Chapter 94 Sequel request; from the other side of Creepy Vs. Sweet. where Ginny has a stalker and Harry lives across the hall from her.
()()()
Champion Investigator
()()()
He was laying down on his bed, a catalogue of upcoming auction items laying open and forgotten beside his head because he had found a bubble wand, a toy wand for children that would release bubbles that would float up to the ceiling and pop, and he was playing with the bubble wand and watching the spheres of soap bubbles shimmer and float upwards. And he'd been doing this for an unknown amount of time because he was so incredibly bored with the catalogue.
He was too young to be this bored with his life.
The crooks no longer seemed so crooked, the dark artifacts he had been building his career around finding and cataloguing had all needed the same spells and series of tests. His chosen employment was not exciting anymore.
He'd been preparing his whole life to battle Tom Riddle Jr. until he was eighteen and that happened, and because that was what he'd been groomed by his father and the Order of the Phoenix to be doing his whole life he'd felt he needed something exciting after the Final Battle. Yet, he'd also been brought up to mistrust the Ministry, so that ruled out being an Auror, and he could only tolerate small doses of interactions with Goblins, so he didn't want to be a Curse Breaker or a Treasure Hunter for Gringotts, so he chose to set up a partnership with Mystique Noir, a sort of higher class Borgin and Burkes. He worked on contract for Mystique Noir and they had inquiries and requests from all over the place that paid a little here and a lot there.
He'd been home for a week though.
A full week of no requests for his services coming in the post.
It wasn't like he needed the money, but it was getting to the point of him needing to diversify his career path.
He hated being bored. Which is why he'd gone to a few auction houses in the last two days to see about any upcoming listings and auctions they were having so he could try and find himself a job by checking out if any of the auction items might potentially be lethal.
No luck so far on that front.
Though there was still a chance he hadn't gotten to the right page of the catalogue yet, given that he'd gotten distracted by a bubble wand instead of finishing the catalogue laying open beside his head.
Finally he put the wand down and sat up, rubbing his eyes and took a second to gauge how he was feeling.
Hungry... maybe.
Well, he would be hungry soon enough, so now would be the perfect time to head out and get take-away
He went to turn the knob to leave the flat and heard something in the hallway that sounded like a clink and paused with his hand hovering above the knob. He didn't want to run into one of his neighbors and need to make that face, the one that you made when you needed to be polite but absolutely didn't want to invite conversation.
Curious about who it was though he put his eye to the peephole and saw his new neighbor from across the hall crouched down picking up whatever she'd dropped.
He'd seen her all of twice in passing since she'd moved in, and he'd taken note because she was hard not to notice. He thought she was very pretty.
Hesitating for a second longer, he decided he should open the door and continue on his way. They would wind up meeting eventually, why not now. He took a deep breath and tried to rid himself of any nerves, same as he did whenever he needed to inspect a potentially dark artifact; this time he was inspecting his hot neighbor.
He opened the door and she was still crouched down, picking up orange flowers and stuffing them into the vase that had been knocked over. She stood up with it and gave him what he expected to be a fleeting look that turned into them maintaining eye contact for a few heart beats.
"You didn't happen to forget these outside my door, did you?" she smiled.
He let his eyes trail down to the flowers, noting the pleasing look of her lips on their way down. "No, I probably wouldn't have picked out a color that was the same as your hair." He would have picked out one of those dark red flowers that had white edges around the petals. Why that immediately popped into his head he wasn't sure.
"You saying I can't pull off orange? Or do you just not like gingers? We do get a bad rap."
His first urge was to be defensive of redheads, because they do get a bad rap, but she was just trying to be funny.
"My mother was a ginger, I've got nothing against them," he told her easily.
"Ah, so you're actually one of us under all that dark hair and unfreckled skin." Another joke. This girl liked to joke. And he said nothing, he just pulled his door closed and debated about whether there was anything more that he could offer to this conversation or if he should simply head out so he didn't make things more awkward. "So," she started, "you don't happen to know if there is any surveillance in this building that would tell me who put these here?"
"Unwanted attention?"
"Very," she said succinctly.
For a moment he wondered if it was simply the choice of flower, but that was ridiculous. "I thought women liked receiving flowers."
"They might when they know who they're coming from. However, when said woman has moved several times because of the anonymously sent gifts it can be quite irritating."
From boredom and bubbles one minute to an intriguing puzzle the next, this evening had just gotten interesting. "These were sent by a secret admirer that you are trying to avoid? How did they get in the building? This is supposed to be a secure residence." He had stepped toward her and was now taking the vase out of her hands before giving her a moment to stop him.
It wasn't like the building was warded against people coming into it, this was a Muggle building, someone could have easily gotten in by using their wand, or, as was more easily explained, one of the residents of the building could have simply held the front door open for someone coming in.
"Maybe carrier pigeons brought them in through the window." Again, he could hear the joke in her voice.
However, that got him thinking about owls, so he looked down the hallway to the end where there was a window, and that window had a top portion that did open, so it could have been delivered that way.
"Muggle," she said.
That effectively drew his attention back to her. "Say that again?"
"Er… smuggle? Maybe they smuggled it in somehow?"
That was a weak lie. "You said 'Muggle' the first time." He looked her over again and tried to see if there was any indication that she was carrying a wand on her. He always kept one on him, even though he didn't need to use it as regularly now as he did a few years ago, it was still a habit.
This might have been a Muggle building, but he lived there so another person could live there that wasn't a Muggle.
She appeared to deflate before him with irritation. "You're a fucking wizard, aren't you?"
Damn, and here he was hoping he really had misheard her. This building was his hide out, now it had been infiltrated. "You're a witch?"
"I am going to murder my brother for recommending this place," she grumbled and took the vase from him before turning around and unlocking her door.
"Wait, you're going to take that into your flat?!" He would never have brought a potentially dangerous object home with him! He didn't even want that vase or flowers in this building and she was bringing it into her home? "There could be a tracker or something on it. At least run a spell or two before bringing it in. That's entirely dangerous and stupid of you."
Harry regretted his choice of words before she turned to give him a withering glare.
"You're right," she grinned menacingly at him. "Shall I do that in the corridor? Maybe run it down to the storage room where anyone could walk in? Or will you be volunteering your flat for me to run a few charms over it?"
