38: Finding the Comb

Chapter 38: Finding the Comb

On September first, the day all of them should have been on the train to Hogwarts, both Harry and Ron managed to make their Animagus changes and hold them for over an hour. Ron had turned out to be a Welsh Green dragon...which pressed the large attic room to it's limits...and, after Hermione spent some time doing research, she was able to identify Harry's Animagus form as a Black Cap Capuchin monkey. Though both thought their forms were pretty cool, neither saw how they would be as useful as her own. Hermione's bird form made her nearly invisible in public, and she could cover long distances fairly quickly, but a huge dragon wasn't so easy to hide, and monkeys always drew attention.

Still, they were all relieved when the final transformation was done.

"I can't believe it took us so long to finish this. I was sure it would only be a few weeks," Ron said.

"It took me twice as long," Hermione pointed out as she cleaned up the stack of books Ron had knocked over with his dragon tail earlier.

"Yeah, but you didn't work on it every day."

"Nor did I restrict myself to the once-a-week meetings with McGonagall," she admitted. "Now, any other ideas on locations for the cup and comb?"

"I've been thinking about it," Ron said. "I'm betting he got one of them into that orphanage. It had special significance to him. And remember how he hung that rabbit from the rafters? It was an event that proved his power over the other kids."

"I've been thinking along the same lines, only I can't figure out how to get us in there without drawing attention to ourselves," Harry said.

"Well, they take a summer trip to the seashore, right? Maybe we can lure them out with another trip. Maybe free tickets to the zoo." Hermione pulled out a piece of paper and began writing down ideas, then grinned to herself. "Ron could take you with him to deliver the tickets, with you in your monkey form, of course. The kids would go crazy over that."

"That's brilliant. I think it would be an excellent way to spend pureblood wizard money, don't you? It would gall Sirius's mum's portrait to no end." Harry grinned at them.

"Then again, it might not even be open still. Check into that, would you, Hermione?" Ron sat beside her, nudging her arm by accident. It took a moment before Hermione realized and looked at him in surprise. He hadn't jumped or flinched at all when he touched her.

She lifted an eyebrow at him, and he flushed when he caught her meaning. He looked away, pretending great interest in the list of Horcruxes. "Well, Luna's been stopping by the shop a lot lately. And we sort of, I don't know." He shrugged. "I like her."

"I couldn't be happier for you." Hermione grinned and set down her notes. "I'll head to my parent's house. I'll use their computer to see what information I can find about the orphanage. I'll probably stay for dinner, as it's been a while since I've seen my mum. I'll let you know what I learn."

"See you tomorrow," Harry called after her. Just before she reached the bottom stair, she thought she heard him suggest to Ron that they visit the Burrow that evening.

*****

Using the information they had picked up from Dumbledore's Pensieve, Hermione was able to gather quite a lot of information about the orphanage before her parents came home for dinner. The building was still standing, but it had been damaged pretty badly in a fire one of the little girls had started a couple years earlier. The building had been abandoned since.

The government hadn't wanted to fix the old relic, but hadn't gotten around to selling or tearing it down yet either...though the latter option was coming up soon. That was perfect as it meant the structure would be empty when the three of them Apparated over. Hermione had a good feeling about all of this. The orphanage had to be one of the locations.

She wondered how long it would take them to find the comb or cup, or if one of the Muggles had found the item when they cleaned the building out and removed it. Would that be possible? With all the protections on the ring and locket to keep Muggles and even powerful wizards at bay, would a Muggle be able to walk off with a piece of Hogwarts history without anyone being the wiser? She thought not...she hoped not.

Her parents came in the back door when Hermione was just warming the oil in a pan on the stove...a smell that made her appetite wane. "Hermione, I was wondering when we'd see you again. I thought I'd try and send a message tonight, and then I got yours that you'd be here." Her mother greeted her with a tight hug.

"Hi, Mum, hi, Dad. I thought it might be nice to see you. I used your computer to look up some things, then started dinner. How does stir fry sound?"

"Wonderful. Just let me get cleaned up and I'll be right back to help you," her mother said.

"Hey, Peanut, how are things going? You should've been on the school train today, shouldn't you?" Her father smoothed a hand down her hair. "Do you wish you were going back?"

"Of course, but they aren't going to open the school until the war is over. We're going to make sure it ends soon. Maybe by Christmas we'll be back in business." Her parents hadn't been thrilled when she told them she wasn't returning to school this year. They'd been even less thrilled when she told them what she would be doing instead...or at least the general idea of what she would be doing. She hadn't been anymore direct with them than with the Order. It was better to redirect his line of thought than to continue in that vein. "How was work today?"

