Harvest Moon

Taz, Lex, Margaritama, and Slytheringriffendor21: I\'m glad you\'re all still enjoying this.

Zets: You know Lucius isn\'t going to just stand idly by on the sidelines with this.

Voracious Reader: Answering an earlier question you posed and I never got to. Sorry it\'s taken so long. No, I\'ve not studied at the Body Farm. Yet. I am on the waiting list though.



***



“The women in those videos are the ones who were murdered, I take it,” Hermione said, leaning closer to the monitor.



Tazura nodded. “They are.”



“I don’t understand. If Dawn was a sub then why . . .” Hermione began.



“You haven’t watched the other DVDs yet. That’s Michela in the first one. Dawn was a sub. However, Luc is a switch.”



“Lalalalalalalalalaalalalalala. SO not hearing this,” Draco said, putting his fingers in his ears. Hermione walked over to him and yanked his hands down.



“Oh, grow up,” she snapped. She sighed heavily, not sure why her reaction to watching that video had been what it was and equally unsure why she was taking it out on her partner. “I’m sorry.”



“It’s okay, Granger. We’re both really stressed on this one. You’re worried we’ll get thrown off this case because my father is involved.”



“That’s true,” she said, seizing on the opportunity to shake the strange feeling. “It certainly seems that someone is targeting your father’s errr . . . dates. But why?”



“Because women are considered an easy target,” Tazura said.



Hermione whipped around to look at her. “That is unfortunately true. What makes you come to that conclusion though?”



Tazura shrugged. “Simple. I’ve seen it over and over. I can’t count how many people I’ve had removed because they’ve gone a little too far with things then remarked she’s just a woman. That infuriates me.”



“As well it should,” Draco said.



“Hmmm,” Hermione said, a frown of concentration marring her features. “The pivot point seems to be Lucius. We should probably start digging into any known enemies he has. That could take forever since the list of suspects among the known death eaters alone could span well into the hundreds.”



“That’s true,” Draco said. “I’ll talk to him and see if he’s made any open enemies lately though I doubt that will do any good.”



“You’re probably right. I doubt this person is overt in their animosity. It’s odd though,” Hermione said.



“How do you mean?”



“The women were apparently dead long before the dismemberment occurred, that’s a fact and noted in the autopsy reports. Therefore the women didn’t suffer through being cut apart. There seems to be a certain level of detachment on the part of the perpetrator. So, we can’t label these as sadistic crimes.”



“And what, Lady Granger would be your definition of sadistic?” Tazura asked.



“Sadism in these kinds of cases is not about killing. *It is about deliberate eroticized aggression and having the victim suffer. In order to claim sadism several elements are required to be present. Evidence of torture, the victim must be both living and conscious, there must be repetition and time involved and evidence that the individual gained some sort of sexual satisfaction in the deed. These are very straightforward behavioral requirements. They’re admittedly difficult to establish without all of the physical evidence and without thorough, well documented investigation.*,” Hermione said.



Tazura glanced a Draco and smiled a little. “Does she always sound like she’s eaten a text book?”



“Usually.”



“Interestingly enough that’s almost exactly the definition those of us in this community have for it. Though we also tag those behaviors with safe, sane and consensual as well. Three things in any scene, particularly bondage ones, must be present at all times. Sharp scissors or knife, bolt cutters and keys.”



Hermione blinked and stared at Tazura for a moment. “Why those things?”



“Quite simple actually. Ropes, chains, cuffs, etc, cut off circulation. Sometimes even a seasoned Dom/me can get them too tight and the person being restrained passes out due to their circulation being retarded. At that point even a one hundred pound woman becomes deadweight and hard to move. Therefore, if it happens, the Dom/me must be able to remove that person from the restraints in a maximum of thirty seconds.”



“Okay, enough with the lessons on both ends,” Draco said, smiling slightly. “Back to someone targeting my father’s amours.”



“I thought that’s what we were discussing,” both women said.



Draco rolled his eyes.



“One really does have to wonder about that though. Why only the women he’s had contact with from here? And will that escalate to others he’s been with?” Hermione mused.



Draco’s eyes suddenly flew very wide and there was a look of fear in them. “My mother.”



“Go, Draco. Try not to scare her too much. We aren’t sure this will get worse.”



“Granger, you know this kind of thing accelerates. Someone like this won’t stop until they’re incarcerated or dead.”



“I know. Go find your mother. I’ll head back to the Ministry and find Arabella Smythe. She might be a target as well in this.”



Draco nodded and was out the door before she could say another word. Hermione could understand his fear. Gods knew she’d been more than afraid for her parents during the war. Afraid they were being targeted and hunted due to being associated with her. She turned back to Tazura.



“May I use your fireplace?”



“Of course. Floo powder is on the mantle.”



Hermione nodded and turned to reach for the jar on the mantle piece.



“Lady Granger,” Tazura said.



“Yes?”



“I know we don’t exactly care for one another but I do believe that if anyone can solve this, you and Draco can.”



“Thank you, I take that as a high compliment,” Hermione said before throwing a handful of Floo powder on the fire. She stepped in and called “my office” before the rush of green flames removed her from sight.



***Still more A/N***

Words between asterisks *whatever* are quotes from the textbook Criminal Profiling by Brent Turvey. One must give credit to their teacher, after all.