A/N. Surprise! I had thought I couldn't but I actually wrote it and the rewrite was well worth the while. Enjoy :)
Chapter 38 - Healer versus Auror
Andy did not move a muscle.
"Give it up, Harry. I'm siding with Jack on this one," she said to him, unflinching, "We got a glimpse of what it can do. The potion has to be turned in."
"He'll have it in two hours."
"He wants it now! And you might as well lower your weapon because you and I know that you're not going to use it on me."
As much Andy knew he wouldn't hex her, he knew Andy wouldn't hex him either; at least not under the present circumstances. If she wanted to, she would have already. He lowered his wand somewhat and so did she. He would try to get her on their side one more time.
"I need your help on this one."
"Listen. You know I bend a lot of rules; I friggin enjoy it. But this is different. I'm not getting into that hole you're digging until you give me one hell of a reason why you have to do this and it better not be so you can get your dick back into her pants!"
A warm feeling rushed up his face, embarrassed as Andy hit a raw nerve. It wasn't so much because of the rudeness of her delivery. It was a figure of speech; a dysphemism. Well, kind of. What Andy said was partly true and her recognition of his desire to hang on to Hermione was bang on. What Hermione had said to him about the possible consequences of the potion's existence made sense but defiance of a direct order from his superior and hiding evidence from the Ministry was a big deal, especially after seeing what Floyd could do with it. They could get away with something like this back when they were teenagers but as adults they were expected to act more responsibly.
He would probably not have gone this far if not for the fact that this was what Hermione wanted to. He was doing it for her because it was important to her. And all this, being together in the last couple of hours working side by side, reminded him so much of how it used to be and what it was that he wanted back.
Harry was so distracted by his thoughts he was not able to stop the hot flash of a curse Hermione let go of from somewhere behind him. Andy's wand discharged in response, containing Hermione's hex and sending it his way, fast. Their proximity and his lack of preparation handcuffed him and the power with which his partner parried the offensive move overwhelmed his hastily produced defense.
Blag!
He fell to the ground, arms and legs unable to move.
"Stupefy!" Hermione tried again.
"Cursio rebundo!" Andy's wand flicked the spell right back at her, and she barely was able to get out of the way. Andy mocked her efforts, "You have to do better than that!"
He had to help her. His wand had fallen beside him and he was trapped in Hermione's straightjacket curse. It would be pointless to physically struggle. He looked over to where Hermione had fallen on the ground.
"Hermione, release me!"
Andy made sure she wouldn't; his partner one of the best mind players he ever met.
"Oh sure! Get your ex-boyfriend to fight your fight for you!"
That definitely riled Hermione up even more.
"He was never my boyfriend!"
Hermione quickly got up and aimed her wand at Andy. A surge of red light sent Andy soaring back as the full energy of Hermione's non-verbal attack did not totally bounce off latter's attempt to block it. Andy's impeccable body awareness and control allowed her to right herself mid air and still land on both feet.
"Could have fooled me," was Andy's snide reply as she regained her footing in time to redirect a couple more volleys, "You sure are acting like his jealous ex-bitch!"
Jealous? Really? No time, he needed his wand right away. He concentrated, neck slanted towards the piece of wood a couple of feet to his right. It did work out of desperation before.
Accio wand!
"This is getting fucking boring," he heard Andy say.
"Sapone bocca!"
From the lack of response he figured Andy was not able to dodge that unfamiliar one. He had to look, realizing instantly what that spell did. Andy was talking, soapy bubbles coming out of her mouth instead of words as she angrily spoke.
"That should clean up your filthy mouth," Hermione said satisfied at the small victory she had achieved.
He should have warned Hermione that it was better to allow Andy to talk. Shutting her up made her bite worse.
Accio wand!
Using a combination of spells he had seen Andy use before, three short bursts of light later, Andy had Hermione disarmed, bound and unable to speak, her wand in Andy's possession. Andy was not an Auror because she looked good.
Accio wand!
"Accio phial!"
Rip!
Hermione's robes pocket tore as Andy had broken the soapy mouth spell and retrieved the evidence using her wand.
"Up you go."
