The Mysterious Department

Arc Two: The Mystery Continues

Chapter Eight: Murder Most Foul

True to her word, Bellatrix gave no respite to her opponents. She made short work of the first, second, and third one, now on her way to her fourth opponent. And it was jaw dropping how good she was at this. While fighting Bellatrix herself, Hermione hadn't been able to truly admire the finesse Bellatrix worked with. But she had style and flair. Her arms spun in intricate movements. Her hair whirled around her. Her wand arched and stabbed through the air as her body moved like a dancer's across the field.

Spells were fired off one after the other and she didn't even look tired out by it. Instead, she wore a maddening grin on her face to taunt her enemies, like this was all too easy. And it was, for her. And her spells were magnificent too. All colorful bursts that entertained with snakes and images of ghosts and dragons.

Hermione wanted to be like her. Dora could see the admiration on her face, though she did not fully support it. "Auntie went through a great deal of hardship to fight like she does. I would not wish you to have to struggle the same way."

Hermione wanted to ask exactly what was in Bellatrix's past that she did not know about when a shadow cast across her face.

An owl fluttered over head and dropped a note into Hermione's lap before flying away with a hoot.

"It must be from Luna. Only our department uses such owls to deliver notes," Dora explained as Hermione unrolled the sheet.

Come meet me by the front gate it said in barely legible scrawl.

"Meet who?" Hermione questioned but Dora was already moving in the direction, and Hermione followed after her, nearly stumbling twice in heels.

They got there and found Luna standing right outside. Even though the gate was open, she could not get through.

"Luna, what are you doing here?" Hermione asked.

"I came here to bring you some horrid news," she started with, face pale with the weight of it, or perhaps that was just her usual pallor. "There's an artifact inside this mansion as we speak. And it's active."

"What kind of artifact?" Dora asked; she and Hermione sported looks of concern. How was it possible for an artifact to be here? Had someone snuck one in?

"A blood one."

"Always the worst kind," Dora proclaimed gravely. She turned to Hermione in explanation before the woman could open her mouth to ask. "Blood magic is a gruesome and most dangerous thing to do. Honestly, I'm not surprised a pureblood has access to it. They always tend to dabble in the worst things because they think their blood status makes them invincible."

"Do we know who has it?" Hermione asked Luna.

"Use the locator spell. It will tell you who."

"And what is it?" Dora tacked on.

"It is a pin. Small and gold in color."

That could easily blend in. It would be hard to find it.

"And what does it do?"

"It kills. And it must be stopped before it does so at this party. Because once one is killed, than more and more are killed. But all will be fine as long as it doesn't get a taste of blood. Without blood, it cannot be activated and is harmless." Luna shrugged, so casual for something so serious. "I wish I could tell you more, but this artifact is one of the uncatalogued ones. We get those from time to time and all I can tell you is what it is and how it is triggered. Beside that, you are on your own."

That did not sound promising.

"Come help us look," Hermione offered but Luna was already shaking her head.

"I cannot pass this gate, unfortunately."

"Why not? Is there a ward on it?" Hermione asked.

"No. A special spell that only invited guests can enter. I am not one of those."

"We can get Bellatrix to invite you then-"

"By the time it takes her to invite me in, the artifact might be gone. You need to get her and tell her that everyone here is in danger."

"Okay. Thank you Luna," Dora nodded her head briskly and was tugging on Hermione's hand to drag her inside.

"We should secure the artifact first," Hermione proclaimed. "If it's as dangerous as it sounds. Once we have it, we can get Bellatrix to look at it."

"Right," Dora agreed.

Using the locator spell like she'd seen Bellatrix do, Hermione shouted out, "locator artificium." A long thin line spread from her wand, winding it's way through corridors and the grand ballroom where a couple of people were milling around the dining table.

Hermione and Dora rushed after it, their heels clacking angrily on the floor. Following the trail that no one else could see, did not take long as it lead to a room, the door ajar. Hermione pushed it open with the tip of her wand.

Her face blanched as did Dora's hair.

