Crash Course
He was in the hospital wing . Turning his head he saw a row of neatly made beds on either side of him. Pale light poured in from the numerous windows.
This it the second time I've ended up here because of Potter, he realized. It wasn't often he was sent to the hospital wing. He sat up and looked to the nurse's office and saw that the lights were still off.
He could hear a faint snoring. Turning about, he noticed a bed at the far end of the wing, covered by a drawn curtain. Corvus frowned, could that be Mr. Crouch?
He threw off his blanket and got to his feet. Treading quietly and quickly, he passed Madam Pomfrey's office door. Putrid stench grew in the air as he neared the hidden patient. He covered his mouth and nose with his sleeve, with his other hand he reached out to pull back the curtain.
It wasn't Mr. Crouch. For a moment Corvus didn't know what he was looking at. It was a body wrapped in bandages like a mummy. The only part of the person underneath showing were his eyelids. They were closed, they looked red and extremely wrinkly.
Corvus gagged, the smell was beginning to make his eyes water. The sound disturbed the mummified body, his eyes opened. The person's redden eyes were bleary for a moment then he recognized Corvus, they started to bulge and angry gurgling noises came from his covered mouth.
"Petzold?" coughed Corvus. There'd been a rumor that Jeremy had been moved to St. Mungo's.
Jeremy started to shift violently in his bed, as if he wanted desperately to attack Corvus. The Salesman smirked.
"Mr. Petzold needs his rest if he's to make a full recovery," a voice called. Corvus quickly closed the curtain again, stepped back and turned on his heel, almost all in one moment. Dumbledore was standing in the aisle between the rows of beds as if he'd been there the entire time. "He's well on his way, thanks to the efforts of Madam Pomfrey."
"What a relief," he replied without blinking. He ignored Jeremy's angry trashing behind the curtain, he hoped the headmaster couldn't hear it. He walked over to Dumbledore. "Did Mad-Eye catch Crouch?"
"Unfortunately Professor Moody was unable to," he replied. He peered beyond Corvus at Jeremy's sectioned off bed. "Perhaps we should speak about this outside. I suspect the rest of the student body is still sleeping."
Corvus followed him outside and once the door closed behind them, he started talking, "He said You-Know-Who was getting stronger."
"Indeed, Harry informed me of that. According to his account, Mr. Crouch also mentioned Ascanius Stirling."
"He's dead though."
"That's what people believe about He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named."
"Apparently not everyone believes that," he scowled. "From what I understand there's actually a considerable amount of people who know better."
Dumbledore's lips pulled into a faint, amused smile beneath his snow-white beard. "I need you to tell me your side of the story. You and Viktor Krum were the last to see Mr. Crouch."
"I was the last one to see him," he corrected. "When Potter left I – I acted as if I were you, sir, so he'd tell me whatever it was he knew. Nearly got it out of him too, he wanted to tell me, I could tell. But it was like he physically couldn't – like something was stopping him. His eyes would get all wonky. Anyway it couldn't've been him who stunned us. I was staring straight at him when it happened."
"No, I did not suspect he was the one who stunned you two," Dumbledore said calmly. After a lengthy pause the Headmaster asked, "How did you come to follow Harry and Viktor?"
Corvus was taken aback at the sudden question. It was like the headmaster was turning the tables on him. He proceeded warily, "Coincidence. I was on a walk. I saw them go off together. Reckon it was a bit suspicious, since their competitors and all."
His eyes focused on Corvus, "Whereabouts did you see them?"
"Don't really remember – sort of around the Quidditch pitch."
Dumbledore's eyes twinkled, "That's generally a nice play to take a walk."
"Yeah, it's my favorite place to walk," he muttered. He cleared his throat, "So is the Minister of Magic going to be informed about this? Shouldn't he send a few Aurors to search the Forest for Crouch?"
"I'm currently in the process of communicating this matter to Mr. Fudge, but it's a delicate issue," he explained. "The Minister does not like hearing bad news."
"Who does?" he scoffed, but immediately straightened up again. He was after all, speaking to his headmaster. "Sorry, sir."
"You're quite right, Mr. Black," he smiled at him. "There isn't anything else I can think of asking you. You may go, I'm sure you want to write your mother about this. I'll inform Madam Pomfrey of your discharge.
"Thank you, sir," he nodded and backed away. How was he going to explain this to his mother? She'd just gotten back from some top-secret mission in Europe, this probably would only send her on another one. Of course if he didn't tell her every detail of the night, she'd murder him for withholding information.
