Time flew by once again and before Harry knew it, Christmas was just a few days away. The weather was freezing, but the air was still warm with all the celebrations. Naina was learning to adjust without Parvati. She didn't cry so much, and Harry could take care of her fairly well.
Mrs Weasley called Harry to the Burrow on the week before Christmas, and he happily accepted her invitation. A lonely Chrismas was the last thing he was looking forward to, and spending Christmas with the Weasleys seemed to be an escape from any pain that was bound to come his way during this time. On the eighteenth of December, Harry happily packed his bags and set off to the Burrow where he could spend ten joyous days in peace. On his way, he had to go to Bath for some work. He saw the guest house pass as he drove by, and it sent shivers down his spine. But little did he know that he would come back there in the next eight days.
***
Ron wore his sweater and earmuffs without paying attention to what was happening. The weeks following divorce notice fiasco had been hell. Neither Ron nor Hermione had any tears remaining to be shed. Their fights had reached the ultimate level and try as he might, Ron realised that there was no way of escaping the divorce from Hermione. She was definitely divorcing him, now.
He remembered how Hermione had told him that if they'd have to be divorced, it would be after the case ended. He wished, at this moment, that the case hadn't ended yet... That they'd all be living in the guest house still. At least that would give him more time with Hermione.
"Ron, are you ready, or should we just carry on without you?" asked Hermione's voice from the living room. He sighed and pulled on another jacket before leaving the room. What he did not know was that his wishes were about to come true.
***
The atmosphere in the Burrow was wonderful; Molly Weasley, with her motherly nature and excellent cooking made Harry feel at home, as usual. The entire Weasley clan was there along with their respective spouses and children and it was wonderful to be in the middle of Fred and George's pranks, Percy's long and boring explanations about work, Charlie's dragon talks and Bill's general presence. Ginny was her old, fiery self once again and Mr Weasley's curiosity about Muggles hadn't diminished at all. Harry, for a change, didn't feel the depression hover into his senses. Ron and Hermione, too, kept away their fights for a while.
Harry went Christmas shopping to Diagon Alley along with Ron and Hermoine, and they ran into a few old classmates including Draco Malfoy. They met Neville, too, and he was shocked to hear about Parvati's death. Daisy's arrest also surprised him. "She was bright," he said, "but better, was Chris. What's he into, these days?"
"He's training to be a Healer," replied Harry.
"And Rebecca?"
"She works for the Deparment of International Magical Cooperation."
"Oh," said Neville. "That's pretty good, then. She's a smart girl."
They spoke some more and exchanged goodbyes before continuing their ways. They explored a new ice cream parlour and had huge chocolate fudge sundaes, remembering those old days at Florean Fortesque's. Finally, after they were done with the shopping, they headed back to the Burrow. Harry felt light and happy again. It was good to have the same old feeling of having nothing to worry about. These were the happiest moments he'd had since Parvati's death.
***
Ginny walked through the polished corridors of the Ministry of Magic, into the Department of International Magical Cooperation. There were rows of cubicles in the place, and finally, there was the Head's office. She knocked at the door. "Come in," replied Alice Robbins. Ginny took a deep breath and entered. This was it. The answer to one desperate question that she had. And that would prove everything.
Alice Robbins had a posh, beautiful office. She sat at a handsome teak desk, lined with china dummies and having neatly stacked files on one side. She gave Ginny a smile as she entered, and asked her to sit down. "How can I help you?"
"I'm afraid I need a big favour from your side, Alice."
"Sure! Tell me."
Ginny pulled out a file from her bag and handed it to the other woman. "This is the file that we prepared for Parineeta Roy. Can you use these details and find out her whereabouts on these days?" She produced a piece of paper with the murder dates on it.
Alice looked at the file and the other paper for a moment. "I'm sorry, this matter isn't”"
Ginny raised her hand. "I know that your department doesn't deal with such matters, but this is a case of international travel. Don't you keep records of people moving in and out of the country?"
"We do."
"Thats all I need, really."
Alice nodded. "Okay, I'll do it. Just wait outside for a minute or two while I get the papers."
"Thanks a lot, Alice," said Ginny, as she headed to the door.
"No problem!"
Ginny walked outside to the waiting area, and sat down, thinking about her Christmas plans. In a few minutes, she could see Rebecca walking towards her, holding a large envelope in her hand, along with Pari's file. She handed both to Ginny and gave her a smile. "How are you doing?"
Ginny grinned back. "I'm great... How are your Christmas plans coming through?"
"Good," said Rebecca. "Are you coming for Romilda's get-together on Boxing Day?"
"Thinking of it," said Ginny. "Are you?"
"Yeah," replied Rebecca. "Should be fun."
Ginny chuckled as she stood up. "I guess I should get going, now..." She and Rebecca exchanged goodbyes as she left. Then she went back to her own office, and settled herself in her cubicle.
