The Beginning of a New Competition... Yes, Again – Part 4
"Did you hear? Potter and his friends started another one of their competitions," a student said while walking down the castle corridor with his friends.
"What? Again? Don't those people ever get tired?" another one complained immediately. "And what's it about this time?" he asked.
"I don't know exactly, but Greengrass looked like she was preparing a detective costume. Though, well, it's not like they aren't entertaining. They just tend to take things a little too far," a third one added.
"I just hope they don't end up destroying the castle when it was only just rebuilt," the first one added with a forced laugh.
Tommy, who was walking with Terra and Dee perched on top of his head, felt his eyes light up when he heard that.
"Did you hear that?" he said to his tiny partners. "I think we might have our first customers," he added excitedly.
Terra and Dee nodded in unison.
"Come on. We need to find information we can sell. I think there was that Slytherin boy who always goes unnoticed, the one Draco and the others always ask for information. Maybe we can make some kind of deal with him," Tommy said enthusiastically, already seeing a plan beginning to form in his head before taking off at a run and disappearing in a streak of speed.
...
Back to the present:
"What does whatever Tommy was doing have to do with this whole case you created?" Sirius couldn't help asking irritably, since the story once again seemed to be getting derailed by Harry.
"Well, if you don't want to know how the syrup lake ended up in the courtyard, it would be difficult to explain it without that," Harry said, pointing towards the river behind them, which was still giving off its sweet smell.
Everyone's gaze then settled on Tommy, who had the most innocent smile on his face.
Wanda looked at her youngest son and touched her forehead for a moment.
"Continue," she said.
"While Tommy went looking for Theo, Hermione..."
...
Hermione decided to forget about Neville.
In truth, she'd never planned for him to be her partner. She had only wanted to annoy the others. She already had the people she wanted as assistants in mind.
Besides helping her with the investigation, they would also serve as an excellent distraction if necessary. After all, none of her competitors would be capable of saying no to them.
Yes.
Them.
Luna and Astoria.
The moment Hermione stepped through the door of the private room they had remodelled themselves the previous year, and which Sirius had ordered to be rebuilt almost exactly the same in the new castle, her expression turned confused.
Where there was normally a quiet place to study, several yellow tapes marked with the words Crime Scene now crossed the room.
A huge board covered one of the walls, filled with photographs, notes, and red strings connecting one thing to another.
Several magnifying glasses, maps, and open parchments rested on the table, while a large blackboard announced in enormous letters:
Luna Detective Agency
Luna and Astoria were wearing long detective coats, hats, and magnifying glasses hanging from their necks.
Even Ginny was dressed exactly the same, although she remained seated in a corner with an expression that made it quite clear she didn't understand how she'd ended up there either.
Hermione simply stood there staring at the scene for several seconds.
"...What did you do to our room?" was the first thing that came out of her mouth.
Hermione even stepped back outside for a moment to check the classroom number before entering again.
"It's our detective agency now," Astoria replied proudly. "If we want to beat you at your own game, we have to be prepared for anything," she added, folding her arms confidently.
Luna nodded firmly, just as convinced.
Ginny, on the other hand, seemed to be the only one who still wasn't entirely convinced about that decision.
...
Harry, who had finished arguing over Neville when the boy managed to escape, had no choice but to look for another assistant.
And, of course, the first option immediately came to mind.
So now he was in the library, wearing a shameless smile as he leaned against the librarian's desk, which at that moment wasn't occupied by Madam Pince, but by her beautiful, newly hired assistant.
"No," Fleur said immediately the moment she saw Harry's face, while at the same time gathering several books into her arms and walking towards the nearby shelves.
"I haven't even said anything yet," Harry said, following her with an amused smile.
Fleur stopped for a moment with an annoyed expression before turning her gaze towards Harry.
"You're rather shameless to show your face here after what happened last time," she said as—slam!—she dropped all the books onto a nearby table, making a loud noise.
"Oh? And what could you possibly be talking about?" Harry said with a teasing smile, while at the same time running one finger across his lip.
Those words and that gesture made Fleur's annoyed expression turn even more furious, but also as red as a tomato.
"You..."
Harry didn't answer. He simply kept smiling in that irritating way that only seemed to make Fleur's mood even worse.
...
"Alright, we understand. You went to flirt with your little girlfriend. We can skip that part," Sirius said, really wanting the brat to get to the main point.
"Well... I think it's pretty important," Harry said.
"Just..."
Before Sirius could say anything else, his gaze, for some reason, landed on what looked like a glass sarcophagus he hadn't noticed before.
But now that he was looking properly, he could see someone dressed in pink inside it.
That made his eyes widen.
Then he shook his head, as though he didn't want to see it.
"Just keep explaining the competition," he added in the end.
...
With Fleur refusing to become his pretty assistant, Harry had no choice but to look for another helper. Otherwise, he would have to do all the hard work himself.
And, of course, it was better to dump that on someone else.
"What's up, Harry? Back in the library again?" Terry said, greeting Harry in a friendly way.
Judging by the books tucked under his arm, he seemed to have come to return them.
Harry stared at him for several seconds, while Terry began to look confused under his classmate's intense gaze.
Until Harry finally opened his mouth.
"Good. From now on, you're my assistant," Harry told him without hesitation and without asking.
"What?" Terry said, confused. "Oh, right, I heard you're having one of your competitions," Terry remembered.
Then his expression seemed to become a little more excited.
"Your assistant? Sure, I don't mind. Sounds fun. Last time I ended up being a corpse and had to lie there for hours. Do I need to wear a costume too?" he asked, sounding rather excited.
