Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter. Because if I did, I'd be JKR, and imagine that horrifying fate.
Author's Notes: I have not written Harry Potter fanfic in... years. Many many years and my one effort on that front is, hopefully, nowhere left online anymore. Suffice to say, it wasn't very good. I do however, read HP fanfic - mostly Dramione fic. I read a lot of it. And as a result, I've absorbed and internalized a lot of fanon, fan interpretations, characterizations, subgenre tropes, so on. Just like anyone who reads tons and tons of fics in the same subgenre.
As a result, I'm all but guaranteed to borrow things from other fics - usually several fics at once - in expanding on the Wizarding World and in writing my story. And usually without any specific memory of which fic the idea originally entered my head.
Further, as a rule, I'm going to be pretty fast and loose with any canon outside of the core seven books (not counting the Epilogue, obviously). If it's in the seven books, it's true for this story (unless otherwise stated) and if it's outside the seven - and this includes ancillary material, anything in JKR's tweets about canon, stuff on Pottermore, the wiki, the additional movies in Fantastic beasts, etc - it might be canon, but it might also be just tossed aside. Of course, I'm fully capable of getting details from canon wrong, as opposed to ignoring it. In general, if you feel like my understanding of a canon detail is wrong, or my characterization is off, please, feel free to (politely) let me know, and I will correct as appropriate. A lot of that ancillary canon, especially more recent stuff, either clashes with - as I see it - basic logic or just gets in the way of telling the story I want to tell.
I'm also not an expert in British English - I'll do my best to use it right, but I'm sure some Americanisms will seep in. As above, feel free to let me know of any issues.
This fic idea came from several notions, but the reason it's being written and published now is, in all honesty, spite. JKR decided to double-down on being transphobic, so I decided this fic was happening now, not in the 'hypothetical future'.
All characters look more or less like people who played them in the films if they appeared in the films at all, with the obvious exception of Cassiopeia Malfoy, who has actress Elle Fanning as a faceclaim.
Cassiopeia
By Kylia
Chapter 1
April 25th, 2003
Ministry of Magic, Level 2
Department of Magical Law Enforcement
A few years ago, Ron had joked that, with the last of the Death Eaters rounded up and imprisoned - or dead - in a now Dementorless Azkaban, he and Harry might be out of a job soon.
After all, with no Dark Wizards, did you really need Aurors?
Ron hadn't been serious, of course, but even if he had been, that would never have left Hermione out of a job.
Though sometimes, I wouldn't mind it. Not that Hermione liked the idea of unemployment, and most of the time, she very much loved working in the Investigation Office of the DMLE. But sometimes...
Not so much.
Setting aside another pile of financial documents, Hermione reached for another. She was certain that she could prove to the satisfaction of the Wizengamot that Matthew Portius was embezzling money from his potion's supply company - if only she could track the money to him. She had followed the trail of shady expenses and strange accounting, but her efforts to get Gringotts to be cooperative had, unsurprisingly, failed.
Crinkling her nose a little, she noted down a few lines on the ledgers and transactions that seemed worth following up on, then kept going. She was halfway down a page, finding several promising aberrant credits and debits when a paper airplane flew into her small office through a slot on the closed down and landed on her desk. She picked up the memo, and frowned. It was short - merely an order from Director Fleetwood to see her in her office in fifteen minutes. There were no details, which told Hermione a lot.
The Director of the Investigation Office did not summon people to her office without details. Frowning at being interrupted, Hermione put the memo down, set a charm to alert her in five minutes - leaving her more than enough time to reach Director Fleetwood's office - and returned to her work. By the time the charm set off, she'd found yet more promising leads - there was a pattern of strange transactions and unusual charges, too much for too little ingredients, all referencing one of three names... which were all nearly anagrams of each other.
A little obvious, but equally, they were spread out enough that it take some very careful examination.
With a very good lead, and the charm alerting her, Hermione set the quill down, grabbed her robes and pulled them on, heading out of her office and towards Fleetwoods. She passed through the lobby for the DMLE along the way, and despite herself, drew up short when she saw the woman standing there, waiting in line to speak with the clerk at the front - Duncan Burns.
