Disclaimer: Everything belongs to J.K.R.

AN: Big thanks to Aurora Nightstar for editing this chapter with the speed of light, and another big thanks to aussigh for the Brit picking.

20-07-04

Harry had no idea how he managed to conjure his Patronus and send it with a message to Headmistress McGonagall. He took Daphne's hand, it was as cold as ice, and led her down the narrow trail until it met the track around the lake.

There they waited in silence, their arms around each other, while they tried to comprehend what they had seen.

Tracey Davis.

Dead.

Shattered at the foot of the cliffs.

Harry shuddered. What a horrible way to die.

Daphne was quiet, ever so often she'd shudder and huddle closer towards him. All he could do was hold her and hope the warmth of his body gave her some comfort, although his insides were as cold as ice. He nuzzled his face into her hair.

Not even five minutes later two figures on broomsticks appeared above the track. One figure pointed an arm towards where Harry and Daphne stood, then the brooms descended.

Daphne extracted herself from his arms, yet her hand still held his in a numbing grasp.

Headmistress McGonagall and Professor Flitwick brought their brooms to a halt next to them. Both their faces were grim and pale.

'Where?' Headmistress McGonagall asked.

Harry pointed towards the trail behind them. 'The trail leads to the top of the cliffs. We went to the edge to look at the view, and when we looked down to the lake, we saw her.' He gulped against the lump in his throat. He'd seen death before. Why was Tracey's death so hard on him?

Maybe because he'd hoped that senseless waste of life would be over after the war?

Headmistress McGonagall touched Daphne's arm. 'I'm sorry, Miss Greengrass, this has to be hard on you. How are you holding up?'

Daphne gave a helpless shake of her head. 'I don't know… I feel numb. This seems so unreal. First Pansy, now Tracey…' Her face scrunched up, she turned towards Harry and buried her head at his chest.

He wrapped her in his arms and stroked her shaking back. At least she was now able to cry, her quietness while they waited for a response to his Patronus had been unnatural.

Headmistress McGonagall slumped and put a hand on Daphne's shoulder. The lines around her mouth deepened, and for the first time since Harry knew her, she looked like the old woman she was. She looked over her shoulder towards Professor Flitwick.

'Filius, please fly to the gates and escort the Aurors here when they arrive.'

Professor Flitwick nodded, mounted his broom, and took off.

'I want you to go straight to my office and wait there. Talk to no-one on the way. The Aurors will want to talk to you, and I don't want the castle teeming with rumours before they even arrive.' She paused, seemed to consider something for a moment, and held her broom out to Harry. 'You'd better take this and fly straight to my office. I left the window open.'

Harry took the broom with one hand, his other arm still around Daphne.

Headmistress McGonagall nodded at him, squared her shoulders, and turned to walk down the trail that led towards the cliffs.

'Come on, love, let's get you inside where it's warmer,' he whispered into Daphne's ear.

She gave a small nod and pulled away from him, although not far. She gave him just enough room to mount the broom, then climbed on the broom behind him, encircled his waist with her arms in a death grip and pressed her cheek against his back.

In normal circumstances Harry would have enjoyed a broom ride in the waning daylight with Daphne snuggled close to him. Today, however, nothing was normal. He made it to the tower that held the headmistress' office as fast as he could on Professor McGonagall's outdated broom and let out a sigh of relief when he discovered the open window.

Seconds later he landed in the office. Toasty warmth enveloped them, despite the open window. They dismounted; Harry leaned the broom against Headmistress McGonagall's desk, closed the window, and then led Daphne towards the small seating area below one of the windows and sat down beside her.

Once, Fawkes' perch had stood there. Headmistress McGonagall had put up two small sofas in a tartan cover that faced each other, with a low coffee table between them, for informal talks.

Outside, the day faded away, and the lamps that lined the walls of the office and the big chandelier that hung from the high, vaulted ceiling, sprung to life. The noise of shuffling feet, chatter and laughter of students drifted up from the hallway below the office and indicated it was dinner time.

As if on cue, two plates with steaming food appeared in front of them, together with a pot of tea and two mugs.

Daphne turned even paler at the sight of food. 'I doubt I can eat anything tonight.'

