|
A Dangerous Gamble On the Hogwarts Express | ||||||
|
Category: Hogwarts Express Challenge (2006-3) Characters:None Genres: Action/Adventure, Angst, Drama Warnings: Death Story is Complete Rating: PG Reviews: 19 Summary: ** Winner of Best Mystery in the Hogwarts Express Challenge ** A body is found after the train pulls out of the Hogsmeade Depot. The investigation falls on Harry, whose shoulders are already carrying a heavy load. Can he solve the crime and find the murderer before the train reaches Kings Cross Station? Does he ask for help? Will he find some of the answers that he seeks? Hitcount: Story Total: 10342; Chapter Total: 2785 |
Previous Next |
|
||||
|
Chapter 2: We Aren’t Always What We Seem Harry jerked awake. Scrubbing his hands over his face, he looked around the empty compartment. One of his greatest fears was that Voldemort would some how find out what Ginny meant to him and kill her. His dream had been so real, that he expected to find Ginny’s corpse on the floor and Voldemort standing over her sneering. He could hear the remnant of her dying scream reverberating through his mind, causing the hair on his arms to stand at attention from the shivers that were coursing through him. Knowing that Ron and Hermione would have Prefect duties to attend to, Harry began to settle back onto the hard bench seat, his glance straying to his watch, when footsteps pounded up the hallway outside his compartment and a shrill scream of, ‘Noooo!’ rent the air. That one word was filled with so much anguish that fear clutched his heart in a vice. “GINNY?” Harry cried. Pulling his wand out of his robes, he leapt to his feet. His nightmare fresh in his mind, he wondered if it has been a premonition rather than a dream. He yanked open the door and joined the slow moving queue of students trying to get to the front of the train. The corridor appeared crammed with students. Time crawled by as slowly as Harry moved forward, but at least, he could still hear Ginny sobbing. Whatever had happened, she still lived. “Excuse me,” Harry said, and managed to move a few more feet nearer to Ginny. “Please take your seats,” he implored a group of First years, who when they realized who was speaking, jumped to comply. Finally, after much pushing, shoving and what seemed like hundreds of ‘Excuse me’s,’ Harry entered the second car and was able to peer into the open door of compartment B. One glance and he knew that he was too late to help. Ginny, Ron and Hermione were kneeling beside George’s lifeless body, tears streaming down their faces. Holding her brother’s still-warm hand, Ginny doubled over and kissed his cheek in farewell. Harry looked at the Prefects lining the compartment and standing behind his friends. “What happened,” he cried as his knees buckled and he joined Ron, Ginny and Hermione on the floor beside George. Ginny shook her head and cried harder. Ron’s mouth opened, but nothing came out. Hermione lay her hand on Ron’s shoulder and said, “We don’t know. Ginny came and knocked on the Prefect’s compartment to see if Ron and I were finished with our duties. We were, so we decided to come and find you. As we passed this compartment, Ginny glanced in and saw George.” “Was he in here alone?” Harry asked, he didn’t think that now would be the best time to tell them about the note George had sent him. “Yes,” Ginny said, trying not to cry. “The movement of him falling to the floor caught my eye.” Her tears started again as she said, “He died all alone.” “Someone must have seen something,” Harry said. His brilliant green eyes swept the room. Stopping at each person, he waited for a response before moving on. Each answer was the same, a mute shake of their head. “Harry, would you please handle the investigation,” asked the Head Boy. “I sent someone to find the engineer, but they haven’t returned yet. You have already started asking the necessary questions.” Surprised, Harry blurted, “Me? Why me?” “Please Harry. I know that you will do your best to find my brother’s killer,” said Ron. Ginny reached out blindly with her free hand and threaded her cold fingers through Harry’s. “Do this for us, Harry. Please?” she softly pleaded. With both Ron and Ginny requesting his help, how could he do anything else? “If you want me to, of course I will.” He squeezed Ginny’s small hand before releasing it and standing. “Who was the first person through the door?” “I was,” Ginny said tearfully. “And no one else was in the compartment?” “No.” Harry stared around the small room. What should he do first? He wasn’t equipped to investigate a murder. Maybe after Auror training he would be prepared, but not now. His eyes returned to Ginny’s upturned, tear-stained face. She was looking at him with such trust, that he knew that he would move heaven and earth to uncover the murderer. He felt his heart expand and some of the abject misery that had forced him to the train station earlier fell away. “Hermione, would you mind making a list of everyone that is in this room. I will need to speak with each of you alone. Don’t talk about this amongst yourselves. Just sit quietly and think over your impressions of what you saw when you entered.” He waited until Hermione had recorded each name, and then he continued, “Did anyone move the body? Or pick up anything? Move anything in the compartment?” Almost in unison, the gathered Prefects said, “No.” Nodding, Harry said, “Then, please return to the Prefect's compartment. I shouldn’t be very long.” When the room had cleared except for the Weasleys and Hermione, Harry asked, “Did anyone else touch George?” “No,” said Ginny. “I don’t think so,” said Ron. “Good. Hermione, will you please take Ron and Ginny into the next compartment. I want to search for clues.” Hermione nodded. Helping Ginny to her feet, she assisted the younger girl out into the corridor. With Ron following meekly, she urged them into an adjacent compartment. When Harry was sure that Hermione would take care of them, he gently closed the door and locked it. Dropping the shades for privacy, he turned to look around again. It held the same dingy benches, one on either side facing each other. The smudged windows were so grimy, that they filtered the sunlight dappling the worn, threadbare gray carpet that ran between the seats where George lay. On the small dusty table beside the window, there was a half-eaten sandwich and a bottle of Butterbeer. Harry raised his wand above his head and said, “Lumos!” With the additional light he could now see the gray pallor that painted George’s cheeks and leaning nearer, he noticed that the mischievous twinkle was missing from his flat stare. Mindful that he was the reason that George was on the train in the first