January 28th, 1895 — Morgue, Ministry of Magic

The body that arrived this afternoon was in considerably better shape than the one he'd received on Friday. It was still very much dead, of course, but at least this one was whole. In fact there were hardly any marks on it at all, at least from a casual glance; if not for the rigidity of the body as it was levitated in one might have supposed it sleeping instead of dead. The rigidity and the pallor; probably he hadn't been that shade when he was alive, though there was no telling. Some people hardly ever saw the sun. But generally the deceased looked very much like a regular person, one who might have sat up and strolled out of the morgue at any moment. This was typical for those killed with certain kinds of magic, but when he dug down into them there would still be signs. A heart-stopping spell left flash marks on the heart itself, though it didn't mark the body. A suffocating spell left bruises along the muscles of the throat, and given enough time those marks would bubble up to the surface of the skin as well. He didn't know what signs the Unforgiveable killing curse left; he hadn't had a body brought in yet where they knew certainly that was the cause of death, so he could only speculate. Maybe someday. The people who worked here didn't use it, though, so he'd have to wait until one of the criminals did.

He wondered if Mr. Fisk had killed this one or whether he was only bringing the body in after having witnessed him killed by something else. He wasn't sure whether or not it was rude to ask. He had just fixed himself a cup of tea before the bell charm in the hallway alerted him that someone was coming in and he was still holding it in one hand, stirring idly as he looked over the new arrival. "What's the story here?" he asked, then removed the spoon from his tea and waved it back towards the tea set in the corner.

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