Dedalus Diggle was dead. That much was sure to the Aurors who were first on the scene on that cold November night. The street had an eerie air about it, mostly because of the grave looks that were on the faces of the witches and wizards who lived nearby. It had been called in shortly after midnight, when an elderly wizard taking a walk had spotted a strange light coming from one of the windows of the small cottage and decided to inspect it. What he saw had shocked him. The man lay on the floor, a terrified look on his face, his eyes wide open. The authorities had been summoned.
The wizarding world had not seen a murder by an Unforgivable Curse for almost twenty years. After the Second Wizard War had ended, a few of Voldemort’s supporters had still tried to carry on the old ways but they were caught quickly and imprisoned in Azkaban. So, of course, the Killing Curse making a return was something that required the immediate attention of the Ministry of Magic.
The door had been magically opened and Dedalus appeared to be reading the Evening Prophet while drinking a cup of tea when he was surprised by the intruder. The remains of the cup were scattered around the floor, covered by the paper and nearby, the body was twisted at a weird angle.
“Goes to figure, old man must’ve put up a fight.” the man muttered as he leaned in and waved his wand over Dedalus’s body, and it began to glow a pale green light.
“What do you figure, Malfoy?” another voice asked, making the first jump up a little.
“Definitely the Killing Curse. I believe he was taken by surprise and tried to fight him off. Maybe we can find some clues around here.” he said motioning towards the bookcases that lined the walls.
Ron Weasley was looking at the body with an odd expression on his face.
“I think I only saw him once or twice back in the day, when the Order had their headquarters in Grimmauld Place. But he was eager to help and it was welcomed. Taken by surprise you say?” he said, tearing his eyes away and looking around the room.
“I believe so yes. I don’t imagine people just go around their homes muttering Unforgivable Curses at their relatives.”
Ron scowled but decided not to call the young man on his smart mouth. Scorpius Malfoy had graduated from the Auror Academy two years prior and Harry, Head of the Auror Department, had offered him a spot on the team. Ron was skeptical, but the boy had not only shown remarkable skills in his classes at Hogwarts, but was also a gifted duelist and possessed a capacity of mastering even the most complicated of spells, so he was an asset.
“Any prints on the windows or doors, Grantham?” he asked another man that was waving his wand next to the front door.
“Nothing so far, sir. It’s obvious this was the point of entry, seeing as the back door is locked. Whoever did this was careful too, not blowing it up. They didn’t want to be seen or heard.”
“It figures.” Ron sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “Let’s wrap up here and head back to the office. This is a bloody mess.” he turned to Scorpius. “We’d better go and save Harry from the reporters. They’ll be all over this.”
While the Head of the Auror Office was a much sought after position, Harry Potter had learned shortly after his appointment that the job required much less field action, and much more reports and press conferences. It was something he was not happy about, but seeing as these days the Office was in charge of things such as illegal trading of artifacts and breaches in the Statute of Secrecy, there was not much field work to be done. Until that night, that is.
The men Apparated outside the entrance to the Ministry and to no surprise, they found the Atrium already packed with reporters clutching Quick Quotes Quills and cameras.
“How do these people get their information so fast? We couldn’t have gotten the call more than an hour ago.” Scorpius said as he saw the mass of people talking among themselves and scribbling down questions.
“I have no idea what to tell you. I’ve been asking my sister for years, but she says a professional never tells.” Ron replied, making his way around the reporters and towards the elevators.
They found Harry Potter in his office, rushing to answer inter-office memos and shouting orders at the clerks that were trying to gather as much information as they could. He was talking to a short witch, about thirty years old, the press liaison for the Auror Department.
“And let them know I will make a statement myself once we’re ready. Good, you’re back.” he turned to Ron and Scorpius. “They’re already having a field day with this and the day hasn’t even begun. I can’t make a public statement before I have all the information I need and keeping quiet will only make room for suppositions and those will lead to panic.” he said as he dodged a memo that almost hit him between the eyes. “What do we have?” he asked, as he magically closed the door after the two.
