Harry woke with a sore neck. His bed covers had been thrown to the floor and his pillow had ended up under his left foot. He knew, deep down, that today would not be a good day. He slowly made his way to the kitchen to make breakfast.

"Wotcher," said Tonks. She was sitting at the table drinking coffee and reading the newspaper. "Nice boxers. You ever tried briefs? They show everything. Guy your size..."

"You aren't here," said Harry. "I'm still not sure why you and Sirius keep popping up like you do. After all, neither of you left a ghost behind. I've talked with various healers and even some muggle shrinks, and they all say you are a figment of my imagination."

"But what a good-looking pair of figments we are, huh," asked Sirius as he materialized behind Harry. "We are figments, Harry. We are nothing more than constructs your brain created to deal with stress. We are parts of your psyche that you associate with the traits of the real Sirius and Tonks."

"But," said Harry. "Figments don't leave behind half-drunken cups of coffee and crumbs from toast. Am I doing those things and putting the actions on you?"

"Yes," replied Tonks. "You are the one doing these things, your mind says it is us. That is why you can never remember drinking your morning coffee. Welcome to crazy, luv."

"Wonderful," said Harry. "I'm gonna shower."

"I'm gonna peek while you do," said Tonks with a leer.

Harry walked out and felt his way through the dark hallways and back up the stairs to his room. He'd been seeing Tonks and Sirius since he'd returned to Hogwarts after his travels with Hermione. It had all started while in the prefect's bathroom. He'd stepped out of the shower to see Sirius leaning against the far wall admiring the stained-glass mermaid. Sirius had waved and disappeared. A few weeks later, he'd been in the quidditch locker room and heard Tonks making comments about his physique. He turned to see her standing there in the middle of the changing area. She was pointedly staring at his boxers. Thus, began the nearly daily comments about his choice of underwear.

Harry had weathered it and taken it in stride for a few months. After the last falling out with Hermione over her parents, the specters had become more insistent that he was doing something wrong. Sirius kept saying that Harry wasn't spending enough time searching. Tonks would chide him if he didn't take enough time off to rest and take care of other needs.

Harry shook his head as the shower turned itself on. After a year of living here alone, the house had begun to do things for him. Doors would open as he approached the room he wanted to enter. Taps would turn on when he was ready to shower or get water for tea or coffee. Lights would turn on or off depending on his needs. He'd asked Neville about it and gotten a very strange look. That wasn't normal. Everyone agreed. He'd gotten Bill to check the house and, outside of the questionable décor and decidedly dark wards, there wasn't anything going on. He'd gotten Susan and Daphne to stay one night to see if they noticed anything. The house wouldn't react to them, but they had seen the house respond to his unspoken wishes. "Just another something that only works for Harry Potter," said Susan.

Harry took his shower as he mentally reviewed the previous interactions with the West Sussex police. He had visited every station in the county. Hermione's parents lived in Crawley, so he'd figured he would start there. They had been very leery of talking to him when he said he was just a friend and not a family member. By the time he'd stopped in the eighth police station, word had gotten around that no one was to talk to him unless orders came from the Chief, bypassing all the other levels of command by going all the way to the top.

Something had bothered Harry about that, but he had moved on to try and eliminate other locations. At some point, he'd simply forgotten that he'd felt something was off. He decided that he needed to make a stop before going to the meeting with Lisa.

Harry dressed in his best muggle suit. It was bespoke, purchased from Norton & Sons on Saville Row. It was a single-breasted ensemble, done in olive wool with a simple white shirt and black and olive checked tie. He'd finally learned to use muggle pomade to control his hair and the light scruff on his face was no longer considered to look unclean. He couldn't recall the apparition point near Arundel, so he apparated to Harbour Park, the amusement park in the nearby coastal town of Littlehampton.

One of the places Hermione had taken him while they traveled was the park. It was his first ever visit to an amusement park. He'd spent the entire afternoon running from one thing to another and back again, pulling Hermione along behind him.

Arriving in an alley behind a nearby restaurant, Harry quickly made his way out to South Terrace. He used a nearby payphone to call for a cab to meet him. He got an odd look when he said he needed to go to the Arundel Police Station.

The station was a small, one story building with a short brick wall out front. Harry paid the driver and said he'd make his own way after his meeting. He walked into the building and asked to meet with Lisa.

"May I please speak with Lisa Sawley?"

"And what may I ask is your reason for speaking with her," asked a bored looking desk attendant. "She's rather busy filling out reports."

"She and I have a scheduled appointment. She is expecting me. The name is Harry Potter."

"Potter? You the nutter that was asking questions a couple of years ago? Ain't no one here supposed to talk with you."

"Be that as it may, I have an appointment. I'd be most put out if I've made this long trek from London for naught. Please let Miss Sawley know I am here. If you wish to contact your Chief Constable, please feel free to do so. I will have some questions for him later anyway. Especially if the corruption goes as far as I think it does."

Harry let her think a moment and when his implications of being an investigator sunk in, her whole aspect changed. Making the call she became very quiet and refused to look Harry in the eye.

A door opened to Harry's right and a young blonde stepped out. "Mr. Potter," she asked, sticking out her hand. "Nice to finally meet you. I'm Constable Sawley. Welcome to Arundel. I hope your trip was pleasant?"

Harry shook her hand and said, "It was very nice actually. Thank you for meeting me on such short notice. I understand you think there may be something new for my investigation?" He glanced over at the attendant.

Lisa took in the glance and followed along. "Yes sir. Come this way, I've got some photos to show you."

As they stepped through the door and into the adjoining hall, Lisa turned and asked, "What the hell was that?"

Harry smirked. "I may have, implied, that I was here to investigate corruption. In a sense I am. If Hermione is here, I think I may have a real case for my people to investigate." He drew closer and talked a little lower, "I think you have a wizard in your chain of command, and they have covered something up. Hermione may have been a target, or just an unlucky victim. The last time I was in this area asking questions, I felt something was wrong, but my suspicions went away far too quickly. I didn't realize that until this morning."

"You'd be right. There is a Chief Superintendent that attended Durmstrang, working at the main office. I've seen him using his wand to clean up his coffee spills. I asked about his odd accent once and he said he'd spent seven years in school in Norway."

"As the saying goes, the plot thickens. So, what do you have for me?"

"I have some photos of a young woman living at a convent not far from here. She'd been found by the sisters and taken in when no one could figure out who she was. Her information and photo were supposedly sent all over the country. I don't think it made it past the Chief's office."

Harry nearly passed out when the photos were placed in front of him. "That's Hermione."