A Cup Affair

Chapter Fourteen

"More theories, Evans?" Moody asked.

Lily smiled at her boss and mentor. His tone was harsh, but she knew he was interested in listening to her new theories, not caring much how crazy they were.

"Yes, a bit more direct now."

Moody raised his eyebrows. They were sharing a table in the same pub as before, a neutral place where no one seemed to care about them.

"Please, do tell."

"Actually, sir, it's the same theory. About the murder," she said. Moody focused both of his eyes on her.

"Still reckon it was Muggle?"

Lily nodded and explained her suspicion of a vein of Jack's being used for the murder based on the photographs they had of the murder scene.

"What do you need to keep following this lead?"

"So you agree with me?" Lily thought it would be much harder to convince her boss.

"You know much more about the Muggle aspect of our job than me. I'll trust your evaluation, Evans. What do you need?"

Lily hesitated. That was the hardest part.

"Oh, no, Evans. Spill it out," Moody grumbled, looking at the rest of the restaurant with his blue, vibrant eye. Lily sighed.

"The ideal would be me doing an investigation more...well, Muggle. The problem is that in cases like Jack's, the Muggles proceed with what's called an autopsy."

"And what's that?"

"Bluntly put, they, erm, cut the body to see if there's something wrong with it, or to see if there's any hint of what might've happened, and they take some samples from blood, urine and other organs that might help."

Moody again looked at Lily with both of his eyes. She didn't need to look to know her boss would be wearing an expression that mixed surprise and disgust.

"What?"

"Well, Muggles can't do magic to help them, sir. There's nothing like that."

"And you wish to do that with the Minister's son?"

"I want a professional to do it," she corrected him calmly.

Moody scratched his neck and sipped his firewhiskey.

"And how are we supposed to find a Muggle to do that? We'd need to Obliviate him afterwards."

"I've got one in mind, sir, that would be perfect, because it wouldn't be a breach of the Secrecy Statue."

"Oh, no? And why not?"

"Because it's my father," Lily answered, and Moody raised a disfigured eyebrow. "He works with that, and obviously already knows about the Wizarding World. I can ask him a favour."

"Logistics?"

"I could take him to the Ministry through the visitor's entrance and he'd do everything there. If he needs exams or something, we can take it to a private lab under a fake name. But the initial part can be done at the Ministry."

Moody stopped to think for a few moments, and Lily understood his hesitation, so she waited in silence, biting her lower lip, until Moody sighed.

"Alright, you've convinced me. But you're the one to talk to the Ministry."

Not that Lily feared the Minister, not at all. There were few things that scared Lily, and almost all of them involved people she loved, not herself. In reality, Lily respected the Minister greatly, for all she had been through and still maintaining strong and exemplary.