Hermione was sitting in the Hospital Wing after the Second Task next to a Hospital Bed. Her face was stained with tears, but her eyes had dried a while ago, unable to shed any more. She stared at the person in the bed, the boy that everyone was calling a Hero. Well, not everyone, some of them called him a murderer, namely Percy Weasley and most of the Slytherin's, even after Dumbledore explained what had happened.
"It has come to our attention that the Merpeople betrayed the act of trust imposed upon them to return the Hostages and instead were intent on taking Miss Delacour's Hostage and not returning her safely," Dumbledore had said, "but due to Mister Kidd's heroics, Miss Delacour's sister was brought back safely. Unfortunately, his situation is grave, but nothing Madam Pomfrey can't do," Dumbledore spoke calmly, but clearly, "Mister Kidd was the one to attack first, which the MerChieftan was sure to let me know, but this was of course because the Merpeople were reluctant to hand over the Hostage, so Mister Kidd, upon seeing this, chose to act, and saved Miss Delacour's hostage."
Hermione looked at Jake's unconscious figure in the bed, watching his chest rise and fall steadily. He acted stupidly, she thought, but if it weren't for him, Gabrielle wouldn't have been returned, and she couldn't fault him for that.
He was the only boy she had ever loved after all.
The door to the Hospital Wing opened and she looked to see Dumbledore, McGonagall, Maxime, and Fleur walk in, "Miss Granger, how is our young hero doing?"
"He's..." she looked back at Jake, his eye-patch on the table beside him, "he's not woken up yet, but he seems stable."
"I would expect nothing less from Poppy," Dumbledore was smiling with a twinkle in his eyes, "he showed what it truly means to be a Gryffindor. Quick, decisive action that saved a young girl's life."
Fleur, who was standing a little behind Maxime, let out a sob.
Hermione was looking at the four of them when there was a stirring noise coming from the Hospital Bed. She turned and saw Jake shuffling in the bed and his eye open, "Jake!" She was on her feet in a second and Pomfrey came out upon seeing a crowd.
"Headmaster, I'm glad you're here," Pomfrey said, walking up to Jake to check on him.
"How is he doing, Poppy?"
"Well, I won't lie, if he had waited any longer to come above the water, he would've bled out," Hermione let out a gasp, "he was stabbed four times as well."
Pomfrey then walked up to Dumbledore and whispered something to him, but Hermione couldn't hear what was being said, "Why are you always doing something dangerous and life-threatening?" Hermione whispered to herself.
Jake being awake, managed to hear her, "It's me... what do you expect?"
She couldn't help but smile as McGonagall walked up behind her, "Kidd, for your courageous heroics and showing what it means to be a Gryffindor, I am awarding Gryffindor House Two-Hundred points. And can I ask you to forgive me?"
"For what, Professor?" He asked, sitting up and grunting from the pain.
"For what I said to you in your First Year... I never apologized for saying that I had never been more ashamed of a Gryffindor in my entire time here at Hogwarts as the Head of House for Gryffindor. You have long since proven how wrong I was to say that, and I never got the chance to apologize for it," McGonagall explained to him. Her eyes showed him that she was being sincere.
"Already forgiven, Professor," he smiled as Pomfrey rushed over to him.
"Kidd, lay down, you were stabbed four times," she said, trying to push him back down.
He was resistant, though, "I know, I was there," he said dryly, "and I killed those Merpeople for it too. If they had handed over Gabrielle when I demanded them to, they'd be alive."
"Speaking of the Merpeople," Dumbledore said, walking up to his bed, "they breached a trust that is not easily repaired. There will be serious consequences for their actions, I assure you."
"Now I must ask that you all leave, he needs to rest," Madam Pomfrey urged.
"I'm fine... fine enough to have company," he said, still sitting up after she had given up trying to make him lay down.
"Kidd I must insist that you-"
"I said I'm fine," he said again, but his voice wasn't as light as it was a moment ago.
Madam Pomfrey just huffed and marched back to her office, "Why am I even working here if my patients don't listen to what I say?" She was heard asking herself as she walked away.
Dumbledore had an odd look on his face, but he said nothing on the matter, "Well, I must say I am most certainly famished, I think I'm going to head for the Great Hall and sample some of the delicacies I have no doubt will be there. Care to join me, Minerva, Madame Maxime?"
"Yes, I do believe I shall," McGonagall said, having got what Dumbledore said and walked ahead of him.
Fleur was looking at Madame Maxime urgingly and asked her something quietly, "Bien sûr vous pouvez," Maxime said and then followed Dumbledore out.
"Jereemiah," Fleur said as she turned to him, "zank you! Zank you so much for saving my seester!" She had tears flowing from her eyes as she spoke.
"Someone had to," he laughed, and regretted it immediately.
"Jake, please try to refrain from laughing," Hermione said and he scooted himself backwards to rest against the headrest, though he struggled.
"I'll try..." he said and looked at Hermione, giving her a weak smile. He looked back to Fleur, "How is Gabrielle doing?"
"She ees fine. A leetle shaken, but fine," Fleur smiled and wiped her face, her tears finally ceased.
"Good, I'm glad, how did everyone place?" He asked.
