A/N: I own nothing, though if I owned Harry Potter I would've given Draco the redemption ark he FUCKING DESERVES, so maybe I should own Harry Potter?
I've been on a huge Criminal Minds kick recently. Dr. Reid is kinda my soul mate. Granted I'll only have one doctorate and I'll probably be 26, not 24 but still. I know a lot of Dramione post-war crime fics where Muggleborns are being targeted have been done but let's be honest, it's Harry Potter fanfiction, everything has been done. I am not claiming to be original here, but I wanted to try my hand at a crime/suspense story and honestly Hermione as a Dr. Reid type fits so well in my mind. This is DARK. Or at least it should be, as I said, I'm trying out this whole genre. I did write a lot of it while watching actual episodes of Criminal Minds so there's that.
This is canon-ish ignoring the epilogue. I am probably ignoring a lot of the post-DH stuff JK has released.
No matter how many crime scenes she investigated, the bitter tang of blood in the air would never fail to make Hermione want to retch. She'd fought the frontline of a war and survived. She'd gone through Auror training in record time. She'd been a member of the highly specialized Behavioral Analysis Unit for three years. Hermione Granger had seen bodies mangled in every way possible, but it never got any easier. She paused for a moment to brace herself before entering the room. She took a deep breath; while the air out here was tinged with iron it would only get stronger once she entered the room. As she exhaled, she tried to send out all emotion with her breath. She was a professional. These crime scenes, these criminals were a puzzle. With a final breath she pushed the door open, hoping she was prepared to see what was inside.
The body was mangled, spread out across the once white carpet, now stained with the pool of her blood. She'd been sliced from the neck down with a slicing hex, by the looks of it. Filleted open down to the ribs; Hermione couldn't help but wince when she saw the white bones protruding from her dark red flesh. "What have we got?" She asked the crime scene investigator kneeled down and inspecting the body. The woman looked to be in her early twenties, of average height and slender build. She was pale, and Hermione couldn't tell if that was her natural disposition or because nearly her entire blood volume seemed to be soaked into the carpet around her. Her dark curly hair spread out around her, frizzy and matted from whatever had occurred here.
"We've identified her as Adelise Autry. She's nineteen. Muggleborn. Worked as an au pair for Robert Brown and his wife Matlida, but their daughter started Hogwarts two months ago, so she was working at a Muggle café nearby, apparently looking for another childcare position. She was educated at Beauxbatons. She'd been in Bath for close to two years now, the Browns have an estate outside of the city."
Hermione nodded, biting her lip to keep it from quivering. She was so young. So young with her whole life ahead of her. Hermione couldn't help but feel cheated; she'd fought an entire war to protect people like Adelise, yet this was the third young Muggleborn woman that had been found dead in as many months. She saw herself in the mangled corpse lying naked on the floor. Hermione shook the thought from her head; this had nothing to do with her. She was being selfish. This was about the corpse in front of her, and bringing the madman committed these crimes to justice. "Brown. Any relation to Lavender? She was in Gryffindor with me..." Hermione trailed off. Lavender had been savagely murdered by Greyback during the Battle of Hogwarts; she was sure the sight of his blood drenched face as he devoured her neck would haunt her nightmares for the rest of her life.
"Second cousins," he nodded before returning his attention to the corpse. He continued to wave his wand over her, extracting as much information as he possibly could.
Hermione stood in silence, looking everywhere but the body. Two aurors bustled about the small studio apartment looking for any trace evidence or potential clues the killer may have left behind. A crime scene photographer stood in a corner, waiting for the investigation to end so he could finish documenting the crime scene. Adelise's girlfriend, a half-blood by the name of Melody Gilmore sat on the couch wrapped in a blanket shakily holding a cup of tea. A third auror was attempting to question her, but the young woman had been silent. Hermione wondered why they hadn't removed her from the scene. She was clearly in shock and remaining in this room was not helping. Hermione stepped over to the investigator, kneeling down next to him. The smell of blood gagged her at this proximity, causing her eyes to water. But she pushed on. "So what do we know?" She pulled a small notebook and a pen from her purse, readying herself to take notes; she'd always found quills and parchment more than a little impractical and now that the war was over, Muggle technology was slowly being integrated into the Wizarding World.
