Again thank you to My WONDERFUL Alphas and Betas who helped me loads with my FIRST murder mystery! Q_Drew, Oftendisenchanted, Cbz
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter
Flashback - May 2nd, 1998
If someone were to look outside their dormitory windows on that night they would have seen quite a sight. The Death Eaters, high on their impending victory, had gathered en masse. Inside their circle of adoration was Voldemort, the Dark Lord. He stretched out his arms in satisfaction. Oh, it was indeed good to be one of them tonight. His comrades grew closer, magnetized by him, shielding him from the outside world.
"You may go Ssseeveerrussss," Voldemort said, his red eyes following the path of the departing man before landing on the newest arrival to the celebration.
"Ah, my most loyal Death Eater, aaaalllwwwaaayyyyssss a pleasure," Voldemort purred at his friend's approach.
The Death Eater bowed and grinned at his master. "My lord."
"You may rise, my servant. I have a task for you," Voldemort said then paused for a moment. When he spoke next it was a low murmur, concealed from others by a spell, Muffliato. "You see… My son, I am dying. And for quite some time now."
"My Lord?" the Death Eater asked.
"Yesss, Death Eater, every day I am growing weaker," Voldemort said as he glided closer until he was able to caress his minon's cheek.
The Death Eater shivered by the contact, leaning into the embrace. Oh, it was high praise to be given such attention. He looked at him with concern,"My lord?"
"You've done well, my most loyal servant. And because of that, I am rewarding you." Voldemort grinned.
Pleased by this, the Death Eater nodded while looking at his master. "Of course, my lord." He bowed again.
Voldemort placed his finger on his servant's chin, tilting his face up to peer into his eyes. "I have a task for you after I am gone." He paused. "I want you to kill all the Death Eaters who have or will betray me." Voldemort raised his right eyebrow. "Can you do that for me?"
"It will be my pleasure." The Death Eater grinned wickedly at his master.
"Excellent. I wouldn't be disappointed if you escaped the battlefield. In fact, I need you alive, do you understand?"
The Death Eater nodded with excitement. "Yes, Master."
"Good, you may go now, and be steady on your feet," Voldemort called after him, turning off the spell as he departed fully.
The Dark Lord took one last look at the cloaked figures surrounding him."Onwards we go my fellow Death Eaters! Let's kill all the vermin!" Voldemort yelled.
—-
October 10, 2023
"Obliviated you say?" Suspiciously, Hermione narrowed her eyes at the guard.
The guard took one look at the body before turning away, his face having grown green. "I'll alert the rest of the authorities," he muttered through his clenched teeth as he rushed out of the area.
Hermione stared at the frozen shadow on the wall. Most curious. "I think I'll call Bill Weasley."
"You think that's wise?" Kingsley asked.
"Certainly, sir. He's a curse breaker and may be able to detect who the shadow belonged to." Taking her wand out, she pointed at the empty hallway opposite her and then shouted, "Expecto patronum!" After she relayed the message to Bill, she leaned against the wall and sighed. "It seems like our suspect list has just gotten shorter… but at least we were left with a clue this time." Hermione tried to not feel too hopeful. This may turn out to be nothing… but it might not be.
"Yes, we have whatever spell… Lestrange hit this person with on the wall," Remus confirmed with a nod, fingers rubbing against his chin.
Hermione ran her finger along the shadow's shape, ash residue clinging to her finger. "Let's just hope Bill knows what we are working with."
Kingsley had told them that he needed to help Bill come through the gate and left.
"I'm here!" Bill said as he rushed forward while panting while holding his briefcase. "Kingsley helped me in through the gate." Kingsley was right by his side.
"You okay there, mate?" Remus asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine. What's the…" Bill's voice dropped away as he came into the small cell, seeing Bellatrix on the floor.
"We were hoping you could verify who the perpetrator is," Hermione explained, pointing behind him. "She did… something… to whoever was here."
