Two
Shades of Grey
Well, from then on everything pretty much sucked.
The whole problem with the thing from the beginning was that no one even suspected Carrie Haver. She had never really liked Nikki Harfield, but nobody really noticed that because no one really liked Nikki Harfield except her preppy friends. But still, that didn't give her a right to murder the girl.
There I go again. I should tell this like a mystery story, and have the murderer hidden until the end to be revealed with a great deal of suspense like they do in the Agatha Christie books that Sirius is always borrowing from me. Yeah, Sirius likes Agathat Christie, go figure. But since I just gave it away, I figure that there's no point in prolonging the inevitable.
There were really only three people that knew everything. And that was me, Carrie, and Nikki. So that leaves it up to me to tell the story, and I'm never good at that part. But the scary part of the story wasn't really the murder, or the letters, or even the part when I was up at the wall with a knife at my neck and blood trickling down the side. Trust me, that was scary as hell, but the worst part was inside her mind.
But there I go again. The morning afterwards was horrible, of course. That was all the students talked about all day long, and Alicia's ego wasn't being helped any by the hundreds of people, all questioning her in awed voices about Nikki's dead body. She got over her disgust real quick, and I think she took a kind of sick pleasure in the whole thing.
But James, poor James, he had it the hardest. This was before he ever knew me, to be sure, but I felt kind of sorry for him even then. Suspicion was pouring over him from the rest of the school and nobody wanted to talk to him. He and the rest of the Marauders were at the table that morning, all clustered together with serious looks on their faces. That was strange enough---usually they were surrounded by hopeful fangirls or at the center of some crowd, laughing their heads off at a prank. They were so caught up they even forgot to turn Snape's hair into toothpaste (a bi-weekly event, with a different Transfiguration each time) that they had planned very loudly in the common room before any of this happened. People edged away from James, and I even caught myself wondering.
What had happened? Where had James been last night? Sure, he supposedly couldn't get up the girls staircases, but it was no secret that James was star Chaser on the Gryffindor team, and his Nimbus 1000 would have no problem floating up to the windows. And Nikki's room did have windows.
"What's James's alibi?" I asked Theresa Madding as I slid into a seat at the opposite end of the table. She frowned at her apple and took a bite, chewing viciously and swallowing before she answered broodingly.
"He said he was at Quidditch practice. They caught him just as he came in the front hall, about twenty minutes after it happened. Sherry Anbience demanded to know where he'd been, and he just said 'Quidditch practice' in this bewildered tone of voice."
I glanced over at her, dark curls falling into her face, set in a brooding expression. She had gone out with James for two weeks in third year. "Can the team vouch for his alibi?"
"He was alone."
I groaned as Alice Remerta sat down beside Theresa. "Hey Lil, Teri. Is it true?" she turned a skeptical glance on me. "I may be a gossip columnist, but I refuse to believe half of this crap."
I sighed. "Too true, Alice. I saw it. And don't you dare start anything," I added, glaring at her. I hadn't really trusted Alice since she printed a rumor about me and Sirius back in third year. Alice only grinned at me cheekily.
"First rule, Lily. Everyone' s a target. So is it true that James killed her, then?"
Theresa spoke up suddenly, stabbing her fork into her eggs. "Would you just chill, Alice?" she said angrily as she pushed her plate away. "They're going to be enough rumors without you adding to it."
"I just print the truth, Teri. Hey, how do you feel about---?"
"No," Theresa said firmly. "I will not continue this anymore than it has been. Forget it and move on. And don't call me Teri," she added as she slung her bag over her shoulder, stalking away.
I smiled and mentally congradulated Theresa. Alice had given her hell about being a James-Fling-of-the-Week and she was too sensitive not to take it personally. Alice looked at me and opened her mouth, but I pushed my half-eaten plate back and grabbed my back. "No chance," I said before I followed her out of the hall.
But it wasn't easy to keep a smile on my face through Double Potions, with Grimay being as horrid as possible. He kept making snide remarks all through class, and it didn't help that we were brewing a poison meant to make a creature retch its guts out.
I couldn't concentrate. The potion was supposed to be emerald green, poison green, but mine had turned scarlet. I had no idea why, and staring down into my cauldron, I suddenly saw fresh blood, poured out into my cauldron, blood that had belonged to Nikki Harfield--
I stepped back abruptly and my foot hit my cauldron, sending the contents spilling across the floor, where they hissed menacingly and began to make a sound like acid on human skin. My hands clutched at the flask I had just removed, not even corked yet, and I blinked before grabbing my wand and cleaning it up.
Grimay took twenty points from Gryffindor for "Evans's clumsiness and inability to correctly brew a simple potion" but I barely noticed as I corked my flask and set it on his desk, next to the orange and green liquid filled ones that insured I might not fail.
Outside the classroom, I leaned back against the wall and took a deep breath, closing my eyes before I felt someone watching me. Opening my eyes, I saw James Potter standing about three feet away from me, staring at me with an odd expression on his face. I stiffened.
"All right, Evans?" he asked, and there was a slight note of concern in his voice.
"Fine," I said shortly. How could he be standing there so calm when he had threatened to hit Nikki last night? How could he be so calm when he could have been the one that killed her?
He looked at me, half-indignant. "Good," he snapped and walked off. I took a deep breath and headed off hurriedly to Transfiguration.
It seemed like things were going wrong for everyone. Kelly Amea started shaking during Transfiguration, deathly pale, and Wanda Hopan had to take her to the hospital wing for a Calming Drought. Alicia Silverstone was staring into space all of Care of Magical Creatures and was quieter than normal, barely speaking three words. The grotesque picture was lingering in everyone's minds.
Everyone but Carrie Haver.
Disclaimer:I own Nikki Harfield, Theresa Madding, Alicia Silverstone, Alice Remerta, Carrie Haver (sadly), and all those other peeps. JK owns Hogwarts, Lily, James, Peter, Sirius, Remus, teachers, etc. You know the drill.
Notes: Whee, it's not abandoned! Sorry so short. I finally posted Ask Moony at FictionAlley here if that works. If it doesn't, go to my bio and click on the link there. It'll be at least a week before next chapter, because I won't be on my home computer. Sorry all, love you!