"Looks like we found who had it," she said in a dry whisper. "Wait here. I'll go get Auntie." And she bolted out.

Hermione was left looking at a dead man on the floor. Blood pooled around his body in a bright pond. Had the artifact killed him? And did he still have the artifact with him? She leaned down to pat him over, her hands only coming away sticky as she did so. A lot of blood was coming from his palm, which was odd. It was almost like he had bled to death through it, which shouldn't be possible. She touched his hand and turned it to see a small dot on it. A hole that stabbing someone with a pin would make.

This couldn't be good. The pin had tasted blood. Now it's powers could be activated and everyone could be at risk now.

She cast the locator spell again, but this time, it no longer pointed to him. Huh. Someone must have taken it then after killing him. Or maybe he hadn't been the one to have it originally but had simply been the victim needed to start the artifact's magic.

She stood up over his body when a scream made her jump up. She turned around to see Narcissa behind her, standing with three men.

"You killed a man! You dirty mudblood!"

"No I didn't!" blurted out of her mouth but it did nothing to help. One of the men raised his wands and sent a spell right at Hermione.

"Protego!" she erected a shield just in time as Narcissa continued to shout.

"Murderer! Murderer in the house!" This was drawing unneeded attention and Hermione felt swamped as the other two men pulled out their own wands and began to advance on her. She held her shield up, retreating into the room so that with the doorway in the way, no one could sneak up behind her. The only way to her would be through her.

"I found the body. I swear I did!" she explained.

"Liar!" hissed out one man. And then the floor exploded under her as he threw a spell there. She was flung off her feet and onto the body of the dead man. Before she could get up, a stupefy hit her right in the face. She slumped back down on the cold body with a low groan as black swam in her vision.

When she came to, she was sitting propped up at a chair, bound by magic chains. She felt disoriented and dizzy. Her mouth tasted like cotton balls and there was dried blood on her dress. A whole crowd was surrounding her, chattering angrily, staring at her like she was some sort of animal.

"Move out of the way," came a gruff voice she recognized.

Bellatrix cut through the crowd, Dora behind her. When Dora saw Hermione, she gasped and rushed right to her side. "What happened?" she asked.

"I got knocked out," Hermione said flatly, her face feeling heavy as she spoke.

"What the bloody hell is going on here?" Bellatrix demanded, standing in front of Hermione as if to protect her, and glaring angrily at the crowd.

"She did it!" Narcissa shrilled. "She's a mudblood and she killed Lord Silver!" She pointed an accusing finger at Hermione who blanched with panic as angry eyes turned to her.

Bellatrix snorted at this. "Don't be absurd. She did no such thing."

"I saw her, standing over him, hands dripping in his blood!" Narcissa powered on.

Bellatrix rolled her eyes. "She's a stupid mudblood for Merlin's sake. She only knows two spells and she can barely manage those. I doubt she could kill him with magic."

"Then check her wand. The spell should be there. Proof!" hollered another man.

"Very well, if only you idiots will shut up," Bellatrix growled out, snatching the wand from one of the man's hands. They had been holding onto it.

Bellatrix took out her wand and cast a spell on it. Hermione's wand shone blue before losing the color. "See, nothing," Bellatrix said. "She is innocent."

"Then she could have killed him through muggle means! They're all savages!" shouted out another and this brought up more shouting.

Bellatrix used her wand to cast "Silencio," which took away all their voices. "If you would calm down, you would let me explain that I shall handle things. For safety purposes, everyone allow Ginger to lead you to studies or bedrooms in which you shall make yourselves comfortable so that I may find the culprit unimpeded and deal with the body. Unless you all want me to call the aurors to make things work."

Clearly they did not want authorities getting involved so they nodded their heads though they did not look happy. She returned their voices and they went on their way, grumbling angrily and speculating on why Hermione killed him. Narcissa and Lucius stubbornly remained.

"I cannot fathom how you do not just lock her up. She's clearly the culprit," the thin blonde man sneered.

