Disclaimer: Don't own HP or M&MS
Mr. & Mrs. Evans
Chapter 15: The Beaumont Part I
[AN] It's important to remember that in this chapter, a lot of the dialogue isn't actually spoken but thoughts sent out through occlumency.
Or something like that…
Also, this wasn't beta'd by anyone so all mistakes are mine. I figured I should just get it out instead of waiting another week to make sure all my there/their/they're's are correct : ]]]
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Harry impatiently looked down to his watch, "Great. Our first major mission in months and we're going to be fucking late for our check in…"
"Relax mate," said Ron, shoving another piece of toast in his mouth, "No one's going to die if we don't check in by nine."
Remus looked up at the red head from a sofa chair in the Black's sitting room, "Did you listen to anything I told you last night, Ron?"
"Yeah."
"Then you caught the part where I said that literally Krum's life could be at stake, as soon as he showed up at the resort for his check in at nine?"
"Yeah…"
Harry gave Ron a look like he was the stupidest person in the world.
"Stop looking at me like that, Harry- my mum looks at me like that…"
Remus snorted in bemusement before turning back to his morning paper while Harry let two hands slide down his face in an irritated manner.
"Where the hell is Malfoy?" he then muttered aloud, folding his arms tightly over his chest.
Ron and Lupin didn't answer, and right when Harry was looking down to his watch for the thousandth time, there was a crack of apparation coming from the foyer and a dazzle of green flames that flashed through the fireplace, leaving a dusty Ginny in it's wake.
"Well?" Harry asked her, perking up immediately.
"He's not at home, nor has he been back since he left this morning," Ginny answered, flicking her wand over herself so her outfit automatically became clean again.
Harry groaned in frustration as footsteps were heard walking down the hall and into the room.
"Ah, Ginny," Sirius addressed, "Any luck?"
"Nope, you?"
Sirius shook his head in confusion, "I asked around at a few pubs and in Diagon Alley and Hogsmeade, but no one's seen him."
Ginny's eyebrows furrowed and a troubled look came over her face, "I'm starting to get worried. I mean, what if something's happened?"
"Should I got tell Phinneaus to go search through Malfoy Manor?" Sirius asked looking to Lupin.
"Don't bother," Ginny interrupted, "he wouldn't be there. Draco hasn't stepped foot in that house since he was 17."
"How would you know?" Ron asked.
Ginny spared her brother an annoyed glance, "Normally when you're in a relationship with someone, you get to learn little things like that about them."
Ron stuck his tongue out at her at the use of her bitter tone and in return Ginny sent and old folded up copy of the Quibbler whizzing towards his head.
"Isn't it a bit strange that he would disappear on us before a mission like this?" Harry queried, looking between Sirius and Ginny.
"He didn't disappear- he left a note saying he would be back soon," corrected Ginny.
"The note didn't say where he was going?" Lupin questioned.
"Nope."
"Yeah, but why wouldn't he just wake you and tell you himself? Why leave some discrete note?" Harry asked her again.
Ginny shrugged, "Dunno, he probably figured I needed the rest after what happened last night."
Ron gave her and odd look, "What happened last night?"
Ginny cocked her head to the side and gave her brother a teasing look, "Are you sure you want the answer to that question, Ronnie?"
Ron blushed and looked away from her, "Merlin, I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that."
"Oh grow up Ron," scoffed Ginny.
"Ease up, Gin. He has a right to be a little sensitive- I mean it couldn't be easy to walk in on your sister and childhood nemesis shagging like rabbits," Sirius said mischievously with a devilish grin.
Ginny rolled her eyes as Ron's whole body grimaced, "That was once, and he only walked in on the foreplay…"
Ron choked on his bite of toast, "That was foreplay?!"
"Enough. Look if he doesn't show up in two minutes, we're leaving," Lupin mediated, noticing that Harry's patience with the two siblings was beginning to wane.
"Who will play as the couple then?" Ron asked. Draco and Ginny were supposed to be playing a married couple staying at the Beaumont Resort for business related matters. It was important that their team had a certain amount of people for their mission to go safely as planned. Malfoy missing in action kind of threw the whole strategy for a loop.
