Chapter 9: Breaking an Ordered Reality

Author's Note:  I didn't figure this would take so long, considering how short it turned out to be, but here it is. I have a few days off so maybe I can get at least one more chapter out.   

   Hermione Granger sat in the library during what had turned out to be a dismal autumn afternoon. Rain was pouring outside in torrents, threatening to make the castle grounds muddy and a general nuisance to traverse. She looked up from her book and stared out the window for a moment, shaking her head at how grey it was outside. The book she was reading was a muggle work on castle. An amused smile crossed her face when she came to a description of how cold and dank most castles were. Hogwarts was anything but cold. Dank at times, maybe, but never cold.

   Her classes had been remarkably more difficult this year then she had expected. Thankfully she had precious few to worry about. Advanced everything, charms, transfiguration, potions, and of course the metal working and muggle studies classes she signed up for. Most people signed up for muggle studies, and though she often wished it was from a wizard's point of view and not professor Green's, it was an enjoyable class. Truth be told though, she'd never been very good at anything relating to muggles. The only reason she'd done so well in the previous Muggle Studies classes was because the wizard view of muggles was so absurd and because her parents are muggles they took anything she wrote down as fact.

   "Hermione," a female voice said in front of her. Hermione looked up to see Pavarti Patil, one of her Gryffindor house mates.

   "Pavarti, what are you doing down here?" asked Hermione

   "I, uh needed to," she said trailing off and then looking around, "No this was a bad idea, I'm sorry."

   "Pavarti, what is it?" Hermione asked, "If you need tutoring I'm busy enough as it is."

   "It's not that, it's my sister Padme," Parvarti said, lowering her voice as she sat down.

   "Surely she doesn't need tutoring," Hermione said.

   "No, I think something in wrong with her," Pavarti said nervously.

   "What do you mean?"

   "Well, you're smart like her and don't get out much right?" Pavarti asked.

   "Just because I take my studies seriously does not mean I don't have a life," Hermione replied defensively.

   "Oh please, just because you have a boyfriend," Parvarti said.

   "Weren't you talking about your sister?" Hermione asked, getting more irritated by the second.

   "Oh yes, she's been very reclusive and doesn't talk much anymore," Pavarti said, "I think something is bothering her, but she won't admit it. Her housemates say she has nightmares."

   "She's a Ravenclaw, they don't talk much anyway," Hermione said, "Everyone has nightmares."

   "See, you won't admit it either!" Pavarti said.

   "Admit what?"

   "That someone could have a problem."

   "Listen, if she has a problem she needs to go see Professor Green. He's the school's councilor, why he is I don't know, but he's very perceptive and might know what direction to point her," Hermione said.

   "That's just it, she won't get help," Pavarti commented, "She doesn't think she has a problem, but something is wrong, very wrong."

   Hermione shrugged, "So set her up an appointment anyway. Tell her it's for academic counseling. She'll have to go."

   Pavarti nodded, "When is Professor Green in his office?"

   "I think he takes appointments an hour after lunch until right before the dueling club meets," Hermione replied.

~*~

   Elanus and Gene rose early the next morning to find their clothing folded neatly in front of the bedroom door. They dressed quickly and went downstairs where Petunia had already fixed breakfast and her husband and son were busy eating.

   "I'm sorry we started without you two," Vernon said before mouthfuls, "I have to get to work and Dudley has school."

    "Quite alright," Gene said as Petunia brought him a plate. Elanus sat down carefully and waited to be served. Petunia was a gracious hostess and placed a plate before him and inquired about their beverage of choice. Gene took coffee but Elanus asked for orange juice.

   "Do you have transportation to where ever it is you need to go? I can call in to work and come in late if I need to," asked Vernon.

   Elanus nodded, "My secretary can pick us up, actually," he said.

   "Your secretary? Is she a," Petunia asked, trailing off.

