For LL.

Prompts: 3. (opening sentence) Time was running out, 4. (word) chasing, 7. (spell) Reducio

Chaser Two for Slytherin

---

Between The Lines

Time was running out. The clock was slowly ticking faster and faster until the hour when the next picture of the new victim's body and the address of where the body supposedly was would be sent to her. And as each picture and address was sent, her reputation as the best detective in the Wizarding World was going down. One person dying every day. A random wizard or witch, every day, and not just in England, over the whole Wizarding World.

But she could always argue that while no other detective had covered any ground on this case, she had. This was a weird case, though. Most criminals could be easily traced with tracking spells. This criminal… they could not be traced using tracking spells whatsoever. And the worst part was, they left almost no clues behind at the scene of the crime. The victim's of the crime always vanished, and no one could find out where they had disappeared to.

When they used a tracking spell for the bodies, it led to the exact address that the killer had specified. And they could use other more recently discovered spells to find out that those people were, in fact, dead. But they could never find the body. It was as if the bodies had just disappeared in thin air.

The weirdest part was, no one had a clue on how the criminal travelled. It was obviously quite quickly, as when they scanned the address of the killing, life could be shown merely minutes before. If they used the Floo network, they could easily be caught. Broomsticks? Nowadays, the security was so tight that broomsticks had to be registered too, and tracked easily. Apparition? Easily tracked. Portkeys? They'd found a way to detect when someone made one.

It just didn't make sense. None of it made any sense at all.

Hermione sighed and gripped her wand tightly. She knew it wasn't smart to hold onto her wand when her emotion level and stress level was so high, but it was the one thing that gave her comfort, other than reading. And currently, she couldn't risk taking the time off to read.

She made her decision and got up. She was going to take a round, try her luck. "Malfoy, let's go."

No response. She glanced at him to see that he was sleeping. Great.

She was about to shout at him when she realized that he had slept just as much as she did. And though she'd gotten used to it, he was still a newb, and wasn't used to the cycle yet.

She wrote a quick note that said that she was taking a round.

All the data she had gathered so far said that the next kill would be here, in Tokyo, Japan. All of the kills were near the institutes that taught magic, though the killer had not gone for London yet, presumably because of how strong Hogwarts' wards were. The killer had a pattern, and it was obvious that they were showing their pattern on purpose. There was a reason.

But why?

Why did people kill, anyway? Why did people find the need to kill; why did her job even exist in the first place? Hunting down murderers, killers. It wasn't exactly a pleasant job but it was one she was good at. She was good at finding things that people skipped over, connecting the dots. It was only the things that were right there for her to see that she often missed. That's why she needed a partner, to see those things.

She neared the school, Mahoutokoro School of Magic. None of the kills were too close to the schools, but close enough that you could tell that the intent was for the kills to be near the school.

The biggest problem with this case was that the United Nations Congress of Magic refused to put too many people on the case. They did not want information about the case getting leaked out, nor did they have enough money to pay for more staff.

So here she was, Great Britain's best detective, getting paid a shit amount of money for a case that no one could solve. But it went against her pride to refuse the case, she wanted to prove that she wasn't a detective for just her face, as some people put it. But then again, she would always have anti-fans, and fans. She found it strange that the Daily Prophet found joy in following her everywhere, when she was just a simple detective.

It was quite annoying, at times. So she found herself concealing herself wherever she went, just as she was doing at the moment.

She was currently wearing a Cloak of Invisibility, one that she had borrowed from her dear friend Harry Potter. He was the Head Auror, and she often helped him out, and vice versa. They often found themselves working together, her telling him what to do or where to go more so than the other way around.

She peeked down to make sure that her feet were not showing from underneath the Invisibility Cloak. She had cast more spells on the Cloak so that people would not be able to detect that she was there. As well, she had tried herself to make an Invisibility Cloak so she didn't have to keep borrowing it (as it was way more effective than a Disillusionment Spell, or those bad Invisibility Cloaks made from applying the Disillusionment Charm onto a cloak) from Harry, but it just seemed to be impossible.

Her thoughts trailed back to the case as she walked around the grounds of Mahoutokoro. She pulled the cloak tightly around her; the wind was cold. Why were the bodies traceable to the exact spot, yet unable to be seen? Invisible.

If the Disillusionment spell had been casted, they would have been able to easily be spotted as people would trip over the bodies. But this wasn't the case. In fact, while scanning the locations of the dead bodies, there was nothing more than dust.

She felt rather than heard someone coming. Goosebumps went up her spine and she whirled around, not bothering to be quiet. She had cast a spell that made it so that she made no noise.

The problem was… there was no one. In her knowledge, she knew no one else who possessed an Invisibility Cloak. And she, Hermione Granger, couldn't make another one. If she couldn't, who could? The person had to be using a Disillusionment spell, or one of those not permanent Invisibility Cloaks made using Disillusionment charms.

She would never be able to find them, not in this open space.

She glanced at her watch. Time was running out. Right when she was about to turn around, someone pulled hard on her Invisibility Cloak, causing it to fall off and her to be exposed. She gasped and turned around, but there was no one there.

She gulped, pulling the Invisibility Cloak around herself once more, gripping her wand tightly as she looked around nervously. Stay calm.

She felt a tap on her shoulder and she threw it off and started running. She heard footsteps chasing after her, pounding. She could judge that by the sound of the footsteps, it was probably a man, average height or weight. She stopped in her tracks. Why was she the one running away? She should be chasing them, not the other way around.

But where were they? That was the problem. She couldn't see them at all. What if… what if she was the next victim?

She turned around to where she thought the alleged murderer was and held out her wand. Taking out a stick from her pocket she did the classic trick in Disillusionment.

"Engorgio," she whispered, pointing at the stick. The stick grew long and stopped when it was around three meters long. Using it, she spun in a circle, before hitting someone.

She immediately pointed her wand at the area, saying, "Petrificus Totalus!"

There was a loud thump! as the person fell to the ground.

She walked over to where the body had fell and felt around for the body until she found a fabric. A cloak. She pulled it off, and it revealed a man in his late thirties. She couldn't recognize him, but he was obviously a wizard.

"Incarcerous," she muttered, and ropes wrapped themselves around the wizard quickly and firmly. Then, she quickly sent her Patronus to Malfoy, telling him to come and that she had the possible murderer with her tied up and the address.

As she thought what had just happened through, it hit her.

Engorgio. As things could be enlarged, they could shrink as well. Reducio. Shrink to the point where… it could be as small as dust. They could have been Disillusioned, and then shrunk.

Making it virtually impossible to find, yet still there.

It was so simple, so obvious. How could she have not realized earlier?

A Malfoy with messy hair, obviously just woken up Apparated there. She scowled at him, hitting him on the head.

"What?" he complained, rubbing his head.

"I've solved the case. Get the body and let's go."

He muttered something under his breath.

"Contact the Congress while we're at it. Now I'm going to sleep. Goodnight."

She read in between lines very well. But because she was always so busy reading in between the lines, she missed what the lines actually said. At those times, she needed someone next to her to read them for her.

But other times... other times, she read those lines, even if it was a little late.

And she did.