"So, Rebecca, could you tell me what happened on the day Belinda Spencer was murdered?"
Rebecca sighed. "I was alone at home that day. Mum and Dad had gone out for shopping. Actually, I wanted to buy a few clothes, but my parents… they did not take me with them because they didn't want me to waste any time. I don't know what's their problem… they're never happy with my work… they always-"
"Rebecca?" interjected Irene. "Um, we wanted to know what happened on that day."
Rebecca coloured. "I'm sorry… so, yeah. I had taken a five-minute break from my studies. I was in the kitchen, slicing apples. Then, Belinda came into the house."
"Did she just enter without knocking or ringing the doorbell?" asked Romilda.
"Yes," Rebecca replied. "She always comes like that- she's like one from our own family."
"And did she close the door?"
"I don't think so."
Harry immediately made note of this. The door was open; which meant that anyone could have entered the house.
"Okay and what happened then?" questioned Anthony.
"She came into the kitchen, holding a huge poster of-" Rebecca stopped there, looking horrified.
"Yes, go on," prompted Romilda. "Whose poster was it?"
Rebecca went crimson. "I- I can't tell. It's personal."
Harry raised an eyebrow. "Rebecca, we won't interfere with your personal matters, but do you reckon the poster could be related to this case?"
"I- I don't know," stammered Rebecca. "It was a photo of Belinda's heartthrob…"
Ginny laughed. "What's so personal about that? Everyone has a heartthrob. If you have to know, my heartthrob is Daniel Craig."
Rebecca went so red that Harry could feel the heat out of her. "O-Okay," she said, in a small voice. "Itwasarrypotter."
"What?"
"Harry Potter." Rebecca hid her face in her hands now. "I'm sorry, Belinda, I'm so sorry…"
But none of the Aurors were concerned about how sorry Rebecca was. As Harry looked on, five horrified faces were suddenly staring at him. He felt himself go pale. "She was my fan?"
Rebecca looked up and nodded. "A big, big fan."
Harry was just going to ask her another question, when his wand vibrated. "Oh," he said, “Excuse me." Getting up, he went outside. "Is that you, Parvati?"
"Yes," replied her warm voice. "I'm still alive."
Harry smiled. "Very funny."
"So, may I disconnect now?"
"Yeah."
Parvati's wand disconnected, and Harry felt the momentary warmth leave him. He now wished that Rebecca had not revealed that Belinda was his fan. And as he returned to the room, Rebecca was explaining the murder.
"- and she came and waved the poster at me. And- and then…" Rebecca went pale. "And then, she screamed. There was blood. Blood everywhere…"
"And she just died like that?" asked Ron.
"I think so," Rebecca replied. "I fainted afterwards, and then, before I woke up at the hospital, my friend, Daisy, erased the memory of Belinda's body and all, to prevent any traumas."
"WHAT?" Anthony was on his feet. "And you never told her anything?"
Rebecca frowned and answered him coldly. "Look, I am not a person who commissions Aurors, okay? She has helped me so much and you say that I should cold shoulder her for helping me?"
"No, but-"
"Whatever you said definitely suggests that, and I won't take a word against Daisy. All right?"
"Why did she erase your memory without asking you?"
Rebecca shut her eyes for a second and drew in a deep breath. Looking at Ron afterwards, she said, "Ron, please tell them that I'm not going to answer anyone but you."
Ron looked at the rest and then looked back at Rebecca. "Um, we'll just have a private talk and see you in a minute." He beckoned the others to the passage, a little away from the room.
"What the hell is her problem?" burst out Anthony. "She's behaving so, so-"
"She seems to be disturbed, Anthony," Ginny replied.
"But she can at least answer us properly…"
Harry thought for a while. "You know what, we're all wasting time. I think we should let Ron and Irene deal with Rebecca. She’s only ready to talk to Ron, anyway. The rest of us can go to the other people's places."
