A/N: This chapter contains VIOLENCE and RAPE. Please be warned. Again, thanks for the reviews and follows. :)


Chapter Seven

(Longbottom vs Parkinson, Round: 2140)

He picked up a prepaid phone from a Muggle store and sent a message to Hermione, who was without a surprise the best at using a cell phone among their group of friends. Then he sent another message to Bobbi, telling her how lovely and amazing she was and asked if she wanted a cup of coffee. He'd already gotten the coffee but he was about a block from the offices and wanted to impress her, because he definitely landed hard on her shit list.

But he was a big boy now and could suck up to Bobs until she was less pissed at him. The phone jingled and Bobbi's reply popped up on the screen. "Stop brown nosing and have the report on the newest WM by 10, or that badge is mine LB."

He picked up the pace and had the coffee in her hand a minute later, as well as the report she wanted. Then he shut himself in his office, made sure his walkie was on, and started in despite the fact he was sure his office was slowly shrinking.

He wrote a new note in big bold letters, "Stop pissing off Bobs, pronto" and stuck it right in the middle of his board right after he hit his head on the ceiling. The room stopped shrinking, but it didn't return to normal either. Good enough.

A picture of the new victim pinned itself to his board and he wrote a big ? above it. The only link between these women that he could see was that they all attended a revel during the Full Moon. But the new girl, she was the first wolfmate.

She should have been safe at the revel. Of course, now he wondered if the girls were even being snatched at the revel. The possibility that the murderer was a human went from zero to very high with the newest victim. The killer might be hunting somewhere else and that just rubbed him the wrong way.

"I released a photo of the WM girl. Let you know if I get any hits."

It was the only way to get an identification since the witch was found without any clothes, wallet, or wand. A few of the girls had been recognized by fellow Aurors or Pats, but the rest had been ID'd by family after reporting them missing. It was a brutal process.

But he felt a strange kind of hope looking at her lifeless face in the photo. He wanted to go back in time and stop any of this from happening, but with her death that meant there was a wolf out there who lost his or her mate. It might mean he could get the wolf families on his side instead of resisting him at every turn.

He flexed his hand, feeling the icy burn as he did, and his walkie buzzed as if on cue.

"Hey LB - we got a shopkeep here asking for you. Had some trouble in Diagon Alley this morning."

"Diagon Alley? I'm on my way then." he responded, tapping on his newest picture. He'd only been on the case since Edina Nelson had been found, a few months. But he'd been determined to figure it out and stop the killings since day one. That hadn't changed.

He stood and hit his head on the ceiling. Again.

"Fuck! Bobbi!"

"Oh you're calling for me?" she said, coming around the corner and into his office. She shoved a innocent looking man in his direction, wearing his official Auror uniform and a nervous grin on his face. His cheekbones were incredibly wide and it made his head look bigger than his body. "Neville this is Lester Hastings, Les this is Neville Longbottom. Your new partner. First day on the job. Good luck."

And she scurried around the corner, her heels clicking against the floor as she walked away.

The man ran his hands through his light colored hair nervously before giving himself a shake. "Hey, nice to meet you."

Neville stared at the man's outstretched hand and then yelled down the hallway, "Bobs! Are you kidding me?!"

"BADGE." and "RIVER." were the only things he heard in response.

"Son of a bitch."

"Er - sorry. Is there something else going on?" the man asked.

"There's always something going on around here, Lester Hastings. Let's go. I've been called to Diagon Alley."

"Oh! A call. Already? Cool. Great. This is my first day."

Neville felt his teeth clench.

oOo

They made their way down the crowded street on the south side of Diagon Alley to where he'd been summoned and the entire time Lester talked about his training as if Neville hadn't gone through the exact same thing years earlier. He tried to set a fast pace, hoping the brisk walk would wind the man enough to get him to shut up. But no such luck existed in this world for Neville Longbottom.

He rounded the corner and saw a little shop, where he'd bought a date a small vial of perfume one time, called 'Scents and Styles'. A cute little shop, his date had called it. It had all kinds of perfumes and girly shit. A Pat stood out front with what could only be the owner looking frantic and pissed.

"Now's the time to shut up, Les, and listen to what the man has to say." he snapped at his new partner and introduced himself to the owner.

"Mr. Longbottom? Come inside and see what your girlfriend has done to my shop!" the man shouted at him.

"Girlfriend? Sir, I don't have a girl-"

The man ushered him into the shop and down an isle where an entire shelf of cologne had been smashed into smithereens. The smell overwhelmed, and it was more than familiar.

