Author note: Sometimes an idea burrows into my brain and won't go away until I type it up. Chapter 2 of Midsomer Potter.
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Over the summer Harry and Hermione got to know each other. She had joined Joyce, Cully and Harry on their weekly trip to the town center. Joyce said they were not quite old enough to rise their bicycles there alone yet. Although they could go around their quiet neighborhood quite often and to the local park.
The first time into the library Hermione looked around happily. "This is a very nice place Harry."
"Yeah. It is. Hello Mrs Parkhurst, Ms Hammond." He said to the ladies behind the desk.
"Ahh Hello Harry. Who is your friend?" The older lady, Mrs Parkhurst, asked with a friendly smile.
"Oh this is Hermione Granger. She moved here recently." He stated politely.
Hermione smiled at the ladies. "Hello. I like your library."
"Ahh another bibliophile. Good. Would you like to get a card?"
"Oh yes please." Hermione said eagerly.
Soon she and Harry were ensconced in a reading nook in the corner by a window overlooking the street. The Causton Playhouse where Cully was having her speech and acting class visible. Several books surrounded the pair as they compared notes and literary tastes.
"So you were named for a character from a play?" Harry asked.
"Yes. Mum is a major fan of the bard and has most of his plays memorized. Dad is not far behind her. It can be quite the sight when they start quoting Taming of the Shrew or Merchant of Venice in the shops." Hermione said with a chuckle.
"They sound nice." Harry complimented them.
"They are. Your parents seem pretty nice too." Hermione replied.
"Yeah they are. Dad works a lot and cases sometimes take him out at all hours of the day or night." Harry said with a shrug.
"Oh I guess one of the downsides of being a police officer."
"Yeah but he puts a lot of bad people away and protects us so its worth it in the end." He said proudly.
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The two of them were in the local park later and Harry introduced Hermione to his friends, "Hey guys this is Hermione. She just moved here."
"Oh hey. I'm Gid." Said a tall boy with dark brown hair and a goofy grin.
"I'm Billy." Said the auburn haired boy with a slight Irish accent.
"Yeah his family moved here a couple years ago." Harry explained, "He's pretty cool. He can do any animal noise."
"Really?" Hermione said skeptically.
"Yeah check it out." Billy started in on his grunting and mimicking calls of various animals causing Hermione to start giggling in spite of herself.
A tall thick boy that looked like he was a couple years older than the group came up followed by a smaller skinny boy of about the same age.
"Oy Paddy you doing yer mating calls again?" the boy asked in a ugly tone of voice.
"Well that is how he got you to come over, Clyde." Harry said glaring at the boy.
"Here now Barnaby. You watch yerself, if you weren't a copper's son I'd show you what for."
Harry set his feet and stared quietly at the boy, daring him to make a move but otherwise not responding.
Clyde pulled out a pack of cigarettes, took the last one and lit it. Blowing the smoke in Harry's face he tossed the crumpled pack on the ground, "Yer not worth the trouble Barnaby." He said and casually strolling off. Dismissing Hermione with the other members of Harry's circle.
"Who was that?" Hermione asked with her nose wrinkled.
Picking the crumpled pack up to toss in the garbage bin Harry grunted, "That was Clyde Reynolds and his minion Rodney Cotter. Clyde's dad runs a garage on the north end of town. Dad and his dad have had words before."
"And he thinks smoking make shim look smart?"
Harry shrugged. Gid said, "He's 10 going on 20."
"He keeps going the way he is dad says he'll be doing 10 to 20." Harry chuckled.
"Oh. I suppose you will find his sort anywhere you go." Hermione said sadly.
"Yeah. That's why you just have to stand up to them." Harry proudly declared.
"Right o. And I dunno why he keeps trying to get one up on Harry. He always gets his knees taken out when he crosses wits with our boy Harry." Billy said holding Harry's arm up like a boxing champion. Causing harry to yank his arm away and smack Billy.
