CHAPTER 29: How To Get Away With Murder (Part 5)

Severus Snape's Office

7:00 p.m.

"Head Auror Scrimgeour," Snape drawled as he entered with Kingsley, Dawlish, Proudfoot, Savage, and Runcorn behind him. "It's prudent to knock rather than barging in unauthorized."

"Get up, Professor," he spoke in a hard tone, ignoring the man's remark. "We require your assistance searching the Slytherin quarters."

Snape kept on writing for a couple more seconds before turning towards the half-dozen man waiting expectantly for him. "As you wish," he sighed, looking more like a bored teenager who had been asked to do the dishes than the infamously strict Potions Master. "Lead the way."

Slytherin Common Room

6:15 a.m.

"Potter, Nott." Snape said coldly as he entered the common room with Parkinson in tow. "You've done an adequate job with cleaning up Potter's mess, excellent. The others?"

"We sent them to bed," Parkinson answered.

"They didn't seem particularly hesitant to the idea." Nott added.

"And the blade?"

"Here," Potter said tightly, pulling it out from within his robes, clutching it firmly. "What's that?"

"This," Snape emphasized as he placed the cauldron on a table in front of the two boys. "Is your salvation."

The trip to the Slytherin Common Room had been a short one. It wasn't located far from Snape's office and place of residence, something he'd made sure of when he first settled into the castle. The six men behind him, all tall and bulky from their years of training, walked tenaciously beside him. It felt more like they were leading him there than the other way around.

"Kingsley," Scrimgeour called out suddenly. "Go get the fifth-year boys, get Tonks to help you."

"Yes, sir," Kingsley nodded before separating from the group.

"Bringing my students into a potential crime scene?" Snape raised his eyebrow in disapproval.

"I'm sure we'll find something, and once we do, I want to see their faces."

"Some would consider that arrogance."

"I consider it being good at my job. Ah, here we are. The password, if you will, Professor."

"A potion?" Potter asked, not bothering to hide his disapproval. "What's that gonna do? Make everyone unable to see the knife or what?"

Snape sneered, glaring harshly at the boy. "If my solution is not to your standards, please, feel free to come up with your own."

"Unfortunately, you're all I have now, so I'll settle for you. What's it do?"

"Has your little dunderhead brain forgotten what I taught you in your first-ever Potions lesson, Potter?" The boy opened his mouth, most likely to come up with another snide remark, but he proceeded before being interrupted. "There are two types of concoctions designated as potions. The first is the commonly recognised potion, one that a witch or wizard drinks, causing it to have some sort of effect on them, their magic, intelligence, ability, luck, among other things. The second one is a tincture, a concoction applied to a non-living being - usually present in magical rituals, most of which are no longer performed. This is a tincture, not a potion."

"It's going to erase your magical signature from the knife." Parkinson spoke up.

"That's simplifying things," Snape rolled his eyes. "The magical curse in the knife can only be harnessed by a magical being applying their own magic into the blade. To a muggle, this would be nothing more than a sharper than usual kitchen knife. This causes the user's magical signature to be imprinted upon the knife, easily found by any competent Auror. The tincture will rid the knife of all imprinted magic - the curse shall remain upon it, but there will be no magical signatures recorded by it. It would be as if it was brand new, and never used before."

"Proudfoot, Runcorn, follow me to the fifth-year boy's dormitory, Savage and Dawlish, you get started with the fifth-year girl's dormitory. I doubt you'll find anything there, but one of his classmates may have hidden it for him."

"You speak as though you already have a suspect." Snape commented offhandedly, watching from the corner of the room.

"As a matter of fact, I do." Scrimgeour said pompously as his men followed their orders.

"And who is it, if I may ask?"

"Oh," Scrimgeour grinned. "I'll keep that to myself at the moment. Wouldn't want to ruin the surprise, would I?"

"Of course," he drawled dully as he walked towards one of the nearest chairs. "Please, inform me once you're done, so I can leave."

