Hermione Down Under
Chapter 3 Burglary and Theft
"Couldn't find them in the phone book", brooded Hermione, lying down in the hotel room bed. "Either they moved out of Sydney, or got an unlisted number for some reason. I suppose we will have to pry into the files, but I don't like the idea. It's not like we're fighting Voldemort or Umbridge. These are innocent Muggles."
"But we're not hurting anybody," said Ron. "If we handle it right, they won't even know that we were there. I'm more concerned about this Princess Lala lady."
Hermione grinned slightly at his mistake but didn't bother to correct him. "I suppose we can ask people back home about her. We're not in hiding this time around."
"But how will we contact them? We don't have an owl, and even if we did, we couldn't make it fly halfway across the world. I don't think we can send Patronuses that distance—"
"Patroni" corrected Hermione automatically. This one she wasn't about to let slip past her.
"We're not on the Floo network, and we already know we can't Apparate that far. So how do we reach them?"
"I was thinking of using the phone."
"Oh – but who would have a phone on that end?"
"Kingsley. He's lived undercover with Muggles, protecting the Prime Minister. He gave me his number before I left." She looked at the room clock. "About 5:30. That would make it 7:30 in the morning in London. I hope he doesn't mind getting called this early." She picked up the room phone and started working through various operators. This was probably going to add a lot of Australian dollars to their bill.
"Hello, you have reached the residence of Kingsley Shacklebolt. I am currently—"
Hermione left a message on the answering machine describing the appearance of the odd woman and asked if Kingsley or the others had useful background information. Then she had to explain to Ron what an answering machine was.
"It may take hours to get an answer back," said Hermione, "so I suppose once it gets dark we can carry out the other plan. Fortunately it's winter here, short days." Having cold weather in June was topsy-turvy to Hermione, but she had gotten used to a lot of odd things in her life.
They decided to Apparate this time, now that they knew the destination. Hermione stood behind Ron and embraced him, to avoid the danger of splinching during the teleportation. They hadn't been this physically close together since teleporting to Hogsmeade with Harry, the night of the Battle of Hogwarts. That déjà vu made Hermione think about Harry. She thought it was no accident that Harry decided to stay behind on this journey. He deplored that night in the tent as much as Hermione did, and was hoping that Ron and Hermione could get together again.
Ron showed no reaction to being hugged. This was business. Hermione focussed on Apparating.
They spun around a bit in the fourth dimension, then materialized in the waiting room of Newcomers Ltd. Hermione groped for the light switch, turned it on, and surveyed the area behind the counter.
"They've got both a computer and old-fashioned file cabinets. I hope the information is on paper, because I don't know how to hack into a computer system."
"It might be a useful thing to learn," mused Ron.
"Why am I always the one that has to learn things?"
"Because you're the one that enjoys it."
Hermione climbed over the counter and looked at the file cabinets. The last was labelled X-Y-Z and the one before it, W. She tugged at the handle and found it locked. "Alohamora" That spell had gotten increasingly useless in the Wizard World, with both sides of the war increasing their security. But the Muggle drawer opened immediately.
"Ron, could you put our wands down in the waiting room? I don't want them to muck up the computer system."
"OK."
She looked through the file and found a folder marked Wilkins. The principal form had a "settlement" address blank, something in Sydney. But there was also a "forwarding" address blank marked "Sullivan Sheep Station", with an address in Queensland. Someone in the office had handwritten:
"Sullivan Sheep Station", A.K.A. the Triple S, is a working sheep farm that also takes in paying guests and organizes activities such as horse riding, on the model of an American 'dude ranch'."
"A farm?" repeated Ron, looking over her shoulder.
"Mum grew up on a farm," said Hermione. "I should have anticipated something like this. They can't practice dentistry because, as the Wilkinses, they don't have a license, so they apparently had to fall back on unskilled labour. I hope it hasn't been too onerous." She looked at the Queensland address and memorized it.
BANGBANGBANG came a sound from the suite's main door.
"This is the police!" called a voice with an Australian accent. "Open up!"
"Bloody hell!" said Ron.
"Get our wands and let's Apparate out, Ron—where are our wands?"
"I don't know – I put them down right here."
"They're not there now."
"I know that."
BANGBANGBANG. "This is your last chance to surrender peacefully! We know you're in there!"
Belatedly Hermione reflected that a night-time burglary in a large city was quite different from one in a school with a curfew. Somebody presumably saw the light and called the owners of the business, who then called the police. The important thing was that, without wands, they couldn't Apparate out. They couldn't even get stuff out of Hermione's Bottomless Handbag.
Reluctantly, Hermione unlocked the door and raised her hands in surrender. Ron, thank Merlin, imitated her and didn't try to put up any heroic resistance. Two Australian policemen, a man and a woman, barged in and stared.
"Why, it's just two kids," said the woman.
"Maybe, "just" kids," said the other sourly, "but somehow they were clever enough to break in here without leaving a mark on either the outer door or the office door. You two, lean against the wall and let us search you."
The pair submitted, but aside from Hermione's handbag they didn't have anything incriminating on them. The police were going to be quite bewildered if they tried to look inside the handbag. The male policeman made a speech, presumably the Australian counterpart of the British "caution" or the American "Miranda warning."
"Let her go," said Ron. "I dragged her into this."
Hermione wanted to hug him, which of course was not advisable under the circumstances.
"Maybe so," said the woman, "but she's here now, and so both of you are under arrest. "
"Handcuff them together," ordered the other.
The police forced them out of the room and building, and into their vehicle, with Hermione's left wrist shackled to Ron's right one. The chain didn't really matter, compare to the other dismal features of the situation. The two were going to gaol, and could neither Apparate out nor magic themselves away in any other fashion. They had no convincing story to tell in their defence. Their closest allies were half a world away. And once somebody opened Hermione's handbag, as they were likely to do in search of evidence, some powerful and secret sorcery would be revealed.
Ron was probably more frightened than Hermione. He had little experience of civilized police restraints; to him, gaol meant Azkaban and dementors.
The police car pulled up in front of an old brick building, presumably the local police station. The officers ordered the young wizards out of the car, pressed them toward the building – and suddenly fell to the ground unconscious.
"What the-?" cried Ron.
"Dunno," said Hermione, hastily picking up her handbag. "Or maybe I do - YOU!"
The woman with the odd hair had suddenly appeared a few feet away.
"I hated that," she said in a low firm voice. The accent wasn't Australian but wasn't entirely British either; Hermione couldn't place it. "They were honest officers protecting the public, and you two are a pair of fools. But there are secrets that have to be kept." She took a stick out of her blouse.
"You stole our wands!" Ron said angrily.
"Here's one of them back, so you can teleport out of here. I'm keeping the other to examine. Now stay out of trouble, because I don't ever want to come to your aid again."
"But—" started Ron.
"Ron, some other police are coming out to see what happened!" warned Hermione, looking back. "It'll look like we assaulted some officers – a felony! Let's get out of here!"
She tried to hug him for Apparation, complicated by the fact that her right hand was chained and her left was holding the returned wand. The pair materialized in their hotel room, and sank back on one of the beds, still handcuffed together. It had been a narrow escape – and Hermione still wasn't entirely sure what had just happened.
TO BE CONTINUED