Lupin turned to Harry, "Harry will go as Ginny's husband in place of Draco."
Ginny and Harry shared a look. The last time the two were portrayed to be in a relationship was a year ago, when Hermione had caught them snogging like animals in front of Donavinci. Ginny was aware of the pain that that incident had caused him, and always held some sense of responsibility for Harry's secret marriage ending over her and Harry's fake kiss.
Harry could see the guilt in her eyes. He shook his head slightly before looking back to Lupin.
"That'll be fine."
---
"Everyone here?" Sienna and Hermione asked, walking into the meeting room at head quarters. The five agents sitting around the table all perked up as their bosses entered.
"Present and accounted for," Jeremy affirmed.
"Okay, let's run through this one more time before we go," Hermione replied professionally, "Jude?"
"Bear will be stationed at the valet stand, on the look out for any signs of suspicious activity and Krum's arrival. Jeremy will be with the bellboys looking out for the same. I'm to go to the security's office to gain access to their security tape feed. Once I get that, Matthews and Colgan will start to set up the equipment in our hotel rooms so we can stream the feed through our base. You will be at the check in desk, checking into our suite and Sienna… well actually I forgot what you'll be contributing."
"I'll be at the resort's spa getting my nails done," Sienna told him brightly, not noticing his sarcasm.
Hermione shot her a contemptuous look.
"And looking for Krum too…" she added dourly with a half shrug half shake of her head.
"Right. Anyway, once Krum's there, Jeremy and Bear will follow him at a safe distance to make sure nothing happens. Matthews and Colgan will be watching the security feeds, making sure there's no suspicious activity from anyone, and I will be joining my fiancé at the café for nice hearty brunch," he finished, shooting Hermione a bright smile.
Hermione blushed and nodded, "Okay, simple enough- let's make sure it stays that way."
---
"This feels weird…"
Harry looked back at Ginny and then down to their conjoined hands. He started to pull his hand away.
"Sorry."
"No, I mean it feels weird that Draco's not here."
"Have you guys been having problems?" he asked her quietly as the stood in line at the check in counter.
"No, everything's great," Ginny said with a smile before it dropped, "It's just that today is the anniversary of his mother's death."
"What?" Harry asked with a shocked expression, "Really?"
"Yeah, remember she died at the Ministry battle."
Harry remembered the battle at the ministry well. He had just turned seventeen and was going to get his apparation license when Death Eaters attacked. Many ministry employees and visitors had lost their lives that day, but Draco had never revealed that his mother was one of those people.
"Did he say anything to you about maybe going to visit her grave or anything like that?"
"No, he never indicated in any way that he even remembered. I only know because there was a small tribute in the Prophet about it."
Harry bit the inside of his lip while thinking something over. Finally he turned to Ginny and wrapped and arm around her waist, pulling her in close so he could whisper in her ear, "Do me a favour and go tell Sirius about this. He might be able to do something."
Ginny nodded and leaned in to kiss him on the cheek so it looked like they were a couple saying a brief goodbye while Harry continued on to the receptionist beckoning him forward. He walked past a brown haired woman ('with a nice bum', he noticed) and an older gentleman to the woman dressed in a Beaumont Resort uniform on the far right.
"Evans checking in."
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"What time were your reservations Miss Granger?"
"Nine a.m.," Hermione replied, her eyes not on the receptionist but on the small diamond ring on her left hand ring finger. She hadn't wore a ring on that finger for a year (honestly, she never expected to wear one on that finger for the rest of her life) and having one on it now gave her an extremely anxious feeling- that, and she felt as if her finger was going numb since the ring was about two sizes too small. She had planned on just conjuring one, but Jude had surprised her with a Tiffany's bag before they left that morning. Deciding to remain polite- but professional- she accepted it without any argument.
The receptionist nodded, "Okay, and will you be needing two card keys?"
"Yes," said Hermione, wiggling her finger around to try and get rid of the numbness.
