Harry, Ron, Y/n and Hermione went up to the Owlery after breakfast on Sunday to send a letter to Percy, asking, as Sirius had suggested, whether he had seen Mr. Crouch lately. They used Hedwig, as she had recently returned from delivering a letter to Y/n's grandmother. When they had watched her fly out of sight through the Owlery window, they proceeded down to the kitchen to give Dobby his new socks.
The house elves gave them a very cheery welcome, bowing and curtsying and bustling around making tea again. Dobby was ecstatic about his present.
"Harry Potter is too good to Dobby!" he squeaked, wiping large tears out of his enormous eyes.
"You saved my life with that gillyweed, Dobby, you really did." said Harry.
"No chance of more of those eclairs, is there?" said Ron, who was looking around at the beaming and bowing house elves.
"You've just had breakfast!" said Hermione irritably, but a great silver platter of eclairs was already zooming toward them, supported by four elves.
"Actually, we could use this as an opportunity to send some food to Snuffles." Y/n said to Harry remembering Sirius.
"That's a Good idea." said Ron. "Gives Pig something to do. You couldn't give us a bit of extra food, could you?" he said to the surrounding elves, and they bowed delightedly and hurried off to get some more.
"Dobby, where's Winky?" said Hermione, who was looking around.
"Winky is over there by the fire, miss." said Dobby quietly, his ears drooping slightly.
"Oh dear." said Hermione as she spotted Winky.
Y/n looked over at the fireplace too. Winky was sitting on the same stool as last time, but she had allowed herself to become so filthy that she was not immediately distinguishable from the smoke-blackened brick behind her. Her clothes were ragged and unwashed. She was clutching a bottle of butterbeer and swaying slightly on her stool, staring into the fire. As they watched her, she gave an enormous hiccup.
"She is inebriated the poor thing." Y/n commented.
"Winky is getting through six bottles a day now." Dobby whispered to them.
"Well, it's not strong, that stuff." Harry said.
But Dobby shook his head. "'Tis strong for a house-elf, sir." he said.
Winky hiccuped again. The elves who had brought the eclairs gave her disapproving looks as they returned to work.
"Winky is pining, Harry Potter." Dobby whispered sadly. "Winky wants to go home. Winky still thinks Mr. Crouch is her master, sir, and nothing Dobby says will persuade her that Professor Dumbledore is her master now."
"Hey, Winky." said Harry, struck by a sudden inspiration, walking over to her, and bending down. "You don't know what Mr. Crouch might be up to, do you? Because he's stopped turning up to judge the Triwizard Tournament."
Winky's eyes flickered. Her enormous pupils focused on Harry. She swayed slightly again and then said. "M...Master is stopped..." hic "coming?"
"No one has seen him since the first task Winky." Y/n told her now. "The Daily Prophet is reporting that he is ill."
Winky swayed some more, staring blurrily up at Y/n. "Master..." hic "ill?" Her bottom lip began to tremble.
"But we're not sure if that's true." said Hermione quickly.
"Master is needing his..." hic "Winky!" whimpered the elf. "Master cannot..." hic "manage..." hic - "all by himself..."
"Other people manage to do their own housework, you know, Winky." Hermione said severely.
"Winky..." hic "is not only..." hic "doing housework for Mr. Crouch!" Winky squeaked indignantly, swaying worse than ever and slopping butterbeer down her already heavily stained blouse.
Y/n moved to put his hands on her small shoulders and help support her.
"Master is..." hic "trusting Winky with..." hic "the most important..." hic "the most secret. . . "
"What?" said Harry.
But Winky shook her head very hard, spilling more butterbeer down herself.
"Come here, give me that." Y/n said carefully taking the butterbeer bottle off of Winky now.
"Winky keeps..." hic "her master's secrets." she said mutinously, swaying very heavily now as Y/n held her, frowning up at Harry with her eyes crossed. "You is..." hic-"nosing, you is."
"Winky must not talk like that to Harry Potter and Y/n Grindelwald!" said Dobby angrily. "Harry Potter and Y/n Grindelwald is brave and noble and Harry Potter and Y/n Grindelwald is not nosy!"
"They is nosing..." hic "into my master's..." hic "private and secret..." hic "Winky is a good house-elf..." hic "Winky keeps her silence..." hic "people trying to..." hic "pry and poke..." hic
"Who else has been prying?" Y/n asked but Winky's eyelids drooped and suddenly, without warning, she slid off her stool into the hearth, snoring loudly. Half a dozen house-elves came hurrying forward, looking disgusted.
"I'll taken that from you's sir." One of the elves said indicating to the bottle in Y/n's hand.
"Thank you." Y/n said letting them take it while the others covered Winky with a large checked tablecloth and tucked the ends in neatly, hiding her from view.
"We is sorry you had to see that, sirs and miss!" squeaked a nearby elf, shaking his head and looking very ashamed. "We is hoping you will not judge us all by Winky, sirs and miss!"
"She's unhappy!" said Hermione, exasperated. "Why don't you try and cheer her up instead of covering her up?"
"Begging your pardon, miss." said the house-elf, bowing deeply again. "But house elves has no right to be unhappy when there is work to be done and masters to be served."
"Oh for heavens sake!" Hermione cried. "Listen to me, all of you! You've got just as much right as wizards to be unhappy! You've got the right to wages and holidays and proper clothes, you don't have to do everything you're told... look at Dobby!"
"Miss will please keep Dobby out of this." Dobby mumbled, looking scared. The cheery smiles had vanished from the faces of the house elves around the kitchen. They were suddenly looking at Hermione as though she were mad and dangerous.
"We has your extra food!" squeaked an elf at Harry's elbow, and he shoved a large ham, a dozen cakes, and some fruit into Harry's arms. "Goodbye!"
The house-elves crowded around Harry, Ron, Y/n and Hermione and began shunting them out of the kitchen, many little hands pushing in the smalls of their backs.
"Thank you for the socks, Harry Potter!" Dobby called miserably from the hearth, where he was standing next to the lumpy tablecloth that was Winky.
"You couldn't keep your mouth shut, could you, Hermione?" said Ron angrily as the kitchen door slammed shut behind them. "They won't want us visiting them now! We could've tried to get more stuff out of Winky about Crouch!"
"Oh as if you care about that!" scoffed Hermione. "You only like coming down here for the food!"
By breakfast the next day Ron's and Hermione's bad moods had burnt out, and to Y/n and Harry's relief, Ron's dark predictions that the house-elves would send substandard food up to the Gryffindor table because Hermione had insulted them proved false. The bacon, eggs, and kippers were quite as good as usual.
When the post owls arrived, Hermione looked up eagerly. She seemed to be expecting something.
"Percy won't've had time to answer yet." said Ron. "We only sent Hedwig yesterday."
"No, it's not that." said Hermione. "I've taken out a subscription to the Daily Prophet."
"The Daily Prophet?" Y/n said remembering the article from before.
"I'm getting sick of finding everything out from the Slytherins." Hermione told him.
"Good thinking!" said Harry, also looking up at the owls. "Hey, Hermione, I think you're in luck.."
A gray owl was soaring down toward Hermione.
"It hasn't got a newspaper, though." she said, looking disappointed. "It's..."
But to her bewilderment, the gray owl landed in front of her plate, closely followed by four barn owls, a brown owl, and a tawny.
"How many subscriptions did you take out?" said Harry, seizing Hermione's goblet before it was knocked over by the cluster of owls, all of whom were jostling close to her, trying to deliver their own letter first.
"What on earth?" Hermione said, taking the letter from the gray owl, opening it, and starting to read. "Oh really!" she sputtered, going rather red.
"What is the matter?" Y/n asked.
"It's... oh how ridiculous!" She thrust the letter at Harry, who saw that it was not handwritten, but composed from pasted letters that seemed to have been cut out of the Daily Prophet.
