Light and Shadow

Light and Shadow

Chapter 5 - Discoveries

It was a very pleasant morning, Hermione saw the winter sun breaking into her room through the window. She didn't feel like getting out of bed for many reasons. In all of her years working as a lawyer, she had never felt like this, like disappearing.

She finally got up, and went to the bathroom. She wanted to take a long bath, but she saw she didn't have time for that. She just got into the shower and let the warm water fall over her body. She leaned her forehead on the cold wall and stood like that for several minutes, without moving. Just the thought of going to the office and spending hours with Harry was disconsolate. It was funny, after all, he was her best friend, her boyfriend, her lover. And she couldn't stand to share the same space with him. Maybe she could, if it was the old Harry, the one back from school. Not this one he had became after the war.

She got out of the bathroom and went to the closet. She stopped for a moment, thinking about what she should wear. "Don't be ridiculous!" she thought. " You never had problems choosing what to wear, why should you have now?" She ended up deciding to wear black, from head to toe. A skirt, black wool socks, because of the cold, boots that reached her knees, a confortable black sweater, and of course, an overcoat. She wasn't in mourning, but her outfit reflected how she was feeling.

When she arrived in the office, she was relieved to know that Harry wasn't there yet. At least she would have her room back for a few moments.

"Wow! Who died?" Mark said, walking into the room. He thought it strange to see Hermione all in black. She never used black like that. There was always something of a different colour.

"Nobody, why?"

"Are you in mourning?" Mark asks, pointing at her clothes.

"Is it bad?" she asks, looking at herself.

"No, on the contrary, you're as beautiful as aways," he answers, smiling.

"Thank you very much," she says, shyly.

"So? Where's your favorite partner?" Mark asked, changing the subject.

"I have no idea. I'm enjoying it. At least I can have my room back for a few minutes."

"Are you asking me to leave?" he asked, offended.

"No! Mark, I would never do that," she answered, smiling.

"Ah, good! Well, I'm here to borrow a book. I need "Integrated Law". Do you have it there?"

"Yes... Somewhere I can't remember..." Hermione says, looking over her desk.

"You? The "Miss Organization" doesn't know where a book is? Something must be quite wrong..." Mark says debauched.

"Don't bother, Mark. This kind of thing happens once in a while."

"So when you find it, could you please bring it to me? I'll let you enjoy this moment alone with you room. Ah! Just one more thing, you'll have lunch again with me, right?"

"Yes. I don't know why you're asking, I always have lunch with you," Hermione answered, still looking for the book.

"Okay. I'm waiting for the book. And please try not to take too long looking for it, because I've got a lot of work to do," Mark says, provoking her.

"If you keep joking, you won't get the book!"

"Okay, okay. I'm leaving." And he left the room.

A few minutes later Hermione found the book, and as she was about to leave the room, she saw Harry standing in the door. It seemed like they were both thinking the same thing when they got dressed this morning. Unlike the day before, Harry was dressed in all black. The only difference (a bit of color) was the tie - a wine red. Hermione was starting to think she liked him in suits, he really looked atractive.

"You're late again," she said in a dry voice. "I don't know if you were told, but here we start at nine o'clock."

"Yes, I was told. What are you going to do? Take off twenty points because I'm late?" Harry says, ironicly, referring to the times back to school, when she was a prefect at Hogwarts. "Or maybe you'll go to Phillip, tell him I'm late by..." He checked his watch, "fourty minutes. After all, you haven't changed a bit. You're still a bootlicker, as before, aren't you 'my dear Hermione'," Harry finished meanly.

"No. I won't take you twenty points, or say anything to Phillip." Hermione tried to stay neutral, by showing she didn't care about what he said. "It just so happens that, different from you, people like me. Not because I'm a bootlicker, they simply like me. It must be very painful, isn't it, Potter? No one to call you 'dear'. Ah! Yes, there's Molly, but I don't think she counts. She would even call an animal dear" Mione also finished meanly, and left the room.

Harry was surprised. He had pictured every possible reaction, except this one, returning on the same level. He felt exactly how other people felt when he acted that way to them when he acted like that to people. No one had never been so intense. What Hermione said was a lot worse than what he said. It hurt, simply because it was true. No one had called him "dear Harry" for so long.

* * * * *

Ron had been walking through London's streets for at least two hours. Obviously, he was undercover. Every day he was a different person. He arrived as an elderly man. He had already been a twenty year old boy, blond, brunet, grezzly, escept redheaded, his natural. He'd never been too good in transfiguration, but after he had become a Death Eater, and worked as a "double agent", he had to learn it. And thanks to that no one could recognise him now

He knew that killing Wendell was a big mistake. It happened because Ron had lost his mind when he heard John Wendell was in Luxembourg, and in the gang that had kidnapped his daughter. He also knew that if he lost his mind like that again, he would be in an even worse situation. He couldn't go out killing all the people who were in that group. He didn't care if the Death Eaters were dead, he only cared about his daughter beeing alive. He had to bring her back to Luxembourg alive, to try to regain Marie's trust.

