Disclaimer: Except for an OC, the characters in this story and the world they inhabit are the creation and property of JK Rowling.

Minister Scrimgeour looked one last time at the view from the Astronomy Tower as the morning sun rose higher. The Department of Magical Law Enforcement had finished collecting their evidence and were clearing up their various potions and powders. Kingsley Shacklebolt stood near, waiting for instructions.

“As I was saying, Shacklebolt, various powers have already asked for an independent investigator. They want someone who hasn't been close to the Ministry or the school. I just don't know about her...”

“She's the best you will find, if you can get her, Minister.”

“Wasn't she a friend of yours at Hogwarts?”

“You may recall that she was accepted into the Auror program, but family business took her away from the Wizarding world for a while. She's trained with the Americans. It's all in the dossier.”

“I need this in good hands.”

“See if she will come for an interview, if she's not busy. Gringotts and several other banks have her on retainer and they use her all over the world.”

“Very well.”

---

The Minister of Magic considered the woman sitting across from him. She wore slender, dark gray robes over a longish pencil skirt in maroon and a paler gray turtleneck. Her calf-leather boots bespoke of money. They were just worn enough, but not shabby. The lines of her face were angled, but not sharp. Grey-green eyes rested atop an aristocratic nose and a soft mouth. All of this was surrounded by a cloud of honey-blond hair. All in all, the woman looked very much like a magazine advertisement for society clothing. However, she exuded a calm confidence in the conversation about capturing the Wizarding world's second most wanted criminal.

“Ms. Stanton, are you sure you can find and apprehend him?”

A confident smile was on her face. “Minister Scrimgeour, I always get my man.”

“He's a highly skilled wizard.”

“He's a highly skilled wizard whose contacts will keep him close to home. I'm a highly skilled witch, Minister. You've seen my references and that's why you contacted me. However, if you're having second thoughts, I have a cottage reserved in Martha's Vineyard this month and we need not waste each other's time.” She placed her hands on the armrests of her chair as if to get up.

“Oh, no!” The minister looked harried and his hair ruffled up more than usual as he waved her back into her seat. “No, we want you to take this job.”

“Splendid. Did you understand my terms?”

“Yes, the deposit will be sent to your Gringotts account this afternoon with the balance to be paid as soon as you have completed the job.”

“Thank you. Were you able to find me a team that is not comprised of idiots?”

The Minister harrumphed. “I'll have you know that our Aurors are among the best and brightest of their classes.”

“I'll manage, then.” Katherine Stanton stood and shook the Minister's hand before walking from his office.

The Minister watched her go, thinking to himself that she was different from any investigator he knew during his own days in Magical Law Enforcement. He couldn't be too choosy, however. With Dumbledore dead, the Ministry was clamoring for anything that would find the murderer. This woman dressed and behaved with the easy insouciance of the purest of Pure-blood society witches. At her prices, perhaps she could be one. Minister Scrimgeour had set up this meeting with the intention of lowering her terms, but her easy confidence in her own ability defeated him utterly.

---

Katherine went to the office that was being set up for her, and met her staff: a petite Metamorphmagus, a somewhat shabby-looking college-professor type, and a rather beefy-looking military sort of young man. She sighed inwardly and noted that they all did the same. It was not quite an auspicious beginning.

She smiled though, and transfigured a standard government-issue folding chair into a leather easy chair, into which she slouched. She encouraged the others to sit as well. She learned the Metamorphmagus was named Tonks, and liked a chair similar to her own. The college professor was named Lupin, and he wasn't actually an Auror. He preferred a wing-back. Proudfoot simply sat in the government chair. Katherine made a mental note to find out whether it was because he was bad in Transfiguration, or whether he simply preferred to keep things strictly by the book.

“What do we know about this wizard? Who were his parents? Where is his family home? Where does he spend most of his time?”

Of the people sitting in front of Katherine, one had been a classmate of their suspect while at Hogwarts, and the other two were former students. None had been in his House. They had a great many opinions and ideas, but very little concrete information. “Never mind,” she said. “Perhaps we'll find more as we go. Tomorrow we will search his home and the next day his rooms at Hogwarts.”

“Begging your pardon, but both places have already been searched by MLE,” said Tonks.

“Not by me,” she replied.

---

They started early in the morning with the house. As they walked up the street, Katherine said, “By now his warning spells have told him that we're coming.”

“Are you sure?” asked Proudfoot.

“In his situation, I would have set them between those two hedgerows.” She pointed just behind their current position.

“Are you sure we want him aware of us?” Lupin had reasons for not wanting an unexpected engagement.

Katherine smiled mischievously. “Why not? Perhaps we'll discover if he's an early riser or not.”

They knocked on the door, and received no answer. Using a sticking spell to fix the search warrant on the door, they then opened it with a simple Alahomora.

“It's almost too easy,” said Lupin.

“He's certainly very clever. There's probably more to this,” agreed Katherine.

As stated by Tonks, there was very little in the house. They looked through all the bedrooms, common rooms and even found staircases to a cellar and attic without luck. Katherine found a few items that would help round out his family history in her mind, and directed that they be taken to the office. She noted the lack of dust and decided that someone had been here recently and at least freshened the place up if they didn't actually stay here.

The mirror in the entranceway interested Katherine greatly. It was three feet wide and spanned the entire height of the wall. Walking toward the kitchen and then looking in the library, she found that things didn't quite add up. She walked right up to the mirror and looked at it, under the guise of freshening her lipstick. She nodded to herself and leaned up, pressing her lips to the mirror just before they left the house.

---

Severus Snape listened for the sound of his alarm spells as they passed back through them, and allowed himself to relax. He had just finished dressing and was about to fix himself some breakfast, when they sounded the first time. With just a minute to straighten up his bed and bath rooms, he had barely managed to get into his hiding place before the door opened. Then he watched through the two-way mirror as they had searched his house.

He was amazed by the woman who stood in front of his mirror as he stood, arms folded, on the other side. She wore a black turtleneck and knee-length black leather skirt as well as dragon-skin boots under her robe. She held her wand comfortably, as though it were a natural extension of her hand. He watched breathlessly as she applied her lipstick and then ran the tip of her tongue over her lips before applying her lips to the mirror. If he put his face to the mirror, the smudge of her lipstick would be in just the right place to meet his own mouth.

With a surge of exhilaration and smidgen of fear, he realized that she knew he was there. There was not much worry that he could fight his way out with the other three, but she was an unknown quantity. He wondered what it would be like to take her on. The kiss was the last thing she did as she went out the door, unless one counted the gesture that could almost be interpreted as a wave goodbye.

When he decided, finally, that it was safe to leave his hiding place, Snape finally had his breakfast and morning coffee. He pondered the woman. He would have to see if the Malfoys still had any sources at Ministry. He wanted to know more about her. For some reason, she had him boxed in, but decided to let him go this time. She might be a worthy opponent.

A/N: This has been beta read by Trickie Woo. Yes, the characters are a touch OOC and will be more so as the story progresses. This story was inspired by a movie made in the late '90's that is a remake of a movie of the same name in the '60's. House Points to the reviewer who correctly guesses the movie.