18/03/17- As I have said before this story is undergoing a beta make over. So, here's the corrected chapter. Free of errors (as much as possible) and plot paradoxes. I am surprised nobody noticed a big plot paradox. Lucky me. Thanks to Scarlet Dewdrops. She's been a great help. Newest chapter would be updated as soon as I finish editing it. Then it'll go through another round of editing. I thank everybody for their patience with this story. Thank you so much for your kind words and favourites and follows. They never fail to bring a smile on my face. Thank you!
My love to Puja, my alpha reader, soul sister and partner in crime as well as plunny cultivator, Shuvam who is the reason behind the existence of this story, WinchesterGranger for all her enthusiasm and love. Thanks everybody!

On with the story!

Present Time

Chapter 1

Harry Potter - the Boy-Who-Lived-Again, Man-Who-Conquered, whatever you called him - was in a hurry. The Patronus he'd been sent by the present Minister of Magic had been quite panicked. Harry was the Head Auror of his department; not to mention the youngest ever Head Auror. There was little that could scare Harry, but a panicked patronus message from the Minister himself rated some nervousness at least. He'd been kept busy lately with a case; some sort of random killings. In the beginning, it was only the rare abnormal muggle deaths which could easily be chalked off as the work of a demented magical person and were treated as separate cases. But then the frequency of such 'abnormal' deaths started growing. First, it was one or two deaths over three months, now it was straight five deaths in a matter of just one month. Whoever it was, he must have gotten bolder because of the lack of Auror action. Harry couldn't let this go on for a moment longer.

This killer, at first, killed muggles but for some reason used extremely painful magical means. Who knew undiluted bubotuber pus poured inside of a person could create such grotesque corpse. That scene gave Harry nightmares for a week straight. The analyst said the victim was alive when the pus was administered to her, burning that poor woman from the inside from her mouth all the way to her stomach. It was a horrific death, and Harry couldn't help the shiver that ran down his spine. He shook his head to clear it of those horrifying thoughts and made his way to the Minister's office. Kingsley, for lack of a better description, looked haggard. He was tired and one could easily see he was having a rough day.

Kingsley sighed in relief seeing him but spoke gravely, "Harry. Thank you for coming here so promptly. I would have called your deputy for this meeting but the matter just got incredibly sensitive."

"It's alright, Minister. So, what is this about?" Harry asked.

"The random killings that are occurring in both the Wizarding and muggle worlds."

Dread filled Harry. He'd just managed to get his mind off the murders, but now the images of the corpses filled his mind again. He'd have nightmares again tonight, no doubt. "Yes. What about them?"

Kingsley ran a hand down his face in exhaustion, "A murder took place yesterday in the courtroom during an ongoing Wizengamot session."

Harry's mouth dropped open in shock, "In the courtroom? How is that even possible?"

"Read the report," With that Kingsley handed Harry a thin file that had various parchments and photos in it.

It detailed the murder of one Ms Burrage. It said Rita's apprentice was at the court session attending the trial of some minor Death Eater. After the session ended when she made a move to out of the visitor's seating area, people around her found her exposed skin had carvings over them. When she started feeling those carvings appear on her person, it was too late. She had lost too much blood. They found she had been carved all over her body with whatever words her mentor's Quick Quill had written throughout that time. The quill's exaggeration of words and events, unfortunately, was her reason for death. Had it not written so many words, she might have lived. But there were just too many carvings, deep carvings that led to profuse blood loss. Before healers could help her, her heart and magical core failed.

"I know she was a horrible person but I wouldn't have wished such a death on anyone."

Kingsley leant in and pointed to a picture, "We found a muggle book with her. The Cat in the Hat by Dr Seuss."

"And why is that strange?"

"Ms Burrage is a pureblood witch who is not…was not...a muggle born sympathiser. So having a muggle book in her bag is strange."

Harry leant back in his chair and said thoughtfully, "Then the murderer is probably a muggle born."

Kingsley, ever the voice of moderation, cautioned, "Or a pureblood trying to mislead us?"