"Cedric got Forty-five points; Krum got Forty; Harry got Forty-five as well, because he reached us first, but he hesitated and admitted that he had tried to think of a way to save all of us. Because of that, he didn't make it first like he would have, so the judges gave him the same as Cedric," Hermione answered, " and that was only because Karkaroff didn't agree to give him full marks."
"I only got Twenty-five... seeing as I deedn't feenish, I don't zink I deserve any points," Fleur said, her voice cracking slightly, "I couldn't get past ze Greendlylows."
"I'm sorry, Fleur," he said, feeling bad that she didn't save Gabrielle herself, even though it was in no way his fault.
Fleur looked at him carefully as she stood right next to his bed. He watched her through his eye and she leaned down, closed her eyes, and placed her lips on his in front of Hermione, who went wide-eyed.
She suddenly pulled back, eyes still closed, before she opened them carefully, the tears coming back full force as she ran from the room, "Fleur! FLEUR!" He tried to stop her, but he was still in the bed. He struggled to get to his feet.
Hermione tried to stop him, the look on her face of complete shock, "Jake! You shouldn't be walking around!"
"I have to-" he suddenly lurched forward in pain, grunting as he fell to his knees, Hermione unable to hold him up.
"You have to get back in bed, you can't walk in your condition!" She said loudly.
"I did it last year... not much different from this year," he said nonchalantly.
"The amount of bed rest is, and the severity of your wounds are," Hermione pointed out matter-of-factly.
He was about to argue, but realized she was right. He didn't say anything as he got back into the bed with Hermione's help and laid down.
She sat back down and looked at him, tears starting to form in her own eyes, 'Was he and Fleur actually together? Did he lie about that as well?' Unlike Fleur, Hermione didn't flee from the Hospital Wing, she just sat there, her face downward, as she tried to stay calm at a new revelation, 'Maybe they really weren't together... but still did things that couples do anyway? And if that's the case then - how far did they go?'
*******
Two days after the Task, as Hermione had expected, Jake showed up way before he should be out of the Hospital Wing. Lunch Period had just started when he walked in, slightly limping, and the entire Hall went silent. He reminded Hermione of the way Moody walked, but not as clunky. He limped over to where she was and sat down on her left, ignoring all eyes on him.
He said nothing at first as he grabbed some mashed potatoes, corn, and some French looking cuisine. The entire hall pretty soon went back to normal with the chatter, and Hermione looked up to the Staff table; Dumbledore was looking down at them, she was almost certain of that, before Madame Maxime leaned over to whisper something. She turned her attention back to Jake, "At Hogsmeade, we are going out to a stile at the end of the road out of Hogsmeade, which is past Dervish and Banges, at two o'clock Saturday Afternoon, with as much food as we can, carry" she said quietly, "Harry got the letter just this morning at breakfast."
"Okay, it'll be nice to see them again," he said just as quietly and smiled meekly at her. "So what did I miss while I was out?"
"Nothing important besides that. People have been teasing me about being Harry's hostage, but nothing beyond a bit of prodding," she said, continuing to eat.
"Probably afraid to be too mean to you," he said, knowing he was right.
Hermione smiled to herself, "I wouldn't doubt it," she found it oddly comforting to know that most people were afraid of being mean to her because of Jake. She looked at Jake again, and none of his injuries were going to be visible, except for the scars still on his arms when his hands were raised above his head and his sleeves slid down, but besides that his injuries from the Merpeople were not visible.
They approached the final lesson of the afternoon, which was Double Potions, in a more than glum but not quite cheerful mood, except for Harry, he looked like he could do a somersault.
Jake was doing his best to ignore the pain as he limped up to the door. Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle were standing in a huddle outside the classroom door with Pansy and her gang of Slytherin girls. All of them were looking at something he couldn't see and were snickering heartily. Pansy's pug-like face peered excitedly around Goyle's broad back as the four of them approached.
"There they are, there they are!" She giggled, and the knot of Slytherins broke apart. Whatever was funny in the magazine that Pansy was holding was enough for them to not stop because of Jake. It was a copy of Witch Weekly , and the moving picture on the front showed a curly-haired Witch who was smiling toothily and pointing at a large sponge cake with her wand, "You might find something to interest you in there, Granger!" Pansy roared as she threw the magazine at Hermione, who caught it with finesse, and looked startled.
At that moment, however, Snape beckoned them all inside.
The four of them headed for a table at the back of the dungeon as usual, but as Hermione was about to read through to find what Pansy and them were laughing at, Jake stopped her, "After class, okay?"
Hermione looked frustrated as she really wanted to know what was so funny to them, but she relented and just tried to ignore the incessant laughter coming from the Slytherins.
Class was proceeding as normal when after about twenty minutes, there was a knock at the door, "Enter," Snape said in his usual drawing voice.
The entire class looked when the door opened and saw Karkaroff walk in and up towards Snape's desk. Jake aimed his hand at his ears and his glowed red briefly as he said quietly, " Extende auditum ." His hearing was magnified to allow him to hear what they were talking about, and he was easily the best Potions student in his year, so his work wouldn't suffer while he listened.
"We need to talk," he heard Karkaroff whisper to Snape. He seemed damn determined to make sure no one overheard them as he walked behind Snape.
