Title: The Missing Clue (5/6)

Author: granger2malfoy

Pairing: B/Hr

Rating: PG-13 ... does go to a stopping point where it becomes NC-17.

Disclaimer: I do not own characters, the concept of the game Clue, or the movie Clue.

Archive: Yes

A/N: This goes with the Masquerade Challenge on IATQO group. Yes, this is idea was conceived while playing the game Clue. Special thanks to the lovely and very talented Jade, who helped and betad this for me.

Summary: Dumbledore arranges the students sixth year and higher that stayed during the Christmas holidays to partake in a character masquerade party. At the party they will come in outfits appropriate with their character and will solve a mystery. Hermione finds more the missing clues.

Chapter Five

The professor and the rest of the students were already in the study as Blaise and Hermione entered. As she took her place on the couch between Luna and Millicent, her eyes looked towards Blaise and then right behind him to noticed something else had happened to the place where their wands were locked away. "Was that like that when the lights came back on? Are all the wands gone?"

"Yes, Miss Maroon. The cabinet was like that when I checked it after the blackout and also note the fire is now lit behind Mr. Black as well," Professor Lupin acknowledged as she got to her feet and walked up to the fireplace next to Blaise. That is odd the fire was not lit before we separated and the person would've needed a wand to light it so quickly. What is that? The envelope of evidence that had gone missing but it seems a lot thinner than it was. Something must've been taken from it first.

She rose to her feet as she caught the smell of flowers from Blaise again. That is so odd. Hermione scanned the room for flowers and noticed that in the corner on a pedestal was a crystal vase of long stem red roses. True, she had seen them but did not play them much attention once the game had started. But there was something different about them as she crossed the room she realized what was different there were more roses than before.

I wonder if ...Yet, before she could finish her sentence the Headmaster and the Potions Master entered the room. They looked around and moved to behind the couch where Draco Malfoy was still unconscious. Professor Dumbledore had that twinkle in his eyes as he spoke, "I hope you all enjoy this evening and our game. Now, I would like to know, if anyone thinks they know what the mysteries are, who committed them, and how. If you are asked confirm from me, you must answer truthfully and believe me when I say, we already know the answers."

Millicent looked over her shoulder at Harry, who silently nodded to some unasked question. As she played with her silver charm bracelet, she stated, "Well, Mr. Green and I think we know what happened."

As she took a nervous shift on the couch, Hermione noticed she was playing with the charm on her bracelet of a small silver book and then a thin candle. Why would a candle be on her charm bracelet? But her silent question to herself was interrupted by Millicent's explanation. "Okay, the person, who was blackmailing us, was Mr. Gray. Blaise pointed that out. The evidence that was taken and then burned by Mr. Navy and Miss Violet since they had plenty of opportunities down on the ground floor during the blackout. We suspect either of them could've grabbed evidence away from the Professor very easily."

"We didn't do that," Ron protested and then smacked Harry on the shoulder as he sarcasm, "Thanks, mate."

Harry shook his head and joked, "This is just a game, Ron. Nothing personal. It would've been easier to do with two. We also think they took his wand and used it to blackout the lights."

Snape had the closest thing to a smile he had ever had. The Headmaster turned to Ron and Luna and asked, "Did either of you do any part of what they stated?"

Ron and Luna answered in unison, "No, headmaster."

"I am sorry to say that none of those guesses are correct. Anyone else?" Professor Dumbledore stated.

Hermione felt mesmerized the female Slytherin's charm bracelet. Hold on. That's not a candle on the charm that's a ...

She spoke out loud, "Yes, headmaster. I think I do."

The Potions Master watched her with interest as Professor Dumbledore motioned for her to continue. She looked over at Blaise and then things fell right into place. Hermione donned a truly Slytherin smirk as she began. "To begin with, I have one question for Mr. Green."

"Go ahead, Miss Maroon," Harry replied with a sly smile.

"Did you and Miss White separate during the searching of the rooms?"

Harry gave her a confused look and admitted, "Yes, we figured we'd cover more area if we split up."

Hermione walked over to the desk and leaned on as she started, "When the lights in the study went out before Mr. Gray was knocked out, this was done by Miss White. She used her wand to vanquish the lights, and then summoned both the Professor's wand and the evidence. I think she hid both of them under to edge of the couch, so she'd be able to come back later.

