Disclaimer: Nope, not mine.

I appreciate the story is moving at a fairly slow pace, there's not much I can do about that, given the nature of it, but I hope each chapter is good enough to keep you interested, regardless.

Population estimates for Wizarding Britain are hard to determine because Rowling is incredibly inconsistent, as is trying to figure out the class size at Hogwarts, especially since again, Rowling is inconsistent. I've decided to go with the estimates that see the population of Wizarding Britain to be about 10-15 thousand, as that seems reasonable given the stuff we see in the books. Still too large in some ways, of course, but I also think it's likely given the two recent wars, the Wizarding population would have dropped quite a bit and would skew older, with many young adults having died in the conflicts created by Voldemort.

Cassiopeia

By Kylia

Chapter 5

April 25th, 2003

Halidixian Hotel, London

The Halidixian Hotel was the premier hotel for visiting wizards and witches, here in Britain for reasons of business or pleasure. It was also expensive, but a man of Graf Ottokar's means would have no difficulties paying for the time he was staying here. Though he had come to meet with Lucius Malfoy, he was still intending to make the investments he had planned and expected to be in Britain for at least a week in total, so that left Hermione time to come back for followup if need be.

She almost always needed follow up questions, of course.

You never knew what questions to ask when you started an investigation, beyond the basics. You needed a chance to put all the clues together and see the holes in people's stories, the avenues for inquiry, the weak spots you could press to make people talk when they didn't want to.

Hostile interrogation was an effective tool for some of her fellows - and Harry and Ron used it to great effect as aurors - but Hermione found it was far more efficient to simply know enough that the other person folded under the weight of it. Thinking you knew enough to make it irrelevant if they talked.

All of this assumed the person was not forthcoming at first - but even if they were, things might come up that would lead to follow up questions, subsequent inquiries.

Hermione stepped out of the fireplace in the small, intimate main lobby and approached the wizard sitting behind the desk. He was reading the Prophet, the front page about the recent scandal surrounding the coach for the Wimbledon Wasps betting against his own team and ensuring their defeat. It was, unfortunately, a far too common topic of conversation at the office among her co-workers.

Hermione cleared her throat, catching the man's attention as he lowered the prophet. He went from bored and exasperated with the interruption to much more respectful when Hermione showed the badge marking her as being from the DMLE.

"Investigator Granger. I'd like to speak with one of your guests. Ottokar Holzmade?" Hermione explained calmly. "I have a few questions for him, about an ongoing investigation." The clerk's eyes widened for a moment, on recognizing her and her name, but only a moment - while she was still famous as a 'war heroine', it was much more muted these days, five years on.

Thank Merlin.

The clerk cleared his throat, "Our guests pay a premium for their privacy, Investigator," he said, words sounding like the canned response they were.

"I know he's here because he told the last Investigator who spoke to him yesterday that he was staying here," Hermione explained. "He's a witness, and I have a few follow up questions. Please, feel free to check with him before telling me what room number he's in."

The clerk nodded, "Very well." He reached into a drawer in his desk, and after searching for a moment, pulled out a piece of parchment. This piece would be linked to another piece in Holzmade's room by a Protean Charm, and was the way that guests and the front desk could communicate as needed.

An Investigator Granger from the DMLE would like to ask you questions. Hermione read the upside down, neat and cramped script fairly easily as the clerk's quill passed across the page. She says it's in regards to -

Before the clerk can finish writing, more words, in much more spindly script, Send her up.

The clerk pulled his quill away from the paper and set it in the inkwell. "Room 307," He tells her.

"Thank you," She nods and heads for the stairs, climbing up to the third floor and entering into the hallway. A quick check sees her heading left, and then she's in front of room 307.

Hermione knocks, "Graf Holzmade?" She asked, then knocked a second time. "It's Investigator Granger."

"Yes, yes, come in," a thickly accented, but comprehensible voice said from the other side of the door, and Hermione heard the sound of the lock turning. Opening the door, Hermione stepped inside.

Holzmade was a short, squat man, with a balding head and a short, well trimmed brown beard starting to go grey. His robes were draped over the back of a chair, leaving him in formal, well made and probably custom tailored formal garb, the shirt with a high collar.

