I almost forgot today was Friday! Oh my god! I can't believe I did that! I'm sorry!

I don't own Harry Potter!

RUSH JOB UPLOAD!

A short balding man stood outside of the Little Whining Police Department. He looked around nervously, he wasn't sure if he wanted to go through with this. He didn't have much choice in the matter, his store had been robbed several times and he needed help.

There wasn't a person in Great Britain that hadn't heard the fantastic tale of Mr. Buckthorn's security fiasco. Whoever the thief was, knew what they were doing and with the bounty of three million pounds, there was no need for that thief to ever work his criminal craft again. He also heard rumors that the police department had located the most skilled thief to relieve Mr. Buckthorn of his Forbidden Fruit ruby. It wouldn't surprise anyone if that was really true, I mean really, the man pretty much insulted the police department right on their front step!

There was one story going around that it was one of the Inspectors that did it. Inspector Homes, he thought it was, was one of the biggest suspects that the people had. The man knew everything about the theft, more so than even Scotland Yard did. If it wasn't true, then perhaps the man could give him some good advice.

The man slowly climbed the stairs to the station, opening the door for a small boy pushing a cart.

"What's the cart for, son?" asked the man kindly.

"I bring food for the police officers, sir." said the boy with a smile.

The man smiled warmly at the small boy. The boy was very small, with unruly head of black hair and pair of almond shaped eyes. The eyes were a brilliant shade of green, like a few emeralds in his jewelry store.

He watched as the boy pushed the cart into the elevator with a smile. Then he turned to the front desk where a police officer was answering phone calls.

"Can I help you sir?" asked the officer putting the phone down as the man came over.

"I'd like to…er…see Inspector Homes if I may." said the man.

"Sure just go to the elevators and take it up to the fifth floor." said the officer as he handed the man a pass card.

"What's this?" asked the man.

"It's a pass that says that your allowed upstairs. There's an officer on each floor by the stairs and the elevators." said the officer.

"That little boy didn't have a pass, will he be okay?" asked the man quietly.

"He'll be fine, he's in here all the time." said the officer with a smile.

The man made his way to the fifth floor and when he stepped out of the lift, he saw the boy taking money from different officers and giving them plates of delicious smelling food.

"Can I help you?" asked a man standing beside the boy with a cup of coffee in his hands.

"Oh, I'm looking for Inspector Homes." said the man quietly.

"That would be me." said the man with the cup of coffee.

"Ah! Well, I wanted to talk to you about something." said the man nervously.

"What about?" asked the Inspector.

"Well, you see…my name is Abberton, Charles Abberton. I own a jewelry store in Farthington, and every month so far this year, I've been robbed. Not armed robbery, but they break into my building and rob me of my choicest pieces of jewelry." Said Abberton earnestly.

"Did you report these thefts to the Farthington Police?" asked Inspector Homes.

"Yes sir, and they've never caught the scoundrel! They just keep coming, again and again I've been robbed! I've tried everything!" said Mr. Abberton.

"What can I do for you then?" asked Inspector Homes.

"Well, I heard about the Forbidden Fruit ruby, and frankly, I could use the same person who took care of that security to take care of mine, tell me where I'm going wrong." said Mr. Abberton.

Harry didn't let it show, but he was paying close attention.

"Question: Why should he come and test your security system, what's in it for him?" asked Inspector Homes, trying to shield the boy with his own body and yet not make it obvious he was doing so.

"I would pay him, a hundred thousand pounds, a small fee to stop me from losing almost my entire inventory." said Mr. Abberton.

Inspector Homes looked at the man with an inquisitive look. "I'll see what I can do and get back to you as soon as I can." said the Inspector quietly.

"Thank you sir!" said Mr. Abberton handing the Inspector his business card and then leaving quickly.

Harry walked into the Inspector's office.

"So, what do you think?" asked the Inspector.

"I don't know if I can. I mean, Mr. Buckthorn left the blueprints of his house here. I've never been to Farthington." said Harry.

"Never hurts to try and help someone." said Inspector Homes. "But it's completely up to you. You can't be arrested or cited when you've been invited to go inside a building after hours." He reassured the boy.

Harry looked down slowly, but then looked back up. His eyes were alight with green fire.

A week later, they drove all the way to Farthington in waning hours in the day. They had informed Mr. Abberton that the…security tester would be showing up and that everything would be fine. Inspector Homes wished Harry good luck and waited for him to come out, with a necklace that was supposed to prove that he got in and out without detection.

