Trigger warnings: Auror parts will use stronger language and implied gore.
Auror office, London, England
Harry Potter landed in the ministry fireplace. Other employees were filing through, trying to get to their respective offices. Neville landed first, followed by Ron and then himself. Harry stopped and put his auror office coat over his uniform. The three of them made their way towards the elevator. They made their way into the main lobby for the ministry. Harry looked back at the middle of the large entryway, where the old fountain had stood. After the war, it was replaced with a memorial for everyone who died in the war. His parents' names were in the very center, along with Sirius and Remus. He still found it hard to look at.
"Mr. Potter! Mr. Potter over her"
"Harry!"
"Harry Potter!" Reporters yelled at him from every angle
"How does it feel to be a full auror at age 19"
"Is it true that you will be work directly with death eater"
"How's Ginny Weasley?"
"C'mon, let's get out of here" Neville muttered
"Good idea" Harry mumbled. After escaping from the hoard of journalists and photographers, they finally were able to get to the elevators. They went up two floors to the law enforcement floor. They walked to the auror wing. Harry checked his old battered watch. They were late.
"Having Trouble with the press Potter?" Gawain Robards asked as the 3 of them walked into the main auror conference room. Robards was the head of the Auror office, making him their new boss
"He always does," Senior Auror Polly Grey said. She stood leaning against the wall. Her turquoise hair was as spiky and as messy as Harry's. She had a single pink highlight in the front of her hair
"Sorry Sir," Harry said
"Learn to shake them. We don't need the press following you three everywhere"
"Yes Sir," they said in unison
"Now get in line, we are not going to be late" Harry, Ron and Neville walked into line besides the other aurors.
"Now that you are all here, it's time to get your assignments," Robards addressed them "In Research, we have Brown, Turpin and Runcorn. In the field we have Pumall, Skye, and Reid. And undercover we have Bones, Jones and Macdougal." Harry Ron and Neville looked up "We are also creating a new division, led by Senior Auror Grey. This group will work directly with the met police and local muggle authorities on cases involving wizards and magic. Joining this group will be Aurors Grey, Nabih, Castellano, Potter, Weasley and Longbottom. Any question?" Ron raised his hand
"None, good. Get to work"
"Muggle group, follow me" said Grey
"Muggles, why on earth are we dealing with muggles?" Ron asked. Harry shrugged his shoulders. Grey led them to a seperate room from the rest of the auror office.
"Right, so this is where we will be setting up." She said "My office is up the ramp, first and only door on the right. Lyra, you have the room on the left side to set up in. The rest of you have the 4 desks." Grey turned around and headed to her office to unpack. Auror Lyra Castellano headed up to their office as well. They stood out to him even during his training. They had distinct amber eyes, tan skin, and dark brown hair. The oddest thing about them however was the metal plates and pipes. They were a cyborg, like from the science fiction books muggles read. Harry noticed that their box had many muggle devices, such as computers and what he thought was a printer.
Harry took a desk in the left corner of the room. He began to unpack his box from the office. He had quills, ink parchment, and a couple of auror manuals. He took out his personal belongings, a photo of his dad and Sirius, along with a photo of himself and Ginny. Ron walked over to his desk when he realized Harry was done.
"George got you a present mate," Harry looked at him, confused. Ron handed him a small parcel.
"Is it safe?" Harry asked
"I think so" Harry unwrapped it. Inside was a score counter with the words 'days since someone tried to kill Harry' written on the front.
"Really?" asked Harry.
"George said we have to hang it up in the office"
"No way."
"No way, what?" asked Neville
"George got Harry this counter and Harry is refusing to hang it up"
"We are definitely hanging that up." said Lyra. They took the cast wingardium leviosa and the counter flew up before sticking to the wall. "Move guys, I have tech to install"
"Tech, like muggle tech?" asked Neville
"We are the muggle division," they said. They took out 4 different computers from a box. They were not like anything any of them had ever seen, not even Harry, who grew up in a muggle home. "These are the new IBooks. They are like old computers except they are totally portable and unlike regular IBooks, these don't run out of battery. Well that's thanks to my brand new run-out-not batteries but I don't want to brag. We have one in lime green for Neville, Orange for Ron, red for Harry and light blue for Zaima. Harry, can you go give it to her?"
"Sure," he said. He took his IBook and Zaima Nabih's. From his understanding, she had transferred from MAUSCA's auror department to their's. She was older than him but probably no older than 30. She had dark brown eyes and was wearing a black hijab with her auror uniform. "Auror Nabih, I have your IBook"
"Thanks," she said taking the computer "Just call me Zaima, please"
"Sure"
"So you're Great Britain's famous Harry Potter?"
