A/N: Well, it's been quite awhile, hasn't it? I'm sorry I haven't been posting anything – trust me, I WILL finish this and I will answer all of your questions. I'd like to thank the person who pointed out about the song title – I guess I've got to visit with Mr. Napster more often, even if I do have to pay for it…
PS – I hope to answer most of the questions THIS chapter, you just have to peel your eyes for my hints. Boy, I'm going to have fun with this! Getting out right about now might permit you to leave with your life…
The Final Countdown – Truth to the Third
Harry rubbed both hands through his hair as he watched the closed door of the chief's office, where Jani and Lance were getting solidly reamed by the sound of the shouts of anger coming out. Officer Wahles (their makeshift chief) was clearly annoyed by something, and from the sound of the words emerging from the room ("Death Eaters!" "Dark Mark!" "Fire!"), it was something big they'd screwed up on. After much restless shifting from Harry's part, the door swung open and Lance slowly stepped out, staring straight ahead like a zombie. Jani, confident and cool like always, stepped out after him and sank into a chair with a weary shake of her head. "Good luck," she muttered as Harry walked past her.
Officer Wahles's office was just like any other standard chief's office. A plaque bearing his name was the only thing on the right wall and the left wall was pretty much just a wall with a shade-covered window. In the center sat a very ordinary brown desk, behind which the overly thin Officer Whales was plumped. He glared at Harry as he strode in and sat down. "Why haven't you been answering the calls?" he demanded.
Harry pulled his call box out of his pocket and plopped it onto the desk. "You tell me. I haven't gotten any." He crossed his arms and watched as Officer Wahles picked up the small gold call box and examined it closely. "Why did you call us back to the office?"
"Just look at the mess this is causing. The Department for Disuse of Time Magic is going nuts." Officer Wahles, still examining the call box, shoved an article in Harry's general direction. "Time Magic Spurts Popping Up Everywhere" flashed the headline in big, bold letters. "Take a look. Popping up all over the place, all right. In London, near Ottery St. Catchpole, even in the states, see? New Hersy or something – "
"I do believe it's called New Jersey. Do they know why?" Harry asked, eyebrows scrunching down as he scanned over the contents of the article.
"No, they're completely baffled. I want you and Peterson on the case. This could be some dangerous criminal we're dealing with and you and Peterson are the most competent agents we have," Officer Wahles returned the call box back to Harry and hunkered his uni-brow down over his eyes, looking like he was trying to cut a very rough deal.
"We'll take the case, but I want you to know that we're still dealing with the Granger Files. We know for a fact that she's still alive – I saw her just the other night – but finding her and keeping her is going to be difficult." Harry leaned back into his chair. "We uncovered several things about Granger's past…she is definitely in some way affiliated with Death Eaters."
"So Peterson wasn't making up tales, heh. Dismissed, Potter!"
* * *
"Gotten anywhere yet?" Ginny asked, creeping into the study and glancing at the piles of books scattered around Ron. He had been searching for a reason to Maggie's abnormal ability to change her age at will, and from the frustrated set of his chin, he hadn't found anything so far.
"These are all of Hermione's old books. Trust her to do some complicated spell on a little child. I've run across a few ideas – " and Ron tapped a paper with much scribbling all over it next to him – "and I think we're going to have to puzzle them out. Knowing Hermione, she would have done something so complicated that we won't be able to figure out what's wrong with Maggie. Timmy never showed any of these strange symptoms."
"But you said so yourself, he's a genius," Ginny remarked, pulling up another chair to the expansive desk in her study and picking up a book. "I just got an owl from Mum. Maggie's in bed at her house, and some people came by about your burned down apartment."
"Insurance will cover it, I'm sure," Ron muttered, nose very deeply buried into What Time Is It Now? "The fairy burned it down, whoever that is." He sighed and closed the book, before picking up The Ultimate Guide to Knowing When You Are. "I suppose this would be vital information if you have to change times constantly."
"Or ages," Ginny remarked.
Ron stared at her for a long moment, then glanced down at his paperwork. "Ginny, you're a genius!"
Ginny blinked at him. "What?"
Ron didn't seem to have heard her, but he answered her question anyway as he shuffled through papers in a hurry! They're both kids, right?"
"Gee, really, Ron?" Ginny asked sarcastically, rolling her eyes and picking up Using Thyme and Such To Make Time.
"No, they're very young children, so that means that their thoughts are pretty simple! Hermione knows that! She gave Maggie the power to change her age – and possibly the time – but she knew that Maggie wouldn't be able to handle it on her own." Papers flew as Ron burrowed deeper into the stack that had accumulated. Finally, he surfaced with a manilla envelope and pulled the contents out.
"That's where Timmy comes in," he babbled on excitedly. "I don't know how I know this, but he's an absolute genius. Suppose that to find something. "I think I may be able to figure another definite connection between Timmy and Maggie maybe Hermione got it so that Timmy was Maggie's stabilizer? They can hear each other's thoughts, and Maggie's ability to change her age has been going nuts since Timmy was kidnapped! Coincidence? I think not!"
