A/N: I was about to go to bed when I realized it had been three days. Can't get off my schedule now, can I? Good thing this story is done, waiting for posting.
Thanks again to Maria Binger, who has beta'ed this story for me, and put up with my wacko questions at all hours.
Enjoy, and please review
"Enfluant," Spencer said, emphatically pointing to the piece of paper he was holding. "That's one of the names on my list. And here it is, in the first letters from the bars names. Hermione, I don't think this is coincidence."
She grabbed the marker from him and started scribbling the first letters of the bar names from above his first line. "Vespasian," she muttered. "I know that's someones name."
"Vespasian was a Roman emperor," he said.
"Is there a Vespasian on your list?"
He double checked. "There's a V, but it says their address is unknown."
"That's strange," she said, brow furrowed.
"What's strange?"
"Usually the only way that a witch or wizard goes under the radar like that is that they are a Squib. They don't use magic. Perhaps Vespasian is a dirty little family secret," she mused, looking deep in thought.
"Squib's don't use magic?" he asked.
"Squib's can't use magic. They're the opposite of Muggle-borns, they're non-magic persons born into all-magic families. It's considered quite the scandal among some pure-blood families, and Squibs are often covered up. They're sent far away to private Muggle schools, and as soon as they can be kicked out, they're cut off and kicked out."
"That's horrible."
"That's life in some pure-blood families. If you're not an honor to the family, you're not part of the family. That doesn't go for all pure-blood families, mind you. Had one of the Weasleys been born a Squib I doubt Mr. and Mrs. Weasley would put them out, and Neville's family didn't consider putting him out when they thought he might be a Squib, but had Draco Malfoy been born without magic..." she shuddered. For some reason Lucius Malfoy seemed like the type of man who would rather have a dead son than a Squib son. Draco had a job at the Ministry as a researcher for the Department of Law Enforcement, so she saw him quite often around the office. While not friendly, they could hold a civil chat without exchanging insults or leaving with a desire to cause the other physical harm. Draco really seemed to be trying to prove he had changed his ways, whereas Lucius did just enough to keep him rich and with as short a sentence in Azkaban as possible.
"Do you think that he has something to do with this?"
"I don't know," she admitted. "What are the other letters?"
"They spell out Meghan Len. I have a feeling that last name is unfinished."
"Let me make a call," she muttered, rushing to the fireplace. She grabbed a handful of Floo Powder, threw it in, called for Headmistress Keller's office, and stuck her head in.
"Ms. Granger!" the Headmistress called in surprise. "Is it good news?"
"There may have been a break in the case. Could you tell me, did you ever have a student who attended name Vespasian Enfluant?"
"Yes, I remember him. He was a quiet boy, which surprised me because his family was quite the boisterous group. Very Alpha, the whole lot of them, for centuries up until Vespasian."
"So, he wasn't a Squib?" she asked in surprise.
"Oh, no, quite the opposite. He was skilled, and picked up on magic very quickly."
"Was he in Denian house?"
"Yes, he was, but I got the distinct impression that he didn't like it there, that he was only doing it because it was expected from his family. Most of his friends were from other houses. He was a skilled Quidditch player, but he didn't want to play with the house team. He preferred playing with his friends."
"Where is his family?"
"His father and mother, Tomas and Isabelle, are living in Vermont. There's a town up there, which has been affectionately named 'Tatum Putus'."
"'Only Pure'."
"Exactly. It's an area where the most affluent pure-blood families of the area live."
"Do you know what happened to him after school?" she asked hopefully.
"Unfortunately I do not. He was a bright boy, and I thought that he would make a name for himself in the Ministry one day, but as far as I know he doesn't even live in the area anymore."
"We have another name, but it may only be partial. Meghan Len?"
"Meghan Lentz," she said with a smile. "A Muggle born in the same year as Vespasian. She started school the same year you helped bring You-Know-Who down. She was determined to do the same as you did, prove that Muggle-borns are just as good as Pure-bloods. She struggled a little bit, but for the most part she was a good student and got decent marks."
"Were she and Vespasian friends?"
"They started seeing each other the last couple months before graduation. Before that he had been seeing a girl from Denian, Ilse Atlantes. They were not a good match, but his family and her family had been hoping for a wedding between their two families for a long time, and they pushed Vespasian and Ilse together, and he went along with it to please his family for about two years. There were whispers of an arranged marriage, but they're illegal, and if there was some kind of arrangement it was well hidden."
"Do you know what happened to Meghan?"
"She seems to have disappeared as well. I haven't heard about her, either."
"Thank you very much. I'll let you know how things work out."
"Please do."
Hermione pulled herself out of the fireplace, and brushed herself off as she ran up to Spencer.
"She doesn't know where Vespasian is, but he wasn't a squib. He was a black sheep of his family, and the last the Headmistress knew he was in a relationship with Meghan Lentz."
"So, if whoever is going after them, they've got two more letters before they finish her name- T and Z."
