Buck grinned happily and sat up. Eddie blinked again in surprise when Buck was already pulling his shirt off.

Eddie held in a gasp and was maybe trying to not swallow his own tongue when Buck’s plain blue t-shirt was over his head and his friend’s muscles were on full display. He quickly looked away and felt a full-body flush. Again, why couldn’t the stereotypical vampires not blushing thing be an actual thing?!

Right, so he was probably demisexual, but he was starting to think he definitely wasn’t straight either. And Dracula’s balls, but Buck was probably the closest person he had in his life, and it seemed he’d developed quite a bit of attraction that he’d been exceptionally good at ignoring until that very second. This was extremely inconvenient!

“Dios mio! Buck, why are you taking your shirt off?!” He asked, not sure where to look now.

Buck just scoffed and threw the shirt at him, hitting him in the face. It was warm and smelled of Buck. Damn, why did he have to have this realization right then? How had he made it into his thirties without realizing he wasn’t straight?! Oh, yeah, Shannon, and demisexual, and taking care of Chris, and learning to be a vampire, so yeah, that all definitely played a part.

“Well, I like this shirt, and I don’t know how messy of an eater you are,” Buck said as if that made perfect sense. “So, let’s do this!”

Eddie put the shirt on the coffee table and looked at his friend because of course Buck would just offer his blood at the first sign of Eddie needing food. Hell, he’d been buying their groceries for the longest. Eddie paid for them, of course, but Buck did the shopping because Eddie just kind of got tired of looking at human food these days. Well, he could tell Buck was not going to be deterred in the slightest.

“I can use a vein in your arm just as well,” Eddie motioned because it still wasn’t necessary for Buck to be half-naked in front of him and was that a lightning bolt scar on his chest? How did he get that?

He wasn’t expecting Buck to hold out both of his arms with a tight, almost pained look in his eyes though. “Yeah, that’s not going to be the easiest.”

Eddie held in his horrified gasp at what he saw. How hadn’t he realized Buck had such large scars on his arms before that very moment. He grasped his friend’s arms and pulled him closer to look at them.

“What happened to you cariño?!” Right, did Eddie just say that? Maybe Buck wouldn’t notice…?

“War,” he shrugged as if that explained it all, and Eddie supposed it did. He studied the long scars and turned Buck’s arms over. He couldn’t hold in the gasp this time at the writing across the back of Buck’s hand in his own damn handwriting!

“How didn’t I notice these before? Why? What could do even this?” He knew he was asking too many questions, but what could have caused ‘I must not tell lies’ to be permanently etched onto the back of his best friend’s hand?!

Buck cracked his neck and pulled his arms back, crossing them over his bare chest self-consciously, and Eddie felt really bad about his reaction and the questions then.  He hadn’t wanted to make Buck uncomfortable. “You don’t have to tell me anything you don’t want to,” Eddie assured him vehemently. Buck had already said he wasn’t emotionally able to open up more that evening after everything he’d just been through, and here he was asking for more.

“Erm, I’m really good at wearing long-sleeves and keeping the insides of my arms towards myself if I’m not. Plus, a low level notice-me-not charm around them helps. Usually, no one really looks at the back of your hands in great detail, and we wear gloves a lot at work too…Chris noticed once, but I just brushed it off as another type of tattoo. I didn’t think he should hear about one of my old professors torturing me…”

“Mierda,” Eddie breathed out. He was starting to think Buck’s past was one long nightmare. “I’m so sorry, Buck.”

Buck just shrugged but in a way that said he couldn’t deal with this right now than actually trying to brush it off. “It was a long time ago. Now, dinner?” He grinned teasingly to change the subject and leaned forward, clearly done with the intense conversation. “If I taste bad, then we’ll come up with some new option.”

There was no way in hell Buck was going to taste bad, not after the blood Eddie had smelled in the ambulance. He’d never smelled anything so good in his life, and that was including his abuela’s tres leches pre-vampire turning. Regardless, Eddie had a feeling they were about to cross some kind of line that Eddie at least wasn’t going to be able to come back from. He couldn’t just tell Buck he didn’t want his blood though because, Dracula-be-damned, he really, really did. Maybe that line had already been crossed because Eddie felt like he’d fallen off some kind of cliff, and he didn’t know how to climb back out.

“Are you sure, Buck?” He asked seriously, almost hoping his friend would reconsider. “This is a little…intimate.”

Buck’s smile fell slightly, and maybe he hadn’t quite thought this out completely. A second later, and the smile was back though. “Eddie, look, I really don’t care what I have to do. I’m keeping you and Christopher safe and healthy. A little blood donation is absolutely nothing on the scale of things I’m willing to do to make that happen. If you don’t want to do this, that’s another story, but I want to help you, never question that.”

Eddie found he couldn’t say no to that offer. It was only a little blood and would keep him from having to fight. Plus, the injuries made it to where he needed even more blood than he normally would, so his profit margin wasn’t as great as he’d like anyway. So, yeah, he was going to do this even though he had a feeling things were never going to be exactly the same between him and Buck again…though, that didn’t have to be a bad thing.

“Ok, get comfortable,” Eddie pushed Buck back so he was leaning against the back of the couch, and Eddie could scoot up right beside him. “Shannon said it was a little pinch and then whatever vampire toxins I have kick in, and it’s very pleasant after that, so it shouldn’t hurt.”

Buck laughed and shrugged. “Please, I’m not even concerned,” Buck assured him, and based on all his scars, Eddie believed him completely. He was a little concerned that Buck hadn’t taken into account just how pleasant it could be though. Shannon had always seemed very turned on even if they hadn’t done anything before or after.

Eddie just nodded though. Buck would figure it out and then ban him from ever taking any of his blood again. He would come up with some new plan after that. “Right, so I’m not going to take a whole lot, but if you start to black out or feel uncomfortable, just tell me to stop. I promise I’ll stop immediately.”

Buck snorted and actually just grabbed the back of his neck and shoved Eddie’s nose into his neck. “Dude, I’m fine. I know you have the self-control of a saint. Just take what you need.”

Eddie may have blacked out for a second when his face was pressed to Buck’s warm skin and all he could smell was Buck. He was sugar and ozone and something spicy. Buck was home.

Eddie let his fangs out and sank them into the soft skin under his mouth. Buck tasted…he couldn’t even describe it. If Buck smelled like home, he tasted even better. That first drop of blood on Eddie’s tongue, and he didn’t think he could ever get enough. Then Buck gave a little gasp, and Eddie didn’t think he’d been turned on so much in his life. Yeah, he was never coming back from this.

Eddie may have made some kind of whimper in the back of his throat that he’d never admit to, and he really hoped Buck didn’t notice. It was just…something about Buck’s blood made him feel safe and strong and like everything was going to be ok. He had to keep reminding himself of where he was and what he was doing so he didn’t go too far. He couldn’t take too much blood and hurt his friend.

Buck was decidedly not helping in that he had grabbed Eddie’s sides and dug in his fingers almost painfully, holding him close. He breathed heavily but didn’t say anything, and Eddie needed him to say something, say what he was thinking, say if he was ok. Buck shuddered and clutched Eddie a little tighter, and he really hoped he wasn’t hurting Buck.

It was over too soon for Eddie, but he didn’t want to take too much blood. Buck needed to be fine for work too. He licked the wound closed and couldn’t help a little kiss to the spot that was no longer an open wound but did look suspiciously like a hickey.

“Er…sorry,” Eddie winced. Shannon had never seemed to care about the marks because he made sure to make them low enough to be covered by her shirts, but this one might be a little high on Buck’s neck because going lower seemed…a little too dangerous for Eddie’s mental health. There had to be a way to keep it from marking, he just wasn’t sure how.

“Are you ok?” He asked, now really concerned since Buck hadn’t said anything and was still breathing kind of heavily.

“Damn, Eddie…Merlin’s saggy bollocks!” He breathed out with a smile, and Eddie was suddenly so very relieved. Buck looked…well, blissed out was probably the expression as he blinked slowly, almost sinking into the couch. Good, at least he wasn’t freaking out.

“I didn’t take too much, did I?” Eddie asked in concern when Buck still hadn’t moved.

Buck reached up and squeezed Eddie’s arm with a smile. “I’m fine, I promise…just, wow…that felt,” Buck didn’t seem to be able to find words. “Well, we’re doing that again! Just give me a minute to pull myself together.”

I love you. The thought crossed Eddie’s mind before he could stop it. No, push it down. Not welcome. He couldn’t freak out his friend. He’d literally just decided he wasn’t straight like fifteen minutes before, he could not be thinking that. And he definitely couldn’t say it out loud.

“Uh,” he cleared his throat. “Do you…do you want to stay on the couch tonight?” He found himself asking to his own surprise, but he wasn’t so sure he wanted Buck driving in the state in was in currently.

Buck finally seemed to pull himself together and sit up. “Yeah, I’ll make Chris pancakes in the morning. I owe that kid a lot of pancakes for scaring him like I did.”

“He’ll love that,” Eddie smiled and poked at the bruise on Buck’s neck. “Uh, I’m not sure what to do about that. You have a magical solution or something?”

Buck did some kind of funny contortion thing with his head to try to see it. Eventually, he picked his wand up off the coffee table and pointed it at himself. “Episkey,” he said with a tap. Nothing happened…

“Was that supposed to do something?” Eddie frowned.

Buck sighed loudly and chuckled. “Yeah, but my healing spells are absolute shite. How much grief do you think Chimney is going to give me for this?”

Eddie winced. “Sorry…uh, if we ever do this again, I’ll do it lower or something.”

Buck scoffed and gave him that huge smile that had Hen calling him a golden retriever. “Eddie, mate, we are so doing that again. Like next week or whenever you're hungry. I can always take a blood-replenisher potion if I need to, and I don’t care how much grief I get for some hickeys. I’ll just say I’m dating someone new or just evade and let Chimney come up with whatever he wants to. I’ll even ask Maddie to brew me some Essence of Murtlap, and problem solved. So, no need to go hungry.”

Eddie shook his head in disbelief at just how much Buck would roll with all this. He stood though since Buck still didn’t seem willing to move. “I’ll get you some blankets and a pillow. You can borrow some sweats and a t-shirt, but I want them back,” he pointed at Buck accusingly.

He friend winced slightly. “Yeah, sorry…Maddie said she did her yearly take-back of stuff. I don’t…I don’t mean to. It’s just, I can always find you and protect you if I have something of yours…”

“I know,” Eddie ran his fingers through Buck’s short curls before he could stop himself. “That’s why I told her you could keep my shirt, but I do need to keep some clothes here at my place, so you can’t have them all.”

Buck grinned and thankfully didn’t say anything about Eddie messing with his hair. Eddie pulled his hand back and cleared his throat. He escaped as quickly as he could to grab those blankets.

Eddie had to pause in the hallway and take in a breath. He’d never felt so full since he’d become a vampire. It was the first time he hadn’t felt hungry in the slightest. He felt even stronger than his considerable strength since becoming a vampire. Actually, he was a little worried he would have to watch his strength more for a little while or else he might pull a doorknob off or break something unintentionally. Just what was in Buck’s blood?!

Buck had never been so grateful to be back at work in his life! It was his first day back, and as a free man now instead of a fugitive. Still, no one but Eddie knew who he was, but it was a different world just with arrest no longer hanging over his head. Bobby had given him a big hug when he walked in, Hen had got him a cake and balloons, and Chimney had immediately started in on the hickey Eddie had put way too high up on his neck to be covered by his uniform shirt.

“It’s not a hickey; it’s a bruise,” Buck tried, knowing that Chimney was never going to believe him. He’d probably need to give Maddie a heads up about what happened because Chimney was probably going to text her the gossip the first free second they had.

“Seems an odd place for a bruise,” Hen added, with a teasing grin, jumping right in there with Chimney.

They were all in the fire engine speeding towards a kitchen fire just minutes after the shift started. Eddie was looking out the window and clearly not planning on helping him in the slightest. Actually, Buck couldn’t help his dopey grin at Eddie whenever he thought about that night. It was just…Merlin, but he loved Eddie so much. It was going to tear his heart out when Eddie found someone he wanted to be with, and it wasn’t Buck. His heart was too far gone to pull away now though. He’d just have to take whatever he was given for as long as Eddie was willing to give it. He’d deal with the epic fallout later he supposed.

Bobby leaned back from the front seat with a grin. “Maybe attempt to keep any ‘bruises’ where they are more easily hidden in the future for professional purposes,” he said, clearly not believing Buck either. Buck held in his eyeroll since apparently Buck 1.0 had done his job too well, and he was never going to live that down.

“Uh, so…your parents…they ok? Coming for a visit anytime soon?” Chimney asked with a whole lot of worry in his tone. Apparently, Maddie hadn’t been helpful in coming up with some kind of backstory to explain his absence, which wasn’t fair since Chimney was her bloody boyfriend.

“They are fine, and no,” he just said tersely, hoping his irritation at Hermione’s parents never visiting her bled through to keep them from wanting to ask questions. “I don’t think we’ll see them any time soon.”

Eddie met his eyes at that and gave him a little comforting smile. It was so nice to have someone who actually knew the truth now that Harry didn’t have parents and that Hermione’s parents weren’t the best. It was nice to have someone who knew he’d been through things that left him with nightmares, scars, and deep trauma. Harry hadn’t realized how tiring it had been over the years pretending that he’d had a relatively normal life with little to no trauma besides whatever family stuff his team had assumed from the hints he’d dropped.

Life was looking up for Harry now. He had his job back. He had his family. He had Eddie and Chris. He just needed his son, and Teddy was coming to visit in only three weeks. Life was good.

Chimney was not an idiot. Something was going on that his girlfriend and her brother were keeping from him. He just really hoped whatever it was wasn’t what he was starting to assume. The problem with people keeping things from him was that his brain tried to fill in the blanks, and those blanks were starting to look very troubling.

Maddie had gone a little off the deep end while Buck was away taking care of whatever family situation was going on with their parents in Australia. And Chimney was worried about her. Neither of them wanted to talk about whatever was going on with their parents, and well, Chimney was a little concerned that they’d not had the best childhood at this point. It was concerning that Buck had never mentioned his family once before Maddie randomly showed up a year after they’d met.

Even when Maddie had shown up, they only vaguely addressed their childhood in terms of it having been a bit wild and dangerous with them both getting into trouble. They talked about people they knew and their friends occasionally. Some guy named Ron seemed to be a shared childhood friend of the two who Buck talked about the most. They also had someone named Neville and George and recently Cho who Maddie had said Buck was visiting along with their parents. They talked about Maddie’s ex-husband some too, but really only in terms of ‘the ex’ in that Chimney didn’t even know the guy’s name since he was only ever mentioned when Chimney brought him up, which he tried not to do since he worried there was some bad blood there even though Maddie assured him there wasn’t.

Now though, Buck had been back at work a week, and Chimney had the sneaking suspicion that Maddie hadn’t filled him in on what had been going on while he was away. Chimney absolutely didn’t want to run and tattle on his girlfriend to her brother, but he was worried for her. He also absolutely knew he hadn’t gotten a straight answer he could trust to any of his questions out of her. It’s not that he didn’t trust Maddie with his life and heart, but he found he didn’t trust that she wasn’t trying to protect him from some kind of darkness in her past that she didn’t think he could handle.

All this led to Chimney knocking on the door of Buck’s loft early on a Friday when they were off work. He was surprised that he’d never actually been to Buck’s loft before, and he wasn't sure why that was. He’d known the address for a long time since Buck had stolen Chimney’s phone and entered it as part of his contact information when Chimney had first started dating Maddie for an ‘in case of an emergency’ situation. Now though, Chimney realized they’d always ever met at his place or Maddie’s or Hen’s, but never Buck’s.

Buck immediately opened the door, still wearing pajama pants with what looked suspiciously like one of Eddie’s old Army shirts and looking half-asleep. “Chimney! Is Maddie ok?” He asked immediately, making Chimney wince because he wasn’t actually sure.

Chimney raised an eyebrow at the shirt but just pushed his way into Buck’s loft. Whatever Buck and Eddie had going on, he was certain they didn’t even know what it was, so he was firmly staying out of it. He might like to hear about the workplace drama, but he didn't want to put himself in the middle of it.

He whistled at the windows and high ceilings of the apartment, it was nice. Kind of small, but open and airy. He liked it. “Like the place,” he said and walked over to sit on a stool at Buck’s kitchen island.

Buck closed the door and followed him in. “Maddie is ok, right?” He was clearly still worried.

Chimney sighed and leaned against the granite countertop. “She’s fine, but I’m worried. Buck, I’m not sure what she’s told you about what happened while you were away, but you do know she was suspended without pay from work for a few shifts, right?”

“What?!” Buck pulled out the stool beside Chimney and immediately joined him. “Did everyone lose their freaking minds while I was away?! It was only two weeks! What happened?!”

Chimney organized his thoughts and tried to lay out his suspicions as logically as possible. “A woman called 9-1-1, and Maddie answered the call. The woman was clearly in an abusive relationship, but she hung up and didn’t press charges when Maddie pushed for her to get away. Maddie kind of…well, she started stalking the woman to see if she could help.”

Buck’s eyebrows shot up to his hairline. He let out a shaky breath that seemed to confirm that something had actually happened in their past, and he knew what it was. “What happened then? The woman complained?”

Chimney nodded. “She did, but a few days later she did actually ask Maddie for help. She'd shot her husband.”

Buck swore and ran a hand down his face, looking paler than Chimney had ever seen him before. “She killed him?”

Chimney shook his head. “No, Maddie rushed over and was able to stabilize him and get him to the hospital. The woman…she went back to him. Maddie just, she shut down and walked away after that. I get it, she couldn’t help anymore, but she seemed angrier at herself than the woman or the situation.”

Buck nodded slowly. “Yeah, Maddie would think that way. She had to protect herself though. My sister has such a big heart, but she has to learn to better establish some healthy boundaries sooner. Not that I'm one to talk, I know, but still. Maybe it's a family trait.”

Chimney was nodding, but now he had to ask his questions as much as he was worried he didn’t want to know the answers. “Look, I’m not asking you to betray your sister’s trust or anything, but I need to know…is she safe? You two never talk about her ex-husband, and after all this, I’m just worried…was he abusive? I just, I need a heads up in case he shows up or something. I want to be prepared.”

Buck looked extremely confused, and Chimney was starting to think he might have put the pieces of this particular puzzle together wrong. What had he missed though? “What do you mean we never talk about Maddie’s ex? And no, he was definitely not abusive! Not at all!!”

Chimney did let out a breath of relief at that answer. “Thank God! It’s just she seemed so affected by the woman, and it seemed personal, and I was worried…and no, dude, you guys never talk about Maddie’s ex. I think I’m the one who usually brings him up.”

Buck still looked confused. He frowned and slowly shook his head as if something had family dawned on him, and he didn't like it. “I’m sorry, Chimney. I think Maddie’s been trying to protect me, and I didn’t realize how much that was affecting you guys’ relationship. I didn’t realize that keeping my secrets meant she couldn’t tell you things…”

Ok, so now Chimney was confused. “Maddie’s allowed to have her secrets,” Chimney said, not sure what he was trying to reassure Buck about. “I don’t need her to tell me everything, as long as she knows she can tell me whatever she wants to.”

Buck gave him this sappy look that he really didn’t appreciate. “Dude, come on,” Chimney felt like he was going to blush. “I’m just happy her ex wasn’t abusive. You don’t need to tell me all her secrets or anything. I just wanted to make sure she was safe.”

“I’m not going to tell you her secrets,” Buck smiled sadly and shook his head. “I do think I need to fill you in on some of mine though since my sister seems to be overly protective. First of all, we do actually talk about her ex-husband all the time. Ron…my best friend…the person who came to spend last Christmas with us…maybe we just didn’t make it clear that Ron is the ex?”

“Oh,” Chimney breathed out, finally making that connection. Ron, the childhood friend, and Maddie’s ex were the same person? Buck was just so much younger than Maddie that he’d assumed Buck’s childhood friend and Maddie’s ex-husband couldn’t be the same person. He supposed Buck’s friend must be older than him, which made sense with how close Buck and Eddie were and how Buck had dated Abby who was much older.

“Right, so I need coffee,” Buck was up and pouring them both mugs of coffee while he processed that new revelation. He passed Chimney a mug before sitting down again.

“I don’t even know where to start,” Buck admitted, looking a little lost. “I guess let’s start with our childhood.”

“I already figured out it was probably not all loving parents and picket fences,” Chimney tried to help.

Buck laughed though and shook his head. “Yeah, so I should probably start with the fact that Maddie and I aren’t actually biologically related.”

Chimney sat down his coffee and had to let that sink in. “What? Uh…were you adopted?”

Buck shrugged unhelpfully. “I’m an orphan. Maddie and I had very different childhoods though probably neither great. I guess I’m adopted in that Maddie and Ron took me on as their brother. They are my family. Maddie is my sister as much as anyone could be a sister, but we didn’t grow up together. I grew up with my abusive aunt and uncle. We just didn't think it necessary to explain all that to people when she first moved here, and I didn't particularly want to go into my shitty past and backstory at all.”

Chimney sucked in a surprised breath. He’d been assuming abuse or neglect already, but to have Buck confirm it like that, well, that hit hard. “Buck…I’m sorry…”

Buck just waved a hand as if pushing it aside. “Maddie’s parents are the ones in Australia, and they were more roommates than parents while she was growing up, and they sent her off to boarding school at 11 where we met. Honestly, that may have been the best thing for her. They weren’t bad people they just weren’t good parents. They didn’t know what to do with Maddie as a daughter and kind of left her to her own devices.”

“That doesn’t sound like good people to me,” Chimney disagreed. He was strongly hoping he never met these people, not that he’d wanted to meet them before. His own family was complicated too, but at least his mother had been a wonderful mom and loved him so much until her death. “Was it your past then that had Maddie taking the woman’s situation so personally?”

Buck grimaced, and Chimney was certain he wasn’t going to like the answer. Buck took a slow sip of his coffee before setting it on the counter. “Yes, but not the way you’re thinking,” Buck said, and yeah, Chimney was concerned. “I don’t have the best luck with relationships.”

Chimney couldn’t help his snort. Really, he didn’t mean anything bad by it, but Buck had been really self-destructive when he’d first started at the 118. Chimney had tried to get him to see how much he was hurting himself in his own way, but Chimney had a feeling his way of trying to get through to Buck probably wasn’t the best. Now though, he was starting to see that all Buck had been going through was probably steeped in more trauma than Chimney could ever have guessed.

“Yeah, my ex was the abusive one,” Buck let out a breath. “I had to leave to get away from him.”

Chimney slowly nodded. It wasn’t where he’d thought this conversation was going, but he could see Buck not having the healthiest approach to relationships, especially with how Buck had held onto Abby so tightly when she had obviously left him. He hated there may be a reason for that. “Are you still in danger?”

Buck nodded sharply, and Chimney’s concern shot up. “Yeah, he’s…he’s the main reason why Maddie and I don’t talk about our past much. I’m kind of hiding from him…he’s…well, he’s kind of powerful, wealthy and influential you know.”

“Oh,” Chimney said yet again, not having expected to have so many of his questions answered and now terrified that they were. He'd had no clue Buck had been in danger this whole time. He wished he'd been there better for his friend.

“Well, we’re not going to let him find you,” he said firmly. Not friend, Buck was his brother, and not because he was dating Maddie. Buck had taken the place of brother in Chim’s life well before he’d even met Maddie. Now, he just needed to make Buck see that.

Buck reached over and took his hand with a comforting squeeze. Chimney didn’t think he’d ever touched Buck besides a few claps on the back and shoves to the shoulder. It made him unexpectedly emotional. “Thanks, Chim…and just so you don’t freak out, none of this is really a secret anymore. I just don’t want to have to tell everyone,” Buck smiled at him.

Chimney scoffed. Yeah, he was terrible at keeping secrets, but he wouldn’t do anything to put Buck in danger. “I’m not going to go spilling your life story to everyone, Buck. I’d just like to be able to talk to Maddie about it.”

“Which you can,” Buck assured him and finally let go of his hand. “Eddie knows the broad strokes of what happened, and Josh knows pretty much everything. I just, don’t want to spill my life story for everyone, you know?”

“I know,” Chimney stood, and couldn’t help pulling pulling a surprised Buck into a hug. He let go and frowned. “Wait…if Maddie’s parents are the ones in Australia…where were you when you were away?”

Buck laughed so much he snorted. “Yeah, no…some secrets I know not to tell the person who blurts out most things that cross his mind.”

“Hey! I’m not that bad,” Chimney scoffed, and yeah, maybe he was…

It was the next day after Harry’s birthday…not Buck’s, who he’d told everyone was over a month earlier. Anyway, it had just turned August, and that could only mean one thing…

Harry was impatiently almost bouncing around his loft and straightening up things while he waited on the highly illegal portkey Ron had gotten to drop off his kid for a full month of bonding and trying to sell Teddy on moving in once he finished his last year at Hogwarts. Merlin, Andromeda was going to kill him if he succeeded, but worth it! He couldn’t wait to see Teddy again and have him close!

Harry jumped out of his skin even though he was expecting the crack and then crash of a gangly teenager right in the middle of his kitchen. “Merlin’s balls,” a purple haired teenager swore before picking himself up off the ground.

Harry attacked him with hugs and kisses all over Teddy’s cheeks and ruffling the purple hair on his head. “Dad!” Teddy protested but smiled and laughed all the same.

“Ooo, I like the nose ring,” Harry noticed the new addition and tilted up Teddy’s head to see it better. “Is it real or a metamorphmagus change? I need to know how you did that if it’s a change because I can’t have metal jewelry as a firefighter but might want to give magically creating something like that a try.”

Teddy slapped his hands off his face, and they got into a small slap fight in the process. “Dad! Seriously! Grandma freaked; you aren’t supposed to ask me how to do it. You're supposed to be all old and dad-like.”

“So, you are doing it magically!” Harry grinned and pulled his godson over to the couch to settle in.

“Yeah, it’s finicky but worth it. Now, what all are we going to do for the month I’m here? What all does LA have going for it anyway?” Teddy challenged him with a grin. "All I hear about is muggle movie stars, and I'm woefully behind on move pop culture, which we are definitely catching up on while I'm here."

“Teds…I got plans, you and me, we’re going to have a blast,” he said proudly, really excited to show his new town off to his kid.

Teddy yawned loudly. “As long as I’m allowed a nap first. I might have portkeyed, but I'm pretty sure I can still get jetlag from that.”

“Yeah, well, we’re sitting on your bed, so let’s get to fixing it up,” Harry jumped up to transfigure the couch. It was going to be an epic month!

Chapter Text

“So, how did it go? Do you like him? Was he working on things you want to study?” Harry impatiently asked Teddy who had literally just walked into the loft and shed his fancy robe.

Teddy laughed, his brown hair flashing back to a hot pink and the nose ring reappearing. “Yeah, I really do, and his work is just brilliant! Even Aunt Hermione was impressed. Also, he had blue hair, dyed, so at least he doesn’t seem like a stuck-up prat or anything.”

“Good! We can’t have you apprenticing a stick in the mud,” Harry said firmly, pulling Teddy over to the couch to sit and tell him everything.

He’d really wanted to go with Teddy to visit the technomage he wanted to apprentice under after Hogwarts, but it was still too dangerous that someone might recognize him and say something, especially a wizard who definitely knew how to use muggle technology as well as magical means of finding out things. Hermione had gone in his stead, something he was infinitely grateful for, but her advice had been to tone down Teddy’s look significantly to be more ‘professional,’ and that just rubbed Harry the wrong way even if Teddy hadn’t seemed too bothered. Teddy should look and be whoever he wanted to be and how he was most comfortable.

“Well, it’s a three-year program, and I’d be working with another apprentice too,” Teddy began excitedly. “And, Dad, if you expect me to move in here, we have to do something about this place only being a one bedroom that’s not even really a bedroom. I mean, I still have to take my NEWTs, apply, and write an essay, but assuming he picks me…like, I need a door.”

Harry just waved him off dismissively. He’d already thought about that. “Teds, if you move to LA, I’ll sell this place and buy somewhere bigger. I’ll even let you help me pick it out.”

Teddy smiled broadly. “You won’t believe what Master Ramos is doing with conducting magic through circuit boards!”

Harry settled in for an excited babble where he maybe understood one word in ten. Teddy was just brilliant, and he couldn’t be prouder. This Ramos guy would be an idiot not to take on Teddy as an apprentice. Andromeda was going to be upset at her baby moving to a new continent, but maybe Harry could convince her to at least winter in LA with them. So, they should probably look into getting a 3-bedroom anyway.

“I really need to call Victoire and tell her all about it,” Teddy said, seeming to finally run out of steam when Harry couldn’t ask probing questions with the very little knowledge he had about technology, which was generally limited to what he needed on the job and video games with Christopher.

Harry just grinned and patted his leg. Those two…well, they’d see if long-distance would work, but they may need to work out a budget for international portkeys since Ron couldn’t keep providing illegal ones for then. Harry was happy that Teddy found someone he was this excited about so young whether it ended working out for them or not.

“Well, I need to head out anyway. I told you I’m needed to keep Chris tonight, right? You going to be ok on your own? You know how to order food delivery, right?” He asked, now wondering if maybe he should have told Eddie he wasn’t available, but he’d also been worried that Teddy would feel smothered if he was around constantly when he was off work. Teddy needed space to explore and do things alone too.

Teddy just waved him off uncaringly. “Yes, I’m better at using my phone than you are, and I’m only going to watch some telly and turn in early. It was a surprisingly tiring day. Have fun with my little brother.”

Harry choked on his shock at that and didn’t know what to say. Technically, in the magical world, Christopher was actually legally a part of his family now that Harry could process the paperwork with MACUSA, but he was decidedly not Harry’s son in any way, and that definitely didn’t need to get back to Eddie. Well, actually after all the paperwork, Eddie was a part of his family now too…as well as Josh, he should probably mention that to Josh at least…

The silence lasted so long he eventually decided to move on. “Well, er, call Josh if you get lonely or need anything then. Hermione is on a shift tonight; I’m sure she told you.”

Teddy nodded, already pulling out his cellphone to call his girlfriend. “Josh has a date tonight, so no bothering him. He showed me the guy’s profile pic, and he’s cute. Josh’s remark was that he could never date someone as famous as you again, but at least this one seemed pretty firmly muggle.”

Harry laughed and really did hope this bloke worked out. Teddy and Josh had gotten on like ashwinders and fire, but he hadn’t remembered the two discussing love lives any time they’d all hung out together since Teddy came to LA. “When were you and Josh talking about dates?”

Teddy shrugged. “We got lunch when you were working yesterday. He’s a really cool guy. I kinda wish it’d worked out with you two, but he’s got the new bloke and well…you got the hot vampire dad.”

Harry just rolled his eyes. “Eddie and I are not dating, but I do need to go now because I can’t send him to work on a shift without me and be hungry. If I’m not there to watch his back, then he should at least not be hungry and at full strength.”

Teddy gave him an exasperated look that Harry really didn’t appreciate getting from his own kid. “Whatever you say Dad. You just keep telling yourself while you strip down and let him suck on your neck.”

“You read too many romance novels,” Harry accused, trying to cover his blush while he grabbed the video game from his collection that Chris had wanted to play.

“Not me, Victoire, but she does tell me all about them in extremely graphic detail,” Teddy grinned widely, and Harry hurried his ass towards the door, not needing any more information about his kid’s relationship with his girlfriend.

“I really don’t want to hear anything about what you and Victoire get up to,” He shot back before stopping and turning, catching Teddy right before he hit call on the phone. “You two are being safe though, right? I know we had the talk and all several years ago, but we can do an updated one if, you know, it’s more relevant now.”

Harry narrowly dodged the stinging hex before snorting a laugh and shutting the door to his loft behind him. Unfortunately, that reminded him that he was probably now on call for Chris’s ‘talk’ one of these days since he would know the magical information and spells needed, and Eddie wouldn’t. Drat! He’d thought he was done with those.

Buck knocked on the door to the Diaz house about thirty minutes before he knew Eddie needed to go to work and grinned broadly when Chris impatiently threw the door open. “Did you bring the game?!”

“Got it right here,” Buck handed it over to the excited kid. Chris had been asking for it for months, and Eddie had eventually caved and bought it for him, but he’d asked Buck to play through it once to make sure it was age appropriate since it was rated a little higher than they’d normally purchase for the 7-year-old. It was fine, not too much gore or anything, so no problem.

“You’re early,” Eddie said with a soft smile from the hallway where he was pulling on his uniform shirt while walking towards them.

Buck swallowed at the sight of tanned skin and abs that were quickly covered. Merlin, but he needed to get himself together. Feeding Eddie had become a personal torture for him as well as something he looked forward to. Don’t get him wrong, he wanted to help Eddie, and he really like the feeling of helping him. However, not showing just how much it affected him was tortuous when Buck really wanted to grind up against Eddie and moan throughout the entire process and maybe even return the favor and suck Eddie off at the end.