"I assume you're here to speak with me about Lucius?" Holzmade asked. Hermione nodded. "Terrible business... Lucius was a fine businessman, his... political faults aside." Holzmade said the latter bit after a brief inhaling of breath.

Political faults? Hermione supposed that was the polite way to put it. Certainly more polite than saying he was a racist and power-hungry man who aligned himself to an even more racist, even more power hungry monster and then had to pay the consequences when his master died.

"Regardless, please, please, sit," he gestured to another chair in the front room of the suite. Hermione had been to the Halidixian to interview witnesses or even detain suspects enough times to know the layout of the suites: a front room then a bathroom and the far end of the bathroom was the bedroom. Hermione sat down and took out parchment, inkwell and quill, charming the inkwell to float next to her again.

"Investigator Granger... you wouldn't be Hermione Granger, would you?" Holzmade asked, sitting down on one of the other chairs.

I don't think there are any other witches with that last name in Britain, Hermione mused, but it wasn't as if Holzmade was necessarily going to know that. She nodded.

"Yes, I am Hermione Granger. I've been assigned the late Lord Malfoy's case." If Holzmade expected to be called a Graf, he probably would like to see Malfoy's title respected.

Holzmade nodded, "Terrible business," he repeated. "I... I can only hope his wife and son are doing... well, as well as can be expected, given this. Narcissa was always a charming woman, and while I never met young Draco-"

"Cassiopeia," Hermione corrected, before she could stop herself. It wasn't as if Holzmade was actually deliberately getting it wrong - he wouldn't have known - but still.

Holzmade raised an eyebrow, "Cybelean?" Hermione nodded, and Holzmade nodded in turn, accepting the correction. "I never did meet young Cassiopeia but... well, having the wealth and title and position of the Most Noble and Ancient House of Malfoy descend on someone so young, especially like this..." He shook his head. "As I said, I can only hope she's handling this as well as could be expected." He cleared his throat.

"So. Investigator Granger." He nodded, then, he leaned forward, speaking a bit quieter. "I know - I know this isn't exactly the most..." he hesitated, searching for the right word, then, "opportune time to ask such questions, but before you leave, after you're done with your questions, might I trouble you for your autograph?"

Hermione blinked, staring at him, not sure what to make of that. She occasionally got requests for her autograph, but since she'd done her best to make as little of her fame as possible - at least in terms of pursuing celebrity - such requests were uncommon these days. And she'd never had a foreign witch or wizard ask. Nor an elderly pureblood of wealth and status like Holzmade.

Holzmade chuckled, ruefully, speaking his hands a little in an apologetic gesture. "I only ask because - well, my," He paused, drumming the fingers of one hand against his other wrist for a moment. "I can't - the word - my Schwiegertochter?" Holzmade looked at her for assistance.

"I'm afraid my German is limited to a few phrases," Hermione admitted. She was fluent in French and Spanish, and passable in Italian - she'd been studying up on that language in her limited free time - but as she'd said, she knew very little German. Mostly enough to say she didn't speak the language and to ask if someone spoke English, Spanish or French.

They were useful phrases to know for just about any language, to Hermione's mind.

"Wife of your son?" Holzmade elaborated.

"Daughter in law?" Hermione offered, and Holzmade snapped his fingers, nodding.

"Yes, my daughter in law. Annika. She is a muggleborn, and a great admirer of yours." Hermione did have some 'fans', but she hadn't realized she had any overseas. But it made some sense that a muggleborn might find something about her life story of interest, even in another country.

The thought had never really occurred to her before now though.

She was also a little surprised that a pureblood with a title - and thus, from a fairly old pureblood family - was apparently so accepting of his son marrying a muggleborn. Even with the war over, you weren't likely to see a pureblood family of status, like the Zabinis or the Fawleys be accepting of such a 'dilution' of the bloodlines, even if they were unlikely to say it openly.

When she'd dated Pansy, though they'd never discussed marriage - their relationship having not been serious enough for it to come up - Hermione had had only a very polite acceptance from Pansy's parents, the few times they interacted.

I need to do more research on the politics of blood status in other nations. She knew very little about it, beyond the Durmstrang Institute's unwillingness to accept anyone that wasn't a pureblood, and other factoids of that sort.

