I don't own Harry Potter or any of the other characters from the book, but I do own my OCs.
Just a bit more… Albus Potter thought as he carefully placed the last card on top of his house of cards. His hands were shaking; it had taken him almost four hours and three unsuccessful attempts to finally get it right. He squinted at the cards through his wire-rimmed glasses, his brows furrowed in concentration. A bead of sweat was rolling down his forehead to his cheek. Careful now, Al… you can do it…
BAM.
The cards went flying as Scorpius Malfoy banged open the door of his office, his blond hair dishevelled, robes askew.
"What did you do that for?" Albus yelled, staring at his hard work lying in ruins in front of him. "Do you know how long –"
"Never mind that, Potter," Scorpius said, waving his hand dismissively. "You can make your little trash anytime you want. Right now, we've got a new murder case."
"Well, that's something that never happened before," Albus said sarcastically, gathering cards. He guessed that they would have to wait a while. "Who, where, and when?"
"Victim was Kenneth Lee," Scorpius said grimly, sitting down in one of the chairs in front of Albus' desk.
"Kenny?" Albus repeated, frowning, remembering the lean, bespectacled Ravenclaw in their year. "But – but – who would want to kill him? I mean, he was a genius. Top grades. No record of brawls with anyone, ever. Everyone loved him – even Slytherins had nothing against him."
"I know," Scorpius said. "But the case gets even weirder. He was home alone, and the door was locked – anti-Apparition wards," he said quickly before Al could open his mouth, "so no one could Apparate out. And as you know, their apartment is at the heart of London, so there were plenty of people around the place."
"So someone must have spotted the killer leaving," Albus said, frowning.
Scorpius nodded. "Or if the place was so crowded, no one would have bothered looking. It was during the rush hour – people were eager to get home. Anyone could have got in and killed him."
"Let's go and check it out," Albus said, getting up. He grabbed his travelling cloak and along with Scorpius, left his office.
Half an hour later, the two Aurors were staring down at the body of their former classmate, which was lying face down on the wooden floor. Albus felt sorrowful as he looked at the wounds on Kenny's head. He was a good friend, and seeing him like this was the last thing Albus would have expected.
Just to avoid looking at him, Albus looked around. The apartment was spacious, with richly adorned walls and lavish carpets and sofas. The living room was full of famous Muggle paintings on the cream-coloured walls – Lee's father was a Muggle and loved to collect paintings like Da Vincis and Rembrandts. The curtains were made of purple velvet – another sign of how rich they were. Lee, being so brainy, had managed to earn himself a job that paid millions of Galleons a year.
The room was also full of Aurors. A young female Auror, Tabitha Goldstein, was hunched over Kenny's body, performing the autopsy. "Cause of death," she was saying as she examined the body, "is a fatal blow to the head. Lots of blood loss. Looking at the condition of the wound and the temperature of his body, I'd say he died around twelve hours back – ten-thirty last night." She waved her wand around his head and muttered a few incantations. "No signs of any magical inflictions," she added.
"Which means our killer is probably not a witch or wizard," Albus said, his brows knitting into a frown.
Scorpius mulled it over. "Not necessarily. Maybe he didn't want to use magic so that his wand wouldn't give him away. "
"In that case, he could have used another person's wand. Or bought a new one."
Scorpius couldn't think of an answer to that. "Where is his wife?" he asked instead, conjuring parchment and quill with a wave of his wand. "We need to ask her a few questions."
Another Auror led him and Albus to the dining room, which was as lavish as the living room before. A young woman was sitting on a dining chair. Her head rested on her hands which were folded on top of the wooden table. She had long jet-black hair and wore a rather elegant and exposing Muggle dress that Albus thought was inappropriate for a woman whose husband had just died.
"Mrs Lee?" Scorpius called to her. The woman looked up. She was Asian and had a pretty face, but her dark eyes were swollen and puffy; she had been crying. Black mascara trailed down her cheeks. Her name was Cheryl Chan – now Cheryl Lee – and the last time Albus had seen her was when he had been invited for Kenny's wedding two years ago.
She dabbed her eyes with a handkerchief and said, "Yes?"
"We are the Aurors investigating your husband's death," Albus said. "Do you mind if we ask you a few questions?"
"Not at all." She sniffed, and motioned for them to sit down. Albus and Scorpius took two seats at the dining table directly opposite her. The chairs were very comfortable.
"Mrs Lee, where were you last night?" Scorpius asked in an official tone.
"I – I was at the Muggle ice-sculpture exhibition," she said. "I had gone to see them; they were always so pretty. I wanted to see if I could buy one of them for our house." That explained the dress, especially if she hadn't changed since.