"So… all the magical signatures will be eliminated?" Potter asked in a tight voice.

"Indeed."

"Can't we just make it so only mine is erased? I mean, wouldn't it look suspicious for the knife to not have any evidence imprinted upon it?"

Snape rolled his eyes. "Obviously, which is why this is only the first step. The second will be finding our scapegoat, which…" he turned towards Pansy. "Are you sure you wish to go with your choice?"

"Yes," she nodded.

"You know what will happen. Sending someone to Azkaban is not a decision you make lightly."

"It's a decision we all made," Nott said determinedly. "The three of us. And we'll carry the burden, if we must."

"It's the best choice," Potter added. "It makes the most sense, specially with the family background, and if Pansy's right, and you have a way to incriminate her in a way none of the Aurors will be able to deny, then it's the only choice really."

"Very well… as long as you're all in agreement."

"Ah, come in, boys." Scrimgeour said in a bright voice, greeting the newcomers into the room. "Nothing to worry about, all your stuff will be neatly put back in place once we're done here."

Honestly, it was the least they could do. Their beds had been moved from their place and rid of their sheets, their trunks open with most of their stuff thrown to the middle of the room - even some of the floor had been removed, with the Aurors searching underneath.

"Looking for anything particular, Sir?" Malfoy asked, disgust clear on his face. "I'd appreciate if my belongings could be handled with more care."

"Yes, in fact. Forensics have discarded any magical spell, which points to the attack being made by a physical weapon. One that carries a curse with it."

"And you suspect us? How dare you! My father will hear about this!"

"It's merely procedural, Mister Malfoy." Scrimgeour placated the boy. "We don't expect to find anything here, we're just making our way up the year-groups."

"Starting with the fifth-years?" Zabini asked suspiciously.

"No student younger than you would have managed to pull off such an attack. As I said, it's merely procedural, I'm sure nothing will come out of it."

"How will you do it?" Potter asked.

"There's no way to avoid suspicion of you, Potter. Not completely, anyway. People will think it's you, your feud with Montague isn't exactly subtle. You've shown yourself to be ruthless and skilled in the past month, and Montague has been a big target of yours in the past month. The Aurors are coming, and any competent Auror will immediately suspect you. What we need to do is make sure their suspicions don't matter. We don't hide evidence, we give it all to them in a way where the culprit will be so clear, it won't matter who they suspect. We'll wipe any magical signatures off the knife, and once that's done, with imprint hers into it. As soon as the Aurors find the knife, they'll focus on the magical signature they find. Once they connect the dots, their suspicions won't matter anymore. In the eyes of the law, she'll be guilty, and any involvement from you will become paranoid accusations or disproven hypotheses - depending on the person."

"But how can we imprint her magical signature onto it? She's passed out, and even if she was awake, I'd doubt she'd cooperate." Nott asked.

"He'll use the Imperius curse," Potter said, his voice hollow as he stared into his eyes. "Isn't that right, Sir?

"For once, you are correct. It seems the saying is true, even a broken clock is right twice a day." Potter's face transformed into one of pure disgust. "You judge me? After what you did to that idiotic boy, you have the gall to judge me?"

"What I did is a scratch compared to an Unforgivable curse. There's a reason why they're called that, why, out of all the curses in existence, those are the only three classified that way. But you know that by now, don't you? Moody taught us the Unforgivables affect everyone different over time. I wonder what effect have they had on you, Professor. How can you live with it?"

"Judge me all you want, Potter. By now, you should know your word means nothing to me. However, I do find it curious how quickly your mind went to the Imperius Curse. I didn't cast my first Unforgivable until a few years after I left Hogwarts. Somehow, I'm sure you'll end up casting it sooner than that. Once you do, we'll see if you'll judge me as harshly. Specially when I'm doing this for your benefit."

"Sir, we found it!" One of the Aurors claimed as he entered the room.

"Where is it? Where did you find it?" Scrimgeour asked urgently, not bothering with lowering his language.

