Every Little Thing

Good Work, New Girl

Draco and Kate had been at the crime scene for over an hour when the aurors finally cleared out and they got their chance to look around. The alleyway behind the Leaky Cauldron had been successfully roped off, keeping unwanted people out of the crime scene. The body was badly bruised and laying on the ground next to the dumpster. She was left naked for any passerby to see thanks to her assailant. Besides the bruising, the body seemed to have been scourgified after being dumped. There was no visible dirt, stray hairs or bodily fluids on the outside of the body. Of course the medical examiner would be able to better spot things like that. Kate bent down and started to run a diagnostic with her wand. "Her cause of death seems to be multiple blows to her head and forced asphyxiation," she turned to get Draco's attention so he could see the report projected by her wand. "Seems like we are dealing with a sick fuck," she pulled the crime scene tarp back up over her body.

"Come here," Draco called out from the other side of the dumpster. He was bent over looking down at the ground. "Looks like the bastard didn't clear everything," he was pointing to a partial footprint in a muddy patch from the brief rainstorm last night. It seems like they had a small break after all. He smiled at Kate who opened her extendable bag and pulled out a plaster kit.

"Let's get a mold. It's better than going back to tell your aunt there are zero leads." Kate walked back over to the body and transfigured a shirt and shorts and started to dress the body. Draco cleared his throat. She knew that they weren't supposed to do that but, "I can't leave her here naked. It's not right."

"Such a hufflepuff," he smiled at his new partner. "I'm going to do a few more scans to look for fingerprints and go question the barmaids. See if anyone recognizes the girl." He headed inside the bar through the back entrance scanning his wand along the way.

"No identification on you," Kate squatted down again next to the body as she pulled the sleep shorts up over the girl's bruised legs. "Who are you?" Kate had been an auror since graduating from the academy shortly after leaving Hogwarts. She was two years behind the Golden Trio so they didn't cross paths during school then after the war, she went back and finished, joining the auror academy immediately afterwards. She had only been working actively as an auror for a few months when she was assigned to Hermione's case and after that ordeal, she already was desperate for a change. When Harry approached her about applying for the position in his department, she couldn't pass up the opportunity no matter how challenging Bella would make the experience. She was good at solving problems and she thought that she had grown on the older witch during their time together. She might have over exaggerated their friendliness in her own head but she liked the job. She got on well with Draco and they worked amazingly as partners. "I'll find out who did this to you," she said as she pulled the shirt down and put the tarp back over the girl. "Nobody deserves to go out like this," she shook her head, not letting her feelings overwhelm her. The last thing she needed was to break down at a crime scene and she would never hear the end of it from Bellatrix.

"Hey. Are you ready?" Draco came over to her and held his hand out, helping her to stand. Kate nodded. "There weren't any prints on the door. The barkeep from last night gave a generic description. Tall male with hair. He really narrowed it down for us."

"Your aunt is going to love that description," Kate laughed looking back at the body.

"Are you okay?" Draco asked, following her eyes back to the body. "You seem a little off today. You can talk to me, you know? I'm here for you."

"Yeah, let's just get out of here."

**********

Bella lowered the report onto her desk and looked expectantly at her officers. After they returned from the crime scene, they wrote up an official report, turned the footprint over to the evidence lab, and then joined the dark witch in her office for the debrief of the crime scene. "This is it then?" She questioned with a flat tone which caused the two people sitting across from her to panic worse than if she were yelling. "A partial footprint and heavy bruising?"