Anastacia knocked on the door of the fourth Death Eater on her list – Ronnie Franklin. She had already been to the homes of Ronan Halliwell, Josh Little and Leonardo Rogers, but she had found out nothing new. They had all said the same thing – they had been at the meeting with the other Death Eaters, and this girl suddenly appeared at the door. She had apologised, saying that she had been looking for a different room, and had tried to leave. One of the other Death Eaters (so far, no one could tell which Death Eater it had been, and no one admitted to it being them) had gone after, and then come back, saying she wouldn't be a problem.

The door opened, and a man stood before her. He was tall, with short blonde hair that was beginning to turn grey. He looked at the woman at his door with piercing brown eyes. 'Ronnie Franklin?' Anastacia asked.

'Yeah. Who are you?' He snapped.

'I am Inspector Semaphore, from the Department of Mysteries at the Ministry of Magic.' She pulled an identity card from her robes. 'I am part of the investigation into the murders of Miss Hermione Granger and Miss Ginny Weasley. Please may I talk to you?'

'You can talk, but I don't know who you're going on about.' Ronnie muttered, leading Anastacia into his house, and into the lounge. He waved a hand at one of the two sofas, gesturing that Anastacia should sit down. This she did, and Ronnie sat down opposite her.

'Who d'you say's been murdered?' He asked.

'Hermione Granger and Ginny Weasley, both students at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.'

'And why should I have anything to do with it?' Ronnie asked.

'I want to make it quite clear, Mr. Franklin, that you are not a suspect, but you may be able to help us. I know you are on the school council, and I also know you are a Death Eater.'

Ronnie looked very uncomfortable, and asked, 'How d'you know.'

'I'm afraid I'm not allowed to tell you that, but if you help me then I will turn a blind eye to the fact that you are one.' Anastacia said. She'd said the same thing to Ronan, Josh and Leonardo, and it had worked perfectly. 'I know you were at a certain Death Eater meeting at Hogwarts when a student accidentally stumbled across you. I also know that one member of your group went out after her, and came back promising that she wouldn't be trouble. Now, that student was Hermione Granger, who was found dead on her way to Hogwarts on the 1st September. Do you know who went after her?'

'I'm sorry, but I don't.' Ronnie said, much more politely than he had been at first, now he had the threat of being turned into the Ministry as a Death Eater. 'You can not tell people apart when they are cloaked and masked.'

Anastacia sighed, the same story again. At least, she thought, if they were all telling the truth, Lucius Malfoy must have been the one that had talked to Hermione, as he was the only one who she had not seen yet.

She suddenly noticed a picture on the table beside the sofa she was on. It was a photograph of a woman. She was standing on a beach, her hair was being blown all over the place, and she was waving enthusiastically. Anastacia recognised her from her time at Hogwarts – it was Professor McGonagall. She looked several years younger, but it was definitely her.

'Who's this?' Anastacia asked Ronnie, pretending not to recognise the picture as she picked it up.

'Oh, that's Minerva.' Ronnie replied. 'I'm surprised you don't recognise her; she works at Hogwarts.'

'You're friends, then?'

'She's my girlfriend – we've known each other since we were children. Yes, I know, we're a bit old for all this girlfriend/boyfriend business, but I've just never got around to asking her to marry me.'

'Oh,' Anastacia said, trying not to sound as if this could be very important information he was telling her. 'Well, thank you for your time; you've been most helpful. I'll see myself out.' Anastacia got up and left the house.

This was yet another possible reason for McGonagall to kill the two girls – if Hermione had spilled the beans, Ronnie could have been sent to Azkaban, or killed. If he was her boyfriend, she wouldn't want that to happen. If she'd realised that Ginny knew about the Death Eaters (Ginny had had the panic attack in Minerva's class, and had been saying 'I need to tell them'), then she wouldn't have wanted her getting Ronnie in trouble either.

***

Anastacia stood at the entrance to the Malfoy mansion. It was a gigantic, old house, which looked like a stately home. She was at the gates, which were locked. A bell pull was beside them, which she pulled. A bell rang, and a house elf suddenly appeared from the side of the house, and scampered towards her.

