Bella and Harry had made arrangements with Kandi regarding gathering her official witness statement as well as setting up a time to come in for further information. Harry was unsure how immunity for witnesses worked but he was going to look into it before they got their official statement from Kandi. Bella dismissed the women from her office and Kate walked them out of the DMLE suite. "What are we going to do?" She asked when she returned to Bella's office.

Bella shrugged and threw the portrait onto the desk. "I could fry him."

"I don't think Hermione would want one of her first big duties as Minster to be bailing her pregnant ex-death eater wife out of Azkaban for murder," Harry sighed and picked up the picture, walking around to take a seat.

"I could kill him," Kate said through gritted teeth. "The time behind bars would be worth it."

Bella chuckled. The girl reminded her so much of her younger self and it was both amusing and terrifying. "You are on light duty work, new girl. There will be no murder for you." She watched Kate's anger turn into a pout. "At least not for six more weeks."

"No," Harry stopped the chuckles. "There will be no murder."

"Spoil all of our fun," Bella crossed her arms over her chest. "So if murder is off the table, what are we going to do?"

"Well we have to bring him in for questioning," Harry shrugged. "With a partial print, we have enough for an arrest but…"

"This will be sensitive in nature to say the least," Kate added in.

"And we are all so great with delivering sensitive information," Bella cackled. "I vote for Harry to be the deliverer of the shit news. Our shit show commander if you will."

"Maybe we can do it together?"

Bella rolled her eyes, "leave it to the Hufflepuff to want to do this as a team."

"Maybe she's right," Harry smiled, "a little bad cop, bad cop, good cop?"

"It's always so tiring being the good cop every single day of my life," Bella smirked.

"Ha," Kate laughed, "you wish."

"Do you think he's truly capable?" Harry asked with uncertainty in his voice.

"No," she answered honestly but it was the only lead they had. She had to talk to Hermione before the aurors got to her. "When are we moving on this?" Bella deferred to Harry.

"We need to get him in for questioning by the end of the day."

The door to the DMLE slammed shut signaling that Draco and Tony had returned from the field. Bella nodded to Kate and she grimaced. "Someone needs to say something," Bella looked between Harry and Kate. Neither of them seemed to be budging. "Fine, I'll do it myself. Send Dragon in. I don't want to see Tony."

Harry nodded and left the office. Kate turned back to Bella, "do you want me to stay?" Bella shook her head no. Kate left and patted Draco on his shoulder when he entered Bella's office giving Kate a confused look. "What's wrong with everyone around here? Potter looked like someone murdered his puppy."

"Take a seat, Draco."

The lines on his face sharpened when he noted the seriousness in his Aunt's voice. "What's wrong? Did something happen to Astoria? To mom?"

Bella shook her head no, "nothing like that." She sighed and started unconsciously rubbing her bump as she thought of the most tactful way to handle the conversation. Hermione pointed out on more than one occasion that tact wasn't her strong suit.

"Is the baby okay?" He asked with concern clear in his voice.

"Junior is fine," Bella offered a small smile. "She's sleeping… very happy with her afternoon snack."

"I brought you this," he slid a bag of Mcdonalds across the table. "I made sure to stop on the way back to the office just in case you didn't get to go out and pick it up yourself. I couldn't let my little cousin go without her midday burger."

"You always were such a sweet boy to your auntie Bella," she closed eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose. "This isn't an easy conversation to have. I don't know the best way to convey this information."

"Straight forward."

"Okay Draco," Bella grimaced. "There was another attack."

"The rapist?"

Bella nodded, "the auror's were able to recover a partial print this time."

"Well that's great news! Have any arrests been made?" Bella shook her head no. "Why not? Let's get this guy behind bars where he belongs."

"Draco," Bella sat up a little. "A witness stepped forward."

"Excellent," Draco seemed excited about the update. "This asshole needs to pay for what he did to Kate and the other women."

"Draco," Bella said with a little more care to her voice. "The witness was able to provide us with a positive id," she slid the photo across the table to Draco. "I'm sorry, kid."

A look of confusion formed in his brows and he slowly reached out, picked up the photo and turned it over. All the color drained from his face. "No," he whispered.

"I'm sorry," she reached over and put her hand on top of her nephew's hand.

"And we are sure?"

"They found his finger print at the crime, kid. It's kind of hard not to be certain at that point."

"Have you told mom?" He let the picture of his father flutter back down onto Bella's desk.

"We just found this out and started discussing what to do next when you came back inside. So, no. I haven't had a chance."

"Do you honestly think he was capable of doing all of this?"

