Disclaimer: Not mine. You know, because I'm not an entitled billionaire who freaks out the moment people don't agree with her.

Cassiopeia

By Kylia

Chapter 3

April 25th, 2003

Malfoy Manor

"Of course, Mrs. Malfoy. I suppose the first thing I'd like to ask is if you, your family, or your husband received any death threats recently?" The question sounded a little absurd even as it left her lips. Given the number of people who hated the Malfoy family, the number of threats would probably be quite substantive.

"Specifically since your husband was released from Azkaban?" She added, since he had been the target. At least the killer decided to go for the one most at fault. Hermione held back a wince at that thought - it made her sound like she was excusing Lucius Malfoy's murder, which she very much was not!

And it was very possible the killer hadn't actually been so kind as to leave an obvious clue like a death threat behind before killing Lucius Malfoy.

But it was the best place to start.

"Quite a few. Quite a few howlers - most of which I assume were also death threats or the like- but I have those disposed of without opening them," Narcissa Malfoy answered calmly. "Even if you do open them, they tend to dispose of themselves, after all."

"True." Hermione nodded. "Did you or your husband report any of the death threats?" It was technically illegal to send a death threat by owl-post, even if that law rarely led to even fines.

"No. Neither Lucius nor I took them particularly seriously," Narcissa admitted.

"Mother!" Cassiopeia looked at her mother, shocked, eyes wide for a moment, "Neither - neither of you mentioned anything about-"

"Cassiopeia, death threats aren't exactly new to the Malfoy family. Your father received dozens of them after the First Wizarding War." Hermione had to admire Narcissa's ability to keep a controlled expression. If she didn't understand that among elite purebloods like the Malfoys and the Blacks, composure was the most important thing to maintain, especially around outsiders, she might have thought Narcissa's demeanor suggested she didn't mourn her husband at all.

But Hermione knew better.

"Lucius didn't think that they mattered, and I agreed." Narcissa finished, putting her tea down on the table, rather than taking any more sips. "I suppose you'd like those letters we received?"

"It would be helpful, yes," Hermione nodded.

"Nipsy?" Narcissa called out, and the house elf in question appeared with a quiet pop.

"Yes Mistress Narcissa?"

"Fetch the letters Lucius stored in the black and silver box in his study," Narcissa instructed, and Nipsy nodded, vanishing again.

Hermione sipped at her tea again, about to ask another question when Nipsy returned, several sheets of parchment in hand. Narcissa took them from the house elf.

"Thank you Nipsy. You can return to your other duties." Nipsy vanished again, off to do Merlin knew what for her Malfoy masters. Hermione stared at where the elf had been for a moment, but she didn't say anything.

This wasn't the time, or the place, and as much as she hated it, house elves - most of them - didn't want freedom. She was convinced it was brainwashing - one only had to know elves like Dobby or Kreacher to understand that - but it was a battle she couldn't win all her own.

Not yet anyway.

And she needed to focus on catching a killer.

"Thank you." she said, looking back towards Narcissa as she was handed the letters. She filed the letters into her portfolio. "I appreciate you went over the timeline with Investigator Macmillan, but for the sake of completeness, I would like to go over it with you again, if that is alright with you?"

Narcissa stiffened ever so slightly for just a moment, then nodded, slowly. Hermione saw Cassiopeia stiffen a bit as well, perhaps in reaction to her mother's momentary display, but it was impossible to say for sure.

"When was the last time you saw your husband alive?" Hermione asked, pulling out a small resealable pot of ink, silently charming it to float next to her and dipping a quill, setting it to page.

"Right before he left to head to Horizon Square. He told the elves not to make lunch for him and took the floo to Diagon Alley. So it would have been right before noon, since that's when the elves start preparing lunch most days." Narcissa answered. Hermione wondered what the last thing the older woman had said to her husband was.

"I got the firecall from Investigator Macmillan just before 3:21." Narcissa went on. "I didn't believe him. So I told him to stay there and I checked the Malfoy Tapestry. Then... then the Investigator came through and asked me questions."

Hermione looked at Macmillan's notes. Lucius's body had been found at approximately 2:34 by Ottokar Holzmade. The Westphalian wizard had been there to meet with Lucius regarding investments in real estate in Horizon Square - the two were partnering to corner the market on new construction in the Square and its connecting side streets.

'Herr Holzmade states that his scheduled meeting with Mr. Malfoy had been at 2:30, but he'd been held up briefly at the International Floo Transfer Platform in Munster.' Nearly every wizarding nation had one - occasionally more - international platform for floo travel to and from other nations. Herr Holzmade would have taken the Westphalian Floo Network from his home - presumably - then moved to the international platform to transfer to the British Platform at the Ministry of Magic. Then taken yet another Floo to Diagon Alley.

