Scratch scratches

Fire starts with matches

They're burning down the world

And chopping down with hatchets

Life in plastic, blood still splashes

Running round like animals

In cities soaked in ashes

~Wild Life - Hedley

WARNING: Violence and disturbing scenes in the following chapter.


The group of Aurors, which includes Harry, Ron, Dennis, Rose, myself and two others - I think Finnegan and Thomas, both around Harry's age - appears on a hilltop just north of the main part of Edinburgh. Hugo is also with us. Although it is only about four in the afternoon, there is heavy cloud cover, making the air chilly, damp and heavy. The winding streets and narrow alleys of the city look more ominous than I've seen them before. But that could just be my mind playing tricks on me.

All of us have Transfigured our clothes to be black and well-suited to running and so on. Without any words, we march down towards the city. Hugo leads us through the narrow, quaint streets to the window of a deserted pub; after looking both ways, he knocks on the glass and then slides through. The rest of us mimic him.

Inside it is white and sterile, almost exactly like St. Mungo's, except for the board that proclaims it to be 'St. Fergus' Center for Magical Maladies and Injuries'. Healers in their lime-green robes are running around, shrieking orders to each other. Two people with red robes identifying them as emergency workers are Levitating a dead man, wearing a black coat and gold watch, towards an inconspicuous corridor. His head rolls back and his eyes stare vacantly at us.

Hugo disappears for a second and then returns with a Healer whose badge proclaims him to be the Head Healer. He shakes hands and wearily introduces himself as Healer Fillan.

"We'll need to visit the morgue, please," says Harry in a gentle voice, and Healer Fillan leads us down the corridor the dead man was levitated through earlier.

Inside the morgue, the cots are filled up and there are a few people even laying on the floor. I count at least twenty bodies. The sight is horrifying, but I force myself to remain calm. Ron and Harry each stand by a body and perform a version of Priori Incantatem for inanimate objects. Then they both look confused.

"How have they died?" asks Dennis in a steely voice.

"It says the Killing Curse," Harry says confusedly. "But there's something else as well..."

The rest of us spread out and perform the Charm on various bodies, but no one can guess exactly what it is.

"It just seems like a slightly modified Avada," says Finnegan.

And then I notice something. "Wait a minute. They're all wearing black."

All the Aurors step back and examine the dead.

"Maybe a killer who for some reason targets those in black?" Ron suggests doubtfully.

Rose gasps. "No! Today we went to do a recon of Borgin and Burkes, and Scorpius saw someone that was packing black fabric in a box and then made it go green. That very box was scheduled to be shipped here today!"

I had made the same connection just a few seconds ago, but the rest of the Aurors stand shocked. The only thing I'm really surprised at is that she used my first name, but that's hardly important at a time like this.

"It's too much of a coincidence," I agree urgently. "I think it's likely that he managed to charm an object to contain the Killing Curse and release it upon a certain type of contact. That's why were getting weird results from the mageiopsy - we think we're casting it on the body, but it's sensing what was done to the clothing!"

"You're both right," says Harry hoarsely. "Alright, we need to split. Go with your partners - Dennis, you'll go with Rose and Scorpius. Scour the city and try to find out how exactly these people have dropped dead, and try and stop it from happening to other people. If you're in trouble, send out red sparks. If you've found something, send out green sparks. We meet back outside St Fergus in two hours." With that, he sprints through the corridor, and the rest of us follow closely.

Outside the hospital, he tells Finnegan and Thomas to cover the magical quarter, which we are in right now. He and Ron will take the east side of the rest of the city, and Rose, Dennis and I the west. He then curses the shrinking Auror program before running east.

"Scorpius, you're probably fastest," Dennis says to me. "You take the lead and scout ahead. Rose, look all around us. I'll bring up the rear."

Rose presses her lips together hard, but says nothing. I know she doesn't like being given the least important position, but those are the breaks.

We move quickly but quietly towards the southwest, hands on wands in pockets. Nothing happens for nearly half an hour as we peruse the streets and avenues.

Then I see it.

It's twilight by now, and rapidly fading; the street lights come on, up and down the road. The door of a building opens, and a woman walks out, calling something over her shoulder to someone in a thick Scottish brogue. Her black coat is over her arm, and as she lifts it to put it on, it glows ever so faintly green in the deepening dusk.