Marie... His wife. After that conversation they had, she left their home. She said she would go to a friend's house, and that she never wanted to see him again. Marie didn't believe Ron could bring Aimeé back, actually she believed her daughter was dead. He tried every way to talk to her, but he didn't succeed. For Marie, it was like if Ron was dead too. He would never forget the look on her face. Ut hurted him so deeply. He loved his family, and would love to have it back.

When he arrived in England, he installed himself in the suburb. In the dangerous part of the city, in a terrible hotel. But he wasn't there for torism. He was there to save his daughter, so it didn't care where he was living.

He had wanted to go to the Diagon Alley for so long. He wanted to see if he could find someone from his family. He just wanted to see them. Actually, he wanted to go back to the Burrow, to say he was sorry he chose the wrong side, and that he deeply regretted it. But he had no guts to do that. That's when he had to face the truth. He was weak. He always had been.

He reached the Leaky Caldron and stood in front of it for several minutes. No one would recognise him, of course, once again he was an elderly man. He arrived as an elderly man at the hotel, so everytime he left or arrived there, he would have to look like that, and since that day he didn't feel lke transfigurating himself every time....

After standing there for quite a long time, Ron decided he would go in. Diagon Alley had changed a bit since the last time he had been there. He just walked through the streets, with no specific destination, just watching. That was when he saw a shop that caught his attention. It was quite big, on a sign it could be seen two identical redheaded men smiling. It was written Weasley's Wizard Wheezes. Before he could realize what he was doing, he was inside it, looking arround. He couldn't remember it being so big, and he couldn't avoid beeing happy for his brothers. It ment their buisness was prospering.

Ron walked through the shelves. The store was divided in sections. School stuff, kitchen stuff, sugary... When in this section, he couldn't avoid a smile when he grabbed a pack of "helium candies". These were mint candies, but they left people's voices very "fine", seeing like they'd breathed helium gas. He remembered Hermione had named it, saying there was a gas that made people's voices stay like that, after Harry ate "accidentally" one of them. It happens that the candy was still in the testing phase, and the effect, supposed to last just a few minutes, lasted for almost a day. They surely took care of this problem. Then a voice caught his attention.

"Fred!" That was george. "We need more invisible inkpots in Hogsmeade. Did you check the stock?"

"Yes! We don't have enough, but I dispached what I found last night."

He stood just staring at the cash, where his brother Fred was covered by lots of parchments, counting. His twin brothers were never good at counting. How were they making it work right?

"Oh, Merlin! Why doesn't it fit?" And yelling, says, "GEORGE! Where is Bill to help me with these?"

"Bill wasn't at the bank anymore? Since when did he left Gringotts?" Ron thought. He always loved working there, and now he worked with the twins? That was when he heard a very familiar voice behind him.

"May I help you sir?" That was Ginny. She was very helpful and smiling.

Ron didn't say a word. He just stared at the woman in front of him, surprised. She was a lot prettier, and her wavy hair reached her shoulders. He held himself back, trying not to hug his younger sister and cry. Of all his siblings, Ginny was the closest to him. Maybe because they had almost the same age, and when they wre young, they played with each other, because the others were older, and didn't have much patience.

"Is everything okay, sir?" Ginny asked worried, realizing that there was something wrong with the man in front of her.

"Yes," Ron says, smiling. "Everything is okay, I'm sorry."

"There's no problem," Ginny said once more, smiling. "How can I help you?"

"Help?" Ron asks, still surprised at seeing his sister.

"Yes." She was starting to think the man in front of her was totally weird. "Are you taking the helium candies?" she says pointing at the pack in his hands.

"Candies?" And looking at his hands, he said, "Ah! Yes, I'll take them."

"I don't know if you realised, but this is a joke shop. And these candies aren't common candies..." Ginny decided to explain. After all, the man seemed quite weird.

"Ah! I know, I'm taking these for my grandkids."

"Really? It isn't very usual the grandparents come to our shop to buy our products for their grandkids. They usually show up to reclaim. The only granfather who comes here is my father," Ginny said, smiling.

"Father?" Now Ron was really surprised. Since when his father was a grandfather? Well, he had Aimeé, but surely his father didn't know about her. "Your father is already a grandfather?" Ron asked, astonished.

"Yes. Do you know my father?" Ginny asked curious.

"Ahm... No, I mean, I know who your father is. Arthur Weasley, right?" Ron tries to fix.

"Yes. Well, it was expected, wasn't it? We are a lot of sons... It was expected to my father to have grandkids."

"And how many grandkids do your father have?" Ron asked, curious.

"Five."

"Five?" Now he was surprised.

"Yes." Ginny was smiling. "Two from Bill, one from Charlie, one from Percy and one is mine."

"Did you get married?" Ron couldn't avoid the question.

"I did. Are you sure you don't know us?" Ginny asked, staring again.

"No. I just know who the Weasleys are." Ron saw he had to get out of there as soon as possible, before the situation got worse. "Where do I pay?"

