White & Black .01
Title: Who Is Keeping Up The Kill?
"What's the emergency?" Neville Longbottom and Draco Malfoy asked as they walked through Harry Potter's door at the ministry. Harry looked positively pale as he continued to read the file in his hands.
"He hasn't started talking to anyone yet. I'm assuming he's waiting until the entire team arrives." Cho answered as she turned to look back at Harry. The "team" is in reference to the group of aurors who constantly go into the open field of combat. It consisted of Harry Potter, Draco Malfoy, Neville Longbottom, Cho Chang, Ginny Weasley, Luna Lovegood, George Weasley, and Penny Russe.
Penny was an old friend of Ginny who attended Beauxbaton's for her school years.
"What's going on?" Penny and Ginny asked as they walked into the almost crowded office space. Everyone just motioned for them to sit and wait until George and Luna arrived. Luna arrived a minute before George and the office was officially crowded by the time the door closed behind them.
"Please, take a seat at the meeting table so you're all not standing about" Harry motioned as he got up from his own desk and sat at the head of the table.
Everyone took their rightful spots at the table and waited impatiently for Harry to explain why they were dragged from their offices of mounding paperwork and unopened case files.
"Potter, get to the point" and Draco was the most impatient of them all.
He was anxiously tapping his fingers on the table before Harry waved his wand around in a circle for everyone to have a case file in front of their seats.
"What are we looking at here?" Penny questioned before anyone opened their file.
Draco didn't particularly want to open the case file because it usually meant going into the field.
"Everyone open your case files" Harry said as, he too, opened his packet.
Everyone made some sort of wince or groan as they picked up the pictures of dead men and women who looked as if they had been torn apart by wild dogs.
"If you look closely at the pictures they all feature certain similarities. They are all death eaters and they have been torn apart by someone." Harry told them all as they studied the pictures carefully, noticing all the dark marks on the arm that hadn't been destroyed.
"The killing curse must have been too easy for this poor bloke. Most of these had Sectum Sempra used on them or some sort of torture curse that wasn't written in our books. The cruciatus curse wouldn't do this to a person." Neville noted as he continued to flip through the pictures and write down various differences and similarities between the pictures.
"None of these had the killing curse used on them. One of them was Para Onei, which is the disintegrating spell that the Bulgarian's used in their prisons. It was actually a spell that originated in France by French wizards during the reign of their queen. It disintegrates parts of the body slowly until there's barely anything left and the person can feel it" Penny noted and Neville wrote it down on the list of curses used.
"It became banned in Bulgaria because of all the tortures and crimes so it's a forbidden curse unwritten" Ginny also noted and Neville wrote it down also.
"So, we're looking for a murderous bloke who used several forbidden curses that are unmarked in books anywhere and we have no idea who he is?" George questioned as he looked up from the papers he was reading about the dead death eaters.
"It was in a book called Mystery Spells of the Centuries but they were burned in bonfires across the continent. There was one copy left and the person that got a hold of it was a very clever witch. We know who she is but no one can find her." Harry responded to George's question.
"It is a woman?" Cho questioned as she set down her pictures. Harry nodded and Ginny had a sense of realization when she recognized the book's title.
"I've seen that book before…it couldn't possibly" Ginny said as she was shaking her head and watching her husband's eyes as they crept back to the case file.
"The picture of the woman is in the back file." Harry said and everyone flipped to the back.
The only one that wasn't in shock was Penny and she read the name out loud.
"Hermione Jane Granger?"
Hermione straightened out her leather jacket and pulled her curly, freshly dyed, dark brown hair into a ponytail and renewed her red lipstick.
She came out of the person's bathroom to admire her work as he lay on the floor in parts and pieces.
"Well Nick, I think we're done here" Hermione said to her body guard as she pulled her foot into her boots at the door.
Hermione learned that in order to keep her prints hidden she had to walk on the floor with socks only, that you couldn't leave any traces and you had to be out quick. However, she only follows one of those rules.