"Did you ever meet Herr Ottokar Holzmade?" Hermione asked. "The man who found your husband?"

"Briefly, a few times, when he came to do business with Lucius... about ten years ago," Narcissa answered. "At the time, Lucius was investing in the Graf's potion supply business. I knew Lucius was going back into business with him."

Graf? Hermione frowned internally as she checked her notes. Nowhere in the information Macmillan had given her did it say that Holzmade was a Count. She knew that technically the Malfoys - along with a number of other pureblood families - did have old noble titles that had fallen out of use in Wizarding Britain... so she supposed it made sense purebloods in other nations would too.

But why would she call him by his title? Unless he actually goes by it, but then why wouldn't Macmillan have noted that? It was irrelevant, she knew, but Hermione also knew that little inconsistency would bother her just a tiny bit until she got it resolved.

"Was there anything different about your husband when he left? Did he say if he was planning to meet with anyone else?" Hermione asked, working through the simple questions. Once she'd progressed further in the case, she'd have more specific questions to ask.

"As I told Investigator Macmillan, no, nothing unusual about him before he left. He said he'd be back by evening, he was going to look at some properties, meet with Graf Holzmade, work out the terms of the initial investments, come back. A fairly typical day for Lucius," Narcissa explained, voice soft, but level.

"And no," she added, shaking her head, "he didn't mention that he planned to meet with anyone else specifically."

Hermione looked at Macmillan's notes. Nothing specifically about Lucius Malfoy planning to look at properties, but that could have been an oversight on Macmillan's part. Which was why she had made sure to ask these questions herself.

"Do you know which properties he was going to be looking at? Which properties he was interested in?"

"Not the specifics, no. Lucius..." she actually hesitated a moment, taking a breath and pausing mid sentence. "Lucius kept me abreast of what he was doing, but the details of real estate weren't any more interesting to him than my arrangements for the St. Mungo's Charity Ball."

Right. Hermione remembered hearing around the office that Narcissa Malfoy had been selected to chair the committee planning that event this year.

"But he probably had them written down in his study." Narcissa finished. "It's locked to anyone but the head of the family," she explained.

Which would be Cassiopeia now.

Hermione looked over at her former schoolmate, "May I see the study and take any relevant papers relating to your father's investments? If I can figure out what properties he was interested in, I can hopefully begin to narrow down who would have known where he was going to be, and thus, who killed him," Hermione went on, explaining her interest. She had no doubt she could get a Ministry Order that Cassiopeia couldn't refuse to let her see the study and the information, but she couldn't imagine that would be necessary.

"I can take you there now, if there's nothing else you need my mother for?" Cassiopeia stood quickly, and Hermione wondered just how much of a nerve she'd accidentally exposed in Narcissa, given how eager Cassiopeia was to see Hermione leave her alone.

"No, nothing for the moment." She stood as well, finishing the tea and setting it down. Wandlessly, she dried the ink on her notes, slipped them into her portfolio and tucked it under her arm.

"Thank you for your time, Mrs. Malfoy, and once more, my condolences for your loss." She looked over at Cassiopeia, taking the time to get another, real look at her. Now that she knew who Cassiopeia had been, she could pick up a few signs here and there, but in other ways, Cassiopeia was nothing like the person she'd known from Hogwarts - especially in demeanor.

But then, given what had happened since she'd last shared a school with her, that wasn't particularly surprising.

She stood with more... real confidence than she had, rather than false swagger. More... surety in herself. The same self-possession, of course, but even that seemed less... arrogant than before. But she could see traces of it.

I suppose the day a Malfoy - any Malfoy - doesn't think that at least a good chunk of the universe revolves around them is the day they marry a muggleborn and become poor.

The slytherin-green blouse she wore was quite fetching on her, and went well with the skirt, which looked just as good on her as the blouse. And without the sneer that she'd grown to expect on the blonde, she looked even better than she had in Hogwarts.

All these thoughts went by quickly, as they did, she nodded towards Cassiopeia, gesturing to the exit of the lounge. "Please, lead the way." The other witch nodded, and Hermione followed her out into the hallway. She looked towards Cassiopeia as they walked and asked a question:

"Given that you were out of the country, I'm going to assume you didn't know anything about what your father was doing?"

"I knew he was investing in Horizon Square, but only because that was mentioned in the Prophet and the Diagon Financial Register," Cassiopeia replied, shrugging a bit. Hermione noted the surprisingly bare walls - she'd been at several old pureblood mansions, not even counting 13 Grimmauld Place, in her capacity as an investigator, and in all of them, the walls in the hallways had portraits of the ancestors of the current residents, going back to the earliest members of the family in some cases.

And if she remembered her last time in Malfoy Manor right, that had been true five years ago here. But not now.

"What about Herr Holzmade?"

