The Only Way Out Is Through

by Aofie

Its been 5 years since the war ended and Harry is living a life of seclusion. That is until the Minister for Magic shows up on his doorstep begging for help with a series of nasty murders. The only piece of evidence is linked to Severus Snape, who has barely been heard of since the end of the war. Snarry, drama, adventure, romance

12. Deadline

Chapter 12 – Deadline

Harry was extremely surprised to see that Severus had apparated them to the street just out of the Leaky Cauldron. 'Really Severus?' He asked, taking a step back out of his embrace. 'Of all the places you could have chosen you had to bring us here? It's a little out in the open isn't it?'

Severus just glared at him and then took his hand and quickly pulled him into a shadowy side street. 'I wasn't exactly thinking clearly.' He confessed, dropping Harry's hand once they were safely out of the open. 'I just wanted to get you out of there. Besides I wanted somewhere close to the ministry.'

'This certainly fits the criteria.' Harry confirmed, starting to walk down the alley in the direction of the ministry, leaving Severus to trail after him. 'And I don't think anyone saw us.'

'Are you that ashamed to be seen in public with me?' Severus snapped. 'Afraid the image of you wrapped in the greasy old professor's arms would damage your reputation?'

Harry stopped so abruptly that Severus practically ran into him. He turned to face the older man and placed both his hands on his chest. 'I am only going to say this once' He said firmly 'I am not now and never will be ashamed of a single part of you, or of whatever lies between us.' He paused. 'I'm disappointed that you would think such a thing.'

Severus just looked at him, black eyes boring into green, and then Severus gave a slight jerk of his head signalling Harry to keep moving. Harry chose to take one more minute to run his hands slowly down Severus' chest before slowly turning and continuing toward the ministry.

Once Severus managed to breathe again he followed silently behind.

'And you're not greasy.' Harry stated firmly.

Severus remained silent.

…

'Well this is very disturbing.' Blaise Zabini said quietly, leaning away from the conference table as if distancing himself could make it better.

'To say the least.' Bennett agreed, folding her arms in front of her, a frown on her face. She had remained standing for the entire meeting, choosing instead to pace back and forward in front of the white board.

Harry and Severus remained quiet. Upon arriving at the ministry they had quickly got in to see Arthur Prewitt and the rest of the team assigned to the case. Kingsley had been briefed and had cancelled a phone call with the Australian Muggle Prime Minister in order to sit in on this meeting and had listened attentively to everything Harry and Severus had to say. Aurors had then been dispatched to Severus' cottage (with Severus to let them through the wards) to collect the package left by the killer.

The package was now sitting in the middle of the conference table much like the first note from the killer had been.

Harry wondered if that's exactly why the killer had sent it to them.

There was a great deal of shock value in chopping off someone's hand and delivering it to another person. Add in the fact that the hand was accompanied by a deadline and the whole thing was to be honest quite terrifying. For some reason that terror didn't seem to affect Harry much and instead he just felt unbelievably angry.

'What does he mean by that note?' Prewitt asked. 'We have 24 hours until what exactly?'

'Until he saws off another body part or completes his next kill obviously' Bennett said scathingly.

Severus nodded. 'Indeed, that's the only conclusion we can make from this.'

'Well one thing is abundantly clear.' Harry said. 'Whoever it was that attacked Ron and Hermione was not the murderer we're looking for.' He paused. 'It looks like I did kill an innocent man.'

'Stop it Harry.' Kingsley rumbled from the head of the table. 'Questioning that decision is not going to get us anywhere.'

'It's not going to make it go away by not discussing it either.' Severus said, gently placing his hand on Harry's arm in comfort for a moment. 'Would you prefer he not feel remorse?'

'Remorse isn't necessary.' Bennett spoke up. 'We found out who he was.'

Harry had been looking at a scratch on the surface of the table but at those words his head snapped up. 'Who was he?' he demanded.

Bennett looked at Kingsley for a moment.

'You might as well tell him.' He said. 'It'll make him feel better, besides we'd have to tell him sometime anyway.'

'Ms Granger and Mr Weasley's attacker was a patient of Broadmoor Hospital.' Bennett began.

'The psychiatric hospital for muggles?' Harry questioned.

Bennett nodded. 'His name was Robert Arnold, he escaped two weeks ago.'

'An escaped mental patient?' Harry asked. 'Seriously? That's who I killed?'

'He was a very dangerous man Harry.' Prewitt said. 'He was responsible for the deaths of 7 women over the last several years.'

'Was he a muggle?' Severus questioned.

Bennet sighed. 'Yes he was.'

'A muggle serial killer.' Harry said flatly. 'Perfect. Our muggle loving psychopath must have been so overjoyed to set him free.' Assuming that's what happened of course.'

'I rather doubt he just picked him up off the street.' Severus said drily.

