Where Lily finds herself in a covert operation.
LILY XXIV
She Apparated into the entrance of the house. This was a small two-storey house in the town of Newton Abbot, barely five miles from the eastern border of the Dartmoor National Park where the Quidditch World Cup took place four days ago. Lily woke up early this morning, long before her son, to examine the crime scene once more. Miranda was already there.
"Finally. You're there," she told Lily, as she came out of the living room. "Now we can examine the crime scene together."
Lily nodded. Savage began immediately. "So, according to our observations from yesterday, the assassin came from the front door." Savage pointed the door right behind Lily, who moved away to look at it as well. "It was forced, and not by magical means. The most likely is that someone rammed the door using his shoulder, or used his feet to open it. Then he most likely ran down this corridor…" Miranda headed forward, Lily following her. "… to emerge in the living room, where our victim was."
A pool of blood on the sofa and under it indicated the place where the victim had been. "George Goldstein, sixty-three-years-old, single. He may not have had his wand with him. That would explain why he couldn't defend himself. His assassin just ran towards him, overturning almost everything on his way…" This was proven by the lamps and furniture that had been turned down along the way. "… and then he stabbed him in the heart. Mr Goldstein fell back on his sofa. Then the assassin seized his wand, and threw a Killing Curse on him, finishing him. Then, he most likely went outside, or at the second floor, although there is no sign of his presence on the second floor." Miranda walked to the other side of the house and looked up in the sky from the backdoor. "And he left this as a souvenir."
Lily looked up, although she already knew what she would find. High over their heads, over the house where they found the victim yesterday, a gigantic green skull was visible in the sky, a snake coming out of its mouth. She shivered. It had been so long since she saw this symbol. Muggles were lucky to not be able to see it.
"I suggest we look around again, in case we would have missed any clue," Miranda declared.
She and Lily began to search. They already searched it yesterday, but it was always a good thing to make another tour, in the eventuality they could find any additional clue to help them. They had been sent to this small house late in the afternoon yesterday, when the Dark Mark had been spotted over this little town, near the place where the Quidditch World Cup had taken place only a few days ago. They found the body of George Goldstein in his living room after they came in. The assassin was obviously gone, and they couldn't find a trace of where they had gone, so far. They asked questions to the people living around, but no one had seen anything. Despite the forceful way in which the murderer walked in, it was obvious he made everything to not be noticed by Muggles.
"I don't believe we'll find anything else useful here," Lily declared after some time. "I think it would be better to verify the clues that are still in the Ministry."
Savage agreed, and both women left. When they arrived in the atrium of the Ministry, almost everyone was reading today's edition of the Daily Prophet. The Return of the Dark Mark could be read anywhere around. Lily and Miranda needed quite some time to reach to Auror Headquarters. Despite being very early in the morning, the Ministry was already full. Almost all the services were solicited to manage the aftermath of the Quidditch World Cup. While many employees had to ensure that Muggles, especially the victims of that night and their families, would not remember any of this, to answer the numerous requests for compensation by people who lost goods or were injured during the riot, or to calm down the international community, Lily was involved in the management of what was the most important part of the work. They had to find the people still missing, solve the murder that took place a few miles away from the site a few days later, and investigate to identify and arrest the rioters. So far, only one was placed under arrest.
Being born in a loving Muggle family, Lily was never totally in agreement with the policy of erasing Muggles' memories and to hide the magical world from them. However, considering how her personal relationship with her sister suffered from the fact she was a wizard, and the hostility wizards and witches met from Muggles throughout history, Lily didn't blame some wizards who wished to remain hidden for safety reasons. Furthermore, after Lily spent significant time in the Wizarding World and came to understand enough how the wizarding wars could affect both worlds, she thought it might be a good thing to keep the two worlds separate, and somewhat prevent the conflicts in the Wizarding World to spill into the world of Muggles. The riots at the Quidditch World Cup were further proofs that there were good reasons to keep Muggles and wizards separated.
Miranda took place in her box while Lily went to her own. She barely had it for a month, but she already decorated it with photos of her deceased husband and of her son. She also had a photo of her own family when she was a child, her deceased parents along with her and Petunia. The rest of her office was occupied by documents, files and photos related to the cases she was investigating.
There was already a pile of notes, letters and memos that accumulated on her desk over the night. Lily took the one at the top of the pile. It was the autopsy report of their victim, George Goldstein, which was sent by the St Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries. Without surprise, and in accordance with their observations on the crime scene, the cause of death was a Killing Curse. The victim was stabbed in the heart in the minute preceding his death, most likely with a kitchen knife. There were also contusions on his left shoulder, most likely the result of a powerful pressure made by a human hand. This meant that the assassin grabbed the victim by the shoulder as he stabbed him.
