The immediate impression that Harry had of Ryan Joe was that if he hadn’t known better, he’d have thought that the boy was elder to Daisy. Tall and skinny, he looked completely unrelated to Daisy, who was pretty short and slim. His hair was also not curly and he didn’t wear glasses.
“Sit down, Ryan,” Ginny said kindly, beckoning to a chair in front of her. “We just need to ask you a few questions.”
He nodded and seated himself nervously. “Could” could you just get this done fast? I don’t want to miss much of Potions… especially since this one might be in the OWLs.”
“Sure,” replied Harry. “Okay… we need to know about Daisy. How was she after the murders started?”
Ryan raised an eyebrow. “Well, obviously, she was pretty sad. The victims all seemed to be from her year… her batch, you know? And she knew them all.”
“Did you notice any other change?”
“Nope… except…”
“… Except?”
“I guess two or three days before Andrew died… a week, rather. On the day that Charlotte died, I think.”
“And…?”
“Well, she got herself that handset and she and Andrew were always in touch. She also met him a fair few times late at night. And the books…”
“What books?”
“She suddenly seemed to read a lot. I dunno, I think it was for her job. But” you don’t suspect her, do you?”
“No, we don’t,” lied Harry. “We just needed to have a few things checked. So… was there anything else that you noticed?”
“No,” said Ryan. “She did get a letter from Andrew after his death, though…”
“When did it come?” asked Anthony sharply.
“Just a few hours after he died, I think. I obviously didn’t read it.”
“Can you tell us where it is?”
Ryan raised an eyebrow. “I won’t! I can’t let you read the letter!”
Irene frowned briefly at Anthony and then smiled at the teenager before them. “Oh, of course we won’t! We were just wondering if you knew…”
“I don’t know.”
“Okay,” Ginny began, as Harry felt his wand grow hot. This was the second time in an hour. What was wrong? He excused himself and went aside, just as he heard her voice.
“Harry?”
“Any problem, Parvati?” Harry asked, worried, now.
“Harry… Harry s”something’s wrong!”
“What happened?!”
“They’re a”after me, Harry… I”I” think, r”right now…”
“WHAT?”
“Yes, Harry, please come here I” d”don’t know… please” AAAAAARRRRRRGGGGGHHHHH!”
Harry felt the colour drain off his face. He grabbed Ron, who was closest to him and said. “I’m going home, mate… just take care of this, okay?”
He rushed out of Neville’s office and skidded to the set of staircases that led him down. He practically flew down the stairs, missing several of them and dashing through tapestries and short cuts. He then ran out of the entrance hall and rushed out of the front door. He realised after a moment, that Ron was just behind him.
Oh Merlin, let her be all right, he thought, as he ran to the gates with Ron. They hurried out of the gates and Disapparated without even waiting to catch their breaths.
He appeared at the doorstep of their house and heard Ron Apparate beside him, too. But without bothering to wait, he burst in through the doors. What he saw horrified him. “PARVATI!”
She was lying on the floor, bleeding profusely. Her eyes were almost completely shut and he could hear her gasping for breath. He realised that she must have put up quite a struggle, for blood was splattered all across the living room. Falling to his knees, he took her head on his lap. “Hold on, please! We’ll take you to the hospital. Just a minute…”
“Harry…” she sputtered hopelessly, as he lifted her up.
“I’m taking her to the hospital!” He called out to Ron, before hurrying outside as fast as he could and Disapparating as soon as he had reached the door.
St Mungo’s was quite crowded, but they noticed Parvati the moment Harry Apparated there. The witch at the reception shouted out for a stretcher and Harry laid her on it, as they began to wheel her into the emergency room.
He felt her hand on his. “Harry…”
He bent down. “Yes… tell me.”
She coughed, and gasped. They were now in the room and they stopped the stretcher as they transferred her to a bed. A Healer came and began to attend to her wounds, as Harry held her hand. “Killer…” she gasped.
“What? Tell me, honey.”
“Killer,” she coughed again. “I” H”Harry…” her eyes rolled out of focus, and the Healer shook his head at her. But Harry wouldn’t give up.
“Parvati… listen to me… I love you…”
She gasped, her chest heaving with every breath she took. The Healer placed a face mask for her and her breathing eased a bit. But Harry knew that it was over. And so did the Healer.
