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Framed
By MichiganMuggle

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Category: Post-DH/AB
Characters:None
Genres: Action/Adventure, Romance
Warnings: Dark Fiction, Death, Extreme Language, Mild Sexual Situations, Negative Alcohol Use, Rape
Story is Complete
Rating: R
Reviews: 193
Summary: After the Battle of Hogwarts, Harry Potter is training to be an Auror, and he is finally back together with Ginny Weasley. But when a young woman dies of poisoning at the Ministry’s Midsummer Ball, Harry is the first suspect, and he can only uncover the true murderer by working with his childhood rival, Draco Malfoy.
Hitcount: Story Total: 56140; Chapter Total: 2279
Awards: View Trophy Room




Author's Notes:
Hello all. So this chapter took forever. Thanks to everyone who is still reading this.

I’m excited to introduce you all to my idea of the Auror department. I’ve tried to limit the number of characters I introduce and just keep it to the people already listed in canon, so it’s not overwhelming, but I’ll eventually add more characters. In my head, Framed is the first in a series of Auror mysteries. All of them will have a Harry/Ginny romance, but each fic will have a different secondary romance. Like this one has a Draco/Astoria love story, this second mystery will, tentatively, have a Neville/Hannah love story. I probably should have started with N/H given how grossed out some of you seem by Draco as romantic hero, but Cursed Child left me curious about our favorite ferret. What is fanfic for, if not to write out our fascinations?

I hope you enjoy!




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Chapter 12: Investigating In Vane

June 21, 1998, 8:43 a.m.
Conference Room 4, Auror Department, Ministry of Magic

It was a Sunday, but every Auror not on international assignment was assembled in C4, the only conference room that could hold them all. Kingsley Shacklebolt, who had recently moved from temporary Minister for Magic to permanent Minister, had rejoined his former department for the meeting, sitting with Gawain Robards at the head of the long table.

Harry, who was beginning his third week as an Auror trainee, had just reached the point where the department no longer looked like foreign territory. The large main office space no longer looked like a maze of cubicles, but was a series of familiar paths where work spaces were assigned due to hierarchies and skill sets that Harry was beginning to understand. He knew the desk with photos of a dark-haired young woman belonged to Daniel Savage, who lost his much younger wife at the Battle of Hogwarts. The desk that was barely visible under stacks of books written in dozens of languages was that of Dawlish. Williamson’s workspace could be identified by the dumbbells stacked underneath, and the Auror often did bicep curls while he read the reports the Junior Aurors submitted.

This conference room was also a familiar space as Harry, along with the rest of the department, reported here at 8:45 every weekday morning. In addition to the usual pots of tea and coffee on the side table, there was a selection of breakfast foods available. Harry knew the Senior Aurors had remained in the Ministry until 4:00 a.m., because they had been quick to tell the trainees so, as they did every time they wanted to emphasize that the Auror role wasn’t all fun and games. He supposed the food was there because most of the Aurors had likely not had time for a proper breakfast.

Harry sat in his usual space about two-thirds down the table on the right side, between his trainer Kelly Proudfoot and Ron. Kelly was enjoying toast and tea and examining some parchment. Ron, who had eaten a full breakfast at the Burrow, still took a full plate of toast and bacon. Harry, who was full but sleepy, merely had a black coffee. He didn’t particularly like his coffee black, but he had noticed that the Aurors considered those who used sugar and cream in either coffee or tea as weak, and he was not above attempting to change his palate to appear convincingly adult.

“There is a chance you might get to go out on assignment,” Kelly murmured to him. “Gawain wants a few of the trainees to get on this case, but he hasn’t told us which ones.”

“Really?” Harry murmured. He and Ron had exchanged excited glances.

They had not yet left the Ministry on Auror business yet. After each morning’s departmental meeting, the trainees went to the Ministry classrooms. On Mondays and Wednesdays, they took Introduction to Magical Law, which they shared with trainees in other DMLE departments, such as Ernie Macmillan, Michael Corner, and Padma Patil in Wizengamot Administration Services or Seamus Finnegan who was training to be a Hit Wizard. Tuesdays were for Criminology class, which was also shared with fellow DMLE trainees. Thursday was a review morning, which addressed gaps in their Hogwarts education, based on the skills tests they all took coming in. Harry’s customized plan for the next few months consisted of mostly Potions, with an occasional Charms or Transfiguration lesson thrown in. Friday mornings, they went to St. Mungo’s where they took Poisons and Their Antidotes along with the healer trainees. In the afternoons, they were in the hands of their trainers who usually had them do research, review case reports, or work on dueling practice.

Having spent so much time with books, reports, and lectures, Harry and Ron were both eager to see an investigation in progress.

“Good morning, or good second half of this morning to those of you who just left four hours ago,” Gawain said. “We have a lot to cover before we begin interviews this morning, so take a seat if you haven’t already done so. As you can see, the Minister has joined us, so we need to start this meeting on time, as he is a very busy man.”

With a wave of his wand, Gawain moved pots of coffee and tea to the conference table, removing all excuses to be up and about.

