Chapter 37: The Truth

In the craziness of what happened at the side of the Great Lake, I had forgotten that Kevin had not returned from Riverdale with the rest of us. It wasn't until he sat down between me and Veronica that I remembered he hadn't arrived at my house before the portkey left. I felt like a horrible friend for forgetting, but Kevin seemed cheerful.

"I never imagined that the it couple of Hogwarts could ever be a gay couple from Slytherin. After really getting to know the school, I never would have expected a gay couple even, but everyone is talking about them. Regulus and Severus. Wow." He exclaimed, staring over to where Severus and Regulus were eating at the Slytherin table. "I missed out. I went for the wrong Black brother. Look how lovingly he looks at Severus. I hope to find someone who will love me that much."

"Don't worry, you will," Veronica stated. "But I don't think you and Regulus would have worked out. He has been crushing on Severus basically since they met, at least from what he has told me."

"Did you set them up?" Kevin asked.

"I wish," Veronica replied. "I only encouraged him to act on his feelings. I think last night was what really sealed the deal."

"Yeah, I heard," Kevin replied with a distracted look on his face.

"What happened to you Kevin? We missed you yesterday. Did you get stuck in the storm?" I asked.

"Yeah, my dad was supposed to be off work, but when a search warrant turned out more evidence than expected, he had to report right before noon to make the arrest. Dumbledore flooed and arranged for me to come this afternoon instead." Kevin answered.

"What was the arrest that was so important to make you miss the portkey?" Jughead asked.

Kevin paused for a moment. Then looked down as he spoke, "They arrested FP Jones for the murder of Jason Blossom. They found the murder weapon inside his trailer."

I looked to Jughead. His face suddenly went rigid.

"Wait, when did that happen?" Veronica asked.

"Right about noon yesterday," Kevin replied. "I'm so sorry, Jughead. It's the facts."

"I'm fine," Jughead said.

"Wait," Veronica said. "Archie and I searched his trailer just before eleven and there was nothing there."

"You searched my dad's trailer?" Jughead turned on Veronica, anger replacing his stoic expression.

"Listen, this is a good thing," she replied.

"Good? My dad just got arrested for murder. This is anything but good." Jughead stood up.

"Juggie, I'm sorry. Please, sit down. We can get through this together." I pleaded, gently tugging on his arm.

"This was arranged, wasn't it?" Jughead said, looking from me to Veronica while backing away. "You asked your mother to create a distraction so you could investigate. Why didn't you ask me? Did you not think I could be trusted?"

He slipped from my grip and stormed out of the Great Hall. I got up and followed after him. He exited the castle through the entrance hall and started running across the grounds. I kept running.

I wasn't sure what Jughead would do. Would he run away? Close himself off? Try and get sent back to Riverdale?

I looked back and saw Kevin and Archie running to catch up with me.

I ran for a long time before I needed to start walking, I was out of shape. By then Archie and Kevin had caught up, Kevin chose to walk with me as Archie kept on running. We had been going alongside the lake for so long, I wondered where school property ended or if it included the entirety of the lake.

"I'm sorry," Kevin said. "I know I needed to tell the truth, and I knew it was going to be hard on Jughead. I just hoped that quicker was better."

"It's not your fault," I said. "These are the facts and we can't get around them. It's just something we will have to help him through."

We finally made it to a cluster of trees where we caught up with Jughead and Archie. It looked vaguely familiar.

"Juggie," I said, getting down to put my arm around him.

He shrugged out of my arm and I let it fall to my side. He was closing me out. I wasn't sure how to get him to not shut us out when he needed us the most. Kevin retreated to help give Jughead more space.

"Jughead, Veronica and I both know that the gun wasn't there when we searched his trailer. I know you are offended that we did it without talking to you first, but really it was a good thing," Archie explained. "We know your dad was innocent."

"Innocent of what?" Jughead replied harshly. "He was involved."

"He confessed," Kevin said quietly. "He confessed this morning to killing Jason. I think it might be better to confront that fact and move on."

