Harvest Moon

To everyone reading and reviewing, thank you so much. I sincerely appreciate it. I usually try to post on Fridays if that's any help to those who wanted information on updates.



WARNING: This is particularly graphic and frankly kind of gross so if that sort of thing isn't your thing you might want to skip the first few paragraphs of this chapter.





In my eyes

Blood drops look like roses on white lace

They won't wash away



Before Hermione could gather up her skirts to run properly, Lucius simply took hold of her arm and apparated them in the direction they’d heard the scream. Several others were there already, staring in wide eyed horror at the doors of the family mausoleum. Hanging over the doors was what seemed to be the body of a woman, wearing a beautiful white lace gown that was spattered with a myriad of deep red spots. She was holding her own head in her outstretched hands as though offering it to someone. In an even more macabre twist, the skin had been peeled away from her face, leaving the layers of muscle and bone exposed. The eyes were missing and the jaws were open in what seemed to be an endless scream.



I took your evil skin away

It's all cut and dried

They're never gonna find your face

It's hidden away

Your heart and your mouth open wide



“Lucius, is this some sort of sick decoration for the holiday?” Arabella asked, coming up behind them then looking up over the doors.



“Not of my design,” Lucius said grimly, heading toward the scene of carnage with a determined stride.



“Wait, we don’t even know if it’s real,” Arabella said, grabbing his arm and holding him back. “Hermione, what do you think?”



Before she could answer there were two pops as Draco and Luna apparated next to them. Luna instantly had her wand out and waved it toward the body.



“Descendio!” she said. Everyone watched in fascinated horror as the body slowly lowered to the marble slab that made up part of the entryway to the mausoleum. “Get them back so I can work, Draco,” she said absently, already heading toward the body with Hermione right next to her.



Draco started shooing the gawkers away. Most of them went reluctantly, thinking it was all some elaborate hoax dreamed up for the holiday.



“Do you have that digital camera with you?” Luna asked Hermione before turning to look over the body.



“Actually I do. I’d thought to take pictures of the party. I’m glad I brought it now,” Hermione said, stepping around the body and taking one picture after the other.



“I don’t think I should have taken her down,” Luna said thoughtfully. “But I just couldn’t leave her hanging up there.”



“I don’t see why it would be a problem,” Draco said, kneeling next to the body. “This isn’t the primary crime scene. It can’t be. Something like this takes time and privacy.”



“You don’t know that, Draco,” Lucius said. “It would be easy for someone to do this in one of the back rooms of the mausoleum.”



“Father, are you trying to get yourself arrested?” Draco asked, looking up at his parent.



“I’m merely pointing out what you would find obvious in short order,” Lucius said. Turning to Arabella he asked, “Ara, would you assist me in telling the guests the party is cancelled? Everyone will need to be out of the way so the more gruesome work can be done.”



“Of course, Lucius,” Arabella said, taking his arm and allowing him to lead her away from the others.



He leaned down and said in a low voice to her. “I also need your expertise in something the wizarding world has forgotten how to accomplish properly.”



Arabella nodded, thinking she might know what he was planning to do. Gods help them all if what she presumed Lucius was thinking was true and not simply wild conjecture.



***



Hermione glanced over at Draco who nodded and tilted his head to the side, indicating he knew she wanted to talk to him. They left Luna to her field examination of the body.



“This one has to have been killed by the same person. Everything fits with the other victims. The same removal of the eyes, tongue and larynx for starters. I’d imagine when Luna gets more into the examination she’ll find certain vital parts missing like in all the others. But it does seem that they’ve taken things up a notch or two with this one.”



“It’s escalating, Malfoy,” Hermione said grimly. “Before it was merely brutal but this . . . this is just inhuman.”



Draco sighed and shoved his hands through his hair. “I know. I can’t imagine how anyone would do something like this to another human being.”



“I don’t know either but it’s definitely odd,” Hermione said, looking thoughtfully in the direction of the body.



Draco frowned. “How so?”



“As gruesome as it is, it’s still methodical and precise. Whoever is doing this, they don’t seem to have any real attachment to the victims. No connection at all.”



“What do you mean?”



“It’s as though these women are a means to an end and the killer has no real animosity toward them personally. Luna never found any defense marks on Dawn and there were none documented from the other medical examiners in the muggle files. I’ll almost bet they were all avadaed and then moved to wherever this person is hiding to be taken apart. Even the dismemberment seems detached. It was done with a wand, not a knife or anything else that would be up close and personal. It’s like they’re just tools to this person.”



“Hermione, Draco, could you come over here please?” Luna said, leaning over the body.



“What is it, Luna?” Hermione asked.



Luna glanced up at them before pointing to the tiny bit of white at the back of the left orbital socket on the corpse. “It seems as though our killer is getting sloppy.”



“Or it’s something they wanted us to find,” Hermione said.



“True enough.”



“Is it enough to cast “Final Sight” on?” Draco asked, sounding hopeful.



“I’m not sure yet. But it might be.”



“Finally! We might get a break in these cases yet, Malfoy,” Hermione said.



“As long as my father wasn’t the last thing this woman saw, I’ll be thrilled.”



***Author’s Notes***

The song used in this chapter is Roses On White Lace by Alice Cooper.