Chapter XIII: Of a Tertiary
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"So how's the new boss?" Hermione asked when Harry plopped down onto the seat of the booth in the back of the pub where they were eating lunch.
Harry paused for a second, thinking before settling on a word. "Confusing."
"How so?"
"This bloke, his name's Buckley… and… well, I really just don't know what the hell to make of him," Harry admitted, looking at her sheepishly.
"Why not?" Hermione asked, taking a sip of her coke as she sent him an expectant look.
"He's… he's just so confusing."
Hermione sent him an amused look at that exclamation. "And, yet again, how so?"
"Well he called me into his office today."
Hermione looked puzzled for a second before slowly retorting: "Well that's not too surprising, you are the famous Harry Potter, after all."
"Yeah, I know," he waved her off, "but it's not that."
"Then what is it?"
"The second I walked in he didn't even bother introducing himself or anything, he just told me that I'm on the Depardieu case and to scram, basically."
Hermione's eyes widened. "The Depardieu case?"
"Yeah…"
"Harry," Hermione squealed, immediately grasping his hand and squeezing it tightly. "That's amazing! This is a huge case; Aurors have practically been tripping over each other for a chance to get on it since everything broke out last week, why aren't you more excited?"
"I am," he assured her. "I just… I don't understand why I'm being put on. I mean, this case is getting a lot of attention and… well you know the sort of work I've been given since I joined the department."
"Well then don't cock up this chance!"
Harry grinned, his smile widening slowly. "Hermione Granger, did you just say a proper curse?"
She beamed at him. "Well it's a special occasion and I thought you'd appreciate it, consider it my congratulations gift."
"You always did give the best ones," he winked at her, squeezing her hand lightly in return.
--
Harry pounded on the door impatiently waiting for someone to open it, getting more and more aggravated with each second he waited in the hallway without response.
"Harry, mate," Ron finally jovially greeted him as he pulled open the door, seemingly oblivious to Harry's frustration. "Glad to see you had time to come down to the new apartment."
"Can't talk," Harry muttered as he pushed his way through. "Which room is Hermione's?"
"Um, last door to the left," Ron confusedly answered.
Harry stalked towards the room, hands balled up into fists as he made his way down the path, not even bothering to knock as he barged in.
"Harry?" Hermione gasped in shock as she looked up from her bed where she was reading some book or another, Harry didn't care much which as he was too furious to even bother sparing it a glance. Instead, he threw a paper at her. She quickly opened it, careful not to tear it as it had already been in delicate condition from Harry balling it up in his hands and, apparently, clenching down on it quite a bit.
"Oh my God," she gasped as she read it.
"Can you believe it?" Harry asked, throwing himself down onto her bed, beside her.
She stared at the paper. "When'd you get this telegram?"
"Buckley sent it to me as soon as he received it. How the hell could this happen, Hermione? It's New York… the Pierre Hotel, this changes everything!"
"How-how did they know to contact us?"
"When the department there saw the case the head apparently noted the similarities to the cases here since, by law, we're obligated to share reports of serial murderers with other countries…" he rambled on.
"Right… um, okay," she sighed, running a hand through her hair. "Just… um, let me change and we can go. I assume they already have a portkey ready for us?"
Harry numbly nodded.
She smiled down at him sadly, rubbing his back. "It'll be okay, Harry, it will! If anything, this can tell us a lot about her!"
"I'd rather just not have another case," he grumbled moodily.
She nodded sympathetically. "I know, and me too, but we don't have much of a say in it, now do we?"
He turned to face her, smiling at her weakly. "I guess you're right… but still…"
"I know."
He sighed, dragging a hand through his hair. "I'll wait for you in the sitting room, maybe calm down a bit more, okay?"
"Perfect."
--
"So things have been turning up then?" Andersen asked Harry.
"Yeah, they really have… I finished this case, we call it the Depardieu case," he informed Andersen. "And, anyway, it wasn't so much that that was such a big deal, but… well, ever since my… my problems, I haven't been able to great on any really-well time worthy cases, I suppose you could say. And, well… I mentioned how I got a new boss, right?"
"Yes."
"Well the second he came in he just put me on it, heading it, and… the entire time it really just bothered me…"
"Why?-It sounds like an amazing opportunity to prove yourself, so why so skeptical?"
Harry shrugged. "I guess I just didn't know what to make of it and that bothered me… I wanted to know why he did what he did after no one else at the department would give me a chance. Why now, why him sort of thing, I suppose," he admitted.
"And did you get your answer?"
Harry nodded. "The second I finished the case I went to his office and just bluntly asked him why he chose me."
"And what did he say?"
"That it's time someone believes in me… and that things would be changing if he had any say in it."
"That sounds… well, great," Andersen admitted, clearly impressed.
"Yeah, I just… I guess I'm still, in shock over it-reeling, really."
Andersen nodded. "Well it is a pretty astounding development."
"Yeah," Harry smiled wistfully. "Hermione was so proud of me, too."
Andersen tried to keep the smug smile off his face and was greatly thankful that Harry couldn't see his expression when he bent his head down to pretend to write something as he said "I'd imagine she would be-with reason, too."
"She threw a party for me…only our closest friends. It was nice, relaxing actually. I've never been one for big parties… but, I don't know, I somehow felt comfortable."
"Did you spend a lot of time with her that evening?"
"She wouldn't leave my side that night; she claimed she was too proud to be able to go without having me by her side so she could congratulate me whenever she felt the compulsion again."
"I'd imagine you enjoyed that… having her by your side and all."
Harry shifted a bit nervously. "Well, we're mates, we've known each other since we were eleven, of course I'd like her company."
"I'm sure that's the only reason," Andersen nodded knowingly.
Harry didn't say anything in response to that.
--
"It's the same, everything's the same," Hermione announced as she exited the bedroom and went to meet Harry in the middle of the living room. "Even the chains are the same brand!" she informed him, exasperatedly.
"Calm down, love," Harry distractedly told her, flipping through a report. "We can't have you like this when we go interview the girlfriend now, can we?" he rhetorically asked her.
"The one that found him?"
"Is there any other?"
"Well with the sheer amount of porn lying around that room I wouldn't be very surprised," Hermione admitted with a grimace. "He has a very broad spectrum of sexual appetites, got to tell you."
"Good to know," Harry laughed. "He's also a slob who leaves used condoms lying about everywhere, according to the maid, and is a total arse who doesn't even bother tipping, according to the bell boy."
"Well that's nice," Hermione sarcastically replied.
"Anyway, are you sure everything's exactly the same?"
"Even the spells, I can't be absolutely sure, but it looks like she's reusing ones from the first and second murder… which should make this a lot easier since I only have to observe the tracks and compare them to previous ones we have noted."
Harry nodded. "Well then let's finish up here as soon as possible so we can have everything sent to the lab, okay?"
"Lead the way."
--
"Is it ungrateful for me to say that it makes me uncomfortable?" Harry asked, getting up from his lying position on the couch to sit on it and look Andersen straight in the eyes.
"Depends."
Harry furrowed his brows and shifted slightly in his seat. "On what?"
"On why it makes you so uncomfortable."
"Hmmm…" he nodded.
"Are you going to tell me why?" Andersen curiously asked.
Harry sighed, throwing his head into his hands and tugging on the strands lightly as he just sat there silently sulking. Finally, however, he answered. "I just don't get why. I don't understand why he seems to believe in me, it makes me wonder if something shifty is going on…"
"Really, shifty?"
Harry looked up, nodding. "It sounds terrible, I know, but I just can't comprehend how a person can so blindly take a chance on a person like that."
"From what you've told me, it's not an entirely blind choice as you're rather famous in your parts, aren't you?" Andersen asked.
"Yeah, but still… I just can't understand it and that frightens me. I mean, after everything that went on… my addiction and all that, it was… well it was public knowledge and that did nothing to benefit my image. I don't know why he'd take a chance on me like this, why he'd risk the backlash he surely got for placing me on the Depardieu case. It just makes no sense!"
"It doesn't?"
"No, no one does that solely out of kindness, there has to be another reason."
Andersen nodded. "So Hermione does what she does for a reason other than the fact that she loves you?" he asked, going for the Achilles' heel.
"Hermione is different," Harry replied through gritted teeth. "Buckley, though, he has to have another purpose-he's a politician, after all… he can't just be doing this because he believes in me, there has to be more!" he said, steadfastly believing each word.