With a shake of his head, Harry replied, "I doubt it. They'd actually have to go into the muggle world and purchase the books, which means they would have to go to Gringotts and be seen changing the currency and somehow manage to not stick out while shopping for them. It's most likely a muggle born or half blood at most. Someone who wouldn't be looked at twice if they were changing Galleons for muggle money. It's curious, though, why would the killer leave the book? If he can be traced using it..."

Kingsley gave him a wry smile and disabused him of that notion, "Trace locating charms were cast on it with no result." He leaned forward and put his chin in his linked hands, "That's not all. A muggle died today due to excess hair growth. Seems a free trial shower gel that he got made all hair it had contact with grow at such a rate and amount that, from what that healer said, his heart gave out after a few feet of growth. Apparently luscious, thick, and strong hair sucks up a good amount of our body's materials and he had practically no nutrients left to keep his body working."

Mouth turned down in horror, Harry managed to get out, "I don't know what to say."

Nodding in understanding, Kingsley went on, "All the cases of this random killer are giving me a headache that I don't need right now, especially with the elections just around the corner. That's why I am giving you carte blanche on this case. Take every justified action required but nab this killer before there is mass hysteria. You know how the Wizarding people are. At the first sign of trouble, they start forgetting that they have magic at their fingertips. If the Prophet gets wind of the books and puts together that this is a serial killer instead of a string of freak accidents, the people will panic."

"I will do everything in my power to solve this case as soon as possible, Minister."

"I trust you will. Bring Miss Granger on board if you need to. Brightest witch of this era, after all." Kingsley said with a chuckle.

Harry nodded and took his leave from the office; the report of today's killings in the file in his hand, ready to be added to the ever-growing stack building up in his office. He definitely needed Mione's help with this. If someone can find a pattern in all this, then it's Mione.

As he walked down the corridor, he waved his wand to send his stag Patronus to Hermione with a message to meet for lunch today. She was awfully busy these days so he hoped she'd have the time to meet. He understood her obsession, her passion for her firm and her work. Sometimes she needed to let down her hair, but his Hermione never knew when to stop. He gave a small laugh. It had been ages since they'd sat down together for a long chat. Last he saw her was at his wedding. After that he'd been away for his sweet honeymoon with Ginny and when he got back the workload was completely backlogged and he just got swept up from one case to another, then with his first child on his way… it was hard to get together when they were both so busy. He looked forward to lunch today, though he wished it was under better circumstances.

Her morning seemed ruined when that stag Patronus came galloping into her office demanding a lunch with its caster. She nodded at it. When it dispersed as she took a breath of relief. That patronus seemed to create a pressure against her magic. Her lips curled in a sneer; had it been up to her, she would have ripped it apart with her bare hands. Her hands bent into claws as she imagined her hands tearing it apart. But alas, it is incorporeal. With that her hands relaxed and she wiped off invisible blood that seemed to have spattered on her during her imagined stag-mauling. She gave a small giggle at that thought. Invisible blood. Like that of a spider's. Her giggle was slowly turning into an uncontrollable laugh.

She had been having the most relaxing and invigorating few months. Getting rid of all her demons was a freeing experience. She really does feel free for the first time in her life. No more childhood bullies taunting her about her 'bushy' hair, no more hate mail for being a mudblood getting seen with famous people, no more horrible reporters making up scandals. All are resting in peace. Her demons laid to rest. At that thought, she was laughing out loud. Her happy laugh reverbing in her office. After some moment, Draco poked his head inside her office. "Someone is happy today," he stated in his signature drawl. "Got laid or something?" He smirked at her.

Smiling brightly at her friend she told him, "Naah. Just thinking how I followed Dr Phil's advice and laid my demons to rest." At that, she pointedly looked at Draco, "Get that? Laying demons of the past to rest?" she looked at him, expecting him to understand.

When he shook his head in negation, she exclaimed in good humour, "Irony, boy! Simple irony." She followed it up by shaking her head as if it was a great tragedy.

Draco smirked even more and said, "I just realised how that stupid hat sorted you to Gryffindor. Had you been a Slytherin… my head feels like bursting with all the could-have-beens."