Harry also eyed the beef, potatoes, and vegetables on his plate with doubt. There still was a huge lump in his throat, impossible to get anything past that. Instead, he poured both of them a mug of tea and handed one to Daphne.

Huddled against each other for comfort, they sipped their tea in silence and waited for Headmistress McGonagall and the Aurors to arrive.

They came when it was already pitch-dark.

Headmistress McGonagall sat down behind her desk and motioned for Aurors Dawlish and Proudfoot to sit down on the sofa opposite of Harry and Daphne in the seating area.

'Good evening, Miss Greengrass, Mr Potter,' Auror Proudfoot greeted.

Harry and Daphne mumbled the adequate responses.

Head Auror Dawlish leaned forward. 'How are you? This must have been a nasty shock to both of you.'

'Fine,' was on the tip of Harry's tongue.

Daphne beat him to it. She let out a shaky laugh. 'We're as well as can be expected, Head Auror. We just want to get this questioning over with and then have some time to ourselves and try to come to grips with what has happened.'

She stifled a sob, and Harry pulled her closer, his mouth set in a grim line. He hated seeing her like this.

'Understandable,' Head Auror Dawlish said. 'Well, we can't spare you the questioning, but we can make it quick.'

Auror Proudfoot set up a dicta quill and parchment as he spoke and gave his superior a nod of confirmation when he was finished.

Head Auror Dawlish gave Harry an almost amused look. 'I must say, Mr Potter, you have an uncanny knack of being in the wrong place at the wrong time.'

Harry ran a hand through his hair and sighed. 'Tell me about it.' He could have sworn there was a low chuckle from Headmistress McGonagall's direction.

'Please, tell us how you and Miss Greengrass happened to discover Miss Davis' body.'

'Daphne and I returned early to the castle. We didn't feel like going inside yet, so we decided to take a walk around the lake. On the other side of the lake Daphne found a small trail we hadn't seen before and got curious. We decided to explore and it came out at those cliffs. It's a very secluded spot, and the view from there was breathtaking. We stood at the edge to enjoy the view, and a pebble broke loose and we looked down. There was Tracey, looking like a broken doll. Everything after that is fuzzy. I conjured my Patronus to send a message to Headmistress McGonagall, then we walked back to the main track and waited for her to arrive.'

'Thank you, Mr Potter. Is that how you also remember the incident, Miss Greengrass?'

'Yes, I think Harry covered it all,' Daphne said.

The Dicta Quill jotted down her answer.

'Alright; we'll have to ask all of Miss Davis' housemates and her classmates of their whereabouts today, so we might as well start with you, Miss Greengrass and Mr Potter. Where have you been since you got up this morning? Whom have you met?'

'I got up rather early this morning.' This time Daphne took it on herself to answer Head Auror Dawlish' question first. 'It's only Tracey and I in our dorm, she woke up when I came out of the bathroom. She's had a hard time ever since Pansy's death, and I felt sorry for her, so I invited her to go to Hogsmeade with Harry and me. Tracey said she didn't sleep well and would rather sleep in. She went back to sleep, and I left.'

Daphne pushed back a strand of her hair. 'The common room was empty, except for Theodore Nott. He asked me to stay in the castle today and keep him company. I declined.'

Auror Proudfoot looked up from the Dicta Quill and gave her a sharp look.

'What did you do next?' Head Auror Dawlish asked.

'I went to the Great Hall, where I met Harry for breakfast. We left rather early and walked down to the village. However, we didn't stay there for long.'

'Why is that?'

'That one's on me.' Harry picked up the thread from Daphne. 'After all those articles in The Daily Prophet Daphne and I had become too interesting for the villagers and the other visitors to ignore. We didn't have much fun the short time we spent in the village, but we didn't want to return to the castle, either. I had promised Daphne a day of shopping in London a couple of weeks ago, so I took her to Oxford Street.'

Headmistress McGonagall cleared her throat. 'What makes you think you were allowed to leave the village, Mr Potter?'

'Uh-oh,' Auror Proudfoot muttered, while the corners of Head Auror Dawlish' mouth twitched.

Harry turned towards her and grinned. 'It's all in the Hogwarts rules, Headmistress. They state that underage students aren't allowed to leave the boundaries of the village on Hogsmeade weekends. By deduction that means that adult students can.'

