The Expectant Detectives
folder
Harry Potter › Het - Male/Female › Snape/Hermione
Rating:
Adult +
Chapters:
31
Views:
15,566
Reviews:
165
Recommended:
0
Currently Reading:
2
Category:
Harry Potter › Het - Male/Female › Snape/Hermione
Rating:
Adult +
Chapters:
31
Views:
15,566
Reviews:
165
Recommended:
0
Currently Reading:
2
Disclaimer:
I do not own Harry Potter or any of the characters therein. Nor do I make any moneys from the writing of this story. Though Lord knows I wish I did.
Chapter Six
Thank you everyone that has taken the time to read and review. It's been helping me out with my story more than I can say.
PLEASE READ AND REVIEW!!!
***
Chapter Six
Hermione looked at Dennis’s body with an air of sorrow that she hadn’t felt with the others. It had been after the war that she had become friends with him, as he had been orphaned during the last battle. This was made worse by the loss of his brother Colin—his one and only sibling that he thought outshined the stars. He had taken up photography, using his brother’s old camera. Hermione had tried to encourage him, but even so she had gotten to the point of hiding some days all in the attempt to avoid the young man.
“You shouldn’t be here,” Sirius told her, as she went over to a side table that held the items that had been in Dennis’s pockets. “Severus…”
“Don’t look to me,” he said sourly. “It was Potter that dragged us here, not I.”
Hermione absently went through the items one by one, organizing them into small piles that only she could make tails of. By the time she finished she had two pieces of paper in front of her and the rest were in three different groupings.
Harry came over and pointed to the first of the piles.
“Everyday needs,” she muttered. “They were the things he needed all the time, such as coins, a billfold with identification, and a spelled cleaning cloth for his camera lenses.” Hermione pointed to the next pile. “Next are things he managed to collect along the way, like rubber bands.” She looked at Harry. “He had a very odd fascination with rubber bands.” Her smile saddened, but she went on with, “And the third pile are random items that he must have gathered just before he was killed.” She picked up a peanut, studying it. “Where is his camera?”
“You destroyed it, remember?” Sirius muttered.
“He bought a new one,” she told him, handing him one of the papers she had set aside. “Dennis kept the receipt more than likely due to the fact that he expected to be compensated for the cost.”
“He bought it about a half an hour after you killed his other camera,” Harry murmured. “So what happened after he bought that camera?”
“Better yet,” Hermione said. “Who did he take a picture of and recognized that he wasn’t supposed to and what does a muggle traveling carnival in Oxford have anything to do with it?” She opened up the second paper revealing a flier for the circus in question to the others there. “And what would any of those muggles know of Lucius Malfoy to send him three bodies?”
It was Harry that ended up clearing his throat and asked, “How…”
“For the love of Merlin, Potter,” Severus snapped. “Are you blind or just an idiot?”
It was Jake, wanting to keep the peace and his medical ward in one piece, who took the time to explain to Harry. “Unlike the other two victims, Mr. Creevy here was strangled.” He lifted the young man’s head, motioning to the deep red bruises and skin that looked more like clay that rope had dug into, leaving it’s profile in. “A thick hemp rope from what I can see, but we won’t know the answer to that until MCSI let’s us know.”
“Sent them the samples?” she asked, even though she knew that he had.
“Of course.”
Hermione nodded absently, taking a closer look at the neck. “Weapon of opportunity.” She looked over to Harry. “Meaning that the murderer wasn’t expecting Dennis or him taking a picture of him or her. And there’s always the chance that he recognized someone that didn’t want anyone to do so. How he died makes him…” She pointed to the body. “Odd man out, as he wasn’t killed the same way as the others.” She worried her lower lip. “Can I look at the other two bodies?”
“Of course,” Jake said as they walked over to the magical refrigerator that they kept the bodies in. They walked in and Hermione went straight over to where the first victim was. Looking at the corpse, she studied the man’s chest more closely.
“Jake, do you have a magnifying glass, I can use?” she asked quietly.
“That I do,” he answered, handing it over to her. “What do you see?”
“That.” She pointed to what she was looking at. “Something occurred to me about cause of death, but it didn’t make sense. Not until now that is.” She stood up straight and went over to the other body. “When a person is murdered, the killer leaves their mark. I don’t care if it’s poison or violence that does the deed it’s always going to be there. Spells leave their marks as well. Much more subtly than everything else, but it’s there. But our killer was thinking of this and wanted to fool us.”
“What is it?” Harry, Sirius, and Kingsley asked together.
“Makeup,” she answered. “The kind that unless you look really hard, you can’t see it. And from what I suspect, it’s waterproof as well. But not rotting corpse proof, as the skin has shrunk and the makeup is now bubbling and peeling away from the body.” She looked at the second body. “Makeup here too.” Hermione looked over to see them all rush over to one or the other of the bodies to take a closer look.
“Why did you look at the chest first?” Sirius asked her.
“Both of them have tiny blood clots in the eyes that denoted the sudden loss of oxygen to the brain. Jake would have told you straight off if it had been a natural death and since he hasn’t had the time to do the internal autopsy yet as everything has been moving so quickly and he is getting far more guests here than anyone likes…”
“You better get going with that, Jake,” Harry whispered.
