A/N- Here it is, and I'm sorry I took so long. I just got back from Europe, and luckily, the edited chapters were waiting for me. The next chapter is already written, and I'll have it up soon! I've been sort of editing the other chapters, and I do have titles for the chapters. I'll get them up when I have time to. Not much in this chapter, but the next one is long… Thanks for all the reviews, and for Matt editing it!
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"I know everyone wants to know what going on," Minister Derek Bones voice boomed over the room. "But we have people investigating this, and in the meantime, we need to figure out what we are going to do with your wives. And obviously we can't let Auror's take time off, because they are the ones who have to figure this out."
"We have sorted it out, Derek," Remus said as he stood up from his seat. "The unmarried Auror's will stay here, and the married ones will stay with their wives."
Percy, whose eyes were red and puffy, spoke for the first time. "I don't like the idea of having the same men working all the time. They need their rest too. We don't know how long it will take to catch this guy, but I can't let all the men off. Why don't we just let all the wives stay together."
Harry spoke up. "No way! I really don't want Hermione near any of the other wives, if you know what I mean. They make too much of a tempting target if they stay together in one place."
"I understand Harry," Derek said. "But we won't risk the possible un-protectiveness of our community."
"And I will not risk the life of my wife!" Harry said jumping from his seat.
If the courtroom hadn't been quiet just moments before, it sure was now. Every eye was on Harry, and in the back, Ron had a small smile on his face. Hermione just stared at Harry along with everyone else.
Percy stared back at Harry. "Harry, there isn't much to do. We have to-"
Dennis Creevy stood up. "We bachelor men have decided we will stay on duty until the killer is caught. Let the married Auror's tend to their wives."
"You might have agreed on that, Mr. Creevy," Percy said, quite aggravated. "But I hav-"
He was interrupted again. "Aw, come on Percy." Ron walked a little closer to the front… close enough for everyone to see him. "I don't know why you're acting like this, but you are being extremely hard-headed." He thought about that, and then muttered to himself. "But that's not new, so I guess I do know why…"
Remus also stood up. "We have no problem filling in for the married men. In fact, we'd all feel a lot better if we did overtime while they stayed with their wives."
With that statement, all of the unmarried Auror's stood up and agreed. Now they all looked back at Percy, who still didn't look too happy.
"You men are Auror's," he said as he pointed his finger towards them, though mostly towards Harry. "You have a job, and you do your job when it needs to be done. You knew the costs when you became one."
"Look Percy," Harry said. "I know you want this place to be safe, and you want what is best for everyone, and so do I. Being an Auror is something I've always wanted, and I'm glad that I'm one." He stopped and looked over to Hermione, who was watching him closely. Looking at her and just thinking of the terrible thing's that could happen to her, made his heart wrench in pain, and he turned back to Percy. "But you have to let me protect my wife. That job comes first."
Percy stared back long and hard at Harry, and Harry couldn't tell what he was thinking. After a moment, he sighed and nodded. "Alright, you guys can have some time off. But only some; I can't work the same people all the time."
Minister Bones looked at Fred. "How's the investigation going?"
Fred cleared his throat somewhat nervously and stood up. "Well… we now know that it wasn't Carl Benner who was killing the women. We've taken him off the suspect list. There's no way he could have shot Ginny while he was in jail," he said with a look of sadness and anger in his face.
With the murmur running through the room, it was clear that nobody liked the news of Carl not being the murderer.
"So, what if it was a gang friend?" Dean Thomas asked.
"It wouldn't make sense. And if you think about it, it never made sense that it was Benner in the first place, because Parvati, Pansy and Ginny are all pureblood." He looked awkward, for Parvati and Pansy were no longer 'are.' "Benner and his gang go after muggle-borns."
"Well then, who is it?" Dean demanded.
Fred stared at him. "Do I look like I know?"
Dean looked sheepish. "Uh, no."
"But this is where I need everyone's help," Fred continued, rolling his eyes at Dean.
"Any leads?" Percy asked.
"Er, a few. But we can't rule anybody out. There's the possibility of it being a muggle, and that would explain the use of a gun and fire. But then we wonder how he always knows when the wives will be alone. He always seems to know that something in our community is going on, where everyone is…"
The room quieted down again, everyone wasn't as comfortable anymore. The thought that it was a wizard gave everyone chills.
Fred continued. "I don't want anyone pointing any fingers, but if you have a hunch, I need you to tell me…immediately."
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Fred and Angelina stopped Harry and Hermione on their way out. "Can we have a word with you guys?" Fred asked.
Harry answered. "Sure."
They walked down a few halls before they came to a room where Aurors would interrogate people. Tonight, it was empty.
Harry and Hermione sat opposite the other two.
"Alright," Fred said. "We need a favor from you two tonight."
"What kind of favor?" Hermione asked.
"Well…" Fred took a quick look at Angelina before looking back at Harry and Hermione. "For whatever reason, this guy is going after Auror wives. We have a feeling that Hermione may be next. We want to set a trap, and we need your help with that."
Hermione trembled in her seat as Harry gaped at Fred. "You want to use Hermione as bait!? Are you serious?"
"Just hear me out Harry. You two go somewhere and stay for the night. Instead, I'll be at your house with other people, and we'll make it look like Hermione's home. If the guy tries to get in, then we've got him."
"But what if he attacks you, or burns down the house?" Hermione asked, tearing up.
"I promised my dad to do whatever I could to help out, and that's what I'm going to do."
Harry turned towards Hermione. "It's really your choice, Herm. It's your house."
Hermione was silent, thinking… "He's got to be caught, and if this is the way to do it, then yes," she said, looking up at Fred.
