Harry drove up another long winding road between impossibly tall old trees most bare but some still holding on to a few leaves with a few tall pine trees scattered amongst them, into yet another small town. It was his second stop today and his twenty first in his overall search. He had been searching for over two weeks now, and that was after taking a few days to adjust to the new time zone but had still found nothing. After reviewing the files from the American aurors that had conducted the search originally, he decided to retrace their steps first. He wasn't convinced that they had actually tried as hard as they could to find Draco. He knew they had been informed that he was a former marked Death Eater but that he had also been mostly aquitted of the charges against him in the trials after the war. Still it seemed that the Americans felt in many ways exactly as those back home did about anyone on that side of the war. That or they just didn't want to be bothered doing the job for the Brits.

Pulling into town he saw a long, low, log building on the left and a white two story house on his right. There were additional buildings on either side of the road including a small store. He hoped it was open; his food supplies were running low and he needed to stock up again. He really didn't want to have to make the drive back to any of the larger towns or the big cities which were even further away. He didn't want to lose that amount of time in his search and he wasn't comfortable apparating in an unfamiliar area even if he could clearly picture his destination. Barely being comfortable apparating back home and only doing it when it was the absolute best option he really didn't want to even try it here.

In the center of town there was a large green, a park it seemed with a small children's playset off to one side. In the middle of the green stood a pine tree that looked to be nearly ten meters tall. Three people stood around the tree looking up. He figured they were planning the decorations as Christmas was about five weeks away. As he watched three women took out wands and began gesturing them through the air sending garland and baubles flying.

Harry relaxed a bit seeing that this was clearly a Wizarding Village. He parked the car, took a quick swig of Polyjuice Potion just in case (he didn't know when he had last taken any and couldn't be sure when it would wear off) and got out of the vehicle. He strolled over towards the green stopping far enough out of the way so that he would not be a distraction to the decorators. He stood mesmerized for several minutes watching everything dance its way onto the tree. There were still times when he was simply amazed at the things that could be done with magic and how wonderful it was. This was one of those times. It wouldn't have mattered how long the decorating took, he would have stood there and watched and enjoyed the entire process.

When the three witches finally lowered their wands, observed their work, made a few quick adjustments, and turned, he said, "That is an absolutely lovely tree. I can't remember ever seeing one quite so large even in the Great Hall in Hogwarts. Do you have them like that at Ilvermorny at the holidays or have you done this here before?"

One of the witches laughed a bit, "We've done this every year since the town was founded. Many of the ornaments have been around just as long."

Another added, "Yes, each family adds an ornament, at least one ornament per year."

"No wonder you need such a large tree," Harry replied.

All three witches laughed. The first witch spoke again, "True our families are not so small and haven't been for our entire history of over two hundred years. Some can't resist adding more than one ornament per year; I fear what we'll do in just another decade, but it does bring joy to us all."

"It does make the town quite welcoming," Harry commented.

"Speaking of," the first witch, a brunette with hair cut short right at her chin, standing about a meter and half tall, looking to be slightly less pregnant than Hermione by her size though he would never have dared to ask or even comment about a possible pregnancy, for all he knew she had some sort of medical condition or had a newborn nearby, said, "How did you wind up here from all the way in England?"

"Actually," Harry said, "I'm on a bit of a mission."

"Do come into the restaurant and tell us all about it," she said.

"Restaurant?" Harry was shocked, he hadn't realized any of the buildings other than the store were any more than houses.

"Well," replied the first witch again, "we do serve food to people in town but it is also a bar so I suppose it would probably better be termed a pub."

"Then I should feel right at home," Harry said, "we have quite a few pubs back home and I frequent my favorite for lunch several times a week."

As they walked up the steps to the long low log building the three witches introduced themselves the short haired brunette was Melinda though she said everyone just called her Mel. The second witch who had shoulder length pale blonde hair and was the tallest of the three if by only a decimeter or so gave her name as Paige, and the third a much older white haired witch grunted her name in such a manner that Harry could not make it out.

