I tried to update Savage Innocence; hit a wall. I tried to update my Transformers fic; same thing.
On top of it all, my X-Box 360 is experiencing technical difficulties…again.
I don't own Harry Potter.
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Chapter 4 - Spy Work in Paradise
After twenty long, tedious hours on an airplane, and a rather stringent trip through Customs, Harry and Hermione managed to exit Honolulu airport and climb into a bus taking them to the car rental agency.
"I never thought that this place would be so paranoid about what you bring over," Harry said as he placed his suitcase on a shelf.
"Hawaii has a very delicate ecosystem, Harry," Hermione admonished as she laid her bag next to his, "if any foreign species are introduced, it could kill off a lot of native plants and animals."
"Oh," Harry said dumbly as he sat down. Hermione rolled her eyes as she sat down next to her partner. Several minutes later, they had reached the rental agency and drove away in the vehicle that had been prearranged for them. Hermione insisted on driving, pointing out Harry's lack of a driver's license.
"I have a license!" Harry retorted as he climbed into the passenger seat.
"A motorcycle license and a car license are two entirely different things," Hermione responded calmly as she started the vehicle and pulled out into the street. Harry sighed and unfolded the Oahu road map that they had taken from the rental agency, and awkwardly moved it around in the small vehicle as he tried to find their position.
"Umm…the freeway's on this next left," Harry said as he found their current position and tried to plot a route to their hotel. "We need to talk to Farlen about getting a car with GPS next time," Harry grumbled as he struggled with the cumbersome map. Hermione laughed as his complaints.
After sitting in traffic for over an hour and getting lost several times, Harry and Hermione finally made their way to Waikiki. It took several more wrong turns for them to find the valet parking for their hotel. After taking their suitcases out of the trunk of their car and giving the key to the valet, they entered the hotel, and nearly dropped their bags in awe.
"Wicked," Harry muttered absently, amazed by the enormous glass aquarium before them. The two agents stood in amazement for a moment, before snapping to their senses and walking to the reservation desk and receiving the key to their room.
"Oh, one more thing," Hermione said, turning back to the desk attendant. "I was wondering if you could tell us the room number of a friend of ours. A man named Phillip Savage?" she asked innocently, discreetly activating the charm on her wedding band. The clerk hesitated for a moment, but eventually entered the name into the hotel database.
"Yes, here," the clerk said, pointing to the computer screen. "He's staying at room 425. Should I call him?"
"No thanks, we'll surprise him," Hermione said before thanking the clerk. Returning to Harry, they walked to the elevator together. While they were in the elevator, Hermione quickly reached into her suitcase and pulled out the tin containing her surveillance devices. They rode to the fourth floor and searched for Savelour's room. After looking around to make sure no one was approaching, Hermione opened the tin and peeled off one device. She carefully applied it onto the wall directly across from Savelour's room door before they returned to the elevator and rode to their room, not speaking until they had reached the safety of their room and had cast several security charms. Hermione set the tin containing her extra surveillance devices and tapped a small crystal on the inside of the lid with her wand, causing it to project an image of the door.
"All right, Savelour is currently in the level below us," Hermione said. "One of us is going to have to watch the image for when he arrives and leaves, and one of us is going to have to tail him to try and put down his schedule. After we can figure out a pattern for him, one of us will sneak into his room and plant more bugs into his room, and hopefully then we'll catch something."
"Great," Harry said. "So…now what?" he asked.
"Now, we wait," Hermione said as she pulled up a chair and sat down in front of the projection. "I'll take first shift," she added, propping up her chin in her hand.
"I'll go see if there's any coffee," Harry volunteered, going into the kitchen without waiting for a response.
Every two hours, Harry and Hermione would take turns watching the surveillance video. However, since they were only staring at the image of an unmoving door, the duty began dull very quickly. Fortunately, the room had a radio so they could be occupied without the potentially disastrous distraction of a television.
At 9:45 at night, Savelour finally returned to his room.
"Finally," Harry groaned softly, rubbing his eyes. "I thought I'd die from boredom and exhaustion." Fifteen minutes later, Harry woke Hermione up for her next shift, and immediately fell asleep when he flopped onto the bed. Rolling her eyes, Hermione sat down and watched the projection, although she soon began to feel fatigued.