"Harry, have you ever considered that maybe it's not the world that is against you, but you yourself?"
Those words shocked Harry to the core, so bluntly put that that they could resonate with anyone, be they true or false. He didn't know what to say or what to do in reply, so he did nothing. Instead, he merely sat the rest of his hour through, contemplating those words and wondering where the hell to go from there.
--
"I-I just don't understand how this possibly could have happened… I mean… they promised, they said we'd be safe so long as we didn't stay at that blasted McMullan Hotel. Besides, we're in New York for God's sake, how the hell could this happen like this?!" she exclaimed tearfully.
Hermione cocked her head to the side, observing the girl, and couldn't help, but feel a tad bit jealous that she was capable of crying so prettily. There was no heaving or gasping for air, merely a bit of stumbling with words, nor did her face turn red or anything of that sort, instead she had two seemingly perfect streams running down her face that, had they been wiped away, one wouldn't even ever believe she had just cried.
Harry, however, wasn't quite as concerned with such details, responding: "Well, Ms. Gellar, you have to understand the circumstances-"
"No, I won't!" she petulantly interrupted him and it took all Hermione and Harry had not to roll their eyes at her words. "He's a bloody Dermott, I'll have you know!"
"We're aware of that," Hermione answered with a slight edge to her tone despite how hard she tried to restrain herself.
"No, I don't think you understand what this means!" the girl fumed, her face contorting, marred with a look of absolute fury. "I was supposed to marry him! I mean, sure, there wasn't a ring or anything yet, but I was working on it. Do you know how much time I've wasted on this?!" she exclaimed, throwing her arms up in the air.
And a pin drop could be heard given how quiet the room went at those words.
Harry closed his eyes, pinching the bridge of his nose. "So you two were serious?"
She guffawed. "As if I didn't make that clear enough?... I mean, he did like his booze and women, but I didn't mind that-never really liked sex much anyway so having him split up his attentions like that was fine for the both of us. We had an arrangement, I was going to be the next Mrs. Dermott-do you know how filthy rich they are?!"
"We're aware," Hermione glibly answered.
"I don't think you are."
Harry couldn't help, but roll his eyes at that one, and even had to grasp onto Hermione's arm and squeeze it lightly to stop her from attacking the girl for making, what she considered, a comment on her intelligence-or lack thereof. "Don't worry, we are," Harry simply said. "And I think this is all we'll need from you, feel free to go."
The girl huffed and puffed, fuming as she strutted out of the room, making a purposeful spectacle of her exit.
"If I could, I'd gladly hex her," Hermione admitted as she glared at the spot that Roberta Jovovic had just left.
Harry shrugged. "Just call her Robert in your head as retaliation, it's what I've been doing."
Hermione laughed. "Nice, Harry."
"You go see if they've managed to find anything, and I'll just go outside to make a quick phone call."
"Okay," she smiled. "But don't be too long."
"Sure," he assured her as he quickly left the penthouse, making his way to the emergency stairwell where he took out his WiziCell and typed in a number that he was becoming increasingly familiar with after going so long without using it.
"Hey, Harry, don't you think it's a little soon to check up on my progress?" Callum's familiar drawl floated through the receiver.
"It's not about that, mate… there's another victim, his name's John James Dermott."
"Ouch, poor bloke's parents weren't very creative, were they?"
Harry chuckled. "No, I suppose not… listen, I have to go, Hermione's waiting for me, but I just wanted to give you a call, keep you up to date."
"Sure and… good luck, Harry. Don't get yourself in too deep or in too much trouble."
"Thanks, you too."
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author's note: so I felt rather guilty after the ridiculously long wait for the last chapter and began working on this one as soon as I finished the last. Hopefully you'll enjoy this one.
p.s. I have to ask, was the last chapter really so terrible? I only received one or two reviews in response while readership was very high… I've been agonizing over this for the past few days, and I just wanted to know if there was something particularly unlikable about it or something as I have no problem going back and revising.
p.p.s. there was originally supposed to be a kiss in this chapter, but I'm afraid I had to take it out for flow issues. SORRY!
Once again, thanks so much to my wonderful beta Searcy-your opinion means so much to me!
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