"Under the floorboards in the girl's dormitory. We're not sure who it belongs to, but we've found a magical signature on it."

"Are we certain that's the knife? Does the curse match Montague's injuries?"

"Savage is running forensics on it as we speak."

"If it matches, then we have the son of a bitch." He turned towards the Slytherins huddled on the other side of the room, staring directly at Harry. "Bring them with us, and go get the fifth-year Slytherin girls. Time to unmask our perpetrator."

"Do I just dip the knife into the cauldron or…?" Parkinson asked hesitantly, dangling the blade from the handle over the tincture.

"Drop it."

"Completely?" Snape raised an eyebrow at the unnecessary question. "Okay."

She opened her hand and the knife immediately dropped into the cauldron. There was a large splash, sending some of the concoction flying out of the cauldron. Immediately, a loud sizzling sound exploded from the cauldron, and a thick, black fume began rising from it. The process lasted over a minute, and by the time it was done, the knife was left clearly visible inside the empty cauldron.

"You're up, Professor." Potter said snidely.

"Rennerverate," Snape whispered to the girl who was propped up against the wall.

"What are we doing here?" Greengrass asked irately as she entered her dormitory. "And why are they here? Moreover, how are they here?"

"Do not concern yourself with that, Miss Greengrass. Come in, all of you. In our search of your dormitories-"

"You searched our dormitories?" Bulstrode screeched. "That's illegal!"

"We have a warrant, and in our search we found this." He held out the large blade, showing it to all the fifth-years. "This is the weapon that was used to attack Mister Montague, forensics on the curse placed upon the knife have confirmed the curse matches the one shown in Mister Montague's injuries. And it was found right here." The girls looked at each other, fear and apprehension colouring their features, while the boys, who already knew this, waited impatiently. "But it seems the perpetrator missed one small factor. Their magical signature was imprinted upon this blade. So, let's make this quick, shall we? Each of you will cast a wand-lighting charm, and Proudfoot will compare each of your signatures to the one in the blade."

"No." Parkinson said coldly.

"No?"

"For all we know, our magical signatures could've been planted on the knife. How do you know that didn't happen?"

"Because it's impossible." Scrimgeour said smoothly. "The way this blade works, a magical signature can only be imprinted if the blade was purposefully used to cut another person with it, focusing their magic on it. Magical signatures are not something that can be manipulated to frame someone so easily."

The students looked around hesitantly, but slowly, one by one began casting the charm. Harry was the first, with a droll expression, wanting to be anywhere else but here. Theo and Pansy lit their wands next before the rest followed. The Auror - Proudfoot, Harry assumed - began casting detection charms on the wands. Going from student to student, starting with the boys. Malfoy was cleared first, Crabbe and Goyle following before Theo, Blaise, and Harry were discarded. Scrimgeour tried to mask his look of shock when he was cleared, but it was still clear for the Slytherins to see.

"Sir," Proudfoot said firmly, standing in front of Tracey Davis. "We have a match."

Tracey Davis awoke with a start, looking around her in a hurried pace, her confusion clearer on her face by the second. Her eyes finally caught his own, and before she could say anything, Snape uttered "Imperio." Her body completely slumped, the myriad of expressions crossing in her face quickly replaced by an empty look in her eye. She looked like a broken rag doll, discarded on the floor.

The pain hit quickly and excruciatingly. It was as if his body began eating himself from the inside out. He focused his Occlumency on getting through the pain, ignoring the unfamiliar sensation he used to know so well. Clutching his middle with one hand, Snape reached for the blade from the cauldron.

"What?" Davis asked, her voice rising with panic. "No. No, I didn't. It wasn't me! I had nothing to do with the attacks!"

Scrimgeour didn't say anything, he gaped at her in shock as the Aurors in the room began to surround her.

"The evidence is incontrovertible," Proudfoot all but spat, towering over the girl. "The blade has your magical signature. You used this on someone."

"NO! I didn't! I swear, it wasn't me!"