How was he going to explain his absence last night to his friends? Well not friends – it's just Max know isn't it? Daphne wouldn't have noticed him gone, she was on a date.
Corvus paused in the middle of the hallway, took out his wand and breathed in deeply. Without moving his lips or uttering a sound, he summoned a piece of parchment, ink and quill. They all came from a nearby classroom, which meant he'd stolen it in essence. But he'd stolen it using a non-verbal spell!
When he got to the Owlery, he slowed his steps. There were voices up in the rafters.
"He was out of his mind. 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."
Corvus braced himself as he climbed the steps up to the Owlery and opened. The Gryffindor Trio jumped at his sudden arrival. They were all puffy-eyed and pale, as if they'd been up all night with Potter. "Morning," he greeted dully.
"I was just telling them about last night," said Potter.
"I figured," he muttered as he sat down on the floor. He immediately started to write his letter, it would be the most rushed and disorganized letter he's ever sent her, because he still had to take a shower and prepare for his morning classes. He should've asked Dumbledore for the day off.
"Do you reckon it was Crouch who attacked you and Krum?" Weasley asked him.
"No, I was staring right at Crouch when I was Stunned," he replied without looking up.
"And... remind me what he said about You-Know-Who?" Weasley asked Potter, tentatively.
"I've told you. He said he's getting stronger."
There was a pause. Corvus's quill even faltered for a moment on the parchment. Then Weasley 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," Corvus accidentally stabbed a hole through his parchment. "He was having real trouble stringing two words together, but the 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."
Potter turned away from the window and stared up at the rafters. Corvus rounded out his letter, assuring her he was alright. She was probably going to go mad when she read this. She might even pull him out of Hogwarts for a bit.
"If Snape hadn't held me up," Potter 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?"
"You ran into Snape?" interrupted Corvus, getting up with his letter. He peered up at the selection of owls. Half the perches were empty.
"Yeah, he wouldn't let me see Dumbledore."
"Maybe he didn't want you to get there!" said Weasley, quickly. "Maybe – hang on – how fast d'you reckon he could've got 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."
"Wouldn't put it past him," Weasley muttered.
"We need to see Professor Moody," said Hermione. "We need to find out whether he found Mr. Crouch."
"He didn't," Corvus told her. "I've just spoken with Dumbledore at the hospital wing. Said Moody hadn't."
"Maybe he didn't have the Marauder's Map on him, then," said Potter.
"Unless Crouch was already outside the grounds," said Weasley, "because it only shows up to the boundaries, doesn't it?"
"Or perhaps your precious map has it's flaws," said Corvus. "Do I have to remind you that it never spots me?"
"Shh!" said Granger suddenly.
Somebody was climbing the steps up to the Owlery. You 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 Weasley came over the threshold, then froze at the sight of the Gryffindor Trio and Corvus. The Slytherin cocked an eyebrow, how intriguing...
"What're you doing here here?" Ron and Fred Weasley said at the same time.
"Sending a letter," said Potter and George Weasley in unison.
"What, at this time?" said Granger and Fred Weasley.
"With him?" said George and Fred Weasley together, pointing at the only Slytherin present.
While this pathetic charade was playing out, Corvus discreetly glanced at the sealed envelope in Fred Weasley's hand. It was addressed to Ludo Bagman. Playing it cool, Corvus turned his back on them and waved down an owl to take his letter.
"Fine – we won't ask you what you're doing, if you don't ask us," said Fred Weasley.
"Oh, but we already know quite a bit about what you're up to," grinned Corvus, turning back to face them. As he carried the owl over to the window, he noticed Fred Weasley had shifted his hand so that Ludo Bagman's name was covered. "You're dabbling in blackmail."
The smirk on Fred Weasley's face vanished.
"Imagine that's an exciting business venture."
"Don't be stupid, I was only joking," George Weasley said easily.
"Didn't sound like that," said Ron Weasley. The twins looked at each other.
Corvus had a derisive sound and said, "See you lot later."
He left the Owlery, with a vague idea about what to tell his friends now.
X
X
"I stumbled upon an interesting lead last night."
"Oh?"
"Morning!" cheered Daphne, smiling brighter than the sun. She practically pranced up to her seat beside Max and Corvus at the Slytherin table.
"You're in a good mood," remarked Max, turning to the next page of the Daily Prophet.
She shrugged. "I guess."
Corvus eyed her, wondering if he should expose the truth about her date to Max. It would just be for a laugh, no doubt she'd get all red in the face again.
But he had more important things to discuss with the remaining Salesmen. "The Weasley twins are blackmailing a Ministry official."