"The finger print seems to say yes," Bella shrugged. "Lucius is a very calculated man but I can't think that he's smart enough to carry out a multi decade murder spree that none of us were privy to. I don't think it was him. We just need to figure out who it is."

"Are we going to arrest him?"

"We need to bring him in for questioning. Kate suggested a group interrogation."

Draco chuckled, "I'll do it. Is this happening today? If my father is responsible, do you think he would just be hanging out somewhere?"

"That cocky asshole? Yes." Bella smirked. "Does he have a hello phone?" Draco shook his head no. "Okay, send him an owl. The murderer never struck twice in one day. Ask him to meet you at the department tomorrow so you can go out for lunch. That'll give us enough time to talk everything over with Hermione and see how we want to proceed. We have enough for an arrest but I think we should plan our next steps first. I have the start of a plan cooking up. Just need to speak with the minister. Plus, if we get Lucy in here we will bring in Kandi to give us a positive ID."

"Kandi?"

"Don't ask," Bella waved him off.

Draco stood and walked over to the door, "I'll send him an owl. I want to be there when you tell my mom."

"We will have her over for dinner tonight. You and Astoria are more than welcome to be there." She watched him nod and start to open the door, "hey Dragon?" He stopped but didn't turn. "I'm here if you need someone to talk to."

"Thanks, Auntie."

Bella rode the elevator in silence up to Hermione's floor. She told Harry that she was going to go speak to Hermione before the aurors got to her. She wanted to see what course of action Hermione thought would be best for this situation. Draco's invite to Lucius was taken down to the owl post prior to her leaving so the gears were set in motion to start closing up the murder case. At this point, Bella was just hoping it would be before Junior made her grand entrance. No woman should be brought into a world where men think that they have the right or privilege to violate any one. She rolled her eyes, fists clenched tightly at her sides. She wanted to believe this was over and that Lucy would finally get the ending he deserved but she just couldn't believe he was smart enough to pull this off. "Fuck," she breathed out when the elevator opened up directly into the main room of the Minister's Suite. She saw Hermione's secretary and pushed right past her without acknowledging her existence. She knocked on the door and her secretary whipped her head around her and gave her a surprised look. "Oh fuck off. I don't always barge in." Bella heard her wife say come in and she pushed the door open slowly. "Pet? Are you busy?"

Hermione looked up from her piles of paperwork and smiled, "hi." She stood up and walked over to where Bella was standing. She wrapped her arms around the older woman's neck and embraced her. "I was hoping the two of you would come for a visit," she pulled back slightly to rest her hand on Bella's bump. Hermione still couldn't feel the baby kicking from the outside but Bella had told her on more than one occasion that when Hermione talks to the baby, she feels little fluttering kicks as if Junior is excited by the sound of her voice. She leaned down and kissed Bella's stomach. "I've missed my girls."

"Girls?" Bella smirked. "Finally realizing that I'm right?"

"We shall see," Hermione laughed. "Is this visit for business, social or sexual purposes?" She leaned in and whispered, "I'm secretly hoping for the last choice."

Bella audibly groaned. She wished she was there for pleasure. Fucking Lucius always did have a way with ruining a good time. "Unfortunately it's business, Minister Black."

"Then I suggest you refrain from calling me that if this is a business call," she nipped at her wife's ear before pulling away completely, lacing their hands and walking Bella to the center of the room. "Desk or the couch?"

Bella chuckled, "after that proposition? You can't be trusted alone with me on the couch, Minister." She brought Hermione's hand up to her lips and kissed her gently. "Now," she let go, "you go over there way on the other side of your desk and sit down. I'll take a seat over here."

Hermione shook her head, "I can behave, you know?"

"I can't be sure," Bella sat down, trying not to laugh at the affronted look on the brunette's face.

"What did you wish to speak with me about?"

"So professional," another chuckle. "I actually wanted to get up to you before the aurors. Have you spoken with them yet?"

"No, why…"

"There was another murder today and the aurors picked up a partial print. It came back with a match at the exact same time a witness came forward to me. The girl who was in the alley when Kate got attacked came forth. And she provided us with a positive ID that matched the print."

"Okay this is good news though right?" Bella pulled the photo out of her pocket and slid it across the desk waiting for her wife to open it and look at the picture. "Lucius?"

Bella shrugged, "so the print says."

"Lucius doesn't seem able to form a single coherent thought let alone carry out a multi decade crime."

Bella cackled, "my thoughts exactly."

"What does Harry think?"

"I think he's on the same wavelength as us and Draco seemed to doubt it as well. Kate," she shrugged, "she's blinded by rage and will place the blame on the first person she can. I don't blame her. I would've reacted the same way at her age. It's a little scary how much of myself I see in her."

