A/N- Response to a prompt for HP_Drizzle on Livejournal! Thanks to my beta, Nina, for rocking this out for me!

Title: A Midwinter's Nightmare

Author/Artist: Shananigans10

Prompt: #33 What was supposed to be a snowman lying flattened on the ground with the long carrot nose and the black beady eyes, turned out to be instead the dead body of a Hogwarts professor (Author can decide whose body it was!); a serial killer is at loose in Hogwarts this winter and the body count has just begun. A wintry murder mystery.

Any optional extras: Post war, Voldemort is dead, the Malfoy's fought on the side of the Order, Snape and Dumbledore are alive, Fred is alive, The Weasley twins should play an important role and should be among the suspects, the real serial killer should be a well-known unexpected Harry Potter character or characters. The lead pair should be among the counted suspects for some reason. New characters can be introduced. Feel free to take the story into darker territory but it should have a resolved and positive ending. Also no extreme descriptions of violence. Smutty moments are very welcome, but it is optional!

Pairing(s): Draco/Hermione

Word Count/Art Medium: 20,237

Rating: PG-13

Warning(s): Major character death, Minor character death

Disclaimer: Harry Potter characters are the property of J.K. Rowling and Bloomsbury/Scholastic. No profit is being made, and no copyright infringement is intended.

Summary: The war is over and the 'Golden Trio' has returned to Hogwarts to finish their final year. Hermione Granger stumbles across the dead body of one of their professor's and the Aurors bring their investigation to the castle, blaming the innocent instead of doing an actual investigation and going out of their way to put the murders on Hermione's boyfriend and former Death Eater, Draco Malfoy. Who is the real killer? Read to find out!

A Midwinter's Nightmare

Chapter One

Hermione laughed aloud as she lobbed another snowball through the air, aiming directly for Fred Weasley's grinning face – he wasn't looking at her, he was busy throwing his own snowball at Harry Potter, who was whooping with glee and running in the opposite direction.

Hermione almost fell over laughing when her snowball hit Fred directly in the cheek, shocking him for a moment before he started chasing her. She giggled and turned on her heel, running directly for her boyfriend, Draco Malfoy, while waving her wand at the snow-covered ground and causing a handful of snowballs to start flinging backward over her head, accidentally attacking Neville instead of Fred – her aim was a little off since she wasn't looking. She charged at Draco and dived, taking him out at the knees and sending him toppling backward into a large snow pile that almost swallowed them whole.

Draco floundered for a moment, laughing, before pulling himself onto his knees, but then Harry ran by with a handful of loose powder, rubbing it into Draco's face as he passed and causing him to fall backward onto his arse.

A spluttering Draco managed to look indignant before pulling himself to his feet. He stood at a towering six foot four to Hermione's five foot nine and he was wiry and muscled, but not bulky by any means. His blond hair had darkened a little bit over the years, so it looked more natural and not so bleached. Draco had grown into his once pointy features and they had become a little less sharp over the last couple of years, making him incredibly handsome.

"I'll get him for you!" Hermione shouted, taking off at a run to stay warm. Snow had gotten caught in her scarf and, now melted, was sliding down her spine, causing her to shiver before taking off with Draco hot on her heels. Draco took a snowball in the arm, fired by Ron Weasley, and completely changed his course.

This was the first time that many of the group had seen Draco loosen up and have a bit of fun, laughing easily with the decent sized crowd. People had seen him with Harry, Ron and Hermione plenty of times but they'd never seen him display any positive emotion and look like he was actually having a good time – it was surprising and made him seem a little more human than people were accustomed to. The group was mostly Harry, Ron and Hermione's friends from Gryffindor. They didn't see too much of Draco Malfoy outside of meals in the Great Hall or the few classes they shared; they figured he must be a good guy to spend time with, considering the company he kept these days, but they'd never actually seen it with their own eyes.