Paige whispered to him, "Hope, her name is Hope."

The ladies invited him to the bar. He sat on a stool and looked around. He was surprised that he couldn't see the logs from the inside. At some point someone must have put another layer of wood over them to help insulate the room. The walls instead appeared to be planks stained a dark color but not so dark that the natural wood grain didn't still show through. There were antlers and deer heads on the wall and a large bear standing in the corner. He stared at the bear for a moment trying to decide what kind of bear it was and thought about asking but decided he didn't really want to know what type it was or why it was lurking in the corner.

Hope sat down at one end of the bar summoning her own glass and bottle from the shelf running along the wall behind the bar, filling it, and taking a long drink.

Paige had disappeared into the kitchen, or at least what Harry presumed was the kitchen behind a large swinging door to the left at the end of the bar. Hope sat down at the right end, behind her was a large fireplace with some sort of wild cat mounted above it. Harry wondered if it was connected to the Floo network. If not to the UK maybe he could at least check in with the main California MACUSA office in Sacramento and get a letter sent off to Hermione and Ron, letting them know that he was okay and still searching. It had been a week since he had last talked to them, using the calling card Hermione had given to him. She would be going out of her mind by now. He was actually surprised some owl or two had found him yet. If he didn't contact her soon he could be expecting a Howler.

When he turned back around he noted that Mel had moved behind the bar and stood in front of a very long mirror that reflected nearly the entire room.

"Are you hungry?" Mel asked.

Harry thought about the few coins he had left. He was hungry but this was not an establishment that looked like it would take a debit card. He could possibly leave them with a signed letter to the bank to withdraw funds from his account and place it into theirs but he didn't know how often they went to a larger town.

"Not really," he answered.

"It's nearly lunchtime you really should eat something. You must be hungry. We are a restaurant after all, it's not like you're taking advantage of our hospitality or anything."

"No really," Harry protested, "I have food in my car. I've just been eating as I drive."

"And you've been driving a lot?" Mel asked.

"Yes, the past few weeks," he answered.

"You said you were on a mission," Mel prompted with an expectant look.

"First I should apologize I haven't introduced myself yet. I'm James. An old schoolmate of mine moved here several years ago, to the States that is. Originally he was in New York then he moved out this direction. No one has heard from him in months, no real communication since he moved to this side of the country, so nearly years actually. All I have is that anything he has sent came from Eureka through the regular post."

"And so you're looking for him," Paige said as she came up behind the bar with a steaming bowl and a plate. "Here, searching for someone is hard work. Eat," she insisted.

Harry thought to protest but the chili in the bowl smelled wonderful and his stomach growled. He'd just have to make a side trip back to a bigger town with a wizarding section where he could visit the bank.

"Thanks," he said and dug into the chili then took a large bite from the cornbread that was on the small plate she had placed beside the bowl.

"You need something to drink with that," Mel said, "do you like American beer?"

Harry shrugged, "I don't really know, never tried it."

"Well do they drink beer back in the UK? I mean when your home? I know they drink there. Sorry that was dumb," she said shaking her head, "I swear pregnancy has done something to my brain and sometimes it just doesn't seem to work anymore."

Harry laughed, "It's been the same for my best friend and she's the smartest person I know. It's made her absolutely crazy at times trying to remember things that should come easily. I have on occasion had a beer by the way."

"Glad to know I'm not alone. So what do you prefer light or dark color, heavy on the hops or not, roasty flavored or not, maybe an unfiltered, a wheat beer?"

Harry cocked his head to one side, chewed quickly to finish the mouthful of chili he had just eaten, and thought, "Somewhere in the middle of all that I'd say. Though I can't say I've ever really paid attention."

"What beer do you order when you go to the pub back home?"

"My best mate tends to order a Guiness, but that's a bit thick and heavy for me. I often get a Marston's."