She turned back around and opened her door then set the vase down on the table just inside. Out of curiosity, he followed behind her. So far as he was concerned, he was part of this now.
"Dairy," she called out. The outburst confused him for a second, then a black and white cat came around the corner and looked up at her expectantly. "Do your thing," she said to it. And, amazingly, the cat jumped up on the table and started padding around it and giving a sniff.
"Your cat can sense magic, can it?" He'd seen and heard of animals being capable of sensing many things, but sensing magic, and a domestic house cat sensing magic, was not something he'd heard of before.
"Oh, by all means, let yourself in," she snipped at him. "And yes, he can."
She could use that tone with him all she wanted, he wasn't going to just leave this how it was. "And how does he communicate if he does sense danger? Pat the ground three times?" he mocked.
She gave him a glare and pulled her wand out of her pocket and flicked it at the door, which swung shut and only just missed him. She hadn't kicked him out before shutting the door though, so he was grateful for that at least. And a second later he was even more grateful when she had turned herself into an adorable dog just as the cat had jumped down from the table.
His pretty, witch neighbor was an Animagus. That was something he'd always wanted to try and become himself but had never found the drive to do it.
He watched the dog and cat circle around the table and look at the vase together and tried not to smile at the sight of them.
Then suddenly she was back to her human form and pointing her wand at the vase this time. "Incendio," she said with a flick and the flowers burse into flames. Then another few swirls of her wand and the glass vase turned in on itself until it formed a glass ball, which was then picked up and distributed into the bin. "And that," she turned back to him, looking proud of herself, "is how I deal with that."
And with that done, his usefulness was gone. "I guess you do have this under control."
She crossed her arms in front of her. "Yeah, I do. Now, next time you come across Bill Weasley, tell him that, would you?"
He knew that name! "Bill Weasley? Is that your brother?" He'd interacted with Bill several times and each time he thought Bill was just awesome, exactly the type of person one would want to turn to for advice because he seemed like he would know what to do in any situation.
"One of," she told him.
"Hmm. I like him. He's smart, doesn't beat around the bush." If he had a brother like that he would feel lucky. She said he was 'one of' her brothers, he didn't recall if Bill had ever mentioned anything about having a large family. Though, in the recesses of his brain he did recognize the surname from something.
"I agree. He's also a protective pain in the arse." She walked back over to him from the bin and held out her hand. "Ginny."
Cute name, cute girl. "Harry," he said as he shook her hand.
"Well… good to meet you I guess."
"And you." He could see a few different shades of red in her hair from this close, they complimented her freckles and made him wish she would turn into a dog again so he could see the comparison. "Cute, by the way."
A little crinkle formed between her brow. "Well… I try," she blushed lightly.
He didn't bother stopping the smile that broke out over his face then. "I meant your Animagus form."
"Oh!" she grinned, then a somewhat sultry look came over her face and she smirked. "So, you don't think I'm cute then?"
He'd been suckered into the games of women before and wasn't going to fall for the trap of answering that question. "I believe you were on your way out somewhere?" he asked, pulling the door open and holding it for her.
They headed in the same direction down the hall to the stairwell, then maintained the same stride with each other all the way down to the lobby. Sixty-four steps worth of silence save for the sound of their feet. And not at any point could he think of something to say to her. He'd managed to start conversations before and yet there was nothing that came to his mind. He wasn't sure he wanted to start an awkward 'polite' conversation with her either; he liked not knowing his neighbors too well. He had nicknames for a few of them and that was as far as it went. He didn't need any of them feeling like he'd be okay with them knocking on his door to borrow batteries that he kept for the express purpose of his needing them. Knowing that her name was Ginny and she was the little sister of someone he had respect for, and that her Animagus form was an adorable dog, that was enough.
The stalker part was interesting though.
By the time they reached the lobby it was too late to ask her anything about that though; she went towards the mailboxes, and he went out the front door in search of his dinner.
He saw her in passing a few times over the next few weeks and felt compelled to say something to her, anything, but didn't.
()()()
He was settled on the couch for the evening with a Quidditch magazine when he felt the warning go off that someone was on his doormat, only a second before there was a knock at the door.
There was only one person he could think of that was in this building and would knock at his door.
And he wanted to see her again.
Wearing only his socks, flannel pj bottoms and a t-shirt, he headed to the door. Opening it he wasn't at all embarrassed about his attire, because she was wearing much less than he was. Her freckles were all over her shoulders and a there were several of them that travelled down her chest and below the tank top she had on, with nothing under it that prevented him from noticing her nipples beneath the fabric.
"Hi," she blushed. "I'm, erm, locked out. I hoped you could take pity on me and, er, help me back into my flat?"
'Help' her back into her flat? Why the emphasis on the word 'help'? Could it be that she was feeling a little lonely and wanted some male company for the evening and thought of him? Had she been having thoughts about him?
He couldn't just stand there all evening trying to decipher what she was truly asking and wondering whether a one-off with his hot neighbor was a good life choice.
"Is that supposed to be code for something?" he asked, once more unable to ignore how the weathered fabric of her top didn't leave much to the imagination.
She quickly moved to cover her chest by crossing her arms and he watched as her blush spread from her cheeks down her chest. "No, that is not code for something. I am legitimately locked out of my flat and without my… wand," she whispered.
"Oh," he said, trying to hide his disappointment, then was quick about moving around her so she wouldn't have the chance to notice how disappointed he was.
"You just always have it on you?" she asked of him pulling his wand out of his pocket.
"And you clearly don't. Look how that turned out." That's right, pretend this situation had never brought to mind the beginnings of a bad porno. He inhaled and caught the scent of something delicious. "Smells like you had something good for dinner."
And voila, her door opened with one spell.
"Thank you," she said as he pushed the door open and kept it open by putting his slipper clad foot there to stop it shutting again. "And no, it was another surprise on my doormat that I took to the garbage chute. That's why I forgot my… key."
"Another one?" First her stalker managed to get in the building and deliver flowers, now they'd gotten in again and brought her dinner?
He wasn't enthusiastic about the shrug she offered him then. "Yeah, I average about one a month."
"And you've no idea who's been sending them?"
"Nope."