It was the perfect day to be outside, sunny and mild considering it was the middle of winter. Christmas break had ended the day before and everyone wanted to enjoy some time together before getting back into the grind – the Weasley twins were visiting from their shop in Hogsmeade, as they did most weekends. As usual, they'd brought huge cardboard boxes, so overflowing with Weasley's Wizard Wheezes that fake wands and re-exploding parchments kept slipping over the edges. Draco had been begging her to use some of the parchments in class (say, for an exam), and while she was steadfast in her refusal, she had to admit she was impressed with the ingenuity of Fred and George's latest line of products: QuIllusions.

Hermione and the rest of her friends had collectively opted to attend their last year of schooling. It had been put on hold for two years because of the war, but the offer was there and they had all – even Ron – jumped at the opportunity to get their N.E. and be valid graduates from Hogwarts. The decision hadn't come lightly, as even without diplomas, they'd all had alluring options in the outside word. Harry, Ron and Hermione had all been offered positions as Aurors, Draco was to be chairman of Malfoy Industries and Neville had been offered a teaching position at their beloved school. Maybe they all wanted the opportunity to live carefree lives as students for a year, or maybe they just wanted to be able to spend another year together before they were to go off into their separate lives – whatever the reason they'd all decided to attend school as 'eighth years'.

Ginny, who had been offered a position on her favourite Quidditch team, the Holyhead Harpies, came back to finish her seventh year as well, as had Luna Lovegood and a few others. Even though they were technically a year younger than their friends, they had been deemed 'eighth years' as well because Hogwarts had been closed for two years. They all shared classes.

Unsurprisingly, Fred and George, who'd also been offered the chance to complete their degrees, chose to continue managing their lucrative business. Hermione couldn't understand why anyone would choose to remain technically and legally an unqualified wizard, but supposed it made sense in a way. Their memorable departure from Hogwarts hadn't been triggered by war the way hers and her friends' had, and so the end of the war didn't tempt them to return. Besides, they clearly didn't need diplomas in their job line – they were making loads of profits, much of which they'd donated to the foundation of the Phoenix Orphanage, created in memory of their fallen comrades, in close proximity to the Burrow, whose renovation they'd also facilitated. A delighted Molly Weasley had insisted on donating the land for the orphanage, so that she would be close enough to it to care for all the children. There was a staff, of course, but the big-hearted matriarch seemed to need children and their accompanying chaos in her life in order to be satisfied. Arthur, who had a brand new, larger-on-the-inside garage with plenty of Muggle inventions and tools, didn't seem to mind.

Hermione paid for her inattention as she was pounced on by Harry, who shoved her down before scooping up a handful of snow and rubbing it in her hair pointedly, laughing hard before jumping up and running away quickly. Hermione gasped in mock outrage, subsiding into giggles as she looked around for her boyfriend.

During their sixth year, in order to keep his parents alive, Draco had been tasked to murder Albus Dumbledore; that had been the straw that eventually broke the camel's back. He'd made a few failed attempts but when it came down to it he broke down and went to Dumbledore, confessing the plans that Voldemort had for him and that he just couldn't do it – he wasn't a cold-blooded killer. Dumbledore had whisked Draco and his parents (who were also serving the Dark Lord out of fear for their family) to an Order safe house. All three had insisted on joining the Order of the Phoenix, where they fought for two years and finally came out victorious.

Lucius, apparently, had been against the plan, but when faced with losing his wife and son by Voldemort's hand and their insistence that he join them in saving their family, he had to swallow his beaten down pride and follow them, turning his back on many of his old friends. It turned out that Lucius, once he'd made the decision, was a critical asset to the Order of the Phoenix; he'd brought along tons of insider information and could name more than two hundred Death Eaters off the top of his head.