"Hey now nothing to brag on." Harry blushed.
"Harry's just humble. Sir Harry the Humble." Gid joked causing Harry to chase him around the tree.
The four of them laughed and explored the park, accepting Hermione as one of the group.
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Hermione became a close friend of the group. Doing her homework with Harry and his friends she soon found that he was as good as she was in many of the subjects at school. His friends were not too far behind them either although Billy was a bit of a slacker but his sense of humor and earnest desire to try let him get by with a lot of it. Although Harry did try and push him to do better by example at least.
Tom kept a watch on the two children though as he had never stopped paying attention to the odd things that occurred. Odd things did happen around them. Often enough that it was notable but not so often as to be repeatable, or on demand. He had taken Harry to Cyrus Levanu a renowned local psychic to see what he said but Harry wound up being declared spectacularly mundane by the man.
Tom had taken Harry over to Godric's Hollow to look around and see what they could find. In the Graveyard they found a tombstone with his parent's names on it causing Harry to have a small crying episode. He cuddled with Joyce on the couch when they got back but wanted to go lay flowers every year on the anniversary of their death.
Cully treated Hermione like any other of Harry's friends. Another kid that tagged along with her when she went to the theater, or would show up for dinner or other events. She did tease her brother Harry on occasion about how he and Hermione spent so much time together, he teased back but with a large blush.
Joyce and Emma bonded over the local playhouse volunteering and being involved in the production of several works.
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It was Harry's tenth birthday, a Tuesday, and he was having cake and playing games with his friends. His parents standing around and talking to the parent's of his friends. His dad grilling burgers and sausages for the crowds. All in all a happy pleasant afternoon.
When the doorbell rang Joyce, Cully and Harry all froze knowing what that usually entailed. When Tom came back into the rear garden with the young Detective Sergeant assigned to aide Tom. Peter Burke was a nice medium high sandy brown haired man who was polite and friendly. He played the good cop quite well according to Tom.
"Sorry Harry, I'll have to go. Duty calls." Tom apologized to Harry.
"I understand dad. Is it bad?"
"No not really. But as skilled as Peter is they feel someone with some rank should be involved." Tom said with a smile as peter nodded.
"Oh. Well do a good job Dad." Harry said giving him a hug.
"Now you enjoy yourself and I'll be back as soon as I can."
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In the car Tom was looking over the folder as they drove to the scene. "So what do we know so far?"
"There was a fight at the Cock and Dragon in Godric's Hollow. A strange little chap with a purple top hat got into an argument with a tall fellow with a pony tail. When Barney asked them to take it outside they did. Witnesses said the man with the pony tail pulled a strange stick out of his belt and somehow shot the purple top hat man in the back then shouted 'Hail Mortus' before vanishing into thin air."
Sighing deeply Tom shook his head, "What is it about Godric's Hollow that draws all the craziness out of the entire county into that one village."
"The water sir?"
Tom shot him a tolerant look, "Perhaps. Although.." he paused thinking. Some of the effects that remained in lockup from the night Harry had joined his family was a funny stick picked up from the house. His mother had had one on her body. His father had not. He would have to check storage to see if it was still there or if it had vanished as well.
"Sir?"
"Do we know what the fight was over?" Tom said coming back to the present.
"Something about the war and how the 'muggles' should be proud of their neighbors. The man with the pony tail seemed to take exception to that and said the 'muggles' were animals and should be exterminated."
"Muggles. There is that word again. I've heard it before." Tom frowned.
"I remember my gramps using it about those cannabis users. Course he was a bit senile by then."
"Do you know of a prisoner that goes by the name Hagrid? Tall chap, rather wide."
"No can't say I do."
"He's been a guest of the crown for the last ten years. No identification, no records of his existence at all. Fingerprints are not on file with anyone. He's been listed as a John Smith in the records until we can find something to corroborate his claims. Though he's due to be released next month if I recall."
