I don't own Harry Potter.
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Chapter 5 - Here and There
Ginny rapped her fingernails on the table impatiently as she sat in the Leaky Cauldron waiting for her guest to appear.
As she waited, her mind drifted to earlier that morning when she visited the Department of Magical Law Enforcement.
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Ginny Flooed into the Ministry of Magic atrium and casually strolled over to the lift and pressed the button that would take her to the auror department. After the lift gates opened, she walked over to the secretary and laid her hands on the desk.
"Can I help you, Missus Potter?" the secretary asked politely.
"Yes," Ginny acknowledged, "I was wondering if you could tell me where my husband is; I've been trying to contact him, but I can't figure out where he is." Harry had told her repeatedly that he could not talk about his work, so she tried to go around him and find out straight from the source. After all, what could he possibly be doing that would require so much secrecy? The secretary pulled a large book out from under her desk and skimmed its pages.
"I'm sorry, Missus Potter, but I'm afraid that Auror Potter's whereabouts are unavailable, and he is listed as incommunicado," she said with an apologetic shrug. Ginny furrowed her brow.
"Why? Where is he?" the redhead asked.
"I don't know," the secretary said, putting the book away. "I don't have that information."
"Who would?" Ginny inquired further.
"I believe Head Auror Wilkins would know," the secretary replied. "Would you like me to see if he's available?"
"Please," Ginny said. The secretary scribbled a quick note and waved her wand over the parchment, which folded itself into a paper airplane and flew off. A few minutes later, another paper airplane came and landed on the desk, and she opened it before standing up. "You're in luck, he's available now. If you would please follow me," the secretary said, leading Ginny to Head Auror Wilkins' office before knocking on the door.
"Come in," Wilkins said, and the secretary opened the door, letting herself and Ginny inside the office. "Thank you, Nancy; that will be all." Nodding her head in acknowledgement, the secretary left, closing the door behind her. "Missus Potter, please have a seat," he said to Ginny, gesturing towards a chair, which she took. "Now, what can I do for you?"
"Well, I was hoping that you could tell me where my husband Harry is," Ginny said sweetly. She frowned when Wilkins' polite smile disappeared, replaced by an emotionless mask.
"Missus Potter, the details of your husband's assignments are classified, and his whereabouts are released strictly on a need-to-know basis," Wilkins said cordially.
"But I'm his wife, shouldn't I need to know?!" Ginny snapped, her Weasley temper rising. "What if something happens to him, and he gets hurt, or what if I get hurt, what then?"
"Missus Potter, I would appreciate it if you didn't raise your voice in my office," Wilkins said sharply. "And if something does happen that requires his immediate attention here, then we will contact him and order him to return. But now is not one of those times." Ginny sighed in frustration as she rubbed her forehead.
"What about Hermione Granger, is she available?" Ginny asked.
"No, Auror Granger is also out on assignment," Wilkins replied. "And no, you may not know her whereabouts either. Now, I have a lot of things that require my attention, so I would like it if you would leave so I can get back to work," he dismissed as he retrieved a folder and began reading it. Sighing in defeat, Ginny stood up and vacated the office, leaving the Ministry of Magic without another word.
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Ginny looked up as a blonde wearing radish earrings and a butterbeer bottle cap necklace entered the pub and sat down at her table.
"Hello Ginny, it's been a while," Luna said, shaking Ginny's hand. "So, what can I do for you?" As head reporter of the Quibbler, Luna had more resources than Ginny did, and might be able to find something.
"Yes, Luna, I was hoping that you could do me a favor," Ginny said. "Harry's out on another `mission,'" she continued, sarcastically stressing "mission", showing that she did not believe it, "and I can't figure out where the hell he is. I was hoping that you could use your reporter sources to figure out where he is, or what the hell he's doing." Luna frowned at her friend. She had listened to Ginny complain several times over the past five years about Harry's frequent, sudden and often lengthy disappearances, but this was the first time that Ginny had actually done something about it besides confront Harry, which would inevitably lead to a loud, heated argument.
"Ginny, I'm a reporter, not a private investigator," Luna told the redhead sitting across from her. "Besides, why would you want me to investigate Harry anyway? Maybe there's a reason why he won't tell you what he does."
"Well," Ginny said hesitantly before looking back and forth suspiciously. Satisfied that no one was eavesdropping, she leaned in and whispered conspiratorially, "I think that Harry might be having an affair." Luna merely raised an intrigued eyebrow.
"And how did you come to this conclusion?" she asked, silently doubting the claim. After all, Harry was one of the most honorable people that she knew, and would be the last person she would suspect of cheating on their spouse.
"Well, Harry's been disappearing without warning for years, and when she and Ron were married, I noticed that Hermione would be gone at the same time that Harry would be, and return at the same time," Ginny whispered.