"Proof like this cannot be faked," Runcorn said.

"It is! I swear! I didn't attack Montague, it wasn't me! I would have never done something so… so… EVIL! Please, believe me!"

"Grab the blade," Snape whispered, and Davis immediately complied, taking it from his hands with a tight grip.

"Do you see Mister Montague over there?"

She nodded.

"Carve his face with the knife, trace the M-shaped pattern that's already there."

Once again, the girl nodded before standing up. She walked towards Montague, her movements stiff and precise. Kneeling in front of him, without any hesitancy or emotion displayed, she jabbed the knife into the boy's face. She traced the pattern methodically, and even unconscious, the boy's body moved on its own, the effect of the curse becoming clearer on his face as the wound grew larger and more repulsive.

"How can you be so certain?" Dawlish asked suspiciously. "Didn't you tell us only a few hours ago that you couldn't remember anything from yesterday?"

"I don't!" She cried out.

"How convenient," the man looked at her distastefully.

"Drink this," Snape's silky voice said as he handed her a small vial with the Innocent's Downfall. Creating this concoction had been the test the Dark Lord had used on him all those years ago. Its perfection had granted him a seat in the table of the Inner Circle of Death Eaters - and even then, it wasn't even close to his most proud achievements of his Death Eater years. A part of him couldn't help but find it ironic how his work was now being used to save a Potter from going to Azkaban. Not after years of wishing that very thing in his youth.

Davis drank the liquid. Even with the imperius curse, the effects were immediately clear. Her previously emotionless face was becoming more and more aggrieved, her body shaking, until she finally couldn't hold it anymore. She dropped to the ground, her body trashing as she screamed through the effects.

"Wake the others up," he ordered the three Slytherins. "Give them the potion immediately. It won't work unless they're awake."

"Tracey Davis," Savage said authoritatively, conjuring a pair of handcuffs. "You are under arrest for the aggravated assault of seven of your peers and the murder of Graham Montague."

"WHAT!?" The girl exclaimed, but Harry wasn't putting attention to her anymore.

He looked between the other five - he hadn't imagined it. They were all looking at him intensely. His eyes widened as he realised this and quickly looked away, something the other Slytherins quickly did as well.

"It wasn't me!" She exclaimed, Runcorn and Proudfoot were restraining her as Savage placed the cuffs on her with her arms behind her back. Scrimgeour still hadn't managed to recover from his shock. "I didn't kill anyone! I was framed! Please, I didn't kill anyone! You have to believe me!"

"The evidence says otherwise, your trial will be nothing more than a formality at this point." Runcorn turned towards Scrimgeour. "What do we do with her, Head Auror?"

The man blinked rapidly, seemingly catching up with present events, but sighing resignedly. "Take her to lock-up, I'll inform Madam Bones." He turned towards the students, watching each carefully, before his eyes settled on Harry. "You may return to the Great Hall, if we have any more questions we'll contact you through your Head of House."

"What are we gonna do with them?" Nott asked. "Do we just leave them here or…"

"I'll take them to the Great Hall," Snape answered. "The Aurors will get suspicious if we don't try to cover this up. We can't make it too easy for them. By putting them in the Great Hall, it would serve to broaden the search to all four houses, as well as show that this was thought out. The potions in their system will back that up."

"And you're sure the imperius curse didn't affect the magical signature stuff?" Potter asked. "I mean, won't it show your magical signature instead of hers, since it was you who gave the order?"

"Not at all. As I'm sure you know, the imperius curse is impossible to detect or reverse by any other person other than the caster or victim. If it was so easy to detect it, it wouldn't be such a big threat to the Ministry. With Davis' magical signature, as well as her family co-owning the biggest apothecary chain in the country, her status as a Slytherin, and even her estranged sister being one of the victims, the Aurors won't have a hard time convicting her."

"So what now?" Parkinson asked. "It's almost seven, people are about to wake up."

