A Theory

As soon as Draco was out of earshot, Harry and Ron turned to Hermione, their mouths open.

"What was that about?" Harry asked Hermione.

"I don't know," Hermione responded honestly, her eyes on the place where Draco just was. She never thought he would do something like that. Why would he care about anything she did?

She looked at her spotless desk, trying to decide what to do next. Nothing new had come in ever since things got out of control with the Zabini case, so she decided to go through some evidence from Nottingham to see if she could catch anything she didn't see before.

"So, what exactly happened at the scene?" Ron asked her. She turned from the photograph she was studying to look at him.

"Well, it was horrific, honestly. There was a huge amount of blood." She winced as she remembered the scene. "Something extremely off-putting is that the distractor spell on Blaise and Esther's house was deactivated. The Muggle police and a neighbour walked right up to the house and could see everything."

"But, nobody but the owner could have turned it off," Harry pointed out.

"Exactly. From what the Muggle told us, we have all but concluded it was Esther who killed Blaise. You know, his wife. The Muggle as good as saw her, and my guess is Blaise had just died."

"Wow," Ron mumbled.

"There was a cat there, and as ridiculous as it sounds, it was acting suspicious," Hermione continued and leaned back in her chair. "It was sweet at first, but then it bit the Muggle when Malfoy asked about it. It ran off, and I was the one to catch it. Luckily, It only ran about 30 metres. Now they're taking it here to the Ministry to have a closer look."

"A cat?" Harry asked in disbelief, his eyebrows lifting. "What do they think it did? Murder Zabini?"

"They aren't sure but--" she started and rubbed her eyes. She was exhausted.

"Maybe it's an Animagus!" Ron jumped in.

Harry and Hermione were quiet for a moment.

"Ron. That would make a lot of sense, actually," Hermione said. "The cat showed up the same day that Blaise died. It stuck around, and when Malfoy asked about it, it went from being a lovable kitty to practically feral. When it jumped out of the Muggle's arms, the look it gave us was almost human."

Ron puffed out his chest, proud of himself, and Harry laughed.

"I wonder," Harry pondered, glancing at Hermione, "what will happen when they bring it here? It's probably unregistered."

"I don't know, but I'm sure we'll find out soon enough."