"I'll talk to you after my lesson, Karkaroff," Snape muttered quietly.
"I want to talk to you now, while you can't slip off, Severus. You've been avoiding me," Karkaroff sounded a bit angry as he whispered.
"After the lesson," Snape snapped quietly, and when Jake glanced, he saw the profile of his face, and he didn't look happy.
So Karkaroff hovered behind Snape's desk for the entire rest of the lesson. When class ended, Harry looked as though he was about to find an excuse to be near the desk when Jake grabbed his arm roughly and led him to the door. When outside, Harry was angry looking, "What the bloody hell was that for?"
"Shut up," Jake hissed and he stood outside the door, out of view, and continued listening.
"What's so urgent?" Snapped hissed at Karkaroff.
" This ," he heard Karkaroff say and he leaned around the doorframe enough to see him lift up his sleeve, but he couldn't see what was on it, "Well? Do you see? It's never been this clear, never since his demise."
"Hogwarts is not the place to discuss the topic, Karkaroff," Snape dismissed him so easily, "Now I suggest you leave before... something bad happens."
Jake heard Karkaroff exhale sharply before his footsteps were heard walking towards the door, "Go, go!" He said quickly to his friends, and they quickly got out of sight before Karkaroff spotted them.
"What was that about?" Hermione asked when they were clear.
"Karkaroff showed Snape something on his forearm, but I couldn't see what," he said as they walked, holding his side.
"He and Snape seemed to be buddy-buddy at the Ball when Ron and I went outside..." Harry trailed off.
"Speculation doesn't help us at the moment," Hermione said and pulled out the Witch Weekly magazine Pansy had tossed at her. The boys looked over her shoulder as she flipped through it. She was sure she had found what she was looking for when she saw a colored picture of Harry heading a short piece entitled:
Harry Potter's Secret Heartache
A boy like no other, perhaps - yet a boy suffering all the usual pangs of adolescence, writes Rita Skeeter. Deprived of love since the tragic demise of his parents, fourteen year old Harry Potter thought he had found solace in his steady girlfriend at Hogwarts, Muggleborn Hermione Granger. Little did he know that he would shortly be suffering yet another emotional blow in a life already littered with personal loss.
Miss Granger, a plain but ambitious girl, seems to have a taste for foreign Wizards, which one would have thought Jake Kidd would have sufficed given the fact he is an American born Wizard, but it would seem that an exotic style of foreign is what she seeks. Ever since the arrival of Durmstrang Institute, both Mihael Zhelov and Viktor Krum have been toyed with by Miss Granger. Durmstrang Champion Viktor Krum had asked Hermione to the Yule Ball, and she shut him down faster than Krum could chase after a Golden Snitch. And Miss Granger was seen dancing with Zhelov at the Ball, even though Harry was the one who asked her to the Ball.
Miss Granger seems to be toying with the affection for all four of these boys, however, it might not be her doubtful natural charms that have captured these unfortunate boys' interest.
"She's really ugly," says Pansy Parkinson, a pretty and vivacious Fourth-Year student, "but she'd be well up to making a Love Potion, she's quite brainy. I think that's how she's doing it."
Love Potions are, of course, banned at Hogwarts, and no doubt Professor Dumbledore will want to investigate these claims. In the meantime, Harry Potter's well-wishers must hope that, next time, he bestows his heart on a worthless candidate.
"I told you! I told you not to annoy that Skeeter woman," Ron said hastily, "she's made you out to be some - some - Scarlet Woman!"
Hermione stopped looking astonished and snorted with laughter, " Scarlet Woman ?" She tried hard to suppress her giggles, but she was having a hard time with it.
"It's what my mum calls them," Ron muttered, his ears going red.
Hermione noticed Jake was being quiet. She looked at him and her heart stopped for a second as she saw the murderous look on his face. She remembered what he told Rita Skeeter at the Three Broomsticks, but before she could say anything, he grabbed the Magazine and marched off, "Jake?" She called after him.
"I have to see Dumbledore!" He called back, not turning around. He hurried all the way to his office and stopped at the Gargoyle, " Sherbert Lemon ," he said and was glad the Gargoyle moved aside. He went up the stairs and knocked on the doors.
"Enter," he hears Dumbledore's voice. He entered and closed the door behind him, "Ah, Jake, to what do I owe the honor?"
Jake set the magazine in front of Dumbledore, where it was opened still to Skeeter's article, "You've got to do something about Rita Skeeter."
Dumbledore grabbed the magazine and read through it. Afterwards he sighed, "Unfortunately, there isn't much else I can do."
"If you don't, then I will. I warned her that if she wasn't nice to Hermione, she'd pay dearly. So I suggest, Headmaster, you do more to keep your students safe, or I'll do it for you. I'm not sure if I'll be able to control my actions if I see Rita Skeeter again," Jake promised him. He turned and walked out, leaving the magazine behind. He could feel Dumbledore's gaze on him the entire time he was leaving, but he didn't turn around at all.
He walked down the Staircase, past the Gargoyle, and back down to the Entrance Hall, where he walked outside into the cold, but not quite as cold as it was, afternoon air. He vented his frustration on a nearby pile of rocks by crushing them into dust, then proceeded to level some trees at the edge of the forest.
