The Paradigm Of Uncertainty

HARRY POTTER AND THE PARADIGM OF UNCERTAINTY

Chapter 10: Off to See the Wizard

Hermione got out a knapsack and began throwing clothes into it: jeans, t-shirts, some knickers and socks, a jumper. She added her smallest spell compendium and the magnifying glass she'd need to read it, some owl post paper and a quill, and a bag of galleons and sickles.

The door opened and Laura burst in, out of breath. "Oh, she told you." Hermione nodded at her and continued her packing. "What are you going to do?"

"I have no idea," she said tightly. "I thought that just leaving here was a good enough start, I was going to figure out the rest when I got on the road."

"This is insane."

"Well, I can't help that. I'll follow the compass and hope Cho's enchantment holds up."

"I think you..." She was cut off by a loud hooting. The two women looked up in time to see Hedwig zoom into the room and land on Hermione's shoulder. She had a note tied to her leg.

"Harry's not here, Hedwig." The snowy owl hooted again and pecked Hermione's ear.

"I think it's for you," Laura said. Hedwig flapped her wings excitedly. Hermione took the note from her leg and opened it, frowning. "Is it from Harry?"

Hermione shook her head. "It's not his handwriting. It just says 'Spellbound Books.'"

"Spellwho Books?"

"That's the publishing company where Gerald works." She rubbed her chin with one hand.

"What does it mean?"

"I have no idea." She shrugged and slipped the note into her knapsack. "But whoever sent it did so for a reason...Hedwig wouldn't have brought it to me if it was from an enemy. I can stop there before I leave; it's not like there's a huge amount of time pressure, or maybe there is, I mean I have no idea where he is or what he's up to and for all I know Allegra's captured him already or else he could be on his way home by now though that's not too likely and..."

Laura watched Hermione walk back and forth, putting things in her bag, words falling out of her mouth on top of each other like clowns out of a car until she finally stopped and took a deep breath. She put her hands on her desk and leaned forward, letting her head drop down. Laura stepped forward and put a hand on her arm. "Take it easy, all right?"

Hermione looked at her, a naked expression of uncertainty and fear on her face. "It's just...he's...I..."

"I know."

"He's everything to me." She sniffed and drummed her fingers on the desktop. "Hmph. When did that happen?"

Laura smiled gently at her. "You tell me."

Hermione straightened up and took a deep breath, letting her eyes fall shut. "The other night? Fifteen years ago? It's all the same thing." She turned and tied her knapsack shut, then spoke with her back to Laura. "Since I was eleven years old, he's been there. Before I went to Hogwarts I always thought I'd live my life for myself and according to what I thought was best...but it didn't turn out that way. He's been with me so long I can hardly remember what it was like to be alone. My life is so intertwined with his that I couldn't untangle it if I tried."

"What about Ron?" Laura said softly. Hermione's hands busied themselves rearranging the pillows on her bed.

"Ron was my friend. He was very important to me." She sighed. "And I did love him, I know that now." She turned around to face Laura, her eyes overbright. "But it wouldn't have lasted. We helped each other take those first steps towards adulthood, but once we got there it would have been time to face the world as actual grownups. I wasn't in love with him. He deserved better, and so do I. I don't know if it would have taken Harry and I this long if Ron were still alive, but I think...I know...that we would have ended up here sooner or later. I don't believe in destiny, but I believe some things are unavoidable." She swiped at her eyes and picked up her knapsack. "Enough True Confessions. If I'm going to leave I'd best go now." She stepped forward and hugged Laura. "Take care. I'll be in touch."

"You better be."

Hermione trotted down the main staircase to find Justin and George in the foyer. They both hugged her and wished her luck, George handing her a sack lunch to take along. As she opened the door she glanced back and saw Cho lurking in the doorway into the study. Hermione smiled at her, stepped outside and closed the door behind her.

She hesitated at her car, the keys in her hand. In the window she could see the reflection of Harry's Army-green jeep behind her. She turned around and put a hand on it, thinking. Abruptly, she went around to the driver's side door and got in, starting it up with the keys she found behind the visor. She pushed the top down and roared away, smiling at the feeling of the wind running through her hair, glad just to be doing something.

