11/10/03: Here's the next bit. These chapters seem much longer then the ones in my other stories. Oh well.
2. Initial Investigation
A loud banging threatened to wake Harry from his peaceful slumber, but he was able to power through the nuisance and return blissfully to a world of oblivion. Unfortunately, a shaking hand was a bit too much to resist.
"Harry! Harry! Wake up you lazy bastard!"
"Leave me alone," Harry mumbled. But that shaking hand proved to be stubborn, and Harry cracked open an eyelid. He was greeting with a vision of red. Must be too much firewhiskey; Harry blinked rapidly, but the red didn't go away.
"Ron?" he asked weakly.
"That's right. Wake up man. Sheesh, you stink, you filthy pig!"
"I don't stink," Harry protested groggily. "It's just the alcohol."
"Oh, in that case, I stand corrected. What, on another late night bender, pissing the night away?"
Harry made no verbal response, instead choosing to reply succinctly with but a single finger. Ron laughed.
"What are you doing here, anyways? How'd you get in here?"
"We agreed to meet this morning, remember? For the party? As for how I get in, it wasn't easy, I tell you. Why can't you live in a wizarding community like everyone else? I hate having to sneak around the Muggles."
"If I lived in a wizarding community, you'd have to sneak around all the fans camped out on my doorstep," Harry said blandly. He slowly got into a seated position, thankful that the firewhiskey had been enchanted to reduce the effect of a hangover. Harry looked around, slightly miffed that he had not even been able to make his way to his bed before passing out. "How'd you get in the apartment? Did the wards fail?"
Ron shook his head as he opened the refrigerator door. "You gave me a key numbskull, for emergencies. I'm hungry, and I believe that counts as an emergency. Dang Potter! Don't you ever go grocery shopping?"
Harry tried to clear his head; the firewhiskey still packed a wallop, especially if you drink a whole bottle. "There's some biscuits in the cabinet above the sink."
"Great!" Ron said, brightening when he found them. "So, how long until you get ready? There's still a lot to shop for."
"One sec," Harry said, walking unsteadily towards the bathroom. After answering nature's call, Harry sat on one of the bar stools while Ron munched away. "Sorry, mate. I might have to cancel on you."
"What? You can't abandon me to shop by myself!"
"Sorry. There was a pretty bad case last night. Hopefully I can just check in and then leave, but it'll probably take all day."
"Hell!" Ron said, looking rather depressed.
"Cheer up Ron. Go call up Natalie; I bet she'd love to go shopping with you."
"You think?" he asked, all of a sudden very interested.
"I saw the way she looked at you. And she lives right by Diagon Alley. Tell her I abandoned you and that you need advice; she'll know exactly what to get after living with Ginny for seven years."
Ron nodded thoughtfully. "Yeah, that could work. So, how long do you think you'll be? You will make the party, won't you?"
Harry declined to answer, instead picking his robe up from the floor and walking into his bedroom.
"Haarrryy?" Ron asked, following. "C'mon Harry! You've already backed out the last three times! Hermione will be there, you know she hardly gets out anymore."
Harry paused briefly. "Yeah, too busy with what's-his-name," he grumbled.
"That's not why and you know it! That MSARS is driving everyone nuts, and it's spreading around the world. Hermione's the best researcher and clinician they have at St. Mungo's, and she's been working non-stop. This'll be the first time she'll be out in who-knows-when." Harry nodded, grudgingly accepting Ron's argument, but saying nothing.
Ron tried again. "C'mon Harry! The three of us haven't been together in years!"
"We were just together two weeks ago at Ginny's wedding, remember?"
"That's not what I mean. You barely said two words to her then. I mean really together, like in the old days."
Harry rounded on him. "That wasn't my choice, Ron. Don't forget: she ended it, not me!" The bitterness was evident in his voice.
"Er, sorry," Ron said quietly.
Harry immediately felt ashamed when he saw his friend's face drop. "No, I'm sorry, Ron. It's not your fault. I don't mean to put you in the middle of this."
"Harry, it's been four years…can't you just-"
"No," Harry said simply, but firmly.