"Sure, whatever you want," Harry said, not giving it much importance. "If you want one, you should ask Daphne. She always has something prepared for everyone," Harry added.
"Great. This is going to be really fun," Terry said, becoming more and more excited about joining this group's madness.
While the different participants began moving their first pieces...
Draco stood directly in front of Michael Corner, the two staring at one another in silence, though Michael seemed to swallow nervously under Malfoy's gaze. Even a drop of sweat rolled down his face.
"Good. You'll do," Draco said with a nod.
"Er... ah... thank you?" Michael said, having no idea what he would do for, but with no real choice except to accept.
"You'll begin your work immediately. For now, your first task is to spy on whatever nonsense Daphne comes up with to sabotage this. Your job will be to follow her and tell me what she's planning. Is that clear?" Draco said in a serious tone that left no room for refusal.
"Y-yes, sir," Michael answered by reflex.
"Good. Go," Draco said with a gesture, dismissing him.
Michael had barely taken two steps before stopping.
"What if she catches me?"
"Then don't get caught," Draco replied with complete calm.
Michael swallowed before leaving with far less enthusiasm than he'd had a few seconds ago.
For some reason, he had the feeling this was going to end very badly.
And not even ten minutes passed before that became true.
Draco was now standing there, staring at the floor with a slightly irritated expression while rubbing his forehead.
Right in front of him was what looked like a crime scene...
Literally.
Michael was lying on the ground with a sign on top of him that read:
Corpse No. 5
And around his body, his outline had been drawn in white chalk.
Michael was staring at the sky, but he couldn't help glancing towards Draco for a moment before trembling slightly in fear.
"Can you tell me what happened?" Draco asked, looking at his classmate, now turned into a murder victim.
"Erm... sorry. I'm supposed to be a corpse," Michael said in embarrassment while trying to hide his face.
Especially because he'd had quite a lot of fun mocking Terry before, when they turned him into a corpse during their game.
But they weren't alone there, because Harry stood not far away, also looking down at another crime scene.
Terry.
He was lying there as well, with a similar sign, except this one read:
Corpse No. 4
Terry looked like he wanted to cry, since he hadn't lasted more than ten minutes as a partner in Potter and his friends' adventures.
"I only wanted a detective hat..." Terry complained sadly, having returned to his old job as a corpse.
"Oh, no. A murder," a clearly fake voice suddenly said, making the two of them raise their heads.
Daphne stood there with complete calm, one hand over her mouth as though she were showing surprise at finding a crime scene, though the smile hidden beneath it was plainly visible.
"Poor boys. Maybe this is what happens when they stick their noses into things that don't concern them," she added.
It was obvious she was the culprit.
"Did you kill them?" Harry asked.
"Who knows?" Daphne said with a mocking smile. "Looks like you'll have to find new assistants now," she added before turning around and walking away, though not before letting out a villainous laugh.
Draco and Harry couldn't help letting out a sigh.
Yes.
It had begun.
...
Sirius remained silent for several seconds, having many questions at the moment, but the main one was:
"Why are they corpses number four and five? Where are the others? And who are they?" he asked.
"Oh, about that..." Daphne said.
The answer didn't take long to arrive.
A few moments earlier...
"Continuing to be students when we already have our own shop isn't profitable at all," George said while walking beside his brother, both of them seeming to be thinking about something.
"You know Mum will kill us if we leave school," Fred said, though it was obvious he was thinking the same thing.
"Besides..."
Before Fred could continue, his gaze suddenly seemed to find something lying on the floor not far away.
A red liquid covered the surroundings, the walls, and the floor as though a huge bloody battle had taken place there.
"What...?" he let out before quickly approaching with George, since they seemed to recognise the person lying there.
With their hearts pounding like mad, both of them approached in terror.
"G-Ginny, what happened? Are you alright? Hey!" they both said in complete panic when they saw their little sister like that, covered in what appeared to be blood and with her eyes closed.
"No, no, no, no... Ginny, hold on," Fred said, turning completely pale as he carefully tried to lift her and carry her to the hospital wing.
But the moment he touched her, Ginny opened her eyes.
"What are you doing? Let go of me, idiot," she told him in a bad mood.
That surprised both of them so much they nearly fell backwards.
"Ginny, you're alive!" George said with a huge smile as he let out an enormous sigh of relief, while at the same time both of them hugged her without caring that she was covered in that red liquid.
"I told you to let go of me. You're disgusting," Ginny complained while trying to get them off her, something that obviously wasn't easy with those two brothers, who had nearly lost their hearts upon seeing her like that.
And when they finally did, Ginny only gave them an annoyed look before adjusting the Corpse No. 3 sign on top of herself and lying back down on the floor, closing her eyes.
That made the twins look at her in confusion.
"Er... little sister, what exactly are you doing?" Fred asked.
"Corpse. Potter and the others' competition. Greengrass killed me. Now leave me alone. At least this way I won't end up dragged into whatever mess comes next," Ginny said.
"Corpses don't talk that much," Fred muttered, amused by his sister's behaviour.
"This one does."
The moment they heard the word competition, the twins seemed to accept what was happening much more easily.
"A competition, eh?" they both said with interest and slightly amused smiles.
But Ginny ignored them completely.
She seemed to be enjoying resting on the floor, and she had no idea when the two of them eventually left.
Only that, a few minutes later, she heard the familiar scream of her other brother, Ron, who burst into tears the moment he saw her and shouted,
"My little sister, noooo!"
Making Ginny roll her eyes before closing them again and completely ignoring him.
"Five minutes of peace... that's all I'm asking for."