"She looks up to you," Hermione smiled when she saw the blush on Bella's cheeks.

The dark witch waved her off, "the aurors will make an immediate arrest when they figure out his location. Draco has asked him to come here for lunch tomorrow. We are planning on questioning him. Well technically Draco is."

"Okay. So what's your plan?" Hermione knew her wife well enough to know that she was planning on going rogue. There was no way she was going to wait for the aurors and that she wanted this wrapped up quickly and efficiently.

"Well," Bella smirked. "I have a different plan in mind. I haven't talked to the team yet but I can be quite convincing. It's a little unorthodox and I need you to sign off on it, Minister."

Hermione sat back in her seat and crossed her legs. She knew she could trust Bella's instincts as they were far better than the whole team of aurors. As Minister for Magic, Hermione was put in a difficult decision. This sort of thing was usually handled by the aurors but they also had nasty habit of fucking things up. She smirked and leaned forward, resting her arms on her desk. "Tell me the plan, Bella."

The conversation with Narcissa went exactly as Bella had expected it to go. "There's no way Lucius is responsible for all of this Bella. You know as well as I do that he wouldn't stoop so low as to rape below his class." Her sister had a point. She had thought the same thing when his picture was first put into her hands. "When we worked with Voldemort," Narcissa's nose scrunched up saying his name, "he barely let Lucius in charge of anything. And you saw first hand what happened that night at the Ministry of Magic." Bella wasn't an idiot. She had all the same thoughts as her sister. "I have a plan, Cissy." She went over every detail of her plan that Hermione had signed off on earlier with Cissy and Draco. It seemed like the plan was foolproof but whoever they were dealing with was smart though Bella wasn't worried at all.

"What are we going to do?" Bella heard Kate ask from her desk out in the suite.

"I have a plan," Bella called back to her.

"Are you going to inform me?" She was insulted.

"No," Bella smirked to herself. The less Kate knew, the better. "Draco, keep your partner busy until your father arrives. She's bothering me and it's making Junior unhappy."

Outside in the suite Kate's face turned into a scowl. "She's got it figured out. Don't worry," Draco shrugged, sitting back in his chair.

Kate turned towards the blonde, "you know the plan?"

Her voice was dangerously low and Draco knew better than to piss off the hufflepuff. "Only parts of it. Aunt Bella is very secretive when she wants to be."

"So you are saying there is a plan that everyone here knows except me."

"I didn't say that."

"You insinuated."

Draco laughed, "here," he reached into his desk and pulled out a chocolate frog. "Eat this. You'll feel better."

Kate gave him a side eye glance before grabbing the chocolate. She wasn't going to turn free chocolate down. "Thank you," she grumbled opening the packaging. "Here," she threw the card at her partner. "I don't need another Harry."

Draco picked up the card and walked over to the big pin board they had filled with their discarded Harry Potter chocolate frog cards. It became a running joke in the office after it was announced that he was going to be on a card. They made the Harry Potter tribute board to keep his ego at a livable level. Bella would even be seen coming out of her office to pin a Potter to the board.

"Are you guys ever going to stop with that?" Harry came out of his office shaking his head.

"Doesn't look that way, Potter."

"At least they all have a home, Harry," Kate said, her mouth full of chocolate. "Are you going to tell me the plan?"

"Plan?" Harry's voice remained neutral. "There's a plan?" He retreated back into his office.

"I hate all of you," Kate slammed the chocolate frog box into the bin.

"Look on the brightside," Draco smirked. "At least Tony isn't here today."

"Merlin really does listen to my prayers," Kate deadpanned.

A few moments of silence passed and Draco was curious, "hey Kate?" She acknowledged him with a grunt. "Can I ask you a question?" She shrugged but didn't look up from her files. "What did your mom do before she passed away?"

"Why?" Kate finally looked up.

"Just been thinking about her. You never really talk about her. I'm just curious I guess," Draco shrugged one shoulder. "You don't have to answer."

Kate sat back, thinking about her mom. She didn't spend much time actively thinking about her because it was a wound that never healed. "She was a reporter for a muggle newspaper."

"Did she like it?"

"She loved it," Kate smiled. "She would take me on adventures with her when she had a story that was out of the country. It was quite exciting. There's a lot of memories I don't have anymore. I found a journal of hers with the last story she was working on. It was just a bunch of chicken scratch but it had to do with murders in the Wizarding World. Ironic isn't it? She died the day I got my Hogwarts letter. Have I told you?"

"No," Draco gave her a sad smile. "I'm sorry Kate. That's awful."