The woman was... in a word, stunning. Her long, straight platinum blonde hair was exceedingly familiar, but she didn't look like any Malfoy Hermione ever heard of. She wore a long silver-grey dress - with sleeves that nearly matched her eyes,and while looking somewhat like a formal dress, didn't quite look out of place for simply appearing at the ministry. Her slender features and sharp cheekbones only accentuated her beauty.
A few years ago, Hermione might have hesitated - even in the privacy of her own mind - to call another woman beautiful, but there really was no other word for it, and it wasn't a few years ago. Hermione had, in the first year after the War, come to terms with her own bisexuality, and even dated Pansy Parkinson of all people, until they'd amicably broken up last June.
Still, never one to stare shallowly, Hermione looked away and started to walk by Burns' desk to continue on to the Director. The woman had so many of the classical Malfoy features - the platinum hair, the cold grey eyes, the sharp features - that Hermione assumed she had to be some relative - a cousin, perhaps. Distant, since she'd never heard of her, but then, Hermione had never paid close attention to pureblood family trees.
The person in front of the suspected Malfoy finished up, and the woman stepped up.
"Name and business in the DMLE today?" Burns asked, more than a little bored with the dull monotony of his work from the day to day.
"Cassiopeia Malfoy," the woman answered, confirming Hermione's earlier thought, though the name struck her as odd. Weren't names based on astronomy a Black family tradition? Then again, given how often the various pureblood families intermarried, this Malfoy could be named for some Black ancestor. "I'm here to register a legal change of name - and related details with the Administrative Registration Department" There was something about the voice and the slight drawl to it that seemed distinctly familiar, but Hermione dismissed it.
Seeing - and hearing - a Malfoy had her thinking about the one she went to Hogwarts with.
"And what is your current legal name, for the records?" Burns asked.
The woman - Cassiopeia - let out a soft sigh for a moment, before saying quietly - though not so quietly that Hermione didn't catch it: "Draco Malfoy."
Now Hermione did stare, and it was all she could do to not blurt the name out loud in her surprise - on multiple levels. Malfoy? Wizarding England hadn't seen hide nor hair of the Malfoy heir since his trial before the Wizengamot. Thanks in large part to Harry's testimony, and the actions of his mother to save Harry's life at the Battle of Hogwarts, Draco Malfoy - Cassiopeia Malfoy now, obviously - had been let off without any time in Azkaban, unlike the recently released Lucius Malfoy.
Wherever Draco went... well, she obviously became Cassiopeia there. That was almost as shocking, though it wasn't hard to guess what had happened, now that she knew Cassiopeia Malfoy was the same person who had been Draco, but was no longer.
"Down that hall, Room 13, on the left," Burns gestured, and Cassiopeia Malfoy nodded, stepping past the desk - and Hermione realized that to get to the proper hallway, Malfoy had to walk past her.
She'd obviously noticed Hermione's staring, and met Hermione's eyes, a note of defiant challenge obvious in her eyes, but it lacked the arrogant disdain for her very existence she'd seen for most of the time she'd known Malfoy at Hogwarts. Though he hadn't had it for most of those last two years.
"Do you need a camera, Granger?"
Hermione shook her head and cleared her throat. "No - sorry. I... I was just surprised. I hadn't realized you were back in England. Or that you were Cybelan."
"I only just got back a few hours ago, though I suspect it will find it's way all over the Prophet's front page in time for tomorrow's printing," Malfoy noted with a hint of scorn. "And I don't see why you would have. I suppose I shouldn't be surprised you know the word, reading as much as you do. Is that a problem, Granger? I know it's not always that popular with the Muggles. Or some muggleborns."
"It's not a problem for me, no, Malfoy." Hermione assured her, trying to avoid rising to Malfoy's challenging tone. It seemed almost as though she was looking for a fight, but Hermione had to get to the Director's office, and on this issue, she had nothing to fight with Malfoy about at all. "As I said, I was just surprised. But I need to meet with my boss, and you did come here for a reason so... good day," she added, for the sake of politeness.
