The Phoenix Syndrome
a/n – Once again, gentle readers, we're back. And, for the record, I don't own Harry Potter or anything recognizable from the Harry Potter universe. That's all the property of JK Rowling and her merry band of corporate partners. Also, you can blame Seamus for the fact that I need to mention that I don't own any part of the Star Wars universe. Though, personally, I think that both Lavender and Parvati would make incredible Jedi Knights. Just saying.
Also, I'm not certain if Leonard Nimoy owns the "In Search of …" franchise/series, but I'll chuck the credit in his lap and let him sort it out.
Chapter Four – In Search of … Harry Potter
The familiar discomfort of the hook through the navel usually associated with travel by portkey was muted by the charms built into the portkey coin. Finding herself standing in a rather overdone hotel suite sitting room, Hermione glanced around at the faces staring at her.
The other half of Auror Team Twelve was scattered around the room, attending to last minute details before going into action. Seeing the look on Senior Team Leader Horace Smithers' face, Hermione nodded to him and started heading in his direction. Her longtime friend Parvati Thomas stood up from where she was staring at a mirror that occasionally changed colours as a silvery mist swirled through it and headed to join them.
As she reached Horace, Hermione noticed that everyone else in the room was pointedly looking somewhere else and obviously busy as Parvati joined them. Brushing protocol aside, the Unspeakable stepped up to her and wrapped her in a hug that would rival one of Molly Weasley's. Hermione found herself wrapping her arms around her old housemate and was startled to hear the venom in her voice as Parvati whispered in her ear.
"Lav and I are going to kill them both. Very slowly and very painfully."
"No you're not, but I do appreciate the sentiment. Ronald's the father of my children and Ginevra's the mother of Harry's. If nothing else, that's five reasons why you won't, you love Lily and Rose almost as much as I do and you couldn't keep something like that from them."
Stepping back, Parvati held her longtime friend at arm's length and looked her up and down, as if searching for something.
"Hermione, you're too collected and calm about this. You should be shooting sparks out of your ears and laying waste to entire counties."
"I do believe that's on my schedule for Tuesday. I'll have to check with Cara to make certain, but I seem to remember something about laying waste to the Midlands at eleven." Smiling wryly, Hermione shook her head at her old dormmate.
"I suppose Chastity would diagnose it as some form of shock, but after about ten seconds things just fell into place and I've been working to resolve all of the loose ends with this so I can go back to Peregrine House, put up my feet, and have a good cry."
Looking over at the tall auror that dwarfed both of them, Hermione nodded her head.
"Senior Team Leader, I apologize for dragging you out on the day when you sent your daughter to school for the first time. Seems as if an eternity has passed since we saw the children off on the Express."
"Director..." seeing the look on her face, he smiled in capitulation and smoothly began again.
"Hermione, there's nothing to apologize for. Today is one of the days that no one likes." Glancing around, Horace looked at his ultimate boss pointedly.
"Cara?" Seeing him nod, Hermione smiled. 'You wife was on her last legs, emotionally, from all of this. I sent her to Peregrine House to secure the premises and field calls in case any of the children tried to get in touch with either myself or their father."
"Hermione, she's been heartsick about this for months. Cara has dreaded today, as far as I'm concerned it was way overdue."
"Horace, I appreciate your honesty, believe me. Right now, I need the professional opinion of both of you." Nodding to Parv, Hermione smiled tightly. "How long can you two keep a lid on things here?"
"Still haven't found Seeker, have we?" Nodding knowingly, Horace looked over at his Unspeakable counterpart and shrugged. "The way he's been gobbling down those blue muggle pills, I don't imagine they'd need to come out until Tuesday."
"I've looked at the images from some of their other trysts; I'd say you've got two, maybe three hours until they call out for room service. Even then, we can cover it." Smirking, Parvati closed her eyes and suddenly there was a nondescript young woman standing there in Savoy livery. "Your room service is ready. Two buckets of oysters and a swift kick in the arse, just as you ordered. You worthless slag."
"Please, when we arrest them, I'd like for them to arrive at Caer Sidi not needing to see the infirmary before they see their cells." Looking pointedly at Parvati, Hermione nodded, as the other witch blushed a bit.
"It took me two days to sort out the mess when Goyle was arrested that final time." Holding up her hand at the look on Parvati's face, Hermione smirked. "Yes the bastard was a slimy evil git and a rapist, but I can't go to the mat for you this time if Harry's soon to be ex-wife or the younger brother of someone half the wizarding world thinks I carried on a mad romance with during that bloody tournament ends up needing attention to reattach any of their assorted body parts. Promise me you'll behave yourself or, so help me, I'll go to Spook Hall myself and have Lavender assign me someone who can."
Chuckling, Parvati and Horace looked at each other. Exchanging an amused look as they both remembered that raid when they finally arrested Goyle after almost a year of trying to catch the serial rapist that had been haunting wizarding and muggle nightspots, the two nodded before Parvati turned her attention back to Hermione.
"I still say it wasn't my fault that Goyle splinched that one ironic part of his anatomy when we transported him to the Ministry. And the healers reattached it without any problems, so he had it for the six months it took to convict and execute him. A fat lot of good it did him, but he could piss and moan right up until the moment they led him out to the yard at Azkaban."
Staring defiantly at her friend, Parvati tried to keep a straight face as the two witches stared each other down. Finally blinking, Parvati nodded and smiled.
"As much as it is in my power, both will be delivered to Caer Sidi in as good a condition as possible." Watching her friend carefully, she shook her head. "You're the one I'm worried about. If Gin starts up, I really don't think you should be there."
"Stars, Parv. If I could be civilized while Ronald was being arrested, this should be a piece of cake."
"Yea, right. It's not as if you haven't been Harry's own personal deva for the past thirty years." Smirking at her old friend, Parvati laughed at the blush that appeared on Hermione's cheeks.
"It's not like that at all. And it's only been twenty-eight." Looking to change the subject, Hermione looked over at the auror who was watching their exchange with amusement.
"Can you give me an hour to track him down?"
"Are the two of you coming back here?" Watching Hermione carefully, Horace carefully schooled his face to keep his emotions masked.
"I'm coming back; I imagine that Harry will insist on being here, also. Why?"
Parvati and Horace looked at each other uncomfortably. Finally Horace shrugged.
"No reason, I suppose. When you come back, we'll brief you in on the operation." Looking Hermione in the eye, he nodded. "And I'm not your godson, so you won't be going in with the capture team."
"I didn't go in with the capture team in Scotland. Team Leader Lupin had everything well in hand by the time I arrived on scene."
Snorting in disbelief, Horace shook his head and rolled his eyes. Seeing that she wasn't going to get anything else from either of them, Hermione looked over to the fireplace in the suite.
"Is that connected to the floo network?"
"Yes, you need to wand verify to activate it, but that'll connect to the outside very handily."
Horace gave a lazy flick of his wand and a fire sprung up in the fireplace, crackling merrily.
Hermione walked over and took a dash of floo powder from the container setting on the mantle. Looking back over her shoulder, she nodded.
"We'll talk about whatever it is that the two of you are trying not to tell me when Harry and I get back." Shaking her head, she tapped the mantle three times with the handle of her wand and tossed the floo powder in the flames. As they turned green, she sighed.
"I can't imagine what you two would think would be worse than finding out she's cheating on Harry." Turning back around, Hermione stated, "The Leaky Cauldron" as she stepped into the green flames and disappeared.
Parvati took her wand and extinguished the flames, effectively sealing the connection. Shaking her head, she sighed.
"I'm not certain I want to be the one to tell her how much of a pervette Firebolt really is."
"Cara doesn't know all of the details, she was sick when she found out the basics of what was going on." Seeing the look in his counterpart's eyes, he nodded.
"I don't know if this is going to be easier with Harry here or not. At least he can keep her from hexing Firebolt out of hand when we go in."
"Think she can find him?"
"She's the only one who can. I know I tried three years ago. Whatever's he's done I couldn't even get a patronus through to him." Shaking his head, Horace looked around the room.
"All right, you lot. Listen up. We've got at least an hour before we're going in. Keep the surveillance and wards up, but take shifts and get something to eat. Anyone fancy a kip, there's a bed in the next room that'll do until show time."
The twirling lights and glimpses of normality resolved themselves into the common room of the Leaky Cauldron. Stepping lightly from the floo, Hermione brushed a bit of ash from her robes as she looked around the room.
Twenty plus years after the Battle of Hogwarts, any member of the Golden Trio still garnered notice in public. Shaking her head, Hermione conceded to herself that after today, the two of them would look back at the hectic days following Harry's defeat of Tom Riddle with fondness compared to the level of attention today's events would create.
Looking around the room, she could see Hannah leaning against the bar, watching her warily. The usual Sunday afternoon crowd was gathered in the Cauldron, with small groups and solitary individuals scattered around the room.
