Hi everyone
I am so pleased you have enjoyed this story so far
here's another update for you. Hope you enjoy it.
Sirius xoxo
PS Not J. K. Rowling, just like to play in her world.
Chapter 3
Mikayla looked back at her guests.
"Sorry guys, you really couldn't of picked a worst time, she is usually nicer, marginally, but nicer." Ron laughed and felt a sense of pride for his old friend, Hermione was a bitch. He followed Mikayla to their office and she told them to get comfortable and she would be back in five minutes to take them to the conference room for Hermione's meeting.
"Shit Ron, you never told me she was the mega-bitch." Jack was shocked by his first meeting of the famous third part of the trio.
"Well, she never used to be actually, but obviously some things change." Ron was avoiding Harry's glare.
The three men grabbed the notes that were on the table in front of them. They quickly perused through them and Mikayla returned to take them to the meeting.
They walked down another long hallway and turned left into a huge conference room. This room had beautiful views of the Sydney Harbour Bridge and the harbour. It was striking, probably because it was real and not a hologram. They could only imagine how nice it would be at night.
There was a huge round table in the centre of the room and Julia and Mikayla were getting refreshments ready. Ron was impressed and walked over to get a drink then he was joined by a gorgeous looking girl and a tall brown haired man.
"Hello, Mr Weasley I presume?"
"Call me Ron." Ron reached out to shake hands with the beautiful black haired lady.
"OK Ron, I'm Victoria Chan and this is Edward Parker." Ron shook hands with the man and then noticed Hermione walking over towards them. Ron smiled and waited for her to join him but she walked to the side of the guy named Edward. He leant in and kissed her cheek and then Victoria did the same.
"Hey Mione, how's it all going? What's this I hear about attacks last night?" Edward turned his body towards Hermione and from where Harry was standing in the corner, it looked intimate.
"I will tell you all now, the meeting is starting." Hermione walked over to the main chair and the Minister walked in and stood next to her, Edward stood on her other side and Victoria on his side.
"OK ladies and gentlemen, before I hand you over to Auror Granger, I would like to welcome our esteem guests from London, Auror Potter, Auror Weasley and Auror Webster. Please make them welcome while they are here and help them with any thing that they may need." Harry noticed Hermione didn't lift her eyes from the papers she was reading. She looked up and smiled at the Minister and then started her speech.
"OK last night there were three attacks..." there were murmurs around the table and Hermione cleared her throat.
"... the first one at 11.12pm was on the Harbour Bridge, the trains were stopped as the lines buckled and the electrical cables snapped. Taking into account the time of the attack, the bridge wasn't overly busy, but there was still four deaths from the massive car pile up.
It doesn't sound like a typical attack but witnesses stated they saw a person in a long black cape holding a stick and then green smoke lingered over the lines and then they buckled." Hermione put those papers down and took the next pile.
"OK the next attack was at Vaucluse, and it was at 12.30am. The embankment on Old South Head road, up near The Gap, completely fell into the ocean." One young man put his hand up briefly then addresses Hermione.
"Auror Granger, that could have been a natural disaster, that area is old and the roads are not up to scratch." Hermione nodded and looked at him.
"Yes Daniel I know that, but two kilometres of road just vanished along with twenty eight young teenagers down at the parking area making out." There were nods of understanding.
"What have the muggle Police released to the press?" Daniel again addressed Hermione.
"For now they are saying an underground gas explosion caused the embankment to separate and collapse. The third attack was probably the worst one so far because it was a little too close to home. I am sure most of you are familiar with our restaurant down at King Street Wharf?" There were nods around the table.
"Well, at 3.12am the restaurant was bombed and they left a message for us." Hermione pulled out a photo and placed it on the whiteboard then enlarged it. The photo was of a kitchen that had clearly been destroyed.
It is time for the new Dark Lord to take his place on the throne!!
Any resistance will be dealt with swiftly.
"The message was written in blood." Hermione let that sink in for a second and then got down to business. Ron put his hand up and asked Hermione if there was anything familiar between the three attacks, she shook her head but said she would look into it.
She divided the teams up and sent them with their notes on their way. There were six teams in total.
The teams were all dispatched and Harry, Ron and Jack stayed behind and were joined by Victoria and Edward. The five of them were talking about the complexity of the mission when Hermione approached.
