12 Grimmauld Place, London, England

Harry Potter tossed and turned in his sleep. Flashes of green light and grey eyes filled his dreams. Tonight, his nightmares were more disjointed than unusual. He kept seeing the dark mark on Wormtail's arm. He watched it turn from red to deep black. He couldn't make any sense of any of it. Again and again, the dark mark. A loud noise then joined the dark mark. It sounded almost like an alarm.

Harry shot up. It was an alarm. He looked around his bedroom. It was still dark. He looked over to his watch. It was a little past 3 am. Why would his alarm go off so early? He looked for the source of the noise. It wasn't his alarm clock. He stumbled around his room until he found his Auror uniform. The noise was coming from his coat pocket. He pulled his cell phone out. It read 4 Wilkes Street, Spitalfields. Now- Grey. Harry could hear her anger through the phone. He sighed and changed into his auror uniform. He walked out of his room. Neville and Ron were walking down the stairs. Both Ron and Harry were too tired to trade insults.

They left number 12 and apperated to Spitalfields. They saw the police cars everywhere. Some reporters were even standing around. Harry couldn't believe that they were even awake. Neville yawned. Harry and Ron quickly followed. They flashed their id badges at the muggle police who nodded and let them in. They followed the police tape up to the second floor. They walked to the correct room. There was no doubt that that was the room. All of the neighbors were standing around curiously. They saw Grey walk up the other staircase with Jones.

"Are you guys missing anyone before we go in?" Asked Jones

"Yeah, Zaima" Nevile said

"I'm here, sooorry" she yawned in the middle of the phrase.

"I get that it's early but focus." Grey snapped. Grey seemed even more snappy than usual. They walked through the apartment to where one of the crime scene investigators stood.

"Marina Knight, age 19. She was found at 2:31 am December 3rd. She was believed to be killed between 11 pm and 12 am" he briefed. Grey sighed and led them in. Harry followed behind. He didn't realize Grey had stopped until he walked into her. He looked at her, confused. She was staring at something. He looked up at it. His blood ran cold.

"Bloody hell" he heard Ron say behind him

"What the hell?" Jones said

"Fuck" he heard Grey say. He wasn't able to process any of it. A blood red skull was painted on the wall. A black and red serpent was protruding from its mouth like a tongue. It almost looked like the entire thing was in the middle of turning black. The dark mark. Harry felt the blood leave his face. His head was spinning.

"What is that thing?" Jones demanded from Miller

"We don't know. We think the killer painted it before he left. We know the red is blood and the black is ink. We don't know why he switched colors or why he painted it. We don't even know what it is" Miller sighed

"So we have no leads from it," Jones asked.

"It's a cult symbol, we've seen it before" Grey growled

"Is it bad?" Miller asked

"That's for us to know" Grey said

"Maybe if you filled us in," Jones began. Grey did not let her finish before spinning around to face the rest of the Aurors.

"We're going back to the station to regroup. Zaima, make sure Lyra is up and ready."

"Wait-" Grey turned to leave. Zaima quickly followed. Neville looked back before following. Harry was still transfixed by the mark. He turned and noticed that everyone else except Ron had left. Harry glared at him. Ron was glaring back but there was something else in his eyes. Harry's sleep deprived brain was too exhausted and panicked to work out what it was. Ron looked like he was about to say something but Harry just turned and left in the same direction as Grey. He walked out, away from the cameras and police cars. He watched Ron apparate away. His heart was racing and he couldn't breathe. He leaned against a wall for support. He felt himself sink to the ground, tears streaming down his face.

White Chapel District police station, London, England

Neville Longbottom sat at the table, his hands still shaking. He tried desperately to hide them under the table. Ron still hadn't insulted Harry and was looking almost worriedly at him. Harry looked like his mind was on another planet. His eyes seemed to be staring at nothing and his hands were playing with his pocket watch. At some points, his eyes would dart to the doors, then the windows and then around the room. he He hadn't insulted Ron either. Grey was standing at the front of the room. Her eyes almost looked haunted, like she was watching a memory over and over again. Zaima was observing them all while setting up a call with Lyra.

"Morning Gals, Guys, and Theys." Lyra said chirpily. They all nodded at them

"Right," Grey said "Look, I know this is hard on everyone. First, how are we all doing?" She looked around the room "Harry?"

"Fine, why wouldn't I be?" He stammered. Grey rolled her eyes. Again Ron had that same concerned look in his eyes, even though he tried to hide it.

"Lyra, were you able to find anything relating August Knells to the Death Eaters?" Grey demanded

"Not directly, but I found something interesting. So I did some digging, remember how you brought in Knells and he didn't have an alibi for any of the murders? Well, based off of the decomposition, Grey guessed that they were killed earlier and then the killer used magic to make them look less decomposed. And guess who wouldn't be able to do that because they're not a wizard?"

"Let me guess, Knells?"

"Correct my dear Zaima. So I kept digging and it turns out there was someone who met with three of the girls. All of the girls I was able to find in the muggle system. Get this, he works with Knells and he does have a Death Eater connection"

"Who, Lyra?"

"Ivan Yaxley. His Dad, Corban Yaxley, was head of the department of law enforcement under Thickeness. For those of us who didn't live through the war, in other words Zaima, Thickeness was You Know who's puppet minister from 1997 to 1998. Corban and Ivan both fought in the battle. Corban was arrested but Ivan escaped. He's on the auror's minor threat list"

"How did you find all of that in 5 hours?" Ron looked between Grey and Lyra as he spoke

"Simple, we're vampires. We don't sleep" Lyra said

"But vampires do sleep-" Neville began

"Do we have an address for Ivan?" Grey asked

"I'm afraid we don't" They said "So far I've found nothing"

"Keep looking." Grey commanded.

"Aye, aye ma'am. Lyra signing off for now" The screen turned black

"I need to speak to Jones about finding Yaxley." Grey grumbled before leaving. Not sure of what to do, the other Aurors followed her. As they walked into the main room, people seemed to be running in every direction. Grey stopped, taken aback. She shot Jones a quizzical look before walking over to her.

"What is going on?" Grey demanded

"Knells was spotted going into an abandoned house, with a body sized bag and we are preparing a raid"

"And you didn't tell us first?" Grey snapped

"Considering that you wouldn't tell us what you were planning because it wasn't for us to know, I assumed that it wasn't for you to know what we were planning" Jones jabbed

"Knells isn't our primary suspect anymore. You don't need your raid" Grey sneered back

"Sorry, but that's for me to decide. Feel free to join us" Jones strutted away to talk to several of her people. A look of pure aggravation swept across Grey's face. She gritted her teeth before turning around to face the other Aurors.

"We are going with them. No way that was Knells instead of Yaxley. Neville and Zaima, stick together. Ron, Harry, same goes for you. I need to speak to Jones" Grey strided over, her shoulders slightly shrugged. Neville couldn't hear them but after a few minutes. Grey told them to get in the cars with the muggle police officers.