Disclaimer: I want to own Harry Potter. But I don't.
Lily hurtled toward the library, not caring if there were any teachers around to yell at her for running, which, thankfully, there weren't. The librarian, Madam Lisa Turpin, gave her a disgruntled look as she barreled past, but she didn't stop to apologize. She reached the back table where Rose and Scorpius were sitting, books now absent. "There's been another attempted murder," she gasped, out of breath from her long run. She collapsed into a chair.
"Who?" Scorpius asked. "Anyone we know?"
"Daisy Zabini, you've met her a few times, both of you. The girl from my dorm."
"The one with the dark hair and tan-ish skin?" Rose tilted her head to one side. "Or the one with blonde hair? Or-"
"Dark hair," Lily interrupted before Rose could describe Mina. "Molly told me about it. She fell from the Astronomy Tower- luckily Professor Clearwater was walking the grounds and managed to slow her body down so the impact wasn't as great. She's in the hospital wing, now, but they don't know if she's going to be okay." Lily took a deep breath to calm herself. While she and Daisy were not as close as her and Tori, or her and Rose and Scorpius, they had been friends, or as close to friends as Slytherin girls got, anyway. "They think it's the same person."
"So she was pushed from the Astronomy Tower, then," Scorpius said. "That's worse than the cursed broom- anyone can push another person. Especially just a fourth-year girl. No offense, Lily."
Lily's lack of response showed how serious the situation was, as normally she would have hexed or smacked Scorpius for implying that fourteen-year-old girls were weak. Instead, Rose answered. "Exactly. Let's look at the similarities between the two attempted murders, then." She whipped out a piece of parchment and a quill from her bag. "Let's see. They're both girls."
"Both around fourteen," Lily added. "Two different houses, so that's probably random, then. A Hufflepuff and a Slytherin. Both attempted murders involved falling from a high place."
"What about their blood-statuses?" Scorpius asked. "That's what people were killed for, back in the First and Second Wizarding Wars. Blood was everything."
"Good point. I know Daisy was pure-blood, and really far back, too. No questions there. As far as Sara…" Lily hesitated. "Tori would probably know. It seems like she knows everyone's."
"No," Rose said quickly. "Let's not bring anyone else into this. Sara already knows, and Daisy will too when we go to visit her. That's definitely enough. I'll ask Sara myself, while Lily asks Professor Goldstein about the cursed broom."
"What do I have to do?" Scorpius asked.
"Try to come up with more similarities."
"Both after classes," Scorpius said after a few minutes, "but before curfew. Hey, Lily, you knew Daisy. Why would she have been up in the Astronomy Tower hours before Astronomy started?"
"She liked the view," Lily said absentmindedly. "She's an artist, and she likes different perspectives on things. She got permission from Professor Sinistra to go up there whenever she likes, as long as there are no other classes meeting or anything like that."
"And, probably, as long as there are no couples meeting or anything like that," Scorpius joked. Couples, mainly sixth- and seventh-years, generally went up to the Astronomy Tower for privacy, as the stairs were rather annoying and people rarely went up there if they didn't have to.
"Thank you, Scorpius, for that mental picture."
"You're welcome."
Lily ignored him. "Let's see. So far, on the list of similarities, we have, 'both are girls', 'both are around fourteen,' 'both involved falling from a high area,' and 'both were after classes got out but before curfew.'" She sighed. "Not extremely helpful evidence we have here."
"It's almost dinnertime," Scorpius said. "Come on, we should go."
The atmosphere at the Slytherin table was rather subdued. The news had spread about Daisy's fall, and that she was in much worse condition than Sara Creevey, having fallen from a higher location. Tori was absent, while Mina didn't look too good, with red eyes and disheveled hair. Daisy's on-again, off-again boyfriend Patrick Corner was staring at his plate, looking shell-shocked. Barely any conversation that wasn't Daisy-related occurred during the meal, at least at their table.
