Chapter Text
International Quidditch Star found dead in France.
Foul play suspected?
Gemma Fawley
September 1, 1999
Paris, France— International Quidditch star Viktor Krum was found dead last night at a popular Wizarding hotel in Paris. French Aurors have not yet released a cause of death, but foul play is suspected. Viktor Krum once participated in the Tri-Wizard Tournament at Hogwarts in 1994.
See Section B9 for historical coverage of that event, including never-before-seen photos of Viktor Krum with Hermione Granger and Harry Potter.
The Alchemical and Potions lab at the Department of Magical Law Enforcement was a small annex off the main floor where the majority of Aurors worked. The Alchemical Aurors division was still rather new, modeled after the very latest in advances in Muggle science but with a magical twist. It was all very clever and new and Pansy Parkinson was absolutely thrilled to be a part of it. She’d always been an ambitious witch and after a very drunken conversation where she’d apologized profusely to Harry Potter a year after Hogwarts, he’d mentioned Penelope Clearwater’s new program at the DMLE.
Intrigued, Pansy ended up sitting with him for several hours at the little booth in the Leaky Cauldron, grilling him for details about the proposed Alchemical Aurors Division. When she’d sobered up late the next day, she’d taken a copy of her NEWTs, a draft of her current master’s thesis in Experimental Potions and sent them to Penelope.
Penelope had been hesitant at first—Pansy’s mean girl behavior at school didn’t exactly endear her to most people. Pansy took this as a challenge, however, willing to work harder to ensure people saw her as something more than that smug little brat in a Slytherin tie.
Within a year, Pansy and Penelope had become, if not friends, trusted colleagues who often stayed late together developing and refining new techniques to help the Aurors solve crime in the chaotic post-war world. They’d added more people to the team, as well. Cedric Diggory and Michael Corner, both brilliant wizards who didn’t mind hard work and not necessarily getting the glory of making the arrest.
The office they worked in had the look of the Hogwarts Potions classroom, but modernized. The walls were a clean, gleaming white with bookshelves stacked full with reference tomes and spare cauldrons. Small dividers separated their individual desks and at the front of the room were a series of tables with burners and a large, elegant looking stone sink. Next to the sink was a parchment affixed to the wall with a sticking charm warning of proper behavior when dealing with potions contamination and how to properly dispose of any unused mixtures.
It was quite early on a Tuesday morning shortly after the sunrise, and Pansy and Cedric were standing at one of those long tables, watching a cauldron bubble. Cedric stifled a yawn, as they had been there all night working on a series of burglaries.
They both wore white robes with their Auror badges pinned to their chests and charmed goggles, another one of Penelope’s Muggle-inspired innovations.
“Do you really think this will work?” Pansy asked, struggling to keep her eyes open. “I mean, it’s such a small sample.” She had her shoulder-length dark hair clipped back neatly from her face by a tortoiseshell comb and wore a soft green jersey knit dress under her robes.
“It’s your theory, Parks, and a good one, so stop fishing for compliments,” Cedric said, too exhausted to keep the long-suffering tone from his voice. His face desperately needed a shave, dark circles underlining his gray eyes.
Before he could continue lecturing Pansy on the importance of self-confidence or some other silly thing she was too tired to listen to, the door to the lab burst open, bringing with it the welcome smell of pumpkin pastry and strong tea.
“Pansy, I needed to—oh, hello, Cedric, how are you?” Harry Potter said as he walked in the door. The sound of his dragonhide shoes echoed on the tile floor.
Cedric abandoned Pansy at once, grabbing the box of pastries from Harry’s hands and immediately picking through for something to eat. “Harry, you’re an absolute hero,” Cedric said, biting into something that looked delectably frosted.
As Cedric ate, Harry moved next to Pansy, peering curiously at the silvery mixture bubbling in the cauldron. He held out a Muggle takeaway tea container out to her with a sly smile, standing just the smallest bit inside her personal space.
Pansy rolled her eyes at him but took the tea anyway. “He only does this when he has a favor to ask. Potter, we’ve been here all night on a project and don’t have time to dally, what do you need?”
“I bring you tea and pastries nearly every morning, Pansy.” Harry protested, looking her up and down.
It was true and she'd long since stopped bothering to lecture him about the dangers of contamination whenever he stumbled into their lab space. She was beginning to understand how he'd managed to skirt trouble so often when they were both students at Hogwarts.
Instead, Pansy raised a single, well-manicured eyebrow at him, struggling to ignore the way his eyes lingered on the curve of her hip. Surely she was imagining it. “You ask me for favors nearly every morning, Potter. You already get your first crack at our services. We can’t be bribed, you know.”
Swallowing a mouthful of pastry with a swig of tea, Cedric replied. “Speak for yourself, Parks. After an all-nighter like that, Harry can bribe me with all the pastry and tea he likes.”
Harry laughed, a broad and warm sound that never failed to make Pansy blush pink. “Thanks, Cedric. Anyway, Pansy, I’m sorry to steal you away from your experiment but I thought you might be interested in taking a look at this.”
“I told you, he only wants me when I'm doing something for him,” Pansy said without thinking.
At that remark, Harry smiled at her, a flash of heat in his gaze. “That’s not quite–” he began to say, but then Cedric coughed, making them both aware they weren't alone in the lab.