"That's an ale. Ok another question do you drink your beer cold or room temperature?"

"Um cold, wait, people drink beer warm?" he looked aghast at the thought.

She laughed, "Well there is a common thought that everyone in Europe drinks their beer warm but I didn't know if that was true or just a myth so I thought I'd ask. We serve everything here cold. I have known a few people to prefer their beer warm and they weren't European - and warm doesn't mean we heat it up it just means room temperature."

"Ok," he said taking that all in, "well I'll just trust your judgment."

"We don't keep a large selection but I know we have an ale."

Mel grabbed a glass out of one cold box they went to another to retrieve a bottle. She opened the bottle and poured it, then placed the filled glass before Harry, "Here James try this."

He picked it up took a quick sniff then a nice slow drink, "That's good. It's perfect with the chili. What is it?"

"I got lucky," she said, "I'd actually pick a darker, roastier beer to go with the chili but if you like it great. It's Bluff Creek Pale Ale from Six Rivers Brewery down in Eureka. Cooking and beer are more Paige and John's thing. I just help out on occasion."

Harry turned to Paige, "You did the cooking? It's wonderful."

"No," she said, "I mean I help but my husband John does the cooking. We have one maybe two meals each day. He prepares them. We save any leftovers for future use or we package them up and take them out to some of the people that are basically shut-ins. We don't always get a lot of people, usually more on the weekend."

"So do you get any Muggles, I mean NoMajs here?" Harry asked, "I know that there are wizarding villages in England and Scotland that have Muggle repelling charms or enchantments on them and there are others where Muggles and wizards live side-by-side but the Muggles don't know that."

"No, no repelling charms," Mel answered, "we just don't get many visitors coming unless they know someone who lives here, and at least half of those end up staying, just another reason we need such a large tree. Speaking of people coming by that don't know anyone, do you have a picture that schoolmate of yours? You said schoolmate right, or is he a friend?"

"Not a friend," answered Harry as he pulled a picture of Draco from his pocket and laid it on the bar letting his mind drift for a moment thinking of the man and all the time they had spent together at the Manor two years ago, he had thought they were growing closer but… he shook his head and repeated, "no not friends, as a matter of fact we were, I guess you'd call it, enemies, in school."

"Enemies?" Mel raised her right eyebrow, "And you're looking for him? You wouldn't happen to be an auror would you?"

"Yes," Harry said hesitantly then continued in a rush, "but that's not why I'm looking for him. He's not in any trouble or anything like that."

"Then why?" Paige asked.

"I got to know him a bit more after, well after the war," Harry replied, "he and his mother both. His mother is the sister of a good friend. Well, his mother is the sister of the grandmother of my godson. Wow that makes no sense does it."

Mel and Paige looked at one another then back to Harry, "No actually it really does. It's strange but it makes sense. Just takes a minute to work out the relationships. I'd ask about your godson but I have a feeling that would lead to an even longer explanation."

"It probably would, suffice it to say he's in the custody of his grandmother with my helping out whenever she needs it because we lost both of his parents in the war," Harry said as matter of factly as he could.

"How old is he?" Paige asked.

"Teddy is four now, hold on I have a picture of him too," he pulled out the photo and laid it next to the one of Draco on the bar.

Both witches smiled looking down at the small boy zipping back and forth across the picture on an equally small broom his hair brown going one direction and then red going back the other.

"So he was just a baby when his parents were killed?" Paige asked.

"Yes," Harry said, "they both died in the final battle. His grandfather was a Muggleborn that went on the run and was captured and killed."

"How awful," Mel said, the sadness ringing in her voice as she ran her hands over her belly. Paige leaned over and gave her a quick one armed hug, Mel smiled and hugged back.

"Yes, his grandmother raised him by herself for a year, though I helped as often as I could during my training. Not that I was much help," he laughed and rolled his eyes, "since I didn't know much of anything about babies. It's easier now that he's older and can talk to tell us what he wants or what's wrong."