"Indeed, but our work is far from over. You three, and the other dimwits, are not to speak to each other during the whole day. Not even allowed looking at each other until the Aurors are back in London, am I clear?" The students nodded. "The Aurors will also try to interview you. The best thing you can do is throw them off your scent. Act as bratty and obnoxious as you must, tell the others as well."

"Do we also tell Crabbe and Goyle and the rest?"

"I highly doubt they'll need instructing to make the Aurors want to rip their hair out from the root. They do that innately, already. Keep them off balance, chose a stereotype and commit to it fully. And you, Potter, you're a crappy liar. Scrimgeour didn't get to be Head Auror just because of age, the man can read people well. Don't try to lie to him. Tell the truth when he inevitably questions you on your relationship with Montague, and act as rude as possible. Don't try to play nice with him or use a poker face."

"Is that really a good idea?" The boy snorted. "To antagonise the leader of the witch hunt?"

"It's the only way you manage to get out of the interviews without your hands in handcuffs."

"And you two, don't try to hide Potter's hatred for Montague or his general attitude from the Aurors. They'll already suspect Potter, the last thing we need is for them to suspect you as well."

"Yes, sir." Nott and Parkinson echoed.

"Did you bring the antidotes from my private stores?" He asked the girl.

"Yes, sir." She handed him the small vials. "But are we sure it's the best idea? Without the potions I gave them, they could bleed to death."

"If they aren't bleeding out, the Aurors will suspect something. I'll time it so that Madam Pomfrey gets access to them just in time to save their lives, but it's crucial to give them this before they are found."

"And what about Tracey?"

"Put her up in her bed." He instructed. "When she wakes up, she won't be able to recall any events of the past twenty-four hours without massive headaches and contradicting memories. The Aurors are more likely to believe she's the attacker if she isn't found as one of the victims. At this point, I've taught you enough that you should be able to patch her up, so there's no evidence of the injuries from tonight."

"I'll get right on it."

"Nott, Parkinson, I assume you both have training in the mind arts. More specifically, Occlumency."

"Yes, sir." Nott said, Parkinson nodding alongside him. "Though only slightly. Just enough to keep people from doing mental scans without resorting to their wand and active Legilimency. But pretty much anyone from an old pure-blood house knows how to do that."

"I don't," Potter grinned sardonically.

"Indeed," Snape drawled. "Just like your father, a lazy scoundrel wasting his time with meaningless skills. That won't do anymore. You are to meet with me every evening, starting the moment the Aurors leave the school. I'm teaching you Occlumency."

"Joy, and here I was thinking we wouldn't have any more super secret meetings like this one."

"Unfortunately for us, your reckless and impulsive actions have set a chain of events that will undoubtedly lead to the seven of us become more acquainted with each other. This is far from over, there will be consequences for this. I hope you're ready when they arrive."

"Consequences harsher than dealing with you? Highly doubt it."

"Do not mock, boy," Snape spat. "These lessons are not optional. In your mind, there's plenty of evidence of me helping you cover this attack up. I will not have you expose that to anyone with basic knowledge of the mind arts, is that clear?"

"Crystal."

"Good. Now go to your beds and get as much sleep as you can. Our work tonight has just begun."

Madam Bones' Office

10:30 p.m.

"Come in," Madam Bones' voice greeted him as he knocked on the door to her office.

Stepping inside, he watched his superior concentrated on the parchment in front of hair. Her gray hair still held traces of the blond colour it held all those years ago, and watching her wrinkly face made him feel his age for the first time in the day. His mentor ever since he was a rookie in the Auror corps, he often forgot she was a witch in her nineties. Any woman twenty years younger would've already retired, but not her.

"I have the Montague report." He said after a moment of nothing but the sounds of her quill scratching on parchment filling the room.

"Leave it on my desk, please, Rufus." She said monotonously.

"I was hoping to talk to you about it, actually."

That made her stop.

"What about?" She asked, her eyes on his as he held her full attention.