Ginny just stared as Ron exploded from his chair (ignoring the fact that it crashed loudly to the ground) and paced excitedly. "So what's all of this about a weapon that could destroy the world?" she finally asked, trying to avoid the thought that the whole thing was pretty much unreal.
"Ginny, if my theory is correct, do you realize how much power these kids have? Timmy could will both of them to go back to the beginnings of Wizardry and possibly more. They could destroy Hogwarts…And who wants to destroy Hogwarts?"
"You-Know-Who…" Ginny trailed off, and gave Ron a funny look. "But Harry killed him, didn't he?"
"Yes. But You-Know-Who left one thing to terrorize this world." Ron slapped the paper he had been looking for onto the desk so that the colored-in picture of the Dark Mark shone ominously against the white sheet.
"The Death Eaters! They kidnapped Timmy, didn't they?" Ginny's eyes grew wide. "Ron, you're an absolute genius!"
"That still doesn't give us any clue as to where Timmy is," Ron muttered, squashing the happy glint that came into Ginny's eyes.
As if his words as set off some kind of cue, rapping exploded from the window and Ron opened it to find an owl, completely black, sitting there and glaring at him. It pecked at him irritably as he struggled with the twine that bound the letter to its leg, but Ron quickly lost interest in this as he opened the letter. The owl flew off, unnoticed, as Ron's face grew white and he passed the scrawled note along. "Ginny, we're going to America…"
* * *
"Who uses time magic and that much of it?" Harry pondered when they had reached Lance's house again. "And why?" He continued pacing, which was rapidly getting on Jani's nerves. She was trying to concentrate on the textbook of time magic spread across her lap, and Jani was not the sort that could concentrate with somebody pacing annoyingly in front of her.
"Could you stop that?" she snapped.
Harry gave her an almost-wounded look and sat down on the couch.
"All over England, too," Lance added, ignoring the two. "I mean, we've got some in a small town of Ottery St. Catchpole and…"
"Where?" Harry asked, looking only slightly interested.
Lance repeated the name.
"Oh, I've never heard of it, because it doesn't ring any bells," Harry dismissed that thought.
Jani, deep into the textbook, looked up. "I don't know exactly where it is. But it's where the magic struck last, but all they found there was a family of redheads who do magic. The Weasleys."
Harry paled. "Oh, yeah…"
"What about the Granger case?" Lance asked after a long moment of silence that ensued Harry's comment.
"They've got to be tied together!" Jani suddenly leapt to her feet and started pacing herself. "Hermione was Ron Weasley's best friend during school, his sweetheart even! Suddenly a whole bunch of time magic pops up at Weasley's house, right while Hermione is jumping around from place to place. Coincidence? I don't believe in coincidences."
* * *
"This the place?" Lance asked only instants after he had Apparated into place on the Weasley's front lawn. The rather crooked-looking house, The Burrow, was still there, with its dirty gardens and homey feeling. Jani was already on her way to the front porch, and Harry wasn't far behind, face strangely ashen.
A dumpy looking woman of about fifty answered the door, looking confused at the late hour. She had pulled a dressing robe around herself and her hair was in curlers. "Yes?" she asked crisply, eyeing them all. Then she saw Harry and the crispness disappeared into a wreathing smile. "Harry! It's so good of you to visit, but Ron's not here! He took Maggie to visit Timmy and Charlie in America!"
"Where in America?" Jani asked, because it looked like Harry was in shock. "We need to speak with him," she explained hastily.
"Ginny only said something about an arch," Mrs. Weasley said, and invited them in for a late night cup of coffee and some cookies, but Jani declined politely and the trio left with this new information.
"What the heck is an arch and why would somebody go to America to see it?" Harry demanded as soon as they were out of hearing distance from the house. He turned to stare at the stars defiantly and turned back to see Lance whipping out the Muggle laptop. "Oh, no, not that thing again."
"This thing is gonna get us to America, now hang on," Lance muttered. He tapped some of the keys on the black keyboard and waited for a moment before light from the screen spilled across his face. "I've got us a location. It's a big thing in one of those American cities. St. Louis or something like that."
"Who would name a city 'St. Louie?'" Jani asked before she disappeared. Harry and Lance exchanged a look, rolled their eyes, and disappeared as well.
* * *
At approximately 10:46 at night, "Dr. Richard Snood" strode out of the Holding Complex, carrying a limp, redheaded boy. The guard on duty, young-faced Judd Watson, did not report that he had never laid eyes on Snood in his life before because the doctor carried a legitimate Area Pass, complete with photo. Upon interrogation hours later, Judd remarked that the doctor did have a funny sort of walk, as if he were in pain or something.
But "Snood" was already out of the area and speeding quickly towards the Atlantic Ocean in a borrowed Sportscar.
……
A/N: Okay, that was a bit abrupt, I know, but I've got to get this thing out. The next chapter is the last chapter where everything is revealed!! Sorry, no appearances from Hermione this chapter. I hope that explained quite a bit, but still left you hanging. I apologize because this is so short!!!
_-_ Shadow Signing Out -_-