"Just because she was found at the scene of the crime does not mean she did it. Surely you know that from experience, Lucius," she turned steely black eyes on him. "Oh, no, my mistake. You always were guilty when found at the scene of the crime."

He glowered at her, not saying anything for she was right, and sniffed angrily, turning up his nose as he and his wife finally left.

Only then, with the room empty, could Dora undo Hermione's ties. The brunette rubbed her sore wrists.

"Dora tells me there is an artifact here. A blood one," Bellatrix started, twirling her wand between her fingers, itching to be used.

"Yes, and it's already tasted blood." Hermione's face was grim as she reported this. Bellatrix gave her back her wand and Hermione held it tightly, glad to have it back.

Bellatrix's eyes closed here, as if to say she was tired of this shit. "Did Luna specify which one it was?"

"She said it was a small pin. And it uses blood to work. But other than that she doesn't know much because she's never seen it before."

"Just our bloody luck," Bellatrix muttered out. "Let's go examine the body and then we need to split up before the killer strikes again." They left to go to the room where the body had been, only upon arriving there, they found it gone.

"Did Ginger clean it up?" Dora asked.

"No, she wouldn't deal with the mess until I've examined it, because she knows it's evidence," Bellatrix shook her head. She turned to Hermione. "Are you sure Lord Silver was dead?"

Hermione let out an affronted huff. "Of course. His pulse was gone and he wasn't breathing."

Bellatrix rubbed her chin. "It could have been a stasis magic- one that holds the body in a frozen state before reviving them. Maybe that's what the pin does?" she thought to herself.

"But then why would he bleed this much?" Hermione pointed to the giant pool of blood on the carpet. It was a whole body's worth she'd wager.

"Something about this pin isn't making much sense." Bellatrix pulled out her wand. "Keep your magic handy. I think something foul is afoot. Dora, go with Hermione. She'll need some protection."

"I can handle myself!" she decried only for Bellatrix to cut her a cutting look. "You could barely defend against a stupefy. You need help."

Hermione fumed but let it go because her partner was right. "And what will you do?"

"I'm going to hunt the artifact down. Dora and you will try to find the body- the killer could've hidden it- and look at the guest list. Dora knows most of the people there and she will find which suspect has motive."

"Got it," Dora nodded her head. "Let's go." And she tugged Hermione away while Bellatrix took some time to examine the blood more.

The hallways were empty, but filled with muffled voices from closed rooms. It seemed all the guests had locked up for now. Who ever had been the killer, it would be hard for them to kill again. Unless they were in one of these rooms.

They kept an eye on a missing body but couldn't find one. If he had been picked up or dragged away then there would be bloody prints. But there hadn't even been any footprints to indicate that someone had been there. If the body had been moved it must be with magic. Hermione missed the good old way of solving crime, without annoying magic to complicate things.

They even summoned and asked Ginger to look for the body but she reported back in ten minutes with a resounding no. Her magic tracing for human bodies did not find anything outside of the rooms, except for the three of them. Wherever the body had gone, it had been hidden well. And it most certainly wasn't alive.

Dora ran through the guest list, which consisted of four hundred people. Hermione sat in boredom, spinning her wand on the tip of her finger. She would much rather be out on the field, but Bellatrix still didn't trust her to handle this work. After the support Bellatrix gave her in standing up for her, this hurt. They had slid back in their progress. She needed to take initiative and show the raven haired witch she could do things right.

"I have a better idea," Hermione announced. "Why don't we question the guests? Get a feel for the crowd before we go after the suspects?"

"I don't think that's a good idea, given your blood status. They won't answer. Certainly not to you."

Hermione slumped into her chair, defeated. Dora continued to scan the list before she got to the end. "Alright, I think I have a few people in mind who could have done this."

"And what did you base your hunch on?"

"On people with shady pasts. Those who have grudges against Lord Silver's family. There's fifty people so far. I'm going to go question them all. You stay put outside the rooms while I do this."

"And of course, I get to do nothing. You don't trust me to do anything?" Hermione asked, her ire at Bellatrix spilling out unwillingly at her friend. Dora shook her head. "I already told you, they won't answer to a muggleborn."