Headmistress McGonagall gave Harry a long, hard stare over the rim of her glasses. You had to know her as well as Harry did to notice the amusement in her eyes. 'I should've known you'll discover this loophole. You are your father's son, Mr Potter.'

'I should hope so.' Harry grinned, and everyone had a quiet chuckle at that.

Head Auror Dawlish was the first to sober. 'Did you meet any wizards or witches in Oxford Street?'

Harry and Daphne exchanged a look.

'Not to my knowledge,' Daphne said, and Harry shook his head.

The Head Auror's face became grim. 'Let me be frank here, Mr Potter. By the way your name has been connected with the name of the late Mrs Nott in the press, and the additional sensationalist reporting that linked your name to Miss Davis and Miss Greengrass, I'm afraid that your whereabouts today are of utmost interest to the public. It would help us a lot if we could tell the wizarding public that there is no doubt you were in London when Miss Davis died, or there will be even more rumours and insinuations that will keep us from doing our job.'

'Maybe these will help.' Harry pulled his wallet from the inner pocket of his robes and retrieved a wad of receipts. He handed them over to Dawlish.

'They are receipts for all the things I bought today. They all show the date and even the time when I paid. Oh, and there are cameras all over the place, and even more cameras on Oxford Street and Marble Arch, where we left the taxi. Ask Minister Shacklebolt to use his contacts to the Muggle Prime Minister. He should be able to give you access to the video tapes.'

Both Aurors looked as if they didn't understand the information Harry gave them, but nodded, nevertheless.

'We will look into this,' Head Auror Dawlish said. He stood and extended his hand to Harry. 'Thank you for your time and your help, Miss Greengrass, Mr Potter, I understand it has been hard. I'd be grateful if you did not speak to anyone about what you witnessed today until we have finished the questioning of the student body, which will take some time, I'm afraid.'

'Are we able to say Tracey has died, but you've asked us not to speak about it? It's going to be hard otherwise to explain why Daphne's been crying.'

'Yes, but not more than that, and only if they ask.'

Harry took his cue and got up. They both shook hands with the Aurors. Harry moved towards the door with Daphne clinging to his hand like a life preserver.

Harry paused and turned back to Head Auror Dawlish.

'Sir, are there any news on your investigations of Pansy's death and the anonymous letters you can share with us?'

The two Auror's exchanged a short look. Head Auror Dawlish cleared his throat and said, 'Well, it will be in the press tomorrow, anyway, so I think I can tell you without giving anything away, Mr Potter. Mrs Nott's personal elf denied that her mistress had any Sleeping Draughts in her possession, so she must have got her hands on them here at Hogwarts. We at last discovered her supplier this week.'

'Michael Corner?' Harry said with a knowing grin.

Head Auror Dawlish let out a sharp, barking laugh. 'We should have asked you first before we turned every stone here at Hogwarts. Yes, it was Mr Corner. However, he denied that he ever sold a Sleeping Draught to her. Claimed she contacted him about Love Potions to make her husband interested in her. Of course he's lying.'

'He might have been more than just her potions supplier, that would explain why he was acting dodgy.'

The Aurors both startled, and Dawlish raised an eyebrow at Harry. 'What makes you say that?'

'I've been told that Pansy got caught in a broom closet with a male in a compromising position. He got away without the prefects on patrol being able to tell who he was. They described him as being dark haired and of medium height. Corner fits that description.'

Auror Proudfood pulled a self-inking quill and a notebook out of the pocket of his robes and jotted a few lines down. He closed the notebook with a nod at Harry. 'We will look into that. Oh, and we finally found the typewriter that was used to type the anonymous letters. It's kept in the Muggle Studies classroom here at Hogwarts.'

Harry let out a low whistle. 'That means the writer is someone here at Hogwarts. That should shorten your list of suspects considerably, you don't have to worry about someone from outside.'

'It does, but there is still almost a thousand possible suspects to interview,' Head Auror Dawlish said. He turned towards Headmistress McGonagall. 'Thank you for letting us use your office, professor.'

