A/N: Well, I hope you all enjoyed the last story. Here is my first HP fanfic, which will enter a more or less unexplored genre with unexpected characters. Except you already know what both the genre and the characters are, as you read the summary.
Congrats to Borys68, the first to say that my pen name is the Rings of Power added up, and to aitchee, who was second. Check out their story pages, there's some pretty good stuff there.
Warning: While this is a Year 1 fic, it will contain a few spoilers from across the series up to and including Deathly Hallows, so you are advised not to read this unless you have completed the series. (But by this point, who really hasn't?)
This story is set in Harry's first year, and is based on the books.
I do not own Harry Potter (or Sherlock Holmes).
In this chapter, anything in italics is an extract from Goyle's journal, as he is chronicling the entire adventure at a later date.
Elementary, my dear Goyle
Upon seeing Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle for the first time, most people would believe that they were around 13 or 14 years old, and even so, burly for their age. This would be a mistaken impression, as they were both only eleven.
The two would accompany a much smaller and less intimidating Draco Malfoy everywhere, bodyguard style, for as long as he was at Hogwarts. It was often wondered why the two provided this protection and intimidation service to Draco, as they certainly weren't being paid for it. Perhaps it was due to the loyalty of their families to the Ancient and Noble House of Malfoy, or perhaps they were too stupid to do other than what he told them to.
Both ideas would be wrong however. They stayed with Draco because it was an excellent cover. They stayed with Draco, because where Draco went, trouble was always around, and trouble was their business.
Upon speaking to Crabbe and Goyle, most people believed they were extremely slow, unintelligent, and about as eloquent as a pair of constipated trolls.
This however, was another extremely mistaken impression, as the duo were intelligent, observant, and had a greater vocabulary than most people twice their age. They chose not tho show it, except to each other, as it would otherwise blow their cover, since Crabbe and Goyle had a very impotant mission: The Protection of Hogwarts from Dark and Mysterious Forces.
Goyle's Journal, Date: September 1st 1991
The Hogwarts Expess zoomed along towards the secret location of Hogwarts, which myself and Crabbe had quite naturally already predicted, though for obvious reasons we will carry this secret with us to the grave. As the pair of us strode imposingly behind Malfoy, I reviewed in my head the recent incident involving the jinxed broom, the stolen wand, and the engorged pumpkin: myself and Crabbe's last case before departing for Hogwarts.
Draco led us down the corridor, and into a compartment containing two boys and a large mound of candy. The red haired boy was eating a great deal of it, more of the wrappers were next to him, but it was quite clear that it wasn't he who had purchased it: two unopened sandwiches also lay next to him, indicating that he had not planned on eating from the trolley. No such meal was near the dark haired boy, which would mean that he purchased the entire lot, implying he was quite wealthy. However, he had not yet changed into his robes, and the Muggle clothing he wore was faded, old, and the wrong size, indicating that his fortune was quite newfound, which would mean... my heart sank as my eyes drifted up to the scar on his forehead, confirming my worst suspicions: the boy Draco Malfoy had chosen to terrorize was none other than Harry Potter.
This was going to be a very long year indeed...
"Is it true?" Malfoy was asking, "They're saying all down the train that Harry Potter's in this compartment. So it's you, is it?" However, Vincent Crabbe was not paying much heed. He had already followed a very similar train of thought to Goyle's and reached a similar conclusion regarding the boys' identities in about half the time, and immediately moved on to more pressing matters: the Weasley boy's rat.
It had the faintest of an aura around it, indicating that a spell had just been cast upon it, but there was no sign of any spell's effects, aside from a missing toe. However, the wound was not fresh in the slightest, and Crabbe could not imagine the boy cursing off his rat's toe and not being concerned in the slightest. This would imply the toe had been lost in an accident, or a fight perhaps, but it would be highly improbable that a single tiny toe, and not an entire paw, would be lost. Crabbe needed to see that rat more closely. He nudged Goyle, and jerked his head surreptitiously towards the creature. Unfortunately, he failed to notice Draco's conversation with Potter and Weasley, which was taking an unpleasant turn at that very moment.
"But we don't feel like leaving, do we, boys? We've eaten all our food and you still seem to have some," Draco was saying just as Goyle reached his hand out towards the rat, who was nesting in the chocolate frogs. All eyes immediately turned to him, and he reached a split second decision: If the threat could not be examined, it would have to be neutralized.
Goyle quickly jammed his knuckle into the rat's mouth and yelled. Loudly. He swung the rat round and round until it flew off and hit the window very hard. He quickly fled the compartment following Malfoy and Crabbe. He was pleased with himself, until he heard the Weasley boy say,"No - I don't believe it - he's gone back to sleep."
Goyle was infuriated. He had failed.
He waited till they had returned to the compartment and Malfoy had begun a conversation regarding Potter with Blaise before turning to Crabbe.
"I apologise for that fiasco," he muttered to his comrade, casting a healing charm at his own bleeding knuckle.
"No need for that at all, old friend," Crabbe airily replied. "No ordinary rat could have survived a hit against a window at that velocity and angle."
"That's the problem. The rat did survive, unless Weasley has an even lower intelligence than he appears to."
Crabbe smiled. "You missed my point. No ordinary rat could have survived, ergo, Scabbers is not an ordinary rat. This certainly merits further investigation."
"Scabbers? I failed to notice that little detail."
"No detail is ever too small my friend," Crabbe's smile grew broader, "In fact, the smallest of details are often the most important."
And so it was upon that speeding train that I learnt the importance of smaller details, a lesson that would prove to be extremely useful over the following year. My friend and mentor, Vincent Crabbe, also confessed that working undercover as Draco's bodyguards was more difficult than expected, as Draco himself ended up being a random factor in the proceedings. Random at first that is, within two weeks of accompanying him we were able to successfully predict his behaviour patterns in various scenarios, making everything that much easier.
The year ahead was to be a tumultuous one. While we knew it was our responsibility to use our skills to protect Hogwarts from danger, we failed to anticipate how much danger Hogwarts was actually facing...
Well, I was actually shocked when I searched for fics with this genre and these characters, and saw that there was only one, which was not really what I had in mind. It seemed like such a simple concept: Crabbe and Goyle are actually undercover detectives. My original plan was to have Goyle as the Holmes, and Crabbe as the almost-as-competent Watson. However, a certain plot twit sprung to my mind which caused me to switch them. If you think you know what it is, please DON'T put it in the comments, and PM me instead.
One last thing: I NEED YOUR OPINION. Besides an honest review, I need to know: should I keep this as a OneShot, make it the first in a series of OneShots, or make it Chapter 1 of a much larger story? I originally planned to do the first, but as I started writing wonderful ideas began to flow into my mind, tempting me to write more. So. Much. More.
Thank you for reading, and please, please leave an honest review, and you may want to follow in case it does become a larger story.
TwentyRings