"Yeah, I mean yes"
"I'll guess that counter in for you" she said, pointing to the counter, now stuck with a permanent sticking charm
"Yeah, it was Ron's brother's idea of a joke"
"You brits have a strange sense of humor"
"And Americans have a better sense of humor?"
"Depends the topic" she said "when it comes to people who are different, Americans finds mocking them the funniest thing in the world"
"I don't know if us brits will be that much better"
"A girl can dream, can't she?"
"I suppose"
"Meeting in Grey's office," Lyra told them. They followed them to Grey's office. Harry took a chair between Ron and Neville and Zaima took the seat next to Ron. He looked at her head confused, realizing it was not hair, but a piece of cloth.
"It's called a hijab." She said, annoyed. She had gotten looks like that many times
"But then why do you wear it?" At this point Grey was glaring at him. Harry was finding his shoes very interesting and Neville was head down on the table
"Because it makes me feel connected to Allah, my god"
"Do you have to wear it?"
"No but I chose too"
"But-"
"Weasley!" Grey yelled sharply
"What did I say?"
"We don't have time to deal with you right now Weasley," Grey said. Ron sunk back in his chair
"First off, I would like to welcome you all to the Auror office's newest division. After the war, Kingsley decided that we need to interact with the muggles more, eispaily in case of certain forms of severe dark magic. We are officially part of MI5, thanks to the muggle Prime minister." She said. "You were all chosen by me for this division. Lyra, you are the only one of us who has any understanding of muggle technology. Harry, you grew up in a muggle home and scored top marks on your Defensive magic exam. Ron, you are not half bad at undercover work when needed. Neville, you excel at research which we especially need. And Zaima, you worked in crimes against women and children in the muggle world for a few years so you understand muggle police. We will be charting new territory with this group. Do not let me down." She glared around the room. "Secondly, we have our first case. Onyx Hornby was murdered using an unknown cutting charm. He had been living as a muggle for the last 10 years. The police are already there. Harry and Neville, you are heading to the crime scene. Zaima, Ron and I are going to the police station. Everyone clear?" They all nodded
"Good, go get your mission bags from the station and then we are heading out"
Landmark Place, London England
Harry Potter and Neville Longbottom walked to Landmark Place, London's newest development. There were already police cars swarming the area. Two officers were standing in front of the door. Harry and Neville took out their MI5 IDs just in case. The two officers were talking to a frantic young lady
"Please, you need to let me in, I need to see my uncle. I visit him very Thursday!" Said the woman.
"Ma'am we will need your name and address along with the name and address as long as the apartment you are visiting." The officer sighed
"My name is Olivia, I live in Middlesex University dormitory 12 room 18, and I'm visiting apartment 20a" the girl's words came out in a rush. The officers looked at each other knowingly.
"Olivia Horby?" He said his eyes full of pity
"Yes. Why are you looking at me like that? What's happened?"
"Miss your uncle has been murdered" Harry said as simpathicly as possible. The two officers stared at him in shock. Civilian were not supposed to know about this case yet
"Agents Potter and Longbottom, MI5, AURor division" He said both of them holding up their IDs. "We need to see the crime scene"
"Uh follow me," said the other officer
"Wait, no my uncle-" cried Olivia. The officers led them inside to a man who carried an air of importance around him, although it was not totally justified.
"Inspector, these agents want to see the crime scene"
"Agents, what agents?" asked the inspector
"They said they're from MI5"
"I wasn't told there would be any agents" he glared at the officer
"If you want to call you can, they will tell you that we are supposed to be here" Harry said. The inspector looked at them for the first time
"My god, how old are you, 16?"
"We are both 19 actually." Neville said.
"I'd say you're hardly old enough to be MI5 but I don't want to deal with them right now." He grumbled "Follow me but I must warn you, it's quite bloody."
"Wait, before we head up, the victim's niece is outside. I think we should send her over to the station to be interviewed"
"Fine, whatever," he said. He gestured to one of the officers and told her before she went outside. They went up the elevator and landed on Hornby's floor. They walked into the penthouse and were immediately hit with the scent of blood and a faint feeling of dark magic. Harry noticed the magic first and then the blood. For Neville, he sensed the blood and then the magic. They walked into the sitting room where Horby's body was. It was quite gruesome, but not the worst body either of them had ever seen. The body was on the floor. The couch had a slight spray of blood and the rest was pooled around the body. The gold lamp was still intact and meticulously clean.