There was being cavalier and there was being irresponsible. "Have you tried looking into it?"
"Huh, I should probably get on that." Her voice held no indication that she meant to though. "Anyhow, thanks for this. Sorry I interrupted your evening."
He wasn't going to leave though, not now that this invasion had occurred twice and just across the hall from him. She should be more freaked out about this than she was.
"Peanut butter cup?" she offered.
Mechanically, he took it, but he couldn't leave this, like she clearly expected him to. "Three years you say you've been getting these tokens?"
"Yeah, three years."
She looked to be his age. "So, you were how old when it started? Twenty-three?"
"Twenty-two, why?"
Twenty-two and it had been happening for three years. Bill knew where he lived, he really must have helped her out in getting this flat because of its proximity to him. Bill knew that he didn't like leaving things like this alone; he'd even suggested recently that if dealing with Dark Artifacts wasn't tickling his fancy anymore that maybe private investigation might be up his alley; which is what this case would involve.
"And what is it you do for a living?" Harry asked her.
"A specialized branch of Mind Healing, why?" she asked in annoyance and pushed into her flat, with him still holding it open for her.
"Then you've checked with all of your patients from then and before and already ruled them out," he asked, hoping she would nod or something, but she just continued staring at him, unamused. "What about old boyfriends? Any of them go through a life event back then?"
"Look," she stopped him, "I really don't need you to start investigating this. Thank you for letting me into my flat, sorry I interrupted your evening." She backtracked and waved her hand to show he was welcome to leave, but he wasn't going anywhere.
Bill was right, he was getting bored with his job, trying to figure out who was stalking Ginny sounded much more exciting than going to some old manor house with an old forgotten passageway that needed checking out.
Plus, his clients rarely looked as good as Ginny. She was close enough now that he could smell her shampoo over the scent of whatever dish had been left for her and he wanted to spend more time with her and figure out what that scent was… along with figuring out who her stalker was.
"I would imagine that Bill has already tried figuring out who it is that keeps sending you these things?"
"You know, there's being neighborly and then there's putting your nose where it doesn't belong," Ginny pointed out to him.
"Except that these little gifts you keep getting are now showing up directly across the hall from me, and I'm not very happy about finding out someone is getting into our apartment building. Right now it's flowers and food, what's to stop them from escalating things and starting to send you something a little more hazardous? I've worked hard to keep my address from becoming public knowledge and I don't fancy someone from our world recognizing me when they're already deranged."
"Recognizing you?" she scoffed. "Sounds like you're a little miffed you don't have your own stalker."
That comment threw him sideways, he didn't realize she hadn't known who he was. Their last interaction hadn't exactly been a turning point in his life, but it had been significant enough that he'd learned a bit about her since then, specifically more about the Weasley family in general; she was a witch living in his building, he wanted to know more about what kind of person she was.
"What is it you do for work?" Ginny asked him.
"I deal with dark artifacts," he answered honestly, leaving out the 'for now' part.
"Hunting them, selling them, stealing them?" she asked for clarification. "Are you on some wanted list up there with Mundungus Fletcher?"
The image of himself in a line up standing next to Dung made him want to laugh. Dung was a fountain of information about who's who of their society's underbelly. "You know Dung as well?" he asked.
"Is that why you were such a prick about me bringing in the vase last time?" It was hard to tell if she was avoiding answering his question of how she knew the smelly ruffian, or was simply moving the conversation along.
"And picking it up in the first place." He had already told her off about that, he so wanted to tell her off again though. "You shouldn't touch things without checking them out first."
He was expecting a scoff or an eyeroll, instead she stood there carefully looking him up and down.
"What are you doing?"
"Checking you out before I push you out the door," she smirked.
His breath came out in a huff, if she hadn't figured out who he was by now then she wasn't looking carefully enough. "Seriously, now that I know you've got a stalker and the gifts really aren't a one-time thing, I intend to look into this and try to figure out who it is. It isn't safe!" He didn't wait for further invitation, she already had a pad of paper and a writing implement by her couch, so he went over to it and took a seat.
"Excuse me! I had big plans to do nothing and then go to bed!"
"Then you should have figured out who it is before you moved here and dealt with it already," he mocked.
"Who the fuck are you?!"
"I've experience with stalkers, except mine was the 'deranged and trying to kill you' kind. You'll excuse me if I don't respond to this as cheerily as you do."
"So… how did you deal with yours?"
His answer was going to be a big hint to her about who he was. "Killed him."
"Him?" She shook her head. "Wait! Killed? You killed someone because they were stalking you?"
How had she not realized? "To be fair, he was a menace and terrorizing people everywhere, so it wasn't just the stalking bit I had a problem with. I'm sure you're happy he's gone."
He wrote down the few things about Ginny and her stalker that she had told him already as she began to circulate around him, he let her study him, the scent of her flowery body wash or shampoo was nice and he didn't mind her coming close enough so that he could smell it better while she stared.
When she got close enough he looked up from the notepad and saw the flicker of realization in her eyes. "You're Harry Potter."
Good, now the introductions were properly done with. "You haven't bothered talking to Bill about me then either? I thought you were going to murder him for tricking you into living across the hall from me," he teased.
"I got busy with work and forgot," she shrugged.
He wished he could be as dismissive as she was, but he wasn't raised that way. He held up the notepad he was working on. "Three years ago, where were you?"
She sighed and gave in. "I was starting to work as an intern for Rudolph Freeman, the Mind Healer that's got an office near St. Mungo's. Do you want a beer? Or wine?" she asked as she headed back to her kitchen.
He grinned to himself, that meant she wasn't going to try kicking him out again. "Got any red?"
This way of getting to know someone was different for him, it felt like he was asking her 'first date' questions about her past relationships and where she liked to spend her time, except he was actually interrogating her for information.
He could see why she had gone into the branch of healing that she did because he was not someone to share and yet he wound up sharing more of himself with her than he intended to. It must be a Weasley trait, because Bill managed to get him talking too.
Ginny was much better-looking company than her brother though, but she didn't seem to be able to sit still. She kept moving around the room, almost as though his being there made her too uncomfortable to sit on the couch beside him. She wound up sitting with him eventually though and finally looked content.