Buck had to physically shake those thoughts out of his head because he’d gotten there early for a purpose, and he really couldn’t go into this already turned on or he’d be in a very embarrassing situation. “Hey, superman, why don’t you set up the game and maybe even play through a round without me. I need to talk with your dad about something before he goes to work.”

“Cool!” Chris excitedly went ahead to set up the video game in the living room, not caring in the slightest about whatever the adults were up to.

“What’s wrong? Did something happen?” Eddie asked in concern while Buck pulled him by the arm back to his bedroom and shut the door.

“Dude, you’re going to work on a shift without me. I’m not letting you go hungry, and it’s been a long time since I gave you any blood,” he said to Eddie, maybe a little accusingly because Eddie was just incapable of asking for help. “I know you supplement with the blood bank, but you have to be getting really hungry by now.”

Eddie frowned and eventually shrugged. “Not really. I mean, I’m maybe a little hungry, but your blood just seems to keep me going much longer than normal. I just haven’t needed as much recently. Do you think it’s because you have magic?”

Actually, Buck didn’t know in the slightest. He figured that was probably it, but also…he was the immortal Master of Death, so…frankly, he was just glad he was edible and had no clue what was in his blood in the slightest.

Buck eventually just shrugged. “I’ve really no idea, Maddie might know, but for now, let’s top you off anyway since I’m here, and you said you could eat.” Eddie laughed but joined Buck who had sat on the bed and scooted back to lean against the headboard. He was already removing his shirt to give Eddie better access.

“You sound like you’re ordering take-out not letting me drink your blood,” Eddie said wryly.

Buck sank into the endorphin high from Eddie’s venom once his fangs pierced the thin skin of his neck. Actually, while the venom was really great, Buck had a sinking feeling his instant arousal was more because of how close Eddie was to him and that he was holding onto Buck so tenderly. Buck could smell Eddie’s shampoo and feel his slightly slower than normal pulse under his fingers. It was sensory overload with everything that Buck ever wanted.

Eddie drank in Buck’s blood, something he was quickly becoming addicted to. It wasn’t in the he wanted to drink all of Buck’s blood and hurt him kind of way, but more as in the blood from the blood bank was starting to be less and less appetizing like cream of wheat in relation to a juicy steak. Plus, it was the one time he could hold Buck the way he always wanted. His hands skimmed over Buck’s bare sides and around his back, pulling him closer and getting a small gasp from his lips. It was intoxicating.

There was a sharp knock at his door before it was shoved open with a creak. “Dad can Buck and I order pizza later…” Chris trailed off at the sight of them.

Eddie quickly pulled back and frantically wiped the blood from his lips and tried to pull back in his fangs. He hoped Chris hadn’t seen, but it was frankly impossible for him to have missed what was going on. Buck was still blinking dazedly, not able to help at the moment.

“Chris! I’m sorry! Um…” He didn’t even know how to explain this in the slightest. Chris just stood there, balanced between the doorframe and his crutches blinking at them as if assessing the situation in whatever a 7-year-old’s brain would make of all this.

“Is this some kind of grown-up thing that you two are going to explain to me later, because gross if so, or is Dad actually a vampire?” He asked, clearly putting the pieces together for himself. Dracula’s fangs, but Eddie sometimes wished his kid wasn’t quite so smart.

Buck laughed loudly, seeming to recover as quickly as he could from Eddie’s venom and the blood loss. “Mate, I can’t believe you still haven’t told him. He’s a wizard,” Buck said, slipping back into his British accent with how loopy he currently was.

“So…vampire…cool,” Chris nodded with a little smile as if it were nothing at all. Eddie didn’t know how to handle that. “And why didn’t anyone tell me?”

“You’re seven!” Eddie gasped out finally, wiping his mouth again just to be sure there wasn’t any blood he’d missed.

“Almost eight!” Chris protested with a pout that had Buck laughing again.

“See Eds, he’s almost eight,” Buck said completely unhelpfully, but at least he was looking normal again and reached for his shirt.

“Wait,” Eddie sighed at the movement, and quickly, showing as little as possible to Chris, licked the wound on Buck’s neck to heal the puncture marks closed since Buck’s healing spells never seemed to do anything to them.

Chris just stood there, still looking at them. “So…are you two like dating? Because that’d be pretty awesome, you know.”

Eddie’s brain probably stopped working while Buck coughed and seemed to choke on air. “No, buddy, your dad and I aren’t dating. I’m just helping him out with…dinner, you know. I cook for you, and well, I have some extra blood to spare.”

Chris and Eddie both raised matching eyebrows of incredulousness at that explanation. Buck rolled his eyes at them and roughly pulled his shirt over his head, messing up his hair in the process. “Whatever, you two are so related. I’ll get you a book on magical creatures so you can read up on vampires and everything you’ll be studying in school later anyway,” Buck told his kid, and Eddie really hoped Chris would share that book, or maybe they could read it together as bedtime stories.

Eddie looked at the clock and winced. “I really should get to work. I don’t want to just leave like this though. So, quick explanation. Chris, mijo, I was turned when you were just three, and you were too young to understand then. I’ve been meaning to tell you since I learned you had magic, but there was the tsunami and then the school coming to visit and then Buck being arrested, and it was just never a good time.”

“Uh huh,” Chris said disbelievingly, and damn but Eddie was probably a bad influence because that sass was all him and not Shannon at all.

Buck stood and pulled Eddie off the bed behind him. “Just go get to work, you git. I’ll take care of superman here, and you just keep safe and don’t do anything I wouldn’t do…and probably avoid a few things I would.”

“Oh, hey! Dad is like extra strong and not as easy to hurt now, isn’t he?!” Chris asked with excitement and something of relief in his eyes.

It was the first time Eddie realized that Chris might actually be worried about him when he went to work and ran into fires and repelled down cliffs. He felt like a terrible dad! Why hadn’t he realized Chris was worried, especially after losing his mom?

“Oh, mijo,” he knelt down and gave his son a big hug. “Yeah, I’m pretty strong now. You don’t have to worry about me. Plus, I have Buck watching my back.”

“Just not this shift,” Buck huffed and made little hurrying motions. “Which you are going to be late for.”

“Dad, pizza?!” Chris called after him with a big grin on his face as if he hadn’t just learned his father was a supernatural creature. What had their lives turned into when this wasn’t world-shattering information and just taken in stride?

Eddie laughed and grabbed his truck keys. “Yeah, yeah, just get some vegetables on it will you.”

“Does pepperoni count as a vegetable?” Eddie heard his son ask when he closed the front door. He couldn’t help his laugh as he grabbed the mail from the box to look at better when he got time at the station later.

He quickly flipped through, hoping at least for there not to be any bills and paused and the thick envelope with a complex logo of several magical animals on it with the Ilvermorny school name stamped in the return address spot. Ah, so this must be the school information the Dahlia woman had promised to send along. He went to flip to the next letter and paused again when he saw who it was addressed to. He had to take a moment to compose himself at seeing the letter addressed to: The Potter-Diaz Household

Great, he was going to have to tell Buck the school really did think they were married. How had the woman even remembered that in the midst of a wanted fugitive being arrested in front of her? This was so going to come back to bite him in the ass.

Buck shot up from where he’d been asleep on the couch in Eddie’s living room at the first ring of his cellphone and with his wand in his hand, ready to attack. It took a second, but he slightly relaxed when it sank in that it was only his phone. Buck glanced at the clock and panicked again when he saw it was only about 3am. No one called at that time for good news. Something was very wrong! He scrambled to grab his phone off the coffee table and panicked even more at the name on the screen. Why was Josh calling him at 3am?!

“Hello!” He answered frantically. “Josh?! Are you ok?! What’s wrong?!”

“Buck?” Josh gasped out. It sounded like he’d been crying, maybe still was. “Um, I’m…”

Buck’s heart was racing as he waited for Josh to say whatever it was. “Are you hurt?”

“Yeah,” Josh finally breathed out in answer. “Uh…I was mugged.”

“Merlin,” Buck stood up from the couch, not knowing what to do. “Where are you?”

“I’m at LA General Hospital,” Josh said, and Buck let go only a slight amount of his worry. At least Josh was getting medical attention and not calling him from a ditch somewhere. “Can you come get me? They won’t let me go without someone to take me home.”

Buck’s brain scrambled since he was at Eddie’s house watching Chris. Eddie was on shift, and Maddie was too. What did he do? He couldn’t leave Chris, and he couldn’t take him to the hospital if Josh was in as bad of a shape as he sounded like he was in. Teddy could easily watch Chris, but Eddie hadn’t met Teddy yet, and asking someone to watch a kid when the parent hadn’t met them was not done. But also, Buck didn’t want to send Teddy to the hospital because he couldn’t drive, and Josh might not be in good enough shape to apparate. He felt like there were no good options.

A painful sob ripped through Buck’s heart from the other end of the line. Josh was part of the Potter family now and Harry had a responsibility to him. Hopefully, Eddie would forgive him. “Yeah Josh, I’ll be there in just a little bit. I’ll be right there,” he said, coming to a quick decision at the sound of that sob.

“Thanks, Buck,” Josh said, and his heart broke again. “I knew you’d come.”

When Josh hung up, Buck immediately called Eddie and prayed he’d pick up the phone. The call went to voicemail so they must be out of the station at an emergency. Buck swore and hoped again that Eddie would one day forgive him.

“Eddie! I’m so sorry. Josh was mugged, and he’s at the hospital. He called me to come get him, and Maddie’s on shift like you…and I need to go. I can’t leave him there when he’s scared and in pain. I’m going to have Teddy come watch Chris. I promise Chris is in good hands. I trust Teddy with my life, and I’m so sorry. I know you haven’t met him yet, but he’s really good with kids and babysits his cousins all the time, and I swear he’ll keep Chris safe. I’m so sorry!”

Buck ended the call and did a little spell, copying the coordinates into a text message he sent Teddy. He then called his godson and hoped to Merlin he picked up. “Dad, what’s wrong?!” Teddy asked in just as worried of a tone as Buck had answered the phone before.

“Josh was mugged,” Buck said quickly. “I need you to apparate to Eddie’s house and watch Chris for me while I go pick him up and handle whatever is going on with the hospital and police.”

Teddy swore colorfully, and Buck heard shuffling to indicate he was getting out of bed and probably throwing on jeans. “Josh was on a date tonight,” Teddy reminded him, getting a swear from Buck this time in response. This whole situation was starting to sound worse and worse. “I have to disconnect to apparate, hang on.”

The line went dead, but just two seconds later and a crack of apparition had Buck stumbling backwards. He really should have realized Teddy was going to appear right where he’d done the spell to get the coordinates. Teddy looked around the room with frantic eyes.

“Where’s the kid?” He asked, getting right to business. “You need to introduce me before you leave so I don’t scare him in the morning.”

Buck nodded firmly. Teddy was such a good kid, really, Andromeda had done an amazing job raising him. “This way,” Buck led the way to Chris’s room and shuffled in to kneel beside the bed.

Buck softly shook Chris awake, getting a grumble and a sleepy blink. “Dad?”

“No, buddy, it’s just me,” Buck smoothed his hair back while Chris tried to focus on him while being mostly asleep still. “Mr. Josh was hurt tonight, and I need to go pick him up from the hospital,” he said.

“Oh,” Chris tried to sit up, clearly planning to climb out of bed and go with him.

“No, Chris, you stay here. I just wanted to tell you I’m leaving my son Teddy here with you to take care of you while I’m away. See, that’s Teddy. He’s really nice and has been wanting to meet you for a long time,” Buck motioned to the teenager who was smiling and waving from the doorway.

Chris just blinked blearily between them. “You have a kid?”

Buck was confused for a second at the question. He was sure he’d talked about Teddy before. Though, he supposed he’d probably mentioned him as his godson. He couldn’t exactly explain away a 17-year-old kid when he was only supposed to be 28, and Teddy was actually his godson anyway, so it wasn’t a lie.

“Yeah, Teddy’s my godson,” Buck explained, hoping that would do for now. Chris was asleep enough still that he didn’t question it at least. “I don’t know if I’ll be back before you wake up or your dad gets home, but Teddy will stay with you until one of us gets here, ok?”

“Yeah, ok, Buck,” Chris sank back into his pillow, clearly not really awake at all. Buck just hoped he remembered all this when he actually woke up and wasn’t scared by Teddy being there. “Tell Mr. Josh I hope he feels better soon.”

“I will, love,” Buck kissed his forehead and stood, positive that Chris was already asleep again.

He followed Teddy out of the room and closed the door behind them again. “I really hope he remembers you’re here in the morning. I’ll try to get back as soon as I can, but Eddie will be here pretty early after his shift if I’m not.”

“I got it, Dad. I’ll take good care of him,” Teddy assured him firmly and pushed him towards the door. “I’ll call if I need anything, and I’ll send a patronus if you don’t answer and it’s important.” Buck gave Teddy a quick, fierce hug, knowing his son was exceptionally capable; he’d trained Teddy himself.

“Thank you! Love you!” He ran out the door to his jeep.

Eddie tiredly jumped out of the back of the ambulance when Hen parked it back in the apparatus bay of the fire station. It had been a frustrating accident they’d been called out to, but at least it seemed like everyone was going to be ok. They’d had one call right after another all night though, so he was dead on his feet at this point. Actually, it was an odd feeling because he still felt strong and had a lot of energy with Buck’s blood running through his veins, but he was more mentally tired than anything else.

Finally, he was able to sit down though and just rest up in the loft with a cool glass of water. He pulled his phone out to check to see if Buck had sent any more pictures of his and Chris’s evening. He’d already gotten one where it looked like Chris was pretending to be a vampire, one of all the pizza they’d ordered (which definitely didn’t have a lot of veggies on it), and one where clearly Chris had beaten Buck at the new video game and was gloating.

He frowned at seeing a voicemail from Buck instead. No one ever left voicemails except for telemarketers. His anxiety skyrocketed as he hit the play button. He had to listen to the message twice before it sank in what Buck was telling him. Who the hell was Teddy?

Eddie was hitting Buck’s contact information and calling before he’d even processed anything. After two rings, it connected. “Eddie! I’m so sorry! There wasn’t anyone else I could call. I swear Chris is fine, and I trust Teddy completely. I know I should never leave your kid with anyone you don’t know, but really…”

“Buck!” Eddie cut him off before the rant could spiral any further. “It’s fine. I trust you. If you say this Teddy person is trustworthy, then I believe you. How is Josh though? Is he ok?”

“No, but he will be,” Buck breathed out in clear relief. “He was beaten up pretty badly. We’re waiting on the doctor to sign him out right now, but it’s taking forever, and the cops want to talk with him again before he leaves.”

“Any idea who did it?” Eddie asked, now much more worried. This sounded really serious.

“Er…yeah, but hey, I’ll talk to you later about it,” Buck said evasively. Eddie got the picture that he was probably sitting with Josh right then and didn’t want to go over it again in front of him. Josh shouldn’t have to keep reliving what happened over and over again.

“I’m going to take Josh to my place and get him settled in there until I can do a check on his wards and make sure they’re as strong as possible. I might not be back before you get home. I promise Chris is fine though, and I made sure and gave Teddy your phone number too in case he needs anything. I really am sorry, Eddie.”

“It’s all good, Buck. I told you, I trust you. You just take care of Josh,” he assured Buck. They hung up after that, and Eddie ran a hand down his face. It seemed even someone as normal as Josh with a low danger job wasn’t even immune to catastrophes happening. They’d all been hit with way too much recently. Eddie wished their little family could catch a good long break.

Rationally, Eddie knew why Buck had been frantic about what Eddie’s response would be to his leaving Chris with someone else. If it was literally anyone else, Eddie would have been spitting mad at them for asking someone to watch Chris who he didn’t know. That was just unconscionable. However, It was Buck…Buck was…Dios, but Buck was Chris’s other parent…

The school envelope addressed to the Potter-Diaz household burned in the back of his mind. He wasn’t upset because he trusted Buck to make the same decisions for Chris that Eddie himself would make. He trusted that if Buck said this person was safe and trustworthy then they were. He’d been right before; he’d already fallen off a cliff with Buck and there was no going back now.

Eddie pulled up to his home and everything looked perfectly fine on the outside, not that he expected anything to not. He was more than a little nervous to meet this new person though. Knowing what he knew of Buck, this Teddy person was probably a friend of Harry Potter’s and another wizard if he had to guess. Eddie was still getting used to this whole supernatural world, so he wasn’t exactly sure how to navigate the situation when another magical person was introduced into their lives.

He unlocked the door and stepped in his house to hear cartoons playing on the TV in the living room, and his son chatting with someone in the kitchen with what smelled like French toast, if he had to guess, wafting in the air. It smelled really good even for a vampire who only kind-of liked human food at this point.

“Chris, I’m home,” he called out.

“Dad!” Chris yelled back from the kitchen. “Come have some French toast! Teddy makes it with strawberries on top!”

Eddie blinked in surprise at the pink haired teenager with a nose ring who was plating up some delicious-looking French toast for him in his kitchen. “Hey, Mr. Diaz. I’m Teddy,” he smiled and handed the plate over. Eddie had been right about one thing, the kid had a British accent, so he definitely knew Buck as Harry, not Buck. “Did you have a good shift?”

“Uh…yeah, um, and call me Eddie,” he said. He wasn’t sure what he was expecting, but maybe an adult with normal hair…or at least someone who didn’t immediately smell like wet dog.

“You’re a werewolf,” he said when the scent finally registered, and he immediately tensed. It wasn’t the same as the people he’d been fighting before, but it was very close.

“Seriously?! That’s awesome! Why didn’t you say anything?” Chris enthused around a full bite of food.

Teddy laughed, and ruffled Chris’s hair fondly. Eddie stiffened even more, some ingrained response to a werewolf being that close to his son. He forcibly pushed it down though, knowing it was only a fear response to the kid’s species. The teenager himself didn’t look dangerous in the slightest.

“Actually, I’m not. I’m only half-werewolf. I don’t transform or anything,” Teddy explained and sat at the table across from Chris. Eddie wasn’t sure what that meant about only being half-werewolf, but it explained why the kid’s smell wasn’t exactly the same.

“Ah man! It’d be so cool if I had vampire dad and a werewolf brother. That sucks,” Chris pouted, and what? Eddie was pretty sure he hadn’t heard that right. He tried to process, but it just wasn’t processing. He was literally still standing there in the kitchen holding a plate of French toast and just staring.

“Dad called about an hour ago,” Teddy addressed him with a small smile. Eddie made himself sit at the table with his plate and try to follow who the kid was talking about. “He said Josh is at the loft and sleeping now. He doesn’t have any broken bones, but he’s pretty bruised and cut up. Aunt Hermione is stopping by…” Teddy looked at the clock. “Probably right about now to speed along his healing with some spells and potions.”

Eddie nodded slowly. That was good to hear about Josh, but… “Uh…Dad? Who?”

“Yeah,” Chris swallowed this time before speaking at least. “Teddy said that since he’s Buck’s son, and Buck is basically my second dad, then we get to be brothers now! Isn’t that awesome?!”

“Of course, little bro,” Teddy gave Chris a fist bump that was probably pretty sticky with syrup.

“Wait…hold on…you’re Buck’s son?!” Eddie’s brain finally processed enough to ask.

He wasn’t even going to address Chris’s belief that Buck was his second dad, because yeah, he’d already figured that out himself at like stupid early that very morning thank you very much. But how the hell hadn’t he known Buck had a son?! Like all those times when he thought Buck was so good at being a parent with Chris when he’d never had a kid before, and low and behold there was a kid there the whole time!!

Teddy shrugged as if this wasn’t making Eddie think through his entire relationship with his best friend since the moment they’d met. “Well, yeah…Harry, but yeah,” he said, not helping Eddie process at all.

“But, you’re…how old was Buck when you were born?!” Eddie stuttered out because he was pretty sure his guess at about late teens for the kid’s age was correct. That didn’t realistically add up.

Teddy laughed and stood to refill Chris’s empty glass with more milk from the fridge. “Well, first of all, us mages age a little slower than normal humans once we hit our majority, so like 200 is kind of old age for us.”

Eddie’s brain might have broken a little right then. His eyes snapped to Chris because that meant…that meant he’d have longer with his son. Some dark knot of anxiety he hadn’t even realized was there loosened slightly in his chest. “Oh, ok…but Buck…”

“Is actually my godfather, not my biological father,” Teddy finished, actually making a lot more sense now. Now that he said that…Buck might have mentioned a godson. “My bio dad was the werewolf, and he was best friends with Harry’s dad growing up. Harry raised me with my grandma though when my parents died in the war. I’ve been in boarding school for a while now, but before, I lived almost as much at his house as Grandma’s.”

Eddie still didn’t know what that meant for how old Buck had been during the war and when he’d taken his son in. Buck still would have had to have been really young, unless… “Wait, is Buck not actually 28? You said mages age slower…”

Teddy didn’t meet his eyes and instead took a bite of his toast. He slowly chewed and swallowed. “Erm, well…so Dad might be a little older than that, but you really should talk with him about that though.”

“Is Buck older than me?!” Eddie sputtered out, not seeing that revelation coming. Yeah, it was more shocking that apparently Buck had a kid that he’d never mentioned…ok, yeah, Eddie was now actually sure Buck had mentioned a Teddy before now that he thought about it, but not in a way that would have led Eddie to realize how big a part of Buck’s life the teen actually was. But still…how old was Buck?

Teddy frowned and stared at him. “Erm, mate, you’re a vampire…you kind of don’t age, so I’m not even going to try to guess how old you might be.”

“What? Dad doesn’t age?” Chris asked through another mouthful of food. “That’s awesome! I need that book on magical creatures!”

“Chew and swallow first,” Eddie reminded him before taking a bite of his own food. It was actually really good. Buck’s kid was a decent cook, not that Eddie would have expected anything else when Buck was such a good cook himself. “This is really good…and yes, Chris, I stopped aging at 28 even though I’m 33 now.”

Teddy grinned at him, and Eddie was suddenly sure he wasn’t going to like the answer. “Dad’s 36,” he said, and he had Eddie just laughing right there at the table. Buck, who he thought of as a kid a lot of the time when he’d first started working at the 118, who was supposed to be 27 then, was actually older than him! Now he wondered how old Maddie was!

“Teddy was telling me all about magic school,” Chris changed the subject while wiping the sticky from his face with a napkin.

“Yeah, but I go to Hogwarts in Scotland, I’m sure you’ll go somewhere more local,” Teddy said. “I know there’s a day school in LA. I’m trying to get an apprenticeship with a technomage here in LA once I graduate, and he said he’d gone to a school here.”

“Uh…a what?” Chris frowned and looked at Eddie who shrugged having no clue either.

“He’s a wizard who studies the interaction between magic and technology,” Teddy explained with an excited grin, clearly this was something he was really interested in. “Most mages just assume technology doesn’t work around magic, but Master Ramos is working on blending the two fields and helping bring the magical world to the 21^st Century. It’ll be brilliant to have access to things like the Internet and smart phones in magical spaces if we can find a way to blend them with magic.”

“That’s so cool!” Chris enthused even though Eddie was pretty certain his kid still didn’t know what Teddy was talking about in the slightest, but Teddy was a teenager with a nose ring and a weird hair color, so therefore he was probably Chris’s favorite person now.

“Dad, can Teddy and Buck come over for dinner later?” Chris asked him with his patented puppy dog eyes.

“I don’t know, mijo,” Eddie chuckled. Actually, he thought he’d like to talk to Buck alone first. They needed to clear the air a little more from all the secrets they’d been keeping. Dinner wouldn’t be the worst idea though. “I think it depends on how Mr. Josh is doing. I’ll ask, but don’t be upset if they can’t tonight. How long are you here in LA, Teddy?”

“Just over two more weeks,” he said. “School starts back on September 1st.”

“Well, then, we’ll definitely have to have you over for a movie night before then,” Eddie offered with what he hoped was a welcoming smile. If Buck was going to be as big of a part of his life as he’d become, then Eddie knew he needed to get to know Buck’s kid. He understood why Buck hadn’t talked more about Teddy when he was trying to pretend to be younger than he was, on the run from the law, and Teddy was off at school anyway, but now that Eddie knew, he should probably welcome in Chris’s new brother…uh, best friend, yeah, friend…

It had been a long time since Harry had been an auror hunting down criminals for a living. The skillset had never left him though as ingrained as it had become from his own childhood. Now, he had an excuse to call forth those skills once more.

Josh had been attacked by his own date, and he was in pain and terrified, and Harry was not going to let that slide. Plus, it didn’t sit right with him that the attacker had taken Josh’s wallet but had then left it in a location where it was easily found, and nothing was missing. Something was wrong with that. Why would he take the wallet, but then leave it behind in such a way it couldn’t be missed by a police sweep? There had to be a bigger plan at work here. At least, Harry kind of hoped there was a bigger plan and that this wasn’t just a senseless assault on his friend. Something about that would hurt worse.

Harry ignored the text message from Eddie asking if he and Teddy wanted to get dinner at their place that evening. He’d respond in a little bit. He was still worried about leaving a half-werewolf at a territorial vampire’s house, but Eddie and Teddy were both good people, and it sounded like it’d all worked out if they were talking about dinner at least. Harry knew he owed Eddie a long explanation since he’d purposefully not mentioned Teddy much over the years he’d been at the 118. He’d make that explanation happen just as soon as this was handled.

Right now though, Hermione was currently with Josh and needed to get home eventually. If Harry was going to catch this guy before the trail went cold, he needed to get to work now. He wanted to be able to report back to Josh that his attacker was in custody and not able to hurt him ever again. By taking Josh’s wallet, the guy would have Josh’s address from his ID. Harry’s wards about Josh’s apartment were basically Gringotts level of paranoid, but still, he didn’t want Josh to be looking over his shoulder whenever he left his apartment to go to work or go shopping or whatever.

Josh’s attacker wasn’t magical from what Josh had explained of their interactions, but Harry was still able to isolate his biological signature from Josh’s wallet that he was currently holding in his hand with a tracking spell making it glow a soft yellow. He’d stood in the park where the attack had taken place and cast a tracking spell. A competent magical criminal would have known to block themselves from this spell, but a muggle, well, Harry was currently outside of an abandoned warehouse and watching a group of people in front of a table with plans laid out and talking over them.

There was a bigger plan here. Harry still wasn’t sure what that was, but the guy clearly wasn’t working alone. What could they have needed from Josh for whatever they were doing though? He was only a 9-1-1 dispatcher, well, a supervisor, but still, it’s not like he worked at FBI headquarters or something. No matter, Harry was almost certain none of the people in the warehouse were magical. Even if they were, well, he wasn’t going to give them time to react. Josh was his family and responsibility now. The House of Potter did not let attacks against them slide…even if the House of Potter had only been Harry and Teddy until only just recently. The Elder Wand slipped into his hand, and Harry stepped into the building.

“So, which of you arseholes beat up my friend last night?” Harry asked the group. Guns whipped out and pointed at him. “Right, so we’re doing this the hard way then…”

Chapter Text

Harry was just erasing his fingerprints and magical signature from everything in the room when a pop of portkey travel sounded behind him. “Harry, you know I’m based out of New York, not LA, right?” Cho sighed good naturedly even as she immediately began to assess the scene.

Harry put his wand away and smiled. “You and Adam could move to LA. I’d help you find a place and even take you to dinner. I think you’d like it here,” he suggested as a joke but actually meaning it. Adam was a good bloke, and he’d missed Cho.

Cho didn’t look amused though and motioned to the unconscious and bound group of people on the floor of the warehouse. “Why am I here? What did you do this time?”

“Well, I couldn’t exactly reach out to a LA auror now, could I?” He huffed. “I might not be wanted for crimes here anymore, but I’m supposed to be lying low.”

“Which this is not,” she glared, pointing a finger at him warningly. “I guess the better question is, what did they do?”

“They attacked a member of my family,” he said, stubbornly crossing his arms and standing firm on this. “As the head of the Potter family, it’s my right to defend my family and investigate threats to them, even as a private citizen.”

Cho nodded slowly, stepping closer to the people and starting to look around, investigating the situation and logging evidence with short waves of her wand. “Yes, I got your stack of paperwork for new family members. The Potter family has grown significantly recently. If I’d known I was going to end up as your personal auror, I may have thought twice about vouching for you,” she looked up with a smile that thankfully said she really didn’t regret it. “Now, was it the vampire or the squib they attacked…wait, it wasn’t the kid or Teddy, was it? Is Teddy ok?!”

“Teddy is fine,” he assured her vehemently since Cho was definitely getting very concerned at the thought.

While Cho had probably never met Teddy in person, that he knew of anyway, everyone who had known Remus and Tonks were understandably a little protective. Harry winced because he was more than a little concerned that if it had actually been Teddy or Chris that he’d be asking Eddie if there was a vampire system for getting rid of bodies over calling in an auror. Thankfully, they weren’t there though and hopefully never would be.

“It was Josh…the squib,” he said with a grimace, knowing that was a terrible way of describing his new family member, but it’s not like Cho knew him or anyone else in his ‘family’ besides Teddy.

Cho nodded and then cocked her head to one side in confusion. “Harry…there are no wands here or any magical items…these are muggles. Why the hell am I here?”

“Er…”

“You’re a firefighter,” she looked up and pinned him with another glare. “You know muggle cops. This is their jurisdiction, not mine.”

“Well…about that…”

Cho growled in frustration. “Right, so I’m guessing none of these people will have any idea of who you are or why they are currently unconscious, will they? And I suppose you have an excellent idea about what all was going on here and their plans too, hmm?”

Harry shifted his weight guiltily. “As a private citizen, obliviating and casting compulsions on muggles is very illegal. I am well aware of that.”

“Harry,” Cho put her hands on her hips and just glared.

“How much trouble am I in?” He winced. This had better not violate his deal with MACUSA because he’d have to go on the run again, and he’d just settled into the belief that those days were behind him. He didn’t want to go back.

“You’ll be in more trouble if you don’t tell me exactly what you did and what you learned from them,” she pulled over a rickey folding chair to look at the plans on the table while listening to him. “So, tell me a hypothetical story, Harry Potter.”

“Ah,” so that was how they were going to play it. Well, he could work with that. “So, hypothetically, these imbeciles were planning an art heist. Also, there’s one member of the crew not currently here, who I can give you their name and location.”

“Yes, because you overheard them talking about this person,” Cho added in with a smirk and shake of her head.

“Of course,” he smiled and motioned to the plans. “They attacked Josh because he’s a supervisor at 9-1-1 dispatch, and they needed to clone his credentials…Oddly enough, it’s just coincidental that he’s a member of my family. I was concerned he’d been targeted.”

“What’s 9-1-1?” Cho looked up at him with wide, confused eyes.

Harry just blinked. “Oh my God, Cho…please tell me you’re kidding?! You’re a bloody auror in America!”

She snorted a laugh before erupting in giggles. “I’m sorry, but you had to have seen your face right then,” she pulled herself together with another smirk at him for good measure. “I liaise with the muggle police often. I’m aware of their emergency systems. Why did they need your Josh’s credentials though? What good would that do to an art heist?”

Harry rolled his eyes but continued. “Hypothetically, I may have learned they planned to take over the dispatch center to have control over where the police and emergency services were deployed during their heist.”

Cho raised an impressed and concerned eyebrow this time. “That would have been catastrophic. Taking over all the emergency services for a city the size of LA…the damage they could have caused…”

“I know,” he winced, well aware of how important dispatch was to his job and all emergency services. The damage to LA could have been horrifying, but Hermione worked there in the office too. He couldn’t imagine what he would have done if Hermione and Josh both were being held hostage somewhere, probably much worse than some stunners, compulsion spells, and obliviation.

Cho stood and transfigured her auror robes into a smart suit. “Right, so Firefighter Buckley, do you happen to know a police officer here in LA who would be willing to help a lone federal agent who happened to have stumbled upon this heist in the course of investigating a separate crime?”

“Oh, thank Merlin! And you Cho! I owe you!” He said with as much feeling as he could put into it.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m holding you to owing me this time, Potter,” she smiled. “Now…I need that other criminal’s name too.”

Harry nodded and wrote down the information the woman he’d compelled to spill all her secrets had told him about. The guy was already working as a guard in dispatch, so they needed to get him out quickly. “Sergeant Athena Grant is your cop for this, but you need to keep my name out of it, both names if possible.”

Cho nodded and took the paper in one hand while conjuring handcuffs with the other to place on the idiots before removing Harry’s stunners. “Harry…this isn’t laying low. You need to do a better job than this if we’re going to keep you safe,” she warned while Harry helped her secure the prisoners.

“It’s still just you all at MACUSA who know about me, plus my family. As long as you keep me out of this report or only loop in Auror Barclay, I don’t think there’s anyone else who could leak the information,” he said, hoping all the aurors he’d been around in New York could keep their mouths shut. Thankfully, they didn’t know the name ‘Evan Buckley’ or that he’d originally been arrested in LA though. So, even if the information did get out, he should still be relatively safe. The United States was a very big place.

