A/N: Yes, the last update for this story was certainly made some time ago and for that reason, along with the fact that I had once considered discontinuing this story in this venue, you may well be surprised to see new chapters appearing. Real Life for me has made it such that there was an enormous delay in not only posting chapters, but in writing them. However, I plan on catching up my readers here to the point where the story is posted at SugarQuill (in case you haven't managed to make your way there already) and new chapters should be appearing there as well, up to Chapter 22, which is still being written. I feel the writing cogs are dreadfully rusty and may take some well-placed oil and encouragement to get them moving again, but I do intend to finish this story to its convoluted end, especially after cursing the names of so many who, before me, abandoned half-finished stories that I loved and looked forward to reading. I refuse to be one of those authors, no matter to what end the story leads me. I've provided a synopsis for the story to this point to help you bridge the long, long gap between postings.
As usual, I owe some serious gratitude to some seriously wonderful betas. Christina Teresa cheerfully and meticulously beta-read this chapter after working a double shift to get it to me so it could get to you before I went out of town, while I owe Seakays big-time for smoothing out and re-writing a paragraph that had been an impossible-to-fix thorn in my side for months. A round of applause and a shower of virtual roses for them both, please—they have truly helped me make this story the best that it can be. Happy reading! NZ
Synopsis:
Ch 1: Ron and Hermione say goodbye to Harry at King's Cross after fifth year. As they're leaving, Hermione has a run-in with an ominous stranger and his mistreated dog. Ron tries to save Hermione from getting into trouble.
Ch 2: Ron frets over his scarred arms and the fact that no one will tell him what happened during the night of the Department of Mysteries break-in. He coaxes Ginny into telling him.
Ch 3: Ginny completes her story, though Ron is appalled at how useless he was in helping everyone that night, especially Hermione. As Ginny and Ron work on summer chores, Molly Weasley asks Ron to clean Arthur's shed.
Ch 4: Ron takes a break from organizing the shed to read Owl-post from Harry and Hermione. After suffering a painful attack in his arms and his brain, he discovers a disheveled motorbike covered in the shed. Ron writes to Hermione, but Ginny tricks him into signing it "Love, Ron". Hermione's invited to do a summer internship with famous zoolowizard, Dr. Christopher Null.
Ch 5: Ron is filthy and working in the shed on the motorbike when Hermione surprises him by arriving early at the Burrow. Ron explains to her that the motorbike is the one that belonged to Sirius and he plans on repairing it for Harry's birthday present.
New Scene: Ever wonder what made Ron so angry at Fred and George that he stalked away and Hermione had to go find him on the hilltop at sunset? Welcome to dinner at the Weasleys!
Hermione and Ron compare scars on the hilltop at sunset and Ron suffers another painful attack, but he's relieved that she isn't repulsed by his scars.
Ch 6: Hermione's packing to leave the Burrow for her internship without having yet told Ron she's going. Ron worries over Hermione's safety under the circumstances on impending war and decides to fly to her home to keep her from going. He sneaks down the Burrow stairs with his broomstick and is hit by something in the night.
Ch 7: Molly Weasley discovers Ron's intentions and spell-locks his broomstick in her room. Hermione and the Grangers go to the Ministry to meet with Thaddeus Sharpe about Hermione's internship, which involves a study of increased Yeti aggression and its causes. The Grangers must be Memory-Charmed as they leave while Hermione is to accompany Sharpe to her worksite, Trapperton, in Scotland. There aren't sufficient owls to communicate with friends.
Ch 8: Hermione meets the forgetful and eccentric Dr. Null, some of the large, unfriendly Yeti handlers, and the house-elves Tulip and Tod. She also learns some of the financial and political concerns facing Null as the one in charge of the research project. Ron talks with his father about the night Harry's parents were killed and how the motorbike came to be in Arthur's shed.
Ch 9: Hermione's feeling out-of-place at Trapperton. Dr. Null explains the origins of Trapperton and introduces Hermione to the lab, Starr (her first Yeti), and Dr. Voyde. Ron accompanies his father to work at the Ministry, but has to deal with Security and Bruta Fiddley. Ron finds it's all a ruse to cover an arranged visit to Harry.
Ch 10: Ron and Harry enjoy a summer's day together, discussing things both serious and fun. Ron leaves Harry with a broken motorbike part to keep him guessing about his birthday. Hermione sees Otto and Ulav either tormenting or playing with Tod, but she's not sure which. She learns what her duties will be and watches Null communicate with Starr using his card system. Ron drops off post for his father and manages to disrupt the entire Shipping desk.
Ch 11: Ron meets gruff Leo Salomon, who insists Ron come to work in the Shipping Department the next day in repayment for disorganizing his work. Hermione misses Harry and Ron. Ron meets Piddle, learns shipping duties, and finds out what Space Dislocation is. Hermione meets the mischievous young Yeti, Leif, and finds there is unrest among the Yeti males. Leo and Ron discover a mutual interest in motorbikes and Leo devises a work-for-parts scheme for Ron.
