"Around 10-15 minutes after taking a drink of the wine, the victims began showing signs of strychnine poisoning: stiff face, neck and their body began to spasm as they fell to the floor." the brunette explained as she paced across the room, "Forensics have confirmed the Potters' drinks did, indeed, contain strychnine. Now, the question is here, who?"
The crowd surrounding her began to stir with restlessness and anticipation. She turned on her heels to face the crowd.
"You are the culprit, Mr. Pettigrew!" declared the petite detective.
The short, chubby man trembled at her accusation. His friends jumped to his defense immediately. "Who do you think you are?!" exclaimed Black, "You're just a child, are you people seriously listening to this kid?!"
Lupin stood in front of Pettigrew protectively, snarling at the girl, "Those are some serious accusations you're making there, girl."
Blue eyes brimmed of conviction, the brunette didn't back down. "The Potters are a powerful family. They know they have enemies, they are extremely cautious. There's no way they would've accepted a drink from one of the servers nor anybody else they didn't consider a close friend. That leaves you, Mr. Remus Lupin, Sirius Black, and Peter Pettigrew."
Sirius glared at the foolish girl, "There's no way any of us could have possibly tried to kill James and Lily! We're as good as family!"
"T-t-that's r-r-right!" Peter meekly stuttered, "We g-g-grew u-up to-together! I w-would ne-never do such a th-th-thing!"
She scoffed, "You would be surprised by the things family members can do to each other."
"Your proof? Where's your proof?" Lupin asked.
Sirius looked at his friend with disbelief, "Moony, you can't possibly be taking her seriously?! She's just a teenager!"
"My proof should be located within Mr. Pettigrew's inner chest pocket." she started, "After getting the Potters' drinks, you sprinkled some strychnine into their wine. Seeing how the wine is a Shiraz, the bitter taste of the strychnine would go unnoticed. After handing them their drinks, you left them to go mingle with the crowd, hoping the poison would take effect while you were out of their vicinity. Strychnine is a slow-acting poison. You hoped that somebody close by would have taken the blame for your crime. Isn't that right, Mr. Pettigrew?"
The man in questioned paled and trembled.
"Search him, Sirius." Lupin ordered.
Sirius's jaw dropped in shock, "You're kidding, Moony. How could you believe a word coming out her mouth?"
"Search. Him." Lupin growled, "I don't… I'm not taking any chances." Sighing, Sirius reluctantly agreed.
"Padfoot, p-please y-you know i-I would n-ne-never d-do t-that!" Pettigrew squeaked.
Sirius's face grew solemn, "Sorry, Pete. You didn't do it right? So, it should be fine if I search you." He grabbed Peter to prevent him from moving. Keeping his grip tight on his friend's arm, he reached inside Pete's suit and felt around for his pocket. He felt something. No, no, no, He couldn't have! Not Peter! Furious, Sirius pulled arm away and grabbed a sobbing Pettigrew by the collar, "How could you Peter? How could you do such a thing?! Why?! WHY?!" He let go, allowing Peter to fall to floor.
Remus's face grew deathly pale, "No.. no.. I-it can't be." He stalked over to Pettigrew and ripped his coat jacket open. Spotting the pocket bulge, he reached inside and pulled out a small bottle filled with a colorless powder. "How could you?" Remus asked, his voice small and weary.
"I-I had to!" cried Peter, "They th-threaten me! W-what w-was I s-supposed to do?!"
"Threaten you?" inquired Lupin, "Threaten you with what?"
Snapping out his stupor, Sirius stood up enraged, "It doesn't matter what! You should've told us! You shouldn't have betrayed us! After everything we've been through, our bonds! Broken! By a simple threat?!"
"Y-you wouldn't understand!" Pettigrew choked out, "they'd kill her! T-t-they said they'd kill her!"
"What are you talking about?" Remus asked.
"Moony, you've got to believe me, they said they would kill Alice if I didn't poison James and Lily! I didn't want to! I w-would never if I c-could help it!"
"YOU COULD HAVE TOLD US! WE WOULD HAVE HELPED YOU, PETER. WE'RE YOU'RE FRIENDS AREN'T WE? WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL US?" Sirius cried, "WE WERE BROTHERS, PETER."
"I d-don't know… I don't know…" he rambled, "Forgive me… forgive me…"
The forgotten detective looked upon the scene as she hung up her phone. A lifelong bond broken to pieces. Humans were terrifying beings, she thought. Deciding it was time to make herself known again, she stepped forward. "Nothing can justify murder. In the end, justice will always prevail. The Scotland Yard has arrived, they'll take it from here." she announced as the officers bursted through the doors. "Admit to your crimes, Mr. Pettigrew, your sentence will be lighter if you do. Also, I have received word that Mr. and Mrs. Potter have stabilized and will survive."
Remus and Sirius watched silently as their old friend was handcuffed and taken away. They looked around for the girl who started it all. She was talking to Alastor Moody, the Head Inspector of the murder division. Remus grabbed Sirius by the hand and dragged him over to the duo, who seemed they were in a deep discussion.
