December 24th, 2024
London,
Ministry of Magic,
Auror headquarters
11:00
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"Harry, I brought you those muggle photos you asked for."
Harry rolled his chair backwards, out of his cubicle and came face to face with a smiling Ron. It was Christmas day, so other then a few Aurors working on some hot cases they were alone.
"Good, put them here. I'm trying to sort out something from these sketches but I can't get my head around it."
Ron perched on Harry's desk and watched his friend drink hot coffee.
"Aren't you supposed to go to Kings Cross to pick up Lily?"
"Nope, James will be there. Lily will understand."
"I hope you're at least taking tomorrow off, mate?"
Harry nodded absently as his attention went back to the case. He focused on the photos of the body Ron had thrown in front of him.
"From these photos I'd say only one spell was performed. Muggles are still performing the autopsy so they'll send their findings later on, but if I had to take a guess I'd say we were right in thinking it was diffindo. Straight to the guy's chest. We can't know for certain until we find the wand, though." Ron elaborated.
"According to my readings from the scene one spell was performed from the corner and at least two more from the bar. Now, Jessy Crenshaw said the guy from the corner disappeared, so I'm guessing it was only apparition that we detected from that spot. The curse must have come from the bar, which adds up since Crenshaw was hit from his front while he was facing the bar. "
"What about the other spell from the bar?"
"My best guess would be disillusionment charm since a man was pushed over the bar, but Jessy never saw anyone behind him."
"But this man never apparated then. Are you saying he killed a man and just walked out the door?"
"Why not?"
Ron thought about it and it really was the only logical conclusion, unless they missed another spell.
"So, he was on foot. We could look around the bar, he might have apparated from the outside."
"Yeah, you do that. Tell me when you get something."
"Sometimes I regret I didn't become an Auror…"
Harry laughed " You don't get cursed all the time, you have a well lit cozy office upstairs, you don't have to work holidays if you don't want to… yeah, your life in MLE sucks, Ron!"
"It does when I have to go out in that snow and spin a wand on my hand, so you could sit here and drink your warm coffee." He replied without a real bite to his words.
"Latte, Ron. It's latte." Ron saw his friend smirk as he left to gather his team, or what's left of it in the office.
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London,
Ministry of Magic,
Auror headquarters
20:34
.
Harry looked through the charmed window. It was getting late and he did promise kids to be home on Christmas Eve. He was just about to call it a day when the files he requested on Steve Crenshaw caught his attention. He didn't really pay attention to it earlier, too focused on physical evidence at hand. But now that it lay open in front of him he wondered if he should have looked at it first.
Apparently this wasn't the first time the name "Steve's Bar" came up in wizarding world. For a muggle, Steven seemed to have a knack for getting involved in wizarding affairs. As it is, Steve was involved in illegal potion distribution some twenty years ago. According to the file that now had Harry's undivided attention, the only reason Steven Crenshaw was off the hook was because he was the one who tipped off the Ministry about the dealings in his own pub. The coowner of the bar, a pureblood Darien Louviere was arrested instead and sent to Azkaban for selling potions to muggles.
Now that he got something to begin with, Harry stood up and summoned Darien Louviere's file. Surprisingly it was not as thick as he had previously expected. However, there was a detailed report of the incident Harry was interested in.
"We were right. He disapparated 200 meters from the bar." Ron announced as he entered the Auror Department. Harry noticed a bluish tinge to his lips.
"Good work. Warm yourself up. Hermione is bound to blame me if you catch cold." he said waiting for a grumpy Ron to take a seat next to him. Ron summoned an afghan and threw it over his shoulders, muttering something that suspiciously sounded like 'It is your ruddy fault, mate'. Harry ignored him, turning his attention back to the file at hand. "Hey, Ron! Listen to this. Apparently our victim was acquainted with a few wizards in his past. He reported an illegal potion distribution to muggles, and it was the co-owner of the bar who organized the whole thing. The name is Darius Louviere."
"Muggle prison?"
"Yeah, he was convicted to 6 months in Azkaban and 25 years more in muggle prison."
Ron whistled, amazed."No slaps on the wrist? Maximum penalty for the first offence?"
"Yeah… He must have seriously pissed someone off… Anyway, he was released for good behaviour last week."
"You think he came back for Crenshaw? Not that I would blame him… twenty five years for smuggling potions seems more than a bit harsh…"
"The MLE officer in charge of the case was Trey Donovan."
"I know him! He used to work with dad for a while. Pleasant enough, but a bit on the ruff side kinda guy."
Harry looked at him hopefully, which set off alarm bells in Ron's head.
"Oh, no… Not a chance mate! I'm going home; you do the dirty work for once!"
"Come on, Ron… Lily's home, I haven't seen her in four months…"
Ron stood up and the afghan slid to the floor. He walked calmly to the elevator which would take him to the Atrium and smirked back at his best friend. "So is Hugo, mate…No way am I interrogating anyone tonight!"
Harry rubbed his eyes as the elevator door closed behind the redhead. He was determined to get to the bottom of this tonight, so he wrapped up the paperwork and made his way upstairs to Improper Use of Magic Office, where he desperately hoped to find Donovan, even if it was Christmas Eve…
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London,
Ministry of Magic,
Department of Magical Law Enforcement
22:01
.
Harry paused in front of the deserted corridor. All of his coworkers have taken leave and the whole floor seemed almost haunted. He made his way to the end of the hallway and knocked on the last door in line. The plaque stated Improper Use of Magic Office, Head: Trey Donovan. He tried turning the knob but to his dismay found the door locked.
"Auror Potter! What brings you here?"
Harry turned around to face the smiling man a few doors down the way he came from. "Hello there…" Harry tried to remember the name of Mr Weasley's coworker standing in front of him, but failed miserably, "I'm looking for Mr Donovan, you don't suppose he is coming back tonight?"
The man in front of him chuckled "That man is like a clockwork, Auror. Comes in at eight in the morning, goes home at four in the afternoon. But still, he hasn't been to work this week. Called in sick, poor guy…"
"Oh… ok, then… thanks anyway… Merry Christmas!" Harry called as the man entered his office a few doors down the hall.
"Merry Christmas, Auror!"
Figuring there's no point in pursuing the man at home on Christmas, Harry decided to call it a night and go home to his kids.
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London,
12 Gimmauld Place
22:26
Harry was exhausted when he finally arrived home. He dumped his things on floor and went to see if the kids were safely tucked in in their beds. Never mind their age, that habit was there to stay. He berated himself for going over his promise to be there tonight but there wasn't much he could do about it.
He raised his hand to gently knock on the first door on his way when he saw a note attached to it.
We took Lily to Blizzard.
Harry's jaw clenched. He had nothing against James and Albus going to the muggle nightclub, but Lily is seventeen. To muggles she's a minor. Lily could get into trouble there. What if James lets her out of his sight, he is a kid himself! And Albus would just go chasing some girl at his age!
Pushing his exhaustion to the back of his mind, Harry slammed the front door behind him and apparated to the street right in front of the entrance to the Blizzard.