"More theories, Evans?" Moody asked.

Lily smiled at her boss and mentor. His tone was harsh, but she knew he was interested in listening to her new theories, not caring much how crazy they were.

"Yes, a bit more direct now."

Moody raised his eyebrows. They were sharing a table in the same pub as before, a neutral place where no one seemed to care about them.

"Please, do tell."

"Actually, sir, it's the same theory. About the murder," she said. Moody focused both of his eyes on her.

"Still reckon it was Muggle?"

Lily nodded and explained her suspicion of a vein of Jack's being used for the murder based on the photographs they had of the murder scene.

"What do you need to keep following this lead?"

"So you agree with me?" Lily thought it would be much harder to convince her boss.

"You know much more about the Muggle aspect of our job than me. I'll trust your evaluation, Evans. What do you need?"

Lily hesitated. That was the hardest part.

"Oh, no, Evans. Spill it out," Moody grumbled, looking at the rest of the restaurant with his blue, vibrant eye. Lily sighed.

"The ideal would be me doing an investigation more…well, Muggle. The problem is that in cases like Jack's, the Muggles proceed with what's called an autopsy."

"And what's that?"

"Bluntly put, they, erm, cut the body to see if there's something wrong with it, or to see if there's any hint of what might've happened, and they take some samples from blood, urine and other organs that might help."

Moody again looked at Lily with both of his eyes. She didn't need to look to know her boss would be wearing an expression that mixed surprise and disgust.

"What?"

"Well, Muggles can't do magic to help them, sir. There's nothing like that."

"And you wish to do that with the Minister's son?"

"I want a professional to do it," she corrected him calmly.

Moody scratched his neck and sipped his firewhiskey.

"And how are we supposed to find a Muggle to do that? We'd need to Obliviate him afterwards."

"I've got one in mind, sir, that would be perfect, because it wouldn't be a breach of the Secrecy Statue."

"Oh, no? And why not?"

"Because it's my father," Lily answered, and Moody raised a disfigured eyebrow. "He works with that, and obviously already knows about the Wizarding World. I can ask him a favour."

"Logistics?"

"I could take him to the Ministry through the visitor's entrance and he'd do everything there. If he needs exams or something, we can take it to a private lab under a fake name. But the initial part can be done at the Ministry."

Moody stopped to think for a few moments, and Lily understood his hesitation, so she waited in silence, biting her lower lip, until Moody sighed.

"Alright, you've convinced me. But you're the one to talk to the Ministry."

Not that Lily feared the Minister, not at all. There were few things that scared Lily, and almost all of them involved people she loved, not herself. In reality, Lily respected the Minister greatly, for all she had been through and still maintaining strong and exemplary.

What she didn't want – and she wasn't sure how to avoid it – was to be disrespectful to the Minister, much less for the professional consequences and much more for her principles.

She updated Benjy and asked for his help. Her partner only suggested she should be as honest as possible, and talk calmly and gently, avoiding pressuring the Minister, but not undermining the importance of the procedure.

Which didn't help Lily at all, as she already had all of that in mind.

Lily pondered about asking Remus for help, who easily was one of the most gentle and sensible persons she knew, and she was sure he would have good advice – but she couldn't ask him, considering the whole secrecy surrounding the investigation.

So she kept thinking about it, trying to decide the best way to approach the subject while Moody didn't tell her with clarity when she would meet with the Minister.

Until it was announced that the Minister would attend the next game England would play, prime seats on the Top Box. A confused James gave away Top Box credentials to all of his friends, saying only they had been very lucky.

"Well, less lucky and more I need to talk to the Minister…" Lily explained as she grabbed her credential making a face.

The others simply nodded, and James frowned. However, he preferred to keep quiet. Since he had kissed her, they hadn't had a single moment alone. He supposed she didn't want the others to know, most of all Benjy, so he would keep mum until they got a chance to talk it out.

He wouldn't just let it go, because he knew Lily had kissed him back. And he wanted to at least talk about what had happened.