Hermione sighed out in malcontent but decided to let it go for now.

They asked Ginger to tell them which rooms the suspects were in and the house elf did so very helpfully, before it left them to take care of house things. "Ginger need to clean that blood up before it stains ever further," she explained before teleporting away.

When they arrived at the first room, Dora was let in and Hermione waited outside, annoyed. Why did bloody wizards have to care so much if she was muggle born or not? It didn't make her less of a human. As she stood there, like a delinquent against the wall that did nothing but brood and loiter after school hours, she saw the thin line of the locator spell glowing over her head and to a door two doors down.

Bellatrix must have cast it in hopes of following it. Had Bellatrix checked this room yet? Or had she not seen it? Curiosity and a need to prove her worth, propelled Hermione forwards. She knocked on the door and when no one opened it, she pushed it open, finding it unlocked and with all the spells warding it, gone. Which meant whoever had killed them, must have been a friend for them to let them in. Or, someone with enough magical prowess to easily deconstruct these wards and protective spells. And on the floor, three dead bodies, all lying in pools of blood. She bet if she looked down, she'd find pin sized holes on their palms.

"You really must stop finding these bodies before I do," a low voice murmured behind her and she jumped, finding an annoyed looking Bellatrix there. "Or else people really will not believe that you didn't do it. Did I not tell you to help Dora?"

"She's busy interrogating suspects. And I certainly did not do this. I just got here. I saw your spell and followed inside. I thought you were supposed to be finding the suspect? How is it that three more are dead?" Hermione stemmed her hands on her hips, which only angered Bellatrix.

"Do not take that tone with me. Clearly, whoever is doing this, is not human. Nor on the guest list."

"Then why send me and Dora t- are you bloody serious? Sending me away again so I won't get in your way!" Hermione cried in exasperation as it sunk in. Bellatrix had done the same thing last time. Mislead Hermione into doing something else.

"I don't want Dora coming to harm and I don't want you impeding the investigation," said with recourse.

"So you let us scour the guest list for no reason if you already knew from the start it wasn't a guest here? Do you know how excited Dora was to help, only to have that taken from her?"

Bellatrix snorted. "Do not try to guilt trip me. I don't care."

"Then I don't care for you and your stupid rules. I'm going to investigate on my own!"

"Please do. That way when you get killed, it won't be on me," she shrugged, uncaring.

This enraged Hermione further. "Why are you so callous? How am I supposed to work with you?"

"You're not. You're just a replacement until I get my real partner back."

"You're crazy if you think he's coming back to life."

"You muggles think death is certain. How amusing," she chuckled and then bent down to examine the bodies, dismissing the brunette detective. Hermione childishly stomped her foot. "Fine, be that way." And then she stormed off, slamming the door behind her. Dora had just finished inside the room and she saw her friend's distraught face. "What's wrong."

Bellatrix is what's wrong, Hermione wanted to say. But she did not. "Bellatrix found more dead bodies. But no one in the room killed them, which means the killer is outside the halls, or someone they know. Though Bellatrix thinks it's not human."

"Not human? What non human thing could be killing them?" Dora was confused.

Hermione shook her head. "I don't know."

"Well, either way we need to hurry. I don't want more people to get hurt." She shook her head. "Though no doubt Bellatrix is delighted by this. Now her party's got a bad reputation and she won't have to host one for ages."

That made Hermione startle with an idea. "You think Bellatrix did this?"

"What, ruin her own party?" Dora looked appalled by that idea. "If she wanted to do it, she'd do it outright, not with such back handed measures."

Hermione wasn't sure. But she'd take Dora's word for it.

They hurried down the darkened halls towards their next lead- which Hermione didn't have the heart to tell Dora the truth about- when they saw a person standing at the end, moaning and sort of just bumping their head into the wall. Their skin was grey and they wore blood spattered clothing.

"Who is that?" Hermione demanded, narrowing her eyes at it. Her wand eased into her hand, though she itched to pull out her gun. Sadly, it wasn't allowed at wizarding events.