"Well?" asked the inspector
"Not the worst we've seen" said Harry honestly "you dusted for prints and DNA?"
"Of course!" the inspector said insulted
"Good, you photographed the scene?"
"Yes"
"Nothing was broken or taken," Neville said "this wasn't a robbery."
"It was a murder" said the Inspector annoyed
"No but the room is too perfect. If you look at the carpet, there is an indent from where the coffee table usually is. Someone moved it ahead of time. Or at least before the victim fell"
"Why does it matter if the table was moved?!" The inspector yelled
"It means whoever did this want to keep the room and the house as intact as possible. Almost as if they plan on staying here for a while" Harry said "we can rule out a crime of opportunity or a robbery gone wrong. This was personal."
"So?"
"The killer is someone that Horby knew, probably was close with. The family will give you the most information" Harry said trying his best to be patient.
"Was the body moved post-mortem?" asked Neville
"No." said one of the techs
"The body is facing the wrong way. If the blood hit the couch then the body couldn't have landed there. Could you turn over the body?" Neville asked. Two of the techs turned the body over. To their shock and horror the cuts were clearly made on the other side of the body. Harry inhaled sharply
"That makes more sense," Neville said "the cuts are deep but narrow. the weapon would have to be extremely sharp."
"Well what now then,?" asked the inspector
"We need to talk to the family, if anyone can tell us anything, it's them." Harry said.
"I'll get my car," the inspector said. After leaving the elevator he walked down the street to his car. Harry and Neville walked behind him. Neville looked Harry in the eye and muttered one of their least favorite curses "Sectum Sempra?"
"No question"
London Police station, London England
Ron Wealsey followed Grey and Zaima into the muggle police station. It was like nothing he had ever seen. Muggle were strange. They had large boxes and no quills or ink anywhere. Ron continued to stare until he felt a sharp pain in his side. Zaima was glaring at him
"Try not gawk, Ron it makes us look bad" she muttered
"Sorry," He said. Grey walked up to the front desk and the woman sitting there looked up at her.
"Can I help you?" She asked
"My name is Agent Polly Grey, I'm from MI5's AURor department. This is Agent Weasley and Agent Nabih. We were sent here about the Hornby case."
"I'll call one of the inspectors," She said, getting up to go get him. Grey, Zaima, and Ron waited. She returned a few minutes later with a balding white man. He looked perfectly happy to see them from a distance until he got closer. He looked Grey up and down, stopping at her turquoise and pink hair and her many visible tattoos, followed by Zaima and sneered. Ron was not the most observant but it couldn't help see the change. Ron glared back at him. The Inspector ignored Grey and Zaima and turned to him
"You must be my agent," he said, directly to Ron "Pleasure to meet you, although you look awfully young"
"I'm 19" Ron said
"19 and in charge? Impressive." He said
"Oh I'm not in charge." Ron said. Was this man serious? He had just finished his training! "Grey is. She's the senior Agent"
"Pleasure," She said
"What are you, the diversity quota?" He sneered at her
"No, but I am the one in charge of this case so I would learn some manners if you want to stay on it."
"Please, like I would take orders from a hippie freak. What are you anyway? Black? Indian?-"
"Both actually, and I'm gay" she smirked. He looked at her in disgust. Ron watched in shock. If Hermione was here this man would have probably wished he would wish he had never said that. I should probably do what Hermione would do he thought. Ron had opened his mouth to speak when the inspector turned to Zaima
"Take that thing off!" He snapped at her. He was pointing to her headscarf, no wait she had called it a Hijab. Ron knew he wanted to step in.
"It's part of her religion" Ron said
"So?" He said "she's just a Muslim terrorist." he grabbed Zaima's arm and tried to pull of her hijab. Ron grabbed his arm and moved it away. He had partially removed it.
"Ron, look away." Grey snapped. He turned his head away from her. The inspector was smiling at Zaima as Grey did her best to cover Zaima. Ron, who was still holding his arm, shoved the inspector against the wall.
"Look, I've faced stronger, braver, and more powerful people then you. So has Zaima and Grey. You don't want any of us as enemies. You treated them like dirt. If you ever talk to them like that again, you're going to have to deal with me and my girlfriend. Trust me, you don't want that" He let the inspector go, who was glaring at him. The woman at the desk had left to go get the chief inspector. Grey and Zaima returned with her hijab fixed. The chief inspector walked into the room
"Welcome, agents, I'm chief inspector Higgens"
"Pleasure" said Grey
"Are you leading this case?" Higgens asked her
"Yes actually" she said in surprise "and no I'm not my office's diversity quota" Higgens looked at her, flabbergasted "I think you need to explain that to your inspector." She said. Higgens glared at the first inspector.