"She didn't have wards on the place, so that doesn't give us much to go on. There were spells on her door and the windows, but they wouldn't have been particularly difficult to break for a half decent wizard." The end of the war had lured many Muggleborns into a false sense of security; the other two victims had not had many protections on their dwellings. "The attack fits the M.O. of the other two victims. Her limbs show no signs of ligature marks, so she was probably held down magically or just by brute force. She was raped, but the unsub used a cleaning charm on the body, so we haven't found any traces of DNA to use with a Polyjuice potion. Her body shows signs of the crutiatus curse and her neck shows signs of choking, but the cause of death was blood loss from the slicing hex."
Hermione wrote down every word the investigator said, but it was nothing she hadn't heard before; the other two women had been attacked in the exact same manner. "It's unclear whether or not this is anger excitation or retaliatory behavior," she murmured as she continued to write. "Though all three victims have been Muggleborn. The unsub may just be praying on Muggleborn women because he anticipates they'll be less guarded; their parents never instilled the importance of wards and the like on them. But it's also possible he is specifically targeting Muggleborns due to prejudice. He may be a former Death Eater, or someone associated with other blood purity movements."
The investigator just shrugged; this was not his area. Hermione had been thinking out loud more than anything; her field was highly specialized, and she did not expect other members of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement to understand profiling. As she finished her last note, she stood up. "I think that's all I need from you for now. Send over your full report to my department once you've finished here and let me know personally if you come across any new information. Anything that deviates from or builds upon the established M.O." The investigator nodded and returned to his work. Now for the victimology. Hermione turned to face the couch and took another deep breath as she walked over to the shaken young woman and clueless auror. "Hawkins," she said curtly, alerting him of her presence. "I think we would have much better luck if we removed this poor young woman from the scene of the crime," she said scathingly. Hawkins simply looked confused. Hermione ignored him and kneeled down, so she was at level with the young woman. She had sleek dark hair, deep olive skin, and round nearly black eyes that were rimmed with red. "Hello miss," she said gently. "My name is Auror Hermione Granger. I'm a member of the Behavioral Analysis Unit within the Auror Department. I'd like to talk to you about Miss Autry, if you don't mind. Would you rather we leave here to do so."
The young woman barely looked at her, but she nodded ever so slightly. Hawkins was a bloody idiot. She'd be sure to report that to his superiors later on. Honestly, how did he expect to get any information from the woman while she was sitting across from her girlfriend's mangled body? "I'm going to side-along you back to the Ministry, if that's alright with you." She noted the blood on her clothes. "You can get cleaned up and have a cup of tea and then we can just talk about Miss Autry, alright?"
"Alright," the girl choked. Her voice cracked and sounded harsh and broken, likely from screaming when she discovered what had happened to Adelise. Hermione stood up and placed a hand at the girl's elbow, helping her stand. She led her out of the apartment and with a last look at Adelise Autry, she shut the door behind them.
"Hold on tight," Hermione warned as she focused on the Three D's. The last thing this traumatized young woman needed was for Hermione to accidentally splinch her on route to the Ministry. With a final thought, Hermione spun on the spot, carrying the girl with her into nothingness with a small pop.
Draco Malfoy was bloody exhausted. He ran both hands through his hair, pulling slightly as he loomed over the stack of papers on his desk, reading and rereading the note his supervisor had sent him. As part of his probation, he'd been assigned to the Improper Use of Magic Department, focusing on the use of Dark Magic. He'd been assigned to work two years in the office and had started out as a mere intern. It had been entirely symbolic, of course. Due to Potter's testimony of their encounter at the manor and his juvenile age when volunteered for the mark, as well as Minister Shacklebolt's focus on rebuilding through rehabilitation after the war, Draco had just escaped prison time. Instead, he'd been forced to pay large retributions from the Malfoy fortune and serve three years of probation, during which he had had a trace put on him and he had not been allowed to leave the country. Since Lucius had died in the Final Battle, Draco was now the Head of the Malfoy Family. The Ministry wanted to use him as a symbol of their rehabilitation efforts, as an example of the progress that could be made. Consequentially, his probation included a job within the Improper Use of Magic Department, focusing on the Dark Magic he and his family had once been involved with. He had been extraordinarily lucky.