Closing her eyes, Hermione concentrated and reached for the connection that had, it seemed, always existed between Harry and her. Brushing her thoughts lightly against that sense of him she had had since the Tri-Wizard Tournament, she could feel that he was nearby, but there was a strange and persistent bit of interference keeping her from knowing exactly where he was.
Opening her eyes, she glanced around the room once more and then walked over to Hannah's spot at the end of the bar. Smiling, she nodded as she leaned against the bar.
"Cider?" Hannah's smile didn't reach her eyes; she had a look that was clearly worried.
"Pumpkin juice would be better, if you don't mind." Trying to smile at the other witch reassuringly, Hermione waited as Hannah turned and nodded to the wizard behind the bar.
As the two mugs were placed in front of them, Hermione smiled her thanks to the bartender and took a generous sip. Placing the mug back on the bar, Hermione nodded to Hannah and waited.
"You're the only one, you know." Placing her cider back on the bar beside Hermione's mug of pumpkin juice, Hannah made a subtle gesture and Hermione could feel a spell spring up around them.
"It's just a variant of the old 'Notice Me Not' combined with a 'muffliato' that should keep us from garnering any unwanted attention." Smiling sheepishly, Hannah rolled her eyes. "Ginny's come in here dozens of times over the years and Tom and I lied straight to her face."
"Really now. And what makes me so special?" Tilting her head, Hermione glanced around the room to see who was paying them any attention. "I really need to find him, or I wouldn't be here."
"Doesn't matter." Smiling mysteriously, Hannah took another sip. "You're the only one whom I'd let disturb him today. Nev and I decided long ago that if there was ever anything we could do for either of you, we'd do it."
"I'm not asking you to break any confidences, just get a message to him that I need him, and very soon."
"You might as well tell him yourself, you know. He's right here."
"I know he's here, and I'll be hanged if I can figure out how you've hidden him." Shaking her head in admiration, Hermione looked around the room again. "I've been able to pick him out when he was using polyjuice, and I've gotten used to that blasted cloak of his, so this is obviously a new trick."
"It's not mine; Seamus actually came up with it, years ago. Found out the hard way that it works with patronuses." Seeing the look on Hermione's face, she smirked.
"Ginny's mare showed up every year for the first three or four before she got the idea that it wouldn't work. The last time, Horace sent his patronus after him a few years ago. The poor thing spent fifteen minutes chasing its tail around my bar until I was able to send him a message that his patronus was scaring off the afternoon trade."
"Really now? I'd have thought a patronus was almost infallible in that regard." Looking intrigued, Hermione bit her lower lip as she considered things. "I wonder?"
"Yours might work; we'd have to test it sometime. Harry thinks that they get as close as they do because they key on the last place he was before the charm goes into effect."
Looking her longtime friend up and down, Hannah's hand strayed to the necklace hanging around her neck where the transfigured DA medallion hung.
"I know this would work, yours is the only connection he doesn't block."
Shaking her head, Hannah smiled at the look in Hermione's eye.
"You want to know about the charm. It's so outside the box, no wizard or witch would ever trip to it and it only works in certain circumstances."
"I'm almost afraid to ask." Hermione chuckled, wondering their old classmate had come up with.
"Seamus got it from an old muggle movie he saw. It only works if someone was looking for the person being concealed by the spell. If you weren't looking for Harry, you would walk in and notice he was standing there. But if you were looking for him, you'd be convinced you saw someone else."
Eyes going wide, Hermione started chuckling.
"Let me guess, 'These are not the droids you're looking for.'?" Shaking her head as she remembered Seamus' fascination with those movies and science fiction in general, she smiled.
"It's perfect. Anyone actually looking for Harry would see someone else, someone who wasn't Harry but logically fit into the scene, as it were."
"Score one for the muggleborn. Do you want the counter-jinx?"
Tilting her head to the side, Hermione bit her lower lip as she thought. Shaking her head, she smiled and intoned.
"The Force will be with you, always."
As her words hung in the air, she could 'feel' her sense of Harry suddenly tighten. Turning her head to where a nondescript old wizard had been standing, nursing a mug and smoking a pipe, she smiled as her oldest friend was standing there, watching her with a very strange look in his eyes.
Nodding her thanks to Hannah, Hermione waited until she dropped the spells and then walked down the bar to where Harry was standing. Setting her mug of pumpkin juice on the bar beside his, she waited until he nodded before she began.
"It's 'Operation Canary'. Things have gotten … complicated." Looking down, Hermione suddenly understood how Cara felt earlier.
Sliding his arm around her shoulders, Harry held her close and waited for several seconds, seeing where she was going with this. When she didn't continue, he picked up his mug and took a sip.