"I promise you that he will not be causing you any problem in the future"
"Good" said Zaima "We would like to start the interviews sir"
"Of course, follow me" he said. He led them to a hallway with a handful of interviewing rooms. In the first room, there was an older man and a woman with blonde hair and two little children next to her. "The dad, the wife and kids," he explained
"Could you please separate them into different rooms" asked Grey
"Yes of course" Higgins said. He directed his inspectors to seperate them.
"Zaima, you should interview the kids, you have the most experience with children." Zaima nodded and headed in the direction of the children. Their mother would have to stay with them while being interviewed. "Weasley, go with her, in case she needs any help. I'll speak with the father" Ron followed Zaima
"Have you ever worked with kids before Weasley?" She asked him
"Not outside of school,"
"What you need to remember with kids is that they will tell you the truth but only if they know it's the right thing to do." Ron looked at her curiously "if someone like a parent tells them to keep quiet, they will. You need to keep the mom distracted"
"Isn't that illegal?"
"No, as long as she is in the room. We don't if she could have done this but we should act like she's a suspect"
"But what about the kids?"
"Children can't do magic like that" she whispered
"My brothers turned my teddy bear into a spider at 7. These kids could possibly cast a cutting charm"
"We don't even know what type of charm it is yet" Zaima said "it's unlikely to be the kids. Even if it is, the mother might cover it up" He opened the door to the interviewing room. Zaima stepped into the room with Ron behind her. Ron looked at the mother. She was a little older than Zaima, blonde haired and unnaturally tan. Her kids both had light brown hair and blue eyes. One was a girl around 6 years old and a 4 year old boy. Zaima crouched down to the kids level
"Hi, my name is Zaima, what's your name?" She asked the two kids.
"My name is Emily," the little girl said. The little boy hid beside his sister
"And what's your name?" Zaima asked him
"His name is Christopher, he's shy" Emily said
"That's ok, Do you want to play a game?" Zaima asked her. Ron wondered why she was asking them to play a game
"Can we play dolls?" She asked
"Sure," Zaima said. Emily took Zaima's hand and they walked over to the dolls.
"I'm sorry but who are you" the mother asked "we've already spoken to investigators, are you from social services?"
"No we are from MI5" he said
"But why would MI5 take this case?" She asked worriedly. That was a good question, one that Ron did not have an answer to.
"Umm, we're taking this case because your husband was -er.. very wealthy and influential and we don't want this to turn into a huge case"
"What do you mean by a huge case?"
"Well, you know" Ron stalled. Meanwhile, Zaima played with Emily
"Which doll is your favorite?" Zaima asked
"The one with brown hair, it looks like me. Do you have a doll?" She asked
"Ah, no, maybe you could pick one out for me?" She handed her a Jasmine doll
"You look like Jasmine but your hair is different" she said
"Can you find a doll for mommy?" asked Zaima. Emily took out a Cinderella doll.
"Can I pick out a doll for Olivia? She always plays with me on her Thursdays"
"Sure," Zaima said. Emily took a Belle doll
"Who's Olivia?" Zaima asked
"My big cousin" she said "can we dress them up?"
"Sure," said Zaima. Emily took out a green dress for Zaima's doll. She took a pink dress for her's, a blue dress for her mother's and a yellow dress for Olivia's doll. Zaima stealthy transfigured a shoe into a witches hat. "I found a pretty hat," she said "who should wear it?" asked Zaima
"Mommy or Olivia"
"Why"
"Because they're witches"
"That's silly. Witches aren't really" Emily nodded vigorously
"Mommy, Daddy, and Olivia went to magic school" Zaima gave her best spectacle expression
"They went to Hogwarts and learned magic!" Emily said angrily
"Have you seen Mommy or Olivia do magic?" Zaima asked
"Mommy did magic this morning! Before we had to leave!" Emily said
"What happened when you got back? Did mommy do more magic"
Grey walked in, with Harry and Neville. "Zaima, Ron, can I speak to you outside for a moment?" Grey asked. Zaima stood up and Ron followed her. The 5 aurors stepped into the hallway.
"I was really getting somewhere with the daughter-" Zaima said
"We have new information" Grey said "I just got word from Lyra, Horndy's father's a squib. It couldn't have been him."
