Chapter 22: The Final Dead End

"Lexie, my most favorite witch in all the lands, come give your most-dearest friend James Potter a hug!"

Lexie had been sitting in the common room playing a game of muggle solitaire when she saw James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter enter through the portrait hole returning from the Christmas holiday.

She jumped up and immediately gave James one of her signature hugs, "The mirrors are brilliant Lexie, thank you," whispered James into her ear, "Sirius and I used them every day."

Lexie let go of James and grinned, she turned to the rest of the boys and proceeded to give them similar hugs.

When she got to Sirius, she tipped her head and gave him a small smile in thanks for her own gift, not wanting to alert the other boys of her research project that had occupied so much of her year.

Sirius grinned back in understanding and mouthed "Talk later?" and she nodded in response.

"I'm starved," mumbled Peter, "We've come to get Lexie as promised, can we head to dinner now?"

"Absolutely," responded Lexie, "I'm a bit peckish myself."

The five friends made their way to the Great Hall catching each other up and laughing when Sirius went into detail about all the ways his cousin had lied to his aunt and uncle and how they managed to sneak out almost every day.

Sirius went into detail about all his explorations into muggle London where he had formed a small obsession with muggle motorcycles and spent many afternoons watching motorcycle police escorts while munching on fresh chips he would purchase from street vendors. James, Remus, and Peter seemed equally fascinated while Lexie just laughed telling them sometime they should all get together so she could give them a proper tour.

When Peter's appetite was satiated, the group made their way back to the common room. Remus and Peter started up a game of Wizard Chess, while James became absorbed in the most recent issue of Which Broomstick?

This gave Sirius and Lexie a chance to breakaway from the group and sit together by the fire where she doodled in her sketchbook while Sirius twirled his wand between his fingers.

"So, what did you think of the trial notes?" asked Sirius.

"Lexie sighed, putting her charcoal down, "Is this the part where I tell you that you were absolutely right and not only is this case incredibly unpleasant, but entirely unrewarding?"

Sirius grimaced, "Sorry Lex, I wish I had been proven wrong. But I figured that Malcom Carrow's murder went unsolved for a reason."

Lexie sighed, "It's not even that. Well not completely. I guess I just feel like the case wasn't investigated properly from the start."

Sirius had been slouching and sat up looking at her, "What do you mean? You mean they missed something?"

"I don't know… maybe?" Lexie said, "I mean maybe it's just a small thing, but did you read the transcripts?"

Sirius shrugged, "Bits and pieces. Seemed like all the evidence pointed towards someone other than Alemda Carrow. Which I mean, look, I hear things in my family and let's just say that I have no idea who or who did not kill Malcom Carrow. It could have been his wife sure, but his death wasn't exactly seen as a tragedy amongst the pureblood families."

"Yeah, except that's one thing completely missing from the trial! It was like there was no real attempt to find a motive! Also, I looked up Priori Incantatem, are you aware of what that spell does Sirius?"

Sirius shrugged, "Not a clue."

"It reveals the last spell a wand performed. But that's not it, did you know that the only wand they performed it on was Almeda's? And there was no mention of Malcom's wand. Or his father's wand. Yet those are the only two other people who live there with him.

I mean don't you find it even a little odd that a wizard wouldn't even have his own wand on him or there would be no attempts to recover it? What if he tried to defend himself, they could have probably determined that right? It just seems like either whoever did the investigation missed something or evidence was hidden."

Sirius stared at his own wand deep in thought, "Okay, let's say hypothetically you have a point and are right. The trial was years ago. What exactly can be done about it now?"

Lexie let out a done deep sigh, "Absolutely nothing. I'm afraid it's a lost cause. I couldn't find a single example of a case being reopened either. It's just not done."

"Look, don't beat yourself up over this case. I know that Malcom Carrow seems innocent in all this and okay he probably didn't deserve death especially if it was for being friends with a muggle which I still find hard to fully believe knowing who they are. You seem to care an awful lot about Malcom Carrow and I think that shows deep down you are a nice person, but Lex that whole family is not nice. Does it suck that such a wretched woman like Almeda Carrow may have gotten away with murder? Yes, but it certainly wouldn't be the first time a pureblood family got off the hook for a crime and it won't be the last."

Lexie frowned, "I guess you make a good point."

Sirius sent a smile her way, "You know Lex, even if this case was a complete fail, you should really consider going into Magic Law. You seem really passionate about it."

Lexie laughed, "I'll take that into consideration."

"Oy, what are you two chatterboxes doing over there, get over here and help me beat Remus at chess!" yelled James across the common room where he had taken Peter's place.

"In your dreams Jamie poo," laughed Remus, "Not even four against one will be enough to win against me."

The rest of the evening was spent with the four friends gathered around Remus trying to best him.

By the end of the night it proved four heads might actually be worse than just one since they spent almost every move arguing about what was the right strategy.

Eventually Sirius threw his hands up in annoyance when James took Lexie's suggestion instead of his leading to a lost knight. Lexie, not fond of being told by Sirius she was one of the most incompetent chase players, picked up the lost knight and chucked it at Sirius' head missing by a few inches.

Sensing a war was about to break out and fearing the destruction of his precious chess set, Remus wisely called the game off and quickly gathering up the set claiming he was tired and was heading to bed.

"So… that means I won right?" asked James watching Remus dart up the boy's dormitory stairs.

The other three just laughed.