Rose and Alistair met the Duncans at the park. Stephen waved upon seeing them and headed toward them. They met the dark-skinned man halfway and greeted him, not entirely hiding their nervousness. Stephen shot Rose a questioning look, but she gathered up her courage and strode to Harry. He grinned up at her

"Hi Aunt Rose!" He said. She smiled at him and returned the greeting, reaching out and ruffling his dark hair. For just a moment the scar was clearly visible. She almost reeled in shock, but managed a wan smile as Harry pouted and tried to set his hair right. Alistair came over, set Max on the ground and gave Harry a hug. Max and Harry ran off to go play on the swings. Rose turned and faced Stephen.

"You planning on telling me what's going on?" Stephen asked. Rose glanced at Alistair quickly.

"We think Harry is magic!" She blurted.

"I see." Stephen guided them a bit further from Maria. Though Stephen knew Rose and Alistair were magic, he'd never known how to broach the topic with his wife. "What makes you think so?"

"Well, it's not so much… See we actually think we know who his biological parents were." Alistair corrected.

"Lily and James Potter died a couple years ago. Their son Harry survived. No one knows how, but somehow that final fight ended in You-Know-Who's death. I've mentioned him, I know."

"Yeah. You think our Harry?" Stephen asked. Alistair pulled out a newspaper clipping with a picture of Lily and James.

"The name and age match up, and look at this picture of Lily and James. Harry looks a lot like them." Stephen grabbed the pictures to take a closer look.

"The face is very similar. And the skin tone matches. James looks, maybe Indian? We had been wondering about Harry's ancestry." He said, biting his lip.

"Yeah. We didn't know them personally, but I can still see the resemblance." Rose said. "And we saw his scar. That's what really convinced us. Harry is said to have a scar resembling that from the encounter."

"The thing that has me worried is that I don't know if he's safe." Alistair said. "There are a lot of people who weren't happy about You-Know-Who's death and would love to take it out on him. And, well, they have magic, and you don't. I don't mean to offend, but-"

"No. I understand." Stephen said. "We'll need to work something out. I'm not going to risk the safety of my family, but Harry is our kid. We can't just get rid of him."

"Well, we're here to help, of course." Rose said. "We'll need to work out someway to get over to your house quickly just in case." Alistair nodded beside her. "We could probably set up a Portkey. That will transport us to your house as soon as we touch it. The trouble will be how you can tell us when you're in trouble. We have our phone, of course, but we don't know that you'll be able to get to a phone, and our magic can make the connection difficult." Just as Rose finished talking, Maria came up to them.

"What are you doing still over here? Come sit on the bench." Stephen smiled warmly at her.

"Sorry, we got caught up chatting. Let's head over to where we can see the children better."

The next day, Rose had taken Max with her as she went on an errand in Diagon Alley. Max stopped short just in front of their store. He quickly pushed open the door and rushed in.

"Daddy!" He shouted running for him. Rose followed him and greeted Alistair with a quick kiss.

"What are you doing here? I thought you were at work." Alistair gave her a worried look, but shrugged.

"I had a lunch break. I wanted to come see my two favorite people." He leaned closer to her and whispered. "Dumbledore came to visit. He knows where Harry is." Rose bit her lip, trying to look like he'd said anything but what he had. She knew Dumbledore was a good man, but who knew what would happen if he thought Stephen and Maria couldn't keep Harry safe?

"Well, I was just going to get some product for my hair." She gestured to her wild curls. "But I think we should get some lunch instead." Max had started to reach for Alistair, so he picked him up. The three headed back outside and found an alley. Rose and Alistair Apparated to the woods behind the Duncan house.

Rose pulled her key out of her pocket as she ran. She shoved it in the lock and burst through the front door. Maria looked up in surprise.

"Rose, Alistair? What are you doing? And why are you dressed like that?" Rose ignored her, looking to Stephen.

"Good. You're both here. I assume you haven't told her yet?" She demanded.

"No." Stephen said. "I was going to wait for you. I didn't want her thinking I was crazy."

"I'm not going to be much help with that." Rose warned.

"Tell me what? What is going on? Why are they wearing robes?"

"Well, if they hadn't rushed in here, this would be simpler," Stephen shot Rose a look. "But I guess we're going to explain now." He sighed heavily and directed Maria to a chair. He sat down beside her.

