Reunions

Much like every time he went into the office, time seemed to slow to a crawl. By the time they ambled back to Anita’s car in an attempt to leave the station for the second or was it third time? He wasn’t sure but he did know they didn’t have long before the sun would be up, a few hours at best. His working mindset was so narrowing that even thinking about the normal social interactions he needed to focus on now was enough to give a man whiplash. Cases with children were always harder to compartmentalize.

He watched Anita shuffled into her seat with a look on her face. She didn’t have to say anything he knew this wasn’t anywhere near over. He sat quietly in the passenger seat while Anita drove right past what he thought was the exit for the hit hotel. Oh. He peeked at her out of the corner of his eye. She looked entirely too calm. He hated that. They’d both been in the game too long to know being calm in situations like this meant separation. She was building walls between them he had never seen before and he couldn’t do a damn thing about it.

“Anita,” Harry tried. 

“I watched them look you up.” She cut in. “The internet is a wonderful resource these days.”

Harry just nodded, he had looked Anita up when he saw the article trying to get a glimpse at what she’d been up to since it had been nearly thirty years since they’d seen each other last.

“Your history goes blank after you turn eleven except for a few summer garden competitions. Then all of a sudden you’re getting a commendation and a First Class award from the Queen herself.” She gained spirit as she ranted his public history at him. He already knew it, his many hidden qualifications and appointments forced him to memorize what they let out. “You told me yourself that you’d gotten accepted into the same school your parents went to. Hell you told me about the fucking mysterious cultist that tired to kill you but was that even real? I mean really a Knighthood at seventeen? What did you do, fight nazi’s?” She huffed. “Then you mysteriously get invited to agency after agency jumping from high profile case to high profile case. You had your hand in so many different pies, even some time served in the armed forces but most of it was redacted. You're one of the most secretive public figures to come out of Europe in recent times. If I didn’t know you and the people who raised you I'd have thought you were related to royalty with how many strings you seem to cut and lines you jumped.” She risked a glance at him clearly expecting an answer.

“I am not, nor have I ever been a liar.” Years of training and a goblin surgeon meant he didn’t react to the phantom twinges of pain in his left hand. “It was a serial killer cult, a bunch of family annihilators.” He told her quietly. “They used magic to bind themselves together under one man and kept resurrecting him when he would die. I took him out for a final time and sent his soul packing. I was seventeen and took out someone more powerful people had died trying to end. I gained myself a lot of attention and most of it was not what I needed or wanted.” Or asked for. He gripped his hands together glossing over the childhood war that brought him to the attention of so many different groups. He was not going to go into details, he had healed from those old hurts years ago. Therapy had gotten him this far but there was no need to cut at old scars. “As for my career after that I joined the pavement pushers to gather up the rest. Following that I went where my specific brand of help was needed. Turns out that was a lot more than anyone could have guessed.” Harry let that sink in. He understood that the why on how he received his knighthood was a not so hidden secret but anyone could have figured it out with a more extensive background search into the muggle news. 

He watched Anita’s jaw clench and her knuckles whiten before she relaxed and let out a silent breath. He could almost see the gears turning in her head. She was processing it and deciding whether she could still trust him or not. They’d been apart for more years than they had known each other. Where they once were thick as thieves willing to take on the world for each other they, well she had found new people to stand at her back, new people she was willing to take on gods for. He wished he was so lucky. He thought he had something like that once upon a time but maybe it just wasn’t his time. Maybe, if Potter Luck be good he would find that here, with her, again?

“As for the crown, well, technically I believe I am nearly a hundred and eightieth in line for the throne? Nothing worth considering but my father and godfathers noble titles did open some doors.” He sent her a cheeky grin, he was very serious and his family titles were lofty things he shouldn’t joke about but to the average American muggle they meant nearly nothing. Hereditary titles in a land that had never seen royalty in a position of power? He would have an easier time explaining old Voldy's life story. Besides he knew for a fact they did open doors for him otherwise he never would have been invited into the Queens private sector even with his illustrious history but here? Well it didn’t matter here. Not that it was something he wasn’t able to discuss with anyone, not now and maybe not ever. 