'We assume that's what happened.' Bennett continued.

'When did you find all this out?' Harry asked suddenly.

'This all came to light yesterday.' Prewitt said. 'Thanks to Special Agent Bennett and her contacts with the please men.'

'Police.' Bennett corrected automatically. 'Scotland Yard to be precise.'

'Yes well now we know.' Kingsley stated. 'So you can stop feeling sorry for yourself Harry. You won't be charged with his murder as clearly if you had not killed this Robert Arnold he would undoubtedly have killed Hermione and then perhaps yourself.'

'Perhaps?' Harry asked.

'All his victims were women.' Bennett said. 'As far we know he has never killed a man. I suspect it's not in his M.O. which is why he left Ron alive in the first instance.'

'M.O?' Harry asked.

'Modus Operandi' Severus said quietly.

Bennett raised her eyebrows. 'I'm impressed Mr Snape.'

'I wouldn't be.' Severus drawled. 'It's a small thing to be impressed about.'

'Can we please get back to the point?' Harry asked. 'We've established two things. The killer is still very much at large, and he's captured someone and severely mutilated him. We have less than 24 hours by my count assuming the asshole won't jump the gun on the deadline he'd given us and we're sitting around here doing nothing to find him!'

'Harry I understand your distress but you need to keep it together.' Prewitt said. 'We're working on it. We're doing all we can.'

'We're not doing enough.' Harry said.

'Calm down.' Severus said softly, placing his hand once again on Harry's arm. 'I can practically feel your blood boiling from here. You aren't helping if you can't control your emotions.'

Harry let out a breath he didn't even realise he has been holding. Severus was right. Getting angry wouldn't help anyone. Instead he just focused on the warmth of Severus' hand on his arm.

'I wasn't aware you were helping at all Potter.' Zabini said snappily. 'Weren't you booted off this case when you killed the muggle?'

Harry remained silent but gave Zabini such a dark look that most of the room physically recoiled.

Prewitt looked to Kingsley for assistance.

Kingsley sighed. 'Given that Harry is obviously still under threat from this madman, and given that he has in fact as of today been cleared of any wrongdoing in the murder of Robert Arnold, it is my suggestion to reinstate his consultancy status.'

'Merlin Kingsley, that was the most long winded clearance I've ever heard.' Jones said with a smirk. 'Now we have this cleared up can we concentrate on the bloody case please?'

'Yes please.' Severus muttered.

'Fine.' Prewitt said throwing his hands up in the air.

'I'll leave you to it.' Kingsley said standing from his chair and sweeping his robes out grandly. 'I have an overdue appointment with the Australian Prime Minister, he's a strange muggle that's for sure and gets rather uptight when I keep him waiting. Keep me updated of your progress.' He said to Prewitt, and then nodded at Harry and Severus before leaving the room.

'Can someone please bring us up to date?' Severus asked snarkily. 'We've wasted far too much time already and someone's life hangs in the balance.'

It didn't take long for the rest of the team to bring Harry and Severus up to date. They really hadn't missed much at all.

Bennett explained that most of the investigation recently had been focused on finding out who Robert Arnold was. She had reached out to Scotland Yard in the hope they could help and she had been quickly rewarded. Unfortunately now that Scotland Yard knew that the FBI (for that was what she had told them, leaving the wizards out altogether) had the body of the escaped serial killer they wanted the body back. Bennett had stalled them but unfortunatly they only had a few more hours left before they had to release it.

They quickly decided to split into three teams, Prewitt and Zabini were to go back over all the original victims and crime scenes to see if they had missed anything, Jones and Severus were to further examine the body of Robert Arnold as well as the scene of the attack for any possible clues they had missed. Harry and Bennett had been tasked with visiting Broadmoor Hospital to speak with the staff there and determine how exactly Robert Arnold had escaped. Given that Harry had grown up with Muggles he was deemed most suitable to accompany Bennett in case they needed any magical intervention.

Harry very much doubted that it would be necessary.

Broadmoor was a very forbidding looking place. An old dirty red brick building with high fences all around, Harry thought it far more resembled a prison than a hospital. Bennett had explained that indeed it had been a prison for much of its early life, and considering it was the go to place for the criminally insane it might as well still be one.

Upon arrival they were subjected to a lengthy security check followed by a lecture of what not to do and how important it was to follow the hospital rules for the sake of their own wellbeing and the wellbeing of the patients. Harry refrained from pointing out that following the rules clearly hadn't helped Robert Arnold's wellbeing. Eventually they managed to see the director of the hospital, an officious man who seemed so puffed up by his own importance that he refused to believe his hospital had had any kind of security leak and that sometimes "accidents do happen".

Bennett had glared at him with such a look of contempt that he was soon calling the meeting to its end and suggesting they might perhaps get the information they were after from the floor warden instead.