Next came requests from various other departments and bodies within the Ministry, and also from journalists asking for information or an interview. Lily had replies prepared in advance for these, and she refused each and every one of these requests. She focused on the other notes in the pile that concerned her current investigation. One was about the knife that was used to stab the victim. It was a normal knife. It didn't belong to Mr Goldstein, and it may have been bought or stolen anywhere in the town or outside of it. For now, there didn't seem to be any way to determine who this knife belonged to and where it came from. As for the wand of Mr Goldstein, which had disappeared, it was confirmed that it was this wand that killed him. The magical signature of the wand was identified as the victim worked at the Ministry a long time ago and his wand had been registered. As for the report on fingerprints found on the crime scene, it led to nothing. They picked up some prints that may come from the assassin, but they couldn't identify him so far. The forensic team within the Department of Magical Law Enforcement had been established only a few years ago, under Amelia Bones' decision to increase the Ministry's capacity to identify the culprits of crimes. Lily had learned of it during her Auror training. However, forensics were still technically in their infancy as means to find and condemn criminals in the Wizarding World. It took time to obtain information and results. For example, Lily recovered the tapes of the security systems in Newton Abbot on the day of the murder, in the hope that they might spot the assassin on them, and the forensic team was still processing them. To their defense, they had a lot of work and weren't used to exploit recent Muggle technology. Most of the time, they dealt with photos, not videos, and it was particularly difficult to exploit them in a place with so much magic around that usually disrupted all Muggle technologies.
Lily wished they could process these proofs faster. That night, of August 18 to 19, she was on the first line as she tried, along with many people from the Ministry, to neutralize the rioters who bore masks of Death Eaters and were torturing the Muggle family who managed the camping site. Lily had tried her best to neutralize the spells those people used on the poor family, but the efforts of the Ministry were uncoordinated. As a result, the Death Eaters spent hours setting the site on fire, throwing spells all around that hurt innocent people, and doing the unimaginable to mock the four Muggles. Coming from such a family, Lily was especially infuriated by this. Over the hours, the Ministry's people, with the help of some others who came to assist, including half the Weasley family, managed to corner the rioters, remove all civilian people far away from the site of the riot, and to save the family. However, most Death Eaters had Apparated by this time, and they could only catch one of them. He was right now being detained and questioned by the Aurors, although Lily personally didn't take part to the interrogation.
For herself, Lily dedicated most of her time after the riots to find the missing people on the site. Some had been hiding in trees, and even dug large holes into the ground. There were also those who Apparated away from the site and went home, but never informed the authorities that they were safe. Before the murder at Newton Abbot, Lily was entirely focused on the search and rescue operations at Dartmoor. Now, she had something else to deal with. Despite this murder, who she and Miranda were made responsible of, they were both expected to go back to Dartmoor to support the searching there. Lily felt that this would be another very long day.
Another note landed on her desk as Lily was reading an official letter from Minister's office to all his employees, encouraging them to continue their work, highlighting how the next few days would be crucial, and thanking them for the work that was already performed. Lily was about to toss it away to read it later when she noticed a notice of emergency and secrecy written on it. She knew that these messages were to be opened immediately, then destroyed right after. She looked around. No one seemed to be staring at her. The interest in the Mother Who Lived significantly lowered after three years of training and a month spent working as an Auror, and people in the Ministry looked at her in a more casual way. Lily opened it, and it was probably the shortest message she ever read coming from a Ministry's official.
PRESENCE REQUIRED IN THE OFFICE OF AMELIA BONES.
IMMEDIATELY.
The message consumed itself the moment she stopped reading it. Lily stood up right away. Normally, when Amelia Bones asked for someone's immediate presence, it meant that it was serious. As she headed through the corridors towards the office in question, Miranda caught up on her.
"You received the same message?" Savage asked Lily. She nodded in return.
They didn't say another word until they arrived in front of the office of the Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. Amelia Bones' personal assistant indicated them to go in without a word, and they did so. The moment they were both in, the door closed behind them, and Lily heard multiple locks being put into place. The woman who summoned them was waiting behind her office, like always.
"Sit. Both of you," she ordered immediately.
Miranda and Lily did as they were told. Within the department, and across the whole Ministry in general, when Amelia Bones gave an order, it was being followed. She closed a file she was reading the moment they sat down and looked straight at both of them.
"Thank you for coming on short notice. Everything we will say going forward will not leave this office. No one within the Ministry, not even the Minister himself, is to learn about what will be said in this room. Am I well understood?"
Lily was surprised by her words and what she demanded of them. In the Ministry of Magic, Amelia Bones had the reputation of being the most straight, upright, loyal, competent and incorruptible person. She was the opposite of most heads of department. Most of the people who reached high positions in the Ministry of Magic were viewed as politicians and bureaucrats, ambitious people willing to do everything to earn a promotion, and eventually to become Minister of Magic. Some did it by avoiding responsibility for their failures and taking the credit for any accomplishment, whether they had a hand in it or not. Others got it through flattery, or even outright corruption. There were also workaholics who worked day and night for the mere sake of reaching the highest position possible. Amelia Bones, however, did not fit into any of these categories.