Ch 12: Starr reports to Hermione that a handler hurt her mate, Trey. Hermione gets in trouble for releasing Starr into the habitat without help, but overhears talk of the handlers about hurting the Yeti to control them. Hermione tells Dr. Null about Starr's report, but he thinks she's misinterpreted. Ron tells Leo how he got on the High-Risk Security list. Ron realizes that access to the Ministry offices while he's making deliveries might help him find Hermione.
Ch 13: Handler Sloane is nearly killed in a Yeti-session-gone-wrong, but Flaime, the Yeti responsible, eventually moves Hermione from harm's way. It appears Flaime has a deep cut on his back, but the handlers won't admit it. Hermione misses being able to talk with Ron and Harry and wonders why they haven't returned her letters. Ron recalls how his mother found out about the motorbike in the shed and learns the Decoding Spell to read the security encryptions on parcels, hoping to find Hermione.
Ch 14: Hermione learns that howls, floodlamps, and guard dogs released in the night come as a result of male challenge wars between the Yeti in the habitat, according to Dr. Null. Ron decodes an encrypted box with Hermione's name on it and vows to tell Harry she's in Scotland. Hermione, angry at Ron and Harry for ignoring, goes to visit the dogs when bored. She realizes one is Bruno and the large, gruff handlers who are at Trapperton are the evil-feeling men she met at King's Cross. Hermione finds the handlers are burning what they say is rancid Yeti food.
Ch 15: While Hermione is completing her shipping duties, she discovers a suspicious box and thinks it may be a bomb. It turns out to be from Ron. Ron, exhausted from working in Shipping during the day and on the motorbike at night, shows the twins and Arthur the much-improved motorbike. All are impressed. Discovering his scars have improved somewhat, Ron has an interesting dream about 'good thoughts' and Hermione. Hermione doesn't understand where all of her letters to Harry and Ron went.
Chapter 16
Preparation and Deprivation
"Those are easy," Ron said eagerly. "I can take care of those for you." Then he tried very hard to make it sound like he could care less. "But--well--you can do them if you want."
Leo looked at him oddly, but seemed slightly amused. "Oooh, I can do them if I want?" he said sarcastically, adjusting his robes over his vibrant shirt as he sat at the Shipping desk.
Ron shrugged, feeling a bit sheepish. "Never mind--I was just offering. No big deal."
"Ah, Wissle, you're just too easy a target these days," Leo teased. "Go ahead. I don't know what the big excitement is with the supply returns, but if that's what wiggles your wand, go for it."
Ron had hoped Leo wouldn't notice that he was especially interested in processing all of the supply returns. But then, Leo didn't miss much. Either way, since he was on his way to go look for Hermione's letter, he didn't give a graphorn's arse if Leo noticed or not.
"Oh--Ron--before I forget," Leo said. "Here-- this has to go upstairs this morning so you can get cleared to work those other floors."
Impatient to get to Space Dislocation for the returns, Ron rolled his eyes before turning back to Leo. "What?"
The Shipping supervisor had a short oblong parchment with blocks drawn on it before him. It had his pseudonym, Renald Wissle, written at the top along with some other information he couldn't read upside-down. "Hold up your hand--right hand."
"What's this for?" Ron asked, doing as he was told.
"Fingerprints," Leo answered. "I'm trying to get you cleared for all floors, starting today. If we don't have to worry about who does which floor, we can get more done. There are a couple you haven't been to, right?"
"There are?" Ron asked, surprised.
"Yeah, well...thought you knew," Leo said. "New map for later, then, once these get processed. There's a floor or two where no one is supposed to deliver but me--where some, er, 'other people' work. But if we can get you cleared..." Leo mumbled a spell and some smudgy gray swirls flew from the tips of Ron's long, outstretched fingers onto the parchment in front of Leo, each landing and affixing in its own box.
"But these'll be Ron Weasley's fingerprints," Ron said. "Won't they know? How can you get clearance for me?"
"Well, for one--Ron Weasley's off the high-risk Security list," Leo explained. "I don't think you belong there--and neither does...well, the person I know."
"How do you do that?" Ron asked in awe. "That must be one of the 'big blokes' you know. Really big."
Leo shrugged this time, then flashed a huge grin at Ron. " 'Course, even after all of this you still have to be Renald Wissle here, because that's who's cleared to help out in Shipping."
Ron grimaced. "Great."
"All right, Renald," Leo said in mock excitement. "You're all done for now. Better hurry off for those supply returns."
Ron tried, and failed, not to smile at Leo's mock excitement and turned to leave. But he did notice his legs were carrying him faster and faster the closer he got to where Hermione's answer might be.
Her determination had returned after another long session with Starr. It was taking too long to find hard evidence just by waiting until it appeared on its own. She was going to have to take things into her own hands—or at the very least do more than she had so far
. Starr had looked so sad that Hermione had been worried.
"Starr good?" Hermione had asked with the cards.
The Yeti had considered her answer, her expression changing very little. "Starr good," she confirmed by taking the 'question' picture away from the sentence. But as she looked down at the table, Hermione was certain that the creature sighed, then the Yeti pushed her way through the groups of cards piled at the end of the table to find those she was looking for. She pushed two cards together to form: 'Starr wants.'
Hermione looked at the cards, waiting for the Yeti to finish the sentence. But Starr didn't make a move.
