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Thank you very much to bigkihap, my beta-reader! You rock!

Chapter 1

Minerva McGonagall sat in her dimly lit office, looking over photographs of the latest body. The body itself had been dumped near an old bomb shelter near the Thames in the early hours of Thursday the tenth of October. The latest victim, it had seemed, had caused uproar in the ministry. Two out of the now four male victims had been wizards; the other two had been normal muggles. A sudden knock at the door shook Minerva out of her musings as Alastor Moody, the head of auror unit two, walked in without waiting for an answer.

"There is a sign on my office door, Alastor," Minerva said in annoyance, eyeing him coolly as he walked around her desk. "It said 'do not disturb' if you cared to read it." Alastor ignored her as he moved a case file from the side and sat on the edge of the desk.

"I can read," he replied gruffly and thrust a file into her lap. "The bastards hit again, this time near the docks."

Minerva dropped her icy glare as Alastor announced the latest murder. Opening the folder, Minerva saw the body of a partly decomposed man with his chest and stomach cut open.

"Was he a…" Minerva started, but Alastor cut her off.

"Wizard, yes. Number five. I've got half my unit down at the docks to keep unwanted eyes and people from the body. He was found in the early hours of this morning by some poor witch. Scared her half to death," he said bitterly and took out a cigarette.

"No smoking, not even out the window. Barty Crouch came in here yesterday and asked if I'd been smoking. He said I would be in big trouble if I was caught so no more crafty smoking out the window, even if you are having a nervous break down," Minerva smiled ever so slightly as Alastor swore under his breath. "Or if you really have to, do it in someone else's office, because you're not ruining my chance of being head auror. So has Billius seen the body yet?"

"No, medical examiner's day off. Lazy git," Alastor replied with disgust. "You would think a high profile case like this the stupid git could make an exception."

"I shall get Rudy on to him. He can intimidate Billius," Minerva said primly. "Has high and mighty John Reiner admitted that we have a serial killer who is not connected to the dark arts movements yet?"

Alastor raised both eyebrows and snorted in disbelief.

"Are you kidding? That would mean more paperwork for John, not to mention going back on his word when he gave that interview to the Daily Prophet."

Minerva rolled her eyes in exasperation and sighed.

"Whoever is doing this is going to be annoyed that the dark movement down south is getting his credit. It will make him worse."

"No shit."

Minerva picked up the latest photograph of the fifth body and stood up to walk out of her office. Alastor followed her into the investigation room and watched her pin up latest victim's photo on the board.

"Right everybody listen up, we have another body found by the docks this morning." Everybody sat up in their seats looking coolly up at Minerva as she walked out of her office and over to the board. She had been the first woman in the ranks to make it to Detective Inspector. Minerva had so far found the unit she had been assigned to hard work, as it would take a lot coaxing and guiding to get the team to respect her, especially as she was a woman. Minerva saw the cold looks she was getting and ignored them. At least Alastor was there to give her support and respect. He had stood by her all through default and got her going so she could stand on her own two feet. Soon the team's attention was on the latest victim as Minerva pointed to the black and white Polaroid. "We don't know much at this point as the medical examiner can't be bothered to take a look at the body this morning. Rudy, I want you to fix that problem. Until we know more about this man from the pathologist, we shall have to use the old tricks. Jonas, Pete and George, I want you down at the docks asking questions about whether anyone saw someone or something, however irrelevant they think it is."

Jonas and Pete grabbed their cloaks from the rack near the door and sped out without another word. George appparated on the spot.

"Rupe, Amos, Jeff and Joseph, I want you checking out the other four murders and keep badgering people. Find out where they came from especially the muggles, find out their background, right down to their shoe size. I want something to link these men together."

"You got it boss," Amos nodded and sprang up from his chair with fresh determination. "I shall do Charles Bunting."

"I'll do Bevan Wheston," Joseph put in as he followed Amos out the door.

"I will do Patrick Dohnovan," Rupe said and turned in the opposite direction to the others.

"Well, I guess I'll do Samuel Atkins then," Jeff told them and closed the door behind him.

Minerva looked over to Alastor who was still sitting on the desk in the back near her office.

"Are you still in touch with Albus Dumbledore?" she asked and walked back over to him.

"As far as I know, why?" Alastor replied slightly suspicious of what she was going to ask him to do.

"I think we could use his expertise on this case. He did solve the Highman murders during Grindlewald's reign of terror three years ago," Minerva said thoughtfully, placing her hand on her right hip.

"Only because he thought Highman and his mistress were part of the dark side. But I suppose he may be of some use. I shall pay Albus a visit this evening because he teaches during the day." Alastor said offhandedly and glanced up at Minerva who was thinking. "What are your plans for now?"

"I need to take a look at the place where the body was found," she said finally as Alastor nodded.

"Mind if I tag along?" he asked without waiting for an answer.

"Only because you want a cigarette," Minerva replied as she summoned her cloak and disapparated. Alastor smirked and apparated after her.

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