CHAPTER TWO

Eliza Parkinson was not lying when she said that she'd be locking herself in her room immediately after getting back from the Great Hall. She and Pansy walked into their shared dorm and Pansy checked the closets while Eliza checked under the beds. Then the two of them climbed into their respective beds and went to sleep.

At four o'clock Eliza was woken by a shrill alarm sounding through the room, "Classes have been cancelled for today due to another death. Please don't leave your common room's unless it's urgent." Snape's voice sounded over the intercom.

Eliza sat up and turned to Pansy, who had miraculously managed to sleep through the noise, she didn't bother to wake her up, instead she climbed out of her bed and walked over to the door, she opened it and looked into the hallway. She could see Draco Malfoy doing the same thing from his dorm.

Theo was walking in the hallway, "Has anyone seen Blaise?" He whispered shouted.

Draco shrugged, "He's your dorm roommate, how would we know where he is?"

"Did you guys hear that announcement?" Eliza whisper shouted to them.

"Well, it was kind of hard to miss, Parkinson." Theo replied sarcastically as he stopped in front of her.

She rolled her eyes, "Who do you think it was?"

Astoria Greengrass poked her head out of her door, "Daphne's missing, she snuck out with Blaise two hours ago and promised to be back in an hour. What if that announcement was about them?" She asked, tears welling in her eyes.

Eliza sighed, her eyes shifting to Theo with an unsure glance, "I'll go look for them."

"You can't go by yourself!" Draco hissed as he stepped further out of his door.

"Am I just invisible to you?" Theo asked as he shined his flashlight in Draco's face.

"I think we all need to just go to bed. This isn't safe. We can use the intercom thing to tell Snape." Draco complained.

Eliza rolled her eyes, "I'm waking Pansy up and sending her to your dorm so I can go with Theo." She then turned around and walked back into her dorm.

She walked over to Pansy's bed and shook her awake, "Pans, you've got to get up. Someone else has been killed." She whispered.

Pansy groaned and rolled over, "What happened?" She mumbled.

"Someone else has been killed. Blaise and Daphne are missing, I'm going to help Theo look for them. You need to go to Draco's dorm."

Pansy sat up, "No, you can't!"

"I have to. Now, please get up and go."

Pansy sighed and got out of bed, "Please be careful."

Eliza nodded, "I will be."

The two girls walked out of the dorm and went their separate ways. Eliza watched Pansy from the opposite side of the hall, making sure she made it into Draco's room before turning to Theo, "Let's go, Nott."

They wandered out of the common room and checked the broom closet down the hallway, the two abandoned classrooms, Snape's office, and found nothing. So they made their way upstairs, they searched three more broom closets, two more classrooms, and a bathroom.

They then heard a noise causing them to stop dead in their traps.

"What was that?" Eliza whispered.

Theo shrugged, "It came from that way." He pointed his flashlight to the left.

Eliza began speed-walking in that direction, Theo sprinting to catch up, "Lizzy, wait!" He whisper shouted.

Once he caught up to her, they nearly ran right into Harry Potter and Hermione Granger, "What are you two doing up?" Hermione questioned, shining her flashlight between the two.

"Blaise and Daphne are missing from their dorms, we heard on the intercom that someone had been killed, we're looking for them. What are you two doing up?" She asked just as accusatorially as Hermione had.

Harry looked between the two, trying to decide if he believed them or not, he must have because he ignored the question and ushered for them to follow him and Hermione into a classroom, "You haven't happened to see Ron have you?" He asked them once he shut the door.

Eliza shook her head, "We haven't seen anyone besides you two."

"Harry woke up and Ron was missing, we can't find him anywhere. We've looked on every floor."

"Well shit." Eliza mumbled.

Hermione nodded, "We're really worried about him. He should know that it's unsafe to be out so late when there's a murderer wandering around."

"Blaise and Daphne should know better too." Theo grumbled.

Eliza opened her mouth to respond but never got the chance to because the classroom door flew open, "What on earth are you four doing out of bed so late?" Professor McGonagall's shrill voice yelled.

Harry looked around, no one seemed to want to answer, "Ron is missing and so are Blaise and Daphne. Hermione and I came looking for Ron and ran into Eliza and Theo, they're looking for Blaise and Daphne.

Professor McGonagall sighed, "Come on, you four, I hate to do this to you all, but I have to send you with Aurors."

Hermione frowned, "What? Why?"

"You four are out of bed and another student has been murdered, it looks suspicious."

-

When the four teenagers stepped out of the Floo and into the Head Auror's office at the Ministry of Magic, he looked up at them, "Just great, it's you four, of course it is. This isn't surprising."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Eliza asked, raising an eyebrow at the odd looking man.

The man pointed at Harry and Hermione, "Gryffindor's nosiest students and a pair of Slytherin's. Makes sense."

Theo rolled his eyes, of course he was stereotyping them.

"However, Harry and Hermione, you two may go back." The man said, his Auror badge was unreadable.

"Why just them?" Eliza asked.

"Because their friend was killed and I highly doubt they would kill Ron." He dropped the news as if it were the most casual thing to say. Hermione gasped, covering her mouth, tears welling in her eyes.

Harry shook his head, grabbing at the desk to steady himself, "Ron? I- I don't understand? Where was he? How did he die?" He stuttered out.

