Scattering Shadows

Chapter One

By: Saadie

A/N: I have recently been mercilessly drawn into the world of Criminal Minds so I really couldn't resist writing a fanfiction on it. And being the huge HP fangirl that I am, I couldn't resist a crossover. I have, unfortunately, watched this amazing show in an odd order where I started in the middle of seventh season, finished it, and then went back to the beginning. I am currently just a few episodes into the third season so I have huge gaping holes in my working knowledge of the CM-verse which is filled in mostly by facts I'm picked up reading other CM fanfics and lots and lots of google. With that being said if I get anything wrong, please don't hesitate to point it out to me, all input is welcomed with open arms and triple chocolate cookies. Pairings are currently undecided, there may also just be no pairings. Excuse the cheesy title; I am terrible at naming things. Hopefully I will get better before I have kids.

Also, did I mention that I don't own anything related to Criminal Minds or Harry Potter? Because I don't. If I was, I would most certainly not be remain broke university student. Enjoy!

Aaron Hotchner surveyed his team through the window of his office with calm eyes. They'd been in the bullpen for two days now, catching up on paperwork, but everyone knew that it was only a matter of time before they were called away on another case again. The last case had been a bad one. A crazed megalomaniac had taken it upon himself to "pick up where the great Hitler started" after his wife had died in a car accident and the other party (a Jewish male) had survived. He had carried out his disturbing mission until the team managed to catch him nearly a week after being on the case. Twenty one dead in New Jersey. Eighteen of them from Jewish families, the other three from various minorities that were not "privileged to be part of the Aryan Race", killed in the last day in the killer's desperation to complete his mission as he devolved.

They had arrived in time to save two children that he had taken hostage. The children were alive but not unharmed. They would carry those scars, numbers carved crudely into their forearms, with them for the rest of their life. Even if the physical scars faded, would the emotional damage done to them ever truly fade? And if they jolted awake every night screaming or grew up to be jaded and suspicious of the world around them, who could truly blame them?

A knock on his door broke him out of his increasingly depressing thoughts. Cases involving children always hit everyone harder. Even now he could still see the prominent circles under Reid's eyes.

Turning quickly he was met with the sight of J.J. holding up a stack of files. "We've got another case, sir. Minnesota, three dead," she offered with a terse smile.

Aaron suppressed a sigh and accepted one file, flipping it open to read on the spot. "Inform the others, briefing in the conference room in five."

"Yes sir," she nods and exits the room.

Already Aaron can see the team is sitting up straight, eyes turned towards J.J.'s approaching form. None of them liked to stay in the bullpen for long even if that would, technically, mean that there was less crimes being committed out there.

But they were field agents for a reason; they needed to be out there, doing something. Sitting here in the bullpen, knowing that somewhere out there murders and rapists were running loose and under the radar ate at their very souls. Aaron pushed that out of his mind for now, whipping out his cellphone to call Jessica. He had been hoping he'd be able to spend the weekend with Jack but it seems like the world had other things in mind. If he was lucky, this would be a quick case and he could be back by Sunday morning to spend the afternoon with his son.

"Hello?" the voice on the other end sounded distracted.

"Jessica? It's Aaron. I need you to pick Jack up from school and watch him until I get back. I'll try to be back by Sunday."

A sigh, "Oh Aaron, I can't take him this weekend. I'm going out of town for my friend's wedding, I told you that."

Aaron tensed; what could he do now? He couldn't leave his team but if Jessica was going out of town, who could watch Jack?

Just then Jessica's voice filtered through the speaker again. "What about this? Aaron do you remember Jack's best friend?"

Aarons' mind raced, trying to pull up a name. Jack had loads of friends and his 'best friend' had changed three times over the past two years and for all that he was able to analyze most situations, the senseless politics of children often evaded him. Finally his mind settled upon a pale little boy with bright green eyes and messy black hair, "Albus Potter?"

"Yes, that boy! His father runs a daycare. I've had them watch Jack for me a few times before when I couldn't pick Jack up on time. The father, Harrison, picks up the children from his son's school personally. Jack loves him, says he makes the best cookies and makes up the most entertaining games. Has he mentioned him to you?"

"Yes," Aaron could vaguely recall Jack rambling about a 'Mister Harrison' who let him have an extra caramel fudge cookie for being good and finishing his homework first. "Yes I remember him. Is he safe? Will he take Jack for the weekend?"

"Oh I'll call now and ask. And Harrison's an absolute sweetheart, don't worry! There's not a single person who knows him who could find anything wrong with him. I'll call you back after I talk to him, alright Aaron?"

Rubbing his eyes tiredly, Aaron had no other choice but to agree and hang up the phone. He suppose it would have to do for now. He'd have Garcia run a background check on this Harrison Potter for criminal records or suspicious activity. Nothing too invasive, just enough to make sure that Jack would be safe with him.

With that thought in mind, Aaron picked up his half-read file and made his way towards the conference room.

He sat down with a nod to J.J. who was setting up the projector. Within minutes, Rossi and Prentiss filtered into the room, murmuring their own greetings with Reid and Morgan bringing up the rear, cups of coffee clutched in their hands. They settled into their chair and turned their attention to the screen.

Pictures of two men and one woman appeared in front of them. "There have been three known victims so far, all found mauled to death in Minnesota, North Woods, more specifically in the Border Lakes Subsection. The three bodies were found miles apart from each other in a recreational park just south of the great lakes."

