Disclaimer: I don't own and never will.
AN: This is written for Blackwolf-20's 'It happened on the Hogwarts Express' challenge and FuneralCricket's Beasts/Character Challenge.
Sitting hidden inside a compartment on the Hogwarts Express, Bartemius "Barty" Crouch Junior sat waiting under his invisibility cloak as he waited for an unlucky victim to walk in. He wasn't particularly fussy as to who it was or what blood status they were, as long as it was human blood. He had a theory about using human blood for this ritual and the magical blood of a child witch or wizard in particular and with Sirus Black on the loose, he really couldn't think of a better place and time to execute his grand experiment.
A girl dressed in Ravenclaw robes walked in, her clearly Asian features made him grin. After mudbloods and his father of course, he hated these disgusting foreigners who invaded the purity of wizarding Britain. With a quick wave of his wand, he suddenly immobilised her. As she fell to the floor, he quickly waved his wand once more and sealed the compartment shut and locked the blinds down, before taking off the invisibility cloak and looked down at his victim, a terrified young girl, not too old for his plans.
Pulling out a knife, he slowly began to cut away her clothes and he smirked as he saw her eyes widen further and although she couldn't move, he imagined that if she could, she would have given a shiver.
"I'm not going to rape you my dear, much as I'm sure that I would enjoy the results," he said with a smirk. "But I think if you're conscious through this, it might help."
Waving his wand a few more times, he charmed the walls of the compartment with silencing charms so no-one would hear anything while he worked. Another wave of his wand and he cast a spell he learned from Bellatrix Lestrange herself, one that prevented the victim from passing out with pain.
With all that done, he slowly began to slice the girl open. And the screams she made as he slowly tore her apart was the sweetest music he'd ever heard.
HPHPHPHPHPHPHPAs an auror, Tonks was used to seeing a number of grisly sights. Certainly she was used to the sight of blood, but the scene that lay before her was extreme even by those standards.
The compartment was liberally splayed with blood and guts and far more of a persons innards than most people were ever likely to see in a lifetime. But it was the girl's face that really made her feel ill, all twisted in a pain that did not belong on the face of one so young.
"So what's her name?" Scrimingeour asked gruffly as he surveyed the scene with a look of distaste.
"Su Li sir," his assistant said looking at his notes. "A Ravenclaw half-blood, third year."
"So we can safely rule out her being the victim of an ex-death eater then," he said with a frown. "What do the healers say happened?"
"Well it appears that she was immobilised and dark magic was used to keep her conscious as the murderer cut her open," his assistant pointed out, keeping his eyes firmly away from the scene.
"I don't get it," he said with a frown as he thought hard about the scene in front of him. "The cruciatus curse is more effective at causing pain and there are dark magic spells that could kill just as effectively. So why go to all this trouble?"
"Sir, I think I know what the murderer was doing," Tonks said as she studied the walls.
"Good. Then perhaps you could enlighten us Miss Tonks?" Scrimingeour asked firmly.
"Dark magic patterns sir," Tonks said, pointing to the walls and floor. "Certain dark creatures seem to respond to them when summoned that way."
"Indeed," Scrimingeour said as he examined the patterns. "Do you recognise them at all Miss Tonks?"
"Yes sir, I do. But I've never seen them drawn in human blood and tissue before," she replied.
"And how do you know these patterns and we don't?" his assistant asked with a slight sneer and Tonks hair turned red.
"Well my…erm more dubious family members have this on the walls of their houses," she said, looking embarrassed. "I remember seeing these on the walls of my grandmother's house in the background of some old photographs."
"And what sort of creatures are we looking at?" he asked and she winced slightly.
"Some kind of nogtail sir," she explained and Scrimingeour raised an eyebrow.
"Nogtail? Someone murdered an innocent girl to summon a Nogtail?"
"Yes sir," Tonks replied and Scrimingeour frowned.
"What kind of sick individual does this for a Nogtail? They're not exactly difficult to find and there are worse creatures out there?" he pondered aloud.
"It could be Sirus Black sir," his assistant offered and Scrimingeour nodded.
"Yes, I suppose he could fit the role," he said thoughtfully. "But if I understand his psychological profile, he's much more into simply killing with big, flashy spells, not this long, drawn out affair. And why would he kill her and not Harry Potter, the one he's supposed to be after? No it doesn't make sense."
"What about someone like Fenrir Greyback? He doesn't seem to care about killing or attacking kids?" Tonks suggested and he shook his head.
"I've seen the aftermath of Greyback's attacks and this isn't anything like him at all," Scrimingeour said bluntly. "I don't think it was him or we'd be dealing with a lot more deaths and he'd let us KNOW it was him. No, this was done by someone else, I can feel it. Now what do her friends say? Did she have any particular enemies at Hogwarts?"
"She doesn't appear to have had any real friends at Hogwarts sir, it appears Su Li was something of a loner," his assistant said as he read from the case notes. "And she doesn't appear to have any real enemies either."
"What about her family then? I take it that they're being interrogated as well?"
"Yes sir, but they are somewhat distraught and they don't appear to have any enemies either," his assistant said and Scrimingeour frowned once more before Tonks decided to say something.
"It looks a lot like she was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time sir," she said and she avoided the urge to shrink under his gaze.
"And what gives you that impression Miss Tonks?" he asked and Tonks took a deep breath.
"Well I'm thinking of it this way. The cruciatus curse inflicts pain more effectively and if the person wanted to send a message then they would have removed the body from the train and delivered it to the parents."
"Very good reasoning Miss Tonks," Scrimingeour said with interest. "And entirely possible. Have forensics come back with a magic signature at all?"
"Nothing they recognise sir, it seems to be…confused."
"Confused?"
"A kind of taint in its composition, similar to those used by Death Eaters in the past. It seems to scramble the spells magic sir," his assistant answered and Scrimingeour growled.
"Then we'll just have to do some old-fashioned detective work," he said as he turned away. "And when we catch this SOB, I'll personally see that he gets the kiss."
Tonks looked at the scene once more and nodded. Whoever did this deserved the worse that the wizarding world could bring. And, she swore, she would bring this man down, no matter what.
HPHPHPHPHPHPHPBarty Crouch Junior glared as he looked at the stunted creature that sat at his feet. After all the trouble he went to, summoning up the creature with the blood and body of a witch, risking capture (although he had to admit, it was certainly a pleasure to be inflicting pain again) and escaping his father and the creature he had summoned was unexceptional and worse still it appeared to be stunted. With an aggressive wave of his wand, he killed the creature and sat down in his study to begin his next project while he waited for news and signs of his master Lord Voldemort.