Holmes away from Home

Please god, let me be dreaming

-----------------Izzy's PoV----------------

The plan started at breakfast the next day. As we were sitting down, we caught sight of Kit Etherton and motioned for him to come to our table. He hurried over. Cecilia whispered in his ear:

"We know who the murderer is. Tell as many people as you can, and get them to tell everyone they know. We'll be revealing who they are at breakfast tomorrow, we just need to get a few things in order."

His eyes widened and he hurried back to Gryffindor table with a seriously over-dramatised cackle. And with that the bait was laid out. Now we just had to wait.

All of our classes that day were filled with shifty stares and muffled whispers. Even in Defence against the Dark Arts, professor Riordan said we were having an impromptu theory lesson, all the while casting quick glances at us, as if he didn't want to get us hurt before the murderer could be caught. All throughout lunch break people were dropping hints, trying to get us to reveal the identity of the murderer before tomorrow, probably because they wanted to win the bets we caught them placing but were clammed up tight.

I don't think anyone got the impression that we hadn't got a clue.

At six thirty exactly, we put the second part of our plan into action. The Great Hall was completely full, and the entire school was in one place. The murderer would not, could not be anywhere else. Cecilia made a rather dramatic show of feeling unwell, blaming a small cheesecake for her discomfort. I made sure everyone knew that we were both going to be in our room.

As we got out of sight of everyone in the Great Hall, Cecilia stood up straight and let go of her stomach, then sped off down the corridor, doing the fastest sprint I'd ever seen her do. I took off as well, but I couldn't catch her up. I skidded into the broom closet where Sherlock was already waiting. He had set up the monitors with a little bit of magic to support the connection, in case it zoned out at an important bit. Cecilia was already visible, sitting in bed, reading and acting casual.

Then, after about ten minutes of waiting, a dark figure wearing a cloak slithered, snakelike, through the window. I could see where little Michael Bane got his description from. The figure's gangly frame could be described as 'big' to the untrained eye, and I think I could see a few strands of dark hair escaping the hood. Cecilia stood up, book forgotten, and pointed her wand at the figure. The figure laughed deeply and discarded the long, silver knife that they had been holding in their left hand.

"I didn't want to use this, but looks like I'll have to." They said, pulling their wand out of the long black cloak.

Before Cecilia could react, the figure yelled:

"Petrificus totalus!"

And my sister fell back against the wall, completely rigid. A sudden breeze from the still-open window caught the figure's hood and pulled it back. Standing in the middle of our dorm was...

James Potter.

---------------Cecilia's PoV--------------

They next thing I knew after my limbs froze, was that my sister was standing in front of James. I tried to cry out, but I couldn't.

"Why James?" I heard her say. "Why would you kill those people?"

James let out a laugh I had never heard him use before. Even Izzy was a little taken aback.

"I needed that girl's necklace for money. The man at the pawn shop knows me, he doesn't ask questions. Then you got involved."

James paused for effect.

"As soon as I first saw you on that train I couldn't keep my eyes off you. And now I had your attention, I didn't want to let it go. So I stole some more. And some more, and you kept on getting even more interested. But that kid, Michael Bane, saw me."

"So you killed him."

Izzy looked up at James, her voice cracking in the middle of her sentence, but to her credit, no tears fell. James slowly inclined his head towards her.

"Yes. The words were rather inspired I think, a note would reveal my handwriting and if I made him write it, it would give him time to plan an escape. This killed him and got the point across. It also kept your interest and provided me with the opportunity I needed to ask you out plus something to talk about on dates."

I could see James' face change to show something similar to remorse.

"Of course something was bound to go wrong, namely Poppy. I kissed her for a dare you know, I didn't expect you to come back. When you left me in the hall to suffer the most public humiliation I had ever endured in my life, I stopped caring what you thought of me. I killed the Slytherin whore because I wanted to, not because I needed to."

He clapped his hands. I would have jumped if invisible bonds were not still holding me down. James smiled ruefully, and Izzy took a wary few steps back. I noticed her hand drifted towards the waistband of her jeans where, now I looked closely, I could see the faint outline of her beretta. James spoke coldly.

"I didn't want to use the killing curse, Izzy, but I guess I'll have to."

Izzy's head snapped up, and I could barely see her gun as she pulled it out and aimed it.

"You can curse me James, but a bullet is sure as hell faster than a spell."

With a small smile James yelled:

"AVADA KEDAVRA!"

There was a blinding flash of light. I heard two loud explosions and felt the bonds release me. I looked over towards James and saw him slumped against the wall, a neat little bullet hole right between his eyes. Then I looked towards Izzy and saw her lying on the floor, her eyes glassy and staring.

James potter was dead.

But so was my sister.