Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. Any recognizable characters (besides Healer Kaylee my recurring OC), places, or items are the work of the wonderful and fabulous J.K. Rowling. Any of the text that is bold or italicized when Hermione is teaching a class is directly copied from Harry Potter Wikia.

Beta: The ever amazing Aimless Wonder.

Pairings: Hermione/Severus, Harry/Ginny, Ron/Draco, Neville/Luna

OC's: See profile

Chapter Word Count: 1,665

Story Word Count: 17,872

~Enjoy.

Sequentia Cor Meum

Chapter Ten

MYSTERIOUS DEATH OF YOUNG BOY BEING INVESTIGATED BY AURORS

Written by: Silas Dogood

Healers and Aurors are baffled by the case of young Damien Brunsman, who fell unconscious shortly after noon on Saturday. The five-year old was rushed to St. Mungos but was pronounced dead barely an hour after his arrival. The Aurors have testimonies from Damien's parents, Kaitlin and Charles Brunsman, about how they found their son.

"He was in the sitting room drawing in his journal, and asked if he could have some juice. I wasn't gone from the room for more than five minutes before returning to find him passed out on the floor," said Mrs. Brunsman.

"I was in the study when I heard her (Kaitlin) scream for me to call a Healer. When I ran into the sitting room, she was on the floor cradling Damien. I quickly called St. Mungo's Emercency Department," said Mr. Brunsman as he comforted his wife. "The healers worked tirelessly on him before deciding that he needed to be transferred to the hospital. He was dead within the hour," he finished, overcome with grief.

Due to the circumstances of the young boys death, Aurors have brought in some of their trainees to help with the investigation, one of whom is the Harry James Potter...

Hermione gazed worriedly down at the article.

The Sunday mid-morning had found both her and Severus in their quarters with their late breakfast. It had been relatively peaceful until she'd actually taken a look at the Prophet that Jergo had brought.

"I have a Brunsman in my class," she said softly. "A Hufflepuff."

"I have her, too." Severus sighed as he leaned back in his chair. "Her parents came yesterday and took her home after they met with Minerva and Pomona."

"Do they know what happened?" she asked, but Severus only shook his head. "I'll ask Harry. If there's a virus going around—"

Severus grasped her hand and pressed it against his lips. "Worrying about the unknown will not do either of us any good. Let's wait until we know more about the situation. St. Mungo's would have made an announcement if it turned out that whatever had killed Damien had been contagious."

Hermione sighed. "You're right," she said, but did not let go of his hand as he lowered hers. "Can we go to my parents house this afternoon? I think that it's time to tell them our news."

"I thought you told your mother yesterday?" he replied, eyebrow arching in his confusion.

"I had intended to, but she had my birth mother there." She ran a hand over her stomach. "I didn't feel comfortable sharing news of our pregnancy with her yet."

Harry knocked lightly on the door of the quiet home, feeling the despair that hung heavily around it. A woman bearing a strong resemblance to Kaitlin Brunsman answered the door. He saw her eyes widen at the sight of him. "Mr. Potter."

"Hello," he greeted. "I've been sent to investigate the house. I'm not sure if Mr. and Mrs. Brunsman made any mention of it…"

"They did, they did. Please, do come in," she said as she stepped aside and ushered him in. "I'm Kylie Brierly, Kaitlin's sister. She and Charles have gone to Hogwarts to bring home their daughter."

"My condolences, Ms. Brierly," Harry said. "If you could show me where exactly Damien collapsed."

She led him down the hallway, and stopped in front of the doorway that led to the sitting room. "Nobody has entered here since he was taken to St. Mungos. The Auror that went with them also said not to go into D-Damien's bedroom." Her voice broke over Damien's name before she gave a sniff and collected herself. With a brave face on, she asked, "Would you like some tea, Mr. Potter?"

Though he wasn't at all thirsty, he nodded and said, "If it wouldn't be an imposition," and watched as she turned and made off into what he could see of the kitchen. Turning back towards the center of the living room, he took out his wand.

"Homenum Revelio."

The feedback from the spell was as Harry had expected, indicating that only he and Kylie were currently present in the house. A wave of his wand dismissed the spell, and Harry wordlessly cast another. One that would reveal what magic had occurred over the past week.

