A/N Warning : BIG ick factor to this chapter!
Anthropomancy is the practice of divination using the entrails of a human sacrifice.
******************************
Armando Dippet threw a handful of powder into the fire before clearly calling out, "Ministry of Magic, Department of Magical Law Enforcement."
When the head appeared in the fire, he stated the facts calmly.
"There has been a murder in the forest near the school. The House of Themis is no more."
*********************************
It was Auror Alastor Moody who was sent to investigate the matter. He was young and rather inexperienced, but perhaps that was the point. After all, it was Artemisia Themis who had been killed. It wasn't as if anyone really wanted the case solved. Even the Minister of Magic joked he wasn't sure if the party responsible deserved a stint in Azkaban or Order of Merlin, First Class.
When Moody arrived, his first question reasonably enough was, "Who found the body?"
He later explained it was because more often than not, the person who yelled 'Fire' was the one who started it.
When Armando Dippet responded, "No one, yet," Alastor Moody's life began to rapidly go downhill.
"If no one found the body, how do you know Artemisia is dead?"
"I Saw her," responded Armando.
"Then you were the one who found the body?" Moody pressed.
"No, I didn't find her. I merely Saw her."
Trying another angle, Moody asked, "Did you kill her?"
Armando sighed. "No, I have not seen Artemisia since that evening we all had dinner together in the Great Hall."
"Until today when you found her body, that it?"
Armando frowned at the young auror. "I didn't find her body. I merely Saw you finding her body."
Moody frowned now as well. "I didn't find her body."
"No, not yet," agreed Armando Dippet. "Venture into the forest now and you will."
***********************************
Not far into the forest, Alastor Moody did indeed find the lifeless body of Artemisia. Normal protocol is to first ensure a person is deceased, but the young auror and the Groundskeeper who accompanied him were too busy retching to check for a pulse. Not that it mattered really. One look at the body left no room for misunderstanding. Artemisia Themis had been cut down the middle and all of her insides were now carefully arranged outside.
**************************************
When Alastor Moody went to inform the bereaved husband, he assumed the man's lack of shock was because, like Dippet, he too had already Seen the news. Since his bonding with Artemisia, Grindelwald had gone from the poorest excuse of a Seer to one of the most accurate and sought after Visionaries of their time. Years later, Moody would learn Grindelwald had indeed seen the events, just not the way Moody had assumed.
Married for only three months, now a widower for life, Grindelwald insisted on hearing all the details. Moody reluctantly supplied them.
"We found her in the forest, cut from stern to stem. Most of her organs were removed from inside her body and arranged around her."
Grindelwald persisted. "Continue."
Moody shrugged uncomfortably.
"The weapon hasn't been recovered yet. There were no footprints near the…scene, a number of hoof marks, but it is a forest after all. We are looking for the centaurs, to ask if they saw anything or anyone. So far we haven't found any of them. You know how they are, never turning up if you want a word."
It wasn't the information Grindelwald was looking for.
"Do not attempt to spare my feelings. Tell me the part you left out."
Moody was genuinely confused. He had told the man everything. He had given him the horrific details about his wife's death. What feelings was he supposed to be protecting? What could be worse than telling the man his wife had died that way?"
"I don't know what you mean."
"Tell me what else you found there. I have…I need to hear it."
When Moody insisted that was all, Grindelwald demanded to return with him to the scene.
*****************************
As he himself was still quite revolted by the sight before him, Moody couldn't understand the man's reaction. Grindelwald practically ignored his wife's face. Instead, he was more concerned with the parts arranged around her.
"No! No! No! Where is it?"
With Artemisia's passing, Grindelwald seemed to have returned to his less than all knowing ways. Grindelwald pointed to an empty spot around the body. He demanded of Moody, "Did you move it?"
That was the first time Moody realized the careful arrangement around Artemisia had a gap.
"No, no one has altered anything. What is missing?"
Not an internist, Moody wasn't completely sure of the identity of each of the organs and couldn't even be sure they were all present. Also not an anthropomanist, or even a Diviner of any sort, he didn't know the significance of the arrangement.
Perhaps if Moody were a more experienced auror or if as was customary in murder cases, a team of aurors had been sent, these things would not have been overlooked for as long as they were.
When Grindelwald didn't speak and simply wandered off into the forest, Alastor Moody took his behavior to be the reaction of a distraught husband at the horrific sight before him.
**********************************************
By the second day of his investigation, Alastor Moody's own shock had worn off and he was beginning to think more clearly, more aurorly. More often than not, in murder cases, it was true the person who found the body was the guilty party. But it was also true that more often than not, it was a family member who was responsible. While the way Artemisia was murdered was absolutely inhuman, was it not the people nearest and dearest to us who could so inspire us to our greatest achievements and lowest degradations?
When on that second day, Grindelwald again returned to wander the forest, Moody's suspicions grew. After all, while it was normal for a grieving husband to go to the scene of his wife's death, was it not also common for a murderer to return to the location of his despicable act?
