The Witch and The Hunters

CHAPTER SEVENTY-TWO

Page count: 11

"So, where are we heading?" Hermione finally asked from her place in the passenger's seat, munching on a sandwich whilst Dean drove and Sam was in the back seat, reading another of her books.

They hadn't left the motel until a little after lunch, with it taking some time for Hermione to find a spell that would remove the blood stain from the carpet, which hadn't been easy. In the end she settled for an Illusion Charm, so no one would know it was there and by the time the charm wore off they'd be long gone, and Hermione had made sure to alter the blood sample so it could never be connected to Sam.

They'd been woken that morning by a phone call from Bobby, and of course Hermione was scolded and insulted over the phone until Bobby had ran out of breath, and after he'd finished with his telling off for her "stupid behaviour," he'd given them a location for their next case.

He hadn't given them any other details yet, as he wanted them to confirm a theory of his before he told them of his suspicions. And so, it was now evening and they'd been on the road for almost seven hours, in that time they'd stopped for dinner, and at two convenience stores so Hermione could purchase more snacks, since she swore up and down she was starving. The brothers didn't bother arguing with her. It was safer that way.

"Portland, Oregon," Dean answered.

"I've never been there," Hermione hummed.

"It's about a day and a half travel, if we're lucky. We'll drive through the night so we can get there without having to stop. Once we're there, we'll head to the morgue so you can check out the body. Did Bobby say what he wanted you to do?"

"Yes, I don't know why, but he wants me to see if I can detect whether or not the victim was a virgin."

He raised an eyebrow. "You can do that?"

"There's a medical spell that was used decades ago, in ensuring that Pureblood girls were still virgins, both before an arranged marriage was set if done so after the fifteenth birthday and before the actual wedding. It's not really used much these days, simply because most witches don't tend to wait until marriage, especially the Purebloods. Draco's own parents had him set to marry Astoria Greengrass, a Pureblood witch, from the day she was born and she was two years younger than us. After the war Draco took over Malfoy Industries and he became the Head of the House of Malfoy, meaning he had the power to break the betrothal contract. He'd fallen in love with Luna during the war, as she'd been taken prisoner and held in the dungeons of Malfoy Manor. He protected her as best he could. He couldn't marry someone he didn't love, his parents had done so and he'd been forced to witness their hateful marriage as he grew, he didn't want that for himself and he doesn't want it for little Scorpius either. He's already received petitions for betrothal contracts for Scorpius from twenty-two Pureblood families in Europe, and more keep arriving by the day."

"He's not even three months old!" Sam protested.

"I know," she sighed. "But Draco's not going to accept any of them, he wants his son to be happy, for him to choose who he wishes to marry, witch or wizard. Besides, if he ever takes the choice away from Scorpius regarding his future relationships, I'll be second in line to kill him with Luna leading the charge. For someone so calm, she's bloody frightening." They both snorted. "Do either of you have any idea of what we may be dealing with?"

"No, not until we're given the details. All we know is there's a dead body and several women have disappeared. Has Bobby told you anything else?" Sam asked.

"No, just what we already know," she shrugged.

~000~000~000~

"This building has appalling security," Hermione commented, as she and the brothers walked into the morgue and headed straight for the freezers where the bodies were kept. It took her three tries to find the body she was looking for.