The receptionist gave her a strange look before handing over two plastic cards, "Here you go Miss Granger. Have a pleasant stay at the Beaumont."
"Thanks," Hermione muttered absently, taking the key and pocketing them. She walked off to the side of the line a bit and started searching through her purse as a distraction before pulling her wand from her wrist holster and resizing the blasted ring with a flick of her wrist.
"Alright Hermione, Krum has just entered the lobby. He's in a black suit," Jeremy's voice floated through her head.
"There's lots of black suited men in here, Jeremy," she thought back, her eyes starting to scan through the crowd of people.
"He's on the left side of the building, near the luggage carts."
"Any suspicious people around him or making their way towards him?"
"No, but I don't think anyone else has seen him yet…"
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"Sirius?" Ginny asked, her eyes locked on a woman standing in the lobby. She had just finished telling Sirius about his cousins death anniversary like Harry asked. They had then agreed that Lupin would go back to Malfoy Manor (since it was supposedly empty) to look for the absent Draco. Sirius was just about to leave to get security feeds when the young red head stopped him.
"Yeah?" he asked, turning to look at her.
Ginny pointed to a brunette woman in the crowd, "Is that…"
"There's Krum," Ron interrupted, coming up between them and nodding off to the opposite side of the building.
"Alright," Sirius said, becoming professional, "Station the perimeter."
---
"Harry, Krum's here," said Ron's voice.
Harry could feel the hair's on the back of his head stand on end as his body was spiked with adrenaline.
"Where?"
"Over by the- wait no I lost him."
Harry's jaw tightened as he thought back in the angriest voice possible, "Bloody hell, Ron- is he or is he not here?"
"He is! He's- there, I see him!"
"Where?"
"Mr. Evans," the receptionist said after she had returned from fiddling with her computer.
"Yes?" he asked in the politest voice possible.
"There are actually some problem's with the residential suite, but we could upgrade you to the honeymoon suite free of charge?"
'Fan-fucking-tastic, that's all I need is to shack up with Ginny in a bloody honeymoon suite. As if this wasn't awkward enough…', "Um, yes that will be fine."
"Harry, he's over by the luggage carts. He's dressed in black and standing with a few Bulgarian blokes. Big noses…" Ron's voice again floated through his head.
Harry nodded to himself, "Keep an eye on him."
Ron continued to watch Krum from his post. He frowned after a few seconds, 'Did his head always look so egg shaped? Mmm eggs… that sounds good. I might be able to knick some from that café nearby. I don't think the muggles would noticed if I summoned some-'
"Ron!" Ginny's voice hissed suddenly in his head.
"What?" he asked out loud, causing a few passer-by's to give him odd looks.
"Ron, you have a man on your left dressed in a bellboy's uniform, who hasn't taken his eyes of Krum the entire time he's been here…"
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"Looks like the two big blokes are his too," Jeremy informed Hermione from the front of the lobby.
Hermione nodded, "Perform some charms on them to make sure they are who they say they are. Just keep it simple though- maybe a dark artefact detection spell and a 'revealio' . There are two many muggles around so don't make a spectacle."
"I have to get closer…" Jeremy muttered in his head, before obscurely slipping out his wand from his wrist holster and heading off to where Krum was standing waiting for the elevator.
---
Harry sighed to himself as he waited in line for the woman to complete his room upgrade.
"Harry, looks like we got company."
Harry's head jerked up and looked back, "Where? Does he pose an immediate threat."
"Potentially- oh shit Harry, he has a wand," Ron muttered.
"Where is he?" Harry asked, automatically heading in Krum's direction. If someone was there with a wand that meant that the assassins where there already and looking for Krum's blood.
"Uh, left," Ron replied.
"My left or your left?"
"Is there a difference?"
"Ron!"
"Okay your left!"
Harry quickly turned left and started pushing his was through the crowd, his eyes scanning around for a man with a wand-
"Wait no, my left!"
"Bloody hell- oof!"
Harry's wand was flung out of his hand as he was knocked backwards to the floor.
"Sorry," replied a woman's voice instantly.
