Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. This story is meant purely in tribute to the original work.
Neville sat back from the conference table and rubbed his hands across his tired face. He had been poring over the reports and documentation from Lucius Malfoy's murder for the past two hours with little to show for it. He glanced up at the wall clock: 9:00 pm. He sighed and took little solace in that fact that other aurors and his supervisor were still here as well. "The Ministry is riding us hard on this one.", Neville thought glumly. "And the effort couldn't be wasted on a better fellow.", he added with a trace of bitterness. He had only met the elder Malfoy once and that had not been a particularly pleasant experience. Neville had long ago decided that he never needed or wanted to meet Lucius. If Draco was such an insufferable asshole, it was likely that his father possessed an equally unpleasant disposition to have raised such a son. Neville mused that it could have been worse. He knew Ginny, Ron, and Harry had an especially soft spot in their hearts for the man. For that reason, Ron and Harry had been specifically prohibited from working on the case. Neville speculated that even if they had wanted to work the case, it might have only been to burn all the evidence.
Neville picked up the scene report once more. "What a gruesome way to go.", he thought, "Someone was definitely trying to send a message." Malfoy had somehow been completely paralyzed but he was still conscious and his nerves had been fully functional. His assailant had then driven three, half-meter steel spikes through Malfoy's torso and pinned him up off his feet to a wall in Malfoy Manor. Lucius had been alive for quite some time and probably quite aware of what was happening as he bled to death. Not for the first time, Neville grimaced at the memory of viewing the crime scene. He felt only a slight trickle of regret that he couldn't feel that sorry for Malfoy. Neville tossed the scene report back down on the table and picked up the report on Malfoy's blood work once more. This document was particularly puzzling. The blood work had shown no agent, narcotic, or poison in Malfoy's blood. Neville hardly thought Malfoy would sit idly by as he was nailed to wall like a painting. An examination of the body had also shown that no curses had been used. "Lucius was no pushover.", Neville thought, "So how had his attacker done it?" Neville read over the entries for the only substances found in Malfoy's system. An extract from a white tea and a sweetener made from beets. This was confirmed by the contents of the cup and saucer found at the crime scene. Neville could not help but be puzzled as this piece of evidence. The tea had not been poisoned. It had been examined by the Ministry's top Potioneers…three times. Malfoy's blood had been run through tests so many times they would be in danger of not having enough for evidence storage if they ran anymore. The part that really puzzled Neville was the type of tea. This particular type of tea leaf was cheap and common. Neville would have expected that those traits and the mild taste would cause Lucius Malfoy to consider that particular tea to be beneath someone of his stature. The large amount of sweetener present would not have appreciably affected the taste to make it a more refined one. "I just can't imagine Lucius Malfoy deigning to sample a commoner's tea.", Neville mused as he closed his fatigued eyes and massaged them gently with his hand. He continued his train of thought to his near-encyclopedic knowledge of herbology. "The only white tea leaf rare enough for a wealthy snob like Malfoy to even look at is toxic. But even that wouldn't be powerful enough to affect a human being unless…" Neville's eyes snapped open hard enough to make a "click" as the realization hit him. "Bloody hell...", he muttered. Neville forced his brain not to race as he reviewed the blood work once more to make sure he was not just imagining it. "I'll have to check the reactions with potions experts, of course, to make sure but this has to be it.", he thought. It took only a few minutes and Neville jumped to his feet to race to his supervisor's office. Simon Lewis, a fellow probationary, was just entering the conference room as Neville came barreling out.
"Hey Nev, I picked up some refresh-whoa!" Simon quickly sidestepped Neville's speeding form.
"Sorry Simon!", Neville called out as he raced down the hall. He found himself sporting an ironic grin. "Of all the people I have to thank for this, I would never have believed it unless I was there myself. No way I would have known this except for one man: Barty Crouch Jr."
Inspector Edward Bay glanced over at Neville as they intently observed the arrest of Lucius Malfoy's murderer. Daniel Wallace was a rather non-descript clerk at Gringotts who usually attracted no attention. However, he had run afoul of the Malfoys in the past in a dispute over a banking regulation. This had led Lucius to vindictively destroy Daniel's career. The final straw had come when Wallace had lost his sister, brother-in-law, and niece to Death Eaters during the war. He decided on Malfoy as a target. Unfortunately for Lucius, Daniel had done quite well in Herbology, and had kept it up as a hobby. He had also found the same tome on herbology that Barty Crouch Jr had shown a younger Neville Longbottom. Inspector Bay swept his gaze across the Wallace residence. "Barty Crouch Jr", he muttered, "I still can't bloody believe it."
"Neither could I sir. He'd be the last person I think I'd ever show any gratitude to."
"Baren's White Tea you said?"
"Yes sir. Named for the man who discovered its properties. He suffered from dementia later in life and much of his work was forgotten."
"But you remembered."
"Only because Crouch showed me that book years ago. He only did it as part of an elaborate plot to kill Harry Potter. Thankfully, I realized it wasn't the book's fault and continued reading it while I was at Hogwarts."
"How serendipitous. Thank God you have a good memory Longbottom."
"Mainly for herbology sir. I can only imagine this would drive Crouch absolutely mad that his actions helped us."
"If he has any sanity left by this point."
"Any idea how the agent was delivered sir?"
"Dart. The lab fellows went back over the body after your revelation. Missed the pin prick. Probably because we all thought it was a curse and were looking for evidence of one. The weapons fellows will have a jolly good time with that one." Inspector Bay and Neville were joined by another older auror, one with salt and pepper hair and holding a small potted plant. "Souvenir, Seb?"
"We found them Ed. This is just one of the small ones. It took some time to find them and sort them out. He had them hidden among a bunch of regular white tea. Can you believe it? Why take the chance? What if he picked the wrong one?"
"I don't think there was much risk sir.", Neville observed.
"What makes you say that?", the newcomer asked.
Neville had the distinct impression from the man's face that he knew why himself but he wanted to know if Neville knew. He rose to the challenge. "Wallace had to have been skilled with plants because this particular tea is difficult to cultivate. Since he was skilled enough to do that, he'd be skilled enough not to pick from the wrong plant. Also, even if he drank the tea, it would not have paralyzed him like Malfoy. The toxin has to be extracted and concentrated. Even then, it works slowly in the bloodstream. The sweetener acted as a catalyst. After the Baren's had run through Malfoy's system, it ended up looking like regular tea. That's why there was so much of it, without the catalyst to speed up the reaction, it would not have had the desired effect on Malfoy."
The newcomer raised his eyebrows, "Impressive. You're a probationary right?"
"Yes sir."
Inspector Bay spoke up, "Seb, this is Neville Longbottom. Longbottom, I'd like you to meet an old friend of mine, Inspector Sebastian Chen." Neville shook the senior man's hand and offered a greeting.
"You have a mind for herbology Longbottom, that much is obvious.", Inspector Chen observed. "Have you selected any specializations yet?"
"Uh, no sir, not yet.", Neville answered.
"Here's my card Neville. Contact me once your probationary period is done. I think we could use a man of your talents." Inspector Chen handed Neville a business card.
"Seb, are you headhunting my people right in front of me?"
"Ed, relax. How many probies stay with their probationary branches anyways?"
"That's not the bloody point! This is the gratitude you show me after I introduce you. And I helped you fix your deck railing-"
"Are we back to that now? May I remind you…"
Neville tuned out their good-natured ribbing and bantering as he looked down at the card in his hand. Perhaps this was the next step in his life. "How serendipitous…"
Author's Note: I always thought Lucius Malfoy got off kind of easy at the end of the series.