He owed Pansy a bit of a reminder on how foolish she acted, and the next time he saw her, she was going to be sorry she insulted Hermione.
*******
The next day, Jake was in pain. He overexerted himself the day before and his body ached. He barely got out of his bed that morning at Nine o'clock, having to miss his usual morning run from not being able to move faster than a walk. It also didn't help that his wounds had opened up, but instead of going to Pomfrey, he used his knowledge of Medical Spells to try and do it himself. He stopped the bleeding and managed to suture up his injuries with a mere touch. He didn't know if it was because he was Merlin's True Heir or not, but he felt cool being able to just touch his wounds and they would heal. Of course it wasn't perfect given his inexperience still with Healing Magic, but it did the job.
He met Hermione down in the Common Room and he sat down on the couch beside her, controlling his breathing as he did, "Morning," she said, looking at him with concern.
"Morning..." he hissed as even speaking hurt, but he couldn't just sit by idly and do nothing, so he pushed through the pain, no matter how badly it hurt.
"How bad does it hurt?" Hermione asked him.
"Bad enough... but I won't let it stop me, I promise," he looked at her and she had tears in her eyes.
"I-I said it last year... but you've done so much... and suffered so much for a lifetime... I worry about you, Jake," Hermione expressed her concern.
"I appreciate your concern, more than you know, but I'm fine... or at least... I will be," he smiled as he kept his breathing steady.
The look she gave him said she didn't believe him, but she didn't press the issue, "After lunch we are going to Hogsmeade to meet him ," Hermione reminded.
"I figured we were."
When it was finally lunchtime, Jake didn't eat much, and he felt Fleur looking at him every now and then, but when he glanced up at her, she always quickly averted her eyes. He could not await the conversation he was set to have with her sooner or later. She was upset, possibly angry with him, and he didn't blame her.
When lunch was just about over, the four of them snuck at least a dozen chicken legs, a loaf of bread, and a flask of pumpkin juice from the lunch table.
While in Hogsmeade, awaiting the time they would meet Sirius, they walked around to look through the shops; Harry and Ron going to the Joke shop, and Hermione and Jake went to look at some books and spell books, but not buying anything. Then, at half past one, they made their way up the High Street, past Dervish and Banges, and out toward the edge of the village.
Jake hadn't been this direction before, not that he ever had a reason to before now. The winding lane was leading them out into the wild countryside around Hogsmeade. The cottages were fewer, and their gardens larger; they were walking toward the foot of the mountain in whose shadow Hogsmeade lay. Then they turned a corner and saw a stile at the end of the lane. Waiting for them, his front paws on the topmost bar, was a very large, shaggy black dog, which was carrying some newspapers in its mouth.
"Hello, Sirius," Harry said when they got up to him.
Sirius, in dog form, sniffed the bag Harry was carrying eagerly, wagged his tail a couple of times, then turned and began to trot away from them across the scrubby patch of ground that rose to reach the rocky foot of the mountain. They climbed over the stile after him and followed.
He led them to the very foot of the mountain, where the ground was covered with boulders and rocks. It was easy for Sirius, being on four paws, and it would have been easy for Jake had he not been grievously injured a few days prior. Even then, between the four non-animagi, he still climbed the mountain and arrived at the top before them after a twenty-five minute climb.
Jake was on his hands and knees, breathing heavily as he tried to ignore the pain, "Jake, are you alright?" Hermione asked as she finally got to the top of the mountain herself, trying to catch her breath.
"I'll... be fine..." he got to his feet slowly, holding his side, which had opened up again. He slipped into a fissure in the rocks that Sirius ducked into and found himself in a cool, dimly lit cave. Tethered at one end of the room was a familiar looking Hippogriff, "Hello, Buckbeak," he said and bowed, even though it hurt.
Buckbeak returned the bow after staring at him for a moment.
Jake then chose to tend to his injury, which Sirius had walked over and sniffed while still a dog, let out a low whimper, "It's not as bad as it looks," he grunted out, taking off his upper clothing painfully to assess the situation, not caring about his scars showing.
Hermione had just slipped in herself and saw Buckbeak and bowed. Once he bowed back, she rushed over to brush his feathers with her hand. Hermione heard behind Sirius greeting Harry, "It's good to see you again, Harry," his voice sounded hoarse.
"Likewise, Sirius," Harry's voice was muffled, so he must have been hugging his Godfather.
Hermione turned, and when she did, her eyes landed on Jake, and her face heated up quickly, her cheeks turning red. Even though he was injured, he was shirtless, and his toned upper body was in full view for her to see, and what she saw, she liked very much. One thing that did concern her was all of those scars on his chest and stomach, but she'd worry about those later. She buried her face into Buckbeak's neck to hide her embarrassment.
She did peek again to see Jake touch and rub his palm over the injury on his waist, seeing how good he had already gotten with Healing Magic. It didn't heal completely, and was still susceptible to opening up again, but it was still miraculous all the same, 'He never fails to amaze me.' She thought to herself.
"Here's some Chicken and Bread, along with a flask of pumpkin juice," Harry handed over the bag of food.
"Thanks!" Sirius said happily, "I've been living off rats mostly. I can't steal too much food from Hogsmeade, otherwise it'll be suspicious."