"Starr wants?" Hermione said aloud. "Starr wants what?" Pushing cards out of the way, she made a large space at the end of the 'want' card and kept pointing at it. "Starr wants what?" she repeated.
The Yeti looked almost exasperated that Hermione didn't understand. She lifted her furry arms and gestured toward all of the rest of the cards on the table.
Hermione was at a loss. "Starr...wants?"
The Yeti just looked down into her lap.
"Starr look," Hermione said, trying to catch the creature's eyes with her own before forming a sentence on the table. 'Starr tell Hermione' she formed with the cards, then 'Hermione tell Dr. Null.'
Starr was simply not the eager and eloquent student in card language today that Hermione was accustomed to. In fact, she didn't even act as if she wanted to work at all.
With a furrowed brow, Starr began irritably pushing the cards around on the table. She began with 'Starr wants', then at the end laid the 'sleep' card.
"Oh," Hermione said, "you're tired." Now it all made sense. She knew just how Starr felt. She pointed to herself, then to 'wants sleep' to let the Yeti know she wasn't alone. Things had to be even worse in the habitat than they were for her--there were no dogs in the runs to keep the more tranquil Yeti safe from some of the more aggressive ones.
But then Starr continued laying cards down at the end of the sentence. She added fish, sun, Trey, berries, run, hug, nuts, leave, water, nice, and cold before Hermione stopped her by laying her hand on Starr's huge wrist.
'Starr stop,' Hermione sequenced. 'Hermione help Starr?' She had never seen the Yeti act like this before.
Starr pushed all of the other cards out of the way and left just two on the table, pointing at them and looking straight into Hermione's eyes.
Hermione read the cards and nodded sadly. "All right, Starr--if that's what you want."
After the handlers had taken Starr back to the habitat, Hermione tried to complete Starr's diary summary for the day, but she had no idea how to put into words what Starr had just shown her. All she found herself doing was staring at the two cards the Yeti had sequenced last: 'Starr outside',.
"Oh, goody goody," Leo said in a voice dripping with sarcasm. "Looks like it's visiting time again."
Ron had been measuring and weighing parcels in the stacks that had dwindled to only three or four floor-to-ceiling rows near the back of the Shipping Department. Hearing Leo's sarcastic tone of voice, he wondered what could be going on. Yet he was also well aware that he'd been the owner of a very large grin all morning and thought perhaps he ought to tone it down some if he wanted to avoid some serious harassment from Leo. Trying to appear considerably more sober, he wandered out to stop at the side of the middle aisle next to the supervisor.
Two house-elves, each hauling a loaded trolley at least three times his height and no less than four meters long, were trudging from the lift down the aisle to the Shipping desk.
Leo rolled his eyes skyward in Ron's direction and reluctantly followed behind them. "Who does all this belong to?" he asked, then continued with sarcasm, "And are they visiting-- or moving in?"
The first house-elf didn't seem to find that amusing in any sense of the word. He blinked up at Leo with a completely serious expression. "Visiting only, sir. From Mr. Thaddeus Sharpe these shipments be."
Leo snorted. "Of course. All right, come on over." He looked at Ron and shook his head, stepping into the aisle and around the stacked trolleys to lumber to his desk.
Ron watched the three of them walk toward the front of the room and decided to get back to his work, wandering slowly back through the stacks.
"Where's it all going?" he heard Leo ask, though his voice was fainter now.
The elf responded, but Ron couldn't hear what he said.
"Eh?" Leo asked. "Speak up, son. Did you say Trapperton?"
Ron stopped dead in his tracks, listening carefully. He absently reached for his back jeans pocket, where there happened to be a folded parchment straight from Trapperton right this moment. He'd only had a few minutes so far to rapidly read over the letter, which seemed to be the kind of crazy babble only Hermione could make over excitement to hear from him and scolding over unreturned owls. It had so confused him in the first frantic read-through that he thought perhaps he'd better hold off until he had more time, just so he could decide if it was his interpretation or her writing that had him believing one of them was totally mental.
Turning, Ron edged his way back slowly and silently toward the center aisle so he could see and hear better.
"All right, let's see what you've got," Leo said, starting to count parcels now and filling out a shipping bill. "What is all of this, anyway? Supply stuff? Goes to who?"
Again Ron couldn't hear clearly what the house-elf said, but his mumbling could be heard as he read from a piece of parchment.
"Here--why don't you just give me that?" Leo said, rather unceremoniously grabbing the parchment and holding it at the top of his clipboard to copy. "H. Granger--all right--... a-n-g-e-r...there." The shipping supervisor finished writing and returned the parchment to the house-elf. "Here you go. Tell Sharpe we'll get it out today."
"The second load will be with us returning tomorrow," the house-elf said.
"Second load?" Leo asked, grimacing. "Which just begs the question--how many more? Another one of Sharpe's grand excursions, eh? All right then-- we'll be here--waiting for you with bells on!"
The house-elf's deadpan expression didn't change a bit as he witnessed Leo's eager display of sarcasm. This must have tickled Leo even more because he was grinning as he watched the two little house-elves head back in Ron's direction on their way to the lifts.
