Wizarding Common Law

Chapter 10: Kreacher

A/N: To see a complete auror list, please visit chapter three.

Hermione & Fred. They've been living together as friends for seven years which means that according to Wizarding Commonlaw, they are now married. Hermione is Head of the Auror department, and dealing with a case involving a series of murders. How will she be able to cope with the difficult case with the wedding presents that keep appearing? Is there any way to divorce in the wizarding world, and moreover, do they want to? And what the heck does toilet paper have to do with anything?

The first thing Hermione noticed when she came to again was that the wards were back up and her poisoned leg ached like mad.

"Funny," she said out loud, through a haze of poison. "I thought that whoever it was that murdered Patricia got rid of the Fidelus charm."

Apparently not, for it was still buzzing around her and Ron, who was just starting to wake up. And the door was nowhere in sight which meant that they were locked in the room until help came.

"Damn," she swore. She needed attention to her leg soon and knew that if she didn't get help in the next five hours she would most likely die.

"Huh?" asked Ron groggily.

"Nothing," she replied, as her leg twitched and she bit back a scream. "Do you have your wand?" she asked.

Hermione vaguely saw him groping around in his robes and pulling out his wand. Thank Merlin that he hides it in such an odd spot, Hermione thought, still puzzled about what had happened. Sometime between the time she had fainted and the present, someone had stolen her wand, recast the Fidelus charm, and removed Patricia's body from the scene of the crime. Thankfully, they hadn't thought to look for Ron's wand.

"Do you need it?" he asked. "Why?"

Hermione glared at him with all the strength she could muster which wasn't much. "Excuse me, Ronald. Last time I checked we were stuck in this room because of a Fidelis charm turned on us and a murderer was on the loose. Maybe the murderer has decided to raise pygmy puffs, but I don't know that, and until I do, I'm considering this a serious situation!"

Ron shrugged, and tossed her the wand, which landed on her leg. Oh the agony- it felt like the wand wood was slicing through her very being itself. She gasped, and Ron saw.

"Come on, Hermione," he said jokingly, "It didn't hit you that hard." He peeled up her robes, supposedly to show her how she was not bruised at all. Instead, he was countered with a bloody mess and the blackness of the poison, slowly spreading through her body.

Hermione didn't even want to look at it and closed her eyes accordingly.

Ron gasped. "Why didn't you tell me?" he asked.

"You were unconscious when it happened," she replied, "and then I passed out because of it."

"Oh." Ron didn't seem too capable of words at the moment. He performed another freezing charm on her leg, and she relaxed slightly, feeling sharper.

"We need to get you to St. Mungo's," he said.

"Fat chance of that," she said, "I wish Harry were here."

"We could try communicating with him?" Ron suggested helplessly. Hermione scoffed at his naivette. Sometimes she was surprised he'd made it to group leader in the Auror department with statements like that. Of course all magic was blocked. Except for probably house elf magic…

Wait a second- house elf magic! Of course!!! That was the answer! "Kreacher!" she yelled, hoping against hope that Kreacher would respond. He had lightened up a lot to her after the war, but… well, she could never be sure of his attitude towards her.

Ron looked at her strangely. "What?" he asked, "Kreacher's at Hogwarts!"

Hermione's grin covered the grimace that had previously been on her face. "I know," she said, before the freezing charm was eaten up by the poison and she passed out once more.

Harry Potter, hero of the war with Voldemort, sat at his desk at Hogwarts and sighed. He loved teaching the first year's defense, but… some of them were just so annoying! And every year there were more and more and more muggle-borns, which meant that they had no previous knowledge of the world of magic. Merlin knew that he didn't have anything against them, it was just surprising that for the last two years the number of Muggleborns had tripled. He couldn't figure it out and neither could McGonagall.

He nodded his thanks to Kreacher as he was handed a cup of steaming hot tea, and the house elf beamed in happiness.

The tea seemed to do the trick for his aching shoulders and Harry reached for the papers of the seventh years. He had been surprised at first when he started with how little they knew- after all, when he was basically a seventh year, he had defeated Voldemort. Mostly, their little knowledge had been thanks to the never-ending curse of a new DADA teacher each year. Now, thanks to his relentless teaching and the disappearance of the curse with the death of Voldemort, his seventh years went out into the world ready to take anything on.