This woman, whose brother Lily had known quite well, had begun as a simple clerk, and progressively earned promotion after promotion through her hard work and qualifications. Occupying an intermediary position within the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, she played a key, though not very visible role in the trials that followed Voldemort's fall and sent many of his supporters at Azkaban. After Bartemius Crouch lost significant support following the condemnation of his son, rumors circulated that Millicent Bagnold was thinking about replacing him, and Amelia was among the candidates, although not the one most people expected to succeed Crouch. But Bagnold left Crouch in his position, and it was only in 1990, when Cornelius Fudge became Minister of Magic, that he removed Bartemius Crouch from his office and put him in charge of the Department of International Magical Cooperation. This was his first act as Minister of Magic. His second act was to name Amelia Bones to replace him. This had taken everyone by surprise and was widely considered as one of the best decisions Cornelius Fudge made at the beginning of his mandate, and even of his whole mandate. Fudge had a certain reputation that made people disposed to believe he was corrupted, and an opportunist. Many people expected him to name one of his close supporters, something Amelia Bones wasn't since she stayed away from politics, and his decision to place this woman at the head of the most powerful department was seen unanimously in a positive light.
In Lily's opinion, two people were responsible for the success of Cornelius Fudge's mandate: Albus Dumbledore, one of his main advisor, and Amelia Bones. The woman handled her department with an iron wrist, but also with fairness, for both her employees, people suspected of crimes and the wizarding population in general. She stayed out of the spotlight, the Minister not hesitating to take credit for her accomplishments, as she made sure that law was enforced fairly and quickly across the United Kingdom and Ireland. She was the perfect example of a public servant who did everything that was expected from her without looking for recognition or reward, which probably explained why Fudge appreciated her in her function despite the fact she was no political ally of him.
This loyalty to the Ministry and the Minister were why Lily found strange that she asked them to not say anything to the Minister about the conversation they were about to have. However, just like Miranda, Lily promised to not say a word about it. If Amelia Bones said the Minister was not to know about something, Lily had the feeling that there had to be very good reasons for this.
"I am aware of your current investigation about the murder of George Goldstein." She pushed a file towards them. "Another murder was committed at Dartmoor, during the night of the Quidditch World Cup. These two murders could be related."
Lily picked the file immediately and proceeded to go through it. If another murder was committed, indeed, it could give them clues that would lead them to the assassin.
"When was the body found?" Miranda asked in the meantime.
"At six o'clock in the morning, during the first hours of search on the site," Madam Bones replied.
"Why haven't we been informed before?"
"In part because the victim is not human."
"It's an elf," Lily confirmed, falling upon the picture of the victim.
"The investigation was led by the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures, and it concluded to an accident yesterday. But I don't believe it."
Lily didn't believe it either. The photo showed the body of the elf, covered with blood, a deep hole in the stomach. She showed it to Miranda. "Stabbed in the heart. Just like our victim."
"There is the very reason why this reunion must remain a secret," Amelia Bones resumed. "The elf's name is Winky. She was the personal house-elf of Bartemius Crouch."
This revelation had the effect of a bomb. The three women remained silent, Madam Bones indicating very clearly from her expression that she was being very serious.
"Why wasn't this investigation handed to the Aurors?" Miranda asked. "Or at least someone in Magical Law Enforcement? We're talking about a house-elf, but I would expect Mr Crouch to demand the head of the person who did this."
"This is where the story gets very strange," Amelia Bones stated. "Mr Crouch requested himself that the investigation be handled by the department responsible for magical creatures. And there are some elements that suggest that Mr Crouch may have encouraged the responsible investigator to conclude to an accident."
Lily indeed found it strange as well. Considering how proud Bartemius Crouch was, she didn't see why he would want the death of his house-elf to go unpunished. She knew that many wizards didn't give much consideration to house-elves and viewed them more as property than as living beings, but having a house-elf was still a great pride for many families, and she didn't see Crouch dismiss his house-elf murder anymore than she could imagine the Malfoys allowing their own house-elf to leave their service.
"That doesn't make any sense," Savage said, echoing Lily's thoughts.
"On that, we agree," Amelia Bones replied.
"Do you suspect Mr Crouch to have murdered his own house-elf?"
Lily feared that she might have gone too far with that question. Miranda obviously seemed to think so, but Madam Bones barely reacted. When she spoke next, her voice was calm and even as always.
"For now, we don't have any proof. All we know is that Mr Crouch's elf was likely murdered, and he seems to not want to know how she died. When I offered him to have my own men lead the investigation, he flatly refused, under the pretext that people in the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures were already taking care of it. To me, it doesn't make any sense. I almost expected Crouch to show up in my office the moment her body was found and to demand that I find the culprit. This behavior is not normal at all. He's hiding something."
"That's why this discussion must remain secret, I guess." Miranda said. Lily noticed a small impatience in her tone.
"Yes. Bringing accusations against a high-ranking official of the Ministry like Mr Crouch is very risky," Madam Bones explained. "For now, we're not accusing him of anything. But if it is likely that he obstructed an investigation, then an inquiry must be led on the matter. And since this elf was found dead near the place where your murder took place, I'm informing you and giving you the mandate to investigate the murder of the house-elf Winky. Officially, you're still in charge of investigating George Goldstein's murder, and you will continue this investigation in the public eye in the very same way as before. But you must also investigate the other murder in secret. No one else than the three of us will be aware of this. Not even the Minister Fudge must be made aware of this. We must avoid any risk that Mr Crouch be informed that we continue to investigate his elf's death."