“I’m sorry,” he said, “She’s slipping away.”
“NO! Parvati… sweetheart…” Harry squeezed her hand, determined to bring her back. “Naina loves you… I love you… please don’t go…” He kissed her eyelids as tears escaped his own eyes.
A look of tranquility was now on Parvati’s face. She took a last breath and as she let it go, he could have sworn that he heard her say, “Harry…”
***
Daisy took a deep breath and swallowed the potion that Chris had poured out for her. She hated this. She hated every moment of this lie that she was forcing herself into. How many people would she hurt in the end? How many of these people were going to forgive her for it? She thought about this for a moment and decided that no one would, indeed. The wounds that she was about to cause would definitely be too deep.
Pari got up to get Daisy a glass of water, as Chris went to wash the goblet that he had poured the potion into. Daisy looked at Rebecca, who was looking at her curiously. “How do you feel?” she asked.
“Better,” said Daisy.
Rebecca gave her a smile and spoke gently. “I’m so glad we’re friends again. I never thought I could pull out of this ordeal.”
“Oh Rebecca…” Daisy hugged her, just as Chris came back. He smiled gladly at the two of them.
“I never thought you’d forgive us, Flower.”
Daisy smiled. “Neither did I. But now I’ve realised that it’s important to forgive the people you love.”
Chris came and sat next to her, before swooping down and pecking her cheek. Then he pulled her close against his chest, wrapping his arms around her as though she was the only thing he had ever owned. She snuggled in, too, but the feeling of guilt burnt her stomach, as she counted another person who’d be hurt at the end of it all.
***
“Drink this, Harry.”
“I’m not thirsty.”
“It’s coffee.”
“I don’t want it.”
“We’re worried for you…”
Harry looked up to see Ginny with two mugs of coffee in her hand, watching him sympathetically. He could feel Hermione’s arm on his shoulder. Ron was standing right behind Ginny, and was also holding a steaming coffee mug.
“Harry, you haven’t eaten anything…” Hermione squeezed him lightly. “At least have some coffee.”
Harry shook his head, as his eyes began to burn. Removing Hermione’s arm from around him, he stood up and walked away from all of them. They didn’t make any attempt to stop him. He just walked down the corridor, unaware of where he was heading towards. He didn’t care.
He climbed up a flight of stairs and then a few more numbly, only to find himself in the hospital canteen. It was a flurry of lime green robes and dull voices. No one seemed to notice that Harry Potter had just entered their midst.
Harry suddenly discovered a hungry growl in his stomach. He looked over at the counter and decided to have a sandwich. The wizard at the counter widened his eyes in surprise at Harry, but he barely noticed it as he took his plate to a nearby table. The sandwich tasted horrible.
He was done with the sandwich in another ten minutes. Remembering that Romilda, Irene and Anthony would have probably come back with the results after investigating the guest house, he decided to go back and check out.
When he went back to Parvati’s ward, he saw that Anthony and Irene were indeed there, holding their clipboards and talking to Ginny and Ron. Hermione was sitting down, listening to them and comforting Padma at the same time. Harry took a deep breath and walked to them. “What have you found out?”
Anthony turned around, looking grim. He them held out his clipboard, where he had scribbled a few notes. “We took out blood samples from across the living room… we wanted to make sure that they were Parvati’s only.”
“And?”
“There are two different samples, Harry. We’re lucky.”
Harry stared at the notes in the clipboard for a while, as he sat down. Just then, he heard Hermione say, “Have you done a DNA fingerprint for the sample?”
Harry looked up. “DNA fingerprint?”
“It’s a Muggle method to identify criminals,” Hermione explained. “If you want, I’ll read up””
“There will be no need for that,” Irene interrupted her. “We have better methods to find out.”
“But””
“I really don’t think we should use Muggle techniques for serious cases like this,” said Irene. “How can we ever be sure of anything we find out, then?”
“Listen to me, Irene,” said Hermione, but the other woman interrupted her.
“I think Aurors know better, Hermione,” said Irene, with a tone of finality. Hermione looked at her for a minute, but apparently, she decided not to retaliate.
“Where was Romilda when Parvati was attacked?” asked Harry finally.
“She was upstairs,” Anthony replied.
“Doing what?”
