Harry knew he didn't want to wake up. He knew with every fibre of his being that if he woke up he would regret it. So instead he kept his eyes shut and rolled over on his side, throwing his arm over the warm body lying next to him and snuggling himself in further.

'Good lord you're a leech.' Severus groaned but made no move to pull away.

'Smawat.' Came the muffled reply.

Severus responded by poking Harry in the ribs. 'Wake up.'

'What was that for?' Harry complained slowly dragging his eyes open. 'Can't a man get some sleep around here?' He finally cleared his vision and met Severus' eyes which shone with amusement. It was a very strange expression to see on his face, one that Harry hoped to see more.

'Good morning.' Harry said softly.

Severus leaned forward and kissed him softly. 'Good morning.' He replied. 'Now get up. We need to get back to the ministry.'

Harry rolled over in dismay. 'I was happily asleep and pretending that everything was fine two minutes ago and you had to go ruin it didn't you?'

'It's what I do best.' Severus said drily. 'Besides everything isn't fine and it's pointless pretending otherwise. A quick fuck isn't going to fix the world Harry.'

Harry sat up feeling all of a sudden a strange sense of uncertainty and rejection not to mention irritation. 'Is that all last night was to you?' He asked quietly. 'Because as I recall it wasn't exactly quick, and it also wasn't just "a fuck"'.

'Don't go turning into a thirteen year old girl on me Potter, it doesn't suit you.' Severus snapped. 'No it was neither quick nor just a fuck, but I'm not assuming that it was the most earth shattering life changing event of the century either.'

'Speak for yourself.' Harry muttered petulantly, yet somehow he felt better.

'I was.' Severus said, and then brought his hand down in a sharp smack on Harry's ass. 'Now time to get up before I change my mind and decide to keep you in bed all day.'

Harry sat up with a smirk on his face. 'Well now I'm definitely not getting up.'

Severus pulled himself out of bed and stood towering over Harry. 'Let me ask you a question. Are you feeling sore today?'

Harry considered this. 'Yes rather, but in a good way.'

'Can you imagine how sore you'd be tomorrow if we went at it all day today?' Severus asked.

'Yeah okay, I guess you have a point.' Harry grumbled. In truth almost all of his muscles ached, but he wasn't lying when he said it was in a fantastic way.

'Go get in the shower Harry, I'll see you in the kitchen when you're done.' Severus said before heading into his adjoining bathroom and closing the door firmly behind him. Within a few moments Harry heard the water running and almost decided to head in there and join him, but he didn't want to push it. He could already scarcely believe that last night had happened, and for some reason he felt as though this fledgling relationship was already on shaky ground. They had both been through so much, Severus especially. Harry didn't want to push the man too far before he was ready.

So instead he sighed and pulled himself out of bed. Severus was right he was sore, and as he stiffly headed towards the guest bathroom he fervently hoped that no one at the ministry would ask him why he was moving so stiffly.

Thankfully the hot shower worked wonders and by the time he and Severus were headed out Harry felt much better. Like last night Severus had simply taken his hand and apparated them both right out of his kitchen. When they arrived Severus let go of his hand but not before giving it a gentle squeeze and running his thumb along Harry's knuckles.

Harry's heart skipped a beat, and his smile widened.

'Get that smile off your face you twit.' Severus hissed at him. 'This is hardly the time or the place to be smiling like a lunatic.'

'I can't help it.' Harry said. He felt more alive than he had in years. 'I can't think of a reason not to smile right now.'

'Serial killer, targeting you and your loved ones remember?' Severus reminded him.

His words had the desired effect. Harry's smile left his face quickly, and the guilt he had felt the night before returned to him full force. 'I remember why I hated you so much before.' He frowned. 'You suck all the fun out of life.'

'While normally I'd agree with you in this instance I think that's an unfair statement to make. I'm not the one murdering people Potter, I'm actually trying to stop it remember?' Severus said with a small smile.

'Yeah whatever.' Harry muttered. 'Let's go.' He stomped across the floor of the Ministry Atrium leaving Severus behind him shaking his head slightly.

They were the first to arrive with the exception of Bennett who was leaning up against the table and staring at the wall where she had spellotaped the contents of the case. She had updated it to reflect the recent details by writing on the wall in what appeared to be a black permanent marker.

'I didn't realise petty vandalism was your thing Agent Bennett.' Severus drawled, crossing his arms and staring at her.

'I'm fairly sure that should you wish to you could wipe this wall clean with a sweep your arm so I'm not hugely concerned.' Bennett replied without looking at him.

'I'm sure it would take more than a simple sweep of my arm.' Severus replied.

'Yeah like you might actually have to take your wand out first maybe?' Harry added, elbowing Severus.

'Only maybe.' Severus said under his breath.