Mel and Paige both laughed.

"Anyway," Harry continued, "Draco's mother is really sick. She fell ill a few weeks ago and the healers can't seem to find anything actually wrong with her. The only thing they are sure of is that she appears to be dying. He's an only child and he's always been close to his mother. Until these last few years that is. He still occasionally sends her little packages of things so obviously he still cares he just doesn't communicate anymore but he deserves to know."

"Well I think it's absolutely wonderful James that you would travel across the world, across another continent to find someone that you didn't always like to give him the news so that he can go home and see his mother if he wants but, and I hate to say this, I don't recognize him," Mel said.

"Neither do I," Paige shook her head lightly, "I'm sorry."

Harry shook his head, "No one ever seems to recognize him at all, nothing about him seems familiar to anyone, but it's so easy to disguise yourself in our world. I really shouldn't be surprised. I knew it wasn't going to be easy."

"You think he might be using Polyjuice," Mel asked.

Harry nodded, "Well it's one thought, I suppose there are other ways he could be doing it."

"I would hope so," Mel replied, "extended long-term use of Polyjuice could be very dangerous. I know that aurors use it periodically for a week or more but there are at least a few cases of people who used it for a year or more that became quite mentally ill, a type of dysphoria and healers either took nearly as long to help them get back to themselves or were unable to. Strange as it is there are even cases of people becoming addicted to Polyjuice potion. I think it's actually a sign of a deeper mental illness that is being ignored. There are people who just do not want to be themselves anymore. It can also be used to help those with gender dysphoria as a first step on the path to a physical sex change."

"She would know," Paige interrupted, "she is our local healer after all and she has a lot of time to read all of the research available."

"If you ever need a healer and you're around here again," Mel said, "I'm usually in that white house across the street. That would be my clinic and potions lab. Paige is right, my nose if often in a NoMaj medical journal or in a parchment reading reports from one of the larger healing centers in the world. Some of the NoMaj raised healers have put forth very interesting ideas on how to combine those methods with magical ones that are naturally being met with resistance but I find most of them to be worth trying."

"She also knows NoMaj first aid and has the only NoMaj phone line around. We use it to call the local NoMaj authorities when they're needed which isn't often but it would be bad not to have a way to contact them, as it is we almost always have to give them very detailed directions because no one knows the town name, and no one can find it. Everyone that comes here knows where it is or seems to stumble on to us as you did."

"What is the name of this little town anyway?" Harry asked.

"Merl's Mount," Hope finally spoke from her seat at the end of the bar.

"Merl's Mount?" Harry repeated questioningly.

Yes, Merl's Mount," Hope said again this time louder and clearer, "back when the town was founded it was Merlin's Mountain, not that we're at the top of the mountain but we come close."

"Merlin?"

"Yeah I would think being a Hogwarts boy you would know who Merlin is," she practically snarled.

"Oh I know who Merlin is," Harry said, "I knew who Merlin was before I ever knew I was a wizard. He does appear in Muggle mythology as well their stories and movies."

"Not raised by witches and wizards huh," Hope said with a raised eyebrow.

"No. My parents died when I was very young. I was raised by an aunt and uncle. My mom was the only witch in her family," Harry had found it easier to change just tiny bits of his story, just enough keep people from realizing that he was Harry Potter and not James Evans as he said he was, it was easier to keep the details straight from town to town in case anyone was talking about the strange visitor from England. He did worry that even that amount of details would scare Draco off if he heard about them but there was only so much he could remember and stay consistent, besides he'd probably just get scared hearing that there was a stranger visiting from England. "So the town, it's on the map?"

All three women laughed.

"Not likely," Mel replied, "we're just too small and honestly most wizarding towns aren't on the map."

"So are you all from here? I mean did you grow up here?" Harry asked.

