Leveraging Hermione

Hello! Hope everyone is doing well. Just a quick note to all--sorry to say that due to real life, the postings for this story won't be as regular as I would like them to be. Expect a update about once a week. If I have to go on hiatus (Lord I hope not) I'll give you all a heads up.

A big thank you to all the reviewers!

Mitsu--I don't see Hermione as omnipotent. I did explain how she did do research on all of them. And this is Hermione, after all, I don't see her not getting as much as possible on even Sophie. Thanks for your review and I hope to hear from you again.

READ AND REVIEW!

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Chapter Nine

            Harry and Hermione stood in front of the large screens, looking at the pictures that were electronically posted of several men coming out of a private men’s club. And right there one of the last men to come out the door was none other than Antonin Dolohov.

            “These were taken by the F.B.I. surveillance team that have been keeping an eye on that man…” He pointed to a large bald man standing at the door, shaking all of the men’s hands as they left. “Ivan Palych, the head of the Russian mob here in Boston.”

            “He’s cute,” came from Parker. “In a homicidal maniac sort of way.”

            “The house you found us at this morning,” Hermione said. “It belonged to one of his business associates. Is he the type to have them raped and killed to get what he wants?”

            Frowning it was Hardison who said, “No, he’s the type that pays off and kills only if necessary. See?” He pulled up a file, showing how his business partners tended to sell out rather than become worm food—literally. “They found two bodies at that worm farm he owns and they were jokingly called suicides as they couldn’t prove anything else.”

            “So you’re saying that he killed them?” Sophie asked, sounding upset.

            “It looks like,” Harry replied, turning to face her. “Haven’t had the privilege of meeting you, I’m Harry Potter.” He held his hand out to her.

            “Sophie Devereaux,” she introduced herself, shaking her hand. “Please call me Sophie.”

            The blond came up on his other side, saying, “You can call me Parker.”

            “Okay,” he said. “You can call me Harry right after you give me back my wallet.”

            Pouting Parker handed him back his wallet, flouncing away from him muttering that she was convinced that he hadn’t felt the pull. Harry shook his head, looking back over to Hermione who was still looking at the interaction between Dolohov and Ivan.

            “Why him?” she breathed. “What is it that he can provide to him other than cover?”

            “Why do you ask?” came from Nate.

            “Because he always has a reason and it’s more than being able to kill at his leisure.” She looked over to Nate. “He could have done that without the Russians. Goodness knows he has before in the past.”

            “So just how bad is this guy?” Hardison asked.

            Thinking about what had been left of her parents—Merlin! What he had done to her!

            “He’s one of the worst that we’ve ever gone after,” she murmured, her features grim.

            Nate studied her as she stared holes into the image of the man she had been hunting for years. “Is he your white whale?”

            Blinking out of her thoughts, she looked over to him. “No.” She looked back at the picture. “After him our job is done.” She glanced over to Nate. “We’re all ready for it to be over.”

            “Just how long have you been after these people?” This came from Eliot who spoke for the first time.

            She looked over to Harry, who gave her a terse nod before she said a word. “Seven years.”

            “Seven years? And you were how old?” Eliot asked, walking closer to her.

            “Old enough to know not to answer that,” she replied.

            “Okay,” he said as he moved over to stand next to her. “I get it. It’s none of my business.” He looked over to Harry. “So how old were you when the war started?” That had all his team looking at him in shock.

            Harry looked from him over to Hermione. “I owe you ten.”

            She nodded to this. “I told you of all of them, he would have the connections to find out even a bit of what happened.”

            “There was a war?!” Hardison exclaimed. “When did that happen?”

            “A war? You expect us to believe that there was a war that no one knew about?” Sophie said, sounding doubtful.

            “People heard about it,” Hermione said. “What was it that the media called it again, Harry?”

            “I do believe it was referred to as ‘Unexplained terrorist plots’. A few of them were blamed on others such as the I.R.A. and once it was attributed to Muslim extremists.”

            “They were extremists, they just weren’t Muslim.” Looking to Harry, she asked, “It’s up to you if you want to tell them everything, but they deserve the truth regardless.”

            Harry glared at her. “You make this so simple for me.”

            “If you wanted simple, you should have gone into the joke business with Ron and George,” she told him. “You would have hated it, but at least you know where you stand with them.”

            “Why are you deferring to Harry?” Nate asked, looking between them. “You've done it several times already.”

            Rolling her eyes, Hermione explained, “That’s because he’s my boss.” She looked over to Eliot. “I beat up one cheating bastard and that was the thanks I got.”

            “They didn’t have an issue with you beating him up,” Harry told her, laughing as he did so. “It’s the fact that it went viral on the Internet!”

            “Oh I have got to find that!” Hardison exclaimed, as he went to work looking for it.

            “It wasn’t like I’m the one that posted it,” she said sourly, but then leaned over and told Hardison, “It’s under the title, ‘Little Woman Get’s Revenge’.”

            Quickly he went to work typing that and the video popped up. He hit the play arrow and the action started. She was approaching a tall redhead, who was stammering and trying to say anything in order to get her to back off.

            “You thought it was wise to bring me to a pub to tell me this with Lavender the biggest tart on the planet in attendance and then have the gall to tell me that I’m to blame for your inability to keep your cock in your pants? Do you really think that any of those choices were sound, Ronald?”

            “Oh that’s not good,” Sophie breathed.

            “Wait,” Eliot told her, grinning widely. “It gets better.”

            “Who filmed this?” Nate asked.

            “That’s the best part,” Hermione said. “One of Ron’s older brother’s did.”

            “Who?” harry asked.

            “George, of course,” she replied. “Ron told him his idea on how he wanted to break things off with me. And George, being George, thought it would be a fun thing to test his new camera by filming it. It was Lee that educated him about the Internet and YouTube, damn his hide.”

            And that was the very moment Hermione on film flipped Ron like a ragdoll over her shoulder and straight into a table, breaking the table in two.

            “I don’t know what disgusts me more—Your pathetic need for attaining your self worth by way of any woman’s cunt you can talk your way into or your inability to take a punch!”

            “In my defense, I would like to point out that I was going through quite a bit at the time,” Hermione told them just as she saw herself slam her fist straight into Ron’s jaw as soon as he got to his feet. “Not the least of which was a lot of hormones.”

            “That’s the worse P.M.S. I’ve ever seen,” Parker said in awe.

            “No,” Hermione replied, sounding hollow as she watched the video coming to an end on the large monitor. “Miscarriage.”

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Another chapter is out into the universe. Hope you all liked it. Let me know! Hopefully, I'll be able to post another chapter this week. Real life sucks some times. Good luck and have a fab day!