A click later, the previous bright smiles were replaced by photographs of three barely recognizable bodies. The flesh was bloody and mauled, at parts the bones were visible. It was as if something had ripped out large chunks of the body and chewed on the rest of it.

"The first body found was Eric Silva, aged 23, happened upon by a group of extremely unfortunate hikers. Family reported him missing a week after he had left for his trip to the park and never contacted them again. The rangers then swept the park and found the next body, Samantha Camp, aged 19, dead in the same fashion about three miles east of the first body, never reported missing. The last body, Warren Gallo, aged 22, reported missing two weeks prior, was found two days later, west of both bodies by a ranger while on patrol. Decay analysis place Warren as the first to be killed, followed by Eric and then Samantha. Subsequently, many animals have already made a feast out of the remains and it became difficult to determine whether the victims were mauled to death or killed and then left out purposefully in the path of large predators so evidence could be destroyed. Either way, reports place Warren and Eric's death within three days of each other, roughly three weeks ago while Samantha is believed to have been killed recently. Given the large time gap, authorities believe that there are more bodies out there that have yet to be found."

"You know," Reid interjected, "I'm surprised that the two male bodies are so intact. Or, er," he continued seeing the looks and raised eyebrows, "as intact as they are now."

"You call that intact?" Morgan asked, pointing to the photographs of the badly mauled bodies, "Dude's missing at least half of his body !"

"What I mean is, if they really were left out for predators three weeks ago, there should be even less of them remaining. I mean look, even though some of the limbs are torn from the victim's body, the bones remain approximately where the appendage should have been if they were still attached. Most animals would have carried the limb off with them if they ripped it out of a piece of their meal."

"So you're telling me that someone came back and put the body back together?"

"It's possible," Reid shrugged in his signature manner, eyes cast towards his own hands.

"Okay," Aaron cut in, "everyone grab what you need, wheels up in thirty. We'll finish the briefing on the jet. Garcia?"

"Yes sir? What can I do for you today?" the chirpy voice of their Technical Analyst filtered through the speakers of the laptop.

"I want you to run a search for a list of all the missing persons reported within the last three months who are in their late teens to early twenties," Aaron leaned in close to the speaker with a glance at the now empty screen.

"Sir, yes, sir!"

"And one more thing, Garcia. I need you to run a background check on a Harrison Potter from Virginia; it does not pertain to this case. Check for criminal records or other suspicious activity," said Aaron in a low voice, even so, Rossi looked at him with a raised eyebrow but he waved the Italian away, mouthing that he'd explain later.

"Your wish is my command, I'll have it for you on the plane,"

"Thank you Garcia." Aaron ended the call, snapping his phone shut. With a heavy sigh, he headed back to his office to retrieve his overnight bag. Hopefully Potter would check out clean and Jessica would call back with good news. Sometimes, he wished he could just bring Jack with him, as irrational as that sounds. With nothing else to do but wait, he pushed open the door to his office, intent on collecting everything, trying not to glance at his watch obsessively until Jessica called.

So hopefully my constructed case(s) weren't too hard to swallow. Anyone too OOC? I'm trying my best here guys, I swear! Abnormal Psychology was my worst course so far (probably because my Prof was obsessed with Africa, Nazis and Aliens – I kid you not; although that would explain why Hitler came up in this chapter) so I promise to try and do my research properly but please, again, forgive me if I make mistakes. Also, why is Harry Potter in Virginia? I actually have not come up with a reason for that yet. But you will find out when I do, promise. I was worried I'd have to tweak the timeline a bit to make Albus and Jack the same age, and then I googled and they're BOTH born in 2005! I feel like I hit jackpot here! So that puts them both at around 6-7 years old right now in case anyone was wondering.

To anyone who's actually interested, the reason why I'm still only on the third season is because I am a very paranoid person with an active imagination and Criminal Minds brings out the worse in me. I was quite convinced that my coat stand was a person standing behind a door waiting to kill me one night. My thought process after several episodes of Criminal Minds generally goes something like this:

"I walk into my room. The lights are off. It's dark. I can't see anything except the faint glow of my laptop screen. I maneuver myself so that I can shut the door behind me. It's pitch black now. And for some inexplicable reason, during the five seconds it takes for me to reach out and flick on the light switch, I am utterly convinced that I will turn to find someone (in my mind it is a man, taller than me but faceless still) standing behind me. I turn on the lights. Force myself to turn around. The empty space behind me brings about a sense of relief so palpable that I find myself reeling with the thought of just how real my fear is. It's an irrational fear, deeply rooted in paranoia and given strength and cause to flourish by an unnecessarily florid imagination. I wonder how long I can stand peering into shadows until I drive myself mad."

So yea, am I in love with this show? YES, absolutely, I'm enamoured with it and in love with Reid and Morgan (separately or together, whichever works). Am I scaring the life out of myself every day because of this? Yes. I most definitely am. Excuse me while I run and grab a knife to sleep with.

One last note, I am not American. You may have already been able to tell by the way I spell things, but let me repeat, I am not American. That means I do not know American geography/history/cultures…etc. I'm relying on google and I'm making up what I can't find. If I make mistakes or offend anyone, I'm sorry. Again, please feel free to correct me. I am very new to this fandom as well, so if you could all kindly take the time to review and tell me how you felt it went, it would be greatly appreciated!

Reviews are love?

-Saadie

(Sorry for that REALLY long note at the end guys hope it wasn't too much?)