Albus should have known that nothing would remain private in his family. Before he had even made it home, it seemed the whole Potter and Malfoy family knew, and probably at least half the Weasley's as well.
"If you wanted to keep it a secret, you shouldn't talk about it in my pub," Scorpius said in a teasing voice when he saw Albus' disgruntlement.
"I didn't know you're a cross-dresser," Albus shot back.
"I am many things. Being thought of as a woman can have its advantages. Like avoiding notice when your best friend tries to have a secret conversation."
"I'll get you back for this," Albus grumbled. Scorpius just smiled.
"So, when are we going to meet her?"
"You've already met her."
"As a colleague, yes. Not as my best friend's girlfriend. Totally different. Don't tell me Ginny hasn't already asked you the same?"
"She has. But we've literally just started dating. I don't think we're at the "meet the family" stage yet."
"But she has already met some of your family."
"Yes, and most in less-than-friendly circumstances. Don't forget that she first met dad when he was arresting her."
Scorpius was spared from answering that as Dawson came towards them. He was still working on figuring out who had killed Piers. Did he have an update as well?
"Ah, there you are Potter. There has been a development. I was about to inform Mr. Potter about it, and I thought it would be a good idea if you came as well."
Albus followed Dawson into his father's office and was surprised to see that Sophia was there as well. She seemed happy, even before she saw Albus. Albus thought he would call it smug. What had she found this time? She had mentioned that Dawson had asked her department for help with the video, but she hadn't given any details. His father arrived shortly after. Neither of them noticed that Scorpius was in the room as well, or at least they didn't ask him to leave.
"Ah, good, we're all here. Dawson, can you explain what you've found, please."
"I can try, though the details are better left for Ms. Buller. It involves a lot of technical things I'm afraid I don't quite follow. But the important part is that we've finally managed to identify the person seen in the video killing Logan Piers."
"Excellent. Ms. Buller, can you explain it so that we can understand, or would that take too long?"
"Well, in short, we have access to face recognition software through Muggle databases. All I really had to do was to run pictures of magical people through it as well. We have already started making a database for that…" Sophia saw that she was losing her audience. "The point is, we can search for people's faces on cameras. That is one of the main ways the Muggles find criminals these days. To test the software, I started with Ministry employees, using their employee picture. I didn't expect to find a hit to an open case, but that was what happened. He was seen on a camera near the site first, and you can just see him send out the fog as he sees the Aurors appear. I confirmed it with others as well and they were all shocked."
"You mean the killer is someone from the Ministry?" Harry said, looking angry.
"Yes, though he doesn't work here anymore. He will probably be furious when he finds out that the very Muggle technology he didn't understand was his downfall." Sophia couldn't help giggling as she said that.
"Who is it?" Harry asked, barely managing to not show impatience.
"Oh, sorry. It's Mr. Smythe. The former Head of the Technology Department. The man who refused to hire me 5 years ago. Everyone in the Department recognised him at once, so there is no need to worry that I set him up."
Albus hadn't thought that at all, and neither had his father. His face darkened, and Albus thought he knew what he would say next.
"Where is Smythe now?"
Dawson was about to say that he didn't know, but Sophia beat him to it.
"He's currently in line at the Portkey station. My supervisor took the liberty to add him to the travel ban list, but I would be quick, if you don't want him to get away."
Harry didn't waste time asking how she knew that he just grabbed Albus' arm and Disapparated. Scorpius did ask though, once the Potters had left.
"How would you possibly know that?"
"Oh, he brought his computer. I was able to track it. He has no idea how to protect his computer from being traced, which is probably why he wasn't able to make a code for how to find them either."
"So, you found him in the same way you found the Knocker?"
"Yes, though it wasn't nearly as hard to find Smythe." Sophia couldn't hide her massive grin. Scorpius didn't know what history the two of them had, but it was probably related to why Smythe had refused to hire Sophia 5 years ago.