“Noble titles huh?” Anita shrugged. She understood this is one of those guy moments where you didn’t ask more questions but she was going to pretend she missed it. Being a girl worked out for you… sometimes. “You’ll have to introduce yourself to Jean-Claude.” She teased but they both knew she meant it. Not too bad, vampire politics were a pain but they respected power.

“So what, you joined the local constables? Until you grew too big for them and just kept going up from there?” She joked but the edge of steel in her voice meant she was truly asking.

“Pretty much, they wanted to put me behind a desk, paper pushing.” He frowned thinking about that year of floundering, just two years after the end of the war. They hadn’t even waited for the last Death Eater he rounds up to get a trial before offering him the head position. “Youngest Head of the Department sounds pretty on paper but is incredibly dull. I took my Knighthood and pushed for a rookie spot in the Queen's army.” It was the first and last time he got to pull that card. “Turns out joining an actually organized force puts you in the hands of others and well they sent me where they wanted me.” There was more to it but he didn’t want to get into the nitty gritty details, he didn’t need to tell her the force broke him down to build him back up besides some of the things he trained in he couldn’t elucidate even if he wanted to. Magical oaths were funny like that.

“So you’ve been a man in uniform since you were seventeen?” She asked, peeking at him while they waited at a red light. In the distance lights illuminated the sky. They were getting closer to the Circus of the Damned.

“Until now yea.” MACUSA gave him a badge and sent him on his way. It was nice to have that freedom again, even if it did bring him a shiny new very green handler. “Anita, why are we headed to the Circus?”

She didn’t answer him immediately, instead driving with a single minded focus. The last stretch of the drive took minutes but was far heavier than when they’d initially gotten into the car despite Anita being angrier then. He didn’t understand why she was taking him to see Jean-Claude, he wasn’t supposed to know the local Master's lair was there but it was one of those untold secrets so naturally everyone knew.

“While they did their background checks on you I called a friend of mine.” She sighed as she pulled into the parking lot.  “He knew your name without having to do any digging.” She parked and turned to look him dead in the eye. She looked dead ahead as she unbuckled her seatbelt.

Harry tensed in his seat. He waited. He knew she had a few friends that might know of him but he didn’t know which one she called. So he waited. 

“They call you the Master of Death.” 

There was a pang in his chest. It had been ages since anyone had been brave enough, bold enough to say those words to his face. Merlin be damned that title was going to follow him for the rest of his life. He held himself far too still, he would not overreact like he once would have.

“A title I earned years ago yes,” in truth the title gave him some gifts but nothing like the rumors behind it would have reported. That being said it also gained him the unfortunate title of necromancer. Truth be told he had no control over the dead, he could see souls and feel death magic but he couldn't manipulate it. He didn’t expand on this though, Anita was someone he had held onto when life got rough. She was his comforting thought when the nights were long and he did not want to beg at her knees for her to understand all the subtle nuances of a title he never asked for. Still he held out hope she wouldn’t judge him too harshly for it, she was a necromancer herself after all.

Anita reached out, quick as lightning, snatching his hand up in hers. “Why didn’t you tell me you were a necromancer?” The look in her eyes was searching, and hopeful. 

He hated it. He was going to have to disappoint her. He knew from her early letters that her abilities had given her all kinds of trouble, the dead followed her home until she got control and found a way to use her gift and while he understood the pains of magic that required use or it would make itself known he couldn’t relate to her like that. Mental images of Marge floating away notwithstanding. “Anita, I’m not. I can sense the dead. I can speak to ghosts. I can feel the souls of the recently deceased but I can’t return a soul to its body, can’t make them walk… Not like you.” He whispered the last bit. He held her hand in his trying to let her down gently.

Anita sighed but laughed. “I think I’m just glad to know you weren’t out there laughing at me for my lack of control.”