"Hope and Mel are," Paige said, "I moved here after school with John my husband. He's from here as well. We met at Ilvermorny and I wasn't necessarily attached to my hometown in the southern part of the state so I moved home with him and we just visit my family periodically throughout the year or they come visit us here."

"Just like Jackie came back with me," Mel said, "after I finished my training. It's a theme around here, though there are just as many people who move away after going to Ilvermorny, something about seeing other places in the world bigger places and then there is the fact that most wizarding jobs are in the bigger cities and many don't want to have to use a Portkey or apparate to work daily."

"Well if I pull out the map can you show me where we are so I can mark it?"

Paige and Mel leaned over the large map Harry took from his knapsack and laid across the bar, having pushed aside his beer after a quick drink along with the empty bowl and plate.

Mel pulled the marker from his hand and put a dot on the map for the town also marking it with a small but legible double M.

"Are there any people that live out by themselves? Just out in the woods?" Harry asked.

"Is this schoolmate of yours a loner?"

"He never used to be," Harry said, "At least not when we were younger. He always had at least two people with him, usually more. He was kind of the de facto leader of his group, of the students in our year and younger in his house. Towards the end of school though he seemed to become... I don't know but he was alone more often and after the war the few people he had been friends with in school seemed to all drift away to their own directions. He had lost contact with many of them before he ever came here to the States."

"Is that why none of them are looking for him?" Mel asked not looking up from the map.

"They may have looked or be looking," Harry said, "but they may not know where to start. I'm not sure if he wrote to any of them when he first moved here. I knew he'd moved but I wouldn't even be looking for him except for his mother's illness being brought to the attention of the ministry for an auror to look into, and as I was already in the auror department I volunteered."

"Well," Paige pulled out a pencil and passed it to Mel, "I'm sure between us we can mark several back roads you should check and the ones that you absolutely shouldn't there's quite a few NoMajs in these hills as well and many of them are pot growers who can be very dangerous."

"Pot growers in this area?" Harry was surprised.

"Yeah marijuana use is pretty big here in the States. I don't know about in the UK but here it's completely illegal so it's big business for those that grow it and sell it and they guard their property intensely and viciously. You really don't want to cross them even accidentally," Paige explained.

"Okay so any areas you mark with an X I'll avoid. Are there any other areas that you think I should check out?"

Mel answered, "I know of a few that I've gone out to check on, the shut-ins, people who just never leave their cabins anymore for a number of reasons. There really shouldn't be anyone else in those cabins but you never know and at least I know those are safe places to go and look. It may be that your man was looking for a place to stay and stopped to ask for directions at some point. Michaela should be in shortly you can ask her if you hang on just a few minutes."

"Michaela?"

"She used to be an auror in a big city, Los Angeles I think. They have offices in several large cities, the country is too big to travel quickly even by Portkey from one end to the other so as the country grew so did the government both magical and not. We do still only have a national government unlike the NoMajs though, but we do vote for our representatives to the MACUSA. Anyway she was an auror there for several years but got burned out on it so she moved up here and end up married to my brother Brian," Mel said.

"They're living in the apartment upstairs right now, while they build a house," she continued, "John and Paige live over there in that room off the side. Well it's more than a room, it used to be only a room but besides being an amazing cook John is also quite the builder. It's becoming a whole house at the back end of this place. Jackie and I live out a few miles from here in the house we built. Anyway Mikey's kind of working as our local auror she checks in with the big offices in Los Angeles, Sacramenta, and up in Seattle just to see what's going on then really just kind of spends her days roaming the backwoods checking on people. She makes sure everyone around here is okay, checks in with me if she finds someone needing medical care or with Paige when someone needs food. She also helps watch out for the NoMajs. Dunno how that worked out, some agreement with the local police department who think she was some big city detective. It's amazing to me what the government can pull off when they want to."

"Is there anyone you want to call and check in with while we wait for Michaela to get here?" Paige asked.