"All the evidence points to the Davis girl being the attacker, the trial will be quick, and I doubt we'll need to use Veritaserum or anything of the sort…"

"However…" She offered for him after he went silent.

"I don't think she's guilty."

"I beg your pardon?"

"I don't think she did it." He repeated. "All the evidence points to her, it makes sense. But something in my gut is screaming at me that she isn't. I think she's been framed."

"They found her magical signature on the cursed knife. Forensics revealed that the blade had been the exact one that caused Montague's injuries."

"I know. Which means whoever framed her was good. Really good."

"You wouldn't come to me if you didn't have a suspect in mind."

"I do." He agreed. "But that's where it gets more confusing. It doesn't make sense, not the way things are. This… this couldn't have been a one-man job. He had to have had help. Maybe even that of an adult, or various."

"Who, Rufus?"

"Potter. Harry Potter."

"Harry Potter?"

"The last remaining Potter. He was the son of Lily and James Potter, both were killed back in the 80s."

"I didn't know they had a son."

"Indeed. Me neither until today."

"You said his parents were killed?"

"Indeed," he nodded. "It was right after Voldemort was vanquished by the Longbottom boy, which is why most people forget about the Potters. James was a promising young Auror, he even led various successful raids that brought down some notorious Death Eaters - one of them being Montague's parents. There's not a lot of information on Lily, she didn't leave her house a lot or have a job. Both Potters were pretty reclusive, but rumours are that they had their own ways of fighting You-Know-Who."

"They were part of the Order?"

"It's only rumours, but given the rather gruesome way they were murdered by Death Eaters, I think it's likely."

"And you think their kid was behind this attack?"

"He's a Slytherin. He has the personal connection with Montague, not just because of what his father did, but in school they were known rivals. Potter also has all the markings of a dark wizard in the making. Amelia, you should've seen him. That kid is someone we need to look out for. I'm sure he's the one who killed Montague, please, let me look into him. Stall the Davis case until I have further information."

"Rufus, I can't stop a criminal trial just because of a gut feeling. The evidence against Miss Davis is abundant, and when parents find out there has been a murder at Hogwarts, they'll want us to give them the culprit as soon as possible."

"She could be innocent, she is innocent, I know it, Amelia!" Rufus exclaimed. "She doesn't belong in Azkaban, she won't last two months in there."

"I'm sorry, I really am. But with the amount of evidence there is, I can't stop this. I'd be obstructing justice if I did. The trial stands, the sooner we get over with it the better."

"And Potter? Can I investigate him, at least?"

"Did you find any evidence pointing to Potter being a subject of interest?" Rufus opened his mouth to answer, but she interjected first. "No circumstantial evidence."

"No," he sighed.

"Then I'm sorry, Rufus. But I won't authorize it. Potter's still underage and there's nothing that points to him being involved."

"He is, I'm never wrong with these things. I promise you, Potter's behind this. And who knows who else. They all cooperated to frame Miss Davis for this murder."

"I don't doubt your instincts, but my hands are tied." Rufus gripped his wand tightly, forcing himself to calm down. "Look. If Potter's involved with any other big incident in the future, then you can investigate him… discretely. But until then, he's off limits."

He sighed. "Yes, ma'am."

And that concludes the HTGAWM arc! Of course, things are far from over, there are still numerous consequences that will come from this. I hope you enjoyed this arc as a whole. It was hard writing POVs from people that aren't Harry and making the formatting of the flashbacks and flash forwards work. Like I said in my previous A/N, it was a fun experiment, but I'm eager to get back to the story. I mean, this past 9 chapters have all taken place in less than 48 hours in universe time! That's insane!

Next chapter new key characters will be introduced, the Golden Trio will show up, and the Six Slytherins will discuss how they can move forward knowing what they just did.

As always, thank you for reading, favouriting, and commenting! I appreciate all of you! :)

I've decided to open my own discord server where I'm going to be active and will include the opportunity to get the chapters earlier! Please, feel free to join using the following link: discord . gg / jyPfbGqhJT