Ron realized he might not want to appear to be standing there gawking at the whole little scene, even though that was precisely what he was doing; so he quickly ducked back into the aisle behind the boxes. Trapperton? He'd have to see what all that was about later.
It had been almost a week now since the Yeti problems had begun at night in earnest. Still every night, the dogs were sent on patrol in the runs, the flood lamps were lit, the Yeti howls continued off and on throughout the hours of darkness.
Hermione had been doing everything she could to try and find out what was amiss. She had gone out again on three different evenings, trying to sneak nearer the habitat even if she couldn't actually get inside. She did discover that those authorized used a special password to visit the habitat at night, one that she'd never been given and that Dr. Null used very little. Hermione tried to find areas outside the fence where she could see within, or listen closely yet inconspicuously, in hopes of overhearing something as the handlers were working in the area.
Oddly enough, the handlers, though they always seemed tired and were generally grubby and unshaven most days now, were in good spirits. They laughed and kidded with one another, acting as if they shared a good number of inside jokes (some of which she knew were directed at Dr. Null). It was obvious though, as she'd suspected, they all answered to Carl Smeggers rather than Dr. Voyde, but Pamela Voyde seemed to accept this and simply looked on as if it was the way things were supposed to be.
As a matter of fact, once the extra supplies had started to arrive to prepare for their Ministry visitor, Pamela Voyde was arguably the cheeriest of them all. She smiled and laughed and was a bit more outgoing than she'd been at anytime since Hermione had arrived. Of course, it was true that she seemed to be completely enamored with Carl Smeggers, from the gooey looks she gave him to the apparent welcome of Carl's hands when they landed in random places on her person momentarily in public. (Hermione could barely deal with the public side of their relationship, much less think about the private side at all.) But she had thought that perhaps that was part of the reason for Dr. Voyde's change in personality. The other reason seemed to be that she was really looking forward to the arrival of Phelix Nardstone, whether in a professional or a personal capacity.
Hermione had been to visit the dogs on her outings as well. Two or three of them would even wag their tails when they saw her approaching with her regular offering of dog biscuits. This had encouraged Hermione to feel safer when she heard them in the night, growling and snarling while on the prowl, because she had an idea that even if they somehow got loose in the camp (a fairly regular nightmare of hers), they would recognize her as a friend rather than foe.
The only thing that had made her situation even a little better was the fact that now, she could at least tell Harry and Ron what was going on. Although it was true that she didn't exactly tell them everything that had happened during her stay (her side of the Flaime story from the training room was a grand omission, for one thing), she could at least release enough of her own tension and anxiety with what she did tell them to make herself feel better. She wasn't quite sure how Ron was managing to get her letters from both himself and Harry practically every other day, but the fact remained that he was, and every single time she read the words, Dear Hermione, the horrible loneliness she had been feeling eased. Funny enough, she somehow felt that Harry and Ron were with her on her evening investigations, and it made her bolder and more determined. She allowed herself a moment of levity over the sheer irony of the fact that it was the two boys who were warning her to be careful this time. Chuckling to herself, she wondered briefly where their first letters had gotten themselves to, and had to be content with the answer that she would probably never know.
The training sessions with the Yeti had been rather odd of late. She still hadn't personally met all of the Yeti because many of the sessions had been cut short or cancelled since the handlers weren't always available to help bring the creatures into the building. In fact, she and Dr. Null had actually taken to stretching and embellishing some of the reports just so that it looked as if his research was continuing as exhaustively as he'd previously been pursuing it. More emphasis had lately been on observing interaction in the soc labs between certain combinations of Yeti and Hermione had learned to recognize almost all of them on sight, including several of those males who purportedly were involved in the nighttime disruptions.
The Yeti, in general, were uneasy, but for reasons that were not entirely recognizable in human terms. Of course, there were the nightly disruptions, which had everyone on edge. It only made Hermione wish that she could find some way to communicate longer with Leif, or even Starr again, or perhaps even Foxer and Foxly, who might be more inclined than the adults to be honest and open with her about what was going on. But with the limited training sessions, there was little she could do to communicate with them more.
There had been a meeting about Flaime that she had been allowed to observe, although she wasn't allowed to participate or speak at all. Apparently, there had been further testing done on Flaime's wound and it was determined to be of a magical nature. In other words, the wound had to have been caused by a spell rather than a random tree branch or from scraping along a sharp rock in the habitat. But that left the problem of who to blame for inflicting the wound.
Ordinarily, it would be thought that only a wand spell could make such a laceration on a living creature, but since the Yeti themselves were such magical beings and so little was known about the extent of their magical capabilities, it was discussed that it was quite possible it had been caused by another Yeti. Dr. Null did suggest in the meeting that, considering Flaime's very sudden and negative response to Sloane in the training room, that perhaps Sloane knew something more about it and should be contacted in St. Mungo's. But since that was a rather less-than-popular suggestion with the other two officials at the meeting, Dr. Voyde and Thaddeus Sharpe, Dr. Null tabled the idea and didn't press it any further.