By this stage Harry was past irritated and starting to feel quite desperate. They had already wasted several hours and had absolutely nothing to show for it.

'Harry calm down.' Bennett said quietly, as they followed an orderly to the ward where Robert Arnold had been imprisoned. 'Haven't you ever heard of the term make haste slowly?'

Harry just raised his eyebrow at her. 'Haste and slowly aren't usually in the same sentence.' He said shortly.

'It means if you rush about when you're in a hurry or feeling desperate you miss things, and then you have to start all over again.' Bennett said. 'We are far better off to take a breath and let things unfold as they will. Believe me we are doing all we can to catch this guy, we need this information and we have to take the time to gather it properly.'

Harry nodded, and then took a deep breath. He knew she was right of course but it didn't make him feel any better. 'How can you do this all day every day?' He asked. 'This kind of tension would drive me crazy.'

'Believe me it's not like this all the time. Often I find myself simply surrounded by unfinished paperwork.' Bennett said.

'Yeah right.' Harry muttered.

The orderly stopped suddenly. 'This is the high security ward' He said, pointing through a security door to a long corridor beyond. 'The first door on the right is where you'll find the floor warden, I'll buzz you in. She's expecting you.'

The security door buzzed open with a swipe of the orderly's staff card and he waved them towards the office 'Through there.' He said before turning and disappearing back the way he came.

'Interesting.' Bennett muttered to herself and then proceeded to the first door on the right.

Harry didn't bother to ask what was interesting, instead just followed her. The door was open and Bennett casually leaned against it as she knocked gently.

The floor warden was sitting behind an old wooden desk in the middle of the room buried behind a computer and a mountain of paperwork. She looked up at Bennett's knock and looked down her nose at them. 'You must be the police officers' She said in a curt tone. 'Do come in.' she said waving her hand towards the two chairs in front of her desks.

'Thank you.' Bennett said entering the room with an air of authority and seating herself in one of the chairs. Harry followed her lead, taking the other one.

'I'm Detective Bennett and this is Detective Potter.' Bennett said.

Harry simply nodded at the floor warden.

'I'm Harriett Jenson.' She said leaning forward, rising from her chair slightly to shake their hands. 'I understand you have some questions regarding Robert Arnold?'

'That's correct.' Bennett said. 'Are you aware that he's deceased?'

'We were told that yes. A heart attack I believe?' Harriett said. 'Somewhat surprising news.'

'Why is that?' Bennett asked.

'When one of our patients escapes, particularly one in our high security ward, they don't usually show up dead of a heart attack. If anything they are killed in the process of trying to capture them.' Harriett replied. 'Besides he was in excellent health.'

Harry tensed slightly feeling uncomfortable.

'What can you tell me about his escape?' Bennett asked.

'Not a lot unfortunately. It was a very strange thing.'

'Strange how?' Harry interrupted.

'Robert Arnold was a high security, high risk patient. He was only allowed out of his room for one hour a day for exercise. The day he had escaped he didn't leave his cell at all. He had complained of a head ache and a feeling of severe depression earlier that morning. His psychiatrist was called for and administered an antidepressant. He then chose to remain in his cell for the rest of the day. When I did night check at just after 11pm he was in his cell asleep. When I did morning check the next day before my shift ended at 6am I noticed he was missing from his cell and raised the alarm.' Harriett paused. 'I have absolutely no idea how he escaped from his cell, let alone the hospital itself. There are several secure doors between here and the outside and he didn't pass by me.'

'Are you absolutely sure of that?' Harry asked.

Harriett gave him a withering glare. 'Of course I'm sure. These are high risk patients Detective Potter. We are well trained and follow strict protocols at all times. There is no room for human error, and we do not allow it.'

Bennet chose to ignore that comment and press on despite feeling sure that mistakes by human error happened just as frequently here as in any other hospital. 'Had Mr Arnold had any visitors in the last few weeks?' She asked instead.

Harriett nodded. 'Yes he did which was also strange because prior to this he had not had a single one.'

'What's your procedure for visitors to this ward?' Bennett asked, making a few notes in her notepad.

'Visitors are checked at security like you would have been upon your arrival. They are then brought to the ward and taken through the safety procedures. Then and only then are they taken to a patient's room. In this ward where most of the rooms are high security, visitors must sit in the hallway and speak to the patients through the glass walls of their cells.'

'Are they supervised visits?' Bennett asked.

'Not really. They go into the corridor alone but I can hear them and see them from my station if needed.' Harriett said.

'What can you tell me about Mr Arnold's visitor?' Bennett asked.

Harriett frowned. 'I don't know.' She shook her head slightly and then looked down. 'I never forget a face or a voice but this one just eludes me. It's as if he was so ordinary he was invisible. I don't even remember how old he was.'

'That's rather strange seeing as he had never had a visitor before.' Bennett commented. 'Surely that would have sparked your interest?'