"There," she says, pointing at the cash register.

When Ron left the shop, he was completely astonished. Bill left the job at the bank, Ginny got married and his father had five grandkids! Actually, he had six, including Aimeé. And how was his mother, and Charlie, and Percy? He never thought he would miss Percy, but he really missed the implicant brother. He was happy to see things were good for his family. He was happy to see they were happy.

Ron was walking through the streets, distracted, thinking, when he crashed into something. Actually, he crashed into someone.

"Watch your way, insolent!" It was Lucius Malfoy. He said it with his tipical superior air, and on continued his way.

Ron didn't even have time to answer, when he realized who it was, Lucius was far away. So, he decided to follow him.

Lucius didn't go too far. Actually, he went to Florean Fortescue. "What would he be doing at an ice cream parlor?" Ron thought. Well, it would be the last place in the world someone would suspect. Not having many choices, he sat at a close table. Soon an attendant came and asked if he'd like something. But the only thing he wanted was to find out what Lucius Malfoy was talking about to another man at an ice cream parlor, but he couldn't just stay sitting there and whatching, so he ordered any ice cream, just to get rid of the young woman. Lucius and the man ordered some milk-shake, which weren't touched at any time. Ron payed a lot of attention to the man's face, and he knew that man from somewhere. Just couldn't remember from where.

"I really hope it's importat what you have to tell me," Lucius starts with his superior voice, as always.

"Do you think I would call you in a place like this if it wasn't important?" Seemed like the man had the guts to face Lucius.

"So why didn't you start to talk yet?"

"Very well. I made the contacts. They're giving a party tonight."

"And so what?" Lucius asked with disdain.

"And so that we have to go to this party."

"A party? Do you think I'm going to a muggle party? What do you have in your head, Boreman?" Lucius said, visiblely irritated.

"Boreman?" Ron thought. "Grey Boreman? That's why they found us..."

Grey Boreman was one of his wife's workmates. He could remember the day they were introduced. It was the day of a big party the Television Luxembourg Radio was giving to celebrate its twentyth anniversary. Marie introduced him as a journalist who hosted the early morning edition. Boreman was french, and it wasn't considered strange that he worked in Luxembourg, one of the oficial languages of the country was the French. And besides, during the war, Voldemort had made contacts in many countries in Europe, incuding France.

"You're going to the party, Malfoy. It was you who thought we'd better have muggle contacts, remember?" Boreman was ironic.

"I said the contacts had to be muggle, but I didn't say anything about participating in their stupid parties."

"Do you want what they have to offer us or not? Because if you do, you'll have to go to this party. And maybe many more 'stupid muggle parties'."

"All right. I'll go to the party," Lucius said, seriously facing the man in front of him. "Who else is going?"

"Me, you and Karkaroff."

"The gawky Karkaroff is going? No, really, Boreman, what do you have in your head?"Lucius asked, incredulous.

"Of course, it was him who found the contacts."

"Where is this party?" Lucius asks, not curious at all.

"Brighton. I know it's a bit out of hand, but I thought it was good that it's not in London. So we won't call any attentions."

"And how do we get there?"

"Helicopter." The man in front of him answered, not caring about Lucius' reactions.

"Helicopter? That muggle flying thing? You must be out of your mind."

"No, I'm serious. It's a muggle party, Malfoy! What do you expect? That we arrive on broomsticks?" Boreman said ironicly. "And by the way, you'll be paying for the transportation."

"And why me?" If the man sitting in front of him weren't a Death Eater, Lucius probably would have killed him.

"Oh, Malfoy! Stop being so annoying. You have the money, I'm jusst a poor journalist... Karkaroff is the headmaster of a school... while you sleep in the money. So, why not pay for our transportation?"

"Okay. I really do hope this contact is good, Boreman," Lucius said, threatening the other man.

"And if it's not?" Boreman returned, in the same tone.

Lucius Malfoy gave him a killing look, not believing the man in front of him had the guts to defy him.

"And the girl?" Boreman asked, changing the subject.

"She's in a safe place," Lucius said looking arround, to see if anyone was spying on them.

"What are you doing with her, Malfoy?" Boreman asked, inquisitive.

"Nothing yet. Yet. But if that idiot Weasley doesn't start to move, I'll start to have some fun..." Lucius finished with a mean smile.

"Don't do anything with the girl, Malfoy. That wasn't the deal."

"I'll do what I think is necessary. No one gives me orders, Boreman." Lucius was threatening again. "And besides, what do you think your dear 'Marie' is going to say when she finds out that you helped to kidnap her 'dear daughter'?"

Grey Boreman said nothing. Just looked at the man in front of him, very seriously, for awhile.

"I'll be in your house tonight. " Boreman decided to say and left the table, without sayng anything else.

After a few minutes Malfoy did the same. Ron just whatched the blond man walking his way out. So he had his daughter. And Boreman really had a crush on his wife, he always suspected that... That's why he knew he had to be at that party tonight. He didn't know how to do it, but he had to be there.