chapter 19

''Hey Draco, come here,'' I shouted. Draco come running up from teh basement because he was doing his laundry (let me tell you, that was one interesting arguement when I refused to do his laundry for him).

''What?'' he asked.

''I think I found the reverse to the Secrecy Enchantment,'' I said not looking up from my research, afraid I might lose the information if I did.

''Really? How?'' he asked.

''Ancient Runes dictionary. I knew that class was worth taking!'' I said picking my wand up off the table. ''Are you ready?''

''Yeah,'' he breathed.

I aimed my wand at him and took a breath, ''Ansuz (awn-sooze) Perthro (perth-row)''. An orange jet shot out of the end of my wand and hit Draco square in the throat. It circled around his neck like an angry bumblebee for a few seconds, and then the light was gone. Draco fell on all fours panting, ''Oh my God, Draco are you okay?'' I said jumping from my chair and kneeling next to him.

He started chuckling, then he actually laughed before he looked at me and resting his hand on the side of my head. ''I feel like I could tell you anything right now''.

''Are you serious? It worked?'' I said.

He nodded, ''yeah it worked!''

''Yes!'' I exclaimed hugging him.

''Thank you Irulan'' he said into my hair.

''Draco, I need you to tell me who was with you at the Spevak's,'' I said pulling back.

Draco nodded again, ''His name is Eric Adams''.

''I know that name, where do I know that name?'' I said, more to myself if anything, ''Of course!''

I jumped to my feet, ran up to my room and grabbed my cloak. ''Where are you going?'' Draco asked.

''You're coming with me,'' I said walking past him back into the kitchen. Picking my wand off the kitchen table, I stuck it in my back pocket and turned to Draco. ''Ready?''

''Sure,'' he said taking my hand. With Draco holding tightly onto my hand we apparated.

The two of us reappeared in a small, quiet, neighborhood infront of a comfortable looking two-story house with blue shudders.

''Where are we?'' Draco asked.

''Eric's house. He was adopted by a nice wizarding family when he was fifteen'' I said making my way up the walk. I rang the doorbell while simultanieously clutching my wand, the door swung open revealing a woman with wispy greying hair that was pulled into a puff on the top of her head.

''Hello Mrs. Adams, my name is Irulan, is Eric home?'' I asked.

''Oh, so you're Irulan! It's so good to finally meet Eric's girlfriend,'' she said.

''His wh -'' I cut Draco off by putting a hand uop.

''it's good to finally meet you as well, is Eric here?'' I said.

''No, he's not,'' she said.

''Oh, well do you mind if we come in? I left some stuff in his room, and I really need it,'' I said.

''Of course!'' Mrs. Adams exclaimed, moving aside for Draco and I to walk into the house. The house on the inside was neat, if cluttered with probably over a hundred collections of may different things, lighthouses, dolls, paintings, figurines.

''We'll just be a few minutes,'' I said pulling Draco by the front of his shirt up the stairs.

It was easy to determine which room was Eric's because it had a quidditch poster tapped on it. The room on the other side looked much like the rest of the house, and by that I mean as cluttered as the rest of the house. ''What are we looking for?'' Draco asked.

''Anything that proves him guilty, shows how he picks his victims, proves -''

''That he's stalking you?''

''What?'' I said turning around. Draco had closed the bedroom door, and on the back of it was every Daily Prophet article ever written about me, alonf with every picture.

''Holy... shit...'' I said. ''We have to move fast''. I turned back to the desk and opened the drawer, it was filled with manila folders, which may have been exactly what I need.

''Mum, I'm home!'' I heard someone downstairs shout.

''Fucker!'' I said under my breath, tucking the files into the top of my pants.

''Oh Eric, Irulan's upstairs, she's a nice girl,'' I heard Mrs. Adams say.

''Come on Draco!'' I said grabbing his hand and diapparating.

This time we reappeared in Auror Headquarters. Harry was standing at his desk and had the phone up to his ear.

''Oh Irulan, I was just about to call you,'' he said, putting the phone down.

''Why?''

''Because there's been another murder,''.

Hmm... and Eric had just gotten home, I thought. ''Well, I narrowly escaped my own personal stalker,'' I said.

''Really, who?'' Harry asked.

''Eric Adams,'' Draco said. ''Also known as Zodiac, also known as the person who was with me at the Spevak's''.

Harry looked between Draco and myself, obviously confused. ''I found the reverse,''.

''Oh, okay'' Harry said slowly.

''I can't go this time, I need to look through these files. Hopefully they're what I need'' I indicated to the folders I just pulled out of the top of my pants.

''Are you sure?''