Hermione didn’t say anything as the chief coroner said, “True. I’ll need to wash down the bodies. Would any of you care to help?”
“What a shame I’m on medical leave,” Hermione said, taking her husband’s offered arm. “You know I would stay to help otherwise, Jake. Why don’t you get Harry to help? That way he can learn what he must when examining a body. Something I’ve been trying to get him to do for the last three years since he joined the auror department.”
“Hermione…” Harry started to say, sounding panicked.
“She has a point,” Sirius said to him. “If I had to do this, you have to do this.”
“How could you get out of it?” Shacklebolt asked him. “Even I had to do it and I’m Minister of Magic!”
“Ginny and the children were ill,” Sirius said, laughter clear on his face even as Harry was glaring at him.
“For all three years you’ve been an auror you’ve managed to be sick on all of the monthly training days?” Hermione asked dryly. “Stay, Harry. I insist.” She looked to her husband, who was grinning evilly. “Dinner?”
“Excellent idea,” he murmured, walking her out of the offices. Once they were far enough away, Severus inquired, “How do you suppose they were killed?”
“I saw compression marks under some of the makeup that was bubbling up and flaking from both of the bodies,” she whispered. “They might have been burked. But since the marks seem too evenly distributed, I wager they were killed magically.”
“Burked?”
“It’s a type of compression suffocation that uses sitting or kneeling on the chest with the mouth and nose covered. It was a method that was developed by two men in Scotland in the early 1800’s selling bodies to the medical universities.”
They arrived to the floo, but he stopped her and made her look him in the eyes. “Why didn’t you ever make me take this training course of yours?”
Hermione lifted her hand, caressing his face lovingly. “I figured what with making you listen to every single one of my speeches and having you read the lesson plans and material from all the monthly training sessions, you’ve been to at least five years worth already.”
***
Time for the Review Sing-A-Long! The answer to the last one was "And We Danced" by The Hooters. Oddly enough the band was actually in existence (1980) before the restaurant chain (1983), something I looked up on Wikipedia. Chocolate chips go out to anncee, Mia, and Carrie for getting the hint and knowing the name of the band, but not the song--which is a pretty good little dance song. So give it a listen if you get the chance. If I missed you, I'm sorry.
Here's the next song! "Cause I'm reviewing in the morning/And I must see you again/ We'll have one more night together/'Til the morning brings my train" Okay, here's your clues. This song was performed by who many at the time referred to as "a cheap American version of the Beatles" and this song was as close to protesting the war going on at the time (Vietnam) as they would ever get, as the higher ups at the television station (not to mention the producers of their TV show) didn't realize what it was talking about. This wasn't known until something like 20 years later when it came out during an interview with one of the members of the band who originally performed it. Wow. That was a clue and a half! I hope you all get it. Have a great day everyone!
PLEASE READ AND REVIEW!!!
***
Chapter Six
Hermione looked at Dennis’s body with an air of sorrow that she hadn’t felt with the others. It had been after the war that she had become friends with him, as he had been orphaned during the last battle. This was made worse by the loss of his brother Colin—his one and only sibling that he thought outshined the stars. He had taken up photography, using his brother’s old camera. Hermione had tried to encourage him, but even so she had gotten to the point of hiding some days all in the attempt to avoid the young man.
“You shouldn’t be here,” Sirius told her, as she went over to a side table that held the items that had been in Dennis’s pockets. “Severus…”
“Don’t look to me,” he said sourly. “It was Potter that dragged us here, not I.”
Hermione absently went through the items one by one, organizing them into small piles that only she could make tails of. By the time she finished she had two pieces of paper in front of her and the rest were in three different groupings.
Harry came over and pointed to the first of the piles.
“Everyday needs,” she muttered. “They were the things he needed all the time, such as coins, a billfold with identification, and a spelled cleaning cloth for his camera lenses.” Hermione pointed to the next pile. “Next are things he managed to collect along the way, like rubber bands.” She looked at Harry. “He had a very odd fascination with rubber bands.” Her smile saddened, but she went on with, “And the third pile are random items that he must have gathered just before he was killed.” She picked up a peanut, studying it. “Where is his camera?”
“You destroyed it, remember?” Sirius muttered.
“He bought a new one,” she told him, handing him one of the papers she had set aside. “Dennis kept the receipt more than likely due to the fact that he expected to be compensated for the cost.”
“He bought it about a half an hour after you killed his other camera,” Harry murmured. “So what happened after he bought that camera?”
“Better yet,” Hermione said. “Who did he take a picture of and recognized that he wasn’t supposed to and what does a muggle traveling carnival in Oxford have anything to do with it?” She opened up the second paper revealing a flier for the circus in question to the others there. “And what would any of those muggles know of Lucius Malfoy to send him three bodies?”
It was Harry that ended up clearing his throat and asked, “How…”
“For the love of Merlin, Potter,” Severus snapped. “Are you blind or just an idiot?”