"She took a beater's bat and smashed the entire shelf! Hundreds of galleons worth of product, who is going to reimburse me for this loss?" the owner continued to shout as Neville reached for the nearest bottle that looked the least damaged. 'Quoram Scent for Men' was written on the front.

"Fuu-ck." he dropped the bottle and turned to the owner. "When did this happen?"

"20 minutes ago! That witch needs a muzzle and a paddling! Shouting at the top of her lungs, swinging that bat around wildly! She told me you were her boyfriend! I should call you directly! You owe me at least 500 galleons, sir! This is your responsibility!"

"I know for a fact these bottles cost 7 sickles a piece, buddy. I need to know if anywhere else in Diagon Alley sells this product specifically?"

"I want it in writing that I will be reimbursed for damages!" he shouted so loudly spittle flew everywhere.

"Sir," Neville stepped forward and looked down on the red faced man. "Talk to the Patrol over there and he can get you a claim filed. But you need to tell me if there is another store in Diagon Alley that sells this product specifically. Now."

The little intimidation act worked and the owner calmed just enough to tell Neville there was a modern potion shop a few streets north but he wasn't sure of the name.

He didn't thank the man, just took off. She had a 20 minute head start, but he could catch her if he was lucky. The modern potion shop was named Tilly's Potions and More and catered to the modern witch or wizard. He stepped in right as an owl flew overhead.

"Wow that was quick." The cashier said to him when he stepped inside and a little bell chimed happily somewhere. The man had deep acne scars on his young face and a broom and a wand in his hands, his clear eyes looking interestedly at Neville's Auror Badge pinned at his hip.

"Has there been any problems here?" he asked immediately.

"Uh you could say that, man."

"Care to elaborate?"

"Some chick dressed head to toe in black and looking like she walked out of my nastiest wet dream came in here and asked if we sold any Quoram for men. She had witchy eyes man."

Neville spotted Glimmer scars up and down the man's arms, but they all looked old.

"Pretty sure they're all witches here, it's Diagon Alley."

"I know but… you shoulda seen 'em. You'd understood then."

"Let me guess, kind of purple? Kind of blue? About this tall with dark black hair?" Neville brought his hand measured up to his chest.

"That's her, man. I showed her where it was, cause ya know - she was hot. Asked her if she wanted any help getting it from the shelf, since it were, ya know, kind of higher up. She just smiled and said no thanks, and took out a beater's bat. Couldn't believe it. She swung and took out the whole shelf, smiled the whole time. It's always the hot ones that're crazy, man."

"Right. What happened then?" Neville asked impatiently just when Les entered the building.

"Oh right well she thanked me and asked if anywhere else in town that sold the stuff."

"And… did you tell her?"

"Oh yeah man… she was hot." the idiot repeated for nth time.

Neville rolled his eyes so hard he thought he was going to go blind. "Where did you tell her? And how long ago was this?"

"Not long man, probably about 5 to 10 minutes ago. I just sent an owl to the shop owner when you walked in. Told her about Scents and Styles and said there was only one other place I knew had that brand of cologne and that was Madam Primpernelle's on main street."

"Shit." he took off out the door as quickly as he could and headed for main street at a flat out sprint. The oldest potion shop in Diagon Alley came into view just a short minute later and he slowed down, catching his breath and opened the heavy wooden door just as he heard a giant crash of glass smashing.

oOo

She kissed Theo on the mouth and bid him goodbye as she set off on her own for a long walk in the city. The weather was too good not to go out, but Theo insisted he didn't feel like taking a walk with her. She promised to bring home some dinner and grabbed a book before she set off. It was Summertime in Barcelona, crowded and busy and she loved it.

No one knew her.

Her mother was far away.

And Theo made her feel safe. Finally.

She walked for a long time, and like usual, got a little lost. But that was the point really. It was easy to find your way again in the city. The sun began to set and it sent beautiful colors across the sky and she could hear music playing on a rooftop cafe. Seemed like as good a place as any to stop for dinner, maybe have a few drinks. She took the stairs but quickly realized the roof was at full occupancy.

Then he grabbed her on arm and said in the native tongue, "I know I've been waiting nearly 30 minutes now. But apparently there's a downstairs bar as well, care to join me?"

"Sorry, a little slower?" she said as carefully as she could.

"Oh pardon me, would English be better?"

"English is fine, or French." she added, because she could tell from his accent he spoke the language.

This seemed to delight him and he went off in rapid fire French which she followed along with just fine.