"OK we break up into groups, Victoria, take Potter. Edward take Ron and I will take Jack." Hermione went to walk away when she heard Harry's voice.
"NO!"
She turned around slowly to look at him.
"Sorry, Potter." Hermione stopped where she was standing.
"No, Ron, Jack and I stay together. Full stop." She charged at him and stopped right in front of him.
Jack interrupted, "I don't mind working with these new Aurors, I might learn something." He flashed a smile and a wink at Victoria.
"Fine, we separate into two groups, Ron, and Potter, go with Edward and I will take Jack and Victoria." She looked at Harry and he was seriously pissed.
"Mione, I would like to work with you, you know, for old times sake." Ron was smiling at her and she couldn't help feeling for him. It wasn't his fault that Harry was such a prick.
Hermione nodded and walked away without another word. Victoria took over and told Edward and Jack to meet her at ten o'clock. She also told Harry and Ron to meet Hermione in her office at ten as well. She walked off and Edward and Ron watched her bottom sway as she left.
Victoria knew that Hermione would be in her office and she walked straight up to it. She looked at Julia and she nodded, Victoria walked in and then closed the door. She found Hermione looking over the case files and walked up to stand beside her.
"Are you OK?"
"Yeah, but I think I might pull James back." Hermione put the files down and looked at her friend in the eye.
"I think it might be a good idea Mione, I am not happy that he is so far away from us at this time. He is safer here with us."
"Yeah, my thoughts exactly." Hermione walked over to her bag and pulled out her mobile phone. She only carried it so she could contact her mother.
After a few minutes on the phone, they decided that they would fly back a week earlier rather than two weeks. That would give Ellen a chance to take the boys to the main theme parks and at least the kids wouldn't realise they got duped on their holiday. Hermione was visibly relieved and Victoria thought she may broach another subject.
"So is he how you remembered him?" Hermione walked over to her window and looked out over the views of the city.
"Yeah, the same, exactly the same."
"Ron, seems nice."
"You have a boyfriend, thank you." Victoria laughed and told her she can still look. There was a knock on the door and Victoria realised it was 9.45am. Julia came in and left more files on her desk.
"Gotta go Boss, have to get my files organised before the babysitting starts." Victoria laughed and Hermione nodded. She turned back around and looked out of her window. She told herself to just deal with this as quickly as possible so he could leave. She did notice that he wasn't wearing a wedding ring but that didn't mean he wasn't married.
Most Aurors didn't wear any noticeable jewellery.
She thoughts shifted to James. Even if Harry saw him, there was no way he wouldn't know. James was the spitting image of Harry right down to his ridiculous hair.
Maybe this was the time to let Harry know. He obviously had to know sooner rather than any later, it wasn't fair to James. She would make him understand that she didn't want anything from him, no money, no interference. All Harry had to do was know him and spend time with him if he wanted to.
James asked about his dad so many times and each time she put him off. She knew it was wrong but it wasn't like she hadn't tried. She grunted in frustration and heard someone laugh behind her. She turned swiftly and saw Edward standing there.
"Don't you ever knock?"
"Nah, door was open love so that means and I can rock on in if I want to." Edward walked over and stood next to her.
"Hey need a hug?" Edward knew her so well, actually they both did. She was so blessed to have Victoria and Edward in her life. She nodded and he put his arms around her.
She hugged him and told him she was pulling James back early from his holiday.
"Oh thank Merlin, I wanted to ask if you wanted me to send someone up to keep an eye on him?"
Hermione nodded and still thought that may be a good idea.
"Mione, everything will be fine OK, James will be back in your arms where he belongs and you can get on with this project and get rid of Potter. How does that sound?"
"Sounds like a plan." Hermione hugged him tightly again and then Edward released her and turned to walk out but he came face to face with Harry and Ron.
"Shit, was is it with knocking these days?" Hermione threw the files on the table and quickly replayed the conversation in her head to see if Edward had said anything that would help Harry make the connection. She realised she was safe this time, but she needed to be more careful. Edward turned and winked, then left for his meeting with Victoria and Webster.
"OK here's how it is going to go, I am your superior, I am the boss, what I say goes, am I clear?" Harry sneered and after an elbow from Ron, he nodded.