"If Annika were to find out that I had the opportunity to ask for your autograph and I didn't take it..." Holzmade laughed slightly, then looked away, perhaps embarrassed, given the circumstances. "Well, she wouldn't be very happy with me, and then my son would be unhappy with me, and so, I asked."

Hermione nodded, understanding the reason he asked, then. "As you said, not exactly an opportune time, but before I leave, yes, I can provide an autograph," Hermione assured him. "Now, Graf, I understand you did business with Lucius Malfoy once before, about ten years ago, regarding investments in your potion's supply business. Is that correct?" Holzmade nodded. "And is that the only time - other than what led to your discovery of Lord Malfoy's body - you did business?"

"The only time we did business directly," Holzmade nodded. "We would meet from time to time, on the continent, discuss financial matters, until the situation in Britain grew unpleasant, and Lucius stopped leaving Britain." He blinked, "I- I have to ask - why are you asking me about-"

"I'm trying to construct a clear timeline of Lord Malfoy's movements, and his plans with regards to the real estate purchases." Hermione explained. "While the investigation is at its early stages, I suspect that whoever killed him knew he was going to be where he was, and I'd like to develop a clear idea of who might have known what he was doing. With neither his wife nor his daughter having much specific information on Lucius Malfoy's plans, I was hoping you might be able to help me fill in some blanks."

"Ah, I see. My apologies for the question." Holzmade gestured for her to go on, and Hermione did so.

"As I understand it, you two wanted to corner the market on new construction in Horizon Square? Is that correct?"

"Yes. It's not common that a whole new area gets opened up for construction in the Wizarding World these days, and that's a significant opportunity for anyone who can get in, as the muggles say, 'on the ground floor'." Holzmade explained, once more surprising Hermione.

"Were you planning to partner with anyone else, or was it going to be just the two of you?" Hermione asked.

"We hadn't discussed adding anyone else, though we might have had to, depending on how things went. When word reached Westphalia about the opening of Horizon Square, I started making inquiries, and that's how I found out about Lucius's plans." Holzmade explained. "As I'm sure you know better than I, the Malfoy fortunes are somewhat... diminished, as of late."

Hermione nodded. While still incredibly wealthy, the Malfoy's finances had taken a hit from the fallout of the war, the fines and costs levied on them by the ministry, the numerous and sizeable donations Narcissa Malfoy had made to help rehabilitate the family name, and of course the simple fact of Lucius Malfoy being in prison for several years. It had sent the gossip mill at the Ministry into titters about a year and a half ago when the Diagon Financial Register had listed the Malfoys as the third wealthiest family in Wizarding Britain - losing the top spot they'd had for 103 years - to the Greengrass and Nott families respectively. It wasn't by much, but Hermione was sure that had smarted for Lucius Malfoy.

"Well, when I heard that Lucius was planning not just to invest, but to corner the market, I offered to partner with him, since we'd worked well before. I wasn't the only one from outside Britain to be looking at the opportunity this posed, so I wanted every advantage I could get," Holzmade explained.

"But I would assume you didn't advertise the properties you were interested in?" Hermione asked, to clarify, and Holzmade nodded, looking a little aghast at the suggestion. "What stage of the planning were you in?"

"Lucius and I discussed the properties we were interested in via owl, but yesterday was meant to be when we finalized our plans on what to start with." Holzmade answered. "He'd arranged with all the proper people for us to take a look at the lots, the construction, the completed buildings, and so forth that we were interested in." He moved his left hand in a small circular gesture as he said 'and so forth'.

"Which properties?" Hermione asked, lighting on the first immediately useful piece of information. Anyone that Malfoy had spoken to would have known enough about his plans to know roughly where he was going to be.

Hermione doubted that the killer had simply been carrying around the gun all the time and then shot Lucius Malfoy on chancing upon him.

"Offhand... Number 5 Horizon Square, Number 12..." Holzmade stroked his chin. "It will be easier if I just find the list," He said, though Hermione wrote down those two addresses. Holzmade stood up and went over to the desk, tapping one of the drawers with his wand and pulling out a number of pieces of parchment, sorting through them, murmuring under his breath.

"No... not that one... wait, what is that doing there?...no - no... it was in here- ah yes, here," Holzmade took one of the pieces and handed her a letter, written in German, from 'Lord Malfoy' - well, Freiherr Malfoy, to 'Graf Holzmade', but the list of nearly two dozen properties was written in English, at least. Hermione grabbed another piece of parchment from her portfolio, laid it atop the letter and tapped them both with her wand, the spell copying the letter's contents onto the previously blank page.