"What?" Daphne's smile disappeared to be replaced with a scandalized expression. Corvus snickered.
"Who?" asked Max, his azure eyes slightly wider than usual – the only sign that he too was caught off guard. His voice remained cool.
"Ludo Bagman," he said. "I don't know why, but I have a theory. Remember that bet they placed with Bagman at the World Cup? They won that."
"And they wanted to set up a partnership with Sal's Guys," said Max, thoughtfully.
"A pricey partnership – one they couldn't afford without the winnings. Except they still never made contact with Sal's Guys."
"Because Ludo Bagman conned them out of their money?" wondered Daphne. He grinned at her, happy that she could keep up.
"Exactly."
"So what? You want us to blackmail the Weasley twins for blackmailing the Head of the Department of Magical Games and Sports?" she asked, laughing. "Isn't that a bit excessive, and right before exam week?"
Max chuckled as well, "She has a point."
Corvus's smile faded, "Yeah I guess I didn't think about that."
"Is that what you were up to last night?" asked Max. He folded up the newspaper.
"Sort of," he answered easily. He slipped his hand in his pocket for his watch, to check how much time left they had until their first class – Defense Against the Dark Arts. "I also got a sneak peak at our darling Pretzel."
"Really? How's he looking?"
"He was wrapped up tight like a mummy. So I guess, he's never looked better. Or it's never been better looking at him."
Max and Daphne snickered. For the rest of breakfast, Corvus's mind eased off of thinking about Mr. Crouch, You-Know-Who and Ascanius Stirling, because beside all that he was in a good mood and it was a good morning.
He continued toying with the idea of asking Daphne about her date. Every once and a while, probably when she thought none of them were looking at her, she would smile to herself.
X
X
"Morning," growled Moody as they entered their Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom. He looked exhausted from last night. The eyelid of his normal eye was drooping, giving his face an even more lop-sided appearance than usual. "You lads can take out your books."
"Huh?"
"All revision now, for your OWLs," he said. He moved over to his desk, sat down and stretched out his wooden leg with a slight groan.
"You're not going to give us an outline or what?" asked Max, anxious.
Moody shrugged, "They'll give yeh a written test and then a practical one. What more am I to give you?"
Max looked to Corvus, as if he expected him to do something about this. He shrugged back at him and they took their seats. "Do you smell that?" Max asked as he pulled out his virtually unused textbook.
Corvus sniffed the air. He did smell something but it was very faint. "Not really. What does it smell like?"
Max inhaled the air, and frowned. "Like a lot of things."
"This is a classroom, people are in here all day, of course it smells."
Max glared at him, "I mean it smells like a lot of things it shouldn't." His azure eyes became distant and thoughtful, "It's boomslang skin... and lacewing flies... and fluxweed."
"Maybe someone left behind some potion ingredients," replied Corvus, turning about in his seat to see. Their fellow classmates were strolling in and looking pass them, he couldn't find any forgotten bags or ingredients.
"Boomslang skin isn't just left behind," said Max, slightly haughtily. "That stuff's only in Snape's private store room."
"Then you tell me how its scent got here."
"I don't know."
Corvus rolled his eyes, "Your sense of smell is probably too sensitive because of... you know... pretending to be a dog on your free time."
Max remained silent, it was clear he didn't thing the situation could be so easily explained. Defense Against the Dark Arts rarely moved this slowly. Corvus kept checking his pocket watch. Time used to fly in this class, when they were throwing curses at each other and dodging critical damage.
X
X
His mother sent an owl back the very morning, and so did Sirius. The two owls fluttered down on either side of Corvus at the same moment that a tawny owl landed in front of Max, clutching a copy of the Daily Prophet in its beak. He took the newspaper.
"Anything in there about Barty Crouch?" asked Corvus.
"No," he scanned the first few pages, "Why?"
"Just curious if he's been found dead yet," he replied calmly as he opened his mother's letter first. It was interesting that the Daily Prophet hadn't yet got wind of Crouch.
Corvus,
Is Harry an idiot? Walking off with Viktor Krum like that, into the Forbidden Forest of all places! And YOU –
what were you thinking staying behind in the dark with Crouch? And then trying to trick him into telling
you what he knew! If he'd given you that information, the attacker probably would've gotten rid of you
too. I don't doubt it, Barty Crouch is dead. Whoever's at Hogwarts playing this scheme was covering his
tracks.
I'm mad at your reckless behavior, Corvy, but I'm also a little relieved that you followed at Harry.