********************************************
On the third day, Grindelwald again appeared. The only thing besides the complete and absolute lack of evidence that stopped Auror Moody from arresting him on the spot, was Moody's continued inability to locate any of the centaurs. He first wanted to exhaust the possibility that any of the forest dwellers had been witness to what had happened.
*************************************
On the fourth day, Grindelwald did not return.
Moody found out that afternoon that the man had attempted to resign his post at the Ministry of Magic the day before. It was only after much persuading and many concessions that Grindelwald agreed to continue working for the Department of Mysteries. His stipulations included he be allowed to work from his home without Ministry supervision or interruption. After that day, Grindelwald never again left his estate. At least not until, years later when a team of aurors, hit wizards, and a Transfiguration Instructor came to visit him.
Moody would have seen the resignation attempt as an admission of guilt by Grindelwald, were it not for a discussion with a centaur that morning. As soon as Moody had returned to the forest on the fourth day, he found an angry centaur waiting for him.
Artemisia's death suddenly became very clear to the young auror when the centaur began to speak.
"For many years now, we have endured your two-legged kind wandering our forests. It is not enough that despite our hospitality, your people have repeatedly culled our unicorn herds. This time your kind has gone too far. To drink the blood of a unicorn and leave them in the forest to die is worthy of a cursed existence, but to actually remove a unicorn from the forest is beyond recall. Henceforth, this forest is Forbidden to those who walk upon two legs. Until that which has been taken is returned to us, any two-legged creature venturing into this forest will perish by our wrath. Leave now."
"Artemisia harmed one of the unicorns? Is that why you killed her that way?"
The Herdmaster again spoke.
"We Centaurs are star-gazers. Anthropomancy is not an art we practice. But for the one responsible for this act of treachery, we would willingly make exception."
Moody left quickly after that. Suddenly, many things came together for him. The truly inhuman way Artemisia had been killed; the hoof marks on the ground all around her body; even the reason for her being in the forest.
********************************
Armando Dippet was the only one who found the explanation unreasonable. Artemisia had always been fond of wandering the forests and visiting the unicorns. He told the young auror as much.
"Horrid as Artemisia always was, I find it hard to accept that she would harm a unicorn. The only time she ever seemed even near human was in the forest. If she was even capable of love, I would say the only things she ever loved were the unicorns."
Armando Dippet found himself, however, to be the only voice of dissent. And so, the forest around the school was now Forbidden and the matter was considered closed.
Anthropomancy is the practice of divination using the entrails of a human sacrifice.
******************************
Armando Dippet threw a handful of powder into the fire before clearly calling out, "Ministry of Magic, Department of Magical Law Enforcement."
When the head appeared in the fire, he stated the facts calmly.
"There has been a murder in the forest near the school. The House of Themis is no more."
*********************************
It was Auror Alastor Moody who was sent to investigate the matter. He was young and rather inexperienced, but perhaps that was the point. After all, it was Artemisia Themis who had been killed. It wasn't as if anyone really wanted the case solved. Even the Minister of Magic joked he wasn't sure if the party responsible deserved a stint in Azkaban or Order of Merlin, First Class.
When Moody arrived, his first question reasonably enough was, "Who found the body?"
He later explained it was because more often than not, the person who yelled 'Fire' was the one who started it.
When Armando Dippet responded, "No one, yet," Alastor Moody's life began to rapidly go downhill.
"If no one found the body, how do you know Artemisia is dead?"
"I Saw her," responded Armando.
"Then you were the one who found the body?" Moody pressed.
"No, I didn't find her. I merely Saw her."
Trying another angle, Moody asked, "Did you kill her?"
Armando sighed. "No, I have not seen Artemisia since that evening we all had dinner together in the Great Hall."
"Until today when you found her body, that it?"
Armando frowned at the young auror. "I didn't find her body. I merely Saw you finding her body."
Moody frowned now as well. "I didn't find her body."
"No, not yet," agreed Armando Dippet. "Venture into the forest now and you will."
***********************************
Not far into the forest, Alastor Moody did indeed find the lifeless body of Artemisia. Normal protocol is to first ensure a person is deceased, but the young auror and the Groundskeeper who accompanied him were too busy retching to check for a pulse. Not that it mattered really. One look at the body left no room for misunderstanding. Artemisia Themis had been cut down the middle and all of her insides were now carefully arranged outside.
**************************************
When Alastor Moody went to inform the bereaved husband, he assumed the man's lack of shock was because, like Dippet, he too had already Seen the news. Since his bonding with Artemisia, Grindelwald had gone from the poorest excuse of a Seer to one of the most accurate and sought after Visionaries of their time. Years later, Moody would learn Grindelwald had indeed seen the events, just not the way Moody had assumed.
Married for only three months, now a widower for life, Grindelwald insisted on hearing all the details. Moody reluctantly supplied them.