The hours passed by quickly and he found himself with no more questions and a notepad full of the inner workings of her life that included the names of her old boyfriends and all the places she liked to eat. In fact, the notebook held more information about her than he had ever learned about his last girlfriend.
Then he left.
When he got home he was too motivated to sleep. He felt how he used to feel when he first started into working with dark artifacts. And while he would never work for the Ministry directly, becoming a private detective wouldn't be too crazy of a new career path for him.
He didn't see Ginny again until the next evening and by then he'd been all over London looking into the places she liked to eat and, unfortunately, learning about her past boyfriends. Thankfully all of the men had moved on to new relationships and from how laid back they seemed, and were a certain level of attractive for a man, it wasn't hard for him to notice what Ginny had seen in them.
And that made him feel more grumpy than it should have.
She appeared to like men that were quick to smile.
He was decidedly not quick to smile.
When he knocked at Ginny's door around dinner time he knew he'd thrown himself into this project too much. He'd even gone to the bloody craft store to get poster boards! She was going to think he was mad, but he was invested in the task now.
And spending another evening with Ginny was just a small bonus.
She didn't look too thrilled when she opened the door to him and begrudgingly let him in. Her little scowl was adorable. He liked that she didn't appear to be in awe about him being who he was, and though he knew now that Bill had wanted her to move in to the flat because he was right across the hall, Harry couldn't help but wonder if Bill had suggested she move into his building with a little hope that they would meet and wind up together.
She was assembling a small plate of food for them and he was trying to get an idea of if any of her patients might be the culprit.
"You don't have to give me names, just descriptions of personalities and what kind of issues they were having."
"All my patients have the same issues from then and now; PTSD from the war. It was what started me into the field and I wanted to get the most experience with that." She came back into the sitting room and set the food down on the coffee table. "Don't you have an actual job you should be doing rather than playing detective?"
"I told you, I'm not comfortable having packages that weren't requested delivered by unknown means to the flat across from mine. And no, I'm between jobs right now and bored." And this has been the most exciting two days of my life for the past year, he added in his head.
"So, no one hired you to look into this," she asked him seriously.
Harry made a point of looking her directly in the eyes as he answered. "No, Bill did not hire me."
"Well, all of my patients from when it all started I was just assisting with. They rarely talked directly to me, I was just another person in the room. And," she blushed, "sometimes not. They may not have entirely known I was… me."
He turned around to stare at her and she held her wine glass up to her face in an attempt to hide most of it.
"You were a dog then?" he grinned at her.
Her blush was easy to see from behind the glass. "I was trying to work out how best to get the animals trained for assisting with mind healing, what better way than to be the animal and discover what was needed?" she admitted. "The fact that they may have another person in their sessions was in the paperwork, they likely just skimmed over it."
"And I'll hazard a guess that it didn't mention anything about 'the person' being an Animagus."
"I'm registered with the Ministry. It might have been a small slight, but not broaching any confidentiality issues."
"Mhmm."
"Whatever, I don't need you judging me," she gave him a glare.
He put his hands up. "It isn't like I haven't done anything questionable with my job. Back to this though. You said you were delivered food last night. Any idea what restaurant it might have come from?"
"A Thai food place. I didn't look very closely at the receipt."
"Receipt?! If there was a receipt on it then there was an address, then we might have a time stamp too. You tossed it in the garbage?" he thought for a minute. "Garbage pick-up is tomorrow," he announced and stood up abruptly and stood up to head for the door.
"You're proposing we go dumpster diving?"
Hell yes, he was! "The restaurant would have surveillance cameras and a form of payment. Muggles pay for things with cards that have their names on them rather than using cash sometimes."
She followed behind him and jumped right in with the sorting of garbage bags once they'd gotten to the dumpster the chute emptied out into. "You seem to be getting a thrill out of this."
"I may have been a little bored as of late. I'm used to being on the move and having a few items that need to be checked out for the bank or a private party. Right now I don't have anything waiting. I was getting restless."
"Having down time is a not a luxury for you? Wish I could afford that luxury. Even if I could though, someone would have to look after the animals at the office and I would have to make enough to cover their salary as well."
"I would have thought you'd be busy with your line of work and our emotional climate after the war, even though it's been several years now." He chucked a few garbage bags over the side of the bin.
"I'm busy enough, just not run off my feet. There are only so many patients I can see at a time."
"And if you expanded?"
"I'd need the right candidate for that job. Someone I can trust."
"Sounds like you and I have a bit more in common than I thought," he told her.
"Guess I can understand why you aren't the trusting sort. Ever tried to work through that?"
She was right to not think he was trusting, but hadn't he shown her that he trusted her thus far? "I don't need a session, thanks. Pretty sure the only kind of therapy I need you don't provide," he muttered just loud enough for her to hear, wanting to see her reaction.
"No, that kind of therapy I wouldn't charge for."
The comment was made dismissively, but did that mean that she was interested? It wasn't like she was giving clear signals, she hadn't dressed in any special way knowing he would be over tonight, though she still looked really good.
"There it is!" She burst out, then came closer to him. "Give us a boost?"
She wanted him to hoist her up instead of using magic to get it? Well, if that meant that he would be able to touch her and potentially have her arse in his face, he wasn't going to turn down the proposal. He grabbed her waist and lifted, she was heavier than she looked and her bum rested back on his chest as she wriggled against him to grab the bag. As she wriggled he had one arm wrapped around her legs and the other holding her thigh to keep her steady; her thighs were nicely toned, she must do a lot of walking.
"Got it!"
He let her back down. "You know, we could have just levitated the bag off and got the right one out of there." She didn't move from where he had set her down, and neither had he, so when he said it he spoke directly into her ear, hoping he would feel her shiver against him, or perhaps lean back against him; something to indicate she had no problem with their proximity.
"Well, in that case, we could have just summoned the receipt." She stepped away from him and toward the nearest light, holding up the receipt. "Pho Thai Fusion on Suffolk."
He took the receipt and looked near the bottom. "Around 7:30 last night is when it was purchased. When did it arrive at your door?"
"Near eight I'd reckon?"
"There's no way it got there by Muggle means then." Suffolk was easily nearer an hour away, no matter what type of Muggle transport someone used.
"Okay. Well, that narrows it down."
"Care to go or some Thai food?" he asked, offering her his hand.