Null was apparently willing to settle instead for the final outcome for Flaime, which was that he would be released back into the habitat this time on something of a probationary basis: he would be free to roam as he wished during the day, then brought back into the soc lab at night. It was decided that since the attack on Sloane had taken place while Flaime was essentially a wounded creature, he wasn't necessarily completely responsible for his behavior. Yet any more highly aggressive actions against humans or other Yetis would be cause for immediate banishment to a solitary life in a distant location.
Thaddeus Sharpe had also taken the opportunity to tell Dr. Null he was aware an internal investigation would indeed take place regarding the incident, but that it was generally accepted by the powers that be that both he and Sloane held some responsibility for negligence in the mishap. The Ministry, however, was waiting for Sloane to recover sufficiently to participate in the investigation, so it would still be a while yet before it would take place. Sloane, however, seemed to have no qualms about making frequent complaints to Daily Prophet reporters even though he was technically restricted from telling the entire story at this point. This, of course, put the Ministry in a somewhat compromised position, politically, and Dr. Null was told by Sharpe to, essentially, "lay low".
Hermione had been so furious with the entire situation at Trapperton by the time the meeting was over that she had hoped she'd have the presence of mind to keep from shouting at Sharpe. Almost as an afterthought when he saw her, Sharpe had asked Hermione if she'd walk with him back to the lab building for his last few minutes on-site to get some reports Dr. Null and Dr. Voyde wanted him to take back to the Ministry.
Complying with his request, Hermione made a stab at asking just what she could get away with reporting as an intern, hopefully without letting Sharpe know that she had oodles of things to report. But she wasn't thrilled at his response. Suddenly it was apparent where Dr. Null had picked up the 'hard evidence' rhetoric, because she found Thaddeus Sharpe to be even less willing to accept any word-of-mouth or so-called 'hearsay' reports than Null was. She'd given Sharpe a supposedly 'hypothetical situation' regarding a Yeti's report of events in the habitat (Starr's actual report regarding Sloane, but without the names) and wondered just how far the Ministry would go in accepting the creature's word.
"This is Yeti communication you're talking about, right? Hypothetically, of course?" Sharpe asked.
Hermione stared into his face, trying to see even a flicker of any emotion that might give him away or indicate that he was covering something up. But Sharpe was very, very good. If his Prophet appearances were any indication, he'd spent years perfecting his public persona and there was not even a glimpse that he was shocked, or fearful that she knew something, or even irritated that she would bring it up. All she could see on the surface was the slick and polished facade, seemingly oozing eagerness to give an honest answer, while she knew that behind the cover lurked something more.
"Well, it's certainly a very inexact science right now, isn't it?" Sharpe asked diplomatically. "Any communications we have with other species must be suspect until the means of communication is proven completely valid. Until then, we have to assume we might be misunderstanding them."
"Any species?" Hermione asked, wishing she had the nerve to add, Even interns?
"Well, any species with whom the communication system remains unproven or unreliable for some reason," Sharpe said.
Hermione had never been the best at staying quiet when she had something to say. But she knew that this time, if she didn't, Thaddeus Sharpe could remove her from her position and send her home with but a snap of his fingers. No one would question his actions or his motives; it was simply his job. And what good would she be to Dr. Null, or especially the Yeti, if she was trapped at home in the Muggle world? In the meantime, they'd either replace her with someone who was sufficiently blind for their tastes or someone unwilling to help the Yeti. Or-- more likely, they would leave the position empty and cite financial reasons.
She realized that the only way to discover the truth was to stay here until she found it. And the only way to be allowed to stay was to keep her mouth shut until she had something Null and the Ministry would consider as their precious 'hard evidence'. In more than one way, Hermione thought, this might be one of the most difficult things she had ever attempted to do.
So this is the way the other half lives, Ron thought to himself as he strolled along the polished marble corridor with his bin. Soft instrumental wizarding music played all around him and the lighting was more of a soft glow rather than a harsh glare. Dark hardwood doors in their frames seemed to go on for kilometers on either side of him down the lengthy hallway. This was a far cry from the floor of his father's office, for sure.
He had indeed been approved to work the Hidden Floors, with apparent thanks to Leo's amazing connections. On this floor were located the individual chambers of the Wizengamot, among other high-ranking officials in the Ministry, and it was endowed with its own special brand of Security. In fact, no lift stopped here directly from the Atrium. One had to disembark the Atrium lift in a secret location, pass a separate Security check, then enter another specialized lift to the Hidden Floors.
But Ron was only here to do his job and that was done no differently no matter where he was. He delivered his parcels without incident, though several secretaries asked to see his badge beforehand. Ron did notice that Leo had reversed the Encrypting Charm to decode the names on the boxes; nearly all of the names on this floor were ones he'd read about in the Prophet, heard about from his father, or overheard in Order business at Grimmauld Place.
He stopped at the office door of Dr. Phelix Nardstone and stared at the name for a moment. That was one name he'd heard before, but there was something else about that too...something very recent...
Reaching behind him, he yanked out a fat, folded parchment and rapidly unfolded it. Ever since they'd found a way to write to one another, that's exactly where Hermione's most recently received letter was always to be found-- in Ron's back pocket. Scanning it rapidly, he muttered "yes!" when he found her reference to Dr. Nardstone. According to her, they were expecting Nardstone at Trapperton in four or five days. That meant...