"They do work together, Ginny," Luna pointed out.
"Maybe, but then so did Ron; why didn't he go with them?" Ginny questioned her friend. Luna remained silent, unable to answer. "And I think they may be paying people off to cover for them," Ginny continued. "I went to the DMLE this morning, and no one would tell me where he was, not even the Head Auror!" Luna resisted the urge to roll her eyes and scoff at the absurdity of Harry paying off his own boss; and to think that people call her a conspiracy theorist.
"Ginny, I highly doubt that Harry would pay off his boss," Luna said. "I'm sure that there's a perfectly rational explanation for their sudden and frequent disappearances." When she saw Ginny's ears turn red, Luna added in a placating voice, "But I'll keep an ear to the ground, and see what turns up." Ginny's imminent eruption vanished, and she grinned at her friend.
"Thanks, Luna, you're the best," she said.
"Remember, I'm only doing this because I'm your friend," Luna said as she got up and prepared to leave. "Don't make this a habit, and remember that I may not even be able to find anything." Spinning around, Luna disappeared with a crack, leaving Ginny alone at her table.
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Hermione hummed contentedly as she shifted in her bed. This was the best sleep that she had in ages. She had a soft breeze on her neck, a comforting warmth wrapped around her, and something long and stiff poking into her back.
Wait a minute….
Her eyes sprung open as she realized where she was: In a bed in an American hotel room, spooning against her best friend and partner Harry Potter, with said best friend and partner's erection poking into her back. Carefully sliding out from under the coverings and Harry's arm as to not awaken him, she quickly grabbed a fresh set of clothes and jumped into the bathroom to escape the awkward situation.
Stripping off her clothes, Hermione turned the hot water on and jumped into the shower. As she cleaned herself, Hermione idly mused to herself that even during her farce of a marriage, she had never woken up in that position. She also noticed that while the shower was hot enough to fill the bathroom with steam, she felt strangely cold without Harry's arms around her.
While she was in her shower, Harry slowly stirred into consciousness. As he stretched, he noticed something poking in his shorts. Oh, bugger, he thought. As he tried to will his stiff manhood down, his mind drifted to the rather…racy dreams that he had last night, which only provoked his current problem. While such dreams were nothing new to Harry, Harry noted with shock that last night, they exclusively involved a certain bushy-haired brunette that was currently in the shower.
Get a grip, Potter, Harry mentally berated himself. You're here to track down a potentially very dangerous man with terrorist connections. Now is not the time to be perving over your best friend!
She does have a nice body, though, he thought absently, before mentally slapping himself. He flipped on the surveillance device and began to stare at the projection, thinking about as many un-arousing thoughts as possible. When Hermione emerged from the bathroom a few minutes later, fully dressed, they simply looked at each other silently for a moment.
"Umm, right, I'll just be taking my shower now," Harry said awkwardly as he quickly gathered some clothes and sidestepped Hermione on the way to the bathroom while she took his place at the surveillance device. Harry's shower was brief, and Hermione could tell that he had not done a good job of drying himself off, as the numerous damp spots on his shirt would suggest. "Anything?" Harry queried as he sat down next to Hermione. Hermione shook her head negatively. Harry shifted nervously next to his partner. "Listen, Hermione, about this morning -" he began, but she raised her hand, cutting off his apology.
"You had a perfectly normal male reaction," Hermione dismissed him. "Right now, we have bigger things to worry about, so eyes on the screen." While Harry watched the screen for activity, Hermione downed a vial of polyjuice potion with a grimace before further altering her features with various glamour charms.
"He's leaving," Harry said, and Hermione hastily grabbed her phone and her wand before running out the door without a word. She hid her wand in her phone and slid it into her pocket before punching the elevator call button, praising her luck when a door immediately slid open. Hitting the button to take her down to the lobby, Hermione took several deep, calming breaths. It was good that she did, because the elevator stopped a few floors down and the doors opened to allow Savelour entry. The older man paid Hermione no mind as he patiently waited for the elevator doors to close and lower them to their destination. When the doors opened again, Hermione held the doors open to allow Savelour to exit first. Muttering his thanks, the man vacated the elevator, and Hermione counted to five before leaving herself, following the man without making it obvious.
Hermione followed Savelour through the crowded Waiki streets, almost losing him once. He turned down an alley that the tourists seemed to be ignoring, prompting Hermione to assume that this was the entrance to the magical world. Her suspicions were confirmed when Savelour drew a wand from his pocket and transfigured his clothes into wizard robes and tapping the brick wall in a specific order, opening a passageway. Hermione quickly extracted her wand and transfigured her own clothes into robes and dashed in before the passageway closed off.