"Moony, why are you doing this?" Sirius groaned.
Remus sighed, "We were rude to her when she was right all along. We need to apologize." Stopping in front of the duo, "Excuse me, miss."
The two looked up at them. Remus nearly cringed at the man's prosthetic eye, "We
wanted to apologize to you. We were awfully rude to you."
The brunette smiled awkwardly, "It's alright Mr. Lupin, Mr. Black. I understand completely. You were stressed out by the situation. Thank you though."
"You really can't blame us. A child popping out of nowhere and completely outwitting us all, we couldn't believe it." Sirius began, "Who in the world are you, kiddo?"
The Head Inspector ruffled the girl's hair, "She's just an above-average teenager who loves to meddle."
"Hey!" she exclaimed, "I resent that!" Looking up towards the two grown men, she smiled. "My name is Chie Kudo, teenage detective. Nice to meet you!"
Sirius looked up in thought, "Chie… Kudo…? Where have I heard that name?"
A flash of realization appeared on Remus's face, "Chie Kudo? As in the one they started calling the Irene Adler of this generation? The one who recently solved the murder case in Manchester?"
Chie grinned smugly, "The one and only!"
Moody scowled, "Don't go inflating her ego, boys. It's big enough as it is."
She scowled at the older man, "I worked hard for that name, Inspector! I think I deserve some recognition! Anyway, I bet you two are wondering about where the Potters' are?" Taking out a notepad, her eyes scanned the pages as she flipped through it. "Aha! Here it is. The Potters' are currently residing in St. Mungo's Hospital. They've stopped allowing visitors since it's midnight but they'll be open tomorrow at 7 AM."
Giving a nod of gratitude, Remus asked, "If you don't mind me asking… what will happen to Peter?"
Chie scowled, "I understand your concern, Mr. Lupin. But it better to forget about him. He'll be taken into custody for questioning. Afterwards, he will be put on a fair trial. I'm sorry to say this, Mr. Lupin, judging by the proof gathered here tonight… he's facing up to 15 years in jail at a minimum."
"Good," Sirus growled, "the bastard deserves it."
Letting out a dejected sigh, Remus gave a quiet "I see…"
Chie looked at sadly at the two men. Just in one night they nearly had everything taken away from them. Betrayal was hard to swallow. This wasn't her first time witness such heartbreak, but it never got easier. Chie never knew how to react in situations such as this, it was ridiculous really. One would think after experiencing it so many times, she'd be able to offer better words of comfort. Shifting awkwardly on her feeting, "I'm sorry." she offered.
The two broken men grimaced at her, "No, it's not your fault. Thank you, for all you've done." Remus told her.
Vrr! Vrr! Vrr!
What horrible timing, Chie thought. Glancing down at her phone she noticed it was her mother. "Excuse me, I have to take this." Walking away from the duo, she made her way outside and slid open her phone. "Hello?"
"Hi Chi-chan!" her mother greeted in that peppy voice of hers, "How are you?"
Sighing, she replied, "I'm fine, Mom. Is there anything you need? Surely you didn't call at midnight just to check on me."
"Oh, cmon Chi-chan, don't be such a downer! I wanted to know when you're gonna come back and visit! Something really interesting happened to Shin-chan and you should come back and see!" her mother giggled.
Hm, it has been a while since she's seen her family. A few months if she remembered correctly. "I'll come back soon, I promise. I'll get tickets and come visit for my break."
Her mother laughed, "Oh there's no need to buy tickets! Mama already got them for you! Aren't you lucky to have such a loving mother like me?"
Chie let out a deep breath, she didn't even have a choice in the first place. "When's my flight?" she asked.
"Tomorrow." was her mother's quick reply.
"Tomorrow?"
"Tomorrow."
"Are you kidding me?!" Chie shouted, startling the officers standing nearby. They slowly backed away from the angry japanese girl. "There must be a limit on how unreasonable you can be, Mom! I don't even have enough time to pack!"
Her mother joyously brushed her off, "I believe in you, hunny! Oh my, I have to go! Your dad and I love you!"
Click.
Vrr!
Looking down at her phone, Chie opened the new email she had received. It was from her mother. "Subject: Flight tickets and details 3" Exhausted, she locked her phone and made her way over to the Head Inspector.
"Excuse me, Inspector Moody, something came up and I have to go home. I'll be out of commission for little while too." Chie explained.
"No problem," the older man grumbled, "You've done enough for tonight. It's time for little kids to go bed anyway. I'll have Officer Tonks take you home."
"Thank you, Inspector!" she cheerfully replied. 'Time to go back and pack," Chie thought, 'I should give Saguru a call. Well, I guess I'll have to sleep on the plane...'
A/N: Hello, hello! My name is Lyn and thank you reading for the first chapter of Great Minds Think Alike. This is my first official fic so I hope I didn't do too badly, haha. I do not own Detective Conan or the HP characters used in this chapter. I only own my OC, Chie Kudo.
Please R&R! (: