Chapter 48: Breakfast with Hedwig
Hermione,
Yes, I can tell you about that. Better not do it through owls, though. Meet me where Snuffles used to hide, at noon on Sunday. I'll explain everything then. Make certain you aren't followed. I'll be invisible.
-Harry
Potter,
You stay out of this. Fair warning. The next time I won't be so nice about it.
-Rudeo Nesbitt
Auror Special Operations
(Harry Potter's previous letter attached)
Ron,
Do you know how I can get ahold of Hermione? First Hedwig couldn't find her and now Aurors seem to be seizing the mail at her parents' house.
-Harry
Harry!
Harry, thank God! I haven't heard from you in ages. It must be years, really! Where've you been? What have you been doing lately? We should get together sometime.
I don't know where Hermione is. She went skrewt on me over some personal stuff night before last and things got way out of hand. Domestic Disturbances ended up dragging her off to the lockup. Draco Malfoy bailed her out first thing yesterday morning and nobody's seen her since. Did you see that in the news about her Apparating from within St. Mungo's wards? And blowing up dad's experiments shed with Wild Magic? And holding Malfoy's hand on the Apparition platform? I wish I knew what was wrong with her. She hasn't been herself at all. It must be all the time she's been spending with Malfoy. That can't possibly be good, can it?
-Ron
P.S. Let me know if you find her. I've been trying to owl her myself for a day and a half now with no luck.
Hermione,
What is all this about your spending time with Malfoy? No - don't answer that here. We need to talk in person. I can explain what happened back when I left the Aurors – and you should probably hear all of it before you go any farther with whatever-it-is you're doing. Meet me near the tree Snuffles dragged Ron under. Don't let anyone follow you there. I'll be waiting.
-Harry
Potter,
Nesbitt's watching you. You won't get any mail through to her and you're lucky I got to this one before he did. I wouldn't try meeting her in person either if I were you. You just want to stay far away this time around. Trust me.
-A Friend, Aerial Recon
(Harry's previous letter attached)
Ginny,
Do you know where Hermione is? She owled me but I haven't been able to owl her back. Nesbitt and Cov Ops seem to be seizing all my mail to her. Is she in trouble?
-Harry
Harry!
I can't believe you owled me at work and using your own owl! I can't believe it slipped through!
Ron's perfectly frantic. He says the Burrow has been nearly destroyed, and I've been
afraid to go look. Hermione's been to her parents' and set up some quick wards there, then popped in and out a few times but disappeared for good late last night and nobody has seen her since. Special Operations has the whole place riddled with snoops and alarms now so'd they'd know if she had ever come back.
I'm worried about her. She's been acting so odd lately, and to be honest she's been getting harder and harder to get ahold of for months now. It's not just you. Most of my owls don't reach her either. I think she and Ron have been having some kind of fight. I wish I knew where she goes when no one can find her!
Please let me know where she is if you manage to get ahold of her. Actually all of Special Ops would really like to know where she is.
-Virginia
P.S. How've you been?
P.P.S. Don't use your own owl again! Use this one to owl me at work. It has clearance. I can't promise nobody will read your letters though.
Ginny,
The Burrow is destroyed? What happened! Was it Death Eaters? Or… Ron said something about an argument getting out of hand? What's going on? Are he and Hermione really having problems? How bad is it? I hadn't heard. Do you think I should talk to them about it? Not that I would have any idea what to say, but I will if you think I should.
-Harry
Malfoy,
You'd better watch yourself. Hermione has a lot of people who care a good deal about her, and if you harm her you'll be sorry.
-Harry Potter
Potter,
Well, well, well. If it isn't Little Whinging's biggest has-been.
Why should I care what you think?
-Draco Malfoy
Malfoy,
Because I know something about you that could get you into a good deal of trouble with a lot of people. Or had you forgotten?
-Harry Potter
(sent 1 hour later)
Malfoy,
Had you forgotten?
-Harry Potter
No.
