In blood and bone

Disclaimer: All Harry Potter facts and characters belong to J.R. Rowling I only write for fun. The warnings are for future content. A/n: I posted this some time ago and then pulled it from the site for various reasons and I haven’t had the time to get back to it but now I have a whole month of vacation before me and I plan to finish this story. I desperately need a beta so if anyone is interested please email me.
The alleyway was damp, silent and cold and the dark night pressed against Hermione as she slowly crept forward her footsteps echoing ominously. Clutching her wand and heart pounding she opened her mind to the night and gradually she began to sense her quarry. He itched just behind her eyes and deep within her own mind she could hear his victim’s scream, smell the coppery sweet blood and she knew he was close, casting a silencing spell and whispering a soft prayer she quickened her pace.
The mental images within Hermione’s mind became real as she turned the corner, the young girl suspended in midair crying softly as her tormentor played with her bleeding body, the knife gleaming in his hand; it was all too real. The charm he had placed around the little blind ally was genius because it hid them in plain sight and muggles and wizards passed by his torture chamber without ever hearing or seeing his pleading victims and taunting his victims with the sight of the oblivious passerby’s added to his fun. Hermione had been tracking this man for weeks and tonight she intended to bring in her man. Dead or alive; it was his choice. Hermione shivered slightly as she broke through the invisible barrier and in one fluid motion she cast a full body bind that disarmed the sick bastard. Disgusted by the scene she hurried to the victim, after untying the girl she turned her attention to the man lying on the floor.
Jerking him roughly to his feet she looked him in the eye and coldly spat. “By the power vested in me by the Ministry of Magic, you are now in my custody until you are remanded to the prison of Azkaban, where you will stand trial for your crimes against the Magical community.” Hermione shoved him back onto the ground and with a quick incantation activated her charmed earrings which allowed her to contact the rest of her team, in minutes a group of aurors and forensic wizard swarmed the scene and Hermione headed home.
Hermione sunk gratefully into the large claw footed tub of hot water and sighed as the heat soaked into her chilled body and with a flick of a wand a fire leaped merrily into the fireplace she had conjured for added warmth. Suddenly the fire turned green and then a very angry Ronald Weasly began yelling at Hermione.
“Ron, bloody hell, just how many times do I have to tell you to stay out of my bloody bathroom! What exactly do you think you’re doing? I am trying to bathe!” “Oh really, Hermione, I was under the impression you were out trying to clean the mean streets of London all by yourself! How many times do I have to tell you not to go after these criminals alone? Hermione you could have been killed. Do you understand that you’re not fucking invincible?”
“Ron! Stop! I was doing my job .I don’t know why we keep having this conversation. I can’t just ignore my visions, Ron. I can’t ignore what I am and that monster had already killed four women. I couldn’t risk losing him. You know that!”
“I know, Hermione, God do I know! You should have called me, I’m you bloody partner for Christ sake! It’s my job too and my fireplace is always open. I worry about you, damn it! You may be the smartest, most powerful witch of our generation, but sometimes you still act like an impetuous child. We are not in Hogwarts anymore, Herm’ there is no Dumbledore, no Snape, no anyone, to run to our rescue out on the job and if you keep insisting on being on your own out there it will get you killed.”
“I’m sorry! Jesus Ron! Really I am but you need to understand that I am what I am and I can’t ignore the call, if I die on job, fuck, when I die on the job there will be nothing any one can do about and that just something you have accept. Go to bed Ron, it’s late and I’m tired.”
“I’m so sorry,” she whispered to the empty fire place as tears began to trickle down her cheeks. Closing her eyes Hermione tried to prepare herself for the onslaught of images that were crowding her mind, she couldn’t stop them, not tonight, not any night. All she could do was ride them out and so Hermione let them wash over her.
The first horrific image was of the thirteen year old witch they had found in a dumpster with her body so badly mutilated it had taken three days and two wizards to identify her. It had been clear that the girl had been raped repeatedly and tortured for days before she had been allowed to die. Next the image of the broken body of a seventeen year old Hogwarts student, the young daughter of a Gryffindor alumnus who was left on her mother’s doorstep. This girl had fought, she fought with every ounce of strength she had and she lost. The third victim was a runaway teenager living in Diagon Ally. He had taken his time with that one. Then there was his last victim, the one who had affected Hermione the most, a fourteen year old muggle-born witch who had been found alive, and she had stayed alive just long enough to capture Hermione’s heart. It was over now he was in chains and he would never be allowed to hurt anyone again.
Hermione finally stepped out of her tub and headed to bed exhaustion covering her like a shroud she cursed fate and she raged over her lost dreams and broken hopes. It hurt to remember that she had once been offered everything her world could offer. In her fifth year at Hogwarts her opportunities were countless and her future bright and then the war had come and it raged for two years, relentlessly tearing at everything good in her world. The war had taken her parents, her friends and finally her lover. In the end of her seventh year desperate to put an end to the raging battle between good and evil Hermione began delving into the Dark Arts. What she found was an ancient blood spell designed to bring forth the fallen solders to continue their fight, denying death its due until the war was won and using her own blood she called to the dead and they raged over the battle field bringing her enemies to their knees Harry cast the final spell and thus the war had ended.
Hermione learned a bitter lesson that day, for nothing comes without a price and the dead became her constant companions, not ghost but echoes of those who had died violent deaths. They constantly assaulted her with images of their deaths these men, women and children who had been beaten, raped and tortured. Hermione spent most of that summer clinging desperately to the ragged edges of her sanity and when she finally broke down and told Ron what had happened he took her to his family. At first helped her to control it but then that the echo of a murdered child began to haunt her dreams and soon, her every waking hour. Hermione simply could not shake the visions. Until one day as she was walking by herself her mind started to, “itch”, for lack of a better term, when she came across a man reading under a tree. The visions came so quickly and fiercely she fainted and when she awoke she knew she was looking at the child’s murderer. Hermione stunned him and apparated to the Burrow and summoned Tonks, Harry and Remus. Tonks dosed the wizard with veritasrum and soon they learned the grisly truth. In a fit of rage the man had murdered his stepdaughter and buried her body.
That night Hermione slept, truly slept for the first time in months and after that her course was set. The only place for her was The Ministry of Retribution. It was not what she would’ve chosen for herself, nor was it the life she wanted, but the piper would be paid and her soul was in debt to forces of the universe. This was her life, until fate absolved her of the crime of raising the dead or until she herself died. Hermione accepted her place in life and had spent the last ten years chasing the magical world’s most vicious criminals and in that time she had brought technology to her work, combining magic and forensic science. Hermione was one of the most celebrated aurors of her time… and the most driven. Hermione was haunted.
Ron had followed her into "retrib" and quickly made a place for himself within the Ministry of Retribution, he slept, ate and breathed his job. After the war Ron needed to do his part to keep the people he loved safe and he and Hermione were a team, they had moved past petty crime and now stalked some of the most dangerous animals imaginable, magical serial killers…
…………………………………………………………………………………………
Deep in the Forbidden Forest another monster was hard at work. His victim lay on a cold metal table with her chest cut open and her still beating heart warm under his gentle probing fingers. The girl’s eyes were wide open and she was trembling as he smiled indulgently above her.
In her bed miles away Hermione’s eyes flew open and her mind raged as the vision slammed into her. A blond muggle her chest open and her heart dangling from her chest cavity, held her hands out to Hermione…and screamed.