Fred smiled. "Everything will be fine Hermione. But now I don't want you two telling anyone you're leaving town."
"Ok, now there's a problem. No one is going to come after her, not now that I just made a speech that I wasn't going to leave her side." Harry said.
"And that's where you two have to put out your acting skills. Go out there, and make everyone think you're in a fight. Harry, then say "Fine! Go home by yourself!"
"Everyone will think I'm a git." Harry protested.
"We'll clear all this up later. But do you think you can do that?"
Harry and Hermione looked at each other, and both knew the answer. Still looking at each other, they answered simultaneously. "Yes."
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Well, the 'fight' went well. Practically everyone saw it and it looked as though it convinced everyone. In fact, it was so good, it almost convinced Hermione.
Fred had told them that they should get a car and get out of there. Where they were going they did not know yet, but they had to go somewhere out of London.
"Are you okay, Herm?" Harry asked.
She nodded as she peered out the window. "Yea… I'm just tired. This is been one of the most miserable days of my life."
"You and me both."
She gave a small, sad smile. "Why are things like this, Harry?"
Harry shook his head. "I don't know. Never in a million years would I have thought that Parvati, Pansy, or even Ginny would be killed… or almost be killed in this kind of way."
Hermione shook her head. "No, I meant… us."
Harry peered at her out of the corner of his eye. "You did throw me out, that's one reason."
Of course, she thought. Just remind me of that. Just go and put all the blame on me, Harry. Make everything worse, don't try and work things out.
And she didn't answer Harry. Her stomach couldn't handle it. "Where are we going to stay?" was all she asked.
"We'll just keep driving until I get tired," he said quietly, also thinking about what he had said.
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About an hour and a half later, they came to a small town. What that town was, they didn't know, nor did they really care at that point. Harry came to a stop when they saw the hotel. Taking their bags with them, they made their way inside, and to the counter.
Before they got there, Hermione asked him to get a room with two double beds. "We're married, Hermione."
"Just do it, Harry," though she really didn't want it. She missed sleeping next to him, to feel the warmth from his body. But this was the way it was now.
They checked in under different names, just in case, and made their way upstairs.
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As Harry and Hermione were away from London, the plan to catch the killer was in motion, in London.
Fred and Terry Boot were sitting around Hermione's kitchen table, waiting and talking.
"Well," Terry said. "From the way it looks like, Ginny was shot in the back, like she was running." Fred winced, and Terry cleared his throat. "Pansy was in bed. Now I may not be the smartest person in the world, but I honestly can't see her getting up from bed, opening the door, and then getting back in bed."
"Forced entry," Fred said. "Or if it is a wizard, he could have just apparated in."
"Yea, why is it that none of the ladies apparated away?" Terry asked.
"Shock. And in Ginny's case, there were charms on the house."
"We need to start eliminating people though. Check the guest list for the funeral, that will narrow things down."
Dennis walked in. "Um, Fred, there's somebody walking up the driveway."
Fred and Terry's heads shot up. "Have any idea what he looks like?"
Dennis shook his head. "Nope, too dark. But he's almost to the door."
With their wands out and ready, they heard the knock at the door. Nielle, the woman 'posing' as Hermione froze. "What do you want me to do?" she mouthed.
Fred shook his head. She also took out her wand and took a deep breath. They saw the doorknob turn ever so slightly, and it was getting hard for any of them to breathe.
The door pressed open, and Dennis who was behind the door, pounced on the guy as soon as he stepped in.
Terry started to join Dennis… until they heard the intruder's voice. "You bloody nutty planks, it's just me!"
They all froze, and Fred lifted up the head. "Percy?"
Percy did not look happy. "Of course it's me."
"What in the bloody hell are you doing here?" Fred demanded of his older brother.
"I'm checking on Hermione. I heard about the fight, and I came by to see if there's anything I could do. I saw the lights on and when no one came to the door after I knocked, I got a little scared. So I opened the door walked in and up getting tackled by my own team!" he yelled, glaring over at Dennis, who gave a nervous smile.
"Hey, boss," Dennis said, waving ever so slightly.
"Why didn't you call out?" Fred asked.
"I was about too," Percy growled.
Dennis cleared his throat and coughed.
Percy looked around at everybody. "What's going on here? What, some kind of stakeout? How come I'm now finding out about this?" now he demanded from his younger brother.
Dennis was having a coughing fit.
"Well, we just decided tonight, and it slipped our minds to tell you," Fred said, trying to stay calm.
"Percy, why were you walking sneakily up the driveway?" Terry asked curiously.
"I wasn't walking up sneak-" he stopped. "Now wait a minute, you don't think I was the killer!? I just lost most of my Auror's because of this, and now you're accusing me!?"
"We're not accusing you, Percy," Fred, sending a look over at Terry, who bit his lip. He turned back to Percy. "But you were walking up… sneakily."
Percy shook his head. "I don't know how I looked sneakily. I wasn't really sure what to expect when I got up here, and I was just being a bit cautious."
Fred rolled his eyes at his brother. "Whatever Percy. I think you better go home. Just don't keeping going into people's house anymore."
"Trust me, I won't. Especially if they have Creevy waiting behind every door… Oh will you stop with the coughing?"
Dennis stopped abruptly, but let one more sneak through. "Sorry, boss."
Percy turned around and walked off into the night, while the others stayed in the house.
"I think he's telling the truth," Nielle said. "It makes sense, no ones really acting like themselves lately."
Fred looked at Terry. "It just seems weird, Fred. I know he's your brother and everything, but…"
Fred sighed. He didn't know what to think.
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