Inspector Homes sat in his car, drinking his large cup of coffee. It was no small feat to get Harry out of the Dursley's house late that night. Harry had to sneak a key to the front door in order to escape. He didn't feel very guilty about taking Harry out of the house at that time of night. Harry was pretty much the adopted son of the police department in all but official paperwork.

He loved the little boy as if he were he were his flesh and blood. He didn't want the boy to get hurt or get into danger, but he couldn't shake the feeling that someone was watching over the boy, almost at all times.

Suddenly a bell rang out from inside the building and a flashing light came from the inner chambers. Inspector Homes jerked himself out of the car and nearly ran to the building, when he saw Harry running towards him. He scrambled into the car and instinctively Inspector Homes jumped in as well and drove off.

"What happened?" said Inspector Homes, looking worriedly at the ashen face of the boy.

"I screwed up, big time." said Harry panting. "I couldn't even get in half way!"

"Want to try again another time?" asked the Inspector, "Or forget it?" He wanted to give the boy a choice, he would have supported the boy in either direction he wished to choose.

"I wanna give it one more shot. Is there a way you can get a hold of Mr. Abberton, so I can take another try?" asked Harry.

"Sure thing, but we'll do it tomorrow night. Time I got you back to bed." said Inspector Homes driving back to Little Whining.

Harry reached behind his seat and pulled a woolen blanket from the backseat and wrapped his small body around in it. In less than five minutes, he was asleep.

The next day, the Inspector called Mr. Abberton.

"Hello, Mr. Abberton? This is Inspector Homes, how are you?" asked the Inspector with a cordial air.

"Fine sir…just fine…but I've been robbed again." said Mr. Abberton.

"….what?" asked Inspector Homes, it was like he was hit in the head with a frying pan.

"Last night, it wasn't what you were supposed to take." said Mr. Abberton.

"When was this?" asked Inspector Homes quickly.

"Sometime during last night, I discovered it missing when I came to turn the alarm off. Did you, I mean, your man take something else by mistake?" asked Mr. Abberton.

"No, the man I sent in didn't even get halfway." said the Inspector softly.

"And he's trustworthy?" asked Mr. Abberton quietly.

"As honest as a newborn babe." said the Inspector crisply.

"Yet he's a thief." said Mr. Abberton quietly.

"Not a thief, just someone who needed the money that Buckthorn was offering." said Inspector Homes stiffly. "Besides, he received three million pounds, he doesn't need to work again for the rest of his life. What would anyone need to steal after getting that much money."

Mr. Abberton didn't have a remark for that.

Harry then came in the room, with a hamburger, fruit salad and a large helping of coleslaw. Inspector Homes placed a hand over the receiver end of the phone.

"How far did you get into the jewelry store?" asked Inspector Homes quietly.

"I didn't even make it into the main room, the entire place was rigged up so tight." said Harry.

"Didn't you say that you screwed up?" asked Inspector Homes.

"I did, big time. I accidentally set off one of the alarms the moment I took the grate off of the air duct." said Harry.

"So someone came in before we got there, but that's not possible, we saw them lock up the doors." said the Inspector. "So that means…"

"That whoever took it, before we got there." said Harry slowly.

That night, they drove once again to Farthington, and walked in with . The jewelry owner couldn't understand why the Inspector brought the little boy that pushed the food cart around, but if the man could tell him why he was being robbed once a night, then he could bring anyone he wanted into his place of business.

The store was still open, and there was a pair of employees inside carefully placing the merchandise in the assorted safes in the back for safe keeping. Harry looked at them as he held onto Inspector's belt, one was an middle-aged man, and the other one was a younger woman with a ring in her nose.

"Mr. Abberton! What brings you here tonight?" asked the man with a smile.

"I thought I'd bring an old friend and his son over to see my store." said Mr. Abberton reciting the script that Inspector Homes wanted him to say.

Harry walked around the glass cases, looking at each glass intimately. He saw beautiful stones, of various colors, shapes, sizes and arrangements. Harry wanted to buy everything here with the leftover money he earned from testing Mr. Buckthorn's system, and give it to Mrs. McFinn.

Something however caught his eye; he looked at the velvet liner in the glass case. There was something missing, Mr. Abberton told them that they didn't sell any necklaces that day, but there was one missing. The man and young woman hadn't put any of the jewelry on that side of the room away, but where did this one necklace go?