"I've had many years to cope with it and I was doing okay until this whole thing started back up and it skyrocketed me back to age 11 and the day that asshole took my mother from me," she clenched her fist and hit the table.

"What happened after that? What of your father?"

"Oh," Kate shrugged. "I guess I have never talked about my past. He worked for the ministry. I can't recall what office he worked in. He just traveled a lot and was gone most weekends that's why I got to travel with my mom."

"You said he worked. What does he do now?"

"Oh," she sighed. "He passed away during my second year at school. I got an owl from my grandmother saying he was gone. It was all very sudden."

"Did you get to say goodbye?"

Kate was shaking her head when Bella came out of her office, "show time folks. My spies in the cafeteria have alerted me that Lucy has arrived downstairs."

"Can I please punch him? I am so jealous that Narcissa got to deck him."

"There will be plenty of time for physical assault later, Kate." Bella walked over into the middle of the room and clapped her hands together, "everybody remember what they are supposed to do?"

"No!" Kate shouted.

"Perfect," she cackled. "We will be behind the two way mirror in interrogation room three. Harry," she nodded. "You know what to do." She stopped at the door, "come on Kate. You are with me. I don't wish to be kept waiting."

Kate threw her hands up in the air, "how the hell am I supposed to know the plan if no one tells me?!"

"I'm telling you now," she walked out of the office with Kate complaining behind her.

It took about five minutes for Lucius to make his way into the DMLE. Draco shot a side eye glance towards Harry's office knowing that he also heard the bell ring. "Draco?" the familiar voice rang out. "I received your owl yesterday."

Draco stood up from behind his desk and straightened his tie, "father. I'm glad you could make it in such short notice."

"Of course, my son. Anything you for you," he looked around the small office taking in the sight. The sneer he made when he looked at the Potter pin board didn't go unnoticed by the younger Malfoy. "I've heard through the channels that your witch is pregnant?" Draco gave a slight nod, "congratulations. I'm sure your son will live up to his full potential as a Malfoy."

"Actually, Father," Draco remained neutral in his tone, "Astoria is pregnant and she's carrying our daughter."

He noted the slight upturn of his father's mouth, "I'm sure she'll be lovely," he managed to choke out. "Where would you like to go to lunch?" Just then Lucius turned when he heard someone else enter the room. "Potter," he addressed Harry. "I'd say it's a pleasure to see you but we all know that would be a lie. What are you doing here?"

Harry and Draco were on the move, surrounding Lucius and walking him into the corner. The elder Malfoy looked down and saw that both men had their hands resting on their wands. "We asked you here for a reason today Mr. Malfoy and it wasn't for lunch."

"Draco?"

"I'm sorry father but it seems like you have a lot of explaining to do and we figured we'd give you the chance to explain everything to the two of us before the aurors find out."

"What's this nonsense about?"

"We'd like to ask you a few questions. If you have nothing to hide then you should consent to a simple interrogation," Harry calmly explained.

"Fine," Lucius consented. "At least my sister in law isn't here for this." He saw Harry raise his wand and point to the door. Lucius raised his hands, "lead the way."

Bella and Kate made it to interrogation room number three and she only had to threaten the girl three times to keep her voice down as they were moving through the halls. The last thing she wanted was to be seen by Lucius as they were on the move and Kate had a hard time keeping her mouth shut. Once they were safely in the soundproof room she turned to the younger witch, "fucking hell woman. Don't you know what covert means? If Lucius had seen us, I would've prepared a cell for you in Azkaban right alongside him."

"How am I supposed to know how I am and am not permitted to behave if nobody tells me anything?"

"Sit down and lose the attitude," Bella's patience was gone. "I'm going to tell you now if you stop complaining for five minutes and put some trust in your superiors and into the fucking process."

"Fine," Kate sat down in the chair. "I'm sorry. Please. Go on."

"That almost seemed sincere," she sat down and grabbed her stomach. "Calm down Junior. Now is not the time," she whispered to her bump.

"Are you okay?" Kate asked with concern.

"We are fine," Bella winced and waved her off.

"Should I go get Hermione?"

"No," Bella shook her head. "She's just hungry or annoyed or something. Don't worry about it." Kate gave her an unsure look. "Seriously, I mean it Kate. Now isn't the time to be worrying about me or my baby. We have bigger issues to deal with right now. A little cramping isn't the end of the world." Kate was still looking at her, concern had washed over her features. "Kate, do you want to hear the plan or not?"

"Yes I do but…"

"No. Leave it. We are fine," she winced again from the cramps but adjusted herself in the seat and tried to shake it off. "Lucius. Yes?" Kate nodded. "He didn't do it."

