Teenage Detective

Chapter 10

Truth & Setting

Two dark figures approached the door of the house of the noble Black family. It was cold, dark and gloomy outside in the streets of Grimmauld Place. The street light blinking on and off, giving the street a scary feeling to it. The door, hidden from Muggles' sight, appeared as expected, and the two figures looked at each other, unsure of what to decide. After a moment's hesitation, they walked up to the door and opened it.

When he heard the main door shut, he knew they had come, just as he planned. He grinned while reading a book as he sat in the big soft leather reading chair in Sirius' room. He was going to enjoy every moment of this.

But he couldn't shake the feeling of anxiousness; everything was going too smoothly. He anticipated that an error in his plan was bound to happen.

When he heard his name being called from downstairs, his grin grew.

In a narrow alley two blocks form number twelve, two figures appeared out of nowhere and landed on their behinds. They groaned from their painful landing and quickly stood up, tidying their clothing.

"I'm never going get use to a Portkey," groaned Ron, fixing his robe.

"At least it's not the Knight Bus," Hermione said, while fixing her robe too. "C'mon, number twelve is right around the corner." She slipped her wand into its holster and adjusted her robe some more.

They walked out of the alley together, a gust of wind momentarily billowing their robes. They hoped that their dear friend would be fine until they arrived.

The light from the candle shone brightly in the room. Harry knew it would attract the Smiths to Sirius' room. He shut the book he was reading and placed it on the small round table next to the chair.

Harry rose and went to a pile of books on the floor, near empty shelves. He took his cloak from the top of the pile and tied it around his neck, letting it cover him from shoulders to feet.

He heard footsteps approach the door and smiled again. Everything was going perfectly.

"Potter! Are you in there?" growled Gerrard. He had a loud voice for a frail old man, Harry thought.

"What if I am?" Harry answered back jokingly. He grinned and walked briskly toward the farther wall of the room.

"Then you don't mind if we barge in," drawled the doctor.

The light outside the door grew in intensity and streamed into the room from beneath and around the edges. Then there was an explosion that shook the room as the door shattered.

The Smiths walked into the room, cautious and wands drawn. They briefly scanned the room, finding Harry leaning against a wall, smirking at them.

"Now to finish you off Potter," the doctor snarled delightedly, his wand pointing at the raven-haired boy. Zacharias did the same, but his hands were quivering.

"Let's do that, doctor," Harry said. "But let's go down first," he added slyly. The Smiths were puzzled at first. Then their eyes went wide as saucers when the wall absorbed Harry and the raven-haired was gone.

Gerrard growled in frustration. "This house is under a thousand year old security spell. DAMN IT!"

In another part of the house, Harry appeared out of the wall with a very satisfied smirk.

As Ron and Hermione approached the vacant lot where Grimmauld Place should be, they saw it materialise from nowhere, squeezing itself into existence.

"Look!" Ron pointed at the top windows of the house. They saw a brief flash of bright light.

"There's someone casting spells in there," Hermione said. "Come on, there's no time." She grabbed Ron's hands and pulled him to the front of the house.

'We're coming Harry,' she though.

"Stop moving like a rat, Potter!" hissed Gerrard menacingly. He kicked the door, but was unsuccessful, instead just hurting his leg. His nephew shook his head in embarrassment and proceeded to open the door the simple way. The doctor groaned inwardly in annoyance, muttering incoherent words as they moved in the room which was a bedroom for two.

Harry saw the two and swiftly shot a blinding spell in the room, covering it in a blinding flash of light. It was so bright that the Smiths had to leave the room, seeing spots before their eyes for a moment.

"Meet me in the main floor rooms," said Harry, his voice echoing slightly.

"It's locked securely," said Ron, turning the knob forcefully left and right. He cast Alohamora, but the door still would not open. The red head turned to his brunette friend with a hopeful expression. "You better try one of those complicated spells you've learned through all this years," he asked, almost begging.

Her face paled. "But – I don't know if I can do it," she said anxiously, and looked down at the ground as it was interesting. She had begun to doubt her magical abilities since the fall of Voldemort and more so recently. As a result, her spell casting was a little out of practice. And she was even further out of practice having followed Harry around the previous weeks.

Ron took her by the shoulders and forced her to face him.

"Hermione. You can do this because you're Hermione. The girl who spends a lot of her time doing the impossible. Not just for her age, but even for experienced witches and wizards."

Hermione looked up into Ron's eyes and saw, for the first time in a long time, not the cowardly man he had become, but the brave old friend she had come to love.

"The day you can't open a bloody door," Ron continued, "even if it is locked with an ancient spell, is the end of you."

What Ron said spurred her. She smiled determinedly and nodded. Shrugging Ron's hands off she turned to the door and began to cast various spells on it.

"Damnit, Potter, why can't you stay in one place?" Gerard shouted into the darkness inside the house. Zacharias rolled his eyes at his uncle's complaint.