"It's Lord Silver," Dora said in a sort of 'huh'.

"He's not dead?" But he had bleed out so much.

"Lord Silver. Lord Silver!" Dora called out and he raised his head in confusion. His eyes were blank and unfocused and his jaw hung slack as he stumbled towards them. Some realization hit Dora. She slapped her hand to her forehead.

"Of course Ginger's locating spell didn't work. It's an Inferi!"

"A what now?"

"A shambling corpse brought back to life by magic."

"A zombie, you mean." Hermione clarified before it hit her. "Oh shite, a zombie!"

"Man, this is exciting!" Dora gushed in a whisper as the zombie stumbled, confused, towards them. "I've always wanted some action for my job and I'm finally getting it!"

"This isn't a good thing," Hermione whispered back. "Have you not seen a zombie movie? They always end in disaster!" Then it hit her again, Dora wasn't muggle. "Of course you haven't seen one."

"We need to take it down." Dora raised her wand and hit it square in the face with a stupefy spell. Nothing happened, except for making it angrier. "Huh, that's not good." She looked at her wand as if it had malfunctioned. Hermione had watched enough movies to know a good shot to the head was the only way to do them in.

"I think we should run. Now," she managed out as it lunged towards them, howling. She and Dora tore down the hallway, their hair sweeping behind them. "I don't suppose wands can do gun spells? Like you know, shoot bullets and stuff?"

"No, I don't think so," Dora said as they raced into the grand ballroom. Then that meant they would have to take care of it in another way. Such as trapping it. Her mind raced as she circled in the middle of the room, looking for something, anything. Her eyes landed on some chairs and tables. With her wand she sent them flying at the Inferi. They sent him crumpling to his back with a might roar. She kept piling them on and on to him, leaving him trapped under dead weight. He would be steadied for now.

"Quick thinking," Dora breathed out relieved just as the high windows smashed to their right and Bellatrix came flying through them in a shower of glass. She rolled onto the floor, ending up on her front, rising to her knees as soon as she could. There was a cut on her cheek and she spat out blood onto the floor. What the hell had happened?

"The house elf is doing this!" she cried out, raising her wand and blocking a blast of malignant energy that came swarming at the three of them. It collided against her shield with a tremendous crash, causing a ferocious wind to rattle the room and blast some tables away, namely the ones off of Lord Silver. No one noticed him rising, snarling with vengeance and hunger.

"The house elf? Ginger?" Hermione cried out, unable to hear well over the ringing of her ears.

Bellatrix rose to her feet, a look of derision on her face. "No, the other one."

As Bellatrix spoke she dropped the shield and without looking, magicked Lord Silver so that he was somehow hanging upside down in midair, unable to do anything. "We need to find him."

"Why would the elf do this?" Hermione asked. She saw the image of Pepper, the rich pureblood's house elf, looking so nice. Nothing to tip off why he was doing this. He had even mingled around the party, performing little magic tricks for the guests on his master's orders.

"Probably because his master ordered him to," Dora supplied. "And it explains why the killer has been able to get in and out of rooms. Why the artifact has moved around so quickly."

"And where is he? Where is Pepper's owner?" Hermione asked.

"Dead. I found another room of dead guests," Bellatrix barked back, tentatively approaching the window and peering out to see if the coast was clear.

"I-I don't understand- then why-?" Hermione was at a loss. A lot of things weren't making sense right now.

"We don't need to understand for now. We need to stop this." And then Bellatrix dropped back out the window, landing down in a patch of brush.

"What do we do?" Hermione asked, turning to Dora. "We should get the guests out of here!" This was going to turn into a mass murder scene.

"They can't leave. If they do, then they're in more danger because they could get caught in the cross hairs. They need to stay in their rooms for now. And we need to find the Inferi and round them up before they get loose and out of control. Bella will take care of the elf."

"Great. Zombie hunting," Hermione said flatly. She really wished she had her gun now.

A/N: The department vs Zombies. Whose going to win?