She looked at his offered hand and took a moment to think it over, and the longer she took the more awkward he felt, but tried not to project it.
"It did smell really good when it showed up last night," she said finally.
"Eating there first would give me some time to see what sort of surveillance system they have and potentially sweet talk the servers into telling us who ordered the food," he responded carefully.
"Okay then," she said in a friendly manner. "I'll assume you're holding your hand out to Apparate us there?"
"Yes."
"Okay." She took his hand and a moment later he had successfully side-alonged them to an alley he knew of close to where the restaurant was. They both took a deep inhale, it appeared they were right beside the restaurant. "So glad I get to actually taste the food this time. It smelled incredible yesterday, that's why I had the emergency chocolate on me." She took her hand out of his and headed for the street.
He went right back to the business at hand now that they weren't touching and checked out the corners of the buildings around them. "There are some cameras outside the other businesses. Might be able to check their feed if we get nothing here."
"Cool. Oh, look! They do sushi too."
He did his best not to chuckle at her. "You are more interested in food than finding out who this person is, aren't you?"
"Right now, yeah. Once I've got a full stomach, then I'll be more invested."
Harry shook his head at her. A movement she caught.
"If you think I'm bad, you should meet my youngest brother. He doesn't care about anything but food. Can't get him to focus on anything but his next meal and how the Cannon's are playing." She opened the door to the restaurant and looked around.
All the tables were filled and there was a line of people waiting along the wall for take-away pick up.
A server spotted them and came over. "For two?" she asked. "All the tables are taken, did you want to wait?"
"What about along the bar?" Ginny asked, gesturing towards the two stools that were available beside each other.
"If you like, it isn't very romantic," the woman pointed out.
"We're not on a date," Ginny assured her.
He bit the inside of his cheek at how quickly she said that, then followed along behind the two ladies to their seats.
"Think it's always this busy here?" Ginny asked him once they were seated.
"I'd imagine so. The take-away line is long enough. I see two cameras, but I don't reckon they'd let us take a look at them unless things die down in here. They're all too busy."
"What if we show them the receipt and mention there was a problem with the food? Or just hand it over and ask for the exact same dishes that were on it."
He considered that for a minute. "We should just order and hope that the take-away line dies down by the time we go to pay."
"Sure, you're the expert." She perused the menu. "Want to each order something and then share? I really want the Pad Thai, but I also want the sushi."
"Okay. I'm not really familiar with either." He ate standard bachelor food; pasta, pizza, meat and potatoes, occasionally he would throw in a salad. Food like this smelled really good, but it didn't look very filling.
Ginny shut her menu then and looked up at him. "What?! You've never had either of them? What about Indian food?" He shook his head 'no'. "Ethiopian?" Again, it was a no. "Lebanese?"
"That'd be Shawarma, right? That one I've had."
"You sure it wasn't a Gyro? They're similar, yet completely different. One is Greek."
He shook his head at her once more with a smile on his face. "You are really into food."
The server came back and Ginny ordered for both of them.
"So, do you not get out much?" she asked.
"I'm rarely home actually. I just don't go out to restaurants very often. Too busy with work and whatnot to be concerned about tasting all the cuisines of the world."
"I grew up on roast and potatoes, which was really good, but once I was out on my own I had to try every type of food I could. My best friend travels a lot and is up for a little gastro-adventure or two. I think we've been through every type of Anglicized culinary option there is in the UK."
"Anglicized?"
"Yeah, my friend claims the food all tastes entirely different when you are in the country of origin."
"That would likely be the proximity to the fresh ingredients needed for the dishes." It was starting to feel more like date conversation.
"Probably. If it's true, then I really need to go on some kind of around the world adventure to try food everywhere."
Their dishes arrived quickly and Ginny talked him through how to eat the sushi with the chopsticks and enjoyed watching the look on his face when he swallowed his first piece of a sushi roll down.
"Slimy, yet satisfying," he told her with a look of appreciation.
"Just wait until we get to the Pad Thai," she promised.
The food was as delicious as it had smelled yesterday and by the time they were done the take-away line was no more. Ginny pulled out her wallet to find some Muggle money to pay for the dinner but he stopped her.
"Wait here." He stopped her for two reasons, one was that going up to the register to talk to the cashier meant he could talk to the cashier, and two was because he was the guy, and it was customary for the man to be doing the paying on a date. Not that it was a date, but it had all the makings of what a date should be.
So far at least.
He set the receipt down on the counter.
"You enjoy your food?" the small woman asked with a smile.
"It was incredible," he told her honestly. "I had a question for you though. Someone tried to send us food from here yesterday and we don't know who it was. It just showed up on my friends doorstep." He pointed over to Ginny and the cashier turned around to look at her. Ginny offered a small wave and a confused smile. She was so cute. "She's been getting some unwanted attention and we're trying to figure out who it is that keeps sending her things." He set the receipt from yesterdays delivery down on the counter. "Did you work last night? Do you remember this order? Or is there any way that you can let me see your camera footage from when the order was made so we can see who picked it up?"
"This order!" she said with annoyance. "We had to make it twice! Some man with funny clothes came in and ordered it. I remember putting it into the bag for him and stapling the receipt, then I turned around for two seconds and it went missing! I thought he had just taken it but he was still standing there and waiting for it, he wasn't carrying anything so I know he didn't take it. I didn't see anyone else taking it either. We had to make it all over again. I wish I could check the tapes to see what happened, but they don't work. They watch, they don't record. I remember his clothes and that he was as tall as you but lighter hair, not blonde, same skin color as you. I don't know how old he was, not old, not young. Not fat or thin either."
"And his accent?" he asked. "Did he sound posh?"
"I don't remember. He didn't say much."
Sounds like Ginny's stalker is stingy with his money, he didn't want to pay for her food and his food.
"Thank you for your help." He finished paying and then went back to sit by Ginny and relayed it all to her.
"So, it is a man then. Any more description of him offered besides that he wore 'funny clothes'?" she frowned.
"It's a generic description I was given; about my height, white, brown hair, not too fat, not too thin, and he couldn't remember anything about the man's accent. Apparently, the guy could have been anywhere between twenty and thirty-five years old."