The Order was obviously wary of the Malfoy family in the beginning, suspicious of allowing Lucius to help with battle plans and Draco to join raids. However, once their involvement had proven to bring no treachery or ill-effects, everything fell into place. This hadn't stopped George from replacing biscuits from the Malfoys' tea tray with Canary Creams one day, or Fred from giving Draco one of his punching telescopes (which he admitted might have been in poor taste), but overall the family had integrated well, if quietly and hesitantly, into the social structure of the Order. Hermione, Harry and Ron had once walked into the kitchen of Grimmauld place and saw Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy sitting at the table with Molly and Arthur Weasley, laughing heartily about something and sharing tea. Ron had dropped a mug of tea, which shattered on the floor, causing even more laughter as they all helped clean up the mess.

Draco had a harder time adjusting to life supporting the Order of the Phoenix. Embarrassment for the way he'd treated Harry Potter and his friends and his naturally quiet and reserved disposition had caused him to spend the first two weeks after his arrival avoiding everyone his age. That changed quickly though; Hermione bumped into Draco on the staircase inadvertently one night and instead of snarling at her, Draco apologized for the way he'd behaved in the past and told her he really did want to help them defeat Voldemort and his Death Eaters. They'd shared a rather intense conversation, probably the most Draco had ever spoken to anyone in his life, and Hermione ended it by informing Draco that if he'd apologize to Harry and Ron, who were incredibly forgiving people, that she was sure everything between all of them would work out fine.

It did.

Hermione and Draco started dating five months later, and she wasn't disappointed with her choice in the least. Harry and Ron followed Hermione's lead and, once Draco had apologized to them, they even became friends, spending time together without her too.

Harry was kind and forgiving, a natural leader who wanted to see the good in everyone. Ron had a quick temper, but he was still soft-hearted and wanted nothing more than to have friends, a wife, and children – something Hermione thought about every time she saw him share a look with Luna Lovegood – and Draco was… Draco. He was smart and witty but only spoke to anyone other than Hermione if it was absolutely necessary. Sometimes his sharp tongue would make an appearance when speaking to them but he was quick to make amends – he wanted actual friends, people who would allow him to be himself without getting their knickers in a twist; he'd found that his Gryffindor friends lived up to their house in school and were incredibly loyal to people once they'd accepted them into their lives.

It was almost like it had been meant to happen when they were eleven, but certain events caused it to take a little longer than fate had originally intended. Draco had turned his back on everything he'd known, and almost all of his Slytherin friends had died during the war. The few left alive didn't return to school, and Draco wasn't sure he'd want to see them, anyway.

He was a different person, now. His family was different, but in a good way. He'd grown up differently than his new friends and under entirely contrasting circumstances but he thought his family was coming along well. His mother was happier, lighter and smiled easier than he'd ever seen before. She'd reconciled with Andromeda Tonks a few months after their arrival to the Order, and she seemed more laid back and not so obsessed with what being a pureblood meant. His father had gained back his previous pride after they'd gotten out from Tom Riddle's thumb, but he wasn't as arrogant and conceited as he'd been when Draco was younger; his pureblood mania was left in the dust of their dungeons with Tom Riddle's ideals. All his parents wanted was to see their son graduate school, get a good job, marry a wonderful witch and have plenty of babies – they wanted to see him happy.

And lord, was he happy.

Hermione, her usual bushy hair pulled into a side braid except the wisps that were always breaking free, was running away from Harry as fast as she could, heading away from the gathered group of friends and cresting a hill. She let out a shout of glee when she got to the top and saw that there were dozens of snowmen built on the other side. She ran towards them, dodging through them and hiding behind them to avoid Harry, who was still chasing her like a madman, a handful of snow in his gloved hand.

She giggled as she ran, turning over her shoulder to shout to the bespectacled man that he was never going to catch her, when she tripped over a downed snowman. She was sprawled across it, the carrot inches from her own face when, suddenly, she pushed away from it in horror. The snow near the left eye of the snowman had broken away when her hand hit and the eye looked all too real – all too real and much too empty.

She screamed as she got her feet beneath her and backed away, her hands jumping up and pressing over her mouth in shock and fear.