"We found her in the forest, cut from stern to stem. Most of her organs were removed from inside her body and arranged around her."
Grindelwald persisted. "Continue."
Moody shrugged uncomfortably.
"The weapon hasn't been recovered yet. There were no footprints near the…scene, a number of hoof marks, but it is a forest after all. We are looking for the centaurs, to ask if they saw anything or anyone. So far we haven't found any of them. You know how they are, never turning up if you want a word."
It wasn't the information Grindelwald was looking for.
"Do not attempt to spare my feelings. Tell me the part you left out."
Moody was genuinely confused. He had told the man everything. He had given him the horrific details about his wife's death. What feelings was he supposed to be protecting? What could be worse than telling the man his wife had died that way?"
"I don't know what you mean."
"Tell me what else you found there. I have…I need to hear it."
When Moody insisted that was all, Grindelwald demanded to return with him to the scene.
*****************************
As he himself was still quite revolted by the sight before him, Moody couldn't understand the man's reaction. Grindelwald practically ignored his wife's face. Instead, he was more concerned with the parts arranged around her.
"No! No! No! Where is it?"
With Artemisia's passing, Grindelwald seemed to have returned to his less than all knowing ways. Grindelwald pointed to an empty spot around the body. He demanded of Moody, "Did you move it?"
That was the first time Moody realized the careful arrangement around Artemisia had a gap.
"No, no one has altered anything. What is missing?"
Not an internist, Moody wasn't completely sure of the identity of each of the organs and couldn't even be sure they were all present. Also not an anthropomanist, or even a Diviner of any sort, he didn't know the significance of the arrangement.
Perhaps if Moody were a more experienced auror or if as was customary in murder cases, a team of aurors had been sent, these things would not have been overlooked for as long as they were.
When Grindelwald didn't speak and simply wandered off into the forest, Alastor Moody took his behavior to be the reaction of a distraught husband at the horrific sight before him.
**********************************************
By the second day of his investigation, Alastor Moody's own shock had worn off and he was beginning to think more clearly, more aurorly. More often than not, in murder cases, it was true the person who found the body was the guilty party. But it was also true that more often than not, it was a family member who was responsible. While the way Artemisia was murdered was absolutely inhuman, was it not the people nearest and dearest to us who could so inspire us to our greatest achievements and lowest degradations?
When on that second day, Grindelwald again returned to wander the forest, Moody's suspicions grew. After all, while it was normal for a grieving husband to go to the scene of his wife's death, was it not also common for a murderer to return to the location of his despicable act?
********************************************
On the third day, Grindelwald again appeared. The only thing besides the complete and absolute lack of evidence that stopped Auror Moody from arresting him on the spot, was Moody's continued inability to locate any of the centaurs. He first wanted to exhaust the possibility that any of the forest dwellers had been witness to what had happened.
*************************************
On the fourth day, Grindelwald did not return.
Moody found out that afternoon that the man had attempted to resign his post at the Ministry of Magic the day before. It was only after much persuading and many concessions that Grindelwald agreed to continue working for the Department of Mysteries. His stipulations included he be allowed to work from his home without Ministry supervision or interruption. After that day, Grindelwald never again left his estate. At least not until, years later when a team of aurors, hit wizards, and a Transfiguration Instructor came to visit him.
Moody would have seen the resignation attempt as an admission of guilt by Grindelwald, were it not for a discussion with a centaur that morning. As soon as Moody had returned to the forest on the fourth day, he found an angry centaur waiting for him.
Artemisia's death suddenly became very clear to the young auror when the centaur began to speak.
"For many years now, we have endured your two-legged kind wandering our forests. It is not enough that despite our hospitality, your people have repeatedly culled our unicorn herds. This time your kind has gone too far. To drink the blood of a unicorn and leave them in the forest to die is worthy of a cursed existence, but to actually remove a unicorn from the forest is beyond recall. Henceforth, this forest is Forbidden to those who walk upon two legs. Until that which has been taken is returned to us, any two-legged creature venturing into this forest will perish by our wrath. Leave now."
"Artemisia harmed one of the unicorns? Is that why you killed her that way?"
The Herdmaster again spoke.
"We Centaurs are star-gazers. Anthropomancy is not an art we practice. But for the one responsible for this act of treachery, we would willingly make exception."
Moody left quickly after that. Suddenly, many things came together for him. The truly inhuman way Artemisia had been killed; the hoof marks on the ground all around her body; even the reason for her being in the forest.
********************************
Armando Dippet was the only one who found the explanation unreasonable. Artemisia had always been fond of wandering the forests and visiting the unicorns. He told the young auror as much.
"Horrid as Artemisia always was, I find it hard to accept that she would harm a unicorn. The only time she ever seemed even near human was in the forest. If she was even capable of love, I would say the only things she ever loved were the unicorns."
Armando Dippet found himself, however, to be the only voice of dissent. And so, the forest around the school was now Forbidden and the matter was considered closed.