Hermione wove her way through the vendors hawking trinkets and the people that they were selling to, trying to keep herself from being distracted by the different, yet strangely familiar environment. You have a job to do, Granger, you can sight-see later, Hermione admonished herself as she continued to follow Savelour.
Savelour turned down a side alley and into a darker part of the marketplace. The gruesome items on display in the shops and shadiness of the characters inhabiting the area led Hermione to believe that this was the Hawaiian equivalent of Knockturn Alley, although this area was practically sparkling compared to its British counterpart.
Savelour entered an unmarked shop, although the various potions and ingredients on display suggested an apothecary. Hermione casually walked by, and scowled when she saw the CLOSED sign hanging in the window. She surreptitiously checked her watch and made note of the time before pretending to window shop. Twenty minutes later, Savelour exited the apothecary and returned to the main area of the marketplace. Savelour briskly walked towards an empty lot where people were popping in and out of existence, and Hermione picked up the pace, realizing what was about to happen; but before she could catch up, Savelour disapparated with a crack. Stamping down the urge to swear out loud, Hermione stepped into the disappearing crowd and apparated back to her and Harry's hotel room.
"Did you get anything?" Harry asked after Hermione popped into existence in front of him.
"Maybe," Hermione said as she kicked off her shoes and sat down next to him. "He went into an apothecary, but the shop owner closed it before I could get in." Harry sighed as he realized in implications of her statement.
"What time?" Harry asked flatly as he drew his wand.
"Ten twenty-three," Hermione answered as she prepared herself for what was to come. She took several deep, calming breaths as Harry leveled his wand at her.
"Remind me to have a word with R and D when we get home," Harry grumbled, "legilimens!" Harry tried not to flinch at the massive wave of memories that flooded into his vision. He pushed aside the irrelevant memories until he found what he was looking for, and dove in.
After shaking off the tingly feeling that ran down his body, Harry looked around to find his target. After peering over the crowd, he found the past Hermione following Savelour, and gave chase after them, running through the specter-like figures in the memory.
Harry saw Savelour enter the apothecary just as Hermione described, and walked through the door while the past Hermione scowled in frustration. Harry saw Savelour talking with the shop owner, whose dark, greasy hair and long, hooked nose reminded him of the late Severus Snape.
"What can I do for you?" the shop owner asked in a raspy voice. Savelour pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket and unfolded it before sliding it towards the shop keeper.
"How soon can you get these?" Savelour asked, his voice carrying a light French accent. Harry bent through
Savelour to read the contents of the paper.
30 g dried blowfish livers
0.5 liter fire salamander blood
150 ml black mamba venom
Harry raised an eyebrow at the ingredient list. The first and last ingredients could be used for both benign and malignant purposes, but were nevertheless restricted substances, and obtaining them in such large amounts would be difficult, and suspicious. However, he could not recall a use for salamander blood, either muggle or magical.
Apparently, the potions brewer behind the desk was thinking similar thoughts, but kept such concerns to himself.
"It's possible, but it'll be difficult, and expensive," he said. "I'll have to do a lot of legal side-stepping, but I reckon I could have this stuff in a week, week-and-a-half at the most."
"That is sufficient," Savelour conceded. "I trust you will present me with the bill after you have obtained it?"
"Of course," the potions brewer said.
"Very well then," Savelour said, reaching into his pocket and dropping a handful of Galleons onto the desk, "our business is concluded for now. Good day," he continued. The greasy man slid the golden coins into his hand and flicked his wand, unlocking the door and flipping the sign to OPEN, allowing Savelour to step out. Harry waited for several more minutes, but when the shifty shop keeper did not do anything noteworthy, Harry exited Hermione's memory.
"Well, what did you get?" Hermione immediately pressed. Harry grabbed a pad of paper and a pen and wrote down the ingredients and appropriate measurements before handing it to Hermione, who read it with a frown.
"What do you make of that?" Harry asked.
"It's strange," Hermione said, shaking her head absently. "It's not enough to make anything more than a crude mixture of toxins, but this may not be the entire ingredient list. Also, it doesn't say whether the salamander is from a regular or a magical salamander. A non-magical salamander could be used for a variety of things, but a magical salamander is primarily used for potions based around fire and burns. It's mostly used in burn salves and fire-proofing coatings, but can also create some pretty nasty explosions if mixed with the right ingredients."
"So we've got a guy ordering large amounts of toxic ingredients and a potentially explosive substance," Harry concluded from Hermione's statement. "Whatever this guy's doing here, it's not to enjoy the sun and surf." Harry reached over and snatched his cell phone off of the coffee table and flipped it open. "Keep an eye on the bugs while I call HQ; we may be looking at an assassination attempt."
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The plot thickens…finally, and Ginny's starting to get suspicious.
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