Learning to Let Go

Learning to Let Go- Chapter One

Harry glanced over his shoulder to if Hermione was coming as he walked down the crowded street in New York City. She had stopped to tie her shoe and Harry had been pushed forwards, away from her, by the steady pulse and motion of the sidewalk traffic. Finally, she caught up with him looking disheveled and out of breath.

"Christ, Americans are pushy! I thought I was going to be trampled to death!"

Harry laughed at her, " Yeah, well you certainly look like you were almost trampled to death." Hermione began nervously combing her hair with her fingers while they walked. Then, finally they reached the hotel they were staying at, The Avalon. They walked into the elaborately decorated lobby and Hermione ran to the bathroom to see how horrible she actually looked while Harry went to get the key to their room.

"That lying sack of crud," she muttered. Other then a slight case of the frizzies that she could never get rid of, she looked fine. Harry had just said that to make her fret. Harry had been kind of bitter towards her since he found out that she and Ron had been dating behind his back. It wasnÂ’t that they didnÂ’t want Harry to know; they just thought it would be best to keep it from him, thatÂ’s all. At least at first. Harry had been having some real alone issues since the murders, and they figured if he knew that she and Ron were having a relationship it would make him feel even more left out and alone. He didnÂ’t understand that they all felt alone. That they all felt like they were alone in the world since the murders, and that was how she and Ron had ended up together. They had turned to each other out of misery, and before they knew it, had blossomed into love. Harry said that he didnÂ’t care and that he was just mad that they had hid it from him, but she and Ron knew better. They had been HarryÂ’s best friends for eleven years! They knew he felt like they were leaving him for each other, but they never would. They both loved Harry like he was their brother! They tried to explain that to him, but he insisted that he didnÂ’t care that they were in a relationship; only that they had concealed it from him.

However, the argument was soon resolved when they were given a new assignment from the Ministry. She and Harry were on a special mission to infiltrate the Clan of Death-Eaters who had fled to the United States. It was rumored that they were in New York, and seeing as how she and Harry had tackled Death-Eaters and the dark lord himself before, they were found to be the best Aurors for the job. They would meet up with Ron and the United States' representative from their Magic Council. They had no idea who the Rep. would be but she was rumored to be one of the best Auror's in the world, and was the one who brought in Voldemort the first time two years ago. In fact, Hermione wasn't even sure what her name was, all she knew was that Ron was meeting the Rep. at a disclosed location somewhere in New York, and that she and Harry were to wander around as tourists for the day, and that they would eventually contact them.

Hermione finally left the bathroom after pulling her hair up into a ponytail and reapplying her lip-gloss.

"Took you long enough!" Harry replied, "I was getting ready to leave you! Now come on." The elevator bell rang and opened for them. They had no sooner walked in, when the doors slammed violently shut, and the lights blacked out.

"What the hell!" Harry yelled

"Shut-up! Now!" said a strange female voice

"Who the hell are you?" Hermione asked. She was getting that anxious feeling in her stomach.

"Everything's in place. It's safe"

"Ron?" she asked hopefully, and then suddenly the lights flipped back on.

"In the flesh!" he said pulling off a black toboggan. "Sorry about the rude welcome. We had to have a short blackout while we fixed the security camera. See, now it looks like the elevator experienced a little glitch and that a family of four in now sighing with relief."

"You almost ruined it," said the female voice, "the Death-Eaters have eyes AND ears all over this city and you two insisted upon shouting. So if any were listening, they're going to know we fixed the elevator and are on it. Thanks."

"Who are you?" asked Hermione. Then the strange girl (who Hermione assumed was the U.S. Rep.) pulled off her toboggan also. Hermione could tell that the face underneath of it had once been extraordinarily beautiful. Long blond hair, eyes that were the palest shade of green Hermione had ever seen, except for a band of forest green that outlined her pupil. She had once, looked like one of those girls that were the object of every boy's affection, and every girl's jealousy. But now, a long, thin, jagged scar that ran from her right temple to the bottom of her left jaw-line had marred the one beautiful face.

"Lieutenant-Colonel Meridian Chase Longfellow." she said sticking out her hand. "Chief and director of the Magic Council's special task force, or Aurors as you Brits call us. We'll be getting off this elevator at the top floor, where I already have the security camera's programmed to show a blank hallway as we walk down it at precisely 8:03 pm. We'll be a few seconds early, Ron program another blackout so they won't be able to see in the elevators before the program we installed takes over."