"See this is what is so great about the city, you never know just who you run into, or what language you'll be speaking!" he laughed.

In her experience, most people around could speak at least a basic amount of any of those three languages but he seemed so happy to be conversing in French with her she couldn't help but get into it as well. His name was Jac.

They found the downstairs bar and soon had drinks. The alcohol and his easy going nature coaxed out a lot of talking from her. She told him about Theo and how happy they were to be away. About her strained relationship with her mother. How her idiot friend Draco was dating a real harpy. He even got her talking about her beloved Papa and how much she missed him. He was unbelievably easy to talk in a way that got her excited to share. What did she do for fun? She was obsessed with this new book series and she wanted to learn how to cook because both her and Theo were absolutely abysmal at it and no she didn't think she could even boil water. She loved to play piano and wasn't a terrible singer, but the cello was her true love though she was a bit out of practice.

When he ordered her a second drink she didn't think anything of it. But the third seemed like a lot and she politely declined, saying she needed to get some dinner and get home soon.

"Ah one more," he said, convincing her. "I'm having such a good time. Next time I would love to meet this Theo of yours, he sounds like the perfect man."

She felt her cheeks burn. The words were right, even sounded casual. But the heat behind them sounded too intense. And when her wine came he ran his finger around the rim of her glass, catching a stray drop of the red liquid. He spread it against her lip and she felt all at once put off.

She had been so open and honest about her and Theo, there was simply no way he could have misunderstood. "Ah forgive me, the wine has gone to my head."

"No, it's fine. I'll finish this glass and head out. Thank you for such good company tonight."

"The pleasure is, of course, mine my dear Pansy Parkinson. Let's finish this glass and I'll make sure you get home safely."

And there it was again, that word. Safe. Theo made her feel safe, and Jac was promising to get her home to Theo.

She nodded and finished her wine, happily chatting with him. Then it went blank.

She came to and felt panicked all at once, because things hurt. And her wrists were tied up. She knew because her head was lying against her arm and she could see the twine twisted against her skin and tied to a darkened headboard.

Tied up and naked, she jerked violently against her restraints. And then he was there.

"Shh. Shh darling. You're safe, you're fine. I'm afraid the drug hit you rather hard." Jac said to her, running his fingers over her face and into her hair. She jerked her head away from him but she could only go so far, being tied up as she was. And she was naked.

Panic. Panic. Panic.

"What - what are you doing?"

Between her legs was sore. Ached in the way that told her while she'd been out, Jac had been…

No she couldn't even think about that. She was a witch, she could get out of this. Where was her wand?

"Just checking your eyes, darling. Glimmer has an odd effect on most people the first time." She hated that he reminded her of Theo.

"G-g-glimmer?"

"Yes, haven't you heard of it? It is new… I found your wand earlier. I was so surprised to find you were a witch! Perhaps the Glimmer had such a strong effect because I used rophenol first. I thought you were a Muggle girl, you see."

He ran a finger down her arm, and she wanted to throw up at the contact. Her eyes followed the movement and she spotted tiny burn marks up and down the inside of her arm. "What? You f-f-f-found my w-w-wand?"

This was the wrong thing to say, because it delighted him. He leaned in and she realized he was only wearing a slim pair of black pants. "Yes, my darling. It just cemented us. I knew you were perfect for me. In fact, I think I should take you again. So you realize it too."

And he slid out of his pants and she cursed and screamed but she was tied up and couldn't go anywhere. His wand appeared before her eyes and she felt her restraints tighten. He pulled the sheet off her naked body and she saw more burn marks up and down her thighs. She saw a blood stain on the sheet that was several hours old. She saw what were future bruises forming on her thighs and then he rubbed something cold and jelly like between her legs and she screamed out.

He only took that as encouragement. He held her face close to his as he took her, even when she did finally vomit, he simply told her it was an effect of the drug and not to worry. He didn't stop. All she could smell was burnt magic, moldy carpet, and his cologne.

She was in that bed for a week.

oOo

She wanted to cackle with glee when the glass shattered and flew across the floor, spilling the rotten cologne everywhere. She couldn't put into words how satisfying it felt to smash the cologne bottles, it ramped up her energy until she was trembling with need and laughter. The old witch that had been behind the counter had run in pure terror the moment she found the shelf with Quoram products. The old beater's bat had done its job, taking far harder hits in its lifetime than smashing glass. But after the first swing she heard the door open and someone can running in with heavy steps. "PARKINSON!"

She turned and felt alive.

"How lucky am I?" she said, pushing her lips out and giving him a sexy smile. "Neville Longbottom, was last night as good for you as it was for me?"