"I've never met him," Cassiopeia shrugged again. "But I'm familiar with him, and his family. I'm familiar with almost all of the wealthy pureblood families in Europe. Including the Holzmades," Hermione followed Cassiopeia as she turned down another hallway, this one also bare of family portraits - though at least there were several wizarding portraits here, though depicting scenes of animals or landscapes.

They passed by one of a winter scene, a forest in the middle of a snowstorm that Hermione would have dearly loved to stop and watch as the snow fell on the trees, gathering on the branches.

"Something you learned as a child?"

"Quite," Cassiopeia confirmed. "You never know when you'll need to call on old favors or alliances from another family, or when you'll need to know the right ways to show proper respect to the traditions of a family to get them to help you. Speaking of," she added as they approached a closed door at the end of the hallway, "you should never call Graf Holzmade 'Herr' to his face."

"Investigator Macmillain's notes didn't make mention of any title," Hermione explained. "I didn't even know he had one until your mother mentioned it."

"Typical of a British wizard, especially a Macmillain," Cassiopeia mused as they reached the door. Curious, Hermione watched the blonde touch her palm to the door and hold it there for a few seconds, before it gently swung open on it's own, revealing an expansive study.

The walls were lined with bookshelves, most of the shelf space taken up with books that looked older than either of them, in most cases, save for the far wall, which had a small fireplace, probably for making private floo calls. Also on the shelves were various small statuettes, sculptures and other small art. On the shelf behind the large black hardwood desk, Hermione spotted a sneak-o-scope, waiting for someone to do something illicit, untrustworthy or deceptive.

I wouldn't expect someone like Lucius Malfoy to keep one in his private study. Hermione tried not to think ill of the dead - even someone like Lucius Malfoy - but she couldn't help wondering if, the few years before the Second Wizarding War and during, the sneak-o-scope had been going off constantly, given all the things he'd been up to, and those staying at his manor had been up to.

"I've not been in here for five years, but anything Father was working on right now would be in one of the desk drawers." Cassiopeia gestured.

Hermione didn't immediately walk towards the desk, pausing to look at the spines of some of the books, noting titles in German, French, Italian, Russian and even Vietnamese, in one case. Even when the books weren't old, they were obviously rare first editions, well maintained and impeccably presented.

As much setpieces to be seen as to be read, likely.

"What did you mean by that?" She asked, not looking away from the books, "About Macmillain not noting Holzmade's title."

"The old titles of nobility have fallen out of favor in Wizarding Britain over the last few hundred years. I might be the Lady Malfoy now, but no one is going to be calling me that except in the most formal and antiquated of occasions," Cassiopeia explained. "Likewise with Mr. Parkinson and his rank of Earl, and so on." Hermione heard Cassiopeia walk past her, towards the desk.

"So it wouldn't even occur to Investigator Macmillain to make a note of Holzmade's title." Hermione surmised, moving to another shelf, looking at the small statuette of Merlin, made of silver, brandishing his wand.

"Indeed." Hermione turned to see Cassiopeia nod as she walked around behind the desk. "And the Macmillains never had a title to begin with, and they tend to disdain most of the old traditions, regardless of what country their from. Which brings us back to the Graf. Some nations in Europe have, like Britain, largely abandoned the titles for legal and social purposes. They don't hold much power legally in Westphalia anymore, but of all the Principalities of the Wizarding Germanies, Westphalia places the highest social importance on titles. Calling Ottokar Holzmade 'Herr' would be a gross insult."

"I appreciate the information. I'll be sure to use his title when I speak to him." Unless she saw value for her investigation in insulting him - sometimes getting the other person's hackles up could make them let slip information they might not otherwise.

That was rarely Hermione's preferred approach, nor one she was as good at as other means of interrogation.

Not that she liked to interrogate to begin with. She'd found that if you were thorough enough and observant enough, you rarely needed to go that far in the first place.

"Good," Cassiopeia nodded. "The faster you get the Graf to tell you anything he knows that might be useful, the sooner you can find the killer." She sat down in the chair behind the desk. "Father set wards on all the drawers, but they should recognize me... now that ownership of the Manor has passed to me."

Hermione walked over towards the desk, standing behind it as well to watch Cassiopeia open the drawers. It would be bad form to not watch her retrieve any important papers within. The desk surface itself had no loose parchment or papers - several sealed inkwells, a number of quills, some closed books carefully stacked off to one side.

"How does that work?" Hermione asked, curiously. "If you... if you don't mind me asking? Is there a ceremony or ritual? Or do the wards simply recognize you as the next owner?"

Cassiopeia opened one drawer, then looked at Hermione, one eyebrow raised, her tone bitter and sardonic. "Always the insatiably curious Granger," she laughed slightly, though without much humor. "Some things really don't change."