place he looked for clues for his killer. Mud caked George’s shoes and the hem of his robe. From the door, he noticed that he had left muddy footprints leading to the bench on the right when you stood at the door. However, looking at the footprints carefully, he noticed that one was smudged. Whoever had stepped in the muddy spot had picked up enough mud to leave half of a print leading to the left hand seat. He knelt beside his friend and tested the caked mud. It crumbled beneath his fingers, the shoes, robe and prints were as dry as bone. George had used a Drying Spell before he was murdered. That meant that either he knew who the other person was, or they had been invisible. Harry’s best guess was that they were under an Invisibility Cloak. Remembering that George had stated that he had something for Harry that would explain everything - whatever that meant. Harry turned out his pockets searching for clues that would help solve the murder. In his trouser pockets, he found ten Galleons, six Sickles and one Knut, an ornate gold ring with a ruby stone that didn’t seem like something that George would wear and one large white, neatly folded handkerchief. His robe contained a conglomerate of mismatched items. A broken quill but no ink or parchment, two wands, a small crystal stoppered bottle filled with a clear liquid that was reminiscent of the vial filled with Veritaserum that Professor Snape kept in his locked cabinet, a Bezoar, and a small gold two-handled cup so tarnished that he couldn’t read the faint words etched into it. The last thing he found was one of the Headmaster’s Chocolate Frog cards, its empty frame reminding Harry that Professor Dumbledore was gone. He sat back on his heels and stared at the items that George had felt the need to carry with him, willing them to tell their story. With a frustrated groan, he Conjured a silken drawstring bag to hold the pieces of George’s life. Next, he felt along the luggage rack and down into the space between the bench cushions, he even checked beside the windows looking for anything that he might have missed in his first cursory search. His last act before opening the door and calling in the first witness was to gently close George’s eyes and cover his face with the handkerchief. George didn’t have an evil bone in his body and deserved respect; not left in such a degrading position. Harry stepped out of the compartment locking the door behind him and moved to the compartment that held his three friends. Sticking his head through the door, he asked Hermione to join him and bring parchment, quill and ink with her, before he led the way to the Prefects compartment. Everyone was sitting quietly with folded hands. They looked up, their faces solemn as he entered. The Head Boy asked, “Have you found anything?” “I’d rather keep that to myself, if you don’t mind?” Harry asked. At the Head Boy’s nod of acceptance, Harry asked the Prefect nearest the door to come with him. Unlocking the door of compartment B, Harry motioned Hermione and the other girl inside. He watched impassively, as the Prefect sidled around George’s prone body and gingerly perched on the edge of the bench furthest away. Hermione sat where Harry believed George had been sitting to eat and placed the items on the now empty table. Picking up the quill, she dipped it in the ink and looking expectantly at Harry, she waited. Studying the girl, Harry noticed that the hem of her robe and her shoes were clean and that she was staring with abject horror at the covered face of George Weasley. After a few questions, with very predictable answers, Harry admonished her not to speak about what had occurred and let her go. He watched her scurry from the room as if the Grim were chasing her and snapping at her heels. The interviews continued until the Prefect room was almost empty. Harry only had one interview left, Susan Bones, a Sixth year from Hufflepuff, when Hermione asked for a moment to go to the loo. Harry nodded, and sat to keep vigil with George until she returned. No one had any mud on their shoes and they all seemed genuinely shocked by what had occurred on the train. He couldn’t believe that Susan would have had anything to do with George’s death. Hadn’t her Aunt been killed by Death Eaters? Harry was stymied. What next? Should he tell Hermione about the note he received from George? When she returned, Harry asked her to fetch Susan from the Prefects compartment. Puzzled, Hermione said, “But she can’t be in there, I just saw her entering the loo.” Harry bolted for the door. Leaping across the narrow corridor, he flung open the door of compartment A to find Susan sitting sedately in the corner. “Have you left this room?” he asked her hurriedly. Susan shook her head. “No, of course not, you told us to stay until you questioned us.” He turned and squeezing past Hermione, he sprinted down the train car. “Which loo did you use?” he asked as he flew by. “The next car’s,” Hermione stated chasing after him. Not caring if the room was filled with giggling Witches, Harry burst into the girl’s bathroom. Not a single person was inside. He had missed her. “Damn, damn, damn. Unless Susan Bones is a twin, which I’m sure that we would have heard about by now, the killer just got away.” Mumbling the entire way, Harry turned and trudged back towards the compartment with George’s body. He had failed. “Harry, whoever it is, they won’t be able to get off before Kings Cross. You have time to catch them.” Hermione interrupted his train of thought. “May Ginny and Ron come back in? They would like time to sit with George.” Not knowing what else to do at the moment, Harry nodded. Stopping, he knocked on the door of compartment C, and motioned Ginny and Ron to precede him to the other room. His heart pounding in his chest, while his mind ran over the clues, he waited until Ginny had gracefully knelt to the floor beside her brother. Needing to stay close in case he could help in some way, he dropped beside her and wrapped his arm around her slender, shaking shoulders. Closing his eyes, he asked Merlin for the strength to help his friends through their loss. Ginny reached out and clasped George’s left hand. The sleeve fell back revealing an ugly mark on his wrist. From deep inside of her, as if wrenched from her very soul, came a strangled cry. At the first note, Harry opened his eyes and looked into her face. Her keening wail of pain cut straight to his heart. Her horror-filled, big brown eyes were staring at George in fear and revulsion. Wrapping his other arm around her to keep her from falling, he turned to see what had scared her so badly and froze. George had been branded with the Dark Mark. |
| Reviews 19 |
Previous Next
|
