Hey guys, I was a little disapointed with the volume of views I got last time. I hope I'm not starting to bore you. Anyway, on with the show!

Chapter 21: A Tentative Alliance

Harry shuffled down the hallway, hands shoved down into his pockets, looking into rooms and closets. "And it has two bedrooms and two full baths upstairs" he heard the realtor call from the kitchen.

Harry nodded slightly to himself, "I'll take it" he yelled back as he made his way back to the circular kitchen where the realtor stood with the paperwork.

"Brilliant" she smiled brightly. "If you will just sign here and here" she said pointing to the bottom of one page and then another, "initial here and… you can cut a check to Gringotts by the end of the week" she looked up, smiling sweetly. She was pretty woman, trying to appear younger than she was by the way her makeup was caked around her eyes, but pretty nonetheless with her perfectly placed hair and blindingly white and straight teeth.

"Here you are," Harry said after he crossed the last 't'. She waved her wand over the papers which rolled up and jumped into her bag.

"Very good, Mr. Potter. Here is the key" she said, rummaging in her purse before withdrawing an old fashioned skeleton key. She tapped her wand to the key and it morphed into a modern and unique key to the house. "You are all set, and call me" she smiled again "if you have any problems" she winked.

"Right" Harry said, taking the key and put it in his pocket. As he walked her to the door he toyed with the small brass piece of metal in his right hip pocket. He ran his finger over the ridges of the key and saw every future moment rise and fall in his mind's eye with every bump he felt on his thumb.

_

Ron slumped into his chair and rubbed his eyes wearily. It had been four hours since he arrived and was told she was in surgery. Barring any unforeseen misfortunes, Hermione would be fine; the doctors were cautiously optimistic, but Ron was just waiting until he could see her. "Do you have a girlfriend" Ron asked, not meeting Joe's eyes. "Back in America, I mean" he clarified, still staring straight ahead.

"I did" Joe answered with a small smile that turned to a grim frown. "'Til I got too stupid to hold on to her" he said, smacking his thighs and standing up. "C'mon" he said, heaving Ron to his feet. "Let's take a walk."

Just then, through a door in the hallway the silver haired doctor walked out and towards the pair. "Mr. Weasley" he asked Ron.

"Yes, how is she" he asked with no small amount of anxiousness in her voice.

"She'll be fine" he said with a smile. "She just needs to rest while the rest of the transfusion finishes, but you can go in and see her if you'd like" he added with an affectionate grasp of his elbow.

Ron wrapped up the slighter man up in a classic Weasley-ish hug. He dropped him at once to run past and skid into the room the doctor just left. "I'll see you at the office" Joe called after him. He smiled a goodbye to the doctor and turned to make his way back to the Ministry. He had an appointment to keep.

_

Ron slid into the room and saw her propped up on pillows and reading a book he did not recognize. Big surprise there. "Hey" he breathed

"Hey" she replied a little hoarsely.

He pulled a chair over to the side of her bed and sat down, sliding his hand under hers and holding it gently. "How are you feeling" he asked softly.

"None of that" she said sternly. "You will not treat me like I am about to break all the time."

"Well" Ron said slyly, moving closer to her, placing his face inches from hers.

"Oh, be gentle. I'm delicate" she sighed before they both burst into raucous laughter that filled the small room and carried into the hall.

"Your parents will be here in… half an hour" he said after consulting his wrist watch. "Don't worry I didn't give them any specifics" he added reassuringly to the quickly fretting Hermione.

"What are we going to do about this" she asked solemnly.

"It turns out that one of you got a pieceof his wand" Ron whispered, pushing a lock of curl from her face. "And I am going to see Ollivander about it, to see if he can identify who it belongs to. But" he added with as sincere a smile as he could draw, "you don't have to worry anything about that." Before she could rebut, he kissed her on the lips.

"Hello" piped a small voice from the door. "Are you alright, love" asked a middle-aged woman from the frame.

"I'm fine, come in" Hermione answered, trying to sit a little straighter in her bed and wincing at the effort. Mrs. Granger hurried over and started being motherly, effectively, yet subtly knocking Ron out of the way. Ron understood the message and went to stand by Hermione's father.

"Mr. Granger" he greeted, offering his hand to the older man.

Mr. Granger took it with a quizzical expression on his face. "Listen, you're my son-in-law now. You can call me Brian" Mr. Granger said with a reassuring smile. He continued in a softer tone so they would not be overheard by the girls at the bed, "we would have liked to be at the wedding" he said with a hint of sadness. "But I know how my daughter can be" he smiled again to alleviate any guilt. "Just promise we can come to the magic one."

"I promise, Brian"

_

Joe entered the large white building and strode purposefully through the metal detector and waiting security guard. Of course it beeped and identified him as a possible threat. The obese guard in a disgustingly tight uniform shirt waddled over with a wand of his own "please remove all pieces of metal you may have on you sir" he said with a slight lisp and gasps of breath. Joe threw his keys and pocket knife into the white container and walked through the detector again; unnoticed this time.

