MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU ALL! :D


'Ah hello Ron,' called Stone cheerfully. They exchanged causal greetings and the latest Chudley Cannons score. 'Now about this alibi of yours... the second half is fine but it's the first half we can't quite pin down,' he looked sternly at Ron.

Ron gave him a cheeky smile.

'I wanted to see if I could get away with it.'

There was a tense pause; Stone stared hard into Ron's blue eyes.

'Oh no, not the murder!' Ron smirked, reading Stone's face and thoughts. 'I was actually with Draco Malfoy – I thought we could help each other out.

'So he'll confirm this?'

'Yeah, he's alibi doesn't quite check out either.'

'Well, that's one mystery solved. Thanks Ron,' Ron bid Stone goodbye and left.


'You could have told me in the first place!'

'Lav, there never was a first time, I never told you where I was,' he gave a small laugh and linked arms with the blonde girl. She tapped his am playfully.

'What did you two discuss?'

'Just if he had heard anything that relates to this case and, before you ask, he didn't. It was a waste of time.'

'But if you hadn't had that meeting then you would still be a suspect,' Ron nodded in agreement. 'I'll go and talk to Pansy again, she might have more. You go speak to your sister,' she gave him a good-luck kiss on the cheek and swayed away.

Ron watched her go and made his way to Gryffindor. Ginny would be there; she always was.

As Ron walked into the common room, he was grateful to see that it was only Ginny and a handful of first and second years in there. The smell of nail ink filled the room.

'Core, Gin, you could have at least put on an airing charm,' he said with a smile and waved his wand. He could breathe again. 'What colour?'

He walked over and sat next to her.

'Black.'

'Cheerful,' she smiled at his sarcastic response.

'For Harry,' Ron could feel her sadness; he put a long arm around her shoulders and pulled her in closer. 'My nails!' She squealed but leaned into her brother, loving the protective sentiment.

'How have you been, Gin? And don't give me all this "I've been fine" shit,' he rested his chin on her smooth hair.

'Terrible. I miss him so much, he was always there. Sometimes I half expect him to just walk through the portrait hole and moan about his scar,' she gave a small, sad laugh; Ron knew what she was going through, he kept waiting for the same thing. 'I really loved him, Ron, and there's a hole where he's meant to be and, and I don't know if I'm ever going to fill it,' she let the tears escape and run down her face.

Ron awkwardly turned her and hugged her tightly, letting her tears soak his own shirt. He stroked her hair and rubbed small circles on her back, just allowing her to shed her pain and heartbreak. He knew now that there was nothing he could ever truly do to stop the hurt but he could try to make her as happy as she could be. Her soul mate was gone and nothing could ever bring him back.

'Thanks Ron,' half an hour later, she pulled away from Ron and wiped her eyes with the back of her hand.

'They'll find out who did this, Gin,' he said, thinking it would comfort her but as he watched her eyes, it didn't seem to. 'What's wrong, don't you want them to find out who did this?' His tone was pushier than he had meant it to be.

'Of course, but..,' she stopped and looked down.

'Look, Gin, you know you can tell me,' his tone was soft and trusting. He reached out for her small hands (on which the black nail ink had luckily dried) and enclosed them in his own large ones.

'I think we both know it's not Draco Malfoy,' she said with a sad smile. 'I wish it was, but I know it wasn't. So that means it's someone I love; either you or Hermione.'

'So it wasn't you?' Asked Ron with a smile, Ginny gave a small laugh and shook her head.

'And I don't want it to be either of you because I can't see either of you doing that. You loved Harry nearly as much as I did and I don't want to lose either of you. I just want them to leave and take the memory of Harry's...,' her sentence trailed off; she couldn't bring herself to say it but Ron knew what word she had missed. 'Away from me and Hogwarts.'

'Where were you Gin?' Asked Ron tenderly. She looked up. 'You weren't where you said you were,' he looked seriously at her. 'I don't care if-,'

'No!' She exclaimed. 'I didn't harm either of them, I couldn't.' She looked away from Ron and he thought he may have lost his opportunity to find out first-hand where Ginny had really been. 'I was with Lavender and then Luna.'

'Ginny,' Ron's voice gave an unspoken warning.

'I was with Dean in-between,' at first Ron didn't get what she truly meant and then it sunk in.

'Oh, for fuck's sake Ginny! Harry's not been dead five minutes and you're already-,'

'Don't say it Ron!' Ginny jumped up, her face a mixture of anger and guilt.

'How could you? Whatever happened to "I loved Harry" and "he was my soul mate",' Ron just shook his head at her and walked off. He ignored her cries and left the common room.

Suddenly, Ginny's innocence didn't seem so clear.


'She's fucking Dean Thomas!'

'She didn't say-.'

