A Darkness Returns - a Harmione story

7 - The Investigation

Harry looked around the dark street, overcome with nostalgia as he eyed the pub that had been the first place he remembered going after Hagrid told him that he was a wizard almost nine years ago. With a sudden realization of where they needed to be and what they needed to do, Harry dropped Hermione's hand (albeit a bit reluctantly) along with Liam's arm. 

Together, the three headed off, Liam following behind Harry and Hermione as they trudged in the direction of Charing Cross Road. As they walked past the pub, the faded letters on the mangy old sign in front of it materialized to display "The Leaky Cauldron" written in a calligraphic script. They soon came to a sudden stop at an old brick establishment with faded blue roof tiles that were almost gray with discoloration. Harry recalled that the case brief mentioned that the residence of the victims was in room number 360. He let his hand lightly trail the cold, black railing of the fire escape, looking over his shoulder and to his side every so often to steal a glance at Hermione and Liam to make sure they were there behind him as they began the ascent to the seventh floor. It would have been easier to take the lift, but it was shut down. The building had been evacuated, and they had decided that it was better to avoid the muggle security guards that stood around-the-clock at the main entrance to prevent anyone from breaking and entering or interfering with the crime scene.

The three warily entered through the door of the flat, wands out and ready. "Lumos," Hermione muttered, waving her wand to shine some light in the dark room in order to gain a bit of visibility. Harry and Liam did the same in turn as they looked around. It was a rather roomy flat, with a kitchen nook in the corner, and plush armchairs and couches situated around a large flat-screen TV perched on the mantelpiece above the fireplace. There was a stack of books on top of the coffee table, giving the whole place a sort of homey-type feel.

They heard a sudden thud. Liam gasped as they all turned to look at each other with cautious eyes. Harry cast a Muffliato and said, "Alright, if that was a human, our physical presence detection charms should have been set off."

Hermione whispered, "But they weren't, and those charms are absolutely impenetrable. I seriously doubt that anyone could manage to bypass them."

"Well, obviously, you were the one who created those charms," Harry grinned as he caught Hermione's visage slightly turning a light shade of pink at his statement. "You know it's true, Mione. Anyway, I propose that we split up. It'll be easier and faster to search the premises that way. Liam, you take that bedroom, and Hermione, you can come with me. We'll search that side of the flat. We can meet back here to check the kitchen, though I don't think there's anything here."

Liam hesitantly turned into the hallway, heading towards the bedroom at the end. You could tell that he was terrified and rather reluctant at that, but regardless of his behavior at times, Harry was confident in Liam's abilities and loyalty as an auror. Hermione and Harry went in the opposite direction, and as soon as they were a reasonable distance away from Liam, Hermione turned to Harry. "You just wanted to get rid of him, didn't you?" she smiled, trying to come off as indignant.

"Of course not, what makes you say that? How do you know that I didn't just want to spend some quality time with my best friend of nearly nine years, hmm?"

"Quality time?" Hermione scoffed, although Harry knew she was being sarcastic. It was just part of her quirky but unique personality. "Totally, such a great bonding experience investigating a dark flat at the scene of a murder!"

Harry chuckled. "But, technically speaking, regardless of your position, you are legally obligated to be accompanied by at least one auror when investigating a class-45.C case, especially considering how high-profile this one is. Anyway, do you know what we're even supposed to be looking for?"

"Harry--" she groaned, "--you didn't even read the case brief, did you?"

"Um --" he stuttered, "-- yeah I did! Er...maybe just the first few pages...or paragraphs?"

"You're unbelievable. Really, you need to start taking your work more seriously."

"Well, usually Liam does the reading, and I do everything else. I'd say that's a pretty fair division of our work. After all, we're supposed to be partners," he smiled innocently.

"You haven't changed at all since Hogwarts, have you?" Rolling her eyes, Hermione sorted through the papers on the dining table, trying to find anything important that might pertain to their investigation. She suddenly gained a more solemn tone as she said, "To my knowledge, a young muggle family lived here. A mother, a father, and their twin daughters - just five years old. They didn't know anything about it, but their next-door flat neighbors were a wizard family, half-blood. Their children were going to have a playdate that day. One of the twins was heard screaming. The rest of the family was found hung from the ceiling. Obviously, I assume that was taken care of before we got here, probably days ago."

Harry shook his head. "And even if we had gotten here before then, if it was a wizard who did it--"

"Or a witch," Hermione interjected.

"-- or a witch --" Harry continued, "-- then there wouldn't have been any DNA evidence left anyway. They would have scourgified everything," he sighed.

"The girl - I think her name was Olivia, from what I recall - was the only one to survive. She doesn't have any relatives here in Britain, so for now, the wizard family has taken her in." Suddenly, she shivered as she felt something soft slither around her legs. 

Startled by the sound, Harry looked up from the gold-tarnished ornament he was examining, only to drop it to the ground. "Holy mother of Merlin --

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A/N: Okay, so I know it's been like four months and fourteen days since I last updated. I'm so so so incredibly sorry. I started writing this story over the summer break from school, and I thought I would be able to manage my time writing a chapter or so a week once the fall semester started. However, there has just been bucket-loads of homework and studying this semester, and it seemed as though whenever I felt inspired to write, I was too stressed or busy. And yet whenever I had a little bit of free time, I would open Wattpad only to realize that I had no clue what to write. I know it sounds like a lame excuse, but I really, really want to write this story because I've had the entire story's plot and so many details planned out for so long. I've had this chapter ready for a while, but I never got around to publishing it because I honestly wasn't really satisfied with it. I am currently taking my final exams, so hopefully you guys can expect another chapter in about a week once I am finished (crossing my fingers).  

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Anyway, thanks so much for reading! I hope you enjoyed, and feel free to drop a vote or a comment if you feel like it!   (｡^‿^｡)       <3 <3