"Good, good. Just a day at the office. Your mother and I were thinking about taking a vacation now that schools are starting again. We didn't go anywhere this summer, wanting to be available to spend time with you instead. But we were thinking about spending a couple weeks in Majorca...you could come along."

"That sounds fabulous, but I really can't get away right now." Hermione thought about the warm weather and white sand beaches on the Spanish island. She could really use a break. "Then again, I might be induced to come spend a day or two while you're there. We'll have to see what the next few weeks bring. You should go though, absolutely. You work too hard at the office."

"I'll talk to your mum about it. I better go balance the budget a bit while you ladies cook dinner. Let me know when it's ready." He pressed a kiss to her head, then sauntered out of the room with both hands in his pockets.

Hermione's mum entered the room a minute later, her blouse changed to something more casual and her hair pulled back from her face. "Looks like you've got things well in hand."

"Mostly. You want to wrap the egg rolls?" Hermione knew she could wave her wand and have the egg rolls fill and wrap themselves, but it was nice spending a few minutes working side-by-side with her mum, and she hadn't been back to visit for a couple weeks.

"Sure." They worked together for several minutes while her mother talked about the latest family news and neighborhood gossip. It surprised Hermione when her mother segued into more personal matters. "So things with your young man must be going well. You look happy enough."

Blushing, Hermione avoided her mother's eyes. "Things are going well. He's . . . Mum, he's very special to me. I mean, I can't imagine my life without him." It was touchy treading the thin line between saying too much and saying too little, but she wanted to prepare her parents for a reality they would eventually have to face. Severus was not a young man, by their standards, though he was nearly ten years younger than they were. Thank goodness he wasn't their contemporary.

Her mother set the egg roll she had just finished to the side and turned toward Hermione, studying her face. "That sounds pretty serious. You aren't talking about marriage are you? I'd hate to see you married with a baby before you have time to complete your advanced schooling. You did plan to complete your schooling, didn't you?"

"Er, I did plan on it, yes. Completing my schooling, that is. If I can. In any case, I haven't stopped studying, and I'm sure to have decent references for a job someday. And I don't plan to have a child for years, Mum. I want to get settled into a career, spend some more time with him and take it easy. Things are far too uncertain right now to bring a child into the world...too uncertain to make definite plans of any kind. Witches can bear children well into their fifties, you know, so even if I waited ten years, I would have more than enough time to have a dozen children of my own...Not that I plan on more than a couple at this point. But I'm not really planning on children right now anyway." She found herself trying to backpedal and undo all of the things she had said that came out backwards. By the end of her tangled monologue she felt rather wrong-footed indeed.

Her mother laughed. "As long as you make me a grandma before I die, and not in the next few years, I'm sure we'll get by. But I think if things have progressed so far, it's about time I learned the young man's name and met him. Don't you?"

Hermione's stomach turned, and she felt suddenly nauseous...not that she hadn't been feeling a bit off lately anyway. The stress of their situation, both hers and the boys, and hers with Severus had been getting to her, stealing her appetite in the evenings. She had hoped in a different setting she would be able to let go of the stress, but this discussion wasn't helping any. Severus could put on the disguise he used occasionally around the Muggle world. At least in that form he looked ten years younger than he really was. The age difference would probably still bother them.

"We're in a strange situation, Mum." Hermione focused her gaze on the pan of veggies in front of her. "Sebastian's in a precarious spot. He's fighting Voldemort too, but he works as a spy. That means we can't be open about our relationship."

"Sebastian? Does this Sebastian have a last name?"

"Um, he introduced himself to Viktor as Sebastian Prince, but that's actually a pseudonym for public reasons. A kind of compilation of family names, I guess. He's fairly well known among the wizarding population, so if I bring him, he'll be in disguise, which alters his physical appearance, including his age. So don't be surprised if he looks to be late twenties when I bring him. He isn't that age." He's older.

Her mother returned to filling the egg rolls, but paying close attention to her daughter. "He's well known? So he's a famous wizard, is he? Not Harry?"

Infamous is more like it. "No, I already told you it's not Harry. Sebastian's a brilliant wizard, really brilliant in Potions, Defense, and he creates his own spells from scratch." There were so few things she could actually tell her mother about her husband, finding a few to focus on was the best she could do.