She had no real grievances with Malfoy anymore, but it wasn't likely they were ever going to be friendly, and they certainly weren't now. Stepping to the side to get out of the other woman's way, Hermione then continued on to Director Fleetwood's office.
There were many ways that Wizarding Society was antiquated - the continued practice of arranged marriage among pureblood elites, the 15 hereditary seats in the Wizengamot, which held far more real power than the House of Lords - and even the Monarchy itself -did in Muggle England these days, the various remnants of feudal oaths and contracts underlying many of the laws and obligations the Ministry had inherited from the earlier Wizards' Council, and of course, the resistance any technology more modern than the radio.
She was still a bit surprised that wizards had gone for that, given that they continued to cling to quills, rather than at least move on to fountain pens.
But as she'd studied more on wizarding culture over the years, she'd learned in some ways, Wizarding Britain - and many wizarding communities across the world, really - was far more forward thinking than Muggle Britain, and had been for many centuries. Being not heterosexual had never been censured or banned or condemned in any way in Wizarding Britain, and even more progressive, if oddly antiquated, was the Wizarding notions of 'Cybelan' and 'Iphisian'. In muggle terms, transgender woman and transgender men, respectively.
As she walked, she considered both terms again, since they were at the forefront of her mind. Cybelan's origins as a term, as far as Hermione had been able to gather, began as a reference to the clergy of the ancient fertility goddess Cybele, who, even in Muggle accounts of history were noted to have been individuals born as men who, when entering Cybele's priesthood, castrated themselves and adopted female names, dress, and identifiers.
Iphisian could also be traced to antiquity, which made sense, given the latinate origins of most spells used in Wizarding Europe.
The legend of Iphis, as told in Ovid's Metamorphoses was the tale of a young woman, who had been raised as a boy and then a man by her mother to trick her father who had wanted a son, begging the gods to turn her into the man she'd been raised as so she could follow through on the marriage to the beautiful Ianthe that had been arranged for 'him'. The gods ultimately granted Iphis's prayers, making Iphis into a man so the marriage could take place.
When she'd learned about both of these terms, Hermione had tried to find out why those terms were the ones used in Wizarding society - in Britain and most other western and central European countries - but while she'd found several theories, both terms had been part of the lexicon for so long, no one knew.
Regardless, though, transgender people - even if Wizards didn't use that term - had always been accepted as their proper gender, as their new name and new identity. The series of potions required to affect transition were somewhat expensive, due to the rare ingredients and the skill needed to brew them, but not prohibitively so.
And certainly would not have been so for Malfoy.
She must have transitioned while... wherever she was. Hermione was, despite herself, a bit curious when and how that had happened, but it was hardly her business, and she was only curious because she was still in the moment of the revelation.
While dating Pansy, Hermione had asked one night, out of idle curiosity, if she'd known where Malfoy had vanished off to. She had, but Pansy had said it wasn't her information to tell.
Though... now that I think about it, she did hesitate a bit before saying the name 'Draco'.
Hermione's somewhat rambling thoughts were interrupted when she found herself in front of the door to Director Fleetwood's office, and she knocked twice, lightly, shaking her head a touch and trying to focus.
"Come in," the Director said. Hermione entered, and the stern bespectacled face of the Director of Investigations looked up at her. Director Fleetwood was a no-nonsense sort of woman, and had always emphasized the need for rigorous attention to detail and evidence - 'gut' feelings might be the norm in the Auror office, but in Fleetwood's department, not even close.
Which was one of the many reasons Hermione enjoyed working under her.
"You asked for me, Director?" Hermione asked, waiting for an invitation to seat herself in the chair across from the older woman - the Director was one for that sort of proper formality in professional environments, and Hermione could appreciate it's utility, even if it did sometimes feel a bit suffocating.
But it was worth putting up with it.
