Chapter 25 Crime time

By the middle of the next week Ron was very close to finding who perpetrated his class investigation. He had a short line of suspect and a known death eater was at the top. Harry was now cleared to start his investigation and had sent an owl to Hagrid to see if he could contact his new friends in the U.S. and ask for help.

By the end of the week, Hagrid had a reply and professor Weatherwood was ready to go. Harry was on pins and needles waiting for his first investigation; knowing by what George had told him via one of the copies he had made of Sirius's' mirror that it would be work, but not really any cloak and dagger. "I had a little practice while we were on the run Rodent; this is old hat for me." George had pinched his eyes shut at that; he was disappointed that Harry had missed all their better material; more so about the poorly chosen knick name. Lee had most of the Potter watch programs recorded and he hoped to catch up someday.

George shook his hand to stop any more talk; he had something he had to say right away. "You need to ask your teacher if Ginny can come." He waved the hand again as Harry dropped his jaw. "Too dangerous, how can you suggest, blah, blah, blah. I'm glad you're back together with my sister; if you want to stay with her you will ask Weatherwood." George nodded as Harry tried to puzzle it out and went on, "he won't let her go, it's just not allowed, but if you tell her that you asked…"

As George spiraled his hand Harry took up the thread, "she will not be angry that she is left behind again, but will be pleased that I tried."

George bowed to the mirror and then moved closer so his eye was taking up the whole square. "I think I saw her coming," he said in a worried whisper, "we didn't talk, I told you nothing, t.t.f.n."

Harry had a feeling that Ginny would be somewhat angry with George for both tutoring Harry and thinking the tall boy who had passed resembled her.

As suspected, Weatherwood denied his request to bring Ginny so Harry went to tell her the bad/good news.

"You shouldn't have bothered," she replied with a twinkle in her eye, "I knew I was not going." Ginny began putting together a fresh twig wand and held up an old, yellow piece of paper; a hand scrolled spell on it. "I need to see you off so tell me when you're ready to leave and I'll meet you by the gate." She looked deep into his eyes, a hand going to his chest, "I can't go with you, but I can watch your back, after a fashion."

Time seamed to speed up for Harry, the time to leave coming like a monorail. He should have felt like the mono was coming to hit him with the absence of his fellow crime fighters. It didn't; he felt like he was really stepping out on his own this time. This time he was going to do this alone. He smiled at his inner dialog and added that he would be with his professor and a bunch of American wizards; not to mention a half giant bodyguard.

Later Ginny met him and his two escorts at the gate with a bag over one shoulder looking like she was going with him. She froze at the looks everyone was giving her and then stuffed the bag into Harry's arms. "Stuff you might need," she opened the bag to show several potions, beakers, small instruments and a hat and scarf.

Weatherwood pulled a box out of his sleeve and held it open next to her tools. Both held similar items, only a few were in Weatherwood's that weren't in Ginny's. The professor favored her with one of the smiles her brother was inspiring in class. "Now why Miss Weasely, are you not in my class?"

Ginny looked at Harry with a somewhat smug set to her mouth and turned to answer him. "I might be going into teaching, unless I'm just teaching squibs, I don't know we'll have to see." She turned back to Harry and ran a hand thru his hair. "It looks good today so you should wear the scarf; it's one of the shield ones from George." She passed the hat to the Professor to inspect and drew her twig wand. "Put the scarf on strait away after I'm done and hold this for a minute." She handed him a wrap of cloth and stepped back to casting range.

Harry loved the sweater she was wearing. It was new from a trip into town, another add on to her wardrobe that she had bought from her dwindling cash from odd jobs over the holiday. It was woven from many colorful threads which was what jumped out at her when they stopped at a boot sale. She said her mother did a lot of shopping this way, but was bad with styles. She seemed so much younger when they had first dated, now she was planning for an apartment of her own after they toured the world. She had told him this when she thought he was about to propose to her. "I will be your wife some day, no doubt, but first I am going to work at a lousy job that will barely pay for my manckey apartment that I will have when you bend the knee." Unnecessary conversation thanks to his talk with her father really. He had picked up a tiny shirt pin shaped like a moon with ivy leaves that he had picked up at a later boot sale and was gifting it to her to wear at a hogsmead visit.

He was popped back to the present as she began forming a spell with the twig wand. He winced as she twisted her wand in a quick pattern ending with a sizzle that left what looked like a wilted leaf hanging off his jacket.

He was about to make an offhand comment when she raised the wand again and had pressed her eyes closed. Ginny began to cast while her eyes were still closed; her hand moving slowly thru the air while the tip of her wand left trails of glowing smoke. A sound was coming from somewhere he couldn't see. Soon the gates behind him were rattling with the noise which was growing in pitch; the louder it got, the more pinched Ginny's face was becoming. With a hiss from between her clenched teeth she finished the spell and dropped the wand.

Ginny popped a bottle out of her pocket and pulled the stopper with her teeth. She took back the wrap and wound it around her hand and the goop she had wiped on it. The wand was sizzling on the ground now, ruined by the too strong spell she had cast. The shriveled leaf was now a fat cocoon that all the glowing lines had fed into: it pulsed slowly with the same glow.

Professor Weather wood and Hagrid leaned in to get a better look. Weatherwood frowned at the cocoon. "I want one," he commented in a grumbling, questioning tone.