"Wouldn't it have melted?" Albus whispered to Scorpius.
"What's magic for, you git?" Scorpius hissed back.
"Oh yeah..."
"Can anyone verify your presence there?" Scorpius was asking Mrs Lee.
"Of course," she sobbed silently, another tear leaking down her eye. She quickly dabbed at it. "Everyone saw me there. When I returned home, I opened the lock and saw – and saw that -" She could not continue, for she broke into sobs.
It took a while to comfort her. When she was a bit more stable, Albus asked, "Did you find anything stolen from the house when you returned?"
"I don't know. I didn't check."
"Would you please let us know if you find anything?"
"Yes, of course."
Albus and Scorpius got up to leave, but the latter paused for a second. "Mrs Lee," he said, frowning, "Did your husband have anything against anyone else? Any enemies or anyone threatening him?"
Cheryl seemed to think for a while. Then, with another sob, she replied, "I don't think so. He was such a nice man; no one would have anything against him."
"Anyone at work, or...?"
Cheryl shook her head. "No, everyone at work loved him. He was very intelligent, but he wouldn't have hurt a fly. Why would anyone hurt him, then?"
"Thank you," Scorpius said, for he didn't have a answer to her question yet. With that, the two went out of the room, back to the crime scene.
"You guys found anything yet?" Scorpius asked one of the junior Aurors, Tom Thornbush. "Murder weapon?"
"No, nothing," Thornbush replied. "There were a lot of heavy things, but none had traces of blood or cracks on them. If he was hit that hard, the thing was bound to shatter, but so far, nothing looks even remotely broken."
"Although," another spoke up, "we did find splashes of dried blood and water around the victim. Looks like it was mopped up. "
Albus went over to the body. Sure enough, the floor looked damp and had reddish splotches.
"Look for a mop," he said to the Auror. The thin man nodded and went over towards the kitchen.
"What's wrong with Evanesco?" Albus asked.
"If he was a Muggle, he'd definitely use a mop, wouldn't he?" Scorpius replied, rolling his eyes at his partner.
The Auror returned back in a short while. "There's no mop anywhere, sir," he said.
"That's strange," Scorpius muttered. "The killer breaks into a rich guy's house and he only takes a mop, leaving behind all these." He motioned towards the ornate vases and paintings.
"And," Albus continued, as if reading his mind, "he only took it because it linked to the murder weapon. Clearly he came here with the intention of murdering Kenny."
"Bingo."
And then suddenly, they heard a loud, piercing scream.
Albus looked at Scorpius, his eyes wide. "What -?"
Scorpius paled. "Cheryl's in trouble."
Quick as a flash, Albus ran towards the Lees' bedroom, Scorpius following closely behind him. He pushed the door open roughly, wand at the ready, and barged in. Years of training under his own father had taught him how to behave in such situations, for he never knew who could be behind closed doors.
However, the only person inside was Cheryl. She was hunched over her dressing table, her hands clutching her hair. She was howling in evident misery.
"What happened?" Scorpius asked, lowering his own wand. Beside him, Albus looked rather baffled. "We heard you scream, and –"
"My ring was stolen!" she screeched, pointing at her open jewellery box, tears streaming down her eyes. "It was a rare pink diamond ring – only one of a kind! And it's gone!" She let out a loud, hysterical sob.
"A pink diamond?" Albus whispered to Scorpius, surprised further. He had thought all diamonds were white. "Do they even exist?"
"Apparently they're very rare," Scorpius replied in hushed tones. "Rose kept going on and on about one last year, about how beautiful it would look on her finger." Scorpius couldn't help but roll his eyes at the naivety of his wife. "It was like she needed the damn thing.I had to buy her a normal diamond ring with my entire month's salary just to get her to shut up. Women. You're lucky you're not married yet, Potter."
Albus felt a strong urge to laugh, but he suppressed it. Instead he went over to Cheryl. "How did it look? Can you describe it?"
"It – it was a golden ring – stu-studded with a huge pi-pink diamond!" she cried, covering her face with her hands. "Ken had got it for me especially on our second anniversary! I just can't lose it! It-it was th-the only thing he'd ever – ever given me with so much – so much love! I had promised him I'd never lose it, and now it's... it's gone..." She started crying harder.
"When did you last see it?" Scorpius asked quietly, patting her shoulder in what he thought was a consoling manner.
"Before – before I left for the exhibition last night! It was... right here, between the beads of my opal necklace..."