Though Mad-Eye, Dumbledore and Sirius are keeping an eye out for Harry, having you there too is a relief.
I think if it'd just been Harry left waiting in the dark with this attacker, he would have killed Harry instead
of Stunned him like he did you. Harry is the ultimate target.
It's important that you help Harry prepare for the Third Task – this mysterious attacker will probably try
attacking him next in the Third Task, the last chance he'll get to do him harm now. Sirius wants him to
focus on Stunning and Disarming, coupled with some hexes. You're excellent at duels and hexes, I expect
you can help him loads.
I'm heading to Hogsmeade for the Third Task, I will be staying at the Broomstick. See you then.
Love,
mum
It was nice to read that his mother thought Potter was an idiot as well. Everything else in the letter wasn't as pleasing. He didn't like being lectured like this and the fact that his mother didn't comment on what Crouch said about Ascanius. That was the more pressing matter, wasn't it?
He opened Sirius's letter next,
Corv – Good work following Harry last night. I've told him to stay close to Ron and Hermione and
not to leave Gryffindor Tower after hours. But I think it would be good if you keep a watch on him
too, also he'll need all the help he can get to arm himself for the Third Task. I want you to be my
eyes and ears when it comes to Harry right now, can you do that?
Sirius
Corvus groaned inwardly. Max looked up from his newspaper, frowning.
"Bad news?" asked Daphne.
"It's nothing," he grumbled.
X
X
For the next few days Corvus spent all of his free time slipping out of view from his friends and the rest of Slytherin to meet with the Gryffindor Trio in empty classrooms to practice hexes. He always brought his own books to keep revising for his OWLs, he laid down the law that the Trio were alone when it came to researching hexes in the library.
"I'm a hell of a lot more busy than you lot," he growled at them when he explained. "In case you haven't figured that out. I don't have time to spare for study-parties in the library every night."
Another term of Corvus's agreement was that Potter would not practice his spells or hexes on him. He was just there to supervise and give pointers. Granger and Weasley acted as targets.
"Can't we kidnap Mrs. Norris?" Weasley suggested during Monday lunchtime, as he lay flat on his back in the middle of the Charms classroom, having just been Stunned and re-woken by Potter 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."
"Who's Dobby?" asked Corvus, glancing up from his Transfiguration notes.
"A freed house-elf," replied Potter.
"Current president of Harry's fan club," added Weasley. He gingerly got to his feet, rubbing his backside, "I'm aching all over..."
"Well, you keep missing the cushions, don't you!" said Granger, impatiently, rearranging the pile of cushions used for Banishing Spells. "Just try and fall backwards!"
"Once you're Stunned, you can't aim too well, Hermione! Why don't you take a turn?"
"Well, I think Harry's got it now, anyway," said Granger, hastily. "And we don't have to worry about Disarming, because he's been able to do that for ages... I think we ought to start on some of these hexes."
She looked down the list they'd made in the library.
"Corvus, what do you think we should start with? I quite like the sound of this Impediment Jinx," she said.
"Whatever."
"Should slow down anything that's trying to attack you, Harry."
Potter nodded. "Sounds handy."
"Ron, go to the other end of the classroom and charge at Harry when I say so," she started. "Corvus have you done this hex before?"
Corvus finished the sentence he was reading before sitting back, sighing, "Of course."
"Care to give us a demonstration? Take your time, obviously," said Weasley.
Corvus sneered at the ginger and stood up, picking up his wand. While the thought of jinxing Weasley was fun, he came up with a better idea to rile up the Gryffindors. He waved his wand, there was a flash of yellow light and Flitwick's cupboard turned into a roaring black panther.
"Oppugno,"chanted Corvus, pointing his wand at Weasley. Granger screamed a blood-curdling scream as the panther pounced at Weasley. The ginger frantically scrambled back, covering his face with his arms as the great feline flew in the air at him.
"Impedimenta!"
The panther growled ferociously, stopping midair and fell back. Like any cat, it managed to land on her feet and then she turned angrily at Corvus, who calmly gave another wave of his wand, turning it back into a cupboard. Non-verbally, he made the cupboard levitate and float back to its proper place against the wall.
"Are you insane?" yelled Weasley, panting.
"Did you catch that, Potter? Or should I break it down some more for you?" he leered as the bell rang.
...
...
So there was a delay... sorry... I really wanted to finish everything up that leads up to the Third Task, but it was impossible. Next chapter WILL include the Third Task, Corvus's OWLs, a semi-fight with Louis and Anwar, and... a surprise...
pls R&R, though technically I've been a huge butthead with taking forever to update...
