Blood Vengeance

Chapter 12

Published: July 13th, 2022

"You want to do what?!" the wizard asked, confused.

Harry sighed. They really should make everyone take Muggle Studies in school. "Can you arrange Scotland Yard to investigate or not?"

"Are muggles even involved?" Stebbins asked, still baffled.

"I don't know, Stebbins. That's what I'm trying to find out!" Harry huffed, indignantly.

"But... I've read the printings about DEK. He Apparates... so he must be a wizard."

"I..." Harry stopped himself. His gut was screaming that DEK was muggleborn, but that was a career-ending thing to say in a post-Voldemort world, even for him. Muggleborns were grossly abused, imprisoned, tortured and killed by Voldemort's supporters. He needed to be careful. "You see, all the crime scenes are in muggle-infested areas. Our suspect must locate these places, and the muggle police may have... evidence on DEK due to his illicit activities in the muggle world."

Stebbins rubbed the back of his neck with his neck and half-heartedly nodded. "Okay, I guess. Seems a bit... weird."

"He works away from wizards. So, can you get the muggles to run the evidence?"

"They have a tendency to get huffy if they don't collect it, themselves," Stebbins said. "I know that much. Fingerprints, sure. Bloodwork... their lab will reject it without their tech's blessing. It's a nightmare to fake clearance. I'd have to enchant five people to do it without question."

Harry pursed his lips. Weird thoughts were forming about how to handle that, but he pushed them aside. "What about identifying where these muggle implements came from?" Harry asked, gesturing to the torture tools.

"Probably, but it'll be a bit," Stebbins grunted.

"Alright... get it started. DEK buys or steals his things from the muggle world. If it's the same store, I need to know."

"Alright, Peasegood said to do what you wanted."

"I also got Herm-someone looking into muggle drugs that were used on the victim. Do you think you can pull reports on missing muggle pharmaceuticals?"

Stebbins stared at him, open-mouthed, and then looked around, cautiously. "I'm not stupid, Harry. You think he's a muggleborn."

Harry also looked around and grunted, "He's killing Death Eaters. I think it's a pretty good possibility, Eric. Or a half-blood. He operates in their world more than others and has no Ministry record."

"And you think that he's muggle enough that he'd be in the muggle police system?"

Harry grimaced. "Yes. It could be for B&E or theft, but muggles track crime with biometric evidence rather than Trace and Revealing Spells."

Stebbins rubbed his neck, again. "We don't usually rely on muggles like this, Harry."

"Well, we got ten dead bodies and a psycho-serial killer staking out and torturing his victims to death. Now isn't the time to be getting bent about using muggle tech."

"Alright, alright! I'll do it."

"Thanks, and... would you be willing to keep this... theory under wraps? It's... important."

Stebbins huffed. "I wouldn't want anyone to know we were even thinking it."

Harry rolled his eyes. "So, fingerprints, blood-if possible, hair analysis, fibers, tools and muggle drugs. Got it?"

"Yeah! Geez. Still think you are crazy, though."

"I'll take it... anything really," Harry said with a sigh. He thanked the dubious Stebbins and went down to the huge open-bay Auror training area. The trainees were doing laps and normally do nothing but train, unless an Auror comes down to dish out "bitch-work" to them. Every trainee wants to do it... do something.

"Let's go, Wilkins! No slacking!" a drill Auror yelled at a slower trainee.

Harry remembered run days, and he hated them. Robes were not conducive for running in.

"Auror Potter! Welcome back! Trainees, form-up!" called Senior Drill Auror Hawkins.

Harry knew him from his days of Auror training. The senior Auror didn't care who the hell Harry was. The Senior expected perfection. Harry loved him for that. Thanks to him, Harry had earned his robes, that was for damned sure.

"Thanks, Senior Drill Auror Hawkins," he responded automatically.

When the twenty or so recruits formed up, they looked nervous. More than Harry had had in his class when he was going through Auror school.

"I have intern requests... do you want me to talk to you about it first, Senior?"

"You're not a trainee anymore, Auror Potter. I'm just Auror Hawkins to you. But you can put your request out directly. But if no one volunteers, I'll assign you helpers."

That would never happen, but Harry nodded and faced the class of new recruits. Some were third years, but most were fresh out of Hogwarts. "Good morning. I'm sure you all know who I am... but I'm Auror Potter. I'm looking for assistance in an active case and I ne-"

"The DEK case?" one trainee asked excitedly. Harry didn't have a chance to speak when the hapless recruit was swarmed by drill Aurors berating him for speaking without permission. The trainee was already on the ground doing pushups. Harry had to refrain from smiling.

A trainee raised his hand, and Harry called on him, "Yes, Trainee?"

"We heard you saved his 11th victim! Was it really Draco Malfoy?" the young kid asked. Harry could see the name "Harper" stitched into his closes. Doubtless, his brother or cousin had told him about Malfoy, as he had generally disappeared from social life.

"I can't talk about the case."

"But it was in the paper!" Harper said, and then dropped to do some pushups at the direction of the Senior.

Harry sighed. He hated reading the papers as an Auror was and is leaking good information to the press. He would have kept it under wraps that Malfoy was alive. "I'm not responsible for information getting leaked to the press, and whoever did it compromised the case. Regardless of your level, there is a responsibility not to reveal privileged information about a case to anyone, even fellow Aurors."

The trainees clammed up under his admonishment.

"Now, there's nothing glamorous about this assignment. I need two groups, one tasked with sending owl warnings, and the second will be doing data-sifting. I need volunteers with good instincts for records review, readable handwriting and data entry."

