Wednesday, June 19th 11.00am.

The atmosphere in the conference room was sombre and tense. Harry had pushed the meeting back an hour as he said he had something important to attend to.

"Sorry, I'm late." Harry announced as he entered the room. He was followed by a large man with short dark brown hair. "Everyone take a seat. Is Kingsley not here?"

The whole room sat at the table including the mystery man with Harry.

"He's on his way." Terry said, taking his seat next to Cho.

Just as Terry finished talking, Kingsley entered the room. With him were two more men who immediately took seats around the table.

"As you can see we have a few new faces to add to the team." Harry said, starting the meeting. "First we have Theo Nott, he's the media liaison officer."

Theo nodded to the people in the room. He also exchanged quick smiles with Draco as they were former Slytherin's.

"Nott, is here to arrange the press conferences. Write the press releases and to make sure they don't discover more about the investigation than we want them to know." Harry said. "He won't be in present the meetings but he will be around the fringes of the investigation."

"Speaking of which, I'm actually leaving now to prepare for this afternoon's press conference." Theo said, standing up. "It was nice meeting you all. Draco we'll have to catch up sometime."

"Sure, we can arrange something later." Draco said, nodding at his former school friend.

With a few more goodbyes and a final brief from Kingsley, Theo departed the room leaving Harry free to continue his meeting.

"The second new member for the team is Michael Corner from missing persons." Harry indicated the former Ravenclaw who had briefly dated Harry's wife, Ginny. "Michael is taking over the task of locating Pansy Parkinson."

Like Theo before him, Michael nodded and greeted the group of people he would be working with.

"The last person to introduce is my cousin Dudley Dursley." Harry said. "Dudley's a muggle. He works for the muggle police in America as a profiler. He's here to give us a profile of our killer, it can be extremely useful in the investigation."

Hermione and Ron both exchanged a shocked look as Harry introduced the cousin he had grown up with. They both knew that Harry and Dudley didn't get along while growing up, and while they had stayed in contact sporadically since adulthood neither of Harry's friends realised they were friendly enough for Harry to involve him in such a major case.

"Cho, do you want to begin." Harry said, starting as usual with the medical evidence.

"Actually, I have something you might want to know first." Michael said, passing a thin blue file to Harry.

Harry read the paper, his eyes widening in shock. "It seems Oliver was reported missing on Monday morning."

"He didn't show up for practise on Saturday apparently but when he failed to do so again on Monday his team manager reported him missing." Michael said, explaining the report for the rest of the group.

"When was Oliver last seen?" Terry asked.

"Friday night. He'd been out drinking with some team mates in a pub called The Brave Lion." Michael said, checking his notes.

"Dean and Seamus' place." Ron said, he had visited his friends pub on many occasions. "I take it someone has already questioned them."

"Yes, it's all in the report." Harry said, closing the file. "At least we've got somewhere to start. Cho do you want to go now."

"Yes. Actually this development clears up a few things that were puzzling me." The witch said.

"What?" Ron asked.

"I'll get to it." Cho said, not fazed by Ron's interruption. "Oliver was killed at six pm last night, he died from the killing curse."

"Six, are you sure?" Harry asked. Cho tutted annoyed and nodded, she never made mistakes with time of death. "That means he wasn't killed on the Quidditch pitch, it was last inspected at twenty past six and the lights went out at half past."

"He was probably killed where he was been held captive and then his body moved." Cho said.

"How do you know he was being held captive? He might just have been missing since Friday night." Ron said, not quite believing there was an innocent explanation for Oliver's disappearance.

"Because of the fact his hands had been bound together and there is shackle marks on his right ankle. I was puzzled by their presence before but it makes sense if he had been held somewhere for four nights." Cho explained.

"Great." Harry sighed. "We're not just dealing with a killer but a kidnapper as well."

"What if he has more people." Hermione said, the thought making her feel sick.

"I don't know, Hermione. We have to face the possibility he might have." Harry said, reaching across the table and giving Hermione's hand a squeeze.

"I have a question." Draco said, causing the entire group to look at him expectantly. While Draco hadn't made lots of contributions to past meetings when he had done so he had always had a valid point. "Why kill Wood now?"

"What do you mean?" Ron asked, confused by the blond's question.

"If he's had him since Friday, why wait? Why kill Hermione's secretary first?" Draco asked.

"Dudley, do you have anything?" Harry asked his cousin. He was unable to answer Draco's questions.

"I can think of a couple of reasons. The first is maybe he always planned for Oliver to be his first victim but he suddenly found himself with an unexpected opportunity to kill the first girl." Dudley said.

"But that's not what you think happened." Draco said, he could sense the large man wasn't convinced by his first explanation.

"No I don't." Dudley conceded, he was impressed that the blond could read him so well. "After listening today combined with what Harry has told me, I think the killer has planned things impeccably. He has a set plan that he probably spent months working on. I don't think the first murder was opportunistic, I think it was perfectly planned."

"So why kidnap Oliver and wait to kill him?" Ron asked. He was unsure if Harry's cousin knew what he was talking about.

"Oliver is a high profile person, getting access to him would be hard. The killer probably did some research into his life and decided that Friday night was the perfect time to get him alone."

"Dudley's right." Terry said. "Oliver was expected to play last night, killing him before a match would be practically impossible."

"What about the public way in which the body was found?" Hermione asked. "Is that significant."

"Yes." Dudley nodded. "It was the ideal way to make sure the press is involved. He wants the attention, he wants everyone to know what he's doing."

"He wants everyone to know he's punishing me for something." Hermione whispered. She understood exactly what Dudley was saying.

"Yes." Dudley said.