(unsigned, but in Draco Malfoy's handwriting)
Malfoy,
That's what I thought. So where is she?
-Harry Potter
I have no idea.
-Draco Malfoy
Malfoy,
I don't believe you.
-Harry Potter
Believe what you like. I haven't seen her since early morning yesterday. I have a few questions I'd like rather desperately to ask her myself actually.
-Draco Malfoy
Harry,
Yes, from what I've heard half the buildings on the property are just burnt up and gone, and the Burrow itself ransacked. Once news got around it'd been raided for breach-of-security evidence, there was a departmental feeding-frenzy. I think the only department who didn't show up there at least once was Child Safety and that's just because all the children are off at Hogwarts for the year. Thank goodness for small blessings. That's all Ron and Hermione would have needed right now, on top of everything else.
As for their problems… do you remember when Hermione used to joke about Ron being tempted by Quidditch fans all the time? Well, I don't think she finds it a joking matter anymore. Actually Dad said she's flat out accused Ron of cheating more than once in the last couple of years. Ron always denies it, and if I can't believe my own brother, who can I believe? But Hermione seems to actually think it happened, and let's face it, the newspapers aren't helping either with all that rubbish they print.
You don't think he'd really… ?
You know Hermione, though. Once she's got an idea in her head, there's no stopping her. And I'm not sure it's such a good idea for her to be associating with Draco Malfoy. He'd tell her anything that'd help him get his way. Pansy's told me about the head games he used to play on her when they were married. She said she could handle it because she grew up with the same thing, but Hermione didn't. I just worry she's being manipulated.
Any luck on getting ahold of her by owl?
-Virginia
Ginny,
No. I exchanged a few owls with Malfoy and he claims he doesn't know where she is either. Though I'm not sure I believe him.
-Harry
Harry,
For what it's worth, up until a couple of days ago Malfoy owned an ex Ops owl from the bad old days that had full clearance and every delivery assistance charm ever invented. It used to win loads of owling competitions back before the charms were declared unsporting. And even that one needed three attempts over four hours to get a message through to Hermione. Or so Cov Ops' mole at Batwing claims!
I think she just doesn't want to be found – by anybody. If only we knew where she goes! And how she gets there.
-Virginia
To: Mr. Arthur Weasley
From: Harry Potter
Hello Arthur, hope things have been going well for you.
Sorry to jump right to the point, but do you have any idea why Rudeo Nesbitt has suddenly started intercepting my owls again? Does it have anything to do with Hermione? And what's this I hear about the Burrow getting destroyed? Is everybody all right?
-Harry Potter
Harry,
I had a feeling we'd be hearing from you any day now.
Hermione's got herself into a spot of trouble, but nothing we can't handle I don't think. She's somehow managed to get tangled up in a business relationship with Draco Malfoy, and it's made things a bit complicated for her. None of our operatives seem to think she's in any actual danger – at least not from Malfoy himself.
That Burrow business is another matter, though. You know how Nesbitt feels about Auror Affairs. I think we're seeing the beginning of another bid to try to topple it – and the strongest attempt yet. I have a feeling Nesbitt is trying to leverage this situation with Hermione to create enough scandal to accomplish that. He still wants as badly as ever to see a return to Auror dominance of the Ministry.
Did you see the cursed postbox in the news? I think it's pretty obvious who tipped Misuse of Muggle Artifacts off about that. The timing is just too convenient… I was tied up with that mess for so long that I didn't even know the Burrow had been raided until after it was all over. Ron was there and he swears they used a wards-stunner bomb to take out the protections, though I'm not sure he'd actually recognize one if he saw one. And it's fully documented that the remaining ones were destroyed after the war ended. Even so, I've got Regulations started on an investigation first thing Monday morning. If Nesbitt's got any more of those stashed, we'll find them.
I am supposed to see Hermione on Monday morning to talk about Malfoy again. I fully expect I'll see her at that time, but if I don't then I will really be worried.
In fact, do let me know if you manage to get a hold of her would you? I appreciate it.
-Arthur Weasley