Light and Shadow

Light and Shadow

Chapter 9 - Katherine Fisher

When she woke up that morning, Hermione realized that it was not going to be her day of luck. She went to take a shower and, to her surprise, she saw there was no water. Actually, the entire building had no water, because of a pipe that had exploded. The explosion of the pipe had caused the elevator shaft to flood with water, causing Hermione to take the stairs that morning. Her next bout of bad luck occurred when her car would not start and she had to go to work through the crowded London subway.

By then, she was not in her best mood. Her day got even worse when she saw who was waiting for her at her office.

Katherine Fisher was an excellent lawyer, just like Hermione. Both had been in the same class at Oxford, and they could not stand each other. Mione and Kathy always wanted to be the best, and it created a huge rivalry between them.

Katherine, during all her life, was top of her class, but that was before college, where she met Hermione. Mione was the stone in Kathy's shoes during all of college, and, for the first time, she wasn't number one, but number two. Thank God they went on different paths. Katherine was a prosecutor and she was the best indeed.

Kathy, as her friends called her, was a very pretty woman. She was tall, and had a defined body. Kathy's hair, which reached to her waist, was long and straight. It was a dark brunette color. Her eyes were so blue that it seemed two precious jewels sat in the middle of her pretty face.

Mione entered in the reunion room and saw Katherine graciously sitting, looking at her with that superior look. She realized that it would have been better if she had not left her bed that morning.

"Hermione Granger, nice to meet you again," Kathy said with a false tone of voice.

"I suppose your state of happiness must be as big as mine," Mione responded in the same tone. "What are you doing here? Did you come to ask me to help you on some case you're working on?" Mione provoked.

"You don't change, do you? You were always so cynical. No, I'm not here to ask for help. I'm here to talk to you about the Halkin case, and, to my surprise, it's you who's taking care of it. A very simple case... What's going on with you, Hermione? Were you downgraded? Or did you do something very wrong and they decided to give you the non-important cases?"

"No, none of that happened. On the contrary, I'm taking care of this case because Phillip trusts me, and just me, to solve it. It might be a simple case, but the person involved in it is in high accounts with Phillip. Now, you surprise me working on such a simple case. I thought you only liked the big ones, with publicity, that catches the attention..."

"I like to pick small cases to rest, you know? The big ones might be wonderful to work on, but they tire once in a while," Kathy said lying back on the chair she was sitting in, pulling her hair back. "So, will we reach a deal today?"

"I don't know, maybe. Who knows? Before we discuss that, I have to wait for my partner to arrive," Hermione said making a face.

She still did not admit to the fact of having a partner.

"Hah! No! Please, repeat that. I think I didn't hear that right. Partner?" Katherine said with an ironic smile. "Hermione, what decadence."

Mione said nothing, just looked at the woman in front of her with a killing look.

"And where's your 'partner'?" she asked, really interested in who would be that person.

"Here!" Harry said, standing in the door.

Kathy could not avoid a smile when she saw Harry. Hermione clearly noticed by her expressions that she was interested in him, and deep inside she did not like it at all.

Harry went walking toward them.

"I'm not late. It's nine a.m. now. If you like to arrive early to control other people's time of arriving, it's not my problem," Harry said seriously to Mione, sitting down.

"Good morning!" he said now smiling to Kathy. "My name is Harry Potter, I'm Hermione's partner."

"Nice to meet you, Mr. Potter," Kathy said smiling seductively to him, loving the way he treated Mione.

"Katherine Fisher, but you can call me Kathy. I'm the prosecutor who's taking care of the Halkin case," she finished, extending a hand to him.

"Well, then, I see no reasons for you to call me Mr. Potter. I think Harry is all right," Harry said, still smiling, "I didn't know there were such pretty prosecutors. The ones I've met weren't graced with your beauty."

Now Harry had the same seductive smile.

"Oh, Harry you're so nice," Kathy said, quickly embarrassed.

Hermione was bewildered. What did that mean? What was that scene? No... Definitely, that was not her day. Now, she would have to put up with the two of them flirting with each other, when actually they had much more important things to decide.

"Well, now that you two have met, what do you suggest, Kathy?" she said trying not to show how irritated she was.

"I suggest a deal. Your client declares himself guilty, and I try to get the minimum punishment," Kathy said giving a seductive smile to Harry, as if Hermione wasn't there.

"Sounds sensate," Harry said. "I think it would be best. It would save work and time of all of us," he finished, looking intensively at Kathy, also ignoring Hermione completely.

"It doesn't sound sensate to me. If you didn't want to work, what are you doing here?" Mione angrily asked Harry.

She didn't like the fact of being ignored.

"I don't know why you insist on trying these deals with me," she said to Kathy. "You know I would never allow such a thing, and you being the prosecutor... You must've noticed I love being in court and a fight, I love to see when you lose a case to me, which, let's admit, happens almost all the time," Hermione finished with a self confident smile.

"Hermione, my dear, it won't help. In this case there's no way you can win. You read the reports, take the deal, so you won't have to admit I won." Kathy kept the same posing, indifferent to what Hermione had just said.

"I agree with Kathy," Harry said.