“You’re forgetting Dahlia,” she said with a wince. “That woman means well, but…”

Harry had forgotten about her. “She’s only a teacher at Ilvermorny, and there’s really no reason for me to be connected to Chris’s records right now when he’s not even attending, so I don’t really see what she could do.” Regardless, there wasn’t anything they could do about it at this point.

“I hope you’re right,” Cho sighed. “Now, get out of here so I can call your Sergeant Grant and do some liaising…I think I’ll be Homeland Security this time, no one really knows what they do or questions their presence.”

“Have fun!” Harry grinned and turned on the spot.

Harry stumbled a step into the Diaz living room and took in his kid and well…his kid playing Mario Kart on the couch. “So…I’m guessing those two meeting went well?”

He looked over at Eddie sheepishly who crossed his arms and gave him a dangerous glare. “Evan Buckley, you are going to come over here and fill me in on your son and why I haven’t heard anything about him before today.”

Buck drug his feet but walked over to the kitchen as if to his doom. “Oooo, Dad’s in trouble!” Teddy teased, getting a giggle from Chris who looked to be winning the game, of course.

“In my defense,” Buck tried. “I did mention Teddy, several times, it’s not my fault that people don’t assume you’re actually raising your godson with their grandmother.”

“Uh huh,” Eddie’s glare held for a second longer before his entire face softened and he reached out to pull Buck into his arms. “Hey, I get it. You were a fugitive, and he seems like a good kid. I could have used a heads up that he’s part werewolf though. My fangs were a little itchy at that realization when I walked in this morning.”

Buck melted against his friend and let the comfort soak in. He’d been on high alert ever since his phone rang and was just recently in a situation where he was dodging bullets and attacking art thieves. It had been a very long day.

“How’s Josh?” Eddie asked and unfortunately let him go.

Buck felt his anxiety wash right back over him. “He’s not good. He’ll heal…actually after Hermione’s potions and spells, he’s mostly physically healed already, but I have a feeling it’s going to be a while before he ever feels safe again, even with me strengthening his wards.”

“What about his attacker? You said he knew who it was?” Eddie prodded.

“Er…so about that…I’m pretty sure Athena’s arresting them as we speak,” he gave Eddie what he hoped was a very innocent look.

“How many pieces are they in?” Teddy unhelpfully asked out from the couch.

“All their pieces are still unfortunately attached,” Buck rolled his eyes. It had been a temptation to give them a taste of what they’d done to Josh, but he didn’t want to press his luck with how much Cho would be willing to cover for him.

“Dracula’s fangs, Buck…I keep forgetting that you’re actually a fighter,” Eddie ran a hand over his face like he was constantly having to reassess who Buck was, and yeah, that was fair.

“Sorry,” he shrugged, not being much help there. He wasn’t the best at opening up to people, even those closest to him, but he would try for Eddie.

“Ooo, can I swear by Dracula now too since Dad doesn’t let me swear by God?” Chris actually paused the game to ask with a wide smile.

“Only because your bisabuela would box your ears,” Eddie shook his head with a fond smile.

“No, little bro, you’re a wizard now. It’s Merlin we swear by,” Teddy corrected with a nudge to Chris’s shoulder.

“I hear Houdini is popular for you Americans too,” Buck added, playing up his British accent just a little for effect.

“Is there a famous werewolf?” Chris asked starting the game again, and ignoring the adults once more.

Teddy grimaced, and Harry felt the pain. Vampires were definitely not as discriminated against as werewolves in their society. Greyback was a large reason for that even this far removed from the war.

“The famous ones are more infamous than revered,” he explained. “But still, you’re a wizard…oh, you can definitely swear by Helga Hufflepuff though…”

“He’s not going to Hogwarts,” Buck rolled his eyes and tossed a balled-up napkin at Teddy’s head from the kitchen. “And he’d be a Gryffindor if he was!”

“You wish!” Teddy ducked and his character fell off the screen, losing him the race. “My little brother is so a Hufflepuff with me!”

Buck snorted indignantly and looked back at Eddie who had some kind of expression on his face that Buck just couldn’t read. “Hey, I’m sorry about the whole little brother thing. Teddy has always wanted a sibling, but I’m not sure why he’s going so strong on this now,” he tried to explain to keep Eddie from freaking out or whatever.

“What’s a Hufflepuff? That’s not like a magical drug thing, is it?” Eddie asked instead of addressing whatever this situation was. Buck was so very relieved.

“Nah, you see there’s this house system in our boarding school to basically keep all the teenagers in line and sorted into smaller groups…really, I think it’s pretty arbitrary, but that doesn’t mean I’m not still a proud Gryffindor,” he began.

“Gryffindork!” Teddy shot back from where he was already losing a new match on the game.

Athena Grant ticked off another item on her extensive list for the cookout she and Bobby were hosting for their 118 family and the extended family that came with them like Maddie and Karen and the kids. It had been a rough year for the 118 as a whole with the ladder truck and the tsunami and it was only now October.

While he’d bounced back from all he’d been through and had been back at work a while now, Buck had seemed more down than usual since early September, or at least that’s what her husband had said. This get together was desperately needed for some time they could all relax and de-compress. Plus, it was Halloween, and a good occasion to dress up and eat way too much sugar, then the kids could all go trick-or-treating together. Ostensibly, the whole cookout excuse was to celebrate Halloween together since they were off shift, but really, Athena and Bobby both were hoping it would boost Buck’s mood from whatever it was that was bothering him.

The decorations were in the trunk, Mae was picking up the costumes, Bobby was on food, Chimney was bringing ice, drinks were next on her list. Athena pulled into her normal go-to store for a few good bottles of wine in addition to all the non-alcoholic options for the kids and Bobby. She liked this place because they employed a sommelier to give advice on food pairings and taste. She really liked wine, but sometimes she just ended up buying a bottle with an interesting label if she couldn’t find the pinot noir she normally bought. Plus, this was a special occasion, they could use something a little nicer.

It didn’t take long for the sommelier to find her while she browsed the shelves. “Can I help you find a wine today?” The woman asked, a slight British accent marking her words. She was extremely well dressed, and Athena had to wonder how much being a sommelier at a small wine shop could pay. It was a nice place though, so possibly pretty well.

Athena smiled thankfully at the woman. She didn’t recognize this employee, but she could be new it’s not like Athena was at the store weekly or anything. “Yes, please, you’re a lifesaver. We’re grilling out for Halloween and doing burgers, jerk chicken, and grilled vegetables,” she explained. “Any suggestions for something with a lower alcohol content that would work with that? I don’t particularly want my guests sloshed.”

“I am happy to help,” the woman smiled brightly, her perfect white teeth flashing in a little too fake of a smile before she turned and motioned for Athena to follow her. “I have just the bottle.”

Buck sat in his jeep for a moment after parking at Bobby and Athena’s house. He really was looking forward to being around all this friends and family, but this was just a rough day every year. Normally, he would be on shift and busy, and that actually made it easier to handle. It’s just that Halloween had never been a good time for him with his parents dying, the troll, the chamber being opened, Sirius going off the deep end and scaring everyone, the Triwizard Tournament, and so on and so forth over the years. He could fake excited for the kids though and pretend he wasn’t traumatized by the day as a whole.

He just needed another moment to gather himself.

A sharp knock sounded on his window, making Buck jump. He breathed out a laugh at Eddie smiling at him from outside. “That’s how you get yourself cursed,” he smiled and laughed at Eddie’s vampire costume complete with cape and fake, plastic fangs.

“Chris insisted,” he shrugged and took his fake fangs out of his mouth to flash his real ones with a wide smile.

“Where’s your costume, Buck?” Chris asked, clearly going the werewolf route with his costume. That odd sibling relationship had developed to where Harry was taking and dropping off weekly letters at the owl office between Chris and Teddy now that Teddy was back at Hogwarts. It was very cute.

“This is my costume, you know that little man,” he held his arms out and spun around, making Chris laugh.

“Yeah, guess so,” Chris nodded and pulled him by the hand towards the house.

Eddie looked very confused at their exchange. Bollocks! He hadn’t told Eddie he was a metamorphmagus yet, had he?! There seemed to be no end to the things he was constantly having to fill Eddie in on, and he just never seemed to cover everything. He thought it was just the whole House Potter situation and the metamorphmagus thing left, but he’d actually forgotten that Eddie didn’t know he was changing his looks, so it was entirely possible Buck was forgetting something else too. Oh well, they’d get there eventually. Shite! Yeah, Master of Death…he’d forgotten that too. Maybe he’d hold off on that a lot longer though.

“The Buckley-Diazes!” Chimney called out with wide smile from where he was standing with Maddie just inside Athena and Bobby’s house.

“Ha, ha,” Buck rolled his eyes and felt Eddie put a hand on his back as he was steered inside the house.

Ever since they’d worked out their system for Eddie to drink Buck’s blood, Eddie had been a lot more tactile with him. It made sense after they’d broken down a lot of normal friendship boundaries, but it was driving Buck crazy. He loved it so much, but it was getting to the point that he and Eddie were going to need to have a talk before he just screamed in frustration. Eddie was going to either need to back off a little bit or shag him senseless. Buck didn’t want to lose what they had, but it was getting to where his mental health needed either more or less boundaries at this point. He was putting off that conversation for as long as possible though.

“Harry!” Chris called out before hurrying off to play with Athena’s son. Every time, Buck reacted to the name, even when he knew he shouldn’t.

“Hey, sis. Is Josh coming?” Buck asked, throwing an arm around Maddie’s shoulder.

“He’s on shift, unfortunately,” she smiled and leaned into him. “Hey…how are you holding up?” She asked in a whisper.

He looked off and shrugged. “I know the day isn’t actually cursed, but that doesn’t keep me from fully believing that anyway.”

“I know the feeling,” her lips thinned as they both looked at their gathered family in concern, hoping that this was one of the low-key Halloween years.

The Halloween party was fun. The kids played all kinds of party games that Buck joined in on, Hen and Chimney set up a karaoke set and sang a duet, Bobby’s burgers were smelling amazing, and Eddie and Maddie were chatting and laughing together over by the appetizers. He didn’t want to trust it, but it was starting to seem like that might make it through this unscathed.

“Buckaroo, would you mind grabbing me the balsamic vinegar? I left it in the kitchen,” Athena asked him while she tossed a salad on the table overly laden with food.

“Sure, Athena,” he smiled and wandered into her kitchen. He’d been in the Grant-Nash home many times over the years, but he’d never had occasion to have to find something in the kitchen before, so he had no clue where she kept the balsamic vinegar since it wasn’t on the countertop.

Buck opened a few random cabinets and the pantry. He reached up to open an upper cabinet by the fridge and paused. There was a ward around the cabinet. It wasn’t strong, and felt like a low-level muggle repelling ward…maybe?

Well, it’s not like he could avoid opening that particular cabinet now. He'd never been known for ignoring his curiosity. But seriously, why in Merlin’s name would there be a ward around anything in Athena and Bobby’s home?! So, yeah, he was definitely giving this cabinet a look.

He opened the cabinet door and just stared at the supplies. He and Maddie both had similar cabinets in their homes, well-warded and containing potion supplies. There was a small pewter cauldron and glass vials of potion ingredients he was very familiar with and a few he didn’t recognize in the slightest. Well…ok, so who was magical in this home?

Buck looked at the cabinet door and saw a series of runes etched into the wood, so the ward wasn’t a spell but a runic ward. That was interesting. Mages didn't tend to use runic wards when a spell would be stronger. This was clearly why it was so low-powered. It would do the job though to keep a muggle from thinking to open the cabinet, but even a highly motivated muggle would still have broken through it.

He slowly closed the cabinet door and just stood in the middle of the kitchen, trying to make sense of this new information. What the hell?! It probably wasn’t the kids, but Bobby? Athena? Buck really didn't think it could possibly be Bobby or he would definitely have caught Buck doing some of his mostly hidden magic around the station. If it was Athena though, surely Bobby would have opened this cabinet at some point since he did the cooking and the ward wasn't strong enough to keep him out forever. Eventually, he'd wonder what was in that one cabinet he'd never opened and go for it even being mildly repelled.

Harry ran into the kitchen, looking like he was about to try to get away with something, and stole a cookie off the cooling tray with a wink at Buck to not tell on him. He took a big bite with a little laugh. Buck loved that he was the adult most trusted not to tell on the kids...even though he did sometimes when necessary. Now though, looking at the kid and think of his name, the coincidence slammed into him…was it a coincidence?

“Um…Harry,” he asked slowly, not knowing if he wanted to know the answer or not. “Do you know…who were you named after? I was just wondering if it was a family name or something?”

Harry downed the rest of the cookie and shrugged, clearly not Buck's question suspicious at all. Apparently adults were weird and not worth putting too much thought into. “Nah, some famous dude Mom liked…I think he fought in a war or something. She said she’d tell me more about it when I got older.”

So…maybe not a coincidence. Buck really did his best not to grimace at the very real possibility this kid may have actually been named after him. Merlin, but this was wild! Was Athena a witch? But how…that didn’t seem likely…

“Uh, do you know where your mother keeps the balsamic vinegar?” He asked instead of all the questions that he probably shouldn’t bombard the kid with.

Harry just sauntered over and opened a cabinet that Buck had definitely looked in before but had completely missed the bottle right there, plain as day. Harry just grabbed two other cookies after Buck picked up the bottle. “These are for Chris and Denny,” he winked.

“Sure…you guys don’t ruin your dinner,” he warned, sounding so much more parental than he’d planned for. Harry rolled his eyes and ran off again to wherever that group was currently causing mischief.

Buck wondered back out to the back yard in a daze and handed over the balsamic vinegar Athena had asked for. “Thanks, Buck. You're a sweetheart,” she smiled and squeezed his arm. “Hey, I got a new bottle of wine yesterday, you want to give it a try with me? You used to be bartender, right? So you can give me an honest assessment about if I should buy it again.”

Buck shook off all his questions and curiosity because now was not the time. He probably did need to talk to Athena at some point about the cabinet and what that could mean, but not in the middle of a party. “Yeah, sure, I’d love some,” he smiled and leaned against the table while she opened the bottle. He'd maybe need to come clean about never having been a bartender too, oh well.

“How are you doing being back at work? Is your leg giving you any problems?” She asked, looking at him in concern.

Everything had been fine. It was just, Teddy had gone back to school, and Buck knew he wasn’t as excited and happy as he usually was. It had been a while since he’d gotten to spend a significant amount of time with his kid, and he missed it so much. Teddy being there for a month and then gone again, almost ripped out his heart once more. He’d seen the looks from Bobby and Hen, and really didn’t want them to worry. 

So, he tried to shrug it off. “Everything is great, Athena. My leg is perfectly fine, I promise,” he tried to assure her.

“And your parents, any update on what was going on with them?” She asked, now pouring two glasses of the wine. Buck distinctly felt like he was being interrogated, but benevolently at least.

Buck also had a feeling she and Bobby talked about the ‘Buckley parents’ behind his back. Ever since Bobby had seen Buck’s scars, he’d gotten that pinched look of concern he did so well anytime someone brought up parents around Buck or Maddie. Buck wasn’t exactly sure what Bobby had assumed had happened to them as kids, but he’d bet it was closer to his actual childhood with the Dursleys than Hermione’s childhood with the Grangers.

“Nothing new. They're fine too,” he brushed it off and took his glass. “So, what am I drinking?” He asked to change the subject.

“It’s a Riesling,” Athena began even as Buck took a large swig of the drink. He needed some alcohol to get through this (definitely) cursed day. Athena snorted in amusement at him. “You’re supposed to smell it and let it breathe first. Some bartender you are.”

Athena sniffed hers and swirled it, and Buck…something was very wrong. There was a pain in his chest and it was starting to get difficult to breathe. He wheezed when Athena raised the glass to her lips.

Buck’s arm shot out, and he smacked the glass away from Athena. It crashed to the ground and shattered. “Buck? What?” She asked in surprise.

Buck was beyond able to answer though. He choked and gasped for air. It felt like he was drowning again. He coughed, and oh, Merlin, was that blood?! He really hoped the kids weren’t around to see this. He made it a point to clearly think out into the world that he wasn't ready to be best mates with Death just yet, so keep his grubby little bony hands away.

“Buck!” Athena screamed, and Hermione’s head shot up from where she’d been talking with Eddie about some of her past research when she had still been a practicing healer.

Only sparing the thought of ‘of course something was happening to her brother,’ she ran over to where Athena seemed to be trying and failing to catch her much larger brother who was falling to the ground. There was so much blood! Harry coughed, and it poured from his mouth. Hermione hadn't seen something like this outside of extremely dark curses, but it was only there family in the backyard...

Eddie was right there with her, quickly assessing the situation and trying to clear Harry's airway. “What happened?” She asked Athena frantically.

“I don’t know!” Athena wrung her hands, usually so calm in any crisis situation but looking devastated now. “He knocked the wine glass out of my hand and then started coughing up blood!”

Hermione’s eyes shot to the bottle of wine, and she jumped up immediately. She grabbed the cork and slammed it into the bottle while pulling out her cellphone and dialing 9-1-1. There was no one in attendance who they didn’t know, so barring Polyjuice, it was a good bet the wine was somehow poisoned. Also, Hermione would wager all her gold that Harry had placed a Polyjuice ward around the Grant-Nash house since that was one of his standard ones he always put up for friends and family.

The phone rang and a very familiar voice answered, “9-1-1 what’s your emergency?”

“Josh!” She breathed out, thankful it was their friend who knew about the magical world, and did her best to pull it together and clinically explain the address and situation.

Eddie had been joined by Chimney now who had turned Harry on his side now to keep him from choking more and suffocating. This time, Harry could actually get help from a healer. She knew whatever this was wasn’t going to kill him, or at least he’d come back. However, there could be permanent damage, and Hermione was going to do everything she could to prevent that, even if it meant dealing with the magical world once again.

“And Josh…I need you to make sure the ambulance is routed to Cedar’s Sinai and alert the St. Gertrude ward,” she concluded. Josh’s voice held all the concern and worry over Harry she felt, but he did his job and made the call. What was concerning though was how Athena’s head snapped up at her at the mention of the St. Gertrude ward. Now that was shocking and more than a little concerning…

Harry painfully clawed himself awake, blinking up at an overly white ceiling that usually signified a hospital somewhere. Of course he was in hospital, it was Halloween. His chest hurt and his throat was on fire. With a grunt he looked over and felt a hand immediately clutch his arm.

“Hey, take it easy, here’s some water,” the voice said and gently put a straw in his mouth.

After taking a few sips that didn’t do much at all for his throat, Harry was finally able to focus on the person beside his bed in a chair that definitely screamed hospital. “Josh?” He asked, glancing around in confusion.

“Hey, you’re ok, or at least you will be,” Josh brushed long strands of black hair off his face, and damn, he hadn’t held his changes. “You’re in the hospital, the magical ward more specifically.”

Oh, yeah, now Harry saw the diagnostic spell flashing beside him instead of the normal monitors, and he didn’t have any IVs connected to him or anything. That was nice at least. “Hermione? Is she ok?” He asked in concern since she would normally be the person there when he woke up, not that he didn't appreciate Josh, but Maddie was just always there.

Josh’s face did some combination of amusement and exasperation. “Buck, it seems that your sister isn’t actually listed as part of your family, but somehow I am. Care to explain that confusing situation?”

He was in too much pain to deal with this. “I was going to tell you, but then you were attacked and dealing with all that, and then I waited so long it seemed awkward.”

Josh chuckled and raised a disbelieving eyebrow, still comfortingly brushing Harry’s hair back, just being there for him. “It was awkward to tell me that you’d adopted me into one of the most famous families in the magical world? I could be wrong, but I feel like that was something you should have tried to push through and tell me anyway.”

Harry just gave him a painful shrug and what was hopefully an innocent smile. “It doesn’t change your life any; it just gives you extra protection in case you ever have a run-in with aurors or really anyone magical. You know how squibs are treated in the magical world. I know your aunt would look out for you…but well…I’m Harry Potter,” he said, not saying it arrogantly in the slightest. It was what it was, and even if that wasn’t a good thing in Britain right now, it meant something in the United States again.

Josh shook his head, but really didn’t look angry, more fond and exasperated than anything else. That was good, Harry could work with that. “So, I’m guessing it’s me and Teddy in your family. I’d bet a year’s worth of Florean Fortescue’s ice cream that a certain vampire and no-maj born are with us too.”

Harry gave him an embarrassed smile. “Yeah, it was awkward to tell them too…”

“Oh huh, so now you know the reason why I’m the only one allowed into your hospital room,” Josh snorted a laugh. “When they refused Maddie, she immediately grabbed me and shoved me towards the healers saying I was allowed. Let me tell you, all your 118 family out there are going to have a lot of questions for you about why I'm legally your family when we broke up a long time ago.”

He winced, yeah, that was not going to be fun. He’d asked Hermione about legally joining his family too, but the Granger last name was respected in its own right after the war and Hermione's publish research. She’d built a name for herself, and Harry understood not wanting to give that up after all her hard work. If he was in any other ward of the hospital they would have just looked at her ID and not questioned it, but actually, shouldn’t she be allowed here too?

“But Hermione’s my personal healer,” he said, wondering why she wasn’t allowed still.

“Who doesn’t have privileges at this hospital,” Josh answered his questions. “I would wager she will by the end of day today though. You know your sister.”

That he did. “Was it a spell or a potion? I thought it might be the wine,” he asked, hoping he was the only one dosed. He was certain he’d kept Athena from taking a sip.

Josh nodded. “Potion in the wine. It would only have affecting people with magic, so it was definitely aimed at you. It caused blood clots to form in your lungs. You’d stopped breathing just as the ambulance reached the hospital when the healers took over. They said it was a miracle they got you back. With this potion, usually when breathing ceases, there’s no coming back from it, but you just took another breath right when they were about to call it, so they were able to give you an antidote.”

Yeah, so he’d definitely died. That was not something he’d needed to know. And thank Merlin Athena hadn't taken a drink since she most likely had some kind of magic! And Hermione and Eddie were there too! Suddenly, Harry dying was starting to look like best case scenario!

Pushing those troubling thoughts aside for now, he motioned to his head. “So, how much did the healers freak out when Harry Potter suddenly appeared?”

“Maddie filled them in once you were out of the no-maj section of the hospital. She made sure to tell them you’d been cleared of all charges and to call MACUSA if they didn’t believe her,” he said. “The healers have taken secrecy oaths as part of their job, but…”

He sighed. “It seems someone leaked the information already though. I've been found. I’d ask if the aurors have found out who did this, but I have a pretty good guess who’s behind it, though I doubt Kingsley came all the way out here to do it himself. This is all a little too sneaky for him anyway. He probably sent someone or paid someone.”

Josh sighed and ran a hand over his face. “Buck…no, we don’t know anything definitive yet, but Cho is here, and she’s questioning Sergeant Grant now. I don’t know what MACUSA’s official story is…”

“I’m pretty sure Athena is somehow connected to the magical world,” Harry told him his suspicions after finding the cabinet and even added in her son’s name. "I'd guess that Cho will figure all that out and fill Athena in. They've met in passing."

Josh just shook his head and laughed. “Well, I’m sure Auror Xiao will find out what happened, so let's let her do her job. Now all you have to worry about is getting better. You’re awake and can see visitors, so can you please put your sister on your approved list so she will stop driving all the healers crazy out in the waiting room?”

Harry laughed and nodded. “I’ll put Hermione and I guess Athena too, but…” he motioned to the clearly magical room.

Josh just nodded. “They’re going to move you to a no-maj friendly room shortly, then everyone else can stop by. What about Eddie, he knows?”

Harry shook his head and concentrated enough to change his appearance back since Athena would definitely be visiting as soon as Cho was done with her. “No, best not let the healers know he’s a vampire. There is still prejudice there. I’ll let him in when the rest of the 118 is allowed.”

“Oh, and add your friend Ron,” Josh said, passing over the parchment that had been left for Harry to add his visitors to. “Maddie said he’ll be here in the next few hours.”

Harry scratched Ronald Weasley as first on the list. He was wondering how long it would take before all the healers in the St. Gertrude ward were sticking their heads in his door to see the war heroes. At least no one was going to arrest him. Merlin, but he owed Cho so much by this point, maybe she and her husband would want to join House Potter…it was worth asking at least.

Chapter Text

Now that Buck was awake, there was a steady stream of visitors to his room, and he hadn’t even been moved to the muggle friendly one yet. Josh left when Maddie was eventually let in, then Maddie left to fill in the rest of the 118 when Athena stepped into his room with a scolding look on her face.

“Uh…hi,” he said sheepishly even as Maddie just chuckled and kissed his forehead when she stood to leave. He wanted to ask her to stay and save him because no Death Eater scared him like a disappointed Athena Grant, but no, someone needed to fill in the 118.

“Please remember his lungs are still recovering, so he shouldn’t run away from you,” Maddie told Athena with a teasing laugh.

Athena rolled her eyes but reassuringly patted Maddie on the arm before she left. “Talk later?” She asked Maddie.

“Over margaritas!” Maddie huffed out a laugh before she left them.

“You know it,” Athena smiled, and Buck was hoping that meant maybe he and Athena would be ok too if she wasn’t mad at Maddie.

“First of all,” Athena started with her intense look completely now on him. Buck winced at whatever was coming. “I am so very sorry, Buck! It’s all my fault! I’m so sorry!”

Athena let go of everything in a sigh when she slumped into the chair beside his bed. Buck was very confused. “I don’t understand,” he frowned at her having expected to be told off for keeping secrets. “You didn’t do anything wrong.”

“I poisoned you,” she gasped out, throwing her arms in the air. “I almost killed you!”

Well, that just wasn’t right. “No, you didn’t. Someone else poisoned me, you just poured me a drink, one that I’m pretty sure would have also poisoned you if you’d taken a sip of it, which you were about to,” he corrected.

“Plus, I’m still alive. I’m pretty hard to kill, just ask my sister,” he ended with a wry smile.

Athena leaned on his bed with her head in her hands. “So, let’s start from the beginning, you’re a wizard?” She summed up from where she wasn’t looking at him. “A British one?” Now she did look up with a disbelieving quirk of her eyebrow.

Buck was wondering how much Cho had told her. Cho would probably stop by his room at some point to fill him in, but she was most likely running down any leads first before whatever magical trails that might be left disappeared. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you all sooner, but I had a good reason. I don’t know how much Auror Xiao told you,” he said, dropping the fake American accent.

Athena’s eyes widened, but then she just nodded, accepting it. He and Athena had that in common. They had both seen enough crazy in their lives to just roll with things now. He’d always liked that about the woman.

“She didn’t say much, but I can extrapolate quite a lot from what she did say. My understanding is that you got yourself into some kind of trouble back in England and moved here to get away from it. Somehow, you’ve been found, and an attempt was made on your life,” Athena concluded correctly.

“Er, yeah, that’s about it,” he nodded, shifting in his bed to get a little more comfortable.

“I have so many questions,” she chuckled wryly. “First of all, boy, you’d better not have married Josh Russo and not invited me to the wedding!”

Buck couldn’t help his disbelieving snort. “Athena…you and Bobby didn’t exactly invite me to your impulse wedding either. However, no, we didn’t get married. We broke up, remember?”

“Right yeah, don’t be a hypocrite, got it,” she shook her head and laughed. “So, just why is Josh your family and Maddie isn’t then?”

“Magic,” Buck waved a hand vaguely, and Athena clearly wasn’t amused. He sighed. “Josh is a squib, so when the danger seemed like it had lessoned for me at least in this country, I legally added him to my family for protection. If he was ever in trouble in the magical world, I wanted him to be able to get help, and his family were shite when they learned he didn’t have magic.”

“Ah,” she nodded firmly.

“Er…I hate to ask, but you are…?” Buck trailed off, hoping she would fill in the rest of the sentence.

“Not a squib,” she smiled fondly and patted his hand. “I’m a hedge-witch, same as most of the women in my family line. Mae too. We have more magic than a squib but less than a witch such as you are used to. My kind are much more common here in the Americas than in Europe.”

“I’ve heard of your kind. That’s so awesome,” Buck smiled broadly.

That was just brilliant really! It also explained the runic ward in her kitchen. Athena couldn’t exactly cast spells, but potions, runes, and ritual magic would work very well for her. There were many debates over if hedge-witches were even a type of witch or their own kind of being, but Athena probably wouldn’t appreciate him going off on that tangent right now when she was trying to get answers.

“Wait,” he paused as a thought came to him. “Does Bobby know?!”

Athena laughed loudly and patted his leg. “Oh, he knows…to an extent,” she shook her head. “As in I told that man exactly what I am, but I think he just believes I’m ‘spiritual’ like into New Age things. It’s not like I can make the table levitate to prove it to him. That idiot got me crystals for my birthday. What the hell am I going to do with crystals?”

Buck laughed because yeah, that actually did sound like Bobby. “I’m sure there are some rituals that crystals would help with…plus, they’re pretty.”

She rolled her eyes with a scoff. “Well, I suppose it was the thought that counts. Now, back to you, Buckaroo. What are we going to do with you? Auror Xiao seemed to recognize the person who sold me the wine when I showed her my memory. In the midst of a litany of curses that spent way too much time on Merlin’s anatomy, she said the name Pansy. Do you know who she was talking about?”

Buck growled in frustration, wanting to throw something or break something. Why? Just why? “Yes, I know Pansy bloody Parkinson. Of course she was the one he sent,” he ground out. “Last I heard, Pansy was working as an aide in his office, so she was right there and with a grudge against me still all these years later.”

Athena nodded and leaned back, absorbing the information. “I know the name Parkinson from your war. You would have been very young at the time, but is any of this connected to what happened in England with your dark lord?”

“No…yes, not really,” he floundered. He didn’t know what to say without telling her everything, so it looked like there was someone else he needed to let in. He really didn’t want to run again. If anyone could figure out a way for him to stay, it would be Sergeant Athena Grant. He had been completely serious when he’d thought way back when he didn’t know Athena had any connection at all to the magical world that she and Hermione could take over easily if they ever decided to give it a try.

“Right, so I’m a metamorphmagus,” he just jumped into it. “If I show you what I really look like, will you promise not to freak out?”

Athena looked surprised for one second before she crossed her arms and called him an idiot with her eyes. “Buckaroo, you could be purple with neon orange hair, and you’d still be our Buck. Boy, you know you’re family by this point!”

Actually, he hadn’t known that. He’d hoped he was Athena and Bobby’s family, but actually believing that to be true was setting himself up for too much heartache. He couldn’t let himself believe that, not yet.

Harry sighed and let go of the magic holding him in his currently form. Athena sucked in a surprised breath as her only indication that she recognized him. She put one hand on his chest and reached out the other to cup his cheek, right under the famous scar. “Oh sweetheart, I’m so sorry. I’m so, so sorry…” she trailed off.

He was confused once again. “Athena, you didn’t do anything…”

“But you were a child,” she sniffed, looking at him as if she really did see him, like she saw him all those years ago when he was eleven and facing Voldemort in the back of Quirrell’s head. “All you went through, and you were only Harry’s age at the start.”

She gave a sharp laugh. “Oh sweet Hecate, I named my son after you!”

He put his hand on hers and smiled. “I was wondering about that. I, uh, well this isn’t about the war, but as you can imagine, I still have a lot of enemies willing to come after me with very little incentive needed.”

“Yes, but this was different. I keep up to date on MACUSA activities, and you were labeled a fugitive until recently. I saw the notice of MACUSA rescinding your arrest warrant, but nothing was explained,” she said with a frown. “I was worried it was true back when it was first announced, but I’m old enough to have followed and remember all the news from Britain during your war. You were a hero, then a dark lord, then insane, then a terrorist, then the savior, and I wasn’t going to believe anything until I could ask you personally by that point, so…Harry Potter…”

Buck waited, but she didn’t ask. Athena just eventually shook her head. “No, I know our Buckaroo. I don’t even need to ask. Who are we hiding you from then, baby?”

He just gasped in sheer relief. He held back the tears pricking at the corners of his eyes. “Ah, baby, don’t you dare think that we don’t have your back here,” she patted his cheek and reassured him. “Your auror friend talked about moving you somewhere else, but I told her that we’d raise hell to keep you here. I’ll call every magical person I know, plus all you know, and we’re going to get you safe, no matter what, you hear me.”

Now he really was crying. “My ex-boyfriend,” he gasped out. “The Minister for Magic. He’s the one after me.”

Athena gave a humorless chuckle. “Well, I never said you did things by halves, now did I?”

He shook his head and laughed. “No, I never have…oh, and Maddie, she’s Hermione Granger.”

“Ah, that makes sense…and why she wasn’t legally your family,” Athena nodded firmly. “Her ex is Ron Weasley, correct? Who is still an auror?”

“Yeah, he’s…damn, he’s probably almost here,” Harry said, looking at the time. It didn’t seem to take Ron long at all to obtain illegal portkeys. There were some definite advantages to being a magical cop and knowing where all the criminals hung out.

“Great, then I’ll liaise with him and Auror Xiao,” Athena said as if the decision were made. “You have a couple hedge-witches, three war heroes, and a squib who is tough as nails behind you. We can handle this.”

Harry just smiled widely.

Athena sighed at him. “Right, who else?”

“Eddie is a vampire,” he said, finally getting an actual shocked reaction out of the woman.

“Edmundo Diaz! But…he has a kid!” She choked out.

“Baby vamp,” he shrugged. “He has ridiculous self-control. Turned in a warzone, so you can imagine.”

“Hecate’s blessings,” she shook her head. “Well, that can’t hurt our chances. Does he know about you?”

“Yeah, he does,” Harry assured her. “Also, I have a small deal with the Sidhe for limited legal protections if that matters any at all.”

Athena closed her eyes and just seemed to give up. “Of course, you do. Have any werewolves on your side? How about goblins?”

“Eh, the goblins definitely hate me, but my son is half-werewolf and a lord in England if that helps,” he added, now just messing with her.

Athena swatted his arm. “Why haven’t I met this son? Buck! How old is he?”

“Legal adult, Athena! Ow! I’m injured,” he protested. “My godson, Teddy Lupin-Black. I’ll have him visit next time he’s on break from school.”

“You better,” she finally let up after the promise. “Now, I’m going to let you rest while I track down Auror Xiao again. You don’t go anyway. We’re going to figure this out.”

“Yes, Ma’am,” he agreed, finally allowing himself to believe that. If Athena said she’d figure it out, then she absolutely would.

Athena held his hand for a minute before her face went shocked once more. “Hecate’s cats! You were a cop! How in holy hell was that mess of a boy I met three years ago a cop?!”

Buck winced. “So…about that…I may have made some mistakes while trying not to make friends with the 118…I’ll never claim I’m not a mess though…”

The rest of Buck’s time in hospital saw him in a muggle-safe room and surrounded by the 118. Talk of aurors and tracking down magical assassins necessarily had to stop. The going story seemed to be that he’d had a pulmonary embolism caused by the recent damage to his leg. While that didn’t make any logical sense because there wasn’t any damage to his leg anymore, it was the easiest way to explain why he’d randomly coughed up blood without completely breaking the Statute of Secrecy and explaining potions.

Eddie had gotten the real explanation the first chance Buck had alone with him, and Eddie had been on the phone with Athena and Maddie whenever he could to get updates. It seemed Cho had lost Pansy’s trail though, and knowing magical transportation, she was probably already safely back behind her desk in the ministry and answering letters for Kingsley once again.

A bright spot in the entire experience was Ron back beside him where he belonged. Plus, a very confused Chimney who walked in and just stared at the redheaded man who had one arm around Maddie and the other holding Buck’s hand. “What…. Aren’t you the guy from the Christmas tree place? Why are you here in Buck's room?” Chimney surprisingly remembered.

“Ronald Bilius Weasley!” Maddie elbowed him viciously. “Did you scope out my boyfriend all the way back at Christmas without telling me?!”

“Oi! Woman! Those elbows hurt,” Ron fake rubbed his side. “Yeah, I did, but your new bloke was spilling his life story within two minutes of talking, so I figured he wasn’t likely to be keeping any dark secrets.”

Chimney flushed and looked embarrassed while Hen almost fell over laughing from where she’d entered behind him. “He’s got you there!” Hen pointed at her best friend.

“It’s not my fault if secrets make me itch!” Chimney protested.

“That’s right, babe, that’s a good thing,” Maddie stood and put an arm around him to steer him around Buck’s bed. “Howard Han, meet my ex-husband and sometimes best friend, Ron Weasley.”

“Chimney,” the man nervously gasped out when he reached out a hand to shake.

“It’s a pleasure…again,” Ron said, gripping his hand a little too hard. “Just don’t ever think you’ll get away with hurting her.”

Chimney gulped. “Never.”

“Great!” Ron’s grip lessened, and he enthusiastically shook Chimney’s hand then. “Brilliant! If we’re all going to be living here, we’re going to have to get along and be friends, right."

“Ron?” Buck asked in surprise at that. “What’s that mean? What do you mean, living here?”

“Well,” Ron finally let Chimney go to walk back to Harry’s bed. “It seems all the fun is happening out here in LA now. After what just happened to you, even Mum was packing my bag and telling me to get my arse out here to look after you. So, I just tossed my resignation letter on Robards’s desk and moved continent. Your couch better be comfortable while I find a place to stay.”

“I have a guestroom,” Josh spoke up from where he seemed to have been trying to disappear into the corner of the room. “Buck’s couch isn’t that comfortable.”

“Brilliant! Thanks, mate!” Ron sauntered over and threw an arm around Josh next. “Now, I bet you’ve heard some strange calls with your job, I want to hear all the stories!”

Josh looked at Ron incredulously. “You’re a cop…”

“Eh, I still bet LA is stranger than rainy England.”

“Oh, it is,” Buck assured him firmly. “Let me tell you about my first full moon…”

“Not with the babies again!” Chimney groaned and sat down beside Buck’s bed.

“So. Many. Babies,” he told Ron seriously.

“I heard your ex-brother-in-law has moved to town,” Bobby said conversationally when he was on his shift with Buck. Merlin but were they never going to let him leave hospital?! Like, yeah, he was minor medical miracle, but they were mages, they saw miracles all the time!

Buck looked at the clock but nodded. “Yeah, apparently I’m way too accident prone, so he’s coming to keep me in line.”

Bobby ran a hand down his face, and Buck finally noticed just how exhausted he looked. Buck had died not long ago, but Bobby may just look worse. “Hey, what’s up Cap?”

“It’s just a lot, Buck,” he said, leaning back in the chair. “There was the bomb, then the tsunami, now this. Maybe…maybe you shouldn’t come back to work right away.”

Buck just blinked in confusion. How did this equate to him not coming to work? He’d been cursed with a slashing curse, bleeding on the floor, and still in the ministry filling out paperwork when he was an auror. A little poisoning and death was nothing in his life…and yeah, he knew how that sounded, but it was actually true.

“The doctors were able to fix me up, they said it’s not a recurring thing. Once I’m off their meds, I’ll make a complete recovery,” he told Bobby the lie they were using to cover up the poisoning.

He really hoped none of the 118 did any deep google searches on anything they’d said. Buck was pretty certain the lie had gotten more convoluted every time one of the healers told a muggle. They may be used to dealing with muggles, but they were clearly not used to dealing with muggles who understood what they were saying. Hen was studying to be a doctor, so he winced every time someone said something around her already.

“I don’t think you’re ready to come back,” Bobby said firmly instead. “I think you should take some time.”

Buck didn’t understand. “Uh…the doctors said I’m fine. I don’t understand. They’ve cleared me to go back to work next week.”

“I have to sign off on it though, and I don't think you're ready,” Bobby dug in, and this had to have some deeper meaning right? Did Bobby not want him on the team anymore? But Athena had said he was family.

“Ok, so why do you think I’m not ready then?” Buck asked as calmly as he could. He’d already been off work so long when he wasn’t even injured before. He didn’t want to take off any more time.

“Buck, you’ve almost died three times recently,” Bobby began. Ok, so yeah, he actually had died twice there, but no need to say that out loud. “I think you need to see someone to talk about all this. Talk about your mental health.”

“Like the last person you sent me to see?” Buck couldn’t help saying. It slipped out before he could think better of it. Bobby blanched and his mouth audibly clicked shut. Buck wasn’t sure how to fix this now, so the silence dragged on.

“I don’t think you’re ready,” was the final response.

Buck wasn’t going to accept that. He didn't want to lose what he had at the 118. “Really? Are you sure you’re not the one who isn’t ready?” He asked instead. “Look, I’ll go see someone…a different mental health professional if you insist…”

And this one would definitely be a mind-healer now that he wasn’t a wanted fugitive. A mind-healer he would make sign a secrecy contract and make a magically binding vow. But yeah, if Bobby insisted he had to, then he would. He did actually trust Bobby, but he didn’t think that’s what this was about.

“But is that what’s really going on?” He asked before Bobby could jump in again.

There seemed a fight going on in his captain’s mind as doubt and worry and fear crossed his face. “Buck,” he finally gasped out. “I can’t watch you die again. I saw you under that truck…and coughing up blood…and I just…I can’t do it again!”

“Hey!” Buck grabbed Bobby’s hand in both of his and held on. “Hey, I’m ok right now. I’m going to get better. And Bobby, I hate to break it to you…but I’m just as likely to die in my everyday life as on the job…”

Bobby snorted and opened his mouth to protest.

“I wasn’t working during the tsunami,” he countered. “And I was alive over two decades before you met me. I’ve never lived a safe life even when I wasn’t a firefighter. Now, I have people watching my back though. You all pulled me out from under that truck, Hen took care of me after the tsunami, Eddie cleared my airway when I was choking, there was always someone there. There hasn’t always been someone there in my past. I’d trade safety any day to know that someone would be there for me if and when I need it.”

Bobby held Buck’s hands to his own forehead and breathed out something almost a sob. “I can’t lose you kid.”

“And you don’t have to,” Buck assured him. “The only way you’ll lose me is if you push me away.”

“You can’t promise that,” Bobby shook his head, still not looking at him.

Well, he could, but the man didn’t even believe his own wife was magical, so Buck wasn’t about to step into that. “I also can’t promise you that I won’t get struck by lightning, but I’d rather have you there after if I did.”

“How about…how about being man behind for a few shifts?” Bobby’s misty eyes finally met his. “Just a while.”

Buck smiled at him. “A week.”

“Two.”

“One week, and Eddie gets to do the rope rescues for two weeks after that,” Buck countered with a grin that finally got a smile in return from his captain.

“And you’ll see a therapist? A different one this time?” Bobby winced again.

“I’ll think about it,” he said because that was all he could really offer. He really would think about it. He wasn’t sure he was ready again yet, but he would actually consider it.

“That’s all I’ll ask then,” Bobby smiled and squeezed Buck’s hand. “Now…when did they say we could spring you from here.”

“Never, I think I’m their new lab rat,” he groaned dramatically. “Call Athena to rescue me!”

It turned out Ron didn’t actually need to move into Josh’s guestroom even though he already had because Buck found himself led into the Diaz home just as soon as he was allowed to leave hospital. What met him in Eddie’s living room looked much more like an intervention than a welcome home party though.

“Whatever you think I did this time, I promise I didn’t…unless it was stealing something of yours, and if so, Maddie can get it for you,” he smiled at the assembled group when Eddie ushered him into the empty armchair.

“Not an intervention, mate. Although, maybe it should be,” Ron answered. “Hey ‘Mione…he still taking things?”

“Yeah, but it’s fine, I give them back to people periodically,” Hermione waved him off.

Harry glowered at her, but Athena crossed her arms. “Is that where my earrings went? I didn’t think I’d left them in Maddie’s car!”

“They were costume, not worth anything,” Harry protested. “Plus, you got a nice ward around your house out of it. You’re welcome.”

“Thank you, and don’t take my things without asking,” she pointed a finger at him. “And I want to know all the wards currently around my residence.”

“You really don’t want to know. I think my brain exploded a little when he listed the ones he put on my place,” Josh told her with wide eyes. That just wasn't fair. Harry had put a very reasonable amount of wards around Josh's apartment, then maybe a few unreasonable ones after he was attacked, but still...rude.

“This is a keep Buck alive intervention,” Eddie interrupted their bickering. “Everyone here knows you are Buck Buckley and Harry Potter, so we’re here to brainstorm what to do to keep your psycho ex from trying to murder you again.”

“I think we have a plan, me and my supervisor anyway,” Cho walked into the room from the kitchen, making Buck and Eddie both jump.

“Dracula’s fangs! When did you get here?” Eddie asked.

“Ron invited me,” Cho sat on the couch, now drinking one of Eddie’s beers.

“Well, we only have three hours before I have to pick up my kid from school, so let’s get going,” Eddie waved her to continue even as he paced, looking more anxious than anyone else in the room.

“We’re going to make him more visible,” Cho said firmly. “Not like out his exact location but make it very known that he is in fact in the United States and under the protection of MACUSA. We’ll present our evidence to the ICW if questioned but leave it at that if not. The higher ups aren't exactly willing to cause an international incident for you, even if you are Harry Potter, but they are willing to slightly…and I mean slightly, stick their necks out for you.”

“How will that stop this Kingsley guy from sending someone else though?” Josh raised a hand to ask.

“Shacklebolt is actually a good minister,” Ron said and had to raise both hands in the face of the backlash from everyone.

“He’s right,” Harry said above them, getting silence once again. “Kingsley is a good minister even if a shit person. He will have to pause and rethink his strategy. Clearly his earlier attempt was foiled and now MACUSA is stepping up and paying more attention.”

“Plus, I moved here,” Ron added. “And I might not be the Harry Potter, but I’m the next best auror they had.”

“That’s right,” Harry reached across to bump his fist. “So, he’ll have to take a different approach because he’ll also be avoiding an international incident. Staying minister is his goal first, making me pay is second to that. An assassin is a witness and someone he can’t trust not to turn him in now that MACUSA is backing me.”

“While all this sounds well and good,” Athena cut in. “He’s still going to make another attempt.”

“Most likely,” Harry shrugged, not really worried about it.

“Definitely,” Hermione added.

“What if he tries to take someone in England to make you come to him to rescue them there?” Josh asked, and yeah, that had always been something he’d been concerned about.

“It would be too visible,” Hermione answered with a shake of her head. They'd discussed that when he'd first left. “Again, Kingsley is currently the media darling, and he can’t jeopardize that.”

“Plus, literally everyone who’s friends with Harry are also war heroes,” Ron smirked. “An escaped Death Eater went after our Herbologist friend, and they had to pick the guy up in pieces after Neville was done with him.”

Cho whistled. “Merlin, I need to give Nev a floo call soon.”

“What about Teddy?” Eddie asked, pausing to look at Harry in concern. His heart melted at Eddie’s care and concern for a kid he’d only met a few times before he had to go back to school.

“Teddy is at Hogwarts and safe behind the wards,” Harry started.

“Like you were?” Athena asked seriously.

“No, not like me at all. Headmistress McGonagall has gone a little overboard in ensuring student safety after the war,” Harry shook his head firmly. “And this is me saying she’s gone overboard…”

“Yeah, that place is a fortress,” Ron nodded. “Plus, Harry’s trained Teddy in hand-to-hand combat, defensive magic, evasion, stealth, and everything else he could think of since the kid was tiny, so again…pieces…”

Eddie’s eyebrow shot up. “Right, so that’s why you swore up and down Chris was safe when he babysat. I should have realized when you said safe you mean protected by the equivalent of a professional bodyguard.”

“Aw! Eddie got to meet him, and I didn’t!” Athena fake pouted at Buck, causing him to laugh.

“He’ll visit over Christmas, so you can meet him then,” Buck assured her.

“What about his food and drink?” Eddie cut in again. “Anything could be tampered with. Is there a spell, or maybe I can smell everything for him or something?”

“Ew, please don’t sniff all my food,” Buck wrinkled his nose. “I’m usually good at testing all my food magically before eating it, but I didn’t think to test the wine since Athena uncorked it in front of me. Remember the LSD brownies that I didn't eat.”

“So, test packaged food now too,” Hermione instructed him.

“Fine,” he groaned, not liking this entire conversation. It reminded him way too much of the war and everyone talking about his safety. And it’s not like he could die anyway!!

“Can I kick you all out now, even though this isn’t my house?” He pouted at Eddie to make them leave please.

“You heard the man. Out,” Eddie stood back and motioned to the door. “If anyone hears anything, I’ll start a group text. Auror Xiao, give someone your number.”

“Don’t worry about me, Weasley here is interviewing for an auror position here in LA next week, so I’m sure he’ll take over the case soon enough anyway,” Cho threw an arm around Ron. “Portkeys from New York all the time are killer on the digestive system.”

“I told you; you can move! Ron did!” Buck called, getting a rude hand gesture before she strode out of Eddie house.

Life moved on even in the midst of Eddie’s anxiety over his best friend. Through sheer stubbornness, he’d gotten Buck from the hospital to his house, and he wasn’t letting him leave until he was sure Buck was completely recovered. It still didn’t help his fear and nightmares from seeing Buck choke on his own blood. At least Chris had been in the house and was saved that image.

“I can sleep on the couch. I’m basically all healed,” Buck complained while Eddie shoved him towards the bedroom with Christopher laughing in the background.

“Invalids sleep in the bed. I’m on the couch,” Eddie disagreed. He even dug his second softest Army shirt (that Buck hadn’t stolen yet) out of a drawer for him to put on to sleep in.

“You could have at least let me stop by the loft to get clothes,” Buck caught the shirt with a little smile at it that belied his words. Clearly Buck liked wearing Eddie's shirt as much as Eddie liked seeing him wear it, and maybe that was messing with Eddie's mind a little bit.

“Uh huh, then you’d say you should just stay there, and I’d never get you out,” Eddie put his hands on his hips, making his mind get back on the subject. “I’ll take you tomorrow after dropping Chris off at school…just to get clothes. He’s expecting you for pizza and movie night tomorrow night.”

Buck gave him a little smile that said so much about how much it meant to him that Eddie and Chris let him into their lives. Eddie saw it, but he didn’t know how to make that look permanent. He didn’t know how to make Buck know he was always welcome. He’d said it, but he could see even now that Buck didn’t believe it.

“Well, I can’t disappoint Chris.”

“Of course not,” Eddie nodded with a smile because that always worked.

Buck shifted his weight and cleared his throat. “Erm…so, I’m a little low on blood right now…”

“Buck no!” Eddie shook his head and reached out, but then he wasn’t sure if Buck would want him to touch him, so he ended up aborting the motion and standing there awkwardly.

“I’m fine. I have plenty of blood from the blood bank,” he said as firmly as he could manage because that was the truth. He was doing so much better now. He could breathe, and Buck had made that happen. He wasn’t living paycheck to paycheck anymore.

Buck just shrugged though. “But, er, if you get hungry, Maddie said she could spare a couple pints. Ron says you have to buy him dinner first though.”

Eddie snorted a laugh. “Wait? Seriously? No, absolutely not!” He didn’t know why that was unacceptable, just that it was. They offered, and it was like getting the blood from the blood bank, but still…that wasn’t…no…

Buck shrugged and flushed bright pink. “I think Ron was actually serious. He’s been taking this time away from us to ‘find himself’ and he seems…much lighter, looser, freer. It looks good on him, but yeah, he may have actually been serious about the dinner bit, so er…maybe go with Maddie…”

Eddie sputtered but just shook his head. “Bed. Now. I’m not hungry,” Eddie pointed to the bed and then left the room.

Buck was driving him completely insane. He was just too open and generous and gorgeous and funny and loving and a marshmallow covering a stiletto blade dipped in poison. Eddie might be a little in love.

But life went on, and Buck was finally going to be back at work the next day after a week off. Eddie was stealing a pillow from the bed to make up the couch for what might be the last time since he couldn’t reasonably argue Buck wasn’t completely healed when he was back on duty. It had been nice. They’d fallen into a comfortable routine, the three of them, over the last week when Buck had been with them.

Eddie paused in taking his pillow off the bed and pulled a long, black hair from Buck’s pillow and held it up. What? He ran through everyone they knew with long, dark hair.

“Hey, Buck…has your sister come to visit in last few days?” He called to where Buck was brushing his teeth in the bathroom.

His friend spit. “No, not since you all’s misguided intervention.”

Eddie just frowned at the hair more. How could it have ended up there then? Did Buck invite someone over when Eddie was on shift and Chris was at school? Auror Xiao had long, black hair, but she was married. And Eddie really couldn’t believe that Buck would bring someone back to Eddie’s house. Buck just…he wouldn’t so that…

Eddie just walked to the bathroom in a daze and held up the hair. He couldn’t come up with an answer, so maybe Buck could. “Buck…any idea how this got on your pillow?”

Buck looked at it passingly but just washed his mouth out and spit again. “Yeah, mate, that’s mine.”

Eddie couldn’t help reaching out to hold the long hair up against Buck’s short, blond locks. “Want to try that again?”

Buck looked at him and seemed to not understand in the slightest. “Merlin…have I really not told you yet?”

“Told me what?” Eddie asked with a frown and still holding the mystery hair.

“Well…it’s probably best to just show you,” Buck smiled widely. “I’m something called a metamorphmagus. Teddy is too, but that means we can change our appearance.”

“Ok…” Eddie wasn’t following this in the slightest.

“Well, it’s how I’ve stayed hidden even while I’m so famous,” Buck said, and then his appearance changed dramatically.

Gone were all the tattoos on Buck’s arms and the cute birthmark on his head, gone was the curly blond hair, gone were the gray/blue eyes. Eddie gasped and dropped the hair. Buck was…Buck was… Buck was Harry Potter. As in the warrior people kept explaining to Eddie that he’d never quite believed. Seeing the scars now though, he believed it, more even than with the ones he’d seen on Harry’s arms before.

Harry shrugged. “Er…so, yeah…It’s really just the hair, eyes, and scars.  I have to turn back at night to rest my magic, but I’ve kind of gotten used to the other look now.”

Eddie knew he needed to say something.

“So, er…you don’t like?”

Eddie wasn’t sure he’d ever wanted to jump a person and make out with them more in his life. “Uh, yeah…I like,” he lamely cleared his throat and escaped to the kitchen to pretend to get water and really shove his head in the refrigerator and try to calm his raging arousal down because Buck was hot, but Harry was everything Buck was and also showed more of who he was as a person underneath it all, and Buck was even more beautiful underneath.

Chapter Text

“So…they’re literally not dating each other? Like not even keeping it secret or going slow or…whatever other nonsense they might come up with?” Josh’s new roommate asked with complete disbelief in his tone.

“Nope,” Josh sighed and rolled his eyes, passing a beer to Ron. It was kind of nice having someone else in the apartment. Josh had been jumpy since the attack, and even though he assured everyone he was fine and past it and stop worrying already, he wasn’t really past it at all. It was nice knowing he had an auror in his guest bedroom who would take on anyone, no-maj or mage, that tried to break in, not that he was going to admit it.

“But that’s…that’s just ridiculous,” Ron concluded with a frown. “Why the bloody hell aren’t they dating? Are they both just bloody oblivious?!”

“Yep, even Hen and Chimney agree with you, and they don’t know about all the blood drinking and magic of it all,” Josh snorted a laugh before joining Ron on the couch to watch their show. Mages were all sorely lacking in pop culture knowledge, so Josh was taking it on himself to introduce Ron Weasley to all things culture…such as Drag Race, Golden Girls, Law and Order, and Marvel. Now they were on the wonder that is Golden Girls.

“Harry is such a Rose,” Ron concluded firmly, passing the popcorn to him as if that were the definitive word on the matter.

Josh laughed but had to disagree. “Really? I think he’s more a Sophia.”

“Nah, you’re our Sophia since you’re all world-wise knowing both the magical and muggle worlds. Hermione can be Dorothy, and I guess that makes me Blanche,” Ron grinned widely at that conclusion. “I’m fine with that.”

Something about being lumped right in there with a group of famous war heroes had Josh pause in his popcorn consumption, and Ron actually considered him world-wise! That was…well, that was both shocking and very flattering.

He took another handful of popcorn and cleared his throat. “Well, I think Teddy and Christopher and trying to parent-trap them or something. I don’t think it’s going well with them being on separate continents right now though.”

“Teddy got that apprenticeship with the technomage master here in LA, so he’s moving next summer,” Ron said with a wide grin. “If our idiotic friends still aren’t together by next summer, I give Christopher and Teddy a week. I haven’t even met this Chris yet, but I’ve heard enough stories to think those two are going to be unstoppable together.”

Josh snorted a laugh. “Very true…do you start work tomorrow or do you have a few more days?”

“No, not for a few more days. They want me to start at the first of the month. I’m playing basketball with Chimney in the morning though,” Ron looked him up and down. “Want to join?”

“I have a shift,” Josh’s eyebrow rose as high as it could. “And what the hell makes you think I’m a person who would willingly play a sport?”

Ron laughed loudly and bumped his shoulder with a fist. “Well, I wasn’t going to assume, and I don’t rightly know what basketball is myself, so you do you. I’m trying to be a good ex-husband and make nice with the new boyfriend though…plus, he’s kind of fun. As much as he will literally spill any secret, I still can’t get the story of his nickname out of him! It’s now my new goal in life.”

“Yeah, I don’t know the story either.” Josh tossed a kernel of popcorn at the man’s head to get him to look at him. “You don’t know what basketball is…and you’re going to go play it?”

Ron grinned and shrugged, not seeming concerned in the slightest. “I’ve learned playing the very British card excuses every oddity with you Americans from my limited experience here. I’ll be fine.”

“You thought my hair dryer was a gun,” Josh reminded him. As a pureblood wizard, Ron wasn’t the worst Josh had seen, but yeah, it was a little noticeable over time.

“You’re American, don’t all of you have guns?” He retorted teasingly.

“Stereotype,” Josh glared right back and started the episode: season 1, episode 16, The Truth Will Out.

Once the intro music started playing, Josh looked back over at the man beside him. He was just so curious about Ron Weasley. He’d heard a lot of things from Maddie, Buck, the biography he’d snuck from his aunt’s bookcase, but he wasn’t sure what was true, what wasn’t, and all the other behind the scenes things that had gone on. He had so many questions.

“So, besides starting a job as an auror here, what are you planning to do?” Josh prodded, hoping to learn more about the guy. “Maddie said you were on a finding yourself quest recently. Is there going to be a lot of going out and meeting people or is this more of an internal thing? I’d offer to show you around but the only bars I know are full of first responders, and the only clubs I know are gay clubs. My circles are very limited.”

Ron turned more towards him and quirked a small smile. “I might be into those circles. Besides Harry of course, the fireman are kind of hot…and the clubs might be fun.”

“Oh really?” Josh’s eyebrows shot up because he hadn’t gotten an inkling Maddie’s ex wasn’t extremely straight. What was it with his gay-dar and these British wizards?!

Ron paused the show and let out a short breath of resignation. “Ok, J-Man, I’m going to tell you something because I’m going to burst if I don’t tell someone, and you’re the only person who would maybe understand and who I don’t think would be all judgy with me.”

“Ok,” Josh said slowly wondering where this was going. Was Ron about to come out? Did something happen? Why would Maddie and Buck be judgy?

Ron nodded and took another sip of his beer. “Right, so first, what all do you know about our pasts? The war and school and all? Has Harry told you anything because you do kind of need a little context here?”

“I read his biography,” Josh answered with a small blush. Yeah, he probably shouldn’t have read it, but he was just so curious! And it was…invasive was the best way to put it.

Ron winced strongly. “Yeah, that was written by Dennis Creevey, so you’re very well informed. Right then…so…” he took another sip of his drink and breathed in quickly. “If you tell Harry or Hermione what I’m about to tell you, then I’m going to unleash my entire arsenal of Weasley Wizarding Wheezes items on your person with no mercy.”

“Wow, ok, yeah, what are roommates for I guess,” Josh put down his beer and readied himself. Whatever this was, was going to be serious. “Let me have it.”

“So, a few weeks ago, I was out in London getting pissed after work,” Ron began. “Not like finding myself and I happened to get drunk but more lonely and missing my best friends drunk.”

Josh felt that deeply. Those three seemed exceptionally close, so this distance had to have been really hard on the one left behind. He’d never had friends he was that close to…although, he was getting there with this group. Maybe it was just Harry/Buck and everyone in his orbit that got pulled in. Regardless… “I definitely understand.”

“And I ran into an old schoolmate of ours who was similarly lonely and off-again in an on-again/off-again relationship and well, we were both drowning our sorrows,” Ron raised an eyebrow to impress the seriousness. “No telling…”

“No telling…” Josh leaned forward, wondering which war-hero was about to grace this story. He didn’t want to admit it, but he was excited to hear the drama between these famous people he really shouldn’t know but now lived in his guestroom and were integral to his life.

Ron let out a breath and turned red. “Mate, so I ended up drunkenly making out with Draco Malfoy,” he said all in one breath. “Like just snogging nothing else, and it was such a mistake…but also…kind of really good…”

Josh didn’t think he’d blinked in a really long time while he let that sink in. Yeah, he knew that name, not a war-hero, but the other side. Weren’t Ron and Malfoy in particular supposed to be mortal enemies? There had been a picture in the book he’d read though…

“He is quite good looking,” Josh offered to hopefully soothe some of Ron’s embarrassment. It seemed he chose correctly since Ron seemed to suddenly lose all the tension in his body and just laughed.

“He’s a right git, but also a brilliant kisser, though we will never talk of this again nor have a repeat performance” he said, still laughing. “So yeah, now that I don’t only have eyes for Hermione, I might not be the straightest bloke around.”

Josh smiled and nudged Ron’s shoulder. “So…you’re like a baby queer just launching himself onto the world trying to figure out your bears from your twinks.”

“Don’t make me sound like one of your muggle missiles,” he grimaced and started the show again with a chuckle. “Launching!” He laughed again.

It only took through the opening credits before Josh made a decision that he felt comfortable with. He could probably actually make himself go out again with Ron going with him. It would be safe. He would finally feel safe again to go out into the world. Buck would have gone with him, but the lights and noises of clubs freaked him out, and Josh didn’t want to put him through that. But Ron seemed game…

“Ok, I’ll do it,” he said with finality, getting a curious look from Ron at the sudden exclamation. “I’ll be your gay-Yoda and introduce you to queer culture here in LA.”

Ron smiled widely. “Brill…but, erm, what’s a Yoda?”

“Houdini save us! Seriously?!” Josh coughed around the sip of beer he was choking on. “Dude, I’m adding Star Wars to your pop culture list of must sees.”

“Shhh!” Ron held out a hand dramatically. “Blanche is talking, and we must listen.”

“Dude, Maddie’s ex is never allowed to join our pick-up game,” Chimney was telling Eddie emphatically in the back of the fire engine on the way out to some farm in the middle of nowhere.

“That bad?” Eddie asked. He had a feeling that British wizards didn’t play a lot of basketball. Buck had said there was a whole magical sport or something on brooms which he still thought sounded overly dangerous.

“That good!” Chim exclaimed instead. “I’ve never seen someone so quick at blocking! He’s so on my team if he ever joins, I call dibs.”

“Ron played Keeper in school,” Buck replied from where he’d been looking out the window. He clearly spoke before he could censor that he probably shouldn’t say that by the wide-eyed look he shot to Eddie. “It’s…uh…a soccer position, yeah. It’s all about blocking the goal.”

“Oh! That makes sense!” Chimney laughed. “I was worried he was hustling me, saying he’d never played before but then breaking out those skills.”

“So, it went well, you hanging out and all?” Buck asked, clearly nervous about the answer. Eddie leaned over to touch his shoulder to Buck’s in solidarity. So, far, things had been going ok with Ron moving to LA and the aurors making their bluff to keep Buck safe from his ex. At least they hadn’t run into any more assassins in the past couple weeks, and everyone was making an effort to get along.

“Yeah, it’s giving me a bit of a complex though since he’s such a cool dude,” Chimney huffed.

“You’re cool too,” Hen tried to be the good best friend she was even if she was scrolling on her phone and only half listening.

“Thanks, but my girlfriend’s ex takes down terrorists and assassins on the daily, and I get thrown up on at least twice a week,” Chim sighed. Eddie wanted to reassure him, but he actually wasn’t wrong.

“Don’t worry, Chim,” Buck said instead. “Ron was absolutely not always this cool. Personally, I’m not so sure I’d call him cool now…but I suppose that’s debatable. Actually, I think I can scrape up a picture of the fifty-years out of style dress he wore to a Christmas dance at school if you want to see.”

“See, that’s even cool!” Chimney pointed at Buck, not deterred in the slightest. “He wore something that horrible and just went with it, that’s cool. Plus, a dress…very breaking down gender barriers there!”

Buck snorted and rolled his eyes. “Yeah, pretty sure that wasn’t the first, second, third, or even last thought he had on that one. Plus, he did throw up on me once, if that makes you feel any better. There was this whole accident thing at school, and it made him spill his guts for like an entire day.”

“Maybe,” Chimney finally allowed. “Did he throw up on Maddie though?”

Buck thought about that for a second. “No, but only because she was faster at dodging.”

“We’re here!” Bobby called out when the fire engine pulled to a stop. “Dispatch says that a boy fell into a covered over well on the property. Everyone out to assess the scene. Eddie, Buck, grab the harnesses and ropes. Eddie, you’re still on rope duty.”

“But Bobby!” Buck protested.

“You still have one week of Eddie doing ropes rescues as per our agreement,” Bobby shot back with a glare. Eddie couldn’t help this triumphantly teasing look at Buck. They always fought over the rope rescues since they were the absolute most fun and dangerous. Eddie personally knew he was much more durable than Buck if something were to happen, even if Buck had magic, so he wanted to take as many dangerous assignments as he could to keep his friend safe.

“Plus, Eddie’s a father, so it’ll be easier for him to connect with the kid and keep him calm,” Bobby added off-handedly.