No, he didn't really want to read their papers right now. He had gotten a letter from Ginny, his wife, that morning and reached for that instead. He missed her so much and wished that his cramped living quarters would allow for her and their soon to be children to live with him again. He really had no idea why he had been given these small apartments this year, although it probably had something to do with the new Transfiguration Professor and his obnoxious desire to have an entire suite of rooms. McGonagall had given Harry larger quarters for next year again, but it was such agony to wait that long to live with Ginny again! Praise Merlin for evenings and weekends.

Speaking of which, why hadn't she shown up last weekend? Maybe her letter would tell him something. He opened it and began to read.

Dearest Harry,

First off, sorry I was unable to come this weekend… something came up out of the blue and we are still trying to take care of it. No doubt you heard about the muggle doctors… yes, that's what we're dealing with. No, it's not a job for magical law enforcement… it's something we have to deal with. Can't put more in a letter.

I decided to write to you today because I was told by Honoria Callahan (you know, my group leader) not to come in to work today before our connection went dead. I don't know what happened to her, but it sounded like someone had smashed her badge that allowed her to communicate with me. I don't know what to do... I can't seem to contact Hermione, Ron, Eleanor, or Honoria, and I can't get out of the house because it's under surveillance. I tried flooing out earlier but found myself unconscious beside the fireplace. I'm all right, but thank goodness you had the foresight to renew the Fidelus charm the Blacks had there. I think someone was watching earlier though, and it looked like he knew where the house was even though he couldn't see it. He was an older man, probably around 40, and he looked familiar, though I still can't place his face. He looked rather sinister as well.

On a lighter note, guess who got married?

What? That was a sudden shift. Trust Ginny to make light of the fact that someone was keeping her in the house and she was afraid.

Yes, good old Hermione finally decided to get hooked up with… drumroll please… FRED!

"About time." Harry muttered to himself, before continuing on to peruse the letter.

It wasn't done on purpose: apparently if you live together with another witch or wizard for seven years, you end up married according to Wizarding Common Law. I had never heard of that particular law before, but it seems to have worked out for the best. It is rather amusing because both have been denying their feelings toward each other for years. They seemed to have decided to stay married and I saw them Sunday (while I was on my patrols) buying rings. It was the most adorable thing ever.

Please come soon.

Urgently yours,

Ginny

She just had to tell the details of Hermione and Fred's romance, did she? Ah well, that was Ginny for you. Harry nodded and smiled to himself, thinking about how he would tease his longtime friend Hermione. Glancing at the letter again, he was reminded of serious matters. He had to go home to Grimmauld Place. Now. Ginny was in danger.

"Kreacher!" He yelled.

Kreacher appeared, covered in blood and what looked like poison. "Yes master?" he panted.

Harry took a moment to observe the disheveled state of his house elf. Ever since Harry had given him the Black family heirloom, Kreacher hadn't been disheveled at all. "What happened?" he asked.

"It is being master's friend, Ms. Granger," Kreacher replied, still panting.

"What about her?" Harry wanted to know. What could possibly have happened to Hermione? She was head of the Auror department for crying out loud! She could take care of herself! But the words in Ginny's letter came back to him. I can't seem to contact Hermione… sounded like someone had smashed the badge… a man in his forties watching the house… don't know what to do… come soon.

"Ms. Granger being in the way of poisoned. Come quick!"

Harry swore. It seemed like he wasn't done saving the world yet.

Hermione slipped in and out of consciousness after she called for Kreacher. It felt like hours before he showed up, and even longer before he set to work on her leg. He muttered about Slytherin magic and nastiness, and Hermione was vaguely grateful that he'd had dark wizards for masters and knew how to cope with the poison.

From time to time she thought she could see Ron's worried face swimming in front of her vision, and once or twice she thought she saw Harry. Thank Merlin he had come. Though why was he talking about a forty year old man and Ginny? Had Ginny been unfaithful? Somehow, Hermione doubted it.

"…gotten all the poison out… she'll have a dreamless sleep… take her back to Fred…" Hermione heard snatches of conversation, and felt herself drifting off.

