It had been a week since Ginny Weasley had gone missing.
Harry watched lazily from the sidelines as investigators walked through the halls of Hogwarts. Dumbledore had requested Hogwarts would be shut down, but since had been denied for the request. Harry sighed and turned back to his plate as Draco tapped lightly on the table. The entire hall was eerily silent. No one had expected the sudden disappearance. Ron and the rest of the Weasley family had been removed from the school the day she had disappeared and no one knew why. A hand landed on Harry's shoulder making him tense. He turned his head slightly to stare at the long fingers.
"Come on, Potter," Snape said quietly, "they want to talk to you again."
"Again?" Harry sat straighter and grabbed his bag from under the table.
Snape didn't respond and Harry hadn't expected him to. Harry looked up at the man and frowned slightly, nodding he stood up. He let out a breath as everyone turned to stare at them as they walked out of the great hall. Draco glared at other students around him as low whispering started.
"Everyone knows he killed her, why aren't they doing anything?" a Hufflepuff asked quietly from nearby, turned in her seat to look at a Slytherin boy behind her.
Harry lowered his eyes while passing Neville Longbottom. Hermione glared at him beside Neville. Harry swallowed and looked back straight ahead of him as he followed Snape into the corridor. They walked into an office just outside the Great Hall and Harry frowned at the man sitting behind the desk.
"Ah, Misteer Potter," The man said with a soft smile.
"Poya " Harry replied shortly.
"That's Detective Fautin, Mr. Potter" Snape warned.
Poya Fautin smiled and held up a hand to stop Snape with a discreet shake of his head.
"Zat eez not necezary," He said with a smile. "Misteer Potter our meetings never zease to amuze me."
The man had a thick French accent that made Harry feel like he couldn't take the man seriously as a detective. It was far too cliché. He at the very least did not have a handlebar mustache that he twirled mysteriously. Other than the accent the man looked rather regular. He was slightly balding on the top of his head and his suit was faded in areas that showed he wore it often. Instead of a handkerchief in his front pocket, the man left a muggle pen. It was slightly amusing to see, like an outline of a handprint on cold glass. It reminded Harry of far off worlds that he used to exist in. Like a tickle of a memory sliding down his throat making Harry nauseous. Harry sat down in the old chair that was provided for him.
"I know you are zepposed to be 'aving lunch right now," The man said "I brought zome food for you in caze you are 'ungry"
Harry looked at the stack of sandwiches on the table between them and frowned.
"I already ate," he declined.
Snape stood in the corner, thinking about the obvious lie, the food hadn't even been spread when Harry had been dragged out. Harry seemed at ease but Snape recognized a slight tenseness at the back of the boy's neck. A sweat drop ran down into the collar of Harry's shirt. The detective smiled and sat back in his own seat.
"'Ow 'ave you been, 'Arry?" The detective asked.
"Fine," Harry replied shortly.
"Fine? When your best friend'z little zister eez miszing?" The detective looked down at the folder in front of him "I'd be a little worried, mezelf conzidering ze cirmcumztancez"
Harry shrugged a little and looked at the paper across the table.
"We aren't friends anymore,"
"Right, becauze you almozt keeled him,"
Harry's fist clenched and he bit his teeth as he spoke.
"I was assigned to disarm him and I did,"
"By holding him twenty feet in ze air?" Detective Fautin asked, crossing one leg over the other
"I was told to disarm him, I did" Harry repeated.
The detective realized this pressure wouldn't work and pulled off. Snape watched Harry's fingernail scrape against the wood of the chair and frowned. Harry took a breath and smiled, moving his hands into his lap. The detective looked him over for a moment.
"I wonder, 'Arry, if your falling out with Misteer Weazley did not affect your relationzhip with mizz Weazley?"
"Me and Ginny didn't have a relationship," Harry replied "She was just Ron's sister,"
"Juzt Ron'z zizter," the man repeated with a frown.
Harry swallowed and bit the inside of his cheek. This was NOT the time for his snarky comebacks and Harry knew it.
"It waz recently reported zat you stole a book from Mizz Weasley" the detective moved on "why bother ztealing it if you did not care for Mizz Weasley?"
"I didn't steal it," Harry answered tensely "she left it behind in the bathroom, I must've forgot to return it to her,"
"And you have proof of Zis?"
Harry frowned.
"Well, no," Harry replied, making Mr. Fautin smile. "But I do have a witness,"
The smile dropped.
"Oh?"
"Draco Malfoy,"
Snape inwardly groaned, his godson would never, not in his whole life go a single day without being in some form of trouble.