"No!" I shout, sprinting forward, shooting a nonverbal Vanishing Charm at the coat, but it's too late. She's pulled it on. The charm hits a streetlight behind her, which disappears as she glows green for a second and that rushing noise appears, and then she falls to the pavement.

"Oh my God!" screams the man she was calling to. He's at the door she left from, staring at her body in shock. "Someone phone the ambulance!"

Dennis runs forward. "Sir, I'm a doctor, and these two are training- let us take her-"

"Yeah, yeah- can I come?" He looks around and reaches into the building, then grabs his coat. Also black. Rose snatches it from him before he can put it on.

"We've noticed an increase in death from chemicals in clothing dye," she tells him briskly. "May be the case with her; in that case your coat would be affected by being near. We need to test it."

"Oh, God." He looks alarmed. "Yeah, ye better-"

Dennis has sent up red sparks while the man was talking to Rose. I run forward and pick up the woman's body, trying not to look at her lifeless face, trying not to notice how cold she is.

"Which hospital are ye takin' her to?" he asks, accent thick.

"I'm afraid you can't come," I tell him.

"No!" snaps Rose. I look back at her. "You need his statement!"

"Oh, yeah. Alright, sir, St. Fergus hospital. You'll have to run with me."

"Rose!" shouts Dennis, from up ahead, leading the way to the hospital. "You start your investigation here, and the other Aurors'll show up to help! We'll be back soon!"

We sprint down the road, the Muggle man huffing behind us, probably wondering why we don't have an ambulance. Dennis stops suddenly. "Scorpius, it's no good. We'll need to Apparate."

"With him?" I glance behind us at the man who is catching up.

"We'll need to do a mass Obliviation and major cleanup anyway," he points out.

The man is now right beside me. "Are ye waitin' for the ambulance?"

Dennis turns to him. "Sir, you'll have to trust us. We will get you to the hospital with her. You need to give me your arm."

The bloke looks surprised, but does so anyway. Then Dennis turns and they disappear. I do the same, keeping a firm grip on the woman's body. Wen I reach the Apparition area of St. Mungo's, the man is panicking.

"Wha' the bloody hell was that? Are ye passing drugs or somethin'? Is that how Mary died?"

"Sir," I say calmly, "you fainted from shock, and were unconscious the whole ambulance ride here. Please relax."

He shakes his head frantically, so Dennis stares into his eyes and murmurs, "Obliviate."

Instantly the man becomes unfocused and dazed, and Dennis repeats what I just said, and then removes the spell. The man blinks rapidly. "Tha' was a doozy. Just shockin', ye know?"

"Yeah, I do," I agree. "Now, Mr. ...?"

"McAdams," he answers.

"Mr. McAdams, my colleague is going to perform an autopsy on your friend Mary, and I'd like you to come with me to give a statement."

He willingly follows me through another corridor to a room with a table and six chairs. This must be a meeting room. I decide it will go. Underneath the table, I charm a quill to transcribe what he's saying.

"So can you please give me the woman's full name?" I request.

"Mary Elizabeth Macdonald," he says. "She was thirty-one."

"What was your business in the building you came from?"

His ears turn red. "We- she's me girlfriend, you see, we were havin' dinner. That was me house. You can search it if ye want, I can swear I had nothin' ta do with-"

I nod. "Not to worry, we don't suspect you in the least. I am simply trying to rule out any options that might be more than just a heart attack."

"Ye think tha's wha' it was?"

"It's likely," I lie. "Now tell me, while you and Mary were having dinner, did you notice anything unusual?"

He wrinkles his nose. "Come ta think of it, we did hear a noise by the door. I thought someone may be knockin', so I went to check. No one was there, but the coats on the umbrella stand were movin' a tad. I thought it was a draft."

The coats on the umbrella stand were moving...

This can mean only one thing.

But why would that wizard go to all that trouble - entering Muggle or wizard homes to replace one or two coats or cloaks at a time with his enchanted ones? It doesn't make sense. It's too much trouble and precision for someone who simply wants to kill Muggles.

Yet, wizards have been killed too, haven't they?

I stand up suddenly. "Thank you, Mr. McAdams. I think we may be dealing with a case for the police. If you will remain in here, one of my colleagues will be in shortly for a more formal statement."