"I think it might be his family," she said, looking at the list. "He turned his back on them to see a Muggle-born girl, Meghan. They may be trying to send him a message."
"If they are sending him a message, he has until they're done with the next two victims to get it, because they'll be coming after him after that."
"That doesn't give us a whole lot of time. They're averaging one a night now."
"Have we considered that Vespasian doesn't have views that differ too much from his family's?"
"What do you mean?"
"Perhaps this is a love note. This Meghan girl might be proving her superiority over Muggles by killing them for him."
"Either way, we need to find Vespasian and Meghan."
"Agreed. How do you think we should do that?"
"We're going to have to approach the Enfluant family. And I'm not going to just go with you and I. I've got two pure-blooded Aurors on my team, I want to fetch them to come with us."
"Speaking of teams, Rossi confronted me this morning. He said he's going to put out a warrant for you in the morning if you don't come and share your evidence with the team by then."
"I knew your disappearances wouldn't go completely unnoticed," she muttered. "And I guess it's perhaps time to let your team in on things. I'll take you back to Police Headquarters, then I'll go brief my Aurors and get them set on what I want them to do while I'm gone, and after I come back we can present the case to your team together before leaving. That way they can go out and case some bars if we're not back in time tonight."
"That sounds like a good plan," he nodded. They quickly gathered their things. It was four-thirty in the afternoon when she dropped him outside the police station, she told him to meet her back outside at five-thirty. Nervously he made his way inside to his team's work room.
"Spencer?" Hotch said as he entered. Hotchner and Rossi were the only ones in the room. "Is everything okay?"
"Yes, but I have to admit something to you," he said, looking grim.
"What is it?"
"First, call everyone else back. We're going to have a meeting at five-thirty with some very important people."
Hotch agreed, and made a few phone calls. When he was done Spencer shut the door and sat at the table. "Rossi already knows this, but the girl I met when I was out to dinner the other night isn't a business woman. She is an independent profiler, like I told David, but not in the capacity you might think."
"What capacity is it? Is she some kind of psychic?" Rossi asked, sounding skeptical.
"You won't believe this, but she's a witch. The person doing all these killings is a witch or wizard. That's why we can't figure out how they died. They were hit with a spell that killed them instantly without any outside evidence."
Both Hotchner and Rossi were looking at him like he finally cracked, or perhaps he was finally showing signs that his mother's disease had, in fact, been passed down to him.
"Reid, maybe you need a break," Hotchner said slowly.
"It's true!" Spencer shouted, banging his file of evidence on the table. "You know that we went through every damn inch of those crime scenes three times over. I went with Hermione, and she discovered this," he said, pulling the photos of the crest out of the file.
"These pictures are moving!" Rossi yelped in surprise as a hand with a ruler appeared in the photo he was holding, showing how big the crest was, then disappearing back out of the frame. The photo Hotchner was holding showed a blank headboard, then Hermione waving her wand at it, and the crest suddenly appearing.
"We visited several crime scenes, and the mark was at each one of them. Earlier today we tracked down the crest of a wizarding school in New York. I know this is a lot, and Hermione will explain it better when she gets here, but this is a better lead than we ever could have gotten on our own. We need to trust her."
Rossi and Hotchner exchanged glances. "This is completely unbelievable and completely inadmissible in court," Hotch muttered.
"If we catch them the wizards and witches are going to take care of the punishment. They can prove what happened, and they have their own prison they'll take the unsub to," he finished with a shudder.
"What's wrong?"
"She told me about the prison. Hell on Earth is an accurate description."
The door suddenly swung open. JJ came in, followed by Emily and Derek.
"I'm glad to see you're still with us," Emily said, squeezing Spencer's shoulder.
"That was a whole lot of nothing," Derek grumbled, throwing his keys on the table. "We're still spinning tires. The tread is almost gone, man."
"Spencer has a major break," Hotch announced.
"Really? Let's hear it, Reid."
"I'm meeting her in five minutes," Spencer muttered. "I have to go wait for her outside."
The group exchanged glances, but Spencer got up and left. When he got out the door he saw Hermione standing to one side of the doors, flanked by two large and menacing looking men and one woman.
"Spencer, this is Evander, Marius, and Alyssia. Evander and Marius are going to go with us tonight, Alyssia's my second-in-command and will lead my team in our stakeouts tonight," Hermione wasted no time making introductions. "I've already briefed my team, so they're ready to go, and they're bringing in more Aurors from nearby Ministries. Still, have you seen how many bars there are that start with 'T' in the hunting area the unsub has? We're not going to have enough."
"They're waiting for us inside," he muttered, and he grabbed her hand without thinking, feeling the calm being close to her brought. She didn't pull away as they walked through Police Headquarters to the workroom. As they entered he noticed her lips moving.
"Praying?" he muttered.
"Silencing charm," she replied.
They entered the room, and the team, who had been giving quick reports. They fell silent as Spencer and Hermione entered the room followed by the Aurors, who shut the door behind them.
"Reid, I'm happy that you've got yourself a girlfriend, but is it worth the big production?" Derek asked.
"That's not it," Spencer said.
"May we shut the blinds?" Hermione asked, and Emily, who was closest to the windows, complied. "I'd like to introduce myself. My name is Hermione Granger, and I am the Head Auror in charge of this investigation."
"Auror?" JJ asked, looking around, trying to see if she was the only one confused.
"Magical Law Enforcement," she explained.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Derek chuckled. "Magic?"
Hermione answered by pulling her wand and waving it at Spencer's file of evidence, and pictures and bits of paper flew out of the folder and arranged themselves on the blank board. In unison the BAU team, except for Spencer, sank onto the chairs nearest to them. For an hour Hermione and Spencer carefully explained how they met, and the work they had done together. They explained about the crest, and what they thought it meant. They told the team that they were going out that night to confront Vespasian's family and try to find their possible unsub. They had to explain everything two or three times, as it seemed like the shock of finding out that wizards and witches existed was too much for the team, and they were moving in and out of paying attention.
"What do you need from us?" Hotch asked when they were finished.
"I know you are all very skilled, but you have no chance of taking down this unsub by yourself," Hermione replied. "But that doesn't mean you can't help us out. We're going to have to spread ourselves very thin, there are a lot of bars out there that start with the letter 'T'."
"We should focus on the bars where the name starts with 'T' and not 'The'. If they are so obsessed with purity something small like that would bug them," Spencer threw in. "Using 'The' as a 'T' is not the purest form, and I'd be willing to bet that the unsub has a small obsession with purity of everything, since they seem to be so obsessed about blood purity. What you're going to be looking for is someone, and we have a feeling that it's a woman based on their preference for picking up men, who shows up at the bar without any form of transportation. Whoever it is will be alone, and they'll be scouting the bar, looking for a man as their next victim. Keep an eye on single men, or small groups of only men. When you go out make sure you're in a group of mixed men and women, those aren't targeted. Go to the bathroom in pairs and if you see someone suspect do not engage them."
"Pay attention to if they leave with someone acting suspicious," Hermione continued. "Such as following them without physical contact, a glassy or distant look in their eyes, or too much physical contact on his part. Whoever is leading these men is probably putting them under a spell or using a potion to make them come against their better judgment or without any fight."
"Do we have any idea what we're looking for when it comes to the unsub?" JJ asked.
"No," Hermione shook her head. "It might not be what they actually look like. Wizards and witches have many ways of changing their appearance using spells and potions. Evander here doesn't even need that," she said, nodding towards the Auror behind her, who illustrated her point by shifting his appearance to look like Hermione's double, then shifting back.
"Hermione and I differ on this," Spencer announced. "Hermione thinks that the unsub will change their appearance at each crime scene to avoid detection. I feel that the unsubis confident enough in their abilities to outwit the 'stupid Mugles' in the bar that they don't need to change. There are families out there that treat killing Muggles as almost a sport, and not a very challenging one at that, and based on that I doubt they'd bother with a disguise."
"We had an epidemic of it over in the UK ten years ago, if you remember the headlines," Hermione threw in. "Luckily we're pretty sure that this is one person, two at most and not the start of an army, but if they keep going they'll gain their supporters and we could have open season on Muggles before long. We need to get this stopped now. Alyssia here will assign you to an Auror, and you are to stay by their side all night while we search for this unsub. If they see something they've been given the order to engage as soon as the there is minimal risk to Muggles."
"Minimal risk?" Hotch asked.
"Unfortunately the American Minister of Magic feels that if there is a casualty or two that it's for the greater good," she muttered. Spencer looked down at her in surprise. "I just got the news," she explained. "He'd rather do Obliviations and cover up a few Muggle dead and get this person caught than wait until we can get them in a private place. If the unsub fights, this could mean a couple Muggles dead, if we're lucky. Harry and some more Aurors from the UK are volunteering their time, and they're on their way, and they're bringing a couple Dementors, creatures that feed on hope and happiness, and leave everyone around them in despair. Whoever this is, they're in for a very public Kiss. Things haven't been like this since Voldemort. This is the type of thing that's typically only allowed during times of war. Things are going to get really bad in this city if we don't catch this unsub in the next couple days."
"Which means we really need to get this figured out yesterday, right?" Derek said.
"Yes, so we're going to get going. Listen to Alyssia, and follow what she tells you," Spencer said. "We'll meet again tomorrow to discuss what we find out tonight."
"Be safe," Hermione said with a nod. "Take care of them," she muttered to Alyssia.
"I will," Alyssia nodded.
"One more thing," Hermione said, and before anyone could react all four Aurors waved their wands, Hermione twice. Every member of the BAU team except Spencer clutched their throats as their tongues folded back on themselves suddenly, but a second later they were all breathing normally, but looking terrified.
"Sorry to spring it on you," Hermione apologized. "Tongue-tying curse. If you try to talk about Magic to anyone else besides the Aurors you'll find yourself unable to. It's just a precaution to save my arse," she explained before she tugged Spencer from the room.