Eddie’s mouth shut with a frown at the comment. That was…not something he wanted someone to say in front of Buck who did actually have a kid who was off at school and couldn’t live with him for various reasons. That had to hurt. Buck just huffed and went to grab the ropes, seeming to brush it off even if Eddie didn’t think he did as good of a job at brushing these things off as he pretended.

“You ready for this?” Buck asked, helping him into his harness and securing everything.

“Always,” Eddie grinned widely and reassuringly. They were going to get this little boy out of the well, and then Eddie would take Buck home with him to hang out with Chris to maybe help him miss Teddy just a little less.

Harry was physically digging in the mud with his bare hands, screaming and breaking down like he hadn’t done since the war…not since Sirius and the veil. Eddie was down there though, buried under a ton of mud and debris that had fallen just as soon as the kid had been pulled to safety. Eddie was buried alive, and there wasn’t anything he could do about it.

“Buck! Stop! Stop!” Bobby tried pulling him away, but Harry wasn’t listening.

He shoved his magic into the ground, feeling the tendrils snake deeper and deeper. There was an air pocket or tunnel…it felt more like a tunnel or branch off the well. Eddie was definitely in it though. He was alive, he wasn’t dead yet if the slight pulse of the inherent magic that made up vampires was anything to go by.

“You can’t help him here, come on Buck,” Bobby pulled him again, and Harry left the ground, but only to find another option that would be less useless.

He glanced around, and there were news cameras everywhere. A magical rescue was out of the question, even if he knew a way to dig down there magically…which he didn’t really, but he would damn well improvise if he had to. Eddie was a vampire though; Buck had to keep telling himself. Eddie could survive much longer than a normal human with very little air, even in water. It was then Harry’s job to make sure no one gave up on the rescue until someone much hardier than a human was beyond saving.

But he wasn’t going to let it get to that anyway. Harry pretended to trip and fall to the ground to push more of his magic into the soil, trying to map out where that tunnel went. It had to lead to some kind of body of water in order to feed the well. He might not be able to dig, but he could send Eddie some light.

“Give me a minute, Bobby,” Harry brushed off his captain who tried to bodily lift him up. “Just give me one damn second!”

“Ok, we’re right there at the tent, working on a plan,” Bobby motioned to where everyone was trying to come up with some way to safely get down to Eddie. “Come over when you’re ready to help.”

Harry nodded distractedly since he was focused on his magic instead. He needed a wand, and the Elder Wand appeared in his hand from wherever he’d left it…probably at home. “Lumus,” he softly cast into the ground. This was absolutely not how the spell was intended to be used, but he was hoping that a combination of the Elder Wand and sheer desperation would make it work. Harry hoped he sent fractured light down to light the waters in the tunnel towards the attached body of water. If Eddie could see it and follow the light to safety…he didn’t need a lot of air, so hopefully he would have enough to make it…

Harry slipped his wand into his pocket and stood, going over to join the rescue efforts. Maybe they had a solution better than his. He’d try everything…breaking the Statute of Secrecy was definitely the last option, though it was still on the list.

No one had good ideas though as the argued back and forth. Nothing anyone was saying would actually work. “He’ll be out of air before we’re able to dig in horizontally!” Hen yelled at that suggestion.

“Hey…you all looking for me?” A voice sounded behind Harry that almost had him collapse in relief. Instead, he spun around and did catch Eddie who collapsed into his arms.

“Swam…tunnel,” Eddie coughed out, still coughing up some water from his lungs.

“Here, bring him to the ambulance,” Chimney motioned, and Buck pulled the freezing cold, wet man closer to him. Eddie was shaking so much it was making Buck’s teeth rattle.

“I got you,” Buck said, wandlessly casting a warming charm around his friend. He held most of Eddie’s weight as he carried/dragged him towards the ambulance.

“I didn’t think I was going to make it for a minute,” Eddie coughed and spit out some water, clutching Buck’s turnouts. “The lights…”

“Shh…I sent those,” Buck said quietly to convey he shouldn’t talk about that where just anyone could hear. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know what else to do.”

“Saved me,” Eddie held him closer while Buck and Chimney helped him onto a gurney.

“We need to start hypothermia protocols, and no telling what was in that water he inhaled,” Chimney began, pulling out a body-heat reflective blanket.

Everything was happening for Buck in a daze where he was doing his best to stay present and not break down. They’d gotten Eddie to hospital, he was checked over, given fluids, and finally released. Buck then took him straight home. Bobby had let them both off work as soon as Eddie had been admitted at the hospital, so they were getting home just about the same time they normally would from their shift.

When Buck opened the door and helped a still shivering Eddie inside, Carla looked up from where she was reading a book on the couch. Her face fell, immediately knowing something was wrong. “Eddie? What happened? Are you ok?”

“Just a little accident at work, I’m fine,” Eddie tried to brush her off even with his teeth chattering. A muggle vampire’s vitals didn’t look too much different from a normal human’s to a casual medical exam, so long as they didn’t take blood. But Eddie had a harder time maintaining his body heat regularly, let alone hypothermic, so he wasn’t recovering as fast as the doctors said he should.

“Please tell me Chris didn’t watch the news tonight?” Buck asked next in fear, hoping he hadn’t seen.

“No,” Carla stood and said firmly, shaking her head. “I never let him, especially if firefighters are on it. He’s already in bed asleep. Do you want me to stay? I can warm you up something to eat.”

“I got him, Carla,” Buck assured her, already shoving Eddie towards the bathroom for a hot shower. “Thank you though. We just need to get him warmed up and a good night of sleep. He should be all well tomorrow.”

“This is payback from me taking you home from the hospital, isn’t it?” Eddie joked weakly.

“Yep, and I’m going to Florence Nightingale you right back into health,” Buck glared, pushing him into the bathroom.

“Is he really ok?” Carla asked, standing by the door and worriedly wringing her hands.

Buck breathed out some of his anxiety. Eddie was ok. He would be fine.

Eddie might be ok, but Buck was pretty sure he wasn’t going to sleep at all that night. The nightmares were already dancing behind his eyes whenever he blinked. “Yeah, Carla. He rescued a kid from a well, but then lightning struck our equipment and it caused the well to collapse. He was able to swim to a connecting pond though,” he explained as concisely as possible. “He’s mainly just cold right now.”

Carla put a hand on his arm and squeezed it comfortingly. “You call me if either of you need anything, ok? You hear me Buck? Anything.”

He smiled and walked her out to her car. “I will, and I’ll take good care of them. Drive safe.”

Once Carla was gone, Buck went back to the house and pulled blankets out of the closet and a pillow off the bed for himself to sleep on the couch…or well, pretend to sleep because he really wasn’t even going to give sleep a fighting chance to catch him that night. Then, he looked through the fridge and threw himself a sandwich together which he inhaled in just a few bites. Eddie didn’t need human food right now to get better, but Buck would in order to be able to give Eddie what he really did need.

The door opened from the bathroom, and Buck heard shuffling, then the bed creaking with a sigh. He made his way into Eddie’s room and joined him on the bed, feeling odd still wearing his work shirt and pants when Eddie was ready for bed. Eddie was wearing sweats and an LAFD t-shirt and still had heat radiating off his skin from the shower. Maybe Buck should have checked just how hot he’d turned the water before letting him get in.

“You can sleep in here if you want. I know my couch isn’t that comfortable,” Eddie offered, and Merlin, but Buck wanted to take him up on that. That was if he actually planned to sleep at all, which he didn’t.

“You said it yourself. The injured person gets the bed,” he reminded Eddie before he unceremoniously pulled off his shirt, wishing he’d had time for a shower because he was pretty certain he reeked after that shift. “You need blood to heal. It’ll help more than anything else right now.”

Eddie frowned at him sadly, and Buck wasn’t sure what that look was for. “Buck…it’s not your job to take care of me. It’s not your job to make sure I have blood. Thank you for helping when I really needed it, but I can afford the blood bank now.”

Well, that just didn’t make any sense at all. Buck scooted closer to Eddie and pulled him in because he was started to shiver again. “First of all, blood from a cold refrigerator is going to be counterproductive right now. I can both warm you up and heal you. And, as you’ve said before, my magic gives the blood a little extra boost, right?”

“Well, yeah, but I don’t want you to think that I only…you know…”

“Want me for food?” Buck snorted a laugh because that was so ridiculous. Why would Eddie even think that?

Eddie blushed though. “Well, yes…I know I don’t talk about Shannon a lot…”

And oh, yeah…that made sense. “And I never talk about Kingsley,” Buck cut in because it was definitely not the same thing at all, but it showed how he really wouldn’t judge Eddie for having a past that still caused him insecurities and doubts. Eddie just pulled back from his arms with a worried look on his face though.

“Buck…”

“Look,” he tried again with a sigh, still not getting the words right. “I’m not Shannon, and I know you don’t want me around just for my blood. You were putting up with me for a hell of a long time before then,” he smiled tiredly.

Eddie patted Buck’s arm that was holding onto him. “I never ‘put up’ with you. Chris and I have always wanted you here. You belong here.”

Buck wasn’t going to cry. He’d been holding back tears since the moment he’d seen Eddie was safe, but he was going to break down eventually. He just really wanted to break down once Eddie was asleep, and he could escape back to the living room. 

“And, Eds, I want to take care of you,” Buck said emphatically. “It’s nice. It’s not like a bad experience or anything. So, just let me. We’ll heal you up, and you’ll be all better by morning.”

“You sure?” Eddie’s mouth was already at Buck’s neck though, sending a shiver down his spine.

“I’m always sure of you Eds,” he breathed out as sharp fangs pierced his skin.

It was probably the least arousing of all the times Eddie had drunk from him, but it was absolutely the most intimate. Buck held him close, feeling Eddie’s heartbeat and, trying to push his own body heat into Eddie who had a hand in Buck’s hair, almost petting. It was soft and quiet, and it was love. Harry loved Eddie with all his heart, and maybe…just maybe…he wasn’t completely alone.

Waking up after surviving something that would definitely have killed a normal human being never ceased to amaze Eddie. It had happened a couple times since he’d been turned, but this time…this time it had been too close.

What if Buck hadn’t been able to send the lights to show him the way? What if the tunnel had been longer and lack of air finally caught up with him; he did need to breathe some at least? What if the well had collapsed completely inward, and he’d been buried in mud? He couldn’t have survived any of those situations even with his extra strength and durability.

Eddie stood from his bed and cracked his back, feeling much better than he had any right to. He always felt this good after feeding from Buck though. Something about his blood  in particular was like drinking pure sunshine or a steak to a starving man or…Dracula’s fangs he was starting to sound like sap! It was too early for poetic thoughts. Seeking out the smell of coffee in the air, Eddie shuffled out of his bedroom and towards the kitchen.

“Tell me, what’s the difference between dicing and slicing?” Buck’s voice asked quizzingly, like a homework assignment.

Eddie looked into the room and had to pause at where Harry was helping Chris cut up what looked like strawberries. And it was Harry, not Buck, since his long, black hair was pulled up in a bun on his head and a plethora of scars were visible from the sleeveless undershirt he must have slept in.

“Dicing you cut it into small cubes and slicing is thin slivers,” Christopher answered, very seriously and slowly using the knife to cut a strawberry under Harry’s sharp gaze. Eddie leaned against the doorway and just took it all in. His son was so concentrated, and Harry was smiling, encouraging him but there in case he needed help.

“Good answer! You’re going to be so much better at Potions than I was when you start magic school,” Harry laughed and took the knife to finish up the chopping when Chris was done with his strawberry. “Now, turn on the burner for me, and I’ll start on a pancake as soon as I finish this.”

“I got you, Buck,” Chris turned on the burner before turning around and giving Eddie a huge grin. “Morning Dad! Buck is teaching me Potions!”

“I saw that. Good morning you two,” he said, standing back up to fill a mug with the coffee Buck had made.

“Sleep well?” Harry asked, looking over his shoulder with eyes that clearly were assessing how Eddie looked and if he was in any distress or still cold.

“I’m perfect, Buck, I promise,” he said in all seriousness. He really never felt better than after drinking Buck’s blood, and the night before had been…it had been different, closer. They’d already crossed so many lines, but it had felt like one more, and a significant one at that.

Harry finally turned back to the stove and poured batter into the now hot pan. “Oh, you left your phone on the counter last night, and your parents have called a few times. I don’t know if they saw the news or if this is about something else,” Harry told him with a sympathetic look.

Eddie grimaced but picked up his phone. He had missed two calls from his mom and one from his dad. This was not good. The well collapse must have made national news then.

“I’m just going to step outside to call them. I’ll be back in a minute,” he kissed Chris’s head before stepping out the backdoor with his coffee in one hand and his phone in the other.

He stood there for a second, pulling up his contacts. He knew what his parents would say. They’d say his job was too dangerous, and he should move back to El Paso. Or that he should let them take care of Chris. They had never supported Eddie’s decisions. They had been so against Shannon, then against him being a firefighter, moving to LA, even his capability to be a father. He didn’t need to tell them to know they couldn’t handle him being a vampire. They’d forcibly take Chris.

Eddie paused where his finger hovered over his mom’s contact. How would they take Chris being a wizard? They would never help him learn Potions. His mother would say that Chris’s fine motor skills weren’t good enough to hold a knife, and she’d never let him try. Dios, but they probably wouldn’t even let him go to magic school! They’d definitely never let him learn to fly on a broom (ok Eddie was still working on that himself), and no…he couldn’t let that happen.

There had really been a moment the night before where Eddie wasn’t sure he’d make it, and he couldn’t let Chris go to his parents. With Shannon dead though, there was no other family. She’d lost her father as a child and her mother only a year ago.

Eddie looked through the window back to the kitchen. Harry was flipping a pancake and laughing at something Chris was telling him. The two of them were comfortable together, free to be their true selves. Harry would help him with magic, would make sure he was ready for school, would never tell Chris he couldn’t do something because of his disability, and damn, but Harry had raised one really good kid who loved Chris already.

Eddie’s thumb scrolled through his contacts determinedly until he found the number for the family law office he and Shannon had used for their divorce. He hit the number, knowing he would never regret this decision.

“Yes, hello,” he said to the woman who answered the phone. “My name is Edmundo Diaz. I’m an old client of Ms. Bennington’s. Could I make an appointment to set up a will?”

It had been a week after the well, and Buck still hadn’t left the house…not that Eddie was complaining in the slightest. Buck seamlessly fell into their lives whenever he was over. It was just…Eddie knew he needed to tell his friend what he’d done. It was important, even though he knew Buck would go along with it.

They’d gotten off their shift late the night before and crashed. Needing less sleep, Eddie had rolled out of bed and taken Chris to school, leaving Buck asleep on the couch. Now he was home though with breakfast sandwiches from that fancy farm-to-table place Buck liked and nervous about how this was going to go.

“So…um we need to talk,” he started and already regretted his choice of words.

Buck paused in where he was chewing and looked terrified. “You want me to go, right?” He finally concluded once he swallowed, and damn Eddie felt bad. “I’m sorry. I was just really worried and thought if I stayed for a little while…”

“No, Buck, I don’t want you to leave,” he said as quickly as he could to jump into his friend’s spiraling. “You are welcome to stay here as long as you want.”

“Oh…ok,” Buck put down his sandwich but still looked worried. “So, what is it?”

“I did a thing,” he winced. “And just, hear me out…remember when my parents called?”

“Er…yeah,” Buck fidgeted with a hair tie on his wrist, eventually pulling his hair back into it. “Did they say something?”

“They didn’t have to. I already know all they ever say,” Eddie sighed at that truth of that. “Anyway, I realized that I may be immortal, but I can still die, and the well came really close.”

Buck lost all color in his face as he nodded. “I would have figured something out…I just…there were all the news cameras…”

“I know,” Eddie reached out to grab Buck’s hand. “I’m not saying you should have done anything, but I know. What I’m saying is that something could happen, and I realized I don’t want my parents to raise a wizard. Hell, I don’t want them to raise Chris even if he didn’t have magic, but especially now.”

“Oh, yeah…you think they’d be scared of him?” Buck asked with wide eyes. “My aunt and uncle…they were scared of magic.”

Ok, yes, they were definitely going to dig into that sometime very soon since it sounded exceptionally concerning, but Eddie had to keep this on track. “Maybe…but they would never support him, not like he needs regardless, but I know you will,” Eddie told him emphatically. “I met with a lawyer two days ago and changed my will.”

Buck didn’t look like he understood. Right, so Eddie needed to spell it out. “I gave you Chris,” he said firmly. “If anything happens to me, I want you to take care of my son.”

“Oh,” he breathed out, looking more stunned than Eddie had expected.

“You can refuse to take him…”

“I wouldn’t,” Buck interrupted firmly.

“I know,” Eddie just smiled back. “I know you would raise him like your own, because you already do.”

Buck let out a deep breath and scrubbed a hand down his face. He looked agitated, and Eddie hoped he hadn’t overstepped. “Merlin, now I’m going to have to come clean, aren’t I?!” He laughed.

Eddie held in his own laugh. “What did you do?” Because of course Buck had done something.

“Ok, so there are all these magical banks and legal systems and the education system and a whole world that’s hard to navigate as someone coming from a non-magical family, or even someone who’s the kid of a vampire,” Buck began. “There is also a lot of prejudice out there, even if things are hopefully getting a little better.”

“I’m starting to get the picture that I’m a little in over my head without you and Maddie helping out,” he agreed.

“And my family name is important,” Buck continued. “The Potter family is well-respected…maybe not in Britain right now, but definitely here in America. And…as head of the family, I can add people, especially squibs and muggleborns. It means nothing besides protection and that you can throw around my name if you run into any of that prejudice.”

It took a minute before what Buck was saying started to sink in. “Buck…have you already adopted my son somehow in the magical world?”

Was he supposed to be mad about this? Maybe he would have been a year ago, but now that he was thrust into this magical world and saw the danger and complexities, now that he knew Buck, or rather Harry Potter, he was more curious than anything else. No, he wasn’t mad, but he did need an explanation.

“Not exactly,” Buck said unhelpfully. “And, you’re kind of part of my family too. Like, legally, you and Chris and even Josh are under my protection if something happens in the magical world where you need help. That’s why Josh could see me in hospital. They would have let you back too.”

Ok, that was actually kind of nice. Maybe he’d ask Josh to explain more later, but for now, that was…actually really nice. “You didn’t have to do that…”

“And one more thing,” Buck winced. Eddie was worried again. “Please don’t get mad…”

Eddie crossed his arms and braced for impact. “Just spit it out.”

“Well…I’m like really wealthy,” Buck said, and Eddie knew he had money. It’s not like they’d talked about it, but Buck had let some things slip, so he assumed. “Like old family money from two different families, plus I made some very lucky investments, plus some money because of some legal stuff with the war…so like really wealthy…”

“I don’t know where this is going,” Eddie said because he was following, but couldn’t see the end.

“Teddy has a trust fund for his education, any apprenticeship program he wants to do after school, and some money to get him started in a career,” Buck said, and Eddie was starting to get worried he knew exactly where this was going. “So, I kind of just did the same thing for Chris when I learned he had magic. I know this world, and it can be difficult. I just wanted him to have every opportunity, and I wanted to help with that.”

Eddie let his head sink to the table where he hit it a few times, trying to make sense of all this. In his mind, it made sense for him to put Buck in his will to take Christopher. Eddie could even sort-of see the vague family protection thing Buck had done as making a kind of sense. The trust fund…that didn’t make sense. That wasn’t something you do for your friend’s kid. That was something you did for your own kid and no one else. But Buck had always been a part of their family ever since the earthquake well over a year before.

Eddie looked up at Buck’s flushed and worried face and everything started clicking. “Are we really the two most oblivious people on the planet?” He finally said, not knowing where this certainty was coming from, but it was slamming right into him.

“Buck…You adopted us into your family and set up my son’s future…I gave you my son…I trust you more than anyone…” Eddie looked into Harry’s green eyes with every ounce of love in his body. “I don’t know how else to say I love you, so maybe I’m just waiting for you to say it back now.”

There was a beat of silence that held all of eternity in it.

“I love you too,” Buck said, something like magic behind those words that hit Eddie right in the heart.

Chapter Text

Buck was pressed into the couch, well into a make out session with his best friend before he realized he may be assuming a lot more than he should. In his defense, the blood wasn’t currently in his brain right now, and he also wasn't running this show surprisingly enough. It took more than a little effort to de-tangle his tongue from Eddie’s mouth and pull back just a little to say what he needed to.

“Uh, Eddie…you know…I love you,” he started, trying to get some air back into his lungs too. Merlin, but vampires not having to breathe as much was both wonderful and a little awkward! 

“We’ve already established that,” Eddie kissed him again, and Buck heroically pushed him back just slightly, getting an adorable pout he was certain Eddie didn’t realize he was doing.

“Just give me a minute,” he closed his eyes to try to form words. “I love you, and I want to be with you in whatever way you’re comfortable with.”

“Great,” Eddie grinned as his hands wandered under Buck to his arse and was so very distracting.

“What I’m trying to say,” he gasped. “Is that I thought you were straight up until like half an hour ago, and I know you’re demisexual, so we don’t have to do anything if you don’t want. Just because I would really like to have sex with you, doesn’t mean we have to do that. I just want to be with you, whatever that looks like.”

Eddie gave some sort-of choked off laugh and plopped his head on Buck’s chest. “Buck, seriously…” he laughed again.

“What? I’m trying to do this the right way!” He said, doing his best to ignore the fact he was painfully hard and could feel Eddie’s erection pressing against his own, so he knew Eddie was at least a little turned on, but that still didn’t mean they had to do anything.

Eddie ground down, and Buck really lost all thought and maybe a few brain cells for a moment. “Buck, I’m literally the one on top of you right now,” Eddie said in a chuckle, his mouth pressed lightly against Buck’s own. “I’m clearly not completely straight, and I’ve come to terms with that and am cool with it and have moved on.”

“Awesome, brilliant,” He allowed his hands to grab back onto Eddie and pull him even closer.

“And I may be demisexual, but it’s not like I don’t know you Buck…and I’ve definitely had time to establish some very strong feelings if you can't tell,” Eddie assured him, his hands how unbuckling and unzipping them both with ease.

There was one more thing though. Buck gasped and grabbed both of Eddie’s hands in his own to make him listen for one second. “I’m all for this, and I’m here, I’m all in,” he told Eddie firmly because he didn’t want to be misunderstood. “But…”

“But?” Eddie’s eyes widened with a spike of fear. “God, Buck, we can stop. I didn’t think…If you don’t want to…”

“No, I do,” he sighed because this confusion was what he was trying to avoid. “Look…I trust you so much, but I have to tell you…I haven’t been with a guy since Kingsley. Merlin, but I haven’t even been with a woman since Abby, and I have some hang-ups where sex is concerned now. I'm not exactly sure how I'm going to react actually.”

“Oh,” Eddie sat up, not really helping the situation since that was more friction, but he stayed there on top of Buck and waited, listening, and that’s really all he needed.

Buck’s heart swelled and he took his friend…his love’s hand in his and kissed it. “I just want to be very clear that I may freak out at some point, and just, let me work through it. It’s not about you. If I don’t, then cool, but I needed to warn you in case it happens,” he said, seeing Eddie’s eyes soften. “You’re also a lot stronger than me. I need you to not hold me down.”

“Yeah, of course, I can…” Eddie tried to get off of him, but Buck put his hands on the vampire’s hips and held him there even though Eddie could easily get out of his hold.

“This is fine, it’s good, just don’t pin my arms, ok?” He asked with what he hoped was a reassuring smile. “I need to feel like I can summon my wand if I need to. I won’t, but I have to be able to feel that it’s an option.”

Eddie put a hand on the side of his face then traced the lightning bolt scar branching across his forehead. “We can take this slower. It’s not like I planned this at all, and we don’t have to jump to the physical the very first day we’re together.”

Buck snorted a laugh. “Eddie, we’ve been taking this glacially slow. I think we’ve done literally everything relationship-wise already before the physical.”

Eddie nodded but leaned back again to Buck’s disappointment. “Well, that doesn’t mean we have to jump right into sex at this very moment,” he concluded. “Chris is in school until 3, so we have time. How about we start with a shower, then we move this to the bed instead of the couch, then we decide how we want to do this because Buck…I’m literally up for whatever you are. I’ve never attempted a blow job before, but I’m willing to learn, or it might be nice if you want to fuck me this time, I mean, that would have to be easier for you, right?”

Buck chuckled but nodded. “Merlin, Eds, I’m so glad we have today off work.”

“All day, then…we’ll have to figure out what to tell Chris,” Eddie frowned, seeming to just then realize the situation they'd face that evening.

“We don’t have to tell him anything until you’re ready,” Buck sat up and looped his arms around Eddie better. “I do think it important to note that he and Teddy have definitely been trying to set us up though, so I don’t think he’ll be upset.”

“Maybe a little too excited,” he laughed wryly before tangling his hand in Harry's long hair. “How about we keep this to ourselves just for a few days? I haven’t come out to my family yet, and if we tell Chris, then he may say something to Pepa or Abuela…”

“Right, yeah, I didn’t think,” Buck nodded quickly. “How do you think they’ll take it? I mean, you don’t have to tell them for me…”

“Abuela and Pepa will be fine,” Eddie rolled his eyes and kissed Buck lightly. “They’re very open-minded for their ages at least. I just want them to hear it from me and not someone else. My parents…well, there’s a reason I want you and not them to take care of Chris if something happens to me. If this is what pushes our relationship over the edge, I’d rather it be because I’m romantically involved with a man than them learning I’m a vampire at least.”

Buck winced. “Yeah, that might be best. I can obliviate them of the information if they take it poorly though, just let me know if you want me to.”

“Magic is cool and definitely scary,” he chuckled before leaning back and looking a little embarrassed. “Oh, um this reminded me…so, small thing I neglected to tell you…”

“Ok, lay it on me,” Buck grinned because apparently, they were laying it all out there before the sexy times it seemed, and he was very motivated to keep this moving.

“So, that day you were arrested,” Eddie winced. “Your auror friend and the school lady were talking about having to obliviate anyone who knew about Chris’s magic who wasn’t family, and then Chris said you are my partner…and well, I may have let them draw the wrong conclusion at the time to maybe keep them from wanting to wipe your memory.”

Buck blinked as all the comments Cho had made since them about them finally slipped into place in his mind. “Oh…they thought we’re married?”

Eddie nodded. “The school sent a letter not long ago addressed to the Potter-Diaz household, and well, I know you’ve kind of adopted us, sort of anyway, but it seems the school definitely believes we’re together…which I guess we kind of are now…”

Harry was frowning though because neither the Sidhe nor MACUSA would have told Ilvermorny about his adoption of the Diazes, so he hadn’t taken into account that the school would have officially associated them in their records. And that made a horrifying note of sense…

“Give me a quick second,” Harry grabbed his cell phone off the coffee table and hit a contact that had recently become very well used. The call connected and Harry immediately put it on speaker so Eddie could hear too.

“Harry, you better not be calling me out to a warehouse full of unconscious art thieves again,” Cho grumbled in what Harry hoped was fond exasperation. “You have Ron there for that now.”

Eddie raised a questioning eyebrow, but Harry just laughed and shook his head. “No, but I think I have a lead for you on how Kingsley found out I’m in America.”

“Oh, great because I’ve cleared all the aurors you interacted with here in New York, and I'm scrambling for another options,” she said in sudden interest.

“Ilvermorny and the Herbology lady,” he said. “Apparently Eddie maybe let you all assume we’re married, and she formally put me down as a parent for Chris.”

Cho swore, and Eddie looked upset that this was what had led to Harry being found. Harry put his hand on Eddie’s neck and gave it a little comforting squeeze to hopefully reassure him. “School records of muggleborns are shared between governments to establish how many and from where they are coming from. He’d have to have asked about you in particular though,” Cho said. 

“He probably assumed I’d transfer Teddy at some point, and had someone looking at all the major schools for my name specifically in whatever list it come up in,” he concluded, knowing how Kingsley thought. It was also a reason he hadn’t asked Andromeda if they could transfer Teddy. That and Teddy had friends and was comfortable at Hogwarts.

“I’ll look into it Harry, but I don’t think there’s anything we can do at this point,” she concluded. “I assume you have the Diaz home warded?”

“Cho,” he said because she really didn’t even have to ask.

“I know, I know, but I had to ask. I’ll loop in Ron, and he can let you know what I find.”

“Thanks Cho,” he said before they said goodbye and hung up.

“Buck, I’m so sorry,” Eddie began, emphatically.

“No, you did nothing wrong,” Harry corrected, kissing him to stop the self-flagellation. “You were trying to protect me, and he was going to find me eventually anyway. And this all led to me getting asylum and not having to hide anymore, so it's not completely a bad thing. I’ll just keep checking for poison in my food, and I’m going to give Chris a portkey just in case…but Kingsley wouldn’t send anyone after a kid. He’s a bastard, but even he isn’t that bad. He protected me as a kid, and he hasn’t once questioned Teddy. He may be a horrible excuse for a human, but he's not a dark lord or anything, and actually a decent minister.”

Eddie nodded and looked worried, but seemed to be letting it go. “I still find it a little hard to believe that me and Josh are on the list of your exes with a literal leader of an entire country.”

“And a professional athlete, and a top auror, and an assassin’s son…” Harry trailed off as a thought occurred to him. It was maybe a good idea. “I wonder if I should ask Blaise if his mum could ask around to see if there are any hits out on me? I think she'd tell me if she was asked directly.”

Eddie shook his head and chuckled. “So, you have a decent ex who is the kid of a literal assassin, but the world leader is the bad one?”

Harry blinked at that conclusion. “No, Blaise cheated on me repeatedly in our less than one month relationship, so I wouldn’t call him a decent ex, but at least the breakup was fairly amicable and didn’t come to blows. Ginny and Cho are the only exes who are decent, and Cho and I really only ever went on one date.”

“Well, I only have Shannon,” Eddie winced, and Harry squeezed his arm. “So, no skeletons in my closet.”

Harry kissed him and got an enthusiastic response. “How about we give up talking for a bit since I was promised a shower and sexy times?”

“Hell yeah!” Eddie jumped up.

“Can I amend the plan to include a little lunch for the vampire,” he tapped the side of his neck excitedly. “You have to realize how difficult it’s been for me to keep from humping you every time you feed, right?”

Eddie just grinned wider. “I could eat.”

Buck and Eddie had only been together a few days, and Buck was having a very difficult time keeping from giving it away to their coworkers just from how much he wanted to look at Eddie and smile all day. He couldn’t believe how lucky he was. They were keeping it a secret just a little longer though, so he was trying to be good and keep his hands to himself. Eddie had dinner with his abuela the day before, and apparently it had been anticlimactic. It seemed that Abuela had believed they were already together and had been for almost a year surprisingly. It turned out this was why she'd made it very clear to Eddie that she was good with "the gays" so vehemently whenever it came up. 

Abuela was going to tell Eddie’s Aunt Pepa (who she was certain already thought they were together as well), and he and Eddie were going to take Chris to the zoo and tell him on their next day off. Then, Buck would be free to tell Ron, Maddie, and Teddy. Then…then they could fill out the stupid HR paperwork with the fire department and tell the rest of the team. He could already hear the teasing from Chim and Hen they were going to get. It was so worth it though. He’d never felt this way about anyone. This relationship, he could already tell it was so much healthier than any he'd ever been in. He didn't even need to ask Ron and Hermione if this was a 'Norberta' situation. He would still ask though because they'd agreed to that, but he could tell, this one was a good one. 

Bobby broke into Buck’s thoughts from where he was sitting at the table in the fire house loft and trying his best not to stare at where Eddie was playing a video game with Chimney. Bobby sat and slid a mug of coffee in front of him. “Oh, bless you!” Buck grinned at the man and took a sip (after surreptitiously checking for poison). “I was just thinking I needed more caffeine.”

“How are you feeling?” Bobby asked, sipping his own coffee and getting comfortable beside him at the table.

Buck raised an eyebrow at his captain. “I’ve been back at work for weeks. I’m fine. Eddie was the one in the well.”

Bobby nodded slowly. “Yes, but I think the well might have impacted you more long-term than even Eddie. Buck…I saw you when it collapsed,” he said quietly, leaning forward. “So, be honest. How are you feeling, kid?”

It always made Buck smile when Bobby called him ‘kid.’ It was mainly because he liked how Bobby had pushed himself into that paternal role against all Buck had done to discourage that even when he craved it so very much. On a more humorous level, he was way too old to actually be Bobby’s kid and had much more life experience than the man. It was nice though because if he had a parental figure, he wanted it to be Bobby. No one else had tried as much as Bobby had in the time they had known each other, not Remus or Sirius or anyone.

“I talked with Eddie after what happened,” Buck reassured him. “I’m fine…we’re fine. I’m sorry I freaked out on you so much.”

Bobby clapped a hand on his back and rubbed it comfortingly. “Buck, it’s not bad to have emotions. We do have to hold things together and be calm and professional in emergencies all the time, but when it’s one of us, we all know that’s different. Have you given any more thought to talking with someone though?”