They might have a map, Ron thought, or some means of describing where he's going…
. Tucking the letter back into his pocket and plastering what he believed to be one of his most winning smiles on his face, Ron turned the doorknob and stepped inside, pulling his bin behind him.
"Hel--" he started pleasantly.
"Leave that thing out there!" the woman in the office shrieked, making him jump before he hurriedly pushed the bin back into the hallway.
"Erm," he started tentatively from the middle of the corridor, "is it all right to leave the door open a moment, then?"
The old woman seated at her desk rolled her eyes and sighed heavily. "If you must!"
Ron turned his back to the woman to search out Nardstone's parcels among the others, grimacing as he did. Well, if I'm getting anything from this office, it's not going to be easy. Bloody hell, they should have made this one of the tasks in the Triwizard Tournament... forget the dragons!
There were three parcels, one of them marked For Your Eyes Only.
As a thought crossed his mind, Ron wondered if he could get away with it. He gave the woman the three parcels and then stood casually in front of her desk as if he was supposed to be there, taking note of the woman's name, Maudie Stampwort.
She glowered at him over the top of her pointy-framed glasses. "Is there anything else?"
"Hmmm?" Ron asked innocently. "Oh--the For Your Eyes Only parcel. I was just-- waiting."
She lowered her nose so that she squinted directly at him. "Waiting for what?"
"Oh, you don't know?" Ron tried to sound as if he could hardly believe his ears. "I'm supposed to wait until it's delivered to Dr. Nardstone himself if it's For Your Eyes Only. I thought everyone already knew--new policy."
"I never heard about any--new policy," Maudie said suspiciously. "But all right--here's to your new policy." She snatched up the package and stood stiffly from her desk, whipping her robe around her with a flourish to straighten it. Then she walked to the office at the back of the room and, knocking pertly on the door, stepped inside.
Peering inside Phelix Nardstone's office, Ron could see Maudie's back as she stood in front of the man's enormous desk. The great size of the desk only emphasized the frail, wizened appearance of the old man Ron could barely see across from her. Ron could tell Nardstone was seated in a wheelchair and must have been at least fifty years older than Dumbledore.
Remembering his last bad experience with snooping on someone's desk, he at least stayed on his own side this time. But that meant he had to crank his neck around almost backwards to see the parchments laid out on top.
There was something there, he could see most of the heading... looked like it said "Itinerary--Trapperton Compound"...but it was partially buried beneath some other parchments. Cringing at his own boldness, he grabbed the corner of the Itinerary page and shook it gently, hoping the other parchments would slide away. As the sheaf of parchments slid, he noticed that the one under the itinerary was pink and made it quite noticeable that the stack had been tampered with. He quickly pushed rest of the stack back in order.
Trying to read the page almost upside down, it did mention something about the thirteenth of August, but there was a marking before that as well. Plus, there was one of those notes at the top that he thought meant another copy was sent to someone else...he was craning his neck to see the name...
"Anything I can do to make that a bit more convenient for you?" he heard a sarcastic voice ask from across the room.
He looked up in surprise to see Maudie staring at him with an expression that rivaled one of his mum's.
She launched herself across the room to her desk. "Out! Out, you nosy blighter! Don't come back if you can help it! And if you do? I'll be watching every move you make," she vowed.
Ron stumbled over his own shoe as he scrambled to turn around and make a hasty exit. But once he was a few doors down with his bin in tow, he realized that he knew just where to concentrate his efforts now--he'd be back at Phelix Nardstone's office tomorrow--and that was enough to make him smile.
Checking his watch, he noted it was only thirty minutes until it was time to go home. He started to make his plans for what to get done once he got there, including, of course, writing an answer to Hermione. Then there were those final new parts to install...
The lift doors opened and Ron swung his now-empty bin into the row of them along the side wall of Shipping. He approached the Shipping desk, only to find two packed trolleys and a disgusted Leo weighing, measuring, and recording on a clipboard.
"Here," Leo grunted, tossing him another clipboard. "Yeah, I know we don't do this in the afternoon, but these gotta go to Space Dislocation today to go out first thing in the morning. More crap for Trapperton from stupid Pratt-eus Sharpe. Git just couldn't wait until tomorrow. Just got here, too, the --"
Leo mumbled a word under his breath that even surprised Ron. Though he was quite sure it was an expletive from the way it was delivered, he'd never heard it, even from any of his brothers, and they had quite a vocabulary of the stuff. But whatever it meant, he was in full agreement.
"I never noticed they had extra supply shipments this big before," Ron said. "I mean, I know the basic ones just go straight to Space Dislocation from Supplies and we send the extra stuff, but..."
"Yeah, it's always like this when one of the bigwigs goes to visit," Leo said, re-measuring an oddly-shaped parcel in front of him. "Most of these sites live on a shoestring budget until one of the big blokes go on a working vacation like this. Then we end up shipping all sorts of specialty items so the 'dignitaries' can be treated like blooming royalty while they're there. And what does Nardstone care, the blind old miser? Bloody farce, if you ask me."
