The Reluctant Detectives

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Chapter Four


Hermione slipped into her flat, locking and warding the door before she went over to her sitting room. Putting away her purse before drifting over to the small desk that she had set up with her muggle computer as well as her telephone. She checked her voice mail as she pulled her shoes off. They were the usual messages from the usual people. Ginny telling her that she was missing England, her mother calling her to tell her that she needed to come visit, and the last was from Mrs. Weasley who was yelling despite the fact that she wasn’t angry, but more out of the fact she still didn’t understand telephones in the least. The older witch had heard that she had been in Diagon Alley when the “bums” went off and she wanted to see if she was doing well.


She picked up her cellphone and dialed Harry’s number. She got his voice mail, but unlike other times she left a message.


“There are times that I hate voice mail—like now for instance. Stop fobbing me off on your answering machine, grow a set and answer the phone,” she growled into the phone. “Better yet, call me.” She hung up, taking a
deep breath as she tried to calm down.


She went over to her room, stripping and showering quickly. Hermione got dressed into her workout clothing, trying as she might as to calm herself. She grabbed up her wand, turning on her magical wireless radio. The music started to thrum as she began stretching out. Just as she was about to begin the main part of her workout, her cell rang. She turned off her music and answered the phone.


“Grow a set?”


“You called me back did you not?” she asked. “Have you heard about what happened in Diagon Alley?”


“Molly told Ginny,” he said quietly. “I can’t go back.”


“No, I was trying to have a conversation with you. You know what those are, don’t you? Those are the things you have with people you claim to consider family.”


He went silent.


“Harry, I cannot fault you for leaving,” she told him. “I wish I could at times. I’ve been upset with you a long while because you didn’t just leave England. You left me too.” She sat down hard. “But the anger evaporated the moment those bombs went off and I heard all the screaming. It didn’t seem as…”


“You were there?” he asked, his voice full of fear.


“Yes, I was,” she murmured. “Harry, they think its rogue Death Eaters.”


“Who could it be? Most of them are dead or kissed!”


“True,” she told him. “Like Kingsley told Professor Snape and myself, the ones that aren’t so are being watched very closely.”


“Snape? What does he have to do with this?”


“He protected me from the bombs,” she told him. “And we have been handed the prestigious honor of being the lead investigators on this case.”


“But you’re not aurors,” he muttered.


“I know. We told Kingsley as much, but we were blackmailed into it,” she explained to him. “There is nothing like extortion to get one involved.”


“I bet,” he sighed. “What are you going to do?”


“Somehow, someway, three large bombs were placed into strategic places within Diagon Alley. They put muggle instruments of destruction in a magical location. There is no way a muggle can get into that place and I don’t know of any pure bloods that would know what a bomb is. So that leaves what? A muggle born.”


He hissed out a breath. “Are you sure?”


“No, I’m sure of nothing. That is the only hypothesis that keeps popping into my head, but can I prove it?”


“Hermione, please don’t ask me to come back.”


She was silent for a time before saying, “Have I asked?”


“No, but…”


“No, I haven’t. Not once have I ever asked you to come back. And what with everything that is going on, I won’t. But I resent the fact that you think that everything on this fucking planet is about you. Tell Ginny I’ll call her.”


She hung up the phone and immediately wished she hadn’t. Her temper had a knack of taking over her logical thinking. Merlin help her, but she tried to get the best of it. It hadn’t always worked, but she had been able to control it for the most part. True, she got back at those who had hurt or lied to her in the past, but this was Harry and it wasn’t as if there was something to get back at him for. Just because he was being a self centered, egocentric, pain in her arse was no reason to want to hex him blind, was it?


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When Hermione went back over to Hogwarts, she came prepared. The books she brought with her were on criminology, criminal forensics, as well as a few books about muggle bombers.


Snape was a little shocked to see Hermione returning to the school that night. And she was carrying a small library with her as well, he saw the moment she began unshrinking the books. She put them all out on the table, looking over towards him.


“Miss Granger, do you know what time it is?” he asked her.


“No,” she answered. “I don’t own a watch.”


“It’s three in the morning.”


“That late?” she asked him, not sounding impressed by this in the least. “I thought it might be a sound idea to have an office here so that we could consult with each other without you having to leave your duties longer than you must.”


He thought it over and gave a brisk nod.


“I also thought we might think about taking a different approach to investigating this crime than an auror would,” she murmured, sitting down and looking over towards him once she was done setting up the books. “I think we should use muggle investigation tools as well as magical ones. The science behind the crime may very well help us.”


“What exactly is that?” he asked her.


“I don’t know,” she replied. “That’s why I have a lot of reading to do.”


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