Alice had sent the information in a thick, tightly sealed envelope. Ginny broke the seal to find a piece of parchment in it. She smoothed it upon her desk and read through it carefully. What she saw plainly shocked her.
Pari had been right in England on all the days that the murders took place.
***
On the morning of Christmas, Ron awoke with a feeling of being hit on the head with a stick. It took a long while for him to figure why this was happening. He finally had to agree that it was all because of his rough times with Hermione. They'd always bickered since the first day that they got to know each other, and had had big fights, too. But this fight had been their worst.
He sat up on his bed, too see Harry snoozing soundly on his camp bed. Ron knew that he was in a horrible situation himself, but looking at Harry made him feel terrible for his best mate. Parvati's death had brought about some of the worst days in Harry's life. At least he, Ron always had the chance to get Hermione back by talking to her, but there was no way that Harry could get Parvati back.
Sighing, Ron got out of his bed and went for a shower and a shave. He came out, dressed, to find Harry awake. He grinned at Ron. "Merry Christmas, mate." Ron wished him back, and the two men shared a brief hug before Harry made his way to the bathroom. Ron sat down on his bed, waiting for the other man. Just then, he heard a knock at the door.
"Come in," he said. The door swung open and Rom saw Hermione standing there. She looked down. "Molly asked me to call the two of you down."
"We're coming," Ron replied. He got up and walked to her. She looked up at him, but then turned to walk away. He took a step ahead and pulled her hand, just as he heard a funny squeaking sound. Bewildered, he looked around. "What was that? I'll just go check”" He left her hand and started to turn, when he felt something touch his back. He stretched his hand and felt something solid. "Oh no..."
"What?" asked Hermione, raising an eyebrow.
Ron looked up at the ceiling and Hermione followed his gaze, gasping as she did so. There was a mistletoe, hanging innocently from the ceiling. Ron sighed. "This is Fred and George's mistletoe... We can't get out till we kiss. They've trapped us."
Hermione stretched out a hand and touched around them, and Ron could say that she too could feel the invisible, solid tube that they were surrounded by. She looked up at him and frowned. Then suddenly, before Ron could think, she had placed a hand on his neck. Then he felt her lips on his.
He sighed as he put his arms around her and kissed her back. Her lips felt wonderfully familiar and as she ran her hands through his hair, he could feel his heart beat fast.
They did not break apart for long. Ron could feel tears stream down her cheeks as they kissed, and let one of his own fall. Soon, as she was unable to continue, she broke apart. Then she leaned over and hugged him tightly.
Ron hugged her back as she held on to him. He bent down and kissed her forehead. Then he began to stroke her hair. But then, without warning, she pushed him away. "Hermione, what”?"
She began to walk away; the wall around them having dissolved a while ago. But just before she got down the stairs, she turned. "I'm sorry, Ron, you're just not mine anymore. And I can't share you with anyone." He opened his mouth to reply, but before he could say anything, she was gone.
***
Chris threw on a smart set of dress robes and walked to his full-length mirror, beginning to comb his hair swiftly. He moved his wand over his head, styling his hair a bit. Then, when he looked at the mirror, he wished he didn't have to go to the party.
Romilda's get together was the last thing on his mind, right now. He had too many other things to worry about. Daisy, of course, topped his list” but there was more. He had another, truly horrible fear in his mind. Lately, he had been realising that something was wrong with him. He felt incredibly sleepy and tired at the oddest of times. He woke up on half the mornings with horrible headaches which only worsened during cadaver dissections in his Healer Training. The smell of formalin had almost made him pass out recently, and he knew that it shouldn’t be happening given that he hadn’t had any such reactions to the smell earlier. Today, though, he was feeling exceptionally horrible. He didn’t know what he was feeling, actually, but it was just not right.
Chris wondered if he was coming down with a terrible illness of some sort, and if he should talk to Healer Tudor about this again. He had spoken to her once, but no startling diagnosis had been made from her side. The only thing that she had found odd was that he seemed to suffer with arrhythmia sometimes, but there was no reason for it. Plus, he didn’t even have a medical history of arrhythmia. So then, really, why was this happening? And it had started ever since Daisy had been put in prison. Healer Tudor told him that he was just stressed out. Was it true? Did his worries for Daisy have a hand in ruining his health?
Chris decided to stop thinking about all of this and stepped out of his house, after dismissing Earl for the day. Soon, he was walking up the driveway of Romilda’s house. He rang the doorbell rather heartlessly and she opened it. He was greeted with many smiles, hugs and handshakes, as he walked in. He returned them too, through he wasn’t really interested in seeing anyone’s face. The Aurors, who were reunited after quite a time, were happy to be together. They chatted gaily and Chris got involved in a few conversations, himself. But Rebecca and Parineeta had come along too, so Chris mostly stuck to them. They were less painful to talk to, as they understood his situation. He had just met with them that very morning and told them about this particular health problem of his.