Harry and Daphne took their cue and left the office with polite goodbyes to the two Aurors and Headmistress McGonagall, and despite her protest Harry walked Daphne to the dungeons. Even though it was not yet curfew, no students were roaming the hallways. Instead, they got a glimpse of an Auror robe here and there, or of a teacher who ushered a group of subdued younger students back to their dorms.

The doors to the Great Hall were closed. Headmistress McGonagall had told them that the Aurors had gathered all students there and conducted the questioning by year, beginning with the firsties.

They came to a halt in front of the entrance to the Slytherin common room.

'Will you be alright?' Harry asked.

Daphne gave him a strained little smile. 'I've got to.'

His stomach gave an uncomfortable twist. Yes, she had to, but she was also the only remaining female student of her year in a dorm that did not hold a lot of happy memories. He hated to leave her alone.

As if she'd read his thoughts, Daphne raised her hand and touched his cheek. 'Don't worry so much. I'm a big girl. I'll get by.' She rose on her toes and gave him a small kiss.

For the first time since they'd found Tracey's body Harry relaxed. He pulled Daphne towards him and returned her kiss. 'I know. Meet me for an early breakfast tomorrow morning?' He left unspoken that probably neither of them would get a wink of sleep that night.

'I'd love to.' Daphne gave him another butterfly kiss, then turned and slipped through the entrance to the Slytherin common room.

Harry walked back through the silent hallways to the Gryffindor common room. The big room was almost empty, a small group of firsties sat huddled together by the fire and cast him curious side glances as he crossed the room. It was way past their curfew time, and he probably should send them up to their dorms. However, their pale small faces and the way they clung together on the big sofa were tell-tale signs of how disturbed they were by the presence of the Aurors in the castle - again! - and the questions they had to answer. No, he didn't have the heart to take away the comfort they found in being together, so he just gave them a small nod in greeting and climbed up the stairs to the seventh-year boy's dorm.

The dorm was empty. He hadn't expected anything else; his dorm mates would be among the last to be questioned by the Aurors. He undressed, flung himself on his bed, and closed the curtains around him with a quick wave of his wand.

He laid back on his pillow, his hands folded behind the back of his head, and stared into the velvety darkness that surrounded him. He didn't dare close his eyes. The moment he did the memory of Tracey's shattered body at the foot of the cliff would haunt him.

The last weeks since Pansy's death hadn't been easy for her, the story of her tryst with Nott while Pansy was dying had made the rounds, not only within the castle, but also within the traditionalist Pureblood community outside of the castle. They all had pointed their fingers at Tracey and condemned her as a slut.

Their disdain had hurt Tracey. That much was obvious. She'd also blamed herself.

However, was public humiliation and self-incrimination reason enough for suicide?

Had they failed Tracey? Should they have been more supporting? Should they have reached out to her and let her know that they didn't judge her?

Yet Daphne had gone out of her way to be there for Tracey when she needed to talk. Tracey had seemed to cope better after that, and she had declined Daphne's offer to join them today.

What had happened after Daphne had left the dorm to make Tracey throw herself off the cliff?

Harry woke up with a start. His heart raced as the remnants of a nightmare he already couldn't remember faded away. Darkness surrounded him. He reached out between the bed curtains, took his wand from his bedside table, and cast a quick Tempus Spell.

Half past six o'clock in the morning.

He groaned, put his wand back on the table, and rubbed his face with the palms of his hands. There was no way he'd be able to go back to sleep. When he'd at last fallen asleep last night, his sleep had been restless and haunted by nightmares.

He'd promised Daphne he'd meet her for an early breakfast, so he'd better get going. Breakfast started at seven, even on Sundays, and if he got up now, he'd have the bathroom all to himself. The prospect of a luxurious long and hot shower without Seamus hogging all the hot water made him throw off his blankets and get out of bed.

Showered and dressed in a pair of straight cut grey jeans and a dark blue knitted sweater Daphne had picked out for him yesterday, he made his way to the Great Hall. The cavernous room was empty, except for a single lonely person sitting at the Gryffindor table. As Harry walked towards his girlfriend, he tried to gauge her mood.

The way she hunched over a cup of steaming tea, her plate still empty, and her hair obscuring her face from the glances of passersby she didn't have to tell him she'd had a rough night. His conclusions were confirmed when he sat down next to her and she turned to greet him: there were dark circles under her dull eyes.

