No Body No Crime □■ Hermione Granger

Chapter 27

Sitting on her bed, staring at the board was a position Arlene found herself in at the break of dawn, as though she was about to have an epiphany staring at the same pictures and notes.

But after the newest bombshell, she was as confused as ever.

The whole thing was completely circumstantial, still, she had to agree with Hermione, it was pretty suspicious, and it wouldn't be the first time someone made an attempt on Harry's life by jinxing his broom, but a Firebolt? It was a pretty expensive broom.

She thought about that one time her mother took her with her to the bank when she was eleven and she saw the enormous pile of gold.

Her mother explained that it was the Black Family's vault, that since her Aunt Bellatrix is in Azkaban and Sirius and Andromeda are disowned, the entire inheritance was divided between Narcissa and Regulus or his next of kin, that being Arlene.

Yet, her father's uncle Alphard left all his money for Sirius and Andromeda, and having seen the fortune, they could've gotten a hundred Firebolts and it wouldn't have made a dent in their wealth. So money wasn't an issue.

But she also had to agree with Harry and Ron, Sirius Black was on the run, he couldn't have walked into any store and bought it.

Not unless he had help.

The image of Lupin popped into her head, and she knew for a fact that Goblins see their relationship with Wizards as strictly professional and wouldn't turn Black in if he came and asked to draw money.

She could ask her mum to check if any gold was taken out, but she wasn't over that 180 turn Paloma made.

She shook her head, she was pretty sure the Aurors knew about the Goblin' indifference, they must be watching the bank to be sure.

And plus, if Sirius did send that Broom, then his purpose was to endanger Harry, which she knew her mother would never do.

Unless he didn't want to endanger Harry?

She paused, she already knew that he was Harry's godfather, and if Sirius was a spy all along then why was he disowned? That was the problem of investigating whether your uncle was a serial killer slash spy who was responsible for your father's death or not, too many questions and not enough answers.

Arlene threw her face into her pillow and screamed in frustration, which earned her plenty of 'shhh's from the other girls.

To be fair, six in the morning was not the best time to be fretting over conspiracy theories if you have dorm mates.

Arlene didn't sleep at all that night, which was becoming a recurring theme for her, so at breakfast all she did was yawn and stuff herself with coffee.

Due to all the heavy drinking the older students had done the night before, they had all arrived early to eat breakfast before it got crowded and loud, and since they all housed horrid hangovers, the entire table was pretty quite, which catered Arlene growing headache.

Theo was finishing his third expresso, Pansy had her head buried in her arms, Blaise, ever the responsible one, sate sipping tea and reading a book and Draco was uncharacteristically quiet, he didn't even make a comment when Harry and Ron walked in.

A few moments later, Hermione entered, a book in hand and scanned her eyes across the great hall, turning slightly pink when it was clear Harry and Ron didn't save her a seat.

"Hermione!" Arlene called out as she waved her over, ignoring the Seventh year who shushed her and the fifth year who groaned and started rubbing his temple.