Case of the Cintimani Stone: A Hammer Mystery

Chapter 19

"You should give it back." Hermione told the Hammer at breakfast, the sharpness and concern in her voice attracting unwanted stares that they were forced to wave off before it started another round of fresh rumours.

"I'm not gonna give it back." Harry said dismissively, waving his hand and trying to enjoy his drink.

"It's the right thing to do, Harry. How do you expect to keep it safe? We're not as powerful as any of the adults!"

"What are they going to do with it if we give it back? They wouldn't know what to do with it aside from stick it in another magic mirror to reflect on their mistakes."

"Doesn't this mean the case is solved, Hammer?" Neville asked from the Hufflepuff table, "I mean we got the thing they're after and you got all your answers."

"I haven't gotten all the answers I want yet, Nev. Not by a long shot. Heck, we still don't have a clean culprit yet. As far as I'm concerned, we're still in business."

Neville turned back to his table, the other Hufflepuffs noticing the darkness in his expression. For most, it was a passing curiosity and for others it was a sign of the times. Between the clumsy, crestfallen boy who had showed up missing a toad at the Hogwarts Express and the newly brooding character that occupied the space between the twin lines of golden trim, there was a world of difference that the other Hufflepuffs could only attribute to his choice in friends.

***

A note that came in with the breakfast post deliveries informed the group of when their detention would be. It was a handwritten set of instructions by Professor McGonagall this time, telling them to report to the entry hall of the castle at sundown to Mr. Filch wherein he and Hagrid would be supervising their night's task. Her handwriting didn't look like the one that gave him the cloak on Christmas. Hermione seemed disappointed in herself for having received a punishment, but Harry was nonchalant about the whole affair. After all, this wasn't the first time he had stepped over the line at a school, and by the Hammer's reckoning it wasn't going to be his last.

Passing by an empty classroom near the library, he paused at its cracked open door, coming to rest in a tiny sliver of light that came from within the room. Inside was a silhouette of Professor Quirrell, immediately recognisable by his purple turban, the quiet sounds of pleaded whimpers reaching the Hammer's ears,

"Please, no. Not that... not again." The man sounded close to breaking down into all out tears. Harry held a hand up to his mouth to muffle the sound of his breaths, continuing to watch Quirrell hold onto the edges of a desk and plead quietly with no one but himself. A few moments later he straightened up from the desk, "I-al-alright." He moved like an inexpertly piloted marionette, jolting away from the desk suddenly and causing the Hammer to move away from his sliver of light and into a dark corner. A moment later the Professor had burst from the door and was striding away down the hall. The Hammer waited - he hadn't been spotted, or Quirrell was so involved in his sad little pep talk to the point where he didn't notice Harry standing in the hallway. Either way, it was good news.

Looking into the classroom, there weren't any other signs of anyone else's passage save for a door ajar at the other end of the room, but it was all circumstantial.

He met the other two in the entry hall, only to be joined by a sulking Malfoy. Apparently someone had been busy with bad decisions on his own time. Harry tipped his hat at the boy and smirked. Malfoy begrudgingly nodded his head but kept his distance from them. Filch was preceded by his feline harbinger - Mrs. Norris the red eyed cat, plodding up to them before setting down and meowing somehow condescendingly.

"Follow me." The grizzled old man told them, lighting a lamp he had brought with him. Harry wondered why he didn't use a wand lighting spell - it seemed cheap and easy.