"He's not like the dead bodies you played with."

Gerrard spun around, several steps from the bottom of the staircase, and glared at his nephew.

"Don't you dare talk about what I do," Gerrard spat back, his voice rising in anger. "What I do is for the family's good."

Zacharias stepped down even with his uncle and looked him in the eyes, their faces inches from each other.

"Don't you dare use our family's name for your damn selfish experiment."

Gerrard was about to retaliate, but the sound of the doorknob on the front door turning stopped him. Zacharias also noticed this and they stepped together into a shadowy area created by the staircase. They watched, delighted, as Ron and Hermione entered.

"I knew you could do it," Ron said excitedly.

Hermione silenced him quickly by putting her fingers to his lips and glared at him.

"We need to be quiet," she said sternly.

Ron, scared by the look she gave, nodded affirmatively. "Right we need to go and find Harry quickly," he said.

"Right, c'mon, I think they were fighting upstairs, so let's start there," she said and they moved quietly and quickly through the house, searching.

When they reached the living room, trouble brewed upon them. The room was the same as they remembered. Furniture decorated with serpent like patterns. Half of the room was covered in darkness. They could see the shining diamonds of the chandelier reflecting a small amount of light from outside.

Hermione wrinkled her brow. She had the sensation that they were not alone. She turned to Ron. "Do you feel anything strange?"

Ron shook his head. "Other than the scary spider webs, no," he said, a bit miffed by the webs.

"I feel like we're not alone. We better be careful," she said starting to get scared. Shadows quickly crept behind them. One of them grinned deviously, making the hair on the back of their necks tingle.

"Oh, yes, you better be careful, Ms. Head Girl," uttered the doctor.

Ron and Hermione had no time to react as they were caught.

Harry, who did not know that his friends had come and were already in danger, was hiding patiently in the kitchen, waiting for the Smiths to show up.

"Just one more and the plans are over," he said, his back to the door. But something in his heart told him differently. Something was wrong. The Smiths were late. He opened the door with alertness, but he saw nothing outside. No shadow creeping towards the kitchen or anything.

He crept out of the kitchen. He sensed something was wrong and made his way to the living room.

He heard noises coming from the room and knew he was right. He peeked from the threshold of the archway and hid in a clever dark spot where no one could detect him. He was shocked to see not only the Smiths, but also his friends, Ron and Hermione. His heart beat faster than normal.

"Let me go, old man," Hermione yelled, uncharacteristically of her. She was held firmly from behind by Gerrard. The doctor was having a hard time controlling the girl, while his nephew was tying up their other captive with a transfigured rope.

Ron groaned, not from the frustration, but for his carelessness. He was caught for the second time by these people. He felt ashamed at the moment.

Hermione on the other hand, kept fighting out of her captive's grasp. She tried to move desperately out of Gerrard's hands, but failed when the doctor grabbed her arm and twisted it behind her back.

"If you don't stand still I'll break your arm."

Hermione struggled a little more, but saw it was useless and decided not to test the doctor.

"Good girl," he said. "Zacky, hurry up with that boy and tie up this stubborn girl," he ordered but Zacharias was not paying attention to him. His eyes were settled on the archway that led to the kitchen. Gerrard followed his nephew's gaze and was surprised to find Harry standing in the arch. He had been then for some time and Gerrard had never noticed. But they had the upper hand this time, and Gerrard smiled.

"Well, well, look who finally showed his pretty face," leered the doctor.

"Harry!" yelled Ron and Hermione in unison. The doctor tossed Hermione to Zacharias, who had an emotionless face.

"I got your two friends here, so what is the smart 'Sherlockian' actor going to do," he said slyly and yet cruelly.

Harry ignored him and stared nonchalantly at the one he intended to help. "What are you two doing here? You're ruining everything," he told his friends. They were utterly shocked at his words.

"But Harry, we came because you're in trouble," Hermione told him, eyes full of concern.

"I am not in trouble!" the raven haired boy exclaimed. "I had complete control of the situation before you two ruined it."

"Yeah he had us running all over the house like an escaped animal and you both came to help-" Hermione cut him off, not caring a single word he said.

"Why did you do it, Harry?" she asked quickly. The doctor glared at her for interrupting. Everyone else looked at her puzzled. "Why did you help these two escape?" Harry was not the least bit taken back by her question. But another person was quite intrigued with what Harry had to answer.

"Yes, Potter, why did you help us escape from the Aurors? You could have just let us go and not worry about me in your life," said Zacharias bitterly. He was confused at the moment by the mix feeling in him.

Harry folded his arms across his chest and leaned against the arch and simply smirked. "I haven't solved one mystery left."

Slowly Harry drew his wand from beneath his robes.

The two Smiths reacted slowly, but comprehend what Harry was doing. Zacharias quickly grabbed Hermione and drew out his wand, sticking it against her side. The doctor knelt down by Ron, and pointed his wand at his head.