Having only made it a couple of steps, the beyond portly security guard was able to plop back into his chair once it was established that Joe was no threat. "Great. Thanks" Joe muttered and continued to the elevator. The doors opened and Joe allowed the single occupant to exit, a stern-faced yet tremendously beautiful woman with her raven black hair in a tight bun perched on her head. "Oh, excuse me ma'am" he drawled in his most genteel, southern accent, and giving her complete passage through the doors.

She scoffed and hastily marched through the doors, her heels clicking on the tiled floor and echoing off the high chambered ceiling. Mm. I hate to see you leave, but I love to see you walk away Joe thought with a sly smile, and immediately regretted it. I've been in Europe too long he thought as the doors to the elevator slid closed.

_

"Bye, we will be back tomorrow" said Mrs. Granger as she and her husband backed out of the door. With a final 'goodbye,' wave and smile they were gone, leaving Ron, Hermione, and Harry alone.

"I need to get some rest" Hermione whispered as she lovingly pushed Ron's hair over his head. She only could because he was asleep, but she liked it nonetheless. "Could you get him home" she asked Harry.

"Sure" Harry said, rising from the extraordinarily uncomfortable desk chair. "C'mon Ron" he said, nudging the sleeping giant with his foot. When Ron's eyes blinked open he looked at Harry first, then quickly averted his attention to Hermione.

"Go home" she said firmly, patting him on the hand. "Go get some real sleep and see me tomorrow. Surely I'll be leaving by then."

"Ok" he said sleepily, wiping his chin. He stood up and stretched his long arms towards the ceiling, drumming his knuckles on the whitewashed roof. Ron bent over the railing of her bed and kissed her once softly on the lips and again on her forehead. "I will see you tomorrow" he said as he picked up his jacket and followed Harry out the door.

_

"What does that mean" Joe droned, his head lolling back and his palms pressed hard into his eyes. "My chemistry career ended a long time ago."

"It means" the man huffed, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world, "that whoever was wearing this washed it with detergent. I know you know what Dodecylbenzene sodium sulfonate is."

Joe groaned and hunched over, sliding off his chair. "I'm going to tell you this again, Frank; lots of people wash their clothes. I know you just like to rinse them but-"

"Not wizards" he interrupted.

"Shhh" Joe hissed, moving closer, pushing him into a corner and looking around frantically. "What's the matter with you? You're not even suppose to know about that."

Frank simply smirked, "Oh, relax. And how can I not, I found out why people like you exist."

A chill crept down Joe's spine when the scientist's words reached his ears. Joe never had an affinity for his father's colleagues, his father did not care much for them either, but Dr. Schultz was a world renowned bio-chemist and his to not make his knowledge a resource would not behoove a good detective. "What do you mean wizards don't use detergent" Joe asked.

"Well, if they don't use a freshening charm they conjure a bucket and fill it with suds, right" he paused to check Joe was still following. "That substance is a purer form of Dodecylbenzene sodium sulfonate called… right Dodecylbenzene, or Laurylbenzene. This guy" Frank continued, pointing at the computer screen, "uses Tide."

"Ok, that's interesting; but not really helpful. I'm sure many people use Tide" Joe sighed, picking up his coat.

Frank sighed too, "Look, kid; I don't know what to tell you. I'll look at the mass-spec some more and give you a call if anything else pops up."

"Alright, Frank. Thanks again" Joe said, shaking the older man's hand and turning to exit the lab. Joe turned around and walked right into another white coat that was holding a large beaker with an opaque solution.

"Sod it all" the raven-haired beauty shouted. "These stains won't come out" she cried, turning on Joe. "Why don't you watch where you're going" she huffed.

"Actually, I've got an old family recipe to get out silver nitrate stains. How about I take you out to dinner to make up for spoilin' such a pretty face with a frown."

"Why don't you just go to hell" she sneered.

Joe smiled at the aggression. "Seriously" he said, digging into his pocket. "Give me a call if you'd like me to fix your blouse" he said as he handed her a card. He turned and walked out of the large room without a backwards glance.

_

The next morning

"Mr. Weasley, Mr. Potter to what do I owe this honor. Are your wands still satisfactory" asked the dreamy-voiced Ollivander.

"Quite, Mr. Ollivander" Harry replied, shaking the man's hand with genuine affection. "How is the wand business" Harry asked pleasantly.

"Well, very well" he said in his subtle tone and making his way around the various stacks of boxes that reached to the ceiling.

"We need you to identify a piece of a wand that we broke off of a suspect" Ron said, producing the small bag containing a reddish brown shard of wood. Ollivander snatched the small bad from the hand of Ron and hurried to the back of his shop; dumping the shard into his hand on the way. He picked up a strange pair of wire rimmed bifocals that held multiple lenses and wrapped the ends around his ears and adjusted the lenses until he found the appropriate magnification.

"Oh, oh my…" he gasped, clutching his chest and stumbling back into his stacks of boxes. "F-Freach."

Ok, how was that? Please let me know what you think of this chapter, how you think the story is evolving (or intelligently designed to be politically correct), what you think of the characters, all that. You guys, my readers are what makes this story. Happy Valentine's Day, by the way. Make that special someone of yours feel special.