Harry shrugged, "I do have friends back home that I'm sure are worried about me, it's been a while since I checked in with them, and I probably should report back the minister."

"You're reporting directly to the minister?" surprise was evident in Mel's voice. "Don't you have a supervisor or are you a supervisor?"

"Oh no," Harry said, "I do have a supervisor. I'm actually one of the younger aurors, too young to be in any position of power yet. I don't even lead a team yet, but since I knew Narcissa, Draco's mother that is, the minister told me about the case and I volunteered. He approved so long as I keep checking in with him and the aurors here. He's keeping in touch with her sister and her healers so I talk to him or message him and he shares the information I found or didn't find with them."

"Well," Paige said, "We have a floo back in our apartment you can use. I don't think it's connected internationally. We've never even tried well except Canada but overseas I don't know."

"That's all right," Harry said, "as long as I can get word to one of the MACUSA offices here they'll pass the message along and next time and I'm going through a NoMaj town I'll use a pay phone there with the calling card I have and check in with them that way."

Paige asked, "Your friends have a phone?"

"And your minister?" Mel added shock again clear in her tone.

"I don't know about the minister," Harry replied, "but I wouldn't be surprised. He is in fairly regular communication with Prime Minister Blair. Ron and Hermione, my friends, Hermione's parents are Muggles so yeah they have a phone. She created a special null Magic Closet in their house for it."

"She must be a very talented witch."

Harry nodded, "So I just go through that door?" He pointed.

"Yes, come on I'll show you."

Harry took another drink of this beer before slipping off the stool and following Paige back into her home. She pointed to a fireplace on the far wall and said, "The floo powder is in little pot on the mantle. Take your time if Mikey gets here while you're on the call we'll fill her in. And you could probably run across to Mel's clinic afterwards and use her phone to call your friends."

Harry took a deep breath and steeled himself before tossing in the Floo powder and beginning his call. He had learned quickly that the aurors here really didn't want to be bothered. They were insulted at acting as his secretary and he couldn't really blame them. They also had to file a full report every time he called so the calls often drug on as they asked what seemed to be ridiculously detailed questions. Whether they did this to try to encourage him to call less frequently or because they really did have to be that detailed he hadn't figured out yet but he was avoiding making the calls as much as possible so if that was their intention they succeeded. He was also pretty sure that they were assigning the Floo to be answered by the newest aurors, the ones fresh out of training or in the final stages of his training; it was the same right of passage he and the others had had to go through back home. By the time Harry had finished his floo call and returned to the main room of the restaurant another witch had joined the previous three along with two wizards.

"There he is," Mel said, "this is James. James meet my brother Brian," she gestured to a tall, somewhat round man who had hair the exact color of hers, and eyes that matched as well, even if she hadn't identified the man as her brother Harry would have been seen the familial resemblance. "His wife Michaela, we call her Mikey and this is John, Paige's husband that does the cooking." John was the tallest man Harry had ever seen, taller than the minister who was as far from short as Kreacher was from being short. John was also broad shouldered. Harry thought he looked like though he could play on an American football team which led him to wondering if the man had ever played Quidditch and if he had just what position. The man's head was also as bald and shiny as a Bludger.

Harry shook hands with each person in turn, "Nice to meet you all."

Michaela, a tall thin witch with red hair hanging in long curls to her waist spoke, "I circled a few more places on your map that might be good places to look. I don't recognize this guy though, sorry. Neither do John or Brian."

"That doesn't surprise me but thanks for looking and thanks for marking my map. It will be good to know where to look and where not to look."

Mikey held her wand in her hand, "Mind if I make a copy or two this picture to hold on to?" she asked. "I can keep one with me to show as I make my rounds. John and Paige can keep one here in the bar to show anyone that comes in."

Harry nodded, "Absolutely that would be great. Thanks!"

