Liv clenched her fists as she left the castle. Her meeting with Kingsley and Moody had not gone well.
"Karkaroff is looking more and more suspicious," Moody had announced at the start of the meeting. "At the Yule Ball, I overheard him telling Snape he was worried about something, to which Snape responded he should "flee" if he was so worried."
"That is very interesting," Kingsley said taking notes.
"They were suspiciously close to Harry Potter too when I overheard them. They were outside in the courtyard when it happened, away from everyone."
"Anything else," Kingsley said anxiously.
"Not that I know of. Liv?"
"I didn't see anything," Liv said.
"Did you enjoy the Weird Sister's performance? It must have been good to have distracted you from fulfilling your duties as Harry Potter's bodyguard," Moody said.
Liv clenched her jaw. She wanted to defend herself, but she held her tongue. If Dumbledore hadn't told Mad-Eye that he had sent her on an errand, perhaps he didn't trust Mad-Eye with it. Did he even know Sirius was innocent, or nearby? She had her own suspicions about Mad-Eye. She wondered why Mad-Eye had been outside in the courtyard when he overheard Snape and Karkaroff. Was he following Karkaroff or was he stalking Harry?
Kingsley pretended not to notice the tension and said, "speaking of overhearing things, I could use your help today, Liv. We believe Bagman is going to meet with those goblins he owes money to today in the 3 Broomsticks. Most my team are on a training exercise. Could you do it?"
Liv had agreed, thankful that Kingsley at least didn't think she was incompetent. She had a perfect cover too, it being a Hogsmeade weekend when students would be visiting the village.
And so she made her way down to the village alone, still mad at Mad-Eye for trying to discredit her in front of Kingsley. She had to figure out if Mad-Eye had anything to do with putting Harry's name in the goblet. But how? Her thoughts were interrupted as she entered the village by an unwelcome voice calling out to her.
"Liv Park? Mind if I have a word?"
She recognized the voice immediately. A woman stepped out in front of her, as if she had been waiting for Liv to pass by.
"Who are you," Liv said, although she knew the answer.
"Rita Skeeter, correspondent for the Daily Prophet," she said as if Liv was stupid for not recognizing her, which didn't improve Liv's mood. "I heard your uncle is Barty Crouch. Is that true?"
"No comment," Liv said. That was part of her cover story, but she wasn't about to talk to press about it. She tried to walk away but Rita walked beside her.
"They say he hasn't been into work for weeks. Did you see him over the holidays? Is he as sick as everyone says? Is it dragon pox or something worse?"
Liv didn't respond. With famous parents, she knew how to deal with annoying press. Ignore them and they'll go away eventually.
"We're all so worried about him. Anything you could say would reassure the public."
Liv walked faster, but Rita did too. It was clear Rita wasn't going away, so Liv tried another idea. Gripping her wand, she cast a silent spell to make an icy patch in front of Rita.
"Barty didn't attend the Yule Ball I know. Does he disagree with the way the tournament is being- ahh!"
Liv walked on smiling to herself as Rita was left behind laying in the snow. Liv ducked into a shop and hid for a while until she was confident Rita had lost her.
By the time Liv reached the 3 Broomsticks, Bagman and the Goblins were already there. Shit, she thought as she got her drink and found a seat nearby. She couldn't afford to mess this up for Kingsley. She took out a book and pretended to read as she listened into their conversation.
The goblins demanded their money, and Bagman reassured them that he would get it to them. He tried offering them some Quidditch memorabilia, but they weren't interested in anything but gold. The conversation got really interesting when Bagman dismissed himself from them and pulled Harry, who was also in the pub, aside. Liv listened with interest as he offered Harry help with his golden eggs clue. She was oddly proud of Harry when he declined the offer. She'd have to tell Sirius and Remus about that.
Remus… she hadn't seen him since Christmas. She wasn't sure how they'd let it happen. But she had enjoyed talking with him again, dancing with him… But she didn't have time to think about it now.
Bagman and the goblins left shortly after, and she got up to follow up, at the same time, Rita entered the pub. Liv ducked behind a group of wizards to avoid being trapped by her again. As Liv backed away, keeping a careful eye on Rita, she bumped into someone.
"Sorry," she said, turning to apologize to the wizard. She didn't expect to see a familiar face.
"Liv!"
"Oliver!"
They embraced as old friends and with a quick explanation, he followed her out of the back of the pub. When they were safely inside a nearby tea shop away from Rita, it was safe enough to talk. They caught up for a while, Liv asking about his work on a quidditch team. Eventually the topic changed to Liv's work.
"Rosita said you were here," Oliver said, referring to his girlfriend/ Liv's best friend. "I know she isn't allowed to say much, but I have some idea of what you're doing."
"She was never very good at keeping secrets," Liv said.
"Speaking of secrets and girlfriends," Oliver said, "how's your boyfriend?"
"I'm sure you already know," Liv said, reading his expression.
"Ok, you caught me. She did mention you'd broken up. But she seemed to think you may have seen him when you came over here in the summer or something, and she may or may not have asked me, if I see you, to ask if you're back together. She hasn't heard from you much the last few months."
"I know, I've just been so busy with work," Liv said. Oliver waited, so she continued, "but I have seen him since I got back."
"And?"
"And…" Liv sighed. She'd been keeping everything to herself for so long, it felt good to open up about things to a friend. "It's complicated…. We broke up last year, thinking we'd never see each other again. Then we sort of crossed paths again a few months later. We nearly hooked up. But we got into this huge fight, the kind where you say things you wish you hadn't. Anyway, then we really thought we'd never see each other again. But then I was assigned to Hogwarts again…"
"Have you seen him since?"
"A few times, the last time at Christmas, making out under the mistletoe. I don't know how that happened. Things haven't been the same since our fight, but that night we just forgot about it for a while."
Oliver didn't press for details on the fight, and Liv didn't really want to talk about it. "I don't have much experience in these things, but I do know a thing or two about quidditch," he said modestly. "You need to have a clear idea of what you want going into the game. Catch the snitch early? Get as many points as possible? What I'm saying is, do you want to get back together?"
"I don't know," Liv said.
"That would be the place to start," he said.
When they said goodbye 20 minutes later, Oliver's question was still echoing in her head, and she knew she hadn't been entirely truthful with him about her answer.