Innocence

Chapter Thirty Four

Sophia, David and Daniel sat around the most secluded table in the library that they could find, voices low and hushed as they spoke.

"What Daniel said earlier about the way Adam has been acting has made me think." Sophia began. "So we can tell that Adam is being forced into doing this against his will. What about everyone else?"

"What do you mean?" David asked, slightly confused.

"Well think about it." Sophia continued. "We have been assuming that everyone is acting out in this way because they want to. What if more people are being forced to do it instead?"

"I see what you mean." Daniel said, eyes wide. "Technically... Only one person needs to be the ring leader. If one person wanted people to hate No-Majes, then they could start the ball rolling and watch as the idea expanded either through threats or comedy."

It was Sophia's turn to be confused. "Comedy?"

Daniel nodded excitedly. "So we know that some people are being threatened to act the way they are, such as your brother. But I can fully understand if there are people who are almost going along with it as a joke. There are people out there who aren't taken it seriously, they just think it's funny and want to go along with it for a bit. There were people on Halloween who saw the dummy as nothing more than a bit of a laugh. And you've seen the posters up around the school, right? I've heard groups of students laughing about them. Joking about how they could do a better job. They're the sort of people who will stop once they either realise it's no longer funny, which is unlikely, or they will stop once the fire is no longer fuelled."

David began to nod slowly. "If the posters were stopped for good, say, they would no longer care about whether they would make better ones or not. Who's to say some of the posters haven't been made by the likes of that lot and put up as a joke?"

"We have been assuming all this time that everything that has been done, everything that we have been trying to fight against is malicious." Sophia said. "Even my parents assumed the worst when they found out about what Adam had done. My Father didn't give him the time of day to explain himself, and neither did I. This whole time we've been thinking that we were fighting against an ever growing organisation of oppressive people. What if, at the core, there are still only a few people, maybe even only one person, behind all of this still? If we took them out, the rest would sort itself out over a short period of time. My parents have been so overwhelmed thinking they are trying to take down an army when all this time they could've just focused on taking down the leaders."

"So what do we do now with this new revelation. Tell you Father?" David asked hopefully.

Sophia shot him an alarmed look. "No. I still can't do that. I'll have to tell them when we go home for Easter."

Daniel looked alarmed in return. "What do we do until then?"

Sophia thought for a moment. "There's nothing much we can do. It's only a couple of weeks to wait, but I'm afraid we're going to have to."

- - - - -

It was difficult for the three of them to just sit on the breakthrough they believed to have discovered. It was especially hard for David, thinking that he should do something but being unable to. Sophia spent her time trying to talk to Adam about the situation, but he spent most of his free time either hidden away in the Horned Serpent common room and dormitories or out practicing quidditch with the rest of his team, who Sophia was trying to avoid.

She still hadn't spoken to him by the time their parents came to pick them up for the Easter break. The ride home was awkward, with no one daring to speak to each other and everyone wishing they were somewhere else. When they arrived home, hours later, Sophia was hoping for a similar scene the day they got home for Christmas, with everyone around discussing the situation and coming up with explanations and solutions. However, as soon as they were through the front door Adam ran straight up to his room, slamming it behind him and Percival was marching back out of the door.

This left Sophia and Credence to stand awkwardly by themselves.

"I'm sure your Father has just gone out to get us some food or something." Credence said tentatively.

Sophia swallowed. "Well I hope he'll be quick, because David, Daniel and I have been talking, and we think we've figured a couple of key things out."

Credence stood looking at his daughter with a glint of hope in his eye. "I hope you're right."

- - - - -

Half an hour later Sophia was sat facing her parents, explaining the conversation she had had with her friends weeks before while the three of them picked food out of boxes of fish and chips. A fourth box was growing cold on the side, intended for Adam.

When Sophia had finished, she was expecting her parents to look pleased, but instead found them looking very upset. Credence seemed close to tears.

"What's the matter?" Sophia asked. "Is this not what you wanted? For the first time in a long time I thought that we might have actually made progress here."

"It's okay, Sophia." Percival sighed. "You're right, we should be happy that you've managed to figure this out for us. After all, it shouldn't be on your shoulders in the first place to make progress in this investigation, it should be mine. However, I think what both Credence and I are upset about is the idea that Adam is actually a victim in all of this and rather than listening to his side of the story I jumped in and managed to make him feel worse." Percival's jaw clenched at his own words.

Credence turned to his husband. "You need to go and talk to him, Percy. Take the food, and apologise. I want us to be a family again."

Percival nodded solemnly and stood.

- - - - - - - - - -

Whoops, I nearly completely forgot to publish a chapter today, but here it is.

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