"Cara and Team Twelve have been walking on eggshells the past three months around both of us. I wondered how long before someone would finally decide it had to be resolved." Shaking his head, he tightened his arm around her. "How bad is it?"
"Almost the worst, maybe. Harry, how did it come to this?" Leaning her head against him, she relaxed a bit as the two of them silently shared the moment. Shaking her head, she stood up and took a step away from him.
"This won't help. The last thing we need right now is for someone to see the two of us together like this."
"All anyone's going to see is two people who belong here, neither one of them being Hermione or Harry if that's who they're looking for. And the 'Notice Me Not' that Hannah added when you walked over here will keep the casual onlooker from noticing us at all." Smiling, Harry nodded his thanks to Hannah as she kept watch from her spot by the bar.
Looking around, Hermione noticed an empty booth in the corner.
"We might as well be comfortable, unless your ritual requires you to stand at the bar, of course?"
Smiling, Harry gallantly offered her his arm as they stepped towards the booth. A bit off the usual traffic flow of the floor, they slid into the booth and sat where they could see the length of the bar, but someone would need to be in front of them to see them clearly. Looking over at her, Harry shrugged.
"How much trouble is Ginny in?"
"How long have you known?" Staring at him, she reached over and gently placed her hand on the back of his, her fingers brushing the almost forgotten scars that proclaimed, "I must not tell lies".
"The affairs started a year or so after Lily was born." Looking away, Harry's voice dropped to a quiet whisper. "She would seize on any reason to rail at me for something, usually something involving work since you were the advocate for my office and we were working together." Shrugging his shoulders, Harry sighed.
"She went back to work covering quidditch, and she started being gone more than she was home."
"And with you being an auror…" Letting the statement hang in the air, Hermione watched him carefully as he grimaced.
"And being an auror, it really was child's play to figure out what she was doing, and with whom." Shaking his head a bit, Harry slumped back into the booth.
"It took me a couple of years to figure out if she was being slightly obvious because she wanted to be caught so we could have a go at fixing things, or she just didn't give a damn. Finally I realized that she really didn't give a damn if I knew, she thought the specter of publicity was what would keep me from making an issue of it."
"Merlin Harry, I never knew. How did you keep something like this quiet?"
Chuckling, Harry looked down at his mug.
"What you mean is 'How did I keep something like this from you?'." Feeling her nod, he shrugged. "It's the only thing I've lied to you about, since the bloody book. I talked to Francis before he retired about who his people used for Occlumency training when you wanted to segregate something but didn't want the other person to know they were being blocked." Shaking his head, Harry finally turned and looked at her.
The pain in his eyes hit her with the force of a hammer blow. Suppressing the urge to reach out and enfold him in one of her hugs, she tightened her grip on his hand.
"I imagine that since his first suggestion was a nonstarter, Francis sent you to Muriel?"
"Well, yes. Since his first suggestion was that I ask you, Francis was fairly taken aback when I blushed like a third year asked to the Yule Ball and told him I needed another suggestion. Though spending eight weeks working with Muriel on this wasn't a picnic either."
"Eight weeks?" Shaking her head in admiration, Hermione sighed. "I spent six bloody months, every other Sunday, in Upper Flagely learning how to set up those mental blocks.
"Well, truth be told, I had a bit of a head start." Seeing the look she gave him, Harry blushed.
"Remember when I finally broke down and we spent that entire weekend in Wales talking about my childhood?"
Seeing her nod and the tears that started trickling down her cheeks, Harry once again felt guilt for having burdened her with that and, paradoxically, deeper guilt and regret for having kept it from her for so long.
"Everything I had buried about growing up on Privet Drive, I had instinctively created places where I could have things that you wouldn't notice, mostly."
"Harry, I always knew there were things about what happened there, before I met you, that it took a long time for you to talk about." Seeing the look in his eyes, she smiled to reassure him.
"It was never a burden; all it did was make me more convinced that Vernon needed to be sent to his own personal corner of Hell, either now or in the next life. But preferably now so I could stand there and cheer."
"Well, Muriel taught me to consciously do what I had unconsciously done, hide things from you." Looking away, Harry closed his eyes. "The things I was too ashamed for you to see."
"And I'll tell you now what I told you twelve years ago. Whenever you're ready to tell me something is the moment I'm ready to hear it." Smiling ruefully, Hermione reached up and brushed Harry's fringe back from the faded scar on his forehead.
"Neither of us owes anyone anything, which is why I hope you can forgive me for what's coming next."