Although he still was very confused about the possible feelings Lily nurtured, James managed to focus completely on the practices that anticipated the next match; they had entered the knock-out phase, so they needed to win no matter what.

The morning of the match was, actually, the only moment (even if ephemeral) that James found himself near Lily without the presence of the others. As if she knew exactly what James wanted to say, Lily smiled and engaged him in a conversation about a new play he had implemented. James narrowed his eyes but allowed the evasion. It wasn't really the best moment.

Lily wished him good luck, awkwardness lingering between them when she didn't decide whether to hug him or not. James ended it as he pulled her to an embrace before she left. Lily relaxed and held him back but backed away quickly as Marlene arrived.

"It was just a good luck hug, shut it," Lily whispered quickly. The brunette simply chuckled.

"I wasn't going to say anything."

They both knew Marlene was lying.

When they arrived on the Top Box, Lily recognized Benjy and Moody even before she saw the Minister, and quickly made her way to where they stood.

"Minister, I believe you remember Auror Evans," Moody announced. The Minister nodded and sat down. Lily took advantage of the empty area to make her request after Moody nodded his agreement.

"Minister, I'm here to talk to you about the investigation," Lily started. She got a nod as reply. "We've reached a line in which our prime suspicion is that a Muggle method was used against your son."

"Muggle method?" The Minister replied with a frown. "But Muggles can't enter the area Jack was."

"Yes, we're not thinking a Muggle has actually done it, just that it was the method used."

"So you're suspecting of someone with Muggle heritage?"

"Not necessarily," Lily disagreed. "We're not thinking like this. It wouldn't make much sense, considering all the work you've done. But first we want to be sure how it was done."

"And what do you need?"

Lily hesitated and saw from the corner of her eye Moody staring at her encouragingly. She, then, explained to the Minister how the Muggles investigated and what exactly she wanted to do.

"But…cut my son open?" The Minister whispered, looking shocked at Lily.

"Ma'am, I truly understand what you're feeling and thinking regarding this. It sounds extremely surreal, but it's what Muggles do. And I believe that's the way to at least discover the cause of death, so we can keep the investigation going."

"But how…who would do that to my boy?"

Lily, then, explained her father's job and the logistics she had thought.

"As we can preserve pretty well with our spells, my father would have no problem at all."

"But would he be…cut up…after?"

"Not at all. He wouldn't anyway, but if we get a Healer, I bet it'll be better than it usually is." Lily noticed the Minister's hesitation, and watched the referee starting the match. "I know it's terrible timing, but I need your authorisation to do it. Whenever you've got your answer, you can tell Fenwick or Moody and they'll pass it along to me."

"I…alright." She still looked bewildered.

"I'm truly sorry, Minister. But you've asked me to do my best, and that's precisely what I'm doing."

Lily didn't even bother congratulating James for another win and another great match – just her grin was enough. It really looked like England would win the Quidditch World Cup, and the way James grinned right back at her, with a wink, screamed he was conscious of the probabilities ahead.

While Lily, Marlene, Remus, and Peter waited for James and Sirius to leave the interview areas, the Minister passed by them on her way to congratulate the squad. Lily couldn't help but watch how James would react to Benjy, and her surprise was even bigger when she noticed her partner had stopped to tell James something, who raised his eyebrows and nodded.

When he noticed Lily looking, he grinned again.

Benjy looked to Lily before she managed to undo her answering smile to James, and Benjy narrowed his eyes at her, before returning to James.

Of course Lily was dead curious to know what was that all about – what could Benjy possibly have to talk to James? Had he told James to back off? Or was he going to say something about that kiss? Or worse, would he reveal what Lily had confided him?

Lily quickly organised her mind. She hadn't even talked about that kiss to anyone (and she didn't know if she would), and to Benjy's objective, telling James that Lily might fancy him was counterproductive.

Nothing would stop him from telling James to back off, however.

When the Minister's committee left taking Benjy along, Lily watched James's face attentively; it didn't show any unpleasantries. In the end, Lily supposed Benjy only wished to give her a message and didn't want to attract attention – she then relaxed, waiting for the possible talk.