"'YOU ARE A WICKED GIRL. HARRY POTTER DESERVES BETTER. GO BACK WHERE YOU CAME FROM MUGGLE.'" Harry read out bewildered.
"They're all like it!" said Hermione desperately, opening one letter after another. "'Harry Potter can do much better than the likes of you...' 'You deserve to be boiled in frog spawn...' Ouch!" She had opened the last envelope, and yellowish-green liquid smelling strongly of petrol gushed over her hands, which began to erupt in large yellow boils.
"Undiluted bubotuber pus!" said Ron, picking up the envelope gingerly and sniffing it.
"Ow!" said Hermione, tears starting in her eyes as she tried to rub the pus off her hands with a napkin, but her fingers were now so thickly covered in painful sores that it looked as though she were wearing a pair of thick, knobbly gloves.
"You need to go to the hospital wing!" said Y/n as the owls around Hermione took flight. "I will take you." He then added and helped her up.
"We'll tell Professor Sprout where you've gone... " Harry called out as Y/n and Hermione hurried out of the Great Hall, Hermione cradling her hands.
"I warned her!" said Ron "I warned her not to annoy Rita Skeeter! Look at this one..." He read out one of the letters Hermione had left behind. "I read In Witch Weekly about how you are playing Harry Potter false and that boy has had enough hardship and I will be sending you a curse by next post as soon as I can find a big enough envelope.' Blimey, she'd better watch out for herself."
Y/n and Hermione were standing outside the hospital wing with Madam Pomfrey now. The painful stinging in Hermione's hands had caused her eyes to finally leak the tears she had been holding back.
"What has happened?" Madam Pomfrey asked looking at the state of Hermione's hands.
"Someone sent her a letter containing undiluted bubotuber pus." Y/n explained.
"Why on earth would someone do such a thing!?" Madam Pomfrey said furious. "Very well come inside Miss Granger, Grindelwald you may go back first lessons are about to start."
"I will wait with Hermione." Y/n said.
"That will not be needed Grindelwald." Madam Pomfrey told him sternly.
"I will only wait outside this door if you dismiss me Madam Pomfrey." He said not backing down.
Madam Pomfrey did not look happy but quickly gave up on trying to stop him and soon both were in Madam Pomfrey's office.
Y/n stood silently by Hermione's side as she sat down on a stool. Madam Pomfrey was hard at work removing the offending liquid that lingered on Hermione's hands.
"From now you should burn any letters you get, the same as I do." Y/n told her.
"You burn your letters?" Hermione asked him then winced as Madam Pomfrey continued to work.
"I have been doing so since first year." Y/n confirmed. "I do not open a letter unless I recognize the owl or the handwriting. I am a Grindelwald, Hate letters are not something to be unexpected, so my Grandmother came up with the idea of using a symbol to help Atticus and I recognize her own letters." Y/n explained.
"I shall need to fetch some cream from Professor Sprout for the skin, then we will bandage your hands Miss Granger." And with that Madam Pomfrey left Y/n and Hermione alone in her office.
"All this because of that stupid Rita Skeeter and that stupid article!" Hermione said crossly getting up from the stool to pace. "She's dragged us all into some form of ridiculous love square when Harry and I have always been just friends. On top of that he might start suspecting..."
"Harry already knows about what happened between us at the Yule Ball." Y/n said and Hermione stopped pacing to look at him. "Ron does not know however, only Harry."
"Y/n that was supposed to be private!" Hermione told him.
"It came up in a natural conversation." Y/n said. "Besides, I highly doubt you did not immediately discuss what happened with Ginny. She seems to burst into fits of giggles every time she spots us together."
"W..Well...I..." Hermione stammered.
"As I thought." Y/n said feeling a little satisfied but quickly returned to the topic. "This Rita Skeeter is proving to be a problem however. She seems to be siphoning information out of private conversations, Like Krum asking you to go visit him..." Y/n brought up now with an annoyed look on his face.
"I never said that I would go to see him Y/n." Hermione told him. "In fact I was going to say I couldn't but I was too busy worrying about yours and Harry's well being... Does Krum asking me to visit him make you jealous?" She asked him.
"And here I thought you were the brightest witch of our age." Y/n said and Hermione frowned. "Would you like it if Miss Delacour had done the same to me?" He asked back.
"That's... completely different." Hermione said quickly getting frustrated.
"Oh? and how is it different?" Y/n challenged.
"B...Because... She is vain and rude!" Hermione burst out.
"It is a cultural clash surely." Y/n said. "Miss Delacour is not so bad, once you have a chance to speak to her."
But this only served to annoy Hermione further. "You are just under her Veela charms!" Hermione said angrily now.
"I can assure you I am most certainly not." Y/n said but thought it best not to tell her about the time Fleur had tried to use her Veela charms on him. "I do not know how many times I will have to say this but, I have no interest in Fleur Delacour...You are the only person I wish to be with Hermione."
"I hate this..." Hermione said frustrated now.
"Now you understand how I feel when I hear you talk about Krum." Y/n said.
"How much longer do we have to keep suffering like this Y/n?" Hermione sighed and Y/n wrapped his arms around her frame to hold her now. "Do we really have to wait...?"
"I cannot Hermione...not until this is all over. The day before my birthday, June 24th...That is when the tournament ends." Y/n told her. "And who knows... maybe I will be celebrating it as a champion." He said doubtfully.
"You never know...you could." Hermione said slowly. "You or Harry."
"I do not really care who wins..." Y/n said truthfully. "Well, as long as it is not Krum. I just want this to be over." He said lowering his head and resting his forehead against Hermione's now.
Hermione eyes looked up into Y/n's own and he looked back into hers. Not a single word was spoken as both knew what they wanted and slowly they leaned in to press their lips softly together.
"Out! Out! Out!" Madam Pomfrey's voice cried now as Y/n and Hermione quickly broke apart and he was briskly forced out of the hospital ward.
Hermione just stood there with a shade of deep red on her face.
As Harry and Ron left the greenhouse for their Care of Magical Creatures class, they saw Y/n standing near the path down to Hagrid's waiting for them.
"How's Hermione?" Harry asked him but before Y/n could answer they saw Malfoy, Atticus, Crabbe, and Goyle descending the stone steps of the castle. Pansy Parkinson was whispering and giggling behind them with her gang of Slytherin girls. Catching sight of Harry, Pansy called, "Potter, have you split up with your girlfriend? Why was she so upset at breakfast?"
Harry ignored her not wanting to give her the satisfaction of knowing how much trouble the Witch Weekly article had caused.
Hagrid, who had told them last lesson that they had finished with unicorns, was waiting for them outside his cabin with a fresh supply of open crates at his feet. Harry's heart sank at the sight of the crates, surely not another skrewt hatching? But when he got near enough to see inside, he found himself looking at a number of flurry black creatures with long snouts. Their front paws were curiously flat, like spades, and they were blinking up at the class, looking politely puzzled at all the attention.
"These're nifflers." said Hagrid, when the class had gathered around. "Yeh find 'em down mines mostly. They like sparkly stuff... There yeh go, look."
One of the nifflers had suddenly leapt up and attempted to bite Pansy Parkinson's watch off her wrist. She shrieked and jumped backward.
"Do they like treats Hagrid?" Y/n asked secretly very pleased with this niffler.
"They like weeds and shrubs 'mostly, Useful little treasure detectors too." said Hagrid happily. "Thought we'd have some fun with 'em today. See over there?" He pointed at the large patch of freshly turned earth Harry had watched him digging from the Owlery window. "I've buried some gold coins. I've got a prize fer whoever picks the niffler that digs up most. Jus' take off all yer valuables, an' choose a niffler, an get ready ter set 'em loose."