Gawain Robards was a man who could blend into any crowd. He was of medium height and average weight. His hair was medium brown and his eyes blue. Harry had never seen him in robes that weren’t a conservative navy blue. With his coloring and his trimmed mustache, he looked like he should be the proud owner of no fewer than three “World’s Best Dad” mugs, and Harry occasionally found himself glancing at Gawain’s coffee mugs to see if they did say this. While his appearance could not get more fatherly, the Aurors knew Gawain to be the best. He was an excellent strategizer, an unbeaten dueller, and even a black belt in the Muggle martial art of Judo.

“John led the examination of Miss Vane’s body last night.” Gawain nodded at John Dawlish, who was seated towards the head of the table as a Senior Auror. “We will begin with his team’s findings. John?”

John cleared his throat. “A full examination of the victim confirmed the original hypothesis of poisoning to be correct. We were able to extract poison from the victim’s digestive system, and it has been identified as celeri morte as the active ingredients–fluxweed, scurvy-grass, eye of a horned toad, acromantula venom–were all present. Since Miss Vane had no food in her system at the time of death, the team is confident in the accuracy of these results.

Harry studied Dawlish. He was greyer than when Harry first met him in Dumbledore’s office nearly three years ago. His short thick hair had been a golden brown then. Kelly had described him as someone who shouldn’t be underestimated. He was a mediocre dueler, she admitted, but he was brilliant, often solving cases on very few clues. Harry wasn’t sure what he thought of him, but he had survived the purge that had reduced the Aurors to less than half of their original ranks.

“The potion is merely moderately difficult to brew; anyone who earned an N.E.W.T. in Potions could manage it. The ingredients can all be found in Diagon Alley, and most of them are quite mundane. The exception is acromantula venom. While it too can be purchased in Diagon Alley, it is both unusual and expensive enough that we may be able to track recent purchasers.”

John skimmed through his parchment before continuing. “Celeri morte is a poison that works quickly. There is only one recorded case of an antidote–a bezoar, in that instance–being given in time to save the drinker’s life. Despite being deadly effective, this poison is rarely used. Some of you may remember our last case involving this poison was several years ago.”

Judging by the glances exchanged around the table, the seasoned Aurors all remembered the case and recalled it being very difficult.

“While it is not difficult to brew, it is time consuming. It requires six months to mature, so it would never be used in a crime of passion, and sales of this potion have been outlawed in most countries since the sixteenth century. However, once the potion is brewed, it remains effective for three years, if stored at the correct temperature.”

“We did some calculations to determine the time the poison would have likely been consumed. Based strictly on Miss Vane’s weight of 122 lbs and the lack of food in her stomach, the poison should have taken 1 minute and 45 seconds to kill her. However since the examination at the Ministry revealed that Miss Vane was at least 2 months pregnant, an estimate we have been able to narrow down to ten weeks, we can no longer depend on a 1 minute, 45 second estimate as a pregnant body fights poison longer than a non-pregnant body will. Therefore based on Miss Vane’s size, the lack of food in digestion, and stage of pregnancy, we have estimated the potion was consumed 3 minutes and 5 seconds prior to the time of death, which would be 9:10. Room for error is give or take 30 seconds.

“To summarize the findings of our team’s investigation, Romilda Vane was murdered by celeri morte, a poisoning process that took place between 9:10 and 9:13. The poisoner may have planned this for 6 months, or the length of time needed to brew the potion, or else he or she had brewed the potion some time in the past three years, or this individual knew where to purchase the potion and had adequate funds to do so.”

“Thank you, John,” Gawain said. “That was most thorough. Any questions for the examination team?”

After some questions regarding where potions ingredients could be purchased in Diagon Alley, Knockturn Alley, and Hogsmeade, Gawain asked Harry’s trainer, Kelly Proudfoot, to give her report on the killer’s profile.

Kelly was a compact woman, a mere five feet tall and less than 100 lbs, but she was powerful. She had a tiny nose ring and kept her dark hair in a pixie cut, which hinted at time spent in the Muggle world, even though she was a pureblood. Harry liked her. She had a blunt yet friendly personality that had instantly reminded him of Tonks, and he wasn’t surprised when he learned the two had been best friends. Once when he had gone to visit Teddy, he had found Kelly was already there, giving him a bottle.

At 26, she was young to be a Senior Auror, but she was a war hero and had been promoted just after the Battle of Hogwarts. Recruited to the Order of the Phoenix a few months before the fall of the Ministry, she had conducted Order business within the Ministry along with Kingsley, Tonks, and Savage. Once Kingsley and Tonks were forced into hiding, she and Savage had kept up the resistance in the Auror Department. Harry knew that Kingsley had depended on Kelly and Savage to advise him on which Aurors could be trusted to remain in their roles and which had been corrupted.

“The profiling team, at this time, has more questions than answers, but we are confident that the questions can be resolved with additional investigation. As we all know, the Ministry underwent new security last fall so that people disguised under Polyjuice Potion will set off building alarms.”

Harry tried to look innocent, but several people shot glances at him and at Ron.

“Due to this, the killer either arrived either under his own appearance–and I use the masculine pronoun strictly for convenience–or with minor transfigurations that wouldn’t set off security charms. Everyone present last evening was either an invited guest with an invitation that was inspected by security wizards before admittance to the ballroom or else they were staff of Magical Feasts Catering, all of whom had passed Ministry security clearance. However, there is a possibility that a guest or a staff member had been Imperiused by the killer. In that case, he would not have to be on the premises.

“We attempted to ascertain the age or the sex of the killer, but the information was too incomplete. We all know, statistically speaking, that murdered pregnant women are usually killed by an intimate partner. However, we do not know if Romilda or her baby’s father knew of her condition. She was only two months along, and she was drinking, suggesting she was either unaware or hoping for a miscarriage. If this potion was brewed six months ago with Romilda as the intended victim, she would not have been pregnant yet. Also, statistics tell us that killers who use poison are almost always female. In addition to being uncertain of the killer’s gender, we do not know if there has been more than one person involved.

“The time and location of the murder is curious. To murder a young girl in such a public circumstance, with trained Aurors and Hit Wizards on the premises, could mean that our killer was sending a specific message to the wizarding world. Yet it could also mean that this was the only way he could gain access to Miss Vane. Our killer is either very bold or very desperate. While the murder was bold, it was not impulsive or committed in a rage. This was carefully planned. He knows how to blend in, knows how the Ministry works.

“So as a summary of what we know. The killer did not use a Polyjuice potion, he was either permitted in the building as either invited guest or staff or he Imperiused someone who had legitimate access. He likely is familiar with the Ministry. He planned the crime in advance, possibly six months in advance. In all probability, our killer is not a violent person, as poisoning is the preferred form of murder for the squeamish.

“The things we need to learn include, but are not limited to the following: Where did Miss Vane get her wine–from a waiter, from a fellow guest, or did she swipe one of her parents’ glasses when they weren’t looking, and the poison was actually intended for them? Was she–or anyone around her–aware of her condition? Even if Romilda was aware of her condition, it does not mean anyone else was. It is not uncommon for pregnant teenagers to attempt to hide their condition for as long as possible. She may have hoped to make it back to Hogwarts without her parents finding out.

“If this proves unrelated to the pregnancy, we need to learn if Romilda had any enemies. Did Mr. or Mrs. Vane have any enemies who might use their daughter to make a point? Have there been any unusual financial transactions in the family that would indicate problems? If we can get these questions answered, we may be able to identify some suspects.”

“Thank you, Kelly,” Gawain said. “Any questions?”

To Harry’s surprise, Neville Longbottom raised a hand.

“Yes, Neville?”

“This isn’t so much a question as it is a comment. To those of us who were at Hogwarts last year, it was common knowledge that Romilda was raped by a serial rapist who was targeting several of the older girls in the school. This happened in the fall, so the pregnancy couldn’t have been a result, but in criminology class last Tuesday, it was mentioned that victims of crimes are more likely to be victimized in the future.”

Harry remembered Ginny’s comment: “I know they were after me; they just didn’t get me.” How many had they got?

Gawain looked thoughtful. “Thank you, Neville. Kelly, we will need to send an owl to Minerva McGonagall requesting the release of all of Romilda Vane’s records–medical records, school records, any records of her time at Hogwarts.” He gave a glance in Kingsley’s direction, and the Minister murmured that he would be willing to sign and seal the release of information request.

“Today, we begin interviews. Williamson, your team will go to Magical Feasts Catering. Interview everyone who was there, with particular emphasis on servers and bartenders.

“Dawlish, your team will be in the Hall of Records. I will need you to compare the list of people security checked into the ball against the list of people who signed out. Once that is done, look up each attendee for any connections to Romilda or other members of the Vane family.”

Normally Harry would be delighted that he wasn’t part of the team that would be cooped up in the Hall of Records, which was deep in the bowels of the Ministry, but he was still curious about Tori Greengrass and had been hoping for a chance to go the records room himself.

“Savage and Proudfoot, your teams will be needed at the Vane residence. Kelly’s list of questions is an excellent starting place, but don’t forget to find out if Romilda spent the Easter holidays at school or home in London. If Dawlish’s calculations are correct, she either conceived at Hogwarts in the last few days before the break or she conceived over the holiday, when she might have been in her parents’ home.

“I will be in my office if anyone needs me. Do good work today. I don’t need to remind anyone here that the wizarding world has lost too many young lives. Romilda’s killer must be brought to justice. And quickly.”

*****


B efore they went to the Vane home, Kelly had her team–Team Green–meet at her desk.

They had learned the significance of the Auror teams very early on in their training. On the day they were first assigned trainers and by extension teams, Kelly had said to them, “Welcome! As Gawain informed informed you, we are divided into four investigative teams–Red, Blue, Green, Purple–and you have been assigned to Green.” The “you” referred to Harry and Ron who would be trained by the Green Aurors with Kelly taking primary responsibility for them. “As Gawain is locked up in his little office, allow me to tell you what we really call them.”

She had gestured over to where Dawlish was huddled with Anthony Goldstein and Terry Boot, showing them his books. “Those are the Brains, a.k.a. Team Purple, experts in dead languages and possessors of arcane knowledge. They are nerds who were too sexy to end up in the Office of International Cooperation so we got them.”

Harry could sense Ron plotting an opportunity to tell Percy that.

“Over there, we have the Blue Bloods.” Apparently, Daniel Savage, Susan Bones, and Neville Longbottom qualified as aristocrats in this department. “Also known as Team Blue. These are second, third, and fourth generation Aurors. Sometimes, their parents were in other DMLE departments, but most of them have at least one Auror as a parent. They grew up living and breathing DMLE. It’s an open secret that Blue Blood families are lax with confidentiality at home, so they often come into the department with decades worth of top secret knowledge.”

