Hermione Investigates
(Disclaimer: I have no business connection with HARRY POTTER. My only purpose in writing this story is to have fun and maybe share it)
(Author's note: This story is set in the summer between Goblet of Fire and Order of the Phoenix.
Chapter 4
We were in a real quandary over what to do. I noticed a security camera set up to watch the storage room; indeed, they seemed to be all over the place in England nowadays. It was possible that the thief had been caught on tape. But complaining to the security people about theft would require explaining why a thief would take what looked like an ordinary stick, and the explanation might end up in a crime report somewhere. Telling the truth would violate the wizard rules about keeping wizardry secret, but neither of us could think of a convincing lie.
"Ginny," I said desperately, "could you use that radar of yours and try to detect whether a wizard has been here?" It had to be a wizard. Who else would steal a wand in the first place?
Ginny shut her eyes and seemed to be concentrating very, very hard. Then she sighed. "No luck. I don't even know how this re-dar thing works. Maybe only detects people in the present."
Even if I could think of a useful spell that might help, neither of us could use it. We were underage, and trying to do magic outside of Hogwarts would set off some sort of alarm at the Ministry. Maybe they'd consider the theft of a wand as a proper excuse, but I didn't want to risk that. I didn't have a high opinion of the Ministry at the moment.
"I suppose we ought to call the Aurors," I said. The Aurors were the wizard police force.
"No! Please don't!" said Ginny. "It would be embarrassing."
"Why? You did nothing wrong. You trusted Muggle security on the assumption that there would be no wizards around."
"Because, it's just so humiliating to lose your wand. It's such an intimate part of you. It's like, well, somebody stealing your bra, or your knickers. Wouldn't you be embarrassed to talk to a policeman about that?"
I didn't see the comparison. But that may just be because I hadn't grown up in the witch culture; a wand to me was something exotic, not part of my personality. But we didn't have time to argue at the moment – my Mum was about to pick us up, and Ginny probably wouldn't want to talk about the theft in front of her. By the time we got home, however, Ginny had made up her mind.
"I'm going to send a message to the twins. They got of age a few months ago, so they can do magic outside of school."
"Fred and George? They'll tease you unmercifully. Ron had told me about that."
"That's because they pick on RON, not me. They were very upset, two years ago, when they learnt I was going through a crisis with You-Know-Who's diary, and they didn't even know. They said I could call on them, next time there was a problem, and they wouldn't razz me about it. Not much, anyway."
She used a charm to summon an owl – apparently that didn't violate underage-magic rules – and sent a message to the twins. Meanwhile I was considering the logistical problems of being a witch in a Muggle world. At Hogwarts I was used to everything being within walking distance; at worst you may have to walk a mile into Hogsmeade. But my house was miles away from the nearest wizards. We weren't on the Floo Network, and one couldn't ride a broom in my neighbourhood without attracting a lot of attention. How would the twins even get here? They didn't know where I lived, except for having a street address. I was still worried about that during the evening, when I heard a tap on my bedroom window.
I let in the owl, and read the message it had brought.
"I'm on my way. Just stick your head out the window, and cry 'Oi'. George."
Rather confused, I bent out the window and made the call.
"Ta very much," said George, rounding a corner of my house.
"How in Merlin's name did you get here?" I asked admiringly.
"New charm that Fred and I thought up. I put a spell on your owl, to trace where it went to deliver your message, then Apparated here. Only catch was, I didn't know which room was yours, and I didn't want to peak in windows in case you weren't dressed."
"That was a very impressive spell, George," I said. I wondered if it was connected to the magic behind the Marauder's Map. "But it could work both ways. Suppose Filch put the spell on you and Fred, and knew where you were all the time?" Or what was worse, what if Voldemort got the spell. It would be bad if my friends and I had to hide out from Voldemort some day.
"Damn, hadn't thought of that. OK, we better keep that one to ourselves."
"So, how can we get to the Roans and Rides stables?" asked Ginny. "It's too far to walk, and we can't send owls to the horses, and we certainly can't ask Hermione's Mum to drive us to the place so we can break in."
Right. The stables were about a mile out into the country, so that customers would have plenty of room to ride in, and neighbours wouldn't complain about the manure.
"Hmm. Hermione, do you remember the route your Mum took to get you to the place."
"Certainly."
"Hermione remembers everything," observed Ginny, a little sourly.
"OK, I have an idea about that," said George. "Let's go."
Ginny and I climbed out of my window to join George. It was fortunate that we were wearing jeans, and not loose robes that would inhibit our movements. We walked out to the pavement.
"All right, Hermione, what's the farthest point on the route that you can see from here?"
I looked down the road. "That roundabout, about three blocks down."
"All right – hang on –" He grasped my arm with one hand, and Ginny's with the other, and we Disapparated.
I had done side-Apparation once before, with Tonks, but I still wasn't used to the sensation. It was like spinning in four dimensions. Then the universe returned to normal and we found ourselves standing in the middle of the roundabout.
"OK," said George calmly, as if he had just stepped on the brake of his motorcar. "Which way now?"
I was a little disoriented, because it was dark and we had lost a dimension. "Um, that way."
After four more jumps, we had got close enough to the stable to smell the horses. The fifth jump got us there. I wasn't looking forward to the trip back.
George got out his wand and pointed it at the door of the offices. "Alohamora!"
The door opened. Naturally a Muggle lock wasn't designed to stand up to the unlocking spell.
"That might have set off a burglar alarm," I said. "We need to be careful. Ginny, can you keep watch, and yell if anybody starts to approach? Then we can Apparate out,"
"OK. I think the security room is over there, behind the counter. There's a glass wall, and I saw some men in uniform watching those telly things."
Another "alohamora" got us in the security room, and now it was my turn to do something useful. George would not be familiar with video technology. In fact I worried that there might be computer controls that I might not understand. But no, there was a telly with a video player plugged in, in one corner. George alohamora-ed a desk drawer and found some videotapes, one marked with today's date, 15-7-1995, and the rough time of our visit, 14:00.
I put the video in the player and put it on fast-forward. The results seemed to fascinate George, who like his sister was unfamiliar with tellies and related terminology. When a single form approached Ginny's storage locker, I slowed it down to normal speed, and we watched as the figure waved a wand and opened the locker.
"Damn. HIM again," said George.
"You know him?"
"Yes. Name's Mundungus Fletcher, unaffectionately known to his acquaintances as Dung."
"What a surprise, finding Dung in a stable. Why do you think he's taking Ginny's wand? After all, he's got one of his own."
"He's a petty thief and confidence man in general. I suppose he means to resell it. When wizards or witches are sentenced to Azkaban, their wands are confiscated and sometimes broken. If they escape, they'll still need a wand. Also, it's possible for a sophisticated wizard to examine a wand and find what spells it has cast recently. Someone committing a crime with a wand might want a spare for the purpose."
"Yes, I remember somebody stole Harry's wand for the purpose at the World Quidditch Match. But where do you know Dung from?"
For the first time this evening, George looked sheepish. "Um, Fred and I needed some dragon's teeth for a spell for our business. There wasn't a, um, straightforward way to get them, so we hired Dung to acquire them. But he cheated us, giving us Thestral teeth instead."
"So you two were surprised to find that a thief was dishonest?"
"Well—"
"Never mind. The big question is, how can we get the wand back from him?"
TO BE CONTINUED.
(NOTE: In CHAMBER OF SECRETS, Harry discovered that Filch was a "squib" and could not do magic. I'm assuming that Harry considered this private information and did not repeat it to Hermione or the Weasleys)