Suddenly, Hermione was quiet and thoughtful. One of the reasons why she chose to be a lawyer was because it was one of the few professions where you have an opponent and not a competitor, and she loved a challenge. It was the challenge of accusing or defending someone. She liked the tough cases. The tougher, the better. But in this case, she would not surrender due to the simple fact that the prosecutor was Katherine, and she never felt so satisfied for winning over someone as she felt when she won over Katherine.

"No," Hermione said with a superior smile to Kathy. "I won't take the deal, and in the end, we'll see who ends up the loser."

"Hermione, try to be sensible and think at least once," Harry said with a tired sigh.

What was she thinking the court was? A fighting rink?

"Really, Katherine's proposal is the best to be done," Harry tried again. "It will be tough to win. Halkin himself practically declared himself guilty. It'll be a waste of time going to court."

"If you think it's too laborious to go to court, then you may leave the case, Potter. I don't care, I even prefer that. I work much better alone than with your help. If what you're doing here is helping me, well, I've done the entire job alone so far. But I-won't-take-the-deal!" she said the last phrase low and paused, looking very serious at Harry.

"Hermione... A court isn't a place where you can play; it's a serious thing, in case you didn't notice. A person's life is in the game, so could you put your pride aside and treat it seriously?" Harry was serious too and had a clear disregard in his look.

Mione didn't say anything. Pride? Who was he to speak about pride? She looked at Katherine and then at Harry.

"I'll see you in court," Hermione said to Kathy, giving her an enigmatic smile.

She stood up and left the room.

* * *

Jonathan Willians was walking calmly through the Muggle London. Whoever saw him would never imagine he was the vice-Minister of Magic; after all, he was using Muggle garb and was acting like a Muggle. Who would guess?

He was married to Margaret Smith, the only daughter of the actual Minister of Magic. Everybody knew Jonathan came from a poor family and his marriage with Margaret seemed a real blow, but she seemed to love him, was extremely jealous, and, of course, spoiled. It was due to the uncountable requests to her father that her husband had that position in the Ministry.

The truth was that Jonathan even might like her, but he did not love her. At least once a week he would go to the beautiful apartment he had bought with the money he won in the Ministry to his lover, Veronica. With her, he had two kids, which would be impossible with Margaret, since she was sterile.

He turned around a corner, whistling happily, and didn't notice a man following him.

It was late in the night when he left the apartment and was going to the alley where he always went after being with Veronica to apparate home. When he arrived, he noticed there was a man standing there, supporting himself on the wall, and for his clothes, it could be seen he was a wizard. But his face could not be seen; it was hidden among the shadows.

"Hello, Jonathan. Coming back from your weekly 'walk'?" A razing voice came from behind the shadows.

Jonathan froze. Who was there waiting for him?

"Who's there?" Jonathan said with an eminent fear in his voice.

"What will Margaret think when she discovers where you go every week, instead of being at work, as you always say?" Lucius said coming out of the shadows.

The man was petrified with what the other had just said, and he suddenly felt the world around him fading away.

"Tsc, tsc, tsc, Jonathan... Really, this is not a good thing to do to the woman who took you out of poverty, the woman who made what you are today," Lucius said with his superior voice.

"What... What... What do you want, Malfoy?" Jonathan had never been a brave man.

"Hmm, I'm glad you asked. I wanted a very simple thing. I want the First Counselor job," Malfoy said with a disdain smile.

The hierarchy in the Ministry worked in a very simple way. There was the Ministry of Magic, then the Vice-Minister, and then the First Counselor. If one of them was not present, the next below would assume, and so on.

"I don't have the power to give you this job, Malfoy. You must know that perfectly."

Jonathan couldn't face the blond man in front of him. He was looking down, as if there was something very interesting in the floor.

"Well, how you'll get this is your problem. I want the job, and if you don't get it to me, Margaret will know everything you've been doing for the last ten years, including your two bastard children. How do you think she will react? It'll break poor Margaret's heart..." Lucius said now approaching to Jonathan, containing a threatening look.

"How do you think she'll react when she gets to know you have two children out of the marriage, when she herself can't have any? I must add, you have horribly bad taste, Smith. A Mudblood?" Malfoy finished, looking with disregard.

"I can't do what you're asking, Malfoy." Jonathan was desperate. "I don't have how..."

"That's your problem. You have a week. Otherwise, Margaret will find out everything and then you're life will be finished. You won't be anything, and I want to know what you'll do to sustain your second family," Lucius finished, disappearing in the next second.

Jonathan leaned on the wall, and kicked the trash can next to him, in a desperate move.

* * *

Ron walked quickly along the street where his hotel was located. It was already night and he had forgotten how cold the winter nights of London were. He pulled his over-coat tighter against his body and entered the hotel, asking the receptionist for the key to his room. The receptionist did not give himself the work of looking at him and instead entertained himself with a game on TV. Luckily, the receptionist did not look up at him, because, if he had, he would have noticed that the man asking for the key was not the old man who used to be in that room. That redheaded man surely had nothing to do with the old one he was used to seeing.

When he entered in the room, he did not turn on the light immediately. He went right to the bathroom. After some time, when he came back to the bedroom and turned on the lamp, he stopped, completely shocked. He was not alone. There was a man sitting on the armchair close to the window, and Ron knew exactly who he was.

"Hello, Ron! It's been quite some time, huh?" Harry had his voice low and serious, and he was staring at his ex-best friend with anger.