'At any rate she's hardly doing permanent damage.' Harry said and went to stand next to Bennett who still hadn't broken her gaze.

'So what else do we know?' Harry asked. 'Did the autopsy results come in?'

'Yes but if you don't mind I'll wait until the rest of the team arrives to discuss the results.' Bennett said.

'I assume you haven't added them to this mess yet then?' Severus asked harshly, gesturing to the wall and glaring at Bennett and Harry.

Harry raised his eyes in question at Severus' glare, but Severus just shook his head. Harry really had no idea why Severus disliked Bennett so much but really he was being quite rude to the woman. Worse than usual.

'No not yet.' Bennett replied, clearly unfazed by Severus' tone.

'We can wait.' Harry said. 'So you really find staring at this stuff helpful hey?'

'Sometimes.' Bennett said. 'If I look at it long enough something usually pops out at me.'

'Any luck so far?' Harry asked.

'Some.'

'But none you're gonna share with us?' Harry asked nudging her slightly.

Bennett finally turned away from to wall to look at him. 'Not yet.' She said with a smile.

Harry suddenly felt a sharp stinging along his elbow and stood up quickly rubbing his arm. 'Owww!'

'What's wrong?' Bennett asked.

Harry looked at Severus who was glaring at him as if he was still in Hogwarts and had just exploded his cauldron in a potions class. Suddenly he just knew that his stinging arm was a result of Severus, who simply lifted his eyebrows in a challenge to out him.

Harry returned Severus' glare and moved away from Bennett to sit at the opposite end of the table.

'Nothing, I'm fine.' He said sharply. 'Although I can't say the same for Snape. He's looking rather green.' He added meaningfully.

Bennett looked from one to the other quickly, but chose to remain silent.

Severus tilted his head slightly as he regarded Harry, and his expression softened ever so slightly before he sat down opposite him.

The rest of the team arrived soon after and Harry leaned forward across the table. 'Jealously does not become you.' He said in a low voice. 'Looks like I'm not the only one acting like a thirteen year old.'

Severus just looked at him unapologetically, and Harry wondered for just a moment just what he had got himself into.

Prewitt then cleared his throat and the meeting began.

'Okay Bennett what did your muggle aupopsy find?' He asked.

Harry couldn't help but roll his eyes.

'We found a few things.' Bennett started, standing from her chair and moving towards the wall with her permanent marker in hand. 'It's too early to tell if the results will make a difference to the case or not. At the very least they give us further insight into the killers mind.'

'And these results are what exactly?' Severus drawled.

Bennett glared at him seemingly having had enough of his attitude, and Harry had a very strong impression of a tiger facing off against a venomous snake. He wasn't sure which he'd put his money on.

'It wasn't the axe to the head that killed him.' She stated. 'His head was removed post mortem.'

'So what did kill him?' Zabini asked.

'He was injected with a toxin. We found a needle mark in his left arm. As yet we aren't one hundred percent sure but the prelim toxicology report seems to suggest it was a lethal dose of a drug called Ketamine.' Bennett said. 'In addition and what's more concerning is that we also found traces of a drug called Scopolamine.'

'Why is that more concerning?' Harry asked.

'Because Ketamine will certainly kill you if a high enough dose is administered but trace amounts of Scopolamine won't. It's a relatively new drug and the effects are varied and alarming. It's usually used to treat motion sickness.' Bennett said with a frown.

'That is weird.' Harry said. 'Would trace amounts even have an effect?'

Bennett shrugged her shoulders. 'I don't know. It depends on a number of factors. It appears as if the Scopolamine was administered first and then the ketamine. But we only found one needle mark so the scopolamine may have been administered first, possibly several days prior to the Ketamine or through a different method.'

'May have been?' Jones asked. 'How will we know for sure? And what other methods are there for administering these muggle curses?'

'Potions.' Severus said. 'Muggle potions is a more appropriate term.'

Jones just gave Severus a withering stare. 'Potions then. How will we know for sure? You can't even be sure that it was this Ketamine thing that killed him.'

'Not yet no. But the preliminary results certainly suggest it was the Ketamine.' Bennett said firmly. 'Unfortunately it will be several weeks until we know for absolute sure.'

'Several weeks?' Zabini said in disbelief. 'Several weeks! We don't have several days let alone weeks.'

'I realise that.' Bennett said, plainly irritated. 'Which is why I rushed the prelim results. Nine times out of ten the final result matches the prelim result but we muggles don't have access to magic and can't instantly will things we wish into existence!' She snapped.

'I think it would be best if we assume that these results are correct.' Prewitt stated. 'We have little choice in the matter. Thank you Bennett for rushing these results, once again you have demonstrated that muggle technology has its uses.'

'You're welcome.' Bennett said tightly.