Hermione gave him a giggle to go with the bright smile. But remembering the silvery intruder her smile faded to a frown.

Draco sighed, "What happened?"

"Harry called me for lunch," she told him evenly.

He asked with his trademark sneer, "So the faithful little thing that you are will come when he calls?"

Hermione shrugged, "No harm in going."

He scoffed, "No harm except to your pride, dignity and self-esteem."

"Yeah. That's true. He's in trouble with those deaths and now he commands his faithful dog to his side for help," she said in a deadpan voice.

Draco's expression was stony until a snicker left his mouth and they were laughing at the joke of her helping solve her own case.

"Oh for Merlin's sake, stop this childishness you two. The employees are getting unnerved by your laughter. Probably think the world is ending, hearing you two happy." Astoria said as she angrily strode into Hermione's office to stand beside Draco, hands on her hips and mimicking Hermione's stern you-didn't-do-your-homework stance from a time long gone.

"Can't laugh, Meow. The dictator's orders." Draco said behind a hand in a stage whisper.

"Pfffft. Dictator shmictator. It's your balls in her hands, not mine." She said snickering at Draco who now had an upturned face. She mimicked his nose-in-the-air aristocratic demeanour and told him snottily, "I don't have balls."

Astoria scoffed and scolded them with a toss of her hair to the side, "What am I going to do with you both? You two are worse than children. At least they listen to authority."

Draco and Hermione exchanged looks and immediately laughing like crazy.

"That's it. You gigglers both need coffee. A tall, strong cup of coffee to jolt your brains into sanity. Come on!"

Barely managing to keep their laughs muffled enough so that they didn't echo down the halls, Draco and Hermione followed Astoria to their cafeteria. After taking their coffees and muffins, Draco slid in beside Astoria to wrap an affectionate arm around her waist while Hermione sat across the table from them.

"How's the wedding preparation going, Ash?" Hermione asked.

"What will be said here right now should never leave this place. Deal?" Astoria demanded.

"Deal." Hermione and Draco said in a union and shook hands with Astoria.

"His mother is a monster-in-law. She dominates every conversation; not even the baker for the cake tasting escaped her ruling. I am telling you Draco, if she chooses some flavour that I hate, I am dumping the whole cake on you! Consider yourself warned. It just… it feels like this wedding is about her, her and her. You and me, we're just the puppets she'll play with for the event." She folded her arms said stubbornly, "I am not replying to any of Narcissa's summons anymore."

"If you want, you can try to unleash your rage on someone not-so-important. Like I've said before, it's quite therapeutic," Hermione suggested.

"Just because I support you doing it doesn't mean I can do it, Meow," Astoria replied.

Hermione shrugged nonchalantly and took a deep sip of her coffee.

Draco changed the topic with a look of pure irritation, drumming his fingers on the table as he took a sip of his coffee, "Oh, the reason I came to your office in the first place. I got an owl from your lawyer today. Care to explain why you wrote your will or whatever that shit was?"

Her finger skimmed the edge of her cup lazily as she replied, "With the Aurors finding out about the muggles too, I thought it best if I prepared for the worst case scenario," Hermione finished with a tilt of her head and a raised shoulder in a careless shrug.

"You cannot be so negative, Hermione. You've taken every precaution." Astoria gasped.

"I am just being practical. Harry is assigned this case, and he's practically ordered me to have lunch, most likely to ask me to assist him." She paused while all the three of them gave a small laugh at the situation then continued, "And even if I do mislead him for a while, he's bound to find a pattern in those killings eventually."

Draco sighed defeatedly and told her, "You could have ruled the world with that brain of yours. But damn, I hate it so much some days."

"What a stunningly delivered backhanded compliment," Hermione replied acerbically.

Astoria spoke sternly, "Look, Meow, I don't care if it's logical or practical. You are going to be my maid of honour and you are going to be the godmother to my future children. Don't fall into their clutches," by the end there was a hint of begging in her voice.

Hermione just shrugged again and told them, "I don't plan to. Though… I'm in the mood for some change."

"What change?" Draco asked suspiciously with raised brow.