On an idle whim, Hermione waved her wand over the tin, causing streams of glowing runes to appear in the air, the intricate "programming" of the charms involved. Hermione made a few simple changes in the runes before waving her wand, causing them to disappear. Hermione looked at Harry and rolled her eyes when she saw him spread out over the bed. Carefully taking a pillow from the bed and finding a spare blanket in the closet, Hermione set the surveillance projector onto a night stand next to the sofa before she laid down on it and curled up under the blanket, drifting off to sleep.
A light beeping roused Hermione from her sleep. She looked blearily at her watch, which cheerfully continued beeping. Shaking the cobwebs from her head, she pulled herself off of the couch and walked to the bed, shaking Harry awake.
"Five more minutes," Harry mumbled groggily, brushing away Hermione's hand.
"Wake up, you lazy git. We've got work to do," Hermione said, shaking him harder. With a tired groan, Harry rolled out of bed and smoothed out some of the wrinkles in his clothes. "Okay, I got more sleep than you did, so I'll tail Savelour first," Hermione said, gathering up a fresh set of clothes from a drawer. "I reprogrammed the bug to alert you when the door opens, so you don't have to stare at it unwaveringly all the time," she continued, grabbing a vial of polyjuice potion. "I'm going to get freshened up and head down to the lobby. I checked our phones; we have each other in our phone books, so call me when he leaves," she said before rushing into the bathroom. She emerged ten minutes later in her polyjuiced form and dressed in a T-shirt, shorts and sunglasses, typical tourist fare.
"Wish me luck," Hermione said as she grabbed her phone and shoved it into her pocket, along with her keycard and several energy bars.
"Good luck, Alex," Harry said, emphasizing the diminutive form of Hermione's alias.
"Thank you, Ben," Hermione replied as she exited the door, repeating his action. Hanging a "Do Not Disturb" sign on the doorknob, she walked to the elevator and rode it down to the lobby. After she exited the lobby, she bought a newspaper and sat down on a bench near the elevator, waiting for Harry's call.
Harry sat in their hotel room, rapping his fingers on the table while he absently nibbled on an energy bar, waiting for the door to open. Nearly twenty minutes later, the door opened to reveal the man that Harry and Hermione had traveled halfway across the world for. Ignoring the annoying chime that the projector was making, Harry grabbed his phone and dialed Hermione's number.
Hermione's phone buzzed in her pocket, and she dug it out and flipped it open.
"He's gone out and is heading towards you," Harry said simply.
"Acknowledged," Hermione said softly before hanging up and shoving the phone back into her pocket, resuming her reading. A few minutes later, the elevator doors slid open to reveal Savelour, an unassuming man that seemed in his late fifties stroll out into the main lobby of the hotel, a cloth bag in his hand. Hermione waited until he was almost out the door before setting down the paper and walking after him.
Hermione followed Savelour out into the early morning Waikiki streets, when relatively few people were out, so the streets were fairly open, making it easier for Hermione to track her target. Savelour did not stop anywhere, but instead headed straight for the beach, his feet scraping as he walked on the sand-covered pavement.
Hermione watched as Savelour walked up to a small booth and pay for a boogie board. Then he shuffled through the white sand before stopping at a certain point. Then he reached into his bag and laid down a large towel before pulling off his shirt and his pants to reveal swim trunks. Hermione sighed and sat down underneath a palm tree as she watched the older man jump into the ocean waves. Reaching into her pocket, she pulled out her phone and dialed Harry's number.
Harry's phone buzzed loudly as it vibrated on the wooden table, and Harry snatched it up, flipping it open.
"Anything?" Harry asked.
"Hi, baby, how are you?" Hermione replied in an uncharacteristically girlish voice. Harry blinked a few times in confusion.
"Umm…I'm fine, dear," he said dumbly, not sure how to respond to it.
"It's in case anyone tries to listen in," Hermione said softly, speaking in her normal voice. "I followed Savelour to the beach, and it looks like he's going to be here for a while, so try bugging his room before the maid shows up."
"I'm on it," Harry said, standing up. "Keep safe, and don't get sunburned, okay?"
