Suspicious Newcomer

Chapter 9

Five Weeks Later

Harry poked at the arrangement of sausages on his plate, trying and failing to keep his mind off his detention with Snape later that day. Fortunately for him, the speculation of what tortures Snape had in mind that particular afternoon was broken off as he saw a green clad figure slide into the seat across from him. He looked up from his plate to see Mello, absolutely glowing with triumph.

"Erm." Harry said. "Wrong table, mate."

"Harry," Ron exclaimed, sitting himself next to Harry. "We found something."

"What?" asked Harry, momentarily caught off guard. Ron opened his mouth to explain, but Mello cut him off.

"We took your advice-well, L's advice, and investigated the people who were on the team last year but weren't on tryouts this year. Doug Prewett, one of last year's chasers. He said he was in detention-"

"-because somebody told Professor Flitwick that he was the one who released a dozen Fanged Frisbees into his office on the first day of school." Ron interrupted. Mello shot him a look of annoyance, but also nodded along in agreement. "And right before the tryouts, Crabbe and Goyle were hexed from behind and ended up in the Hospital Wing!"

"Right, sorry." apologized Harry. Then he frowned. "Wait, what exactly am I supposed to get from that?"

"He was framed!" Ron shouted, causing a few Hufflepuffs seated near him to turn around, looking for the source of noise. "And I bet you can guess who did it!"

"Why would Yagami want to frame his own team?" Harry asked. "If anything, shouldn't he want the people from last year to audition again?"

"It gets them out of the way." Mello said quietly. "So he could be free to choose his own teammates, maybe more loyal and willing to follow orders, or to cheat." A dark look came upon his face. "Well, clearly he chose wrong."

"As great as this is," Harry said. "We still have no proof that he's actually doing anything to break the rules." To be perfectly honest, Harry was growing less and less interested in Quidditch and beating Yagami's team. His lessons with Dumbledore and trying to find out what Draco was up to made him more and more busy.

Ron flushed. "Well, maybe if we took the evidence to Professor Mcgonagall-"

"She'd tell us we were being paranoid." Harry sighed. "Trust me, I know."

Ron looked dejected.

"It is a good start though," Harry said, not wanting to put his best friend down. "I dunno, maybe we can find some other proof that Light was doing something." His musing was interrupted by the ringing bell, indicating that their first class would be starting soon. He gathered his bag and started to stand up. "I know we'll get Yagami eventually, though. Can't wait to beat that smug bastard."

Mello and Ron grinned at each other. Harry frowned. He hadn't remembered them being so...nice to one another. Harry cleared his throat and gestured at the two of them. "Are you two...friends now?" he asked. The change couldn't have been more immediate. Ron went red and Mello scowled, opening his mouth to defend himself. "Nevermind," Harry said quickly, carrying himself out of the Great Hall at a quick pace.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Harry plodded back from Detention, hoping he could get up to his bed in time to get a few hours of sleep before the next day. As he walked along the hallway, he saw another figure approaching. Harry froze. If Filch caught him out of his common room after dark, it didn't matter if he had been in Detention, he would surely earn another one. As the figure got closer though, Harry relaxed slightly as he saw it was another student. Another student dressed in green robes with messy hair and a curious posture. L. Harry continued walking, fixing his eyes on the carpet, although he could still feel Lawliet staring at him. As they passed each other in silence, however, Harry remembered the conversation from that morning and figured he better thank Lawliet for the help. He turned around, L already being a few feet away in the other direction.

"Oi!" he called out. L stopped. "Thanks for the help, earlier. With the Quidditch thing." He had turned around now, staring at Harry with those gigantic eyes. He didn't have eyebrows, but something about his expression indicated curiosity, so Harry elaborated. "Telling us to look at the people who weren't at tryouts? You told me to do that in Defense a few weeks ago. It was really useful..." he trailed off as L suddenly walked closer, stopping right in front of Harry. He quickly looked back down at the floor.

"Do you have proof yet?"

"Huh?"

"Proof. That Yagami's cheating."

"Well, no. We're still looking into that." Harry chanced a look upward. "Don't suppose you would be able to help, would you?"

L chuckled. "Yagami would never be foolish enough to leave evidence of his misdoings. Sure you have a theory, but no teacher would take you seriously." Harry frowned, feeling annoyed again. Why was he always so condescending? "However, you may be able to...force the truth out."

"Force the truth out?" Harry asked. L rolled his eyes. "Veritaserum. I'm talking about Veritaserum."

Harry did have eyebrows, and they shot up into his hairline. "But, we can't-" he started to say, but once again, L was walking away without so much as a glance back.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Harry, you can't." Hermione said sharply as Harry read the instructions to make Veritaserum in his Potions book. Hopefully with the Half Blood Prince's help, it wouldn't be too difficult. "Where would you even get half of those ingredients? You'd need to steal from Snape's office again!" A few other Gryffindors seated in the common room looked over, curiously. "Would you keep your voice down?" Harry hissed. He was already regretting telling Hermione what Lawliet had told him.

Hermione scowled. "Well, I'm just trying to help you see sense! You should be focusing on getting that memory from Slughorn!" Harry rolled his eyes. According to the book, he would need to start making the potion on the new moon, then let it sit till the full moon. It would be at least a month until they could force Yagami to confess.

"Are you even listening to me?" asked Hermione angrily. Harry snapped his textbook closed and took a deep breath.

"Look, Hermione. I've got to do something that has nothing to do with the Prophecy, or Dark Arts, or..."

Hermione's expression softened slightly. Then she spoke in a lower tone of voice, "I know Harry, but it-it's unethical, not to mention illegal!" Then she sighed as well. "I'm going to bed. You can make your own decision." She slowly headed towards the girls dormitories. Harry raised his eyebrows as he watched her go. She had never been that easy on him before. He loved Hermione, but sometimes it was like having a mini-Mcgonagall around.