A/N: Again...I sincerely appologize for the long wait. I was out of the country and spobyaddict's parents split and it was all just a big bundle of, "I really don't want to get anything done." And I'm also moving in two days and 20 some hours, but who's counting? We will keep writing, so don't freak. And also keep in mind that neither of us own Harry Potter or Pretty Little Liars.

(Please don't kill either of us?)

Hermione wasn't thrilled to say the least. Spencer, Aria, Hanna, and Emily had been a wreck since Alison died and it seemed as if everyone was just fawning over Alison DiLaurentis even more now that she was dead.

And then there was the whole thing with the murderer.

Now, Hermione loved a good murder mystery, but she prefered not to live in it. Or be any part of it, thank you very much. And honestly, it was killing her not to have all the answers.

"Hermione?" asked Ron, the day after the whole Colin thing had started.

"What homework do you need my help on now?" she demanded, slamming her books down next to Ron and Harry, who were seated on the couch next to the fire place in the common room.

"Actually, we were wondering if you had the Prophet?" asked Harry, putting down a book that he was reading. Believe me, Hermoine was just as surprised as any of you. Harry, reading a school book?

"Of course," she answered, pulling out her copy from her bag that was stuffed full of books as usual.

"I don't get it Hermione, why do you have Magical Mishaps and Merical Magic Murder?

"Because they're interesting!" she cried, as Harry took her paper. "Harry, why did you want the paper?"

"Because he wants to read the horoscopes, Hermione, why do you think!" Ron muttered under his breath. Hermione hit him over the head with Magical Mishaps which was at least five inches thick. He rubbed the back of his head, painfully, glaring at her.

"I'm not stupid Ronald!" she retorted. Harry, used to their bickering, opened to the fourth page.

"Guys, look at this!" he spread the paper out on his knees so his two best friends could read it too.

X

Boy Who Murdered?

by Mary MacDonald

Colin Creevey, 15, was recently taken into the Ministry for questioning concerning the death of Alison DiLaurentis, 16, who died last month in a tragic accident. DiLaurentis was found buried six feet under the Whomping Willow, which was planted over thirty years ago on the school grounds. The boy's mother pleads that he is innocent, but precautions must be taken. Dumbledore will not comment on the matter and nor will any of DiLaurentis's family or friends. The evidence against Creevey is stacked up to the ceiling and it is said that Dumbledore himself, along with numerous Ministry employees are combing the evidence for other suspects. More are yet to be found.

Sources report that Creevey was seen walking into the Gryffindor common room late on the night that Alison DiLaurentis was murdered covered in mud and rain, as it was raining that fateful night.

"I was only trying to get Harry Potter's autograph!" claims Creevey. "He was on the pitch and I was running around below. Just ask him! I'm innocent!" Potter has yet to respond to the Ministry's questions.

In the meantime, our hearts and minds stay with the mourning DiLaurentis family and their loss. Let us hope that the answers will soon be revealed.

X

"Is it true?" asked Hermione, hoping secretly it wasn't.

"Yea, I was really annoyed so I flew into the woods near Alison's memorial and Colin followed me, I eventually had to fly into my room, just to get away from him. I dunno why he was so... possessed... to get my autograph. He hasn't been that way in years," Harry answered, biting the end of his quill.

"That's an awful habit, Harry," Hermione scolded, swatting away the quill, but really thinking about how horrid it all was. All because of her. She took a deep breath. "Harry, you've got to answer those letters!"

"I haven't got any!" he exclaimed, throwing down the quill. "I would if I could!"

"Merlin, calm down mate, okay? It's only Colin!"

"Yea, and I wouldn't want to send him to Azkaban for something that he didn't do!"

Hermione sighed. The two of them would be at it for hours.

"Harry, have you answered them yet?" Hermione asked the next day at breakfast, as she joined the boys at the table.

"No!? When would I have? Anyway, they haven't asked me," he answered.

"Harry! Are we talking about the same Ministry here? Send something in to Kingsley or Moody! Fudge and that lot are as corrupt as muenster cheese!"

"I believe you mean swiss cheese, Hermione," Ron put in, whilst stuffing his face with chicken. She wondered briefly at how he got chicken at breakfast but at least she wasn't cooking for the idiot. She glared at him before purposely dropping her bag that was full of at least ten books onto his plate. She could Scourgify the bag later.

"Harry, you've got to quickly! This isn't some sort of assignment that you can hand in ages late. Colin's life is on the line!"

"Don't be absurd Hermione," Ron muttered, trying to lift the bag off of his plate. "How do you even lift this thing?"

"You're a wizard aren't you? Use your wand, Ronald," she answered, crossing her arms. "Anyway, Harry, I'm not going to give up!"

"It's not like he's going to die is it?" asked Harry. "I mean, Ron has got a point hasn't he?"

Hermione just rolled her eyes before pulling out a copy of the Prophet from that day and throwing at the two boys. Ron, finally managing to push off the bag and joined Harry in looking at the paper.

"Creevey to be put in Azkaban before the end of the week?" asked Harry, not quite believing what he was reading.

"I told you, this isn't an assignment you can turn in late," Hermione muttered. Harry nodded dumbly.

Later that afternoon, when the three of them were in History of Magic, Harry slipped Hermione a note as she frantically tried to take notes from the dead teacher.

She glared at him before opening the note, on it read simply.

I sent in the letter to Kingsley.

