THE BODY IN THE LIBRARY!

SEPTEMBER 1977

6th Year

• • • •

"What I feel is that if one has got to have a murder actually happening in one's house, one might as well enjoy it, if you know what I mean." - Agatha Christie, The Body in the Library

Leah Sherlock let out a sigh as she sat down next to Claudia the Ravenclaw table, Felix, Warren and Emily sitting across from them.

"Have I gone crazy, or is Leah Sherlock actually late to breakfast?" Felix asked with a smirk, making the girl purse her lips and glare at the Gryffindor.

"Flitwick wanted to talk to her." Claudia explained.

"What did he want?" Warren questioned.

"He was just telling me something about not making first years cry," Leah rolled her eyes, "It was either that or something about a jelly supply."

"How do you mix those two up?" Warren raised an eyebrow.

"You weren't listening, were you?" Emily asked knowingly.

"It wasn't interesting enough for me to listen," Leah shrugged, "I have to attain a lot of information and the feelings of first years aren't important enough for me to remember. Neither is Professor Flitwick's seemingly profound love for jelly."

"And you already made three first years cry last night." Claudia added.

"They shouldn't have asked me the question if they didn't want to know the answer." Leah said.

"What question did they ask?" Felix wondered.

Leah went to answer the boy, only for Claudia to hold out her hand, silencing her friend, "I don't want to hear your answer again."

The dark-haired Ravenclaw rolled her eyes, turning to Felix, "I'll tell you later."

"Um, excuse me, Leah?" A timid voice asked behind the said girl, making the group turn to see a fifth year Slytherin standing behind them.

"Yes?"

"Um, I know it's only the first day, but I need your help." The girl told her.

A small smirk made it's way onto her face, "I'm guessing this is about your boyfriend. Tall, cocky, blonde Slytherin in my year?"

"How'd you-"

"Sorry to interrupt," Claudia interrupted, holding out her hand, "But we take payments upfront. You'll see why."

"Two galleons for petty, boring cases," Emily added, "And an extra galleon for it being solved within one hour. So that's three." 

The Slytherin girl nodded, before fishing into her robes and handing the brunette Ravenclaw three galleons, before turning expectedly to Leah, who was putting food onto her plate. Feeling the girl's stare, she looked up.

"Oh right," She muttered, "He's cheating on you. Has been for nearly a year now."

"W-What?"

"Well, I sat next to him in Charms last year and he always had red lipstick smudges on his collar, which quite frankly, you really should have noticed. He also always smelt like women's perfume. One that you-" She grabbed the fifth year's wrist, smelling it, "Do not wear."

The girl sniffed back the tears, "Anything else."

"Oh, and what was that defining piece of evidence?" Leah pretended to think, "Oh right. I've seen him snogging multiple girls who definitely weren't you."

The girl didn't answer, only running away with tears in her eyes.

"You really need to be more sensitive when it come to these kinds of cases." Warren told his friend.

"It's like I said," Leah shrugged, "Don't ask the question if you don't want to know the answer."

"Maybe we should make that your slogan." Claudia snickered, adding the case to her notebook.

"Oh come on, Watson," Leah smirked, "You can come up with something more creative than that."

___

"Have you heard?" Warren asked, as he and Emily joined their friends at their usual table in the library.

"Heard what?" Leah asked, not looking up from her work, having always been uninterested in trivial things, such as gossip.

"James Potter and Lily Evans are dating." Emily told them.

"No!" Felix gasped.

"Yes!" The two nodded.

"I mean, I knew already," Claudia said, "She told me when we were doing prefect duty on the train yesterday."

"It wasn't hard to deduce." Leah hummed, making her friends roll their eyes with fond smiles.

"How so?" Felix wondered.

"It was never any secret that Evans liked Potter," Leah shrugged, "And last night at the feast and this morning at breakfast, she was sitting with Potter and his morons. Willingly."

"Of course." Warren nodded, chuckling.

"How Potter convinced Evans to go out with with him, however, is the biggest mystery." Leah added, standing up.

"Where're you going?" Claudia asked her.

"It's a library, Watson," Leah said with a smirk like smile, "Use those skills of deduction."

Walking away from he group, Leah walked over to the Potions section of the library, her dark eyes flickering over the shelves, before smirking slightly when her eyes landed on the desired textbook, eagerly reaching for the book and beginning to flip through the pages.

"Veritaserum?" A voice asked, making her turn around.

Leah arched one of her eyebrows, "What about it?"

Remus Lupin chuckled slightly, shoving his hands in his pockets, looking at his feet.

He was nervous.

"It-It's just that's a potion you learn in seven year." He stuttered.

Leah eyed him up and down, "So?"

"W-Well you're a sixth year."

Leah smirked, "Well spotted."

Remus flushed red, "Sorry. It's just impressive. That's all."

Leah's eyes narrowed, as she cocked her head.

He was intimidated.

"Are you intimidated by me, Remus?"

"Y-You know my name?" He asked.

Leah nodded slowly, her eyes scanning the scars on the boy's face, "And I'm sure you know mine."

"Of course I do, Leah."

Leah hummed, "And if you're so nervous and intimidated by me, then why try and start a conversation."

"Uh, well..." Remus trailed off.

"I may be a genius, Lupin, but I'm not a mind reader." She told him.

Remus let out a laugh, "I heard you were quite cocky."

"Confident," Leah corrected him, "And you know who I am. You've heard what I can do. Am I wrong?"

Remus shook his head, "No."

Leah smirked, beginning to walk away, "Good."