Hermione heard Jake laughing, "Please," he groaned in pain, "please don't make me laugh..."
"How are you feeling, Jake?" Sirius asked him, his tone one of worry.
"I'm feeling fine..." he said and reclothed his upper body, much to Hermione's chagrin.
"If you can call being stabbed four times by Merpeople fine," Ron revealed.
"I had heard that the Second Task involved the Black Lake, but I wasn't sure to what degree..." Sirius said slowly, "Merpeople are nasty creatures when provoked."
"What are you doing here, Sirius?" Harry asked finally.
"Fulfilling my duty as Godfather," he said, gnawing on the bone of the chicken leg in a very dog-like way. "Don't worry, I'm pretending to be a loveable stray."
"And here I was thinking you loved the thrill of risking getting caught?" Jake asked rhetorically. Just because Sirius was Harry's Godfather, didn't mean he was going to let him off easy.
All Harry did was glare at Jake.
"I want to be on the spot, Harry," Sirius said, "Your last letter... well, let's just say things are getting fishier. I've been stealing the paper every time someone throws one out, and by the looks of things, I'm not the only one who's getting worried."
He nodded at the yellowing Daily Prophets on the cave floor, and Ron picked them up and unfolded them. Harry, however, continued to stare at Sirius, "What if they catch you? What if you're seen?"
"You four and Dumbledore are the only ones around here who know I'm an Animagus," Sirius said, a slight smirk on his face as he shrugged, continuing to devour the chicken legs.
Hermione saw Ron nudge Harry and hand him a Daily Prophet paper. She continued to stroke Buckbeak's neck as she couldn't get the image of a shirtless Jake out of her head.
"They're making it sound like he's dying," Harry said slowly, "but he can't be that ill if he managed to get up here..."
"My brother Percy is Crouch's personal assistant," Ron told Sirius, "He says Crouch is suffering from overwork."
"Mind you, he did look ill, last time I saw him up close," Harry explained to them, "the night my name came out of the Goblet."
"Probably getting his comeuppance for sacking Winky," Hermione said with a slight edge to her voice, she never would forgive Crouch for it, "I bet he's wishing he hadn't done it now - bet he feels the difference now she's not there to look after him."
"Hermione has become obsessed with House-Elves," Ron said, none too quietly, and cast her a dark look. Hermione only glared at him, but Sirius looked intrigued.
"Crouch sacked his House-Elf?" He asked her.
"Yeah, at the Quidditch World Cup," Harry explained instead and then launched into an explanation about what went down there; the Dark Mark's appearance, Jake mercilessly slaughtering later confirmed Death Eaters, and Winky being found with Harry's wand clutched in her hand, and Mr. Crouch's fury. When Harry had finished, Sirius was on his feet again and had started pacing up and down the cave.
"Let me get this straight," he said after a while, brandishing a fresh chicken leg, "you first saw the elf in the Top Box. She was saving a seat for Crouch, right?"
"Right," Harry, Ron, and Hermione all said, but Jake remained quiet.
"But Crouch didn't turn up for the match?"
"No," Harry said, "I think he had been too busy."
'Thinking back,' Jake thought to himself, 'it felt like someone was beside her... like someone else was hiding out of sight...'
Sirius paced all around the cave in silence. Then he suddenly said, "Harry, did you check your pockets for your wand after you'd left the Top Box?"
"Erm..." Harry thought hard, "no... I didn't need to use it before we got into the forest. And then I put my hand in my pocket, and all that was in there were my Omnioculars," he explained. He stared at Sirius, "Are you saying whoever conjured the Mark stole my wand in the Top Box?"
"It's possible..." Sirius said.
"Why did you fall asleep with your wand in your pocket? Were you not at all worried about possibly breaking it?" Jake asked.
The look on Harry's face told him that he didn't have an explanation.
"We know Winky did not steal that wand," Hermione said confidently, but coolly.
"No, I really doubt that elf was the only one in the Top Box with you all," Sirius said, his brow furrowed as he continued to pace, "who else was sitting behind you?"
"Loads of people," Harry answered, "some Bulgarian Ministers... Cornelius Fudge... the Malfoys had been before Jake scared them off."
"The Malfoys!" Ron said suddenly and so loudly that his voice echoed all around the cave, and Buckbeak tossed his head nervously, "I bet it was Lucius Malfoy before they moved farther down the Top Box!"
"Anyone else?" Sirius asked.
"No one... wait - there was Ludo Bagman as well, commentating the game," Harry said.
"I don't know anything about Bagman, except that he used to be Beater for the Wimbourne Wasps," Sirius said, still pacing, "What's he like?"
"He's okay, but he keeps offering to help me with the Triwizard Tournament," Harry explained.
"Does he, now?" Sirius was frowning more deeply, "I wonder why he'd do that?"
"Says he's taken a liking to me," Harry shrugged.
"Hmm..." Sirius looked thoughtful.
"We saw him in the forest just before the Dark Mark appeared," Hermione told Sirius, "remember, Harry, Ron?"
"Yeah, but he didn't stay in the forest long," Ron said, "the moment we told him about the riot, he went off to the campsite."
"How do you know, though?" Hermione asked, keeping her voice calm, "How do you know where he Disapparated to?"