Y/n took off his bracelet given to him by Hermione and placed it into his pocket. Then he picked up a niffler. It put its long snout in his ear and sniffed enthusiastically. It was really quite cuddly.
"My, you are cute." Y/n chuckled. "But I am afraid I have Noctis to keep me busy enough."
"Hang on." said Hagrid, looking down into the crate. "There's a spare nifflers here...who's missin? Where's Hermione?"
"I had to take her to the hospital wing." said Y/n.
"We'll explain later." Harry muttered, Pansy Parkinson was listening.
It was easily the most fun they had ever had in Care of Magical Creatures. The nifflers dived in and out of the patch of earth as though it were water, each scurrying back to the student who had released it and spitting gold into their hands. Ron's was particularly efficient, it had soon filled his lap with coins.
"Can you buy these as pets, Hagrid?" he asked excitedly as his niffler dived back into the soil, splattering his robes.
"Yer mum wouldn' be happy, Ron." said Hagrid, grinning. "They wreck houses, nifflers. I reckon they've nearly got the lot, now." he added, pacing around the patch of earth while the nifflers continued to dive. "I on'y buried a hundred coins. Oh there y'are, Hermione!"
Y/n quickly turned his head to see Hermione was walking toward them across the lawn. Her hands were very heavily bandaged. Pansy Parkinson was watching her beadily.
"Well, let's check how yeh've done!" said Hagrid. "Count yer coins! An' there's no point tryin' ter steal any, Goyle." he added, his beetle-black eyes narrowed. "It's leprechaun gold. Vanishes after a few hours."
Goyle emptied his pockets, looking extremely sulky. It turned out that Ron's niffler had been most successful, so Hagrid gave him an enormous slab of Honeyduke's chocolate for a prize. The bell rang across the grounds for lunch, the rest of the class set off back to the castle, but Harry, Ron, Y/n and Hermione stayed behind to help Hagrid put the nifflers back in their boxes. Harry noticed Madame Maxime watching them out of her carriage window.
"What yeh done ter your hands, Hermione?" said Hagrid, looking concerned.
Hermione told him about the hate mail she had received that morning, and the envelope full of bubotuber pus.
"Aaah, don' worry." said Hagrid gently, looking down at her. "I got some o' those letters an all, after Rita Skeeter wrote abou me mum. 'Yeh're a monster an yeh should be put down.' 'Yer mother killed innocent people an if you had any decency you d jump in a lake.'"
"No!" said Hermione, looking shocked.
"Yeah." said Hagrid, heaving the niffler crates over by his cabin wall. "They're jus' nutters, Hermione. Don' open 'em if yeh get any more. Chuck 'em straigh' in the fire."
"That is what I told her to do as well." Y/n said as he placed his niffler back in it's box, gave it a galleon from his pocket and then fondly waved it goodbye.
"You missed a really good lesson." Harry told Hermione as they headed back toward the castle. "They're good, nifflers, aren't they, Ron? Y/n?"
"Very cute creatures." Y/n nodded.
Ron, however, was frowning at the chocolate Hagrid had given him. He looked thoroughly put out about something.
"What's the matter?" said Harry. "Wrong flavor?"
"No." said Ron shortly. "Y/n why didn't you tell me about the gold?"
"What gold?" said Y/n.
"The gold I gave you at the Quidditch World Cup." said Ron. "The leprechaun gold I gave you for my Omnioculars. In the Top Box. Why didn't you tell me it disappeared?"
"Because I knew it would disappear the moment you gave it to me. I simply did not care about it. Why would I choose to ruin the good time we were having by mentioning such a trivial thing?" Y/n said.
They climbed the steps into the entrance hall and went into the Great Hall for lunch.
"Must be nice." Ron said abruptly, when they had sat down and started serving themselves roast beef and Yorkshire puddings. "To have so much money you don't notice if a pocketful of Galleons goes missing. "
"Ron, How many times must I tell you...I do not care about the money." Y/n said frustrated now. "And even if I did I had more important things on my mind that night. We all did, remember?"
"I didn't know leprechaun gold vanishes." Ron muttered. "I thought I was paying you back. You shouldn't've given me a Christmas present."
"That is enough Ron. The matter is over and I do not want the gold end of story." said Y/n.
Ron speared a roast potato on the end of his fork, glaring at it. Then he said. "I hate being poor."
Harry and Hermione looked at each other. Neither of them really knew what to say.
"It's rubbish." said Ron, still glaring down at his potato. "I don't blame Fred and George for trying to make some extra money. Wish I could. Wish I had a niffler."
"Well, we know what to get you next Christmas." said Hermione brightly. Then, when Ron continued to look gloomy, she said, "Come on, Ron, it could be worse. At least your fingers aren't full of pus."
Hermione was having a lot of difficulty managing her knife and fork, her fingers were so stiff and swollen.
"Here, let me help." Y/n said noticing and he took her fork and knife from her and cut up the food before lifting a forkful up to her mouth for her.
Hermione took it in and chewed before swallowing.
"I hate that Skeeter woman!" she then burst out savagely. "I'll get her back for this if it's the last thing I do!"
Hate mail continued to arrive for Hermione over the following week, and although she followed Y/n and Hagrid's advice and stopped opening it, several of her ill-wishers sent Howlers, which exploded at the Gryffindor table and shrieked insults at her for the whole Hall to hear. Even those people who didn't read Witch Weekly knew all about the supposed Harry-Y/n-Krum-Hermione square now. Harry was getting sick of telling people that Hermione wasn't his girlfriend and Y/n just ignored them, He had been polite at first but over time he began to cast a silencing jinx on anyone who asked.
"It'll die down, though." Harry told Hermione. "If we just ignore it...People got bored with that stuff she wrote about me last time."
"I want to know how she's listening into private conversations when she's supposed to be banned from the grounds!" said Hermione angrily.
Hermione hung back in their next Defense Against the Dark Arts lesson to ask Professor Moody something. The rest of the class was very eager to leave, Moody had given them such a rigorous test of hex-deflection that many of them were nursing small injuries. Y/n had done well in deflecting the hex's thrown toward him but Harry had such a bad case of Twitchy Ears, he had to hold his hands clamped over them as he walked away from the class.
"Well, Rita's definitely not using an Invisibility Cloak!" Hermione panted five minutes later, catching up with Harry, Y/n and Ron in the entrance hall and pulling Harry's hand away from one of his wiggling ears so that he could hear her. "Moody says he didn't see her anywhere near the judges' table at the second task, or anywhere near the lake!"
"Hermione, is there any point in telling you to drop this?" said Ron.
"No!" said Hermione stubbornly. "I want to know how she heard me talking to Viktor! And how she found out about Hagrid's mum!"
"Maybe she had you bugged." said Harry.
"Bugged?" said Y/n confused but it seemed to make him think deeply.
"What...put fleas on her or something?" Ron asked
Harry started explaining about hidden microphones and recording equipment. Ron was fascinated, but Hermione interrupted them. "Aren't you two ever going to read Hogwarts, A History"
"What's the point?" said Ron. "You know it by heart, we can just ask you."
"All those substitutes for magic Muggles use...electricity, computers, and radar, and all those things... they all go haywire around Hogwarts, there's too much magic in the air. No, Rita's using magic to eavesdrop, she must be...If I could just find out what it is...ooh, if it's illegal, I'll have her..."
"Haven't we got enough to worry about?" Ron interrupted fed up. "Do we have to start a vendetta against Rita Skeeter as well?"
"Fine we won't ask you to help!" Hermione snapped. "Y/n and I will do it our own!"
She marched back up the marble staircase without a backward glance while Y/n sighed and followed alongside her.
Harry was quite sure they were going to the library.
"What's the betting she comes back with a box of I Hate Rita Skeeter badges?" said Ron.
