The Houses Competition: exactly 9 characters, murder mystery party

Hogwarts assignments: write about someone who has a secret

Words: 1050

Trigger warning: character death, murder

Playtime is Over

"You did it! It has to be you! You said you never touched the gun but it was the poison that killed him!" Lily shouted with glee across the room, finger pointed at Sirius.

A collective groan engulfed the room as Sirius couldn't help but grin.

"Well done, Lily, I don't know how you worked it out, I was stumped," Mary said, nodding at her friend appreciatively.

"That was a good game," Peter said, grinning, "we should play again."

"Oh, Merlin, not now, though. My brain has well and truly switched off," Marlene replied.

"You can get up now, Moony," James said, walking over to where his friend was laying on the floor and giving him a gentle kick on the leg.

Marlene watched Remus for a moment, waiting for him to stand up again.

"Remus?" she said, when he didn't move.

"Is he asleep or something?" Sirius asked as he made his way over to his friend.

Holly, another Gryffindor student in their year, also made her way across the room to Remus. The two of them bent down to shake Remus' shoulders, and still their friend wouldn't wake.

It was then the panic set in.

"Why isn't he waking up?" Lily asked, face paling as Sirius listened for a heartbeat and Holly looked for a pulse.

"He's…" Holly said.

"How? It was only a game," Evangeline said in her faded French accent, her hands coming up to cover her mouth.

"We need to get a teacher," Lily said and began to walk towards the door to the Room of Requirement.

James Potter stood in her way.

"No."

"What do you mean, no? Are you insane? He's… Remus is…"

"And this room only let the eight of us in. We have a password. The only person who could have done it is in this room. The answer is here. We leave, and we'll never know."

Lily tried to argue but couldn't find the words. Maybe he was right, but it felt wrong to her. Someone was dead - the authorities should deal with it, shouldn't they?

"So, what, we play for real this time?" Evangeline scoffed.

"It's not a game anymore," Sirius replied with a sneer. "And you were over here with him when the rest of us were searching for that book."

"You think I did this?" she sneered back.

"Calm down, guys, come on, we don't even know how he died," Peter interjected, running his hand through his hair with a gentle smile.

"Oh, well, there's a spell for that," Lily said stepping forward towards Remus.

She made quick work of the incantation and a swirl of smoke appeared above Remus, swirling in strange shapes and patterns that were hard to decipher. There seemed to be a heart, beating, and a jolt of light racing towards it. Then the heart turned black and all movement stopped.

Lily looked around the room, trying to read faces. Most still had the same look of abject horror she herself wore. Evangeline looked angry at the accusation, but was there something beneath the surface. And Peter - was he paler than the others? Was that worry on his forehead? She still didn't trust James either - what if he was keeping everyone in here for another reason?

"Avada Kedavra…?" Marlene asked in horrified awe.

"No," Lily said. "Crueler than that. Arresto Momentum."

"I didn't even know you could use it like that…" Marlene replied, voice dripping with scorn.

"You were alone with him, Evie," Lily said with a slight nod of her head to one side. She didn't want to accuse her friend, but the signs were there.

"She wasn't," Holly said, "I was only looking at the books here. I could see her the whole time. She was working on the cypher."

"So, who else?" James asked.

"Was it just one person?" Marlene asked. "You and Sirius were here with him while the rest of us went to retrieve the letter."

"What motive would we have? He was our best friend," Sirius shot back.

"So you say," Marlene said with narrowed eyes.

"Peter, did they fall out recently?" Mary asked him, and all eyes turned to the boy.

"I… well… not that I, well, not that I knew, but, well, I don't know everything, maybe," Peter replied.

Lily narrowed her eyes at him.

"Are you alright, Peter?" she asked him.

Silence fell for a few moments. James turned to face Peter squarely.

"Peter, you weren't alone with him, but you did go off on your own twice. You said to find the book, and the letter, but you didn't find either. What were you doing?"

"Looking, like the rest of you. We can't all find them, can we?" Peter replied, crossing his arms.

"But you went to the same corner both times. You went over their near that Raven law statue. What else is there? What did you find?" Mary asked him.

"I don't… there wasn't anything… I looked but I didn't find anything," he replied.

Evangeline made a circle, looking around the room, "What if it isn't only us in here?"

Lily suddenly began to move, towards the corner Peter had busied himself in, determined to solve the puzzle. James was hot on her heels.

They both began searching frantically, shoving things out of the way, opening every cupboard.

James almost missed it at first, but something made him check this one cupboard again.

"A false back," he said, reaching in to pull a cupboard apart, revealing a cupboard that seemed to never end.

"Is that…"

"The dungeons," Lily finished.

"Peter, you better explain," Marlene said, taking her wand out and aiming it towards his chest.

"I thought he just wanted to watch! I didn't know…"

"Who?" Lily asked.

"I prefer the question, 'why'?" came a nasally voice from the shadows behind Lily.

Severus Snape stepped forward into the candlelight.

Wands were raised all round before Lily even knew what had hit her.

Severus.

Here.

Lily didn't know whether to aim her hexes at Peter or Severus, but it didn't matter.

James had only had an instant to think of it, but before she knew it both boys had been hit by Petrificus Totalus.

"You deserve much worse," he sneered at them.

"Lily, go get your precious teachers now," he told her.