'Good morning, beautiful.' He leaned towards her and gave her a kiss.

She returned his kiss and even gave him a small smile, although it didn't reach her eyes.

'Morning.' Her voice was barely audible.

Harry took a deep breath, pulled the plates with the buttered toast and the scrambled eggs towards himself and put some of each on Daphne's plate.

She opened her mouth to protest.

He fixed her with a glare from under furrowed eyebrows. 'I know that Tracey's death is hitting you hard, so soon after Pansy, and that right now you're giving yourself a much harder time for not being there for them when they needed you than anyone else could. Don't. Pansy withdrew from you a long time ago, and you respected her decision. She knew where to find you if she needed you, yet she didn't approach you. I've witnessed with my own eyes that you were always there for Tracey during those last weeks when she wanted to talk. In the end, they both didn't want your help, so you couldn't help them, so there's no need to tear yourself apart about things you can't change, and there's certainly no need to starve yourself because of that, so eat, or I'm going to spoon-feed you.'

A spark ignited in Daphne's eyes, and she opened her mouth again.

'Nicely said by the king of self-deprecation,' Hermione said from behind them.

Harry and Daphne both started and turned in their seats.

Hermione stood behind Daphne, Ron by her side. They also both looked pale and tired out.

'How are you?' Hermione said and hugged Daphne from behind.

His girlfriend said something Harry couldn't understand, and Hermione's answer was just as low. She gave Daphne another squeeze, straightened, took Ron by the hand, and walked with him around the table to sit down opposite of Daphne and Harry.

Some of their usual sparkle had returned into Daphne's eyes. She gave Harry a kiss on the cheek and cast Hermione a smile. 'Thanks to both of you. I needed that.' She picked up her fork, scooped up some scrambled eggs from her plate, and gave Harry a mock glare. 'You're not going to spoon-feed me, pillock.'

Their laughter cleared away some of the tension.

'Where were you last night? You two never turned up at dinner. Professor Flitwick informed us about what had happened, and the Aurors turned up a short time later and told us to stay in the Great Hall until they were done with the questioning. They separated the student body by year and made sure we didn't talk to each other while we waited for our turn,' Ron said, while he heaped eggs, sausages and bacon on his plate. As an afterthought, he added a piece of buttered toast and shook his head. 'I don't get it. First Parkinson, now Davis. What is wrong with you Slytherin girls? I hope you're not the next, Daph.'

Harry's head jerked up and he glared at his friend. Ron was tactless by nature, but this was low, even for him.

Hermione reached out and slapped her boyfriend across the back of his head with the palm of her hand. 'Ronald Bilius Weasley! Of all insensitive things to say -'

'Ouch!' Ron cowered under the glare of his girlfriend and gave Daphne a meek look. 'I'm sorry.'

Daphne regarded him with narrowed eyes. 'As you should be.'

Ron shrunk even more.

Harry relaxed somewhat; it seemed the two witches had Ron well in hand and his interference wasn't needed.

'Gotcha!' Daphne gave Ron a malicious grin and took Harry's hand. 'Don't worry, I'm not going to kill myself. Unlike Pansy and Tracey, I couldn't be happier right now.' She linked her fingers with Harry's and gave them a small squeeze.

Hermione's eyes wandered to their entwined hands, then she gave them a contemplative look. 'I see. Is that the reason why you weren't in Hogsmeade?'

Daphne turned a spectacular shade of crimson. 'It's not what you think!'

Harry furrowed his brows. What the heck was Hermione alluding to? His gaze wandered from Daphne's red face to Hermione's mischievous grin, and it dawned on him. Heat shot into his face. 'We were in London.'

Hermione's brows rose a notch. 'And what did you do there?'

'Shopping,' Daphne answered for him, and shot her best friend a dirty look. 'I had enough of the baggy hand-me-downs Harry was wearing outside of class and persuaded him to buy a few things.'

Harry coughed at the "few things", and Daphne turned her head and grinned at him.

'I see.' Hermione interrupted their silent exchange. 'You returned too late; I suppose? You weren't at dinner last night.'

The grin on Harry's and Daphne's face evaporated.