The man stood up, his badge shining in the light, his name seemed to be Thomas McLaggen. He was Cormac McLaggen's older brother. No wondered he looked strange, Eliza couldn't help but to think to herself

"We found him in Snape's classroom. Five stab wounds and his throat was slit. It was overkill, his first stab went directly through his heart and it was the one that killed him."

"Why would he be in Snape's classroom?" Eliza asked.

"I could ask you that same question, Miss Parkinson. We found a note in his pocket from you asking him to meet there." McLaggen was staring at her.

"Eliza, what the fuck? You seemed to have failed to mention that when we ran into you!" Harry yelled turning to face her, the sadness on his face quickly overcome with anger.

She shook her head, "I don't understand, I never wrote him a note, I never-" She was cut off by Theo.

"That's impossible because she was with me all night." Theo spoke over her.

She shot him a look, he was lying. She had returned to her dorm immediately after they left the Great Hall and had not seen him until he walked down the hall to let everyone know Blaise was gone.

McLaggen raised an eyebrow, "How am I to believe that? Do you have proof?"

Theo nodded, "My memories, you can search them, if you really must." He replied nonchalantly.

Eliza looked between the two, she had no idea how he was planning to prove that they were together when they actually weren't.

McLaggen walked over and used Legilimency to enter Theo's mind.

A few minutes passed, everyone was watching in silence as he invaded Theo's mind, turning more red by the second.

After the long silence, he awkwardly cleared his throat and turned to Eliza, "I'm sorry, Miss Parkinson, it seems you do have an alibi. Whoever killed Mr. Weasley must have gotten ahold of some of your class assignments and copied your writing." He mumbled, turning even more red if that were possible.

She slowly nodded, keeping her face blank and mind Occluded. She didn't have an alibi, neither did Theo so she was unsure of what Theo showed him that worked as proof, but she wasn't going to complain or tell him that Theo was lying. She didn't want to be there any longer so Theo's lie would have to do, she would simply ask him once she was able to pull him into a quiet area with no listening ears.

"I do, however, need you all to let me know if you saw anything suspicious in the hallways tonight. Did you see any students, any teachers? Blood?" He asked.

The four teenagers all shook their head, no one had seen anything. It was too dark. Hermione was still sniffling and Harry had been staring at the ground, his expression unreadable.

He nodded, "Alright, well, if we have any more questions, we'll come to the school and pull you from your classes. Please refrain from leaving your rooms at night. It's unsafe." He glanced over to Theo, "There is nothing more important than your life, Mr. Nott."

Theo looked down at the ground to keep anyone from seeing the smirk that had overtaken his face, especially since Harry and Hermione were clearly grieving the shocking news of what had happened to Ronald.

-

Once Eliza and Theo stepped through the Floo in McGonagall's office, they separated from Hermione and Harry. Once they made it to the dungeons, Eliza grabbed Theo's arm and pulled him into a broom closet, "What did you show him?" She asked.

He looked at her , feigning confusion, "Huh?"

"Your memories, you lied. What did you show him? I went back to my room after supper and so did you."

He shrugged, "Nothing important. Just gave you an alibi."

"But how did you do it? We weren't together."

"Lizzy, do you really think McLaggen of all people is that smart? I just made up a memory in my head and pushed it to the front. He watched it and believed it because it looked believable. A smart person would've checked your memories too, but he's not a smart person, now is he? He's too stupid to know anything otherwise. Mum is a skilled Occlumens and my father is a Death Eater, do you really think they would let me come to Hogwarts without knowing occlumency?"

Eliza nodded, "That still doesn't explain why you did it."

"Harry and Hermione were free to go, I was probably next to be free to go, you were the only one with incriminating evidence, I wasn't leaving you alone with McLaggen, he's fucking disgusting."

"Well thanks, I guess." She mumbled.

"But you haven't told me why you were meeting up with Ron Weasley?" He asked her, unable to hide the disgust as he said Ron's name.

"I wasn't. I was asleep. I didn't leave my dorm until I met up with you."

"Then why did he have a note?"

"I don't know, Theo. You heard McLaggen someone copied my writing and planted it to make me look suspicious. Why were you out of your dorm when Draco and I opened our doors?" She asked, she was mad that he seemed to be accusing her.

He shrugged, "I was looking for Blaise."

"Your dorm is to the left of mine, how did you get to the end of the hall so quick, the announcement had just ended when Draco and I opened our doors."

He scoffed, "Are you accusing me of killing Weaselbee?"

"You seem to be accusing me of doing the same." She retorted.

He rolled his eyes, "Not accusing you, just wondering why he had a note from you."

"Are you jealous, Nott?" She asked.

He shrugged, leaning back against the huge cupboard that seemed to be taking up most of the closet space, "Maybe I am."

She batted her eyelashes, "Do you need a note asking to meet up in a classroom late at a night with a killer on the lose?" She teased.

He rolled his eyes, "Oh please, you'd give it to Malfoy before giving it to anyone else."

"Oh shut up!" She turned red.

He leaned forward, tugging on a piece of her hair, "Dear Draco, I'd love to meet up with you in an abandoned classroom at three a.m so you can bend me over-"

She covered his mouth, "Shut up, Nott, you can't just say things like that."

He grinned, "You're not denying it."

She rolled her eyes, "Goodnight, Theodore."

As she opened the door to step out of the closet, her face as red as Gryffindor's house colors, she all but ran back to her dorm, leaving behind a laughing Theo Nott.

authors note:
seeing lana del rey tomorrow