"What is it?" Harry asked, rushing forward and bending over the snowman, brushing the snow away to reveal a very dead Professor Slughorn. Their professor's skin was pale and something in his throat was causing a large, unnatural bulge near his adam's apple and his neck was red and scratched as though he'd been clawing at it. Hermione screamed louder and in doing so gathered the attention of some of their friends, who were running over the crest of the hill toward them, worried.

"Someone get Dumbledore immediately!" Harry yelled to their approaching friends, then proceeded to stand guard over the body, keeping the group as far away as he could, as Ron ran back to the school. Harry wanted to be an Auror when he completed school; he already knew some of the protocol – keeping the crime scene as undisturbed as possible was one of the first things to do.

Everyone stood around in silence as they waited for their Headmaster to show up, shocked and sickened by what Hermione had discovered; even the twins weren't able to make a joke. Draco had pulled her into his arms the second he reached her side and turned her face away from their dead teacher, trying to shield her from more tragedy. She'd lost her parents a year after they had begun dating while the war was in full swing and he didn't think he could ever do with seeing her so hurt again – it had taken her months to start acting normal again, and while he knew she'd always missed them he was glad that she was back to acting like herself again.

Dumbledore appeared after a few minutes and firmly directed everyone to the Great Hall after sending out two Patronuses – one to the castle and one that went in the complete opposite direction, probably to the Auror headquarters at the Ministry.

"The Aurors will want to question all of you once they've started their investigation. Even you, Fred, George, so please go up to the castle where Professor McGonagall is waiting."

"Question us?" Hermione asked, her hand clenched in Draco's as they trudged back to the school. "We haven't done anything wrong!"

"We're upstanding citizens!" The twins shouted in unison. "War heroes," Fred said, followed by George saying, "Close friends of 'the Chosen One'". Ron, standing close to them, elbowed Fred, and the twins grinned, if a bit weakly.

"Come on, Ron," said George. "Acting all mopey won't make anyone feel better. Besides, old Sluggy wouldn't want it."

Fred chimed in, "Yeah, always liked a good party, didn't he?" Hermione glared at him, and he forbore mentioning that the house-elves would probably be glad to make them all Slughorn's favorite ice cream sundaes. Perhaps it was a bit too soon.

"They'll just want to know how we found the body," Harry assured Hermione as they ignored the twins and ascended the stone staircase to the double doors. "It's protocol."

"I can't believe Slughorn's dead," Ron moaned from Draco's side. "How could this have happened? What does it mean? I thought the war was over."

"This doesn't necessarily have anything to do with the war, Ron," Hermione admonished immediately, annoyed that he'd jump to that conclusion. Draco held the door open for her and she pushed through, chafing her hands together to try and warm them up. "I'm sure it was a one-time thing that the Auror's will figure out. We all know that Slughorn hung around with some shady characters, always looking for deals and contacts and ways to make money."

"That isn't an appropriate way to speak about someone who was just found murdered, Miss Granger," Professor McGonagall admonished from in front of her.

"I'm sorry, Professor," Hermione said immediately, bowing her head.

"I understand that you and a group of friends were the ones to find Professor Slughorn's body. You'll each have to be put into separate rooms until the Aurors are satisfied that they have determined what has happened and settled things according to all the legalities."

"Determined what happened? Legalities?" Hermione squeaked, unable to avoid the feeling that blame was going to be pushed onto her and her friends. McGonagall ushered her into a room quickly. Draco dropped her hand, giving her a small, secret smile that wasn't meant for anyone else to even see.

"A professor of this establishment was just found murdered," McGonagall answered tersely. "You should understand how severe this is."

"Wait, you think one of us did this?!"

"If you could just wait here for the Aurors to arrive, Miss Granger, I'll show everyone else to their rooms. You aren't to speak to one another until the questioning is complete."

McGonagall gave Hermione a stern look before snapping the door closed behind her. Hermione was suddenly so nervous that she had to sit down in fear of collapsing onto the stone floor. Someone thought she could have done this?! The thought alone was preposterous but it didn't stop her from being anxious about being questioned by the Aurors.

