12/8/03: Hello! Hope everyone had a nice weekend. This one is kinda long and wandering. I hope there aren't too many grammar errors, and I apologize in advance for them.
12. Dead Ends and New Beginnings
Harry awoke the next morning feeling refreshed. For the first time in a long while, Harry had an uninterrupted, dreamless sleep, and it felt nice; Harry attributed his good sleep to the fact that he had been too exhausted to dream. As Harry was pulling his robes from the closet, he heard a familiar voice call his name. Quickly donning his Auror robes, Harry walked to the fireplace, which had a roaring fire of green, and kneeled on the pillows arrayed before the fireplace so he could stick his head into the green flames. After a second to orient himself, Harry looked up at the looming face before him. Robert was using his mobile, which had the effect of making the world look extremely big to Harry. "What's up?"
"Did I wake you?" Robert asked dryly.
Harry made face. "You know I'm not a morning person. Besides, I was up anyways. What's going on?"
"There's no point in you going to the Ministry. I checked, and there's nothing that needs our attention. I'll call Haas and let him know we're coming. Meet me at Magical Solutions in an hour. Okay?"
Harry automatically moved to check his watch, but as his head was in one place and his body was in another, he couldn't. "All right, one hour. See you there." Harry pulled his head out of the fire and sighed, still kneeling on the pillows. He was ready to go, and now he had an hour to waste! After a minute of weighing his options, Harry decided to spend the hour in Diagon Alley. While a stroll through Diagon Alley would carry its standard inconveniences – namely being recognized – Harry was feeling more…outgoing since he poured out his soul to Ron. Standing up, Harry concentrated and apparated to Diagon Alley.
With a small pop, Harry appeared on the street in front of the stationary shop next to Flourish & Blott's. A witch and her toddler daughter gave a tiny shriek when he appeared out of thin air right in front of them, and Harry apologized profusely. At first, the witch was upset, but a quick picture with the famous Harry Potter for her daughter quickly set things right. Harry smiled at the star-struck young girl and the grateful mother and waved goodbye. Sometimes, not often, but sometimes Harry enjoyed his fame. A very shy and unassuming person by nature (and nurture, or lack there of by the Dursleys), Harry's fame sometimes allowed him to meet genuinely nice people. Of course, times like these were more than made up for by the stalkers, groupies, reporters, and autograph hounds. Harry's eyes wandered up and down Diagon Alley as he watched all the wizards and witches walk about until his eyes fell on Eeylops Owl Emporium, which was right across the street.
Harry grew melancholy. Seeing all the owls hooting proudly from their cages in the window reminded Harry of the second friend, after Hagrid, that he ever had: Hedwig. He found that although it was often easy to forget about her (A/N: as the author did until this very moment), whenever he did, he missed her terribly. Although Harry's need for Hedwig had decreased considerably once Harry hired a firm to take care of his mail, she was still a faithful and loving pet. But though Hedwig clearly loved Harry, he could tell that not being used as an owl should be was depressing the bird. Since Hedwig also showed an affinity for Hermione, and since Hermione would need an owl more than Harry, he gave Hedwig to Hermione when they dissolved their relationship. Now, seeing all the birds reminded Harry of Hedwig, who reminded Harry of Hermione, which made Harry feel a little wistful.
Harry decided that browsing through Flourish & Blott's would be a great way to pass the time. He walked through the store and looked at various titles. Thankfully, the store wasn't very busy at this time of the morning and no one came up to Harry, who only received the customary awestruck glances. Finding nothing that sparked his interest, Harry left the store and checked his watch, surprised and disappointed to find that he still had half an hour left. Harry frowned, wondering if visiting Diagon Alley was such a good idea. His spirits lifted when he spotted Fortescue's across the street; though it was still early, perhaps an ice cream sundae would brighten his day.
Harry crossed the street and took a seat on the outside patio. Since it wasn't busy, a nervous young witch walked up to him and took his order, before practically fleeing. Harry grinned; he knew she was a bit edgy because of his Auror robes and couldn't bring herself to look him in the face. He wondered idly how different her reaction would be if she knew he was Harry Potter. A minute later, she returned with his order and a Daily Prophet, which he paid for. Harry snapped open the newspaper and began to read as he savored his sundae.
"Well, if it isn't the great Harry Potter," he heard someone say, interrupting his rare moment of peace. Harry looked up from the Daily Prophet to see Rick Nelson standing over him. "Mind if I sit?" he asked, and then took a seat without waiting for an answer.
Harry regarded the burly wizard for a moment. There really wasn't a good reason why he should dislike Rick so much, though there were plenty of petty and irrational ones. Harry affixed a smile on his face. "Good to see you Rick. What brings you to Diagon Alley?"
"Just my day off. What about you? Shouldn't you be off saving the world?" he asked snidely.