"Well, at least that is two unknowns that we've discovered with this outing; male and a… one of us. I still don't get why he would be sending me food and flowers all the time instead of just coming up and talking to me. It's weird."
"Maybe he finds you intimidating."
"Me? Seriously? I don't see it."
Intimidating people don't always realize they are intimidating, he thought to himself. He knew that other people could find him intimidating and he'd used that to his advantage, but Ginny clearly didn't see that she too was intimidating; she was smart and not shy, she was pretty too and many people could find that alone intimidating.
They both stood up and headed for the door.
"Or maybe they have just built you up in their head for so long, and have been sending you things for so long, that they're just too shy to face you anymore."
"It's a little sad if that is the case. I mean, it isn't like I know who the guy is, so why doesn't he just arrange a chance introduction and never admit to the fact that he was the one sending me things. I mean, if he's somewhere between twenty to thirty-five and I'm in my mid-twenties, it isn't like we're school children and he should be ashamed of fancying someone."
He could say nothing about that. He'd never been a 'school child', he'd been home schooled by his recluse of a father. Well, recluse wasn't quite the right term as his uncles still came over and helped by giving his father company and assisting with Harry's studies and preparing for the war. They all claim his father hadn't always been as he was, but it was all Harry had known him to be. He knew his father loved him as much as he could, but it was obvious to anyone that saw James Potter that he was only half the person he could be, and according to everyone it was because Lily Potter had been his other half.
Potter Manor had been their hide away from society and Harry was glad that when the war was over, so was his obligation to stay there.
And at Ginny's comment about them being too old to be 'ashamed' of fancying someone, he got right back to his task and looked around again for CCTV's.
"Are you at least of the same opinion as me now that this guy is likely harmless?"
Now he turned to face her. "I still don't like that he's getting into our building uninvited." He walked over to the corner of a building and squinted to see the serial number. "I'm going to jot down the camera number on this one. Looks like I'll have to speak to someone in the Muggle Law Enforcement to try and get the footage. I have a contact there though so it won't be difficult."
"Bully," she said and rested back against a lamp post, crossing her arms and waiting for him to be done.
Harry looked back at her. "You really don't care about this, do you."
"I did for the first year. It bothered me enough for the second year that I moved again. I told myself the day I moved into our building though, if he found me again I'd just keep tossing the gifts and if he showed up in person then he'd just have to stab me or something. Because no, I don't care anymore. But you do, and this is new for you, so go right on ahead."
"It isn't safe," he reminded her.
"Three years, Harry. Am I supposed to have been wracked with anxiety about this the whole time?"
"It could turn into him showing up at your flat with his wand in your face, or a knife." He stepped closer to her as he said it so that people walking past them might not overhear.
Ginny put her hand on his shoulder and gave him a placating look. "Let's put some perspective on this; you were the one with the deranged stalker that was looking to kill you. I've got someone sending me flowers and take-away."
She was right, by comparison hers was much worse than his. However, that was then and this was now.
He said no more and wrapped his arm around her so they could Apparate back to the alley by their building and walked up to their floor together, saying nothing more, only 'goodnight' when they turned to their separate doors.
When he got to his flat he sent a Patronus with a message to his friend Thomas Avery who was a Squib in the Metropolitan Police in Greater London so he could figure out who the CCTV belonged to. It was morning when an owl tapped on his window with a response telling him to meet at a coffee shop near Thomas' office.
"What's got you interested in CCTV footage then? It isn't like you need it for your line of work," Thomas asked him as they took a seat outside with their breakfast.
Harry gave him the gist of what was going on.
"Ah, got yourself a damsel in distress, do you?" he grinned. Thomas was older than him by ten years and had a lot more padding on him. "Good for you."
"I wish she was in distress about it," Harry grumbled. "She had given up being curious about who has been sending her things, she just tosses them out because they're an annoyance to her. She's a pretty woman and after so long of getting this attention who's to say the guy won't just show up at her door himself and slash her throat? Or worse?"
"Yeah, there is worse," Thomas cringed. "But with you across the hall and checking on her-"
"Oh, and that's another thing. I think her brother set it up so that she would be across the hall from me. I haven't talked to him about it yet, but I'm pretty sure it was intentional."
"Great, that means you've got the green light to date her."
"What?"
"He set it up so you two would meet, it means he trusts you with her, which means he has to be okay with you two dating then."
Harry thought over that for a minute. He'd assumed that Bill had the hope that he would stop the stalker situation, not that he'd be okay with the two of them dating. It was more likely that Ginny had told her family to leave it alone so many times that Bill was taking a different approach about her safety.
"Ah, that got the wheels turning," Thomas grinned now. "So you do like her."
"I didn't say that."
"Didn't have to, it's written all over your face." He pulled out his notepad from his inside jacket pocket. "Alright, what's the number for the camera then? I'll see what I can get for you."
Harry gave it to him and they talked a bit longer, Harry told him about how he was enjoying the puzzle of it all and was considering making the change to working as a private investigator. Thomas thought that was a brilliant idea and suggested he focus more on Muggle clientele. There would be a few forms and exams he would have to take to become legitimate, and a few fabrications about his background, but solving the cases with the help of magic wouldn't need to be disclosed.
It was an interesting idea, running a Muggle business whilst using magical means to do so. He certainly wouldn't be the first to do it, but perhaps in this sector he would be.
When he got home from the breakfast meeting he finally wrote a letter to Bill and summoned an owl to send it off, asking about what his intentions had been by putting his sister in the flat across from his.
No response came from Bill, but Thomas got back to him just after four in the afternoon letting him know he'd finagled his way into getting the footage from the camera and told him to get his butt over to his office if he wanted to see it before end of day.
"It's pretty obvious that this is the guy you're looking for," Thomas said as he played the video on his computer.
Harry watched and saw several people walk by the camera between 7:40 and 8:00 from the night in question and then there he was, the wizard among the Muggles, carrying one bag of take away with no receipt, because the bag that had the receipt attached to it was stashed away in an expanded pocket.
"That's got to be him!" Harry grinned. They had him, now he just needed Ginny to tell him who the hell this guy was. "Can you print out a screen capture?"
"I saw the footage," he announced as soon as Ginny opened her door an hour later.
"The what?" she asked, looking like she had no idea what he was talking about.