Hermione, however, did not ask Harry and Ron to help her pursue vengeance against Rita Skeeter, for which they were both grateful, because their workload was mounting ever higher in the days before the Easter holidays. Harry frankly marveled at the fact that both Y/n and Hermione could research whatever it was Hermione had a theory on as well as everything else they had to do. He alone was working flat-out just to get through all their homework, though he made a point of sending regular food packages up to the cave in the mountain for Sirius, after last summer, Harry had not forgotten what it felt like to be continually hungry. He enclosed notes to Sirius, telling him that nothing out of the ordinary had happened, and that they were still waiting for an answer from Percy.
Hedwig didn't return until the end of the Easter holidays. Percy's letter was enclosed in a package of Easter eggs that Mrs. Weasley had sent. Both Harry's and Ron's were the size of dragon eggs and full of homemade toffee. Y/n and Hermione's, however, were smaller than a chicken egg.
Hermione's face fell when she saw it. "Your mum doesn't read Witch Weekly, by any chance, does she, Ron?" she asked quietly.
"Yeah." said Ron, whose mouth was full of toffee. "Gets it for the recipes."
Hermione looked sadly at her tiny egg.
"Harry, I will be borrowing Hedwig if that is alright, I shall be writing a letter to Mrs Weasley this evening." Y/n said.
"What are you going to say to mum?" Ron quickly asked with a mouth still full of toffee and sounding slightly protective.
"Nothing horrible Ron, You may calm down. I am far too fond of your family to do such a thing." Y/n reassured him. "No, I simply wish to inform her that Rita Skeeter's article is complete nonsense and that she should never doubt mine nor Hermione's loyalty to our friends."
"Don't you want to see what Percy's written?" Harry said hastily now changing the topic.
Percy's letter was short and irritated.
'As I am constantly telling the Daily Prophet, Mr. Crouch is taking a well-deserved break. He is sending in regular owls with instructions. No, I haven't actually seen him, but I think I can be trusted to know my own superior's handwriting. I have quite enough to do at the moment without trying to quash these ridiculous rumors. Please don't bother me again unless it's something important. Happy Easter.'
The start of the summer term would normally have meant that Y/n and Harry would be training hard for the last Quidditch match of the season. This year, however, it was the third and final task in the Triwizard Tournament for which they needed to prepare, but neither still didn't know what they would have to do. Finally, in the last week of May, Professor McGonagall held both of them back in Transfiguration.
"You are to go down to the Quidditch field tonight at nine o'clock. Potter, Grindelwald." she told them. "Mr. Bagman will be there to tell the champions about the third task."
So at half past eight that night. Y/n and Harry left Ron and Hermione in Gryffindor Tower and went downstairs. As they crossed the entrance hall, Cedric came up from the Hufflepuff common room.
"What d'you reckon it's going to be?" he asked the two as they went together down the stone steps, out into the cloudy night. "Fleur keeps going on about underground tunnels, she reckons we've got to find treasure."
"That wouldn't be too bad." said Harry.
"Thinking of using a Niffler are you?" Y/n asked.
Harry just looked at him openmouthed. "It is written over your face." Y/n chuckled. "Though I have my doubts on that being the third task."
They walked down the dark lawn to the Quidditch stadium, turned through a gap in the stands, and walked out onto the field.
"What've they done to it?" Cedric said indignantly, stopping dead.
The Quidditch field was no longer smooth and flat. It looked as though somebody had been building long, low walls all over it that twisted and crisscrossed in every direction.
"They're hedges!" said Harry, bending to examine the nearest one.
"Hello there!" called a cheery voice.
Ludo Bagman was standing in the middle of the field with Krum and Fleur. Harry, Y/n and Cedric made their way toward them, climbing over the hedges. Fleur beamed at Y/n as he came nearer.
"Well, what d'you think?" said Bagman happily as Harry, Y/n and Cedric climbed over the last hedge. "Growing nicely, aren't they? Give them a month and Hagrid'll have them twenty feet high. Don't worry." he added, grinning, spotting the less-than-happy expressions on Harry, Y/n and Cedric's faces. "You'll have your Quidditch field back to normal once the task is over! Now, I imagine you can guess what we're making here?"
No one spoke for a moment. Then...
"Maze." grunted Krum.
"That's right!" said Bagman. "A maze. The third task's really very straightforward. The Triwizard Cup will be placed in the center of the maze. The first champion to touch it will receive full marks."
"We seemply 'ave to get through the maze?" asked Fleur.
"No." Y/n said looking at the hedge walls. "If the first and second tasks are anything to go by then this task will be anything but straightforward."
"Indeed! There will be obstacles." said Bagman happily, bouncing on the balls of his feet. "Hagrid is providing a number of creatures...then there will be spells that must be broken...all that sort of thing, you know. Now, the champions who are leading on points will get a head start into the maze. " Bagman grinned at Harry and Cedric. "Then Mr Grindelwald will enter... Then Mr Krum... and finally Miss Delacour. But you'll all be in with a fighting chance, depending how well you get past the obstacles. Should be fun, eh?"
"Fun?" Y/n repeated the word. "No, this is not what I would call fun..."
However, Harry nodded politely like the other champions.
"Very well...if you haven't got any questions, we'll go back up to the castle, shall we, it's a bit chilly..."
Bagman hurried alongside Harry as they began to head their way out of the growing maze. Harry had the feeling that Bagman was going to start offering to help him again, but just then, Krum tapped Harry on the shoulder.
"Could I haff a vord vit you both?"
"Yeah, all right." said Harry, slightly surprised.
"Vill you valk vith me?" He asked
"Okay." said Harry curiously.
Y/n just nodded but he didn't really want to speak to Krum.
Bagman looked slightly perturbed. "I'll wait for you. Harry, shall I?"
"No, it's okay, Mr. Bagman." said Harry, suppressing a smile. "I think I can find the castle on my own, thanks."
Harry, Y/n and Krum left the stadium together, but Krum did not set a course for the Durmstrang ship. Instead, he walked toward the forest.
"Why are we going this way?" said Y/n cautiously as they passed Hagrid's cabin and the illuminated Beauxbatons carriage.
"Don't vont to be overheard." said Krum shortly.
When at last they had reached a quiet stretch of ground a short way from the Beauxbatons horses' paddock, Krum stopped in the shade of the trees and turned to face Y/n.
"I do not like you." Krum said bluntly his accent coming through thick.
"The feeling is mutual." Y/n said crossing his arms and looking up at Krum.
"I vant to know." he said, glowering. "Vot there is between you and Hermy-own-ninny."
"What happens between me and Hermione is not any of your business...Now if that is all I will excuse myself. I need to begin preparing for the maze." Y/n lied, He simply did not want to talk to Krum anymore.
Harry felt awkward as he and Krum watched Y/n heading back to the castle.
"Hermy-own-ninny talks about him very often." said Krum, looking suspiciously at Harry.
"Yeah." said Harry wishing not to be caught up in the argument. "Probably because were all friends." He couldn't quite believe he was having this conversation with Viktor Krum, the famous International Quidditch player. Krum thought that Y/n was an equal...a real rival.
He stared at Harry for a few seconds, then said. "You fly very veil. I vos votching at the first task."
"Thanks." said Harry, grinning broadly and suddenly feeling much taller himself. "I saw you at the Quidditch World Cup. The Wronski Feint, you really..."
But something moved behind Krum in the trees, and Harry, who had some experience of the sort of thing that lurked in the forest, instinctively grabbed Krum's arm and pulled him around.
"Vot is it?"
Harry shook his head, staring at the place where he'd seen movement. He slipped his hand inside his robes, reaching for his wand.
Suddenly a man staggered out from behind a tall oak. For a moment, Harry didn't recognize him...then he realized it was Mr. Crouch.
