CSI England

Hermione rubbed her eyes yet again. “I just feel useless right now.” She said.



“The most useful thing you can do right now is to stay here.” Draco assured her. “If the Ministry brings action against Severus I don’t want them to have any advantage. Having you investigate give them reason to claim that you tampered or planted evidence to protect your former lover.”



“I like having you here with me.” Severus told her. The stress in his face broke her heart. She knew he was not capable of cold blooded murder. It wasn’t the man she knew.



“I’ll send a house elf to your flat to get some things.” He told her and left the two alone. Draco saw the need for privacy.



She held his hand in hers, wanting to share her strength but she didn’t know what she could do for him. “I’m going to chop my cock off when this is all through.” He groaned out.



“Severus!” Her gasp couldn’t be held in.



“It’s what got me in this mess in the first place.” He reasoned.



“It was the fault of Vesna for the crying rape and this mans fault for killing her.” She told him. “You were just caught in the middle. You did nothing wrong.”



He let his head roll back against the coach and she recognized the look immediately. It was frustration. She had seen it in his eyes many times. He knew what was true and what wasn’t but frustrated that he couldn’t get out there and prove it. Frustrated because all he could do was sit in this huge house and wait for them to come to him with questions. Frustrated that everyone thought him capable of killing her, and he had to wait for someone else to say he didn’t do it.



Hermione nestled under his arm and hugged his chest. “Can I sleep with you tonight? I want to be close to you.” She asked softly.



“Yes, I’d like that. I need someone close right now.” She knew it took a lot for him to admit, but she was glad he did, if he held everything inside it would drive him mental. She closed her eyes and let him hold her.









Harry and Ron had no trouble finding Timothy Holland. He worked for the Ministry of Magic magical creature control. He was located on a ranch that housed hippogriffs and thestrals for ministry use, and he was told of their visit immediately.



By now, Vesna’s death was public knowledge, having appeared in the paper, his face told of his assumption that he might be questioned. “Sirs,” he greeted, “how can I help you?”



“We need to speak with you about Vesna Izzanitch. We understand you dated her.” Harry asked.



“I wouldn’t say dated. We had sex but she refused to commit exclusively. We argued and that was the end of that. I haven’t seen her since.” He said.



“From what we heard it was more then an argument.” Ron countered. “The neighbor heard it.”



He looked to the ground and then up again. “I lost my temper and threw a chair, but I didn’t get mad at her. I got mad at her roommate.” He said.



“William McDonoguh? Why him?” Harry asked.



“He was telling her I was no good. She was listening to him the whole time, and it was none of his business!” He shouted.



“You anger easily, do you?” Harry asked calmly, not backing up an inch.



Timothy backed up a step and calmed himself down. “I suppose I do have a temper but I had nothing to do with Vesna’s death. I haven’t seen her since that night. If she didn’t want a relationship then I didn’t want her. The last thing I was going to be stuck with was a woman who went off with other men.” He said.



“Where were you the night before yesterday?” Ron asked.



“At home.” He said.



“Can anyone confirm that?” Ron asked.



“No, I live alone. I’ll take Veritaserum if you want me to.” He offered.



“We can only force that if we have evidence implicating you, and right now everything is coincidental but your offer will be noted.” Harry told him.



“Do you write to her at all after the fight?” Ron asked.



“No, If I had something to say I would have said it to her, but I was through talking.” He said kicking a rock away from his feet.



“Do you recognize this?” Ron showed him the letter.



“No.” He chuckled. “Someone saw her? She didn’t know how to watch out for herself, did she. You aught to look at that man she tried to say raped her. He has more reason then anyone to want her dead. I couldn’t care less either way.”



Ron exchanged a look with Harry then turned back to Timothy. “We may contact you again. One more thing though, may I ask your shoe size?”



“My shoe size?” He asked looking from Auror to Auror. “Ten. Why?”



“No reason.” Ron said. “Thank you for your time.”



They left the ranch and went back to the Ministry making way to Penelope Clearwater’s labs. “Can you find fingerprints on paper?” Ron asked.



“Yes I can.” She said taking the letter.



“The Ministry fingerprints anyone in their employee so a member of the Magical Creature control department would be on file. See if you can match to him.” Ron told her, as she began prepping the letter.



“I’ll send you a memo when I’m through.” She said as Harry’s stomach growled loudly.



They sat down to lunch and talked. “Alright,’ Harry said between bites, “we have Snape, who for all intents and purposes, has motive, means, opportunity, and no confirmable alibi. He also matches pretty closely to the memory killer.”



“Then there is Timothy Holland who has motive, means, opportunity and no confirmable alibi. He also matches close enough to the memory killer. He and Snape are the same height and build and his feet match closer.” Ron said.



“What about the ex boyfriends?” Harry asked.



Ron wiped his mouth and shuffled through the file Hermione had created during the rape charge. “Ex boyfriend number one is Henry, who she dated at the tail end of Hogwarts. He has been in Italy since last month, out of site out of mind.”



“Next.” Harry asked, taking a huge bite.



“That would be Justin, who is queer and was at home with his partner on the night of the murder. Neighbors confirmed his whereabouts and he in no way matched the memory killer. To short and small feet.”



“There two more right?” Harry asked.



“The next one is Michael, his wife was in St. Mungo’s and he was at home. He fits the description but neighbors say he returned him just after midnight and didn’t leave home until morning.”



“The last one, Stephen,” Harry added looking at the last paper, “ended so badly that he packed up and moved to a different neighborhood just to get away from her. The odds of him becoming involved in any way with her is a long shot. According to her friends they ran into each other at a party and he turned and ran the other way. He couldn’t get away fast enough.”



“If he hated her that much and she harassed him to reconcile, that give him motive.” Ron theorized.



“He has the means as well. He knows where she lives and her habits. According to the file he is close to the description, but not close enough.” Harry commented.



“Do we know where he was the night of the murder?”



“According to the interview after he death he was at a girlfriends house until 1:30, then he left. Plenty of time to apparate to Knockturn Alley.”



“Means, motive opportunity.” Ron counted down.



“Motive is only a motive if we can prove she was harassing him and we have no proof she even had contact with him since their split.” Harry countered.



“So we keep him as a side note. If we exclude to two main suspects, Holland and Sanpe, then we look closer at Stephen…….” Ron snapped his fingers.



“Simmonson.” Harry said. “Agreed.” A memo flew into the office and they hurried back to Penelope Clearwater’s lab.



“I found two sets of prints on the letter. The first were yours.” She said to Ron. “Seeing as how you handled the letter, that wasn’t a surprise.”



“Right, what about the other set?” He asked.



“Vesna Izzanitch.” She answered.



“That’s it?” Harry asked surprised. “He must have used a charmed quill to write it.”



Ron sighed. “Well, that’s a dead end.” He thought for a moment. “Alright, back to the beginning. We need to look closer at that memory. We had to have missed something. Penelope how did you estimate the model?”



“I looked at the size in relation to the surrounding objects. How high Vesna had to look up, where his shadow fell, how many steps he took in relation to hers, how many bricks vanished from view when he moved, that sort of thing.” She told him.



“I’m taking binoculars in the memory with me, maybe I can get a closer look.” He told Harry.



“Go idea. I’ll focus on anything but the people, maybe there was something else going on around them, that we missed.”



Penelope emptied the memory for them and watched the two Aurors vanish into the thoughts. She hoped they would come back with some clue that would point them in the right direction.



A/N: The sixth chapter was left out. I have gone back and reposted properly so if you haven’t read it, you might want to go back and look. I am so sorry for the mix up.