Harry supposed Neville was there as a courtesy. His parents had both been Aurors and extremely brave ones, but neither Longbottom was in any condition to mentor Neville in Auror ways, having been tortured into insanity by Bellatrix and her friends when Neville was still an infant.

She drew their attention to Williamson, talking to sandy haired boy Harry remembered as a Hufflepuff beater a year older than him. “Any guess what we call Team Red?”

“The muscles?” Harry had guessed.

“What gave it away? Team Red is Team Brawn, or the team that wastes perfectly good lunch hour in the Ministry gym and likes it. If you are ever interrogating a reluctant witness, just bring a Red in. They tend to scare the truth out of people.”

“So, what are we Greens if we are not brainy, brawny, or heirs to the department?” Ron had asked.

“We are the best team. Misfits and Secret Weapons.”

Kelly had said this with a great deal of relish, but Harry could not help but feel that he had been Sorted into Auror Hufflepuff. Which he supposed was better than Portkey Office Slytherin or Office of Misinformation Gryffindor.

“Misfits?” he had said.

“And secret weapons!” She said this, as if they were completely missing the honor of their classification. “Though I suspect you are a bit of both, Potter.”

“Lucky me. Okay, I am guessing Tonks and Moody were fellow Greens, but I can’t place Kingsley. What was his team?”

“Kingsley is a bit of a mystery, isn’t he? He was terribly misplaced. They grouped him into Brawn because of his physique, but within a month, it became obvious that he was actually a Brain and more of a Secret Weapon than our actual Secret Weapons.”

“Why aren’t the teams more diverse?” Harry had asked. “When investigating, it seems like it would be beneficial to have brains, brawn, experience, and whatever we are all grouped together so they can take advantage of each other’s strengths.”

“We do all work together. The Aurors are definitely a family, but we tend to get assignments that play to our strengths. You’ll see.”

It had seemed very strange to Harry initially, but he had learned over the last two weeks that being a Green had its advantages. The Purples spent all their time in the library. Anthony Goldstein’s inglorious first injury on the job was an excess of parchment cuts when he summoned a record, only to get pummeled by a large amount of books and parchment rolls rather than the single record he had been anticipating. Blue trainees always looked stressed as they were expected to know things that they hadn’t yet been trained in, and the Red trainee was forced to do push ups and obstacle courses daily. All the while, he and Ron practiced their dueling or else did independent study on topics that interested them.

That morning would be the first time the Blue and Green trainees would work together, and Kelly had some instructions for her Misfits before they joined the Blue Bloods.

“Okay, for those of you who are trainees, you’ll be there strictly to observe. I know this is your first time, and I know you are eager after spending so much time in lecture, but you will need to leave the questioning to fully qualified Aurors. I am hoping to let you do some questioning later in the investigation, but you aren’t ready today, and questioning the family of a murder victim is the most delicate task an Auror can perform. If there is a question you think Savage or I failed to ask, by all means let us know, but don’t ask the questions yourselves.”

She studied Harry and Ron carefully, and Harry sensed that she had been warned that they both had a reputation for recklessness.

“Any questions, trainees? No? How about my other Misfits? No? Okay, let’s meet Daniel and his team in the Atrium.”

*****


10 :00 a.m.
The Vane townhouse, London

When a butler let the Aurors into the entrance hall of the Vane townhouse, Harry thought they had stepped into Gilderoy Lockhart’s home by accident. But then his setting came into focus and he saw that the framed photos–six foot tall magazine covers, actually–did not depict a wizard with golden curls but an extremely thin brunette woman. Sharon Macmillan Vane winked in bikinis, moodily posed in elegant dress robes, and perched on desks while dressed in jewel-toned career robes. The covers belonged to Teen Witch, Corsets and Cauldrons, and primarily Witch Weekly.

She looked like her daughter. Harry supposed it was the other way around, that Romilda looked like her mother, but in the young Sharon Vane of the late 1970s and early 1980s, he could only see the daughter. They had the same wide black eyes, the same full lips, and the same short straight nose.

In most of the covers, she stood alone, like a Grecian statue brought to life, but in a few she posed with a handsome young wizard or with a group of carefree young witches. Harry found himself staring at the October 1978 cover of Corsets and Cauldrons where Mrs. Vane posed with another beautiful woman, both of them in dress robes with necklines that plunged in a very daring fashion.

“That one is Blaise Zabini’s mum,” Susan Bones whispered, following his gaze.

Harry had been studying the other woman, trying to figure out why she looked so familiar until Susan’s words made him realize she had many features in common with Blaise.

“The one that killed all of her husbands?” Harry whispered back.

“Seven of them,” Susan said. “She was Sharon Vane’s best friend back in their single days. They were the It Girls of the late seventies.”

“Ah, you found the Enemy Number One of the Auror Department,” Kelly said, glaring at the image of Mrs. Zabini. “Seven murders and we cannot prove a single one. We once passed legislation that said anyone with more than five marriages had to get their marriage licenses pre-approved by the Ministry before anyone was allowed to officiate. She responded by holding her next two weddings in Fiji where different laws applied.”

“What a resourceful woman,” Harry said, studying the photograph. The young Mrs. Zabini winked at him in response.

