Who Killed Mr. Potter?

Who Killed Mr. Potter?

Chapter 1-The characters come to life

Harry was preoccupied as he walked toward the Room of Requirement with Ron and Hermione; he knew there was something he forgot to do but couldn't place what it was. He had finished all of his homework, got in extra Quidditch practice, and had even had a good conversation with Cho Chang who seemed to be a lot nicer now that she and Harry were just friends. Still, there was something that nagged at the back of his head.

His thoughts were interrupted when he opened the door to the Room of Requirement and received a shock, for the normal bookshelf lined stone walls had turned into a long room. Harry noticed the picture lined walls, a patterned wood floor with round table in the center of the room, and two armoires on either side. Even stranger was the fact that there were two doors, one on the right and one at the opposite end of the room. Harry also couldn't remember whose turn it had been to set up the D. A. room for tonight.

"Harry," said a slightly panicked voice. It was Neville. Harry hadn't noticed him huddling near the door. "I got here first and found the room like this."

As Harry stepped into the room he felt an odd sensation. He looked down to find that his black school robes had turned into an expensive looking black suit with a gold tie.

"What is going on?" Harry wondered aloud and looked around at Neville who had gotten to the Room of Requirement first. Neville's robes had changed into a plum colored suit and tie.

"Somebody else must be using the Room of Requirement," Neville explained, "because this was how it looked when I got here."

Harry looked, perplexed, at Ron who had followed him into the room. Ron was now wearing a mustard yellow colored suit and tie with a matching monocle. Hermione, on the other hand, had on a lacy blue full length gown and a funny looking hat with a small peacock feather. All four of them looked ridiculous in Harry's opinion.

At that moment, Cho Chang rushed in behind them.

"I hope I'm not too late," she said breathlessly to no one in particular and shut the door behind her. She looked around startled as she noticed the weird garments everyone had on and gasped loudly as she looked down at herself. Cho was wearing a low-cut bright scarlet cocktail dress with matching red high heels and red gloves.

"How...what..." Cho began to ask.

"We have no clue," Harry told her, astounded at what was going on. Cho was still examining her outfit. The group stood silently for a few seconds then a full-length mirror appeared against the wall. Cho strode over it and started admiring herself in the mirror. She caught the other's reflections and spun around.

"What?" she asked in an incredulous tone. "This dress actually looks good on me."

Harry saw Hermione role her eyes, her arms crossed. Cho turned back to the mirror as Ginny and Dean walked in holding hands; Ginny was giggling at something Dean was saying to her. They only stopped when the two noticed how quiet it had become.

"Who died?" Ginny asked in hushed tones seeing how somber everyone looked. "Wait a minute!" she exclaimed seeing Hermione's frock. "Ha, I know! This is a costume party!"

"Yeah and look what you're wearing," Ron replied sarcastically. Ginny glanced down at herself. She was wearing a black dress that went to her knees and a white apron tied around her waist; she reached up and took off a white duster cap.

"Why do I have to be the maid?" She asked. Meanwhile, Dean had caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror Cho was using.

"I look classy," Dean commented, straightening the green suit jacket and tie he was wearing.

"Question," Ginny said, "what is all this?"

"That's what we want to know," Harry replied.

"First," Hermione started, "we need to wait for the other D. A. members to get here so we can all get to the bottom of this."

"Personally," Cho said, still admiring her reflection, "we don't look half bad in these clothes."

"Says she who has the nice gown while I'm dressed like a maid," Ginny grumbled. They all waited for ten minutes or so in silence before Hermione spoke.

"Harry are you sure you told everyone the new time?" She asked him.

"Huh?" Harry asked, jerking out of a reverie. So that's what he had been forgetting. "I thought you told everyone the new time."

"That's why we chose you to be the leader of the group," Hermione explained, "not me. It's your responsibility to tell everyone the new time."