"The daughter, Emily, said that her parents and cousin are wizards and witches" Zaima said
"We also have information about what spell the suspect used" Harry said
"Well what is it?" asked Zaima
"Sectum Sempra" Harry said in an undertone. Ron expression changed into a grimace. Zaima on the other hand, had never heard of that curse "It was used by the death eaters during the wars. It's a powerful cutting curse, only a handful of people ever learned it"
"So you're saying whoever did this was a death eater?" Zaima said
"Or learned from one" Neville said
"We can rule out the kids and dad" Ron said "can we rule out Hornby? He's a pure blood after all"
"Ron, he's dead" Zaima said
"But what if he did it to himself?"
"It's not a bad theory" Grey said "but why use such a violent curse if he would have to feel the pain?"
"I didn't think of that"
"What if it was someone trying to get revenge?" Neville said
"I think we need to talk to the wife and Olivia" Grey said, running her hand through her hair
"I think Olivia was a Hufflepuff," Neville said. Grey's mobile ran. She answered it.
"Hey Lyra, any news for me?" She asked "Ah huh. I see. Ok. You're sure? Yeah" she hung up "Lyra got the will, Hornby left everything to the niece and kids. The mom's the kid's legal guardian so she gets their inheritance to manage"
"He didn't leave anything to the wife directly?" asked Zaima
"Nothing and according to the lawyer, Hornby showed his wife his will yesterday" Said Grey
"And the next day he's murdered" Ron said, putting 2 and 2 together
"But why the curse?" asked Harry
"Don't know," said Grey "but we need to talk to the wife." She walked up to one of the inspectors. "We need to talk to Mrs. Hornby," she told him
"She just left with the niece to pick up lunch for the kids"
"Alone?" Grey asked
"Yeah- wait where are you going?" Grey ran out the door. Harry raced after her. Harry stood outside looking to see which way Grey had run when he heard a scream. People looked around in shock. Harry ran in that direction, knocking over several pedestrians in the process. He saw a few people standing around the alley. He pushed to the front. Grey had drawn her muggle gun. Mrs. Hornby had a knife to Olivia Hornby's throat. Harry drew his own gun.
"Drop the knife Hornby" Grey yelled
"Please, aunt-" Olivia begged
"Shut up!" She said. "Give me my money and kids and I'll let her go"
"That's not happening Mrs. Hornby" Harry said
"What are you going to do? shoot me?" She said. She pressed the knife into Olivia's throat. A small bead of blood dripped down. Mrs. Hornby had a wild look in her eyes. It sent a shiver down his spine. Every muscle in his body froze. He couldn't move. He couldn't hear the rest of the aurors arrive
"Harry!" Ron yelled. Harry barely snapped out of whatever trance he was in. He heard a whirl of something as Neville and Ron tackled him. A different knife landed a few feet away. Hornby had thrown a knife at him. He heard the ricashe of a bullet and then Hornby's scream. Grey had shot her in the leg. She crumbled to the ground
"Call a bus!" One of the investigators yelled. Zaima ran forward and led Olivia away from the scene. The crowd was pushed back by the muggle police.
"You froze," Grey said to him.
"I know"
"It wasn't Lestrange and that girl wasn't Hermione" she said to him. He looked up at her "Remus told me. I get it but you could have just died. If you-"
"I'm fine" he said walking away
Auror office, under London England
Ron and Neville sat at Ron's desk trying to finish their paperwork for the Hornby case. Ron sighed. He hated paperwork. He looked over to Harry's desk. Harry was sitting alone trying to do his paperwork. Ron had offered him to work with them but he had refused
"He's not going to change his mind" Neville said
"I wish he would. Last thing he needs in to be alone thinking about it" Ron said
"Malfoy Manor right?" Neville said
"Yeah, I mean I get it, I was there, god, I nearly froze too. All I could see was Hermione and Lestrange and Harry was right there today" Ron said truthfully "Grey shouldn't have been so hard on him"
"Do you know what she said?" Neville asked
"He didn't say," Ron told him. They fell silent "what if I froze too? What if you froze too? He could have died"
"I really don't know," Neville said. Harry got up and walked over to Ron's desk.
"We got the medical report. It was Sectum Sempra" Harry said, giving them their copies.
"Where did she even learn Sectum Sempra? It's not like there's many death eaters walking around teaching it" Ron asked
"No idea," said Harry, "but I have a bad feeling about it." Ron and Neville nodded in agreement. Whoever taught Hornby the curse was dangerous.