Harry stiffened at the idea, floored. “I would never-”

“I-I didn’t think you would… but it's been years and the things they told me about you,” Anita shook her head but side eyed him all the same. “The Harry I knew would have been a blushing mess at the idea of people talking about him. You’ve grown up pretty well, all things considered.” The grin she gave was all woman in a way he had never seen Anita do. Merlin.

Floundering under her attentions he turned to look at the back entrance to the Circus. “So you brought us to the circus?” He peaked at her fighting his blush.

She sat back, going back to a semi-serious expression. He almost regretted distracting her if he was honest. “Yes, Jean-Claude wants to meet you.”

Being escorted through security into the Masters lair seemed like a cliche but that's exactly what they did. Down an ridiculously long set of uneven stairs he had ever had the displeasure to walk down. He felt very much like a toddler trying out his first steps. Anita eyed his toddling for a minute, smirked and took off down the steps at a fast jog. Her laugh trailed behind her. Harry watched her hop down the steps, her glide smooth even with the uneven path. Interesting. He looked at his guard escorts and back at her. “Okay then,” With a shake of his head and a wry grin he raced after her.

The rest of security was pretty standard but also held a hint of goblin tendencies, winding hallways he was sure some people got very lost in. Until two guards stood outside a large heavy curtain. Anita shot him one last grin and stepped through, soft lights peeking out through the break until it fell into place once again. He eyed the guards standing on either side of the doorway one in a black shirt the other in red. Took a deep breath and walked through.

He must have taken longer than he thought to come through the door because Anita was on the far side of the room kissing a man with wavy black hair so dark it looked blue in these lights. He was impeccably dressed, from his thigh high boots to the teasing peak of lace up trousers to the flowing poet's shirt. He must have seen what Anita left in because otherwise he had nonclue as to why they matched together so perfectly. The two continued to kiss, hands pressing each other closer. Harry flushed watching them. Two beautiful people kissing in front of him? Jean-Claude and Anita- oh yea no. Harry let his occlumency flex as he pushed into the room. The vast room was like stepping into the past, “Artfully arranged.” He couldn’t help but say while he looked around. He definitely wasn't talking about the beautiful painting the two of them made.

He spotted a few others from their courts gathered but didn’t address them. When it came to vampire politics it was the height of rudeness to greet those lower than the head, or King in this case, first. He hadn't walked the lines of Vampire Court in an age but these things never truly changed. 

A blonde vampire lounged across the seat as though it were a cloud and he had no better perch. The man peaked at him from behind a curtain of long flowing hair. Like spun gold but if this vampire's hair was freshly spun gold then the man sat near him had eyes like a sun rising over a prairie, his magic felt wild, free. Vampire and, hmmm, werelion maybe? This one had a nonchalance that he could tell was both learned and deserved. Especially when Anita greeted him as well on her way around the room to see all her partners. In fact as he looked around he saw a much larger collection of people he knew she was in some form of relationship with just because MACUSA was that thorough. 

While she whispered, passing grips to arms and hands, even offering kisses to some he riffled through his pockets for that journal once more. Anita had never been a big planner but he was willing to bet his entire inheritance that Jean-Claude would not let her go without. Besides this journal was his labor of love. His secret treasure to reassure him that the summers he’d spent in America with their happy family had been real. He would see it through. He just hoped Anita didn’t hate him for coming back into her life like this after so many years… He never had explained what was happening back then but that was sort of the point of stopping all contact with her. In the grand scheme of things his excuse for not reaching out when the war was done is just as weak as the war excuse to begin with so he was definitely crossing his fingers and wishing on dandelions.

“You are Harry Potter, Anitas oldest friend.” A voice smooth as velvet curled around him like a gentle caress as it startled him out of his blank staring at all the people gathered around them. A few of the other people gathered in the room got closer whether to look at him or be part of the conversation he couldn’t pin-point which was which.