Harry shook the dizziness out of his head and looked up in search for the woman belonging to that voice. All he could see was her fading back as she made her way through the throng of people.
Harry shook his head again, clearing his mind of his rampant thoughts. He immediately started looking around for his missing wand and found it laying a few feet away from where he had fell.
---
Hermione made sure her wand was hidden away and her purse was secured on her shoulder before she started walking towards the resort's restaurant.
"Miss Granger?" addressed Colgan's feminine voice, "there's a man making his way in Krum's direction quite hastily."
"Is he heading for Krum?" Hermione questioned, stopping in her tracks.
"I think someone might be trying to guide him towards Krum- he's reaching into his jacket…okay he just pulled out a wand."
"Where is he?" Hermione asked, again pulling out her own wand and starting off towards where Krum was.
"He's heading left, now he's turning-"
"Oof!"
A body collided into Hermione's right shoulder, making her loose her grip on her wand.
"Sorry," she muttered, not taking her eyes of Krum who was just ahead of her. Using her peripherals she could detect her wand right next to her foot and bent to pick it up before continuing in Krum's direction.
"Okay, Krum's cronies are clean," spoke Jeremy's voice all of a sudden, "I put a simple skin barrier around Krum also, it should divert any harmful moves to touch him physically or with a spell for at least a few hours. I'm heading out to the parking lot now to meet up with Bear. See you soon."
Hermione nodded to herself at Jeremy's sign off and returned her attention back to the man with the wand, "Colgan, where is this guy?"
"Hold on, we lost the feed."
"Damn it…" Hermione muttered in frustration.
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"Alright, Harry that bloke is heading out of the building now," Ron thought in relief.
"Did he curse Krum?" Harry asked, still all jazzed up.
"He got awfully close to him, but I didn't see any sort of spell fire. I don't know maybe it wasn't a wand afterall…"
Harry sighed, discretely putting his wand back inside his jacket pocket before turning to head back to the receptionist to complete his check in.
"Ginny's going to go bump into Krum just to make sure everything's okay," Ron added, watching his only sister make her way across the floor.
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"Boss, the feeds are back up but I don't see our mystery dude anywhere. But a woman has just walked up to Krum," Colgan sent out to Hermione quickly.
"Does she pose a threat?" Hermione's asked as her eyes glanced over to Krum. She could see a red head woman talking to him and Krum almost foaming at the mouth, but could see her face.
"No, it just looks like she's introducing herself," Colgan answered a second later.
"I'll go check it out…"
"Don't bother, she's walking away now and Krum and his guards just got into the elevator. Maybe she had the wrong person."
Hermione wasn't totally comfortable with that suggestion but kept her mind closed as Jude walked up to her, "Everything alright?"
Hermione frowned and shrugged, "Well he isn't dead."
Jude gave her a comforting smile and reached down for her left hand, "Ready for brunch?"
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"Excuse me, are you Silas Ezekiel? The owner of the resort?"
Krum looked down at the petite red head in front of him and with a lustrous grin said, "No, I am avraid not."
"Oh I'm sorry to disturb you then," Ginny said quickly with a fake sincerity before walking away from the Bulgarians.
Krum looked like he was about to say something else to keep her talking but Ginny didn't spare him a second glance as she walking off in the direction of the check in counter.
"I'm back darling. The resort grounds are absolutely lovely," Ginny gushed smiling at the receptionist as she wrapped and arm around Harry's.
Harry smiled at her and made sure the woman behind the counter went back to her work before asking, "Did he seem normal?"
"He seemed like an arrogant pig headed man who was about to try and pick up on me- so yes, he was normal," Ginny said indifferently.
Harry chuckled before leaning in to kiss her forehead.
"Here you two are, and please enjoy your stay at the Beaumont," said the woman, handing over two key cards and giving them one last bright smile.
Harry and Ginny smiled back, "We definitely will."
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Now we didn't get to see all that I intended for this chapter, but it'll all be in Part II, which should be out later this week.
*Also, see that box down there (VVV) ? Write some bullshit and then click review! :]]