He moved on to the next photo, which had Mrs. Vane striking a pose in a gold bikini held in place with mere strings. Her ribs could be counted and her hip bones protruded. He thought of Ginny’s strong limbs and soft curves and the way her warm body felt in his hands. He clearly had a different idea of female beauty than Witch Weekly, preferring a woman who lived in her body as opposed to starving in her body.

The butler returned to the entrance hall with Mrs. Vane. She wore some black satin garment, and Harry had no idea if these were witches robes meant to be worn outside the house or if it was more an indoor garment. The tall woman was fully covered, but the garment had a slight lingerie look to it, even though he could not quite pinpoint what made it look slightly inappropriate.

“I am so sorry to keep you gentleman waiting,” she said. Harry noticed that Kelly and Susan exchanged a quick glance. “It has been a morning that no mother should ever have to face, as I had to tell Sara and Emilia what happened to their older sister. Mortimer and I couldn’t bear to do it last night. We got home, and they were sleeping like angels. How could we possibly wake them?

“It’s strange, but all I could think about, watching them sleep, was the first time I brought each of my babies home from St. Mungo’s. With each baby, I wanted them to stay asleep until well after I placed them in their cribs. I had this bizarre conviction that transitioning from womb to hospital to home within 48 hours was too much change for a new human to deal with. I had this idea that once they were a little older–maybe half a day older–they would understand they were home.

“Last night was a little like that. I didn’t want to move my girls into a world without their big sister until I absolutely had to. And then today they woke up and of course the first thing they wanted to know was how Romilda’s first ball was, and there is no avoiding that, is there?”

She teared up, and Daniel gave her a handkerchief.

Harry glanced sideways at Ron to see if his best mate was finding this as rehearsed as he did–the attire, the speech, the dramatic pauses. Ron was looking quite stricken, and Harry smothered a sigh. Ron always did have a thing for beautiful older women, he thought, recalling his friend’s crush on Madam Rosmerta. No wonder he would be caught up in Mrs. Vane’s theatrical distress.

A glance around assured Harry that Ron wasn’t alone. All of the Aurors looked stricken by Mrs. Vane, even Kelly and Susan who had just been referred to as gentlemen. Was he cynical for suspecting Romilda’s mother? Was she a mourning parent who deserved nothing but Harry’s compassion?

“We are so sorry for your loss, Mrs. Vane, and we will do everything in our power to see justice for Romilda,” Kelly said quietly. “And we do hate to intrude on your earliest mourning, but we find that time is of the essence in these investigations, and it is best to ask questions while recollections are fresh. Of course, if you require some time, we would like to ask to search Romilda’s room, see if we can evidence that someone was focusing on her.”

Mrs. Vane was sobbing openly, a curiously attractive cry that would have not looked misplaced in a Muggle film. “What could you possibly find there? She was barely sixteen. What enemies could she have possibly had? What kind of monster kills a child?”

“It is our job to find that out. Now, you have some options in how we proceed. We can talk to you, we can talk to your husband, we can talk to you and Mr. Vane together, or we can–with your permission–examine Romilda’s bedroom. We will eventually need to speak to your daughters, but that does not need to occur today.”

Mrs. Vane dabbed at her eyes. “Why don’t you go to Romi’s room, although I cannot imagine how that could help you. I will check on Mortimer. Perhaps he will be ready to speak with you. I will show you upstairs.”

Sharon led them up a grand staircase and into a spacious second floor. The Vane townhouse made Grimmauld Place look like a broom cupboard. There were no magazine covers up here, but instead several giant portraits of three young girls. Romilda, clearly the family favorite, was front and center in all of them. The Vane girls all had their mother’s dark hair and eyes and fair skin, three Snow Whites. Harry looked at one portrait. Romilda had her arm around the youngest sister, both of them beaming, while the chubby middle sister tried to back out of the frame.

Mrs. Vane opened some double doors on the left, and the Aurors found themselves in a bedroom larger than the first floor of the Burrow. Romilda’s furniture was clearly expensive, but it was the crystal chandelier, marble fireplace, and the five foot portrait of Romilda twirling in dress robes with clouds of tulle that made it clear that this was the bedroom of a modern day princess.

Why would anyone kill Romilda Vane? Could this girl with an endless collection of nail polish on her vanity table and unicorn figurines pacing her bookshelves have been any sort of threat to anyone?

She had been pregnant, and therefore a potential embarrassment to her appearance obsessed parents. She was also a victim of rape who knew the identity of the Hogwarts Rapists. Ginny mentioned that Madam Pomfrey suspected use of the Fidelius Charm, but what if the secret keeper had died during the Battle of Hogwarts?

He thought of Vincent Crabbe, killed by his own Fiendfyre in the Room of Requirement. He couldn’t quite picture anyone electing Crabbe as secret keeper, but that could have been the point. His parents had believed Peter Pettigrew to be an excellent choice because he had been an unexpected choice. If Crabbe had been secret keeper, all of the boys and Romilda would now be secret keepers. Were they seeking to prevent the day she realized she could now speak of it?

“Could you leave her things in order?” Mrs. Vane asked. “Her belongings are what we have to remember her by.”

“Of course. It is our policy to leave things as we found them,” Kelly said.

Once Mrs. Vane had left and they heard her footsteps heading towards the stairs, Kelly and Daniel consulted quickly before giving the other Aurors orders.