He looked as though he had been traveling for days. The knees of his robes were ripped and bloody, his face scratched, he was unshaven and gray with exhaustion. His neat hair and mustache were both in need of a wash and a trim. His strange appearance, however, was nothing to the way he was behaving. Muttering and gesticulating, Mr. Crouch appeared to be talking to someone that he alone could see. He reminded Harry vividly of an old tramp he had seen once when out shopping with the Dursleys. That man too had been conversing wildly with thin air. Aunt Petunia had seized Dudley's hand and pulled him across the road to avoid him, Uncle Vernon had then treated the family to a long rant about what he would like to do with beggars and vagrants.
"Vosn't he a judge?" said Krum, staring at Mr. Crouch. "Isn't he vith your Ministry?"
Harry nodded, hesitated for a moment, then walked slowly toward Mr. Crouch, who did not look at him, but continued to talk to a nearby tree.
"...and when you've done that, Weatherby, send an owl to Dumbledore confirming the number of Durmstrang students who will be attending the tournament, Karkaroff has just sent word there will be twelve..."
"Mr. Crouch?" said Harry cautiously.
"...and then send another owl to Madame Maxime, because she might want to up the number of students she's bringing, now Karkaroff's made it a round dozen...do that, Weatherby, will you? Will you? Will..."
Mr. Crouch's eyes were bulging. He stood staring at the tree, muttering soundlessly at it. Then he staggered sideways and fell to his knees.
"Mr. Crouch?" Harry said loudly. "Are you all right?"
Crouch's eyes were rolling in his head. Harry looked around at Krum, who had followed him into the trees, and was looking down at Crouch in alarm.
"Vot is wrong with him?"
"No idea." Harry muttered. "Listen, you'd better go and get someone..."
"Dumbledore!" gasped Mr. Crouch. He reached out and seized a handful of Harry's robes, dragging him closer, though his eyes were staring over Harry's head. "I need... see... Dumbledore..."
"Okay." said Harry. "If you get up, Mr. Crouch, we can go up to the..."
"I've done...stupid...thing... " Mr. Crouch breathed. He looked utterly mad. His eyes were rolling and bulging, and a trickle of spittle was sliding down his chin. Every word he spoke seemed to cost him a terrible effort. "Must...tell...Dumbledore..."
"Get up, Mr. Crouch," said Harry loudly and clearly. "Get up, I'll take you to Dumbledore!"
Mr Crouch's eyes rolled forward onto Harry. "Who... you?" he whispered.
"I'm a student at the school." said Harry, looking around at Krum for some help, but Krum was hanging back, looking extremely nervous.
"You're not...his?" whispered Crouch, his mouth sagging.
"No." said Harry, without the faintest idea what Crouch was talking about.
"Dumbledore's?"
"That's right." said Harry.
Crouch was pulling him closer, Harry tried to loosen Crouch's grip on his robes, but it was too powerful.
"Warn...Dumbledore..."
"I'll get Dumbledore if you let go of me." said Harry. "Just let go, Mr. Crouch, and I'll get him..."
"Thank you, Weatherby, and when you have done that, I would like a cup of tea. My wife and son will be arriving shortly, we are attending a concert tonight with Mr. and Mrs. Fudge."
Crouch was now talking fluently to a tree again, and seemed completely unaware that Harry was there, which surprised Harry so much he didn't notice that Crouch had released him.
"Yes, my son has recently gained twelve O. W. L. s, most satisfactory, yes, thank you, yes, very proud indeed. Now, if you could bring me that memo from the Andorran Minister of Magic, I think I will have time to draft a response..."
"You stay here with him!" Harry said to Krum. "I'll get Dumbledore, I'll be quicker, I know where his office is..."
"He is mad." said Krum doubtfully, staring down at Crouch, who was still gabbling to the tree, apparently convinced it was Percy.
"Just stay with him." said Harry, starting to get up, but his movement seemed to trigger another abrupt change in Mr. Crouch, who seized him hard around the knees and pulled Harry back to the ground.
"Don't... leave...me!" he whispered, his eyes bulging again. "I...escaped...must warn...must tell... see Dumbledore... my fault...all my fault...Bertha... dead...all my fault...my son...my fault...tell Dumbledore...Harry Potter...the Dark Lord...stronger...Harry Potter..."
"I'll get Dumbledore if you let me go, Mr. Crouch!" said Harry. He looked furiously around at Krum. "Help me, will you?"
Looking extremely apprehensive, Krum moved forward and squatted down next to Mr. Crouch.
"Just keep him here." said Harry, pulling himself free of Mr. Crouch. "I'll be back with Dumbledore."
"Hurry, von't you?" Krum called after him as Harry sprinted away from the forest and up through the dark grounds. They were deserted, Bagman, Cedric, and Fleur had disappeared. Harry tore up the stone steps, through the oak front doors, and off up the marble staircase, toward the second floor.
Five minutes later he was hurtling toward a stone gargoyle standing halfway along an empty corridor.
"Sher...sherbet lemon!" he panted at it.
This was the password to the hidden staircase to Dumbledore's office...or at least, it had been two years ago. The password had evidently changed, however, for the stone gargoyle did not spring to life and jump aside, but stood frozen, glaring at Harry malevolently.
"Move!" Harry shouted at it. "C'mon!"
But nothing at Hogwarts had ever moved just because he shouted at it, he knew it was no good. He looked up and down the dark corridor. Perhaps Dumbledore was in the staffroom? He started running as fast as he could toward the staircase.
"POTTER!"
Harry skidded to a halt and looked around. Snape had just emerged from the hidden staircase behind the stone gargoyle. The wall was sliding shut behind him even as he beckoned Harry back toward him. "What are you doing here, Potter?"
"I need to see Professor Dumbledore!" said Harry, running back up the corridor and skidding to a standstill in front of Snape instead. "It's Mr. Crouch...he's just turned up...he's in the forest... he's asking..."
"What is this rubbish?" said Snape, his black eyes glittering. "What are you talking about?"
"Mr. Crouch!" Harry shouted. "From the Ministry! He's ill or something, he's in the forest, he wants to see Dumbledore! Just give me the password up to..."
"The headmaster is busy. Potter." said Snape, his thin mouth curling into an unpleasant smile.
"I've got to tell Dumbledore!" Harry yelled.
"Didn't you hear me. Potter?"
Harry could tell Snape was thoroughly enjoying himself, denying Harry the thing he wanted when he was so panicky.
"Look." said Harry angrily. "Crouch isn't right...he's... he's out of his mind! He says he wants to warn..."
The stone wall behind Snape slid open. Dumbledore was standing there, wearing long green robes and a mildly curious expression. "Is there a problem?" he said, looking between Harry and Snape.
"Professor!" Harry said, sidestepping Snape before Snape could speak, "Mr. Crouch is here... he's down in the forest, he wants to speak to you!"
Harry expected Dumbledore to ask questions, but to his relief, Dumbledore did nothing of the sort.
"Lead the way." he said promptly, and he swept off along the corridor behind Harry, leaving Snape standing next to the gargoyle and looking twice as ugly.
"What did Mr. Crouch say. Harry?" said Dumbledore as they walked swiftly down the marble staircase.
"Said he wants to warn you...said he's done something terrible...he mentioned his son...and Bertha Jorkins... and...and Voldemort...something about Voldemort getting stronger..."
"Indeed." said Dumbledore, and he quickened his pace as they hurried out into the pitch darkness.
"He's not acting normally." Harry said, hurrying along beside Dumbledore. "He doesn't seem to know where he is. He keeps talking like he thinks Percy Weasley's there, and then he changes, and says he needs to see you...I left him with Viktor Krum."
"You did?" said Dumbledore sharply, and he began to take longer strides still, so that Harry was running to keep up. "Do you know if anybody else saw Mr. Crouch?"
"No." said Harry. "Mr. Bagman had just finished telling us about the third task, Krum asked me and Y/n to stay behind, We talked and then Y/n left for the castle, Krum and I spoke and then we saw Mr. Crouch coming out of the forest..."