Four tiny balls of light flew from the tip of his wand, each to a corner of the sitting room. They hovered in place for a few seconds before brightening, and parchment appeared in the air front of him which he reached out to take.

He frowned at its contents before quickly recasting the spell, this time going back six months. His frown deepened as he read the new results.

Three months. That was when the first traces of dark magic had appeared in the sitting room.

A final flick of his wand and the parchment disappeared, having been sent to the tray that sat on his desk in the DMLE.

He had just cast another detection charm and was waiting for the results when Damien's parents and sister returned from Hogwarts. They stopped in the doorway and stared at the various objects around the room, from furniture to picture frames, glowed a light yellow.

"Mr. and Mrs. Brunsman," he greeted, his tone consoling as he offered his hand.

"Mr. Potter," replied Charles Brunsman, taking his hand as he and his wife and daughter huddled forward into the room.

Harry noticed Kaitlin Brunsman staring at a section of the floor, the exact place Kylie had said where Damien had collapsed, before she, too, took his hand, followed by her daughter.

"My condolences," he said as he stepped back. "I'm know how devastating losing a loved one is."

"Thank you," Charles replied.

"What are the lights for?" Marie asked suddenly as she stared around the room.

"They reveal objects that possess high levels of magic," Harry explained. "If it's yellow, it's normal; Purple indicates high traces." Looking to Charles and Kaitlin, he said, "If you'd prefer, perhaps I could speak with the two of you alone," as he shifted his gaze between the two of them. "Kylie said she was going to make tea."

Charles and Kaitlin shared a look before Charles said, "Thank you, but we don't want to exclude Marie. She deserves to know what happened to Damien."

"Very well," Harry said as he nodded in understanding. "Then I need to know if you purchased anything new towards the end of July."

"July?" Kaitlin said before her expression turned thoughtful.

"One of the charms revealed the presence of dark magic in this room," Harry said as he indicated the space around them. "The smallest reading of it seems to have been from 3 months ago, July, which was most likely due to something new being brought into the house."

"Damien's Birthday," Charles whispered and Kaitlin gasped. "It's at the end of July."

"He received gifts from family and friends," Kaitlin said. "They're all up in his room."

Harry turned to Charles, saying, "If you could show me."

Charles only nodded, his face ashen as he turned and escorted Harry upstairs to Damien's room on the second floor while Kaitlin shakily took Marie into the kitchen to join Kylie. The two men returned downstairs more than half an hour later, Harry with a heavy frown on his face.

He'd used the same diagnostic charms on the room and found that dark magic had indeed been present, but nothing in the room had shown any sign of actually possessing it. None of Damien's books or toys. At Harry's insistence, Charles had shown him all the other rooms but he had found no trace of dark magic in either of them. Only Damien's room and the sitting room were affected.

Perhaps it was on Damien when they took him to the hospital, Harry thought. It was unlikely, though, since St. Mungo's healers would have tested everything he had had on him when he'd been brought in.

He was brought out of his thoughts as he rounded the corner into the sitting room, the walls of which were now bathed in a rather ugly, dark shade of purple light. The source of the bright glow came from atop a small coffee table which appeared to have been pushed towards the side of the room. The healers had most likely moved it to make room for when they had been examining Damien.

A flick of his wand conjured a cloth and another ended the diagnostic charm, effectively cutting off the light show and revealing the small book lying on the table's surface.

Harry used the cloth to pick up the book before he turned to Charles. "What is this?" he asked, but the other only shook his head.

"That's Damien coloring journal."

Both men turned and found Kaitlin in the doorway to the kitchen, her eyes wide as she stared at the book Harry held.

"It was with the other pile of presents Damien got for his birthday," she explained. "It didn't have a card, so I just assumed that it came with another present."

Harry turned the book over and frowned at the bold inscription on the back.

I am the most faithful, and I will rise again.

He stared down at the words for several seconds, finding them strange for some reason. Not so much the message itself though that was a given, but more, the hand. When the realization came to him, Harry felt his blood run cold, the air seemingly frozen in his lungs as his grip on the book tightened.

He now had very little doubt in his mind as to what exactly had happened to Damien. And it explained why the morbid message on the back hadn't alerted Kaitlin or Charles when they had come across the journal.

They would have been unable to understand it because it was written in parseltongue.