A/N: Here's yet more of MOTHE! I'm guessing that people are beginning to come up with ideas and names as to who is the murderer. If you think you know who the murderer is, e-mail me or leave a review, and I'll keep a record. In the final part, I'll say how many 'votes' different people got, and you can see if the votes of the readers reflect who the murderer really is!
Anastacia was walking through the corridors of Hogwarts, trying to track down Draco Malfoy, when she bumped into Ginny Weasley again.
'Excuse me.' Ginny said quietly. 'Can I tell you something?'
'Is it to do with Miss. Granger?'
Ginny nodded. 'Please, it could be important!'
'Alright.' Anastacia sighed; obviously Mr. Malfoy would have to wait. She was about to lead Ginny somewhere quieter when Professor McGonagall appeared out of the classroom they were standing by.
'Miss Weasley, you're late. Come in here now, or I will take 5 points from Gryffindor… oh, sorry Inspector. I didn't realise you needed her.' McGonagall said, only noticing Anastacia half way through her speech.
'Oh, don't worry. I'll come and find you later Ginny.' Anastacia said kindly. 'Go to your lessons now.'
'But… but…' Ginny protested.
'Miss. Weasley, come in here, now!' McGonagall said sternly, and Ginny hurried away before she lost any house points.
Now that disturbance was over, Anastacia carried on towards the Charms corridor. Suddenly, a thought struck her (A/N: Ow, it really hurts when that happens, LOL!) as she walked along. This interview would be more formal than the previous ones: Draco Malfoy, unlike the people before, was a suspect. He should really have a responsible adult present with him.
She carried on to the Charms corridor, and took Draco away from his lesson with Professor Flitwick. 'Who's your head of house?' Anastacia asked the blonde fifth year boy.
'Professor Snape.' Draco replied, not sounding best pleased about being pulled out of a lesson to answer questions about the death of a "filthy mud-blood".
'We need him to be present when we talk to you. Do you know where he would be?'
'He'll be in the dungeons, in the Potions classroom.' Draco replied.
'Right, follow me.' Anastacia said, and she led Draco into the dungeons. 'I'm Inspector Semaphore, by the way.' She said.
'I worked that one out.' Draco drawled. Anastacia realised that this interview wasn't going to be easy; this boy obviously wouldn't be easily fooled.
They reached the Potions classroom, and Anastacia knocked on the door. 'Enter.' A cold voice called. Anastacia opened the door to see a tall, black haired man with a hooked nose standing in the middle of a dark classroom. All around him were first year students who looked absolutely terrified, slaving away over cauldrons full of thick orange liquid.
'Would it be at all possible if you could come with me for a minute, Professor?' Anastacia asked. 'We need to interview one of the members of your house, and an adult needs to be present.'
Snape nodded, and moved towards the door. 'If you haven't finished adding the ingredients by the time I get back, detention. And keep silent!' Snape snapped at his class before leaving the room, and closing the door behind him. 'This really is most inconvenient.' He muttered.
'I'm sorry, but we need a responsible adult present when we interview Mr. Malfoy here.'
'What has he done?' Snape asked, eying Anastacia suspiciously.
'We don't know if he's done anything yet, but we have to interview anyone who had any major dealings with Miss. Granger.' With that, Anastacia led Draco and Snape up and out of the dungeons, and back to her makeshift interview room, where Beth and Brad were waiting.
Brad and Beth stood up when the three people entered. When Beth saw that there was a second interviewee, she quickly took out her wand and flicked a second chair over to the suspect side of the table.
'These are my colleagues, Sergeant Beth Titus and Trainee Constable Brad Dunst. I am Inspector Semaphore, and we are all from the Department of Mysteries at the Ministry of Magic. We are here to try and work out who murdered Miss Hermione Granger.' Anastacia waited for another rude comment from Draco, but he held his tongue in the presence of his house master.
'Why do you need me?' Snape asked as he and Draco were invited to sit down.
