Disclaimer : JK Rowling owns Harry Potter and the world around him.
Chapter 10. Inspector Dick
Harry spent the rest of the night at a nearby wizard hotel. He thought it best to at least warn Dobby he was in town and that he would be coming home the following night. Knowing Dobby, he would make sure everything was in order and would be all wound up if he wasn't given enough of a warning to do this.
At 7am, a complimentary Daily Prophet started smacking Harry on the side of the head and woke him up. The front desk had likely forgotten to cancel an outstanding wake-up call ordered by the previous occupant. It had not one but two Rita Skeeter articles on its front page - one of Hermione's capture and one of her escape. Rita sure was getting as much out of this as she could.
A Ministry owl tracked him down just as he was finishing breakfast. It was an invite from the Minister himself. The message was cryptic.
"Please come to the Minister's office at 9am today to talk about Miss Granger."
It was the invite Tonks had mentioned.
The Minister had pointed out that both the Ministry and Harry wanted to find Hermione. Yes, they wanted to find her for different reasons, but Scrimgeour had a proposal Harry could not refuse. In essence, he would be granted full Auror access to the investigation, even given his old position with pay, in exchange for having another Auror tag along wherever he went.
They cleared a desk for him to work on and got him started on a stack of files about the investigation. He spent the better part of that day going through the physical evidence and the witness accounts. He briefly visited Hermione's sealed off lab on the 9th Level and saw where Dorner was found. The place had been wiped clean and any evidence proving Hermione's innocence would surely be no longer there.
He received an owl from Ginny that she was going to be downtown that afternoon and was wondering if they could have tea. He replied right away and at 3pm, he slipped out to meet her at a teashop a couple of blocks from the office.
Ginny had not changed one bit since he left, with the exception of not being pregnant anymore. She was in studies to become a Healer and worked at St. Mungo's part-time as a Healer's assistant. Harry learned that Dean was an accomplished Muggle-Wizard portrait painter and was a very sought after artist among the affluent in London. The twins were certainly becoming a handful, and Dean's flexible hours and his support allowed her to time to study. Harry was glad to hear Ginny was happy with Dean.
"So, tell me, where were you?" Ginny finally asked the burning question she had wanted to ask since he arrived.
"I was in the States, playing professional Quidditch."
"Must have been fun. You love Quidditch," Ginny opined, but Harry knew her well enough to know it was actually her way to confirm a speculation.
"It was something to pass the time away and a good way to earn a living," he answered, almost admitting to Ginny that his passion for the game had waned since he left.
"Any family, special friend waiting for you to come back?"
"No," he shook his head.
Ginny got to the point, "So why did you really leave? Was it about a girl, some noble reason?"
Harry smiled and nodded; Ginny knew him too well.
"Don't know about it being noble but it was so long ago and on hindsight, very stupid, it doesn't matter. I'm here and I'm not leaving; at least not like that anymore."
"I agree." Ginny remarked. She was also smiling and now was staring quite pointedly at him to look at his reaction, "Sleeping with your best friend's drunk girlfriend is way up there on stupid."
Ginny always had a way with words and he always loved her honesty and frankness.
"I hesitate to even ask, but how did you know?" Harry was curious how she found out and who else knew.
"Well, you were obviously very attracted to her since that final year at Hogwarts, though my dense git of a brother would never have noticed. Both of you were just so different after that night I asked you to take her home when she was wasted. Then you left and she broke up with Ron. I suspected something happened so I coerced the truth from her."
Harry just realized something, making him feel more stupid. He was not smiling anymore. No wonder Hermione looked so angry when he said she did not know what fond memory he was talking about.
"She didn't take the potion either."
Ginny fell silent, not contradicting him.
"She made me believe she did."
"You made her believe you did."
"She made me believe she wanted just one night."
"You made her believe the same. When you left, she suspected you didn't take the potion either. She didn't really know how you felt about her. From what I heard there wasn't much talking going on that night. What else can I say; you were both foolish to think the other would willingly part with that memory."
Harry was now shaking his head and trying not to hear all the swear names he was calling himself. All the times they spent together after that night, he didn't even suspect that she remembered. Why didn't she just tell him and they could have figured it out together. Things would have been so different.
Ginny said cautiously, "Ron tried to find you for months but Hermione threatened to not speak to him if he did not stop. She blamed herself, you know, for everyone's unhappiness I think it was this that finally drove her away from the Burrow."
'I didn't know," was all he could say.
His heart poured out to her for feeling it was her fault that he left. He didn't mean for it to be her fault. It wasn't her fault. He didn't even notice his own tears until Ginny sat down next to him, put her arm around his shoulder and gave him her hanky. He could not look at her.
