Hey everyone. This is another story for the Holmes Mystery Challenge on Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The prompt I was given was orange. This is a continuation from The Case of the Potter. I hope you all enjoy the story. So without further ado here is The Scene That Met Them There.
I knew as soon as we reached the blown out form of the house that used to be mine that James Potter my husband was dead. Maybe even our son Harry too. Tears started to form in my eyes as I saw the building that used to be a home. I could remember it as it had been. Pristine white exterior with a white picket fence. Little orange shutters on the window which was one of James's attempts to bring a bit of color to the house. We had even painted the door an orange-ish red to go with the shutter over the window.
"Is this the scene of the crime?" asked John Watson.
I looked over at the kind doctor and nodded.
"It doesn't look like anyone has lived in this house for years," Sherlock Holmes said without even glancing in our direction. "In fact it looks like it should be condemned."
My eyes widened. He was right. The house looked like it hadn't had people in it in decades. Let alone that a murder had just taken place.
"Are you sure that a murder took place here last night?" the consulting detective asked me with a troubled look.
I nodded my head. "I am," I said.
It was then that a slight noise caught my attention. It was coming from John Watson's pocket.
"Sorry," he said pulling out a black box and pressing something on the side of it. "I have to take this," he mouthed. "It's Molly." He got out of the cab and walked a little away from us talking to whoever Molly was.
"Seem distressed," Sherlock observed.
"What was that thing your friend is speaking on?" I asked hurriedly.
"It's a cell phone. Don't you have cell phones where your from?"
My eyes widened. No we didn't have cell phones because they were obviously invented in this time period. I looked towards the shell of the house that James and I had made again. Was it possible that I had been sent into the future the day I died?
"This is going sound weird," I said randomly. "But I think I may have traveled through time."
Sherlock snorted. "Impossible."
Watson had walked over during this exchange. "What's impossible?" he asked.
"Time travel," Sherlock informed him.
"Think about it," I said looking between the two of them. "It's the only way to explain why the house in question doesn't look like it's been lived in for decades."
"There are other ways to explain that," was Sherlock's reply.
"Like what?" I asked him hands on my hips. "I didn't know about the cell phone until your friend received his call. Cell phones weren't invented until recently. Right?"
"So?" was Sherlock's only reply.
"So that just give what Lily, here, was saying more credence," John said in defense of my thought process. "Doesn't it." He turned to you. "What year was the last day you remember in?"
"1981," I told him.
"Which would explain why she wouldn't know about cell phones," Watson nodded as he thought out the information. "And it would also explain why the house looks like a monument. It hasn't been lived in since the 80's."
"So the case isn't to solve who murdered Mr. Potter," Sherlock deduced, "it's to figure out who sent Mrs. Potter here to us. Is that how I am to take this?" He looked between John and I.
I looked over at John seeing the same thought process going through his mind. Was that what this was about? I looked back at the orange shuttered house and then turned to Sherlock and nodded.
"Yes," I told him. "I suppose that is what the case is. But that would require remembering the events of that night."
"Then I guess we should go in," Sherlock suggested leading the way towards the run down house.
As John and I followed the consulting detective I smiled knowing that I was finally home. Not that I could actually stay in it. It wasn't livable but it was home. And the case as just about to get interesting. For soon I would see my son again.
I hope you all enjoyed The Scene That Met Them There.