/

"Can you believe this?" Hermione hissed to Draco that evening. Everyone had been questioned and the Aurors had packed up their things and left, heading back to their headquarters so they could examine and cross-examine all the statements. Fred and George had gone back to Hogsmeade, but not without warnings.

"What are they playing at?" George had demanded.

Fred imitated the square-jawed wizard with the bulky neck who'd informed them they were free to go. "Now remember, boys, we're not even close to done with this investigation. You're not to travel or leave the area anytime soon…Hope you didn't have any imminent plans to travel." He snorted. "Well, George, guess we'll lose some money there." His twin shrugged, still clearly incensed. They'd left shortly after that conversation and everyone else had gone their separate ways in the castle; Hermione and Draco ended up in the library.

"I don't think this is going to go over well," Draco said from his seat across from her. "They were already laying on the pressure."

"Pressure?"

"Oh, come on, Hermione. It doesn't matter that I fought for the light in the war, not when I've got this," he ripped back his sleeve on his left arm and gestured to his Dark Mark, "marring my skin! It doesn't matter what I did or how I helped, it's all negated by the fact that I'm a marked Death Eater."

"Former Death Eater," she said, angry that he could even say that. He'd helped them in more ways than even some original Order members had. Hermione had spent months researching ways to remove his Mark, but it was impossible – it was still as dark and crisp as the day he'd been branded and she knew deep down that it would be there the rest of his life. It made her sad that he'd have to tell his kids he had once supported Lord Voldemort, had followed him, but it was helped by the fact that he was brave enough to turn away from that life and help defeat the psychotic man.

"It doesn't matter," he said, waving his hand dismissively. "I'll always be looked at a certain way by the authorities."

"But you fought for the light!" Hermione cried, aghast by what he was saying. "You helped Harry Potter – the 'Chosen One' – take down the evilest wizard of our time!"

"And I have that evil wizard's mark on my arm, Hermione, and that's a fact. A very well known fact."

Hermione sat in silence for a moment, annoyed and upset by what her boyfriend was saying, even if it was the truth. The media had had a field day when the war was over and they were made aware of the relationship between Hermione and Draco. "Order member and Harry Potter's best friend dates Death Eater!" the headlines had said.

She'd been so angry that she'd written letters of outrage to every magazine and newspaper she could think of, trying to retract the statement. Unfortunately, though, even if the media had recanted, the articles were still there and everyone who'd read them had those ideas in their heads. You could retract the words but not the impressions they'd made.

"Did they tell you that they pulled an Edurado's Unbreakable Egg from Fred and George's shop from Slughorn's throat? What do you think that means?" Hermione asked nervously, twisting her hands together in agitation. She'd been shocked and even a little bit frightened when she'd been told that information, but at least the surprise worked in her favour and got the Aurors off her back slightly.

"That some maniac bought the egg at their shop and used it to murder our Professor before building a snowman over his body for some reason," Draco answered easily with a shrug. He'd also been surprised when he'd been told that information but he was so used to masking his thoughts and emotions that the Aurors only saw coldness in his eyes – something that made them sufficiently suspicious. "Probably to throw the authorities off his trail."

"You don't think they're involved, do you?"

"Fred and George?!" Draco asked in quiet surprise. "There's no way."

"You're right. I don't know why I'd even go there."

"They'll figure it out," Draco assured, taking Hermione's hand in his own and pressing a kiss to it. "Either way, it'll get sorted. I'm sure you were right earlier about Slughorn spending his time with strange people."

"You don't think Ron was onto something when he said he thought the war was over, do you?"

"No," Draco answered easily. "People die all the time, it doesn't mean it's because of the war that's already been over for months."

"Yeah," Hermione breathed, but she had a bad feeling.

"It's a one-time thing," Draco said, packing up his things and getting to his feet. "It's been a long day, why don't we call it a night?"

"I hate that we're in different dorms," Hermione said, taking Draco's lead. They'd been together for over two years and had shared a room in Grimmauld place after a year of dating. Sleeping on entirely different sides of the castle was hard. "Want to come back to my common room for a little while? Harry and Ron will probably be there," she said, coaxingly.