Harriett shook her head. 'I don't disagree, but I don't know what to tell you. I don't remember him.'

'Is there any video footage?' Bennett asked. 'Surely you must have surveillance cameras?'

Harriett frowned again. 'Why yes we do. I should have thought of that. Come with me and I'll show you.'

It didn't take long for her to locate the surveillance tape and after some tedious scrolling they finally found the footage they were after. The camera was focused on the corridor running alongside Robert Arnold's cell. His visitor casually sat on the floor right in front of him and the two just seemed to sit and stare at each other. Then after a few minutes the visitor got up and left just as silently as he arrived. There didn't appear to have been a conversation had at all.

In regards to who it was, well it was plain to see why Harriett couldn't remember a thing about him. He was obviously using magic to project a very different image than his own. It was perhaps a glamour, or even a memory charm but what the camera picked up was something else altogether. His image was slightly blurred, as if Harry was looking at it without his glasses. He could tell that it was a man, of medium height with dark brown hair but that was all. Not exactly a lot to go on.

Bennett refrained from commenting much on the video footage, they all saw the same thing and Harriett was the only one to comment that perhaps the camera wasn't functioning properly even though the image of Robert Arnold was crystal clear, and only the visitors image blurred.

Harry was once again amazed at a muggles capacity to ignore the magic right in front of them.

There wasn't much else they could discover and after a quick search of Robert Arnold's room (which turned up nothing) Bennett thanked Harriett for her time and they left Broadmoor hospital. They had printed off a photo from the surveillance footage to take back with them though neither of them thought it would be much help.

'What do you think happened?' Bennett asked Harry, as they were walking along the road running adjacent to the hospital, looking for the port key to take them back to the ministry.

'I don't know exactly.' Harry said slowly. 'He obviously came back later to collect him, but I don't know why he went there and met with him first. They didn't even talk. It was strange.'

'Perhaps they did talk, and we just didn't see it.' Bennett suggested.

'Perhaps. Or maybe he was using legilimency .'

'Which is what exactly?' Bennett asked.

'Reading his mind.' Harry said, while looking around for the port key.

'Did he need to do that to help him escape? To make him agreeable maybe?' Bennett mused.

'Honestly? Probably not. He could have done it any number of ways.' Harry said slowly. 'He obviously used a spell of some kind to cover his identity during the visit but I don't know why he didn't just use a memory charm on the staff to make them forget he came entirely.'

'He wanted you to know.' Bennett said. 'He's taunting you.'

'Well that would certainly fit his profile so far.' Harry muttered.

'How do you think they got out?' Bennett asked.

'Most likely he came back later that night and apparated right into his cell, and then took him out exactly the same way. It wouldn't exactly be hard.' Harry said.

'You couldn't tell when we were in his cell? There wasn't any magical residue?' Bennett asked.

Harry shook his head. 'I can't just sense it. I'm not Yoda. I would have needed to cast spells to find any traces, but by now there wouldn't be much left anyway. I really didn't think it was necessary at the time. There's no doubt that he used magic to get him out. I just don't understand why he wanted him so badly.'

'I suspect he either knows him personally, or knew of him at the very least. He possibly admires him somewhat, he was a serial killer like himself after all but he may also have had a grudge against him for some reason. He clearly intended for you to kill him, but yet he also wanted your friends to die first.' Bennett paused. 'It was a double punishment.'

'And now he has someone else.' Harry said flatly. 'And we can't find him.'

'We will Harry.' Bennett said. 'And when we do I plan on killing him with my bare hands.'

'You'll have to get in line.' Harry said tightly.

Bennet didn't respond, instead she pointed at a red plastic bucket peeking out from behind a bush. 'Is that the port key?' She asked.

'Yep that's it.' Harry confirmed, and together they grabbed hold of it and were whisked back to the ministry.

As soon as they got back Harry knew something was wrong. People were running here and there, and owls and interdepartmental memos were flapping about all over the place.

'This doesn't look good.' Bennett said quietly.

'No it doesn't.' Harry agreed. 'I don't understand. We still have two hours to go until his deadline.'

'Sometimes they can't wait Harry. You can never count on it.' Bennett said, as they rounded the corner and headed into the Auror headquarters.

Severus was waiting for them, arms folded and leaning slightly against Blaise Zabini's desk.

'Severus?' Harry asked expectantly a pit of dread in him stomach.

Severus shook his head. 'I'm sorry Harry, we were too late. There's been another murder.'

...

A/N – Sorry this one took a bit longer to post. I actually had to do a bit of research and work out where I was going with this. I also had to go back and do some re reading to make sure I was getting things right.

Thanks for the lovely reviews, I very much appreciate it! I realise Severus wasn't in this chapter nearly enough but I can assure you I will remedy that next chapter.