After a while, Ginny spoke first, "She never thought it could happen that way either. She thought she was giving you guys a fresh start by not having you deal with any guilt."
"Why is she so mad at me?" he asked, hoping Ginny had a better insight into why Hermione did what she did the night before.
"I'm not sure. I can think of a few reasons. You did not drink the potion, you abandoned your friends and she was left to feel guilty about us feeling miserable that you were gone. But I think it's mostly because you left. Considering everything I think you got off easy just getting petrified last night. If it were me, I would have thrown in at least a couple more hexes." She smiled weakly.
"I had to leave, Ginny. I love her and Merlin knows I've tried to stop but I can't. I left because I thought she had decided to marry Ron, and I was so far in I was going to mess it up," then he turned to Ginny, he needed to know where he stood, "How does she feel about me? I mean, did she break up with Ron because of me?"
Ginny sighed, "Harry, their break-up was going to happen with or without you so don't take too much credit for that. But do learn your lesson. The both of you were so scared of what you didn't want to hear from the other that you missed the opportunity to hear what you wanted to. It's so frustrating that the two smartest people I know can figure out how to get rid of Voldemort but can't figure this out! Don't get me wrong. I appreciate that you're telling me that you love her because I like knowing these things about my friends, but you need to tell her how you feel about her. And don't ask me how she feels about you. Ask her yourself. You two need to talk."
It was weird taking that piece of advice from a former girlfriend and someone younger but Ginny was right. He had to tell Hermione, and as Ron once said, he may crash but at least he tried.
Ginny quickly added, "Maybe just not right now while she's running away from the law, but when the dust clears a bit, if you get my drift."
Harry told Ginny about his acceptance of the Minister's proposal.
"Well, she won't be happy to hear that. She asked me to talk you into leaving."
"You saw her."
"Last night, scared the bejeebers out of me finding her in my kitchen."
"Did she say why she wanted me to leave?"
"Something about you being in danger, some dark wizard wanting to kill you to be more infamous, and that you have to leave before he finds out you're back."
"And Hermione thinks I'm going to leave if you tell me this?"
"Actually, no. That was something she said to convince me to talk you into leaving. Come to think of it, maybe she didn't mean for you to hear that," she grinned mischievously, "Her exact words for you were 'tell him I hate him and I don't want to see him ever, again'."
"I can't leave," he said, "Even if she does hate me."
"I know that. I did tell her it was going to be a waste of time," smiling she said, "I told her there was a better chance of you leaving if she slept with you again and pretended to forget!"
Harry laughed.
"At least you have a sense of humour about it. Harry, seriously, she may not want you here but she needs help to make everything right. She sort of rambled on about dark magic that is rare and about how there was no known way to counter-act it. I'm glad you're staying and will work on the case. She needs you and Ron needs both of you."
"So what do you know about this dark wizard she was talking about?"
"Not much. Last night was the first I heard of it. The Muggles do have a serial murderer at large but there's no major dark wizard or witch on the loose, at least not one like Voldemort."
"Has Hermione ever mentioned a Richard Tilly?"
Ginny's forehead furrowed, "I've heard that name before from her I just can't place it. How does he figure in all of this?"
"He's a Muggle, an Inspector at the Yard. He came to the Ministry and claimed he was her boyfriend."
"Really…I'll let you know if I remember," Ginny fell silent, still thinking about Richard Tilly.
"What about Ron? Was he seeing someone else as the Ministry suggests?"
"Yes, he is. Though we've asked her to keep it quiet. We know the Ministry is going to use that to put Hermione away."
"Who is she?"
"Melissa, she's an Auror too. You should know her from Hogwarts."
Harry shrugged; he did not remember.
"They've been going out for about a month. She was there that night but since awaking from her injuries she can't remember anything that happened after they arrived at Hermione's apartment."
A slim woman with long blonde hair and grey eyes walked towards their table and stopped, smiling at Ginny and Harry.
"Hey, Ginny," they gave each other a peck on the cheek.
"Speak of the devil, we were just talking about you! When did you get clearance to report back?"
"Just today. Hi, Harry," the woman smiled at him. She looked familiar, "I promise I won't faint this time."
Then he remembered. So Ron was seeing Melissa, the Hufflepuff who effectively killed his already minute desire for dating while still at Hogwarts.
"Melissa, how are you?" he shook her hand, "I'm sorry, I almost didn't recognize you."
She laughed, "It's been a while, Harry. Listen, I was asked to trail you and report where you go and who you see. So I'm not really talking to you, okay?"
