AN: I'm glad people are enjoying the story, I hope you like where I'm going with it. :) To answer a few questions, I think this story will be around 10-12 chapters or so long. That's open for change, however, but that's what I'm thinking now. I am hoping to lay clues enough to guess who the culprit is. I would like to work Draco in, we'll see what happens. Thanks for comments, suggestions, etc.
The next morning, Snape arrived at breakfast early. He had been alerted that all of the inhabitants of the castle and the boat were currently having breakfast, hurried along by Peeves and helpful house elves. This only worked if everyone was there, so no sleeping in today.
"I have an announcement," Snape loudly spoke to the assembled students, quelling chatter with a severe glare. "This is important to everyone."
"Important enough to send the house elves to wake everyone?" one cheeky Ravenclaw asked.
"Yes," Snape hissed at him. "Unless you think your morning dozing more important than a person's life."
The cheeky student looked suitably abashed, and Snape could tell he had everyone's attention. Snape held up a small, antique atomizer that had a glass bottom filled with faintly glowing potion and a brass sprayer. "This is a potion that will recognize if you have handled a certain poison," Snape told them. "I will spray this on every person's hands as they leave this room. There are legitimate reasons to have this potion on your hands, so do not worry if you are positive."
"Will it hurt?" a small first year asked.
"Line up as you finish your breakfast," Snape instructed, ignoring worried looks. "I will spray you as you leave. House elves are watching every exit, so being sprayed is your only exit."
"What if we refuse such treatment?" a Durmstrang student asked, crossing his arms.
"Then you will be detained and questioned," Snape told him. "And not submitting to this test makes you seem awfully suspicious. And as I said, there are legitimate reasons for having been exposed to this potion. Headmaster Dumbledore, would you oblige?"
"Certainly, Severus," Dumbledore agreed, offering his hands up to him. Snape sprayed the potion on him, and as expected his hands glowed a bright blue. "Pretty," Dumbledore smiled, wiggling his fingers.
"Dumbledore uses a potion containing this ingredient for his arthritis," Snape explained. "I make it for him. So please line up when you're done with breakfast."
Snape spent a fretful hour spraying hands and separating those that showed signs to the side. He was not surprised when Madame Pomfrey and Moody both tested positive, as they had handled the body. A few Durmstrang students were positive, but it seemed as if exposure to the victim as he fell had done it. He was also unsurprised that Krum was negative, that would have been too easy. He had already tested Potter earlier, and his hands were also moonseed-free. Karkaroff was a surprise, however. His hands glowed, but ever so faintly. Snape pulled him aside.
"Do you use an ointment for arthritis?" Snape asked him.
"You know damn well I don't," Karkaroff snarled at him. "And you know damn well why I tested positive."
"I admit that I'm at a loss," Snape admitted to him.
"Do you not know that Moonseed is a preferred poison for ending it?" he asked brusquely. "I've carried a vial on my person at all times since the first war."
"So you can kill yourself?" Snape asked incredulously.
"Better than falling into enemy hands," Karkaroff told him. "It's virtually impossible to cure once taken, and though it is not as quick as other potions, at least it is sure. Perfect for if someone like Bella gets you."
"Do you have your vial now?" Snape asked him, nodding at the logic he had.
"No," he looked away, ashamed. "It went missing the day of the murder."
"And you didn't think to tell me?" Snape asked, his voice vicious.
"How would it look?" Karkaroff explained, holding out his slightly glowing hands. "I would look guilty."
"Well, you do now," Alastair Moody accused. "You will be taken into custody tonight; I have called the aurors. Everyone that tested positive that didn't handle the body will be."
"Please, Severus," Karkaroff begged. "Please tell them that it wasn't me."
"I will work to find the truth," Snape promised, seeing the Aurors enter the room and knowing they didn't have much time.
"We have found the truth," Moody scoffed. "It has to be one of you Durmstrang lot. And it's pretty obvious who it was."
"Who knew you had the poison?" Snape asked, ignoring the obnoxious former auror.
"It is hardly a secret," Karkaroff told him, eyeing the approaching aurors. "All of Durmstrang, and anybody familiar with me and my habits."