"Come off it," Ron said incredulously, "are you saying you reckon Ludo Bagman conjured the Dark Mark?"
"It's more likely he did it than Winky," Hermione said stubbornly, getting heated, "and let's be real, Ludo Bagman's voice sounds a little like the voice we heard!"
"I told you," Ron said, looking meaningfully at Sirius, "she's obsessed with House-"
But Sirius held up a hand to silence Ron, "When the Dark Mark had been conjured, and the elf had been discovered holding Harry's wand, what did Crouch do?"
"Went to look in the bushes," Harry said, "but there wasn't anyone else there."
'It is weird, though...' Jake thought to himself, 'Crouch was so insistent on finding someone else in the bushes... did he find who he was looking for? I believe Hermione that Winky didn't do it, so Crouch... he had to find someone else in those bushes, but the question is, who did he find?'
"Of course," Sirius muttered, pacing up and down, "of course, he'd want to pin it on anyone but his own elf... and then he sacked her?"
"Yes," Hermione said, trying to keep her frustration to a minimum, "he sacked her, just because she hadn't stayed in her tent and let herself get trampled-"
"Hermione, will you give it a rest with the elf!" Ron snapped at her.
"Watch yourself, Ron," Jake said, his eyes down on the ground in front of him.
Sirius, however, was shaking his head, "She's got the measure of Crouch better than you have, Ron. If you want to know what a man's like, take a good look at how he treats his inferiors, not his equals." He ran a hand over his unshaven face, evidently thinking hard, "All of these absences of Barty Crouch's... he goes to the trouble of making sure his House-Elf saves him a seat at the Quidditch World Cup, but doesn't bother to turn up and watch. He works very hard to reinstate the Triwizard Tournament, and then stops coming to that too... It's not like Crouch. If he's ever taken a day off work because of illness before this, I'll eat Buckbeak."
Buckbeak looked at him and made an indignant sound.
"With the way he's been acting, it's almost like he's possessed or something..." Jake said absent-mindedly.
"Do you know Crouch, then?" Harry asked, everyone simply ignoring Jake's words.
Sirius' face darkened. He suddenly looked as menacing as he had the night Hermione met him up close, when he was still believed to have been a murderer, "Oh, I know Crouch all right," he said quietly, "he was the one who gave the order for me to be sent to Azkaban - without a trial."
" What !?" Hermione exclaimed.
"What was he afraid of to just send you straight to Azkaban without a trial? No Veritaserum, nothing?" Jake asked, but Sirius shook his head. "That's the kind of person you don't need as the Head of Magical Law Enforcement."
"You're kidding..." Harry was having a hard time wrapping his head around it.
"No, I'm not..." Sirius took another great bite of chicken, "Crouch used to be Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, didn't you know?"
"I think Jake may have said something about it as an off-hand comment," Hermione said.
"He didn't tell us if he did," Ron said, still a bit upset from a little while ago.
"He was tipped for the next Minister of Magic," Sirius said, "he's a great wizard, Barty is, powerfully magical - and power-hungry. Oh, never a Voldemort supporter," Sirius said to Harry, whose face was a bit shocked, "No, Crouch was always very out-spoken against the Dark Side... but then a lot of people who were against the Dark Side... well, you wouldn't understand... you're too young..."
"That's what my dad said at the World Cup," Ron said, with a trace of irritation in his voice, "try us, why don't you?"
A grin flashed across Sirius' thin face, "All right, I'll try you..." he walked once up the cave, back again, and then said, "Imagine that Voldemort's powerful now. You don't know who his supporters are, you don't know who's working for him and who isn't; you know he can control people so that they do terrible things without being able to stop themselves."
"The Imperius Curse..." Jake said quietly, and then he connected some dots, but still had no evidence for it.
"You're scared for your life," Sirius continued, "and your family, and your friends. Every week, news comes of more deaths, more disappearances, more torturing... the Ministry of Magic's in disarray, they don't know what to do, they're trying to keep everything hidden from Muggles, but meanwhile, Muggles are dying too. Terror everywhere... panic... confusion... that's how it used to be," he then sighed, "well, times like that bring out the best in some people and the worst in others. Crouch's principles might've been good in the beginning - I wouldn't know. He rose quickly through the Ministry, and he started ordering very harsh measures against Voldemort's supporters. The Aurors were given new powers - powers to kill rather than capture, for instance. And I wasn't the only one who was handed straight to the Dementors without a trial. Crouch fought violence with violence, and authorized use of the Unforgivables against suspects. I would say he became as ruthless and cruel as many on the Dark Side. He had his supporters, mind you - plenty of people thought he was going about things the right way, and there were a lot of Witches and Wizards clamoring for him to take over as Minister for Magic. When Voldemort disappeared, it looked like only a matter of time until Crouch got the top job. But then something rather... unfortunate happened..." Sirius smiled grimly and almost cynically, "Crouch's own son was caught with a group of Death Eaters who'd managed to talk their way out of Azkaban. Apparently they were trying to find Voldemort and return him to power."
"Crouch's son was caught?" Hermione asked, slightly shocked.