Romilda nodded in agreement. "I think that's the right thing to do. So… do we leave now?"
"That'll be fine," replied Harry. "We can do something more constructive than listen to Rebecca going on about how money-minded Aurors are, anyway. Ginny and I'll go to Daisy's place and Anthony; you can head straight to Belinda's place."
"Okay, then, see you all at the Ministry," said Ron, as he and Irene began to walk back to Rebecca's room.
The rest of the Aurors walked down the stairs and headed back to their cars. Harry unlocked the Honda again, but beckoned Ginny to the driver's seat this time.
She looked at him, positively terrified. "Are you s-sure I-I've to start right now?"
"How else will you learn?"
"But Harry-"
"Weren't you the one who wished you could drive? Now get in, Ginny."
Ginny gave him a last scared look and got in. With shaky hands, she put the keys in and turned the ignition. Her left hand clutched the lever, while her right was limp on the steering wheel.
"Come on," said Harry.
Ginny took a deep breath and she put the car on reverse mode. The car began to go backwards, as Ginny moved the wheel lightly. Soon, it was in the correct position, and with another deep breath, Ginny switched the car to 'drive'.
She was able to do it fairly well, once she had gotten over the anxiety. Harry did not comment, but just watched her drive the car using her own instincts. She drove it all the way down the highway and pulled it into the narrow lane that they knew would lead to Daisy's house.
They reached the house, finally, and Ginny put the car into park mode. She pulled it against the wall, and parked it properly.
"You're good," said Harry, as they got off and walked up the garden of Daisy's house.
"Thanks," replied Ginny. "I was not too confident until now."
"Do you still need someone to accompany you?"
"Maybe for a few more days…"
Harry rang the doorbell of the large house. This time, though, it was opened by a slim young girl with black eyes and jet black chin length hair, cut in layers. Her face was round and chubby, with a few pimples scattered over it. And like Rebecca, she wore glasses. Harry thought she looked rather cute.
"Hello!" the girl said, "May I help you?"
"Yeah," replied Ginny. "We're Aurors from the Ministry of Magic. We want to meet Daisy Joe."
"Oh, that's me," the girl replied. "Come in and settle yourself. I'll be back in a mo'."
She led Harry and Ginny to the living room, where they sat on a couch, waiting for her to be back. In two minutes, though, the girl was back with two large glasses of lemonade in a tray. She offered the tray to Harry and Ginny, who took a glass each.
"So," said Daisy, sitting on an armchair, "You wanted to speak to me?"
"Yeah," said Harry. "We just need to enquire a few things about you."
Daisy smiled. "Go on, then."
"Well, firstly, what is your occupation, Daisy?" Harry asked, as Ginny pulled out a notebook and a quill.
"I'm an Obliviator at the Ministry."
"Any special reasons for that?"
"Well, Memory Charms are my specialty, to tell you the truth."
"And how often do you use these charms?"
"As often as my department requires me to."
"When was the last time you used the Memory Charm?"
"Last week, when some Muggle witnessed Mundungus Fletcher tackling a broomstick that swept the floors by itself."
"Could I have your wand, please?"
"Yeah, sure." Daisy pulled out a wand from her pocket and handed it to Harry, who performed a few short spells on it, with his own wand.
"You sure seem to have used this charm many times in the last month… well, how do you connect yourself to Rebecca Palmer?"
"Rebecca Palmer?" asked Daisy.
"Yeah. Isn't she your friend?"
Daisy's face contorted with anger. "Friend? Do you call a person who didn't think I was worth a damn, my friend?"
Harry did not let the gasp escape him. "Rebecca was not your friend?"
"Of course not. Strutted around Hogwarts as though she was the most intelligent person on earth, the bitch. Treated anyone who didn't top the class as filth. She was a- a- well, I don't want to talk about her, actually. I'm glad she's out of my life."
"So you didn't put that Memory Charm on her after the first murder that she witnessed?"
"Goodness, no!" replied Daisy. "Why on earth would I help that swine?"