“Okay, Team Green. Potter and Weasley, you get the bookshelf. MacLeod, the vanity table. Simmons, the bed. I’ll check her wardrobe,” Kelly said.

After the Blues finished their own huddle, Harry saw Susan begin sorting through Romilda’s dressers while Neville checked the floorboards and under the rug, Savage took the desk, while the other Blue Senior Auror checked under the sofa upholstered in violet velvet and in its cushions.

Harry began with the bookshelf itself, looking behind and under it for hidden objects and using his wand to look for hidden compartments. With nothing unusual found, he and Ron resigned themselves to pulling out Romilda’s textbooks and novels one by one and examining them.

“What are you looking for?” A young girl had come into the room and was looking at Harry and Ron, sitting on the floor and sorting through volumes. Harry recognized her as the middle sister who had tried to tiptoe out of the family portraits in the hallway. She was still in pajamas, a silky green pair in some Asian looking print. He guessed she had entered through the bathroom, which likely linked her room with Romilda’s.

“We don’t know,” Harry said. “Anything that might indicate someone wanted to hurt Romilda. I’m Harry and this is Ron. We’re Auror trainees.”

She rolled her eyes. “Everyone knows who you two are. I’m Sara. Did you like my sister?”

Harry paused, seeking something diplomatic to say. “Of course. She was very brave.”

“That’s okay. I didn’t like her either,” she said. “I loved her, of course. She was my big sister, but she took all the air in the room.”

Sara was about fourteen, Harry guessed. She was tall, pudgy, and curvy for her age. She was a very pretty girl, prettier in person than in her portraits, but her statuesque older sister had likely received all of the attention.

“Did she confide in you?” Harry asked.

He noticed that the other Aurors were no longer focused on their tasks, but listening to his conversation with Sara. Susan had frozen with a handful of Romilda’s lacy knickers in her hand. Neville was absentmindedly prodding at a floorboard with his wand. Daniel Savage was more subtle, continuing to sort through the desk drawers, but there was a tenseness to his back that indicated he was listening.

“Romilda didn’t confide in anyone, especially not after last fall. I always knew what color nail polish she was wearing, but nothing important.”

“She didn’t talk anyone about what happened? Not even her closest friends?”

“Romilda didn’t have friends. She had followers. It might have been easier for her if she’d had some friends.”

“Friends make everything more bearable,” Harry agreed. “I would do anything for mine. Did you notice any changes in Romilda over the summer?”

“Like her throwing up every single day?” Sara asked, studying Harry.

“Exactly like that.”

Harry had remembered that he wasn’t supposed to be questioning anyone, but Daniel hadn’t stopped him, and even Kelly had emerged from the wardrobe to listen.

“So, she was pregnant,” Sara said, almost to herself. “I don’t know who the father is. As far as I know, Romilda didn’t have a boyfriend.”

“Did she keep her . . . condition hidden?”

“I dunno. I shared a bathroom with her, so it was impossible not to notice. Emilia’s too young, and Dad doesn’t pay much attention to us. Mum had a fit when Romi’s dress robes didn’t fit on the evening of the ball and she laced her up in some medieval looking corset until her waist was 22 inches and told her not to eat anything, but I don’t know if she knew why Romi had gained a couple pounds.”

Harry raised his brows, but the tight corset did not seem to be news to the Senior Aurors. Of course, they had been there for the examination of Romilda’s body, and he had not. “Did she object to being laced up? The dress robes could have been magically altered.”

“If she did, she knew better than to voice it. Mum had just signed Romilda up with her old modeling agency, and she seemed to indicate Romi had put on weight to spite her. Which is what she normally says to me, but never to Romi.” She gestured at her figure, in case no one had noticed she looked different from the rest of the females in her family.

“Was Romilda happy about becoming a model?”

“She was really excited at first. Mum started modeling at sixteen too, just summers and holidays until she finished Hogwarts. Romilda always said that she wanted to do the same, and she got a really good contract with Teen Witch. Then things, er, changed for her, and she started telling Mum it might be better if she waited until she finished school.”

“And how did your mother take this?”

“Let’s just say Mum won that fight.”

Harry thought Ginny may have been right in that the worst of Romilda being the result of her mother’s influence.

“What else was going on with Romilda? Did you know if her having problems with anyone other than your mum? Boys, maybe?” Harry asked.

“Mum would have never killed Romi! She was always the favorite, the beautiful one, Mum’s obvious heir.”

“I’m sorry, Sara. I wasn’t suggesting your mother had hurt her.” Although lacing up a pregnant girl in a corset is hardly harmless, he thought. “I worded that badly. But she did capture the attention of someone dangerous. It sounds like she was under a lot of pressure, getting a modeling contract at the very time she couldn’t possibly model. But could something else have been going on with her?”

Sara looked smaller than she had since coming into the room. “I don’t know. She didn’t tell me anything.”

“Would you be able to tell me who her friends were at Hogwarts? Even if they were more followers than friends?”

She nodded, and then flipped her long black hair over her shoulder. “Start with Rachael Reynolds. And then Rosemarie Walker and Raven King. They’re Gryffindors. They used to call them the Four R’s. And try Flora Clearwater. She’s Romi’s Ravenclaw friend.”