Andy levitated her prisoner precariously and speedily up thirty feet into the air. Harry heard a muffled scream from Hermione, realizing that he must have told Andy offhandedly that she was afraid of heights. Andy was choosing to humiliate rather than inflict pain. Hermione would have preferred pain.
Relashio!
"Put her down, gently!"
Harry finally freed himself and had his wand aimed, once again at Andy. Andy had one wand pointed at him and one at Hermione.
"Be serious, Harry," Andy said matter-of-factly, "You can't pull the trigger."
Without second thought he did, catching Andy offguard.
"Fuck, Harry!"
On reflex, Andy brought both wands together to protect herself, the force of their combined hexes resulting in a small explosion, causing her to fall on her back and Hermione's now unlevitated figure to suddenly drop from the sky. Never intending to hurt her, Andy joined him in his attempt to cushion her freefall. He had to take advantage of the opening she gave him.
Harry hastily conjured a large safety net and hit Andy with a jinx just as Hermione landed on it.
"Ha!Ha!Ha!Hee…"
Loud uncontrollable laughter pierced the air just as the Hermione's muffled screams ended. He released Hermione so she could get off the mesh and be able to verbally express herself. She was understandably as mad as hell.
"Give me my wand back!" she demanded from him.
"Ho!Ho!Ho!"
"No! We need to talk to her!"
"We will, after. I promise!" Hermione replied, determined to get some revenge.
"Ha!Ha!Ha!"
"Do you really want to attack an unarmed Ministry official?"
"Just this particular one!"
"Hee!Hee!Hee!"
"It's not necessary!"
"Oh, believe me, it is!"
"Ho!Ho!Ho!"
"You can go to prison!"
"Honestly, Harry. I've stolen Ministry evidence and am about to tamper with it. Let's put things in perspective!"
He had had it with trying to be a pacifist.
"Fine! Here!" he put her wand in her hand, "Knock yourself out!"
He watched as Hermione marched over to where Andy was and pointed her wand at the Auror. Andy was doubled up, tears streaming down her face as she could not stop laughing. It was really the only hex he could think of that would incapacitate her but not make her too miffed at him.
"Ha!Ha!Ha!"
Hermione took a good five seconds.
"Ugh! Finite Incantatem!"she couldn't curse Andy either. She took the phial back and walked away, muttering to herself as she did, "You really shouldn't have told him you had the phial."
She pulled out parchment and a quill from her purse and started scribbling. What was up with her and her sudden liking for note writing? She did it earlier too. Andy finally recovered from all the laughing, stood before him and quite pissed off. He still had a wand aimed at Andy to keep her away.
"You were actually going to let her?!"
"She's a Healer. What's the worse that she could do? Give you a few painful boils?"
"I heard that!" Hermione resented what he just said, but went back to her note writing.
"Well, you're an Auror. Was that the worst you could do?"
"It worked, didn't it?"
"Sure, my jaw hurts and my side is sore but you're too fucking nice. Of all the fucking hexes, you picked the laughing curse?!" Andy swore at him, "If I were someone else you'd be dead by now."
"If you were someone else, I would have used a different one."
"I do admit your hex was unexpected. I didn't think you'd let her fall."
He answered, feeling she had calmed down, "I trusted you had that covered."
"Yeah, that was really stupid of me," she crossed her arms across her chest. Then with concern, Andy said to him seriously, "But what you're doing is a hundred times more stupid."
"We really need your help."
"It's obvious she doesn't want to help," Hermione interrupted.
"She just needs to understand why."
"Then explain it to her," Hermione snapped at him impatiently, still writing, "It should be easy enough to admit to the truth in what she said."
So, she knew he was letting her run with the potion to regain and rekindle the close friendship they once had. That should have been a given. After all, Hermione knew him so well. Now that it was out in the open it really sounded as foolish as Andy pictured it. Foolish but he would do it for her over and over again.
Andy found the voice he couldn't find and screamed at Hermione, "What kind of a friend are you?! You know why he's doing this idiotic thing and you're letting him do it! This little stunt of yours just earned him a suspension pending an inquiry! He could be banned from law enforcement for the rest of his life!"
