Hermione Never Did Die

Chapter Four

By: A Madalong





"Morning Sam," grunted Albert through his lofty mustache.

Samantha Jones nodded at him as she walked out of the elevator shaft onto floor 2 of the London Times building. Albert's slurps of his coffee could be heard behind piles of papers on his desk, followed by maniacal punch noises on his keyboard.

"You've been busy, I see," Samantha noted, handing Albert a small paper bag. "I thought you might need this."

It took a few moments for Albert to pull himself away from his computer screen, and then his eyes narrowed in suspicion as he opened the wrinkled doughnut bag. After a long whiff of the double chocolate contents, Albert's eyes gleamed.

"Thank you Samantha. You're a dear," he chuckled as he took a large bite of the melting doughnut. "I definitely needed this."

Samantha joined in with his laughter as she looked down at his protruding stomach. Albert Fisher was a man of fifty years, and it showed. He had wispy grey hair that fell tamely over his plump face. His wrinkled skin showed years of a stressful job as the homicide journalist at the London Times.

"These cases just keep getting weirder and weirder," Albert sighed, rolling his eyes at the stack of police reports. "Even got the detective's puzzled."

Samantha shuddered. She had a weak stomach for Albert's talks of murders, but to enlighten him she reluctantly asked, "What's the latest word?"

Albert groaned and sat further back in his chair. "There was a murder last night, on 235 Montgomery St...The strangest thing, really...A lady named Hannah Abbott was killed- her death just as mysterious as the others."

Samantha's face suddenly went blank. 'Hannah Abbott?' she thought...

"Sam, you OK?" Albert asked. "Do you know her?"

Samantha shook her head. "No I don't think so," she said. "The name sounds familiar though. Where did she work?"

"Weird thing again- no one in her neighbourhood seems to know...Just like the others-...She wasn't close to any of her neighbours. By geez, she didn't even have a phone in her home! I'm starting to think we're dealing with some sort of cult," Albert said with only half seriousness.

"Well, I'm glad I'm only the Literature Columnist," Samantha laughed. "Being a bookworm is far better, in my opinion, then being surrounded by death."

"Quite," mumbled Albert. "Quite..."



*~*~*



Harry in the silent office, the sound of his own heartbeat only accompanied by the ticking clock. It was 8AM, yet hardly the beginning of a typical work day. He would only be at his desk

until about noon, making contacts and reading briefings. Then, for the afternoon he was no longer plain Harry Potter, but instead Harry Potter the famous Quidditch player.

Of course, he wasn't really a Quidditch player. True, he did make the public appearances, and played the odd games or two, but that was only a front, a sort of Clark Kent disguising his true occupation...

After an afternoon in the 'Quidditch' World is when the 'real' work began...When he, Ron, and the other 'Quidditch' players set off to battle in the Dark War...They were officially called the 'Argonauts' after the mythical group of warriors who set off to find the Golden Fleece. The Argonauts were founded by Arthur Weasley. There job was to, of course, defeat the Dark Lord.



Harry glanced at the clock again...Only 8:02 AM...The office was incredibly quite without his partner, Ron Weasley...But then again, it was Harry himself who insisted Ron Weasley take time off work, and Arthur Weasley seconded this- not only because Ron was an emotional wreck, but also because Ron was beginning to doubt the significance of the Argonauts.



"I don't understand," cried a frustrated Ron. "We are supposed to protect the Aurors...Secretly help them in their tasks...Yet we fail to do this. We failed twice when it mattered most! We failed Percy!...And we failed Hermione...Why couldn't we have saved her? We should have saved her!"

"We can not be more than ghosts," said Arthur gently. "We lurk in shadows...No one must know of the Argonauts. You understand that, don't you Ron?"

"Like hell I understand it!" Ron yelled. "I thought I was protecting Hermione by joining the Argonauts!...I could have protected her more had I stayed at home...Been with her more often! Or maybe-...If we had worked together! If Hermione had been an Argonaut-"

"Hermione could not have been an Argonaut," Arthur explained. "You know that as well as I do...The Argonauts are strictly wizard born-"

"Hermione was a hell of a good wizard! Better than me by far!" Ron interrupted.

"She was a great wizard...But it would be too dangerous. Death Eaters...well they can 'find' muggleborn wizards easily...It's like they can smell them..."

"I still don't understand," Ron said angrily, shaking his head. "Why didn't anyone safe Hermione?"

Arthur Weasley looked away from Ron, and then quietly said, "Ron...Hermione was not on a mission that night..."





Harry didn't even know what Arthur Weasley had meant be that...But regardless, he insisted looking after Ron's work while he took a break. Ron had moved in with Ginny for a week while he sorted himself out. Harry thought this was a good decision since Ginny definitely had a soft shoulder to lean on...Ginny was a good listener too...Ginny was-

An owl pecking at Harry's office window interrupted his day dreaming. He quickly opened the latch and let his loyal Hedwig perch on his arm, as he quickly opened the letter he had brought.

The parchment only contained three words: Hannah Abbott...Murdered.



*~*~

A/N: I know it's been AGES since I last updated. I'm so sorry- I've been incredibly busy! So to make up for it, I made this chapter extra long! Don't worry, the next chapter will be up very soon! My muse is working today=^_^=

Reviews always welcome- and greatly appreciated! Thanks to all those who reviewed so far!