Rebecca sipped some Butterbeer as she said to him, “You should really see some other Healer to sort out those health problems of yours, Chris. I don’t think Healer Tudor””
“Hey!” Chris protested. “She’s the best!”
“Okay, but maybe you could get cross-reference””
“No, I’m fine. I’ll” I’ll be okay. It can’t be very serious. I’m just sorta stressed out, I guess.”
“Chris…” Rebecca sighed dejectedly. “You’re impossible.”
Chris gave her a wan smile, as Pari got up from her seat. “Want a drink, Shona?” she asked. “I’m going to get myself one.”
“Yeah,” replied Chris. “Just get me a Butterbeer.”
She walked away, and returned a while later with a mug of Butterbeer. Chris accepted it and was just about to raise it to his lips when he saw a blinding flash of light. Tiny stars popped out in front of his eyes and even as he sipped the drink, he didn’t feel better. He suddenly found it difficult to breath and could feel his heart palpitate. It felt terrible. He grabbed Rebecca’s wrist, and she looked at him in fear. “Chris! What happened?”
“Pulse”” he gasped, “check m”my p”pulse…”
She nodded and he covered his eyes with one hand she took his other wrist to palpate the pulse. His breathing eased slowly, but he heard her gasp. “It’s” It’s above ninety, Chris! You””
Before she could say anything, he got up from his seat. “I” I think I must go home. I don’t feel well at all.” He could feel Rebecca’s hand grasp firmly to his wrist. Together, they wended their ways to Romilda, and Rebecca explained the situation to her quickly. Then before Chris knew it, he was heading back home in Pari’s car with his head on Rebecca’s shoulder, as Pari took the wheel. They were shortly at his place, and he staggered to the couch as soon as he was in. Pari and Rebecca came to his side, as he shut his eyes.
“What happened suddenly?” Pari asked, rubbing his forearm.
“I don’t know,” he replied. “I did not feel well just… all of a sudden.”
“Are you feeling better now?”
“No,” he replied. “C”Can you just get some warm water and Healer Tudor’s medicine?”
“Sure,” said Rebecca. “Pari, I’ll get the medicines. You get the water.”
Pari nodded and headed to the kitchen as Rebecca went to Chris’s room. Both of them were back a while later, with the medicines and the water. Chris, meanwhile, sat upright with a cushion against his back. He had begun to sweat profusely, now. Slowly, he had the medicines and drank up the water. Feeling slightly better, he looked up at his two friends. “I think you two must stay here for the night. It’s too late for you to go home alone, isn’t it?”
“Okay,” said Rebecca. “Are you feeling better, though?”
“Yeah,” he said. “I’ll be fine. Don’t worry.”
They spoke for a few minutes and Rebecca and Pari headed to the guest bedrooms, while Chris went up to his own room and stretched out on his bed, falling off to sleep immediately, hoping that he’d feel better by day.
***
Rebecca raised the blankets over her face, as she changed sides once again. A keen restlessness had struck her that night, and she just wasn’t able to fall asleep. This just got her wondering about one thing: was something about to go wrong, today? What was it?
She tried to drift off to sleep again, but nothing happened. Finally, she was sitting up on the bed, wide awake. She sat like that for a few minutes, listening to her own breath. Something was definitely wrong, tonight. Something terrible was about to happen.
She tried not to hyperventilate at the thought. Her gut feelings needn’t be right. But why did she feel so uncomfortable? Was it because one of her best friends was suffering so much?
She got out of her bed and poured out some water from the jug in the bedside cabinet, into a glass. Just as she took in a few sips, she heard something weird. Was that a knock at the door?
Rebecca threw on a robe and grabbed her wand, as she walked out of her room. The hallway was dark and silent; so was the living room. She trudged slowly, aware of her own breath and heartbeats. She heard the sound again, and was now sure that it was a knock. Taking a deep breath, she walked right to the door and looked through the peephole.
Oh, she thought, her breath easing and her heart beginning to beat at its normal rate. She grabbed the knob and threw the door open. Then she screamed.
The last thing she knew before she passed out was that there was a lot of blood.
Killer Instincts by Ginny Weasley Potter
Chapter Notes: Hello, everyone!
Okay, I know this is far too late... but I'm so sorry! My mid-terms really killed off any ideas that I had. I wasn't able to write. In fact, I've finished three-fourths of this chapter at home. :o
I do sorta find this chapter a little interesting- mainly because I had the hugest writer's block at this time. I hope you guys enjoy it. :)
Oh yes, and we're back into action. I hope you guys didn't think that catching Daisy was the end of it. :D
Hehe, please R/R!
This chapter is for Nasa.