He didn't really think of or care about that.
"Andy, it's okay..."
"No! It's not okay! I can't just listen and watch her treat you like shit. I can't think of anything you could have done to her to deserve this!"
"You just don't know..."
"It has been a year! Nobody deserves what you've endured from her! And you're too fucking desperate to see it and too fucking nice to tell it to her face! She's using you! She doesn't want you to hand the potion in because she wants to be famous for being the first to figure it out!"
Harry defended Hermione, "She's not like that."
"Open your eyes! She's stringing you along for a fucking ride and she's enjoying it all the way!"
He honestly didn't see it that way. He looked at Hermione, disturbed that the accusations didn't seem to bother her at all. If anything, it seemed that she was a bit embarrassed, as if she had been caught with her hand inside the cookie jar.
Hermione had seemingly finally finished her list and met Andy's mockery and indignation with indifference, "Nobody is stringing him along for a ride. He's a grown man and he's done a lot more stupid things for less."
She was right about that.
"He trusts you and he says we need you," she paused and forced herself to say, "I seem to have regained a smidgen of trust in him so I'm going to take a leap and trust you. Am I going to regret it?"
After his Roy Hunt betrayal, trust, no matter how little, was good; he would take it. He listened to Andy's reply, his hope for a smooth resolution quickly dampened by the tone of her voice.
Andy's answer was colder than ice, "I can't promise you anything."
At least Andy was giving her a warning. Hermione took Andy's wand from Harry and he knew what she was going to do. He would be more prepared this time around.
"Fair enough," Hermione replied, giving Andy back her wand, "I apologize for losing my temper. I shouldn't have cursed you. I wouldn't have asked and let Harry to get involved had I been sure I could do this on my own. And no, I'm not doing this to be famous. If you hold off on arresting us I'll try to explain why I have to do this."
Andy's answer made Harry relax a bit more, "I'm listening."
"You saw what that Squib can do. You already think that it's because of the potion. Imagine how many other Squibs will want it just to be able do magic."
"There's nothing wrong with that."
"No, there isn't. But from what I've heard Floyd has had to take it a few times and he's selling it. What's the going price for magic in a bottle?"
"So Squibs are about to get the shaft but why do you need to take the potion apart? If it is what we think it is, holding one phial hostage is not going to accomplish anything," Andy reasoned out, "Others are obviously after it and by asking for a meeting with high level Ministry officials, you've alerted spies of every conceivable shape or form."
Harry was observing Hermione all throughout Andy's monologue then just realized something.
"You had hoped that would happen. You wanted to flush the players out."
Hermione gave him an apologetic look.
"I did wonder who was going to show, foolishly not thinking just how dangerous that would be. The truth of the matter is I was most concerned about the Ministry analyzing it. The Ministry isn't ready for what the phial contains and I just couldn't hand it over."
"You never intended to return the phial," Harry concluded from the tone in her voice.
"I did; I wanted to because it was important to you to expose Floyd. I was hoping that if I knew for sure what's in the potion we could go to that meeting and I could convince our audience that it shouldn't be scrutinized. I really thought I could hand it over, but after hearing what it does, I don't think I can take that chance," she answered him honestly with a hint of regret.
"You're not making sense," Andy finally said, frustrated, "It's one phial, there are more out there. Not giving it back is not a solution and it's not an option. You will both go to jail for this."
Andy had a good point but unlike her he had faith in Hermione to do the right thing and to find a way to do it. They always found a way.
Hermione pressed on, "Had we taken it to them immediately, they would have analyzed it like any other evidence and by this time, it would be too late to prevent the rest of the world from knowing that it exists and what's in it."
"You already know what's in it?" Harry asked her.
"No, I don't; although I can make an educated guess based on what I've heard this Floyd can do while he's on it. That's why I want to take it apart. I want to know for sure because if I'm right the Ministry should not have it."
"So, what do you think is in it?" Andy asked.
"Magic cannot be created out of thin air. Research on magic enabling potions and artifacts are banned not only because of the social impact but also because it is one of the five principal exceptions to Gamp's law of elemental transfiguration. What do you think gives the potion its magical properties? Think about it."