"In this case, that means we must interrogate witnesses without them realizing what we're looking for?" Lily asked and declared at the same time.
"Correct."
"What about the body? Can we have access to it?" Miranda asked.
"I'm afraid not. As soon as the official investigation concluded to an accident, Crouch recovered it and buried it on his property. And considering the situation, I strongly advise you against any plan to exhume the body. This would reveal the truth to Crouch. Make your investigation, without anyone suspecting what you're after. You can use the murder of Goldstein as a cover." She looked at Lily now, and only at Lily. "I know that you've had contacts recently with another house-elf, and that he helped you while you were stationed at Hogwarts."
"Yes, he has." Dobby was weird, and way too enthusiastic, but he proved efficient and useful in his duty to watch over Harry. If she had not given him leave on that fateful evening in June, Harry may never have been attacked by Wormtail.
"You had more contacts with elves recently than Miranda and I together. I expect a lot from you, Evans. You are dismissed. And as I said, no word of this leaves this office."
The two Aurors left. Miranda had seized the file and transfigured it into a simple magazine to not spark any unwanted interest.
"Come to my home this evening. It will be a safer place to discuss about this. No word while we're at the Ministry," she told Lily.
Lily nodded. She guessed that she would be even more late this evening. She was already very late last night because of the murder they discovered, and now it would be even worse. As they reached the Auror Headquarters, however, a young man came to her.
"Mrs Evans, Minister Fudge is asking for you. He's waiting in his office."
Lily was taken aback by this request. More than anything, she feared that the discussion she just had with Amelia Bones may have been discovered. But she had no choice but to go and see the Minister if he requested it. Miranda shot her a warning gaze before she continued in the opposite direction.
The lift led Lily to the level one, where the Minister of Magic and his support staff were located. She only came here a few times before, including to receive her Order of Merlin First Class years ago, but she was still not very impressed by the luxury of the place. She finally arrived in an open space where several people were working. At the end of it, a large door with the name of Cornelius Fudge and his title on it was positioned. Lily stopped at the small desk near the beginning of this space.
"I was sent for by the Minister Fudge," she announced to the woman sitting there.
"Name?" she asked with a small voice.
"Lily Evans, Auror."
"Lily…" She snapped her head up. "Lily Evans Potter?"
Immediately, people stopped working around, and Lily sighed internally again. She was hoping this kind of things would stop happening as people got used to her presence, but it seemed that there were still people in the Ministry, even in Fudge's personal staff who had to be used to people of high standing, who were impressed by a family name. The woman went back to consulting her papers. She probably managed Fudge's schedule.
"Yes… The Minister will receive you soon… He's in a meeting with…" The door of the Minister's office opened to let out another woman with the appearance of a toad. "Sorry, he can receive you now."
Relieved to not have to wait, Lily thanked the woman still sitting and walked forward, all eyes on her. However, if she hoped to make her way without being stopped, she soon proved very wrong, as the woman who just walked out of the Minister's office met her halfway, and spoke to her in a high-pitched voice.
"Lily. What a pleasure to see you again." Lily doubted she ever spoke to this woman. "But where are my manners. We've met before, but we were never introduced properly. Dolores Jane Umbridge, Senior Undersecretary to the Minister."
She offered her hand. Lily reluctantly shook it. "You don't need to introduce yourself, Dolores. Everyone here knows who you are. Now, please forgive me, but I've got an appointment with the Minister."
Not giving a moment to reply, Lily walked past her and into the office, whose door was left open. It closed behind her. Fudge was behind his desk, writing. Before he called Lily, she noticed how this office looked even more opulent than before. Under Millicent Bagnold, it was not as richly decorated, or so she thought. It had been many years after all since she set foot in this place.
"Lily. Please, take a seat," the Minister told her, putting his paper and ink aside.
"You asked for me, Minister?"
"Yes. I have." He stopped for a moment and looked at her. "I received a complaint."
Lily frowned. A complaint? Well, if she thought this meeting had something to do with the discussion she just had with Amelia Bones, she was likely wrong.
"A complaint?" she asked.
"Yes. Nothing serious, of course. And… the complaint has not been filed officially… and I would rather prefer if we could keep it secret and deal with it behind closed doors, without any official record of it. To me, it would be useless to involve the Ministry's bureaucracy into all that, and this is not a serious enough matter."
Lily was more perplex by the minute. If this wasn't a serious matter, she wondered why the Minister wanted to talk to her about it, and why he cared so much about keeping it a secret. Well, considering the large amount of work she had to do, she preferred if they could be over with it quickly.
"Has someone complained about the quality of my work?" she asked.
"What? No. Not at all. No, your work as an Auror has so far been… exemplary. The complaint is not about you. Well, it is, but only indirectly." The Minister took a pause, as if he was mustering courage to speak. He looked quite troubled. "It is about your son, Harry."