'Actually, we returned rather early from London. I wanted to stretch my legs and persuaded Daphne to a walk around the lake. We climbed on the cliffs on the other end -'

'That's how we found her.' Daphne finished the sentence for Harry in a low voice. 'She laid at the foot of the cliff we were standing on.'

Hermione paled, and Ron's fork stopped midway to his mouth. He put it back on his plate and pushed the plate aside. 'That's tough.' He looked at Daphne. 'Now I'm even more sorry for my idiotic remark.'

Daphne gave him a short smile to show him she bore him no ill will. 'My memory of what happened next is a bit hazy. I guess I was in shock.'

'Understandably so,' Hermione murmured and reached across the table to squeeze her arm.

'Harry sent his Patronus to inform Headmistress McGonagall. She and Professor Flitwick turned up a short time later and took over from there. Headmistress McGonagall sent us to her office. She told Harry and me to fly there on her broom so we wouldn't talk to anyone until the Aurors had talked to us. I don't know how long we waited in her office until the Aurors questioned us, but it seemed like hours.'

'I walked Daphne to the dungeons and went back to our dorms.' Harry picked up Daphne's tale. 'You were still in the Great Hall then. I wasn't in the mood to talk to anyone, so I went straight to bed.'

'So, it's out of the question that she committed suicide?' Hermione asked. 'Professor Flitwick said something along that line yesterday.'

Harry and Daphne exchanged another look.

'What else could it have been? You're surely not suggesting that Tracey has been murdered?' Daphne's voice rose with each word, and colour crept in her cheeks. 'She was so unhappy lately.' She bit her lip and lowered her head.

Harry contemplated Hermione's question. It had been suicide, hadn't it? Tracey had been devastated because of her role in the circumstances of Pansy's alleged suicide. Was guilt and the feeling of being ostracised enough to drive someone into taking their life? He'd felt an overwhelming guilt both after Cedric's and Sirius' deaths, and he'd been ostracised twice during his time at Hogwarts, but he'd not once been tempted to take his own life.

'She lay on her back when we found her.'

Hermione's head jerked up, and Ron's expression became thoughtful.

'You would've thought that she had landed on her stomach, had she jumped herself,' he said.

Daphne's face turned green at that, and Harry put an arm around her waist to comfort her.

'Not necessarily.' Hermione contradicted her boyfriend. 'What if the wind caught in her robes as she fell and somehow pulled her backwards?'

Daphne relaxed in his arm, and Harry shot his friend a grateful look. 'That might well be.' Yet a sliver of doubt remained.

Silence descended on the four friends that was only permeated by the soft murmurs of the other students who had come down for breakfast. It was a far cry from the usual laughter and chatter in the morning; the death of yet another students seemed to lie over the student body like a shroud.

The owls delivering the Sunday newspapers and mail were a welcome distraction from the unnatural silence.

Hermione had subscribed to The Sunday Prophet and unfolded the newspaper, an apprehensive frown on her face.

'Well, we should have expected that, shouldn't we?' She put the newspaper on the table in front of her and pointed at the headline.

Hogwarts: Another Student Killed!

The headline of at least two-inch big letters that covered the width of the newspaper screamed at them. The article below that headline was meagre. Hermione scanned it, and her frown deepened even more.

Harry's heart sank. 'What does the article say?'

'Not much.' Hermione worried her lip between her teeth. 'Seems they don't know much yet except that a student is dead and the Aurors are at Hogwarts again. They mention the questioning of the whole student body, and that we were kept in the Great Hall for that.'

'Seems their informant got into contact with them, then,' Daphne said.

'Yeah.' Hermione worried her lip some more and didn't look at Harry nor Daphne.

Harry's stomach gave an uncomfortable lurch. So, The Prophet had somehow managed to involve him and Daphne into this affair again? Probably to increase their sales. He should be used to that by now. 'What else does that rag say?'

Hermione sighed. 'You'll find out anyway, won't you? They state that neither you nor Daphne were in the Great Hall when the Aurors gathered us there for questioning, and they speculate what that might mean. The way they do that… It makes you somewhat suspicious.'

Harry tightened his grip around Daphne's shoulders. He didn't like where this was going at all.

t.b.c.