Maybe if that didn't happen to me, I would find it quite funny. And quite romantic too. Like in the books. But the situation at the moment was not funny at all. Two adult wizards roll up their sleeves, ready for a simple old-fashioned fistfight. They forgot about their wands. How pathetic and typical of both. In that frozen second between stand-off and fighting, I see Sirius's eyes flick from me to Remus. His face was unreadable. I tried to stand between the two and end this ridiculous situation.
"Sirius, please, let's just talk," I begged him.
"I'll talk to you later. Now I want to beat this person who was called my friend. " I felt the tension and heard the intensity in his tone.
"Ash, back off. "Remus told me in a hard tone, pushing me aside, "We'll get along. The old-fashioned fight between the two of us has always fixed things. There is no way to reason with him before he has used up his anger. I will take no pleasure in taking him down. None. It's just necessary. "
"Let's see who will take whom down. "
I didn't know who threw the first punch, but suddenly Sirius's fist was slamming into Remus's face while he sunk his own into my uncle's stomach. They stumbled apart for a brief second to catch their breaths before diving back at each other, eyes narrowed in determination.
Sirius dodged Remus's fist and came up with his own; for a brief instant, I thought that he succeeds in his attempt when Remus managed to tilt his head back and slam it into his friend's head. My uncle shook it off, blinding throwing a sloppy kick.
Remus stepped back, evading the kick. "Is that all you got?" he crowed, smirking infuriatingly. Sirius growled and threw himself, changing direction at the last minute and pushed his friend surprisingly.
My blood hummed in my veins and anger took over me. My initial shock was over. This situation was ridiculous. They could seriously injure themselves. Obviously, when it comes to a fight there were only primary instincts, no code. All that matters was the win. Men become boys with no sign of a brain in their heads.
I hurried quickly and grabbed my wand: "Everte Statum". A blue light came out of it, and the two of them, Sirius and Remus, were strongly thrown away from each other.
"Stop! Both of you! This is ridiculous. You are friends and you hurt each other. "
"This one here is no longer my friend." Sirius spat on the floor, nodding at Remus.
"Why?"I asked him "What did he do so wrong? He and I are both adults who are responsible for ourselves and our actions. Our only mistake is that we didn't tell you in the beginning. For which I am so sorry. In fact, it's all my fault. I was afraid of your reaction, so I postponed my conversation with you. Uncle, forgive me…
Sirius's features softened slightly, but his eyes still flicked angrily.
"I'm sorry, my friend," Remus said. "I didn't want to hide anything from you, especially my relationship with Ash. You know me, I would never do anything if my intentions were not serious. I didn't plan to fall in love with your niece, it just happened. "
Fall in love? Did he actually say that?
"How long has this been going on?" Sirius asked a little calmer.
"Two months" Remus and I answered together.
"Merlin," my uncle sighed, rolling his eyes and clenching his fists. "Where were your minds to hide it from me? Where did I go wrong? Why didn't you tell me? Two months! Under my nose! I lost my instincts after 12 years in Azkaban."
No one spoke after that for a while, Remus and I stood up, watching Sirius nervously walk around the room. It was as if he was having an internal struggle with himself. I decided it was best not to tease him for the moment. Finally, he looked up, apparently deciding what to do.
"Come to think of it, "he began. " The situation isn't really that bad. I can't imagine anyone else I would approve of as Ash's boyfriend but you, Moony. And you, on the other hand, need a woman like her to calm you down a bit. " I smiled in relief. " But ... for a while, avoid in front of me to the showing off this between you until I get used to the thought. And to forget the picture from a while ago."
That was it. Remus was clearly right. The old-fashioned fistfight fixes things. Boys.
After this incident, all my worries disappeared. It was as if a huge load had been removed from my shoulders. My conscience didn't bother me that I was hiding something from my uncle. Remus felt the same way. It is true that Sirius still rolls his eyes when he sees us holding hands or leaves the room if, by any chance, the distance between me and Remus is less than the decent one in Sirius' eyes. Not that we had many opportunities to meet. Remus was very busy in Ireland and stopped by for a little at weekends. I started my work, which at the moment turned out to be quite boring and did not bring me the satisfaction I expected. My boss was absent all the time, I received assignments from Percy, mostly to translate and send letters. The most interesting thing that happened to me was to direct a group of goblins to the toilet.
"You don't seem excited about your new job. Is Barty Crouch harassing you? " Sirius asked me one day shortly before I left for the Ministry.
"Actually, I haven't seen him since my interview."
"This is strange. I guess he is very busy during the Tournament. Give your job a chance, after all. I'm sure when Crouch shows up, he'll give you an interesting task."
Christmas was approaching. All employees in the Ministry were very busy. Letters were constantly flying between the departments, everyone wanting to finish their tasks before the holidays. Arriving on the fifth floor where my Department was, I came across a group of dwarves at the door, who were eagerly explaining something to Percy, who obviously did not understand their language.