'That's what she meant. A quickie between seeing two of her friends; how disgusting! Not even I would do that. Her boyfriend's not been dead two seconds and she's already shacked up with another,' Lavender tutted her repulse and Ron said nothing. He still couldn't believe it; he didn't think her capable of something so... malicious. 'She could have done it.'

'But she-.'

'No buts, Ronnie, if she's doing Dean it stands to reason that she could be doing someone else as well. Dean would cover for her and say they were together for 15 minutes when they were only together for 5 or her other lover could have done it,' she paused. 'Have you spoken to Hermione?'

'I've-,'

'Only just come from Ginny, yes I know. But these things need to be done and, unlike Ginny, I don't think Hermione likes me – I can't think why! So you'll need to speak to her about it.'

'Have you got anymore?'

'Pansy did mention something about Ginny and Dean, so that supports that bit of evidence,'

'Evidence?' I interrupted suddenly it all seemed so serious and meaningful. I know we were investigating the murder but somehow it didn't seem real – for some strange reason, it just felt like a game and at the end we would pack the pieces away and play again another day.

'Well what else is it? This is a murder investigation so any information gathered must be evidence! Anyway, where was I?' She thought for a second before continuing. 'Oh yes, Pansy! We've got your alibi sorted and Ginny's and Draco's but neither of us had heard anything about Miss Granger's. Hmm, as far as Slytherin-Gryffindor lovers go, we've got nothing. Not one drop of gossip and, trust me, it would be more than a drop of gossip if it were true!'

'So you don't think it's true?' I asked, the detectives seemed sure of them and had actually taken to asking questions about that topic.

'No, it's a load of bullshit, Ronnie! I would know as soon as a Slytherin and Gryffindor even looked at each other in a friendly way, let alone lovey-dovey! You would never be able to keep such a thing from Lavender Brown or Slytherin, for that matter. Thus the motive must be another.'

'Lav?' I asked, knowing full well she had a perfect idea of who and why.

She stood up and began pacing, counting the motives on her hands as she spoke.

'One a, is you. You kill Harry because you're jealous of his fame, wealth, blah, blah. One b is still you. You kill Harry because he's cheating on your sister. One c, still you. You kill Harry because he's taken Hermione from you – oh, give over Ron you loved, or love, her! Whether Ginny's linked in with that I don't know.'

'You still consider me?'

'I'm just saying, I can't afford to count you out,' she gave me a teasing wink but suddenly, I wasn't so sure that she thought me entirely innocent. 'Now two a, is Ginny. She kills Harry because he's cheating on her. Two b, Ginny kills Harry because... well, okay, I've only got one motive for Ginny, but we both know that one is true. Harry Potter was certainly cheating on her, whether it was just with Hermione, or not, or with a string of other girls, we don't know. But I'm going to find out,' she scribbled down a note on her scented, pink parchment and carried on. 'Three a, is Hermione. She murders Harry because she rejects him, as in she's madly in love with him and he refuses to have her (so he's not cheating on her with Ginny) and so if she can't have him no one can – oh, trust me Ronnie, it can happen! Three b, Hermione does it because, well it's the same as before but this time she's already with him behind Ginny's back and he ends it, whether to get another girl or, I don't know. Three c, they're not together but Hermione finds out that he's cheating on Ginny and, in a passionate, protective rage, kills Harry – I don't know, maybe she's in love with Ginny,' Lavender shrugged, like it could be the most natural thing in the world.

Personally, Hermione being a lesbian was as unnatural and weird as You-Know-Who dancing naked in the Gryffindor common room to the muggle song "I'm Too Sexy" – Lavender seriously needed to get a better (and less cheesier) taste in muggle music.

'I don't think I've got anymore for her.'

'What about Draco?' She'd included me in her list so she must have thought about Malfoy.

But to my surprise, and slight hurt, she shook her head and said no more about him.

'The second murder has the same motive; Creepy found out and was killed to silence him,' she smiled contently.

'That's it?'

'Unless you've got anything to add,' and even if I had, she carried on too quickly for me to put one word in. 'Right, we've got motives and now we just need to reduce it. We have to find out who Harry was cheating on Ginny with and whether Hermione was one of them, if Hermione's a lesbian,' I can't believe she put that one in. 'And if Ginny knew Harry was cheating on her, she'd have to be really thick and naive to not know. Hmm... I think that's all.'

'Are we going to tell?'

'Tell who?'

'Stone and Fox about what we've got.'

'Why? It's nothing new, just that Ginny's got a new boyfriend, and it won't take them long to find that out. If they think there is a relationship between two houses that hate each other, then they are seriously mistaken and they deserve not to be told.'

And with that, we both went our separate ways; each with our little missions to complete.

As I walked away, something told me that this was all nearly over.
Something would crack and we would finally be free – minus the one who would be trapped behind Azkaban's bars for life.