Anthony looked hesistant. Then he said, “She was asleep.”
“What?!”
“Well… after we checked on Hermione, Ron and I went to Romilda’s room. She was asleep on her bed. And there was a vial of Sleeping Draught on her bedside cabinet.”
Harry looked at Hermione. “And you…?”
“I don’t know what happened to me, Harry,” Hermione replied earnestly. “I had just put the kids to sleep… and I have no idea of what happened after that. The next thing I knew, Ron was Rennervating me.”
Harry sighed. Why did Romilda feel the need to go off to sleep like that? Since when had she become an insomniac? And how had Hermione been Stunned without even having a clue of what was going on?
And then, it struck him. Of course… a Memory Charm. He stood up with a start. “Daisy.”
“What?” asked Hermione, standing up, too.
“It’s Daisy. She’s the one who’s involved in all of this.”
“How can you say that?” asked Ginny.
“I know. I have to make sure, though, and I’m going to do that.”
“Harry, please””
Harry looked at Ginny. “Look, Ginny, I listened to you when you told me that she was innocent. I decided to be open minded and not presume things like her friends did. But now, I think her friends are right to abandon her. She is a murderer.”
“But Harry, how do you explain Romilda having to take a Sleeping Draught?”
“Can’t you see that she was clearly Imperiused? We all know that Daisy is good with wandwork, Ginny.”
“And so is Chris… and Rebecca! Pari is good, too! And Romilda is an Auror, Harry, she obviously has better reflexes than that.”
Harry began to retaliate, but he held it back in the last moment. He took a deep breath. “Okay. Where is Romilda?”
“In the ward,” replied Anthony. “I’ll call her.” He went in and returned a moment later, Romilda trailing him. She stood before Harry, unable to look at him directly. He kept a hand on her shoulder.
“I just have one question for you, Romilda. Did Parvati meet anyone when you were outside?”
She nodded. “Yes.”
“Who was it?”
“Daisy Joe.”
***
“You can’t be serious.”
Harry, Ron and Ginny were standing in front of a shocked and pale Daisy. She held the search warrant in her trembling hands, and was staring helplessly at them. “Please… I’m innocent,” she said again.
“We know that, Daisy,” said Ginny soothingly. “We just have to make sure.”
Daisy stared at them for a while. Then she sighed. “Okay.”
Ginny patted the girl’s shoulder as she, Harry and Ron headed to Daisy’s room. They opened the wardrobe and bookshelf, but found nothing. “All clean,” said Ron, putting a book on the Crown Jewels back in its place. “Let’s check her study desk and bedside cabinets.”
They began to check the drawers on her desk, but they found nothing again. They then headed to her bedside table. This one had two drawers. The lower one was full of medicines, but the upper one seemed to be locked.
“This isn’t opening,” Ginny said, as she tugged at it. “I think she has locked it.”
Harry narrowed his eyes at the drawer. “Yes, I think this one has a password to be opened. Just tap it once and see.”
Ginny did as Harry told her to do, and a faint voice said, “Password?”
Ron raised an eyebrow. “I’ll get Daisy.” He went downstairs, and was back in a moment with her following him. Harry looked up at her.
“We need the password to your drawer, Daisy.”
“I” I can’t give it.”
“If you have nothing to hide, then you should have no problems with us searching it.”
“No. I won’t””
“Listen””
“NO!” she screamed suddenly. “WHY THE HELL DON’T YOU UNDERSTAND? I CAN’T GIVE YOU THE PASSWORD, OKAY?”
Harry sighed, as he removed an arrest warrant from his pocket. “I’m sorry, Daisy, but you’re under arrest for murder.”
Killer Instincts by Ginny Weasley Potter
Chapter Notes: Hello, loves!
Still busy, I'm afraid :(. College is a hell of work and studies.
I'm typing the chapters on my iPod everyday and mailing them to myself so that I can keep up. Let's se... I hope this will be as regular as I expect it to. :)
Once again, it is Pauie who is responsible for correcting this chapter. Thank you so much, hon! Love you!
And I forgot to mentiuon someone in the last chapter. Nadia (majestic_ginny) has helped me to a very large extent, with a lot of chapter 17's plot. Thank you, darling!
This chapter is for Nadia (majestic_ginny), my lovely sis. :)
Please R/R, guys!