Lily's attitude change immediately. "Someone made a complaint against my son?"
"Yes. Unofficially, like I said. And… This might be nothing, a simple misunderstanding, but I need to address it."
"May I know what my son is being accused of? And who accuses him?"
"He is not accused of anything," Fudge said. "And he's not going to be accused of anything. All of this is off the books." He took a deep breath. "Lucius Malfoy came to see me yesterday. He says that according to his son, Harry would have petrified him the night when… the events took place at the Quidditch World Cup."
Lily was stunned. She had no knowledge of this. However, she decided it was better to be prudent. It was obvious that the Minister was not done talking.
"Lucius came to see me privately. He said that he didn't want to file an official complaint, to spare his son the ordeal of going through an official process, but he wanted me to deal with this. So…" The Minister looked highly uncomfortable. "Look, Lily. I… I quite struggle to believe that Harry would have done something like this, but… It is Lucius' son who is accusing him, and… I cannot really ignore it."
Lily didn't have trouble guessing why. Someone only needed to remember how the Malfoys found themselves invited by Cornelius as his friends to the Quidditch World Cup. He had invited Lily and Harry too, but she suspected that it was mainly for political reasons. Cornelius introduced her and Harry to the Bulgarian Minister of Magic before the match started, and this had caused quite a lot of impressed reaction from the Bulgarian delegation. Even in Eastern Europe, her name and Harry's were known. Cornelius wanted to be seen with her to impress others, for the sake of public relations. For the Malfoys, however, the main reason was their money. Since he was absolved of his crimes for the time he spent following Voldemort, Lucius Malfoy worked his image, and paid substantial sums to the right people to be accepted again in the society. Lily highly suspected that part of the reasons why Fudge was elected had been because of the financial support of the Malfoys. Although Fudge was no pure-blood supremacist, he obviously had prejudices against Muggles. She didn't think he had any prejudice against half-blood or Muggle-born wizards. Nothing suggested such. But he was obviously of those wizards who didn't see Muggles as people who mattered as much, without having any wish to exterminate or mistreat them in any way at the same time. In that sense, Fudge must have been the candidate the Malfoys favored the most, instead of Dumbledore or even Crouch.
"What is Draco… This is the name of Lucius Malfoy's son, isn't it?" she asked Cornelius.
"Yes, it is. I remember his name now," he confirmed.
"What is Draco accusing my son of, exactly? Did he say what were the circumstances when it happened? How Harry petrified him? Where it happened? When? If there were any witnesses?"
"Like I said… Lucius came to me, and just told me what his son said. I didn't pressure him for additional details." Well, that was going to help. "Look, Lily. I don't believe Harry meant any harm to Lucius' son. It must be a misunderstanding. If you could just… maybe… talk to him, and make sure that whatever happened… doesn't happen again… Or perhaps if he could just apologize, for whatever happened."
Lily rarely saw the Minister so uncomfortable. Perhaps he felt stuck between two fires. On one side, Lily and Harry, famous, widely seen in a very positive light across the community. On the other side, the Malfoys, rich, great political supporters, who Cornelius might owe many favors to.
"Minister," Lily began, "I think it would be to your benefit to know that Harry and Draco have no love for each other."
The Minister seemed surprised by her declaration. "Really?"
"Harry is in Gryffindor, Draco is a Slytherin. They are both the Seeker of their respective Quidditch team. But it goes beyond that. Two years ago, Harry broke Draco's nose."
Fudge was even more surprised. He looked thunderstruck, utterly shocked. "What the hell?"
"After the young Draco called his best friend a Mudblood."
Fudge looked stunned this time. She saw a point of being scandalized in his eyes. "Well… I had no idea…"
"The professors dealt with it. They both received detention. It was decided that there was no point signaling it to the Ministry."
"Yes, it's alright," Fudge assured right away. "I trust Dumbledore and his staff to handle whatever happens in Hogwarts. No need to trouble the Ministry about this. Only… this time, it happened outside the school grounds, in a place that was clearly under the authority of the Ministry."
"Look, Minister. I don't know what happened. Neither of us was there. But was Draco Malfoy hurt or injured in any way?"
"No. No, not at all. If he had been, Lucius would have told me. That's why I want to keep things unofficial. The young Malfoy was found very early in the morning by one of our people as we searched the area around the stadium. Like I said, no harm was done. I just… Just talk to your son, Lily, please. If anything happened… Just make sure we don't have to deal with that kind of things again. I'll owe you, personally. And I'll tell Lucius that I've dealt with the situation. That should be more than enough."
Lily nodded. "I'll talk to Harry."
Above that, she couldn't promise anything. The young Draco's accusations could be hollow. Lily didn't think it would be above him to do that. She didn't think Harry would never assault Lucius' son either, though if he did, there had to be a very good reason. She would talk to him later tonight, when she had time, and hoped that all these were only false accusations, the results of the father of one of Draco Malfoy's friends being detained right now.
"What did the Minister want?" Miranda asked her a few moments after she came back to the Auror Headquarters.
