The door to the Ravenclaw Commons slammed shut and was immediately followed by the fist of a short, slim boy. He crumpled to the floor, his fist still planted against the door. He began to sob but quickly forced it back when he felt the hand of his friend, Grayson, on his back.
"Otto? What's wrong?" Grayson said in a warm, comforting tone. His face was friendly and soft, with light gray eyes and short, blonde hair. He was of average height for a 16 year old.
"I- Its Lilith," Otto stuttered, with a sob "she's dead." Otto said, his speech was incredibly scrambled, searching for an explanation he could give himself, let alone his best friend. His weeping becoming more audibly pronounced. "She's dead, Gray! She's-," he began to shout, but was quickly cut off by Grayson.
"Shh, calm down. Otto, slow down. What do you mean Lilith's dead?" He said, a look of grief and shock plastered onto his face.
"She's dead!" Otto yelled, gripping at the chest of Grayson's robe "My lovely Lilith is dead. I found her crumpled over in a group of bushes. Her necklace was stolen. Her wand was by her hands, and she looked scared. I should have been there for her. I should have been there to protect her! She looked so innocent, so sweet and undeserving of her fate… Oh god, she's really gone." Otto's crying fit began, which seemed to rapidly climb, already close to a peak.
"Otto, calm down! Lets go over this," Grayson said, trying to fit his words into the middle of Otto's dramatic fits "you found her body in a group of bushes in the Forbidden Forest. Her wand was knocked out of her hand." Otto nodded along with Grayson's analysis. Grayson paused, Otto's crying seemed to be dying down "I think we can rule out- Hey, look at me." Grayson said, grabbing Otto's face and moving it so that their eyes met "We need to think about this. We can rule out an accident. Someone did this."
"Who would do such a thing?" Otto said, his voice was already hoarse from his tantrum, his light green eyes becoming puffy. He stood up and walked up one of the many flights of stairs leading away from the common and up into the two bed dorms. Otto shared a dorm with Grayson, who was following Otto up the stairs. Otto reached his bed, and lazily took his robe off, tossing it to the ground by his bed. He sat down on his bed and leaned over, reaching for his shoes to begin taking them off.
"Okay, everyone the I can think of is at The Three Broomsticks," Said Grayson, sheepishly. He worried that logic had gone past his friend, who was the most logical person he knew.
"Good, good." Otto mumbled, calming down and agreeing with Grayson. He was becoming more level-headed and methodical, as he usually was.
"The only person I can really think of that I can place is Sam Delcroix." Grayson said, quickly eyeing Otto and quickly looking back down again. Grayson sat down on his bed and sighed a heavy, emotional sigh.
"What do you mean?" Otto grumbled, while taking off his second shoe and finally laying down.
"Well, from what I understand, He is head-boy, and he has a fairly full day tomorrow, so he more than likely would have left the pub early, ya follow?" Said Grayson, staring at the tapestry that covers the top of his bed. "He has a meeting. Fairly early, from what I hear. At about six in the morning, something like that. I don't-" Grayson said.
"Where is this meeting?" Otto said, cutting his friend off.
"East wing. By the Transfiguration hall." Grayson muttered, breaking his gaze from his tapestry, looking over at Otto. He seemed deep in thought, seriously thinking over the situation he was in. Grayson could tell that he was already working everything over, even though he had such little to go on.
"What else do you know about this Sam kid?" Otto said, his eyes closed and his brow furrowed. He was concentrating.
"Well, he's a Slytherin. He's a gifted politician, and he comes from a wealthy background." Grayson said, with a low tone "And get this," He sat up, looking directly at Otto "Word around the castle is he had a bit of a thing for, you know, Lilith." Grayson hissed. Otto winced at hearing the girls name. His head turned away from Grayson, a glare spreading across his face. At this point he had already made up his mind; one way or another, he was getting into that meeting.
Before he had even realised he had fallen asleep, Otto woke up to the sound of his watch beeping. It was currently 5:34 in the morning, meaning that he had very little time if he truly wanted to investigate this kid. He silently slunk out of bed, slipping into standard Ravenclaw uniform. He snuck out of the Common Room, taking only his wand, a notepad and a ballpoint pen, which was quite rare at Hogwarts.
In his last six years of early waking and sneaking, Otto hand learned his way around the castle well enough to know where he was going. He eventually made it to the hall where the meeting was going to take place. He glanced down at his digital watch, and to his luck, it was 5:57.
Just as he smiled at his small, black watch, he heard several voices, all belonging to students. Perfect, he thought. Those must be the Prefects heading to the meeting. He looked around and saw the entrance to an old, dark janitors closet. The type of place he undoubtedly knew too well.
He waited long enough to hear several more voices pass, and a door closing and opening multiple times. He waited to go alone and sneak into the meeting but he heard the largest, and more than likely last group coming up. He grabbed the handle and waited, trying to count the voices. As the passed, he quickly and quietly exited the closet and blended into the back of the crowd.
They entered into a lavish room, that took the formation of a rectangle. It wasn't as great as a hall but it was definitely bigger than your average room. There were banners from each house hung up on the walls, and the room was filled with chairs lined up in rows. At the head of the room there was a podium with a gavel and a small stack of papers, seeming to address problems of the student body. Behind the podium wasn't a house banner, but rather the Hogwarts banner.
A tall, well built boy with wavy golden blonde hair and blue eyes walked up and assumed position behind the podium. His jawline was strong and he had defined cheek bones. In many ways, he was what some considered to be a traditionally handsome man. He began his address by picking up the gavel and slamming it down.
"Settle, settle. Welcome to a rather unplanned meeting. As we all know, this meeting was called together yesterday just after study hall, so I won't be taking attendance as it isn't mandatory but rather just suggested." Said the boy Otto only assumed was Sam. He spoke with a smooth, deep voice. One that belonged to a predator; smooth yet sinister with an alluring tone.
Otto tuned out the speech, for he knew that he didn't need another sample. This was his killer. He didn't even wait for Sam's address to finish, he had already heard enough, and snuck out the back and found a place to hide. This was no longer a 15 minute ordeal. Otto was going to connect Sam to the murder, some way, some how.
As he sat and pondered through the few ways he could connect the murder to Sam, Otto realized that he had failed to inspect the body. If he hurried, he could quickly go to the body, and see if anything might be missing. If anything was, he could check Sam's dorm for the item, and if he was lucky, he could check Sam himself. As quickly as the thought had crossed his mind, he left to go find the body once more.
Otto slowed from a full hearted sprint down to a slow walk, examining the day and scenery around him. It was a beautiful autumn day. The leaves were falling and the air had a warm lingering tone of summer. As he approached the forbidden forest, he realized the true loss he had experienced. His almost blind rage had lifted from his eyes, and the full force of death and his clammy hands hit him.
Otto moved the bush to examine the body and recoiled like it was the first time he had seen it. The corpse had beautiful blonde hair, and pale blue skin. He kneeled down and brushed her face with the back of his hand. This new light of empathy and sadness made Otto rethink this whole thing. Maybe it wasn't Sam. Maybe it was just a blind thought. He couldn't believe that he thought Sam was guilty, but that's when it hit Otto like a ton of bricks; he wasn't the one who thought it was Sam. It was Grayson.
Grayson was the one who brought Sam up in the first place. And more importantly, he knew where Lilith's body was yet, Otto never told him where he found her. He shot up, and just as he turned, he heard a loud familiar voice.
"Stupefy!" Yelled the voice. As quick as Otto realized what the voice was saying, a flash of white light was followed by darkness. He was knocked unconscious.