"Well, I told Neville here before I left the great hall," Harry explained, "I was about to go tell Ernie Macmillan and the rest of the Hufflepuffs but Cho came over to talk to me. I told her about the new time and then I had to go to Quidditch practice and I guess I forgot after that."

"I told Ginny," Neville explained, "but I didn't see any other D. A. members."

"And I told Dean," Ginny finished.

"Well, someone obviously got here before all of us because we sure didn't do all this," Ron said, waving a hand around the room.

"But for what purpose?" Hermione asked, frowning. "Because the person who did this didn't do it for fun, I'm thinking."

"Maybe we should check out where the other doors lead before we do anything else and try to find out if there's anyone in the next room," Ron suggested.

"Good idea," Neville agreed.

Harry stepped over to the double doors at the far end of the room, opened them slowly, and cautiously peered over the threshold with his wand held out in front of him.

"Where does it go?" Cho asked. She had finally stopped admiring herself.

"To a staircase heading down," Harry replied, slowly walking further out of the room. Everyone followed behind him, their wands out and looking around apprehensively.

"More doors," Ginny said pointing shakily towards the many doors that appeared around them.

"I think I have an idea of where we might be," Hermione said from behind Ron, "I just need to see inside one of the rooms to be sure." She started to walk toward the closest door on her right but Ron stopped her.

"Wait, I'll go," he told her. Ron walked to the door and rattled the doorknob expecting to have to use 'Alohomora,' but the door swung open easily. He stood to the side, ready to attack if anything came hurtling out of the room.

"Lumos," Ron whispered but needn't have for the second the door opened, lights came on inside showing an antique room with bookshelf lined walls. There were stacks of books piled untidily on the floor and scattered across a long rectangular desk, between two bookshelves was a fireplace. It was very obviously a library. Ron looked around at Hermione who nodded. Ron shut the door. The group looked at Hermione for a few moments as she seemed to be doing some thinking.

"Dean, you grew up around muggles like me," Hermione said, looking at him, "so did you ever read a book called Clue when you were younger?"

"You know, I knew there was something about our clothes I recognized," Dean replied, "and, yes, I read a few of those when I was younger."

"So did I. Would you agree with me if I said that I thought we were in The Boddy Mansion?" Hermione asked.

"Definitely," Dean agreed.

"Hold on..." Ron interjected, "what is a 'Clue' and 'The Boddy Mansion'?"

"It is a muggle fiction book intended for young children, there are six shady characters who go to stay the night in Mr. Boddy's Mansion. Mr. Boddy thinks they are all his friends until one of them kills him. The reader then gets to deduce who the killer is from the clues they left behind or in their alibi." Hermione explained all this to the stunned group. No one spoke.

"Oh come on," Hermione said, losing her patience slightly. "Don't you see? We are the characters in the story! Ginny, you're Ms. White the maid. Dean is Mr. Green who loves money, Cho is Miss Scarlet whose personality is just like her name, I'm Ms. Peacock, a prim and proper lady, Neville is the forgetful Professor Plum, and Ron is Colonel Mustard who likes to duel. That just leaves Harry to be Mr. Boddy," She gasped, "that means one of us is going to kill him!" Hermione sounded hysterical.

"You're mental!" Ron exclaimed. "No one is going to kill anybody here! I think we should all just leave and have our D.A. meeting some other time!"

"Hear, hear!" Agreed Ginny and Dean. Ron turned on his heal and headed back out to the entrance hall followed by Ginny, Dean, and Cho. Hermione lingered.

"Come on," Harry said to her, "you don't really think someone is going to murder me, do you?"

"Well...not really Harry, but," she let out a sigh, "that's how it goes in the books."

Just then there was a loud shout from the entrance hall. Hermione looked at Harry with fear on her face. They both charged through the door.

"What's wrong! What's going on?" Harry asked as he stopped short of the door that four people were crowded around.

"Were locked in!" Ginny wailed. "Look! Alohomora!"

Nothing happened, Ron jiggled the doorknob; they were indeed trapped in The Room of Requirement alias The Boddy Mansion.