“Well, there's never any shortage of work down here, eh?” Cedric said brightly. “I'll mind the cauldron if you want to chat Pansy up about some other project, Harry.
“Thanks, mate. I appreciate it,” Harry said to Cedric, his ears slightly pink.
He turned to Pansy and in a lower voice said, “Why don’t we sit down somewhere private for this.” He leaned in close enough his breath tickled her ear.
Pansy had to fight not to shiver. Ever since he and Ginny Weasley had mutually split up last year, it felt as if they'd been dancing around each other. For one breathless moment, Pansy thought perhaps this was it. Harry was going to muster up that Gryffindor bravery and ask her out, but instead he led her to a supply closet and conjured a chair for her.
He gestured for her to sit, and she obliged him, giving him a skeptical look. They were surrounded by neatly cataloged and labeled jars of Potions ingredients, a collection religiously maintained by Pansy and Cedric. He pulled a shrunken file from his robes and tapped it with his wand, restoring it to a larger size.
Harry handed her the file and then placed a warm hand on her shoulder. “Sorry about that. You know how Ministry gossip is, I wanted to get your opinion on these reports. You read French, right?”
Pansy couldn’t help but laugh, low and quiet. “I promise, my father paid good money to ensure I had a well-rounded education.”
“Good. The French Aurors are about to close the Krum case, but I was chatting with one of my colleagues there and told him about your work.” Harry said. “He was interested to see what you and the other Alchemical Aurors might make of these findings.”
Pansy opened the file and scanned the contents, photos of the body, an excerpt from a magical autopsy and a list of stomach contents. Everything seemed above board at first glance but she’d need to take it to her desk and run some tests.
“Thanks, Potter. I appreciate you bringing this directly to me.” Pansy stared at the bottles on the shelf, eyeing the levels of powdered Mugwort critically. They needed to restock, and soon. “Did they send any samples? Hair or skin? It’s useful.”
Harry shook his head. “No, but if that’s something you need I can check with my contact and get that for you. They haven’t been able to find anything but they also don’t want to leave the case open. It’s been three years.”
She nodded, still thumbing through the parchment. Foxglove in that dosage was certainly unusual, but not unheard of in some potions.
“Thanks, Pansy, you’re really,” Harry paused. “Er, well, listen, do you want to grab drinks on Friday?”
That tore her attention away from the autopsy notes. Pansy turned to look at him, heart thumping rapidly in her chest. He was staring intently at the file clutched tightly in her hand, either unable or unwilling to make eye contact with her.
“Drinks?” Pansy repeated, cursing herself for how inane she sounded. She hadn’t been this shy and stupid since Draco had asked her to the Yule Ball, and that blonde idiot fancied men.
Harry nodded, and Pansy realized his hand was still on her shoulder. He seemed to realize too, and pulled back, awkwardly jostling one of the shelves behind him. He muttered a quick stabilizing charm and set the jars to rights before looking at her once more. Someone so ridiculous shouldn't be so endearing and yet here she was, hanging on breathlessly for whatever he was about to say.
“Yes. Let's meet for drinks at the Leaky on Friday,” he said, eyes squeezed shut. “We can discuss the case then.”
Pansy felt herself deflate like a Muggle balloon at his words. He wanted to talk about work. Of course.
“Sounds good, Potter,” Pansy muttered, standing up and moving past him as quickly as she could. She could use reviewing the case file as a way to distract herself from the humiliation currently flooding her body.
He followed her out the door as she hurried back to her bubbling cauldron. Looking at him felt impossible. Why was she damned to always fall for unattainable men?
Before he left, he gave her a soft smile. Not the broad grin Witch Weekly had featured thrice on its cover, but something shy and sweet that tugged at her heartstrings and had her wondering what if again.
Cedric gave her a sympathetic look, sensing her distress, but wisely said nothing. Instead, he helped her finish the final notes on their experiment and they both Flooed home, exhausted.
After a lengthy nap and a late lunch, Pansy spread the contents from the file Potter had given her onto her desk. Her small flat was on a charming, tree-lined street in a corner of Muggle London that had quite a few Magical residents. Her small office had a well-stocked bookshelf, her own work table for Potions experiments and a large window that looked onto a nearby park where she often saw nannies pushing prams with small babies.
Ordinarily she preferred not to bring Auror work home, as she’d rather fuss about with her own projects in her office, but she wanted to get started on Potter’s request right away. Viktor Krum’s mysterious death had been big news in the papers. The leading theory had been that he'd overdosed on pain potions, but nothing had been definitively proven.
Pansy took several notes before pausing and staring at the pale green wallpaper in her room, trying to make sense of the information before her. The case was strange, and she understood why it had baffled the French investigators. But she had one thing they didn’t—access to one of the most brilliant herbologists in the United Kingdom. Pansy decided to owl Neville Longbottom. The shy wizard had a popular plant shop in Diagon Alley and a vast wealth of arcane Herbology knowledge. She was surprised he decided to open a shop instead of working under Professor Sprout as an apprentice; he had always seemed to be her heir apparent.
Stretching out at her desk after sending her letter, Pansy decided it was time to Floo Draco and Theo and see if they wanted to meet up for some wine and curry. Something gave her the feeling the next few weeks were going to be exhausting, and she could use a good gossip session.