Hermione was thoughtfully silent for a moment before she replied, "I don't know just yet."

Astoria was a little bothered by that but shrugged it off and asked, "So today's lunch?"

"Is going to be with Harry James Potter. He needs my help, after all." Hermione told her definitively with a smirk.

Harry was waiting for Hermione in the small bistro that had opened shortly after the war. To be frank, Harry had been waiting for Hermione for a lot longer than usual. The ever-punctual Hermione was almost thirty-five minutes late already. Looking out the window at his table, he finally saw her glide into the bistro.

"Finally… seems like you lost the sense of time. Busy time of the year?" Harry quizzed.

"Quite. Lunch first," Hermione ordered.

After they ordered they filled the silence with inconsequential small talk. Harry could see Hermione was distracted but she answered his queries every time, though a bit shortly. Then Harry turned his curiosity towards her change of Patronus form. It had been a hyena that had come to him with her response instead of her usual playful otter. It had unnerved Harry at first but when he looked up the meaning of having a hyena patronus it became clear to him. Despite the general public's opinion of her, Hermione was the one in charge of anything that she did. The alpha. It was she who led them and it was him who followed and Ron who accompanied him.

Harry broached the topic lightly with a joke, "Mione, your Patronus changed its form. Found someone, eh?"

She hummed dispassionately and corrected him, "More like I found something."

"What would that be?"

"Freedom."

"Freedom?" He always thought his friend was doing what she loved to do the best with her law firm. So why would Hermione talk about freedom? As far as he knew she was not confined.

She ignored his question and asked her own, "What did you call me here for, Harry?"

With a sigh and doing his best to keep the images of the victims out of his mind, he told her, "Okay. I am pretty sure you know about the recent deaths, especially since a few have been reported in the Daily Prophet. I am assigned to that case. And… I need help. I need your help," Harry told her a bit desperately, even if he did try to hide the fact that he was at the end of his rope. Hermione knew him too well for him to try and succeed, though.

Hermione held up a hand to stall any further explanation. "I don't need the whole story, that overview was fine. Serious discussions after lunch. I don't want to upset my appetite," Hermione stated primly.

He blinked a few times. "Oh, sure."

As soon as lunch was finished Harry jumped to the subject and Hermione didn't have to do much convincing to get him to take her to his office where they had dedicated a whole wall to the killings.

"This is definitely muggle inspired," Hermione commented.

"Yeah. It's very efficient." Harry smiled, knowing she'd appreciate any increase of efficiency in the stuffy old Ministry departments.

Hermione simply nodded with a small smile, knowing he was fishing for her approval with that statement. It was surprising though that Aurors had adjusted to a muggle technique. But then again, they might have taken to it just because The-Boy-Who-Lived had introduced it. It was…meticulous. And she said so to Harry, who shuffled his feet and actually seemed a bit shy at the compliment. Looks like the Ron Weasley effect of perpetual laziness and shabbiness had rolled off of him at some point since they'd last met. That made her work easier. Hermione desperately wanted a vacation. As much as she adored her friends, she wanted to become detached from this community. A clean break from the melodrama of Britain's Wizarding world was just what she needed.

"Total of 11 deaths including Skeeter's apprentice that happened yesterday. Some grotesque, some plain, if you can call murder plain, and some really weird," Harry explained.

"Weird how?" Hermione asked detachedly as her eyes flicked from the photos of one victim to another. This was the first time she'd really got to take a look at the end results, after all.

"All these deaths are caused by magical means, but they are not your usual, run of mill means. No AK's, offensive potion or curses or hexes. One man killed due to an overgrowth of teeth inside his mouth. Another man due to overgrowth of hair all over his body. One woman was mauled by a statue that stood guard at a library. All the details of each killing are with the corresponding crime scene photos," Harry informed her, pointing towards the wall.