   "A witch?" Elanus asked, "In a manner of speaking. She lives some ways from here but I doubt she's left for work yet. I'll call her in a moment, she can be here in an hour or so I'd imagine."

   "How will she know where here is?" asked Vernon.

   "We don't live in holes, sir," Elanus replied, "This house is very well known to our kind. The truth of the matter though is she's muggle born and grew up near here. You don't mind if I borrow your phone do you?"

   "Go right ahead, I insist you finish eating first," Petunia said.

   "No problem there, this is the best English breakfast I've had in weeks," Elanus said, "You're a kind host, is there anything I can do for you while I'm here?"

   Petunia shook her head and walked back into the kitchen, emerging with her own breakfast and sat down to eat. The house became silent after that as the family tried very hard not to think about the incident the night before. Elanus, who was quite used to strange occurrences finished his breakfast quickly and excused himself to use the phone. Vernon directed him to his study so he could talk to his secretary in private.

   Elanus dialed his secretaries cellular phone number and waited patiently as it rang.

   "Hello?" a female voice said on the other end.

   "Hello, Tanya?" Elanus asked carefully.

   "Yes, is that you Mr. Green?" Tanya asked.

   "Yes, it is. Uncle Gene and I have run into a problem and we're going to need a ride to the Ministry today. We're at the Dursley residence right now, do you think you could come get us. It's important," Elanus said.

   "Sure, I'm on my way," Tanya replied, "Has anyone seen you? Do I need to call an Obliviator?"

   "That won't be necessary, other then two neighbors, another wizard and possibly Arabella Figg, I don't think anyone saw us. I'll explain on the way to work," Elanus said, "I need to stop by the office before I go to Hogwarts."

   "Should I check on the neighbors?" Tanya asked, I can do that on the way.

   "Might not be a bad idea, the wife was a bit more curious then usual. Their names are Oran and Tiffany Smithers, they live in this general area," Elanus said.

   "Alright, I'll do that, I should be at Privet Drive in about an hour or so," Tanya said, "I'll see you then, bye," she said, pushing the "end" button on her cell phone.

~*~

   Tanya pulled over to the side of the road and flipped open what appeared to be a notebook computer. Only a handful of people at the Ministry of Magic paid much mind to the fact that she was muggle born. She had resources she could use that most wizards didn't. Her official job was that of secretary to the head of the Department of Mysteries. What few people knew was that her father was a muggle detective and she'd managed to gain access to several large databases used for profiling and gaining information on people. He'd taught her a great deal about his trade, knowledge and skills which proved far more useful to her boss then his own skill in such matters, considerable though they were.

   After hooking up her cell phone, portable printer, car battery adapter, radio adapter to the speaker jack and an enchanted microphone to the computer she opened a program and typed in the names and what little she knew of the two people she was looking for. She hit the return key and opened up a web browser and put in the Dursley's address to find the best route there, though she already had a pretty good guess as to how to get there. Quickly she turned her vehicle around and sped off down the road.

   After a few minutes had passed a mechanized sounding voice on her radio informed her that the search had finished.

   "Read it to me," Tanya said, laughing to herself as she thought of how far muggle technology had to go before computers understood a verbal command like that.

   "Oran Smithers, born Oran James Smithers, in Chicago, Illinois. Military service: United States Marine Corps, special training. Access denied to all records. Honorably discharged from service approximately two years ago," the androgynous computer voice said over her radio.

   "An American Marine here, not too unusual," she said under her breath, "And his wife?"

   "Tiffany Smithers, born Ann Tiffany Johnson, in New Hanover, Papua New Guinea. Military Service: United States Air Force, special training. Access denied to all records. Honorably discharged from service approximately two years ago," the voice replied.

   "Both have special training. Why would Tiffany join the United States Air Force if she lived in New Guinea? Is she a british citizen?" Tanya asked.

   "Citizenship: United States of America. Daughter to missionaries from the Southern Baptist Convention in Texas," the computer replied.

