A/N: Hello again! I can't thank you guys enough for the reviews you've been giving. I'd hoped to get a couple, but double digits already!!! Thank you so much guys (and gals)! Please keep it up, it's really keeping me motivated! Now, back to England…
Confused: Chapter 3
"She's just too smart for us!" Ron threw up his hands in defeat. They'd tried everything they could think of. Asking the usual people, performing the usual counter-spells, tracking spells, etc. but to no avail.
"Can't we just admit that and stop? It's not like she disappeared, you know. She left us-"
"I know, I know." Harry cut him off.
"I'm sorry, but I've been thinking about what we haven't tried yet. Let's think here. If you're Hermione trying to run away, and you don't want to found, what would you do?"
"Well, I suppose I wouldn't do anything that could be tracked through magic, so apparating, floo powder, and portkeys are out. She doesn't know how to fly, so no broom. That leaves..."
"Muggle transport," Harry finished off. "She could've left in any cab, bus, or whatnot and we wouldn't be able to track her through magical means. Non-magical tracking is just as 'iffy', since she could've left anytime from a second after we went to sleep to a second before I came home from work. So thinking about her choice of transport is out. Let's think destination. What are her favorite places?"
Ron had to think for a while, so Harry answered his own question.
"Her favorite place is Hyde Park, but she loves the London Zoo, and, of course, shopping in downtown London."
"Yes," Ron replied, "but that's just for recreation. We have to think long term" his voice trailed off. Suddenly he looked up, exclaiming,
"Wait a minute! I remember, years ago, she once mentioned that she'd love to visit the States and its magic community some day. Do you think...?"
For the second time in as many minutes, his voice trailed off. Harry hardly noticed, though. Ron's statement had hit him like a thunderbolt.
"Ron" he said excitedly, "if we ever went to America, where would the one place we'd absolutely have to go to?"
"Well, New York City, of course" Ron answered, catching on.
"So you think she flew there?"
"Well it's worth a shot."
Harry answered, reaching for his phone (another muggle device they'd retained) and calling Heathrow, turning on the speakerphone for Ron's benefit.
"Thank you for calling Heathrow International Airport. My name is Todd, how can I help you today?"
"Hi Todd, I'd like to know if you have a passenger list for all flights from this morning going to all airports in the New York area."
"I'm sorry sir, but I can't just give out that information." Harry raised his eyebrows at Ron and waved his hand over the phone, looking for all the world like a Jedi Knight.
"Of course not, but I have special clearance, so you can tell me if Hermione Granger is on any of those lists."
"Ah, yes, sir. Due to your security clearance I can tell you that a Hermione Granger was indeed on a 10:30 flight this morning to Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey."
"New Jersey? How far away is that from New York City?"
"Oh, approximately a half hour to an hour drive."
"Ah, yes, of course. Thank you. You've been quite helpful."
"You have a nice day, sir."
"Same to you" and he hung up.
Two seconds later they both burst out laughing. "'Ah, yes, sir. Due to your security clearance' I can't believe you pulled it off. What was that little hand motion, though?"
"It's from a movie called Star Wars. I'll show it to you someday. 'You've been quite helpful' wow, I'll bet he's scratching his head right now trying to figure out what just happened."
"Yeah, that was great." Ron's smile slowly faded, and he started concentrating on the more important aspects of the call.
"Anyway, at least we know where she started now."
"Yeah. Let's start tracking her from there and see what we can pull up.
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Unbeknownst to them, however, at that very moment, a certain aircraft agent had just replaced the receiver when he promptly picked it up again and dialed a local number. "Hi, Hermione, it's Todd. The ball's started rolling. Hope all works out for you."
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3,500 miles away, Hermione put down the receiver, smiling to herself. Her plan was working out fine, but now it was time for phase two. She pulled out the phone she had rented for her stay in the U.S., dialed *86, entered her password, and left a message on an answering machine. She knew that she was treading on thin ice here, but she felt she had to do something. She had known that Ron would want to search for her immediately, but she was surprised that it had only taken them this long to track her. They must've only have gotten home an hour or two ago, judging by the time. Still, she was kind of relieved. This might make it easier when it all came down to it.
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With a small pop of displaced air, Harry and Ron appeared in a deserted section of Newark's parking lot. Dressed in dark suits, white button-down shirts and ties, along with the attaché case they held gave the distinct impression that they were businessmen. This, of course, was the point. They immediately went to the front desk where Ron asked the agent on duty for International Arrivals while Harry "looked" around for traces of magic that might lead him to Hermione. Although she had covered all tracks leading here, Harry doubted she had done so after she had arrived. His spell detected a couple of witches and wizards as he had expected, but one person's "signal" immediately struck him as worth investigating. Maybe it was Hermione maybe it wasn't. Even if it wasn't Hermione, it might at least be a person who could help them. He reached into his special-made jacket pocket and flicked his wand through the material. The action itself looked like he was cleaning his jacket or something, but it did the trick. That person, whoever they were, was now under Harry's personal tracking spell enabling Harry to know where (s)he was at any given time. He now patiently waited for Ron to finish with the desk agent, although for some reason Ron was chatting with him like an old friend.
About a minute later Ron turned around and said,
"Concourse E. This way"
He nodded with his head in the appropriate direction and they walked off. As soon as they were out of earshot Harry asked,
"What took so long?"
"Well, you know that stunt you pulled with the Heathrow chap?"
"Yeah..."
"Well after you hung up he called this guy and told him what happened. The guy here told him not to worry, that it was probably a legitimate request, but the Heathrow guy, Todd, told him to watch out. Anyway, when I mentioned Heathrow it reminded him of that, and he told me the whole story before giving me the Concourse. How did you fare?"
"Well, I found someone whose power ratings were high enough to be Hermione's, but I couldn't see them. I'm tracking them, so whenever you're ready..."
"Of course I'm ready. Let's go."
*Flash*
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A/N: Well, looks like I need to add another disclaimer. Star Wars and Jedi Knights are registered trademarks of George Lucas and Lucasfilm Ltd. ©1977-2007 (Yay! 30 years!) I don't make any money off of this.
I just want to explain the whole timeline as I know it can get confusing. Just remember that England is at GMT (Greenwich/Global Mean Time) and the U.S.'s Eastern Time Zone is -5 GMT, five hours behind England. With this in mind:
Hermione Leaves: 10:30 GMT-05:30 EST (Chapter 2)
Hermione Arrives in US: 5:30 P.M. GMT-12:30 P.M. EST (2)
Harry finds the letter: 7:30 P.M. GMT-2:30 P.M. EST (1)
Ron reads letter: 8:30 P.M. GMT-3:30 P.M. EST (1)
Harry Calls Airport: 9:00 P.M. GMT-4:00 P.M. EST (3)
Harry and Ron Arrive: 9:30 P.M. GMT-4:30 P.M. EST (3)
Hermione's Walk: 10:00 P.M. GMT-5:00 P.M. EST (2)
I hope this clears it up. If you have any questions just leave a review or e-mail cleanfics@gmail.com . See you guys next time!
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