"I'm sure we'll love him when we meet him. Our only contacts in your world are the Weasleys, and those nice Aurors who came to help us in July." Her mother faltered slightly at this last reference. She and her husband hadn't discussed their experiences much with Hermione since that day, saying they would prefer to put it in the past. Hermione wondered how much in the past it really was, or if they didn't want to worry her, so they glossed over the deeper ramifications. Since she didn't want to pry and could do nothing about it, Hermione preferred to push that niggling question to the back of her mind and come back to it when there was more time to deal with it. She was already emotionally tapped out.

"Yes, well. I'll have to discuss a visit with him. We'll see if we can get together with you before too much longer. Dad said you were talking about going to Majorca."

*****

"So the building's empty? When do you want to go over?" Harry asked after Hermione explained what her research had brought up. It was late the next morning, and Hermione had been up for several hours, but the boys were only just getting around to breakfast at Headquarters.

"I did a fly-by in my Animagus form this morning," Hermione told him, pouring herself another glass of apple juice. "The building is definitely abandoned, but appears inhabited by vagrants. It's not in great condition. I'm not sure how safe it's going to be or where we want to start. Even worse, I found references that they intend to pull the building down in a matter of weeks, so we can't put the search off for long."

"Sounds like we'll have to be careful, take plenty of precautions. We shouldn't wander around individually, and we can't take the time to huddle up." Ron popped a bite of toast into his mouth.

"I was thinking maybe I should try getting in through a broken window and check it out better," Hermione said. This was dangerous ground knowing the way Harry felt about any of them being caught out alone. She had been considering options for the past twelve hours though and hadn't come up with anything better. "In my Animagus form I wouldn't have to land on unsafe floors, and I could give it a check around to see if there are any seriously dangerous places we need to stay away from."

Harry considered her words. "I don't like the idea of you going in there alone, but no one can know that we're headed there, and as you've already visited in your Animagus form. . . . If Ron and I were Disillusioned and stood outside the building while you checked things out, to keep a look out, we might be OK."

"That's still a little iffy, to my way of thinking," Ron said. "But I can't come up with anything better."

Hermione nodded to herself. "I wouldn't go inside without you keeping watch, but we can probably work around my being seen there too. I'll see what I can come up with."

The boys agreed.

*****

It was late the next morning when the Disillusioned Harry, Ron, and Hermione Apparated to a side street near the defunct orphanage. They found each other at the agreed meeting spot quickly enough and made their way across the street and down the block. Ron took up position near a fire hydrant, Harry around the side of the building by another entrance. Hermione focused and changed forms, choosing to stay Disillusioned for her flight as extra assurance that she wouldn't be detected by wizard or Muggle.

She flew up and around the building, locating a broken window on the second floor and darting into the building. The rooms were dark and dirty from disuse, and there were still darker spots on the wall from smoke damage. It was clear the room had been inhabited recently, most likely by vagrants, she figured from the pile of bedding in a corner. In her bird form she didn't have the ability to smell as she did in her human form, but looking at the pile of excrement in one corner of the hallway, she decided that was an advantage.

There were sections of the building that had been burned, but barring a room or two, the damage looked mostly cosmetic to Hermione. She noticed people still lived near those areas, so she figured they must be fairly safe.

She flew up and down the halls, checking out rooms, shifting back to her regular shape to gain access to a few closed doors and casting Muggle-repelling charms every hundred feet or so. She hoped anyone in the building would be forced out so she, Harry and Ron could enter without worry about running into some of the less savory inhabitants. By the time she completed her rounds, she counted thirty vagrants in the building. The vagrants were already moving toward the outside doors when she flew back out the window and landed near Harry's post.

She changed back into her regular form yet again. "Give it a few more minutes to ensure the Muggles all get out, then we can go in. There's little serious damage from the fire...mostly just one or two rooms...so we can go in and get started."

"You sure it's safe? There seem to be a lot of people coming out of the building." Harry's whispered answer allowed her to pinpoint his exact location.

"I'm sure. I cast some Muggle-repelling charms so we'll have to give them time to work. Let's grab Ron and go talk layout, then we can return and get down to business."

"Good idea. I could use some lunch too."

Hermione smiled to herself, but held back an audible laugh. If Harry was hungry, Ron would be all but whinging about being kept from his lunch for so long. She heard his foot shuffle against the cement, and they headed to the area where Ron was stationed.