Ginny scratched out the details on her notebook, as Harry pondered a little. "I guess that's all, Daisy. We'll talk to you when we need to know more."
"Well, see you," said Harry, as he shook hands with Daisy. Ginny did the same, and they stepped out of the house to head towards their car.
"Isn't she sweet?" asked Ginny, sitting on the driver's seat.
"Yeah, I thought so too," replied Harry.
"But about Rebecca..."
Harry looked up at Ginny. "Um, Ginny, can we discuss this in my office? I just want to think for some time."
"Okay, let's go to the Ministry, then."
Fifteen minutes later, Harry's Honda had pulled into the parking lot outside the Ministry. Together, they headed towards the entrance and found themselves in the Atrium.
They headed towards the Auror Headquarters, where Harry invited Ginny into his new office. She perched herself on a chair, while Harry removed a sheaf of parchment from his drawer.
"Okay," he said, dipping a quill into a bottle of ink. "Both of us know that either Rebecca or Daisy is lying."
Ginny nodded. "But I am really confused. Who could it be?"
"It could be anyone, though I'm more inclined to think that it's Rebecca."
Ginny looked unsure. “Yeah… but wasn't Rebecca the witness of the first murder?"
"Daisy did not hesitate to answer our questions."
"But that's not valid, because Rebecca is not in a stable state of mind. Besides, Daisy could always be a good liar. We have no proof that what she said was the truth."
"Did you note down whatever she said?"
"Yup, have a look."
Ginny smiled, handing her notebook to Harry and they began to work, drawing different conclusions from the story they had received from Rebecca as well as Daisy's information. Finally, the others came in near four in the evening.
"I've got important news, mate," said Ron, as Romilda shut the door of the meeting room. "Rebecca reckons she remembers seeing something before she fainted."
"Didn't she say that Daisy erased her memory?" asked Harry.
"Yeah, but it's just something really small."
"What is it?"
Ron looked at Harry, straight in the eye. "She remembers seeing a mass of black hair."
***
"But the question is, how can it be Daisy?" asked Ginny, driving the car down the highway.
"It can't," replied Harry. "Because, from what Ron said, Rebecca is clever enough to deduce that. And she asked us to shut up when we began to suspect Daisy, remember?"
"Hmmm..."
There was silence for sometime, as Ginny drove on. At last, they approached the guest house.
"Here we are," said Ginny, and as Harry smiled at her, he thought he saw for a moment, only for a moment, that her face was oddly blank.
They neared the house, but to Harry's shock, instead of stopping, the car began to gain speed. Harry looked desperately at Ginny. "What are you doing- AAAARRRGGHHH!"
The car became faster still and began to rush down the lane itself. Ginny had apparently kept her foot on the accelerator instead of the break. "Harry, I can't stop!" Her knuckles had gone white over the steering wheel, and she seemed unable to do anything.
They were fast approaching the fork in the road, and were heading straight to the supermarket. Ginny honked a fair few times to warn the people, as she tried in vain to stop the car.
"Harry, Harry, we're going to crash!"
Harry stretched sideways and threw an arm over the steering, swerving it to the left for the second time in two days. But as he did so, he spotted a lone figure walking along with a pram. And he recognised it instantly.
"PARVATI!"
She looked up and Harry just caught sight of her shocked face before the car crashed onto her and charged towards the tree behind. A low branch hit the glass, and before Harry could do so much as catch a second glimpse of his wife, a large piece of shattered glass pierced him through his cheek, and he could do nothing more than succumb to the darkness.
Killer Instincts by Ginny Weasley Potter
Chapter Notes: Thank you once again, Pauie!
Hi people! I know it's been long, but sorry! Exams and studies don't really let me get back to you guys.
In this chapter, I have introduced another OC, based on one of my closest friends, Su. You rock, Su, and I'll really miss you!
This chapter is dedicated to another close friend of mine, Archie.