Another hand raised, and Harry gave permission to ask a question. The trainee stammered, "W-Will we get to see the crime scenes?"

Harry wasn't surprised by this and shook his head. "No, don't worry. Not even the pictures."

There were several groans, and the drill Aurors yelled for silence. Auror Hawkins leaned over and whispered, "I think they want to see 'em."

Harry frowned and growled, "I don't know what's in the papers... but these people were brutally tortured and killed. Rotten blood, fingers cut off, knife wounds all over the bodies... it's not something anyone should want to see."

The trainees looked at the ground, again, but a small girl raised her hand and said, "Sorry, Auror Potter. We haven't seen anything, yet."

Harry snorted. "And that's a good thing. Your first case doesn't need to be this one. You're just...."

He was about to say something that he had always hated when people said it to him. That he was a kid... that he was still wet behind the ears... that he had no idea what he was talking about. But Harry never was out of his element. It wasn't his ego talking, but he knew how to be an Auror at age-fucking-eleven. To see what others didn't see... to stand up for what is right... and stare death in the eye and not blink.

He sighed. "You don't need the nightmares. How many of you have even seen a dead body outside a funeral?"

No one raised their hand. Harry longed for their innocence.

"Yeah, my point. I've lost count at this point. Now, just imagine your first time is a naked, putrefying corpse. And it is staked to the floor, bugs and vermin already eating away at it, body parts thrown about the room and letters craved hideously across the exposed, bludgeoned chest of the victim spelling out Death Eater. You can't unsee that... you can't unsmell that. Now, I need volunteers for completely un-glorious admin work."

Every hand still went up. Harry was baffled only for a second. He would have raised his hand if the situation had been reversed. He looked to the Senior who worked his way through the crowd, issuing out orders to lower hands based on performance or their attitude lately. Troublemakers don't get rewards. Harry smirked. The trainees' reward was the most tedious part of his team's tasks. His training days had been long and boring, and he went stir crazy. He was a troublemaker. He always was, and got the worse assignments from it. But he also always got the job done.

Finally, Hawkins left the ranks and said, "There's your six. They'll follow orders, or they'll pay for it."

Harry stared at his old Senior, kinda surprised by the amount of... loyalty in his voice. He had been on him like flies on shit since day one of his three years of training. Hawkins nodded for him to address the trainees, again.

"Alright, when your Senior dismisses you for the day, you six form two groups and elect two team leaders. However, you want to decide. Report to the Archives exam room 4, after chow tonight and after Senior is done with you, understand?"

"Yes, Auror Potter!" they chanted zealously. It was unnerving.

"Well, that was enough of a break. I want 2 laps, now! No walking! Move it!" Senior Drill Auror Hawkins yelled and they ran.

Harry smirked as they ran out of hearing range. "I don't miss that."

"Sure, you do. You embraced any challenge, Harry."

His green eyes matched the Senior's old eyes. He hadn't expected the drop into first names. He didn't even know the Senior's.

"Yeah, you certainly tried to break me of it," he said, quickly, unsure of how to act around him, now. It was easy when it was a trainee-trainer relationship.

"I was testing ya... and you never failed to disappoint."

Harry blushed a little. He wasn't used to praise from anyone in the Auror department, especially a senior Auror. Though Hawkins had generally stayed down in training as a drill Auror, he was a 20+ year veteran of the Auror department. He trained and worked with Kingsley. Harry respected him a lot, more than all the senior Aurors combined.

"I've been waiting for you to come down and pull kids for grunt work," he said, nonchalantly.

"I haven't had the need."

"You haven't had the authority to do it," Hawkins stated, flatly.

Harry looked down, now even more embarrassed. "I haven't had my own case until, now."

Hawkins nodded. "I know. I feel abit responsible for it, too."

Harry looked at him, confused.

"I tell you what... after you solve this... monstrosity of a case, come back here to recuperate."

"You want me to be a drill Auror?"

"Of course, I do, but you wouldn't settle for that just, now. Just take a break from the politics and come talk to the kids. You'll understand...."

Harry nodded. "I can't make any guarantees."

"Harry... come back, just for a week. I'll put the request in when you're done with DEK. Just promise me that you'll come."

He raised an eyebrow. "I will."

"Good man. Don't be afraid to ask for help, Potter. Trainees need experience, too, and I know the other seniors aren't doing shit for you."

He rolled his eyes. "No, they aren't. Especially as Robards gave me this case as my last chance."

"He gave you this case as a dead end. Expect no help from him, either."

Harry was a bit surprised another senior was so openly speaking out against Robards. "I know."

"I bet you do. If you're looking for the snitch, it's Proudfoot."

Harry lifted his head. "He talks to the press?"

"He sells to the press. Has for years. Kingsley tried to helm him up, but he got off on a reprimand. Couldn't exactly fire someone during a war, right? But I imagine... if some evidence came forward... the Review Board wouldn't take kindly to a second egregious violation."

"Thank you," Harry breathed.

Hawkins put his hand on Harry's shoulder, and the tension just melted away. Hawkins was the closest thing he had had as a mentor in the Auror program. "Go get this prep. Close yer case and shove it in their face. Follow yer guts, Harry, and you'll catch DEK."

Harry stared back into the eyes of his former trainer. "Thank you, Senior."

"Go git 'em, Auror Potter," he said and gave him a push toward the door. Harry nodded and headed back to Diagon Alley, filled with some new energy.