"Thank you," Hermione handed the letter back to Holzmade. "I notice 3 Horizon Square - the location you were due to meet at, and the place you found his body - isn't on this list? Was that because Lord Malfoy had already purchased it?"

"Yes," Holzmade confirmed, sitting back down in the chair opposite her. "It was the first building to be completed, and Lucius was unwilling to let it be snapped up before we could come to an arrangement, so he bought it himself." Holzmade gave a small laugh. "Very unlike him, but I suppose it's not surprising he might be a bit more willing to make a financial gamble, given things. I was... I admit I wasn't happy about it, and I was nearly ready to end our arrangement before it began," He shrugged. "Lucius convinced me otherwise, but since he already owned Number 3, it made a good place to meet."

So they were due to meet at 2:30, Malfoy leaves the manor at noon - would he have been looking at the properties himself, first? Given that acting on his own had nearly risked his business partnership, would the late Mr. Malfoy have done that?

Perhaps, if he thought he could get away with it, and had some reason to. She had to admit, she had no idea how Mr. Malfoy thought, really, just guesses based on she knew of him and what he did.

"Which brings us to the last thing I wanted to speak with you about: I have the statement you gave Investigator Macmillan, but I would like to go through it all again with you, if you're willing."

"Of course, anything to help," Holzmade nodded.

"So you were due to arrive at 2:30, but the International Floo Transfer Platform in Munster held you up?" Hermione looked at Macmillan's notes, "A potions' spill?"

"Indeed. Some potions someone was importing in bulk," Holzmade waved a hand dismissively, "I don't know who or what, but the courier's extension charm on his bag failed unexpectedly and the bag burst, vials breaking and potion spilling everywhere. I'd only just reached the platform, but it took a few minutes for the Chancellory's people to have it all cleaned up." Holzmade explained. "Then I took the Floo to the Ministry here in London, and apparated to Diagon Alley and walked the rest of the way."

"You reached the entrance of the Square, and walked to Number 3. And you expected to meet Lord Malfoy out front?" Holzmade nodded. "Did you worry when you didn't see him there?"

"Not particularly. I assumed he'd gone inside to wait when I didn't show up on time." He smiled softly, "Lucius is quite the stickler for punctuality. Was." He corrected, eyes looking down to the ground for a moment. "I walked to the door, knocked and the door swung inward." He let out a breath.

"And that's when I saw him." He started to go a little pale. "I - I mean, I've seen dead people before, I've even seen the body of someone murdered before but..." Holzmade muttered something in German and took a deep breath. "I've never seen...quite that much blood before," he said, swallowing, voice shaking just a touch.

Hermione wasn't surprised. The Killing curse - the most conventional way to kill someone in the wizarding world - left no mark, and most other spells that could kill someone, even inadvertently, or when applied too much, didn't tend to cause one to bleed either.

Sectumsempra notwithstanding.

Hermione nearly did a double take at remembering that incident from 6th year, wondering why it was suddenly coming to mind - not that she'd seen Harry cast it, but she'd heard all about it - but then, considering that it had been cast on Cassiopeia Malfoy - even if she hadn't been Cassiopeia then - and she had all the Malfoys on he remind at the moment, it made sense.

"I... I just stood there for a minute," Holzmade admitted, going on after getting himself under control, though he was still a touch pale. "I sort of... stumbled out the door and shouted that there'd been a murder. Several times... a few people heard me and were coming over towards Number 3, and I asked one of them to send a patronus to the Ministry - I didn't know anyone in the DMLE to send a patronus to and... a few minutes later, I think, Investigator Macmillan apparated in." Holzmade concluded.

Hermione looked down at Holzmade's notes. Julius Flint had been the one to send the patronus, apparently, one of the people overseeing construction at Number 4 Horizon Square, which was due to be a block of flats. Even with magic, building a building took time and skill, even if it was a different sort than required for muggle construction. Less people too, in total.

"Was there anything you noticed about the body, or the exterior of the building?" Hermione asked. "Even the smallest detail could help." It had been difficult to pin down when Lucius had died - the blood wasn't dry yet when the body was found, so less than an hour, give or take. But anything more than that? Impossible to say.