"You are getting on my damn nerves! What the hell are you doing? You're under arrest!"

"I'm afraid that's not going to work any better for you now than it did last time, baby." she swung her bat around and smashed the second shelf with a crash of noise.

Giggling, she couldn't help herself. She was giddy with energy. She wanted to fuck! She wanted to fight! Her eyes narrowed at Longbottom. Maybe both. He was amped up on super strength. It might actually be worth it to find out about those damn shoulders once and for all.

"Why the hell are you doing this?! Just because I was wearing that particular cologne doesn't mean you can go around and vandalize perfume and potion shops!"

"Oh please!" she laughed. "Not everything is about you, Longbottom. However… I should thank you, since I didn't know which cologne that scent belonged to until you told me. This is, I guess, your doing."

He didn't get a chance to respond because at that moment the door slammed open and a tall man with a really flat face and light blonde hair stumbled in, out of breath.

"Sir-" gasp. "I'm-" gasp. "Here-" gasp!

"Hastings! Pull yourself together!"

"Is this your partner, Longbottom? What happened to the other one? He was soooo cute."

"Don't talk about my old partner." he snapped at her. "Give me the bat! You're under arrest!"

"You know, you keep saying that to me. Is it code for something? Is it our safe word?"

His eyes bulged and she was hit with the urge to keep making him mad. As mad as possible. "How many hits to the head have you taken, Parkinson? You're fucking mental."

"It's okay baby, I'll go easy on you. The first time." and she swung her bat again, the wood gleaming black as it soared through the air and smashed another shelf into bits and pieces.

"Hastings go around, no - ugh - yes like that." Longbottom rolled his eyes at his apparent partner and she felt her smile widen. She was an eye roller too.

"Longbottom, you know that bet still stands. I got a bag of gold with your name on it if you can manage to put a pair of handcuffs on me." she kept one eye on the blundering idiot that was trying to circle her and the other trained carefully on Longbottom.

"Then I'm a rich man, because I'm taking you in if it's the last thing I do!" he shouted at her.

"Now there's no reason to get all huffy-"

"Theft, assault-" he begun reading off her offenses and she couldn't help but think huffy looked actually... kind of, well, cute on him.

She swung her bat around as he went off, trying to appear bored. She wasn't bored though. Therapy hadn't done shit for her or her issues. Breaking those bottles however…

"Vandalism, disorderly conduct-"

The man named Hastings was looking more and more out of place and unsure of what to do, but she was slowly deciding she didn't really need to keep an eye out on him. If he was more than a few days out of training she'd eat her dagger.

"C'mon Longbottom," she made her voice husky on purpose. "How much time have you spent thinking about me lately?"

"Destruction of property-"

"Surely you have better things you could be doing than chasing around little ole me?" she interrupted him, knowing it was true. He'd said as much the night before at The Conservatory.

"You can bet your ass I do! I'm up to my ears with this serial killer case, my boss is pissed off at me-"

"Uh oh, I hope not because of last night? But it was so much fun." she put a hand over her heart dramatically.

"Don't play that innocent shit with me, Parkinson. You have something that belongs to me! Several somethings as a matter of fact!"

She smirked. "And you have something that belongs to me. Tradsies?"

Handcuffs dangled from his hands a second later. "Pansy Parkinson, you're under arrest."

"I'm starting to think you like saying that to me."

He didn't bother asking if she was resisting this time. He just charged at her. Like a giant bear.

And fuck, it was fun.

Swift feet moved her from Neville's war path and in the same step she threw her bat at his useless partner. She didn't stop to watch what happened, but she did hear a rather satisfying thunking sound just moments after the bat left her hand. Her old trainer would have scolded her for throwing away her weapon so soon in the fight, but as a weapon that bat was far to slow for her fighting style.

Her dagger fell into her hand and she swiped out. He blocked it. He swung and she dodged it, knowing better than to try to block a punch from a super strength Neville Longbottom.

Instead of trying to fight her, he was attempting to contain her. Obviously he'd learned better after their last round. Maybe he really thought she'd give him a bag of gold if managed to get cuffs on her, but most likely he was in the dog house for losing The Fern and the next best thing for him to do was bring her in.

Like she would let that happen.

She dodged Neville's large fists and jumped over his kicks and on and on it went, until she felt like she was dancing and their breaths got heavier. He landed a few blows but her quickness lessened the impact of each one. Twice she nearly got him in his side only for him strike her wrist, knocking the dagger from her grip, which she scooped up with her other hand.

