Albus ran towards the Lees’ bedroom, Scorpius following closely behind him. He pushed the door open roughly, wand at the ready, and barged in. Years of training under his own father had taught him how to behave in such situations, for he never knew who could be behind closed doors.
However, the only person inside was Cheryl. She was hunched over her dressing table, her hands clutching her hair. She was howling in evident misery.
“What happened?” Scorpius asked, lowering his own wand. Beside him, Albus looked rather baffled. “We heard you scream, and “”
“My ring was stolen!” she screeched, pointing at her open jewellery box, tears streaming down her eyes. “It was a rare pink diamond ring “ only one of a kind! And it’s gone!” She let out a loud, hysterical sob.
“A pink diamond?” Albus whispered to Scorpius, surprised further. He had thought all diamonds were white. “Do they even exist?”
“Apparently they’re very rare,” Scorpius replied in hushed tones. “Rose kept going on and on about one last year, about how beautiful it would look on her finger.” Scorpius couldn’t help but roll his eyes at the naivety of his wife. “It was like she needed the damn thing. I had to buy her a normal diamond ring with my entire month’s salary just to get her to shut up. Women. You’re lucky you’re not married yet, Potter.”
Albus felt a strong urge to laugh, but he suppressed it. Instead he went over to Cheryl. “How did it look? Can you describe it?”
“It “ it was a golden ring “ stu-studded with a huge pi-pink diamond!” she cried, covering her face with her hands. “Ken had got it for me especially on our second anniversary! I just can’t lose it! It-it was th-the only thing he’d ever “ ever given me with so much “ so much love! I had promised him I’d never lose it, and now it’s... it’s gone...” She started crying harder.
“When did you last see it?” Scorpius asked quietly, patting her shoulder in what he thought was a consoling manner.
“Before “ before I left for the exhibition last night! It was... right here, between the beads of my opal necklace...”
Scorpius nodded as he scratched down the details onto the parchment with his quill. Once he and Albus were outside the room, leaving Cheryl to the care of a young Auror, he said, “The killer isn’t as stupid as we thought. He did take something valuable.”
“The most valuable thing too,” Albus agreed. “A pink diamond. Must have cost millions of Galleons. I think I once heard a Muggle sold it for one-point-two billion pounds, but I was so sure the news must have been a fake one, I never gave it a“”
“Never mind that,” Scorpius cut across him, not paying attention to what Albus said as he looked at his notes. “D’you think it might have been a robbery after all? I mean, maybe the guy broke in, thinking that both of them would be out, considering it was a Friday night. They could easily both have gone to the exhibition. He took the ring, but as he was about to leave, Kenny saw him and tried to stop him. In frenzy, the robber hit him on the head with something heavy. When he realised he killed him, he mopped up after himself and took the mop along.”
“That’s plausible,” Albus said. “He must have know that Cheryl was taking part in the exhibition, then.”
Scorpius shrugged. “Could have been someone close to them,” he replied. “We should check out everyone who knew about the exhibition.”
However, the more Albus thought about it, the more puzzled he got. Something wasn’t right. “How does that explain the closed doors?”
“Hmm?”
“The door was locked. Cheryl had the keys, and she opened them to get in. The house had anti-Apparition wards.” Albus paused. “How did the guy get out?”
“Sir!” one of the Aurors “ Tom Thornbush “ called out, distracting them. “We found this.”
Leaving Scorpius to look through his notes, Albus shuffled over. “What?”
“It’s the end of a cigarette. Beside it is the victim’s wand.” Albus took a close look at the stub of the cigarette. It didn’t seem like anything out of the ordinary.
“Did the victim smoke?” he asked.
“We think so, sir. We found a packet of cigarettes in a drawer of the kitchen cabinet.”
“What was the last spell the victim performed?”
Thornbush took out his own wand and muttered, “Prior Incantato.”
The wand shot out what looked like a smoky flame. He had conjured a small fire.
“I guess he lit up the cigarette, sir,” Thornbush said. Albus nodded and went back to Scorpius.
“What was it?” Scorpius asked.
“Nothing, just Kenny’s cigarette stub,” Albus said offhandedly.
“He smoked?”
“Looks like it...”
Scorpius shrugged. “He never seemed like the smoking type to me. Anyway, we’d better get going. There doesn’t seem to be anything else to investigate here. Let’s go and think about it back at the office.”
After a quick word with the Aurors and Cheryl, the two of them left the building.
As the two of them Apparated into the Atrium of the ministry, Albus said, “I think we should go and check if Cheryl’s alibi checks out.”
“You think she did it?” Scorpius asked, raising his eyebrows in surprise.
“No, but there’s no harm in going to check, is there?”
Scorpius shrugged. “Whatever you say. But first, I need to have a cup of tea. This crime’s given me a headache.”
Albus conjured up Muggle clothes and dressed into them as he got ready to leave for the ice-sculpture exhibition. He waved his wand and a large mirror appeared, allowing him to check his reflection to see if he looked Muggle enough. As he was wearing blue jeans and a full-sleeved dark green T-shirt on top, he thought it looked convincing enough. With another flick of his wand, the mirror disappeared. As he was stowing his wand into his pocket, he heard a knock on his door. “Come in,” he called.
Scorpius entered, dressed in black trousers and a white shirt. “Ready to leave?” he asked.
Albus nodded. Exiting Albus’ office, the two of them headed for the lifts that lead down to the Atrium.
“Malfoy!”
They were almost about to enter the lift when they heard someone call. Turning around, they saw the Head of the Auror Office hurrying over to them.
Harry Potter, despite of being over fifty, had more energy than the two thirty-year-old Aurors combined. His thinning grey hair and the lines around his jaw gave him the appearance of an old man. But the determined look in his green eyes proved that he still had the magical prowess of the young wizard who had defeated the Dark Lord.
“Yes, sir?” Scorpius asked.
“Do you still have the files of the Higgins case?” Harry asked. Scorpius nodded. Turning to Albus, he said, “Al, would you mind going alone? I have an important case to discuss with Malfoy.”
“Of course not, sir,” Albus said, smiling slightly. Saying goodbye to his father and his colleague, he went into the lift and descended to the Atrium. Wondering if he’d find any new leads, he got out when the lift screeched to a halt, and once he was at the Atrium, he Disapparated into a deserted alley of Muggle London.
A Touch of Ice by majestic_ginny
Chapter Notes: Thanks a lot to Soraya (babewithbrains) for being such an awesome beta!