"When we were eleven, a woman came to the door and explained that Rose is a witch. She can do magic. I can't-" Maria shot him a withering look.

"Are you kidding me? This isn't a joke. I thought something was wrong. You realize you could have set Harry off? You know what his uncle," here she scowled "would do when he talked about this kind of thing." Alistair shot Stephen a questioning look.

"His uncle hated magic and fantasy. And it turns out he might not have just been mad. Rose and Al think Harry might have magic as well." Maria scoffed.

"Would you stop being ridiculous? Acting like that man had any-" Before she could finish speaking, there was a knock at the door. Maria opened it to see an old man dressed unusually. As she was about to speak, Rose spoke behind her.

"Dumbledore!" The man smiled warmly at her. Maria turned to her family.

"If he's a part of this joke, I'm leaving." She said flatly.

"No. He's here for Harry." Rose said, narrowing her eyes. "Aren't you?" Elizabeth had wandered into the room, curious about the noise, and she startles at what Rose says.

"Here for Harry? Like to take him? But he's ours now. Mummy said."

"That's absolutely right," Rose nodded her head. Maria narrowed her eyes. Joke or not, she would take any threat to her children seriously.

"I understand your concern, but I have no plans to take Harry away. I'd like to simply talk to you. May I come in?"

Maria gritted her teeth all throughout Dumbledore's explanation of magic and the wizarding world, but managed not to make a sarcastic comment. Her kid might be at risk. When the man demonstrated a few spells before her, her eyes went wide. Luke, Harry, and Elizabeth stared openly, and Elizabeth wandered closer to the book that was currently floating in mid-air. Maria's eyes soon grew dark and she grumbled under her breath. Stephen watched this worriedly, leaning closer to ask what was wrong. She blinked in surprise and muttered to him.

"It was bad enough when I thought that man was just trying to suppress Harry's creativity. Now, I learn he was openly degrading an integral part of who he is? Who knows how Harry would have reacted to magic if he'd grown up in that house. He might have been ashamed of who he is." Stephen smiled, relieved to understand, and amused by her anger over what 'what ifs.'

"Now, as Mr. and Mrs. Smith have surmised, your Harry is indeed the biological son of Lily and James Potter. I have no plans to take him away from you, as I can see this is a good home." Dumbledore said, nodding to where Luke and Elizabeth had scooched forward on the couch when Dumbledore began speaking, putting their arms in front of Harry as though they could physically prevent him from being taken away.

"However, I am concerned for his safety, and for the safety of this household in extension." Maria shooed the children to go play, not wanting them to be afraid. "Despite our best efforts, many of Voldemort's supporters remain free to do as they please. They lost much the night their master fell, and they may seek revenge. The wards I placed to protect Harry now exist over this home, however, they are greatly weakened as you are not blood relatives."

"Yeah, me and Alistair talked about ways we could help," Rose spoke. "We thought a Portkey might help, but we weren't sure how they could even contact us for help in the first place."

"I have a few ideas we could discuss." Dumbledore explained some possibilities to the two couples. Many comments went over the heads of Maria and Stephen, not having a magical background themselves, but they understood most of the concepts at least. There were some interesting products in development to assist with Muggle-Magical communication, though they had some kinks in the system to work out. An alarm was set to sound should the wards ever fall or be breached again, so Dumbledore could immediately be notified should an issue arise. Meanwhile, the children were discussing the recent news.

"It's so cool that you can do magic, Harry," Elizabeth said. Harry shrugged in response. He didn't really know how to react to the news. "Plus you're like a hero. You helped save all kinds of people." Harry turned to play with the blocks.

"C'mon Harry, why aren't you excited?" The little boy wavered before responding.

"I don't want to leave." He muttered.

"For school, like Auntie Rose did when she learned magic?" Elizabeth questioned. Harry nodded.

"That's only for some of the time, though. And not 'til you're eleven. That's forever away! That's longer than my whole life!" The six-year-old spoke empathically, worried to see her brother upset.

"Uh-huh," Luke nodded. "You the big brother."

"Yeah. You're part of us now. You won't go away forever." Elizabeth pulled Harry into a hug, and Maria smiled at the perfect picture. Of course, Luke immediately knocked Harry's block tower over, making the three-year-old upset, but for just a moment, everything was right in the world.

Sorry this came up so late. I just could not get those last two scenes to work. I probably won't be updating for at least two weeks. I'm going on a trip and will be away from my computer for the next twelve days.