We Know Where You Were Last Summer

Chapter 3 How?

Hermione stood in bewilderment. Pansy's analysis was wrong on many points, of course. Harry was not Hermione's boyfriend, and she had had no intention of uniting with Johnny. But Pansy knew of Johnny's visit. How?

"What do you want?" Hermione asked, to play for time.

"I want to know what your trick is."

"My trick?"

Pansy laughed. "You're a Muggle. But you keep getting higher marks than real wizards and witches, even in Potions. You have some system for cheating, and nobody has been able to figure it out for 3 years. Well, I want it. I'm tired of working my bum off in school."

Hermione sighed. "There's no trick. 'There's no royal road to geometry', as Euclid said two thousand years ago. I study hard. And if other girls would study hard instead of chasing after certain boys, they'd succeed too."

Pansy snorted. "I don't believe you. I know that you have a trick, and if you don't give it to me, I'll tell Harry Potter what you did today." She turned and walked away behind the fence.

Hermione stood for a moment, disgusted with Pansy. If she had found a cheating scandal and wanted to bring the violator to justice, Hermione might respect her attitude. But Pansy just wanted to cash into it.

Hermione belatedly decided chase after the girl. She dashed around the fence – and saw no sign of Pansy. Where had she gone?

She must have teleported out somehow, Hermione thought. There were several varieties of teleportation that Hermione knew about, but none of them explained this. Portkeys would teleport at a preset moment and bring with them any human that was touching it, but Pansy had shown no sign of being on a deadline, had not even checked a watch. Floo Networks connected fixed points in the wizard world; you would not expect them in a Muggle's front yard. Experienced wizards could "Apparate" with the aid of a wand, but the process was dangerous, like a Muggle driving a car, and the skills were deliberately not taught to fourteen-year-olds. Pansy knew a mysterious trick of her own.

First things first. Complete the errand for her parents, so they wouldn't suspect anything out of the ordinary (Aside from the fact, of course, that their daughter was a witch). She went to the grocer's, picked up the bread and jam, and mulled matters over as she walked back home.

She definitely didn't want Pansy talking to Harry or Ron. Not only was she embarrassed about exposing herself to danger, but she also didn't want to tell the boys that she knew a spell for causing male impotence. Boys, even her best friends, might get very uptight over that. Not that she could blame them.

If it was just Pansy's word against hers, the boys would definitely believe Hermione. But suppose Pansy had some sort of evidence? It would be horrid if Hermione denied something to her beloved friends only to be exposed as a liar by a despicable Slytherin girl.

All sorts of puzzles. But after thinking about it at home, Hermione decided to confront it in a more positive way. She had a Mystery, but she also had a brain. She would solve this, like Miss Marple. And in doing so, she would not only get rid of Pansy's threat, but regain some self-confidence after the embarrassments of today.

Sherlock Holmes, Hermione knew, would sit and smoke his pipe until he came up with a solution. Hermione knew that, in the real world, a detective interviewed people. She was due to send a letter to the Weasleys this evening, and they were going to send her an owl to pick it up – it was awkward that her best friends did not have a phone. She got out the note she had written so far, mostly talking about the approaching Quidditch match. She decided she would tack on a message, and added a final paragraph.

I encountered Pansy Parkinson today, here in the middle of Muggle land. It seems that she's spying on me. Do you have any idea what she's up to these days?

Nice and vague. For a moment she almost felt ashamed of herself, being unwilling to talk candidly with her best friends. She just wasn't sure if this was something she could discuss with them. For almost the first time in her life she realized the oddity that she was closer to two boys than to any girl at Hogwarts. But she let it stand, and handed it to Pigwidgeon when the owl arrived that evening. After seeing him off, Hermione went off to dinner with her parents.

"Thank you for getting the food, Minnie," said her mother. "But, tell me, did somebody come by today?"

Hermione nearly dropped her crumpet. "What?"

"I noticed two teacups in the sink."

"Oh. Yes, Professor McGonagall came by, and it was nearly teatime. Hope you don't mind my using the cups." Hermione felt her heart race slightly.

"Not at all, Minnie, I'm glad you've learnt how to entertain guests properly. At your school, after all, everybody's THERE, so you don't get practice handling guests formally."

Normally Hermione would be pleased at being praised by her parents, but not after she had just lied to them. She finished dinner as quickly as she could, and skipped dessert, saying she was too full, so that she could get away from the table.

Her parents knew less about what went on their house than the Ministry of Magic did. That wasn't just mysterious, it was unfair, even though Hermione was relieved that they didn't know. Wizards spying on each other was one thing, but the Ministry was spying on Muggles who had no resistance. Or was the Trace spell on Hermione herself, and not on the house? That was disturbing in a different way; it made her feel dirty, with something that wouldn't wash off.

Hermione went to the bedroom and tried to get her mind off her worries by doing some light reading, a few dozen pages of HOGWARTS, A HISTORY. Her parents were used to this behaviour and didn't find it odd; they sat down in the drawing room to watch the telly. On the couch where she had made out with Johnny-

Shaking her head, she tried to get that image out of her mind.

Toward midnight there was a tapping on the window, and she saw an owl. Surprisingly, it wasn't Pigwidgeon, Ron's owl, but Errol, the Weasley family owl. Hermione gave it some food as a reward, and untied the message.

Dear Hermione,

It's surprising that you asked, because I have seen the Parkinson girl several times recently. Her mother, Persephone Parkinson, works in the Improper Use of Magic office and has brought her daughter to work several times recently. Supposedly it's part of the girl's education, but I suspect that Phony is trying to arrange an eventual job for the daughter after she leaves Hogwarts, introducing her to influential people. Favouritism is quite a problem at the Ministry, and Slytherins are always favourites.

Hope this helps. See you at the World Cup.

Regards,

Arthur Weasley

So that explained Pansy's knowledge. In spite of McGonagall's efforts, somebody at the Ministry was careless and Pansy overheard gossip about Hermione and a Muggle boy. Her spying was just an extension of the Ministry's snooping, coupled with its clumsiness in keeping confidences.

Hermione was now annoyed enough to take on the Ministry.

TO BE CONTINUED