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Ta-da! New chapter so soon!

Disclaimer: JK Rowling owns HP names!

"Ok so I've decided you were right."

"Well that's good; I'm always right, but what am I right about this time?"

Hermione sighed. It had been three weeks since her birthday and the housemate issue had been on her mind a lot since then. She had not been keen on the idea, but after the events of that afternoon, she decided that maybe a housemate wouldn't be so bad.

She was currently away on a four day conference for work when she had been contacted by the police. The police had let her know that her security system had been set off but no signs of forced entry had been found. As she was only on day two of the four day event, she was unable to leave the conference.

Hermione put it down to a need to lay mouse bait and dismissed the concern of the police, but found herself wishing she was able to get back to her apartment to ensure everything was all right.

And that was when the idea of a housemate had really stuck in her mind. So there she was at ten o'clock at night on the phone to Pansy talking about her idea.

"I need a housemate."

Pansy let out a sigh that sounded a lot like a sigh of relief. "Finally! I was beginning to think I needed to plan an intervention!"

"Har har," Hermione said sarcastically. "Seems, I came 'round to it in my own time."

Pansy laughed at her tone. "So when are you going to put an advertisement up?"

Hermione cocked her head to the side and thought about it. She didn't know how long it would take to find a housemate that she liked, so she might as well start early. She was going to France in two months, so she wanted someone to watch the house then.

Switching her phone to the other ear she responded, "I dunno, soon as possible?" She worded it like a question- she didn't know the first thing about looking for people to live with. Hell, she'd never even lived with a boyfriend before!

"Why are you asking me? You're the one looking," Pansy laughed.

Hermione groaned. "Ok fine, soon then. Maybe when I get back on Friday. I'll write some ideas up now and email them to you."

"No!" Pansy practically shouted.

Well, that wasn't the reaction she expected. "Uh, Pans, you ok?"

On the other end of the line, Pansy let out a laugh. "Yea sorry, just telling the dog not to jump."

Since when did Pansy have a dog? Not bothering to question it further- it was probably another one of her partner's charity cases- Hermione laughed.

"But seriously, I think you should contact Hannah about the ad. She's lived in share houses before so she probably knows the best things to write. I mean you don't want to come across as a psychopath or something. Or encourage a weirdo to live with you."

"How would I encourage a weirdo to live with me?"

"You're Hermione Granger; you encourage weirdo's every day!"

Slightly offended, Hermione responded back, "No I don't!"

Pansy's laugh echoed down the telephone. "Remember that time some guy came up to you and asked if you could tie his shoelaces?"

Hermione cringed. "You promised never to talk about that again!"

"Yes well, it was funny. And I will bring it up again at your wedding. If you ever get married of course," Pansy tacked on.

"Ugh, leave me alone!" Hermione whined.

Pansy laughed again before saying that she needed to go, "Let me know what Hannah says!" she demanded before hanging up.

Hermione sighed as she slipped her iPhone back into her pocket. She was staying in Edinburgh for the duration of the conference and she was finding the city peaceful, completely different to London where sirens could be heard frequently at all hours of the day.

She had been talking to Pansy while she had been standing on the balcony of her hotel room breathing in the fresh air. Now that she had hung up, she was leaning against the railing looking out as a car drove past every now and then on the street below her.

It didn't take long before she became restless with doing nothing, so she decided to make a start on her housemate ad. Pushing off the iron rail, so walked over to the sliding doors and slipped back into her room. She found a complimentary note pad by the hotel telephone and grabbed a pen from her handbag before she made her way back outside.

There was a little glass table and two chairs positioned at a corner of the balcony so she sat on one chair and propped her feet up on the other. Chewing on the end of her pen, she began to think about what she really wanted in a housemate.

Really, how hard could it be to find someone?

The following Tuesday night, Hermione posted her ad. She had advertised on an Internet web page that other people used to find housemates or a share house. Hannah had suggested it to her and she had checked it out to get an idea of how to word her request.

Her final product included a picture of the front of her apartment block, her request and her contact number.

Room for rent: 28 year old professional woman seeking non-smoking, clean housemate. Must be employed and like cats. Fully furnished with own bathroom. £300/wk. Contact Hermione on the below number.