But he was already blocking her second attack.

"Why won't you -"a harsh breath. "-just go down?!"

His elbow came down hard on her back, right below her shoulder blade and she stumbled to the side, knocking over a shelf. Bottles rained down, glass shattered, and the scent of lemongrass and verbena filled her nose. She wanted to gag.

"Why don't you?" and she kicked out, hit his knee, and landed a blow to his side of his head. More scents surrounded them as they broke more and more, rich and deep mixed with light and floral until it clogged her nose with an overpowering film on her tongue.

She knocked him into another shelf and the whole thing collapsed. His partner used the opportunity to made a move, but she danced around him so quickly he looked dizzy and she threw him into the last row of shelves still standing.

Longbottom used that small moment of opportunity to wrap his arms around her, constrain her, but she spun away and, in the same move, her dagger came out and slashed the front of his shirt into two.

Every second that passed he got angrier and angrier, and he completely missed when she nicked his new cell phone from his pocket.

He was strong, but she was fast. And it made them too evenly matched.

Finally he nailed his elbow into her jaw and she stumbled to the side, seeing spots, and waited for him to falter - which he did when he went for his cuffs instead of containing her. She ignored the throb in her face from his hit and jumped on his back, wrapping her legs around his waist and her elbow around his throat. Her other hand gripped her own arm, keeping it flush against Longbottom's throat, choking him. If she could deprive him of air, she could search for her pick unhindered and be on her merry way.

His fingers dug into her arm, attempting to get a hold and tear her off, but her leverage was just right. All the strength in the world didn't matter one bit if he couldn't get a grip on her. Breathing heavily in his ear, she said, "We should do this," a grunt. "-more often, Longbottom."

"Fuck - you-" he started slapping her arm and she noticed his partner rising from the debris and mess of the shop just out of the corner of her eye.

"Tell me where my pick is - and I'll let you go!"

He chuckled and managed to groan at the same time, "It's - at - the - offices - bitch!" Apparently, she had succeeded in making him very, very angry. And apparently, he thought her pick was safe there.

Starting to flail frantically, he decided to slam her into the nearest wall - which was actually a window. Glass rained down on them both as they rolled across stone and pavement. She felt a sharp cut in her cheek and against her chest but managed to roll up to her feet all the same, going automatically into a fighting stance with her dagger out.

He lay on the ground on his side. The moment she spotted him, he looked up and met her eyes. "The offices you say? Well it's been fun, Longbottom." and she grabbed her wand from its holster and Apparated on the spot.

oOo

"Oh my god!" he heard Les shout. "She just Apparated! She just…! Apparated! Just like that! Did she Splinch herself?! No one Apparates anymore!"

Groaning, he spit glass and blood from his mouth and managed to get up on his feet. He automatically reached for his phone, intending to let Harry and Bobbi know that a hostile was on the way to the offices. "Bloody. Fucking. Hell! Hastings! Give me your phone!"

"Phone?! What's a phone?"

Neville felt his teeth clench. "Hastings, you're useless."

"Aw man I know but you! You were amazing! You two… you guys should teach the new recruits! That was amazing…" he repeated. "I can't believe she Apparated. Haven't seen anyone do that in so long! The dangers of using Apparation these days are significant-"

He tuned out Les and kicked the ground before running off to the Leaky Cauldron. The fastest way to the offices would be the Floo network but he was afraid it would be too late.

Why the hell was he always chasing after that girl?!

oOo

She spent exactly twenty seconds straightening herself up and clearing away blood and dust and glass from her body. Then she walked into the offices like she belonged there, and no one stopped her either. People were bustling about, coming and going with quick paced steps because they had places to be and people to see. The trick to looking like you belonged somewhere was acting like you were far too busy to stop and chat.

She got to the main receptionist's desk and cut the polite looking witch off before she could even start. "Neville Longbottom's office, please." she snapped impatiently.

"Name?"

"Daphne Greengrass, I have an appointment." her tone was rude and, again, impatient.

The witch narrowed her eyes and stuck up her nose before rattling off an office number on the bottom floor.

"Thanks for wasting half a minute of my very valuable time!" Pansy told her as she briskly walked to the stairs. As soon as the door shut behind her she took the stairs two at a time until she reached the bottom floor, and tentatively took a look around the corner. No one she immediately recognized walked by, so she stepped into the hall and looked for the correct office number. 001, 002, 003, 004, 005… and 006. She pushed the door open and stepped inside as quickly as she could.

Pansy exhaled. She was in Neville Longbottom's office.