Instead of a party, the after-match of that day was a big lunch restricted to the players and those they had invited along. As the final phases drew nearer, James wanted to limit the possible distractions.

Lily preferred this sort of encounter; less likely to run into journalists, the players didn't try to impress people and ended up being themselves, and everyone could talk better because there wasn't a deafening music pumping.

Besides, there were a lot of kids, and Lily was very fond of children.

"Hiding, Evans?"

Lily looked up and smiled. The place she had picked to relax was on the top of a hill, and from its edge it was possible to see the valley below; it contained a lake of unbelievable colour. The view as a whole was breath-taking, so Lily hadn't even had a second thought before sitting on the verge and appreciating. James apparently hadn't either, since he took up the place beside her immediately, offering her a Butterbeer.

"Thank you."

"Given up following me around?" James teased. Lily rolled her eyes. "Tsk, tsk, Miss Auror. What would Mr. Moody say of this?"

This time Lily didn't hold back her laugh.

"Decided you could have a couple of minutes alone. Even if there're not as many women to distract you."

A moment of awkward silence passed between them when they recalled what this insinuation had led to the last time. Lily, face flushed, forced her stare back to the trees below them.

"To be honest, even if there were more, I'd be here anyway," James admitted after pondering for a few seconds. Lily could feel his stare on her face but refused to look back at him – she wasn't sure if she would be able to keep herself completely in control depending on what she found. He's a suspect in my investigation.

"I'm not hiding," she replied to his first question. "It's just that…the view is something else, and I wanted to enjoy it for a bit."

"Yeah, I'd never seen anything like this," James agreed. Lily was thankful that he accepted her far from subtle change of subject. "Before I forget, Fenwick's asked me to pass along a message to you."

Lily looked at James again, meeting his deep frown. She didn't need to think more than a second to know the cause of his new expression was Benjy's name.

"He's said you should give your father a call and try a visit tomorrow."

Lily widened her eyes and jumped up.

"I need a telephone. Have they got a telephone here?" She asked, offering a hand so James would also get up. He accepted it, a mild confusion taking his face.

"Hardly, it's a Wizard house."

"Bloody hell."

"But I know where there's a Muggle village around," James continued, "my parents are in a house there."

"It'd have to be a public telephone, then. It's not exactly a social visit, James, I can't have your folks listening in," Lily said.

"So my parents being here's probably a good thing, yeah?"

Lily had no idea Fleamont and Euphemia were there because she was, actually, avoiding James (but not hiding!). He took her to where his parents sat talking with Sirius and Peter. Lily apologised for not greeting them before, but they told her not to worry, and it would be a pleasure to lend their house so Lily could call her father.

Lily smiled, but she hadn't much time to thank because James pulled her by the hand, a grin etched on his face; when she least expected it, he apparated, taking Lily straight to the house his parents occupied.

"A warning before next time would be acceptable," Lily said, frowning. James chuckled.

"Next time, eh?"

Lily ignored him and walked until she found the telephone. With a sigh, she dialled the long-known number, preparing herself mentally for the tidal wave that would hit her in the next few minutes. James frowned, but before Lily could explain, her mother answered the phone.

"Hi, mum," Lily greeted with a grimace. The other line went quiet for a few moments.

"Lily, it's been too long!" The telephone on the house was loud enough for James to hear what was said on the other side of the line. "Finally not on a mission?"

"Not really, mum."

"Oh. What's happened? Are you in the hospital? Are you hurt again? Lily!"

"No, mum, calm down!"

"Last time I got a call from you during a mission it was to tell me you'd be on a hospital bed for a month, and the other times you got hurt Benjy called me, so forgive me for jumping to this conclusion," Lily grimaced again. She knew her mother was right. "I haven't seen you in two months, Lily."

"I know, mum, it's just things are…"

"Chaotic, I know. When aren't they?" Lily sighed. Again, her mother was correct.