“Breaking and entering, the door was magically unlocked, no prints. Killing Curse. By the looks of the body he put up a good fight but it wasn’t enough.” Scorpius said swiftly as Harry took notes.
“The boys are still out there, gathering anything that may be useful.” Ron finished.
A loud bang rang around the office as the door swung open and in came a very disheveled looking Teddy Lupin, clutching at his side.
“You’ll… never… guess… found… ran… tell you.” he managed as he was trying to get as much air in his lungs as possible.
Teddy Remus Lupin had joined the Aurors right after Hogwarts, as a way of honoring his late parents, much to the protest of his grandmother Andromeda. But if it was anything he had inherited from his mother, apart from his shape-shifting skills, was her very stubborn personality, so the battle was lost even before it began and Teddy joined, after Andromeda had been assured by Harry that he would do his very best to keep the boy out of trouble.
It wasn’t a very hard task, seeing as he had recently married Victoire Weasley and she had the ability to get him to ignore his hot head and see reason.
“Take a seat before you pass out, son.” Harry said, summoning him a glass of water. Teddy drank it in one sip and pulled something from out of his cloak. There, in a clear plastic bag, was a long, thin stick.
“It’s a wand.” he said stating the obvious. “But it isn’t Diggle’s wand. His was right under him. This was found in the bushes outside the house. We think it may belong to the killer.”
“Get it down to the Artifacts Department and have them do the necessary spell work to identify the owner.” Harry told him and Teddy eagerly raced out of the room. Silence fell over the three men as he left.
“I knew him since I was eleven years old.” Harry said to no one in particular. Scorpius opened his mouth to say something but Ron silenced him with a look.” He was in the Leaky Cauldron when Hagrid took me. After he spoke to me I realized that there was more to my story than just the Dursley’s being, well, like they were. He was also the one who took them into hiding when I moved out of Privet Drive. He was a loyal man, helped the cause.” he summoned a bottle of Firewhiskey and three glasses from a cupboard in the corner and poured three glasses. “To Dedalus!” he said and took a drink.
“To Dedalus!” the other two echoed. The silence fell over them again.
“I don’t think the wand belongs to the killer.” Scorpius finally said.
“It does seem a bit suspicious, that they would just throw it away like that. What wizard does this?” Ron wondered and clutched his own tightly. The memories of his faulty wand, the one that had been Charlie’s and he had broken still haunted him.
“Besides, this couldn’t be just anyone. They don’t teach Unforgivable Curses in school, or any charms that could help do this. They even considered transferring them to the History Department to be taught there, they haven’t been used in so long.” Scorpius continued. “If I’m not mistaken, there are only a handful of witches and wizards that still know the theory behind them.”
“We should’ve registered them when we had the chance.” Ron said bitterly. Harry let out a hollow laugh.
“I still remember the face Hermione made when you suggested this. She thought it was as bad as the Muggle Born Registry.” he said.
Scorpius shifted uncomfortably in his seat. The men had these conversations sometimes, about things that had happened to them during the war and after and it always made him feel uneasy. The stories his father and grandfather had told him about the war were very different.
Lucius Malfoy was never the same after the war was over. He had lost many of his connections and was now living in the old Manor, feeding of stories of other times, when he was at the height of his glory. Draco Malfoy avoided the topic altogether. It was after all Harry himself that had testified in his trial about his switching of sides in the Battle of Hogwarts and kept him out of jail. Neither of the men spoke of how it was actually Narcissa that saved the family, declaring Harry dead and lying to the late Voldemort to his face.
His thoughts were interrupted once again by Teddy Lupin that returned with news and by the look on his face, they were not good.
“The wizard finished his analysis.” he announced and looked grave. “The wand cast the Killing Curse. It belongs to Parvati Patil.”
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AN: Hello there everybody! Hope you enjoy my new story. I've been thinking about writting a Next Gen piece for a while now so I figured I'd give it a shot. I have several chapters already written so expect frequent updates! Leave a comment below!
Disclaimer: I own nothing, it's all JKR's.
Write a Review The Mysterious Case of the Twin Wands: I. Dedalus Diggle
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