It asked Anastacia who she was and what she wanted, before opening the gates, and asking her to follow her. She was lead into the house, and into a large entrance hall.

'Wait here, please.' The house elf squeaked before dashing off into the depths of the house. Anastacia looked around her. All around her, on all the walls, were portraits of all the Malfoys that had lived in the house. Underneath the pictures were shiny gold plaques, naming the person in the picture, and their date of birth and death. The newest one showed a nasty looking man, with small beady eyes, and shocking blonde hair. Underneath it said:

LUCIUS MALFOY

1966 –

Next to that there was a gap, which was where Draco's picture would go when he came into his inheritance. There was definitely a resemblance between Draco and the man portrayed in the portrait, his father – the facial features, the look in his eyes, the hair.

A man who had appeared in the hall distracted Anastacia from her studies. Anastacia knew it was Lucius Malfoy by the portrait – the artist had done a good job. 'Mr. Malfoy, I am Inspector Semaphore…'

'Yes, I know.' Lucius interrupted. 'You'd best follow me.'

Anastacia followed Lucius into a gigantic library, piled with books from "Animagi, A Simple Guide" to "Zanako And Other Spells". Lucius waved his wand, and two chairs flew into the centre of the room. 'Sit down.' He said, and they did.

'I am here to investigate the murders of Miss Hermione Granger and Miss Ginny Weasley. I want to make it quite clear, Mr. Malfoy, that you are not a suspect, but you may be able to help us. I know you are on the school council, and I also know you are a Death Eater.'

Lucius smirked, he seemed proud of the fact, and didn't seem at all uncomfortable like everyone else had. 'How do you know that?' He asked.

'I'm afraid I'm not allowed to tell you, but if you help me I won't turn you in to the Ministry.' Anastacia replied. 'I know you were at a certain Death Eater meeting at Hogwarts when a student accidentally stumbled across you. I also know that one member of your group went out after her, and came back promising that she wouldn't be trouble. Now, that student was Hermione Granger, who was found dead on her way to Hogwarts on the 1st September. Do you know who went after her?' She repeated what she had said to Ronnie and the other Death Eaters.

'I did.' Lucius replied bluntly. 'I promised her I'd pay her 500 galleons each month for the rest of my life if she kept quiet, and as far as I know, she did.'

'You are wrong. Before she died, she told Ginny Weasley, who is now also dead.'

Lucius looked shocked. 'I trusted her not to say anything… the stupid mudblood!' 

'Well, she won't be saying anything else now, and neither will Ginny – someone's made sure of that.'

'Do you have any suspects?'

'Well, the only two people who were not accounted for at the time of Miss Weasley's murder were Professors Severus Snape and Minerva McGonagall… and Madame Pomfrey.'

'Sounds like Severus.' Lucius muttered.

'Pardon?'

'He wouldn't like his job threatened by people finding out about him and his Death Eater… "side". If he thought those two girls knew something…' He trailed off.

'Thank you, Mr. Malfoy. You have been a great help.'

***

Anastacia was sitting with Beth and Brad back at Hogwarts.

'Snape and McGonagall couldn't be accounted for at the time of Hermione's murder, either.' Beth said.

'Poppy?'

'She was in the staff room with most of the other members of staff – it couldn't have been her. Anyway, could she apparate onto the train, she's not really a teacher.' Anastacia and Brad shrugged. 'Sprout, Flitwick and Hagrid can't be accounted for at the time of Hermione's murder, either, but they have alibis for Ginny's murder.'

'Severus is afraid of losing his job, and McGonagall's boyfriend was at that Death Eater meeting, which puts them as even stronger suspects.' Anastacia added.

At that moment, there was a knock on the door.

'Come in!' Brad called.

Poppy Pomfrey appeared in the doorway. 'I thought you'd like to know that a vase has gone missing from the hospital wing, it was there before Miss Weasley was… murdered.'