"Nothing very important. It was a personal matter. No link with our ongoing investigation."
Lily implied by that that he didn't know about their second investigation, and Miranda seemed to understand it. They went on to discuss Goldstein's murder, and later in the afternoon joined the ongoing efforts to clean the site of the Quidditch World Cup, which were still to be completed. Lily even found a man hiding in the lodge at the top of the stadium from where she attended the match.
In the evening, she went to see Miranda at her home. They decided on an approach to investigate the murder of the house-elf Winky. After lengthy discussions, it was decided that for now, Lily would lead the investigation on that front, because of her personal links. It soon proved to be the right choice to make.
Late in the night, Lily showed up at the gates of Hogwarts, and Dumbledore came to open the doors for her.
"I must say that I didn't expect to see you here this summer, Lily," the Headmaster said, though he was obviously glad to see her.
"I'm sorry, Dumbledore." She really was. Right now, she would give anything to be sleeping into her bed. "I need to see Dobby."
If Dumbledore was surprised, he didn't show it. "The house-elf who tried to help Harry a while ago."
"Yes. And I think you'll understand when I tell you what's going on."
Lily knew that her instructions prevented her from telling anybody about Winky's death, but Dumbledore could be trusted. If the old man had any reaction, it was one of concern and sadness by learning what happened to the poor elf.
"I understand completely, Lily. You can talk to Dobby as much as you can. We have a tendency to not realize it, but house-elves often talk to each other, and Winky and Dobby would have lived in the same social circles, being the house-elves of prominent families. You can count on my entire cooperation. And my discretion too."
"What do you make of all this?" she asked him. "The Death Eaters who reappear… The Dark Mark… These were not any people at the Quidditch World Cup. They were real Death Eaters. We caught Goyle on the site."
He was the only Death Eater who took part to the riots who was arrested. Few people knew it, even inside the Ministry. Either they wanted to keep it a secret until he could give names of his collaborators, or people didn't want the community to learn that a former Death Eater, exonerated by the Ministry, resumed his criminal activities.
"I'm of the opinion me too that whoever conducted those horrible acts were real Death Eaters. Or at least, their leaders were true followers of Voldemort. Some enthusiastic people may have followed them when they saw what was going on, but the initial plan likely came from true supporters. Have you interrogated Goyle?"
"No. But Miranda did. She couldn't get any information from him. He claims he has nothing to see with the murder at Newton Abbot."
"Which is possible. There is still a possibility that this murder and the riots are two separate events without any link. Although I highly doubt it."
"He also refused to name any of his accomplices. At least, that's what I heard."
Dumbledore nodded as they approached the entrance hall. "Be careful, Lily. I can feel we have dangerous times ahead of us."
"You believe Voldemort is involved?" she asked him.
"His supporters are, that's for sure. But that doesn't mean he gave orders. When the Chamber of Secrets was opened, it was due to Lucius Malfoy's actions, and he only wanted to get rid of Voldemort's diary while causing problems to Arthur. As far as I can tell, Voldemort is still in Albany, and he may have had no hand in what happened this summer. But it is clear that something is coming. His supporters are getting out of the shadows. Some are preparing something. We still don't know what Pettigrew was after when he tried to take some of Harry's blood."
Lily gritted her teeth as he said the name. Truthy be told, she was glad that Wormtail was dead. Though at the same time, it was true that they could have learned things from him. According to past events, Wormtail would probably not have resisted long during an interrogation. They had Severus to thank for this.
She had not spoken to Severus since that night. She was too worried about Harry to think about anything else, and she had to leave to report to her superiors in the Ministry anyway. Even if she had wanted to speak with him, she couldn't have.
"Ask all the questions you need to Dobby," Dumbledore said. "You know the way."
Lily headed through a door in the Entrance Hall. This gave on a corridor which she took alone, Dumbledore staying behind. She knew that this corridor led to the common room of Hufflepuff, but this wasn't where she was heading. She already knew what she had to do from last year. She stopped in front of the portrait, scratched the green pear, and a large door appeared. She opened it.
Hogwarts' kitchens were just as vast as the Great Hall itself, under which they were located. They had the same large tables from where the dishes were sent up each day. However, today, only a few professors and members of the staff were still present in the school during summer holidays, and as a result very few house-elves were present either. Lily was under no illusion that they took vacation, but they were most likely maintaining the school and doing repairs in other parts of the castle. Despite this, she didn't need to look long to find who she came for, as a small elf ran towards her immediately.
"Lily Evans!" Dobby was standing in front of her in no time, and this time without needing to Apparate.
"Hi Dobby," she said, smiling. Despite the blunders he committed, she had to admit she became quite fond of the elf last year, when he helped to keep an eye on Harry.
"Dobby is very sorry. He didn't know Lily Evans was coming. Or else he would have prepared tea."
Before Lily could say anything, half a dozen elves showed up with a complete service. She rolled her eyes. "Thank you very much," she told them. "But I'm afraid I don't have time." She turned back to the elf she came for. "Dobby, I need to talk with you. Alone. Is there a place where we could talk in private?"