Macmillan hadn't known what a gun was, likely, when first collecting witness statements, so he'd not asked as much. His notes didn't mention him asking about unusual sounds - a few people had mentioned the sound of apparition, which could mean something.

Hermione had never seen a gun fired herself in person, but she had heard the sound of gunfire on the television or on the radio - she listened to the BBC's News Hour most nights at 9 in the evening, to keep abreast of what was going on in the muggle world, even if she didn't live in it, and she had a television she watched films on. And of course, she'd watched some television growing up, when at home, though less than many of her peers.

The loud crack of apparition sounded a great deal like a car backfiring, and guns could sound the same, some anyway, from what little Hermione had heard and knew. Certainly to many wizards, who in most cases would have never heard the sound before in their lives, it would easy to mix the sound of a gunshot in the distance or even nearby with the crack of someone apparating in or away.

"Any unusual sounds, or anything?" Hermione pressed. "I appreciate Macmillan asked yesterday, but... on a second look, has anything come to mind?"

Holzmade furrowed his brow and considered her question. "Well... as I said, I knocked and the door swung open."

"The door was already open." Hermione followed along with what he was saying. "You didn't touch the doorknob?"

"No. I was confused for a moment, by that, but then..." he trailed off. "Well, I was distracted by the body. The blood." Holzmade confirmed.

The door was already opened, but then closed enough to seem completely closed from outside - pulled nearly into the frame but not quite, likely. Had that been deliberate, or simply someone sloppy in how they'd closed the door? It didn't tell her much at the moment, but every little bit of information added to the complete picture.

"Anything else?" Hermione asked one last time.

Holzmade bowed his head a little, putting a hand on the back of his head and scratching for a moment, then straightened back up and dropped his hand into his lap, "I don't... nothing else comes to mind... I..." he trailed off. "As I told Macmillan... I didn't see anyone by the building or... hear anything unusual." He shrugged.

"My apologies, but... no, nothing." Holzmade admitted. "I can't think of anything."

Everything Holzmade said lined up with what he'd told Macmillan, except for the additional comment about the door already being open - he had said he'd knocked and the door opened, but Macmillan hadn't made the connection there. Nor would she necessarily have without Holzmade clarifying it was unusual.

If it was of note anyway.

"Well, I appreciate your time, and that list of properties will hopefully be helpful as well, Graf Holzmade," Hermione nodded, standing up. She held out her hand, and Holzmade accepted it, and they shook briefly before she pulled her hand back. Remembering her promise, Hermione withdrew another blank sheet of parchment and dipped her quill again, quickly signing her name across the sheet, handing it to Holzmade.

"For your daughter in law." Hermione handed it to Holzmade.

"Thank you," Holzmade accepted the signed paper, setting it on his desk. "Annika will appreciate it. And if there's anything else I can do to assist you in the case, please, let me know."

"I will." Hermione nodded. "And if you think of anything, send a message to the Investigation Office at the DMLE, and it will get to my desk." Holzmade assured her that she would, and Hermione left the room with a final farewell, heading back down the stairs to the Fireplace to Floo back to the Ministry. She would take a look at Mr. Malfoy's body, and then she'd look into these properties, get all the names of all the people who might have known Lucius Malfoy wanted to look at them, and compare them with the death threats, people with grievances against any Malfoy...

Well... Hermione suspected she'd be working late tonight. The latter list would be fairly long, and to address the former she'd have to go down to look at property records, find building contracts, identify personnel working at various locations...

According to the last census, there were just under 11,000 wizards and witches in areas under the jurisdiction of the Ministry. And while only a relatively small number of people would be on her potential list of people with the knowledge of 's schedule, that could total up to a hundred or more. The list of people with a reason to want to hurt or kill him... well, depending on how far one stretched it, that list could climb into the thousands.

A late night in the office indeed. Not for the first time since she'd started working at the Ministry, Hermione dearly wished the Wizarding World had developed the innovation of sending for takeaway for dinner.

But since they hadn't, and since she was working late, Hermione would have to figure out what she would eat for dinner, and where to get it. Something quick and easy so she could return to work.

Well, if you had nothing but open and shut cases, Hermione, you'd have been bored out of your mind within a month of becoming an Investigator.