"No!" Jughead shouted, standing up once more. "He told me right before I left that he didn't kill Jason."

"He was lying to protect you," Kevin stated calmly. "He doesn't want you to think down on him as your father."

"No, he was telling the truth," Archie countered, agitated. "The gun was not in his trailer when Veronica and I searched it. Someone planted it."

"Why would he lie to my dad? Why would he confess to a crime he did not commit? It makes much more sense the other way." Kevin countered.

"Quiet!" Jughead shouted.

We stared as he slid down a tree to sit on the ground, head in his hands.

"Juggie, your dad did not have the gun just under an hour before the cops came. Unless he was carrying it around, someone planted it. Your dad is innocent."

"My dad is not innocent!" Jughead exclaimed and then he started to cry.

Just then, Lily and Veronica arrived. To my surprise, they were were with Severus and Regulus.

"I don't know whether to think of this place as good luck or bad luck," Regulus stated, looking around.

Severus stared down at Jughead with intensity that made me uncomfortable. I moved to put my arm around Jughead again. This time Jughead didn't shrug it off.

"Jughead, we are here for you. All of us." I said.

"So, the debate is whether or not Jughead's father lied to him or Kevin's dad?" Severus said, kneeling in front of Jughead. They must have overheard Kevin and Archie's argument.

"No," Jughead said agressively. "The question is how much was my father involved in the murder of Jason Blossom?"

"Why do you say that?" I asked. "Archie and Veronica say the gun wasn't there when they were there. It was clearly planted."

Severus got up and then proceeded to wander around in the trees just beyond the clearing.

"What are you doing?" Jughead demanded harshly, starting to stand up again. I held him back, unsure if he was going to lash out at Severus in anger again.

Severus stepped out again with a bag. The bag Jughead had with him yesterday after our visit to the car site.

"Finding the missing puzzle piece," Severus said.

"How'd you know about that?" Jughead demanded.

Severus tossed the bag at him.

"I'll still let you decide what to do with it, but at least now everyone will know that you have more information than the rest of us." Severus said as he returned to Regulus's side. Regulus immediately put his arm around him.

"That's the bag you found at the site where they burned the car," I said. "I had forgotten about it. What's in it?"

"Nothing," Jughead said aggressively as he shoved the bag into my hands. "My dad said it was dangerous and held the truth, but it doesn't."

The bag felt light and the contents felt soft. I took his handing me the bag as permission to open it. I unzipped it and pulled out a jacket. Jason's letterman jacket. I felt my mouth open wide in shock. Veronica, Archie, and Kevin all had their mouths gaping in shock.

"What is so concerning about the hideous muggle jacket?" Regulus asked.

I looked around and realized that Severus, Lily, and Regulus had no idea the significance of the jacket.

"It's Jason's jacket," Archie supplied.

"It's the letterman jacket of the boy who was murdered over the summer," I added. "The same one Severus and I found in the getaway car."

"So your father had to be involved with the burning of the evidence," Severus said, presumably to Jughead.

"It's supposed to hold the truth," Jughead said. "That's it. The bag has nothing but the jacket in it. How can the jacket hold the truth?"

I thought hard about the jacket. The jacket couldn't hold DNA evidence as it was in the getaway car and not on Jason when he was murdered. There had to be something in it. If there was a hole in the pocket, it could be lost in the lining.

"Archie, put it on," I said, holding the jacket up.

Archie stepped into the jacket and I immediately started poking around in the pockets. The left one had a hole. I then started to feel around in the lining.

"What are you doing?" Veronica asked.

"There's a hole in this pocket." I declared.

"Now we are just grasping at straws." Keven said.

"I don't know about you, but I hate it when I get a hole in my pocket and I lose my chapstick in the lining." I said as I felt around. I found something and I started to work it back towards the pocket with the hole.

I pulled out a small USB jump drive.

"I think I found the truth," I declared, holding it out.

"What is it?" Regulus asked. I don't think I was ever going to get used to how little the British magical community knew about the non-magical community.