*****

They Apparated back to the same location an hour later. Hermione changed back into her bird form and took a quick trip through the building, verifying that the Muggles had all left the building. She smiled when she changed back to her true form, landing near the spot from which she had left. "All clear," she said in a low voice.

"Let's go then," Harry said.

She headed toward the front door, casting charms on the front windows so anyone outside the building would see only emptiness inside. The other windows faced away from the street and were unlikely to be a problem. Once they were past the reception area, the three of them returned to visibility and looked around.

"What do you say? Start here and work our way through the building a floor at a time?" Ron asked.

"Yeah. That seems best." Harry pulled out his wand and cast a trip alarm on the outside door. "That should let us know if anyone else comes into the building. With the Muggle-detraction charms, anyone coming in now is sure to be magic. Best be aware if that happens."

"Right." Hermione was pleased Harry was thinking ahead. "Let's start in the room on the left. I think it was the dining room."

They carefully searched the first floor one room at a time, spreading out as they entered each room. Each took time to cast the magic-revealing charm Bill had taught them, then moved on to the next room when it was done. It took more than an hour to complete the first floor. They moved on to the second before they came across any of the serious fire damage.

From one of the classrooms below, they had seen holes in the ceiling, fire damage, water damage, signs of smoke everywhere, even the lingering scent of smoke here and there. Of course, catching it over the smell of human waste wasn't always easy, and most of the time they tried avoiding smelling anything. When they stood in the doorway of the room where the fire was reported to have started, however, the damage looked much more significant.

"I can see why they didn't bother to repair this place," Ron said as he stared at the jagged, half burnt walls, the holes caused by firefighter's axes, the white powder that still lingered from fire extinguishers. The windows were all broken out and bits of garbage, both burned, and those which had blown in through the windows since, were spread around the room.

"Yeah. The building's old enough, and the damage is pretty significant," Hermione admitted. "Some of the dorm rooms upstairs were damaged pretty heavily too." She pointed to large holes in the floorboards. "I wouldn't trust myself to walk across any part of that floor."

"Dorm rooms. We are so stupid! I can't believe I didn't think of it." Ron slapped his forehead and turned to Hermione and Harry. "Where is it that Riddle hung that rabbit? In the dining room? No, in the dorm room. We should have started there, mate. It's got to be there."

"Ron, you're a genius! Let's go check them out." Harry was already halfway to the stairwell when Hermione turned to join him.

They started with the dorms that were in good condition, making their way slowly toward the burned-out room above the fire. When they reached the edge of the burnt-out room nearly two hours later, Harry looked at Hermione. "I don't think I want anyone walking across that floor. Who knows if it's stable."

"Yeah, but we can't leave without checking the room, and neither of us can cast spells in our Animagus forms."

"She's right. Mate, what are we going to do?" Ron asked.

Harry deliberated for a moment, then nodded to himself. "One of you cast a Levitation Charm on me, hold it and move me around the room while I cast the revealing spell. When you get tired, we can trade off. We have to know if it's in there before we go on."

"Are you nutters? Do you know how draining that is?" Ron asked. "We could drop you."

"Do you have a better idea?" Harry asked.

Hermione knew she didn't. After a long moment, it was clear neither of the boys had a better idea either. "Fine then, I'll cast it first. Ron, when I nod at you, you cast your own spell, and I'll hand him off to you."

"Too bad we didn't bring our brooms," Ron said.

"Good idea. We'll do that when we bring Bill back to undo any wards on it. If we find it." Harry pulled out his wand and nodded to Hermione.

Hermione cast Wingardium Leviosa and directed Harry slowly around the room.

She had traded off with Ron twice and over an hour had passed when Harry finished his circuit of the room and she took over again. Having only one of them able to cast the charm meant the work was going painstakingly slow. All the magical energy they had expended had exhausted them all. She lifted Harry near the half-burnt rafters so he could continue casting his charms. When he shot the spell at an area of the ceiling that was untouched by scorch marks, a green haze settled around the area.

"Guess that's it." Harry smiled with relief. "We better get Bill over here."

"Tonight's too late. It'll be dark soon, and using light will draw too much attention to ourselves." Hermione was almost glad for the respite, though she wanted to get it over and done with.

"Right. First thing tomorrow then. Back to Headquarters?" The three teens grinned at each other and Disapparated from the building.

_____

A big thanks to my beta, countrymouse, for her suggestions and corrections. Thanks to Angel Mischa for her corrections ont he chapter. Also, thanks to all my reviewers for their feedback--you guys are the best.