分卷阅读11（1 / 2）

“You took down the address on a lost kneazle’s collar and then set it loose again?” Stramitz’s eyebrows rose in disbelief.

“No, it—er—it sort of attacked me. And then ran off.”

“I see,” Stramitz said. “And where were you last night?”

Harry felt the blood drain from his face.

She leaned in and pressed her palms to the desk. “Did you happen to see or hear from your neighbor, Garland Umphrey?”

“I—wait. What?”

Felix stood up and walked around the desk. “Would you mind surrendering your wand for a diagnostic?” He smiled and Harry turned to Ron, but he was staring at the floor. Zaha added, “It’s just to check the spells you’ve cast in the last day or so.”

“I—uh—” Harry looked back at Ron. He finally met his gaze.

“I think you should, mate, just to clear your, uh, name,” Ron said.

Harry sent Stramitz a glare. “You can’t possibly think I’m responsible for killing Marwan Zivantus!”

Stramitz stood up and licked her lips. “Now how could you possibly know that name? We haven’t released the victims to the public.”

“And don’t say you recognised him,” Zaha added. Harry felt a collective shiver run between them. The carnage in the penthouse left few defining features on the bodies.

Harry lied. “I just knew the name on the reservation.”

Zaha and Stramitz shared a look. Then Zaha held out his hand. “Well you aren’t under suspicion for that incident. But you are a person of interest in the death of Garland Umphrey.”

“Umphrey’s dead?” Harry burst.

“They’re saying the Stunning Spell that led to his death ricocheted off something from your flat.” Stramitz was still smiling and it made Harry uneasy. “Well? Do you have an explanation for that?”

Harry shook his head. After a bit of deliberation and another oddly concerning look from Ron, he agreed to let them take his wand. They made him wait in the hallway while they did the procedure. Harry wasn’t sure what Ron was doing in there, but he trusted him to have his back if anything else would happen.

Pansy stepped out of the Ministry Floo, took one look out the window, and realized she hadn’t packed for Edinburgh. The mist blanketed the outside, and she shivered just thinking about it. Everything in her suitcase was suited for business in Brussels.

“Fantastic,” she muttered to herself. She’d need to apparate to the Ashtyl as soon as she met with the investigators on Bertrice’s case, and maybe after that she could Floo home and get proper clothes. She exited the Floo Chamber and headed straight for the main desk.

After quite a bit of back and forth which included a possible slight flung at the Parkinson name followed by Pansy’s detailed opinion on the attendant’s asymmetrical face, she received a visitor’s pass after explaining she was there on behalf of Bertrice. “You could’ve opened with that,” the attendant muttered.