"Oh, Ashling, please get along with these creatures here. They are representatives of Santa's committee and they are trying to explain something to me. And I'm very busy right now, especially when Mr. Crouch is here ... "
"Is Mr. Crouch here?" I asked for confirmation, but Percy had disappeared, leaving me to get along with the dwarves. It turned out that they just want Santa not to be stopped this year for ID verification at the British border. This greatly delayed the distribution of gifts last year. The Muggle Ministry was more cooperative than the Wizard one. In the end, I promised to take the task into my own hands and nothing like this would happen this year. I think they were pleased with my answer.
I finally made it to my office. To my surprise, Barthemius Crouch called me before even I could leave my bag. Something had happened to him. The shadows under his eyes grew even bigger, his hair tousled. He hadn't shaved for a long time. As I entered his office, I saw how cluttered it was. During my interview, everything was arranged and polished.
"Miss Karkaroff," he began impatiently, closing the door behind him. "I have a special task for you. " He paced nervously around his desk. He took a sealed envelope from it and handed it to me. "I would like you to take this letter in complete confidence, read it, and pass it on orally and personally to Albus Dumbledore himself."
"All right," I agreed, taking the letter. I looked at it. It was addressed to Dumbledore in Sanskrit. "This language is not the most familiar to me, but I will try. But why can't you do it? Don't you see him more often during the Tournament? He doesn't even know me. It will be difficult for me to arrange a meeting with him. " I asked Crouch, ignoring the fact that I had to take over the tasks from him without asking unnecessary questions.
Crouch's hands trembled for a moment. But he controlled himself, went to the window and without looking at me answered:
"No one should know what I wrote in the letter except you and Dumbledore. I don't trust anyone! " He shouted his last words loudly, came to me, and squeezed my shoulders tightly. "You have to promise me. Not a word to anyone about the letter and our conversation except Dumbledore. "
"All right," I agreed, startled by his desperate look. " OK, I promise. "
"Please," he said in a whisper. "An unbreakable vow."
"What? Is that really necessary? "
"Please," he looked at me pleadingly. "I promise this letter won't hurt anyone, especially you. It's just important to get to Dumbledore. "
I didn't know how to react. He looked so desperate. After all, what so much can be written in the letter...
"All right," I said. He visibly relaxed. And he held out his hand to me. I hesitated for a moment but I caught it back. I had never taken the Unbreakable Vow. But I knew the basics. The Unbreakable Vow was a type of binding magical contract cast between two parties, that if broken by either party, will result in the imminent death of whoever broke the contract. We standing opposite each other and clasping each other right hands.
"Will you, Ashling Black, will you read this letter without disclosing the information in it to anyone but Albus Dumbledore?" he began, touching his wand to my hand.
"I will." - a thin stream of fire emitted from his wand, weaving around our hands.
"And will you, to the best of your ability, tell the information from it only orally to Albus Dumbledore?"
"I will." – another steam.
"And will you promise not to talk to me about this letter anymore unless I explicitly initiate the conversation?"
"I will." – The final steam of fire evaporated into thin air after my last words.
"Do not open it before Christmas." He said to me apparently calmed down when he released my hand. He even smiled slightly at me.
Did I really do it? Did I really give an Unbreakable vow ? Where is my mind?
Bartemius Crouch sat behind his desk, trying to arrange it. He didn't look at me anymore.
"Do you need me for anything else, Mr. Crouch?" I asked him, wanting to get something more out of him as a conversation. The whole situation was very odd.
"Excuse me? What do you mean? Did I call you about something? " He turned to me again with that distracted look as at the end of the interview.
"Mmhmm, if you have more assignments for me, I mean."
"More tasks? No, Weatherby gives you the tasks. "
"All right. Good day, Mr. Crouch." I stared in confusion. I left his office, clutching the letter.
By the end of the day, I was trying to ignore the whole thing. I will think about it after Christmas. But something was bothering me about Crouch's behavior. There was something familiar about the way he talking to me. Something familiar in his blank stare in the end.
I couldn't wait for my working hours to end so I could go home and talk to Sirius. To my surprise, I found Remus in the living room. I had forgotten that he would come today. I felt a little guilty. The feeling intensified when he hugged me and kissed me, saying that he had been thinking about me all day. I tried to smile casually at him, but it was obvious that something was bothering me.
"What happened? He asked worried, stroking my cheek.
" I want to ask you something. What do you know about the Imperius Curse? "
Sirius and Remus looked at me intently.
"Why do you ask," my uncle began, "I mean, you must know the basics."
"Yes, I'd rather know if there's a way to know if anyone is under the influence of the curse. In school we learned about the Unforgivable Curses, even our teacher tested Imperius on some of us for a demonstration. What? " I shook my head, ignoring their shocked looks. "It wasn't much. Some managed to oppose him. Others do not. I remember the looks of those who couldn't. It was as if they had been blown away and distracted. "
"Actually, you can hardly tell that someone is under the influence of the Curse. " Remus answered me."This was the main problem after the collapse of Voldemort. Many of his followers claimed to have been under the influence of the Imperius Curse and therefore to carry out his orders. The victim of an Imperius Curse was placed in a calm, trance-like state in which all feelings of responsibility and anxiety were banished and it is difficult to see clearly. But you did not answer our question. Why are you interested? "
"I think Bartemius Crouch Sr. is under the influence of Imperius Curse. "
Both Remus and Sirius looked at me as if I had lost my mind.