"You got it," said Ron enthusiastically, "just say the word. Everything's ready." She stared at her watch then, "Now!" Harry saw the doors of the elevator start to open, then was immediately enveloped in darkness once again. He heard the Lieutenant, whispering under her breath, "O.K, let's go." and she stepped out of the elevator. Harry followed suit.

"What were you whispering about in there?" Harry asked her.

"I was counting the seconds until we could get out of the elevator. I couldn't see my watch because of the blackout and we need to remain on time, or we would throw off the timing of everything that'll we'll do in this hotel for the rest of the night."

"So we'll be on a time limit all night?"

She nodded, "The hotel is rigged so that there is no way in hell that the Death Eaters could figure out we're here."

"What about when I signed us in this evening?"

"Do I look like an idiot?" she snapped, "I had Ron take care of it so that you looked like the parents of the family on the elevator. You know, our cover?"

"I remember," Harry said feeling stupid, "Your thorough as hell, I'll give you that much. I wish more of the people in Britain were like that."

"I know that you guys in Britain are known for your blunders, but I picked your team because youÂ’re the best and I found you to be able partners. For Christ's sake you've been doing this since you were like, what? Twelve?" she smiled at him and her old beauty returned for just a moment. "Step lively you two," she yelled back to Ron and Hermione, "We're on a time limit! You need to tell your friends that they can make smoochie faces at each other when they're not on my time. I run a tight ship, and in all honestly, we have two and a half hours free time in our room now and I don't want to miss out on any of it. We have some tough days ahead of us."

And with that she walked into their room taking off her sweatshirt and pants, revealing a black sport's bra, tiny black boxer shorts, and a very tight stomach.

"I've got first dibs on the shower," she said walking over to the bathroom and slamming the door shut.

"Wow," Harry said looking all around him. Hermione gasped in awe as she walked in, too. "I don't even know what most of this stuff is! Let alone how to use it!"

"Me either," said Harry, "but I can't wait to learn."

"She explained some of it to me. Like this thing over here, it will start to glow blood red if there's a Death-Eater near, and the darker the red goes the closer they are," Ron said pointing to a small crystal orb that looked oddly like a combination between a Remembrall and a crystal ball.

Hermione noticed the similarity, " I bet they made it look like a Remembrall, you know with it glowing red, so that you can have it out in public and everyone will think you've just forgotten something. It's really clever."

"I know what this is," Harry said looking into a mirror that showed not his reflection, but very blurry, and misty gray shadows, "Mad-Eye Moody had one. It's called a Foe-Glass. It shows you your approaching enemies, but it isn't portable like that Remembrall thing."

"It's called a blood-ball," said the Lieutenant walking out of the steaming bathroom, " it only detects Death-Eaters; no one else. It's normally what we take to the site of a battle, or murder. To see if any Death-Eaters remain, live or dead."

"I never knew the battle was so rampant in the U.S." Harry said, "I thought everything was going on in our part of the world."

"You're half-right, because Voldemort rarely shows up here in the U.S., he just sends us millions of his misguided cronies to wreak havoc for him. The Death-Eater population is extraordinarily larger here then it is in Britain. Now sit down, and I'll read you the mission," said the Lieutenant, "by the was you can all call me Chase. Okay, we have information that ten to fifteen Death-Eaters, including but not limited to the British escapees are living under the Fidelius Charm here in New York so that we can't find them. So, Mission one is to find their Secret Keeper, Wormtail, who is living in the streets as a rat. He's squealed once, so I'm sure when can make him do it again..." upon Chase speaking these words, Ron and Hermione's faces went a little paler and Harry's eyes flashed a violent shade of green with anger.

"I take it you forgot who he 'squealed' on right Chase," Harry said coldly.

Chase looked at him quizzically for a moment then closed her eyes, "Shit! I'm so sorry Harry! I am, but we really don't have time to dwell on it now." She paused. "I am sorry. Accept my apology?"

"Yeah, I suppose."

"Good! Now, after we find their location, we'll infiltrate. Only two of us, the other two will stay in the hotel and monitor the computers and keep the Council up-dated. Once we've accomplished these things, I'll tell you the rest. However, I'll warn you now. Voldemort is coming. That's why we have to infiltrate them. You have to lose some of the little fish to catch the big fish. The Death-Eaters are not a top concern necessarily. Understand?" They all nodded. 'Voldemort is coming,' Harry thought, 'that's why they picked me for this assignment. Because everyone knows that the Potter boy is supposed to die so that Voldemort can be defeated. I should have known.'