She had called Pansy to confirm the final wording and the older woman had advised her to meet as many people as possible and ask them questions about what they did with themselves before she made her mind up about one.

After she had posted the ad, she made herself a cup of tea and a sandwich for dinner. She had gone out to lunch with Ginny earlier that day so she was still full, but knew she needed to keep her blood sugar up. She gave herself ten minutes of idle sitcom watching before she switched her television off and made her way back to her computer to work.

She opened her document on Bellatrix Lestrange and continued with her mini investigation into the woman. She was currently reading the information provided by Alecto Carrow one of the witnesses whose statements matched another witnesses.

Hermione had not been able to find much information on the woman; however she knew there was something to be found. According to Carrow's statement, Bellatrix was in charge of one of the gang owned brothels and that she dispersed the money the gang received from its drug trade. This was all basic stuff and nothing new, but Hermione didn't understand how someone like Carrow knew Bellatrix Lestrange.

A background report on Alecto Carrow that she had requested two weeks ago had arrived on her desk that morning. It was not a long document as it merely set out her education, employment and family background. As far as Hermione could determine, Alecto Carrow was 24 years of age and the boyfriend of one of the minor members of the club who was not part of the police investigation. She had dropped out of a Journalism Degree at the age of 20 and her last recorded employment was as a retail operator at a clothes store. It had been three years since any tax records for the woman had been lodged. It was like Carrow disappeared off the face of the earth until the police investigation caused her to resurface again.

Hermione knew that the police had involved the tax department regarding the woman's lack of lodging tax records for three years, but that was not of Hermione's concern.

What Hermione was more interested in was why a bright intelligent young girl like Alecto would drop out of University and quit her job in the same year. The police report indicated that the year she dropped off the face of the earth was the same year she met her boyfriend Peter Pettigrew. To Hermione's mind, that seemed out of character for the woman. Alecto's mother was a nurse and her father was a banker. Her twin brothers were both talented musicians who had toured the world with their band.

Why would a young woman from such a good family and with a bright future ahead drop out of university, quit her job and shack up with a deadbeat gang member who was a mere lackey.

Hermione sighed and stretched in her seat. The mystery that was Alecto Carrow was beginning to give her a headache. She decided to give up for the night and get some sleep.

As she switched her computer off and made her way to her bedroom Crookshanks shot out of nowhere giving her a fright. Her cat had been sleeping on her bed for most of the evening and Hermione was surprised that he had bothered to move. Something must have scared him, she thought to herself as she walked into her room.

Her curtains were open and she could see out into a park but there was nothing of interest to see at that time of the night. With a swish, her curtains were closed. She tried calling for Crookshanks to come back to bed, but it seemed her cat would not be persuaded to move from his new hiding place.

"Big sook," she yelled across her apartment at her cat. "Don't come scratching on my door when you want to be let in then!" she added as she closed the door.

Throwing her days clothes into the washing basket, she slipped on a too big t-shirt and slipped into bed. She picked up her Jane Austen book and started reading from where she had last left, determined to finally finish the book. As she turned the final page, scratching on her door started.

"Crookshanks, cut it out!" she yelled at the cat behind the door. The scratching stopped briefly before it picked up again.

Groaning, she ignored her cat's pitiful attempts at attention until she finished the last page, before pushing the covers aside and walking to her door. Crookshanks was sitting at the door waiting for her to open it and let him in. "Blasted cat," she muttered to herself as Crookshanks walked past her with his head held high.

Honestly, what was the point of cats if all they did was sleep and demand attention?

Despite her annoyance, Hermione stared at her cat fondly before slipping back into bed and turning her lamp off.

Crookshanks snuggled up to her before promptly falling asleep. Hermione gave a sigh and pushed him away from her before she rolled over and closed her eyes, lulled by her cat's purrs.

In the park across the road, a shadow stood hidden by a tree stood staring at the dark window on the fourth floor. A mobile phone was being flipped between fingers as the person thought about what they had just heard.

The woman was after a housemate?

For too long she had been watched from the shadows of this park.

Now here she was providing the perfect way to get closer to her.

It was time to put the plan into motion.

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