At first he had scorned the position; no matter how far he and his family Name had fallen at the end of the war, he could not believe a Malfoy was forced into being someone's intern. He had sworn he'd leave the position the second his probation no longer required it. But Malfoy had always been competitive. As much as he wanted to simply go through the motions of the position, his already damaged pride wouldn't let him be merely adequate at the work. Within a year, he'd been promoted to junior analyst; he knew that had never been the intention of the Ministry, but they couldn't ignore his accomplishments. Tired of being downtrodden, Malfoy decided to shine at his work, eager to shake the title of intern. He had a distinct advantage over many of his colleagues. He knew the way this magic worked and what drove someone to use it; he'd used it himself. Somewhere along the way, he'd fallen in love with his job. It was challenging and dynamic and required him to utilize every skill he'd ever developed, good or bad. When his probation ended, Malfoy didn't think twice about staying in the department. He'd been so adamant that once he was free, he'd leave the Ministry behind, leave Britain behind, leave all of it behind. But when the day came, Draco arrived to work early and continued to work on the case he'd been working on for months. He never regretted his choice to stay.
Right now, however, he cursed his job. He'd been with the department for nearly six years and was currently the senior analyst in charge of Dark Artifacts. It was fitting; his childhood home had been riddled with the things. He felt comfortable in this position and appreciated the isolation of it all; he had a small team that collaborated frequently with the Ministry's curse breakers, but he rarely had to interact with other departments. Despite all he had done to redeem himself, there were still many people who believed he should be in a prison cell. He was far more effective at his work when he didn't have to waste precious time convincing his associates that he was no longer a Dark Wizard. His group knew and respected him. The curse breakers had grown to trust him. His superiors valued him. There was no reason for him to deviate from his sphere unless absolutely necessary.
Which was why he had absolutely no idea why Mafalda Hopkirk was requesting he work with the Department of Magical Law Enforcement on a serial killer case. There weren't even any artifacts involved. He read the letter for a fifth time, still convinced he had been misunderstanding it; his department head knew many people within the Ministry still distrusted him. Many within the DMLE had argued for a stronger sentence against him. With a final glance at her signature, Draco snatched the letter up in his hand and exited his office. He had to speak with her. Make her see reason.
Melody was sitting at the edge of the small couch in Hermione's office, staring blankly at the older witch. "Why don't we just start out with how you met Miss Autry. How long have you known her?" Hermione found it always helped to talk about the recently deceased in the present tense. Forcing Melody to confront the reality of her lover's death would make her less likely to talk.
"I'm Mrs. Brown's assistant. She has a small business designing robes. I always loved fashion and our mothers went to Hogwarts together. Hufflepuff. She got me the position. Mrs. Brown was always more of a housewife, she did the design stuff on the side, but then a couple years ago her robes were featured in Witch Weekly. Things took off from there and she hired me. And Adelise, to help watch Rebecca. We met at the house." Hermione noted her accent.
"And how long have you two been romantically involved?"
"We started up a month or two after knowing each other. I've always known I liked witches and the French are very… fluid about that sort of thing."
"What's your blood status?" Hermione shifted the conversation, not wanting to dwell on the relationship for too long.
"I'm a half-blood. My mom's a witch. My dad's a No-Maj."
"And how old are you?"
"Twenty."
"Do you know Marissa Jacobs? Or Rebecca Smith?" Melody just shook her head. "You didn't go to Hogwarts, correct?"
"My father is American. I went to Ilvermorny. But my mom still had connections here, so I moved after school to work for Mrs. Brown."
"Did Adelise seem strange recently? On guard? Did she mention anyone new, particularly a man?"
Melody began to cry and shook her head. "No, nothing. She was working at a Muggle café, she wasn't meeting many Wizards. Other than the families she was interviewing with."
"Do you know the families?"
"The Fawleys, the Macmillans, and the Rogers."
Hermione smiled as she wrote the names down. It was something, at least. "Thank you so much for your help, Melody. I'll have an Auror escort you home."
He ignored her secretary as he pushed open the office door, not bothering to knock. Ms. Hopkirk looked up from her desk. "Yes, Mr. Malfoy?"
He held the letter up, "Are you kidding me?"
"I don't kid, Mr. Malfoy," she said with a curt look that rivaled that of Professor McGonagall.
"This isn't even my area," he insisted. "And you know the DMLE are not my biggest fans." That was an understatement.
