Summary: In which Ron levitates Dean, Hermione glares, Ginny threatens Cho, Neville is confused, Harry asks some questions and the killer confesses.

Who Killed Mr. Potter?

Chapter 10- The Murderer is Revealed

When they had revived Cho - with the help of Enervate instead of water this time - she looked around and asked, "where's Dean? I thought he was right behind me when I left the lounge but I couldn't find him...have any of you seen him?"

Ron shrugged. "Let's go check, maybe we'll find Neville too," he suggested and Hermione, Ron, and Cho headed off.

Neither Dean nor Neville were in the lounge, however, when the group arrived. It was just the way Cho and Dean had left it except for the far corner where the horrid green rug had been turned up showing the way into the secret passage.

Cho gasped and ran forward and almost tripping down the stairs of the passageway in her haste. The rest walked down the stairs more carefully than Cho.

They found her kneeling over Dean's body in the passageway.

"Is he dead?" she asked, studying his face.

"Of course he's not dead," Hermione snapped after checking his pulse. "No one's ever dead around here."

"Let's take him back to the library," Ron suggested.

"Aren't we going to wake him up first?" Cho asked.

"No," Hermione said. "It's too dark down here, let's wait until we get back."

"Ron?" Hermione turned to look at him.

"Wingardium Leviosa," he said clearly, guiding Dean through the air and up the stairway.

Hermione turned her gaze upon Dean's limp form and gave him a glare that would even have sent even Snape cowering.

Back in the library, Ron placed Dean onto the long table.

"Just unconscious," Hermione reassured Harry and Ginny who were looking on in shock.

"Good," Ginny replied and before anyone could stop her she climbed up on the table next to Dean and, without any warning at all, slapped him round the face with all her might.

That sure woke Dean up in a hurry.

"What the...?" he asked before catching the look on Ginny's face. He scrambled away in fear.

Who could blame him? Ron thought to himself. If he had woken up to an exceedingly angry Ginny kneeling over him with her arm raised about to slap him for a second time, he would have done the exact same thing.

"Ginny!" Harry remonstrated.

"No!" Cho yelled and, scrambling forward, pulled Ginny off the table.

There was a small scuffle in which Ginny pulled her wand on Cho and Harry tried to jump between them before someone got hexed.

"Cho," Ginny said, breathless. "Move away from Dean or you get the bat-bogey hex! And while I'm on the subject, if I ever find out who tried to murder Harry..." she glared pointedly at Dean... "I will personally hex them into last year!"

Little did this group know that standing outside of the closed side door, unseen and unheard, the would-be murderer laughed silently because he had heard Ginny's last statement.

He heard a rumble of quiet voices and then, making his heart skip, someone said his name. His breath quickened, his heart pounded in his throat. The voices were getting quieter. He opened the door a crack and peered in.

To his horror the group was retreating out of the main door to the right. If they turned the corner they would run straight into him. Before he could make a decision, he found himself nose to nose with Weasley.

"Neville!" Ron gasped in surprise. "Where've you been, mate?"

"I did it!" Neville shouted loudly, backing up slightly in a last ditch attempt to get out of trouble. "I killed Potter!"

His confession cut through the air like a knife.

"But Neville..." Hermione paused, looking at him strangely. "Are...are you alright?"

"Of course I am, I've never been better! I..."

"Who are you?" Harry asked angrily, wand at the intruder's throat. He hadn't even seen Harry approach. "Neville never calls me by my last name and Neville's hair doesn't randomly turn blond!"

"Uh...um..." at a loss for words after his impassioned confession, he could only stutter.

"WHO ARE YOU?" Harry repeated, louder this time, jabbing his wand at the Neville look-a-like.

Frantically thinking of a plan of escape, the impostor Neville turned and attempted to flee but the DA was quicker and he was hit with six impediment charms to his back.

"Neville?" Ginny asked tentatively.

"That's not Neville," Harry assured everyone. "Just wait."