"What about him?"
"Well he uses that term a lot."
They arrived to see a local police car there along with a large black Land Rover and official looking white van. Dr Bullard and his team of forensic investigators were standing by their own van a few feet away.
"What's all this?" Tom frowned as they pulled up.
A man in a black suit held his hand up to stop Barnaby as he approached, "Sorry official business. The bar is closed for the day."
Pulling out his own warrant card Barnaby set his jaw at the man, "Tom Barnaby Causton CID. This is my crime scene. Who are you?"
"DS John Dawlish. Special Branch and this is DCI Moody's crime scene sir."
"I'll be speaking to this Moody if you please." Barnaby requested in a commanding tone making it more of an order.
"I have my orders. No one is allowed in."
"Dawlish. Let's not be rude to the locals." A tall heavily muscular man with an eye patch and a long black coat over his immaculate bespoke suit came walking out of the pub. "Sorry about him. He just got promoted. You know how freshly born Sergeants can get."
"Yes indeed. Mr Moody I presume?"
"Aye. DCI Moody, special branch."
"Special branch? Oh to what do we owe the pleasure of your presence."
"Well I can't give you much details but it seems that your quaint little village here was the scene of an IRA attack."
"The IRA in little ol Midsomer. How extraordinary!" Barnaby chortled.
"Well it may not have been an officially sanctioned attack but one of their operatives was here spraying a gas that made people have hallucinations." Moody declared.
"So there was no murder? People just thought they saw one?" Barnaby sarcastically asked.
"No he murdered a fellow. A chap up from Kent taking a tour from what we gathered." moody confessed.
"Oh and have you determined the motive too?"
Moody shook his head, "No probably the usual sort of thing. Once we've made sure there was no trace of the gas left we'll let you have the body and all. But the witnesses are going to be a bit confused."
"What sort of gas was it?" Tom asked staring at the man.
"We think its a weaponized LSD. Or a psilobin derivative."
"You'll forgive me if I dismiss that as utter nonsense."
Moody shrugged like he didn't care. "Well I'll let your pathologist tell you that. Just be careful handling the body."
A pair of people wearing large blue suits and gas masks came walking out, "Alastair, the site has been cleared. Everyone checks out as clear. They should recover pretty quick but their memories of this morning are going to be rather confused."
"Ah thank you Dr Monroe." He nodded as the team of suited people headed for a white van on the other side of the SUV.
"Well. We haven't moved the body. He's still where he fell. So we'll be off and everything is yours now."
"And the perpetrator?" Barnaby testily asked.
"Oh he's mine. I assure you that." Turning to the rest of his team he growled, "Mount up. We need to get back to London and get this on the air."
As Tom watched the vehicles drive off with the Special Branch members in it he had a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach that this case would be going in his special notebooks. There was something much larger afoot.
"George, Peter, get all the witness reports you can. For what its worth after they tampered with this." Barnaby disgustedly said.
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Tom was sitting at his desk, a take out box to the side as dinner had been several hours ago. He was reading the autopsy report on the victim in Godric's Hollow. A knife wound from the back that penetrated his heart. Witnesses had a large amount of confusion as to the description of the victim, of the attacker, of what happened. Some of them had a problem remembering what day or year it was.
He turned to the background report on the names he had submitted. The victim had identification that listed him as Daedalus Diggle. A bookshop owner from Kent. Never been in trouble, graduated from a private school in Scotland. Perfectly normal except for being a rather fastidious dresser with a taste for the more artistic styles. A note in the file indicated that he had no female association and was a confirmed bachelor. The body was going to be turned over to the undertaker's in Kent for burial if Tom had no objections. He signed off on that as he doubted it would do any good to hold it.
Turning to the fax from London, Alastair Moody and John Dawlish were confirmed to be from Special Branch in the Home Office. Fully certified and vetted by the crown. This made Tom frown as he did not like having his crime scenes tampered with by outside bureaucrats, especially those crime scenes that were the odd ones.
