Albus looked around as the fog that had come out of nowhere disappeared. He turned around and saw the body on the ground. His breaths became shorter. The body. He knew that man. What was Piers doing here?
He stared down at the impossible. Piers could not be the body in front of him. He flashed back to an incident several years ago now. Another dead body on the ground, stabbed with his own knife. But then it had been a man pretending to be Voldemort that had lain before him. This was a colleague.
Had Albus really killed this man? He hadn't meant to. Where had he come from?
Footsteps. Running towards him. Was it friend or foe? What would be worse at this point? He instinctively raised his wand.
Scorpius came running around the corner, wand at the ready. He saw the body on the ground and muttered what was probably a series of curses. More footsteps. There were Aurors all around them, but Piers wasn't supposed to be here. He was on leave.
"Whatever you want to do, we need to be quick," Scorpius said. No sooner had he said that, than Rose also rounded the corner. She stopped in shock when she saw the body on the ground. She looked at Albus with horror.
"I didn't stop to see who it was," Albus said, almost pleading, hoping they would understand. "I didn't mean to kill him; he came out of nowhere. I acted on instinct…"
"You need to get away from here," Rose interrupted him. "We can explain it to the others, but don't let them catch you. Go north. I'll find you when it is time to come home."
Albus looked at her in shock, then he understood what she meant. But could he really just run away without a word?
"You may have a few hours. Say goodbye, and pack what you need. Don't tell them anything."
"Wait, are you saying he needs to run away?" Scorpius said. "It was an accident! Self-defence."
"Until we can prove that we are better off if Uncle Harry can't find Al and has to restrain his own son. You see how he feels when James is in one of his moods, this could be even worse," Rose snapped back. By the time they turned around again, Albus was gone.
Less than two minutes later, another group of Aurors came up to them. They gaped when they saw the dead Auror on the ground, an Auror that was definitely not supposed to be there.
"Did you see what happened?" one of them asked Rose.
"No. Did you get him?"
"No, it was another dead end."
"Let's get out of here then. There's nothing more for us here."
Scorpius didn't say anything, he just looked at his wife as she helped get the dead man on a stretcher. He had never seen that look on her face before. He wished he could read her mind, but she had always been hard to read, especially after her Auror training. If she didn't want him to know something, there was little chance of him learning it from her.
***
As the Aurors arrived back at the Ministry, Harry looked up at them in shock as they came with a dead Auror. It wasn't often that happened, and this was even more unexpected. Then he saw who it was.
"Is that Piers?" They nodded in confirmation. None of them needed to say anything.
"What was he doing there?" Harry asked. No one said anything.
"Did anyone see what happened?"
"Malfoy was first at the scene," someone replied after about 30 seconds of silence. Harry looked at Rose and Scorpius. Rose gulped. She did not look forward to breaking this news to him, even though it was her idea.
"What are you not telling me? Did you see it happen?"
"Not… Not exactly," Scorpius replied.
"What does that mean?" Scorpius squirmed under Harry's stare. Then Harry looked around at the group again.
"You're one man short. Where's Albus?" The other Aurors looked around, only now noticing that Albus was not with them. The stares quickly turned to Rose and Scorpius again.
"What was it that you did not exactly see?" Harry asked them. Rose sighed. She didn't want to say it in front of everyone, but there was no getting around it now.
"I didn't see what happened, but I saw Albus standing right next to the body, looking horrified. When I looked away for a moment, Albus was gone."
If the group had been quiet before, now it was as if a lightning bolt had struck them. No one seemed to dare to move.
"He said it was an accident," Scorpius said hesitantly. "He said he came out of nowhere; he didn't wait to see who it was."
"The two of you," Harry said, pointing to Rose and Scorpius. "In my office now. The rest of you, write up the essential reports, then you are excused for the day. I will see to Piers."
Rose and Scorpius moved towards Harry's office. But before the door closed behind them, they saw Harry sending an urgent note via paper plane. Rose feared she knew who he was sending for.
Sure enough, not even 5 minutes later, Hermione entered with Harry right behind her. Rose gulped again. She really didn't want to explain all of this to her mother.
"Now, tell me, please," Harry said. "What did you see?"
"I heard a commotion," Scorpius said. "I didn't know who it was, but I knew no one was supposed to be back there, so I ran to see what had happened. I saw…" his voice faltered for a few moments. "I saw a body on the ground and Albus standing right next to him. The look on his face made me look at the body again. That's when I realised it was Piers. By the time I found my voice, Albus had already taken a step back. He said it was an accident; he didn't see who it was. Then we heard footsteps again, and Rose was there too."
Rose continued the story. "I reacted about the same as Scorpius. Albus said again that it was an accident and that he was sorry. I asked what Piers was doing there and looked over at Scorpius. When I looked back a moment later, Albus was gone."
"And he didn't leave his wand? Or say anything about where he was going?" Harry asked. They both shook their heads. Scorpius hoped that Harry wouldn't ask too many details. So far, they had avoided outright lying. But they were omitting facts. The last time Scorpius had omitted facts from Harry, it had not ended well. But this wasn't about him. This was for Albus.
"What was Piers even doing there?" Hermione asked.
"I don't know. He was definitely not supposed to be there. He's been on leave for over a month, I was beginning to wonder if he would ever return. But whether he actually attacked Albus or not, only Albus can say now."
"And he chose not to say anything." Hermione said. She sounded reluctant. Harry sighed.
"I'd like to say we should give him a few days to calm down, but I don't know if we have that luxury."
"Let's do a half-measure." Hermione said. "Block him for passage via a Portkey or the Floo Network, but don't issue a warrant just yet. He may be following a lead or something."
Scorpius doubted that was the case, but he didn't say anything. He hoped Albus had already fled. How fast would they be able to expedite the travel ban?
Harry nodded. "I hope you're right. I had hoped to never end up in a situation like this."
"You know that you can't run this investigation." Hermione said. Harry sighed again.
"I know. And neither can any of the other Aurors that was part of the raid. That doesn't leave us with many options." Harry said. "I think we need to take Dawson out of retirement." Then he looked up at the two Malfoys.
"I want a detailed report from each of you about what you did and did not see. Once you have written that, go home. Don't talk about this to anyone else. Understood?"
Rose nodded. Scorpius only hesitated a moment before nodding as well. It wouldn't be a problem to write down what he had seen. He just needed to choose his words carefully to avoid writing down what he had heard as well.
Rose was unnaturally quiet during the time they wrote a report and went home. Scorpius tried to ask how they should write the report, but she just snapped "Write what happened Scorpius. We aren't supposed to talk" and went back to writing. He wished he knew what went through Rose's mind at that moment. Something felt wrong about all of this. Why did everyone assume that Albus had done something terrible, and they had to cover for it? Why the extreme secrecy? Why didn't they focus more on why Piers had been there and why he had attacked Albus?