Part 30

Two days into the new week, Hermione received another owl from her father with another article from the conspiracy newspaper, Checks and Balances. This one was more disturbing to her than the previous one.

June 10, 2000

Shots Fired Again in Roswell

Eight months after local waitress, Liz Parker, appeared to be gunned down (but miraculously recovered moments later) in her family's restaurant, another shooting has occurred in Roswell, New Mexico.

Unlike the previous shooting, this one had few witnesses. Milton, the owner of the UFO Museum, opened his doors to find the museum in shambles. Bullet holes riddled the projector screen and back stage there were bloodstains on the floor.

According to Milton, the building, which is a converted bomb shelter, has only one entrance and it was locked when he arrived. The only other key is in the possession of Max Evans. (Incidentally, Evans was missing for three days at the same time according to the police report filed by his parents.)

Oddly the only cars reported in the area at the time of the incident were a couple of County vehicles and a sports car owned by the local sheriff, Jim Valenti, but typically driven by his teen-aged son, Kyle Valenti.

Checking with local records shows no ballistics report was done on the bullets recovered at the scene. So what exactly is Sheriff Valenti hiding about that night?

Also reported around that same time was increased activity at the supposedly abandoned Eagle Rock military facility. Could another government conspiracy be in progress and if so, how many branches of the government are involved? We'll continue to keep our eyes trained on the "Cover-up City" and will report on our findings.

Hermione sank numbly into the seat by the window, wondering, what does that mean?

Twenty minutes later, she was still sitting there staring out the window trying to sort through the things she'd read when Kyle walked into the common room.

She tried to shuffle the article under her books all while trying not to look guilty and afraid as she looked at him. This was a dismal failure as Crookshanks using his half-Kneazle intuition chose that moment to pounce, scattering her books and papers across the floor.

Kyle had looked for her as soon as he had walked in the room but the different emotions that played across her face had almost kept him away. That is until he'd seen the orange fur-ball spring into action keeping creating a little whirlwind of chaos that he thought, with a grin, was "DeLuca-worthy."

"Here," he said, scooping up the two largest books and setting them on the low table, "let me help you."

"Tha… ank you," she managed to stutter out half in anxiety from the article and the other half anxiety from her own emotions. "I can't imagine what made him so…so…"

"Kitten-ish? Playful?" He offered with a flirtatious grin.

She couldn't help but smile back.

She watched as he leaned forward again and began gathering up her papers. She saw his back stiffen and his hands freeze as he found the article. Mentally, she berated herself for letting her guard down while questioning whether this was a blessing in disguise. She said nothing while he read the article.

"I guess it would be too much to hope that this was just a coincidence, huh? Um, So, where did this come from?" he asked as nonchalantly as he could as he lowered himself to a nearby chair.

She waited to respond until he had looked at her. What she saw was not the anger or as much fear as she expected but mostly curiosity with maybe a touch of relief thrown in. She decided he deserved at least some honesty in her answer. "Initially, I was curious as to why you would appear on the lists so late. It was almost unheard of. But then I overheard your argument with Liz in the Leaky Cauldron that night and I had a true mystery on my hands. So I did my research into Roswell and came up with very little here. My father, however, is what I think you Americans call a 'Tabloid Junkie.' He came up with two articles. That one, of course, and this one about Liz," she finished pulling the article from the pocket of her robes.

Kyle let out a long sigh. What could he say that would reassure her but not sound trivial? 'We come in peace!' was too cliché and hardly reassuring. Finally he asked quietly, "Are you afraid of me?"

She thought about it seriously for a moment. "No, not really. And yes, a little, but not for the same reason," she said blushing.

He made up his mind then and there. Unlike Liz with Max, he felt no real compunction to guard the alien secret religiously. It was his secret to tell, too, after all. "Hermione, do you trust me enough to go somewhere a little more private to talk? I've got something to tell you that I think you are ready to hear…"