Rick's tone caught Harry's attention, and he began to wonder if he would finally have his good reason to dislike the dragon-keeper. "I have about half an hour before an appointment in Diagon Alley. Is something bothering you?"
"Wow, I'm honored that the legendary Harry Potter would lower himself to talk to someone like me," he said, with exaggerated courtesy.
Harry bristled in irritation. "All right, that's enough. What's your problem, Rick?"
"What's my problem? What's my problem?" Rick asked, leaning forward, all hint of politeness gone. "You're my problem Potter. You and your attitude!"
Although Harry was growing angry at the whole conversation, he was also confused. "What the hell are you going on about? How could you possibly have a problem with my so-called attitude when we hardly ever speak?"
Rick snorted. "I'm not talking about me. I'm talking about Hermione."
Harry felt himself deflate. "Hermione," he said weakly.
"Yes, Hermione!" Rick said angrily. "When I went to see her on Monday she was a mess; she wouldn't even leave her flat. She told me…well, she didn't tell me specifics, but she told me she talked to you. It doesn't take a genius to figure out you did something!"
"Good thing for you, since you're no genius," Harry muttered automatically.
"What did you say?" Rick bellowed, standing up. By now, his loud voice had attracted a number of people.
Harry's feelings of guilt over his treatment of Hermione disappeared, to be replaced by irritation at Rick's behavior. "Listen Rick. What happened between Hermione and me is exactly that: between Hermione and me. It's none of your business, and if you think I'm going to apologize to you, then think again."
"I'm making it my business. Hermione's my girlfriend. You hurt her, you deal with me," he said threateningly, trying to use his size to intimidate Harry.
Harry looked up at Rick, and all of a sudden started laughing. Harry had been threatened by the best of them: Death Eaters, hardened criminals, murders, kidnappers, desperate wizards who would rather die then get caught, and, of course, Voldemort. Did Rick actually believe that he could scare Harry? Though he was admittedly a large man, he didn't at all compare to the men who have threatened Harry in the past. The very idea that Rick thought Harry would be cowed into an apology caused Harry to break out in uncontrollable laughter.
Harry's burst of laughter seemed to unnerve Rick for a moment, but then he seemed to grow even angrier at being laughed at. Rick reached down and grabbed Harry by the collar of his robes. Harry's laughter died immediately. He looked down at Rick's hands, clutched at his robes, and then looked back up at Rick. "Let – me – go," he said slowly and calmly.
"Sod off Potter. Either you apologize or I'll make you apologize!"
Harry's eyes narrowed, and a force like an electric shock flowed through his body, making it impossible for Rick to continue to hold on to him. It was just another example of the unexplainable that characterized Harry's life; Harry first exhibited this particular power in the summer before his fifth year on his Uncle Vernon. Since then, it's come in handy on several occasions. Rick looked back at Harry with wide eyes, surprise clearly etched across his face. Harry looked at Rick, but did not bother to rise from his seat. "I'm not interested in hurting you Rick, though it is tempting. Now, I'll say this once, and once only: whatever is between Hermione and myself is none of you business. This is your final and only warning." Despite his boyish looks and his unassuming manner, Harry could be very intimidating when he wanted to be, even without the aid of a Fred and George creation. Rick involuntarily backed up a step, a look of trepidation coming over his face. His mouth opened and closed several times, but no sounds emerged.
"And let me add my own warning," a gruff voice suddenly broke the silence. Harry looked over to see Robert approaching, leading a small crowd of folks. Robert walked right up to Rick and stared him in the eye. "Assaulting an Auror will get you five to fifteen years in Azkaban. Although I know Harry here would never use the fact that he's an Auror against you, I have absolutely no problem with sending you away, whoever you are. Now, I suggest that you leave immediately before I decide Azkaban could use one more resident." Rick needed no further encouragement. Without even a glance at Harry, he set off at a brisk trot in the direction of the Leaky Cauldron. "What was that all about?" Robert asked him, concern in his voice.
Harry sighed. "That was Rick Nelson."
Comprehension dawned on Robert's face, and then a grin. "I bet you've wanted to do that for a long time now."
Harry gave him a half-smile. "Yes, it was rather satisfying, but I can only imagine what he'll tell Hermione when they see each other. Probably tell her I'm a raving lunatic who threatened him."
"Ah well, it won't be the first time people thought you were crazy, right?"
Harry chuckled. "No, it won't. So, we ready?"
Robert nodded, and inclined his head at the people behind him. "Yeah, forensics was most accommodating. I got a whole team."
Harry quickly polished off the last spoonful (a very large spoonful) of his ice cream and stood. "A whole team? I was expecting maybe one or two investigators," Harry said as they walked towards Magical Solutions.