“Mysterious childhood friend from the shadows of England yep that's me,” Harry offered the silk voice that could only have come from the American Vampire King himself, Jean-Claude. He turned to face where he knew that man was standing even if the echoes of the voice would suggest otherwise. Anita had stepped away just enough that he could finally differentiate between where one of them ended and the other began but the longer he looked the less he wanted to do that. They complemented each other well. Her blank near emotionless stare paired well with his congenial closed mouth smile.

They weren’t threatening him yet but it was a near thing. Looks like suddenly getting a job working so closely with Anita was a step too far in his host's books. While not everyone here was staring him down as if he were about to open a hell mouth right there and then there were the select few that sized him up. He felt more than saw a few therianthrope members find him wanting and dismissed him just on physical looks alone. Though from the looks of it none of those were the few wearing a red or black shirt. Good. It was nearly rule number one about being security. Harry offered a nod in their general direction, acknowledging them. Anita followed his gaze out before narrowing on him again.

“Fifteen years is an unusual amount of time away.” For those with mortal life spans. “Glad to see you two found each other again.” Jean-Claude offered as he steered Anita to the lounge by the blonde vampire. He kept her on the outskirts, opposite him, as they stepped around him but he didn’t compromise her right hand. They were closing rank around her even though she had proven more than capable of protecting herself and she didn’t fight it. She didn’t gripe or purposefully move to remain standing. 

Harry let his smile grow, the lot of them loved her. A red headed vampire and Nathaniel, done with the phone, stepped up behind the lounge. They both trailed a hand over her shoulders. “To think little Anita used to be terrified of cats and now you have so many.” He looked over the room, laughter in his voice. Lions, tigers, and leopards oh my. 

One of the blonde men off to the side lounging in the most threatening manner perked up. “Afraid of cats?”

“Not in a long time Dev,” Anita threw Harry a look. He was bringing up her past a little too freely.

“How did you get Anita’s cell number?” A woman from the back demanded, she was pointedly not looking in Anitas direction. Odd, defensive but not close.

“How does anyone do anything these days?” It was a nonanswer that garnered him some dirty looks. They were all so protective. If he wasn’t here for purely innocent if not unselfish reasons he’d probably be upset by it but being honest with himself he was jealous. He shook his head and looked straight at the woman who asked, “ I called her office first,” He peaked at Anita. “You know to maybe schedule something but Burt?” Bart? He wasn’t too sure. “Gave me your cell phone number claiming something about being too busy for office calls?”

“Ah,” Anita nodded, pained. She clearly wasn’t surprised at her office manager's behavior.

Something shifted in the room but he couldn’t pinpoint what just that Jean-Claude was calling for all the attention and it wasn’t just him that turned to the man. A power play if ever there was one. Harry smiled up at the American Vampire King. He had played with the Council Members of old once upon a time, he knew how vampire court worked. He also knew that he skated into the other man's territory on a technicality, normally people of power needed to negotiate their relocation, his wizard status is the only thing that kept him from being made an example of. Thank Merlin for long standing governments and their never ending contracts.

Harry straightened in his seat facing Jean-Claude, a flush of power flowing over the room to meet between them. He had played something similar before but back then he had carefully managed his output to be just shy of equal to the vampire who challenged him. Here and now, was different though, here he let his magic roam. Let its waves tease and curl around the edges inviting Jean-Claude's power out to play. He wanted to be welcomed, to find a home among Anitas people, by Merlin did he want it.

Shining green met roaring cerulean blue. Harry smiled up at the man. “Harry Potter, pleasure to meet you Jean-Claude, Master Vampire and new King of the America’s.” Harry added a nod at the end, breaking eye contact in a show of respect to follow making the first move as he had.

“You’ve have done this before, petit sorcer.” Jean-Claude stated allowing long legs to cross, distractingly. 

“Yes, I had many such meetings with the council once upon a time.” Harry answered his unasked question.

“Why would a wizard such as yourself be meeting with The Council?” The blonde vampire demanded.

Harry met his eye as well. Unafraid and unthreatened. He knew just who this was but still they hadn’t done introductions. A test maybe? “I was asked by the Traveler to meet with them, advise on how to handle the rogues attacking magic users.”