"Don't you dare do any funny business, Potter, or your friend here gets it," said the doctor threateningly, his wand prodding Ron's throat.

"How cliché," said Harry sarcastically. "I defeated Voldemort. I must be pretty powerful. Sorry Ron." Harry pointed his wand at Ron and Gerrard.

Hermione struggled against Zacharias, realising what Harry intended to do. "No, Harry, don't."

"Petrificus Totalus."

Hermione and Zacharias looked over at the unmoving forms of Ron and Gerrard. Not only had Harry got Ron, but somehow Gerrard as well. Ron, who was lying on his side when the spell struck, was still on his side. Gerrard, who was kneeling, had gone rigid and lay now on his back next to Ron.

Now, there were only three people moving in the room. Hermione glanced at Zacharias who had the same baffled look as her. She then turned to Harry, who just smirked at the work he done.

"That takes care of the old geezer." Harry pointed at Zacharias. "I just want you, Zacharias," he said, looking to the young Smith with casual face.

Zacharias' mouth worked, trying to say something, for a few seconds before anything came out.

"You stunned your own friend. Why?"

Harry shrugged. "It's not a harmful spell. I'm sure Hermione will release him in due time." Then his face darkened. "Come Zacharias. Let us finish this." Harry stepped back into the darkness and disappeared.

After Harry was gone, Hermione gazed back at Zacharias, who was in still puzzled. She was surprised to see he was now a few feet from her. She too was a little perplexed, but not as much as the Hufflepuff. Zacharias turned his head to the Head Girl. He looked like he wanted to know what he should do. She was a bit surprised and asked him back. "Well?"

"Well what?" he shot back, looking at her with annoyance.

"Aren't you going to follow him?" she asked. The blonde was a bit taken aback by her question. "I'm not going to go against Harry's words. He wants you alone for some reason and I am not going to intervene. I am going to wake Ron up, but I won't let him disturb you and Harry. Harry has a plan for you, though I'm not sure what it is since he is very mysterious these days."

Zacharias looked uneasily between her and the archway where Harry disappeared. "How did you know about me and my uncle being here?" he asked, in a gentle voice, unlike the ones he used back in Hogwarts.

She nodded. "The fight in the dungeons, Harry jumped on you, making a huge scuffle but somehow he managed to do something at that time," she explained.

The Hufflepuff frowned. "He put in two Polyjuice Potions and a Sleeping Gas in my pocket. He too whispered to find him here: number twelve, Grimmauld Place. I don't know why he did it."

"Neither do I," said Hermione, after he finished.

Zacharias then looked expectantly at her. "Then you wanted to know?" he asked.

She nodded. "So do you. And that's why you came here. You better go to him, now," she said almost pleading.

Zacharias was silent for a moment, then brushed pass Hermione to the archway to meet his answers.

Hermione looked on as Zacharias disappeared where Harry had gone. She then helped Ron and hoped that the Aurors got here a bit late. Neither the Hufflepuff nor the Head Girl knew, but Harry was listening to the conversation with a satisfied smirk on his face.

Harry led Zacharias to a room deep in the house of the Blacks. The room was set up for a gathering event. A fireplace set up at the farthest wall and portraits of dark blank pictures hang up all over the wall. The ceiling was shrouded in darkness, not visible to the naked eye. Only darkness was looming over the two boys with a dim light from the fireplace.

"I don't know what you are thinking, but you can't play me easily, Potter!" Zacharias spat venomously, his wand already pointing at Harry. "First stealing Susan from me, her time, and her mind, making her go against me, then making me kill her. And now."

Harry was calm and unnerved, his back to the fireplace, giving him an aura. His long bangs covered his forehead and his eyes, which pierced Zacharias.

"Now we can finish this mistake!"

Numerous spells were shot back and forth between the two. Harry dodged Zacharias' advances easily, and shot back at him with harmless spells, but every time he did, he hit his target. He knew he could beat the Hufflepuff with one single spell but this was not the case. He had to fulfil Susan's last promise.

"Ugh," Zacharias winced after getting hit with a weak Numbing Spell by Harry. He glared at the raven-haired boy. "Aren't you going to take me down?" he scowled.

Harry shook his head. "No simply to chain you up," he said.

Zacharias did not catch the meaning of his words until the blank pictures of the portraits, began to ripple and make noises. An eerie atmosphere soon accompanied this strange situation. Then the sounds of rattling chains made Zacharias squirm in fear.

Out of the darkness, trains of chains burst forth from the portraits, making their way to the helpless Hufflepuff. Zacharias tried to move, but the Numbing Spell slowed his reactions. The chains, thin and flexible, were woven around the blonde's limbs, tying him up like a puppet. His hands, legs and half of his body were tied. He struggled to move but could not as the chains were tight. He glared at Harry, his face flushed.

"Now let's end this," Harry said, taking a book from his robe.

A/N: The BETA version is here, read and review! Thank you so much rachkmar and you too readers.