"But if it was that well guarded, how was it taken from you?" Snape asked.
"I don't know," he reluctantly admitted. "It was in my pocket yesterday morning, that's all I know for sure."
"Can an accio summon it?" Snape asked.
"Yes," Karkaroff admitted. "I did not think of warding my own person."
"Surrender your wand, you death-eating filth," Moody growled at him as the aurors advanced, their wands drawn. "We would love an excuse to have one less of you to kill later."
"Surrender," Snape urged. "They will hurt you otherwise."
"I could run," Karkaroff calculated, looking at the aurors.
"Don't," Snape urged. "Please trust me. I believe that you didn't do it. Surrender and give me access to Krum and Mir's parents."
"My assistant will help you," Karkaroff nodded at the dark-haired youth beside him, and then looked to the side. "I authorize you to have full access."
"I will," Snape told him. "Insist on staying here with the other people that tested positive, do not let them transport you to Azkaban."
"Will they torture me?" he asked Snape, setting his jaw in determination.
"They will not," Snape assured him. "Dumbledore will have his hand in it, he is your ally. Don't trust Moody, he's irrational when it comes to death eaters. I will visit you this evening if I'm allowed."
"Veritaserum?" he asked.
"Perhaps," Snape considered. "But do not take it without an official ministry order written on official paper. You must go now, or they will start stunning."
"I will go peacefully!" Karkaroff announced loudly, holding up his hands to show that he had not drawn his wand. "The innocent should have no fear of scrutiny!"
"Innocent my . . ." Moody started.
"We are merely questioning people in connection with the poison," Dumbledore interrupted. "Headmaster Karkaroff, you are not under arrest, you are merely helping us clear up why you might have had contact with that poison. Professor Moody, this antagonism towards the Headmaster of Durmstrang is unacceptable. He is our guest, and is in the unenviable position of having lost a pupil tragically. You will treat him with the respect he deserves."
Moody's one good eye clearly communicated how much respect he thought Karkaroff deserved, but he nodded his head in agreement and backed away from the confrontation.
"Headmaster Karkaroff, would you please accompany me and the others that have had contact with this substance to my office please?" Dumbledore asked him. "We will work on clearing this up in a timely manner."
"Since when have you needed aurors to help you in your duties, Headmaster Dumbledore?" Karkaroff asked him, eyeing the aurors suspiciously.
"They are here to make sure we follow ministry procedure," Dumbledore explained. "They shouldn't interfere."
"I entrust myself to your care," he nodded at Dumbledore. "I trust you far more than the ministry."
"I am honored," Dumbledore told him, nodding his head. "This way."
Snape watched as Dumbledore led Karkaroff out of the room, and wondered at his colleague whom he had at one time called a friend. He was certainly capable of killing, but was he capable of killing one of his charges? A young, innocent boy? At least Dumbledore was in charge at least for now, he would try to be fair. And he was one of the few that could bring Moody to heel.
"Professor Snape, sir?" he heard a softly accented voice ask him. "I am Tolga Safer, Headmaster Karkaroff's aide."
"He said you might be able to assist me in talking to the parents of some Durmstrang students."
"I am completely at your disposal," he told him. "The Headmaster has told me to trust you and to assist you in any way that I am able."
"Excellent," Snape told him. "I believe Headmaster Karkaroff will be indisposed for at least the rest of the day, and perhaps longer. Today I wish to have a discussion with Viktor Krum alone, and then in a meeting with his parents and that of the decedent. Can you arrange that?"
"Easily, Professor," the black-haired youth nodded. "Which would you like first?"
"The parents," Snape decided, realizing that he wanted to know as much as possible before he interviewed Krum.
"I will have it set up within the hour," Safer nodded. "I am assuming you would want to portkey there, no? It would be easier."
"I am happy to portkey," Snape answered firmly, though he realized the risk he was taking. If the family wanted a hostage, he wasn't a bad choice. "I have a few things to prepare, I will meet you back here in one hour."
"Of course, sir," the aide nodded in respect, and then turned to leave.
Snape began his own list in his head, thinking of what he would need to interview grieving parents. At the top of his list was Veritaserum.