"You've proved yourself time and time again, Draco," her voice softened. "I'm sure they'll be able to see that. And the change of pace may do you good. You've grown a little complacent surrounded by your artifacts. What is that saying? Grow or die? I don't imagine you want to stay in the same position forever, and you've risen as high as one can within artifacts. Consider this a test of sorts." She knew he could never refuse an opportunity to prove himself. Draco Malfoy may have matured from his Hogwarts self, but he was still a Slytherin through and through; that thirst to prove himself would never die.
Draco knew he was being manipulated, but also didn't see an out. He couldn't refuse the position now. "You haven't even told me what the case is."
"There's a serial killer targeting young Muggleborn women. Three have died thus far. The third was discovered earlier today. They've all been sexually assaulted, tortured, and then killed via a slicing hex. Left to bleed out."
All the air seemed to leave the room as Draco gulped, trying to process what his superior had told him. "Merlin…" he whispered. "That's… barbaric."
"Indeed," she nodded. "He's savage, but very clever. The DMLE is struggling with the case and asked me for an analyst. Someone with a new perspective."
"I don't know how I'm going to be of much help to the aurors."
Mafalda shook her head, "You won't be working with the aurors. Well, technically speaking it's within the Auror department. But my understanding is that you'll be aiding the Behavioral Analysis Unit. Working with the profilers. They are all technically aurors, but they take a vastly different approach than the main auror units."
"Behavioral Analysis? I'm not a Mind-Healer, Hopkirk."
"No, you are not. But you are an incredibly analytical mind with an understanding of Dark Wizards. If these attacks are politically motivated, you could be of great service."
"Don't you dare compare my past to what this bastard is doing," Draco hissed, glaring at her. He knew he was flawed. He knew that he had committed terrible crimes in the past. But he would not be compared to some psychopath raping and murdering women. There were things that even at his darkest points Draco Malfoy would have never considered, and this sort of violence made him sick to his core. He'd never managed to kill anyone, for that matter.
Mafalda frowned. "That was not my intention, Mr. Malfoy. You know how highly I regard you. I simply meant that this person could be formerly associated with He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, or another blood purity group. You are one of few former Death Eaters who has truly reformed, and the only one with such a position within the Ministry. Your past experience with these people may be an invaluable tool to the DMLE." Draco simply nodded, unable to shake her correlation, whether or not it had been intentional. "We have a meeting tomorrow morning at 8:30 with the Head of the DMLE, Percy Weasley, the Head of the Auror Department, Olivia Jones, and the Head of the BAU, Victor Corner. I'd imagine some of the key aurors and profilers on the case will be in attendance, but that's all I know for certain."
This woman was digging his grave. While Percy may not be as repugnant as Ron, he was still a Weasley and therefore hating him was in his blood. He bit his tongue to refrain from making a comment about the Weasley. "And of my current case?"
"I'm sure your team can manage without you, Mr. Malfoy. I'd advise you to go back to your wrap up any lose ends and then pass the project off to Mr. Dodge. After that I suggest you go home. Get to bed early. We have an early morning and I'm sure tomorrow will be a trying day." With that, he was dismissed, and Malfoy nodded his goodbye before returning to his office to do exactly what she had directed.
The case was nearly finished, so it did not take him long to finalize his notes and outline the best course of action. He called his intern into the office, asking he young wizard to copy the files and distribute them to his team. The idiot managed to drop them not once, but three times on the way out the room. Merlin, was it impossible to get good help around here? Clearly Hogwarts deteriorated since he'd attended. Marcus Mitchell had apparently graduated near top of his class last spring, but he had proven to be nothing but incompetent. He fought the urge to hex him every day. Mafalda insisted that he was too hard on the boy, but incompetence was incompetence. Draco looked up at the clock, surprised to see that it was only 4:30; he normally worked until at least six. But he'd completed his tasks and didn't have access to any of the files surrounding the murders, so he had nothing else to work on. He was sure early nights would be few and far between once the investigation began, so he figured he'd take the early night when he could get it. Draco grabbed his robes from their hook and shrugged them on, exiting his office.
A/N: Okay, here it is! Please review! This is a new area for me so I'm very curious to see how you like it. I stayed up way too late writing it so forgive any typos – I'm not good at proofreading my own work. It's a little short, was hoping for closer to 5k but also getting a new story set up is always a bit of a challenge. For any Revelations readers, I am working on chapter 12, but James and Lily are not cooperating with me. Blame them, not me. Again, please let me know what you think.