"Where are they?" said Dumbledore as the Beauxbatons carriage emerged from the darkness.
"Over here." said Harry, moving in front of Dumbledore, leading the way through the trees. He couldn't hear Crouch's voice anymore, but he knew where he was going, it hadn't been much past the Beauxbatons carriage...somewhere around here...
"Viktor?" Harry shouted.
No one answered.
"They were here." Harry said to Dumbledore. "They were definitely somewhere around here..."
"Lumos." Dumbledore said, lighting his wand and holding it up.
Its narrow beam traveled from black trunk to black trunk, illuminating the ground. And then it fell upon a pair of feet.
Harry and Dumbledore hurried forward. Krum was sprawled on the forest floor. He seemed to be unconscious. There was no sign at all of Mr. Crouch. Dumbledore bent over Krum and gently lifted one of his eyelids.
"Stunned." he said softly. His half-moon glasses glittered in the wandlight as he peered around at the surrounding trees.
"Should I go and get someone?" said Harry. "Madam Pomfrey?"
"No." said Dumbledore swiftly. "Stay here."
He raised his wand into the air and pointed it in the direction of Hagrid's cabin. Harry saw something silvery dart out of it and streak away through the trees like a ghostly bird. Then Dumbledore bent over Krum again, pointed his wand at him, and muttered. "Ennervate."
Krum opened his eyes. He looked dazed. When he saw Dumbledore, he tried to sit up, but Dumbledore put a hand on his shoulder and made him lie still.
"He attacked me!" Krum muttered, putting a hand up to his head. "The old madman attacked me! I vos looking around to see vare Potter had gone and he attacked from behind!"
"Lie still for a moment." Dumbledore said.
The sound of thunderous footfalls reached them, and Hagrid came panting into sight with Fang at his heels. He was carrying his crossbow.
"Professor Dumbledore!" he said, his eyes widening. "Harry... what the...?"
"Hagrid, I need you to fetch Professor Karkaroff." said Dumbledore. "His student has been attacked. When you've done that, kindly alert Professor Moody..."
"No need, Dumbledore." said a wheezy growl. "I'm here."
Moody was limping toward them, leaning on his staff, his wand lit.
"Damn leg." he said furiously. "Would've been here quicker...what's happened? Snape said something about Crouch..."
"Crouch?" said Hagrid blankly.
"Karkaroff, please, Hagrid!" said Dumbledore sharply.
"Oh yeah, right y'are, Professor..." said Hagrid, and he turned and disappeared into the dark trees, Fang trotting after him.
"I don't know where Barty Crouch is." Dumbledore told Moody. "But it is essential that we find him."
"I'm onto it." growled Moody, and he pulled out his wand and limped off into the forest.
Neither Dumbledore nor Harry spoke again until they heard the unmistakable sounds of Hagrid and Fang returning. Karkaroff was hurrying along behind them. He was wearing his sleek silver furs, and he looked pale and agitated.
"What is this?" he cried when he saw Krum on the ground and Dumbledore and Harry beside him. "What's going on?"
"I vos attacked!" said Krum, sitting up now and rubbing his head.
"Grindelwald..." Karkaroff immediately said.
"It vas not Grindelvald." Krum quickly said. "It vas Mr. Crouch or votever his name..."
"Crouch attacked you? Crouch attacked you? The Triwizard judge?"
"Igor." Dumbledore began, but Karkaroff had drawn himself up, clutching his furs around him, looking livid.
"Treachery!" he bellowed, pointing at Dumbledore. "It is a plot! You and your Ministry of Magic have lured me here under false pretenses, Dumbledore! This is not an equal competition! First you sneak Potter and Grindelwald into the tournament, though they are underage! Now one of your Ministry friends attempts to put my champion out of action! I smell double-dealing and corruption in this whole affair, and you, Dumbledore, you, with your talk of closer international wizarding links, of rebuilding old ties, of forgetting old differences... here's what I think of you!"
Karkaroff spat onto the ground at Dumbledore's feet. In one swift movement, Hagrid seized the front of Karkaroff's furs, lifted him into the air, and slammed him against a nearby tree.
"Apologize!" Hagrid snarled as Karkaroff gasped for breath, Hagrid's massive fist at his throat, his feet dangling in midair.
"Hagrid, no!" Dumbledore shouted, his eyes flashing.
Hagrid removed the hand pinning Karkaroff to the tree, and Karkaroff slid all the way down the trunk and slumped in a huddle at its roots, a few twigs and leaves showered down upon his head.
"Kindly escort Harry back up to the castle, Hagrid." said Dumbledore sharply.
Breathing heavily, Hagrid gave Karkaroff a glowering look. "Maybe I'd better stay here. Headmaster..."
"You will take Harry back to school, Hagrid." Dumbledore repeated firmly. "Take him right up to Gryffindor Tower. And Harry... I want you to stay there. Anything you might want to do... any owls you might want to send... they can wait until morning, do you understand me?"
"Er...yes." said Harry, staring at him. How had Dumbledore known that, at that very moment, he had been thinking about sending Pigwidgeon straight to Sirius, to tell him what had happened?
"Oh and Harry. Please do tell Y/n the same, I do not wish to see him or you outside Gryffindor tower tonight." Dumbledore added.
"Yes Professor." Harry said.
"I'll leave Fang with yeh. Headmaster," Hagrid said, staring menacingly at Karkaroff, who was still sprawled at the foot of the tree, tangled in furs and tree roots. "Stay, Fang. C'mon, Harry."
They marched in silence past the Beauxbatons carriage and up toward the castle.
"How dare he." Hagrid growled as they strode past the lake. "How dare he accuse Dumbledore. Like Dumbledore'd do anythin' like that. Like Dumbledore wanted you or Y/n in the tournament in the firs' place. Worried! I dunno when I seen Dumbledore more worried than he's bin lately. An' you!" Hagrid suddenly said angrily to Harry, who looked up at him, taken aback. "What were yeh doin', wanderin' off with ruddy Krum? He's from Durmstrang, Harry! Coulda jinxed yeh right there, couldn he? Hasn' Moody taught yeh nothin'? 'Magine lettin him lure yeh off on yer own..."
"Krum's all right!" said Harry as they climbed the steps into the entrance hall. "He wasn't trying to jinx me, he just wanted to talk to Y/n and me about Hermione..."
"I'll be havin' a few words with her, an' all." said Hagrid grimly, stomping up the stairs. "The less you lot 'ave ter do with these foreigners, the happier yeh'll be. Yeh can trust any of 'em."
"You were getting on all right with Madame Maxime." Harry said, annoyed.
"Don' you talk ter me abou' her!" said Hagrid, and he looked quite frightening for a moment. "I've got her number now! Tryin' ter get back in me good books, tryin' ter get me ter tell her what's comin in the third task. Ha! You can' trust any of'em!"
Hagrid was in such a bad mood, Harry was quite glad to say goodbye to him in front of the Fat Lady. He clambered through the portrait hole into the common room and hurried straight for the corner where Ron, Y/n and Hermione were sitting, to tell them what had happened.
The three were sat in shock when Harry finished.
"It comes down to this." said Y/n, rubbing his eyes. "Either Mr. Crouch attacked Viktor, or somebody else attacked both of them when Krum was not looking."
"It must've been Crouch." said Ron at once. "That's why he was gone when Harry and Dumbledore got there. He'd done a runner."
"I don't think so." said Harry, shaking his head. "He seemed really weak... I don't reckon he was up to Disapparating or anything."
"You can't Disapparate on the Hogwarts grounds, haven't I told you enough times?" said Hermione.
"Okay...hows this for a theory." said Ron excitedly. "Krum attacked Crouch... no, wait for it... and then Stunned himself!"