''yeah, Draco and I are just gonna hang out here for awhile'' I replied.

''Alright, I'll be back later'' Harry said, then he vanished.

I sat down at my desk, Draco pulled up the chair from Ron's desk and sat next to me. ''How long we gonna be here?''

''I don't know yet''.

Chapter 20

''Irulan, hey babe, wake up,'' someone said in my ear.

Opening my eyes, I realized that I had fallen asleep on Eric's files, ''How long've I been asleep?''

''About five, ten minutes,'' Harry replied. ''Here, I got you a cup of coffee''. I took the styrofoam cup from from Harry, taking a hugr gulp which woke me up some.

''I have read the same paragraph, five different times, and I still have no idea what it says,'' I sighed glancing down at the files. The words made absolutely no sense to me, they were dancing all over the page giving me a major migraine in my frontal lobe.

Then suddenly for no reason, I started crying. ''Irulan, are you okay?'' Harry asked.

''Do I look okay to you Harry?'' I blubbered.

He walked over to me and put his arms around my shoulders, ''why are you crying, there's no reason to be sad.''

I glared at him, though I doubt I looked all that threatening with puffy red eyes, ''Who said anything about being sad! I'm crying out of frustration!''

''Why don't you go lay down in the crib?'' he suggested.

''Can't.''

''Why?''

''I sent Draco up there half hour ago,'' I replied. I took a breath, ''What happened at the crime scene?''

''Um, it's the same person that committed the other murder three weeks ago,'' Harry said walking around to his desk then tossing the case file on my desk. I opened the file immediately seeing the picture of someone's back with the symbol for Cancer etched into the skin.

''When the belts in the heavens are seen...'' I repeated quietly to myself.

''What did you just say?'' Harry asked.

''It was three weeks ago, that the other murder was committed right?''

''yeah, why?''

Suddenly, I started sfiting through all the papers on my desk, finally finding a star chart, ''Remember that letter I told you about Harry?''

''What about it?'' he asked.

''It said that twelve of the sign will die when the belts in the heavens are seen. What are the only ''belts'' you know in the heavens?''

''Orion's belt''

''Exactly, and Orion's belt is over...''

''Every three weeks'' Harry finished.

''yep, and he confessed to nine other murders previous these last two, that's eleven of the sign,'' I said pushing the star chart aside, and looking for something else.

''So we have to find out, who the next target is,'' Harry said, he was sounding rather cheery, then again I hadn't told him...

''It could be anyone born under Sagitarius in England,'' I said.

''How d'you know that?'' he asked, his cheery tone gone.

''Look, a Zodiac circle, all of the signs crossed out, except Aries, Cancer and Sagitarius. Aries and Cancer are already dead, now all that's left is any Sagitarius including -''

Harry interrupted, ''you.''

''Including me,'' I nodded.

''Okay, Irulan you need a protective detail,'' Harry said.

''No, I don't want him thinking he's getting to me,'' I said.

''What do we do?'' Harry collapsed into the chair Draco had been sitting not long ago.

''Do we know if any of the victims were imprisoned before he killed them?'' I inquired.

''They weren't''

''Well, then we have three weeks to determine if he's after me, or not'' I leaned my head back as far as it would go.

For some reason, I felt the corners of my lips tug upwards into a grin. I wasn't scared that a killer was targeting me, there was no elaborate plan to destroy the world, no plan to kill a world leader, only a plan to get to me. Why did he go after people under a certain signs? Because I love astrology. It's interesting to think that this first started as an everyday murder case, and now it's turned into a personal vendetta.

My thoughts wandered back to the Adams' house; the various collections that crowded the small house, the pictures and articles of me on the back of the bedroom door.Actually, now that I think about it, the Zodiac circle is a collection within itself, I thought, absentmindedly leaning my chair on it's hind legs.

''he's a collector'' I whispered.

''You say something Irulan?'' At hearing Harry's voice, I gasped and my chair lost it's balance causing me to fall backwards.

The back of my head hit the tile floor with a loud crack, causing my eyes to sting with tears. ''Son of a biatch!'' I hollered, clutching the back of my head.

''Holy Shit, Irulan I'm so sorry, I hadn't realized you were leaning back in your chair!'' Harry apologized frantically helping me back to my feet. ''Are you okay?''

''I don't know, I'll tell you when my head stops reeling!'' I said, I took my hand from the back of my head, at least I wasn't bleeding. ''That smarts!''

''That's what you get for leaning back in your chair. I thought McGonagall found a way to make you stop doing that?'' Harry laughed.

''Yeah, put a permanent sticking charm on the legs of my chair'' I said, laughing also.