Nick stays behind to take pictures so that she can send them to the ministry.
Hermione does this on a regular basis so she can get closer to the prize.
Her true intent was to find Bellatrix Lestrange but the reason was never explained.
Not even to the ones that worked for her.
She made sure everything on her was in order before flying off to her flat in a new country.
Hermione stayed on the hunt for constant days and weeks.
Her black jeans were in order and she still had her wand tucked in her jacket.
She was ready to leave once Nick stopped taking pictures so she could go ahead and send them.
"I'll find you Bellatrix, you heartless bitch. I'll find you" She said before leaving the crime scene with the envelope in hand.
_
"There is no way…" George said as he stared at the new picture of Hermione.
She had a leather jacket on, black jeans, black knee high boots, red lipstick, and her dark brown hair was in ringlets around her head that she tousled with her red finger nails.
Black eyeliner lined around her eyes which made her eyes come alive.
"Who took this picture?" Luna questioned as the picture's eyes connected with her own.
"Someone who isn't living to tell it" Harry responded.
"Then how did we obtain this picture?" Neville asked alongside his wife, Luna.
"She sent it to us from an unknown area last month. No one could figure out the picture until they called me in for questioning. No one believes this is really Hermione…but it is." He ran his hand over his face as he continued to stare at the picture.
Draco couldn't believe what was in front of him.
Hermione Granger trades books for the kill? Not likely.
However, there she was with her wand in her hand, a lethal look in her eyes, and a badass view.
Draco found it appealing but kept himself in check.
"Well, she obviously wants to be found" Penny said, flipping through the pages.
"What do we do?" Draco questioned after he cleared his throat to speak.
"Well, Luna and Ginny are being put on research assignment. Try to find any country she's been in and we'll search them all…hopefully we'll get close enough to where we can capture her." Harry said as he looked at Ginny with a sorrowful look.
Ginny just nodded and immediately got up from the table with Luna so they could do research in the vacant library.
"Cho and Penny are being put on house search. You need to take every clue in these pictures and try to figure out where the houses are. When you figure that out then I want you to come to me immediately and then you will search the house for more clues." Harry told them and they got up from the table.
"George and Neville, you're both are on the death eaters case files to try and figure out where she'll strike next." They equally got up from the table but Neville turned around to ask Harry a question.
"When we find her…are we going to have to kill her?" Neville's question came as a shock to Harry.
Harry hadn't thought about what would happen when they find her.
"I'm not sure Neville, I'm not sure." He looked down at the photograph of Hermione.
"What assignment are we on?" Draco asked which brought Harry out of his state.
"We need to figure up a plan" Harry said simply as he walked back to his desk and grabbed a piece of parchment.
"That would be great but what would the plan be for?" Draco asked, clearly irritated that this assignment was such a personal issue. All of them went to Hogwarts with her, minus Penny, and some were her favorites and some were not.
"Your safety" Harry responded thoughtfully as he began to write on the parchment.
"I'm not in danger Potter" He spat as he closed the case file in front of him.
"Were you or were you not once a death eater?" Harry scowled as he asked the question.
Draco hadn't thought that she would come after him but it wasn't like he was scared.
"I'm not scared of Granger!" He shouted as he stood from his seat and walking in front of Harry's desk.
"Malfoy, she is using unidentifiable spells that nobody has a book for. No healer could cure anything she would throw at you. You underestimate her power and her rage as a person. I don't feel that this is the real Hermione, but I have no other reason to believe that it isn't." Harry explained, trying to keep his calm state.
As if on cue, a peck came at the window from an unfamiliar owl.
He took the envelope it held in its grip, gave it a treat and returned to his seat.
"Oh no…" Harry said as he looked at the picture.
"She's on the move, take a look." Harry handed Draco the picture of the remains of the guy on the floor.
Draco looked positively disgusted as he handed the photo back.
"Parkinson." Draco told Harry.
"You're not far behind on her list" Harry told Draco as they stood there in silence.