"Yep," Sirius said, throwing his Chicken bone to Buckbeak, flinging himself back down on the ground beside the loaf of bread, tearing it in half, "Nasty little shock for old Barty, I'd imagine. Should have spent a bit more time at home with his family, shouldn't he? Ought to have left the office early once in a while... gotten to know his own son."
He began to wolf down large pieces of bread, " Was his son a Death Eater?" Harry asked.
"No idea," Sirius said, still stuffing down bread, "I was in Azkaban myself when he was brought in. This is mostly stuff I've found out since I got out. The boy was definitely caught in the company of people I'd bet my life were Death Eaters - but he might've been in the wrong place at the wrong time, just like the House-Elf."
"Did Crouch try to get his son off?" Hermione asked.
"What reason would he have to do that?" Jake asked, looking up at them from his spot in the cave, "Think about the Crouch we've seen, the Crouch Sirius has been telling us, Hermione. He values himself, his reputation, above all else."
"It seems Jake's got the measure of Crouch better than all of you. Anything that threatened to tarnish his reputation had to go; he had dedicated his whole life to becoming Minister of Magic. You saw him dismiss a devoted House-Elf because she associated him with the Dark Mark again - doesn't that tell you what he's like?" He asked the other three, and Hermione nodded, feeling foolish for not seeing it like Jake had, "Crouch's fatherly affection stretched just far enough to give his son a trial, and by all accounts, it wasn't much more than an excuse for Crouch to show how much he hated the boy... then he sent him straight to Azkaban."
"He gave his own son to the Dementors?" Harry asked quietly.
"That's right," Sirius said, and he didn't look remotely amused now, "I saw the Dementors bringing him in, watched them through the bars in my cell door. He can't have been more than nineteen. They took him into a cell near mine. He was screaming for his mother by nightfall. He went quiet after a few days, though... they all went quiet in the end... except when they shrieked in their sleep..."
For a moment, the deadened look in Sirius' eyes became more pronounced than ever, as though shutters had closed behind them. "So... he's still in Azkaban?" Harry asked.
"No," Sirius said dully, "no, he's not in there anymore. He died about a year after they brought him in..."
" What ?" Hermione said in barely a whisper.
"Malnutrition and dehydration, right?" Jake asked.
"Yeah, because most people go mad in there, they stop eating, some even stop drinking water that's brought to them. They lose the will to live. You could always tell when a death was coming, because the Dementors could sense it, they got excited," Sirius said and Jake couldn't stand the thought of a Dementor feeling excited about something, "That boy looked pretty sickly when he arrived. Crouch being an important Ministry member, he and his wife were allowed a deathbed visit. That was the last time I saw Barty Crouch Senior, half carrying his wife past my cell. She died herself, apparently, shortly afterward. Grief, no doubt. Wasted away just like the boy. Crouch never came for his son's body. The Dementors buried him outside the fortress; I watched them do it..." Sirius threw aside the bread he had just lifted to his mouth and instead picked up the flask of pumpkin juice and drank from it. "So old Crouch lost it all, just when he thought he had it made..."
"Life has a sick sense of humor," Jake said drolly.
Sirius wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, "That it does... one moment, a hero, poised to become the Minister of Magic... the next, his son dead, his wife dead, the family name dishonored, and, so I've heard since I escaped, a big drop in popularity. Once the boy had died, people started feeling a bit more sympathetic toward the son and started asking how a nice young lad from a good family had gone so badly astray. The conclusion was that his father never cared much for him." Jake's mind flashed images of his adoptive father, "So Cornelius Fudge got the top job, and Crouch was shunted sideways into the Department of International Magical Cooperation."
There was a long silence. Jake thought about everything he knew about Crouch, 'It adds up, what Sirius said... but it still feels like something is missing... Crouch's son dies, his wife dies... dammit, I'm not getting anywhere, what am I missing?'
"Moody says Crouch is obsessed with catching Dark Wizards," Harry told Sirius.
"Yeah, I've heard it's become a bit of a mania with him," Sirius nodded, "if you ask me, he still thinks he can bring back his old popularity by catching one more Death Eater."
"Jake's done killed a lot of them, not sure how many are currently out of Azkaban for him to track down," Hermione said a bit grimly.
"And he sneaked up here to search Snape's office!" Ron said triumphantly, looking at Hermione, but she was ignoring him.
"Why, Ron? Why would he do that, but not continue being a judge in the Tournament?" Jake asked him.
"I agree with Jake, it doesn't make sense. It'd be an ideal excuse to make regular visits to Hogwarts and keep an eye on him," Sirius said.
"I wonder why Dumbledore trusts Snape at all?" Hermione asked, but didn't expect an answer.
"You've got me... if it wasn't for a voice in my head that sounded suspiciously like you, Hermione, I would have killed him back when you had to go see Madam Pomfrey," Jake said.
"I remember that... you were terrifying," Harry said, unable to forget that incident. "Karkaroff seems to trust Snape enough to show him something on his arm, according to Jake."
"He showed him something on his arm?" Sirius asked, looking bewildered, but then shrugged, "I've no idea what that's about."
Jake was looking right at Sirius, and he wondered why Sirius just lied to them. The only thing that bothered him about it, oddly enough, was that Sirius seemed like he couldn't tell them, even though he wanted to, "He seemed genuinely worried, though, and if he's going to Snape for answers..."