Ron sighed heavily, but said no more. It was a conversation they'd had many times in the past, with the same outcome each time. "But, you will try and make the party, right? It's for Ginny and Neville; they'll be crushed if you don't make it."
"I know, I know," Harry said tiredly, throwing the soiled robes in the hamper and pulling out a fresh pair. "I'll try Ron, I promise."
"You better. Otherwise, I won't try to stop Ginny from tearing you a new one."
Harry chuckled. "Not like you could even if you wanted to."
Ron nodded. "True, she's a tough one, that Ginny."
"Alright Ron, I gotta get going. I'm really sorry about this." Harry went over to the fireplace and grabbed a handful of floo powder.
"Aw, that's alright Harry. I mean, it's not, but I understand. Mind if I use your floo to call Natalie?"
"Sure, be sure to lock up before you leave." Then, Harry threw the powder into the fireplace and yelled "The Ministry of Magic!"
"See ya Harry."
"Later Ron."
*********************************
The entrance hall of the Ministry of Magic was deserted on a Saturday.
"Morning, Detective," greeted the wizard manning the front desk.
"Hi Billy. How's the wife?" Harry said as he passed through the Security screen.
"Good Detective Potter. Thanks for asking."
Harry took the lift to the Auror level and walked down the hallways. Though the rest of the Ministry essentially shut down on weekends, the Aurors were still busy. Harry walked into the Detective's room, nicknamed the Bullpen since Aurors were always waiting to be called for the next case. (A/N: I dunno if Bullpen is familiar term to Brits. It refers to the area in baseball where relief pitchers sit around and do nothing until they get a call from the manager/coaches to start warming up.) He found Robert already at his desk, looking over some parchments.
"Glad to see you finally decided to join us," Robert said in his usual dry tone.
Harry shot him a look, which elicited a bark of laughter. "Tell me some good news, Robert," Harry said as he took his seat at the desk across from Robert's. "Tell me it was a Muggle, and I can go back home and sleep more."
Robert shook his head. "Sorry partner. Forensics came back and confirmed spell damage on all three victims. I won ten galleons from those suckers who thought you were nutters."
Harry laughed. "I'm happy to see that you have such faith in me."
"Of course! I learned early on never to doubt the Great Harry Potter! You want your cut?"
Harry shook his head. "Your risk, your winnings."
"The Cap'n wants to see us when you got in. C'mon." Harry nodded and heaved himself out of his chair. He followed his partner to the end of the bullpen, where Captain Perry had his office. Robert knocked on the glass door, and Capt. Perry's voice told them to enter.
"Morning Captain," the two detectives said.
"Morning. Damn it Potter, if you weren't so good I'd kick your bleep from here into next week for being late, scar or no scar! Actually, I still might; I haven't decided yet."
"Sorry Cap'n." Harry suffered under his glare for a few moments until Perry got back on track.
"Anyways, good call on the magical involvement last night Potter. I had some pretty pissed off forensics people here this morning, a few with lighter money bags, for some strange reason." Robert had the good graces to hide his smile. "Anyways, I had to make forensics even unhappier, so don't be surprised if you're not tops on their favorite person list."
"Captain?" Harry asked confused.
"Your discovery got me to think that maybe this isn't the first time that a wizard committed a crime then tried to make it seem like a Muggle. I asked forensics to double-check all the cases that MC couldn't solve. I told them to get back with complete results by Monday or else I'd send you to have a chat with them."
"Thanks a lot Captain," Harry said dryly.
"No problem Potter. Anytime," he said cheerily. "Anyways, you two get started on this case. Treat it as an isolated case for now. Based on what forensics finds, we might have to get some more people on the case. Now get out of here."
Harry and Robert stood and left the office and back to their desks. Harry groaned. "Oh, how I wish this was just a simple Muggle killing. Just once I'd like a nice, easy rotation!"
"Chin up, Potter! We both got better things to do. The sooner we start, the sooner we can get out of here."
Harry sighed. "Alright, can I see what forensics put together so far?"
Robert nodded and handed over the file. "Don't get your hopes up."
