Black & White - A Harry Potter Fan Fiction

Chapter 9-1

"Frank!" Sara skidded to a stop in front of Parker's cubicle in the open space.

"Oh, Boss. The Director just stopped by to say we have the authorization to exhume Pettigrew's finger." Frank turned his chair to face her. "Boss, are you ok?"

Sara was bent over with her hands on her knees while trying to catch her breath. "I need the newspaper of the day Fudge went to Azkaban. Now."

"Sure, I'll go to the Archive." Frank stood. "Did you hear what I told you about the finger?"

Sara quickly evaluated their options. "It's dark now. We'll take care of the finger tomorrow. Tonight, we need the newspaper."

While Frank charged toward the Archive, Sara turned to the open space. Several Aurors looked at her curiously. Caught up in the enthusiasm of her new lead, she hadn't been discreet. She needed to get out before someone started nosing around.

She met Frank on his way back from the Archive. He had a copy of the Daily Prophet in his fist. She tipped her head toward the exit. "Let's get out of here, have a change of scenery. It will do us good."

"As you wish. Where are we going?"

She could think of just one place. Half an hour later, they entered her apartment. She had never brought a colleague there. Except for Prosperus. And Michael Chilton.

"Nice place." Frank stood in the entrance and looked around. He fidgeted, like he didn't really know what to do.

"Come into the kitchen. Let's put together something for dinner, then we can start working." Their success in their researches had made her hungry.

The guy followed her. "You can cook?"

"Why are you so surprised? Sure, I can cook. Do you think I was raised by wolves?" There wasn't much to choose from in the fridge. Sara picked the ingredients for an improvised pasta dish and started working while Frank opened drawers and cabinets searching for plates and forks.

"Are you going to tell me what the Minister said at some point, or do I have to venture a guess?"

Sara sighed. "He told me about his visit to Azkaban. He said he saw Black that day." Se slid minced onion in a pan where the oil was already sizzling. "He said Black seemed clear-headed, self-aware. And he asked him for his newspaper."

"Ah, now I get it." Frank placed two glasses on the table then opened the fridge and pulled out a couple of beers. "You think Black read something in the newspaper that induced him to run away."

"That's the idea." With a couple flicks of her wand, Sara heated the water. When it boiled, she threw in some salt and the spaghetti. With a flick of her wrist, she enchanted a knife so that it cut tomatoes into little cubes. Those ended up in the pan, together with the sizzling onion. "I want to examine that newspaper from top to bottom. There must be something Black saw that piqued his interest."

"It's not going to be easy. Black could have found anything in there, and we could never realize it. It would take someone who knows him really well."

"Yep. It would take that."

Sara hid her face by leaning over the stove. She salted the sauce, added a hint of oregano, and mixed. What if she found something that Frank couldn't understand? How could she tell him? She hated keeping things from him. Lying to her team bothered her.

They ate quickly, chatting of this and that, but Sara couldn't wait to go back to work. They took plenty of drink and snacks to the living room, then got down to business. They split the newspaper into sections and started examining it, one part each. Sara combed everything. Not only the articles, but also every image, the small captions beneath the pictures, and even the small cartouches with the page numbers and dates at the top of every page.