"No problem. We'll keep our eyes out for him. We do go to Eureka or occasionally as far as Fortuna. If we see him, how can we contact you? Or do you have a card or something we could give him. Or should be just contact an aurors office and leave you a message that way?"

"You could leave a message for me at the Sacramento auror office, that's the one I check in with. Or can any of you cast the Patronus?" he asked.

"I can," Michaela replied, "it's a standard part of auror training here as I imagine it was for you as well."

Harry nodded, "It is though I had learned it before then."

"The war?" Mikey asked.

"Yes, well before that even. We had dementors guarding Hogwarts my third year. I had a hard time with them so my Defense teacher taught me the theory and helped me try to put it into practice. I wasn't very good at it then but as the years went by I learned to do it easily and can use it to send messages."

"Ok so if it's me that finds something I can send you a message, my patronus is an owl, a barn owl to be more precise," she said.

"Mine is a stag, just in case I need help and send it to you, you'll know who it's coming from. In case it's anyone else though you can just make a note of it here I think I'll be back again to eat at some point too when I need a good hearty meal. Speaking of, what do I owe you?" Harry asked cringing internally thinking he might be about to end up with no money on hand.

"Three Sprinks," Paige replied.

"That's it?" Harry said shock ringing in his voice, "For that big bowl of chili, the cornbread, and the beer?"

"That's it," she said, "We still have people who pay us in meat and produce so it's hard to put a monetary price on things. We end up doing most of the cooking from the food people bring to us it keeps costs low."

"Would you like to use the phone at the clinic to call your friends?" Mel asked.

"Is there a way I can use my calling card?" Harry asked, "I've only used pay phones so far and know how to use it on them."

"I'm sure we can figure it out."

"Then I probably should check in, just to check on Hermione if for no other reason."

"Is she ill as well?"

"No, she's the friend I mentioned that's pregnant," Harry replied, "she and Ron are expecting their first just after the new year. I promised I'd be home by then and the longer I take here the more worried she gets that I won't be home in time."

"Understandable," Mel said, "first babies can come at any time."

"Well then I suppose I'll say goodbye to the rest of you and thanks again for all your help. I'll call and then get on the road and see if I can't check out a few of these places before it gets dark."

"Do you need a place to stay?" Mikey asked sounding a bit worried. "You're not sleeping in your vehicle are you, that can be really unsafe in this climate even with warming spells."

"No," Harry replied, "I have a small wizarding tent complete with heat and I know how to set up Muggle repelling charms around it, but honestly whenever I can I stop in a larger town and stay in a motel."

"If you need," Hope jumped in, "there's an old A-frame cabin not far from here you could stay in while you search this area."

Groans filled the air and the voices of all mingled calling out, "Hope, that place is filthy. It would take more than the usual cleaning spells to get it liveable again. You can't offer that place to anyone. Hope, no, just no."

"All right fine," she grumbled, "but it's there and there's real bed with a fireplace, though it's not a floo."

Mel waved her hand, "Ignore her, if you really get desperate for a place you can stay in one of the rooms in my clinic."

Harry shook hands with each person in turn and said his goodbyes. He then followed Mel to the door, just as they reached it Brian called out, "Is that your Jeep out front?"

"Yes, well it's the one I'm driving," Harry replied, "it's a rental."

"Be careful on these roads, that particular make of Jeep, while not being a bad offroad vehicle, is really not heavy enough for snow driving at least not the amount of snow we get up here layered with ice on these gravel roads; there is little plowing that gets done up here on a regular basis and it's supposed to start snowing soon. It could slip and slide all over the road and I didn't notice snow tires on it."

"Thanks for the advice," Harry said as he walked out the door. Crossing the street he noticed the number of vehicles now parked in front of the bar. He turned to Mel and asked, "Is it usual for witches and wizards to drive here in the States?"

She shook her head, "Not in most places I don't think, or at least not in the big cities, but here it's so easy to get lost even when apparating it's just safer to drive. The trees all kind of look the same you know even when you've lived here your whole life. Not that we don't still apparate sometimes from home to the bar or the clinic but as we aren't set up to repel NoMajs and they do occasionally come in to town. It's safer not to anyway."