"I'm sorry, mum. After this one I promise I'll visit you, as soon as it's over. Even before the reports." Lily heard her mother laugh on the other side of the line.

"You hate the reports, little one. I won't feel so flattered. If it's not for horrible news, to what do I owe the honour of this call?"

"I need to talk to dad. I need his help."

"Your father's help? For the mission?"

"As incredible as it sounds, yes. Nothing dangerous, though. I swear."

"I'll get him. I'll be waiting for you, little one. Don't be a stranger, alright?"

Lily looked down the whole time, her whole face flushed. She really would rather James not listening to the conversation, but there was no polite way to ask him to leave, so she chose the embarrassment.

"Lily?" The surprise on her father's voice was even bigger than her mother's.

"Hey, dad," she whispered back. Her father sighed.

"Are you alright, little one?"

"Yeah, I'm brilliant. Don't worry about me. A month without scratches." Her father laughed, and she noticed James's small smile with the corner of her eyes.

"Your mother told me you need my help?"

"Yes, I truly do. Before anything, it's all a secret, alright?"

"I'm used to secrecy."

"I need you to do an autopsy."

The silence on the other line seemed to last a long time.

"Alright. Can I know a bit more?"

"Erm, yeah. I'm working on a murder. Victim's been found in a place where he shouldn't be found dead. We couldn't find a magical cause of death, so I asked for photographs and he had a haematoma on his neck with a bunch of small, punctiform wounds. Besides that, not a scratch on him."

"If it's a haematoma, it was done pre-mortem."

"That's what I thought. The place isn't accessible to Muggles, dad, but the causa mortis seems to be Muggle. Maybe poisoning?"

"No doubt it's a possibility. We'd need to get blood and urine samples. How long since the death?"

"It doesn't really matter. We've got a spell to preserve the body. It'd be like a six hour corpse."

"And how do you want to do this? I can't take him to work, little one."

Lily then explained she would take him to work using the Muggle entrance of the Ministry, where he would perform the autopsy. She guaranteed he would have all the material he needed, and they decided the possible exams would be done in a particular laboratory in London, where the questions were few and the results fast.

"Don't disappear like that, Lily. Your mother and I miss you dearly."

"I know, dad, I'm sorry. After this case I'll visit you. I promise."

"I'll see you tomorrow, then."

Lily turned off the telephone whispering 'I love you both' and throwing herself on a couch, eyes closed and head thrown back.

"Two months without even talking to them?" James asked quietly.

"I'd planned to see them the following day I got your case. I only asked Benjy to explain it to them."

James raised his eyebrows and clenched his jaw.

"Oh, so Benjy knows your parents?" He asked. Lily groaned.

"Let's not get into this, James, please."

"Alright. Can we talk about the kiss, then?"

Lily sighed, but she knew it was unavoidable.

"James…"

"It's just…I get it when the other person says 'no', it's no, end of story. I just…wanted to know the reason, Lily, because I know you were into that kiss as much as me," James asked. "If it's because you're with Fenwick," when Lily started arguing, he just raised his hand, "or with anyone else, which's all the same in the end, or if you just hate me as you did four years ago. I just wanted to know, so I won't waste my time. Or bother you."

"I don't hate you, James," Lily mumbled. "Please, don't ever think I hate you. I've never hated you."

James's face was completely confused, and he grabbed his hair with one of his hands, exasperated.

"But you turned your back to me on the station…I didn't…there was no other possibility."

"I didn't hate you, James, but I saw you as a colleague, and you…" Lily didn't finish, and James chuckled. She didn't need to finish.

"Is this a déjà vu?" James asked and Lily sighed.

"James, I'm sorry, okay, but I can't even think about this at the time. I'm in the middle of an extremely complex case. I can't think about this."

It was his turn to sigh.

"You're right, I'm sorry. I won't bother you about that until…this situation's solved."

"Thank you."

"It's literally the least a decent guy would do, Lily," James said with a smile, getting a grin back from Lily. "So…mates?"

Lily's grin widened and she shook James's extended hand, ignoring how right that felt – she wasn't lying to James. She couldn't focus on this…situation.