Scorpius nodded as he scratched down the details onto the parchment with his quill. Once he and Albus were outside the room, leaving Cheryl to the care of a young Auror, he said, "The killer isn't as stupid as we thought. He did take something valuable."
"The most valuable thing too," Albus agreed. "A pink diamond. Must have cost millions of Galleons. I think I once heard a Muggle sold it for one-point-two billion pounds, but I was so sure the news must have been a fake one, I never gave it a–"
"Never mind that," Scorpius cut across him, not paying attention to what Albus said as he looked at his notes. "D'you think it might have been a robbery after all? I mean, maybe the guy broke in, thinking that both of them would be out, considering it was a Friday night. They could easily both have gone to the exhibition. He took the ring, but as he was about to leave, Kenny saw him and tried to stop him. In frenzy, the robber hit him on the head with something heavy. When he realised he killed him, he mopped up after himself and took the mop along."
"That's plausible," Albus said. "He must have know that Cheryl was taking part in the exhibition, then."
Scorpius shrugged. "Could have been someone close to them," he replied. "We should check out everyone who knew about the exhibition."
However, the more Albus thought about it, the more puzzled he got. Something wasn't right. "How does that explain the closed doors?"
"Hmm?"
"The door was locked. Cheryl had the keys, and she opened them to get in. The house had anti-Apparition wards." Albus paused. "How did the guy get out?"
"Sir!" one of the Aurors – Tom Thornbush – called out, distracting them. "We found this."
Leaving Scorpius to look through his notes, Albus shuffled over. "What?"
"It's the end of a cigarette. Beside it is the victim's wand." Albus took a close look at the stub of the cigarette. It didn't seem like anything out of the ordinary.
"Did the victim smoke?" he asked.
"We think so, sir. We found a packet of cigarettes in a drawer of the kitchen cabinet."
"What was the last spell the victim performed?"
Thornbush took out his own wand and muttered, "Prior Incantato."
The wand shot out what looked like a smoky flame. He had conjured a small fire.
"I guess he lit up the cigarette, sir," Thornbush said. Albus nodded and went back to Scorpius.
"What was it?" Scorpius asked.
"Nothing, just Kenny's cigarette stub," Albus said offhandedly.
"He smoked?"
"Looks like it..."
Scorpius shrugged. "He never seemed like the smoking type to me. Anyway, we'd better get going. There doesn't seem to be anything else to investigate here. Let's go and think about it back at the office."
After a quick word with the Aurors and Cheryl, the two of them left the building.
As the two of them Apparated into the Atrium of the ministry, Albus said, "I think we should go and check if Cheryl's alibi checks out."
"You think she did it?" Scorpius asked, raising his eyebrows in surprise.
"No, but there's no harm in going to check, is there?"
Scorpius shrugged. "Whatever you say. But first, I need to have a cup of tea. This crime's given me a headache."
Albus conjured up Muggle clothes and dressed into them as he got ready to leave for the ice-sculpture exhibition. He waved his wand and a large mirror appeared, allowing him to check his reflection to see if he looked Muggle enough. As he was wearing blue jeans and a full-sleeved dark green T-shirt on top, he thought it looked convincing enough. With another flick of his wand, the mirror disappeared. As he was stowing his wand into his pocket, he heard a knock on his door. "Come in," he called.
Scorpius entered, dressed in black trousers and a white shirt. "Ready to leave?" he asked.
Albus nodded. Exiting Albus' office, the two of them headed for the lifts that lead down to the Atrium.
"Malfoy!"
They were almost about to enter the lift when they heard someone call. Turning around, they saw the Head of the Auror Office hurrying over to them.
Harry Potter, despite of being over fifty, had more energy than the two thirty-year-old Aurors combined. His thinning grey hair and the lines around his jaw gave him the appearance of an old man. But the determined look in his green eyes proved that he still had the magical prowess of the young wizard who had defeated the Dark Lord.
"Yes, sir?" Scorpius asked.
"Do you still have the files of the Higgins case?" Harry asked. Scorpius nodded. Turning to Albus, he said, "Al, would you mind going alone? I have an important case to discuss with Malfoy."
"Of course not, sir," Albus said, smiling slightly. Saying goodbye to his father and his colleague, he went into the lift and descended to the Atrium. Wondering if he'd find any new leads, he got out when the lift screeched to a halt, and once he was at the Atrium, he Disapparated into a deserted alley of Muggle London.
A/N: Review please! They make me really happy. And I have the whole story finished - it's short, just 6 chapters. I'll be updating a new chapter each day. In the meantime, please tell me what you think!