"I did. Have a seat," she gestured, and Hermione complied. "What I'm about to tell you is - for now - information that cannot, under any circumstances, be spread to anyone who does not already know, or does not absolutely need to know."
Curiosity piqued, Hermione nodded. "Of course."
"Lucius Malfoy was found murdered yesterday afternoon in Horizon Square," the Director said, giving it to her directly, without preface or warning. Hermione blinked for a moment, processing the information. Horizon Square was a new residential and business region being added onto Diagon Alley - the Second Wizarding War had seen a number of homes and businesses outside Diagon Alley destroyed, and many Wizarding families that had been happy to exist separate and apart from others, content to be connected via floo and apparition, were more interested in living close to wizarding neighbors now. It was an inward looking mindset, fostered by the loss and devastation of the war.
Of course, large parts of it were still being developed or built, and yet to be sold.
Lucius Malfoy, by all rights, should still have been in prison. Even after he surrendered to protect his wife and - daughter. He'd turned Minister's evidence on every Death Eater and sympathizer he could, and voluntarily surrendered several dark artifacts that had been sealed in the Malfoy Vault for centuries, as well as many others that had been hidden around the family's estate. Things no auror would ever have been likely to find.
And so he'd been released from prison six months ago, though his wand was still heavily monitored and restricted, and of course... he'd made enemies, for switching sides at the last minute. The Death Eaters might all be in prison or otherwise addressed, but there were people who agreed with them, even if they kept that hidden now. And the family members of those he betrayed...
Not to mention anyone who had lost lives to him or other Death Eaters.
Six months out of Azkaban and now he's dead. Hermione's breath hitched a moment as another realization came to mind.
Lucius Malfoy died yesterday, and now his daughter returns from five years abroad.
No wonder Malfoy was looking for a fight, if her father had just been murdered.
"I assume you're telling me this because you want me to investigate?" Hermione asked, though she knew what the answer likely was.
"Correct," the Director nodded. She grabbed a well ordered portfolio off the side of her desk and handed it to Hermione. Hermione accepted it and placed it on her lap. Hermione bit her lip a moment, trying to process this - as much being handed what was going to be a very high profile murder investigation.
Director Fleetwood had never shown Hermione any particular special treatment as a result of her fame or her association with Harry Potter or even the fact that she was on good terms with Minister Shaklebolt.
She'd only been working in Investigations for just over three years now.
And why am I being told now, almost a day later? Why wouldn't this be handed over to whichever Investigator had first arrived on the scene?
"Director - why me? There have to be other, more qualified investigators, specially for a case like this. Not that I think I couldn't -" Hermione started, but the Director raised her and and Hermione stopped, letting her boss speak.
"There are others. Indeed, Richard MacMillan was the first one called in after the body was found. I'm handing this case because I believe you more than capable of handling it... and because the murder was not at all... conventional." There was something odd about the hesitance on the Director's part - apart from the fact that the woman was never one to beat about the bush.
"Unconventional?" Hermione raised an eyebrow. "That's rather vague, madam Director."
"True. But it's also why this needs to be kept quiet for now. Lucius Malfoy was not killed by magic. He was killed by muggle weaponry. A gun, to be exact." She gestured to the portfolio. "First folder, top of the pile."
A gun. Hermione blinked, her mind racing. It couldn't be a muggle - not in Horizon Square. And I can't imagine most purebloods would be capable of thinking to use a gun, let alone knowing how to get one, legally or illegally. Which at least suggested to rule out a vengeful Death Eater sympathizer of pureblood supremacist, the immediate culprit Hermione's mind would have lept to as a first suspect to look into.
Opening the folder, Hermione took out a photograph, and swallowed, seeing the black and white image of Lucius Malfoy laying on the ground, blood staining his robes, what could only be a bullet hole in his stomach. That would have been lingering. Painful. It suggested that whoever had done it - if they knew it was unlikely to kill him immediately - wanted Lucius Malfoy to suffer. Pure speculation - she'd need a lot more to say that with any certainty, but that was the first thought that went to her mind.