Her sleep was not dreamless however, and she soon found herself deep in her memories…

Fred paced the flat he and his wife shared. For a moment he was distracted by the sound of the word 'wife' in his mind, but soon he began pacing again. Where on earth was she? Had something else come up? He hoped not. Hermione needed the case solved: it was getting more and more dangerous by the moment. He was hardly going to ask her to quit, but usually cases didn't take so long to solve for her! And usually, she sent a message when she was going to be home late. The absence of a message probably meant that she was in trouble.

Deciding that he would go see if he could find her, Fred pulled on his cloak and was about to walk out the door when four figures Apparated onto the doorstep.

"Let us in quickly!" one of the figures said to him. Fred recognized the voice as belonging to Harry.

"Who gave the first donation to Weasley's Wizard Wheezes?" Fred asked to make sure of Harry's identity. If it really was Harry, the answer would be "I did". If it wasn't, well… the answer would be wrong, and Fred would kick him back to kingdom come.

Fred's planned kick was unnecessary as it turned out: Harry answered the question correctly and the group was gestured inside quickly.

"Do you know where Hermione is?" was the first question Fred let out of his mouth.

Harry nodded and gestured towards two of the other cloaked figures, who removed their outerwear to reveal themselves as Ron and Kreacher carrying…

"Is that her?" he practically shrieked. She looked like she was dying! What on earth had happened? Honestly, he was shocked that she had allowed her leg to get pierced in such a manner. Usually she was more on top of things. He carefully lifted her out of Kreacher and Ron's grasp and set her on the sofa where they'd slept with each other Friday night.

Ron nodded.

"What happened?" Fred wanted to know. He knew, theoretically, that Hermione got injured a lot on the job, but knowing it and seeing it were too different things. It was so hard to see her pale, weak, and helpless.

"I was checking the wards at the ministry, especially the ones in the office, and suddenly I saw a whisper of magic and a breach of the shield. It must have been there a while, like a small hole in a stocking that slowly unravels the rest of the garment."

"Since when have you been so poetic?" Fred asked his brother wryly, trying for some semblance of calm.

"Sorry," Ron apologized, "But that's exactly what it was like. Frankly, I'm surprised that Gardiner didn't notice it earlier… it's his job to be sure of the wards. Maybe he hasn't checked up on them in a while- I don't know. Anyways, I probed the hole, to see what was making the wards 'unravel', and BOOM, the next thing I knew was that we were in the secret (or not so secret as it turns out) room upstairs in the Leaky Cauldron."

"Well, what happened?" Fred asked impatiently, "To Hermione?" he added, at Ron's bewildered look. For the millionth time, Fred wished his brother could just tell a straight story for once in his life.

"When I woke up, it had already happened. Hermione said she was fine but I didn't believe her. Someone had turned the Fidelus charm on us and taken her wand. She called for Kreacher, and you know the rest." Here he nodded at Harry.

Fred slumped. So they didn't know what happened to Hermione so they weren't going to be able to reverse the effects. Maybe they could go to St. Mungos?

Harry must have noticed this because he put a calming hand on Fred's shoulder. Fred looked at him gratefully. "She just needs rest," Harry said, "Thankfully, Kreacher knew the problem and was able to take care of the poison before it spread any further. She might be weak for a while though."

Praise Merlin! Fred had been so worried- he wasn't sure if he could cope with thinking he was going to loose her again. Still, he wasn't going to leave her side. He nodded his thanks to Kreacher reluctantly (after all these years he still didn't like him), and the house elf nodded curtly back before turning to Harry.

"If it please the master," Kreacher said, "the mistress needs him."

Fred looked on with some amusement and concern as Harry's face grew into a mirror of what Fred's had looked like previously.

"Right then. Kreacher, lead the way."

A/N: I'm thinking there will probably be about three to four more chapters. It's dragging out longer than I originally intended, but I want to tie everything up. Again, you reviewers are absolutely amazing! I'm so glad so many of you are enjoying the story. If you don't, tell me why so I can fix it! Remember, 150th reviewer gets cyber cookies and a chapter dedicated to them! Also, this story sends out about 80 emails when I update, so to the other 60 of you who aren't reviewing, it would be great to hear from you! What do you think? Good or bad? Even a one-worder would be great so I know how I'm doing!

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Lady Mage