"What? What do you mean he didn't do it? His finger print was at the scene. Kandi identified him."

"Listen," Bella's voice softened. "I've known Lucy for a long time. Longer than I even wish to admit. I worked closely with him in the past. He is many things but smart enough to pull off a multi-decade crime spread? Not likely. Voldemort gave him the simplest of tasks and he managed to fuck it all up. Plus," Bella shrugged, "and I mean absolutely no offense here but why would a pure blood racist like Lucius Malfoy sully his name but raping mudbloods and muggles? It truly doesn't fit."

"His print was at the scene."

"And that's why we are going to arrest him. But," Bella smirked, "I have a plan. I'm willing to bet my entire vault at Gringotts that it's not his fingerprint. Well it is but it isn't."

"I'm lost."

"I figured as much. Remember all those months ago before the wedding when I saved that one girl from being raped?" Kate nodded in confirmation. "What was the take away from the interrogation?"

Kate squinted her eyes and thought back. "That his name was Ethan and he was most likely using the imperius on her."

"Yes," Bella nodded. "And if she gave us a physical description of this Ethan guy and Lucius showed up at the crime scene yesterday and happened to be the one Kandi had identified from the attack on you, how does that make any sense?"

"Fuck," Kate put it all together. "The murderer is using poly juice potion." Bella nodded. "So why arrest Lucius?"

Bella's smirk turned evil, "why not? His print was at the crime scene. Asshole needs to be knocked down a few pegs."

"Your plan?"

They watched as Mr. Malfoy entered the room followed by Draco and Harry. He took a seat and the boys started alternating asking questions. "We need the general public to believe we caught our perp. We also need Lucius to be behind bars."

"Why?"

"Because then we can begin the next phase of my plan. Your attack was approximately 21 weeks ago," she rubbed her stomach and continued. "The perp is going to go into hiding again. He seems to be taking longer breaks in between attacks. I feel like he left the print there on purpose. Either because he's that cocky or because he wanted us to find it, arrest Lucius and buy him more time."

"More time for what?"

"He needs time to brew up a new poly juice potion. He needs his next identity."

"Okay. That all makes a lot of sense actually," Kate looked over at the glass. They listened into the conversation.

"Draco? How could you think of me as a murderer?"

"If I'm not mistaken father," Draco sounded calm and collected. Bella was proud of him. "You have killed many innocent muggles in the past."

"Where were you yesterday, Mr. Malfoy?"

"At my estate."

"Is there anyone who can provide an alibi for you?"

Lucius scoffed, "my word should be good enough."

"Unfortunately your word isn't enough here, Mr. Malfoy. That's not how the law works. Your fingerprint was found at the scene of a murder. Your word doesn't trump a fingerprint."

"Even if I would've committed the murders, why would I have raped those women. I have no interest in that sort of thing."

Draco looked up at Harry to see how they should continue. Bella had no worries. Lucius's pride was responding just how she expected it to. "Stupid proud idiot," she mumbled to herself.

"So Lucius is going to be arrested. What happens next?" Kate turned to look at the dark witch.

"We wait. We get all our ducks in a row then we smoke out the perp. He's not going to stop. We just have to have a better plan than whatever he comes up with next."

"And you already know what that is?"

Bella smiled when there was a knock at the door and Bella nodded for Kate to go answer it. "The plan has arrived." Kandi walked in and took the other empty seat. "We have ourselves a young witch who is desperate to stay out of Azkaban and a brilliant bait plan you started concocting many months ago. We need to flesh out your plan so that when Kandi offers herself up as bait, we will be able to catch the asshole once and for all."

Kate was about to open her mouth when there was a knock and Draco opened the door, "I'm sorry, father."

Everyone turned and saw the Aurors had arrived right on Bella's schedule. "Go on Kandi. It's your time to shine." She flipped the switch and the two way mirror's visibility illuminated revealing them to the interrogation.

"Ma'am," Harry said to Kandi. Lucius's face dropped when he saw Bella smirking at him. It was all a set up and he finally realized it. "Is this the man who propositioned you in Diagon Alley the day she," he pointed to Kate, "was attacked?"

"Yes, that's him, sir."

"Take him away," Bella said to the aurors.

The larger of the two men walked over to Lucius and pulled him up, placing magical handcuffs behind his back. "Lucius Malfoy you are under arrest for first degree murder, the solicitation of Kandis Pearce and for the aggravate assault and attempted murder of Kate Aarons."

Bella watched on as Lucius was escorted out of the room while the aurors read him his rights. Everyone turned to look at her and she pushed the intercom. "Now, the real work begins."