'We need to question Draco slightly more seriously than the others that we have interviewed. I thought it best that there was a responsible adult on hand, in case Mr. Malfoy feels that he is being unfairly questioned, or anything like that. As his house master, we thought you the best person to ask.'
'Very well, just ask him the questions. I have just left a bunch of entirely incompetent first years in my classroom.'
'Mr. Malfoy, where were you at the time of Miss Hermione Granger's murder?'
'I was a compartment with Crabbe…'
'Full names please.'
'Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle. The other lot…'
'The other lot?'
'Harry Potter, Ron, Ginny, Fred and George Weasley and Hermione Granger had just put all sorts of spells on me, and I was trying to sort myself out. Then I heard a scream, and I found out that Granger was dead. So, as you can see, it wasn't me.'
'We never said it was. So, you would say that you didn't get on well with Miss Granger?'
'I hated her, but I wouldn't kill her.'
'We have been told by everyone in Miss Granger's compartment that the last time they saw you before she died, you threatened to kill them.'
Draco looked like he was deep in thought for a minute, then said. 'I remember, I was annoyed because of the spells they had put on me. It was an empty threat, I wouldn't kill anyone, I'm not that mean!'
'Thank you, Mr. Malfoy, that's all we need to ask you for now, you may go. Please may you stay for a minute, Professor.'
Draco got up and left, while Snape stayed in his chair. When Draco had gone, Anastacia turned back to him. 'From your experiences with Mr. Malfoy, do you think he's telling the truth?'
'I would trust that boy with my life. He is the kind of person who would threaten his enemies with death, but I don't think he would actually go through with it.'
'I doubt you can tell us anything about Miss Granger that would shed some light on her murder?' Anastacia asked hopefully.
Snape stayed quiet, it was obvious that he was thinking whether to say something or not.
'Do you know something?' Beth asked.
'Well… it's just that… I don't know if it has anything to do with it.'
'Go on.'
'I spy for Dumbledore, on the Death Eaters, try and work out what He Who Must Not Be Named is up to, and give the information to Dumbledore. Well, it's a long story…'
'We're in no hurry.'
'Okay, well, there are several Death Eaters on the Hogwarts Board of Governors. Dumbledore knows, of course, I tell him. Any way, as part of Dumbledore's plan to find out what He Who Must Not Be Named is up to, he allows me to organise meetings for the "governor Death Eaters" at the school, so I can find out what's going on. At the last meeting, which was right at the end of the last term, Miss Granger accidentally stumbled across the room the meeting was being held it. One of the Death Eaters went and talked to her, and came back telling us that she would be no trouble. It could be related…'
'Can you name the Death Eaters there?'
'Yes, let me think. There was Halliwell, Little…'
'First names?'
'Oh, right. Ronan Halliwell, Josh Little, Leonardo Rogers, um… oh, Ronnie Franklin, and Lucius Malfoy.'
'Malfoy? A relation to Draco?'
'Father.'
'And who went and talked to Miss Granger?'
'I wish I could tell you. You see, when everyone is cloaked and masked, they are impossible to tell apart. Only He Who Must Not Be Named can tell who all his followers are, even when they are cloaked and masked.'
'But surely you would have recognised the voice of the one who talked to her.'
'Not clearly, as I said everyone is masked. Everyone's voices are slightly muffled, it could have been any of them, sorry.'
'Don't worry; you have been a great help. You may return to your class.' Snape quickly left the room, leaving the three detectives in the empty room.
'Well, well, well.' Brad said. 'So she could have heard anything at that meeting. She was probably caught up in all kinds of bribery and blackmail.'
'We need to talk to all the Death Eaters Professor Snape mentioned. They could give us important information.'
At that moment the door burst open, and in came Professors Dumbledore and McGonagall. They both looked very pale and flustered. (A/N: Or, as Mr. Ball, my music teacher, would say, flusterpated!)
'What's wrong?' Anastacia asked.
'There's been… another murder.' McGonagall said, breathing heavily. They had obviously been running.
'Who?' Beth asked, as all three of the detectives stood up.
'Ginny Weasley.'