"Mates," she agreed. James grinned back.

"So you've spent a month on St. Mungo's?"

Lily woke up earlier for breakfast. She would take her father to the Ministry and was expecting her only company to be Benjy, who would stay behind with James while her father performed the autopsy.

To her surprise, Marlene sat at the table with Benjy, talking in whispers.

"I wasn't expecting you this early, Marls," Lily said as she joined her friends with a place filled with eggs and croissants. The brunette shrugged.

"You've been a bit busy, Lily. I miss you," Marlene justified. Lily didn't fully believe it but continued her breakfast.

"Anything new over here, Marls?" Benjy asked. "Enjoying the World Cup?"

"Yeah, I love this vibe. Sometimes we even stay up late at night and hear some secrets."

"Secrets, really?" Benjy asked, frowning exaggeratedly. Oh, no, Lily thought at once. "Like what?"

"That a certain Pretty Red's been snogging around."

"Oh, bloody hell," Lily sighed.

"Is there something you'd like to tell us?" Benjy asked.

"No. Except that we were arguing, and I wasn't expecting it, and as soon as I resurfaced, I backed away and nothing's happened ever since."

"'Resurfaced'?" Marlene asked with raised eyebrows. "That good?"

"Shut it, Marlene," Lily grumbled, blushing. Benjy coughed to hide his laugh.

"I knew I couldn't leave you alone with him," Benjy said, clearly enjoying himself. "And then what happened? It's been a few days, eh?"

"Nothing. Except he basically admitted he fancies me again and I told him I couldn't even consider anything of the sort while I was working on this case and he graciously accepted it and we remained mates."

Marlene laughed dearly while Benjy grinned.

"Now this case will move, am I right?" Marlene joked.

"How did you even find out about this?"

"I heard your mate telling Sirius. They thought I was asleep."

After guaranteeing Benjy James wouldn't distract herself from the case and guaranteeing Marlene she would think about it all after the case, Lily headed out of the complex to apparate on her parents' house. Her old bedroom remained the same; her parents always convinced her to spend a weekend over whenever she could visit.

She wasn't surprised that her father was ready in the living room, reading the newspaper, lab coat on the chair – he had always been extremely punctual. As previously accorded, Lily's mother wouldn't know details of the case, as she would worry too much about Lily.

"I had to change a shift to come," he said as they drove near the telephone booth.

"I truly appreciate it, dad," Lily replied, "this kid is the son of our Minister, so it had to be someone we really trust."

"It'll be an honour to give you evidence, little one."

Lily smiled. She had always been very close to her father. They had watched together the television show of Sherlock Holmes, and it was this series, along with the Sherlock books her father had given her some time later, that made Lily want to work as an Auror.

He seemed very excited about the telephone booth entryway, about his 'consultor' badge, and about the atrium fountain. While they descended to the courtrooms, the only place they could freely proceed with the autopsy with no observer or interruptions, his countenance got more serious, looking more like what Lily knew to be Dr. Evans's.

On the door of the courtroom assigned to them, the Minister talked with Moody and another man. Lily and her father neared the group, and Moody nodded indicating their arrival.

"Oh, Auror Evans," the Minister said, offering her hand. "And I assume this is…Doctor Evans?" She asked, apparently uncertain about how she should refer to him.

"Yes, that would be me," he replied, holding the hand she had offered with a small smile.

"This is my husband, Jack's father…"

"Lily, could you please check if all the materials I need are here? I'd like to have a word with the boy's parents."

Lily nodded and was followed by Moody, leaving her father talking to the Minister and her husband.

"What's that about?" Moody asked, indicating the door with his head.

"My father is a coroner, but still a physician, sir. It's part of his profession, to talk to the family before the autopsy. He likes to explain what he's going to do, to calm the family. I think today it's even more important to explain, considering the Wizards are not used to it, and don't know how it all works."

Moody nodded and showed Lily where the material was. She grabbed some paperclips from her purse and transfigured them on the materials she knew were missing. She put the new objects beside the rest.