They didn't have to wait long, the polyjuice potion had already begun to wear off when they had run into the intruder in the hall. They formed a circle around the suspect, wands still pointing at him.

Six wands were still pointing at the impostor as they watched him slowly change back into a pointy-faced pale-haired boy.

Ginny made a sound resembling a strangled cat.

"What have you done with Neville?" Harry was the first one to ask, but before Malfoy could answer, a loud pounding came from a door on their right.

"Hello? Can anybody hear me? Hello?"

Harry nodded his head at Hermione, who was closest to the door, and she went over and unlocked it.

A rumpled and slightly confused Neville, hand halted in mid-knock, was slowly blinking back at them. He looked around at their shocked faces.

"What's everyone doing out here? What's happening?"

"This one," Ron jerked his head at Malfoy, "just confessed to one count of attempted murder while looking exactly like you."

"So that's who it was that attacked me," Neville said to himself. When he noticed everyone was waiting for him to explain further, he went on: "When I left the ballroom, I heard someone rush up behind me but before I could do anything, he hit me on the head," he looked slightly bewildered. "Though I have no idea how I ended up in the conservatory..." Neville trailed off.

"Dobby!" Harry called, a sudden idea forming.

There was a loud crack and Dobby, no longer unconcious, was standing before them.

"Dobby," Harry said calmly. "Do you remember seeing Malfoy in here at all?"

Dobby trembled slightly.

"Draco Malfoy is a very bad boy!" Dobby declared finally. "Dobby was called into the come and go room and was tricked!"

"Tricked how?" Hermione asked.

"If Dobby had known it was the Malfoy boy, Dobby wouldn't have done it!"

Dobby started to wring his ears until Harry knelt down and pulled his hands away.

"What did he have you do?"

"Polyjuice potion! Dobby knew where there was some brewing and brought it back! But Dobby didn't know that it would be used to kill Harry Potter!"

"But it's fine Dobby, I'm not dead, see?" Harry reassured the hysterical elf.

"Dobby is so very glad to see that Harry Potter is alright, sir," Dobby said, sounding slightly relieved, and then disappeared with another loud crack.

There was a pause and then Harry said: "What time is it? I'm hungry, let's go get something to eat."

Hermione glanced at her watch and gasped. "Oh no, half-past six! We have classes today, we had better go!"

Still holding him at wand point, they unfroze Malfoy and made him unlock the door, everyone of them rushing out in all haste to get away from that misbegotten mansion. They were glad to see they had their school robes on once more (Ginny had actually grown quite fond of her maid outfit).

Dean and Ron frog marched a surly looking Malfoy out of the room and along the corridor, the others of the group forming a sort of guard around him as they made their way to Dumbledore's office.

"Please let me hex him at least once?" Ginny asked, her voice trailing off down the hall with the others.

When Harry, Ron, Hermione, Neville, Ginny, Dean, and Cho entered the great hall fifteen minutes later, there was an outbreak of muttering from the students already assembled in the great hall. Snatches of it could be heard:

"Didn't know they were a couple."

They must have been talking about Cho and Dean who were heading over to the Ravenclaw table together, or maybe they were talking about Ron and Hermione who were holding hands or maybe it was about Ginny who was still clinging to Harry for dear life.

"They all look ill."

This was true as most of them had large bumps and bruises in various places.

"I wonder where they've been all night...what they've been up to..."

Ginny, Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Neville all gratefully collapsed at the Gryffindor table, Harry immediately reaching for a large plate of bacon.

"Hey, has anyone seen Trevor?" Neville asked, searching his pockets and pulling out a candlestick holder in the process.

Hermione giggled, "Professor Plum, in the study, with the candlestick."

Neville blushed.

FIN

A/N: Hope you enjoyed our newly re-mastered murder-mystery! You didn't think we would really kill Harry, did you? Drop us a line on the review board if you feel so inclined, and we hope to see you around next time!

F & G