They spent the majority of their time speculating about the manner in which the deaths took place. Finding the means and weapons of these murders could help them find the killer's motive. Harry had a brain ware on a pattern. He found the killer always left books somewhere at the site of murder. In a bag, on the ground nearby, it wasn't usually hard to find, though in some cases they were so innocuous that you had to know a bit about the person to know it was out of place. Some muggle books, some magical. But that didn't help narrow down the search. 'Except they could hit the bookshops and check if any one person had recently bought all of the books that were found,' thought Harry. He spent the better part of a week going through the records of Flourish and Blotts sales since the killings had started and Hermione absolutely refused to help him check. He always knew Hermione liked books, but for how many times he saw her on the records he guessed that she probably spends half her salary on books! Indulgent bookworm. But other than that… nothing. No one in recent history had bought all of the magical books found at this store, but it was the only one readily available to the local community. He didn't even try to track the muggle books to the bookseller. It'd be impossible. The case had reached a plateau. There was no clue, no progress on the mystery. Even Hermione was at her wit's end. . . .

Harry knew Hermione had become distant from them- Ron and him. But he decided to remedy the situation. He invited Ron to his and Hermione's routine lunch. Sitting there in that bistro, Harry finally got solid proof of Ron's teaspoon range of emotions; he had brought Lavender along with him. Greeting Hermione and him at the table the lovey dovey icky couple sat across them. Hermione merely nodded her head at both of them and gave a look of disappointment at Harry. Her look was so cold yet filled with some lost sorrow. But the look was gone immediately only to be replaced by usual aloofness.

Forgoing all usual niceties, Lavender asked,"Say, Hermione. How does it feel to be working for Malfoy?"

Hermione informed her factually without betraying a hint of emotion, "Correction. We are the owners of the firm. So, we both work together. As equals."

"Yeah. But you are the one who works there right?" Lavender asked again.

Hermione looked over at Harry with a raised brow incredulously before turning back to Lavender and saying slowly, "We both work. I suggest you get your hearing checked at St. Mungo's as you were quite unable to hear what I said."

"Mione, you don't need to snap at her. She's just asking," Ron defended Lavender.

Hermione said icily, "And I am just answering." She turned to Harry and asked with faux boredom, "Hand me the menu card please,"

Harry could feel the palatable tension, so he quickly did as she asked. Lavender was fuming silently at Hermione while Ron rubbed her arms to calm her. But that only aggravated her temper.

Lavender's face heated in embarrassment and her lips curled as she snarled, "You are only burning up inside with jealousy because Won-Won chose me instead of your ugly frizzy beaver mug. And now your snake lover is leaving you for a pureblood girl. Anyone can see why you are so bossy! And ugly! And…" Lavender paused in her rage and took a moment to think of a new insult instead of repeating one again, "And have slurs carved on you! Who can love you? No one!"

"Lavender!" Harry exclaimed in disbelief.

Hermione, the picture of good manners, finished chewing the bite of her starter salad before snapping at the idiot, "Keep your yapping down. I am trying to have my lunch here."

Lavender huffed and drawled, "Yes, of course!" She put her hands on the table and leant forward and said maliciously, "A filthy little mudblood like you can only think about free food. Am I not right, Won-Won?"

Harry was shocked speechless by Lavender's outburst and her shamelessness when she demanded Ron to defend her honour after calling Hermione that word. Ron nodded his head to defend Lavender but as soon as he opened his mouth to say something, he was met with a death glare from Hermione. Something about her expression made Ron go pale, and it made Harry shift uncomfortably in his place. When Lavender reacted angrily her boyfriend's silence, Hermione's glare quelled her too.

As an Auror something about Hermione's fierceness set Harry on the edge. There was something… different behind that glare. It was not Hermione's usual 'you-are-annoying-me-with-your-stupidity' glare. It wasn't even her usual 'you-hurt-my-feelings-so-I'm-going-to-hex-you-with-attacking-birds' glare. Harry had seen malice like that before. But he couldn't, for the life in him, place where. Then the arrival of the entrées distracted him from his line of thought because Hermione took the opportunity to ask for hers to be wrapped up and charmed with a stasis spell to go. When the waiter brought it back, she ignored the couple and wished Harry a good day. Hermione smiled as she walked away. No self-respecting witch would break bread with someone who hated her. Especially since sitting down to a meal with someone implied that no harm would come to them from the other diners.