"Good. OK I have some Intel on who
is behind this, it's a radical group called RODL."
"RODL?"
Ron seemed confused.
"It stands for..."
"Rise of the Dark Lord." Harry stepped in.
"Exactly Potter, these guys have been taking credit for quite a few attacks but lately it's getting more frequent and closer." Hermione walked over to her desk and retrieved some files and she took them back to show the boys what she had already gathered. They spent the next hour discussing tactics and were ready to stake out a suspected head quarters that night.
Julia knocked and came in with a message for Hermione.
"Auror Granger, Mitch is outside, he wanted to speak to you, shall I tell him to come back later?" Julia looked at Harry and Ron and then back to Hermione. She noticed Harry turn around and seemed annoyed again.
"Let him in, thanks Julia." Mitch rushed through the door at Julia's nod.
"Miss Granger, how are you? I was so worried you had been out last night. I know you normally eat out when James is away, but thank Merlin you are OK." Hermione gulped hoping he wouldn't go into any details.
"Mitch, Mitch, you are fine, I am fine, OK, we are going to find out who did this to the restaurant?" Mitch took a deep breathe and then noticed there were other people in the room.
"Oh Miss Granger, I am so sorry, I was not thinking, I just burst in here and..."
"Mitch, calm down, this is Potter, Harry Potter and a friend of mine, Ron Weasley." Mitch shook hands with both men and apologised for bursting in. Harry did not miss the introduction and it was seriously getting on his nerves. She kept calling him Potter and wouldn't look him in the eye when he spoke to her.
"Sorry again Miss Granger, I will see you later, the restaurant is open, the wizard clean up crews worked really fast this time." Mitch smiled and walked back out.
"Friend of yours?" Hermione ignored Harry.
"So, gentlemen you have the rest of the day to do as you please, meet back here at 7pm as our mission will be the late shift." Hermione tidied up her files and Harry stormed out the door.
"Mione, just give him a chance, OK? He really has been mental since you left."
Hermione looked at Ron and felt her temper rising. She decided it wasn't Ron's fault and refrained from letting loose on him, "He's not the only one Ron, if I didn't have Victoria and Edward, we wouldn't be standing here having this conversation." Ron could only guess at what she was implying and before he started again, she continued.
"I have moved on Ron, I have someone in my life now and I have devoted myself to him. He is all I need and all I would ever want." Hermione said it with such conviction that Ron did not doubt her sincerity.
"I am happy for you Mione, really I am, but just try to be friends, that's all." Ron gave her a quick one armed hug and it felt awkward. She nodded and sat down at her desk pretending to look over the files.
Ron walked into their temporary office and saw Harry looking out over the Sydney harbour.
"Hey mate, fancy some food?" Harry looked back towards his mate and nodded.
They walked down to Waratah Alley and found a nice cafe that served lunch outside, it was way to hot to be cramped inside a cafe. They ate some nice salads and Ron had an open hamburger. It was huge but Ron seemed to polish it off with little effort. They talked about their mission over some ice cream and then went for a walk to work off some of their food.
"Harry?" He knew what was coming.
"What Ron?"
"Do you think it's an inside job?" Harry was shocked, he thought Ron would bring up Hermione for sure, but instead he had his mind on work.
"I don't know Ron, what gave you that idea?"
"I don't know, it just seems too... messy." Harry stopped walking and when Ron realised his company was no longer next to him, he turned around.
"Messy?" Harry squinted his eyes to show his confusion.
"I don't know Harry, it's like someone is trying to be messy to throw us off. Over the years, all the cases we have been on where there are multiple attacks, there is always something that connects them, a spell, an area, something, just something in common. But this one, nothing, it just seems wrong, that's all." Harry looked at his partner and considered his theory.
They discussed different aspects and decided to let Hermione know when they met up this afternoon. Harry suggested they go to their office and make some notes while it was all fresh in their heads.
They walked back slowly and as they approached the maintenance entrance of Taronga Zoo,they saw Hermione flying out and getting into a car. She flew out towards them then screeched to a stop.
"Get in there's been another attack!"
Ok so what do you think?
Harry and Hermione won't stay mad at each other forever, it is me after all wink wink!!!
as usual read and review if you like.
Sirius xoxo