Eyes wide, Bill walked closer to the shadow before repeating Hermione's steps from earlier; running his finger through the shadow, leaving a streak behind. He rubbed the ash between his finger and thumb. "Interesting, this was definitely done by a dark wizard," Bill muttered then took out his gear from his briefcase. "Let's see what we have then." He knelt down to grab his Mechanism of Keepers and closed the briefcase.
Hermione gasped. "Is that what I think it is?"
"The very one," Bill grinned at her. He placed the magical microscope on top of the closed briefcase, using it as a makeshift workspace, then scraped out some of the ash and placed the ash in the slot of the Mechanism of Keepers. While the instrument did its recalibrating, he walked over to the jail cell. "I thought she died?"
Hermione shrugged. Nonchalant, she said, "She's dead now."
Bill shrugged, mimicking Hermione's movement, then walked back towards the Mechanism of Keepers when he heard a ding sound which indicated that it was finished. "Let's see then," he muttered. He squinted over the instrument and his brow furrowed. "I don't suppose you're looking for an elderly lady." He chuckled. "Mrs. Fortuna Wright to be exact" Bill shrugged his shoulders.
"Excuse me?!" Hermione rushed over to Bill with shock.
"You heard me correctly," Bill shrugged. "Sometimes this happens when we search for DNA. This old lady could be a relative of the murder, which might be a possibility to consider."
As Hermione thought this through, Bill packed his things.
"How does this help? For all we know the last name could be a maiden name?!" Hermione said with exaggeration.
"Look, I'm just doing my job, that was all I could find. I recalibrated with my Mechanism of Keepers. It used the Ministry Database of all the witches and wizards and compared the DNA to match the to the person named Mrs. Fortuna Wright. Sorry, but I do have an appointment with another client soon," Bill explained.
"Can you check again?" Hermione urged.
"That would waste our time," Bill shrugged then grabbed his briefcase. He placed a hand on her shoulder lightly, "I'm sorry that was the best I can under the circumstance." Bill paused for a moment to look into her eyes, "I really do hope you find the killer."
Hermione sighed then nodded as he left them. She walked over towards Kingly who was quiet throughout most of their encounter with Bill. "We will need to make some arrangements to confront Mrs. Wright.
—-
As both Remus and Hermione arrived back at his quarters, Hermione felt relieved that they were one step closer.
"I suppose we should turn in," Remus suggested after he cleared his throat.
"I will in a I use your owl to write to Harry about our progress?" Hermione smiled.
"Of course, and you're welcome to use my desk to write your note."
"Thanks." Hermione placed her hand on his shoulder for comfort then walked over to the desk to write her letter to Harry.
After putting the words to paper, she attached the note to Remus's owl and then directed the owl to find Harry.
She didn't realize that Remus stayed until she looked up from the writing desk. She smiled when Hermione heard him snore from the couch. She walked over towards him, looked down at his sleeping figure, and felt compelled to kiss his forehead.
October 11, 2023
Hermione hesitantly knocked on the well-worn door in an unremarkable neighborhood in Hull. With her initial reaction, the neighborhood looked eerie and quiet. The houses were run down and the streets were empty.
An elderly woman answered the door. "Yes?" She asked with apprehension.
"Mrs. Fortuna Wright?"
"That is me."
"May we come in? My name is Hermione Granger," she flashed her Ministry badge. "I work for the magical investigator department." and we are investigating three murders. That happened within a 2-week time frame. We erm believe that a relative of yours is a suspect," she said awkwardly.
The woman squinted her eyes, as she let eyes rest on Hermione. She looked as though she was skittish, "What is this about?" She quirked her head with question.
"May we come in?" Hermione repeated and pursed her lips. "It will be better to speak inside."
"There was a moment where the woman seem to scrutinize Remus as she finally rested her eyes on him. She glanced at those scars on his face and raised her right eyebrow. "And you are?"
Remus coughed, nervous under her intense examination. "Remus Lupin. Headmaster of Hogwarts." He made no move to shake her hand, instead, he was nervously readjusting his tie.
The woman stared for a moment as if judging his statement's merit.