"Don't worry about a thing, darling," Hermione said in that sickeningly sweet tone, "I love you, bye." Then the line went silent as she ended the call. Harry shuddered at the disgusting voice that Hermione used. Throwing on a fresh set of clothes and gulping down a vial of polyjuice potion, Harry grabbed his keycard, his pocket knife and his tin of surveillance devices and snuck out of his room, heading for the elevator.
Harry stepped off on the fourth floor and, making sure that no one was around, walked over to Savelour's room. Harry drew out his pocket knife and, making sure that no one was looking, slid it into the crack between the door and its frame and gently slid it down. Hearing the satisfying whir that signified that it was unlocked, Harry pushed the handle down and entered the room.
Harry immediately set to work, placing surveillance devices at strategic locations throughout the room, as well as testing them to be certain that they all functioned well. Harry quickly opened various drawers to see if there was anything noteworthy hidden in them, but finding nothing, he closed them back up to hide his actions. Satisfied with his work, Harry carefully snuck out of the room and took the elevator back to his own room.
At almost six `o clock that night, Savelour entered his hotel room again, soon followed by Hermione's return. Harry noticed that Hermione's skin was considerably darker than it was when she left that morning.
"The guy spent all bloody day at the beach," Hermione grunted in frustration as she kicked away her flip flops, "my feet are killing me. Did you at least get the bugs in his room?"
"Yep," Harry said proudly as he showed her the video of the interior of Savelour's room, where they could hear him ordering room service on the telephone. "Maybe we should order room service of our own," Harry said, "have you eaten anything today besides those energy bars you brought?"
"No," Hermione admitted sheepishly. Harry shook his head and ordered them dinner while Hermione continued to watch the video. After eating dinner and continuing to watch for activity from Savelour, their target eventually went to sleep, and his watchers decided to do the same. "What are you doing?" Hermione asked when Harry began lifting cushions off of the sofa.
"I figured that since I took the bed last night, you should get it tonight," Harry said as he continued lifting cushions. "I figure that this place has to have a fold-out bed in her somewhere." Hermione sighed and sat on one side of the bed.
"Oh, just sleep in the bed, Harry," she groaned. Harry turned around and looked at her incredulously.
"Umm…" Harry hummed, suddenly feeling feverish. "Are you sure?"
"We're both responsible adults, Harry," Hermione said, "I think we can both sleep in the same bed without anything happening."
"Well…if you insist," Harry said awkwardly.
"I do, now get in here," Hermione commanded Harry. He obediently followed his partner's order and slid onto the other side of the bed, crawling underneath the covers.
"Stop hogging the blankets," Harry said, pulling on the covers.
"I'm hogging?" Hermione asked, pulling back. "You're hogging!" For several minutes, they continued to struggle over the blankets. "I would think that being a married man, you'd be used to sharing a bed with someone."
"You'd think, huh?" Harry asked rhetorically. "Unfortunately, most married men don't sleep in separate beds as their spouses." Hermione stopped her struggles and turned to face him, surprised.
"What do you mean?" Hermione asked.
"You didn't know?" Harry asked, surprised himself. "I could have sworn I told you," he muttered to himself. "Anyway, Ginny and I have been having some…disagreements lately, so we've taken to sleeping in separate beds."
"How long?" Hermione demanded.
"About three years now," Harry said.
"So since…" Hermione said, trailing off at the end.
"Your divorce, yeah," Harry said neutrally. "Before you go apologizing, it wasn't your fault," he said as he turned to face away from her, setting his glasses on a nightstand. "`Night," he said as he curled up under the blankets.
"Yeah…`night," Hermione repeated as she drifted off to sleep.
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Not a whole lot of action, but it moved the plot along. And besides, I highly doubt that espionage work is as exciting as James Bond makes it look.
The hotel that they're staying at is the Pacific Beach Hotel. Its main attraction is a three-story-tall oceanarium.
Concerning my currently-being-rewritten fic Light's Hope, Death's Hunters, I'm in a bit of a dilemma. While I'm the first to admit that I don't like Ron, and wouldn't be too surprised if he pulled a Wormtail, I'm having a bit of a hard time thinking of a reason why he would join Voldemort, or how he managed to go undetected for so long (at least a year before Harry and Hermione reappear). If any of you could throw out any suggestions, that'd be great, because otherwise I'd have to downgrade Ron from a Death Eater to simply a jerk.
Don't forget to read and review!
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