Last time Hermione woke up to find out that she was indeed the killer's next victim. She was in a locked room filled with books, books that were coated with a poison that would damage her hands. The combination to unlock the only way out was written in the books and Hermione had to find the combination before 6:00 a.m. On with the show!

Chapter 5: Patterns

"It's all my fault, Harry," said Ron, "If I wasn't always arguing with Hermione, she wouldn't have left the office alone. If I were with her that lunatic wouldn't have gotten her." It was 2:38 a.m. All it took from Harry was a few words that Hermione was missing and that the killer probably had her. Because Harry was Harry, The Ministry was willing, ready and able to act. There was only one problem; nobody knew where the killer had taken her.

"It's not your fault," said Harry, "Well, it's partly your fault. If the two of you would stop fighting for a few seconds we wouldn't be in this mess. So it's only partly your fault."

"Thanks," said Ron in an ungrateful tone, "You're such a big help."

Since he arrived back at The Ministry just before 9:00, Harry had been going over the evidence of the past murders in hopes of finding anything that could help find Hermione. The only thing he came up with was that the killer was there at each murder, watching the victims die.

"Whoever is doing this," said Jessica Yeager, who was helping as well, "He likes to watch. Each murder scene had a hole in the wall where the killer could see his victims. The bastard likes to watch."

"What kind of person can do such things?" asked Ginny who had volunteered to help, "What drives a man or woman to set people up to kill themselves, then watches it happen?"

"Someone who is dissatisfied with people who take life for granted," said Harry, "Someone who feels he or she has nothing to lose, someone on a mission. The killer is trying to get a message out: he or she is trying to get people to appreciate life."

"He's got one sick sense of purpose," said Ron, "Why Hermione? What did she do to make herself look ungrateful to be alive? If anyone appreciates life, it's her."

"Not always," said Harry, "There was a time when Hermione was totally absorbed in her studies that she didn't care for anything else. Then she met us and that's what changed her. For all we know, Hermione could have been on the killer's list for years."

Ron then hurried out of the room for no apparent reason. Harry went after him to discover that Ron was crying. "I don't know what I'll do if we don't find her, Harry," said Ron, "Hermione's everything to me. Sure we fight a lot, but that doesn't matter. I don't know if I can go on without her."

"We'll find her," said Harry reassuringly, "As God as my witness, we'll find Hermione before it's too late."

Just then something occurred to Harry, something that could bust this case wide open. He hurried back into the office and started shuffling through all the piles of evidence until he found what he was looking for; a map of London with all the murder scenes marked.

Hermione would have thought of this in a heartbeat, he thought as he took a quill and drew a line connecting the murder scenes to form a spiral.

"I see it," said Ron, "But what does it mean?"

"It means," said Harry, "That the killer has been spiraling out from the first murder site. He's been choosing abandoned or empty buildings that no muggle would have any business going into. If we can figure out if there are any empty buildings along the path that the spiral would follow, we might just have a chance at finding Hermione."

It didn't take long for a list of abandoned, condemned or renovated buildings in London to be compiled. Only one group of condemned office buildings was on the projected path of the spiral. "Are you sure this is where the killer has Hermione?" asked Knight.

"I can't be fully sure," said Harry, "But it's the best lead we have. We need to search those buildings room by room if we have to. He looked at the clock; 4:58 a. m. Harry didn't know it but time was running out for Hermione.

The end of chapter 5. Next chapter we switch back to Hermione in her struggle to survive. Reviews will be rewarded with cake and pie. See you next time!