The shop was swarming with investigators from the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, and Harry traipsed into the crime scene, a coffee in hand. Several of his colleagues had gotten to the shop well before Harry had tumbled out of bed, and he ran a hand through his ruffled, uncombed hair and sighed. He thought after the war life would be a little less interesting, but instead, all manner of magical mischief still happens, day after day, the post-war era never stemming the tide of magical murder and mayhem. Par for the course really, Harry thought, people never seemed to change.
"What do we have here?," he asked stepping over to Connelly, the auror's eyes were bloodshot, an indication that he'd been on scene for a few hours at least.
"Looks like the shopkeeper is over here," he began and they walked over to the body. The shopkeeper had been lovely in life, but in death, her body was mangled, twisted and ashen. Her body seemed dry and desiccated, as if something—something vital-had been taken out. Harry then noticed that her chest had been ripped open and splashes of blood lined the walls and floor.
"Her name was Isadora Borgin."
Harry's eyes widened, "She related to the Dark Wizard by any chance?"
"She was Mr. Borgin's niece it seems," a cold shiver ran up Connelly's spine and he shook his head, "Quite an unsavory character he was, that Borgin."
Harry nodded and stepped closer to the body. "Have you done any testing for magical signatures, traces of anything unusual?"
"I thought I'd leave that you. There is some rather interesting material over here by the counter though."
Harry made his way to the counter. "See there," Connelly pointed out, "We haven't been able to figure out what that is."
Harry crouched down and looked to the place where Connelly was pointing, noting there were traces of some black substance and some of it clung to the floor and spaces along the counter. Harry carefully examined it with his wand, jumping back when the flecks of black moved and convulsed.
"Whoa." Harry prodded it a bit and then stood.
"Take some samples," he ordered and Connelly nodded. "Have you contacted Ron?"
Connelly shook his head, "Weasley's still on his honeymoon with Lavender Brown. Should I try to owl him?"
"No. Let him enjoy his time. We'll take care of it."
Harry walked back over to the body and crouched, running his wand back and forth over the young's woman's chest. His heart dropped and his stomach roiled.
No, he thought, no….it couldn't be.
He ran the tests again, hoping the answer would be different. But the trace was unmistakable.
It was all there, right in front of him. The signature was none other than that of Hermione Granger.
Harry was dumbfounded. How could…how did…
His mind was reeling. There was no way Hermione was capable of doing something like this. It was impossible. He wouldn't believe it…
"Found something?," Connelly asked and Harry stammered, "Oh, um nothing. Looks like the signature's untraceable."
Harry quickly obscured Hermione's signature and stood.
"Funny that," Connelly remarked, "We could try getting another team in here to do a thorough-,"
Before Harry could respond, a flurry of commotion began at the door and tumbled into the shop.
"Out of the way!" a voice bellowed and Harry adjusted his glasses and looked over as Draco Malfoy rushed into the shop, leading a team of men in black robes.
"Malfoy," Harry spit.
"Potter," Draco responded and smirked.
"What are you doing here? This is an official investigation."
"Well, seeing as I am the head of the new Department of Occult and Mystical Occurrences, we've decided to take over from here. Your services are no longer needed."
Harry narrowed his eyes. Malfoy was the same cocky little git he'd always been and Harry felt himself bristle.
"I don't care what kind of credentials you've paid for Malfoy. You're not going to order me about like I'm your underling."
Draco smiled coldly and came to stand toe-to-toe with Harry. "But that's exactly what you are. Our department has higher rank than yours, therefore that makes me your superior, I should think."
Harry felt his teeth clench and tried desperately to push aside the impulse to hex the blond, insufferable prat.
"I. don't. care. You're not going to come in here and take over this investigation."
"I have official papers from the Ministry saying I will."
Harry was itching to use his wand but stepped back and shook his head. "Like I said I don't care what you say. You're not going to take this over. I'll go to Tonks if I have to."
Draco's nostrils flared and he pushed Harry aside and stepped close to the body. Harry raced over and tried to pull him away but it was too late. Draco had seen the signature.
They gave each other a look and Draco broke the tense silence. "Right. Let's get everyone out of here."
Draco's team quickly obliviated everyone save Harry and Draco pulled Harry angrily aside, speaking in terse low tones.
"What the hell Potter! Why does that body have Hermione's traces all over it?"
"I don't know. Suppose you tell me. You're so bloody smart."
A muscle flexed in Draco's jaw and he tried to stymie the impulse to deck the intolerable bint in the face.
"I'm trying to help you here. I know Hermione, and she wouldn't do this."
Harry's gaze softened and he nodded. "I know. But that doesn't explain why her traces are everywhere."
"The shopkeeper was a niece of a former Dark Wizard. Perhaps this is an attempt to frame her, stir up old sentiments-,"
"What would you know about old sentiments, Malfoy?" Harry questioned and Draco sneered.
"Still the same old prejudiced little twit. I'm not my father Potter. Now either we work together, or Granger will be in a world of trouble."
Harry stayed silent a moment, mulling over his words. He sighed, "You're right Malfoy. Though I don't know how anyone could hope to implicate her in a crime. She left shortly after-,"
Draco lowered his eyes and Harry felt a twinge of guilt, "—Everything happened," he finished and Draco nodded.
"So do you know where she could be, did she leave word of where she went?"
Harry shook his head. "She left a note saying she was fine, and not to look for her. We have no idea where she could have gone."
"We have to assume then that she's here somewhere now. There's no way someone could have created a forgery like that without-,"
Harry gulped and tried not to think the worst. "We don't know that."
Draco rolled his eyes. "You've work on your team for how many years now? And how often have you seen a forgery where the other party wasn't-,"
"We can't think that. We have to assume she's still alive somewhere."
Draco sighed and ran a hand through his hair.
"Were there any witnesses?"
"Connelly told me the crime happened soon after the shop opened. So it had to have been early morning. It's not really busy then. No one would have noticed anything out of the ordinary."
Draco thought a moment and then realization washed over him. "There is a witness. Old man O'Connor. He had to have seen something. He sits in front of all the shops, asking for spare galleons and knuts."
Harry shook his head, "He's insane Malfoy. How would we know to trust anything he says?"
Draco wanted to shake Potter. "It's worth a shot. Besides, we could perform a light and less invasive sort of Legilimency to see if he has truly seen something."
Harry acquiesced and followed Malfoy out into the street.
It turned out, O'Connor had seen something. But both Harry and Draco couldn't fathom what the old, crazy man had seen.
"Is this true?"
Draco nodded, "We have to assume it is. The brain can't lie or obscure. It was Hermione that came in here."
Harry felt himself shaking. "It couldn't be. It couldn't."
"I can't believe it either Potter. But there has to be another explanation-,"
A young man in a black robe walked up to Draco and stood hesitantly,
"Yes, James, what is it? We've haven't got all day."
"Sir, there's—been another murder."
Draco gave the man a look and the young man swallowed.
"The body looked just like that one."
"Thanks James," Draco said and like that the young lieutenant had been dismissed.
"Fuck," Harry said.
"I know."
"What do we do now?"
Draco took in a deep breath and gave Harry a hard stare. "We'll have to find her, that's what."