   "Now it gets interesting," Tanya said, "Print up all information on Oran and Tiffany Smithers."

   Tanya continued driving as her printer slowly produced sheet after sheet of paper. Soon she pulled into Privet Drive and knocked on the door of the Dursley residence. Petunia answered the door carefully and smiled in relief at the auburn haired woman standing on her porch.

   "Can I help you?" Petunia asked.

   "I'm here for Mr. Green and Mr. Evans," Tanya said, "Are they still here?"

   "Oh! You must be Elanus' secretary, come in," Petunia said, showing Tanya in.

   Elanus and Gene were waiting for her in the living room, along with a small travel bag. Elanus stood up and greeted Tanya. "Mrs. Dursley this is Tanya Grouser," Elanus said, "Tanya, Mrs. Dursley."

   "Pleased to meet you, call me Petunia," she said, shaking Tanya's hand.

   "A pleasure," Tanya said, "I know how these boys can get, I hope they haven't been too much trouble."

   "No trouble at all, my brother is always welcome here," Petunia said, "as is Elanus," she said, almost as an after thought.

   "Well, I'll be taking them off your hands now, is there anything I can do for you before we leave?"

   "No, no, but thank you, have a safe trip. Wherever it is you're going," Petunia said.

   "Thank you for your hospitality, Mrs. Dursley," Elanus said.

   "Thank you, Petunia," Gene said, "I look forward to seeing you again."

   Petunia smiled and watched the three leave in Tanya's car. She breathed a sigh of relief as they sped away. In her mind, wizards only brought trouble.

   Elanus looked over the papers Tanya had printed up carefully. He was somewhat intrigued by them. The Smithers were both American military, special operations to boot. Both were honorably discharged around the same time, probably when they got married.

   "Did you notice anything strange about these files?" Elanus asked Tanya.

   "Besides the fact that they are almost identical, no," Tanya said, "Despite their military experience, it looks like they just wanted to move here."

   "Right, but why here? There's no record of either of them ever visiting England. Why would these two want to move to a London suburb. It doesn't make sense," Elanus said, "Oran didn't even have a passport until he moved here. Tiffany didn't bother to renew hers either, until they moved here."

   "What's so strange about that?" Tanya asked.

   "They both own property in the States," Elanus said, showing her one of the papers.

   "Canyon, Texas. Where's that?" Tanya asked.

   "Just a few miles south of Amarillo," Gene said.

   "That's interesting," Tanya said, "My opinion is that you're reading too much into them, no matter how strange their files are. My instincts tell me that there's something else going on though."

   "When did they move here?" Gene asked.

   "They bought the house on Privet drive a little over three years ago," Elanus said, "But they've been renting one nearby for almost six."

   "That's when Potter went to Hogwarts," Tanya said.

   "Think that means anything?" Gene said.

   "It might," Elanus said, "A lot happened that year though. Former Death Eaters became more paranoid, lots of muggle artifacts being enchanted, Potter started Hogwarts, Flemel gave up his stone, libraries began losing books, and that was also when Samuel started his training."

   "We were very busy that year," Tanya said, "I still twitch when I think of the vampires."

   "Vampires?" Gene asked.

   "Was nothing that unusual really," Elanus said, "A small cabal of vampires thought it would be funny to start turning people at random. Only they never saw the people they turned afterwards. A few Untouchables, including Tanya and myself went to go negotiate with the cabal. They proved unreasonable and we ended up slaying most of them."

   "See, only you would say that's not unusual," Gene said, laughing.

   "I think we better watch the Smithers, there are just too many coincidences to just let it go. Not the least of which is them being at that bank to give us a rid to the Dursleys," Elanus said.

   "I'll put some people on it when we get back to the Ministry," Tanya said.

   Soon they found themselves pulling into an abandoned warehouse somewhere in the middle of town. The Ministry had conveniently purchased a place for muggle born employees to park their car. Inside the building was much larger and nicer then the outside and even had an alternative entrance into the ministry.