After about ten minutes, her father entered the room, putting his lab coat on. He went to Lily, observing everything to see if there was anything else missing. He put on his gloves and put a recorder quite similar to Lily's in his pocket. Moody chuckled when he saw the device.

"Can we start?" Moody asked. Lily uncovered the body and her father approached the table, observing attentively. "The spell to keep the body whole is off."

"Lily, the haematoma is on the right side?"

"Yes, right here."

"Hmmm," Dr. Evans watched carefully the area and nodded. "I agree with you, little one. Someone, an inexperienced someone, tried to get a venous access to this boy."

"Then poisoning would be possible, right?" Lily asked.

"Yes, surely. Let's see if we can get a bit of blood when we open it up, yeah? A bit of urine too…"

Lily noticed that Moody wasn't all that comfortable watching her father's work, but she wouldn't blame him; the notions a Wizard carried were completely different. Lily was headed to her boss, to see if he was alright, when her father spoke again.

"Hmmmm, interesting…"

"Dad?" Lily asked, nearing him.

"Well, look at this. I ligated the vein that was punctured in two places, to isolate the blood and collect it directly, but when I punctured it to get the blood…"

He showed the syringe to Lily, who didn't quite understand. Although the syringe had been fully pulled, there was less than one millilitre of blood.

"I don't get it, dad."

"There was air, little one."

James woke up later that day, as it had been an off day after the intense game the previous day. He knew he had to get up anyway, because a day off of practice meant a day thinking about tactics.

He knew he wouldn't have the pleasure of Lily's company that day because she was out with her father doing an autopsy (whatever the hell that meant), so his nanny would be Fenwick. Sirius and Marlene were attending another match that would happen today, while Remus and Peter had decided to remain in the suite.

With a sigh, James rose and got ready for the day. He ordered breakfast on room service and left his room with his clipboard. Fenwick, Marlene and Sirius were talking on the sofa, and Peter and Remus played chess on the table.

James opened the door when they knocked to deliver the food, and he sat beside Remus with a newspaper on his hand; it was always good to read the analysis that critics made of the matches – it added something to his evaluation.

However, when it was time to put it on his clipboard, he couldn't focus on it because of the arguing from Peter and Remus regarding their chess game, so he decided to go back to the room.

"Oi, captain!" Marlene called. James stopped to talk to the girl, and quickly saw a very suspicious smirk on Sirius's face.

"Hi, Marls. Shouldn't you have left?" By James's accounts, the match would start in two hours.

"Yeah, yeah, we're just about to leave…but I'd like to tell you that we know what you did last summer…" Marlene said with a wink. "Well not last summer literally, but you know what I mean."

James narrowed his eyes at Sirius and crossed his arms.

"You've told her already?" James accused. Sirius simply laughed.

"How d'you know it wasn't your red who spilt the beans, Prongs?"

"She wouldn't…I supposed she didn't want anyone to know," James replied.

"Yeah, well, she didn't, but you should confirm another person really is asleep before divulging all your secrets, yeah?" Marlene told him. James rolled his eyes. "Have fun, dearest."

Sirius and Marlene left laughing, leaving James and Fenwick alone. Fenwick eyed James speculatively, so he chose to watch his friends playing chess. Remus stared back, raising an eyebrow and quietly suggesting Peter they should go down and get something to eat.

As soon as the door closed, Fenwick started talking.

"About that kiss…"

"You know?" James asked, surprised.

"Well, yeah. Marlene told me as soon as she heard you both."

"I'm not going to discuss this with you, Fenwick," James cut quickly.

"What's wrong with you, mate?" Fenwick retorted. Oh, so he lost his cool, too? Good to know.

"Nothing's wrong with me."

"Well, it surely looks like it! I'm trying to help you!" Fenwick cried. James laughed mockingly.

"Help me? How do you want to help me? Want to know what happened? Why don't you ask her, since you're such good partners?"