I run back to the morgue, where Dennis has just finished examining Mary's body.

"Separate the wizard bodies from the Muggle ones," I tell him urgently. "I think there's a pattern; I'll explain later. We need to get back to where Rose is, right now. There's a chance the killer may still be around. And the man needs-"

Harry and Ron suddenly burst in, carrying a dead man of about fifty in wizard robes. I turn quickly to them. "Let Dennis perform the mageiopsy. One of you take care of the Muggle witness over in that room, and someone, come with me now!"

"Why the ruddy hell are you giving orders?" demands Ron.

I stare coldly into his eyes. "Because your daughter is investigating a crime scene where the killer may still be."

He blanches. "Harry, you stay here, I'm going with Malfoy."

I grab his arm and Apparate us to a small side street off the road where the woman died. I run ahead of Ron to the same location and shout. "Weasley!"

"I'm right here," puffs Ron, behind me.

Dread starts a sinking feeling in my stomach. "Rose!"

"What?"

I turn around lightning-quick and nearly shoot a spell at her, but pull my wand just in time, so that it goes off onto the wall of the building. "Where the bloody hell were you?"

"Investigating the house," she snaps. "Calm down, Peaches."

"We thought the killer might have hung around!" shouts Ron, having regained his breath. "Did you notice anything?"

"His coat had the spell on it." She holds up the man's coat. "I managed to figure out, through charms on every square centimetre of this thing, that the spell only takes effect when over three-quarters of the coat's inside has been in contact with the victim. We're dealing with someone advanced. And I don't think anyone is around, or watching right now, because nothing else-"

There's a loud bang from the east. We immediately sprint in that direction. This is followed by several more, and then green and red sparks appear over the buildings.

When we reach, there is a giant crater in the street, and Aurors Thomas and Finnegan are shooting spells across it at a seemingly empty wall. Three dead Muggles lie against the side of the street. Several more are watching from a pub window, some crying, some screaming, some just staring in fear.

"We think he's there!" shouts Finnegan. "He's invisible, but I shot water at him, you could see his footprints for a while!"

As the rest of them shoot spells, I carefully watch the ground, for any telltale signs that someone is there. As Rose shoots a Body-Bind in the general direction, I see a small pebble move on the ground, as if someone jumped back and accidentally kicked it. I fire a Stupefy at the air above it. A black hat appears out of seeming nothingness and falls to the ground, and I duck. Just in time - a Killing Curse shoots over my head, actually ruffling my hair, and hits the pub window, exploding it. The Muggles inside scream. I immediately cast a powerful Shield Charm over it so they'll be protected. Suddenly, there's a loud crack.

"He's Disapparated!" shouts Thomas.

And then from the left, a spell flies at us, and Thomas' left hand falls to the ground. He screams in pain and shock and collapses.

"He used Sectumsempra!" bellows Ron, shooting a quick succession of spells where the jet of light came from. Finnegan is trying to stop the blood loss from Thomas' severed hand, and I'm desperately trying to keep that Protego over the pub window through my distress, and Rose is shielding Finnegan and Thomas-

And then all the lights go out.

The streetlights, the lights in the windows of pubs and shops and restaurants, the light of the moon, the light of the stars, even the lights coming from our wands.

But it isn't dark, because there's something else in the sky. Something glowing gray-green, a symbol that I've never seen before, but recognize instantly; a symbol that strikes fear into the heart of every magical creature alive.

A skull with a snake winding through it.

The Dark Mark.

And below that, in large letters: RL1024.

And another line: The Dark Lord shall live again.


A/N: so this is really where we get introduced to the plot of the story. I warn everyone reading this that it will continue in this vein for a while, and if you have a problem with violence (even though it's not very graphic) this story maybe isn't for you.

A couple of notes about this chapter: I really took a lot of protocol from my experience with Criminal Minds. I think the basic rules governing the police force would be the same in both worlds, although of course this one involves magic. Also, mageiopsy is (obviously) not a real world. I invented it from the Greek word mageia, for magic. I pronounce it mah-jay-op-see.

I would also like to tell you all that I'm leaving for summer camp for a month so no updates :( but I'll update right when I get back!

So who do we think the mystery killer is? Any ideas?

~Meg xx