Ron took a deep breath and started in. Most of the shipment was boxes, but along with them this time were an old trunk and a suitcase. Though the trunk was badly scuffed, apparently from years of use, he could barely make out some faint and worn initials that had once been etched on it in gold: they looked like "J.J." Odd, that,, Ron thought. Shouldn't they have said P.N.?
The suitcase was a different matter. It was definitely newer and more modern, but whoever had packed it had obviously been in a hurry or didn't care what a sloppy job they'd done. Even from the outside, one end appeared to be bulging and stuffed while the other seemed almost empty. And something small was poking out from the end. Didn't they know that when shipping something by Space Dislocation that if something was sticking out, the whole parcel could get bounced back, or worse, split into two locales?
Ron tried to push the black bit of material back into the suitcase, but the edges of the suitcase fit too tightly. Using the end of his quill, he tried again to no avail. But being that it was so late in the day, and he was tired, and this load really should have been here earlier, he looked to see if Leo was watching--which he wasn't.
So, rather than continuing to push, Ron pulled instead—hard --and the entire article came out in his hand. He stood staring at it, numb for a full minute or more. He'd seen one like it before--but where? It was last year. It was--oh my god...He purposely tried to calm himself. Ah, it was probably nothing, there must be hundreds around just like it. It couldn't be. That was taken care of; surely there was no tie-in--it had to be coincidence--and this one might belong to this "J.J." person.
But then he thought back to what he'd seen on his delivery rounds and he gasped to himself. I've got to talk to Harry--soon! he thought. And Hermione--she's got to be warned to watch herself--better yet if she just gets out of there!
He took one last glance at the little black velvet bow in his hand and shoved it into his pocket. Then he went back to preparing the shipment, working at double speed.
Dr. Null was getting more frantic by the day.
"How are we going to make sure this place doesn't look a complete shambles by the time Nardstone arrives?" he asked her again. But she knew he was only as likely to listen to her response this time as he had been the last dozen times he'd asked the question, then rushed away.
Hermione was actually wishing she had the old Dr. Null back--the rather eccentric and whimsical one. The current Dr. Null had all of the faults of the original one along with the fact that he was irritable and impatient. Whenever she asked him if he had everything he needed to do work somewhere, he would snap "Of course!", then inevitably find he'd forgotten something and send her back to get it.
Such was the case this evening.
Dr. Null had decided that he needed to do some observations with the Yeti in the early evenings, hoping to possibly find some pattern that was leading up to the kinds of aggression that had become so common of late. He had obtained permission from Dr. Voyde for him and Hermione to observe Yeti interaction from a point close to the lab building entrance, but still in the outdoor habitat. In actuality, it was one of several areas where the Yeti usually fed.
Hermione was almost beside herself with excitement because she'd been allowed inside the habitat so little. This was finally a chance to get to see the Yeti in more natural surroundings. Even though it cut into her 'investigation' time, she decided it would indeed be worth it. It had been such a disappointment not to get the opportunity to enjoy the research work she was really supposed to be doing.
She knew that Yeti in the wild ordinarily caught their own food and that the natural 'territories' of the creatures roughly coincided with the amount of available food in each area. But here, the habitat had been chosen to provide space and protection for the Yeti; natural food sources weren't plentiful enough to provide for so many of the creatures, but food was easy to supplement.
Of course, there were occasional fish found in the small river as it flowed through the compound, but those were hardly enough to sustain fourteen creatures the size and weight of the Trapperton Yeti. An occasional bird or two was caught as well, along with toads and frogs, but to keep the Yeti from fighting among themselves or setting up defined territories within the main compound, food was supplied by the Ministry and provided several times a day in different areas.
The handlers had just brought out a number of boxes of food, packaged the same way as that Hermione had seen destroyed by the handler that first time she'd gone to visit the dogs. Of course, she'd seen a few of the boxes here and there in the compound before, but Dr. Voyde was the one in charge of ordering and receiving Yeti food supplies.
Dr. Null was apparently finished setting up several clipboards in front of him with information on various male Yeti. He was visually scanning the portable table in front of them now.
"In the boxes--" Hermione began," --what kind of food is there?"
"Several things," Dr. Null answered, standing now and looking around them as he spoke. "Mostly fish, some feral pigs, chickens instead of birds, nuts and berries... Doesn't matter to the Yeti if it's all in the box together. Dr. Voyde's decided what kinds of food are best for our particular group, according to their original habitats."
"And it comes from the Ministry, right? Well, their Site Supply Department."
"Yes," Null answered. "Can't order Yeti Chow at the Muggle pet shop, now can we?" The zoolowizard lifted and dropped on the table a jacket he'd brought along, but apparently hadn't found what he was looking for. "Thaddeus' -- Sharpe's-- department takes care of the orders for us."
"Do you know if their food is delivered every day?" Hermione asked.
Null stopped and looked at her, apparently starting to get irritated at answering so many questions when he was otherwise distracted by his search. "Dr. Voyde's the one to talk to about it, but yes, I believe it's delivered daily. Otherwise the food would spoil--and the Ministry gets really upset with any project letting that much money go up in smoke."
"So," Hermione spoke especially quietly now, "did Trapperton get in trouble for that food spoiling the other day?"
"What?" Dr. Null asked. "When? Haven't seen a report on anything like that--hasn't been one in months." He didn't seem especially concerned or hadn't made the connection yet.