He actually had to his own surprise. Eddie had rolled over on top of him in his sleep just the night before when Buck had stayed over, and he’d freaked out when he felt himself trapped. Thankfully, he had only panicked and didn’t through any curses or even wake Eddie up when he slid out from under him. However, he realized when he'd calmed down and found himself curled up on the floor in Eddie’s closet that he couldn’t keep repressing everything that had happened to him until it slammed into him and made him pay attention. He also realized that he needed to set a good example for Teddy and Chris and get help when he needed it.

“Yeah, I have,” he breathed out, knowing that getting help from a therapist was actually one of those problems itself.

“I think I’m going to give it another try. Maddie should be able to get me a list of some good therapists.” Well, Hermione could get him a list of mind-healers in LA, ones he could require to make a magically binding vow of secrecy. So, yeah, he was going to go the mind-healer route this time.

“Good, I’m proud of you,” Bobby smiled at him kindly, and Buck felt the love behind it. “You can’t keep using my AA meetings as therapy when you never drink more than a couple beers at a time and don't have a problem with it. Plus, their coffee really is bad.”

“So bad,” he chuckled. “I might still go with you some if you don’t mind though. I like being there for you.”

Bobby just squeezed the back of his neck and smiled. “I like being there for you too, kid.”

They sat there beside each other for a minute before Bobby leaned forward and smirked at him. “And, just so you know…there are a few forms for HR I’ve already pulled for you and Eddie when you’re ready,” he said quietly.

Buck snorted a laughed and shook his head at the irony. “I’ll take that into account,” he assured the man who could somehow accurately catch onto their very new relationship but who still didn’t quite believe his own wife had magic.

“Hey, Buck,” Hen called out, coming up the stairs to the loft with a box in her hands. “A delivery guy dropped this off for you. Why did you have something delivered to the station?”

Buck frowned and caught Eddie’s quick look and almost supernaturally fast hurry to his side. “I didn’t,” he said, very concerned about what this could be. He stood and took the very light box from Hen and let his magic sink into it through his hands.

He couldn’t cast any detection spells, but his magic wasn’t snagging on anything like there were spells or curses or anything else magical in the box. He also caught Eddie sniffing beside him, clearly trying to be stealthy about it. Eddie just shook his head with a worried shrug. He couldn’t detect any magic, and mages would be unlikely to build a muggle bomb or anything like that. Eddie would have caught a bomb with his sense of smell too. Still, this was stupidly suspicious though.

Chimney had made his way over to them by then too. “Well, open it. Maybe it’s a gift or something.”

“Here,” Bobby pulled a pocketknife out of his pocket and passed it over for Buck to cut the tape.

Slowly, so that he could hopefully catch anything before it was disastrous, he slit the tape and put the knife on the table. Buck slowly opened a flap, and didn’t see anything dangerous. He opened the other and frowned at the furry thing within. Nothing looked dangerous at all.

Ok, so what was this? Buck pulled out what seemed to be some kind of plushie and looked at it better. His blood ran cold.

“What is it is, Buck?” Eddie asked, but his voice sounded like it was coming from the other end of a long tunnel, echoing from a great distance away.

“Oh, that’s cute,” another voice said, probably Hen, but he couldn’t process it.

He was panicking, and he knew he shouldn’t. It was only a toy. It was only a toy. It was only…it was a snowy owl plushie…one that looked exactly like Hedwig.

“Buck…just breathe, it’s ok, just talk to us, kid,” Bobby was saying from wherever the team were outside of his consciousness.

Harry did breathe though; he took in a breath and rushed over to the trash can. He opened it and shoved the toy inside of it, slamming the lid closed again. He felt like he’d just run a mile with snatchers on his tail as he tried to breathe and calm down.

“So…not just a stuffed animal?” Hen asked, her voice coming through clearly now from where the three members of the 118 Harry was closest to stood by and looked at him with clear concern.

“It was from him, wasn’t it?” Chimney asked, catching on when Harry really wished he wouldn’t. “It means something to you.”

“What?” Bobby asked, looking at Hen who similarly had no idea and Eddie who was fuming even if he didn’t understand the significance. “Who sent it? What does the owl mean?”

“It means he know where I am, how to get to me, and those I love aren’t safe,” Harry told Chimney who ran a hand over his face before walking right up to Harry.

“I’m going to hug you, ok? Can I?” Chimney held out his arms, but waited and let Harry take that last step forward.

He and Chimney hardly ever hugged, but he fell into the other man’s arms and held on tightly because he desperately needed it. Everyone’s houses were warded probably stronger than Azkaban against hostile magical people and creatures, but Harry couldn’t ward the fire station. Kingsley might have to wait and reevaluate his plans after MACUSA’s clear support, but he wanted Harry to know that he wouldn’t forget and knew exactly where he was.

“I should leave,” Harry whispered into Chimney’s neck, something he didn’t want to think about, had thought he was past now, but the thought was firmly right back into his mind.

“No, you shouldn’t because he’ll just find you again, and we won’t be there next time,” Eddie said, his vampire hearing picking up the whisper.

“Listen to Eddie,” Chimney patted his back and held on even tighter. “He doesn’t know where you live if he sent it to the station, and no one is going to let anyone get to you here.”

Everyone at the station were muggles except for him and Eddie though, so they really couldn’t stop Kingsley from getting to him at the station if he tried. Chimney did have a point though. Kingsley couldn’t openly attack him at the station because of the Statute of Secrecy and causing an international incident. So, for now, he was safe at his home and safe at the station. He’d just need to be extra careful everywhere else. He was definitely going to add so many more wards to everyone’s homes though…there was a Sidhe one he wanted to try that he would need to get Darragh’s approval for. It was possible no one would get any Amazon packages after that though, so maybe he should look into it first…

“Who are we talking about?” Hen asked in confusion. “Are you in danger, Buck?”

He breathed in and steadied his heart, ready to let go of one of his tightly held secrets for two more of his coworkers. Eddie took Chimney’s place and put his arm around Buck's shoulders, holding him together to admit this. It would be ok though, he knew Bobby and Hen, and he knew he could tell them and they would be supportive.

“I was seeing a man before I came to work here...before I came to LA,” he told the two of them. “You all know I moved around a lot before I settled here in LA. He was why I moved so much and didn’t stay long in one location.”

He could see the implications settle in Hen and Bobby’s eyes. “It was an abusive relationship, and I had to run,” he said as bluntly as he could because he just needed this over with. “The owl…the owl had to come from him. I already knew he recently learned where I am, and that’s why Ron moved here.”

“Oh Buck,” Hen gasped, putting her hand over her mouth. She looked like she’d be hugging him if Eddie wasn’t already there.

“I’m calling Athena,” Bobby had his cellphone in his hand instantly, clearly needing to do something to fix this when he couldn’t fix anything about it at all.

“She already knows,” Buck told him. “Well, not about this, but about him finding me. She and Ron have been looking into it.”

“Then she needs to know about the owl,” Bobby dialed anyway.

The sirens sounded loudly, and Bobby hung up with a frown. “Do you need to stay back?” He asked.

“No,” Buck firmly shook his head. “I’m good. It just took me off guard.”

Bobby nodded firmly, his look telling Buck he trusted him before they all hurried down to the engine. The information came in over the speakers as they grabbed their gear. Merlin, it was a train derailment! They jumped in and pulled out of the station, ready for a what promised to be a horrifying tragedy.

Eddie stayed as close to Buck as he could while they jumped into doing what they could at the site of the train derailment. They were first on scene, so Bobby was IC and barking orders to all the other companies, and thankfully, he knew to keep Eddie and Buck together. Buck was nothing but exceptionally professional though, not that Eddie expected anything different, but he still wanted to be there and be supportive after the shock he’d had back at the station.

The accident itself was worse than he’d thought it would be. One of the passenger cars was on its end at almost a right angle to the ground, and they weren’t sure how to go about getting everyone out. Buck ran a saw over to Chimney while Eddie assessed the situation more.

A redheaded woman almost plowed into him, trying to get past him to the train. “Ma’am! Ma’am! You have to stay back!” He blocked her, noticing a cut on her forehead and how covered in dust she was, she must have been on the train when it crashed. “Let’s get you looked over.”

“I have to get to the train!” She tried to push past him again.

“I’m sorry, Ma’am, but you can’t.”

She paused in trying to get past him, and her eyes caught on his coat and hat. Good, maybe she would realize he was a firefighter here to help and listen to him now. “You’re from the 118!” She said, recognizing the number instead.

“Yes,” Eddie was so confused. Why would she recognize the firehouse number.

“Buck! You must know Buck then!” She held onto his coat.

Eddie suddenly had a sinking feeling. The feeling was confirmed by:

“Abby?” A voice he’d know from anywhere said from behind him.

“Abby! Were you on the train?! Are you ok?!” Buck hurried over and grabbed onto the woman who rushed at him.

“I have to get on the train, Buck! I have to find him! Help me get on the train!” She said frantically.

“Woah, woah, who?” Buck stopped her, holding her steady clearly trying to push calmness onto her.

“My fiancé!” She gasped, not looking him in the eyes.

Eddie breathed out, trying to steady his own whirling emotions about this whole situation. Even before he’d fallen for Buck, he’d had a lot of feelings about Abby. He’d seen the aftermath of what she’d done to his best friend, and that was something he couldn’t get past, didn’t want to get past. He’d frankly hoped to never meet her…well, he’d rather meet Abby than Kingsley, but that wasn’t saying much.

“Do you have a picture,” Buck said, all professionalism after only a blink of surprise. She pulled up a picture on her phone and showed them both.

“I’ll get him, Abby,” Buck promised. “You need to go over there and get checked out though and let us do our jobs.” He gently pushed Abby towards the paramedics and shared a small look with Eddie.

“So that was Abby,” Eddie remarked while they climbed inside the upturned train car, not have any idea how he was going to follow-up that statement. 

“Yeah,” he confirmed tightly. “Didn’t think I’d ever see her again.”

Eddie still didn’t know what to say to that. “I’m sorry, Buck.”

“Hey,” he paused in pulling out the debris to look back at Eddie. “I got you now. I think I won this breakup.”

Eddie chuckled and levered himself up and over a row of seats. “LAFD, call out!” A weak cry sounded from the top of the carriage, and they got to work.

Abby’s fiancé was trapped at the very top of the carriage though, with a beam holding down a girl at the other end. Bobby pulled them aside when he came in to help them assess the situation. “I don’t think we can save them both,” he said sadly. "If we move the beam to get one out, it will crush the other." 

Buck looked back, and his face hardened. Eddie knew he wasn’t going to take that as an answer. “Maybe we can…” he shot off some ideas at Bobby who poked holes in each suggestion, but Eddie was really just waiting on Buck who’d gotten quiet and was assessing all the options. He did this a lot. They would be in an impossible situation, and Buck would come up with some crazy idea to get them out of it. It was only now that Eddie realized there was probably a little more ‘magic’ in those situations than he’d known before.

“We can get him from the outside of the carriage,” Buck said firmly. “The skin is aluminum and easier to cut through.”

“No,” Bobby said firmly. “If it falls, it’ll crush you.”

“I know, and I know it’s heavier than a ladder truck, but I can do this Bobby,” he said firmly. “Eddie can spot me, and if it shifts, I’ll get away as quickly and safely as possible.”

He could see Bobby faltering. “Buck…”

“He’s Abby’s fiancé, Bobby,” Buck pleaded, his blue eyes wide, and Eddie suddenly missed the green he’d seen only just that morning before they’d gone to work. He liked how Buck looked now and as Harry, but he liked most seeing the real behind the mask. 

“Ok,” Bobby caved. “But if it shifts even slightly…”

“I know, I know!” Buck nodded and hurried off before Bobby could change his mind.

Eddie followed and grabbed him by the back of his turnouts before he’d gotten five steps outside the train. “Hey, I’m going up, and you’re going to spot me instead,” he said firmly.

“What? No, Eds…”

“If it falls and crushes me, I’ll live through it,” Eddie shook his head. It would hurt like hell, and he’d definitely need to see a healer specific to vampires at that point, but yeah, he’d live where Buck wouldn’t.

“Yeah, but Eddie…” Buck frowned, looking confused.

He leaned in to whisper. “And you can maybe use a little…magic to stabilize it.”

He saw the idea cross Buck’s face when he nodded firmly and seemed to figure out what he could do and what spell to use. “Yeah, I can do that, but Eddie. I would be fine…”

“I know, but I can't magically hold the thing up and you can,” he cut off Buck again. Now was not the time to argue. “Help me check my gear.”

The plan worked just a Buck said it would, and Eddie pulled Abby’s fiancé out and they hurried him over to the ambulance where she was waiting right before the carriage crashed to the ground.

“Thank you so much, Buck!” She hugged him tightly.

There was a small flash of hurt Eddie caught in his boyfriend’s eyes, but he just hugged her back and then turned her towards the ambulance. “Just doing my job,” he said, stepping back for her to get into the ambulance and go with her fiancé to the hospital.

Eddie walked up and took Buck’s gloved hand in his. “Hey, you did good.”

“You too,” Buck gave him a weak smile. “You know…I still have all her plants at my apartment.”

Eddie snorted and shook his head that of course Buck still had all her plants and was taking care of them. “I’m pretty sure those are your plants now, you’re their new plant-daddy.”

Buck wrinkled his nose. “No absolutely not, don’t say that!”

Eddie chuckled and turned to go back to work. “What? Plant-daddy?”

“No! That’s my friend Neville. I normally kill plants. Like I’m very lucky they’re all still alive,” Buck huffed and picked up an ax.

“You sure they aren’t plastic?”

Buck paused for a second. “They better not be. I’ve been watering them for years.”

Eddie chuckled and knew they’d be ok. Buck had moved past Abby. Kingsley was still a problem, but he was one they couldn’t solve right this minute. Plus, Ron and Athena were on it, and he had complete faith in them…well, Athena anyway, he still didn’t know Ron that well. Actually, maybe he should invite Ron to play basketball sometime and get to know him. It sounded like he might be a brother-in-law now at some point.

Chapter Text

Eddie sleepily shuffled into his kitchen when he woke up to find his bed empty and missed the other body that should be there. Buck had been staying at his house almost every night, and they really did need to tell Chris they were together. It was getting a little ridiculous at this point. Apparently, they had been acting like a couple for so long though, that no one seemed to see a difference in their relationship now that they were actually together. So, it’s not like they were keeping their relationship a secret, but no one had seemed to notice, and they hadn’t brought it up.

They had meant to tell Chris, but after Kingsley’s ‘present’ he sent to Buck at the station and the drama with Abby showing up again, they had just kind of forgotten or were hesitant to have any deep discussions for a little while, needing some peace. So, here they were almost living together, and no one questioned it in the slightest.

Eddie chuckled at the picture of the man sitting at his kitchen table with his long hair a mess, drinking a cup of tea, and buttering a crumpet. “So, you’re just not even pretending to be American anymore, are you?” He asked with a chuckle while going to make himself some coffee.

Harry shrugged with a small smile. His hair immediately got shorter and shorter and started to turn blond until it was the short mess of blond curls on top of his head and green eyes were blue once more in the image of Buck Buckley. “You know, I could legally tell the station I’m actually Harry Potter now and British, but I don’t know how to explain the whole changing appearance thing without magic involved.”

“Colored contacts, hair dye…but I don’t know how to explain the scar into the birthmark,” Eddie frowned as he thought it through. It’d be nice for Harry to be able to look like himself and stop hiding, but that seemed a little impossible with not also explaining magic.

“Maybe one day,” Harry shrugged again, not seeming too concerned. “It’s really just Hen and Chimney who needs to be looped in at this point since Bobby technically knows even if he doesn’t know. Like I could turn his desk into a pig to prove it to him tomorrow, but Athena is insisting on being stubborn about him taking her at her word or something. I get it though, I do.”

“Does it feel weird for your hair to grow back into your head?” He asked something that he’d been wondering for a while. It wasn’t really on topic, but he hadn’t had his coffee yet, and he really had been wondering that since he first saw Buck do it.

“No, I can’t feel the hair or anything like that,” Harry grabbed another crumpet to butter and put jam on for Eddie, just the way he liked it. “It’s not really growing back into my head anyway, it’s all magic. So, I feel my magic shifting, but not like actual physical changes.”

Eddie nodded and gratefully took his crumpet. It made sense and didn’t sound quite as icky as hair growing backwards. “Thanks babe,” he kissed Buck with a smile.

“Eh hem,” a voice fake coughed from the doorway. They both looked up to see a perturbed-looking kid glaring at them.

“Yes?” Eddie smiled, since it seemed telling his son was finally taken out of their hands and this was probably the easiest way for it to come about anyway. He knew this whole conversation was going to go well, they just hadn’t had the opening or mental space to do it yet. Well, here goes…

“You two better be together because Teddy isn’t going to believe this if you aren’t,” Chis huffed. “I can’t keep defending you two not being idiots when you go and do stuff like share a room and kiss and all.”

Eddie couldn’t help his bark of laughter because Chris definitely got all that sarcasm from Shannon (or at least he was going with that). “We’re actually together now, mijo!” He said between laughs.

Buck lightly gave him a shove and focused in on Chris as Eddie knew he should be doing if Chris wasn't so chill with everything as he was. “Chris, love, your father and I are going to try to give a relationship a go. This isn’t going to change anything, even if we don’t work out, I promise. I will always be here for you, and Teddy will always be there for you too.”

“Well, duh,” Chris rolled his eyes and made his way over to the table to sit down and take a crumpet for himself. Eddie made a mental note to pick up some conchas for breakfast or have Abuela make some because his son was becoming too British all of a sudden.

“You two have been together for a year and just too stubborn to admit it. So…can I finally owl Teddy that our dads have come to their senses?”

Now it was Buck’s turn to laugh, and Eddie took his empty teacup to put coffee in it now that it was brewed. “Yeah, superman, I’ll take any letters to the owl post later today,” Buck shook his head and a ruffled Chris’s hair.

“When is Teddy moving here again?” Chris asked the question that he’d asked every week since Teddy had been there at Christmas.

Eddie glanced at the calendar even though he knew it was the beginning of March. “Three months,” he answered for Buck since they both were counting down the days with Chris for when Hogwarts got out and Teddy got to come stay with them more permanently.

Teddy’s grandmother hadn’t decided what she was going to do yet once her grandson moved. Buck had showed him the letter where she said she was going to travel with her sister some initially, but then she would decide if she wanted to stay in England and just visit them or move to California as well. Buck seemed to think she would end up staying in England and just portkey over frequently since she wasn’t a huge fan of the heat. Eddie, personally, didn’t understand why anyone would choose cold and rainy over sun and beaches, but he was from Texas, so he didn’t think his opinion was relevant.

“Remember that Carla is going to take you to your Aunt Pepa’s tonight after school,” Buck said, the casual and common comment hitting Eddie once again just how seamlessly and for how long Buck had been slotted into the role of a father for Chris even before they were together. “My sister is having your dad and I over for dinner after our shift.”

“For adult talk,” Chris grimaced.

Actually, Eddie had no idea why Maddie wanted them over, and Buck hadn’t known either. They were assuming it was just a dinner and maybe poker night since they had those occasionally, but she hadn’t been specific at all. She had specifically said just the two of them though and asked if they could get a babysitter, so Chris was probably right and there would be some kind of adult talk. Maybe she had figured out they were together? They should probably tell her at dinner regardless.

“Uh, Buck,” Eddie frowned since telling Maddie meant telling Chimney, and that opened a whole other can of worms because Chimney absolutely couldn’t keep a secret and would tell Hen. “Maybe we should go in a little early for our shift and see Bobby about some paperwork?”

Buck grinned widely. “Bobby already pulled it and filled it out for us. We just need to sign.”

“Of course he did,” Eddie rolled his eyes and snorted. “How does our captain seem to know all about our relationships but still not catch that his own wife has magic, that you have magic, and that I’m…well, not human?”

“Teddy says that muggles explain things away in a way they will understand and fits into their reality even when they see magic,” Chris said very sagely. Eddie’s little man was growing up so fast!

“No-maj, love,” Buck corrected. “Teddy and I may be British, but you’ll get laughed at in school if you don’t say no-maj here in the States.”

Chris grinned around his bite of food. “I’ll just tell them my brother is a lord, and they can all be jealous then.”

Eddie choked on his coffee and coughed because was he supposed to know that?! Had he been told?! How? What in all Dracula’s capes did that mean?

Buck just slapped him on the back with a chuckle. “Don’t worry, Eds. Teddy is just the next in line for the Black family lordship since Andromeda was disowned and didn't want back in the family, Draco is already the Malfoy lord and can’t have two lordships, and Narcissa really doesn’t want it. So, Teddy is heir and will eventually have to do some stuffy political shi…er, crap when he gets older in the magical world. His cousin Draco is handling things for us right now though while I’m away and Teddy is still doing his education.”

“I’m starting to develop an inferiority complex in this family,” Eddie sighed because it seemed everyone was so much more magical than he was, even his own son. And then there was the fame and political power, and everything added on top of that.

However, there was then the fact he was immortal and no one else in the family was. It was a subject he was decidedly not going to deal with for another hundred years now that he knew magical people lived a lot longer though. He didn’t think he’d ever be able to deal with his family growing old and leaving him at any point in time. Maybe all the danger he lived his life in would solve that issue for him at some point long down the line though, and that really shouldn’t be a comforting thought.

“Right, so school. I made your lunch, ham and cheese today,” Buck stood to grab a lunchbox and the sandwich from the fridge. “Is your homework in your backpack already?”

“Yes, Buck,” Chris rolled his eyes around his crumpet.

Eddie leaned back and smiled. How he had ever thought that Buck wasn’t a father was beyond him. He was suddenly grateful to have a partner who had already done the teenager years once before too because they were fast approaching. And then add magic to all that…well, Eddie really did think he’d lucked out on being partnered with the chaos monster of Buck Buckley (aka Harry Potter) when he’d signed on with the 118.

Eddie stepped into the blood bank that was now on Ventura to top up his supply of blood. He needed so much less with Buck now supplying him with as must as he wanted, but he didn’t want to be solely reliant on his boyfriend, even when Buck explained blood replenishing potions and didn’t seem to mind in the slightest. It was just…well, Eddie still remembered how his and Shannon’s relationship ended, and he needed some assurances for himself, if not Buck, that what they had was much more than just survival for him.

“Well, well, well…long time no see,” Raina tapped her scary long nails against the counter and smiled broadly at him. “You look good, very healthy. I take it the club scene has been treating you well, Mr. Edmundo Diaz.”

“Actually, no,” he couldn’t stop himself from smiling proudly when he leaned against the counter. “I have a new romantic partner. One who doesn’t mind losing a little blood now and then.”

“Oh?” Raina’s perfect eyebrow shot up and she gave him an assessing look. Eddie really had no clue how old the woman was. He’d originally assumed she was a young vampire because of working at the blood bank and just her general personality, then she’d say things or give him one of those looks like seemed to read his entire family line back to the Aztecs. He had settled on a little over a hundred maybe because, surely not older than that, right? Now, she seemed to be looking at him with the wisdom of the ages, completely in opposite to her normal teasing flirting.

“So, you are aware we're not against you telling a partner about vampirism,” she said all business-like. Eddie was suddenly reminded that the receptionist position was much more than only a receptionist in the vampire organization. He wasn’t quite sure what it was, but it was clearly not just administrative. “A willing partner is actually much safer for us all, especially since if things go wrong, no one will believe them.”

“But?” Eddie asked, knowing there was a 'but' coming just from her look.

“But be careful, Eddie,” she said seriously. “And keep the number for the Custodian handy in case there are any ...mistakes.”

Eddie did not roll his eyes at her. He knew she was being very serious, but he’d never use that number for anything, and Buck could handle himself and keep any mistakes from happening easily. “It’s fine, Raina, I promise. It’s…well, he actually already knew. He’s a wizard.”

Eddie didn’t think Raina’s eyebrow could go any higher, but apparently, he was wrong. “Then you need to be even more careful Eddie. Do not cross MACUSA, or it’ll be all our heads. If you had talked to me before, I’d have told you to leave the mages alone…actually, I think I did tell you that before. What are you thinking?”

He was not going to be cowed by this tiny vampire-woman even if she was older than his abuela and probably much more powerful than he was. He stood straighter and crossed his arms. “My son is a wizard, so there is no keeping me away regardless. And it’s not like I asked for any of this,” he motioned to the blood bank itself to include vampirism and all involved.

Raina just stared at him for another minute before she looked down at her keyboard, typed something in, and the price for his blood popped up on the card reader. “To be honest, Eddie. I didn’t think you were cut out for this life when you first stepped in here looking like a malnourished stray cat,” she said with a smile that looked more vicious than anything positive. “I still don’t know that you have it in you, and that worries me, especially if you're messing with things so out of your league that you may as well be a baby playing in a sandbox. We’re going to keep our eyes on you, Eddie Diaz. Don't slip up.”

Eddie swiped his card and wondered if he should say something. He probably shouldn’t. Like it was a really bad idea. But also…Buck had done it for a reason, and that reason was probably this. Well, Eddie Diaz wasn’t exactly known for making the best decisions anyway, so what the hell…

“Actually, it’s Eddie Potter-Diaz now,” he said with a smirk when her eyes took on a look mixed between surprise and fear. “My son and I are officially members of House Potter now, so I may be a baby playing in a sandbox, but at least my sandbox is owned by the Man Who Conquered.”

Raina sucked in a breath and slowly let it out. “Dracula’s tits,” she said, and Eddie felt so very justified now that vampires did actually swear by Dracula.

Eddie took the cooler of blood that a technician had placed on the counter and winked at the still shocked woman. “See you soon, Raina.”

He didn’t laugh as he walked out of the blood bank and put on his sunglasses to head to his truck. It was a near thing though. That woman had always put him off-kilter and made him nervous. It was so very cathartic to be the person to do it to her for once. Well, now he’d need to tell Buck, but he was certain his partner was going to get as much of a kick out of this as he did.

Eddie jumped into his truck to head back home and change quickly for dinner at Maddie’s house. They still didn’t know what this dinner was about, but they planned to break the news of their relationship to at least Maddie and whoever else was there that evening as well. At work that morning, Bobby had just slid the paperwork across his desk to them when they’d entered his office together, not even having to ask why they were there. Dracula, but that man really did need someone to just give him the smallest nudge possible to finally see that magic was real. Maybe he and Buck could work something out to help out that situation soon.

Anyway, now he needed to put his blood in the fridge, change, and head with Buck over to his sister’s place for whatever this was. He actually hoped it wasn’t poker since Chimney was already going to be smug about his and Buck’s new relationship, adding winning all Eddie’s money to that wouldn’t help out in the slightest. If Eddie didn’t know Chimney was no-maj, he’d swear he and Maddie were using some kind of magic to cheat at cards.

“Hey, so you two were invited as well,” Buck looked at Ron and Josh who showed up to Maddie’s apartment at the same time as he and Eddie did. “Any idea what this is all about?”

“None at all mate,” Ron shrugged. “You know our girl though, she likes to keep things mysterious for as long as possible. How long did she keep Rita Skeeter in a jar before telling us?”

“Excuse me?!” Josh cut in, and Eddie looked like would have too if Josh hadn’t gotten there first.

While Buck didn’t exactly approve of what Hermione had done with Rita Skeeter, the woman had ruined his life both before that and after as well, so…he also wasn’t going to feel bad for her. “Best not to question things from our childhood,” he winced. “You have to put the reasoning of a still forming prefrontal cortex up against war, and we’re still coming to terms with a lot of what we did from that time.”

“So, how’s the new mind-healer?” Ron grinned at him knowingly.

“Yeah, yeah, so I’m not dealing with a lot I should be dealing with and taking on too much I shouldn’t as well as working through some actually well deserved paranoia,” he rolled his eyes and shrugged. It had literally only been two appointments, one of which was just going over the secrecy contract he’d had Darragh write up and casting the spell for the oath, but that whole process was apparently part of his mind-healer learning about him, and the man had hit the ground running on their first official session.

“Well, I hope this doesn’t take too long because I have a date later,” Ron looked at his watch.

Harry had to stop right there in the stairwell they were walking up to block his progress. “Who is it? How did you meet? Where did you meet? Are they magical or muggle? Has Josh met them and approved? When can I meet them?” He rattled off his questions excitedly.

Ron having a date was big news in their lives since the last person Harry knew about that his friend had dated besides Hermione was Lavender Brown in sixth year. Like, he assumed there were probably a few in England before Ron moved, but he hadn’t had specifics before. And…and! Hints were that Ron might be a little more accepting to dating someone not of the female persuasion last they’d talked about it!

Ron rolled his eyes while both Eddie and Josh laughed at them. “This is a first date, so I’m not telling you anything,” he poked his bony finger in Harry’s chest. “The only thing you get is that we met at work, but I don’t even know their first name, just Auror Last Name right now.”

“But…but that doesn’t even tell me gender identity!” Harry pouted as dramatically as he possibly could.

“Well, I’m not the one with the questionable dating history,” Ron rolled his eyes. “So, let me at least get through a first date without the interrogation.”

Harry just raised an eyebrow at that. “I call Lavender Brown questionable at the time. Plus, who knows what you got up to without mine and Hermione’s supervision. Do I need to call Ginny for the good gossip?”

“Leave him be, Buck,” Josh stepped in, the traitor taking Ron’s side. “If he doesn’t come home tonight for any reason, I promise I’ll give you a call.”

“Oi! You’re supposed to be my friend not his,” Harry protested even as Eddie shoved him up the stairs to keep this moving along.

“He moved in with me, so proximity rules in the friendship order,” Josh shrugged. “Besides, he hasn’t asked me to break into a hospital yet or explain to his co-workers why I’m family when I didn’t even know myself. My power of attorney excuse was so flimsy that even Chimney looked like he didn’t buy it since everyone knows that either Maddie or Eddie would have your power of attorney.”

“Oh, yeah, future reference, Eddie has that,” he shrugged since he’d signed all that paperwork that at the bank even before he got together with Eddie, as soon as he was no longer a fugitive.

“Wait? Seriously? Don’t you think you should have told me that?” Eddie stopped in his shoving to look actually surprised. Harry didn’t see that he had a leg to stand on there though.

“Like you should have told me I was in charge of taking care of Chris if anything happened to you before you changed your will, or that you were a vampire, or that Chris’s school thinks we’re married or…”

“Hey, that road goes both ways buckaroo,” Eddie cut him off with a glare, and yeah, he was right about that too.

Had Harry told Eddie was immortal yet? He had right? Maybe he should ask later. No, he definitely hadn’t because then he'd have had to explain the Master of Death thing. Was their relationship a little too new for that whole bag of crazy?

“Are you going to ask them about any of that?” Josh asked Ron with a jab of his thumb in their direction. 

“Best not to. I do want to get to my date this century,” Ron rolled his eyes their direction and opened the door from the stairwell to Maddie and Chimney’s hallway.

They walked to the door to the apartment and Josh knocked, ever so polite since Harry would have just walked in even if that raised questions with Chimney. “Hey, you all don’t think this is another intervention for me, do you? Like I don’t think I’ve done anything recently,” Harry asked just as the door opened to Chimney giving them a look.

“Another intervention?” Chimney asked. “Why wasn’t I invited to the last one? What was it about? I have comforting platitudes prepared for all situations.”

“Let the dumbasses in!” Maddie called out from inside the apartment.

“Hey!” Josh protested as he pushed past Chimney to get inside.

“Josh not included,” Maddie happily amended.

“Hey!” Eddie decided to protest then. Harry and Ron definitely didn’t even try; they knew they were the dumbasses.

Maddie just looked him up and down. “I’m still reserving judgment,” she said to Eddie before smiling and giving him a small hug.

“We’re missing some people,” Buck frowned at where Athena was slicing apples for a fruit salad in the kitchen. He wasn't able to tell why this group in particular were gathered. “Where is Hen, and Bobby?”

“My dumbass wasn’t invited,” Athena said with a look at Buck and significant pause in slicing. Oh…so this was that kind of meeting…but why was Chimney there then?

“Did we forget Hen?” Chimney went to pick up his phone, but Maddie stopped him.

“Sorry, babe, but Hen wasn’t invited either,” she gave him a small smile that Buck now saw as nervous. Where they about to tell Chimney about magic?!

But…that wasn’t legal. Not until you were going to marry someone. But…Maddie and Chimney weren’t engaged. Right?...Right?!

“Did someone propose?! Oh, my god, are you two getting married?!!” Buck had to ask excitedly because he hadn’t really thought Hermione had wanted to get married again anytime soon, but he was super supportive of any weddings his family wanted to throw, if they wanted them that was. Hermione's first wedding had been a blast, so this one was certain to be brilliant! 

“What? No! Why would we?!” Chimney looked at Maddie with fear and concern in his eyes. “Was I supposed to…?! But, what?!”

“Calm, down, babe,” Maddie chuckled and patted Chimney on the back and led him towards the couch. “Sit down before you pass out.”

Ron raised his hand. “As the ex-husband, I don’t think it super proper for me to be here if this party is for a proposal. Like I’m all supportive and all, love you Chim…”

“Thanks man,” Chimney gave Ron a weak smile.