"Mrs. Right…" Hermione interjected softly, bringing everyone's attention back to the task at hand.
Mrs. Right moved to the side of the door, allowing them space to enter. "Apologies," she said as they crossed the threshold. "You can never be too careful. I am afraid I don't have any biscuits to put out for your visit. But I do have some tea," Mrs. Right suggested as she inched her way towards the kitchen.
Hermione lowered her tone to reassure her, "That's alright, Mrs. Right, we won't be staying too long." After taking a seat in the lounge she took out a quill and paper and began her questions.
Hermione looked around the room. "Do you have children by any chance?"
Mrs. Right's eyes went wide. "Yes, I do! I have two, my first son was born a squib who died quite other son is Ludo Bagman."
Hermione looked shocked when she heard that name. Finally, being subjected to hours of Quidditch gossip has paid off. "Famous Quidditch Beater for the Quidditch team Wimbourne Wasps?"
Mrs. Right smiled and nodded. "That's right! Such a bright young man. He was top of his class in his year as well. He was set to do such great things… but after the death of his father, he suffered for several years. He is a true success story."
"Suffered, how so?" Hermione asked.
"Oh, typical young adult angst, I suspect," Mrs. Right answered. "He ended up hanging out with the wrong crowd."
Hermione gripped her quill. "When you say the wrong crowd…"
Mrs. Right nodded. "Every night he'd sneak out wearing all black with a mask. He thought he was so clever, but a mother always knows."
"Did he participate in dark magic?" Remus interjected.
"My boy wouldn't do that…" she wrung her hands together. "Although, I couldn't say for sure. He was always so secretive with his extra activities." Mrs. Wright looked at the two of them with concern. "Is my baby in trouble?"
Hermione sighed. This did not look good for Mrs. Right. "We have reason to believe that your son is involved in a slew of murders we have been investigating."
"What?! No! My boy wouldn't do that!" Mrs. Right cried, standing up in shock.
At that moment, the front door opened.
"Mum!" a male's voice called from the hallway. "I'm home! I brought you your favorite food from the restaurant on Pike."
Hermione placed her finger on her mouth to shush the older woman so they could capture the intruder. Suddenly, it felt very cold in the house. Her eyes went wide as she glanced at Remus with understanding. Dementors.
"Please! Don't hurt him!" Mrs. Right whispered furiously. Remus hurried to her side to stop her from interfering.
"Mum? What's going on -'' Before Ludo could even finish entering the room, Hermione had whipped out her wand and cast petrificus totalus, rendering the man–their suspect–completely immobile.
Remus cast Incarcerous, the ropes curling and tightening around Ludo's unmoving body.
"I'm sorry Mrs. Right, but we will have to take him to custody."
"You will do no such thing!" Mrs. Right picked up her handbag from the side table and whacked Hermione hard across the head, causing her to stumble to the ground.
"Hermione!" Remus yelled as he rushed to her aid.
Remus aimed his wand at the elderly woman. "Don't do anything I wouldn't do," he warned as he helped Hermione up.
"Taken down by an elderly lady," Hermione gritted her teeth as she came too with an excruciating headache. "Let's get Ludo Bagman out of here before his mother does any more irreparable damage," she grunted.
Remus nodded and cast the counter to the Petrificus Totilus with Ludo Bagman still wrapped with ropes. "We're taking you into custody."
"Please, not my baby!" The elderly woman swung her purse into Remus' torso.
"We have to take him in for questioning," Hermione urged. She called for Harry using the expecto patronum charm.
As soon as the three of them stepped outside, a team of Aurors including Harry came by to take the wizard in for custody.
"I did it for justice! I wanted to take my revenge on The Dark Lord! All Ex-Death Eaters need to be - " Before Ludo finished his sentence, the Aurors had apparated him away.
URL link that goes with the story - gcdnb. pbrd. co/images/2V7Sce9fuxkc. png?o=1 (when you paste in browser combine everything) (Stephen Fry is my headcanon for Ludo Bagman LOL)