"Yes, of course, Lily Evans," Dobby replied immediately. "Dobby can find a place outside the kitchens. Dobby can also bring the tea. You can take it while we discuss."
She sighed internally. After all, she didn't want those elves to feel guilty for preparing it. "Okay. But next time," she told the other elves, "wait for an answer. Or else, you might work for nothing, or prepare the wrong thing."
The other elves promised her to be careful the next time. Dobby brought the tea tray with him.
"You can use your powers to carry it Dobby if you want," thinking about his frail stature.
"Thank you, Lily Evans. But Dobby really likes to carry it with his hands. Here. We will be quiet."
He stopped before rows of barrels, and tapped on a few of them, opening a passageway.
"Are you sure?" Lily asked the house-elf, surprised by his choice of a place. This was Hufflepuff's common room.
"The common rooms are empty at this time of the year," Dobby explained. "Dobby would never bring Lily Evans to a place where they could not talk in private."
She guessed he was right, and followed him inside. Dobby placed the tray on a small table in front of which Lily sat down.
"You can sit down, Dobby," she told him, and the elf gladly did as she told him. He may be free, but he was still waiting for humans to tell him before he could sit down.
"What can Dobby do for Lily Evans?" he asked, seeming ready to answer any question. Lily took a photo inside her robes and handed it to Dobby.
"Do you know this elf?"
Dobby's eyes widened. "Yes. Dobby knows her. She is Winky. She works for the Crouch family."
"Yes. I know. You know her well?"
"Oh, yes. She and Dobby met many times. The Malfoys and the Crouches met from time to time, and Dobby went to visit her after Harry Potter freed him. She is a good friend of Dobby."
Well, this was both a good and a bad thing.
"Dobby." She took back the photo. "I'm afraid I have bad news. Winky is dead."
First, Dobby looked stunned, his eyes still widened. Then his body began to shake. "Winky… is dead?"
"Yes, Dobby. It happened a few days ago, during the riots of the Quidditch World Cup. You must have heard about them."
Dobby nodded, just as large tears began to roll out of his eyes. "Yes. Dobby was worried for Lily Evans and Harry Potter. He knew they were there. But… Winky."
His voice was reduced to a whisper, and he looked down. His ears lowered as well. Lily let him cry in silence. If there was a moment when she felt pity for Dobby, it was now.
"Dobby," she kindly whispered after a moment. He looked back at her, his eyes still full of tears. "I'm really sorry. But I need you help." Dobby wiped the tears from his eyes with his clothes, an assortment that turned weirder each time Lily saw him. "We believe that Winky was murdered."
Dobby's eyes widened even more. "Winky… was killed?"
"We believe so. I'm trying to find out who did this. You seem to have known her well. Can you help me?"
All of a sudden, the elf stood straight. "Dobby will do everything to help Lily Evans, and to help Winky too." He wiped any big tear. "Dobby doesn't understand. Winky was kind. She never caused any trouble. She worked very hard. Who would like to kill her?"
"That's the question," Lily confirmed. "But Dobby, I need you to promise that you will not talk about this with anybody. I'm not even supposed to investigate her death. Officially, she died as the result of an accident. But I don't believe it. So you must promise me that you will not talk about her death to anybody, nor about my investigation or anything we discuss tonight. Not even Dumbledore or any professor of this school. Nobody. You can do that?"
Dobby nodded. "Dobby promises. If he ever talks about it, Dobby will cut his own tongue and throw it into the fire."
"I defend you from doing this," she warned him. "Just promise."
"Dobby promises. And he will not cut his tongue and throw it in the fire if he fails his promise."
"Nor will you do yourself any harm if you let it slip by mistake. Your promise suffices to me. Am I clear enough, Dobby?" The elf nodded. "Good. Now, I need to know. To your knowledge, did Winky have any enemies? People who hated her? Or had anything against her? Who she might have upsetted?"
"Oh no. Winky was the kindest house-elf you could meet. She worked hard, never complained about anything. She didn't want freedom like Dobby did. All she wanted was to serve her master as long as she lived."
"Bartemius Crouch?"
"Yes, and his family. Winky always said she was happy to work for them."
"Really?" Considering what she knew of Bartemius Crouch, she had her doubts.
"Yes. In fact, Dobby would have liked to work for Mr Crouch."
"You did?"
"Yes. When Dobby was serving the Malfoys, he and Winky talked a lot. Mr Crouch was hard with Winky. He made her work a lot, and he never thanked her for anything she did." This didn't surprise Lily. "But he never mistreated Winky. He never hit her or forced her to harm herself in any way. The worst punishment he ever gave her was to deprive her of food for an entire day. And Winky assured that it was her fault, and that she deserved it." The latter didn't surprise Lily either, considering how elves behaved in general. Dobby was almost an exception. The details he gave before though left her puzzled. "Mr Crouch was hard, but fair. Like Dobby said, Winky was never mistreated. She ate better than Dobby did, and than most house-elves too. Once, Winky got badly burned while working. She was forced to stay in bed for an entire week. She couldn't heal herself. Mr Crouch had house-elves from other families and even healers come to take care of her, and he only forced her to resume her work once she fully recovered."