“Thank you, Sara.” Harry quickly wrote down the names. “We’re going to find out who did this to your sister.”

Sara studied the floorboards. “She wasn’t a bad person. People treated her like royalty, and sometimes it went to her head, but Romi was funny and smart and she could be really silly when it was just the three of us sisters.”

“Sara!” Mrs. Vane came back into the room. “What are you doing in here? And in your pajamas! The Aurors are working.”

“I heard voices,” Sara said. Her tone was more quiet than when she had been talking to Harry.

“Go to your room and get dressed. There is some Dexameal in the dining room for you when you are ready.”

Harry knew Dexameal was a drink with weight loss potion in it. Mrs. Weasley had drank it every morning in the days leading up to Bill and Fleur’s wedding, and the lack of calories had made her grumpy. He felt certain the Dexameal was not Sara’s idea, and his dislike of Mrs. Vane increased. He hoped Sara ate a cupcake just to spite her.

When Sara left, Mrs. Vane turned towards the Aurors. “Mortimer and I will see you in his study when you are done here.”

The examination of Romilda’s bedroom took another 20 minutes. There was little noteworthy in her bookshelf. Harry found notes to and from her friends jammed in her History of Magic textbook, but could find nothing relevant in them. They were typical notes passed between kids during a boring class. Ron had the only good find of the bookshelf; one of Romilda’s unicorn figurines was hollow and held a mystery powder inside.

Susan found a WWW love potion in her underwear drawer. Daniel found years worth of correspondence in her desk. Kelly found skimpy Muggle clothes hidden in the very back of her closet, speculating that it could indicate a double life her parents were unaware of. But Neville had the big discovery.

Underneath a loose floorboard were five years worth of diaries.

*****


1: 30 p.m.
The Hidden Pumpkin, London

“She was lying,” Daniel said to Kelly. “She knew Romilda was pregnant.”

They had finished with interviews for the day. Questioning Sharon and Mortimer Vane had taken nearly two hours, and it had yielded very little new information.. With the workday over, the Blues and the Misfits had decided a long, boozy Sunday lunch was needed.

Harry had quickly learned that the Aurors hated The Leaky Cauldron as much as they despised cream and sugar in their tea, considering it to be the domain of knitting grandmothers and excited schoolchildren. Their pub of choice was The Hidden Pumpkin, which was located near the Ministry and favored by all departments within the DMLE. And when the Aurors were interested in serious drinking and food was not a consideration, they went to Felix Felicis, which was a bar that hid in plain sight on Diagon Alley and served 213 different types of firewhisky.

“What makes you say that?” Kelly asked.

“She was just a little too shocked. Her reaction was a little too perfect, like something out of a play.”

“Mortimer Vane also seemed shocked. Do you also think he too was lying?”

Daniel shook his head. “It’s not the same thing. You know how you sometimes know someone is lying to you? You don’t know how or why. They are saying all the right things, putting on a good show, but you just know. Ask Potter. He didn’t believe her either.”

Harry looked up from his menu, startled. Was he so transparent?

“Harry thinks the mum did it,” Ron said, then put down his own menu. “I think I’ll get the fish and chips.”

Harry turned red. He tried to kick Ron under the table, but it was Susan who yelped in response. He gave her an apologetic look. “I never said I thought she was the murderer. I just thought there was something off about her. And she’s definitely controlling.”

“Controlling how?” Kelly asked.

Harry quickly went over the points he had explained to Ginny, Ron, Hermione, and George the previous night and told them Ginny’s story about Romilda being put on a strict diet even while at Hogwarts, which Susan confirmed having also been in the Room of Requirement the evening it came up.

“I don’t think anyone thinks Sharon Vane is a model parent,” Kelly said. “But the world has a lot of bad mothers, and most of them do not murder their children.

“I still think she was lying to us,” Daniel commented. “I don’t think she killed her daughter, but she didn’t want us to think she had been aware of the pregnancy. I think she might be hiding something else from us, as well.”

A server came along and took their orders. Once, they all had pints of ale, the talk moved away from the investigation. Kelly pulled out a copy of The Daily Prophet. Harry and Ron were talking about playing a game of Quidditch in the orchard that evening, when Harry looked up to find Kelly looking at him.

“Potter, have you read The Daily Prophet today?”

Fuck. What was it this time? He shook his head.

“Well, you might want to read this.”

He exchanged a glance with Ron and then opened the paper. He did not need to scour the pages. The article Kelly referenced was on the front page.

Harry Potter’s Ex-Girlfriend Murdered at Ministry Ball
By Rita Skeeter


The photograph that accompanied the story showed him and Romilda selecting champagne glasses from the same tray. Had he really been so close to her in those final moments? He had no recollection of seeing her until the time of her death. The angle of photo was curious, as it made his hand look huge. As the movement stopped before he picked up his and Ginny’s glasses, it looked as though he was waving his hands over the glasses, possibly even sprinkling something in them. With unease churning in his stomach, he began to read.

Yesterday evening, longtime girlfriend of The Man Who Triumphed, sixteen-year-old Romilda Vane died of seemingly unnatural causes at the Ministry of Magic’s Midsummer Ball and Order of Merlin Awards ceremony. Shortly before her untimely death, Miss Vane was found hovering near her ex-boyfriend, looking as though she had something urgent to tell him, but Harry Potter, 17, did not even spare her a glance.