"Sorry. Not really the time to ask these sorts of questions," Hermione admitted, chagrined, biting her lip. "Force of habit."

"It's a ceremony. Performed on every Malfoy when they're born. Tunes them to the wards, to the line of succession. When father died, they automatically passed to me," Cassiopeia explained, looking away from Hermione and into the drawer as she pulled out a bundle of papers and photographs.

Hermione recognized the photograph on top as being of Horizon Square's entrance. "I think that might be it," Hermione reached for the bundle, and Cassiopeia handed to her, their fingers brushing momentarily. She looked at the first paper, under the photo.

The handwriting was elegant, formal and almost spidery. It appeared to be account information... she paged through to the next photo and paper, and it was a picture of a half-completed building, and details on cost estimates, construction schedules...

"Definitely what I'm looking for." Hermione said. She gestured to the desk. "May I?" Cassiopeia raised an eyebrow again, confused rather than sardonic. Hermione spread the papers out on the desk. There were a dozen photographs, apart from the one of the entrance, each of a different property. "Well, these would be the ones he was interested in, then. Is this your father's handwriting?"

"Looks like his," Cassiopeia nodded.

The notes were quite detailed - not just who owned a given property, but everyone who had owned it, the state of construction, if any... Lucius Malfoy had apparently spared no effort in learning everything he could about the properties he wanted to buy. All of them looked to be profitable, to his eye.

Mr. Malfoy had been found in the mostly-complete building at 3 Horizon Square, which Lucius had already bought a few days before. According to these notes, he had plans to rent the space out to several shops.

But Number 3 had been the only one that the late Mr. Malfoy had actually bought. And why would he be back at one he'd already paid for if the point was to look at new ones?

She suspected he hadn't started at that property - and had stopped at least a few of the other ones, between leaving Malfoy Manor and his meeting with Graf Holzmade. And those places would be where she would - hopefully - pick up the trail of the killer.

Assuming her attempts to do forensic science with magic didn't turn up anything.

She was trying to keep her expectations realistic on that front.

"Looks like he wanted to be a landlord," Hermione mused. "Not resale." She gathered the papers back together and looked back at Cassiopeia. "Thank you." She slipped the papers into her portfolio. Mentally, she went over

Speak to Herr Holzmade, look at Mr. Malfoy's body in storage at the Ministry, then go over all this paperwork this evening and into the night if I need to, and the death threats. Visit Horizon Square tomorrow.

Then hopefully she'd have something more concrete to follow up on.

"When can we my Father's body?" Cassiopeia asked, abruptly as Hermione tucked the portfolio back under her arm. "I wondered why you'd even bothered keeping it at all, until you told us how..." Cassiopeia's breath hitched a moment, and she paused. She took a long, deep breath, then finished, "how he died."

"With any luck, tomorrow." It was rare for a murder victim in the Wizarding World to have their body kept for more than a few hours by investigators. Of course, that was because, short of poisoning, it was usually quite obvious how someone was killed.

Nearly three quarters of all murders in the last fifty years in Wizarding Britain were the result of Avada Kedavra. 74.3%,to be exact. It was, after all, the 'Killing Curse'. Why bother using some other method. Murder got you a life sentence in Azkaban already, so why take the risk of your attempt failing?

"I understand the reasoning behind the Ministry's request to keep... to keep the way my father died under wraps." Cassiopeia went on, her tone clipped and formal now. "But I will not be keeping his death itself quiet. People are going to ask where he is... the family has obligations, and they're mine now." She stood.

Hermione looked at Cassiopeia, wondering. She sounded almost bored. But - though she didn't know Cassiopeia well, especially after five years of her being gone from Britain - she knew the other witch well enough, after six years of school together and a war they both survived, to know that Cassiopeia wasn't that cold.

Falling back on formalities and duties.

Though given how much family position and status probably mattered to Lucius Malfoy, that's probably exactly what he'd want his daughter and heir to do.

"His death is no longer a secret that needs to be kept. We'd prefer you don't make any public announcement or hold the funeral for a few more days, even once you get the body, but if you or your mother need to tell anyone... you may."

"Good." Cassiopeia nodded. "Now, if there is nothing else, then I would like you to leave my family and my home for the time being." She gestured for the door, walking around the desk again. "Let me show you to the exit."

"Nothing for now. I may have to come back with more questions, or to look at more of your father's papers, but... for now, I'll leave you both." Hermione nodded, following Cassiopeia back out into the hall.

"Granger," Cassiopeia drew up short in the doorway and turned back to face her, "Find this bastard. Make sure he gets the punishment he's due." lowered her voice just a little, "Don't let him use the same tricks people used to avoid prison after the First Wizarding War."

She stepped aside and let Hermione go first into the hallway, closing the study door behind her.

Did she just tacitly admit her father probably should have gone to Azkaban after the first war?