Sirius stared at the cave wall, then made a grimace of frustration, "There's still the fact Dumbledore trusts Snape, and he trusts where a lot of others don't, but I just can't see him letting Snape teach at Hogwarts if he ever worked for Voldemort."
'Something happened, something had to have happened for Dumbledore to hire Snape as teacher and not get rid of him after last year. He got rid of Trelawney for outting me that I am Merlin's Descendant... what reason could he have for not getting rid of Snape? Did something happen that brought Snape to the Light Side if he was indeed one of Voldemort's supporters?' Jake once again racked his brain for an answer, but without more information, he wasn't going to get one.
"Why are Moody and Crouch so keen on getting into his office then?" Ron asked stubbornly.
"Well," Sirius said, "I wouldn't put it past Mad-Eye to have searched every single teacher's office not long after arriving at Hogwarts. He takes his Defense Against the Dark Arts seriously. I'm not sure he trusts anyone at all, and after the things he's seen, it's not surprising. I'll say this for Moody, though, he never killed if he could help it. Always brought people in alive where possible, he would. He was tough, but he never descended to the level of the Death Eaters. "
'That's one thing I think I disagree with... killing them works better in the long-term,' Jake thought darkly.
"Crouch, though, he's a different matter..." Sirius continued, "is he really ill? If he is, why did he make the effort to drag himself to Snape's office? And if not... What's he up to? What was he doing at the World Cup that was so important he didn't turn up in the Top Box? What's he been doing while he should've been judging the Tournament?"
Sirius lapsed into silence, still staring at the cave wall. Buckbeak was ferreting around on the rocky floor, looking for bones he might have overlooked.
"You say your brother's Crouch's Personal Assistant? Any chance you could ask him if he's seen Crouch lately?" Sirius asked.
"I can try," Ron said, though he was doubtful, "better not make it sound like I reckon Crouch is up to anything dodgy, though. Percy loves Crouch."
"And you might try and find out whether they've got any leads on Bertha Jorkins while you're at it," Sirius said, gesturing to the second Daily Prophet copy.
"Bagman told me they hadn't," Harry said.
"Yes, he's quoted saying as much in the article in there," Sirius nodded to the paper, "blustering on about how bad Bertha's memory is. Well, maybe she's changed since I knew her, but the Bertha I knew wasn't forgetful at all - quite the reverse. She was a bit dim, but she had an excellent memory for gossip. It used to get her into a lot of trouble; she never knew when to keep her mouth shut. I can see her being a bit of a liability at the Ministry of Magic... maybe that's why Bagman didn't bother to look for her for so long..."
"That's also a reason to find her as soon as possible... Harry told me Bertha Jorkins went on holiday in Albania and never came back... and Dumbledore said his contacts put Voldemort in Albania... they should've tried to find her as soon as possible," Jake said angrily.
Sirius gave an enormous sigh and rubbed his shadowed eyes, "The Ministry always was nothing but fools... what time is it?"
Hermione checked her watch, "It's half past three."
"You'd better get back to school," Sirius said, getting to his feet, "now listen..." he looked particularly hard at Harry, "I don't want you lot sneaking out of school to see me, all right? Just send notes to me here. I still want to hear about anything odd. But you're not to go leaving Hogwarts without permission, Harry; it would be an ideal opportunity for someone to attack you."
"No one's tried to attack me so far, except a dragon, a couple of grindylows, and Merpeople when I tried to save more than just my hostage," Harry said, but Sirius scowled at him.
"I don't care... I'll breathe freely again when this tournament's over and that's not until June, and while Jake might be the most powerful Wizard since Merlin, he can't be with you all the time. And don't forget, if you're talking about me among yourselves, call me Snuffles, okay?" Sirius asked.
He handed Harry the empty napkin and flask and went to tell Buckbeak goodbye, "I'll walk to the edge of the village with you, see if I can scrounge another paper."
He transformed back into the great black dog before they left the cave, and they walked back down the mountainside with him, which Jake decided was much easier. Once they got back to the stile, he let each of them pat his head, before turning and setting off at a run around the outskirts of the village. Harry, Ron, Jake, and Hermione made their way back into Hogsmeade and up back to Hogwarts.
"Wonder if Percy knows all that stuff about Crouch?" Ron asked as they walked back up the path to the Castle, "But maybe he doesn't care... it'd probably just make him admire Crouch even more. Yeah, Percy loves rules. He'd just say Crouch was refusing to break them for his own son."
"I don't mean to sound harsh, Ron," Hermione started, "but Percy seems like he'd throw any of his family to the Dementors."
"No, I think you're right," Ron agreed with her, "if he thought we were standing in the way of his career... well, he is ambitious, you know?"
They walked up the stone steps into the Entrance Hall, where the delicious smells of dinner wafted toward them from the Great Hall.
"Poor old Snuffles," Ron said, breathing deeply, "he must really love you, Harry... imagine having to live off rats?"
"We all do things we don't want to for the people we love and care about," Jake said as they went up the stairs to change out of their heavy winter clothes.
'And I'd do anything for you, Jake, even if it were of no benefit to me,' Hermione thought to herself, staring at the back of him as she walked behind him, 'Anything.'