Harry read through the report and found very little to tell them why the Campbells were murdered. At least they had found enough residual magic to find a match to a wand. Harry next turned to the report of the clean-up crew, who had run a quick analysis on the magical devices found in the home. Nothing out of the ordinary, no illegal or questionable objects found, no items looked as if they'd been disturbed or stolen. Harry sighed.
"I told you," Robert reminded him.
"Yeah, yeah. So, what do we know about the victims?"
"Don and Laura Campbell, age 45 and 42. Both magical. Daughter Melanie, age 9. Don was a manager of an appliance shop in Diagon Alley, and Laura was a housewife. No prior brushes with the law; by all accounts, a perfectly happy and law-abiding family."
"Any witnesses?"
"Tompkins canvassed the nearby magicals, but no one heard or saw anything out of the ordinary. The Campbells lived about fifteen minutes away from their nearest magical neighbor, so that was expected. He got a couple parchment-fulls of information though."
Harry nodded. "Muggle witnesses?"
"MC just dropped off a stack of parchment."
"Alright. So, Mr. I-have-twenty-years-of-experience-and-you're-just-a-snot-nosed-kid, what do we do now?"
Robert chuckled. "I suppose the standard, until we hear differently from forensics."
Harry nodded. "Alright, you want the MC parchments or Tompkins' data?"
"I'll take Tompkins' parchments; it's shorter. You just got here so you get to wade through the MC information."
Harry groaned and reached over for the first of twenty centimeters of parchment that Robert placed on his desk.
*********************************
It was truly amazing how so much parchment could contain so little information, much like a Divination report. Harry threw the last piece of parchment back on the pile in resignation. Harry placed his head on his desk. That was two hours he'd never have back; those wizards in the MC sure liked to use big words.
"Anything?" Robert asked, looking up from his parchment.
Harry shook his head. "Absolutely nothing. No Muggles saw a thing, and the Muggle police are clueless, much like we are right now. What about you?"
Robert also shook his head. "Aside from the fact that they were a wonderful family and never had any problems, I got nothing."
"Should we check out his place of business?"
Robert nodded. "Afterwards we can drop by Imagery to review the crime scene. Should be done by then."
Magical Solutions was a small, local business tucked in the corner of Diagon Alley, somehow able to survive the influx of larger discount chain stores that Harry had been seeing pop up more frequently. The store sold a myriad of appliances, all magical of course. There were sinks that washed dishes, hampers that sorted and cleaned clothes, and televisions that both got the WWN as well as Muggle programming. It had a separate section for those who lived by Muggles, carrying items such as magical hampers designed to look like Muggle washing machines. Harry and Robert entered the shop and walked to the checkout counter.
"Hello. I'm Detective Toms and this is Detective Potter. We're looking for a manager," Robert said, displaying his Auror identification. The store clerk momentarily froze at the mention of Harry's name, his eyes drawn inexorably to Harry's forehead. After thirteen years in the wizarding world, Harry had finally learned to mostly ignore the stares. He had taken to styling his hair in a more current fashion, not bothering to matt down his hair to hide the scar that everyone saw anyways. "The manager?" Robert said, interrupting the clerk's awe-struck gaze.
"Er, right, sorry," the clerk said before scurrying off. Robert made no comment about the fan worship, having become accustomed to it after three years of working with the Boy-Who-Lived. Moments later, a visibly nervous witch walked up to them, though nervous because they were Aurors or nervous because one of them was Harry Potter, they couldn't tell.
"Hello. I'm Detective Toms and this is Detective Potter."
"Hi, I'm Samantha Davis. I'm the manager here. Can I help you?"
"Yes, we have a few questions about Mr. Don Campbell."
"Oh! Well, Don's not here today, it's his day off. Is he in any trouble?"
"No. Actually…Mr. Campbell and his family were murdered last night."
"Oh…dear god!" Samantha's face paled and she stumbled back slightly until she leaned against the counter. "M-murdered? Even little Melanie?"
Harry nodded sympathetically. "I'm sorry," he said, trading a look with Robert. No matter how many times they had to deliver bad news, it never got easier.