"The camera, from the alley from last night. I saw what was on it and have a picture of the man." He then held out a piece of paper with the guy on it.
She stared at the picture, still looking confused, then he watched as she focused in on the mans face. There was still no recognition showing in her expression. "This is him then?"
"That's him. I checked all the footage from a half hour before to a half hour after. He's the only one that goes into the alley. It's got to be him."
She continued staring at the picture, but her eyes became unfocused. "Ginny?" She didn't answer. "Ginny?" Still nothing. After a few more moments of silence he took the picture out of her hand and she looked up.
"What?" she asked.
"I've said your name a few times. Are you alright?"
She opened and closed her mouth a few times. "I think I could use a drink." She turned and went into the kitchen and he let himself into her place and followed behind her.
"Still no idea who he is then?" he asked, though the answer was obvious.
She poured herself a glass of white wine and took a sip before answering. "None. He's no one on that list you've made in there." She gestured towards her sitting room that still had his boards up.
"Then the only other way I can think of how he found out about where you keep moving to is if he works somewhere in the Ministry."
"What?! How did you come to that conclusion?"
He gave her a look of exasperation, which she mockingly returned.
"You had to inform someone there of your moving, didn't you? Bill was the one that did all the warding around your place, but the Ministry needs to be informed of when a witch or wizard moves so that they don't start issuing Improper Use of Magic letters to Muggle addresses when there is a witch or wizard of legal age there using their magic in the private of their own home." He looked towards the sitting room. "I mean, you aren't set up for Floo here, are you? So that leaves one department."
Her shoulders slumped.
"Can I see that photo again?" He handed it back over to her and she tilted her head as she examined it this time, squinting a bit and worrying her lip. "Got it!" she announced. "He does work at the Ministry! He's one of the guys that reports to my brother Percy actually!"
From completely not knowing who he was to knowing exactly which department he worked for and who he worked for? It seemed unlikely. "How sure are you?"
"Pretty sure. The first time I remember dealing with him was when I first moved out of The Burrow, my family home. There was this man in front of me and he was screaming at the clerk about something or other. I recognized the colors the screaming man was wearing, his cloak color, it meant that he worked in the Undersecretary's office, so I pulled out my Deloris Umbridge impression of her clearing her throat and it made him turn white and shut up real quick thinking she was behind him. I don't know if you ever met Umbridge, but she was the Undersecretary for Fudge and was a real piece of work. Anyhow, I said something to him about minding him manners and he apologized to the clerk and buggered off."
That was all it took to begin the obsession? It was such a small thing. "And that's the only time you remember meeting him?"
"I think so. He might have been there the last two times I went to submit my change of address papers. I've had lunch at the Ministry cafeteria a few times so he might have noticed me there too." She looked down at his picture again and frowned. "There must be more to it than this. He can't have just started sending me things because I stopped one person from yelling at him."
"The Ministry was not a nice place to be working near the end of the war," he reasoned. "Maybe you were the first person to speak out against verbal abuse there in a long time and it stuck with him. Being attractive on top of that certainly helps." He said that and then took the paper back from her to give the guy another look. "Well," he continued, and set the paper down on her counter. "Now we have an explanation for how he's getting your address. That makes me feel a lot better. And we know where he works, so you can go charging down there tomorrow and yell at him to either cut it out or ask you out."
Ginny's brow furrowed at those options he'd given her, as though they weren't the only two options. "Oh, Harry. No," she said and shook her head. "No, that's not how we Weasley's deal with something like this at all."
She stepped toward him and gave him a pat on the head, her fingers weaving through his hair slightly, possibly staying there a second or two too long? It could have just been wishful thinking on his part though.
She smelled good.
Then she stepped away and refilled her glass before heading into her sitting room.
"You can't hurt him," Harry called out once he had recovered from the familiarity of the gesture she'd just made.
"I never said anything about hurting him," she smirked as she pulled down the boards he'd put up all around her sitting room.
"Well, since he's abused his position to stalk you, you could bring it to his superiors. Him knowing it was you that would lead to him losing his position though would also mean you might have to move again."
Ginny laughed at that. "I'm not moving. You're stuck with me as a neighbor for the foreseeable future and you'll just have to deal with that."
That was not at all what he meant. "I don't want you to move. That's why I wanted to point that option out."
"Does that mean you like having me as your neighbor?" she teased.
Unable to stop it, he felt heat rise to his cheeks. "Yes." They stared at each other for a moment before he continued. "Don't get me wrong, you being so dismissive about this situation makes me think you're a bit bonkers, and the forgetfulness will get on my nerves."
"Forgetfulness?" she cut in.
"You locked yourself out of your flat; no wand, no key," he explained.
"That was one time!"
"That I know of, and I've only known you for about a month. Who knows when the next time will be that you come knocking on my door after dark for the same reason?" Not that he'd mind her popping up on his doormat with only her pyjamas on and no bra again. "But," he continued, "it's kind of nice to have a witch living right across the hall. I really wanted to live in a Muggle building because… well, because. Having someone else that knows magic is more than what we see on Disney around has been nice."
"Well, it's nice for me to know that there is at least one wizard in the building too. Maybe I won't be giving Bill a hard time when I see him next."
That made one of them. When he saw Bill next, or when Bill responded to his letter, he planned on giving him the 'what were your intentions' speech. "So then, what are you going to do about him? What is the Weasley way of dealing with it?"
"Pranks," she told him succinctly.
"Pranks," he echoed in question.
"I'll figure out his name by asking my friend Luna to go into his department after showing her the picture, then I'll start sending him things."
"What kinds of things?"
"Have you ever heard of a confetti bomb?"
He grinned. He had heard of a confetti bomb, he'd also heard of a stink sap plant and been told the stories of the Groundskeeper Hagrid's rock cakes, all of which she wound up sending to the man, Leonard Warren, along with moldy oranges.
Ginny had stopped by his flat to let him know about each of her 'loving' parcel's she'd sent him and they shared a good chuckle over them, but he found himself occupied with a family obligation, meaning a day of drinks at Potter Manor with his father and uncles followed by a trip to watch a Quidditch game, the day she had gone into the Ministry for her confrontation.
When he got home he found a note she'd slipped under his door about how the interaction had gone.