"I understand you've been making studies into muggle... phoremsac science? The ways they examine evidence at a crime scene? And developing ways the same techniques can be performed with magic?"
"Forensic," Hermione corrected almost instinctively. "And... yes... I have. But it's all theory, right now. Nothing proven to work in the magical world." Not to mention her extracurricular research hardly qualified as the equivalent of a degree or gave her proper expertise, no matter how much she knew. As she'd done her various experiments and studies, Hermione had toyed with the idea of actually going to Muggle University to study the subject directly.
"Miss Granger, in a perfect world, I'd agree with you. If you felt it was ready to come to me with, you would have. Unfortunately, a prominent and well connected - even now, after his trial and imprisonment - pureblood wizard is dead, killed by a muggle weapon. You can imagine the hysteria that could emerge from this. Most wizards that spend their lives in wizarding society are only loosely aware of just how deadly modern muggle weapons can be." She pursed her lips, inhaled sharply.
"I'll admit, I'd rather wish I wasn't as aware as I am," she added. "Given how badly outnumbered our kind is, it's a rather terrifying reality."
Hermione could imagine the hysteria. Even among her fellow muggleborns, there'd be a great deal of fear. The Statute of Secrecy had been put in place to protect Wizards from dangerous muggles, and now the ability of dangerous muggles to hurt Wizards had increased tenfold.
What would happen if muggles tried to bomb Hogwarts? Could they? Hermione didn't know, but it was a worrying thought, though one that she was unlikely - thank Merlin - to ever have any risk of having to learn the truth of one way or the other.
But if this got out in the wrong way, then everyone in Wizarding England would learn about everything they weren't paying attention to. She dreaded what could happen if pureblood families - even the 'blood traitors' learned about nuclear weapons. That would induce a panic worse than any other, she feared. What sort of panic was the question, but none of the answers that rose to her mind were good ones.
"His body is still under preservation spells for examination, so you can examine it directly. Macmillan will be at your disposal to answer any questions you have about the report and witness statements he gathered."
"Do all of these witnesses know?" She couldn't imagine keeping this silent for long if most of them didn't.
"Only the one who found the body, and I don't think Herr Holzmade really grasped what he was seeing." The director explained. "One of Lucius Malfoy's business partners. The details are in there."
Hermione nodded. She had a great deal of reading to do, and not a lot of time to do it.
"This is our highest priority. If you need the assistance of anyone else in-office, I'll assign them to you," the Director went on. "But until we have a better idea of who killed Lucius Malfoy, and why, I want the cause of his death kept as close to the chest as possible."
Hermione nodded again. "Is there anything else, Director?"
"Nothing that's not in the files I gave you, no. You'll probably read everything there faster than I could explain all the details," she explained, and Hermione nodded. She was probably right, which explained why the Director was handing this case off to her without giving her a full briefing, if there was a lot to explain. And if it was sensitive.
Hermione nodded, "Then I suppose I'll get started." First things first, she'd have to look Lucius Malfoy's body, then read over everything the Director had handed her - and then she'd have to speak with Narcissa and Cassiopeia Malfoy. Cassiopeia may have just returned to Britain, but she had presumably stayed in touch with her family. Narcissa would probably have a better idea.
The problem was, there had to be a lot of people, on both sides of the war that wanted Lucius Malfoy dead. Death threats against the families of now imprisoned or killed Death Eaters, or others who were associated with - rightly or wrongly - with the forces of Voldemort, were not unknown.
But Hermione couldn't let herself leap to any conclusions. Especially since she didn't like where the conclusions she was leaping to led. Then she stood.
"One question, actually," she added, before leaving the Director's office. "What should I do about the Matthew Portius case?" The Director furrowed her brow a moment, obviously trying to remember the details of that case, then she nodded.
"It's not particularly time sensitive, as I recall, correct?"
"It's not particularly, no," Hermione agreed.
"Then put it aside, and I'll see who it can be handed off to if matters come to that," the Director ordered.
"Understood." Hermione nodded to the Director and left her office after a nod back of dismissal.
First things first, the body.