'Is there anything else you discovered?' Prewitt asked.

Bennett nodded. 'Early this morning I did some research into Scopolamine. If the right dose is administered it can alter a person's memory. It also incapacitates a person without making them fall unconscious. You basically will do anything asked.'

Harry widened his eyes. 'A muggle imperious curse.' He said. 'That pretty much what you're saying yeah?'

'I'm saying that if the correct dose of Scopolamine was administered to a person then that person could fall into a semi-conscious state where they would do whatever they were told and then not remember a thing afterwards.' Bennett said.

'So yes.' Severus said. 'I think we've found how he's managed to subdue powerful witches and wizards.'

'That's my thinking yes.' Bennett concurred. 'I suspect the Scopolamine was administered first, and some time prior to death. Hence there only being trace amounts found.'

'How else can this imperius potion be administered?' Zabini asked. 'It's not like anyone would just allow themselves to be stuck with a needle voluntarily, and I can't see them all being stupid enough to drink a potion either.'

'It's called Scopolamine.' Bennett said patiently. 'It is odourless, tasteless and can be dropped into a drink, as well as injected and most disturbingly there have even been reports of it being blown into victim's faces.'

'Right' Zabini said slowly. 'So that sounds fairly easy then.' He added, sitting back with a slightly horrified look on his face.

Bennett just nodded, and the room lapsed into silence.

'Hermione!' Harry exclaimed suddenly.

Five pairs of eyes turned on him in confusion.

'What about her?' Prewitt asked.

'Neither she nor Ron remembered anything about the attack on them, and their wards were down.' Harry said. 'The killer must have poisoned them with Scopolamine and then asked them to drop the wards. That's why they don't remember anything and why there was no trace of magic!'

'That makes sense.' Bennett said.

'Can you test them?' Harry asked. 'So we know for sure?'

'I can have them tested yes, but it's quite possible that the drug will have left their systems by now.' Bennet said.

'Do it anyway.' Prewitt said quickly. 'If there are still traces left in their systems then it at the very least will add some evidence to support this theory.'

'Okay.' Bennett said. 'That's all from me. The autopsy didn't provide any other useful information.'

'So to sum up you're suggesting that the killer drugs his victims with Scopolamine, then has them remove wards or whatever else he wants and then kills them in whatever way takes his fancy.' Prewitt said.

Bennett nodded. 'That's correct. He could even have them kill themselves if he wished to.'

'That's a horrible thought.' Harry said. 'But not likely is it? The other deaths were all violent and done in different ways weren't they? He doesn't have just one method of killing.'

'This is the first time a body has been subjected to a muggle autopsy.' Severus pointed out. 'It's possible that all his victims were actually killed using a lethal dose of Ketamine and then the rest of the damage was done post mortem.'

'So he could have just one preferred method of murder?' Harry confirmed.

'Yes.' Bennett said.

'There's no way to be able to test that now is there?' Jones asked.

'Yes there is.' Bennett confirmed. 'But we would have to autopsy all of the victims and run toxicology tests on all of them.'

'But most of them have been buried already!' Zabini protested.

'They'd have to be exhumed.' Bennett said. 'Which is very traumatic for the families of the victims to deal with. '

'I can only imagine.' Prewitt murmered.

'It is however the only way to be sure.' Bennett said.

'Can we just pick one of the victims to test the theory?' Harry said.

'You mean only exhume one of them?' Prewitt asked.

'Elias Fink was a recluse; did he even have a family?' Harry asked.

'Not that I'm aware of.' Prewitt said quickly.

'If we exhume his body and the results are positive we could assume that the others may be too without having to dig them up. It would save their families grief.' Harry pointed out.

'It's a thought.' Prewitt said.

Severus frowned. 'I'm not sure it's ethical to choose his body to exhume simply because he doesn't have a family to fight for his rights.'

Harry suddenly could see that Severus saw a little of himself in Elias Fink, and that saddened him to no end. He vowed that he wouldn't let Severus end up like that. 'Severus if it was you what would you want?' He asked carefully. 'Would you want us to catch the person who murdered you? Would you want to stay in the ground when your remains could help solve the case?'

Severus looked into Harry's eyes. 'You know what I would want.' He said. 'That doesn't mean his wishes would be the same as mine.'

Harry nodded in understanding, while continuing to stare into those dark eyes. Something had just changed between them, and Harry didn't know if it was good or bad.

'Let's do it.' Prewitt said. 'I think we need to know for sure.'

Harry looked away from Severus and tried to gather his thoughts and still his mind. He suddenly wasn't at all sure that last night had been a good idea, at least not while they were still working this case. There was just so much history between them and so much pain that Harry had no idea of. Severus' walls were well formed and very high. He wasn't sure he had the strength to break them down. The man confused the hell out of him.