"Have a seat," Ginny offered, "I was just telling Harry about what happened to you that night with Ron in Hermione's apartment."
"I wish I could remember more. But I think we were obliviated by whoever did this."
Harry asked, "Do you know why Hermione asked Ron to be assigned to her a few months ago?"
Melissa shook her head; "I joined the Ministry just two months ago so I don't know how it started. Ron never talked about it but most days, just from how he was after working with her, it seemed like it had something to do with experimental spell-work that wasn't going too well. Hermione worked mostly from her apartment the past couple of months. Ron had been dropping by at least once a day."
"Is Hermione aware you and Ron are seeing each other?" Harry asked.
"She was very supportive when Ron and I told her. I wish I could do the same for her. And I wish I could see Ron. How is he doing?"
Ginny answered, "Hermione came and performed a healing spell on him last night. Seems like there is reason for cautious optimism."
"That's good news. I'll slip in later to visit," Melissa said, "Listen, I've got to go back to my post; someone might check on me. It was nice seeing you again, Harry. Ginny, I'll see you tomorrow?"
"The twins will be thrilled. You spoil them," Ginny replied and they said goodbye.
Harry and Ginny talked more as they took a stroll back to the Ministry. She told him how most accepted his want for peace, away from the attention. Even Ron defended him in an interview with the Quibbler. If Ron knew about Harry's betrayal, he did not share that with Ginny.
An owl from the kids' daycare found Ginny just as they arrived at the Ministry's entrance. She said Dean forgot to pick up the twins so she had to go. When they parted, Harry and Ginny agreed that they would convince Hermione to work with Harry, if they saw her again.
He went back to the pile of documents on his desk. He found the official letters from Dorner about Project Lumos. It seemed that the project was assigned to Hermione about a year ago; then eight months later Dorner told her that what she found was sufficient and that no further work was needed. She obviously disagreed with him, witnesses saw her in Dorner's office lots of times arguing with him. Why didn't Dorner fire her for insubordination?
Lowes, Hermione's former supervisor, whose death Hermione was also being blamed for, disappeared a month ago and through an anonymous tip, turned up in an unmarked grave at the local cemetery four days ago. Witnesses recalled him having an ear-splitting argument with Hermione three days before his disappearance where the words 'Lumos' and 'death' were overheard.
Lowes obviously knew about Lumos, and if this was a classified project of Hermione's that was supposed to be known only to her and Dorner, Lowes knew something he shouldn't have. Was he one of the chosen Unspeakables? Could he have been murdered because of it? And why bury him like a Muggle in a cemetery? There were means to magically conceal corpses forever. Unless the perpetrator wanted the body found eventually at an opportune time.
There were other questions going through his mind. What was Project Lumos and what did Tilly have to do with it? Why did Hermione ask Ron to be assigned to her? Why was her wand unused for so long and why was it not used against the Aurors trying to capture her that night?
He needed Hermione to fill in a lot of the gaps. Where are you? The question was where do you go if you were a fugitive hunting for a dark wizard?
Later that night, in a small London suburb called Gaely, Ginny Thomas was putting the twins to bed. Dean had just stepped out to do a private sitting for one of his clients and with the twins finally asleep, she could do some chores before turning in.
Her mind wandered back to her conversation with Harry. As she suspected all along, Harry Potter loved Hermione Granger. And after two years of absence, despite the distance and believing her to belong to someone else, he still did. That was so sweet. She smiled, thinking how good they would be for each other if they got together. Hermione loved Harry too; at least she did love him two years ago. Ginny had no doubt that Hermione still felt the same way, until Harry mentioned Richard Tilly. She knew exactly who Richard Tilly was the moment she heard his name.
Richard Tilly, or 'Inspector Dick' as Ginny christened him, was Hermione's childhood acquaintance. They had a whirlwind two-week romance about four years ago at the time she was still seeing Ron during one of their many cool off periods.
Though Ron was her brother, Hermione was her best friend. Ginny was not one to judge her; particularly because Ginny knew how unhealthy her relationship with Ron was deteriorating into. Hermione owled Ginny when she and the Inspector were really getting serious, asking Ginny to keep an eye on Ron because she had told him too. Unfortunately, Inspector Dick bailed on her when she told him she was a witch. Maybe after four years he changed his mind.
Ginny did not have the heart to tell Harry who Richard Tilly was, not after hearing how despite two years of being away and trying to move on, he still loved Hermione. If what Harry said was fact and Richard Tilly was indeed Hermione's present boyfriend, she could only think, "Poor Harry, you caught her at a bad time yet again."
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A/N. Any thoughts on Inspector Dick? I hope you're all prepared for him.