"I've already aske-" Fenwick frowned then raised his eyebrows. "Oh, Merlin's beard, Potter, are you jealous?"

James tried not to flush, but he felt the blood rushing to his face. Of course he was jealous. Everyone had noticed, but Fenwick.

"Listen…" Fenwick said calmer now, when James didn't reply, "there's nothing between me and Lily in that regard, mate. Nothing. She's my work partner, and we've never had anything remotely romantic. When Lily arrived at the academy, she was very young. And because she's a woman, and a pretty one, she had to fight a lot for her space. She would've made it alone, no doubt about that, but the help from someone higher ranked helped her. I was that higher ranked someone. It's why we're such close friends. Nothing beyond that."

James was momentarily frozen. Should he believe Fenwick? He supposed so; there was no reason for Fenwick to lie like that.

"Hasn't Lily told you we're nothing like that?" Fenwick asked. James ran a hand through his hair.

"Not directly. I still had my doubts. Mostly after Remus started talking about…exes again."

"Oh, no," Fenwick denied quickly, a small smile on his face. "It wasn't about me. Lily's dated a guy from the Ministry, Amos Diggory. But he didn't understand the complexity of Lily's job, and he couldn't accept that she'd go with me for long missions, just the two of us. He was mad jealous all the time. Lily couldn't take it, but…"

"She's mentioned this boyfriend, but I didn't…connect the dots. And there's also the fact that, well…"

"She's stopped the kiss?" Fenwick offered and James snorted in agreement. Fenwick sighed. "I really shouldn't tell you this, but…she fancies you. And no one's more surprised by this than herself, because of her preconceived notions about you. But you've been our prime suspect on this investigation, so until this all ends, she can't do anything about it. You've got to…"

"Back off?"

"To wait," Fenwick finished. "Like you told her you would."

James and Fenwick were silent for a few moments. James tried to absorb the whole situation. If Fenwick were telling the truth (and, again, James couldn't imagine a single reason for him to lie), Lily actually fancied him. But he was a suspect, and he could understand it wouldn't be exactly ethical from Lily to simply start dating a suspect.

"But I've got a tip for the future. If you truly wish to have something lasting with Lily, you've got to respect her crazy hours. Actually, you've got to respect everything that's related to her job. The missions, the partner…"

James let out a choked laugh. He knew Fenwick was subtly warning him James would have to respect the friendship between the two of them.

The door to the suite opened and Lily appeared with a stack of papers on hand, and a focused expression.

"Benjy, come over here!" Lily called. Fenwick stared at James once again, as if confirming his tip. James also walked to the table.

Lily spread various papers on the table; one was the picture of Jack on the crime scene, and James could see again the haematoma on the boy's neck; there was also a paper with a stamp on the end, and it looked official; and many others James couldn't read.

"My father's figured it out. The murder injected air on Jack's vein. Copious amounts of air. It created a massive venous gas emboli. The air didn't let the blood go through, the heart couldn't pump the air away, and it stopped."

"Air?" James asked. Lily looked at him and nodded.

Before Lily could talk more, the door opened again, and Remus and Peter entered, the first clearly vexed.

"James, we're going to your folks' place, alright? Peter wants to watch that bloody TV show and won't hear no…" Remus said, grabbing something on the other end of the table.

"Don't talk like that about Quincy MD, Moony!" Peter cried out, approaching the others. Then he noticed the files on the table and gulped.

"Yeah, yeah, it's the best TV show, c'mon Wormtail…" Remus replied with a roll of his eyes. Peter mumbled something and followed his friend out of the suite.

"Is this normal in the Muggle world?" Benjy asked Lily, but James noticed the girl was distracted; not distracted, she was just focusing on something else entirely: her eyes travelled from the pictures to the official-looking paper, until she chose to answer.

"No, it's not normal. In order to kill like this, our person would have to either know medicine, or have already seen something like it on the television, for example…or…" Lily gasped, "or both!" She turned to James, grabbing his hand to get his attention. "James, I'm going to ask you something about that Friday, and I need you to be completely, one hundred percent honest with me."