But that nagging thought would return again to Harry. Much sooner than he would have wanted.

The case was not getting a single breakthrough. And Hermione had deserted him immediately after the disastrous lunch with Ron and…Lavender. She refused to answer any of his mail or patronus calls. The receptionist at her firm, 'Law and Wand', always said she was unavailable and the security never let him in. It had been three days since that lunch and Harry found himself standing in front of the wall of information. The first death was in muggle London. The first victim died in his sleep. But traces of the nightmare curse were found in his house later when Aurors were sent after a request from the Muggle-Wizarding liaison Head. Second muggle victim had inwards-growing wire-like tough hair. He must have died in extreme agony. Then it started becoming more creative. A muggle woman died of dehydration as water evaporated away inside her mouth. She was starved too as the coroner found no trace of food in her. The woman was thirsty and starving and by the statements of her family it seemed she didn't do it willingly. The family members said the food was turning dust in her mouth and the water evaporated away before going down her throat. Doctors were dumbfounded when later they found the saline drip they gave her was having no effect on her and that the nutrient tube could not give her any food. The doctors helplessly watched her die of dehydration. It was such a shocking news that the whole hospital and everyone who came across that patient had to be Oblivated to save them from exhausting their brains searching for an answer to this strange affliction. Then there was the over grown teeth case and hair growth case. The last was the woman who was mauled by an animated statue of a lion that stood outside a public library. Total of six muggle deaths. Total of six accounted for muggle deaths.

Then there were the wizarding deaths. Umbridge was killed, three months back, in St. Mungo's when a bad batch of pain relief potion administered to her made her pain exponentially worse, and the bubotuber case was a dead witch in her 40s- a pureblood. No one from any type of blood was safe, so it wasn't a purity zealot.

Pansy Parkinson was found dead in Hogsmeade from a failed animagus transformation. She was partially pug and partially human. Some internal organs were pug which didn't support her human body, so she died. That would have been classified as a magical accidental death, had a muggle book Great Expectations by C. Dickens not found next to her. That was the one that had tipped Harry off that this serial killer used books as his calling card. No one would dare accuse Pansy of reading as a hobby.

Cormac McLaggen was found dead earlier this month. His was probably -hopefully- a unique death. He was found in a really shady part of Knockturn Alley. The autopsy of his body revealed he died from…too much sex. His heart failed after so much…er…exhaustion. The working theory is that he must have been under the influence of a very strong lust potion and an equally strong invigorating potion. When their effects wore off, he died of heart failure. It was waved off as accidental death at first too, but Harry's team found another muggle book. This time it was Pride and Prejudice inside his bag that Cormac had with him that time.

And Ms Burrage carved up by her own mentor's quill, this week, which served as a more dangerous Blood Quill with a timer. That quill had written about 10,000 words that day. And those words were inflicted on her during that trial she attended at the end of the day. Unlike the first scratch of a Blood Quill, these wounds looked like deep carvings of a dagger. And the massive immediate blood loss in such a short time killed her. Eleven murders with muggle books as calling cards. Harry knew there were books as calling cards at the site of the muggle murders too. But the muggle police had taken those in as evidence.

Something was not matching up with the motive that he was guessing and the person it was pointing to. He knew Hermione could be vicious at times but vicious enough to murder? No, not his Mione. But then again that look she gave today at the bistro was nagging him again. These killings fit Hermione's profile very snugly. She had a bone to pick with Skeeter after Skeeter wrote a scandalous article in the Daily Prophet about Mione after her break up with Ron. Cormac had, kind of, mistreated her. Pansy was always a bitch to Hermione. But he had no clue as to why Hermione would kill, if she did kill, muggles. Harry found no motive there. If Hermione was out there killing people who have insulted her or humiliated her, then Draco Malfoy would be the one to be found dead first. Instead, he was alive and kicking and quite chummy with Hermione, so he discarded Hermione as his suspect. The Death Eaters were all accounted for and thrown into a new and improved Azkaban.

Then who is the killer?

More importantly, who fit the profile?

TBC...