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Tom entered the visiting room at the prison. The very tall person was sitting in a specially made uniform. His hair and beard neatly trimmed and groomed.
"Hello Mr Hagrid." Tom said favoring the man's chosen moniker.
"Ello Mr Barnaby." He said politely back.
"So I was hoping to ask you a few questions to clarify matters on a case."
"I dunno what elp I coul' be. I've been in here the last decade you know."
"Well let's just say I want some clarification. You've said that muggles are people without magic."
Hagrid looked suspiciously at the detective. The last few times he spoke about the wizarding world he got to sit in a room with a person that was trying to convince him he had hallucinated all of it.
"I believe that there is something unusual going on in the world Hagrid. I just want to understand it."
"Ah canna elp ye." Hagrid said shaking his head.
"A man named Daedalus Diggle was murdered in a pub a few days ago. He was going on about how muggles should be grateful for what happened in Godric's Hollow. You know what happened."
Hagrid's face showed a sudden burst of sadness, "Ah no. Diggle got it? ow did that appen?"
Barnaby realized he may have found his hook into the mind of this man. "He was stabbed in the back. A tall man with a ponytail, grey hair, well dressed."
"If ye said blonde air I woulda said it was Malfoy but I dunno that one."
"Malfoy?"
"Aye Lucius Malfoy. Ees a Death Eater. One of the top ranked ones. Ye know." Hagrid said distractedly as he contemplated Diggle's death. "Diggle was a 'armless buffoon ye know. A bookshop owner. I think he carried the quaffle on the other side though."
Tom made note of that but had no idea what any of that meant. "Yes but why would someone want to kill him?"
"Probably a Death Eater. That's the sort of people they are." Hagrid intoned. He had not had very many visitors, and none of them had taken him very seriously. He had had doctors examine him, doctors test his mental ability, bureaucrats trying to find out who he was. Taking a swab for some sort of DNA test they had called it.
"So who is the leader of them and where do they operate?"
"Well you-know-who is the leader but I reckon as yer a muggle ye don know. So I'll say hiz name just this once. Voldemort."
Tom knew enough French to recognize that the name was made up. "Mr Flees Death?"
"Is tha wha tha means?" Hagrid asked in pleasant surprise.
"Yes well. How about a man named Moody? Do you know him?"
"Aye tha Ah do. He's a good man. A friend oh Albus Dumbledore's One o the best aurors there are."
Tom talked to Hagrid for another hour before bidding him a good day. The man had not much else he could, or would, tell Barnaby but he had learned a few more things today. A few more things for his notebook. What he was going to do with this notebook he still wasn't certain but when he did. He felt it was going to be big.
===xxx===xx(Review Responses)
kimjo2: No not really. I don't think you're a bad person for that as I did place Hagrid in a rather bad position (Or technically Dumbledore did) and he got what was appropriate. Now if I had somehow had him get the chair or the rope for it and you laughed then we might want to talk about getting help...for both of us. Lol.
N0wa5t3r: Thank you. I have a vague idea percolating in my brain. It will stretch through the war and all if it goes well. I may want to get some of the other stories I've been working on to a point before I dedicate too much time to this one. But It is in the notebook of doom.
Tjearl22170: Thanks. Like I said for N0wa5t3r I have a vague idea for the rest of the story and will dedicate working on it more as I get a few things cleaned off the plate.
Timekeeper: I know. This should be kinda interesting to see if I can keep it up. I hope so.
Dennisud: Thanks. I'm glad you're enjoying.
OfficerdonNZ: Oh yeah. I may have to do some wriggling to make it work but Barnaby and Dumbles are not going to enjoy encountering each other. I may have to do some fast dancing to make the one idea work which is why its still rather vague, but Barnaby and Dumbles will definitely have that Sherlock vs Moriarty vibe I hope.