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Hermione entered her hotel room and looked around. It was a simple room with cream walls and a big oak writing desk with a green cushioned chair. In the center was a queen-sized bed with a green comforter and five oversized pillows. For a moment she smirked at how Slytherin the room appeared, but then her mind returned to the task at hand.

She took a tiny pile of papers from her bag and placed them on the desk. Then she cast a spell and enlarged them. She stared at the newspapers for a moment, lost in thought. Since she'd left Britain, she'd made a point of not reading daily newspapers. There was really no need because anymore her life revolved around her cases. Everything she needed to know about those could be found in the police reports and statements. If she wanted to know about anything outside of her cases, her coworkers were more than happy to gossip or discuss current events during their lunch break. Just the thought of reading newspapers again was enough to make her queasy.

Then she heard a hiss, presumably a shower in another room. Maybe a glass of water would help her. She scrounged around in the bathroom until she found a cup, then cast an Aquamenti spell to fill it. Smiling, she took the cup to her desk and sat down. After taking a sip, she began to look over the papers.

All of the papers were on special loan from the Terminus Public Library. She was surprised they'd had so many in stock, but the librarian claimed that they always bought several copies of an edition occurring on a major news day. While that wasn't an unusual practice, at least not in Philadelphia, it was pleasant nonetheless. Still, she'd have to return the papers by the next afternoon, meaning that she only had one night to make her decision.

She held up the first one. It was the Terminus Times fromthe day Rita Skeeter had been murdered. She examined the picture. At first, all she could see was a teary eyed and sneezing Perpetua Gray answering questions. Then Perpetua moved away, exposing Rita's corpse. Hermione cast a spell and froze the image. From the moment she saw it, something didn't sit right with her.

Hermione examined the image. It appeared to have been death by a spell, probably some sort of curse which would've killed in one hit. Hermione's stomach sank, but then she looked closer and realized what prompted her suspicion. In most of the murder cases she'd seen, the victim's body was on its back, facing the sky. Rita's corpse was on her stomach with her face to the ground facing away from the door. Whoever had killed her had attacked her from behind, unless the body was moved between the time of the murder and the time the picture was taken. The only two people who might do that, though, would be the perpetrator or the police, neither of which had a clear motive for flipping the body over. She wasn't lying in a way which suggested that she was posed, either.

Hermione decided to begin reading.

British Reporter Murdered in Hotel!

Hermione shrugged. It wasn't the most creative title, but it certainly wasn't slandering anyone either, which she appreciated. She kept reading.

Around ten EST last night, Terminus Aurors were called by a Mr. Samuel Anderson, a hotel employee who had been contacted by a Mr. Ares Philips to open Ms. Rita Skeeter's room. She had failed to show up for a talk with Wizarding World hero Harry Potter at the Terminus University of Advanced Wizardry.

Hermione grimaced a little and sighed. This case wasn't about Harry's issues or hers. She kept reading.

"I was concerned when she failed to show up," Ares Philips says. "She wouldn't have missed that engagement for the world. It's not everyday that the Boy-Who-Lived speaks to a university."

Authorities discovered her dead in her room. Initially, investigators suspected a robbery, but nothing of value was taken except a copy of Severus Snape: Saint or Scoundrel?,the victim's latest work on Britain's Great War. Later, investigators confirmed that Severus Snape himself had been living within the Terminus city limits for over a decade. Mr. Philips later verified that Ms. Skeeter had recently seen Mr. Snape.

"The morning before she died, she told me that she'd interviewed Mr. Snape. According to her he was extremely upset about the book being potentially published. Still, Rita was determined as ever to publish it. That's just who she was," Mr. Philips claims.

While chief investigator Perpetua Gray is quick to remind reporters that every suspect is innocent until proven guilty in a court of law, she is also quick to say that Mr. Snape is currently being questioned, along with others who claim to hold information about the case; including a witness who claims to have heard the confrontation between Mr. Snape and Ms. Skeeter.

In the meantime, Rita's body will continue to be examined and will then be transferred to Britain, where it will be interred.

Hermione stopped reading and looked back at the picture of Rita's body. If she had truly fought with Snape, then why had she turned her back to him? No one had made any mention of wards being disabled or down, so why did she let him in? Or did she? Perhaps Snape could've disabled the wards, but then why not spend some of that time disposing of the body? Why did he take the time to find and destroy the copy of her book, but spend no time disposing of her body? That didn't sound like Snape. No, if Snape killed some one he would've disposed of the body first and then worried about the manuscript. He was too smart for anything else. Also, if Rita had just fought with some one, she never would've turned her back on them, at least not without putting some protective spell on herself.

Hermione sighed. That was the problem with the investigators; no one knew either the victim or the suspect like Hermione did. Snape wouldn't have risked the Dementor's kiss by being dumb enough to leave a body around and Rita wouldn't have been dumb enough to let someone she'd just fought with have the chance to kill her. Granted, DA Conway had mentioned something about forensic evidence, so these observations wouldn't amount to reasonable doubt, but in her mind, the doubt was beginning to build.

She unfroze the picture and watched the investigators look at Rita's body. In truth, Snape had never stood a chance of not being accused, not with his ex-Death Eater status and his past. Still, to Hermione it made no sense that he would commit this crime, especially in such a lazy manner. Everything in her mind was screaming that Snape was innocent, but this only begged the question. If he didn't do it, then who did? Who else had motive or the means? Obviously it was someone Rita knew, but who?

Then Hermione sighed and slumped back in the chair. Part of her still didn't want to take this case, not because it would be hard but because there were already parts of it that she didn't want to explore, such as Harry Potter's involvement. Still, could she ever forgive herself if she just stood by while Snape was convicted?

With those thoughts in mind, she stood up and crawled into her bed. She lay down and stared at the ceiling, wondering what her next move would be.