"She's killing more often now."

That works in our favor.

"Is it 'our' now?"

Don't be obnoxious.

Hermione chose not to respond. It had taken long enough for Fawkes to come around to the idea that she could figure something out using logic and determination that he hadn't simply know, as a phoenix. She had a sneaking suspicion that his 'professional' feathers, as they were, had been ruffled.

"You are right about that working in our favor," Hermione said after a few minutes had gone by. She finished her calculation and tapped the parchment with her wand. The matrix formed above the parchment, hovering there and turning very slowly on the vertical axis. They looked it over critically.

Every time Bellatrix killed, Hermione had new data to feed into the matrix. The more data she had, the closer they got to pinning down the spellwork being used. She also had a separate matrix going that was more simple—it was closer to a sort of tracking algorithm. It would be just as useful to figure out if Bellatrix had a predictable hunting ground. Then Hermione would have a direction to run when her hair went black instead of just sitting in her bathroom trying not to puke.

"I was close that time," Hermione told Fawkes upon returning. Her hair was blonde again, though it was hard to tell under all the blood.

What happened? Fawkes flew across the room to her, landing on the back of one of the chairs and looking at her in that birdy way of his.

"I was in the right neighborhood. I used the Dark Detector to get me to the right house."

You look as though things might have derailed after that, Fawkes said. If he had eyebrows, he would have been raising one of them.

Hermione gestured at the parchment with her arithmancy on it, and the matrix updated itself with her new information. Meanwhile, she Summoned the dish towel and wiped at the blood on her hands and face.

All you're doing there is ruining a dish towel, Fawkes said, but she ignored him.

"I walked in just as she finished with the first one. I think it was a man." She shuddered, gesturing at herself and the blood. "I don't know what she had done, but he was puffy and red when I arrived, and then he sort of… popped."

Fawkes let her have a moment.

"Blood went everywhere. I've never seen that much blood." She Vanished the mess off the towel and kept using it to wipe the blood off herself. The logical part of her brain told her to Vanish the blood off herself, too, but she didn't. "There was a kid. She had him Immobilized on the couch. I showed up and she took off. I stayed to help the kid. And there was the mother in the kitchen, all trussed up like she was next. She screamed bloody murder when I walked into the kitchen.

She thought you were Bellatrix.

"I don't blame her. I was covered in blood."

You let her go?

"Yes. I sorted the two of them out and, "she sighed, "I Obliviated them a bit. Took out the bits about magic."

That's good.

"They have enough to sort through without everybody thinking they're crazy because they insist the man was killed by a woman with a magic wand." She sounded bitter even to herself.

You should take a shower.