“And you,” Here the blonde looked him up and down, inviting the therianthropes who were silently watching to do the same. “Were able to… advise them on that matter.” Asher let his disbelief show in his body language. 

Harry debated on the answer he wanted to give as he looked over the room more intently this time. There was a strategic difference between meeting your childhood friends' lovers and playing at vampire court as they were. He put names to faces as best he could. Many he was just assigning Harlequin as they were part of the few he wouldn’t have names for nor have seen their faces before Anitas push to publicize their new titles. He sometimes wished the ICW was less likely to ignore everything going on in the muggle world to the last minute because maybe just maybe he’d be walking into this situation better prepared than this.

Mentally sighing, Harry leant forward. “Asher, what makes you think I wouldn’t have good advice?” Card played.

There were narrowed glares popping up all around the room. Some relaxed into it, power plays like this being more like breakfast to them than nothing while Anita looked at him with hurt and suspicion in her eyes.

Never one to play with her food, “How did you know his name?” Anita pressed body tensed, angled in his direction in a move that was pure threat.

“Anita, we literally talked about the time I spent in service to various governments. There are a lot of people interesting in what your doing here. And well…" He looked her dead in the eye wanting to stress the seriousness of the situation. "Anita they, the Vampire Council brought you to the attention of our, my government and they called me."

"Why you?" One of the men off to the side sneered.

Harry didn't offer him the glance that might have earned. He needed to explain quickly, "I came here on my own. I so swear on my magic." He rushed and a flash of light followed his word. A quick wave summon a small lumos.

"Harry, what are you trying to get at." She crossed her arms, staring him down now. They may have come to a tentative understanding while they sat in the car but this conversation was making her regret that choice a good deal.

A curtain to the side of the room parted allowing two brothers to step in cutting the tension with the mere weight of them. One of the brothers smiled while the other answered the question they heard as they entered. "What he's trying to get at is that his name is Sir Harry James Knight of the Realm, Lord of the Most Ancient House of Potter and Black, Duke of Gryffindor and Lord by Conquest of Slytherin, High Lord of Magic and he killed the last self proclaimed Necromancer to walk the earth."

Harry wilted in his seat pouting at Wicked Truth. "Did you have to do the whole title drop thing?"

"As your titles carry weight among your people and ours? Yes." Truth stated.

"Besides, you squirm when people address you with respect." Wicked grinned at him, teasing.

"You know Wicked Truth?" Jean-Claude asked, looking at Harry like he was a most interesting puzzle.

"Well yea, we met on a battlefield some years back?" He turned to the brothers for clarification.

Wicked nodded but Truth told Jean-Claude the actual answer he was looking for. "The Council sent us after a few rogues that had joined that self-proclaimed necromancer."

"They're the ones the Council sent to retrieve me for our… chat." Harry added with a shrug. He relaxed a good deal with them in the room.

"They've been here in the states for nearly fifteen years!" Anita half shouted standing again. She was pacing in an instant. 

"You'd have been seventeen… when you saw them." The lavender eyed man, he believed to be Nathanel, whispered morosely.

Anita stopped in front of him. "You told me you fought some terrorist as a kid, you were knighted at eighteen…" 

"I think they call us child soldiers these days Anita." Harry was clipped in his response but he hadn't wanted to get into this. It was ridiculous. They had changed a great deal since they were teens. "Look, rehashing my rough childhood wasn't why I came here." He grabbed her hand to get her to look at him again. To make her see the honesty in his eyes.

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be. Knowing what little I know about all you've been through in recent years. Well I'd be suspicious too."

"Interesting, mon sorcier." Jean-Claude and Asher sat nearer to each other appearing for all intents and purposes to be just another pretty picture.

Harry sent Anita a silly smirk, "Found a few princes did you?"

Anita blushed hard and fast. "A few princesses too."

Cute. "I really am just here to help with the wedding, maybe find some place to call home along the way." He handed her the journal.

"I think we can work with that." Anita had a look in her eye that bordered on pride.