"And Mr. Crouch evaporated, did he?" said Hermione coldly.
"Oh yeah..."
It was daybreak. Harry, Ron, Y/n and Hermione had crept out of their dormitories very early and hurried up to the Owlery together to send a note to Sirius. Now they were standing looking out at the misty grounds. All four of them were puffy-eyed and pale because they had been talking late into the night about Mr. Crouch.
"Walk us through it again, Harry." said Y/n. "What did Mr. Crouch actually say?"
"I've told you, he wasn't making much sense." said Harry. "He said he wanted to warn Dumbledore about something. He definitely mentioned Bertha Jorkins, and he seemed to think she was dead. He kept saying stuff was his fault...He mentioned his son."
"Well, that was his fault." said Hermione testily.
"He was out of his mind." said Harry. "Half the time he seemed to think his wife and son were still alive, and he kept talking to Percy about work and giving him instructions."
"And...remind me what he said about You-Know-Who?" said Ron tentatively.
"I've told you." Harry repeated dully. "He said he's getting stronger."
There was a pause. Then Ron said in a falsely confident voice, "But he was out of his mind, like you said, so half of it was probably just raving..."
"He was sanest when he was trying to talk about Voldemort." said Harry, and Ron winced at the sound of the name. "He was having real trouble stringing two words together, but that was when he seemed to know where he was, and know what he wanted to do. He just kept saying he had to see Dumbledore." Harry turned away from the window and stared up into the rafters. The many perches were half-empty, every now and then, another owl would swoop in through one of the windows, returning from its night's hunting with a mouse in its beak.
"If Snape hadn't held me up." Harry said bitterly. "We might've got there in time. 'The headmaster is busy. Potter...what's this rubbish, Potter?' Why couldn't he have just got out of the way?"
"Maybe he didn't want you to get there!" said Ron quickly. "Maybe.. hang on how fast d'you reckon he could've gotten down to the forest? D'you reckon he could've beaten you and Dumbledore there?"
"Not unless he can turn himself into a bat or something." said Harry.
"Wouldn't put it past him." Ron muttered.
"We need to see Professor Moody." said Hermione. "We need to find out whether he found Mr. Crouch."
"He has the Marauder's Map you gave him does he not Harry?" Y/n asked him.
"Yeah it would've been easy to see him on that." said Harry.
"Unless Crouch was already outside the grounds." said Y/n "It only shows up to the boundaries..."
"Shh!" said Hermione suddenly.
Somebody was climbing the steps up to the Owlery. Y/n could hear two voices arguing, coming closer and closer.
"...that's blackmail, that is, we could get into a lot of trouble for that..."
"...we've tried being polite. It's time to play dirty, like him. He wouldn't like the Ministry of Magic knowing what he did."
"I'm telling you, if you put that in writing, it's blackmail!"
"Yeah, and you won't be complaining if we get a nice fat payoff, will you?"
The Owlery door banged open. Fred and George came over the threshold, then froze at the sight of Harry, Ron, Y/n and Hermione.
"What're you doing here?" Ron and Fred said at the same time.
"Sending a letter." said Harry and George in unison.
"What, at this time?" said Hermione and Fred.
Fred grinned. "Fine...we won't ask you what you're doing, if you don't ask us." he said.
He was holding a sealed envelope in his hands. Y/n glanced at it, but Fred, whether accidentally or on purpose, shifted his hand so that the name on it was covered.
"Well, don't let us hold you up." Fred said, making a mock bow and pointing at the door.
Ron didn't move. "Who're you blackmailing?" he said.
The grin vanished from Fred's face. Y/n saw George half glance at Fred, before smiling at Ron.
"Don't be stupid, I was only joking," he said easily.
"Didn't sound like that." said Ron.
Fred and George looked at each other. Then Fred said abruptly, "I've told you before, Ron, keep your nose out if you like it the shape it is. Can't see why you would, but..."
"It's my business if you're blackmailing someone." said Ron. "George's right, you could end up in serious trouble for that. "
"Told you, I was joking." said George. He walked over to Fred, pulled the letter out of his hands, and began attaching it to the leg of the nearest barn owl. "You're starting to sound a bit like our dear older brother, you are, Ron. Carry on like this and you'll be made a prefect."
"No, I won't!" said Ron hotly.
George carried the barn owl over to the window and it took off. George turned around and grinned at Ron. "Well, stop telling people what to do then. See you later."
He and Fred left the Owlery. Harry, Ron, Y/n and Hermione stared at one another.
"You don't think they know something about all this, do you?" Hermione whispered. "About Crouch and everything?"
"No, I do not think so." said Y/n. "They have been acting like this long before it occurred. Since the beginning of the year I would say."
"And If it was something that serious, they'd tell someone. They'd tell Dumbledore." Harry added.
Ron, however, was looking uncomfortable.
"What's the matter?" Hermione asked him.
"Well..." said Ron slowly. "I dunno if they would. They're...they're obsessed with making money lately, I noticed it when I was hanging around with them... when... you know..."
"We weren't talking. " Harry finished the sentence for him. "Yeah, but blackmail..."
"It's this joke shop idea they've got." said Ron. "I thought they were only saying it to annoy Mum, but they really mean it, they want to start one. They've only got a year left at Hogwarts, they keep going on about how it's time to think about their future, and Dad can't help them, and they need gold to get started."
"How much gold do they need?" Y/n asked curriously.
"I don't know but seems like a lot." Ron told him.
Hermione was looking uncomfortable now. "...they wouldn't do anything against the law to get gold."
"Wouldn't they?" said Ron, looking skeptical. "I dunno... they don't exactly mind breaking rules, do they?"
"Yes, but this is the law." said Hermione, looking scared. "This isn't some silly school rule... They'll get a lot more than detention for blackmail! Ron...maybe you'd better tell Percy..."
"Are you mad?" said Ron. "Tell Percy? He'd probably do a Crouch and turn them in. " He stared at the window through which Fred and George's owl had departed, then said, "Come on, let's get some breakfast."
"D'you think it's too early to go and see Professor Moody?" Hermione said as they went down the spiral staircase.
"Yes." said Harry. "He'd probably blast us through the door if we wake him at the crack of dawn, he'll think we're trying to attack him while he's asleep.
"Constant Vigilance!" Y/n shouted out making the three jump while he chuckled amused.
"That wasn't funny Y/n!" Hermione called out and slapped him on the back.
"Sorry." He laughed. "I just thought we could all do with cheering up."
"Let's give it till break." Harry said his heartbeat returning
History of Magic had rarely gone so slowly. Harry kept checking Ron's watch, having finally discarded his own, but Ron's was moving so slowly he could have sworn it had stopped working too. All four of them were so tired they could happily have put their heads down on the desks and slept, even Hermione wasn't taking her usual notes, but was sitting with her head in her hand, gazing at Professor Binns with her eyes out of focus.
When the bell finally rang, they hurried out into the corridors toward the Dark Arts classroom and found Professor Moody leaving it. He looked as tired as they felt. The eyelid of his normal eye was drooping, giving his face an even more lopsided appearance than usual.
"Professor Moody?" Harry called as they made their way toward him through the crowd.
"Hello, Potter." growled Moody. His magical eye followed a couple of passing first years, who sped up, looking nervous, it rolled into the back of Moody's head and watched them around the corner before he spoke again. "Come in here."
He stood back to let them into his empty classroom, limped in after them, and closed the door.
"Did you find him?" Harry asked without preamble. "Mr. Crouch?"
"No." said Moody. He moved over to his desk, sat down, stretched out his wooden leg with a slight groan, and pulled out his hip flask.
"Did you use the map?" Y/n asked.
"Of course." said Moody, taking a swig from his flask. "Took a leaf out of your book, Potter. Summoned it from my office into the forest. He wasn't anywhere on there."
"So he did Disapparate?" said Ron.