Draco smiled softly at her before leaning down and placing a loving, lingering kiss on her lips.

"I would, but I really just want to have a bath and call it a night – it's been a long day."

"Okay," Hermione said, sounding a little bit sad. She really hated all the time they had to spend apart.

Draco gave her a small smile, the one that always made her knees a little weak and her heart pound a little harder before leaning in for another kiss that turned heated pretty quickly, their hands roaming.

"Oi!" Ron yelled when he rounded the corner. "Break it up, you two."

Hermione pulled away from Draco's lips but he wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her into his side tightly, his hand splayed out on her hip.

"What do you guys think about what happened today?" Harry asked, coming up behind Ron and pulling out a chair at the table Hermione and Draco had just vacated, sitting down heavily. Ron sat as well, leaning back and resting his feet on the table.

"I think Hermione's right," Draco answered carefully, looking around to make sure there was no one else in the library before propping his hip against the table and crossing his ankles, relinquishing his hold on Hermione, who crossed her arms and leaned back on a chair behind her. "I think Slughorn was probably looking for gold or a precious item and pissed someone off – someone who wasn't above hurting him to make a point."

"That's what we figure too – he was always trying to collect people and things, and the people he didn't seem interested in always took it a little personally. Either way, we both think it was just a one-time thing."

Hermione nodded, feeling more at ease knowing that they were all in agreeance.

"I was just heading back to the tower," she said after a few moments of silence. "I'm pretty tired."

"Yeah, you looked reeeally tired there just a moment ago," Ron joked, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively, causing Hermione's face to redden. No matter how much her friends joked about her sex life, she always found herself blushing and stammering out a response; she'd been shocked at first, when Harry and Ron figured out she and Draco were sleeping together, that her friends had taken it so well. She was expecting some ranting and arguing about 'sleeping with the enemy', she expected them to tell her to pick either Draco or them – she never, ever expected them to joke and be so at ease with it all – or at least, no more uncomfortable than they'd be with the idea if she were seeing anyone else.

Draco was grinning and looking awfully proud of himself, an emotion he didn't share easily with anyone but the three people he was standing in the library with, but Hermione rolled her eyes and hoisted her book bag onto her shoulder while trying to act like Ron hadn't just caught them full-out snogging in the library – the library! It was her sacred zone, not a place for sexual acts.

"Are you coming?" she asked.

"I'll walk you guys there," Draco said with a nod, picking up his own book bag gracefully and waiting for Harry and Ron to get to their feet before they started for the doors of the library.

Hermione felt better that they'd decided it was a one-time act of murder toward a teacher that was shady and greedy more than anything else. She felt embarrassed and a little awkward about falling under the suspicion that the Weasley twins had anything to do with it; they were much too jovial and kind to do something like that. Just because one of their products was used in the actual murder didn't mean anything, especially considering how popular their brand was – everyone wanted it! Their stores were so busy that they'd had to hire a complete staff to run them if they wanted any time off. Anyone could have waltzed in and bought something that was seemingly innocent with the plan of using it for murder.

Hermione held Draco's hand, thinking about how they should all visit Hogsmeade soon. They'd all gone back to The Burrow for the summer holidays and Hermione really loved the village during the winter – maybe she'd see if they could all go down over the weekend. Surely that wouldn't count as 'leaving the area' or going too far away. She smiled to herself, thinking about the bookshop that she'd love to visit as they turned a corner on the fourth floor – her smile faded immediately.

Professor Trelawney was propped up against the wall, blood all over the lower portion of her face and covering her robes and the floor all around her. Her skin was waxy and dull and her lips were blue; her eyes, which were magnified as usual by her thick glasses were staring directly through the four students, dull and lifeless.

For the second time that day Hermione screamed and turned away roughly, Draco's hands reaching out and pulling her into his chest as his own face paled considerably.

"Oh, my God," Harry breathed before turning on his heel and running.