“But like, I think that’s some kind of faux pas, right?” Ron finished, looking to Athena for etiquette advice…as he should since the rest of them were not going to be able to help.

“I’m not proposing,” Maddie threw her hands in the air out of sheer frustration. “I was serious when I told you all, my boyfriend included, that I don’t want to get married again for a long time yet.”

“I’m confused,” Eddie raised his hand. “Is this another intervention for Buck, because I would like to add that my favorite socks are missing, and I want them back.”

“I didn’t take your socks, and my therapist said it’s not a problem yet,” Buck rolled his eyes. He wasn’t that bad, seriously. “They probably got mixed in with Chris’s things last I did laundry.”

“I thought this was game night?” Chimney was looking more and more confused as the conversation when on.

“Everyone, sit!” Athena ordered in her tone that absolutely no one ignored. They found places to sit immediately, well, Buck ended up on the floor leaning against Eddie’s legs, but he was fine with that. “Now, Maddie invited us all here for a reason, why don’t we let her tell us what that is?”

Maddie let out a deep breath. “So, my brother only kind-of got right what this is about.”

“Are we breaking the law?” Ron leaned forward with a large grin on his face. “I’m not against it, mind you, but as the person who really should be arresting you if we do, then I would like a slight heads-up.”

“We aren’t breaking the law,” Maddie rolled her eyes at him.

“Let the woman talk,” Athena said, now with a small smile on her face that had Buck thinking she knew what was going on, or had at least guessed.

“I had thought to only do this the two of us,” Maddie turned and took Chimney’s hands in hers. “But I didn’t want another Bobby situation on our hands, so I figured doing this all together was the safest, plus then you can ask questions of anyone you want all together now.”

“No one dumbasses like my dumbass,” Athena chuckled and speared a grape in her salad with a fork.

“I’m getting really worried, Maddie,” Chimney’s eyes glanced over all of them. Frankly, Buck was getting worried too, there weren’t a whole lot of reasons to legally break the Statute of Secrecy, and marriage was the most common. The only other one was for situations like Chris…and oh…

“I’m pregnant,” Maddie smiled the happiest little smile Buck had seen from her in a long time.

“Merlin’s balls,” Buck breathed out and looked over at Ron concernedly who seemed to not be breathing for a second. They had been trying for kids for so long, Ron had wanted kids so badly, and Harry wasn’t sure how he was going to take this now.

“Congratulations,” Ron said in somewhat of a strangled tone, but with a look on his face that did say he was supportive.

“Thanks, love,” Hermione smiled at him, letting her American accent slip away.

“Wait…wait, wait!” Chimney’s face seemed to finally be catching up with the words. “We’re going to have a baby?! Like a baby, baby?!!”

“That is how it goes, dude,” Eddie reached over to clap Chimney on the back with a wide smile. “Congrats man!”

“We’re going to have a baby!” Chimney’s face broke out into a huge smile before he pulled Hermione into a hug and a kiss.

Harry’s eyes tracked back to Ron who had grabbed onto Josh’s arm and was holding on tightly while still smiling as if trying to pass off not being affected at all. Josh looked over at Harry questioningly who tried to convey with a look that his best friend might be a little bit of a mess for a while but would eventually be fine, but he wasn’t really sure how to do that nonverbally. It would eventually be fine, they would all be fine, but now came the hard part, because now they had to tell Chimney…the man known for not being able to keep a secret if his life depended on it.

“Ah hem,” Athena loudly cleared her throat when it became clear Chimney no longer remembered they were all in the room.

“Why are they here again?” He pulled back to glare at them, Buck most of all, which he viewed as unfair since he wasn’t the one who’d said anything.

“Well,” Maddie looked around at them, her eyes showing how nervous she was. “You’ve heard some of my brother’s story already, but not all of it. I couldn’t legally tell you my side of it all or why everything had happened until we were either engaged, or I was pregnant.”

“Uh, Mads,” Chimney’s look went much more confused because Hermione was no longer using her American accent in the slightest. Chimney looked over at Ron, who he thought was the only other British person in the room.

“I’m actually British too,” Harry said, dropping the accent. “All three of us are. The subterfuge really was because of my ex as I told you when we talked a while ago. Maddie just…well, Hermione really was too known to associate with me, so she changed her name, backstory, and accent as well.”

Chimney’s frown deepened as he looked over everyone in the room. “And everyone knew except me…why? And why wasn’t it legal to tell me that? You know I don’t care,” he looked at Hermione with concern. “I love you no matter where you’re from or what your name is. I knew Buck was in hiding, so why hide this from me.”

“Because my name is Hermione Granger,” she said sitting up further. “And my ex-husband is Ronald Weasley, and my idiot brother is actually the one and only Sir Harry Potter…and those names mean something in our world.”

Chimney blinked in confusion a few times. Eventually he looked over at Harry. “Sir?”

Harry just shrugged. “The knighthood was a little ridiculous, and the Crown refuses to remove it, so whatever.”

“The Order of Merlin First Class was well deserved though,” Josh unhelpfully added with a teasing smile.

“The what of what?” Chimney seemed to be unraveling some, and someone needed to put him out of his misery.

“I got this,” Eddie cut in decidedly. “As the newest to the group, I think I can explain this in an easier way than you all tried to do with me.”

“By all means,” Hermione motioned him to continue since he really did make a point. They all seemed to skip things that they thought was common knowledge having lived in the magical world for decades now, so Eddie probably did have a handle on what Chimney would need to hear better than the rest of them.

 Chimney looked at him like a life preserver. “What’s going on Eddie?”

“Magic is real,” Eddie said firmly. “That’s the most important thing you need to know. Magic is real and there are people who can use it, called mages. They live all around us in our society, but they keep what they can do secret. It’s actually illegal to tell people who can’t also use magic except for in very specific circumstances.”

“Like marriage or having a baby,” Hermione added with a small smile, and Chimney seemed to be catching on now.

“What…no, you mean like curses and potions and jinxes and all?” Chimney did not look convinced in the slightest.

“Right, yes absolutely, cariño, you mind changing back to your real look?” Eddie jabbed Harry with his knee.

“Yeah, sure,” Harry smiled at Chimney since that was probably a good way to prove magic existed. “Don’t freak out, ok, but I had to change how I looked when I moved here too. I was a little too recognizable to go under the radar for everyone I was hiding from.”

Harry did regret wearing short-sleeves that evening because, while he normally kept his curse-scars turned so they weren’t as easy to see, all the other scars were going to become visible when his fake-tattoos went away. He relaxed slightly and slowly let the magic seep away from his hair, his eyes, his head, and his body inch by inch. Chimney’s eyes went wider and wider as Harry changed from Evan “Buck” Buckley into Harry James Potter right before his eyes.

“I can levitate a table or turn someone’s hair green if you need more proof,” Ron offered, seeming actually recovered now and definitely in the mood to tease Chimney. “Just don’t be like Bobby who only believes Athena thinks she can do magic.”

Chimney’s wide eyes snapped to Athena. “You too?”

Athena shook her head. “No, baby, I’m what’s called a Hedge Witch. I have magic, but it’s different than the others. I can only do some types of magic like potions, runes, and rituals.”

Next Chimney turned to Josh. “I don’t have any magic,” Josh told him quickly, actually not seeming as tense as when he would normally say it out loud. “I was born into a magical family, but I wasn’t granted the gift. I’m what’s called a squib and generally pretty discriminated against in the magical world.”

“Which is why I legally adopted him into my family for protection if he should ever need it,” Harry cut in to finally explain that missing piece to Chimney.

“And you?” Chimney looked at Eddie, seeming very overwhelmed with it all. 

Eddie winced a little. “Let’s come back to me,” he said, probably a good thing. “My son is magical though, so I had to be looped in. He’s what they call a no-maj-born. Like Josh but in the reverse.”

“Oh, ok,” Chimney still didn’t seem to understand, but he was at least attempting to go with it. “So, what am I missing about you three again?” He asked, looking in confusion at Hermione, Ron, and Harry.

“So, they’re famous in the magical world,” Eddie continued. “Buck, Harry, actually fought in and ended a war.”

“No,” Chimney firmly shook his head. So, he’d been going along with everything so well, but that seemed to be the line for some reason. “Buck didn’t fight in a war.”

“No Howie, but Harry Potter did,” Hermione put her hand on Chimney’s knee and caught his eyes with her own. “We all did. We were children and our society was attacked. Harry was targeted and Ron and I were his best friends, so we all got pulled in against our will.”

Chimney was already shaking his head firmly. “No, you’re a lot older than Buck, and Buck would never fight anyone ever.”

“I’m actually the same age as Hermione and Ron,” Harry said, firmly not going to say why they looked different ages. That would be too much for Chimney and probably for everyone else who didn't already know in the room too. “I just look young for my age and passed myself off as younger to keep Kingsley off my trail.”

Chimney frowned and breathed in, closing his eyes before looking at Harry again. “Looking like that…I might…I might believe you…” Harry glanced down at the scars on his body and knew the one on his forehead was where Chimney’s eyes were catching most because of how large and fatal it looked like it would have been.

“Howie,” Hermione took his hand. “Harry’s ex is basically our version of your president. He’s what we call the Minister for Magic. It’s why he has so much power to turn public opinion against Harry and why his reach is so far.”

“We trusted him,” Harry shrugged, not liking this being turned back on him as it always was. “But I have asylum here in America now though, so I just have to keep my head down and try to stay safe.”

“Someone poisoned the wine at the party,” Athena added, looking murderous at the reminder. “Harry’s embolism wasn’t connected to his leg injury at all. It was an assassination attempt.”

Chimney frowned and nodded slowly while clearly trying to process this all. “So…my girlfriend is Hermione Granger and she and her friends fought in a war and won. She’s in hiding from a world leader who is a bastard that can’t take no for an answer. My boss’s wife can probably turn me into a frog with a potion, and my girlfriend’s ex-husband probably can too with only a word…does that about sum it up.”

“Basically,” Josh smiled and chuckled.

“And we’re having a baby,” Chimney’s frown softened again into a smile, rightly and finally circling back to the most important part of all of it.

“Yeah, love, we’re going to have a baby,” Hermione put her hand on Chimney’s cheek softly, their eyes meeting and saying a million words. Harry loved seeing just how in-tune and happy they were. It made him reach back and squeeze Eddie’s foot just to remind him that he had that too.

There was silence for only a second before Chimney loudly groaned. “And Hen doesn’t know?! Oh god, does someone know a spell to keep me from telling anyone this because you all know how I am?! You can't just turn me loose out in the world with this knowledge!”

“Hey, just think of it this way,” Ron smiled teasingly. “If you do tell her, it’s not like she’ll believe you. Clearly, Bobby won’t.”

“You have some oddly specific aggression towards my husband,” Athena raised an eyebrow at Ron. “Care to share why?”

“We all just want him to be able to come to these things,” Josh answered for Ron with a smile.

“Isn’t there a spell to keep Chimney from telling though?” Eddie asked, tugging at Harry’s long hair while he seemed to be playing with it or braiding it or something, Harry couldn’t see what was going on behind him, and he didn't mind whatever Eddie wanted to do.

“Yeah, but it’s Chimney, don’t make me spell Chimney,” Harry huffed even as Chimney looked like he’d support that wholeheartedly.

“Maybe let’s go a week and see how you’re doing then?” Hermione suggested as a compromise, and Chimney let out a breath of relief.

“Yeah, but keep that spell handy for me if I'm about to burst,” he said firmly. “I suppose I’m at least able to tell everyone I’m having a kid though, right?”

“Yeah, babe, that you can tell,” Hermione chuckled and kissed Chimney again.

“Oh, and Buck and I are finally together. You can tell Hen that too if it helps,” Eddie added in, getting an eyeroll from Harry but absolutely no shocked response at all from anyone else.

“Yeah, not news dude,” Ron stood and cracked his back. “Josh, you drove, you ready?”

“What? That’s news!” Harry protested.

“Yeah, no, you waited out literally all the bets on you guys, so no one even won money on it,” Chimney rolled his eyes at them. “Congrats though.”

“Bobby told me when he got home,” Athena stood and ruffled Harry’s hair. “I’m happy for you.”

Harry huffed, but Hermione having a baby was really big news, so he kind of saw their points. But actually… “Should I mention Teddy now? He is coming to stay once school ends.”

“Dracula’s balls, we forgot Teddy in the story,” Eddie huffed a laugh. Maybe Eddie wasn't the best at telling their life story either. 

“Oh lord, I’m leaving,” Athena looped her arm through Ron’s as they walked towards the door. “So, how would you convince my husband of magic?” They chatted all the way out the door with Josh following after a quick hug with Hermione.

“Now, who is Teddy?” Chimney asked again.

“My son,” Harry said, getting what could only be a frustrated sigh of resignation from Chimney.

“Oh, and I’m a vampire,” Eddie added on with another tug of Harry’s hair, yep he was definitely braiding it or something. Whatever, Harry didn’t mind, it would have to look better than the nothing he always did to it.

“I’m going to strangle you all!” Chimney yelled out and slapped his hands to his ears to block anything else they might say.

“Don’t you have a date to get to?” Josh asked when Ron followed him back up to their apartment instead of leaving like he thought the man would.

Ron flicked his wand and a terrier patronus rushed away from them. “Now anymore. I’ll reschedule later.”

Josh frowned in concern and went to the kitchen to grab a couple beers. There was something he was missing from the meeting earlier, and he had a feeling it was very important. Ron was usually so very upbeat all the time and had been looking forward to this date, but it had looked like his smile was painted on most of the time at Maddie’s house, and now his whole general demeanor just screamed that he was not ok.

He passed a beer off to Ron who had crashed onto the couch before he sat and joined him. “Now, do you want to talk about it, or do you want me to dig out some ice cream and we eat our feelings?”

Ron let a mirthless breath of a chuckle escape his lips before he took a sip of the drink. “I’m fine Josh, I promise. It’s just…I wanted a family of my own so badly. Hermione and I were trying for years, and we just couldn’t get pregnant. She always thought it was her, but now, it has to be me, right? That means…Merlin, but I might not ever be able to have a kid of my own!”

Josh kicked his feet up on the coffee table and leaned into Ron’s side some to comfort him. “Well, you can’t actually know that for sure without going to a healer and getting checked over,” he said slowly, hoping to find the words to help his friend through this. “And even if that is the case, then there are other ways to have a baby. If this thing with your coworker had worked out, you’d have to find another way anyway since he’s a guy. You can always adopt, or there’s maybe a potion or something that could help.”

“Yeah, I suppose so,” Ron breathed out, and Josh felt the tension slowly fade from the arm beside him. “I just…I always took having kids and a family as a given. Now, it’s not so certain anymore.”

“Yes, I definitely know all about that,” Josh nodded, knowing exactly what Ron meant. It was something he’d dealt with a long time himself being both a squib and gay. Things were complicated. Having a family was complicated. There wasn’t a whole lot he could say to make things better or easier.

“We still have another season of Golden Girls to get through,” he suggested.

It seems that was the right thing to say because Ron laughed and flicked his wand to summon the DVD set to start it up. Sometimes magic wasn’t so bad to have around. Useful even.

“So, are you going to try again with your coworker maybe next weekend?” Josh asked, wondering how serious Ron was about this since it had been so easy for him to cancel.

Ron shrugged and stood to put the DVD in the player. “Probably, I’ll ask if he wants to do next weekend or the weekend after next I see him at work.”

Josh nodded and settled in more comfortably on the couch. “Want to go out for waffles at that place you like in the morning?”

“Hell yeah! I want to try the blueberry ones next time,” Ron enthusiastically grinned, his distress finally gone from his expression. Good, maybe what Josh had said would help. Ron had a future, they both did, they just needed to find out what that looked like for both of them.

Except then the world broke and all plans were put on hold indefinitely while everything shut down, no one left their homes, and magical and no-maj alike tried to figure out what to do with a worldwide pandemic.

Chapter Text

Quarantine sucked! Especially as an essential worker. It had surprised Harry that even though mages were immune to most muggle diseases, that was because their magic built up an immunity to them over time. A new disease though didn’t have that immunity yet, so mages were just as susceptible to COVID as the muggles were until their magic was able to catch up and build the immunity. This meant that magical people with any type of underlying condition were still at risk, such as a pregnancy or cerebral palsy. Thankfully, vampires were still immune to all types of infections, but that didn’t mean Eddie couldn’t carry the germs on his person back to his house.

Somehow this led to Eddie, Chimney, and Hen all living in Harry’s not even one bedroom loft apartment since they were essential workers and didn’t want to spread the disease to their families and put them at risk. Eddie’s Aunt Pepa moved into his house with Chris, and they all just prayed to Merlin or Dracula or whoever that Chris didn’t have any accidental magic incidents while she lived with him, or that would be a whole conversation. So far, so good though. They would handle any accidental magic slips if they absolutely had to.

Hen’s family were all good quarantining together, but she still had to stay away. Ron and Josh were already together in Josh’s apartment, so they were just stuck there with Ron and Josh both still having to go to work but at least neither of them had any underlying conditions. But Maddie…well, Maddie was now on lockdown with Teddy taking care of her in her and Chimney’s apartment.

Teddy had still moved to LA as soon as Hogwarts ended since he was going to apprentice with a technomage who, maybe not surprisingly, figured out how to move most of his operations online. Andromeda clearly didn’t have WIFI in her very magical house, so Teddy moved in with Maddie to take care of his Aunt Hermione and use her WIFI to get started on his new studies. Andromeda stayed in England to quarantine with her sister and Draco, which Harry didn’t envy in the slightest.

Harry was just glad that Bobby and Athena were still in their own house because his place was much too small for all the people currently living in it. Two days into his new living arrangements and Harry had firmly decided that he was gifting his loft to Teddy as soon as all this was over with and either moving in with Eddie and Chris or asking if they wanted a bigger place.

He had bought his loft when he’d first moved to LA and didn’t have any friends or family or really anyone in his life. Now, it was just not big enough for everyone who had crowded into his life and refused to leave. Sometimes it still hit Harry just how hard he had tried to not put down roots and not make friends, and here he was with a boyfriend, his boyfriend’s son, Teddy, Ron, Hermione, Josh, all the 118, and even Cho and a random Sidhe who had upped his attempts to trick Harry into signing over to himself to the Sidhe realm, so that was clearly love or friendship or something.

Anyway, the loft was too small now, so it maybe wasn’t the most romantic, but Harry just rolled over in his bed one night, looked at Eddie and said, “I’m moving in with you after this, right?”

Eddie just snorted wryly, half asleep. “You better. Your place is definitely too small for us, and Chris can’t get up the stairs easily.”

“You want a bigger house? I can kick in some funds, or like buy the whole thing and just not tell you how much it was,” he offered next since Eddie was renting, and Harry was clearly going to cover half of the rent if he moved in, but he could also just buy them a bigger place.

Eddie woke up enough to kiss him and flop back down. “We’ll talk about this when the world isn’t broken. Go to sleep, and stop trying to throw money at me.”

And that was the end of it for the moment at least. When everyone moved in, Eddie and Harry/Buck thankfully got the bed in in the loft and threatened to within an inch of their lives to not get up to any funny business by both Chimney and Hen while Chimney got the couch and Hen got the air mattress downstairs. It was a little more difficult to maintain magic as a secret with Harry having to revert to his base form at night when he could, but Hen very pointedly never went up the stairs saying she didn’t want to see whatever the ‘gross boys’ were getting up to up there…even though they better not be getting up to anything.

Maddie was a little over seven months pregnant now, so they all tried to keep in touch over Zoom as much as possible to check on her, Chimney most of all. A lot of nights after they all got off shift, they would find as separate of places as possible around the loft to Zoom call with their families, Hen with hers, and then a large group call with the Buckley clan as Harry thought of them since…well, none of them were actually Buckleys but all connected around Maddie since she was the pregnant one.

On this particular night well into summer, the group Zoom call had Buck and Eddie upstairs with Buck’s laptop and sitting on their bed, Chimney downstairs on his own laptop, Maddie on her couch, and Ron and Josh in their living room. “So just indigestion, no cramping or pain, right?” Chimney was asking Maddie in concern. “Any new cravings or how’s your blood pressure?”

“I’m perfectly fine and healthy and eating right and doing the exercises my healer recommended,” Maddie chuckled and rolled her eyes at all of them. “Teddy is taking very good care of me.”

“Just remember to check your blood pressure,” Chimney said in his mother-hen voice that was clearly driving Maddie crazy, so it might be best they were quarantining separately.

“What about you two over at Casa Russo?” Buck asked to change the subject and also genuinely wondering how the odd combination of an auror and squib who hadn’t known each other only months before were doing stuck in an apartment together indefinitely.

“He hasn’t killed me yet,” Ron grinned at Josh who just laughed. “Josh has been teaching me the muggle way to cook, and then I do the dishes with magic, so we’ve worked out a nice system anyway. I even sent a recipe to Mum that she said was brilliant, so Josh will have me be a chef in no time.”

“Really, we’re doing fine here,” Josh backed him up. “We’re actually working through Twin Pines now as our new series. I’ll have Ron caught up on all important media before we’re allowed outside again it seems.”

“Oh, and Josh’s aunt has owled me like 5 new potions recipes for if either of us get sick,” Ron added with a chuckle. “I think she likes me, or maybe she’s trying to poison me, I haven’t quite figured it out yet.”

“Any of them any good?” Eddie asked in interest. Buck knew he was really concerned about Chris catching this and him not being there to help. “If a magical person actually did get sick that is? There has to be some kind of magical remedy, right?”

Josh winced and Ron just leaned closer to the camera. “Well, she’s no Severus Snape, but don’t tell her I said that. One of the potions would probably turn a person blue, and I’m not so sure there would be an antidote. There isn’t a magical remedy yet, and just as much misinformation as the muggles are spreading, so don’t trust any potions you run across. I’ve arrested three people in the past couple weeks selling what was basically Pepper-Up and promising it would cure COVID.”

“I told my aunt to not go trying out any experimental potions on herself, and I hope she’ll listen,” Josh added. “We can only hope…”

A form of a shoulder and large hoop earring showed up briefly in the corner of Chimney’s screen before disappearing again. They all shared a look. It seemed that Hen’s call with her family had ended, and it looked like she’d sat beside Chimney on the couch. So, no more magic talk.

“Well, I’m going to go get in the shower and get ready for work. I have a late shift today,” Ron said before giving them all a little wave and leaving Josh’s screen.

“Right, so he’s gone, you can tell us the truth now,” Maddie smiled at her friend. “Do you need me to find a new place for Ron to go? I can convince him to get his own place or trade Teddy for him if you need me to.”

“Who am I being traded for?” Harry’s kid’s voice yelled from off camera, making Harry smile at the sound. He wished he could hang out with Teddy now that he was so close, but his kid was still so far away with lockdown.

“Don’t you worry about it,” Maddie waved off somewhere behind her dismissively.

Josh chuckled and rolled his eyes. “I promise we’re fine…” He said right before a loud scream sounded from off camera in his apartment.

Everyone jumped and Buck saw Hen appear in Chimney’s screen for a second. Josh just rolled his eyes again though, this time in exasperation. “Excuse me for a second,” he said before disappearing and leaving an empty couch.

“Should we be worried?” Eddie asked the group. “They weren’t attacked, were they?”

“Josh didn’t seem worried,” Buck said looking between his boyfriend and the group on his screen in concern.

A second later and Josh plopped down on his couch again. “Right, so where were we?” He asked as if nothing had happened, and Buck finally figured out what had happened suddenly.

“Spider?” He asked knowingly.

“Spider,” Josh nodded with a smirk. “I saw it in the shower earlier, but he ate all my yogurt last night, so pay back is a bitch.”

Maddie fell out laughing on her screen while Buck heard laughter from downstairs and on his screen too. “Ron is never going to get over his fear of spiders, I guess,” Buck just chuckled and shook his head.

“Well…Aragog didn’t help!” Maddie said between barks of laughter.

“Aragog?” Eddie asked.

Buck’s eyes cut to downstairs and Hen. “You really don’t want to know,” he said evasively, and yeah, Eddie probably didn’t. He still had a nightmare occasionally about the car not getting to them fast enough and Aragog and his children eating them in second year, and Harry didn’t any fears at all about spiders having lived with them in his cupboard growing up. Still, Aragog was terrifying.

“Wait…your ex-husband is afraid of spiders, and Josh had to go save his naked ass in the bathroom from one? This is the best thing I’ve heard in years!” Chimney asked with the largest grin on his face as he leaned so far into the camera that Buck thought he could see nose hair.

A purple-haired teenager with a couple new piercings suddenly appeared on Maddie’s screen. It seemed Teddy had been using his boredom to play with his metamorphmagus abilities to add new piercings, Buck was very proud of his skill and still hadn’t figured out how to do that himself. “Wait… Uncle Chimney!” Teddy’s entire body leaned over Maddie’s and showed him holding a cell phone in his hand from where he was clearly talking to someone else. “Should we be shipping Uncle Ron and Josh? I didn’t even know that was a possibility! This is perfect! Brilliant really!”

“What?! No!” Josh protested firmly.

“Uncle Chimney?” Buck heard from off-screen this time and downstairs.

“Dad!” Teddy asked excitedly. “What do you know about Uncle Ron and Josh? There has to be good gossip? Has Uncle Ron ever dated a bloke before or after Aunt Hermione? We can make this happen. Chris says he’s in!”

Harry let out a sigh because he knew exactly what had happened even as he heard a gasp from downstairs. “Maddie…put your Zoom view on gallery, not just who is currently talking.”

“Why? You know I don’t like the way it looks. I have to keep looking between you all then,” Maddie added from beside Teddy.

“Because we’re not the only ones on this call,” he said with a raise of his eyebrow and feeling the cringe from Eddie beside him.

He saw Maddie reach forward and click the screen before she and Teddy both collectively winced at what they could clearly now see was Hen right in Chimney’s camera frame with him and staring dumbfounded at the screen. “Oh…er, so…we can explain…” Maddie trailed off, suddenly switching back to an American accent from a British one.

“Er…Chris, I gotta go,” Teddy told the person on the phone who was clearly Eddie’s son. “Our dads are about to yell at me…no, we’re still on for Operation Rosh or Jon or whatever we’re going with…I’ll call you back later to plan.”

Josh looked behind him before looking back at the screen. “Right, so the auror I live with is in the shower, but I’m going to sign off for plausible deniability since I have a feeling a law is about to be broken. And Teddy…no scheming about my love life! You and Chris stay out of it!”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever you say mate,” Teddy said, fooling no one before Josh hit a button and disappeared from the call.

“Right, so before all hell breaks loose,” Chimney glared at Hen beside him who shut her mouth and glared right back petulantly. “Teddy, I need you to confirm that the love of my life and mother of my child is in fact doing fine as she says. You’re taking good care of her, right?”

Teddy sat down his phone and moved around the couch to sit beside Hermione with a sigh. “Uncle Chim, she’s a healer. If Aunt ‘Mione says she’s doing fine, then she’s doing fine. But yeah, she really is by all I’ve seen. I even massaged her feet because I’m a good nephew that way.”

“Uh huh…what do you want?” Harry crossed his arms and asked because Teddy was a wonderful son and nephew, but he was absolutely not going to massage someone’s feet unless he had an ulterior motive.

Teddy smiled broadly, and Harry knew he was right. “Well…I could really use an iPad for my studies, like one with the pencil for design and drawing.”

“And you can’t buy it for yourself because…” Harry asked with a raise of his eyebrow.

Teddy gave him a sheepish smile that had Harry very suspicious. “Well…Victoire didn’t have a smart phone to keep in touch with me…”

Harry sighed loudly. “Fine, but I’m not upping your allowance. You’re already getting free room and board with your aunt.”

“Brilliant! Thanks Dad!” Teddy grinned happily. Harry was so happy he had such a good kid because he figured he was probably a pushover as a dad.

“Well, me and my feet feel very used,” Maddie rolled her eyes and shoved Teddy’s shoulder.

“Oi! I’ll still rub your feet, preggers lady!” Teddy protested with a laugh as he threw his arm around Maddie’s shoulders.

“Ok, so back to me now!” Hen cut in, waving her hands at Chimney’s camera. “I’ll walk up the stairs to your loft Buck and throttle you myself if you don’t start explaining. Who’s the purple haired kid?!”

Buck rubbed the back of his neck wondering if they could get out of this without explaining magic. “And why the hell do you look like that?!” Hen leaned in further and pointed at something on the screen.

“Damn,” Harry breathed out when Eddie gave a pull to the long black hair he just now realized he hadn’t even thought about once during this call. He’d just gotten out of the shower when they’d made the call, and he hadn’t expected to see Hen again until morning since it was late when they’d gotten off their shift.

“Ha! Not my fault!” Teddy pointed at the screen and grinned. Yes, well…living together in his tiny loft was absolutely not the most ideal situation for maintaining a secret it seemed.

Eddie leaned forward slightly. “Teddy, can’t you just use some political, lordy, mojo whatever and say we aren’t breaking the law?”

Harry rolled his eyes even as Teddy laughed. “Well, we aren’t in England, mate, and it doesn’t really work that way anyway. I think you’re on your own here. Dad probably has a decent shot of not being prosecuted though since he’s…you know…him.”

“Which means, that I think Teddy and me should go. It’s late and the pregnant people need sleep anyway,” Maddie leaned towards her screen.

“Traitor!” Chimney accused even as her screen when blank.

“Right…so…what now?” Eddie asked them all.

Hen crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow. “Well, considering we’re all in the same apartment currently, how about we stop this ridiculousness and turn off the cameras and you two come downstairs to face the music.”

With a wince, Harry hit the end button and looked at Eddie. “Do you feel like this is our funeral, because I kind of do? Frankly, I’m more scared of Hen than MACUSA any day.”

“At least Ron and Athena aren’t here?” Eddie suggested with a shrug before standing with a sigh and giving Harry a shove out of the bed.

Harry drug his feet but did tromp down the stairs to his living room where Chimney and Hen were sitting together on the couch. “We need tea for this,” he said before turning heading to his kitchen area to start the kettle. Yeah, he was procrastinating, but he was British, and this definitely did call for tea.

“Does everyone know whatever this is that’s going on besides me?” Hen asked the group, clearly hurt more than anything else, and Harry hated that. It’s just…the Statute of Secrecy was very strict in general but didn’t seem to take into account quarantining with a muggle. In his opinion, it was a when not if they slipped.  

Chimney winced, clearly liking this whole situation even less than he did. “I wanted to tell you, Hen…like really, really wanted to tell you, but Josh was right and we’re kind of breaking a law right now.”

Hen didn’t look like she was buying it and just looked expectantly at Eddie who dragged a chair from the kitchen bar over to sit on by them. “The kid said ‘our dads’ when he was talking to your son,” she prompted. “That teenager was clearly referring to our Buck as ‘dad’ and I need an explanation for that!”

“Teddy is technically an adult,” Harry started, but got an exasperated look from Eddie that made him stop. “Fine, yes, I’m Teddy’s godfather, but since his parents died when he was only days old, I’ve been the only dad he’s ever known.”

“You have a kid…since when…?” Hen started before shaking her head. “Right, since he was days old…I got that. But that doesn’t make sense. You aren’t old enough. Where has he been all this time? Why didn’t we know about him? And why is your hair suddenly like that, and what happened to your birthmark?”

“You might want to go with one question at a time,” Chimney patted her arm. “If they answer everything at once you’ll feel like your head is exploding, trust me on that. I had a headache for days.”

“Teddy has been at boarding school the whole time you’ve known me,” Harry answered, slipping back into his British accent. “I share custody with his grandmother, so he’s visited a few times since I started at the 118, but not enough that I’ve introduced him to everyone…Remember how I’m in hiding from my ex-boyfriend…?”

Hen’s eyes softened some at that with some more understanding. “And you’ve known your friend Ron for a long time who is British, and I’m assuming you and your sister are too then, so faking an American accent was part of that being in hiding?” Harry nodded, pouring the water into mugs with teabags for them all.

“And, as we all know, our friend Buck doesn’t do things by halves,” Chimney began. “So, it seems when he dates an abusive bastard, he doesn’t go for a regular one but the leader of a country with access to the press and his own military.”

Harry winced, but Chimney wasn’t exactly wrong there. “Wait…what?!” Hen coughed and looked at them all in disbelief.

“He’s tried to kill Buck a couple times now,” Eddie jumped in. “Before Buck left England and he sent someone to poison him…remember the embolism? It wasn’t an embolism.”

“What the hell?” Hen breathed out with wide eyes.

Harry grimaced and carried the mugs over for them. “To be fair…it may not have been his intention to kill me back in England, that was more of my own supposition and extrapolation of my own injuries." Eddie and Chimney both glared at him, and Hen threw in a glare of her own surprisingly.

“Well, anyway,” Harry rolled his eyes. “I look young for my age, so I knocked a few years off when I applied to be a firefighter. I’m actually Ron and Maddie’s age; we were all in the same year at school.”

Hen frowned and it took a second for Harry to catch his mistake. “How are you the same age as your sister? Are you twins?”