"You can't Disapparate on the grounds, Ron!" said Hermione. "There are other ways he could have disappeared, aren't there, Professor?"
Moody's magical eye quivered as it rested on Hermione. "You're another one who might think about a career as an Auror." he told her. "Mind works the right way. Granger."
Hermione flushed pink with pleasure.
"Well, he wasn't invisible." said Harry. "The map shows invisible people. He must've left the grounds, then."
"But under his own steam?" said Hermione eagerly. "Or because someone made him?"
"Yeah, someone could've... could've pulled him onto a broom and flown off with him, couldn't they?" said Ron quickly, looking hopefully at Moody as if he too wanted to be told he had the makings of an Auror.
"We can't rule out kidnap." growled Moody.
"Nor can we rule out the possibility he had just escaped from a kidnapping already." Y/n said.
"And what make you say that Grindelwald?" Moody asked him curiously.
"Crouch has been missing for months, his house has been supposedly empty and the only form of communication he gives to indicate he is still alive is letters he sends to Percy Weasley at the ministry. Who is to say he was not kidnapped all those months ago? It would certainly explain the delirious ramblings Harry told us about." Y/n explained.
Moody's magical eye lingered on him for a few moments. "You would make a good Auror as well Grindelwald..."
"Not in my plans I am afraid." Y/n told him.
"So..." said Ron. "D'you reckon he's somewhere in Hogsmeade?"
"Could be anywhere." said Moody, shaking his head. "Only thing we know for sure is that he's not here." He yawned widely, so that his scars stretched, and his lopsided mouth revealed a number of missing teeth. Then he said. "Now, Dumbledore's told me you four fancy yourselves as investigators, but there's nothing you can do for Crouch. The Ministry'll be looking for him now, Dumbledore's notified them. Potter, Grindelwald you just keep your minds on the third task."
"What?" said Harry. "Oh yeah..."
Y/n had forgotten all about the maze since Harry had returned to tell them what had happened after he had left him with Krum the previous night.
"Should be right up your street, this one." said Moody, looking up at Harry and scratching his scarred and stubbly chin. "From what Dumbledore's said, you've managed to get through stuff like this plenty of times. Broke your way through a series of obstacles guarding the Sorcerers Stone in your first year, didn't you?"
"We helped." Ron said quickly. "Me, Y/n and Hermione helped."
Moody grinned.
"Well, help him practice for this one, and I'll be very surprised if he doesn't win." said Moody. "In the meantime...constant vigilance, Potter. Constant vigilance." He took another long draw from his hip flask, and his magical eye swiveled onto the window. The topmost sail of the Durmstrang ship was visible through it.
"You two." counseled Moody, his normal eye on Ron and Hermione, "You stick close to Potter, all right? I'm keeping an eye on things, but all the same...you can never have too many eyes out."
Sirius sent their owl back the very next morning. It fluttered down beside Harry at the same moment that a tawny owl landed in front of Hermione, clutching a copy of the Daily Prophet in its beak. She took the newspaper, scanned the first few pages, said, "Ha! She hasn't got wind of Crouch!" then joined Y/n, Ron and Harry in reading what Sirius had to say on the mysterious events of the night before last.
'Harry...
What do you and Y/n think you are playing at, walking off into the forest with Viktor Krum? I want you to swear, by return owl, that neither of you are not going to go walking with anyone else at night. There is somebody highly dangerous at Hogwarts. It is clear to me that they wanted to stop Crouch from seeing Dumbledore and you were probably feet away from them in the dark. You could have been killed.
Your names didn't get into the Goblet of Fire by accident. If someone's trying to attack you, they're on their last chance. Stay close to Ron and Hermione, do not leave Gryffindor Tower after hours, and arm yourself for the third task. Practice Stunning and Disarming. A few hexes wouldn't go amiss either. There's nothing you can do about Crouch. Keep your head down and look after yourself. I'm waiting for your letter giving me your word you won't stray out-of-bounds again.
Sirius'
"Who's he, to lecture me about being out-of-bounds?" said Harry in mild indignation as he folded up Sirius's letter and put it inside his robes. "After all the stuff he did at school!"
"Harry he is worried about us." Y/n told him.
"Just like Moody and Hagrid! So listen to them!" Hermione added sharply.
"No one's tried to attack me and Y/n all year." said Harry. "No one's done anything to at all..."
"Except put your names in the Goblet of Fire." said Hermione. "And they must've done that for a reason. Harry. Snuffles is right. Maybe they've been biding their time. Maybe this is the task they're going to get you."
"Look." said Harry impatiently. "Let's say he is right, and someone Stunned Krum to kidnap Crouch. Well, they would've been in the trees near us, wouldn't they? But they waited till I was out of the way until they acted, didn't they? So it doesn't look like I'm their target, does it?"
"Because they couldn't have made it look like an accident if they'd murdered you in the forest!" said Hermione.
"But if one of us dies during a task..." Y/n said catching onto her train of thought.
"They didn't care about attacking Krum, did they?" said Harry. "Why didn't they just polish me off at the same time? They could've made it look like Krum and I had a duel or something."
"Harry, I don't understand it either." said Hermione desperately. "I just know there are a lot of odd things going on, and I don't like it...You and Y/n are still in a lot of danger. Moody's right... Sirius is right... you and Y/n have got to get in training for the third task, straight away. And you make sure you write back to Sirius and promise him you're not going to go sneaking off alone again."
The Hogwarts grounds never looked more inviting than when they had to stay indoors. For the next few days the four spent all of their free time either in the library with Hermione looking up hexes, or else in empty classrooms, which they sneaked into to practice. Y/n was teaching Harry how to use the Stunning Spell, which he had used before on Atticus. The trouble was that practicing it involved certain sacrifices on Ron's and Hermione's part.
"Can't we kidnap Mrs. Norris?" Ron suggested on Monday lunchtime as he lay flat on his back in the middle of their Charms classroom, having just been Stunned by Harry and then reawoken by Y/n for the fifth time in a row. "Let's Stun her for a bit. Or you could use Dobby, Harry, I bet he'd do anything to help you. I'm not complaining or anything" he got gingerly to his feet, rubbing his backside. "but I'm aching all over..."
"Well, you keep missing the cushions, don't you!" said Hermione impatiently, rearranging the pile of cushions they had used for the Banishing Spell, which Flitwick had left in a cabinet. "Just try and fall backward!"
"Once you're Stunned, you can't aim too well, Hermione! "said Ron angrily. "Why don't you take a turn? You only haven't because Y/n already knows all these spells."
"Well, I think Harry's got it now, anyway." said Hermione hastily. "And we don't have to worry about Disarming, because both have been able to do that for ages... I think we ought to start on some of these hexes this evening."
She looked down the list they had made in the library.
"I like the look of this one." she said. "This Impediment jinx. Should slow down anything that's trying to attack you."
"That is the jinx I used on the key back in our first year." Y/n said.
Hermione nodded her head. "I thought of it when Professor Moody mentioned our first year. Harry. We'll start with that one."
"I am going to start working on my own training then, Lupin left me some good spells that I have been wanting to try out." Y/n said.
The bell rang. They hastily shoved the cushions back into Flitwick's cupboard and slipped out of the classroom.
"See you at dinner!" said Hermione, as both she and Y/n set off for Arithmancy, while Harry and Ron headed toward North Tower, and Divination. Broad strips of dazzling gold sunlight tell across the corridor from the high windows. The sky outside was so brightly blue it looked as though it had been enameled.
"I know it's all to help you out and all but Hermione could do more than just boss me about." Ron groaned. "Even Y/n's not done that much yet."
"Actually he pointed out a lot of mistakes I was making." Harry admitted. "He's quite a good teacher when he wants to be."
"Yeah, well, when he learns a spell that gets us out of Divination then I'll be interested." Ron said.