Hermione Down Under
Chapter 4 Those Who Fight and Run Away
"Alohamora," chanted Hermione. The handcuffs unlocked themselves and fell to the floor. She picked them up and, after a moment's hesitation, put them in her handbag.
"You want to SAVE them?" asked Ron in surprise.
"Not really. But we need to do something with them. If the hotel staff finds police-issue handcuffs in our room, or even in the dustbin, they're likely to get suspicious. " She stared at the handbag. "Actually, maybe I should get them out once in a while and look at them, as a reminder."
"Of what?"
"That we're still in chains, in a way. Ron, you and I grew up breaking a lot of rules. We had to, because Voldemort had to be stopped and the Ministry was incompetent. But it's OVER. It's time to trust in society to handle its problems and stop playing the hero. Harry was right to renounce two of the Hallows."
"I see what you mean, Hermione. But let's be practical for a minute. Do you think the Muggle police could still catch us?"
"They don't have many leads to go on. They didn't get our names, and only two of them saw our faces," She thought back over possible clues. She had gotten a lot of practice covering her tracks, while hiding from Voldemort. "The agency may tell them that an English girl named Hermione Granger was turned down during a visit earlier in the day, and knowing that, they might inquire at hotels for the name. And I don't know if I left fingerprints behind."
"If they think we knocked out two of their aurors, and they don't know how we managed it," observed Ron, "they'll probably do everything they can to track us down. I think we'd better get out of here. Though I know it sounds cowardly to say so."
Hermione was touched by the combination of Ron's common sense and his desire to appear macho in front of a girl.
"There's no point in staying here anyway, now that we know my parents are in Queensland," she said, implying that leaving was perfectly reasonable, and not cowardly. "And it's that mystery lady's fault that the police got zapped. I wish I knew who she was. She wanted to EXAMINE our wands, so she's not a witch, but she has powers of her own – enough to steal our wands when we were just a few feet away. I'll check with Kingsley before we go."
Kingsley did answer the phone this time, which was gratifying. He was a busy man, trying to push through extensive reforms at Azkaban, but he made time for Hermione. "It sounds to me like this woman is a witch living "under the radar", as Muggles put it," he said on the phone. " No account at Gringotts, no attendance at Hogwarts, avoid buying a wand from Ollivander, who remembers all his customers. Voldemort's maternal relatives did that."
"That would explain why she was curious about our wands. But isn't there a spell that detects the birth of every witch and wizard? That's how the Wizard World originally found me, after all."
"Yes – but it's possible that some wizards have discovered how to shield their children from the spell."
"Maybe we can catch this woman and find out – though my instinct is to avoid her."
"Follow that instinct, Hermione. Confronting a witch who doesn't want to be found is dangerous, and not your problem. I'll discuss your story with some of our Aurors."
After finishing the conversation, Hermione and Ron changed clothes – the officers might have described what they were wearing at the time of the arrest. After checking out of the hotel, they took a cab to the Sydney railway station. The lady at the information looked at the address Hermione showed her and advised them to take a train to Brisbane, after which they might have to catch a coach or even hire a car to get to the farm. What was worse, the train would not leave until the next morning. They would have to wait at the station – and separately, because the police were looking for a suspicious couple. Hermione wished they had brought the Invisibility Cloak or some Polyjuice Potion, but who would have thought that they would run into danger?
Of course, they always did.
The one advantage was that jet lag was in their favour. Their biological clocks were still set to daytime and they felt little tendency to fall asleep during the night in the station. Hermione bought an educational-looking book on Australia in the station's souvenir shop, and divided her attention between reading it and looking out for police.
By the time they got on the train, they were exhausted. But they found a fairly empty corner that would let them talk privately. They weren't packed in as they were on the aeroplane.
"It'll be an all-day journey," said Hermione as the train started moving. "Like the Hogwarts Express."
"Good," said Ron. "Because if the police aren't on the train now, we're safe for hours."
"They could stop the train for a search," Hermione pointed out. "Remember the dementors coming on board during third year? Or the story Luna told, about being kidnapped off the train last year?"
Ron looked worried. "At least we'll get some minutes warning. Hermione, let's plan things out while we've got the free time. For one thing, we shouldn't give our real names out again."
"Right." She had a suspicion that when Ron said "let's plan" he really meant "Hermione will plan". She pondered and started thinking aloud. "The note said that the sheep station is modelled on an American dude ranch—"
"I'm not familiar with the idea," said Ron.
"It means it rents out lodging and supplies for tourists who want to ride horses and pretend that they're cowboys and cowgirls—"
"But this farm raises sheep, not cows."
"Right, and that probably makes it less exciting. Not our problem; we just need to figure out how to fit in. I learnt to ride horses a couple of years ago during summer holidays; what about you?"
"I've ridden brooms in lots of Quidditch games. I also rode the thestral to the Ministry for Magic, and the dragon when we were getting away from Gringotts."
"Not the same. Brooms are controlled by magic, and on the thestrals and dragons we basically flew wherever the animals took us. On a horse, you have to guide it with the reins."
"Then I don't know how."
"Maybe that's for the better – try this idea. We pretend to be a newly married couple. We're honeymooning on the dude ranch because I'm crazy about horses. You, my new hubby, agree to take riding lessons to humour me. And while you're taking the lessons, I have an excuse to wander about, and I can look for my Mum and Dad."
Ron looked displeased. Maybe he didn't like horses, or maybe he was annoyed about playing the decoy while Hermione was doing the exciting stuff. "And if the police come?"
"We brazen it out. Officer, you've got the wrong people. We're Mr. And Mrs. Blah-blah. And we can make ourselves less recognizable if you dye your hair something other than ginger."
"And cut your hair to make it less bushy."
Hermione winced. She had worn her hair long for years, ever since starting Hogwarts "I suppose so."
"What about Princess Lala?"
"Hopefully she won't be after us. She got what she wanted the last time, your wand. And she definitely doesn't like us."
"All right, sounds like a plan." But he frowned at the mention of the lost wand. Wands meant everything to a wizard; without them they could not do the simplest daily task. She remembered how she had dropped her wand during a rainstorm, gotten soaked to the skin, and couldn't even get dry clothes out of her handbag. Or how Harry had broken his wand during the encounter with Voldemort in Godric's Hollow. For boys the wands seemed to have even more significance. She had read some psychology, and wondered if male wizards considered the wand a phallic symbol, a stand-in for the penis. No matter how close she was to Harry and Ron, that wasn't something a girl could ask a boy.
When we get home, if we haven't retrieved the wand, Ron can get a new one from Ollivander. He owes us a favour, after all.
And she could loan Ron her wand in an emergency. But somehow it did not occur to her to offer, just now. Girls could get possessive about their wands, too.
TO BE CONTINUED