It was Jake, wanting to keep the peace and his medical ward in one piece, who took the time to explain to Harry. “Unlike the other two victims, Mr. Creevy here was strangled.” He lifted the young man’s head, motioning to the deep red bruises and skin that looked more like clay that rope had dug into, leaving it’s profile in. “A thick hemp rope from what I can see, but we won’t know the answer to that until MCSI let’s us know.”
“Sent them the samples?” she asked, even though she knew that he had.
“Of course.”
Hermione nodded absently, taking a closer look at the neck. “Weapon of opportunity.” She looked over to Harry. “Meaning that the murderer wasn’t expecting Dennis or him taking a picture of him or her. And there’s always the chance that he recognized someone that didn’t want anyone to do so. How he died makes him…” She pointed to the body. “Odd man out, as he wasn’t killed the same way as the others.” She worried her lower lip. “Can I look at the other two bodies?”
“Of course,” Jake said as they walked over to the magical refrigerator that they kept the bodies in. They walked in and Hermione went straight over to where the first victim was. Looking at the corpse, she studied the man’s chest more closely.
“Jake, do you have a magnifying glass, I can use?” she asked quietly.
“That I do,” he answered, handing it over to her. “What do you see?”
“That.” She pointed to what she was looking at. “Something occurred to me about cause of death, but it didn’t make sense. Not until now that is.” She stood up straight and went over to the other body. “When a person is murdered, the killer leaves their mark. I don’t care if it’s poison or violence that does the deed it’s always going to be there. Spells leave their marks as well. Much more subtly than everything else, but it’s there. But our killer was thinking of this and wanted to fool us.”
“What is it?” Harry, Sirius, and Kingsley asked together.
“Makeup,” she answered. “The kind that unless you look really hard, you can’t see it. And from what I suspect, it’s waterproof as well. But not rotting corpse proof, as the skin has shrunk and the makeup is now bubbling and peeling away from the body.” She looked at the second body. “Makeup here too.” Hermione looked over to see them all rush over to one or the other of the bodies to take a closer look.
“Why did you look at the chest first?” Sirius asked her.
“Both of them have tiny blood clots in the eyes that denoted the sudden loss of oxygen to the brain. Jake would have told you straight off if it had been a natural death and since he hasn’t had the time to do the internal autopsy yet as everything has been moving so quickly and he is getting far more guests here than anyone likes…”
“You better get going with that, Jake,” Harry whispered.
Hermione didn’t say anything as the chief coroner said, “True. I’ll need to wash down the bodies. Would any of you care to help?”
“What a shame I’m on medical leave,” Hermione said, taking her husband’s offered arm. “You know I would stay to help otherwise, Jake. Why don’t you get Harry to help? That way he can learn what he must when examining a body. Something I’ve been trying to get him to do for the last three years since he joined the auror department.”
“Hermione…” Harry started to say, sounding panicked.
“She has a point,” Sirius said to him. “If I had to do this, you have to do this.”
“How could you get out of it?” Shacklebolt asked him. “Even I had to do it and I’m Minister of Magic!”
“Ginny and the children were ill,” Sirius said, laughter clear on his face even as Harry was glaring at him.
“For all three years you’ve been an auror you’ve managed to be sick on all of the monthly training days?” Hermione asked dryly. “Stay, Harry. I insist.” She looked to her husband, who was grinning evilly. “Dinner?”
“Excellent idea,” he murmured, walking her out of the offices. Once they were far enough away, Severus inquired, “How do you suppose they were killed?”
“I saw compression marks under some of the makeup that was bubbling up and flaking from both of the bodies,” she whispered. “They might have been burked. But since the marks seem too evenly distributed, I wager they were killed magically.”
“Burked?”
“It’s a type of compression suffocation that uses sitting or kneeling on the chest with the mouth and nose covered. It was a method that was developed by two men in Scotland in the early 1800’s selling bodies to the medical universities.”
They arrived to the floo, but he stopped her and made her look him in the eyes. “Why didn’t you ever make me take this training course of yours?”
Hermione lifted her hand, caressing his face lovingly. “I figured what with making you listen to every single one of my speeches and having you read the lesson plans and material from all the monthly training sessions, you’ve been to at least five years worth already.”
***
Time for the Review Sing-A-Long! The answer to the last one was "And We Danced" by The Hooters. Oddly enough the band was actually in existence (1980) before the restaurant chain (1983), something I looked up on Wikipedia. Chocolate chips go out to anncee, Mia, and Carrie for getting the hint and knowing the name of the band, but not the song--which is a pretty good little dance song. So give it a listen if you get the chance. If I missed you, I'm sorry.
Here's the next song! "Cause I'm reviewing in the morning/And I must see you again/ We'll have one more night together/'Til the morning brings my train" Okay, here's your clues. This song was performed by who many at the time referred to as "a cheap American version of the Beatles" and this song was as close to protesting the war going on at the time (Vietnam) as they would ever get, as the higher ups at the television station (not to mention the producers of their TV show) didn't realize what it was talking about. This wasn't known until something like 20 years later when it came out during an interview with one of the members of the band who originally performed it. Wow. That was a clue and a half! I hope you all get it. Have a great day everyone!