"Wandless magic and the ability to withstand spells…fuck…"
Harry realized too what Hermione was getting at. Floyd absorbed spells like a giant would and did magic like a house-elf would. What was about to happen to magical beings was going to be worse than what would happen to Squibs if the potion became public.
"This one phial is priceless not because of how much it's going to cost to buy it but how much it's going to cost to make it. I may just be delaying the inevitable but keeping the potion off public scrutiny for as long as possible will give us more time to catch whoever is making it and hopefully put an end to this."
Andy was finally seeing it from her point of view, "I can already hear Squibs clamoring for it. They will be demanding magical being blood if that's what's in it. You're right; the Ministry shouldn't have it. They'll fuck this all up. Magical beings are segregated and abused enough as it is."
The conclusion Andy had arrived at was a surprise to both of them.
"We can talk about that after we know for sure what's in it," he suggested, not really liking the idea of not handing it in to the Ministry at all, hoping they would find a way.
"Jack will not give you two hours. He'll have everyone looking for you."
"That's fine," he replied, confident they would be, "He won't see us until then. In the meantime, we need you on the inside to check things out for us. We need to find out where the potion is coming from and we can do that through the phials. Do you have the empty one?"
Andy gave it to Hermione who quickly showed her the number markings on it. Harry handed her information of the one Hermione had and how to track down the buyer.
Harry continued, "What did you find out at the diner?"
"The HWs think it was a prank, nothing malicious. It definitely wasn't Floyd; not messy enough. The Muggles were mostly confused and distraught but there was a Squib witness who said there were a bunch of teenagers who walked in and he definitely saw one pull out something powdery and black just before the mayhem started."
The guy who threw him against the wall was definitely not a teenager, and neither was the woman who told everyone to get out.
"Get the name of that Squib; we might want to pay him a visit. Find out why the MLE didn't come when we needed them and see what you can find out about the Bruins."
"The Boston hockey team?"
Andy was Canadian. She breathed hockey.
"No. The Bruins, descendants of a Squib named Sophie Bruin," Hermione answered and Harry remembered how she said she knew who they were. He still couldn't place the name she gave Andy and would have to ask her later. "I doubt you'll find anything if you do a search but this might help."
Hermione gave Andy the parchment she had been writing on earlier.
"What's this?"
Harry saw a list. Books and newspaper articles?
"You can borrow these books from any good size Muggle library."
A few popping sounds disrupted their discussion. The MLE had finally arrived and he noticed that took a long time. The protective spells Andy had put up earlier would hide them for a couple more minutes.
"I hate to point this out and I mean no offence but we're in the middle of a fucking case against a Squib-wizard-magical being and you want me to go to the library to take some books out? This isn't the time to be doing fucking homework."
"She does have a point, Hermione," Harry cautiously agreed in a more hushed tone as the Jack's men drew closer, "You can just tell us what you know."
"I could but I don't want to influence what you think," she insisted to do it her way, "I don't know the exact dates of those Daily Prophet articles. However, they are all written by the same reporter."
Andy read the parchment and couldn't help mention what she knew of the name on it, "Ginny Weasley, Ron's sister and another ex-girlfriend."
"I was never his girlfriend."
"So you keep saying," Andy gave Harry a fleeting what-is-her-problem look then urged him, "You have to go. You're going to have to hex me and make it convincing. Let me contact you as soon as I'm in the clear because I know Jack; he will be watching."
Harry raised his wand but the spell was slow in coming.
"For Merlin's sake!" Hermione hissed, "Petrificus Totalus!"
Blag!
He stared at trigger-happy, quick-draw Hermione, mouth slightly open. She was looking down on the now stiff Andy with a most satisfied expression.
"Sorry. No offence meant."
It was a hollow apology if he ever heard one. Harry decided not to look at Andy's face and grabbed Hermione's arm.
Crack!
A/N. I really love this one and this version is more believable. Andy was obviously holding back - it was a definite mismatch and the action was kind of lame but I couldn't make them really go at it because they do need Andy on this case.
Poor Harry - having to deal with all the estrogen. Andy's mouth is really something. The things she comes up with! LOL!