"I, um," Careful, Hermione, tread lightly here... "saw one of the handlers take a trolley full of food boxes out that road to where the dog kennels are--" Null's gaze snapped to look at her curiously, "--I think," she said quickly. "Then I saw a lot of smoke and I could smell some kind of meat being burned, so I thought--"
Null shook his head. "Have you seen my omnioculars?"
Hermione, you're losing him... "No. But the food--you didn't hear about any of it going bad? Why would they--"
"I don't know," Null said impatiently. "Maybe Pamela's not got the report finished yet. Did I have my omnioculars earlier when we were at the table up front?"
Hermione sighed. Strange for that much food to be destroyed and Null hadn't heard about it in any way... But then, maybe he was too busy looking for his blasted omnioculars to notice...
"Hermione, could you-- ?" Null started.
"Yes, sir, I'll go find them," she said, standing and trying not to let the note of exasperation into her voice. As she descended the several steps from the raised platform from where they would be observing tonight, she noticed a familiar-looking object sitting on one of the steps. She looked back at Dr. Null and confirmed it: Of course, brown herringbone pants…Reaching down to pick up the Ministry-issue quill from the step, she turned to hold it out to the zoolowizard, who was apparently (and probably futilely, Hermione thought) still trying to get organized.
"You're a gem, Hermione!" he said. "I only just realized this had gone missing. No omnioculars down there with it now, was there?"
As Dr. Null laughed at his own joke with that ridiculous sound that grated on Hermione's nerves, she gave a courtesy chuckle and wheeled to go before she was tempted to say anything more.
Although it was only a few hundred meters back to the old picnic table where the handlers usually held their meetings--at least those meetings where Carl Smeggers was in charge-- the area was hidden from the view of the feeding area by some high brush. The sun had just gone down and the light had only now begun to fade, but the handlers seemed to be busily scurrying around, distributing the food boxes sitting near the door of the lab, presumably to each of the feeding areas.
Hermione saw Ulav from some distance away, apparently just returning for another box of food when Otto came through the lab door. The two men had always avoided dealing with her if possible, even more so than the others, Hermione thought, probably because of the day she had seen them tormenting Tod. For that reason, she wasn't too excited at the prospect of running into them when she was alone, either, and in an area where it was difficult to be seen. As far as she knew, neither of the men had spotted her yet tonight and that was the way she wanted to keep it. So she crouched and stepped aside into the brush.
"Pssst! Ulav!" she heard Otto say in a loud whisper. "Where's Smeggers?"
Ulav looked up from where he was starting to lift another box. "Out in the habitat, you git--and yeah, he was askin' after yeh. Where the hell yeh been?"
"That was some damned fine Firewhiskey--perhaps a bit too hairy for the afternoon, though...Overslept." Otto shrugged.
"So yer in there sleepin' like a baby and we're out here bustin' our arses to cover for ya," Ulav complained. "Ya owe us one, ya know, a big one. Ya'd better get crackin' now, though, or he'll have yer head. Both of 'em will--Carl and the doc."
"What's my assignment tonight?" Otto asked.
"Sleep patrol--you and Beamer--we thought that'd be easiest to cover for ya on," Ulav said. "Beamer's waitin' for yeh 'cause you know we gotta go in twos for that."
"Gawd, I hate that," Otto said. "Crawlin' into those smelly caves, making sure those animals are kept awake. Thank you prats for nuthin'. And it's even worse when they're--you know-- matin' and stuff--"
Ulav sneered. "Poor little you. Well, they're not allowed none of that neither, ya know. Keep 'em apart, no matter what. Dolorus Maximus 'em to death if ya have to. They get nothin', Smeggers says, nothin' that gives 'em comfort."
"I thought the doc said we didn't go whole hog on that until that--that Ministry git comes," Otto said.
"Reckon Carl wants 'em good and peeved by the time that old fart gets here. But they're gettin' real tetchy. Maybe one of 'em-- that Spyder's learnin' the drill real fast—maybe one of 'em will…you know…hear the 'call o' the wild' before then…and then we'll get a few nights' rest outta the deal," Ulav said, pushing the box he'd picked up at Otto. "Oh --on your way out to the caves--shove this over on Station Two. But be careful. Null and that kid got permission to watch over there tonight. We gotta make it look normal."
"So how we doin' this then?" Otto asked.
"Not that you should care--it's not your shift on food tonight--and don't think you're gettin' mine," Ulav said. "But usually we take half the food and split it between the stations, right? The other half goes out to the fire pit."
Otto seemed to think this was funny for some reason and snorted as he laughed. "Yeah, Mongolian barbecue."
Ulav only glared at him. "You listenin'? Full ration of food on Station Two, none on the others. Got it?"
"Yeah, I got it. See ya at sunrise," Otto said, setting off down the path next to where Hermione stood. It was dark enough now that if she took another small step farther into the bushes, there would be no way they could see her, even at arm's length.
Besides, she thought, the churning in her stomach over what she'd just heard might not stop--at least not until it had lost all of its contents. Luckily, she was in the perfect place for that. The omnioculars and Dr. Null would simply have to wait.