“He devoted his attention to a tray of champagne glasses, so that he would not have to look up at Romilda,” said Amanda Merryweather, of the Department of Magical Transportation. “In fact, one could say his hands lingered over the selection of glasses for a suspiciously long time. You could tell Romilda was upset, and who could blame her? She had supported him through difficult times in his sixth year of Hogwarts and during his year on the run, and he left her for the first girl to flutter her eyelashes at him after the Battle of Hogwarts.”

Harry Potter’s latest fling is Ginevra Weasley, 16, the youngest of impoverished family and notorious flirt. “She collected boys at Hogwarts,” said Zacharias Smith, seventh year Hogwarts student and member of a respected Hufflepuff family.

Apparently Miss Weasley’s charms were sufficient to steal young Potter’s affections from Miss Vane, who had been his girlfriend of a year and a half. Potter and Vane’s relationship began in the Gryffindor Common Room following a Quidditch win when Mr. Potter kissed Miss Vane in front of all of their classmates. Members of Gryffindor House described the kiss as “madly romantic” and the couple’s relationship as “fast and passionate.” Miss Vane is reportedly the only person in Hogwarts who Harry Potter kept in contact with during his year on the run.

“After poor Romilda died, Potter was surprisingly cold. He seemed every inch the hardened Auror, accustomed to seeing corpses, in spite of still being in training,” said a Ministry official who refused to be named. “He was there calmly doing the transcription. You would never know that this was a girl had claimed to love once.”

And had Potter’s once famous love turned to hate in the midst of his success?

“I hate to think it,” said Miss Merryweather. “I especially hate to say it out loud, but did Harry Potter do something to Romilda’s glass? It seems impossible that anyone could be that evil to kill a young girl whose life was just beginning, but her death wasn’t an accident. Someone is responsible.”

[See “Political Turmoil and Domestic Abuse: Correlation and Causation,” page 10]

Harry Potter may be innocent of his ex-girlfriend’s death, but appearances reveal too many suspicious coincidences.


The amazing thing about Rita Skeeter was what she wrote was always reliably worse than even Harry expected of her. Harry pushed his steak and kidney pie away, no longer interested in eating. Ron, who had read the article over Harry’s shoulder and had made a sound of disgust when he read Zacharias’ comment about Ginny, did not suffer Harry’s loss of appetite. He eagerly moved Harry’s plate closer to him.

“Harry,” Kelly said, “I hate to ask, especially as I know 98% of what Skeeter writes is bullshit, but were you ever romantically involved with Romilda Vane? If you were, you can’t work on this case. It’s a very clear conflict of interest. Even an innocent date at Hogsmeade a couple years ago would look really bad.”

“No!” Harry said. “We never dated. I think I had two or three conversations with her in the course of my life, and one of them involved me yelling at her to get off the Quidditch pitch if she wasn’t going to take Gryffindor tryouts seriously.”

“It’s the truth,” Ron said. “Harry and Romilda were never together, in spite of Romilda’s best attempts.”

Kelly looked stern. “In spite of her best attempts? Explain.”

Harry sighed. “Professor Slughorn had an invitation only Christmas party a couple years ago. It was a really big deal to go as the guest list was so limited. It was well known that I had an invite, and a lot of the younger girls kept hinting that they wanted to go as my date. Romilda went a step further. She gave me some chocolates laced with love potion.”

“Did you eat them?”

“No, Hermione warned me that she’d overheard some girls giggling about love potions and, well, me in the girls’ bathroom. When she gave me the chocolates, I had a pretty good suspicion that there was more than just chocolate in them.”

“But they could have been mere chocolates,” Kelly pointed out. “You could have missed out on a really good snack.”

“No, I said I never ate them,” Harry said, “but they did get eaten. Ron ate them by accident. And let’s just say the love potion wasn’t weak or diluted.”

Kelly looked over at Ron, eating Harry’s food. “Only you would ‘accidentally’ eat someone else’s food. So, do you have a conflict of interest?”

Harry answered for him as his best mate had a mouthful of food, which he would not hesitate to spew all over the table. “Nah, I took Ron to Slughorn’s office before he had an opportunity to serenade Romilda in the Great Hall.”

Kelly put her head in her hands. “You two are going to be really fun trainees. I can feel it.”

“That’s not the posture that indicates a successful interview.” Gawain Robards had arrived.

“Everyone went smoothly at the Vane house, boss,” Kelly said. “My current irritation is all Rita Skeeter.”

Gawain sighed. “What now?”

Kelly took the paper out of Harry’s hands and gave it to their boss. Harry squirmed as Gawain read it.

“This is fabulous!” Gawain said.

Kelly, Harry, and Ron just stared at each other. There was no sarcasm in Gawain’s voice. He sounded genuinely delighted.

“Sir?” Kelly said. “Did we read the same article?”

“We did. Potter, do you have a conflict of interest?” Gawain asked.

“No. Romilda was never my girlfriend.”

“Glad to hear it.” Gawain gave the paper back to Kelly. “Take a good look at the photo. Then tell me what is cropped out of this photo.”

“A server,” Harry said quietly.

“Exactly. The Daily Prophet will need to surrender all of their photos to us. Some of them are bound to contain the person who gave Romilda that fatal glass.”
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