"What-what happened?"
"That's what we're trying to figure out," Robert said. "We're just following standard procedure, ma'am. We want to know everything about his work here, what he was involved in."
"Of course…of course," Samantha said and then hesitated. "Everything? Maybe I should call Mr. Haas…"
"Who's Mr. Haas?"
"He's the owner. He'll be better able to tell you what Don was working on. I'll go floo him immediately," she said, running off.
Harry and Robert shrugged and then occupied themselves with the latest in home appliances. A few minutes later, a rather harried man in his mid-fifties approached the two Aurors. "Mr. Potter, truly an honor to meet you," he said, his arm outstretched. Robert stood silently, again accustomed to being ignored in favor for his famous partner. "I'm Billy Haas, the owner. Now, Samantha told me the horrible news. Just horrible. You needed to look at what he was working on?"
Harry nodded. "Just standard procedure." Harry had quickly found that many employers tended to get extremely nervous whenever Aurors went sniffing around. Saying 'standard procedure' over and over again tended to smooth frayed nerves.
Haas led them to the offices in the back of the shop. "This is Mr. Campbell's office. He shared it with the other managers, like Mrs. Davis."
Harry nodded and looked at Mr. Haas, locking eyes. "Do you have any suspicious or know of any reason why Mr. Campbell or his family was murdered?"
Mr. Haas fidgeted slightly under Harry's stare. "N-no, none at all."
Harry looked away, satisfied. "Alright then, Mr. Haas. We'll try and be quick," he said. Mr. Haas got the hint and left the two detectives alone.
"You believe him?" Robert asked.
"Yes, I don't think he knows anything."
Robert nodded and began to look through the desk, satisfied with Harry's answer. Harry watched him for a moment, feeling a momentary twinge of guilt. Harry knew Robert had come to rely on Harry's instincts when it came to questioning witnesses and suspects, but Robert didn't know the real extent of Harry's abilities.
Old Professor Dumbledore was correct in ways even he didn't know back in second year, when he said Voldemort transferred some of his power to Harry. The Parseltongue was the most obvious example; it was common knowledge, being reported in the Daily Prophet years ago. Harry was even able to use the ability to his advantage as an Auror, often using small snakes as reconnaissance when magical devices would be detected. But Harry had another skill that Voldemort also possessed: Legilimency. (A/N: sound familiar? It's a common element in all my writing so far.) Like Parseltongue, Legilimency was considered by the general wizarding public to be a Dark Art. Harry wasn't keen on providing the press with another subject to write about, and being a secret legilimens had its advantages. Although he couldn't actively sift through someone's memories without casting the spell, and thereby revealing his ability, Harry could sense many things about a person by locking eyes, such as whether or not they were hiding something or lying. Mr. Haas was not lying, and Harry was satisfied the old man didn't know anything relevant to the case.
Harry and Robert found little of use in the office. It seemed in addition to be in charge of the store when Mr. Haas wasn't around, Mr. Campbell had responsibility for Quality Control (i.e., making sure everything worked when it arrived from the manufacturer) and Purchasing. Not exactly things that would make him the target of a murderer. They thanked Mr. Haas and Mrs. Davis for their help and left the store, leaving their office floo address in case they thought of anything that might be relevant. The two Detectives then floo'ed back to the Ministry.
Their last stop of the day was in Imagery, a part of the forensics department. One huge advantage of solving crimes in the wizarding world was the ability to capture a crime scene for later analysis. Although part of forensics, Imagery was also used to record special events and ceremonies as well. Harry and Robert opened the door and entered the small waiting room.
"Hi Roxy," Harry said to the witch behind the counter.
"Hi Detectives. Thought you might be in some time today. I have it spooled up, ready to go, in Exam Room #7."
"Thanks Roxy," Robert said as they were buzzed into the main area of Imagery. They entered Exam Room #7 and flipped the switch by the wall. Instantly, the large room shimmered and the two Aurors found themselves back at the Campbell's residence.
