Summary: In which Ron takes charge, Hermione and Ginny ignore him, everyone suspects everyone else, and Harry gets left behind.
Who Killed Mr. Potter?
Chapter 5-Alibis
There was the sound of a nearby scream. Hermione looked up. "What was that?" she asked Ron.
"I dunno, but it sounded like it came from the next room."
Ron and Hermione rushed out of the library and headed left to where the sound had come from. They opened the nearest door. Hermione stopped abruptly, Ron ran into her. There was Harry sprawled on the floor and Ginny kneeling next to him, cradling his head in her hands.
"Harry!" Ron and Hermione yelled together.
"Ginny what happened?" Ron asked calmly stepping across to her. Ginny stopped crying long enough to say:
"I found him here, dead," she said in quiet mourning. Just as Ginny started crying again and Hermione's eyes started to tear up, Ron looked over at Dean who was standing silently in a corner with his hands in his pockets. He shrugged.
"Like Ginny said, we just found him here," he muttered.
Next moment, Neville appeared in the open doorway.
"What's going on? Who screamed?" Neville asked hurriedly, then he caught sight of Harry. "What the bloody.. Is he dead?" he looked at Ron who nodded solemnly.
"Ginny found him here," Ron explained. Hermione and Ginny were trying to comfort each other when Cho walked in. She was on the verge of asking what had happened when she saw Harry's body and fainted right over.
Ron looked at her lying on the floor for a moment as though considering whether to revive her or not. He muttered something about a glass of water then immediately spotted one sitting on the desk, he picked it up and splashed it in Cho's face. Cho woke abruptly, spluttering and looking mutinously at Ron.
Ron immediately took charge.
"Did any of you see anyone here who's not in the D.A.?" he asked.
Everyone said shook their heads.
"No one saw anyone like Malfoy or somebody else who hates Harry?" Ron asked. There were many more 'no's' and shaking of heads. Hermione sniffled loudly.
"Ron, Harry has been murdered. How can you be so calm?" Ginny asked, wiping her eyes. No one noticed Dean's scowl.
"Because Gin, I want to find out who did it," Ron turned to the rest of the group.
"As much as I don't want to believe that anyone here would do such a thing, especially to Harry, I don't think that there is anyone else in this bloody place, so we must examine the possibility that the murderer is one of us." Ron said gravely, then abruptly, "turn out your pockets." He looked around at everyone, his gaze stopping at Cho who hadn't moved from where she was sitting. "And your bags."
Cho pulled out a tube of red lipstick and the lead pipe from her red purse.
Dean was next. He took a wallet and a wrench from his trouser pockets.
"Where did you get that?" Ginny asked him, suspiciously.
"I found it in the kitchen sink," Dean replied, indifferent.
Ginny pulled a feather duster and the knife she had brought from the kitchen out of her apron.
"Ginny!" Ron scolded. "What are you doing with a knife?" But Ginny ignored him.
Ron looked over at Hermione who was now sitting on the couch looking indignant.
"How could you possibly think I would murder Harry and really, where would I hide a weapon anyway?" she asked, holding her arms open to show him.
Ron crossed his arms. "I saw you hide that muggle-wand-thingy on your leg."
"Ronald Bilius Weasley! What were you doing looking at my legs?" She yelled looking betrayed and exceedingly angry.
"No...I mean...I just...I-" Ron stammered, looking at the floor. "Wait. How do you know my middle name?"
Hermione ignored this question, stood up, and stormed from the room. She returned a moment later holding the holster. She thrust it at Ron. "Here," she said angrily and sat back down at the couch.
Ron pulled out, in addition to a pair of lacy gloves, the revolver.
Neville pulled out a golden candlestick and a datebook from his inside jacket pocket.
Ron was last; he pulled out a shiny round monocle and a coiled rope from his jacket. Hermione looked at him questioningly.
"It was hidden along the windowsill," Ron replied innocently.
"Well," Ron went on. "It seems that all of these weapons could have done Harry in. This rope could have strangled him and all the rest, even the knife and that thing Hermione has could have knocked him over the head."
"It's called a revolver, Ron," Hermione said in exasperation. "But you wouldn't know that since you never took muggle studies!" She was obviously distressed.
Ron scowled and turned to Ginny.
"When did you last see Harry and where were you before you found him here?" Ron asked her. Ginny sniffled.
"Well, I found him the kitchen looking for something to eat and we were talking."
Dean snorted. "Yeah right."
"Stuff it, Dean," Ron shot at him. "Go on Ginny."
"Then Dean came in and we argued and that's when I took the knife, then I noticed that Harry had disappeared. Then I found a passage that was hidden in a cabinet so Dean and I followed it and came out into this room...a-and...he was...j-just laying there..." she broke off and started crying again.
"What about you Cho?" Ron asked, turning his attention away from the crying Ginny.
Cho took a deep breath and said: "I was in the ball room playing on that beautiful grand piano."
"Can anyone prove it?" Ron asked sharply.
"Neville was with me the whole time."
"No I wasn't. I left halfway through your horrible song and I went into the next room where I found all these really cool muggle plants!" Neville told them. "You could've had plenty of time to do Harry in!"
"Can anyone prove your story?" Cho screeched at Neville.
"I wouldn't lie about this! Harry is my friend!"
"Anyway," Cho continued, "I was playing my song and then I thought I heard a scream but I wasn't sure so I stopped playing and followed the sound to this room." Cho said this all very quickly. "Oh yeah, and I found the lead pipe behind the piano music."
Ron seemed satisfied with this story. "Hermione?" Ron turned to her expectantly.
"Ron! You know very well that I was in the library the whole time with you!"
"Well how can I know where you were when I fell into that secret passageway behind the fireplace!" Ron said.
"And I don't know where that secret passage led and you could have followed it and killed Harry!" Hermione countered still sniffling.
"Insensitive prat," Hermione muttered. Ginny stood up and walked out of the room still crying; Hermione made a huffy noise followed her out.
"I don't think we should go around by ourselves with a murderer wandering about," Ron said. "C'mon Neville, let's find a way out of here."
"What about Harry?" Neville asked, his face pale.
Ron looked down at his best friend's lifeless form. "He can't be murdered again so he's safe," Ron replied sadly, his throat tight.
"Um, right," Neville said hesitantly.
They walked out into the hall, Dean and Cho, looking indifferent followed. Ron was worried because he didn't know where the two girls he cared about the most had disappeared to.