"Speaking of, how did you know I was a wizard when I drove in?"

"What do you mean?" she asked as they crossed the street.

"You all must have heard me drive in and yet you took out your wands and decorated the tree that way."

"I could lie and say we have wards that get tripped when a NoMaj drives in, and that has been discussed before it just hasn't happened. I think Hope probably put up some sort of ward right around the tree. She tends to be the most careful of us or maybe just the most distrusting. In all honesty though I don't know, I don't even remember hearing you drive up. Do me a favor though if you come back to town don't let that slip to anyone else, especially Michaela, she'd have our heads."

"No problem," he said, "not a word."

He followed her into the house, and down the hall past shelves of books and files, past two small rooms he took to be examination rooms from the quick glance in noticing the tall bed in each, into what appeared to be her office. The room had still more bookshelves, these filled with parchments, bottles of potions, and jars of potion ingredients.

She pointed to the black rolling chair behind the desk, "You can sit there while you use the phone. Oh wait, I didn't think, what is the time difference between here and your friends? Will they be awake?"

Harry had been reaching for his wallet to find the calling card. He stopped, cocked his head, and chewed his bottom lip for a second, "They're eight hours ahead of us. It's what just after noon here right?"

Mel cast a quick Tempus, "Yep it's twelve twenty three."

"So it should be eight twenty three for them. Hermione may have gone to bed. I know the pregnancy is making her more tired than usual, but Ron should be up."

"Will they hear the phone? How does that work with it being in a closet?"

"Mione put an amplifier on the ringer, if they don't hear the phone I can at least leave a message. They have an answering machine."

"Oh ok, well if I don't see you again before you go be careful."

Harry smiled, "I will. I'm sure Mione will say the same if I talk to her. She makes me promise to be safe every time I call."

"Sounds like a good friend."

"They both are, more like siblings really."

"It's always good to have family."

"It is, thanks!"

She waved as she walked out of the room and back down the hall. When he had heard her close the door he pulled out the calling card and sat down reaching for the phone. Looking at the back of the card he saw that the directions for using it on a residential phone were the same as using it on a pay phone so he dialed and sat back listening to the ring. Part of him really wanted to hear at least one if not both of their voices and the other part was sure all he'd hear from Ron was questions about why he was still there and how much longer this would take and that someone else should be conducting the search. He actually breathed a sigh of relief, letting go of the breath he hadn't realized he was holding when the answering machine picked up. He left them a short message explaining where he was and that he hadn't found anything new but that he had some possible leads thanks to the people in town. He promised to call them again as soon as he could and that he would continue to be safe. Relief mingled with a bit of sadness when he hung up.

As he exited the house he saw John standing on the front porch of the bar with a box. John came down the steps and met Harry at the car.

"Here James, take this with you. Some dinner, it's got a warming charm on it now but you'll probably have to recast it a time or two if you're not going to eat until much later."

"Oh you didn't have to do that," Harry protested.

"If you're going to be out searching the hills," John said, "you're going to get hungry."

"I honestly don't have much money left," Harry confessed.

John passed him the box and waved his hand, "Don't worry man. We take care of each other out here. If you come back by with a few sprinks or dragots you can drop them off, if not we're really not out anything. Take care of yourself and good luck finding your guy."

"Thank you," Harry said. He put the box in the back seat of the Jeep, then climbed into the front seat, took a quick look at the map laying it out on the passenger seat, turned the key, backed slowly out of the space and drove just as slowly around the green looking at the tree. He paused taking one more look at the tree hoping he'd be home in time to enjoy the one that Kreacher would no doubt be setting up in the study in the next week, and the ones at both Ron and Hermione's house and the Burrow. Taking a deep breath he shifted the Jeep into gear again and began driving.