"Me too, but it looks like Garcia wants to make up for the Campbell incident. Ah, here we are."
Harry chuckled as he held the door open for Robert and the forensics team to enter Magical Solutions. Harry followed them in and saw that Haas, the owner of the shop, was already in conversation with Robert.
"Ah, Detective Potter, a pleasure to see you again," Haas gushed as Harry joined them. "As I was telling Detective Toms here, per your request I have placed all the faulty appliances in the back room ready for your inspection. I hope it helps you find the monsters that killed Don," Haas said, a look of anger on his face.
"I do too, Mr. Haas. Thank you for all your help," Robert said. Haas led the way to where the faulty appliances were housed, and then politely made his exit. Robert addressed the forensics team. "All right boys, you know what to do."
Harry watched the forensics team unpack their equipment before he realized that he didn't have anything to do. A confused look on his face, Harry turned to Robert. "Er, so what do we do now?"
Robert gave him an embarrassed smile. "Well, frankly I had expected us to spend the afternoon helping the one or two forensics Aurors with this, but since we have a whole team, our help is obviously not needed. In fact, we'd probably just get in the way."
A look from one of the investigators confirmed Robert's statement. "So basically, we have nothing to do?"
"Basically," Robert affirmed. "Want to head back to the office?"
Harry shook his head. "You said there's nothing really there for us to do, and besides, the Captain will probably just make us do some administrative junk."
"All right, good point. So…"
"So I guess we treat this like a stake-out," Harry said. "Got any cards?"
*********************************
Four hours later, after several games of wizard's poker (where Harry tried his best not to misuse his legilimens abilities), a light lunch, and reading the Quibbler, a forensics Auror found them and informed Robert and Harry that the analysis was complete. Harry walked into the back room where the team was gathered, wondering if they had finally found their "big break." One look at the face of David Harrington, the lead forensic investigator, told him that they hadn't. Harrington handed them each a small pipe once they entered the room. Harry examined it then looked at him expectantly. "That's basically all we found," Harrington said in response to their unspoken question.
"What is it?" Harry asked, holding up the pipe.
"Well, it depends on the appliance. For the washers, it's the pipe that leads from the water source to the appliance. For the stoves, it's part of the charmed heating element. For the-"
"All right, all right. But what does it mean?" Robert interrupted.
"Here, look at this," Harrington said, picking up a pipe from a pile on the ground. Harry and Robert leaned forward and Harrington pointed at a part of the pipe with the tip of his wand. "See this? This area here is corroded fairly badly. Under normal use, a pipe like this should last the lifetime of the product, but here, on these appliances, the pipe has corroded already, causing the various problems."
Harry's spirits deflated slightly as he remembered some of the theories tossed around last night. "So, all you've found is a cheap pipe?"
Harrington nodded. "That's the gist of it. These pipes were made out of a cheaper metal then the others and simply broke down, causing the problem." Seeing the disappointed looks on the two detectives, Harrington continued. "Sorry detectives, I wish I had better news for you. We ran an analysis on every appliance back here, using every method available to us, and we just didn't find anything else suspicious."
"All right. Thanks for everything guys," Robert said dejectedly. The forensics team packed up their equipment and left the room, leaving Harry and Robert alone.
"So…" Harry said.
"So," Robert agreed.
"A dead end?"
"Looks like it."
"All right. Let's get back and tell everyone the bad news."
*********************************
Harry and Robert went to the Ministry (Harry by apparition, Robert by floo) where they told the rest of the team the bad news. Their discovery seemed to confirm that they were looking nothing more sinister than a bribery scheme to cover up shoddy materials. The team was, of course, disappointed, but they held out hope that the owl that Tway sent that morning would bring them new leads. Harry and Robert spent the rest of the afternoon filling out paperwork and briefing their Captain. Finally, quitting time arrived, and Harry left the bullpen feeling that he had a rather unproductive and disappointing day. If not for scaring the daylights out of Rick, the entire day would have been a wash. As Harry stepped off of the lift and into the Ministry atrium, he spotted a familiar face standing outside the security screen. "Hey Susan," Harry said cheerfully as he checked out. "What are you doing here? That's twice in one week!"
Susan Bones smiled. "Oh! Hi Harry! I'm waiting for Auntie Amelia. We're going out for dinner." Her smile was replaced by a pout as she checked the large clock on the wall. "But she's already five minutes late."
"Want some company until she arrives?" Harry asked.
Susan nodded, and the two Hogwarts alumni traded small talk, Harry asking about Belgium where she worked for Floo Incorporated, the multi-national corporation that invented the entire floo concept. As they chatted, none other than Ernie Macmillan exited from the security screen with a disgruntled look on his face.
"Ernie!" Susan exclaimed. "What's wrong?"