Harry winced and just went to grab his own tea. Maybe he should have pulled out the alcohol instead. “So, first, Maddie is my sister, but we aren’t actually related…”

“They are as much siblings as they can be without blood,” Eddie finished for him. “But everyone knew that back in England, so they had to change their backstory when Maddie moved here to join him a couple years ago.”

“Ok, so I’m following…but none of that explains…” she waved her hand up and down in front of Harry. “Not even a wig and makeup explains this…”

“Right, so let me tell you a bedtime story,” Chimney smiled teasingly and kicked his feet up on the coffee table.

Hen snorted at him but got more comfortable on the couch with her tea. “It better be good. I haven’t had a bedtime story told to me since I was Denny’s age.”

“Oh, it is,” Eddie smirked, and Harry walked over to beside him, summoning the Elder Wand to his hand. With a flick, Eddie’s kitchen chair was a floral sofa big enough for Harry to join him on. Harry sighed at the sight of it; the wand always did want to do floral…it had spent way too much time with Dumbledore. They were so going to have a talk later about acceptable upholstery patterns.

Hen gasped and looked ready to pass out. “What…?”

“So, this bedtime story,” Chimney began again as if nothing had happened. “It has magic in it, and war, and a bad guy out for world domination, and it even has a few plucky heroes who traveled to our continent just to annoy a poor firehouse full of innocent bystanders.”

“I don’t think I want Chimney telling the story,” Harry whined to Eddie.

“Shush, it’s his turn,” Eddie just smirked back.

So, technically everyone Harry was close to at the 118 now knew about magic. Technically, because Athena and Bobby were still being stubborn. Bobby apparently still thought his wife was just ‘spiritual,’ and Athena wouldn’t let them levitate the firetruck to convince him of something she thought he should just believe on her word.

Once they were told, Ron and Athena weren’t even that perturbed that the group had filled in Hen. Frankly, they both had thought it was inevitable since she was staying in the same house with Buck and Eddie and didn’t plan to arrest them as long as Hen tell anyone else, and she decidedly though that no one would believe her anyway. Things were a little hectic with MACUSA and quarantine, so Ron didn’t think anyone would care, but they also didn’t want to push their luck, so they all decided to keep it quiet.

As it turned out, there was a wager going about how Hen would find out from the very start of quarantine that Buck and Eddie both were pissed they weren’t in on even though it was about them. Chim just thought it was hilarious and said he would have lost anyway. Apparently, Hermione won the money since Athena had bet on Hen catching Eddie being all vampire and drinking blood, Ron had bet on Chimney spilling the beans, and only Hermione thought it was going to be Harry’s hair of all things that gave them away.

Everything was pretty much back to normal, well, as it could be in a worldwide pandemic. Things were looking better though with rumors of a vaccine soon and things maybe opening back up again. Besides a lot of questions from Hen at night after their shifts, work was the same, especially since none of the other firefighters knew anything about magic and Bobby still didn’t quite believe. However, all this led to everyone looking at him for answers when the probie ruined their shift with the one thing all probies were specifically told not to do!

“So, how was your shift?” Eddie asked Ravi when they were passing him leaving with the B shift when they took over.

“Not bad at all, it was actually a really quiet shift,” Ravi smiled while everyone groaned, and Chimney acted like the probie had just set the place on fire.

“What did I do?” Ravi asked in confusion and Chimney grabbed him and led him away to disabuse him of any notion of using that cursed word ever again.

Eddie snorted and rolled his eyes before looking over at Buck. “That’s ridiculous, curses don’t exi…” he trailed off with a frown as his face fell as his own words hit him.

“Want to try that again, love?” Buck crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow at the vampire who seemed to be about to say he didn’t believe in curses.

“But surely, that’s just a silly superstition,” Eddie shook his head stubbornly. “You can’t curse a word.”

Harry snorted and about pulled out his cellphone to rant to Hermione about the stupid thing his boyfriend just said. “Remind me to explain a taboo to you at some point,” he said with a wince at all the bad associations that brought to mind. Merlin, but he didn’t want to think about that!

“So…there’s a taboo on qui…uh, the ‘q’ word?” Eddie thankfully caught himself. Did saying it twice maybe negate it? No, it’d probably just make it worse.

“I will smack you with Buck’s clipboard,” Chimney growled at Eddie when he joined them again, having sent off a scared looking probie to deal with later. Buck held onto his clipboard tighter, not trusting Chimney to be bluffing.

“Right, what do we do Buck?” Chimney looked at him seriously. “Dance around the firetruck chanting? Light some sage?”

“Wait, wait…so this is an actual thing?” Hen asked, her eyebrows as high as they would go. “Like I knew it was a thing, but like an actual magical thing?!”

Buck just shrugged at the three of them. “So, curses and jinxes don’t actually work like that normally,” he said with a sigh. He hadn’t believed it himself until the shift he’d mistakenly said it. Now, he was firm believer. It went against all magical theory, but did hit on some mystical theory.

“However, even though curses don’t normally work that way, sometimes a strong belief in a thing can actually lend it power, and this is a very strong belief in all firehouses, hospitals, police stations, and many other places. That much belief in something, can actually bend the rules of magic to make it a thing,” he explained the conclusion he’d come to himself over the years.

“So, what can we do?” Hen asked the question Buck didn’t know the answer to. It turned out he didn’t need to know the answer anyway because the bell went off and they started their shift from hell.

It all started with the naked man duct taped to a billboard that caused a car crash, and Eddie running into Chris’s old teacher who flirted like her life depended on it. Eddie did all he could to escape while Buck, Chimney, and Hen just laughed at him and didn’t help in the slightest. Then there was the string of calls that kept them from ever getting lunch which went from a cat and husband both stuck in tree, Buck getting thrown up on by a furry, an octopus escaping a Japanese restaurant and falling on an unsuspecting woman in a bathroom, a man stuck under a chair in a theatre, a kid in a washing machine, clowns on helium, and so on and so forth.

It wasn’t until they were literally trapped in their own firetruck with powerlines all around them from a fallen utility pole before everyone had a moment to look at Buck again with a question in their eyes. “Seriously, dude…sage? A counter-spell? You have to fix this,” Chimney said emphatically. “I’m hungry, and we’re going to be the laughing stocks of the entire fire department!”

Bobby turned around in his seat with a question in his eyes now too about all of them looking at Buck. “Buck knows how to fix a curse? Why?” Bobby asked.

“I already texted Maddie,” Chimney ignored him and waving his phone around like a madman. “She said this isn’t a thing and we’re all just being ridiculous. I texted Ron next, and he said to ask Maddie, so what is it, Buck?”

“It’s clearly a thing,” Hen motioned to the powerlines all around them.

“I’m texting Josh,” Buck pulled out his phone. “His aunt is into divination. Maybe she’ll know. I failed Divination miserably, and Maddie didn’t even take it…well, walked out of class in a huff at least, so I wouldn’t trust her word on this anyway…everything else, but not mystical stuff.”

“Is Divination like telling the future?” Eddie asked with wide eyes. “Now that’s a thing now too?!”

“Why are suddenly all my firefighters into witchcraft?” Bobby glared. “And, Buck, are you saying you took a class in fortune telling somewhere? Really, you all must be reasonable…”

“Actually, Josh has a point,” Buck waved his phone at all of them after it pinged with a text message from his friend. “This isn’t a mage problem to solve, it’s a hedge witch problem! That’s why Maddie and I don’t know anything about it. This isn’t my type of magic, but it is Athena’s!”

“Wait what?” Bobby startled. “What’s my wife got to do with this?”

“I’m calling her,” Buck ignored the stubborn man and called his wife because this day was spiraling concerningly fast.

“You all still cursed?” Athena answered the phone with a chuckle. “And finally someone things to call me.”

“Wait…you didn’t do this to us, did you?” Buck couldn’t help his suspicious tone there.

“Boy! Don’t make me arrest you for stealing whatever it is that you took from me last!” Athena chided, and yeah, his accusation hadn’t been called for. Buck was suddenly uncomfortably reminded that he still had some of Athena’s sunglasses from the ward he’d put around her police car.

“Just tell us what we need to do ‘Thena!” Hen spoke up, thankfully saving Buck from having to admit to the sunglasses theft.

“You need some bells and bay leaves,” Athena said in her no-nonsense manner. “It won’t solve the issue, but I heard from a little-birdy dispatcher that your firetruck is currently trapped under powerlines. This may keep it from getting worse at least,” she ended with a chuckle.

“I’m texting Teddy,” Chimney already had his phone out. “He can bring it to the firehouse and maybe even get started on waving them around or whatever while he waits on us to get there.”

“Alright, so I might not believe in chancing fate, but this is a little too far,” Bobby cut in with a concerned look at them all. “We aren’t going to be ringing bells and waving bay leaves over the firetrucks.”

“No one dumbasses like my dumbass,” Athena was clearly rolling her eyes on the other end of the line. “Three times counterclockwise,” she said before hanging up on them.

“Right, I’m hungry and we don’t have time for this,” Chimney said just as the 136’s firetruck showed up to save them (and take pictures of their misfortune). “Buck just show him to prove the point so we can move on. This has gone on long enough.”

Buck motioned to the headset on his head and all the gear he was wearing. “I’ll never get the tangles out of my hair if I change right now. Any other ideas?”

“Eddie then…if you please,” Chimney sighed as if he’d been in the magical world his entire life and the fact that he was currently in a truck with a vampire and a wizard was absolutely old hand. Chimney really was very good and rolling with things.

Eddie gave a long-suffering sigh but looked at Bobby and opened his mouth wide. His fangs dropped down, and Eddie hissed as only a vampire could do, making Bobby and Hen both jump in fear. Oops…had they forgotten to tell Hen about Eddie being a vampire? Oh well, that was taken care of now at least.

Hen patted Bobby’s arm soothingly while they sat in the apparatus bay and watched Buck ring the bells and wave bay leaves at the firetruck while Chimney ‘supervised’ and critiqued his form. Eddie at least had left them to call out for Chinese food that they would hopefully get to eat. Hen was still trying to wrap her mind around the Eddie of it all.

“But…how?” Bobby said for probably the twentieth time.

Hen only had so much sympathy to give the man though. “Athena said she told you, explained everything. You were kind of being a dumbass about it.” Bobby looked up at her disbelievingly, but Hen glared right back. Bobby might be her captain, but Athena was her best friend besides Chimney. She knew where her loyalties were. 

“We live in California Hen,” Bobby stressed. “Literally everyone is into some kind of New Age crap. How was I supposed to know that my wife was actually some kind of witch when she said she was into the exact same kind of things we see all the time from charlatans on the pier?!”

“You thought your wife was a charlatan?” Hen had to ask next because Bobby was about to feel some wrath instead of sympathy.

“Well, no!” He protested, shaking his head. “But just because I think she believes something, doesn’t mean I have to!”

“Even when she’s right?” Hen motioned to Eddie who was returning from where he’d made the take-out call outside. Bobby winced and Hen had to hold in her own. The boys were going to get an earful for leaving out that very important piece of information just as soon as they were all alone.

“Well, I didn’t know that at the time,” he groaned and put his head in his hands. “So, Eddie is a vampire, and Buck is a witch? Are you and Chimney anything?”

“Thank God, no! And as for Buck, I think he goes by wizard or mage,” Hen shrugged, not exactly sure about the terminology even though they’d had a lot of talks at night in their shared apartment. Thankfully, things were looking better, pandemic-wise, and she thought she’d be able to go home soon. She was looking forward to no longer living with three men ever again! Well, and getting to see her wife and kid, but also not living with three men!

“And the teenager with the blue hair?” Bobby looked up. Buck’s kid had passed off the supplies they’d asked for as soon as they returned to the station, but apparently, he had to get to work or something and left promptly after with only a chuckle at the explanation of the problem they were facing.

Hen sighed tiredly at the question. “If I explain Teddy, that’s going to open up a whole other box of crazy that I don’t think we should get into in a fire station where someone could hear who isn’t permitted to know. Plus, we’re probably going to get another call just any second now.”

Bobby let out all the air in his lungs and nodded. “Does Athena know about all this at least?”

“Yeah, she can fill you in tonight now that you’ll finally believe what she’s telling you,” Hen patted his arm again, back to sympathy since he seemed to be pulling his head out of his ass now.

“Right, so I need to throw together an apology dinner to rival every dinner I’ve ever made before,” he stood, already pulling out his phone to Google recipes.

“Ooo, I’ll text you my beef wellington recipe! I used that one to apologize for wrecking Maddie’s car that time,” Buck called, walking over to them now that he was presumably done.

Bobby narrowed his eyes at Buck and frowned again. “Just how much do I not know about you, kid?”

Buck shrugged with a smile. “You know exactly who I am, Bobby. It’s just…the little facts that are missing or fudged a bit…”

“Like your entire past, backstory, appearance, age, and even name?” Hen snorted, not even believing he was going to try that.

Bobby almost dropped his phone before putting a hand up to stop them from saying anything else. “Stop…does Athena know about everything and can fill me later?”

“Er…yeah…” Buck trailed off, sharing a bemused look with Hen.

“Then shut it. We have to make it through this shift from hell, then I’ll deal with whatever this is,” Bobby huffed before turning on his heel and striding up the stairs. He made it two steps up before the bell went off again, getting a collective groan from the entire firehouse.

Bobby had believed in magic for a couple weeks before he felt ready and able to finally talk to someone about it besides his wife. He couldn’t believe how blind he’d been all these years. Just the stunts that Buck pulled on shift alone and was successful at should have clued him in that magic was a real thing. Plus, Eddie…well, Eddie never really did eat unless someone made him, and he really shouldn’t have survived the well collapse. And none of this was even taking into account his own wife making potions in their kitchen and carving protection runes into his turnouts.

The most shocking of all was Buck though…or rather Harry. The person his stepson had been named after surprisingly enough before any of them had even met the man. So, Bobby held him back after a shift, just to talk and finally clear the air some.

Buck sat across from him in his office and smiled slightly. “Er…so…mind if I don’t fake the American accent for a bit?”

Bobby waved his hand in acceptance. He’d tell the kid he could change his appearance except his office was glass. He still hadn’t seen what Buck really looked like yet, but Athena had assured him that it was only surface changes and Buck was still Buck under it all.

Bobby sighed and ran a hand over his face. “So, you’re a father…and a war hero…and apparently a celebrity.”

Buck shrugged and blushed as if it were nothing. Everything about the action was every bit of what Bobby knew was his Buck. He relaxed slightly, seeing the truth under all the lies and half-truths. Buck had said that he did know him, and Bobby wasn’t quite so sure about that, but he did understand that he knew Buck’s heart, and that was what was most important.

“And you were a fugitive when I hired you?” He asked next because that was what both shocked him the most and frankly made him accept the rest since it offered an explanation for it all.

“So…technically,” Buck winced. “I have asylum in this country now though, and even Canada has said I can have asylum there now if I want it…I think they’re actually trying to get me to move, but I like it here.”

Bobby forcefully decided not to think about that. He just nodded and asked the question he’d called this meeting specifically to ask. “Does this change anything now…me knowing? Does it change anything with you and me or here at work?”

Buck frowned at him before quacking shaking his head. “No, Bobby. We’re still us, you just know more now. I’m still Buck Buckley here at work, but maybe I can let my hair down so to speak when we’re alone. We can be more honest.”

Bobby felt the tension leaving his shoulders. He didn’t know what this meant to their relationship. Even just learning that Buck was older was a shock in itself, let alone everything else. “Why do you look so young anyway?” He asked.

Buck smiled broadly for some reason. “You know…you’re the only one who’s actually asked me that. I get Eddie, he’s faking being older instead of younger, but I’m surprised Chim and Hen didn’t ask. It’s not like I’m hiding it, but no one has questioned the way I look, and it’s a little out there to just bring up with no warning.”

“Well?” Bobby chuckled.

“There’s a children’s story in the magical world call the Tale of the Three Brothers…would you like to hear it?” Buck leaned forward and put his elbows on Bobby’s desk to ask him.

“I’d love to hear it,” he smiled, and settled in for whatever this new truth was.

Eddie was washing the firetruck when the man walked up to the station. He paused in surprise at the exceptionally nice suit and very GQ type look to the tall, black man who sauntered up to him. The man was wearing a dark mask, but even with the little of his face Eddie could see, he had bright eyes, pulled off a bald head really well, and a was wearing a complicated earring that made his appearance a little more noticeable and interesting from the rest of the suit and tie look.

“Hello, can I help you?” Eddie put his own mask on quickly. The world had opened up again, but everyone was still advised to wear masks when at all possible, and it was department policy still too.

“Are you Edmundo Diaz?” The man asked, his bright eyes twinkling a little like he was smiling behind the mask. Eddie felt himself suddenly put at ease even as he was surprised his man was looking for him of all people.

He put down the water hose in his hand to face the man more. “I am. Can I help you with something?”

“I’m hoping to help you, actually,” he said. “I work with the VA, and we’re checking in on veterans in the area after the pandemic to make sure your needs are being met and that you know about our new mental health programs.”

“Oh,” Eddie was shocked to hear that since the VA was notoriously over-worked and under-staffed to be able to send someone out to check on people. Plus, it was shocking that someone who worked at the VA would dress as nicely as this guy. “Um, yeah, I’m fine. Thank you though. My boyfriend has a new therapist who has this practice with other therapists. Anyway, I have an appointment with one of the other therapists soon at the same practice. It’s all covered by my insurance here though, so no need to go through the VA.”

“Really,” the man stepped forward some. “Would you be willing to talk about your time after the Army and settling in to a new civilian life? It would really help me and the VA in how we help other veterans. I’d buy your lunch as a small thank you for your time?”

While the man seemed very nice and everything about him said he was kind and trying to be helpful, also…something just didn’t rub Eddie right about it all. But…but, if it was all legit, he would like to help other veterans. Maybe if they met somewhere in public just for lunch. Even if this guy was running some kind of scam, it was just a lunch. Something about Eddie was telling him he wouldn’t normally agree to this, but he found himself saying yes anyway. He wasn’t sure why, but it seemed right…even as it seemed wrong…

“Sorry…what was your name again?” Eddie asked when the man shook his hand after agreeing to lunch after his shift.

“James Black,” the man smiled and turned to leave. “I’ll see you in a few hours, Eddie Diaz.”

Chapter Text

Buck didn’t like when he and Eddie were scheduled on different shifts, but Eddie was covering a shift for Parker on B-Shift since he'd gotten the flu (thankfully not COVID), so Buck was off work and with nothing to do besides spoil their kids for the day. Admittedly, the zoo was a little more geared towards Chris’s age group than Teddy’s, but Teddy had never been to a zoo before and had only studied magical creatures in school so he had little to no experience with normal exotic animals. Thankfully, it turned out that Teddy was just as excited to see an elephant in real life as Chris was even though he was supposedly a teenager and too cool for kiddie activities. Also, thankfully, Teddy and Chris were still so excited to have each other in their lives now, that they still got along amazingly even with the age difference.

It probably helped that after being stuck inside for so long during the pandemic, Buck had a feeling that he could have taken them to a knitting expedition and they’d be excited for it though just to be outside. Plus, the two trouble makers had their new bonding activity…matchmaking…

“You do realize you two didn’t set up me and Eddie, right? No matter how you are attempting to spin that story to yourselves,” He reminded them as they left the zoo hyped up on sugar and a little sunburned. “We did that all on our own, thank you very much.”

“You just keep telling yourself that, Dad,” Teddy smirked at him.

“Yeah,” Chris said in his ear since Buck was currently giving him a piggyback ride to the Jeep. “Listen to Teddy. He’s been dating Vicky longer than you and Dad have been. He's the expert in relationships in this family.” And wasn't that the sad truth!! 

“Someone needs a healthy relationship in his family besides just me,” Teddy chuckled. Buck rolled his eyes because it seemed he was destined to be in a family with the Weasleys by marriage one way or another. He’d figured the teenage romance would fizzle out at some point, but over a year later, and Teddy and Bill’s daughter were still going strong. Oh well, he'd been resigned to being a part of the Weasley family for better or worse since he was twelve and was rescued from his bedroom via a flying car. 

“And when is Victoire coming to visit?” Buck asked because his location still wasn’t common knowledge, but he’d never be concerned about the Weasleys knowing where he was, especially since Ron lived there now. He was absolutely certain Mrs. Weasley was knitting a kid jumper and a vampire jumper for the Diaz boys for this next Christmas already. 

“You’re changing the subject,” Teddy glared, walking backwards in front of them, his blond hair exactly matching Chris’s and Buck’s fake hair color too, making them all look much more related than they actually were. “I’m all for people being single if they want to be, but you have to admit that Uncle Ron doesn’t do that well being alone. He moved in with Josh the second he came to LA instead of getting his own place, which he most definitely can afford. He needs someone, and he actually does seem to know that thankfully.”

“While that may be the case,” Buck couldn’t disagree there at all. “One, we don’t know that Ron has ever dated a bloke before or even wants too…even if he’s let slip that he might not be as straight as we all assumed. And two, Josh doesn’t want to date a magical person. Like that was literally why he broke up with me.”

“He could just not like you,” Chris said teasingly.

“Ooo, burn!” Teddy reached up and fist-bumped the kid even as Buck rolled his eyes at them.

“Plus, people change and circumstances change,” Teddy added more seriously. “Like being stuck inside an apartment with a wizard during a worldwide pandemic. Exposure therapy and all.”

“What’s expo…” Chris frowned.

“Exposure therapy,” Teddy answered him patiently just as he always did. “It means that the longer you spend around something that you’re afraid of or that bothers you, the less you’ll be afraid of it and tolerate it more.”

“Oh…yeah, that,” Chris poked Buck inside the ear, getting a grimace from him.

“Oi! I’ll put you down and make you walk,” he threatened, knowing he wouldn’t do that at all. “Regardless, I don’t know what you two think you can accomplish in matchmaking those two. They already live together. If they’re going to get together, they will, and if not, there’s nothing you can do about it.”

“Can we get pizza?” Teddy asked, clearly ignoring his protests while he opened the driver’s door to the Jeep that now didn’t need a key for any of its functioning and ran solely on wards and sparks of magic ever since the kid had too much time on his hands and a new apprenticeship in techno-magic.

“Sure, right after we make a stop first, but you aren’t driving,” Buck said sternly, putting Chris down on the ground. “You don’t have your license yet, and Eddie would kill me.”

“Eh, I’m not concerned, you’re immortal,” Teddy shrugged with a smirk, but did move around to the passenger side.

“Buck,” Chris tugged on his arm instead of climbing into the backseat. “You’re immortal? Like you can’t die?”

Buck just smiled and leaned down. “Yeah, kiddo. I’m immortal just like your dad, so no getting rid of me that easily.”

“Maybe a little more indestructible than even your dad though,” Teddy added on while fishing his sunglasses out of the glove-box.

“But not all wizards are immortal?” Chris frowned, looking between himself and Teddy.

“No,” Buck shook his head and helped Chris climb into the Jeep. “I’m kind of a special case.”

“Cool,” the kid grinned, always the best of them all with rolling with whatever new insanity came their way. “Then I always get to keep you.”

Buck couldn’t help the catch in his throat and the reminder of all the father-figures he’d lost over the years, of what Teddy had lost too…of Chris losing Shannon. “Yeah, buddy,” he ruffled Chris’s hair and cleared his throat. “You’ll always get to keep me if I have anything to say about it.”

“So, where are we stopping before pizza?” Teddy asked when Buck got into the Jeep and started the engine with a spark of his magic.

“I need to stop by the bank,” he said in resignation at finally getting around to handling this. “Since I have you both here, there are a few things I need Teddy to sign now that you’re a legal adult, and the Sidhe want to get Chris’s magical signature on file for his accounts.”

“Cool! Magical bank!” Chris breathed out like this was even more exciting than the zoo…which, maybe? Buck personally thought the Sidhe realm was a little more exciting than even Gringotts...with actual added danger...though with how much the goblins currently hated him, it may actually be the same level of danger; the Sidhe just really liked him is where the danger lay. 

Teddy grumbled a little but shrugged. “Fine, Draco said he sent some paperwork to the bank from the last Wizengamot session that he wants me to look over. I was putting it off as long as possible.”

Buck frowned because Draco was supposed to be handling everything for Teddy right now. “Malfoy isn’t making you take on more responsibilities than before you graduated now, is he? You’re still continuing your education.”

“No, no, calm down your righteous anger,” Teddy firmly shook his head and chuckled. “No, Draco just sends along the minutes so I know what’s coming up on the docket and how he’s voting for me so that I can tell him if I want him to do something in particular or care about an issue differently than he does.”

“Oh, good,” Buck nodded firmly, glad to hear the situation was still working for them all since he wouldn’t know how to change their system from a continent away when he was still a wanted fugitive in England.

He and Malfoy still weren’t the best of friends, but they were friendly at least…or well, tolerated each other while still wishing the other would end up in the most embarrassing situation possible. But still, Malfoy had grown up to be a decent person and good cousin to Teddy, so Buck knew he really should be more generous in his esteem. But also, Malfoy had been one of the many people Blaise had cheated on him with…then again Malfoy had cursed Blaise with some kind of very painful rash when he learned they were both being played…so maybe that all washed out in the end too. Whatever…not something he had to deal with in that current moment.

“Anyway, you two will be safe since you are under my authority and care,” Buck told them seriously. “However, just to be absolutely safe, do not eat or drink anything given to you at the bank, don’t sign anything I haven’t read over first, and absolutely do not wander off with any Sidhe, even Darragh, and even if you need to go to the loo or something.”

“Are…uh…She?...scary?” Chris asked, now with concern in his voice.

“Not in the slightest,” Teddy assured him even though Buck didn’t think that was exactly right. The Sidhe could definitely be very scary if they wanted, but they also really loved children and did respect a parent’s custody...when the parent was a customer of theirs at least...

“Darragh is pretty cool too,” Teddy added, and Buck could agree with that. “Though, I’m not sure why you don’t bank with the vampires like Uncle Ron does, especially since you’re dating Eddie now.”

“Eddie doesn’t even bank with the vampires,” Buck responded before he wondered if Eddie even knew about the vampire banking system. Surely one of the vampires at the blood bank would have told him though…right?

“Whatever, they’re always a little too interested in me whenever I deal with them, like they want something from me or want me to do something for them.”

Buck pulled the Jeep into the bank’s parking lot and cut the engine. He let the changes to his appearance go since he was about to walk into the bank and would need to look like Harry Potter. “You ready?” He asked them both.

“I feel a little…disappointed,” Chris frowned at the very boring and bland building in front of them.

“Oh, just you wait, little bro,” Teddy laughed before jumping out of the Jeep and walking around to help Chris out.

It didn’t take long before they got the expected gasps of surprise and wonder from Chris when they crossed into the Sidhe realm and the lush gardens and waterfalls that made up the bank offices. “Welcome, young mages!” Darragh beamed at them both, his razor-sharp teeth glinting in the light of a sun that seemed to come from all angles instead of a central location.

“Hey mate,” Teddy did some kind of complicated handshake with the banker that the two of them had come up with years ago and that Harry really needed to look into that it didn’t constitute signing a person’s life away if Teddy was ever not under his parental authority anymore. Sidhe sometimes interpreted things in a twisty way to get what they wanted, even if they really didn’t view it as malicious in the slightest…they really did think it best for the humans to adopt them into their realm…and they maybe weren’t completely wrong, but Harry sure as hell wasn’t going to lose Teddy to them.

“You must be young Christopher Diaz,” Darragh knelt slightly to shake Chris’s hand who looked a little shyer than usual as he tentatively gave the green hand a shake.

“Hello…sir…” Chris clutched his crutches and leaned back into Harry more when his hand was released.

Darragh laughed brightly. “You may call me Darragh. We have no honorifics in the Sidhe world,” he said, which never did explain why Darragh insisted on using honorifics with Harry and Teddy all the bloody time.

“Sir Harry, if you will follow me,” Darragh turned and led them to his desk by the waterfall. It now had a large toadstool to sit on that looked actually very comfortable. Darragh seemed to be doing well at the bank since his desk area was nicer every time Harry visited. Without any ado, Teddy plopped onto the toadstool and smiled at them all.

“Tea? Juice?” Darragh offered with a smile.

“Seriously?” Harry just glared and sat in the chair beside Chris. “Teddy said Lord Malfoy sent some papers for him to look over?”

“Ah, yes,” Darragh pulled a file out of a desk drawer and handed it to Teddy who immediately began to flip through it. “Now, I assume we’re handling Mr. Diaz’s magical signature and Lord Black’s entrance into his majority today? We need the elder Mr. Diaz for a blood test as well since he doesn’t have a magical signature to enter into our files.”

“He’s at work today, but I’ll bring him by sometime soon,” Harry said dismissively while he looked through the paperwork Darragh passed to him for both Chris and Teddy.

“Uh…Mr… or uh, Darragh?” Chris asked tentatively. “Why do you keep trying to get people to stay here with you?”

Darragh leaned back in his desk chair and smiled broadly. “Well, why wouldn’t we?” He chuckled and motioned to the lush gardens around them. “Our realm is powered by magic, and the more magical beings who live here, then the stronger the Sidhe and our realm is…and why would anyone not want to live here?”

Harry looked up at the man with a raise of his eyebrow. “There is the little caveat of the whole not being able to leave ever again bit though that seems extremely important to mention.”

Darragh shrugged and only gave them an unrepentant smirk. “But why would anyone want to leave?”

Harry rolled his eyes and passed the paperwork to Teddy since Darragh had followed bank procedure and not added anything questionable into it. He trusted Darragh, he really did, but he was a firm believer in trust but verify for everything, and that actually seemed to gain him more trust himself with the Sidhe surprisingly.

He was halfway through the documents for Chris’s accounts that he was going to make copies of to give to Eddie when a Sidhe woman walked over and leaned down to whisper something to Darragh. The man frowned before nodding and giving a little dismissive wave of his hand sending her off. Darragh frowned sharply at them, and Harry was suddenly concerned. He’d never seen the Sidhe ruffled in the slightest. Whatever this was had to be bad.

“Is everything ok, Darragh?” He asked, his eyes tracking every little expression of concern crossing the man’s face.

Darragh leaned forward and put his elbows on his desk, pinning Harry with his amber/orange eyes. “We aren’t exactly sure, but my guess is...no,” he said slowly. “Based on our interests in your accounts, we’ve been keeping a close eye on the happenings in the British magical world. With you human's pandemic, we may have been lulled into a false sense of security.”

“Oh?” Harry hadn’t initially thought this situation had anything to do with him, but now he was exceptionally concerned, even Teddy sat up and put down the folder he’d been looking over.

“It seems that with normal business operations being moved to people’s homes and no way for face-to-face communication besides the floo network, no one realized that Madam Parkinson has been handling all of Minister Shacklebolt’s correspondence and duties for the past week if not longer,” Darragh explained, and Harry felt his stomach sink dramatically. “This morning the head of the DMLE, a Mr. Robards, stopped by the minister’s home, and it seems he is not there and hasn’t been for a time. Our sources say he has not legally accessed a portkey, and we’ve checked into muggle transportation, but we can’t be sure if he’s used a fake name to travel by air or obtained an illegal portkey.”

Merlin, but the Sidhe must have excellent sources! Harry suddenly wished he’d known this back when he’d been an auror. Now though…now this was extremely concerning. “So…he could be here in LA?” It was his worst fear coming to life once again. "No...he's definitely in LA."

Harry immediately reached out to put a hand on Chris’s shoulder. At least Chris and Teddy were here with him and safe. He had a lot of family out there not safe though. It all came back to the Hedwig plushy he'd been sent in the mail. It was a promise. It was a promise that Harry wasn’t the one Kingsley would come after, not first at least. He wanted Harry to suffer and watch those who protected him hurt first. 

He was still reasonably certain Kingsley wouldn’t go after a child, and he figured Hermione was probably safe because of being nine months pregnant and due any day now herself. But there was Ron and Athena and Hen and Chim and Bobby…and Harry suddenly knew exactly who Kingsley was going after. He’d found Harry through the school registry since they'd listed him as being married to Eddie. If Kingsley couldn’t have him, then no one could. It fit every little thing Harry knew about his ex. 

“I need to check on Eddie,” he said abruptly, pulling out his cellphone.

“That will not work in our realm,” Darragh said because, of course.

“Can we apparate out of here?” he asked next then, looking at Teddy who looked spooked and Chris who just looked very confused at what was happening since they had very purposefully not filled him in on any of this. Chris didn't need this fear in his life, and Buck really wished he could spare him it even now. 

Darragh nodded. “I will come with you. I admit, I’m concerned you are correct in your suppositions. The children can stay here with my people if you like. I assure you they will be safe and returned to you. You have my promise as a Sidhe.”

Harry looked at Teddy questioningly. A Sidhe promise was just as binding as a wizard’s oath. “Teds…can you keep an eye on Chris for me and Eddie, please? Do you want to stay here or go to the loft? I think you’ll be safe in either location, but here…well, you aren’t really even on earth anymore. I think here is most secure.”