Vibrating Strings Chapter 9
Ron hurried over as soon as he spotted them in the common room. "Hey, where have you two been? I've been trying to get everyone to sign my petition!"
"For what?" Hermione inquired.
"I want to get a statue or a plaque placed in the Great Hall, in honor of Ginny."
"Why not the trophy room? That would be more appropriate," argued Hermione.
"No! Gin deserves more than that. She needs to be honored where everyone will see it, not squirreled away in the trophy room! Nobody goes there, unless they get a detention."
Harry and Hermione exchanged long looks.
"How many signatures have you got?" Harry asked carefully.
"None, yet. I wanted to start with you, and then the Quidditch team. My sister was a star player!"
Harry felt he had no choice but to sign, quickly followed by Hermione. Ron looked pleased, and wandered off in search of Demelza Robbins.
"What are we going to do?" Hermione asked frantically. "I can't imagine the professors will agree to that!"
"Never mind about that for now. I think," Harry said slowly, "we need to investigate the muggle way! We've got nowhere with magical means; what about fingerprints on the knife?"
"Yes! And a timeline, to establish alibis for everyone." Hermione reached for parchment and quill.
She stopped abruptly. "Where is the knife?"
"Aurors took it," Harry said grimly.
"Will they give it to us?" Hemione asked uneasily.
"I doubt it; wizards never think muggles might be better at something!"
"Then how…" Hermione's words cut off and she looked appalled. "No, Harry!"
"We have to save Neville!"
"But…"
"Neville's life may depend on it!"
She drew a deep breath and nodded, resigned. "You know I'm with you no matter what. But I wish there was another way!"
Harry shook his head. "There isn't. We have to get that knife, even if we have to steal it from the aurors."
Hermione mumbled, "Gringotts…dragon…"
"We'll plan better, this time," Harry assured her. "Daphne will help."
Daphne stared at them in disbelief. "Are you insane?"
"What choice do we have?" Harry countered.
"But even if you pull it off, how will you know whose finger pads…"
"Fingerprints," said Harry and Hermione in unison.
"Belong to?"
"I thought of that," said Hermione eagerly. "I've devised a version of the 'point me' spell! Once we have the knife it will point us straight to the culprit. As soon as we know who it is, we can dose him…"
"Or her," interrupted Harry.
"Or her with the veritaserum."
Daphne looked dubious. "I hope you know what you're doing!"
"What we're doing," said Harry and Hermione in unison.
The blonde girl sighed.
"Ready?" Harry whispered.
Daphne and Hermione both nodded. They were dressed in tight white t-shirts, each clutching a cardboard container of tea.
"It's not too hot?" worried Harry, as he slipped beneath his invisibility cloak.
"I put plenty of milk in them," Hermione assured him.
There were three aurors posted in the evidence office, looking half-asleep. Clearly, they were not anticipating any trouble.
"Now!"
Hermione slipped down to the opposite end of the corridor. As soon as she was positioned, she began to hurry towards them, on a collision course with Daphne.
Wham!
The two girls, both drenched in their revealing white shirts, screeched and tangled.
"Whoa!" One of the aurors grinned. "Catfight!"
The aurors hurried to separate the girls, all the while enjoying the show.
Harry made his move.
His worry had been that one of the aurors would immediately stun the girls, but apparently boredom had set in, and they didn't regard two pretty girls wrestling over spilled tea to be much of a threat. They were too busy gawking.
Twenty minutes later, the three of them were seated in a muggle pub, recovering from the tension.
"I've never been so humiliated in my life," Hermione moaned.
"Tell me about it! If my father ever learns of this, you can be sure he'll have some choice words for me," grumbled Daphne. "Still, we got what we came for. You did get it, Harry?"
"Yes."
Hermione nodded. "Tonight, right after dinner, we work the spell."
"I don't think we ought to do this here," said Daphne anxiously, eyes ranging over the empty classroom. "In spite of all the privacy charms on this place, it doesn't feel safe."
"I agree," said Hermione firmly. "Harry?"
Harry nodded. "Let's go."
Daphne was astonished. "A girl's bathroom? What…"
"Wait." Harry hissed, the sink slid aside, the passage was revealed.
Without another word, Hermione stepped into the gaping hole and vanished.
"After you," Harry told Daphne.
The last thing she wanted to do was follow Hermione down that hole, but she refused to show the white feather in front of the Gryffindors.
She stepped in, closing her eyes as she did. The drop seemed to last forever, but finally she stopped, and Hermione helped her up.
"What is this place?" Daphne squeaked.
"The Chamber of Secrets." Harry had followed her down and now led the way further into the passage.
"You mean it's real?" Daphne started to shiver, and she didn't think it was solely due to the chill in the vast room. "Never thought to see this."
"Just wait," Hermione warned.
That sounded ominous.
Daphne swallowed hard, and reached for Harry's hand, only to let out a scream when she saw the hulking corpse of a basilisk.
"It's okay," Harry soothed. "I killed it back when I was twelve. It can't harm you."
She recovered her equilibrium. "Why haven't you arranged to harvest the ingredients? The basilisk looks quite well-preserved…it's probably worth quite a bit of money."
Harry looked interested. "I'll need to arrange that with Gringotts."
"Later," Hermione said impatiently. "Right now, we need to catch a killer!"