**********

Harry lay on his back in the youth hostel, staring at the cracks in the ceiling. That one looks like Tony Blair, he thought. That one looks a little like the coast of Sweden.

He was grabbing a few desperately needed hours of downtime; he'd been running nonstop since he left Bailicroft. First stop had been I.D. headquarters to see Lefty.

Lefty had been sitting up in bed reading a book when he came in; as always, Harry was reminded powerfully of Hagrid. Lefty was a large man with bushy hair and a wiry beard, rosy cheeks that spoke of a few too many ales down at the pub, a big barrel chest and arms like flying buttresses. Hand-to-hand combat training with this man had been a challenge for Harry, who was about half his size; the day he'd been able to take him without any help had been a real cause for celebration.

"Harry!" Lefty had said as he entered. "Good to see you, lad. Come sit a spell." It didn't seem as though the loss of a leg and a hand had dimmed his spirits much. Harry had taken a seat next to Lefty's bed.

"How are you, Lefty?"

A flicker of pain had crossed his expression then, so quickly Harry had to wonder if it had been his imagination. "I'll be all right, you'll see. Don't you go wasting no tears of sympathy on me now, you hear? I'll get meself a nice wooden leg, just like a pirate...and I'll tell you, I always did sort of fancy having a nice dangerous hook for a hand!" He slapped his remaining thigh with his remaining hand and roared laughter to the high ceiling of the infimary. Harry felt like crying. "Now, don't look like that."

"This is all my fault."

"My, aren't we the raging egomaniac?"

"Allegra is doing this to get to me."

"And if it weren't you it'd be someone else. Besides, I wouldn't set too much store by what Allegra does. That woman is a raving lunatic."

"I *wish* she were a raving lunatic. It'd make things so much easier."

"We'll get her. We've got the whole bloody I.D. on her trail, don't we? Don't you go off half-cocked, you hear me, laddie? This isn't the time for heroics."

Harry had sat with him for half an hour or so and then taken his leave, saying nothing about his plans to smoke out Allegra on his own. He'd stopped in to see Lupin, mostly recovered from the poisoned wolfsbane, and had said as little as possible to him; it wasn't that he didn't trust him but the less Lupin knew the less likely he'd be to let it slip to people Harry would rather have remain ignorant. In his head he knew Lefty was right. The entire division was mobilized...but they didn't know her like Harry knew her, and it wasn't their friends and loved ones who were being targeted. This is my fight, Harry thought, lying there on the lumpy cot in the room he'd been given. He let his eyes fall closed and began to drift off.

"Harry!"

Harry jumped several feet in the air and was off the cot before he was aware his back had left the bed, trying to look everywhere at once. Hanging in the air above the cot was a green Baubel bubble. "Remus?"

"What the devil do you think you're doing?"

"How did you get your bubble out of the I.D.?"

"Never mind that! Do you realize I've been looking for you since yesterday?"

"I'm sorry, I..." He cleared his throat, still waiting for his heart rate to climb down out of the rafters. "I've got to take care of this myself."

"Are you sure that's wise? It is advisable to make these decisions rationally, not emotionally."

Harry straightened up. "Lupin, you should remember that I'm your superior officer."

"Bollocks! Not when you're acting like a sixteen year old!"

"I'm trying to save lives here! If I give Allegra what she wants then the rest of you will be safe!" Harry fought down guilt. He hadn't told anyone at the I.D. about the changeover though he knew he should have. He just couldn't shake the feeling that the fewer people knew about it, the better.

"You won't be very safe! I don't like that tradeoff."

"What does it matter, Remus? If she wants to kill me, torture me, rip my balls off and make them into bloody Christmas tree ornaments what the hell does it matter?"

Lupin said nothing for a moment. "Who are you protecting, Harry? Who is so important that you're willing to give yourself up, in spite of the consequences to you and the rest of the world, just to keep Allegra away from them?" Harry sat down heavily but didn't reply. "Is it Hermione?" Harry looked away, lacing his fingers tightly together. "Are you in love with her?" Lupin asked, quietly.

Harry shut his eyes, the question bouncing around in his head like a pinball...but at least he knew the answer. "Yes."

