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Surprise, surprise!
The woman that stepped forward to shake Harry's hand was very attractive, and obviously had an eye for Harry himself. The Cambridge professor introduced her as his Solicitor, a shorthaired brunette by the name of Katie Green, and she smiled rather perfunctorily at Hermione before beaming at Ron. He had an overwhelming urge to tell her he was gay just to get her to stop eyeing him like that and Hermione snickered under her breath, no doubt reading his mind.
"Katie helped me with the paternity defence," Harry explained before turning back to the petite woman, "Did Parker give you any details?"
"Just that the Gardeners were demanding a retest and custody," she replied with a light shrug, "I have no doubt that this new test will come out in our favour, but the charges of reckless endangerment are more serious. If they can get a judge to agree that your life style is endangering your daughter they can get temporary custody at the very least, and then stonewall us to keep it up."
"I'm a teacher," Harry dragged a hand through his hair, "How is my life style a danger to Rosebud? This is insane, it's too much."
"Let's not cross our bridges before we get to them," Hermione counselled, "The first thing is to find out what the Gardeners were doing with that box. If they actually planted the device at your front door there is no way they'd be able to seek custody of Rose."
"And seeing as they've only been here for a few minutes, we'll have to wait a bit to let Inspector Parker sort this out," Ron pointed to the visitors chairs in the lobby and he and Hermione smoothly bracketed Harry, steering hi mover to the chairs and sitting down, cutting Katie off without a second thought. The former Boy Who Lived needed the sort of support that only close friends could give now.
After twenty minutes of desultory chat, Parker came out from the warren of offices and interview rooms with a grim look on his face.
"We've got the results of the fingerprint tests from the box and the device," he told Ron, who had stood up to meet him, "Based on the witness accounts I had it rushed through. It's the Gardener's all right. Their fingerprints are all over it, and there is enough trace evidence to tie them to it given time. It looks like a rather desperate bid to get Rose into their sole custody."
"So we've got them? There's no chance they'll take my Rose away?" Harry's voice was tense and Parker nodded in confirmation, smiling when Harry whooshed out a huge sigh of relief and slumped against the chair back. Ron grinned and dropped a hand onto his friends shoulder, squeezing his relief.
"There is of course the matter of the suspect we have in custody for the public bombings," Parker continued, his unease not lightening at all in the wake of his good news, and Ron felt Harry tense up again.
"Who is it, Inspector?" Hermione drew the Muggles attention away from Harry, and he sighed, frowning a little.
"It's a man by the name of Dudley Dursley. He's got a jacket for some minor stuff, mainly involving GBH, but this is the first time he's done something so… major. We're looking into his past a bit more closely, trying to see why he's chosen Professor Potter as a target."
"He's my cousin, I lived with them after my parents were murdered, and during the summer holidays when I went away to school," Harry's voice was shocked, "Dudley was always a bully, but I can't imagine him doing this!"
"Unfortunately he's silent on the whole manner. We could barely get his name from him," Parker sighed, "His lawyer advised him not to say anything to us, and he's taken that advice to heart. I've got a couple of my DC's in there now, trying to get him to talk."
"Let me have a go. If someone from Harry's past shows up he might be more inclined to boast," Ron said quickly, and Parker looked at him for a long moment before nodding. Ron knew Dudley would talk because he was afraid of magic and was afraid he'd be hexed again. Harry looked up at Ron questioningly and he squeezed the shoulder he still held before letting go and following Parker down the hall. He knew without asking that Hermione would get rid of Harry's solicitor and then cast a charm that would let his friends hear what was being said. Harry deserved answers, and Ron was going to get them for him.
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