She nodded to Harry to show she was proud before trying to go back to her writing.

But she couldn't.

If it wasn't Colin, who was it? It could have been half, no all of Hogwarts. Even Hermione could have done it, but...

She looked over at Emily and Hanna who were sitting in the middle of the third row, the two were ignoring the lesson and just talking in hushed voices. If Spencer were there, Hermione knew that she would have been acting like Hermione.

But she wasn't, so Binns just ignored the entire class and duly continued on his lesson.

Unknown to the fact that many of his students weren't thinking of Goblins or witch burnings, but death.

The death of Alison, the girl who never seemed to leave.

Hermione sighed and tried to scratch down what Binns was saying, but her mind was racing, trying to figure it out.

Again.

"I can't remember not knowing Alison. Not having her as a friend. She was the first person I knew long enough that I felt I could be angry with, without worrying that I was going to lose her. It made me feel like something was going to last, and you need that. Especially when you're a kid."

"Friends can be hard on you. Maybe, they expect more from you than strangers. Strangers pretty much see you the way you want them to see you, but you can't fool friends. That's what makes them friends."

"The memorial we're putting by the Forbidden Forest will be a safe place. You can go and sit, read a book, and just think. You should think about Alison while you're there. She'd want to make sure you didn't forget about her."

"When you do something like this-a memorial- it's partly because you don't understand what has happened. So you plant flowers and you paint tiles. And, somewhere in the middle of all that work, you stop crying. I guess that's the point."

"She would've liked that you were all here. She would've liked the attention. No, actually, she would've loved the attention. It would've made her laugh. And Alison laughing- that was amazing."

The girls were emotional from their speeches at Ali's memorial, to say the least. However, all feelings of grief instantly vanished as Jason helped Jenna up to the podium.

"We think we know who we are, but we don't. Not until something bad happens to us. And then, all the useless things just fall away, and we're left with who we really are. I learned that from Alison DiLaurentis. My whole life, I thought I knew who she was. But I found out the truth when she came and talked to me in the hospital. I found out that she was the strongest person that I had ever met. And it's her strength that's touched so many people. Shaped them. That's her real legacy. That's how her memory will endure. In the actions of those she inspired in so many different ways. From all of us- thank you, Alison."

And, as much as the girls thought that Jenna was out to sabotage the entire memorial, she had made a very touching-and truthful- point. Alison was the strongest person that anyone at that memorial had ever met. Her legacy would live on in every possible way, and the memorial would help to ensure that.

"CALEB! How could you?"

"I don't know, man! It just... felt right, you know?"

"No, Caleb, I don't! Kissing the girl you love should feel right. Eating an entire feast in the Great Hall feels right. But DESTROYING Alison's MEMORIAL? Really?"

"Look, Toby, I'm sorry. But I don't regret it."

"Why not? In what universe would doing anything like that be done without regret?"

"The one where Alison DiLaurentis tortured our girls into doing things that you know JUST as well as I do were horrible! The one where Hanna spent every minute focused on her imperfections that aren't even there! And Spencer went through JUST as much. You know that."

"I do know that. But I also know that the girls loved her. She made them feel accepted. Hanna was able to accept herself- even if it wasn't in the way that you'd prefer. Spencer found freedom from her family of Ministry snobs- and if you DARE tell her I said that I swear I'll kill you- because of her. And so yes, even though the girls went through horrible things and she made their lives a living hell, she made them happy. Isn't that all that matters?"

"Yeah, I guess you're right."

"And you couldn't have had me talk some sense into you BEFORE you vandalized her memorial?"

"Nope."

"You can't get yourself out of this, you know that."

"Yep."

"What do you mean it's been destroyed?" Spencer asked, trying to remain calm under the situation.

"I mean that the memorial we slaved away over is gone! Someone hacked away at it last night and there's really nothing left," Hanna explained, also desperate to keep her emotions intact.

"How much is that?" Aria asked, concerned that the art tiles she had been so looking forward to were gone.

"Umm... Some shards of the fountain. A couple art tiles, maybe three. Nothing else, really," Emily added quietly, obviously on the verge of tears.

"Did you take a full inventory?" Spencer quipped amusedly while sipping on her coffee, putting it down when Emily looked down guiltily. "Em? Is there something you aren't telling us?"

"I went there last night... To say goodbye, or get closure, or something like that... I don't even know. When I got there, it had already been shattered. I took what was left." As she said this, the brunette pulled four little statues out of her bag, her tears falling freely now. "These are one of the last memories I have of her that aren't tainted with one thing or another. This is it..." she said, trailing off into her own sniffles.

"Oh, Em," said Aria, putting an arm around her comfortingly. "I know how much you loved her. We all do! We all loved her, but we can't keep these. The Ministry will start asking questions that we do NOT want to be answering."

"You don't understand!" Emily said harshly, wiping below her eyes to try and calm the waterworks..

"What don't we understand, Em? What happened?"

"It's... I... It's nothing. I'm just still... dealing, you know?" The girls nodded, obviously unbelieving.

"Sure, Em. But know that whenever you want to talk to us about... Dealing... You can. Okay?"

"I know," the brunette said, a genuine smile gracing her features for the first time in what felt like forever.

"Spencer?" The blue-eyed boy called out into the darkness.

"Toby! What are you doing here? How did you get into the-"

"Shh! That's not important right now!"

"Then what is?"

"I know who destroyed Alison's memorial."