All right guys, we still got an hour and a half to lie around, and talk or whatever. So, relax a little. You'll need your energy."

"Can I ask you a question," Hermione asked, "that's kinda personal?"

"Shoot! My life's an open book."

"How did you get that scar and how did you become an Auror?"

"Well, I suppose you're expecting me to say that Voldemort killed my family or something like that right? Well, nothing doing. It's just what I wanted to be, you know, it seemed exciting and daring. I mean, my father was an Auror, the best next to ol' Mad-Eye Moody and he taught me everything I know. And yeah, Voldmort eventually killed him, but I was an Auror before that happened. And now it just makes me want to bust his ass even more then I did before."

"And the scar?" Harry asked

"The scar..."she said thoughtfully, "the bane of my existence for years. I'm your alls age, 22, and became a full-fledged Auror at 20. Got the scar, on my second mission. It was me and Dad...we had traveled to a little town called Coalton in West Virginia-a real desolate, forgotten coal-mining town. In the field behind the elementary school we fought...my dad fell...Voldemort came after me but the Avada Kedevra curse just didn't work on me," she shrugged her shoulders, " I don't know why...And then he branded me with this," She ran her finger across her scar, "He said he did it so that he always knew who I wasÂ…so that he could come back and kill me. He said he had gotten around a parent's protection before; he'd do it again. Then I flew at himÂ…tackled him to the ground, I guess he didnÂ’t expect me to attack him without magic and I caught off guardÂ…when I had him down I stabbed him with my wandÂ…Right in the eye." she paused, "I just lost control. I wanted to hurt him with my bare-hands, you know. Well, I did manage to hurt him really bad, but instead of sicking the dementors on him right then to remove his soul when I turned him over to BritainÂ’s Ministry, they waitedÂ…and he escaped."

"Shit..."Harry said.

"I was so upset, when it first happed you know, about my face. I had been really vain and conceited. But IÂ’ll get the son of a bitch, just because I know I can; and for my face, but mostly for my dad. That's why I picked you and your team," she said turning to Harry, "Because the loss of your parents and all the friends you three have lost, will make you stronger, angrier, more eager to do the hardest, most unpredictable thing you can do to get him."

Harry remembered for a moment, everyone they'd lost over the four years they'd been out of school. Justin Finch-Fletchley, Lavender Brown, Ernie McMillion, Hannah Abbott, Parvati and Padma Patil, Dean Thomas, Neville Longbottom, and many others. They were all murdered at the wedding they had all been attending-Ginny Weasley and Seamus FinniganÂ’s. Seamus's family was also killed. Luckily, Ginny's family was running late because a case of Fillibuster fireworks for Fred and GeorgeÂ’s joke shop had went off in the trunk of their car and caught it on fire. Harry, Ron, and Hermione would have been there too, but at the time they were all working part-time at the Ministry in the International Department under RonÂ’s older brother Percy, and had been attending a meeting in Albania. They were supposed to take a flight back to London that would have gotten them there in time for the wedding, but a supposed bomb threat had been made before the plane took off and they had had to take a later flight. They found out later that Voldemort had committed the murders and that a Death-Eater had made the bomb threat to delay them. Voldemort had murdered all of HarryÂ’s friends to provoke him to become an Auror, to join the fight, and it had worked. It had happened on April 15, 1999 and Harry had been 18. When he found out about Voldemort killing almost everyone he held dear, he immediately began training as an Auror, and was certified and put on the field at 20. The only thing that Voldemort hadn't expected was that Ron and Hermione would join him, also to avenge their friendsÂ’ deaths. The three were an almost unstoppable team alone, but with Chase, Harry felt like they definitely could not be beaten.

"However," Chase continued, "Your losses may also make you act stupid and irresponsibly. So please, make sure that you remain in control at all times."

"Don't worry," said Hermione, "Our personal lives won't interfere with our job. It never has and it never will."

"That's right. You picked a good team. We'll do our best." Ron added

"Good, now let's get down to business. When our break time is over, Ron and Harry will take the Bronx, don't worry you'll have disguises, and Hermione and I will take the Upper East Side. We might as well start getting ready. We have long night ahead of us of digging through trashcans and sewers looking for a rat."