"But it won't work. Surely we're controlling what the press knows about the case." Ron said, angry at the idea of some psycho killer persecuting Hermione in the press.

"Yes, but now they're aware of the killings they could easily work out the link to Hermione." Draco said. "Especially if there's anymore."

"My guess is that's exactly what the killer wants." Dudley said.

"What else can you tell us about the killer?" Harry asked his cousin. He was pleased he had asked Dudley for help, he was proving very useful so far.

"Not a lot at the moment, I'll start work on a detailed profile after the meeting." Dudley said. "The killer clearly hates Hermione. They blame her for something tragic in their lives, probably the death of someone they loved. They're calculated and careful in their execution of their crimes. They will be difficult to catch, as they leave no physical evidence at the crime scenes."

"They'll get cocky and mess up. They always do." Ron said, confident the killer couldn't outsmart the Auror team he was part of.

"Don't be so sure." Dudley warned. "It will probably be something out of the killer's control that leads to his downfall."

"Okay, I think that's it for now. Dudley you start the detailed profile. Michael you can handle the Parkinson case. Cho and Terry I want you to continue with following up on Melinda, I still want to know how she ended up in the alley." Harry said. "Ron and I will follow up on Oliver."

"What about me and Draco?" Hermione asked, annoyed to be left out.

Harry looked at his friend, she didn't look very well at all. He was desperate to tell her to go home but he knew she wouldn't give in without first making some sort of contribution.

"How about you go and visit Dean and Seamus, find out about last Friday and Oliver." Harry said. "Me and Ron can deal with things at the stadium."

"Thank you, Harry." Hermione smiled softly.


Wednesday, June 19th 12.30pm.

The man stood quietly watching proceedings. The Atrium at the Ministry of Magic was jam packed with reporters all waiting for the scheduled press conference. A few minutes earlier Granger and her blond bodyguard had slipped out of the Ministry, unnoticed by the assembling press.

The man watched as the Minister for Magic, Kingsley Shackelbolt, stepped up to the pre prepared podium. Potter and Weasley stood slightly behind him, looking pensive.

The man listened carefully as Kingsley announced the tragic murder of Oliver Wood. He announced that Potter and Weasley were amongst the investigate team. During his speech he never mentioned the first victim or Granger's association to them.

As Kingsley wrapped the press conference up and the press departed the atrium, the man smiled. While no mention of Granger was made, the press now knew of his existence, soon they would realise his reasons as well.

They also knew who was leading the investigation. Potter and Weasley's every move would now be watched by some of the press, soon they would unwittingly lead the press to another victim. And eventually they would lead the press to Granger.

The man had already decided that if the victim's link to Granger wasn't made public in the next few days, he would have to make it known himself.


Wednesday, June 19th 12.45pm.

Hermione and Draco sat in a corner booth at The Brave Lion waiting for Dean and Seamus to join them. While Hermione was picking at the ham and cheese sandwich in front of her, Draco was scanning the bar in case anyone was watching them.

"Hermione, it's good to see you." Dean said as him and Seamus arrived at the table.

Hermione stood and greeted her old friends with a hug and a smile. The two Gryffindor's greeted Hermione warmly but were wary of the former Slytherin sitting beside her.

When Hermione explained the reason for her visit both Dean and Seamus were too upset to question the reason for Draco's presence let alone resent it.

"What do you need to know?" Seamus asked once the shock had begun to wear off.

"I just need you to tell me about Friday night and Oliver." Hermione said.

"I'm not sure we can add anything more than what we told the M.L.E. officer on Monday." Dean shrugged, still shocked by the news. "Oliver and the rest of his team were in the bar drinking like they do most Friday nights."

"The team are regulars." Hermione confirmed.

"Yes, they don't come in if they have a game on Saturday afternoon, but other than that they're in every week." Seamus said.

"Was there anything unusual about Friday?" Hermione asked.

"No. The lads were drinking, there was some girls with them for a while but they left about an hour before any of the lads went home." Dean said, trying to recall the night.

"You said Oliver stayed behind after the others left, why did he do that?" Hermione asked, making notes in a small pad.

"Me and Oliver been talking for about ten minutes before the others left." Seamus said. "We hadn't finished so he stayed for another five minutes or so."

"What were you talking about?" Hermione asked.

"Oliver had been approached to organise a charity match. He was hoping to persuade Harry to play, he was asking me how often I saw him to pass the message on."

"And that took fifteen minutes." Draco said, causing both Dean and Seamus to stare at him. they had forgotten the blond was there and even if they had remembered they wouldn't have expected him to talk.

"No, we chatted in general as well." Seamus replied, not looking happy at having to answer to Draco.

"Did you see anyone hanging around outside when Oliver left?" Hermione said, rubbing her temple. She was starting to get a headache.

"We didn't leave the bar, we were cleaning up." Dean said. "There was no sign of anyone when we left half an hour later."

"Thanks guys." Hermione smiled weakly.

"Are you okay, Hermione? You look so pale." Dean asked, concerned about his friend.

"Yes, today's just been a bit hard." Hermione said.

"Of course." Seamus said sympathetically.

Hermione and Draco stood to leave the pub. Hermione chatted with Dean and Seamus for a few seconds more until Draco insisted they leave.

"Come on, when we've given the report to Potter I'm taking you home." Draco said, holding on to Hermione's arm.

As the meeting with Dean and Seamus had worn on Hermione had started to look worse and worse. Hermione wanted to protest, but she felt lousy and didn't have the energy to fight against someone who had clearly made their mind up. Too tired to argue, she leant against Draco who immediately put his arm around her, pulling her into his side.

Satisfied Hermione wasn't going to argue with him, Draco apparated them back to the Ministry where they headed off to the Auror department to see Harry.