This latest anecdote did surprise Lily a lot. She hardly pictured Crouch caring about someone, even less a house-elf.
"Do you think Winky was telling you the truth?" she asked.
"Oh, yes. Winky always told Dobby the truth. Sometimes, there were things she refused to talk about. She said she would never betray the secrets of Mr Crouch. But she never lied."
"Secrets? What secrets?"
"Winky never told Dobby." The elf seemed very sorry to not be able to answer.
"Dobby, I have a question to ask you, and please answer very carefully. Just tell me the truth. Do you think that Bartemius Crouch could have Winky killed?"
Dobby didn't answer for a long moment. "No. No! This is impossible. Mr Crouch always treated Winky well. He couldn't have…" Dobby cowered on the sofa where he sat down. "Things have gotten better for elves since He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named died. Masters cannot kill their house-elf like before. Dobby thought…"
"Look, Dobby. We don't know who killed Winky. But Mr Crouch had a strange behavior following her death. He had the investigation of her death given to a minor service in the Ministry, and he seems to have worked for this investigation to be short and to conclude to an accident. We suspect him, but we don't know if he did it. Do you think he could have?"
"Dobby doesn't see how it is possible," he answered after a moment. "Mr Crouch wasn't very kind with Winky, but he was a far better master than most. He never mistreated her. Winky always served him so loyally. She worked so hard. Mr Crouch rarely had any cause to blame her. Winky… Dobby doesn't see how it is possible."
"Mr Crouch never showed any sign that he was even displeased with Winky? Or angry at her?"
"Oh, yes, sometimes. But it was very rare. And Mr Crouch never did more to Winky than to yell at her, or to deprive her of food for a day. He… Winky said he relied on her. She was one of the very few he trusted. Especially after Mrs Crouch's death." Dobby wiped yet another tear. "Winky always said that Mrs Crouch was kind with her. Once, Dobby saw her mistress instruct Winky to rest because she was obviously exhausted. She was always so kind with Winky. It was very hard for Winky when she died. She said she had to look after Mr Crouch, or else he wouldn't have survived his wife's death."
It didn't seem like Crouch had any reason to kill Winky. At least, not from what Dobby told Lily. Perhaps he had personal reasons to not want to solve her murder though. And there were those secrets Winky claimed she knew about her family.
"Dobby, you are really sure that no one would have wanted Winky's death?" she asked him very kindly.
"No." Dobby wiped yet a few other big tears. "The only thing that Dobby can see… is that someone might have wanted to harm Mr Crouch through her. Winky would have been ready to die for her master."
That was something Lily didn't think about. She thought about Winky's murder as targeting the elf. What if Crouch was the one being targeted? But then, again, why would Crouch not want to find out who committed the murder if that was the case?
"Can Dobby ask a question?" the elf squealed.
"Yes, of course, Dobby. Ask."
"How… how did Winky die? Did… did she suffer?"
It was difficult for Lily to answer, but she at least owed it to Dobby. "She was stabbed in the heart. Probably with a broken tree branch. We're not sure."
As she looked at Dobby crying, something came to Lily's mind. House elves were powerful magical beings. Their powers were great. Why didn't Winky defend herself?
"Dobby, could Winky use her powers?"
Between two sobs, the elf replied. "Only when Mr Crouch commanded her. Or to protect herself. Mr Crouch said that Winky could do whatever was necessary to save his and her life if he or she was in danger."
So, Winky should have been able to defend herself. That a powerful elf was stabbed with something as common as a tree branch was very odd. Either she was taken by surprise, or she didn't want to defend herself. And she may not have fought back if her master was the one who did it and made it look like an accident.
"Thank you, Dobby. I know it must be hard, but you've been very helpful. And please, I know it must be hard, but don't talk about that to anybody."
The elf nodded, meaning he wouldn't say anything. Lily led him back to the kitchens. They barely touched the tea. After that, Lily went back to the Entrance Hall. She was about to leave the castle when her eyes fell upon the corridor that led to the dungeons. Was he there? After a certain time debating about it internally, she decided to head down. After all, she had to do it, one day or another.
She followed the dark and damp corridors until she reached his classroom. It was full of jars and vials that Lily knew were potions' ingredients, but there was no trace of Severus Snape here. She then went to his office, which she easily opened the door, but it was empty as well. She guessed he didn't return to Hogwarts yet. Well, she didn't really feel the need to search for him through the entire castle. Despite what he did the last time they saw each other.
"For once, I wanted to thank you," she said to the empty office.
It didn't erase everything he did, but Lily had wanted to thank him for saving her son all the same. She would do it another day, it seemed. She left the office and closed the door behind her. She then walked out of the castle, travelled the courtyard, and Apparated once outside the school grounds. When she arrived home, Harry was asleep. After checking on him, she went to bed herself and fell asleep right away, to wake up way too early the next day.
As you can see, the Quidditch World Cup saw events differing from canon, but tragic events nonetheless.
Please review.
Next chapter: Hermione