Mina and Lily headed back to the Slytherin common room together, discussing Daisy in quiet voices. "I'm going to see her tomorrow," Lily said. Whether Daisy was awake, and in any condition to discuss what had happened, was not definite, but she didn't care. Daisy was her friend, and it was important that she at least be able to say she visited, and tell the truth. Solving the mystery, which had now increased in difficulty, could wait until later. "I really hope she's okay."
"Agreed," Mina said. "I saw her fall- that was horrifying. I didn't even know who it was at first, until I went over and saw her."
"Did you see anybody up on the Astronomy Tower?" This could be an actual clue.
"Just a shadow," the other girl replied. "Absolutely no facial features or body type that I could make out. Professor Clearwater and the others already asked me."
"Well, I suppose it is hard to see anyone from that height," Lily said, trying to sound as if she wasn't disappointed, and wasn't trying to solve a mystery. "Did you go and visit her yet?"
"Yes. With Tori. Tori was so upset, she skipped supper. I think she's in the dormitory, crying. Or, well, somewhere. Crying." Mina muttered the password- Serpensortia- and they entered the Slytherins' common room, then headed to their dormitory. As expected, Tori was there, huddled under her blanket, not crying anymore but looking as if she had done so for a while.
"Hey," she said, her eyes still watery. She flopped back onto her pillow, wiping her eyes and cheeks with the edge of the blanket, which had a soaked look to it. "Sorry I missed dinner. I was feeling down about Daisy…I can't believe what happened to her. I figured the Creevey thing was a one-time incident."
"So did I," Mina said. "Now, this is really scary. If there's a wannabe killer on the loose…his next victim could be anyone."
"How do you know it's a him?" Lily said, more quickly than she intended.
"Most Dark people are men," Mina answered matter-of-factly. "I just imagined it was a bloke. Nobody knows for sure, but the odds are in the male favor."
"What about Bellatrix Lestrange?" Tori said, her voice slightly muffled by the blanket over her face. "She was a Death Eater."
"I said 'most'," Mina replied, "not all. Besides, everyone knows that woman was something else."
"Alright, alright," Lily said before they could start another argument. Tensions between Tori and Mina were generally high, as the latter was a half-blood. Lily, who was friends with both Tori and Mina, tended to stop fights before they happened. Daisy, who was quieter and followed Tori around, shut up whenever Tori did. "Come on. There's only three of us now, so we need to stick together. We need to show people that us Slytherins are not going to go hide just because one of us got hurt."
"Fine," both Tori and Mina grudgingly agreed.
Although Lily had planned to implement her prank the next day, she held off, as it seemed inappropriate due to the nature of the situation. Two people were now in the hospital wing, victims of the same person, if everyone's hunches were true, and the school was very subdued. Students had been advised to stay in groups of at least three, and everyone should walk to classes with others who shared that same class. Quidditch practices were overseen by Oliver Wood, the referee and flying instructor for the first-years, and nobody was allowed to wander the grounds alone.
After the last class of the day- Potions- let out, she slipped away from her classmates with the aid of the Invisibility Cloak and found Rose and Scorpius getting out of their last class, Herbology. She tapped them, cloak still on, which made them both jump and whirl around wildly to see what had happened. She allowed herself a self-satisfied smirk before stuffing the Cloak back in her bag. "Come on, you two," she said. "Time to visit Daisy."
"Why don't you go with Mina and Tori?" Rose asked.
"They already went, and Tori cried for two hours afterward. I'd rather not have her go through that again. Or have me listen to that," she added after being sure neither one of her roommates were around. "Let's go."
"She's probably still unconscious," Rose said, "and in no fit state to answer any questions about what happened to her."
"I know that," Lily said. "But she's my friend, and it's obligatory to go visit."
The three headed back to the hospital wing, and Madam Bones let them in, waving them through without a glance up from her paperwork. They went down to the other end, where Lily knew Daisy to be from Mina's description. When they reached the bed, all three gasped in surprise, leaping backwards almost at the same time.
Painted right on Daisy's bed sheet, in red paint that looked like blood, was the word, "BEWARE."
A/N: Yay! Another chapter done!