Harry watched the man and woman closely as he walked over to the Inspector.

"There's a necklace missing." He whispered into the man's ear.

The Inspector looked at the boy and smiled. He turned to Mr. Abberton and smiled. "You do much business here, Bruce?"

"A fair amount of business." said Mr. Abberton. "I've sold two bracelets and a few rings today."

"No necklaces?" asked Inspector Homes. "That's what my wife loves more than anything." He added with a smile, allowing the boy to watch the two.

Harry saw one of the two people looked over at the coat rack nervously. One nice looking coat was hanging on it, and he could see a slight bulge coming from it. He looked beyond it, seeing a small corridor.

Harry walked over to Mr. Abberton, hopping from one foot to the other.

"Do you have a bathroom?" asked Harry earnestly.

Mr. Abberton pointed towards the back of the room. Harry hurried in the direction which Mr. Abberton pointed. Harry then turned, as he ran, to face the Inspector.

"I'll be right back!" he said, but then he "accidentally" crashed into the coat rack.

SMASH!

Harry landed with a crash on top of the coat.

"I'm sorry!" said Harry quickly as he picked the coat up. He made sure to grab the coat up, upside down. Out of the pocket, came a small strand of silver and diamonds came trinkling out.

"What the?" asked the young woman quickly.

"What's the meaning of this Victor?" asked Mr. Abberton in shock.

"Come here, Harry." said Inspector Homes quickly. Harry hurried as fast as he could to the Inspector, but Victor didn't make a move towards the boy.

"I wouldn't hurt him." said the man fretfully.

"Answer my question!" said Mr. Abberton shortly.

"I just needed the money." said the man guiltily. He sank slowly into a chair and buried his face. Harry stared at the man wonderingly.

"What do you need the money for?" asked Inspector Homes noticing Harry's concerned look.

The man wiped his face with a handkerchief from his pocket. "My son and wife died a few months ago, and my wife and I are taking care of their five children. Money is very tight, and with the smallest one's recent illness…we're just desperate. I swear, Mr. Buckthorn! I would have paid you back before the inventory were to roll around, I just needed some of the smaller things to pay for the hospital bills!" said the man pleading with the owner.

Mr. Abberton looked uncertainly at the man.

Harry tugged Inspector Homes' shirt and pulled him down to his level. Harry whispered quietly into the man's ear, Inspector Homes smiled.

"Mr. Abberton, if the money for the jewelry were repaid, by tomorrow afternoon, would you press charges?" asked the Inspector.

"Of course." said Mr. Abberton.

"I can't pay it all back tomorrow!" said the man turning pale.

"Any time before inventory would be wonderful." said Mr. Abberton.

"I didn't say that you would be repaying it. I know someone that will do that for you." said Inspector Homes for a smile. "How much is the total you owe?"

"Almost fifty thousand pounds." said the old man wearily.

"Easily taken care of." said Inspector Homes clapping his hand together. "I'll bring the money tomorrow."

"You have that much?" asked Mr. Abberton in shock.

"No, but the security tester would most likely be happy to lend a hand. He knows what it's like to be desperate." said the Inspector.

"How will I repay him?" asked the man ,fearing the worse. "What will the interest be?"

"No interest, you just pay him back a little bit at a time, I'm betting he'd like to help you raise your kids too." said the Inspector.

Harry gave the Inspector's hand a squeeze, signaling to him that he agreed.

"Just who are you?" asked the woman, who was watching the events in shock and alarm.

"Inspector Homes." said the man holding Harry's hand.

The old man flinched. "Are you going to arrest me?"

"You really are shocked out of your mind." said the Inspector with a smile.

Inspector Homes went on to tell him that as long as the money was paid back by someone, and Mr. Abberton, he had no interest in arresting him, not mentioning the fact that Farthington was a mite out of his jurisdiction.

The next day, Harry brought the small briefcase full of money to the police station. He snuck it inside the cooler part of the pushcart and handed it to the Inspector.

"It should be there." said Harry earnestly. "Can I go with you tonight?"

"Did you finish that essay Mr. Doppler wanted you to do?" asked Inspector Homes with a raised brow. "You didn't do it the last two nights, and you said it's due tomorrow."

"Uh…" said Harry looking guilty.

"I'll take that as a no. Homework comes first, road trips last." said the Inspector with a bright smile.

Thanks for reading sorry about the long wait!

Question of the chapter! When was the last time you were late for something

SORRY I WAS LATE WITH THIS!