"I see." Harry could practically hear the gears in Lupin's mind spinning. "I should tell Argo where you are, you know. She's spitting thumbtacks she's so cross with you. 'Adolescent dragonslayer John Wayne delusions,' I think she called them...though I'm not sure who John Wayne is. Some American, no doubt."

Harry barely heard him, hope rising in his chest. "You mean...you haven't told her where I am?"

"I wanted to talk to you first. I know a little about secrecy as a necessary evil." He sighed. "I can't believe I'm about to do this."

"I need your help, Remus. Can I count on you?"

"Yes."

"All right. I need you to send me Persephone, she's the most reliable. I have a source within the Circle and I need her to contact him. And I need you to send me copies of the hourly intelligence reports."

"Why?"

"If my source can't tell me where to find Allegra, I may have to follow her backtrail instead."

"She may come after you, spare you the trouble."

"No. She still thinks I'm biding my time and waiting for her next move. If there's one thing Allegra has in abundance it's patience. The longer and more drawn-out my torments become, the better. She'll wait for me to come to her."

"All right, you know her better than I do." He paused. "Harry...I'm happy for you."

"Why?"

"Well...you know..."

"Oh! Thanks."

"It's been a long time coming, I think."

"I think so too. And Remus? Don't write my epitaph just yet. I'm not the nineteen-year-old kid that Allegra knew when she worked at the I.D. I don't plan to lie right down and surrender."

"Glad to hear it. I'll send Persephone right away." The green bubble winked out of existence with a faint 'pop.' Harry flopped back onto his cot , feeling encouraged.

He lay there as the sun slowly slipped lower in the sky, thinking convoluted and troubling thoughts. He was worried about Allegra and what she might do next. He was concerned that when this was all over he might not have a job any longer. He thought endlessly about all the dire consequences that would come about if Voldemort were to gain more power again. And he missed Hermione with a sharp ache that tugged at the center of his chest. He let his eyes fall closed and pictured her face, her eyes, her smile. I'm sorry, Hermione, he thought. I wish you were here with me.

**********

Hermione parked the Jeep in the lot in front of Spellbound Books, Inc. She'd never been here before though she'd heard Gerald describe it. The company headquarters was in a neatly maintained farmhouse in the country surrounded by swaying elm trees and manicured gardens. The advantage of being a wizarding publisher was that you didn't need a lot of bulky machinery and printing presses...the text was transferred magically onto the pages and sent directly to the merchants without the need for a warehouse.

She walked into the lobby, keeping an eye out for anyone she'd recognize from the company party she'd attended with Gerald. She'd only been there a short time before being called away by Harry's second collapse but she had met a few of his coworkers. She didn't recognize the witch at the reception desk. "May I help you?" the woman asked.

"Is Gerald here?" She didn't know who else to ask for. Perhaps she'd get the chance to break it to him personally that she was no longer his girlfriend.

"Gerald?" the receptionist said. "I don't think I know a Gerald."

"Oh, but you must. He's Vice President in charge of Testing and Quality Control."

The witch was looking at her strangely . "Our VP of Testing and Quality Control is named Elsa McFarland, ma'am. I don't know of anyone named Gerald who works here."

Hermione was beginning to get a very bad feeling. "But...I've been dating a man named Gerald for four months, and he told me he worked here...I don't understand..."

"Just a moment, please." The young woman got up and left the room; she returned a few moments later with an older, kind-faced wizard. "Ma'am, this is Gideon Mallory, our public relations director. Perhaps he can help you." He shook Hermione's hand.

"I understand you're asking about an employee?"

"Yes," Hermione said, making an effort to keep her voice calm and even. "For the last four months, I've been seeing a man named Gerald, who told me he was VP of Testing and Quality Control at this company."

Mallory frowned. "Gerald Van Haven?"

"Yes! Do you know him?"

Mallory cleared his throat and appeared very uncomfortable. "Yes, I do. Gerald Van Haven was our VP of Testing and Quality Control, we hired him right out of Hogwarts. But..." He glanced at the receptionist.

"What?"

"He was killed in a car crash almost a year ago."

Hermione's legs went numb. She felt behind her for the chair she knew was there; Gideon reached forward and helped her sit down. "That's...that's not possible..." She looked up at him. "Do you have a photo of him?"

"I think so...yes, he played on the company Quidditch team. Just a moment." He hurried into another room and soon returned with a photo of wizards and witches wearing silver and blue Quidditch robes and holding brooms. He pointed to the wizard on the far right. "That's Gerald."

Hermione nodded. "Yes, that's the same man I know. You're sure...he's really dead?"

"Unquestionably. I saw his body, I attended his funeral. He is dead."

Her mind spinning, Hermione stood up, willing her knees to stop shaking. "Thank you very much." She turned and left as quickly as she could, racing to the car and leaping into the driver's seat where she could let herself quake and tremble as much as she liked. Dead. Dead. Gerald died a year ago. Then who was it I was seeing? He certainly looked like the man in the photo.

She did have an idea how this could be, and it was very troubling. If someone...Allegra, perhaps...wished to spy on her, an excellent way to do so would be to send someone to infiltrate the household in some innocuous manner. And why invent an entire persona when you could borrow one from a dead man? The verisimilitude would be far greater, and a glamour could even make him look like the person he was supposed to be. It would have to have been an excellent glamour to fool Hermione, who had been, well, *intimate* with Gerald on more than one occasion. She shuddered, wondering who exactly it was that she'd been intimate with. It certainly hadn't been Gerald.

Whoever did this went to an awful lot of trouble, she thought. They set up that entire party with phony co-workers just for my benefit. But why? Seems like more fuss than it's worth.

She tried to put it out of her mind...no doubt the explanation would present itself sooner or later. She affixed the compass to the Jeep's dashboard and set off again.

********

Harry walked carefully through the wreckage, taking care not to disturb anything as he walked...an invisbility cloak did you little good if you went about knocking things out of place with your appendages. Lupin had done as he'd asked with admirably efficiency, and Harry felt as though he had an advantage for the first time. Persephone, one of the I.D.'s stealth owls, had arrived this morning bearing the first of many intelligence reports...every hour she reappeared bearing more breaking news. Muggings, assaults, petty theft, other various small crimes committed by ordinary people...none of it had smacked of Allegra's handiwork until this fire.

When he arrived the scene was still swarming with Muggle police and eyewitnesses who had no idea that this wasn't an ordinary accidental fire. They'd find no evidence of arson, either...a wizard arsonist left no telltale traces of gasoline or accelerants. Harry knew better, though. He scanned the crowd, looking for the face of a wizard and wondering if he'd recognize it when he saw it.

The proprieter of this establishment, until recently a tobacconist's shop, was one of many wizards that Harry kept under semi-regular observation for his own safety. He had steadfastly refused Circle recruitment for years, and they weren't too happy about it. He had been one of the best rune-casters in the western hemisphere and his services had been highly prized. Recently he'd been lending his skills to some I.D. investigations, and now he had paid for it with his life. His body would be found amidst the wreckage, dead...of course he had been dead before the fire began, killed as a warning to other wizards who might be so impertinent as to refuse to offer their services to the Circle.

Harry could almost smell Allegra's presence here, even if she'd never set foot within ten miles of this shop. A picture formed in his mind: the rune wizard, peacefully conducting his business, was paid a visit by a cloaked and mysterious Circle minion, who made yet another round of offers and incentives which were refused. He then moved on to thinly veiled threats which fell on deaf ears. Finally, as ordered, he had killed him and started the fire, leaving the smoking building as stealthily as he had come.

Harry walked back around to the front of the building, being careful to keep the invisibility cloak around him. The scene was calming down as the Muggle police completed their reports and the eyewitnesses left. Harry walked across the front of the site and was just thinking of leaving when something caught his eyes...a bright flash of golden hair. He stopped and peered across the street; Sorry was standing on the opposite sidewalk, watching the scene. He was dressed in Muggle-style clothing and appeared to be nothing more than a bystander. Harry had sent him an owl that very morning asking if he could offer any guidance about where he might find Allegra but hadn't heard back.

He hurried across the street and stood next to him. "Don't look around," he said. Sorry jumped a little but kept his eyes fixed on the burned building. "I'm standing right next to you."

"I was going to write you when I left here," Sorry said.

"What are you doing here?"

"Just wondering what the hell I've gotten myself into."

"Well, it'll be over soon."

"Harry, I can't tell you where Allegra is."

"Why not?"

"Because I don't know. It changes from one day to the next. The Circle has some sort of secret bolthole but I don't know where it is, I've never been there."

"Where do you do your work, then?"

"Wherever I'm told. I usually receive an owl telling me where to report for the day's festivities. Someone's house, the workplace of a friendly wizard, or just out in the middle of the woods somewhere."

"Then I'll have to find her the old-fashioned way...try to anticipate her next move."

"Well, something's up. Allegra left for the States yesterday, I don't know why but it was very sudden."

"What prompted her to leave?"

"I don't know, but it must have been important. One of the other Circle members showed up unexpectedly and after he left she started making plans for this trip."

"Who was the member?"

"A man names Lucius Malfoy. First time I'd seen him in a few months."

"Bloody hell," Harry whispered.

"What?"

"I know Lucius rather better than I'd like. I was at Hogwarts with his son, and Lucius tried to have me killed. He vanished just before he was to be sent to Azkaban. I've tried many times to discover his whereabouts with little success."

"I'm not surprised, he's one of the inner sanctum. Very well protected. In fact, he was the first Circle member who approached me about working with them."

"Do you know anything of his son, Draco?"

"I think he's dead."

Harry felt unexpectedly sad at this news. "Really?"

"I'm fairly certain of it. Was he an only child?"

"Yes."

"I know that Lucius lost a son years ago, some sort of accident...I got the impression that the son's incompetence led to his death and that there was much hand-wringing over the damage to Lucius' reputation."

Harry sighed. "I wouldn't have wished that on Draco. We had more than our share of differences but he improved with age."

"Whatever you're going to do, I suggest you pick up the pace. I can stall them for perhaps another week, but no longer. Whatever Allegra's currently up to I suspect it has something to do with the changeover, she told me that she might have some new information for me soon." He hesitated. "Harry...they know you've gone rogue. They can have no illusions about your plans."

"No doubt. Their actions were designed to draw me out, they can hardly be surprised that it worked."

"If you come after them, they'll be ready."

"Thanks for the warning."

"But you don't intend to heed it."

"Sorry, I appreciate your concern but I do this for a living. I know what I'm doing."

"Do you?"

"What are you implying?"

"Just that you're reacting emotionally, not rationally. It's Hermione, isn't it?"

Harry rolled his eyes, though the gesture was lost on Sorry being that he couldn't see it. "I may as well tattoo 'I'm sleeping with Hermione Granger' on my bloody forehead. And it's not just her. She'll keep pushing buttons until she gets a response. Better sooner than later."

"If you say so."

"Thanks for the headsup."

"Think nothing of it." Sorry paused, thinking. "You know, I'd feel lots better if I had an idea how you plan to deal with Allegra and Voldemort all by yourself." No answer. "I know you've done it before, but really...this isn't Hogwarts." No answer. "Harry?" Sorry put out a hand and poked the air where Harry's voice had come from, but there was no one there.

**********

Hermione walked down the sidewalk, holding the compass in front of her and drawing curious glances from the passersby. Cho had done an excellent job with her enchantment; not only did the needle point in the direction she was to proceed but the compass face changed colors to denote range. She'd parked the Jeep and begun walking when it had changed to blue, which meant that Harry was within one kilometer of her position. Her heart was pounding excitedly as she kept walking and the face began shading to green...that meant within 100 meters.

Smoke was rising into the sky from somewhere up ahead and the street was becoming congested. She looked around; police cars and fire trucks clogged the street before her. Evidently there had been a fire, though she didn't know why Harry would be here. Perhaps the fire had something to do with Allegra, she thought.

She quickened her steps as the green compass face began lightening to yellow...50 meters. She stared up the street but she didn't see him. Ahead of her on the sidewalk was a blond man with...she stopped short. It was Sorry, standing on the sidewalk and staring fixedly at the burned-out building with his arms crossed over his chest.

She glanced down at the compass and took a step forward, but one step was all she was able to take. Abruptly, an arm shot out of a doorway to her left, grabbed her arm and yanked her roughly off the sidewalk, another hand clamping over her mouth so she couldn't cry out. The door to the street slammed shut, the darkness enveloping her like a glove, leaving her alone in the grip of a stranger.