Then a week passed and he hadn't heard from her. He did hear from Bill though, letting him know that yes, he had gotten his sister into the building knowing that he, Harry, lived there too, and thanking him for being able to do what none of the Weasley brothers or parents had been able to do and stop the stalker.
And of course, he wondered if that thanks would be extended to them being alright with him potentially dating Ginny.
Instead of going across the hall and asking her out, be buried himself in the forms needed to fill out to become a Muggle Private Detective and studying what was needed to pass the official exam so he could be legitimate. And forging documents, which his Uncle Sirius was able to help out with; Sirius had even suggested he might be open to helping out on a few cases once things were up and running since he didn't need to work for money and might find it entertaining to find out who someone's wife was sleeping with.
Another week passed and he was sitting on his sofa pouring over pages of text when the light in his sitting room went off letting him know that someone was standing on his doormat.
He waited a moment to listen for a knock, but nothing came, so he went over and peered through the peephole and saw Ginny standing there, looking all dolled up.
She could have gotten all dolled up for him, or maybe she'd just locked herself out of her flat again. And maybe she'd locked herself out of her flat because she'd been out on a date and was coming to rub that in his face. And at the idea of that, his mood took a turn down.
He opened the door to find out which reason she was going to give him.
"You know, I have a little alarm that goes off when anyone is standing on my mat," he told her.
"Huh," she looked down at her feet. "That's wise."
"You're all dressed up." The dress she had on was doing wonders for her figure, and making him a tad uncomfortable.
"Very astute of you. I had a date. It sucked. Do you want to have a drink with me?" She held up the wine bottle.
There was his answer; she'd been on a date. Now what? Was she coming to gossip with him about it like he was one of her girlfriends? "You just finished having a date?"
"Yeah, and it sucked. So… wine?"
He leaned against the door frame. "You sure you don't want to wallow about the bad date and spill wine all down your front in your flat by yourself?" He tried to sound like he was teasing her, which she didn't appear to appreciate. He opened his mouth to apologize for being so glib, but then she was kissing him.
It was sudden, and a tad sloppy and she tasted like red wine, but she was kissing him. This would be the make or break moment, he could take a step back and tell her that she needed to sleep it off and try again when she was sober, or he could kiss her back, like he wanted to, because as sloppy as it started out being, she was giving him her best now.
Her lips were pleading with him, how was he supposed to resist that? He couldn't, so he latched his hands onto her hips and pulled her closer so he could kiss her back. The familiar floral scent was there under the smell of the wine bottle that she was clutching in her hand between them.
"Is this the way it's going to work then?" he asked when they came up for air. "You go out on a bad date and then come to mine for a goodnight kiss?"
"No, the bad date before coming to kiss you is going to be a one-time thing. I just needed the liquid courage to give it a try."
"Why, do you find me intimidating?" he smirked, his thumbs tracing circles at her hips.
"No, I find you really bloody hard to read."
Harry leaned down to kiss her then. He liked the way she swayed against him and wrapped his arms around her back to pull her closer.
"I'd like to be your next date," he told her. "You've got a lot more of the world of cuisine to introduce me to."
She grinned widely at him. "How about we start with something Italian?" she suggested and held up the bottle. Then squinted at the label. "Or Portuguese."
Harry chuckled and took the bottle from her before taking her hand and leading her into his flat where he took the bottle and set it on the coffee table before pulling her down onto the sofa with him and kissing her again.
"Bad date, you said?" he asked as he kissed down her neck and ran his hands over the fabric of her dress on her back.
"Terrible, completely awful," she told him, hitching up her dress enough to free her legs so she could straddle him. "I much prefer your company." She leaned back and wove her fingers into his hair, encouraging him to lower his kisses down to her cleavage.
"Mhmm," he traced a line with his tongue across the heave of her breast and felt her shudder against him. "And how was the food?"
"May as well have been vegan for how much I'm craving a certain kind of meat right now," she said as she ground herself against him.
That was the hottest possible thing she could have said. He pulled back and looked up at her. "Don't say something like that if you don't mean it."
"I do mean it," she told him as she continued rocking her hips against him. "I really want to shag you. Right now."
There was no way that she couldn't tell he was eager to shag her as well, and yet he still had to ask, "and how drunk are you right now?"
"Not nearly enough that you would be taking advantage of me. I'll be remembering every single moment of this in the morning. I'm hoping to be remembering at least two rounds; one here, one in your bedroom."
Who was he to say no?
He pulled her back down to him to kiss her again. He was grateful now that he'd changed into his pyjama bottoms so that they were easy enough to slip down to his ankles while she struggled to free one of her legs from the confines of her knickers. He was trying to free the latch at the top of her dress when she grasped hold of his erection and lowered herself down on him.
Fuck, she felt good.
"Mmm, perfect fit," she groaned as she started riding him.
He quite agreed and gave up on dealing with her dress, preferring to take hold of her hips and assist with helping her in her movements. She grasped the back of the sofa and he started sucking at her neck, keeping his mouth affixed there as she rode him up and down like a pogo stick.
"Touch me," she demanded.
He fumbled to get his hand under her skirt until his thumb finally found its destination and started moving in circles desperately.
It couldn't have been more than three minutes of exertion before they were both crying out and she stilled on top of him, still pulsating around his cock though.
His head rested back against the sofa and he tried to catch his breath.
"Definitely once more on a bed," he promised her. "And I'll make sure to take my time with it then."
"Good," she panted. "But, fuck, did I ever need that."
He stayed like that with his eyes closed, both his hands now back at her hips. He felt her moving slightly, then felt the fabric of her dress gliding through his fingers until it was just flesh under his hands. When he opened his eyes it was to find her naked astride him, with the bottle of wine in one hand and a form from his coffee table in the other.
"You're looking to become a Muggle Detective?" she wondered at him as she read.
He took the bottle from her and had a sip, the liquid feeling wonderfully soothing as it went down his throat after all that gasping and panting. "I enjoyed finding out who your stalker was and I was getting bored with my current job. Thought it would be a fun transition."
"I bet it would be a fun transition," she agreed and put the paper back down. She looked down at him, "you know what else would be a fun transition? You joining me in being naked."
He grinned at her. "That does sound fun. Let's do that and move this to the bedroom."
()()()