Chocolate Enchantment

38: Finding the Comb and 39: Injuries and Discoveries

Chapter 38: Finding the Comb

On September first, the day all of them should have been on the train to Hogwarts, both Harry and Ron managed to make their Animagus changes and hold them for over an hour. Ron had turned out to be a Welsh Green dragon—which pressed the large attic room to its limits. After Hermione spent some time doing research, she was able to identify Harry's Animagus form as a Black Cap Capuchin monkey. Though both thought their forms were pretty cool, neither saw how they would be as useful as her own. Hermione's bird form made her nearly invisible in public, and she could cover long distances fairly quickly, but a huge dragon wasn't so easy to hide, and monkeys always drew attention.

Still, they were all relieved when the final transformation was done.

"I can't believe it took us so long to finish this. I was sure it would only be a few weeks," Ron said.

"It took me twice as long," Hermione pointed out as she cleaned up the stack of books Ron had knocked over with his dragon tail earlier.

"Yeah, but you didn't work on it every day."

"Nor did I restrict myself to the once-a-week meetings with McGonagall," she admitted. "Now, any other ideas on locations for the cup and comb?"

"I've been thinking about it," Ron said. "I'm betting he got one of them into that orphanage. It had special significance to him. And remember how he hung that rabbit from the rafters? It was an event that proved his power over the other kids."

"I've been thinking along the same lines, only I can't figure out how to get us in there without drawing attention to ourselves," Harry said.

"Well, they take a summer trip to the seashore, right? Maybe we can lure them out with another trip. Maybe free tickets to the zoo." Hermione pulled out a piece of paper and began writing down ideas, then grinned to herself. "Ron could take you with him to deliver the tickets, with you in your monkey form, of course. The kids would go crazy over that."

"That's brilliant. I think it would be an excellent way to spend pureblood wizard money, don't you? It would gall Sirius's mum's portrait to no end." Harry grinned at them.

"Then again, it might not even be open still. Check into that, would you, Hermione?" Ron sat beside her, nudging her arm by accident. It took a moment before Hermione realized and looked at him in surprise. He hadn't jumped or flinched at all when he touched her.

She lifted an eyebrow at him, and he flushed when he caught her meaning. He looked away, pretending great interest in the list of Horcruxes. "Well, Luna's been stopping by the shop a lot lately. And we sort of, I don't know." He shrugged. "I like her."

"I couldn't be happier for you." Hermione grinned and set down her notes. "I'll head to my parents' house. I'll use their computer to see what information I can find about the orphanage. I'll probably stay for dinner, as it's been a while since I've seen my mum. I'll let you know what I learn."

"See you tomorrow," Harry called after her. Just before she reached the bottom stair, she thought she heard him suggest to Ron that they visit the Burrow that evening.

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Using what they had picked up from Dumbledore's Pensieve, Hermione was able to gather quite a lot of information about the orphanage before her parents came home for dinner. The building was still standing, but it had been damaged pretty badly in a fire one of the little girls had started a couple years earlier. The building had been abandoned since.

The government hadn't wanted to fix the old relic, but hadn't gotten around to selling or tearing it down yet either—though the latter option was coming up soon. That was perfect as it meant the structure would be empty when the trio Apparated over. Hermione had a good feeling about all of this. The orphanage had to be one of the locations.