Ernie looked up in surprise, and then smiled when he saw the two. "Susan! Harry! How are you guys doing? What are you doing here Susan?"
"She's waiting for Madam Bones, and I'm keeping her company. You all right? You looked ready to kill someone a second ago."
Ernie shrugged. "Just a bad day, that's all. One of those days when the work keeps piling up and you never get anything accomplished."
Harry nodded in sympathy. "I know what you mean." Then, to Harry's dismay, Susan asked Ernie what happened. This, of course, was the opening Ernie was looking for, and he began a litany of the many things that troubled his day. Ernie was still ranting when Harry spotted Madam Bones as she came out. Harry straightened as his boss's boss's boss approached.
"Madam Bones," Harry said politely.
Ernie seemed to puff out his chest a little. "Hello, Madam Bones," he echoed in a formal tone.
"Ah, hello Harry, Ernie. Good to see you both," she said. "I'm sorry Susan, I won't be able to go to dinner with you; I just have too much work."
Susan looked disappointed. "It's okay, I understand. Maybe you can come over to the house for lunch? I'm sure Mum and Dad would love to see you."
Amelia smiled. "Of course. I'll owl them and set something up. I really am sorry honey."
"It's fine, really. Just don't work to hard," Susan said. They exchanged a hug and Madam Bones went back through the security screen. Susan looked at the two boys. "Ah well, sorry for making you wait for nothing."
Ernie looked at her. "Ah, chin up there Bones! Just because you can't eat with your Aunt doesn't mean it's the end of the world. Harry and I will take you out. What do you say, eh Potter? You ditched us the last time, so you owe us."
Susan brightened. "Oh, that sounds like a wonderful idea. Harry? Please say you'll go."
Harry looked from Ernie to Susan, who looked back at Harry with hopeful eyes. Harry found he didn't have an excuse not to go, as his only plan for the night was to sulk a while before going to bed. "All right," he found himself saying, "let's go. We'll have a great time."
The three decided to eat in Diagon Alley, as none of them was carrying enough Muggle money for a Muggle restaurant. Harry found himself strangely relaxed as they ate, a feeling similar to the one that he had while dining with Luna and her adorable little daughter. Although Susan and Ernie naturally asked Harry about his work, it seemed more out natural curiosity then the desire to hear stories about the legendary Harry Potter. As Harry pondered why he was having such a good time, he realized that he was enjoying their company because there was no emotional baggage attached to the two Hufflepuffs. With Ron, Ginny, or any of the others that he normally socialized with, there was always some emotional scar that they liked to pick at, whether it was asking about Hermione or just some painful memory that would be reawakened. But with Susan and Ernie, things were almost normal. Although they treated him a little differently, like a celebrity, it wasn't to the point that strangers would. He was still the same Harry Potter they've known for years.
But as Harry watched Susan giggle as they teased her about one thing or another, he also realized he missed have a female friend. To be sure, there was Ginny, but she was too much like a sister, and a tomboy one at that. Harry considered Susan as he pretended to look over the dessert menu. Though many of the witches who have thrown themselves at Harry in past had been prettier and…curvier, Susan was inarguably a pretty witch. But Harry's foremost concern wasn't physical beauty (though he would not discount its importance). True, he didn't have any romantic inclinations towards her, but that didn't mean that he never would. Regardless, he knew that even thinking about considering another witch as more than a friend was a step in the right direction, and that thought made Harry believe there might be a light at the end of the tunnel.
A/N: Sorry that not a whole lot happened here, but I'm just filling in chapters until the next break in the case occurs. Still accepting any suggestions on Hogwarts alumni :)
sethro72: Yeah, I haven't seen anything that says Hermione likes Ron. True, there's that kiss before Ron's first Quidditch match, but I believe it was more to distract him from the Slytherins then anything else, rather than a spontaneous act. Besides, there's plenty of opportunity for Hermione to provide comfort to Ron while he's all depressed about his keeper skills, but she doesn't. I'm not even sure Ron likes Hermione anymore, since after the kiss he was "puzzled," not elated or happy or smiling or whatever. My theory about his jealousy is in the full ending of my story Decisions of Fate. I dunno about Luna though…her appearance is just a little too convenient, if you know what I mean.
Akuma-sama: I wouldn't say Susan has caught Harry's fancy, but that doesn't mean Hermione won't be jealous… grins
HeeroTomoe: I like the suggestion about Justin. Funny thing with him, I keep picturing him in a certain way because of Lori's Paradigm of Uncertainty.
hahfe: no big H/Hr moments yet (way too much to be resolved first) but next chapter there will be a tiny, itsy-bitsy H/Hr moment.
Façade1: Hey! You can't start a brand new story when you've got at least two others that need finishing. Don't make me organize the villagers and start a riot starts gathering torches and pitchforks