"Well, let's get started." They spent about an hour searching through the home, looking for clues or evidence that they might have missed the first time around. Unfortunately, they found nothing of significance, nothing that could help explain why a manager and his family were killed. With a heavy heart, Harry ended the charm, and the two returned to their desks in the Bullpen, where they were the only two Aurors still at work.
"What's next?" Harry asked.
"I think that's enough for today. I'm going home."
"What? But…I'll stay and work a little longer. I mean, I got here much later than you did."
"Harry…go home. It'll still be here in the morning. And the morning after that."
Harry sighed, not really wanting to go home, because that meant going to the Longbottom's. He sat quietly as he watched Robert tidy up his desk and stand, preparing to leave. "Potter, let's go. As your superior, I'm ordering you to go home."
Harry chuckled. "You may be older and my senior, but I hardly think you're superior," he said with a smile. Giving in to the inevitable, Harry quickly ordered the MC parchments into a neat stack and stood. The two partners took the lift to the entrance hall, where they floo'ed to their individual destinations.
*********************************
Harry felt something was…off the second he arrived at his flat. He quickly drew his wand and surveyed the room.
"Oy, there Harry! A bit paranoid, are we?"
"Fred! What are you doing here?" Fred was one-half of the infamous Weasley twins, brother of his best friend and co-owner of Weasley's Wizard Wheezes. Harry holstered his wand.
Fred sat at Harry's kitchen table, eating a cake. "What? Can't a guy just drop in out of the blue to see his pal and only investor?"
Harry gave him a mock look of suspicion. "Seriously."
Fred shrugged. "Ron asked us to wait for you, to make sure you went to Ginny's little shin-dig. Otherwise, little sister would have our hides. Oy! Wake up George! Harry's here!"
George Weasley, Fred's other half, stirred from his place on Harry's couch. "Wha?"
"Wakey wakey!"
George grunted and opened his eyes. "Oh, hullo Harry, good of you to finally arrive," he said, yawning widely.
Harry smiled at the twins. Along with Ron, Fred and George were among his most trusted and faithful friends. The bitter, cynical part of Harry suspected that it was only because he had bought their friendship and loyalty years ago with the winnings from the Tri-Wizard Tournament, but he supposed that it didn't really matter why; they had proven their loyalty time and time again over the years.
"Really Harry," Fred said, his mouth full of cake, "you really need to do some grocery shopping. If Ron hadn't bribed us with cake, we would have stared to death."
"Very true, very true, brother," George said as he got up from the couch. "You just get here Harry?"
Harry nodded. "Long day at work. Have you guys been waiting long?"
"Just all day. But don't worry, your Muggle television kept us amused. Get changed and let's go. The party's probably already started."
Harry walked to his bedroom as George fully woke up. He had privately been hoping that he could stay home and hide, but Ron had outsmarted him, a rare thing indeed. Harry took a quick shower to wipe off the grit he had picked up during the day and changed into clean robes. "Alright, let's go," he said reluctantly as he walked back into the main room. George placed the last bite of cake into his mouth and then the three wizards floo'ed to the Longbottoms.
A/N: Hello to everyone from my old stories and to everyone reading me for the first time. I hope you enjoy!
Sethro72: Yes, this one will be much more angsty then my other stories. It's not a big deal why he can't play Quidditch, but it does add to his bitterness since it was one of his few joys. It'll come up soon, I think, but it had nothing to do with Umbridge
Facade1: Yay, Façade! Hermione's coming in the next chapter, but only briefly. Around Chapter 5 or so we'll get into details about her.
liseli vanida-kateb: I have slowed down my writing, but for a while there I wrote so much that I'm way ahead. I really should be doing work…
onkel and ears91: Hi! More details on the estrangement next chapter. Harry's supposed to be about 24 now, but I'm sure I'll forget and mess it up somewhere.
To anyone who read my last fic, HP & Decisions of Fate: Wow, I wasn't expecting so many differing views on my ending(s). Now, no one ever accused me of not bowing to the will of the consumer, so now I'm not sure where to start the sequel – with Harry and Hermione together or apart? Obviously it'll have a huge impact on the sequel, though it won't affect the main plot. Maybe a poll? Let me know what you think!