"After Professor Lupin locked away all of the wands, she simply bent down and hid his wand in her shawl. During the blackout, she separated from Mr. Green, then came down here by the light of her wand and lit the fire to destroy all the evidence but her precious diary. She had the diary and wand transfigured into charms there on her bracelet."

"Is this information true, Miss White?" the headmaster asked and saw Millicent nodded. Then he turned back to Hermione. "Very good. You are right so far. Please continue."

"I think that it was Mr. Navy, who put that blast mark in the wall. He was trying to aim for Mr. Gray as you can tell the blast mark is quiet high and overshot over his shoulder. Either it just missed him or Mr. Gray was already down at that moment. Out of all of us, Mr. Navy has the quickest temper and is the quickest to over-react. But he is not the reason Mr. Gray is unconscious," Hermione theorized as she saw Ron run his hands through his hair.

Again the headmaster turned to the accused and Ron nodded his head before Dumbledore even asked.

Hermione pushed off the desk and walked over to Blaise as she smiled. "Everything else was Mr. Black's doing. Mr. Gray was not hit with a spell or physically. I remembered all the glasses when we arrived were color-coded. So, Mr. Black slipped some form of a sleeping potion into the glass with the gray ribbon."

"Such a clever witch. Please continue," Blaise commented as he watched her carefully.

"Mr. Black knew how long the potion would take to work and was able to watch him, since he was so close to the door near Mr. Gray. As soon as he knew Mr. Gray would go out, he simply used his wand to turn off the lights but he didn't have to since Miss White did it for her own agenda," she continued as she began to pace in the center of the room.

Hermione walked over to the flowers and took a sniff. "When the professor collected the wands, he did not collect Mr. Gray's and he wouldn't of found it because Mr. Black took it off his person in the dark. Soon after we all separated, Mr. Black and I went to the top of the tower as was his suggestion. Since it was so cold up there and he needed me to be comfortable as not to disturb him later, he used Mr. Gray's wand for a simple warming spell on the fabric from the classroom.

"Then he mentioned it would be good to let me look for clues on the top of the tower while he searched the classroom. But with the wand, Mr. Black was able to charm the lights to go off once he was close enough to the study. He used the wand to unlock the cabinet and retrieved his own wand. Let me see your wand, Mr. Black," Hermione stated as she stood back in front of the raven haired Slytherin.

The Head Boy pulled out his wand from up inside his shirtsleeve and handed it over to the brunette. With a polite nod, she walked back over to the roses and with a flick of her wrist six of the red flowers turned into wands as they fell to the floor. Hermione felt very proud of herself as she continued, "But there is one more mystery left."

Harry looked amazed but confused, "What do you mean? You discovered the wands, the dairy, and who made Draco unconscious. You solved all of it."

The Head Girl held the Head Boy's eyes as if she was looking for something in them. "No, the original mystery in the packet remains."

"No, Mr. Black figured out that Mr. Gray was the one blackmailing us," Millicent exclaimed.

"Very true, he did say that," Hermione moved away from the sexy Slytherin to the blond one of the couch. "That's what I thought. But then I asked myself 'Why knock him out? Why not point it out when the headmaster arrive?' Then I realized it. Mr. Black is Mr. A. Aren't you? That's why you knew to bring to potion with you and to take his wand. You knew what was going to happen."

The sound of a clap got everyone's attention and they turned to see the headmaster clapping his hands. "Very well-done Miss Granger. You have solved all mysteries correctly. And here is your reward."

She leaned over and took the envelope from his hand as everyone in the room started to clap. To her surprise, the Potions Master even started to clap his hands. She thought that maybe he now had some respect for her since she bested his most prized pupil. That was a good thing since her reward would be affecting Professor Snape in about two years after she went to the university. At that time, she would come back as his Potions apprentice and work under his guidance for three years.

Her friends congratulated her as she turned to the Head Boy, who was still leaning against the fireplace. He lowered his head once and he raised it to mouth, "Well-done." Her cheeks blushed as she remembered that kiss from him only twenty minutes ago. Maybe just maybe that hadn't been some fluke but perhaps just the beginning.