'I'll speak to Kingsley about how we might go about this.' Prewitt said. 'I'm not sure it's ever been done before. Bennett can you please find a muggle healer person to perform this autopsy?'

Bennett nodded. 'I just need to step outside and make a call' she said pulling a phone out of her pocket as she stood to leave the room.

'Take a five minute break people.' Prewitt said, before leaving the room presumably to try and speak to the Minister.

'What is that?' Zabini asked curiously eye Bennett in the hallway with her phone pressed to her ear.

'It's a muggle way of sending messages to each other.' Harry said. 'It's called a mobile phone.'

'They can speak to each other through that little box?' Zabini asked as he watched Bennett pace up and down the corridor speaking animatedly into her phone. 'That's rather clever.'

'In actual fact I think they are far cleverer than we are.' Harry said. 'Not having magic has forced them to find solutions to things wizards have never even considered.'

'I wouldn't go that far.' Zabini said with a sneer.' They're just muggles.'

Harry sighed but didn't press the point. It wasn't worth getting angry for. Instead he wandered over to the wall of evidence and started trying to see what Bennett saw when looking at it.

His eyes roamed over the photographs but he didn't linger on the gruesome images. Except for when he reached the newest set of photographs that had been added from the most recent murder of Ira Benedict. Something caught his eye in the one of the photographs of the body. It was a long shot that encompassed the whole area. Off to the side caught in what appeared to be a stray branch lying on the ground was a tiny piece of paper, perhaps even rubbish that was blowing slightly in the breeze.

'What's this?' He asked Jones who had come to stand beside him. 'This piece of parchment or rubbish what was it? I assume it's recorded somewhere?'

'Have you found something Potter?' Severus asked from across the room.

'I'm not sure.' Harry said slowly as he once again looked closely at the photograph. For some reason that parchment looked very familiar to him.

Jones looked closer. 'It looks like it's just a piece of rubbish.' he said. 'We collected everything from the crime scene no matter how small so it should be in our evidence room.'

Harry looked at him. 'Take me there.' He said quickly.

Jones nodded. 'Zabini let the rest of the team know we've gone down to evidence okay?'

Zabini just nodded; distracted by the case file he was reading.

'I'm coming with you.' Severus said.

The evidence room was located a short flight of stairs and a corridor away. Jones quickly located the box labelled Miscellaneous or Most Likely Unimportant Evidence for the Murder of Ira Benedict and pulled it to a table in the middle of the room.

'Have at it Potter.' He said.

Harry delved into the box quickly followed by both Severus and Jones. Most of the evidence was indeed rubbish and it took some time for Harry to find what he was looking for.

It was a small piece of parchment that had clearly been torn from the top of a larger piece. Harry turned it over with shaking fingers and read what was on the front aloud.

'You have to be odd to be number one.' He read.

'What does it mean?' Jones asked.

'You're white as a sheet Harry.' Severus said. 'You recognise it don't you?'

Harry nodded. 'It's a Doctor Seuss quote.' He said shakily.

'A what?' Jones asked.

'He's a muggle writer, he writes children's stories.'

'What does this have to do with you or the murders?' Severus asked.

'It's not just the words itself, I recognise this parchment.' Harry whispered. 'This is a piece of my introduction to Magical Defence course guide.'

'This is yours?' Jones said. 'Are you sure?'

Harry nodded. 'It's incomplete obviously, just the top of my course guide. I give it to all my students before they start with me.'

'How the hell did it end up at a murder scene?' Jones wondered.

'Either it's an unfortunate coincident or the killer left it there deliberately.' Severus said.

Harry shrugged. 'I don't think it was deliberately left there.'

'So you think it was a coincident?' Severus said in disbelief. 'I find that hard to believe.'

'No I think he left it by accident.' Harry said. 'If he wanted me to find it he would have made a feature of it. It wouldn't be left on the ground like a piece of rubbish. I think he was carrying it with him and he left it behind without realising.'

'Perhaps.' Severus said with a frown. 'That quote must mean a lot to him if he carried it with him.'

Harry just nodded.

'You know what this most likely means don't you?' Severus asked quietly.

Harry just nodded again.

'The killer is one of your students.'

A/N – Things are getting more intense! We are nearing some darker and heavier chapters, just to warn you. Also I know that it is usually quite a long time between updates and I apologise for that. I'll try to be quicker. I also realise that this chapter probably wasn't what you had all hoped for as a morning after situation but I promise things will heat up again in the next chapter.

Could I kindly request that if you are enjoying this story you could leave a review? Especially if you have just found it and have read it all in one go and decide to follow it I would really like to hear from you to let me know why you're enjoying the story.

Good reviews motivate me to write more, and to update quickly. Bad reviews motivate me to become better. So either way please review!

Thanks

Aofie xx